Konnichiwa Minna-san! I'm back! I know I usually wait a few weeks (or updates depending) before I post the next chapter of a story but since I had this chapter completed about a month or so ago I decided to put it up. Hey I was hiding from my schoolwork (which is threatening to kill me, but whatever) so it was totally worth it. So this is the climax so to speak. But there will be a few more chapters before it's done. So without further ado, you may get started.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam 00 or its Characters, they belong to Bandai, Sunrise and Yun Koga. But Veda said I could borrow them for a bit.

Happy Reading!

Chapter Eight: Struggling

Lockon woke up feeling absolutely awful. He was cold, achy and his head was killing him. /Dammit, I got sick/ He thought, /But Tieria needs to be monitored. He seemed to be a lot sicker yesterday then he has been so far. Maybe they won't notice that I'm sick./

He walked into Tieria's room and found that Feldt was there.

"Feldt," He said softly, "How's he doing?"

"Not good at all," Feldt said, "His temperature is up to forty point three. And no matter how much he tries, he can't seem to fall asleep."

"Shit, what's Sumeragi doing about it?" Lockon asked as he coughed a bit, "That's a really high stinking fever."

"Lockon," Feldt said as she looked him in the eye, "You don't look very well." She put her hand to his forehead, "You have a fever, go back to bed."

"But who's gonna watch the kid tonight," Lockon said.

"I'm gonna have Setsuna do it," Sumeragi said as she walked into the room and placed several fever reducers on the desk, "Go back to bed!"

"But Setsuna and Tieria don't really get along," Lockon said, "Do you really think that it's a good idea to leave the two of them alone with Tieria in such a condition? I mean not too long ago Tieria and Setsuna pulled guns on each other and threatened to shoot."

"I'm well aware of that," Sumeragi said, "But I have no other choice. You're sick, Chris is sick. Allelujah is sick and after today's little incident, I wouldn't leave the two of them alone in a room all night regardless. So, Setsuna is our only option, unless of course, you want me to leave Tieria alone all night."

"I don't want him to be alone," Lockon said, "Does Setsuna know yet?"

"No," Sumeragi said as she started to get impatient, "Now, stop worrying about everything else and get back to bed!"

"Alright, alright," Lockon said, "But please keep me updated."

"Sleep dammit!" Sumeragi yelled. It would be an understatement to say that she was a little bit frazzled. Three of her pilots were sick, one of them extremely sick, one of her crew members was sick, the other one exhausted both physically and mentally. Leaving her with only one pilot and the helmsmen. Plus with Ian heading to Lagrange three, she was kind of in over her head. "Feldt, I'll be back."

Sumeragi wandered around the Ptolemaios looking for Setsuna. He had not been in his room, the dinning room or the observation deck and she was running out of places where that boy could be. Until she remembered that the boy liked to stare, almost vacantly, at the Exia. She hurried to the Exia's container hoping that the boy was there.

Setsuna was just about to start eating when Sumeragi entered the observation deck above the Exia.

"There you are," Sumeragi said, "I've been looking all over for you."

"What is it Sumeragi Li Noriega?" He asked.

"I have a huge favor to ask you," She said, "I need you to watch Tieria tonight. Lockon is sick and we just can't leave Tieria alone right now."

"How is Tieria doing?" Setsuna asked.

"Not good," Sumeragi said, "His fever is breaking but it also spiked to forty point three. Please, I need you to do this."

Setsuna nodded, "I understand," he said, "When should I get to his room?"

"As soon as possible," Sumeragi said, "Thank you so much Setsuna. There should be enough ice packs in his room to last the night and you should probably replace them at twenty minute intervals. And in case Tieria's fever gets any higher, I put several fever reducers in his room, but those are only to be used in an emergency."

"I understand," Setsuna said as he followed Sumeragi to Tieria's room.

Feldt was very glad when she saw Sumeragi and Setsuna enter the room. "Sumeragi!"

"What's wrong Feldt?" Setsuna said.

"It's gotten worse," She said, "His stomach won't hold water down. He was sick a few minutes ago."

"Dammit!" Sumeragi said, "Setsuna, change his clothes. Feldt, come with me, he's going on an IV tonight."

Sumeragi and Feldt left the room as Setsuna got a change of clothes for Tieria. He then walked over to the bed, "Tieria Erde," He said softly.

Tieria barely opened his eyes, "Setsuna…" he mumbled, "It's so hot…"

"I know it is," Setsuna said as he carefully pulled the sweat-soaked and soiled shirt off Tieria and put the clean one on. "Try to relax."

When Sumeragi and Feldt reentered the room Setsuna had finished changing Tieria's clothes and had already placed an ice pack on his forehead.

"How is he?" Sumeragi asked as Feldt set up the IV.

"No change," Setsuna said, "I tied his hair back, just to get it off the back of his neck. That might help a bit."

Sumeragi nodded, "Once Feldt finishes with the IV, we're going to leave the two of you alone." She said, "Call me if you need anything."

Setsuna nodded as he pulled a chair up to Tieria's bed and grabbed the hand that Feldt wasn't working with. Setsuna remembered just how much Tieria hated needles. Before they began their interventions they had been required to get several vaccines and Setsuna remembered that Tieria ended up passing out after the second one. "Tieria," he said, "Look towards me, don't pay attention to what Feldt is doing."

Tieria looked towards Setsuna in shock. He would have never expected Setsuna to remember the almost phobia he had when it came to needles, "Setsuna…" He muttered, "You…you remembered…?"

"Yeah," Setsuna said, "Don't talk anymore."

"There," Feldt said as she secured the needle with a bandage, "All set. Are you alright, Tieria?"

"Of course he isn't," Setsuna said as he released Tieria's hand.

Sumeragi sighed, "Well, we'll leave the two of you alone now," She said, "Tieria, try to get some sleep tonight."

Tieria barely nodded as Sumeragi and Feldt reluctantly left the room.

Setsuna sighed. It had been about five hours since Feldt and Sumeragi had left and there was absolutely no change to Tieria's condition. His fever was still forty point three, he was still breathing heavily and worst of all, he was still awake.

Tieria had spent the last five hours tossing and turning restlessly trying to find a position where it didn't feel as though someone was firing a blow torch right next to him while sticking him in a freezer at the same time. But nothing he did worked, and it was beginning to get frustrating. Finally he settled for lying on his back as he stared up at the ceiling, he was just too weak to keep changing position so much. He just wanted to sleep, was that too much to ask?

Setsuna sighed once again as Tieria stopped tossing and turning. As much as he didn't like Tieria, Setsuna really felt bad of him. He knew just how bad fevers could get when they were breaking and how much worse it must be if you had never experienced a fever before. He placed his hand on Tieria's cheek. The older boy's skin was on fire and he wished that there was something he could do to make it a bit more comfortable for Tieria. However, the temperature of the room was already at minimum and Setsuna was only to administer a fever reducer if Tieria's body temperature got any higher.

He could always bring Tieria to the shower room but Setsuna was quite a bit smaller than Tieria was and the purple haired Meister was probably much too weak and definitely too sick to be out of bed. So Setsuna shut his eyes and tried to think of something that would at least comfort Tieria just enough so that he could get some sleep.

"Mama…"A young boy cried, "Mama it hurts…"

"I know it does," A familiar kind female voice came, "Calm down Soran, working yourself up so much isn't going to help you feel better."

"Make it stop, mama," The boy said as he cried.

"There's not much mommy can do right now, Soran," The woman said, "Your fever has gotten quite high and we don't have anymore medicine for you. Just try to relax, papa's gone to get some ice for your head."

The small boy continued to sniffle and cry as another person entered the room.

"I couldn't get much ice," A familiar male voice came, "With all the restrictions on food and water it was difficult to come across but I managed to convince a shop owner that my son was sick with a high fever and I needed the ice to cool him."

"Thank you," The woman said as she took some of the ice and placed some of it on the young child's forehead, "Does that feel better Soran?"

"A little bit," The boy said.

"Here let's try this," She said as she gently lifted the boy's head a bit and put the rest of the ice under the back of his neck. The boy shivered, "It's a lot better, isn't it, Soran?"

The child nodded then gently drifted off to sleep.

/Setsuna…Setsuna…/ Another familiar voice whispered, /Setsuna…what's wrong…Setsuna F…Seiei…/

Setsuna opened his eyes and realized that he must have dozed off while he had closed his eyes, "Tieria…" He muttered as he rubbed his eyes. Just what was that dream? He knew that the young boy had been him but who were the man and the woman, were they his parents? He couldn't remember them much the only thing he could remember was…

"Setsuna…" Tieria murmured, "What's the matter…?"

"It's nothing," Setsuna said.

"You kept muttering 'mama' in your sleep…" Tieria whispered, "Are you alright…?"

"It was just a dream I guess," Setsuna said, "You really shouldn't be talking Tieria."

"Sorry," He mumbled, "It just seemed as though you were having a bad dream."

Setsuna sighed, "How long was I asleep for?"

"About an hour."

/Great,/ Setsuna thought. That meant that Tieria had been attempting to fall asleep for the past six hours now. Setsuna sighed as he removed the now warm ice pack from Tieria's forehead and replaced it. He also realized that Tieria had soaked through another shirt with sweat.

"Hold on," Setsuna said, "I'm going to get you a drier shirt." He went over to where Tieria's clothes was kept and took the last clean short sleeved tee-shirt that Tieria owned. He then carefully removed the sweat soaked shirt and replaced it for the clean one.

"Setsuna," Tieria mumbled, "I want to sleep…"

"I know you do," Setsuna said. Things were not going well at all and Setsuna was about to give in and administer a fever reducer when he got an idea. He grabbed another ice pack off the desk and activated it.

"What are you doing?" Tieria asked softly, "You've just…"

"I know," Setsuna said, "But I have an idea." Once the pack was cold, he gently lifted Tieria's head, placed the ice pack on the back of his neck then eased him back against the pillows, "Is that any better?"

Tieria nodded. The ice on the back of his neck had worked almost instantly and the heat was slowly ebbing away. "Where did you get this idea?" he asked.

"I think my mother did it for me once when I was really sick," Setsuna said, "But I can't remember for sure."

"Do you miss your mother?" Tieria asked. Setsuna nodded a bit, "Where is she now?"

"She's dead," Setsuna said vacantly, "I shot and killed her years ago…thinking that I was being accepted by God for doing so."

"You shot…and killed…your mother…?" Tieria asked as tears came to his eyes for some reason his feverish mind would not explain.

Setsuna looked at Tieria, "Why are you crying?" Setsuna asked kind of thrown off guard by Tieria's rather odd display of emotion.

"It's upsetting…" Tieria said as he tried to stop the tears that refused to yield, "You had to kill your own mother…that's awful…"

Setsuna sighed, "What about your parents?" He asked. He knew that the display of emotion from Tieria was due to a mixture of exhaustion and the fever he was running. He knew that Tieria probably had no idea why he was crying or any control over it. But it was still rather unnerving to see the cold and emotionless Meister cry.

Tieria thought for a while, "I can't remember mine at all," He said, "I don't even know if I had parents. I can't remember my past at all Setsuna…what does that make me?"

/One of us, a Gundam Meister/ Setsuna thought "Just try to sleep," He said. Tieria needed to sleep, he wasn't going to get any better if he stayed awake all night. "But before you do, I should check your fever again." Setsuna grabbed the thermometer off the ledge and put it in Tieria's mouth. When it beeped he removed it. "It's gone up…forty point four…" He eyed the fever reducers that Sumeragi had brought up. He picked one up, "Sorry Tieria," he said as he pulled the cap off of the needle and carefully injected the medicine into Tieria's arm.

"What was that…?" Tieria asked weakly.

"A fever reducer," he said, "It should help you sleep."

"Thank you Setsuna," Tieria said as he shut his eyes.

About fifteen minutes later Setsuna realized that Tieria, after struggling for nearly seven hours, had finally fallen asleep. He smiled a bit and shut his own eyes. Setsuna knew that Tieria was probably going to sleep for a good long time and that there was really no need to watch him if all he was going to do was sleep.

Two hours later Sumeragi walked into Tieria's room with a breakfast tray for Setsuna. She was rather upset when she found the boy asleep but when she saw that Tieria was also asleep, she decided to let it slide. But she still needed to wake the youngest Meister up to get a full report of how the night went.

"Setsuna," she said softly as she shook his shoulder, "Wake up."

The boy stirred and woke, "Sumeragi Li Noriega…" he said, "What time is it?"

"About seven thirty," She said, "I see Tieria was able to get to sleep. How was he?"

"He was awake until five," Setsuna said, "Then I just couldn't take watching him struggle and I administered a fever reducer. I'm sorry Sumeragi, it was getting bad."

"That's fine," Sumeragi said, "What was his temperature before you administered the medication?"

"Forty point four," Setsuna said, "And I figured that by the time the medication wore off his temperature would have already started to drop anyway."

Sumeragi nodded, "Haro check his temperature," She said.

"Forty, forty," Haro said.

"It's down quite a bit," Setsuna said.

"I just hope it doesn't spike when the medication wears off," Sumeragi said, "Well Setsuna, you're relieved of your duties. Get some sleep so you don't get sick as well."

"Alright," Setsuna said as he left the room.

"Thank you so much Setsuna," Sumeragi said as she turned to the sleeping purple haired boy in front of her. She hoped that Tieria was finally starting to get better because she didn't think that he could take anymore of what he was going through.

So Tieria's fever finally started breaking. And Setsuna and Tieria managed to spend an entire night in the same room without threatening to kill each other. Tieria also managed to get Setsuna to have the longest conversation I've written thus far, way to go T-chan! So like I said, it's almost done I'm expecting three to four more chapters with this fic so stay with me. Oh, and it's December ninth so…Happy "Birthday" Tieria!

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