Thanks to everyone that's giving this story a chance. ^^ I really hope you enjoy this prologue, even though it's kinda sad.
This IS an OC fic, but it's not a SUZAKUxOC fic! It's SuzakuxEuphie and GinoxOC. How that's gonna fit together, you'll see very soon.
And now, please enjoy the beginning of The Stranger He's Always Known!!
PROLOGUE
A Doppelganger?
The students of Ashford Academy turned from avidly alert and talkative to solemnly quiet and nervous as their special Eleven student passed them by, his once-green-now-bloodshot eyes boring into them so deeply that either they froze or frantically ran away as they saw him. The somber aura around the student was so enormous one could touch it by lifting their finger a foot away from him. And no one could truly blame him. What had happened to their fellow schoolmate had probably affected him more than it had the whole Britannian Empire.
Today was the day of the funeral of Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Britannian Empire. Though now, around the world and not just Britannians and Elevens, she had earned a title because of a series of Eleven killings that had occurred the other day. A title that she did not deserve, had done everything in her power not to earn, and one she would be crying horrifically over the fact she'd received such a scornful name…
"The Massacre Princess."
No one dared to even whisper the phrase as he passed by, fearing for their safety and counting their lucky stars that a baka wouldn't let it slip off his tongue and get sent to the hospital. Having been in the army and achieving a record of martial arts training beforehand, their special and loved Eleven was most definitely not one to be messed with in hand-to-hand combat.
Still, Knight and Honorary Britannian Kururugi Suzaku, to them, was one of the unluckiest people in the world at that moment. Almost everyone knew that the deceased princess and her Knight were both very attached to each other, or at least had a hunch about it. His eyes lacked the luster they had once seen shine so brightly when he was around; his straight, swift, confident gait he'd displayed was now deteriorated to a trudging slump. His brown, curly hair that had seemed to glimmer so happily with his mood, now held no healthiness, some strands even unattractively hanging limp down his neck. Their once suave, friendly classmate now looked like a hobo that had been kicked off one-too-many cargo trains.
"…Suzaku."
Everyone in the hallway where the knight walked froze, shocked that anyone would dare talk to a depressed, perhaps even angry Britannian soldier in this state. Their fear only heightened as they saw the young second year stop in his tracks. Diverting their eyes to the baka who'd spoken his name, they saw one of the most popular boys in Ashford Academy, Student Council member Lelouch Lamperouge. He had his signature calm and professional look on his face, but few could catch glimmers of sadness and sympathy within his eyes. Most would wonder why, if they'd known what Lelouch was doing behind their backs. (Becoming Zero and then reluctantly shooting his half-sister, that was all.) When Suzaku made it clear he would not traverse back the way he came, Lelouch walked toward him, his shoes clicking loudly against the marble floors since no one had made a single movement since the moment he'd spoken.
"…Yes, Lelouch?" Suzaku whispered hoarsely, bloodshot eyes staring at him with a tinge of rage in the depths of grief.
"Will you be attending Euphie's funeral?" Lelouch whispered quietly in his friend's ear, since he didn't want anyone to hear him address the deceased princess in such an informal, personal way; it'd make them seem more suspicious than they seemed at the very moment.
Suzaku nodded. "Yeah. How about you?"
"What kind of a brother would I be if I didn't?" Lelouch answered, "Though given my and Nunnally's status, I'll have to make myself scarce." Suzaku did not miss the regret that had, for a second, flickered in his former best friend's purple eyes. The reason why was all to clear to the knight and that specific fact made his blood broil. The violet-eyed wretch he was looking at was no brother of the princess, no best friend of his. Not at all…
He was the very cruel bastard that killed his own kin; and, dare he say that she 'belonged' to him – Suzaku's Euphie.
Though, trying not to publicly show his hate, Suzaku pulled a weak smile. "Right. Well, I'll see you later," he murmured, before both Student Council members parted separate ways, leaving the remaining Academy students to wonder what had been going on.
As the day went on, the atmosphere outside seemed to grow darker and darker, gray clouds colliding over each other to produce a fluffy gray blanket. The blanket grew duller and duller, wider and wider, until all of Area 11 – formerly known as the country of Japan – could hear the lashing rain from inside their homes, schools, or workplaces.
It felt like that not just Area 11 – the whole world – knew of the kind, gentle, peaceful princess's passing. The whole world knew what a compassionate leader-to-be it had lost, what an important figure to ending the violent war had just vanished off the face of the earth.
Though no one felt that loss more than Suzaku.
"And so may the great spirits above watch over their newly welcomed child, as we…" a large crowd of people clothed in black sat inside the wooden pews of a candle-lit church, their sorrow blocking out the pouring rain outside. The funeral of Princess Euphemia became a private, small one compared to the larger one of Clovis beforehand, since Euphemia had killed so many Elevens and many were afraid of angry mobs forming close to them and trying to eliminate the corpse. Now only the royals of Britannia were present, plus a few others that were of Britannian heritage. In the first row were those who'd been closest to the princess: Her mother, Lady Amelia li Britannia, (Emperor Charles zi Britannia wasn't present for whatever bogus reason), her sister, Second Princess Cornelia li Britannia, and her personal Knight, Warrant Officer Kururugi Suzaku. Whichever other children of the Britannian Emperor that had been available were scattered throughout the church, feeling it their duty to pay their last respects to their half-sister.
The open coffin revealed the peaceful figure of the princess, hands clasped over the other on her stomach. Despite the unnatural position, anyone could have believed that the princess was only lost in a blissful sleep.
Cornelia li Britannia, the princess who was most renowned for her passive exterior and fierce battle skills, looked so different at that moment. No longer did that hardened side show now that her beloved little sister was gone. Now the trademark lavender eyes that belonged to most Britannian princesses on Cornelia's face were wide, as if she were in a terrifying trance, and bloodshot, from crying so much before. Now, even though she hardly made a sound, tears mercilessly streamed down her cheeks as her mouth hung open, perhaps still in newly-obtained shock.
It was their mother, Amelia, who was making the most noise at the loss of her youngest daughter. Amelia had Cornelia's dark purple hair, but she had Euphemia's eye shape. Her face structure was much like the Third Princess's as well.
Suzaku just stared at the opened coffin, eyes distant as he remembered the day he'd first met the princess, when she'd jumped from that building and into his arms, completely by coincidence. How many precious, happy times they'd spent together, how many of her smiles had brightened his day in an instant…it felt like they'd happened millennia ago. He would never see those wide lavender eyes shine with optimism and kindness, never feel her delicate hand holding his for comfort, never hear her laugh or giggle or make any other sound again. Never, never again. And it had all just crashed down on him at that very moment.
His beloved, most treasured Euphie…was gone.
The funeral was soon over with, and everyone lined up to say their final goodbyes to the princess, the back rows going first. Suzaku, being the closest to the edge in the front left pew, stared at them, if only to halt the lingering image of a bloodied, cherry blossom-haired Euphemia from his mind. In the line he recognized only a few fellow military personnel, and less nobility. Though he did notice a figure about the same height as him, but with black hair peeking out from the hat that covered his eyes. His eyes hardened with hatred through his newly-fallen tears as he recognized his most hated enemy as of the moment of Euphemia's death: Zero.
His gaze hardened even more as he saw tears trickling down the former prince's pale cheeks. He knew, just knew that those tears were forced, fake. Two-faced bastard, he thought, his clenching a fist. Why the hell did he even come? He doesn't feel any guilt. None. He wanted to shout out right then and there that Zero was present and that he was actually Lelouch vi Britannia, lost Eleventh Prince of the Britannian Empire, bent on obliterating his own heritage.
And yet he couldn't gather enough courage to do so. His rationality kicked itself back into his mind, and Suzaku forced himself to calm down. What evidence could he have based his would-be claim on? A young, blond, flippin' immortal child that was the Emperor's older twin brother, had told him about a strange but powerful ability provided to Lelouch known as a Geass. A power that came in forms as different as the people of the world; Lelouch specifically had been given the Geass to command a person to do anything as long as he and his victim had direct eye contact, which he'd used to possess Euphie to kill the Elevens, leading to the princess's own assassination.
Oh, as much as he wanted to scream to the world what a sadistic, inhumane being Zero was, he knew that he'd just be called insane himself and booked into the nearest madhouse. Focusing on the parade of mourners, his blood boiled even more as he saw Lelouch place a (surely false) loving hand on the princess's forehead, his tears falling onto the coffin's white cloth that cushioned the dead princess's corpse.
His hate subsided immediately as a flash of pink hair appeared by his pew. The knight's head whipped to the side so fast he was lucky he didn't snap it in half, but he was too shocked to care at the moment. Cascading down a female mourner's back was a cloud of wavy pink hair that resembled a sea of sakura. Euphie… his eyes widened, and after a long time, joy was threatening to touch the boundaries of his stoned heart, and the tips of his lips started to lift upwards.
Until he saw the mourner's eyes as she stroked the princess's forehead with her own gloved hand. Forest green, so much like his own… As bewildering as it was, Suzaku's heart was hardened once more at the revelation of the suspicious woman not being his Euphie…
He just realized right now he'd been calling her his Euphie for the past time after her death, causing the young military officer to blush under his already salty and reddened cheeks. How unlike him, to speak and think of his Princess in such a personal way. Even though it was posthumous, it still wasn't appropriate. Not at all, since he was an Eleven. After a sob was heard throughout the quiet church, he looked up to see the sakura-haired woman on her knees, crying for the princess. Her face was somehow at an angle where he could see her face fully.
She looked so much like Euphie that it was uncanny. Her pink hair that waved throughout its length, her delicate face…the only thing that truly made a difference were her green eyes that were now becoming bloodshot from the amount of tears she was shedding. After a few more sobs with her face buried in her delicate, white-gloved hands, the woman stood up, her composure regained, and bowed before the coffin before exiting back to her pew, adjourning across Suzaku's pew while doing so.
And for a flitting moment that seemed to last an eternity, forest green met forest green before the girl looked away quickly and proceeded back.
For the first time since the funeral began – as Suzaku stared at the pink hair, eyes wide in astonishment – he managed to croak out a whisper.
"…Euphie…"
The rain poured down on the remaining black-clad group of mourners as they sadly watched the white coffin being cradled into the ground below. No one cried now, since they had left their tears once they'd exited the church doors. Like it had been in the church, the people who had been closest to Princess Euphemia were standing at the front, Amelia and her only remaining daughter sharing an umbrella held by the younger, and Suzaku holding one for himself, vanity nagging at his mind as he briefly hoped he wouldn't get his new suit dirty.
Lelouch had long disappeared, having exited the church quietly once he had escaped that line of mourners in which Suzaku had witnessed a supposed clone of his beloved former charge. Said suspected clone was standing in the far back, fully prepared to be the first one to exit the cemetery. She'd been the first one present at the graveyard also, Suzaku having passed by her. At that moment, he'd caught a glimpse of her face. So much like Euphie's and yet so different. Why couldn't he get over that fact?
He disguised his heart wrenching sorrow by pulling on a stoic gaze as he watched the white coffin go five feet under, forever sealing that Euphemia was never coming back to the world of the living, as much as he would have done anything in his power to keep her there.
Sobs from Lady Amelia rang louder than ever before, her grief overflowing more than the rain. Trembling, she stepped in front of Suzaku, where the now-buried coffin laid under dirt and grass, a marble tombstone the only reminder of their lost princess. Finally, the usually sophisticated consort of King Charles zi Britannia collapsed on her knees, apparently not caring if her expensive black dress was dirtied. With tears melding in with the rain on her wet face – now that she was out of the shared umbrella with Cornelia – the violet-haired lady snapped her head up to the gray sky, and pierced the sound of the pouring rain with her blood-curdling cry:
"EUPHIE!!!!"
Cornelia, out of the sad trance she'd been until her mother had let out that shriek, went to her and, in a short moment of showing affection, tried to hug her mother, but Amelia pushed her away. Instead, the grieving mother whipped around to Suzaku, her eyes glaring up at his shocked face. "You," she snarled in a voice dripping with angry ice, "You…Eleven! You didn't protect her! You were her Knight! How could you!? HOW COULD YOU LET MY BABY DIE?!" The distraught mother extended her arm as she quickly stood up, ready to slap a still bewildered Suzaku. All she was focused on was harming the demon that failed to save her little girl's life.
A hand grabbed Amelia's wrist, one that was covered in a white glove. Suzaku's wide eyes shifted slowly to the left to see a stern Princess Cornelia staring at her mother sympathetically. Said mother looked at her daughter with shocked eyes, still bloodshot and wild from her intended attack. "Corlie…" Amelia whispered, the name apparently a nickname for the princess (that said princess hated with a passion when spoken outside her immediate family.) "But…"
There was a silence, Cornelia still keeping a firm grip on her mother's wrist. "Mother," she said, her voice cracking from sorrow, but still clear like it always had been. "Sir Kururugi was not responsible for Euphie's death." Suzaku, along with Cornelia's own Knight, Gilbert G. P. Guilford and many others, were shocked that the Second Princess was protecting an Eleven, even though she didn't approve of Numbers whatsoever. "Zero was the one. Sir Kururugi would never let Euphie die." This time, she looked at Suzaku straight in the eye, indirectly speaking her next words to him. "He was a superb protector for her; he did his duty well." Her eyes were downcast for a few slow seconds, and then she looked up again. "Thank you…Suzaku…for being there for her when I couldn't be."
Still mildly surprised at Cornelia's defense of him, Suzaku merely bowed, nodding as his face was facing the ground. As he looked up he met the face of a calmed Lady Amelia. She looked away, her eyes showing shame for her actions. "Forgive me, Sir Kururugi…" she whispered. Suzaku was just about to say that she was forgiven until her eyes met his. "Euphie…she spoke well of you. I failed to recognize the good feelings she had towards you and I know she was a fond charge of yours." This time, it was she who bowed. "I was rash. Forgive this grieving mother I am."
Now Suzaku was confused, especially since a particular 'grieving mother' had some extreme mood swings. But then, seeing how much she also reminded him of Euphie and how sincere she was, he smiled. "I forgive you, Lady Amelia; I understand what you are going through. But forgive me for not being a better Knight." Amelia, in return, insisted she couldn't have asked for a better Knight for Euphie, since said late princess had told her so many good things about him. Suzaku blushed at this; he hadn't really thought he was so highly regarded by Euphie. As Amelia told him of her memories of the tiny 'Euphie and Corlie' to divert herself from her untimely loss, Suzaku politely paid attention and then snuck a glance at the remaining Princess Cornelia. Her eyes met his, and he flashed a small smile at her, and mouthed to words:
"Thank you." It was for his rescue of Amelia's angry hand; Cornelia caught what he meant. She merely nodded, and continued holding the umbrella above her mother, still staring solemnly at the grave.
Finally, Cornelia insisted that she and her mother be on their way, fearful that either one of them to get cold. Being polite and nothing more, she bid Suzaku farewell with the advice to head on his way as well. Suzaku thanked her but said that he wanted to spend some time alone with Euphie. Cornelia understood and she took her mother towards the car in which her ever-faithful Knight Guilford was waiting in the driver's seat. Suzaku glanced back at them and saw that the Euphie-clone hadn't moved from her place at the stone entrance. She was just staring straight at where he was, almost directly at his face. Moving the most she had in what Suzaku assumed was more than an hour, she saluted him with her fingertips to her eyebrow, legs clamping together. She then eased, now making herself a seat on the entrance's stone wall, keeping dry from under her own umbrella.
Suzaku tried to ignore the strange behavior. He turned back and stared at the grave, this time getting down on one knee and reaching in his suit jacket. Delicately, he pulled out a rose. Such a vibrant, cheerful pink rose that it seemed to cast a glow to be seen by all of Area 11. Sighing, he gently placed the rose on top of the grave, feeling a bit sad that it would soon be drowned by the rain. A pang shot through him as he let himself think how much the rose reminded him of Euphie. Well, it was pink, for the obvious. And then the way it looked so happy, so shining…the way Euphie had always seemed. But he wouldn't ever feel the way he did when he'd spent that time with the princess. The more he thought about her, the more he felt his cheeks start to heat up, the more he felt his shoulders shaking. He soon began to taste the salty tears again. Then, without even realizing it, Suzaku found himself bawling like a baby without its pacifier. He felt like it. Euphie had been his pacifier. Without it, he would cry for a long, long time. It was a pathetic way to put it, but put it that way Suzaku did.
"Euphemia…" he sobbed. "Euphie…come back…please."
He gasped lightly as he felt a gentle presence behind his back. Slowly, he turned his head and his eyes met with their exact copies. The doppelganger. "Shh," she said, smiling gently at him. "Shh." He felt her thumbs carefully wipe his tears away. "I think it's time you go home. You've had a rough day, Sir Kururugi."
"Who…?" Suzaku finally choked, still in shock of seeing the spitting image of Euphie back from the grave.
"I used to know the princess…on a…personal level," the stranger said, in a voice that was similar to the deceased princess, but not the exact replica. Still keeping her hand on his shoulder, she got down on both her knees, like the Elevens would while eating. "She was a good person, wasn't she?"
Suzaku could only nod.
"Thought so. But you were so much closer to her," she said, smiling once more. "The whole world lost such a beautiful person, both inside and out." She then stared at the tombstone and they shared a silence. It was interrupted when Suzaku heard her humming a tune. A light, cheery one that was still sweet and dreamy, like a lullaby. Slowly, the girl started to sway gracefully from side to side, her eyes closed while smiling. The honorary Britannian stared at her.
"Uh…"
A giggle emitted from the stranger. "Sorry, it was a song she taught me a long time ago." She patted his shoulder with her hand. "Maybe I can teach it to you someday." She got up, dusting off her black pants and coat. "Until then, don't let Euphie's death get to you." She turned around to walk off, but after she took two steps, she shifted her body to face him at an angle. "I'm sure she wouldn't want it to happen. You were really important to her, Sir Kururugi." An air of calm suddenly came about the stranger, and there was just the sound of the whispering rain. "She wouldn't want you to share her fate until it's your time." Turning her body around to face the entrance, the look-alike walked away, sheltering herself from the rain still. "Until we meet again…Suzaku-san…" she whispered to herself.
Said Knight had been in a daze ever since she'd come forward to comfort him. Realizing that the one and only reminder of Euphie he had besides a feather quill she'd given him, his eyes widened and he fumbled for words, but none came out. He was so distracted that he hadn't noticed he'd dropped his umbrella and was no getting drenched. Finally, he managed to choke out a word. "Wait."
But the order had been too quiet, and now she was gone.
What he wouldn't give to find out who the hell was that girl…
I already have the first chapter typed up, but I wanna see how everyone likes this installment before I post it. Please don't get annoyed with my OC. If you do, please say so kindly and not as a total flame. I share my mom's e-mail so I don't want her seeing nasty things.
Anyways, enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Love,
Gabby, "Lunarobi Pride"