Disclaimer : I don't own Code Geass or its characters
Chapter 1
Edited 15/9/17
Unbeta-ed
"You're the only one I can trust with this, Suzaku,"
The Emperor's, no, Schneizel's words still rang clear in his mind even after three hours had passed since that conversation in the too quiet and too empty throne room of Pendragon Palace. That room was never that empty if the Emperor was currently in it. Even in the middle of the night when Schneizel just wanted to be alone to sort out his thoughts in the darkness, there would always someone, usually in the form of his loyal aide Sir Kanon Maldini, in his company, skillfully blending in the shadows. There was only the Emperor there waiting for him, not even the two guards usually stationed outside the doors were present. It didn't help that Schneizel looked as if he had been sitting there all night.
He might have been, Suzaku mused, distractedly glancing out of the window as the car he was riding lurched through the still thin pile of snow covering the narrow road. There were houses and shops alight with colorful ornaments for end of the year festival , and he could see what looked like small orchard and farm on the distance, a countryside he remembered from years ago.
He closed his eyes. There were images of shrubs and greenery, of a clear lake reflecting the sky and trees, of young Schneizel carrying a shivering bundle covered with brown coat in his arms, going around the small patches of grass and fallen leaves into the black wooden door. There was a sound like a kitten crying… and the soft rustle of yellow petals as he gathered them up together in his haste to follow Schneizel's depart.
"We have arrived, Sir,"
Opening his eyes, Suzaku could see no major changes from the house, aside from the snow on the stone steps and some weird marks (scratches?) on one of the wooden pillar. A middle aged woman with a kind face welcomed him inside while Suzaku numbly took in his surrounding.
There was a stone fireplace, weirdly placed on the corner of the first room, a living room with brown couch, low table, and a few paintings with familiar marks on the lower left corner. He can see some sort of garden from the window to his right, where he can also see a separate building a short distance away from it. The door to his left was closed.
"Thank you," he said to the driver, a young man named Rai, when he offered to take his bag to… somewhere. His room, he supposed.
There was a rush of activity after that. Suzaku was then ushered into the kitchen and for a hot cup chocolate by Maggie, the kind woman from before who he quickly learned as Lance's adopted mother. Lance appeared a short while later with a turquoise haired thirty-something year old man wearing straw hat with bits of snow on it.
The man's orange eyes narrowed when he gave Suzaku a quick once over, before he offered his hand and greeted, "Sir Suzaku Kururugi? My name is Jeremiah Gottwald. His Majesty has told us that he'd send someone down here to help." A rather interesting expression on his face showed when he continued, as if he was surprised by something, "I never expected His Majesty would have sent someone so young… and you're a Knight of the Round?"
Suzaku fidgeted with a stray thread from his sweater somewhat nervously, "Yes, Sir. His Majesty appointed me into the Rounds eleven months ago. I turned 24 this year."
On the background Suzaku can hear Rai mumbling something and Maggie shushed him up.
Jeremiah looked at him with his calculating gaze that Suzaku began to dislike and concluded, more for his own sake than for Suzaku's, "I trust His Majesty's judgment." He then motioned for Suzaku to follow him deeper into the house, nodding to both Lance and Maggie who were still hovering near.
"Please wait," he gestured for Suzaku to wait for him outside of the only open room in the hallway, tense shoulder visibly relaxing when he stepped into the room.
Suzaku took his absence to calm his breathing and whatever expression he had on his face since stepping into this house. Just before he started wondering what he was waiting for, Jeremiah appeared from the room.
"You can go in," Jeremiah said, and he looked like he wanted to say something else but thought better and just nodded to Suzaku, walking back into the kitchen.
Suzaku straightened his posture, not that he really needed to do so. Years of military discipline had made him forget how to slouch.
The first thing he noticed from the room was the dim light, and how it made the snow visible from behind the huge floor-length window seemed to glow. There was someone sitting at the table on one corner, the dim light and the glow from the snow encased him with a soft shadow that accentuated his figures. The person was rubbing sleep from his eyes with his knuckles, stained with what looked to be ink if the drying spill on the table was any indicator.
"Your Highness," Suzaku addressed stiffly.
That figure, the prince, stiffened and looked at Suzaku as if he was an intruder catching him off guard.
Suzaku was neither prepared for the intensity of those eyes (deep and amethyst so much alike the late emperor), nor for the rush of memories that came with it.
Murky water, flailing limbs, rushed footsteps, fallen yellow petals, a kitten crying…
"I have a mission for you,"
Thank you for reading my very first multi-chaptered story. I have to warn you though, even though I call this multi-chapter, this will feel like a one-shots collection than a real multi-chaptered story. The chapters won't follow the previous ones in term of timeline but I will give explanation regarding the scenes that happen on future chapters if they're particularly important to the main story.
Thanks again for reading, please kindly leave a review :)
See you next chapter!
~rebirth-flame~
