Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. I only wished I did.
It's around this time that Lelouch feels something different.
It isn't obvious at first, but as he grows into his defining role as a prince, he begins to feel something churning. Changing. In glorious days filled with his mother's smile and Nunnally's radiantly glowing eyes, he can feel a small distortion in the air. Lelouch chalks it up to childhood imagination and prances on reluctantly with Euphie and Nunnally in fields of flowers.
But it is definitely there.
The feeling isn't noticeable except for when he plays chess. As much as he loves placing traps on the board and luring in unsuspecting pieces, he slowly becomes more and more aware of the smothering feeling. It feels as if eyes are watching him, anticipating something to happen to him and waiting to pounce on him the moment opportunity strikes.
Lelouch doesn't tell his mother much about it because he knows that she will just calmly distract him in that soothing motherly way of hers. Euphie would call him foolish and ask to sample a small little crown made up of colorful flowers. Nunnally wouldn't know what to say and try to persuade him to tell Mother.
But he knows that it's definitely there.
As years pass on, he notices that the feeling doesn't watch him every second of the day. He becomes acutely aware of when it's looming over him, following like a shadow, and when it leaves him alone. He muses to himself that even supernatural feelings need to rest.
One time at the tender age of nine, he could have sworn that he almost caught the feeling in action.
He walks down the hallways of Aries Villa, looking for Euphie and Cornelia so that he can properly say good-bye to them since they have to go back with their parents. The halls are bright and the servants quietly hurry to their locations. Soon, he turns a corner and everything is silent. His tiny footsteps echo and it creeps him out a bit, but he tells himself that it won't last long. It's as he strolls down the quiet hallway that he thinks something is out of place.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step, step.
He immediately stops. Lelouch prides himself on his excellent senses, especially his sight. People will just obey you without question one day because you're so sharp, his mother would always say. He blinks once. Twice. He blinks a third time to assure that his vision isn't growing faulty.
A shadow larger than his looms over him.
He gasps involuntarily and turns around to finally see the phantom that watches him. He wants to know why it's there and why it follows him and why him and why-
Nothing.
It's gone, leaving only empty space and the bright sunlight from the window down the hallway.
He's ten and he curses the name of the Imperial royal family as he pushes the small wheelchair around. Nunnally can never walk or see again. His mother is gone, dead and murdered. He solely believes that it was murder because there was no way that anyone would kill such a wonderful angel. Unless they were the devil.
Lelouch feels the oppressive heat of Japan beating down upon him, but he makes sure that Nunnally is comfortable. He protects her and watches over her to make sure that this angel in his life does not disappear.
An unruly boy by the name of Kururugi Suzaku looks down upon them, pride and confidence burning in his eyes. Lelouch doesn't like him at all, but he does hold a bit of respect for his family. They watch over the banished prince and princess, giving them a life when no one else would. Granted, the life they lead now requires work and effort to maintain, but it is a life he cherishes all the same. It's different from pompous parties and stuck-up siblings and political arguments and struggles.
The only thing that remains the same are the same cold and unfeeling eyes watching over him.
He renames the feeling "the eyes" because he is now able to distinguish that it watches over him. He feels the pressure of the gaze lingering on his figure more so than the terribly humid weather and it frightens him. The eyes now watch over him as much as it can, making sure that he doesn't escape its view. In the small town as he buys fresh vegetables from a stand, as he walks down the dirt paths, as children his age kick and abuse him, and as he lays in bed next to his sister. Every chance it gets, it takes.
He's afraid that the eyes is patiently waiting to seize the opportunity to assassinate them, to finish off what happened at Aries Villa.
The summer months pass and nothing happens.
He begins to let Suzaku in and Lelouch accepts the bond that he offers. Nunnally's laughter chimes in the air and he feels (dare he say it) happy. The children in the village leave him alone due to the presence of the Prime Minister's son. No one dares to say anything cruel to Lelouch while Suzaku is around.
And still, those pair of eyes linger over his form.
He is seventeen and he has grown apathetic about the world.
Japan has been rechristened with the insulting name of "Area 11" and he can only watch as the proud Japanese are reduced to being little more then slaves to Britainnians. He adopts a new name and relies on the protection of the Ashford family. He receives news about his family through the internet and news channels now spurting Britannian propaganda.
Schneizel now resides as Prime Minister of Britannia. Lelouch thinks that his older brother doesn't much care for his position.
Cornelia is now an esteemed Knightmre frame user and has already conquered other nations in the name of Britannia.
He has yet to hear about Euphie, though he doubts that she will be able to maintain a quiet life much longer.
The eyes stop watching over him and has left him alone since about a year ago. He shrugs it off at first, finally feeling free after so long. Now, he actually worries for the eyes. Lelouch is now sure that the eyes belong to someone human because he refuses to believe in supernatural events.
As Rivalz drives down the highway in the scooter, Lelouch ponders over what has happened to the eyes. He desperately longs for the answer because in his twisted reasoning, he believes that the eyes can help him figure out the truth behind his mother's death. He doesn't want to say that the eyes have died because it would mean that a possible part of the truth has vanished from the world.
He is unaware of it, but a few moments later, Lelouch finds himself over the railing of the highway, watching a unidentified truck crash into a construction site. He finds disgust curl up in his every being as he watches the ignorant Britannian citizens gossip amongst themselves and taking pictures.
He feels a ripple in the air and it leaves his mind blank.
The eyes have returned.
Lelouch clearly sees the faint outline of a woman above the truck and he rushes to it, not caring if he is late to school or not. As he climbs the ladder on the side of the truck, Lelouch can feel something invade his mind and hear a voice. Based on the tingles and sensation he receives, he can only conclude that the eyes are speaking.
It's you…finally you have arrived my-
He loses the connection just as the truck backs up and speed away. The speed of the truck unfortunately traps him inside the truck and with a steel orb-like container.
Lelouch wants to meet the eyes, but he places his survival over everything else because he would never let anyone else take care of Nunnally.
The boy has grown.
Deep oceans of violet eyes, sharp facial structure, and a scrawny figure. It has been years since she has been able to see him.
Lady Marianne voices her disappointment continuously and endlessly. She hopes that the refreshing sight of her son will allow the woman to shut up and C.C to quietly think of how to escape the container.
His deep set of eyes, which has always penetrated the world, gives the woman hope. His senses are sharp, as witnessed in his childhood when his muscles would tense immediately after she resumes her watching. The mysterious power of Geass ravishes the lives of those it touch, but C.C quietly hopes that it doesn't.
Poppop.
The sound makes the witch stop. It is the sound of the internal pressure dissipating and the locks turning off.
Lelouch is facing a collection of barrels. Soldiers with faces full of malice stare him down, waiting to receive the order to shoot. As he accepts death, a fragile hand grabs hold of his.
The same tingle from his hand tells him that it is her, the eyes, the woman in that container.
She appears in black and white, dancing across his vision repeatedly as she talks. The desire to live burns strongly in his chest and she seizes the feeling by offering him a contract.
He accepts.
She smirks.
Fate turns once again.