Lelouch's hand trembled as Nunnally gripped it tightly to her chest. He could feel the tears soaking through his shirt, mixing with his blood.
Black smudged the edges of his vision as he heard his sister's words of love. He tried to move his other arm, but it might was well have been made of lead, it felt so heavy.
"I'm sorry Nunna," he wanted to say, but even his tongue and mouth felt too heavy to move. "I let my own anger blind me. If I could, I'd take it all back. I wish I hadn't been so much of a stupid, egotistical fool." His eyes met with Nunnally's long brown hair, the ends becoming stained with her brother's blood as the crimson colored her pale legs and the edge of her tiny red dress. "I do love you Nunnally. But you can have that peaceful world you wanted. Suzaku will watch over you from now on."
His eyelids were becoming heavier and heavier. His chest felt as though someone was sitting on him. He tried to squeeze his sister's hand but could barely even make his fingertips twitch at this point.
His eyes turned a deep, bloody red as his vision blackened and his eyes closed. Nunnally screamed in agony and wrapped her arms around her brother's still warm body, begging for him to wake up, screaming his name and holding him tightly.
The people cheered Zero's name like a mantra, unaware of who the man behind the mask was or the price he'd just paid for the weight of the world now resting upon his broad shoulders like his coat.
Suzaku sheathed his blade and looked down at Nunnally as she clutched her brother's body. His fingertips reached up and wiped the blood off his mask. The crimson liquid soaked into the glove, losing its color but darkening the glove itself. His fingertips felt the sticky fluid as it began to dry on his flesh.
Nunnally looked up at him, eyes turning red, tears streaming and dripping off her long, dark lashes; one of the few traits she shared with her now deceased brother. He knew she now knew and understood, but no amount of knowledge or explanation could alleviate the shattering pain of what she'd just lost. He knew that pain himself, many times over. His mother and younger siblings were stolen from him, one by one until only he, his cousin and his father remained, then he'd robbed his own father of his life, he'd failed to protect the woman he loved, and now he'd robbed one of his first and best friends and enemies of his life.
The masked hero of the people dropped his hand into the folds of his coat as it wrapped around him again, thankful for the mask that covered everything, his face, his eyes, his tears.
He jumped down and knelt behind Nunnally, bowing his head to her as he once had done before her elder sister. She didn't look at him. He couldn't blame her. Even a person who held nothing but hatred for the Britannian family and anything relating to them, could not help but feel guilty for such thoughts as the new Empress wailed and wept, still clutching her brother's body.
Suzaku bit his cheek. No one but he and Nunnally knew exactly what Lelouch had done, or what price he'd paid for the peace his sister long-deserved. Only he and Nunnally would ever know. Even Kallen would never truly understand Lelouch's reasons for what he'd done. Suzaku had doubts that even C.C. knew exactly what Lelouch had done in entirety.
His hand began to feel hot but he made no move to inspect it himself. What felt like hours later, but could easily have been simply a few minutes or even a few seconds, the heat became unbearable and he pulled his hand out of the glove and held it under the coat's edge to inspect it. The crimson blood flaked off with the glove and turned to dust before ever touching the ground. His hands held no burns from the heat where the blood touched him but even as the last of it fell away, he could still feel that burning sensation where it had touched, slowly spreading to his arm and through his body.
Nunnally made no move to remove herself from her brother's corpse, even as heat began to make her legs and hands feel as though she were being burned. She held tightly to the lifeless form of the boy who'd become her brother, mother and father at the tender age of nine, a mere ten years before. True she had other brothers and sisters who'd shown her kindness in the previous year, returned home after the Black Rebellion, but none of them were Lelouch. None of them had stood up in their defense when their father banished them, and as far ash she knew, none of them had done a thing to stop their father from invading Japan, fully aware their younger siblings were among the populous.
Lelouch struggled to breathe even a small amount. He could hear his sister's screams and Suzaku as he knelt behind her, even if he couldn't see them. His body was all too heavy to even consider twitching, let alone moving. His body was also beginning to heat up where his blood had spread, like a fire returning from the brink of death. Had he had the strength, he would've chuckled at the irony of the feeling.
His stomach felt flighty, as if he'd just been dropped from something. The teen waited patiently as the feeling spread through him, he could even feel his hair beginning to move as if caught in a wind. Strands of softer, finer hair whipped his cheeks as he felt another pair of hands on his shoulders and being pulled towards something hard as he became weightless in the darkness.
Only a few short moments later, he felt himself crash on something hard and made of metal. People began to scream and shout and the second pair of hands disappeared. He felt Nunnally wrap her arms tightly around him and bury her face in his chest, the way she would a long time ago when she was afraid.
The burning in his body disappeared. And he felt a finger twitch. His chest felt somewhat lighter as Nunnally began to tremble. His body felt too heavy still but slowly, that feeling was dissipating.
Something was wrong. Something hadn't gone right with his perfect plan.
Lelouch vi Britannia was still alive.
OUALD: Now, I will give this some time to settle before I post the next chapter. Next time this story gets an update, it will be in the crossover section with Game of Thrones. Where should they end up and when? With Dany? The Lannisters? Robb Stark? Or maybe Stannis? Tell me what you guys want to see and when. Season 1 before Eddard's death? Season 2 after the death of Robert's bastards? Season 3 during the wedding of Tyrion and Sansa? Season 4 just after Joffrey's death? Let me know. See you all later.