A/N: Not much to say about this one, except I think that SuzakuShirley would have been adorable.
Warnings: Implied spoilers for the entire series, I think. They're quite vague, but I would hate to spoil anything for someone.
Disclaimer: The fact that I need a disclaimer says it all.
Consume
There are red marks on her palms and tears in her eyes, and he's all she can see. She can feel something hot and wet like blood in her throat and a pressure building in her chest. His screams and her words fade underneath the slow, heavy funeral procession of her heartbeat, like a hearse, like failing clockwork.
- - - -
"It's something important," he says, and both their fingers curl over the pocket watch, his hand warm over hers. "Take good care of it."
- - - -
"What was that?" Suzaku asks, raising one eyebrow and smiling softly, falsely. "With you and Lelouch, I mean."
Shirley laughs nervously, averts her eyes, scuffs her shoes. "Nothing," she replies, the tickets burning against her skin. "Nothing important at all."
- - - -
The paper is creased in places, like she bundled it up. Shirley cocks her head to the side, confused. And she reads.
While she does, something is regained and something is lost.
- - - -
"Quit running!" she yells, bending over, hands on thighs. "Quit acting! You're not a machine!"
"I'm not a good person. A machine is all I am, to them." He's tense, his voice lacking anger, bitterness. It just makes it worse.
"Suzaku," she starts, and stops. Begins again; erase, rewind. Her fingers brush the pocket watch, between cloth and skin. "How would you like to fly without wings?"
Her whisper is nearly swallowed by the wind on the rooftop. He turns. "How?"
She steps forward and clasps her arms around him. "I'll be your wings," and it's not an answer, not really. The unsaid 'I love you' she mouths against his back is sour as he stiffens.
- - - -
Loving two people is hard. There is not enough skin and bone and body for it, for a fierce, consuming love. You are picked apart, dissected and eaten. And only one love, in the end, is remembered in the wake of what was once three.
History remembers none of them. History remembers two.
But they were all consumed.
A/N: Not my best, but I like it. In case any one is wondering, the first, third, and fourth parts are based off events in the series, while the second and fifth are pure fabrication.
Feedback appreciated!