A few notes: I don't mean any disrespect to anyone or endorse any religious or philosophical beliefs about what happens to humans when they die. I just needed a place for both Lelouch and Euphemia to exist, it just so happened to be an afterlife.
This was supposed to by another 200 word drabble, this time using the word "barefoot", but I just kept writing and writing and writing.
So yeah, it got away from me.
Enjoy!
Reflected Absolution.
Euphemia, the pink haired former Britannian princess, sat on the beach, her untied sandals lay curled up beside her, her bare feet buried under the cool, damp, sand. A cheek rested on her knees as she watched waves crash onto the beach. She loved this place. It was a familiar site, though it was only an imitation of the real location back in the world of the living; Shikine Island, Japan. Or, more precisely, the small island Euphemia had marooned on with her older brother, Lelouch. It seemed that had happened such a long time ago now. Time didn't matter anymore, not in this place.
Euphemia moved her gaze from the breath taking scenery to the round silver mirror in her hands. She watched as the smooth surface reflected her image then cloud over for a moment, before it cleared with a shimmer, almost like water stilling after a ripple goes through it, to reveal a figure draped in black. A rush of emotion crashed over Euphemia as she watched the figure in the glass mirror. She closed her eyes as she sensed another presence nearing her. The awareness become clearer the closer a person got to her.
"Lelouch," Euphemia said at the familiar pressure that was her older brother.
"I knew I would find you here, watching the living world, Euphy," the raven haired teen said, coming up beside her.
"And, so here I am," Euphemia replied, there was a slight defensive tone in her voice that she hoped Lelouch heard. She wasn't in the mood to hear any of his lecturing about how unhealthy it was for her to dwell on the world of the living, a world that she was no longer a part of.
"Shoes," she reminded Lelouch without taking her eyes off of the mirror.
The boy chuckled and began untying his sandals. "I know your rules," he insisted, looking down into the mirror in his sister's hands. The dark figure moved over the surface of the looking glass form a large room, where he was surrounded by people, "Ah, you're watching him again."
"Yes, I am."
"What's he doing?" Lelouch asked conversationally, but Euphemia could detect genuine curiosity radiating off of her dark haired sibling.
"It looks like he just got out of a meeting. He is often in meetings these days."
"I expected he would be," Lelouch said with a knowing grin.
They watched Zero enter a spacious, expensively dressed hotel room. The masked figure walked passed all the lavishly displayed paintings and furniture, straight into the bedroom over to the bed that took up most the space in the room. Zero sat at the edge of the bed and took off his headgear.
"You still love him," Lelouch asked.
"Almost as much as he loved you," the girl responded without thinking.
Lelouch looked at the girl in shock, his mouth mute, and his eyes wide. Euphemia was sure her face reflected his. She didn't know where that idea had come from, but the more she thought about it, the more it started to make sense to her.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Lelouch tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace, scrunching his face, abashed.
"Oh, you can't lie to me, brother; we have no secrets, not here, not in this place." Euphemia warned, wagging her finger at him. "I can see what's in your heart. I know that you wanted him by your side as I wanted him by mine. And now I can see that after everything that happened, Suzaku wanted it, too."
"Euphy…" Lelouch began but was unable to finish his thought.
She looked into Lelouch's violently violet eyes. They were staring at her, unblinking. I know that look, she thought to herself. He is trying not to break down. Euphemia shook her head, trying to stave off her own tears. She was in a daze as she continued. "Lelouch, don't. Don't be ashamed and don't apologize. It makes me happy to know that someone sees Suzaku the same way I do." Euphemia wanted to reassure her brother with a hug as well as express her excitement in this new revelation.
Lelouch sharply sucked in his breath, his gaze was back to the mirror that was still in her hands. She looked down into it to see Suzaku Kururugi sitting on the bed, the Zero mask on his lap. He placed his hand on the side of the black mask's faceplate, before hugging it to his chest.
"What, what is it, Lelouch?" She asked.
"I didn't know. I didn't know." He repeated. His voice was different: faint and filled with the release of emotion that trembled in his voice. "I thought he hated me. S-Su-Suzaku!" Lelouch whispered shakily. He buried his head in his hands, his fingers clenching and releasing as his fisted his hair. Euphemia knelt in front of Lelouch and wrapped the former Britannian Emperor in her arms.
Euphemia did her best to soothe Lelouch, softy caressing his hair in short strokes. She could feel the tension built in Lelouch's body and Euphemia started to give the teenage boy a massage. Eventually, Lelouch's sobs faded as the girl continued to massage his head, neck and shoulders.
She felt her borther rest his forehead against her chest in exhaustion. "Euphy..." Lelouch raised his head and looked his younger sister in the eyes.
"Yes, Lelouch," Euphy responded slowly. She briefly tightened her hold on Lelouch.
"Ah, I'm sorry," the raven haired boy started. "I don't know what came over me."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone what happened." Euphemia reassured her brother. She automatically understood what Lelouch couldn't say. He had gotten the one thing he had been searching for; a world where he could be forgiven. Suzaku had forgiven him for all his sins, just as she had.
In the mirror, Suzaku Kururugi looked up to the ceiling, as though he heard someone calling him. Before he stood up and walked out the bedroom, pulling the black mask over his face, to become Zero once more.