Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Code Geass or the fictional characters created behind the masks of this world. Indeed, it would be a strange world if I did. The following is based on those masks, through the tint of my own mind.

A/N: This is a one-shot, something I wanted to write ever since the first time I watched the ending to Code Geass many many years ago. This isn't a light, happy read, so be forewarned. It is more of a literary work than a nice story. With this piece I begin what I see to come of many fan-fics centered around Lelouch and Suzaku. One in particular is being written right now and will be a longer story not tied to this one-shot. Stay tuned.

-Oblivion

The black mask. It had been focus of the world's reformation, the epicenter of a lost people's hope and an entire world's fear. It was what made a man more than any one person could be, a symbol, and yet it was also Zero. It was nothing.

Across the surface of the convex black visor a thumb traced lines over the reflected image. Suzaku stared solemnly at his face upon the shell. That face was not his own. It had been ten tumultuous years since the Zero Requiem. The haggard eyes looked distastefully at the aged man he saw. Gone was that youthful boy who held delusions of changing the world from the inside out. The boy who set out and turned his back on his family, home, and people all for their sake, was nothing but a shadow in the tired lines of the Lord's face. It all had shattered for him on that day, the day he drove his sword through his misguided best friend.

Running his thumb again over his face, Suzaku wondered what was left of him. He had worn so many masks, shown so many faces, how could he be sure the man he saw was not just another mask? Was there even a real Suzaku Kururugi anymore?

It was time. The clock had ticked down on him. Despite his martial prowess he knew the only reason he was still alive to that day had been Lelouch's geass. He couldn't even die if he wanted to. But wasn't it all deserved? Was it all a just punishment for the boy who had come to kill a father and cycle through that destiny to bring the death of his friend? Death was the one constant. The one foundation of life that was truth with no masks. He had been denied even that one truth.

He had played his role, the curse layed upon him by his best friend, and served ever at Empress Nunnally's side. Whether that was to be as the gallant Lord and Knight of Zero or to don the cloak and become Zero himself and slay any threatening the peace Lelouch had sacrificed himself for, Suzaku held his charge. Zero was the counter-weight, Suzaku had come to realize, for society's lust for destruction. No matter the peace, there would always be anger and there would always be someone to blame. If Zero could not be the epitaph of all their hatred then it would be directed elsewhere. Suzaku and that mask had become the devil in the flesh. But he could not endure.

Even with the impossible to ignore drive of the geass curse, Suzaku felt himself waning. His heart felt weaker day by day. "I'm sorry, Lelouch." The mask slipped between his fingers, dropping into black water of the pond with a soft splash. It was swallowed into the depths of the water, no longer visible in the crescent moonlight of the night. "I couldn't keep my promise to you." Suzaku closed his eyes, tilting his tan angled face to the soft bath of pale moonlight. "Nunnally will be safe. Kallen and Jeremiah will be her sword and shield. My only purpose now is in death, Lelouch. With Zero gone, maybe it will all come undone again, but no longer can the human race be led by a false mask. Nunnally is changing the world the right way, and there's no place for me in it. I'm sorry."

Drawing a ceremonial blade from his jacket, Suzaku held the knife at an angle above his chest. He would die like a Japanese man in the moonlight. The blade shone in the soft starlight as it sped down toward his flesh. It stopped an inch from his heart his hands frozen. A tear fell onto the cool metal. Suzaku let the knife drop into the wet earth. "Damn you, Lelouch. Damn this curse! Why can't you let me die!" He screamed into the night sky, tears trailing down his face, sparkling in the moonlight.

Taking in a breath, he clenched his jaw. Suzaku set his gaze across the still pond. He would find that woman. C.C. That green-haired witch who started this whole thing. She'd be alive, that woman. He himself had witnessed her death only to find her alive again like the bullet had never gone through her skull. And if there was one person who could remove this curse, it would be her. Though, he was loathe to admit it, meeting her again scared him more than anything. The pain and horror he had seen when she had touched him in the Lancelot . . . Suzaku never felt like he recovered from that shock.

And with the twistedness of Zero, who knew how many more soul shaking truths of himself that woman would unveil? Though, he thought dryly with a smirk on his face, maybe it would be enough to stop his heart.

With the break of sunlight, Suzaku set out, putting the capital city, Pendragon to his back. He had already resigned his commission, forsaking his old self. Forsaking Nunnally. But she had just patted him on the cheek and gave him the soft smile she reserved only for him. "Take care of yourself, Suzaku."

He had nodded, confirming the empire's order, "I will." Though, he had meant to take care of himself in the opposite way his childhood-friend-turned-leader-of-the-world had.

But first, he would track down the green haired witch. Shrugging his shoulder, Suzaku adjusted the small pack he had taken. He tugged his black sunglasses down. "Guess I'll start with pizza places."

As it turned out, his just-better-than-a-stab-in-the-dark guess unveiled a path before him. It had been 10 years for the nearest pizza shop, but the owner boomed with laughter as his jowls swung. "Yeah, I 'memba a chick lik dat. Not many girls got green air, eh. Not many girls orda ten pies tugo eida."

And so the hunt began.

He managed to pick up bits and pieces of her as he wandered. It had seemed she had traveled off into the countryside. That was where his search had led. Straight to dirt paths and no establishments. Suzaku groaned. There wouldn't be many people to find for gossip out there. Only animals. And, he thought back to Arthur, maybe animals weren't a good idea. He subconsciously rubbed his finger on his pant leg, rubbing out a sharp bite from Arthur's incisors.

Though, he didn't have much choice. Hell, he was going on idle rememberings years old of a wandering stranger who never seemed to stay in one town long. What was a little random fumbling in the countryside to him now?

As he traveled, he was left alone for the first time in his life to be a man without a care. To be a man who didn't need to wear a mask. On the road, he was just Suzaku Kururugi. Whoever that was, he still hadn't a clue, but it was him just the same. His thoughts had wandered just as he rambled on. Inevitably, they would always circle around to Lelouch. The small boy abandoned by a kingdom. A student vice president named Lamperouge. A brilliant genius who couldn't run for more than a minute or so. Suzaku smiled, though it quickly dropped. He was the first Zero, mass-murderer, martyr. Bile piled up in Suzaku's throat as the image of a blooded emperor emblazoned in his mind, the look as those purple eyes lost their sharp shine chilling his heart.

Feeling weak and sick, Suzaku let himself rest by a small trickling stream under the little shade of autumn-burdened trees. Watching the clear water rush over rock calmed his stomach. Water was cleansing in that way. It was peace incarnate. Yet no amount of water could wash away the stains on Suzaku's hands, the ghosts dominating his mind. Even now, Suzaku saw a young man walking across the barren world on the other side of the river border line.

He couldn't quite make out any features, but the laborous steps over rock and the slow careful gait, it all reminded him of Lelouch. Suzaku shut his eyes, wishing for a brief minute to just be free of the weight. He saw Lelouch everywhere. Even in the absence of all people, his mind teased and taunted him with spectral images of his best friend. Opening his eyes again, sure enough, the man was gone, just another painful delusion.

Then he saw her.

Suzaku bolted upright, his eyes shooting wide. It was far across the landscape, but he could see it. Long green hair flowed behind as the woman meandered along a dirt path, squeezing a plush yellow stuffed animal in her arms.

Leaping over the small stream, Suzaku dashed in a head long sprint toward the woman. It took him only a few minutes to cover the distance.

When he crashed through the country foliage, she had just turned and welcomed him with an absent bored expression. "Hello, Suzaku Kururugi."

He paused, unsure of how to approach the dangerous witch. Then, a loud crash immediately drew his attention.

The Lelouch-man had dropped the logs he was carrying, staring straight at Suzaku with surprised violet eyes. Suzaku squeezed his eyes shut. Damn that witch. She was messing with his head again, conjuring the one man that would break his already forgotten heart. Though, when he cautiously creaked his eyes open again, the familiar man was still there, staring in disbelief.

"Why aren't you with Nunnally?"

Suzaku felt like his entire body was frozen. Nothing moved. Nothing felt. He stared with wide eyes, mouth ajar. "Le . . . louch?"

Under amethyst eyes there was a small smirk. "You've gotten old, Suzaku," though the bend of his lips fell as he approached the man rooted in place, "why aren't you with Nunnally?" His eyes had narrowed, accusingly.

Suzaku jerked his head back and forth, his fist clenching at his side. "She doesn't need me anymore, Lelouch. Me, Zero, all of it. We have no place in the new world." There was no way. This was a trick. Lelouch couldn't be standing in front of him, alive, unchanged from their youth. It was all just another lie.

The ghost of the man he had murdered stopped a mere inches away, disappointment plain in his violet eyes. "I trusted you, Suzaku. Only you, to protect my precious sister, and you've abandoned her."

"Lelouch," Suzaku cringed, life returning to his body in wracking shakes trembling his core. "She will be safe with Kallen and Jeremiah. She could not move forward while under the cloak of my bloodied presence. I had to leave."

A tight sigh reached Suazku's ears. "When will you stop making excuses?" Why are you here, Suzaku?"

"I couldn't serve . . ." Suzaku gave a quick shake of his head, taking in a breath, and for the first time looked into the dangerous purple eyes of the fantasm before him. "I want to die, Lelouch. I can't do this anymore!" He clawed at his heart. "I can't take it all anymore." Tears brimmed at the edges of his faded green eyes. "Why can't you just let me die, Lelouch? It's the end of the road for me. There's no more time." Please . . . just let me d-"

Hot lips locking onto his caught the word in his throat. Suzaku trembled.

Lelouch pulled back, replacing their connection with a soft palm along Suzaku's cheek. He smiled faintly. "I would have preferred you stayed with Nunally. But, maybe it is time to move on past the world we destroyed, you and me. We broke it down. She will rebuild it."

Suzaku's hand trailed slowly up to touch Lelouch's face. It was impossible. He felt the warmth of his skin, the beating of his pulse. "You're . . ."

"Alive?"

"But I . . ."

"Killed me?" Lelouch finished again with a small smile. "Yes, you killed me. You killed everything I was." His thumb traced small lines over Suzaku's cheekbone. "I'm sorry, my old friend. I am a selfish man. I want everything my way."

"Lelouch," Suzaku managed past his lips, shaking uncontrollably. the mixture of emotions within him exploding like a dam unable to hold back the rushing might of the water or walled any longer. It swept him away. He laughed, tears streaking down his tanned face.

"Lelouch just smiled warmly, continuing to hold Suzaku's face in his palm. "I won't let you die. Not you. Maybe the time has run out, but here in the zeroth hour it is not just the end. It is the beginning, Suzaku."

Gently, their lips met, their souls entwining.

The world melted away.