Title: she walks in beauty, like the night
Author/Artist/Iconist: Dark Hooded Eriol the Magician
Fandom: Code Geass
Claim: Lelouch Lamperouge / C.C
Prompt Set: Violet
Prompt: 1. Books
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine!
Notes: I am writing unofficially again for the Violet set. I don't own the poem that they read. It was by Lord Byron and it's hauntingly beautiful.
Lelouch Lamperouge entered his bedroom with a sigh. After handling a hard day between balancing school and the rebellion, he was exhausted. He closed the door behind him and turned to walk towards the huge queen-sized bed. A sigh escaped him when he saw his usually pristine bedroom in a mess. "C.C, how many times have I told you not to leave your things around?"
His violet eyes widened when he realized that his roommate and accomplice was not going to answer him at all. The silent and indifferent witch was fast asleep on his bed with a book clutched to her full bosom. What caught his eye was not the provocative display of legs and limbs but her unusual accessory. Her- that was really his- eyeglasses were askew on her nose and her expression was blissfully serene.
He laid his bag on the table and approached her cautiously. The dark-haired senior made sure that he did not make any sound. Curiousity won over exasperation. Piles of old books and thick tomes were scattered all over the room. His eyes softened when he read the titles and names of long-dead authors from centuries of old on cracked covers: Lord Byron, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Butler Yeats..
The dark-haired student smiled to himself as he picked up the books and returned them to his bookshelf. It was not his respect for books that made him do it. These books were his sister's. The only reason he kept them was for Nunnally.
Nunnally used to love to read. When she couldn't see anymore, he resolved to share the written word by bringing it to life by reading it to her. Every night he read to his little sister. She always loved the rhyme and rhytm of poems so that was how he managed to compile a collection. Her fertile imagination and romantic nature was somethign he wanted to preserve.
Years later, he learned to appreciate the beauty of books. Lelouch became a voracious reader himself. He absorbed the wisdom of the ages by devouring volume after volume. It was no surprise that his favorite book was The Prince by Nicholas Machiavelli.
Lelouch was so absorbed in his task that he he did not see her stir. He actually dropped what he was holding when he heard a soft and lilting voice recite a favorite poem.
"She walks in beauty, like the night,
of cloudless climes and starry skies
And all that's best of dark and bright
meet in her aspect and her eyes:
thus mellowed to that tender light
which heaven gaudy day denies."
He glanced towards his right to see the beautiful C.C leaning on one elbow to have a better look at the book. He noticed not for the first time the lush curves of her womanly body displayed to its best advantage. Her green hair gleamed in the sunlight; her golden eyes shone behind rimless glasses. He did not want to admit that his breath was stolen away.
She turned her eyes towards him with subtle intent. It seemed to him that she was changing under his gaze. Lelouch saw her as a nymph under the moonlight and the witch under the starry sky. There was no doubt that she might have been what the poet merely dreamed about.
C.C smiled when he put down the books to sit on the edge of the mattress. His violet eyes were hypnotic. Lelouch unconsciously shifted in his seat for a more comfortable position. He closed his eyes when she continued her verse.
"One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress."
C.C's voice was beautiful. It was soft and clear in the quiet room. He couldn't help but imagine her in his mind; he was given a glimpse of her heart.
She was so mysterious. The dark-haired boy had always considered her an enigma. Always changing, always different- she was too difficult to know. Like the wind or the ocean, he couldn't grasp her. Yet that was what made her so exciting and dangerous.
Although she pretended to be selfish and self-absorbed, he knew that she still cared. She hid her reasons behind barbed quips and sarcastic comments. She denied her intentions behind her actions.
C.C herself was grace under pressure.
"Or softly lightens o'er face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear, their dwelling-place."
Golden eyes twinkled behind glasses.
He wanted to pinch himself. Did he imagine that? Was it an invitation?
What he thought he knew about her was wrong. She had so many layers, memories and truths. Her past, present and future were hidden from him. She had seen too much to have an open and honest heart. It hurt him sometimes when she evaded his questions about her past but he bore it with reluctant indifference.
But she'd always, always, reached forward to tell him that what mattered most to her was their present.
Lelouch drew comfort in that.
"And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow."
C.C presented an image of a cold woman to the world. She was indifferent and cold, selfish and untouchable. It seemed that she cared about no one. She saved him because she needed him. He was a tool. She wanted him to fulfill her wish.
But Lelouch always believed that she cared about him in her own way.
"But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!"
C.C closed the book shut. She carressed the violet cover almost lovingly. Her eyes fell on Lelouch who was lying back with his eyes closed. His face was so soft and childlike in repose.
She wondered if she could look like that when Lelouch fulfilled her wish.
When she died, she wanted to feel like that. She wanted to know that she did everything to help. Although her actions weren't always good, she was sure that her intentions were. Maybe God and the world would not see it but she did.
Her heart- poor foolish heart- had fallen in love with the man she wanted to save.
"You're still quite innocent," Lelouch murmured with a bittersweet smile. "Because you still read love poems."
C.C rolled away to cuddle with Cheese-kun. She smiled when he got up to clean her mess. Her cheeks burned deliciously when he murmured under his breath the first opening lines.
"She walks in beauty, like the night."