A/N: My first LuluC.C., a real milestone! Well I was reading some hent—respectable doujinshi with this couple (and several others -cough-) and just something C.C. was wearing made me think of this idea. This fanfiction IS work safe, though. XD

Dialoque-mostly mic for experimentation purpose. Hope it serves its purpose!

Also, speculation on C.C.'s name based on lip flaps from season 1.

Music on Inspiration: In the Shadows – The Rasmus, Kakome, Kakome – Vocaloids Miku and Luka

Res Judicata

1.1 - Fidem scit

He was not sure why he happened across the little shop. Not really. Maybe it was the faded colors painted along the aging wood, maybe it was the candlelight he could see only through the amber-tinted glass of its windows. Whatever it was that attracted him, his eyes were drawn to the little white OPEN sign hanging haphazardly on the door handle, and he went in.

The familiar jingle of a bell was absent, a little unnerving, but he continued into the shop. The scent of some floral incense hung thick in the air and he felt he would suffocate, but advance onward he did. With every graceful, yet inexplicably loud on the creaky floorboards, step he took, he observed the dingy shop's wares.

The front items were commonplace items—tourist trinkets, brochures, a fridge with assorted colas and bottled water—but the further he walked, the more obscure the merchandise became.

The items in the back began to look more archaic, antiques, and he was almost convinced it was a shop just for them. He really, really would have thought so, had he not taken notice to just what the pieces of antiquity shared.

He would never say he was a fan of the Bible. Sure, he went to the church with his family (whenever available) on Sundays, he said grace before his meals. But did he believe everything the Bible had written in its pages?

Whether or not he did, he was quite certain the the items in the little shop were indisputably satanic.

"See anything you like, boy?"

He jumped, though he would never admit it. He simply just did not get scared.

He heard giggling behind him. Turning, his eyes caught the form of a woman, youthful and grinning mischievously. Her hair fell straight down her back, long and impossibly green, and her eyes glimmered with the same eerie cheerfulness as on her lips. Her features made him associate her with a fantastical creature rather than a human. Compared to her, his black hair and his purple eyes seemed almost common.

"N-nothing in particular," he answered, his composure rebuilding itself steadily. "Is this your shop?"

"Ah, yes."

"Would you mind explaining why you specialize in...this?"

The woman laughed and picked up a jar of some indescribable, gooey substance and he wanted to do two things: retreat in disgust or ask just how she could bring herself to even perform her job.

He did neither.

"I suppose it runs in the family," she said as she put the jar down. "I'm going to need to restock on this."

And he wanted to retreat again.

"If you're not going to buy anything, boy, you might as well leave," she said, voice monotone and earlier mirth gone. "I don't like loiterers, too bothersome. Especially if they annoy the spirits."

"The what?"

"The spirits. Are you hard of hearing?"

He looked at her, feeling an exasperated sound claw at his throat, but he swallowed it. He was dignified. He was calm. He was untouchable.

"I'm afraid I must be."

"Hmm."

There was a pause. Golden eyes bore into his and he felt like he was being evaluated.

"Wicca? Or just witchcraft?" He asked at last. It was her turn to be surprised.

It didn't last long. Her grin returned. "Whatever you want my shop to specialize in, then that's what it is."

He smirked back at her. "That's not very fair, but it is terribly convenient, huh?"

"Perhaps."

Well." He reached out and grabbed the mystery substance jar, examined it, and put it back with the same, nonplussed expression. He glanced at her and she rose an eyebrow to show her acknowledgement of his efforts. "I don't suppose your shop of magic hat items has something that covers eternal life and youth?"

He laughed. She did not.

"Fresh out of stock," she answered. He stopped laughing, eyed her, tried to gauge if sarcasm had just been thrown his way or not.

She smiled brighter. "What's your name, stranger?"

"Lelouch."

"Aaah, all I get is a first name?"

"And what about you?"

"C.C., if you will."

"That's even worse than what I did, witch!"

1.2 - Lex lata

It was another week before Lelouch came across the shop again. It was not because he did not want to be at the shop, for the young shop owner C.C. had intrigued him greatly. It was simply because he could not find the shop.

In the center of an overgrown field, the worn building stood on its wobbly last legs, just as it had when he first saw it wedged between two buildings in the inner city of Pendragon.

The same time-worn door squeaked on ill-maintained hinges. A scent that reminded him of the ocean wafted to his nostrils and Lelouch was pleased to note that the shop did not intend to make his body's toxicity level rise.

"I had no idea your shop was mobile, witch," Lelouch called into the shop. It was still dimly lit by candles and by all appearances looked normal. He waited by the brochure stand, unable and unprepared to venture to the back of the shop. "Disturbingly so, might I add."

"I didn't know you were so dead set on hunting me, boy," came the reply, amusement in its tone. C.C. appeared from where she had been ducked behind a dark wood counter, the cash register atop it. "Disturbingly so."

"Witch hunts have been over for a while."

"My, your wit and charm astound me."

"There is not a girl it hasn't worked on yet."

"So you're trying to pick me up?" She was smirking again, the devious woman.

Lelouch shrugged. "Not exactly. You're much too peculiar for my tastes."

"You scream 'high class butt plug' to me, so I have a feeling we would never work out. Saves us both the trouble."

Lelouch pulled open the door on the refrigerator. The cold air chilled his skin as he reached in for a bottle of water. "I have a feeling I should be more offended than I am."

"They say 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. I think in this instance, it is 'offense is in the eye of the victim'. Actually, that sounds mildly painful. Anything else, boy?"

Lelouch looked at the cash register. The blue-green tinted digits for the price of the water and "BWater" blinked at him.

He sighed. "You're rather disrespectful for a business owner."

"I thought I was a witch, judged and feared unfairly for generations. A little disrespect just seems like the proper turnabout. Well, this is all according to you, he who calls me by witch."

"I suppose so." He pulled his wallet out from his back pocket, a glossy black thing with a white zero imprinted on it, and extracted a few notes from its confines. "Did you restock on that immortality thing?"

Lelouch liked that joke, he was not sure why. He was sure, however, that he was being incredibly rude, and had this woman cared in the slightest, she would have opened his drink and splashed it in his face.

Instead, C.C. smiled softly. "Afraid not. Get out, before I curse you, you mortal man."

1.3 - Ecce homo

The shop disappeared for a month.

During that time, Lelouch had little time to dwell on the shop or the cynical shopkeeper. His sister Euphemia was being wed to a respectable man of Japanese descent. It had surprised Lelouch when he first met him, for he hadn't known that his cute sister was marrying into the Kururugi family, the current prestige of Japan. Suzaku Kururugi was broad-shouldered and determined, but something told me that he was only seeing the bare basics of the prime minister of Japan's son.

Basics or complexities or no, Suzaku had captured Euphemia's heart and Lelouch was obligated to feel joyful for them both. After all, Suzaku had not done anything to cross him; in fact, he had been very pleasant to be around. Nunnally had been treated with the utmost respect, he had been very amicable with Lelouch, and it was clear as day that Euphemia was his universe.

Lelouch smirked. Suzaku had only impressed the tip of the iceberg. A creeping feeling in his gut told him that Suzaku would have a much harder time earning Cornelia's respect.

However, when both Euphemia and Suzaku had left their abode for the time being and Lelouch was left home alone with his younger sister, Nunnally had asked, not out of intent to hurt, but out of honest curiosity, "Brother, are you going to marry any time soon?"

He had not had an answer.

1.4 - Nihil decit

When the shop finally appeared again (underneath the struggling branches of a dying willow tree near the local park), Lelouch did not hesitate to enter. C.C.'s banter was entertaining at its worst and enthralling at its best, and he was surprised at himself to find he had missed the tiny shop and its keeper.

"Witch, however you're moving your store around, stop it." Lelouch groused as he stepped into the shop. This visit's scent reminded him of aged books.

"You're persistent in your witch hunt," C.C. drawled as she stepped into the front. What Lelouch thought was a fake frog jumped from her hands and onto the counter top and his skin crawled.

"That...that is disgusting."

"Hm? Oh, the toad. That's Mao."

"...you named the thing?"

She sighed, an odd sound from her and Lelouch realized he did not like it when C.C. sounded so tired. "He's not a thing and I didn't name him. He couldn't pay me back so I had to have him compensate somehow...,"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't worry, fancypants. Why do you keep following me?" Her golden eyes fixated on his and he was reminded of his first encounter with her.

"I'm not following you. I'm always, quite literally, just in the neighborhood. That's it. And I just happen to want to stop in, maybe buy some Devil worship items to gift to my mother, and perhaps keep you company. I never see another person in here, thought you'd appreciate it."

"I call bullshit," C.C. stated. She sounded neither accusatory or angry, just resigned. "Although, maybe not about the part with your mother."

Lelouch scowled briefly before remember he was raised to be polite. Pulling him down from his pedestal seemed to be something C.C. was good at. "I'm not bull...I'm not pulling your leg, Witch...except the part about my mother."

"If you're being honest with me, say my name."

It seemed a simple enough request.

"C.C."

She looked at him, eyes dark and hard and Lelouch felt very much like a rodent trapped beneath a cat's watchful, predatory eyes. Mao croaked and ended up on the floor, hopping away into the darkness of the back of the shop.

"Wrong, boy. When you can say my name, we might have something."

"I don't know your name."

"And at this rate, you never will."

"If I could live forever, I'd learn it someday."

Lelouch bought a pack of bubblegum from a stand by the register and left.

He was surprised the store was still there in the morning.

In fact, it never moved again.

1.5 - Odi et amo

Another month passed by, and Lelouch never failed to enter the nameless store every day between 9 and 11 in the morning. Their banter was always brief, filled with dagger-like comments, intending to hurt but never really accomplishing the task. It was more of a game to them; cat and mouse. C.C. won most of the time, herself having an endless well of patience and his own excessive well running dry soon enough.

Every day he bought something, a trifle item that he could pick up at any convenience store for a cheaper price.

Every day he tried different names.

Today was no different.

His imagination running short, Lelouch pulled through his mental list of names he had already tried and the ones he had not. "Ah, a family friend's name is Milicent. How is that?"

"I'm not quite sure that's a name, to tell the truth." Blunt, uncaring, although amused.

"Her middle name...what was it again?"

"Was it Draconis? Something tells me her parents would come up with something even stranger, actually." C.C. was never much help in his guessing games.

Lelouch deposited a small key chain on the counter top, one of those cheap ones with a name in beads. S-H-I-R-L-E-Y stood out, and Lelouch would have tried that name if he had not already done so two weeks prior going through his friends' names. C.C. wrung it under the scanner. Lelouch pulled out his wallet.

"I think it was...Elizabeth."

C.C. said nothing. She accepted the money without a word and handed his change over briskly. She was pale and wan, seemingly ill.

"C.C., are you all right?" Lelouch was surprised by himself, to be so concerned about the woman of his infuriation.

"I'll be fine...Lelouch. After all, one of us has to live forever and we already know for a fact that it's not you."

1.6 - De oppresso liber

"Brother, you look so happy recently!" Nunnally exclaimed one day. Lelouch was taken aback by the random statement.

"Really?"

"Yes! You remind me of Big Sister Euphie!"

Lelouch narrowed his eyes. "I'm not quite sure how to take that...last time you told me I reminded you of one of our sisters it was because I was, and I quote, 'unbelievably pretty'."

Nunnally laughed and Lelouch found he did not care if he was insulted or not. He smiled not unkindly.

"I was talking about when Euphie met Suza-kun!"

"Suza...kun?"

She nodded. "Yes! Suzaku was teaching my about Japanese honorifics and I thought it was fun to call him that. When I first did he seemed a little surprised, but then he laughed about it."

Lelouch smirked. He wondered if Suzaku was secretly offended. "It's good to know he's a good sport."

"Huh?"

"Anyway, about how Euphie and Suzaku met?"

"Oh, nothing much about it, Brother. You just seem to be walking the same Cloud 9 as she was. Hey, Brother?"

"Yes?"

"Euphie loves Suzaku. Do you love someone, too?" She was beaming as she asked. Lelouch turned and looked out the window. It was raining.

He did not have an answer. It seemed that, recently, he never did.

1.7 - Fiat iustitia ruat caelcum

Three days after C.C. had looked so wrecked, two beverages and a box of mints after she had sold him that silly key chain, Lelouch walked to the willow and nearly choked on his heavy heart.

It was not that the shop was gone. No, the shop still stood beneath the weeping tree.

However, with the fire raging inside of it, burning through the roof, he was not sure how much longer it would be there.

"C.C.!" He screamed, ran for the shop. His hand was in his front pocket instantly, digging for his cellphone. He pressed the emergency number frantically, eyes scanning the exterior of the store. C.C. was nowhere around. Could she be inside?

The phone did not ring.

A furious static shriek pierced his ear through the device so suddenly Lelouch thought his already pounding heart was going to implode on itself. His surprise caused the phone to jerk from his hand. He watch the phone's main screen wallpaper (Nunnally, Euphemia and himself, the photo taken by Suzaku) go black as the phone died.

"What?"

The fire crackled.

Something snapped and Lelouch looked up. The branches of the willow had caught aflame and were slowly being burnt to ash and breaking off onto the shop.

"C.C.!" Lelouch called again, feeling helpless. His skin almost felt like it was burning too, the flames were so close, but his inner core felt numb, ice cold, arctic. The ambivalence was disconcerting and shook his knees. "C.C., where are you?"

"You're noisy today, boy."

The voice would have calmed his fraying nerves immediately, really, if he had not seen its owner standing like the angel of death in the burning building's doorway. Her hair burned, her clothes burned. Her flesh burned. It was such a horrible stench that Lelouch missed her floral incense desperately.

"C.C.! Get out of there! We need to get you to the hospital and get the fire department. There's no way you can save that place by staying here!"

She smiled as she collapsed in the doorway. "Of course not, I set the place aflame with foxfire."

"What...?"

"Look, Lelouch," she said, voice airy, careless. "The spirits are all leaving. All their homes and idols are burning." She pointed a burning, blackening, bleeding finger to the sky between the remaining tree branches.

Lelouch looked, a quick glance, really. He was not sure why he did.

"C.C.!"

"I can't move, my tendons are all burning up."

"How can you...C.C. I'll come get you, alright. We'll leave."

He raced to the door. The flames broke the window as he neared, shattering glass at his feet. If any shards hit him, he didn't notice or care. Lelouch reached for her hand as the heat escalated to dangerous degrees around him. "C.C.!" She met him halfway, slick fingers wrapping around his own pale ones.

"Lelouch," she crooned. She pulled hard and Lelouch gasped as he was dragged down. He stared at the unforgiving flames, at his companion, and finally at her iron grasp. "say it again. My name, please. Like you cherish it."

"Your...name?"

"Elizabeth...my name is Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth...,"

She smiled, nothing devious and forlorn about it, only an ecstasy Lelouch was unaccustomed to seeing where she was concerned. "Again!"

Lelouch blinked and tried to pull himself up into a more dignified position. She would not let go. "C.C...no, Elizabeth, we're going to both burn if we don't get out."

"That's not right...say it right!"

She was crying through her smile, through her blood, and Lelouch was at a loss. He pushed the panic down. "...Elizabeth."

And she wept.

"Lelouch...that item for immortality...,"

"What?"

"You granted my one wish, you know. You said my name like I was loved. Truly, deeply. It's all I ever wanted. For...centuries, no one ever could. So you can have it, all of it."

"I don't...I don't understand!"

Lelouch was getting scared and he did not give a damn what his upbringing told him, he did not care if it was not cool, he did not want to leave her here to die because she most definitely was loved and he would admit it a hundred times more if he could just get them both out-!

"I'll give you...immortality. A witch, huh? Did you know you hit the nail on the head?"

Her grip on his hand brought him closer and Lelouch gasped into the kiss that was suddenly upon him. Her lips were uncannily soft and sweet as her face began to burn.

"Lelouch, I hope you're luckier than I am, and that someone will free you soon."

And his world went white.

1.8 - Memento vivere

"Are you sure Lelouch never came home, Nunnally?" Euphemia asked nervously. Suzaku was at her side, hand clasped in hers, thumb running soothingly over her knuckles. "He hasn't called or anything?"

"No," Nunnally said from her side of the phone line. "I keep calling his cellphone, but it rings once before it goes to voicemail. Do you think something's happened?"

"I'm not sure, Nunnally."

Suzaku eased the phone from her hand. "Please don't worry, Nunnally-chan, I'm sure they'll find your brother soon."

Lelouch vi Britannia was not seen again.

1.9 - Imitatio dei

She was not sure why she happened across the little shop. Not really. Maybe it was the vibrant colors painted along the furnished wood, maybe it was the bright lights she could see only through the stained glass of its windows. Whatever it was that attracted her, her eyes were drawn to the little white OPEN sign hanging neatly on the door handle, and she went in.

"Hello, can I help you?"

The shopkeeper was a taller man, with midnight hair and the deepest violet eyes she had ever seen. He seemed the very image of charisma and the only reason she did not blush was from pure willpower after she saw his arresting smile.

"Ah, I'm not really sure. I guess I'm just browsing."

"Sounds fair."

She scanned the shelves and walls a few moments before speaking again. "I don't think I've seen this place before. Is it new?"

"Ah, I just reopened after a long hiatus. The place burned down. I got it...upgraded, I suppose you can say."

"Wow."

"That word does not even begin to cover it."

"Shouldn't you have a name tag or something? Most shops' employees have them."

He laughed and the sound was beautiful. She could not keep the full blush down. "As you can see, my establishment isn't like most shops. But you can call me Zero."

"Zero? That's not much of a name, weirdo."

"Oh? And what's your name?"

"Kallen. Kallen Stadtfeld."

A/N: I think I like my latin phrases app a little bit. Ahahaha. Spur of the moment fic decision turns into nothing like I wanted it to. Not sure if I like the result, but ooooh well.

Took several liberties, but that is expected of an AU.

Review, please, so I can know if I should try something like this again?

...I think I'm gonna stick to write tragedy stories. I seem to be pumping 'em out like crazy.