As you may or may not have noticed, I usually listen to music when I'm writing. When I write something that seems weird compared to everything else it's because whatever song I was listening to at the time shot at idea into my head with a BB gun. Painful, but still worth it.
Kylie Minogue – Can't get you out of my head, Daniel Bedingfield – Gotta get thru this, among other things.
This fic occurs in the space between R1 and R2.
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A black gloved hand raised itself into the air. Its owner stared at it curiously, turning the appendage this way and that as he studied it. Crimson eyes blinked slowly, thoughtfully. The figure sat up slowly and looked around. The grassy clearing he lay on seemed vast. In the far distance, he could make out the contrasting darkness of a road running through it on one side and the rushing texture of a flowing river near it.
The man looked down at his form. Oddly enough, the gloves were the only things he was wearing. He ran a gloved finger down his form. Lithe, but not scrawny. Well defined abdominal muscles as well as biceps, calves, etc., without seeming awkward on his slender frame. Not to mention another well formed appendage.
He reached up and took a strand of hair in his fingers. Jet black, smooth, and silky to the touch. The man let out a breath and lay back on the ground, staring up at the quickly darkening sky. This body and this mind, both were so close to what he knew…and yet worlds apart.
Who was he?
Lelouch vi Britannia? No…Lelouch Lamperouge? No… He could feel it. The person who bore those titles still existed. Still existed…apart from him?
The man covered his eyes with a hand and let out a frustrated growl. He stood up and broke into a run. He paid little attention to the odd sensation of grass breaking and moving beneath his feet and between his toes. All that mattered was who…what he was.
Reaching the riverbank (it was closer than the road), he fell to his knee before it, the last remnants of the sun casting light on his reflection. Clear crimson eyes stared up at him unblinkingly. They narrowed then widened as the winged symbol the geass began to form. Red turned to sliver, their glossiness and the black lining about the irises the only indication of their separation from the rest of the eye.
"I am not Lelouch…" the man whispered, absently surprised to find his voice slightly deeper than remembered. "I am…Zero." A slow smile crept onto the reflection's lips.
"I wonder…" he murmured, reaching out and ghosting his fingers over the reflection that looked so much like the teen whose slender…precious…body he'd once shared, "If I am nothing, then are you everything? Does that make me yours? Or rather…Does that mean I can make you mine…Lelouch?" (1)
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"Lelouch? Lelouch!"
WHAP!
Said teen cringed, his head dropping to hit the table he sat at. He lifted himself up and gave the President, who just had just hit him with a rolled up version of their budget report (like a dog), a tired glare. So what if he had been sleep…err…thinking deeply about important topics, that didn't give her the right to hit him.
"What?" he asked dryly. The older teen tilted her head and smirked.
"You have no idea what we were just talking about, do you?" She asked. Lelouch cringed. They both knew he didn't. He saw no point in admitting it.
"Oh! We were just talking about the- OUCH!!" Rivalz cried as his toes met an untimely end beneath the heel of Milly's shoes. The blue haired teen hunched over and starting taking deep breaths to keep himself from letting out a manly scream. The other 2 members of the Student Council wisely remained silent. Lelouch glanced back and forth between the president and secretary, his 'I'm so screwed' senses going into danger levels. A sweet smile appeared on the woman's face.
"Since you seem so tired, I'm going to be nice and give you an easy part in our next event." She said. Lelouch blinked in confusion. That…didn't seem right.
"In exchange for what?" he asked. The blond frowned, looking sincerely insulted.
"In exchange for nothing." She said, a concerned expression forming on her face. "You're my friend, Lelouch. And you've honestly seemed really tired lately. I just figured that maybe I should go easy on you for once." Lelouch blinked in surprise. She was right. Believe it or not, they really were friends. She was always pulling weird stunts so he'd just assumed… He couldn't help or deny the feeling of guilt and love that filled him.
"I'm sorry." He murmured, smiling softly up at her. "Thank you, Milly." She smiled back and crossed to his side of the table and gave the slighter teen a warm hug.
"It'll be really easy, I promise." The boy nodded gratefully. "OKAY THEN!" She continued, "Let's get this started! You all know your parts!" The other teens nodded. The prince looked around curiously, wondering what his part was, or even what their event was. Nina came over to him and gently took him by the arm. She tugged him over to the supply closet, where she stopped and began to pull out pieces of cloth.
"Nina, what exactly am I supposed to do?" he whispered. The mousy girl looked over her shoulder at him before turning to face him fully, looking as guilty as one would after drunkenly sleeping with a close friend's lover. The boy frowned.
"Um…well…we're doing a play…" Lelouch raised an eyebrow encouraging her to continue. "And…well…you're going to be playing…Aurora."
"Aurora?" he asked.
"…Sleeping Beauty."
Twitch.
"DAMMIT MILLY!!!"
"You've already accepted the part Lulu!" she called.
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Zero walked calmly along the roadside, as if he weren't essentially naked. It had been 2 hours, it was dark out and the road had remained empty. He half considered simply walking in the road, but decided against it; the grass was much easier on his feet.
Light flooded his back. He stopped and looked over his shoulder as a white and blue 18-wheeler truck came barreling down the road. The truck passed him in a rush, the backlash tossing his hair every which way. The truck screeched to a stop and slowly backed up along the empty road. It stopped so that the passenger door was right before him. The white door opened from the inside to reveal a burly looking Britannian man. His eyes scanned Zero's slender frame and raised an eyebrow.
"Need a ride?" he asked, seeming to forego addressing the obvious. Zero smiled coolly up at him.
"Yes, thank you." He said, climbing into the large vehicle. He shut the door behind himself and crossed his legs as he put on his seat belt. The man reached into the back area and pulled out a black ragged blanket. He tossed it to the teen before putting the trunk back in gear and staring on his way.
"Where ya headed?" the trucker asked in a gravelly voice.
"As close to Pendragon (2) as possible." He replied.
"Name's Rick. How'd ya get all the way out here?" Rick the trucker asked.
"I'm Nihil. (3) And I'm afraid I don't know how I ended up here." He said with an amused smile. Rick watched him in his peripheral vision and laughed.
"Well okay then! Why don't you get comfy. I'm not going to the capital, but I'll wake ya when we get close. Get some food in yer stomach, clothes on yer back, huh?" Zero smiled up at him.
"Thank you." He murmured. "Is there anything I can do for you? I'm afraid I've no method of repaying you." Rick gave him a smirk.
"Don't nobody need a reason for doing something nice." He stated. Zero tilted his head thoughtfully.
"If only everyone lived by that philosophy." He said absently, reclining into the leather seat. Rick hummed softly in solemn agreement.
They rode in silence for several hours, during which Zero spent the time between watching scenery and sleeping so still one would think he were awake. Which Rick commented on when they reached their first pit stop.
"What are you, a doll?" he asked. He was answered with a long silence. "Yo. Nihil. You awake?" The teen tilted his heads towards Rick. Crimson eyes opened and stared at him.
"Yes?" he asked, sound completely wide awake. Rick raised an eyebrow.
"Were you asleep?" he asked. Zero remained silent for a moment before blinking slowly.
"Hmm? Yes. Yes, I was." (4) He finally answered. Rick chuckled softly. Despite appearances, the kid was so bleary he might as well be on pause. The teen looked around and raised a curious eyebrow at the trucker.
"Rest stop." He said. He reached into his pocket and took out 2 bills. "Here's 40 bucks. Get yerself some clothes, food, and whatever." He stated. Zero's eyes softened a bit and he gave the man a small warm smile.
"Thank you." He murmured taking the cash and smoothly brushing past the man. Rick shivered slightly as the boy passed. If he weren't a tough guy he would have flushed. He massaged his temples with his middle finger and thumb. He couldn't believe he'd let himself come so close to being that affected by someone who was essentially still a child. A child with a body models would be jealous of, mind you, but a child nonetheless. He sighed.
Zero entered the rest stop, the black blanket wrapped under his arms and over one shoulder like a toga. Heads, male and female turned and cocked in an attempt to see up the short piece of cloth. While Zero wandered the aisles unaffected. What did the attention of these people matter compared to that of Lelouch?
He looked at each object with slight interest before walking past the hair aisle. He paused momentarily and reached up to touch his hair. He really did look like Lelouch, didn't he? From what he remembered, the boy had been captured. And yet, in his heart or mind, he knew his love to be safe. Walking around looking like him wouldn't help though if someone connected should see him.
Zero scoured the aisle, picking up each box and setting it back down. He couldn't imagine seeing himself in any of these colors. He picked up another box. Silver. He considered that for a moment. Silver hair and red eyes. He could pass himself off as an albino, which would be convenient should anyone ask. His lips twitched up in a slight smile as he added the product to the once empty basket. After a couple minutes he was able to fill the cart with other necessities: junk food (the only real kind offered), fruit bars, toiletries, and a couple of cheap souvenir clothing.
Rick walked up to him at the cash register, where Zero had easily (as in he hadn't actually been trying) gotten a discount for his purchase from the flustered but flirty male cashier. That was in addition to the free items he'd been given by several of the older women in a mixture of motherly and 'I wonder if he's into cougars' levels of kindness.
Rick eyed Zero's load. "Did you even need money?" he asked incredulously. Zero simply smirked at him as they exited the store.
"Are you in any rush?" he asked. The man blinked curiously.
"Nope. You need to do something?" Rick asked. Zero fingered his hair.
"I wanted to do a quick dye job." He stated.
"Seriously?"
"Is that alright?"
"Sure. I'll even help ya out. Used to dye my girl's hair back in the day." He boasted. Zero chuckled.
"I'm glad to have a professional." He said.
They entered the restroom where a man was using one of the urinals. He looked over his shoulder at them, eyes really taking the time to process each curve on Zero's body. The young man continued over to the sink, oblivious to or simply not caring about the lustful glances being sent his way. Rick, however, was not so lenient. He shot the man a dark glare that would have had the jerk losing control of his bladder had he not already emptied it. Now that the predators were gone, they could work in peace.
Rick had the teen bend over the sink and place his head in it as the trucker stood over to the side of his client and got to work.
45 minutes and 12 death glares later, they were done. Rick undid the towel around Zero's head to reveal sterling silver colored locks all the way down to the roots. Zero was impressed, and for once his expression showed it.
"Nice, huh?" the trucker asked proudly. Zero ran his hands through his hair.
"Very." He breathed in awe. Rick smirked.
"Well then, Nihil. Now that we're done here, what do you say we get back on the road?" The passenger smiled up at him.
"Let's." Zero followed the man outside and stared up at the evening sky. Had it really been a whole day since he had awakened? Despite the various lights in the area, the stars were clear and many. They were beautiful and yet imperfect, random. He closed his eyes as he walked and took in a deep breath of the autumn air. 'Soon, Lelouch. Soon I'll be where you are…I swear."
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Okay… so here's that. I had an urge and scratched it! Yay! For once, I actually have a general idea of where I'm going with this. I hope you all enjoy it. Please read and review!
(1) Does this make sense to you all? Zero is the 'nothing' that was derived from Lelouch the 'everything'. If this needs more explanation, let me know.
(2) Pendragon is the city they live in right? If it's not, let me know.
(3) Nihil – Classic Latin for the number 0. I considered using Rei, which is one reading of the Japanese word for 0, but figured that someone who was clearly a Britannian wouldn't have a Japanese name. So good enough right?
(4) Anyone who has ever watched Disney's Phineas and Ferb probably recognized this. This is a shout out to an incredibly funny cartoon show with great musical numbers in every episode!
Also, for anyone worried, Rick the trucker won't be around much longer. He was a means of getting Zero to Lelouch.
…Yup. I think that's it. If you have any questions or anything, feel free to review or pm me.
Also, READ MY OTHER STORIES (+++ Shameless advertising...now available in cookie dough and strawberry kiwi flavors! +++)
