It was the gun shot heard around all Area Eleven. The blast echoed for what seemed like an eternity before it slowly ebbed away. The gun still left smoking in the hands of Zero, the eleven's savor. They did all they could to try and save her, however nothing prevailed. The bleeding was too immense, a major artery had been struck and was now spurting out ruby tears; she had but hours to live. Euphemia lay motionless on a hospital bed, cold and pale. Her pure white dress was spattered heavily with blood, her beautifully long pink hair matted against her face from both sweat and blood.

The doors to her room opened and Suzaku Kururugi practically sprinted over to her, and entwined her fingers with his. He was always there for her, at her side when she need someone to cry on, or someone to make her smile. Being there with her on her deathbed was no exception. Countless nights Euphie used his shoulder as the tissue that dried her tears, both joyful and sorrowful. Mostly she cried for the abused Elevens, or former Japanese until Britannia took over.

They had planned out their escape from this corrupt world. They had magnificent plans to run away, marry and live out the rest of their lives together somewhere in the rural hillside of Area Eleven. Just little Euphie and her knight, Suzaku. However, the demon clad in purple drew his infamous mark straight threw the center their plans, he had shot Euphie and he had aimed to kill. It's gonna be OK! Everything is going to be fine! Suzaku tried to reassure himself despite the doctors bleak predictions. He was there looking over her when she was in the thick of death. "Su-Suzaku." She looked up at him, weak, sickly and pale. He looked at her with tears in his eyes. He knew she was close, he just hadn't excepted it yet. "I love you, Suz, Su, Ss." Her eyes fluttered shut and her body went limp.

"No!" Suzaku shouted at the corpse. "God Dammit, you cannot leave me yet! Euphie! No!" He cried and hugged her close. He stroked the sticky hair out of her eyes, gently rocking back and forth.

"Official time of death, Two o'clock A.M." The doctor announces as he let his head drop, eyes gazing at the floor. "Alert the Princess." He said quietly. Suzaku shut his eyes, this was all a dream to him, an awful dream! Yes! He will wake up and they will already be in a small cottage picking flowers and soaking in the sunshine. When he opened them again, his fears had been realized. She was laying on an iron table, cold, pale and limp. Vibrant little Euphie, now just an empty casing like the husk of an ear of corn, stripped of it's golden grains. He swore to himself, he would catch the bastard responsible. He would catch and kill Zero.

He walked into the darkest room possible, slammed the door and reached for his helmet. With a swish it was off. He threw it as hard as he could against the wall, and winced when he herd the bang. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. His hand still tightly wrapped around the gun. His lips quivered and he felt his eyes burning. "Don't." He said aloud. "What would they think of their mighty Zero if they saw you crying." He couldn't help it. He threw himself on what he thought was a bed and buried his head in the pillows. He felt hands on his back, hugging him.

"It' alright, it's going to be OK" she breathed in his ear. He flinched. He craned his head to look at her shadow and instantly recognized her frame. C.C looked at him in the darkness. He rolled over and put his head on her shoulder. She rubbed his back and hugged him. She really wasn't into this "poor baby" nonsense, she was built to hide her emotions after many years of insufferable events. However she was genuinely worried about him. Her Lelouch. She had created a contract with him and was worried he wouldn't fulfill what she wanted most of all, well that was what she was trying to convince herself anyway. She had feelings beyond friendship for him, but wouldn't admit it.

"I killed my own sister," He whimpered. "She's dead, I killed her. I will never live this down. C.C." By now her shoulder was dripping, she didn't care. She cupped his face in her hands, removed a black strand of hair from his purple eyes and whispered, "We will get through this, you have to set your emotions aside to achieve what you really want. Forgive yourself, Lelouch, forgive and forget. You have countless people who believe in you really are their savior! You cannot let them down. Do you want everything you achieved, everything you did, everything you have become to theses people to be thrown away, forgotten? No! Now let's go. Britannia won't think twice about killing innocent Japanese people, and you will not look the other way. They struck you and you lashed back." She was stroking his face with the back of her hand. He looked at her with glistening eyes and sighed.

"You are right, C2. I cannot change what I have done, and even though I despise myself for doing it, it had to be done. Geass is a bitch." He laughed weakly and wiped his eyes off with the back of his sleeve.

Two Months Later

"We have gotten word of a medical breakthrough surfacing out of the Britannian Scientific Facility. Not much information has been released to the public, however, what we can tell you is this revolutionary formula may have something to do with the murder of our beloved Euphemia. Stay tuned and we will brief you on all the info when we have it! And now a word from our sponsors." Brightly colored ads flashed across the screen, making Suzaku's eyes swirl. He switched the television off and closed his eyes. The image of her pale face haunted him, called to him, "Save me, Suzaku. You couldn't save me!" whenever he did. He hasn't had a full nights rest since that day. His career in the military had excelled, he was promoted and highly regarded as one of the best. This didn't matter, thought. What did matter was avenging Euphie by killing Zero. That man was always one step ahead. One leap farther, one bound more than Suzaku could take. The disturbed him greatly. He focused on his tactics, trained endlessly and was still not good enough to catch him. He was too smart.

He walked into the Britannian Knighmare Facility to talk to Lloyd Asplund, his boss. If anyone knew anything about this "Major scientific breakthrough" Lloyd was the guy to talk to. He spent eternities studying science and engineering Knightmares. He was a sociopath, single and in his late thirties. "What are you doing here. You aren't scheduled to bother me until tomorrow, Suzaku." He turned away from the complex set of blueprints he was drawing out to look at Suzaku. "So out!" He flicked the back of his hand towards the door and swirled back around. Suzaku still stood there smiling.

"Good morning to you Sir." Lloyd flinched and raised his shoulders. He spun on his heels and looked his straight in the eyes.

"Now now, Suzaku. We talked about this. Don't call me Sir. You know I hate it. When you are here, you are not aloud to be formal, ever. Now what do you want?" he looked at Suzaku with much inpatients not cleverly hidden, as usual.

"I was wondering if you have any dirt on this whole "Medical Breakthrough" thing." Lloyd laughed and shoved his hands into the pocked of his lab coat.

"What's in it for me?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"If you tell me, I will not disturb you for any reason for the rest of the day." He put his hand over his heart and swore on it. Lloyd shrugged and walked leisurely over to Suzaku and leaned in close.

"Now listen, I am not cleared to release this information, but since I hate the establishment, I'm going to tell you anyway." He laughed at his own joke. "You did not hear this from me, got it?" Suzaku nodded quickly. His pulse quickened as he thought of what it was. They found Zero? They killed him? They staged the whole thing? Lloyd's lips couldn't move fast enough. "Well, they developed a new serum, an injection, that can jump start a no-longer pumping heart. You know, like one of those cheep movies that bring someone back from the dead, and they are planning to do just that to the corpse of Euphemia. It'll never work knowing the idiocy of all the scientists in that facility. Now if someone like myself created it, it would work without a hitch. But I am too busy to save mankind." He walked back up to the desk and began to work again.

"Thanks sir, er I mean, Lloyd!" Suzaku shouted as he ran out the door. He was damn well going to be there when they tried it out.

I know it starts out a little slow but a story has to start somewhere! It will get better, I promise!To talk or ask questions with anyone in Ashford, e-mail them at , I may even begin posting questions before each story and they will try and reply to every one sent. Ask them anything! Name the person you wish to ask in the subject of the e-mail. (Including me if you want!)

Cheers! Evangeline :)