Author's Note: Welcome to my very first ever piece of Fan fiction! I can't help but feel proud. I wrote this in around 2 hours or so. I've been having this feeling to just sit down and write my first one down. I, unconsciously, as I realized later, wrote this from a dream I had after fully watching the series. While I'm not a shipper on the deck, I found that taking the C. approach to be more appealing here. I hope I did not make both of them too OOC. People who haven't seen the whole series should watch out for any stray spoilers this knucklehead may have missed!
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, nor do I own any of the characters from that series or used from that series. They belong to their respective creators and are copyrighted by Sunrise. I merely own this piece I wrote out of inspiration that the anime caused in me. If I owned it, you can bet I'd be living the good life.
EDIT: A small, insignificant one. I changed the "White Witch" part in this story for "Gray Witch". Thanks, KiKi Hayashi! I also appreciate any and all reviews, not to mention the people who fave'd this! Thank you all so much! I'm becoming inspired into doing a second chapter for this!
Warm wind caressed the lands of the Ashford Academy's grounds. With it, carried was the invisible, but ever present weight of the burdens of the souls of the school's inhabitants. Of note, was the particularly somber mood that seemed to surround a certain part of this school, namely the Clubhouse where the Lamperouge were living in.
This breeze had swept across the settlement, lulling every person in its course into a sense of peace. Reaching Ashford Academy, it continued, past the Student Council's Clubhouse, in which's roof, a lone figure stood. Violet eyes gazed up into the night sky.
Lelouch Lamperouge sighed, feeling the soft breeze caress his face, raven locks lightly billowing in the warm wind, as he pondered his life's recent happenings. He felt guilty. Ever since his fellow Student Council member and friend, Shirley Fenette, confided in him about her father's demise, indirectly caused by Zero's landslide tactic during the Narita Conflict, and subsequently watching her mother weep in despair at the man's tomb, he had only felt guilt and remorse.
He chastised himself for the umpteenth time. Naïve! Foolish! How unlike him, yet so like him, to forgo with the knowledge that innocents could have been caught in the landslide. His naïveté had cost one of his dearest friends her father, and there was no one else to truly blame but himself. And he had to go on, face hidden behind a mask, to do it all, whilst keeping Shirley out of the loop in regards to the identity behind the mask of Zero.
He should be happy, he told himself. The battle of Narita had gone relatively well, allowing the Black Knights to score themselves a victory and help cement their name even further. The Guren's capabilities had been tested against the mighty Lancelot, and it was clear that, had it not been for the terrain, the Guren would have been the eventual victor. They had even received the backing of the Six Houses of Tokyo, allowing their group to finally start to grow and form into a true organization.
Reclining his body on the veranda in front of him, he turned his gaze to the campus's grounds. He was confused as well. He thought he had managed to harden his heart against such commonplace tragedies. But that was a lie, he realized. Those many deaths were not common, for the landslide was set loose for that exact same purpose, collateral damage be damned. In his ignorance, he casted deep grief on Shirley and her mother, and to varying extents on the many other countless families who had lost family members, or that had been ended completely.
This also made him realize, as he stood there thinking, that he had done to her the same that had been done to him as a child; he had caused the death of his friend's parent, putting her family in a tight spot now that the head of the family was gone. Her mother would be forced to work harder, even when Shirley counted with the backing and reassurance of the Ashford. God rest all their souls, Lelouch amended, ending the tangent.
"At least she still has a mother to confide in." Lelouch thought with slight bitterness, before promptly casting that selfish thought out of his mind. He shouldn't think that! It was his fault in the first place!
"Why does it not surprise me to see you here?" Was the question uttered by soft, feminine lips, which had curved into an amused smile as the words rolled of them, snapping Lelouch out of his funk. He looked over his shoulder, and was slightly surprised to see C.C. herself standing a ways behind him in her white restraining outfit, delicate arms crossed underneath her breasts, long emerald locks swaying in the night, like a mantle, figure illuminated by the full moon's radiance.
Lelouch allowed himself a couple of moments to admire her beauty before placing a scowl on his face and once again turned his gaze towards the ground.
"What do you want, you witch?" The word "witch" was uttered in a lower tone than the rest of his sentence, his left hand calmly resting on the veranda, right hand tightly clutching the silenced gun he always kept on his person, for whatever reason he needed it. Knowing she couldn't be killed, he would not hesitate to shoot her a few times if she toyed around with him when his mood was sour.
"Do I need a reason to relax? After all, the moon is quite beautiful tonight." Her smile was still in place. She, observant as ever, knew he would shoot her if she angered him. In all honesty, she did not care. She was not here to enrage him into shooting her anyway.
"Tch." Was all he said, but otherwise offered no other comments as she proceeded to copy his pose, reclining on the veranda at his right side. What did she want? How did she know he was here? What was she doing here?
"What do you want and how did you know I came here?" Phrasing his thoughts, he waited for answers.
"Why, I already told you, I just came here to relax a bit. As for how I know, you aren't exactly the sneakiest of persons, Lelouch. I could tell when you left the bedroom, so I decided to tail you. Lo and behold, I find the King of Angst himself on the roof, sulking about some thing or another."
"Alright, first, you do realize your answers are rather contradictory? Why did you say you came here to relax, when you just said you were following me? Second, I'd appreciate if you did NOT call me the King of Angst. And I was not sulking."
"Oho?" Smile still in place, she raised a fine eyebrow, if anything, expression growing more amused. "Then what WERE you doing?"
"What indeed." Was his curt reply, allowing silence to take hold of the roof.
Not five minutes passed before the silence was broken.
"I did not come here to relax."
"Oh really? Tell me something I don't already know."
Sighing, the Gray Witch turned to look directly at his face. While his face no longer held a scowl, it did not hold a smile either. He was simply staring at the ground, face blank. Face blank, perhaps, but she could see a storm of emotions and thoughts raging on through his eyes.
"Lelouch, it was not your fault."
That sidelong comment caused him to snap his head towards her so suddenly, she could have sworn she heard a crack.
"Lelouch, it was not your fault." She repeated.
"What was not my fault?" He asked rhetorically
"You know well what I'm talking about. It was not your fault her father died."
"How can it not be my fault?!" Lelouch screeched in outrage. "The landslide was MY idea! I arranged for the excavators and the technology to be prepared! The landslide was caused by MY order! If I hadn't been so stupid as to believe no one could have gotten caught in the crossfire, the maybe—!"
SLAP!!
The sound reverberated throughout the roof, before allowing silence to once again take over it.
Lelouch couldn't believe it. C.C. had slapped him. She SLAPPED him! Man, did it hurt! Letting go of his gun and allowing it to clatter on the roof, he held his right hand to his stinging cheek. An angry red imprint of C.C.'s hand was beginning to appear.
He removed his hand, looking at it in disbelief before turning to look at the woman beside him.
She was looking straight at him. No coy smile, no amused look in her eyes, no mocking comment. She simply stood there, staring right into his eyes, right hand still raised from the strike delivered unto the ex-prince's face. She would be the epitome of the visage of seriousness, were it not for the restraining outfit she wore.
"It. Was. NOT. Your. Fault." C.C. hissed in a low voice, stressing out every word, particularly "not".
"B-but… I…" Lelouch spluttered, looking for something, ANYTHING to say. His eyes started to water.
"Not your fault." She said yet again.
"But if I hadn't been so damn stupid… If I had just had taken more time to think things through… Then maybe… Maybe, Shirley wouldn't have to…"
"Don't dwell on that. Ugh, come here." Shushing his mumbling, she pulled him into a gentle embrace sliding down the small wall the veranda rested on until she was sitting on the roof's floor, allowing Lelouch to silently cry into her bosom. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through his hair, muttering some words of comfort every now and then.
They stayed like that for perhaps twenty minutes. By then Lelouch had stopped crying, but had remained immobile. C.C. briefly entertained the idea that he had fallen asleep before discarding it, as Lelouch finally began to pull away from her.
He did not speak, instead merely looked at her for a few seconds before slowly standing up, turning to the moon. C.C. did the same.
A couple of minutes passed before anything other than the wind made any sort of sound. And then he spoke.
"You… are right. Many people died that day, and many lost families that day. Of that, I am guilty. But there was no way I could have predicted that Shirley's father was there, nor could I have actually spared the troops to evacuate the area. Who would listen to "Zero's Dogs" anyway? Totting around with guns held high wouldn't have earned us the love of the Brittanians, not that we need it, mind you."
The only thing that Lelouch got as proof that she heard him was a small "hmm". Thus, seeing no interruption, he continued.
"I will stop blaming myself, at least for now. I'll help Shirley cope with the loss, even though she already has the sympathy of the rest of the Student Council. The more the merrier, right?", At this, he turned to look at her, a small smile on his face.
She returned it, glad to see he realized that. But there was still something on Lelouch's mind that bothered him.
"Why help me cope with that guilt though?" He couldn't help but ask.
"You yourself said, or have you already forgotten?" She gave him a pointed look.
He did not seem to understand, until a recent memory flashed by him.
The two of them were in a cave. She was nude, except for the cape which covered her body. Said cape belonged to the Masked Revolutionary, Zero, who happened to be the Unmasked Revolutionary Zero, at the moment.
He looked at her, the two disregarding her nudity, before speaking: "It's as convenient a time as any, I'd say. I'll only say this once. You have saved my life, and given me Geass. Thank You."
She was surprised by his words, tears slipping past her emotional walls, before smiling in happiness. "Then, will you show your appreciation to me? Say it, please say it again."
He seemed confused, so she clarified: "What you heard… my name. Say it, as if you truly treasured it in your heart. Gently and with warmth."
Understanding, he paused for a moment, before whispering her name: "…", just as a droplet fell from a stalactite from the ceiling, and crashed into the water powerfully, drowning out the sound.
"How was that?" he asks.
"That was awful. You said it oddly, with no warmth at all. You said it as if reading it and it was cold." She remarked, even though she was smiling.
"My, you sure are a picky girl." He countered, smirking.
"Of course, for I am C.C." She answered, smiling all the while.
"...When I said "Thank You"?" He asked, surprised.
"We're even now, Lelouch." She said, smiling again.
"C.C., you witch." This time, the way he said "witch" was not cold, was not resentful. It was slightly playful, yet with warmth. "You were counting on things to turn out like this, weren't you?" Again, his words were playful.
"Of course, for I am C.C." She responded to his playful quip, before kneeling down to pick up his weapon, handing it back to him as she rose.
"You should go back to sleep, Lelouch. You need the rest, and you have school later." She advised him, reminding him that school started in 4 hours as he checked his watch.
"You're right. Though I wonder how Sayoko and Nunnally did not wake up because of the earlier ruckus, I suppose I'll have the time to ponder on that later. Good night, C.C." Stepping closer to her, her emerald locks caressed his face softly, slowly pulling her to him. He surprised them both by bending down and kissing the top of her head, then letting go of her, before turning on his heel, headed back to his room in order to get some sleep.
Not expecting such a reaction, she found herself fighting down a small blush, before her face contorted into a cute pout as she seemingly snapped at the breeze swaying her locks.
"Oh stop it! I'm not falling for him!"
Despite her words, he turned to look to where he exited the roof, thinking, "I knew he would be an interesting person. Lelouch Lampero--, no, Lelouch Vi Brittania, I wonder how you will turn out. Looks like I'll have to stick by your side to see how. Not so bad, I guess." Allowing that thought to linger in her mind, she turned to take one last look at the area, then the sky, before following the same path Lelouch took to his room.
Thus allowing silence to once again reign supreme over Ashford Academy's Student Council Clubhouse's roof, broken only by the low howl of the wind, serene as ever, and by a mysterious sound dancing in it, which oddly, sounded not unlike the amused giggles of a grown woman.
Author's Note: Aaaaaaand Finish! How was it? I'm eager to know! Constructive criticism is appreciated. Flames are not. I hope I at least made it enjoyable to read. This will likely stay a one-shot, though I may consider making it into a two-shot, or even a multichaptered fic. Please Review!
PS: I hope that "Line Breaks" shtick is not as sketchy as some authors make them up to be. Otherwise I'm afraid the integrity of my fic may be in danger!