Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own brain.

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.iris.

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The wrathful blade of justice pierced deep through his heart, and as the Fates looked on while the redhead repressed her pain and tears with a bitter smile, they knew then that they should have thought better than to hope that this time things would be different.

They really wished, prayed and hoped with all the powers they knew they had that their ending would not end up like this (again and again and again and again). After all, he was a prince this time, and she was considered part of the royalty in both Brittania and Japan. Even in the battlefield Knightmares bow to his sheer authority and her unmatched skill. They were young, and sheltered, and had a family they could call their own.

They were so different when they first met eons ago—she who was caught in a pool of blood, and he who had caused it.

He is called Lelouch, raven-heard, and he is so much like her, conniving, silent. With his different masks it was hard to break through his real soul. Instead of a psychotic brother (Enishi) he had a sister he could protect, but it was also through his dark family's past that he has come to this point of maddening bloodshed, going through such a meticulous plan to make everything fall into place. And rule like a prince he is in a kingdom that was never his.

He had the hitokiri's intense eyes, this time.

She, on the other hand, was nothing like the hitokiri. She was named Kallen, and she is as loud, impatient, irritable and bloodthirsty as her fiery red strands (that might have been the real Shinto, if only tragic circumstances did not happen). But when she transforms into a gentle and frail woman who could not seem to break a leaf, she becomes that boy before he became the famed assassin.

She did not have sisters who tried to protect her life, but she has her brother who gave up his life for her future. She has seen and felt the oppression of her people, and once again she becomes their saviour who frees them from the invaders' malicious reign.

She had all the hitokiri's wife's suppressed emotions she had no problem letting out.

They still did not mean to fall in love, but they did. And there was supposed to be a happily ever after this time.

But no, Finality had other plans, and as the Fates cried themselves to silence as one of their sisters finally cut the dark prince's golden thread, they were reminiscing of times past, times worth a thousand years, where another one, a raven-haired woman, has met her end through the sword of her redheaded assassin for the sake of revenge, love and a better life.

They were still at war, and in the end, he(she) still betrayed her(his) trust and left her(him) just when things have progressed to an explosive turn. She may not be the one who cut him, but she did not need to bear the scars—he has already wounded more than her skin with his cutting, scathing words with eyes that betrayed what he really feels inside.

All in the name of love.

Sometimes, the Fates thought if the world would be better off without it.

They continued to watch as the Zero Requiem has reached its final notes, and they watched as the Red Lotus Ace stayed with The Evil Emperor's Sister and Zero, her eyes a maddening black.

She will become the wanderer, the Fates knew it too soon.

Again and again and again and again.

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The Fates saw how she was back in the academy, where they welcomed her with unsuspecting arms. She went back to becoming a student, and all traces of her past life she burned along with the key Ohgi has forced her to give up. The Guren's new pilot will need to make his own key then.

The Fates hoped that the time for that will never come—ever.

In a span of two months, they saw how she finally got to truly meet the braided blonde (Gino Weinberg was his name) who was too happy for her own tastes, but she endured. She had a promise to keep for her friend (lovermasterenemycompanion), and if being happy meant being with happy people, then she had to bear it.

Her friends knew better than to ask her about her life before she came back to the academy. This new era was all peaceful, it was the advent of a better world between the two races, and in the end, that was all that mattered. Her smiles and laughs were all that mattered in the end.

And they forewent how her eyes were always so hollow and how she chose most of the times to be on her own.

Despite her frailty, she was always so busy organizing charity events for the underprivileged. She may have friends who will help her with her plans, but it was always her who would end up staying up late into dawn to finish what she needed to do.

But the Fates knew better—she never allowed Gino to get close enough to share this kind of burden.

Whenever they saw her disappear, though, her classmates would say nothing of it. She was a very good student, and if she left because she was into another excursion again, they have no right to deny her that. They heard rumors, though, of Kallen's story of a love that wasn't meant to be, and they believed that most of the times she was gone she visited her love's friend as her everlasting sign of devotion.

And they led themselves to whimsically believe that their Kallen's travels would have a romantic side.

Oh how wrong they truly where. And how so on-the-spot.

They never knew of the iris, and they never knew of Kallen's scars. Scars that will still take time to heal. Time that she did not have the luxury or the right to control.

The mountaintop Kallen dutifully visits is located at the outskirts of Britannia. It was closest to the sky, and in that place, flowers bloomed freely. When she comes, Zero will always be there, and together, silently, they stand in front in front of the grave who gave them so little and so much.

It was this moment, the Fates saw, where Kallen smiles the real smiles she can only give as she drones on her days, on her plans for the future, on her hopes. And as they saw the irises on her hand, as if she knew of them, as if she knew of their significance years ago, they just knew it was that moment that they finally smiled in relief and hope, their tears threatening to fall.

Because when he told her months ago to live on and be happy¸ they knew she intends to do it, and they knew that this will not be the end they both will have—soon.

All in the name of love.

If they were able to live in this lifetime, they knew they will still see them again.

The iris has never looked so beautiful as the ones she has placed on his grave. And they all pray that the next time these two meet, it will truly be different this time.

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A/N: Honestly, this piece wasn't something I intend to get published on any site, but I can't help myself from knowing, somehow, if other people see also see the similarities I saw from the two anime. It's kinda vague really, but I intend to keep it that way because I realized I liked it better that way.

Anyhoo, I can't wait to read your thoughts. What do you think?