I do not own Code Geass or any of The Crooked Man's characters.

So. Yeah. I can't believe I'm actually typing a fanfiction. Probably to procrastinate on my math homework.

All pleads of apology and various forgiving speeches fade away into the background of Lelouch's life. The only voice that matters is from the only man who understands him. The words that bitterly spit out at him out of the fanged, wide smile that stretches across the deformed face of the man who lurks behind him. Lelouch doesn't even remember when the man first entered his life. All he knows is that slowly, the man is dragging him down to his level. He won't leave Lelouch alone. However, he's the only one who understands the guilt stirring in his stomach. And this man, Lelouch is well aware that he wants to kill him.

"Lelouch, we all forgive you," Kallen sighs as Lelouch doesn't respond, rather, he stiffly sits upright on his bed, his spine rigid. His eyes wildly dart around the room. They clap with the tar colored eyes of the man who crouches in the corner of the room. He's pretty sure that nobody can see him. After all, after the first time he met him, which was just yesterday in fact, the man already lunged towards him, his gnarled, knotted hands reaching out for him. He couldn't leave, as darkness engulfs him. Hours later, Suzaku approaches him, stating that they found Lelouch curled in a fetal position, his back to the wall, screaming hysterically. "Lelouch!" Lelouch ignores the demanding shout from Kallen. Kallen scowls beside him. However, he continues to watch her out of his peripheral vision, his main focus fixated on his personal shadow that stares back at him. He shouldn't be alive. But Lelouch is able to come in contact with him. But the man…his face is literally sitting on his shoulder. His neck is snapped to the left, stretching across, and his face upside down in that matter because of his broken neck. And it's absolutely terrifying. The splotches that blemish the otherwise ashen face of the man represent his old age. He inhales sharply as the man's bony, knobbly hands reach upwards. Then, his hackles flatten down as he realizes he's just waving. Probably to mock him and his sanity. Is he even real? Lelouch winces, recalling the bruise that blossomed near his ribs when the man kicked him. Yeah, no, he's definitely real.

"Hey, Kallen?" Lelouch doesn't see Suzaku enter his room, but his voice definitely belongs to him, and footsteps echo in his empty, plain room as Suzaku enters. Lelouch keeps his back to him. "Oh," the footsteps stop. "Hey, Lelouch, Nunnally really wants you to join tonight's dinner." The secret got out. Lelouch sacrificed his name, his reputation, his friends and his life to save Japan, by first destroying them. Nunnally just couldn't keep her mouth shut. Lelouch didn't expect millions of people to accept Nunnally's word. And they didn't. Rather, they accepted the word of Suzaku, who eventually revealed himself as Zero. Just two people, two people that Lelouch trusted, were able to shatter his whole plan along with the effort he put into it. Then, there was C.C who also had to reveal his secret. Probably not to try and save his charred reputation, but rather, probably to taunt him on how his complicated plan flunked. Not everyone likes him. However, 'not everyone' isn't enough. He'd prefer for everyone to hate him. However, his royal family actually took him back in after digging him out of the grave. The moment he exited the grave, the man entered his life. He won't leave Lelouch alone. It's only been two days, and already, the man is spreading hell over his life. He contorted Lelouch's life into a horror story, leaving Lelouch paranoid after his first attack. "Are you coming?" Lelouch shrugs in response. He personally doesn't want to go, he avoided yesterday thankfully, however, if the man follows him into the dining room…

"Lelouch, please?" Lelouch resists the temptation to feel Kallen's grip on his wrist. He doesn't want to go. He emits a visible sigh, and nods. "Thanks," He rolls his amethyst eyes, and rounds to Kallen, prepared to scowl at her, but the smile that adores his face, causes him to hesitate, before quickly twisting his scowl into his signature smirk. Kallen blinks, and obviously pleased with his answer, skirts out of the room hastily, probably to rejoin Nunnally and whoever else in the dining room.

"Are you really going to go outside like that?" Lelouch blinks slowly, and his glassy eyes slowly travel up to Suzaku, who stands firmly at the foot of his bed. "You've been stuck in a coffin for three months, and yet you haven't bothered to change." Suzaku comments dryly. "Nice," he continues in his flat, sarcasm infused tone. Lelouch shrugs. "Get up," Suzaku thrusts out his hand. However, rather than taking his chivalry offer, Lelouch heaves himself off the edge of his bed himself, and his eyes narrow into a glare at the mirror behind Suzaku, showing the reflection of half of his room. There's no man sitting in the corner of his room with his head bent in an angle that obviously results death. However, as he peers behind his shoulder, his pupils dilate as he notices how the man now towers behind to the unsuspecting Suzaku, who stares at him with an odd expression. The man's bent head with his crooked grin causes Lelouch's knees to lock up.

"Is something wrong?" Suzaku's voice sounds cautious, as though waiting for Lelouch to blow a gasket and punch the mirror or something like that. Suzaku's husky voice causes Lelouch to retract his attention shot at the monster, and his violet eyes flicker to Suzaku, who cocks his head in confusion.

"Oh, uh, nothing," Lelouch stammers. "Just…thinking," Lelouch explains smoothly. "I'll change quickly, I'll join you guys shortly," Lelouch plasters on a fake smile. Suzaku nods, however, he doesn't return Lelouch's fake, practiced smile. Lelouch watches as Suzaku leaves the room, his footsteps fading into a distant patter after he exits the room and probably down the hall. Lelouch shuts the door, and cranes his head over, searching for the demented man. He's not in the room. He inhales sharply, expecting the worse. Nothing, okay, he's fine. He releases the breath he wasn't aware he was holding. However, as he turns left towards his closet, he slams into a hard object, and he staggers back. The man's hollow, gouged out eyes stare at him, and Lelouch swallows a scream, and he turns around, jiggling the doorknob, ready to escape the room. An iron grip clamps onto his shoulder, and another smacks across his mouth, the knobby fingers digging into the side of his cheek. He screams, though the hand muffle s them. His legs flail underneath him, his heart chopping against his chest. He squirms, thrashing in the grip of the deformed man. Lelouch tries to shout for help, when suddenly, the cold hand is removed from his shoulder. Lelouch doesn't hesitate, he whips around, and snaps his elbow upwards, and it connects with the jaw of the man. Lelouch planned for the man to release him from that blow, but rather, the hand now snaps around one side of his head, and suddenly, the entity that covers his mouth also leaves, only to grip the side of his head. Now that he's able to breathe out of his mouth, he releases raspy, quick paced breaths. Why is the man just holding onto both sides of his head?

"What do you want?" Lelouch wheezes, cringing on how meek his voice sounds. The man doesn't answer. Rather, Lelouch feels his head throb, as the clutch on his head tightens. A groan escapes out of Lelouch's lips. Then, sharp jerk to the left causes Lelouch to yelp out in pain. The man is yanking his head to the left. A frightening thought enters his head. Is he trying to snap his neck? Is he trying to turn Lelouch into him? Lelouch's slender fingers dig into the contrasting, gnarly hands that resemble claws that are trying to snap his neck. His head is pulsing, throbbing, giving him a migraine. "Let go!" Lelouch shouts and he tries to rip the hands off of him. Suddenly, to his surprise, the hands retract, recoiling from his head, and Lelouch's knees lock, and he collapses onto them, clutching his head. The door slams open, outwards, thankfully, or else it would've smacked Lelouch. Lelouch doesn't turn to whoever yanked the door open, rather, his vision is blurring, and to his horror, he realizes his vision is fogging from tears that have been watering his eyes from the previous events.

Ohgi has to admit, he still has disgruntled feelings for this boy but then again, he pities him. It might've been out of arrogance, but Lelouch already piled all the burden that Japan's been mourning over for years, onto his shoulders, and willingly watch his whole life and status at such a young age, combust, bursting into flames, having the blaze and smoke surround him, engulfing him into his own pit of hell that he can never recover from. So the moment when he passed by the hallway and he heard a yelp, he hesitates, and stands in front of the door, where behind it, in the room shouts are emitted from. They obviously belong to Lelouch. And to Ohgi's shame, he actually has a stir of reluctant feelings inside of him, and so he doesn't open the door immediately. He doesn't hate Lelouch, but however, no matter how stupid, the feeling of betrayal of Lelouch never sharing his plans with them, causes him to stop. However, as another indistinguishable shout reaches his ears, his quickly swings open the door.

That's how Ohgi found the Demon King on his knees, staring at his ivory carpet with watery eyes, sheen from tears that slowly streak down his ashen, sallow cheeks. "Lelouch, what's wrong?" Ohgi has to admit, he's feeling quite awkward. Lelouch doesn't acknowledge him, and slowly, Ohgi crouches down to face the younger male, and from this distance, Ohgi's able to hear the wheezes and raspy hiccups and dry sobs that he releases. "Lelouch, I thought I heard you say 'let me go', who got you?" Ohgi asks, continuing into his gentle tone, as though Lelouch is a scared bolt that might run. Then again, when was Lelouch the type to run willingly?

"There was a man," Lelouch admits, his voice throaty from the tears that he probably lumped up in his throat. "A man," Lelouch echoes the end of his sentence. Ohgi is completely lost at this.

"Lelouch, I was walking down this hallway when you were screaming, there's no man in this room, and if he left out the door, I would've saw him. Did he escape from the window?" Ohgi interrogates Lelouch for answers. Lelouch shakes his head. Ohgi lifts his head up, the windows are locked tightly. "Lelouch, there wasn't a man," Ohgi's now not questioning Lelouch for answers; rather, he's questioning Lelouch's sanity. Worry starts to seep into Ohgi's consciousness when Lelouch's glassy eyes, swollen and tinged pink, turn to him.

"So you think I'm crazy too, right?"

"What?" Ohgi stutters on that one word, and he inwardly sarcastically congratulates himself. Lelouch on the other hand, doesn't acknowledge his bluster. "You're not crazy," Ohgi reassures, however, he reconsiders his supposedly reassuring answer that he directed at Lelouch, and it's credibility. "I'm pretty sure you just imagined it," You don't normally imagine people in your room. However, this boy has been stuck in a coffin and six-feet underground in a cemetery for three months. Cornelia already suggested that Lelouch's mental state might be damaged.

"The man is right there." Lelouch whispers, and jerks his thumb over his shoulder pointing accusingly behind him. Ohgi's aware that Lelouch is observing his reaction. Ohgi's passive face twists into a grimace, and he turns to Lelouch, slightly thrown off.

"Lelouch…that's your closet."

Yeah, so that's my first story. Thanks for reading. If you decide to flame me, I don't care. If you decide to compliment me, I don't care, but thank you. If you don't do anything at all, I still don't care. But still, thanks for reading. -MEEP [This part is so short. It disappoints me, but I'm too lazy to type more right now.] :3