Believe it or not, this was an assignment for school. I got an A+ on it, so I hope that I deserved it. Let me know. Also, I'd like to thank margindoodles for being something of an un-official beta for me :)

This, as of now, is a one-shot. However, if I feel inspired I might add more; I have some ideas for that formulating, actually but we'll see if they ever come to anything...anyway, enjoy!

To Save A Prince

By Darth Soror

Identity…it was so much more than just a name. Lelouch had learned that years ago. No matter what he said his last name was, he was still the 11th prince of Britannia. He could hide that past from those around him – at least he hoped he could – but he could never hide it from himself.

It was getting increasingly difficult to hide Lelouch vi Britannia from the world, especially since more than a third of the world was territory of Britannia. He knew that it was still a possibility he or – worse yet – Nunnally would be recognized and used as pawns in the political chess game that was now life…

Lelouch was, in fact, quite paranoid. He believed that he, at least, had been recognized if not Nunnally. Hopefully, if it had to be one of them, it was not her. Neither of them was really capable of defending themselves, as Lelouch had proved throughout his life. Nunnally had been the one who stood a better chance once, but her handicaps now put Lelouch's chances of winning or surviving in any type of physical competition much higher – and that was saying something.

But then he remembered – there was Suzaku. Lelouch could never tell him about his identity as Zero, but it wouldn't be a problem telling him about this. This he already knew about; this secret was one Suzaku had already tried to protect. Ever since the summer seven years ago when they had first met, Suzaku had known that Lelouch was, by blood, a prince despite his exile. Outside of the war Lelouch and Suzaku were friends, after all. He had to be cautious, of course, but Lelouch was almost positive Suzaku would help him.

Of all the things Britannia did wrong, they did one thing right. Suzaku Kururugi, an Honorary Britannian, had always had athletic talent, but with the superb training of the Britannian military he was nearer to unstoppable than anyone else Lelouch knew, let alone would or could even consider trusting…

"Suzaku…I have a favor to ask you."

They had just been let out of their last class for the day and Lelouch had stepped to the side of the doorway to catch Suzaku on his way out of the classroom.

"Walk with me to the clubhouse. Nunnally would like to visit with you as well."

"Alright," he agreed, not questioning Lelouch about the matter in the presence of so many people; he definitely had tact, yet another reason Suzaku could potentially be relied on.

Suzaku, along the quiet walk to the clubhouse, noticed that Lelouch never said Nunnally wanted to see him. Perhaps by now it was out of habit, but at one point he had been all too sensitive to the fact that his sister could no longer see, let alone no longer stand up or walk.

Once they were clear of the majority of the students – out of earshot if not out of eyesight – Lelouch began to explain.

"I feel that with so much Britannian surveillance I might be recognized…and even used again."

"And Nunnally?" Suzaku asked.

"She could be recognized too, but I'm hoping that since she stays in the clubhouse more, that won't happen. She should never be made to go through anything like that again."

Suzaku nodded. "So what is the favor you'd like to ask me?"

"If either of us goes missing, would you be willing to – "

"Of course," Suzaku answered before Lelouch could even finish.

Lelouch stopped just in front of the clubhouse and smiled. "Thank you," he said, putting his hand on the doorknob, ready to turn it.

"Wait," Suzaku said, reaching out to stop Lelouch from opening the door. His hand remained on Lelouch's as he asked, "Does Nunnally know about this?"

Lelouch glanced down at their hands. His face portrayed the feelings behind what he was saying for once, his poker face no longer intact.

"No; I don't want her to worry if she doesn't have to."

Suzaku nodded before withdrawing his hand and allowing Lelouch to open the door.

"Nunna-" Lelouch started to call his sister but stopped when he saw that she and Sayoko, the maid, were waiting for them at the door.

"Hi, brother! What took you so long? I heard you coming but then you stopped outside the door…"

"I've brought someone with me," Lelouch replied.

"Hello, Nunnally," Suzaku said with a smile, which Nunnally returned the moment she recognized his voice.

Suzaku stayed and visited until nightfall; he still didn't want to risk revealing their past, so he thought it better that as few people as possible knew they were in contact. The cover of night was the perfect opportunity to leave.

Lelouch walked him out onto the porch. He felt compelled to say, "Thank you, once again."

Suzaku smiled in return as he responded, "Don't worry about it – you might not even have to."

"I hope not…" he trailed off as the form of his friend disappeared into the shadows. He knew that asking Suzaku's help, should he need it, was risking revealing his second hidden identity. Why did Suzaku, of all people, have to side with Britannia? One would think that Lelouch, the 11th prince to the nation's throne, would support them more than someone who, to the Britannians, was known as nothing more than a number – an eleven, in fact.

Just as Lelouch turned back toward the door, a faint pinching – perhaps even stabbing – sensation hit a point of the back of his neck. Slowly his senses began to fail him; the pain that had just hit him started to fade. He froze in place and, before he fell to the ground, was just able to reach the nape of his neck and discover that he had been hit with a tranquilizer…

Later – though he had no way of knowing how much later – Lelouch awoke with a blindfold over his eyes; he was gagged and bound hand and foot as well. He started to struggle, but for what? His physical strength – or lack thereof – would be no help.

He was lying at an awkward, uncomfortable angle on his right side; his arm was stuck underneath his body and was starting to go numb, suggesting that he had been lying in this position for some time. To restore blood circulation to his arm, Lelouch rolled as best he could onto his stomach and, from there, tried – and eventually succeeded – to sit up.

As he sat there with no more information about his surroundings other than that the floor was made of something rather hard (probably concrete, he thought), a voice spoke over a speaker somewhere behind him.

"Do you know where you are?" it asked. Lelouch struggled to at least get the gag out of his mouth. Even if he had wanted to answer, it would have been impossible.

"Oh, but that's right…" the mysterious voice continued. "We have you gagged right now…Lelouch vi Britannia…"

Normally not one to reveal secrets, Lelouch nearly froze in the midst of his struggling; but then he remembered that the situation could always get worse. One sure way to make that happen was to give in.

"We have taken the measures to be sure that you can hear us but you cannot respond; we can see you, but you cannot see us; we hold all the power here. You see, we are trying to barter…to gain power. We are neither allies nor enemies of Britannia but we will tell you nothing further than this."

So they held all the power; it didn't seem possible. Lelouch possessed the "Power of the King" yet he was unable to use it. Did they know about his Geass? Was that the reason for the blindfold or were they just being cautious concerning their location and identity? Either way, he had to admit that in this position, he was completely powerless for once. With the gag in his mouth, Lelouch couldn't even use his persuasive manner of speaking to fool them into giving him more information.

He had to admit that any hope of escape was probably wasted unless Suzaku kept his promise; even if he intended to keep that promise, how would he know where to find Lelouch? He could only hope that Suzaku had somehow seen what had happened, that he hadn't been too far away. But even more so he hoped that Nunnally was safe…that, knowing the risk was real now, she was somehow protected.

Suzaku's suspicions seemed more and more like a real possibility as time wore on. Lelouch wasn't in class. This was, of itself, not that unusual, but it still helped confirm the idea Suzaku was hoping wasn't true. To be sure, Suzaku would go talk to Nunnally the next time he had a break. If Lelouch had not returned the night before, he was more likely missing than anything.

And Suzaku already knew where they were hiding out. They weren't the brightest of kidnappers; they wore heavy, noisy boots that allowed him to follow them at a distance. However, that was also the reason he could not be sure they had kidnapped Lelouch. He could not get close enough to see without being seen; and if they hadn't done it and Suzaku attacked them, there was always the chance someone would see and he would be stripped of his title as Honorary Britannian. He would be just an eleven – a number – once again.

Finally, lunch break rolled around.

"Hey, Suzaku, why don't you come sit with us?" Milly called to him.

"Oh…thanks, but I'm not feeling too good," he lied. This way, if he found out that Lelouch was, in fact, missing, he would have someone to vouch for his absence and even give a legitimate reason.

"Aw, that's too bad," she replied. "I hope you feel better!"

"Thanks," he said vaguely, making his way towards the clubhouse. Almost before he could knock on the door, it was flung open by Sayoko.

"Oh – Suzaku!" she cried.

"W-what's wrong?"

"Well," she began, now more calm but also rather hesitant to answer, "Master Lelouch never came back last night after he walked you out…or so Nunnally tells me."

"Can I speak with Nunnally?" he asked.

As an answer, Sayoko opened the door further to allow Suzaku to enter and then led him to the dining room where Nunnally sat with paper cranes spread out in front of her, in all different colors. There were at least thirty of them.

"Suzaku is here, Miss Nunnally," Sayoko told her.

"Does he know where brother is?" Nunnally asked as Suzaku took a seat near her at the dining room table.

"I'm afraid not," he answered. "I was hoping you would."

"No…he never said he was leaving. He sometimes goes away for a day or two but he always tells me that he is and promises he'll be back soon."

"Hmm…" It was rather suspicious, but Suzaku pushed the information and suspicions to the back of his mind. Now was not the time.

"Sayoko," Nunnally said, shaking Suzaku out of his trance, "would you mind bringing me some more paper?"

"Of course not," Sayoko said, going off to retrieve it. It was then that Suzaku really noticed the cranes. Some – the furthest away from Nunnally and, presumably, the ones she had made first – were rather sloppily made. But as his eyes traveled down the table to those right in front of her, he saw that they progressively got better, more precise; all this despite her inability to see. She made use of her hands although she could not so much as move a toe.

"What are these for?" he asked.

"You mean you don't know the legend?" Nunnally asked in disbelief, knowing that despite his title, Suzaku was really Japanese.

"Well…yeah, if you fold a thousand your wish is supposed to come true, but why are you…?" he trailed off.

"My brother is the only family I really have…all I want is for him to come back."

Suzaku nodded; this was not just for Lelouch's sake, but for Nunnally's as well. She had been through so much already; he now understood exactly how Lelouch felt when he said he didn't want Nunnally to go through it again, that he didn't even want her to worry if she didn't have to.

"Don't worry Nunnally…I'll help your wish come true," he assured her as Sayoko returned with more sheets of colored paper. "When exactly did Lelouch go missing?"

"He never returned after he saw you off," she replied.

"I see," he said, his theory now strongly supported. "I'll let you know if I learn anything, I promise." And with that, he stood to leave.

Suzaku had no trouble at all finding their so-called hideout. It was not very well hidden, or therefore deserving of the title "hide-out" to begin with, nor was it very well protected. He had to admit, though, that he probably would have overlooked it – at least at first – if he hadn't already known it was there.

However, they had done one thing right: their surveillance was top-notch. With their apparent amateur status on everything else, Suzaku could only assume that these measures were taken due to paranoia, which, for people as unintelligent as this, could be a very useful ally.

He could not be sure how they were armed, but if he just set up some kind of decoy or took down a few cameras, he could probably get inside and be out before they even knew he had been there. All he had in the way of armed defense was a knife and a small pistol. Hopefully it would be enough.

Suzaku took a few minutes to scope out where the cameras were and took a guess at how much lag time they had. His guess had to at least be accurate, even if not precise, in order for him to be able to stay out of their sight. Needless to say, if he was spotted it could all be over; it would be more difficult if nothing else. However, if they didn't even know anyone was trying to get it in, he had an advantage, so destroying a camera was something to avoid, if he could.

The cameras moved every once in a while to a second position. Suzaku watched for a few minutes to try and decide when and where exactly would be the best time to move. After a bit of deliberation, he darted out from behind the tree to behind a large chunk of cement; such things were not out of place in the ghetto section of Tokyo.

A few more similar maneuvers and Suzaku was right up against the building – the one place the cameras didn't look. The only problem left before he got in was inching his way toward the door. If he took the long way around he risked looking suspicious to passersby, but if he took the shorter route he had to avoid another camera due to the irregular shape of the building. He had to admit that it was ideal for a hideout to have an entrance at the one point on the building where a camera could see if someone was coming.

Suzaku decided to scope out the short route. He edged over to the corner of the wall and looked around it slowly. Just as he looked, the camera was turning away. As fast as he could, Suzaku darted to the door. It was locked. He only had a few more seconds before the camera swung back in his direction…

"Do you think we should feed the hostage?" asked one of the top men in the operation, slightly hesitantly. "We risk letting him speak if we do and I've heard he has a way with words."

"I suppose if we want to use him as leverage he has to be alive and he's already so thin; we can't afford to have him starve. He'll need to eat something," another man responded.

"Alright; you there," the first man said, calling a guard from the shadows. "Take the hostage a small portion of bread."

The man nodded and walked away. A few minutes later, he showed up on the monitor showing the bound and gagged Lelouch. Simultaneously, the surveillance camera right outside the door went out.

"Hey! What's going on?" the second man yelled.

"Do we have that footage?" the first asked.

"Yeah, let me play it back…"

They rewound the tape to find that as the camera had turned back toward the main entrance, it had been shot out; whoever had done it hadn't even shown his face.

"Get a security guard out there ASAP!"

As Suzaku had anticipated, he had been left with no choice; the door was locked from the inside and was made of heavy steel. His only choice was to shoot out the camera to get a few guards to come up and open the door.

He didn't want his face seen, especially not knowing who the kidnappers were affiliated with. So, he had managed to shoot out the camera without showing his face and was hoping his plan to knock out the guards without getting in view of a camera would work. He even shot out another as an extra precaution.

As he heard them opening the door, Suzaku slipped around the corner of the building and raised the hilt of his gun. He had put the safety on to be sure his plan did not in any way – literally, least of all – backfire.

The guards emerged from the doorway, confused at finding no one there. Suzaku took advantage of their moment of defenselessness and knocked them both to the ground, unconscious.

His plan had worked; the door was still open. Although he doubted it would work for very long, if at all, Suzaku took the uniform jacket and hat of one of the guards. He let the hat fall forward, slightly masking his face and then rushed inside…

Lelouch heard footsteps. What was unusual was that they were not above him on another floor nor were they in an outer corridor or even over the speaker system; they were in the same room as him, something that had not happened since he had woken up. He held absolutely still as they moved closer and closer.

"You try anything and you may never be able to walk without a limp again," a voice told him as the gag was roughly removed from his mouth and a small portion of bread was forced in in its place.

"Better savor that; it's all you'll be getting for a while."

Lelouch was sure to chew slowly. Almost anything would be an improvement after having a gag in his mouth for a few hours. After several seconds, the guard began to get impatient.

"I haven't got all day to stand around and watch you eat," he huffed. And when Lelouch refused to chew any faster: "I'll be back in five minutes. If you're not done, the gag goes back in anyway."

The footsteps slowly grew distant again and Lelouch was left in silence. But not for long…

As luck would have it, as was inevitable, Suzaku ran into one of the higher ranking men in the operation after turning a few corners in search of Lelouch.

"You and another were sent out to see who was trying to break in, weren't you? Well, where are they?"

"Th-the kid got away after he knocked out…my partner…" Suzaku faltered. He didn't know how the people of this organization normally addressed each other, let alone what either of the men's names were.

"You…you're an imposter, an intruder! That's impossible; how did you get away from them?!"

Normally, if he'd had time, Suzaku would have stuck around to tell them that, in fact, their defenses were terrible and relatively easy to get around…for him anyway. But he decided to take advantage of the element of surprise. While the man stood for a second or two in shock, Suzaku rushed past him down a corridor, not even knowing where he was going. Not long after, he heard the cry of, "IMPOSTER! STOP HIM!"

Here, they were at a disadvantage. Though he was undeniably outnumbered, the uniform fooled them briefly and by the time they realized he was the imposter, he already had a good start on them.

"Never mind detaining him now! Guard the hostage!" one of them shouted. They couldn't have done anything more foolish, Suzaku couldn't help but think. They would lead him straight to Lelouch…

Lelouch had heard it said that when one sense is taken away the others become stronger. He could not vouch for that fact, but even after the few hours he had spent blind-folded he was already starting to understand how Nunnally could hear him coming even before he opened the door, learning to rely on his sense of hearing to find out what was going on. And at that particular moment, something was definitely going on.

The guard had said he'd be back in five minutes; those minutes had passed by now. And if he wasn't mistaken, Lelouch could hear at least twenty pairs of feet running along the passage to wherever he was…but why? He hadn't even spoken, though he could have if he'd had anything to say or anyone to say it to. Did he dare to hope that Suzaku was keeping his promise?

Suzaku had run among them until he saw exactly where they were going: a wide open room that resembled a warehouse. It would do no good to run in among them with only his knife and pistol; even if he chose to use the pistol, he had already used two of his five bullets on the cameras. Even if he'd still had all of his ammunition, five bullets would not have been enough to get through twenty men.

Then, as he stood there amongst all the guards, Suzaku noticed something like a catwalk all the way around the edge of the room that had probably been used to store boxes. There was also a pulley system that had probably been used to move the boxes. It was perfect. If only there were some way to create a distraction…

No sooner had he thought this than a somewhat maniacal laugh rose from the midst of the guards: Lelouch.

"Have all of you been fooled by one man?" he taunted them. He had decided that even if Suzaku wasn't here – though he couldn't see any other alternatives – it couldn't hurt to fool them into thinking he was crazy. And if Suzaku was here, perhaps a bit of a distraction could be useful. Strategy was Lelouch's strong point, after all.

His statement created a buzz amongst the guards, who began to whisper things such as, "What happened to his gag?", "What is he talking about?", "Does he know what's going on?", and "He must be out of his mind!"

Suzaku took advantage of their surprise yet again and scoped out a way to get up to the catwalk. None of the guards noticed – not one. Their top priority was Lelouch. They must have figured that he couldn't be rescued if they were all surrounding him; but they didn't know Suzaku Kururugi. They also did not know that Lelouch's mind was, to put it simply, wired for strategy.

Not only did they think that Lelouch's capture was out of the question, they were entertained with his seemingly erratic statements. They seemed to be enjoying themselves while taunting him as well.

"Hey – amateurs!" Suzaku yelled from his place up in the rafters. Slowly, all of the guards turned to face him as they realized where the voice had come from. When they saw that it was just one person – a student, no less – one by one they began to laugh.

"Do you hear what this kid is saying?" they called to one another. "He's calling us amateurs; he's only a student!"

Suzaku did not feel the need to explain nor did he feel it would be smart. Rather he declared, "Lelouch Lamperouge leaves with me."

They seemed to find this even more amusing. "You mean Lelouch vi Britannia, the 11th prince in line to the throne of the empire? You're out of your mind! What if we refuse?" they asked with the undeniable tone of derision.

"Try it and find out the hard way," Suzaku responded calmly maintaining the hardened, determined expression on his face.

"I guarantee you'll regret it," came Lelouch's voice from behind them.

"You're in no position to make threats!" one of the higher ranking men yelled as he delivered a kick to Lelouch that sent him to the ground from his sitting position.

"Neither are you," Suzaku said, redirecting their attention to him. He hoped Lelouch would sit back up – stand up if he could – and make this just a little easier.

"Aren't we? Well, are you going to show us or are you going to just stand there and threaten us? We are the ones with the guns, you realize…"

"Really?" Suzaku asked. "You all have guns, every single one of you?"

"Well…" one of the guards faltered, "no…only the officers do…"

"Don't tell him that!" one of the officers yelled using the hilt of his gun to hit the oblivious guard over the head. This led to something of a brawl drawing their attention away from Suzaku, who saw that Lelouch had, in fact managed to stand up. Just as he was about to carry out his plan, one of the officers noticed as well.

"He's making a break for it!" the officer yelled, attempting to break up the brawl that had broken out. "Focus on the hostage, you idiots!"

Just as they were closing in on him, Suzaku swung in from the rafters on one of the ropes that had been used in the pulley system and, in one fell swoop, grabbed Lelouch around the waist. Before they could swing clear across to the other side of the rafters, gunfire opened on them. A bullet grazed Suzaku's ear, but he took no notice.

Lelouch let out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a moan. Suzaku feared the worst but prioritized getting out of the warehouse. Then, if it was beyond his skill, he could get Lelouch medical attention.

Suzaku started to run as best he could while carrying Lelouch's weight as well, looking for the fastest exit possible.

"Wait," Lelouch told him. "Take off my blindfold."

"Can't that wait until we're out of here?!"

"No, do it now; I need to see."

Suzaku slowed a bit and removed Lelouch's blindfold, then continuing to run. All the guards were focused on Lelouch; this was going to be even easier than he had anticipated. Hopefully, in the excitement of the moment, Suzaku wouldn't noticed what was going on…

Lelouch's left eye began to glow a light red color; the shape of a bird manifested itself near his pupil as he commanded them, "Forget everything." A blank look crossed their faces and they ceased fire just as Suzaku leaped out a window, still carrying a bound Lelouch. Suzaku hit the ground running, oblivious to the fact that they were no longer being chased, and then Lelouch's vision went black…

He opened his eyes and could see nothing. Had he even really opened them? Lelouch blinked several times and eventually found he was able to see vague outlines. So it was just dark then. Slowly, his eyes adjusted.

"Lelouch," said a voice out of the darkness from somewhere to his right, "are you awake? Lelouch?"

"Yes."

A small lamp was turned on and then the owner of the voice was revealed.

"Suzaku," Lelouch said quietly. "What happened?"

"You were shot on the way out; it only half hit you. I was able to clean it up okay but you should stay in bed for a while."

Lelouch half nodded and then looked up at the ceiling. Suzaku didn't seem like he had noticed anything strange; hopefully he still had no clue about the Geass. He must have looked concerned about it because Suzaku tried to assure him, "I'll go after those guys tomorrow. Your secret won't get out."

Lelouch shook his head. "No…Britannia will take care of them for lying. If they can't produce the prince they said they had, it won't go over well."

"You don't think they'll tell anyone else about you before then?" Suzaku asked, incredulous.

"Why should they? They don't have me anymore."

Suzaku seemed satisfied with this explanation, but then had to ask, "What are we going to tell Nunnally?"

Lelouch thought for a moment before smiling and saying, "We have until morning to figure that out."

Suzaku laughed. "Right; we'll have the same story that way."

"Exactly." Lelouch laid there smiling for a few more seconds before realizing something.

"Suzaku?"

"Yes?"

"When were you planning to untie me?"

Suzaku smiled sheepishly. "Ah, right…I forgot…"