A Ripple in Time

[A Code Geass fanfic]

By Raigon

Suzaku walked alone.

His mind is in a mess as he tries to put together the pieces to make them fit differently. Something had to be wrong, something couldn't quite be right. He had to have seen it wrong, but he knew without any kind of doubt that he had seen it correctly. There was no other way to look at things, no other way for things to have been, and despite this rambling that went on in his brain and heart things were painfully clear.

Things would never be the same.

He put his head in his hand as he thought back to the moment that had changed everything.

The wind whipped in his face as he looked upwards, the sound of Lelouche's voice in distress could be heard behind him. The sun glaringly bright, but he saw it in that instant as clear as day. The cat that they had been chasing had for a moment stood on the still of the bell tower. Its head peeking over the edge, and he felt his stomach drop and a chill up and down his spine. The world went silent, and all he could see was the cat in front of him, and what was on the cat's head.

Suzaku is no genius, but he isn't an idiot either. This couldn't be, but why else would Lelouche be so eager to find it? What would be his reasoning for working this hard to capture the cat, and why he didn't want him to help?

A muffled yelp and the sound of someone sliding brought Suzaku back to reality as he reacted before he could think. He saw his best friend sliding down towards a deadly drop, and he reacted before he could think. He slid downwards towards him and reached a hand out to the boy. Gripping him before he could fall to the ground below Suzaku pulls him towards himself and back towards the window that they had come. It had all happen so fast, but as he heard Lelouche tell him to go ahead and that he would retrieve the item he was searching for Suzaku could do nothing more than agree.

His mind was numb to the new knowledge and his heart throb painfully. Even when Lelouche announced him as his friend, and gave him a position on the student counsel …all Suzaku could feel was numbness. The weak smile he put on his face for everyone and everything after that was mere formality as Suzaku looked at the black and gray cat in Lelouche's arms and recognized that things would never be the same.

This is why he walked alone now as he came nearer and nearer to his destiny. The knowledge eating at his conscience as he committed himself to the task at hand, which is simply a nice dinner with Nunnelly. Though, he knew before this night was over …he would lose a friend, and maybe his own mind. He walked to the door, and rang the bell to see Lelouche's smiling face. Though he tried his best to mirror his, Suzaku knew that it wouldn't go all the way to the soul like his friend. Time seems to tick by slowly, and everything tasted like dirt. The want to run away was stirring in his chest, but the knowledge that there was nowhere to run kept him there. Nunnelly eventually went away for the night, and soon the two were alone. Suzaku sat there looking at Lelouche, and Lelouche finally decided to ask him what was wrong. It was now or never, and thus Suzaku spoke and everything changed. A single ripple in a small pond would eventually make a huge wave.

PROLOGUE FINISHED