Little Lelouch flinched slightly at the terrible noise that reached his ears, but he tried to toughen his heart. The sky was red blazing on the direction of the city, where those horrific noises came from. Gunfire. Screams. Metals. Every time he heard shrill screams, Lelouch shut his eyes in fear.

The sunflower road he was walking on now became a barren wasteland; life had been robbed off of the previously beautiful blooming flowers, only ashes remained. Lelouch frowned sadly at the sight, then looked away. He walked slowly, weighted by the flaccid body of a brown-haired boy he carried on his back. He seemed unconscious; eyes shut tightly and complexion sickly white. His head rolled on Lelouch's small back while his arms flailed limply by his chest.

Gasping tiredly, Lelouch gently readjusted when he felt the boy slipping down. "Suzaku…" He glanced worriedly at the sickly-looking boy, feeling his skin growing colder than before.

Little Lelouch felt his chest being clenched. "Suzaku, I'll get help soon… hold on, okay?" There was no response. Lelouch smiled bitterly at him.

Lelouch resumed walking in staggers, dragging his injured knee from falling down earlier. A tiny trail of blood went down his knee and dripped to the ground in small drops, sands had gotten in the wound that it felt hurt. But Suzaku's injury was worse than his, so he ignored his knee and continued.

How long had he walked? How much longer would it take for them to reach the evacuation site? Although it was still day, the sky was dark and felt like an endless night. Lelouch was exhausted and scared, although he put on a strong front. There were only the two of them but Suzaku was injured, Lelouch was only a spoiled kid without the slightest medical knowledge. He didn't know what to do but looking for help at the evacuation site.

Being a Britannian and a prince did nothing good.

"Suzaku…" Lelouch gasped, his breaths were ragged. He dragged his limp legs to walk, but find little energy to do so. But he stubbornly forced himself to take another step. "Don't die… Suzaku…" He felt his eyes were on fire and the road in front of him became slightly blurry.

He didn't notice a small hole on the ground in front of his feet and soon stumbled over it.

Lelouch fell with a dull thump.

"Ugh…uhhh…" Lelouch winced, feeling a sharp pain to his wounded knee. He vaguely noticed his back felt light, he tilted his dirt-caked face and found Suzaku's body was lying on the side of the road, he was groaning. It looked like he fell too hard and hurt himself. He kept wriggling about and groaning softly.

"Su…zaku…" Lelouch tried to stand, but his legs felt powerless. He was too exhausted. He suddenly felt very sleepy, but the pain in his knee and Suzaku's growls kept him awake. His vision began to blur.

Vaguely, he saw a tiny red pool was forming slowly around Suzaku. Blood dripped from a gaping wound on his side, tainting his shirt crimson. The sight was blurry and hard to see, but Lelouch could still tell what happened. He wanted to go and help his friend, but his limp body wouldn't do as he wished.

Red.

The sky, the ground, his beloved mother and sister, and now even Suzaku…

They were all covered in red.

Amethyst eyes blinked weakly. "Su…za…ku…"

A rustling noise suddenly reached Lelouch's ears.

"….I think I heard something…there…."

Who…? Lelouch's hazy mind questioned. He heard the voices of some people he didn't recognize. In the back of his mind, Lelouch knew he had to take Suzaku with him and hide, if they were the enemy, Suzaku would be…

"…!! They're children…."

The voices sounded distant in his ears. Were they Japanese? or Britannian? Their accent sounded like—

"…! ......!"

Lelouch felt his body was being lifted by a pair of strong arms. In his delirious state of mind, he couldn't see who that person clearly, his face… or his clothes. Their words weren't distinct and sounded far. But Lelouch was sure of one thing.

"…ame….? You…."

If they found out Suzaku was a Japanese—

"….hey! …your name…"

Suzaku's blurry vision found a pair of blue eyes. "…m…my… na…me…?" He could only hear bits of the words.

"Yeah! Your name, kid, what's your name?"

Lelouch didn't reply. One of his lavender retinas glanced at the other boy, a person crouched by his side. It looked like he was checking him. Suzaku's eyelids were shut tightly as before, his face contorted in what seemed like he was in an intense pain. His face flushed red.

Crimson blood… pooled around him.

"I'm…" Lelouch mumbled weakly.

"What?" That person asked.

Weak amethyst eyes met with lively aquamarine. "My… name is…"

One

Seven years had passed since the invasion of the Holy Empire of Britannia. The country of Japan no longer existed in current world, now known by the name given by the hated kingdom of Britannia like a symbol of ownership—Area 11. Even though Britannia had claimed as such, not all the citizens of Japan could accept such dictatorship and still struggled to rebel against its government in order to restore their liberty.

And today as well, as he passed by the slum area Lelouch heard a ruckus from a Japanese orator doing a speech about discrimination between elite Britannian citizens and the low-class Japanese, in another word, trying to get people to their side. It wasn't an odd sight, considering there were many people doing the same thing in secret.

"We are Japanese! We refuse to be called elevens! People, we as Japanese people need to uphold our nation's rights to exist—"

And Lelouch simply walked away.

Although he rarely used this route, the same thing always happened each time he happened to pass by. There was a stretched net fence that divided the elite Britannian settlement with the slum area where the elevens—the Japanese inhabited, it was an area similar to a ruined city, unreconstructed and abandoned by the Britannian government.

And there where Lelouch would be, had he been unfortunate enough.

"Lulu!"

The said boy turned to the source of the voice, and found his schoolmate since middle school, Rivalz, was riding on his motorcycle, halting at the side of the road. He waved vigorously at Lelouch. Replying his wave, Lelouch approached him.

"Whatcha doing here?" Rivalz asked, gazing anxiously at the slum beyond the fence.

"Just doing some shopping." Lelouch replied, showing Rivalz a package he was carrying.

"But you shouldn't be using this route, ya know… The elevens are scary in this part of the town." Rivalz whispered. Hearing no answer from the other party, Rivalz suddenly realized and corrected his statement. "…oh. S-sorry, Lelouch. I-I said too much. I forgot you're..." he didn't continue his statement.

Lelouch smiled quietly. "It's alright… besides, I only use this route because it's a shortcut. I'm not offended or anything."

Rivalz was tear-eyed, staring at Lelouch with an apologetic expression. "I'm really sorry Lelouch! I promise I won't say that anymore!" He sincerely stated.

"It's alright, really…."

"No, it's not! What kind of insensitive friend I am, saying that just because of a slip of tongue!" Rivalz replied sharply. "Hop on, Lulu! I'll take us back to the dorm! I'll do it as an apology!"

Seeing no reason to object, Lelouch put on a helm Rivals offered to him and settled himself comfortably in the side car of his motorcycle. Rivalz winked at him and started the engine. Soon, the surrounding views were running behind them as they rode on the highway. On the road, Lelouch looked up from his book.

"Aren't this just the usual thing? How can this be an apology?"

"Err… Well… um, it's special 'coz I just bought new helms! Hahaha…" Rivalz laughed sheepishly.

Lelouch shook his head and chuckled lightly. He decided to close his book and put it in the package. He gazed at the ruined slum area stretched long to the horizon; it was dark and reeked of trash, the very opposite view of the clean and beautiful Britannian settlement.

"Rivalz… if you don't like elevens, why do you still hang out with me?" Lelouch suddenly asked.

Rivalz looked pretty surprised at the question, but he quickly focused his concentration to the roads. "Well, uh…" He sounded thoughtful.

Lelouch chuckled amusedly. "Sorry, it's just an idle question. You don't have to think about it too much."

Rivalz didn't seem to hear him though. "Well, that's because… Lulu is different, I guess?" He tilted his head.

"How so?" The dark-haired boy raised a fine eyebrow.

"The first time I saw Lulu… I thought Lulu was a Britannian. Since you didn't look like the others at all." Rivalz muttered. "To be honest though, when I heard your name, I knew and I thought I shouldn't be too close to you… I thought I treated you pretty meanly back then…" He looked slightly fidgety.

"Yeah, you used to ignore me."

Rivalz blushed lightly. "B-but! It doesn't matter now 'coz I realized Lulu was different! Lulu's not scary, you're smart, and nice to me, and…" Rivalz stole a quick glance at Lelouch. Lelouch was looking straight at the roads, looking absent-minded. He gulped.

"…so beautiful."

But Lelouch couldn't hear the last part because a strong wind just blew near his ears. "…huh? What did you say?"

"N-nothing!!" Rivalz stuttered, face reddened. "A-anyway, since the president and the others don't mind, so… I'm being your friend not because of your nationality or social status…" He fought the blush on his cheeks by fully concentrating on riding his motorcycle.

Lelouch looked a bit taken by Rivalz's statement. "…Actually I was just joking when I asked that, but you took it so seriously… it's kind of funny." He saw Rivalz blushed again and laughed. "But then again…" He added.

"Thank you… Rivalz." He smiled earnestly.

Rivalz's face looked so much like a boiled crab then; it must be because of his idle joke, thought Lelouch.

He gazed absently at the views beyond the highway, he spotted the sight of the Ashford Academy, though still quite far. Feeling a bit bored, he opened his book again. He flipped and skipped through the pages, he couldn't' remember how many times he had finished the book. He had pretty much memorized the contents. Suddenly his fingers stopped at a certain page. On that page, an illustration of a sunflower field was drawn.

Lelouch's thought was suddenly sucked into a memory from long ago. The singing cicadas. The bright azure sky and soft cotton-like white clouds in a hot summer day. The beautiful contrast of light blue and bright yellow. He even remembered the sweet scent. In those heavenly days, when his sister was still alive and him—

Lelouch slammed the book close.

…what use remembering something like that now?

Those days were over. The day when hell fell down on this country, the heaven vanished. The past he wished he could burry within his memory forever, and yet to this day he still remembered the smell of burning trees, the noise of guns, and the scent of blood as if it just happened yesterday.

He shook his head.

Now… the only thing Lelouch could do was to live on peacefully. He had nothing and there was nothing he wished for, and thus he still had to live his ordinary days, pretending to know nothing, for the rest of his life, for the sake of himself and those who had helped him. Until then… he couldn't complain.

Yes. His purpose was only to live on these ordinary, perpetual days.

"By the way, Lulu. The president said she wants to talk to you as soon as you got back." Rivalz's voice suddenly woke him out of his thoughts.

Lelouch noticed the academy was already nearby; he tried to shake off his previous thoughts. "Is there something important?"

"Hmmm… No idea. She's prolly gonna invite you to join the high school division's student council or something, right? Since we're high-schoolers starting tomorrow."

Lelouch nodded. "I see."

A few minutes later, they should've arrived in front of the gate and entered the academy grounds if only there weren't so much ruckuses standing on their way. Both Rivalz and Lelouch were startled at a throng of people gathering by the gates. They appeared to be a combination of reporters, cameramen, and passersby, even students from another school gathered there. They were all squeezing against each other, trying to pry into the steel gates.

"What's going on?" Lelouch shaded his eyes from the many flashes of camera.

"My oh my… I heard rumors there's gonna be some big-shot in our school today, which explains these." Rivalz said in half-shock, half-amazement.

"How do we get in with those people blocking the way?"

"Ssh." Rivalz whispered. "There's a secret backdoor nearby the dorm. We'll have to go around and go through it quietly so they won't stalk us."

"Good thing we're not wearing our uniforms." Lelouch stated, gazing at the crowd. He wondered who came to visit that he attracted so much attention, but shrug it off quickly.

They went around the big academy until Rivalz stopped by a pair of rusty gates. After making sure no one saw them, he fished out a silver key from his pocket and started unlocking the seemingly newer lock.

"How'd you get that?" Lelouch asked.

"The president gave me one. It's good to have connections, don'tcha think?" Rivalz grinned as he undid the chains.

"Isn't it illegal?" A fine dark brow was raised.

"Nope. Since it's not used anymore and all rusty, it's technically legal. Like a secret entrance or something?"

"…you stole it didn't you."

"And it's a secret between us, okay? You're an accomplice now!" Rivalz laughed aloud, satisfied.

After they went in, Rivalz quickly put on the chains and locked it again like before, while Lelouch dragged his motorcycle to the dormitory parking area. He gazed at the quiet atmosphere of the dormitory building, thinking there wouldn't be many people until nighttime. They all went home for Winter break except Lelouch and a few others, like Rivalz and Milly.

Since Rivalz said his family had left him alone for Europe to visit some relatives and Milly had works to do at the academy, being the president of student council. Rivalz and Lelouch had been helping her to pass the time. Shirley, who lived nearby, visited them often and helped around too. It was good that Lelouch didn't have to spend the break all by himself in the academy dorms.

Rivalz came a short while later.

"The president called me earlier; she said we should go meet her at the student council room." He informed.

"Hm," Lelouch glanced at the dormitory building. "Sorry Rivalz, I have to put my things first. I'll catch up with you as soon as I did."

"Oh, okay." Rivalz nodded.

He waved at him, and vanished within the dormitory entrance. Suddenly, a look of realization hit Rivalz.

"…oh, yeah! I forgot to tell him what the president said…"

Lelouch entered the building, soon his legs climbed the stairs in the common room. His room was on the third floor, there were two beds, but he lived alone since he didn't have a roommate. It was convenient; he could hog the whole room all by himself. No one would complain if he left the lights on(like how Rivalz used to complain about his roommate).

He took the stairway again after the first, immediately took the sight of his bedroom door as it was right in front of the stairs, the furthest room on the first corridor. His free hand reached for his jeans' back pocket and managed to fish out a serial of keys. He flipped it and settled on a silver key with a black handle. Then Lelouch thrust it into the keyhole, but found something odd.

…? It's unlocked?

And his thought was right when the door was easily flung open after he turned the doorknob. As he entered with questions popping in his mind, he lifted his gaze up and his eyes widened when his amethyst eyes met a pair of bright emeralds. At that moment he felt his heart suddenly stopped beating for a second.

There was someone in his room.

He had a pair of bright green eyes that resembled the color of a leaf, wet by clear morning dew. Tanned skin and slightly ruffled, deep copper tresses. He had grown taller than Lelouch now and his body was more built, but Lelouch could never forget the light of those pristine chartreuse eyes. His nose. His hair. His…

"Um… do you live here?"

Lelouch flinched lightly at the question. As if he was pulled back into reality, a voice he didn't recognize and yet still had the same accent and tone—although the voice had become deeper. Different than seven years ago, the body became taller, and the face's structure had hardened and matured, like nothing he had last seen. Different. And yet so similar.

Lelouch tried to calm his loudly beating heart, and told his head to remain cool and composed. Even if the one in front of him was really him, he wouldn't… remember.

A sharp pain struck within his chest, but Lelouch chose to ignore it. He focused his mind and body to act normally.

Why is he here…?

"Yes. I'm… living here." He said with a steady voice.

The green-eyed boy looked relived, he smiled sweetly. "Oh. That's great. Nice too meet you! I just transferred here and I'll be your roommate from now on."

"Roommate?" Lelouch remembered the crowd by the gate just earlier, and what Milly wanted to talk to him about… must be this. He had thought possibilities, but this one… was unexpected.

"Are you okay? You look a bit pale…" The other said, stepping closer towards Lelouch with a concerned look on his face.

Lelouch instinctively backed away and refused to look straight to his eyes. "…I'm fine. Just a bit tired."

"…oh. Umm…" He looked awkward by Lelouch's rejection. But he quickly turned it to a friendly face. "Well, I hope we'll be good friends. What's your name?" He brightly said as he thrust his right hand towards Lelouch.

Lelouch replied with a forced smile and accepted his hand. "I'm… Lelouch. Kururugi Lelouch."

"My name is… well, I guess you knew it already… I'm Suzaku. Suzaku Britannia VI. Nice to meet you, Lelouch. I hope you'll treat me as your friend." He smiled a bright smile.

Lelouch smiled back.

It was like another hell had descended.

A/N: Good? Bad? Pleasee tell me what you think! I know there're prolly many grammatical errors... I'm embarrassed. 3///3