A modern Au with a pretty dark ending. I don't own anything.
Nunnally turned around as much as she could manage in her bed. It was in the dead of night and she couldn't sleep. Being disabled had its disadvantages. In fact, what advantages did it have?
And being blind was the cherry on the top.
She saw nothing. Only darkness was ever occurring in her 'vision'. Nunnally remembered what it was like to see. She recalls the blue sky. Stroking luscious colourful birds, them preening their bountiful feathers as she giggled. But those colours faded out of her mind over time, she knew it was inevitable. Even the darkness she always saw couldn't be considered black.
The one thing that saddened her the most was that she couldn't remember what she looked like. Was she beautiful? Hard to look at? Even with all the compliments from hundreds of people, she knew that they might just be saying that she lovely just to boost her self-esteem, or, just because they felt obligated to.
But why should she care about appearances? Nunnally couldn't judge anyone's one theirs.
Without even realizing it, her fingers were tracing her face. They went over her closed eyes and trailed down to her chin. Did she have freckles? Any beauty marks? Perhaps her memory went away like her sight did?
An Empress of Britannia was supposed to be proper, confident, and most of all, authoritative.
She should've just thrown all of that out the window the second she became Empress. Behind the kind facade was an insecure, blind teenager wondering what she looked like.
What did others think of her? If she had a geass like Lelouch's-
Nunnally's breath hitched. She quickly rephrased that thought.
If she could confidently ask others of what they thought of her without sprinkling in lies. Yeah.
Rather than staring at the green grass that whipped in the wind, Nunnally would've preferred-
Wait, grass?
Green?
Staring?
Probably just an illusion, a trick of the eye, she mentally told herself, even though she couldn't possibly have illusions because of her blindness.
Nothing special.
But why does it feel so real? She forgot what grass looked like, felt like, smelled like. Her eyes- yes, eyes - darted all around the open plains; across the horizon where the ground met the sky. Spotted beasts - were those cows? - trimmed and plucked the abundant green. Horses cantered as one all over the plain, their powerful muscles bunching at every leap. A group of three silhouettes sat under a lone tree. When Nunnally looked closer, she could see a man, a woman, and, and a young man with jet black hair.
Once they noticed her, the woman gestured her over. But Nunnally couldn't come over, wasn't she disabled?
With a reluctant push, she tried with all her might to get up. In a few seconds, for the first time in years, she saw the ground beneath her feet. She staggered a bit from the height; she could stand!
Nunnally placed one foot in front of the other, taking hesitant steps towards the group. She had her arms teetering back and forth until she finally made it to the others.
The woman, up close, had long, sleek, black hair and dark purple eyes. The blond man beside her had a sturdy, built figure with light blue eyes. The young man had the same hair and eyes as the woman. That's funny, he reminded Nunnally of someone she knew, someone she saw before she became blind, someone-
"Lelouch!" Nunnally said, she picked up her slow pace and felt herself falling into lithe, yet warm, arms. She cried until she could no more, Lelouch silently patting her back. After a couple of minutes, she got out of the hug and looked - or rather, remembered - the other two.
"Mom...? Dad...?" Nunnally asked slowly. Didn't they die? Weren't they all dead? Cleary not, since Nunnally saw and walked over to them. They hugged her reassuringly before pulling back.
This was all real.
"T-this is all real...?"Nunnally's eyes darted to all of them, going over their features, memorizing every single detail. She wanted this moment to last forever. For it to never end.
None of the others responded. Strange...
Nunnally felt a strand of hair slip past her ear and suspend in front of her face. It was a beautiful light brown; long and wavy.
Is... this my hair?
A mirror was right beside Marianne who handed it to Nunnally, as if saying, take a look at yourself. The brunette accepted the mirror. Lelouch and Marianne gave her a warm smile. Charles didn't have a smile on his face, but rather, his eyes showed love for her and their family.
They all seemed to say, whatever happens, just know that we love you, Nunnally.
Nunnally flipped the mirror over and gazed at her reflection.
A nurse began her rounds of visiting every cubicle. It was deadly quiet if you ignored the sounds coming from each room. She was now on her last patient. A 17-year-old blind girl who had various health and mental issues. The nurse's eye skimmed through the clipboard attached to the door. Hmm, strange, the patient has been here since she was 7-years-old.
So, ten years...
The patient probably was diagnosed with an issue that was untreatable, the nurse thought, it's very rare for a child to be in a place like this.
That is until her eyes found the rest of the description for the 17-year-old.
She believes she is the empress of a non-existent country and that she's disabled. She also thinks that her father is a tyrant and her brother is a masked hero called, 'Zero'. Interesting. When she was 7-years-old she-
The nurse stopped. She blinked and read that sentence again. When she was 7-years old she-
The exhausted woman blanched. Her mouth opened and closed. She dropped the clipboard and hurriedly opened the door to the room.
Just do it quickly and get out.
She pushed the tray in front of her and masked the dread she felt. "Ms. Lamperouge, it's time to take your medicine."
The girl opened her eyes, they were clouded and stared at some spot on the ceiling. The nurse dropped two pills in her hand, which the girl swallowed without water.
"Wasn't it real?" Her voice was dry and croaked at every syllable.
The nurse froze. "What... was real?"
"I saw my family, they were all sitting under a beautiful tree. I was so happy, not only to see them after a long time, but just to see them, and everything around us. It was beautiful. Sure, my other senses have enhanced, but, it felt all the better just to... see everything.
"But, when I looked at my reflection, all I saw was nothing. Why was that? Why could I see everything else but me?" A sigh passed Nunnally's lips. "Why did they leave me? Was I not enough for them? I don't even remember what colour my hair is anymore."
"You were just dreaming." The nurse mentally cringed as the words slipped through her lips. Nunnally's eyes furrowed.
"No, it was real. They wanted to talk to me after leaving me alone for 10 years, yet... they didn't say one THING!" Nunnally gripped the blankets tightly. "Why would they want to see me again, only to not talk to me? I haven't heard their voices since that night. The last thing I heard from them was their... screams..."
Minutes pass, the room filled with stilled silence. Nunnally spoke up again, her demeanour calm once again.
"What would you know? You never went through hardship, you aren't in charge of the Britannian Empire..."
Outside of the cubicle, dark crimson seeped under the door, contrasting greatly against the white, eerie hallway.
"You never killed."