They said it was going to be a quiet funeral, but in the end it seems like they lied.
But what did she expect?
Here stands Kallen Stanfield: 19 years old, magenta hair (call it whatever color you wanted, she was used to the comments), blue eyes. Former terrorist then former Black Knight, current student. It was surprising how her life could be summed up in a manner of two sentences. To the rest of humanity, it seems- it had been one year since the death of Lelouch vi Brittania the hated tyrant who had ruthlessly ruled the entire world. But to her, it has been an eternity since the boy she loved sacrificed himself to save said humanity.
Kallen stood in the light sprinkle of rain, bouquet of white flowers cradled in her arms, at the funeral of Lelouch vi Brittania. She remembered asking about the funeral- which had been postponed because of the uproar that occurred nearly a year ago. They had to give some time for the people to calm down, they had told her. Many people still wanted to tear Lelouch apart if they saw his body.
And so, she waited almost three hundred sixty-five days to see him again. He would not be buried on imperial grounds next to Euphemia with his name emblazoned on the finest of marble, but far away in a small town on the coast of Japan, six feet under the Earth with a small piece of granite that said not his name but simple initials: "L.L."
This had upset Kallen at first, but she had later realized that it was enough for Lelouch to just rest in peace. It was okay, because it would all die down she thought. Lelouch can finally sleep- he didn't need to hurt anymore.
Or so she thought.
At his funeral, a crowd had gathered together under the fine mist of that afternoon. No, not a crowd, more of a mob. They were clustered tightly, but Kallen could feel the tense aura emanating from them. She heard catches and phrases of their conversation as she passed by silently:
" They're going to bury him here?"
" Why didn't anybody tell us about this?"
" Who do they think they are? This town has history too, you can't just dump who ever you'd like in our town."
Kallen's fingernails dug into the bouquet, her hands turning white from the test on her patience-
" If he is buried here, nobody in the soil next to him will rest in peace-"
she needed to restrain herself so that she wouldn't doing anyth-
" They're here!"
Startled out of her thoughts, Kallen looked up swiftly to see a large white van pulling into the lot. Men clothed in black suits climbed out of the car, their earpieces securely fastened, and a gun- Kallen noticed- strapped to their belts. Oh, and they all sported the new state of the art geass proof sunglasses. Kallen smiled dryly. It was as if they expected Lelouch to suddenly burst from his plain oak coffin and geass them all into submission again.
As they slowly pulled the coffin out of the van, Kallen seemed to feel the drops of rain become heavier.
No matter how she might have wished for it to be true, Lelouch did not spring from his coffin as the men brought it into her view. The volume of the mob's comments escalated as they saw the coffin. They hurried, in a mass of hatred and anger to block the path to the grave. Those that were even ordinarily benign- the housewives, the grandparents, the children- did not want Lelouch to rest in peace. Not in their town, not anywhere. Her skin prickled at the amount of hate that they seemed to feel towards a man that they really did not know that much about.
" Out of the way!" cried the coffin bearers. " Out of the way!"
" Out of our town!" came the reply from the mob.
" We do not want such an evil man to rest in our soil. How dare you bring evil to our town!"
" But we are here to bring peace, not evil." The voice was new,muffled, and sounded as if it came behind a wall. It was commanding, it was sad- a voice that drew a gasp from both Kallen and the crowd. From the van stepped a slim figure cloaked in purple, a familiar mask covering his face.
" Zero!"
Suzaku.
An old woman went rushing up to him, slipping beyond the guards undetected. They tried to snatch at her, but she escaped past their hands, throwing herself at Zero. There were tears beginning to stream down her face.
" Why?" she said to who she thought was Zero. " Why do you bury that man next to my son, who he killed?" Her hands gripped the purple cloth in desperation, the blank mask of Zero looking down at her.
" I am here to bring peace." replied Suzaku calmly, he looked up from her and surveyed the crowd. " I am here to bury the past, so that we can move into the future."
In the midst of the mob, Suzaku recognized the bright hair of someone he had not seen for a year. Kallen. When they locked eyes, she looked away. Kallen stood tall and proud, but he even he recognized that coming here had put a shroud of sadness on her shoulders. He almost smiled behind the shield of his mask. Just what he'd expect from his rival pilot. Both of their hearts were in pieces, yet they came to the funeral as if they wanted to be broken some more.
The rain began to come down even harder now.
"LIES!" said a man, who stood leaned against a tree. He looked up angrily at Suzaku. " You bring nothing but sadness. You do not care that you are burying a murderer among the graves of his victims." His brown eyes flashed scorn and triumph as the crowd roared in approval at his words.
" Yes! Get him out! Out!" they said. " Nobody wants him here!" They surged towards the men carrying the coffin at once- the adults, the children, the old- in a senseless fury. In a panic, the men carrying the coffin dropped in onto the ground, the top slipping off to reveal the pale face of its occupant. Kallen rushed forwards as well, the white flowers falling into the muddy soil as she pushed through the crowd, pried the people apart, trying to stop them, trying to make them-
" LEAVE LELOUCH ALONE!" the cry slipped out of her mouth before she could control herself. The words almost rebounded around them, and the crowd stopped in shock. Kallen rushed to the coffin, her heart rising into her throat when she caught sight Lelouch, seemingly sleeping, oblivious of the rain drops pattering onto his face and the madness that rushed about him. She collapsed next to his coffin.
" Lelouch.. you fool.." she breathed. Her hand trembling, Kallen cautiously reached to touch him, to just brush against his skin again trace the outlines of the lips that once met hers..
"Kallen, I can't let you do this."
Suzaku grabbed her hand before it could touch Lelouch. The crowd tensed as Kallen growled in frustration. So close.. so close.. " Just once, Suzaku Kurugi. Just once." She looked up to where she thought his eyes were. " I need to make sure that he's really dead. That this isn't some type of magic that Lelouch pulled from his back pocket again!"
Suzaku's grip on her hand tightened, and for a second Kallen believed that Suzaku would be kind. The downpour of raindrops stopped in one fine moment, where Kallen hoped that Suzaku, with his hardened heart would allow her some salvation.
" No." he said simply. The rain started coming down again as he pushed her away roughly. " Lelouch vi Brittania is dead and gone. I can reassure you all you want."
Kallen landed on the mud, her eyes wide as Suzaku turned away from her. He signaled to the men. " Clean this up. We're not burying him here."
At the sound of this, the crowd cheered. But their jeers and calls fell deaf on Kallen's ears. White static filled her head, and the drops of rain seemed to mist over her vision. She could only see the silhouette of Zero, of Suzaku, striding away from her.
" You bastard!" Kallen snarled, lunging at Suzaku.
Before she could reach him, a man grabbed her. Kallen struggled in his grasp, gnawing, kicking to get free. Suzaku turned to face her, his mask as frustratingly cold as the calloused heart that she felt lay beneath.
His words were icy, but Kallen did not have the time to understand them before the dim gray daylight of the day faded away.
" Shoot her." he said.
AN: I haven't written on fanfiction for quite some time, but I hope that this was bearable enough ^_^ I've been dying to write a Code Geass fic, and this, I guess is my shot at it. Whether you enjoyed it or not, please review! Any constructive criticism on writing style is appreciated. :)