Heya! I'm sorry about the delay. I told some of you that I would be updating every Friday, but that may not be the case anymore. I do apologize, but I have a life outside of fanfiction to live. I have another chapter done preemptively, so I'll try to get that one up next week, but no promises. Again, I apologize. I honestly thought I would have time to get this done before things got too hectic.
Special thanks to: renielle14, Akito89Lelouch, LovesFollower, lost lord, MS-16 Z Jager, BlackAngel'sWrath, JohnTitor, Midnightstarz, and Dark Rage195 for their rebviews! Thanks so much, guys!
History Affair
Chapter 03: History Repeating
…
I stand in the doorway of my room, mouth hanging open to avoid shrieking. My body moves on its own as I step inside and shut the door, throwing my bags to the floor and run over to him. He's unconscious, but is he okay? I bend over slightly, pulling my hair back, and lean over his face. Warm tufts of air hit against my cheek gently, which I guess means he's breathing. I suppose that's a good thing.
I learned how to check a pulse in middle school health, so I reach out for his wrist and place my middle and forefinger against his wrist. Yup, he's got a pulse, too. He seems okay. Maybe he's just asleep?
But in the middle of my bedroom floor?
Suddenly, a hand grasps my wrist and I stifle another scream. My free hand automatically grips the fabric of his sleeve by reflex as his eyes snap open, staring straight above. His voice—harsh and, quite frankly, pissed off—sounds out as he shouts, "Unhand me, wench!"
I release my hold on his sleeve and lean back, pulling my hand free of his hold and fall back on my butt. I shuffle away a few feet as he slowly sits, staring at me with angry—albeit gorgeous—purple eyes. Slowly, his expression softens and shifts to one of shock, eyes widening and hand reaching out helplessly. He swallows, then hesitantly says, "…Cera?
I blink. Huh? "Um…"
"Cera, it's you, isn't it?"
I shake my head slowly, pressing my back against the couch where I shuffled. "No, my name's Kate. Or C.C., whichever you prefer."
He shifts to his feet, a smile gracing his lips, "Cera, you're alive… I thought I lost you."
"No, I'm not-" I start, cutting off as he walks over to me and bends down next to me, taking my hand in his. What the hell? His other hand reaches out, brushing my hair out of my face before sliding across my cheek and pulling me towards him.
Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait.
What?
Then his lips are on mine. He's kissing me.
This freaky stalker freak is kissing me!
And I don't even know his name.
He pulls back slightly and gives me this gentle smile, his hand brushing through my hair again. "Cera, I'm so glad you're all right."
"Um… Excuse me?" I lean back, shaking my head and pull my hand back to make him let go. "I'm not this Cera girl. My name's Kate Christian."
He shifts and leans back, looking me over critically. Finally, he shifts to stand and reaches up to pull at his tightly-buttoned collar, saying, "Forgive me. You look just like her."
"Er…" I shift to climb to my feet and dust off my microscopic uniform skirt. "Who are you? Why have you been stalking me?"
His eyebrow quirks slightly and he raises his hand as if he's going to slap me. "You dare speak that way to me?"
I cringe, covering my face helplessly. "Geez, settle down!"
He relaxes slightly and lowers his hand back to his side. Suddenly, he sweeps his hand out dramatically, bringing it in front of him until his fingers are poised right beside his face, saying, "I am Lelouch vi Britannia, eleventh prince of Britannia and seventeenth in line for the royal throne!"
Say what? This guy is mental. Or maybe I am. First off, there is no royal family anymore. History tells Lelouch vi Britannia as one of the last princes, who died in the final war against the monarchy. He lived and died over four hundred years ago.
But, come to think of it, he does greatly resemble the few remaining portraits of Prince Lelouch that survived through the years. But… But… That's impossible. And… "Who is Cera?" There's no record of this girl ever existing. History says Prince Lelouch died a teenager without ever marrying or anything. They don't even tell of a tragic love story or anything.
His eyes sharpen again, almost as if his about to curse me to hell or something, so I raise my hands in mock surrender. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Forget I asked!"
"Kate!"
I gasp, looking towards the door where my mother's voice was approaching from. She has a bad habit of not knocking, so I quickly open my closet and shove 'Lelouch' inside, hissing, "Stay quiet!"
"You dare treat a prince like-"
I slam the door shut and hiss, "Look, if my mom finds you in my room, it'll be bad for both of us, so stay quiet!" I pause and, for good measure, add, "Your Highness."
A muffled grunt of distaste sounds and I leap into a chair and grab my book from the table just as my mother opens the door. "Kate, why are you home so early? You said you were going to be helping the student council until late."
"Oh…" I look up from my book and tuck my bookmark inside. "I wasn't feeling well, so the others told me to head back. I drank some water, and I feel much better."
"Ah, I see." She frowns. "I thought I heard you talking to someone. It sounded like a boy."
I hope my face doesn't show how afraid I feel now. "Oh, that? I was talking to the rest of the council on speaker phone. Gino was being his usual loud self."
"All right… Well, we ate dinner without you, because we thought you'd be longer. Go talk to Chiba about getting something to eat."
Leave-leave-leave-leave-leave… I don't think 'Lelouch' will be that patient… "Okay, Mom! I'll head down in a minute."
"All right, sweetie. I'm going over to Clara Einstein's, so make sure you get your dinner."
My mom has always been good friends with Nina's mom, so she's been visiting ever since… You know… I smile and nod. "Okay, Mom. Give her my best, okay?"
She gives me a wistful smile and backs out, shutting the door behind her. I breathe a sigh of relief and shift to stand, walking over to the closet. I pull the double doors open with a sheepish smile at the sight of him leaning back against a set of drawers with his arms crossed. "Are you finished with your discussion, Cera?"
I blink. Didn't we already establish that I'm not this Cera chick? Maybe I should play along? Maybe I can at least find out more about him. I nod and smile. "I did, Lelouch. Thank you for being so patient." I hope this girl is nice and friendly.
He stands up straight and uncrosses his arms, moving to step forward. He stops when he's right in front of me and reaches out, gently taking my hands in his. "I'm sorry to be such an intrusion. I hate that we have to hide our relationship."
I hope I'm not overdoing this… I smile coyly and peer up at him through my lashes. "And what kind of relationship is that?"
He smiles back, though it's a small and barely-there smile, it makes his face soften and he actually looks like a nice person. "You know, Cera."
I rock back and forth on my heels and keep my smile in place. "But I like hearing you say it." Oh, God… I hope his relationship with this Cera girl is what I think…
He lets go of one of my hands and reaches up to touch my cheek gently. "I love you, Cera."
I thought so. Or hoped so, really.
"I'm sorry we have to stay a secret, but I promise we'll be married before the year is out. You'll be princess of Britannia, and we'll be able to be together forever."
I lean into his touch and smile lightly. "I don't care about being a princess. I just want to be with you."
His hands shift to let me go for a second, then suddenly pulls me against him in a tight embrace. I really hope he doesn't realize I'm messing with him. I actually feel kind of bad now. But I can't just tell him I'm not Cera… Not at this point. Slowly, I raise my hands to settle on his waist and hold him back.
This is actually kind of awkward. I mean, I'm hugging this guy who claims to be a prince who died four hundred years ago while pretending to be his girlfriend. Not to mention, he randomly showed up on my bedroom floor after appearing in hallucination-like dreams for two weeks.
Awkward with a capital 'A.'
He pulls back slowly and gives me a once over. "Cera, you never change. You're still just as beautiful as ever."
I smile and step back. "I'm rather hungry. Do you mind if I go downstairs and make some food?"
He smiles and nods. "Not at all. I'll be waiting up here. I wanted to get some research done."
I don't know what he'll be researching, but as long as he doesn't find my diary, I'll be okay with it. "Of course. Would you like me to bring you some food, Lelouch?"
He smiles. "If you have extras. But don't feel pressured to risk getting caught. No one can know I'm here."
Damn skippy, they can't. "Of course."
…
I smile at Chiba, the family cook, as I slap the slice of wheat bread on top of my sandwich. "I'm really hungry, but I have a ton of work to catch up on, so is it okay if I take this upstairs while I work?"
Chiba sighs and shakes her head. "Just don't let your parents find out. You know how Mr. Christian is about food outside the dining room."
I nod. I still have to feed the centuries-old prince in my bedroom. "I know. I'll be careful. You'll never even know I had anything up there."
She turns away, dismissing the conversation, so I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and head upstairs. I hope he's not a vegetarian. I made him a turkey sandwich, so I hope it's something he'll eat. I walk back to my room and shift to knock.
Wait, what am I doing? This is my bedroom! I turn the knob and open the door, only to find 'Lelouch' sitting on the couch with a book in his hand, gingerly flipping through the pages. I clear my throat to alert him to my presence, shifting the plate to my other hand.
He doesn't even look up, but instead waves a hand over towards my desk and says, "Leave it there and go."
My eyebrow rises on its own. "Excuse me? Who do you think you're talking to?"
He barely glances up, then resumes reading right away. "I wish to be alone. You're impeding on my research."
I walk the space between he and I, then grab the book from his hand and toss it to the floor. "Look, buddy, this isn't the sixteenth century anymore. You're not a prince, and I'm not your servant."
He stares, eyes narrowed, and looks as if he's about to send me to the gallows, but I cut him off, saying, "Don't even start! It's not the sixteen-hundreds. It's two thousand and seventeen. The fact that you think you're a prince doesn't mean anything here. You're just a regular guy with no clue how the current world works."
He shifts to stand and crosses his arms. "Is that so? And who do you think you are to be saying such things?"
"My name is Kate Christian, though I already told you that three times. And let me be very clear when I say I am not your servant. If anything, you should be thankful I didn't call the cops on you and have you thrown into a loony bin!"
He crosses his arms, peering down at me with his emotions like a mask. "You truly do not believe I am Prince Lelouch vi Britannia?"
I shake my head. "That guy died almost four hundred years ago. There's no way."
He takes a step closer to me, stopping right in front of me and leering down at me. "What if I said I could prove it?"
"How?"
"Judging by your abundance of books on the subject, I assume you're well-informed of my birth era?"
I nod. "That's true."
"Then feel free to ask me questions of that time, and I'll answer them."
I hold up my hand. "Quick question. If you really were born almost four hundred years ago, why aren't you at all bothered by the fact that you're suddenly in the future? On that note, how are you in the future?"
He turns away and crosses his arms, walking over to look out one of the windows and muses, "Because I wanted to come to the future. Admittedly, I went a lot farther than anticipated, but errors are bound to occur when experimenting with something you're never done before. As surprising as it may be, even I do make mistakes."
"Okay, yeah, sure. That's all well and good, but how did you get to the future? Did you have a time machine?"
He shakes his head with a laugh. "You speak as if such machinery is achievable to man's miniscule intellect. No, I didn't use a 'time machine.' I simply utilized my birthright as Prince of Britannia."
My eyebrow rises again. "And that would be…?"
He turns back to face me, a smile on his lips. "Geass."
…
Well, there's another one! Geass will play a fairly large role in this fic, though I've taken my own creative license with it. You'll find out more about it as the story progresses! Again, I do apologize about the delay and change in schedule ^^;
Please review!
-Valk
