Title: Not Yet
Summary: We all know Lelouch isn't dead. However, here is the why, how, and for how long.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Same old same old. No money and all that jazz.
Authour's Note: really should rewatch the whole series before editing this, again. XP But, it takes more time than I could possibly have. On the plus side, this chapter has been edited. The content is essentially the same, but word choice and small details have been changed. Hopefully it will contribute to the overall flow of the fic.
Together, the mismatched pair staggered to the ghetto. C.C. was essentially carrying him for a large portion of the walk, but she didn't complain. She wasn't weak.
She did haveto leave Lelouch in a remote and deserted alley underneath some empty boxes so she could find living arrangements, but was back quickly to carry the prone and sleeping form of Lelouch Lamperouge back to their new apartment. It was already furnished, because the previous owner had been assassinated due to some unscrupulous activities, and the ex-emperor's policies on drug transactions.
Slowly, she climbed the stairs to the second level of the apartment complex. Luckily, it wasn't a high-rise, but it was 5 stories on total. C.C. gently lay Lelouch down on the couch in the front room, before pulling his shirt off of him. There didn't seem to be any opening of the wounds. In fact, C.C took off the bandages, and decided he no longer needed them. She hadn't expected the transfusion to work so well... or so quickly.
C.C. shook Lelouch's arm gently, and he opened his eyes blearily. "I think your wounds will be healed by tomorrow." she announced to the exhausted half asleep teenager, as she picked up a phone and dialed Pizza Hut. "The transfusion is working faster than I thought it would, but I don't think that we will be able to escape for at least a month anyway." She grinned at him, as he took in what she was saying. He examined himself, and froze when he saw how quickly he had been healing. He wasn't really even in as much pain any more.
"C.C. ... Whose blood did you give me?" he asked, quietly. "No human heals this fast." He knew the answer already. She had given him the only blood she had on hand.
"Mine, since no one else's was available. I guess my healing properties worked their way into your wounds." She looked thoughtful for a moment. Then, she pulled out her tote bag that seemed to have so many useful things in it. From it, she drew a pair of scissors, and a bottle of hair bleach. "We have to get you disguised quickly, the pizza guy will be here in a half hour... or it's free~!" C.C.
Lelouch's eyes widened comically in fear and he attempted to escape, but is wounds had slowed him down too much. Even if they didn't hurt as much, his range of motion was almost nothing. Lelouch had only let professionals cut his hair since he was young. He feared the haircut and he wasn't even sure why. He tried to hide, but she quickly found him. Slowly, he was marched to a chair in the kitchen, where he sat as she cut away his hair. She knew he would look horrible if it was too short, so she settled for leaving it about three inches long, and making sure his bangs didn't do their trademark pattern. She swept up the hair on the floor as Lelouch admired the job she'd done.
After the traumatizing experience of the haircut, C.C. approaching him with a foul-smelling concoction in a bottle was almost too much. He had tried to jump out of his chair, but had only ended up doing a faceplant and hurting himself.
Not even a minute after his hair had finally reached the dark honey color (surprisingly not platinum blond), the pizza guy arrived. C.C. decided to test the disguise by sending him to pay the poor pizza guy. If the unsuspecting pizza guy recognized Lelouch, C.C. would kill him. Lucky for the pizza guy, he thought nothing was unusual about the blond with wet hair and a towel on his head that answered the door. Lelouch didn't feel relieved until the money changed hands and the door was closed, but C.C. had a smug look on her face. She seized the box from him, and was halfway done with the pizza before he had finished his first piece.
"Wpht negtht?" asked C.C. through a mouthful of pizza. She was sitting on the kitchen table looking at Lelouch. She had gotten him this far, and wanted him to start helping keep them both out of trouble. It was his identity that could ruin everything, not hers. Unfortunately, she had to empty her mouth before Lelouch could understand her question. "What next?" she finally said, after swallowing.
"Jobs, first thing tomorrow. We need to get money before we can get out of here." he said, and slumped on the couch. "You did a good job with the disguise. Also, I've been thinking over an alias... I can't go by Lelouch any more... it's hardly a common name. Everyone knows I'm dead, and it needs to stay that way." he paused for a moment. "And, we need to greet our new landlords tomorrow morning." He stood and walked towards his new bedroom. "I'm exhausted, so I'm going to sleep. I believe we're safe for now."
He felt all wrong, but he thought that was because he should have died. He had drifted off the instant he had gotten to his bed, before C.C. even had a chance to respond to his statement, or comment about the change in his personality.
'I should go to sleep too. Tomorrow will be a long day.' C.C. thought mildly as she wandered back to her bedroom in the apartment. There were two bedrooms, so Lelouch would have his own. She layed Lelouch's blanket over him, smiling slightly, before going to her own bed for once.
She had nightmares that night.
Another bomb dropped. The war was in full swing, and she couldn't get away. Terror washed over her as she wondered if her code could save her from being completely blown up. A few seconds later, she found it could save her, and wished it couldn't.
Flash!
Another memory. Burning at the stake. She had gotten too close to these people, and of course they had betrayed her. After all this time, why had she expected anything else?
Flash!
Now they were in the world of C. Marianne, C.C.'s first love, was disappearing. Charles grabbing Lelouch by the throat, and the failed attempt to transfer the curse of the mark to his son. C.C. was almost sad that Lelouch's father had died before Lelouch had gotten the code, because that was the only way... No.
Flash!
She saw Lelouch being stabbed in her mind's eye, even as she prayed in the church. Her panic had driven her to flee towerds the place she knew his body would be
Flash!
A sobbing and desperate C.C. dragged Lelouch from the parade float, despite all her insistence that she had agreed with Zero Requiem. She couldn't imagine why she had agreed, especially since he had been so, so close to fulfilling her wish.
Flash!
C.C.'s desperate transfusion, and her cry of joy when Lelouch's heart restarted. She had nearly killed herself trying to save him. In fact, she might have actually killed herself a few times to save him.
It had been worth it.
A/N: This chapter is much improved from its previous incarnation. I beat it properly into shape, I think. All it needed was a little love, and a firm hand! And some characterization. XP I apologize if the continuity is off on the chapters. I'm trying not to let that happen, but it sometimes does.
Published 9:45 PST 1/23/10
Edited: 4/7/10 9:47 PM PST
Rewritten: 8/28/11 0:43 MST
