AN: I feel like I haven't written or updated this story in like a thousand years...but in reality it's only been about a week. This will most likely be my last update altogether before the new year. So I wish you guys a Happy New Year! Now that that is said and done, please enjoy the chapter. :)
P.S. Sorry for any mistakes I may have missed.
Chapter 4: Behind Closed Doors
What a cruel thing she has done to her husband, he didn't deserve it, and she definitely doesn't deserve his undyling love and loyalty after this. The Dark Empress has now officially lied and deceived to all those who walked along side with her in the dark path.
Soon after the White Knight's departure, Leloucia called in a meeting for everyone who knows the 'official plan' and knew about the unborn child. The people in the utmost inner circle were, the two Scientists, Jeremiah, Anya, Sayoko, and of course the Green Witch. They all sat in a secluded meeting room and watched the Empress pace back and forth out of nervousness. Her pacing had been going on for twenty minutes now in silence, and automatically everyone else did the same by sitting in silence. But the killing silence made a couple people in the room slightly uncomfortable. Especially for the man with the greyish hair.
Earl of Pudding could not handle the tension the silence brought.
"So the weather, did you see that single dark cloud passing by and not grace us with a shower of rain? Am I right?" He tried to ease the tension.
Cecile face palmed herself, dragging it down slowly in disbelief. "Oh Lloyd..."
"This is not the time to be cracking jokes Lloyd." She hit him a little hard on his arm with each word she spouted out.
"Ow Cecile! I wasn't joking, I was trying to make conversation!"
The Empress stopped her pacing and watched the two Lancelot workers lightly argue; something that they did almost everyday. Watching those two bicker brought a smile to her face, feeling a little bit of relief take some of the stress off of her. Everybody in the room watched in amusement and it reminded her that these are her loyal subjects. There's no reason to feel so tense around them. So she closed her eyes to take in a few breaths.
"Suzaku...you are still my sword, cutting down enemies that continues to stand in my way-" She whispered to herself, opening her eyes to see everyone in the room talking. "-and my way to protect you is to feed you lies." She placed a hand on her stomach where their little baby would make it as his or her's home for the next nine months.
"Maybe this meeting is pointless." She started off, silencing the room almost immediately. "I think we had enough meetings about the next nine months and the Zero Requiem. But let me put this in simple terms. I hope you guys know where you will be on the day of the Requiem, that will be still going as planned."
"What of the child?" Jeremiah intervened. Standing up from his seat, "Forgive me for speaking out my lady but we haven't really discussed the child's birth or future before and after the Requiem. Will Knight Kururugi gain custody after the Requiem or will he and the child will cease all contact? And if father and child never meet, who will care for it if you can't?" He stared into her eyes. "Please forgive me for speaking negative, but what if you don't pull through the Requiem?" He respectfully bowed to his lady before taking his seating again.
"You really thought that question through didn't you Jeremiah?"
"It's what's required of me in order to protect you and comply with your wishes my lady."
Leloucia turned away from the audience to look out the window in the room. She opened the blinds slightly to look out at the outside world.
"Before the Requiem I will remove myself from the child after birth; only attending to it's needs for a few months. I can't risk the Requiem by building attachments to the child, so I pull though... the child comes with me. And if I don't, it stays with Suzaku. But I need you to carefully watch his mental state before handing him or her over to him. I don't want him to raise the baby when he is unable to stay sane. So if he looks unstable, Sayoko you are to look after the child-" She turned around to look at the skilled Ninja. "-I want you to watch over the child until Suzaku is stable. He can spend time with him or her, but he cannot raise it."
"I understand your highness."
Every participant in the room stared at Leloucia in shock. All six people were thinking the same thing.
"How much crueler could she be?" Sayoko thought to herself.
As Leloucia continued to speak, Sayoko drifted further away with her thoughts about the Empress before her. "By asking her husband to take her life in front of the world then to separate his own child from him...it's truly a messed up thing she could do. Suzaku didn't deserve this kind of agony. Especially since he has undying love and loyalty for her."
Sayoko focused on how the Empress had a serious expression on as she talked. "She truly is worthy of carrying the title, The Dark Empress."
"You're such a cruel person Leloucia." C.C. said aloud. Not holding back what she really thought. "But I guess if you handled with all the lives that were lost as Zero, then ripping a child from it's father shouldn't be a bad thing...Right?"
Amethyst clashed with Golden.
"I really don't want to hear your-" Leloucia started by was cut off by C.C.
"You need to hear it from one of us. I'm not going to sugar coat anything that you do Leloucia. You should already know that. Don't you think by keeping the baby close yet so far away from him will drive him insane? He lost his wife and now he's going to be told that he can't have his own baby at arms length? He's going to do whatever he can to get back what belongs to him, even if it means harming everyone who stands in his path."
"Since when do you care C.C.?"
"I don't care, he's not my husband. I'm just being rational since you obviously lost your mind."
Leloucia held back her tongue. As much as she wanted to retort and explain the intentions behind her reasons for doing this, there was nothing she could say or do that would justify separating the little bundle away from her husband. "C.C. I really don't want to talk about this right now. That is the plan in motion and if my mind changes within the next upcoming year, I'll personally let you know." She sent C.C. a glare.
There was an awkward tension in the room for a good while until it was broken-
"WELL! Now that the baby is in subject, how will you explain to the world about your pregnancy Mrs. Kururugi?" Lloyd questioned.
Her heart raced from being called by that name, Mrs. Kururugi. She was addressed by that name less than five different times. One of the consequences for having a secret marriage...not being able to be called by the last name her Husband has given to her out of love.
"Easy, the father will be kept a secret. This might set off some people and they will try to get rid of me along with the future heir of Britannia. So I say that we just say that child is lost shortly after birth which brings the Zero Requiem shortly after."
"Sounds simple enough." The pink haired girl, Anya, commented as she texted onto her phone.
"Is everybody okay with the plan of action?" Leloucia questioned.
"Actually if words get out about you being pregnant...wouldn't Suzaku find out as the news traveled across the world?" Lloyd stated.
"Lloyd...I'm surprised...you actually said something useful for once." Cecile smiled at her partner who just stared at her in disbelief.
"He's right...we need to come up with something good, and to back it off whenever Sir Kururugi hears about it." Jeremiah added.
Everyone in the room pitched in a few idea until they eventually agreed with one. Shortly after that decision they talked a little longer polishing the plans before she dismissed them all. Leaving her in the room by herself, alone with her sorrowful thoughts that she keeps locked away.
Leloucia tied her hair up in a loose bun before sitting in a random seat at the large empty table. She let out a elongated sigh hiding her face in the palms of hands as tears began to sting her eyes threatening to fall. Stressed and confused, she couldn't tell what's up and what's down anymore.
"Suzaku...I feel so lost."
4 Months Later
"All she ever does is talk." C.C. said while munching on a slice of pizza. Currently she and Leloucia were in the empress's chamber watching the news that was being given out to the world by the blonde woman, also known as Milly.
"It's her job C.C." The other inhabitant in the room retorted.
"Yes I'm aware of that Leloucia. It's my way of nicely telling you to change the channel, I rather look at paint dry than watch anymore of the same old news." C.C. reached across the coffee table to take out another slice of pizza.
"Well go paint a wall and watch it dry C.C. Just give me a couple of more minutes." Leloucia looked at her complex companion. "Sometime she stresses me out." Thinking to herself as she put her hand on her small protruding stomach. Their baby coming is getting bigger. But at a slow pace of course.
Her morning sickness had gone away which was an automatic plus; and although her belly was small, she couldn't help but feel the joys and happiness of becoming a mother. She kept a reminder that she needn't get too attached but the sometimes the feeling became a tad overwhelming and naturally she'd basked in the idea of loving and raising something created by her and husband. Every once in a while she would feel a fluttering sensation inside. A special feeling that had her heart racing.
"How's Suzaku by the way?"
"He's doing fine...where he's at things are going...according to plan almost. Naturally the people over there are resisting and Suzaku and the others are trying not to use any form of violence. So things are a little slow right now." Leloucia finished, getting up from the couch making her way to the bedroom.
"That doesn't sound like it's going according to plan!" C.C. shouted from the living room.
"Give it a rest C.C."
Leloucia laid on the bed, a lot of stress and anxiety had built up over the past few months, so a little nap should suffice in easing her mind. She closed her eyes for a while until a moment later she heard the clicking of C.C's heels heading towards her direction before it was quieted on the carpeted floor.
"I never asked you-" The Green Witch removed her boots, flopping onto the bed next to Leloucia. "-do you know the baby's sex?"
Leloucia grabbed one of Suzaku's pillows snuggling against it inhaling the faint scent that lingered. Naturally he smelled really sweet, but after he showered with his favorite shower gel, he smelled like petrichor. An earthy smell after a shower of rain.
She missed Suzaku greatly...
"I haven't really decided...I think I would like to be surprised honestly."
"You are weird Leloucia..."
"You remind me everyday C.C." She said before allowing sleep to take over.
The only sounds in the room were the flipping of the pages and the small buttons beings pressed on the cell device. "This one sounds too pretty...what do you think Anya?" Leloucia turned to the young technological teenager.
"Yeah yeah too pretty. Why are you asking me this again?"
The empress pulled onto the strands on her now short raven hair. She wanted to try something new so she had her hair cut to her shoulders. And if she were honest with herself, she was not missing the excess length that once reached her backside. Showing her hair to her husband was a blast, the look on Suzaku's face was priceless when he saw it when they had one of their video chat sessions. It was pretty hysterical.
"Anya I'm asking for your opinion because everybody else is too busy to help me look through baby names." She continued to look at the endless columns of girl names. "Should I do more of a English name? Or should we do a traditional Japanese name?"
"I don't know, ask your husband. I'm sure Suzaku would be thrilled picking out baby names with you than to spend most of his time with a bunch of men and retaliating people." Anya averted her gaze from her phone's screen. A very small smile formed on her lips when she looked over and saw a scowl on Leloucia's face. "Look I'm the wrong person to ask for baby names and baby advice. You need a bigger group of friends."
"You know what Anya..."
"What your highness?"
Leloucia's brows knitted at the teens mockery. "Anya that was suppose to be rhetorical."
"Roger that." She answered emotionless.
"The loyalty nowadays." The pregnant woman thought to herself rubbing her much bigger belly when she felt little kick. "Alight baby, let me pick out some names for you."
Leloucia is currently 7 months pregnant and as each and every day passes, she's becoming more and more anxious about welcoming the bundle of joy into the world. She made sure to stay secluded and to keep out of the public's eye. She would hate for news of her pregnancy to come out and Suzaku finding out...
It would be very bad.
"Good afternoon my lady."
"Lord Jeremiah, It's good to see you." She greeted him looking up from the baby book of names. Anya greeted him shortly after her.
"Empress Leloucia, there is an upcoming meeting later this afternoon, and I have cancelled the interview with Ms. Ashford, I alerted that you are still feeling 'ill' so you cannot come out today." Jeremiah informed.
"Thank you Jeremiah."
She focused her attention back to the book when she felt another kick from the baby. "I wish Suzaku could share these small moments." Mumbling under her breath referring to the baby kicks.
"So what are you looking at?" The Britannian man stepped closer to her.
"Oh this?" Pointing at the book of names. "I've been trying to find boy and girl names or just neutral gender names. But I'm having a hard time deciding on a good one for each."
"I told her that she should just talk to Suzaku about it." Anya added.
"Anya...that's enough." The empress said a little harsh, feeling a little annoyed with her at the moment.
Jeremiah stood over her shoulder looking at baby names. "You still don't know the gender?"
"No, I decided that I rather not know." She said calmly.
Jeremiah sat in the seat next to the Dark Empress and the two looked over the many baby names for both male and females. Other than the few comments that came from the man and woman about the possible candidates for names, they mainly sat there in silence flipping through the pages. This continued for an half hour until Jeremiah suggested something useful.
"If you want my opinion my lady, I beliee whatever the child is, I think you should name him or her after someone really close or important to you and Sir Kururugi."
The flash of a singular person came to her mind which brought a heartwarming smile to her face.
"Maybe you're right...someone important."
AN: I hope you liked this chapter even if it was shorter than I wanted it to be. Feel free to let me know what you think, leave a comment, ask questions, review, etc. And again, I hope you guys have a Happy New Year!
Thank you to all this story's new followers and Favorites!
Thank you for reviewing! konan248, Shiranai Atsune, and SakuraPinkSky415.
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