Guardian Angel

Late update I know, I'm sorry! Please forgive and read it. Then be happy.

Chapter 4: reunion

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Despite reliving it for the second time now, it still caught him off guard.

A flurry of pink came tumbling down on him from above, offering but a single warning. "Look out!"

Suzaku glanced up, barely given time to catch the girl who had fallen from the window above.

Euphiemia. It took all his will not to start crying right there. Suzaku set her down as gently as he could, and stepped back. Indeed, princess Euphemia Li Britannia was standing before him, alive and well. He wanted to hug her, hold her forever, this was why he was here. To make sure she would live. To insure Euphemia lived.

"I'm sorry!" She apologized. "I was unaware there was anyone down here when I jumped."

Suzaku smiled at her. "Well I wasn't expecting anyone to be jumping from windows today."

"Excuse me, but I need help, you see, there are men chasing me and..." Euphie started.

Suzaku smiled even more. "Don't worry, I'll make sure no harm comes to you."

Never.

Euphemia smiled, and the two began to walk through the city. Suzaku couldn't have been more happy, to be given the chance to see her again, talk to her, spend time at all.

"What's your name?" He asked her.

She hesitated a moment before answering. "Euphie." She said.

"I'm-" Suzaku started.

"Oh, I know who you are." Euphie said, and Suzaku's heart rose inexplicably.

"Your Suzaku Kururugi! You're pretty famous you know." It was just as soon let down. Why would he think she would remember him?

The two spent the next few hours together, meeting the cat Suzaku so dearly 'loved'. A Britannian and an eleven. To outside eyes, it would look absurd, unnatural. That was the way of the world, the world Suzaku would fix. But regardless Suzaku treasured every second of it, as if it would be the last, as if she would be ripped away from him again. He feared that so much. He would cling to her, and never let go. Not for anything.

Not even for Lelouch.

After quite some time, Suzaku stopped, and Euphie with him. "There's nobody chasing you is there?" He asked.

Euphie looked down. "No, I just wanted some company."

Suzaku smiled, that was like her.

"See, I just arrived here from the homeland, and I wanted to see the city while I had the chance."

"Then I will be your guide." Suzaku bowed. "Where to, my princess?" Suzaku asked, enjoying the familiarity of the phrase.

"Take me to Shinjuku."

That's right, that's where she wanted to go. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes, take me there please." She insisted.

Suzaku sighed, but obliged to her wish. And guided her to the Shinjuku ghetto, it wasn't too far away, and they got there pretty quickly. When they arrived he saw a few Britannian kids poking around the ground, taking pictures of random junk laying around from the assault that had taken place last week. Suzaku and Euphemia approached them as a Japanese man confronted the kids, they got into a fight, and Suzaku stepped in to intercede.

"Stop!" He shouted to them. They all turned to him. "Who the hell are you?!" The Japanese man asked. Suzaku recognized him, he was one of the terrorists that would become the Black Knights. Suzaku didn't remember his name.

"Please, let's not fight over this." Suzaku pleaded.

"Why are you protecting them?" The man asked. "You should be on our side!"

"Please stop. We're on the same side." He pleaded.

"Fine, then you can protect them!" He said, attacking Suzaku. He punched him in the face, knocking off his glasses and revealing his identity.

"You're Suzaku Kururgi!" The man said. "How dare you pretend to be one of us!" He tried to punch again, but Suzaku dodged it.

"I should warn you, I am trained in military combat, I will use force." Suzaku warned him.

"You Britannian lap dog!" He growled, charging Suzaku, who intercepted him and threw him to the ground.

The man scrambled up, getting away from Suzaku. "You're not one of us, you hear?!" He said threateningly, before running off.

"Man, he broke my camera!" One of the Britannian kids whined. "That was like four hundred bucks! Some honorary Britannian you are, you should have killed him or something."

Euphemia slapped him.

"How dare you! Apologize right now!" She demanded.

The kid was dumbfounded, and stuttered out an apology. The two kids left, mumbling under their breath as Euphemia stood with hands on her hips, looking sternly at the two as they stalked away.

She turned and smiled to Suzaku, and he returned the gesture. "Thanks for doing that." She said.

Suzaku blushed. "It was nothing." He replied.

But before they could say anymore, a loud noise interrupted the silence, followed by another. Gunfire.

"Stay here!" He told Euphemia.

Suzaku remembered what happened, and quickly turned to go find Lloyd, who was following him in case something went wrong.

He sprinted up to the massive transport vehicle that housed the Lancelot, Lloyd and Cecile had already begun activating the Lancelot, having heard the battle as well.

"What's going on?" Suzaku asked Cecile as he approached the Knightmare.

"We're not sure exactly, but it's trouble." She told him.

"I've been wanting another opportunity to test the specs on the Lancelot, so we are deploying you to intervene." Lloyd briefed him.

Suzaku nodded, and boarded the frame, ignoring the fact he was wearing street clothes.

As soon as the systems were online, he rocketed out toward the source of the gunfire.

Using the powerful slash harkens, Suzaku hoisted himself up onto the top of the stadium the knightmares were fighting in. He stood atop the wall, like a figure of judgement looking down below him. From what he remembered, Lord Kewell was attempting to kill Jeremiah. If he didn't stop them from fighting, he would.

Suzaku dove down amidst the knightmares, deflecting a blow toward Jeremiah.

"The Lancelot?" Jeremiah said confused. "Why are you helping me?"

Suzaku ignored him, focusing on the enemy before him. He struck one of the knightmares hard, sending it spiraling.

Just as soon as he did that, another two moved in. He reached behind him, retrieving the two swords sheathed on the Lancelot's back. The blades glowed with a vibrant red color.

"They've perfected the MVS." Kewell said, feeling doomed. "But I can still get to Jeremiah!"

He pounced toward the weakened knightmare, hoping to finish it off while he could. Suzaku lashed out behind him, knowing full well that would happen, he cut the frame in two, sending an arm flying and the rest of the body crashing down.

"Stop!"

He froze, he had forgotten.

"In my name, Euphemia Li Britannia, you will stop at once!" The pink haired girl shouted as she ran toward the battle.

Suzaku move toward her, he wouldn't lose her, he wouldn't.

The grenade hurled through the air, thrown by the incapacitated Kewell in a last ditch effort. Suzaku moved between her and the mine, he activated the blaze luminous to shield her from any harm. Suddenly, dozens of streaks barraged the shield and ground near it, ripping apart the grass and spraying dirt into the air. After it stopped, Suzaku let up, and deactivated the Blaze Luminous.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes." Euphemia answered.

Behind him, the other knigtmares, and Kewell, who had exited his, bowed before her. "Please forgive us milady, we did not know."

Suzaku looked at them, if he recalled correctly, Jeremiah, and Viletta, who had also helped, were the only ones who would survive.

He felt a buzz, and checked his phone, it was Lelouch. He answered it,

"Yes?"

"Come to Ashford immediately, we have a problem."

"What is it? Can't you get Kallen to help?"

"No. Just come."

He hung up, leaving Suzaku confused. That hasn't happened before, what could it be? Nothing that drastic had changed yet, It couldn't be Clovis could it? That wouldn't make sense. It would seem he had no other choice but to check himself.

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What Suzaku found was in fact a problem, not necessarily a life threatening one, but a financial one, in the form of pizza expenses.

"You." Was all Suzaku said.

"Apparently she is responsible for giving me Geass. Nearly gave me a heart attack, I thought she was dead." Lelouch explained.

"I am immortal, I can't die." She said.

"So I see."

"What are you doing here?" Suzaku asked her.

C.C. Looked at him. "Lelouch and I have a contract, I came to make sure he would do his part."

"Again with that, can't you just tell me what you want?" Lelouch complained.

"No." Was all he got.

"Isn't the military looking for you or something? You'll have to hide here." Suzaku mentioned.

"Only a small portion of the military know about me. I'm in no real danger." She replied.

"Lelouch!" The one being called turned, Nunnally had asked for him.

"I'll be back." He said, leaving the two alone.

"Suzaku." He turned to C.C. She was looking at him, a seldom serious look on her face. "What happened?"

Suzaku frowned. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Time reset. This has all happened before."

Realization dawned on him, she remembered. He wasn't the only one. But why?

"The collective unconscious, he sent me back in time, to fix things. In payment for saving him."

C.C. nodded. "That sounds right."

"But how do you remember?" He asked.

"My guess?" C.C. Thought. "I'm connected to C's world. My mind surpasses time."

That made sense. "Wait," he realized. "then what about V.V.?" He asked.

She frowned. "I'm not sure. It's possible, but he was dead, so he wasn't connected to C's world when time reset. But I don't know for sure, something like this has never happened before."

That was unnerving. V.V. Knowing the future could be about as game changing as Suzaku knowing it. That could prove to be extremely dangerous.

"We will need to find out." He said.

She nodded, but changed the subject. "Well, what are you planning to do anyway? I saw you changed things. Clovis isn't dead, the future Black Knights know who Zero is, anything else?"

"Not yet." Suzaku looked out the window. "But I will change things, Lelouch, Shirley, Euphie, I will save them."

C.C. nodded again, staying silent.

Suzaku frowned. Was that...a cat?

Suddenly, a red faced Lelouch burst into the room. He panted, looking flustered.

"A cat..." He puffed. "It has my mask!"

Suzaku almost laughed. That's what happened, why Lelouch was so desperate to get the cat. He forgot that would happen soon, Suzaku would have been enrolled by Euphie first, but he came to see Lelouch instead. He really needed to write down everything he could remember.

The two of them rushed through the school grounds, hunting down the infamous cat Arthur. Like last time, Milly issued a bounty on it's capture, sending Lelouch into a further panic. Suzaku laughed, he knew they would catch it.

They had it cornered. Determined to defend their lips, Kallen and Shirley teamed up in an effort to capture the wanted feline.

Kallen told Shirley to watch the back while she went in to grab it. She reached down to snatch it, but noticed something was on its head.

Wait, was that Zero's mask?

'Shit!' Kallen thought. It must've stolen it from Lelouch! And Shirley was right there! She would see it!

Quickly, she tried to come up with something, a way to distract Shirley from noticing. She could take off the mask and hide it here, tell Lelouch where to get it. Damn it! What a hassle.

"Hey um, Shirley." Kallen started. "Is there a reason you would want to get the cat? Someone you'd want a kiss from?" She tried, attempting to get Shirley flustered.

"What?!" Shirley stuttered. "I-uh, what about you?"

Kallen went red. She had not expected that. "What? No! I just-"

"It wouldn't be Lulu would it?!" Shirley asked.

Kallen went even more red, that had backfired.

During that time, Arthur had easily slipped past the two embarrassed girls and strolled his way through the school again.

"You two saw it?!" Lelouch frantically said. "Forget everything that just happened!"

"Sure." They said.

"You can't just go Geassing everyone." Suzaku said, hardly out of breath compared to the panting Lelouch.

"Do I have a choice?!" Lelouch responded. "They pose a threat!"

"Have you seen Kallen? We could get her help." Suzaku offered.

"No, I don't know where she is. There's no time!" Lelouch said.

Suzaku shrugged. "Come on, lets check the tower."

The two of them tailed the cat all the way to the top, Suzaku maintaining a steady lead.

"You ought to work out more!" Suzaku teased Lelouch, who was lagging behind.

"Shut up!"

Suzaku laughed. "I'll get the cat."

Lelouch still followed as they got to the top. Below them, a large crowd had gathered, hearing someone had cornered the cat. Kallen was among them. She looked up, Lelouch was leaning out the window, while another was climbing up the tower's roof. It was Suzaku. Kallen frowned, why would Lelouch trust him to get the mask? Unless they were partners. Come to think of it, she had no clue what happened between them the night they rescued Suzaku. It would make sense why Lelouch wanted to save him so badly.

She would have to ask later.

Suzaku grabbed the cat, coming down, she could see it didn't have the helmet. So Suzaku must have hid it; he did know.

When the two of them finally came down to greet the crowd. There was an odd silence, as lelouch and the eleven with the cat met them.

Lelouch stepped forward.

"This is Suzaku Kururugi, him and I have been good friends a long time. He will be joining us soon, so I suppose this is as good an introduction as any."

The crowd looked at him, a little confused, but willing to go along with their beloved Lelouch, most of them at least.

"Milly." Lelouch called. She stepped forward. "Yes?"

"Can we have him join the student council? Rules say everyone needs to be in a club."

"Sure I guess, if you want. You're the vice-president after all."

Milly approached Suzaku. "I remember you, you were here a few days ago right? I'm glad you decided to join us. I'm Milly Ashford, student council president."

After that, the rest fell in line, following Milly's lead and introducing themselves. Suzaku smiled. This wasn't the way it happened last time, but it would work either way.

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Thank you for your patience! I know its been a while, and I said it would be updated Tuesday. Technically, it's tuesday night though. Either way, I'm planning on adjusting my writing schedule in order to update midday instead of late at night. But that can't happen for another week or two.

I decided to pair Lelouch and Kallen, since it would work best in this case. And Suzaku and Euphemia, obviously, I mean, what else right?

Don't forget to review!