The Spawn's Tears

Liz hated Fridays; rephrase, she hated Friday mornings. It was like it was mocking her with the freedom of the weekend just out of her grasp. Maybe it would've been better if she enjoyed school more, but that in of itself was hard to do, especially considering how she didn't have any real friends; what of the Student Council one may ask? Simple: they weren't her friends.

Yeah, it sounded horrible to say, but it was the truth. They were her classmates, and she certainly had an otherwise positive working relationship with them, but Liz didn't consider any of them to be her friends. There were limits though, such as when Kazu joked Zero should've installed a Black Knight governor in Britannia; Liz came very close to socking him in the jaw, and would've if not for him apologizing immediately after. When Liz really thought about it, she didn't have any friends at all; the people she was closet to were her immortal guardian and her grandmother, the latter she couldn't even be completely honest with. She wondered if this was how her mother felt when she was on the Council. Nevertheless, she had to get through the day, which meant dealing with those people whether she liked it or not. So she did the only thing she really could: she just gritted her teeth and dealt with it.

Yawning so hard she felt her jaw being strained, Liz checked her watch. She was early, too early in her opinion; she could've gotten another half-hour of sleep if she skipped breakfast (give her sleep over breakfast any day of the week). As she was walking, she got a text from C.C..

Where's the tabasco sauce? Liz rolled her eyes.

We're out of it. There was a period of silence, in which Liz liked to envisioned her guardian throwing a tantrum across the kitchen.

Buy some on your way home.

No.

Please. That felt supremely insincere.

Get it yourself.

Why? That was so "C.C." an answer that Liz actually laughed. In her distraction, she bumped into someone. Looking up, the red head noticed that the person she had bumped into was a Japanese classmate of hers.

"Oh sorry," she said.

"Watch where you're going, Brit," the girl snapped, as she walked off. Not wasting the energy with a real response, Liz just dusted herself off as she picked up her phone.

You've got 2 choices: get it yourself and get it soon, or wait for me to get it, and have it later. She got no response, as it seemed to click in C.C.'s brain. Just sighing, Liz slipped her phone back into her skirt pocket as she made her way into the Student Council building.

"Good morning, Liz," Vicky said with a smile, "How are you?"

"Tired, worn out, and exhausted," Liz said.

"Don't those three things all mean the same thing?" Saki asked.

"Because they all equally describe how I feel," Liz answered, collapsing in her seat, "I am so, so, so ready for the weekend."

"Well, don't fall asleep on us yet," Saki said, "We've still got to plan for the anniversary."

"Can we not and say we did?" Liz groaned as she put her head on the desk.

"So, I slept on it," Saki said, "I'm still thinking something dry themed. Maybe a desert."

"Again, if you want something dry, just have Liz do some stand up," Kazu cracked. Liz just responded by flipping him off.

"Can I give a counter-argument?" Vicky asked.

"You may try," Saki said, arching an eyebrow.

"I think we've been going about this the wrong way," Vicky said, "This is about celebrating the end of the Britannian Wars, right?"

"Britannian here," Liz said, not picking up her head, while raising her hand.

"I'm half-Britannian," Vicky said, "But maybe something commemorating the peace? We can reenact the killing of the Demon Emperor." Liz's stomach did a quadruple back flip upon hearing that, which made her actually look up.

"That's a rather grim idea," she said, hoping her voice wasn't too shaky.

"Just an idea," Vicky said, holding up her hands, "Both my mom and dad were there, so they can tell us how it went down." Liz generally all but fought to not think about her father's death; C.C. never spoke about it unless Liz asked her, and (even though she thought Liz didn't know about it), she checked the TV schedule for anything about Lelouch. And now Liz's colleagues were talking about reenacting it. Her stomach then did a forward flip, forcing Liz to stand up.

"Where're you going, Liz-chan?" Saki asked.

"Bathroom!" Liz lied, not bothering to correct her, "Just hit me!" Fortunately, her "friends" didn't seem to hear her voice shaking slightly. Instead of the bathroom, Liz hurried behind the building, near where the trash was, before everything she ate that day was on the ground.

She then let herself fall to the ground, where she buried her now drenched face in her knees. Liz then pulled her wallet out of her pocket, where she kept a small picture of her father. It had originally belonged to C.C., but she gave it to Liz when she was young. It was an otherwise simple picture that showed her father in his uniform sitting at his desk, looking at the camera surprised.

"Why….," Liz mumbled through her tears, putting the photo to her forehead, "Why did you have to leave me?" She knew the answer, C.C. had told her many times. But no matter how many times she heard it, Liz still couldn't find it in her to accept that as an answer, because one question remained burning in her mind: why did the people of the whole world, people her father never knew, matter to him more than his own daughter?

(at the Lamperouge household)

Though it flew in the face of her personal code of conduct, C.C. did strike out and get her own tabasco. The nearest store, unfortunately, had a less then stellar brand, but it was better than nothing. After dabbing a little more on her slice of pizza, C.C. took, and savored another bite. It was then that she heard the door open and close.

"You know I consider your unwillingness to assist me an act of extreme ingrat…" She stopped as she looked up as Liz walked into the room, and the immortal saw her charge's puffy red eyes. C.C. had seen that face before.

"It doesn't matter what they think," C.C. said plainly, "You know who you're father was. You know what he died for."

"I know," Liz said, wiping her eyes again, "But…" She took a deep breath in an attempt to gather her thoughts.

"Going around, hearing everyone celebrate his death, while having to go around pretending to be happy about it too, pretending to be someone I'm not," she said, wiping her eye slightly, "Pretending my father was someone else. Its just…" She shook her head slightly before hurrying into her bedroom. C.C. watched her as she did, before turning her attention back to her pizza. As she did, she considered if there was anything she could do to make Liz feel better. The options weren't many. It was hard to avoid the celebrations, especially in Japan, and there wasn't anyone Liz could really go to in this time. There was always, Ms. Kozuki, who was the only other person Liz had any real connection with in this world. On top of that, C.C. remembered that she never had much of an interest in the celebrations either; but on the other hand, it didn't matter where Liz went, there would be someone cheering in celebration of her father's death. It was just how things were in Japan, and most of the world for that matter. It wasn't like C.C. could blame any of them.

Though, now that she really thought about it…

(in Liz's room)

Liz's room was fairly plain; she had her bed, her desk, her computer, with a few movie posters. But the most stand out, was the Britannian flag that she had draped over her wall. Not the flag of the Principality, but the old flag. She never had anyone over, so she never had to worry about anyone seeing it. Though if she did, she had a feeling it would at least put her off the Student Council. The reason she had it was because it was the one piece of her country she could really bring with her.

The princess was currently lying face down on her bed in her underwear, her uniform on the floor. She didn't move when she heard the door knock, instead just grunting. C.C. took that as approval to enter.

"Quite an undignified position for a Princess," the immortal quipped. Liz just flipped her off instead of moving.

"I was thinking about something we can do in the upcoming week," C.C. said, as she sat on Liz's desk.

"Just get to the point, Pizza Girl," Liz said through her pillow. C.C. smiled slightly at her mother's nickname for her.

"I know that pretty much everywhere in the world is celebrating your father's dad. So why don't we go somewhere else, then?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Liz said, finally turning to C.C.

"You think the end of the 'Britannian Wars' are as readily celebrated in the country their named for?" That actually got Liz to sit up.

"Wait, are you suggesting actually going to Britannia?" Liz said.

"Give the girl an award," C.C. responded, "I've already bought the plane tickets, we're leaving next Tuesday. Start packing." She then turned and left. As she did, Liz blinked back some tears, before smiling and wiping them away as she looked at the flag.

"Don't have to tell me twice," she declared as she leapt out of bed.

Note: Finally finished this. I've been more than a little busy as of late. I'm hoping to update my other stories soon as possible.

I'm taking some cues from history as well, particularly the post World-War I world, with a few elements from the rest of history. I will elaborate more on that as the story progresses. Let's just say I am supremely cynical of Lelouch's idea that the world just cleanly falls into place after his death. There have been monsters in the world before, it didn't happen then.

Be sure to review.