Chapter 9: Loss

Inside the Paris Embassy security room.

"Die!"

"Yes, very well then."

Gunshots filled the small room as two men and a woman fell to the ground. The only living person left in the room was a young man dressed in a tux.

Lelouch Vi Britannia could be a very cold person sometimes. When he had a goal in mind, he was determined to make sure that nothing stood in his way. And because he was a tactical genius, he had the upper hand on a lot of people.

There's also the fact that he possesses a supernatural power that few know about. The power of Geass. This power allowed him to make people do whatever he pleased, including the command to commit suicide.

Yeah, Lelouch was pretty cold.

"Now," Lelouch began as he closed the door behind him. "To find what I'm looking for."

He was there for three reasons. The first was to find out where the headquarters of Chronos were located. He knew that if he found that, he'd be able to get partial revenge for what happened to his mother.

The second reason was a bit different. He wanted to know personally what Britannia's involvement in Chronos was. Because of his experience as Zero, he knew that the E.U. had some top secret information from the Britannians. However, accessing that information was a difficult task if you weren't really smart.

Being an evil, egotistical, genius has its benefits.

And the third reason, was to find Alex. Wherever she may be in that building.

It only took him thirty seconds to hack into the computer network that the embassy was using. He first cut all of the cameras off, and then he began searching through the computer mainframe for all the useful information he could find. It was surprising to see that the E.U. had more than just information on its military and the Britannian military. It also held information about the Black Knights. Of course, Lelouch made sure to delete those.

Throughout his search however, he was finding that it had little to do with Chronos. All the information he got referred to something that was obviously top secret.

"The Geass Order?" Lelouch wondered as he searched. He found more documents on it and a picture of a blond haired, violet eyed boy popped up.

"What is all this?" Lelouch thought agitatedly. "The E.U. shouldn't know about Geass."

Lelouch kept going through the files as he searched on the Geass order. He copied them and converted it to a file that would be compatible on his laptop. He continued to do so with all the other files that pertained to Geass.

However, he stopped when another picture popped onto the screen.

"That's…" he gasped.

The picture was of a research team. Some were in white lab coats, but others were wearing black cloaks and black masks that covered the bottom halves of their faces. There were also small children in the photo.

But that wasn't what made Lelouch gasp and lose his train of thought. His attention was drawn to a single woman that was in the shot. She wore a blue business suit and her hair was worn down. There seemed to be a red tattoo on her forehead, and her amber eyes reflected boredom.

"C.C.?" Lelouch said as he rubbed his eyes. He knew that he had to be delusional.

Unfortunately, when he opened his eyes and blinked a few times, the immortal witch was still in the picture.

"What the heck is she doing in that picture!" Lelouch thought angrily as he enlarged the picture and zoomed in on C.C.'s face. It was definitely her. He saved the picture and the file for later reference.

He thought he wouldn't find anything else on C.C., but he suddenly came across another picture with C.C. in it. The setting of the picture was Aries Villa.

And C.C. was standing next to his mother, Express Marianne.

"She really has some explaining to do," Lelouch seethed within his mind. "I swear, I'll kill that witch the moment I see her."

Yeah, Lulu. Kill the immortal. Dumbo! You can't kill someone who can't be killed. What is he a wacko? A dodo-bird perhaps?

Well, everyone has dumb moments. Even a genius like our Lulu.

"Now," Lelouch thought with a scowl. "To find Alex."

Back at the hotel

After finishing her call with Train and Liana. Kagome decided that she'd call Lelouch. The headquarters of Chronos would be found soon, so Lelouch didn't need to put himself in danger anymore.

She dialed the number for his wallet with her com-powder, but he didn't answer.

"Okay, from what I've seen, Lelouch always carries his cell phone around, so I'll just dial that number." Kagome thought as she wracked her brain for the number. She remembered after a couple of seconds of pondering.

Unfortunately, that number didn't work either.

Kagome groaned to herself as she paced the hotel room. Sam and Clover were sitting at a small table that was behind her. Terra had left earlier to work on something important.

"What is he doing?," Kagome wondered aimlessly. "Lulu is probably up to something stupid and dangerous. He's just like Inuyasha!"

Thinking of Inuyasha made Kagome stop pacing for a moment. She really missed her half-demon friend and sometimes beloved. Still, in a situation like this he wouldn't have known what to do. His answer to everything was waving his Tetsaiga around and causing damage. Yeah, he definitely wasn't one to think over things rationally.

Lelouch was similar though. Kagome knew from just looking at him that Lelouch had a dark past. She honestly didn't think Lelouch would be Zero without having a reason to. From what Train said about Lelouch's little sister, Kagome believed that she was his reason. He fought to protect the people he cared for and he was searching for revenge just as Inuyasha was.

In some ways, the similarities between Inuyasha and Lelouch ended there. Lelouch was a tactical genius and he was a rational thinker. She'd heard of some of the things Zero had done on the news. She thought the actions to be sadistic and cruel, not to mention that Zero had directly killed people. That made him a murderer…a monster.

However, even knowing that, Kagome didn't see Lelouch as a monster. He was just a man who had lost his way. Still, she wondered if it was too late to stop him from walking the path of blood. Lelouch seemed set on doing what he wanted to do. Revenge was his goal and she knew that Lelouch was a stubborn guy.

"Still, he could be in trouble," Kagome thought to herself. "He might need help."

Kagome stopped pacing for a moment to contemplate her position. She was instructed not to leave the room by Sam, Clover, and Miss Diamondblade, but Kagome had a deep fear that Lelouch could be in danger. She had to do something about it.

It took a few minutes to come up with a plan as she began to pace again, but once a plan was set in her mind she stopped.

"What's taking Train and Liana so long," she wined.

Sam looked up from the data she was studying. "It's only been half and hour Kagome."

Kagome sighed. "I know, but I'm really worried."

"You shouldn't," Clover stated. "They're WHOOP spies! WHOOP spies can do anything."

Kagome sweat dropped in response to Clover's enthusiasm. "Okay, I'm just gonna go to the bathroom now."

"Okay," Sam replied as Kagome walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Once inside, Kagome locked the door and began to search for a way out. She knew that she couldn't walk out of the hotel room door because of the guards that were stationed outside. She also figured that Liana's mother would give her a lecture if she tried to run away from the hotel in the same manner that Liana did. That and…Kagome was pretty scared of those guards.

So instead, she looked around the large bathroom. She suddenly noticed an air vent above the Jacuzzi tub.

"Great," Kagome thought. "This is going to end up like every action movie I've seen."

The escape route had been found, but she would still have to find a way to open the vent. She didn't exactly have tools to open it, nor did she have her gadgets. Or did she…

Kagome suddenly remembered that she'd put her laser lipstick in the pocket of her spy suit. She reached into it and pulled it out. After a moment, she hopped onto the edge of the tub and began to melt the bolts that closed off her escape route.

As she successfully melted the bolts, Kagome moved to the toilet and flushed it to hide the other noises in the room. After that she quickly turned on the faucet before climbing up into the vent.

"Here it goes," she thought as she crawled into the ventilation system. The space was small, but it was just big enough for Kagome to squeeze through. All she needed to do now was find an exit and then she'd be home free.

"Wait for me Lelouch," she whispered as she inched her way through the small space. "I'm coming."

A few minutes later, Kagome found another vent and used her laser lipstick to melt the bolts. Once that was done, she jumped down from the ventilation system. She now stood in an elevator shaft.

And let's just say that the beam she was standing on wasn't very wide.

"Oh, my!" she shouted as she tried to keep her balance. "Easy now, easy!"

Unfortunately, her coordination wasn't at its best. She lost her balance and began falling down the shaft. However, an elevator was on it's way up the shaft at that exact moment and it was near the floor where she had fell from. So in basic terms, Kagome survived her fall. She had lived!

Kagome really is a lucky girl. She always seems to get out of these kinds of situations.

"Whew," the young priestess thought to herself. "That was too close."

The elevator stopped, but after a moment it began to move downward towards the bottom floor. The elevator stopped again on the second floor and Kagome took the opportunity to look for another air vent. There was one to her left and so she used her laser lipstick to open it as quickly as she could. The elevator was about to start moving downward again, but she got halfway in between before it began.

The space in the vent was tight, but Kagome went through it easily. After a few more moments, she came to another vent. It was in the middle of a hallway so Kagome gladly took the opportunity to get out of the vent for good.

The vent cover fell to the floor with a clang. Kagome cringed, but it appeared that no one had heard the sound. She immediately jumped out of the vent and to the floor.

"That was easy enough," Kagome muttered as she began to tiptoe down the hall. She kept an eye on her surroundings, but she figured that no one would be around in the hallways this early in the morning.

Suddenly, a woman walked out of a room. Kagome hid around the corner but kept her gaze locked on the woman. The young priestess sighed in relief when she realized that it was just a maid. However, Kagome realized that wearing a spy suit out of a hotel would look suspicious and since she'd left her com-powder back in the bathroom she had no way to disguise herself.

"I'm not going to like this."

Ten minutes later near the hotel

Liana tried dialing Kagome's number again, but there wasn't an answer. The adventurous girl sighed.

"Train, I think something might be happening in there," Liana stated as she stopped walking and stared at the building in front of them. Train looked up at the building as well, but after a moment he shrugged.

"I'm sure that everything is going to be fine," Train told her. "There's no reason to worry about Kagome."

"What about Lelouch?" Liana asked.

Train shrugged again. "He's more than capable of handling himself. He is Zero after all."

Liana nodded and then she and Train waltzed into the hotel. Upon entering they noticed that the lobby wasn't as crowded. It was early morning. So most people were asleep.

However, both of them noticed Terra Diamondblade immediately. She didn't look happy. In fact, her expression turned even more solemn when she saw Train walk in behind her daughter.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Terra stated angrily.

Sam heard the commotion behind her and turned around from where she stood. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Train and Liana.

But especially Train.

"Hi Mom," Liana said in greeting. Train tried to smile, but it fell flat.

"What is he doing here?" the elder Diamondblade asked. Sam quickly rushed over in order to fill her in.

"Ms. Diamondblade, Mr. Heartnet isn't a killer anymore," Sam explained hastily. "He's a really nice man too."

"Not to mention cute," Clover stated from across the room.

Terra only glared at Train. "Once a killer, always a killer."

"Wait a minute, that's totally out of line," Liana yelled.

"Security, get him out of here!"

"Hold it!" Sam screamed. The guards stopped, unsure of what to do.

As for Terra and Sam, they were at a standoff.

"Listen, Ms. Diamondblade," Sam inquired. "We have more important issues to deal with than your resentment towards Train…"

"He's the reason why I've been separated from my daughter!"

"That's not true," Liana cut in. Terra spun around and faced her daughter.

"What did you say?"

"I said that what your saying isn't true," Liana replied. "You lived right, so why didn't you come back home?"

A silence filled the room as the two Diamondblades stared at each other. Neither said a word until Terra broke the silence.

"Everything I've done," Terra began, "I've done to protect you Liana. Remember that."

"Train is my friend," Liana stated in defiance. "His past is in the past. And…I hold no grudge against him. You shouldn't either."

"Liana…" Train trailed off. He couldn't think of the words to say in that moment. Still, he didn't have to say anything at all. Liana was just doing what she did best.

After a moment, Liana's mother finally sighed. "Fine, whatever. Just know I have my eye on you Mr. Heartnet."

Train nodded. "Understood."

The tension was still high in the room, so Sam took the opportunity to get the focus back on the main issue.

"Kagome is gone."

"WHAT!" Liana and Train shouted.

Terra sighed as she regained her composure. "Yes, Kagome snuck out of here earlier. We have no idea where she could have gone."

Liana narrowed her gaze on the floor. "She must have gone to help Lelouch at the Embassy."

"But why would she do that?" Train asked.

"Because she has a huge crush on him," Liana rationalized. "Girls do crazy things when they really like someone."

"Yeah, I guess they do," Train muttered as a smile lit up his face. Liana noticed the change, but she said nothing about it. She had no time to explain that she felt nothing for Train.

Of course, we all know that this isn't true.

On the other hand, the more important issue was the whereabouts of Kagome Higurashi. If they didn't find her, she might run into some serious trouble.

Inside the embassy.

Kagome couldn't believe that her janitor/maid get-up had gotten her into the embassy without a hitch. Apparently, people can't see past a bad disguise. Kagome didn't mind that though, but she wished that she'd at least had her com-powder with her or something else to help her fend off anything the embassy might throw at her.

Obviously, the laser lipstick wouldn't be enough. She needed more.

Presently though, she had no means to get her hands on gadgets. The cleaning supplies that were in the cart she was pushing would have to do for now.

"Now, where would Lelouch be?" Kagome wondered as she pushed her cart through the grand ballroom of the place. Normally, events only happened at night, but there happened to be a special meeting that morning. Dressing up was just part of the dress code.

The time traveling priestess pushed the cart along as she looked for secret passageways and such. There were cameras around, but the red lights were off, signifying that the cameras weren't operating.

"Something isn't right here," Kagome thought as she traveled through the embassy. There were some people in the meeting room to her right, but other than that, no one was around. That was when she saw the blood coming from the top of the winding stairwell that was in the grand ballroom. It was only a trickle of blood, but it was blood just the same.

"Oh, no," Kagome muttered as she grabbed a broom off the cart. She walked toward the staircase. She hesitated to press further, but in the end her desire to find Lelouch clouded all fears and doubts. She slowly traveled up the winding steps. As she neared the top, the amount of blood increased from a small trickle to small streams of blood. Kagome swallowed the vomit that was trying to come up as she pressed on.

At the very top of the stairs was a sight she wished she'd never seen.

A gun was laying on the top step and by the gun was the hand of man in a security uniform. Kagome slowly walked to the top step and kneeled by the man.

"Did Lelouch do this?" Kagome whispered to herself. "No, this wound on his neck was self inflicted, but why…"

Kagome didn't understand why a security guard would kill himself. She stared at the gun and found herself reaching for it. After examining it, she concluded that it was a silenced gun. That was why the people in the meeting room hadn't heard it.

"KABOOM!"

Kagome gasped at the sound. It was slightly muted, but she still heard the sound of a gunshot. A killer was in the building.

"Is Lelouch doing this?" Kagome asked as she took the gun into her hands and dropped the broom. She turned to her left and walked up the three steps that led to an adjacent balcony that overlooked the whole ballroom. She could go either left or right, so she chose the right since that was where the sound had come from. Along the way, she found more people dead in the same manner as the man on the stairs.

Another gunshot sounded and that was when Kagome started running. She turned a corner on the balcony and headed toward the door that was going to be on her right. Once she reached the door, she found that it needed a code. From within she heard another gunshot.

"Lelouch is in there," Kagome thought while holding the gun tighter in her hands. "I'll have to use my laser lipstick to get in."

Kagome pocketed the gun and pulled out the lipstick. She switched it on and stared cutting a whole through the steel. The poor girl was frightened, but she didn't show it. She was determined to help Lelouch if he needed her.

Gunshots continued as she cut through the steel. Her mind was in a frenzy, but she desperately continued on with what she was doing. She didn't allow herself to stop until there was a huge circle mark on the door. It was then that Kagome effortlessly pushed it and the steel toppled to the floor.

Kagome's heart pounded as she entered the room through the hole. It was a room made of steel that was lit by fluorescent lights. The feeling in the room was very condescending and Kagome knew that it would be wise to turn back now before it was too late.

However, Kagome wasn't always rational, especially when it came to the people she really cared for. For reasons unexplained, she felt something for Lelouch and it was that feeling that urged her forward toward what might end up being her death.

The gunshots continued as Kagome moved forward. Steel pillars were all around the room, which would prove to be great hiding places if something should come at her. As she walked deeper into the room, she noticed that the gunshots became louder.

Her breathing now erratic, she shakily brought the gun out of her pocket. She had never used a gun in her life with the exception of the ray gun that Sam made her practice with. Kagome wasn't very good at it, but at this point it was all or nothing. If necessary, she would have to use it.

Seconds later, an explosion sounded throughout the expansive room. Debris and shrapnel came her way, but Kagome dodged it. She barely caught a glimpse of Lelouch as he and Alex fled from the steal fortress. Upon seeing that they were okay, she ran back toward the hole she created.

Then, out of nowhere she heard footsteps coming toward her. This made Kagome panic as she traveled back through the hole she created. She looked over the balcony while running back toward the stairs. She saw that Lelouch and Alex were already in the grand ballroom and running out.

"Lelouch!" she called out just as she made it to the staircase. Lelouch stopped running and turned toward her voice.

That was when someone else activated their Geass. Time stopped and a young man with sandy brown hair and violet eyes pulled a trigger on a gun. The bullet's impact on Kagome's side would force her to roll down the stairs once time moved again.

The boy fled as he counted the seconds on his fingertips. Once the Geass power subsided, Kagome immediately felt pain. Her knees buckled and she involuntarily rolled down the stairs.

Through all this, Lelouch watched in absolute horror. He never saw the assassin, so he didn't know how Kagome had gotten hurt. However, he realized why she had come in the first place.

She'd come to find him.

Alex, who had also stopped, gasped in horror as blood stained Kagome's clothes. Through all this, the young priestess still held the gun in her hand.

Lelouch didn't know what to think as he ran over to Kagome's body. Her eyes were closed and she now laid in a pool of blood. He knew that Kagome didn't shoot herself since the wound was on her left side towards her back and the gun was in her left hand.

From where she stood, Alex only stared on in horror. She'd never seen so much blood in her life.

Lelouch had though, and that made seeing it again even worse for him. It was like reliving his mother's death.

He rested his hand on one of her shoulders as he tried to calm his breathing. After a moment, he was calm enough to lean over her and listen to her breathing. All he heard were quick quiet gasps. He had to get her to a hospital and quick.

However, he got distracted when he noticed Kagome's eyes opening. He sighed in relief, thinking it was a good sign.

"Kagome, just hang on," Lelouch told her. "I'm going to get you to a doctor."

"Lelouch…I'm so…weak," Kagome gasped out as she stared at him. "I can't breathe."

Lelouch's expression changed dramatically in that instant. He realized that Kagome was really dying before his eyes, just like his mother had.

"No, I won't let that happen again."

He gently picked Kagome up bridal style while leaving the pool of blood behind. His tux was mostly black, so the blood stains didn't show up much.

"Try to hang on Kagome," Lelouch whispered to her. She slightly nodded in consent, but Lelouch was afraid that it wouldn't be enough.

"Do you have enough strength to look me in the eye Kagome?"

Kagome's eyes had closed, but they fluttered open at his request. She stared directly into his eyes.

"I need you to promise me something Kagome."

Kagome was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. The call of death was almost too sweet for her to resist. Even so, she listened intently to what Lelouch was asking her. She soon noticed that his left eye was glowing red.

"Lelouch?"

Lelouch knew that the bullet in Kagome would be a fatal one if not treated immediately. He didn't know where a hospital was in the area and so, he found no other choice but to place the curse on Kagome. The same curse that he'd put on Suzaku only two weeks ago.

"Promise me that you'll live!"

Blood was seeping out of Kagome's wound as the command was given. Her mind was accepting the Geass, but her body was not. At the moment, she couldn't respond at all.

"I…don't know…Lelouch," Kagome whispered as she continued to stare into his pure violet eyes. "We'll see."

Authors note from TTY7: Don't you love evil cliffhangers?