Earning Her Colors, part 2

Melody

The next day, I cooked up some breakfast and went to check on my prisoner. I'd already formed a plan for how I would deal with her.

I slipped in. She was already awake, and rather than throwing fits, she was looking around, taking in her surroundings.

"Hello."

Well, she looked at me, anyway.

"My name's Melody. Minstrel's my sister, and she's the one that brought you here."

"Where's here?" Remarkably calm for a prisoner.

"Our house. Sorry I can't untie you, but Minstrel told me that if I used her real name, or gave you any opportunity to escape, or both, she'd tell Zero, and he'd kill me."

"Ruthless, isn't she?" she asked as she accepted a bite of meat that I'd extended her.

"I do agree with her purpose as far as it goes, though. Our parents were killed in the Britannian takeover, and she took it harder than I did."

She fell silent after that, and I finished feeding her without volunteering any more "information." Once the plate was empty, she asked, "So why capture me?"

"She felt silly wearing a fancy costume and standing next to Zero when she hadn't done anything to earn that place. She remembered hearing that Zero wanted to capture you, so she decided to do him a favor." I stood up and walked to the other side of the room, pulling out my cell phone. "Which reminds me: I'd better call Minstrel and tell her you're awake."

Lelouch

Melody hadn't shown up yet. I was worried that Shirley might have discovered that I was Zero, and wondering if Melody was even okay.

Then my cell phone rang. The caller ID said it was Melody!

Of course I answered it. "Melody! Are you all right?"

"Hey, sis! Hey, have you found Zero yet?"

Who did she think she was talking to?

"Great! Well…your prisoner has woken up, and I know you wanted Zero to question her. But…half the time, people that Zero questions end up dead, and I'm not having her blood in this house! Where should I move her?"

What's she talking about?

She was quiet for a moment. Then she said slowly, "Warehouse Seventeen? Okay, I'll move Cornelia there. Will I be seeing you there?"

Cornelia? She'd captured Cornelia? How'd she pull that off? "Yes! I'll be there, and you've got some explaining to do later!"

"Okay, then! Meet me outside the warehouse in, um…about two hours. See you then, Minstrel!" Then she just hung up.

I pocketed my cell phone and started laughing. Of course! She was in the same room as her prisoner, so she was pretending that Minstrel was her sister, and that she, Melody, was talking to her, while letting me know that she had accomplished this task! "Melody, you're something else!"

Melody

Warehouse Seventeen was the same place I'd taken Cornelia when I'd had to ditch her clothes. My estimation was pretty accurate: it took me an hour and a half to get her to the warehouse, considering she was being a good little prisoner of war and letting herself be guided along with her hands tied behind her back. The military hadn't found this place, and Cornelia's clothes were still here. The last half hour was spent with me tying her to a new chair. "Sorry about this, but…"

"It's okay. I'll remember this, Melody."

I shivered to think what that could mean. Then I stepped outside to look for Zero and "Minstrel," stepping out of line from the door.

Finally, Zero showed up. With someone wearing my costume – though I bet myself it was C.C. "Hi, Minstrel! Hello, Zero."

"Minstrel" spoke first. "Hello, Melody. Is she in there?"

"Yup, she's in there waiting."

Zero was brilliant. "Nice work, Minstrel, Melody. You two are something else. Minstrel, you have certainly earned your place with this. Both of you wait outside." Then he walked in, showing no outward signs of trying not to laugh.

I crept over to the entrance and sat nearby, listening and ignoring C.C.

It wasn't long before Zero – Lelouch, he'd taken his helmet off – was sounding quite displeased with the answers he was receiving. Finally, I heard silence.

Then he came out, donning his mask again – but not before I caught a glimpse of his infuriated face.

"Zero…"

"Hm?"

"You still haven't told me what's been going on."

He was quiet for a minute. Then he took hold of my arm and led me off, with C.C. following us. "It's quite simple, really; my mother was killed by someone in the Britannian Empire. Unfortunately, I don't know who killed her."

"…Why would they care to kill her?"

He looked at me and stopped walking. Then he said, "What you hear next must stay completely secret, even more secret than my identity."

"I understand."

"My real name isn't Lamperouge: it's vi Britannia."

"Hm…" I spoke the name aloud, trying out the sound of it. "Lelouch vi Britannia." Then my eyes got big. "Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia?"

"Oh, so you've heard of me."

"No, I don't keep up with the news. But that's the only reason you could have that last name."

"You remember, this stays an absolute secret."

"Of course."

I didn't call him "your Highness." I saw no reason to.

"You still have some explaining to do, Melody."

I knew that was coming sooner or later. "Well…I felt kind of ridiculous in the getup and with the position at your side when I hadn't earned it. Plus, I could feel the rest of the Black Knights – not Ogii, some of the others – getting a little, um…they're starting to see favoritism. I had to do something to earn the place."

"I see. So how'd you pull that off?"

"Terrified adrenaline, really. Or something like that."

He gave a strained laugh. Why strained?

I studied his mask as we started walking again. "Hey…is something wrong?"

"At least two people saw my face last night, and my handgun is missing."

"I wondered why you spared Cornelia this time."

"Two people: one who fired, and one who got shot."

"Ho dang."

That was morning. Lelouch ended up calling the student council to find out if anyone had noticed anything unusual.

"Are you sure they'd answer that to your satisfaction?"

"Not really."

But something had bothered him. It was plain.

When he hung up, I asked, "What's up?"

"Probably nothing, but Suzaku doesn't know about me."

Then I giggled. "Arthur really doesn't like Suzaku, does he?"

"Ha."

They were talking around in circles, Lelouch and C.C. She hadn't bothered to change from the Minstrel costume, but she'd taken the mask off.

I stretched. Last night's activity had left me sore. Then C.C. dropped a bombshell – at least, it was a bombshell for me: Shirley had kissed Lelouch!

"Give it a rest, will ya?" Lelouch protested.

"Just making sure I got the right girl, lover boy."

The rest of what she said went right past me. I was starting to feel my wave of despair coming back.

Later, I…don't know where either Lelouch or C.C. were. I'd found my hidey-hole on campus to stay by myself. It was an old air duct that led to a small room underneath the ballroom. It didn't have any doors besides the air duct, so I think it was just a building error. Still, only I could fit in there.

Well…there was enough room in the room itself for two people, if they were both about my size…but it'd be close. Really close. And the "door" was so narrow; whoever wanted to follow me in would have to be pretty thin. Like…

"Stop it!" I slammed my head back against the wall. "He's not even an option for you, so stop thinking about him!"

Finally, I pulled out my cell phone. "Might as well call and find out if Shirley had been the other person who'd seen his face."

He wasn't answering his phone, so I left a message. "Lelouch, if you've decided to go solo on me, then you'd better tell me all about it when you get back. Later…Bright Eyes." I felt like some breed of idiot as I closed my phone. "He's not an option."

Lelouch

C.C. and I were going to Narita to see if Shirley was there. C.C. wouldn't stop pestering me with questions about Shirley. And right around then, when I checked my phone messages, it occurred to me that I was in love. Just not with Shirley like C.C. kept asking me.

"Lelouch, if you've decided to go solo on me, then you'd better tell me all about it when you get back. Later…Bright Eyes."

"If you have someone you don't want to lose, you should keep them at a distance," C.C. suddenly told me.

"So is that from experience?" I asked.

"No. It's a way of life."

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. Why was life never easy?

Melody

I stayed in my hidey-hole for hours. I just didn't want to come out. I came out when I was hungry, but that took a while.

Finally, I pulled out my phone. I couldn't wait any longer; I had to know what was going on.

Lelouch

I was stuck between two guns. One held by Shirley, one held by this crazy mind reader Mao. You'd think this was the last time for anything worse to happen.

Right. Who was I kidding? Right around then, my phone rang.

"Well?" The stranger sounded like he was going to laugh. "Aren't you going to answer that?"

I glared at him and pulled it out, looking at the caller ID. Melody! Ergh, why are you calling now?

"Who is Melody, anyway? And why indeed would she be calling you?" Mao asked. As I glared at him, he went on, "Oh, she's another classmate, and part of your little rebellion group. How many girls do you have dangling by strings?"

Finally, I took the call, deliberately thinking at him. If I take this call, will you shut up? "What is it, Melody? This is kind of a bad time."

"Bad time is an understatement," Mao commented.

"Shut up, will you?"

"…Lelouch?" she said slowly. "What's going on?"

"Let's just say…I found Shirley. And that's the good news."

She was quiet for a minute. Then she added, "No time for me to come and bail you out?"

"You're too far away."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Listen…can I call you back?" I glared back at the stranger, daring him to say anything right now.

Wisely, he stayed silent. This time. He was smirking at me to no end, though.

"Um…okay. Fine. I'll…be seeing you tomorrow at school?"

How does she say things so calmly like that? Has she even come close to figuring out that my life is in danger? "We'll see." Then I hung up. Damn. And I couldn't tell her my decision, not when there's a mind reader breathing down my neck!

"Ooh, now isn't that an interesting twist?"

"Shut up!"

Melody

I stared at my phone, wishing I was old enough to get drunk. Lelouch would only have said "We'll see" if he didn't think he'd get out of this alive!

Why am I living like this, anyway?

That night, I suddenly was jolted out of my sleep by my phone ringing. I grabbed my phone and fell out of bed. "Ow! Hello?"

"Melody?"

"Lelouch!" I sat up, rubbing my head.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Uh…kind of."

"Well…someone named Mao had found Shirley and was fooling with her mind, playing off her insecurities. I've made her forget all about me."

So she doesn't quite stand between me and Lelouch anymore. "So…when I called before, what was going on, anyway?"

He laughed a little, sounding slightly shaken. "Shirley had my gun. Mao had a gun of his own. I was stuck between them."

I thought about that for a minute. "So wait…I heard Mao's voice. At least, I think it was Mao; he said that your saying it was a bad time was an understatement. Then you yelled at him to shut up."

"Yeah, that was Mao. He was reading my mind, and making up his own running commentary about what he was reading."

"If we run into him again, can I kill him?"

I got him to laugh again. "No, he's gone. Hopefully for good. Listen, I'm sorry I woke you, but I remembered I left you hanging out here, and I had to let you know I was all right. And, ah…you've been under a lot of stress. I can tell. I think I'm at least partially responsible for it."

How'd he notice that? "Well…partially. Can I not talk about it tonight? I do need my sleep."

"Of course; I'll talk to you tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay…good night, Bright-Eyes."

He laughed a little. I think he kind of likes the nickname. "Good night, Melody."

I wondered as he hung up. How it is that he can say my name with such…it sounds so…don't think about it tonight. Just…go to sleep.

I actually ended up staying up thinking a little bit longer than I meant to.