Alt. Ending #1

a/n: Two quick things - first, this is the second post of the day, so if you didn't read the primary epilogue do that first; second, the first several paragraphs of this are identical to the first epilogue, only the second half is altered. Feel free to skim until you get to that point.

XXX

76 years post Z.R. – June

There was a state funeral. All of Japan's prominent political figures, past and present, and many from the UFN, gathered to pay their respects to the woman who had been the right hand of the hero Zero for more than half a century.

Lelouch kept on the fringes, donning a disguise for the first time in two decades. He waited until the crowds had cleared out, lingering to pay his personal respects to his beloved.

The student council, the Black Knights, Suzaku, Nunnally, Kallen. Everyone he loved was now gone.

He'd known it was coming, thought himself prepared –especially after weathering the loss of his sister and best friend – but perhaps there was no way to prepare for this kind of loss. Like bracing oneself for the amputation of a limb – there was no way to anticipate the reality of it. Every human being knew this loss eventually, but few felt the depths of it like one who had no hope to follow after.

For the first time he thought he understood C.C.'s long ago wish for everything to end. How self-righteous he had been, keeping it from her.

He knelt beside the headstone and allowed his fingers to trace the cleanly etched engravings: her name, the relevant dates, and some testament to the good she had done for Japan and the world. Nothing personal, no "beloved wife and mother."

Her obituary had listed no surviving relatives – another sin to add to his lengthy list. He had stolen the chance at family from her. But his guilt was not for today. Today was for farewells.

"I love you," he breathed into the empty air. "I'll always love you." He would carry that love with him the rest of his days, hold the memories of her close to keep him warm.

He bowed his head and let the tears take him, coursing in silent streams down his cheeks. The passing of time meant nothing to him and eventually the sun began to sink and a light breeze ruffled his hair, cooling the sticky remnants of drying tears on his face. He took a deep breath and lifted his face to the breeze, welcoming its caress. He wished, for a moment, that he was prone to sentiment and superstition. That he could believe it was Kallen's spirit holding him one last time. Though he supposed he'd seen enough bordering on the mystic or supernatural in his life to concede it was at least a possibility.

A presence appeared beside him. Still and comforting. C.C.

"Red?" she asked, tone bored.

Lelouch, long accustomed to her quirks, did not take offense. Instead he reached up to finger his recently dyed locks. He hadn't wanted to risk suspicion by wearing a wig. "It seemed appropriate. I'll dye it back later."

C.C. nodded and Lelouch pushed to his feet, but otherwise remained where he was.

"She will be remembered fondly," C.C. said. "No being can ask much more than that."

Lelouch swallowed against a fresh choke of tears, eyes blinking forcibly to keep them at bay. "Thank you," he rasped. From the corner of his eye he saw her bob her head in acknowledgement.

They stood together in silence for a few minutes. There were a thousand things he could have asked her, things he wanted to know, about her past, her loves, her losses. But at the moment he could hardly bear his own ghosts and so he let it go. They would have forever to lick one another's wounds, after all.

C.C. said nothing for a long time. She understood all too well the pain of each new loss. Immortal though she was, guarded though she had become, she was still human at her core. It was impossible for humans to exist without making connections, forming relationships, no matter how hard they might try. Even now she was prone to forming new attachments, new precious people to someday loose. She hated that he had to suffer this – had tried, in fact, to stop it.

"I offered her my code once, you know."

She hadn't meant to say the words, unsure how they would impact him, but Lelouch only smiled, a sad, soft lifting of the corners of his lips.

"She turned you down." A statement, not a question. He knew Kallen. She would never extend her life at the cost of an ally's.

"She told me she wouldn't know what to do with forever."

Lelouch let out a single, low chuckle. "That sounds like Kallen."

There was more, but C.C. wouldn't tell him that. How Kallen had said it wouldn't be fair to the immortal witch. After all, Lelouch had promised to fulfill C.C.'s wish, and Kallen knew, even if Lelouch had forgotten, what that really was. As far as Kallen was concerned, C.C. was owed a happily ever after with the man they both loved. Owed real love.

Selfless fool. C.C. didn't know if she could have been that selfless, but she'd tried. Because Kallen made Lelouch happy, and he deserved to be happy. He deserved far more than she did. She hadn't made the offer for Kallen, she'd made it for Lelouch.

The memory intruded, unbidden.

"I could give you Geass." C.C. offered. "You'd have to use it, of course. Geass must be developed to a certain level before."

"Before what?" Kallen asked, confused.

C.C. blinked at her. "Before I can give you my code," she said tonelessly.

"Why?"

"Because only one with fully developed Geass can kill an immortal."

"W-what?" Kallen sputtered.

C.C. understood the reason behind her near-panic. Kallen was a soldier, but she did not kill needlessly or selfishly. The immortal witch's expression softened. "You needn't grow old and leave him behind. Let me do this for him?"

Kallen stared at her for a long time, silent, and then shook her head.

A touch at her elbow drew C.C. back to the present. Lelouch had risen, a hint of concern on his face.

She smiled, the twin to his earlier expression: equal parts pain and understanding. The past was past and could not be changed, not even with Geass. It was time to lay their ghosts to rest.

"Shall we let her move on?" she asked, extending a hand toward him, patient, and undemanding. He could have what time he needed.

Lelouch looked down at her hand, head tilting as though studying a particularly complex problem. And then he stretched out his arm, fingers finding hers, palms sliding together smoothly. Her fingers curled over the edge of his hand and his responded in kind. Together they turned and took a step away from the past. And another. And another. Until they were walking into the approaching night, the past behind them, but not forgotten, carried with them into endless eternity.

xxxx

A/N: Remember, happy ending next week. Hang in there!

reenas-as