Chapter 28- Incendere

Lelouch

Somewhere in the frigid shell of his corpse, the right neurons fired and Lelouch processed a distant conversation.

"Is he dead?"

"Yes, Asuka. I think he is..no pulse...frozen solid."

"Holy crap holy crap! You just touched a dead guy oh my god-"

"It's the fourth pers-... one we've found this week, I don't see why you're wigging out..."

Most of his mind was still stuck in the emptiness between life and death known only to immortals; akin to being paralyzed, blind, helpless... This is how Nunnally must have felt, but for years on end. He knew that he should be worrying about someone else right now, someone he couldn't put a name to. His heart gave a painful squeeze but in reality it had stopped hours ago, so therefore he was dead. In the delusions that accompany hypothermia he'd wandered far away from the Pizza Hut and settled for this nondescript corner in a last-ditch effort to stay alive. Coatless and motionless he died shortly after burrowing a half-hearted nest in the snow. I wonder what time it is, it must be the morning if people are out looking for bodies...I need to get back to Pizza Hut.

As the rescuers dug aside the snow that had accumulated around him Lelouch was silently growing more and more annoyed with his current state. The people, who he assumed to be women from their voices, were now searching his pockets and trying to unfreeze his clenched hands in case they held money. Once I get back to normal, how can I sneak away without causing a panic? The last thing the Britannian army needs are reports of a zombie. He was considering acting as though he had miraculously survived when he felt an ice pick smash open his fingers. Having recovered some lung function he gave a snuffle of pain as an electric bolt of agony traveled up his arm.

"Nothing...just the stupid toy thing we saw earlier...what..blood? Why is he bleeding if he's-" The disembodied voice rose to a scream as she watched him open his eyes.

Lelouch blinked and cracked his neck. He focused on the two terrified women (who didn't believe what they were seeing) and sat up. The woman holding the ice pick was debating whether to hit Lelouch with it when he got an idea, and it was difficult for him not to laugh out loud.

He smiled. "Good morning."

He thought that the speed at which they fled would make Suzaku look like a snail.

Stiffly getting to his feet at last Lelouch smoothly removed the mini-icicles from his face. Now to retrieve my 'stupid toy thing' and I'll be off. The Cheese-kun plush still had its dopey grin even after such a rough night, and returned to its original sponginess after a few minutes. Though he despised the little creature by itself he was looking forward to C.C's reaction when he gave it to her. He stuffed the plush under one arm and addressed it. You are going in the trash when Lucca is born. In a quiet part of his mind he knew his daughter was alright. Her mother is an immortal witch...there couldn't have been a better way for that little tumble to happen.

Settling at a lazy pace he took in the sights and smells of another day in Shinjuku ghetto. Most of the shops were deserted or closed and only one place seemed to be getting any business; a tavern of sorts. At nine-something in the morning? Really? From what he saw through a smoke-clouded window people had already set up a card game, and soon the money would start changing hands. He was honestly more interested in that then the 'Real Live Girls!' advertised on one poster, but when his feet twitched in that direction something held him back.

The suave, haughty man who could empty anyones wallet in a minute (Oh, looks like you'll have to write a check then Mr. Aristocrat) and still make you want to wipe that smug little smile off his face by beating him (Because this time you're gonna get lucky) seemed to have been left behind. Mr. Card Shark had been incinerated inside the Damocles along with Mr. Popular...he had to admit that the loss of these faces were a relief, but the candy-coated Mr. Big Brother he had been to Nunnally felt like an unfortunate casualty. His dear sister he would have to watch from afar, as much as the separation would hurt her. But with a sense of accomplishment and relief he easily caught on to the beginning shyness of first love that was really obvious whenever the soon-Empress ever appeared on TV with the Hero of Japan. She's in good hands now. If the political nonsense is taken care of, and they're wonderful together but Suzaku pusses out, then I...I'll... he treated himself to a short fantasy of squashing Suzaku with a Knightmare. Something caught his eye and distracted him...a red-haired girl who looked an awful lot like Shirley. Any sparks of amusement from his killing-Suzaku vision fizzled out with a hiss.

My friends...superficial as they are...will get over me. I bet they've shaken their heads and wondered how they could befriend such an evil guy.

A few concerned glances from people walking past him removed Lelouch from his stream of thought. He had been paying no attention to his body language or walking speed and realized that he was stooped over and had slowed to a miserable shuffle.

A hand grabbed his shoulder. It was an old man, his back bent by a different kind of weight. He softly asked a question that Lelouch didn't know the answer to. "Is something wrong, son?"

"Uh..." Quick, make up a problem that people around here are having. Not enough food, beaten by soldiers..."Uh...I..uhm..." Trying not to look any dumber Lelouch stood a little straighter. With the Cheese-kun I must look like an oversized toddler. "No. But thank you."

"You're welcome...go put on a coat, will ya." The old man was soon engulfed by group of teenagers off to cause some kind of ruckus, and Lelouch briefly wondered if he had imagined the whole thing. There is no time to stand here sulking in the street. C.C could be waiting and I know from yesterday how awful it is. I've got to find out about Lucca... a strange, heartening energy now fueled his steps and gave him the embarassingly affectionate urge to pat C.C's tummy when he saw her again. My daughter.

From then on the walk to Pizza Hut felt like he was on a train going forward; each step seeming like something much bigger. He knew that from now on everything would be different, raising a family in the peaceful world of his own creation.

And I have no desire to walk back along the tracks.

Once he reunited with C.C he would never have to worry. Well that's sort of a hyperbole... His fretting would now be over whether Lucca was hungry or if she had trailed mud through the house after playing outside, and whether or not that he and C.C could have some time alone.

And he noticed that a surprising ache of lassitude now occupied the space that was once reserved for the anger at...well, everything. It had been a physical weight, like if ever since the first night that Charles zi Britannia had spent with a woman who was not his little wifey, or, no, the real origin was on the floor of a throne room. The bedlam that had crashed around in his already rattled mind congealed into a solid mass of hatred; a formless shape that had splintered into a knife the day he swore to obliterate Britannia. He could have left the knife, then sunk up to its hilt, to fester in his body forever. But instead he had used it in its true form, a deadly weapon.

Just because I can set the world on fire and bring about its end doesn't mean I want to. Stretched to my limits...those days... I was already an immortal in some sense. Hurt beyond what most humans can feel, and having been thrown in with people who had never once feared for their lives. Who had never been manipulated or used by the very people that were supposed to love them unconditionally. Monsters who saw their children as tools...but Nunnally's pain far outweighed mine; a despicable sin against an innocent girl that I've forced thousands to pay for.

I tore off the face of Mr. Student Council and wisely removed the only thing that made me different from the machines that carried out my bidding.

The glowing sign of Pizza Hut was soon visible and he even ran the last fifty feet. This brief interlude between lives will end today. Inside the restaurant it was warm, and having ignored the temperature outside his limbs burned as they regained circulation. He ordered three deluxe pizzas and even remembered to snag a bottle of hot sauce. He slid into a sticky plastic booth and nervously tapped the table with fingers that piano players dream of having, and the perky waitress who had tried to flirt with him yesterday eagerly scuttled towards him in a way that made a silver pendant bounce on her extreme cleavage.

"Ohit'syouagain." She cooed in one syllable.

Steeling himself against the innuendos she began to spew he coldly informed her that his wife would be arrivng soon. When the waitress left he gave into the temptation of gloating. I won't prove you right any longer, Suzaku. Enjoy drowning in the remorse you've accumulated. My life was accidently returned to me, but I plan on making use of this second chance.

Lelouch couldn't wait until C.C came through the door with snow-chilled lips and a little belly under her coat. He would ask how the doctor's visit went and make fun of her as she stuffed her face with pizza, maybe even having a secret reunion party in one of the bathroom stalls. With the future in mind, he believed himself to be the luckiest man in the world.


Reviewer of the Week: Sacchin

This chapter's ending is mean.

Harmony