Lelouch didn't know whether to be confused, surprised or even angry. He was sitting in his pyjamas in his bed, breakfast freshly eaten, and with two A4 sheets of paper in his hand that Suzaku had handed him. His eyes skimmed over all the details in the schedule written on them, then he looked up at Suzaku standing beside his bed. Admittedly, he looked very exhausted and dark bag trailed under his eyes. Had he slept at all? Before he could ask that question, Suzaku opened his mouth, "I was assigned to make you those plans."

"Suzaku." Lelouch lowered the notes in his hands with a sigh. "What do you mean by 'assigned'? Where did you get all these names anyway? And how do you know about the fundraiser?"

"Prince Schneizel gave me a list of names and there was an order from the king in your mail for the fundraiser event."

"Excuse me?" Lelouch's eyebrows drew together. "You have my mail?"

"Yes. But it wasn't my idea. Prince Schneizel ..."

"I don't want Schneizel meddling in my affairs," Lelouch interrupted him with a snort.

"I am to tell you that if you cooperate, you may visit Nunnally."

Lelouch paused. He leaned back against his pillows and looked deeply into Suzaku's eyes, as if he could read out whether he was lying to him or not. Of course, he didn't believe him. How could he? After all, it had come from Schneizel. "I don't believe you." He dropped the notes on the bedside table. "The king would never allow it."

Suzaku merely shrugged. "I was told so."

"Maybe so, but Nunnally doesn't deserve to be treated like a bargaining chip." Lelouch snorted. "Why do you think I refuse to bow to the system?" If he allowed himself to be seduced once, Charles would use Nunnally as a bargaining chip over and over again, and the thought sickened him.

"I don't have an opinion about it at all. I don't know who Nunnally is," Suzaku replied, and at first this answer made Lelouch sit up and take notice, but then he remembered that he had dodged Suzaku's question yesterday. Of course, he didn't know who Nunnally was. No one outside the royal family knew, for the sake of her own safety. And originally, Lelouch hadn't intended to let Suzaku in on it, but now that Nunnally's name had come up so many times, it was probably only a matter of time before he would find out from someone in the palace; in the worst case, from Schneizel. For this reason, Lelouch decided to offer a simple explanation for now: "Nunnally is my little sister and the daughter of the current queen."

Nothing moved in Suzaku's face. He just nodded. "I see."

Lelouch frowned. He had expected a little more, to be honest. "Nunnally and I have been living apart for six years. I haven't seen her since that separation."

Again, Suzaku nodded. His obvious lack of emotional reaction annoyed Lelouch, even though he was aware that Suzaku had been brought up at a military academy. Still, he couldn't be sure enough that Suzaku was on his side and wouldn't suddenly change, so he bluntly set the boundaries straight: "From now on, I forbid you to hand over information about me to Schneizel and to obey him regarding my work and my life. I don't want someone else's lapdog."

"Understood."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"And you are aware that, in any case of disobedience, one of your comrades will be shot in prison?"

"Yes."

Lelouch looked at Suzaku urgently, but there was nothing in his emerald eyes. However, it could have been far worse. Suzaku could have killed him during their first encounter. "Good." And looking back on it like that, it was almost a surprise that he hadn't, but as long as Suzaku took his job seriously, Lelouch had nothing to complain about either; after all, he wasn't actually in his way. "Well, back to the matter at hand. I won't be bossed around, so the plans are history."

"Can we resist Prince Schneizel so easily?"

It depended on whom you asked, but basically, the answer was no. Schneizel had the right to issue instructions to all the king's children, including Lelouch. In reality, there was no way to wriggle out of this for the time being, and the frustration burned painfully in Lelouch's chest. He was different; he was not like his half-siblings, not a lapdog, not a good child. He was smarter than all of them put together and hated being used from the moment he was born. Unfortunately, though, not even his self-pity, with which he could fill an entire pool to bathe in, gave him comfort these days. Even his own bed was just another dark cage in which he tossed and turned every night.

"Theoretically, we could resist," said Lelouch. "But for that we would have to call Odyssees," his older half-brother, in charge of judiciary, "and set up a whole court meeting," just to legally object to an order against Schneize, "and that will only cost me more working time ..." Seriously, how was he ever going to help Japan if he didn't get a turn at all?

"So, we stick to the plans?"

The answer was clear, but Lelouch refused to say it. It was degrading, humiliating, abysmally sad. It was yet another bite from a bitter lemon that had been thrown at his feet. "Yes. Yes, we'll stick to the plans."

"Understood. Your work starts in ten minutes."

A deep sigh escaped Lelouch. Had Schneizel really hoped to make him work more easily by bringing Nunnally into the picture? It sounded bizarre, even absurd. And of course the idea of finally being able to take his sister into his arms again warmed his heart, but he couldn't help but also see the possibility that it was just another farce.

"Lelouch?"

Suzaku's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. Lelouch ran a hand through his coal-black hair and got up from the bed. "Wait outside the door, I'll be right there."

After Lelouch had dressed and freshened up, they went into his office together. Suzaku gently closed the door and stood wordlessly in the corner of the room while Lelouch sat behind his desk and studied the weekly plans more closely. There were a few details he changed for the sake of his comfort, otherwise the schedule was not much different from the work he had done before the war between Britannia and Japan: meetings, consulting hours, economic models, statistics. And when he finally looked at the notes again, he realised what a short time the last seven months had been. A short time in which he had actually thought he could finally leave Britannia out of it.

Throughout the day, Suzaku and Lelouch did not exchange a word, and as it gradually became dark again, fatigue weighed down Lelouch's eyelids so that he could barely keep his eyes open. He squinted at the clock on the wall; it was already 11:30 PM. He had to wake up again in just under eight hours, so he dropped his pen and rose from the desk chair. "Suzaku, let's go to sleep."

The next morning, Lelouch and Carine made an appointment for the same day. She sent the president of the teachers' union, Mario Gonzales, who arrived at the palace at 5 PM sharp. Lelouch, accompanied by Suzaku, sat down with Gonzales in the meeting hall to present and discuss his models regarding the English courses for the Japanese forced integrated students. The meeting dragged on for up to two hours. Gonzales had given his approval to one of the models, so Lelouch gave him a copy to take with him. Now it was a matter of waiting until Carine had evaluated the model and would send him feedback.

After the tall double door of the hall had slammed shut behind Gonzales, silence had spread. Lelouch wiped the hand he had shaken Gonzales' with on his sleeve and squinted to the side. Suzaku had moved from his original place at the table and was now standing by the picture windows, adorned with gleaming golden curtains running the length of the marble wall. He was just looking out, wordlessly, and it was hard to tell from his expression what he was thinking about, but the answer was most likely 'freedom'.

Lelouch also approached the windows. The sun had set a few minutes ago. Its absence coloured the horizon deep red, already blue above it, and, if you raised your head, you could see Venus, the first star of the evening sky. Far away from her hung a flimsy crescent moon.

From these windows, one could see part of the palace garden; the stables and the shooting hall, to be exact. Four horses were grazing on the lawn, their silhouettes casting long shadows on the grass. All around the palace garden were countless flowerbeds with a wide variety of flowers, which were now attracting the last bees and butterflies before the insects also slowly made their way home.

Lelouch glanced to the side. Suzaku's eyes seemed to fix on nothing in particular; on the contrary, he seemed lost in the certainly beautiful scenery, almost as if his mind had left his body to explore the garden. Neither of them had spoken much to each other since yesterday, and Lelouch missed the small spark of pleasure he had felt during their chess game the day before. The stress and all the work nibbled at his soul day in and day out, as if it were a delicacy, and his mental fatigue only dragged him further down into the depths of a burnout he was denying with all his strength. Suzaku, on the other hand, stood here, still, untouched. He seemed to feel nothing, no matter what they talked about; didn't react, no matter what happened. This behaviour, as much as Lelouch knew it was unhealthy, aroused envy in him, and that fact alone, annoyed him. There had to be something that Suzaku reacted to, something that made him uncomfortable too, and the thought of eliciting a reaction from someone so robust tugged unexpectedly sweetly at Lelouch's sadistic heart-strings. Yes, he could turn the envy he felt into something that finally made him feel something other than frustration, and it conjured a smile on his lips. "Suzaku."

When his name was said, Suzaku turned his head. Apparently, he hadn't been that far away mentally. "Yes?"

What was it, Lelouch wondered, that could shake Suzaku, trigger him, even hurt him? Well, it would be a shame to gamble it all away at once, so Lelouch opted for the simplest option - for now. "Get on your knees."

Suzaku closed his mouth. Something stirred in his eyes, something sharp, but it was barely visible and he did not let it control him. Instead, he turned entirely to Lelouch, propped himself up on his knees and toes and sat on his heels. He rested his hands on his thighs, his head lowered. Lelouch didn't even notice that his own smile spread into a grin. In fact, he suddenly felt much better. "Looks good to me. Kneeling suits you." Seeing Suzaku, a soldier who had dragged a trail of corpses behind him in the war, so submissive in front of him warmed him from the inside. Envy, on the other hand, was completely gone; this game was a thousand times better. "Look at me."

Suzaku looked up. From his position he could now see past Lelouch up to the roof advance and it immediately triggered his attention when he saw a person crouching on a beam in the corner of the roof. The long barrel of the sniper rifle was hard to miss and aimed directly at the back of Lelouch's head. The gunman's gloved finger was just resting on the trigger when Suzaku reacted immediately: he jumped up, took Lelouch into his arms and dropped forward. In mid-flight, he spun to land himself with his back on the ground, providing a soft landing for the prince. The shot rang out while he was still in mid-flight, missing Lelouch by a hair's breadth, for Suzaku could see individual strands of hair gliding through the air after he had hit the ground. The glass shattered into thousands of pieces and Suzaku immediately felt the tension emanating from the shooter outside. He took an arm from Lelouch and immediately reached for his side pocket - but there was no firearm.

"Suzaku ... !"

Unfortunately, he had to ignore Lelouch's questioning exclamation and push him aside to get back on his feet himself. "Stay behind me," he told him without looking over his shoulder. As expected, the gunman now swung down from the roof and through the broken window. He got to his feet and drew a 9mm, aiming it at Suzaku. The person was obviously a man and completely cloaked in black, hiding his face. Suzaku took a quick step forward and threw the back of his hand against the shooter's hand to deflect the barrel in another direction. Out of reflex, the trigger was pulled and the bullet hit the wall on the other side of the room. Suzaku gripped the pistol with one hand and the shooter's free wrist with his other before wrenching the weapon from the man's grip as well as twisting the man's joint painfully in the wrong direction. The crack echoed in the large hall. The gunman hissed in pain, but he didn't have much time to fight back as Suzaku lifted his leg and kicked his foot against the gunman's head. The man fell to the ground and Suzaku unhesitatingly stepped on his neck, which snapped under the impact with another loud crack.

The crack sounded in Lelouch's ears. His heart skipped a beat.

Seemingly automatic, Suzaku removed the marksman's rifle that was attached to the waist and emptied it. He then turned and his gaze met the double doors of the dining hall. Footsteps of heavy boots could be heard from outside. Either more people were interested in Lelouch's head or the guards had overheard something. Unfortunately, the latter possibility was rather unlikely, as they were all alone in this wing.

Lelouch was still sitting on the floor, staring into the dead eyes of the corpse lying on the tiles only a few metres in front of him. Shock had taken hold of him and was only slowly subsiding. He had commanded countless Knightmares on the battlefield, but he had done so from a military base. All the attacks there had ever been on the royal family had always been blocked by the palace guards, but now someone had almost shot him dead. Never before had he been so close to death.

Lelouch's gaze slid up to Suzaku, who was checking the number of cartridges in the pistol. The next moment, another shot rang out in the corridor behind the double doors, making Lelouch flinch. The scream of a servant followed.

"Stay here," Suzaku said. "Hide under the table, it offers the most protection. And if I don't come back in five minutes, you try to escape."

"Are you suicidal?" Upon realizing Suzaku's words, Lelouch stood up and raised a hand to stop him. "I'll call the guards on my cell. We don't know how many there are."

"The guards won't be here in time," Suzaku said. "I'll be right back."

"Suzaku!" Lelouch called after him, but Suzaku didn't listen. Instead, he walked to the double door and leaned his shoulder against the wall beside it. He waited, listening, feeling the vibrations of the many footsteps outside, before kicking open the left half of the door and disappearing into the corridor.

Lelouch felt his heart hammering against his chest. He slid down the wall and remained seated behind one of the dressers. It was indescribably difficult to calm down, because the knot that was tightening in his chest at that moment was slowly squeezing the air out of his lungs.

Countless shots rang out in the corridor. Lelouch hastily fished his mobile phone out of his pocket and entered a security code, which immediately alerted the nearest guards. Shortly afterwards, an alarm was heard sounding throughout the palace.

The gunshots from outside buzzed in Lelouch's ears. The grip on his mobile phone tightened so much that the edges dug painfully into his fingers, but only a few seconds later it suddenly went silent. At first, Lelouch thought he was imagining it, but after a few more seconds passed, he realised it was cold reality.

Yes, it was silent.

Had Suzaku been shot?

Lelouch froze as footsteps found their way into the dining room and pressed the mobile phone so hard against his chest that his knuckles stood out white. The person immediately noticed him behind the dresser and walked towards him. His heart was hammering painfully against his ribs, but Lelouch's pride forbid him to be scared. It convinced himself, although his hands were sweaty and although his breathing was barely even, that he was ready to look the intruder in the eye.
And yet, all fear subsided and made space for shock when it was Suzaku's face which came into his field of vision. "Are you all right? Are you in shock?" He eyed Lelouch for injuries but could find none in a hurry. "Come on, get up, you need some circulation," he said, offering him a gloveless hand. Some blood was on his uniform, but it wasn't his own, for Lelouch couldn't detect any wounds. He took a deep breath and ignored Suzaku's hand as he stood up. His heart was still pounding up into his throat, but he covered it with fake calmness and adjusted his clothes as if nothing at all had happened. Then he looked at Suzaku again and he could no longer hide his impatience. "What the hell happened?"

"Seven more men have entered the palace. I took them out. One maid is dead," Suzaku reported objectively.

Lelouch clicked his tongue irritably. He averted his eyes. An assassination? And a maid had died in it? That was the worst thing that could have happened to him. But it didn't overshadow the one important detail: Suzaku had just killed a total of eight men single-handedly, and that fact was absurd enough to disturb Lelouch on a deep psychological level. If he now left this room and looked out into the corridor ... what would he find?

A group of guards finally reached the scene. Lelouch had barely noticed the echoes of their footsteps until a guard hurried into the room. "Your Highness, is everything all right?" she asked, before her eyes fell on Suzaku. Immediately, she drew her weapon and pointed it at him. "Step aside!"

Suzaku raised both hands, the 9mm in one, and was about to move away when Lelouch raised a hand to stop the theatrics. "That's enough. Do not aim at my lifesaver."

The guard immediately lowered her weapon. "I beg your pardon, Your Highness."

He couldn't get it out of his head. How had Suzaku killed seven men with a single 9mm? Lelouch pictured individual scenarios in his head, but he knew there was only one way to fully convince himself: he had to see it for himself. Hence, he walked past Suzaku and the guard and stepped onto the threshold of the double door.

The smell of blood was in the air. Several small pools had spread along the wide corridor, surrounded by a total of eight corpses. The maid lay huddled a little further back, the men, on the other hand, barely ten metres from the meeting hall and hardly comparable to what Lelouch had imagined, for they had all been shot in the head. Each of them had a hole in his forehead. It made no sense. These men had been armed with multiple firearms, so how had Suzaku even survived bursting through the door?

"Your Highness, is everything all right?" the guard asked again. It took Lelouch a few seconds to tear himself away from the scene before he gave the guard beside him a half-hearted nod in reply. "Yes, I am fine. Please get rid of this massacre as soon as possible."

"Yes, Your Highness. Would you like two of us to stay close to you?"

"No, leave."

"Understood, Your Highness." The guard bowed her head, went out into the corridor and told a colleague to help her carry the bodies.

Lelouch's gaze jumped to Suzaku, who was inspecting the pistol in his hands, but he noticed being watched, looked up and their eyes met. Suzaku had killed and yet he stood there with the same expression on his face with which he had looked at the garden earlier. Indifferent.

Lelouch stepped towards Suzaku. "Is there something wrong with the gun?" He took hold of the pistol and ran his thumb over the flag carved into its handle - the Japanese military.

Lelouch's gaze slid back to Suzaku. Had he known that they had been Japanese soldiers? Had he not cared? It was unbelievable. Together with them, he could have escaped. Why hadn't he done that? Had he been willing to exchange the lives of his free comrades for those of the prisoners?

"Did you know these people?" asked Lelouch finally.

"Only two of them," Suzaku replied. "Kaito-san and Ryo-san. They were staff sergeants. If the other bodies have an anchor tattoo, they belonged to their troops."

"An anchor tattoo?" Lelouch was surprised to hear that. In Japan, it was uncommon to be tattooed, as it was a tradition dating back to the Bōryokudan. A similar view existed in Britannia within the knighthood, and since knights were considered 'pure', neither piercings nor tattoos were allowed. These views and traditions were, of course, from the Middle Ages and completely outdated, but if Britannia knew how to do anything, it was to dredge up traditions as grounds for oppression. "Do you also have a tattoo?"

Suzaku nodded.

"See to it that it doesn't show. A knight shouldn't be tattooed," Lelouch said. "Otherwise you may be forced to laser it off."

"Understood."

Lelouch looked back over his shoulder into the corridor. The bodies had already been carried away, leaving only the dark pools of blood on the refined tiled floor, and in the most bizarre way, this image fit perfectly into the palace.