A/N: I. Really. Hate. Trying to figure out how/what to title my chapters as. I mean, sometimes doing that was so easy, but the rest of time... aii. Giving names to stuff is so hard.

That aside, funny how muses worked. Like the past few months, besides Vero Nihil, I've been meaning to want to write Suzaku struggling by himself ever since the incident at the Science Dept. This mused had been stuck since forever. Yet afterwards... I somehow managed to somewhat get the scene fleshed out. Granted that there are still some parts that weren't included, but now I can just move those scene for the later chapters.

Chapter 11.95: Path to Nowhere

Suzaku leaned over the balcony as he watched the people at the courtyard from afar. The Emperor's flagship, the Great Britannia stood nearby as a group of people walking up to board the ship. He could even pick up Lelouch's silhouette from this distance, as he wore his trademark Zero outfit sans the mask before boarding the ship with Kallen and Cornelia.

Suzaku frowned as he thought about the events from the past few days. What's going on around him? Why did Cornelia... side with Lelouch right now? Why would she ally herself with the person who killed Euphie? Even if Lelouch was still Cornelia's half-brother, this doesn't make any sense!

Or else, was there something else that he didn't know? Another side of the truth that he wasn't aware of?

"You had no idea how Lelouch felt having to be forced to shoot her."

What did Kallen mean by that? What did she mean by implying that Lelouch was forced to kill Euphie? When the one that made Euphie into a killing maniac was Lelouch himself? In what way was he ever be forced to kill Euphie?

But then... what about that incident with Nina? Why did that time it looked as if Lelouch was remorseful over Euphie's death? Why did Lelouch try to get Nina to shoot him?

Could it be, that there really was something that he didn't know? Was that why Cornelia was with Lelouch right now?

Suddenly Suzaku felt himself wanting to rush down there immediately to find the answer out. The answer was with Lelouch. If he truly wanted to know the answer, he should ask for it directly from the source!

"...it doesn't concern you."

Just as he was about to leave, Lelouch's words from before came back to haunt him. And with that, came all the memories from before. That confrontation he had with Lelouch back at the ghetto. Him squeezing Lelouch's neck as his friend laid vulnerable on the infirmary bed. The flash of anger that reflected briefly in Lelouch's eye when they met again at the Viceroy's office.

Suzaku felt his legs going weak as he collapsed on the floor. What if he was wrong? What if... all this while he had been going on a false track?

Euphie, even on her deathbed... never named Lelouch as Zero. Until her death, she still wanted to protect Lelouch's secret. She was still protecting Lelouch. Why would she... if she already aware that Lelouch was the one that shot her?

Would it be possible for him to still find out the truth behind that?

"Is there someone you hated so much that you want to kill them?"

"I'm about to commit murder in the sky..."

Suzaku felt himself wince as he recalled his own words. Finding out the truth, was it even a possible feat for him now?

"We're friends, aren't we?"

He recalled again how Lelouch had recoiled at the mere touch of their hand. When he had tried to stop his old friend from walking away as Lelouch and Kallen left the Science Department; and that led him to grab any part of Lelouch's body that he could grasp. Lelouch had slapped his hands away, almost immediately.

"Don't touch me! Don't you ever lay your hand on my person!"

Suzaku started to wrap his arm around his legs as he tried to curl himself into a small ball. Everything was so messed up! How could he ever get himself out of this mess?

Was it even possible for him to do so?