Chapter 13.760 Nunnally's Choice

Lelouch fiddled with the small box that C.C. had given him before they left Ikaruga.

It's going to start for real now, the next phase of his rebellion. Now that he had secured the Black Knights, one of his initial worries was now resolved. Yet...

Lelouch got up and put the box into his side pockets. He walked out of his room towards the lower floors of the palace as he saw people busying themselves with the task in hand. He turned to head towards the area where Great Britannia was stationed to see Jeremiah ordering some technicians as they were trying to load Kallen's Guren into the ship.

"Jeremiah!"

The man immediately stopped what he's doing and ran over towards him.

"Your Highness! Are you feeling well now? Is there anything you need me to do?"

Lelouch took in a long breath before nodding his head. "Yes. Follow me."

xxx

His resolve started wavering again as soon as he arrived in front of Nunnally's room. But just as he hesitated on announcing his presence, the door opened to reveal Sayoko on the other side. The woman let out a gasp.

"Master Lelouch! You surprised me."

Lelouch gave her a weak smile. "I'm sorry if I startled you. Is Nunnally awake?"

Sayoko gave him a puzzled look before stepping aside. She gestured him towards Nunnally as his sister turned her wheelchair around to face him.

"I'll leave the two of you alone then—" she started to say as Lelouch stopped her.

"No, it's fine," he said as Sayoko turned to walk towards Nunnally's side.

Lelouch turned around as he motioned for Jeremiah to follow him inside. The man obliged as he closed the door behind him.

xxx

"Brother? What's wrong?"

Lelouch turned to face Nunnally before kneeling beside her wheelchair.

He sighed. "I'm heading back to Pendragon."

Lelouch's attention was immediately drawn towards her hands as Nunnally tried her best to hide her nervousness from him but failed.

"I-I... know."

He sighed again. "Y-you probably couldn't understand why I'm doing this, but I promise—"

Nunnally suddenly lunged forward to Sayoko's alarm and reached out towards Lelouch until she managed to grab hold of his hands. "Brother! Are you going back to Pendragon because of me? Did father force you to do something that you didn't want to do? Because if it is," she swallowed hard. "...if it's because of me, I don't want you to—"

Lelouch grasped Nunnally's hand tightly as he tried to calm her down. "No, it's nothing like that! I—this is my choice. Even if it meant going back there..."

"Then I'm coming with you! I don't want to be separated from you again!"

Lelouch shook his head even when he knew that his sister couldn't see it.

"No. You should stay here... in Japan. Even if you're just a viceroy here in name, I'm sure you'd still be able to do something good here... by governing this place for real." He smiled weakly. "You should be able to do it well, I know you could."

Lelouch shrugged. "Besides, you'll have the Black Knights on your side. So you should be all right."

Nunnally blinked at him. "The Black Knights? Then brother, are you really—?"

Lelouch grasped Nunnally's hand tightly. "Yes, I am Zero. Perhaps one day, I'll explain to you everything once all of this was resolved. But that aside..."

Lelouch went quiet as Nunnally cocked her head towards him, puzzled.

"Big brother?"

Lelouch glanced back towards her.

"Nunnally, would you like to remain like this for as long as you could? Even if you could not see like normal people, you could still help people with your kindness. Compared to this, would regaining your sight be worth it if it only brings you suffering?"

"Your Highness... what did you mean?"

Lelouch turned his head around to look at Jeremiah. The man was staring back at him in surprise.

"A-are you telling me that there's another reason for Lady Nunnally's blindness?"

He gave him a weak smile. "Yes." Lelouch got back up on his feet slowly as he let go of Nunnally's hand. "But I guess, Nunnally was better off this—!"

Lelouch turned around to see Nunnally grabbing his hand again.

"If I can ease the heavy burden you're carrying as well as help you in reaching your goals, I don't mind suffering with you! I don't want you getting hurt alone anymore, I don't want to keep being protected this way!" Nunnally pulled on his hand as Lelouch steeped back closer to her. "And I wanted to see your face again! It's been so long so I could see your face with my own eyes!"

Lelouch felt his heart clenched at Nunnally's words.

"But in return for that, you might end up remembering again all of the bad memories. What happened to mother—"

Nunnally quickly shook her head. "I don't care about that! I'll face it head-on. I'll manage it."

"And I'll always be by Mistress Nunnally's side in case it became unbearable for her. I'll watch over Mistress Nunnally for you."

Lelouch nodded to Sayako gratefully, before turning towards Jeremiah. He sighed.

Should he do this? Should he undid the Geass that his father had placed on Nunnally to make her forget the incident from eight years ago as well as lift the seal on her eyes? Nunnally would finally be able to see again—to which that used to be his main reason as to why he'd go around gambling and cheating the money from some wayward Britannian nobles in exchange for a lump sum of money. No, not really. He was always aware that Nunnally's 'blindness' was mostly psychological (in a sense, that was quite close to the truth) and it's unlikely that any amount of surgery would be able to heal his sister's legs. He used to think that he'd gather enough fund so that Nunnally would be able to live a comfortable living from it.

That plan was moot though since most of it ended up being used to fund the Black Knights. But still...

Lelouch turned to face Nunnally again before closing his eyes in contemplation.

"Lord Jeremiah, please use the Geass Canceller on my sister."

Jeremiah bowed to him as he accepted the order.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Chapter 13.810 Parting

Suzaku kept eyeing Lelouch silently as Kallen, Kaguya and him appeared to have a light-hearted banter at the lobby.

The preparation for their return to Britannia was already completed, yet Lelouch didn't appear to want to leave immediately. And despite everything, no one... not even Cornelia seemed to even bother to try urging them on. He wondered why, considering how Sir Bismarck Waldstein had been urging them to return to Britannia earlier.

Suzaku turned his glance away from Lelouch as he realized why. Nunnally still hadn't come down from her room. So that must be the reason. He sighed.

He wondered what happened earlier.

He was walking past the balcony leading towards Nunnally's room when he saw Sayoko and Lord Jeremiah hastily rushing out of the room. He'd gone over to check what was wrong and then he heard her sobbing. Suzaku cautiously took a peek inside and saw Lelouch holding his sister tightly as Nunnally kept crying as if there was something hurting her physically. It felt as if he wasn't supposed to witness the scene so he'd quietly left the room without a word.

Suzaku sighed. Nunnally must've objected Lelouch's decision to return to Pendragon and leaving her behind. That must be it. After all, Nunnally had never been parted too long from Lelouch and she wouldn't want her brother to go away again after coming back to her side.

Suzaku frowned.

So you're even leaving Nunnally behind now on purpose? Was your goal so important to you that you'd even leave your most important person behind?

Suzaku turned his head as he set his eyes on his former kendo master, Toudou Kyoushirou. The man had arrived at the palace with Kaguya earlier, probably to send Lelouch off as well as give their answers to the request Lelouch asked from them. He thought of the last time he was facing his former master and wonder how would he approach the man after this.

Toudou suddenly turned his head towards Suzaku—probably sensing his stares—as he hastily looked away. He ended up setting his eyes towards his cousin, Sumeragi Kaguya.

Somehow, Kaguya seemed quite comfortable being by Lelouch's side. Suzaku found it interesting, considering how Kaguya used to be so shy around Lelouch back when they used to be little.

What a peculiar turn of events.

There was a sudden stirring, and even Lelouch had stood to attention as the voices died down.

Suzaku turned around to see Sayoko, pushing Nunnally's wheelchair over. But just as Suzaku looked down to see Nunnally, he let out a barely audible cry.

Noticing his sister's arrival Lelouch immediately dropped what he's doing and went to her side.

xxx

"I'm going now..." he heard Lelouch say to Nunnally before getting up to leave.

Everyone seemed to burst into life the moment they saw that Lelouch was ready to depart, to the point it felt surreal to see. It's something he never thought he'd be able to witness despite being aware of Lelouch's background.

Since to him, Lelouch had always seemed different compared to other Britannian royalties. And this new Lelouch was not unlike the Lelouch Lamperouge that he used to know. Suzaku tried to will himself to approach Lelouch before his friend leave but he couldn't do it. And he noticed that Lelouch had also been avoiding him, albeit not as obvious as he was.

In the end, he didn't manage to say anything to Lelouch before he left for Pendragon. But that aside...

Suzaku spared a glance towards Nunnally who was still staring wide-eyed towards the sky.

How...?

A/N: Decided to finally type this out properly. Since in the next chapter, this particular reveal would've come to light anyway.