This is a new year and with it, a new chapter of this was slanted for last month(2022) but was delayed. Nothing much to say other than I hope you enjoy this and props to the writers and staff that worked on the new Puss in Boots movie as not only have I heard nothing but good things, but it beat Way of Water in both critical and audience reception as I can't help it but laugh at how at that.

Chapter 15: Woods of peace

After the show that he put on, Lelouch rested like a log for the rest of the night, only waking up long after the sun had risen in their carriage once more, having been left to rest after his draining performance by Chirona and Rory who had placed him in before they left. Once awake, he spent the remainder of their journey talking with the two women, learning more about the world and them as while Rory had much more knowledge in general-Chirona knew more than her fair share about her people and their lands, even pointing out places along their way that she recalled like a river they used to play by, a forest she would train in, where they buried someone of importance.

It was around midday when they saw the village in the distance, granting some much-needed relief to the bicorns in their care as they could see the end of their journey in sight. And they had been sighted as well before they reached it, they picked up movement heading towards them. That movement turned out to be around 5 bicorns, with another 4 staying back, no doubt aimed with bows and arrows.

"Sir?" One of the soldiers asked Grey as they slowed their approach to a halt, waiting for instructions as the older knight observed them approaching.

"Don't shoot, they're just scouts." He answered as he didn't think that they would be out for blood, if nothing else the fact their archers haven't done anything at least left them with the option to talk.

"Well then, why don't we greet them halfway?" Lelouch suggested as he and Chirona approached, the knights giving both a wide breadth.

"I don't think letting you ride me would be a good way to introduce you." Chirona joked as he only shook his head in slight embarrassment.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking, and I did apologize for that." He told her as the two started to walk towards them, seeing them break from the large group, the five approaching slowed down and waited for them to make the short trip towards them. Lelouch suspected that seeing a bicorn walking towards them alongside a human of her own free will did more to calm their nerves than anything else, a point proved when they got close enough to make out each other's appearances.

"Chirona, you're back!" One of the younger bicorns cheered as they got close to them, the woman smiling at him as she must have felt relieved to see a friendly face.

"Thank the Gods, did you…" One of the older ones, having known about why she left asked her as she and the rest looked back towards the group and could make out feint shapes that looked like them from afar. Chirona only replied that she had only managed to save some of them, having missed the others by some days.

"The empire aided you?" One asked, having heard her start to explain why they had so many humans with them as they also eyed Lelouch who hadn't said a word since they met.

"They didn't it, he did." Chirona, noticing their looks, moved to dissuade them from any ill-conceived actions as Lelouch finally spoke up.

"Lelouch Ja Nemesis. We met in the capital." If her clear assertion that he and the empire were separate wasn't enough, then his accent made that clear as while imperials were a rare sight in their neck of the woods, none of them spoke as he did.

"He helped me find our people and fight back the raiders," Chirona explained to them the cliff-notes version of the story, they could wait till later for her to get into details. Hearing about those raiders again got the group agitated as it was clear that the wounds of their actions still run deep.

"I hope you made the suffer for all they're done." One muttered, griping his spear tightly as Lelouch gave him a light smile.

"Oh, we did that…" He ominously replied which got some stares from them as he didn't look like much, and only carried a book and a dagger, a mage perhaps?

"Either way, have they treated your well on the journey home? The last thing the village needs is aggressive or disrespectful outsiders." They asked them.

"You have nothing to worry about that, good sir. I've made sure to…humble them. They won't cause any issues." Lelouch responded as he looked back towards the group, seeing some of the soldiers even from distance flinch when he waved toward them. He wasn't sure if there were part of the ones he robbed or merely part of those who watched him do it and get away with it. With this assurance in hand and their faith in Chirona's judgment, they moved to allow them entry.

"Alright then, signal them to approach." They signaled their arches to pull back before returning with them to the group to escort them the final few minutes into town.

It was a bittersweet sight to see the villagers returning home and being reunited with friends and loved ones, children being hugged by parents and siblings, and spouses by their husbands and wives but there was still some tragedy and heartbreak as some returned only to the still burnt-out homes as not all been torn down yet, or to graves. He and Rory stayed to the side during this part, as two apostles, they didn't feel like they could do much to comfort them other than offering up their own prays and hopes that they found peace in the afterlife.

But more than that, both had also seen such things far too many times for it to elicit the same responses as the rest as Lelouch felt sad, but it was a drop compared to what he felt when he navigated his first burnt down town with Suzaku and Nunnally in a time which felt like it was decades in the past. Meanwhile, Rory who was far older than he, and served a war God similarly displayed little in the way of emotion but if anyone caught on to that, they weren't questioned.

Still, it spoke to the joy and sorrow in the air that it took around an hour before anyone recalled that there were two apostles amongst them.

"I must thank you two for helping our people find their way home after such tragic times." The village elder, or more accurately one of the elders who survived the raid, bowed toward the two apostles in reverence, an act Lelouch hated as while prideful-he only enjoyed people bowing to him when they are his enemies brought down low. This was more up his brother's alley.

"I merely helped a friend when she needed it." He responded, keeping his thoughts to himself as Rory smiled at the man, used to such behavior.

"I couldn't stand aside when there were people in need of my power." Rory may have been drawn to the area by the blood-stained presence Lelouch released, but she chose to remain and help once it was clear he wasn't going to give her a good fight.

"Still, you must be tired from your journey, though we have little to part with-" The elder moved to wave at some of the others who were present, each carrying something like money, food, and supplies but Lelouch rose a hand to stop them.

"Please, keep what you have. You need it far more than we do. We simply ask for a place to stay for a few days while we rest before we leave. Is that possible?" He had more than enough to pay them for whatever he would need and even then, he couldn't just take more than he needed when it was clear they needed every scarp they could get as he stood in the still burnt-out remains of what must have been their town square, with many of the charred skeletons of buildings in the process of being torn down while others worked tirelessly to rebuild them.

"O-of course, I'm sure there will be a family happy to host you for your stay." The elder nodded his head as he gestured towards the people who rushed off to ask around who had the space.

"Thank you, but we wouldn't want to simply stick around and do nothing, do you have any tasks we could help with?" Rory asked him, not caring for the mild glare that Lelouch shot her for getting them involved in manual labor as while he could back out, it wouldn't be a good look if he did so, so to preserve his pride he would have to work, something he knew that she knew.

"I noticed that your farmlands need to be tended to, perhaps I could assist there, though my agriculture skills are somewhat lacking." Lelouch nodded his head towards the field just outside the village, which should have been filled with crops growing but most of the land was still bare from the last harvest.

"Oh, well we could head out with some of the farmers in about an hour, we've been behind in planting our crops and need to get to it else we won't have anything come winter." The elder replied as thanks to all the challenges that arose from the attack, most of their fields went unplanted for far longer than normal, even now they had only planted half what they normally did and with Fall having come in only a few days ago, they weren't in the position to waste any more time if they didn't wish to starve.

"Then I shall help you with that, also," Lelouch responded as he moved back to their carriage to reach into his bags, he shifted through them for a few moments before he returned with a small purse in hand. "Take this, so you can buy more provisions if you need them." He said to the elder as he placed the purse into his surprised hands. The man looked into it and nearly took a step back from shock as inside the small purse were around 20 Suwani and at least 40 Sinku.

"How did you?" He couldn't even finish the question as he hadn't ever seen this kind of money, much less just being handed to someone as if it were nothing.

"I had some fortunate dealings recently; I don't need all of it so and it would be a waste to horde it." Lelouch shrugged. He had still plenty more to spend on his studies and quest as it wasn't a huge loss, and the money would be good for them. He didn't even wait for them to reply as he turned around and started to walk toward the group of farmers preparing to head out.

"Well then, I go help with the construction crews, looks like they could some extra muscle." Rory smiled as she also left to see how she could help around the place.

"I noticed you heading out to the fields, went to help them?" Hours later, the trio sat in Chirona's home, one of the few that escaped the attack largely untouched as she prepared their dinner.

"I hate being idle when I could be doing something," Lelouch replied as he still felt sore from the work as not only was he not built for such despite his increase in physical capabilities, but all the tools were built for bicorns and much harder to use, he could have given up after 20 minutes but his pride wouldn't allow such, so he ended up working himself to the bone for well over 4 hours.

"Is that right?" Rory, who had worked for as long as he did the lifting and carrying extremely heavy things, didn't look nearly as tired as he did and he really hated that right now.

"Something that has meaning." He corrected before she tried to rope him into something else.

"What about you, Chirona? Were you helping your father settle back in?" The man in question had gone off to be, saying something about being tired and needing his rest. His daughter had expressed concern but he waved it off, saying that he wasn't sick or anything like that, else they would have spotted something on the trip.

"Partly, I mainly helped sort kids into homes that had the space for them. With some parents still missing or…gone," She paused as she stirred the vegetable broth as both had seen some of the kids just crying or looking at things not there from time to time. Losing family was never easy, especially when you were young. "And homes still being torn down to be rebuilt, there isn't much space." Even close to 3 months since the raid, they were still busy sorting through things, if they had most of the people to help, it would have been only a month's work, but at present, they had only a fifth of their people capable to work.

"The soldiers have been a good help, such fine workers they are." Rory did see a silver lining there as the soldiers seemed to at first be content to merely observe but after a short time, they eagerly helped wherever they could, bringing their discipline with them.

"I might have said something about that, a little encouragement to be productive." Lelouch smiled, not giving much else as the two looked at him, one with amusement and the other with concern.

"Please don't tell me you threatened them," Chirona asked him as he merely laid down, looking towards the dark ceiling as the candlelight could only do so much to illuminate the room as the cold falls breeze passed through an open window.

"There are more subtle ways to convince something to act than there are violence ones." He would be insulted that she assumed he did that, but she had mainly seen him use threats and magic to get things done. He would freely admit that magic had gotten him far in his previous life, but most of his success at being Zero was being able to convince people to side with him and follow his commands of their free will.

"I would have to agree with that. Even the little princess and her knights have been doing their part, passing water and snacks, playing with kids, or doing their drills throughout the day." Rory found it admirable that they tried so hard, but also adorable as they were the smallest ones there, even compared to the bicorn children.

"I just hope that they pace themselves, they remind me far too much of someone who seemed to live in the damn gym," Lelouch muttered as he thought back to Suzaku, he knew that he was out of shape but he liked to think he was only below average. He could still run for a bit, and he could place an underwater explosive just fine but Suzaku, he was on another level as he could seemingly defy physics with those spinning kicks of his, he still couldn't understand how he managed to outrun the targeting and firing mechanism of an automated sentry gun.

"What's a gym?" Chirona made a face at the word,

"He means gymnasia," Rory explained, having heard enough about his world to understand what he meant from it. Hearing that, the bicorn blushed as certain images cropped into her head.

"Oh…I didn't think your friend preferred the company of men." She turned away from the two, focusing on the food.

"Excuse me?" Lelouch raised an eyebrow here, not understanding the situation as Rory, who looked quite amused by the situation moved closer to whisper context into his ear. "I can assure you; he wasn't into men like that. Only had eyes for one girl actually." Once he heard the confusion, he quickly moved to clear the air as while he wouldn't mind people thinking his former friend swung for the other team, he had far better ways to smear dirt on his name than outright falsehoods.

"But-" Lelouch rose a hand there, having read about the places in classical Greek.

"Our…gymnasia didn't need one to exercise or train nude, in fact, you would be hard-pressed to find an establishment that would allow you to do so." Frankly, he was grateful for that as he knew more than a few boys at Ashford who would have loved that but he had enough to deal with from Milly without the chance of her finding some way to use nudity in her numerous schemes.

"Strange, wouldn't clothes get in the way?" Chirona asked him as it just seemed weird to her, sure they could train hunting and fighting in clothing but just physical training typically required she head deep into the woods set aside for the women of her village to train without worry from unwanted eyes.

"We have special clothing for training purposes. Public nudity is something that is frowned upon where I came from." Lelouch didn't know how he would explain gym clothing to them, nor did he have the desire to so he left it short to end the talk.

"Back to the topic at hand, I'm sure that they aren't pushing it. Grey seemed to be keeping a good eye on them and they all seem to have good heads on their shoulders." Rory decided to spare them from that discussion.

"I would hope, they showed promise in my little test," Lelouch said as he reached for one of his large books and took it out, moving closer to one of the torches to give him a better view of its contents.

"You intend to keep training them?" Chirona asked him, to which he shook his head.

"No, in a few days, I'll be heading out to continue my investigation. They'll most likely return to the capital." He had no desire to spend months training them or having to spend that time navigating court politics as while he was fully confident that he would take to it as a fish takes to water, he would prefer to avoid snake pits. Pendragon was enough for him. Hearing him repeat that he didn't intend to stick around lowered her spirits somewhat, as she had enjoyed his company but she knew that both had their goals to continue with, he with his investigation and she tracked down the rest of her people.

"What about you, Rory?" She turned to the other immortal in the room, wanting to not think about that future.

"Hmmm…I can spare some time to travel with him, it would be nice to get to know my fellow apostle now, wouldn't it?" Rory gave it some thought before she made her choice. She rarely had the chance to talk with other Apostles without issue, as there was one other she knew but the less said about Hardy's servant, the better.

"I won't say that your company wouldn't be appreciated." Lelouch nodded his head towards her, if nothing else, he would like the chance to continue to talk to her about the affairs of both the Gods and their apostles as while different from her and the others in some ways, he was functional serving the same role.

"Oh…"

"Something wrong, Chirona?" Lelouch turned to her, her back still turned to them as she jumped a little, though he didn't need to worry about the structure as they were built for Bicorn families so they were both large and much sturdier than human dwellings.

"Nothing, just a thought that's already gone. Food's going to be ready in a few minutes." She quickly replied as she went back to tending to the food.

Some days later, things had largely remained the same for the group as Rory and Lelouch slept in the home of the same family, being human-sized meant that they didn't need as much space as the locals did and it meant they could rest in better accommodations than the soldiers who slept in their tents outside of town. They spent that time continuing to help where they could as Rory remained with construction and clearing our old buildings, even getting firewood as she could take down a whole tree with a single swing from her axe.

Meanwhile, Lelouch stuck to farming, doing what he could in the field and failing that, looking after the young alongside the elderly which did give him a chance to learn more about the people from those who knew the most and spent more time with the admittedly, likable youth who insisted he retold the story he told the others prior to arrival which he did, just without the dramatic effects. Watching them play and not wanting to be Suzaku because of how his story ended made him smile almost as much as when they just ignored the events of the story and removed or added their own to the narrative to make things more fun for them.

It was the day before he and Rory were meant to leave that Chirona approached him in the morning, about wanting to meet with him after lunch. He had nothing of importance to tend to and agreed. "You said you wanted to show me around?" Lelouch asked her as they left the village and walked towards the wooded area quite a ways away.

"Oh, yes! We've been really busy these last couple of days but I wanted to show you around the forests here, they're beautiful and filled with good game." Chirona smiled as she turned to him, wanting to share some of her world with him and she couldn't resist showing him this place, where she spent most of her time with her family and friends. It was her safe place, somewhere the world seemed to just fade away and let you just take it all the natural beauty of it, the only downside was that with summer long gone and fall in the air, she wasn't going to able to show him the place at its best.

"Must be a paradise for a hunter." Lelouch gave her a smile in return as he looked towards the place, and how many of the leaves were already shifting from green to shades of red and orange.

"It is, though we do sell our meat, only keeping a fraction for the dogs," Chirona told him as his smile grew a bit larger, showing off teeth as he imagined what the wild game from this place would taste like, certainly it would much less fat to it.

"Sounds like I'll have something tasty to eat later." He joked to which she merely shook her head in amusement.

"You really enjoy meat, don't you? Every time I've seen you eat it, it's like you enter a trance." She recalled the times they ate food while they traveled and while he was careful to cook meals that catered to her diet without her ever needing to say anything, whenever he made something for himself, it always had chicken or beef in it, and he would always look like he thoroughly enjoyed it.

"Is that so?" Lelouch paused, having heard similar statements from Lelei and Cato, it was new to him if he was honest as prior to dying, he didn't have much in the way of preferences, having lost whatever stigma he had to foods after Marianne faked her death and the consequent need to acquire food for himself and Nunnally from wherever he could. "Well, I've never been a picky eater but recently I've found that my appetite for meats of all kinds has grown rather large."

"Maybe it's because you have those teeth. You did say you were born human so they're far from normal." Chirona gestured towards his mouth, where his larger-than-normal canines and incisors sat.

"Chirona, you'll come to learn that very little about me is normal," Lelouch replied as he shrugged his shoulders. With that said, the two entered the woods, walking along a beaten path. It didn't take long for him to start to pick up the sounds of the place in full, with the noise of the farmers and village being drowned out and eventually vanishing as it was replaced with the song of nature. Lelouch didn't pick up on it, but Chirona did, his face relaxed as his shoulders dropped, most of their tension fading away as they continued to walk through the place, stopping at a small clearing that she had come to take as her own.

It was filled with shrubs, many had turned orange and yellow, same as the leaves of the branches above which shielded the two from the sun and provided them with plenty of shade. Wildflowers were scattered throughout it as some small forest critters quickly vanished into the bush, but some remained both on the ground and on the plants around them. Lelouch and she entered the place, with the apostle taking a seat next to a large tree, a relaxed breath leaving him as he came to a rest.

She followed his example and took the spot next to him as he looked to the side and saw a squirrel, it gave him an inquisitive look as he smiled at it, placing his open palm on the ground next to him and waiting. With gentle sounds and near no hostile intent to be found from him, the rodent slowly moved towards him, before climbing onto his hand which he raised to allow his other hand to pet the creature. It took to it like a cat takes to head pats before he scurried up his arm to his head, laying down in his hair between his eyes and closing its eyes, resting.

"It's lovely," Lelouch spoke up, relaxed for what must have been the first time in quite some time. Chirona was happy about that as that was the feeling she wanted to share with him.

"It is, isn't it? Whenever I needed to just get away from others, I would come here." She told him as a bird landed on her outreached hand, the small creature feeling safe in her hands as she smoothed out some of its feathers, feeling its small warm body relax in her hold.

"I can understand the sentiment. The forest sings such a lovely sound, it's so soft…peaceful even." Lelouch closed his eyes to take in the melody playing around them.

"You mean the breeze?" Chirona could hear that and how it moved through the branches and leaves but Lelouch shook his head, his much more sensitive hearing could pick up far more than that. He wondered if this was what it was like for Arthur, the cat did joy vanishing into the gardens, whether they be the ones at Ashford ones or Pendragon Imperial palace.

"More than that, don't you hear it? The soft dancing of the leaves, the gentle swings from the branches, the waves of the grass and shrubs. Even the calm breathes of the wildlife." With the squirrel on his head, it could pick up that last one clear as day as he leaned further back into the trunk of the tree.

"I don't hear any of that?" Chirona replied before she had an idea. "How does it sound?" Lelouch took a moment to think about how to phrase it, as this was still relatively new to him. While he liked to think he had a pretty good sense of hearing before dying, it was comparing a housecat to a mountain lion.

"It's chaotic, all out of tune and it seems like everything's decided to play out of sync but at the same time, it's like listening to a choir, as if an ocean was turned to sound, there's beauty in the chaos," Lelouch said, his ears twitching as he tried to catch it all in and process it. there was no order, there was no rhyme or reason to any of it. this was nature without any restraints, without the law of man to replace it. He was sure that if he compared this to what he would hear is the many carefully controlled and managed gardens of Pendragon, he would have preferred this to them all.

He was enraptured by it all, his soul which was always tainted felt lighter, not purified as he didn't think that was even possible for a demon like himself, but definitely lighter. "It's like hearing a soft melody of her mother's voice as she lulls you to sleep after a stressed-filled day or a lover's embrace as it feels like you can turn you no one else. It's…as perfect as it could be." He rarely ever felt like this, he used to consider his time with Marianne to count but after learning what he did about her, those pleasant memories turned bitter. There were most of his memories of Ashford, but for all the good they brought him, it wasn't enough, he never truly could relax there-not when his many enemies could catch any slip-up.

Not even his time as Zero brought him a similar positive feeling, that there was certainly the adrenaline and accomplishment that came from finally doing something meaningful, from going from mere existence to living once again but this, this was contentment, a sense of calm.

This place, it reminded him of the times, however brief, when he would sit with Shirley and just watch the stars, planning for a future that sadly never came. This place reminded him of the times when he, Suzaku, and Nunnally would just star gaze like he used to with Marianne, Cornelia, and Euphemia. No tragedy, no strife, no rebellion, no masks…just you and those you love.

So much that he didn't even flinch as he would normally do when Chirona reached for his free hand, grasping it in her own.

"It sounds grand." She smiled, loving that he could feel such positive things in the place where she always felt at peace.

"It is…This place…" He started, pausing as he tightened his hold on her just a little as he turned to face her, one eye opened which let her see the calm purple storm which gazed at her. "Thank you…for showing it to me. I don't get the chance to experience such things often, to be frank, I sometimes need to be reminded of them but…" She placed a finger on his lips there, stopping him as she continued to smile ever brightly.

"I know. Would you like to hear some stories about it? I've collected a lot of fun memories about this place." They had hours to themselves, and she didn't want to quite leave just yet. Hearing her offer, Lelouch's eye widen just a bit before his smile did the same.

"Please."

"Is that all you need? We would happily supply you with more." The elder asked the due for what felt like the 10th time as they finished loading up the cart they had been given to carry their supplies, Lelouch thought it odd for a village of Bicorns to have them and horses but he wasn't going to mention anything there.

"This is plenty. We can always forage or shop for anything else down the road." Rory replied from her place on the said cart, having packed next to nothing as she had been used to just living off the land or the good wishes of mortals she came across.

"The wagon was a nice touch; it will surely speed up things for us." Lelouch had expected to have to walk and catch rides like he did when he arrived in the capital but this will save them much time. Helping to rise his good mood would be the fact that he finished the last touches on his new clothes the previous night, having gotten a burst of energy from the relaxing trip into the woods. Those new clothes were a thin black and gold sleeved shirt gambeson, shorter than the one he used to have with equally black and gold pants that tucked nicely into a pair of brown knee shin height boots. Over this, he wore a black hooded cloak with a bright red interior. His leather satchel had been replaced with two smaller ones, one attached to his waist and the other hidden somewhere under his cloak. His old dagger had been replaced with one made from the recovered bone of the minotaur as while not as durable as steel, he had read it was better for casting spells through.

"You two be careful while you travel, you never know what you'll run into." Ghira, who along with his daughter had also come to send them off.

"We will, but between the two of us, not a lot of things can threaten us," Rory replied as Lelouch merely tossed the last bag onboard before following it, taking the horse's reigns in hand.

"I wouldn't be too sure, if a man in white armor appears, I'll leave him to you." He joked as Rory gave him a knowing smile.

"Bad memories?"

"Yes." He may have meant it as a joke, but if he had to fight one more 'holier than thou' fool in white armor, he'll cook them alive in their suit just for annoying him.

"Don't worry, I'll keep at this thing. By the time you get back, it'll be made into something great!" Kali, not realizing that he was considering different ways to slowly murder someone, spoke up, holding the lump of ore in question which neither she nor her father had been able to do anything with till they finished setting up their shop.

"I don't doubt that," Lelouch replied, shelving his homicidal ideas for the moment before he turned to his fellow immortal. "Shall we go?"

"We're waiting on someone," Rory replied, catching him off guard as he hadn't been told they were going to be anyone else, the soldiers were going to leave the following day and the princess and her knights were still training.

"Who?" His question didn't go unanswered for long as he heard the now familiar clops of hooves approaching them quite rapidly, he turned to see it was Chirona, fully dressed in another version of her traveling clothes, with supplies and weapons in hand.

"Sorry, I'm late!" She smiled as she started to put some of the excess stuff into the free space in the cart, before walking up to face the two.

"Chirona? Aren't you searching for your people?" She didn't stop smiling as she nodded her head.

"I am, but whoever took them also seems to be the same people you're looking for, so why shouldn't we travel together?" She had spent days worrying about having to separate from her new friend but once she had that realization, she felt like such an idiot. For Lelouch, he also just realized that but found that he was looking forward to this, he didn't get the chance to meet interesting people often, plus she wasn't some old pervert which immediately bumped her up to 2nd best traveling companion he's met in this new land.

"Can't argue there, but I warn you now, I'm quite lazy," Lelouch smirked, feeling quite excited at the prospect of more company for the ride as Chirona matched it, climbing onto the cart to take her seat.

"I think I can handle that, now let's get moving, we're burning daylight." She placed a hand on his shoulder as his shoulder.

"Right," Lelouch turned to the rest of those gathered, nodding his head towards them. "Till we meet again, hopefully in better times."

"If the Gods wills it so." The elder nodded back at him as the group began to move, their cart moving away from the village and back into the road.

And that is that. I had wanted to add more to this but decided against that as this feels like it does the job I wanted it to do. I did want to have him tell his life story from his own POV, a kind of companion piece to the White Knight story but also decided against it as Lelouch wouldn't just do that as telling Suzaku's was to get a point across, don't let others control you to the point of self-imposed slavery and while his own story would certainly serve cautionary 'don't do this else it'll all fall down' material, if he does tell it, he'll probably do it down the line.

Now, as for his and Chirona's little trip into the woods, I already know what some of you are thinking and to that I say this: 'Get your heads out of the gutter', while I am setting them up for a possible romantic relationship, what most people tend to forget is that romance can also be a friendship as just about all the signs of one can be seen as the other, it's why people can say that couples that they don't like didn't get the proper development, or that they were only friends as any good relationship does see both parties see the other as a friend. Think Lilly and Marshall from How I Met Your Mother, they're in love from the first episode, in a relationship but more often than not, act like best friends-more so when ganging up on Ted or Barney for their crap.

Review:

SeerKing: Thanks, it took me a while to get all the kinks out.

M2R: Thanks.

FateBurn: Thanks.

Lesancapo: Maybe he will do something like that down the line, but right now he's mind is occupied with other things.

Lance Eterna: Later.

RedRat8: Does it matter that it's a lie? Fiction is a thing that exists and while it doesn't exist anymore, it's real to him as it was his life or more accurately, it was his history.

lastapril123: Happy that I sparked that urge.

Wynn Silver: Actually, I got the idea for it after watching one of Duduflim's videos titled A hero without fear which basically took extracts from the Revenge of the Sith Novelisation.

SomePervyGuy: Thanks.

DDJ: Yeah, that's why Lelouch called him out for it back in the first chapter. You can lay a lot at his feet, but that isn't one of those things.

Panzerschliffe Hohenzollern: Did base it off the Revenge of the Sith Novelisation, I just had to have the extra bits such as him using colored smoke to add to the drama.

PersonaNinja Lux: It did feel like the first real crush thing for Euphie and him. She didn't consider how the world was filled with greys and how people can simply choose themselves over the greater good whereas Suzaku knew that, but refused to acknowledge it.

: Hope you liked the new chapter.