Suzaku let out a deep breath as he walked out of the courtroom of his trial. After being cleared of all charges, he handed in his resignation from the Brittanian Army, stating 'irreconcilable differences'. He met Cecilé as he was leaving, who offered him a job as the Lancelot's test pilot.

He didn't even think twice before accepting it. He had all kinds of ideas to make it a literalnightmareon the battlefield.

"Look out!" shouted a familiar voice. A voice that haunted his dreams and every waking moment.

He didn't even think. Before he registered it, he was moving, reaching out and catchingherin his arms.

As familiar violet eyes, framed by pink hair looked at him from the face of the one person he failed above all else, his heart, frozen over for more than a decade, decided to do something unfamiliar.

It began to beat.

[GRYFX_

Euphemia li Brittania was called many things.

Naivë. A fool. A child.

She couldn't help being an empathetic person. Her kindness and gentle nature was what made others in the court think of her like that.

But, she was not naivë, she knew how cruel and unforgiving the court was. Her favourite brother and little sister, still reeling from the shock of losing their mother, had been cast out and used as bargaining tools by their father. And she knew that she needed to build up a respectable power base of her own, which was why she jumped on the opportunity to take over as a Sub-Viceroy for Area Eleven. If she could successfully quell the insurgency with minimal bloodshed, she could ensure her own standing in the court.

She was not a fool. She could here all the whispers and comments, could read all the backhanded compliments for what they were and would affect an innocent naivëty while responding in kind. She could see through the charmless flirting of all the single (and quite a few not-so-single) nobles for what they were. Heck, even sometimes her own half siblings would chance their luck with her. Those ones never failed to make her take a hot shower, where she scrubbed herself raw and then cuddle up to her big sister so that she could sleep peacefully. Even her father, whose morality was questionable, had been disturbed on seeing it, which was partly why he sent her to Area Eleven, both in recognition of her innate ability, and also because he had advised her to find a nice young man or woman there who wouldn't take advantage of her in any way. Which would help kill all interest in her. Especiallyfrom within their own family.

A child, she may be physically. But her training and experience had removed any rose tinted glasses she may have had.

That did not mean she did not desire peace. She just knew it would take awhile.

But now, she was dealing with an unexpected problem when she tried to circumvent the guards, who were treating her as if she were crystal, as she had begun her self appointed mission to search for her siblings.

He was tall, lanky with a swimmer's body (she read sports magazines to get her dose of male physiques, sue her) adorably mussed up brown hair and emerald green eyes.

Eyes that flashed through recognition, shock, joy, fear, grief and painpainPAIN...

"Are you alright?" came a pleasant baritone, the voice breaking through her musing (and how safe and warm his arms felt, she mused).

"Ahh...th...thank you! I did not realise how high up I was!" Euphemia stuttered out, her body shaking off the excess adrenaline.

"Eh, don't mention it" he replied, the arm supporting her legs coming up to scratch the back of his head as he gave a big grin.

Nice teeth she thought absently as her feet hit the ground.

"So... I really hope I stopped a suicide attempt, cause seriously? What were you thinking?!" his words ended up becoming a growl, his hands gripping her shoulders tightly.

"Ah...well I...I'm trying to escape!" she blurted out, inwardly cursing her subpar lying skills. To be fair to her, she had just fallen two floors into his arms. Judging by the cocked eyebrow and amused glimmer in his eyes, he didn't believe it either.

"Escape, eh?" he asked, his voice failing to hide his laughter, filled with fond amusement.That prevented her from wiping off his smirk.

"Yes!" as she caught the sound of hurrying boots she grabbed his wrist and began pulling him saying "Come on, this way!"

As she dragged him through the crowds, she noticed that their fingers had intertwined, which for some reason, made her heart leap for joy.

Strange.

[GRYFX_

Currently, Suzaku was struggling to even think.

The reason for his confusion was a pink haired princess, who he had loved and lost a lifetime ago. Who was dragging him through the streets of the Brittanian settlement in Area Eleven.

Part of him... part of him wanted to pull her close, breath in her citrusy perfume and never let her go. Part of him wanted to whisk her away to the nearest tropical island and have the both of them sit out the storm that was coming while they worked on their tans (And he wanted to see her in a bikini).

And the rest of him?

Wanted to put her on the first flight to the nearest friendly nation and hide her there, while he went and slaughtered everyone who could pose a threat to her.

Starting with VV.

Yandere, much? he mused, as they wove their way through traffic, window-shopping as they went. He couldn't resist chuckling when she started modelling the mannequins at some of the stores. Her affronted look was too much for him, so he gently flicked the tip of her nose.

"You're adorable" he said, a smirk playing on his lips, causing her cheeks to get a faint dusting of pink, as she snorted.Thatcaused the pink to become a deep red, her eyes widening into the size of saucers and her to cover her mouth and squeak out, "Oh my".

That finally caused him to break out into laughter as he gripped the railing of the storefront.

[GRYFX_

Euphemia was enjoying herself and was frightfully worried.

Suzaku Kururugi was a literal Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One second he would be charming, sweet and would lightly tease her, getting her to blush and protest. The next, anyone who looked at them funnily would get the Death Glare Of Doom from him. Brittanian or Eleven, everyone was on the receiving end of it.

So, to prevent them from getting into trouble, Euphie suggested that they visit Shinjuku. He fixed her with an oddly penetrating look, his green eyes, flecked with amber, seeming to see more than what she was asking.

"Of course Your Highness" he murmured with a short nod of his head. Which caused her to blush.

"How long...?" she stuttered out, which was now becoming embarrassingly frequent. Gah, she wasn't exactly a man-eater like Guinevere but she knew how to deal with men. Though the one and only time she visited her eldest half sister...well Euphie definitely knew what she would not want to do when she got physically involved with someone.

Really, the woman wasn't even discreet, practically blaring her vices to the world. Probably why OSI used her as a conduit for spreading misinformation and disinformation to the Chinese and Europeans, given her taste for ahem, exotic specimens.

"Since you fell into my life" Suzaku replied, giving her the same gentle, warm smile, causing her heart to beat hard and sending her stomach into free-fall.

And she knew he would catch her before she hit the ground.

[GRYFX_

Lloyd Asplund, the brains behind the Lancelot and the newest iteration, the Lancelot Kage,was happy for his old-new friend and subordinate.

He had quietly been trailing after the future couple as they explored the Settlement, watching over them with a benovelont eye. He had intercepted traffic that the Purebloods were going to kill Soresi. While taking care of that piece of filth wouldn't have made Lloyd even shed crocodile tears, unfortunately, Margrave Gottwald had gotten himself involved and was trying to protect Soresi.

Resulting in Lloyd having to break up their date.

When he met Gottwald again, he was going to throttle the man.

"This is Lancelot Kage. Launch" came the terse statement as the rejigged Lancelot vanished in a black and red blur.

[GRYFX_

Margrave Gottwald knew he was in over his head as he stood firm next to Soresi, facing off against 9 KMFs that had gone after Soresi to assassinate him.

Just as they were going to lance the two of them, slash harkens knocked them out of the aggressors hands. Turning on his factsphere, Jeremiah looked up and to his left.

"This is the Lancelot Kage. On behalf of Princess Euphemia li Brittania, I am ordering you to stand down" came a voice over the loudspeakers of the black Knightmare, with red highlights running along its sides, it's ruby eyes glaring at them.

"That wasn't a suggestion gentlemen" the pilot ordered as one of the Purist's tried to reach for a chaos mine, the Lancelot deploying it's MVS blades, glaring them into submission.

As the princess came onto the line, ordering them to stand down, Jeremiah let out a sigh of relief.

Everything was moving according to the plan.

[GRYFX_