A/N: I'm so sorry this took me so long to post… I really did intend to post it Thursday… but I was incapacitated by an evil headache and couldn't concentrate. And Friday… sooo busy… I travelled back home for the Christmas holidays so there was packing and travelling and unpacking, the inevitable onslaught that is my family… and no time for writing. also my wireless adapter vanished, so I was temporarily internetless. I hope this chapter makes up for its lateness.
Thanks to: 6-The-Cloaked-Nocturne-9, wquisttexabie, dawnferra, 2stupid, LawliPop, Sakurako Minase, GoGothGirl, Mikazuki Sakura, X-rage, Xellacard, risingsundynasty, -w- easy enough, DuziInuChick, estrelle solitaria, AznAnimeChick, Digimon Dreamer, Talchy, Mr Oob, Red-Clad Shadow, Isarandel, Freckled Glasses, js5, zodiac dragonHatori, athenswings, Turtle Kid, xxxCodeTsubasa, Rem, Atsukikomi, loveableneko, Kutsushita-Socks, Iadel, Persidie, Shiva-iceflame, sabertiger, happysnoopy22, maya1234, kuroi78, and of course as usual Dragonrider4000, who once again stayed up, encouraging me to finish the chapter and get it posted.
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass...
The knock at the door came as a surprise, Lelouch never had visitors. He received little to no mail so it couldn't be someone delivering a parcel. He wondered briefly if it was some sort of door-to-door salesman. He crept towards his front window, and moved the curtains aside discretely. He peered out, gaping in shock at who he saw standing there. He'd been planning on ignoring the door, but he supposed it would be best if he opened it now.
Suzaku stood on the doorstep, waiting for the door to open. Was this really Lelouch's house? It seemed far too normal. A small, two floor house, part of a terrace in the suburbs of a small town, a small patch of grass out front, not too well tended, but then Suzaku could hardly picture Lelouch doing the gardening. As if in testimony to the ordinariness of the house, there was a small cat flap on the door. A black cat eyed him warily from its position on the wall at the front of the garden.
Suzaku turned back to face the door. It had been a while, should he knock again? Apparently not.
The door slowly creaked it's way open.
Suzaku and Lelouch stood on either side of the door, Lelouch managed to keep his expression blank, but inside he was fraught with confusion. He hadn't been certain who it was until he'd opened the door and clearly seen the other's face, confirmed his suspicion.
There Suzaku stood, looking no different from how Lelouch had last seen him; the same Suzaku as of fifty years before. He had not aged at all. Lelouch wondered briefly if this was a dream, or a distant relative of Suzaku, or a ghost of his past come back to haunt him. He quickly dismissed all of those ideas. This was Suzaku, it was undeniable. He was standing there with an apprehensive expression, looking fairly uncertain what to say to Lelouch. Well… Lelouch could understand that, he had no idea what to say to the person who was inexplicably standing on his doorstep.
Oh well… if they stood here too long it might attract attention from one of his neighbours. He opened the door fully, gesturing for Suzaku to come inside.
Lance, from his position on the wall, glanced up, as if sensing the tension between the two, then casually jumped from the wall and padded into the house. This momentary distraction served to snap Suzaku from whatever daze it was he'd been in, and he finally crossed the threshold.
The silence however, remained as Lelouch led Suzaku into the small kitchen. Lelouch wondered what to ask first. He finally decided to let the question of Suzaku's apparent youth to wait until later, and settled on inquiring about the more pressing issue. Issues…
"How did you know I was alive? How did you find me? Why are you here?" he inquired bluntly. Well… years of minimal communication with other people had caused his social skills to wane considerably due to lack of practice.
"It wasn't exactly difficult," replied Suzaku, wondering if Lelouch really wanted to know just how easy it had turned out to be to track him down. "Once Nunally had told me that she didn't think you were dead, and had pointed me in the direction of Jeremiah, it was simple."
Lelouch stared blankly at Suzaku for a few brief moments. "Jeremiah?" he frowned. "I thought I told him to deny my survival, no matter who asked."
"Well, he denied nothing. To be honest I was expecting him to put up more resistance, make it more difficult for me to get information out of him. But no, he gave me your Australian address no problem."
Lelouch made a mental note to scold Jeremiah, should he ever see him again.
"And? It's not like I'm living there now."
"Well, I'd already figured that you wouldn't be. But I asked the locals if they knew of a green-haired woman who had once lived there. I didn't want to ask after you; I didn't think they'd remember you, as you'd have been trying to keep a low profile. Besides, green hair is unusual anywhere, but it's almost unheard of in Australia, so CC would have been remembered."
"And?"
"Well, they all pointed me in the same direction, to a man who claimed to have married her. I didn't believe him at first, I couldn't really picture CC getting married. But then he showed me some pictures of the two of them when they'd been younger, and I recognised her, even if she was older than I remembered, and he called her by a different name. He wanted to know why I was looking for her, and I said I was there on behalf of an old school friend of hers."
"Nunally?" queried Lelouch.
"Well, yes, since I was there looking for you on her behalf, it wasn't a total lie. He told me he'd divorced her when he found out she'd been keeping too many secrets from him, but he said he didn't want to talk about that. Anyway, he said he'd remarried shortly after CC had left for England with their son. But if I really wanted to find her, he'd give me the son's address, since he still sent him and his family birthday cards every year."
"So you went to see Mao?" asked Lelouch.
"Yes. I was there yesterday."
"So you found CC there?"
"Yes. Though it took me a minute to recognise her. The 'green-haired witch' is not so green-haired anymore, I guess she really did give up her immortality to you."
"I know. She told you where to find me?"
"Yes," Suzaku smiled, "She seemed to find it quite amusing that I was trying to find you."
Lelouch frowned again. That witch! How could she… He'd spoken to her only that morning and she had said nothing. Though… now that he thought about she had certainly sounded amused about something, like she was trying to restrain from laughing at him. But he hadn't thought anything of it. He would be telling her off too; she really did seem to take far too much pleasure from making his life difficult.
"Lelouch?" asked Suzaku, wondering why the other was so silent. "Are you angry with me for being here? I'm sorry if you are, but Nunally wanted me to find you, and I couldn't deny her, especially when I found out you were alive. She really wanted me to find you."
Lelouch's frown deepened, and he finally let his eyes meet Suzaku's, the sudden flash of amethyst finally silencing the other. "No. I'm not angry with you. I can't be angry with you. It's just not possible. Exasperated? Irked? Yes. But never angry." He averted his eyes slightly, and lowered his voice to a mumble, "It's actually quite nice to see you… I didn't think I'd ever get the chance."
Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Lelouch turned away, and took a few paces forward, as if to look out the kitchen window instead. Suzaku had come to find him on Nunally's request? He had quickly figured out how Nunally knew him to be alive, although why she wanted to see him now remained a mystery. It was a mystery that could wait a little; there was a more pressing question he wanted to ask.
"Suzaku…" he started, a little uncertainly. "Suzaku, how is it that you are the same as the last time I saw you? Fifty years have passed… I can't help but think my mind is playing tricks on me. I don't know how else to explain it."
Suzaku's eyes narrowed. "You don't know how? Well… guess what? I don't know either! The best explanation I can come up with is that it's all the fault of that accursed 'live on' geass you placed on me for whatever selfish reason it was."
His voice was rising, and he took a step towards Lelouch. Lelouch turned to face him, purple eyes watching him warily.
"As if you have any reason to comment on me not having aged. You're supposed to be dead! I killed you! I've been living with that knowledge for fifty years, how do you think it feels for me to be standing here knowing that I was wrong, that you're alive and you didn't tell me! You could have trusted me Lelouch!"
He'd now crossed the full distance of the kitchen, and grabbed Lelouch by the shoulders. Lelouch's look had transpired to one of shock, and maybe a little fear. He wriggled trying to get free, but Suzaku's grip was too strong, and his back was to the wall, he couldn't escape.
"Why didn't you trust me with this? How come Jeremiah was allowed to know, but not me? And as for your mind playing tricks on you? You really think I'm a figment of your imagination?" he raised one of his hands threateningly, forming a fist; as if to hit Lelouch. "Well, could a figment of your imagination do this?"
Lelouch flinched; expecting the blow to fall, but it never came. He allowed his eyes to slide open slightly.
Suzaku was standing there with his hand still raised, still pinning Lelouch to the wall with the other, but the expression of rage had gone, replaced by one of pain.
A very familiar expression of pain, one that brought back memories of student council meetings a very long time ago.
Lelouch looked down. Standing there, just having removed his teeth from Suzaku's leg, and looking very pleased with himself, was Lance. Lottie, who'd been roused from her nap in the sun by the commotion in the kitchen, was standing in the doorway looking bemused at the sight. Lelouch liked to imagine that if she could, she would have been sniggering.
A few seconds passed. Then Suzaku's eyes softened, and he lowered his fist. He stepped away from Lelouch, allowing him to sag the half inch Suzaku had raised him from the floor. It was Suzaku's turn to turn away, embarrassed by his outburst.
"But really Lulu," Suzaku said softly. "You could have told me…"
"I'm sorry," said Lelouch, honesty radiating from his gaze. "I wanted to, I really did. But there was no time between CC giving me her code and setting out that day. You'd already left. I barely had time to ask Jeremiah's help. And of course afterwards it was impossible."
"I'm sure you could have found a way…"
"And… Well… I guess I didn't want to load more responsibility on your shoulders. You were at enough risk protecting Nunally as Zero. I wanted the both of you to be safe, and by asking you to carry the burden of knowing I was alive… I thought it would put you at risk. I couldn't stand the thought of my survival putting you in danger."
"Lelouch…" said Suzaku, turning to face Lelouch once more, smiling faintly at the other for his foolish worrying. "I'm sorry for overreacting. I'm glad you're alive."
"I'm glad too," replied Lelouch. "That you're alive, that you're here. That you're still the same Suzaku I remember, for whatever the reason."
There were a few more moments of silence, although the tension that had filled the room before had drained away, leaving a comfortable feeling of easiness between the pair.
It was Lelouch who broke the quiet.
"So, why did Nunally send you to find me?"
A/N: there. Finally… I managed to finish the chapter. So, what will Lelouch do when he finds out what Nunally wants. And what will he do… he wants to find the source of his mysterious dream as well… Next chapter. This time I make no promises about when I will get it done. I have exams in less than a month, so I really should be working… so if there are no updates until mid to late January, this is why.