AN: Many intelligent guesses… not all of them correct, but intelligent nonetheless. Those of you who were right, give yourself a pat on the back.

Thanks to: Nusku, realityfling18, L Lexuran, Sesshoumarurin, piratepenguin666, Candelabra, yukidaru, Mizu1411, Turtle Kid, ttttai, WinButler, Shadow Vanilla, ochibi-chwan, PlasticPaperCut, CandyBar, cyberpielover, hpets, HyperSilver, Evve the great, mystic luna mage, iKraz, jarta, Spartan Eragon, shadowXxxnightfoxx, wayfarer-redemption, DrewMayShipper, Eternal Solace, souna no hime, kuroi78, Hey Those Beats, Roz-chan, bubbleheadz, Shadowgal ANBU, Diana Prince, fushigimai, Asami-chan37, Tokei, xXRainbow-roseXx, Neko Roxas, Steve225, Pinfeathers, SisterFreaks, Alfader, manganime-hime-sama, Kai, backlash, MindFuel, RedGoldX3, Lickumz, Obsessive Child, KokoroNoKage, Azule228 and Dragonrider4000.

Special thanks to those of you who wished me luck. It worked! I think I was very lucky with my finals. And with my project oral. … Any other delays with this chapter are entirely to be blamed on my Sims.

This chapter is dedicated to GoGothGirl… even if she's not back yet; she deserves it for putting up with my teasing about this for so long.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. Enjoy the chapter.

Lelouch's thoughts, always in perpetual motion, froze as those violet eyes, so familiar, met his own.

"Rolo?"

It was a query. Though there was no doubt in his mind that the boy before him was the fake brother of before. Despite the longer unkempt hair; that face, those eyes, the shadows still lingering beneath them as they had when the boy had lain in his arms, taking his final breath. The question was how. Lelouch could come up with no theory. The boy had died, giving his own life to save the 'brother' whom he loved, even if said 'brother' had not particularly cared for him up to that point, had lied to him ceaselessly, had willingly used his loyalty to his own ends. Lelouch had felt guilty at the boy's death, accepting him as, perhaps, the younger brother he'd never had, realising that though he would never replace Nunally, he would perhaps be better than the rest of his brothers. He was certainly better than Schniezel.

The boy in the cell did not respond to his name, instead watched Lelouch fearfully, without any sign of recognition, as if he'd never seen Lelouch before, a degree of non-recognition not even explainable by his attire. Lelouch thought back to his dreams… The voice had asked 'Who am I'. Perhaps… maybe he really didn't remember who he was, and thus wouldn't recognise Lelouch? There was no time to think about this now; he was more concerned about just how Rolo was alive. He had buried him after all. But… it would take too long, and he could sense Suzaku's worried gaze, pressuring him to hurry up. He needed to get Rolo to understand who he was and do it quickly.

He stepped into the cell, lowering his arms, spreading his hands to show he was unarmed, whilst at the same softening his expression.

"It's ok," he started, moving closer slowly. "It's me… I'm the one you've been talking to. I came to help…"

The boy seemed to understand him. He stood, opening his mouth hesitantly, as if to speak, but then stepped forward instead. He reached up a hand to touch Lelouch's face, causing Lelouch's skin to tingle faintly. Then he smiled and nodded, apparently accepting that Lelouch was who he claimed to be.

Lelouch sighed in relief, puzzled by the boy's silence, but deeming part of the greater mystery. Rather than wasting further time, he reached to grab his hand. For some reason, even though he knew Rolo had once been a ruthless assassin, like this he seemed to have some sort of childlike innocence, and he felt protective. The boy gripped his gloved hand tightly and followed him from the room.

As they emerged in the corridor, Suzaku's tense frame heaved a sigh of relief, the sight of Lelouch holding the hand of the boy, their target, helped to ease some of the stress of the situation, and was also somewhat endearing. His relief rapidly turned to confusion when they got close enough to see the boy's face. He stared in disbelief for a few seconds, before turning to Lelouch. Suzaku hadn't known Rolo to the same degree as Lelouch, but they had worked together briefly, monitoring Lelouch for suspicious behaviour, and they had met a few times after Lelouch had resumed his activities as Zero. The boy hadn't seemed to like him very much.

"Lelouch, is this…?"

"I think so." replied Lelouch. "But can we discuss this later when we have reached the relative safety of somewhere that isn't a mysterious underground facility?"

That was all Suzaku needed to hear. Lelouch didn't have a clue what was going on either, so it was ok. For now he just needed to get everyone out to safety.

"Let's go," he said, readying his weapon, and turning to walk swiftly along the corridor back the way they'd come in

EE glanced between them, and smiled encouragingly at the young boy who was clinging to Lelouch, offering him his other hand as they made their way along the corridor since he seemed to need the reassurance. Suzaku was trying to make sure they moved quickly, but carefully and quietly.

In fact, it wasn't until they'd reached the top of the stairs and were halfway along the maze of corridors that lead to their exit when the alarm went off. Suzaku cursed as the loud sound started reverberating through the corridors and a light on the ceiling started flashing. There were cameras all over the facility; it wouldn't take long for security to get to them.

He motioned for everyone to hurry up, and they started running, poor Lelouch not looking too happy about this, he was practically being towed by the other two thanks to his notoriously poor running ability, even the emaciated looking Rolo was able to keep up better than him.

Suddenly they rounded a corner and ran practically straight into a pair of men in outfits with 'SECURITY' emblazoned across them. Both the men and the group of escapees stared at each other in surprise for a few moments before they snapped to alertness and the guards raised their weapons.

Unfortunately for them, Suzaku was slightly faster in response and had leapt, quite literally, into action before they had been able to shoot, soaring through the air and spin-kicking the weapons from their hands, before delivering swift blows to each of their heads, rendering them unconscious. The pair hadn't had a chance to react.

EE looked impressed. Lelouch wasn't too surprised that Suzaku was as fit as ever, and was pleased that he hadn't let his physical abilities lax over time; he needed them to protect his sister. Rather than congratulating Suzaku on his prowess at taking down the security, he chose the more practical approach.

"We need to move. Those probably weren't the only guards, and next time we might not catch them by surprise."

The four of them set off again, this time being slightly more cautious when turning corners. They didn't want to be caught by surprise either. They were almost at the exit when they heard the sound of pounding feet behind them. Turning the final corner Lelouch let go of Rolo's hand, and pointed at the rusty ladder they'd come down.

"Up there, hurry." He said, wanting to get Rolo out first, since that was what he was here for. The boy seemed to understand the urgency and hurried forward, their other rescuee close behind him offering encouragement.

Rolo was at ceiling level, and EE had set his first foot on the bottom rung when the guards rounded the corner, their weapons raised ready.

"Freeze!" shouted one of them, pointing his weapon at the boy on the ladder.

Rolo stopped, staring at the guards in panic. EE was below him looking uncertain. Suzaku... well Lelouch wasn't sure but it seemed he was fighting that geass again, as if he would be shot and was trying to get away but also wanted to stay to protect the others. He didn't think Suzaku was going to be able to take the guards down with a spinning kick this time. His mind whirled with plans. If only he still had his geass this would be simple. But… he wasn't going to let any of them be captured. Because judging by the nature of this facility, they'd want him, a code-bearer, and Suzaku, who'd lived aging-free for far longer than he should have, for whatever nefarious activities they conducted here.

"Move!'' Lelouch shouted at the pair on the ladder and they started climbing. The guards switched their weapons to him.

"Oh no you don't," said one, "You'll all stop if you don't want someone to die."

Lelouch noticed Suzaku was fumbling with his weapon, which he'd pocketed so he could run faster. The guards spotted this slight shift in his attention, and responded.

BANG!

It happened quickly. Lelouch had spotted the guards switch their attention and had quickly, unthinkingly, moved to intercept the bullet aimed at Suzaku. Suzaku heard the shot, and instantly his solider instincts kicked in, snapping him out of his daze, and the three guards were taken down by his own weapon before they'd even processed who they'd hit.

Lelouch stood there, staring down at his chest, blood oozing freely from the bullet wound. It looked fatal. He looked up, meeting Suzaku's horrified gaze.

"Get me out of here, you idiot," he managed weakly, before his injury kicked in and he collapsed to the floor.

Suzaku took a moment to process the scene. Lelouch had taken a bullet aimed at him. He'd wounded, possibly killed, three men. Lelouch was unconscious, bleeding to death from a bullet wound. But Lelouch had recovered from a similar wound before. Pocketing his weapon, Suzaku scooped up the limp form of his friend, and draped him over his shoulder. He began to climb the ladder, awkward as it was to manage holding onto Lelouch securely.

At the top of the ladder his burden was relieved by EE, and he was able to emerge, shutting and barring the hatch behind him.

He turned to meet the eyes of the code-holder supporting Lelouch. Lelouch was pale, his skin and clothes bloodstained, but it looked like he wasn't bleeding as much.

"He'll be ok," said the man, "it'll be a while before he wakes up though."

Suzaku nodded, and took Lelouch back. There was no need for three of them to be covered in Lelouch's blood; his own clothes were not looking pretty.

"That won't deter them long," he said. "The car's that way," he indicated with a nod of the head.

Rolo, who'd been sitting on the ground watching his rescuer's unconscious form fearfully, stood and followed them to the car.

''Can you drive?'' Suzaku asked the immortal suddenly as he carried Lelouch across the field.

"I have some experience with cars, even if it's been a while since I was able to drive one."

Shifting Lelouch slightly so he could get at his pocket, he handed the keys to the man. "Take us away from here. We need to put some space between us and those people."

Leaving him to familiarize himself with the controls, Suzaku carefully manhandled Lelouch's body into the backseat, and told Rolo to sit in the front. He climbed into the back and sat with Lelouch's head in his lap. Lelouch may be able to recover, but it didn't stop Suzaku from worrying about him.

He ran his fingers through Lelouch's hair absently. In the rear-view mirror he watched the reflection of the boy in the front seat as his eyes danced about, drinking in all the sights around them, and their driver as he battled with the car. It was obvious that he hadn't driven for a long while, and many of the new controls on the car were alien to him. Suzaku wondered how long they'd been locked up below ground.

He tried not to think about the lifeless form he was cradling, believing fervently that it wouldn't last. If a sword through the heart wouldn't kill him, then a bullet wouldn't either. Instead he offered vague directions, not back towards town; he didn't want to lead their pursuers to where they were staying, but instead, further around the crater. He needed to check something before it was safe to take them back.

He was distracted from these thoughts when the form in his lap gasped. He looked down at Lelouch's face, glad to see the colour returning, and his chest rising and falling as his breathing restarted. After a few moments, his eyes opened, gazing blankly for a few moments before they focused on Suzaku's face. Meeting Suzaku's concerned gaze, Lelouch smiled warmly and his body relaxed. He curled in closer and his eyes shut again. He needed a bit more sleep before he was properly healed.

Suzaku smiled at his sleeping friend. Lelouch could be quite cute when he smiled properly. He was glad he was ok.