AN: Hello again everyone. I bring you another chapter today, a week later than I was planning to get it out. Things like graduations and weddings got in the way. As compensation, I bring you the longest chapter so far (I think). In other news, I'm glad you all seem to like EE, a character that keeps surprising me (this chapter by offering me a bit of information that may bring the two halves of plot together). LuluxRolo fans out there, I'm sorry, but I'm not planning on doing much with that, hope you aren't too disappointed. Thanks to all my readers! Thanks for sticking with me despite my terribly strange updating 'schedule'.
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, but I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
After they arrived at the hotel the four were informed that it would be an hour or so before the room they had requested, next door to their current one, would become available. They made their way to the original room instead, as Lelouch was, at this point, desperate to have a shower and get the dried blood off, and the rescuees were probably looking forward to being properly clean in general.
As Suzaku had expected, when they had arrived in their room Lelouch picked up another change of clothes, this time his male attire; obviously he wasn't planning to leave the room again today, and headed straight to the bathroom, pausing only for a moment to inform the newcomers of his actions.
Rolo wandered the room curiously, occasionally reaching out to gingerly touch something. He stopped at the window, his eyes watching the everyday movement of people on the street below.
EE smiled at him softly, pleased that the boy was reacting well to the world outside the institute. He was doing very well, considering that, to his knowledge at least, the boy had only had a couple of days wandering the surface world before someone from the institute had found him and brought him in. The boy had shared those memories with him, hoping for a clue to his existence… they were all he'd had.
"Why doesn't he remember? He didn't even recognize Lelouch, who was the closest he had to a family since his own died. The only one to show him any kindness. He died to save him, or so I thought anyway. Lelouch said he'd buried him himself." Suzaku questioned EE in a hushed tone.
"He died. That's why he doesn't remember. He didn't possess the code at the time of his death; its potential was activated later and revived him. But by that point the decay process had already started to set in. The code was able to restore his brain, but it couldn't bring back his memories, experience, and knowledge. It only restored essential functions; because it keeps him alive anyway he doesn't need a functional digestive system, or a voice. I'm surprised it got as far as restoring his sight.
"But he's been quite lucky. He arrived there just after the institute lost all it's funding. They'd already withdrawn to that bunker after the main site was destroyed. I think they were hoping they'd be restored after the war, but it didn't happen. The wrong side won I guess. Thus the boy missed out on the experiments they used to do; testing how far the code would go to restore its holder. Mostly he was just a prisoner, they didn't have the budget to do anything more with either of us. Recently they'd received a little more interest, and were hoping for more funding, that's why there was security... it may have not been enough to keep us there, but it was more than they've had for a long while."
Suzaku gaped at the immortal, "'How far the code would go'? They did that sort of thing to you?" EE nodded. "… That's horrible. How… how've you not gone mad with that kind of treatment? You still feel pain after all."
"It certainly wasn't a pleasant experience. But we have a dissociation mechanism, when we regenerate anyway, so that we don't feel the pain of that at least. Repeatedly dying in a variety of ways, while certainly not fun, you do get used to it. It's not like I didn't suffer intensely painful, near death experiences before I received my code, and partially of my own vocation... and lack of appropriate organisation."
Lelouch chose that moment to emerge from the bathroom, having tried to keep his cleaning quick, so that the others could have their turn.
"Organisation is helpful... but even the most vigorous planning can be undone by an unexpected element," he contributed, looking much happier, probably because of his remasculisation.
"That too. The weather can be so dreadfully inconvenient at times," provided EE, obeying Lelouch's fervent hand gestures and accepting the towel being waved in his direction and disappearing into the bathroom himself.
Lelouch sat down beside Suzaku on the bed.
"What are we going to do about these guys?" queried Suzaku. "I'm not saying rescuing them was wrong, because it wasn't, but you're due to be in Britannia with the Empress by the end of the week. EE may cope well enough on his own, but Rolo won't.''
"I suppose we'll have to ask Nunally to extend the invite. They don't have to stay in the palace, just close enough to keep an eye on."
The pair watched as the boy the left the window and climbed onto the bed, watching the pair of them warily.
Lelouch met the boy's eyes, "Would you like to come with us to Britannia?" he asked softly.
Rolo nodded and inched closer, reaching out to touch Lelouch's arm, putting more assurance into his response. He then sat back, a brief expression of concentration on his face. Then he touched Lelouch's arm again, meeting his eyes firmly.
Why are we going to Britannia? Who are you? Do you know me? Talk to me...
The questions came over the code connection in rapid fire, quieting towards the end as if using this method of communication was exhausting for the boy, and that he couldn't use it as much as he'd like. It clarified one thing though: That Rolo may have been mute and memory-less, naive to the world around him, but he was not stupid, and he had a perfect grasp of Britannia. He may not be able to talk to them easily, but he knew what was going on.
Glancing back at Suzaku, Lelouch knew that his friend hadn't 'heard' what Rolo had just said.
"We're going to Britannia to see my sister, Nunally, who wants my advice on a very important decision she has to make. My name is Lelouch, or Lucinda if I'm dressed like I was earlier, but you can call me Lulu if it's less confusing. This is my friend Suzaku, who is also something like a bodyguard for my sister. And yes, I do know who you are. Your name is Rolo, and you used to be like a little brother to me… before…"
Lelouch trailed off, disarmed by the sudden vibrant smile on the boy's face.
He supposed that having lacked an identity for so long, it was wonderful to have a name to think of yourself by, and someone to think of as a relative.
Especially for Rolo; having someone like a brother had meant so much to him even when he'd had his memories. Perhaps too much, considering Shirley, but then Rolo was an orphan, raised as an assassin, a killer. Perhaps letting him get that overprotective hadn't been Lelouch's best idea.
Lelouch was determined not to let him get like that again, He wasn't sure if he wanted Rolo to get all of his memories back, that Rolo had died. This Rolo did not have the troubled past, and the memory of committing murder on command. He had a clean slate as it were. Lelouch didn't want to mar it, and take away Rolo's second chance. Not that he had any idea how to get his memory back if he wanted to.
From what EE had conjectured, it wasn't a case of amnesia. The memories had rotted and not been restored. They weren't simply inaccessible, they were irretrievably gone. More important to Lelouch was improving Rolo's quality of life, for example by finding some way of getting his voice back and his digestive system working again. Allowing him some semblance of normality in his life.
As Lelouch, thought process reached the decision to definitely do something about it, if at all possible, he was startled out of his thoughts as Rolo suddenly clung to his arm, pressing himself tightly against him. It seemed the boy had decided to form an attachment with Lelouch, and Lelouch allowed the boy to hug him, much to Suzaku's apparent amusement.
Suzaku smiled, stifling laughter as Rolo clung to Lelouch, holding on tightly to the person who held the answer to his missing identity, as if he would suddenly disappear. He ignored his other emotion, the one he couldn't quite place, that flared as Lelouch responded to the action, embracing the other boy, He wasn't sure, but it might have been something like jealousy.
Instead, he reached forward to tousle the boy's hair. He hadn't liked Rolo's closeness to Lelouch back in their Ashford days. At the time he'd put it down to dissatisfaction at Rolo not doing his job professionally, by getting to close to the person he was supposedly spying on; as well as to a disquieting feeling that it should be Nunally that Lelouch was acting brotherly with. Neither of those reasons should apply now though, so maybe it was just a sentiment of habit? He decided not to think about it, there was nothing wrong with showing a little kindness and brotherly affection to the boy who had been starved of it for so long.
EE finally emerged from the bathroom, looking much better, now clean-shaven and having trimmed his hair down to a short length.
"Rolo, it's your turn in the bathroom now," said Lelouch, pulling the boy of off his chest.
Rolo stood, took a few steps towards the bathroom, before hesitating uncertainly, and glancing back at Lelouch.
"Oh, I forgot, you don't remember doing this. I don't expect they let you get clean by yourself at that place." Lelouch stood and lead Rolo into the bathroom. ''I guess I can give you a few clues before letting you tend for yourself in here."
The bathroom door fell closed behind them, and Suzaku ignored the emotion that definitely wasn't anything like jealousy, which gave another faint twinge as he was cut off from the proceedings. He sighed, and lay back on the bed, fumbling for the phone.
He had to call Nunally. They really needed to be out of Japan as early tomorrow as possible. They may be freed from immediate detection, but Suzaku doubted that place would let its only two immortal specimens escape without a little more attempt at finding them. They needed them to get their funding after all, not that they could do much with it now without subjects.
He hastily dialled the number, paying vague attention as EE left the room to see if their other hotel room was ready yet.
Some time later, Lelouch re-emerged from the bathroom with a perfectly groomed Rolo in tow. It wasn't just a case of being clean; it seemed as though Lelouch had attacked his hair with scissors, resulting in the boy's long since trimmed hair being restored to its short, slightly curly form. Rolo looked mildly shell-shocked. Suzaku assumed that Lelouch had gone about his self-assigned task with his usual gusto, probably involving much near-fatal scissor waving. That Rolo hadn't run from the room in fear was the real surprise.
By this point Suzaku had succeeded in getting in contact with Nunally and letting her know there would be extra guests. With a second call he'd managed to arrange a flight for the four of them to Britannia the following morning, as well as permission for them to avoid the usual security checks at the airport. Suzaku was still paranoid about pursuit, and he would expect them to guess that they were trying to leave the country and get away as quickly as possible and would perhaps try to intercept them. He did however highly doubt they suspected they had the authority carried by the title of Zero among them.
He would, however, have to travel in his Zero uniform again just so he would be recognised as such when they landed. He needed to be Zero, not Suzaku, when they arrived in Britannia. There were still people who might recognise him otherwise after all. He wasn't too happy about this, he had been very much enjoying being, mostly, free of the suit for the past few days, and wasn't looking forward to not being able to go out in public without it.
EE had returned, not only bearing keys for the room next door, but also somehow having procured another, better fitting set of clothes for himself and Rolo, presumably for tomorrow. Suzaku had no idea how he'd got them, and wasn't entirely sure he wanted to. A short time after his return the group spilt in half, EE going next door with Rolo to go to sleep. It was fairly late and as Suzaku had informed them, they would be departing early the following day.
EE had smiled and said he wouldn't mind accompanying them a little further, just to make sure Rolo would be ok, but that he would probably be leaving a week or two after they arrived in Britannia. Suzaku had flushed faintly in his presumption that EE would have no qualms coming with them to Britannia and apologised. Lelouch had refrained from commenting, he was glad this code-bearer was staying with them a little longer, he had a few more questions he wanted to ask of him, particularly concerning codes in general, since CC hadn't really been able to answer them or hadn't wanted to, but EE seemed more knowledgeable.
As Lelouch sat down on the bed beside Suzaku he heaved a sigh.
"I really don't know what to do with Rolo." he admitted.
"What do you mean? He'll be fine in Britannia, he was never as high profile as either of us, he won't be recognised."
"It's not that," said Lelouch, leaning back on his hands and staring up at the ceiling as if it held the answers he sought. "I want to help him, I really do. But I don't know how. He wants his memories back I think, but that won't make him happy."
Suzaku moved to sit closer, resting a hand on Lelouch's shoulder. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised that you want to do so much for him. I thought this rescue mission was largely just a case of curiosity, and that you'd be satisfied with just the simple matter of freeing him and finding out who it was that had got into your dreams. After all, despite your act to the contrary, I didn't think you liked Rolo very much."
"I didn't. But it's different now. It's my fault he's like this. After Shirley died… I kept trying to put Rolo in situations where he would be killed. And yet he remained blindly loyal to me, refusing to acknowledge my very transparent act of brotherliness even though he saw through it, and willingly sacrificed himself to get me out of Schniezel's clutches. He died for me… if he'd been alive when he received his code, however he got it, he wouldn't be like this. Therefore… I should try to make it like he didn't die, remove my direct impact on his current condition as best I can."
Lelouch was mumbling now, trying to mix logic and cold reason into his desire to help Rolo, but Suzaku knew otherwise. He wanted to help Rolo, not to repay the dept, but because Rolo in his current condition was reminding Lelouch of Nunally, even if Lelouch couldn't see this himself. Rolo was disabled, currently not in a state where he could fend for himself, and Lelouch couldn't help himself accepting the role of protective older brother. He couldn't really be that way with Nunally anymore. She was the leader of what was still the most powerful country in the world, and was doing an excellent job of it. She didn't need his protection. Rolo however, did.
Suzaku pulled Lelouch out of his daze and into a hug, leaving the other momentarily speechless.
"It'll be ok Lulu. We'll figure it out, get him fixed up somehow. He may not look it right now, but Rolo is a strong person, he'll be fine."
Lelouch tentatively returned the embrace, before immediately pushing Suzaku away indignantly. "Of course he will," said Lelouch confidently, though Suzaku could see that he wasn't convinced.
AN: so what do you guys think. Interestingly, in regards to Rolo reminding Lulu of Nunally, when I first conceived Rolo's role in this he was going to be blind, and at the time I didn't even think about Nunally. But when I wrote it, he turned up mute instead, and I think I prefer it that way.