Pre-notes: I'd like to take this chance to thank those still reading Full Circle. I hope you'll all enjoy this one.

Disclaimer: Code Geass belongs to Sunrise.

Part 3.976: Prince on a White Horse

"Kallen!"

Hearing Lelouch's voice, she reached out towards the direction from where it came, and felt herself being lifted up then pressed against his chest.

"Hold tight," he later said and she did what she was told, keeping her eyes closed the whole time.

With his left hand holding Kallen protectively and his other hand on his mount's reins, Lelouch Lamperouge quickly rode away from where a group of students had cornered Kallen moments earlier.

Since the announcement ten days prior that Kallen Kozuki was to be Class Valedictorian, some students - mostly descendants of former nobles - had been doing everything they can to disqualify her from receiving the award. When using their parents' influence failed, they started trying to make her break a rule that would cause her to forfeit it. Besides the Student Council, he had sought the help of the Rugby Club and the Equestrian Club to keep a close eye on her while he was busy with his other school duties. Luckily, the members of the latter two clubs admired her greatly for her Knightmare piloting skills that they readily agreed. This plan worked well enough, he thought, when it had been four days since anybody last tried anything.

Today, he was proven wrong. The Rugby Club had left for a match, and he was supervising the Equestrian Club's practice session for an exhibition the following week when he heard Kallen's distressed cry. Without a second thought, he made his horse run toward the source. They had cornered her in the area behind the bell tower. There were no windows on the ground floor, and if anybody were to look out the windows from the higher floors, their view would be blocked by trees.

He cursed under his breath. They planned this.

He tried following the parade route to get her to the relative safety of the clubhouse, but was met with obstacles at nearly every turn. Some of those even included firecrackers, frightening his horse and nearly throwing them off its back a couple of times. At one point, he was forced to turn to ride through the cafeteria, disturbing the meal of those present. Barely managing to attach his mobile phone to his ear, he speed-dialed Rivalz's number. Knowing the horse would be tiring soon, they would be needing the motorbike. What he heard when Rivalz finally picked up, however, was not what he wanted to hear.

"Lelouch, bad news," were the first words he heard. "The bike's tires are all flat. The rest of the Student Council's locked up in the clubhouse, too. They were ready for us!"

Lelouch cursed again. That meant the clubhouse would not be the safe place he thought it would. He couldn't believe it, those former nobles that only thought about themselves actually managed to organize and work together for this!

Turning towards the gardens, another student appeared in his path. He was ready to turn into another direction when he noticed that this student was calling to him, pointing to the path towards the back gardens. Taking a closer look, it was the head of the Gardening Club.

"Take the garden maze, Lelouch!" the student had been shouting. "Save our Queen!"

Calling out a quick word of thanks as he passed the student, Lelouch made his mount run for the maze. The Gardening Club had a habit of changing the maze's layout every month, and it had been only two days since the last change. Being on a horse gave him the advantage of seeing over the tops of the hedging, making it easier for him to find the way across. Their pursuers would have a more difficult time navigating through it. After the first few turns, he made his horse slow to a walk to let it rest somewhat. He took this moment to check on his passenger. True to his instruction, she still clung tightly to him, with her eyes closed just as tightly.

"Are you okay?" he ventured to ask. A small nod and a whimper was the answer he got. Loosening his hold on her a bit, he noticed that she was shaking. He frowned. What could have happened that would've shaken her so? He felt a moment of anger, but quickly pushed it down. He needed a plan.

Riding through the cafeteria should have alerted the faculty to what's been happening. However, considering how the perpetrators managed to plan disabling Rivalz's bike and putting the other Student Council members out of the way, they probably had a backup plan for the teachers as well. The best course of action would be to try and get back to the riding grounds and the rest of the Equestrian Club, but that was on the other side of campus. Going back through the entrance of the maze was out of the question, so they would have to go around from the exit. He would need to make a few jumps to avoid the footpaths that their pursuers would most probably take, and he hoped their ride was still up to it. He'd thought of jumping over the creek that ran through campus to avoid crossing the bridge, too, but that would be too risky. This may be the Academy's best, but it was used to carrying only one rider. Having carried two passengers for quite some distance now, it was bound to be tired.

"Lelouch-sama," said a voice from behind the next turn. Lelouch breathed a sigh of relief when he saw who it was.

"Sayoko," he replied, acknowledging the speaker, "please tell me something good."

"Hai," began Sayoko as she walked alongside them. "The electronic locks to the classrooms and faculty room were all activated from somewhere in campus. Rivalz-sama has managed to free the other Student Council members, and they are now working to undo the hacking on the classroom locks."

Lelouch nodded. "That means we have to hold out for about seven more minutes. What about those coming after us?"

"I'm afraid there's no stopping them, Lelouch-sama. I am surprised myself at their present level of determination to get to Kallen-sama."

"Yet even just threatening them is out of the question."

"Shall I disguise myself as Kallen-sama and become a decoy?"

"No, if they planned things this well, I doubt they'd think either of us would continue on foot unless they saw the horse without a rider. She's in no condition to run, either," he added, briefly giving a look of concern to the still-trembling Kallen.

"I'll have you try and clear the way for us, make sure there are no more traps. I plan on going to Point-R going through Section-3. If the bridge is blocked, we'll be taking a detour to Point-N. Can you manage?"

"Understood," replied Sayoko, "but may I suggest going to Point-S instead of Point-N?"

The Science Club? That was an idea. Neither of them frequent that area, he thought.

"Very well, Point-S it is. Take care, Sayoko."

"To you as well, Lelouch-sama," replied Sayoko, soon disappearing from sight.

"Just a little longer," he whispered to Kallen as they neared the maze's exit. At her nod, he kicked their horse to a gallop and went on their way.

Just as he suspected, their ride was already so tired, it barely made the third jump. He decided then that they skip checking the bridge and ride straight to the Science Club. Sayoko was right to suggest the place. With their pursuers all behind them and none cutting them off, it clearly wasn't predicted that they'd be seeking refuge there. No traps. Sayoko had done her job.

Once outside the Science Club's HQ, he pulled on the reins to stop then checked his watch. Three more minutes. He could not force the horse to run any more. They would just have to trust that Rivalz and the others could undo the hacking faster than estimated. Even so, they had less than a minute before their pursuers arrive. They would have to dismount and try to get inside.

"Kallen, I need you to let go for a moment," he told her, but was surprised when she shook her head and held him tighter. Now they were in trouble - they could not dismount like this, nor would they be able to get past their pursuers fast enough even if they didn't. Said pursuers slowly surrounded them when it became apparent they weren't able to leave the spot.

Lelouch instinctively reached out for the nonexistent contact lens in his left eye then cursed for the nth time that day. If only he still had his Geass!

He then heard a faint click and a familiar-sounding hum from the space between them and those who chased them. Startled, their mount backed away from the sound and closer towards the door to the Science Club HQ. He was still trying to recall where he had heard that hum before when the door opened and someone came out of it.

"Did it work?" the person had asked.

"Nina?!"

"You look surprised, Lelouch-kun. We're scheduled to install the Blaze Luminous for the Ashford segment of the crater today, didn't you know?"

As if on cue, some of their pursuers chose that moment to charge towards them, only to be pressed against a series of palm-sized hexagons when they hit the area above the source of the humming sounds. Nina clapped her palms together, smiling.

"How lovely! I was worried we would have to install them without testing them first. Thank you for gathering all these volunteers, Lelouch."

Lelouch quirked an eyebrow. Looks like Lloyd and Cecile were rubbing off on her. In any case, the perpetrators all seem to be enclosed by the Blaze Luminous. He could also see some of the teachers leaving the classroom buildings and running towards them. They were safe now.

"Thanks, Nina."

"Anytime, Lelouch."

And, as if sensing it was all over, Kallen fainted.

-o-O-o-

Lelouch let himself draw a heavy sigh as soon as the door to the Headmaster's office slid closed behind him. Thanks to the recordings of the incident by Kallen's 'fans' in the Film Club, they had easily identified the ones who masterminded the whole mess and had them promptly expelled. Their accomplices were also handed suspensions depending on their level of involvement. Truth be told, he had no idea how those people intended to get Kallen into trouble and still manage to stay in school. Perhaps he had given them too much credit; they didn't plan it all that well, after all.

He himself wasn't off the hook, though. Riding through the cafeteria, he had broken at least three rules and plenty of tableware. Considering the defensive nature of his move it had been decided not to hand him a suspension, but the supposedly surprise special award he was to receive on graduation day would have to suffer. He let himself smile. Kallen would not be feeling guilty over him losing it. Well, not until she found out, at least.

Still wearing his riding habit, he crossed what's left of the Academy's courtyard from the Administrative Building towards the nurse's office, the path to which was lined by members of Kallen's unofficial fan club. The first one to sense his approach led the cheers of 'All Hail Lelouch!', to which the rest enthusiastically followed suit. He was about to start to ask them to cut it out, but, he had to admit, he felt good hearing the cheers this time around. Kallen was out of harm's way, the 'evil ones' were punished, and all of them had a hand in making it happen - they all worked to save their Queen. He raised his fist into the air to louder cheers and slaps on the back until he finally reached his destination.

On entering the nurse's office, he felt relieved when he saw Kallen already sitting up and conversing with Rivalz and Nina. Walking closer to the bed, he received a wink and another slap to his already battered back and was left alone, giving them their privacy. It was Kallen who spoke first.

"How did it go?"

"Better than expected," Lelouch answered, taking his seat on the chair beside the bed. "The masterminds were expelled outright, and I'm stuck with just the cafeteria cleanup. Still," he continued, frowning, "I should've seen the whole thing coming. Attempts of hacking into the locks showed up in the logs but I didn't think much of them. I got cocky."

Kallen bonked him on the head with a large paper fan that wasn't there before. "There you go again, beating yourself up over something so trivial. It's not just you, Lelouch, we all didn't see something like this coming. I should have suspected something when those girls started acting all nice to me today, too."

"But-" Lelouch started protesting, but was interrupted by another bonk on the head.

"But nothing. Nunnally was right - you really should stop blaming yourself too much. Not that I mind knowing an actual prince that's not acting all high and mighty all the time, though."

"I noticed," he replied, reaching to move aside the portion of the paper fan that still rested on his head. He then proceeded to ask the one thing that bothered him during the whole incident. "What did they do to you?"

Kallen blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You were trembling the whole time we were running, and you fainted just as it was all over," Lelouch prodded, his tone growing firmer with every word. "Tell me, Kallen."

"Nothing. They didn't do anything."

"That can't have been 'nothing'," he protested, standing up from his chair. "You've faced Cornelia's army, fell through the sky with a defective ejection system, fought and won against Suzaku, and went for the exploding Damocles head-on. Any other girl would faint at the mere thought of doing any of those, but not you. It will take much more than those to scare you like that, Kallen. Tell me!"

He immediately felt guilty when she looked away and clutched at the blanket. Perhaps the memory of it was still fresh in her mind, she wasn't comfortable with talking about it yet. Neither of them spoke for a long moment. Just as he was about to apologize, Kallen mumbled her answer. The answer caught him off-guard and had seemed so absurd, he wasn't quite sure he heard it correctly. Thinking they both needed a good laugh, he went on to repeat what he thought he heard.

"I'm sorry. I thought I heard you say you're scared to death of horses."

"No," Kallen answered, her voice tiny, "you heard right."

Lelouch blinked. Knightmare cockpits were designed with simulating riding a horse in mind. To find out his ace pilot had this fear...

"I was about eight," Kallen started, feeling the need to explain herself. "Oniichan was teaching me how to ride one. The first horse I ever rode ran into a snake and went berserk. It nearly ran off a cliff with me still on it. Oniichan managed to stop it in time, but it scared me so much I swore never to ride another one unless it both of us on the same horse. Oniichan only teased me more about it as we grew up."

Now Lelouch really felt guilty. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because," she gulped, now fiddling with the blanket, "I trust you. Because I know you won't let me fall."

Her declaration ended up making both of them blush, and neither said a word for a long moment, both occupied by their own thoughts. The silence was broken when a splutter, chuckle, then full-blown laughter erupted from Lelouch's lips, him later falling to the chair he was sitting on earlier. This only made Kallen's face redden further.

"What's so funny?!" she asked indignantly. She could tell he was trying to put his laughter under control, but she decided it was taking a little too long. "Lelouch!"

"I'm sorry. Delayed reaction," he apologized, still trying to put his breathing back to normal. "It was just so unexpected, your thing about horses."

"Well, as long as you don't tell anybody else, I'll let it slide," she said, crossing her arms. "Not even Ohgi-san knows about it."

"I'll do better than that. I'll teach you. How to ride, I mean."

"What?"

"Rolo was scared at first, too, but he grew out of it eventually. With how well you held out today before fainting, I'd say you'd conquer your fear in no time."

She hesitated a moment. "You really think so?"

"I know so. You trust me, don't you?"

It's Zero I trust in, not the likes of you, Lelouch, she remembered saying once. She then thought about making him wear the mask, but decided against it. He might make her wear that awful bunny girl suit in exchange. She nodded before answering, "I believe you."

Noticing the time, Lelouch excused himself saying that his cleanup duty will be starting in ten minutes. Kallen laid back down in the bed after the door closed behind him. She thought of the day's events, of how a prince literally came riding on a white horse and swept her off her feet to come to her rescue. She snorted in amusement. Today she lived every girl's fantasy and she was terrified the whole time. She supposed it really was funny, now that she thought about it.

She thought about how he laughed. It wasn't anything like Zero's dark laughter, or one of his chuckles when he teased her, or that insane laughter he made when they found out Suzaku was piloting the Lancelot. He was just... laughing, and she liked hearing it. She then decided that, in the future, she would try her best to draw it out of him again.

As long as it was not at her expense, of course.

FLUFF WARNING: May cause certain readers to flail uncontrollably. Safety measures are advised. Oops, too late.

End-notes: The garden maze I borrowed from Ouran High School Host Club. Hit a couple of snags because the original route I planned were among the parts of campus that were swallowed by FLEIJA, so I made it vague.

Date last edited: 2009/02/18