Pre-notes: Last one. Thank you for your patience m(_"_)m I'm sincerely hoping this one's a worthy finale to this little series.
Disclaimer: Code Geass belongs to Sunrise
Part 0.001: Chains
They are cold.
They are heavy.
They hurt.
For as long as she could remember, she had worn them, though not always in the form of metal around her ankles and her wrists.
Slavery.
Dependence.
A contract.
A curse.
Immortality.
Disappointment after disappointment after disappointment.
Failure after failure after failure.
Dying, then waking, then dying, then waking again.
Chains.
Now she wonders if that was what the second 'C' in her new name stood for.
Part 0.002: Contract
This is my contract: If you have a reason to live, then I can give you power. In exchange, I will have you grant one wish of mine.
Words spoken to her. Words she spoke in turn to those who would accept the curse.
Geass: The Power of Kings. It is a lonely power; it will isolate you. If you believe you are prepared for the isolation...
Many were prepared, or considered themselves prepared, to face the isolation possessing the curse brought about.
But, were they?
For hundreds of years, there were many who accepted her contract. All those centuries, her contract's conditions never changed. Lifetime after lifetime she made contracts with many people, but none were able to grant her wish. Some found the power they were given to be useless and threw her out. Some went to their deaths early because they enjoyed the power too much. Some went mad because they weren't as prepared as they thought they were.
Until he came along.
Never before did she renew her contract with anyone. Never before did she change the terms of her contract. Never before did she consider a promise for a smile be more binding than any contract.
Indeed, he was unlike anyone she met before.
Part 0.999: Choice
"A gift?"
"If you wish to consider it as such, then yes," answered the image that Time manifested itself with. "However, as my ability to interact with the mortal plane is limited to those of your abilities, I would like to ask for your cooperation."
"You mean I can refuse?"
"Of course."
Green eyebrows furrowed as C.C. considered the proposal. It was true that she wished respite from her eternal life, and, though Time itself could not grant it, the 'rest' that was offered was not a bad alternative.
She looked back to the form Time has taken, formed one of her teasing smiles, and replied,
"Very well, I accept your terms."
"It is settled, then," answered Time, and they shook hands, thereby completing their agreement.
"If you don't mind my asking," Time spoke, "in our previous meetings, you spoke with much formality; now you speak with familiarity. May I know whose face you see?"
C.C.'s eyes softened a little more as she took one long look at the image of Lelouch Lamperouge. Time took the image of whomever a Code-bearer considered wise, and until now Time took the form of the old man she met in her time in the Cult. She was even surprised she unconsciously considered the boy -- barely even an adult -- to be so.
"Someone very special."
Part 4.500: Challenge
"Come join me for tea, Jeremiah."
The man being addressed blinked to shake off his disorientation. He was in the gardens of the Aries Imperial Villa, and Empress Marianne's companion was sitting at a small table pouring tea into two cups. He began to move toward her but hesitated just as he moved his left foot forward. This was... wrong, somehow.
"You really shouldn't keep a lady waiting, Jeremiah," she spoke again. "Are you a knight, or aren't you?"
He had a ready reply for such challenges. He always did -- just ask Villetta or Kewell. He wondered now why he simply complied. Well, there wasn't much a mere lieutenant can show for anything, anyway.
"Tell me," she began just as he took a sip from his cup (orange pekoe, his favorite), "what fuels your loyalty, Sir Knight?"
A worthy master. One that commanded inspiration. One with a heart as kind as it was ruthless.
"Thus, your loyalty to the royal family?"
Indeed it was. But, among them, above all...
"Marianne. You admired her greatly even before she was a royal consort, am I right?"
The Flash. The Knight of Six. She annihilated her enemies, but she never failed to look out for her own. Better to be feared than loved? She was both.
"And so she earned your loyalty? Even to those who share her blood? Was that the sole reason for your loyalty to her son?"
Not at all! It was, at first, but after learning of His Majesty's purpose...
'His Majesty'...?
Why was she laughing?
"Have you no dreams of your own, Jeremiah Gottwald?"
He was but a soldier, a knight. It was enough to make his master's dream his own. His master's happiness would become his own. It was a satisfaction that only loyalty could bring.
"I see. So that's how it works," she replied, her expression wistful.
"Never lose that loyalty of yours, Jeremiah Gottwald. Sometimes, a tiny amount of it makes all the difference."
He nodded and took another sip from his cup. In the silence that followed, he wondered. He had not spoken a single word since she invited him to tea, and yet...
"He'll be calling for you soon," she said as she stood, "I suggest you wake up."
His confusion was instantly overridden by a noise, and he was suddenly in the medical ward of the Black Knights' base in Penglai Island. He had been dreaming.
The source of the noise he quickly identified as his mobile phone. Knowing none other that would contact him at this hour, he answered it promptly.
"Any change, Jeremiah?"
He momentarily glanced at the monitors he was tasked to watch, as well as the sleeping form of the young woman whose condition they monitored. "None, Your Majesty."
A sigh. "You still call me that?"
"It is a title befitting this knight's master, Majesty."
Silence, then "Thank you."
When their conversation ended, Jeremiah Gottwald walked closer to the bed. Once he was close enough to see her face, he executed the knight's salute and spoke:
"Fret not, my lady. I will watch over him. For all of us."
Part 4.822: Cherished
"Here you go, C.C.! Pizza Hut, Select Four, cheesy crust -- just like you used to order," came Kallen Kouzuki's cheerful voice as she opened the pizza box she brought with her. "Smuggling it in was a lot easier than I thought. I won't tell the doctors if you won't tell."
"I don't get why you keep ordering this, though," Kallen continued as she picked up a slice and took her seat. "You always leave the Idaho Special slices. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I love these."
"You've probably already heard," she began as she ate the slice, "they're getting a place ready for you to, uh, sleep in. I don't know where, exactly, but Ohgi-san suddenly declaring Kaminejima to be a wildlife reserve was sort of a giveaway. Lelouch has been talking with Rakshata and Lloyd with some of the arrangements, too, so whatever they have in store is state-of-the-art. Probably even better than the rooms they used to have in Pendragon Castle." After finishing off the slice she took, she turned to face the sleeping form of C.C. fully.
"You know, I've been thinking," she continued after she made herself comfortable, "about a lot of things. Mostly about how lost we would have been if you weren't around all those times. All the way back to that day in Shinjuku, even, when you gave Lelouch his Geass. All of us would have been goners, and there would be no Zero, no Black Knights, and no UFN.
"What I'm especially thankful for, though, was when you talked some sense into me in that morning after the Black Rebellion. Okay," she raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, "maybe 'smacked' would describe it better, considering how much it stung." Her hands resumed their place on her lap before continuing, "I was totally lost, as if I was driving full speed along a road that turned out to be a dead end; and there you came, saying there was still a way to get to where I -- where all of us -- were going.
"After that you told me about Lelouch and the Geass you gave him. I appreciate that you told me just enough to make me determined to get him back. I doubt I would have wanted to see him again if you told me any more or any less than what you did. In hindsight, it was pretty fun -- learning the answers to the rest of my questions first-hand, little by little. Annoying at times, yes, but it all worked out."
Kallen looked out the window with a sigh. "We had fun times together, didn't we? Running from hideout to hideout to avoid capture; getting the stuff we needed for our raid at Babel Tower; you and that thing you have for pizzas managing to put me in one of those stuffy costumes; taking turns picking on Tamaki-san after we got everybody back...
"I'm sort of jealous that you could pick on Lelouch and win, though. I tried a few times, but because he always managed to turn it around, I sort of gave it up."
Another sigh. "Pathetic, aren't I? Thinking about everything we've been through only when you're..."
She shook her head. "Listen to me, talking as if you're dead and gone. Heh, I'm not even sure you can hear me. It's just that," a pause as her hands balled into fists on her lap, "I keep thinking we'll catch up when you wake up, go somewhere and have fun -- just the two of us girls. When I learned from Lelouch that you won't be waking up anytime soon, I...
"I didn't want to believe it! I thought maybe Lelouch was talking about a different C.C., or something. The C.C. we both knew -- the one who walked away from a gunshot to the heart, the one who lived for centuries -- would be able to at least open her eyes, right?!"
She gasped when she caught herself shouting, and then lowered her head as if apologizing for her outburst. "I don't think it's fair," she paused momentarily as she glanced at the ring on her finger. "We're all happy now, and we can tell that things will only get better from here on out. You should be enjoying all this with the rest of us. You deserve them as much as we do. The way things are, we can't even thank you properly, or even give you a sendoff pizza party if you just can't stay. Going to sleep without telling us what it's about for the past year was just... selfish of you."
"Oh, right," she spoke as if she realized the error in her words and formed a sad smile. "You wouldn't be C.C. if you weren't, would you?"
She reached out with both her hands to grasp C.C.'s left hand and gave it a light squeeze. "I'm not really good with goodbyes, but I really think I should say this before we finally part ways.
"I missed having you around, C.C., and the thought of not seeing you again, well, it felt like I'm losing a sister. I really wish I could do more than bringing you this pizza and getting that plushy of yours dry-cleaned, but I'm afraid you'll have to make do with them and this promise."
She closed her eyes and, after taking a deep breath, wore a solemn expression when she opened them again. "I'll take good care of him, and I'll do my best to give him all the love he would ever need," a pause as she tightened her grasp, "for both of us."
"There you are."
"Lelouch!" His voice nearly made her jump off her seat. She quickly made to wipe the tears that settled in the corners of her eyes as he approached her. "What are you doing here?"
"We were supposed to meet at the mess hall for lunch," he answered. "I know you preferred arriving in the nick of time over arriving early back in Ashford, but I figured that being late for an hour was just ridiculous, even for you."
"Oh!" she exclaimed, noting the hour for the first time since she entered the room. "I'm sorry, I lost track of time."
"It's alright," he assured her. "The cook's a protégé of Sugiyama's. He said he'll whip something up whenever we ask." Noticing the slight redness in her eyes, he asked "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just a little teary goodbye."
"I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"
There you go, C.C., the same old Lelouch, she thought. "Not at all. I was just getting ready to leave." With that she stood up and gave C.C. a kiss on her forehead.
"Sweet dreams, C.C.," she spoke as she straightened, "and thanks -- for everything."
Turning around, she found herself pressed against her future husband in a tight embrace. Startled, it took her a moment before she returned the gesture. When he only held her tighter, she felt the need to ask, "Lelouch?"
"Don't ever leave me alone, Kallen." It was barely a whisper.
"I would have to be taken away from you for that to happen," she responded. "Kicking and screaming, even, if it was ever managed."
"If it was somehow managed," he responded in turn, "I'll get you back. Even if I lose an arm and a leg, even if it's the last thing I do, I will."
"And I won't lose hope," she said as she tightened her arms around him, "because you always find a way, you always keep your promises."
After another minute, they briefly shared a kiss and left the room with their hands entwined. Had either of them taken the time to take one last look at their sleeping friend, they would have seen that her lips had shifted to form a tiny smile.
~ COMPLETE ~
End-notes: Select-4 was the pizza that C.C. pestered Rai to buy in Lost Colors, and is made up of 2 slices each of Mayo-Q, Meat Paradise, Ebi (shrimp) Bacon, and Idaho Special. I tried it out last Easter, but I prefer Family-4 :p The hug was inspired by an old avatar of user Arcangel, which I wanted to steal a few months back XD
Thanks very much to everybody who read, reviewed, favorited, alerted, squee'd, ugh'd, bleh'd, beta'd, contributed to this side-story collection.
Special thanks go to posters in the BKBQ forums. A little community discussion goes a long way ;)
And thanks to Sunrise for making the first anime I got this addicted to (maybe even obsessed with) this millennium XD