Disclaimer: I don't own code geass and I've run out of little comments to go with this.
Ginger: Okay guys! I've finally done it! Last chapter! Wooo!
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Lelouch couldn't help but feel awe and a fluttery feeling in his stomach as they drove up to a monstrous mansion on a small peninsula like stretch of beach.
The place was huge. There was a large front to the building then what looked like two separate wings, each with over twenty windows and a magnificent view of the ocean.
"Wow, this place is huge!" Lelouch whispered in awe.
"That's because there's so many kids here, there has to be a place to put them all." said Suzaku with a smile.
"So what now?" he asked.
"Now you get to meet the rest of the family." said Leon as they pulled into the driveway. "Just remember, they don't mean to overwhelm, they all just want to make you feel welcome."
"I'll remember that." said Lelouch.
After a few minutes they were all met at the door by Quatre.
But Lelouch felt somewhat abandoned as Suzaku and Mercy ran off with smiles leaving him with Leon and Quatre in the hall.
"Come on Lelouch, everyone's outside playing." said Quatre smiling kindly.
Lelouch cautiously followed behind both men as they talked. He looked around at everything in pure curiosity and he couldn't help but feel somewhat overwhelmed already. The place was huge but very cozy, all of the walls were covered in pictures. There was one wall though, that stretched down a long hallway to the right that was covered in bright paint, handprints, and pictures.
"What's down there?" Lelouch asked curiously.
"That's what we like to call the progress wall." said Quatre as Lelouch walked down the hall a little to see what was there.
"The progress wall?"
"It's our way of measuring both physical growth and mental health." Quatre explained. "Each month we measure all of the kids and take a picture to put next to the current measurement along with a handprint. If you notice, in a lot of the pictures the lowest ones show how they used to be, very unhappy, but as they grew and progressed they're pictures became much happier."
Lelouch looked at a chart for Kit.
It had Kit's full name and it showed that he had grown nearly six inches since he had arrived. The bottom picture showed a very shy, unhappy little boy, the current picture was that of a very happy kid with a big grin.
"Ouch, poor Kit. Who named him?" asked Lelouch curiously. "Khristopher Korringthander Kannington Kristopherson? That's terrible!"
"Hence why we just call him Kit." said Leon with a smile.
Lelouch walked down the wall looking at everyone in curiosity, and at the very end, was Leon.
The bottom picture was at age seven with a very unhappy, angry little boy that turned away from the camera, four and a half feet tall. Each month added nearly three inches until stopped at age thirteen, where there were pictures of his current progress as well as a new hand print every year.
"You looked like one scary little kid." said Lelouch with a smile.
"That's because I was a scary little kid." Leon admitted.
Lelouch continued looking at everyone, some of the children had yet to finish growing, others were well into their thirties with careers. But there were people missing. Besides him and Mercy, Suzaku had yet to claim a spot. The wall ended right at Shirley.
"How long as Suzaku been here?" Lelouch asked curiously.
"Two weeks. So he doesn't have a spot yet. That's why Leon brought you guys today. It's the end of May and time for everyone to see how much they've grown. That way you, Suzaku and Mercy can have your spots too." said Quatre with a smile.
"But Suzaku and I won't grow very much." Lelouch said with a grin.
"Well you'd be surprised, boys don't really stop growing till about twenty one. With luck you two might grow another couple of inches." Quatre explained. "How tall was your father?"
"I don't know, a lot bigger than me, that's for sure. But I don't want to be like him. He made Leon look skinny!"
"Ouch. That's pretty bad." Leon said with a wince. "I'm big enough as it is. I weigh nearly a hundred pounds more than my own twin brother."
"Yes, but there are reasons for that." Quatre said, gently patting Leon's shoulder.
Watching the two Lelouch finally got curious. "Mr. Midnightstar, how old are you?" he asked.
"Do you want my true age or my physical age?"
"I didn't know there was a difference." Lelouch said with a raised brow.
"In our family there can be." he admitted.
"Well what's your physical age?"
"Twenty eight."
"That's it?"
"Yes but you have to remember that I nearly died. Executed by the prime minister at the time when a Lieutenant Bartley sold me out for a higher rank."
Lelouch starred. "Then what's your real age? What's your real name for that matter?"
"I'm General Quatre Ryan Croomy and I am currently at age sixty seven. My daughter Cecile was born when I was thirty eight, and I was executed at age fifty four."
"Wait, Cecile Croomy is your daughter?"
"You forget I am a Britannian." said Quatre with a smile.
"Anything else I should know about this family before something causes me to have a heart attack?" Lelouch asked.
"Did you tell him about the closets?" Quatre asked Leon.
"Suzaku mentioned he found a herd of elephants in his." said Leon smiling.
"Yeah, about that, how is that possible?" Lelouch asked.
"Ask Malachai, he's the one that did it." said Quatre. "Let's see, what else is there? Oh yes, Sapphire."
"Aldair told me about your faithful tiger." Lelouch admitted.
"That's right, how are you and Aldair getting along?"
"We're working on it. He makes me seem normal and I didn't think that was possible." Lelouch sighed. "So there's nothing here that could eat me right?"
"Well they could, but they won't." Quatre chuckled. "Except Cameron maybe."
"Oh ha ha you fucking Bastard. Shut up and leave me out of the damn mess you call a family." Came a nasty growl behind Lelouch.
Lelouch jumped a bit and starred at the man before him.
He had Quatre's blond hair and matching blue eyes, but his facial features matched Travis's and he was wearing a white dress uniform that was missing its hat.
"I'm going to assume this is Cameron." Lelouch said, slowly backing away.'
"Brilliant deduction!" the man snapped.
"Cameron, where's your cover?" Quatre sighed.
"Your damn devil child there pinned it to his wall with a fuckin' butcher knife the other night!"
Quatre suddenly laughed. "What'd you do to piss him off Cameron? You know it takes a lot to bring out that temper."
"He was trying to fight with Ashtor and Travis and when I told him to go home he tried to pick a fight with me." Leon explained. "I really wanted to stab him, I just happened to miss."
"How'd he even get out of the sanctuary?" Malachai asked, appearing beside Quatre. "He was supposed to be trapped here."
Lelouch quickly began to feel unsure about what was going on so he quietly slid behind Leon who just smiled down at him.
"If there's anyone to be scared of it'd only be Cameron I can assure you." Leon whispered softly. "Anyway, why don't you go outside and play with the others while we resolve this mess?"
"Umm…. Okay." he said, the he walked out of the hallway, leaving the four men to argue. "Now which way is outside? I don't even remember where I am in this house." he said walking down to the end of the hallway.
After a quick turn left then another, he saw the living room which was full of couches, bean bags, and large pillows, and beyond that was a set of glass sliding doors.
So he walked through the room and cautiously walked out the door where he found what resembled a circus.
There were children everywhere. There was a gigantic swing set, much like the ones found in a schoolyard playground and all eight swings were full, there was a line of small children on the slide, and several more playing on a merry go round. At least ten kids were on the gigantic jungle gym, and many of the older kids were supervising as they chatted by a cluster of picnic tables.
"Geez, it's like an elementary school playground on the beach." Lelouch muttered to himself.
"Well suffice it to say, just a small backyard playground wouldn't cut it for thirty children." came a woman's kind voice and a small growl.
Lelouch turned his head to see no one beside him, then he looked down to see a large white tiger looking up at him.
"Good thing someone warned me about you." he sighed making her laugh.
"After meeting Aldair, am I really that much of a surprise?" she asked smiling.
"I guess not." he shrugged. He jumped a little when she nudged his hand with her nose, before rubbing against it. "What? You like to be scratched behind the ears?"
"Of course I do." she giggled.
Lelouch just obliged and gently rubbed behind the short round ears making her growl cheerfully.
"Are you going to go play?" Sapphire asked.
"No, I think I'm fine here."
"But even Suzaku's playing."
Lelouch looked up to see Suzaku sitting in the middle of the spinning merry-go-round with a little boy that had to of been around two years old in his lap, surrounded by other kids, as two of the older brothers ran around the outside spinning it faster. He felt a little awkward though when he realized who the blonde brother was.
"Is that……. Gino Weinberg?" he asked slowly.
"He's quite the cheery one. He's much like Roderick. They get along quite well."
"Anyone else from my world that I should know about?" he asked.
"Hmmm….. There's Lloyd, Cecile, Gino, Suzaku, Euphie, Shirley, Nina, Anya, Kallen……. I think that's about it."
"Anya and Kallen? They're here too? It's almost like home only everyone's getting along."
"True." Sapphire agreed. "That and they're all happy and smiling. Gino and Kallen make a cute couple."
"So it seems." said Lelouch, watching as Kallen pounced on Gino in a hug after he had stopped spinning the Merry-Go- round. "Who's the kid that was spinning the merry go round with Gino?"
"That's Trowa. He's visiting from Florida." she explained.
"Oh, okay." was all he could say. Then he laughed when Suzaku climbed off the Merry-Go-Round, and tumbled into the sand, swaying a bit from the dizziness. After a moment he sat down on the patio next to Sapphire, gently scratching the back of her neck.
"You're aren't going to go play?" she asked.
"I'm good. It looks like they're all happy enough without me."
"I'm sure they'd be even happier with you."
"Happier? I don't know if that's possible." Lelouch said with a smile.
"But I don't think they'll let you have a choice in the matter." said Sapphire as Suzaku ran over with Mercy.
"Come on Lelouch, come play." said Suzaku, a huge grin on his face.
"I'm good sitting right here Suzaku." he said.
"But we want you to come play!" said Mercy.
"But I don't want to interrupt."
"Interrupt?" Suzaku laughed. "You can't interrupt pure chaos. At this point all you can do is contribute to it. Come on!"
Lelouch couldn't help but laugh as Suzaku tried to tug him to his feet with Mercy's help. "Alright! Alright! I'll come play!" he said laughing as he stood up.
Suzaku and Mercy then led him into the sand where everyone quickly gathered around and introduced themselves.
There were so many names Lelouch felt his head start to spin.
Along with Suzaku, Nina, Gino, Kallen, Suzaku, Euphie, Mercy, Kit, Anya, and Trowa, there was also Braydon, Cody, Sammy (Samantha), Sam(Samuel), Joe, Katie, Macy, Manny, Lisa, Mark, Tanner, Austin, Jeremy and Niles were a pair of Irish genius', Isabella (Izzy), Marina, Tucker, Jennifer, Stephaney, Sakura, Kaleb, Luis, Shawn, William, Anita, Shirley, Lindsay, Darren, Sasha, Shyla, Ryan, Sebastian, Tara, Sarah, Tessa (not to be confused with Braydon's sister), and Tanya.
"My head hurts a little now." said Lelouch sitting with Kallen, Shirley and Suzaku as everyone else went back to playing. "That's what? Thirty two, thirty three new names?"
"You haven't met the older kids and the in-laws yet." said Kallen smiling.
"Fantastic, I don't think I'm going to remember everyone here, let alone extended family." he admitted with a tiny smile. "No wonder this house is so big."
"There's sixty bedrooms total." said Shirley. "Thirty in the boy's wing, thirty in the girl's wing."
"Well, sixty one if you count Mr. Midnightstar's." said Suzaku.
"We even have a room for you Lelouch, for when you decide to come spend the night once in a while. Or like, when Leon goes on deployment." said Kallen.
"How long do his deployments last?" Lelouch asked.
"Anywhere from six to eight months." Shirley explained.
"That's a long time."
"I'm sure you could still stay home once in a while with Travis and Leon Ashtor." said Suzaku. "I know Kit wants to so he doesn't leave Mitch alone."
Suddenly there was a loud meow and a hiss as something grey pounced on Suzaku, biting his arm.
"Arthur!" Suzaku whined. "Will you ever stop chewing on me?"
"Come here Arthur." said Kallen, gently taking the cat from him.
"The cat's here? We brought the cat?" Lelouch sighed.
"He wouldn't let go of me." Suzaku muttered.
"Did he ever?"
"Good point."
"I have to admit, this place feels kind of weird." Lelouch said.
"Weird? In what way?" Shirley asked.
"I don't know, it just does." Lelouch shrugged. "If only because you and Euphie are alive."
"How she so casually forgave you for killing her is beyond me though." said Suzaku.
"Euphie was always like that. She never really cared what happened as long as someone smiled. I don't know."
"Was she really your sister?" Kallen asked.
"Half sister. But yeah, she was my sister too. I remember Nunnally and I used to love playing with her when we were little."
"So what changed?" Shirley asked.
"The world? Me? Everything I guess." he shrugged.
"Why do I get the feeling you were an angry little kid like Leon?" Shirley said with a tiny smile.
"Probably, I just didn't have the strength to punch through a brick wall when I was seven years old. Anyway, speaking of Euphie, where is she?" he asked looking around. "I noticed she's not out here."
"She went grocery shopping with Miss Sarah today. She'll be back in a couple of hours." Suzaku explained.
"Alright then." Lelouch muttered. Then he let out a sigh. "Why do I feel like I've gone insane?"
"You're not insane, just crazy." Shirley said cheerfully.
"I didn't know there was a difference." Suzaku said.
"Roderick once told me that crazy means you're on the edge of your rocker laughing cheerfully. Insane means you're completely off your rocker, sitting on the ground laughing your ass off from the fall." said Kallen with a smile. "Personally I think he's dangerously close to falling off."
"Most of us do." Lelouch agreed, smiling a little at the explanation. "Any other weird explanations from dear uncle Roddy?"
"He said that crazy means having one foot firmly planted in reality while the other is merrily splashing away in a bath of weirdness." Shirley said with a smile.
Everyone burst out laughing.
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The four of them spent the rest of the sunny afternoon talking happily, as if nothing had ever happened back home in Britannian ruled Japan.
Even when Euphie pounced on Lelouch in a hug, surprising him enough to make him fall out of his seat everyone just laughed as if the world had always been this way for them.
Before long though they all went inside for lunch and Lelouch quickly felt comfortable within the large family between the familiar faces and the new loving siblings.
Even when they were all down the hall, playing with the paint for the progress wall Lelouch felt as if he had been a part of the family all along. He couldn't help but smile at his new spot on the wall next to Suzaku and Gino.
His background color was a bright blue and his measurement was at five feet eight inches tall. His picture was cheerful and happy and next to the frame was a yellow handprint.
After a couple hours of everyone playing, and Lelouch exploring a bit, it was time for dinner.
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But unfortunately the visit was cut a little short as a nasty thunder storm blew in making them have to go home a little early, Suzaku staying at the Sanctuary and Kit going home with them.
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Later that night Lelouch watched out his window as the rain poured, the wind howled and the lightning flashed, the thunder loud enough to shake the house.
"So what did you think of the family?" Aldair asked, sitting next to him.
"It's a wonderful family. I finally feel…….. Human, and very happy."
"Like you can let everything go." finished Aldair.
"Exactly."
"That's quite a storm out there."
"I know, it's like it's right on top of us." said Lelouch looking at the clock on his nightstand. "I wonder if everyone else managed to fall asleep."
"Well I'm sure Leon has. He's used to sleeping just a couple decks below the flight deck so that get's pretty noisy."
"I'm guess that's true." said Lelouch, looking out the window again. But just as he turned the entire sky lit up as lightning streaked across the sky right over the house making the thunder loud enough that the house shook and scared him, making him jump into his bed and hide under the blanket shaking.
"Don't tell me you're scared?" Aldair laughed, turning off the light and joining him.
"I don't know why. I mean…… I've been under fire plenty of times, but that just freaked me out!" Lelouch admitted, pulling the blanket off his head.
Aldair, gently touched noses with him. "There's nothing to be afraid of Lelouch, it won't hurt you here. It's just a storm."
"I know." Lelouch sighed, letting himself relax. But he tensed up suddenly when the knob to his bedroom door began to rattle, first just a tiny bit, then it began to rattle violently letting him know that it wasn't family trying to come into his room. "Aldair……..?" he squeaked softly. "I don't like this."
Suddenly his door swung open slowly, but there was no one in the doorway or anywhere in the hall in front of it.
"I know for a fact Mitch isn't the type to play jokes like this and neither are the Ashtor brothers, something else is doing this." Aldair whispered with a protective growl.
Lelouch slowly got up as another flash of lightning illuminated the room. He then tip toed to the door and looked out in the hallway.
"Mr. Ashtor? Mitch? Travis?" he whispered, hoping one of them would answer as Aldair came to stand beside him.
He looked from side to side, feeling fear well up inside him as he looked down the hall towards the stairs to Leon's office. There he saw a figure standing in front of the window. It was too short to be Mr. Ashtor or Travis. "Mitch?"
Another flash of lightning lit the hall, and Lelouch felt terrified.
Standing by the window wasn't anyone from the family. It was a very scary, evil looking soldier in a grey uniform, and covered in blood.
Lelouch quickly took off running down the hall till he found Leon's room, then he quietly peeked in to see Leon and Sahara with Mercy and Kit hiding under the blankets between them.
"Lelouch? What's wrong?" Leon asked with a yawn looking at him.
"What? The little one's got scared?" he asked, trying to put on a brave smile. But he knew it wasn't fooling Leon.
"And apparently you did as well, otherwise you wouldn't be in here." Leon said.
"I highly doubt lightning and thunder would scare you Lelouch." said Sahara kindly.
"It kinda did, but that wasn't what really bothered me." he admitted.
"Oh? Then what did?"
"Well first something was shaking the doorknob to my room really hard, then my door opened and no one was there. Aldair said Mitch and the Ashtor brother's aren't the type to play those kind of jokes so I went out in the hall to see if anyone was there, and I saw someone standing by the window down by the stairs to your office. I thought it was Mitch at first, and I kept calling his name, but he wouldn't answer, then when the lightning flashed, I saw that it was a very scary, very bloody man with a nasty grin so I ran in here instead of going back to my room." he replied, shaking a little. "I'm sorry. But I don't really want to go back to my room now."
"You saw the scary man too Louie?" Kit asked.
"Why didn't you say anything Kit?" Leon asked.
"Cause I wasn't sure if it was just me." Kit said shyly.
"Oh well, I suppose we have just enough room for one more." said Sahara with a smile.
"It's up to you Lelouch." shrugged Leon.
Lelouch quickly climbed into the bed between Kit and Mercy, before pulling the blanket over his head. But before long he began to feel comfortable and he then pulled the blanket off of his head.
"Goodnight Lelouch." said Sahara gently kissing his cheek.
"Goodnight Louie." said Kit smiling.
After everyone exchanged goodnights, Lelouch settled in as they all began to drift off to sleep and he couldn't help but think about how lucky he was.
'I'm finally home.' he thought contently, then he fell asleep as well.
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Ginger: Yes! It's done! But fear not guys, if you really liked this story and it's characters enough, there's a sequel called 'A second chance to grow up'. The scary guy in the end will be explained there! So if you liked this go ahead and check it out. I hope you all enjoy it as much as you've like this one! Thanks to everyone for keeping going to the end! You're all so awesome!