Disclaimer: I do now own Code Geass!
Author Notes: It was lying unedited in my folder and I at last decided to edit and post it. It may seem rushed at some part and this is mostly a filler chapter. Nothing significant happens here but I still wanted to put it out. The last line is the only significant thing. Kudos!
Chapter 3: Of Siblings and Friendship
Suzaku wasn't sure of this at all. Normally he was headstrong and confident and he nearly always supported Lelouch. Even when he didn't support the decisions Lelouch took he made sure to let Lelouch know it very clearly. But this time he had done neither. He wasn't even a bit confident in the plan nor did he talk about it to Lelouch. The latter could be chalked up to the fact that Lelouch had all but disappeared after the 'secret' meeting. So had CC.
Suzaku- and everyone else- had a lot of questions for them but it was easier to find the Easter bunny than to find them. So it was with a heavy heart that Suzaku trudged up to the main palace. He knew for a fact that Lelouch had no interest in CC any more than he had interest in Anya but the others were not so easily convinced after all the remarks made and the show CC had put on.
But Suzaku knew Lelouch for the past many years and he was absolutely sure that he would know if the boy was in love with anyone. And it wasn't like Lelouch to fall in love so suddenly. If he had been with CC before the marriage proposal he would have never agreed to it in the first place. But who was CC anyway? Suzaku had never seen her and he was sure that she wasn't any of the noble's daughters. She didn't even look completely Britannian but she had an easy familiarity with Lelouch that was very visible despite his irritation towards her.
Suzaku rubbed her head. All this thinking was making his head hurt.
It didn't help that Lelouch was refusing to talk to him. He always shared an easy rapport with Lelouch despite their completely opposite personalities and he really didn't understand what had happened in the time he had last seen Lelouch to cause such a big change in his friend.
Suzaku pursed his lips. The wedding was tomorrow. It supposed to be today but was postponed to the next day due to some security concerns- which he was sure was Li Xingke's doing.
And he needed to speak with Lelouch.
Straightening out his stance he marched towards Lelouch room with his goal clear on his mind. He was going to speak to Lelouch today and find out what was wrong. No way he was taking no for an answer. Despite their radically different personalities the one trait they both shared was stubbornness.
With a deep breath, he raised his hand to knock on the door. It was time to get some answers.
Kallen Kouzuki was not a happy woman. She guessed it had something to do with the revelations that came out the previous night but she had to admit that the whole trip was one big disaster.
It irked her even more when she realized that the disaster could have been easily avoided if Lelouch had the thought of not accepting the proposal in the first place instead of bowing out at the absolute last moment. They were lucky that Xingke was able to fake of a security problem and postpone the wedding to the next day so that could work out the finer details of the plan.
"Isn't this exciting?"
Part of why she was not a happy woman was the girl that was bouncing beside her. Euphemia li Britannia was the typical kind hearted, air headed princess that Kallen loathed. She didn't personally have any problem with the girl but it was more of a general hatred towards her personality types.
It was probably a small bit because of the fact that she used to date Suzaku before.
Kallen Kouzuki was not a jealous woman by any means but she was quite possessive about things that were hers and even though she knew that Euphie was as pure as they come and Suzaku loved only her there was a small, insecure, tightly locked up, pessimistic part of her that was always worried that one day Suzaku would be gone and would end up with Euphie.
Even though the likeness of the situation happening was close to none given that she was married to Suzaku and that her brother would soon be married to Euphie she couldn't help but worry a teeny tiny bit.
"I am sure that Suzaku would be with Lelouch right now talking to him about his decision and all." It didn't help that Euphie knew how Suzaku felt and how he would act and the obvious love between them despite the Break up.
Kallen merely grunted.
Euphie raised an eyebrow and tilted her head curiously. "You hate me don't you?"
Kallen was stunned into silence for a few moments before she remembered that she was supposed to be denying the charge rather than staring open mouthed at Euphie's face
"What? No of course not why would I-"
"Well maybe hate is too strong a word." Euphie conceded. "You are not particularly fond of me."
"It's not like that. Not at all. It isn't you or any problem with you-" Kallen floundered, feeling completely and utterly flustered.
"It's because of Suzaku isn't it?" Kallen stopped talking and resisted the urge to glare at the girl. It was the second time she had interrupted Kallen and Kallen wasn't happy.
"What do you mean?" It came out sharper than she had intended to sound.
Euphie had a small smile on her face as she turned away from Kallen and studied the flowers. The Gardens were beautiful at this time of the year but it was no reason to ignore Kallen and stare at them in middle of a very important conversation.
"I may not be as smart as Lelouch but I am not blind you know." Euphie began conversationally. "Just because you are good at hiding it doesn't mean I didn't notice it. I might have ignored it and thought it was my imagination of Nunnally hadn't confirmed it."
Kallen blinked in surprise. She knew Nunnally and had talked to the Princess a few times but she wasn't that close to her and didn't know she had noticed that something was wrong. Not that there was anything wrong of course.
"There is nothing to confirm." Kallen scowled forgetting her forceful smile for now.
"Kallen." Euphie turned to face her. "I love Naoto."
Kallen blinked at the raw honesty on Euphie's face. "I admit that when you first got together I was jealous. But that too dissipated when Lelouch talked to me one day." Euphie blushed. "Let's just say he wasn't very happy with me being sad and depressed instead of happy about you and Suzaku."
"Lelouch talked to you?" Kallen never thought that the pretty boy would bother with anything that wasn't related to him or his younger sister but then she knew how much he and Suzaku cared about each other no matter how vehemently they tried to deny it. Kallen didn't like the young prince much because of his arrogant attitude but she had to admit that when it came to the people he cared about he was equally loyal as Suzaku was.
"Yeah he did. Knocked some sense into me." Euphie smiled sheepishly. "Then I met Naoto and well," she waved her hand. "Rest is history."
Kallen stared at the young girl for a few moments before breaking out into a smile. "You should have said so before."
"So does that mean you were jealous?"
"What? No, no of course not." Euphie giggled and even Kallen cracked a smile.
It seemed like the flowers weren't the only things blossoming.
Clovis la Britannia loved weddings. He loved any kind of occasion but especially weddings. There was something special about them that made the artist in him sing with joy.
"You look happy."
His fiancé's voice broke him out of his reverie and he turned to look at her. She looked radiant in her light blue shirt and blouse that was more professional than artistic. He knew that she liked reporting and so he had given her a free reign to do whatever she wanted to until their marriage. Not that it would have mattered if he tried to stop her; it wasn't like she would have listened to him anyways.
"Weddings are always a cause for celebration don't you think?" He asked as he turned back to his painting. He was sitting on the balcony and painting the gardens below that was a bright splash of color which suited his mood perfectly.
Milly hummed in agreement as she came to stand beside him. "But it depends on how willing the involved parties are doesn't it?" She asked. Clovis froze mid stroke and frowned. Being a reporter had given Milly rare insight through which she could spot the undercurrents of emotions behind anything.
"You think that Lelouch and the Empress aren't happy with this arrangement?" He asked, placing his brush down. He didn't want his confusion to reflect in his painting so he shifted his attention towards Milly. He knew that it was more a marriage for political convenience than anything else but Lelouch had shown no signs of regretting it. His and Milly's engagement too had been an arrangement initially but they had luckily fallen in love along the way.
He really wasn't sure if his bratty brother was capable of love unfortunately.
"I can't speak for the Empress but Lelouch may be having second thoughts about this." Milly confessed. Clovis gaped at her.
"Second thoughts?" He asked wary. He knew that this engagement wasn't as important as everyone thought it was but it would still damage their reputation to break the engagement in the last minute. He doubted the Chinese Federation would be too happy with them.
But it had been Lelouch who had agreed to it in the first place so it didn't make sense for him to back out of it now. Unless…..
"Don't tell me that there is really something going on between my brother and Suzaku Kururugi." He groaned at the thought of another scandal. The last one involving his brother and Kururugi had resulted in every person of the Britannian Family being hounded by the pesky reporters. Who were kind of like Milly but then Milly was his fiancé so she didn't count. It wasn't until Milly took a special interview of Lelouch that cleared up everything once and for all that the reporters stopped hounding them. And even then there were still occasional mentions of it on the T.V as a passing joke.
It was hard to guess which was scarier. The fact that the reporters were so interested in their love life or the fact that they actually wanted Suzaku and Lelouch to end up together.
He shuddered at the memory of the fan arts, fanfiction and other things that had popped up after that incident. Even though the fan arts were top notch it as fan art of his brother and his best friend in inappropriate positions. It was more than Clovis could handle.
"It's nothing like that unfortunately." Clovis smartly decided to ignore the disappointment in Milly's tone. "But he is wondering if the Empress would be happy." He frowned in confusion. "He thinks that she already loves someone else."
He blinked. "What?"
Milly nodded. "Yes, she didn't outright say it but Lelouch picked it up anyways."
"My brother learnt to read the ladies?" He was still feeling a bit skeptical but when Milly narrowed her eyes at him he gulped.
"Are you really going to stop a love story from taking place?" She demanded with her hands on her hips. Clovis reflected that she looked absolutely attractive like this but he knew that telling that to her in this condition wouldn't do anything to calm her down.
"What love story?"
"The one between the Empress and her mysterious lover." She grinned widely. "Don't you think it would be interesting to unite them?"
Interesting wasn't the word Clovis would have used but he didn't try to correct Milly. And he did think that it would be truly inspiring to get two star crossed lovers together against all odds. "Do you think they will let me paint them when they get married?" He mused out loud. He mostly painted Nobles in arranged marriages and he had to admit that it was a disappointment. He would like to paint a love story; a painting that would reflect the pain they went through and the obstacles they had to conquer to end up together. For that, he would require live specimens.
If Milly found his statement strange she didn't show it and merely smiled. "If you help them then I am sure they will." Clovis eyes sparkled at the thought of all the portraits he could make.
Since he was imagining the joy he would derive from painting such a masterpiece he completely missed the smirk that had slid on Milly's face. If he had noticed then he would've shrunk back with fear and might've denied getting involved with the plan but he didn't and so he too was roped into the chaos that would soon unfold.
Suzaku blinked at Lelouch's condition. He looked positively ragged. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked like he had aged ages since yesterday. Suzaku opened his mouth to question it but Lelouch shook his head and gestured towards the bed.
Suzaku took a step back when he noticed CC spread eagle shaped on the middle of the bed.
It explained a lot. Especially why Lelouch had to decided to camp on the sofa.
Suzaku was expecting many things when he entered the room but this was not one of them.
If there had been any doubt in Suzaku's mind about their relationship it was gone when Lelouch marched towards the bed and screamed, "Wake up, Witch!" Suzaku had never seen Lelouch scream. He saw Lelouch cry (courtesy of Nunnally), whine (courtesy of Schneizel), plead (courtesy of Lady Marianne) and even turn icy cold (courtesy of too many people to count himself included) but he never ever witnessed Lelouch lose his cool in such an obvious manner.
But while he was stunned into silence the green haired woman only glared at the source of disturbance before burying herself back into pillows.
Suzaku stood in shock as Lelouch growled (well this wasn't anything new) and pushed her off the bed. The loud thump made Suzaku wince as he took a step back and eyed his friend warily. Lelouch had a satisfied and scary grin on his face that made Suzaku wonder if he had finally lost his mind.
CC merely got up, glared at Lelouch, and glanced at Suzaku before stalking out of the room. Suzaku merely stood frozen near the doorway as Lelouch calmly turned towards him and gave him a sweet smile.
"Now we can talk."
Suzaku eyed the bird nest hair, panda eyes and ruffled clothes. "Don't you think it would be better if you washed up first?"
Lelouch waved his hand carelessly and said, "We will have time for it later." Suzaku through sheer willpower controlled the dropping of his jaw. He never thought he would see a day where Lelouch dismissed personal hygiene like he was doing right now. Normally it was Lelouch who hounded him and asked him to clean up and not to stay like an animal. "I doubt she will be gone for long and it's better if we get this conversation over with before she comes back." That made more sense to Suzaku but he still stared at Lelouch warily.
"Close the door." Suzaku did as he was told before coming closer to Lelouch. He debated between sitting next to Lelouch on the bed or on the sofa far away from his clearly insane best friend. Weighing the options in his head he sighed as he took a seat on the bed beside Lelouch.
Lelouch stared at him and it was unnerving him. "What?" He asked.
Lelouch merely tilted his head to the side and smirked. And there was the Lelouch that Suzaku knew. "That's what I am supposed to be asking. What did you want to talk about?" Suzaku knew that Lelouch knew very well what he wanted to talk about but was still acting irritatingly naive.
"You know why I am here."
Lelouch just sighed tiredly like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and sat back. "You have to be more specific Suzaku."
"Why did you break you engagement?"
"I think I already explained it quite well yesterday."
"Why now?"
At that Lelouch stayed silent and gazed thoughtfully at the wall behind Suzaku. Suzaku wondered what was taking Lelouch so long to think about this. Normally Lelouch always had an answer ready for whatever question was thrown at him and he knew that Lelouch may already have been anticipating this talk to take place.
"It's hard to explain."
Suzaku stared at him.
"What?"
Lelouch just sighed again and Suzaku noted that he had been sighing a lot more recently. "Look, I have changed."
"What?"
Suzaku knew that he was starting to sound like a broken record but there was not much that he could do. This was all a bit more over the top than he had expected and there was nothing he could understand. Lelouch rolled his eyes with an irritated look on his face.
"Is it because of CC?" Suzaku realized that it was starting to seem like everything came back to the CC character. Ever since she came everything was upside down and all the things were being questioned. Including the sanity of his best friend. Suzaku entertained the possibility of drug use for a moment before shaking his head. It was a stupid thought and he knew it.
"What?! No!" Lelouch scowled but it quickly disappeared. "Well actually…. Maybe it is kind of related to her." He fidgeted and Suzaku shook in head in confusion. Maybe Suzaku wasn't off the mark with drug use.
"Lelouch, you have to be clearer."
"I cannot, can't you see?" Lelouch burst out. "I cannot explain it more clearly than this and I just-" He buried his head in his hands and Suzaku didn't know what to do. He never seen Lelouch break down before and to witness this made Suzaku feel all kinds of uncomfortable.
"Hey, hey Lelouch." He placed a hand on his friends back and awkwardly tried to rub comforting circles on his back. "Don't worry. We are here to help aren't we? We will get you out of this engagement." Suzaku had a feeling that the problem was more complicated than the engagement but he didn't know how to breach the subject.
"I am fine." Lelouch had a familiar blank look on his face that frankly scared Suzaku.
"Are you-"
"You better leave now. I will be out soon. Let me just get fresh." With that Lelouch pointedly got up and made his way towards the bathroom. The loud snap of the bathroom door made Suzaku wince as he stared at the back of the door warily. This, by no means, sounded like Lelouch but at the same time Lelouch didn't seem like himself ever since he had come.
Sighing, he made his way out of the room, feeling more confused than before. It seemed like he was gathering more questions than answers. There was something off about Lelouch and he had to find out what was it. For that he would have to talk with Nunnally and Euphie about how Lelouch was acting before he arrived.
"He didn't tell you anything did he?" Suzaku frowned in confusion as he noticed the green haired woman leaning against the wall beside the door and he had to wonder where she had managed to get pizza from so early in the morning. She had only worn a flimsy white shirt which looked suspiciously like Lelouch's. He didn't understand how had he managed to miss her attire when she left earlier but he chalked it up to his surprise at seeing Lelouch so unhinged.
"What do you mean?" Suzaku realized that he hated the word 'what'.
CC sighed and rolled her eyes. "What an idiot."
"I am not an idiot!"
"You call him your best friend don't you?" CC asked. "Then why can't you realize that he isn't the Lelouch you know?"
"What do you mean?" He narrowed his eyes and added her to the list of people he had to question.
"He has changed. For the better or for worse is another question but-" she turned toward him. "You need to be there for him. He may act a bit different sometimes what with not remembering events that happened before this but you have to support him. I know it's hard not to ask questions but you can try. And who knows? Maybe you will know the whole story at the end of it all."
With that, she entered the room and shut the door behind her, leaving him standing flabbergasted in the hallway.
It seemed like he had a few things to do.
"What a bright day!" Gino Weinberg was energetic as he dragged a bedraggled Anya behind him. She had her usual blank look in her face that was only defeated by the slight droopiness of her eyes.
"And we couldn't have waited for some other time to visit the Kitchens?" She groaned. There was still quite some time for breakfast and trust Gino to be curious about the Kitchens of all the places. Anya would have been content to at least be dragged to the gardens if anywhere but Gino was dragging her to the kitchen.
Where was Suzaku when you needed him?
Sighing she tried to match Gino's pace and by the time they reached the kitchens she was panting for breath.
"You are so unfit." Anya fixed him with a blank stare.
"Or maybe you just have freakishly long legs." She replied monotonously and raised an eyebrow when Gino stuck out his tongue at her.
The Kitchens in the Main Palace as open to the visitors. It had its own small dining room away from where the cooking was done and the visitors could interact with the staff if they wanted. Anya knew that half the reason Gino had come down here was to interrogate the chefs about how they made half the dishes so he could replicate them.
Sighing, she pushed open the door to the small room and was immediately greeted by a familiar person.
"Lady Kaguya!" Gino seemed to be equally surprised as he stepped into the room. Lady Kaguya looked up in surprise before grinning widely. Anya noticed the steaming cup of green tea on the table and gathered that the girl had come here for some of her favorite beverage. "What brings you here so early?" Gino continued.
"Came here to have a bit of tea." She replied. Anya noticed the slightly lilting accent that tainted her English but she had to admit that while on any other Japanese the accent sounded rough, Lady Kaguya managed to make it sound pleasant. She also thought about the fact how Suzaku had no accent at all though she guessed it was mostly due to the influence of Lelouch vi Britannia.
"A woman after my own heart." While any other girl would have blushed, Kaguya merely chuckled lightly. Gino grinned widely in return and Anya raised her eyebrow at that. There was something worth looking into here but for now she would only observe.
"Where is Suzaku?" Kaguya asked.
"I think he went to have a talk with Lelouch." Anya dutifully informed. She had caught sight of the boy striding towards the room where Lelouch was supposed to be staying when they were coming to the Kitchens. It was just after she was mentally cursing Suzaku for not being there to accompany Gino.
She was having quite a lot of fun with this trip mostly because of the revelations. While it wasn't the chaos that interested her, it was the reactions of the others to the problems. She already started a huge collection of photos of everyone wearing an expression which normally would have never been seen on their faces.
"To discuss the plan?" Lady Kaguya questioned innocently though Anya knew that she knew exactly why Suzaku wanted to talk with Lelouch.
"I think it's more to interrogate him." Gino laughed, momentarily forgetting about thee reason he had dragged Anya down to the kitchens.
"I don't think Lelouch will let anyone question him." Kaguya said.
"Maybe Lelouch needed a pep talk he can carry out the plan." Gino suggested cheerfully and Anya rolled her eyes. She never thought she will ever see a day where Lelouch vi Britannia needed a pep talk to do something he was confident about.
"What about the Empress?" She asked.
"I just met with Tianzi before coming here." Kaguya took a sip of her tea. "She is really nervous."
"Why would she be nervous?"
"Well, Tianzi is planning to run away tonight after all."
"The Empress is planning to run away?" Nunnally stepped out from behind the door, a shocked expression etched to her face.
Everyone shared a look and Anya clicked a photo of the stunned Nunnally.
Oops.
Schneizel sighed and smiled contently as he took another sip of his tea. It was perfect; just the way he liked it.
"You seem to be more content than I have seen you in ages." Schneizel opened his eyes that had closed in his ecstasy and turned his smiled towards his personal assistant.
"That is because I am." Schneizel took another sip. "Lelouch is getting married after all."
"In short, you are happy that Lelouch decided to initiate the political marriage so you didn't have to put yourself in that position." Kanon could always to read him no matter how good his poker face was. Or maybe Schneizel never tried to mask his feelings when he was around his closest friend.
"Do you want me to get married?" Schneizel asked.
Kanon held his gaze as they both got into a staring contest. "Do I have to answer that question?" Kanon asked at last.
"Well, it would make things more fun for one thing." Kanon mused. "It would add an extra layer of fun to go behind the backs of everyone. The danger of being caught would certainly spice up things right?" Kanon winked at him and Schneizel let out a chuckle. He was reminded why he kept Kanon around him. Kanon was refreshing and everything about him was captivating. From his exotic looks to his playful games.
"It sure will. But then I prefer to keep myself to one man for now." Schneizel smiled at Kanon and saw the other man's eyes soften.
"But it's not like we can get married." There was no bitterness in Kanon's voice but Schneizel knew that he felt strongly about the laws in Britannia that prevented two men from getting married. While Schneizel knew that his Father didn't care about who did what, the Emperor still didn't abolish the law. The man was a very lazy person and the world's biggest procrastinator.
"Who knows? Maybe one day the people will hold protests to convince him to change the law." Schneizel squeezed his hand and Kanon gave a smile.
"Anyways there is something going on." Schneizel turned his attention back to his tea.
"What do you mean?" He asked, leaning against Schneizel's seat.
"Don't you feel like something is off about the mood?" Schneizel questioned.
"Not really….. unless you consider the wedding being postponed for a day suspicious."
"Which I don't. What I do find suspicious are the bride and groom going missing at the engagement party yesterday along with a select few of their closest allies." Schneizel took another sip of his tea as he let Kanon digest this information.
"You think they are planning something? But why would they? The marriage was fixed after asking them, they have no reason to disagree now."
"We asked Lelouch. I don't think Empress Tianzi is in this with her own will." Schneizel was very well aware that Empress Tianzi was a mere puppet to the High Eunuchs and he doubted they would have asked for her opinion before arranging this marriage.
"Even so, it doesn't explain why they would have had some kind of meeting behind everyone's back."
"Unless she admitted the fact to Lelouch and he is trying to help her out by planning something dramatic so the wedding doesn't take place." Schneizel was very well aware of the fact that Lelouch had little to no interest in the wedding except for political gains. While his brother may be arrogant he doubted Lelouch would marry someone who didn't want to get married to him.
"Dramatic?" There were clear signs of amusement in Kanon's voice.
"It's Lelouch. He is nothing if not dramatic." Schneizel shrugged. If Lelouch was trying to get out of the wedding they could bet it would be in the most dramatic way possible that would probably end with them getting hounded by reporters for a month.
"So what should we do?"
"For now? Let us wait and watch." Schneizel smiled at his aid and tugged the man a bit closer. "If we play our cards right we may be able to turn this in our favor."
But before he could say or do anything else, a soldier burst in.
"What happened?" Schneizel stood up quickly as Kanon moved a respectable distance away. The soldier seemed unaware of what he had interrupted and Schneizel's eyes narrowed.
"The Empress has been kidnapped!"
A/N: Oops? To clarify, she has been kidnapped. But by whom? Can anyone of you guess? Well, this story is dragging on longer than I thought it would but there another two or maximum three chapters left. So be patient and keep guessing!
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Thecatleader,The SENDER and the TRAVELLER, foxydame: Thanks for the review!
