Thank you: brunettebookworm14, Usagi323 and lordmarik! I appreciate everything you and every single reader/reviewer does to a degree no one can calculate!! Only 2 or 3 chapters left. D: Hope you like it! :D
The Geass is supposed to give one a life of solitude and loneliness...by giving Isabella a Geass, I completely changed her fate...I never intended on giving her one but when she stumbled that day, somehow, the power got transferred to her. She was always wondering why she never died from all the bullets wounds she obtained once she agreed to join the war...the Geass she gained apparently was not the only thing she had gotten that day. After receiving the Geass, Isabella was transferred a piece of my immortality...not a big piece but some making her able to revive more quickly and survive more than an average human could. I didn't figure that part out until the first time she was shot by her brother...I took one look at that wound and mentally how any other human would have died of blood loss because of the gaping hole, however, she recovered rapidly...then I knew...I knew she was the one that would be able to complete the contract...I didn't in any way try to use her for she was a genuine friend to me. She entertained me when she'd spaz out and when it came down to my weakness of pizza, she was always the one putting up with it without complaint even if it annoyed her. I loved her...she was a sister to me and I wish I could have been able to live as a mortal by her side. Isabella Liberata, you must live on...continue the legacy of Zero when no one can...be the hero everyone else needs...you've already saved so many with your kind heart. Please continue to save the world with your compassion and loving nature. The world needs someone like you.
"I will not give up...I will not give up," Isabella raised her head, ribbons of tears still flowing down her cheeks and her black bangs hung in her face, making shadows appear on it.
Isabella stood, C.C.'s body in her arms bridal style and she slowly walked out of the sanctuary of the church back into the cold, unfeeling mansion.
Flash to Kallen...
Kallen sat up in her bed, fully alert and her heart pounding.
"What is this...?"
She turned around to look out the window, the sheet of rain almost blocking the full moon and Kallen put her hand over her heart.
"C.C....Isabella..."
Kallen closed her eyes and let a tears drip down.
"I'm so sorry this had to happen."
Flash back to Isabella...
She stood at C.C.'s grave, a cross made of sticks and woven flower stems marking the spot where her body was buried. Isabella let her tears mix with the rain on her face and knelt down before the cross, saying a mental prayer.
"I'll never give up...I'll use my power...right now...to help Lelouch accomplish his goal."
Isabella stood off the muddy ground and began walking away, her soaking wet hair still swaying as she strode away.
"If you have an obstacle...get rid of it..." Isabella muttered and set out to find the castle that she never wanted to return to.
Hours later...
"Why...why him too?!" she cried and held his lifeless body, "Rolo! Why you too!?"
Isabella gripped his shirt tightly and let out the most agonized, heart shattering scream she could muster.
It's not fair...it's not fair! My little brother...why Rolo too?! WHY?!
I'm really enjoying making this confusing...(Side note: As Isabella gained immortality, Rolo was doing this...)
"I won't let her hurt anymore," Rolo told himself and kept Isabella's gun at his side as he walked himself to the palace of King Charles. "He's nothing but another trouble for her and Lelouch...I vowed to help them both...if this is what I have to do then so be it...even if I lose my life!"
Rolo snuck in the door, his body soaked with rain water, and squeezed through the thin crack he had made with the doors. His heart throbbed in his chest as he carefully made his way through the winding halls, trying to find the man Lelouch and Isabella both despised so much. He kept the gun prepared at his side and his Geass glimmered, ready in case he would need it.
This is for Brother and Isabella-onee! I will do whatever it takes to help them...I will not let them be stopped from achieveing their goals!
"I see you have returned," a silvery voice observed and Rolo whipped the gun around, firing it, making a small child with blond hair as long as his body somersault backwards.
"You're an obsticle for Isabella-onee and Brother," Rolo snapped at V.V. as the immortal stood to his stubby legs, looking irritably at the bullet wound in his chest.
"I gave you that Geass. I thought you were trying to help Britannia."
"No, you have stolen everything from me and you won't take Isabella-onee or Brother! You won't hurt them anymore either!" Rolo declared, his gun pointing at V.V. again.
The blond child smiled, a shiver running up and down Rolo's spine as a second pair of footsteps echoed behind him.
"Is there something wrong, Big Brother?" Charles asked and V.V. nodded.
"Yes, this boy is getting in the way of your plans."
Charles smirked and Rolo spun around, firing the gun until the bullets were almost out just as Charles swung his hand which connected with Rolo's head. The boy was knocked off his feet, flying across the room and cracking his head on a pillar. Rolo gasped in pain as a crimson pool surrounded Charles's now dead corpse and thick trails of blood raced down into Rolo's face and off the back of his head.
"Charles..." V.V.'s eyes were wide at the sight of his dead brother, and he picked up the gun lying on the ground. "You will not get away with this." V.V. aimed the gun at Rolo, shooting it but Rolo managed to bend out of the way, the bullet whizzing passed his arm.
"Isa--bella--onee--!"
"She can go die as well," V.V. spat and came closer, Rolo's vision blurred by tears and blood.
"Le--louch--"
V.V. fired again, striking Rolo in the arm and the young fighter cried out in agony.
"You should die right along with them...as the scum you are," V.V. hissed and fired again, the bullet ripping apart the skin and tissues in Rolo's hip.
Rolo yelled out again and the gun clattered to the ground, V.V. gone from sight. Rolo was consumed by pain and he gave into the nagging blackness overcoming him.
"Isa...Lelou..."
He fell to the floor, blood surrounding him and the dark, ominous shadows being his only mourners.
This is Isabella discovering him...I hate V.V. and Charles. I want to beat them both to squiggly pulps.
Isabella felt the Geass on her forehead grow warm and she felt as if her side was bleeding.
What the...?
A vision of Rolo holding his side and bathed in his own blood flashed before her eyes.
"Rolo!"
Isabella sprinted towards the castle she never wanted to return to but had to in order to save her little brother.
"Rolo...Rolo...not you too! Not my little brother..."
The memories of him replayed in her mind...meeting him for the first time...hugging him...going out with him for a fun day every so often...finally being able to act as the older sister like she had always wanted to do...he meant so much to her...he was her family...if he passed away, her world would be more shattered than it already was. She wouldn't be able losing him...she loved him...Rolo was only a child in her eyes...he couldn't just die like that...not Rolo...not little Rolo...
"Rolo! Rolo!"
Isabella was hysterical as she reached the forbidden palace, her chest aching. She ripped the doors open with superhuman strength and weaved through the twisting halls, the shadows guiding her to Rolo.
This way...they pointed and Isabella followed them...he's here...
"ROLO!" Isabella found him in a blood bath and had him in her arms before she could even blink again. "Rolo, why you!?" Rolo!"
"Onee...he...was an...obstacle...I had...to get...rid or...for...you...and...Brother..." he breathed and Isabella kissed his forehead.
"You killed Charles...Rolo, I love you little brother! You mean so much for me! I didn't want you to die! Not because of me! Rolo!"
A small smile spread across the boy's pale lips and his eyes remained shut.
"I...love...you...and Brother...so much...I was...not a tool...to you...you made me feel...human..."
Isabella gave his cheek a kiss and she held him like she had always done so many times when he was sad.
"You...were...the...first one...with all of...your...memories...to accept...me..."
"I couldn't help it, I love you. You're my brother Rolo! You're my family, I love you Rolo-chan!" Isabella sobbed and Rolo's body became weaker.
"I'm...so glad...I'm not...just a tool...to everyone...you showed me...what it's like to have...a...fam...ily..."
Isabella hugged him as she felt the horrifying limpness of his small body in her arms. She cried into his shoulder, each cry coming out as a gasp and she finally she had her arms completely enveloping him and let out a cry that held every ounce of the pain caused by her mental torment.
Two Weeks Later...
The sun shone but it still felt as dark as midnight. The day was warm and cloudless, but she still felt as if acid rain was penetrating her skin. Lelouch had become emperor, as he had planned, and was no longer at Ashford, Rolo was dead and Isabella stood at the foot of Shirley's grave, incapable of doing anything but just staring at her name.
"I don't know what to do now," Isabella told her and tears shone down her face, "C.C. is gone, my little brother is dead and Lelouch is...I don't even know. I wish you were here...your presence would help me bare of all this...but you're not...so..."
Isabella sank down to her knees, hands covering her face and couldn't help but to start crying. She had broken...almost every person she loved she had lost...her parents...Rolo...Shirley...Ami...Scotty...C.C....Michael...and Nina who she hadn't seen for almost a year and a half. Isabella wanted nothing more to just die along with them all...Lelouch was going to follow her shortly after wasn't he? Her reason for living was going to be erased from exsistance...all the world's hatred placed on him after he had worked so hard to make peace...it wasn't right...why did Lelouch have to lose his life now?
"Isabella?" Rivalz knelt down next to her and she uncovered her face.
"Hey Rivalz."
"You've crying out here for almost an hour. We can't take it anymore; come back inside," he told her gently and Isabella felt Milly's hand rest on her shoulder.
"Also, you and Kallen got a call from Lelou--I mean the Imperial Palace asking to meet Lelou--I mean the Emperor there. He wants to talk to you," the blond said and Isabella wiped her eyes.
"Just call him Lelouch or Lulu or whatever your pet name is for him. He's still one of us," Isabella said angrily and Milly lowered her hand.
"Gomen...I can only imagine what's running through your head now. You looked like you were going to burst at graduation..." Milly trailed off and Isabella felt more tears threaten to leak out of her eyes.
"I can't believe how much everything has changed," she said and Rivalz gave her a warm hug.
"Neither can we...but if anything goes wrong, we'll be close by," he told her and Isabella clung to him.
"Thank you, for being there for me," she said to them both and Milly joined the hug, praying with everything she had that by some miracle, everything would just go back to normal.
That Evening...
"You don't have to do this, Isabella, it's killing you," Kallen lowered her kind blue eyes to meet Isabella's but the immortal said nothing. "Isabella?"
"I just want to be with him while I can," Isabella said and Kallen's eyebrows cocked.
"What?"
"Nothing," Isabella stopped herself and then finally let her eyes gaze upon the extraordinary palace in front of her.
The palace was an enormous ivory building surrounded by gardens and had an Arabian style to it. Magnificent pine trees were vibrant against the against the bushes of red, yellow and pink roses, white lilies and orange tiger lilies. Isabella gripped her battered suitcase tightly the same way she had done the first time she had stepped out of the Albern house with Lelouch.
Our first kiss...the same day I started falliing in love with him...or began to realize it more...
Isabella felt her throat go dry as she approached the magnificent palace doors with Kallen, her heart feeling as if it would burst through her chest.
"Don't give up...I can't give up..." Isabella told herself.
You can't give up on life...but what if life gives up on you...?
The two girls reached the doors and they opened slowly, revealing two guards striding up to them.
"His Majesty Lelouch vi Britannia-(Isabella cringed at this)-will be with you shortly. I'll show you to your room," the first said and looked directly at Isabella, the other assisting Kallen with her bags.
"What is he planning?!" Kallen felt a surge of rage and Isabella snapped her cold eyes over to her.
"Keep your temper, Kallen," she ordered and Kallen reluctantly obeyed as the guard with her suitcase kept a leery eye on her.
The two girls were lead through the main hallway, Isabella letting herself to gaze up at the crystal chandelier hanging beautifully from the golden celling.
This feels like too much...it's not Lelouch...this isn't him...
Isabella dared to let her eyes wander to the portraits lining the halls on either side of the Black Knights, one of them being a painting of a ten year old Lelouch standing with his mother, Lady Marianne and a healthy Nunnally, not blind or crippled.
I knew Lelouch was a prince to begin with...I guess I should have seen this coming but still...
Isabella caught sight of another portrait, this one smaller than the rest but it managed to capture her eyes. It was in an oval frame, her and Lelouch inside both smiling without a care in the world and hand their hands on each others hands. The painting had originally been a picture, Isabella had it in her scrapbook, and she remembered how she and Lelouch had been playing on the lawn when Lady Marianne had asked to get a photo of them.
"You both are so adorable!"
The camera flashed and Isabella rubbed her eyes.
"Hey, let's go to the stables," Lelouch suggested and Isabella perked up.
"I might beat you in a horse race this time!"
"I doubt it."
"You are so full of yourself!"
Lelouch smiled and stuck out his tongue as she pretended to be offended and chased him up to the stables.
Isabella felt her knees go weak as she tore her eyes away from the picture and her mind away from the memory.
I can't do this...I can't keep hoping things will change because they won't. This is reality not a fantasy. No matter how much I want to, I can't change anything...what's going to happen has already been set in stone.
Isabella forced herself up the stairs, following Kallen and the guards, her mind whirling with memories that would soon turn to nightmares. When the four of them had reached the top of the staircase, she and Kallen were lead in opposite directions down the hall to their rooms.
"Here you are miss, I hope you are comfortable," the gaurd said when he had opened the oak door for her and Isabella nodded.
"Thank you very much," she told him and he left her to unpack.
Isabella clicked the door shut, her eyes welling up with fire hot tears and set her suitcase down on her bed. She didn't bother to half heartily admire the room and sat down next to her luggage, pulling out her sacred scrapbook and cradled it in her arms as if it were her child. New pictures with Shirley, Nina, Milly, Rivalz, Suzaku, Rolo and Lelouch were inside it, overloading every page because Isabella had never been able to say one picture with her friends was a bad one. They were all she had now, and she fished another pack out, this time pictures of her with Tamaki, Kallen, C.C., Nunnally and a few odd paper clippings of Zero. Isabella felt her finger brush across the glossy front of one of the photos and removed it from the packet. Her heart jolted when she looked at it...the photo included her, Kallen, Lelouch, Shirley, Rivalz, Milly, Rolo, Suzaku and she could see C.C. in the background as well, none of the others noticing her. Isabella pressed it against her chest, imagining the places where Nunnally, Tamaki, C.C., and Nina would be, making it the perfect picture. The exhaustion of keeping her sobs locked away inside of her became too much and she finally let them erupt silently out of her.
"Isabella..." she heard a voice say quietly outside her door and she wiped her eyes hurriedly to open the door. With the photo still over her heart, Isabella opened the door to meet the white robes and starry, violet eyes of Lelouch vi Britannia.
Wow, this took longer than I thought it would. School stuff kept me away...but thankfully I had a snow day today!! (If any of you guys live in South Carolina or anywhere down south, you are so damn lucky you don't have to put up with 0 degree weather!!) But, I am stuck in Ohio for the next two years till colledge...then I can go somewhere warm to graduate. (I'm hoping somewhere in one of the Carolinas or Virginas. Love it down in that area!! :D) Alright, next chapter is coming up soon! :D I'll post with few reviews because I'm assuming you're in school unless you too have insane amounts of snow in you area. :D Love you guys and I appreciate how you're all supporting my story. It would be nowhere without you guys and I am so grateful for you!! Thank you so much!! ^-^