I do not own Code Geass
So . . . here comes the fifth chapter
And you know what I haven't gotten yet? A review. Not a single little review. All I need is one little "I'm reading your story". Or even if you just wanna tell me how much this sucks. IF YOU WANT TO CORRECT MY SPELLING GODDAMNIT. I just need some kind of feedback to know if it's good or what I should fix or anything like that. I hate it when authors beg for reviews but . . . Please? Just a little tiny review? Purty please?
The next morning, CC awoke to the sound of a screaming baby.
"Lelouch," she groaned and turned over onto her side from her stomach. "Whatever you did, fix it!"
"I didn't do anything!" Lelouch cried. She peaked one eye open to see that their cart had stopped moving, and Lelouch was over on the side of the road holding a beat red little baby.
"I don't think I should asked," CC said as she sat herself up. "But then at the same time, I don't think I've ever been so curious."
"There was a baby carriage by itself on the side of the road," Lelouch explained. "I just wanted to walk over to see what was going on, and somehow ended up like this!"
CC had never seen Lelouch look so . . . scared. Here was the man who had openly accepted death, apposed the worlds greatest military force with no more than a few terrorists to fight for him, and defeated two of the most powerful geass users on the planet - afraid of a tiny little baby. "You're doing that wrong."
She climbed down and walked over to him. He was holding the baby about a foot out by it's armpits. CC grabbed the squirming child and tucked him into the blanket that Lelouch had clearly attempted to wrap him in, and hold him to her chest with one hand supporting his back and the other his butt. Slowly and gently, she began to sway back and forth, bouncing slightly.
"How the hell do you know how to do that?" Lelouch asked her, clearly amazed. Lelouch was good at thinking, but when it came to social interactions between humans of any kind, he was somewhat of a failure. Battle strategies he could handle; babies . . . not so much.
"I once worked for a family that had a small baby girl," CC said. "It was my job to care for her. Crystal . . . She was so sweet. She's long dead now, though . . . The thing about babies is; they naturally posses the power I needed geass to have; everyone loves them."
Lelouch shrugged. "I don't know that I do. To be quiet honest; they scare me a bit."
"What about when Nunnally was a baby?" CC asked.
"I don't really remember," Lelouch replied. "I was four. But that doesn't matter now; I think we should focus on the fact that we have a baby here and a mother is no where in sight."
"Who would just leave their child out here?" CC asked.
"That's exactly what I was thinking," Lelouch said, sounding worried. Images of a dead mother holding her dead baby flashed through his mind, memories from back when he and Suzaku had had to escape the war as children with Nunnally.
"Well, where's the nearest town?" CC asked. "Maybe the mother's a drunk or something and just forgot him out here."
Lelouch thought a moment. The easiest solution to their problem would be to simply leave the child where they found it; someone would come looking eventually, right? Why wasn't that what he had done in the first place? Just left the carriage by the road alone? But then again . . . If they just put the baby back and left, it could die. What if his mother really was dead, and no one came to find him? The poor thing would freeze or starve to death before anyone else took the time to stop and check for all Lelouch knew. "There's a town about two minutes up the road, we could go to a police station there and just drop the baby off outside or something. That way, no one would see us and the baby would definitely be found."
CC nodded. "Alright. I'll take him onto the cart with me."
"Is there any way to identify him? Maybe a key chain in the carriage?" Lelouch asked. He and CC quickly searched, but found nothing.
"Alright, well I'm sure the police will figure something out, and if not . . . Well, it's not really our problem, right?" CC asked.
Lelouch nodded. "Right."
They got back onto the cart and began to ride again. When they reached the town, CC quickly jumped off with the baby, placed him back in the carriage and left him outside the police office. It was the very early hours of the morning, and no one was around to see her do it. Just as she was walking away to return to Lelouch, she bent down next to the carriage and whispered very softly so that no one else would hear, "good luck little baby" then turned around and hurried back to the cart.
"I've been thinking," Lelouch said.
"This should be good."
"I once promised that I would obliterate Britannia," Lelouch continued as if she hadn't said anything. "But Britannia still exists."
"Don't tell me you're thinking of going back into the take-over-the-world business," CC said, clearly annoyed. "Because you can count me out."
"No," Lelouch said, a bit surprised that she had assumed such a thing. He hadn't been going that way at all. "I meant that I had been meaning to rename the country once I took over, but it completely slipped my mind, and now it's too late."
CC giggled a little. "Are you serious? That's been bothering you?"
"A little," Lelouch admitted. "Of course, I'm still considering showing up back in Area 11 someday if we can't find a way to become mortal and playing out the villain again. I'll admit, I miss it."
"It's funny," CC said. "You're possibly the world's greatest hero, but you like to pretend you're the villain. You died for world peace, and you're still trying to come across as the bad guy. And you know what? I know why."
"Oh do you?" Lelouch asked. "Why then?"
"Because you're afraid."
Lelouch suddenly became very tense.
"Afraid of rejection. You're so terrified that people won't like you, that you try to make people not like you right from the start so that they never get the chance to hurt you, isn't that right? You don't want to be seen as weak or dependent so you shut out all other people and make them hate you, just so you won't have to deal with them. It's what I'd like to call a severe case of antisocial disorder," CC said.
"You're starting to sound like Mao," Lelouch said in a frail attempt to change the subject. But, as always, his voice remained calm and emotionless. He couldn't let her know that everything she had just said was probably true, that would ruin the whole basis of the idea.
"Hello, Euphy," Cornelia greeted her sister when she entered the Empress's room. She was pretending that nothing had happened; it would be best to slowly introduce Euphemia to the idea that she had been asleep for a year and a half.
"Cornelia, why are we here?" Euphy asked. "This is the palace in Britannia, isn't it? Why are we here?"
"You were hurt badly," Cornelia told her. "So we sent you back to the home land for special care."
"Oh . . ." Euphy appeared lost in a deep thought. "So . . . how long was I asleep for?"
Cornelia huffed. That was the exact question she had been praying would go unasked. For now, at least. "Honestly, Euphy? You've been out for a very long time."
Euphy's head popped up. "How long?"
"A little more than a year," Cornelia admitted. "And much has happened since then."
Euphemia grasped the dressed next to her for support. I've been asleep an entire year? How? What happened . . . I remember being at the Special Zone and then- No! No, I didn't! Unless that's why they put me in a coma, so that they could write me off as dead and I wouldn't hurt anyone else . . .
"Euphemia, is something wrong?" Cornelia asked her younger sister.
"Tell me I didn't," Euphy whispered. "Tell me I didn't kill all those people . . ."
Cornelia shut her eyes. Van Dogh had warned her that they had used a special geass removal system to wipe the geass from Euphy, but after this process, it was likely that she'd regain all memories of what she had done while under the influence of the geass. "Yes, Euphy . . . But it wasn't your fault. It was Zero. He made you do it. You'll be glad to learn that he's since been killed-"
"Lelouch is dead?" Euphy exclaimed. Hot tears began to pour down her face immediately. "No! No, he can't be . . . Lelouch can't be . . ."
"Euphy," Cornelia said. "You knew? All along you knew who Zero was and you didn't tell me?"
Euphemia looked down, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Sister. I was just trying to protect my brother . . . That's all. And - what he did to me, whatever it was . . . He didn't do it on purpose."
"What?" Cornelia asked. She was supposed to be the one telling Euphy everything, but it was starting to look like it was going to be the other way around.
"He was trying to explain to me that he could control people to do anything," Euphy said. "He was making a joke and said something about making me kill the Japanese if he wanted, and then . . . But he tried to stop it. As I fought it he yelled at me to stop. To forget the command he had given me, but, it didn't work and then I . . . I . . ."
"An accident?" Cornelia muttered to herself. "But he said . . ."
"What else has happened?" Euphemia asked. "Besides Lelouch . . . dying. What else have I missed?"
"An entire world war," Cornelia told her sister. "But I'm sure you'll learn about that soon enough. You've really missed so much . . . Father is dead as well, and Schnizel. I'm the new ruler of Britannia, and Nunnally has taken over as viceroy of Area 11. She's also regained her sight, believe it or not. There's also a man posing as Zero enlisted as her personal knight, whoever he was, it was he who killed Lelouch and stole his identity, although as far as the common people know, it's been the same Zero the entire time."
"Nunnally can see?" Euphy asked, a small smile creeping across her face. "That's wonderful! I'm very sorry to hear about Father and Schnizel though . . ."
Actually, that was a lie. Euphemia, much like Lelouch, didn't really care much for her cold-hearted father, and the fact that he was dead didn't really bother her. She was rather indifferent about it. Schnizel's death did sting a little, but then again, her older brother had been almost as cold as Charles had been.
"Let's sit," Cornelia suggested. "And I'll fill you in on everything that's happened . . . At least, what I know anyway."
She had a servant bring them some tea, and the two sisters sat down by Cornelia's fireplace as if nothing had changed from nearly two years ago. That they were still just Euphy and Cornelia, two sisters that loved each other.
But then, Cornelia began to talk. And she didn't stop talking until she was done. She told Euphy of all the 'horrible' things Lelouch had done, but Euphy couldn't help but see through it. She knew that whatever Lelouch was doing, he was most likely doing for Nunnally. And when she got to the part about Lelouch being murdered by a fake Zero, Euphy assumed that Lelouch had planned it himself for a moment. It was such big theatrics for an assassination, and it had the name of the ex-prince written all over it. He would have done it too - only Lelouch would plan out his own death. But then, Euphy caught herself. Lelouch wouldn't go through all that trouble just to die, so Cornelia must have been right. Lelouch must have just been unlucky.
"So . . . what do I do now?" Euphy asked when Cornelia had finished talking. "I mean, as far as everyone knows, I'm dead. I can't very well just show up alive, that would ruin our families name. All kinds of rumors would start, and-"
"That is why you will now be known as Euphemia Lamperouge," Cornelia interrupted. "If I remember correctly, that is what you intended to change your name to. You'll no longer be considered a princess of Britannia, and you aren't to tell anyone of your true identity outside of the people who will already know."
"Stealing ideas from Lelouch, Sister?" Euphemia asked with a small grin, one that Cornelia did not return.
"Where do you wish to go," the elder sister asked. "You cannot remain here, it's too risky."
Euphemia grinned. "Well that's a no-brainer, I'd like to return to Area 11, to be with Suzaku, of course!"
Cornelia sighed sadly. She had forgotten that part. "Euphy . . . There's one last thing I need to tell you about Suzaku . . . If you go back to Area 11, he won't be there . . ."
"And why not?" Euphemia asked. "Did he move? Is he here in Britannia?"
Cornelia shook her head sadly and told Euphy the truth about her love. Euphemia's teacup suddenly weighed a million pounds, and it slipped from her hand. She was suddenly only an inch tall, and everything else was gigantic. And, suddenly, the walls of the room began to move in. Closer and closer. Euphy couldn't take it another minutes. She ran from her sister's room and down the hall, and she kept running until she reached one of the few bathrooms in the palace that was not connected to anyone's bedroom and she ran inside and locked the door. She turned the cold water tap as high as it would go and shoved her head under it. But no matter how much she froze her brain, those two words continued to rattle around inside.
"He's dead."