Lelouch's Final Destination

Hope this makes up for the numerous months I did not post anything. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Pandemonium

"Hey Suzaku! Come on out into the pool!" Rivalz called out to his friend.

"Huh? Oh. Okay!" Suzaku replied, making his way towards the pool where Rivalz, Milly, Euphemia, Nina, Nunnally, Gino, Shirley, and just a few minutes ago, Lelouch were. Suzaku was cross with himself, but didn't let it show. Once again, he had found himself daydreaming, when he had promised himself that he would focus on nothing but his friends.

"Man, really wish Lelouch was out here with us y'know? But he just dashes off." Rivalz casually replies.

"Y-yeah." Suzaku agrees absentmindly as he waddle in. He was wincing with every step he took! Damn it's cold! He didn't tell Rivalz that he had been thinking the exact same thing just now.

"Did he tell anyone where exactly he was going?" Milly asked, but was answered with utter silence.

"He's been doing that a lot lately-randomly running off without telling anyone- and I've been trying to get him to talk about it, but he still won't budge." Nunnally quietly spoke up, finally breaking it.

"Yeah, I've been trying too. I wish he would talk to someone. It's always best to talk to someone about things that bother you, because you never know when someone could help." said Shirley.

Suzaku rose from the pool. "Well, I guess I'll go try to talk to him then. Maybe it's three times the charm?" Without waiting for a reply, Suzaku made his way out and went off to find Lelouch, although he wasn't exactly sure if finding Lelouch was his true reason of departure.

"Have you guys also noticed how strange Suzaku's been acting bizarre too?" Euphemia added, worried. "He's become even more distant than before."

"C'mon you guys! I'm sure everything's just fine with those two." assured Gino, not wanting to ruin the good-natured setting before him.

"You're right!" says Rivalz. "This cruise was designed to rejuvenate us before we head back to school again, right Milly?"

Milly caught on quick. "Yeah, you're right!" she said reassuringly to the others. "Now c'mon! Let's have some fun 'cuz you know the trip will be over before you know it! Who's up for some marco polo!"

"I AM!" Rivalz exclaimed, desperately hoping to make Milly proud.

"So am I!" Euphemia cried.

Nina perked up instantly. "Uh-so am I!"

Gino grinned. "Count me in!"

"Us too!" Shirely and Nunnally cried in unison.

Milly was pleased with the responses and prided herself for finally changing the situation around so fast. "Ok, I'll go first!"

The game went on for quite some time, and the troubles that were bothering everyone before temporarily had vanished. After a while, Milly and Rivalz decided to distance themselves and watch as Nina, Euphemia, Shirely, and Nunnally shouting "polo" and giggling constantly as they tried to get away from Gino, who was now Marco. Both Milly and Rivalz had been chatting away, but after awhile, things had grown quiet. Noticing the quiet as a great opportunity, Rivalz coaxed himself to do what he had planned on this trip and finally ask Milly the million dollar question. C'mon! Ask her! You may never get a chance like this again!

"So uh, Milly…. if you're not busy, maybe later on you and I could-" Rivalz paused when he realized that something was wrong. He glanced at Milly, who was frozen in place.

"…Milly? What's wrong?" Rivalz persisted, but Milly refused to move and continued to stare at the sky. What's bothering her? "Milly-!"

"OH MY GOD! I THINK A BOMB'S HEADING THIS WAY!" a nearby student shrieked not too far away. When others looked up, and witnessed the same site, absolute fear struck everyone on the entire ship. No one did anything because they were too shocked.

One of the ship's guards attempted to gain control. "Everybody! Make your way over-"

CCCCRRRAAASSSSSSHHHHH!

Hundreds of passengers screamed, but all sounds were drowned out from the gigantic explosion.

The whole ship shook tremendously, and the lasting impact left a giant hole, which was quickly filling with water causing the S.S. Ashford to rapidly sink. Automatically switching the scene from peaceful and serene into a mash of a chaotic frenzy.

The staff on the cruise ship alerted everyone to calm down and make their way towards the safety rafts, but naturally with all of the commotion, it was hard to grasps everyone's attention at once. More screams filled the air, and people were running in every direction.

"Everyone please don't panic! Keep making your way towards the left side of the ship! You'll all be escorted onto the safety rafts! Hurry!" the captain ordered over the intercom. "Connor." He called out to one of the nearby guards.

"Yes sir." Connor replied.

"Round up several guards and alert everyone on board of the situation."

"Yes sir!"

"Then direct everyone to the escape boats immediately."

"Yes sir!" Connor replied, and was off in a flash.

Somewhere on the lower deck, Suzaku walked on and on, trying to clear his head, ultimately deciding to return back to his friends in about a minute or two when suddenly, out of nowhere, he heard screams. "Huh?" he questioned, puzzled. "What's tha-" Before he could finish, the whole ship shook immensely, almost sending him to the ground. Luckily there was a rail nearby so he could hold on to to steady himself. "What just happened?" he exclaimed. The next thing he knew, a huge wave of passengers cam bursting through and pushing past him. "Hey! What's going on?" he asked again. He tried dodging all of the people but to no avail. One girl with rose-colored makeup and a matching rose-colored bikini stopped briefly. "A bomb hit the ship and now it's sinking! We've been told that we have to make it towards the rafts or else we'll drown!"

After a few minutes, Suzaku at last finally managed to untangle from the clump of people. With so much confusion, the crew members won't be able to successfully guide everyone to the life rafts by themselves, so….maybe. Suzaku whipped out his cell phone and rapidly dialed someone who could possibly help. After two rings, Lloyd at last picked up.

"H-hello?" a nervous squeak answered.

""LLOYD!" Suzaku cried.

Knowing that it was Suzaku, Lloyd quickly switched his tone, despite being utterly afraid of drowning in a matter of moments. "Why hello Suzaku, I hope it won't be the last time I hear your voice."

Cecile was standing next to him. "Suzaku?" she asked, wide-eyed with worry. "Is he ok? Is he on a raft right now?"

Lloyd shooed her away, trying to listen very carefully to what Suzaku had to say.

Suzaku was relieved. There's still hope after all right? "Lloyd, how fast do you think you can bring the out the Knights?"

"Pretty fast, but of course not fast enough to save all of these people."

What? This wasn't what he had wanted to hear! "Well, we at least have to try!"

Suzaku still half expected for Lloyd to change his mind, but in his heart, he already knew what he was going to say.

Lloyd sighed. "Look, this might seem self-regarding, but you know that right now the best thing to do is to worry about saving yourself."

But Suzaku wasn't worried about himself! "Yeah, but-"

"Now if you'll excuse me, I, along with Cecile, am about to be get on a raft, and I hope you're doing the same right now." Then there was a small click and the line was dead.

Suzaku slammed his phone shut, but didn't have time to be mad because all of a sudden, much more confusion headed his way.

Like birds swooping down to catch their prey, several huge robots coming from the sky swooped down onto the ship and began scooping up a handful of people with a scoop almost three times as large as one on a bulldozer. Suzaku could only stare in amazement. Are those…robots of the Black Knights? Why are they saving us when they're the ones who launched the bomb! They did…didn't they? Suzaku was actually more confused than scared as he soon too was swept along with them. "WAIT! HANG ON!" Suzaku cried. I have to find my friends and make sure they're safe too!

"Hm? One of these people I've got is Suzaku." Kallen noted, collecting more people. Her orders from
Zero were once she rounded up all of the people she could find, she was supposed to steer the Guren off the ship towards civilization. "I hope we're able to save everyone."

Rolo too was making an effort to haul up as many people as he could, "Well, I know that Lelouch is safe, but what about his friends? I hope they make it out alive too."

C.C. wordlessly was doing the same, but finally spoke when recognizing a few people in. "Oh, it appears that I've got Lelouch's friends…..hm?… Where is her highness?"

As he was being saved, all he could think about was the fate of his friends. Suzaku was, if anything, puzzled. It all seems so surreal. One minute, he was hanging out with his friends and having a good time, and the next thing he knew everyone was in a life or death situation! It amazed him how things could go from totally good to horribly wrong in less than ten minutes.

As Suzaku and the others looked on while ascending off the sinking ship to God knows where, images of Euphemia played through his mind. Did she survive? What about the rest of his friends? Dammit, why did he survive when it's a high chance that none of his other friends did? And where was Lelouch? Something told him that he was involved in this in some way.

No matter how hard he tried, Suzaku could feel no remorse right now. All he could feel at that point in time was pure, raging anger. I will find out who's responsible for this. Whether it be the 11s, the Chinese, or even the black Knights, I will seek them out and take revenge for doing this.

With this final thought, the S.S. Ashford completely sank into the abyss.

So so soooo sorry for the long wait, but I finally updated! :D Lol, I hope this story is actually starting to sound like a Final Destination movie now. Hope I didn't go too overboard with this chapter though. Please R&R and until next time!

~missDluvsIchigo0493