Chapter Three

Suzaku straightened up from where he had been leaning into the mirror. Fixing the headband one last time, he said, "I think I'm ready for the picture now."

"Are you sure you want to do this, Suzaku?" Lelouch glanced up at the dog ears sitting atop his friend's head. "Isn't this a little demeaning?"

"I think it's pretty fun. And I'm sure Euphie would be glad if we sent her a picture."

"But..."

"Come on, Lelouch. We came here to have fun. Don't you want to have fun?"

"My idea of fun doesn't exactly include wearing animal headbands," he muttered darkly. But Suzaku ignored him - or maybe didn't hear him - and said, "C.C., which one do you think Lelouch should wear?"

"Tell him to close his eyes."

"Lelouch, close your eyes."

"I heard her the first time," he said under his breath. He obediently - reluctantly - closed his eyes. After their little escapade in the dressing room, C.C. hadn't once directly spoken to him, or even looked at him. Whenever she had wanted to say something to him, she had always used Suzaku as a messenger. Suzaku had picked up on the change of mood between the two but was nice enough not to comment and fulfilled each and every one of C.C.'s requests, even if she had wanted to say something like, "Keep walking" to someone who had clearly heard her.

He probably thought that they just had another quarrel. Which was true, in a way, but not quite. They hadn't fought. Well, they had, but not in the usual way. This time, it was more...

For all his intelligence and wide vocabulary, Lelouch couldn't quite touch on the word that described what had happened in the dressing room. But he could think of the word he was feeling because of what had happened back then. He was feeling empty. Hollow. How could he have... How could he say that he loved her, when all he had done was hurt her? He didn't blame her for not speaking to him. He would have done the same if their roles had been reversed.

"Open your eyes," she said gently. He obeyed, only to be surprised to find her inches away from him. He tried to look away, but her gaze reeled him in until he finally gave up and let himself drown in her eyes.

"Bend down."

As he lowered his head, a sense of nostalgia shot through him. Back when they had been children, when they had played together after school, they would often play hide-and-go-seek. Particularly during the spring time, they would run through the gardens together, or sit in the shade of the rosebush hedges and read, or in C.C.'s case, braid flower crowns, which she would always give to him. She would stand, and he would kneel in front of her, and wait until she would crown him King of the Garden. It had always been at that time, when she held out a hand to him and took his arm before telling him that they were taking a tour of his kingdom, when he had felt the most at peace. Even after the death of his mother, he remembered how she had given him the nostalgic crown before gently pushing his head onto her lap, where he had cried, and cried, and cried until tears no longer remained in his entire being and soul.

Back then, she had been taller than him. There had been no need to kneel, no need to bend down. It had just been for show back then. But the times had changed, and with the times, he had also changed. It might not have been necessary back then, but it was necessary now. Just like his moving away.

"With the power vested in me," she said softly in his ear, "I now crown you the King of the Gardens. Do you accept?"

"I do."

The corner of her lips turned up, and Lelouch stood as still as a statue, waiting for what was to come next. They had been children, and they hadn't fully understood what a kiss between a boy and girl meant, but always, she had kissed her king on the cheek after he accepted the throne. Always. And though he knew that things had changed, that they could never go back to that happy time, he still found himself hoping that maybe some things could be preserved, that they could be immortalized...

She raised a hand and cupped his cheek. His heart fluttered as it leapt into his throat. He swallowed as she leaned in close, with her soft lips and hooded eyes, when she suddenly turned away and hugged him.

Bitter with disappointment and surprise, he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist. He rested his cheek on her head and held her tightly. Who knew if he'd be able to do this before he left? He hugged her with all his strength, not wanting to let her go. All of the pain he had cooped up, all of the longing he released as he stood there and hugged her. Gritting his teeth, he silently apologized to her for everything he had done, for hurting her, and for not saying anything when he should have been the first one there to tell her that she had him. He could feel her trembling, and the way she was fisting his shirt, but it only made her hold her tighter. He buried his nose into the crook of her neck, smelling her familiar perfume, before tightly closing his eyes shut.

She had known all this time, hadn't she? She had known and had waited for him to say something to her. To tell her what was coming in the future, to tell her how they would be separated by more than a five-minute walk in the neighborhood for the first time in fifteen years. She had waited for him to tell her, so that she could finally fall into his arms and cry her heart out, so that she could finally tell him why she had stayed with him even when he had pushed her away.

"Promise me you won't forget," she whispered. "Promise you won't forget me."

"How could I forget you, C.C.? How could a king forget his queen?"

"Why do you have to leave, Lelouch? It's too early for this. You promised me we would always be together."

His eyes pricked at the words of the promise he made her years ago, when he had rushed to the hospital after hearing of the emptied pill bottle. Choking on his words, he merely tightened his hold on her.

"I just found you. I'm not ready. Don't go when I'm not ready."

"We'll never be ready, C.C. We will never be ready. Don't you understand? The sooner I leave, the sooner I can return."

"You think I care about something like that? All I care about is the present, and that's where I want you. In the present, right next to me, where I can see you, and talk to you, and feel you. That's where I want you, Lelouch. Stay. With me, please."

"You know I can't do that..."

"Then at least stay with me every second of the day until you have no choice but to leave. Do you understand?"

"I understand," he said softly. "I'll be with you every second of the day until I have no choice but to leave, and then I'll come back, and I'll be with you every second of the day until the end of time. I promised you, didn't I, Cera? That I'd be with you until the very end."

She nodded and he told her how much he loved her, how his love for her as a friend had slowly grown into something more, how he finally told her everything that he had wanted to say for the past few years. And she listened to every word, with her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around him. Lelouch closed his eyes as he confessed to her and finally did what he had once deemed impossible - he finally completely and wholly opened up to someone. And not just to anyone. He finally told her how much he loved her, to her, before he ran out of time.

A/N: It's not over yet.