Mantineus-The more I think of Rolo in here, the more I think his theme is "Tearjerker" by KoRn in here.
Disclaimer-The book that is presented in here does not belong to me. But to Joyce A. Anthony.
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Suzaku gasped.
The girl laying in the floor had long, curly duty hair riddled with knots and tangles. Her eyes were closed. Not that it mattered, for reports said she was blind. Her face was dust caked and her once eggshell white dress was faded and dirty. He arms were also duty.
"Nunnally?" Suzaku gasped. "But, I thought…"
"She was an abandoned girl." Rolo said. "A victim of homophobic parents. She looked just like Nunnally."
"You see," Lelouch said. "I had this in mind for our, dear sister. And if her body wasn't among the pile, cops would never leave us alone!"
"But why?" Suzaku cried, looking at Rolo. "Why would you do this? You're own sister."
"She tortured Rolo when it was revealed that he was a Black Knight." Lelouch said. "And I couldn't stand it." He grabbed her by the hair. "And now she knows how it feels to be treated poorly."
A small groan came out of the pipe, instead of the hollow, shallow breaths.
"You monster." Suzaku said, clutching his fists, his eyes never leaving Rolo. "How could you?"
"Well aren't you a broken record." Rolo said, looking at Suzaku the entire time. His eyes never once looked upon her. "I wanted her dead. It was Lelouch's idea."
"Liar!" Suzaku shouted.
Rolo looked at Lelouch whom still held their sister. He tried ignoring the one person that gave him nonstop grief. But every so often, he found himself staring down at her. And even though he was doing better than she; he felt that they were in the same position. Trapped and tortured beyond what they deserve. Though, of course, their torturers were different. Hers was Lelouch and his was Suzaku.
"I'm going to walk around." The young Lamperouge said stoicly.
"Ok." Lelouch said, laying Nunnally back down and covering her with the floor board.
Rolo walked up the stairs. But before he was out of ear shot, he heard his brother:
"Come, let us continue the tour."
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Rolo walked alone in the hall. His mind centered on his brother. He only noticed that he was in a corridor surrounded by servants by sound. In his sorrowful mood, he looked up. They were the ones Lelouch barely maintained.
The ones in suits; all men, were bald, noseless, and their lips were drawn back like that of a mummy. The women; all in maids outfits, had grey, thinning hair that looked rough to the touch if one should touch it, yet fragile. Their noses, too, were gone as well as their lips being drawn back. Rolo did not see their eyes until they all stopped what they were doing and looked at him questioningly, as if asking if he needed anything. He looked at their eyes while shaking his head. They nodded and went back to work.
Their eyes. They were milky white; their irises were pale in color. If Rolo looked close enough he though he saw the electricity flow in them like a florescent light needing to be changed.
He did not shutter at them though. Nor did he feel sorry for them. They had to be killed. The only reason they were like this was because there were too many of them for his brother to take care of and Rolo did not know how to do it.
He quietly walked on, never looking back.(.5)
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"Now, here's what was once my mother's study." Lelouch said, his right hand on the doorknob and his left made a welcoming, yet dramatic, gesture inside.
Suzaku looked inside. The room was the same size as the library, but with fewer shelves. There was a big desk in front of a window that looked down upon what was once a beautiful rose garden. What settled there now was death, decay and weeds.
Suzaku walked inside, Lelouch following behind.
"Why did you do that?" Suzaku asked once more. "You're taller than him. More powerful. You could have resisted him. Why?"
"Because I wanted to." Lelouch said. "Not because Rolo wanted me to do it. I can assure you that what I did was because I wanted to; not because Rolo commanded me to. Besides, he didn't command me to, anyway."
"Why defend him?" Suzaku questioned. "He's a monster."
"I love him." Lelouch said. "Don't people normally defend the ones they love? That's why I thought we should kill our family. They hated us; treated us like dirt. Especially Rolo since he was found out. Luckily, yet sadly, I never was."
"What do you mean?" Suzaku asked. "You were a Black Knight?"
"The Black Knight." Lelouch said. "I was Zero."
Suzaku stared at Lelouch, a blank expression on his face. Everything he believed; everything he wanted to believe, was being destroyed by the one man he thought he knew. The one man he loved.
"So all I've done," Lelouch said. "All I've killed, was for Rolo. He was persecuted for something I unfairly persuaded him to do. Promising sex; dangling him along for my own selfish needs. He deserved more than that. Which is why I made sure his entire battalion was destroyed; so that he could, when the war was over, return in his Brittannian uniform. Return as a hero. So that his family could show some affection towards him. A forgotten angel born amongst demons. He was the first to say 'lets disband the empire'. He was doing that for me because of our failure during the war."
Lelouch stopped and faced a wall away from Suzaku. But Suzaku could still hear Lelouch's sniffles. Suzaku was overtaken with an urge to comfort his love. But he stopped when he heard Lelouch continue to speak. Even though this man before him is a killer; he was convinced he felt the same way and that he could be changed.
"And what I'm doing now…" Lelouch murmured, making it hard for Suzaku to hear-not to mention anyone in the hallway. "He doesn't deserve this either. But what he does afterwards…" He shivered. "It's too good to pass up."
He turned towards Suzaku, his face wet, eyes puffy, but all the more beautiful; he said:
"But I think I love you more."
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Rolo walked around the house absentmindedly. His thoughts dwelling on bad things. Lashing himself mentally.
'Why does he always play these games with me?' Rolo thought, answering it with a question. 'Am I really not good enough for brother?'
Every wall, every portrait, every noise the old accursed building made it clear-He wasn't.
Rolo sighed. Defeat was emanate. Rolo's teary eyes hardened-turned to glass. They no longer broadcasted his soul-his emotions. They were dead. But the glass shattered and anger bubbled up from the depths and he was rabid. Rolo backtracked, running violently until he reached their room. He ran to his bedside table and opened the top drawer.
Inside the drawer was a book with a psychedelic tye dye rainbow and a snow paled man resembling a beardless Jesus and a white dog that had two amethyst blobs for eyes. The title was in red with a rainbow band slanting from the top of the S to the bottom of the M spelling "Storm". The author's name was spelled out in graffiti manner spelling out Joyce A. Anthony. The story was not preachy and was pretty good; he was almost done.(1) But what brought him to the drawer was what was next to the book. A beautiful, glistening sharp knife.
He picked the blade up by the handle and admiringly traced his thumb down the un-serrated side and ended at the tip. His plan to get back in Lelouch's good graces had backfired. It was time to fix his mistake.
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He stormed down hallways until he heard Lelouch speak. His brother was defending him. Telling Suzaku that Rolo was not bad. That he loved his brother. Rolo wanted to run and comfort his brother when he heard Lelouch's sniffling. But everything turned red when Lelouch uttered the worst seven words in the world:
"But I think I love you more."
Rolo snapped. With a blood curdling, rage filled scream; he burst through the door and ran towards Suzaku. His knife raised. Rolo tackled Suzaku on the ground, his hate filled eyes trained on the surprised look of the cop; not on the maniacal grin plastered on Lelouch's face from victory-for he had saw Rolo outside the door.
"Brother steelier!" Rolo shouted as he plunged the knife into Suzaku's abdomen. "Thief!" He plunged into the left lung.. "Whore!" He plunged into Suzaku's throat. "Slut!" Rolo plunged the blade into Suzaku's right eye. "Tramp!" He finished his blows with one good strike to Suzaku's heart, adding a twist.
With a sick shlurpop! The dagger came out of Suzaku and Rolo stood up and looked at Lelouch. His face twisted in-mock-horror. But that soon changed when Lelouch saw Rolo stalk towards him, his knife did not leave an attacking position.
"Rolo…"Lelouch said. "What are you…"
"Too long." Rolo said, his voice void of emotion. "For too long I've felt like I wasn't good enough for you. Now I know. I wonder…. Did you say that to the others? Yet you seemed to want me bad after I killed them. I would say from fear; but I know you don't fear me. You're playing with me!"
A lone tear slid from Rolo's eyes.
"It ends now."
"Rolo, wait!" Lelouch shouted, raising a hand in order to stop his oncoming brother.
But the attempt failed. Rolo managed to plunge the knife into Lelouch's gut and he slid the blade, tearing the flesh. Organs threatened to spill out.
"Rolo…" Lelouch gasped out. "It was…all a game. I…I…I only have…eyes…for you…."
Lelouch let out a final breath. In shock and horror at what he's done; Rolo backed away, allowing his brother's organs to fall from the orifice and watched as Lelouch collapsed on the floor.
"No…" He said, horror stricken. "No, no, no, no, no!"
He cupped his face in his hands. Sobs racking his small, frail body. His chant from before was merely muffled from his palms and shook his head with each no. He never wanted to kill Lelouch. But those seven words echoed in his head, driving him mad. Now he did the one thing he never wanted to do. And now he is all alone. All alone in a mansion overrun by dolls. He no longer felt as if he was in control. As if the roles reversed; instead of the dolls living in the living world, it was him living in a doll world. And that frightened him.
"No!" Rolo shouted, jerking his head back away from his palms. "Lelouch, no! Why? Why would you do something like that?"
It was at that second that a servant peered into the room. This one looking normal. Alive. Rolo noticed him and his sobs stopped, though tears still cascaded down his cheeks.
Rolo had an idea. He only hoped to Lucifer it worked.(2) So, wiping his tears on his sleeve; Rolo got up and placed the fallen organs on top of his brother's stomach and lifted the elder up. Though he was met with some difficulty since dead weight set in. But Rolo managed to get Lelouch in his arms bridal style, and carried him down to Lelouch's lab.
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.5) This is my favorite scene ever in this entire fic. I only hope that you like it, for the mental image was breath taking to me. There are runners up, though. Like…Shirley's death, the bar scene(which I didn't do too accurately), and some other parts.
I hope you don't mind my free publicity, Ms. Anthony. But, while reading it, I really wanted it in here.
I hope you remember his prayer. The only one to answer was Lucifer, so why not hope to him if he's the only one whom-apparently-cares.
Mantineus-I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There is only one more and then an alternate ending. I have it in here, not to be tacky, but because that was the original idea with what happens. But it changed, and I like the change, but I want you all to know where my mind used to be. Wow, this is the longest chapter ever.