A/N: Yup. Still procrastinating, but mostly because I'm waiting for my laundry to be done and I'd rather write than read for class. REGARDLESS! I am going to attempt to connect everything back to the beginning, if I can. Somehow. Maybe. Dunno how yet but we'll see. If I succeed I owe myself a cookie.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The sound echoed in the room as three people kept watch over the unconscious boy in the bed. The sound was a mix of terrifying and comforting all at once. If it kept going, then it meant he was alive. If it didn't… They would surely lose him. What if he stopped breathing? What if his heart started beating irregularly? What if they couldn't bring him back…?
All these thoughts were maddening, plaguing the dark-haired pilot who sat beside the bed, staring at the boy as if she should look away he would disappear. She watched every little movement he made and made a mental note of it every time something moved. His chest rising and falling, the way his eyelids twitched as he slept, his eyebrows coming together as his face contorted and she could practically see the wave of pain that racked his body and made his heart rate speed up. Every little bit reassured her that he was alive, but she knew deep in her heart that he was in a great deal of pain, and there was nothing she could do to help him.
She shouldn't have been so careless. She shouldn't have walked away from him angry. She should have gone back to fix it… But it was too late to wonder 'what if?' because it was in the past, and the present involved her watching over him. Just as she always did.
Lloyd and Cécile kept a close watch on both teenagers, Cécile being the one who slid into a seat beside Usagi and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Lloyd turned away anyone and everyone who tried to barge in, unless they were part of the medical team assigned to the unconscious Suzaku. None of them brought up the girl's full name, nor did any of them feel like they needed to. Usagi had revealed herself to only them, and they did everything in their power to carry out her orders and save the Lancelot pilot. There was no need to inform any of the higher-ups, since obviously the girl had no intention of revealing herself to anyone unless it was a grave situation, but in the meantime it was an unspoken understanding that nobody would bring it up unless Usagi did.
Usagi, however, was too focused on Suzaku to even feel Cécile beside her. Her eyes were blank, her mind wandered, but her focus was solely on him. Every time he moved she would flinch, hoping he would open his eyes this time around, but it never came. Once he came close to waking up, but he passed out seconds later from the pain. This was maddening. She couldn't just sit here and do nothing! Unfortunately she didn't have a medical degree, so she honestly couldn't do anything about it. In the meantime, though, Cécile took over what would be Usagi's job and proceeded to boss around the medical team as they poked, prodded and injected the brown-haired boy with the painkillers and whatever else they had been giving him. This was all Euphemia's fault. Usagi had seen it happen. Euphemia was the one who shot Suzaku… And she was still out there.
Standing to her feet, the Guinevere pilot leaned over and pressed her lips to Suzaku's forehead, stroking his hair one last time before leaving the room, leaving Lloyd and Cécile to look after the white knight.
"Where do you think she's going?" Cécile asked, slightly concerned for the girl who'd barely spoken since the doctors took Suzaku from her.
"Cécile dear, even I know the look of a woman out for revenge when I see it. I'm surprised you didn't notice," Lloyd answered, causing Cécile to raise an eyebrow. "What? You don't think that's what she's after? She's been brooding in that chair for hours while this massacre is still going on, I would be angry too if I was her."
"Yes, but I'd hoped she would do something else besides go looking for trouble, it would only worry him if he woke up and she was go-"
Guinevere Knightmare frame activated, launching now.
Lloyd sighed, shaking his head as he looked to Cécile, who stared out the window as the knightmare flew toward the carnage in the distance. "I just hope she knows what she's doing…" Lloyd murmured, tapping his chin as the white dot grew smaller.
All of this… This… Destruction. It was sickening. There were hundreds of bodies on the ground as medical teams rushed in to try and save more of the Japanese. The knightmare she was piloting wasn't as large as the Lancelot, but it moved a lot quicker because of it. Sure, unlike Cornelia's knightmare, Usagi's was a lot more compact, but at least it packed a punch along with its swift movements.
The raven-haired pilot blew a strand of loose hair from her eyes as she scanned the area, looking for the Gawain or any sort of familiar knightmare nearby. As she searched, the girl noticed more soldiers carrying out Euphemia's orders and sent a blast of blue energy their way, knocking their knightmares away from the citizens and into the abandoned buildings nearby. Usagi scooped up as many people as she could, transporting them to the nearest hospital or safe house before continuing on, more than a little nervous that she couldn't find anyone.
Still, she continued on, keeping an eye out for any of the black knights and beating the soldiers who were trying to kill more Japanese to a pulp, only to be interrupted by a call from Cécile after about half an hour.
"Usagi you need to come back."
"Not until I find her. She needs to pay for what she did."
"Cornelia probably picked her up or someone else did. I find it highly unlikely that Euphemia would still be out there after all this time."
"I don't care; I'm going to find her. How is Suzaku?"
"He's hanging in there. Still hasn't woken up fully, but the doctors say he should be fine. He just needs rest."
"Then make sure he gets it, alright? I'll be back soon."
"Usagi this really isn't the time to—What the hell was that?"
Usagi blinked, stopping where she was on top of a nearby building and using her geass to see what was going on. Visions came in handy every once in a while, she'd learned over the years, especially when she needed to conjure an illusion later on.
INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT.
The sirens of the aircraft blared, causing all security personnel to gather around where the alert had gone off, only to find nothing unusual. The men were about to turn back to their posts when the shots rang out, the Black Knights forcing their way into the aircraft and into the medical wing. Lloyd and Cécile were poised near the door, guns drawn, only to have the door blown open and the two of them thrown across the room.
Suzaku's eyes shot open, taking a gasp for air as his green eyes darted from where Lloyd and Cécile had landed to the black knights approaching him. He attempted to move, shuddering violently as a wave of pain shot through his body, only to have Kallen hold him down as a larger woman injected him with a sedative and he lost consciousness once again.
"No…" Usagi whispered, her eyes flying open as she turned her knightmare around. She was ready to dart back to the aircraft at any second; her eyes searched the sky trying to locate where it had drifted, only to be cut off by the large black knightmare of Lelouch's.
"Stay out of it, Usagi."
"Don't you fucking dare tell me what to do," she snarled, hitting her brother's Gawain with a blast of blue energy, turning the Guinevere frame back to the sky and launching herself towards the aircraft. Dodging the red blasts of the Gawain, Usagi pressed a button on her controls (which Cécile was nice enough to label for her due to her inexperience) and sent a barrage of grenades towards the Gawain, causing the knightmare to fall behind a great deal before she made it back to the aircraft. Usagi launched herself out of the Guinevere, running at full speed past unconscious guards and medics, flying past the soldiers who asked if she was alright, bursting into Suzaku's room at long last. She looked around, noting the scorch marks on the wall, Cécile and Lloyd getting bandaged up by the medics, but she fell to her knees at the sight of Suzaku's bloodstained sheets. "No…" she choked, gripping the sheets in her gloved hands as she buried her face in the bed, letting out a screech of despair into the padding. He couldn't be gone… He just couldn't. She couldn't bear to lose him again. This was all her fault. She should have been here.
Lelouch.
Lelouch was the one who took him.
Lelouch and Kallen.
Both of them.
They betrayed her.
Usagi snarled, her geass flashing angrily at the realization as a low growl formed deep in her throat. They would pay for this. Every last one of them. Especially Lelouch. She would destroy them all. Every single one.
Weeks later.
Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.
The sound of the guards in heavy boots echoed through the cell walls, even if someone was asleep, they'd either never sleep again or go mad trying to figure out when the guards would come for them. It was maddening, every day the same sound-the clomping of boots up and down the halls of the jail-like holding place in the Black Knight's base. There were men begging for release to get back to their wives and children, there were some who just screamed profanities and told of a great evil that would descend on the guards' souls if they were not let out.
The footsteps stopped in front of a more isolated cell in the third cell block, the guards positioning themselves on either side of the door as a man in a black cloak approached, his face covered by his trademark helmet. Zero was making a personal call to one of the prisoners.
"When I go in, neither of you are to repeat anything you may have heard, understood?" Zero commented as the guards stood at attention and nodded.
"Yes sir!"
"Good, that is all" Zero answered, the larger of the two guards plugging in the combo in the keypad and the door slid open. Zero slid into the room and closed the door behind him and smirked beneath his helmet at the male crumpled on the floor. Arms bound behind his back, brown hair sticking out every which way, and when Zero entered, emerald green eyes glared right back up at him. "Hello, Suzaku Kururugi."
"So, the king himself decided to grant me a visit this time," Suzaku croaked, forcing a smirk up at the other male as Zero got a good look at his face. Bruises and small cuts decorated the White Knight's tan skin, going down his face and all over his body. So Suzaku was less cooperative than he'd expected, excellent.
"Oh you flatter me Sir Knight, and here I thought you hated me," Zero could easily banter with the boy. He'd done it for years when they were kids, and yet Suzaku hadn't figured out it was Lelouch behind the mask. Idiot. At his words, Suzaku glared up at Zero again, but was smart enough not to say anything, so Zero continued. "So anyway, back to the main reason why I'm here. It seems Euphemia has been planning something with Cornelia to get back at me for stealing you away. Would you happen to know anything about that, sir knight?"
Suzaku's face fell, but he quickly covered it up with another smirk "So the great Zero can't even figure out what a princess is planning. You know she's going to save me, so what makes you think I'd tell you what she's thinking?"
Zero couldn't help but laugh at Suzaku's words. He set himself up for it. Once he'd gotten ahold of himself, Zero smirked, pulling a photograph out of his pocket and tossing it at the boy. Suzaku looked down at the picture and his eyes widened in horror at the shot of Lelouch and his family out in the schoolyard and a dark-haired girl that shared many of Lelouch's features tackled his best friend in the photo. "I happen to know that your Rabbit is back in Japan, with her brother. If you don't cooperate then I'll be forced to eliminate the only people left that you care for."
"Don't you dare bring them into this!" Suzaku roared, trying to stand to his feet, but falling to his knees in exhaustion from his beating earlier this morning. Zero laughed at the boy and walked over, grabbing Suzaku by the neck and slamming him against the wall behind him, the brunette whimpering in pain.
"You're not in a position to be making demands, Kururugi. And besides, since when do you care about Usagi? You accepted Euphemia's offer to be her knight, did you not? How does Usagi feel about all this anyway?" Zero answered, his own anger towards the boy showing. Lelouch had sat idly by as his sister's heart broke when she heard on the news-not from Suzaku-that he was to be Euphemia's knight. Usagi and Suzaku have had feelings for each other since childhood and he goes off and pledges himself to another. It infuriated Lelouch that his best friend would do that, and now he wanted answers. If he got to destroy Euphemia for his twin as a result, then he'd be fine with that. At his questioning, Suzaku's eyes widened in shock, Zero raising an eyebrow as he noticed the pain in Suzaku's eyes. What the hell was with this guy? "You didn't tell her, did you? How low. Claiming to care for someone, then pledging yourself to her sister-"
"Shut up!" Suzaku cried, earning another slam against the wall from Zero. The boy bit his lip to prevent another cry of pain, feeling some liquid start to seep from the back of his head. Zero noted he'd actually drawn blood from the boy and he growled, giving Suzaku's neck a slight squeeze.
"Talk, or I'll make the call and your friends will be gone," Zero hissed, listening to Suzaku gasp for air and attempt to secure his feet to the wall to get some leverage and air into his lungs. When tears started to fall from those large green eyes, and Suzaku finished struggling, Zero let go, the boy falling to the ground again. Suzaku curled up on the ground, still bound, but crying all the same as he looked up at his captor-the fury leaving his eyes and being replaced with the same anguish Lelouch had seen years ago.
"Please, I don't know… Please don't hurt them… Please Zero…."
Zero was so glad he was wearing a mask right now; otherwise Suzaku would have to see the pained expression on his face as he kneeled down by the boy, moving a strand of brown hair out of his face as he cried. Even though he'd never admit it, it hurt to see his best friend like this, and it also hurt to know about the boy's inner anguish and have to keep treating him like some kind of animal. Before he made his final call on Suzaku's fate later on, he needed to know the truth behind everything. He needed to know what Suzaku was thinking. "If you had to choose between Euphemia and the friends who have known and loved you for all those years, which would you choose?"
Suzaku tensed up at the question, at first not hearing it since he was ready for Zero to hit him again, but he stopped, looking up at his captor with a raised eyebrow as he processed the question. Lelouch, Usagi and the others, or Euphemia? How could he decide…? The boy closed his eyes, trying to think of why he was so torn, and flashes of memories went through his mind.
"I'm… Euphie!"
"Well new kid, want to work on this thing together?"
"Same old Suzaku, always thinking of everyone but himself."
"You didn't eventellme that being her knight was an option!"
Suzaku felt his heart throb, opening his eyes and feeling a few more tears fall, curling back up in a ball on the ground and ignoring Zero's question. The other boy sighed, standing and walking towards the door, but catching Suzaku whispering to himself as he cried. "I'm so sorry… Usagi… Please forgive me…"
Zero smirked, knowing that answered his question well enough and leaving the room, leaving a broken and injured knight behind. Now was the time for action. Whether Euphemia liked it or not, she was going to have a war on her hands, and it wasn't going to be pretty. It didn't matter how much Lelouch loved Euphemia, his full-blood siblings came first, above anyone else-especially his twin. Zero walked down the hall, pulling out his phone and sighing, pressing a number on speed dial and putting the phone to his ear "C2, I need you to come down here and take Suzaku somewhere. He's of no use to me anymore."
"And where, pray tell, do you want me to take him?"
"Back to my house, it's been long enough. I can't put him and my sister through this anymore."
"And people say you have no heart" C2 chuckled
"Just shut up and do it" he sighed, turning off the phone and leaving back down the hall where he came, the guards going back to their routines and the men in the cells going back to their ramblings. Lelouch turned, looking back at his best friend as the guards walked into his cell and untied his wrists, giving Suzaku back the pictures he'd had in his Lancelot and telling him he'd be removed within the week, locking him back in the cell. Suzaku seemed confused, but he smiled as he started to stick his photos up on the wall, coming to a picture of himself and Euphemia, frowning and ripping it in half-right between him and the pink-haired princess. Euphemia had no plan to save him, he knew that now, but in the meantime he didn't want to see her face again. Zero smiled, knowing Suzaku had finally seen the light and left the room, going home to tell Usagi the news.
"Onee-chan, come on… You have to come out of this room sometime…" Rolo murmured, leaning against the doorframe of the student council room. His violet eyes watched his sister warily, noting how she'd barely gotten dressed this morning, let alone do anything with her hair. She'd been like this since she came home from the massacre. About 200 people had lost their lives, many more were injured, but overall Euphemia's attempted wipe out of the Japanese was unsuccessful.
"Don't tell her what to do, Rolo! It took her this long to come to the school, we're just happy she's not dead!" Shirley demanded, glaring at the youngest Lamperouge sibling before plopping herself down on the window seat beside her friend, who still sported that glazed look upon her face as she stared out onto the courtyard.
"It's not healthy to shut herself up in the school, though! It's been weeks, for all we know he's-"
"Don't you dare."
Rolo's eyes snapped up to look at his sister, who had turned her head and glared at him, making the boy step backwards in shock. She hadn't spoken to him or Lelouch in weeks, she'd only speak to Nunnally, and now here she was about to rip his head off.
Nunnally rolled over to her brother, careful to do it slowly so that she didn't run over his feet, and felt around for his hand before she gave it a squeeze. "Rolo. It's not nice to say things like that."
"But-!"
"No, Rolo."
The younger twin frowned, looking slightly hurt before Nunnally gave his hand another squeeze to reassure him. "Let's go back home for a while, okay? We can have some tea."
Rolo stood there for a moment longer, not sure whether he wanted to leave but a little terrified of what Usagi would do if Nunnally left the room, so he took a hold of his sister's wheelchair and left with his twin.
Usagi sighed, leaning her forehead against the window as she pulled her knees to her chest, feeling a little safer in the ball she'd folded herself into. Shirley reached over and touched her arm, making Usagi flinch but she turned to look at her anyway, seeing her friend give her a small smile. "It's going to be okay…"
The dark-haired female shook her head, curling up tighter and placing her forehead on her knees as her arms wrapped around her legs and squeezed, forcing her tears back down her throat before they resurfaced. She hated everything that had happened in the last few weeks. Euphemia and Cornelia have been working to oppress the Japanese people, the sub-viceroy had gotten a new knight, Suzaku had been MIA all this time. The world was falling apart, and yet only that last bit was upsetting her so much. The pilot of the Guinevere had not returned to her knightmare, knowing that if she did show up for training that she would have to see the Lancelot, and that was something she was not ready to see just yet. She stopped watching the news, she didn't listen to the radio anymore, and she completely shut herself out from the world, keeping herself locked in her bedroom for the longest time. It took Nunnally starting to cry for her to eat, and the only time she left her room was to go to the bathroom, but none of her siblings could get her to go to school or to talk to Lelouch. She still blamed him for everything. This was all his doing. His fault.
Lelouch had tried to come into her room, multiple times, to try and explain to her, but Usagi sent him away by sending him horrific visions with her Geass. Soon Lelouch stopped trying and just listened by her door as she cried. Every night, without fail, she would cry herself to sleep. It was the only way she could tire herself out enough to sleep through the night without seeing Suzaku being run down over and over again. Sure, Lelouch's command for him to live was enough to save him this time, but what if the Black Knights hurt him enough that the command wouldn't go through? What then?
"Both of us, or none of us right?"
The girl felt a small smile cross her features as she pulled her legs closer. That was something the two of them had agreed to when they were children. If one of them went somewhere, the other would follow, and if one didn't go somewhere then the other wouldn't either. It was all or nothing when it came to the two of them, and that's the way it had always been; thick as thieves and inseparable until that day. She broke her promise, and here she was miserable and alone.
The door burst open, revealing an excited Rivalz, but Usagi paid no heed. Instead she rubbed her eyes and leaned against the window as the boy chattered on about something that had gotten him all worked up. Before she knew it, Shirley had left her side and started chattering with Rivalz, and at that point Usagi figured it probably had something to do with an event Milly was planning, but she didn't expect what ended up happening.
Staring out the window, Usagi mostly paid attention to the animals that had gathered around to play, feeling a small smile creep to her face as a puppy she'd seen around campus joined the group of woodland creatures and the bunch of them started chasing each other. Sure, she had a weakness for fluffy things, but the scene was rather amusing. She wished she had her camera. Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped tightly around her from the side, causing her to tense up instantly and almost toss the person into next week when she caught the faint scent of their hair. Suzaku.
Her eyes shot up, still bloodshot and tired, but she knew when something was real and not one of her illusions. This Suzaku was real. He was tired, beaten and bruised, but he was real and he was right there. Usagi choked out a chuckle, her eyes starting to water as her hands immediately flew to his face and held him. She wanted so badly to call him by name, but her voice was broken and stuck in her throat, so instead she simply pulled him closer and leaned her forehead against his as she cried. His arms tightened around her at the contact, causing her to sob slightly, but soon he pressed his lips to hers and she felt a little better. "I'm sorry…" she whispered, burying her face into his neck and wrapping her arms tightly around him. "I'm so sorry, Suzaku…"
The boy shook his head, placing his forehead on her shoulder as he wound his arms around her and pulled her against him. "You have nothing to be sorry for… I should've listened when you were telling me I was being stupid," he answered quietly, feeling her against his injuries and wincing, but he gave her a squeeze regardless. "Both of us or none of us, right?"
"Yeah…" she smiled, hearing him chuckle lightly in response before she felt warm, salty drops fall from his eyes and onto her. "I've missed you…" she murmured, feeling him shake as he clung to her, mumbling something about missing her more before she caught sight of Lelouch over Suzaku's shoulder. She narrowed her eyes at her brother as her grip on Suzaku tightened; causing Lelouch to hold up his hands in surrender and offer an apologetic smile. The girl glared at him, eventually breaking eye contact in favor of focusing her attention fully on Suzaku, who was starting to bleed through his shirt from his initial injuries and the two of them left with Shirley and Rivalz to take him to the nurse.
Rolo eventually wandered to his older brother's side, crossing his arms over his chest before narrowing his eyes at his sibling. "Don't pull that shit again, Nii-san. That wasn't cool."
"I can't always control what they do, Rolo,"
"That doesn't mean you had to keep him all this time," he hissed, causing Lelouch to glare at him.
"Yes, I did. If he'd stopped being stubborn and just did as I asked he wouldn't have been there as long as he had been, but alas he is a pain in the ass like that." Lelouch answered coldly, sticking his hands in his pockets as Rolo sighed.
"Regardless, you're lucky to still be standing,"
Lelouch raised an eyebrow at his brother, watching Rolo closely as he continued. "You weren't there when she came home. After breaking every single picture and anything that reminded her of him-and you-she screamed about how she was going to kill you when you got back. Thankfully Nunnally wasn't home or that would have been bad, but I convinced her that it wasn't a good idea. You knew where he was and if she killed you, she would never know. So until you came home, she wore that damn bloody flight suit around the house as she moped. I'm lucky Nunnally couldn't see her, but she could smell her."
The older brother's eyes widened at the explanation, seeing Rolo turn to face him with a grave expression upon his face. "If you ever do that to her again, whether you meant to or not, I won't hesitate to tell Nunnally what you've been doing and allow Usagi to kill you. I'm not going to keep protecting you if you're going to tear our family apart."
Rolo turned on his heel and started after his sister and the others on their way to the nurse, not stopping to hear whatever Lelouch may have had to say, but he sensed that his brother wasn't going to be too happy with him from then on.
Lelouch glared after his brother, his blood boiling as his fists clenched. How dare he?! Who the hell was he to order him around? Lelouch was the older brother, not Rolo. Rolo was not in a position to be making demands. And here he was threatening to tell Nunnally everything! Rolo was going to screw this all up for him. Maybe it was about time that he got rid of Rolo… But then again, if he got rid of Rolo, Usagi would turn on him more than she already had, and if she did that he would have to kill her too. If he killed Usagi… Then Suzaku would come after him for revenge… And if he killed Suzaku, he'd be just as bad as Euphemia. He couldn't allow himself to become like her. Unfortunately he was halfway there for keeping his best friend hostage all this time. He needed to regroup before things got worse.
Turning on his heel and going back towards the house, Lelouch was too upset to sense the person watching them, who'd witnessed the whole interaction.
The lenses of glasses flashed dangerously as Nina emerged from the shadows, watching Lelouch and his family part ways and narrowing her eyes at the last glimpse of Suzaku before they rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. He was no longer Euphemia's knight, and therefore he wasn't someone she needed to tolerate any longer since her princess had replaced him. That damn eleven had no business being at a Brittannian school, nor did he belong on the student council with the rest of them. He didn't belong here, so Nina would take things into her own hands. Maybe then she could gain favor with Princess Euphemia. Maybe then.
A/N: I'm sorry Nina lovers, but she creeps me the fuck out. I had to. Besides the fact that I still don't remember a lot of my points from when I first wrote this so I'm just doing the best I can. Besides, I'm a horrible person and I just wanna hug Suzaku and love him and yadda yadda yadda so I gotta have bad things happen so Usagi can cling to him. Yeah, I know. Horrible person. I apologize. Haha.