A/N: I had a spark of inspiration to start writing this and just had to put it out. I had a story called Empathy under my original account that I liked the premise of and wanted to try it again. Due to the fact that I have multiple projects that I am working on updates are going to be infrequent probably so If anyone wants to take this as a challenge prompt then by all means!
He didn't realize they got separated. Not until it was too late.
The invasion was still in full swing, Lelouch used to be able to count on Suzaku to carry Nunnally when he felt his body was ready to give out... but now he wasn't able to rely on that.
The 10 year old boy was breathing heavy, he felt his muscles strain, the pain was only bearable through his desperation to keep Nunnally safe, his adrenaline had been carrying him through for days.
He gave most of the food could find to Nunnally, much to her protest, he mostly ate whatever scraps he could find once he was sure Nunnally had gotten enough calories to be healthy. He also made sure she got water before he could have a drink.
It left him emaciated, without a car to take him to his mother's allies in Ashford he had to desperately scrounge for whatever supplies he could find in the ruins of Tokyo's Shibuya district.
He stopped when he heard gunshots, and a scream.
Nunnally knew by now to stay quiet, and he felt her grip on his shoulders tighten.
He was tempted to ignore it, to walk away, but then-
"No! Not my Nii-Sama! Big brother please!"
He froze, thinking of himself, thinking of Nunnally, a little sister and their big brother, desperately trying to understand, to survive.
He had thought- morbidly, that after seeing so much senseless death, so much carnage, so many innocent people killed, that he would be desensitized to it all.
But hey, this is Lelouch Vi Britannia, the arrogant brat that basically spat on his very name in front of the Emperor. He was a stubborn little shit.
"Nunnally." He whispered. "Stay quiet ok?"
He could feel her nod, and he peaked around the corner. What he saw made his blood boil, a pair of Britannian soldiers where standing next to a car. A boy with red hair was slumped against the vehicle with his hand on his shoulder, his face scrunched up in a pained wince as he grit his seeth. Even from here the exile could see the blood running down the boy's arm.
Lelouch sat Nunnally down, knowing he couldn't carry her, his instincts screamed at him to stay with Nunnally, to just run...
But his morals told him otherwise, and deep down, he knew he would need help. He couldn't keep taking care of Nunnally by himself, not as he was. He knew that if things kept going like this he'd die before getting Nunnally somewhere safe and then without him she'd die too.
He had to do this, he couldn't save Nunnally alone, not anymore. He needed help. This was it, his gamble.
He improvised, taking a pair of scissors out of his pocket that he had nicked from a dead woman's purse and slowly crept up on the soldier.
The redheaded boy noticed him, his blue eye flickering over to see Lelouch sneaking up, and the prince held his hand up, putting a finger to his lips.
The boy seemed to understand and put his focus back on the soldier in front of him. Glaring at the man and spitting on his boot in order to make sure the Britannian trooper tunnel-visioned and didn't notice his eventual assailant.
"Halfblood brat!" The trooper spat, and used the butt of his gun to bash Naoto in the face, making him fall into the dust and grime of the street, a trickle of blood running down his face from the new gash in his forehead.
It was enough a distraction. Lelouch lunged, jamming the scissors into the unprotected knee joint at the back of the soldiers leg, making him fall to his knees and scream in shock and pain.
Lelouch took advantage of this by drawing the soldier's own Pistol out of his holster and shooting him in the face. The recoil was enough to knock the 10 year old royal on his ass and threw his arms up into the air as the gun nearly left his weak hold.
Naoto was quick to move, immediately grabbing the dead soldier's rifle and swung it around. He was just in time to kill the other trooper who was pulling himself out of the broken windshield of the car, grabbing at his little sister.
He pulled the trigger and the gun kicked like a mule, punching 4 big holes in the soldier's armor, killing him as his heart and lungs where destroyed and making him fall in a heap with blood splurging out.
Naoto took a deep breath. "Thank you- thank you so much i-" He looked back at his savior to see just how sorry of a state the other boy was in. He was covered in bruises and cuts, his hair matted, his clothes dirty and caked in dried blood. Naoto could even see his cheekbones.
"N-nunnally." The boy said hoarsely. "My sister... help her." He begged, closing his eyes. "Take her with you, please." Lelouch coughed as his lungs protested him speaking.
"Hey cut that out man! You saved my life and my sister's life too! I'm taking you both!" The redheaded boy protested, taking a pair of plyers out of his backpack and stuck a piece of rubber in his mouth before quickly pulling the bullet out of his shoulder with a muffled scream before spitting out the rubber. "Kallen get out here!"
The little girl in the back of the car quickly scrambled to unlock the door and jump out, gasping at the blood all over her brother. Before she could say anything he shook his head. "This boy saved us, we're gonna help him and his sister. I only got one good arm and you're pretty strong. Help him up while I get his sister ok?"
"Yes big brother!" She said quickly before trotting over to Lelouch and helping him to his feet. The young prince looked up at her and sparkling Cerulean blue met deep, dark purple.
"Your name is... Kallen?" He asked weakly as she threw his arm over her shoulder and helped to hold him up.
"Yeah, what's your name?" She asked with a smile. He may be Britannian, but he saved her big brother-! And herself too, so she didn't care right now.
"Lelouch." He said weakly and winced as he felt his legs burn with every step. He turned his head to see the boy he saved carrying Nunnally on his back, holding the stolen gun with his good arm and relaxed a little.
His legs burned with every step he took.
"Thank you, Lelouch, for saving me and my big brother... why did you do that?"
"It was the right thing to do... I had to do something, couldn't just walk away... and I also hoped you'd save my sister."
"Don't worry Lulu! We'll bring you someplace safe!" She said firmly, the fire of determination alight in her eyes.
Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Lulu?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah, I thought it was a fun nickname, we're friends now!"
"Friends...?" He muttered.
"Yeah." She said like it was obvious, raising an eyebrow back at him.
"Sorry-" He said quickly. "Didn't mean it like that... only had one other friend before... he's gone now..."
Kallen looked sad for him, and nodded. "It's ok, I'm your friend now, you helped me so I'm gonna help you no matter what!"
Lelouch smiled a little, shaking his head ruefully. "You remind me of someone."
"Who?" Kallen asked, eyes bright with curiosity.
"My big sister, Nelly... she's always really pushy about protecting people she cares about... never takes no for an answer, she'd sooner throw a fist than give an apology."
Kallen looked proud to be compared to whoever this Nelly person was. "She sounds great."
"She admired mother... but... a lot of things happened... and I don't know if she cares about me anymore." Lelouch said sadly, looking down at the street he was walking on.
Kallen frowned. "She's family, family always sticks together!" She insisted.
"If only that where true Kallen." Lelouch whispered. Kallen may have been young, but she was smarter than most people gave her credit for, she could tell her new friend was hurt in a way that couldn't be made better with a Band-Aid and some rest, especially on the inside.
"Just hang in there." She insisted. "Stay strong for your sister, she needs you."
"That's why I'm here." The boy said, much more firmly. And she nodded in quiet understanding, she saw on his face that same look her own big brother always had when it came to her safety.
"Don't talk anymore ok? Save your strength, just focus on moving your legs and I'll do the rest, Naoto and I have some friends that can help us."
Lelouch nodded in response and closed his eyes, willing his legs to move at the pace she had set.
He didn't know how long it had been since he had met the redheaded siblings, but he guessed that it must have been at least a couple of hours. He was snapped out of his daze as he realized Kallen had come to a stop, turning her head and waiting for Naoto to do something.
He watched as the other older brother gently sat Nunnally down before taking a flashlight out of the backpack he had slung over his back.
He pointed it at the ruins of a building. And turned it on and off. Lelouch realized it was Morse code very quickly, though he couldn't keep up with the message in his poor state of health.
A few moments after Naoto stopped, a flashlight blinked on and off pointed at them from the adjacent building across the street, making Naoto sigh in relief.
"C'mon, hurry, final stretch." He said, and Lelouch nodded, gritting his teeth, his legs where all but screaming at him by this point as Kallen took him across the street while Naoto picked up and carried Nunnally.
As soon as they made it into the rundown school Lelouch had a gun put in his face by a teenage Japanese redhead that was standing guard- what was up with Japan and redheads? That probably shouldn't have been on the forefront of his mind when he had a loaded firearm shoved right against his temple. But he was semi-delirious at this point.
Naoto wasn't having any of it, leveling his stolen gun at Tamaki.
"Put. It. Down." The elder Kozuki snarled in a low tone.
"They're brits!" Tamaki whispered harshly.
"They saved my life!" Naoto hissed, before raising his foot and stomping on Tamaki's toes, making the young man howl in pain and clamp his hand over his mouth, lowering his gun as he cursed to himself.
The Kozuki siblings walked past Tamaki and brought them inside.
Inoue reacted instantly when she saw Lelouch, gasping, she went to go grab what spare food and medical supplies she could without a moment's hesitation, and Ohgi alongside Sugiyama immediately cleared off a table.
Naoto set Nunnally down in a chair and helped his sister lift Lelouch onto the table.
"What happened?" Ohgi asked.
"Kallen and I where scavenging when a couple of Brit troopers found us, we tried to run but they cut us off... Kallen managed to get into a car and lock the doors but I wasn't so lucky, took a bullet and a nasty hit to the head... but this kid saved us."
"Really?" Sugiyama asked, sounding surprised.
"Yeah, the little guy jammed some scissors into the leg of the one beating on me and then shot him in the face, and I took his gun to kill the other one trying to drag Kallen out."
"Damn... brave kid." Ohgi muttered, and Sugiyama nodded in agreement.
Inoue ran back into the room, carrying a first aid kit, a bag full of medication, and some food.
Tamaki chose that moment to walk in.
"What the fuck are we doing helping some fucking brit spies!?"
"They saved my life Tamaki!" Naoto spat, turning around and getting into the other man's face. "They aren't all bad! You know that! Kallen and I are half-Britannian ourselves!"
Tamaki huffed, glaring at the boy laying on the table. "Try not to let him get us all killed." He snipped before walking towards the bathrooms. "Gotta take a piss..." He grumbled.
Naoto sighed, before turning to watch as Naoto examined Lelouch.
"Kami almighty how the hell are you still alive?" She asked to herself as she took Lelouch's temperature. "No fever... how long has it been since you ate anything?"
"3."
"3 what?" The woman pressed
"Days..." He admitted weakly
Inoue immediately grabbed a small bag of chips from her food supply and opened them, before offering it to him.
"N-nunnally, my little sister, she needs it more." He insisted.
The little girl frowned. "No I don't Nii-sama, you have to eat, please."
Lelouch looked at Nunnally, and was about to protest but then saw the look on her face. He then looked back up at the woman offering him food and saw that she wasn't about to let up either.
"Ok..." He agreed reluctantly, his voice still hoarse. "Thank you for the food." He said quietly, taking the bag and slowly eating. The woman didn't bother asking him how long it had been since he had any water and unscrewed the cap on a fresh bottle, before reaching behind his neck to gently tilt his head up and putting the opening to his lips. He drank, and drank, and drank- he was so thirsty that his dry throat felt like it cracked a bit after finally being moisturized. Most of the bottle was gone before he stopped to breathe deeply, wheezing a little.
"So... why did you save them little guy?" Ohgi asked.
"He said it was because he knew it was the right thing to do." Kallen answered with a smile. "That and he hoped we would help save his sister."
Ohgi grinned. "Whaddya know, we got not 1 but 2 protective older brothers in the room."
Tamaki walked back in after using the bathroom to see Lelouch eating and drinking their rations, still not over it just yet. Naoto saw the look on his face and shot him down before he could say something stupid.
"Tamaki for the love of Japan please just stop fussing over them. They're not brit soldiers, they're kids, ok?"
"Fine, but from now on we should speak in our language so the stupid brats can't leak any information." Tamaki said in Japanese, a deliberate choice since they where all speaking English once the exiles got there.
"Tamaki-San, if your brain was as big as your mouth you might be able to comprehend that a half-dead 10 year old isn't spy material." Lelouch drawled whilst staring at the ceiling- and said it in perfect Japanese.
Everyone in the room burst out laughing as Tamaki looked flabbergasted
"Oh whatever!" He spat, flushed red with embarrassment. After that, Tamaki had opted not to say anything further.
Ohgi cleared his throat.
"Naoto... what do you think we should do?"
The older Kozuki pursed his lips as he thought. "Honestly, I don't think Japan is gonna win, those robot things-"
"Knightmares."
"Huh?" Ohgi asked.
"Autonomous mobile armored Knight, colloquially known as the Knightmare frame. It's Britannia's end-all-be-all armored cavalry unit, perfect for its aggressive blitzkrieg tactics, a nigh perfect combination of speed, armor and firepower and it has a crew of 1, making a single one of them easily worth more than an entire Squadron of tanks while being cheaper to operate- at least in terms of manpower."
There was a brief silence in the room before Naoto spoke up.
"You seem to know an awful lot about it." He noted.
"My mother was a test pilot, she drove a pre-production Glasgow around during its trial phases before it hit the assembly lines."
Tamaki and Sugiyama glared at him while Kallen and Naoto looked conflicted, but Ohgi noticed something and asked calmly.
"You said she was a test pilot. She isn't anymore?"
"Britannia killed her." Lelouch answered, clenching his fists. "And Nunnally... she was blinded, and mutilated in the same attack that took her life."
"But- why? Why would your nation-" Inuoe began only for Lelouch to cut her off.
"Not my nation. Not my country, they killed my mom and hurt my sister. I have forsaken my heritage, my family name, it is mud to me. I'm just Lelouch."
Sugiyama and Tamaki relaxed and felt a little bad for the kid. Inuoe gently rested a hand on his shoulder, and Kallen held his hand.
"Do you know why they killed her?" Ohgi asked tentatively.
"My mother was a commoner by birth, and French by blood, she married into nobility. The other nobles hated her for her 'impure heritage' and had her killed for her insolence. When I demanded justice from my father he disowned me, said I was dead to him, and called my sister weak and useless. He sent us here to get rid of us, and probably expects that we've died."
"Man..." Tamaki eventually spoke after a few moments. "That's fucked up."
"Your dad's a dick Lou." Naoto said with a smirk.
"Tell me something I don't know." Lelouch quipped dryly. "Nonetheless... thank you, for your hospitality... my mother was close friends with the Ashfords before her death, I am hoping that Ruben Ashford will take myself and Nunnally under his roof. As soon as I am able, I will leave with my sister to get out of your hair and try to find refuge with them."
"Ashford huh? Kallen is gonna be going there." Naoto spoke up.
Kallen at first detested the idea of going to school when she could be helping her brother...
'But... if Lelouch is gonna be there, maybe it won't be so bad...' the young girl relented internally
A few days passed since Lelouch was taken in by the soon-to-be Kozuki resistance, and he slowly got his strength back. Inuoe seemed to take a liking to him, watching the young boy- still weak as he was- doting on his adorable little sister, it was heartwarming, and was almost therapeutic for her to watch.
Tamaki seemed to turn around quickly as well, going from being openly hostile to occasionally giving the boy fistbumps after hearing a good burn and playing rock-paper-scissors.
Ohgi engaged with him in a few eye-opening philosophical and political debates that most others listened in on with keen interest alongside radio chatter about how the war was going.
Kallen seemed to he the most interested in the boy. Asking him about his past. Lelouch was typically vague and cryptic, and Naoto had a gut feeling he knew why... but he wouldn't share his opinion on the matter, Lelouch saved him and his sister, so he wouldn't do anything that could possibly endanger the exile.
But, he was also grateful for Lelouch because her sister's interest in him kept her occupied. Beforehand she insisted on going with Naoto every time he went out for supplies, but now she didn't do it as often. Usually only trying to get him to let her come with while Lelouch was asleep or feeling sick.
When he asked why she wanted to come, she said she wanted to try and find something to help their savior feel better... though she seemed to also be even angrier at Britannia than before, perhaps on the behalf of the siblings that the group took in.
He supposed it was a better reason than her usual "I hope we kill some brits" since he didn't like that she was trying to always pick a fight with armed soldiers. The fated encounter with a near-death experience probably set her straight, enough that he could count on her to not be as gung-ho about throwing hands.
When Naoto and Kallen came back from their latest supply run, everyone had a sour mood.
"Hey." Naoto asked as he set down his backpack. "What's with the long faces?"
"The prime minister committed suicide in protest of the war." Ohgi said sadly. "Japan surrendered. It just broadcasted over the radio while you guys where gone."
Kallen and Naoto both looked most displeased, but where caught off guard when Lelouch spoke up.
"Probably for the best."
"Huh?" Ohgi asked, and Tamaki glared.
"Think about it." He insisted. "Every other country Britannia conquered had their military power completely wiped out before colonization began, they have no means of resisting Britannian rule. With Japan's official surrender, the pride of the people may be hurt, but you'll all survive to fight another day since your army hasn't been completely destroyed. There's lots of opportunities for a Guerrila war to resist imperial occupation, and it saves a lot of Japanese lives."
Everyone drank in the words that the boy spoke, and Naoto nodded.
"Kid's got a point honestly... with all that's going on, it might be better to lay in wait before coming back for round 2 on our own terms."
There was a round of reluctant agreement around the room as they came to understand the situation.
"Well... since the war is over, I must depart. Nunnally and I need to get to Ashford. You have my gratitude for your hospitality, I will repay it one day." Lelouch said as he hugged his sister.
"You sure you're gonna be ok?" Ohgi asked
"Positive. Tokyo is under Britannian occupation and we're just a couple of kids that look like their countrymen, they won't suspect a thing or lay a finger on us." He calculated.
Inuoe handed Lelouch a plastic bag. "Extra rations for your trip, just in case." She said, before giving Lelouch and Nunnally both headpats.
"Thank you." He smiled a little, before picking up Nunnally to give her a piggyback ride.
"Naoto, thanks for bringing us here, and Kallen, thank you for being our friend. I hope to see you at Ashford." His cheeks tinted red ever so slightly.
Kallen smiled back and waved goodbye. "See ya there soon." She replied.
And with that, the royals made it to Ashford with thoughts of their new friends always lingering in the back of their minds.
A/N: Please review, tell me what ya think.