Chapter Thirty

October 29, 2036

Suzaku closed his eyes as the car rushed forward, the bright light from the Blaze Luminous and the sparks painful to look into. He whimpered, forcing himself to keep the steering wheel steady in its position. On either side of him were buildings, in the past and in the future. If he jerked the steering wheel to one side he would probably just kill them both. And he had not risked everything just to kill Lelouch because of his own stupidity.

He opened his eyes just enough to see whether the light was dimming, letting out a curse when he had to shut them immediately again. He didn't like not being able to see where he was going, especially when he was guessing at where he was going to appear in the future. Shinjuku had changed since 2018, it had been made respectable again instead of a ghetto with buildings collapsed into streets or streets not existing at all. For all he knew he could be barreling towards a building, but he had pretended that he was confident, for Lloyd and Cecile's sake.

The brightness disappeared as suddenly as it had started, Suzaku immediately opening his eyes. For a moment, he was blind. He shook his head and blinked, the white spots in his vision finally clearing in time for him to see the end of his straightaway.

Suzaku leaned back in the seat and slammed his foot on the brake, wincing at the squeal of tires in the otherwise quiet night. He glanced between the end of the road in front of him and the speedometer, breathing out a sigh of relief when the needle began to drop from eighty. He would be able to make a turn onto one of the other streets without flipping the car and he could continue to slow down from there.

The car was still going too fast to make an easy turn, but Suzaku had no other option. He tried to guide the car carefully into a turn, jerking the wheel when it felt like it was going to flip, all the while slowing the car to a more manageable speed. As soon as he felt like he was back in control, he would focus on getting back to the center of the ghetto, because he was sure that he had passed it. His internal compass was completely shot and probably would be for a while. It was going to be strange reintroducing himself to the city that he had grown up in.

He sighed in relief as the car finally rolled to a stop, Suzaku keeping his foot firmly on the brake as he slumped over the steering wheel. His heart was still pounding from the near miss and the fear that the time machine wouldn't have worked in the first place. Suzaku shook his head, clutching as the steering wheel as he laughed, lifting his head to stare at the empty road in front of him.

"We did it." He turned to look at Lelouch, reaching out to touch Lelouch's hand. "You're safe, Lelouch."

Suzaku pushed away from the steering wheel, slumping back into his seat and pushed his bangs away from his forehead. They had survived the two fatal mistakes that he had thought of, one being if the time machine didn't work and the other if Suzaku had sent them on a course straight into a building.

Now he just had to get to the center of Shinjuku and save Lloyd. From there, it would be easy to find Cecile and get her out of the way of the gang. Suzaku took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders before turning his attention to his surroundings.

The road he had chosen would have brought him out close to the center of Shinjuku, or close enough that he could get back. Suzaku swallowed nervously and took his foot from the brake. At a more sedate pace than they had entered, Suzaku drove the car through the streets, looking out for the gang that would come and attack Lloyd.

He tried to come up with a plan as he neared where he and Lloyd had first been attacked. There was a danger of a paradox here. Suzaku didn't know what it would take to trigger time collapsing or whatever happened when there was a paradox, an actual confrontation or just a look, but he wanted to avoid it entirely. His best plan was to distract the gang from their attack or try to take out the shooter before it happened. The problem was that he didn't know who had shot Lloyd or what time it had happened. He hadn't glanced at the clock the entire time during his race to get away from the gang, which meant that he had guessed at the time when he had come back. For all he knew, it was too late for Lloyd.

Suzaku cursed under his breath, stopping the car a street away from the monument. This was as close as he dared to get. Thankfully, he could see where he and Lloyd were by leaning towards the passenger side of the car.

He blinked rapidly at the sight of Lloyd and himself, finding it weird that he knew exactly what he was going to do and say. He supposed it was like watching a movie that he knew well, but that didn't stop it from being weird. He was sitting and basically spying on himself. Suzaku rubbed a hand across his face. He was sure that Lloyd would have a field day with this sort of thing.

Suzaku sat up as he saw something move in the shadows, behind where he and Lloyd were standing. He reached down to fumble with his seatbelt, realizing what was going on. He didn't have as much time as he thought he did. He had thought that he would have to sit in the car for a while, but he had come at the exact moment that the gang appeared.

The seatbelt stuck, Suzaku pressing down on the button to release it before losing his patience and yanking on the belt itself. It remained on, tightening around his shoulder. Suzaku twisted, managing to loosen the belt before attempt to get free. "Come on. Come on!"

He jerked at the seatbelt, twisting in his seat. He wouldn't be able to slip out of the seatbelt, there wasn't room to slide down the seat or stand up. Suzaku groaned, sitting up straight and pressing the button.

The tongue snapped out of the slot, Suzaku throwing the seatbelt to the side and yanking open the door just as the gunshot echoed in the street. He stumbled forward a few steps, leaning on the hood of the car as he watched as Lloyd looked down at his hand before crumpling to the ground. Suzaku shook his head, shouting at the same time as his past self did. "Lloyd!"

Suzaku scrambled to keep himself upright, his fingers slipping over the armor on the car. He had been too late. He had gone through all of that just to fail again. Suzaku bit back a sob, his shoulders shaking as he tried not to cry. He was still in danger, and he couldn't forget that. He reached up to wipe at his eyes, looking up as the gang started running towards the car, gritting his teeth. After everything he had done, didn't he deserve something to go right for him, just this one thing? He had saved Lelouch, why couldn't he save Lloyd?

The car bearing the past him drove away, Suzaku watching as the gang milled on the spot before scattering, probably heading to their own cars to chase him down or to attack Cecile. Suzaku pushed away from the hood of the car, feeling the microphone of his cell phone tap against his cheek. But even that was useless, Cecile would be on the phone with him until he went into the past. He only hoped that she would call him back.

Still, even with his failure, he couldn't just leave Lloyd's body there.

He dragged his sleeve across his eyes, stumbling back to the car and yanking open the door. He still didn't know where the trailer was, Lloyd had never told him. And he wouldn't be able to fit Lloyd's body and Cecile in the car, which meant that he would have to hide the body until he could return and they found the trailer.

Suzaku sunk into his seat, taking a moment to rest his head against the steering wheel before sitting up. After everything he had still messed up. He sighed and started the car again, driving up to where Lloyd was still sprawled over the ground.

He opened the door, peering cautiously out before sneaking out. He wasn't sure if anyone had been left behind to make sure that Lloyd was dead, but it would be completely useless if he died too. Then both Cecile and Lelouch would die because he had been able to do this one thing right.

Sure that the coast was clear, Suzaku slipped out of the car, kneeling on the pavement beside Lloyd. He sighed and glanced up at the bushes that were around the monument. They would work as a hiding spot for the time being, but Suzaku still felt bad for abandoning Lloyd like that. He shook his head and slipped his arms under Lloyd, getting ready to lift the scientist up when Lloyd groaned and moved.

Suzaku jumped, falling over backwards against the car. He stared at Lloyd as the scientist rose carefully to his feet, checking his glasses before beginning to brush himself off. "I'm assuming that they're gone."

"Y-yeah. But…" Suzaku pulled himself up, staring at Lloyd. "They shot you."

"They did." Lloyd carefully unbuttoned his lab coat, flipping it behind him. Suzaku stared at the bullet proof vest that the scientist wore, unable to stop the smile from crossing his face. Lloyd cleared his throat. "I came prepared. Although," Lloyd sighed and pulled a book out of his pocket, looking sadly at the bullet hole through it, "I wish they had shot me from the other side. I needed this."

"You read it." Suzaku laughed. "You read it even though you said that you didn't want to know."

Lloyd shrugged and walked over to the car. "So it held up. And I see you still have the emperor safe. Good." The scientist slipped into the driver's seat. "Get in, we're going back to the trailer."

"What about Cecile?" Suzaku ran around to the other side and opened the door. "And where do I sit?"

Lloyd gestured at Lelouch's lap. "He'll never know. And Cecile is smart. She'll find somewhere safe and contact us."

Suzaku gave a helpless shrug and slipped into the car, muttering an apology to Lelouch as he settled in place.

Lloyd gave him a smile before slamming his foot on the gas, Suzaku flinging one arm over Lelouch's shoulders and bracing the other against the dashboard. His head knocked against the window, Suzaku yelping at the burst of pain before he rocked his head forward, waiting until Lloyd had reduced his speed to reach up and rub the back of his head. "Careful."

"Don't have time for that. We barely have enough sakuradite for the Blaze Luminous incase those boys come back again."

"They're distracted." Suzaku stared out of the windshield, frowning. "I'm distracting them."

"Until you disappear. Then what happens?"

Suzaku hung his head. "I don't know."

Lloyd didn't say anything to that, the scientist focused on weaving his way through the streets. Suzaku let Lloyd have his silence, bracing himself and trying not to squish Lelouch. He hoped that Lelouch wouldn't wake up suddenly, he didn't look forward to explaining all of this.

He kept his gaze resolutely on the road ahead, breathing out a sigh of relief when he saw the trailer, glad that it wasn't far from the monument at all.

Lloyd pulled the car onto the ramp, Suzaku getting out, rushing to the front of the truck when Lloyd sent him an impatient look. He peered into the darkness, quickly finding the button that would raise the ramp, listening carefully for the soft thud that would signal that the ramp was all the way up.

He had to open the door into the back to make sure that Lloyd had pulled the car in to start to lower the back, glancing back every few seconds until the back was completely closed. Lloyd strode into the cabin, gesturing impatiently for him to go into the trailer. "Get his majesty and get up here."

Suzaku ducked through the door, quickly grabbing Lelouch and carrying him to the cabin, having to brace himself against the wall when Lloyd began pulling the truck out of the space he had parked it in. Suzaku stumbled to one of the bench seats, settling Lelouch in before flopping down, only to jump up a moment later when his phone rang.

He fumbled with the device for a moment, almost dropping it once before he managed to secure it in place again. "Hello?"

"Oh, thank God. I thought I had lost you." Suzaku smiled as he heard Cecile over the line, dropping into his seat. "The call suddenly dropped. What did you mean if you don't get back?"

Suzaku laughed, tipping his head back. "In case the time machine didn't work. And it's fine, Miss. Cecile. The call dropped because I went back to a time when the phone didn't exist."

"Suzaku that's…" She trailed off, Suzaku holding his breath until she spoke again. "Is this…have you come back from the past?"

"Yeah." Suzaku tipped his head to the side, looking at Lelouch. "One emperor and his knight, safe and sound." He straightened up again as Lloyd cleared his throat, blushing. "Oh, and I've got Lloyd too."

"Lloyd? But you said he was shot!"

"He's fine." Suzaku threw Lloyd a relieved smile. "He read the letter I left him."

"But he told me…Ugh!" Cecile groaned, Suzaku imagining that she was rolling her eyes. "Alright, so Lloyd is alright."

"Yes, and we're coming to get you, alright? Are you safe?"

"I'm hiding at the moment. But it seemed that the rest were called off by your little stunt."

"Where?"

"Near the train station, about a block away."

Suzaku leaned over to relay the directions to Lloyd, having to reach out to grab the seat and Lelouch when the scientist made a sharp turn. He shook his head. "We'll be there soon, Miss. Cecile. Just stay hidden until we get there."

She didn't respond, just hanging up. Suzaku nodded to himself, taking the phone from its place and shoving it back in his pocket. They would be where Cecile was in a few minutes and then they would get away from this place. Suzaku felt himself relaxing, closing his eyes as he breathed out a long sigh.

He was already exhausted from everything he had done in the past, but there was still too much for him to do here for him to fall asleep yet. They had to all get home and move the time machine, and Suzaku had to figure out an argument to use against Lloyd. The scientist couldn't keep a single part of his time machine, not if they wanted to keep the world the way it was. There would be too many people who would want to use the time machine to stop wars, something that couldn't happen.

Suzaku jerked upright as his head started drooping, waking up before he could actually fall completely asleep. He looked up, watching as Lloyd slowed the truck. Suzaku reached across to stop Lloyd from honking. He wasn't sure if they were safe yet, and he wasn't willing to risk the gang finding them again. The truck and trailer would stand up to the guns that the boys had, but Suzaku wasn't willing to risk them opening the doors and discovering the time machine or Lelouch.

He let go of Lloyd's arm, reaching for Lelouch's hand as Cecile came rushing out. Suzaku leaned forward, using his free hand to gesture Cecile to move faster. He couldn't see the gang, but it would be his luck to lose one of the most important people in his life at this moment.

Cecile crossed the street and jumped into the cabin, barely managing to slam the door shut before Lloyd had started the truck again. She stumbled over to where Suzaku was sitting, falling onto him as Lloyd made a sharp turn. To Suzaku's surprise, instead of yelling at Lloyd, she just laughed and resettled herself, sitting beside Suzaku and throwing her arms around him. "You made it back alive!"

"I did." Suzaku wiggled out of her hold and leaned back against the seat. "Alive and well, thanks to you two."

"That's good." She smiled at him. "You have no idea how much I missed you."

"But I was there."

"Yes." Cecile rolled her eyes, patting his shoulder. "But it wasn't you. I had to wait eighteen years for the Suzaku I remembered to come back."

Suzaku smiled, pulling her into a hug. "It's good to be back."

"Yes, great all around." Lloyd took one hand from the steering wheel to lightly hit Cecile on the shoulder. "Better yet, I get my favorite devicer back."

"Lloyd!"

Suzaku rolled his eyes. "Of course, Lloyd, your favorite devicer is back."

He chuckled as Cecile turned to yell at Lloyd, knowing that the two of them would be at it all the way back home. He turned to be on his side, staring at Lelouch. Suzaku reached up to brush Lelouch's bangs back into place, settling his head on Lelouch's shoulder and closing his eyes. He would just rest here for a moment, just to reassure himself that Lelouch was still alive and that every piece of his gamble had worked.

He must have fallen asleep, because Cecile was shaking him awake as Lloyd slowed the truck to a stop. Blearily, Suzaku sat up, stumbling into the trailer to back the car out onto the ramp and then into the garage when the ramp was lowered. He yawned as he climbed out of the car, carrying his armload of stuff that he had brought with him, surprised when Cecile took it out of his arms.

She leaned close, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Go get his majesty and go to bed. We'll call you in sick tomorrow so you can rest."

"Thanks, Miss. Cecile." She waved him off, Suzaku stumbling back to the truck and clambering into the cabin to retrieve Lelouch. He barely noticed Lloyd impatiently waiting for him to get out of the truck, the scientist immediately driving the truck away, probably to return it to work.

Suzaku followed Cecile into the house, climbing the stairs to his room as he heard her bustling around downstairs. She would probably come up later, but Suzaku was sure that he would be asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He adjusted his hold on Lelouch before walking down the hallway and pushing open the door to his room.

A soft meow from his bed made him stop, Suzaku smiling as he saw Arthur curled up on his pillow. The black cat yawned before jumping off Suzaku's bed and onto Suzaku's desk. Suzaku kept a careful eye on the cat as he set Lelouch down on his bed, Arthur perking up and stepping to the edge of the desk. "Arthur, this is Lelouch. Be nice to him."

The cat gave him a long look before jumping off the desk and padding across the floor. Suzaku knew the cat would be back, Arthur usually slept with him until Cecile woke up, then the cat would go downstairs and begin his attempts to steal Suzaku's breakfast. Suzaku only hoped that Arthur would accept the fact that Lelouch was going to be in the bed too. He didn't want Arthur hurting Lelouch just because his spot had been taken.

Suzaku sat down on the edge of the bed, stripping off his shirt before collapsing back. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, gathering his strength to roll onto his side and pull Lelouch into his arms. He groped for the blankets that had been kicked to the foot of his bed in his rush this morning. Finding the edge, Suzaku pulled the blanket over them, nuzzling the back of Lelouch's neck as he got comfortable, a smile on his face.

It had all worked. He had saved Lelouch and the world hadn't ended, his future and the peaceful world was still there. He had saved Lloyd and Cecile. And he had gotten back alive. Suzaku shifted closer to Lelouch, taking a deep breath and smelling Lelouch and the scent of his home, and it was perfect. He let out his breath slowly, sinking into sleep curled around Lelouch.

October 30, 2036

Lelouch sighed, realizing the familiar warmth at his back was gone. Suzaku must have rolled onto his back as usual. Lelouch squeezed his eyes shut, debating on whether he should flip over and curl up to Suzaku or just remain on his side where he was comfortable and warm. But, he would be warmer with Suzaku.

Giving in, Lelouch turned onto his other side, snuggling close to Suzaku and resting his head on the knight's shoulder. He let out a sigh, opening his eyes just enough to see his knight's face. That was much better. Lelouch closed his eyes again, feeling a slight headache. He frowned and pressed his face against Suzaku's chest. His head felt fuzzy and everything felt sore.

Lelouch frowned, trying to find sleep again. Part of him didn't want to fall asleep, because then he would have that horrible dream again. He gritted his teeth, wrapping one arm around Suzaku and holding tightly to him. He didn't want to be that out of control and afraid again, and he definitely didn't want to relive his own death again.

He resettled himself on Suzaku's shoulder, squeezing his eyes closed and trying to falling asleep again. He was mostly awake now, and it would take him a while to fall asleep, but it was likely that wasn't going to happen anyway. Not with the light from the window now falling across his face. Lelouch tensed, his fingers briefly digging into Suzaku's side before he sat up.

This wasn't his room. His rooms had the windows behind the bed, not a single window off to the side. And the walls of those rooms were painted beige, not white. Lelouch scrambled away from Suzaku, nearly falling off the bed. He caught himself at the last minute, staring at the wooden floor.

He quickly got out of the bed, slowly turning in a circle as he took the room in. It was small and the walls were mostly blank save for the plans for the Lancelot, which hung to the side of a desk. On the desk was a cup of pens and pencils, a pile of schoolbooks and a laptop. The chair was pulled part of the way out, Lelouch recognizing Suzaku's uniforms from his various posts sitting under a brown leather bag.

He stumbled back another few steps, going from chilly hardwood floor to a soft carpet. Lelouch glanced down at the carpet long enough to realize it was green before he looked up again, taking in the small bookshelf that seemed to serve as a beside table on the side of the bed Suzaku was lying on before he backed into the far wall of the room, breathing heavily.

Lelouch froze as the door opened slightly, looking down to meet the calm gaze of a black cat. The cat stared at him before walking into the room. Lelouch watched as the cat hopped nimbly up onto the bed and then onto Suzaku before it sat on Suzaku's chest and started purring.

He took a quick breath, turning his head at the sound of voices coming from outside of the bedroom. Lelouch was about to peek out into the hall when he heard a hiss followed by a short yelp from Suzaku. He turned around in time to see Suzaku sit up, the cat biting his finger. Lelouch took a step forward to help him, but stopped as soon as his feet touched the carpet again, shaking. "Suzaku?"

He hated how needy he sounded. He was the emperor of Britannia, he was supposed to be strong and ruthless. But, right now, he was feeling lost and frightened, every inch the eighteen year old boy that he was. He had woken up in a strange place and the only thing familiar was Suzaku. And it was disturbing how easily Suzaku was taking this in stride.

Suzaku struggled with the cat for a moment before finally pulling his finger away. "Arthur, you didn't have to wake me up. I'm sure Cecile has fed you." The cat just purred and settled on the pillow where Suzaku's head had been. Lelouch watched as Suzaku sighed and slipped out from under the covers, seeming to notice him for the first time. "Lelouch. You're up."

He crossed the room, Lelouch reaching out for Suzaku and pulling him into a tight hug. He was in a strange place, one that Suzaku apparently seemed to know. Suzaku was perfectly at ease in this room, he had mentioned someone by name, he knew the cat and acted like being bitten was normal. Lelouch clutched Suzaku's arms, trying to drag him closer. Something was wrong and he couldn't quite remember it, not with his head still fuzzy and everything aching.

Lelouch shivered and tucked his head under Suzaku's chin. "Where are we?"

"Home."

That simple statement was enough to get Lelouch to let go of Suzaku completely. He stumbled back to his place at the wall, staring at his knight in horror. "What do you mean by that?"

Suzaku looked confused. "I mean home. It's a lot to explain, but you're safe. The important thing is that you're alright."

"Well I'm not." Lelouch snapped, pressing himself further against the wall as Suzaku walked closer. "My head hurts and so does everything else. And I woke up in a strange place."

"Your head hurts?" Lelouch allowed Suzaku to touch him, first on the cheek and then on his forehead. Suzaku was frowning, gently brushing his fingers across Lelouch's forehead. "I guess that's a side effect of the drug."

He had been letting his eyes slide shut under the familiar touch until that last word. Lelouch jerked, slapping Suzaku's hand away. "You drugged me?"

"Yes." Suzaku nodded earnestly, Lelouch glaring at him until he winced. "But I can explain."

"You'd better." Lelouch took a step forward, surprised when Suzaku immediately retreated. He kept up his advance, hoping to back Suzaku up far enough that he could sprint down the stairs and run away from here.

Suzaku winced as he hit the foot of the bed, nearly falling over. The knight caught himself at the last minute, staring up at Lelouch from his awkward position. "Alright Lelouch, just calm down."

"I will, as soon as I know what's going on."

Suzaku sighed and sat down on the bed, Lelouch ignoring his pointed look at the chair by the desk to remain looming over him. Suzaku glanced up at him before running a hand through his hair. "There was an assassination attempt on your life yesterday and I saved you."

Lelouch flinched, closing his eyes for a moment. So that hadn't been a dream. He raised a hand to press against his chest, almost afraid that it would be covered in blood when he brought it away. Lelouch stared at his clean hand, shaking his head. "I was stabbed."

"That was me." Lelouch's hand clenched into a fist as Suzaku kept explaining. "I slipped into the guard and fooled the assassins to thinking that I was one of them. I was the one to climb up towards you. The blood was from the stash that we made to fake your death, I shoved it in your robes and stabbed that. You were drugged before it happened, so it looked like you were dying."

He wanted to smile at Suzaku, to thank him for saving his life. But his mouth wouldn't move. "You didn't tell me."

"I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"I just couldn't."

"I order you to tell me!"

Suzaku stood up, glaring at Lelouch. "Because I couldn't! I had to let them think you were dead because the plan was already in motion by the time I got there!"

"Fine. But was Nunnally told?"

"I couldn't tell her, Lelouch." He tensed as Suzaku shrugged, like Nunnally not knowing that her brother was alive was nothing. "I couldn't tell anyone."

"Why not?"

"Because the world needed you to be dead!" Suzaku glared at him before rummaging in his pocket and pulling out his phone. He lit up the screen and shoved the phone into Lelouch's hands. "Look at the date."

"I don't see how this is relevant to-"

"Just do it."

Lelouch narrowed his eyes, making sure that Suzaku knew just how displeased he was with him before looking at the date.

He felt like the floor had dropped out from under him as he read the year, shaking his head. "It says 2036."

"Yes."

"That can't be right." Lelouch looked up, pushing the phone into Suzaku's chest. "This is just an elaborate joke."

"It really isn't."

"Then tell me, Suzaku Kururugi, how I got to be here?"

He expected Suzaku to back down, unable to offer an explanation. He expected Suzaku to claim that he had been working for the Black Knights and Schneizel all along and that this was a way to get rid of him for good. What he didn't expect was for Suzaku to sigh and sit back down on the bed. "We travelled in time."

Lelouch shook his head slowly. "You don't expect me to believe that."

Suzaku shrugged, sticking the phone in his pocket again. "It's what happened. I'm from here, 2036. I traveled back to 2017 and, when I came back, I brought you with me."

"No. You drugged me and took be somewhere else and this is all an elaborate scheme made up by Schneizel."

"Lelouch, I'm telling you the-"

"Time travel is impossible!"

"I'm telling you it is." Suzaku glared at him. "How else would I know all of those battle strategies? How else would I know so much about you? How else would I know about an assassination attempt that even Jeremiah didn't know about?" Suzaku paused, taking a deep breath. "How did I know that Nunnally would become empress?"

Lelouch stared at him before taking a step to the side and pointing at the door. He couldn't stand here and listen to Suzaku lie to him. He had allowed Suzaku to get close to him, closer than he had let anyone else. And he had fallen for the trap. He didn't know what trap it was, but he was going to find out, and soon. Then, he was going to find Nunnally and tell her the truth. He would deal with what to do with Suzaku as soon as his headache was gone. Lelouch gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. "Get out of my sight."

He expected a protest or the beginning of some argument, but Suzaku surprised him again. The knight just stood up and bowed at the waist before walking out of the room, the cat following him. Lelouch watched him go, barely waiting for both Suzaku and the cat to get out of the room before running at the door and throwing his whole weight against it, slamming it shut.

Lelouch slid down the door, keeping his back pressed firmly against it in case Suzaku tried to come back in. He doubted that his knight would disobey a direct order from him, but he didn't know anymore. He couldn't trust Suzaku, not after he had been fed that obvious lie.

He could believe that Suzaku heard about an assassination attempt and had saved his life. But he couldn't understand why he had needed to be drugged and then taken away. Suzaku could have just shown up and killed the assassins. They already had a plan to get Lelouch away from the throne, but that was when Lelouch was sure that he had a successor and that his siblings had been taken care of.

And then there was Nunnally. Lelouch clenched his hands into fists. He had meant to tell Nunnally the exact date of his fake assassination. He had debated over it but, in the end, he was unable to force Nunnally to be miserable until he could contact her and say that he was alright. Now, because of Suzaku, Nunnally thought he was dead and would be inconsolable. It wasn't fair to her, not after everything that she had lost.

Lelouch pushed himself away from the door, storming over to the bed and flopping down on it. He stared up at the ceiling. The fact that Suzaku had lied to him outright was almost as aggravating as the fact that Suzaku had let Nunnally think that he was dead. Did Suzaku think he was an idiot and would believe that they had traveled in time? Time travel was impossible, there was no machine built that could manage it, that was just science fiction. There were also the paradoxes to get around, the idea of existing two places in one and… Lelouch rubbed his head, his headache flaring up as he tried to begin to think seriously about the mechanics of time travel.

He gave up quickly, lifting one hand to rub at his temple as he tried to make the ache go away. He hoped that it would fade quickly before Suzaku came to drug him again or before something happened to him. There was still a chance of escape, as long as he was in complete control of himself.

Until then, his only hope was to try and determine where he was and take stock of the political climate. He didn't know how long he had been kept drugged, so it could have been just for day or for a week. Clearly, he would have to work on his escape plan. Lelouch sighed, sitting up slowly and staring at the desk. But at least he had the tools to work with.

He stood up and made his way over to the desk, flipping the laptop open. He groaned as it started to load slowly, Lelouch rolling his eyes and turning his attention to the schoolbooks. They wouldn't be useful in the least to help him escape, but Suzaku's claim that he had traveled in time was still nagging at him. While it did explain the knight's ability to guess at events, it was still too ridiculous to consider.

But the computer was annoyingly slow in booting up, and there were no other books in the room save for a few fiction novels and some classics that Lelouch would have expected to find in a student's room. Lelouch raised his eyebrow, staring at a row of books entirely focused on the Arthurian myth before picking up what looked like a history book.

On a whim, he flipped to the index and looked up The Battle of Narita, flipping to the page indicated. As he suspected, there were several diagrams of the battle. Lelouch quickly marked the page and shut the book. He wanted to test this to make sure. As much as he knew that time travel was impossible, there was still one annoying part of him that was insisting that Suzaku might be telling the truth, and he wanted to prove himself wrong. Suzaku had once described the battle of Narita for him, laid it out on a chessboard and gave him an explanation of what would happen. Suzaku couldn't have given him a perfect accurate description.

Lelouch raided the desk for supplies, laying out an array of pens, pencils and erasers on the bed before arranging them into the order that Suzaku had shown him that one day, imagining the pattern of a chessboard on the bed.

First came the pawn that represented the summit of Narita. Lelouch used a scrap of paper, surrounding it with four pencils. Lelouch tilted his head, resting his finger against the scrap of paper. The JLF base had been inside the mountain itself, but the entrance had been a small shack near the top, a flimsy wooden thing that they had dug out of the landslide that Cornelia had set into motion. Lelouch grabbed pens, carefully placing them in the order that he had arranged his troops that day, glancing back at his makeshift mountain. His troops had faced fire from the turrets scattered on the mountain.

He picked up an eraser, playing with it for a moment before setting it down on the mountain to show where Cornelia had been. She had remained there until he had entered the field. Lelouch frowned, moving the eraser to the side of the mountain where he had been cornered and his Knightmare destroyed.

Lelouch stared at the crude diagram that he had made before rolling his eyes. This was exactly how Suzaku had showed it to him, and it didn't look like much anymore. Before the battle, he had been deciding between different formations, but Suzaku had given him this one, so he had gone with it. Lelouch sighed and reached for the book, opening to the marked page and preparing to be proven right.

To his surprise, the diagram of the opening moves of Narita was displayed exactly like the mock up that he had made on the bed. Lelouch leaned closer to the book, searching for a discrepancy in what he remembered Suzaku telling him. But there was nothing, it was exactly what he remembered.

He flipped to the front page of the book. It had to be a fake, there was no other explanation. But the book didn't look like it was faked. It just looked like a lightly used textbook. He flipped through the pages, absently noticing that it was focused mostly on his father's and his own reign. Unable to find anything that proved that the book was a fake, he slammed it shut and lunged for the desk.

The computer had finished booting up and he immediately went to the internet, searching for something that would prove that he was right and Suzaku was wrong. The first searches he did produced nothing more than snippets from documentaries discussing him and footage from his alleged assassination and dismemberment. Lelouch was only able to watch half of the video, stopping before they started throwing parts of the body into one of the fires.

For the next three hours, Lelouch frantically searched for something that would make sense. But he was thwarted at every turn. Documents that had been secret during his reign were out in the open, things that had been prepared for his successor had been passed by Nunnally, the very government of Britannia had changed into a representative one and the Areas were free.

That was the one thing that truly startled him. There was no way that the Areas could have been freed in a week, not with Nunnally in the care of Schneizel and Cornelia. When he had first seen that she had taken over at the next ruler of Britannia he had been sure that she was just a puppet. But, the things that she was doing was something that neither Cornelia nor Schneizel would ever do. It only took a little bit more digging to figure out why.

Schneizel was the Britannian representative for the UFN and, by all the reports, one of the best on the council. There were no less than ten treaties that included him as being part of the process. And Cornelia had the same type of glowing reports about her performance as the commander of the Britannian military, not that the military had been used in years.

Lelouch checked and double checked all the information that he had gotten, his throat suddenly dry as he was forced to come to a conclusion. It was possible that the book was faked, but it was impossible to fake so many websites and put the same information into them. Lelouch had searched through the legitimate sites and had moved on to a few of the ones that just put out rumors before giving up.

He slumped back in the chair, staring at the computer and shaking his head. It wasn't possible, but he had still managed to get into the future, eighteen years into the future. Even more astounding was the fact that all of his plans, the ones that he had made hoping that the next emperor would be smart enough to let the peace last for a few years, were holding the war together. There had been a few wars that had almost started, but Nunnally and Schneizel had managed to stop them. Mostly, the governments of the world were focused on the problems of their own population.

It was his plan, but Nunnally was brilliant. Lelouch couldn't help the smile that crossed his face as he found videos of all of Nunnally's most recent speeches. It was strange to see his sister so confident and so sure, but it was nice. He still wanted nothing more than to rush to the Imperial Palace in Pendragon and drag her out of there for her own safety.

But he was dead, at least officially. He had found images of his monument, right beside where his mother had been buried. Lelouch leaned a little closer to the screen, smiling at small pillar with the little paper crane on it. Nunnally had loved origami, and had attempted it a couple of times while they had been living in Japan, but she hadn't perfected the art, at least not to Lelouch's knowledge. Here, she had managed to be perfectly tactful. Everyone had expected her to put up a monument to her brother, simply because they had been related. By keeping it small and plain, people could infer that, while she loved him for being her brother, she hadn't agreed with what he had done. And everyone was satisfied.

Lelouch skipped over the picture of Suzaku's grave, not really wanting to see it. His own death he could handle, but he didn't want to go running to Suzaku, not when he wasn't quite ready to forgive his knight.

Suzaku had managed to save his life and take him somewhere safe, all while making sure that Lelouch's plans would succeed. But Suzaku had also trapped him here. From what Lelouch had read, the people feared and hated him, as per what he had hoped for. Even if he went back in time to return to the throne, one of him would have to be killed, which would cause a paradox. And there couldn't be two of him existing.

He groaned, leaning back and rubbing his forehead. His headache was gone, the drug finally wearing completely off, but he still didn't want to think about those types of things. He preferred to remain firmly rooted in reality and not the what ifs of time travel.

Whatever way he looked at it, no matter what circumstances he could come up with, he was stuck in this time and that was Suzaku's fault. Lelouch would thank Suzaku for his quick thinking later, right now he wanted to continue to be mad. He was stuck in a strange time where the people hated him and where he could never see Nunnally again, he no longer had the power to be able to get to her.

Lelouch dropped his hand back to his side, sitting up slowly. His sister was on her own, and had been for eighteen years. She was doing fine, despite the protective urges he still had. But that left him useless for the first time in the life. He couldn't protect and care for Nunnally anymore, so he didn't even know where to begin on his life here.

He pushed away from the desk, cleaning up his diagram of Narita on the bed before sitting down with the textbook in his hands. For now, he would satisfy himself by getting as much information as possible so, that when he had to make a choice, he would be well educated.

Hours passed by without him noticing, the time only marked by the soft rustle as he turned the pages. He looked up once when he thought he heard the door open. For a moment, it looked like Suzaku was at the door, but then the shape was gone, Lelouch staring at the partially open door before going back to his reading. The only other thing that disturbed him was Arthur, the cat strolling into the room and jumping onto the bed. Lelouch and the cat stared at each other for a while before Arthur ducked under Lelouch's hand, wriggling until it was lined up the way that Arthur wanted it. Lelouch debated ignored the cat, but found that his fingers were already moving. Giving up, he returned to the book.

Lelouch wasn't disturbed until his stomach growled. He shifted at that, aware of the way his stomach ached. He really didn't want to go out and look for food, but he couldn't stay in here and starve, he was sure that Suzaku wouldn't let him.

He sighed and put the book down, getting off of the bed. Lelouch shuffled to the door and hesitated there, looking out into the hall. He was being stupid, letting something as small as anger at Suzaku keep him in the room. He could be angry at Suzaku outside of the room just as well as he could while inside of the room.

Lelouch swung the door open, surprised when Arthur trotted past him and headed down to the hall to his left. Lelouch hesitated for a moment before following after, trying to move as silently as he could. He went down the stairs, keeping a hold of the railing as he stopped to peer over the banister, relieved when he didn't immediately see Suzaku. Although, he could still here him, which meant that the knight was close.

Lelouch sighed and sat down on the stairs, watching as Arthur wandered into the kitchen area before disappearing from his line of sight. He heard Suzaku speak up a moment later.

"Arthur, I was wondering where you were. You weren't annoying Lelouch, were you?"

"He probably was." Lelouch shrunk back against the wall as Cecile walked into the kitchen. He flinched when she looked directly at him, her eyes widening. She was going to tell Suzaku that he was here, and then he would have to confront his knight. Lelouch flinched and looked away, it was bad enough that Suzaku had abducted him to the future, but he would also have to admit that Suzaku had been right.

To his surprise, Cecile just turned her attention back to the kitchen counter. "You really haven't been good company today."

"Really? I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize." Cecile paused to look over her shoulder. "You and his majesty have a fight?"

"Yes." Lelouch flinched, hating the way that Suzaku sighed out the word. "I told him everything and he took it badly. I just wish that I hadn't been such a coward."

"I wouldn't call you a coward."

"I am. I couldn't even begin to explain to Lelouch who I was, so I let him tell me that it didn't matter. And I believed him. I should have known better. Why did I think that being from the future would be so easy to explain?"

Lelouch swallowed and gently made his way down the rest of the stairs, clinging to the banister the entire way down. He stopped with his hand clutching the last rail, unable to go further.

He heard Suzaku sigh again. "But I really didn't mean it to get like this. I just wasn't thinking. I just wanted to save him so badly that I didn't even think about what he wanted."

"I don't think that his majesty would have wanted to die."

"No," Lelouch finally stepped into the conversation, walking into the kitchen. He turned his head, seeing Suzaku sprawled out on the couch with Arthur on his chest. Lelouch turned his head away quickly, addressing the nearest chair instead of Suzaku. "I didn't want to die. But I would have liked to have known what you planned to do."

"Lelouch…"

He pulled out a chair and sat down, staring at the floor. "You could have just saved me and then let me continue on with my plans. I could have gone to living in hiding and then…"

He trailed off. He didn't know what would come after that. Nunnally was doing a good job ruling Britannia, far better than any of the other successors that he had looked over could have done. She hadn't been his first choice, mostly because he had never looked at her that way. But it wouldn't be fair to her to demand that she just give everything up because he didn't like what she was doing, no matter how much he wanted to.

Lelouch shook his head. "You didn't have to kidnap and trap me here."

"I wasn't thinking." Lelouch snuck a look up at Suzaku. His knight was completely focused on Arthur, rubbing the cat behind the ears. "I panicked. I should have just told Nunnally and let you move on with your plan."

"You should have."

"But now you know why I had to leave." Lelouch tensed, looking up at Suzaku and meeting his gaze. Suzaku gestured towards the room. "I belong here, Lelouch, I have people here that I want to be able to see again. I couldn't stay. But I didn't want to leave you, I…I wanted to protect you."

"So you drugged me and dragged me here?"

"This is so messed up." Suzaku groaned and sat up, Arthur hoping to the floor.

"It is. But there's nothing we can do about it, so I guess I'm going to have to adjust." Suzaku looked up at him hopefully, Lelouch shaking his head. "This doesn't mean that I'm alright with any of this. It just means that I understand. I'm still angry with you."

"I know."

"Good." Lelouch tipped his head back, clearing his throat. He was about to continue on when he saw how depressed Suzaku looked. He sighed and got up, walking over to Suzaku and flopping down on the couch beside him. After a moment of hesitation, Lelouch hugged him, pulling Suzaku close. "This isn't complete forgiveness. Let me stay mad at you a while longer."

"Okay."

Lelouch sighed, nearly scooting into Suzaku's lap in an attempt to get his knight to hug him back. Reluctantly, Suzaku did, Lelouch resisting the urge to shake his head. "Never forget that I am glad that you saved me."

"I won't."

Suzaku gripped his shirt tightly when Lelouch pulled away. Lelouch hesitated before carefully pulling Suzaku's hands from him. The one hug would have to be enough for a while, at least until Lelouch had come to terms with his new world and what he would have to do to live here. "I'll come back to you when I'm ready."

He stood up and walked back into the kitchen, leaving Suzaku to slump forward. Lelouch tried his best not to look back, but ended up stealing a peek and hating himself for it. He cleared his throat and looked away, almost running into Cecile.

For a moment, he was afraid of her, the glare that she was giving him was enough to make him turn and run. But she had been his subordinate once and it was nearly habit to glare back. Cecile backed down, turning back to the bowl she had on the counter. "Be nice to him."

"But I-"

"I know why you're doing this, but don't make him suffer." She glanced back at Suzaku before lowering her voice. "He's suffered enough."

Lelouch nodded. He had never planned on keeping Suzaku away from him for more than a week, his gratitude and resignation with his situation would kick in long before then. "I won't."

"Good. Because he's had a hard enough life" Cecile shook her head. "And remember, he was just trying to make sure that everything happened the same way again."

"Again?" So Suzaku had gone back knowing how this had ending. Lelouch tried to lean casually on the counter, trying to disguise how much he was shaking. Suzaku had gone back and done everything knowing that Lelouch would have to die. "For how long."

"The entire time. And he was almost willing to not interfere until the end. So, take it easy on him, your majesty. Or I will have to hurt you."

He jerked back at her statement, staring at Cecile. He wasn't the emperor in this world, no matter what Cecile or Suzaku called him. From this point on, he was as special as any other teenager. It was hard to accept since he had lived his entire life being someone important and now he couldn't be. Perhaps it was fitting atonement for everything that he had done to get the world to this state, or maybe it was just the world laughing at him.

Lelouch gave a slow nod, watching as Cecile smiled and turned back to her work. "Dinner will be in about ten minutes."

It wouldn't be worth the trip back upstairs, so Lelouch went and sat down a chair at the table, aware of Suzaku's stare. Despite having essentially forgiven Suzaku, he still wanted to be mad because the choice of what to do had been taken away from him. And if that led to several days of being awkward in each other's presence, then that's what it would take. In that space of time, he could concentrate on figuring out what he was going to do now, since Suzaku had essentially given him a second chance at life.

Lelouch leaned his elbow on the table, resting his cheek on his hand as he stared at the wall. From this point he could do anything, but he had never really thought about what he wanted to do. His future had always been planned by his father and then, planned so that Nunnally would come first, always. Now he could make a choice without worrying that it would hurt Nunnally and without balancing the countries of the world.

He found himself smiling, Lelouch shifting as Cecile started to bring the food to the table. Surprisingly, he was looking forward to this. Within a week he would have his life back together. Lelouch glanced to the side, watching as Suzaku shuffled to the table, carefully picking a seat far away from Lelouch. He winced and looked back down at the table. And it would have to be only a week, or he would run the risk of losing Suzaku.

That was not an option.

November 8, 2036

Suzaku found himself humming as he walked towards the student council room, a broad smile on his face. It was the same smile he had been wearing since he had woken up, the first smile since he had come back to the future.

Lelouch was speaking to him again.

He had spent the first two days that he had returned home in misery. He had fully expected Lelouch to call him out on what he had done, but never to the point of not speaking with him. And, if Lelouch wasn't speaking to him, it meant that he had time to think over what he had done. Suzaku had spent the whole first day back doing that, sprawled on the couch and staring at the ceiling.

After hours of thinking he had just come to the conclusion that he had made a mistake, a horrible mistake that he couldn't even begin to fix. And it seemed like Lelouch had agreed with him. Except for a hug, Lelouch hadn't touched him at all. Instead, Lelouch would hole himself up somewhere, sometimes in Suzaku's room, but most often in the sitting room, absorbing everything he could about current events.

When Lelouch wasn't there he was talking to Cecile and Lloyd, Suzaku only catching bits of the conversations because Lelouch would stop every time he walked past. Cecile had taken pity on him though and had given him little bits of information. Lelouch was figuring out what he wanted to do with his life, although it involved him, grudgingly, going to college. Of course, Lelouch had a whole plan that Cecile wouldn't share with him, and Suzaku had let it go.

School had never been more of a relief, especially since he had to leave the house for long hours. What was even better was that Lloyd and Cecile were used to him coming home late at night because of his work on the student council. Although, now he was begging Milly to keep him later, just to avoid Lelouch. He was sure that she suspected that all was not right at home, but she wasn't prying; Shirley and Rivalz kept her from doing that. Still, Suzaku was grateful that she would listen to him and allow him to stay late, it meant less time to see Lelouch and less time feeling guilty.

But he hadn't been able to avoid it completely. The weekend had come, bringing with it the worst two days of his life. Suzaku had eventually excused himself to go wander the city late on Saturday just to avoid Lelouch's stares. He had repeated the maneuver early Sunday, even going as far as to visit his own grave just to be able to take the long way home. That had been one of the strangest things he had done.

When Monday had passed again, Suzaku had started to contemplate dropping hints to Rivalz, hoping that he could stay over at his friend's house for the weekend. He had resolved to start begging on Thursday if Rivalz hadn't gotten the hint. His second plan was to start begging some of the other boys he knew, even if it meant explaining that he was having family trouble, although he was not ready to explain that it was really boyfriend trouble.

Thankfully, Lelouch had broken his silence, much to Suzaku's relief.

Suzaku had woken to Lelouch stroking his hair that morning, surprised that Lelouch had even woken up early enough to see him off, let alone touch him. He had belatedly realized that it was far too early for him to even think about getting up for school, but that thought had disappeared as Lelouch had burrowed under the blanket with him and snuggled close.

"I'm sorry," he had whispered, "that wasn't fair."

Suzaku had meant to argue, but it was hard with Lelouch curled up against him and the general feeling of something right sliding back into place. So he had closed his eyes and gone back to sleep. When Cecile had woken him up later, it was the first time in a week that he could say that he wasn't looking forward to school. Nor was he looking forward to the student council meeting or how to explain to Milly why he wanted to get home early, especially since it would lead to him explaining that he had a boyfriend.

He wasn't sure how the school in general would act to that announcement actually. He was well known if not popular, and he was sure that there would be plenty of girls with broken hearts. And he wasn't sure about how his male friends would treat him. Then again, he was sure that he would have Milly on his side at least.

Suzaku slowed down in the front of the student council room, staring at the doors before swallowing and walking in, surprised to see everyone there for once, even Nina. He winced at the sight of the quiet girl, quickly taking his seat.

He still felt guilty for failing her. He could have saved her and her mother before he had gone into the Damocles, he was sure that Lelouch would have lasted. But he hadn't been sure then. Suzaku had checked up on what happened to her mother, and the story was still the same. Clara Einstein had committed suicide after the knowledge that most, if not all, of the casualties in the Battle of Mt. Fuji had been her fault. Nina had been shuffled through her relatives, wandered the streets at a young age, suffered some trauma that she would never talk about and had been raised by a foster family.

Suzaku swallowed and looked up at the council. They were all wearing equal expressions of concern on their faces, even Nina, although hers was slightly more reserved. Suzaku shifted nervously in his head before leaning forward, attempting to break the silence with a laugh. "So, what are the plans for today?"

"Intervention."

"What?" He jerked back from the table, his chair nearly toppling over as he stared at Milly.

She was serious. Milly was hardly ever serious unless it was something very important. And, apparently, his problem had been deemed very important.

Milly sighed and hopped up onto the table, swinging her legs as she looked at him. "Suzaku, something has been going on for the past week."

"Uh…"

"Yeah." He turned to face Rivalz. "I tried calling you last weekend and you never picked up. Miss. Croomy said that you were out in the city and I couldn't reach your cell phone."

"Oh." He had turned his cell phone off early on in the day, not wanting to be bothered. Suzaku tried for an apologetic smile, rubbing the back of his head. "Listen, sorry about that. I was having a bad few days."

"Why?" Milly was leaning towards him. "I know Earl Asplund isn't the easiest person to get along with but-"

"Lloyd? You thought it was Lloyd." Suzaku stared at her, shaking his head. "He wouldn't do anything to me. No, I was just having a couple of bad days in a row."

"Try more like a week."

Suzaku ignored the comment from Rivalz. "I'm fine now, Milly. Promise."

"If you're sure…" Milly hesitated before jumping down from the table. "Alright then, we'll put you to work."

Suzaku groaned with the rest of them, but he took the papers that Milly had passed out eagerly. They were done with the budgets for the clubs, save for a few that were still coming in late. Now they just had to deal with the weekly load of requests to reserve spaces, approving the announcements that the clubs wanted to put up around school and looking over the club constitutions, new and old. Suzaku sighed when he realized that he had gotten the constitutions.

He went to reach for a pen when he felt someone grab his hand. He looked up to find Shirley smiling at him. The red head gave his hand a careful pat. "You know that we're here for you if you ever want to talk."

Suzaku nodded, having to force the smile on his face. "Thank you, Shirley."

She nodded and went back to her work, Suzaku watching her out of the corner of his eye. Shirley was another one that he felt guilty about. Narita seemed like a million years ago, but he could still remember it. He could still remember wanting to save her father, but not knowing where he was. Back then, he didn't think that Lelouch would have given a request to keep a man from the front any mind. Still, it would have given Shirley the chance to grown up knowing her father instead of seeing pictures around the house. And it didn't help that Joseph Fenette had died in a landslide, one that Suzaku had known was coming.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. The best thing to do was to forget all of it and just deal with the fact that they had died. That still didn't stop the part of him that reminded himself that he could have saved them.

To avoid overanalyzing his actions, Suzaku threw himself into his work, slogging through the constitutions of the clubs. Most of them were just resubmissions because of changes, and most of those changes were small enough that he could sign off on them quickly and sent them skittering along the table to Milly, who would make the final decision on the matter. The ones that changed half of their constitution annoyed him. Then he was stuck reading the whole thing and nearly nodding off at points.

A smile crossed his face as he worked through them. Lelouch would have enjoyed this, it was close enough to being emperor. Then Suzaku could have worked on something fun and interesting, like Rivalz and Nina who were working on the reservations or Shirley, who was working on the advertisements. In fact, Suzaku would have handed over his vice president position in a heartbeat to Lelouch, because he was sure that Lelouch to could it better. Unfortunately, Lelouch was at home, working quickly through the high school classes that he needed to get into college.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. Suzaku froze, carefully letting his pencil drop to the table before leaning back and taking his phone out, checking the time.

As he expected it was later than he thought, although he was pleased with his progress on the constitutions. Out of the stack that he had, he was on the last one. He could probably beg out of dealing with the rest tonight, this was the one night that he didn't want to stay at school until Milly forced him to leave.

Then he turned his attention to the text message, expecting it to be from Cecile wondering when he would be getting home, or from Lloyd asking him to be ready for another experiment. Instead it was from Lelouch. Suzaku blinked, he hadn't been aware that Lelouch had gotten a cell phone, let alone programmed the number into his phone. He shook his head and checking again before opening the text.

'Are you still at school?'

Suzaku stared a bit longer before responding back. 'Yes. When did you get a cell phone?'

'Recently.'

'When did you program the number into my phone?'

'Very recently. It was an apology.'

'What kind of apology?'

'One to stay that we are staying in contact no matter what.'

Suzaku smiled, about to respond when he heard something slap the table. He sat upright, finding that Milly was staring at him. "Suzaku?"

"Sorry." He set his cell phone on the table and returned to his work, expecting Lelouch to drop the conversation.

Not a minute later his cell phone buzzed to life, inching across the table until Suzaku lunged forward to catch it. He grunted as the edge of the table dug into his stomach. Suzaku pressed himself back into his seat as Milly lunged for him, giving her a smile before turning his attention to the message.

'I'm coming to pick you up.'

'From school?'

The reply came back before Suzaku had a chance to set the phone on the table.

'Yes. Where else? The mall?'

Suzaku chuckled, ignoring the stares that he was getting. 'Are you ever just going to just ask me something?'

'Probably not. You're far too stubborn.'

'That should be we're far too stubborn.'

"Suzaku…" At Milly's sing-song tone of voice, Suzaku set the phone down on the table again, reminding himself to tell Lelouch about Milly. She didn't mind a few texts during the meetings, but she was surprising strict about text conversations. It seemed like she wanted them to be focused on the council work alone. He gave her a sheepish smile, tensing as the phone vibrated again.

He was too slow this time, Milly sliding across the table and snatching up the phone. She shot him a grin before opening the text. Suzaku sunk low in his chair as she read it, watching as her eyebrows rose. "Oh, and what's this? 'Where are you?'" She looked back him, Suzaku blushing as she passed the phone back to him. "You'd better answer."

Still blushing, Suzaku typed his reply. 'Clubhouse, towards back of campus. Student Council Room.'

He snapped the phone shut as soon as it had sent, stuffing the device into his pocket and sinking in his seat again.

Milly was leaning forward to look at him, still splayed out over the table. When she remained silent, Suzaku allowed himself to sit up straight, cautiously reaching for his pencil before going back to work. Milly wouldn't let him go until he was done with his work, and he was sure that he could finish this one constitution before Lelouch came. Suzaku closed his eyes for a moment, trying to banish his blush before opening them, concentrating on reading the paper in front of him.

"So, who's Lelouch?"

Suzaku's head snapped up at the question, his mouth dropping open as he started at Milly.

He hadn't been part of the discussions about Lelouch's future here, at least not the ones that were strictly pertaining to Lelouch. But Cecile had given him enough hints to know that Lelouch was taking steps to not be recognized, although he wasn't changing his name. Suzaku thought it would be safe enough, there were always Britannians who named their children after dead emperors because the names sounded sophisticated, whether the emperors were well liked or not. And Lelouch could always make the excuse that he had grown too used to the name to change it.

The president laughed and sat up, obviously waiting for him to answer. "Uh…he's my…" Suzaku looked around at the rest of the council, surprised that they had all stopped working and were staring at him. "He's my…"

"He's your what, Suzaku?"

He swallowed and closed his eyes, sinking into his seat as he mumbled. "My boyfriend."

The room was unnaturally quiet after his announcement, Suzaku one eye and expecting things to be thrown at him. Instead, they were all just looking at him. Rivalz looked like he was in shock, Nina looked horrified, Shirley was leaning forward slightly and giving him a sweet smile and Milly was grinning at him. Suzaku stared at Milly, feeling more frightened of her than he had been while piloting the Lancelot. His opponents on the battlefield would have killed him while Milly would leave him alive, humiliated and alive.

He slipped further down in his seat, stopped by Shirley's hand on his shoulder. "Madam President, you're scaring him."

Milly stopped grinning, quickly sitting up. "And that's why you were moping around all last week?"

Suzaku was glad to be given an excuse. He nodded, slowly sitting up again. "Y-yeah. I finally got the courage to ask him out and then he told me he needed to think about it."

"But he said yes." Suzaku nodded, surprised when Milly scooted across the table to pull him into a hug. "Aw, you're growing up!"

"Madam President!"

"My vice president has gotten himself a boyfriend." Milly laughed and kissed his forehead. "Now, you tell him to play nice or we'll all be after him."

"W-will do." Suzaku gave her a nervous smile before pulling away. His phone vibrated in his phone, Suzaku pulling it out just to read the text, 'Here' before scrambling to put his stuff away. "Madam President-"

"Yes, go. Go. And enjoy yourself, that's an order."

Suzaku nodded, just pulling his jacket over his shoulder when the door to the student council room opened. He looked up, finding himself staring at Lelouch.

For a moment, he was tempted to stumble backwards, he wasn't used to Lelouch having blue eyes. Suzaku was sure that he had missed the days that Lelouch had tried out the contacts, because it made sense that Lelouch would want to hide the eyes that were the trademark of the royal family. Despite his surprise, Suzaku managed a smile, pulling on his jacket before scooping up his back. "I'll see you guys later."

He waved at them, noticing that Rivalz was still in shock. Suzaku was tempted to remain behind and explain everything when Lelouch grabbed his free hand and dragged him into the hall, Milly and Shirley giggling as the door shut.

Once outside, Lelouch released his hand for a moment, catching it again and twining their fingers together before resting his head on Suzaku's shoulder. "So, surprised?"

"Yeah, you look good with blue eyes."

"What? No, not about that."

"About picking me up?" Suzaku felt Lelouch nod. "Yeah. Although, you didn't have to."

"I wanted to." Lelouch lifted his head, meeting Suzaku's gaze. "Cecile said you had been staying late, and I…" Lelouch blushed and looked away. "I didn't want you to stay because I missed you."

"Missed me?"

"Yes, you idiot." Lelouch looked away, focusing on anything but Suzaku. "I…I didn't mean to spend so much time away. I honestly wasn't angry after three days, but you were never there. So I thought that I had to win you back."

"Hm." Suzaku tipped his head back, unable to stop the smile that crossed his face. He was still annoyed that Lelouch had let it go on so long, but he could see where they had both messed up, and he was fine with it. Lelouch was still with him. He let go of Lelouch's hand, wrapping his arm around Lelouch's waist while trying to hide the blush that crossed his face. It was one thing to do this at home, but another to be out in public doing it. "I might make you try to win me back."

"What?"

"Just to make up for that week from hell." Suzaku winked at him. "It won't be too hard. You managed alright the first time."

"That's because you knew I would behead you if you said no."

"Really." Suzaku looked at Lelouch with wide eyes before laughing. "But I'm too pretty."

Lelouch was flustered for a moment, before he gave a shrug, walking away from Suzaku. "We'll see about that, my knight."

Suzaku smiled, glad that they were back to this, that they were able to tease each other again. It would be a while before they were back to the way before, but at least they had a chance to do this. Suzaku chuckled and bowed at the waist, his hand over his heart. "Yes, your majesty."

Lelouch had stopped to watch him, Suzaku looking up as Lelouch held out a hand for him. Suzaku took it, gently cradling it in his own before smirking at Lelouch.

He moved before Lelouch could protest, sweeping Lelouch up into his arms and beginning to walk. For a moment, Lelouch was stunned, then he began to wiggle in Suzaku's arms. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Surely his majesty is too great and wonderful to walk on commoner's ground."

"Suzaku, you…Put me down. Put me down, right now!"

Suzaku laughed and gently set Lelouch back on the ground, surprised when Lelouch grabbed his hand again, pulling him along. "Lelouch, what's the rush?"

"I cooked dinner tonight. If we hurry, we'll be there when it's done." Lelouch looked back over his shoulder, giving Suzaku a smile and his hand a squeeze.

And Suzaku knew that they were going to be alright.

THE END

I'd just like to say thank you for all of your kind reviews and that I hoped that you enjoyed the story.