The Pact
Disclaimer: Code Geass isn't mine.
He didn't remember her, but she remembered him all too well.
She remembered how her best friend cradled him in her arms. She remembered how his cries echoed through the silent corridors of the palace. She remembered how he got his first scrape on his knees. Or how he would laugh at the sight of the pigeons by the lake.
She remembered the joy on his face when he saw his new little sister, small and fragile in their mother's arms.
He didn't remember her, but she remembered him all too well.
CC was always watching. Her golden orbs always looking at everything around her. People, places, situations. She had seen many things with those orbs. Both good and bad, and everything in between.
She saw lovers bidding goodbyes.
She saw pointless, endless fights.
She saw new births.
She saw deaths.
She already lost count of how many times she watched children be brought into the world, only to live long enough to see them leave afterward.
It seemed that CC has seen everything there is to see and thus explained her will to finally get an exit. A halt to her forever existence.
He didn't remember her, but she remembered him all too well.
How she saw his raven hair amid the pastel sight of tulips and roses. The corners of his eyes were red after a long while of crying.
The boy sat on the pavement by the garden with his prince clothing. The blackness of his hair stood out in the sea of reds, yellows and oranges.
"Why, if it isn't Marianne's prince."
The boy looked up to see a woman with bright green hair in strange clothing. The little boy furrowed his brows as his violet orbs carefully scrutinized the newly-arrived stranger.
"Who are you?" He asked in a high-pitched voice of a stubborn 5-year old kid, annoyance, and frustration visible on his face. She huffed amused.
"Is that the right way to ask a lady, prince?"
The raven head's eyes widened. Sure, it was not the way his righteous mother taught him how to treat girls. He clutched the ends of his prince clothes and puffed his cheeks.
"What happened?" The woman asked with such gentle and reassuring voice that the raven head looked up to her.
The sun was up and giving off brims of light that made all the other things in the background visible.
The woman' eyes had the strangest color of gold. Looking at them made the prince thought of honeys and bees and the summers he spent with his siblings.
She was beautiful.
And a slight blush appeared on the boy's soft small cheeks. Suddenly ashamed and conscious to be in front of such a beautiful person, the boy gripped his clothes tighter and spilled all that he had in mind.
"I-it's because of brother Schneizel!" he exclaimed rather sooner than she expected.
The woman smiled, amused.
"What about him?"
She decided to sit beside the boy, on their backs were pools of tulips and roses.
"I… he…"
The woman gazed at the boy with such unreadable expression. And the boy looked up only to have his violet orbs meet gold.
His small hand fumbled at the hem of his clothes. His face wore a defeated expression.
"He's beaten me at chess." He muttered sadly and the woman had to let out an amused laugh.
"That's it?" She said.
The boy's head snapped at her. An angry expression was on his face.
"What do you mean that's it? He's always beaten me at chess!" The green-haired woman smiled at him, and he continued.
"A-and Euphie and Sister Cornelia! They were laughing at my defeated misfortune!" Fat tears started flowing from his eyes. And his face truly bore a hurt expression.
But the boy swallowed and wiped his eyes with his arms upon remembering what his mother told her. He wasn't allowed to cry anymore because he's a big brother now.
"Why are you crying, then?" The woman asked. And the boy looked at her as if he was unsure if the person he was talking to have any sense at all. Didn't he just tell her the reason?
"Because I was defeated!" He retorted angrily and slowly, seemingly trying to make her understand. The woman smiled while eyeing his determined looking eyes that glowed a dark purple.
"But don't nobles accept defeat like the gentlemen that they are?" She asked provokingly and the boy stood on his feet, his height barely reaching the shoulder of her sitting form.
"Accept defeat?" The boy continued.
"I am Lelouch Vi Britannia! I shall not accept defeat!"
The woman turned into a laughing fit and the raven haired just stared at her like she was out of her mind. What business did he have talking to a cynic lady?
Her laughter was not the same like of those he knew. It was so unlike the laughter of his sisters. Or her mother.
It was different.
It sounded empty.
Like she was not feeling anything at all. Like the fit of giggles she was giving off were not laughter but mere sounds in the wind.
"What do you want then?" She said after her empty giggles.
"I…"
Her green locks were being swept by the August wind.
And for the second time, he thought, she truly was beautiful.
"I want to win." He muttered so suddenly. Disturbed by the green haired beauty in front of him. He wasn't expecting to voice the thought out.
The boy took a step back.
The woman stared meaningfully at him. Her eyes possessed the strangest streaks of gold. And the way she stared made Lelouch want to run somewhere far away, but he couldn't because he didn't want to. It was like being bound in an inescapable spell.
He heard what the old ladies in the palace called people like her.
What was it again?
His mind fumbled through all the terminologies he knew.
Witches.
That's right.
And he suddenly remembered the story their mother told him and his sister days ago.
"And despite their beautiful appearance, the prince knew that witches always demanded compensations."
That's right. Witches and their conditions.
A chill ran down his spine. And he couldn't move. He didn't want to move. He just stared at the golden orbs alluringly looking at him.
He watched her lips formed the words that echoed in his ears.
"Why, prince, shall you want to triumph?"
Lelouch's eyes stared at her face. And for the briefest moment, he thought that he's never seen eyes as lonely as hers. So lifeless and grey.
"So that people will do anything I want."
She smiled, amused.
"Is that really what you want?" she said, her voice was a mere gush in the wind. Like a song that made him want to curl up and sleep.
A blow of August wind came by, and the leaves and petals in the garden had been swept along with it, leaving a sweet lingering scent like of the summer.
She was beautiful.
Then, the boy smiled. And it was much to her surprise.
"No, Miss."
An astounded expression was painted on her face. When she didn't reply, he has decided to claim his seat beside her again. He sat on the pavement and looked at the blueness of the sky.
"I just want to be with my mother and sister."
The absence of his father's company and the singularity of how he said the word "sister" didn't escape CC's ears.
"I want to be somewhere peaceful." The boy said while staring at the sky above them, and for a moment, CC thought that he looked way older than he truly was.
"Isn't it peaceful here?" She asked and the raven head stared at her face with eyes that looked as if carefully weighing in the thoughts she had in mind.
"It's quiet here." He said and went back to drifting off at the blue overhead. For a minute, the two of them became silent but the boy spoke again.
"How about you, Miss? Is there anything you want?"
CC stayed silent while looking at the violet orbs staring at her. She could see the familiarity of his features. Black raven hair. Violet orbs. A stare she thought that can pierce to whatever he was looking at.
CC was always watching. Her golden orbs always looking at everything around her. People, places, situations. She had seen many things with those orbs. Both good and bad, and everything in between.
She could see the combination of the two people she knew the most. As if the boy staring at her was the two of them found in one body.
But also, somebody else.
Someone different.
A separate person.
Before she could stop herself, she muttered.
"A wish."
She had seen a lot of things with those orbs.
She saw lovers bidding goodbyes.
She saw pointless, endless fights.
"A wish, Miss?"
A bitter smile found its way on her lips.
"If only... if only someone can grant this one wish of mine."
For all the centuries she's lived, CC never desired anything else other than the fulfillment of her one true desire. But it seemed like a faraway dream she could barely reach.
She saw new births.
She saw deaths.
In a snap, the boy stood up and the next thing she knew, a small hand was stretched in front of her.
"Well then, Miss. Let us make a pact."
CC looked at him, but the sun was right behind his back, shadowing the edges and corners of his face.
"Someday, if we stumble on each other again and if by then, you still haven't found the person who will grant that one wish of yours, I will swear with my own life to fulfill it instead."
Ever slowly, CC held the young boy's hand and thought that it was the first time, in all the centuries she's lived, she made a pact without giving the other person a curse.
"LELOUCH!"
A voice came booming, calling out the Britannian prince's name in strong and firm articulation. He yelped in surprise to see his father, no other than emperor Charles himself standing a few distance away from them, and the boy took his hand away from her.
"F-father!"
The emperor's authoritative presence was enough to make the raven head take a respectful bow and walk away.
Without looking back.
The woman smiled.
"It is a pact, then."
In her hands, she held the promise.
When the prince was no longer in sight, she felt the cold stare of two violet orbs, but they were a lot different from what she's seen just now.
"CC."
"No. I didn't give him the Geass." Was what all she said in reply to his judging gaze.
And she took her leave.
CC waited.
But the next day, the prince did not come back in the garden.
Still, she waited.
Days and summers passed. And after a long while, as he was running to chase his little sister. The witch saw once again a raven head amid the pastel sight of tulips and roses. Now, he was a few centimeters taller than she last saw him. But his violet orbs just glanced at her in a heartbeat, without giving even the slightest recognition of her and of the promise.
The witch looked at the blue sky above.
He didn't remember her, but she remembered him all too well.
She remembered how her best friend cradled him in her arms. She remembered how his cries echoed through the silent corridors of the palace. She remembered how he got his first scrape on his knees. Or how he would laugh at the sight of the pigeons by the lake.
She remembered how his small hand stretched in front of her.
CC can hear the distant sound of bombs and explosives badly ruining the walls of the casino. The power has been already out and she could just make out the dead bodies of people lying on the floor of the disheveled structure in this blinding darkness. She was in her Knightmare frame. Her golden orbs were quickly searching for something. For someone.
CC heard the sound of a few more explosives. Then it was followed by the sound of bullets penetrating the hard ruins of what was left of the, once magnificent in its days, casino.
Then, there he was.
Amid the pool of fallen Britannians and Elevens. Standing. Dread visible on his pale stricken face.
He has been stripped off of his memories.
Of his past life. Of his true identity. Of his goals. Of his promises. Of her.
Like the boy, he once was many, many years ago. The boy who stared at her without any glimpse of recognition.
He didn't remember her, but she remembered him all too well.
She remembered how her best friend cradled him in her arms. She remembered how his cries echoed through the silent corridors of the palace. She remembered how he got his first scrape on his knees. Or how he would laugh at the sight of the pigeons by the lake.
CC got out of her Knightmare frame, stretching her hands.
"Lelouch."
The Britannian looked at her. As if she was some stranger he just saw for the first time.
"Who are you?"
You still have a pact to fulfill.
"I am your…"
Snap
She felt a sudden jolt on her back, piercing directly at the part where her heart was found. The pain that cascaded was so much to endure and she then fell, with her hand stretching at the boy who made her a promise many, many years ago.
"Le…louch–"
He didn't remember her, but she remembered him all too well.
"Well then, Miss. Let us make a pact."
Author's Note: The last part was set in the 2nd season when CC has awoken Lelouch's memories. This was inspired by the scene in Code Geass R1's first episode when CC saw a young Suzaku grabbing Lelouch helping him climb a small slope. Do you guys remember it? CC was wearing a yukata there, I think. Anyway, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this fanfic as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am really not good at thinking titles, so just bear with me if they're just one or two words. And, if you would be kind enough, please do leave a review and tell me what you think about this story.