Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Code Geass, CLAMP, Sunrise, or any affiliated companies. This was rewritten purely for the enjoyment of the reader. No profits were earned from this. My wallet weeps at this.
Author's Note: Just to get a few details about the setting out of the way, this takes place after the season finale. For those of you unfamiliar with the theory of Lelouch surviving here's the jist of it. Lelouch got his Father's Code during that time that they made contact (Charles tried to choke him within his last moments) and thus was able to escape execution at Suzaku's hands by 'dying' and then escaping (presumably while everyone was stone cold wasted celebrating his death at the morgue.) Anyway, the theory goes that Lelouch is the hay cart driver in the final scene of the series and that he's spending his immortal days with C.C. By the way, is anyone else irked that we never did learn her real name in canon?
Summary: C.C. reads the obituaries every day, just like she reads the rest of the paper. Lelouch doesn't care to know why. But he does care.
Former 99th emperor of the former Holy Britannian Empire, Lelouch Vi Britannia sat at the kitchen table in his humble cottage residence eating a most humble breakfast. Two slices of buttered toast with some scrambled eggs. It was early morning and neither he, nor his accomplice whom sat on the opposite end of the small table, wanted to make any effort for a 'decent' breakfast, though Lelouch was content with his toast and eggs.
His aforementioned partner, C.C., was reading the morning paper with a contemptuous look across her features. Lelouch smiled to himself at her childish attitude. She had kept that same look for as many months as they had resided at their current residence. He believed she was simply playing a part now, as she had had more then enough time to adjust to the change in scenery. He remembered the conversation when they arrived vividly.
"Lelouch, why do we have to live here?" C.C. asked unhappily.
"You know better then I why. Now stop throwing a tantrum." C.C. glared in response. They'd been living a somewhat nomadic lifestyle ever since his 'execution', if you could call being run through with a sword out of no where by your best friend disguised as your own alter-ego an execution. C.C. rolled her eyes toward him when the glare proved ineffective. Disguising themselves in public wasn't much of a challenge. C.C. was unknown to the general public during and after his reign and all Lelouch needed was a haircut and some color-change contacts. Maybe a beard every once in a while.
The difficult part of their lifestyle was one of the things that bound them together: Their immortality. They simply didn't age, and therefore couldn't stay at one place for too long. Sometimes they'd live in one location for a decade or a little longer, other times they'd leave the second someone complimented C.C. with 'how do you stay looking so young?'
"I know why we have to move, but why do we have to live here?" C.C. asked again, tired of her partner's attitude. "This village is so isolated, the nearest restaurant that even makes pizza is 45 miles away!"
"Yes! The location of this place makes it a perfect hiding- wait, again with pizza? Do you have any idea how many times you've endangered us both because of your little addiction?" Lelouch asked half serious, half teasing.
"It's pointless to count how many times I did, as the number of times that I will continue to do so will always dwarf the number of times that I have." She responded matter-of-factly. If Lelouch hadn't been spending nearly every waking moment with her for the past few decades (or was it centuries now?) that they'd been together, he'd be sure that she had rehearsed those lines.
"Yes, I suppose it would be pointless to count them. Look, when it's your turn to pick where we live you can move us into the back of a pizza restaurant for all I care."
"You shouldn't say things like that. I just might one day."
C.C. looked up from here paper and scowled at Lelouch's near laughing face. "What do you find so amusing?"
"Oh, nothing really." Lelouch replied as he took a sip of his morning tea. "Are you almost done with the paper?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Do you remember Timothy Andrews?" C.C. asked while trying to sound disinterested in the conversation.
"How could I forget him? The farmer that had Ougi's heart and Tamaki's mannerisms. We never did find out if he was related some way to those two." Lelouch said with a smile. Realization dawned upon him and he took a more solemn expression. "What happened to him?"
"Why so pessimistic? Just because I brought him up out of the blue doesn't mean something bad."
"It's been 50 years C.C."
"I thought you weren't counting." She commented as if now trying to avoid the subject. "It was a machinery malfunction according to the paper. Apparently he had a wife and three children in between the time we knew him and now."
"Ah… what was the girl's name again? Melissa? Monica? I remember he was head over heels with his mentor's daughter." The recollection made Lelouch smile.
"It was Melissa. And if I recall she shared the feelings. Such a shame for him to die so young." There was a touch of sadness and almost guilt in C.C.'s voice as she remembered their mutual friend.
"I remember a time when 85 wasn't considered young."
"I remember a time when someone in their 30's was considered to be in the last stages of their life."
"It's amazing. The advances in medicine, I mean." Lelouch reflected amazedly. Such a strange conversation this would have seemed to himself back then, before he 'died.' Such a strange life this would seem.
C.C. chuckled warmly. "It's amazing. Since people can no longer acquire glory on a battlefield they've refocused to the medical and science fields. People are too busy fighting germs and discovering new ways to travel to fight each other. Remember when it was the other way around?"
Suddenly, Lelouch's tea tasted very bitter in his mouth. "Yes, I remember." He said with some finality, trying to end the conversation.
"Thinking of Nunnally?"
"I don't think I ever stopped thinking of her."
"You cared deeply for her. I did, too. She was so… honest, and gentle. And genuine. The world lost something when she died. But she lived a full life." C.C. giggled a little to herself. "And a quite happy one, too. If the rumors about her and Zero were ever true."
Lelouch shot her a dangerous glare. He knew it to be more then the truth that C.C. loved Nunnally. They had shared their memories so often by now that it became hard to tell who's experiences were who's during the time that their knew each other. He still didn't approve of the conversation. And C.C. knew when to draw the line.
"You'll keep feeling this way, you know." C.C. informed him. Lelouch braced himself for this lecture, the same one he had received every time he thought fondly of the past. Of course, now he wondered who C.C. was talking to. Was she trying to give him some helpful wisdom? Or was she trying to remind herself? "Those that we love and care about… they die, Lelouch. Medicine can advance as far as it wants to. War can stop and peace can reign until judgment day. But in the end… time takes everyone that means something to us."
"Except for you." He looked into her eyes as he said it.
"Except for you." She repeated.
He began with her name, as only he knew how to say it, when he asked her "… do you ever not think about them?"
"Yes. It's not easy, it's not supposed to be. When you know someone for so long… it's almost as if they become a part of you. It's hard to adjust when they… go." C.C. stared off into space after that.
They remained in solemn silence for several minutes. The small field that they tended to behind the house would soon need their care and attention. Neither of them thought of it in the moments that passed however. The silence was broken by Lelouch's suppressed chuckle. "You silly girl."
"Oh?"
"I told you before. I will remain by your side in all things. Always. And I will be your partner until this world falls to an end."
"Thanks to you, Mr. Matyr, it looks like that's not going to happen anytime soon."
"You never know. All this medicine could breed a super-bug that will wipe out all of humanity. Or a meteor could strike the earth."
"Lelouch." She cut him off, serious this time. "You once said that if I were a witch, you would become a warlock."
"Yes, I did. And I became one."
"Don't interrupt. Now, I ask you… what if… I wanted to become someone's wife?"
"Then I suppose I would have to no choice but to become your husband." Lelouch responded with a smirk. "We're practically married anyway. Why do you want to make it official now?"
"Are you making fun of me? You may have to wait a few decades if you want to get intimate with me again."
"I'm so sorry, I was out of line before." Lelouch responded with mock alarm. "But, why do you want to get married now?"
"Why don't you?"
"Who said I didn't?"
"Good. I'll call the local church later today. Pastor Myers will be so thrilled that we've decided to stop living in sin."
They shared a brief laugh and C.C. soon returned to her paper. Lelouch, unnoticed by his fiancée, got up and moved over to her side of the table. She looked up only when she felt him take her hand in his. Her gaze followed his arm and she found him to be kneeling in front of her, in all his regal glory, with his head dipped slightly. When their eyes met, he spoke her name with as much love as he held for her and asked her, in the proper way, to marry him.
End.