"This is you plan, C.C.?" Lelouch asked, and from the expression on his face, she could tell that he was hoping against hope that he had somehow misheard what she was saying.

C.C. nodded, completely unperturbed by his lack of approval.

"A hay cart?! It could take weeks to get back in this thing!" It was good in a way she didn't quite have words for, to hear the emphatic inflections of his voice, to watch the expressive way his features twisted and shifted with his moods. She, who had existed for hundreds of years, knew it was possible to breathe and yet still be dead inside, but despite being cursed with an endless existence now, Lelouch was very much...

Alive.

"Lelouch, you really like to argue, don't you?" she asked teasingly, just because she knew it would rile him. "If you had just let Suzaku convince you more quickly, maybe he would have had time to drop us off back at the capital, before Zero had to leave for that press conference on the launch of the Damocles."

"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean we have to ride a hay cart back instead!"

"Actually, it does," she replied, lazily looking around at the rolling hills of farmland surrounding them. The area had been chosen as the launch site exactly because there was plenty of open space and few security risks. "Since you won't go within a mile of the press vehicles, it's this or walking."

"Do you have any idea how far we are from civilization? We could walk all day and not see a car!"

"At your pace, it would be several days, but you're the one who didn't make any plans for how to sneak back into the capital," she reminded him.

"That's because I planned on dying!"

"Exactly, so you should be grateful that I came up with this great idea—"

"What's so great about it?!"

C.C. handed him a pile of rumpled clothes with a smirk. "They come with a hat," she added, just because she was so looking forward to seeing him in the outfit. It reminded her of the sort of clothes the old Buddhist monks used to wear.

Lelouch, predictably, complained about the clothes, complained that she was peeking while he changed into the clothes, complained about the hay, complained about the bumps in the road, and further complained about the hardness of the driver's seat (because of course she'd left him to steer the horses, control freak that he was, while she stretched out comfortably on a bed of hay). Eventually, he either must have realized the futility of his words or his voice must have given out, because he finally fell silent, leaving her to her own thoughts.

After living through so many predictable, monotonous years, it was still hard, keeping up with the frenetic pace of change which always seemed to surround Lelouch. This wasn't anywhere close to the results she'd pictured, when she'd spent so many years fantasizing about giving up her Code. Still, she was happy Lelouch had stopped Charles from claiming it, and happier still with the way things had worked out.

I thought it was a burden that had to be borne alone. But what they're planning...

It was ridiculous. It was genius. It was so perfectly like Lelouch to end up in a situation like this.

The isolation I faced...

C.C. smiled. She hadn't been quite right, in her initial warning to Lelouch, had she? She didn't bother trying to start up a conversation with him quite yet, though. He was probably still holding a grudge because she'd told him how cute he looked in that hat.

It was a luxury indeed, to be able to fuss over such things.

This peaceful world...

She closed her eyes, savoring the gentle breeze on her face, the feel of warm sunshine on her skin, and the soft, earthy scent of sweet hay rising up from beneath her. It was dearer, somehow, because she knew she would have only a finite number of days like this, and C.C. smiled, lulled by the gentle rhythm of the cart and the creak of the wheels and the soft sound of Lelouch's breath.

I think, someday, I'll manage "that smile", Lelouch. But not for a long while, yet.

HAPPY...END?

Author's Notes: If you are looking for the sequel, you can find it under "Fall To Dust" in my profile.