Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Code Geass—that honor belongs to Sunrise. I'm just exploring some untouched elements.

Formatting: "Spoken words are in quotes." Internal character thoughts are in italics.

Nunnally jolted awake at the soft knock on her door.

"Mistress Nunnally?" a familiar voice called.

"Sayoko?" She peered sleepily at her bedside clock. She normally never wakes me at this time of night. "Is there something wrong?" Nunnally asked, thinking of Cornelia's recent complaints that security around the royal graveyard was too lax.

If someone wanted to sneak in to desecrate the the tomb of the Massacre Princess or the Demon Emperor, the dead of night would be the perfect time to do it.

"Oh, no, there's nothing wrong at all, Mistress Nunnally!" Sayoko reassured her, the warm excitement in her voice incongruous with Nunnally's current worries. "I was simply given an important message from Master Zero. He requests that you visit his rooms at your earliest convenience."

"He just gave you this message now? In the middle of the night?"

"Yes, Mistress."

The circumstances would normally be cause for alarm, but Sayoko's tone suggested differently. Nunnally found herself growing curious, despite the late hour. "Did he say what it was about?"

"Master Zero indicated that he would like to explain things to you himself."

"I guess I'll have to ask him directly, then. If you'll just help me get dressed, Sayoko..."

Fifteen minutes later, Nunnally found herself sitting nervously outside the door to Zero's rooms, while her most trusted aide rung the doorbell; knocking would no longer work, now that Zero had convinced Sayoko to sound proof the entire suite. You've worked so hard to cut yourself off from me, from everyone. His prior behavior only added to her current curiosity over his mysterious midnight summons.

She'd gotten no more information on the way over, though, as Sayoko's evasive smiles only raised more questions. Nunnally wondered what could possibly have put her in such a good mood, when Zero was normally so tight lipped and distant that it was almost painful to deal with him. He won't even let us call him Suzaku, anymore. Even after the amount of blatant lying he'd done as the Knight of Seven, the total loss of his friendship still stung, perhaps all the more so because he was the one who'd undoubtedly understood Lelouch's final plan best, the one who'd been closest to him, right at the very end.

Part of her still resented him for being at Lelouch's side when she herself had been excluded, even as she was grateful that her brother hadn't been totally alone, as he struggled to transmute a cold, painful present into a happier future. But it's been that way all along, hasn't it, Suzaku? Even when we were just children, the two of you always handled your crazy schemes together.

She still remembered Japan as it had been before the invasion, how the sound of quick childish footsteps and soft huffs of laughter had echoed off the well worn tatami mats. Lelouch and Suzaku had liked to pretend, when they were beside her, that they hadn't just gone off to do something they shouldn't have, but she'd known anyway that she had to stay still and silent when they huddled close, as heavy adult footsteps walked past their hiding spot. Nunnally had never been aware of exactly what trouble they'd been hiding over back then, and yet with their hands tensing and relaxing around hers, fingers twitching with the thrill of narrow escape, she hadn't felt she needed to know. The curve of Lelouch's tense and exultant smile, pressed into the skin of her temple, along with the quiver of suppressed laughter, transmitted through the warm shoulder Suzaku leaned against her own, had convinced her that she was part of whatever they were doing.

I guess I'm still part, because you chose me to be Empress, didn't you, Lelouch? Now, though, regardless of how hard she tried to fulfill her duties, Nunnally still felt so very far from the brother who'd usurped the throne on her behalf. You knew I could never be a willing part of this plan, didn't you? Because I would never have accepted something that would cost your life.

How could you go through with it, Suzaku?

Even knowing that world peace had been their goal, her heart still rebelled at the cost. Yet, the very grief that fueled her anger also tempered it, because how could she bear to give up on one of the very few friendships she had left? Suzaku is my closest remaining tie to Lelouch. Nunnally drew in a sudden breath of realization. Could that be what this mysterious summons is about? Are you finally going to stop hiding behind that mask, Suzaku?

Nunnally couldn't imagine why Sayoko would look so happy otherwise, and she found her hands almost shaking with expectancy as the door to his suite finally opened. Will I finally get to see the face I traced with my fingers, all those years ago? She'd felt the arch of a strong brow and the curve of boyish cheeks beneath the sensitive pads of her fingertips, but to finally see the whole of his face together, the curve of his smile along with the green of his eyes, would be a long held wish come true.

"Welcome. It's good to see you again, Nunnally," Zero greeted with a warmth even the echoing of the mask couldn't disguise, and she noticed with rising anticipation that he hadn't called her Empress. "Sayoko, thank you for bringing her over at so late an hour. Please get some rest now, though. I'll handle things from here."

"Of course, Master Zero," Sayoko replied, allowing a wide smile to make its way through her professional decorum, and Nunnally's heart leap. Then, he's already let Sayoko in on this. He's really going to do it.

It only required a short period of his familiar silence after Sayoko exited, though, to bring back her previous doubts. No matter how much Nunnally wished it, it was difficult to believe that he'd had such a sudden and welcome change of heart.

"Zero?" she asked uncertainly, as he seemed to jerk back into motion, stepping quickly behind her to push her wheelchair further into the room. Because the mask hid his expression, she focused on the subtle but excited spring in his gait as he moved to stand in front of her once more, his body practically quivering with energy, now that he'd shaken off his odd torpor.

She smiled at him, wanting to feel hopeful despite his past distance. He wouldn't look so excited unless it was something good, right? "Sayoko seemed so happy when she brought me over. Have you finally decided that Kururugi Suzaku is alive, after all?"

In answer, his hands rose to take hold of the mask, some mechanism in the back moving so that he could pull it off. She held her breath as he revealed soft brown curls over warm green eyes, their brightness not dulled even by the dark shadows underneath. "Yes, I'm alive, Nunnally," he confirmed, setting the mask down on the table. "For the first time in a really long time, I finally feel that way." His face looked a little thinner than was healthy, but his smile was genuine.

Her own tentative smile widened, her eyes moving over his face intently, trying to map his expression onto the memories of a carefree, energetic boy from a summer long ago. "So that's what your smile looks like. " I finally got to see it. "I asked for old pictures, but it's not the same as seeing you in person."

He winced slightly. "I'm sorry, Nunnally. I should have shown you my face from the start," he said, his expression falling, "but I was too ashamed to do it."

"It's alright." She thought she would have forgiven him for anything just then, if only she didn't have to feel so alone anymore. "I'm just glad—I'm glad you changed your mind, Suzaku," she whispered, her voice wavering, despite her efforts to keep it steady.

She extended her hands toward him, and Suzaku reached forward to catch them in his own without hesitation, coming to kneel before her so that their eyes were almost level. If you can take my hands like this, it means you have nothing left to hide from me. She tightly squeezed his fingers back, meeting his open gaze with no small amount of wonder. I wished so badly for the day when you'd look me in the eye, because that's two wishes, isn't it? To see your face, and to have my friend back.

It was a joyful moment, and yet she felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. His eyebrows tipped up in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Suzaku," she told him. "I want to smile so much, but I'm going to start crying again, aren't I?" Even though Schneizel has been kind and Cornelia's done her best to look after me, it hurts that they don't remember Lelouch like I do, like the two of us do. Seeing Suzaku was like seeing half of a matched pair—she couldn't help but think of the second set of footsteps echoing behind the first, the one who wasn't there, anymore. "I've lost so much, already, that..."

"Less than you think," he told her, with incredible confidence.

"What?"

"You've lost less than you think, Nunnally," he assured, and even though she couldn't feel any tension in his hands, she wondered if he were about to give her the same well intentioned but vacuous platitudes she'd heard a thousand times before.

"Are you planning to tell me that everyone is still with me, in my heart? It's a nice sentiment, Suzaku, but I don't think you'd have such panda eyes if you really believed it yourself," she teased lightly, hiding the deep pain behind her words.

He twitched, as if he might want to dart his hands up to cover the dark rings, before simply shaking his head. "No, I don't have the right to be that hypocritical, Nunnally. Maybe that's why I couldn't bear to face you before. What sort of protector—what sort of friend—would hurt you worse than any enemy, by taking away your most precious person? You're right, that I haven't been able to sleep at night, and that's because of my own mistakes. But I'm going to try my best to fix things from now on, Nunnally, and I—there's something wonderful I have to tell you."

He sounds so happy. It had been so long since she'd heard his voice that full of excitement that she couldn't help smiling a little herself. I wish I could find something to be that happy about, too, after everything that's happened. "Then tell me, Suzaku. I could use some good news right now."

His smiled deepened, and he turned his head to call behind him, "You can come out now, Lelouch."

Her entire upper body went rigid, and it felt like millions of needles were pricking across her skin. "Suzaku..." It can't be. Lelouch, I saw him... The memory of her beloved brother struggling for breath as he bled out in front of her haunted her dreams even more frequently than his utterly still form, laid out in the coffin at the viewing.

But Suzaku's hands—he doesn't believe he's lying.

Her heart was suddenly hammering in her chest. She tightened her fingers, as her eyes flickered between Suzaku's face and the bedroom door just visible through the dining area. She was almost unable to breathe under the crush of her own frantic hope.

"It's no joke, I promise you," Suzaku reassured her, squeezing her hands one last time before stepping off to the side to allow Nunnally a clearer of the door. It opened slowly, and the man who stepped out had the same dark hair and bright violet eyes that she'd held in her mind through all her years of blindness. His name caught in her throat.

"Nunnally," he whispered, in a voice she'd recognize anywhere, his first few steps forward slow and cautious, and the wait was agony. For just a moment, she wished with all the might of futile desperation that she could run to him, but then she stretched her arms out and he did the running for her—as he had always done so much for her.

"Lelouch!" she cried as she was lifted out of her chair into a tight embrace, by a pair of dearly familiar arms. She wrapped her own around his shoulders, and it didn't matter what anyone else thought of him. He was strong enough to lift her and kind enough to hold her gently, and that was all that mattered.

"Nunnally." There were years of emotions in his voice, like layers of sediment pressed into stone, from the tiny boy who'd held her in pictures she was too young to remember to the stoic presence who'd stubbornly waited by her hospital bed, who'd carried her through a foreign land and struggled and fought to raise her up as Empress of her own. He buried his face in her hair, and she inhaled his scent in return—hay and seasoned wood and Suzaku's borrowed shampoo. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, for everything I did that hurt you," he told her, and she could hear the quiver of tears in his words. "I love you more than anything. I always have."

"Lelouch, I love you too, always," she replied, grasping tighter to the man who'd been so much more of a father than their real one, who'd been her strength when she had yet to find her own. "I've wanted to see you so badly!" she told him, tearful herself. "I wanted to see you, not as my enemy or in a coffin, but..."

He settled her in her chair and drew back just far enough to allow her to view his whole face. Even seeing him up close wasn't enough, though, and she reached out to run her hands over his features, fingers mapping his well known face and the unusual dampness of his cheeks.

"Lelouch...it's you. It's really you..." Her vision blurred with what must have been liquid joy, and Nunnally blinked quickly, not wanting to miss a single expression on his face, because before her was both the steadfast strength whose soft words and determined arms had sheltered her when the world had gone dark, as well as the deceptive brother who had stood so distantly before her when the light had finally returned.

A large part of her desperation to hold the F.L.E.I.J.A. control switch had been the knowledge that it was the only thing certain to bring him back to her. I knew as long as I had that, I would matter, and how could I bear a world where even my most important person thought nothing of me?

His eyes were so gentle now, the coldness from the Damocles replaced by the pain he must have been hiding all along.

Now I wish I'd never held that switch—because you wanted to stay by my side all along, didn't you, Lelouch?

"Forgive me, Nunnally. I never wanted to hurt you." He softly tucked a few stray locks behind her ears, his hands lingering on her cheeks as his eyes mapped her own face in return, as if burning her features, her now wide open eyes, once more into his memory. "I—I'll have to remain hidden while you must go out in public, but I will never leave you like that again. I promise." She knew the conviction in that tone had started revolutions and slain emperors and conquered the whole world, and so, no matter how much he'd lied along the way, Nunnally thought she might still be able to trust in the voice that had led her through darkness and into light.

"Then I'll have you back—for good? No more more unexplained disappearances, no more long separations, no more funerals?" she asked, voice trembling on the last word, though not even that pain could hold sway when Lelouch clasped her hands in his, so she knew he spoke the truth.

"Yes. For good, Nunnally," he promised.

"Lelouch..." She laughed, the sound bubbling out of her without conscious permission, but he seemed to understand that there was simply too much emotion to hold in, that it had to come out in every way possible. In response, he pulled her into another hug and pressed a smile against her temple, and she wondered what she'd done to deserve a brother so wonderful he would read her stories, again and again, when she'd struggled just to remember the alphabet, who would carry her when she found even her own legs wouldn't listen to her, and who would remake the whole world, when it had seemed far too great and heavy to move at all.

Perhaps her logic should rather have questioned how he could smile and breathe and love, when he had once lain motionless and cold, but at that moment, Nunnally couldn't bring herself to care about the means, with her deepest wish in front of her. "A world with you in it," she told him. "That's what I've always wanted: just a world with you in it."

He smoothed one hand back over her hair. "I don't know if I can be worthy of your devotion, Nunnally, but you will have that world—the kinder world you deserve, that every good person deserves—though I missed you so much while I was making it," Lelouch admitted, closing his eyes and tilting his forehead against hers, like a drowning man might lean his head against the newly discovered shore. "We will make the future worth it," he assured her.

When all I had was a sepulcher, it was so hard to believe that. Without her brother, treaty negotiations had seemed so hard, and Zero had been so cold. Cornelia had looked so strained, while Schneizel was sad and pensive, if he showed any emotion at all. Now, with Lelouch at her side, the flaws of the world seemed almost benign—and so easily correctable. Suzaku has the right idea. The world is at last peaceful, and we have so much to hope for. If there are problems that linger, then we can fix them.

As Empress, she would work with Zero to see that what Lelouch had struggled so hard to build was nurtured and perpetuated. I will craft a future everyone can share. It was the least she could do when she'd been granted two miracles already: an impossible dream of peace and a much more personal wish, in the form of a brother who had been her legs and her eyes, her support in the bleakest of times and the underpinning of all her brightest memories. Lelouch drew her into another close hug, and in the midst of her overwhelming joy, her heart could find no fault in anything.

Lelouch, this is the world that I want, already.