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Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. I own my OCName: Adelice AttwoodBio: Full Britannian. Daughter of a late high general.
Adelice sat crossed legged, lost in her own thoughts of the when she was young. Lost in Nostalgia. How she wished she could go back to those times. It was so peaceful then, or maybe it was just the blissful ignorance of childhood. How I long for the world that used to be...She drummed her fingertips on the desk in front of her, now all she ever heard was about terrorist attacks and the on-going fighting between Japan and Britannia. She closed her eyes once again. Why did if have to be this way? There was no reason for the killing, it was just needless bloodshed.Adelice slowly opened her blue eyes pretending to read the paper in front of her. She was so lost in though that a strike on the head startled her. "Wake up! Wake up!", Milly exclaimed, hitting her on the head with a rolled up piece of paper. Adelice laughed a little, batting her hand at Milly to stop. The world around suddenly came back into focus. The girls sitting around her, Nina's fingers drumming against the keyboard and Milly talking and talking about crazy events she had thought up for this year. The poor students wouldn't know what hit them when they found out."Honestly Adelice you're just like Lelouch, no wonder you two like each other.", Milly sighed. Adelice smiled, "Just because we both find opportunities to sleep in public does not mean that's the reason we like each other", Adelice said through a giggle "that's just more the fact of a common hobby".Milly rolled her eyes and stood at the front of the desk. "I wish you two would pay more attention.", she scolded. "Yes, mother Milly", Adelice said, a smirk playing on her lips. The student council's female members eyes traveled to the door as it opened. "Something to eat, lovely", Adelice said as she stood up from her chair, grabbing a small plate. She sat back down, her stomach growling. How she wished she hadn't of skipped breakfast. She stabbed a fork into one of the fresh apple slices of her fruit salad and looked at Shirley, who was looking out the window. "Where is Lelouch anyway?", she asked.Adelice shrugged. "I don't know, he told me he was going to be busy this afternoon but didn't tell me what." She shook her head as she plopped a grape in her mouth. "Probably off gambling somewhere, he knows I hate that.". Milly placed a hand on her hip. "Adelice Attwood are you going to let him treat you that way! He's going to get addicted and then you two are going to have problems in-"Adelice waved her hand at her. "Shush you. It's fine, if he wants to go out gambling with Rivalz then it's fine with me. He asked me to stay with Nunally anyway, so I half expected him to be off gambling." Adelice glanced at Shirley from the corner of her eyes. Shirley looked at the empty chair that Lelouch normally sat at. "They seem to forget that they are part of the student council!", she scolded.Adelice shrugged again, waving her fork. "I suppose that's just Lelouch's personality.", she sighed. A frown always played across Shirley's lips when Adelice would mention Lelouch's name. She turned her eyes away from Shirley again, there was always a bit of tension between the two.What could she do though? Adelice cared for Lelouch very much as did Lelouch for her. She couldn't help but feel a little pang of guilt in her stomach. I'm sure it was hard for Shirley to see them together. Adelice frowned a little, it wasn't like she hadn't tried to become closer to Shirley, she had even joined the swimming club in the hopes of befriending Shirley a bit more. Unfortunately it hadn't had much affect. Adelice's eyes traveled out the window. Even if Lelouch had said he wouldn't be there, she was still of course worried about him.
"I love playing against the nobility!", Rivalz cheered happily as he and Lelouch walked outside the hall. "They always pay out of pride." As they walked out they looked up at a television screen. A high skyscraper was on fire, it looked like another terrorist attack. A flash of the Britannian seal came up and there stood Prince Clovis. Lelouch's eyes flashed in anger. He hated that man, he was a pawn, nothing but a nuisance.A moment of silence was called for the people killed in the attack. "Well aren't you going to join in?", Rivalz asked Lelouch as he set about getting onto his bike. Lelouch raised an eyebrow "Aren't you?", he retorted back. Rivalz gave a small laugh. "We should probably head back to school, Milly's gonna be aweful upset if we're there any later. Plus, I'm sure Adelice is worried about you.", Rivalz said, putting on his goggles.Lelouch looked up from the recite he had just been given after paying the parking meter. "I told her to stay with Nunally, she knows I was going to be gone." Lelouch turned his attention back to Clovis watching his brother take the moment of silence.
Adelice watched as Clovis came on screen. A frown came to her face as she watched him. Not really paying attention to his words but more to his looks. He looked as handsome as ever and still as charming as he was when he was a child. A smile played on her lips as she remembered watching Lelouch and Clovis playing chess together as children. Another thing she wished to go back to.She suppressed a giggle when she remembered how mad Clovis would get when Lelouch would win and accuse Lelouch of cheating. Lady Marianne would always have to break them up, offering a sweet candied treat to both of them in the hopes of calling a truce between the brothers.Adelice closed her eyes and sighed. Lady Marianne... oh how I miss you.. Lady Marianne had always been like a mother to her. She would comb her hair after being given a bath, dress her up in cute little dresses and always read include her as one of the family.Adelice bit her bottom lip softly. The way she saw it Lady Marianne was her mother. Basically the women that had only wanted to help raise her. A shot of anger ran through Adelice as she though of her own biological mother. She had left her... alone, with that man, that cruel man that she had to put that to as "Father". She would never forgive her for doing that.Adleice's father never wanted children, Adelice was just an accidental mistake and as such she was for lack of a better word discarded out of existence. The only time her father needed her was for publicity events with the Imperial Family. It was a way of showing status, that the Attwood family was friend of the Imperial Family.She recalled the day her Father died, it had been a terrorist attack and he was the target. At the time when she found out, she hadn't felt sad. More of a relief that she wouldn't have to pretend anymore. She wouldn't have to constantly struggle to be happy.She remembered Lady Marianne coming to the house and speaking with her, making sure she was okay mentally. She never forgot how Lady Marianne graciously opened her house to her and invited her in. Adelice smiled, it was probably one of the happiest days of her life. She had a mother, a home, people around her that loved her.The screen clicked off and Adelice was brought from her thoughts back to the student council room again. "Wow, these terrorist attacks are getting more and more frequent", Milly said quietly, breaking the silence. Adelice nodded and sighed. "Perhaps one day it'll change.", she said hopefully.
Rivalz and Lelouch drove along, on the way back to school. A truck crashed into an abandoned building behind them. "Was that our fault?", Rivalz asked hesitantly. Lelouch got out from the little kart and looked at the Truck. Something was drawing his attention to it.He turned his attention to the crowd that had gathered. They watched and contemplated on helping the drivers of the crashed truck. All those idiots... Lelouch ran down to where the truck was, attempting to help unlike the gathering crowd around them.
Adelice turned to her locker, getting ready to get changed into her swimming suit. She turned to Shirle just a few lockers down from hers. She sighed, she'd try again today. Maybe one day Shirely would get over her jealousy and they would be able to be real friends, not the pretend ones that they are everyday. She unbuttoned her yellow jacket and set it inside the locker, slipping off her skirt she noticed her phone light up.She raised an eyebrow and set her skirt in the locker also, grabbing her phone and looking at the name I.D. Lelouch. She quickly flipped open the phone and answered it. "Hello?" "It's me." Adelice smiled softly. "You cut class again", she scolded. "You're going to get held ba-""Are you near a TV?", he interrupted her. Adelice raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Give me a minute to change, was just about to go out for a swim.". She unbuttoned her shirt and unclasped her bra, putting them both in the locker as well. She could faintly hear some commotion in the background. She frowned. "Lelouch, where are you?", she asked, almost not wanting to know."Rivalz and I just went out for a bit of chess.", he stated. This made her frown more. "So gambling again...", she whispered as she slipped off her panties. "Did you win?", she asked after he said nothing. "Nobility is the easiest to win against, they're too worried about their pride.", He said, in a hateful tone."Well I suppose as long as you're winning...", she sighed, she slipped on her swimming suit. "Are you near a TV?", he asked again. "I'm sorry but this is important. Please Adelice.", he said a little demanding. "Alright, one second. Hang on, some of the girls here have a little TV". Adelice smiled at them. "Can I change the channel on this, I just need to see something real quick."They handed her the little TV and she mouthed a thank you. "To what station?", she asked Lelouch. "The news. Is there anything about Shinjuku?". Adelice raised an eyebrow again. What on earth is he asking about that for...? She turned to the news. "There's nothing here Lelouch... they're talking about traffic restrictions."There was silence on the other line and Adelice frowned. "Lelouch?", she asked into the phone as she handed the other girls back their little TV. "I'm going to be later tonight then expected, I won't make it for dinner so you and Nunally go ahead and eat without me.""Alright... ", she paused. "Lelouch?", she asked hesitantly. "Hm?" Adelice bit her bottom lip. "In whatever it is you are doing... you're staying safe.. right?", she asked. Lelouch smiled to himself. "Of course. I just got a bit caught up in a chess game. I'll make up for it, we'll have a nice quiet dinner tomorrow, just the three of us. How does that sound?"Adelice smiled. Lelouch had been continuously busy lately and they hadn't had much time to spend with each other and she worried the same for Nunally. Lelouch was too busy and not around Nunally enough either, she needed her brother. "I would like that very much.". She said."Good. I'll see you tonight.", he said and hung up the phone. Adelice didn't know whether to smile or be annoyed. She hated not knowing where he was but I guess that was just the mysterious nature of Lelouch. She set her phone in her locker and and locked it. Heading out to the swimming pool.Catching a glimpse of Shirley on the high diving board. She watched her do a perfect dive into the pool. It was something she admired about Shirley. She could dive into the pool with just the smallest of a slash. Adelice dived in from the edge of the pool and swam toward the other girls that were congratulating Shirley.
"Good. I'll see you tonight.", he said and hung up the phone. Lelouch tucked his phone back into his pocket. He sighed, Adelice always worried about him but he couldn't bring himself to tell her where he was or what he had just gotten himself into.She would just end up worrying more. He would tell her later once he was out of this mess when they were safe in his home where he could show her that there was nothing to worry about, that he was safe and still in one piece. There was nothing to worry about. He was always going to be there.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. I own my OCAdelice smiled as she walked into Lelouch's home. “Hello~”, she called out. She was met by Sayoko entering the room. “Hello Ms. Attwood.”, she greeted her. Adelice smiled and held up a a bunch of sheets of colored paper. “I thought, perhaps since Lelouch is going to be late again, you could teach us some more of your origami”.
Sayoko smiled and nodded. “Of course”. Sayoko led Adelice to the grand dining room and she smiled as she saw Nunally already waiting for her. “Hello Nunally.”, Adelice smiled at the blind girl. “Adelice how nice, are you joining Lelouch and me for dinner?”, she asked, excited by the possibility of having her brother and best friend with her.
Adelice sighed looking down at the table, her eyes following the patters of the stained wood. Look at what you put me through Lelouch, now I got to break this poor girls spirit and it make me look like the bad guy... “Oh... well, about that sweety... Lelouch called me while I was school and said he wouldn't be able to make it to dinner and that he would be home late.”, Adelice said taking Nunally's hand. A frown played upon Nunally's lips. “Oh, I see.”
Adelice frowned a little herself, she knew Nunally always looked forward to having dinner with Lelouch. It was a time where they could both talk about their day. Adelice trailed her eyes to a strand of hair that was in Nunally's face. She smiled and leaned forward, tucking the strand of golden hair behind her ear. “But hey, I brought something over that you might enjoy.”, Adelice said, trying to brighten the mood. “Hmm? What is it?”
She grabbed a stack of colorful paper and handed it to Nunally to let her feel it. She smiled as Nunally looked more confused, running her hand over the paper. “It's origami paper, I thought it would be a fun little activity for you and I to do while we wait for Lelouch to come home.”
Nunally smiled big. “Yes, Sayoko can teach us all sorts of things.”, she said her mood now brightened. Sayoko came back into the room holding plates for both of them. She set them down and Adelice eyed the delicious food. Soba noodles with a little bit of sushi on the side. “Thank you Sayoko it looks delicious.” Sayoko nodded in acknowledgment and went off back to the kitchen.
“It smells delicious!”, Nunally exclaimed feeling around for her fork. Adelice smiled and grabbed her hand, handing the fork to her. Nunally wasted no time and started to eat. Adelice suppressed a giggle and looked down at her food. She twisted the noodles with her fork and plopped them into her mouth. “Adelice?” She was brought out of her thoughts of how great this food was by Nunally.
“Do you love Lelouch?”, Nunally asked, putting a little piece of sushi into her mouth. Adelice smiled and did the same, “I do. Very much so”, she answered. Nunally smiled big once again. “That's another thing we have in common. I love Lelouch too. He's the best brother I could ever ask for.” Adelice watched Nunally, she admired her. How blindness had not made her hate the world or be angry in anyway, it was remarkable.
It brought a smile to her lips, how precious this soft spoken, beautiful girl was. She thought of her as a sister even though they weren't blood related. If anything were to happen to Nunally, Adelice would be devastated just the same as Lelouch would be. As they finished their meal Sayoko came out to retrieve their empty plates. Adelice thanked her again for the delicious meal and then set about dividing the paper. “What color paper would you like, Nunally? I've got blue, red, green, purple, and orange.”
“Green”, Nunally answered and Adelice set a few sheets of green paper in front of her. “Alright~ and I will choose purple.”, she said as she set the few pieces of paper in a neat pile in front of her. Sayoko came back and smiled, pulling out a chair and sitting down next to them. “So what are you going to teach us how to make, Sayoko?”, she asked.
“Hmm.. lets see, oh! How about a frog?”, Sayoko asked turning to both her and Nunally. Both girls nodded and smiled and listened to how Sayoko explained the process. Origami didn't come easy to Adelice, the first attempt didn't come out to well but with practice she would get this ancient Japanese custom. Funny how something as simple as folding paper could actually be intricate and complicated if you really wanted to make something extravagant.
How beautifully their culture was. Britannian people only ever acted as if their culture was the best but in truth the Japanese culture had it's own beautiful customs. Every culture did, the more and more she was exposed to Japanese culture from Sayoko, the more she could see how ethnocentric Britannia was. The hours passed on the clock as they sat at the dining room table and Sayoko began to show them how to make little frogs.
“Aren't they fun to make, Nunally?”, Adelice asked her smiling at her frog made out purple paper. This time she had gotten it right and it looked correct. Nunally smiled big and looked in Sayoko's direction. “Thank you for showing us how to make these, Sayoko.” Sayoko shook her head. “My pleasure to show you girls.”
The girls smiled at each other and then turned to the grandfather clock as it chimed 9 o'clock. Adelice turned to Nunally. “Time for bed Nunally, you must be tired.” Nunally nodded and yawned softly setting her little origami frog in her lap. Sayoko stood as well and wheeled Nunally to her room. As they reached the room, Adelice took the small paper frog from her lap and asked, “Where would you like me to put it Nunally?”
“Next to me on the end table.” Adelice placed the frog on the end table. “There. Now he'll always be next to you. Now time for bed Nunally.” Adelice joined them and helped Sayoko lift Nunally onto the bed and cover her. She was so light, almost like a feather. How did this girl eat and not weigh anything?
Nunally smiled up in their general direction. “Good night Sayoko and Adelice.” They both smiled at her and said good night. Sayoko stepped out and just as Adelice was about to step out of Nunally's room, she heard Nunally call to her in her little soft voice.
Adelice turned her head to the side, looking at Nunally from the corner of her eye. “Yes dear?”, she asked. “Will you stay here till I fall asleep? Since my brother is not here and Sayoko is going to bed, there's no one for me to talk to till I fall asleep.” Adelice smiled at the request and walked back over to the bed. She was just like a small child. Carefree and innocent, not caring about the bad things in the world around her. “Of course Nunally.”, she agreed, walking over to the other side of the bed, climbing into next to Nunally.
“What do you suppose is keeping Lelouch? It's weird for him to stay out this late.”, Nunally asked. Adelice rolled to her side facing Nunally. “I don't know, probably had something to do with school.”, she said not wanting to worry Nunally. “He's always so busy.”, Nunally sighted. “Yes...but I think I might have news that might cheer you up~”
Nunally turned her head to the side, facing Adelice. “He told me on the phone earlier that he would make it up to us and that tomorrow we would have a nice quiet dinner.” Adelice smiled. “Just the three of us”.
That made Nunally feel better. “That sounds wonderful.”, she said, settling down into the bed. Adelice made a noise in agreement and reached her hand out, running her fingers through Nunally's hair as she started to sleep. Honestly Lelouch, what could be keeping you this late at night... Adelice sighed and shook her head, there was no use worrying about it now. She would just find out what happened when he arrives home.
Lelouch stepped through the front door. “I'm home~”, he called throught the house. The door to the dining room opened and Sayoko hurried out. “Master Lelouch, welcome home.”, she said. “Good to be home.”, he answered. Sayoko made a motion for him to lower his voice. At this, he raised an eyebrow. Sayoko smiled and pointed to the direction of Nunally's room. “Nunally and Ms. Attwood fell asleep after such a tiring day.”. Lelouch nodded in understanding, and walked into the dining room quietly.
“Would you like something to eat? You must be hung-” “No. I'm fine. I'm just going to head off to bed, I had a tiring day as well.”, Lelouch cut her off. Lelouch proceeded to his room undoing his school jacket, changing into a button down white shirt to sleep in.
He walked over to Nunally's room and smiled as he saw Adelice and Nunally sleeping together. He quietly walked over to them, pulling the covers over Nunally. He leaned down giving Nunally a soft kiss on the cheek and then walked around the bed, doing the same to Adelice, pulling the covers up to her shoulder to make sure she was warm. He placed a kiss on the shell of her ear and then stood. He watched them sleep peaceful for a few moments, smiling to himself as he watched the women that were most important to him, and then walked out. Feeling sleepy himself.
Adelice awoke early to Sayoko gently prying her shoulder. “Ms. Attwood, you have to get up or you will be late for school.” Adelice moaned softly to herself and then shot wide awake. “Late?!” Sayoko nodded to her outburst and Adelice quickly jumbed out of bed, straightening her skirt. “Oh dear.. I can't believe I fell asleep and in my clothes...” Sayoko frowned a little. They got wrinkled..”, Adelice whined, trying to flatten the creases out a little.
She wished she would have changed into some of Lelouch old clothes before falling asleep. She quickly grabbed her bag that was set against the wall. “I could iron out your skirt if you like, Ms. Attwood?”, Sayoko offered. Adelice shook her head. “No. No. Sayoko it's alright, it'll be fine. I don't want to be too late for school as it is.”
Adelice was just about to run out the door when she looked back at Sayoko. “Did Lelouch ever come back home?”, she asked a little worried. “Yes he came back about a half hour after you and Nunally had fallen asleep so I told him not to bother you.”, Sayoko answered. “Oh, alright, Thank you Sayoko. I will see you again tonight”, she called as she ran out the door.
She ran across the paved walkway toward the entrance of the school, looking up at the clock at the top of the school. She had missed her first class and second class. She had a break between classes after he second class so she slowed down her running. She looked around the courtyard at the students have a snack for brunch. “I guess I'll just go to the student council room...”, she said to herself.
She walked down the halls passed the open doors of classrooms and to the student council room. As the door opened she saw Lelouch sitting in his chair. “And I'm the one who's scolded for missing class.”, he said sarcastically. Adelice walked around the table, touching Nina's shoulder in a silent hello. “Quiet you.”, she said to Lelouch as he smirked at her.
He reached and grabbed her hand as she sat down next to him, he placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand making her smile. “Taking advice from Lelouch about ditching class, Adelice?”, Rivalz asked. Adelice shot him a playful glare. “I just overslept is all. Was more tired then I expected. Apparently making origami frogs can really tire a person out.”
The others gave her a confused look. Adelice smiled “Sayoko was teaching Nunally and I how to make origami frogs. Was interesting, Nunally seemed to enjoy it a lot.”, she said turning to Lelouch. He smiled upon hearing that his sister was happy. Milly came into the room which took the attention of the others.
Adelice took the opportunity, tugged on the sleeve of his school jacket and leaned closer to him. “Where on earth were you yesterday?”, she asked while everyone else was distracted. Lelouch's smile faded a little as he tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. “We'll talk about it later”, he assured her. Adelice frowned a little, somehow she didn't believe he was ever going to tell her. Lelouch turned his attention back to Milly before Adelice could protest.
Milly stood at the front of the table, taking her place as president of the student council. “Everyone I have big plans for this year! Here are the reports.” The other council members groaned as she set a stack of papers in front of them. Adelice sighed as she saw the thickness of the stack of papers. Why did there have to be so many? She shook her head slightly and set about reading them. Her eyes started drooping as she read past the fifth report. This is so tedious and boring... Peering out of the corner of her eye she could see that Lelouch had fallen asleep.
He probably hadn't slept a lot because he was returned so late last night. Served him right for making her and Nunally worry about him as far as she was concerned. “Wake up Lelouch!”, Milly yelled, hitting him on the head with a rolled piece of paper. “I know you were sleeping! Your hand stopped moving!”, she continued. Adelice let out a giggle as Lelouch frowned. “Well you don't have to beat me up over it, do you?”, he asked.
“Ahh serves you right for ditching me like that.”, Rivalz said, twirling a pen in his hand. Lelouch held the spot where Milly had hit him on the head as Adelice gave him a confused look. This whole time she had thought he was with Rivalz... what on earth happened yesterday? Lelouch was a mystery but she needed to know what was going on once in a while. She wasn't about to let this go.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. I own my OC
Shriley raised an eyebrow. “That's right. What was up with you yesterday? Not showing up to the meeting.”, she asked clicking her pen against the table. “Oh, well I-”, Lelouch started to say as he was cut off by Milly. “That's enough you guys. Let's not get sidetracked here. If we don't get all this paperwork done soon then we'll be in big trouble.”
Adelice sighed, Milly was always so bossy. She suppressed a smile, Milly was just a natural born leader. How she wished they could push this back a couple of days though, she was not in the mood for doing this amount of work with so much on her mind. Adelice was brought out of her thoughts when Shirley yelled at Milly, calling her a pervert. Shirley was blushing and crossing her arms over her chest.
Just as Adelice was about to join in on the fun the bell rang signaling the time for class to start. She slowly got up, straightening out her skirt. Nina, Shirley and Rivalz walked out first. Milly soon followed, leaving Lelouch and Adelice alone together. Lelouch stood and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Adelice turned to him and smiled sadly. “What's wrong?”, Lelouch asked. Adelice shook her head. “Nothing.”, she answered. Lelouch frowned, “Tell me.” Adelice turned her gaze to the side. “I... I just want you to tell me the truth. It seems like you're keeping secrets from me.”, she whispered. Lelouch frowned more and placed a finger under her chin and turned her head to look up at him.
“I always do. I wouldn't lie to you.”, he stated and leaned down, kissing her forehead softly, letting go of her chin. Adelice nodded and looked down again walking toward the door. Lelouch frowned inside. He couldn't tell her the truth, at least not all of it. He couldn't tell her about C.C. or his Geass. If she did she would worry or even perhaps want to help. If she got into the mix of all this then something could happen to her... he wasn't about to let that happen.
He walked beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him as they walked to class. They saw Shirley, Nina and Rivalz had already taken their seats. Some other students had gathered around a screen, they were looking at pictures of some terrorist incident. Adelice looked away she didn't want to know about it. It was such a commonality these days that she chose not to look at it.
“They used poison gas?”, a male student asked. “Man that's freaky”, another male student commented looking at the pictures. She was about to walk to her seat when her ears perked up at what the students were saying. “Shinjuku's only thirty minutes from here!”, another said. At that Adelice turned to Lelouch. “Shinjuku?”, she looked up at him quizzically. Why had Lelouch asked about that yesterday?
Lelouch smiled softly, playing it nonchalantly. “I heard about it in real time from a friend, that's why I called you yesterday.”. Adelice nodded and looked back at the pictures. There were dead bodies laying on the floor in their own pools of blood. Men, Women and children.. even babies. Adelice turned and looked away, she didn't want to see more of the world she hated. It was too much. She looked up at Lelouch who was looking a little pale. “Lelouch?”, she asked softly. He covered his mouth suddenly and looked like he was going to be sick. He turned around and ran to the boys bathroom down the hall. Adelice watched him and walked after him slowly, giving him time to be sick.
Bending over the sink, cleaning his mouth, Lelouch recalled what he had done. He remembered how the gun felt in his hands, how is half-brother pleaded to not be killed. At that moment it was so easy to pull the trigger but now the remorse was setting in. He had killed someone. Not only someone, but royalty and not only royalty, but a member of his own family.
I guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was... He slowly turned off the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror. If Adelice ever found out what he had done... she would never forgive him. She had always adored Clovis, even when they were children. She may not have agreed with his decisions made during his time as viceroy of Area 11 but he knew that didn't matter to her. What mattered to her was the boy she saw as a child.
Lelouch splashed some water on his face. What had he done...? Making a better world wasn't going to be easy, he knew that when he first started this that there would be pain along the way. After a few minutes he heard a soft knock on the door. “Lelouch, are you alright?”, Adelice asked worriedly. He turned to look at himself one more time in the mirror and then opened the door and stepped out slowly, running his hand through his hair. “I'm fine, must have been something I ate.”, he said, waving the problem off.
Adelice stroked his arm softly with her fingertips. “Perhaps I should ask Sayoko to make you some soup for dinner instead.”, she said. Lelouch shook his head. “Hurry, we'll be late for class.”, he said, moving his hand to her back giving her a gently push toward the classroom. She thought better then to agrue and just simply nodded and quickly walked back to the classroom and to her seat.
She was surprised to see the seat next to hers was filled. “Kallen it's been ages”, a female student exclaimed. Adelice smiled and sat down, touching Kallen's shoulder softly. Kallen gave her a smile and a nodd as a hello. “How are you feeling?”, Adelice asked her. “I'm fine, thank you. Just had a bit of a flu these past days. I just have to go easy for a little while”, Kallen answered. “Glad to see you're back and much better.”
As Lelouch walked to his seat, he couldn't help staring at the girl Adelice was talking to. Where had he seen that girl before? She was so familiar. Then it hit him. Of course... that's why she's so familiar.. “Anyway if I stay home any longer, I'll never catch up.”, Kallen said to Adelice. Lelouch watched as Adelice nodded in acknowledgment. He took his seat slowly watching them as they continued to converse.
Rivalz came and started his usual comments. “Cute girl talking to Adelice, huh?”, he said, nudging Lelouch on the shoulder. Lelouch completely ignored his question. “Just thinking that this is a rare event... she hasn't been here at school since the whole term started.”, he observed. Rivalz wasn't paying attention, he was too entranced as he watched Adelice and Kallen giggle and laugh together.
“Kallen Stadtfeld, they say she's sick or something and she barely showed up at school last year either. Still her grades are at the top of the class....” Lelouch didn't pay attention to the rest of what Rivalz said, he was more preoccupied in finding out what she had in connection with Shinjuku.
Adelice stood up from her seat as the bell rang to signal it was time for some lunch, waving goodbye to Kallen as she walked out the door. She stretched a bit, her arms and legs sore from sitting in a wooden chair for two hours. She smiled softly at Lelouch as he took her hand. “Are you heading off the student council room?”, he asked her. She nodded and frowned a bit.
“During my hasty leave, I forgot about lunch.”, she giggled softly. “Probably going to steal a bit of Milly's to be honest.” Lelouch smiled down at her and looked out the window. Just yesterday he had been out fighting for his life and now he was within the safe walls of his school. What a day.
Adelice squeezed his hand. “Are you postive you are alright, Lelouch?”, she asked, giving him another worried look. “This way.”, he said not answering her and suddenly went off in another direction, pulling her along up the staircase by the hand, she followed him, almost stumbling at the brisk pace he was going. “Lelouch where are we going?”, she asked pulling on his hand to try to slow him down.
He said nothing and continued to walk quickly up the stairs till they reached the roof. He opened the door and ushered her out to the roof. She raised an eyebrow but still stepped through. The wind blew strong up on the roof of the school building. Blowing her school skirt higher then she would like, her brown hair swaying in the breeze of the afternoon wind.
She turned to him as he was closing the door. “Why did you bring me up here?”, she asked. “It's an old favorite place of mine. Suzaku and I used to like to get away from the crowd so we would always go to secluded places. This is one of them. A place where we can be alone.”, he said.
She smiled. “You miss him, don't you?”. Lelouch stayed silent for a minute trailing his eyes off in the distance. He had just seen Suzaku during that truck incident. “About that..”, he started. Adelice watched his facial expression as he tried to find the words to say.
“Rivalz and I went out playing chess with nobility as you know.” Adelice rolled her eyes and turned back to him. “We were on our way back to school when we an accident happened right behind us. It was a truck that had crashed into an old abandoned building. You might have seen it on the news”, he said, letting his shoulders fall. Adelice shook her head. “I didn't.”
“So Rivalz and I stopped, no one else went to go see how the drivers were so I decided to do it.” Adelice frowned, she did not like where this was going. “I looked into the truck and called to see if they were okay, no one answered so I climbed to the top of the cargo attachment of the truck.”
“Lelouch, what on earth were you think-?” “Let me finish.”, He cut her off. Adelice nodded slowly and crossed her arms over her chest. “The suddenly truck started and I fell in, they some kind of poisonous gas contraption inside the back of it.” Adelice's eyes widened but she stayed silent letting him continue.
“Eventually we crashed again and some of the military intervened. A soldier came aboard and attacked me, but he stopped when he saw my face. It was Suzaku.” Adelice mouth dropped a little. “Suzaku's in the military..?”, she whispered. Lelouch nodded a little to her question. Adelice felt a pit in her stomach. She cared for Suzaku very much. The military? Of all things for him to do that was the worst... he could be killed. That would break Lelouch's heart, not to mention Nunally's and her own.
“I got caught up in the Shinjuku incident with Suzaku because of that. I asked you about Shinjuku because I wanted to see if there was a safer place for me to go. Eventually I did find a safe way to go but I had to take some...”, he stopped taking, wanting to choose his words carefully. “Defensive measures.”
Adelice raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by defensive measures?”, she asked hesitantly. “It was necessary to defend myself so I... acquired a Knightmare frame.”, Lelouch said as he walked toward her, he grabbed her hand softly. “But that's all in the past now. I'm here now and I'm safe.”, he assured her. Adelice stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head. “What happened to Suzaku?”, she asked.
“We lost each other in the fray, I don't know what happened to him.”, he lied resting his back against one of the walls of the roof, he pulled her toward him still holding her hand. Adelice shook her head, not saying anything for a little while “...I think you're out of your bloody mind.”, she said slowly. “Your gambling is getting you into even more trouble”, she said. “I don't-”, she was cut off as he put a finger to her lips. “Nothing happened to me, I'm right here, in one piece.”, he stated. “Yes but-” “'But' nothing”, he said cutting her off again.
“Please don't do anything reckless like that again. You'll have me worried sick.”, she said quietly, turning her eyes away. The wind blew a strand of hair in front of her face. Lelouch took the strand in his hand and tucked it behind her ear. He didn't dare mention anything about his new power or C.C. That would be set for another time.
“I promised you and Nunally a quiet dinner at home tonight and that's what I'm going to do, there won't be any recklessness tonight.”, he said said giving her a small smile. Adelice turned back to look at him a frown still on her face, no matter what he wasn't going to change his ways so why try. She sighed and nodded, smiling softly. “I'm looking forward to it”, she whispered.
A small smile played on Lelouch's lips, he leaned down and kissed her forehead, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close to him. He saw a bigger smile form on her lips as he cupped her cheek and touched his lips to hers, taking in the taste of her strawberry lip-gloss. He loved her soft lips as they pressed against his. Adelice smiled against his lips and relaxed against him.
It wasn't fair that he had this power over her. That with one little kiss, he could make her forget her worries, her troubles and even the world around them. She felt his hand travel to the nape of her neck, holding her to him as he deepened the kiss. He held her shoulder in his other hand. He felt her loosen up a bit from the tense statue she had become.
All the pent up anger she had towards his gambling faded as he brushed his lips against hers. She felt his warm hands holding the nape of her neck and shoulder, making her feel less worried. His danced across the nape of her neck, stroking the sensitive skin softly, she sighed against his lips, melting under his touch. He knew how to get her to stop, just these simple, gentle touches and she was complete putty in his hands.
He pulled away slowly and ran his fingers through her hair. “Better, my lady?”, he asked. “Yes.”, she said almost breathlessly. He smiled down at her once again and caressed her cheek. “Good.”, he said taking hold of her hand again, he walked to the door leading back to the staircase. “I'll walk you back to the student council room.”, he offered. Adelice smiled and nodded, grasping his hand. “Are you going to be joining us for lunch?”, she asked him.
“No. I got some extra credit assignments I have to pick up for missing yesterdays class.”, he sighed, trying to make his annoyance believable. Adelice shook her head a little. He was always complaining about the extra work he had to do but would never stop skipping class.
As they walked down the hall Adelice talked about what her and Nunally did while she was a way. She exaggerated the trials she had to go through to get the folded paper to look like a frog, making him chuckle softly.
Lelouch let go of her hand as they reached the door to the student council room. He bid her goodbye and kissed her forehead and then watched until the door shut behind her. She smiled and walked into the room, hoping she could steal a few treats from Milly's plate.
Lelouch sighed to himself. What was he going to do about this geass and then C.C. was a whole other task in itself. He couldn't keep the secret for much longer. He ran his fingers through his hair racking his brain for ideas. Of the possible outcomes that would happen if he didn't tell her and the possible outcomes that would happen if he did tell her.
He stared at the empty classrooms as he walked down the hall. Some of the wooden chairs not pushed in. He slowly turned his gave outside. For now he couldn't worry about that. He need some answers from the women in the Knightmare yesterday.
A big smile played across Adelice's lips as she plopped the strawberry tart into her mouth. The sweetness of the strawberries tastes as if they were picked just today. She nodded to Milly, silently thanking her for the delicious treat.
“Is Lelouch not joining us?”, Rivalz said as he took a bite of his sandwhich. Adelice waved her hand. “No he said he had some extra credit to pick up from the classes he missed.”, she said wiping her hands off with a napkin. “If you two weren't off gambling so much then he wouldn't have to do that.”, Milly scolded Rivalz who was looking for any escape route he could find.
Adelice giggled softly. Those two were always fighting, though it wouldn't be Milly and Rivalz if they weren't fighting. Adelice shook her head and stood up. “I'm off to swim club”, she called as she excited the room, leaving the other two to continue arguing.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. I own my OC
“A crane!”, Nunally exclaimed as Adelice walked through the door. Sayoko and Nunally turned as the heard footsteps. “Hello Nunally, Sayoko.”, she greeted, placing her school bag on the floor, tucking it under the table so no one would trip over it. She sighed, rubbing her shoulder softly. That bag was beginning to get heavy now with her wet swimsuit on top of all her school supplies.
“Adelice look what Sayoko made!”, Nunally said, holding her hands up. “That's wonderful, it's a red crane.”. Adelice smiled and sat next across from Nunally watching her hold the paper crane in her hands and felt the details of the creases with her fingertips. “Is my brother coming?”, Nunally asked setting the crane down beside her so that she could show Lelouch. There was a hopefulness tone to her voice and Adelice wish that Lelouch would keep his promise to be here tonight.
Adelice waved her hand. “Well you know that brother of yours, he's always so unreliable”, she said sarcastically. “Let's hope he keeps his promise to us, huh?”, Adelice said, looking out the window of the dining room. Her eyes traveled down the hunter green drapes. “I hope so, I've been really looking forward to having dinner with both of you.”, Nunally said.
You better be here today Lelouch... you promised me... Adelice closed her eyes, feeling a wave of anxiety hit her. She hoped he hadn't gotten into more trouble again and if only he would just stay home with Nunally. Why couldn't he just be content ever night being at home? She was brought out of her thoughts when the door opened. Finally...
“I'm sorry, I'm so late.”, Lelouch said as he walked through the door. “Hi Lelouch. Welcome home”, Nunally said, excited to have her brother at such an early time, well... early for Lelouch. Sayoko stood, her hands clasped together in front of her. “Yes. Welcome home, my lord.”, she said with a slight bow. Adelice smiled up at him as he smiled back. “No place like it, Sayoko.”, he answered, setting his bag down onto the floor just like Adelice had. “I'll go prepare the food.”, Sayoko said turning and walking toward the kitchen door as Lelouch sat down at the head of the table.
He gently took Adelice's hand and kissed it, bringing that smile he loved so much to her lips again. “Welcome home, Lelouch”, Adelice said softly as his lips touched the back of her hand. He smiled at her and then turned his head as Sayoko came out of the kitchen, carting the plates on a little kart with wheels. She set the plate in front of Lelouch, Nunnaly and then Adelice. “Thank you Sayoko it looks wonderful.”, Adelice said, eying the juicy steak, mixed vegetables and a small bowl of egg flower soup next to it, in front of her.
“Yes, thank you Sayoko.”, Lelouch said as she carted the serving kart back to the kitchen. Lelouch took a bite of his food and then turned to Nunally. “How was your day, Nunally?”, he asked beginning to cut into his steak. “It was a lot of fun. Ms. Sayoko was teaching me more about the art of Origami.”
“Would you like me to bring some more colorful paper, Nunally? I have a lot more.” Adelice giggled softly. “At the rate you and Sayoko are making art, you're liable to run out soon.” Nunally smiled and giggled a little too. “If it isn't too much trouble.”, Nunally answered. “Not at all, dear.”
Nunally turned back to Lelouch. “It's amazing. Fold a piece of paper the correct way and you can make birds, boats, almost anything.”, she said excited, taking a spoonful of soup at the same time, spilling a little down her chin in the process. Lelouch grabbed his napkin cleaning the soup off of her. “Easy there, you don't have to tell me everything all at once, you know? It's not like I'm going anywhere.”
Adelice smiled as she watched Lelouch. How gentle he was with Nunally, it was something so unnatural for the constant violence she saw everyday on the news. It was nice to see someone do something for someone they loved. “Ya, you're right, thank you.”, Nunally said making Lelouch smile. “You're very welcome.”
Nunally giggled making Lelouch look at her quizzically. “I'm so happy, cause last night you scared me a little. Adelice and I were worried about you.”, Nunally said. At this Adelice put her fork and knife down. It was the truth but it probably shocked Lelouch more to hear it coming from Nunally then her. He stared at Nunally with his purple eyes a little in shock.
A frown spread across Adelice's face again as she set her hands in her lap, looking between Lelouch and Nunally. Perhaps if he heard it from her it would do more good then what she had said many times in the past. Lelouch broke the quiet. “Did I? I'm sorry I just have a lot on my mind is all.”, he said turning down to his half empty plate. “Hey”
Lelouch looked back up at Nunally to see her smiling, she held up the crane to him. “They say if you fold a thousand of these cranes, your wish will come true...” Adelice smiled at this but somehow she didn't think folding a thousand cranes was going to get Lelouch to stop leaving her and Nunally so much. Did gambling and playing chess mean that much to him? “So if there's anything at all that you have been wishing for..”, Nunally finished. “No, not really”, Lelouch answered interrupting her a little. “What about you? Do you wish for anything?”, he asked, trying to lighten the mood once again before it started to get gloomy.
Nunally put her head down in thought. “Hmm... I wish the world was a gentler place.” At this Adelice didn't have much more of an appetite. She hated the fact that even though Nunally was blind she could still see the bad things in this world. Lelouch turned to look at her. Their eyes met and he could see the pain she felt for Nunally through her eyes and then turned back to Nunally. “When the day finally comes that you can see again I'm sure that it will be.”, he said smiling at her. “Really?”, Nunally asked, already excited once again. A small smiled came to Adelice's lips at seeing Nunally's childish innocence.
“I promise.”, Lelouch answered, setting his fork and knife down and took Nunally's hand. Nunally smiled and wrapped there thumbs together, holding both of their hands up. Adelice smiled as she watched the two of them. Lelouch stayed still, not knowing what to do, looking quizzically at Nunally. “Sayoko taught me this the other day, it's called a Japanese promise.”, Nunally said. Their hands moved up and down like a handshake. “Cross my heart, hope to die, eat a thousand needles if I lie, pinky-promise song.” and with that she broke the “handshake”.
Adelice couldn't help but giggle a little. “That's adorable Nunally, what a cute custom they have.”, Adelice said smiling, as she continued to watch. Lelouch looked at her. “I'm not sure about adorable, that's scary, I may have to eat a thousand needles some day.”, Lelouch said. Adelice giggled and nodded in agreement. “That's right, so I better not catch you telling lies, okay?”, Nunally said. Adelice's eyes traveled back to Lelouch. “Don't you worry, I'll never lie, I swear.”, he said, smiling at Nunally. A tinge of anxiety formed in the pit of Adelice's stomach, she sure hoped he would never lie.
The chime of the grandfather clock came and Lelouch smiled at Nunally. “Time for bed?”, he asked as the thrid chime rang. Nunally nodded her head, Lelouch stood from the table, pushing his plate aside, walking over to Nunally and wheeling her to her room. “Goodnight Nunally”, Adelice called to her as they exited the room before the last chime went off. She smiled and sat back against the chair, letting them have their time together. She knew they needed their family time without her even if she was considered like one of the family. Adelice walked over to the grandfather and pulled the little silent lever so that the clock wouldn't chime during their sleep. Sayoko came back into the room. “Where is Lord Lelouch, Lady Nunally?”, she asked, surprised to not be helping Nunally into bed.
Adelice smiled, “He's helping her into bed and saying goodnight to her.”. Sayoko nodded and set about taking the empty plates to the kitchen. Adelice smiled as Nunally had left the red folded origami crane on the table. She grabbed it softly in her hand, stood and turned to the small bookcase behind her. Their were pictures of Lelouch and Nunally when they were young. She smiled and placed the little crane next to the picture of a family portrait of Lady Marianne, a young Lelouch and a very young Nunally.
A wave of sadness passed through her, she picked up the picture and held it closer to her. She ran her fingertips of Lady Marianne and smiled sadly. “Oh how we miss you.”, she whispered, tears slowly forming in her eyes. Poor Lady Marianne, she left this world to soon. Nunally and Lelouch needed a mother more than anything. They needed their guide in life.
She was startled by Lelouch who came through the door, she set the picture down quickly. “You always loved that picture didn't you?”, he asked as he held out his hand to her. She cursed herself silently, wishing he hadn't seen her looking at the picture. “Yes, it's a beautiful picture of a time I wish we could go back to.”, she said and took his hand slowly. He walked her over to the kitchen, Sayoko smiled at them, just finishing the dishes. She quickly exited the room and left them alone.
Lelouch sat Adelice down at one of the bar stools and reached for two glasses of wine, setting one in front of her. She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “What's this?”, she asked softly as he turned choosing from a few wine bottles that were set in the racks. “An apology.”, he answered giving her a small smile. He turned back and popped open the cork of the wine bottle. He poured her some and then himself. “I don't understand.”, Adelice said as she held the glass in her hand.
Lelouch took a sip from his glass and grabbed her free hand. “I know I've been putting you and Nunally through a lot of worrying. I haven't been around lately because I've been busy with a lot of things on my mind. I'm sorry.”, he said. Adelice smiled and squeezed his hands, at least Nunally's words of worrying had gotten through to him. “I know you have.. apology accepted, Lelouch.”, she said taking a sip of wine. “I'm glad you and Nunally can be together though, it's nice to see the two of you together.”, she continued. Lelouch smiled and nodded. “Have you heard anything from Suzaku? It seems odd that he hasn't tried to make contact with you”, she asked him.
Lelouch shook his head. “He's probably busy with all the orders the new recruits get.” Adelice nodded and set her glass down. He watched her pause and run her fingers over the tile pattern on the bar. “Lelouch... you don't think he'll get hurt during his stay in the military.. do you? I mean, I wish he would have taken a job that was.. well a little less dangerous.”, she whispered, not wanting to think about her childhood friend ever being hurt. “Don't worry Adelice, Suzaku is one of the strongest persons I know, he wouldn't go down without giving a fight.”
Adelice smiled, “Yah I know, I just can't help but worry.” She paused for a second. Silence fell between them. Adelice stared at the pattern of the tile and then broke the silence. “The world seemed so innocent when we were young.” A smile played on her lips. “I remember when you and Clovis used to play chess together in the courtyard.” At the mention of Clovis, Lelouch stiffened a little. “He used to get so mad when you would beat him. In private with me, he would come up with these stories of how you cheated and that he was really the smart one and you were just a cheater. Trying to get me to not like you.” She giggled and bit her bottom lip softly. “I love those memories.”
Lelouch smiled and took another sip of wine, buying a few seconds as he chose his words carefully. “Clovis was always very fond of you.”, he said. Adelice shook her head and didn't say anything. “And when Suzaku used to come visit. You two would always want to go out on some grand adventure with Nunally.”. Silence fell between them as they remembered the past. Adelice drew a little circle with the tip of her finger on one of the beige tiled squares. She broke the silence after some time again.
“I miss him.”, she said, making Lelouch look at her. “I miss how we used to be... all of us.”, she said looking into his eyes, almost pleading. Lelouch frowned and set his glass down, walking around to her, he grabbed her shoulders softly. “I promise I will try to make the world better, to get back to what used to be, as best as possible.”, he said. Adelice looked up at him, he was completely serious.
She knew it was an empty promise, no one could really fix the world to the way it used to be, none the less a smile came to her lips. “Thank you.”, she whispered softly. He smiled softly and placed a kiss on her forehead, walking back around, grabbing the empty wine glasses and placing them in the sink. “Come.”, he said as he walked through the door and out to the living room, Adelice followed him through the dining room and through the small hall to his room. He motioned for her to sit on the bed and she smiled, sitting on the soft bed. He stood at his bookcase taking a small little box with a bow on it. “For you.”, he said, smiling a little, holding the box out to her.
A frown appeared on her lips. “You don't have to buy me things, Lelouch. An apology is perfectly fine.”, she said as she felt a tinge of guilt that he took the time to go out and buy something for her. Perhaps she had laid the guilt trip on a little too thickly.
Adelice took the small blue box gently into her hands and undid the bow holding the box together slowly. Lelouch sat at his desk chair, one of his arms hanging behind the chair, watching her as she opened it. A purple and white bracelet lay in the box. The purple jewels were a brilliant shade of purple that matched Lelouch's eyes almost perfectly. She looked up at Lelouch, her mouth hanging slightly opened. He smiled at the face she was making and stood, taking the delicate bracelet from the box and clasped it around her wrist. “This way, you always know I'm with you and I'm safe.”, he whispered.
Adelice smiled and stood, hugging him, resting her head against his chest. “Thank you.”, she whispered, clinging onto him, wishing she would never have to let him go. He smiled and ran his fingers through her hair slowly. “You're very welcome.”, he said as she let him go. “I love it.”
“I thought you would.”, he whispered. He smiled at her as he watched her twirl the bracelet around her wrist, making sure to take in all the detail of it. They hardly had anytime to spend together now that he was busy with this new found power he acquired. He only wished that he could tell her everything, have everything out in the open. Then she would understand why he needed to be away so long. Perhaps she could accompany him? Lelouch twirled a pen between his fingers. Then again... what if she got hurt? He couldn't have that. A slight frown came to his lips. He could never tell her. It would put her in grave danger. The price for spending time together was not worth the chance that she could get hurt.
His purple eyes traveled to the small digital alarm clock on one of the upper shelves of his bookcase. It was getting late and his lack of sleep was starting to get to him. He slid off his jacket and set it on the back of the desk chair. Lelouch turned to Adelice and leaned forward, caressing her cheek, coaxing her to look up at him. “Spend the night with me.”, he whispered. It was more of a statement then a question to which she nodded, not wanting to disappoint him. She hardly got to spend time with him now with their separate extracurricular activities and Lelouch's new found desire to gamble.
He smiled as she nodded and walked to his dresser, grabbing a button down shirt and a pair of shorts. They would be too big for her but at least they would be comfortable to sleep in. “Here. You can change into these. I don't want your uniform to get wrinkled.”, he said. Adelice smiled and took the clothes from him, trotting off to the bathroom to change.
Lelouch ran his fingers through his hair. Maybe he should tell her. How on earth was he supposed to tell her about this though if it was going to do more harm then good? He sighed softly careful not to do it too loudly so Adelice wouldn't hear. Perhaps eleven o'clock at night wasn't the best time either. He shook his head, he'd find a better time to think about it in the morning after he got a good nights sleep. He unbuckled his pants and laid them on his desk chair, pulling on a pair of his sleeping pants and waited for Adelice to finish changing.
His eyes traveled to the bookcase in his room and to a small little photo he had. He picked it up in his hands and smiled to himself. It was a picture of Adelice and Nunally, playing together in a little pond. He smiled more as he remembered Adelice feeding the koi in the pond and then showing Nunally how to feed them. After they would always want to go swimming with them and pretend they were fish. His smile faded a little. She was right, that was such an innocent time back then. Back then they could run and play without a care in the world, now it was much different. I can't take you back to that time Adelice, but I will try to make the world care free once again.. just the way you always wanted it...
Adelice started closing the buttons of Lelouch shirt and slipped into the pair of shorts he had given her. They were a little big but she could pull the strings more to make it tighter around her waist. She folded her school uniform into a neat pile and went back to Lelouch's room. It was a bit of a small room but she didn't mind, it was intimate and when she stayed over, she always felt a sense of being closer to him. She saw Lelouch had changed into his sleeping clothes, a thin tank top that clang to his thin body and sleeping silk pants. She smiled at him and set her uniform on top of his desk, ready for another school day tomorrow. She would have a lot of explaining to do when she got to her first and second classes. “What side of the bed do you want?”, he asked her, breaking her thought.
Adelice climbed into the bed on the left side and smiled. “Here is perfect.”, she said as she covered herself with the sheets. Lelouch slid into bed next to her and snaked his arms around her. She giggled softly, “Lelouch, please wake me up tomorrow, I don't want to be late for my morning classes like I was today. I already have enough explaining to do, let alone if I miss tomorrow too.” A smirk crossed across his face. “Perhaps I've rubbed off on you too much.”, he said making her laugh again. She waved her hand softly, “Oh what a horrible thought”, she said sarcastically making him smirk more. “Oh really?”, he taunted, turning her onto her back, stretching his body over hers. He smiled as he saw a blush starting to creep up onto her face. He leaned down, brushing his lips against hers and then kissed her slowly.
Adelice melted under him, she wrapped her arms around his neck which made Lelouch smile. He smirked and kissed her a little rougher this time, making her emit a soft noise that he loved hearing. She shivered as she felt his hands travel under the loose shirt and dance across her bare back. She felt a sly smile play across his lips as he kissed her once again, a deeper more loving kiss then the previous. She sighed in his mouth and felt her melting under his touch as he pulled away. “How bad are your thoughts now?”, he asked with another sly smile. Adelice turned her gaze away from him. “Cheater.”
Lelouch smirks and ran his tongue along her bottom lip, wanting desperately for it to play with hers. He moved his hands from around her back and to her front to caress her rib cage, letting his fingertips run over every bone. Adelice let out another soft sound and opened her mouth enough for Lelouch to slip his tongue into. He eagerly took the advantage and slipped his tongue into her mouth, massaging his tongue with hers, making her cling to him. He felt her nails starting to dig slightly into his skin, making his skin crawl with dominace. He smiled as he heard another little sound of pleasure escape her lips and he pulled her closer to him, wanting to feel her body against his.
He slowly pulled away but not before placing another soft kiss on her natural pink lips. Adelice looked up at him, her eyes glossy and dilated. It took all of Lelouch's self control to not let out a moan as he looked into her eyes. “Adelice”, he whispered her name. She reached up and cupped his cheek, moving some hair that had started to cover his eyes. “Yes?”, she asked him, barely a whisper. “You know everything I do is to make a better world for you and Nunally, right?”, he asked.
Adelice nodded slowly, not exactly sure what he was trying to get at or why he chose now to say that. Was he hiding more things that he hadn't told her? Lelouch smiled at her and placed another kiss on her lips, making her eyes flutter closed. She wanted desperately to stay in this moment forever. Nothing else in the world mattered, just him and her, here together but just as quickly as he had kissed her he pulled away. Her blue eyes slowly opened and she could see his purple eyes, half -lidded with sleep and half-lidded with emotion “You know I care for you.”, he said, kissing her forehead gently. “As I for you.”, Adelice whispered back. At this, Lelouch slowly pushed himself off of Adelice and laid back against the bed and smiled from her words.
Worried, she sat up a little and frowned. “Lelouch, is there something you aren't telling me?”, Lelouch turned to her with his eyes half closed. “Of course not, I wouldn't lie to you.”, he said, closing his eyes fully. Adelice stayed watching him for a couple of moments and then settled back down into the bed and felt Lelouch wrap his arms around her and pull her close. “Go to sleep. I'll wake you up in the morning”, he whispered softly to her. He rested his head on top of hers and ran his fingers through her hair as she drifted off to sleep.
Adelice was awoken by a soft tickle on her neck, a moan escaped her mouth as she started waking more from her sleepy state, she felt Lelouch's lips traveling along her neck. “Good morning”, she whispered to him as he continued kissing her neck. Adelice sighed softly to herself and let him continue loving the way he was so gentle with his lips against her neck.
He was always a completely different person when they were alone. He showed more affection to her when they were alone then when they were in public and even more so in school. He would only ever kiss her hand, her cheek or her forehead. It was very rare that he ever kissed her in public. Perhaps that was for the sake of not drawing attention to him? But he already had all the girls attention whenever he walked into a room, whether he knew that or not.
It seemed strange now that she though about it. She did at times wished he would show her more affection while eyes from other students were on them, maybe one day he would. She was brought out of her thoughts when Lelouch stopped kissing her. “We should head to class, if we wait any longer we're going to be late.”, he said, kissing her cheek. She wished they could stay there longer, but she slowly slid her body up, holding herself up by her elbows.
She gave Lelouch a small smile and caressed his cheek. “Are you going to be home tonight?”, she asked, almost not wanting to know the answer. He smiled and kisses her nose. “Yes.”, he answered simply. This brought a smile to Adelice's face and she felt a sense of relief come over her. “Now, up for class.”, he said, lifting himself off of her and the bed. He slowly took off his tank top and put on a white button down, he turned to her as he buttoned the last button, seeing that she hadn't gotten out of bed yet. “Adelice, up.”, he said again, a demanding tone to his voice. She sighed and stretched not really wanting to go to class but also knowing that he meant business when he used that tone. “I really hate getting up this early.”, she whined, making him smile.
Adelice walked out from her chemistry lab and sighed. At least that went over smoothly, she was going to be able to make up the work she had missed from not showing up yesterday. That was a weight off her shoulder, she had to keep high grades if she was going to keep living within the campus grounds free. She made a deal with Milly's family and they had been gracious and accepted her offer. She couldn't disappoint them and then lost her little suite. High grades for a roof over her head, she hadn't been expecting much from them but she had been given a small little suite. It was the perfect size for her. A small kitchen, dining and bedroom, perfect for one person.
She loved her little home, she would be very sad if she lost it. If she ever did she knew Lelouch would offer his home to her but she really didn't want to burden them with another person in that household, therefore good grades were a must.
“Adelice!”, someone called to her, breaking her out of her thoughts. She turned around to see Rivalz running towards her. “Rivalz? What's wrong?”, she asked, waiting for him to catch his breath. “Pres has got a surprise meeting for us, she said it's urgent, so we better get there before we get another scolding.”, he said between breaths. Adelice rolled her eyes. “Honestly, can't she just announce it on the intercom instead of throwing surprises at us.” Rivalz shrugged and ran in the direction of the student council room. “Better get a move on!”, he called back to her.
Adelice sighed, perhaps she should go find Lelouch but knowing him he was probably off somewhere gambling, she shook her head and quickly started walking to the student council room. This better be good Milly...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Adelice stepped into the room and was immediately ushered in by Milly. “We have an emergency!”, Milly exclaimed. Adelice raised an eyebrow. “Nina is missing one of her computer chips. We need that chip now and fast, so whoever finds that chip first gets a special prize~!”, Milly held up what appeared to be an envelope, creased from being folded up.
“Our prize is a wrinkled envelope?”, Adelice asked sarcastically making Rivalz laugh. She was immediately met with a hit to the head by Milly's rolled up paper. “Be serious, you guys!”Adelice laughed and fixed her hair. “Alright alright, I'll start looking. I'll take the hall.”, she said trying to get Milly to stop glaring at her.
“I'll take the ballroom”, Shirley said excitedly, hurrying out the door. Adelice followed her and sighed. This better be a good prize Milly... She knelt down and started looking around near the corners of the wall, she slowly crawled around on her hands and knees, checking all the corners.
Nothing. Adelice let out a deep sigh, this was pointless. Finding a tiny little chip in these huge halls would take forever. She slowly stood up and brushed herself off, fixing the sleeves of her jacket back down.
“I found it!”, she heard Shirley call from in the ballroom. Adelice smiled, good she wouldn't have to hear any more whining from Milly. She quickly jogged to the ballroom to see Shirley hand the little computer chip to Nina.
“Thank goodness you found it, this has all our lab data.”, Nina said, holding the tiny chip in her hands. “Good! My ass is killing me.”, Rivalz complained making Adelice giggle. She patted his shoulder softly.
Everyone turned as the doors slide open, revealing Milly in an apron. “Where you all able to find it? I finished up on my end!”, Milly said pushing her little cart of sweets with her. “Should we dig in?”, she said, pushing the cart to the center of the ballroom.
Adelice looked at the first floor, surprised to see Lelouch there, who was talking to Kallen. She raised an eyebrow, that's odd. “What's going on?”, she asked peering down at Milly, Lelouch and Kallen. “I made some treats, the envelope was really a decoy, I knew you guys wouldn't work as hard as you would if I was just offering you food”, a sly smile played on her lips.
“Madam President you tricked us!”, whined Shirley. Rivalz laughed, “Who cares, that food looks great!”, he said, heading down the stairs, almost tripping over his feet. Adelice walked down the stairs after him.
“What is all this?”, Lelouch asked Milly. “What? I thought you knew. We're inducting Kallen into the student council.”, Milly said, setting up a plate for each of them. Adelice smiled, “That's great, we could use some help with those..” she stopped as she saw Milly look up at her “..detailed reports.”, she finished, adding a smile for insurance.
Milly set back to what she was doing. “It was my grandfathers idea really, he thought it would be good for her poor health because she would have a hard time with regular club activities. Oh right! I'm Milly, President of the club”, she said smiling at Kallen. Everyone introduced each other and Adelice just smiled at her. “You already know who I am. Glad to have you here too, Kallen”, she said giving her a warm smile.
There was a low hum as Nunally came into the room, holding a box of cupcakes in her lap. “Shirley, could you put these on the table for me”, Nunally asked. Shirley quickly took them and set them on the table next to all the other great food.
Lelouch look surprised. “Nunally what are you doing here?” he asked. “I'm still in the middle school level so I can't be on the student council yet but I will be soon enough, a pleasure to meet you.”, Nunally greeted Kallen. Adelice met Lelouch's gaze and shrugged.
Rivalz slammed a champagne bottle onto one of the tables. “Alright! Should we kick this off with a toast?”, he asked, attempting to uncork the bottle. Adelice shook her head as Nina started to protest about drinking champagne during school hours.
Rivalz almost had the cork off when Shirley tried to grab it from his hands. “No way, we're gonna get in trouble!”, she yelled at him. Adelcie frowned, somehow she knew this wasn't going to end well. “Here Lelouch!”, Rivalz yelled tossing the bottle to him. Lelouch barely caught it before Shirley was already trying to grab it from his hands, making him fall backwards and Shirley on top of him.
Adelice stared as she saw the cork come off of the bottle and toward Kallen, her eyes widened when she saw Kallen swat the cork but the champagne spilled on her and all over her clothes. No one said a word but just stared at Kallen.
Adelice finally broke the silence walking over to her. “Let's get you cleaned up”, she said, ushering Kallen out of the room. She returned after getting Kallen's soaked clothes with champagne. Milly frowned at Adelice as she shrugged.
“I guess that wasn't the best 'Welcome to the Club' party we've ever done.”, she said handing the clothes to her. Adelice frowned. “Not really..”, she muttered.
“Do we have any clothes for her?”, Shirley asked feeling a little guilty. “She can use some of mine. I'll go down to my room and get some.”, Lelouch said walking out of the room. Adelice watched him leave and sighed. “I guess we should clean up this champagne stain.”, she moaned grabbing some towels and cleaner. “I hope it comes out.”
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Lelouch walked down the hall with Kallen after he shower. The clothes fit a little big on her but it would do till her clothes were done in the wash. “I hope you're prepared for the crazy events Milly always plans.”, he said to her. “Yah... what's up with that?”, Kallen asked. “Blame our president. You'll be spending a lot of time with her. Hope you're ready.”
As he walked back into the ballroom he heard the TV on. “Lelouch it's aweful!”, Nunally yelled. “What is?”, he asked in surprise. Milly turned to him. “Prince Clovis has been found dead. The reports are saying he was killed.” Lelouch frowned and watched the Television as he saw people gathering for the funeral. Nobility no less, all coming to honor his brother.
He turned his eyes to Adelice, who was completely still, watching the TV. I'm sorry Adelice... He saw tears start to well up in her eyes and he felt a pang of guilt in his chest. He knew when he killed Clovis that this would affect her but he couldn’t change the world without first going through pain. It had to be this way, there was no way around it but as he looked at Adelice brush away a tear from the corner of her ear he couldn't help but feel worse.
Her other hand was clenching a white towel tightly, he could see the knuckles of her hand turning white from how strong she was holding it. He slowly walked over to her and grabbed her hand, taking the towel away from it. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and then turned back to the TV as she grasped hold of his hand tightly. He frowned as he could feel her shaking a little.
“We interrupt this broadcast for breaking news!”, the reporter said. Adelice frowned. Now what? Wasn't the loss of her dear friend enough? She held onto Lelouch's hand tighter as the images flashed on screen. “The man suspected of this murder has been captured.”, she continued.
Lelouch felt a pit in his stomach, his mouth going dry making it hard to swallow. “According to this report, the suspect is an honorary Britannian.” Lelouch watched as the man was escorted by military toward his prison cell. “What the-”, he said under his breath.
Adelice felt like she was about to fall as she stared at the screen. Words didn't come out of her mouth, she couldn't speak, Suzaku... a murderer? It was impossible. He couldn't? If they found him guilty he would be killed too.
Adelice felt like screaming but stayed silent and only gripped onto Lelouch's hand stronger. She saw him struggling against the guards and watched as one of the guards hit him, making a gash across his cheek. She closed her eyes, she couldn't bare to watch anymore. This couldn't be happening, it just wasn't possible.
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Adelice sat on the couch, alone, as Lelouch helped Nunally into bed. She could hear her talking about Suzaku. Adelice sighed... she felt lost. Who did she believe? The news said that his fingerprints were definitely on the gun. She couldn't bare to think about it. Tears welled up in her eyes and fell onto the carpet. Clovis... She heard Lelouch quietly enter the room and put a hand on her shoulder as he sat down next to her.
His hands cupped her cheek and he gently wiped the tears away, wanting to provide some level of comfort. She finally spoke after some time. “Why?”, she asked softly. Lelouch stayed silent as he watched more tears fall, a deeper frown forming on his face. “Why would someone do something so horrible?”, she asked, speaking of Clovis. He gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don't know.”, he whispered.
Adelice wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “It... It isn't true .. what they saw on the news? That Suzaku killed him?”, she asked, her voice cracking a little. He pulled her close and cupped her cheek. “Of course not. They'll find him not guilty. Suzaku would never do something like that. They just made a mistake”, he assured her, wiping more tears away. She nodded slowly. “I'm glad to see he's still alive...”, she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder as the funeral started.
She couldn't bare to watch as they spoke kind words about Clovis and showed his coffin adorned with beautiful flowers. She could feel Lelouch's gaze rest on her as she clung onto the TV remote tighter, making her knuckles white again with her strong grip.
Lelouch took the TV remote from her, gently prying it from her hand and turned it off. He ran his fingers through her hair. “Did you want to spend the night again?”, he asked softly, kissing the top of her head. He felt her nod into his shoulder. “Please. I don't want to be alone right now.”, she answered.
He smiled and let her stay nuzzled into his shoulder, running his fingers through her hair until she fell asleep. He felt guilty to say the least. It had affected Nunally and Adelice more then he had expected and even more so now, they were accusing Suzaku. He felt a pit in his stomach again. Nothing was working out the way he intended to, he needed to change things.
What could he do though? He thought he had planned everything out. He had dotted his “I's” and crossed his “T's”... so why had things turned out this way? He gently rubbed his forehead with his other hand. He'd figure out someway in the morning for now he wanted to sleep. The day had been a rough one.
He gently lifted Adelice up and into his arms, carrying her to his bed and laid her on it, covering her with the sheets. He leaned down kissing the shell of her ear and then walked to his dressing beginning to change. He sighed, the night was going to be long. He knew he was going to have trouble sleeping, his mind was still racing, thinking of ways, reasons and solutions. What on earth was he supposed to do now... There was no way they were going to find Suzaku not guilty, Britannia needed someone to blame. Whether their 'evidence' was right or not.
He had to do something, but what? It would break Adelice's heart if something happened to Suzaku. Running his fingers through his hair he turned off the light on the end table and crawled into bed next to Adelice, forcing himself to close his eyes. Tomorrow was another day.
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Adelice yawned as she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked horrible, her eyes were all red from crying so much last night. She sighed, at least classes were canceled today. She didn't feel like going one bit. All she wanted to do at the moment was take a relaxing bath and get her mind to a happier place. She slowly unbuttoned her shirt and slipped off her skirt, doing the same with her undergarments.
She drew the curtain of the bath and turned the hot water on. She looked back at herself in the mirror, her skin looked paler, probably from the way she was feeling. She flexed her fingers softly, feeling the sore digits, no doubt from how hard she had been gripping the TV remote the previous night. She hoped Suzaku was alright.. wherever they were holding him. She wanted to help.. but what could she do, they had found evidence and she certainly didn't have any evidence to prove that he was innocent.
There was no use worrying about it now she guessed. She knelt down and opened one of the cabinet doors under the sink. She smiled as she found a lavender bath salt and poured some into her hand, dropping them into the bath water. The room quickly filled with the smell of lavender and she took a deep breath letting the scent sooth her nerves.
Climbing into the tub she set a towel under her head so she could relax her head on the edge of the tub. She drew the curtain and tried to relax as best as possible. The smell of lavender helping her to forget about Clovis' passing. She reached for her hair clip, near her pile of clothes and fastened her hair into a bun to keep it from getting wet.
A knock came to the door. “Come in.”, she called, turning the hot water off. “It's just me.”, Lelouch said. “Nunally spilled a little bit of juice on the floor so I needed some towels.”, he explained as she watched his shadow bend down and get some towels. She heard him open the cupboard and then close it. She sat up a little, “Lelouch.”, she called.
“Yes?”, he asked turning back to her. She reached her hand and drew the curtain a little, enough to show her bare shoulders. “You don't think that the person that killed Clovis will try to attack any other members of your family, do you?”, she asked, hesitantly. Lelouch frowned. “No, I don't think they will.”, he said. Adelice nodded and bit her bottom lip, letting go of the curtain and letting her hand fall back into the water.
Lelouch set the towels he had in his hands down on the counter and sat at the edge of the tub and reached to touch her soft cheek, which she happily nuzzled. “Don't worry about that anymore, I'll be back tonight, we'll have another dinner together.”, he said, leaning down, giving her a soft kiss. She slowly nodded and watched him slowly walk out the door. He gave a small smile back to her as he closed the door which she returned.
As soon as he closed the door however, Adelice's frown returned. He seemed a little angry but then again that could just be from the loss of his brother. She didn't blame Lelouch for being upset. She laid back against the tub once again and closed her eyes. The world was getting crazier day by day. She wished she could make it stop. Why did the world have to be this way?
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As Adelice walked into the living room, grabbing the remote, and flipped to the news. Perhaps they found evidence that Suzaku was innocent. She could only hope and pray that, that had happened during the night. She watched as the “Breaking News” symbol was at the bottom of the screen and traveled her eyes up.
Her eyes widened as she saw a crowd gathered. It was already time for the trial? She felt a pit in her stomach, the only reason they would move that quickly for a trial is because they were going to find him guilty. She slowly sat down on the couch, sitting on the edge of it, grasping the remote in her hand tightly. No. No.. this couldn't be happening!
She dragged her attention away from the media and looked around the room. Where on earth was Lelouch anyway? He said he wasn't busy today but he didn't appear to be home. She looked around the room. There was no sign of his bags either. She frowned, probably off gambling again, she knew it wouldn't last long until he was back at it. Her hands fell and gently held the bracelet that he gave her and held it up closer to her face, she pressed it to her lips and sighed. I hope you're alright...
She turned her attention back to the TV as she saw Knightmares coming down the road and then Suzaku, tied up with guns pointed at him. This is madness... Suzaku didn't do anything, the Britannian's had pushed this way out of line. There was no reason for this meaningless trial. They were just looking for someone to blame it on.
Her blue eyes traveled to Suzaku's face. He looked like he had been beaten badly, purple and blue bruises covered his face along with healing wounds, no doubt a way to try to get him to admit to a crime he didn't commit.
How could her own people act this way... they acted like savages, yet they placed damnation of the Japanese. They weren't even going to listen to him, no matter what Suzaku said in the trial, no matter how hard she wanted to believe that he would be okay, she knew where this case was headed and it wasn't in a good direction.
She watched as the camera's zoomed into Suzaku and she wished she could run to him and hug him, tell him everything was going to be okay, just to say goodbye to him but she was forced to watch as her friend was jabbed with a gun in the side of his ribs by one of the guards. She winced slightly but still brought herself to continue watching, not being able to tear her eyes from the screen.
The vehicles and Knightmares stopped, Adelice narrowed her eyes. What on earth are they stopping for? Her eyes widened as she saw Prince Clovis' personal transport vehicle approaching. She stood perfectly still, not even daring to blink as his vehicle continued to drive closer to where Suzaku was held captive.
She watched as Lord Jeremiah yelled at the approaching vehicle. The banner of Britannia suddenly went up in flames and there stood a man in a long cape. She frowned as she took in the sight of him. Dark colored clothing, with gold trimming. He had a mask on, covering his face from the crowd that had gathered. Adelice's mouth dropped a little.
“I am Zero.”
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End of Chapter 5
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Storms of the Heart
Ch 6: Zero's Entrance
Lelouch X OC
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. I own my OC
Adelice stayed frozen as she watched the television. “I am Zero.”, the masked man said. Whatever this was it had to be a joke, she couldn't believe that one man would stand up against a whole line of military. She watched as Lord Jeremiah lifted his gun and fired it into the air, as he did, more military units dropped from the sky and surrounded the vehicle. Adelice rolled her eyes, typical Britannia, always pushing their weight around.
The masked man didn't even flinch as they all pointed their guns at him. “Remove that mask”, Lord Jeremiah commanded him. The man slowly lifted his hand to the mask and then lifted his hand into the air, snapping his fingers. Everyone became quiet, you could almost hear a pin drop. Adelice stayed perfectly still, afraid to break the silence. Nothing happened for a few moments and then the back part of the truck came undone revealing a mechanical ball of some sort.
It seemed to be a device of some sort, what it did was unclear though. There were pipes coming from the top and bottom of it, connected to the truck. The only thing Adelice could think of was that it was a bomb. Did this man plan to threaten to set off the bomb unless Suzaku was released. Perhaps it was one of Suzaku's friends? But who? Who would have the courage to stand up to all of Britannia?
Lord Jeremiah pointed his gun at the man now calling himself “Zero”. “I purpose an exchange. This for Kururugi.”, Zero said. Adelice felt a wave of comfort come over her. Perhaps this man was going to be able to save Suzaku, she could only hope that was the case as she continued to watch. “Impossible, this man is charged with high treason and the murder of Prince Clovis.”, Lord Jeremiah said, starting to lower his gun a little.
Adelice winced at the mention of Prince Clovis. She wanted nothing more then to have justice for his death. Whoever killed Clovis should be punished..but she knew without a doubt in her heart that it couldn't have been Suzaku. Suzaku was one of the kindest friends she had, he would never have done anything to hurt anyone.
The masked men, folded his cape back in. “No, you're mistaken Jeremiah. He's no murderer. The man who killed Clovis was me.”. Adelice dropped the controller on the floor with a thud. She couldn't believe it. This was the man that took her dear friend Clovis away from her but he was also saving Suzaku.
She didn't know whether to hate him or thank him. He had taken away one friend, it was unforgivable.. but .. if he really was going to save Suzaku... perhaps he wasn't really that bad of a man. She could never forgive him for murdering Clovis but she would also be able to thank him for saving Suzaku.. if it was possible. She watched as the Knightmares loaded their guns and pointed them back at the masked man.
“Careful, you don't wish the public to know of Orange, do you?”, Zero asked Lord Jeremiah. Adelice raised an eyebrow. Orange? What's that? She watched as the vehicle continued to advance toward Jeremiah. “If I die, it will all go public. If you don't want that to happen then you'll do everything in your power to let us go. Your prisoner as well!”.
There was silence between the two of them. Again, silence filled the air, no one moved or spoke, then Jeremiah lowered his gun slowly. “Right understood, release the prisoner.” Adelice gasped as she watched this unfold. She never thought Jeremiah would ever agree to something like that so quickly.
Apparently this “Orange” was something he wanted to keep a secret. She watched as Jeremiah yelled at the guards holding Suzaku to let him go once again, getting angrier as they hesitated. Where on earth was Lelouch, he needed to see this! Other members of the military started protesting as Lord Jeremiah ordered them again to release Suzaku.
She watched as Suzaku was set free before her very eyes, her mouth hanging agape slightly. He slowly started walking over to the masked man named Zero. Adelice touched a hand to her fast beating heart.
You're safe now Suzaku... Thank goodness..
Zero slowly approached Suzaku. “Well then till next time.”, Zero declared and held up a switch, he pushed the red button and the device that had been in the back of the truck started emitting gas from it.
Adelice gasped.
Was that the poisonous gas that she had seen on the news before?
She recalled a couple of the students talking about it during one of the classroom breaks. She hadn't payed much attention after that because she had been worried about Lelouch. His face had seemed to get very pale when the other students mentioned Shinjuku. She watched as Zero was pulled into the sky, carrying Suzaku as they fled the scene.
Lord Jeremiah started to attack the members of his own military that he saw were trying to attack Zero. She watched as the crowd that had gathered before, now ran and pushed each other to get out of the way, shortly after the news cut off. Adelice stared at the blank television screen for a few moments before reaching down to grab the TV remote she had dropped on the floor.
It was hard to believe what she had just seen. She didn't even know where to begin, a sigh escaped her, all that mattered was that Suzaku was okay now. As far as she was concerned as long as he wasn't within the military's grasp then he was safe. Britannia would never truly be on his side no matter what he did, even if he was apart of their military.
She understood what Suzaku was trying to do but trying to change their ways from within was just not going to happen. Britannia was stubborn, they had the narrowest view on the world she had ever seen. Her thoughts traveled to the man named Zero. He had accomplished the impossible.. without even pointing again at anyone. Adelice frowned, she didn't know whether to think of this man as friend or foe, whether to be scared of him or appreciate him. She twirled the remote in her hands, lost in her thoughts about this new villain or perhaps he was a hero.
Her attention was brought back to the screen as the 'breaking news' writing flashed across the screen. “It has been confirmed that Private Kururugi has made contact with the authorities, it seems like the masked man released him however now that the original charges against him have been thrown into question, it's possible that Kururugi will be found innocent.”
Adelice's mouth dropped as she stared at the anchor man.
He...He went back... Suzaku, you fool! .. Why didn't you stay with Zero!?... For god sake you were safe... you threw it all away.. Britannia is not on your side! Why do you want to keep foolishly believing that!?
Adelice stood up in anger and shut off the TV, tossing the remote on the couch. Tears started to fill her eyes as she laid her head in her hands.
You idiot!..
Adelice awoke with a start as the front door opened, a tired looking Lelouch walked in. He had slightly dark circles under his purple eyes. “Lelouch? Where have you been?”, she asked, clutching one of the couch pillows to her chest. “I'm sorry, I got caught up in a chess game with one of the nobles.”, he lied quickly, he hated to lie that he was gambling but that was the only thing that came to his mind and he definitely didn't want to seem suspicious to Adelice.
A frown appeared on Adelice's face. “Gambling again... when are you going to stop?”, Adelice asked, more to herself then to him. A man that gambled wasn't ever going to be a good husband. Perhaps she was too young to be thinking that way. She was sure her other female friends would think of her as foolish for thinking about marriage this early in life.
Even so, she couldn't ignore the deep feelings that she had for Lelouch. She loved him and she couldn't imagine her life without him. She wanted to stay with him forever, and whenever the time did come.. to be his wife, if he would have her. Lelouch felt a pang of guilt hit him, he didn't want to stay on this gambling subject any longer.
“Is Nunally still in bed?”, he asked, taking off his jacket slowly. Adelice nodded, “I didn't want to wake her.”, she said. “She's probably tired with all these things happening to Suzaku, being a day off a school, I thought it would be nice for her to sleep an extra hour or so.”, Adelice continued not looking up at Lelouch. He walked slowly toward her and sat down on the couch next to her. “Somethings bothering you.”, he stated, his eyes showing a slight hint of worry.
Adelice frowned and nodded slowly, feeling tears well up in her eyes again. “I was watching the news.. I saw Suzaku...”, her voice cracked slightly as the image of Suzaku all bruised and beaten came into her mind. She bit her bottom lip and gripped the pillow tightly in her hands. “He had so many bruises.. he looked like he had been beaten badly.” Lelouch stayed quiet, not wanting to say much. “I'm so worried about him, Lelouch..”, she whispered.
Lelouch frowned and gently pried the pillow out of her hand and intertwined his fingers with one of her hands, holding the other one in his other hand. “Adelice.. please stop worrying about this.”, he said, squeezing her hand softly. A tear slowly fell down her cheek, “I saw some man save him, he called himself “Zero”... I was happy.. for some reason.. I just felt he would be safe.” Adelice looked up at Lelouch. “Anything is better then within Britannia's prison.”
He continued to watch as tears streamed down her face. Maybe this Zero plan was going to do more damage then good but what could he do? The word was out now and it had been on the news.. he couldn't just disappear after one appearance. Zero had finally given the people hope, something to look up to. It finally showed them that someone could actually stand up to Britannia. Then why did his heart hurt? Seeing Adelice like this, seeing Nunally like this... he wanted to change it but how could he change it to make sure that they never shed a tear again.
“Lelouch?”, he was brought out of his thoughts when Adelice called him. “Hm?”, he asked trying to seem like he had been listening the whole time. “Did you hear what I said?”, she asked, frowning a little. “I'm sorry, I just spaced out for a second. I'm tired. Continue.”, he said giving her a small smile. Adelice shook her head. “I was just saying that.. I can't understand why he returned back to the police. Why would he do that?”, she said.
Lelouch shook his head. “I don't know.”, he whispered. Adelice frowned and squeezed his hand softly. “What do you think they will do to him?”, she asked, hesitantly. She was so worried. What if they rushed another trial again? No doubt they would find him guilty again.. surely the punishment for killing the Prince would be a death sentence. “I don't know. Don't worry about it anymore. Lets go for a walk.”
Adelice shook her head. She wasn't in the mood to get all dressed up. Sitting at home would have been perfectly fine. “Can we stay home today..”, she said, frowning softly. Lelouch shook his head and leaned forward, kissing her cheek. “Up.”, he whispered and stood from the couch, holding out his hand for her.
Adelice took his hand softly as he pulled her up off the couch, uncurling her legs. She winced as they ached a little from being in one position for so long. He brought her hand up to his lips and smiled softly at her. “It might help clear your mind.”, he said letting go of her hand. Adelice nodded and headed for the bedroom so she could change out of the sleeping clothes Lelouch had given her. She slipped back into her school uniform skirt and put on the white button up shirt, leaving her jacket on the table.
Walking out of the room she saw Lelouch waiting for her by the front door, talking to Sayoko, no doubt to take care of Nunally should she wake up while they were gone. His bag was over his shoulder, making her give him a quizzical look. “What's in the bag?”, she asked, raising an eyebrow. Lelouch gave her a small smile when he saw her and held out his arm for her to wrap hers around but didn't answer her question. She did so happily and walked out into the hallway, he slowly led her down the hall and out.
Adelice looked up at the sky as the sun set. A brilliant purple and orange hue stretched over the sky, it was beautiful to say the least. “It's beautiful.”, she whispered to herself, Lelouch turned to her and smiled, happy that his plan to make her feel better was working slightly. He led her to a park down the street from the school, finding a patch of open grass for them to lay on. He looked around, they were secluded by the neighboring tree's, perfect.
He slid his bag onto the floor and bent down to take out a blanket he had packed within it. He laid it out for them and smiled up at her. “Sit.”, he said, as he laid back, propping himself on his elbows. Adelice nodded and sat next to him, looking up at the sky again. She laid back and turned to Lelouch. “Thank you for taking me here.”, she smiled, realizing that this calm atmosphere was helping her to get her mind off of Suzaku.
Lelouch nodded and pulled her close, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. “Of course, I'll do anything to get those tears to stop flowing.”, he said, kissing her forehead. Adelice looked up at him and gently brushed her lips against his. A surge of love and emotion ran through her body as she deepened the kiss slowly, feeling him smirk against her lips.
She pulled away just a little, looking into his violet eyes. “I love you.”, Adelice whispered. Lelouch felt warmth spread from his heart all the way down his body. A primal possession burning down his spine. He leaned up and over her, pushing her on her back with one fluid motion. He pressed his lips to hers eagerly, wrapping one arm around her shoulder and the other on her hip, pulling her closer. His male dominance getting the best of him but at the moment he didn't care as he heard a small moan escaped her mouth.
Lelouch ran his hand under her shirt, undoing some of the bottom buttons of her shirt in the process. Feeling the soft skin of her stomach under his fingertips. A blush came to her cheeks as she felt his hand travel up and trail along the bottom of her ribcage. “Lelouch.”, Adelice sighed, resting her hands on his shoulders, pushing him away slightly. “Not here. We're in public.”, she whispered, shaking her head a little but felt a little guilty at pushing him away.
Lelouch let out a slightly frustrated sigh and pulled away not wanting to in the least bit. His male dominance still burning inside him. Adelice sat up slowly, fixing her shirt, some of her hair falling in her face, she could only hope that it would cover up her blushing cheeks. Lelouch looked back at her and smiled, moving her hair behind one ear. He placed a soft kiss on her burning cheek. “I love you too.”, he whispered.
Adelice took her seat next to Kallen, touching her shoulder softly in a silent hello. Kallen turned her head slightly and gave a weak smile. Adelice opened her notebook and took out a pen, ready for whatever lecture their teacher was going to cover for the day. She could hear Lelouch towards the back of the classroom talking to Rivalz, making her roll her eyes. They were probably figuring out their next gambling match. Honesty.. they couldn't stay out of trouble.
The class went silent as they watched their teacher take her podium to begin the lecture. “Class, we have a new student today. Please welcome him.”, their teacher said. Adelice had to bite her tongue hard to not keep from shouting out. There, standing in front of the podium making his introduction was Suzaku. Her eyes were wide and it was taking all of her strength to not run up to him and hug him.
She hadn't seen Suzaku in so long, she had missed her friend. A wave of relief washed over her body. If he was here then.. they must have dropped the case against him. Adelice held back tears as she watched Suzaku's eyes meet hers for just a moment and caught a glimpse of the corner of his mouth turning up in a very slight smile.
Suzaku finished his introduction to the class and took his seat in the row behind Lelouch. Class continued like it normally would, lecture and then a quiz. Adelice bit the end of her pen, she was having such trouble concentrating now that she knew Suzaku was okay. Her anxiety to speak to him was killing her inside. Finally after some frustrating concentration she finished and tried as best as possible to patiently wait for her other classmates to finish.
She didn't know how much time had passed but she was relieved to see that the teacher finally took her podium again and called for everyone to hand in their quiz. Adelice stood quickly, offering to take Kallen's quiz as well. Kallen replied with a thank you and Adelice walked up to the front desk, dropping off both papers in the already neat pile of other quizzes.
Adelice caught Lelouch's eye as she walked back to her desk. He slightly shook his head. A solid 'no' to go speak to Suzaku. She suppressed a whine, and frowned but nevertheless sat back down in her chair. Why couldn't she go talk to Suzaku? She understood it would put suspicion on her with the other classmates but she just didn't care, after all Suzaku was one of her best friends. She bit her lip and forced herself to stay in her chair, not wanting to make Lelouch upset. The wait was eating her from inside. She was dieing to know what happened with the trial. Hopefully soon she would get to talk to him.
End of Chapter 6
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Oh now, Adelice, come on~ You look wonderful.”, Lady Marianne said, giving her a warm motherly smile to a young Adelice. “Adelice flattened out the skirt of her dress and pouted as Lady Marianne fastened little pink bows in her hair. She watched in the mirror at the scene in front of her, desperately wishing that Lady Marianne was her own mother. “But it's so hot, Lady Marianne... why do we have to wear these big dresses in the summer?”, Adelice said, trying to take of her little gloves.
“It's only for the party, dear.”, she said still giving that warm smile to her. Lady Marianne grasped the young girls shoulders and spun her around, placing a kiss on her forehead. “You do want to look pretty for all the eligible boys don't you?”, she asked the little girl. Adelice blushed and nodded her head slowly, still trying to hide her blush.
Lady Marianne stood and smiled, ushering Adelice out to one of the halls where Lelouch, Nunally and Clovis were. They smiled when they saw her, Lady Marianne had put on a lovely pink and white dress on her, with a bow tied in the back, matching the ones in her hair. Nunally smiled at her. “Adelice, you look so pretty!”, Nunally exclaimed running up to her, giving her a hug. Adelice smiled and hugged her back, as they approached the two boys and made their way to the grand hall where the ball was actually taking place.
The children stepped into a lavish room adorned with purple and gold. There was a beautifully laid purple velvet carpet for them to walk in. The walls milky white with purple and gold banners with the Britannian emblem on them, hanging from the ceiling and along them. She felt suddenly claustrophobic as she walked into the room. The air was thick with the pompous attitude of nobility making her walk closer to Clovis and Lelouch for comfort.
A clanging could be heard as someone tapped their utensil against their empty wine glass to gain all the nobles attention. “We're here to celebrate the marriage of two families.”, one of the nobles said, holding up his wine glass in a toast to the new couple. Adelice payed no more attention to them and stayed with her friends, where she was safe.
As the evening progressed into the later hours the live band started to play classical music and nobles started to dance. Adelice smiled as Clovis took Nunally's hand and danced with her. She took the time to quietly sneak away to the balcony without any one noticing. Feeling the cool air on her face was such a relief in that stuffy room she was having a hard time trying to breathe with the dress closely hugging her body.
She smiled as she looked out at the millions of little lights around her, the buildings and houses all lit up in the distance, they looked almost like little fireflies. She turned around as she heard the balcony door open, afraid that she would get into trouble. Her eyes quickly looked for a place to hide but there was no where to. She frowned and was about to run when she heard a familiar voice call her name.
“Adelice, why are you out here?”, Lelouch asked, walking up to her. She smiled and shook her head. “I was admiring the lights.”, she said pointing to them. Lelouch looked and then turned back to her. “Do you not like parties?”, Lelouch asked, frowning a little. “No, I do... I just feel weird with all the nobles around me.”, she answered, turning her eyes away.
“Adelice?”, he called her, making her turn her blue eyes back to him. “When we're older, lets leave, together.. You, Me, and Nunally. Let's leave the nobility behind.”, Lelouch said looking into her blue eyes. A giggle came from her lips as she smiled big. “And Nunally and I would be your wives?”, she asked, looking up at his purple eyes, giggling when he blushed.
Lelouch turned his eyes away from her, trying to hide his blush. Adelice smiled and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Lelouch smiled and rested his head against her head. “I wouldn't mind having you..”, Lelouch whispered making Adelice blush a little at his words. She smiled and shook her head, grabbing his hand. “We should get back~ I don't want Lady Marianne getting upset with us.”, Adelice said, pulling him along with her as the went back into the party.
Adelice tapped her pencil against the desk, the wait was getting annoying but she couldn't help but smile at her daydream. She missed those days and wished they still lived within the palace among the nobles. Her blue eyes traveled around the classroom. She noticed that groups of students had begun to huddle together closely, whispering to each other and then turning to look at Suzaku out of the corner of their eye. A frown came to her lips as she heard what they were saying.
“What's an eleven doing here?”, she heard one male student comment, a hint of disgust in his voice. She felt her heart fall a little. How could they be so rude? Suzaku was sitting right there, she knew that he was probably hearing all these comments. How he kept a straight face and was absolutely quiet was beyond her. She wanted so desperately to say something but bit her tongue, no one knew of her past and she was very much inclined to keep it that way.
“He was a suspect in Prince Clovis' murder! I remember his face on the news.”, a female voice whispered, anger coating her words. “But the teacher said that it was dropped.”, a male student whispered back, shaking his head slightly. She balled her hand into a fist, not wanting to hear anymore of these foolish comments from her fellow peers. She wanted to scream at them to bite their own tongues and keep their comments to themselves.
Adelice bit her bottom lip, she just wanted to be out of this place, the thought of hearing anymore nasty comments about her friend would make her explode. She was starting to suddenly feel claustrophobic, almost like the room was growing smaller with every comment she heard. She winced as one of Kallen's came beside Kallen and herself. She leaned over the desk, resting her palms against it and whispered, “You don't think he's a terrorist, do you?”, looking at both of them.
Adelice frowned and shook her head slightly, making some hair fall in her face. “No, no I don't.”, she answered, looking down at the ruffles in her black skirt. She was trying her hardest to not sound angry but someone the words still came out sharp. Kallen looked at Adelice out of the corner of her eye and looked back at her friend.
“I don't think they would allow a terrorist into the school.”, Kallen answered her friend. Adelice quickly stood up from her chair, making Kallen and her friend look at her quizzically. At the moment she didn't care, she just wanted to be out of the room. Anywhere was better then there. She quickly walked to the back of the classroom where Shirley, Rivalz and Nina had made their own little huddle.
She prayed that they weren't discussing this like everyone else was but she sincerely doubted it. Making extra sure to not look anywhere in Suzaku's direction, she walked past him and continued her route to her friends. “An eleven? Here at school?” Adelice winced as she heard the words come out of Nina's mouth. “He is a Honorary Britannian.”, Rivalz answered.
Adelice's eyes looked up at Nina's face. “I know but still all the same...”, Nina whispered, wrapping her arms around her like she was trying to protect herself from some invisible physical harm. She looked absolutely bothered by just looking at the sight of Suzaku. Adelice frowned, she was not so close to Nina. She wanted to but she could not forgive Nina's xenophobic attitude toward the Japanese, and now it was affecting one of her closest friends. It took all of her strength to not defend Suzaku.
She had always known that Nina acted different whenever anyone mentioned the Japanese. She would almost sink into herself like she was trying to hide from the word “Japanese” itself. She hadn't yet seen how being around an “eleven” made Nina act, but now that she had.. she could see that Nina would never change. Anger filled Adelice a little as she looked at Nina's face. She had a worried, almost vulnerable expression.
“Well he doesn't look all that scary. Why don't we just talk to him, I'm sure he's-”, Shirley said, smiling in Suzaku's direction, taking a step toward him and holding out her hand to touch his shoulder. Rivalz pulled her back, grabbing her wrist. Adelice watched as Shirley gave him a confused look. “Wha-?”. Rivalz shook his head, “The guy just got here, give him some space.”
Adelice sighed, relived. At least it was only Nina who was being the unreasonable one. Adelice looked toward Lelouch, who had suddenly stood up out of his chair quickly. The movement was abrupt and sudden, making a slight screeching noise as the chair legs grazed the floor. He was probably feeling the same way as she was, hearing all those comments must have taken its toll on him too.
Her eyes traveled down to his lips that were tugged down slightly into a frown. A sad smile came to her face as she wished he hadn't heard all of the things the students were saying. She knew he was doing his best to hide his emotions. Lelouch eyes looked up at hers as he walked toward her. He took her hand and lead her outside, walking around Suzaku. Adelice forced herself to not look in his direction once again, Lelouch doing the same and just concentrate at looking at Lelouch's back.
As they made their way to the doorway of the classroom, she watched Lelouch pull the collar of his school uniform jacket up and then continue walking out of the room. “Lelouch?”, making him turn his head toward her as they walked at a fast pace. “Where are we going?” Lelouch lead her to the set of stairs that led up to the roof just like he had before.
“To be alone.”, he said, a frown still tugging at his lips and turned back to facing in front of him. Adelice frowned and squeezed his hand. “How can people be so mean?”, she whispered, trying to get what the other students had said out of her head. No matter how hard she tried she still could hear the students voices in her head. “They don't even know him, they're just judging him by what they saw on the news.”
He turned to her quickly and frowned. “Don't pay attention to what they say about him.”, he stated. “They don't know him the way that we do. They're fools who don't know how to do anything but criticize and look down on people.”, Lelouch stated, squeezing her hand hard. Adelice winced, “Lelouch, stop it. That hurts.”, she whined softly pulling her hand away from him quickly, holding it with her other hand.
A deeper frown came to his lips. “I'm sorry.”, he whispered still continuing up the steps. They both stayed completely silent the rest of the flight up and approached the door to the roof. Lelouch pushed it open, leaving it open for her to enter first. Walking out onto the roof a warm breeze hit her and blew through her hair. She took a deep breath feeling better as she breathed in the fresh air from outside.
It had seemed like she couldn't breathe before in that classroom. The air had been filled with malice and venom from all the students comments. The students ill will towards the Japanese was somewhat surprising to her. She had known that there was always a dividing line between Japanese and Britannia but she hadn't truly seen how deep it had affected her own generation. It seemed that they had inherited their parents feelings toward others as well as looks.
Adelice was brought out of her thoughts when she felt Lelouch grab her arm softly in his hand and pull her toward the edge of the roof. He leaned against the white fencing once they had gotten there, letting go of her and looked out at the view. Adelice did the same and looked out at the huge field of trees, benches scattered around. She could make out blurry shapes of students sitting down, just beginning to eat their lunch.
She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the roof door open again, she turned her head and saw Suzaku come out onto the roof. She felt a wave of happiness come over her as she saw him, warmness filling her heart. It had been seven years since she had seen him, much too long for her to not see her friend. She turned to Lelouch who nodded slowly giving her the okay to acknowledge Suzaku.
Adelice smiled and trotted to Suzaku, a full smile spread onto Suzaku's face as he walked toward her. She threw her arms around him and hugged him with all her might, finally she could tell him how much he had been missed after all these years. Suzaku wrapped his arms around her back, resting his head on top of hers, closing his eyes just for a second.
He felt his heart beat quicken a little as he felt her soft hair touch his neck and chin. His eyes traveled to Lelouch and gave his long time friend a smile. Adelice slowly let her hands fall from around his neck to his shoulders as she smiled up at him, cupping his cheek with one of her hands. “We missed you so much.”, she whispered to him and letting her hands fall.
Suzaku smiled and nodded. “I have too, it's been too long, my Lady.”, he answered giving her a warm smile. Adelice shook her head. “I told you, you don't have to call me that. You're a friend.”, she said letting go of him. Suzaku turning his attention to Lelouch who hadn't said anything yet.
Lelouch leaned his back against the railing and ran his fingers through his hair. A smirk spread across his face. “It's been seven years since we used the signal..”, Lelouch said, pulling on his collar again just like he had before when they had first left the classroom. “..Long time, huh?”.
Adelice smiled, so that was what was going on. She had thought it had been weird that Lelouch had made a point to pull his collar and look back at the classroom but hadn't thought much of it. “Meeting on the roof like the old days.”, Suzaku laughed, looking out at the huge campus view from the high height.
Suzaku smiled at his friend. “I'm glad you're okay..”, he said turning his eyes toward Adelice. “..and taken good care of Adelice.”. A soft giggle came from her as her eyes went from Suzaku to Lelouch, leaning against him and smiled up at him. “He's been a perfect gentleman.”, Adelice whispered, as Lelouch wrapped his arm around her.
Suzaku fixed his green eyes on Lelouch. “I was worried.”, he said, using a lower tone then he had before. Lelouch shook his head slightly, making his hair sway a little. “I'm alive and kicking thanks to you. You almost died.. trying to protect me.”. Adelice frowned slightly and looked at Suzaku's green eyes that were fixed on Lelouch's face and crossed his arms a little.
“I was just returning the favor from seven years ago.”, Suzaku answered giving him a warm smile. Adelice could feel Lelouch tense up a little. “Thank you for protecting him, Suzaku. His gambling has been getting him into more trouble then usual. He gave me the scare of my life.”, Adelice said, putting a sarcastic emphasis on the word “gambling”.
“It's good to see that you're alright.”, Lelouch said before Suzaku could reply to Adelice. His eyes not meeting Suzaku's eyes anymore as he stared off to the other side of the roof. Silence fell between them for a few seconds until Suzaku broke the silence. “And your name.. do I still call you Lelouch?”, he asked. “According to records my old identity is no longer alive. I go by Lelouch Lamperouge now.”.
“And you? What happened at your court martial? Why did you enroll here?”, Lelouch asked. Adelice's ears perked up as she watched Suzaku, who paused a bit and leaned against the railing or the roof. “I'm as surprised as you are, who would have ever thought we would all end up at the same school?”, Suzaku said brightly. “Why did they release you?”, Adelice asked, not being able to contain her patience.
Suzaku shrugged a little. “Truth is, someone arranged for me to have a proper investigation and that person said that a normal seventeen year old should be in school.”, he said. Adelice nodded a little. Relief spread over her knowing that they wouldn't pursue Suzaku any longer due to lack of evidence. “I'm very glad you'll be staying here, Suzaku. I never want seven years to pass again without all of us seeing each other.”, Adelice smiled.
Suzaku nodded and looked out toward the large grassland again, taking in the magnificent view of the campus. “How is Nunally?”, Suzaku asked after some more time had passed. “She's doing fine, Adelice always keeps her company.”, Lelouch said looking down at her. “I'm sure she would be so happy to see you Suzaku. I'm sure she misses you deeply.”, Adelice said, looking back up into Suzaku's eyes.
“I'd love to.”, he said, smiling another large smile that made him look just like the young boy he was when they had last seen each other. A wave of nostalgia came over her as she wished deeply that they could go back to that time. A time when Lelouch didn't have to pretend he wasn't himself, when Clovis was alive, when Nunally still had the use of her eyes.. and when seven years would have never passed between seeing Suzaku.
“Lelouch?”, Adelice asked, looking up at him with her blue eyes. “Lets all have dinner together, please? Like old times.”, she asked, a slight pleading tone in her voice. Lelouch smiled and turned to Suzaku. “I think that's a great idea, you can talk to Nunally and see her while we catch up and have dinner.”.
Suzaku smiled and nodded as they agreed on a time during the late evening to give Sayoko some time to prepare the dinner for the surprise company. Adelice looked out toward the grassland again and noticed the outlined shape of students starting to make their way back to their classrooms. “We should head back.”, Adelice said not wanting to be late.
She had been scolded by her teachers already too much for that, a combination of not wanting to wake up early and laziness. Lelouch nodded and they both waited as Suzaku went down the stairs back down to the second floor first to give him some time to arrive before they did. They needed to eliminate any suspicion that they knew him, well, at least for now they did.
Adelice could only hope that later people would get to know him an like him for the wonderful person he was and realize that race didn't determine the person inside. She wished the world not become like it had, a world of huge racial barriers. Perhaps one day people would see the error of their ways but for now she had to live in the present and deal with all the problems that came with it.
“I'm so glad Suzaku is alright.”, Adelice whispered to Lelouch who nodded in agreement. “Do you think things will start to go back to the way they were? At least.. a little?”, she asked, wanting to believe with all her heart that perhaps it was possible to go back to the past, even if just a few things returned back to normal.
Lelouch frowned. “I don't know but.. all that matters is that Suzaku is back, so enjoy it and don't over think things.”, he said, leaning down, kissing her temple. Adelice was relived that classes moved quickly. Thankfully Milly didn't have any work for them to do, so Lelouch and Adelice could go straight home without having to spend tedious hours doing piles of paperwork.
Adelice entered Lelouch's home as the door opened with a hiss. Looked around the room, Nunally wasn't anywhere in the dining room, perfect. She leaned back outside and motioned for Lelouch and Suzaku to come in. They both stepped in and just as they did Sayoko wheeled Nunally into the room. Adelice's eyes traveled to Suzaku's face, his eyes lit of brightly when he saw Nunally.
“Hi Lelouch.”, Nunally said happily, not expecting him to be home so early by the time she returned home. “Hi there.”, Lelouch answered welcoming both Nunally and Sayoko who was pushing her wheel chair. Lelouch walked over to her as Sayoko wheeled her around the table. “I've got a special present for you today.”, Lelouch said, smiling down at his sister.
“Really? What could it be?”, Nunall asked, putting a finger up to her mouth in thought. Adelice smiled at Nunally's excitement and watched as Lelouch put a finger up to his mouth, warning Sayoko to not say anything or give the surprise away. Adelice motioned for Suzaku to step toward Nunally now that Sayoko knew to stay quiet.
Suzaku gave a warm smile to Sayoko. Adelice traveled her eyes to Sayoko as well who looked surprised at seeing Suzaku. It had been so long since she had seen him around with Adelice or Lelouch. Suzaku took a deep breath and fixed his green eyes on Nunally, slowly and calmly walking toward her, not saying a word.
Suzaku turned his head to look at Lelouch just to be sure it was alright, to which Lelouch answered with a nod. Adelice smiled as Suzaku knelt down and gently took Nunally's hand into his, holding her hand softly in-between both of his. A warm smile spread across his face as he stroked the back of her hand with the tips of his fingers.
Nunally gasped softly in surprise and placed her other hand on top of Suzaku's. Adelice felt her melt slightly at the scene unfolding in front of her. A single tear came to her eye as she remembered how all four of them had spent a summer together. They had hiked up a steep mountain to get to a shrine. Lelouch and Suzaku competed all the way up it, wanting to show Adelice and Nunally who the strongest was.
It had rained so hard that afternoon, they ended up completely soaking wet and their shoes covered in mud from walking all the rain-soaked dirt paths. Adelice suppressed a giggle as she remembered how mad Lady Marianne had been. Lelouch had gotten a proper scolding that day for taking Nunally and her into the rain.
“These hands... It can't be.. I knew it..”, Nunally said, stroking Suzaku's hands with her own. Adelice let a single tear fall as she saw tears fall down Nunally's closed eyes. Adelice quickly got a tissue and went over to Nunally. She gently took Nunally's cheek into her hand and wiped her eyes with the soft little towel.
Nunally wiped her eyes with one of her hands to get the rest of the tears. “I just knew you would be alright.”, she said, her voice still cracking. Suzaku smiled and gently squeezed her hands. He spoke in a very soft voice to her as though if he spoke in his normal tone it would break her.
“It's been a long time, Nunally.”
End of Chapter 7
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Adelice smiled as they all took their seats for dinner. She sat next to Lelouch who took his usual place at the head of the table. Nunally sat on the other side of him. Suzaku sitting next to Adelice listening to Nunally talk. She held out another Origami crane that she had folded. Adelice smiled and turned to Suzaku. “Nunally's been experimenting with the art of Origami. It's a beautiful tradition.”, she said.
“Yes. They say if you make a thousand of these cranes that you will get one special wish. I've thought long and hard about it but I came up with the perfect one.”, Nunally said setting the crane back onto the table. “What are you gonna wish for Nunally?”, Adelice asked leaning over the table a little. Nunally shook her head. “If I told you the cranes wouldn't grant my wish, they might hear you.”, she said, giggling softly.
“Though... I suppose I could whisper it so they don't hear it before I've completed the final crane.”, she said, motioning for Adelice to come closer. Adelice raised an eyebrow but figured she should just play along. She walked around the table and knelt down next to Nunally, gently taking her hand into her own. Nunally turned her head and whispered into Adelice's ear.
Lelouch watched Adelice as her eyes widened and became glossy with tears. He frowned a little wondering what Nunally could have said. Suzaku stared at the two girls not wanting to move as he watched a tear roll down Adelice's cheek. She turned to Nunally slowly. “That's a wonderful wish, Nunally.”, she said softly, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible.
She quickly walked back around and to her seat as Sayoko came back with their meal. Adelice smiled at Sayoko as she put her plate down. “Thank you Sayoko, it looks wonderful.”, she said, unfolding a napkin onto her lap. The meal consisted of smoked salmon and an assorted raw vegetable salad tossed with sesame seeds and olive oil.
Suzaku thanked Sayoko as he quickly dug into the salmon. “So tell me Suzaku, you will spend the night? Won't you?”, Nunally asked as Lelouch poured some warm green tea into everyone’s cup. “Suzaku's enrolled as a student at Ashford academy so you can see him whenever you want.”, Lelouch said, setting the tea pot down. Nunally smiled brightly and turned in Suzaku's general direction. “Is that true?”, she asked excitedly.
“Well... I still have military duties..”, Suzaku said, making Adelice take a big gulp of tea to prevent herself from talking. “So.. I can't be here everyday.”, Suzaku finished, plopping a piece of the salmon into his mouth. “Oh dear... you're still in the military?”, Nunally asked, a frown tugging at her lips. Adelice stayed absolutely quiet and quickly took a bite of salmon, anxious to hear what Suzaku was going to say.
She couldn't help but feel the same as Nunally. She hated the military.. why Suzaku was hell bent on being in it was beyond her. “Don't worry, I've been reassigned to the engineering core. It's much less dangerous.”, he said, giving both girls a warm smile. Adelice let a breath go that she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
Relief spread over her knowing that at least Suzaku wouldn't be in the heat of battle. He would still be in danger but.. anything was better then being a soldier. “Oh cool. Engineering, huh?”, Lelouch said, trying to make the atmosphere light once again. He poured Adelice and Nunally a little more and then stood from his chair realizing that the tea pot was almost empty.
Suzaku quickly stood up when he did. “Oh, let me help you!”, he said. Lelouch shook his head and smiled. “You just sit down. Unlike seven years ago, we get to be your hosts now.”, Lelouch answered. Adelice nodded and reached for Suzaku's arm, grabbing it softly. “Yes, Suzaku please sit. You're a guest.”, she assured him.
“It's funny you're a lot more mellow then when you used to be.”, Lelouch said, his violet eyes slightly glazed over remembering the past. Adelice smiled softly as she remembered the time they had climbed up a mountain to one of the shrines. It had been one of their adventures as children. Lelouch and Suzaku had always been squabbling over who was the strongest to impress her and Nunally.
Just as they had made it to the top it started to rain, the dirt trail that they had used to get there was not covered with mud. Their clothes hadn't gotten completely soaked and their shoes covered in mud. Lady Marianne had given Lelouch a proper scolding that day for taking the three of them on their “grand” adventure.
Her smile faded as she thought of how much she missed those times. It was as though seven years had turned into seven hundred years ago. That time felt so long ago, so utterly unreachable. “And you're a bit more rough.”, Suzaku said, sitting back down as Adelice let him go. Lelouch laughed under his breath. “I suppose. Nunally, I think it's time for bed.”, he said walking off to the kitchen to get them more tea.
Sayoko came through the door and gently rolled Nunally's chair back. She smiled at both of them. “Please visit again Suzaku, I enjoy us all getting to spend time together again.”, she said. “I will.”, Suzaku answered brightly. “Goodnight, Nunally.”, Adelice bid her as well as Suzaku. Once Nunally was down the hall Adelice turned back to the few bits of food left on her plate.
“I think you will like Ashford Academy, Suzaku. The Ashford family is very gracious.”, she said finishing up her food. “It seems so. I didn't expect for you to be here.”, Suzaku answered. “Ah. As I said the Ashford family have been very generous, they gave me my own little suite so that I can live within the grounds.”.
“And the imperial family?”, Suzaku asked, his tone hushed slightly. Adelice turned to him, a little surprised at his question. She gently set her fork and knife down, placing her hands in her lap. “Well according to records, I'm not dead but.. I have been gone for many years. I don't think they would ever cause much of a fuss for a Lady in Waiting, that's been missing for seven years.”, she answered, giving a sad smile.
Suzaku nodded his head slowly, frowning a little. “Don't get me wrong.”, Adelice assured him. “I'd much rather have it this way. I wouldn't be able to stay with Lelouch if I was. Knights and Princes deemed worthy in the eyes of the imperial family could only court me.”, she said, still frowning. They both turned there head up when Lelouch walked back into the room.
He set the tea pot back down in the middle of them as Suzaku explained more of his duties in the military to both of them. Adelice stayed quiet as he did, wanting to try and reassure herself that he wasn't going to be in harms way at all but she still couldn't shake off the feeling that he was going to get hurt.
She was brought out of her thoughts as the clock chimed eleven in the night. “Oh. I should go, it's getting late.”, he said, standing up from his chair. Lelouch stood as well and walked him to the front door. Suzaku smiled and stepped through. “You should come by again. Nunally would enjoy it.”, Lelouch said.
“Yes. Please do Suzaku, she missed you greatly.”, Adelice added, leaning against the door. “Sure. I'll try whenever I'm off duty.”, Suzaku answered, smiling at both of them. “But.. Lelouch... I-I don't think we should be seen together at school.”, Suzaku said, his facial features completely serious. Adelice frowned and felt her heart sink, knowing that he was absolutely right.
“Adelice and I either.”, he finished, looking in her direction. Her blue eyes fixed on him as he turned his green eyes back to Lelouch. “What do you mean?”, Lelouch asked, a bit taken aback. “Think about it? How would you explain it? Being friends with an honorary Britannian?”, Suzaku asked, standing his ground on the subject.
His eyes traveled from Lelouch to Adelice. “We have to guard your secret.”, he said, his eyes going back to Lelouch. “No one can know you're royalty... and the same goes for Nunally.”, Suzaku finished. Adelice felt a pit in her stomach as she crossed her arms. Deep down she couldn't shake the feeling that even though the four were together again, it still wouldn't be the same.
Suzaku looked down at the ground and frowned. “I don't want to cause any of you any trouble.”, he said, a bit of sadness coating his words. “You're doing it again, huh?! Everyone's needs but your own!”, Lelouch yelled at him. Adelice frowned and reached over to grab Lelouch's arm. “Stop.”, she whispered, stroking his arm in an attempt to calm him.
She understood why Lelouch was angry, Suzaku always worried about everyone else more then himself. It was just the way he was and was always going to be. “Uh... thanks for having me. It was a lot of fun. All.. uh.. see you later.”, Suzaku said, trying to leave the evening on a high note as he turned around and walked down the small set of stairs.
“Oh right. What was Nunally's wish?”, Suzaku asked looking in Adelice's direction. She took a deep breath and sighed. “She wishes that we could all be together again. Like seven years ago, everyone. Clovis included.”, Adelice whispered as tears started to fill her eyes. She felt Lelouch tense up at her words. “It affected me so... because.. it's the same wish I've been wishing for.”
Suzaku nodded slowly. “Right...”, Lelouch whispered, trying not to sound angry anymore. Suzaku stopped walking and turned to both of them a little. “I'm so glad, you know? I never thought we'd get another chance to talk like this.”, he said and walked away from them, disappearing down the paved path. Adelice's eyes looked up at Lelouch who looked slightly aggravated.
She gently let go of his arm and walked back inside trying to think of things in a positive way. She felt a little empty, like no matter what she was still loosing a friend. One that she could never gain back no matter how the world ended up. Lelouch closed the door slowly and sighed, rubbing his forehead. “It's late, you should sleep.”, Adelice said wanting to get off the subject.
“I should be returning home.”, she whispered hoping he wouldn't get further aggravated. “You're not walking home this late.”, he stated, running his fingers through his hair. “I'll be fine it's just right-”, she was cut off with a definite “No.”. He stopped leaning against the door and stood up. “I'll walk you there.”, he whispered.
As she stepped into her little suite she could help but feel a sense of warmth again to be back to the little household that was hers. She quickly turned on a lamp and set her bag down against the door. She turned to Lelouch who was waiting outside the door. “Thank you, you really didn't have to though.”, she said, shaking her head slightly.
Lelouch smiled softly. “It saves me the trouble of worrying if you made it home safely or not.”, he said, his eyes fixed on hers. “So protective~”, she whispered, more to herself then him. He stepped through the door slightly and reached to touch her cheek. “Because you're mine.”, he whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead.
His words made her blush a little, feeling her heart skip a beat. “Did you want to come in?”, Adelice asked, looking up at him. A smirk came to his lips, a sly look in his eyes. “If I did, you wouldn't get any sleep.”, he said, leaning against the door frame. Adelice blushed at his words a little bit and shook her head.
“Goodnight.”, he whispered taking her chin between two of his fingers and brought his lips to hers. She gladly leaned into his arms and felt her body melt against his. He pulled her closer with one arm around her back, a smirk forming on his lips as he heard her let out a little sigh. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him, not wanting to let him go.
He slowly pulled away, still holding her close to him. “Don't be late for class tomorrow.”, he warned. “Oh lay off~”, she giggled. “It was only two times.”, she whined. “Could be a third time.”, he said as if he was in deep thought making her giggle. “Shut it.”, she whispered and pressed her lips to his again, cutting him off from anything else he was going to say.
“Goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow.”, she said after pulling away. He nodded slowly and bid her goodnight. She watched him walk down the paved path from her front door until he was out of sight and then closed her door, ready to jump into bed and sleep. She was exhausted from all the events today and knew she needed her sleep. Tomorrow was another day.
Adelice walked into the hall toward her class. She could see Suzaku walking in front of her but she bit her tongue and didn't call after him. As much as it bothered her to pretend that they didn't know each other.. it was for the best, she still couldn't help but feel as though she had still lost a friend. She watched as Suzaku walked past Lelouch, who was leaning against the door talking to Rivalz.
She slowly approached the both of them. A sigh came out of her mouth as she heard Rivalz asking a bunch of questions. Lelouch smiled slightly as she came to stand beside him. “So what's the deal? Did something happen to you and Adelice or what?”, he asked. “There was a surprise council meeting that Milly called but you guys left so quickly that you didn't know.”, Rivalz said, shaking his head.
“I was studying, you know, I kinda tanked that history exam.”, Lelouch said. Rivalz rolled his eyes. “Please, I don't buy that for a second. I bet you got top score.”, he said, waving his hand. Adelice giggled and ran her hand along Lelouch's back in a silent greeting. He turned his head slightly to her and gave a small smile. “Forgive me, Rivalz. I will apologize to Queen Milly when she arrives.”, Adelice said, putting emphasis on the word “Queen”.
“Hey, you better! Madam President wasn't too happy that you two skipped out on paperwork.”, he called after her as she rolled her eyes and walked into class, walking past both of them. She definitely didn't want to hear about more tedious paperwork. She could hear other students shushing the others as Suzaku took his seat. Apparently he was still the hot topic of the day, she couldn't deny that this would probably go on for a few weeks.
Adelice sat down next to Kallen and took out her notebook and pencil. She really did not want to come to school today, she had dragged herself out of bed just barely and at the moment was struggling to stay awake. She hadn't bothered to really put the time to fix her hair and just stuck her hair up in a loose bun with two chopsticks. She hoped the teachers lecture wasn't boring because she probably wasn't going to be able to stay awake.
Adelice's eyes were just starting to drift close when her ears perked up at “Class dismissed.”. She quickly stood and turned to walk out of the classroom walking toward Lelouch's desk who she could see was doing his famous stealth sleep again. She smiled and ran her fingers through his hair softly. “Wake up~”, she whispered, making him jolt awake.
“What? Oh...Sorry. I must have fallen asleep.”, he said standing up from his chair. Adelice giggled. “It's alright, you can copy my notes.”, she said, starting to walk past him. “I'll be in the student council room for second period. Apparently we have paperwork. Oh joy..”, she sarcastically. Lelouch frowned. “What about swim team?”, he asked.
“Oh right.. I'm sure they will be fine with me gone for a day. Competition isn't for another three weeks. It's not like they need me for training.”, she assured him with a smile, walking out of class. She breathed in the fresh air as she stepped outside into the open hall. Walking along the tiled floor, starting to make her way outside the hall she couldn't help but notice the clear blue sky overhead. What a waste of a day to have to do paperwork.
She loved walking out into the lush green grass of the courtyard, the campus always had such beautiful scenery. Pulling her bag up higher over her shoulder she noticed Suzaku washing something in one of the sinks. She was about to turn and walk the long way around when she saw him hold up one of his shirts.
Her eyes went wide when she saw someone had written “Go back to your ghetto, filthy eleven” in big red writing with spray paint. Adelice's heart sank to see him bending over the sink to try to wash it out. It broke her heart, she couldn't just ignore and leave him alone. It was time for her to “meet” Suzaku. “What an awful thing to write...”, she said, making Suzaku turn around and look at her, shocked.
“You're... Suzaku Kururugi? Am I right?”, she asked, giving him a smile. “Uh.. y-ya I am. Please to meet you...?”, Suzaku played along perfectly. “Adelice Attwood.”, she answered taking the shirt from him. “Here, I'll help you.”, she said rolling up her sleeves. “N-no that's alright. You don't have to.”, Suzaku said, shaking his head.
Adelice smiled. “I want to. I hate racism.”, she whispered, scrubbing at the red paint with her fingernails. “I don't know why people have to be so mean.”, she continued. “Adelice!”, someone yelled her name. Startled by the call she turned and looked around. “Who?”, she asked, looking around still. “Come on! You've got a pile of paperwork waiting for you!!”. Adelice looked up to see Milly hanging out the window.
“...Really Milly?”, she whispered a little in disbelief as Milly hung herself out the window, almost falling. Sighing after setting the shirt back down into the water. “I'll be right there!”, she called, frowning in Suzaku's direction. “I'm sorry, I have student council work to do... unfortunately.”, she said walking the other way. “Perhaps I will see you around Suzaku.”, she said, smiling and waving her hand slightly.
Adelice slowly stepped into the student council room only to find Nina and Milly there. “There you are!”, Milly exclaimed, rather excited to be making Adelice's day miserable. “These are for you~”, she said, handing her a stack of papers. “Come on, chop chop, we don't have all day. There are important events to be planned after.”, she said, walking out of the room.
Adelice sighed and sat at the table, the only noise coming from the slight scratching sound of her pen and the other from Nina's fingers drumming on her keys. The door suddenly opened making Nina jump. “Hello Adelice. Nina?”, Adelice heard Nunally say, which quickly made her look up. “I'm sorry is my typing too loud?”, Nina asked laying her hands in her lap.
“No not at all but why are you here? What about class?”, Nunally assured her. Adelice frowned and stopped writing to pay attention to what Nina said. Nina didn't reply to Nunally's question surprisingly. “What's wrong?”, Nunally asked again. “Well I don't know.. It's just it's... it's a little scary.”, she said wrapping her arms around herself.
“Scary?”, Nunally asked confused. There was a long pause between them, making Adelice look up from her paperwork. “Well you see we have a transfer student in our class now. It's that boy who's accused of murdering Prince Clovis. He's an eleven.”, Nina said shuddering as if she had caught some terrible cold.
Adelice quickly stood from her chair not wanting to hear anymore from Nina, she quickly walked to the door, holding her paperwork and pen in her arms making Nunally look up in surprise. “Where are you going Adelice?”, Nunally asked, a little hurt by Nina's words. Adelice slowly look down, anger coating her words.
“To go grow a spine.”.
End of Chapter 8