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I stare up at the ceiling as I lie on the couch. C.C.'s cheese plushie on my stomach as I have my arms wrapped around it. She ran off sometime ago, determined to save Lelouch, and I just let her go. There's really nothing I can do anymore. Everything is out of my hands, so all I can do is sulk alone in the room I used to share with Lelouch.
It wasn't that long ago that Kallen came to take Lelouch, and his identity was revealed to everyone. He stood in front of the Black Knights and lied right to their faces. I don't blame him. At this point, lying is better than telling the truth. The less people that know the truth, the less they can hurt him. Zero has now been declared dead to the world. They've also revealed that Infinity has sustained life-threatening injuries at a previous battle. In a sense, I've been grounded.
I don't feel like I'm in trouble, though. All the Black Knights knew my true identity, and I didn't keep any secrets from them. Lelouch was the only one that kept secrets from all of us. Still, I was the closest to Zero from the start, and I knew his identity almost from the very beginning. It was the only secret I had to keep, but it wasn't my secret to tell even if I wanted to. Lelouch was the only who could reveal his identity. Still, I can understand if the others are frustrated or mad at me. At this point, I don't think there is anything I can do to help.
The door hisses open, and I don't even move to see who has entered. I don't care who sees me like this. Even if it is just a low ranked Black Knight bringing me food. I've lost the will to keep fighting back against all the despair.
"Are you going to keep sulking there? Or would you like to get out and fight?" C.C. says, but her voice doesn't sound like the scared slave girl anymore.
"C.C.?" I sit up, looking over at the girl staring over at me with her arms crossed. "Am I dreaming? Why are you acting like yourself again?"
"This isn't a dream, and an old friend of mine broke me out of the realm that I had trapped myself in. I came back to grab that," she points to the plushie, "and you. Are you coming or not?"
"Hold on, I have a few questions. Why the hell did our connection break? Did you do that on purpose?"
"I did," she nods. "It was for your own good. You deserve to be free of me. You don't have to keep trying to show me that you've mastered the gift I have given you. I can see that. My contract with you was never for you to kill me so I could move on from this eternal life. You're the only person I've made a different contract with."
"And what was it?"
"To have you be my true friend. The connection we had grew as we grew closer, but I knew that one day I would have to separate us. I never knew that I would hurt you that much, but now you can live without any fear of not fulfilling our contract. Your life is fully in your hands now."
"But I still want to be your friend. I still want to be able to spend time with you. You've been the one person in my life that can listen to everything that goes on in my mind. I can't lose you, C.C. Not after knowing that I am going to lose..." I feel the name lodge in my throat, and then I jump to my feet. "Where are we going?"
"To Kamine Island. That is where Charles has gone, and where my friend needs us to be."
"Then let's go," I toss the plushie over to her. "It is better than sulking in this room until they deem me healed to address the world."
"Good," she turns and leads the way out of the room. "I know that I haven't kept much from you, but this person who came is someone I gave Geass to many years ago. She knows you because I've told her about you, so don't be alarmed when she is happy to see you. We'll take her Knightmare to Kamine Island."
"Three people in a Knightmare? No thank you," I shake my head. "Rakshata made me a small Knightmare that I can pilot all by myself, so I will just follow behind you. I won't show up on any radars, so until we are out of sight, I can be in the water."
"Why would you want to use your Knightmare now?"
"Because it might be the only time that I can use it."
We make it outside, taking strange routes to avoid all the Black Knights walking around. It doesn't take long for my eye to catch sight of the Mordred, or to realize that we are walking right towards it.
"C.C., I've met Anya, but I didn't think that you've given her Geass," I speak up.
"Anya isn't the one we'll be talking to," C.C. says as we step up to the girl looking out at the sea. "I've return."
"Oh, wonderful," Anya says, turning around with a smile on her face. "What did you have to grab? That plushie?"
"And Sakura," C.C. steps out of my way to reveal me.
"Um, what is going on?" I look between the two.
"Did you really not tell her, C.C.?" Anya scoffs. "My dear, we've never met, but I know that you are an exceptional Geass user, and that you've stolen my son's heart. I can see how that last one occurred, considering you are just the cutest."
I take a step back, my eyes widening as I stare at Anya, but it is not her soul in control. "Lady Marianne? Lelouch and Nunnally's mother?"
"That's right," she giggles. "You really are as smart as C.C. says. My Geass is quite unique. Even though my body is gone, my spirit still can roam and take over others."
"Even with my visions, I never saw this," I let out a breath. "Okay, I'm going to go steal the Knightmare that was made for me, because I doubt they want me to run away right now, and I'll meet you guys about ten miles out."
"Don't keep us waiting," she teases, sending a wink my way.
I nod, taking off in the direction of where the Knightmares are kept. Even with the large amount of people out and roaming around, I make it to my destination without any trouble. My Knightmare, Blossom, is a small unit painted the same color of cherry blossoms in bloom. Rakshata made it for me as a test for a smaller model, but also as a gift for the political brain behind the strategical Zero. If he got a custom Knightmare, then I deserved one to.
The key is on a nearby table, seeing as I was supposed to test it out before all hell broke loose. I grab it, easily hopping into the pilot seat and starting it up. My eyes quickly take in the instructions flying across the screen, and in the next thirty seconds, I am leaving the Ikaruga and diving deep into the ocean.
"C.C., Lady Marianne, can you hear me?" I ask once I've turned on communications to the Mordred. "I'm off the Ikaruga and heading towards you."
"We can hear you, Sakura," Marianne answers. "It didn't look like anyone saw you leave."
"Well, I am piloting one of the smallest new generation Knightmares, but I'm sure they'll realize it is gone before long."
"By then it will be too late for them to figure out where you are going."
"I'll check back in when I surface." I click off communications.
One of the features that I begged Rakshata to include while building the Blossom was a music player filled with all the music I loved. If I was going to be stuck by myself, knowing that at times I would not be able to talk to anyone, I wanted to have something to keep my mind focused on. I don't know how long it is going to take to reach Kamine Island, but I know that for most of the time, I am going to be blasting music to keep my mind occupied.
Once enough distance has been put between the Ikaruga and me, I let C.C. and Lady Marianne know that I am surfacing. Then I follow behind them as we continue to make our way to the island.
It is strange to think that the spirit of the late Lady Marianne is in Anya's body, but the fact that C.C. gave the lady her Geass might be even stranger. I've always known that C.C. has been giving Geass to people long before she gifted it to me, but I never thought to ask about the people that came before me. It didn't matter as she had left those people for some reason or another. She had made her way to me for a reason, so I didn't worry about the before. All I cared about was the now.
Once Kamine Island comes into view, I break away from the Mordred as the Knight of One in the Galahad Knightmare unit is in the air as the other Britannian Knightmares in the area are fighting against each other. That can only mean that Lelouch has used his Geass, which means that he's made it here already.
"Sakura, we've found someone that you are going to want to see," C.C.'s voice crackles over the radio.
"On my way," I respond, finding their Knightmare on the radar and heading straight to them. Once I land the Blossom next to the Mordred, I jump out and make my way over to C.C. and Lady Marianne. "Who is it?"
"Your brother," C.C. motions to Suzaku siting with his back against a rock. He has dirt all over his face and clothes, but he doesn't look hurt.
"Ah, I'm glad to have brought the Kururugi twins together," Lady Marianne twirls a marker in her fingers. "Should I give him a mustache, glasses, or maybe just draw something on his face?"
I chuckle, "You're a lot more fun than I thought you would be."
Suzaku grunts, eyes blinking as he regains consciousness. "Huh?"
"Ugh, you woke up too soon," Lady Marianne leans away from him, taking a seat on a nearby rock.
"Uh," he leans off the rock, gaze wondering and landing on C.C. "C.C.?"
"Suzaku," I pout. "I'm here too."
"Sakura?" he looks over at me. "Why?"
"I'm Infinity of the Black Knights, but I have a duty as a Geass user."
"You?"
"What exactly are you doing here?" Lady Marianne asks Suzaku. "Somehow I get the feeling you didn't come here to help out Charles."
"Anya...what are you?"
"Well at the moment, I'm the mother of Lelouch and Nunnally," she widely smiles. "I am Marianne."
"Geass is a spectrum, Suzaku," I speak up. "My gift isn't like Lelouch's. The future is revealed to me at random times, and I can do this," I flick my wrist to send some small rocks flying. "Not to mention, you can thank me for saving Shirley's life, and another girl as well. I want to help the world, Suzaku. I want peace for every nation. I want to be able to call myself Japanese, and for all the numbered areas to be no more."
"Sakura," he pushes himself to his feet. Then he grabs my wrist, pulling me into a hug. "How long have you had this?"
"Since I was ten. C.C. gave it to me," I wrap my arms around him. Never wanting to let my brother go.
"Why did you never tell me?"
"I could never figure out how, and it doesn't matter. I'm glad that I could tell you know."
"You're still the sister that I love. That is never going to change. No matter what."
"That's what makes you the best brother I could ever ask for. You're the only family that I have left, Suzaku, and I love you. Even when you drove me insane and made me so damn angry."
"I can't believe that I brought the two of them together like this," Lady Marianne giggles. "Well, with that out of the way, I think we can head to the Geass gate."
Suzaku holds me out by the shoulders, "Is that why the emperor is here?"
"Yes," C.C. says. "So, we should head there without wasting more time."
C.C. and Lady Marianne climb into the Mordred, and I hold Suzaku in the Blossom's hand while I pilot it. Suzaku has many questions about what is going on, and I fill him in as much as possible. We fly down into a crater that has appeared since the last time we were here. Luckily there is an entrance into the cave that still holds the door, and we make our way inside. When we make it all the way to the door though, someone has clearly blown it up. Lady Marianne wastes no time in getting to work on the computer right in front of the door with C.C. hugging her plushie nearby, and Suzaku and I hang back a few meters.
"Where are we going?" Suzaku speaks up.
"C's World," C.C. answers.
"C's World?"
"In current terminology, it's the collective unconscious. A collective of peoples' minds with memories. The sea of transmigration. The great consciousness. Some refer to is as God."
"Was that what I saw when we met at Narita?"
"There, it was mixed with your personal consciousness. I'm merely guessing, as I don't know what it was you saw."
"How irresponsible."
"Do you like having others peep into your mind?"
He grunts.
"It's people. They're masks are the collective unconsciousness. Windows that open into their mind and memories. And the minds of people are-"
"Oh, forget it," Lady Marianne groans as she stops trying to work on the computer. "It's too mess up for me to do. C.C., could you please?" she grabs C.C.'s hand.
"Do you really plan to go in?"
"Yes, of course! Charles has been waiting for us, after all. This would have been so easy if you'd only given him your Code."
C.C. stares back without saying a word.
"Oh..." she turns to place her hand on the stone door. "I'll go first, alright?"
The inscriptions on the stone that are still present glow a bright red as Lady Marianne begins the process to get to C's World.
"What are you doing!?" Suzaku blurts out.
I rush forward, using my Geass to keep Anya standing before I can catch her. Lady Marianne has left her body, but now the girl is unconscious in my arms. "She doesn't even care about what she did to this girl," I mumble.
"You know, Suzaku," C.C. says. "You and I, we're very similar."
"Similar?" Suzaku questions.
"In the way that we both wish to die and yet are unable to."
"And apparently I am the only one of the three of this that wants to live," I sigh, passing Anya into Suzaku's arms. "Do both of you really think that death will repay the debts that you both owe? That the sins you've committed will be forgiven? Death can't be the answer for everything evil in a person's life."
"I have lived with so much guilt for too long, Sakura," Suzaku says. "I have regrets, and if I were to give my life for a cause I believe in, then everything would be made right in my mind."
"Even if that means leaving me behind?" I sigh. "No, I understand. I'll never understand what you've gone through. We all are walking down our own paths, making our own unique experiences."
It goes silent for a moment as everything sinks in. As we are all deciding what our next moves are. In the time, Suzaku places Anya on the ground, and C.C. gives her plushie up to be used as a pillow.
"I used Lelouch," C.C. speaks up. "I was fully aware of the truth the entire time. In order to bring about my own death, I had to make his survival a priority."
"Any regrets?" Suzaku asks.
"Not really. My sensibilities are quite different as an immortal witch. I abandoned my humanity long ago. Well," she looks over at me. "Sakura has always been a unique case."
"We aren't all alike, you know?"
"Huh?"
"C.C., I want you to send me to the other world. Regardless that you may think I'm foolish, I can't wait here and do nothing!"
"You can't leave me behind," I firmly state. "We're all going into the other world together. I don't know what waits for us in that realm this time, but I will do whatever I can to end whatever the emperor is planning to do."
"You'd just figure out a way to enter if I didn't take you," C.C. holds her hand out to me. "Come now."
I grab Suzaku's hand, flashing him a smile. "I never thought that I would fight next to my brother."
C.C. places her hand on the stone, and in a few seconds the inscriptions glow red. It doesn't take long after that for us to be transported to C's World, and it looks like the ruins that Lelouch left it in the last time that we were here.
"Then...what was the point of me doing this?" Lelouch's voice comes from in front of us.
"These tragedies will no longer be necessary once the Ragnarök Connection is established," Emperor Charles answers.
"Masks will vanish," the real Marianne adds. "Then everyone can be exactly who they're supposed to be."
"I see...All the battle and bloodshed between Britannia and the Black Knights was done just to lure out C.C.," Lelouch says. "Well then, it seems that from the very beginning I was merely a nuisance. Just a ruckus in the world." He chuckles as he turns around to face C.C., Suzaku, and I as we walk through the fog to reveal ourselves. "And what do the three of you think of all this?"
"Did you already know that I was going to come here, Lelouch?" C.C. asks.
"And that you regained your memories, too. It was necessary for this plan, wasn't it?"
"Precisely," Emperor Charles says. "Therefore, I cannot see any sense in your coming here as well, both Kururugi's.
"I'm sure you can't," I grin. "I am a lot more involved in this."
"I heard you were already immortal," Suzaku says. "That's why there's something I want to know for certain. Why did you make this thing? For what reason?"
"Why?" Emperor Charles asks. "Because it's what Nunnally and Euphy both desired."
Lelouch turns around to face his father at the mention of both their names.
"They wanted a gentle world."
"Now I see. It's obvious."
"The time is here. C.C., since we are all assembled, the plan can commence now. I will grant your wish after everything has been completed." He holds his hand out, revealing the Geass symbol on his palm, and a bright light pours out of it at the same time the symbol on C.C.'s forehead glows and her hair starts to float.
"No," I gasp, seeing the zombie like people trudging around and hearing their screams of despair. A vision I have seen since I first gained my Geass. "No, please," I choke out.
The room shatters to remove the ruin illusion, and it is replaced with metal walls. The screams and groans of pain are no long just in my head as a double-helix tower of emancipated people flow from top of the realm.
"Behold! It's begun!" Marianne calls out. "The Sword of Akasha is slaying God!"
"Now, once our marks of Geass become one," Emperor Charles starts walking towards us. "The old world will cease, and the new world will spring forth."
"Lelouch," Suzaku says. "What was your motivation for wanting to control the world?"
"Don't waste my time, Suzaku," Lelouch says back. "You know it was Nunnally and your sister."
"Or are you just using them as an excuse?"
"Yes, you're right," he lightly chuckles, turning to look back at Suzaku. "I am. I have fought to protect everything I thought I wanted to protect."
"If you're going to achieve that end, you need to take action."
"Yes. The means to that end requires me to reject something."
"Which is?"
I see the emperor has almost made his way to us.
"That I..." Lelouch steps in front of C.C., and his father stops with a grunt. "I reject you! And I reject everything you believe! Why do people lie? It isn't only because they struggle against each other. It's also because there's something that they're seeking!"
"Ah," C.C. and I look right at Lelouch.
"You now want a world without change! How stagnant! You could hardly call it life! The same as a world of memories! Just a world that's closed and completed! That's a place I wouldn't want to live in!"
"But Lelouch," Marianne gently speaks up. "Are you saying you're rejecting me as well?"
"That depends. Is your desire the same as His Majesty's, mother?"
"It will be so good to rejoin all the people from whom we've been separated. You can be reunited with those who have died."
I clench my jaw as Suzaku grunts next to me.
"As I expected," Lelouch says. "You both believe that this new world you envision will be best for all but forcing your good intentions on others is no different from an evil act!"
"In time, the people will come to accept it," Emperor Charles declares.
"That time will never come!" Lelouch snaps, and then he staggers as he shoulders slump and his head drops. "Only one this is undeniably certain. I understand now that what you did to Nunnally and me may have been done out of good intentions, but..." he looks back up. "That hard fact remains that you abandoned us in a foreign land!"
"But we did that to protect you!" Marianne blurts out.
"Then why didn't you stop the war between Japan and Britannia!?"
Lady Marianne gasps, but she doesn't have an answer for her son.
"The plan was such a priority for you both, that it didn't matter to either of you if Nunnally and I were alive or dead. That's why you abandoned us! All you have left are self-serving excuses!"
"Lelouch, you're wrong!" Marianne takes a step forward.
"You just told me!" He juts his arm out in front of him. "You said that the dead will rejoin the living! You don't give a damn about the future!"
"The future is the Ragnarök Connection," Emperor Charles narrows his eyes. "Once it's finally done, the gentler existence that Nunnally spoke of will-!"
"Stop it! The world you're speaking of will be kinder and gentler only for you! The world that my sister wished for," he leans forward as he holds both his hands out, "is one in which kindness is extended to everyone, even strangers!"
I clench my fists at my hand to keep myself from blurting out. Lelouch might be right. There's a reason that everyone who knew Lelouch was Zero never gave him away, even when they were critically injured.
"Let's say it was true," Charles speaks up. "What of it? There's nothing to be done about it. The Ragnarök Connection has begun!"
"You think so?" Lelouch straightens up, placing his hand over his Geass eye. "I am Zero!" He swipes his hand away, taking his contact out. "The man who works miracles!"
"Your Geass powers will have no effect on me. Nor will it on anyone else here."
"No, there's someone else here, isn't there?"
"Huh?" His eyes widen as he understands what Lelouch is getting at.
"That's right!" Lelouch lifts his arms out as he looks up. "C's World is the will of mankind itself! And all men are not equal. Remember those words? They're your own! And because of that, I'm sure you realize that my power will work!"
"You're a fool, Lelouch! God cannot be defeated by the power of the king!"
"I don't intend to defeat God! This is a request! Yes! Now I know who I really am! God! Collective unconscious!"
Marianne gasps, looking back at the tower.
I feel my body relax.
"Please, don't stop the march of time!" Lelouch orders.
"Lelouch, you ungrateful child!" Marianne starts rushing towards her son, but Suzaku pulls his sword out to stop her. "Gah!"
"Nobody would have wanted this!" Suzaku glares at her. "No one! And especially not Euphy!"
"And I saved you so that you could talk to Euphy again!" Marianne snaps.
"Meaning you were going to force me to, right!?"
"You can't do this, boy!" Charles bellows. "Not against God, nor all of humanity itself!"
"Regardless, what I want, is tomorrow!" Lelouch exclaims, and I feel a burst of Geass from within him.
Charles gasps.
I look up to see the sky overtaken with a giant Geass symbol, and the tower of moaning and screaming corpses begins to collapse.
"It can't be!" Marianne turns around to see the gear walls beginning to fall.
"The Thought Elevator is falling!" Charles shouts. "The dream that I and Marianne and my brother all shared..."
"Charles, just stop already," C.C. sinks down to wrap her arms around her shins and fall onto her but. "It was presumptuous of us to even attempt this."
"C.C.!" he turns around to look at the girl. "We still bear the marks of Geass! No matter what occurs, we-" he cuts himself off with a gasp as his feet up start to disappear.
"A mark of Geass should be more than that," I shake my head.
"This isn't a falsehood, father," Lelouch lowers his arms. "It's reality's response."
"Darling!" Marianne rushes towards her lover. "You-" she stops moving as she begins to disappear as well.
"No, it's not possible!" Charles growls. "I'm supposed to be immortal! We're being absorbed? Consumed by C's World?"
"But what about C.C.?" Marianne turns to look at the girl who isn't disappearing like them. "Why isn't she disappearing as well? You supported this plan as much as we did!"
"Sorry, but I finally realized," C.C. speaks up. "The love you have is only for yourselves."
"No, that's not true at all! We love our children very much!"
"You have any idea what the meaning is behind Nunnally's beautiful smile!?" Lelouch exclaims.
"Ah, the meaning?"
"Why don't you understand? Nunnally was blinded! My own sister was crippled! She knew! She knew that there were things in this world that she would never be able to do by herself!"
I feel the tears streaming down my face, but it doesn't feel like I should be crying.
"So, her smile...Nunnally's smile, was her way of expressing gratitude!"
"You're laboring under a delusion!" Charles declares.
"I will not let you call that a lie! Over my dead body! Your refusal to face reality! Content to watch us from afar! Don't make me laugh! There's only one truth here! You, my own parents, abandoned us!"
Marianne gasps as Charles growls. He then pushes her out of the way to fly at Lelouch. His Geass marked hand wrapping around his son's neck.
"You clever little fool!"
Suzaku gets into a stance with his sword while I rise some rocks in the area.
"Suzaku! Sakura!" Lelouch demands. "Stay out of this!"
"Can't you understand that if you refuse me and what I offer, you will inherit his world!" Charles exclaims. "Schneizel's world! Do not judge me! Good and evil intentions are on each side of the same card! Even then, you still have-"
"No matter what, I'll always reject the world you envision. Be gone now!"
Lady Marianne and Emperor Charles let out screams of agony as the tumble away before fading away completely.
"They were going to kill God," I breathe out, swiping at my tears. "Oh, Lelouch," I stagger forward, placing my hand on the middle of his back.
"C.C., are you going as well?" Lelouch asks.
"When death comes, you want to at least be smiling, right?" C.C. replies. "And the three of you? What are you planning to do now?"
"Huh?" Suzaku looks over at her.
"You rejected Charles' plan. Instead, you chose reality and the forward march of time. However..."
"I know," Suzaku states. "Lelouch is the person who murdered Euphy," he holds up his sword.
"What of it?" Lelouch turns to face him.
I step back, "I'd just like to be included in whatever plan is settled on. Is that fair?"
The boys look at each other and then back to me, "Fair."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hope you enjoyed reading! I decided to leave this chapter long since there have been a couple short ones, and I also didn't want to separate the scene in C's World. Anyways, I would love to know what you thought! :D