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[oathtotheking]

Player-

You've committed yourself, already. If you want to seek a second game, even that will not be with me. I have work to do and a charge to fulfill; you can't just pluck me up to toy with because you're re-watching the series and you see him somewhere.

- Zero

Comments

[princessclassic]

"Him"? Is something wrong, Lelouch?

sobeuphie

[oathtotheking]

[Hello, heartache. How are you? He's fine, mostly, but oh good lord Euphemia why are you here he can't--]

No, nothing.

[--be honest. Damnit. Suzaku is dead, he can't come back, not even for her--]

[princessclassic]

But you said your Mun saw "him" somewhere. Who's "him"?

[oathtotheking]

[A soundless breath.]

The last emperor.

[princessclassic]

....Father?

Oh, I see. You wish to fight against him.

That's all right, I understand.

[bursting]

[ Setsuna watches the man in the peculiar mask with a certain degree of suspicion, as he does most, but otherwise doesn't react, eyes wary but curious nonetheless. "Him?" ]

My mun is interested in you, it seems.

[oathtotheking]

[It's all a very long story, and not one he's terribly willing to recount. The suspicion is valid, though; he'd be suspicious of himself if he didn't know the life he'd led.]

Oh? What interest could I hold for them?

[bursting]

[ His eyes flash briefly with interest, but that's the only visible sign he shows that Suzaku's words have registered at all. ]

You don't think you're an interesting person?

[oathtotheking]

[It's enough to pick up on.]

It's a subjective quality, one decided by the onlooker. Additionally, I am scarcely a person. I am a reminder and remainder.

[bursting]

[ Aren't you insightful, then? Yet Setsuna remains stoic, firm, unyielding, and unwavering in his reserved expression. ]

Scarcely a person... you really believe that?

[oathtotheking]

[Hang on, not properly put together for this one. Kind of like with Euphie before. ...Though it's not like he has anything to hide from--]

Lelouch.

[oathtotheking]

[This... is almost painful, or so suggests the knot building in him. Emotional as Suzaku is (still, somewhere beneath the weight of Zero and that oath), Zero stands unmoving even as the corners of his eyes burn. Breathe. He can't afford to let things fall apart just because he's faced the dead twice. But nothing is as intimate as murder, not the way they executed it. Vengeance and penance all in one, a way to free the world. Dried blood in the crevices of his helmet he couldn't reach, and there are days he swears there is blood smeared along the glossy surface just like that day.

Lelouch, stop being the reason he loses his shit.

... But ever the same, Lelouch. And maybe under his masks, Zero's--or perhaps Suzaku's--lips curve in a sort of sad way. Breathe.]

Who am I, if not Zero?

[It is what it is; they made their bed.]

[agentleworld]

[There is little for her to say, if only because there is so much that she wishes to say but cannot. Or will not, instead damming up words and thoughts and feelings until she only can look sidelong at her masked protector lest something break free. In time, she believes, it will become easier to bear, but for now the wounds are too fresh and the ground they tread too uncertain.

That does not, however, mean that she has forgotten he who lives behind the mask, nor lost the concern that stirs when she hears that note in his voice.]

...Zero?

[oathtotheking]

[Nunnally.

The response is automatic--a bend at the waist, hand held to his chest. Respect paid to his empress. Even though it's Nunnally, might as well be his own sister, he is little more than her guardian now. Can't afford to be more than that. It therefore makes things more convincing, offers that slight bit of distance he has to maintain.

Who's to say it even works?]

Your majesty.

[God, it probably doesn't.]

[agentleworld]

[For just a breath she hesitates, a pause brief enough that most would never even notice, feeling the vast gulf between them in that simple greeting almost as though he had physically pushed her away. But Nunnally is quick to school her expression into a calm, gentle smile that shows nothing of her thoughts as she folds her hands in her lap.]

Is something wrong?

[The question might be almost laughable, should one step back and view the entire picture. Wrong? Of course. But there's nothing to be done but set things right, one small step at a time, as she intends here.]

[oathtotheking]

[He builds that wall higher; surely it's doomed to fall, but... At least for a while, until he can wrap his head around everything, he needs it there. He straightens at her question, considers his options. How best to answer her? The obvious is that yes, there is something profoundly wrong, but that isn't the right answer. So instead, he breathes in, out, and answers her in an even tone flecked with faintest hints of affection.

Even now, he can't conceal that entirely in spite of his efforts.]

Nothing that can't be managed.

[How many steps will it take to right this, Nunnally? The rest of the world seems a less monumental task and by far the one more important. Besides, Zero can do little, having accepted his current position willingly--unless, of course, the relocation is the question. Something he's spared, in the end.]

[agentleworld]

Oh?

[Nunnally tilts her head slightly, the action almost bird-like— the habits of long years of blindness have yet to be entirely broken, and she still tends to listen to others first rather than look, turning an ear instead of her gaze. It's a habit especially useful when she can't bring herself to look directly at the one to whom she's speaking, as well.

Again she hesitates, but this time it's nothing to be hidden; she merely takes the moment to consider his words, weighing what lies beneath them and whether she dares delve farther.]

Do you need any help, perhaps?

[gurenpiloting]

[It's been a very long time since Kallen had spoken to one version of Zero, and she encountered a few during her previous stays in this space. Despite the fact that she's gotten used to the inevitable confusions that pervade this place, the memories she shared with both Zeros — or rather, two different men that donned the eponymous symbol of the Black Knights — aren't something she can easily shove aside.

It's why there is a questioning tone as she speaks.]

Zero?

[Just which Zero is she really talking to?]

Really been a while, hasn't it.

[oathtotheking]

[He's not going to get a break here, is he? As if in answer, the buried part of him cringes. Unlike with some, it's much harder to tell when and where he'd last seen Kallen; that she doesn't regard him with animosity immediately suggests a few things, at least... Some of which are better, others worse. How does he answer her? The question cycles through his mind, turning and turning over possibilities and reactions, until he decides that really? He has nothing to gain or lose either way. This space is, after all, largely irrelevant.]

Indeed it has.

[He can only hope that for now, this is the "right" answer. He can't imagine how badly this could turn if she picked him out as someone other than Lelouch and the right events had already come about.]

[gurenpiloting]

[No, he's definitely not, especially not when Kallen is the kind of woman who seeks answers at any given cause, recklessly or otherwise. This case, however, she really isn't sure about the "proper" reaction to seeing Zero again. Is she happy? No, she's certainly not, because there's nothing else besides sharp uncertainty lingering within her thoughts.

Should she be happy? Maybe, but...]

That's it?

[Arms folded over her chest, she quirks an eyebrow at his direction, tone laced with firmness.]

That's all you have to say to me?

[oathtotheking]

[It's an admirable trait, really, that sort of relentless--ah, unyielding personality. And it occurs to him that clearly she's from far enough along to know Zero better, and... This could get a little more complicated than he'd hoped. A quiet breath to steady himself because he's still learning this role little by little, and he continues to regard her head-on. No extravagant gestures yet, the conversation isn't involved enough for that. Really, Lelouch...]

Should there be more?

[A distant tone, though not quite as lording as Lelouch's might have been. Kallen, you're the one who really makes a situation like this hard to work. It could only be worse if C.C. was around, because both women know... basically everything, in varying degrees.]

[gurenpiloting]

[She can't help but let out a snort, fighting back the urge to roll her eyes at this symbol. To think that she used to be so blindly loyal to Zero (crossing at the point of near obsession) that she didn't care what he actually looked like. Just as long as he continued to fight for the Japanese and defeat Britannia, that was all that mattered to her — her brother's life-long dream of freeing Japan.

That said, the blind loyalty within Kallen is not quite blind anymore, but it's now towards the man behind the mask, whose face she eventually became accustomed to. She's too used to seeing a pair of violet eyes and black hair, which is why her brows tense as she picks up the distant tone in Zero's voice. No, way too distant to be Lelouch's.

He's not Lelouch, she tells herself. He'll never be Lelouch. Regardless of who's behind the mask, Zero is Zero, and that is how it should be. Right?]

Gee, I expected to hear grand speeches of how we should fight against our muns or, I don't know, words of encouragement.

[Sarcastic much, Kallen? Yup.]