contemplating about dragging him to a game again...

[ex_disillusions901]

While I'm relieved that the burden placed upon your shoulders has lessened considerably, lady mundane, it would be most prudent to mull this over a bit more. It didn't fare so well for us the last time, and I'd hate to see a repeated incident of—

[ Ahem. No, Schneizel. We're not discussing that. Keep your pretty mouth shut, please. ]

—well, never mind. If you're truly so determined, I won't stand in your way.

Just don't let any potential consequences crush you, as they did before.

Comments

[ex_disillusions901]

You should know by now it's not a matter of wanting, Lelouch.

[ex_disillusions901]

Maybe you're just paranoid.

[ As if that's even a maybe. ]

[ex_disillusions901]

[ And it's for that very reason that Lelouch gets a quiet, earnest laugh from Schneizel. ]

Fair enough, brother.

[ex_disillusions901]

[ Quite to the contrary, Schneizel's fondness lingers about his features. He sees no reason to maintain any sort of facade when it doesn't serve a purpose any longer. ]

I'm sure you can guess. Their minds are arguably even more conniving than our own when put together.

[ex_disillusions901]

[ Scheneizel considers his brother carefully a moment before, as is his forte, launching into a cryptic—and entirely unrelated—subject. ]

...was it truly the empire you hated, Lelouch?

Or was it me, all along?

[ex_disillusions901]

Do not tell me if you hated the symbol, the sword. Tell me if you hated the person.

[ His eyes flicker briefly, with something that is as close to grief as Schneizel will ever come, or at least as close to grief as Lelouch has likely ever seen from the man. ]

That you hated me. Your brother.

[ex_disillusions901]

[ Schneizel seems neither surprised nor hurt by the answer; something else is bothering him far more, weighing on his shoulders, ordinarily so strong and confident, now sagging. Eyes cast aside. You may recognize the expression as one of despair, of regret for what was once treasured, and now unsalvageable. ]

I met another Lelouch, recently. A Lelouch wiped clean of his memories, his hatred. He was terrified of me, and what I had to say. He refused to believe it, the path you chose for yourself. Where it would lead.

I thought I had thrown away any semblance of ideals long ago, but... I begged him. I told him that, were he to remember, he should run. Resist. Whatever it took, so long as he did not travel that same path again. I think, in that moment, I would've done anything to save him. Perhaps, against my own nature, even laid down my life, if it meant even a chance of preventing that future I couldn't bear to witness. A future free of Zero, and the Demon Emperor that followed.

[ Schneizel glances up again, features cold. ]

That sort of foolish idealism—was it what drove you to throw yourself upon the sword, Lelouch?

Am I a fool to assume I ever could have swayed you at all?

[ex_disillusions901]

[ Schneizel laughs quietly, more to himself than anyone else. ]

Father told me that dreams are the ships that fools sail, and ideals the waves that sink them. Could such a world last, the one you speak of? Even now, every part of me doubts it.

But even now, every part of me wishes that it was a world we at least could've lived in together.

[ex_disillusions901]

I wonder why you would have me at all, then, here.

[ex_disillusions901]

Lelouch, resigning himself to an inevitable conclusion? Now we're both acting out of turn.

[ Yet he does seem cheered by it, strangely. Or at least lifted out of that melancholic trance somewhat. Good going, bro. ]

[ex_disillusions901]

I am glad that you allow me at your side.

[ Schneizel skims a hand along his cheek, faintly. It's not quite the same sort of longing he's accustomed to; it's for something different, something he can never have again. ]

That is all.

[ex_disillusions901]

The world in which I won. The place in which you lost.

[ Hopefully he won't need to elaborate there, considering what's... transpiring, at the moment. ]

[obeymesubjectsobeymeworld]

[sigh] ...Warning them against consequences is almost futile...They'll do what they want...