At a Cost — ♛

"C.C.," He calls her name, tone a bit softer.

Her body was numbing, temperature leaving the tips of her hands even for the insistent rubbing of those limbs.

"Awwww, it's adorable!"

Her eyes dart to the side, and a light flush spreads over her cheeks. Realizing that she had equated L.L. to something so cute without even thinking twice about it. C.C. made her so comfortable that she didn't feel the need to guard her emotions around her.

"Yeah, it does look like him."

"We should get it and give it to him."

The display had so many others. A bright green bunny caught her eyes almost instantly.

They didn't need to think about much else right now, it was so much nicer here already.

"That is does. Maybe we should look for one for you as well?"

A simple, playful suggestion, and another thought that quickly slipped into her mind to play around with later, much like a cat to a ball of yarn.

He could picture it in his mind instantly, and he turned bright red at the mental image presenting itself in his mind. Himself, laying atop her, the feeling of her soft body under him--!

No, no, he couldn't go there! He buried his face in his hands, trying to physically push the thought out of his mind. He could never forgive himself. C.C. was L.L.'s wife! This was terrible! She must have known, and now she was rubbing it in his face!

He took a short breath and held it, and then he peeked between his fingers.

"I mean...I wouldn't be opposed to it." He finally said. "As long as..as long as you're okay with it."

At the end of the day, he was just a man.

Her lips curled into a smile as he accepted her offer, crawling a little closer upon that bed and offering a hand to Suzaku. Like a siren to a lone sailor called by her song, she would sink her teeth into him and never let go. The knight who once stood by her king might as well be tangled with the queen, no?

"Come now, rest in the sun with me if you're going to compare me to a cat. I'll curl up nicely on your chest."

They were always so bright, cat-like, shining and mysterious and mischievous. She reminded him of a Cheshire Cat that way--she would look at home with cute, small fangs.

She hid her face for a moment, and then came out to thank him. He was struck, then, with the overwhelming knowledge that the immortal C.C. was...cute.

More than that, she was...sweet. Or at least had a sweet side.

He put a hand to his head at the realization. He was in such deep trouble. Would L.L. ever forgive him for these thoughts?

The comparison of her to a cat though, she can't help the giggle that bubbles forth.

"I think if I had you here napping with me, I would certainly be purring like one. Why are you trying to run away so soon?"

Her teasing was relentless, but with pure intentions. C.C. liked his company, and even if the other was floundering in the moment from their combined blossoming feelings, she didn't want him too far away.

Her face lights up at the invitation. Reaching to pull C.C.'s hands back out so that they can lace their fingers together instead. Tugging her along the street a little.

"I just saw this place a few buildings back that I was sad passing by because it made me think of you. Wishing we could visit it together. And now we can!"

C.C. felt most comfortable around her, while she could connect well with Lelouch, there were things he simply didn't understand or was too oblivious to comprehend. Kallen felt like a sanctuary, a woman who despite her upbringing had a softer soul, both being alike in that sense.

"It's been so long since we could relax like this, I'm beginning to wonder if I could get comfortable here."

As much as the sights and sounds might have been overwhelming, C.C.'s gaze immediately locked upon the display of keychains and stepped over, picking up one of the black cats and showing it to Kallen.

He already knew that he was not a great fit for the Geass--the power to take away someone else's will terrified him, and the fact that it was used on him still makes him feel...an undefinable way about the order used to save his life.

The order used to end millions of other lives.

No, Suzaku valued the means to get results, even if the amount he valued the means had...changed.

A lot of things about him changed.

"I'm a man. I would do exactly what I think is right, because that's what all men do. In a way, you're right. We're predictable. But I don't think that's wrong."

Surely Suzaku, a man who had spent so much time with her husband and knew him from the inside and out would understand those feelings that had been toiling the entire time he was the face of Zero. But then again, she could see in those deep greens that he was willing to deny himself such things, such honesty, in favor of L.L.'s comfort.

A part of her understood, he was married after all.

"Because he would never want to see you alone like he was. I'm sure you've heard it time and time again, that the power of a king comes with the price of solitude. While you would do what you perceive as right, I doubt every single person would come to agree with you."

He couldn't quite find the words, but then, L.L. was always the wordsmith. Suzaku spoke more with his actions--it was what made them such a good team, normally....

But it also left Suzaku floundering on his own!

He liked her...it wasn't often she heard those words and it holding weight to C.C., but Suzaku was so genuine in his words, he always had been.

It didn't quell the anger that tightened in his gut at taking in her condition. He pulled out a handkerchief, old habit, before gently wiping the blood from her face.

"We got pulled into someplace called the Inn. Apparently... parts of one self that you haven't accepted go here. There's only two ways to leave. Accept that part of yourself or kill them."

He says so briskly as he tucks the cloth back into his pocket. He spoke like he was expert, but in reality he saw that stupid message on his phone before he got sucked down here.

There was a tremble to her voice, allowing the blood to be wiped from her cheek and the wound slowly sealing itself. While C.C. was usually the more level-headed of the two, this night had shaken her to the core. Not only being haunted by visions of the men she cared for, but hearing such awful things in their voices, it was making her ears ring.

For the first time in years, she felt like that terrified little girl again.

"So we attempt to reason with him, or kill that part of you. Understood."

She was back to that usual monotone cadence, but not quite right. C.C. was shutting down, she steeled herself to endure until they were out of this place.

L.L. reached out the moment she ran in front of the closed doors grabbing her and pulling her inside smoothly. His hand was over her mouth as he gently shushed her.

His heart was pounding, his blood pumping was defeaning as they waited.

And waited.

Until Julius Kingsley passed the closed door, grumbling and growling under his breath. Cursing that dreaded witch in his fruitless search. Only once he passed by entirely did L.L. relax enough let go of his wife.

Ache set in, her breath shuddering against his palm while they waited, and she couldn't help but finally notice the blood smeared against L.L.'s hand from the cut to her cheek.

"...no, no-I want to leave of this place. What's happening? First Suzaku and now that horrible imposter."

C.C. was scrambling for answers, finally allowed a moment to breathe after rapidly dodging people left and right. This was a nightmare.

He growled in frustration as he got back to his feet. Like hell he would let her escape. Like hell! His one ticket to finding that faker won't slip through his fingers.

The only advantage she had over him was stamina, this being a visage of her husband, C.C. knew his athleticism was lacking. But that only fed the worry that bled into the back of her mind, L.L. needed to be hidden away from this lunatic. There was no telling what he would do if they ended up meeting.

Her body ached, the cuts burned, muscles tightened with more and more shocks of adrenaline. Gods she hoped they would run into one another soon.

He thought that witches were supposed to have cats as companions, not mice. He'd never properly had C.C. as a target for his mission before, though--she should be easier to take down than Kallen, at least.

The cold calculations ran through his head as he approached in a calm, slow walk. The heels of his boots echoed off the tight corridors--and C.C. continued to put distance between them.

All at once, Suzaku drew his sword, and sprinted.

Death didn't matter here--and even in the real world, death didn't matter. He wasn't going to kill her. He didn't even plan to maim her.

But slashing her Achilles' heel so that she wouldn't run wouldn't be too much--and she could regenerate, anyway. She had the Code to do it.

"Something must still exist--unless you don't have your Code anymore." His response was flat, robotic. Calm.

What the haunting figure didn't know was that she was stripped of the full power of her code in this place, she hadn't been in this sort of situation to test the limits so far, but the fear of death hung heavy over her mind in this enclosed space.

She heard the swipe of a blade near her feet and in a flash or reflex manages to leap a few steps ahead and regain her balance enough to make more distance between them.

He was trying to cripple her, that bastard.

He sputters and coughs and heaves as he rolls off of her, taking his scepter with him. C.C.'s excessive clawing had ripped the eye patch clean off his face which allowed both eyes to glare at her.

"Y--You--!!"

How dare she fight him so hard. Does she not know who he is?

But she doesn't have much time to recover, hearing those cries of fury from the specter and immediately sent into a flight response. The muscles along her legs burned, but there was no time to falter, she had a new mission in mind aside from getting the hell away from this bothersome alter.