.

Infrared

.

007

He almost doesn't recognize her when their paths cross for the first time in seven years. Gone are the long waves and bows, replaced by short hair - only a tad longer than his own - and pale skin smudged with engine grease. She is nothing like he imagined she would be, and that only makes her more beautiful.

"Still getting into trouble, I see," she quips.

Suzaku grimaces, recalling his sort-of-abduction by terrorists and near death experience with the Britannian military.

"Awe, well, you know me," he laughs.

"Of course I do," she responds, moving to enter the white knightmare she had previously been piloting and, really, how in the world had Lelouch managed to control that monstrosity? She was, after all, the least athletic person he knew.

He asks her such and she arches an eyebrow challengingly. "Oh, but Suzaku, I have the most powerful weapon of them all - my brain." Her mouth curls into a Cheshire grin, sly and inviting as she winks at him like they're sharing an age old secret and, perhaps, they are.

A smile is plastered upon Suzaku's face for the rest of the day.

006

"Why don't you attend school?" he asks the second time they meet up, this time, at the hearing of Kallen Stadtfeld of all things.

She shrugs, her violet eyes dancing with mirth. "It's not necessary for me. I've been working for Lloyd for the past few years."

"With the Engineering Corps?" he inquires. "Isn't that under Schneizel's jurisdiction? How hasn't he discovered you?"

She just gives him a knowing look and Suzaku is hit with the sudden realization that Lelouch is far too smart for her own good.

"Nobody ever expects you to hide in plain sight. You understand that, don't you, Zero?"

005

Kallen's rescue goes just as poorly as expected and the liberation of Lake Kawaguchi even more so.

It's not as if the Black Knights don't complete their mission; in fact, they do; however, it is by the skin of their teeth.

Suzaku isn't a strategist; but, he has geass and that is enough.

'Now, she could change the world if she wanted', he recalls C.C. saying upon first seeing Lelouch. Yes, Lelouch could change the world, but the world didn't get Lelouch - it got Suzaku.

004

He asks about Nunnally once.

In response, Lelouch raises an eyebrow; her sharp gaze upon him as if she is daring him to comment on her aloofness.

"Disabled, little girls don't necessarily have the highest survival rates in post-apocalyptic nations," she says.

He doesn't say anything; an apology, no matter how sincerely meant, will only sound hollow and silence encompasses them.

Ice-cold rage runs through her veins.

003

She saves his life again.

This time, it is on Shikine Island and all he can think of is the taste of copper in his mouth and Lelouch's violet eyes as he is blown to kingdom come.

When he awakens it is on a deserted island and to the sight of Kallen attempting to strangle a rather amused Lelouch.

"Who are you?" Kallen demands and Lelouch just leans back on her heels and offers a smirk.

"I am just the rather unfortunate guinea pig of Lloyd Asplund and you are Kallen Stadtfeld, the girl who failed to murder our lovely viceroy, Clovis la Britannia." she says.

Kallen bristles, but a sharp look from Suzaku prevents her from physically retaliating.

"Why'd you save me?" he asks.

She meets his gaze steadily, tilting her head to the side inquisitively.

"Why, I thought that was obvious."

002

"I killed your father," she whispers one night when they're curled up together and she believes Suzaku to be asleep. "I killed him so you didn't have to."

He tightens his grip around her and tugs her body closer to his own.

"I know," he whispers back, "I know."

001

She stops him before he enters the Thought Elevator and Suzaku swears he can see everything he has worked for dissipating before his very eyes.

"I'm going to confront him," he says.

"Well, yes, I'd assume so," she says, "and I'm coming with you."

He is taken back and when he asks her why, an unusually solemn expression glides across her face.

"I made a promise to a little a girl a long time ago and I've forgotten to keep it until now."

Suzaku can practically taste victory.

000

On a rainy Tuesday, Charles zi Britannia, the 98th emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, is announced dead.

The world will never be the same