A/N:Thanks to the pleading of a certain reviewer, I shall update.

Chapter 5 More Nightmares

"Lelouch, you're going to be just fine," Suzaku Kururugi reassured his childhood friend as he helped him head back to his room. His friend was not doing well, he could tell. He was sweating even more and even worse, he had started speaking of seeing and hearing things that Suzaku could not see. This was not good, it meant his logical, rational, best friend was hallucinating.

The idea that his best friend was hallucinating...scared the living daylights out of him. He could've sworn he had heard the word "Mother" escaping from Lelouch's lips, that and "Nunnally", both fairly typical. He knew his mother's death was a dark and deep scar that would never heal in young Lelouch's heart. That had been why the young prince had been so reluctant to trust in others, because deep down inside, he feared he would be betrayed by everyone else just as he had been betrayed by his father, the freaking Emperor, who had stood by and let his wife get killed and his youngest daughter turn into a cripple and not even bat an eyelid.

When said son had called him out on it, the Emperor had not even cared about his own son's well-being and instead had told him he was worthless, despicable, and not even fit to exist on this earth. Then he had shipped them away to a foreign country and left them for dead. No wonder Lelouch hated to trust in others, Suzaku thought as he helped the sick Britannian prince, who could barely even walk. Lelouch had never been very athletic in the first place, he thought in amusement as he watched his childhood friend collapse and start to pant.

"Suzaku...there's a girl over there with blond hair...she's watching me. She's saying something to me," Lelouch panted out between breaths, Suzaku almost thought he saw his friend's left eye change from purple to a crimson red-he rubbed his eyes, he had to be hallucinating.

"Lelouch, there is no one over there, you have got to be hallucinating. What's wrong with your eye?"

Lelouch looked at him and his eyes widened. "You saw? Oh, god, Suzaku, I didn't want you to find out about it...it's my geass."

"Your what?" Suzaku said in disbelief.

"I can control people's minds if I so choose," Lelouch gasped out. "Suzaku, I'm serious...she's watching me and she keeps on saying the letter V. What the hell does that even mean?"

"LELOUCH, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Suzaku said before spinning the black-haired teen around to face him and staring into the frightened eyes of Lelouch. "This is NOT like you, Lelouch. Listen to me...there is NO one back there. We are all alone."

"No, I'm serious...there really is someone there, watching me," Lelouch gasped out.

"Lelouch...you are hallucinating. Your whole talk about controlling people's' minds...that must be caused by your illness. You are imagining this stuff," Suzaku said, trying desperately to get his best friend to see reason here. Unfortunately, Lelouch's mind was not working properly at the moment. If it had been, he probably would laugh and tell him how silly he was for thinking that a logical, rational person like him would honestly believe in silly fantasies like hallucinations. The Lelouch here was a sick, scared teenager and it was at times like this that Suzaku realized that Lelouch was still a child.

Despite the fact that he was precocious for his age and emotionally mature and put on a cold façade, he was still a child with problems and needs. This really put the thing into perspective for him. Lelouch merely pretended to be more cold than the rest of the world when in reality he probably felt the worst pain imaginable. The Student Council never saw this side of Lelouch and when they had actually seen it firsthand, no one could believe it.

Lelouch was a good liar, Suzaku knew, but he was not very good at hiding his emotions. That was why, Suzaku thought, as Lelouch continued to rant on and on about imaginary people and things that weren't there, about the blond girl with brown eyes who called him V-he decided then and there that he would take some time off to look after his friend, no matter how much he might complain. No one else would do it, after all. Sure, Milly would probably drop by and see how he was feeling, but the others had school and homework and other things to do.

Suzaku was different from the rest of them-he was a soldier, he'd seen comrades drop dead from illnesses that went untreated until it was too late and even then, the generals didn't care. He'd seen people die in front of him, die by his own hands-hell, he'd even seen a soldier commit hara-kiri when they were threatened to surrender-that had been a disgusting image that Suzaku couldn't get out of his mind for days after or even weeks afterwards.

However, he had to keep his cool-he was a soldier, he was trying to protect Britannia-some days, he even wondered if it was worth it in the end. However, his friend's opinion went in the opposite direction. He considered Britannia to be a threat to the world and his rants about wanting to destroy Britannia as a child had scared the hell out of him. He knew what would happen to Lelouch if the authorities were to catch wind of his anti-britannian talk. He could be sent to prison, or worse, executed, for treason.

For a prince to slander his very own family name was the highest form of crime imaginable. He could only wonder what would happen if Euphemia's way of thinking was found out by the court. She would probably end up like Lelouch-be cast aside by her own family and be forgotten by the entire world. He would never let that happen to his precious Euphie. She mattered more to him than anything else in the world.

If anything were to happen to her, he didn't know what he would do. She had been so good to him, had showered him with kindness, had even allowed him to attend school here with her own influence as an Imperial Princess, and the least he could do was uphold her kindness.

Even if it meant she would be subject to ridicule if her love of all humanity was discovered, even if her pure heart was dashed to pieces, Suzaku would always be there for her.

"Hey, Suzaku..." Lelouch's voice was a quiet whisper now. He had been silent for a while now, and that alone scared him. Lelouch needed to talk to him soon. "You love Euphie, don't you?"

Suzaku blinked upon hearing that remark. How did Lelouch know?

"Yeah...why?" He asked briefly. Lelouch chuckled.

"I loved her first, actually," He chuckled again before coughing.

"Is there anyone you love now?"

Lelouch was silent. "Maybe."

"Is it Shirley?"

Lelouch shook his head. "No, she's just a friend."

Suzaku sensed somehow that Lelouch didn't want to talk about it and he frowned. Nevertheless, he couldn't help wondering who the lovely girl was who had attracted his friend's attention. Little did he know that it was one Kallen Stadtfeld, the very same girl who despised Lelouch's existence.

He finally brought Lelouch to his door, to the startled look of his maid. "Lelouch is quite sick. Can you help me bring him to his bed?"

She nodded silently and did as he told her. "How long has he been like this?" Her voice was a soft whisper. Suzaku knew she was Japanese. He had met her before and talked to her before. She was a good woman. She was a good person who was the right sort of caretaker to his friend.

"Since a few hours ago," Suzaku said. He noticed that Lelouch had fainted. He frowned. "He's burning up badly. Obviously, Nunnally shouldn't be anywhere near him."

She frowned. "She won't be happy with this news. You know Lady Nunnally tends to look over her brother when he falls sick just as he does for her when she gets sick."

Suzaku sighed.

She nodded and placed him in his room.

C.C. looked up upon seeing a very pale Lelouch being led into his room by the maid and the same boy who had discovered her with Lelouch in Shinjuku. The boy gasped upon seeing her.

"What are you doing in Lelouch's room?"

C.C. smirked coldly. "Lelouch'll tell you one day when the time is right, boya."

He frowned. "I'd like some answers now."

She smirked again and ate another piece of pizza. Suzaku noticed the entire room smelled of pizza, and frowned.

Nonetheless, Lelouch was placed in his bed, and C.C. watched over him, knowing full well that the boy was bound to be visited by nightmares. She sighed, wondering if there was anything she could do to help him.

She noticed the dark-haired boy twitch momentarily in his sleep before gasping out a few words.

"Nunnally..."

Fairly typical there, she thought, and smirked slightly. Sick or not, he was her contractor, and she had promised his mother that she would look after him, so she would be a maternal figure to him now. He needed her now more than ever.

Lelouch, meanwhile was slipping into the world between fantasy and reality, between illusion and confusion, between consciousness and unconsciousness. He was now in the world where little made any sense, or if it did, the world's idea of sense and reality were flipped upside down.

Little did he know that the things he would now experience were tied to his past life as V, but he denied any existence of the supernatural aside from Geass and C.C. That would soon change, however. For his memories refused to lie dormant. They were slowly starting to return to him, little by little, and sooner or later, he would have to face the truth, whether he liked it or not.

He was walking down a street, minding his own business, when he bumped into a woman with blond hair.
"Sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going."

The woman turned to face him, and a wistful smile appeared on her face. "Oh, it's you again. V, I really missed you. Why did you disappear like that? Why did you die on me?" She pounced on a confused Lelouch and embraced him in a hug.

"Hold on. What are you doing? Who are you? I've never met you before in my life."

She giggled slightly. "Oh, dear, little V, it seems you've forgotten everything, haven't you?" She stroked his cheek then, and her grin turned wicked then. "Officer, please arrest this man."

The officer stared at her in confusion. "Why, my lady?"

"He is a terrorist." She said. The officer's look turned sharp.

"I see," He said before grabbing Lelouch. "Come with me, you little runt."

"No, unhand me!" Lelouch demanded, his Geass flaring. It didn't work. He stared in horror.

"What kind of trick is that, V?"

"V? You mean...this boy is V?" The officer said skeptically. When she started to talk to him, his grin turned harsh. "You are truly guilty, boy. I'm afraid you'll have to be confined."

"C-C-Confined? Why? Tell me what's going on!" Lelouch cried. He did not expect to be kicked in the ribs by the officer, whose features warped into that of a grinning skeleton, dripping in blood.

"You deserve it, you traitor. Throw him in the dungeon!"

Lelouch passed out then, and when he awoke, he found himself in a dark, dank place. He tried to move but his arms were chained to the wall and his feet were as well. There was a plate of food by him, but it was moldy and rotten. "How the hell am I supposed to eat this?"He cried.

An officer outside the cell glared at him. "Silence, terrorist. There will be no talking!"

"But why?" Lelouch cried. He didn't notice the note that was tossed at him from under the door until it landed by his feet. He looked down at it. It read:

"I see you don't remember me, V. That's too bad. I'm someone you helped out a long time ago. My name is Valerie. You've been reincarnated, hmm? That's too bad. The scent of a traitor doesn't die, no matter who he is reborn as. I knew it was you from the moment I laid eyes on you. You're certainly more handsome than I remember. What lovely eyes you have. I can't wait until you're murdered. I will dance in your blood."

Lelouch screamed and pleaded for help, but none came, and instead he was greeted with savage beatings until he cried himself to sleep. Then one day, the guards came and dragged him out in front of the public.

"Does anyone know why this boy is here?"

Confused glances and replies came from the crowd.

"He is the reincarnation of the terrorist V, the one who tried to end our freedom and bring about tyranny!"

Instantly, looks of hatred appeared on every person in the crowd.

"KILL HIM!"

"DESTROY THAT SICK MONSTER!"

Lelouch cried out, "No, I'm not this V person! My name is-"

His cries were muffled when he saw that there was a stake near him. He saw flames were being lit. They were going...to burn him to death.

"No, no, please...not fire! No!"

"Shut up, you little hellspawn. You deserve this."

The entire crowd morphed into corpses, all of them covered in blood, all shouting insults.

An old woman smiled coldly at him as she lit the flames. "Goodbye, demon."

Lelouch could feel the flames licking his skin, could feel the skin melting off his bones...

"NO, NO, MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE!"

"Lelouch..." A voice said.

"No..." Lelouch whimpered.

"Lelouch..." The voice became louder.

"No, leave me alone." He cried out.

"Lelouch," The voice said, "Wake up!"

"LELOUCH!"

Lelouch's eyes shot open then as he saw Suzaku and C.C. by his side. "Thank god...it was all just a horrid dream." He muttered.

"Lelouch, you've had too many nightmares lately." Suzaku remarked.

"I know, Suzaku, you have to state the obvious?" Lelouch retorted sarcastically.