Chapter 07: Princesses and Knights

Chapter 07: Princesses and Knights

As Lelouch was given a rare moment of solace with the women in his life abroad, the Avalon, thousands of kilometers away, abroad from the massive shy fortress Damocles, Cornelia was not having as relaxing a time. After they talked with Nunnally, she had requested to speak with her brother in private, which he agreed to without hesitation or fear, something she had come to expect from him ever since they were 10; Schneizel rarely expressed surprise or fear, and he never hesitating as they learned early on that hesitation in the viper pit that was the imperial court could mean death.

As she followed him out of the garden area where Nunnally had taken to spending her time, she mused about their past as she could despise her brother and all he had done. Still, she could also agree with him in others. His efforts to clean up the imperial court were something she would have done if she ever felt any desire for the throne. Still, she didn't want to kill her siblings for it, even those she hardly cared for, so she joined the armed forces instead.

Schneizel, on the other hand, was in a unique position for years, where despite being the second prince, he had been considered the de-facto crown prince since he was 19 when he was made Prime Minister, a position which along with his status as a prince gave him more power and influence than their elder brother Odysseus. Adding to that, his near-perfect track record, diplomatic ability and charismatic charm made it that should he had wished it, he could have taken the throne with a fraction of the blood their father had spilled.

That didn't take away from the fact his sensibilities were just like the rest of them, as her time on the flying fortress proved that the entire thing was built like an art project, with its interiors, at least those she frequented, decorated like a palace. 'You would think he'll want this place in his palace as I've known he can be eccentric. That's why he could handle Lloyd, but this is too much.' She thought.

Maybe he did have dreams to achieve the throne; she wouldn't know, and even if she did, they couldn't be achieved now as their bastard of a younger brother had claimed it. It was decided among them that Pendragon would be attacked as a show of force. She knew that Britannia would never accept her or Schneizel as their rulers after that. Still, the plan had been to just threaten the city and launch the FLEIJA at a distance where only the outskirts would be threatened and destroyed, but it would still remain intact.

'But Schneizel didn't do that.' Cornelia narrowed her eyes at her brother's back. She didn't believe he made errors; he was methodical to a fault. But it just didn't match what she knew about him. Surely, there was something she was missing, a reason why he didn't tell Nunnally that their home was gone.

Eventually, they reached an empty room that her brother directed her into. It was one of the more elaborate ones, and at its center was a statue of some girl sculpted in the style one would have seen at the height of the Ancient Greek world. At the same time, the floor was lined with blue lights, which the main lights off, made it possible to see.

"Now what did you wish to talk about, sister?" Schneizel asked, calm and as pleasant as ever. She had grown up with him and had long gotten used to his charm.

“Pendragon,” She cut straight to its bone. "You told Nunnally that it was only damaged, but I know how the FLEIJA works, and where it detonated, there's nothing left."

"You are, correct? All but the most fringe districts of the city were destroyed." Schneizel confirmed, which only made her all the more anxious.

“Then when did you have the time to evacuate its citizens?” She would like to know how he did so, as they were with Nunnally most of the time before the bombing. Did he have someone else do it? Perhaps he had plants in the city that Lelouch hadn't found or reached, but she still felt like that wasn't enough. The requirements of such a move would have been too much, and it would have made too much noise.

Schneizel’s smile was pleasant but lacked any warmth—a glass smile fit for a doll. “I didn’t have nearly as much time to evacuate, so I didn’t try.”

“You mean-?” Cornelia felt like she had been stabbed in the chest, no-no, that wasn’t right. He would never do something like that!

Schneizel saw her shock as he walked to the side, explaining himself as he did. "I made them…vanish, a better fate than a life in forced servitude to Lelouch, wouldn't you say?"

“That's insane; they couldn't possibly all be under his geass, Schneizel! Even if they were, those were our people, our family." Cornelia countered such a heartless mindset: war was war, and it would never be pretty, but there had to be limits, things that simply shouldn't be done, and this was that. How could they call themselves better than Lelouch when they had just wiped out their entire family?

"True, but how can we tell who is free and who is not? Who's to say that he couldn't have sleeper agents. One could even theorize that you or I are under his sway; we've met with him in person." Schneizel retorted, but that was just nonsense as far as Cornelia was concerned.

"That's insane! We all saw how he took power; one moment, Odysseus was fighting him on his declaration, and the next, he was bowing his head with the rest of them! If we were under his sway, then how…” She stopped a realization washing over her like ice-cold water. How could she have not seen it before? They knew how geass made pawns of people; plenty of reports painted a well enough picture, and Villetta supplied details, but there was a glaring hole she hadn't considered.

“How could we even consider opposing him?” If Lelouch had used geass on his Black Knights, how could they have turned on him? Couldn’t he have simply ordered them to stand down that day? If Lelouch had used his geass on all the nobles, then he wouldn't have needed to spend all that time fighting uprisings that Schneizel never aided, even though they could have proved useful.

The room fell silent as Cornelia came to another realization about this. Looking her brother in the eye as she grew pale and sick, Schneizel met her gaze with that same opaque coldness. "No…you didn't."

“You already considered that…and you killed them anyway.”

Schneizel didn't deny the statement; he wouldn't insult her intelligence, but he did find something off about her reaction to it. "Sister, you believe that I made an immoral choice?"

“I know you did! You slaughtered them all!” Cornelia swung her arm to the side, not believing that Schneizel could be so cold. No, not cold-she had known he was like this for years, but still, how could he justify such slaughter? What could have gone through his head to convince him that this was a path worth following?

Schneizel smiled, seemingly bemused. "And yet, through your career in the military, how many times did you kill innocents? How many towns were razed to the ground? Entire communities slaughtered? I distinctly remember hearing that you ordered the Saitama ghetto liquated to lure out Zero."

She remembered that. She remembered how she kept it from Euphie if only because she didn't want to fight her sister on it, not because she felt any shame or guilt over what she had planned. But she wasn't the same person she was then, she liked to think she had grown, that she had come to understand that it was just a horrible decision, one that was unjustifiable through the many sleepless nights when she would be haunted by Euphie's ghost, asking why she did it and so much else, condemning her like she condemned Lelouch for killing her.

Schneizel didn't give her time to breathe as he continued to point out what, to him, felt like an odd contradiction in her reaction now to her actions. "Your reasoning was that they hadn't reported rebel activity, but could you be sure that every man, woman, and child was a collaborator? What about 75%? Or even just 25%. Of course, you couldn't, yet you still used it to justify wiping them out to the man."

"That was different, and you know it!" Cornelia rebutted, but even she knew it was weak.

"Was it? You did this to demonstrate that you wouldn't tolerate terrorism in your time as Viceroy and to lure out Zero. I destroyed Pendragon to prove to Lelouch that I can and to demonstrate that I won't show mercy to his supporters."

"These acts of evil were carried out without mercy or remorse because we both have goals. For you, you believed that it would benefit the empire, but for me? I believe that it would benefit the world." Schneizel spoke as if he was discussing minor things like the weather or some recent sporting event, not as if the topic was on the ethics of warfare and targeted strikes on civilians.

“You seriously can’t be trying to compare the deaths of thousands to the millions that called Pendragon home. How can Nunnally ever take the throne now? What happens when the world learns this? When Nunnally hears this? She’ll never be accepted as empress.” Cornelia asked him, as that was the crux of things.

Nunnally was the person they decided would be best suited for the throne, someone with as few ties to the old regime as possible, as even her time as Viceroy of Area 11 had been one of the better periods. With Lelouch clearing the court of hardliners and conservatives who bought into their father's ideals, it would be easier for her to assume power once all was said and done. At least, it would have been if she hadn't had to contend with the massive pushback a direct FLEIJA strike on Pendragon would create.

Schneizel saw her point, but he had already accounted for that. “And that is why I chose not to inform her of the details, as that would get in the way of her opposition to our rebellious brother, but when it’s said and done, I’m confident that she’ll see the rationale, even if she would despise the act and even me for it.” He wouldn't mind her hating him so long as she saw his reasons and could accept them. “As for Britannia, they won’t have a choice in the matter.”

Cornelia narrowed her eyes, her stance shifting slightly to make drawing her weapon easier. "Careful, brother. It sounds like you intend to break the agreement and use the FLEIJA's to force our people to have Nunnally as their empress. You and I know that would only spawn hatred in them, as it did with the numbers."

"Cornelia, what do people want? Starvation and poverty? Discrimination and corruption? War and terrorism?" Schneizel ignored the question and switched topics, his eyes shining with a rare bout of emotion, a mix of sadness and anger. He shook his head, and she saw disappointment added to his typical cold, light purple eyes.

"They want the world's problems to just vanish- no, they want those problems to not affect them. They don't care about the how or the why. Why do you think so many Britannians, even those who call themselves devoted Christians and morally righteous, said nothing of our wars, of areas, or the numbers system? Of course, they didn't? Why would they when Britannia also provided such folk with all that they could need and want?"

Cornelia didn't interrupt him, as she, too, had noticed that years before and dismissed them for their hypocrisy and inaction. Some, she believed, were just patriots, but others? Others were simply too weak or lazy to practice what they preached.

It wasn't just them either, as she fought many wars in Africa against E.U forces, and she came to realize how little their leaders cared for refugees-as at times, they would find killed enemy combatants to be from other countries that Britannia had over-ran. In recent years, plenty of elevens were treated no better in Europe than in Britannia as fodder. Why would those euros care? Refugees couldn't vote; they were drains on governments to care for and were a convenient 'other' that could be pointed to when problems arose that threatened those in power.

She and Schneizel regularly discussed this in the past, and she recalled that she called the E.U. shameless cowards as they treated non-citizens the same as Britannia but tried to pretend they were better.

Schneizel continued passion bleeding into his words and rage and disillusionment. "Not even our brother's little band of knights were any different. They called for justice and claimed to fight for it. Still, when it came time to live up to that, they turned on him and lured him into a trap to execute him, quite similar to what Jeremiah tried to do with Suzaku, only they didn't bother with a Kangaroo court because they didn't need to keep up appearances to get what they wanted."

He shook his head, believing that it would have been easier, and prepared his case to appeal them, but it was naught as they were so eager to jump ship, especially that Ohgi fellow. Schneizel suspected serious discontent among their leadership and a desire to fight against Zero. However, it was still a slight surprise to see how fast they turned on their leader and shredded any pretense of law or protocol.

It reminded him far too much of his time fighting the E.U. and how easy it was for him to defeat them in battle-but where he scored the most victories was at the negotiation table as the so-called ‘Europia United’ proved just as self-serving as the Britannian courts he had mastered, as he could turn member states against one another with ease, or even convince them to pull out of the fighting altogether.

Was it a net benefit to the empire to acquire such vast lands and resources with a fraction of the cost of blood, supplies, and time it otherwise would have taken? Yes. Was it wrong that people could, at least on some level, see that fighting was pointless and preserve lives by surrendering? No. But that wasn't that; the men and women he met with were as self-interested, paranoid, and greedy as the nobles he had grown up surrounded by.

"So what? You will enforce your will through fear on our people because they don’t live up to your expectations? As some sort of revenge for failing to be better?” Cornelia asked him, but he only gave her a ghost of a smile, his emotions receding back into the depths of his being.

"Revenge? Come now, Cornelia, you know me better than that. I didn't take this path for such a petty reason. I want it to give the entire world what they want. People bend and break the rules all the time, law and even mortality would be contorted or even disregarded entirely if it suits their needs and wants, but that taught me something." Once, he had been angry; once, he had been an idealist. Maybe that man would surrender themselves to petty things like revenge, but that wasn't the man he was now.

“And what, pray tell, is that?”

"That people don't want freedom. They don't want justice. They want boundaries. Protections from anything that would break them from their comfy lives and themselves. They don't want to think about the problems of others but live inside little bubbles- all safeguarded by a powerful, unstoppable force, and what better way to give that to them than through a system.” Schneizel smiled.

“Pax per vim.” He uttered as if it were a holy phrase or an undeniable truth. “In 10 days, the Damocles will enter the air space of the United States of China and then switch to a secondary acceleration. From there, we'll ascend 300km above the surface, from which point we'll attack every enemy nation with FLEIJAs."

"That's insanity! How can you say you're giving people what they want when you're going to destroy the world? All that would be left will be ruled by fear."

"And as the peaceful, more righteous methods worked? Mankind's history is war. The world is too vast, with too many conflicting interests and pasts, for something as ideal but impossible as peace to exist in our current world order. With the FLEIJA, one single power would rule. One thing would create those boundaries while securing the protections for those that fall in line to continue to live in their buddies."

“And what? You’ll smite any that stand against you? Only a God can do that.” Cornelia countered such a level of power.

“Then I shall become a God.” Schnizel’s quirk response caught her off guard, as it was like all she knew about him was being disproven. But those eyes, she couldn’t tell if he was merely revealing his true self, or this was a change that happened when she wasn’t looking. "If that is what it takes to eliminate the evils of war, corruption, and poverty and ensure that for the first time in humanity's history, reigns."

“Magnificent!” Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Diethard and Kanon, the former newsman overjoyed about what he had heard of Schneizel's place. Uncaring that the supposed God to be planned to christen his new status in the blood of tens of millions like an Old Testament God. “I knew I was right to change sides and support you! Surpassing Zero’s chaos with a state of perfect nothingness and a kaleidoscopic transformation!”

Kanon, ever faithful and collected, wasn't as jubilant as he gave his report. “Prince Schneizel, it seems that Kozuki went rogue and was seen flying towards Britannian forces who let her through without issue.”

“Oh, did that push things up?” Schneizel smiled, as it was something he hadn’t foreseen beforehand, but what he learned from Suzaku and Villetta did imply that the relationship between his little brother and the Guren pilot wasn’t as distant or professional as one might expect. Of course, he could have just geassed her into it, but a part of him doubted it-not that he believed the Black Knights believed that.

“Quite. As you predicted, the Black Knights have requested your aide if you intend to kill Lelouch.” Kanon replied.

"Thank you, Kanon. As you see, Cornelia, they chose the objectively evil option because of fear. They fear that Lelouch would blame them for our attack and yet, contradictory to that, allow themselves to ally with me." Schneizel thanked the man before he turned his sister, as once more he had proof of how chaotic and self-serving humanity was.

“What that why you stayed back? Why you waited for Lelouch to leave for his summit?” Cornelia asked, as she had initially believed he refrained from a strike on the capital to preserve the citizens, even if that meant killing the snake that ruled over them. Now she knew better.

"Correct, though in my defense, I had no part in their conduct. They could have easily handled things much better, but humans are not practical beings; they're emotional, so they set things up perfectly for me, a wonderful means to minimize damage." Schneizel replied, as while formidable, they did need some additional support for the Damocles, and what better place to get it than a force that had been created to fight Britannia? All he needed was for them to slip up and put themselves into a position where they'd happily accept his help.

“Of course, if need be, even if that meant sacrificing 1 or 2 billion lives to achieve a state of piercement peace.” That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back as Cornelia refused to allow him to say more, deceive more, or kill more.

“You’re wrong-peace achieved like that is not peace!” she drew her sword and rushed him, but Schneizel merely snapped his fingers; behind her, a hidden sentry turret popped out and fired, riddling her back with bullets. She was stunned-not by the pain that came from being shot, as she had been in the past, but by the fact Schneizel could so easily do so.

Time seemed to slow for her as she wondered how and why he could. Did he set her up? Had he known she would have misgivings and already concluded she'd need to die? She looked him in the eye, her stunned, wide indigo eyes looking into his impersonal, calm, light purple eyes. Did her life mean so little that he couldn't even shed a tear? Was he so obsessed with his madness that her life was forfeited on the altar?

Time seemed to speed up as she collapsed on her stomach; Cornelia started to feel weak as the crimson stains on her clothes only continued to glow. She couldn't feel her legs as a bullet must have struck her spine, but she did start feeling cold, oh so very cold.

She struggled to remain conscious and hold onto life as Schneizel sighed. For a moment, she felt hot-boiling fury in her breast at the mockery he was putting on. How dare he pretend to feel grief now. "This is so sad, Cornelia. Once upon a time, you wouldn't have batted an eye and would have seen that I was making the correct, albeit harsh, inhumane decision. You've grown soft."

Her fury, no matter how righteous, bleed away with the blood that stained the floor. She felt herself slipping as thoughts raced through her head, memories of better times, Clovis, Euphemia, Guilford, Marriane, Nunnally…, and even Lelouch.

She had failed every single one of them; she wasn't there to keep Clovis from getting involved with geass. She hadn't been present at the SAZ, she had left her knight behind, she listened that terrible night, and she couldn't keep her brother from falling into darkness.

Cornelia struggled to breathe, the taste of copper on her tongue as she coughed up blood. 'No…He didn't fall.' It was funny how things cleared up when death came to collect. She could see it; when she was captured by Jeremiah, she had asked her brother why he killed Euphie; she had seen something that she never saw in Schnezel's eyes.

She had seen genuine emotion in those eyes-hated, yes, but she saw remorse and joy. Maybe he regretted killing Euphemia or wanted to make a world suited for her and Nunnally. She didn't know, but perhaps it was time she, as his sister, put faith in him.

She struggled to form sentences, her mind growing foggy and her mouth not moving like she wanted, but she forced herself to, her breaths getting lighter. “Hurry…Lelouch…”. She closed her eyes.

As the last bits of her life faded away, Princess Cornelia li Britannia, daughter of Charles zi Britannia, the woman known as the Witch of Britannia by her enemies, wished with all her heart that she would see Euphie on the other side if only for a moment so she could apologize before hell took her.

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Suzaku watched as the technicians went through maintenance on the Lancelot. Lloyd typically supervised them to ensure they didn't mess anything up on his masterpiece. Still, he was busy filling Nina in on the situation. Just thinking about it made his blood boil in a fury, but he clamped down on that rage and his other emotions. Now wasn't the time for such foolish things; he was but a sword to a monster, and when the time came, he would cut down his hated master's enemies.

"I thought I'd find you here." He didn't turn around when he heard someone speak; their voice alone gave them away.

"I need to ensure that the Lancelot will be ready for battle; Schneizel is a hard opponent, probably the greatest I'll ever-" Suzaku replied but was cut off.

“You can cry, you know.” He turned to Cecile, his brow creased at her statement. Cecile, for her part, didn't change her stance or face. It was the same motherly concern she always had for him, not a hint of fear or hatred that he had seen in others he worked with.

“What?” He asked her.

Stepping forward, she looked him right in the eye; his title- his achievements and size- didn't intimidate her. What she felt was something she often felt when it came to Suzaku as she grasped his hand between her own. "You can cry. I know that you were close to Nunnally before all of this."

“I’ve managed so far.” Suzaku looked away, but she drew his attention back to her, making him look her in her blue eyes that burned through whatever walls he held up.

“Have you? Have you really, Suzaku Kururugi. Lelouch was one thing, but you always knew he could be a threat; his rage was too strong to just vanish over time." Suzaku’s face tightened, but Cecile didn’t stop. “But Nunnally wasn’t like that.”

"What does it matter?" He tried to pull away, but she stepped forward and tightened her hold on him, dismissing the technicians with a glance and a wave of her hand.

"Don't get smart with me, Suzaku. It matters because you still hate yourself; she was one of the few good things you still had. Now she stands against you after returning from the death you believed you sent her to." Cecile was often patient; one needed to be when you worked with Lloyd. Still, she wasn't spineless- if she had to be blunt. She'd become a sledgehammer, and while Suzaku never said it in so many words, she had spent enough time with him since Lelouch took the throne to know what he felt.

She pulled his head close, resting it on her shoulder. "You can cry; you can't be this lone knight of death. For better or worse, you're human just like me, just like Lloyd-just like everyone else on this ship."

“I….” Suzaku started but bit his tongue. “I don’t have the right…”

Cecile hummed, letting him rest on her. "Maybe…but I believe you do, and I'll say it as often as I need to." She had been since he returned from his ill-conceived ploy to kill Emperor Charles. He was hard-headed, stubborn to an impossible fault at times, but he wasn't invincible; no one was.

"But…I must be strong. I need to atone, but-!" He froze when she hugged him; it was such a simple act that it hit him like a truck. This wasn't the first time she had done it; it wasn't even the 10th, yet it always felt like the first.

"That will be tomorrow; today, you can cry." She repeated, and he couldn't bring himself to fight any longer. her gripped her, his legs losing strength as they fell to their knees, her shoulder growing wet.

"Why? Why do I always find myself fighting those I care for? I killed my father for Japan, and I fought my people as a knight? I fought Lelouch and Kallen for so long and…" He hated it; he hated having to fight those he cared for. What was the point? What was the end of trying to improve a world when he needed to always eliminate those he cared for? Why did he always find himself on the other side?

"Now, I have to fight Nunnally. I might have to kill her. Is this some punishment? Was my atonement not enough?" Suzaku cried, desperate for answers, but Euphie wouldn't show up. She couldn't, but there was someone there, a rock in the storm.

Cecile knew what he and the emperor experienced in this C's world; they had explained it to them before they ever went through with the coup, but she didn't like how since Suzaku had been focused on just that, as it reminded her of when they met-how hard he worked and how part of it came from his desire to die in punishment for some slight he committed.

Now, it was like all he cared for was atoning for it through his actions, but he put so much emphasis on it that it could do this to him. That alone was enough for her to dislike it. "I don't know, Suzaku. Only God can know that, but I know that you're trying. You're trying to be that boy I met back in Shinjuku."

That is something she did like, that she loved in him. For all his faults, for all his sins, he wasn't some mindless soldier. He had a heart, and he tried to follow it, and when he realized he had lost his way, it had nearly shattered him. But he was putting himself back together, and she was there helping him pick up the pieces. Maybe he won't be the same, but perhaps he wasn't meant to be the same; he could be better.

"Sometimes…sometimes life is unfair, and we need to do things we don't want to, but that doesn't make us bad people. Tomorrow, you'll fight, but you get to choose.” Cecile soothed him, Suzaku lifting his head to meet her gaze with tears in his eyes.

“Choose?” Cecile smiled, seeing through the titles of the man she had known, respected, and grown to cherish.

"Choose, I know you'll choose to fight because you believe in your goals. But I also know that you'll choose not to kill Nunnally if given the option. You're not some killing machine, you're not some mindless soldier, you're a caring, passionate person who has made terrible choices but has learned from them." Cecile told him. Her words were soft, comforting in their gentleness, and spoken with a steel conviction to destroy any doubt in his heart.

“And what if I can’t? What if I make the same mistake again?” He couldn't help but ask, as he had thought he was better than the fool who betrayed his father and killed him. Still, he had betrayed his friends when he did nothing when Charles altered their memories. He thought he was better than his enemies, yet he still went into battle carrying a FLEIJA.

Cecile wanted to take away his fears and leave him better. But that wasn't something she could do; all she could do was act as a guide through it. "Maybe you will, maybe you won't. What's important is what you believe will happen and what you work towards."

“Do you remember the hotel jacking?” She asked him, Suzaku’s face pinching at the event.

“It’s hard not to.” He had been worried sick for his friends and horrified when he thought, if only for a moment, that he had lost them.

"I was worried then but also worried for you. You have friends involved. Do you remember what you told me?" Cecile recalled it well, as it was the first sign that Suzaku had issues with how resigned he sounded. “Do you still believe it?”

“What?”

“Do you still believe a heartless system is better than individual choices?” She clarified for him, Suzaku frowning as he thought it over.

“I…I don’t know. I want to…but people can also make poor choices, but systems…can be cruel.” He replied after a few moments of silence.

“I’m the same,” She smiled when he looked back at her, shocked. “If the entire world was like Lloyd, it would be enough to drive me insane, but it would be better.” She joked, Suzaku cracking a little smile as they both imagined that such a world would be insanity given form. Cecile knew that a certain Indian scientist would call such a world hell.

"But that's the beauty of it, isn't it? So many people live on this planet with different hopes and pasts. Yes, it breeds conflict, and they'll abuse their power over others, but they'll also be people fighting for peace and justice." Cecile told him.

"You're not perfect. You have plenty to answer for when your time comes, but so does almost everyone on this ship. We're not angels, Suzaku. I can never be like Princess Euphemia." He looked shocked before guilt settled on his face, but she kissed his cheek, turning both their faces red. She didn't mind that he still carried a flame for the princess; she didn't want to replace her.

“But I can choose to be better than I was yesterday. I can choose to make the world better than it is today. Maybe they won't matter on the edge, but science is all about little advances, and science mirrors life in that regard." She told him, Suzaku leaning into her hug.

“I’m not worthy of you, Cecile?” She held him closer as his arms wrapped around her. In the middle of the knightmare hanger bag, they let down their walls and acted human.

“I’ll be the one that decides that, and I deem you worthy. So please, Suzaku, don’t be the white knight, don’t be the Knight of One. Just be Suzaku, let yourself feel, and I'll be here, same as tomorrow and the day after that." She promised him, Suzaku taking her up on her offer as he started to cry once more, letting his emotions flow without constraint or pause, all while she sat there with him and let him have his moment.

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Well, we're in the 7th chapter, which also happens to be what I planned to be the second last chapter. However, the thing is, I'm still working with stuff that was meant for chapter 5, as I underestimated just how much content this would be. Because of that, I had to think about this for a long time before I came to a conclusion I could live with. Despite the result being well over the word count I advertised, I will use every bit of planning I have. It would be disrespectful to the kind person who commissioned this not to. But after that, I'll take this as a learning opportunity to better plan out stories so this doesn't happen again.

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And done! It took a while, but we finally got another Suzaku-centric scene, this one with Cecile. I've been hinting that they were an item but never found the time to display that and why they're together. As with how Cecile is written, she is a rock for someone as…turbulent as Suzaku.

And yes, before you ask, Cornelia is in fact-dead. To this day, I have no idea how she survived being shot in the back, and while I know the supplementary material explains how she even got off Damocles, the character that did it doesn't even have a speaking line in the series, and is never mentioned so…yeah, Fs in the chat for the former witch, as at least in the end, she realized the truth.