The city was awake and lively, but Lelouch moved as if it weren't.
A quiet tension lingered in the air as he stepped off the train at the far end of Tokyo Settlement, where the towering glass of Britannian spires distracted everyone from the older roads and forgotten walls of Japan. Here, the wind felt more aggressive. The sky felt heavier. Even the ground beneath his feet seemed to echo with the memory of the past.
His footsteps led him to a small flower vendor tucked away between aging concrete columns. The woman behind the stall didn't ask for a name. She didn't need to.
"White lilies," he said softly. "And camellias."
The woman nodded, her hands working with quiet care as she tied the bouquet together with a thin white ribbon. The scent of the flowers was beautiful. His mother loved these flowers.
He left with the bouquet cradled in his hand like a fragile piece of something sacred.
The sky darkened overhead, clouds dragging a gray sheet over the city as Lelouch climbed the hill. The cemetery lay quiet atop the bluff overlooking the residential districts, as beautiful as the Britannian aristocracy could afford. Marble angels, gilded names, granite polished until it gleamed with reflection.
Then there was her grave.
Marianne vi Britannia.
Her grave was flawless.
That was how Britannia liked to deal with its sins. By burying them beneath beauty.
Lelouch knelt before the headstone and laid the flowers down carefully at the base. The petals kissed the marble like a final whisper of something softer, something the world hadn't been in a long time.
He didn't speak at first. There were no prayers. No rehearsed words.
Just silence.
A quiet, familiar voice spoke up from next to him.
"I used to think visiting you like this would help," C.C. said softly.
Her voice didn't tremble. It never did.
"But it doesn't. It just reminds me how much of you is still missing."
Lelouch sat down on the ground in front of his mother's grave, his eyes distant.
After a few minutes, he replied back to C.C.
"I've become the very thing you tried to shield us from. I manipulate people. I lie to them. Use them. They follow a name, Zero, not a man. They fight for a symbol of justice."
A breeze stirred his hair. The air smelled like coming rain.
"I told myself it was for Nunnally. For justice. But sometimes…" He paused. "Sometimes I wonder if it's just for revenge."
He didn't flinch from the thought.
"You'd probably say I've gone too far," he added, almost with a smile. "But I've seen what happens when you hesitate. When you trust the wrong people. When you believe Britannia has a conscience. Having hope is one of the most powerful and dangerous things to have in yourself."
His eyes hardened, violet burning with something fierce.
"They took her from us. From Nunnally. And they didn't even apologize. They pretended it was a tragedy. A simple mistake. I know better, though. I've seen the rot under the crown. The way it eats everything that has any meaning in life."
He bowed his head again.
"I swear I won't stop. Not until they've all paid. Every single one."
His hands curled into fists on his knees.
"And if I die before it's done, then I'll haunt this world until someone finishes it for me."
C.C. stepped forward, boots crunching softly over gravel as she came to stand closer next to Lelouch. Her long green hair fluttered slightly in the breeze. Her arms were folded, and her gaze was fixed on the name carved in stone.
"She was brave," she said after a moment. "I remember that much."
"You knew her?"
"Not as well as I know you. But yes. I watched her from a distance. She was one of the few nobles who still believed in something."
Lelouch's shoulders relaxed slightly, just for a breath.
"I've always wondered if she'd approve of what I've become."
C.C. tilted her head. "You mean the liar? The manipulator? The revolutionary?" She smirked. "Or the boy pretending not to need anyone?"
Lelouch gave a soft, bitter laugh.
"I doubt she'd approve of any of it," he admitted. "But she'd understand."
There was a silence between them again. It wasn't a cold silence, though. It was one of warmth.
C.C. sat down beside him, her gaze drifting out over the cemetery. "It's strange, isn't it? You and I, both chasing ghosts. Yours wears a crown. Mine wears a curse."
He glanced at her.
"Do you regret it?" he asked. "Immortality. Watching everyone else die?"
She looked at him with such emotion in her eyes that he for a moment felt all her pain.
"Yes," she said. "But not enough to stop."
Lelouch nodded. He understood that.
"You think I'm too close to them," he said suddenly. "To Shirley. Kallen. Even Suzaku."
"I think you're human," she replied. "And that's your weakness."
"It's also what makes me better than the monsters I fight."
C.C. smiled faintly. "Maybe. Or maybe it's what'll get you killed."
She stood, brushing dust from her coat.
"But either way, I'll be there."
Lelouch looked up at her.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I made a contract with a boy who thinks he can kill the gods," she said. "And I want to see if he's right."
She turned to leave, her voice carrying on the wind.
Then she was gone.
Lelouch remained, alone with the grave, his thoughts, and the whisper of old vows still echoing in his ears. He wondered why C.C. chose him specifically to be responsible for this power. A power that can one day consume him.
He looked back down at the lilies.
"Goodbye, Mother," he said quietly.
He stood, pulling his coat tight against the wind, and walked back down the hill. I might as well visit the Black Knights tomorrow, he thought to himself. They are sure to celebrate their win in Narita.
Lelouch headed back home to Nunnally as it was getting dark out now.