[Backdated to a day or so after kitty bandages incident...]

[thekingsgambit]

[It is an ungodly hour of the morning that most campers haven't even heard of, possibly just before sunrise, do you know where your failemp is?]


((PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5))

Comments

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[well. I THINK he is in the hospital. and I am just making my daily rounds of the hangars...]

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Is that what you think? Well, I certainly hope those inspections don't involve the bay for a certain h@xy white beast of a machine.]

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[what of course that is the most important part and WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE. You make it very hard for me not to yell at you :/]

...Lelouch!

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Doesn't look up from where he sits beside the leg of the Lancelot. The notepad from the other day pokes out, almost toppling, from the side pocket of his pants, which are torn in numerous places and generally a mess. He's not wearing any coat or jacket and his wildly disheveled hair doesn't help the image. Before him is a chessboard -- recovered from someplace in Shinkiro -- the white half of the board by now suffering substantial losses. He picks up the black king and places it, leaving a dull click in the empty bay...]

Good morning, Suzaku.

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

What are you doing here? You promised you would stay in the hospital until the stitches set. Not only that, you look like you're in much worse shape than when I left you!

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Still not looking up from the board.]

I could not think in there, and I had other things to do.

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[crouches down across the board and snatches off the white queen, considering it]

And what were those other things?

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Glances at the empty spot where the queen had been before slowly moving his gaze up to the piece in Suzaku's hand.]

... Something for my sister.

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[watching him, now unconsciously spinning the piece in his hand in agitation]

Not Nunnally.

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

No, not Nunnally.

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Suddenly gives a short, rough laugh.]

But it wasn't enough. Funny to think that something like that could actually fall short.

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[looking away again, now trying to piece together information. if not Nunnally, then, Princess Cornelia is the only other one in camp, but why...?]

It doesn't look like it went well, no. Especially not for you.

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Shakes his head and rakes his fingers through his hair before sweeping his hand across the board and knocking the pieces in every direction.]

No, it went completely according to plan! I thought through everything. It just...

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

... wasn't enough.

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[raises his eyebrows at the outburst]

Princess Cornelia has always been formidable. Why don't you tell me exactly what happened, because I don't understand. Wasn't enough for what?

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Grips his hair.]

It wasn't. There was another variable, something...

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[reaching out and shaking him by the shoulders]

Lelouch! I can't help if I don't know...

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Jerks back to, wild eyes focusing as if again remembering that Suzaku is even there. The rigidness that had overtaken his body starts to give way...]

Suzaku... I had to come... There's no one else.

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[sighs, dropping his hands, the words familiar]

Tell me.

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Lowers his eyes and his voice.]

I abandoned them, didn't I? You too. I didn't even see it.

It was supposed to be fitting. It was supposed to give them what they needed.

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[breath catching as he finally realizes the import of everything he's said]

That's...

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

You're right. At the time it was what we didn't realize. I didn't, either. That losing you...

[shakes head]

But people will move forward...and the end result was bigger than any of us.

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Looks up at that first part for a moment and then quickly drops his gaze again.]

... Ah, it is not in that that I failed. I know the ones left will decide their own destinies. It's something much more... simple.

[He picks up one of the black knights and squeezes it in his fist.]

Perhaps that's why I overlooked it.

[whenknightfalls.livejournal.com]

[tilts head to the side]

More simple?

[thekingsgambit.livejournal.com]

[Shakes his head, barely, and then reaches for the white queen, which had fallen to the ground in Suzaku's lunge. His smile is strained.]

Personal.

[This almost whispered.]