[Code Geass] - Flowers and Crystal Gardens
Flowers and Crystal Gardens
Fandom: Code Geass - Hangyaku no Lelouch
Pairing: Mentioned GinoxKallen, platonic Scneizel+Kanon
Active Characters: Kanon, Gino
Theme: Spiritual, family, friendship
Related directly to previous fic, Candles and Frames. This piece deals with Kanon and Gino coming to terms with the aftermath of the war.
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Kanon Maldini delivered fresh flowers to the final resting place of the 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannia Empire every week. The flowers were never the same. He made sure to find different types of flowers and of different colours too. Flowers bloomed around the world after the catastrophic war, ones never before seen on the face of the Earth surfaced to the ground to be discovered. The joy of a new world in a burst of colours and soft petals, Empress Nunnally had once mentioned.
Kanon wanted Emperor Lelouch to see them. The flowers.
It was bizarre. He was never the Demon King’s aid, nor was he ever one of his minions. He was Schneizel’s, and they all knew which side the Prince was on during the war. Some people talked behind his back, accusing him of all sorts of things he stopped bothering to find out after some time. Let them talk, he convinced himself. They didn’t know anything.
Zero was not the only one who knew what truly happened the day Emperor Lelouch died. Kanon was smart. He wasn’t Schneizel’s aid because of his face, contrary to popular beliefs. He knew when to read between the lines. He had gotten a first hand experience of seeing someone being Geassed.
It changed his mind about Lelouch. Lelouch was the Emperor. Lelouch was on his way to becoming his own God. He didn’t need Zero anymore. Zero was abandoned. Zero was dead. Yet, he ordered Schneizel to obey Zero.
Kanon knew something was not the way it seemed right then and there.
He didn’t know if he should cry or laugh. He was happy that Schneizel was still alive, glad that the Prince who was once always ready to face death was no more. Schneizel devoted his life to serving Zero and aiding Empress Nunnally in the new Britannia. They were calling it Neo Britannia. Not an original name, but it was clear and concise and told a different story than its predecessor.
The tomb was like a castle in itself, built like a fortress to seal away the evil that was the tyrant. Few had ever ventured into the cursed fortress, fearing its ominous scent of dangerous mystery. Those who had, however, knew better. It looked intimidating from the outside, but beyond the gigantic walls was a serene garden. An altar stood in the middle of it all, shielding a large tree made of crystal from the sun and the rain. Empress Nunnally had commanded the crystal tree be built as her brother’s grave marker.
Kanon thought the Devil’s Tomb, as people had called it, was one of the most beautiful places in Neo Britannia.
“I never thought I would ever say thanks to Geass when I had only ever thought of it as the embodiment of evil and ill wills,” he whispered to himself, words partially drowned by a gush of wind. “But it was Geass that kept His Highness Schneizel alive. It is selfish of me to be happy, but I am. Even if his wills had been originally shaped by your Geass, I’ve never seen him as happy as he is now in all the years I’ve worked for him.
“You, Lelouch vi Britannia, are an enigma.”
He watched the petals sway to the rhythm of the wind. They were a bunch of pleasant scented flowers of a new breed, lavender in colour and void of thorns. Zero thought it was fitting for someone like Lelouch when Kanon walked past him earlier.
“Ah…”
Kanon blinked. The gasp did not belong to him. He turned almost too sharply to look at the intruder, relaxing only when he saw the person. Adorned in a military uniform befitting of a noble, Gino Weinberg took graceful steps towards the altar. He was no longer a Knight of Rounds - the hierarchy no longer existed, faded away with the war. He was merely a loyal Knight serving the gentle Empress, and lover to beautiful and hard-to-win-over Koudzuki Kallen.
“Lord Weinberg,” Kanon nodded his head in acknowledgement. If his memory served him right, it was Gino’s first visit to the tomb. “What a pleasant surprise to find you here.”
Gino nodded back. “This place… is magnificent.”
His breathless statement earned a smile and a weak chuckle from Kanon. “I see you’re genuinely surprised, though it surprised me more that you’re actually gracing this accursed tomb with your presence.”
Gino threw his head back and laughed. “If you were trying to throw my words back at me, I believe you should rephrase the last part with ‘your holy presence’. I am not proud of that moment, Lord Maldini. I was but an ignorant youth trying to put the blame on someone.”
“It had only been two years. You are still, dare I say it, as much of a youth as you once were.”
“I’ve grown, Lord Maldini. I may still have a long way to go, but I’ve grown. My eyes are clearer, and I don’t even need to wear glasses to see what has been here all along.”
The wisdom in Gino’s words stunned Kanon for a brief moment. Gino was barely 20 years in age, but he was already talking with an air of determination that could only have resulted from a thorough journey through one’s own soul - the determination that might as well had come from a seasoned scholar.
They stood staring at the crystal tree in silence, admiring the beauty of its craftsmanship. The golden embossed letters spelling out Lelouch’s name glinted in the sun as if greeting the two men in an imaginary ‘hello’.
“He was smiling when he died,” Gino stated dully, keeping his gaze on the tree. “I didn’t know it then, that he had just finished acting out his last part in the play he composed and orchestrated.”
Kanon shook his head slightly. “I didn’t think anyone was supposed to know.”
“And yet you did. You’ve been bringing him flowers since then.”
“I was only at the wrong place at the right time. I saw what no one else saw. I only wondered why I was kept alive.”
“Maybe he didn’t think you’d put two and two together like you did.”
Kanon shook his head again. “I don’t know. He’s too clever to overlook that. But maybe, just maybe, I was not enough of a threat for him. I was, after all, but an aid to Prince Schneizel. I possess no such intelligence or agility befitting of royalty. He would have been correct in that assumption, I must tell you.”
Gino looked thoughtful for a moment, eyebrows furrowing slightly with mild concentration. His thoughtful look was soon replaced by a flash of realisation, which transformed into a full-blown smile. “You sell yourself too shortly, Lord Maldini. I think you’ve had the answer to that particular mystery all along. You might have unknowingly been playing one of the many roles in his elaborately scripted play. I think Lelouch needed for you to be alive.”
Kanon frowned. “I’m not sure I understand you.”
“Did you know Lelouch loved his brother Schneizel? Never mind their rivalry, but blood runs thicker than water. I’ve seen the photos, and it makes me think. He might have harmed them in the journey he chose, but he couldn’t have completely killed his feelings and his memories. Bonds so close are hard to break, you know.”
Kanon still did not understand. “And your point is?”
“If His Highness Schneizel is taking care of Her Majesty Nunnally and aiding Lord Zero, who would take care of His Highness’ wellbeings if not his loyal aid?”
The slightly more effeminate of the two men took a sharp intake of breath. Could it have been so simple, the answer to the mystery of his survival? How was it that a man a decade his junior could unravel such mystery with such ease when he struggled so hardly to get the answer?
Kanon felt a wave of pride and sentimentality washing over him like a tidal wave. His gaze softened and he could not stop smiling. He would never get the real answer from Lelouch himself, who was long gone, probably watching over them whilst laughing at their occasional foolishness. It was close enough to a real answer, and Kanon would keep it in mind. Soon as the clock struck 12 in the afternoon, Kanon excused himself from the garden (for his mind would be more comfortable calling it a garden than it would a tomb) to resume his duty as Schneizel’s right-hand man.
The silence was not unnerving to Gino. He enjoyed the wind; he meant it when he acknowledged the magnificence of the late Emperor’s final resting place. Of course, he should expect nothing less from Her Royal Majesty. Emperor Lelouch was the one dearest to her. If you’ve known or heard of Lelouch Lamperouge, there would not be a time when you would not begin to doubt if the Demon King was as evil as he portrayed himself to be. One could only wonder how someone so gentle could be so heartless in his quest for world domination.
Gino himself had spent no less than a year in confusion. He hated Emperor Lelouch, and rejoiced when he died. He didn’t know who Zero was, but he remembered praising him for his deeds. Zero had brushed him aside, ignored him; he never said anything to Gino unless it was absolutely necessary. He was content with respecting Zero’s need for secrecy over his ever mysterious identity at first. Months into Her Majesty’s reign, the familiarity of his dealings with Zero struck him as odd.
The way Zero brushed him off was way too similar to someone else he knew. And then there was Kallen. He always wondered why she insisted on keeping Suzaku and Lelouch’s photos. It was not until after the first anniversary of Lelouch’s death that things started to click in Gino’s mind. Kallen lit candles to remember the ones they had lost. Gino made her tell him the names she carved on each candle.
There was no candle for Suzaku.
Kallen only blinked and looked sheepish when asked. She told him she ran out of green candles and thought it inappropriate to use other colours on him. Two days later, Gino found out she never prepared any green candles in the first place. A week later, he found out why.
If finding Arthur the cat lounging comfortably on Zero’s lap, lazily chewing on the man’s gloved fingers was not proof enough, Gino didn’t know what was. He remembered paying Kallen’s house a late-night visit after a hurried journey to Japan, resting his head on her lap and hugging her waist for comfort. He never felt more like a little child than when she stroke his hair, as if she understood what was going on in his mind. Before going to sleep, he asked her if she still had spare candles that he could borrow. She showed him her storeroom where she stored the candles.
A knowing smile adorned her lips when Gino took two purple candles out of the stash. They were lavender-scented too. He slept peacefully that night.
Purple was Lelouch’s colour, but purple was Zero’s colour too. It didn’t matter which Zero he was.
Gino sighed, breaking out of his own reverie. He took out a small bag of scented potpourri out of his pocket and put it next to Kanon’s flowers.
“I’ll bring proper flowers next time,” he whispered to no one. “And that’s from myself and Kallen, if you couldn’t tell.”
Bowing lightly to the grave marker, he gave the crystal tree a lingering look before turning around to leave. He had duties to attend to.
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A/N: Many characters need closures, Sunrise!