Day 43: Arts & Crafts Room (4th Shift)

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When Momo left Hitsugaya's side, she felt both relieved to be away from him and disappointed that the nurses had separated them. Either way, she felt like she was suffocating, that she had too much building in her mind with all this on top of the message she'd been given by the undead knight on that rooftop the night before. There was only one way for Momo to relieve the pressure.

After leaving a note on the board for Senna, Momo headed into the Arts & Crafts room. She was still in a lot of pain, but Hitsugaya's healing, though minor, did make it much less painful to hold things. Taking all of the special markers, she stood before the large white board and uncapped the lightest of the colors - yellow.

Save thyself.

Those words would echo in Momo's mind for a very long time. She had much to thank the knight for, the least of which was leaving her right arm relatively undamaged. She needed it for many things, being her primary hand, but right now she needed it for one thing.

Momo began to draw.

[reserved for Senna]

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That was it, then. Lelouch had just come out and said it. Suzaku opened his mouth as if to say something, realized he had nothing to say, and shut it again. For some unknown reason (Suzaku chalked it up to lingering stress after talking to Euphie, and the tension of the entire day) his lip trembled the slightest bit, and he was forced to press his mouth into a thin, angry line.

It shouldn't make sense, because Lelouch had just said Suzaku hadn't done anything wrong, and it shouldn't sting, because Suzaku had never cared what people thought of his chronic lack of obedience. The problem was that this relationship was different, in that Suzaku wanted to prove himself as Lelouch's knight, not just for the practical purpose of their common goals. It was almost like. . . like being Euphie's knight, as much as Suzaku didn't want to admit it. But he could never fool himself into thinking Lelouch was nothing more than his commander.

It had become plain, however, that Lelouch simply wasn't satisfied with Suzaku as a knight, and thought he'd serve better as protection for Euphie. Not that Suzaku didn't want to protect Euphie everything he had, it was just -- it had been so hard to make the decision to continue serving Lelouch, and now he wasn't even allowed to do so. Because there couldn't be any arguing at this point. Not when Lelouch was right.

Suzaku stood up abruptly, pushing his chair in a little too roughly. He'd always been bad at recognizing a lost battle, and maybe he was a coward, but he couldn't take this anymore. Get out of my sight. . . It had only been a couple days ago that Suzaku had pledged himself to Lelouch, with something that resembled hope reigniting in both their eyes.

"Leaving --" you "-- your service is the last order I want to follow." He'd obey everything else, if -- at this rate he was going to bite through his tongue, so Suzaku turned to leave. "I'll protect her," he added, because Lelouch seemed to care so much for whatever reason. Not that Suzaku should even have to say that. How stupid was Lelouch, anyway? Before he could go down that black hole of a train of thought, Suzaku walked off, trying to preserve at least a little dignity by not punching a hole in the wall of the Arts and Crafts Room.

[kingside]

That had done it, then. He'd succeeded, and now-- now neither Suzaku nor Euphy would have anything to worry about that they shouldn't have been. He wouldn't have anything to worry about, because as long as Suzaku was looking after her-- it was better this way.

Lelouch remained impassive as Suzaku rose to his feet, ignoring the way his throat closed at the look on his face. That reaction-- probably meaningless, except in the sense that it confirmed that he had hurt him, but it wasn't like trying to analyze it would do either of them any good right now. Simply allowing Suzaku to take his leave was a far better option, even if-- but he couldn't let himself think that way anymore.

He said nothing in response to Suzaku's parting remarks, partially to enforce the impression of disdain but mostly because he couldn't bring himself to say anything that might hurt him even more. He had done more than enough to him already.

Lelouch quietly returned to his seat once Suzaku had gone, and once there, he picked up the discarded crane with shaking hands and finished folding it.