Requiem for a Dream [Suzaku x Lelouch]

III. In Lieu of Flowers

"Lord of Dreams."

Deep within the realm of the Dreaming, Lelouch hears his name being called. He's deep in the heart of his realm, shaping clouds into kittens to send into the dream of a young girl in Russia. Her country has fallen on a time of famine, and she desperately needs a good dream to get her through the night. He's so focused on making the kitten just right that he nearly ignores the call of his name.

"Lelouch vi the Endless. Yume No Seirei. Do you hear me?" This time the call is louder, and Lelouch cannot ignore it. It is coming from the mortal realm. It has been thousands of years since humans knew enough of the Endless to call Dream by name. Lelouch closes his eyes, searching the minds of mortals for the one who calls for him. He finds him quickly.

It is Suzaku Kururugi who calls him. This surprises Lelouch. It has been only a few decades since Lelouch last encountered Suzaku, and Suzaku had not seemed happy to see him the last time they met. Lelouch had begun to suspect that Suzaku would never welcome the sight of him. And yet now he was calling for him by name.

He zeroes in on the place where the call is coming from – a boarding house by the sea on the island of Okinawa in Japan. With a swirl of sand he transports himself from his realm to the mortal world, and finds himself face to face with Suzaku in a small room. Suzaku's face is grief-stricken and red with tears. He kneels beside a tatami mat, where a beautiful young woman with pink hair is sleeping. Her breathing is harsh and raspy, her face flush with fever, and her forehead shines with a sheen of sweat.

Suzaku starts when he sees Lelouch. "You came."

"You called."

Suzaku speaks quickly, with earnest feeling. "Please, she doesn't have much time. It's consumption."

Lelouch looks over the woman lying on the mat. He recognizes her from her dreams. She's another unique dreamer, like Suzaku, and the things she imagines are beautiful. Her name is Euphemia. She is the daughter of a shogun, one of the many who are involved in the ongoing conflict. It's clear from the way Suzaku keeps looking at her that she is dear to him. Lelouch feels for him; Euphemia is clearly on her deathbed.

"No, she doesn't. I'm sorry, Suzaku," Lelouch says sincerely.

"Lelouch, you must give her the same order you gave me. Command her to live. Please. I cannot be without her."

Again, Lelouch is surprised. It is so rare for anything to surprise him, and yet Suzaku seems to do it constantly. It seems that Suzaku has at last found something worth living for. In the next moment, Death appears in the room, although she is not visible or audible to Suzaku. She surveys the scene and then eyes Lelouch curiously.

"Well, Lelouch, what do you think?" CC asks him, in a voice only he can hear. "Shall I try to bend the rules again, and save this woman for your Suzaku?"

"What does Destiny's book say?" Lelouch asks uneasily.

"Never mind that. What do you say, Lelouch?"

Lelouch looks back at Suzaku, who is watching him curiously. He cannot see Death, but he can see that Lelouch is speaking to someone. With Suzaku's astuteness for identifying spirits, Lelouch wouldn't be surprised if Suzaku knew exactly who was with him.

Lelouch looks back and forth between the two beautiful dreamers, Suzaku and Euphemia. He feels a sudden and unexpected sense of propriety over Suzaku. He realizes that he is reluctant to share Suzaku with this girl, though he knows from her dreams that she is worthy of him and will make him happy. But Lelouch knows it is a lonely life that Suzaku has led so far, and so he puts aside this unsettling jealousy and finally nods to Suzaku.