****
Lelouch stood outside the small guest room, listening to the sound of soft crying through the door. At first, the leader of the Order of the Black Knights paid their hostage scarce concern—it was not as if he truly planned on harming her, besides which he had far greater problems to face. But the more he considered the matter the more bothered he became. It was as though the Emperor’s tampering with his memories had left the undesired side effect of resurrecting his capacity for empathy, which he had sought to abandon long ago.
Perhaps I’m not cut out to be a cold-blooded revolutionary after all.
He placed his hand on the knob and opened the door.
The girl with snow white hair sat on the guest room bed, still dressed in her bridal dress as she wiped at her eyes between occasional hiccups. When she looked up and saw who had entered a look of fear appeared on her face. Holding up his hands to show that he meant no harm, Zero walked slowly towards the center of the room. When he was three feet away, he lowered one knee to the floor and bowed perfectly as one hand reached behind his head to unlatch the helmet; later, he could use his power to make her forget, but for now all Lelouch wished to do was to put her at ease. “I beg your pardon, your highness, for all the inconvenience we have caused you.”
Tianzi’s eyes widened at the face revealed from beneath the mask, one far younger and fairer than she had imagined. Smiling as warmly as he could, Lelouch opened his hand to reveal a perfect red paper crane. After a moment’s hesitation, the girl reached forward to take the offered gift. “A girl used to make these and give them to me as gifts. She told me that once you made enough, your wishes would come true.”
Fear slowly turned into awe as the girl examined the simple yet elegant craft, dainty fingers turning the crane over as she examined Lelouch’s work closely. A moment later, she turned back to her captor. “You are Kaguya’s husband.”
The prince blinked, than started to chuckle. “Kaguya is my friend.”
Tears completely forgotten, Tenzi’s face lit up in delight as she began to ask questions.
****
Five minutes later, after she had blown her nose on his handkerchief and after he had gently cleaned her face of the tear streaks, they chatted at length about their mutual friend (who left the little Empress not a little confused, for she was certain that the reason why her best friend had left was because she was going to meet her “husband”) as well as about bits and pieces of the world outside. When the conversation turned to her own recent engagement, the clouds returned to Tenzhi’s expression as she drew up her knees. “I did not want to marry a stranger. I told them so, but no one would listen to me. They said it was for the good of the country.”
Lelouch nodded sympathetically. “I have a friend with similar troubles. She is a bit older than you, close to my age, and her father and mother want her to marry so that their family’s name might be restored.”
The girl tilted her head, keenly interested. “What happened?”
“Well, she certainly did not want to, so she invented numerous ways to scare away her suitors. One time, she let loose a hive of bees in the dining room…”
His audience covered her mouth and gasped. Lelouch went on. “Another time, she spread glue on the chair the man was sitting on so that he got stuck. They finally had to bring in a carpenter, and by the time he was free there was a hole in the bottom of his trousers.”
The Empress began to giggle, her heart filled with admiration for the girl’s resourcefulness and courage and a yearning to meet her someday. After several more gripping tales of Milly’s exploits, Tenzi’s mood was completely restored. Sighing with happiness, she turned to her captor with a smile. “Thank you, I have not had so much fun since Kaguya left.”
“You’ll see her again, I promise you.”
The little Empress’ smile grew as she watched Lelouch intently. “She always spoke of you with such happiness, now I know why. I wish…”
The sentence trailed off, and Lelouch, ever unaware, only looked on as a faint blush appeared on his companion’s cheeks, suddenly bashful.
“… I wish I could marry someone like you instead.”
Momentarily stunned as he absorbed the comment, Lelouch soon recovered, and kneeling before her once more, he took and lightly pressed his lips to the back of her hand.
“Your highness, you deserve far better, and one day you shall meet the gentleman who will be worthy of you... though I doubt any man could even come close.”
At these words, the little Empress beamed as her face flushed with pleasure.
****
A few hours later, when Chinese forces under Xingke began to close in and the time came for captor and hostage to part ways, Lelouch found his victim looking up at him with worry in her eyes.
“Will we meet again?”
He was wearing his mask, Zero once more, and yet the man inside found himself unable and unwilling to leave the girl in a state of melancholy; she had been through enough as it were, and for those without power of their own what price could be named for hope?
Glancing around quickly and satisfied that everyone’s attention was elsewhere, he bent down and extended the pinky on his right hand.
And thus, in the midst of all the betrayal, intrigue, and violent conspiracies, a new promise was made.