Lelouch immediately saw the effect his question had and regretted asking it. "Sorry. Didn't mean to bring that up."

"It's fine," Ishi said in that same quiet voice, standing up and limping to the door. "It's all in the past now..."

'But not in my memories.'

"I'm going for a walk, okay?" She told Lelouch, still solemn and walking out without another word.

Lelouch could see that she needed time by herself. "Sure go ahead. I'll keep an eye on this guy in the mean time."

Even though she knew that she wasn't supposed to be walking this early due to her leg injury, but Ishi didn't care--her mind was currently occupied with pushing back the memories of years ago, the painful shards of her childhood that she wanted to throw into the black abyss of oblivion for eternity. A sudden sharpness flooded her senses and she collapsed to the ground, curling into a tight ball in an effort to block out the pain.

It hurt so much; tears were leaking from Ishi's eyes as the past she never wanted to remember flashed before her eyes, tearing her apart from the inside...

Lelouch had a feeling that he raised a topic that he shouldn't have. He had a bad feeling that something was wrong with her. He felt like he should apologize. He got up to walk out the door and as soon as he opened the door he saw that Ishi was on the ground crying immensely. He quickly knelt down next to her, "Ishi! What's wrong? What happened?"

"Kaltan...Kaltan!" Ishi sobbed as she curled into an even tighter ball, fingernails clawing deep into her arms. The blood...she could still smell it...still see it...still taste it... And it was of her kin.

"Woah woah, Ishi, calm down! No one is here and no one is going to hurt you." Lelouch saw that blood was flowing down her arm from her fingernails. "Hurting yourself isn't going to make you feel better. Now snap out of it, I am here to protect you from now on." Lelouch saw it wasn't working so now he had to resort to drastic measure.

He grabbed Ishi by the shoulders and literally shook some sense into her. "SNAP OUT OF IT! No one is here to hurt you! I am here to protect you but I can only do that if you let me! Now please, come back to me."

It seemed to work as Ishi found the gruesome images leaving, her sight being replaced by a worried Lelouch Kastina. Tears were still trekking down her cheeks, soft whimpers escaping her lips. "Lelouch..."

"That's right, Ishi. It's me, I'm right here. I am not going anywhere." Lelouch wrapped his arms around Ishi.

Almost immediately Ishi broke down and clung to Lelouch, sobbing into his shoulder and soaking his jacket with her tears. "I r-remember them...s-seeing them...being t-torn apart..." she hiccuped.

Lelouch just held her and rubbed her back to comfort her. "It's okay. Nothing is going to hurt you anymore. I am here for you." Lelouch couldn't imagine what was going through her mind right now.

Although the memories had been driven back, they were still there lurking in the darkest corners of her mind. Ishi continued to hiccup and cry, eventually wearing herself out and falling asleep against Lelouch's shoulder, her fingers still curled around his clothing.

Lelouch noticed that Ishi had falling asleep. "You poor girl. Wish there was someway I can make those awful memories go away." Lelouch picked up Ishi in his arms once again and carried her back to the room. He remembered that Ishi's friend was still asleep on the bed so he just sat in a chair in the corner of the room and let Ishi sleep right there in his lap. He placed her so her head rested against his chest where she wouldn't fall off. He then took out his instrument again and began playing a soft tune and hopefully that would offer her dreams some peace.

She was in the dream again, but this time it was different--instead of nighttime it was daytime, and everything could be seen clearly. Ishi found herself walking towards the cozy little house out in the forest of Shuez Net, opening the door and being greeted by two children, a boy and a girl. They looked like her with their chocolate brown eyes, but their hair was a silky charcoal. Their smiles were definitely hers though, especially when they laughed, so full of joy. She then felt arms wrap around her waist from behind, their embrace offering only warmth and comfort. She didn't even need to turn around to know who it was...

"Mmm...Lelouch..." Ishi mumbled as she adjusted a bit, unknowingly burying her face into the crook of said man's neck.

Lelouch kept playing his flute. He focused and channeled his thoughts to Ishi. "I am right here, Ishi. I always will be."