How Louis Found Kiram
By: Flynn Reynolds
"Next. Next. Next. Next." Louis el Britannia, 3rd heir to the throne of the royal Britannian Empire, said as he was channel surfing. It was just another typical Saturday evening for him. "Maybe the news will have something interesting on." He flipped to the news channel. There, something caught his eye. He had just tuned in to the world news segment, where they cover events that happen all over the world. They were in the middle of discussing current events in Chi-pan.
"Our next story from Chi-pan; a local street gang has apparently committed suicide. Not all the details are known, but what authorities DO know is that there were two witnesses at the event: a male and a female According to footage recovered from a security camera nearby, the witnesses entered the alley and were cornered by the gang. The male removed his sunglasses and shouted something. Afterwards, the gang members committed suicide, and the witnesses ran off. The footage we are about to show you has been censored due to graphic contents. Viewer discretion is advised." They then proceeded to show the security footage.
Hmm. Well this might be interesting. Louis thought. He sat and watched as two people entered the alley way. Huh. That male figure looks sort of familiar. He continued to watch as the events unfolded. When it got to the part where the man shouted something, Louis jumped and paused the T.V. Then he rewound it a little bit, and pushed 'Play.' He listened again as the man shouted something. He paused the video. No. No it can't be. "Johnson, get in here!" A man came into the room.
"What is it your highness?" Johnson asked.
"This video. Is it possible to download it?"
"From the television, no. But if you can find it on the internet, it would be very simple."
Louis grabbed his laptop. It took him roughly two minutes to find the footage online. He then proceeded to download it onto a flash drive. He handed the drive to Johnson. "Take this to the tech people."
"Yes, sir. And what do you wish us to do with the video?"
"I want you to enhance the video. Do whatever you want, but your goal is to find out what the man shouted right before the gang members commit suicide."
"Yes, your highness." Johnsons saluted, and left. Two days later, he called Louis into the technology department in the sub levels of the palace.
"What is it? Did you find out what he said?" Louis asked.
"Not yet, but we did find something else that might interest you."
"Oh? And what's that?"
"We figured it would help if we visually enhanced the video so we could possibly read his lips."
"Ok and you called me in because why?"
"Well it needs to be enhanced a little more before we can read his lips accurately, but we noticed something about his face that's fairly intriguing."
"And what would that be?"
"Well, look at his eyes." Johnson zoomed in on the video. "There appears to be this weird symbol in them."
"Wait. That looks like Lelouch's eyes in 'Code Geass.'"
"What's that?"
"It's this anime show. I used to watch it with my siblings when we were growing up. It was our favorite. I'll have to show it to you guys sometime."
"Of course, sir."
"Hold on a second."
"Yes?"
"Pause the video." The video was put on pause and Louis looked closely at the screen.
"What is it, sir?"
"Look closely at his face. Not just the eyes but his whole face."
"Hmm. What are we looking at, sir?"
"I'm saying that he looks kind of like Kiram."
"Forgive me, sir. But you and I both know that Kiram's been dead for four years now."
"That's not true." Louis said. "Just because someone is legally declared dead doesn't mean that they're actually dead."
"True as that may be, it still doesn't prove that the man in the video is Kiram."
"But the resemblance is almost too similar. Do we have any pictures of Kiram around here?"
"Of course, sir. Smithers, get the picture from the foyer."
"Right away." Smithers exited the room. Three minutes later, he returned with a picture of Kiram and handed it to Louis.
"When was this photo taken?"
"That was taken at your school two days before Lady Hirshina's accident." Smithers replied.
"It WASN'T an accident!" Louis barked.
"Forgive me, sir." Smithers returned to his seat and resumed working.
"What Smithers means is that is Kiram's yearbook photo that was taken two days before his mother's death."
"So this was taken one week before Kiram vanished?"
"That is correct, sir."
Louis held the picture next to the screen. Everyone stared in shock. "I want you guys to continue enhancing it. Both audio and video."
"Absolutely. But it is time for us to leave now. We'll see you tomorrow, sir." Johnson patted Louis on the shoulder as the staff started leaving.
"Wait, where are you all going?" Louis barked.
"It's 10:00 p.m. sir. We are officially off the clock."
"Oh, yeah, of course. I'm sorry. Hey, would it be ok if I just stayed here for a little longer?"
"Absolutely, sir. Just shut everything down when you're done." Johnson headed out the door. Before he was completely out, he stopped and turned around. "Louis, I'm sure it's a coincidence."
"Thank you, Johnson. That'll be all."
"Of course, sir." Johnson turned and left.
Louis sat down at the monitor and resumed the video. He put it on loop and muted. He was in such a shock, he didn't even care about the sound at the moment. He just sat there in silence. He would glance at the screen, then down at the photo, then back on the screen. Kiram, can it really be you? Are you still really alive? Why did you leave? Why didn't you tell us? Louis stayed there until midnight.
Three weeks passed, but Louis couldn't stop thinking about the video and the photo. Even when his father, the emperor of Britannia, was confined to his deathbed, Louis spent all the time he could in the video lab with Johnson and the techies. Hardly any progress was made on the enhancing of the video's audio. Even when the CSI and Forensics teams, who were experts at this type of video analyzing, all they were able to learn was that the man in the video yelled the word 'die' before the gang members committed suicide. Louis got fed up with the lack of progress, and called the R&D team in to make an advanced piece of audio enhancement technology. Johnson was able to convince Louis to return to his room and quit worrying so much. Two weeks later, they made a breakthrough. They had invented a program to take the sound from any source from any video or audio file and split each individual sound into its own sound wave. This allowed them to either increase or decrease the volume of any of the sound waves they selected. They could even delete some of them if they wanted to. After fiddling with the video's audio for about a week, they had what they needed. Johnson phoned Louis.
"What up, Johnson?"
"Sir, we have it."
"What?" Louis jumped out of his seat.
"We know what the man said."
"I'll be there in 1 minute." Louis hung up and ran to the elevator.
"Welcome back, sir." Johnson said as Louis entered the room.
"Thanks Johnson. Now what do you got for me?"
"We know exactly what the man said."
Louis's eyes brightened up. "What did he say?"
"Well sir, I think you should hear for yourself. Take a seat." He held a chair out for Louis. Louis sat down and Johnson hit 'play.'
"Nice try dumbass. Now I won't ask again. Neither will I. Hey, what the hell are you… I, Kiram vi Britannia command you, all of you, die! Yes my lord!" Johnson paused the video. Louis sat there in shock.
"Rewind it. Just a little bit." Johnson rewound the video a little. And played it again.
"I, Kiram vi Britannia command you, all of you, die!" Johnson paused the video.
"I can't believe it. It's him. It's really him. He IS alive!"
"I'm in total shock as well, sir." Suddenly, a member of the royal guard came into the room.
"Announcing her royal majesty, Empress Bailey be Britannia!" The guard stood to the side.
"Wait, what?!" Louis jumped up and turned around. He looked in shock as his older sister, Bailey, who was the second oldest of all the siblings, walked into the room escorted by the royal guard. "What the hell is this?"
Bailey scoffed. "Nice to see you too, brother." She smiled.
"No, I mean what the hell is the royal guard doing following you? They only follow the emperor."
Bailey's face dropped. "That's actually what I came here to tell you."
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Father is dead."
"What?!"
"Our father is dead. As the second oldest sibling, I inherited the throne since Kiram is..." Bailey paused with a slight crack in her voice. "Anyway, the official coronation ceremony will be in about a week."
"Oh my. This is perfect!" All the guards aimed their guns at Louis.
"LOWER YOUR GUNS!" Bailey yelled as she threw her arm out.
"Yes, your majesty!" They lowered their weapons.
"Now Louis, you know what you just said could be taken as treason. So why would you say such a terrible thing?"
"Because of this." Louis turned to the monitor.
"Seriously, you're STILL working with that damn video?! You're father and emperor just died, and you're worried about a fucking VIDEO!?"
"You don't understand, Bailey. Kiram is alive!"
Bailey's jaw dropped. "What did you just say?"
"Our older brother, Kiram, is alive."
"I don't believe you."
"I'm serious. Just watch the video. Come here and I'll show you." Bailey walked over to the monitor. "Johnson, hit the play button."
"Yes, sir." Johnson hit the play button and the video resumed.
"I, Kiram vi Britannia command you, all of you, die!" Johnson paused the video.
"Play it again." Bailey said with a slight crack in her voice.
"Yes, your majesty." Johnson said as he rewound the video. He then hit play.
"I, Kiram vi Britannia command you, all of you, die!" Johnson paused the video. Bailey stood there in dead silence. Her breathing slightly quickened, her lip started to quiver, and her eyes started to water up.
"Your majesty, are you alright?" One of the guards asked. Bailey shook her head and then fell her knees, bawling as she hugged herself. Louis and the guards rushed to her side. Louis knelt down to comfort his sister.
"Bailey, what's wrong?" Louis asked as he rubbed her back.
"I can't believe this!" She cried. "Our older brother is alive. This is the greatest news ever!"
"Then why are you crying?"
"Because if Kiram is still alive after four years, it means he abandoned us. He just left and never talked to any of us again. That tells me that he doesn't care about us. He didn't care how his actions affected us. Even after all the fun we had when we were growing up, he just ran away. He's lost forever."
"But Bailey, he's not lost. I have an idea where he is."
"But how?"
"This is security camera footage from a news report."
"So?"
"So the report was from the 'world news' portion of their broadcast."
"How does that help?"
"They always say where the stories are from."
"Just get to the point!"
"This happened in Chi-pan. The reporter told us the street this happened near. Kiram isn't lost. We know where he is!"
Bailey jumped on Louis and pinned him to the wall. "WHERE IS HE?! WHERE'S MY BROTHER?!"
"Bailey, Bailey, calm down. We don't know EXACTLY where he is, but we DO know what city he's in."
"Then listen to this, Louis. As the empress of Britannia, I order you to find our brother."
"But Bailey…" Louis started. The guards raised their guns again. Louis sighed. "Yes, your majesty."
"That's better. And when you find him, I want you to put this on him." She handed Louis a small silver disk.
"What's this?" He said, taking the disk.
"That's a tracer. Once you set it on him, activate it. That way, we can track you guys on your way home."
"Wait, you saw the video. Kiram probably has geass. There's no other reason those gang members would have killed themselves like that."
Bailey gave a snort of derision. "Don't be ridiculous. Geass isn't real. That's just a T.V. show. Just get down there, find Kiram, and bring him home."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Louis inquired.
"You're going to take some guards with you. They'll have guns loaded with tranquilizer darts in them and knockout gas grenades."
"But what if they don't work?"
"I'm pretty sure that 8 tranquilizers nailing him in the neck and chest at the same time will be enough to take him down. Plus, the gas grenades are powerful enough to take down an elephant."
"Wait. If we're going through all this trouble to get Kiram, why would you want him to be taken down?"
"Louis, think about it. If Kiram's really been alive all this time, but hasn't made contact with us even after he was presumed dead, he obviously doesn't want to be found, nor does he want to come back."
"Then why are we trying to bring him…" Louis started. Bailey glared at Louis and he shut up.
"The emperor is dead, Louis. It's tradition that ALL members of the royal family attend the funeral. He may have denounced his claim to the throne, but whether he likes it or not, Kiram vi Britannia is a member of the royal family. So he doesn't get to skip dad's funeral. Now get packed and get going."
"One last question."
"What is it?"
"What if Kiram finds the tracer and destroys it?"
"If that tracer's signal cuts out for any reason at all, the royal guard and I will PERSONALLY pay him a visit."
"But won't that stir up some diplomatic tension?"
"Let me worry about the politics."
"Understood, your majesty. I shall be on my way." Louis began to leave.
"Oh Louis. One more thing." Bailey raised her hand.
Louis stopped mid step and turned to face his sister. "Yes?"
"Have a nice trip." She smiled.
"Yes, your majesty." Louis smiled back and then left to prepare for his trip. The next day, as he was getting one of the cars loaded, a messenger approached him. He handed Louis a scroll. "What's this?"
"You're being summoned." The messenger said.
"What?"
"The empress has requested your immediate company. She says she needs to talk to you. She's waiting for you in her room."
"Of course, right away. Thank you."
"You're welcome." They both ran to Bailey's room. When they arrived, Bailey was sitting in her chair. The messenger knocked on the door frame. Bailey looked up.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Louis is here to see you, your majesty."
"Thank you. That will be all." The messenger left. "Come in, Louis. Sit down."
"What do you need? I was loading the car."
"You can't leave yet."
"Why not?"
"I want to announce that Kiram is still alive."
"So you want to make this a little more dramatic?"
"Pretty much. But how do we prove it?"
"Bailey, you're the empress. You don't have to prove anything. Everyone will believe you."
"Yeah, you're right." Bailey giggled.
"You just wanted me to say that didn't you?"
"Right again. Now let's get going." Bailey went over to the intercom and pushed the call button. "Hayden?"
"Yes ma'am?" Hayden replied.
"I'm about to make a speech. Spread the word. That will be all."
"Right away, your majesty." Bailey hung up and turned to Louis. "Let's go." Louis nodded and the two headed out of the room.
It didn't take long for the word spread and crowds to gather. Bailey walked to the balcony to a thunderous roar of applause. When she got to the podium, she raised her hand and the crowd was silent. She looked to the side at the film crew. The camera man counted down from five on his hand. After he reached one, he pointed at Bailey. Bailey began her speech. "To all you citizens of Britannia, those who are here, and those watching at home. I, Bailey be Britannia, your empress, speak to you today with good news. It turns out that my older half-brother, Kiram vi Britannia, the 1st heir to the throne, is alive." The crowd gasped. "It's true." Bailey continued. "Kiram is alive and we have an idea of where he is. As such, I have decided to send a party to go retrieve him. This party will be led by Louis el Britannia, the 3rd heir to the throne." She gestured to the side and Louis came out to applause. Bailey continued. "Louis will find Kiram and bring him home for the funeral of father. So without further ado, let us give Louis a warm send off!" The crowd erupted with applause and cheer as Bailey left the podium and she and Louis went inside. Five minutes later, all the cars were packed and Louis and the guards were off to Chi-pan. They drove through down as the citizens cheered them on in a little parade.
As the speech and parade were playing on T.V., one 23 year old girl listened in disbelief as she continuously repeated part of Bailey's speech in her head. This is unbelievable. He's alive. Kiram's alive. My ex-boyfriend is alive.
The End! For Now!
