Vengenace for the Matriarch
Chapter 1 - The Black Princess
Lelouche yawned loudly, much to the dismay of her mother. The circle of generals collectively paused and glanced at her, before resuming the meeting.
The Princess was wearing a simple knee length dress and thigh high stockings, her knee-length ebony hair tied in a high ponytail that spilled down her shoulders. Stray strands framed her face and porcelain skin, which offered a stark contrast to the rest of her attire, which was black. She was swinging slightly on the swivel chair, next to her mother in the circular office, at a circular table.
"Lelouche, a princess never yawns! Stifle it or get more sleep!" Empress Marianne hissed to her daughter.
"It isn't lack of sleep mother, but I would rather be sleeping than here." The princess grumbled. The two were currently at a meeting discussing the state of Japan. Lelouche was decidedly bored, as the information they were covering was either already known to the resourceful young woman, or of no use at all.
"Then you shouldn't have begged me to come!" The Empress replied exasperatedly.
"I didn't know it would be like this! I already know all this, and it isn't as if a drop in working conditions in Japan is going to affect the result of negotiations with Britannia!" Lelouche tried to reason.
"We will discuss this later, concentrate on not embarrassing yourself for now." Lelouche sighed and went back to counting the wrinkles on each of the general's faces.
Princess Lelouche vi Britannia and Empress Marianne vi Britannia were escorted from the meeting place by Marianne's Royal Guard. The group began walking down to the car that was waiting for them. The Royal Guard all mounted Knightmares, save for two she didn't know the name of, who joined the two royals in the car. They were currently on a posting in Japan, or at least Marianne was, to represent the Britannian royal family, and as a sort of assurance that Britannia weren't going to invade. Marianne sighed as they began driving, the Knightmare escort rolling alongside the car on land spinners.
Lelouche rested her head on the window glass, staring at one of the royal guard's Knightmares. Marianne smiled slightly as she watched her daughter. To her secret pride, Lelouche was almost more at home in a Knightmare Frame than she was on her own feet. She had amazing natural skill, and with training, Marianne had no doubt that her daughter would have beaten even her in her prime.
Suddenly, gunfire broke out, and one of the royal guards' KMFs exploded in a magnificent cloud of fire. The car swerved to the right and crashed into a leg of another KMF, sweeping it out from underneath. The massive machine teetered, threatening to fall on the cabin, before firing its Slash Harkens into a nearby building and just avoiding crushing the car. Lelouche screamed as she saw a rocket fly towards the car. One of the Royal Guards KMFs shot in front of the rocket, throwing itself between the car and the projectile. The KMF was hit in the shoulder, destroying the arm and half the torso, spinning it round as it fell to the road, right onto the front of the car.
The vehicle bucked as the armour landed on the front, throwing up the compartment where the two royals resided. Lelouche's head stuck the roof, and all went black.
Lelouche slowly came to, her ears ringing and head hurting terribly. She began to make out gunfire and slowly opened her eyes. The Royal Guard were engaged in a heated firefight with who appeared to be Japanese. There weren't wearing a uniform but were very well equipped with Assault Rifles and handguns. Lelouche assumed they had rocket launchers as well. She was propped up against a overturned car, while one of the soldiers from the car was firing his pistol from the cover. She poked her head up over the makeshift barricade.
As she watched, one of the Royal Guard's Sutherlands came whipping round the corner of one of the intersections and began firing at the terrorists behind cover. The high caliber gun tearing through concrete and metal as it mowed down the enemies. It stopped firing for a moment, only for another RPG to come roaring out of a nearby building, striking it in the Hip Swivel Point (1). The upper body and cockpit was blown off, before it exploded, showering the street in in burning material.
'No, my Black Princess! I have finally found you!'
Lelouche frowned. Going over the words that were not her own, but seemed to appear in her mind. Suddenly, Marianne vi Britannia came sprinting out from cover, scooping up a rifle as she went, before diving back behind the husk of a car. Lelouche watched as her mother poked out and began firing the gun at a terrorist.
Suddenly, movement from the top of a low rise building caught her eye. Two men, one pointing and shouting for his comrade. His partner was loading a RPG into a launcher. He rested it on his shoulder and aimed. Lelouche followed the barrel to her mother. She watched, horrified and as if in slow motion as the rocket left the launcher and traveled towards her mother.
Empress Marianne saw the rocket coming towards her and dropped her rifle. Her eyes met Lelouche's and a faint smile grazed her lips, before her body was engulfed in flames. Lelouche stood bolt upright, utterly horrified, still staring to where her mother once stood, only charred and burning metal and flesh remained. She blinked, looking at one of the terrorists, who raised his rifle, aiming strait for her head. She stared down the barrel, utterly calm. All sound muted, her face blank, she saw in slow motion the man's finger shift, pulling the trigger.
The gun's insides slid against each other, until the hammer was thrown forwards, striking the back of the bullet. Fire blossomed from the muzzle as the metal cone was forced from the barrel, spinning slightly from the rifling. Reality returned in full force as Lelouche was thrown to the ground, a green haired woman where she stood. The bullet smashed into the woman's head blowing a hole in both sides of the skull, blood and bone and brain matter flowing from her like defusing liquid. The woman fell to the ground again, head cracking against the road. Lelouche crawled over, sound still a thing of the past. She brushed a strand of hair away from the woman's face, cupping her cheek.
Suddenly the world around her dissolved, turning a pure white. A series of nonsensical images flashed past, before the same bodiless voice from before came from nowhere and everywhere around Lelouche, echoing through her consciousness.
I could give you power… The Power of the King… The power to survive, the power to live… All you have to do is agree to a contract, and it will be yours… Accept this Geass!
"I accept this contract…" Lelouche whispered, tears prickling her eyes.
Then I bestow upon you, the Power of the King! The power of Geass!
The world slowly reappeared around her, and Lelouche stood up. The Geass Sigil flashed in front of her left eye, and the world slowed down. She could see the guns fire in slow motion, the men stock still otherwise. The sound waves moved slowly through the air, everything muted and low pitch. Lelouche ran up to the guard with the pistol, pulling the knife from his belt. She dashed forwards, dodging around bullets and shrapnel, before plunging the knife into a terrorist's neck. She drew it out before blood could cover her and sprinted to the next man, slashing both his wrists. She threw the knife at another soldier and grabbed the handgun from another before shooting him in the chest.
Lelouche turned to the low rise from before, taking careful aim and firing once. She waited for the mechanism load the next round and fired again. Both were lethal. Her left eye began to burn. She sluggishly pulled a grenade from the last terrorist's hand and shoved it in his open mouth before starting to run back to the royal guard. The pain was excruciating now, and Lelouche was dead tired. She stumbled once, then twice, then she fell to the ground, her body smacking into the hard asphalt. She released her power, and the world came back to normal.
Jeremiah raised his eyebrow as the man he was about to shoot clutched his neck and fell to the ground, blood pouring from between his hands. Continuing to aim down the sights of his handgun, he looked at the next man, who staggered backwards clutching his chest. His eyes wide with surprise, he looked and saw a terrorist stagger onto the road, hands clutched over his mouth. Suddenly, he ruptured, flesh and gore and shrapnel spilling explosively from his body. How did he- why did he swallow a grenade? And how…
His train of thought screamed to a halt as he watched Lelouche fall to the ground in the middle of the street, a terrorist's gun sliding away on the hard asphalt. Discarding his cover he shot out, stowing his gun in its holster went. In the back of his mind he noticed he didn't have his knife anymore.
He rushed to the Princess's side and turned her over, listening for breathing. To his relief it was there, but feint. He proceeded to check her over for injuries. Aside from the bruises on her from the car crash, the bump from the Sutherland falling on the car, the bump from falling on the road, she was unharmed. She also had blood trickling from her nose, and her heart was beating abnormally fast. Ok, maybe she wasn't 100%. Looking around he rushed her back to cover, where the other three remaining Royal Guards stood. The sound of alarms blared from all around, and a team of ambulances pulled up, along with several military transports.
"Daniel, check for Marianne. See if we can retrieve at least the body." Jeremiah ordered quietly to one of the guards. "Oliver, check to see if any of the other Royal Guard survived, I want a full casualty report by evening." The man nodded and rushed off. "David, you're with me." Jeremiah proceeded to pick up Lelouche bridal style, and rushed her to a ambulance, and then to the parked Avalon. Schneizel was going to hear about this.
Lelouche slowly opened her eyes. There was a dull pounding in her head, and there were bruises all over her body. Her vision was barely there, but she saw that she was lying on a medical bed in a white room, with several machines plugged into her, monitoring various bodily functions. There was hushed conversation near her, and she was thirsty. She groaned. The conversation stopped and she was suddenly enveloped in brown and pink locks. She recognised her sister Nunnaly and her half sister Euphemia. Her favourite people in the world. They were eventually pried off by a smiling Shneizel. There was a moment of awkward silence, before Nunnaly leapt back onto her right side, and seemed unwilling to get off. Everyone but the Prince was crying happy tears. Eventually, the doctors convinced the visiting Royal Family to wait outside as they finished up. The doctors approached her after the tests were concluded.
"Well doctor, will I be OK?" Lelouche asked the woman.
"Nothing but superficial damage, it should all heal up in a few days." She assured her.
"However, you had a freakishly high blood rate, and you were completely exhausted by the time you came in, we would like to recommend that you stay here for a few days, to make sure it doesn't come up again."
"Of course, doctor."
"Your Highness, shall I allow your family back in?" Lelouche smiled.
"Yes, that would be alright." The woman left, and Lelouche sipped on a glass of water she had been provided.
Shneizel strode back into the room at that point, standing stiffly at the end of Lelouche's bed. Lelouche scrutinised her brother, and the silence dragged on. Eventually, she broke the silence.
"Terrorists?"
"Yes."
"My Mother?"
"Caught in a rocket blast. This will mean war." Lelouche nodded and went back to sipping her water, searching her brother's face.
"When will I be able to fight?"
"What?" Shneizel stared at Lelouche as if she had gone crazy.
"I will have my revenge. Shneizel, my mother has just been murdered by Japanese terrorists. I am going to make their whole race pay." Lelouche said icily, giving her brother a glare that would have corroded a Knightmare. He sighed.
"I am going to let Cornelian handle this. She looked like she wanted to bite my head off, and it's Emperor's orders." He smiled slightly and brushed some stray hair out of Lelouche's face. "We are going back to Pendragon for now, but you will have a chance. After your training." Lelouche sighed. She wasn't usually one to give up, but he put forward prominent points. She could imagine Cornelia's reaction clearly… And of course the Emperor's orders did help…
"Fine." Schneizel sighed in relief, he had been expecting a fight, and had been ready to pull the 'Protect Nunnaly' card, no matter how low it was. He smiled slightly and excused himself. Nunnaly came rushing back in, and the sisters held each other in silence. Eventually Nunnaly got into bed with her, and Lelouche found her self nodding off to the regular hum of the Avalon's massive engines. She welcomed it, vainly hoping that it was all a dream.
(1) - Hip Swivel Point A term I made up for the socket between the top of the legs and bottom of the torso that allows the upper body to turn.
To be clear, Lelouche's Geass has manifested differently in her than in the anime, due to the circumstances it was bestowed. It is different from Rolo's, because instead of slowing down people, it speeds up Leluche; several times I would add. It is fast enough to have to wait for a semi-auto handgun to load the next cartridge, and to slash someone's throat without getting the knife stained. Perfect for combat.
In this story we will still see the excellent strategist Lelouche, but she will also be very capable in a Knightmare, and as you just saw, in infantry combat.
Lately, I have been obsessed in the gender-swapped Lelouche, and after reading several stories and looking it up on Google Images (not for the feint of heart), I just had to write one.
Fundindar