The Ballet of Geass
Summary: Lelouch thought that he was alone in the world that no one else knew what it was like to be dead on the inside until he met Rin Ogata, the little sister he never knew he had, and together, they will change the world.
Rin Ogata sighed; walking towards the entrance of what would be her new school for her high school years: Ashford Academy. Being an Honorary Britannian meant that she could attend a prestigious school like this. It was a liberal campus so they accepted Honorary citizens, but it wasn't the same, she'd never been the same since her injury.
She might as well be dead, she only felt truly alive when she was dancing on stage, performing ballet, but those days were over. She resigned herself to that fact.
She headed up the stairs of Ashford Academy, preparing to finalize her transfer there. Her brother Kenji had already finished transferring and thanks to their honorary citizenship and the Principal, she was allowed to attend with him. Shouko Uemura her childhood friend would be her roommate and they would live on the grounds of Ashford Academy.
Walking up the stairs, she noticed a young man sitting on the steps, a chessboard in his lap, playing chess against himself. He set the chessboard aside, noticing her. Rin had almost made it to the top of the stairway.
"Excuse me, Miss, are you new here?" a voice asked behind her.
"My name is Rin Ogata; I'll be starting school here at Ashford Academy with a friend of mine," she greeted him politely. "And you are?"
"Lelouch Lamperouge," the young man replied.
"What are you going to study?" he asked.
"Under a different set of circumstances, I would be studying ballet, but that's not an option anymore. So you could say I'm here to just finish high school."
Rin smiled sadly, "The world changes…like scenes on a stage. You're a Britannian so you know that Britannia conquered Japan and renamed it Area 11. The Britannians deployed fantastic new weaponry, the Knightmare frame and the bike that seems to be all the rage these days; I don't know what it's called."
"A Rideback, my friend Rivalz told me he's trying to save up or one, they're fancy and expensive, they used to be used by the military until Knighmare frames replaced them."
"In those days…the air of change was palpable…The increasing military presence, the public retaliations…and their escalation. When the gray sky was the only constant. A new world order. But through all of it…for all of these changes…it wasn't my world. I was simply living my life the way my mother taught me…Doing the best to enjoy the life of peace granted by ballet. It was almost like the invasion of Japan hadn't even happened."
She reached up to the sky as if she could grasp something, "This light, this feeling. This is my world. The only time I'm aware of my own existence is when I'm up on this stage. And then the curtain suddenly fell. And the world changed. I fractured my ankle during my first lead performance."
"When did this happen?" Lelouch queried.
"This year, I've almost recovered, but I can't bring myself to dance again," Rin sat down next to him.
"So I have to find a new hobby. Chess doesn't sound so bad. Will you teach me?"
"If that's what you want, outside of the chess club, few people I know are interested in it. I'll be happy to teach you, you're smart and intelligent. I'm sorry about your injury. Your mother was a famous ballerina, wasn't she? Yuki Ogata?" Lelouch asked.
"I'm surprised you know about my mother, ballet doesn't interest most boys," Rin glanced at him. He was handsome enough, and only a few years older than her.
"My father made me watch ballet growing up, he said it made me cultured. I've heard that you're a prodigy." Lelouch laughed.
"I contemplated trying to contact my birth father, he's a powerful Britannian, he'd have access to medical technology to fix my injury, but then again, I heard about what he did to his Britannian children, so asking him for anything wouldn't be worth it."
"Who is your father?" Lelouch asked, curious. He'd never met anyone who felt the same way like they were dead inside, he thought perhaps, he'd found a friend.
"If I told you, you won't believe me," Rin told him.
"Try me."
"My late mother Yuki Ogata claimed that my father was Charles Zi Britannia, Emperor of Britannia, but of course, that wouldn't look good to other Britannians would it? It's not even on my birth certificate and it's not like he's going to let an Eleven get a DNA sample from him," Rin smirked.
Lelouch was surprised, of all the things he expected when he met Rin Ogata, blood ties wasn't one of them.
"I'm surprised, I thought that the Emperor only had children by his consorts, but then again, he is the Emperor of over two-thirds of the world. I shouldn't be surprised."
"You're smiling…wait, you said your name is Lelouch isn't it? As in Lelouch Vi Britannia the Eleventh Prince that died in the war, that's you isn't it?" Rin felt an emotion she hadn't felt in a long time, she almost felt happy about discovering long-lost sibling.
"I won't deny it, that's who I am," Lelouch admitted. "When is your birthday Rin?"
"September 11th, 2001," Rin replied.
"So that would make you my little sister since my birthday is December 5th, 2000," Lelouch smiled. "Since you'll be coming here that means I'll be able to see you every day. That will be nice."
"You're actually admitting it; shouldn't you deny it and say it's a coincidence?" Rin laughed. "It's a big risk to claim you're royalty."
"You're the first person I've met who has put two and two together, most people who have mentioned it say it's a coincidence," Lelouch put a hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't normally admit it, but you and I are similar."
I didn't think that was possible, Lelouch thought to himself, I didn't think there was anyone else in this world that was just like me.
"How?" Rin asked, curious.
"We both are nothing more than walking corpses living under a false guise of life," Lelouch replied. Rin knew that feeling all too well.
"I'm Vice President of the Ashford Academy Student Council if you need anything, just ask. I'm sure the Principal will recommend you join us, because of your injury."
"Thanks, you're a really nice person, Lelouch. I'm still wondering how I'm going to tell my little brother Kenji."
"You have a little brother, so you're the big sister then, that's interesting," Lelouch noted.
"Why don't you stop by for dinner tonight, Nunnally would like to meet the two of you. We live here on campus as a favor for my sister since she's in a wheelchair," Lelouch got to his feet.
"I'll show you where my house is so you don't get confused," he showed her the way.
He didn't see Shirley Fentte poke her head out the door to ask him a question.
"Geez, Lulu! I wish you'd pay attention in school since when do you go on dates? Ugh, he must be bored again!" she shut the door.
Rin entered her house and smiled. It seemed that her school year was going to start off on a good note, not only would Shouko Uemura be able to attend Ashford with her, but she'd found unexpected family in the process.
"Kenji, are you doing anything tonight?" she asked her younger brother.
"No not really," he lied, he had been planning to go out, but Rin was excited about something and she hadn't been excited about anything since her injury.
"I've met some people from Ashford Academy and…well, it turns out he's my big brother," Rin admitted.
"What?" Kenji asked, surprised.
"You remember what mom told us, about who our real father is? It turns out that the children he sent to Japan aren't dead either; they're hiding in Ashford Academy."
"But if they live there, how come no one's figured out who they are yet? And why would he tell you?" Kenji asked he wondered what she was getting at.
"Everyone assumes it's just a coincidence, but he told me who he was because he understands how I feel, that I'm not really alive anymore after what happened, still, we all remember the news about what happened to his mother, it was all over TV for weeks."
"Yeah, but isn't he a Britannian? Shouldn't he hate us?" Kenji asked.
"He didn't seem to be that kind of person, he was really nice to me, and he didn't care that I was an Eleven. Still, I wonder why he believed me when I told him about father, he didn't have to, he could have said I was making it up."
"Rin, you're not one to really lie to people, I think he knew that, and why would you make up a ridiculous story about being the illegitimate daughter of the most powerful man in the world for fun?"
"I was afraid to tell him, I assumed he would think I was making it up," Rin smiled, "But he was genuinely nice to me."
"It's just so strange, to think we'd find the lost royal siblings here, but it's not like we can tell anybody,' Kenji noted.
"Yeah, who's going to believe us?" Rin nodded. "I'm gonna take a shower and get ready."
Kenji Ogata nodded as Rin left and used his cellphone to make a call, "Sorry Kallen, can't make it tonight, my sister Rin says we've been invited to dinner to meet some people from our new school."
"Which school?" Kallen asked.
"Ashford Academy," Kenji replied.
"What a coincidence, I go there," Kallen laughed.
"Really? How do you manage to skip school to join the resistance then?" Kenji asked.
"I pretend to be sick and feeble so no one noticed that I'm gone, unfortunately, you can't pull that off, besides, if you don't show up, your sister might get suspicious. We don't really know how she feels about the Britannians and we wouldn't want her to turn you in."
"You're starting high school and you don't want your sister to worry, so show up as much as you can, I'll hold down the fort on my end," Kallen replied. "Besides you can always help us on weekends."
"Sorry for having to bail, I'll talk to you again later," Kenji hung up the phone.
They headed over to Ashford Academy and made their way to the male dorms where Lelouch lived.
Sayoko opened the door and greeted the siblings as they made their way inside.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, I don't usually do this to people, but since you are family, I suppose it's only fair," Lelouch smiled.
"Why should you believe her? She could have made it up to impress you," Kenji told him.
"People don't make up stuff about the Britannian Royal Family," Lelouch replied. "For a Number to say stuff like that in public would be dangerous."
"I'll introduce myself, I'm Lelouch, and this is my younger sister Nunnally,"
"It's nice to meet you," Nunnally greeted them. Both Kenji and Rin noticed she was blind.
They reached out and took her hands.
They made small talk until dinner was ready.
"I've always been fascinated by stage production, ballet, like theater is all about theatrics. I've never really performed on stage myself. What's it like?" Lelouch asked.
"My mother used to encourage me if I ever got nervous before a performance, she'd tell me, "Let your heart guide you. It knows the choreography. Take the stage and make it welcome you. Always try to remember, sweetie, your heart is full of light. As long as that light keeps shining you can use it in your dance, it will guide you. And the stage will respond. And then, you can simply enjoy the dance itself."
Rin smiled, "I miss those days, but it seems that I'll be able to find other pursuits to fill up my time with."
"I've offered to teach her chess if she wants," Lelouch told Nunnally.
"That's awfully nice of you," his sister smiled. "But there's also the RideBack club."
"Ah, I almost forgot about that, I don't have the athleticism for that," Lelouch rubbed the back of his head. "Didn't even cross my mind, you might like it."
"I know that a lot of Elevens—I mean Japanese students who attend our school are part of the RideBack Club, it never really caught on with the Britannians, despite the fact that they are a Britannian product," Lelouch explained, "My friend Rivalz loves them though."
"Don't feel bad about offending us," Kenji told him, "We got used to being called Numbers."
Lelouch noticed he didn't feel comfortable saying that, but he was very convincing when it came down to it.
He's hiding something from her, that's interesting. It wouldn't surprise me if he's part of a resistance group, a lot of Elevens are. But how are they going to change the world, no matter how hard you try, it just can't be done.
Lelouch smiled as they continued to talk, he wished he could bounce back from his problems like Rin seemed to, her injury was physical, while his was more of an emotional and metaphorical one, and unlike hers, although she hadn't gone back to dancing, taking down Britannia wasn't something that could heal like an injury. But he would change the world, no matter what. For the new family that he had found, and the one that he had now. That was what he promised himself.