A/N: Story completely rewritten as of 6th December 2016. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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- Tokyo, Japan, 07:30 AM -
(Standard Japan Time)
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Tearing. Chewing. Hissing. A ray of bright red light shone from afar, ever so slightly illuminating the disgusting creatures that crawl all around him. His lip curls into a disgusted sneer as one of them rests on his shoulder, making a buzzing sound before jumping off, chittering with laughter. Throaty, wretched groans and moans make him grit his teeth in disgust. A sudden voice, louder than thunder itself shakes the earth around him, yelling unrecognizable words and making him clamp his ears shut with his hands and scream in frustration.
A gasp.
He sits up in his makeshift cot, gasping for breath and clutching at his throat with one hand. The bright red sign on it glimmers, as if taunting him in the ray of light cast by the dawning sun through the solitary window the room possessed.
It was quite barren, as befitting of the rundown hotel he'd picked at random when they had made their way to Tokyo. A simple, though not exactly clean wooden floor, partially covered with a carpet of dubious colour, and cream painted, sporadically patchy walls serving to give it a decidedly cheap feel. A single bed resided next to the wall, the tall pile of thick blankets covering the other figure seeming to hardly provide sufficient warmth, judging by the way they shivered every now and then.
With a ragged sigh, he finally calms down, pushing his hair back with one hand as he stares through the window, baring his eyes for the world to see. Both shone red with unrestrained power of the Geass before calming down, settling into a soothing violet. Lelouch Vi Britannia groaned at the sudden pain in his lower back, dearly missing the soft, warm beds of the Imperial Palace.
There was a cough from the bed, making him stand up another grimace, suspiciously staring at the lying bundle of blankets. Awake already? It's only been a few hours. Not that either of them had been getting much sleep in the past few weeks. Too many nightmares.
He quietly went over to the lying figure's side. Raising a hand up in the air, he roughly brought it down on its back a few times, making her yelp in shock "Up and at it, C.C.. We've spent enough time in this hole."
Groaning, a single honey-gold eye opened and looked at him in confusion, before closing again, grumbling something unflattering about his mother under her breath. Lelouch smiled, "Keep that up, and next time you'll be the one on the floor." he murmured, before leaning backwards and stretching. Sleeping on the floor was hardly doing wonders for his spine - much less his sore muscles.
Such was life in self imposed exile, he mused. He still remembered the luxurious environments of the Imperial Palace, and the comforts it brought him in the lonely afternoons and evenings. Resting in front of the roaring fireplace, a warm cup of tea in one hand and an actual, paper book in the other, contemplating whether he should throw something at the green haired woman that snored on the room's sole, richly draped couch.
A roar of wind invaded their sanctuary from an opening in the wall, interrupting his reminiscing and making him curse with surprise as he shivered again, quickly pulling his blanket tighter. Striding to the window, he slammed it shut and attempted to fix the bolt into place with a growl, cursing the number that had built the place.
With nary a whisper of moving blankets, a girl sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes with one hand and scrunching her nose at the offending gust of air "You know, Lelouch…"
"Yes?" he said distractedly, trying to slam the little metal part down and getting steadily angrier as it denied his efforts.
"When you said we had to live a life of not many comforts, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Why couldn't we stay at that nice hotel we used a few months ago?"
He raised his eyebrows, giving up on the bolt with another punch and turning around "Ah, would you prefer to be burnt at a stake instead? I'm sure I could arrange something for you."
She huffed, conceding his point. Grumbling, the girl threw the blankets off herself and, after patting down the wrinkles from the bed cover, sat back down, crossing her legs "It would make me warmer, at least."
He nodded, peering outside "True, though I doubt your nice clothes would like it as much as you would. They wouldn't get as much use." She scrunched her eyebrows together, her tone threatening, yet tired "Are you trying to imply something, Lelouch?"
He coughed out a laugh, turning around and pulling his bag from the ground and onto the bed, next to her folded, shapely legs, and opening it with the rasp of a zipper, "I think I remember Nunnally wearing something similar when she was five. I also seem to remember them being prettier than that thing you're wearing."
The girl in the bear patterned lavender pajamas flopped back down onto the pillow, throwing her arms on either side and conceding defeat once again "I hardly expect you to understand fashion, Lelouch. I'll have you know this is the latest trend."
"Yes, yes. They do bring out the best of your assets. Go take your shower; I'm trying to call Orange." he distractedly muttered, continuing to rummage through the bag with his brows furrowed in frustration.
She sighed, standing up and yawning, before trodding into the room's on-suite bathroom and softly closing the door behind her, no doubt getting ready for the day.
With a triumphant growl, Lelouch pulled out a rather unremarkable matte black mobile phone and punched a number into it. He threw the bag aside, knocking over a small, black box filled with differently coloured contacts he used daily and laid down onto the spot previously occupied by the girl. He closed his eyes as the connection was established, drinking in the subtle smell of white roses she always left in her wake.
A click. He focused.
"Bishop wishes Valencia. Pattern white? Confirm." Crackling is heard, before a deep voice comes through, immediately and correctly "Valencia answers Bishop. Pattern white. Confirm."
He nodded with satisfaction, happy that his weekly check in hadn't yielded anything of interest. The voice continued, "Sanctuary calm, by dawn's light? Confirm."
"Confirm," he said tiredly, slamming the pillow in an attempt to flatten it. "Valencia, slumbering." came the reply from the other side before the call ended with a loud click.
He threw the phone aside, sinking deeper into the cushions the girl had piled on the bed. The code he had devised to use for communication with Jeremiah was imperfect. To any outside observers, it would seem oddly simple, and that was precisely the beauty of it.
While one might spend days trying to decode the true meaning, the code itself was deceptively simple in its design, devoid of any mathematical encryption. Truly one of his masterpieces, he thought. Lelouch closed his eyes, enjoying the incredibly soft - at least compared to the floor - mattress. Street vendors could be heard outside, trying to peddle their wares to an unsuspecting passerby. Sinking deeper into the luxurious softness, he sighed, enveloped himself in the warmth.
Something impacted his chest, jerking him up in alarm. He blinked at the empty bottle of shampoo on the bed and looked at the frowning girl standing in the doorway, the hands on her hips stretching the simple pajama top against her deliciously large chest.
"And just how am I supposed to keep my lovely hair silky smooth with nothing to clean it with, Lelouch? Hmm?" she said, lifting a hand to finger one of her luscious locks, amusement twinkling in those lovely golden orbs.
He dropped his head back down with a sigh, well used to the situation. "You know, you've been getting steadily more and more selfish as we traveled. What happened to that cute little girl that would save me a pizza slice and welcome me home after a long day of work?"
"I didn't have any memories then, as I'm sure you recall. You'd prefer a shy little girl that caters to your every whim instead?" she replied with a frown, leaning against the side of the doorway. "Your ego is too big for that; you need someone like me to keep you in check, or it would just keep growing and growing until it pops."
He put on his boots as she talked, nodding in reply, "And when it does pop, it won't end well for you. It doesn't make me any happier, though." walking over to the exit, he put on a small cap and turned around, "I'll get us some breakfast before we head out. Start packing, we're leaving as soon as I get back."
Without waiting to hear a snarky reply, he walked out and slammed the cheap door shut behind him, the coat hook on top of it clattering and rattling. She walked over to the bed and gleefully jumped down, knocking down a small box that was covered by his bag. Leaning over, she carefully opened it and saw rows of differently coloured contacts. Her mouth open in a small o, she looked at the door and back a few times before closing it, "Oh well. I'm sure he'll be fine."
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The sun was slowly moving higher in the sky, and C.C. had yet to change her clothes, or even get out of the bed, for that matter. It was hardly her fault, she'd say. After all, she was simply chronically tired by nature - nothing could be done about it.
She sighed as she got tired of thinking up excuses for her laziness, rolling onto her back and raising a hand to play with the rays of light shining through the half open window, listening to the hustle and bustle of the district below her. What an odd location for Lelouch to drag them to.
Tokyo was, after all, quite famous for being the home of the Black Knights ever since their founding. Naturally, Lelouch had pointed out, he had plenty of secret resource stashes hidden around the city itself, so money was far from a problem.
Carrying fake identities, they had slipped into former Area 11 under the cover of night all those months ago, with Lelouch picking a hotel for them to stay in at random. The sleepy owner hadn't paid them much attention, letting them pick a room before putting down the key and waving them on their way, doubtlessly thinking it was just another couple in love looking for a quick love hotel to stay in for the night. Since then, they had been traveling around the slowly rebuilding country, enjoying their solitude.
The green haired girl groaned, rolling around in the bed and feeling truly desperate for something to eat. He had left nearly half an hour ago, and her stomach was already grumbling in disapproval. C.C. had no knowledge about their next step, but was content to laze around while he planned it - or at least until he required her to actually think.
She was just drifting off into a nice, relaxed trance when she heard quick footsteps bounding up the stairs. Well experienced with how this scene usually played out, she smirked, deciding to have a little revenge for making her wait so long. Rolling up her t-shirt just a bit and doing her best to appear defenseless, she limply lay on the bed.
After a short pause, Lelouch quickly unlocked the door, slamming it behind him and locking it right back up again. Ignoring his half nude companion, shapely legs, perfectly toned waist and all, he went to the window in three quick strides, slamming it shut and pulling down the blinds. After peering outside for a couple of seconds, as if expecting a Knightmare to land in the middle of the street, he turned around, striding across to the girl who had nearly given up pretending to sleep at this point and was peering at him with half closed eyes.
Putting a hand on her shoulder, he roughly shook her awake "C.C.! Damn it, woman, this is no time for sleeping!"
She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, pulling her shirt down and sitting up "What's wrong?" she quietly asked, rubbing her eye with a yawn.
The raven-haired teen strode to the window again, peering out, one hand going through his hair in frustration "It was such a stupid mistake, but I was just so tired and it just slipped my mind!" he said, turning around and desperately throwing things left and right, clearly searching for something.
Her mouth opened in a small o yet again as she watched him flip her sheets over before going to the table and roughly clearing it from their knicknacks, "Lelouch"?" she called him, flinching when his angry violet eyes stared at her, filled with rage, "I-is this what you're looking for?" she lifted the small box holding his contact lenses from its place beside the bed.
He looked at her for a long few seconds before turning around and slamming the wooden table with such a force one of its legs broke, making her flinch again. He hissed in anger, kicking the broken remains of the cheap plywood table and scattering them around the room, shards of wood flying everywhere, before pausing and looking at the mess he had made with regret. Raising a hand to cover his eyes, he slid down the wall and held his head between his knees, breathing heavily.
She slowly unfurled herself from her position on the back of the bed and strode over, sitting next to him and grabbing his hand in a strong, yet gentle hold, fingers intertwined. "What happened?" she asked, abandoning her joking demeanour.
Taking a deep breath, he spoke "After I bought your bloody shampoo." he growled the word, "I was going to get some food. As I was walking out of the store, I forgot our intelligence services have a highly sophisticated camera system in place on all major squares in former areas - and I looked straight into one!" He looked at her, his violet eyes slowly getting brighter and brighter red with the symbol of Geass as he got angrier and making her look at him in shock, "It just so happens that our spy system is extremely good at recognizing faces of wanted criminals, and I forgot to put my contacts in." he growled, shaking off her hand and standing up.
"But... surely there's a chance no one noticed? If it was just a momentary glance-" she tentatively asked before Lelouch interrupted her "It's a disaster!" he hissed. "I'd rather not gamble our lives on matters of certainty. We're leaving, as soon as possible." he finished, grabbing his meager belongings and stuffing them into a duffel bag.
Turning around, he opened his mouth to tell her to do the same but paused when he saw her broken, vulnerable expression. He forcibly calmed himself down with a sigh, going over and pulling her into a gentle hug before kissing her forehead, "Come on, get dressed. We have to leave."
"But the-"
"If it triggered an alert somewhere, and if Jeremiah does his job correctly, he will do all he can to stop the information from going out beyond the Empress's inner circle." he continued, rubbing her back encouragingly before striding next to the door and putting his ear on it "However, just because the Palace won't plan on capturing us doesn't mean someone else will be so kind to us if they find out."
"Someone else? she inquired, hurriedly changing after wiping her eyes.
"I don't have time to elaborate. Get ready, we're leaving in five minutes." he replied, not moving from his position, still quietly seething at his stupidity.
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- At the same time, Britannian Mainland 22:02 BST -
(Britannian Standard Time)
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"Still nothing?"
Jeremiah, mightily comfortable in his high backed, leather office chair, shifted uncomfortably, clearing his throat. "No, Your Majesty. The search continues."
The wheelchair-ridden girl sighed, propping up her head with one hand, the other busy playing with the finely crafted, golden pen. "It has been nearly a year, Jeremiah. Nearly an entire year, with nothing to show for our efforts."
He raised a hand to calm her, "I am well aware of your concerns, Your Majesty. However, we simply can't afford to spare the manpower to carefully comb the country on an off chance that C.C. has performed some sort of a miracle and revived your brother. It's a fantasy and nothing less, I wish you'd give up on it." he finished quietly, looking at her imploringly.
"I like to think myself smart enough to not believe in fantasies, but it seems to me you're not taking this seriously enough." Nunnally Vi Britannia shot back, her eyes blazing.
He gave a resigned sigh, massaging his forehead with a silk glove-clad hand. His office was dimly lit, curtains covering the dark, yet still bustling skyline of the newly rebuilt Britannian Capital, its name still unchanged and known to every man, woman and child across the world. Pendragon. A fireplace, shimmering with heat, provided a soft light source along with the candelabra sitting on his desk. A hulking bookshelf tiredly rested against the wall on the other side, occasionally murmuring a groan under the weight of many tomes upon it.
"To try and explain it in terms you might understand, my Lady." Jeremiah paused, rummaging through the pile of documents on his side and pulling one out, "The Chinese have stepped up their intelligence gathering. Another one of our spy cells was completely destroyed, twelve agents confirmed dead, two missing, presumably being interrogated. No proof that they can go forward with, but I doubt it will help our relations with the UFN."
He looked up at her seriously, his cybernetic eye whirring, "If our intelligence efforts weren't so focused on looking for your brother, this could have been avoided. Twelve good Britannian men have paid the price for their country." pausing as he looked at her sad expression, he gently explained, "We are all still grieving, but we have to move forward and run the country. You cannot let the opportunity he has given us be squandered."
Nunnally took a deep breath, smiling her thanks, "They are getting surprisingly bold. I thought reinstating Cornelia as the Chief General of our military forces would keep things calm." she replied softly, tapping the pen against her pale cheek.
"Oh, I believe it has." he distractedly replied, reading through a document, "Having a weak-willed coward in the lead would have triggered a full on invasion of the Homeland, no doubt. With Lord Asplund at the helm of the research and production department, we are ramping up the production of seventh and eighth generation Knightmare Frames to pre-war levels."
"Yes, the Federation of Nations has been feeling quite strongly about that. I do so dearly wish to cooperate with them, but, like I've informed Kaguya, Britannia needs to be able to defend itself. We have an image to uphold, after all." Nunnally replied with a smile, her mood improving at the thought of the small girl's angry face. How ironic that two teenaged girls were the de-facto leaders of the world right now, she mused.
He raised his glass, making her smile and reciprocate with her tea cup "And cheers to that. All hail Britannia." she grinned, looking at the portrait of the Ashford family behind his desk and steeling her resolve, "All hail Britannia." she quietly replied
A knock on the door interrupted their little celebration. Jeremiah's implanted augmetics quickly showing him a camera feed of a masked figure outside, making him smile and shake his head in response to Nunnally's questioning look. "Enter."
The padded door opened, silhouetting a masked, caped figure against the bright lights of the anteroom outside, before it closed the door softly and walked into the room with hard footsteps.
"Lord Protector." Jeremiah nodded in greeting "Good to have you with us."
"Your Majesty. Marquis Gottwald. Same to you." Zero replied, bowing.
The Empress smiled, turning her head to look at him "Suzaku. Won't you take off that dreadful thing? Every time I see you in it, it makes me sad."
Suzaku shook his head, moving to stand next to the desk and placing a hand on her shoulder "As much as I would like to, you know I can't, at least not with you. I've made a promise to him." She nodded resignedly, going back to signing the documents from a pile in front of her, prompting Jeremiah to speak up "Is there something amiss, Zero?"
"As a matter of fact, I bring some news that may be of interest to you. Her Majesty, especially." he said, his tone oddly hesitating, one hand clenching and unclenching by his side and making Jeremiah raise an eyebrow.
"Hmm? What is it?" Nunnally asked distractedly, frowning at the page detailing the funding requests for various departments that made the Britannian Empire function. Truly, they were asking for far too much, especially considering the small plunge the economy took after the Areas were abolished. The Britannian Empire has lost merely a few parts of its territory, but the sting was felt far and wide.
"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll be blunt. We believe Lelouch is alive." Suzaku said quietly, the words freezing the warm room. The pen clattered from Nunnally's fingers as she twirled around in her wheelchair, her eyes full of hope.
Jeremiah quietly clenched his hand into a fist below the desk, hoping the news didn't involve his secret method of contact with his Prince. He was instructed to keep the information from Nunnally at all costs, and its discovery would be terrible.
"Well? Come on, out with it!" Nunnally quickly spoke, grabbing Suzaku's sleeve and looking up at him imploringly. He gazed at her for a few seconds, "I have, of course, verified the information myself, or else I wouldn't bring it to you." he said with a sigh, gently shaking Nunnally's hand off and folding his arms across his chest "Still, it might be nothing."
Suzaku cleared his throat "Approximately half an hour ago, one of the public cameras our face-recognition system has access to has recorded someone that may very well be Lelouch." He quietly placed a small datapad on top of Nunnally's abandoned budget requests, pressing a button to play the video he had brought.
Nunnally blinked, "Those signs… is this Area Ele- I mean Japan?" she tried the unfamiliar word as they watched people mile around in front of a grocery store in broad daylight, clearly on their way to work. The doors slid open, revealing a tall figure shifting a heavy grocery bag from one hand to another. Noticeably taller than any of the surrounding natives, it stood out in the small crowd as it moved away with its cap tucked low over its eyes. It dropped something from its hand and bent over to pick it up before leaning back up and looking around. By pure coincidence, its eyes looked right at the surveillance camera, sitting high atop a lamppost.
The few seconds it stared right at them before turning around with a whirl and moving away at a noticeably faster pace of walking were more than enough for Nunnally to let out a sob, picking the device up and holding it in shaking hands, "I-it's him! I'd recognize my own brother anywhere, Jeremiah! T-that face and those eyes were his!" Nunnally cried out, tears flowing down freely down her cheeks. She leaned back in her wheelchair, sobbing tears of joy, sadness or something in between and leaving the two men staring at each other in a silent contest of wills.
Suzaku was the first to break the silence, his tone filled with restrained anger "Jeremiah, would you like to explain to us why Lelouch is still alive?" he raised a hand to interrupt him, "No, I've got a better idea." he pointed a finger at Nunnally, "Explain it to her. Explain to her why everything we have worked so hard for is about to go up in flames. Explain it to her so when the bloodthirsty crowds gather outside and surge into this Palace eager to rip us to shreds before mounting our heads above the front gate, she knows why they-"
Nunnally wiped her tears and took a deep breath, "Enough, Suzaku. I think I'm going to lie down for a bit. I-I'm sure he has left you two some previous instructions in case this happened, but please tell me whatever you can after you're done." Suzaku hesitated, but nodded, "I have a pair of the Royal Guard outside, they'll escort you to your chambers."
She nodded, patting Jeremiah's folded hands, "It's fine, Jeremiah. I don't blame you for anything, I'm simply overjoyed right now. Thank you." she gave him another teary smile before turning and exiting the room with a small buzz, Suzaku closing the door behind her.
"Did you know?" he asked flatly.
Jeremiah brought his hands together in front of him, his head bowed low over the desk. He exhaled in frustration, the migraine reigning freely with nothing to hold it back now. He would need a clear head for this "Yes." a small pause stretched before he continued, "I was following orders, just like you were, Suzaku."
The mask continued looking at him, the formless visage giving away nothing. Oh, how he hated that mask. His Lord had once wore it, and done deeds both glorious and infamous, yet now it hid the face of his murderer who had sworn an oath to never take it off again. The flames from the roaring fire in the background seemed to enhance the size of the figure as it was profiled against the fire, seeming to grow taller, wider.
In a sudden movement, it slammed a hand down onto the table, the resounding crack making Jeremiah grit his teeth in anger, glaring at the figure in pure, unadulterated hate.
"You should have told me. You should have told me he was alive. Out of all people, I deserved to know!" it whispered, the rage barely contained as the wraith coiled its hand into a fist, moving closer to him, looming across the desk like a dark ghost, "I thought we were supposed to help Nunnally together!"
Jeremiah very slowly, deliberately, raised himself across the desk until he was face to face with that accursed mask, his own form reflected back to him in all of its tired, unbridled glory. "I had no need to tell you anything." he growled "You killed him. You didn't deserve to know, you bastard, even if he planned for it."
It looked at him silently, judging his words while the clock ticked in silence, seconds feeling like hours. Suddenly, it crumpled into the chair on the other side of the desk. As if all energy has left its muscled, yet thin frame, it slowly dropped the helmet-clad head into its hands and remained silent.
Jeremiah sat back down, sighing and pouring himself a double. He would need it, "I'd offer you a glass, but I doubt you can drink with that thing on." he said to Zero's motionless figure, "Whatever we do, we must ensure the information is wiped from our servers completely." he continued, putting the glass down and folding his hands on top of the desk "This is precisely why I was the only one who knew. If this isn't contained and a foreign government acquires the footage, the reaction will be… disastrous."
Zero looked up, before crossing his legs and leaning back in the rather uncomfortable visitor chair "Do you have a way to contact him?"
"Of course, who do you think I am? We planned this for weeks." Jeremiah smiled proudly, "My Lord will no doubt be expecting a call from me soon." he said, tapping his glass in thought.
"If I know him, and I do, he has probably vacated the immediate area already. He may very well be on his way to the other side of the country by now." Suzaku paused, leaning forward, "I agree with you. Our first priority is purging the records from the database completely."
"I'll see to it." Jeremiah confirmed, nodding, "What will you do?"
"See that you do. I'll go visit Her Majesty and try to calm her down, maybe explain what happened." he stood up, pausing before he opened the door "Do you… want me to tell her you have a means to talk to him?"
He mulled it over for a second, looking at the gently crackling logs and contemplating the pros and cons of giving the young girl a way to know if her brother was well "Do it. There's no use trying to hide it from her, and I'm sure having a way to get a message to him will calm her down."
Zero nodded, pausing at the door, "I-I don't like it, but I think you did the right thing in not telling us." he squeezed his hand in front of his mask, "I don't know if I would have had the strength to swear my oath otherwise." he quietly said before exiting the room and softly closing the door behind him. Finally alone, Jeremiah slowly stood up and paused for a second, draining his glass empty, before walking to the painting of the Vi Britannia family that hung behind his desk and flipping it over.
A pure white, digital keypad greeted him. Typing in the twelve digit password, he removed one of his gloves and held the thumb into the fingerprint scanner slot. With a soft beep, the safe yielded, its contents bare for him to see.
Closing the safe, he slowly sat back down in the high backed chair, absently noting how uncomfortable it seemed right now. With a sigh, he held up a matte black phone, identical to the one his Lord carried, "If only you knew of all the things we didn't tell you, Suzaku." he murmured, shaking his head.
Beep.
"Valencia wishes Bishop."
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Long A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter of All Hail Britannia! You are reading the new, improved version combining several previous chapters and featuring numerous changes and fixes.
In short, the entire story was completely rewritten for your viewing pleasure. I heartily recommend you read all the chapters if you're a returning reader, otherwise you will find the plot confusing, to say the least.
While this is marked as a Lelouch/Nunnally pairing. It is not incest and only serves to represent the unique nature of their relationship moving forward with the fic. There will be romance between Lelouch and someone else in the meantime, and thank you to the reviewer who mentioned it.
Please leave a review if you enjoyed. Thank you for reading.