So this is big for me. I've wanted to do this for a while because I've always wanted one fanfic about war. I've wanted to cover battles and politics in a medium that could show every angle. Code Geass is the best way for us Anime fans. Until now, I've never felt this ready.
After listening to a ton of historical podcasts by Dan Carlin for fun, watching Game of Thrones, and playing too many paradox games, I might not be an expert on the subject, but I'll sure try and pretend to be.
With the help of our own history I give you the story of humanities flaws. Not a story of good vs bad.
Code Geass R3: Chaos of the Aftermath
Chapter 1: A Deal In Germany
December 5th, 2020 atb
Did you ever go to a Japanese festival? I'm sure you did growing up with Suzaku. I haven't been to a real one in years. I was seven I think when Britannia started cracking down on Japanese culture. Thanks to your little sister and Ohgi, some of the others and I are going to our first one in more than a decade. I wish you could be here with us. Milly and the gang are gonna be meeting me. Rival is still a hopeless romantic and he's planning on 'demanding' Milly's love today or something. You know him, his ultimatums don't always hold weight.
Some of the Black Knights will be there too. Ohgi is going with his wife Villetta. You should have seen the wedding. Tamaki lost the ring and spent the entire morning looking for the thing. As useless as the man seems I have to say that he's pretty organized when it comes to forming search parties. I guess ejecting in every battle, and waiting for us to find him, got his brain ticking. We never found it but Todo of all people saved the day.
Villetta's uncle, also a baron and a rude one at that, had made a comment about Ohgi wearing Japanese attire at his wedding. It was obvious the man was only there to earn standing. The world's changing, so being seen with former elevens probably earns favors in some way with the new government. Sure Japanese weddings are pretty western, but everyone was so proud of their freedom that almost everyone there was wearing some kind of Kimono if they could find one.
Todo had already taken offense when the man tried bribing him for his sword. You know how the old samurai is about keeping armed. The baron was a collector and apparently a regarded duelist. Todo refused the offer but when he heard the man vocally comment on Ohgi's attire as a negative he figured it was enough to have some fun with the man and solve the current problem.
The man's wife, about Villetta's size had a beautiful wedding ring that her husband had given her years ago. It was way out of the price range of a former revolutionary leader whose resume only covered deeds in a time of war. Todo insisted to duel the baron for the ring. If he lost he would give up his sword.
As you can guess this ended with Toda practically killing the man, though they were wearing full fencing gear and using dull rapiers. Her husband having lost at his own game, the aunt willingly gave up her ring. She'd never had children but was happy to see it was staying with the family.
I usually hate weddings but seeing Todo fight would be a good enough attraction to make me attend an opera with box office seats with your messed up family. You know, everyone other than you and your sister.
This festival is going to be fun but I can't shake the fact that you're not there. Fact is I have this itching feeling your still are. I saw the mob carry your body away and parade it around like a trophy with my own eyes. None of it added up to me. You would have never have challenged Zero head on. I've had the pleasure of seeing you try to use a sword and it's embarrassing. No, you would have run. You would have had a plan for escape or killing anyone, especially a man with a sword of all things.
Then there's how happy the world has become since your death. How everything you promised everyone magically happened after you died. Counties were freed, prisoners released. You had nothing setup to support your empire following your death or disappearance. You planned all this, I know it.
The others don't believe me and I try not to be too vocal about it. Knowing you, if this was your plan, then revealing that would undermine it. Know, out of loyalty to the man who gave me my life back, I'll keep this to myself.
C2 disappeared too, I'm sure the two of you are somewhere watching. I'm sure you're looking at a TV right now watching as your sister makes the world a better place. Watching as the people who once swore their lives to you try to do the same. I'm sure that somehow you're watching all of us. I'm sure you're still watching over me.
Happy birthday you big idiot. Do me a favor. If you are alive, give C2 a good punch for fighting me above Fuji and then get her a pizza on me. Both of you stay safe and enjoy the holidays.
Your Ace,
Kallen Kozuki
The Empire of Britannia
The Winter palace was something to admire as the temperatures continued to drop on the east coast. Located in Florida, the winter cold wasn't nearly as harsh if existent at all. The palace itself had some twenty noble houses, about the size of small mansions, surrounding a large palace with large glass windows and southern architecture. It wasn't built to replicate the extravagance of Pendragon but rather to serve as a getaway for the empire's court, a way for the elite to stay warm. A way for them to hide from the reality of the world.
Between the smaller noble estates and the out of the way palace, laid a large garden full of flowers surrounding hedge mazes, statues of knights and gazebos. Scattered across this ocean of extravagance were large willow trees that provided shade for the nobles, servants and slaves below.
"Meelio I'm coming for you!" called out a cheerful young girl who just finished counting to a hundred. "My gosh where has that boy gone?"
The little mistress ran around the nearby garden thinking her little brother would be nowhere close. He was way too clever to waste his time when a hundred seconds was enough to run halfway to one of the noble's estates.
"Aunt Nunnally, did you see where my brother went?" the girl asked of the empress who was laughing at her niece from the gazebo just a bit away from the willow tree she counted by.
"That would be cheating Maria," the empress teased, though silently pointing at the tree.
Maria looked behind her, puzzled. Her brother was nowhere to be seen on the branches. The eight year old thought that maybe her aunt was playing tricks till it dawned on her that she was over thinking the matter.
"Got you!" She dragged her little brother from behind the tree. The boy, a scraggly and lively one not unlike his sister, toiled about as his older sister dragged him along the grass.
"Maria stop it!"
"Now Maria, you heard the Lord," a fourth voice ordered. The voice came from a disappointed princess Cornelia. "It's not proper for a young lady to harass young boys in such a way."
The little brunette sighed as she let go of her redheaded brother.
"That's right Maria, Keep it up and I'll throw you in a dungeon when I grow up," the young emperor to be declared, trying to wipe the dirt from his white noble clothing.
"Ha-ha doubt it," Maria protested with a smirk ", Aunt Cornelia did this stuff to her brothers all the time growing up. I hear she beat up Schneizel and Lelouch one day when they were kids. She turned out more than fine."
"Actually my brothers did try to throw me in a dungeon or two," The princess admitted. "That said don't push your luck Maria. Meelio, I hope you've kept our chess game safe the past week."
"Yes mam," the young boy said a bit shy around his aunt, though he looked up to her like no other.
"Good, Can you run off with your sister and wait for me in the game room while I talk to the empress please?"
"Awe you want to talk to her? But we're been waiting for you to return for months," Maria complained ", all you've done is talk to the guard since you've come home."
"Now now, what did I say about referring to the empress like that?"
The girls shoulders dropped ", Call her Aunt or her highness."
"Right, or?"
"Or I'll have to call Meelio the Super Duper Awesome King kid every time I see him for a week," the girl never did anything worth more severe treatment. Her only real problem was her carelessness with authority. It was a trait that ran throughout the family. "Come on Meelio."
The boy and the girl made their way inside as a guard followed close behind. Cornelia then made her way up to the gazebo where Nunnally and her handmaidens folded paper cranes.
"Big sister I'm so happy you're home," she hadn't seen her since her for some time and her excitement caused her to forget the crane she had been working on. "I was worried about you going to the EU. I heard things have been hard there."
Hard was a bit of an understatement. Britannia had agreed to leave the EU following the Demon emperor's death. This would take time and even two years later there were still nobles who refused to give up their landed titles. Britain itself refused to go back to the EU making things a bit complicated. Cornelia had also just finished bargaining for the safe transfer of five noblemen who had been taken from their homes in Spain. The stress was beginning to show in her eyes. Chances where she hadn't slept since her flight. She was too paranoid to let her guard down just because she was visiting her sister.
"Trust me sister that negotiations are nothing compared to what I'm used to. Just be thankful all the EU wanted for them was war reparations and not war itself. Regardless, how have you been your highness? Nothing strange has happened I hope," the princess asked as she looked at each of her sister's handmaidens with care.
"Nothing strange happens in the winter palace I'm afraid sister. It's hard to find anything irregular when you're not allowed to leave your country, let alone your garden. Surely you don't wish to keep me here forever?"
Following the death of Lelouch there had been many who had attempted to assassinate the new Empress. Cornelia had given up her claim to the throne to find the source of Geass during the war. Though she was appointed to Marshall upon the war's end, she would not be able to claim the throne following her actions. With most of the royal family dead after the destruction of the capital, it was Nunnally who took the seat of power. She had debated declining but the next in line under her was her young nephew Meelio. Not wanting to thrust the weight of a nation on a kid's shoulders, Nunnally accepted the title and vowed to make up for her brother's 'mistakes'.
"You know as well as I that I cannot guarantee your safety anywhere else. Too many wish to harm you and I can't take you with me everywhere I go," with a young girl and a few kids left as the only true Britannian royals, all it took was one well thought out string of assassinations and unfortunate accidents to completely change the royal court. Thanks to their brothers, their family had gone from huge to almost extinct within moments thanks to one well-placed bomb. Though, Cornelia wouldn't bring that up with Nunnally. It wasn't like she didn't have her part in that.
Nunnally, looked away from her sister, pondering something that had been bugging her ", there is one person who could take care of me in your stead. One who I can trust."
"I thought you understood that we can't trust him."
"No I said I understood why you cannot trust him. I cannot allow your fears stop me from saving our nation. Britannia has done many wrong things but most of its people don't deserved to be abandoned by their empress, by having her hiding as the world tries to take what is theirs." After hiding for more than a year it was becoming obvious where things were going for her people. As a ruler it was her duty to look after her citizens. Some had done horrible things and deserved to be punished but she could not allow the angry masses of the world to take their anger out on the people of her homeland. "I've been naïve till now but starting next week I'll be leaving the winter palace and joining to Council of the UFN."
"Your highness I must argue that those people...!"
"Those people want to punish Britannia for the sins of my family. I can't allow that and I can't allow another to go in my stead. As Empress I must do this on my own. Some of our colonies have been with us so long that they don't want to leave. If the UFN and Kaguya have their way then not only will they be up for the taking for them and the EU but they'll have us disarm our military. I can't allow that if she has no intention of disarming her forces. If I don't sort things out with these people we'll having another war just to exist as a nation."
"And you'd meet with that imposter too? The man masquerading as the one who killed our siblings?" Cornelia detested this new Zero about as much as the old. She wasn't the only one. Since his arrival he had done nothing short of angering every nation on the planet. To the everyday person he was a symbol of justice but to politicians he was an arch nemesis. His goal was the disarmament of the Britannian Empire and the United Federation of Nations as military forces. The UFN would never agree to such a thing while the Britannian army was still mobilized. Even then it would be hard to take away power from those who saw themselves the new rulers of the world.
Still, to Nunnally and Cornelia who had already agreed to release the area nations, only one thing mattered.
"I won't sit idly by while people I've never met discuss the fate of our country. I accepted this role for no other reason but to personally lead this nation until Meelio becomes of age and mind to do so himself. Instead I'm forced to sit here like a princess in a castle while my sister gives lectures to kids about respecting those in power," Cornelia took that last comment to the heart. Her little sister wasn't the naive young girl she once knew. This girl was a leader ready to do anything for her people and was everything their father was not. While that was great for those under her it was something of worry for the older sister. She didn't want to see a sibling die in some noble crusade to change the world and save her people, but she had to accept the will of the empress.
"You really want to join me in the oven don't you? You know it's not as fun as it looks on TV. They usually don't film all the yelling and treats."
"You realize I was viceroy of Japan for a year before you came back to us right?" Nunnally pointed out with a smile. "It annoyed me to no end that I wasn't allowed to make my own decisions for my people. I'm sure you can understand how I must feel as an empress. I wouldn't mind actually being able to squabble over my fate for a change."
"You're just like your brother," Cornelia admitted a bit depressed.
At that Nunnally's heart skipped a beat. "About that sister..."
"Hmm?" Cornelia questioned. There was something Nunnally had kept secret the past year.
"It's...nothing," It wasn't worth bringing up what she thought of her brother. Rather, what she knew was true. It was too soon to ponder the Demon King's real motives. The world needed time to mourn. Debating whether or not the man who had their loved ones killed was evil or not was not an argument for the current age.
Northern Germany
It had been some time since Franz Kreigal had seen the comforting layout of Germany. He preferred the rolling hills to the empty plains of Russia he and many of his countrymen had sought refuge in during the war. Refuge was putting it lightly. The
As his wagon came to a stop, at the top of a large hill, one could see the freezing sea leading to Scandinavia. The same sea Britannia had landed from many years ago.
Forests that had covered the country for centuries were gone, cut down to make bridges and barracks for the traveling masses of Britannian troops. Rough dirt roads common in Europe now layed paved, remnants of supply lines that had supported the Britannian advance. Farms laid in ruins, their equipment gone and their land burned as an attempt to slow the Britannian advanced. The fertile country side that had seen so many people fed and had hosted so much northern commerce now lay as a semi modernized but otherwise empty frozen waste.
To Franz, who had been forced to leave at the age of four during the first Britannian landing, his childhood home of Pomerania, described to him only by his parents, was now a foreign land to him. Still, at least he was back in Germany.
"It's changed so much since I last came here. If it weren't for the street signs I would have assumed you had taken me to the old French border," a young woman said in German from beside him. For a while they had tried to sell wheat from town to town as they made their way across starving Russia. Recently they had traded most of the grain for useable foods and supplies for the winter. They'd need it to survive in this waste.
"You talk as if you know what France was like during the Great War," Franz pointed out. He realized that the term Great War was a bit dated given the magnitude of the past one. Some nations were starting to call the Great War WWI and the more recent WWII. While that was fair for many nations, many more had been fighting for over a century. The 100 years' war seemed a better title for the majority of the world.
"Oh?" the woman toyfully said realizing she must have miss phrased her statement. Her accent was more than a little off. She had an obvious mastery of the German language but that could also be said of her Russian. Franz could get by in the Eastern tongue enough to sell goods but had been outclassed by the girl when they had first met. To his luck, he found just a few days ago that the girl knew German. After months of travel he couldn't help but be annoyed that his passenger had held this from him. Apon asking why she had kept this secret, she simply responded that he had never inquired it upon it. She presumed that he was simply practicing his Russian, ignoring the fact that he most certainly had difficulties with the language. "I'll correct myself, I imagine this is what the old French border must have looked like. There, does that suffice?"
After realizing they both shared a fluent language, the woman had begun to toy with him even more. She hadn't before but Franz assumed the withholding of her linguistic skills had been the first game with his head.
"Now that we're on a same language basis, I've been meaning to ask you a few questions princess," he demanded, ignoring her response completely. "For one, when we met in Moscow you said you wished for a ride but never once did you say why. I assumed you'd be getting off at any of the towns in Russia but when we neared the boarder and you were still here I started to think you wanted more than a ride. Also, it's a bit odd that you asked a poor refuge who didn't even have a car. A girl like you could have gotten a ride from some well to do, driving back into the EU."
"What, could it be that the young fool wishes to rid himself of the young maiden in his company? Quite rude, I remembered Germans being much friendlier."
"I'll be blunt and admit it was nice having something pretty to look at for a while but I won't let that get in the way of the fact that I still have no idea who you are. I still don't know your name."
"Helga," she answered with a grin.
"In Moscow it was Berta, in Tsaritsyn I heard Angelica, Poland you were Aleska, Brandenburg you were Brigitte and finally you're Hilda in Pomerania."
"Helga," She corrected.
"Oh I'm sorry, Hilda is for tomorrow right?"
The girl stared him down in a way that had once been threatening to him but now served as his way of telling she wasn't pleased with him. "My name is of no matter but if you must have a name to stick to, it shall be any you wish. The truth of it is that I don't have a real name I feel comfortable with at the moment."
"Ok...Why don't I call you," he stopped for a moment trying to think of something clever but couldn't ", Clemintine."
"Too nice," she said unamused.
"Claudia?"
"Too lame."
"Cheryl?"
"Why do all your names begin with a C?" she asked a bit confused. She almost seemed worried for a moment.
"I don't know, just seems to suit you," he explained giving her a defensive look. She continued to stare him down as if suspecting something. The stare was more than a little awkward to the young man. "The last time a girl stared at me this long it was at least a little romantic."
"She must have been a feeble minded one to fall for someone as unimpressive as you," realizing her worries were coincidental, she once again diverted her gaze to the much more amusing sea.
"Oh and you think you could do better," the brown haired twenty year old demanded. "How old are you? Sixteen? I'd guess not a day over nineteen. I doubt you've met anyone worth calling perfect."
"To be truthful the last person I felt feelings for was quite possibly the greatest man to ever live. My description is lackluster compared to the things he did for you people," she sighed.
"Us people?"
"Suffice it to say that his duty to humanity outweighed any would be feelings of love he may have considered. That's noble in its own right since he sacrificed personal happiness for others."
"You make him sound like a messiah," Franz noted.
At that the girl began to laugh uncontrollably. "Oh I'm sure he'd get a laugh out of that!"
"Why was he big headed?" the man assumed.
"That's definitely an understatement. I don't think a bigger headed man ever existed," here laughing finally calmed down to a gentle smile. Franz had notice this smile on the girl's face a number of times. He'd even heard her talking to herself with joy here and there in some far eastern Asian language he didn't fully recognize.
"What happened to him? He definitely meant a lot to you."
"To my displeasure he's no longer within the realm of mortal man. I doubt I'll be seeing him again," she said looking into the sky and past the winter clouds. "Enough of the past, what of the future? To where do we ride?"
"We?" Franz realized that his worries where coming to fruition. "How long do you think to pester me and live off my feeble earnings? I must have paid for many a dish going through Russia last summer. Then the past fall you were more than a little needy when you asked for new clothes. Now you want to go where I go? Am I going to be stuck with you forever?"
"Like you don't want me," she teased, laying her head on his shoulder.
"You're pretty but you're a bit too reliant for my tastes," he began to think things over for a moment. "You know anything about farming?"
"I worked for a farmer a long time ago. I'm afraid I've forgotten most of it but I'm sure it'll come back to me."
"You sound like you're ready to agree to an offer I haven't suggested yet."
"At this point I don't care where life takes me. Tell me you want to open a farm I'll say ok. Tell me you want to become a banker, I'll watch and give advice. As long there's a warm bed and some food on the table I could care less what we do."
"Says the girl with some rather expensive clothing in the back."
"Life's boring if you don't enjoy it from time to time. You should learn not to be so stingy."
The man groaned not understanding how this girl had survived the years in Russia with this mentality.
"Ok I have a deal for you Fraulein. I'll let you stick around if you help me out in return. Just because the war is over doesn't mean the fight for survival isn't. I only know how to do a few things and farming will be hard with so much of the land abandoned. "
"Wouldn't it be easier since there'd be less people in the way?"
"No, less people means less to sell to. That and there's going to be a lot of competition. There's tones of open land up here waiting to be sold or reclaimed by long gone families. Farmers will return for the land but most citizens will go to Berlin or somewhere in France for office jobs and the like."
"A nation of would be farmers. I think you're a bit mistaken though."
"In what way?"
"German countries still have factories. Factories Britannia used for war. With them gone wouldn't it be good to use them for cars, refrigerators and televisions. That and Russia needs food. I'm sure there will be a market and they'll be more than willing to help if it means feeding their people. You're not thinking it through. You've been gone from your land so long that you forgot how useful it is."
Franz starred at the girl with more than a little confusion. Before he had thought her some common girl leaching off people for her next meal. Surely now he could understand that she was much wiser than he first presumed.
"In that case it'll be an easy ride then. My offer still stands though," he reminded her.
"Oh? Has my charm infected yet another soul?" she joked.
"Maybe," he admitted regarding only her looks and not her witch like personality. "More importantly you have me curious. Who are you really? You're pretty smart for a Russian commoner."
"I'm whoever I need to be to get by. Though, if you must have a name that sticks, you can call me C2.
Thanks so much for at least giving this chapter a try. We're gonna try small chapters with this fanfic. I want to be able to post more regularly with something. Code geass has enough characters that I think I keep this going. Just have to keep shifting characters like Game of Thrones whenever I get bored with a certain group.
If you've read thing by me before you know I insist on feedback. Please leave a review with anything that needs to be brought up. I also love answering questions within reason due to spoilers. Also I love suggestions. Code geass is big, so big that the possibilities are more endless than most in continuing a story. If you want to see a certain character get an arch that I might have forgotten then please bring it up and I might be able to come up with something.
Thanks again and if you liked things please fav/sub so you can keep updated on chapters. If there's anything I hate it's starting to read a new fanfic and realizing I forgot to follow. Then I come back a few months later and see that the writer either wrote a tone of chapters i never saw or stopped because they thought no one was reading.
I hope to see you all in the chapters to come.