a.t.b. 2017

Flight Manor

Britannia

I bit my lip and frowned at the website that had popped up on my computer.

It didn't look good at all, and I was running out of options.

Another site. Then another. Annoying overly-friendly headlines popped out at me. "Come to…...today! Make new friends that will last a lifetime! Best education you will get! Indoor swimming pool! Fake smiles and hugs and kisses!"

Cheerful looking kids running around with notebooks and pencils in their hands.

I closed in on a little girl who was practically dancing off the page, hair swinging wildly.

A happy-looking girl with long black hair in two long ponytails on either side of her head...

"Ow!" I had bit my lip too hard, my reflected face on the screen frozen in shock and pain. I looked away from the screen, pretty much hyperventilating by that point.

"Tai Xing! Rosa! Get back here, it's too dangerous! ROSA! Don't you SEE that Nightmare? Come back before-"

BOOM. CRASH.

"NO!"

The sound of a miniature explosion…

"NO! Oh, God, NO, why?"

A deafening scream that went on and on, never-ending, never stopping for breath…

I bonked my head on the side of the desk and yelled "OW!", immediately stopping the awful memory flow. After recovering, I mentally complimented myself on my quick reflexes with no shortage on the sarcasm. Sighing, I rubbed the sore spot on my scalp and felt a small bump rising up. At least the throbbing would distract me from those horrifying images still running through my head.

I turned back to the screen and deleted the page. Unless, of course, I actually wanted another stupid breakdown...

Agh, someone please kill me now…

As if on cue, suddenly the laptop's screen crackled loudly once, twice, before going dark.

I leaned back in surprise before glaring at it and moving the mouse around to see if it would light up again.

It didn't.

I huffed in annoyance and was just tapping my fingers on the top of the laptop when a bored-sounding, slightly monotonous voice said "Having fun?"

"Ah!" I slipped out of the chair and land on the ground, smacking my leg hard against the desk base.

Great. Another one to add to my list of potential injuries.

Why was I such a klutz?

"Ah, so it is you," The voice continued from the darkened screen as I clambered back into my chair. "I wasn't completely sure at first." "What do you mean?" "Well," The voice paused, amusement clear in its tone as it replied. "The complete act of pure clumsiness just confirmed my suspicions." I almost glared at the screen until I realized that there was nothing to glare at. Whatever. I glared anyway.

Because it was her, it had to be her. The mysterious woman who had gifted and cursed me in the same moment. The one who had given me what I had once so much desired: great power.

And the one who had disappeared on me when I had needed her most.

"So, what do you want, Azure?"

I was expecting another smart-remark answer, another something she was famous for, but I was wrong.

When she spoke again, I was surprised and a little unnerved when I heard the definite note of panic in her voice.

"I need your help."

I leaned back, unsure whether Azure could see my shocked expression or not. What was this? What was happening with her?

"Why me?" I gripped the sides of the desk. "What do you want me to do?"

"Normally I would say it's your choice whether to help me or not," She stated, seemingly ignoring my questions. "But in this case, it's inevitable. It is not that you choose to help. It is that you must help, now, before it is too late."

"Why? What is so important that you call on someone like me?"

"Because you have the Power," She made this sound like as though this was perfectly obvious. "And now you need to go and find-"

Fzzzzzzsssat.

The screen was crackling again, and her voice was getting fainter.

"Find-"

Zzzzzzzcrat.

"Find what?" I leapt up. "Azure, what do I NEED TO FIND?"

Just before the screen lit up again back to normal and I lost the connection completely, I heard her voice one last time.

"Find him." The screen glowed, lighting up the room. "Find the One who has the Power of Absolute Obedience,and then bring him to me." The computer made a noise that sounded something like, CRAAAAAAACKTTT.

"I am waiting, at the place known as Ashford Academy. DO NOT FAIL ME!"

And with that, my computer exploded in a bright, terrifying shower of sparks and all the lights in my room went completely out.

a.t.b. 2017

Ashford Academy

Area 11

"Hey, Lelouch!"

The tall black haired boy turned as he heard the familiar call.

He smiled slightly. "Yes, Rivalz? What is it?"

The blue spiky haired boy bent over panting, after having sprinted up to Lelouch in an excited manner, as was his usual fashion.

Rivals straightened up and grinned. "We have a new transfer student! Isn't that great?"

Lelouch shrugged. "Have you seen him yet?"

Rivalz shook his head. "Nope, but I know from a reliable source that his name is Rayan Flight and he's going to be in our year. Apparently, he just moved here from the homeland, and was an honor student at his old school."

Lelouch looked around absentmindedly, trying to see if he could locate this new transfer student. When this small search proved inadequate, however, he turned back to Rivalz and asked casually "And when you say 'reliable source', you mean that you were sneaking around Milly's room again, right?"

Rivalz got a stubborn look on his face immediately, which undoubtedly meant that Lelouch's assumption was correct. "No, it wasn't like that! No, wait, uh, I mean, I-" He stopped, blushing, and quickly changed the subject. "What do you think the new transfer student's like?"

Lelouch shrugged again. "How am I supposed to know? I haven't even seen him yet, remember?"

Rivalz continued on, "Maybe we can even ask him to join the student council! Hey, do you think Miss Prez would mind?"

Lelouch shook his head quickly before turning back to Rivalz. Oh, right. Student council.

"Yeah, good idea, Rivalz. I'll go see if I can find and ask him later, if you want."

Rivalz grinned in excitement.

"Would ya really, buddy? Thanks! I'll go tell Prez!"

And with that, he dashed off again to find Milly, the student council president, whom Rivalz had long had a not-so-secret love for.

And so Lelouch then decided to go and look for this new student.

1, because he was sure Rivalz would cry at him later if he didn't, and 2, because he was already skipping class anyways, so he had plenty of time.

And as the crowd of students began to dissipate, he set off towards the registration wing, where the new student was most likely to go first.

And yes, he admitted it, he was actually slightly curious himself about this new transfer student. Why transfer now, about a quarter way through the year?

Surely it was better than say halfway through the school year, but it was still slightly odd. Most students would have only just already settled into their schools by now.

Perhaps it hadn't been working out at his old school? Or was this something worth looking into?

He closed his eyes briefly, as he recalled one of his Black Knight's reports.

"...Everything's pretty quiet, except some of the other members saw all this graffiti spread throughout the Tokyo Settlement. Just a single phrase, repeated constantly. 'Beware the Shadowed Association'. What do you make of this, Zero?"

Truth to be told, he wasn't sure what to think. Yes, he had heard that phrase "The Shadowed Association" before, but other than that, he wasn't sure.

He was planning on having some of his Knights investigate into it if he found anything useful would be connected to them.

Could this mysterious transfer student have anything to do with their sudden appearance and mention of this strange organization?

Ah, no matter. He would find out one way or the other.

No sooner than he had reached this conclusion, however, than someone collided hard into him as he turned the corner.

"Ow! What the hell?" Lelouch stumbled, and nearly fell. He scowled at this annoyance as he turned to face the perpetrator of said crime.

It was a student he didn't recognise, a shorter boy around his age wearing a gold and black Ashford Academy uniform, and who was currently sprawled out on the floor in front of him. He had dropped a bundle of books and a suitcase, which lay a short distance away from his feet.

"Sorry." The boy looked up at Lelouch with huge brown eyes behind black-rimmed glasses. Lelouch sighed. "It's alright," He leaned down to help the other boy up.

The boy grabbed his hand and stood. He looked down at the ground as if shy, before starting to pick up his things. "Um, thanks. Sorry again about that, I'm a little nervous."

Lelouch picked up a notebook and handed it to him. "Late for an exam?"

The boy shook his head quickly. "No, it's not that. It's just...it's my first day here, that's all."

Lelouch let the words sink in. If it's hisfirstdayhere,then…

"Oh! So you're the transfer student then? Rayan Flight?"

The other boy grinned. "That's me." He ran a hand through his thick messed-up dark hair and sighed. "I haven't got a clue as to where I'm supposed to be at the moment, though…"

Lelouch took this as an opportunity. "Well, I could show you around the Academy, if that's alright with you?" "Uh...but don't you have classes or something?" Lelouch shook his head. "Not really, they're actually quite boring. So basically, I have the morning off for now."

Rayan grinned. "Really? It's more than alright, thanks, I'd feel like an idiot just wandering around campus without even knowing where my dorm is!"

He let out a light laugh and the two of them set off.

Lelouch showed the new student around the campus, showing him the separate school wings and even his favorite rooftop.

Rayan looked out over the roof ledge, his dark hair flying in the wind and his palms set down on either side.

"So you come up here often?"

"Yeah. When classes are just...insufferable."

Rayan chuckled and pushed his glasses up onto his head, turning to face him.

With those lenses away from his eyes, Lelouch noticed with a slight frown that Rayan almost looked actually...feminine?

But, no. Probably not. Rivalz had overheard Milly about the student, and he had said that Rayan was most definitely male, right?

Lelouch shook his head.

It was a waste of time to be thinking about such trivial things, like when a boy looked more like a girl and vice-versa.

He had just cleared this thought away when he realized that Rayan had just asked him something and he hadn't heard it, thanks to the expectant look he was giving him.

"Um, pardon?"

Rayan asked again "Is this all of the Academy? Like, the entire campus?"

"No, there's still the clubhouse, where my school club, the student council meets. Actually, I was wanting to ask you if-" "Luluuuu!"

A redheaded girl in an Ashford uniform launched herself over to them.

Shirley grabbed Lelouch's arm and said "Quick! If we don't move it, we're gonna be late for Science!" Lelouch face-palmed himself. "Aw, crap! I forgot!" Shirley turned to Rayan. "Oh, who are you?" Rayan gave a small smile, held up his hand in a rather uncertain manner and gave a little wave. "Uh, nice to meet you. I'm Rayan. Rayan Flight." Shirley giggled and waved back. "I'm Shirley Fenette. Nice to meet ya too!" Then she turned back to Lelouch and said panickedly. "Now, c'mon, Lulu! We gotta book it!" Lelouch turned back to Rayan and said sheepishly "I'm sorry, Rayan, it looks like I've got to go…" Rayan nodded to him. "I understand. Well, I'm gonna go explore the rest of campus, so how about we meet up later? You know, so you can ask me your question?"

Lelouch agreed. "OK, then. We can meet over at the clubhouse."

And so it was decided.

And the tall boy and the redheaded girl went one way, and the bespectacled (sort of) boy went the other.

Author's Note:

Sorry, I think Lelouch is way out of character, but I tried.

Also, there might be some implied LelouchxOC, so again to all those LelouchxVarious CG Characters, I sincerely apologize.

No, this is not a homosexual fanfic, and later you'll see why.

Thanks to all my dear readers! (If I still have any)