This fic was requested by someone who'd rather not be mentioned, so a lot of the ideas here come from him. I don't know if I'll be able to meet his standards but I'll try. The fic will be Anya x Lelouch starting from the events of R2s opening once Lelouch gets his memories of his role as zero back. Anya's presence in Lelouch's life will change the events of the story from cannon.
Disclaimer I do not own Code Geass the anime, the manga, or anything associated with the series.
The Meeting
4K Words
As Anya took the time to reflect on the last hour or so she came to the conclusion she simply didn't know why she ended up letting her fellow knight of the round talk her into leaving Ashford academy in favour of following a certain student off to one of his illegal gambling matches. Usually she wouldn't have allowed Gino to talk her into such a thing but she figured it had something to do with the boy known as Lelouch.
Aside from his uncanny resemblance to the late son of Emperor Charles Vi Brittania: and late Empress Marianne Vi Brittania, there was a certain quality of mystery and intrigue he carried that drew her interest shortly after seeing him for the first time.
Indulging in her curiousity and going along with Gino's suggestion landed her in this situation and she'd be sure to give Weinberg a piece of her mind if she got out of this alive. The tower was surrounded by black Knights and from what she could hear the fighting was fierce.
She and Gino found themselves in this situation by following Lelouch and his younger brother to Babel tower in the hopes of witnessing and maybe betting on one of his illegal chess games. Some time into the match the tower shook, and the next thing anyone knew terrorist were attacking.
Somehow their small party of three had ended up divided in all the chaos. As if that wasn't bad enough the Elevens managed to get their hands on Brittanian Nightmares so she had no way of knowing allies from enemies.
She wasn't sure of how exactly to escape and any hope she'd held out of doing so left her the moment a Nightmare she knew belonged to the black knights burst through the wall into the room she'd been hiding in and paused as it took a moment to register her with the onboard identification system. A few tense moments later the robotic arms of the Sutherland lifted holding the large barrel of it's gun on level with her and letting it be known it's pilot was in no way ignorant as to who she was.
"Knight of Third, Anya Alstreim. You're now a prisoner of war for none other than the black knights. If you cooperate and come along easily things will go better for the both of us." The pilots voice sounded over the com clearly briming with excitement.
Ayna's expression remained just as stoic as before as she contemplated her options.
Attempting to run would only result in her being gunned down and fighting was definitely not an option at the moment considering she was without a Nightmare. Logically she had no choice but to surrender.
It was very unfortunate that such a situation could arise out of the blue. The black Knights were supposed to be only a shadow slowly receeding into nothing considering their leader had been dead for months now. Their spirit had been broken..yet suddenly they were back like a phoenix that'd never truly fallen in the first place.
"Hands where I can see them Brittanian! Either I receive your full compliance or I gun you down like the dog you are!"
Not wanting to take a chance on getting shot Anya turned her gaze fully towards the Sutherland currently threatening her and held her hands up in a gesture of submission. The ever present expression of stoicism almost morphed into something close to displeasure as she realized she didn't feel the slightest bit of fear at being captured.
Anya didn't like that at all.
Fear was supposed to be a product of self preservation. If she had no self preservation instincts could she even call herself human?
Anya couldn't recall the last time she'd ever felt any sort of higher emotions. The only feelings she usually got to experience were feelings of hunger boredom and curiousity.
No one could say why she was practically incapable of feeling but Anya knew if she was capable of hate that's likely how she would feel pertaining to her predicament. She wasn't fond of not being able to feel like everyone else. It made her feel like less of a human and it was just another thing that isolated her from those around her including her fellow knights.
She didn't really mind not being able to feel certain things as she had no way of truly comprehending what she was missing, but she still wanted the experience just because she had no way of finding enjoyment in most things.
A new feeling made itself known in her chest as the thought of the safety of her companions crossed her mind. It was foreign to her but she knew what the feeling was from descriptions of it she'd read before. Worry was entirely new and she could say this feeling was one she might be better off without.
She hoped wherever Lelouch and Gino were the two were both safe. Specifically Lelouch seeing as she was pretty sure Gino could take care of himself.
Three days later
The Black Kings cloak moved behind him as he walked briskly through the corridor tucked neatly away inside the walls of the buildings lower floor. The small area of the building he walked through happened to be where the usually empty containment cells were housed, however at the moment those cells contained a very valuable prisoner. The knight of six: Anya Alstreim.
Lelouch was almost cherubic the moment he'd caught wind of this small bit of fortune. Just an hour after recovering his memories he'd been graced with news of the capture of one of his enemies greatest pieces.
Not only was the lose of a Knight a substantial lose, but surely a Knight would have a wealth of important logstics information that could prove invaluable for future endeavors. The location of weapons and munitions factories within reach of the Black Knights, various influential senators and families, all just waiting to submit to his every whim under the influence of Geass.
It was likely she knew more pertaining to Brittania's military structure at the moment than he did, something he planned to remedy immediately.
Kallen insisted he have an escort accompany him to the Knights cell but Lelouch refused. His mind was at it's best when he was alone with his thoughts and he didn't need some anxious soldier interrupting his conversation or glaring daggers at the Brittanian while they spoke. He needed her to be apprehensive but not fearful of his presence.
He would use her apprehension to manipulate her into spilling all her intel if that was a viable route. First he would attempt to ask her a few questions and if she refused he would leave her to herself for a day or two longer to let her stew in captivity. As pampered as most Brittanians were he didn't see this girl lasting more than a month inside that cell.
There were some within the Black Knights who wished to resort to torture as a means to make her talk but Lelouch had pretty much disarmed them by remarking that they were trying to defeat Brittania not become them. He wouldn't allow anyone to be tortured on his watch unless the information they possessed absolutely called for it. He wasn't even sure if the Knight of six held any information he could use but he was more than determined to find out.
He'd avoided seeing her for two days after his resurrection so she would begin to grow antsy and wonder what exactly they had planned for her. He hoped as an effect of her just being left alone and told absolutely nothing for the last 48 hours she would be more susceptible to his inquires and demands.
He'd be lying to himself if he said he truly expected a Knight of the round to break so easily, but it was at least worth a shot before he went to using Geass. He could always use Geass on her and send her back to Brittania as a spy and that was an option he wasn't completely willing to throw away yet. Not by a long shot.
The options were many but he only had one shot and he didn't want to waste it.
He told himself no matter what he wouldn't resort to having her tortured. If he went that route he would be no better than his father and the thought of being anything like that man was not something the raven haired teenager wanted on his conscious.
He came to a halt in front of the only guard inside the long corridor and beckoned that he leave him with the prisoner until he was called back to his post. The soldier nodded and quickly sufled off intending to treat himself to a quick meal before he was called back to duty.
Lelouch in the guise of Zero stood before the cell gazing at the rooms one occupant more than a little surprised. Facing away from him towards the wall of her cell was a girl who looked younger than he'd initially believed, looking to be possibly just a year or two older than Nunnally.
He was surprised to see she wore an Ashford academy middle school uniform as he couldn't recall ever seeing her before he'd had his memories altered by the Emperor.
He wanted to clear his throat to gain her attention but he was too flabbergasted by the discovery that someone so young could actually be the Knight of six. He'd had a scenario of how this would play out in his head. Treat her more as a burden rather than a prisoner of war effectively making her more unsure of her predicament than she would've been usually. Ensure that she knew that virtually everyone on this vessel wanted to slit her throat and be done with it ensuring her self preservation instincts played a part in her compliance.
The air about her didn't reek of fear desperation anxiety or anything he'd expected before making his way to her cell. Instead there was an air of calm about her Lelouch could practically feel from where he stood.
Judging by the subtle rise and fall of her shoulders she was either sleeping while sitting up or meditating.
He realized it happened to be the later when suddenly she turned as if she'd felt his gaze through the glass window at her back. Anya said nothing to acknowledge his presence, she just continued to stare and her stoic expression only served to confuse him more. No look of surprise in her eyes, no sign of resentment or hatred, only curiousity and possibly boredom.
"Anya Alstreim." Lelouch greeted cooly.
Anya didn't reply or return his greetings. She got up from the small mattress she sat on and raised her arms above her head to stretch and let out a tired sigh before allowing her appendages to fall towards her side again.
Lelouch expected her to return his greeting when she was finished but she didn't. She only continued to stare at him with a tired look of curiosity and a clear look of boredom.
Upon taking in the sight of the Knight Lelouch's mind did what it always did when faced with something new. It catalogued everything it could before forming a general analysis that would become his base opinion of said object or thing.
The first thing he noticed was she didn't look like she weighed much. She looked almost fragile, compliments of her petite frame and her pale skin. Lelouch figured that she likely didn't get outside often so he also figured she likely wasn't much of a fighter outside her nightmare.
She wore the standard middle school female uniform. A pink dress with golden buttons that acted as an overcoat to a white undershirt, with a short red tie, medium length matching socks black socks and brown loafers. Lelouch began to surmise the girl was likely a prodical noble who briefly served in the army before earning her position and title as a Knight. Aside from that he remarked to himself that she was very pretty...beautiful even if he was being completely honest.
Aside from the look of boredom on display she had had inquisitive rouge red eyes the former prince saw a depth in that he rarely saw in anything. What threw him for a loop however was just how empty those pools of color and dim vibrance actually seemed.
Her eyes revealed absolutely nothing and held no emotion or feeling as far as he could tell but regardless of lack of substance they were impossibly deep.
Lelouch didn't know much about the Knight of six but he knew without a doubt that there was something very peculiar about this girl. Her eyes were like a well of hidden knowledge and burried secrets
He had to pause and pull himself back as he realized he'd almost gotten lost in the rouge portals to the girls soul.
"What are you? I've never seen someone with a pair of eyes like yours before."
Anya's expression went from looking bored to just about as curious as he was feeling. She tilted her head slightly to observe the man who'd asked her such a strange question.
"Ask yourself that question first and you'll find the answer before you know it. I'm sure the expressions you wear gradually change over time as you continue to walk the path you've chosen." The Knights gaze went from one of detached interest to one that was so highly curious, almost probing.
"Most of your smiles are likely fake..the kind that only reach your eyes because you want them to. Your tongue tells lies and your eyes makes those around you believe them because lying is something you're good at right? Your eyes are the eyes of a lier aren't they Zero?"
Lelouch didn't know if he should feel somewhat endered or somewhat offended that someone he didn't even know personally had pretty much read him. Ignoring the presence of any of the other options he just allowed himself a small grin feeling amused and impressed almost in equal measure.
"And what exactly would you know of fake smiles and deception Ms Anya? I haven't even spent twenty minutes around you and I'm already almost certain smiling isn't something you do often whether it's real or fake."
Anya didn't reply immediately. She just kept her gaze on the dark visor of his mask.
"Getting your hands dirty as Zero does nothing to keep the blood from staining your soul." She replied uncaring of how she completely veered off topic without a moments prior notice.
Lelouch didn't even flinch though, he just continued where she left off as if nothing peculiar had happened. "The mask isn't for-"
"It's because those who follow you need to follow an idea they can hold unwavering loyalty to rather than a man who would only receive conditional loyalty."
The Brittanian student nodded his head surprised that she'd actually seen that so easily.
"The mask isn't what I mean but the persona you wear with it." She continued confusing him further.
Anya looked and sounded almost bored or completely uncaring as she answered.
"Zero and whoever you are aren't separate people but just a tool you use to satisfy your own goals." She continued.
"And your point?" Lelouch questioned wondering where she was going with this.
Anya turned away and went back towards the bed sitting down and turning her back towards the door of the cell, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them almost as if she were hugging herself.
"My point is this persona of yours and your real identity are one and the same. Niether man can cover for the sins of the other, rather they share them. But that's not the real point I was getting at."
"Care to enlighten me?" Lelouch smirked wondering why she'd adopted her former position.
His request was meant only with silence for a few beats till Anya's voice broke the quiet once again.
"What I'm alluding to is the fact that you're using this persona of yours to deceive others into following you. The identity you made into to be their leader is only a tool to you. In essence the entire order of the Black Knights is a tool. You claim you want justice but the justice you seek is your own. You help others because that's how you garner support. You call your group knights of justice but it makes more sense to call them knights against injustice, Knights who fight against the injustice of Brittania."
Lelouch raised an eyebrow she couldn't see. "But a Knight who fights against injustice is still a knight of justice is it not?"
"No." Ayna replied. "The justice you seek is personal and I don't doubt it has more with some kind of personal revenge against Brittania than it does freeing Japan."
"This girl speaks with too much insight. It's almost like she knows me personally."
"I never claimed to want to free the Japanese...only that it was possible to do so and that I would help them."
"Really?" Anya raised an eyebrow not quite believing him.
"Really." Lelouch answered grinning again behind the mask. "Do you really think I just place my own desires so far above those of the Japanese?"
"You tell me oh man of many faces. What exactly does the liberation of Japan mean to you?"
"It means less power and a major lose for my adversary. It means an end to the oppression of a nation. But more importantly it puts me one step closer to my goal. I may use the black knights as a tool to suit my needs but can the same not be sad for the black knights? No one here does a thing against their will and I am only leader because they allow it. I am as much of a tool to them as they are to me."
Anya felt something she rarely ever felt at that answer...amusement. The terrorist might as well have a sense of humor considering his path wasn't likely to end anywhere pleasant. Or maybe it hadn't been a joke but Anya still found it funny for some reason.
"Like I said, that doesn't change the fact that your mask is just as much of a lie as most of your smiles likely happen to be."
She paused for a moment and turned slightly to appraise him almost as if she could see the expression he wore behind the mask.
"You lie to the world while giving them the truth as it's required. You lie to yourself by saying this needs to be done but in all actuality you just want it to happen. You're not even of Japanese descent. You're likely a Brittanian with enough reason to hold a grudge and enough influence to get things done the way you do."
Lelouch was flabbergasted by the words spoken from the Knight looking at him through the plexiglass wall of the three by three cell. How was it this girl be so perceptive? She couldn't be much older than Nunnally, no older than 15 yet she seemed so well informed. Did she truly know him as Lelouch and just beat around the bush, or was she truly that perceptive?
"How does someone like you become a Knight." He asked feeling his curiousity pertaining to what she knew overwhelmed by curiousity pertaining to Knight Anya Alstreim herself.
She shrugged her shoulders as if to say she either didn't know how to answer the question or she just didn't care to.
"You answered my question with another question."
"This girl is interesting. There's something about her that makes her different from other people." Lelouch remarked to himself figuring he might as well satisfy her curiousity.
"You're right in your assumption that I am not of Japanese heritage. I'm actually a Brittanian, although I will go into no more detail about my former identity than that."
"Former identity?" She questioned a clear spark of interest shinning in her eyes. "Are you just an escapists who finds solice in these new personas you create for yourself or are you just some unlucky noble who didn't have a choice?"
Lelouch silently observed the girl for another moment deciding that she didn't know who he really was. She just happened to be very perceptive and discerning when it came to certain things of a psychological nature.
"Anyone ever tell you that's a dangerous mind you possess?" The prince said complimenting the Knight without really meaning to.
"People generally tend to only worry about a small girl such as myself when I'm behind the controls of a nightmare frame. I've only ever been told I was dangerous by the other Knights."
"How is it you came to pilot a nightmare in the first place?"
"That's the second question you've asked in exchange for nothing."
Lelouch couldn't help but grin behind the mask yet again. He'd hoped she hadn't been keeping count.
"But I'm the one who's in the position to ask all the questions here. Why not indulge upon that privilege while I have it?"
"Don't be a rude conversationalist. You came here to question me hoping that I might share with you what I know of the Brittanian military and it's current condition."
"Among other things, but yes." Lelouch agreed feeling a tinge of excitement at the prospect of learning the secrets of his enemy from one of it's greatest assets.
"I have nothing to tell you. I don't exactly make it my mission to study whatever it is the Empire's doing. You probably know more about all that stuff pertaining to war than I do."
"Is that so?" Lelouch asked more for himself than Anya.
He didn't know how he knew but he could tell she wasn't lying. Her eyes told no lies, they only spared him the truth. He was fustrated beyond what anyone would've thought at the moment but the calm eyes of Knight actually had something of a grounding quality.
He would defeat Brittania as he always planned. This wasn't a setback of any kind so for now he would just be grateful he'd removed one of Brittania's strongest pieces from the board.
"Thank you." He said startling Ayna who'd expected the man to lash out at her with threats of physical violence.
"...You're welcome." She replied placing a hand to her chest as an alien sensation accompanied by a bit of heat bubbled within her chest at having the leader of the Black Knights express undue gratitude towards her.
Without another word Lelouch turned and began walking away from the girls cell while she watched his retreating back. Some of the things she said would stick with him for the rest of the day, but he'd find that for the most part when his thoughts drifted towards the brief conversation shared between he and the Knight of six, her eyes would be the main object of his focus.
0o0o0o0o0o
Anya laid back down wondering why he'd just taken her word for it. Did he honestly think she was lying and intend to have her tortured, or was Zero just that much of a gentleman that he actually would leave his prisoners of war unharmed regardless of what useful Intel they might possess?
If that was the case then maybe the Black Knights were hero's of Justice of some kind but nevermind that. Anya felt her curiousity involving the rebellions leader to be of a much higher caliber than her desire to know of her fate at the moment.
Her conversation with Zero had been pretty easy but she found the desire to converse with the enigma of a man who symbolized hope for the Elevens quickly dwarfed by another desire. Zero was a very interesting figure but she felt herself more intrigued by just who he might be behind the mask.
She wanted to see his eyes just much as she wanted to make him question himself. She figured they'd likely be very expressive, even more so than she would likely picture them to be.
She really wanted to know what color they were, she didn't even know his facial structure let alone what he looked like but she pictured a darker color, like obsidian, dark brown, muddy hazel, dark blue, or maybe voliet. Maybe finding out more about the man would help her find an answer. Then again if she happened to see him again which she felt she would, she would just ask him.