"Let us pray for hope for the recovery of our two Princesses, and for the safety of our Royal Family"
With that, the game show came back on, and the room was filled with silence, apart from the out of place laughter coming from the TV.
Lelouch stood up suddenly, tipping his chair over backwards, shattering the silence by the clanging of the chair against the wooden floor.
This was brilliant! Amazing! Lelouch thought, trying hard to hide the grin that was threatening to show itself on his face. Some kind of group, had managed to succeed in damaging the Royal Family. He was sorry for Euphie, the only half-sibling he actually liked. But the reporter had said it looked like she would make a full recovery given time, so no need to worry.
"Le-Lelouch…" Came the small voice of Nunnally from behind him, breaking his train of thought.
Lelouch turned around, to see the big lavender eyes of his younger sister, filled with worry, shock, and tears.
"Odysseus… And Clovis… are dead? And… And Euphie. P-poor Euphie." At this, the tears overflowed her eyes, and started pouring down her face.
"Nunnally…" Lelouch said gently, as he walked over and crouched next to his sister, taking her hands in his, as well as wiping away her tears. "They said Euphemia would make a full recovery. So, she will be just fine."
Weary of everyone else overhearing anything, Lelouch let go of her hands, and gently pushed her out of the room, into their living quarters, with Sayako walking behind them.
Milly didn't miss the glance he gave her, blatantly asking to come up with something to explain Nunnally's reaction to the rest of the student council.
"Is Nunna ok?" Said Shirley anxiously, looking after the two siblings.
"Y-yeah… Do they know the Royal Family or something?" asked Nina shyly from her computer.
Milly stood up slowly, and started pacing the room, trying to think of something to tell them, without giving too much away. After a few minutes, she leant against the table, having decided that believable lies are ones that are closest to the truth.
Taking a big breath and closing her eyes in thought, Milly began talking. "Both Lelouch and Nunnally are actually from a former Noble family. Higher up than what my own family used to be. So naturally, their parents would spend a lot of time with Royalty, and through that, Lelouch and Nunnally met, and spent, a lot of time with all the Princes and Princesses, and got to know them very well when they were young. It was when the war with Area 11 broke out, that their family lost their Nobility, and were sent here. That's when they lost their parents and met Suzaku."
Milly opened her eyes, and looked up, to gather if everyone bought the lie. Judging by their faces, they had. None of them could not believe Milly when she had such a serious, yet sad expression on her face
"My god," Shirley said, now on the brink of tears, a hand covering her mouth in shock. "Poor Lulu and Nunna… I never knew they went through something like that."
"But please, guys" Milly begged. "Lelouch really doesn't want anyone to know about this. So, don't repeat, or talk to anyone else about this, or even look this up. There's a lot of stuff that happened that he prefers people not know about. Please." She begged again, and pleased when everyone agreed.
"wait," Rivals said rubbing his head in thought. "Is that why Lelouch is so good at chess? Coz I heard that some of the Royal family like to play it… And knowing them, they would be very good at the game."
"For once, you're actually right about something, Rivals." Milly replied, while getting up and walking towards the door that Lelouch and Nunnally had used to leave.
"Wow… He must have learnt from the best then…"
"Right again, Rivals." Milly said as she reached the door. "Now, I'm going to go make sure those two are ok and if they need anything. I'll see you guys later"
And with that, Milly left the rest of the student council to their thoughts, and the still laughing TV game show.
As Milly was walking through the Lamperouge's living quarters, she found Lelouch, slowly and quietly closing Nunnally's bedroom door. He turned around with his eyes closed, and lent his back against the door. He tilted his head back, and opened his eyes to look at the ceiling, letting out a big breath of air. Lelouch had obviously not realised that Milly was standing there, looking at him, and to her surprise, a smile spread across his face.
Milly leant her shoulder against the corridor wall and crossed her arms, with a frown on her face. "I know you hate your family, Lelouch, "she said, making Lelouch turn his head to look at her, in surprise. "But I don't think you should be happy about the fact that people have been killed or injured."
Lelouch pushed of from the door and started walking over to Milly. "I am sad, that Euphie is in hospital and badly injured. I do think of her as the only sibling, other than Nunnaly, that I do hold dear to me." He passed her and started to head towards the lounge. "I got along with Odysseus fine, but he was a fool. The kind who wouldn't realise he was being attacked until it was too late. But I never really got to know him personally. So, to me, him dying is a bit like being told a cousin you have maybe met once or twice, years ago, has died." They had reached the lounge and both took a seat on the sofa, that had obviously not been used much. "As for Clovis…" Lelouch carried on, crossing his arms and legs. "He was just an idiot. Never liked him. All he ever done was prance around at those stupid parties or balls, talking about the latest fashion, or the arts. He used to always put on an act that he adored both Nunnally and I. And Guinevere? She's one of the ones I really hate. I swear her and Carine made it their mission to torment us most. If anything, I'm sad by the fact that she didn't die."
Milly, leaning forwards to look Lelouch in the eye, and asked, "Then what's the grinning for then, Lelouch? You didn't have a hand in any of this, did you…?"
Looking looked right back at her, Lelouch replied. "Of course, not Milly. What do you think I can even do? All I currently am, is just some school boy trying to stay hidden. I think attacking the Royal Family would bring the wrong kind of attention. Particularly with killing Clovis. Staying hidden from him is easy. But if they bring someone else, most likely Cornelia, she will be able to crack down on everything quickly, here in Area 11."
"Don't avoid the question, Lelouch. What was the grinning for."
Sighing and leaning back into the sofa, Lelouch answered her. "Don't worry, Milly. It's nothing to worry about. I'm just amazed, happy even, that some group, or organisation, has actually managed to give the Royal Family such a sudden, and aggressive blow. I didn't think anything like this would happen in years to come."
"If that's that, then what are you going to do, Lelouch. After this, there is bound to be a lot more media covering the Royal Family. What if they bring up your supposed deaths?"
Lelouch hadn't event began to think about any of that just yet. But what if they do make a story on the members of the Royal Family that had now died. A picture of them would most definitely be shown. Would anyone be able to recognise them? Surely not… Both their appearances had changed since they left Pendragon, all those years ago Only those close to them when they were younger would probably be able to recognise them now. And he could always tell people they were named after the two Royal children.
"I don't think that will be anything to worry about," Lelouch decided. "I highly doubt anyone would be able to recognise us. What did you tell the others?"
Noticing that Lelouch had purposefully changed the subject, Milly finally leant back into the sofa to relax. "I told them you were from a former noble family, and that you spent a lot of time with royalty because of that. I also said that at the beginning of the war with Afrea 11, your family lost their nobility, and hinted that your parents died when you came over here during the war, thus, meeting Suzaku."
Lelouch nodded in approval. "Ok, that's fine."
If any of the student council ever asked why he and Nunnally had the same names as Lelouch and Nunnally Vi Britanna, he could say that his parents admired Marianne, and once she died, Charles showed them his hatred for taking the same names, thus, their loss of nobility.
"Thank you, Milly. That's worked out quite well."
"How is Nunnaly doing, Lelouch? This must have been such a horrible shock to her."
"Yes, it was a shock for her," He replied, with a sad look on his face, thinking of his sister. "She is asleep now. Hopefully by the time she wakes, she would have calmed down. But I don't think she will go to lessons or anything like that for a few days. She holds everyone in Pendragon dear to her, and thinks they must have their reasons for doing what they did to us in the past, or even doing anything bad now."
Sayako then came into the room, brining with her some tea and biscuits.
"I thought you would like some tea, to help deal with these events, Master Lelouch."
"Thank you, Sayako. This is much appreciated." He replied, accepted a cup.
They sat in silence for a while, drinking their tea and eating their biscuits, contemplating everything that had just happened, and what was to come. There would most definitely be more resistance cells, as well as terrorist attacks around the world. Particularly here in Area 11, where the was now no Viceroy to command the troops, or to run the Area. Britannia would only send someone once their own threat had been taken care of. The mainland and its Royalty took top priority over one of its Areas. Lelouch wouldn't be surprised if there were to become a curfew in place for everyone now, to try keep order in Area 11, where there was already known terrorist groups and resistance cells. The Britannian's would start hating on the Japanese even more so than normal, even blaming them for the deaths of one of their prince.
All Lelouch could do now, was try and stay hidden, with no one drawing in any attention to he and his sister, or the people around them.
Simply put. This was turning into a mess that Lelouch had no control over. And he was starting to not like it. Not one bit at all.
There you have it! Chapter 2!
I've always thought that Lelouch wouldn't like it if something big happened in Area 11 that he couldn't control. Because in the anime, he had a lot of control over the situation (being Zero and all), and here in this fic, he has none at all.
This part I found most challenging about this, was explaining Nunnally's reaction to the student council. I didn't want them to find out about Lelouch and Nunnally being royalty just yet, because I have found while reading other stories, that it always feels very rushed if people find out in the beginning, and only a few times I've seen it done well. So, I decided to make Milly come up with a believable excuse. I was a bit worried I made it seem that Nina, Shirley and Rivals accept the lie happily (which I think I did do with Rivals, but wasn't intended). I wanted them to seem shocked and a bit sad about what they had just learnt about their friend. And I may go back and edit it a bit when I can think of how to do it better.
I was originally going to have this chapter finish after the funeral of Odysseus and Clovis, but when writing, I just felt like this was a good place to finish a chapter.
Sorry for any spelling mistakes. English is my first language, but I am dyslexic, so this story is a very big challenge for me.
Thanks for reading yet another chapter! Please rate and review, and don't be afraid to ask me anything.
Sloth Chan
