"Ummm. Do you possibly have something a little less ... fancy, Nunnali-hime?" Shu asked incredulously as he turned, gazing at himself from all possible angles in the reflection of the mirror. He was garbed in a neatly tailored cream-colored dress shirt, with a black jacket, detailed with a delicate leaf-vine pattern in gold thread over the shoulders and collar, and black silk breeches that went down to his knees, where they disappeared into a pair of expensive looking black leather boots. An unnecessarily long and gaudy scarlet red cloak cascaded down his back, the ends connected just under his throat by a gold medallion, immediately beneath the cream silk cravat that adorned his neck.
"You are a king, Shu-kun. You should be dressed like one." Nunnali declared, eyeing Shu's elaborately dressed form with approval.
"True, but ... even though I am a king ... I've never dressed like this in my entire life. I feel like such a giant eyesore ..." Shu replied sheepishly.
"But now you and Inori-chan match! Like a king and his queen!" Nunnali insisted, a slightly mischievous gleam in her blue eyes.
Shu felt the heat rise in his cheeks, and he pointedly avoided catching Inori's gaze in the mirror, though he didn't miss the faint pinkish tint on her own face.
Just then the doors behind the small party opened and a uniformed servant scurried in. "Announcing His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Lelouch Vi'Britannia! And the esteemed Knight of Zero, Lord Suzaku Kururugi!" he called as two tall male figures strode into the room, bringing in an air of nobility and control with them.
Shu's eyes widened, and he felt Inori instinctively press herself up against him. He knew without a doubt that this was indeed the Emperor of Britannia, he would have known that without any sort of introduction, that was how powerful his aura of command was. His amethyst purple gaze was so clear, it was as if he were looking straight through those around him, but at the same time, it was so unbelievably focused, there was no mistaking what his purpose in being here was.
The brunette striding alongside the dark-haired, white-clad king was unfamiliar to Shu, but the servant had announced that this was the infamous Kururugi Suzaku, Knight of Zero and personal guard of the Emperor himself. He looked younger than Shu had thought he would have, but the icy cold gleam in his emerald green eyes made him appear older at the same time. Those were the eyes of someone who had seen the horrors of the world first-hand and had taken them in and turned them into his strength. Shu wondered if his own eyes looked anything like the brown-haired Knight's.
"Brother! Suzaku!" Nunnali cried happily as the duo approached.
Lelouch's fey-violet eyes flickered over to where his sister sat in her wheelchair, and he gave her a warm smile, "Hello, Nunnali. Thank you for seeing to it that our guests have been treated well." He said in that same silky-smooth voice Shu faintly remembered in his delusions.
"It was my pleasure, Brother." The blue-eyed girl replied with an affectionate smile in return.
Lelouch's piercing gaze turned back towards where Shu stood with Inori clinging to his new cape, gazing over his shoulder at the Emperor with wary crimson eyes. "So, you are Ouma Shu. I'm glad to see you up on your feet instead of thrashing about in your sleep."
It took Shu a minute to find his voice. He swallowed hard, "Y-Yes. Thank you for helping me. Inori told me it was you who ordered our removal from Loop 7, and that you were the one who had my arm treated."
Lelouch's expression, unreadable under the mask of aloof amusement he wore, did not change in the slightest. "I'm pleased I could be of assistance, Ouma-kun." The raven-haired king said benignly, before his gaze drifted away from Shu and Inori once again. "Nunnali, Euphie was looking for you earlier, and I told her I'd send you her way when I found you." Lelouch said coolly to his sister, almost offhandedly.
Nunnali's blue eyes brightened, "Oh! Then I shouldn't keep Euphie-neesan waiting! Do you know where she is, Brother?"
"She said she would be in the garden for a while, so you might want to check there first."
Lelouch turned his fell-orbs to the servant standing unobtrusively by the door, "You, help Nunnali find Princess Euphemia." He commanded, authority dripping from his voice. The servant bowed low, "At once, Your Majesty!" he stated, coming up from his bow to immediately take the handles of Nunnali's wheelchair from C.C., who backed away expectantly.
"I'll see you later, Shu-kun, Inori-chan, Suzaku, Brother, C.C.-san!" the princess called over her shoulder as the servant wheeled her out of the room.
Shu and Inori watched the scene with the distinct impression that Lelouch was getting rid of all unwanted ears in the room, and now that they were gone, Shu assumed he could speak freely without offending anyone. Steeling his resolve, Shu opened his mouth and began to speak the words he'd been mulling over in his mind since he'd awoken.
"Lelouch-sama... please do not mistake my meaning, I am very grateful to you for your role in saving my life, and Inori's, but... what do you want with me...? I know this goes beyond my being the rightful King of Japan. There is... something you want from me, isn't there...?"
Lelouch and Suzaku shared a quick look at one another, and Lelouch's smile widened. " ... You are indeed perceptive, Ouma-kun. It is indeed a credit to one of your blood. There is something I want, yes. But not necessarily from you. You are the means of getting what I want. And as such, I am willing to help you reclaim what has been taken from you. Namely... your homeland, and your birthright." Lelouch purred in such a way that sent a shiver down Shu's spine.
Suzaku stepped forward then, "Please, Ouma-sama. Lelouch puts it in a way that sounds underhanded, but... he really does mean well. He really will help you reclaim Japan from the GHQ." He said in a voice that was edged with steel, but blunted by a sort of pleading.
Shu was surprised, astonished, completely caught off guard by the Emperor's offer of help. '... Why? I know Lelouch said he had ulterior motives for doing this, but... what does that have to do with me...? I've lost my power, been rejected by my kingdom... can't he just take what he wants without involving me or Inori?'
"You are surprised by offer, no?" Lelouch's voice made him jump, his focus immediately snapping back into reality.
Shu hesitated, but after a few moments, he nodded in the affirmative. "Yes. Though ... I cannot figure out why I am worth saving. What value do I have to you and your plans ...? I don't understand why you bothered to save me. If there's something you want, but not from me, why can't you just take it on your own? I doubt there's anyone out there that could actually stop you ... So why rescue me and Inori and smuggle us out of Japan? What's the purpose in that?" he said slowly, letting his inner-self create the words.
Suzaku opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it again, with a somewhat hesitant glance at his king. Lelouch nodded at him to continue.
"Ouma-sama ..." the brown-haired knight started out softly, "for the past couple years, almost immediately after Lelouch took the throne, we've been ... monitoring the situation in Japan. We have several agents inside the GHQ, and in various other organizations such as the Kuhouin Group, and your rebellion group, Funeral Parlor."
Shu's eyes widened slightly, and he felt Inori flinch beside him, 'Funeral Parlor?!'
"For the most part, our observations yielded little ... but a few months ago, several rather ... interesting events occurred. The first, was the theft of one of what we then learned were called Void Genomes by Yuzuriha-san. It was the first time we'd heard of such a thing, and since then, we've discovered a number of things regarding the genome. However, the second thing we learned, from our sources inside both the GHQ and Funeral Parlor, that the genome had been absorbed by a certain individual." Suzaku went on, his dark green gaze heavy and intense. "We learned your identity from our agents inside Funeral Parlor, and after discovering that you are the lost heir to the throne of Japan ... we waited."
"Waited?" Shu echoed, "Why?"
"Because it wasn't our place to interfere," Lelouch answered, "You seemed to have everything under control for the time being, so we left you to your own devices."
"What made you change your mind ...?" Shu asked icily.
"The Second Apocalypse, more or less ..." the black haired male replied with a shrug, "After that particular incident ... we began to look closer into the movements of the GHQ, and found their plan to eliminate Loop 7, along with the fact that you and several other people of interest were inside that area. Ironically, we also have an agent inside your school, one you probably have meet and associated with, so we knew the whole situation with the rumors, the change of command, and your rather brilliant plan of using the Void Ranking System to create order and supply yourselves with the necessary resources for not only your survival, but your eventual escape."
It was Shu's turn to flinch as he was abruptly reminded of those pain-filled times as the so-called king of a crumbling kingdom, and the end of his missing arm twinged painfully. It was not something he wanted to remember, any more than he wanted to remember what had happened to his sister, Mana, and to hear what he had been condemned for be praised ... it didn't sit well with him. But, even so, he still had a question.
"When you say 'we', you mean ... you and your intelligence squad ...?"
Lelouch looked pleased by the query, "No, when I say 'we', I mean C.C., Suzaku and myself. Suzaku, C.C. and I are the only ones privy to the Void Genome/GHQ information. Those agents we have report directly to me, and no one else."
Shu closed his eyes briefly, "I see ..." he whispered, "And the agent you placed in my school ...? Who was it?"
Lelouch smiled, "His name was Gino Weinberg, and he is one of my Knights of the Rounds."
"Weinberg-senpai?!" Shu gasped, an image of the outgoing, energetic, blonde, aquamarine blue-eyed upperclassman flashing before his eyes. "Weinberg-senpai is ..." he trailed off, feeling the true gravity of what Lelouch had said. 'A Knight of the Rounds ...?! One of the twelve strongest fighters in the whole world?! In my school?!'
However, one very prominent thing stood out in Shu's mind at that moment; that he had no recollection of seeing Gino Weinberg since they were all sealed off inside Loop 7.
"I had him pull out when you led the assault on the GHQ amid your exodus out of the sector, though I ordered him to disappear from among the student body when they cut off Loop 7. I couldn't risk him being caught, by the GHQ, or by you, Shu-kun, for that matter. Though I doubt anyone really noticed he was gone. That is just how Gino works. You all acknowledge him when he's present, but he purposely doesn't do anything that would leave a lasting impression on people. That's the genius of it all, really." The violet-eyed male said, as if perceiving what Shu was thinking at that moment.
"Officially, Gino was never at the school at all." Suzaku continued for the Emperor, "We provided him with enough paperwork that anyone looking into his background would come up with the same story; that he was just your average teenager who moved into Tokyo with some relatives after his parents died. Your typical transfer student. Nothing more, nothing less."
"B . . . But that doesn't answer my original question, what was the reason you even bothered to rescue Inori and I?!" Shu demanded, feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything at the moment, "And why are you telling me all of this?!"
"Calm yourself, Shu-kun. We were getting to that." Lelouch retorted, his unperturbed behavior persisting, despite of the brown-haired king's defensive hostility. "To answer your first question, why I deemed it necessary to rescue you and Yuzuriha-san . . . it was because I . . . admire you, and didn't want to see you die yet. You fascinated me, you and your power . . . . Saving Yuzuriha Inori as well was . . . partly a good will gesture, and partially due to the insatiable curiosity I have concerning the power of the Void. It was as much for her sake as it was for yours."
The young Emperor's jewel-like eyes glittered intensely, "To answer your second question, is that not what allies do? I'm trying to gain your trust by telling you the truth. You are not the only one with a power known as the Power of the King, so why should the two of us not work together to achieve our respective goals?"
"Are we allies . . . Emperor Lelouch . . . ?" Shu snapped, his voice low and sharp, a tone he hadn't taken since before he'd been betrayed and cast out, "Are we?"
The raven-haired male's misleading smile vanished, leaving behind a look of absolute seriousness. "I would certainly like to be . . . with your consent."
"My consent . . . ?" the displaced King of Japan scoffed slightly, "And should I refuse to give it?"
"Then I shall have to take what I want in a manner that you may not like."
"Was that a threat, Lelouch-kun?"
"No." Lelouch purred, utterly pleased with himself, "Not a threat. Not towards you. I know you would like to save as many lives as possible. I would like to spare as many as possible, but if I have to, my methods will become . . . unsavory."
"Lelouch . . . !" Suzaku hissed quietly, a harsh note of warning in his voice.
Lelouch rolled his eyes slightly and cast a glance in his Knight's direction. "Relax, Suzaku. All I want is a peaceful, working alliance with the cast off King of Japan." He murmured dryly, before turning his attention back to his guests, "It is mutually beneficial, Ouma-kun. I have no intention of hurting you, Yuzuriha-san, or any of your people. I will help you free Japan from the United Forces and the GHQ."
"You're still evading the main issue here, Lelouch-kun . . . ." Shu said softly, carefully. "What is it . . . that you want from me . . . and Inori?"
"Lelouch." A lithe, teasing voice called from nearby, startling both Inori and Shu, though Lelouch and Suzaku merely looked over in the direction of the voice.
"Stop fooling around. You're only making things more complicated for everyone." the yellow-haired woman, C.C., who had remained silent up until this moment, said, her amber eyes glittering with amusement. "Just tell him you want to study the power of the Void, and Inori's connection to it, because it's so similar to the Geass."
"Geass? What's Geass, and what does it have to do with Void?" Shu asked sharply, his suspicion reaching its peak.
"That's sensitive information, Ouma Shu. If you want to know . . . you should accept what Lelouch is offering you. What does it matter what Lelouch wants, as long as it coincides with your own goals, ne?" the strange woman with the brilliant amber eyes purred, almost teasingly. There was something depthless and ancient about the woman, something that sent a trill of muted awe through him.
She did have a point though. For now . . . he could go along with the Emperor, because his offer, realistically, was too good to pass up. If their roles were reversed, he would probably have done the same thing. Besides that, there was something, a power similar to Void, apparently called Geass, and as they wanted to study the power of the Void, he also wanted to know more about this Geass.
Shu glanced back at Inori, still clinging to his cape. "What do you think?" he asked softly.
Inori's crimson eyes looked up at him, scared, but grimly determined, "Whatever Shu wants to do . . . I will follow." She whispered.
Shu closed his eyes and let out a long, even breath. After a minute, his brown eyes opened again, and he stared at Lelouch with a steely gaze. "For now . . . we are allies, Lelouch-san."
Lelouch smiled, an expression of genuine warmth and delight, but laced with forbidding intent.
"Welcome to Britannia, Shu-kun."
