Bolmung LK: Warning; there may be a few spelling errors. I got a headache halfway through proof-reading so I may have missed some. Also, issues with accidentally naming Suzaku Knight of Round in the last chapter have been removed. He's only Euphemia's Knight now.
COMMISSION: Named Heir
Ch. II – Interview With A Warlock
Now that the Student Council's very own special tunnel had been built under the school they could all return to school regularly. Lucina was fitting in nicely, but Shirley withheld her disagreements with the girl. Shirley was smart enough to know that she can't hate a girl for having been on a measly date with her crush in the past. She was doing her best to let it slide, but it kept nagging at her every time she saw Lelouch anywhere near her. Shirley fiddled with the piece of paper; it was the form for the new clubs that would be forming next semester. She needed to decide which seven of these twelve clubs would be allowed to form. But oh, Lucina glanced at Lelou! Shirley tried tearing her focus from Lucina back to the paper. She skimmed over the names of the clubs; they were usually something god-awful like 'Super Chess Team Elite' or worse yet 'Naughty Minton' instead of Bad-Minton. She wanted to march down to these idiots who named these clubs and shove their forms down their mouths. Normally Shirley was a bright-bubbly girl, but today she was getting ticked off way too easily.
"Shirley, you don't want to burst a blood vessel. I didn't know you hated paper so much." Milly giggled at Shirley who realized she had been giving the paper a death glare while strangling it.
"I'm sorry, I was just up most of the night thinking about school. Now that we're practically famous it's hard to keep focus with all these cameras pointed at us every morning. It's just getting to me is all." Shirley sighed as she allowed herself to relax.
For a moment Lelouch felt a tad guilty, this was sort of his fault for being Emperor. Alas he cannot be blamed entirely for it, even while having the option to decline he still had faced being uncovered by the live airing of the will. Lelouch crumpled up the wad of paper in his hands and rubbed his eyes while holding it. He was getting tired, they'd been at school since six in the morning and it was now eight at night. They had to pull a triple shift tonight to make up for the days they'd missed while waiting for the tunnel to be built. Lelouch half regretting ever allowing them tag along with him on the helicopter; Milly and her craziness, yet at the same time relieved that his journey wasn't a lonesome one. Even though he had Geass, Zero, being Emperor and even his astounding intelligence these things alone weren't enough to get him by in the world. Everyone needed companions and friends, because without them the world appears far darker and unforgiving than it actually is. Milly, Shirley, Rival and everyone else were perfect examples of why one needed a good friend to tag along now and again.
"Lelou, why don't we call it quits for tonight." Milly suggested.
"Yeah." He yawned. "I'd like that." He got up and stretched his back.
"I'll go call the car around!" Euphemia said chipper as she skipped out of the room.
"I bet there's a massive line of people waiting for us outside the palace." Kallen commented flatly, she didn't even have to think about it to be able to predict it.
"Everyone just remember to bum rush the palace doors, don't stop and talk to the press. We have interviews set up with news stations for Thursday night already." Milly reminded them sternly as she tapped Rival over the head with a rolled up newspaper.
"Speaking of Thursday night's interview." Suzaku started as he picked up Arthur who made a noise of delight. "On Wednesday I'm taking Euphie to her favorite tailor in France and we won't make it back in time for the interviews I think. Have you all invited your families for the ball on Friday?"
"I sure did!" Shirley raised her hand up cheerfully. "My Mom was incredibly excited and Lelouch even gave clearance for my big brother to come. He's been away on militia affairs since three years ago! It'll be a nice surprise for him!" the orangette smiled brightly, suddenly her rage from before melted.
"Lelouch." Suzaku gave a hopeful smile at him. "Would it be terribly out of order if I invited my cousin?"
"Who is your cousin- Oh, right. Kaguya Sumeragi." He said stupidly as he remembered his childhood in Japan. He, Suzaku and Kaguya all played together as children. "I don't mind." He half lied, Kaguya was a bit frustrating in her youth, perhaps now that she was a teen she'd be a bit more manageable. He'd be lying if he said he missed her, but he was indeed curious to see how she was doing.
"Lelouch!" Euphemia ran back into the room hysteric. "Lelouch there's a big problem!" she said quickly with worry glazed over her eyes.
"What is it? What's wrong Euphie?" Suzaku ran up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Cornelia is here! She doesn't look too happy either." The princess gave Lelouch a look of concern and fear.
"Why is that so much of a problem?" Lelouch scoffed.
"She's with the nobles and they've just appealed a vote amongst themselves." She said as Lelouch began to leer at her.
"What vote?" he asked dangerously.
"I don't exactly know, but it could potentially over-ride your new law about the Japanese." She pursed her lower lip and looked to the floor.
"Like hell I'll let that happen." Lelouch stood up and moved passed the worried Euphemia. He made his way down the hall, but didn't have to go very far before running into Cornelia.
"Lelouch!" the regal Princess shouted with power. "This ends now." She halted before him and handed him a stack of papers. He took them and looked at the first one rather tepidly. He tossed them in the air and allowed them to scatter across the floor.
"I didn't approve such paperwork." He said lowly as they mad eye contact.
"When it comes to the nobles voting you out of your throne you don't have much of a choice." She leaned forwards over him. "Face it Lelouch, you're not Emperor anymore." She nearly smirked but stopped herself.
"Not unless I approve those papers I'm not. You and your ex-nobles have no power to vote me out." He said with a mighty tone.
"Ex-nobles?! S-since when?" she asked mortified as she backed away slightly.
"Since I took the throne. Didn't you read my statement from yesterday? I gave it to Schneizel, he even approved it." He gave her one of his best sarcastic smiles that ended up coming off as 'evil' to her.
"Y-you wouldn't….Please tell me you didn't throw away everything father worked on!" she shivered slightly as she gave him a worried stare.
"I did." He said flatly as he turned on his heel and walked away from the shuddering woman. Cornelia turned around and slowly walked away with a palm to her forehead. She couldn't help but ask herself if she had been demoted to commoner along with her nobles in the process. She immediately returned to the palace to read Lelouch's statement to Schneizel.
"Is everything okay?" Euphemia asked worriedly as Lelouch reentered the room.
"Oh yes." He put on a smile for her. "It was a misunderstanding is all." He sort of lied.
"Oh I'm so relieved!" Euphemia sighed with a hand on her chest.
"Well we should get back to the palace now, shouldn't we?" Suzaku turned to Lelouch.
"Yeah." Was all Lelouch said as he grabbed his school briefcase.
XxXxX
Lelouch sat lazily at his work desk in the palace. He had the palace crew construct him a fancy office in which to do his evil or saintly deeds in. As where Cornelia and the royal family members themselves hadn't been demoted, all of their subordinates had been demoted to simple commoners. Ironically this included Shirley's mother and Kallen's father to which he offered them better positions under him instead. Shirley's mother was the Tokyo Palace secretary of events and Kallen's father managed the Palace construction schedules and grounds. These roles were less glorious than their previous occupations, but Lelouch offered to pay them more. As where Kallen didn't care too much for her father's new job, Shirley was ecstatic that Lelouch took the time to think of her family's well-being and that he acknowledged that his actions had effects on other people. She was actually starting to feel more proud of her darling Lelou now that she could see him as a ruler with excellent decision making skills rather than a slouch who sleeps during class. It was like his transformation from boyhood to godhood happened overnight, or rather over the course of just a few hours. Little to her knowledge he had been this sort of miraculous deity for some time now; perhaps even his whole life.
"Lelouch, there's something I wanna ask you." Shirley began as she fiddled with her shoes. She was sitting in a comfy chair across his office, her feet dangled to the floor as she prodded her shoes into the ground with a twisting motion.
"Hn?" was the only noise he made, he didn't look up from his desk. Shirley wondered if he was doing homework or signing political documents.
"Have you chosen an escort to the ball yet?" she blushed and turned her head out the window so she didn't have to make eye contact when he inevitably looked her way.
"No, why?" he paused his writing to look in her direction. He was honestly hoping she'd make that first move, but in another way he actually want to formally escort Kallen to the ball.
"J-just…a question…" she lowered her head, she couldn't find the courage to ask her next question. He stood up and stretched his arms upward as he rose up on his tippy toes. To Shirley this looked rather adorable on him, but she'd never admit that.
"I'm going to go get something to eat, would you join me?" he asked casually, not intending to create the confusion that clearly Shirley mistook as asking for a 'dinner date'.
"I-I'd love to!" she looked up at him beat red, he cracked a smile at her and almost laughed, but resisted.
Much to Shirley's disappointment Lelouch invited everyone, she mentally smacked herself for jumping to conclusions. Since it was after ten at night all the palace cooks had gone home for the day and Lelouch was forced to go to a late night restaurant; Tokyo's most famous sushi bar; Sukiyabashi Jiro. Kallen had heard of this place years ago as being hailed the best restaurant to get your sushi fix on, but only the Japanese went there. Nina felt very nervous being in the presence of so many Japanese people, but she reminded herself that Lelouch had made the new laws for a reason and remained calm. Very few ballsy Britannians dared to show up due to the conflict they'd receive from their Britannian peer's judgments. She was quite glad to see that Lelouch wasn't afraid of that stereotype at all and that they were all waltzing into the small bar without a shred of fear. An astounding amount of pride and joy welled up in Kallen's chest as they reached the front counter to be seated.
"Hey Lelouch, mind if I ask for the seats? I can speak Japanese fluently." She offered sweetly.
"I can too, but be my guest." He stepped aside.
"Y-you're fluent in Japanese?" she asked with wide eyes as she stared at him. He just nodded at her.
A Japanese woman at the front desk, speaking only in Japanese, said to them. "Hello honored guests, welcome to Sukiyabashi Jiro, how many are in your party?" she said without looking up from the paper on the counter. She was too busy focusing on the seating chart to notice exactly who was standing before her.
"Twelve, please keep us all together if possible." Kallen said in Japanese.
The woman circled some seats on her chart and finally looked up at them then jumped in surprise with a squeak. She eyed Kallen then Lelouch and the rest of the group. She put her hands over her mouth to hide her fearful expression. She then straightened herself out and bowed to them and began rambling in broken English about how sorry she was. She continuously bowed as she panicked and said her poor-English apologies. Lelouch laughed a little then approached her. He put his hands on her shoulders and stopped her from moving around like a fish out of water. In perfect Japanese he began speaking to her with a gentle smile.
"It's alright, we speak Japanese. Just calm down and please seat us. Also please don't alert the paparazzi!" He said coolly and the waitress nearly fainted. Lelouch wasn't sure if her sudden melted state was from being terrified or embarrassed that he had gotten so close to her.
"R-right this way then, p-please…" she stuttered as her teeth chattered.
She led them through the rows of gawking Japanese customers and employees alike. As they were seated in a traditional kotatsu table she immediately took their order, surprisingly everyone, but two people, spoke Japanese well enough to make their own order off of an entirely Japanese menu; those two being Gino and Anya. Milly had to read the menu to Nunnally. They waited for their food to arrive as they goofed off together. Meanwhile; the waitress who took their order ran into the kitchen and began explaining that the Emperor, Princess Euphemia and Suzaku Kururugi were all at the restaurant and had ordered. Every chef immediately went into hyper-mode and made every dish incredibly more elaborate that it normally was. Normally when Emperor Charles was in throne had he of ever come in they would of given him small portions and upped the price, just for spite. Lelouch however was another story, with some of their rights restored upon his first day in command they felt a ray of hope from him. They intended to please him in order to show him that the Japanese were indeed worthy and maybe he'd continue to help them in their struggles.
"So Lelouch, why'd you bring a laptop?" Rival asked as he pointed to the case Lelouch kept at his side.
"Oh, I wanted to show you all what I planned on doing in the Shinjuku Ghetto." He said as he grabbed the heavy laptop and set it on the table. Kallen's eyes narrowed as she glared at Lelouch intently. Anytime Britannia messed with Shinjuku it was a disaster.
"What plans?" Kallen asked harsher than she meant to, Lucina noticed this dark tinge to Kallen and gave her a surprised look.
"I plan to help rebuild it, the place is a nightmare…" he frowned as he turned the laptop on. Kallen's grim expression immediately turned into a bright one.
"Oh that's cool, that place was a dump for so long and after Clovis planned to renovate it he managed to make it look worse…" Shirley said, she wasn't sure if she should laugh or frown.
"I know, he didn't renovate at all. In fact he just massacred the place." Lelouch gave his screen a low stare. "Here look at what me and the construction crews came up with." He said as he turned the computer around to show everyone.
It was a before and after picture of the ghettoes that everyone had seen on the news many times. The old ghetto was desolated and demolished by gunfire and fighting. One of the before pictures even had a dead body lying in it. The after pictures were essentially what Japan used to look like before the invasion, except with the technology of Britannia. As everyone rambled on about how cool Japan would look with updated architecture Kallen almost cried. She wanted to cry in absolute joy, Japan was going to be revived. Not just given back in title, but the real Japan that the Japanese longed for would be returning.
"Why'd you write the whole document in Kanji?" Rival asked as he noted that every single word and paragraph was written in traditional Japanese.
"Because the construction crew I'm hiring to do it is made up of only Japanese. Almost none of them could read English, so I figured this was the easiest route." He explained and everyone understood.
Kallen wanted to jump up and go call Zero at that exact moment, but she didn't want to miss a moment of this. The waitress returned with their drinks and happened to see the screen and did her best to withhold her shrieks of joy. After she delivered their drink she ran back to the kitchen to tell the good news. The entire kitchen erupted in sheer happiness that could be heard throughout the entire restaurant. The waitresses brought over complimentary sake and a couple of Geishas that they usually reserved only for when the Black Knights dined there in secret. As where Lelouch and Suzaku turned down the Geisha's flirtatious offerings, Rival couldn't resist and Gino became absolutely fascinated with them. Britannia had nothing like a Geisha, not even close.
"This is so illegal…" Lelouch laughed as he took a single sip of the sake, just to be courteous seeing as it was free and he didn't want to trample on the Japanese's courtesies.
"You're obviously gonna let it slide that a restaurant is serving minors alcohol because you're drinking it, right?" Suzaku laughed softly as he too took a sip. Euphemia had heard of sake before, but never tasted it despite being legally allowed to drink at sixteen in the Britannian homeland. Sake, being a Japanese famous drink, was hardly ever served in the homeland. In fact it was down-right rare to find there.
"Of course, besides I think I should lower it in Japan as well. I don't see why there should be two different age-sets for drinking in two countries that I can control." Lelouch said truthfully.
"That is true, however I think you should up Britannia's drinking limit." Kallen gave Gino a knowing smirk.
"No! Please don't Emperor Lelou!" Gino begged as he crawled over to him and grabbed his arm as a desperate act of a plea as he bat his eyes at him.
"I won't, in fact I think that might anger Britannia more than the number-area system did." Lelouch tried not to laugh, but the sake took hold of his ambitions and twisted them.
"Oh yeah, Gino the wino is a shining example of such rage." Kallen laughed at him.
She was normally against minors drinking, but she decided that since it was sake and it was given out of gratitude for what Lelouch was going to do for Japan she had some. The food arrived and the dinner was filled with insane giggling from the drunk and mockery from the sober. Everyone was given chopsticks to use instead of Western silverware and a few struggled to use them. Gino, Anya and Nina did their best, but they had never used such a utensil before in their lives. Milly practically spoon, well chopstick, fed Nunnally seeing as she couldn't feel her way around well enough. They all shared a massive bowl of soy sauce in the middle that was easily big enough to fit someone's entire head into. During their drunken meal Rival slapped Lelouch harshly on the back causing him to lurch forwards quickly and his Emperor hat to fall off; straight into the bowl of soy sauce. Everyone stopped giggling and eating to watch as Lelouch used a pair of chopsticks to fish it out and hold up the dripping hat that was once white and now brown.
"You guys think I should still wear it?" he asked jokingly as he let it finish dripping before setting it on an empty plate. Everyone roared in laughter as Lelouch tried squeezing it out enough so that it wasn't dripping everywhere anymore. Lelouch's hands were now coated in sticky sauce and he excused himself to the restroom to wash his hands. When he returned Rival had the dirty hat on, but luckily it was dried off enough to not mess up his hair.
"Rival!" Lelouch said faking anger, he was actually quite amused.
After they finished eating the owner refused to charge Lelouch or give him a bill of any kind. Lelouch instead tipped every waitress and cook generously to make up for it. He wasn't opposed to be given free things, but he didn't enjoy taking business from someone and not paying them anything. As a joke Jiro, the restaurant owner, put Lelouch's soy-sauced hat in a to-go container and gave it to him. This genuinely made Lelouch laugh very loudly. Lelouch hugged the man sloppily and gave him a drunken smooch on the cheek. The man joined Lelouch in laughing. It seemed that a drunken Lelouch was a loving, schmoozing, silly Lelouch. Rival, Lucina, Shirley and Milly insisted on taking pictures of the hat before it was sent to a cleaner, or the trash. Unfortunately by the time they were ready to leave the only people who were sober enough to call the royal escort car were Nina, Anya and Nunnally.
XxXxX
"Man, last night was awesome!" Rival exclaimed loudly as they all sat in the back of the limo going to school.
"I will never drink again in my life." Lelouch said demonically. He turned his gaze out the window, completely disappointed with himself. He allowed the alcohol to control him, he did things he regretted.
"But you were having so much fun being happy and joking around with us!" Rival pointed out with a beamingly.
"I kissed a man Rival! There was nothing 'fun' or 'happy' about that!" Lelouch barked incredibly angrily. This silenced Rival into a guilt trip. Lelouch noticed the defeated and sad look on Rival's face and sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, I'm just hung-over. I have a head ache." He returned his cold stare to out the window. To be honest Lelouch was more embarrassed than angry, he just didn't handle humiliation very well.
"Lelouch you need to relax, no one cared that you kissed a man." Suzaku put a hand on his shoulder which Lelouch shrugged out of stubbornly like a child.
"I mean I've kissed you before and you didn't get this angry." Rival smiled weakly.
"Yes, but that never made it to the press. What if someone took pictures, it'll be all over the internet in no time!" Lelouch turned back to Rival.
"Ohh! Someone's embarrassed!" Gino tried to hide his smile, but it clearly showed up. A blush spread across Lelouch's face as he began to think of a response, but none came to him. Rival stood up slouched over in the short limousine and closed in on Lelouch who immediately sensed danger. Rival lunged at him, but Lelouch blocked his face from Rival's assault.
"No…Rival no!" Lelouch shouted as he struggled against the teen who tried his best to get a shot at Lelouch's cheeks. Luckily the limo arrived at the underground tunnel and Lelouch was able to open the door and make a run for it. It was too bad that Lelouch was easily the slowest one in the group, aside from Nunnally because her electric wheel chair topped out at five miles per hour. Rival caught up to Lelouch and planted the kiss on his neck instead of his cheek by accident. Lelouch scowled and yelped and Rival passed him up and tried to make it to the classroom before Lelouch caught up to him.
So far today was one of Lelouch's worst, it was full of disappointment, unintentional homosexual interaction and dreary homework. He pleaded to the gods that no more humiliation would befall him. Maybe the gods did answer his prayers because he managed to go the rest of the school day without any specific events that caused him to be thrown off of his mental track. He had to come up with a plan to place the Black Knights in a position to where they were either allied with Britannia, or in vacation status. He had to come up with a good excuse as Zero to let the Black Knight know that they're off-duty until further notice without alarming them to his suspicious activity. He ignored his seventh period teacher's lectures as he tapped his pen against his cheek repeatedly. He was Emperor and Zero for god's sake, he should be able to command the whole world, but it wasn't that simple. An idea hit him that made him smile evilly in the middle of class which did not go unnoticed by Shirley or any other girl staring at him.
'All I have to do is inform Kallen that Lelouch must be protected until the Shinjuku Ghetto is rebuilt. I'll have her become Lelouch's Knight and she'll fight for Britannia. Then I'll-'
"Lelou, what's wrong?" Shirley asked from his right side. He paused his moment of sheer brilliance to speak to the girl.
"I was just thinking of revenge for Rival is all!" he lied with a gentle laugh.
"Oh, you two I swear!" She smiled back at him. "Whatever you're planning must be diabolical judging by the look on your face." She giggled.
After classes let out they went straight to the Student Council room and picked up where they left off the day before. This time Lelouch didn't join in on any of the joking around the others did. His mind was dead-set focused on how he was going to juggle dealing with Cornelia, putting the Black Knights on vacation mode, beginning the reconstruction of Shinjuku and who he was going to hire to be the ambassador for Japan and Britannian relations. He needed to replace Cornelia as Viceroy of Japan, but he wasn't sure if Euphemia was intellectually capable of it. Her heart was in the right place, but was she capable of receiving and giving commands? He knew she'd do her best, but he needed to think of someone with a deep Japanese connection to Britannia that would assist Euphemia. His line of sight landed upon Kallen, this gave him an idea.
"Hey Kallen." He called out with a smirk. She turned to look at him, but could only give a muffled answer through the piece of toast she had in her mouth. "How is your mother doing lately?" he asked as he gave her a knowing smirk. Kallen swallowed her food in order to speak.
"She's alright, still clumsy as ever. Why?" she asked only slightly suspicious.
"I think I'd like to meet her sometime soon." He said as he turned back to his notebook.
"You want to meet my mother? But why?" she asked a tad freaked out.
"I have a question to ask her."
"What question could you possibly have to ask a woman you've never met before?" Kallen tried her best to not sound upset, but she panicked at the thought of Lelouch discovering her Japanese mother. She knew that Lelouch wasn't racist, but she didn't want any conflicts that could possibly come should people at school find out she's half Japanese.
"That's for me and her to discuss!" he said mysteriously. Kallen narrowed her eyes at him with a squint. Yup, he was up to something. "Have you invited her to the ball yet?" he asked casually as he figured she might not have of.
"W-well, my mother doesn't get out often and she doesn't like fancy events. So I invited my step-mother instead!" she lied. Truthfully she didn't invite anyone, not even her father. She didn't bother with it because she knew he'd already show up because he now worked for Lelouch. Her mother and step-mother were too much of a pain in the ass to even begin dealing with.
"Would you please tell her that I'd like her to show up?" he tried to smile, but it came off as creepy more than 'inviting'. Kallen had no idea what Lelouch was getting at, but she nodded in agreement.
"Well tomorrow is Wednesday, me and Euphie need to get going so we can pack to go to France in the morning." Suzaku said as he and Euphemia stood up.
"Didn't you say you weren't sure if you'd be back for the interview or not?" Gino asked.
"Yeah, but we'll definitely be back for the ball. I mean that's the whole reason we're leaving, Euphie is getting a dress custom made just for this ball." Suzaku informed him with a shrug. Euphemia didn't normally indulge herself, but she loved herself a new dress.
Suzaku and Euphemia left early, but everyone else stayed until nearly eight. They packed up and left as a group back to the palace where Gino and Anya had to go do regular Knights of Round training. Rival challenged Nina to a Guitar Hero marathon; it was one of her hidden talents, while Milly, Nunnally and Shirley shared a hot relaxing bath together. Lelouch was left alone to fulfill his duties as Zero in which he made his way to the secret base at around ten o'clock. He had called Kallen in as well so that she'd sit in on the conversation.
"Zero, it's become a major hassle for me to sneak any sort of Black Knight clothing into the palace. I had to burn my uniform before I moved into the palace!" she said in despair. She was sitting in her usual red-fighter outfit that she had worn before becoming a Black Knight.
"It's alright, you won't be needing a uniform for quite a while now." Zero said as he sat down in his comfortable personal room. There were several top leading members of the knights there as well such as Ougi and Tamaki.
"Why not?" Kallen asked as she eyed the man she admired.
"We're going into a 'vacation mode' so to say." He said as he crossed his legs.
"What?!"
"Why?"
"What if there's an attack?!"
These were just some of the complaints being thrown out, but one in particular made a good point.
"Ever since this new Emperor took over Britannia has nearly completely forgotten we even exist! At this rate we won't even be needed anymore!" Ougi said as he clenched his fist. "As much as I appreciate getting some of our rights back I'd like to see more out of this Emperor Lelouch before I agree to lay low."
"Ougi, you make an excellent stand. However it may not be necessary. You see, Lelouch was hiding away as a commoner here in Japan. He's witnessed how the Japanese have been being treated. If he admonished the number-area system while knowing this then he's likely to do more than just that." Zero said.
"He's right!" Kallen spoke up. "You all saw the news, I was standing up on that podium with him while he made his acceptance speech. I've been hanging around Lelouch for weeks now! I've seen what he's really like, he intends to rebuild the Shinjuku Ghettos as they were before Britannia invaded! He's been contracting Japanese-only workers and even employing the Japanese into the Britannian government! I think he'll do more than just this too!" Kallen agreed as she smiled brightly.
"Kallen, it sounds like you are starting to enjoy being around these Britannians! You usually come back with a scowl about how much you hate them." Tamaki said as he took a swig of beer.
"Wait, did you say he plans to rebuild the Shinjuku Ghetto?! Do you remember what happened last time Britannia said that? All they did was massacre everyone in the area and left it a heaping pile worse than when they started!" Ougi slammed his fist down.
"It's not like that this time! Lelouch wouldn't do that!" Kallen retorted almost angrily.
"How can you be so sure? He's a spoiled rotten Prince who's just trying to appeal to the world to make himself look better!" Ougi gave her a glare. "What makes you think he's so different from the rest of his kin? Especially since you yourself mentioned that he was an arrogant idiot before he became Emperor!"
"That was a mistake! I thought he was an asshole at first, I just realized that he was only pretending to be arrogant to avoid suspicion!" Kallen stood up, ready to defend her Emperor.
'Wait, what? Am I really that close to Lelouch now that I'd be arguing with my fellow knights to defend him?' she asked herself in thought.
"What has he been telling you exactly? You've changed Kallen. You used to fight against Britannia with such hate and fierce determination, now you're defending them just because they handed us our titles back? That means nothing if we don't get the rest of the package!" Ougi bellowed.
"I promise you that Lelouch will do what no other Emperor of Britannia has ever done!" she frowned at him. "I'll swear to it on my life that he will help Japan rebuild itself!"
Zero smirked underneath his mask. "You're that sure of him Kallen?" he asked.
"Y-yes. I'm sorry if I'm out of line here, but I've been hanging around him nearly every hour of every day for the last few weeks. He hasn't shown a single sign of hatred or opposition to Japan. He even took us to a Japanese restaurant last night and practiced traditional Japanese dining with us! He speaks perfect Japanese and can read Kanji!" He-"
"You can stop there Kallen. I already did my research on him." Zero assured her. "Right now we need to focus on helping him rather than finding his flaws."
"What?!" Ougi stood up abruptly. "You want to help the Emperor of Britannia?!"
"Not necessarily. I want Japan to be rebuilt. If Lelouch's focus is set on defending Britannia against us the he'll have no time or resources to rebuild Japan. If we lay low and announce that we're not taking a stand against him then he'll ignore us for now and focus on Shinjuku."
"You actually believe he intends to rebuild Shinjuku?" Ougi calmed down.
"Yes. I can hack directly into his personal computer contents. He has the entire ghetto planned out and he's begun hiring construction crews. I contacted him merely moments ago about a possible temporal peace-treaty in which we will offer our assistance to help rebuild Shinjuku." Zero said as he stood up.
"You contacted him?!" Ougi's eyes went wide with shock. Zero either had mad hacking skills or Lelouch was easy to get ahold of.
"Yes. He seemed compliant. He even mentioned ending the war with us if possible. Then again the old Britannia tried that as well." Zero said as he walked over to the main screen and turned it on.
"This." He began as a picture of Shinjuku appeared on the screen. "Is what he intends to do."
"Oh wow, he's put so much detail into it already. Maybe he is serious!" Tamaki exclaimed.
"You think it's really possible?" Ougi marveled at the screen of the perfected Shinjuku.
"What exactly?" Kallen asked, she'd seen he pictures already.
"Possible that Britannia, no, this new Emperor Lelouch really intends to help us…" Ougi continued to stare at the screen.
"Yes, I do. I've hacked into his email and everything in it complies with this."
"Hang on! If it's so easy to hack into Lelouch's computer, then how do we know it's not a trap?!" Ougi suddenly returned to his enraged state.
"Maybe I should clear things up a bit. By 'hack' I mean I mean I impersonated a nobleman of Britannia at the Tokyo Palace in which I got onto his computer when he was away at business. Since the castle is so easily infiltrated when you're a Britannian no one suspects you of foul play. It was incredibly easy for me to check his computer and personal documents while he is at school or asleep."
"You crafty bastard, you!" Tamaki giggled. "Think you can add some stuff into his notes? Like send an order for new equipment in to be dropped off at a special point that we'll pick up free of charge?" Tamaki laughed hysterically.
"Not necessary. I can get anything we need without that. Besides it'd be caught easily, such suspicious orders from the Emperor would raise many eyebrows." Zero explained as he sat back down.
"So what now? We lay low, take some time off, then just wait for Shinjuku to be rebuilt?" Ougi asked.
"Almost. What we'll do is make an announcement that according to Lelouch's new law we're going into hiatus. From there Britannia will ignore us for a while and we'll get a much needed break." Zero explained.
"What if they find us during that time? They'll destroy our base because no one will be here to defend it. We'll be walking into their trap!" Ougi tried to argue.
"Well I wasn't going to tell you all this, but you seem to be very mistrusting of my power." Zero began with a heavy sigh. "Lelouch and I have made an agreement. As long as we don't make the first move, he won't touch us; even if he finds us. He doesn't want the Japanese to be alarmed at the new law if he fights the Black Knights."
"As amazing as that actually is, what the hell else are you not telling us?" Ougi demanded.
Zero didn't answer for a moment, he allowed himself some time to think of what else he could possibly tell them that would satisfy them. "How about this then, I've already received a missive from Lelouch to pick up cargo at the bay in Okinawa. It's full of the supplies we'll be using to rebuild Shinjuku."
"Everything, we want to know everything!" Ougi shouted.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Kallen hissed at him. "If you keep your faith and trust in Zero then everything will be okay! We don't need to know everything, he'll fix it all for us!"
"Kallen, I have a special mission for you." Zero began. "I want you to confess to Lelouch in private that you're the ace of the Black Knights."
Kallen froze, her gaze turned slowly and horribly to Zero. "Wh-what?" she muttered.
"He'll have a lot more faith in us as well if we offer him assistance. Worst case scenario if he tries anything then you can turn on him, but I would hesitate before coming to the decision."
"Woah, woah! Hold on! Who's to say that he won't lose all trust in me as a friend if I did that? What if he thinks I'm an assassin?" Kallen asked angrily. Now it was her turn to doubt Zero's actions.
"Kallen, please trust me on this." Was all he could say.
"I'm sorry, but he's the Emperor. Just because I'm friends with him doesn't mean he'll necessarily trust me once he finds out I'm a Black Knight!" she retorted.
"I was hoping to convince you without having to tell you this, but he already knows."
Kallen's mouth hung open a little, but then closed and chattered a little. Pure fear and other wild emotions hit her chest like she was slowly being crushed under a heavy stone. "D-did….di you tell him?" she whimpered as tears threatened to fall from here blue eyes. "Did you tell him just today?" she asked sadly.
"No, he's known all along. Since before I became Zero he knew you were a resistance fighter." Zero said truthfully.
"Wh-what?! How the hell did he know that?!" she asked more confused than frightened.
"I'm not the one you need to ask that. Just to go him in private and tell him you're becoming his new Knight in accordance with my orders. He won't argue." Zero commanded and Kallen submit. She defeatedly agreed and trudged out of the meeting and made her way back to the castle where she requested a private audience with Lelouch. Much to her surprise, but relief, he wasn't available so she returned to her personal bedroom. She decided to take a shower to allow herself to think and then a nap so that she'd be rested and would be able to think clearly.
XxXxX
Lelouch had returned to his bedroom at the Palace, he half wondered why Kallen hadn't approached him yet. He laid on his back looking up at his ceiling that was over thirty feet high. He was tempted to sleep, but he knew full well that the moment he dozed off there'd be a guard knocking on his door to tell him Kallen was there to see him. He held off sleep for another hour before caving and falling into a much needed sleep. Lelouch normally didn't remember his dreams, but when he did they were usually rather frightening. This night was no different. He tossed and turned as his own mind tormented him about waking up to not be Emperor and Kallen having abandoned him in his Zero persona. Just as the collapse of the Black Knights was impending he was woken up startles by his own alarm clock.
'What? Did the Black Knights disband?! Am I back in the dorms?' his mind raced as his eyes flew open wide. It took him several seconds to let reality settle back in before he looked over to the annoying buzzer. He allowed himself to sigh miserably, but in relief. He turned off the alarm clock and sat up groaning in pain, it sucked to sleep in street clothes. He had well over an hour to get ready for class so he decided a hot shower was in order.
As he washed the memory of the horrid, rancid nightmare away in his palatial bath he couldn't help but feel a tad sad. He looked down at the drain where the soapy water was cascading down off of his lithe body. Even after successfully removing all of the sweat and oil from his skin he lingered in the hot water for several minutes. He just wanted a moment to relax before taking on the inevitable day that was to come. He knew that he'd be talking to Kallen about becoming his Knight, Rival would try to pull a prank or two and Shirley would have something useless to ramble on about. Oh and you can't forget about being beat over the head with a newspaper by Milly. He smiled briefly, he had the strangest friends, then again he was the strange one in his own opinion.
He stepped out of the shower, put on his school uniform then made his way to the breakfast table where almost everyone else, excluding Rival, Lucina, Suzaku and Euphemia, was eating already. He noticed the somber expression on Kallen's face, she seemed deeply troubled by something. It wasn't hard to guess, Kallen didn't usually worry over trivial things, so it could only be about her confession that would come later. For a split moment he wondered if she's considered not going along with the plan at all, but he knew she was intensely loyal to Zero and would eventually comply. He intentionally took a seat next to her even though there were plenty of seats open at the table that could sit over twenty people. It was usually the Emperor who sat at the head of the table, but Milly had become fond of taking that special seat for herself. Maybe she did it to annoy Lelouch or to mock him? He wasn't about to ask….nor did he actually care about it.
"Good morning my darling Lelou!" Milly smiled at him.
"Good morning…" he let out a long drawn out sigh. Since the table was set up buffet style he could pick what he did and did not want to eat. He would've been able to eat in silence, but Lucina came prancing out of her room singing loudly, and very off-key. She had head phones on and was dancing her way quite obnoxiously towards the breakfast table.
Everyone continued to stare at the violet-headed girl as she sat down and quit singing long enough to begin eating. Lelouch was thankful that food had to go in the mouth; it was a good way to shut someone up. He didn't normally mind Lucina's presence, but when she got into a music kick she could be unbearable. Just like with any of his friends, she had a flaw that annoyed him to no end, singing badly was just hers. Shirley's flaw was continuing a conversation long after her necessary point had been made, Rival's was….kissing. Milly's flaw was just being Milly, her very personality was a chaotic harmony of mischievous and insanity. Well that's being too harsh, Milly was a nice girl and he knew it. He was just simply not in the mood to fool around, he's spent enough time adjusting to his new life as Emperor, it was time to get to business. He looked around at the table to see most of his friends enjoying their breakfast and talking to one another, as much as he wanted to focus he knew they'd manage to derail him with some sort of festivity at school that day. He was lucky enough to dodge having to do that play Milly was trying to con him into doing. Apparently his plea that his duties as Emperor came first worked. Lelouch couldn't help but notice that Rival was not in the room, but decided not to question it. He finished his food lazily then leaned back in his chair and looked at the bright chandelier hanging from the dome ceiling. There was some sort of artsy painting on the ceiling that reminded him of Michelangelo's painting at the Sistine Chapel.
"Hello everyone!" Rival came bouncing down the hall with a big cardboard box in his arms.
"Morning Rival, what's in that box?" Shirley asked.
"Glad you asked m'lady!" Rival said ecstatically as he flipped the flaps open and stuck his hand inside. Everyone, including Lelouch, watched intently as Rival rummaged around inside the box until he found what he was looking for. Everyone kept a straight face as Rival pulled out a professional cinema camera and a stand. Rival set the stand up, put the camera on it and pointed it at Lelouch. As soon as he turned it on Lelouch realized exactly what he was going to do.
"Rival, really?" Lelouch groaned.
"Why not? I've always wanted to make internet videos with you, now they're guaranteed to be a major hit!" he chirped as he zoomed in on Lelouch's sulking expression.
"You plan to carry that thing to school with you?" Milly asked frowning.
"Of course not! Lelouch at school would be boring! This is just for when we're at home!" Rival grinned as Lelouch directly into the camera.
"Before the idea was as a joke. Now it'd be too serious to release to the internet. I don't want to do it anymore." Lelouch turned away from the camera and back to Shirley directly across the table.
"Oh come on! Just a few little things like…like an interview! We're doing a public interview tonight, why not make our own for fun? I'm sure it'd raise your popularity with the teens of Britannia!" Rival tried to convince him.
"That's not likely to work." Lelouch said stiffly as he stood up and slung his messenger bag over his head to rest on his shoulder. "Put it away, or else you'll be late for school." As Lelouch walked out of the dining hall Rival frowned.
"Man, he's acting differently lately. He used to not mind doing random things like this." Rival whined as he turned off the camera and began putting it away.
"Well he is Emperor now. You should be expecting him to change a lot more over the course of the next few months. He may not even be the same person by the time he completely adjusts to being Emperor." Milly gave Rival a sad smile. "Besides, he's right. We'll all be late for school if you don't put that away quickly."
"Alright." Rival sighed and took the box back to his room. As Rival walked slowly back to his personal bedroom he could help but get caught up in the moment.
'Wow, I'm going back to my bedroom in the Tokyo Palace! It's amazing, I still keep feeling like it's all just some fantasy or dream. I feel like it'll all be over soon or something, like Lelouch will kick us out once the press dies down and he'll stop attending school. Oh no, that's a very real possibility!' Rival's heart sped up as he stopped dead in his tracks. He could cry right now, his best friend was in a whole different realm than he. It's only by Lelouch's graces that they're still friends. He was thankful that Lelouch remained his friend, and even more grateful that he allowed him to accompany him through his journey, but he knew it'd end eventually.
"Lelouch!" Milly shouted as she ran after him before he got to the main lobby, Lelouch stopped and turned around to hear what the blonde had to say. "Hey, you should probably go talk to Rival, just for a second. He looked miserable and depressed when you walked away like that."
"Really? He was that upset?" Lelouch frowned, he hadn't meant to make Rival sad.
"Yeah, I was waiting for him to start crying or something." Milly sighed.
"I'll go talk to him." He said as he returned to the dining hall only to find him not there. He then decided to check his bedroom to see if he was there.
Luckily he didn't have to go all the way to his room, Rival was standing completely still in the hallway facing away from him. He walked up to him as he contemplated calling out to him. He placed a hand on Rival's trembling shoulder. As Rival turned around to see Lelouch's innocently confused expression looking back at his own weeping one.
'He really was crying…' Lelouch thought sadly.
"I'm sorry.." Rival tried wiping his eyes, but more tears followed. "I overreacted."
"It's me who's sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Lelouch tried to smile at him, but it was hard to smile at his friend's tears.
"I just….I just felt like the real you was dying and being replaced by an Emperor. I'm terrified that when we have to move out you'll stop attending school and I'll never see you again. I'd only get to see you on television or in the news. I don't want to have to see my only best friend through the T.V. screen. I want to be able to go out with you on weekends to gamble illegally and snuff out the royals. I still want to be your roommate in a college dorm like we talked about." Rival now cried freely as he allowed the box he was holding to slip to the floor.
Lelouch was actually incredibly moved by his friend's emotions, he was so caught up in being Emperor that he was slowly forgetting who he was beyond the crown.
"I promise Rival, I won't stop attending school. We'll still be college roommates and you can live here as long as you like." Lelouch smiled at him. Rival couldn't stop himself from the impending hug he was about to give Lelouch, however Lelouch beat him to it. Through their hug Milly stood at the end of the hall smiling. She too had feared Lelouch's transition to a true Emperor, she had tried to prepare herself to face a Lelouch who didn't see them as 'friends' anymore. This moment gave her hope that maybe she'd never have to see that day come. When she noticed that Lelouch was trying to end the hug but Rival wouldn't let go or stop sobbing hysterically about 'friendship' she walked over to them.
"Okay, break it up!" she called out. "The limousine is probably here to take us off to school."
"Alright!" Rival cheered. "Just let me go get my book bag!" Just as he was about to let go of Lelouch he took this golden-opportunity to plant another kiss on Lelouch's cheek and haul ass back to his room. Lelouch yelled at him for being a fool as he wiped his cheek off. Rival ignored him and ran happily for his dear life into his room where he grabbed his school bag and gave himself a once-over in the mirror.
Once inside the limousine everything was calmed down, except for Lucina who was whining about her favorite headphones getting broken. She had been wearing them and shook her head way too hard and the went crashing to the floor. Shirley promised to go shopping with her on the weekend to buy new ones and it immediately brought Lucina back to her usual happy self. Once at school they all went to their classes. The trudged on slowly, but everyone was happy that it was finally lunch period. Before he became Emperor Lelouch would either ditch school and go with Rival to get something to eat, or he'd sit with Milly and the others at a table way off to the side of the cafeteria. Now that he'd become a living god in his classmate's eyes he had to stay in the Student Council room with everyone while the teachers brought them their lunch. Lelouch made the mistake of trying to go to the cafeteria in person, he'd never do that ever again.
"Man it sucks, lunch was my favorite class too. I always got to spend a whole hour doing nothing but eating and wandering aimlessly around the school!" Rival pouted. Aside from Shirley lecturing on how lunch wasn't considered a 'class', everyone agreed that it was a drag to be trapped in a classroom the whole day.
"We need to make a room specifically for us to get away from the chaos when we need to. This lunch and homework hour business is a mess!" Milly sighed. "Maybe I'll have grandpa build a wing just for the Student Council to escape to!" she chirped as she sat up with an excited expression.
"Wouldn't that be a tad over the top Prez?" Shirley asked.
"I think…it's a good idea." Nina spoke up, it was rare that she ever gave her opinion on something.
"Whoa!" Rival laughed out. "If Nina agreed to something so much she said something then maybe it is a good idea!"
Nina immediately regretted speaking, she always felt like someone was judging her. The only time she could speak freely without fear was in the presence of Euphemia who backed her up on nearly everything she said. Nina made a relaxed expression that went unnoticed by everyone else who began discussing the possibilities of this extra room."
Lelouch cell phone rang and he excused himself to answer it. He quickly realized that he had nowhere to go in the upper floor to get privacy. He answered the phone as he walked down the hallway. "Hey, don't say anything until I tell you to." He spoke as he walked up to the elevators and waited for one. Much to his relief it was empty when he got into it. "Alright you may speak."
"Zero, this is Ougi. I just wanted to tell you that we got the delivery for the supplies to rebuild Shinjuku."
"Good. Now have everyone begin organizing crews with specific tasks. There should be a demolition crew of Knightmare Frames to haul the rubble away, a crew that will sweep the land flat, another to rebuilt the irrigation system and electrical outlets. Then there should be the building construction crew that will-hold on."
Lelouch paused his conversation when the elevator stopped and let a teacher inside. The teachers were lectured intensely on to not bother Lelouch unless absolutely necessary, so the male teacher remained completely oblivious, or ignorant, to Lelouch's presence. Lelouch continued to "elevator party" as he rode it up and down as many times as he needed to be alone. Very few people actually used the elevator and Lelouch didn't think it important enough to tell the few that did ride it to not get on. He didn't want them to be alerted that he was either acting suspicious or if he was having a cybering call. He'd like to avoid as much rumors floating around him as possible so he tolerated these few elevator passengers.
"Alright, there should be a crew that will begin construction of major buildings. They won't be active for a few more months to give the other crews time to prep the zone for reconstruction." Lelouch informed him.
"Sounds good, what major buildings are getting built first?" Ougi asked as he prepared to write down everything Zero told him.
"The Emperor has sent me a list of buildings we're allowed to construct first. They are as follows; an all-Japanese merchandise factory, a food processing plant, several clothing and apparel stores, thousands of citizen houses and apartments, two banks, a few hotels, a few dozen supermarkets and of course city-hall." Lelouch said as Ougi wrote as quickly as possible, but forze on the alst one.
"C-city…hall?" a ray of hope burst through Ougi's mind and into his shaking voice.
"Yes, there aren't many details on why there's a City Hall, but I suspect he's going to allow us to rebuild a small government to help Britannia push Japan in the right direction. He's made no statement of this to the public yet, so don't leak it. " Lelouch smiled, he knew Ougi must've been incredibly happy to hear that.
"Really? You think it'll actually happen?" Ougi asked more than just happily, he was down-right adrenaline rushing.
"Maybe, we'll have to see. For all we know it could just be for the Britannians to hold an office in Shinjuku. We have no way of knowing yet." Lelouch tried to calm him down. If word got out that Lelouch intended to restore Japan's government Britannia would shit itself a new Emperor.
"Alright! I've got everything written down. I won't tell anyone of the City Hall until it's released publicly. Just one more question. When does the construction begin?"
"I don't know yet. He still hasn't released the statement that he's even rebuilding Shinjuku. The only reason we know is because he showed some of the Japanese his plans. He'll probably make a formal announcement soon." Lelouch explained.
'More like tonight…' he thought.
"Thank you Zero! I'll get the supplies and crews organized by the end of the month! Please focus on getting us a construction date. That would help us immensely."
"Alright, I will." Lelouch said then hung up. He finished his elevator partying and returned to the Student Council room to see everyone eating already. He sat down and joined them for some peace. Once again, eating was a good way to silence someone. After school was over and they finished their Student Council duties for the day they headed back to the Palace to prepare for their interview with a local news crew.
"Hey Lelouch, I was thinking…since you've been hiring family friends for jobs around the castle, why not give me one so I can quit my crummy bartending part-timer?" he gave Lelouch a sly grin.
"I'll think about it, but I don't know what job you'd be good at besides pouring me a drink…" Lelouch smirked at him.
"Oh come on!" Rival crossed his arms. "I can be your secretary or something!"
"That's Mr. Ashford's job." He pointed out flatly.
"Alright I can…be the secretary of your secretary!" Rival gave a cheesy smile.
"Not necessary…" Lelouch frowned at his friend's failed attempts to sound useful.
"How about Nunnally's secretary?" he asked again.
"That's Milly's job, and no, she doesn't need a secretary herself." Lelouch was starting to lose the amusement in this conversation. As Lelouch changed into his white half-jack, pink undershirt and white pants he tried to ignore Rival's blathering on about possible jobs.
"Secretary of your dirty laundry?" Rival said only half-serious. Lelouch paused fixing his hair to stifle a mildly amused laugh.
XxXxX France (Wednesday/Yesterday) XxXxX
"Oh it's beautiful Tiffany!" Euphemia said in delight as she twirled around in her new solid-white dress.
"I'm glad you like it Princess!" the black haired woman sighed in relief. She was so nervous when she heard that a Britannian Princess wanted another dress from her made in less than a week.
"I'm sorry to ask you to make a dress this nice in such a short amount of time. I was only informed about the ball mere days ago. I normally order a custom dress weeks or months in advance." Euphemia smiled sheepishly at the young woman.
"It's not a problem in the slightest!" Tiffany smiled at the Princess.
"I'm just glad Lelouch demolished the number-area system before father or Schneizel could give France a number. It would've been so awful to witness." Euphemia said as she continued to admire herself in the three-way full length mirror.
"Euphie, we might want to start heading back soon. It's only twenty hours until the interview in Japan." Suzaku reminded her as he helped her walk off of the podium and back to level ground.
"Alright, just let me give the dress to Tiffany so she can put it special wrapping so it won't get ruined on the flight back." She said as she followed the black haired woman back into the dressing room.
After having the dress sent back to their hotel room in a separate car, Euphemia and Suzaku left the boutique` and made their way to their own escort car. Suzaku didn't want to be tired for the interview so he planned on leaving immediately and sleeping on the plane. Euphemia however had an entirely different schedule.
"Suzaku, I want to dine in France one more time before we leave. I love French cuisine and it's so hard to find it in good quality in Japan." Euphemia stated as she looked out the window to see French bakery after confection stand pass by her window.
"But we may not make it in time if we stop again." Suzaku noted.
"Oh it's just a silly interview! I'm sure Lelouch and his friends can handle it alone. We've been interviewed plenty of times before, it's not like they'll get much new information out of us." Euphemia explained, but she knew her argument didn't hold up well against Suzaku who was very by-the-book with these things. Suzaku had no right to refuse a Princess's demands, but Euphemia herself requested that Suzaku help her stay in-line when it came to politics and her public image.
"Euphie, are you sure you're okay with not being there for your little brother on his first interview? He might get grilled…" Suzaku frowned. He wanted to be there for Lelouch, his best friend, but then again Lelouch may not even need him.
"I'll make you a deal, I'll consider it a date if you join me for dinner!" she smiled at him knowingly. Suzaku blushed lightly, had the offer of been from anyone else in the world he would of passed it up, but this was coming from Princess Euphemia herself. How could he decline?
"Deal, but let's make it somewhere close by our hotel." He gave into her demands. She squealed in delight and hugged him from across the backseat of the car.
They walked into the fancy restaurant hand in hand where they were immediately seated in a small and personal two-seater table. They table was only big enough to fit two plates and two cups and its occupants faced each other with shared leg-space. This left Euphemia's right foot in-between Suzaku's feet. Every once in a while their feet or legs would touch in a gentle brush-up that sent sparks throughout them. Since France had no legal drinking age limit they were served wine which they sipped as they made casual talk. After they ate and their plates were taken away Suzaku agreed to sit for another few minutes to just enjoy the scenery. Secretly, Euphemia didn't want to leave the restaurant, or go back to Japan that night. She wanted to stay right there in that chair alone with Suzaku and the dimmed lights of the French parlor. There was something about the French culture that allured so much to Euphemia, but not so much Suzaku. He wasn't overly fond of French food or culture, but it wasn't by any means unbearable to him.
"Ahem…" a waited coughed softly as he walked up to them. "Would the lady like a complementary rose?"
"Oh no thank you, I'm afraid it wouldn't be allowed with me on my plane-ride back to Japan." She gave a bitter-sweet smile at the man.
"Would you perhaps be interested in some strawberry champagne in that case?" he offered again.
"I don't think it's a good idea. We don't want to be intoxicated for our trip back home." Suzaku tried to reason and Euphemia agreed.
As the man bowed and walked away to leave them alone Suzaku attempted to stand up as if he were going to leave. Euphemia stayed still with her head down slightly. She stared sadly at the candle in the middle of the table that had already burned half way down. Suzaku wasn't ignorant enough to simply not notice Euphemia's forlorn demeanor. He sat back down and asked her what was wrong to which she simply shook her head. He witnessed a dripping tear fall from her chin and he felt a smack of guilt hit him. He feared his eagerness to return to Japan was making her feel pressured.
"Look, I'm sorry. We can stay in France if you want! We can miss the silly interview; it's no big deal to me! Really!" he rushed his words as he tried to quell her as he wiped her cheek with the back of his hand. She reached up and gently placed her hand atop his as it remained against her face.
"It's not France, I just…." She paused to stifle a sob. "I just feel like I've missed my only chance." She whispered.
"Chance to do what?" he asked as his other hand went to her hair to stroke it.
"I wanted to…" she looked up at him with watery-violet eyes. He looked into her eyes with uncertain worry; mystified by what had gotten into her so suddenly. If eyes were truly the 'windows to the soul' then Euphemia had one beautiful and bright soul. She suddenly let go of his hand, leaned forwards over the table and placed her lips upon his very gently. At first Suzaku barely even felt her lips, the contact was so minor. He was the one to tilt his head up to meet hers the rest of the way and press him lips into hers harder. She planted her hands on the table to hold herself up as he placed his on the sides of her head over her hair. Her lips moved very slowly in a lazy caress. He returned the effort by parting his lisp far enough to catch her upper lip between his.
"So when are you two getting married?" said a little smiling girl with her hands behind her back as she twisted back and forth swaying. Suzaku and Euphemia slowly broke apart to look at this young child and laugh light-heartedly. Suzaku opened his mouth as if to answer, but he couldn't find the right words to tell the girl.
"I don't know." Euphemia smiled brightly as the young child. "He hasn't asked me to marry him yet." She said to the girl but her eyes locked with Suzaku's tauntingly. Suzaku let out a small chuckle and turned to the blonde girl. He leaned over to her to whisper into the girl's ear.
"She doesn't know yet, don't ruin the surprise!" he smirked and the little girl winked back to signal that she'd remain quiet. She skipped away back to her table across the room leaving Euphemia baffled.
"What'd you tell her?" Euphemia asked smiling widely. Honestly it was a lie, Suzaku had never considered proposing to Euphemia, they weren't really a couple. Euphemia had confessed that she loved him just recently, but today was the first day that they'd ever kissed. Marriage was still a long way off for them should they become lovers.
"That you're my girlfriend." He lied with a horribly obvious smile.
"Really?" Euphemia knew better than that, she decided it wasn't as important as what she was about to say though. "So I guess I'm your girlfriends now?" she asked shly as she tried to look around, but it came off as goofy rather than non-chalant.
"Only if you wish it, Princess." Suzaku blushed deeply at the thought.
"Well, boyfriend, we have an interview in Japan that we don't want to miss. I'm sure they'd be thrilled to know we came back just to tell them the news." Euphemia laughed out as Suzaku did a mental cheer.
Best lie he'd ever told in his life.
XxXxX Japan (Thursday/Present Day) XxXxX
Lelouch and the others had gotten into formal clothing for the interview. Nothing overly fancy like tuxedos and ballroom gown, just formal blouses and the girls had gotten their hair and make-up professionally done. Just as they were getting into the transport limo Suzaku and Euphemia's escort car pulled up to the castle. Since they had gotten to sleep on the plane they weren't too tired to quickly prepare and join the others for the interview. Everyone began discussing possible questions they'd be asked and the correct answers to them. Lelouch even gave them a protocol just so that no one said anything stupid.
"No one mention my works with Japan or Britannia. I'll answer those questions myself. Even if you think you know the answer please just let me be the one to tell them about it. Only answer questions pertaining to yourselves or, if relevant, about me personally. Business answer I'll handle myself." He instructed and everyone agreed.
"Does me getting a job count as business?" Rival asked.
"Not really, that's your personal life." Lelouch said. "Just don't mention the "secretary of dirty laundry"…." Lelouch frowned. No one else besides Rival and Lelouch had a clue what that meant.
They made it to the news station just in time for the announcer to start talking to the channel viewers about how they have the Emperor on station. Everyone in Britannia, Japan, the other Britannian colonies was watching their television at that moment. Even some other irrelevant countries tuned in just to watch what Lelouch had to say. Cornelia, Odysseus, Schneizel and every royal in Britannia had their eyes glued to their screens. There was no way Cornelia was missing a moment of this. Ougi and the Black Knight all watched intently as well, they wanted to see if the things Zero said were really true.
"Now welcoming his royal highness, Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia!" the news anchor shouted as Lelouch walked onto the stage. He sat down in the chair adjacent to the news desk as the live-audience ceased their clapping.
"So Emperor, how should I address you tonight?" the interviewer man asked.
"Lelouch should suffice for tonight. I don't mind being called by just my first name if no fancy wording in necessary." He said with a nervous smile. He could handle speaking to people in person, but he'd never really been on television for the entire world to see before; his acceptance speech was another story though.
"Alright Lelouch, in the reading of you later father's will, Emperor Charles, he mentioned you'd been away on renaissance duty to better understand the commoner. You took up this mission as a small child, before Britannia invaded…Japan…What made you go to Japan to complete this self-assigned mission?" the news man asked.
"Well, that's hard to say. The truth is…I." he paused he wasn't sure if he should tell such a big lie, especially since his siblings were watching. Not to mention his friends knew the truth. "To be honest it wasn't my original mission. I simply left Britannia for personal reasons. I chose Japan for no particular reason back then, although I'm glad I did now. After Britannia mercilessly invaded Japan and took over only then did it become my mission to remain there and witness the common life for myself."
Lelouch was able to relax after giving his answer.
"Wow, what made you leave Britannia at such a young age?"
"Pass..." Lelouch said nervously.
"Alright, next question. It was mentioned once before that you knew Suzaku Kururugi before he became Princess Euphemia's Knight. How and when did you two meet?" the older man asked.
"I met Suzaku the day I arrived in Japan as a child. Suzaku, Kaguya and I all played together in Japan as children. After Britannia invaded Suzaku and I were separated so Nunnally and I went to live with the Ashfords." That one was actually the truth.
"Wow! So the Emperor of Britannia and the Prime Minister of Japan's son were friends since before the invasion?!" the interviewer's eyes went wide as his jaw dropped. Lelouch nodded his head with knowing smile.
"Yes, I always thought that was incredibly ironic myself." Lelouch agreed.
"Is Suzaku Kururugi here tonight?" the mans asked as he straightened himself out.
"Yes, he's backstage awaiting his turn." Lelouch said.
"Well let's bring him out!" the man said ecstatically. An assistant ran back stage and summoned Suzaku to the stage where he sat next to Lelouch on the comfy sofa.
"Suzaku Kururugi, let's here this from your side. How did you meet Lelouch, the Emperor of Britannia?" the man asked now thoroughly interested in this side-story.
"Before the invasion. We were both such brats back then and we didn't get along at first, but we became best friends after just a few months of living together in the Tokyo Palace at just ten years old." Suzaku snickered at Lelouch who gave him a sideways glance.
"You started the fights, not me." Lelouch smirked.
"You finished them…" Suzaku retorted with a smile.
"It's amazing how close you two sound! Back to the main topic, has your friendship changed at since then?"
"Nope." Suzaku answered simply.
"Not at all truthfully, we've been going to school together since almost a year ago. So had it of changed we'd of noticed by now." Lelouch added.
"Well the Kururugi topic was one of the most popular among our staff that everyone was dying to know. Onto the next topic, did you have any fore-warning that you were named the heir to the throne before the live reading of the will?" the man turned back to Lelouch who shook his head.
"No! In fact I wasn't even prepared to come back into the royal family yet." Lelouch said truthfully.
"So what made you decide to accept the will on such short notice?" the mans asked.
"I didn't have to think too much about it to be honest. Milly and Ruben Ashford clamed me down from the hype of the announcement and got me to think clearly. So I was able to make my decision that same day. What really drove me to accept it was the fact that I'd spent the last seven years as a commoner and I saw how poorly the Japanese were being treated by my father's laws. It was one of the many things he and I disagreed on. I thought that the sooner I took the throne the quicker I could fix the problems in Japan and other nations that had been degraded by a number."
"That's the first time I've heard a member of Britannian royalty take a stand for the other nations. Obviously Princess Euphemia was the first when she Knighted Suzaku here, but your plea is truly a driving home-point for the Japanese." The man praised Lelouch. "What are your current plans to help fix the current state Japan is in? Or have you not yet had enough time to make such plans?"
"Well I would've announced my intentions to the public sooner, but I was saving them for tonight. I want to rebuild the Shinjuku Ghettoes. I know when my late brother Clovis tried to it didn't end so well, but I'd like to give it an honesty try. I've already made contracts with some constructions crews to begin planning for the entire city." Lelouch answered. The live-audience consisting mostly of Britannian reports went crazy.
"That's amazing! A rumors has been running around that you recently visited a sushi bar in Tokyo where you unveiled to the staff that you were going to rebuild Shinjuku. What made you decide to do it there?" the man asked as a picture of Lelouch hugging the owner Jiro. Lelouch thanked the heavens that it was a picture of just the hug and not the kiss.
"I was only going to show my friends because one of them takes a high personal interest in Japanese relations. I didn't intend for the staff of the bar to see it, but I didn't mind too much. I knew showing it off there would likely expose it, but it's not that big of a deal.
"I find it a little unusual that the Emperor would choose a sushi bar of all places to dine."
Lelouch shrugged.
"Do you like sushi?" the man asked.
"It's good, I just don't eat it often." Lelouch was failing to see how this interview held any relevance to his ruling as Emperor and decided it was time to put an end to the foolish questions before he became humiliated. "I'd like to stick to business related questions now."
"We'll do just that. So then, a question for business. What are your plans for dealing with the Black Knights?" the man asked. Lelouch was honestly a tad startled by this, he hadn't thought of a good answer for the public for it yet.
"Well, ever since I took the throne they haven't done much of anything. As long as they stay that way I won't bother with them too much. Of course, should they make a move on me there will be consequences, just like anyone else who'd' try to." Lelouch gave an almost dangerous leer at the interviewer.
"That's a mighty frightening look you've got there Emperor!" the man laughed nervously. He wasn't sure if he'd angered Lelouch to not. "Next question; do you have any intentions of calling a truce with Zero? With all that you're planning to do with Japan it hardly seems like the Black Knights are needed at all! You're fulfilling the dreams that the Black Knights have sought for so long."
"I won't go as far to say as I'll make a peace treaty with Zero. Rather I'd like to make that truce with the Japanese public as a whole; Black Knight included simply because they too are Japanese." Lelouch said.
"I see, excellent answer in my opinion. Now, you've nearly obliterated the nobles of Britannia. Why did you do this? Many Britannian ex-nobles are outraged!" the man asked, this was more or less of a personal question for him.
"Simple. They weren't necessary, they took up time, money and resources, they caused a lot of trouble squabbling over territory and personally I find them to be rather useless. The way I want to rule this empire makes them irrelevant. If anything I'd rather have nobles of individual nations rule their own nation under Britannian's control than have Britannian nobles dominate every area-nation."
The man looked at Lelouch with wide eyes. "Does that mean you intend to restore each nation's nobles? What about their governments? Are you giving back the statuses of these nations' people?"
This was the question the entire world was waiting for. Around the world ex-nobles of every conquered nation gripped the armrests of their seats until their knuckles turned white. Suzaku was no exception to these people. If Lelouch agreed to restore nobles and governments to conquered nations of Britannia it meant two things. One Britannia would be at a civil war with itself. Two Suzaku would likely become Prime Minister of Japan or some other high ranking title. Suzaku dreamed of becoming Viceroy of Japan just to help the people. Every nation would regain their independent law-systems back. Lelouch's very answer could tilt the planet a new axis. Kallen, from back stage, watched the back of Lelouch's head as she awaited his answer. Her heart beat so fast she became a little red in the cheeks. The Black Knights sat in sheer silence during this moment, some of them on their knees in pure anticipation. Ougi was sitting on the edge of his seat gripping the ends of the arm rests as he hunched forwards looking at the screen. He shook very slightly; the suspense was making him feel unreal.
Japan and every other defeated nation breathed deeply with their hearts set aflame. This was the most silent the world had been in a very, very long time. The fact that Lelouch took more than a whole minute to calculate his exact answer was pure torture for some. Cornelia grit her teeth like sandpaper on rocks as her eyes death-locked her television screen. Everyone knew that the tomorrow of the entire world rested upon the very tip of Lelouch's tongue and he knew it. For a moment Lelouch tried to persuade himself into giving an explanation first, but he knew the world deserved his answer immediately. Milly and the others watched in a calm adrenaline induced state as their darling Lelou was about to make world history.
Then it happened, the one word the planet Earth longed to hear for many years.
"Yes." Lelouch said flatly.
Screams of joy, shrieks of agony and moments of silence in sheer disbelief; these were the things that befell the world in this moment. The Black Knight popped champagne bottles and sprayed them at one another madly. Cornelia pounded her fist into her wooden desk until she sprained her wrist. Odysseus dropped her win glass to the floor where it shattered into pieces. Britannian ex-nobles wallowed on the floor in agony and distraught. Kallen started to tear up a little as the entire back stage of the news office erupted in loud cheers and shouts.
It took over thirty minutes for the news station to calm down before continuing the interview.
"Emperor, I thank you from the bottom of my heart." The man said as he let out a long sigh. Being Japanese himself he was very relieved to hear Lelouch's answer. "But please, explain in which manner you will accomplish this."
"Simple, Britannia will remain in absolute control of its conquered nations." Lelouch began. The world silenced once more to listen to him speak.
"Each nation will have its own minor government and royal house. Even if the nation didn't previously use a monarchy system, it will now. You will have a figure-head of what used to be your Viceroy. Instead this nation's representative will most likely be of the nation's native race. This person will report directly to me in all matters regarding their corresponding nation." Lelouch spoke as the world once again was set on the edges of their seats.
"Japan, for example, will have its own government that will control Japan's laws and citizens. All laws this government makes will have to be passed by me for approval so that no obnoxious laws are created that favor one nation over the other." Lelouch said as he took a deep breath. He knew that right about now his siblings, aside from Euphemia, were raging at him. "Instead of being a prisoner enslaved by Britannia, conquered nations will be allies. Britannia's army will protect its married nations seeing as they are territory of Britannia. Each nation's Minister will be assigned by me personally."
The Black Knights danced around wailing champagne everywhere and exchanged drinks of sake. Ougi placed a hand over his mouth as his eyes teared up a bit. He fought so hard as he awaited this day for many years. Tamaki and Inoue held hands as they extended their arms and spun around giggling madly. Many other knights jumped up and down hugging.
"Zero..." Ougi choked out happily. "I hope you're watching this, wherever you are." He said as he stared at the image of Emperor Lelouch on the screen.
Maybe, just maybe the world wasn't as doomed as Ougi had once thought. Maybe this new Emperor Lelouch really was Japan savior. After having heard the entire interview about Lelouch and Suzaku he now had faith that Britannia could be allies with Japan.
Cornelia writhed in her chair uncontrollably. Odysseus placed a calming hand on her shoulder which she mostly ignored." That's it!" she shouted and stood up. "I'm going to end this false empire Lelouch has created before he tears Britannia down brick by brick!" she screeched as she marched out of the room.
Odysseus began fearing for his younger brother's life, but he agreed. Lelouch needed to be stopped immediately. It may be too late. Schneizel remained quiet, as per his Geass he didn't oppose Lelouch's speech.
Back at the news studio they called out all of Lelouch friends to begin the second part of the interview now that the chaos was starting to die down at the studio.
"Milly Ashford, grand-daughter of the Emperor's personal assistant Ruben Ashford, how did you feel when Lelouch became Emperor?" the man asked.
"I had never felt so excited in my life!" the blonde cheered. "My darl- I mean Emperor Lelouch was growing up before my very eyes at that moment. He just suddenly became a grown man out of nowhere!" she chirped.
"How about your Ms. Fenette?" he turned his attention towards Shirley.
"Oh, uhm… I couldn't believe what I was seeing! My classmate had become Emperor of Britannia within just a few hours. One minute we're at school like we always are then the next we're at Tokyo Palace celebrating his ascending the throne! It was unreal, I thought I was dreaming!" Shirley said as she had begun one of her ramblings.
"And you Rival Caramonde?"
"I was incredibly confused at first, I thought maybe it was a mistake or they had the wrong Lelouch. When I burst into manly tears before him I realized he really was a Prince, I just never noticed it!" Rival blathered.
"Nina, would you like to comment?" he asked the young girl.
"Oh uhm, I was…I was very…honored to have known his highness this long…I was also surprised to find out he was going to be Emperor…" she mumbled and blushed profusely.
"Princess Euphemia, it must have felt very relieving to know your younger siblings were doing so well this entire time. How did you feel at that moment?"
"I was so happy, it was probably the happiest I'd ever felt in my life! When Lelouch and Nunnally walked through the doors to the palace I thought I was seeing the past being relived!" she said ecstatically.
"Miss Kallen Stadtfeld, would you like to comment?"
"Of course! I was beyond thrilled to know my Vice President of the Student Council would be earning the highest title in the world; Emperor of Britannia. I didn't wake up that morning expecting to be on television with him at his acceptance speech and I certainly didn't expect to be living at the palace with him like this!" Kallen said happily.
"Suzaku, any words?"
"Sure! I knew Lelouch was still alive, but he forbid me from telling anyone. It would have of ruined his mission, so I wasn't surprised that he was alive. I was however surprised to hear that he was being offered Emperor. I never thought he'd claim the throne so early in his life!" Suzaku said putting on a slightly phony facade.
"Alright, this next question is for Emperor Lelouch's lady-friends." The man began as he gave the girls a knowing smile. "Have any of you ever kissed the Emperor before?" he made a goofy perverted face that creeped Lelouch out, but amused everyone else.
"She has!" Milly held Shirley's hand up as she pointed to the shrieking orangette. The cameras zoomed in on Shirley who tried hiding her face into her free hand in embarrassment. She's get revenge on Milly for this someday.
"None of you other three?" the man asked as he looked to Milly, Nina and Kallen. He didn't expect a response from Nunnally or Euphemia because it was no big deal if he had kissed them or not. "Aww, Miss Fenette is the only one?" the man pretended to be sad as he gave Lelouch a wink. Lelouch blushed lightly but mostly just tried not to cause a scene by showing his opposition to such a question.
"I've kissed him before!" Rival finally gathered the balls to announce. Everyone in the audience laughed thinking he was joking and Lelouch prayed it stayed that way. Rival stood up and Lelouch knew immediately what was coming.
"Rival, no!" he shouted and nearly got up out of his seat to run away. Much to his relief Rival sat back down and made a goofy grin.
"What's that all about? We love a good kissing story, do tell!" the interviewer requested.
"Just no, please no." Lelouch more or less commanded than pleaded.
"If it's kissing stories you want to hear about, Suzaku and I have kissed!" Euphemia giggled and the cameras began to focus on her. She successfully diverted the situation away from Rival and Lelouch to spare him the agony of public humiliation like Rival intended. Lelouch would have to give Rival a good lecture about how to behave with him in public when the interview was over.
"Princess Euphemia! Please tell us more!" the man asked.
"Me and Suzaku Kururugi went on a date in France yesterday." She said simply. Suzaku leaned in and whispered something to her. She whispered back and Suzaku nodded. He grabbed her hand and cleared his throat.
"Princess Euphemia and I are a couple now." He stated with a warm smile. Euphemia immediately leaned over and kissed him on the cheek to which he blushed madly. Somewhere in the Tokyo Palace Cornelia lost her mind. She couldn't take it anymore, this whole night was too much to bare.
As everyone finished gasping over Euphemia and Suzaku's new relationship they eventually turned their interview back to Lelouch.
"Emperor Lelouch, this next question is for the ex-nobles of Britannia. What do you plan to do with Britannia as a whole? How do you plan to lead Britannia into the future if you're so focused on the past?"
"Good question." Lelouch began as he sat up straight on the sofa. "In the past Britannia was an empire that sought to control the whole world through dominance and sheer power. The Britannia I wish to create for the future would be a much more peaceful empire that focuses on improving the world's conditions rather than focusing on war. I don't need to control every country to create a more gentle and peaceful world. My father's motto 'Only the strong survive and the weak are left behind in the march towards progress' is an obsolete one. The weak and defenseless shouldn't be left in the wake of the strong. If the strong nations take just mere moments to look behind themselves and offer help to the weaker nations then I believe the world as a whole will begin to enter the future era of true peace." He paused as more cameramen ran onto the stage before him to get at all angles of his speech.
"The path towards the future is not one of a single nation conquering the world, that serves no point. The future is defined by every nation as an individual coming together for peace. Fighting our way into the future only sets the entire world back. The future doesn't lie in the path of destruction; it awaits us in the path of world peace. I realize that such an astounding feat will likely not be accomplished in my lifetime, but I will try my best to put it on the right track to it."
This speech did quell some Britannian fears about Lelouch's sketchy reign, but most of the Britannian royals completely disagreed with him. Very few were showing support for Lelouch and many were beginning to plot against him.
Lelouch answered many more political questions that the common man didn't privy himself to. Within the next couple of hours the interview came to an end and everyone was prepared to leave the news station. They were helicopter lifted back to the Palace because the entire news station surrounding was swarmed with either supporters or rebels. Once at the palace Lelouch pulled Rival off to his office to speak with him alone.
"Rival, I'm not mad." He began as he slumped down into his office chair. Rival immediately knew what this was about. "Just please don't ever try to do something like that when we're in public. I can tolerate your quirky pranks when we're with just friends, but I can't have something so improper ruin my image as Emperor. People would begin to think that it's okay to just run up and do whatever they want to me."
"I'm sorry man, I wasn't actually going to do it. I just wanted to scare ya…" Rival frowned.
"It's not that big of a deal right now, just keep in mind that I am the Emperor when in public. When we're alone I can be just Lelouch, but only then." Lelouch explained to Rival who gave a bitter-sweet smile.
"Like I said, I'm really sorry. I knew it was probably a bad idea to say anything of the sort on live television, but I simply couldn't resist!" he smirked.
"I'll probably laugh at it later, but for now I'm exhausted. I'd like to retire for the night." He lied. To be honest he just wanted to become Zero and head back to the base to check up on how the Black Knights reacted. Speaking of reactions, he dreaded his next run-in with Cornelia….
He called Kallen to return to the base as well. He wanted to know exactly why she had yet to comply with her assigned mission. He entered the messy mess-hall and took a look around to see his fellow knights either drunkenly passed out or still jumping around dancing. He was relieved to see that they'd taken it well, he was slightly nervous that their pride would be hurt by their titles being just force-fed back to them instead of earned. Honestly Lelouch felt they had well earned their nation back and fully intended to continue helping them as Emperor and as Zero. He made his way passed the celebrating knights who cheered out to him and went into his main office room. As soon he entered the large office he was met with Ougi, Tamaki, Inoue and a couple other top leading Black Knights. Ougi immediately stood up and approached him with the most vibrant smile Lelouch had ever seen on the man.
"Zero! You saw the Emperor's interview right?!" he asked as he stood before his leader weeping happily.
"Yes, I did." Zero replied.
"Isn't it amazing? We're getting Japan back!" Ougi suddenly forcefully hugged Zero and tried to jump around with him, but Lelouch remained still and unmoving. Somehow he was starting to have visions of Rival…
"Alright settle down Ougi…" Zero sighed out and Ougi let go on him with an apology.
"Zero!" Tamaki began as he took a swig of booze. "What do the Black Knights do now? I mean we're useless now, right?"
"No, not entirely. Emperor Lelouch may need us. I predict that the ex-nobles and royals of Britannia will be in an uproar soon. Emperor Lelouch would need help defending his new laws and ideals should there be a civil war within Britannia." Lelouch explained. "There's no way the Britannian mainland isn't pissed off right now. I'm going to ask Emperor Lelouch if he'll accept us as his personal army."
"Woah! Seriously?" Tamaki's eyes went wide.
"Yes, Kallen failed her mission to become the Emperor's Knight. So I'm going to just bluntly ask Lelouch himself to commission us as a mercenary army for protection." Zero said. As if on que Kallen entered the room and stood beside Zero.
"Zero." She said flatly. He turned to her and awaited her next line. "I'm sorry I didn't approach Lelouch. It was just an inconvenient day to do so. I'll request a private audience with him tomorrow. It should be an easier time to talk to him." She explained.
"I see. I'll hold off on the personal army bit until then."
"Personal army?" Kallen asked confused. Zero had to give her an explanation that if she were to fail to become Knight of the Emperor then he'd ask Lelouch to assign the Black Knights as his personal army. Kallen understood and sat down with Zero on the large sofa. A sudden train of Black Knights danced down the hallways passed the office door could heard, very loudly.
"All hail Emperor Lelouch!" some of them shouted. Normally this would be seen as a joke or an outrage, but tonight they all understood why such a thing would echo through the halls of the Black Knight base. To Zero this was a little unexpected, but very rewarding. He was certain they'd show support for him, but go as far as to shouting their hail to him at a party? He was more pleased than surprised, this meant that his job as Zero just got a whole lot easier.
"Zero, are you happy with the new Emperor as well?" Kallen asked a bit hopeful.
"Yes, very much so. I couldn't have picked a better Emperor myself." He smirked behind the mask. Kallen allowed herself to breathe a breath of relief as she relaxed. Zero's approval of Lelouch's reign was one of her wishes since his acceptance speech. She knew Zero liked Lelouch's new laws, but had still been having the slight fear that Zero would do to Lelouch what he'd done to Clovis. Now that she'd heard him say that he wanted to protect Lelouch instead of fight against him she didn't have to worry anymore. Kallen looked over to Zero and looked him up and down. His posture, his aura, the way he spoke and even the simple hand movements all screamed 'heroic-leader' to Kallen. Everything about him drew her into him like a moth to the flame of desire.
Kallen would be lying if she said she didn't have an unusual attachment to Zero. Her admiration of the man went far beyond commander and subordinate. She dared to say it ventured into the realm of personal attachment. She felt something shoot through her chest like a bird escaping from its cage. It was light, fluttering and a very freeing feeling. As she continued to stare at Zero, who was speaking to Ougi and Tamaki, she couldn't help but just feel his power radiate to her. Like some sort of godlike figure hiding behind a dark mask. The messiah of Japan was indeed godly in Kallen's mind. Even Toudoh the miracle worker was an average human compared to Zero. She absentmindedly leaned towards Zero and their shoulders touched. She immediately correct herself and straightened back up with a slight blush. He ultimately ignored her, but it's not like he didn't notice it. The touch gave Lelouch a slight feeling running up and down his spine, but he tried his best to ignore it to continue his conversation with the others. Kallen lowered her head and looked away to avoid staring at him any longer.
"Kallen, we're going to dismiss the meeting now." Zero ordered and stood up. She blinked and her head quickly lifted up to look at him. Her heart beat quickly as he extended a hand to her to help her stand up as well. As soon as he placed her bare hand into his gloved one something hit her. This time Kallen could not remain oblivious to this feeling any longer, she felt the spark of romance spread through her. He grasped her hand tightly and pulled as she stood up, the pressure on her hand send another feeling throughout her. When he let go she retracted her hand back to her chest where her other hand went around it. She stood there blushing as the final thought went through her head.
'I'm in love…aren't I?' she thought as she looked up into Zero's faceless mask.
"Kallen, are you alright?" Zero asked, he was indeed a little worried. Maybe this had something to do with her mission to become Lelouch's Knight.
"I'm okay, I'm just tired is all." She lied and gave him a bitter-sweet smile. Zero knew Kallen wasn't simply 'tired' as she claimed, a tired Kallen was a grouchy Kallen; not a whimsy Kallen.
"I know you better than that Kallen. What's really bothering you?" he asked as he placed his right hand on her left shoulder. Kallen blushed at this act and she looked down at the floor.
"It's personal." She sighed as she admitted to defeat. This time it wasn't a lie, and Lelouch took her word for it.
"Alright then, the next meeting isn't for another week. Just remember, Lelouch already knows you're a Black Knight. He isn't going to react badly to your offer. If anyone who knows you as the sickly and frail Kallen you can just lie and say that you were secretly working with the military on Knightmare Frame training." He said and Kallen thought for a moment.
"That would work quite well." She agreed.
Zero let Kallen return to the palace first, he knew he shouldn't arrive at the same time as her; it'd be suspicious. So he hung around the base with Tamaki and Ougi for another hour before heading back himself. He once again waited for Kallen to request a personal audience with him. When she yet again didn't arrive at his door he became impatient. He set out to find her and did so at the shared living room. She sat on the sofa with her knees bent up, her feet on the cushion and her arms wrapped around her kneed with her head down. He approached her and sat down beside her. She was clad in nothing but tiny black shorts and a bright yellow tank top. This was rather odd to him since she was at a palace, he expected her and everyone else to dress better when not in the confines of their own bedroom. He himself wore a completely white pajama set, granted he was barefoot, but still. She didn't know who had just sat beside her, but she figured it was Milly or Shirley.
"What should I do?" she asked weakly. Lelouch had only heard her like this few times before. She usually reserved her sickly, frail voice for when she was at school. Even here at the palace she allowed most of her true personality to shine out.
"Depends." Lelouch began as Kallen's head lifted up immediately as the sound of the male voice. "What's your problem?" he asked trying his best not to smile mockingly.
"Oh it's you, I thought you were Gino at first, I was ready to kill you." She sighed as she let her legs drop so that her feet were on the floor. She quickly looked all around to make sure they were completely alone. Since it was two in the morning everyone else was asleep, much to her relief. "Listen, I need to talk to you." She started.
"I know, and this is not the place to do it. Let's go to my office." He offered as he stood up. Once again he offered her his hand and she took it. This time the skin to skin contact was vastly different from Zero's. She didn't get quite the same aura from Lelouch that she did Zero, yet there was still an air of power coming off of him nonetheless. As he led her to the room she prayed that this would go over as well as Zero had promised. Once inside the office Lelouch locked the door behind them, this was almost a red flag to Kallen until she remembered that if he had truly wanted to capture her then he would have of done it sooner and that he's been contacting Zero himself. Her capture would also cause his issues as well. She dropped her naïve and girly act entirely at this very moment.
"Lelouch." She said boldly as Lelouch turned to look at her just an intensely. "I'm acting under orders from Zero to attempt to become your personal knight to protect you from whatever danger you could encounter from Britannian rebels. We the Black Knights wish you to continue your job towards helping Japan, in exchange I, the ace of the Black Knights, will protect you from your foes." She said strongly.
Lelouch, for some odd reason, was incredibly pleased with her sudden burst in power. He'd seen her like this when he was Zero, but he was excited to see her behave like this to him as Lelouch.
"You want the title of being my personal Knight? Are you sure you can handle that, Kallen?" he asked almost wickedly.
"Yes, I can. If I can fight off Cornelia and even that White Knight Lancelot then I can protect you." She said as she glared over at him from across the room.
"I accept. Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld I dub thee Knight of Britannia, Knight of Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia." he said royally as he made hand motions over her shoulders. She knew this was where she was supposed to bow to him, but something inside of her outright refused to lower her head. Lelouch allowed Kallen to stay risen and ignored her lack of groveling.
There stood a half Japanese woman, Knighted by the Emperor himself. The world was suddenly shifting underneath its own weight. Lelouch told Kallen that tomorrow he'd make her Knighthood formal by making an announcement during the ball where he'd Knight her publicly there. Kallen agreed and he dismissed her for the night. Both of them needed sleep for the ball that was to come the next day. Kallen went back to her room feeling almost invincible. It wasn't normally like her to gloat in her own mind, but this was simply irresistible. She was the Knight of the Emperor that control a third of the world! Anyone would lose their mind with pride at this moment.
She calmed herself as she climbed into bed and got under the covers. Her palatial bedroom was massive, twice as big as her bedroom at her father's mansion. She had a walk-in closet the size of the average person's entire bedroom, a bathroom with a bathtub big enough to fit ten people and her own bed chamber with a bed twice the size of the average king-sized mattress. She felt like true royalty while staying at the palace, but she knew it wasn't a permanent deal. Eventually she'd be sent back to her father's house where she'd reclaim her old bedroom. Just then a thought hit her, if she's Knight of the Emperor then she'd have to be by his side constantly, she'd be living in the palace forever. She wasn't sure if she liked that too much, she might come to feel trapped. Her final thoughts before dozing off were of what may come for her in the future. Little did she know just how long she would stay at Lelouch's side.
XxXxX Friday XxXxX
"Oh come on!" Rival whined pathetically. "You know I love you like the divine Goddess that you are! Just one?!" he pleaded miserably. Milly sighed and rolled her eyes, this wasn't anything new.
"Why should I?" she crossed her arms and looked at him with a frown.
"Because I love you! You know this!" Rival sobbed hysterically. "I'd treat you better than Lelouch's future consorts would treat him!"
This made Milly laugh more than feel appraised. Rival was getting some new good lines in today, usually his pleas were over-used and cliché. She smiled gently, but not out of pity.
"I'll make you a deal." She grinned mischievously as she winked at him. His eyes glued to her mouth as he awaited her next statement. She leaned over closer to him and places a soft hand on his wet cheek.
"I'll go on one date with you IF you become a Knight of Round!" she teased with a cheesy grin. His eyes lit up like stars going super nova.
"Really?! You'll date me if I become a Knight of the Round?!" he asked ecstatically as he flailed slightly.
"Mhm!" she moaned seductively, just to further mock him. Rival immediately turned his attention to Lelouch where he gave his best puppy face.
"What?" Lelouch asked, he hadn't been paying attention to their silly rabbles.
"Make me a Knight of Round, just for one day!" he begged with a big goofy smile.
"I would rather not, it'd be a mockery to the real Knights of Round who earned it." Lelouch explained, he had no intentions of abusing his powers to help his friends hook up with chicks.
"What about an honorary Knight of Round? Just a title-only deal!" he tried to reason.
"No Rival. If you want to be a Knight of Round I suggest you go practice with a Knightmare Frame…" Lelouch groaned out irritably.
"Did I hear someone say…" Lloyd began slyly as he entered the breakfast room. "...become a Knight of Round?" he grinned knowingly.
"Yeah! I need to become a Knight of Round before prom!" Rival whined as he ran up to the man.
"Well that's an awfully big goal my friend. You'd best start with training first. On a side note I need to know where Suzaku is. He's on call for duty." Lloyd said as he turned to Lelouch. "Your highness, do you know where Kururgi went?"
"He's not here. I believe he went with Euphemia to the military base already." Lelouch said. Lloyd bid his farewell and Rival sulked on the ground. Gino entered the room to see the gloomy Rival and kneeled down next to him.
"Hey man, what's gotten into you?" he asked.
"Milly won't date me until I become Knight of Round." He whimpered.
"No problem! Stick with me and I'll show you a few tricks to piloting a Knightmare!" Gino stood up and let out a loud boasting laugh.
"R-really?!" Rival shouted as he stood up.
"Yup, just follow me to training tomorrow and I'll show you all you could ever need to know about piloting!" Gino gave him the thumbs up to which Rival cheered loudly.
As Lloyd walked down the hallway as if to leave the palace he accidentally turned a wrong corner and managed to get himself lost. He could have sword he was going the right way, but it appears as though he was incredibly wrong. Luckily he spotted a young girl at the end of the hall and decided he'd ask her for help navigating the maze known as Tokyo Palace. He was good with scientific mazes where there was only one clear cut answer that could be deduces from research, but there was no 'research' to be done to a building that had so many rooms and connecting halls.
"Excuse me young miss, do you know how to get out of this place?" he asked as he approached her. The girl turned around to see him and became just a little startled.
"I…uhm.. You go down this hallway and…you make a right…then you go down the stairs…and the lobby is on the left…" she stuttered as she looked to the ground. Lloyd wasn't overly fond of the shy, but anyone who knew their way around this obnoxious maze had to have a decent brain in their skull.
"I thank you, might I get your name miss?" he asked innocently, but this came off as lecherous to her.
"I'm Nina Einstein." She asked sheepishly.
"I've heard of you! You wrote that report last year that knocked every other scientists' away! It's in my favorites section! I'm pleased to meet you in person!" he grinned, suddenly his opinion of her brightened.
"Th-thank you! You're Lloyd….Asplund aren't you?" she asked as she recognized him from all the videos on the internet about advanced Knightmare technology.
"Ah hah! I see the young Nina knows her scientists!" he smirked, he'd have to meet her in person again sometime. "Well I'd best be off, I have to fetch Kururugi for military duty." He waved her goodbye. He only got to the end of the hall before realizing that even with instructions he was still lost. Nina noticed his perplexed expression and smiled. She approached him and stood next to him again.
"Allow me to show you out." She smiled, he usual shy-self began to melt somewhat.
"Why thank you!" he said cheerfully as they walked down the hallway together.
Back in his office, Lelouch decided to do a little online research. Since he and the others were taking the day off from school to be able to attend the ball he wasn't worried about being late to class. As he Googled a few things that weren't listed on regular political websites he happened across a website that raised his eyebrow. He knew he should click and should just avoid it, but his curiosity got the best of him. As soon as the website was opened he closed his browser. Never again in his life would he look at a website about rumors of his personal life. He didn't need to know what the world thought his penis looked like. He opened a new window and redid his search. Yet another website caught his attention, but on a whole different scale.
'Down with Lelouch; the Britannian culture is dying' he thought as he read the title. He opened the website to find many of the commoner and ex-nobles displaying their hatred for him. Many of them foolishly posted threats against him, but most were just ignorant comments. One however made Lelouch grimace.
"Princess Cornelia herself has organized a meeting between the royalty of Britannia and the ex-nobles. They are probably discussing how to over-throw Lelouch. I think the end of Emperor Dipshit is coming soon! Princess Cornelia already said that if Ledouche is gotten rid of then she'll restore the titles and those filthy numbers will get put back in their places. I can't wait, Lelouch needs to just drop dead already. I hope they take his useless sister with him, Nunnally is too weak to even be a normal citizen. Anyone who can't walk on their own two feet just needs to die and quit taking up space in the world! Only the strong survive! Only us superior Britannians should be allowed to rule! Lelouch spent his life as a commoner, he doesn't understand the needs of the nobles. He's ruining this empire, soon we'll be nothing but hippies spoon feeding third world nations. DOWN WITH LELOUCH!"
It wasn't the name calling or the outright fact that Cornelia herself was plotting against him that bothered him. He knew Cornelia intended to dethrone him, but what made him so irritated was how the majority of Britannians agreed with the outdated theory that only the strong should live. His father's own words were what controlled these mindless fools. How dare they insult Nunnally, they have no right to speak to their Princess that way! He then got an idea. He registered with the website and created a false account. He used this account to pretend to be an ex-noble in which he began posting.
"Princess Cornelia said that she'd bring power to the ex-nobles. With only the ex-nobles in power Britannian commoners will be left with nothing except poverty. She intends to take all the wealth and power and give it to her select few special friends in the noble ranks. We commoners will be left with the numbers at the bottom of the food chain. She won't deliver any justice to us. Cornelia wants to make anyone who isn't nobility or royal be assigned a number."
He allowed the post to sit for a moment as the others to comment in. Most inquired to what he thought would actually happen, but only a few tried to stand up for Cornelia. He smirked as comment after comment piled up onto his post. This was one of the top leading political websites, even though the government didn't acknowledge it as anything official, it still held a lot of influence over the people. He closed his computer and forgot about the website entirely. He wouldn't return to it nor would he think about it any longer. He simply wanted to anger the man who made the original post. Which he succeeded, the man was right now raging against Cornelia from behind his computer screen.
'Such naïve people, they'll believe anything the hear or read. It's them that's inferior for believing such nonsense. Both sides of that argument are wrong and until the world sees that weak and strong can live in harmony then the world is doomed.' Lelouch thought solemnly.
He returned to the breakfast hall where Kallen was eating with Shirley and Milly. Thankfully she'd gotten into proper attire before coming to breakfast. They exchanged glances, but did not make eye contact as Lelouch sat down at the head of the table. Luckily Milly had decided that the head of the table wasn't her spot that day. Shirley blushed when Lelouch's hand brushed up against hers as they both reached into the fruit bowl at the same time. Lelouch noticed the girl's reddened face and laughed lightly. He allowed her to get her apples before he got his, just out of sheer courtesy. Milly sliced an apple for Nunnally as she ate in absolute silence. Lelouch had noticed that Nunnally wasn't acting her usual cheerful self lately, but he chalked it up to the pressure to become a Princess again. He'd mentally noted to spend more time with Nunnally soon, with all his business as Zero and Emperor he was seeing her less and less.
"Emperor Lelouch!" came a woman's voice shouting from the other side of the doors to the breakfast room. Suddenly they durst open to reveal a woman with a microphone followed by a cameraman.
"What the..? The press aren't allowed on Palace grounds!" Lelouch shouted very angrily.
"We're sorry, but there's a death outside, they're evacuating everyone inside!" she pleaded as she got down on her knees.
"What?! Who died?" he asked as he ran up to the woman. She looked up at him with evident fear, but he wasn't sure if it was entirely from the murder. Maybe it was out of fear for intruding in on him.
"A young woman was caught trying to enter the castle, the guards just open fired!" she began to cry slightly, a tear rolled down the side of her cheek.
Lelouch ran out of the doors and pushed passed the hordes of people trying to get inside. Normally he wouldn't do this, but he had a bad feeling it was someone important. Nina and Lucina weren't at breakfast, it could've been one of them. As he finally reached the palace entrance he stood among the people who were either screaming in horror or whispering to one another. He got a glimpse at the body and scowled darkly. This was going to be a real problem.
Bolmung LK: If it turns out there are a lot of mistakes I'll go back in and fix them shortly.
