Disclaimer DW77 does not own Code Geass or the Doctor Who quote at the end of the chapter
I am trying a different writing style that has more of an emphasis on exposition depending on how this goes off I may revert to the old style.
This chapter is not meant to be as emotionally jarring as the last two though (I have found that in general it is a bad idea to have the emotional stuff firing on all cylinders every chapter.)
Chapter 3: Confrontation and Ultimatum
Jeremiah Gottwald was patrolling the perimeter of Ashford Academy inspecting the troop and had just recently reached the main gates of the establishment when he noticed a fast moving object in the sky headed for the Academy. Taking immediate note of it he quickly realized that what he sees is the Gurren!
"Sir Kururugi! It's the Guren it's heading right here!" Orange yelled over the comlink. This alert caused Suzaku to rocket into the sky ready to intercept Kallen. Orange proceeded to scramble the troops for an incoming assault.
"KALLEN! Are you here to rescue the UFN representatives? Or is it to kill Lelouch? If so I stand in your way!" Suzaku demanded while drawing his MVS blades in preparation to duel with Kallen.
"No Suzaku; I Kozuki Kallen hereby return to the service of Lelouch Vi Britannia; I wish return to the service of Zero."
"Wait… WHAT?" Suzaku cried momentarily knocked off guard by Kallen's statement before hastily putting it back up.
After a couple seconds Suzaku realized that Kallen hadn't taken advantage of that momentary lapse and had even landed and deactivated the Guren. "You're… you're serious aren't you… Why Kallen? Why do you wish to serve Lelouch?"
Kallen proceeded to climb out of her Kinghtmare before answering. "Because I finally know what Lelouch thinks of me" Kallen said calmly and cryptically with a slight smile. "Now could you get me an audience with 'His Majesty'?"
"Not before you explain yourself a bit better!" Suzaku said relaxing some before landing.
"It took me a while to understand why he called the Black Knights his Pawns and then told me to 'Live on'" Kallen replied while descending from the Guren. "Now when are you going to arrange that audience?"
After Lelouch had agreed to an audience with Kallen; Jeremiah had insisted on escorting Kallen to Lelouch and on standing guard over the proceedings.
"My Lord I present Lady Kal…" Orange trailed off for a second as he received a sharp glare from the Red Lotus. "Kozuki Kallen!"
"So Kallen why is it that you, ace of the Black Knights and soldier of the UFN, comes before me seeking an audience?" Lelouch asked coolly though underneath it all he was worried that she had seen past his bluff aboard the Ikaruga somehow.
"Lelouch I finally found my answer to what you think of me… I'm important to you aren't I?" Kallen said; smirking at seeing Lelouch's eyes widen momentarily before he quickly hid his reaction with a chuckle hoping he could throw her off the scent.
"What led you to that conclusion Kallen?" he asked. Kallen decided to hide the fact of her source being the bug she planted on Lelouch when she kissed him earlier deciding it would only
"Two words Lelouch; Two words lead me to this conclusion: 'Live On'; you said that after calling us all pawns to push me away didn't you? You called the Black Knights pawns to save me; then you told me to 'Live On' because you want me to live a happy life isn't that right Lelouch?" at this Lelouch couldn't hide his amazement any longer.
"How Kallen? How could you read me so early?" He asked before shaking his head and regaining control of himself. "It doesn't matter… Yes Kallen, I don't know how you figured it out but I do care for you… But we can never be… I was once told that if someone is important to you the best way to protect it is to push it awa…"
"YOU IDIOT!" Kallen screamed at Lelouch as her fist connected with the side of his face while Jeremiah looked on with a slightly bemused smile.
"Jeremiah I thought you came along to protect me!" Lelouch cried when he saw that Orange hadn't budged.
"My lord my responsibility is to protect you from your enemies; not to defend you from a woman in love." Jeremiah replied with a growing smirk as Kallen's face did a passable imitation of her hair.
"No! It… It's not like…" Kallen stuttered before turning her wrath back at Lelouch "Damn it Lelouch you almost made me suffer the greatest shame of a bodyguard; Having their ward sacrifice their life to save the guard! It's my job to protect you not the other way around get that through your thic…" Kallen Screamed at him before he interrupted her rant with "What is It?". A chill of fear climbed her spine as she saw Lelouch's enraged and sorrowful face as he paid attention to the com-link and got up to walk off.
"Damn he made his move…" Lelouch muttered as he rushed past Kallen heading for the shuttle.
"What happened Lelouch? What was that?" Kallen asked wondering what it was that had distracted Lelouch.
"Pendragon has been destroyed." He said as he went back to nursing the side of his face. Kallen rushed to the Guren to head off with Lelouch.
Cornelia escorted Nunnally back to the gardens after getting her changed out of her tear stained gown and into another one. As she walked she pondered Nunnally's words and found herself becoming wistful. Thoughts of that which might have been that which could have been prevented had she and the other members of the royal family had acted more like a family than like strangers when the Vi Britannia's were exiled. Or if she and the others had put more effort into finding them alive or dead; could they have been found alive and the whole disaster averted? Everything she thought of was an example of where she had utterly failed her little brother. While she had no mercy for the current Lelouch she wished that there were something that she could have done to save Lelouch before the little boy she had known and loved had been crushed completely by the darkness that had spawned Zero… as she and Nunnally finally reached the gardens; Cornelia paused for a second and wiped away a single tear that had managed to escape and she took a moment to pray that she could still make things right by that little boy she had loved so dearly; even if the same couldn't be done for the present Lelouch.
As they took off Suzaku got Kallen in on the conversation with Lelouch and C.C. feeling that it would be best to not leave her out of the loop. Kallen was relieved that Lelouch didn't seem to mind.
"Yes I have no doubt that all the FLEIJA warheads are there. The sky-fortress Damocles was developed by the Toromo Agency in Cambodia; it is a perfect base for the FLEIJAs" Lelouch commented over the channel. Suddenly a new request to join the channel appeared.
"The only other person who knows this channel is…" C.C. commented before Lelouch grunted and accepted the request.
Schneizel appeared on the Screens "Do you enjoy forcing others to be subservient to your will Lelouch?"
"What do you want Schneizel?" Lelouch Queried in disdain.
"I have gathered all the FLEIJA Warheads they're deployed aboard the Damocles"
"You are prepared to attack the Britannian Emperor?"
"I'm afraid that is a moot point; I do not recognize you as the Emperor." Schneizel replied
"I see I suppose that you think that the one who is best suited to rule is you?" Lelouch said bemusedly
"No the one best suited to rule is her" Schniezel gestured as the camera panned down and to the left to reveal someone Lelouch had thought dead. The camera continued to pan out until Cornelia, Schneizel, Deithard, and Kannon were all revealed alongside Nunnally. Suzaku and Kallen both gasped "Nunnally"
Nunnally Spoke: "Listen carefully Lelouch; Suzaku. I declare. You're my enemies from this point on"
"Nunnally… it's you you're alive…" Lelouch said with a mixture of happiness at her survival and devastation at her statement.
"Yes; thanks to our brother Schneizel" she affirmed
Suzaku asked "Nunnally do you understand what Schneizel has done?"
"Yes he attacked the Capitol with a FLEIJA warhead." She responded calmly
"if you know about that then wh…"
"Is Using Geass on people better?" Nunnaly interjected "Both you and Lelouch have been lying to me from the start haven't you? But now I know everything. You were Zero from the beginning… weren't you? Why? Tell me. If this was all because of me; I…"
"Hahahahaha. My little sister presumptuous as ever; do you really think that that people will help you all the time out of the goodness of their own hearts? It's so easy to criticize others while you keep your hands clean; you have become the quintessence of the privileged aristocrat that I have worked so hard to destroy." Lelouch's laugh and speech finally pushed Kallen to the point of explosion.
"GOD Damn You ALL!" Kallen screamed at the screen startling not just Lelouch and Suzaku but also all those in the gardens on the Damocles. "You would wipe an entire city full of people off the map because you disagree with Lelouch? You didn't even try to talk first do the lives of the commoners really mean so little to you? You are no better than the old emperor sitting on your thrones on high considering everyone else to be nothing but ants if they stand in your way. Your attitude sickens me; you believe yourselves to be right yet; you don't understand anything!"
Nunnally was even further startled by the familiar voice "Is that you Kallen? Why are you with Lelouch? Didn't he betray the Black Knights and the UFN? Why do you support him? Did he use his Geass on you too?"
In response to this Kallen laughed bitterly. "My heart is my own Nunnally; The real question is why… Why. Don't. Any. Of. YOU? You're his family! It's supposed to be your job to love and care for him!"
Cornelia snapped indignantly at this "Why Should we? He killed Euphie! And Clovis!"
Nunnally nearly wept but refrained from doing so "He… Brother has fallen to far…"
Schneizel calmly stated: "Lelouch Has committed far too many crimes to ever be forgiven or ever earn redemption. A world lead by him will never be peaceful; and isn't peace what this everyone in this world strives for?"
Suzaku broke in "Cornelia don't even start compared to your hands; Lelouch's are clean of royal blood."
"None of you get it do you?"Kallen asked sardonically with a look of disgust on her face.
"Kallen No..." Lelouch Started moving to disconnect her from the conversation.
"Enough Lelouch; they need to hear this they need to understand the depths of their own sins."
"For the longest time I looked down on my Mother because I thought she was a hopeless romantic; that she had wasted her life chasing after a man who would never take notice of her again… once I came to that conclusion I refused to look any further being totally disgusted by what I saw…" Kallen said sadly remembering how poorly she treated her mother. "However thanks to Lelouch; I was able to learn that she wasn't there for my father she wanted to be near me!"
"What does any of that have to do with our misunderstanding of Lelouch?" Schneizel inquired calmly.
"All of you have fallen into a similar trap; you are unable to look past all of his masks. Under the masks of Emperor; Revolutionary and Student; beyond those and many more lies your lost little ten year old brother. A hurt, lonely, and terrified little boy…" Kallen started
"Kallen… please don't…" Lelouch tried again but was quickly shushed by Kallen while Cornelia thought 'Wait is she saying that underneath it all my little brother still exists?' and C.C. looked on with a look of approval.
"A little boy who simply wanted to find out why his mother had to die and his sister was crippled. A little boy who was rendered powerless and rejected because he dared to ask why his mother was Killed. Since his Mother was assassinated Lelouch has hurt and he has feared not just Loss but also Rejection… as such he hasn't allowed anyone to get close to him… he hasn't let anyone have the chance to heal his pain… and so his wound festered and he slowly dug his own personal hell… you all think of him as a heartless monster? You want to see a monster? Look in the mirror. For eight long years your brother has been in the agony of both his own misery and that of others. Do you think he doesn't understand the misery his actions have brought to others? Trust me he feels the full weight of each and every single one of those deaths; he's seen how it can hurt families how what he has done has hurt those left behind. Yet here you are the last living members of his family, now that you have destroyed Pendragon, declaring yourselves his enemies? You are not worthy of being called his family; if this is how you treat a sibling in pain you are nothing more than a RABID PACK OF WOLVES! I once told him I would follow him to hell… I'm here to do the one thing that you all failed to do so long ago! I'm here to save him!"
Schneizel Cut the connection fearing that any further and he wouldn't be able to keep Nunnally's resolve Intact. The last sight that Kallen, Lelouch, Suzaku, and C.C. took note of was the look of shame on Cornelia's face. He quickly proceeded to reassure Nunnally that the casualties at Pendragon were minimal and hand the firing key over before Cornelia spoke up "We need to talk Schneizel" taking note of Cornelia's state which betrayed only the slightest portion of the maelstrom raging inside Schneizel thought 'Impressive Lelouch that was supposed to break you but you had a card up your sleeve that caused it to backfire on me. Bravo little brother.'
Kallen was about to board the Avalon after the shuttle when C.C. contacted her on a private channel.
"You're an interesting one you know that? It was very entertaining watching you rip the Royal family several new ones." C.C.'s smirk the only thing attesting to the truth of her words. "I just wish I had gotten a shot of Cornelia's face."
At this Kallen felt a great sense of accomplishment; she; Kozuki Kallen had actually shaken the infamously stiff lipped 'Witch of Britannia'.
"But one of the things you said, about Lelouch still being a lonely sad 10 year old boy deep down was it? It reminded me of a prophecy I heard long ago…" C.C. continued
At this Kallen immediately became suspicious after all; while she didn't know a lot about Geass she figured that Lelouch's power couldn't be the only supernatural thing in this world… so why not actual prophecies? "TELL ME" Kallen demanded quickly.
Not showing any signs of being startled C.C. looked straight at the screen "Give me a second to recall it… Alright…"
"Demons run when a good man goes to war. Night will fall and drown the Sun. When a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies. Night will fall and the Dark will rise. When a good man goes to war. Demons run but count the cost. The battle's won but the child is lost." After this C.C. cut the connection 'I wonder Kallen; are you strong enough to overcome fate?'
Authors notes: anyway... I'd like to hear how you guys think the demons run poem applies to the Code Geass universe... this chapter is primarily build up for chapters four and five and it contains a nice bit of foreshadowing too (in my opinion anyway...)
so a few questions for you guys to think about:
Who are the Demons that run?
What is are the Night, the Sun and the Dark?
what is the battle? What is the prize fought for?
Who are the 'good man' and the 'child'?
but despite all of that being deliberately left somewhat ambiguous. I think that at least 'Friendship dies and true love lies' should be a bit clearer
And no I am not just pulling this out of mid air I do have a general outline for the story.