A/N: I figured that I should answer one of the questions that a reader PMed here because everyone else might be confused as well. The question was that a Rai was back in the "real world" for only a month, but when he and the others went back to Code Geass, a month had passed. That's because while only a little bit of time has passed in the "real world", more time passes in Code Geass. I did that because in the space of a few episodes, a few days or so go by in anime, sometimes more. For instance the first time Rai was back in the "real world" momentarily, a lot of time had went by in Code Geass, but Richard wasn't kidding when he said that not much had happened during Rai and Scott's absence. Also, that's why Rai's dad wasn't all that bothered that Rai hadn't contacted him in a while (Rai's dad thought Rai was on a trip, one that was a month long or so). Sorry that I didn't clear that up in the story.
However, I can't answer the second question I was asked, because that's a secret that does get answered within the story. *Evil Laughter*
Thanks to Bright Blade7, Anubis9 lord of death, Mangakitty222333, Frieda, AyameRose, Kiseki no Tenshi, ZeroPanda, and WhiteAngle128.
For a moment, Rai was annoyed at the fact that he and Rolo were about the same height…with Rolo being slightly taller. The only way Rai could see Rolo's face was from the reflection off of a computer screen.
"Your Geass," Lelouch said with a growl. "Is the power to stop time?"
"I no reason to answer you." Rolo said in his calm 'I'm a creepy murderous young man' tone. "My orders are as follows: If Lelouch Lamperouge's memories return-if Zero is awakened, then he is to die."
"Sixteen," Lelouch said. Rolo looked momentarily startled. Rai didn't like that, since Rolo's arm once again tightened around Rai's throat. "Seventeen, eighteen,"
"What's that?" Rolo asked, sounding annoyed as well as confused.
"Nineteen," Lelouch simply continued.
"Why are you counting?" Rolo demanded.
"Since the moment you appeared, I've been counting the seconds carefully to myself one by one." Lelouch pointed at one of the computer screens. "But now the count is out of sync, now why do you think that is." Lelouch pulled out a remote and pressed a button.
The security camera feeds light up and began replaying what had happened only seconds before.
Rolo had used his Geass to freeze Lelouch and take the gun away from him. He then calmly walked to behind Lelouch and pointed the gun at Lelouch's head, while grabbing the frozen Rai by the neck and putting him in a choke hold. "Rolo, you can't stop time, no one can. You've just altered my sense of time."
"Understand that doesn't help you." Rolo told Lelouch. "You still can't beat me."
"You're correct Rolo, but that doesn't help you either." Lelouch retorted. "You'd like to kill me now, but you can't, and we both know the reason why." Lelouch smirked. "If I die, you won't gain either of the two things you want."
"Two things?" Rolo repeated.
"First you won't get C.C., for whom I'm the bait in your hunt." Lelouch said. "But if you let me go, I can draw her out for you. I'll help you get her."
"You'd sell out C.C. like that?" Rolo asked. Rai wouldn't be so unnerved by him if he'd just show a little more emotion. Rolo was like a freaking robot!
"She isn't worth my own life." Lelouch said. "Survival comes first."
Rolo had, what Rai looked considered the funniest (as in Rai wanted to laugh at Rolo's expression), skeptical look on his face.
"And what's the other thing?" Rolo asked. Lelouch turned his head a bit and looked at Rolo.
"Your life." Lelouch said. Rolo actually scoffed at that.
"Like I care about that." Rolo said, looking amused.
"Rolo, what is the future?" Lelouch asked. Rolo seemed uncertain for a second. "The future is hope. Without hope, your life is on hold-empty, waiting-and you have no hope beyond your mission, Rolo. If you capture C.C. what sort of future will that open up for you? Things will just go on as they are and nothing will change."
"But this is my mission." Rolo argued. Lelouch turned completely around and faced Rolo. Lelouch took a step towards Rolo, who backed away a bit. Rai let out a small choking noise as he was forced to follow Rolo.
"Kill me and your mission will never become completed. You want to capture C.C. don't you?" Lelouch pointed out. Rolo made a soft noise that sounded like a grunt, oddly enough. "Tomorrow, I'll lure C.C. out and she'll be yours." Lelouch told Rolo. "Once that's done, your new future will begin." Lelouch looked at Rolo with a kind expression. "Don't worry; I would never lie to you."
If right now wasn't such a dangerous moment, Rai would have rolled his eyes.
"That doesn't mean I shouldn't kill Rai." Rolo said. "He knows too much and isn't of any importance to my mission."
Rai glared at Lelouch, since Lelouch was the one who told Rai to tag along.
"Rai has known I was Zero for a long time now, and yet he's told no one. He will keep quiet about this." Lelouch assured Rolo. "Besides, he is of use to me, and replacing him would be…very difficult. Also, his friends would know something was wrong if he disappeared without them."
Rolo must have decided that what Lelouch said was an acceptable excuse not to kill Rai, because Rolo finally released his hold on Rai.
Rai immediately headed for the door.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow, then." Rai waved goodbye to the other two. Rolo looked as if he was re-thinking if it was a good idea to just let Rai leave. Lelouch simply nodded at Rai. "Man, I hope Scott and Richard don't come to any strange conclusions as to why I was gone for so long." Rai muttered.
~Page Break~
"WHO DID YOU HAVE SEX WITH?" Scott hollered in Rai's face. Rai had just gotten home, hell he had just gotten in through the front door, when Scott jumped him. Rai kicked Scott in the shin.
"Don't yell that kind of crap!" Rai snarled at Scott. "And why on earth did you come to the conclusion I was doing…that with anybody?" Rai walked past Scott, going through the living room and into the kitchen. Edward and James were both reading on the couch in the living room, while Richard was on the floor in front of the large flat-screen TV and playing some video game Scott had bought.
"Well, you didn't leave school with us, and you were gone for quite a long time." Scott told Rai.
Rai went to the refrigerator and opened it up. Scott stood right behind him.
"How does that equal sex?" Rai asked, giving Scott a 'you make no sense' look over his shoulder. Rai looked into the fridge and grabbed a chocolate pudding cup.
"You're talking to Scott, everything equals sex to him." Richard piped up from where he was.
"As if you're one to talk, Richard!" Scott shouted. He turned and glared in Richard's direction. Rai rolled his eyes and sneaked pass Scott to get to the silverware drawer.
"How about we agree that both Richard and Scott are complete perverts and just end this discussion, shall we?" Rai asked, pulling out a spoon. He then went back into the living room and sat in between James and Edward on the couch.
"Hey!" Richard and Scott both yelled at Rai.
"So what were you doing?" James asked, looking up from his book.
"Remember how I told you guys that Lelouch now knows that my memory wasn't altered?" Rai asked. The others nodded. "Today, while Milly and Rivalz were making me and Rolo stalk Lelouch and Shirley on their date-and yes, I'm aware that sounds weird so shut up-Lelouch caused a distraction so that he could escape the people who are spying on him for a moment. He found me and we talked a bit." Rai said. "Also I tagged along when he sat up a trap for Rolo. Rolo's going to keep it a secret that Lelouch has his memories back as long as Lelouch hands over C.C. Of course that was a lie, because there's no way Lelouch would do that, but it works until Lelouch finds a way to deal with Rolo permanently."
"So what's our next step?" James asked. Rai shrugged.
"I'm not sure. Last time I was here, I worked with Lelouch, but tried to change stuff along the way. It didn't work though." Rai sighed. Richard grinned as he turned off his game.
"What if you don't work for Lelouch this time?" Richard suggested. He turned around and looked at Rai.
"I can't do that, I swore not to betray him." Rai reminded Richard. Richard shook his head.
"No, hear me out. What if we don't actually join either of the groups, but formed our own. Our cover story was that Scott took you away on someone else's orders, right? So let's use that. Let's pretend that we're working for a third party. Rai can still work with Lelouch, but we'll say that our boss, or should I say King, is only 'allowing it'. Then we can send someone else to the Britannians on behalf of our 'group' as well." Richard said. He was all excited just talking about it.
"So you think we should be a neutral group, and fight both the Britannians and the Black Knights?" Scott asked in disbelief.
"Well kind of, we won't be in full out war with the two, but we'll work with both in a way, and try to find a middle ground." Richard explained.
"I think it's a good idea, except that I don't think King would be happy that we're pretty much doing whatever we want, but then saying it was on his orders." James said.
"Hey, what Derrick don't know, won't make him want to kill us." Scott said with a smile.
"So who would we have as a 'representative' of our group to the Britannians?" Rai asked. "James can't be it, he's too shy and nice to everyone, and the Britannians will consider him weak because of it. Scott can't be it, since the Britannians want to execute him for treason. I can't do it because I'm working with Lelouch. So that leaves Richard or Edward."
"They could both be representatives." James offered. "Since technically you and Scott are working with Lelouch because Scott's going to be 'Akuma' from now on."
"That would work." Richard said. "Are you okay with that, Edward?"
Edward nodded.
"I'm fine with that, but are we gonna get in tight with da Britannians? If we join da military, it'd take to damn long ta meet anybody that's high up." Edward asked.
They all went silent, trying to think of a solution. Then Richard got an idea.
"How about you, Rai, introduce Edward to Suzaku. Next you, Edward, try to be buddies with Suzaku. Before that I could, on 'orders' from King, hand Scott over to that prince guy Scott was banging!" Richard proposed.
Everyone glared at him.
"How am I supposed to be 'Akuma' if I'm in jail and/or executed!" Scott snapped. Richard's grin was full of mischief.
"Just as I hand you over to the Britannians, you'll escape. James could dress up as 'Akuma' and while piloting a Knightmare, crash in and snatch you up! I'll tell the Britannians that King had ordered Scott not to join the Black Knights, and that by working with Zero and Akuma, Scott was disobeying orders. That way, the Britannians will think that, at least King isn't necessarily their enemy and that our 'group' doesn't like the Black Knights." Richard clarified.
"And da reason ya want me ta be aquaintences with Suzaku is?" Edward inquired.
"So that Suzaku will try to get information out of you about our 'group', and while he's doing that, you'll be doing the same thing to him." Richard told Edward.
"…I hate politics." Edward grumbled. Richard snickered. "But I'll do it, I guess."
Suddenly Rai realized something.
"Guys!" Rai called for everyone's attention. "Rolo used his Geass on me…and it worked!"
The others paled somewhat at that.
"But Mao's Geass hadn't worked on you the last time you were here!" Richard remembered Rai telling him. Scott frowned for a moment.
"It might be because last time I didn't do the spell properly. We only just barely made it into Code Geass. The reality itself didn't know how to respond to us, which probably why some things that are a part of Code Geass didn't work. This time however, I didn't make any mistakes (that I'm aware of), so we were 'accepted' into the reality easier…at least I think that's what's going on." Scott said.
"In that case, we best be careful on Geass users." James said. The others nodded.
"What I'm worried about is CLAMP. 'She's' not going to be happy that I'm back." Rai said.
The others shared a look that Rai would've missed if he hadn't been looking right at them. "What was that? Do you guys know something that I don't?" Rai asked them, frowning.
"…Well after you were shot, and King found out…he sort of-well…" Richard couldn't even look Rai in the eye.
"King used that crystal Scott gave 'im an' hunted CLAMP down. Then he…well for lack of a better word…ate CLAMP." Edward told Rai. Rai looked at him as if he grew another head.
"Derrick ate someone? I knew he's done some twisted things, but cannibalism? That one's new." Rai said, looking very disturbed. "How'd he even do that? 'She' could turn into whatever she wanted and summon creatures that CLAMP created. I didn't think even Derrick could actually go toe-to-toe with something like that and win!"
"I'm not sure how he did it, but somehow our terrifying King not only defeated what could be considered a god-like being, but then consumed it and now has its powers." Scott told Rai.
Rai stared at Scott.
"You're kidding me!" Rai squeaked. The others shook their heads. "That's ridiculous!" Rai covered his face with his hands, wondering why the universe hated him so much.
"We're just lucky that Derrick hasn't found a way to get into the Code Geass reality. Sure he can bring people to that 'in between' place, but he doesn't know how to actually get here. I only made one of these locket things." Scott pulled his pocket-locket out of his pocket. "Derrick can't use CLAMP's powers back home, the only place he would be able to use them is here in Code Geass."
Rai slumped in relief.
"Thank every deity there is that he can't use it back home. He'd take over the world if he could!" Rai said, shivering.
The others muttered their agreement. "Wait, can he use CLAMP's powers in the 'in between' reality that he take people to?" Rai asked Scott. Scott shook his head.
"No, since it's not really the Code Geass reality. Having CLAMP's powers is useless to Derrick at the moment, since he's not here." Scott clarified.
"I wonder why he 'ate' CLAMP then." Rai thought out loud.
The others didn't have an answer.
~Page Break~
Scott had been able to obtain a rather out dated Knightmare, one that they would all use to practice with. The entire day that Lelouch was saving Ohgi and the other prisoners from being executed, Rai, Richard, Edward, Scott, and James had skipped school (the cover story was that Rai, Richard, Edward, and James were called back to the Homeland for the day because there was an emergency of some vague sorts).
They took the boat that Scott had bought from somewhere (at this point, Rai was beginning to think Scott was running out of money, because the boat was an old thing that look like it shouldn't be able to still float.) and sailed to a small island. The Knightmare that Scott had bought had been taken to the island the day before.
It took the boys about five hours to get to the island and they had left Area 11 at 7:00 am, making it 12:00 pm, so by the time they were done they wouldn't be back to Area 11 until late.
Thankfully, James had the sense to pack everyone some food.
Rai was glad that his books on Knightmare piloting were among the things that were in the boxes from Ashford Academy. The five of them had read some of the books on the way to the island.
For the next five or so hours each of them took turns piloting the Knightmare. Rai wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not that they had such an odd Knightmare…considering that they kept crashing into things and making the Knightmare fall over…and they couldn't tell which dents were ones they made, or were on the Knightmare beforehand.
"So James," Richard said to his brother as they sat down to take a break and eat. "Do you think that you can pilot a Knightmare well enough for our plan?" Richard asked. James shrugged as he handed Scott a container of instant ramen. Edward had built a fire, and they had a kettle of water hanging above it and were waiting for it to boil.
"Yeah, as long as I don't have to do anything fancy. I mean, I've gotten pretty good at turning and such, but don't expect me to turn on a dime." James said. Scott grinned.
"You're certain better at turning than Rai is!" Scott snickered. During Rai's attempt at piloting, he had tried to turn, but made the Knightmare flip over and roll a good distance instead.
"Oh shove it." Rai grumbled, reading another one of the books.
"At least you won't need to be an expert pilot for our plan to work. All you need to do is drive straight and shoot at any other Knightmares there, and then grab me and run away." Scott said. The kettle whistled and he grabbed. He filled his cup of ramen first and then handed the kettle to Richard.
"Speakin' of which, we outta practice shootin' after our dinner." Edward suggested. The others nodded.
"If James is as good with a Knightmare gun system as he is in all of those arcade shooting video games, then he'll have no trouble." Rai laughed. James just smiled sheepishly.
They ate their meal, which was instant ramen, potato chips, and water from their water bottles.
Once they had cleaned up their trash, they went back to studying the books and practiced using the Knightmare's gun.
Finally, at around 10:00 pm, they packed up everything and sailed back to Area 11. Edward, James, Richard, Rai, and Scott were all exhausted. They immediately went to their separate beds and collapsed.
~Page Break~
The next morning (AKA: three hours later) everyone was barely awake enough to function.
"How about on Saturday evenings we go to the island, spend the night, and then practice all day. That way, we got leave earlier and get a good night's rest and not be dead tired Monday mornings, instead of going in the middle of the week like we yesterday?" Richard said. The others groaned in agreement.
Slowly and pretty much unwillingly, Rai, Richard, James, and Edward got ready for school, while Scott simply waved goodbye to them and went back to bed.
"Ugh," Rai moaned. "I think I'm just going to skip my first couple of classes and just take a nap."
"You can't do that." James said. "The people watching you and Lelouch will wonder why you're so tired that'd you skip class. And since yesterday Zero rescued the captured Black Knights…" James seemed to have dozed off for a second while walking.
"Yeah, yeah, they'd think I was there." Rai grumbled.
They made it to school just barely on time. Rai waved to Shirley and Lelouch as he entered, and sat at his desk by the window. Richard sat next to Rai, Edward sat behind Rai, and James sat next to Edward.
Just as the last minute bell rang, someone in an Ashford Academy uniform entered the room and stood at the front of the class. Rai stared, now wide awake, at…Suzaku, who didn't look as if anything horrible or tragic happened to him, since he was smiling.
"Hello everyone," Suzaku greeted the class. "My name is Suzaku Kururugi, and I'll be returning to classes here at Ashford Academy starting today. I look forward to studying here."
As Suzaku said that, Rai realized Suzaku really did change. The Suzaku that Rai had first met was more self conscious, and was more hesitant. This Suzaku was confident, and almost charming.
Rai wasn't sure if he liked it very much.
"Suzaku Kururugi? The guy who caught Zero?" One student whispered to another.
"'The White Death' is coming to school here?' Another muttered.
"He's the Knight of Seven!" A girl said, sounding excited.
"Okay, quiet down!" Ms. Villetta (Rai finally remembered her name) ordered. "Sir Kururugi has been reassigned to Area 11, and that's why he's coming back to school here." She turned to Suzaku. "Why don't you take the desk next to Lelouch for now?" Ms. Villetta pointed to the desk she was talking about. Lelouch's desk was in front of Rai's.
"Yes, Ma'am." Suzaku said politely. He walked over to Lelouch. Rai noticed Lelouch tense almost unnoticeably.
"Hey, welcome back. It's been sometime." Lelouch said kindly to Suzaku.
"I missed everyone a lot." Suzaku admitted.
"Suzaku it feels like forever!" Shirley said, running up to him and clasping his hand. Rivalz jump-hugged Suzaku from behind.
"You've really come up in the world haven't you?" Rivalz teased. Rai heard the classroom door open and saw Milly come running in.
"Suzaku's back?" Milly asked excitedly. "Where is he?"
"Madam President, class is in progress, you mind?" Lelouch chided her with a chuckle.
"Is that how they greet everyone who's been gone for a while?" Richard asked Rai loud enough for Suzaku to hear.
"Pretty much I guess. Here at Ashford, people tend to have very close friendships." Rai told Richard. Suzaku looked at Rai.
"…Hello Rai, you're back too." Suzaku said, smiling at him. "Where did you go anyway?"
"Yeah," Richard cut in before Rai could answer. "Sorry about that, but King was worried about Rai, so we kind of kidnapped him and dragged him back to the Homeland." Richard told Suzaku. Suzaku gave him a puzzled look.
"King? Who are you?" Suzaku asked.
"That idiot's name is Richard. James," Rai pointed at James when he said his name. "And Edward," Rai pointed at Edward. "Are his brothers, they're triplets. 'King' is the nickname of their older brother, Derrick, because he acts like he's the 'King of Everything'." Rai explained. Richard, Edward, and James gave him an annoyed look, since that wasn't the actual reason that Derrick got that nickname…although it was close…
"Wow, he sounds kind of full of himself." Rivalz commented.
"He is." Rai confirmed in a dead serious tone.
"Rai," James scolded. "You shouldn't say that." Rai rolled his eyes.
"Relax, you act like he's Candle Ja-." Rai tried to say.
"Don't say that name!" Richard yelped. He looked around wildly, as if a monster would jump out and eat them. Rai laughed loudly, while Edward sighed.
"Sorry, my bros are very superstitious." Edward apologized.
Everyone laughed at that.
A/N: I'm actually going to write out the whole fight between Derrick and CLAMP and it's going to be a Side Story. It won't be up for a while yet, though, because I want to do some research on various series that CLAMP has done for it.
