Stage 3
The False Classmate
"What does he mean by 'pull back'? The gas we were supposed to find is still out there!"
"But it's by Clovis's orders!"
"I'm going to ask General Bartly what brought this on."
But the Elevens are all let free, no matter the protest. When Kallen looks back at the fortress it looks almost empty.
Then it's just Prince Clovis on the command deck?
Lelouch raises the gun higher as he approaches Clovis.
"So I take it observation was not your real purpose in coming to Area 11?" Clovis asks nonchalantly.
"Of course not. I just wanted to find some way to keep people from using me as a political tool. Much like they have done to you."
There is silence.
"I know nothing about your mother's death that you couldn't find out yourself." Clovis offers. "Your mother was technically a princess, but she was of common birth. The other princesses were no doubt jealous of her. But still. Making it look like a terrorist attack was just cruel."
Lelouch's memories fly back seven years, to that picture of the scene. His mother's small body lying in the center of the huge staircase of the palace, her blood cascading down like a small waterfall. The spatters of blood around everywhere. The tiny, fragile body of Nunnally in the corpse's arms, shivering with shock, eyes wide.
He couldn't look at his brother in the eye for rage. "You killed her didn't you?"
Clovis tries to stumble backward. "No—no, it wasn't me! I swear it wasn't!"
Lelouch sighs. Of course it wasn't. He knew that. This man had the political backbone of sea sponge.
He lowers his gun. "Of course you didn't."
Clovis's eyes soften back down. It is a look of relief.
Lelouch looks up at him. "However…"
Lelouch is hit on the head with a rolled up stack of paper.
"Come on Lelouch! You were asleep just now, weren't you? Your hands just stopped!" this is from the tall, blond haired girl from before—the student president.
Lelouch looks up groggily. "Please don't hit me…"
Rivalz glances at him smugly. "That's what you get for leaving me behind yesterday!"
Shirly—sitting next to Lelouch at the large, official looking, ornate conference table—glances at Lelouch looking a bit hurt. "Yeah, what happened yesterday?"
The blond haired girl brandishes her roll of paper. "Alright people, let's not get sidetracked. We've got to finish figuring out the budget for this year's club activities. We can't miscalculate this!"
The dark green-haired girl in the corner pauses in her typing. "If we do…"
Rivalz laughs. "The equestrian club is right next door, they'll bust in here…again!"
"Rivalz, at least act like a student council member!" the student president reprimands.
"You should have thought of this yesterday. Maybe we would have had time to get it done!" Shirly says.
"No no, you should have waited until tomorrow." Rivalz says. "Then we wouldn't have bothered trying."
"Good idea!" Lelouch contributes. "We can still do that!"
"GUUUTS!" the student president yells.
Everybody stares at her.
"Are you trying that 'guts' spell again?" Rivalz asks, exasperated.
"Yep!" she responds cheerfully, "I want you people to put your all into this!"
"I don't think such a lame spell is going to do much." Lelouch replies.
"Actually, it's working on me!" Shirly offers.
"Supple and willing, eh? I like that." the president says slyly.
"Yep, you trained me well!"
"That's not what I meant." She grins suggestively. "Nice rack. You've been filling out in all the right places…" her smile gets wider as she turns to face her next victim "…right, Lelouch?"
"Oh ho!" Rivalz giggles. Shirly blushes.
"What?" Lelouch asks, his attention having left the conversation for a moment.
Everyone laughs at his confusion.
"God," Shirly says later in the halls, safely away from the president's ears, "who knew the president was really a perverted old man at heart?"
"Milly's always been like that." The dark green haired girl replies.
"Well," Rivalzs laughs, "we got the budget figured out at least!"
As they turn a corner, they hear voices from a classroom.
"Poison gas?"
"Oh, that's scary…"
"We're not even thirty minutes away from Shinjuku!"
"I saw it! There was smoke rising out of Shinjuku yesterday!"
"That was poison gas?..."
"Anything else about Shinjuku in there?"
A few students are huddled around a laptop, watching newsfeed of men in biohazard suits picking through rubble.
Lelouch walks in and watches the feed with Rivalz, Shirly, and the green-haired girl.
Something strikes Shirly as familiar. "Shinjuku?" she looks to Lelouch.
"That's why I called yesterday," he explains, "a friend was telling me about it in real time."
"Hey!" someone yells, "they're showing the bodies of all the Elevens!"
"Don't show me that!" a girl screams.
That's odd. Lelouch thinks. Why isn't that video shown?
A car is let through the security line.
Inside are two people: Jeremiah and the silver haired woman.
"Our superiors aren't taking this seriously enough." Jeremiah says.
The silver haired woman turns and asks, "Are you talking about General Bartly?"
"The killer penetrated multiple levels of security without pause. We won't find shit with this formal investigation."
"Commander Jeremiah, without Prince Clovis, what are we purists—"
Jeremiah cuts her off. "I'll give the orders. Just wait until all this calms down."
"Kallen!" Leluoch hears as he comes into his next class, "It's been too long! Are you alright?"
Girls are gathered around a desk talking to its occupant. Through a gap in the huddle, Lelouch sees a familiar face.
"Sophie was really worried about you. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes," the terrorist girl replies feebly, "though I can't do much physically."
Her hair is straight and her face is drawn as though she is ill, but she is unmistakably the same girl.
I see, Lelouch thinks, that's why I recognized her.
"If I stay home to much," she's saying, "I'll never catch up with the rest of you."
Lelouch sits down slowly, trying to betray no sign of his recognition.
Rivalz leans into him. "What are you looking at, Lelouch?" he whispers. "You falling for her?" he teases.
"It's just odd," he replies, "She hasn't come to school since the first day, has she?"
"Karen Statfeld..." Rivalz says, "She must be sick or something. She comes to school every once in a while. Her grades are absolutely top notch. She's the heir to the Statfeld family so she's got buckets of money, and she's nice to boot! You've got good taste."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Come on, there's no reason to hide it! She does seem a little sheltered though…"
Later, during lunch, Kallen is eating with some other girls outside.
Someone shrieks. "It's a bee! A bee!"
It's buzzing right next to her head, not two inches away.
"Kallen, run!"
All the other girls jump up and run away as it buzzes around her. She stands up slowly, a bit weakly, then backs up and, with surprising strength, runs away.
She shelters behind some bushes for a moment, letting her weak façade fall away momentarily.
Bees here? Another one flies by her and hovers near her face. Is there a hive nearby?
She raises her hand as slashes it through the air. The bee falls to the ground.
"God this place pisses me off!" she mutters. "I shouldn't have said I was sick all this time!"
She bites hard on her sandwich.
She feels a presence and turns around.
Lelouch is standing next to her, his face dark.
Shit, he saw me! she thinks.
Lelouch looks at her for a moment. She is the girl from before. he thinks.
Kallen hurriedly brings her face back to 'weak and ill'
"C-can I help you?" she asks weakly.
The symbol appears in Lelouch's eye. "Answer my questions."
Kallen straightens up. There appears to be a reddish glow behind her eyes. "Yes."
Lelouch clears his throat. ""You were the pilot of the Glasgow in Shinjuku yesterday, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"Why are you a terrorist?"
"Because I am Japanese, even though I am half Britannian by blood."
Lelouch's eyes widen. A half-blood? "But why are you that extreme?"
Shirly is walking down the hall when she spots something strange. She goes to the window to make sure she is right.
Lulu is talking to Kallen, alone, in an empty corner of the grounds.
The red light leaves Kallen's eyes. She seems confused for a moment. "I-I'm sorry, did you want something from me?" she asks Lelouch.
Lelouch turns and begins to walk away. "No, I have nothing else to ask you." Then he turns back. "Oh yes, and, just in case," the symbol returns to his eye. "Tell no one about Shinjuku."
Kallen cocks her head. "What do you mean 'Shinjuku'? What are you talking about?"
Lelouch's eyes widen. "Go back to class."
"I will, if you answer my question." Kallen fires back.
Lelouch is struck dumb. It's not working? Why? He backs off defensively just as Shirly comes calls from the window, "Lulu! Kallen! We've got chemistry next! You better hurry up if you don't want to be late!"
"Oh no!" Lelouch remembers, "I've got to write my lab report!" He rushes off.
It failed. he thinks. It failed…
"As you all know," General Bartly says, "the plan was a complete failure. I am shutting this laboratory down."
The researchers looked at him blankly. "But—"
"I've already set up a new location." Bartly says. "Though no record of it exists, the fact is that we were operating outside of Prince Clovis's orders. We would be brought home and put on trial were His Majesty to learn of what we were doing here, in secret."
After a moment all the men come to the same conclusion. "Understood. We'll begin preparations immediately."
The lab is full of the strange capsules the green-haired woman was in, and pictures from over six centuries. Every one had a woman in it with hair that was a strange, bright green.
[Midpoint]
That night, Lelouch calls his brother. After a few rings, someone answers the phone.
"Yes, who is it?" comes the impatient voice on the other end.
"This is Lelouch Vi Britannia. Please get my brother Schneizel."
The man on the other end of the phone spluttered a little bit. "I am sorry, your Highness, but Prince Schneizel is indisposed, may I take a message…your Highness?"
Lelouch considers for a moment. "Yes…tell him…tell him that that chess game we were planning on having when he got back will have to be moved up. I've already got everything ready."
The man on the other end seems confused by this, but not ready to admit that. "Yes…okay. Anything else—your Highness?" he adds hastily to the end.
"No, that is all." Lelouch hangs up.
The next morning, Lelouch is standing just in front of the bridge across the decorative stream on the Ashford Academy's grounds. He looks at his own reflection in the water—his left eye specifically.
This is the only weapon I have. I have to know how to use it properly.
"Lelouch!" a man calls. It's an adult, crossing the bridge and greeting Lelouch. "Class will be starting soon!"
"Ah, right!" Lelouch says. The symbol appears in his eye. "Professor, will you tell me the essay prompt for our next test?"
The man casually walks up to Lelouch and stops. The red light is behind his eyes. "It's about similarities of the so-called War of Roses and the many wars fought in Manchuria."
Lelouch is relieved. Then it hasn't left me entirely. The symbol fades for a moment, then it reappears. "Professor, will you tell me the essay prompt for our next test?"
There is no light behind his eyes this time, and he walks past Lelouch. "Quit screwing around. Just study. You'll be fine."
"Right!" Lelouch calls dutifully.
As I suspected… I can only use it once per person.
"Well the, how does it feel to actually be in school for once?"
"Stifling." Kallen replies. "We had history class yesterday… Can't I come back?"
"The army's on our asses right now," Ohgi says, "Stay there and have fun for a while."
"But what about that voice?"
"We can't find him from just his voice. Besides, your brother would have been happier with you as a student than a rebel. Forget about Shinjuku for a while. I'll be in touch."
Kallen looks at the phone. Shinjuku…
She thinks back to yesterday afternoon. "Tell no one about Shinjuku"
That voice back there… she thinks, could it be…
She's watching Lelouch recite for class.
"…The aristocracy was highly educated, with such an emphasis on edification and training, they produced a superior breed of ruler. Secondly, they possessed hightened efficiency, since only a small number of the very best were chosen from their ranks."
It could be… maybe… I just can't tell…
"Yes," the teacher says, "very good." Lelouch sits back down.
Kallen closes her mirror, but not before Lelouch notices.
I only mentioned the word 'Shinjuku' to her, he thinks, but…
…if he knows who I really am…, Kallen thinks simultaneously,
…I have to… Lelouch thinks,
...take him out. Kallen finishes.
"And the research center?" Bartly asks.
"Transferred to Narita last night," comes the response.
Bartly hangs his head. He was the one chosen to ride with Clovis's body as it is transferred to it's final resting place. It's difficult being in such close confines with Clovis's remains.
Please…forgive me Your Highness…
"I hear it's amazing!"
"You should come with us, Kallen!"
Lelouch is packing up to leave. Shirly walks up to him.
"Hey, Lulu," she says brightly, "want to go out after—"
"Sorry, maybe tommorow." He cuts her off. She looks at him in disbelief. He didn't even listen to her.
Lelouch walks over to Kallen. "Would you come with me? I'd like to talk to you."
It shocks everyone in the classroom. Especially Shirly.
Kallen stands up. "Great. I thought you might have something you wanted to talk to me about," she says with very well disguised coolness. The tension in the room escalates, and not all for the same reasons. The other girls (and Shirly) are practically squealing with all the intrigue that was unfolding.
Knightmares turn on one another. Half of the Prince's escort shoot the other half. The remaining half surrounds the truck itself.
"Does this prove how determined we are?" one of the pilots asks the other passenger of the now-stationary truck.
Bartly cowers in a corner. "I'm telling you I—"
A Knightmare rips through the roof, peeling back the steel. "Don't remember?" the pilot asks sarcastically. "You still spout that ridiculous nonsense?"
"But, it—it's the truth! Ask anyone, they'll back me up too!"
The cockpit opens and the pilot is revealed to be Jeremiah. He keeps his weapons on Bartly, though.
"You care for no one but yourself!" Jeremiah spits, "It disgusts me! I will not allow you to stay by His Highness's side for even a moment longer!"
"I didn't realize there was anything like this at school…"
"It's the student council clubhouse." Lelouch informs Kallen. "It's got a nice big open area, so we can hold dances and such."
"The nobody will come here?" she asks.
The are standing in front of one of the huge stained glass windows of the clubhouse, on a balcony overlooking the ballroom.
"That's right," Lelouch responds.
"I found it!" comes a triumphant voice.
The both turn to see Shirly digging through a drawer on the opposing balcony. "I found it! I found it!" She holds up a small chip.
The dark green haired girl comes into view. "That's it! That's the lab data!"
Rivalz's head rises above the balcony wall. "Thank God; my ass hurts!"
The elevator doors open to reveal the president—Milly—appears wearing an apron and pushing a cart full of food. "There you guys are! I'm done, so let's start."
"Oh, wow!" Shirly exclames, "Very nice Milly!"
"Yes, let your praise wash over me!" she replies as she sets down the succulent looking dishes.
"Um…" Lelouch asks, puzzled, "What's this?"
"Isn't this why you brought her here?" Milly asks Lelouch, confused, motioning to Kallen, "We're bringing Kallen into the student council!"
She looked at Lelouch and Kallen, and, noticing their still confused faces, explained. "I asked my grandfather…"
"The Chairman?" Lelouch clarifies.
"—no Lelouch, the TV channel CEO," she replies sarcastically, "of course the Chairman—I told him about her fragile health and how normal club activities would be hard for her. Oh! Yeah!" she remembered, then turned to Kallen, "I'm Milly, the student council president. It's nice to meet you!"
"Oh! Nice to meet you, too." Kallen replies, bowing.
The others came running up.
"I'm Rivalz, the treasurer. If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask."
"I'm Shirly. I'm also on the swim team, and I hold a couple different positions. Nice to meet you!"
"Um…I'm…" the girl with dark green hair says quietly, "…I'm Nina."
Kallen bows to each of them in turn. "It's nice to meet all of you."
Rivalz takes out a bottle of champagne. "Alright! Let's start with a toast!"
Nina looks up. "We shouldn't…we're student council members…"
"Come on, don't be such a spoilsport!" Rivalz calls as he thumbs the cork. Everyone takes a step back.
"There's no way!..." Shirly tries to grab the bottle away from him before he can open it.
"Hey, Lelouch!" Rivalz calls, dodging under Shirly's arm, "Catch!"
He tosses the bottle to Lelouch, who takes it and looks at it quizzically before Shirly runs over and tries to wrestle it out of his hand.
"Lelouch, you can't drink!"
Shirly falls on top of Lelouch, the champagne cork flies out, propelled by a jet of champagne, heading right for Kallen, and at the last moment she swats it out of the air. A stream of champagne falls right into her hair to top off the ridiculously comical picture.
Rivalz, Milly, and Nina are left blinking.
"What just happened…?" Rivalz asks.
This is why I hate Britannia. Kallen thinks as she stands under the hot shower.
There's a knock on the door.
"It's Lelouch." He says from the other side. "I've brought you your change of clothes."
"It's fine," Kallen replies, "I'll close the curtain."
As he walks in he starts with surprise. Kallen's silhouette is visible against the curtain, highlighting her curves. He gathers himself and keeps walking. "I'm sorry they're so boisterous."
"That's alright," she says. "I like respites like that."
"Are you okay with just wearing any clothes we could find?"
"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. That was pretty fast. Didn't you have to run all the way to the boys dorms?"
"Actually," Lelouch replies, "I live here. I'm a friend of the family, and they insisted on giving me the best quarters, which were here, in the clubhouse."
Kallen's eyes narrow a bit. "I see."
"Well, then…" Lelouch turns to leave.
"Wait!" Kallen calls. Lelouch stops and turns. She reaches her hand out of the curtain and instructs him, "Give me my pouch over there."
"Sure." He picks it up and walks over to the edge of the curtain. Turning away so he doesn't see anything, he hands it in.
She knocks it out of his hand and grabs his wrist.
"My," Lelouch comments, "you're more aggressive than I thought."
Kallen ignored him. "Were you at Shinjuku that day?"
Lelouch looks puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb!" Kallen yells. "Why did you mention Shinjuku to me?"
"Is there something wrong with Shinjuku?"
"Don't try and answer a question with another question!" She stoops and picks up her pouch from the floor of the shower. She hits a concealed button and a knife pops out. "Answer me, yes or no." She holds the blade to a vein in his wrist. "I don't want to hear anything else out of you."
Lelouch starts when the phone, on a hanger right next to him on the wall, begins to ring.
"If I don't get that," he says, "someone will come." When there is no answer, he uses his other hand to pick up the receiver.
"Yes?" he says. "Ashford Academy Student Council."
There is a moment of silence as the person on the other end speaks.
"Well I…"
Kallen's grip on both Lelouch's wrist and her knife tightens.
Unexpectedly, Lelouch thrusts the receiver into the shower. "It's for you." Kallen's eyes widen. "He says you'll know who he is."
Kallen sets down her knife and takes the phone.
"Hello."
"I see you got out alright, Q-1." Kallen almost drops the receiver when she hears the voice from Shinjuku. She glances out at Lelouch, who is intently looking away from the curtain, his wrist still in her hand.
It's not him! She thinks.
"At four p.m. tomorrow," the voice says, "come to the Tokyo Tower observation deck. Alone."
"Who are you?" she demands. "Was it you that gave the order to withdraw?"
There's a click on the other end.
"Hey! Don't hang up!" She steps forward, completing a 180 degree turn inside the shower, unwittingly pulling the phone cord taut and thus pushing the curtain back quite a bit.
"What was this order to withdraw?" Lelouch asks, reminding her of his presence. "You seem to have awfully odd friends."
"Well…" Kallen begins, trying to come up with a believable lie.
"Maybe I should play." Lelouch continues, more to himself.
"What?" Kallen asks, confused.
"That was about a game right? An MMO?"
"Uh—yeah!" Kallen says, relieved that he gave her an alibi so she didn't have to think of one. "I've been shut up at home for so long, you see…" she let go of Lelouch's wrist.
"I told you not to mention Shinjuku because some people believe…" he trailed off. "By the way, I can see…"
For the first time she looked around and noticed that the curtain had been pulled back. She gasped and pulled it closed and huddled down in a concealing ball.
"And, umm," Lelouch says, "I won't tell anyone. About the game, that is." He turns to leave. "Well, see you later."
The door closes.
I was wrong. Kallen thinks to herself.
When he gets back to his room, Lelouch takes the digital recorder from the woman dressed like a maid—his only servant, staff, and bodyguard, Syako.
"I see you got out alright, Q-1," his voice from the recording plays.
He stopped it.
The red light fades from behind Syako's eyes and she awakes to find herself standing in an empty room.
When Lelouch turns on the TV that night, he is unprepared for what the news shows.
Suzaku is being wrestled into a military van in handcuffs.
"Prince Clovis was killed in Shinjuku two days ago…" the announcer says. Lelouch doesn't hear the rest. His eyes are wide.
But…wait…I didn't kill Clovis! I—who did it? Who ruined my plan? Lelouch thinks.
He does catch the next bit, answering his own question.
"A suspect has been arrested. According to our sources, the believed assassin was Honorary Britannian Suzaku Kururugi!"
Lelouch knew better. Suzaku would never do that, they just needed a scapegoat. But who would do this? Who? And why would they pin it on Suzaku.
What the hell is going on?
