AN: So because when I first wrote this fanfiction, I was THIRTEEN (maybe 12), I've tweaked a lot from the original (which was named Code Hearts). I changed the plot completely after Dream Drop Distance came out. But again, this fanfiction takes place after R2 of Code Geass and shortly after DDD for Kingdom Hearts. I never finished the OG fanfic, think I got up to chapter 20? I had stopped writing it in 2014, just on hiatus. I expect this to be a lot longer than that because I have multiple "arcs" planned out and side plots involving various characters.
Another one and another one and another one and...
"You know Riku, you think there's a way to take out these Heartless without two more popping up after we defeat one?", Sora exhaled breathlessly as he stumbled by Riku. They had been up by the tram station, hanging up posters for their school when a horde of heartless attacked.
"Maybe if you don't stumble and gain your footing..." the older boy chuckled at his friend, stabbing another Shadow.
"Shut up..." Sora groaned as he took a vertical swing at two heartless, "We've been at this for a while, can you blame me for being exhausted?"
Riku took a few more swings at multiple heartless, "I suppose not. Get good?" He took out the last Shadow with a final blow to it's head. Turning to Sora, he raised an eyebrow, smirking.
Sora rested his hands on his knees, "Easy for you to say! Who's always picked first in gym class? YOU." He stood up straight, pouting slightly.
"Well I mean you're right, but who gets picked second?"
"Me!" Sora beamed a toothy grin. "Poor Ash, usually picked last"
Riku laughed at this statement, "I can't blame our peers! Have you seen the stamina and coordination on that girl?". He made a swiping motion with his hand, "Nothing. I mean good on her for wanting to not be a damsel in distress, but... she's got a long way to go". He picked up the posters he had set aside while they fought off the heartless, taping another to the outer wall of the station, "Speaking of, how much do you think you've impressed Kairi being able to fend off hordes of heartless?"
Sora nearly dropped his stack of posters, "What the- Why would I be worried about impressing her?!", but the blush on his cheeks betrayed other thoughts.
"Uh-huh. Hey, I may have issues talking to girls, but I can spot your feelings for her from miles away"
"RIKU."
"I'm not sorry!" The silverette laughed, "C'mon, lets go finish hanging these posters inside the station"
Asher yawned, stretching out her arms as they walked into the front door of their apartment. She hadn't been sleeping well since the night she was assaulted by Braig. Everytime she closed her eyes, she saw his face. Once she drifted to sleep, his face would disappear and the nightmares would begin. They were different every night, but most of them involved her realizing her reality in the dream was being distorted by something.
"I need a nap..."
"Procrastinating on homework again, Ash? Keep this up and you'll lose credits at school" Kairi chided her friend.
"I'm just really fricken tired," her tone slightly cranky as she turned down the hall towards her room, "Wake me up for dinner..."
"Of course food would be what you wake up for," Riku muttered under his breath.
"I heard that!"
Suzaku chuckled as he set his bag down next to the couch, pulling out his books as he sat, "Despite her memory being gone, it's reassuring to see she still is as snarky as ever".
Lelouch plopped down next to him, "Don't you wish that maybe that was the one thing she forgot?"
"But then Ash wouldn't be Ash without her snark", Suzaku pointed out, flipping to the assigned page in his textbook.
"Makes me wonder how complete she feels without the rest of her memories..." Kairi frowned before also heading to her room. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have no identity aside from your name.
Suzaku stopped what he was doing and exchanged glances with Lelouch. At this point Riku and Sora had gone to their respective rooms to work on 'school work' (or in Sora's case, catching up on the latest Marvel comics).
Lelouch sighed, "I know Suzaku. I want to help her as much as you do, but I have no idea what's going to spark her memories to come back to her. We just have to be patient"
Asher had quickly changed into a tank top and leggings before collapsing on her bed in pure exhaustion. Not long after she closed her eyes did she drift to sleep. At this point, she was aware she was dreaming, so the lull of her environment didn't surprise her. Of course that did not ward off the anxiety, rather it induced it. Her environment was warm and their seemed to be a constant buzzing. Her vision had a red filter over it and she realized she was suddenly in a room? Wait... the room was moving. She didn't have any windows, but in fact had a monitor in front of her that showed the outside world? Or at least that is what she assumed.
Her hands seemed to move without granted permission by her brain. Next to the screen were a few levers, one of which she grabbed and shifted, sending the "room" zipping forward. Down the barren field she went, spotting a figure quickly approaching her. Too tall to be human she noted and as it became closer, she realized it might not be living at all? Up close she realized it looked very similar to the robots in those shows that Sora liked to watch, she thought they were called mechas? She felt a jolt, noticing through the monitor that it had pulled out an oversized sword of sorts and swiped at her. She hadn't even noticed that her hands were now on a different lever and as a result, she had pulled out her own mecha type sword and held it up in defense.
The attacking mech stuttered back and Asher took this moment to panic.
"These things always have an ejection button right?" her eyes frantically darted about the enclosed space. "Get me the hell out of here- AH!"
While distracted, the enemy mech had stabbed through part of her mech, though Asher wasn't exactly sure where as she couldnt see. The words "MALFUNCTION ERROR" flashed upon her screen before all the lights went out. Just her luck, that was when she found the eject button. She slammed it, in hopes to get out of this situation.
Nothing.
She smacked the button again, "Come on!"
The 'room' shifted with another jolt and she could tell they were falling over. She screamed, knowing nothing she could do would stop what was happening.
She hit the ground- of her bedroom- with a thud. Tangled in her blankets and sweating profusely, Asher struggled to sit up. Glancing around, she was relieved to find herself in her room.
"Must've fallen out of bed... idiot..." she wiped sweat from her forehead, "I need a god damned shower..."
Lelouch jumped slightly when he heard the bathroom door slam down the hall. He had been deep in thought, still on the couch, about the well-being of his sister Nunally. There had never been a situation before where he could not have some sort of control over it and it was killing him that he could not ensure his younger sister's safety.
"You know... I still think about her sometimes"
Lelouch turned to Suzaku, half wondering if he read his mind.
"I know after all that happened after the failed SAZ, I should... you know, not think about her"
Ah. Euphemia.
Suzaku continued, "Maybe it's because the extent of our relationship was pretty words and there's always that what if..." he hesitated and turned to Lelouch, "I'm sorry, I realize this makes you uncomfortable-"
"I miss her too", Lelouch admitted, a rare opening of his emotions.
Suzaku was a little surprised at Lelouch's confession, but decided not to verbally acknowledge it. It would only make the former emperor more uncomfortable.
"I guess I just... I know I used to love Euphie, but we never were able to have a physical relationship- of any level" Suzaku added in the last part quickly, causing Lelouch to chuckle slightly. "And with everything that happened after that... You can imagine my confusion."
"I can imagine your confusion is even moreso now than ever, now that circumstances have been thrown into the mix", Lelouch closed his textbook, packing it away in his bag. He was too distracted to even think about his academics, some things just don't change.
The Japanese boy didn't respond, but he didn't have to for Lelouch to know the answer.
"God dammit!"
The two boys turned at the sound of a crash and a thud from down the hall. Asher rounded the corner, rubbing her head as she walked past the two boys and into the kitchen while muttering, "Can today be over already?!"
Suzaku grimaced slightly, but followed her to the kitchen, "You okay Ash?"
Asher yanked a water bottle out of the fridge and gripped the cap tightly, "Yeah just... It's been a day."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"I just... I don't even know" Asher unscrewed the cap and took a long sip of water, wishing it was some form of vodka. She set the bottle on the counter fairly aggressively, spilling out some of the water.
Suzaku frowned, "Hey, I know you're on edge about something... Let me know if you want to talk about it"
Asher met his gaze, which she noted was warm and felt she could trust him. "Honestly I'm just frustrated. Frustrated that I don't remember anything, frustrated that I have been basically powerless against these assholes like Axel and Braig. I did a few of those self defense classes downtown but... it's still annoying"
"I guess the important thing is that you trying to remedy the problem... one of them you can't help, to no fault of your own", Suzaku offered. He wished there was something he could do to help her remember. "I guess if you ever have questions about anything from your past, ask Lelouch or I and we can try to answer, maybe jog your memory a bit. After all, we had been friends since we were about 9 years old"
Asher spit out the water she had just taken a sip of, her face reddening from embarrassment. "We've been friends for almost a decade?". The concept seemed surreal to her, especially since it felt like she'd only known him for a few weeks. She grabbed a rag next to the sink and began to wipe up to mess of water she had made.
Suzaku mentally sighed, as it seemed she didn't forget how to be a train wreck most of the time. But still... it's what made her who she was. "Yeah, it's a pretty long story honestly."
A very long story at that.
Asher's cerulean eyes shone a bit brighter and she half-skipped towards Suzaku, startling him slightly, "I want to know everything!"
"Everything?! I don't even know where to start..." the brunette started to back away slowly as Asher followed him out of the kitchen.
"Start from the beginning!" Asher insisted with child-like enthusiasm.
"We'll be sitting here for days!" Suzaku laughed.
"So? I don't really like going to school anyway"
"That's so like you..."
"What?" Asher stopped following him. It still felt strange that him, Lelouch, and Shirley all seemed to know her and yet to her they felt like acquaintances. Is this what it felt like to be a celebrity? Minus the invasion of privacy and constant fawning of course.
Suzaku stared at her for a moment, attempting to figure out her thoughts. He took a few steps towards her and rustled the top of her head a bit, "Hey. We're going to do our best to get your memories back to you. I promise".
Asher couldn't hold back a smile, her supposed childhood friend seemed genuine and she knew she could trust him. "Thanks... I really appreciate the support you guys have been giving me".
"Of course. Knowing you, you'd do the same"
Finally the weekend had arrived and the stress of the week prior seemed to have vanished. The previous night, Asher had gotten a weapon's permit from her self defense mentor. They had discussed briefly what would work best for her and given the situation in Twilight Town, her mentor decided a melee weapon that could be quickly accessible would be the best option. Asher had to sign a waiver that she would go through rigorous and thorough training in order to not get the permit revoked.
When all was said and done, Asher had dragged Sora and Riku to one of the weapon shops in town and picked out a shorter scimitar. While Monday after classes were over she would need to go to see her self defense trainer, she had this full weekend to relax.
Currently she was in the living room, watching Riku and Sora play a game of checkers, with the incentive that whoever loses is buying the tequila for tonight.
"I really don't care who wins, as long as someone buys the tequila", Asher leaned forward to get a closer look at their game. "Best out of three or just one game?"
"One is all I need," Riku smirked, causing Sora to roll his eyes as he made his next move.
"Okay edgelord, it's your turn"
Riku laughed, but continued with his play. "You gonna make Kairi do shots with you later?"
"... Why?"
"Don't you want to prove 'what a man' you are in front of her", Riku raised a challenging eyebrow at his friend, mocking him slightly.
"Uh excuse me?"
Asher giggled, as she had recently found out about Sora's feelings for Kairi.
"Riku, I don't need to prove what a 'man' I am in front of her" Sora made his move, collecting one of Riku's checker pieces.
Asher jumped in, "Right, you can prove it by just whipping out your-"
"AND I'm gonna stop you right there Ash", Sora glared at her as she laughed.
It was general knowledge that there were in fact other worlds aside from the one Twilight Town resided in. However travelling between them was basically unheard of. Travel via space ship? It would take nearly a century to reach the closest world. Few had studied inter-planetary travel, and very few means to traverse to foreign lands were even being touched upon. Technology advanced daily of course, but those in the field knew they were nowhere near travelling between worlds just yet.
That is, unless you were Axel, and you used darkness itself to travel wherever you needed to go.
The red headed man had just closed up the portal he used to get to his home, a castle where those similar to him resided in. Not wanting to deal with a grumbling Xigbar, Axel went through a side entrance to the castle. He snuck past a few of the other residents of the castle, all whom were a part of 'Organization 13'. He nearly floated his way down the stairs to the lab that Zexion, another resident, often worked in. Carefully he slid the door open, so as to not disturb Zexion if he was down here. To his relief, the inquisitive man was nowhere to be seen at the moment.
Down the hall from the main lab, Axel slid past the last door to his destination. The room was pitch black, aside from the light coming from large glowing green tubes that stood at the end of the room.
The lithe man sighed as he walked up to the tubes. Inside three of them were former friends of his that were in a catatonic state.
Roxas. The boy that had become his best friend and betrayed him.
Namine. The quiet witch that always seemed to know what was going on.
Xion. The girl that had become his other best friend, but who the other organization members only saw as a "puppet".
A battle had transpired not too long ago that put them in this state. However, Zexion could bring them back, the kid was a genius. It just required the captivity of Sora and Kairi.
Axel knew about what transpired and why Riku was working so hard to protect his friends. It was admirable and he related for wanting to protect his own. However, not everyone in this situation could win. In all honesty, Axel could care less that he was being selfish. What other purpose was there? Get his friends back, whcih would lead to getting their hearts back, as Xehanort had promised him.
Did he completely trust the old man? Not really, but it was better than doing nothing.
He heard a creak and quickly ducked behind one of the shelves. Through a crack in the shelving, he saw Zexion walk into the lab, followed by Xemnas.
"Your forte might be the books and numbers, but I might need to send you out into the field soon. Seems as if the others need a bit of help", Xemnas watched as Zexion flipped through a file.
"I suppose you're right, seems we put too much faith in Axel"
That's just rude...
"... He isn't like he used to be. You know, before his memory was wiped and rewritten" Zexion handed a stack of papers from the file to Xemnas.
Axel froze, feeling his body run cold.
"It was a necessary risk, you know that," Xemnas glanced briefly through the pages that Zexion had handed to him. "We need him, just as we need these three. We had lost him to the 7 Lights, but got him back to our ranks. It's better this way".
Zexion nodded in agreement. "Of course".
Axel's body trembled slightly and suddenly he felt unsure of everything. What had they meant by his memories had been rewritten? The thought of his memories potentially not being real scared the hell out of him. Was his friendship with Roxas even real?
"I'll take these papers to Master Xehanort. Keep up the study on these three. Soon we'll have them revived and used as vessels." Xemnas briskly left the room, the file in hand.
Zexion waited a few beats before he was sure Xemnas had vacated the basement laboratory before collapsing in a chair and sighing.
Please just fucking leave, Axel felt betrayal from Zexion. They weren't necessarily friends, but they had companionship and now that seemed completely lost.
"I'm surprised Xemnas didn't see you. You can come out now, Axel", Zexion beckoned him out of hiding.
Immediately, Axel rounded the corner of the shelves and briskly walked over to Zexion, hands balling into fists.
"Wanna tell me what the hell is going on? My memories have been rewritten? What is that supposed to mean?" his eyes blazed, which for a split second Zexion found ironic.
"I can't explain everything right now Axel. It will ruin everything if word spreads but once I do fully explain what is going on, I need you to cooperate with me".
The red head narrowed his eyes at the intellectual. For such a smart person, Zexion was speaking absolute nonsense.
Zexion continued, "Yes, your memories have been altered- and yes, I'm working on getting those back to you. You have to be patient because until then, nothing will make sense. I will say this, we're not supposed to be in Organization XIII anymore. We're in the midst of a war that has taken hiatus and I can tell you, once you have your memories back, you'll know that we're fighting on the wrong side. We'll get back to where we need to be, but it's baby steps".
Axel gave Zexion a once-over. Could he trust him? He couldn't even trust Xehanort, even less now. Was this some selfish scheme that Zexion would loop him into somehow?
Still, he was curious.
"Baby steps? Well then what's the first step?"
A rare wicked grin flashed briefly across Zexion's face, before his expression returned to his usual blank stare. He leaned in and ever so quietly said, "We're going to take down the Organization".
Saturday night, Suzaku pulled Lelouch aside onto the balcony of their apartment. Despite surface level seeming peaceful there was obviously an elephant in the room that was pulling at the Japanese boy.
"For god's sake Suzaku, why are you looking so nervous? Wait..." Lelouch squinted at his friend, "I'm just realizing the minimal eye contact you have been making with me since you arrived here".
"Well that answers my question about how obvious that was". Suzaku frowned. "Look, Lelouch, I'm just worried. Do you still have your Geass?"
"With us not being anywhere near a war, I have no reason to use my Geass. I do still have it, but I don't have a need for it."
Suzaku lifted his gaze to make eye contact, believing Lelouch. At least, he wanted to believe him.
Lelouch continued, "I want you to understand, that for once I have absolutely no idea what's going on. I don't know 'how' we got here or even why we are here. I don't know why I'm alive. What I do know is this is a chance for all of us to have a normal life. Aside from the various strange events surrounding this town, we basically have peaceful lives now. Shirley is at peace here, as far as I know. You seem to have some relief for once in your life! Ash, as far as she knows, is living a normal life now as well. While this isn't ideal, while we aren't at home and in a familiar place, I wouldn't jeopardize the serenity and normalcy that you all have because of my Geass".
He knew that Suzaku had trust issues (warranted he would admit) with Lelouch, but at the very least he hoped that Suzaku would believe that Lelouch wanted peace for them.
Suzaku was quiet for a few moments. It wouldn't happen overnight, but because their situation was different now, he was willing to let Lelouch earn his trust again. "If we're going to stay on good terms, I need you to not use your Geass while we are in this world. I don't see any situation where it is okay to force someone to do your bidding. Brittania and Japan was one thing, but Twilight Town? Lets try not to stir the pot".
"That's fair, I hadn't planned to use it."
"And the Requiem... I have to ask-"
Lelouch cut him off, "A plan that I put in place. I think it would be completely stupid if I was holding anything against you for that".
Suzaku's shoulders relaxed, "Hey, I just had to make sure that we're on good terms"
"I understand. I think what we should be more worried about is getting you, Shirley, and Asher back home. It goes without saying that I can't come with-"
"Lelouch, I really think you should come with us. It would mean the world to Nunally. We'd be able to hide you" Suzkau argued. If anything, he'd want Lelouch to come back to be there for his sister. But he realized that in an ideal world, this probably wouldn't be able to happen.
"You know it would put what we did at risk".
Suzaku silently nodded. Of course he knew, and it was childish for him to want a happily ever after for them all. Even still, he could only wish. "How would we explain Shirley's alive? Or that Asher-"
As if on cue, Asher slid open the porch door. Suzaku flinched in surprise, as he hadn't expected her to step out just as he was mentioning her. The amnesiac girl noticed right away and gave him a questioning look.
"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost? Are you two talking about something I shouldn't be hearing?" Asher inquired, glancing between the two boys.
"Hm it's almost as if sometimes two people are trying to have a private conversation without people being nosy", Lelouch said to her.
"I'm not nosy! I just noticed a change in mood the second I walked out here," Asher scoffed, frowning at Lelouch. "Well anyway, I guess we're planning on going out for the evening. Kairi mentioned something about going downtown, you guys should join!"
"I'd love to, I'm still not familiar with Twilight Town so I'd like to check it out more", Suzaku had regained his composure. "We'll be right in there, okay Ash?"
Asher glanced between the two suspiciously but waltzed inside anyway.
"Shirley has questions. But they're questions that I haven't given her clear answers to. I don't want to upset her. She remembers Rolo shooting her and everything leading up to it but obviously she doesn't know about the requiem." Lelouch quickly mentioned, "So I'm just warning you, she probably will come to you with questions. If you want to be the one to tell her that and upset her, that will be on you."
Suzaku gave him a look of disbelief, "Lelouch, you really think I'd want to upset Shirley like that?". The poor girl was still obviously mad for Lelouch and for her to know what occurred merely weeks ago would upset her greatly.
"I didn't think you did, but that's up to you." Lelouch opened the balcony door and Suzaku followed behind him.
Asher was impatiently holding their coats that were hanging on the coat rack out to them. The look on her face caused Suzaku to laugh.
"What?" Asher raised an eyebrow as she handed him his grey denim coat with a black hood, simultaneously handing Lelouch his dark navy peacoat.
"Nothing." Suzaku pulled on his jacket.
Sora glanced between the two of them briefly, "Alright, come on guys!"
"So where are we going exactly?", Lelouch asked the group.
"To the arcade!" Kairi beamed, "There's also a casino upstairs, but obviously we aren't old enough to gamble."
Suzaku gave Lelouch a knowing look, causing the former prince to smirk. Everyone back home was aware of his gambling habits.
"Psh, gambling isn't fun anyway! Not when you can kick your friend's ass at Mario Kart", Asher nudged Sora.
The spikey haired boy scoffed, shaking his head at Asher, "Yeah OKAY. Whatever helps you sleep at night"
"I can attest to Ash kicking your ass at Mario Kart. Sorry Sora," Riku nudged his friend, who in turn pouted at him.
Kairi laughed at the two boys and Asher smirked, "See!"
"I can't remember the last time I went to an arcade", Suzaku pondered to himself. "Probably early child- wait..." his cheeks reddened a bit and he trailed off.
Lelouch rolled his eyes at his friend but didn't say a word. He himself had never been to an arcade, and even as a child never had an interest. He would absolutely be sneaking into the casino upstairs.
"Uh, are you good?", Asher noticed Suzaku's change in complexion.
"Yeah... don't worry about it", he forced a laugh. Suzaku worried that he was letting his guard down too much. After all, what happened in their world caused him to build a wall between himself and everyone around him. Despite knowing that this world was different and he didn't need to keep up an exterior, it would still take some getting used to.
The group arrived at the arcade, leading with Sora racing straight for the stationary go-kart games.
"Riku! I challenge you to a race- around Rainbow Road!"
The older boy smirked, "You're on! I think we know who will win, considering I'm the only one with a license right now".
"That has nothing to do... oh whatever!", Sora slipped a few quarters into the machine as Riku sat in the seat next to him.
"Winner gets to use their tickets for a prize for Kairi!"
"Wait what?!" Sora turned quickly to Riku just as the final ding to start the race went off. Riku pressed on the gas and his character sped ahead. Sora quickly reconstituted himself, cursing at Riku under his breath.
Kairi laughed, blushing, and pointed over at skeeball. "I'm gonna have a round over there," nudging Asher she continued, "You and Suzaku should come over with me and play air hockey!"
"I love air hockey!" Asher followed Kairi.
Suzaku turned to beckon Lelouch to follow, but the former prince was no where in sight. He looked towards the sign that said "Casino Upstairs: No entry under 21". Suzaku chuckled, not at all surprised that in the short amount of time he had been here that Lelouch already made a fake ID.
Over at the air hockey table, Asher had already put in the coins to start the game up.
"Winner has to... hm... buy the other a cherry soda! Those are my fave!", Asher mopped her side the table a bit with her peg.
"You're on!" Suzaku placed the puck on the table and pelted it with his peg. It went zipping over to Asher's side and she knocked it back. The puck pinballed between the walls of the table, slowing down on Suzaku's side. Suzaku hit it again, landing a shot in Asher's goal.
The blue-eyed female scowled slightly, "What's it out of? 7?" She placed the puck directly on the table.
Suzaku leaned over to look at the score chart, "Uh, yeah its out of-" clang! "... 7"
Suzaku narrowed his eyes as he placed the puck back on the table, "Well I see you haven't changed one bit!"
Asher giggled, deflecting the shot back to his side, "I'll take that as a compliment!"
She scored two more goals after that, but Suzaku proceeded to hit four more, winning the match.
"Guess I owe you that soda! I'll be right back", Asher pranced off to the concession stand.
Kairi approached Suzaku, "You seemed to have fun! I saw how Ash distracted you, what a sneak," Kairi sighed, "But I heard you mention she hasn't changed so I guess that's good, right?"
"Oh for sure. It's kinda endearing, but kinda infuriating" Suzaku smiled.
Kairi was about to inquire when a blue teddy bear was shoved in her face.
"Here Kai, this is for you," Riku handed her the bear her had won her. "You know, since I beat Sora".
Said person was pouting slightly. Sora had wanted to win Kairi the bear. Riku however was doing it just to spite Sora.
Kairi glanced between the two boys, not really sure what was going on, but grateful for the bear Riku had won her. "Thanks Riku!
Asher came back with the cherry soda and handed it to Suzaku. "Onto the next game!"
The five of them went around the arcade, challenging each other at various games. Asher couldn't help but feel sentimental. With everything going on, she felt a weird calmness despite being in an arcade. Her and her friends could just be here and have fun without worrying about anything else, or anyone else.
Lelouch came back downstairs after Suzaku had texted him that they were leaving.
"How much did you win~?" Asher tried to get a glimpse at his wallet.
"None of your business, Ives"
Asher pouted, but concerned herself with something else as Kairi said, "I kinda want to go to the bookstore before they close. Lets go to the shops downtown and we can pick up dinner to bring home".
"PIZZA! PIZZA! PIZZA!", Sora cheered. "The comic I'm reading just came out with the new volume, so I'll go with!"
"I can pick up dinner while you guys are at the bookstore if you want", Riku offered.
The group split off, though the pizza shop was only down the street from the bookstore. In the bookstore, Asher split off from the group and went into one of the adjacent aisles. She browsed, not looking for anything in particular, as she didn't have the attention span to concentrate on reading for very long. It made her wonder if she had always been this spacey or if this was some side effect of amnesia.
One book in particular did catch her eye, mostly because the cover was pretty. It was a fantasy novel, not one she had heard of before. She picked it up off the shelf and was about to open it when she felt a wave of anxiety course through her. The scenery of the bookstore was suddenly replaced with an unfamiliar city. Not even a second to wonder where this hallucination came from and the buildings crumbled. She heard a young girl crying- wait, was she crying? Was she the young girl? A house blazed in front of her and more sobs escaped her. From the flames a man emerged and took agitated steps towards her.
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT! YOU- you half blood!"
"Excuse me?"
She snapped back to reality when a store employee approached her, holding out the book she had just been holding.
"You dropped this. It's a good read, one of my favorites by this author"
Asher took the book back, "Thank you..." She dabbed her face. Dry. Those tears seemed so real.
"Gods! What is that high pitched screeching sound?" The employee rubbed his temples.
"What sound?" Asher didn't hear anything, including when her roommates joined her in the aisle.
"You mean you don't hear that? It's unbearable- maybe I really do need my hearing checked" The employee winced, walking back towards the front of the store.
Suzaku gave him a quizzical look asthe employee walked off, "I don't hear anything out of the ordinary either"
Asher turned towards them and Lelouch nearly lost his composure. He quickly turned Sora and Kairi's heads away so they weren't making eye contact with Asher. Asher raised her eyebrow, "What...?"
"Suzaku- don't look her in the eye-"
"I'm not, Lelouch", Suzaku had already averted his gaze.
At this point Asher thought this was all some ridiculous prank, "Hey, guys, what the hell is going on?"
Lelouch sighed, "You know how I said we have a similar medical condition?"
Asher was thoroughly freaked out right now. Something felt very wrong.
"Yeah?"
"Well that was a bit of a understatement. I didn't still think you had it so I didn't bring it up before. Pull out your phone and look at your front facing camera"
Asher did just that and yelped when she saw the reflection. One of her irises was red, with a small bird-like symbol in her pupil. She immediately covered her eye with her hand and the others finally made eye contact with her.
"Lelouch, you need to tell me right now what the hell this is."
Suzaku chimed in, "We should go outside, we're causing a scene" The five of them went outside. Both Sora and Kairi were absolutely puzzled and concerned. The world that Lelouch and company were from was certainly a strange one.
"I'll ask again- Lelouch, what the hell is this?"
The raven haired boy reached up, placing a hand over his right eye.
"Lelouch no- you said you wouldn't-"
"I'm not going to use it on her Suzaku." Lelouch looked at Asher with his left eye and the same glow appeared. Asher gasped as Sora and Kairi gawked. Suzaku just turned away from them, not wanting to see any of this going on.
Lelouch continued, "It's not quite the same, I can literally make people obey my command. You can affect the senses of others around you for a limited amount of time. But both of our powers are called Geass".
AN: WOW THE ARCADE SCENE WAS SO HARD FOR ME TO WRITE? Idk why. But in the OG fanfic, I had revealed Lelouch's Geass much later to the others and Asher's Geass in a different manifestation. Thanks for bearing with me, I'm hoping chapter 5 wont take another 6 months... I'd like to have a few more chapters before the Code Geass movie! And definitely a few more chapters before KH3. Please review!
