Code Geass: Requiem After
By Doctor Scraps
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, and exploit it's characters and themes for entertainment only.
Authors Notes: Much more satisfied with how I modified chapter 6. If you haven't read the revised last few sections of Chapter 6, I would do that before reading this chapter, as changes were made to benefit this chapter.
Onward.
-------------------------------------------
Chapter 7- The Curse of Kings
"No...!" Lelouche gasped, pointing a wavering finger at the specter that appeared before him. "You're not her! It's not possible!!"
"You...Don't recognize me...?" Her voice was sad and whispery. "It's me, Lelouche...Euphemia..." Her eyes were the shade of ashes, her skin pale as the moon, in contrast making the vibrant dress she wore stand out even more...And from her midsection, the the gunshot wound bled freely down her front. Lelouche pressed against the rocky wall of the mountain path, wilst the creature reached out to stroke his cheek. Her touch was like ice, and he could feel his strength leaving his with every touch.
"No! Get away from me, Monster!" He went to push her away, and fell through her completely, landing face first into the dirt. His muscles were shaky as he struggled to stand. All around him, a deep fog had set...yet he could seem them all around him. Dark figures emerging to engulf him.
"--You killed her, as well..."
"--Monster."
"--I believed in you, Zero! We trusted you!"
"--You were supposed to our savior!"
"Stop it! Who are you?! What do you want?!" Lelouche held his hands to his voice, a million voices crying out.
"Revenge..."--"Revenge..."--"Retribution..."
"On who?! Who wronged you? Why are you here?!" He demanded.
"Isn't it obvious, little brother...?" Lelouche's heart skipped a beat as the form of Clovis emerged amongst them, his gaze learing down at him with his one eye. Lelouche could see straight through the hole in his right eye where Lelouche had executed him so long ago. "You...You killed us."
"C..Clovis...No, this can't be!" Lelouche clutched his throat, his breathing labored.
"Yes, Lelouche..." Euphemia sobbed. "Our blood is on your hands...Even the ones who loved you suffered! Why Lelouche?"
"Shut up...this isn't..."
"Why did you take me away from him? Why did you shoot me? I only wanted to do good!"
"...You weren't supposed to be...I didn't mean to! I didn't want to! It was an accident!"
"Yet you still killed her..." Clovis's voice was the angry foil against the sobbing moans of Euphemia. "She loved you, Lelouche...I loved you...and you broke our hearts..."
Lelouche couldn't stop the tears, cold like ice sliding his cheek. The chorus of "Murderer!", "Demon!", and "Monster!" echoed all around.
"Don't listen to them, brother!" A voice...far and distant, called to him.
"Rolo?!" Lelouche cried out. "Rolo! Where are you?!"
"You're stronger than this, Brother! I believe in you!" It grew ever fainter.
"Rolo!!" Lelouche dove through the ghost of Clovis, his body shuddering as he did as his nerves grew suddenly numb. He saw no sign of the young man amidst the shadows and specters of his past. Soldiers, civilians, old friends...
Finally, his strength failed him. He clutched his chest to catch his breath as the dark shapes circled him. "But...I can't have killed all these people...!"
"Ah, but you did, Lelouche..."
Lelouche looked up...the ghosts had parted to allow another to come before him. Tall and powerful, even in death.
"Father..." Lelouche uttered in disbelief.
"Behold, my son..." Charles Brittannia spread his arms wide, motioning to the gathering of phantoms. "Everyone who's death can be traced to your hand and decree...It is my gift to you, my boy...The Curse of the King!"
"Curse?" Lelouche looked at his palm, the black Geass Code pulsing and burning his flesh. "Is this what this is?! Some sort of retribution?!" It explained so much...why he didn't die...why his power of Geass could be used repeatedly on the same target...
Charles laughed. "Stupid boy...this is what you wanted! The power of a King! To live forever, and the power to command!" Charles clenched his fist for emphasis. "That is why your power grows even still...The power to rule unopposed! Omnipotent!"
"Then why....all of you..." Lelouche sputtered.
Charles grinned down at his son, and chuckled darkly. He turned to disappear into the throng. "...Because...Even a King must live with the blood that has stained his hands. It is only fitting that those who rule must live with the ghosts of their pasts!"
"Father!!" Lelouche raged, reaching for him through the phantoms that engulfed his path. As he passed through each one, his body grew weaker and weaker. "How do I end this?!" He fell to the ground, crawling in the dirt. "WHAT MUST I DO?!"
His voice echoed across the mist-strewn canyon.
"...What must I do...?" Lelouche shuddered, tears spattering the ground.
"Avenge us, Lelouche." Another familiar voice...
"Shirley...?" He looked up at her. Her gaze was stone cold and uncaring. So she too was part of his sins. "What can I do...?" She gave him no answer in return, and turned to vanish into the crowd. They all began to turn away from him. As they disappeared into the mist, Lelouche turned, just in time to see Clovis and Euphemia, staring back at him with hurt, pained expressions, before vanishing into the haze...
And then, the Prince was left alone...
---
"Command, this is Kallen Kouzuki! Moving to intercept potential high-threat target! They're going to try and bomb Brenhull to the east, over!"
"Affirmative, Kouzuki. Assigning Weinberg to assist!" That may be too late to help, Kallen thought as he drew near to the mobile base as it lumbered out of the reservation and onto the highway bound for the city of Brenhull.
"Aknowledge, gathering to move out! Kallen! Don't do anything you'll regret later!" Gino's voice echoed over her comm.
As soon as the Guren came into sight, the vehicles turrets opened fire upon her. Streams of fire zipped and splashed against it's chasis. When this was through, Kallen had a fair assumption of how pissed Rakshata was going to be when they wheeled her baby in for repairs. Turrents, however, have a fairly exploitable weakness- they all have a blindspot, and usually are situated that they can't fire upon their installed basework. The Guren leapt and grabbed tight to the top of the Platform. As she thought, the turrets stopped targeting. Brenhull could be seen in the horizon...and she had no idea how big this explosion was going to be. She needed to disable it somehow...
The treads...
Flirting with the range of the Turrets once more, the Guren tangled with the side of the craft.
"This had better work..." Kallen raised the claw and pierced it into the running tread motors. "Radiance Wave- Activate!"
The brilliant surge of energy immediately made the metal and wiring bubble and warp, forcing the path of the mobile HQ to shift it's movement in unpredictable patterns, slamming against the side-guard of the highway. Kallen struggled with her controls to attempt to remove the claw, except a collision with the opposite railing jostled the Guren, forcing the Guren to lose it's holding and onto the blacktop, the claw still firmly wedged into the warped tread motor. Kallen swore as the Guren bounced and slid across the pavement. Finally, the platform crashed through the railing, dragging the frame over the edge and into the woods below...
...
"...That sucked..." Kallen groaned as she rubbed her head. She popped the hatch to the Guren, nearly tumbling out onto the ground. The Platform wasn't going anywhere, that much she knew. After a quick self-check...no wounds...a couple bruises...she made a mental note to have her ribs examined...She made her way for the askew craft. She needed to confirm that the sequence was stopped indefinately. A search of the perimeter turned out a service hatch into the Hangar section of the vehicle. Inside, red emergency lights flickered all over the place, distorting Kallens vision momentarily. Drawing her side-arm, she dropped down on the cieling...now technically the floor. Crates, spare frames, and a few personel were thrown about...the personel were dead...either crushed by shifting equipment, or on the impact. She counted herself lucky. Navigating the wreck was a chore...sliding down cooridors and wrangeling the edges of doors. Finally, she found the way into the bridge. Same as before...the personel were dead. She mused to herself something her brother used to quip...
"It's not the fall that kills you...but the sudden stop at the end."
Now...to find the main console...All the arrays were situated above her...she would need to find some way of getting to the floor...cieling...whatever. She could see on a console above her displaying the countdown, paused at 4:35. She breathed a sigh. That solved that. She would leave the rest to the clean-up crew...
"Kallen...Kouzuki..." A statticy voice echoed across the room. Kallen swung her pistol around, but saw none of which she could point it at. She followed the sound of static, until she came upon the body of one of the crewmembers...
"I know you're there, Kallen...pick up..." The walkie on the dead mans belt said.
She narrowed her eyes. It was Lelouches voice, which meant it must be that Jacob person. She carefully withdrew the walkie and pressed it to her ear.
"Kouzuki here..."
"Ah...Kallen. Well done. I should have expected as such from the Crimson Knight of the Black Knights."
"Where are you?"
"At a safe distance...You are a remarkable woman, Kallen...It's a shame that you work for those misguided fools...I want you to know that there's still a place by my side, if you want it."
"Tempting..." Kallen mused. "But I rather enjoy working for the real deal."
"You mean that imposter you were jumping around with...?" The Demon Emperor's voice mused just as mirthful. He laughed. "Well...then if I can't convert you, I may as well kill you..."
"The sequence is paused, you ass. There's nothing you can do." Kallen growled.
"Stupid girl..." Kallen's eyes suddenly widened as she saw the red LED numbers begin to count down...then speed up...from where it ounce was held at 4:35, the readout now read 00:30.
"Goodbye, Kallen..." The walkie hit the ground with a clatter and Kallen dove for the exit.
---
"Command, this is Weinberg...We've reached Kouzuki's last position." Gino reported as he and his team surveyed the hole in the highways railing made by the mobile base. "We have the Guren on visual...I think Kallen may have gone inside...Moving in to---"
The explosion shook the bridge, the soldiers grabbing onto whatever was nearby. When Gino opened his eyes, the base was a flaming wreckage.
"Oh my god..." He gasped. "...Kallen..."
---
Gilbert Guilford inspected the dead Hands of Lelouche Commanders body. One shot to the head, the pistol in hand suggesting it was self inflicted. The evidence of the last few hours were beginning to make Guilford uneasy. The Gawain had been abandoned, and no sign of the pilot. Allen Spacer indeed. Wherever he was, he couldn't have gone far on foot.
"Gilbert G.P. Guilford..." A voice came from behind. Guilford turned and reached for his pistol...then froze.
"You..." Guilford drew his pistol and aimed it as the form of Lelouche emerged from the fog. "I thought it was too much of a coincidence..."
Lelouche chuckled a bit. "Are you going to shoot me?"
"Hardly...Princess Cornelia is going to want to have a little chat with you." Guilford said with a smirk. "Hands in the air."
Lelouche raised his hands without complaint. "Oh, well if it's Cornelia who wants to speak with me, then it's very convenient that we bumped into each other..."
"How so?" Guilford produced a pair of handcuffs.
"...Don't mind me...It's awfully warm tonight..." Lelouche adjusted his collar. Guilford suddenly froze as the Geass Command took effect.
"Ah, Cornelia...What are you doing out here?" Guilford asked, replacing the handcuffs and holstering the gun, his eyes shining a bright crimson.
"Guilford, we don't have much time...I need you to escort me to Zero...I fear we may have a spy amongst us...I suspect the pilot of the Gawain." Lelouche said, attempting to appear distressed, in a feminine sort of way.
"At once. There should be plenty of room in my pod. But...why do you not go yourself?" Guilford asked.
Lelouche tossed that one around. He suddenly hugged his arms together, looking away with a look of feigned shame. "I fear he may target me...I don't feel safe, Guilford..." Lelouche made a note to vomit when he had a chance...
Guilford smiled warmly and pulled Lelouche close, taking a hand in his and kissing the knuckle. "Fear not, my love...No harm shall come to you..."
Lelouche forced a smile. "I know Guilford...you're so good to me..." Nix that...note to vomit, and Geass himself to forget the whole thing...
---
Back at the Villa, the night dragged on without incident. The clock was reaching two in the morning when Zero carried Nunally to her bed. The poor girl had finally cried herself tired. Suzaku had been no stranger to helping Nunally change for bed, having aided Lelouche many times back at Ashford Academy. He knew when he had to avert his gaze. Once in bed, he tucked her in, reaching to brush the hair from her eyes with his gloved fingers. As he withdrew his hands, she reached out for it.
"Zero..." She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "...I'm sorry."
Zero tilted his head. "Whatever for, My Lady...?"
She turned away from him, eyes once against filled with sadness. "I've been so terrible to you...and you've only insisted on trying to help me. I...Thought I could do this on my own. I guess I'm not a very good Empress, am I?" She looked back up at him, forcing a smile.
Zero squeezed her hand and sat on her bedside. "I think...you are going to be a great and powerful Empress, Nunally Brittania..."
"But...I am nothing like my father, or my brother...I know nothing of politics at all, really. I've only ever been a figurehead...and there's talk that even now, that's all I am..." She sniffed a little. "What kind of Empress has an emotional breakdown and thinks her Guardian is her deceased brother?" She tried to laugh.
"I will help you along the way, Nunally. I promise..." He took her hand in both of his. "This I vow...Now rest, My Lady..."
"Thank you, Zero..." She smiled. Zero squeezed her hand a final time before getting up to leave.
As the lights went out, Nunally curled up under her bedsheets, feeling a blush creep across her cheeks. Zero had such a gentle touch...
---
"Any sign of Kallen?" Gino called over his shoulder as he searched what remained of the Guren. The frame was trashed. The pod was completely smashed in from heavy debris from the blast. There was no response to his query as Gino hunkered down and sighed. He looked up and tilted his head...A lone photo was taped to the inside of the pod. Kallen, perhaps a few years younger, along with Oghi Kaname if he recalled right...no one else had hair that ridiculous...and a fellow Gino couldn't recognize. Regardless, Gino pulled the photo free and placed it in his pocket. Kallen would want this back.
"Sir..." A Black Knight saluted as he approached. "We've looked everywhere here sir...If she's here's, she's more than likely among the casualties."
Gino sighed and nodded. "Very well...Order to pull back. I...want a moment alone."
"Understood sir."
...
Gino walked amongst the ruins. The explosion had burst the craft open like party popper. The corpse count was 15, and an autopsy would be required to determine if Kallen was amongst the dead. He didn't like the idea that she would let something so simple as an explosion do her in...
"--Kallen?" He called out. His voice echoed. Nothing. Emitting yet another sigh, Gino took a seat on a banged up weapons footlocker, one of the few bits of cargo and material on board that wasn't torn to shreds in the blast.
Suddenly, Gino felt a kick from under him, making him jump up and pull his pistol. He eyed the footlocker curiously, and slowly reached out with a fist...and tapped the first half of "Shave and a haircut."
...
A second later, the other half knocked in return.
Gino flung the top of the footlocker open, and inside, he found a very battered Kallen. Gino swept her up in a hug, tight enough to dent metal. "You're alive!"
"Yeah...Fortunately so..." Kallen gasped. "Gino..."
"Oh...sorry...Er...why a footlocker?" Gino asked, letting her go a little.
"Eh...Saw it in a movie..." She leaned against him. "...Hey...is the city alright...?"
"Yeah...Brenhull's just fine." Gino patted her back, emitting a wince from her. "Sorry."
"Good...good...Hey, Gino...I'm gonna pass out now..."
"That's fine..." Gino glanced back. "MEDIC!"
---
The morning came over the farmlands of Brittania, with barely a whisper of the chaos of the battle fought during the night. Jeremiah Gotwold hummed to himself as he went about his morning routine...tending to the animals, collecting the eggs the chickens had laid, and seeing how the mother goat was doing with her kid. Satisfied that all was as it should be, he marched inside to see how Anya was doing with breakfast. He could smell bacon from the back door, and he anticipated a hot cup of coffee along with it before heading out to the orchard.
Anya didn't look up to aknowledge Jeremiah's entrance as she stirred the eggs in the pan- Always scrambled, with a bit of salt. Jeremiah helped himself to some of the coffee and sat at the kitchen table.
"A Telegram came while you were out." Anya said as she cooked.
"Oh...Who from?" Jeremiah sifted through the mail that he hadn't had a chance to get to yet. On top of the letters and coupon flyers, was a sealed envelope, bearing the mark of the Black Knights. "...Zero..." He mused under his breath.
---
Every morning at the Villa, when he had the chance to be there, Zero watched the sun rise. It was a simple pleasure, and it let him know it was a new day. The battle at Departitte was over...and once more, the forces of Justice had prevailed. No doubt he would need to prepare some sort of statement later when the media came knocking for answers to why there was shooting and explosions in the dead of night outside the city of Brenhull.
Another simple pleasure, of course, was breakfast. No doubt by this time, a maid had delivered his breakfast to his private chambers. It gave him an excuse not to wear the mask. He kept his chamber always dark, heavy curtains keeping the room in shadows. Even without light, he knew the room well enough to know where he was going. He sat himself down at the table in the corner by the writing desk, and pulled the silver dome off the platter containing a traditional brittanian breakfast of eggs, sausage and oatmeal.
...It took only two bites until Suzaku realized he wasn't alone.
Sitting across from him, on the deep red and violet sofa, a figure rested with his arms spread out across the top of it. He was wearing the clothes of Zero, one of the extra's he had made...he had a closet full of them, most of them leftovers from the previous Zero. Suzaku swallowed the food in his mouth, taking a sip of his morning tea. "Those clothes fit you well..."
"It's good to be wearing them again..." The Zero sitting on the couch said. "...When you're done, we need to talk."
...To be continued.
