Hi! It's time for this again!

Starting from this chapter, I'm getting into really good stuff, at least for me. It's been in my head for so long, I know more or less exactly how to write it!

Pretty soon, next chapter or the one after, I'm going to start introducing a slew of OCs. I hope I can write them the way I picture them, because if I do, they should be fuckin' awesome!

Also, as many will have noticed, this story as a pretty light tone to it most of the time. The light and the fluff will be a staple of this series, but there will be dark and serious moments, with a moderate dose of drama. In fact, you should think of this as a dramatic-comedy. Just wanted to put that out there.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Again, I own nothing even remotely related to Code Geass!


December 23rd, 11:45 pm, Aries Villa, Pendragon.

After getting over the excitement of his return, Lelouch had slept with the twins and Euphemia in the living room, while Cornelia wobbled her way to a guest room. They didn't get up until late morning.

After eating a large bunch, Lelouch contacted Schneizel to let him know that he was ready to give him his answer, and asked him when it would be convenient to send him the required paperwork. The second prince told him that he would be there in person shortly, and that anyhow, he had intended to visit them, so it wouldn't disturb his schedule.

Schneizel had just arrived, Kanon in tow and folder in hand, which contained Lelouch's future, so to speak. They went in the library, promising the others tat they wouldn't be long.

After sitting down, the prime minister went right down with the business.

"So, Lelouch, you'll go back in line for the succession?"

"Yes, I will." Lelouch said resolutely, not an ounce of doubt in his voice.

Schneizel smiled, and fished a fancy looking piece of official document from the folder he carried, and handed it to his little brother.

"All you have to do is to sign your name and initials at the bottom. The rest has already been filled out, and I'll arrange for father to sign it later today to make it official."

Lelouch, for good measure, read thought the document.

"I, Lelouch vi Britannia, herby declare that I…"

With everything looking in order, Lelouch filled-in the required information, and handed the document to his older brother, who looked it over quickly, and nodded before putting it back in the folder.

"Now that that's out of the way, you should start considering what path you should take to best serve Britannia and-"

Lelouch cut Schneizel off. "What is there to consider? I know well enough that the path I'm best suited for is the military, mentally at least if not physically."

Schneizel's smile got wider. He knew that Lelouch would have gotten back in line just for the sake of his twin siblings, but he would have done so with resignation, and in the end it may very well have led to Lelouch's destruction. But now, after realizing that he actually had a fighting chance, it was clear from the determined look on the boy's face that he would fight like hell and make his own path. That's what the second prince had wanted to see.

"Excellent! I'm of the same opinion. However, you still plenty of time to decide how you're going to proceed down that path. In the meantime, I suggest you get busy."

"With what?"

"Building up your image, finding allies, gathering power… in its many forms. Amongst other things. I'll also be arranging for your thrust fund to be enlarged.

"Now, let's put all of that aside, and go back downstairs. Cornelia and the others must be waiting for us."


31st December, 11 PM, Imperial Palace, Pendragon.

On the night of new-Year's Eve, most of the Imperial Family gathered in the imperial Palace's reception hall to usher in the New Year. Schneizel took that opportunity to announce Lelouch's official return in line for the throne. The general reaction to this news was, to say the least, underwhelming, the majority of Lelouch's extended family playing it down and not showing any concerns over them.

"Ho, just you watch, I'll show you what I can do!" Lelouch thought darkly from the table he was sitting at with the twins, "I'll make sure you'll regret underestimating me, you hypocrites!"

He didn't notice Schneizel glancing at him from where he stood, a satisfied smile on his face. The second prince made his way towards him, and asked him to come sit down in private for a moment.

Leaving the twins in the care of Euphie, they went to a little sitting room that was far enough from the festivities that it assured them have some privacy. Jeremiah and Kanon stayed just outside the room. Schneizel took out a white envelope from within his coat.

"As I had promised, I have secured you and the twins a much more sizeable trust fund." He said as he handed the envelope to Lelouch. "The information is in here."

Lelouch took the document from the unsealed envelope and read through it. His eyes went wide when they fell on the number representing the money he now had access to.

"24 Billions!" He exclaimed. "Is this a joke!"

"No, it's not." Schneizel said, in an very even tone..

"Where did that money come from!."

"That, you don't need to worry about. And the totality is yours, with no strings attached."

"I'm not stupid, Schneizel." Lelouch said. "You probably fished that money out of somewhere yourself just to give it to me. I suppose I should thank you for that. But why are you doing this?"

"Very sharp, little brother." Schneizel thought. "Well, consider it as me helping you by leveling the field a lot. However, I must advise you that you shouldn't expect anymore help from me, at least not anything close to this magnitude."

"Alright, I understand. But what am I supposed to do with all this?" Lelouch asked.

"You can do what ever you want. Let it sit in the bank, or give it all to charity, thought I would advise against the later. I'm sure you'll find a way to put it to good use."

Lelouch stared suspiciously at Schneizel for a moment, before deciding that his brother was most probably being honest. He had to ask something else however.

"You obviously have a plan for the future, and you apparently want to include me in it. Any chances you can let me in on it?"

Schneizel shook his head.

"Not yet. It's not anything concrete yet. The pieces are still being placed, and I'm finding new ones all the time. However, when it is finalized, and not if, but when I find you worthy, I will tell you about my plan…" Schneizel did a pause "my plan for a better, stronger and fairer Britannia." He rose up. "Now, we should return to the festivities before out absence brings too much attention to itself."

As they walked back to the reception hall, Schneizel noticed Kanon seemed to have something to say. He slowed down a bit, letting Lelouch and his knight walk ahead of them. He leaned slightly to his side, and Kanon got closer as well.

"Pardon me, your Excellency," Kanon whispered in his master's ear, "but wasn't that money for-"

"Yes, it was." Schneizel whispered back. "But don't worry, there's plenty of ways to get more in the future. And beside, I very much consider this to be an investment."


January 2nd, 2:10 PM, Aries Villa, Pendragon.

It was a couple of days after New Year 's Eve. Lelouch was laying on a couch in the living room, thinking about the fuck-ton of cash he now had access to, and what to do with it. He was starting a real debate with himself in his head by that point.

"What should I do with it? Invest it, make it grow?" He tossed that idea aside. "If I did that, I would probably end up relinquishing control over it to people I barely knew. Not a good idea. Then, acquire or create a business of my own? Okay, but what? What's something that has a good chance to succeed in Britannia, and while I'm at it, would help me gather more power?"

It didn't take long for him to find an answer.

"Britannia is almost always at war. So, weapons and equipments used by the army? Ok. Then…what? Harg!"

As good with tactics as he was, Lelouch quickly realized he was no engineer, and wasn't very well versed in economics. The former would surely never change, but the second could be remedied with proper guidance. Maybe that's what he should do first. He didn't want to ask Schneizel for anymore help, so did he know somebody else that he could trust that had experience running a business?

"Of course, the Ashfords! Wait, something about that… Hey, didn't the Ashfords used to be involved in Knightmare development before mother was killed?"

, there was something that Britannia needed in numbers, and would continue to in the future. And they embodies power, so much that Lelouch had Goosebumps just thinking about it. It was a long shot, but it was well worth a try.

"Jeremiah!" Lelouch called after his knight, who soon stepped into the room.

"Yes your Highness?"

"We're going back to Japan."

Jeremiah almost wanted to groan. "Does that mean I'll have to go back to call you sir, your highness?"

"Not yet. We're only going to go there for a short business trip for now."

After a quick kiss to the twins and promising to them to be back in a few days, and a call to Schneizel to let him know he where he was going, Lelouch and Jeremiah were en route to Japan.


January 3rd, 4pm, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement.

Rubens K. Ashford was, to say the least, speechless.

"E-excuse me, but can you repeat that again?" He said to Lelouch.

"Certainly. I'm offering you half a billon pounds, plus a 15 percent stake in the future operations, for you to transfer the old Ashford Foundation and all of its related assets to me."

Ok, so he didn't hear that wrong.

"That's…An interesting offer you're making, Mr… Should I call you your highness, in the circumstances?"

"Right now, you can call me Mr. Lamperouge, Mr. Ashford."

"Alright. As I said, Mr. Lamperouge, that's an interesting offer you're making, but what are you intending to do with it?"

"I wish to revive the Foundation's Knightmare development project."

"Ok. But you do realize that it would require extensive investments to just it back to where we were before we had to shut it down."

"Of course I do. And don't worry, I have plenty of funds available, and if needed, I'm sure I'll be able to finds ways to get more."

"You're serious about this, aren't you?" Rubens said.

"Of course I am. I understand if you're hesitant on this. Because you supported us before, your family fell hard after my mother's assassination. But I want you to be assured that I am grateful of the support you have given us in the past, and if you accept this deal and help me just as you did with my mother, I willmake sure that you are properly rewarded."

"What kind of rewards other than money are we looking at, if I accept this?"

Lelouch smiled. "I know that you want to restore your family's status. I intend to rise to places, and when I get to a position when I can make it happen, I will not onlyhave your family's status restored, estate, title and all, but if you wish so, I'll make it even higher! Of course, I'll also support you, within reason, in anyway I can until that day arrives."

"Very enticing, but it will take many years before you get to such a position." Rubens thought. "Much can append in the meantime."

Rubens was silent for a while, being deep in thought. It was really a huge gamble; if he accepted, he would be literally tying his family's future to that of the boy's. Then again, each day the Foundation's projects remained on indefinite stand-by they were loosing worth; Knightmare development was serious business in Britannia, and if they waited too long, the competition would quickly get so far ahead that they wouldn't be able to catch up! Could he really afford to refuse this offer?

After a time, Rubens spoke again.

"If I agree to this, do I have your word that you will not let us down?"

"Yes!" Lelouch said. "In fact, I swear upon my mother's name and grave that I will not let you or your family down."

Rubens did another pause, processing this before he replied.

"Alright then, I agree. I'll have the necessary papers and documents prepared right away."


By the same time the next day, Ruben's lawyer and accountant had the necessary paperwork ready, which Lelouch had revised and signed.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Ashford." Lelouch said, closing the deal with a handshake.

"I feel the same." Rubens replied. "Now, I'll call as many people as I can to get the facilities ready again for use. That's the easy part. Gathering our R. & D. team again, that's an other story. After we closed, they spread out, and most of them have been hired by other companies. We won't know how many will come back until we try thought. All the information I have on them are in here." He handed a folder to Lelouch, who began browsing through it.

"We might end up having to search for replacement for most of them. That can't be helped. However, I'm pretty sure I can get our Chief Researcher back onboard easily; He decided to retire early after we parted ways, but I'm convinced that given the opportunity to do so, he'll come back."

"Chief Researcher…" Lelouch mused as he flipped through the folder. "Ha, here we are!" He said as he found the right sheet. On top of it was a bust picture of a very bald man with thick eyebrows and a goatee. "Professor S.A. Kayne?"

"Yes, that's him. He's quite the peculiar character. He's… how should I put it? He's very intense about his work, yes."

"That's good, isn't it?" Lelouch asked, made very unsure by the man's tone of voice.

"Depends on the day." Ruben said simply.

Then, Jeremiah spoke up,

"Excuse me, did you say Professor S. A. Kayne?" The knight said. "Would that be for Simon Amadeus Kayne?"

"Yes, exactly." Rubens said, quite surprised. "You've heard of him?"

"More than that, I saw him almost every weekend while I was back at my Family's estate. He's my Father's Golfing buddy!"

"Well, isn't this a small world?" Ruben's said.

"Could your father set up a meeting between us?" Lelouch asked. "I'd very much like to meet this man."

"I'll contact my father about it."

"And while we're at it, I'd very much like to meet your family. They seem like interesting people."

When his liege said that, Jeremiah cringed inside, hard, although he managed to remain composed on the outside. Ho damn. He was going to have a loooong discussion with his father. Hopefully, he'll be able to convince him not to do anything that would embarrass his son or his family in front of Royalty…

Ho, who was he kidding?

End of Chapter 9.


Hey! *SNIFFFFFFFF*

How's it going folks? I was planning to post this yesterday, but Mother Nature had other plans. I was knocked out cold by… a big ass cold.

So yeah, I finished this with my nose dribbling all over my keyboard, and high on painkillers. Don't anybody go and say that I'm not dedicated to this fic and my readers!

Next chapter will be titled: Gathering Brains. It will be written when mine's back to normal.

Please leave a review, it will help my writing and my mood as I try to commit bloddy-murder upon this cold.

Until next time, peace out!

-Stan