Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own CG

V.V. looked around in the classroom and was surprised to see that most people seemed just as happy about Kururugi joining Ashford as he was, but for far less noble reasons. He wanted Kururugi gone so the boy wouldn't blow his cover to kingdom come, the others just didn't want a Eleven, even if Honorary Britannian, in their class. V.V.'s eyes narrowed in disgust. Unlike many others, he had always thought of racism as a sign of mental weakness and idiocy. Hell, more than three quarters of the Geass-users in the Directorate had not been Britannians!

Lelouch's thoughts were going similar ways. He was happy that Suzaku somehow managed to survive, upset that most people already looked at him like he had the plague, and most importantly worried that Suzaku would discover 'Victor Vincent Ashford' was the boy from the capsule.

Suzaku on the other hand was having other thoughts. He saw the faces of his classmates, mostly dominated by fear or open dislike, and his heart sank. This would probably not be very fun. Then he saw Lelouch sitting beside a surprisingly young boy. 'Maybe this won't be quite as bad as I thought' he said to himself.

The bell rang and interrupted the thoughts of all three. 'Victor' calmly stood up and headed to the student council clubhouse, intending on having a little chat with Nunnally. Lelouch on the other hand seemed to follow Victor, only to stop at the door, looking at Suzaku and pulling up his collar in a way the Japanese boy was sure to recognize. Lelouch saw Suzaku's eyes widen and headed to the roof with a satisfied smirk

-0-

When V.V. entered the actual clubhouse after failing to find Nunnally in their living quarters, he immediately started his little search and found her together with Nina in front of her computer. V.V. immediately noticed that there was a big difference in the data on the computer. It seemed Nina had a breakthrough. Then he noticed Nina, who had tensed when the door opened, was now relaxing and sending him a shy smile.

"Hello Victor, are classes over already?" She asked.

Nunnally looked up. Lelouch had already told her the cover-story they came up with, so she knew who Victor really was.

V.V. smiled. "Hello Nunnally, Nina. Yes, classes are over, but why are you asking?" He replied.

Nina didn't answer, but she looked very uncomfortable. Then Nunnally spoke instead. "She left right after first period because she's scared." Nunnally seemed sad when she said that last part. V.V. raised a brow.

"Why were you afraid Nina?" When she didn't answer right away, he added "Don't worry, I won't laugh or anything, I promise."

Nina seemed to gather her courage. "We have a new student, and he's a-an E-Eleven." She replied while V.V. fought the urge to roll his eyes.

'Great, she's a overzealous patriot, and it sounds like she's xenophobic as well. Oh well, at least I know how to work with her and can guess which arguments will have what effect on her.' He thought to himself.

But his outer reaction was a little different. He gave Nina a friendly pat on the back and a reassuring smile. "I see. Well, that is scary, but I don't think my family would let him enter Ashford if they weren't sure he wasn't dangerous. I know most Elevens are brutal and primitive," At that point Nunnally pinched him, but V.V. ignored the pain and continued "but there have to be at least one or two good ones, right? And I think I heard Milly say that he had a recommendation signed by two members of the Royal Family, so I really don't think he'll hurt us."

Nina seemed reassured by his words and he excused himself and Nunnally for a second, intending to explain before she really started to hurt him. Then he lowered his head and whispered to Nunnally, who used the chance to grab his ear and was pulling it so hard V.V. was wondering why it hadn't come off yet. "Look Nunnally, I really hate lying, but I don't think I could have calmed her down otherwise. Of course I know Japanese aren't like that, but I doubt Nina accepts that."

To his infinite relief, Nunnally nodded and released his ear. After all, being immortal doesn't make one immune to pain. "I think I'll head to my room, I'm a bit tired." She said.

V.V. nodded. "I'll follow soon, I want to talk to Nina for a while. About physics." He quickly added when he saw Nunnally's equivalent of a death-glare.

-0-

Meanwhile, Lelouch, leaning on the roof's safety-rail, saw the door opening and Suzaku stepping onto the roof, smiling at him.

"It's been quite a while since we used these signals, huh?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku grinned. "No kidding, I almost thought I was seeing things. So, do I still call you Lelouch, or...?"

He was interrupted when Lelouch spoke. "The records count my old identity amongst the dead. I now go by Lelouch Lamperouge."

Suzaku nodded. "I see. But, what happened to the little girl?"

Lelouch blinked in confusion. "Little girl? What little girl?"

"You know, the one that was in the capsule in Shinjuku. The blond girl with the really long hair."

Lelouch blinked. Was he talking about V.V.? He felt the urge to laugh till his sides hurt, but he suppressed it and looked at Suzaku. "Oh, her." He suppressed a grin and made a somber expression instead. "I really don't know, we got separated in the fray. But you would know more about her than I do, right?"

Suzaku didn't notice Lelouch's reaction to the word girl, so he simply shrugged. "No, the only ones who knew anything were Clovis and his personal advisers, and two of them are dead Clovis is injured and Bartley has dropped from the radar."

Lelouch nodded. "Okay. But, just wondering, how much do you remember? I mean, getting shot and all..."

Suzaku winced at the memory. "Truth be told, not too much. I remember going in, using you as a soccer-ball, the capsule opening and the girl falling out, and the guy who shot me in the back. Next thing I know, I'm out of the combat zone and..." He stopped.

Lelouch looked at him. "And what?"

Suzaku seemed nervous, then he replied. "Well, then I hear a thundering noise and the earth shakes. Not much else happened after that. But on a different note, I don't think we should be seen together."

Lelouch was honestly surprised, though shocked would be a more appropriate term. "What?" was all he managed to get out of his throat.

"I mean think. How would you explain it? Being friends with an Honorary Britannian?" The last part of the sentence had a bitter ring to it, despite Suzaku doing his best to suppress it.

"What are you saying?" Lelouch was starting to get angry. Did Suzaku really think Lelouch gave a shit about what others thought? "You're coming over my place this evening, no discussion."

"But..." Suzaku tried to object before Lelouch cut him off.

"No buts Suzaku, I live over there in the student council clubhouse and you're coming there for dinner. Just you, me and Nunnally, I'll find a way to keep our house-pest, ehm I mean house-guest away for the night."

Suzaku's eyes softened when he heard the word Nunnally and Lelouch knew he had him in the bag.

-0-

V.V. was in the middle of a very interesting discussion with Nina. It took him a while to convince her that he was actually capable of understanding her theories and quite interested in them as well. After that, things had drastically gone uphill for a change, and he was, frankly said, baffled at the theories this girl had developed. If this was realized and had even a fraction of the power these calculations implied, it could forever change the art of war. Going through the calculations himself, he made a mental simulation of what could happen when this idea was made reality.

What came out of these simulations was frightening. What this girl had thought up made Weapons of Mass Destruction look like child's play. It would completely obliterate everything caught in the blast radius, yet at the same time, you could be standing an inch outside of the radius and wouldn't get a single scratch. The only danger would be getting sucked over the edge when the air returned to fill the vacuum this blast had left and falling into the crater. This thing could spit on WMD, this would truly be the first Weapon of Controlled Annihilation ever made.

But what dampened the ecstatic scientist in V.V.'s mind was the fact that Nina had already published her theory in the net and was actually planning to enter Schneizel's science contest with it. V.V. had no doubt that Nina would win the damn thing and get the funding offered as the price, but neither did Nina understand what this weapon could do, nor was he willing to let it fall into Britannia's, or to be more precise, Charles hands without a counter for it.

Fortunately, he had figured out which buttons to press to get Nina to agree with him. "Look Nina," he began "this is amazing. But you should think about entering that contest with it."

Nina looked at him, surprised and a bit hurt. She had finally found someone who understood what she was working on, and now he was telling her it was no good? "Why? D-don't you think this could work? You think I'd never win, don't you?"

V.V. laughed. "Oh, I have no doubts that it'll work or that you'd win that contest, leaving all competition light-years behind you. You're a genius Nina, don't believe anyone who tells you something different."

Nina smiled at him, thankful for his confidence but confused with his advice. "Then why shouldn't I enter with this Victor?"

"Simple," V.V. replied "You will win the contest and get funding and make this idea a reality. But what do you think will happen then?"

Nina answered without a moments hesitation. "Then Britannia will unify the world and there will never be another war."

V.V. smiled sadly. "We must build a weapon so terrible that nobody will attack out of fear we will use it, eh? But think about this. It's insanely hard to come up with something, but copying it isn't too difficult. Think of Knightmares. In the beginning, they were hailed as the weapon that would unite the world as it was superior to anything else there was. But then, some were stolen or the ideas were copied, and now many nations have Knightmares. Granted, their not as good as Britannia's, but they don't have to be. They're good enough to negate most of the advantages Britannia has. In a one-on-one fight we'd still win, but they can beat us with sheer numbers now, something that wouldn't have worked before, like when Japan was conquered. So, how long do you think it would take other countries to copy this? A year, two, or maybe even five? Sooner or later, someone will copy it, and just imagine what this could do in the hands of terrorists."

Nina paled. In the hands of terrorists, her creation would cause terror unlike anything the world had ever seen. She nodded and looked at Victor. "I see what you mean, but what would you suggest?"

V.V. seemed to think, even though he already knew what he would say. After a few moments, he looked at her. "I'm not asking you abandon everything you worked for, that would just be too cruel. All I say that before you turn it into reality, you should find a way to counter, or rather cancel this, even if just in theory. You should have something that can block this," he pointed at the computer "should it fall into enemy hands. I don't demand an answer from you right now, just think about what I said, okay?"

He smiled at her, gave her a last pat on the shoulder and turned to leave, leaving Nina behind, lost in thoughts.

-0-

A few hours later, that smile had completely faded from V.V.'s face. "So let me get this strait, I'm banished from the dinner table for the day and even though we forged this identity to insure something like this is no longer necessary, I have to remain out of sight until tomorrow, is that right?"

Lelouch grinned. "Yes, that pretty much sums it up. Suzaku is coming over for dinner tonight and even though he doesn't recognize and only faintly remembers you, I don't want to take the risk of jogging his memory."

Although begrudgingly, V.V. had to agree with Lelouch. Meeting Kururugi this early in the game may not be such a good idea. He nodded. "Fine. And you're sure he doesn't recognize me?"

Lelouch grinned. "Oh, I'm certain. In fact, he asked me today if I knew what happened to the little kid in Shinjuku. I guess he wanted to know if the little girl he saw was okay. Anyways, I must get going. See you tomorrow, Victoria."

Wit that, Lelouch used all of his strength reserves to make a short dash to get away from V.V. before the boy could piece the message together.

For a second, V.V. simply stared in shock. Kururugi thought he, or rather the capsule's inhabitant, was a girl? He ground his teeth, well aware that Lelouch would never let him live this down, even if the boy also became immortal and they spent the next few millenniums together.

V.V. looked out of a window and saw the same brown-haired boy responsible for his latest headache, apparently trying to clean something of his, which had GO BACK TO YOUR GHETTO written on it. V.V. sighed. Unlike many others, he judged people solely by their abilities. Well, and their usefulness to him, but that was beside the point. Before he could do anything else, he saw the carrot-topped Shirley wave at him. He suppressed another sigh and to his own dislike, put on the mask he showed the school.

It was almost ironic. He, who had desired to strip the world and humanity of all masks, had been cast away when Charles revealed his true face, only to be saved by Charles's son Lelouch, the king of mask-wearers. And now he was masking himself as a cheerful, friendly little boy, since it would draw less suspicion and make gathering information a little easier. He put on a cheerful smile and ran towards her.

"Hi miss Shirley, how are you doing? Can I help you?" He asked while making large puppy-eyes. He was slightly disgusted at his own behavior, but for now, there was nothing he could do. And say what you want, it worked. Regrettably.

Shirley pulled him in a bone-crushing hug while ranting how 'Victor' was just too cute with a few other girls agreeing and V.V. knew it would be a long, long day.

-0-

Lelouch watched as Nunnally entered the living room. This would be one of the best evenings in a long time, Lelouch just knew it. He smiled. "Guess what Nunnally, I have a special surprise for you."

Nunnally tilted her head. "A surprise?"

Lelouch waved at Suzaku, who hesitantly entered and looked at Lelouch in a way that just screamed: Are you really sure? Lelouch waved again and Suzaku stopped hesitating and put his hand on Nunnally's.

She recognized it and a few tears ran down her cheeks. "I knew it. I just knew you'd be alive."

Suzaku's gaze softened. "It's been a long time, Nunnally."

Seeing her happy and relieved expression made all the things they had to do and bear to get here well worth it, for both boys.

-0-

Dinner had been quite enjoyable, especially since Lelouch had relieved Sayoko of cooking for this evening and took charge of the kitchen himself. Afterwords, he had promised, in Suzaku's stead since his first friend seemed to have hit his head somewhere and was clearly unable to make decisions for himself, that Suzaku coming over for dinner would be a common occurrence here in their home in Ashford. Lelouch had every intention of having Suzaku here at least once a week, even if he'd have to drag him here by force.

Suddenly, he felt grateful for two things: 1. Being smart enough to not say that out loud, as it would have invariably lead to jokes about his lack of physical abilities and 2. That he'd kicked out V.V., seeing the boy sometimes seemed to have the ability to read minds and Lelouch had no intention of giving the blond immortal more ammunition to take shots at him.

But as an old saying so accurately states, all good things must come to an end, and this evening was no exception. Nunnally went to bed and Lelouch brought Suzaku to the door. There, Suzaku turned to him.

"It was great seeing Nunnally again, but I really don't think we should make our friendship publicly known."

Lelouch looked at him. "First of all, you have know idea how wrong that sounded." Suzaku seemed confused, then embarrassment took over when he realized what Lelouch meant. "Secondly," Lelouch continued "I'm starting to get sick of this. I don't care what people say or think of me and I see no reason I should keep my friendship a secret. Finally, what happened to you? Where is the proud, selfish boy I met at the Kururugi Shrine? Ever since we met again, you've been caring for everyone's damned needs but your own!"

Suzaku didn't quite know what to reply, even though he had a mental answer to Lelouch's question: He died with his father. But something told him that was not the answer Lelouch wanted to hear. So, he changed topic. "Anyways, I have to go. See you at school." With that, he was gone.

-0-

Normally, V.V. left Lelouch alone when he was in a bad mood. Today was different. He was calmly sitting on Lelouch's bed, his glare every bit as cold as Lelouch's.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't put something in your food and hand you to your fanclub, wrapped up like a Christmas present." He calmly stated, still silently amazed he had managed to escape the girls more or less in one piece.

As miserable as Lelouch's mood was, he could tell V.V. wasn't joking. "Is it such a crime to want to have a private dinner with a friend you haven't seen in almost seven years?"

After considering it, V.V. shrugged and gave it a rest. Then he looked at Lelouch. "So, now that you know you need an army, how are you going to get it?"

Lelouch thought about it. "Well, I'll need a few days to get certain materials. Fortunately, Rivalz organized a game of chess with a very wealthy nobleman who has just the transport I need. And with my Geass, I'm fairly certain he'll be willing to give it to me and for all intents and purposes, forget he ever had it."

V.V. snorted. "Let my guess, you'll recruit the terrorists from Shinjuku. That leaves pretty much the same problems Zero had, plus a few more. They need a name, they need a uniform, they need a symbol and most importantly, they need the perfect stage for a grand debut."

Lelouch smiled. "My thoughts exactly. I'm also working on a way to conquer Tokyo, but that's a mid- to long-term goal, I want to know that my army is suitably equipped to actually hold Tokyo and, by extension, Japan."

V.V. nodded. Not much point in conquering something when you're too weak to defend it afterwards. Lelouch's Geass would be good in creating what would seem like miracles, but he wasn't god.

"Let's start with the name. It should have a special meaning, and it should at least partly symbolize what they'd be doing. Or rather, what the public should think they're doing." he said.

Lelouch agreed. "Well, if I want public support, we must give the crowd what it wants. Everybody loves a hero, after all. And which people are known as the greatest heroes of all times?"

V.V. thought about it, then he grinned. "Knights. And seeing that you're aiming to fight the king, I would say you're a black knight, one of those who roamed the battlefields without a lord or an identity, fighting on the side that suited them best."

Lelouch laughed. "Indeed, the Black Knights has a nice ring to it. And I've already worked out a symbol." He tossed V.V. a piece of paper.

The blond chuckled. "How intriguing, it's the symbol of Geass slightly distorted, yet at the same time, it's a European sword with the tip pointing to the heavens. I'm guessing you already had most problems solved. Let me guess, old Willerbee is working overtime to get the uniforms ready, right?"

Lelouch nodded. "Now all I need is that transporter the noble will happily supply, and decide on a way to contact those terrorists."

V.V. raised a hand as if he was asking a question in school. "I think I know how to solve that problem. Kallen keeps that phone you gave her at Tokyo Tower with her at all times. She almost religiously checks for calls or messages."

This piece of information would truly simplify things for Lelouch. Said boy yawned. "Okay, enough scheming for today. V.V., you now have your own room, so please go there, I need some rest."

A short nod and Lelouch was alone. He dropped into bed, planning the meeting with the terrorists, the victory over his father, and the removal of Suzaku's status as Ashford's pariah.

-0-

The next school day was fairly uneventful, with Lelouch sleeping through class, Shirley throwing things at him to wake him up, and Suzaku dealing with insults and evil pranks. The only things out of the ordinary were that Sayoko had forgot to close the windows in Lelouch's living quarters, Lelouch had left the suitcase with Zero's costume opened and in the open, and a cat with a bandaged hind leg managed to sneak on campus. In short, it was a recipe for disaster.

-0-

Lelouch was running after the stupid cat that was wearing his Zero-mask, but true to V.V.'s and everyone else's jokes, he was too out-of-shape to catch it. In fact, not only was the cat getting further away, Lelouch also managed to run into a bush, losing sight of the damned couch-killer.

He summed up his current situation in a single word. "SHIT!"

-0-

V.V., who had coincidentally been looking out the window in time to see both the helmet-wearing cat and Lelouch running after it, which was understandable but amazing nonetheless, found a few more words to describe what he saw.

"This can't be good."

And seconds later, Milly's voice broadcasted the message that whoever could catch the damned furball would get a kiss from one of the council-members. While V.V. knew he wasn't in direct danger of kissing someone, this would send the whole school after the feline. This just kept getting better and better. He felt a major headache coming, but for now, he had to get the mask before someone saw it. He knew Lelouch wouldn't be able to catch the cat to save their lives. Kinda ironic, since exactly those were on the line. V.V. started to run.

-0-

Lelouch was desperate. Not only was Suzaku of all people going up the stairs to catch the cat, Lelouch was facing the triple problem of exhaustion, fear of what would happen if Suzaku saw the mask and painful memories, summoned by Suzaku mentioning that old story with the bird. He shot a reply to the bird comment.

"Quit talking ancient history!" He nearly screamed.

Suzaku had laughter in his voice. "It was only seven years ago."

While that was true, Lelouch didn't see the point. What he did see was Suzaku running up the stairs while he needed a break.

But when he reached the window, Suzaku was almost halfway up the roof, and every second brought him closer to seeing the mask. Lelouch climbed the roof after Suzaku, but in his haste, he slipped, not that he'd ever admit it when asked by V.V..

Suzaku, alerted by Lelouch's shout, saw his best friend sliding towards the edge, and without a moment's hesitation, he slid down and grabbed Lelouch's arm and the window's edge. Unfortunately for him, his fingertips were a bit sweaty from the careful climb when he tried not to scare the cat away and he slipped.

Both boy's eyes widened when they skidded towards the edge, but suddenly, they stopped again. Suzaku looked up to see that a kid with blond air had grabbed his wrist and was slowly pulling them up.

Lelouch sighed in relief. "Victor, I have never been this glad to see you."

The boy, Victor, simply grimaced. "If you're done thanking me, mind trying to support yourselves? You two are heavy and I don't think I can pull you up if you act like dead weight."

Suzaku and Lelouch immediately complied and a few moments later, they were back on the roof.

Suzaku noticed Victor had already left and turned to Lelouch. "So, who was that kid?"

Lelouch, still gasping for breath, looked at him. "Victor Vincent Ashford. Milly's cousin."

Suzaku nodded before grinning. "You were pretty calm for a man on the verge of death."

Lelouch laughed. He had seen the cat loose the helmet and now the feline that nearly doomed them both was calmly sitting two feet away from them. "Yeah right, I was just limp with fear. Look at that cat, we nearly bit the dust to catch it and now it just sits there like nothing happened." Suzaku grabbed it and climbed back into the tower. Lelouch pretended to check his pockets for something, then he looked at Suzaku again. "Suzaku, I think I forgot something up here. Just go ahead, I'll be right behind you. Don't worry, I'll watch out."

Suzaku nodded and went down the stairs while Lelouch carefully climbed up the roof to get the mask.

-0-

When Suzaku left the tower cat in arms, nearly the entire campus was staring at him. He didn't know what to say, especially since he saw many cold glares. His heart sank, when a girl ran up to him.

"You saved him! Thank you so much. By the way, I'm Shirley."

A blue-haired boy gave him a pat on the back. "Way to go, new guy. Name's Rivalz, nice to meet you."

Then Milly, Suzaku had met her when he entered school, stepped up. "That cat was carrying something, wasn't it?"

Suzaku scratched his head. "Yeah, there was something on its head. But, I never really got a good look at it." unbeknown to him, the blond boy that had saved their lives was sighing in relief.

Milly on the other hand was upset. "That's it!" She shouted "The embarrassing secret that he's hiding."

"So that's it madam president?" Lelouch's voice came out of the doorway and a second later.

"And I thought I finally had some dirt on you." Milly mumbled. V.V. stared at her. Did it ever occur to her that what the cat had snatched could be something dangerous, like proof of Lelouch being related to the Emperor of Britannia? Then again, knowing such a secret and being unable to tell anybody was bound to be frustrating for Milly. Still, she should give such things a thought before acting.

Then, looking at Lelouch and Suzaku joking around with each other, a question came up. "So, do you two know each other?"

"But he's an E-Eleven." Nina said, causing both Lelouch and V.V. to frown.

Suzaku immediately tried to deny it. "No, we don..."

But Lelouch had enough of this, so he interrupted him. "He's my friend." The entire campus gasped. Lelouch, secretly called Ice-Prince for his attitude towards... well everyone, called Suzaku Kururugi his friend? But Lelouch wasn't done yet. "Madam president, would you permit him to join the Student Council?"

The answer to that could only be a solemn NO, at least in the minds of the other students. If they couldn't get into the one club with the hottest guys and girls, not by lack of trying, then this Eleven didn't stand a chance. But Milly had other plans.

"Well, you are the vice-president, so I guess I can't refuse." Needless to say, jaws were dropping through the floor and if it were physically possible, they would have reached the center of the Earth.

The other council-members, with the exception of Nina, took the news much better and welcomed Suzaku into their midst.

-0-

The next day, a day without classes, V.V. and Lelouch were having breakfast, Nunnally still asleep and planning to spend the day with Sayoko. V.V. was reading the newspaper, scanning the pages for anything of interest. Suddenly he snorted.

Lelouch looked up from his meal. "What's so funny?" Instead of answering, V.V. handed him the paper and Lelouch saw the caricature.

In the background, there was a giant military boot, submerged in the ground up to the ankle. A small trail of earth led to a molehill in the lower center of the picture, where a mole wearing Zero's mask was throwing up a peace-sign. Right above the mole's head was the other boot, the word BRITANNIA on the side of it, apparently swiftly coming down to smash the mole. The picture was titled: A MINOR ANNOYANCE

Lelouch laughed. "What do you think? Is this referring to the attacks from below or just vanishing in the underground?"

V.V. shrugged. "Probably both with a good mix of propaganda to keep the masses from hailing Zero as a savior. His record is impressive, he beat two members of the Royal Family without killing either." They were keeping their conversation casual in case someone heard them, but a pleased smile appeared on both faces.

Lelouch stood up. "Anyways squirt, I have a chess-match with a noble and a little discussion with him, so keep out of trouble while I'm gone, okay pipsqueak?"

"The short-jokes again? Real mature. And now begone." V.V. growled.

Lelouch left and V.V. gave him a twenty second head-start before he pulled out his cellphone.

He dialed a number and waited. He grinned when he heard the voice answering.

"Hello?" It was obviously a girl's voice and V.V.'s smile widened.

"Hey Shirley, it's me. I just thought you might want to know that Lelouch left the house a minute ago. He's going gambling with Rivalz."

The reply was deafening. "WHAAT?" Then the line went dead and V.V. sprinted to a window just in time to see Shirley running towards Lelouch, a fierce battle-cry on her lips and something that faintly resembled a lasso in her hands.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING GAMBLING LULU!" It was funny to see Lelouch's eyes widen, even from afar, as he started to run and reached Rivalz's bike just in time for a narrow escape. V.V. was still laughing when his phone rang. He answered it, but he only heard a single word.

"Traitor." Then Lelouch hung up. V.V. leaned on the window, looking at the sky.

"Revenge is sweet. But this advice is for both you and myself: Beware, for it devours you from the inside, leaving only void once fulfilled."

The cat, recently christened Arthur, came up to him and actually allowed V.V. to scratch his chin.

V.V.'s gaze softened as he looked at the cat. "Precious to you. You should never let go of what's precious to you, yet at the same time, you also shouldn't keep it prisoner. Be careful Lelouch, the path you wish to take is much harder than you can imagine."

-0-

Meanwhile, Clovis managed to leave his wheelchair, even if still leaned on a crutch. Being in that wheelchair, even if only for a few days, made him feel much worse about his younger half-sister, who was not only forced into that chair for the rest of her life, although he was researching some ways to alter that, but also cursed with blindness. He looked at a decree he had managed to get set in motion.

He smiled to himself when he remembered how he managed to get Cornelia to agree: bribery. He had offered her the only thing she really wanted, under the condition that it would not be revealed to the public. He had given her the painting of Lelouch, Nunnally and Lady Marianne, and in return she allowed his Art Week to take place annually.

"Just a few more days." he muttered to himself. "As soon as I can walk by myself again, I'll visit Ashford. Lelouch, I want to see Nunnally again, and I want answers."

-0-

Arthur yawned and showed his fangs and claws. V.V. looked at them. "Sorry, you're favorite scratch-post Suzaku is currently not here."

He had heard Suzaku was reassigned to the engineers, but V.V. suspected he was now on Lloyd Asplund's payroll. He looked at the sky.

"Things are about to get interesting." He muttered. "And very, very rough."

Chapter 10 is complete. Took a bit to get done, but here it is. The entire chapter was really just Suzaku at Ashford, with a few minor, yet perhaps vital changes. It was actually more canon than I wanted, but I just didn't find much I could change.

I made V.V. against blind racism because in the Directorate, I'm sure they weren't all Britannians. If I was V.V., I'd want the kids I contract with to have nothing to loose and I'd need them available. And let's be honest, were is it easier to find desperate kids than in the conquered Areas?

And at the end of the chapter, V.V. waited long enough for Lelouch to get away before he let Shirley loose on him. He wouldn't hinder the operation, but that doesn't mean he can't have some fun with Lelouch getting the short end of the stick. And I just figured Lelouch geassed one of his chess-opponents (read victims) to get the giant car. I mean, how else would he get close to a noble.

And I described the F.L.E.I.J.A like I did because, hell, it took a huge chunk out of Ashford or whatever the building was, yet not even the windows of what remained were shattered. And nothing got blown away, not even the damned grass.

Next chapter will be the creation of the Black Knights and the Hotel Incident. A few more changes than in this chapter, but I can't yet say to what extent.

Now on to the questions.

1. V.V. knows of F.L.E.I.J.A. and discussed it with Nina. How do you think will that effect the story? Will Britannia still get it, will nobody get it, or maybe the Black Knights will use it (Don't forget, they'll get Japan.)?

2. I've made a caricature since I figured the papers would just have stuff like this to calm the situation (or rile it up if a Japanese makes one). How did you like this? I'm considering adding a few caricatures and paintings (Clovis) into the story. Not many, just one every so often. Is the idea any good or should I dump it?

3. What did you like, dislike, etc...? Personally, I think this was too much canon and not enough fanon(?), but I hope it wasn't too bad.

4. Is there anything you want to see? Again, no promises, but I try.

5. Tell me what you want to tell me.

Normally I ask more questions, but here, I didn't find too many things to ask.

To y2k: I currently have no pairings planned, and quite frankly, I suck at them, but I'm always open to suggestions. That goes for anyone else. Oh, and Jeremiah saved Cornelia out of loyalty to the Royal Family, not affection.

To psyche_07: Thanks for the tip, you'll get your reunion in the next few chapters.

To All That Is Left Unsaid: Sorry, but at the moment, unveiling V.V. to Suzaku would be much too troublesome. Suzaku is still too naive and would probably ask questions in the military about him, which would call the hounds on V.V. and Lelouch before they have the ability to fend them off. Oh, and I forgot to mention this, but 'Victor' keeps his hair in a ponytail at the base of the neck with the majority of it hidden in the clothes, so nobody but Lelouch and Sayoko know his hair's that freakin long.

To Pwn Master Paladin: Thanks for the compliment, I do my best. As for your wish, I'm working on something, but I'll be honest: it'll take quite a while before I get there.

To teno-hikari: I'll go into details and reasons for V.V.'s imprisonment later, and about your review from chapter 8, no, it's not Luciano. But in my fic, Luciano will be looking up in blissful awe to Markus for the carnage he can cause on a battlefield.

To 2stupid: If I told you that, I'd be ruining the surprise now, wouldn't I? By the way, nice chapter.

Well, I've wrote a chapter, mainly to get past that scene, and upheld my connection with my readers. I've done my duty, now it's your turn, my readers.

Please Review