I do not own Code Geass

Ch.11 His Imperial Highness Lelouch vi Britannia

Lloyd watched Lelouch get led in to the engineering hangar by Jeremiah from his position on top of a scaffold. Suzaku was currently helping Cecile work out some bugs with the hydraulics in the cockpit of the Knightmare they were currently working on.

"Good day your highness, Lord Jeremiah." He greeted acknowledging them both "Lord Jeremiah, I was wondering, you wouldn't happen to have any candy to share would you?" he teased.

Jeremiah didn't say anything but threw Lloyd a death glare and reached into the cuff of his sleeve where he was known to keep a small throwing dagger.

"Jeremiah, don't kill Lloyd, he may be annoying but we need him. And Lloyd, Jeremiah is my personal knight and shall be treated with respect as such. Do you two understand?" Lelouch said forcefully as if he were scolding two children.

"Yes your highness." they said in unison though Jeremiah was still glaring at the ever grinning Lloyd.

"Lelouch!" Suzaku called down finally coming out of the cockpit of the Knightmare.

"Oh hey Suzaku, how is your first day going?"

"Things could be worse I suppose, the dorms are pretty small though. What about you? Did Dracula and Cap'n Crunch pick that uniform out for you?" he laughed.

"Yeah, laugh while you can but by the end of next week every serviceman in the area will be in black and that includes you Private Kururugi. So what is the engineering corps. working on now?" Lelouch asked.

"Its part of the Camelot project Prince Schneizel commissioned, it's a short series of seventh generation Knightmare frames. This is just a generic prototype right now though." Cecile answered.

"I see." Lelouch said.

"Yes it to bad for us that you turned out to be such a fantastic pilot your highness, now our work load has doubled because we have to build one for you too now." Lloyd drawled ignoring the fact the Jeremiah was still glaring at him and had been the whole time…possibly fantasizing about all the nasty things he could do to him.

Lelouch shrugged it off completely unsympathetic. "I'm sure you and the rest of ASCEES will be able to manage it Lloyd."

000000000000

A Week Later

The week had flown by faster the Lelouch would have preferred. He had oriented himself with the complex and military base, and even got buried under a small mountain of paper work that Bartley and Clovis had neglected to do before he had gotten here. But with the help of Jeremiah, he somehow managed to get it done within two days. The one good part was that he managed to getaway in his street clothes one evening to have dinner with Nunnally again.

But today was the day that it would be announced to the world that he and Nunnally were in fact still alive, and that he would be serving as the military commander for the armed forces in Area Eleven. He took a deep breath to calm himself in the back seat of his limo. Nunnally was already there and he had told Jeremiah to go ahead of him to keep an eye on her for him. He would not see the Emperor until the event took place. But he still didn't like the idea of having to follow him out on to the stage and stand next to him while he spoke at the podium, with his brothers already on the stage waiting for them on the opposite side and standing farther to the back. They of course not being the main focal point of today. Lelouch hated himself that he still had an iota of fear of the man even though he could hide it well from the rest of the world he still loathed the fact he felt it.

The driver stopped the limo and got out and opened Lelouch's door. Just a few more moments and he would come face to face with his father for the first time since he was ten. He took another deep breath to collect himself. Then he saw him, his father…Emperor Charles di Britannia the man that had used him and his sister as bargaining chips and then left for dead so many years ago.

Lelouch bowed as the Emperor approached "Your majesty." he greeted and Charles put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's good to see you and Nunnally alive once more my son." he said coldly.

"Thank you your majesty, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for giving me the opportunity to prove my usefulness to you." he could practically taste the bile rising up in the back of his throat.

"According to Schneizel you will prove to be most useful to the empire indeed…or your sister will." Lelouch snapped his head up and looked at him but the Emperor just ignored him and turned to take the stage, Lelouch followed as he had been instructed by Clovis to do struggling to suppress the anger he felt at that mans words.

0000000000000

Ashford

The students at Ashford lined up and stood in the gym waiting for the Emperor to appear on the large screen that had been set up on the back wall to make some sort of special announcement.

Kallen stood with the rest of the student council who for some reason looked nervous. Milly was biting her lip, Shirley would not look up from her shoes and Rivalz and Nina wouldn't stop fidgeting. She was about to ask them what was going on when the screen came on revealing the Emperor taking the stage and walking up to the podium while that Lelouch guy she had met the other week was fallowing him wearing a fancy black military uniform looking very menacing. She heard a collective gasp and students start to frantically whisper as people realized that it was in fact Lelouch who was on the screen. Everyone watched on as Lelouch stopped and stood at attention next to the Emperor. The audience silenced as Charles di Britannia began his speech.

"Citizens of the Holy Britannian Empire, In the year 2010 the empire mourned the deaths of the Eleventh Prince and Seventeenth Princess of the Empire, their bodies lost in the chaos of war. Today, however; I am pleased to announce that they still live! Displaying the resourcefulness we have come to expect from citizens of our beloved Empire, they survived; nay; thrived in the hostile region of Area Eleven. Now, Prince Lelouch has chosen to serve Britannia by joining the armed forces, while the princess Nunnally continues her schooling. Their survival again proves the strength of Brittania! Where others would have perished in the conflict, my children evolved, proving the power of our nation!" Raising his fist to the heavens Charles di Britannia invoked his people with his proudest order, "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

The speech ended. Kallen couldn't believe it. That guy from the other day was a Britannian Prince and Nunnally… sweet, cute, innocent, helpless Nunnally was a Princess of the Empire she so despised? She looked around a lot of students had fainted others stood stock still with their eyes wide and mouths open, some had sat down on the floor their legs not being able to hold them up for the moment. She whirled around to look at her student council cohorts. They were looking even more hesitant than they had before. 'So they knew.' she thought to herself in a silent rage. She had come face to face with Britannian royalty and hadn't committed some form of violence like she had once sworn to herself she would. It wasn't that traitor Suzaku she should have been trying to set on fire with her mind it was Lelouch.

000000000000

Lelouch Stood there as the speech ended, the whole time the Emperor was speaking all he could think about was the fact that the man had just threatened him with Nunnally right to his face. Sure the man was a very imposing figure that practically radiated power and authority but as he stood there Lelouch realized that he was nothing more than a bully. A bully who liked to hold his power over the heads of his children and watch them tare each other to pieces over it and if someone refused to play along he would threaten them and force them to do his bidding. Just like he was now. Any remaining fear he had of the man had subsided now all Lelouch felt for the man was hatred and rage.

000000000000

Ashford

"You knew didn't you?!" Kallen yelled struggling to keep you her sick girl façade once they got back to the clubhouse "You knew the whole time!"

"Kallen we can explain." Milly said in a soothing voice. "It's true I've known the whole time, yes…but the rest of us only found out an few months ago."

"That doesn't make me feel any better. And how does that explain things?"

"The less people who knew at the time the better." Shirley said speaking to her for the first time since their little argument during the festival.

"We're sorry for lying to you. I know we're all supposed to be friends. But we really couldn't tell anybody else." Milly said.

"No it's alright, it's just it would have been a lot more interesting meeting him if I had known." she said with a dark undertone that no one else caught.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An: I know you guys hate short chapters but this was really hard to write.