R.R.
Here's a chapter when I promised one. You guys got to 40, so thanks for all the support!
Chapter 11: Memories
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The memory was still just as vivid now as it was before him that night. Everywhere, all over her. She was covered in blood, so much blood. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the same thing. Every waking moment, the blood filled his vision.
Why? Why would someone kill her? Why would someone take the life of his innocent little sister? He knew why. It was because of him. Because he chose to fight. It was always the same, you saw it on books all the time. The hero's weakness is the ones he loves, and fails to protect.
Isaac failed her. And now she was dead Annie was gone, and it was all his fault.
"Isaac."
He didn't look up, knowing R.R. Had been calling him well more than a few times. Instead he continued to state at his hands. Hands that were washed long ago, but he still sae the blood. The blood that would never wash away.
"Isaac!"
He suddenly registered the force of R.R.'s palm slam against his face, forcing him out of his little world. Shocked, he looked up at R.R., and saw a face he couldn't read at all.
"Your sister is gone. And there is nothing that can change that." He told Isaac, who continued to stare at him with a bewildered look. Lelouch looked at him with pained eyes. He really did understand what Isaac was going through. When he thought Nunnally had died, his whole world collapsed around him. But he also knew the best remedy to snap him out of it. And it was not playing nice.
"The only the things you can determine now is what you are going to do about it."
He could start to see the wheels returning inside Isaac's head, and hoped he was at least somewhat getting through. "Right now you have two choices. You can wallow in your remorse, and do nothing. Or, you can get up and avenge your sister."
Isaac seemed to be listening to what Lelouch said, and the dull glazed look in his eyes had faded.
"Listen to me. Your sister was killed by someone who thinks you stand in the way of their plans. Do you know what that means?" Lelouch wasn't looking for an answer, just to see if he was paying attention, which he was.
"It means you stand in his way. And right now you have the option to stay in his way, or stay on your ass."
Lelouch, stood in front of him for a moment. "You decide."
Deciding himself that it was time to leave him to think, Lelouch turned to exit.
"Who killed her?"
Lelouch stopped when he heard the question, and he knew he had no right to withhold the answer. "Someone who called himself Z.Z."
He turned around to face Isaac, who looked at back at him with hard eyes. "That sounds like your name."
He wasted no time coming to that conclusion, and it left Lelouch debating just what to tell the red head.
"It does." He chose to say.
"Why?"
"The truth behind that isn't something you would want to know." Lelouch warned.
"I don't care." Isaac responded.
Neither would I.
With everything that happened to him, he deserved to know the truth, no matter how Lelouch thought he would accept it. It was a huge risk he knew, but for the boy he dragged into this, he would be willing to accept that risk. Because he knew what kind of hell that loss was.
"Z.Z. and I...are immortal."
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Aleina sat by herself in the copilot's seat of the Shinkiro. She was more than apprehensive about the tension building up each day. Demands were constantly being thrown for answers, and for blood. And from what she could tell, a fight was coming closer by the second. The UFN had prepared a fleet three times the size than at India. And even though the Shinkiro coouls rear through airships like paper, the same couldn't be said for the four Knights of the Round Gideonnwas bringing to the table. Things weren't looking good, and she wasn't about to leave it up to R.R. to handle things himself.
It was pretty clear to her that he wasn't the kind of person to ask others for help, even if he really needed it. And it was quite possible she was only there because R.R. couldn't use Geass himself.
As such, she wanted to find some way to be useful herself. And besides learning what Daedalus was up to, she came up with a few plans of her own this time around. She had earlier Geassed her way into the Camelot industries hangars for the new Knights, and outside of retrieving data on the specifications on the Tristan Journey, Gallahad Maruader, Mordred Titan and Percival Inquisitor; she was able to download program feedback arrays that would aid in predicting the pilot's path in order to better use the shatter sphere, as well as battle them all head on. Unfortunately, she was unable to plant explosives, or simply sabotage them because she also happened to learn the frames were inspected an incredulous amount of times each day. The bugs she planted were the only thing that wouldn't be detected by malware scanners. She sometimes wished she could just tell someone to ignore a bomb planted in the frame, but her Geass had limits, and they were unfortunately drawn there.
Aleina sighed, and stretched out over the seat, having finished downloading the receivers into the Shinkiro's systems. She had recently heard about what happened to Isaac's sister, and subsequently about Z.Z., who she passed was another code bearer, whom R.R. knew absolutely nothing about. She too worried if Z.Z. was in collaboration with Gideon, or a sperate entity that would add yet another layer to this complicated mess to sort out. How could am immortal even be dealt with? It made her remember the capsule she first found R.R. in. It was some sort of decide for preserving something inside of it, but that wouldn't be necessary of its content was an immortal being. So was it meant for trapping them? Then in that case, what was R.R. doing in there? It wouldn't make sense that someone stuck him in there, because she had been told it was a fail-safe, not a prison.
She continued to think over it as Marellia approached the open cockpit of the Shinkiro. Seeing that someone was inside, the older princess called out. "Aleina? Is that you?"
Aleina perked up at hearing Marellia, and peeked over the side of the cockpit to see her half sister down below. "Marellia, what are you doing here? Isn't there a UFN meeting right now?" She asked.
Marellia rolled her eyes. "The eighth one sister R.R.'s declaration. Not one of them has made any progress. And quite frankly, I'm done with them."
Alina nodded. The one she went to was being enough. She couldn't imagine going to eight of them.
"I came to check on Stadtfeld. I heard what happened. Is he alright?" Marcella added, concerned.
Aleina frowned. "He's okay."
"Do we know who did it?"
She shook her head. "No, R.R. barely saw them escape." She opted not to tell Marellia about Z.Z., since she didn't know about Geass.
"I see."
After a long silence, and Marellia shifting uncomfortably below Aleina, the older princess spoke again. "It must bring up bad memories for you." Marellia said. "Of your family."
Faces flashed through her mind. Her brother, her mother. And the man who killed them. The man who got away without even a slap on the wrist. It wasn't pain she felt at the recollection, but resentment. Something she imagined Isaac now felt as well.
"Yes. It does."
She would never forget that. The one who killed her mother, and her brother who died trying to protect her. It had been years, but she still remembered.
And she still hated him.
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To say he was feeling nostalgic would be an understatement.
As he approached the doors that opened into the Commons, and passed by all the classrooms, and saw the giant bell tower, more than just a few memories of his old life came flooding back..
Isaac had insisted he return to Ashford to retrieve his sister's things there. And lelouch had insisted he accompy him, still completely unsure what Z.Z. may try next.
He wore a face mask the changed his appearance to that of an average student. It was the same kind Sayokononfe used to masquerade as him when he needed to be Zero without suspicion. It felt weird around his face, but he eventually got used to it.
"I won't be too long. The teachers already gathered of her things. They were told she's transferring." Isaac spoke beside him.
Lelouch tugged at the high collar of the school uniform he hasn't worn in over a century. And just now realized the 99th emperor of Britannia never finished high school. Who said you can't go places without an education?
"That's fine. I'll be able to sense Z.Z. If he gets near. So I'll just be nearby." Lelouch watched Isaac separate from him, and head down another hall.
As far as he could tell, the boy took the truth he had to offer well. Or at least better then his great grandmother first did. He hadn't spared any details. Isaac now knew everything. Isaac didn't comment on Lelouch's identity, and now he was extremely grateful Jeremiah had convinced him to allow his companions to know what his plan was. But for some part, it was beneficial, especially with a potential code bearer who knew who Lelouch was.
It was the last thing Z.Z. said to him that bothered him the most. It made sense, that if Z.Z. had a code he would have been around for possibly centuries. And the name R.R. would have immediately struck alarms to any code bearer. So how much did Z.Z. know? And what was he planning? This completely unknown enigma only infuriated Lelouch. Every little detail of his plan had to be worked out. And he couldn't do that with these dammed nuisances popping up like fucking cockroaches.
He let out an angry breath, suddenly realizing he had been wandering around aimlessly the whole time. Or rather, not so aimlessly. He had managed to unconsciously make his way to where he lived at Ashford one hundred years ago.
It was clear to him that no one had been around here, or at least used the area; for a long time. A heavy amount of dust had settled on everything around him, and the air felt musky. There were parts of the school that weren't in use when he went here, and apparently they stayed that way this whole time.
A huge knot on his stomach formed as he shakily reached out for the knob. His hand brushed against it, wiping away the collected dust atop it. Coming in to the room, he remembered Rivalz once telling him that his room was destroyed in the FLEIJA bombing. And he realized this wasn't the same room he spent five years living peacefully with Nunnally in.
However, that didn't mean it looked any different than how he remembered it. It was still the same place. The color on the walls had long since faded, and the lack of at least five paper cranes scattered about left it rather bare. A sad smile found its way onto Lelouch's face. One hundred years.
He had lived over a century ago, and now he came to see just what happened in all that time. The color in his world had faded away. And the wishes of his sister finally granted.
"Did you finally fold a thousand cranes Nunnally?"
Because I did.
"Well at least one of us got our wish."
The voice wasn't his own.
Suddenly everything around him was enveloped in a bright light. The room was gone, and his senses were overloaded while he tried to make sense of what was going on.
But then just as abruptly, it was gone. And everything was silent. He blinked a few times, confused by the blue skies and cloudy ground his feet were touching.
"Where-"
His breath hitched in his throat. His whole body froze as his eyes were fixed on the person standing in front of him. She was much older, her hair more or less the same; and...and she was...
"Hello, Lelouch."
She was standing.
"Nu-"
He couldn't speak. Whatever logical part of his brain was still functional wasn't enough to form any words.
"I'm so sorry Lelouch, for everything that happened back then."
He continued to stare at her, his mind trying to find the deception, trying to tell his eyes they were wrong.
"I'm so sorry I told you I hated you. That I couldn't see what you were trying to do. I'm sorry that you had to go through everything all alone. That you had to sacrifice yourself for the rest of us. I'm...I'm sorry that I was so selfish."
The spirit before him gave him a small smile. "And I'm sorry that I have to ask you again to help us. This is the world that you created, and the world God decided is yours to protect. You live on to make sure the rest of us don't ruin it again. Because you were the only one who could see the world for what it really was. And what it really needed."
She began to fade away. Her face dissolving into the growing light that that threatened to take her from him.
"The future of this world belongs to you too. Big brother."
The light filled his vision, and the image of sister was gone. He found himself on his knees, back in the faded room. The mask he was wearing had fallen from the saturation of his tears.
He stayed there unmoving for a long time, and whispered a single word.
"Nunnally."
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This was very bad.
Jeremiah began franticly searching for the phone buried somewhere on the desk overflowing with charts and papers planted in the middle of his office. On his computer, was an image of the emperor of Britannia.
Finally pulling out the device, he dialed the top number. An eye on the video still playing, he tapped his foot impatiently.
"Yes?" Jeremiah heard, absently noting the strange tone in his voice.
"Lelouch, look at a TV. We have a situation."
Things were about to get very chaotic.
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In a worldwide broadcast, the Unites Federation of Nations finally had there answer to the man who claimed to be their adversary.
"R.R.!" Gideon ce Britannia exclaimed.
"You say you are the peacekeeper of this war for freedom, you say you have declared war against us. Then you know that makes you an enemy to the will of the world! Hear me now R.R.! We accept your declaration! If it's a war you want, then you shall have it! If you are indeed what you say you are, then prove yourself now! Meet us face to face, and we shall see just who is the conduit of justice!"
The camera changed to show the entirety of the UFN's fleet over the ocean, a small glimpse of land in the background. "We shall await your arrival at the coast of Tokyo, in Japan. If you are what you say you are; come to face us!"
Lelouch watched as the video cut to the UFN emblem, signalling the message was over. He now suddenly realized that what Nunnally said was true. Just as he called himself a peacekeeper, it was his duty to defend this world from those who would seek to stagnate it's future. He silently thanked her for her message sent by God, as he called up his pit crew.
"Edmund, ready the Shinkiro. And what you can with the Senchineru."
If you want a fight Gideon, I'll give you one. But you don't know who you're dealing with.
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Next time you get a full on battle! It's gonna be great n' stuff.
Till next time!
