Yum num num. Dark chocolate is gooooood. Num. Num. ;P
Anyways, I've redone the battle scene in the last chapter, or rather actually typed it out this time, for all of you who wanted it. Sorry about that act of laziness on my part, but I really wanted to get that chapter up last week, but didn't have it in me to actually write the scene. So here it is, only a week late. And this time my chapter is only one day late, but that's because I spent yesterday writing and rewriting that stupid battle scene! Anyways, enjoy!
C.C. was officially bored. Marianne wasn't around...Where has that bitch been lately? She said she would 'see me soon' but I haven't heard a word from her. Lelouch was out. Nunnally was out. Sayoko was out. She wasn't hungry; the corpse of a once living pizza showed testament to that.
I am the Immortal Witch. And I'm holed up in a 17 year old's bedroom doing nothing.
C.C. looked outside the window. Lelouch was sitting in the main courtyard, typing on his laptop. Some students walked by, some girls were giggling, some birds were chirping...and the next thing that C.C. knew, she was wearing Lelouch's signature brown jacket and black pants, and making her way to him. Out of the corner of her eyes, C.C. saw a few girls pointing at her and whispering. No doubt they knew whose jacket she was wearing.
Lelouch seemed to preoccupied to notice. His nose was buried deep in his laptop, his slender pale fingers dancing across the keyboard. C.C. smirked. She could play this game. She sat on a stone bench behind a tree that was diagonal from Lelouch. From her place, she could see everything around him, but he could not see her. Not that he would have noticed her if she had pulled off his pants (the ones that he was wearing) and pranced around with them. Or done other stuff.
What? Other stuff? What other stuff, C.C.?
You're back. Where have you been?
Oh...around. Tee-hee. Like I said, you'll be seeing me soon.
C.C. decided to ignore Marianne's annoying little snide comments, and focused on Lelouch. The pro-terrorist girl, Kallen, had suddenly appeared from the shadows of the main hall. She seemed to hesitate, and then made her way to Lelouch.
Oh? Are you just going to let her take him, C.C.? You aren't ambitious enough! You can't just let some little noble girl prance off with him; Lelouch is young! He needs experience! And who better than you?
C.C. continued to ignore Marianne, and focused on Kallen and Lelouch. The red head seemed to be asking Lelouch a question, but Lelouch shook his head. Does she know that Lelouch is Zero? I need to find out what happened after his appearance.
Throwing caution to the wind, C.C. stood up and started twirl around the tree, placing her directly in Lelouch's line of sight. The prince finally noticed her, and quickly grasped Kallen.
Oh? Not quite the response I was looking for...but oh well!
Hahaha...C.C. look! One glimpse at your perfect body twirling in the sunlight, wearing his clothes, and Lelouch has to grip onto the nearest girl! Ahahaha!
Lelouch glared at C.C. from behind Kallen, and C.C. got the message. She smirked at him, gestured towards the top of the student hall, and took off.
"What are you doing?! Are you insane?!! Just strolling around like this?!" Lelouch had gripped C.C.'s wrist tightly, and dragged her away from the side of the balcony to keep people from seeing her.
C.C. was not impressed by his behavior. "It's fine as long as I stay in this school, isn't it? Don't speak to me strictly." She knew her blase tone was irritating Lelouch.
"You can't! You don't belong here!"
"I don't belong anywhere," C.C. responded in the same blase tone. She strolled over back to the side of the balcony. The cool white stone was rough to touch, but she knew that the inside consisted of soft chalk. Ahh...chalk...If you scratch it, it hurts; if you rub it, it becomes a fine powder. Speaking of rubbing, where was Marianne? That bitch had only appeared to tease and taunt C.C. for a couple of minutes, before disappearing once again. She seemed to be doing this on purpose, alluding to something that piqued C.C.'s interest only to disappear within the minute. Bitch. A sudden movement ahead caught her attention. "Heh? What's that girl doing?"
A short girl with choppy blue hair was scratching a mark into the side of the wall. C.C. sensed Geass.
"Oh. Is she doing it again, today?" Lelouch decided to let it rest for now, and strolled over to C.C., cutting his emotions off in one fine stroke.
"Again?"
"I used my Geass to have her mark the wall everyday."
"Geass?"
'Playing dumb are we?' Lelouch thought irritated. He continued in the same tone. "This power I have. I heard it when we made our contract."
C.C. smiled, faintly. So...he isn't as dense as I thought he was. "You're testing how long it lasts?"
"I need to know the specs of this weapon, don't I? Don't act too selfish, or else..."
"Do you think...it would work on me?" C.C. asked, innocently with a touch of faked fear. She grinned on the inside. Lelouch had lost control and let out a tiny impatient and exasperated grunt.
"Relax." She ordered, leaning back towards him, but not quite touching him. "You and I are accomplices. I won't do anything to endanger us."
Lelouch glared and grunted.
At the Britannian Base
"Your Highness! Are you alright?!" Nonette had pushed open the doors to the base, and briskly walked to Euphie's side. "Lord Weinberg! What were you thinking, place Her Highness in such danger?!"
Gino stood beside Euphie, quietly. He had not spoken to her since the helicopter had come to take them away. His trust had been betrayed and he wasn't too happy about it. Not to mention Nonette may be older and 'wiser', but he still held the higher rank as Knight of Three.
"I-"
"No, please! Lady Nonette, I ordered Lord Weinberg to accompany me to Shinjuku. I had wished to see the area myself! It wasn't his fault." Euphie pleaded.
Suddenly, Gino felt very pissed off. He was the higher in command here, so why was the princess pleading to Nonette? It's not like she can do anything to me.
He stood up straight and cut off Euphie. "Knight of Nine, you would do well to remember your place. Although I acknowledge your superior...age, I am the Knight of Three, personally knighted by His Majesty, the Emperor of Britannia. Whatever Princess Euphemia orders me to do, I will do so without question. Should Her Highness have any complaints, I'm sure she can handle it herself."
Nonette flinched, as though she had been bitch-slapped across the face. She quickly regained her composure, but her voice contained a gruffer undertone.
"I apologize, Your Highness, My Lord. But with the upcoming arrival of Princess and Viceroy Cornelia, we cannot afford to have Princes- er...Sub-Viceroy Euphemia come close to any harm. I will take my leave."
Stiffly, she bowed her head and walked off.
Oh shit...I went too far....Oh well!
Gino turned towards Euphie, to bow and take his leave as well. However, the taffy-haired girl stood quietly, staring at her shoes.
"Your Hig-"
"Gin-"
They stared at each other for a moment, before Gino burst out laughing and Euphie, timidly at first, joined in.
"Something you wanted, Sub-Viceroy?" Gino asked lazily, after finishing his chuckle.
"Oh...erm...I just wanted to say 'Thank you' for accompanying me today...I had a lot of fun!" Euphie responded. "And...I-I'm sorry for deceiving you! I just didn't want-"
"No, it's alright Your Highness. I understand." Gino interrupted her awkward apology, that would only lead to more awkwardness that was completely avoidable. "Although, compensation might cement your...apology."
Gino looked at Euphie, slyly. She stared back.
Gino winced. "No! Not that! No offense, Princess, but you have a dirty, dirty mind! I only wished to ask a favor of you."
Euphie smiled. "I'm sorry. Erm...What was it you wanted, Gino?"
"Well..."Gino replied. "I know I'm supposed to be here, you know, guarding the Viceroys and fighting the evil Elevens and all that....but....but I kind of want to go to school!"
"Go...back...to school?" Euphie drew out the words as though tasting them very carefully. She looked at him, almost wistfully. "Yes, yes. I can understand. I miss school as well. Don't worry, I'll have you sent to the best school here, and I'll make sure that Cornelia doesn't oppose this. As a matter of fact, I'll have anybody under the age of eighteen that works at the base sent to the best school in the Tokyo area!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Gino gave a mock salute. He preceded to saunter towards Anya's room to inform the taffy-head of this new development.
"But Gino-" Euphie called out. Gino stopped. "I want something in return."
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"Call me Euphie in private."
"Yes Ma'am, Miz Euphie!" Gino drawled in a strange accent, causing Euphie to giggle. He waved at her as he preceded to mosey about.
Back in Lelouch's Room
Lelouch's brown jacket, black turtleneck and pants lay on his bed. C.C.'s straitjacket was out of the wash, and she preceded to straighten it out.
"Lelouch?"
"Eh?" Lelouch had his back to her, and was as usual, typing on his laptop.
"Tell me what you know about your Geass so far."
"Why?" The prince paused in his typing.
"Because I want to know." C.C. opened the straitjacket and slowly placed her slender legs in first, half-hoping that the boy wonder would peek at some point and choke. You can hope, can't you? "And by seeing what you know, I can tell you anything that you don't."
"Hmph! Fine." Lelouch tried to appear uncaring and gruff, but his slight eagerness in his voice betrayed his pride at deducing many of the specs of this new found weapon. "To use my Geass, I have to have direct eye contact with the subject. Transparent objects, like eyeglasses, present no problem. Effective range is approximately 270 meters. It appears that the subject has no memory of events before, during, and after the Geass is used. I believe this is due to damage caused by the Geass interfering with the subject's cerebrum. And if it's an optical signal, I can reflect it as well."
C.C. was impressed. Out of her many contractees, none had learned so much about their powers in the span of time Lelouch had. "You've investigated it a lot, in the short time you've had," she remarked.
Lelouch stood up and strolled over to the window, where Sayoko had pushed Nunnally out to watch the setting sun. "My enemy is an empire that controls one-third of the world. There's no such thing as being too careful."
C.C. suddenly remembered something. Lelouch did not know that C.C. knew his ancestry. She must keep that facade up, or the boy would get suspicious. "I'd understand if you're an Eleven, but you're a Britannian, aren't you? This opponent may be too large and too powerful to fight with just a Geass."
Lelouch continued looking out the window. "Is it good to be strong? Is it bad to be weak? Back when I was ten, the world seemed like such a sad place. Starvation, disease, filth, corruption, discrimination, war, terrorism...the same cycle of hatred....repeating the same stupidity, again and again..."
His violet eyes grew misty in remembrance, but a steely glint and poker face told C.C. not to tease. She wouldn't have anyways. She was there. The filth that inhabited this world...Hmph. Disease is only one of many things that make people sick.
Lelouch continued," Someone has to break the cycle."
C.C. turned away. "How idealistic." As though you could do it.
"I'm not that arrogant," Lelouch seemed to read her thoughts. "And so I believe I can create a better world, a world without most of these afflictions."
"And to obtain such a favorable world..."C.C. couldn't believe she was even privy to this foolishness. "What would you do?"
"Simple." Lelouch suddenly stepped back from the window and moved over to his half-played chess battle. He moved his black knight to knock out the white king. "When somebody wins, the fighting stops."
"Somebody?" C.C. asked, rhetorically.
Lelouch gave a chilling grin. She's not that dense after all.
The next day at Ashford Academy...
"Class, as you know, Sub-Viceroy Euphemia has issued an order pertaining to any persons under the age of eighteen to come attend Ashford Academy. In our class, we our fortunate to have two new students, Knight of Three, Gino Weinberg, and Warrant Officer Suzaku Kururugi. Please do your best to welcome these two gentlemen."
Gino grinned. Girls swooned. This'll be fun.
Back at Base
Cornelia had arrived.
She didn't need her highly-efficient battalion of veterans, her modified troop of Gloucesters, her intimidating subordinates to announce this. You knew when Second Princess Cornelia li Britannia was here, and you better damn well get your ass straightened up if you wanted to live. It wasn't just the fact that she was the Emperor's daughter, that she wore combat outfits at all times, that she could man a Knightmare Frame better than 94% of all the capable knights in Britannia...No. Cornelia had that air of someone who knew that they could beat your ass and walk away with your willing woman (not that she would ever do such a thing, in public). She radiated menace, especially to those who were deemed 'useless'.
Right now such a useless person stood before her, announcing plans for a welcome party. A welcome party! Did these bluebloods have no sense of priority?!
She cocked her gun at him. Euphie gave a startled gasp and the blueblood flinched.
"Sloppy. Senile. Corrupt. Where is Zero? Capture the enemy of the Empire!"
Cornelia felt hate and anger wash over her, as memories of Clovis thrusted their way into her mind.
Suddenly, joyous laughter filled the room. "Your Highness!"
Cornelia gave an inward groan. Guh...Nonette...
And there you go! I know I had a two-part chapter last time, but this chapter is too long to be put into one. And the double chapter week, coming up on the week after next, is also going to be a two-part chapter. Oh, and I know that this chapter was a little dull, but there was enough excitement from the last chapter, not to mention that this is also a teaser chapter. So deal!
Mmm...it's been a while since I had sushi! And my sister just got me some, along with an onigiri ball and some sashimi! :P Num. Num. I'll get fat if I keep eating all this fatty fish. Need some lean fish, some avocado, some citrus, and some crushed herbal salts to make more healthy foods.
New poll. Regarding the future of Orange. You might want to check it out. After all, it's only Orange-kun we're talking about here. Don't forget to review and check out the battle scene from the last chapter!