The Kings Cometh 18: Illumination
It had been a little over a week since the Mexico Debacle and Rivalz was only just starting to feel like himself again. He was still confined to his hospital bed, frustratingly, but at least the aches of his bruises and broken bones had receded enough to ignore without the heavenly effects of painkillers. It would be a long time before he was back on his feet again though. He sometimes wished he could have just been shot like the rest of the injured ASEEC crew. It sure seemed like bullet wounds were easier to treat, especially when the worst off among them, besides those who died, was prancing about the hospital as if nothing had even happened.
It was early evening in Mexico City, and Rivalz had been allowed one phone call for the day by his nurse, a pleasant young Mexican Britannian woman who didn't seem to understand a word he said. It was only natural, Rivalz thought, after his bed was wheeled over to the public phone attached to the wall, that his one call should be to Milly Ashford.
"... Yeah, I'm doing good. I guess." It was the only thing Rivalz could say amidst Milly's rapid-fire interrogation.
"And what about Lloyd?" she continued to ask with quick precision, though the slightest hint of desperation was present in her tone. "Has his condition improved at all?"
"Well, there's sort of a funny story to that..."
Once all the damage to the eccentric noble was accounted for, those who were authorized to know his condition became acutely aware of how close to death he really was, even after emergency, life-saving surgeries were performed. Lloyd had been shot only one time, but the bullet passed at an angle, through his right lung and right out his chest. According to the doctors, a major artery, or some other rather important bodily part, had been severed as well. Even with all the skill and effort of Britannia's finest surgeons, the ASEEC Director was not guaranteed to survive, the likelihood going down dramatically as time went on. And yet, somehow...
"Are you speaking with my darling wife, Intern-Boy?" Lloyd popped his head in through the door to the hospital room dedicated to his staff injured by Debrillo's mercenaries. He went without his glasses, and as he stepped fully into the polished, sanitized white chamber, the only article of clothing upon him, a blue hospital gown, came into view. He plucked the phone cheekily from Rivalz's hand, (his good right), and set the device against his ear with a grin. "Hello~!"
"Lloyd!? Is that you?!" Lloyd had to pull the receiver away at his wife's shocked outburst. With a grimace he put the speaker to his mouth once more but kept the earpiece far from him.
"In the flesh! And despite it not being visible on the outside, in the circuitry as well - still more flesh than metal bits though, luckily."
"Circuitry?"
"Ah, that's a splendidly sordid story! Or so Rivalz and the docs tell me. I was completely put under at the time and missed the whole bleedin' thing!" There was a shuffle of footsteps from outside the door and Lloyd scrunched his face in dismay. "Sorry to cut this short, Dearest, but I have to keep moving. Wouldn't want those overworried ninnies to get hold of me, would we?"
With that, the mad scientist tossed the phone back to Rivalz, who missed catching it, allowing the hard plastic to knock against his left arm's cast painfully, and scrambled out the door and down the hall, quickly pursued by several white-coated men and women pleaing for him to go back to his own room for recovery. Once again alone, Rivalz gingerly picked up the phone with his right hand and placed it against his ear.
"So... Like I said, it's kind of a funny story..."
LLLLLLLLLLLL
Even with the nation at peace, Cornelia was very busy as Britannia's Secretary of State for Defense.
As per Lelouch's Imperial Decree the Empire's military had become the subject of massive reform, limited not just to the introduction of the Vincent Terrier, a smaller and less armoured version of the Vincent Ward intended to act as scouts and quick deploying suppression, but also to the personnel that made up the organization as a whole.
For too long the Imperial Army had acted as Charles' own personal cudgel to enforce his policy of discrimination, and even with his death it remained committed to the tradition of institutionalized racism. Now that all peoples within Britannia's borders were considered full citizens, the army was beginning to swell with new recruits, former Numbers previously denied the right to join up, resulting in a greater diversity than ever seen before, and a subsequently huge backlash of race-related violence in response.
So it was, according to Lelouch's design and approved by Prime Minister Clovis, that Cornelia was given carte blanche to resolve the matter and restore discipline at any cost. Without delay she imposed vastly stricter moral standards upon the Britannian armed forces and equally harsh penalties for those who stepped out of line. A rigourous vetting process was also intituted to prevent any further contamination from the dogma of Charles zi Britannia.
Within the first week of enforcing Cornelia's new policies public hangings for insubordination and incompetence rose almost 1000%, after which the number quickly dropped back within acceptable ranges. The majority of those executed were not even enlisted men as one would expect, but officers still clinging to the old ways, overprivileged obstructionists all. Though legitimately intended for the benefit of the military as a whole, the new standards provided an expedient excuse to dispose of some of the most diehard Charles supporters in one fell swoop. Weeding out undesirable elements and reestablishing order had never been so easy. Just as planned.
Perhaps it was because of how busy Cornelia happened to be that Euphemia welcomed her sister's suggestion to spend some quality time together. The number of times they'd bonded as sisters since the war ended was far too small for either of their liking.
They planned to start their evening by meeting in the dining room for dinner after a long day's work, signing forms and generally scaring the crap out of generals who dared question her, in the elder sister's case, and enduring long hours studying under a private tutor and missing Suzaku, for the younger, and at the appropriate time Euphemia ventured her way through the palace's gilded corridors and into the gold-lighted hall. Crowds of happy family and friends stood about the grand room, laughing and conversing with each other while they waited for their meals to be served, and they offered genuine greetings to the princess as she arrived. She sighted Nunnally and Rolo, who sat away from the main throngs, their hands linked together as they chatted with Sayoko, Clovis and Kaguya, and sighed. They were really cute together, and it made the Pink Princess wish Suzaku was around all the more. Sadly, her boyfriend wasn't coming to dinner this night. Lelouch had cramped himself up in his office and demanded both Suzaku and Jeremiah be there, probably to go over plans for the next Codehunt. She still didn't quite get this whole Geass thing or how the multiple steps of the Codebreaker plan fit together, but so long as Lelouch was in charge, Euphemia had no doubt that everything would come together in the end.
"Euphy, there you are." Cornelia's warm voice got Euphemia's attention. "I could scarcely pick you out from the crowd. The chefs must have something special planned with tonight's turnout."
Euphemia raised her arms as her sister approached, and when she was in range, wrapped them around her in a tight hug.
"You work too much, Sister," she laughed happily. "You should at least have time to check the daily menu!"
Cornelia returned Euphemia's embrace and couldn't help but let out a laugh of her own.
"But then there would be no surprise!"
They let go of each other and stepped toward their favourite table, but found early arrivals had already taken their seats.
There was little in the way of official seating in the new Imperial Palace dining hall. Lelouch had demanded it be so, hoping the lack of formality would encourage camaraderie within his court and undermine the differences between rank and race. Of course, there was always a spot reserved for himself, though he rarely used it, and for formal occasions seating was dictated by the event organizer. Still, everyone had their own favourite tables, and it seemed this time the li Britannia sisters had come too late in the evening to occupy theirs.
In one silk cushioned chair was the rosy-cheeked, rotund old mayor of Pendragon, chatting away with Earl Stadtfeld beside him, and six other nobles and dignitaries listening from their own places around the table.
Cornelia harrumphed, and was about to evict the two when Euphemia, from behind, tapped her upon the shoulder.
"Sister," she began cheerfully, waiting for Cornelia to turn back before continuing. "I had the most wonderful idea."
"Oh?" The elder woman tilted her head in curiousity, the motion signalling her sister to continue.
"Why don't we do something out of the ordinary tonight?"
Not more than an hour later, a bored cashier at a Pendragon Pizza Hut found himself ringing up an order for the strangest pair of customers he'd ever seen. Two women wearing ballcaps, goofy sunglasses and long, stylish (but not suspiciously expensive-looking) coats stood before him, turning their heads back and forth as if they were afraid someone might be watching them. The cashier thought they might be right in their paranoia. Beneath their hats one of the two had pink hair, while the other's was purple, and at any moment they might be mistaken for the li Britannia princesses and mobbed by fanboys. Or fangirls. It must've been difficult sharing the likeness of such well-known figures.
After placing their order at the counter, Euphemia and Cornelia sat themselves down at a small table by the entrance, the waiting place for take-out orders. It wasn't even late night yet, but the sky outside was black with glimmers of stars loitering about its surface. It was December, but no snow had formed in Britannia's capital city, situated as it was so south and close to the Pacific. As such, other customers sat outside at tables on the restaurant's patio, enjoying the unique experience of slightly chilled wind upon their skin and warm food in their hands.
Euphemia beamed at her sister from across their table.
"This is so much better than the palace. It's quieter here, and it's nice to not have to keep up appearances."
"Wasn't this something you and Kururugi were planning on doing together?" Cornelia asked quietly, trying not to let anyone hear her drop such an important name. At the mention of Suzaku, Euphemia's face fell, but her smile returned to her quickly enough.
"Yes, that was the plan." She nodded to herself before continuing. "He promised we could go on a date together, just like what we're doing now. Things came up though-" her left eye twitched behind her sunglasses, "-so we'll just do it later. Rescheduling isn't the same as cancelling, after all."
Cornelia let a confident smile slide onto her face.
"Would it have anything to do with 'geis?'"
Euphemia turned her head away so her sister couldn't see her sudden anxiety. Lelouch had warned her Cornelia was not allowed to learn of Geass, at least until he was certain she wouldn't launch a witchhunt and start by burning him at the stake.
"'Geass?' What's that?" Euphemia's voice was hesitant, and she cringed at the obviousness of her lie. Cornelia's smile grew.
"You can drop the act, Euphy. 'Geis' is an old Irish term. I looked it up. But you automatically corrected to 'Geass' so it's clear they're two separate concepts and you are familiar with the latter." Cornelia didn't speak angrily, nor even sternly, but instead used a tone of excitement, reflective of the victory she felt she'd won. For the first time, she'd finally backed someone into a corner so they had to explain the truth of the increasingly strange behaviours and events surrounding Lelouch. Euphemia turned her head back to face Cornelia as her mouth half opened into a crooked look of panic.
"Sister, what are you talking about?" She tried to regain her previous composure but failed, her panicked frown merely turning upside down into a panicked grin. "'Geis,' 'Geass,' they sound almost the same. I must have misheard you."
"You were in Lelouch's office a few days ago," Cornelia began laying out her case. "I overheard you both mention something called 'Geass.' You were asking for one, so don't tell me you don't know what it is."
Cornelia finally let her smug expression drop away, leaving behind the face of ruthless efficiency she was famous for.
"I want answers. First Lelouch starts randomly travelling, with explanations for each trip that don't match up, then when I confront him about it he starts getting defensive and throwing me off his trail as if he has something to hide. Now I learn there's something he gave you called 'Geass.' That's it, isn't it? This 'Geass' is the reason for all the commotion? Tell me now, Euphy. What is it? What is Geass!?"
Her question was almost a shout as her temper came up to a boil. There were a few customers waiting in line to place orders of their own and they turned their heads back to get a peek at the Cornelia look-alike losing her mind. Cornelia barely paid them any heed, though did make a mental note to keep her voice down while they were still in public. Euphemia couldn't help but shiver at being on the receiving end of her sister's wrath, but breathed deep and gave a cautious response.
"Promise me you won't be upset if I tell you?"
"FINALLY!" Cornelia slapped her hands down onto the table in triumph. "Don't worry, I promise not to get upset. Now, what is Geass?"
"Geass is... I don't really know."
"You... You can't be serious."
The Pink Princess nodded solemnly.
"It's really hard to wrap your head around. I only know the basics. Like... Don't be surprised."
Euphemia swept her vision across the other people in the restaurant, and when she was sure no one was looking, lowered her sunglasses just enough for her sister to see her eyes. The left seemed to light up with red.
No sooner had she done so did Cornelia begin to feel very different. The worries of the day seemed to melt away from her, and the pressing need for answers on Geass went with them. Her body felt lighter, her breath quicker and easier. She felt calm, as if she had not a care in the world; at peace.
Euphemia's eye stopped glowing and she pushed up her sunglasses once more, Cornelia's bliss fading as abruptly as it had come.
"I don't know much about Geass," Euphemia whispered to her sister, who shook her head as if coming out of a daze. "But I do know it's something like magic, and anybody who has one can do something different. I call mine Absolute Serenity."
Cornelia bent her head in confusion.
'Magic?' she thought to herself in a befuddled stupour. 'Well that's just... That would mean...'
At last she spoke.
"Ridiculous! Who could possibly believe in such fairytales?"
Euphemia shrugged, relieved at Cornelia's (at least somewhat) retrained reaction. There was silence between them for several long minutes until the cashier from before came out from behind his counter to present their order of four large pepperoni pizzas. It would be enough to share between themselves and still have extras for Lelouch and his knights to enjoy while they worked in his office together.
As the princesses left the Pizza Hut and made their way to the limo they'd hidden a few blocks away, a cheerful conversation started up. Geass and conspiracies did not come up again. Still, in the back of Cornelia's mind the thought still loomed. Geass was some kind of magic? Such a notion was unthinkably silly. Yet, if she thought back over the years, the presence of magic made a few of the odder situations she'd borne witness to almost explainable.
LLLLLLLLLLLL
It was a rare event for Clovis to work in the evening, rarer still for him to do so after spending a lovely dinner with Nunnally and her entourage. Normally he wouldn't be able to muster up the concentration to get back at it so quickly, after all, there was always tomorrow, and it wasn't like he slacked off when he was on the job. He had also recently noticed since becoming Prime Minister, he hadn't had a single vacation day. Here he was, slaving away at a desk or bothering with uppity nobles, while Lelouch went on magnificent journeys across the Empire and beyond! Granted, those journeys involved corralling almost certainly unhinged immortals who, with a mere touch, could shatter your sanity with images of mind-bending horror best not even left to imagination. They were hardly flights of fancy, but it irked the Third Prince all the same.
It was only because Kaguya offered to come help that Clovis even entertained the thought of another second cooped up in his luxurious office, larger and more lavishly furnished than most Britannians' entire homes. The reason for the extra work happened to, once again, relate to Lelouch, or rather, the mess he'd made for his Prime Minister to clean up. Since the mostly covered up assassination of one Duarte Debrillo, and the subsequent investigation into his company, the Britannian military happened to be in the unenviable position of having to find a new primary supplier of arms and other necessary equipment. While there were other firms already in trade agreements with the Crown to pick up the slack, no single one among them had the financial clout to pick up where Lanza de Plata had left off.
The Prime Minister's Office was situated at a far end of the administrative section of the new Imperial Palace, on the second floor with the rest of the semi-public wings of Britannia's executive governmental headquarters. The office, if it could even be called such a thing, seemed more like a hotel's most expensive penthouse suite, with cushy lounge chairs arranged in circular formations all about, in case Clovis should need to host many guests at once for private talks, whether they be politicians, nobles, or otherwise. Additionally, a small patch of floor at the center of the room was depressed slightly, with a pool table at its center and two long chesterfields overlooking it from either side. This, Clovis claimed, was to put political adversaries meeting with him at ease. Whether he'd ever used it for such a purpose was quite unlikely however. Bookshelfs lined every wall and tall windows peeked out from between them along two sides. Finally, there were three desks in the room, each almost four meters long and fashioned from mahogany with edging of burnished silver. Clovis sat at one of the desks with a computer in front of him and a stack of papers to his either side.
"Isn't this Cornelia's problem anyway?" Clovis muttered to himself as he finished looking over a sheet and set it down to his right, moving to pull a fresh one from his left.
"You tell me," Kaguya sat at a desk of her own, going through the same boring steps as the prince. "You're the bigwig between the two of us, aren't you?"
Clovis rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"Yes, it is her job. Why we have to do it is beyond me."
"Forgotten already?"
"No, I haven't forgotten."
"Are you sure?"
Clovis stopped his work and looked up at the Japanese princess, snickering away to herself as she made a few notes on a paper then set it aside.
"Yes, I'm sure! Taken verbatim from the First Imperial Edict of King Henry IX, Article V, Subsection D: 'In the event that a minister of His Royal Court becomes overburdened due to the aforementioned factors-' What? What's so funny?"
Kaguya's snickers had grown into full-bodied laughter and she held her arms over her stomach as she tried to catch her breath.
"It's nothing," she coughed out between rounds of giggles. "Its... Hahaha! It's just weird seeing you act so responsible!"
As Kaguya tried, and failed, to get control of herself, Clovis blinked a few times in surprise.
"I'll have you know I'm very responsible."
"Yeah, sure."
"Really!"
"Okay, if you say so, Responsible-san."
Clovis got up from his chair and crossed his arms as he sat himself down instead on a clear patch of his desk.
"I do say so. Now, ask me anything."
Kaguya's laughter had finally quieted down and she mimicked the prince, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.
"Why?"
"I will answer any question you have, succinctly, properly, and thereby prove how indelibly responsible I happen to be. Now, go on. Ask, and I shall answer."
Kaguya cocked an eyebrow at Clovis and moved one hand to place it under her chin, as if engaging in deep thought.
"Okay, Responsible-san, I've got a question for you." She spoke with absolute certainty, and her smile never wavered from her face. "What do you know about love?"
Clovis turned his head to stare at the ceiling as a reverent look fell upon his face.
"Ah, love," he said softly. "You happen to be speaking to a love expert, my dear Kaguya! I've been in love many, many times. It usually only lasts 'til morning though."
"Ew!" Once again Kaguya began to laugh only for Clovis raise a hand so he could continue cheerily.
"My crude beginning of an anecdote does actually serve a purpose, you know. Love is a transient thing; very easy to acquire, and also very easy to misplace, if, of course, it was in fact love you had to begin with. On the more profound side, one can desire love, stumble upon love, fall in love, grow to love, be enchanted by love, or even fabricate love. Figuring out which you've got your hands on isn't all that important, but that won't stop a person from spending long hours in bed pondering over it."
Kaguya listened intently to Clovis's words, comparing his thoughts on the matter to her own. It seemed like he was only just getting started too when his phone went off. He pulled it from his pocket and set it against his ear warily.
"... You couldn't just come say hello in person...? What's the big rush...? Very well, just give me a moment, no need to shout... I don't see why... Okay! Fine!"
As he ended the call and returned the device to his pocket, Clovis stood up from the desk he was sitting upon and headed for the door.
"Who was that?" Kaguya asked in bewilderment. Clovis merely shrugged and gave a wink.
"Sorry, dear, it's top secret."
LLLLLLLLLLLL
The evening news had just started when Diethard popped in to his station's breakroom for his nightly meeting with Milly. The woman was dead set on figuring out the truth behind why Lloyd was hurt, and after their first discussion the two had made it a daily event to work out the details together.
"Looks like you're already hard at it," the former Black Knight said encouragingly. Milly sat in front of a large table, splotched with black stains from spilled coffee, and gave a tired grin.
"Yep. We're on to something, I know it."
Before her, laid out all over the table, were piles of recent newspapers, each opened to a page that detailed Lelouch's activities.
From the start they both knew Lloyd's injury had nothing to do with knightmare testing, more likely it was related to the arrest of Duarte Debrillo. Among the tidbits of information gathered on that matter, it was confirmed there were two knightmare battles, one involving the local police and one involving Suzaku Kururugi himself. That would explain why Lloyd was there, to provide the Lancelot Albion for the knight's use. He could have been hurt by the enemies Suzaku was fighting. That made enough sense. But why would Lelouch lie about it? That was the most important thing, the reason why Milly suspected the rest of his story was false as well. If they were all there to arrest someone and it turned ugly, why say their goal was to test KMFs even after the situation was resolved?
Because Lelouch was trying to hide something. The testing was a lie to cover up the true reason for being there. The arrest was another layer of lies to cover up the true reason for being there. There had to be something going on behind the scenes.
"Diethard, you'll never believe the good news I got today," Milly started up as her superior newscaster took a seat beside her. "Lloyd's okay! He spoke with me on the phone this afternoon!"
"Well, that is good news! Did he say anything that could help us with our private investigation?"
Milly crossed her arms in mock pouting.
"Not really. Rivalz had something to say, but it didn't really explain anything either. Oh, Rivalz and I went to high school together. He's earning MEC working with ASEEC. He said some shady guys showed up at the hospital and were the ones to give Lloyd surgery. He said they called themselves something like 'Code R.' Weird right?"
Diethard laid an elbow on the table and set his hand to his chin in contemplation.
"'Code R...' It sounds like the name of a plan, not an organization. Do you have any idea who sent them? If we could find that out, then maybe-"
"Diethard," came a man's voice from the entrance to the news station's breakroom. In a uniform of the darkest violet with trim of shining gold thread, was Jeremiah Gottwald, metallic orange tie at his throat and orange cape over his shoulders bearing a modified coat of arms of the House of Gottwald. Beside him in full Knight of One military dress, plus a black patch over his left eye, was Suzaku Kururugi. They didn't seem like they were there for social reasons.
"His Majesty wishes to speak with you," Suzaku stated seriously. "Your compliance is mandatory."
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
It was around 8 o'clock in the evening when a call came through on Lelouch's cellphone. The Emperor sat in his office with Jeremiah and Suzaku both present, discussing plans for a final sortie, to wrap up Codebreaker once and for all.
"Zero, what do you need?"
"Lelouch, we have a problem..."
Within seconds, as Zero told of his plight, Lelouch's face crinkled in dismay, finally ending in a grotesque mask of surprise, of outrage, of fear.
"Lelouch? Hey, are you still there?"
The Britannian Emperor hung up, dropped his phone down in front of him and took a deep breath.
"What was that all about?" asked Suzaku, exchanging a worried glance with Jeremiah as their king set his elbows onto his desk and steepled his fingers before his face.
"Diethard..."
Jeremiah and Suzaku exchanged another glance.
"E-excuse me, Sire?"
Lelouch nodded to himself as he began a reply, a disconcertingly low and rambling thing.
"I need Diethard, get me Diethard, get me Diethard NOW!"
Jeremiah and Suzaku didn't wait for further orders, instead practically falling over themselves trying to be the first one out the door.
Lelouch's hands, still clenched together, shook as he tried to calm himself down. He tapped his foot against the floor and took a few more deep breaths. His eyes shot back down to his phone and he plucked it up, typing in a number and shoving the small machine against his head.
"Clovis, we need to talk... I'm in my office. Get over here now...! THERE'S NO BLOODY TIME...! And don't speak to anyone until you arrive... DAMMIT, CLOVIS...!"
Once he had Clovis's commitment, Lelouch ended the call and started on another.
"Lelouch? This is kind of a bad time."
"C.C., abort the mission."
"What? Are you crazy? The last Thought Elevator is way out in the boonies and we just got ourselves a guide. You want us to quit now?"
"The plan can wait. Return to Britannia immediately! Abort! I repeat: Abort mission and return to Britannia! Hurry!"
With a click, Lelouch hung up and put down his phone. This was unexpected. No, not unexpected, completely out of the blue. The Black Knights were betrayed by Chinese Federation forces? Tricked by Xingke, a former Black Knight himself? This didn't make sense, nor was it likely that nothing would come of it. Sorting through the possible results of the betrayal and the possible counter-measures, Lelouch could only see things going downhill from here. Plans for the worst-case scenario would be needed.
LLLLLLLLLLLL