Ch 25.
The light blinded him, enough to make the young man close his eyes, before he once again opened them.
Lelouch had been in a chemical induced coma for a long time now, and as he slowly regained his strength and woke up from it, he noticed that he was alone and it was late at night.
Breathing heavily he turned his gaze towards a nearby remote, he used his to turn on the mounted on the wall tv.
What he saw nearly made him have a second heart attack.
Nunnally words about speeches and resolutions, the news how Suzaku and Euphy had established a series of treaties with the various governments of South America.
Insane actions like these ones he'd expect from Jeremiah, Dalton or Cornelia, but from Euphy and Nunnally?
Did they even realize how this all looked?
To outsiders it looked like Lelouch was restoring the old empire!
This was bad, very, very bad, at the current rate it was possible that the world would put their squabbling aside and unite once more against them!
"Could this be Schneizell's plan?" Lelouch wondered out loud as he closed his eyes and went to sleep, he'd deal with all this in the morning.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I want every single political, military and industrial leader that supported my sisters attempted coup to retire immediately and be replaced with a successor, and be confined for a period of 5 years minimum to house arrest. Those that agree, we'll allow them to keep their honors, privileges and pensions. Any opposition will be….must be dealt with accordingly." Lelouch said to Jeremiah, delegating to him the job of performing a 'clean up' operation within the Republic.
"Should we use the traditional methods my lord?"
"No deaths Jeremiah, and no 'accidents' either. We cannot restart the vicious cycle of revenge and counter-revenge once more. Break some bones if you have to, just don't dig any graves. And send for Millie and Rivalz after you leave." Lelouch said from his hospital bed.
The newly appointed Chief of the General Staff nodded and left the room.
Outside there was Luciano and Nonette.
"We are to conduct a light purge, abdications only, no casualties."
"The other countries might interpret this as weakness, it does not bold well for us if we don't bury a few bodies." Luciano said as Jeremiah gave him and his fellow rounds a list of leaders to be dealt with.
"His majesty disapproves of escalating the political conflict. Those that agree will be allowed to retire with honors and privileges intact, but his majesty only specified that we dig no graves….no details on other means." Jeremiah replied with a wolfish smile.
"So, we cripple a few, beat up more and kidnap and hold in a safe house a few here and there then. That should work. The crippling part is considered an even worse fate than death, so that might work even better for us t to acquire a ruthless reputation." Nonette said with a grin as she gave her list a once over.
"I must say that it's good to have a proper autocrat leading the country once more. Let the damn EU have their presidents, this is the land of kings! And now with a proper Emperor, the land will prosper once more." Luciano said with a grin.
"His majesty is the Prime Minister lord Bradley." Jeremiah said with a smirk that indicated the fact, that he did not believe his own words for a second.
"Of course he is Lord Gottwald, and we will continue to deny he is an Emperor every single time we are asked." Luciano said and the trio gave out a chuckle.
Centuries from now historians would point out that this moment would be the inspiration for the 'Oath of Silence'. A wow that all members of 'Lamperouge', the secret mafia like society that controls the Republic take when being initiated into the organization.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"When can parliament be reconvened for these proposals?" Lelouch asked as Rivals looked over the list of laws that his friend wanted to be enacted.
Laws that would limit the number of years, mandates and turns of officials both in government and the state.
Give a huge amount of power to the Supreme court, many regulations on companies, and so on and so forth.
In short if was the exact opposite of any dictatorial systems desire.
"It will take a week at best. But Lelouch, buddy, this will be a hard sell. This thing will strip a lot of power from our own powerbase and supporters." Rivalz cautioned his friend.
"Leave that to me Rivalz, they will vote for their own self weakening, I will se to that and I'll sell it so that the damned greedy, corrupt bastards will thank me for convincing them to cut of their right hand, using their left hand." Lelouch said with a smirk and quickly looked around, expecting to get another pie in the face.
Thankfully Kallen was not here at the moment.
So, Lelouch was confident that he could relax. At the very least he was sure that Rivalz and Millie hadn't pulled any insane stunts while he was in LALALAnd.
"So, I spoke with Lloyd and he said that some fresh air, and sunshine would be good for you. So we have a relaxing weekend for you….in Sochi." Millie said and immediately Lelouch looked at her with shock on his face.
"That….that is in Russia. Millie….Rivalz….why should I go to Russia?" Lelouch asked carefully.
"Because the Russians invited you there. And we replied that we would consider it."
"And why is that Rivalz?"
"Because the EU has opened the Dardanelles for ships of all nations within the EU…." Millie replied.
"Congratulations to the Russians then. They have just accomplished their 300 year old objective."
"…Excluding the Russian fleet from that list." Rivalz added and Lelouch was silent at that.
He starred at his two friends, the two friends that hew thought would be the last bastions. The only ones that did not do some kind of international idiocy.
"What is the opinion of Shirley and Kallen?" He asked.
"They got the jet ready, your go is what they are waiting for."
Lelouch closed his eyes at that. He had done it, he had corrupted his loved ones with his presence, by making them his lieutenants he had forced them to undertake drastic measures, imposed on them by their positions of power.
Power truly corrupted all.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
"So that's how I got on a plane to Russia. This is all madness, at this point we are nearing the point of no return. If I don't handle this delicately it will be us versus the Russian in a cold war for them to regain their prestige by fighting the current weakest international power. Or it will be us vs the EU for getting to chummy with Russia. Why…..why did you did not stop Euphy? You were sent there to smile for the cameras and kiss the heads of children, not to perform a Reconquista!"
"Can you stop Euphy if the becomes stubborn about something?"
Suzaku replied from the other end of the phone line.
At that Lelouch chuckled, and with that the two friends shared a bitter a laugh as they both tried to prevent this situation from blowing up, even more than it already has.
"So what's the plan?" Suzaku asked.
"It's an improve gig, just like at Dallas." Lelouch said as the pilot alerted him to the fact that they would be landing soon.
"One question before we got to hang up. That dream that you told us about, with the green haired woman. Did you take the contract or not take the contract?" Suzaku asked.
To which Lelouch only gave a ide smile trough the video call, and ended the transmission.
Welcome to Russia.