Code Shugo Geass Chara: Amulettia of the Revival
By: Ame Haru
Move 26: Heaven
'What the hell are you doing, Alister…'
Ikuto groaned as he stared at the blank ceiling. He'd been doing this for a couple hours now, as he could tell by the hands of the clock on the opposite wall, even though it seemed like he was only in bed for a couple of minutes. Perhaps it was the insomnia that he developed as a young child when he was training to become "Rikuto Alister", the "Protector of the Famous Ruler", as he was supposed to be ready to defend this "ruler" at any given moment.
Coincidentally, this ultimate ruler had her body wrapped around him like a small child does their teddy bear. Yet, Amulettia had no idea that he had been awake all this time, probably too tired from the day's events to notice. Hell, she was probably tired from the events in her life. And 'hell' didn't even start to explain how difficult Amulettia's life had been these past 6 years.
From being kidnapped by Mao, having her Shugo Chara hidden away from her, having refrain in such a close proximity to herself when she had only begun recovering, and to top it all off, having to deal with both her fiancé and best friend undergo a traumatic breakdown while Mao had been killed, it was a miracle that she hadn't passed out sooner.
And even though she was exhausted, she didn't let her growing curiosity from being known about what Mao had said to let the "calm-headed" Tsukiyomi Ikuto go into such a fit of hysteria. Even so, she never asked him any direct questions about it, much to his surprise. Perhaps she thought it was kind not to ask right away. It was actually becoming more of a burden now that she knew there was a hidden part of his past that she hadn't learned.
Groaning again, he began tugging on his ebony hair with one of his hands, as a way to inflict pain on himself. If only he hadn't let that silver haired witch lover bother him. Of course nothing Mao had said was true, he just liked messing with people's heads. But he had to bring Amu into that lie. That's what enraged him the most. Ever since the day he met Amu, even as a princess of the Britannian Empire, she absolutely dazzled him. There was nothing less than a strong magnetic attraction towards her, which had only grown exponentially with the amount of time he had spent with her.
As one hand was tangled in his hair, the other was swimming through the cascading, sakura coloured river that was Amulettia's hair. Most of it wrapped around her body like a blanket, while the shorter layers curled around her jaw line. How she was able to sleep perfectly fine without suffocating herself in the process was beyond him. Actually, now that he thought about it, a clone or two must have died this way. Especially the clones that were male before meeting Dia's Geass.
And the longer she slept beside him, the more it seemed that her hair was trying to strangle him as well. Her body was already wrapped around him like a python, so it was only a matter of time before he was devoured, but not in the sense that would fill his perverted fantasies. Even in immediate danger though, his fingers would leave the safety of the Sakura River to graze her soft skin, her body flinching every so often whenever his fingers streaked across her ear or her elbow or any other weak spot of hers. Her feet also seemed to twitch every time he touched the nape of her neck, moving his kneecap every time she did. Only irritating part of the princess' unconscious desire of him was that her cheek was creating a red circle on his chest, as her head was the only thing not moving as she slept.
If only she were this serene all the time.
But serene was the last thing he wanted Amu to be. Especially not after what happened at the academy, when he discovered a serene Amu dangling above the electrified refrain. Especially not after the first time he met Amu, serenely looking down into her mother's grave. And especially not after what happened 5 years ago, when the Britannian Royal Army attacked, when a serene Amu lay at his feet in that damp dark cave, dark ruby liquid oozing from the hole in her heart.
"Ikuto?"
'Crap.'
What he should have done was shut his eyes and pretend to be asleep. What he should have done was get up the moment he found himself in bed with Amu. What he should have done was stay hidden like the unlucky stray cat that he was.
But when his gaze connected with Amu's twinkling amethyst eyes, all he could think of was a clear night sky with shooting stars as the only source of light; the dark circles that had developed around her eyes almost made him believe it was so. Most of the colour from her usually glowing skin had been drained, her cheeks looking hollow. He barely even noticed his thumb stroking the corner of her mouth. Her lips were slightly parted, dried with dried up blood in the cracks.
"Bad dream?"
"Something like that."
"Like what exactly?"
Her gaze was more focused now – he perked her interest without any conscious effort. It was his fault. He knew of her inquisitive nature, and yet he still continued with his abstract way of speaking. Not like he could be more straight-forward about certain types of things.
"Like all the fish disappearing from the world…" he said, averting his eyes before her star-like eyes burned out his retinas. He removed his arm from under her head and turned his back to the pink haired princess. But he could feel her gaze turn into murderous glare, jabbing him in between his shoulder blades.
When they say curiosity killed the cat, they probably didn't mean the curiosity of the fourth princess killing her feline knight.
"It's about Mao, isn't it?"
He tried not to flinch, but Mao's ghost like complexion and geass red eyes came popping back at him.
"Shouldn't you be executed for the death of the fourth princess?!"
"You even rearranged her memories so she believed that you had died instead of her!"
"IT IS ISN'T IT!"
The sudden force of his raised shoulder hitting the spring mattress shocked him out of his delusion. Amu sat on top of his stomach, her calves on either side of his hips, her hands gripping his shoulders. Her hair split in two, cascading down like a waterfall, pooling around his head where the strands surpassed the length of her arms. A shadow was cast across her face, but the dim light still managed to catch to make her eyes twinkle.
"You know, you're coming on too strongly… If you wanted to mess around-"
"STOP MESSING AROUND!" One of the cracks on her bottom lip had reopened and was dripping blood onto his bare chest. Her glaring eyes were enough of a warning for him not to reach up and touch the source of the blood.
"The last time you hid something from me, you ended up being brainwashed by your stepfather, doing everything you wanted to avoid and almost killing yourself in the process! Now, with whatever the hell Mao said to you today, it almost seemed like history was going to be repeating itself!"
Tears were staring to mix with the blood. Ikuto pushed himself upward, embracing Amu in his arms, one hand tangled once again in her hair, the other on the small of her back. Her arms found their way around the back of his neck, crossing on top of each other. Her cheek pressed against his; how did they get so hollow, he wondered.
"I'd never die. Not when there's even a snowball's chance in hell that you are alive." He mumbled softly into her ear.
"It's because I'm always protecting you." Amu scoffed, chocking on her own tears.
No. That's not what he meant.
"Yes, though it is supposed to be my turn protecting you, my princess."
Her body jerked at the word "princess". He had forgotten that she was trying to keep this a secret from him. But he tried not to notice the effect it had on her, but the way the amethyst swirled in her eyes was just too mesmerizing.
Her thoughts were becoming all jumbled up. Should she tell him? Should she not? What if he already knew? What if he didn't? He seemed to hate Britannia, so he would hate her, right? If anything she could try to convince him that she could be a double agent, try to pass herself as Euphemia or one of the other pink haired princesses. What if this has nothing to do with Britannia? Surely he calls all the girls he's been with princess.
At this, Ikuto snorted out a laugh. He just buried his face into her neck, chuckling at something he shouldn't be.
"What's so funny?!" Amu yelled, angry yet again, but it only made him laugh even louder.
"You get so worked up over the tiniest things." He muttered between snickers. He felt her cheeks inflate against his ear; he couldn't tell if it was her cheeks or his ears that were heating up. Perhaps they both were turning red.
"Because you say misleading things!"
"I'm not misleading." He muttered, even quieter now that he had stopped laughing, although a smile was still imprinted on his face.
"Because I love you, I'll hold you in the highest regard, my princess. No one will come before you, not even myself. Even if God himself were to come face-to-face with me, you'd still be the one I hold my faith in."
"Wh-what are you saying!?" Amu stuttered, "Are you trying to make me an idol of your perverted religion?!"
"If loving you makes me religious, I must be like Saint Peter…"
"As if someone like you would be a s-"
But Ikuto barely even bumped his nose with her when she stopped herself midsentence. Her entire face was now cherry red. Even her hair was turning red. She was holding her breath, her eyes softening, her eyelids becoming even closer to staying shut every time she blinked. And with every blink, the urge to kiss her grew even harder to ignore.
He should have shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep. He should have gotten up the moment he found himself in bed with his princess. He should have stayed hidden like the unlucky stray cat that he was.
"You're right. I'm no saint…" Ikuto said, "because if you're God, then I'm Lucifer, because my greatest sin is loving -"
But it was Amu who cut him off, her eyes closed, her lips cutting into his, the saltiness of her blood glazing his tongue. Although they argued often, rather Amu yelling at him while he teased her, whenever they came together like this, it's like every hole of insecurity and doubt was filled with the love from the other. It was so cheesy and clichéd that not even a shoujo manga artist wouldn't write down their love story on paper.
"If love makes you a sinner, then we're both doomed to hell." Amu whispered.
"Really? Because this feels like heaven to me."
~コードしゅごギアスキャラ：アムレッティアのリヴァイヴァル~
"Oi, Tsukiyomi Ikuto, what the hell are you doing." Amu said as she nudged her feline fiancé's shoulder. He had one arm stretched out and hung over the edge of the bed. The other twisted under and around her, his hand comfortably lying over Amulettia's hip. Ikuto had fallen back asleep during their make-out session break, a session that shouldn't have happened in the first place. But there was something about Ikuto belittling himself that made her just want to kiss him. Was she sadistic? Empathic?
But she wanted to get some straight answers from him, but all that ended up happening was her being pressed down against his (naked) chest and touching (kissing) his (soft) lips. In all honesty, she knew she had already lost when they made eye contact. She always gets speechless when his dark sapphire eyes meet her plain mauve.
She thought back of when she and Suzaku ran into the chapel. The dark sapphire had no shine to them then; she could've sworn they were as black as Death Rebel.
Death Rebel was Ikuto's Character Transformation when he was forced to fight for Easter. His violin was corrupt with X Egg energy, making him lose himself. Once, under the influence, he almost killed her. He was able to transform his corrupt violin into a scythe. She could still remember how the scythe shone in the moonlight, while his face held no emotion at all. He might as well have been a marionette doll.
Back at the chapel, he held the same expression on his face when he held the knife over his head. She thought he had turned back into Death Rebel. He didn't have his violin, nor did she feel any dark energy around them. Although, she might have gained immunity to the sensation; most of Area 11 was surrounded in dark energy to begin with.
But then when he processed that it was her instead of Mao, the moment of him dropping the knife, she could have sworn he saw her, but a different version of her. Maybe he remembered the time while he was Death Rebel, and the feeling just overwhelmed him.
No, it was different. But how? What could have made Ikuto that horribly stricken with grief that he lost all control of his motor movements? Nothing he did as Death Rebel should have triggered that kind of reaction.
But Mao knew something in Ikuto's memory that would trigger that reaction. Ikuto was currently 24 years old, and Amu was barely at his side for more than 2 years straight. There could've been a point where Mao was able to read Ikuto's mind because Ikuto didn't know Mao had Geass.
Luckily, Mao didn't have the blue geass, so he had to speak out loud, meaning Lelouch was able to hear every stupid, insignificant lie Mao was sprouting in the chapel. But even in the midst of a crisis, Lelouch was able to turn his usual linear train of thought into an unreadable mess. Well, better late than never.
Thinking about Mao, the next stop was C.C. She killed Mao barely 24 hours ago. Hopefully she was coping alright. She was strong willed, but she basically raised Mao like a mother would their child. She did the same thing for Amu when she gave her the power of geass.
After the invasion on Japan, C.C. took Amulettia to Australia, where she met a much nicer Mao than the present day one. He helped her understand the basics of her geass, at least Miki's because it was the same as his. And because of this bond, the two of them had grown extremely close, even to extent of Amu calling him "Onii-chan" because she never had one before.
Months passed and Amulettia was able to control her geass without as much struggle as before. Struggling, but not as much as before. And the more control she gained over her geass, the more jealous Mao got of her; he was never able to turn off his geass, while her Shugo Chara just had to be fifty feet away from her or any of her clones.
It was a year after meeting Mao that he tried killing her. C.C. was beginning to see more potential in Amulettia than Mao, even though Mao had perfected his geass while Amu could barely control the Red and Blue geass, let alone the yellow and green, with which see couldn't even tell what effect happened when she used them. Seeing Amulettia as a threat, Mao managed to go into town and take a gun, bring it back without pulling the trigger on himself. Luckily, C.C. was close by and saw Mao pressing the barrel of the gun to her forehead. All it took was a cold glare from C.C. and Mao was frozen in place. In the same instant, C.C. took Amu by the arm and flew the both of them back to Japan. Even though it should have been completely obvious of where they would be headed, it took Mao four years to meet them again.
Coincidentally enough, not even a year back, Amulettia came across Lelouch in Ashford's middle school uniform, taking the train with Rivalz, probably going to scam a rich Britannian man in a game of chess for fun. That's how C.C. had gotten the idea to give geass to Lelouch in the first place. She could see that he was bored and he'd be able to but all his effort into her plan if she just fulfilled his wish. Although the plan didn't bother her, in the back of her mind, she thought C.C. would end up replacing her with Lelouch, like she replaced Mao. But the fear was so miniscule that Mao didn't even try and use it as a threat towards her. Well, miniscule compared to Mao's fear of being replace.
Ikuto stirred in his sleep. He rolled over to his side, tugging Amu closer to him if that was even possible and laid his head on top of hers so that all she could see was the nape of his neck and a corner of the pure white pillow they slept upon.
Even if C.C. replaced her with Lelouch, as long as Ikuto continued to stay with her, she'd be alright. Even if he could cancel out her geass. Or copy it. Or whatever.
"Ne…" Ikuto muttered.
"What is it?" Amu whispered softly.
"Let's take a shower. We should get ready soon."
"Take a shower by yourself. You're a grown man. You don't need me."
"I need you in every aspect of my life."
"Urusai, neko-mimi hentai otoko."
Their bickering always calmed her. It was the only thing that was a constant in their relationship. She was never able to act like this in front of her family or friends, only Ikuto. He knew every side of her and still loved her for who she was; she hoped he knew she felt the same way towards him.
Well, he didn't know every side of her. He still doesn't know she's the Fourth Princess of Britannia. Even though it's just a title, and she had denounced it at such an early age, fact is still fact. If he agreed with the Black Knight's mission statement, any royalty equaled a death sentence. That's what happened to Clovis once Zero was born.
If Ikuto had found out, would he kill her out right? Would that be harsher than just abandoning her like C.C. did to Mao? Would it be an act of kindness?
"I'm not kidding when I say I need you." Ikuto said pulling her face from under his, his hand holding her close enough so that their noses touched, but far enough that his star filled eyes still looked galaxies away.
"I know." Amu said, closing her eyes, laying one of her hands on top of his.
"I need you too, more than you know."
"About that…" Ikuto began to say but was cut off when his phone started ringing. Amu jumped in surprise. Ikuto usually didn't set an alarm, and when he did it was something pertaining to the Black Knight's activities, not waking up in time for school. He'd sleep until Kallen came barging into the room.
Amu perked herself up on one elbow while Ikuto got out of bed to answer his phone. He usually places his phone on the other side of the room so he won't be bothered while sleeping. He would usually just ignore the call too, but with the both of them being so heavily involved with the Black Knights, they were also heavily relied on. Well, Ikuto was heavily relied on by the other members; only Zero called on Amulettia, probably because he was the only one who knew of her involvement with them.
"Hai, Moshi Moshi." Ikuto replied. Definitely a Black Knight.
"Hai. … Hai. … Nihon Kaiho Sensen?" Ikuto exclaimed. Amu jumped out of bed at the mention of them.
The Japanese Liberation Front. They are the most successful resistance groups against Britannia not only in Japan, but in the entire world. They mostly consist of members from Japan's former military, including Tohdoh Kyoushirou, also known as Kiseki no Tohdoh, the Tohdoh of Miracles, because he is the only one to win a battle against the Holy Britannian Empire during the war, without Knightmares, nonetheless. He was also one of Suzaku's old instructors; he even gave Amulettia a couple self-defense lessons when she stayed at the Kururugi household.
"Captured?" Ikuto yelled, "The Four Holy Swords? Wakkata. Ikiteimasu."
"What's going on?" Amu asked, trying to run up to Ikuto, but her legs gave out and fell back onto the bed. Ikuto, already fully dressed, picked her up and laid her back in bed.
"Nothing that concerns you." Ikuto said, tucking her into bed.
"Yeah right!" Amu shouted, "You were talking about the JLF and the Four Holy Swords! Whatever it is, let me help!"
"Nope." Ikuto said, kissing her forehead, "You can't even stand up on two legs. I'll call in sick for both of us. Actually Kallen should be on her way soon too, I'll call her in as well…"
"It's just because I'm in my main body! I'll just switch over to a clone!"
"A clone that you would have to go outside and create." Ikuto stated, "because when Mao overdosed you on Refrain, the effect canceled out all your existing clones."
"I thought you needed me." Amu cried. Even saying it stung, and she knew it hurt Ikuto just as much.
"I need my princess out of harm's way." Ikuto said, "Now don't follow me, that's an order."
He shut the door behind him, Kallen's voice seeping through the cracks underneath the door, telling him to hurry up. She must have gotten the call too and rushed home. Amu threw the pillow they were sleeping on against the door and yelled profanities at the door before curling up into a little ball.
She wanted geass to become more powerful, to not feel useless in these types of situations. But it feels like that she has been feeling the complete opposite lately. She had so many limitations, even more that she didn't even know about because, according to Ikuto, what she thought the green and yellow geass were, wasn't true at all.
Her situation now was beginning to feel worse than it did when Britannia invaded. At least then she knew who she was not. Now, she had so many identities conflicting with one another, she might be developing schizophrenia or a multiple personalities disorder. The clones definitely did not help if that were the case.
Although, now that she thought about it, even Ikuto didn't know she was a part of the Black Knights. At least, he probably didn't know. He was actually trying to protect her.
But letting Kallen go was a different story. It was stupid of her to be jealous of Kallen, especially when Ikuto saw her as a sister. Then again, Ikuto actual sister did push him down and kiss him till her heart was content.
At that, Amu jumped out of bed, only to land flat on her face. Her body was still recovering from the Refrain. She must have been only able to move from the adrenaline rush.
Screw what Ikuto said about heaven, this was hell. Her own personalized hell.
~コードしゅごギアスキャラ：アムレッティアのリヴァイヴァル~
'Tsukiyomi… no, Rikuto Alister… At last, I know what you are doing.' Lelouch thought as he sat in a fairly uncomfortable stool with his legs crossed and the back of his hand supporting his chin.
"Shouldn't you be executed for the death of the fourth princess?!"
"You even rearranged her memories so she believed that you had died instead of her!"
Mao's words echoed in his mind. The only background Lelouch had gotten about Tsukiyomi had come from that crazed man. But it had only brought up more mystery about him.
Although Amu didn't speak much about Tsukiyomi to him, she has opened up quite a bit to C.C.; Lelouch, however, trusted that witch about as far as he could throw her.
According C.C., Tsukiyomi had quite the traumatizing childhood. His father was a great violinist, while his mother was the heir for an extensive company called Easter. When Ikuto was barely a decade old, his grandfather, the current president of Easter, had passed away. That meant that the heiress, Tsukiyomi's mother, and the man she married, Tsukiyomi's father, were next in line to run the company. It was shortly after this news that the father had suddenly disappeared, leaving only Ikuto, his sister and his mother to fend for themselves. It was also around that time his mother had gotten extremely ill and Ikuto and his sister had to move in with Hotori Tadase, the child of their parent's friends and, coincidentally, Amu's early childhood crush.
Despite Tsukiyomi's undying resentment towards his father, he had run away from the Hitori Household with a man named Tsukasa in search of his father. He was shortly recollected by Easter, although there had been no record or witnesses stating that Ikuto had stayed with Easter between the times he was "recollected" to just a few months before Amu had moved to Osaka.
However, this gap didn't collide with Lelouch's knowledge of Rikuto Alister. Rikuto Alister was an above exceptional warrior who learned about every offensive and defensive mechanism there was to learn with only a few weeks of training. His intellect was also above par, according to his little sister, whom would go out and watch him train in the adjacent field from their manor; she always said that if he didn't pay attention, the Alister Prodigy would defeat him in chess.
Just before Rikuto Alister was to be officially assigned to be the fourth princess' knight, the assassination of the emperor's second wife, Cornelia's, Euphemia's, and Amulettia's mother, had forced any one with the last name Alister to leave the Royal Palace immediately. Less than a week later, Amulettia had denounced her entitlement to the throne, immigrated to Japan, where she stayed with Suzaku for several months.
Could Tsukiyomi really have tried to kill Amulettia? It seemed fairly unlikely. If that was what he wanted, there were plenty of opportunities.
"You even rearranged her memories so she believed that you had died instead of her!"
Amu did speak of how she thought Tsukiyomi died in a cave when Britannia attacked. Is that what Mao meant? Is this the moment that Tsukiyomi rearranged her memories? Was it Amulettia who has been killed instead?
If that were the case, could he have brought back Amulettia with geass? But that would make Amulettia's story of gaining geass completely invalid. But her powers were completely real, that's for sure.
There's also Amu's transition from living with Suzaku to living with the Japanese family, Hinamori, which was extremely vague for her. C.C. recalls seeing old photographs of Amulettia in front of the Hinamori's old house in Tokyo before they moved to Osaka, but Amu said she has no recollection of ever living in that house. Could Tsukiyomi even mess with memories this far back?
Impossible. Once Amulettia gain her powers of geass, no matter how mysteriously, we was able to regain her memories of her life in Britannia, as well as her memories of staying with the Kururugi Household. But why is she unable to recall the change from Britannian to Japanese. There must be another person involved, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
Although, by whom was an even greater concern. Growing up with the knowledge that the Alister family was corrupt, he had the urge to dismiss Tsukiyomi was the primary suspect to Amu's tampered memories.
But his gut told him otherwise. For one, Britannia itself was corrupt and blamed the innocent for being corrupt in its place. Fact was, Tsukiyomi has some form of geass, but with no eye-witness accounts of him using his geass that could be accounted for, it was had to conclude even a broad sense of his power. The even more suspicious part of it all was C.C., who first said he was a Geass Canceller, then stated he was a Geass Copier. Surely, for a witch who gives this "almighty power of God" to any "promising" person, she should know the different variations of geass.
And then there was Suzaku, who murdered his own father to stop the killing of the Japanese people when Britannia invaded. It was hard enough for Lelouch to kill his half-brother, but Suzaku killed his own father, at the age of 10, nonetheless.
No wonder he was different when he saw him again seven years later. He never placed any importance on others. When he first met Suzaku, he was a totally selfish jerk; pinned him to the ground in 3 seconds flat when they first met, too. Luckily for him, Nunally was so kind-hearted, she could sooth the heart of any savage beast, Suzaku included. But how could he kill his own father when he happily played with him and his sister literally hours before. How could he carry that kind of burden for this long?
"C'mon, Lelouch!" Rivalz shouted, "Stop moving your face!"
Lelouch zoned back into his surroundings. His thighs had become numb where he sat on the wooden stool, a stinging pain of where his knees overlapped screamed over the lack of blood circulation in one of his legs. His fingers had also started to cramp up under the weight of his chin; surely, there was a large red spot along his jawline.
"Oh sorry." Lelouch replied, which induced the groaning of the students around him. Twenty or so students circled around him, more clustered in front of him than behind, all holding a sketchbook, sitting in similar horribly rigid stools. Most had thrown up their hands, muttering in annoyance. Only Suzaku and Shirley were still working diligently on their sketches.
Because of his constant cutting of class, Lelouch was volunteered by Tsukiyomi, whom by no accident at all, didn't show up to school along with Kallen and Amulettia.
"You're expression is totally different from when we started!" Rivalz said, tossing his sketchbook aside as he approached Lelouch. He started to stretch and pull Lelouch's face in all sorts of shapes and sizes while making weird faces of his own while he did it.
"There!" Rivalz yelled, throwing his arms up. The entire class shot out of their seats and started yelling at Rivalz. Lelouch froze his face into the big grin and wide eyed look Rivalz had thought he looked best in. His cheek bones were already screaming in agony and his eyes were getting dry. He too wished he could yell at Rivalz the way everyone else was.
"The frowning face was better!"
"EH? I like this dopey face more!"
"We're never going to get the same expression again on Lamperouge!"
"He always has the same expression, what are you saying? Just give him a minute!"
While the class were bickering, Lelouch let his mind drift to Shirley, his gaze watching her orange head making solemn movements. Her eyes appeared to be looking at the sketching page in front of her, but they appeared to be glazed over. Her pencil that was scratching away so rapidly moments ago had ceased its movements and just lay limp in Shirley's hand.
A couple weeks ago, she would be whipping her hair from left to right, then suddenly stop, lift her face up, make eye contact with Lelouch briefly, then hit her head against the sketchbook, her cheeks flushed and her hands gripping everything it held with a white knuckled grip. His geass command not only erased him from her memory, but a piece of her personality. For that, he could only feel guilt.
He watched as Nina snuck through the back door of the classroom and took a seat slightly behind Shirley. Their voiced were overpowered by the now heated debate of Rivalz and one of the male students over the over-dramatization of the sulking face. Suzaku was still diligently sketching, maybe Lelouch's face did return to its previous state. He was on longer smiling brightly and his eyes were moments away from dropping closed.
By fate, the bell rang. Some students returned to their seats, pulling out their phones to message their buddies. Others left the room, taking their belongings with them, either switching or cutting class. Lelouch decided to become part of the latter part of this group. Suzaku must've noticed Lelouch's intentions, but just sighed and shook his head before standing up and dragging Rivalz away from his debate before it turned into another war.
Just as he was turning into one of the emptied hallways, his cell started vibrating. His phone was usually set to ring just in case Nunally was in trouble. But he set this specific number to only go on vibrate, just in case Suzaku or Kallen or anyone else who didn't know his secret saw the caller ID on his phone.
The Black Knights. It better be important since they were contacting him without any prior notice. Lelouch flipped open the phone and turned on his voice changer as soon as he was certain he was out of hearing distance of the student and teacher body.
"Zero? Ore ga." It was Ohgi's voice on the other line, "Koko de Shi Seiken da."
The Four Holy Swords. They are the elite unit of the JLF, under the leadership of Tohdoh. What on earth are they doing at the Black Knight's headquarters? Although they were completely uninvolved, a few of the JLF's members were held responsible for the hotel jacking, making the JLF a seemingly unnegotiable enemy of the Black Knights. That is, if they didn't hold any value.
"It's Lieutenant Colonel Tohdoh." Ohgi explained, "The JLF members got into trouble with the Britannian army and Tohdoh sacrificed himself so the Four Holy Swords could escape…"
'So they're asking for help.' Lelouch concluded, a spider web already spinning itself inside his mind. There wasn't much up for debate. If they saved Tohdoh, the Black Knights could use his military expertise in fighting Cornelia's army. Plus the numbers they would gain from the Japanese Liberation Front merging with the Black Knights couldn't hurt, especially with his half-sister getting impatient with the terrorists. If they didn't save Tohdoh, then his plan on destroying Britannia just got delayed a couple more months. Better now than later.
"We'll help them." Lelouch said. A loud sigh of relief was heard from Ohgi's side, the Four Holy Swords more than likely.
'Ii no ka?' Ohgi asked.
"The Black Knights are the champions of justice." Lelouch replied, "There's nothing strange this.
"We'll use rendezvous method B-13. Disassemble and bring in the Knightmares from course 18. Have Diethard handle it. Also alert the rendezvous plan members. I want Tsukiyomi on this, too. Contact him before anything else."
"Wakatta." Ohgi replied as Lelouch shut his cell closed. C.C. came walking down an adjacent hallway, dragging an unconscious student behind her. Her grass colour hair was tied into twin tails and she wore the female Ashford student uniform; "Blend in but stand out", seems like the personification of the motto of Cool 'N Spicy Hinamori Amu.
"Sorry I didn't meet with the Chinese Federation." C.C. muttered. He barely noticed, but she was wearing Mao's earphones, just the colour had changed from black to white. Hopefully the sound on them changed as well, although he wouldn't throw it past her that she would listen to her own voice.
"It's all been rescheduled. Don't worry about it too much, your usefulness to me will just hinder the plan." Lelouch said, "Besides, I have had two pawns that I have been hoping for delivered to me today. And possibly, even a third."
Like heaven on earth.
A/N: For the record, nobody commented as much as I would have liked on the last chapter.
That's my excuse for not updating in 3 years.
I started this fanfic when I was 15. Last time I updated, I was seventeen.
Today, I'm twenty. Actually closer to twenty-one, now.
I'm (supposed) to be a third year Japanese/Chinese Studies Major in University, but I decided to take a year off and tie up some loose ends.
And I know, writing a fanfiction shouldn't hold precedence over anything, but it did.
I wanted to finish something I started and this seemed like the easiest way to start.
Reading back on the previous chapters, I was cringing.
Reading this chapter, you could tell my writing style had changed.
Hopefully you could see that.
If not, maybe I haven't changed as much as I thought I have in these last 3 years.
Or maybe I'm not as talkative as I used to be.
There's a lot less dialogue in this chapter too, a lot more detail.
I also tried changing the prose based on which character was being focused on.
Were you able to pick that up too?
Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me even though I let this story die.
I promise to stick through this story to the end.
Thank you.