Demons – They always are.
Theundying – I know. It's my destiny. I don't think I've lost it, though, at least not yet.
S.K.F.F.F. – Thank you for actually giving it a chance instead of just prematurely giving up, lol.
Guest – I can assure you, the vindictive, rebellious Britannian prince isn't interested in a homosexual relationship with a sad-eyed, defeatist superhuman pilot. There might be little jokes spread here and there about it, but they aren't gay here. Sorry, Suzalulu shippers~
[*****]
AREA 11 (Formerly known as Japan)
"—no matter what you do, you can't win this!"
Startled, Lelouch snapped back to reality. Oh. Where am I… right, of course. Lelouch took a glance down at the chessboard, then glanced up at the portly nobleman sitting across from him. The old man who had played before Lelouch had done a poor job, though not too terrible – his opponent had made a serious mistake by leaving his Queen out on H5 and Bishop out on C4. What a rookie mistake. Noblemen have no clue how to play chess the right way.
Lelouch turned to his blue-haired ride. "Sorry, repeat that, Rivalz?"
"You can't win this! Look at the way he has his pieces set up. Don't toss in any more cash—"
"Rivalz, how long do you think it'll take us to get back to class in time?"
"If we really haul ass, twenty minutes at best!" Rivalz looked so worried, it was almost adorable. Almost.
Lelouch sat down; his nobleman opponent was tapping his fancy nail-file on the table impatiently, wanting to take the money he wanted and leave. There was a television somewhere in the background mentioning something about another terrorist incident, which was honestly old news.
"Old news – what of it, boy?"
Shut up! Shut up!
"What's the timer status?" Lelouch asked.
"One move every twenty seconds. In a hurry to lose?" Fat-and-Fancy responded.
If only you knew. It'll only take… five, six moves for you to block your own Knight's progress because of how you have your Queen and Pawns arranged. Child's play.
"It's enough time." Knight to F6. Lelouch clicked the timer off once his move was finished, which gave a pleasant-sounding beep. "You look like you're from the Homeland. What do you think of Japan?"
In his peripheral vision, he saw Rivalz nervously adjusting the collar of his school uniform. The nobleman started, but the guards he brought with him to the match paid no heed. The old Japanese man seemed to like this. "Excuse me?"
"Japan. Er, rather, Area 11. My mistake."
The nobleman brought one of his bishops to C4 and slapped the timer switch with more force than necessary. "Full of Elevens. So many of them think they have the nerve and the right to insult us and rebel against us. We gave them everything, didn't we? Riches, technology, all kinds of things."
"Indeed we did. We also distanced them from their culture, no?" Lelouch captured the pawn his opponent had set up at E5. Timer off.
"Culture?" The nobleman scanned the board, vaguely annoyed.
"Culture. After all, we did strip Japan of its autonomy."
"You shouldn't talk about things you don't know about, boy."
"I could say the same for you. Seven seconds."
Cursing, the nobleman moved a Rook and Lelouch immediately knew he'd win. He'd moved his King to E2. This is almost too simple. This backwards, narrow-minded Nobleman makes a backwards, narrow-minded move. Typical, typical, typical.
Lelouch moved a pawn to G6, trying to fool his opponent, not that it'd be of any difficulty. He was, apparently, moving too fast for the nobleman, who was fidgeting with his nail file. He glanced over the board as the timer ticked away; nervously, he moved his pawn to A3.
"You look tired."
"Just make a move, schoolboy."
Lelouch planted a Bishop on C4. He could make out, in his peripheral vision, a big, goofy smile on Rivalz' face, and some of the guards around the Nobleman seemed to realize the danger as well. The Nobleman blinked and sweated. There were no pawns left to counter the Bishop, nor could any of his Rooks move without being obstructed by the pawns.
"I pass."
"You can't pass. That's not allowed."
"What?"
"Maybe if you'd actually looked up the rules of chess gambling, you'd know that. You either have to forfeit the money or—wait a fuck."
The portly nobleman blinked, evidently surprised by Lelouch's curt french.
"I beg your pardon?" he asked, nervously toying with his swanky cravat.
"I've… swear to God, I've done this before," Lelouch muttered, the hairs of the back of his neck standing up on edge. "This exactly. This happened already."
"Uh… yeah, we've been gambling before, dude," Rivalz attempted, awkwardly laughing, trying his best to lessen the tension in the room. The nobleman's guards started whispering amongst themselves.
"No, Rivalz! This match! This exact match! I've done it before!"
"Huh?" Rivalz' unbridled, hapless ignorance was going to kill him one day.
Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck
"Nobleman, what date is it today?" Lelouch barked, his voice clipping at the last couple of words.
"September 1st," the nobleman drawled, his anxiety gone, replaced with utter confusion. "You're acting erratic, schoolboy. Maybe you've realized that I just might have an advantage over you…?"
"Nice bait. You're going to lose in three turns. What time is it?"
"11:57 PM," the nobleman declared, glancing at his digital watch.
Lelouch leapt out of his chair, grabbing his Ashford Academy jacket, rushing out of the velvety gambling room, leaving everyone in his wake completely astounded and rather confused. With a groan, Rivalz came rushing after him, asking question after question, wondering why he was so worked up, they had at least ten minutes to kill before having to be back to class—
I have to hurry to that industrial area so I can be picked up by the terrorists. BUT WHY AM I BACK HERE?! Oh wait. Clovis' announcement should play right about now. Good enough experiment as any.
"Yo, Lelouch, check this out!" Rivalz exclaimed, sticking perfectly to the script.
Lelouch half-heartedly turned towards Rivalz, glancing up at a huge TV screen, feigning interest. Sure enough, his big brother, Clovis la Britannia, was plastered across the screen, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. Par for the course.
Okay…
"To all my Imperial Subjects – and, of course, the Elevens who cooperate with us – I have tragic news."
Lelouch let out a shaky breath. Everything's the same, basically. Same lines, same place, same circumstances. Okay, that's cool. BUT WHY AM I BACK HERE?! Did I use my Geass too many times? Did C.C. pull some shit—argh, I knew I shouldn't have shot her!
Realizing he was clenching his fists, he let them relax, his eyes gazing over the Shibuya District. No, that wouldn't make sense. Why send me all the way back here? There's no motivation, unless it's to teach me a lesson… but she's not keen on learning lessons herself. Okay. So… Time Baron! It had to be! He has the power to control time! I should have known from the beginning he'd betray me! God damn it! Does he have the power to alter my life on a WHIM?! BUT WHY WOULD HE?!
"Now, everyone," TV Clovis continued, oblivious to his younger brother's internal monologuing. "Please join me in mourning for Lelouch vi Britannia, or should I say, Lelouch Lamperouge."
Lelouch's heart stopped. The air around him tightened.
Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhtatwhathwthathata
"I know where you are," Clovis said, his normally elegant voice gaining a violent, sadistic edge. The pixels on the screen began to distort, one by one. "And I know what you've done. How many lives you've screwed over. How many people you've killed. How many people you're going to kill."
nonoononononononnononononononononoONONONONONONNONONO
Lelouch's breath came out in erratic puffs; he tried, desperately, to activate his Geass power, inflict everyone in the District, especially Rivalz, to just forget he ever existed, that what was happening was not real not real at all, just a nightmare, just a horrible nightmare, he would wake up and he'd be in his safe-house, completely OKAY—
Only to realize that everyone around him, near or far, had fallen onto the ground, unconscious… or dead. More than likely dead.
Each and every body (corpse) had a Geass sigil emblazoned on them.
Lelouch began screaming. He whipped up to face Clovis, eyes strained with fear, but it wasn't Clovis on the digital display anymore. It was Suzaku, in his flightsuit.
"Welcome to hell, Lelouch vi Britannia. We've been saving a spot for you."
"GO AWAY!" Lelouch screamed, his voice cracking – although he felt the Geass command surge forward, it didn't do a damn thing. Although the logical side of his brain told him that Geass doesn't work on figures on television screens, or other digital displays, he kept screaming at TV Suzaku regardless. "GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!"
A burst of static flew across the screen, and then Kallen appeared, donning her Black Knights uniform. "You should have quit while you were ahead."
"I had no choice, Kallen!" Lelouch belted, ignoring how his entire body was quaking, down to his core. "I had to fight! I had to save you!"
"You never wanted to save anyone. You only wanted power."
"NO! YOU'RE WRONG!"
Kallen disappeared, and then she was replaced by a distorted image of C.C., with an enormous X drawn across where her face should be. "All you wanted was revenge. And you were willing to kill everyone for it."
"I COMMAND YOU TO GO AWAY!"
The screen spontaneously exploded, raining down a hail of colored glass shards. As the shards hit the ground, Lelouch instinctively stumbled backwards, his heart pounding, his instincts telling him to run; he choked on those instincts as he witnessed the glass shards gather together; the result was yet another screen, only on the floor instead of on a platform. Displayed on the screen was a… picture of himself, in his Ashford Academy uniform. A wide splash of text on the screen read "Lelouch Lamperouge."
The Lelouch on the screen was engulfed by darkness, and then promptly destroyed.
This time, Lelouch ran away, adrenaline and primal terror guiding him, enabling him to run at a speed he wasn't aware he possessed. He was going faster than the speed of light, or so it seemed. As he ran, the world around him began to fall apart, literally, pieces of the sky raining down about him.
NO! NO! FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK I CAN'T DIE! NOT HERE! I HAVEN'T-!
He was suddenly face-to-face with Emperor Charles zi Britannia. Behind Charles was the limp form of Marianne vi Britannia's corpse, as pure and delicate-looking as Lelouch remembered it.
OLD NEWS?!
And then he was filled with rage. Letting out a strained, primal roar, he swung at his father, striking to kill, to maim, to do something-
He was paralyzed. Lelouch couldn't move. He willed every single muscle in his body to move, but all he could do was hang there and simmer, blind with fury. But simmer he would.
"YOU! YOU MONSTER!" Lelouch screeched.
"This chapter is over, Lelouch vi Britannia," Charles declared. His right eye lit up.
GEASS?!
"THIS IS MY STORY NOW! AND YOU'RE NEVER ESCAPING!"
"NO!"
"NEVER ES—" CAPING!
NEVER ESCAPING!
ALL OF YOU WILL ROT!
ESPECIALLY, YOU. DEAR READER.
READ ON IF YOU DARE!
SEE WHAT HAPPENS!
SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Lelouch royal Lelouch Lamperouge zero vi Britannia killer murderer liar hero savior redemption Kururugi killer murderer liar fleija Knightmare nightmare fleija Nunnally murderer liar Lelouch liar Nunnally liar knightmarenightmare vv liar cc liar kallencolin liar rolo liar red light suspicious red light cc see two snow ninaninaninanina fleija endless ragnarok lies lies lies ragnarok lies Marianne Lelouch lies vv lies Nunnally lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies geass geass geass gigas gigas gigas Jupiter rains ragnarok thoughts thoughts thoughts thoughts all coluding into one never returning never returning NEVER ERUETNRITNG
NEVER RETU
[*****]
A/N:
…So. Let's talk.
A lot of you are probably confused by this turn of events… as you should be. And that's understandable!
But, please don't worry – this is all going to turn out for the best. Everything that's happening is all part of the overarching story – even if doesn't seem like everything's that going on is going to add up, it will, in ways that may surprise you.
Everything will be resolved. Lelouch is still going to direct his mad rebellion against the Holy Britannian Empire, Suzaku is still going to chase his seemingly-hopeless waterfalls, Kallen's going to carry on for the sake of what she believes in, just like everyone else, and Time Baron and Kaguya and Viola + the EU and the best of the bunch are all going to alter the universe one ridiculous proclamation at a time. This I can guarantee, and it's going to be a thrilling conclusion.
But I do have a warning, just a little warning.
There is always a fall before the rise. And that the rise is coming. Thing is, we don't know when. I do, but you don't, not necessarily.
So we're in the midst of the fall.
And falls are pretty gruesome.
If you read on, you're not going to like what happens to the characters. You're not going to like what happens next. You're only going to cause them more pain, and it's all because you read on. However, they might rise above the pain. They might not. You won't know. You could technically save them now by stopping reading.
I swear! If you stop reading, you might be able to save the characters. Lelouch, Kallen, C.C., Jeremiah, Suzaku, Kaguya, Rolo, hell, even Nunnally! All of them, regardless of who they are. I mean it. Whatever scary thing is coming along in the next few chapters… you could save them from going through it if you just settle down and move on.
Thing is, you might not. The only way to really know for certain is to keep reading, right?
Your chances of saving them are as likely as they are of dooming them.
If you're cool with that, then, by all means, do go on!
But honestly?
It doesn't matter.
You could close the link now, just go about your life.
But it won't matter.
Know why?
Because no matter what you do,
It won't save you.
And it's all your fault.
RAGNAROK IS NEARING COMPLETION
JUPITER WILL RISE
GEASS IS COLLECTING
AND NONE OF YOU ARE SAFE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NEURAL HOLLOWLY I TILL
