Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass, if I did we'd have…actually we wouldn't have angsty Lelouch, that would make him boring.
Yeah, when I realized the best command for Lelouch to give Euphemia I smacked my head too. Why? You'll find out in like two paragraphs.
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Later that night, Lelouch was sitting out on the rooftop of the Britannian Headquarters, at a table with a chessboard placed on it. The board was set up, Lelouch was sitting on the Black Side, his preferred side. "So this is where you were," Karen's voice came, his Knight walking up to him, "I…heard what happened. Suzaku said you fixed it somehow. You used Geass."
"To command her to 'hope,' yes I did, but it wasn't good enough, it's only erased the despair, but it hasn't brought her back…no it only counteracted them," Lelouch said glumly, without turning to look at Karen, "My Geass isn't strong enough to destroy the effects of his, of Absolute Despair."
"So, you really aren't the only one who has that power," Karen said, "I heard that it's over, that the terrorist factions in Japan have either retreated to China or have surrendered."
"It's true, after capturing the two responsible for continuing it and the one who was to take over leaving, there was nothing anybody could do to resist me any longer," Lelouch said, glaring at the chessboard, "Capturing an immortal and two Geass users, I now have many pieces in my control now. But I can't help but feel I've lost because of it."
"You'll win, this is only check isn't it?" Karen asked, kneeling down behind him, "You're a man who has changed the course of history once already, when you captured Japan, you did it so quickly and so completely, you brought a stability to the region. And you brought the fear of you to both the EU and the Chinese, if it wasn't for you, they would have come and attempted to take Japan by now, causing more death and destruction."
"Perhaps," Lelouch said, in a barely audible voice, and then a bit louder he asked, "You know chess terminology?"
"A little bit, I'm not very good at the game," Karen admitted.
"Tell me, which piece do you believe is the strongest?" Lelouch asked with a small smirk, Karen could tell it was a trick question but she couldn't tell what he was looking for.
"…The Knight, the only piece that can threaten another piece besides another knight without putting itself in danger, and the only piece that can jump over other pieces," Karen answered, "The Queen is a good choice, but everybody wants to take the queen unlike the Knight."
"A good answer, but you're wrong," Lelouch said as he gingerly picked up a pawn, "The correct answer is the Pawn."
"The Pawn? You're joking," Karen said, wide-eyed and mystified by his answer.
"The Pawn is the one piece you don't ever want to trade for, unless it's with another Pawn. With that its strength is great, capable of blocking even the Queen. With one single move the Pawn can break a defense, with one single move a Pawn can make the Queen retreat. And then, if you carefully nurture it, the tiny Pawn can become another Queen. No piece has greater potential than the Pawn, it's only a matter of drawing that potential out," Lelouch answered with a chuckle and then replaced the pawn on the board, "In chess matches between two masters, the winner is often the one who can keep the most pawns and then promote the most the quickest. Masters seek to destroy each other's ability to put their King in check while promoting their pawns and trying to check their opponent."
"Most people, would never say the pawn would they?" Karen asked looking at Lelouch, surprised his answer made sense and that he genuinely believed it.
"No, most people are too caught up in the apparent value and power of the other pieces. They fail to see the value in the small and cheap pawn," Lelouch answered and then picked up the Black King, "The people won't follow a King who does not move, nor will they follow a King who does not value all his subjects."
"…that's your motivation isn't it?" Karen asked, feeling like she finally understood Lelouch, "Why you want the throne. You hate how your father and your family just discard their pawns."
Lelouch smiled, "Perhaps. Perhaps you're right about that. Perhaps it's because this King just got tired of being a Pawn himself. I don't know, I just knew at that time, when I was only ten years old, I would show my father that he was wrong about me, about Nunnally, about everybody. I would prove to him that he was wrong," Lelouch declared and then chuckled while turning to look at her, "Thanks, Karen. I needed that."
"I'm your knight, it's my job to protect you, body, mind, and soul. Isn't that right?" Karen asked with a smile.
"I suppose it is. No wonder there are always rumors about Knights being intimate with their princes or princesses," Lelouch mused turning back to the chessboard and then made a move on the black side.
"Wha…what?" Karen stammered out, "Intimate? You mean there are…"
"Most likely," Lelouch said nonchalantly, not phased in the bit about such a rumor, "Especially considering all the rumors that I actually prefer Japanese women with my integration stance in public policy. You'd be surprised of the kind of rumors people start, for the longest time there were rumors of me being a complete siscon….or that damn Gino doing everything he can to make me out as a lolicon…I'll get him for that yet."
"How…how can you be so calm about stuff like that?" Karen asked blushing wildly now.
"They're just rumors, I've dealt with them all my life. It's not like any of them are actually true," Lelouch said turning back to her now and then tilted his head, "You're blushing."
"Of course I am…I mean people think we're…" Karen said, not willing to finish that statement.
"Oh now I'm insulted, you say that like it'd be the end of the world," Lelouch huffed as he walked towards the elevator leading back down.
"Wha…wait I didn't mean it like…" Karen protested and then stopped when Lelouch looked back at her, a subtle 'got you' smirk on his face, and then she realized it. He was teasing her, and doing a damn good job of it. "Onore…" Karen said, forgetting for a moment Lelouch also knew Japanese.
"Really you should really decide whether you like me or want to call me a bastard," Lelouch said with a chuckle, the elevator doors opening as he walked inside, the doors closing, Karen catching another glimpse of that arrogant smirk of his. Despite what happened, he was still himself, which was a comfort. What happened to Euphemia had hurt him, but it hadn't changed him.
Lelouch made his way down to the detention levels of the headquarters, he had moved a single prisoner there from his massive capture of the Black Knights. He walked alone after a guard had let him in, into the detention facility, his royal black and gold coat billowing out behind him as he walked. Standing before the cell he looked in, at an older Britannina man with a double-chin, "Diethart Reid, former newscaster," Lelouch said, not betraying any emotion at all as he looked at the man who was bound in a straight-jacket like prisoner uniform, "Why did you join the Black Knights?"
"So the great and glorious Lelouch Vi Britannia finally decides to grace me with his presence," the man spat out, glaring at Lelouch, "Why should you care? You're going to execute me for treason aren't you?"
"I make a habit of not killing useful people," Lelouch said coldly, an arrogant smirk on his face, "So why did you join them?"
"Britannia is an old story, it's finished, it just doesn't know it yet. I wanted to be on the ground floor of a new story, a new history as it was being made. To record the rise of the first ruler of the world," Diethard answered, glaring at Lelouch still.
"For such a childish reason you betrayed Britannia?" Lelouch asked while looking down on Diethart, "That you played the part of Zero at the battle of Narita?"
"Of course and I would do it…how did you know that?" Diethart asked, looking at Lelouch quizzically.
"The only ones who can shoot are those who are willing to be shot themselves," Lelouch said with a smirk, and then he knelt down to look Diethart in the face, "Ore wa Lelouch Vi Britannia. Soshite, watashi wa Zero desu."
Diethart's eyes went wide, "Impossible, then…you orchestrated everything…but why? Why such an elaborate plan?"
"Zero could do nothing in the long run, but Lelouch Vi Britannia can change the world. Think on that Diethart Reid, we'll speak again," Lelouch said as he stood back up, and calmly walked out of the room, his smirk never leaving his face.
Lelouch dialed a number into his cellphone and then when answered he said, "Jeremiah, has it been secured?"
"Yes your majesty, the immortal has been secured and is being studied by the Code-R team you set up. And she is most certainly not agreeable. Hard to imagine such a thing exists," Jeremiah answered on the other side of the phone call.
"Good, and the other side of the project?"
"They'll begin work on my shortly, I'll be out of commission for a month or two. I've already sent my calls to inform people of that,"
"Excellent, have you seen those plans?"
"The Siegfried, yes I have, I look forward to piloting it your majesty,"
"Good, Lelouch Vi Britannia out," Lelouch said hanging up, and then heard a familiar sound, the clicking of a gun ready to fire. Turning around he saw Bartley, aiming a gun at him, "So you killed my brother and now plan to kill me?" Lelouch said glaring at the portly man.
"I don't know how, but you did it. You forced me to kill his highness Prince Clovis. I'll extract his revenge," Bartley said, snarling at Lelouch while glaring down at him.
Lelouch met his glare with one of his own, he should have killed the man when he had the chance. Then he heard a gunshot, causing him to involuntarily flinching and closing his eyes. But nothing, no pain, he realized someone was shot, but it certainly wasn't him. Opening his eyes he saw Bartley on his knees clasping his shoulder, his gun on the ground. And behind him was Anya Alstreim, a gun in hand, "Are you alright your highness?" Anya asked looking at him with that usual calm dispassion and demeanor.
Lelouch sighed, unusually unnerved from that little encounter, "Yes, phew, I thought I was in trouble there. Good work Warrant Officer Alstreim, no I suppose considering it's only a matter of formalities now, Knight of Rounds Alstreim." Bartley froze up when he heard that, it was likely that he realized that there was no way he could squirm his way out of this.
"Wish I could say that," Gino said walking out from around the corner Lelouch was about to turn, "She turned it down. Some nonsense about wanting to serve under a lolicon like you instead."
It was so subtle that Lelouch almost didn't notice it, so subtly dropped that Lelouch almost let him get away with it, but Lelouch realized at the last second that Gino had just called him a lolicon again, "Damn it Knight of Three, stop calling my a lolicon."
"But you make it so easy." Gino whined as he walked up to Bartley, putting on a more serious face, "You may have convinced Schneizel you were innocent the first time. There is no doubt now, you are a regicide and an attempted repeat offender. I place you under arrest under the authority vested in me by his Imperial Highness, Charles Di Britannia, as a Knight of Rounds."
Gino forced Bartley on his feet and pushed him forward, heading towards the detention cells. Lelouch turned to Anya and asked, "You turned down a position as a Knight of Rounds? Why?"
"The Knight of Rounds are determined by the Emperor. Within a few years you will be the Emperor," Anya said, like she knew more about Lelouch's plans than anybody else. Like that tiny, silent girl, a solder who only did as she was told, had seen through it all. Like she had seen though his illusions, his deceptions, and his traps and saw his true goal, his true plan, and the true him, "That is all."
Lelouch didn't quite know what to say to that, he just nodded his head and said, "Thank you, I can use all the confidence I can get right now. If you would excuse me, I have things I still have to do," Lelouch said with a grateful bow to Anya, one of the few times he would ever bow his head to another person, while he was walking away, he stopped a moment and then said to Anya, "I'll be sure to get the Mordred finished within the next couple of weeks. I expect you'd like to start getting used to it." And then he continued on his way.
It was late at night when he finally returned to his home, all the lights were out at his home when he walked in. He made his way to a secluded room away from the private and servant quarters, one with a large projection screen. He hooked a projector up to a laptop he had and then opened a specific file, a large one. "I see you're back," C.C. commented walking into the room, in a white tank-top and white shorts, that barely qualified as shorts, looking at the projection she read the title, "Azuchi?"
"My main project being completed now. Module Flying Fortress Azuchi. Named after the castle of one of the first man to have conquered the Sengoku Jidai period in Japan's history, only barely failing after a trusted friend betrayed him. The Flying Fortress breaks up into five true parts, one of which is currently a secret to all but the developer and construction crew. Each of the five parts can act independently as it's own flying fortress, but the system's main weapons and power can only be used once they link up," on the screen a simulation of five parts shifting their forms and slowly linking up to one another was shown. The shifting wasn't that great, mostly of panels opening and ports opening up on specific parts of the ships. "The main weapon is the Stark Radiation Hadron Cannon, possessing the greatest destructive capacity in existence. Each module is also equipped with Hadron Cannons which can be used in the Azuchi Form."
"Certainly an impressive weapon, and if I'm reading the scale right, its bigger than your brother's," C.C. commented looking at the designs a little more closely, "That was certainly a big requirement wasn't it?"
Lelouch looked at C.C. and said, "I admit nothing." He opened another file, depicting the as of yet unfinished Seiren, "This is the Seiren, a commander Knightmare Frame, equipped with the Zangetsu Sword system, making use of both MVS technology and the heating technology Rakshata had come up with to match it. Equipped with dual shoulder mounted machine guns, it's a close proximity unit. But it's most impressive piece of equipment is the Tonbogiri."
"Dragonfly Cutter," C.C. commented, Lelouch nodding his head in agreement as a spear appeared on the screen.
"MVS spear point, and then there is this," Lelouch said as a simulation ran, showing the spear wedged into the earth, and then eight Hadron Beams erupting from where it had been stuck into it, "Fortress Class power. The single strongest weapon any Knightmare has ever wielded. But using it as a spear instead of a Javelin would be highly dangerous, risking destroying your own Knightmare from the Hadron beams." Lelouch then stopped talking, he looked behind him to barely catch a door pulled too, someone was on the other side of it.
And that's where I'll end this chapter. Well people kept asking me "What about Diethart?" well there's your answer, he's been in prison the entire time (I was hoping you people would just assume that). Now onto the questions…
1) What do you think of this Lelouch's analysis of people and chess?
2) How much do you think Anya actually knows? Or is Lelouch just being very paranoid about that?
3) Well now you people know a bit more about the Seiren and the Azuchi, what do you think of them when compared to the canon equivalents?
4) Who do you think was spying on Lelouch and C.C. as they were going over the technical stuff over the weapons Lelouch was building?
And that's all! Now press that review button before Bartley…actually that's not a very threatening thing is it?
Ciao for now
Tis has been a chapter from your unfriendly neighborhood LunaticChaos
