Once again, we are back with another chapter. I'll keep this short as I don't much to say so let's just keep on the responses to the reviews.
IS6A6E – Yeah, that king of showdown won't happen for a while, like in the sequel story to this one.
Vein Bloodborne – You're not the first one to ask that I write another series of crossovers, the only problem is that for a lot of them, I've never watched these anime people suggest. I've already got to watch one of the Fate series and look into the Resident Evil games so a Certain Magical Index will take some time.
Spiral-Voltron-Zero0Q1 – Thank you.
Blaze1992 – Well yes, I see in the Star Wars cannon that there are beings out there with will-power strong enough to resist Jedi-mind control so I can't imagine that Jedi and Sith themselves don't go through some form of training to protect their own minds as well. So the effects of Geass will largely depend on the skill and talent of the force user you target.
Geer123 – I'm trying to make it so V.V isn't as…well V.V as cannon. He still has his flaws but for now he sees that he needs the help with Zero as he and Charles would want to retain control over the Thought Elevator on Kamine Island.
ChimaTigon – Man with scars get babes…I read that somewhere . Also, the plans with Shirley are in motion and I'm satisfied with them.
Murraymint835 – If you wish it, then why don't you PM me with more details as it gotta fit as even if their half-siblings and Lelouch admits she was his first love – they're still on two opposing sides of a conflict and siblings so there would need to be serious set-up to remotely make it believable as I've already selected Kaguya for him to wed for political reasons so that he has a connection to Japan.
Chapter 26: The setting of the Stage
23rd October 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
Area 11:
Outskirts of Kyoto Settlement:
Sumeragi Clan Summer Home:
"So this is your home?" Reyla asked as she along with her lover and child sat in a rather lavish living room of their host. The invitation itself had been surprising to say the least but it wasn't one they could just refuse without reason.
"My summer house." Kaguya corrected as she sat opposite them as she drank some tea. Although she wasn't expressing it, she was thoroughly enjoying how they both looked stunned by how large her house was. Sure she never really enjoyed having such things when her people stave and sleep in shacks but it was a family home built by her grandfather so she was pressed to keep it in her family.
"So big…" Alice said as she looked out the window and saw how large the garden was and how pretty the birds were as they flew around the trees and shrubs.
"Oh my dear, it isn't that big." Kaguya giggled as she answered, receiving a deadpan look from Lelouch and a nervous one from Reyla.
"Lady Kaguya, forgive me that that's not right." Reyla said.
"Oh?" Kaguya asked as she placed her cup of tea down.
"Kaguya, the compound is like three times larger than our home in the Tokyo settlement." Lelouch told her as he handed Alice a cookie from the plate on the table so she could munch on it. Something the little girl appreciated going by the smile on her face.
"Well when you hang our rich old men, such things tend to slip your mind." Kaguya laughed as it wasn't completely false as the other five houses-(excluding Kururugi)-had much more lavish holdings then her. Old man Kirihara had at least three homes in Japan twice the size of her summer home. Though she expected it was more because he wanted the Japanese people and colonial government officials to buy into the lei that he sold out his pride to retain his wealth.
"I can imagine." Lelouch muttered as he reached for his own tea. "Anyway, why did you ask us to visit? The meeting doesn't start for another two hours." He was quite curious as he did have a meeting with Kyoto to discuss his latest stage of his plans. They had already been drawn up but since things could move outside of his control or predictions, he liked to have back-up plans and contingencies to ensure the overall objective is meet. Because of this, he never told one person the whole thing.
"Simply a women's curiosity. You made the impression on us the other day you know." Kaguya replied as she could still recall his awe struck she was when he revealed so much to the Six Houses. She never really thought a lot about space to find out so much was an eye opening experience. It was equally surprising to discover that they had a base on Mars, far outside both enemy observation or reach as Britannian may have had a space program but it wasn't as equipped or funded as the European one, which in of itself would take at least 3 mouth to get a probe to Mars.
"Oh he knows, he was quite pleased with himself." Reyla said as she pressed his side. She recalled how pleased he was with his performance. If she didn't know any better, she would say he was a skilled actor.
"Hmm-Hmm, daddy really likes to surprise people." Alice voiced in agreement as she could remember her daddy and uncle talking about it when she snuck out of bed to grab some sweets from the kitchen and walked by his study.
"Daddy?" Oh he knew that face, Kaguya had found some fresh ammo to use on him. "Oh I wasn't aware of this, when did he get a cutie like you?" She said as she reached out her hand so that the little angel could take it if she wished.
'She's gonna give me grey hairs before I hit 30!' Lelouch thought to himself as he resisted the urge to face-palm as he daughter took the elder women's hand in her own.
"He saved me from the bad guys, but they still got papa." Alice said as she teared up remembering how her father died the way he did. She would have crying if not for Lelouch placing a hand on her shoulder and a gentle kiss on the top of his head.
"It's okay to mourn Alice, we cry for our love ones because he cared for them and miss them." Reyla said as she took her daughter in her arms and gave her a hug. One she returned.
"Will I stop crying mama?" Alice asked as she looked up to the loving face of the women who took her in as her own without complaint and grace.
"Not really….we just get used to not having here," Lelouch said as he pointed to the empty seat to the side of them before he placed a hand on Alice's chest, over her heart. "But here, in our hearts."
'I never knew he was this good with kids. Oh the fun I can have.' Kaguya thought to herself as her own plans seemed much more feasible now that she could see he would be great with whatever children the two of them may have. She wouldn't let the fact he was already spoken for stop her. "Forgive me for bringing up bad memories. It was not my intention." She apologised to the little girl as she could somewhat sympathize with losing a father.
"All if forgiven, you are not the first to ask this." Reyla told her as many times when she and her daughter would go out(with the Japanese bodyguard her lover insisted she should have with her) she would often be asked that question by those brave enough to speak. Though more common was the whispers about her inhumanly pale skin.
"Yes, whenever we got out as a family, we get swarmed by young parents with their own kids." Reyla added in as she didn't know how many times they were invited to parent groups, though some of them did offer good benefits as they were thinking about joining one so that they could not only make friends with the parents of whatever children Alice may befriend but also be able to access better babysitters and etc.
"Apparently, I'm a shining example of good father, though from the example I had growing up, it's a pretty low bar." Lelouch muttered as he could only compare himself to the only father he ever knew and although thinking of him brought nothing but rage to his heart, he would forever take pride in the fact he was a much better father and husband.
"Most don't have such a person for a father you know. But let's move on to why I called you." Kaguya said as she poured herself more tea. "I wish to learn more."
"Learn?" Reyla asked her. That was pretty vague.
"Yes, about your travels, the worlds you seen. The people you've met. The things you've done." She said as she took a sip of tea thought her eyes still glowed with a sense of wonder and curiosity. "You're seating here with one of the first aliens to ever come to Earth and she's your wife and mother of your children. That's quite the story."
"Where we begin?" Reyla asked as she could only think about how much this world didn't know about the galaxy at large, how much they would turn it on its head with the knowledge they had.
"The force, what is it like?" The Japanese women asked, wanting to know it all. At her question, Lelouch placed his tea down and cupped his chin as his thought about how to describe such a thing while still doing it justice.
"That's…quite the question. The force….hmmm…If I were to describe it, I'll say it's like cloud, a mist that drifts from living creature to creature. It is the light in happiness in Alice's eyes, the love in my wife's gaze and the fires in my soul. Set in motions my currents and eddies. Swirling and Churning from the lowest depths of a planet to the deepest regions of space itself." Lelouch started as he got up from his seat and walked about the room, using his power to play around with objects outside of his physical reach.
"It's is the eye of the storm, the emotions….the passions of all living things turned into energy. As chaotic as a raging sea and as soothing as gentle chorus." He went on, seemingly on a role as his words captured the attention of his small audience. Her himself lost on the beauty of the garden beyond the window.
"It is the swell of the end of life, the promise of new blood and new territories. The call of new mysteries in the dark and the end of secrecies in the light." He finished as he generated his black lighting on one hand and pulled out one of his lightsabers in the other but not activating it.
"That sounds wonderful, no….it sounds," Kaguya said as she could only imagined being connected to such a force. "Magical."
"I feel that even my explanations doesn't do it justice. I've only known about my own connection to it a little over a decade ago. Many have spent their whole lives trying to give it a definition." Lelouch replied as he stop using the force and put his weapon away. There were still times when such knowledge weighted on him but he long since accepted that everyone was connected. It was only a shame that he wasn't the type of person that could speak with the dead as he had no way of knowing if his mother would even keep her own individuality in such a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions.
"One day," He said as he walked back to their seat and placed a hand on his daughter's head. "One day my sweet child, "I'll take you away from this planet and show you all the stars and worlds I can."
"Really?" Alice asked with stars in her eyes. What she was hearing should be impossible but she knew it wasn't, her daddy would never lie to her, never ever.
"Yes, we will. That's a promise and we keep our promises, don't we." Reyla asked as she hugged her daughter from behind as the girl happily bounced on her seat in excitement.
"Hmm-Hmm!" Alice answered as she couldn't wait taste moon cheese, all the other kids at school said the moon was made of the stuff.
"What about traveling through space. How does he feel to be able to take a Sunday flight to the Moon and be back within the hour?" Kaguya asked him as he must have made life much easier to know you could travel to the edge of their solar system in the same time it would take someone to fly to Berlin if not less.
"The Moon daddy?" Alice asked, she might go to the moon?
"I haven't actually been to the Moon but I've flown past it more than once." Lelouch answered as he had no real purpose to go there, maybe to screw with the Moon landing site that Britannia left in the 60s but beyond that, nothing.
"And to answer your question, it does make one feel smaller knowing that entire systems can be navigated and travelled within hours. But it does give you more clarity." Reyla answered her as she took the last sip of her tea before putting the cup down.
"Clarity." Kaguya asked her.
"That everyone wants to be happy. Even if they're on the other side of the known galaxy." She explained as they three soon fell into conversation involving entire stat systems, planets, galactic commence and security and the current war raging between the Sith and Republic and their Jedi allies.
(Later)
"Are all present?" Kirihara asked over the video call scree. Like him every member of Kyoto was using the same system and in their own homes or offices.
"I believe we are, though Zero isn't using the regular method of communication." Kubouin noted as Lelouch was on the same screen as Kaguya.
"I was invited as a guest by Sumeragi and our chat went on longer than we thought it would." Lelouch responded as he and Kaguya had to leave to make this call after putting Alice down for a nap. The girl tuckered herself out running around the place.
"It matters little. We have other things to discuss." Kirihara stated before they could devolve into senseless discussion.
"Indeed. It has come to my attention that a civil war is brewing in the Chinese Federation." Lelouch said as he eyed Kaguya out of the corner of his eyes, all she did in response was wink at him much to his irritation. "It also seems that Lady Kaguya was aware of this but neglected to inform us."
"It wasn't much of an issue, at present the forces loyal to the empress are few and far between. They can't pose a threat to the forces loyal to the Eunuchs at this point." Kaguya expertly dodged the blame as she answered the question, showcasing she wasn't some normal girl but a politically savvy women.
"And if the Eunuchs found out about this fledgling rebellion?" Munakata asked her, his beard hiding his own frown at not being informed of such.
"They'll crush it quite easily but that doesn't really effects our own efforts now does it?" She told them. She may see the Empress as a dear friend but she wasn't naïve enough to believe her loyalist had the chance against the eunuchs, not at this point at least. "They won't be able to find anything to connect them to us."
"No…but it does present a great opportunity for us." Lelouch said as it was true that they had no dealings with them, sure Kyoto brought most of their supplies in federation markets but that was well hidden by shell corporations and great use of hiding and moving around assets in different accounts.
"What do you mean, Zero?" Kirihara asked him, still making use of his title rather than name.
"As is stands right now, we don't have any official treaties with anyone nation on earth. Sure we have superior weaponry and craft capable of reaching space but that won't help us all that much of the other powers don't want us around, they'll simply overwhelm us with their industrial might and size of their militaries." He explained as he could already foresee how such a thing would go down. It would lead to nothing but meaningless death of millions.
"Wars of such scale never benefit anyone, only serve to cripple both sides." Yoshino added as he stroked his chin in thought.
"Exactly. What we need are allies…powerful ones at that. The federation is a world super-power and has both the population and industrial capability to give us that edge in keeping the other two at bay." He started. "I propose a two frontal plan. The first front is that we lead aid to the forces loyal to the empress so that once they oust the eunuchs and purge their influence from Federation affairs, we have an ally just across the sea." He started his proposal.
"And the second part?" Kirihara asked him, curious as to where his former student was taking this.
"The second part is that I use my own resources within the Black knights to ensure that Russia stays out of it at worst or leads aid at best as the federation will be quite weak. Weak enough that the Britannians may try and grab some of their territories for themselves." He finished as he already ran this by his staff and they all thought it would be beneficial for them to gain the two nations as allies as it give them access to markets and supplies they couldn't normally get to on their own. The added benefit was that it would make an second imperial invasion impossible as such a thing would brag the other two into conflict.
"But if they're in Russian aid in the country, it would deter them from a military solution as both countries wouldn't want a war." Kaguya started as she could see the boons in such an idea. "Not with all those imperial forces building up to invade Western Europe." That last bit was due to Black Knights spy satellites picking up imperial chatter about then possible future operation to invade Spain and the British Isles.
"Charles would never sign off on anything that may lead to two front war, not with the Black Knights still running around here in Area 11 where we're threatening his precious war machine's fuel supply." Lelouch said, he may have hated his father with every fibre of his being but he also knew knowledge was power, so he made it his business to find every scrap of information not only about Britannia and royals but more so on Charles himself. He wished to know how the man thought, how he acted, reacted and when he chose to leaves things to others…so that he was better able to tearing down all that he loved.
"Yes, I can see the colonials first trying to stamp our rebellion out. While also keeping their naval presence in the Sea of Japan to keep the Federation from trying anything." Munakata said as he had been on the news lately the sea trials for the Area 11 naval force was scheduled to begin soon.
"An interesting play, but how would we counter Schneizel? He isn't the prime Minister for nothing. He has even lead the empire's armies on more than one occasion." Kirihara asked Lelouch as they all knew that man was dangerous.
"That…I am unsure of. My brother has always been a genius but he has ruthless as he is charismatic. We would either need to give him a diversion or wait for one. I have an idea but I have yet to gain the approval of my own advisors." Lelouch answered as he knew that his brother was extremely skilled and not afraid to toss aside a corps or two if the gains made up for it. His own idea for dealing with him had met stiff resistance with his staff so it was benched for now.
"What's your idea, Zero?" Kaguya asked him, enjoying how she was seated next to the man she would one day call husband.
"My apologies but since I could not put in into motion without the approval of my own generals and advisors, I don't think it'll be a good idea to voice it." Lelouch informed them as to not get their hopes up foe a plan that may never see the light of day.
"Fair enough," Kirihara said before he changed the subject. "How goes the training of the JLF pilots?"
"As well as I predicted. Once we broke through their supposed superiority for being the longest standing resistance group, we made some descent progress. About 195 JLF pilots have passed our pilot testing." Lelouch replied as he had read through the reports about how his instructors had to first break them out of their foolish sense of entitlement just for surviving this long before they could be taught anything.
"And those how failed it?" Yoshino inquired as he had a feeling it wasn't all good news.
"Not as high as I thought it would, around 147 last I checked. Some people are just not meant to become pilots." Lelouch said, and though Kyoto was surprised such a large number of people didn't make the cut, he never had high hopes for them in the first place so it didn't bother him all that much. Lockon actually thought more would fail.
"I would have hoped more passed as it would mean the JLF only has around 312 pilots." Munakata mused as this wasn't the outcome he was hoping for when he agreed to have all the JLF pilots properly trained.
"The Black Knights have a higher number I believe," Kaguya said as she turned to her guest. "Is that accurate?"
"Yes. As it stands, we have around 617 knightmare pilots." Lelouch confirmed, throwing out a number nearly twice the size of their closest rival of the JLF.
"So for this Chinese operation, we would need to lend substantial forces. We may need to throw most of the Black Knights into it which would mean failure would be our destruction." He went on as although he was for their plan for China, he wasn't dumb enough to think they would be of much help at the moment.
"So it's fair to say that it won't happen for a while?" Kaguya asked to confirm things for the group.
"Yes. Kaguya, could you pass the word that we will help them but only when we are in a position to do so?" Lelouch asked her as he had found out Rakshata wasn't given any means to communicate with their potential Chinese allies to avoid a suspicion placed on her.
"It can be arranged." The lady seated next to him replied as she then turned the meeting in another direction. They did have many things to bring up to the table after all.
28th October 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
Area 11:
Tokyo Settlement:
'This is taking too long!' Reginald angrily thought to himself as he walked through the Tokyo Settlement. 'When the Hell is this so called Goddess of Victory going to act?' Clearly he wasn't in a good mood as it had been days since he last spoke with the viceroy and much to his frustration, she hadn't done anything about Zero, rather focusing on trying to uncover who he was under the mask.
'I need to do my own work on this, I won't let Zero get away with making a fool out of me!' He thought to himself, he had never been humiliated like that, never! But the question was how as even though his papers said he was with the OSI, he didn't have access to much of their stations or intelligence here. So he had to resort to his own methods, at the same time he found himself walking along the subway line near the border of the settlement and the ghetto. The passing train gave view to the old city which gave him an idea.
'And I know just the place to start looking for information.' He figured out as he was a spy, what better way to gather info then from the numbers themselves?
(Later)
'I would have thought it would be more…depressing.' Reginald thought to himself as he sneaked around the Shinjuku Ghetto. He may not look like the typical Britannian teen but he wasn't taking chances, he stuck to back alleys and the shadows. But one thing that did stick out to him was the fact that despite the clear signs of poverty and suffering, people here was genuinely happy and looked to be hard at work…cleaning the place up? That was new.
He looked around for another hour before he had some talk about the medical clinic needing more people to move boxes. This was surprising as he didn't know there was a clinic here so he followed the directions he overhead from one of the elevens to the centre of the place and there he saw something he wasn't expecting. 'What the…is that a…?' Right in front of him, there was an old building that looked to be under maintenance along with a whole group of elevens outside, some appearing to be waiting in line for medical attention-the others were off loading supplies off the back of a truck. These things weren't what grabbed his attention, what grabbed his attention was the symbols on the window for the makeshift clinic and the truck itself.
Both of which were of the Black Knights. The only difference being that under it was the international sigh of the Red Cross, marking both as non-combative medical staff and/or resources.
"When did they have time to… of course, it makes sense." He thought to himself as he knew that after Clovis' blunder here, Imperial presence in this particular ghetto was pretty low, sticking mostly to the perimeter. Cornelia was of the mind that the elevens should take care of themselves so as long as they didn't stir up trouble, she didn't care what they did. Clearly the Black Knights had used this wiggle room to get down and busy setting up a foothold here.
"So Zero winning the hearts and minds of the elevens with victories and caring for their needs is he? Crafty bastard." Reginald said to himself as he took out a small camera and started to take pictures of the scene, the people lining up, the truck, the building-all of it. V.V will want to know of this. 'This will only make them more loyal to that masked bastard, we need to kill him soon otherwise he'll be able to add thousands more to his raster.' He thought as he could already tell that rooting out these terrorists will be much harder than originally predicted.
"But first, where did you come from? All the roads leading into the ghetto have imperial checkpoints." He asked himself as he saw that the people off loading the truck stopped to talk, most likely there was an issue bit maybe the thing was empty. Which proved to true as he saw two guys jumped off the back and close up the doors, meaning he could follow it to where ever it came from. 'Looks like I just found my lead.'
(Meanwhile – With Euphemia)
As this was happening, Euphemia was being escorted towards the lower levels of the viceroy's palace by Alfred Dalton. It had been a busy week for them ever since she discovered the information about Zero. She still couldn't believe Andreas was able to pick up on that, kinda made her think he had a hand on her finding from beyond the grave. Now both Jeremiah and her sister had been hard at work trying to discover anything they could about Zero. Nonette had already all but ordered the school to send them any and all information they had on any students that of had in the last 20 years. Cornelia also used her pull as an imperial princess to request that the Viceroy of Area 5 allow them access to the financial records of any student they thought suspicious.
It had been slow going as so far, they gone through all the students for the past four years and despite finding out that some were in fact involved in some minor crimes here and there, nothing they had seen so far linked any of them to terrorism or any type of anti-government groups or ideals.
So lost in her own little world, she didn't hear Alfred calling her till she ran into him when he stopped to speak to her. On contact, she moved backyards and would have fallen if not for Alfred catching her.
"Your Highness?" He asked as he steadied her to ensure she didn't fall as she got her balance again.
"Um, Oh! My apologies, my mind was wondering wasn't it?" Euphemia apologised with a thankful smile as they kept on moving now that he had her attention.
"Not to worry, everyone had something to think about these days." Alfred said as he lead her down the hall now that she as paying attention again.
"But how goes the training?" She asked him, wishing to change the subject as she didn't wish to think about such things right now.
"The simulators have already been reprogramed to accommodate for the increased abilities of our new knightmares." Alfred said with a small smile as he could feel himself getting at piloting a 7th gen machine. It was taking more time than he or his brothers would have liked. "It won't be long before we can pay Zero and his eleven scum back for all the trouble they've been up to." He finished as he clenched his fist in righteous anger.
"I just hope that we can resolve things without bloodshed. Losing family and friends is never easy." Euphemia neither disagreed nor agreed with him, choosing to stay neutral with this topic, though Alfred didn't pick up on that.
"On that, I totally agree with you, your highness." He answered as they reached their final elevator to the training levels. As they rode the thing down, Euphemia thought about the evidence they had and how sooner or later they came up on a name that Cornelia wouldn't spare a second glance at.
Marianne was not only a native of the Duchy of Louisiana in Area 5 but also the Valedictorian of her graduating class at Imperial Knights academy. She could recall how whenever they gave the vi Britannia's a surprise visit. More often than not, they would catch Marianne during her combat practice session. She could also recall how Lelouch would pay almost religious attention to her, wanting to be just as strong as her one day.
'Lelouch….Nunnally…Is this your answer, is this the only path left for us?' She thought to herself as she exited the elevator and walked towards the viewing platform as Alfred went down to stairs to the training floor itself. And in front of her was the Glaston knights, training, prepping.
Prepping to fight this uprising started by those she loved.
"Your highness!" Unfortunately for her, her attention was drawn by one of the aides rushing onto the viewing platform. She didn't know them by name but she could recall his he usually looked calm, unlike now.
"Hmm? What is it?" She asked the man as she turned to face him.
"The Black Knights, they've attacked another site!" She reported to her, gaining her full attention.
"What!"
"It was an OSI safe-house from what we know, they didn't tell us much but the fire department Toyama reported that the entire building was ablaze by the time they got there. Residents also report hearing a rather fierce gun battle." He relayed to her as he read the news as it came in on his data-pad. The pictures coming in confirmed that there was a building that was burning right now.
"Oh no…" She said as she could only imagine how large the building was. The OSI didn't own whole buildings but mostly used floors of already existing ones, if the BK set one on fire, then there would most likely be innocents caught in between. "How many?"
"We don't know as of yet but the building was a five storey apartment complex, locals also reports that they think around 45 lived there but until the OSI gives us more information, that's all we have to go on." She was told, and not for the first time. She cursed the OSI needs for secrecy as chances are, they won't give them all the details.
"How did they even know about it? Not even the Viceroy is privy to going-ons of the OSI of their areas." She asked as not she nor did her sister even knew there was an OSI in Toyama to begin with. They knew there was one in the Tokyo Settlement but that was it.
"We don't know, your highness. Shall we send out own investigators as well?" He aide asked as he placed the data pad under his arm and stood straight as he addressed her.
"Yes, and also inform the Viceroy of my decision." She ordered him as she knew that she and her sister would need to discuss this new development soon.
"At once." The aide saluted her before he hurried away to carry out her orders. Leaving the sub-viceroy to her own thoughts.
"First regicide, second vigilantism, third open combat, fourth supply targeting and now attacking the OSI." She asked herself as she reached for the pendent she kept on her person at all times. It helped her remember simpler times, times where losing family wasn't a possibility to their childish minds. "How are you this able?"
And that it that, I've been writer's block for a while now and no matter how hard I try, I can't force myself to write a good chapter so rather than giving you 8k words of BS, this will have to hold you down till I can sort myself out.
