"And check."
Lelouch blinked in shock, before groaning. "I never seem to win against you."
The Doctor smirked beneath his mask, but soon decided to show mercy. "True, but you've been getting closer to winning every time we've played. You'll get there, eventually."
"Maybe. For what it's worth, your probably the toughest opponent I've ever had."
Beneath his mask, the Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Even compared to your brother Schneizel?"
"Yes."
Beneath his mask, the Doctor smirked - it felt good to be praised.
The boy and his sister had initially been unwilling to share their past, but after a few weeks, they had eventually decided to admit who they were - their names were Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia, and apparently, they came from another world. Supposedly, they were royalty, or rather, ex-royalty, who had been used by their father as political tools after their mother died.
Inwardly, the Doctor felt conflicted about this - on the one hand, he understood that royalty would often use their family for political gain, and while he couldn't condone that, he could accept it. Being so blasé and cruel about it, though? That was a big no-no.
Theresa, especially, had been angry about that, and had all but promised that, when this war was won, she would help them get home and protect them from their family. So had the Doctor - children should be able to be children, instead of pawns.
The siblings had grown surprisingly close to the Doctor during their stay with Babel - enough that they had asked him to be their teacher while they were stuck here. Idly, the Doctor wondered why practically every child that Babel ended up caring for asked him to be their teacher - they never asked Kal'Tsit to do that, or anyone else for that matter. He was a researcher and a tactician, not a school-teacher. So what if he gave them good advice and listened to their problems? It was...unprofessional.
Eventually, though, it had become apparent that their mobile base could not support these children indefinitely. Thus, after some debate, Theresa and Kal'Tsit had decided to send them to another nation for further schooling. As it so happened, one of their backers had offered to support the pair at Chernobog in Ursus, which, unfortunately, was the best option available - while the two were not infected, Ursus still looked down on those who were not Ursus.
Surprisingly, though, the siblings had taken things in stride. They'd managed to make a few friends at Chernobog, and had managed to make the top of their classes. They never really made any friends, but they weren't ostracized either. The few who had tried to torment them had been dissuaded by the two's maid, Sayoko. Offhandedly, the Doctor noted that he was wrong in his initial assumption that the woman had no ancient blood in her veins - it had taken her a while, but she had eventually grown a small pair of Oni horns.
The sudden ringing coming from a nearby alarm told Lelouch and the Doctor that their time to converse was up. The two said their goodbyes, then Lelouch logged off, leaving the Doctor alone with his thoughts. He wondered how long before anyone started pestering him on the origins of the children - only Theresa had been present when they revealed their pasts, so she was the most likely candidate, but Kal'Tsit might eventually grow curious as well. The thought of them learning the truth made the Doctor grow cold - he had sworn to keep the nature of the talismans a secret...
...No matter the cost.
XXXXX
Lelouch watched as the children descended upon the two boys, jeering at the duo as they threw refuse, insult, and blows upon the pair.
They had just finished shopping with Sayoko when they had stumbled on a commotion in an alleyway. A closer examination had revealed that it was a group of children bullying two boys, one of apparently affluent background, the other a homeless street-wanderer. Such a sight had been disturbingly common, especially if the victims in question were infected with Oripathy. Often, it was adults performing the abuse onto other adults, or children, but today, it seemed that even children were joining in the cruelty.
If it were any other day, with any other crowd, then Lelouch and Nunnally would have continued on - no sense in fighting a battle that you could not win. Yet this was different from any other day - watching children bully their own caused something to snap inside Lelouch, and even within Nunnally. Wordlessly, Lelouch approached the bullies, grabbing a discarded stone on the ground.
When a particularly burly-looking boy moved to hit the cowering children, Lelouch struck. A moment later, a girl from the group yelled at them, only to take a snowball to the face from Nunnally. The group froze in fear for a moment, before preparing to advance upon the pair.
Then Sayoko pulled out a pair of kunai, and their bravado evaporated. Without hesitation, they ran.
When the last of the bullies ran off, Lelouch and Nunnally walked/wheeled themselves over to the battered pair. The duo opened their eyes just in time for the siblings to offer them their hands.
"You're safe now," said Lelouch.
"...Who are you?" asked the one without a tail - a Liberi.
"My name is Lelouch, and her's is Nunnally."
"What are your names?" asked Nunnally.
"...Sasha," said the snake-tailed one.
"Ino," spoke the Liberi.
XXXXX
Several hours later, the four were sitting at a table, eating a dinner Lelouch had helped Sayoko prepare. For some reason, though, Sasha and Ino hadn't touched their plates just yet.
"If you keep waiting, your food will get cold," noted Nunnally.
After a final moment of hesitation, the pair dug in. Ino stopped for a moment, though, to inquire about something that had been bugging him for a while.
"Why are you doing all this? Why are you helping us."
Lelouch needed only a moment to respond. "Because you needed help. And if you want to come by here for dinner again, you're always welcome."
XXXXX
Present Day...
Amiya helped Lelouch stand back up - after he had unleashed his shadow powers, he'd almost blacked out, and he had faceplanted into the sand.
"So, I guess you know the truth about what happened to your mother now."
"Yep."
"What are you going to do now?"
Before Lelouch or Nunnally could answer, the trench-coat clad operator known as Fox decided to interject. "I think you might want to know something about this organization that your...uncle...runs."
"And what is that?" asked a genuinely curious Nunnally.
"Apparently, it looks like your father knows about it. And co-runs it."
"...Do you have proof?" asked the elder sibling.
"I have a message to the little boy from your father thanking him for securing Koschei's aid."
"...I see."
Amiya looked Lelouch in the eyes. "Are you going to stay here? To fight your father?"
"Yeah. So I guess that means that this is-"
"Then I'm with you."
Immediately, everybody glanced at Amiya. "Say again?" asked a shocked Siege.
"You are part of Rhodes Island, Lelouch. You are one of us. You are friend to both the Doctor and me. And I won't abandon you."
Then Amiya turned her attention to the rest of the gathered operators. "IF any of you want to leave, though, I understand. You'll be granted severance pay and retirement benefits if you want to back out now, and Blacksteel and Penguin Logistics will be paid in full now."
NO one spoke for a while. But eventually...
"Eh, what the hell?" asked W. "We've fought with you a while, Lucifer. No backing out now."
Lelouch blushed when she called him by his old codename, even if that did bring back bad memories.
"You helped me and Reed get over our exile," admitted Siege. "I think we owe you this much at least."
"You and your sister never stopped showing kindness to Sasha and me," acknowledged Mephisto. "Time to repay the favor."
One by one, everyone else affirmed their decision to stay. Even Kal'Tsit.
"We are Rhodes Island," spoke the Doctor. "We will not abandon our own."
"..Thank you," spoke both Lelouch and Nunnaly, tears in their eyes.
"...That being said, do you have any place we could set up a base, or at least allies to work with?"
"...Actually, I might have an idea."
XXXXX
Ashford Residence, three days later...
"I'm coming!" spoke the woman know as Millicent Ashford, heir to the Ashford Foundation, as she made her way to answer the door. "Who is it-Lelouch?! Nunnally?!"
The siblings smirked at Milly's shock. "Hello, Milly."
XXXXX
AN: Fox is a crossover character from the same universe as Rainbow, but he IS NOT a member of Rainbow. He is still from a Ubisoft Property.
Next chapter will detail the start of canon for Code Geass. Though their will be some deviations from the get-go.
Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!