It was selfish. She was being selfish. She knew it before she even called for Sayoko. There was no helping it though. It had been so sudden. The feeling that had suddenly come over her. Overwhelmed her.
She heard the gentle knock on the door. The voice of her brother answering with a sleepy, "Yes?" The latch on the door opening.
"My Lord," Sayoko spoke with an apologetic tone. "I apologise for disturbing your rest but it seems Lady Nunnally had a nightmare and–"
"It wasn't a nightmare!" Nunnally protested, only to gasp at her sudden outburst. "I'm sorry, Miss Sayoko. I didn't mean to snap like that. But... It wasn't a nightmare. I was laying in bed and then all of a sudden I just felt so scared and I don't know why... I know it's silly but–"
"Would you like to stay with me tonight, Nunnally?" he asked.
She imagined the room was dark, and she couldn't see anyway. And yet the sound of the indulging smile in his voice seemed to light up her whole world. "Please?"
She heard the rustling of blankets. "It's alright, Sayoko. I'll take it from here. Please, go back to bed."
"Of course, my lord. I shall be in my room if you need anything."
"Thank you brother," she said as he wheeled her beside his bed, lowered the arm of the chair and helped her under the covers.
"Of course," he answered, sliding in next to her from the opposite side and pulling her close. "There's nothing to be scared of, Nunnally. I promise, no matter what happens I'll be here for you. Always."
She smiled. Wrapped her arms around him. Yes. Like always, the warmth of her big brother always made her feel safe.
-(-)-
The imperial air transport soared comfortably through the skies above the Indian subcontinent. The weather was clear. The flight was calm and even as it could be, a result of the great advances of Britannian advances in flight technology. Only the best was enough for the Emperor, Charles zi Britannia. Though the man himself cared little for the luxury. It was what it was. There was no need to revel in the creature comforts afforded to him by his position. All that mattered was his objective.
And he was so tantalisingly close.
His loyal Knight of One stood beside him, at the ready as ever. His personal knightmare frame waiting in the hangar should anything dare to threaten them. Though there was little chance of that. The conquests Britannia had made in recent years. Their mighty military carving a swath through southern Asia from Japan to the Indian subcontinent and now the Middle Eastern Federation. All to clear a path to one of the most important sites on the globe. The location conquered by his daughter Cornelia two months ago. She had moved on as the purposeful General she was. Onward to new battlefields, to conquer more lands and snuff the will to resist out of these people. Not knowing that the only prize they needed was already in their hands.
He took in a deep breath. Yes. Soon. Ragnarok would be complete. And the peaceful world he and V.V. had dreamed of would come into being.
-(-)-
"The empire is in mourning after the tragic loss of His Imperial Majesty, Charles zi Britannia. The list of fatalities as a result of the crash of the imperial air transport was confirmed early this morning and includes Bismarck Waldstein the Knight of One as well as all crew. Investigations are ongoing to determine if the crash was pilot error, malfunction or sabotage. His majesty, en route to the Saudi front to inspect and encourage the troops battling the Middle Eastern Federation–"
Lelouch stared at the television, aghast. He of course wasn't the only one. When Rivalz had come into the room demanding they turn it on, none of them could ever have expected it would be for this. The other members of the Ashford student council had no idea how to feel about what had happened. With one news report, their entire world had shifted irrevocably.
Milly however chewed her nails. She entirely understood what had just happened. More importantly, the full implications unfolded in her mind. "This is awful," she said aloud. Lelouch whirled around to look at her, anger on his face. But as he saw her worried expression, he knew she wasn't speaking for the 'tragic' fate of Charles, but for what such a thing would mean for them.
"I cannot truly express the grief that has taken hold of me," the image of Clovis spoke, "For our beloved Emperor, my father, to have been so cruelly taken from us! Taken far too soon. What words could be said to allay the grief I am sure we all share. But, though I cannot rightly convey my despair, I can tell you, each and every citizen of Britannia residing in Area Eleven! I can tell you what our dear departed Emperor would tell you in such trying times. Be strong! Be strong, for that is what allows our Empire to stand above all others! Even in times of grief, in times of strife, in times of heartbreak, we must rise above and live as he would wish us to! With glad hearts, firm resolve, and gratitude for the guidance he has given us during his reign!"
The chair kicked out from under Lelouch, the young man storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Wow," Shirley breathed. "Lulu must've been really moved by Prince Clovis' eulogy."
Milly soon followed him out. Closed the door behind her so the others couldn't hear Lelouch's outburst. His fists slammed into the wall, his bloody knuckles staining the paint. She heard something pop as he let out a furious scream of pain and anger both at once. "Lelouch, are you alright?" She winced at her own question. It was quite possibly the stupidest thing she could have asked.
And appropriately enough, he laughed. A sick helpless laugh as he cradled his hand. "Alright. Alright."
The worst part was he had no idea. So much of him was elated, almost giddy at the thought that the man who had tormented his memories, discarded him and Nunnally like trash without a care, left them for dead as he waged his war, that Charles zi Britannia was dead. It was difficult to imagine a man who deserved such a pointless death more. But that part. That it was so pointless. So meaningless. That part galled him. Everything Charles had done, Lelouch had planned for years how to pay him back a thousand fold. To tear down everything he had built and leave his legacy in a smoking ruin before finally taking his life. His nightmares had been filled with that imperious gaze staring down at his mother's corpse before turning away in disinterest. His daydreams had been filled with that same face in a rictus of fear and anguish as his world was rended.
And instead of the end Lelouch believed he deserved... It ended like this. Charles zi Britannia was gone. And with it, both Lelouch's vengeance, and the best avenue for answers to the attack on Aries Villa. All that planning, wasted. His life's work, nothing but ash and a bloated, washed-up carcass in imperial regalia. The mental image was pleasant, but cold comfort.
Milly had known him most of her life. Nothing could prepare her for how to handle this. "What will you do?"
"You think I know?!" he snapped at her. What would he do? This changed everything. The Emperor was dead. With or without a clearly chosen successor the dozens of princes and princesses would still vie for power, whether that be ascending to their father's throne or some lesser position, foolishly believing they would be spared if they made it clear they had no aspirations of ascending themselves. The empire would see a royal bloodbath. And worst, Area Eleven, Japan. Japan would be dragged centre stage. Sakuradite was the beating heart of the Britannian military. It didn't take a strategic genius to understand controlling this one island colony would give whoever did so an incredible advantage in the war for the throne. Through no fault of their own, Japan had been put in the crosshairs of Britannia once again.
"I'm sorry," he managed to say with a hiss as he popped his finger back into its socket. "I... I need time to think."
His oldest friend nodded. "I'll make excuses for you."
"Thank you."
"Lelouch," she spoke again, halting him as he walked away, "We're here for you. Both of you. Please remember that."
-(-)-
Beatrice Franks. Knight of Two. Interim Commander of the Knights of the Round.
How she wished she had neither of those titles at this moment. Bad enough she was suddenly thrust into the position of leader at such a horrible time of crisis. If it had been six months later she wouldn't have ever been in this position. Her retirement from the Knights would have been complete and this would have been someone else's problem.
The problem being the document in her hands. The most coveted and most dangerous document in all of the Britannian Empire. As Commander of the Knights of the Round, it was her duty to convey the contents of it.
She was going to die. One way or another, her life would almost certainly be ended today. And worst of all for something so pointless.
She heard the door click open. That shouldn't have been possible. Her hands went to sword and pistol belted to her waist. They did not move from those positions even seeing who was coming through the door. "Princess Cornelia," she acknowledged, not curtseying as was called for by etiquette. "Sir Guilford." The magenta-haired princess' Knight of Honor.
"Sir Franks," the second princess returned the stiff greeting. "You are on guard. I understand. Given the circumstances you would be a fool not to be." Her eyes shift, see the folded document on the table. "That's it, isn't it? His last will and testament." The tension of the Knight Commander raised another few degrees. "I know I wasn't chosen as his heir, Beatrice, and killing you now wouldn't change that. You have nothing to fear from me. I simply want to know which of my half-siblings will need to be guarded most fiercely pending the pronouncement."
"You expect me to believe you truly don't care?" the knight asked with obvious suspicion. Heresy in almost any other circumstance. But this wasn't any other circumstance.
"I'm the commander of our armed forces," Cornelia reminded. "I make war with our enemies. I have no desire to war with my own countrymen, though I suspect some will give me little choice in the matter."
The poor woman was stuck considering her options with very little time to do so. She could refuse, and this was one of those vanishingly few occasions wherein an imperial princess had no right to insist. Cornelia may insist anyway, possibly with force, but if that were the case, Beatrice liked her chances. Attempting to retire the position or not, she was a Knight of the Round. The Knight of Two. Neither the princess nor her knight were a match for her.
But, in the legal right or not, in self-defense or not, killing a princess was killing a princess. It would guarantee her death would come all the swifter.
But that was not what convinced her. No, what convinced her to acquiesce was simple. "You're right," she admitted as she released her weapons. "Telling you won't change anything at all. Even if you get rid of it, get rid of me, it would all be pointless anyway."
"What?"
The Knight of Two took up the document, adjusted her glasses and began to recite the contents of Emperor Charles zi Britannia's last will and testament.
And with each word, the emperor's daughter looked more and more perplexed. "What? That can't be!"
"So you see now," Beatrice nodded, once again folding the will and holding it in one hand. "It doesn't matter. The will shall be read and a civil war will be inevitable regardless. The second Emblem of Blood." Her hand shook, a sign of her worries at such an event coming to pass for the empire yet again. "Princess Cornelia, your highness, do you truly intend to protect this empire and her people?"
The second princess' bafflement subsided at the question. Replaced slowly but surely with a mask of resolve as she came to a decision. "I do."
Beatrice breathed a sigh of relief. "Then you shall have my full support. And I'll–Hgk!" Her words ended with the singing of steel. A blade withdrawn and parting flesh in one swift, circular motion. "Your h-highness!" Beatrice breathed as Cornelia plucked the will from her fingers, "Wh-why? You heard it! Th-there's no point!"
"I did hear it," the Witch of Britannia agreed with solemnity even as she twisted the blade. "It told me far more than you realise. I am sorry, but no one can know."
"Highness, I–!" Another metallic note as the cavalry sabre was pulled free, leaving the knight to fall unhindered.
Cornelia wiped her blade clean before resheathing it. "Guilford," she spoke with both sorrow and conviction, "Please deal with this."
"Of course, your highness."
-(-)-
The Emperor had fallen. And with him, the Knight of One. Shortly after, the Knight of Two had disappeared.
And with those two devastating losses, Gino Weinberg, all of sixteen years old suddenly found himself in the unenviable position of Acting Commander of the Knights of the Round. A position he was in no way ready for, and one he didn't especially want. Now in particular. They did, after all, seem to be dropping like flies.
But, along with the Knight of Two, the last will and testament of Charles zi Britannia had also disappeared. There was only one reasonable conclusion to draw from that information. Someone found out what was contained in it and would prefer it not be revealed.
So, Gino was probably safe. Yippee.
But that left him to decide what the hell the Knights were supposed to do in such a time of crisis. Whoever had taken the will would rather the empire be plunged into civil war than let the Emperor choose his own successor. But without the will, that was the path they were all on. They couldn't change that, so all that remained was figuring out how to weather the storm.
He called a meeting with all remaining Knights. Monica Kruszewski was luckily within Pendragon at the time. Or, well, whether that was luck or not remained to be seen. The woman was completely distraught. It was easy to understand why given she was the head of the Royal Guard. The other Knights had no choice but to be present via video screen. Each of them was assigned to warfronts across the globe, thus unable to attend in person.
"Well isn't this a pretty little mess we've found ourselves in," Luciano Bradley, Knight of Ten spoke acerbically. "Congratulations Monica. Your Royal Guard did a hell of a job. I'm sure you're very proud."
"Would you have had me defy a direct command from his majesty?!" she demanded, her voice shrill and angry. "He commanded only Sir Bismarck accompany him!"
"Blaming each other is pointless!" Gino insisted. "We all exist to protect the empire and its interests and so we all share responsibility! We are in a time of crisis! Accusations can wait until that crisis is over! Dorothea, how are our military leaders responding in the middle-eastern front?"
"From opportunistic to distraught. A worrying number seem to have shut down at the terrible news."
Nonette sniffed contemptuously. "Others are getting greedy. General Voight assigned three battalions to take a particularly stubborn fortification in northern Saudi Arabia."
"Did he succeed?"
"His forces were completely routed, until my intervention that is."
The Knight of Three sighed. "Then I expect we'll have one fewer of our ambitious Generals when Princess Cornelia returns. But that will be her prerogative. The objective for us as Knights of the Round is simple. We protect the empire's interests. Our enemies, the Chinese Federation, Euro United, they will smell blood and they'll be right to. With his majesty's will missing, likely destroyed, the children of his majesty will be vying for the position of his successor."
"Lord Weinberg," the Knight of Ten Luciano Bradley spoke the name with sudden intrigue and intensity, "Do you perhaps suggest we might see a second Emblem of Blood? My lord, you suddenly have my total attention."
"I don't suggest it lightly. However, there is no emperor. None command us until a successor is chosen and acknowledged by whatever means. Until that day we must stay neutral, loyal to only the empire itself. We will protect our borders from the inevitable hostility of our enemies. The Knight of Six has already recruited a force to join her in Area Eleven."
Dorothea nodded severely. "Yes. Who was Viceroy of that Area?"
"Prince Clovis."
"Oh, Lord," she moaned in dismay, improper or not. "Yes, he will certainly need the help. And no matter what, we cannot lose such a precious resource as the sakuradite in that land. A wise course, Sir Weinberg."
Gino elected not to mention he hadn't instructed Anya to go to Area Eleven. She had simply disappeared, he had only found out later that she had gone and had taken a battalion with her. "Yes. Likewise, Sir Ernst, Sir Bradley, Sir Enneagram, I must insist you each find your way to the most at risk Areas also. Nonette, you may find Princess Cornelia requests you stay to combat the Middle Eastern Federation. I leave it up to your discretion to decide if such a request is in her interests or the interests of the empire."
"And here I was worried you'd be bad at this," Nonette praised. "Not to worry, Lord Weinberg. Nelly has too much pride in her victories to let them be undone for her own ends."
"And what will you be doing, Sir Weinberg?"
"Sir Kruszewski and I shall be staying in Pendragon."
"How valiant of you," Luciano scoffed.
"Perhaps you misunderstood, Sir Bradley," Gino spoke warningly. "If this crisis mirrors the rise of His Imperial Majesty Charles zi Britannia, this city, the heart of the empire shall become a den of chaos. A battlefield between every imperial house each vying to remove the others for their own ends! I will not allow the streets of Pendragon to run red with the blood of her people!"
"Hm...?'' The Vampire of Britannia's tone changed from derision to interest. "Well now. I shall not take back my words but I shall take back the sarcasm. You've got me all jealous!"
-(-)-
The homeland was in chaos. Already four children of the emperor, four of Lelouch's half-siblings had fallen to the infighting. Early casualties. The ones old and smart enough would fortify their own positions, likely to only be picked off over the course of months.
The Second Emblem of Blood. It was already on the lips of the braver news outlets.
Lelouch vi Britannia sat in the main room of the lodgings the Ashford family, or more specifically Ruben, allowed him and Nunnally to use. He stared at the table before him. At the nine chess boards atop it. He might have considered it a useful tool for strategy but it was entirely possible he had picked up far too many sets over the years. In fairness many of them were gifts. And in this instance, having so many was also useful in this instance. One set was not enough to even come close to depicting the complexities of the coming days.
The centre of the nine grids was of course the expected battlefield. Japan. On it, the King (himself), a Bishop (Clovis), a couple of Knights (the Area military) and some Pawns (the civilians).
Then, surrounding that weak central faction were the various likely factions that would shake out among his siblings. Cornelia was an obvious one. A Queen piece commanding a horde of Knights and Rooks. Schneizel was another. His faction filled with far fewer of Cornelia's pieces, but a mass of Pawns and Bishops, representing his control of the Britannian citizenry and court as Prime Minister. Then there were the weaker but not insignificant factions of Odysseus and Guinevere. Odysseus was by default the crown prince, but no one with any sense expected him to take the throne and keep it. So he held a token force of Knights, a single Rook, and the rest opportunistic but unwise Bishops. Guinevere was an odd one. So far as Lelouch could guess, she would have trouble rousing a military presence on her own, but might be able to rally others of their siblings to her banner. She was awful but was among the more vicious of his siblings. She could make a fuss but wouldn't amount to much. Likely the first big player to disappear.
And then... The others. Smaller factions. But with their own territories. The Emperor in all his wisdom had largely chosen his children to take Viceroy positions in the empire's Areas. Thus, each one had a power base of their own that could potentially be disconnected from the homeland. If they managed to take Japan from Clovis they would become a major player just like that.
And that said nothing of Britannia's enemies beyond itself. An assault from the EU was not likely. They would need to fend off too many to even reach Japan. Either the homeland, Euro Britannia and the Chinese Federation, or the numerous Areas along Asia's south coast. But the Chinese Federation. That was more than a possibility. Represented ably by a dozen glass Pawns along one edge of his makeshift map. With more to come over the horizon.
And who could forget the one remaining Pawn of the wrong colour sitting right on top of Japan. The still intact resistance factions of Japanese, the JLF, the Six Houses of Kyoto.
... It was too much. That was the only conclusion he could come to. He and Nunnally had been safe in Japan for so many years but now the whole world was eyeing the islands like a juicy steak, salivating at the idea of tearing it apart. Clovis was not up to the task of keeping it intact, keeping the other factions at bay. He would fold at the first real threat.
Should they leave? It was a possibility. Above and beyond everything else, Nunnally's safety came first. But where would they go when the entire world was about to become a warzone? Every option was a bad one. The other Areas wouldn't be as bad but it would still be unstable, not to mention travelling somewhere else would be a risk on its own. The Chinese Federation? Their complexion would cause problems. It would be obvious they didn't belong which would raise questions. And there was no chance of them getting further afield safely. The Homeland didn't even bear mentioning.
No. Running wasn't a possibility, at least not a realistic one. He was oddly glad of that. He would abandon this land and all of its people in a heartbeat for Nunnally, but that didn't mean he had to like the idea. With that off the table... What?
He stared at that lone, off-colour Pawn. With a frown, visualising it in his mind, he replaced that Pawn with a Knight, then added a second. Swapped the off-colour Knights for ones of the right colour. Another Knight and a Rook, some Pawns. It wasn't a force Clovis could win with but... He removed the Bishop. Removed the pretence.
For hours more he studied those boards, used them to visualise potential futures. Possibilities. He didn't sleep. His mind far too busy.
There was opportunity here. Charles was gone. All that remained of him was the shambling mass of rot they called an empire. But with no Charles, what need was there for vengeance? All that remained was Nunnally. All that remained was giving her a world where she could live in peace and happiness. A kinder world.
As the light of dawn pierced through the curtains, Lelouch stood from his chair. Studied the board one last time... And moved his King.