She intended to give away her position. Rescind her claim as the Gremory heir. It was an absurd proposition. He knew, because it was the exact kind of rash decision he would make. It was a rash decision he did make. And it hadn't exactly worked out well for him. "Rias," he said, his tone somewhere between a plea for understanding, a sigh of impatience and the slightest reprimand.
"Don't." She stopped him before he could continue, wiping her eyes. "You think I'm being an idiot. Like I didn't think it through. As if I would just declare it to Mother and Father and expect them to go along with it. Because that worked so well for me last time. I'm not stupid, Lulu-nii."
Lelouch tried not to take her accidental insult of his own actions personally. "I never said you were." He had never thought Rias was stupid. Not gifted, but not a fool. However, there was one trait he worried described her entirely too well. Myopic. "You aren't considering what it is you'd be giving away. The Gremory–"
"The Gremory is all I am," she countered before he could even finish his argument. "Heir to the house of Gremory, Rias Gremory! It's all anyone cares to talk to me about! How I need to do all of these things or it'll reflect badly on the Gremory! I need to marry Riser for the sake of the Gremory! I need to–" She paused, looked away, then returned her eyes to him. "I need to stop spending so much time with you or the Gremory alliances will be endangered. Gremory, Gremory, Gremory! That's all anyone cares about! What Rias wants doesn't matter!" She took his hands. "Except to you. And Sona. You actually put me first, even when you probably shouldn't."
He knew the event she was talking about. It wasn't hard to guess. "I made a promise–"
"Come on, Lulu-nii," she chided him with a pout. "We both know that was just an excuse so you could do what you wanted. Even Father figured it out after." her thumbs slid over the back of his hands. "You want me to be happy," she continued, some cheer in her voice again. "Not because of the Gremory, but because... It's me. Rias."
He wasn't going to argue that. Lying to her now... Even if he did, she wouldn't believe him. "Rias... I know. It's hard being in the position we are. The sacrifices we have to make for the sake of our positions. But that doesn't mean they need to dictate our lives completely. There are ways to honour commitments to our houses and still live the lives we want to lead." It was a constant balancing act, but that was the nature of their status.
"I can't," she whispered.
"Rias, I know you. You can. And if you need help, I can–"
"You don't understand!" She half-whined with resignation. "I... I'm not as good at political manoeuvring as you are but that's not why I can't do it. I'd... I'd be a terrible head of the Gremory." She sounded so certain of that. "I just... Can't let go of what matters most to me. I can't even pretend to."
"I–" Whatever Lelouch had to say in response, it was efficiently silenced. The redhead rising onto her toes to seal his lips with hers. He didn't have much experience with kissing but even he could feel the intentions of it. Clumsy but desperate, even pleading. Begging him to understand where she was really coming from. "Oh."
"You, Lulu-nii. I could never push you away. And to be a good Gremory acting for the Gremory, I would have to."
Once again, wheels turned and facts locked together in his mind. He raised a hand to palm his forehead. "Your debut." She was young then. But he couldn't deny that was the moment her feelings for him first sprouted. A precocious crush from his acting like one of the heroes from her manga, then growing and blossoming as she started coming into her own as a woman. All encouraged by his simple approach of putting her person before her position. On some level, he was glad it was he who had accidentally stolen her heart. It would have been absurdly easy for almost literally anyone else.
But the practical aspect. That was a concern that couldn't be ignored. In that same moment he had stolen her heart, he had also taken dominion of her future. It hadn't especially been his intention, not for the long-term. But in that moment, his judgement of who Rias should marry, it had superseded that of Zeoticus, her father. In the years that had passed since then, not a single devil had challenged it. Not her father. Not the Phenex. Not anyone else seeking her hand. He stood unchallenged as the arbiter of Rias' fate and because of that, he held unacceptable sway over the Gremory. Even more so because Rias so clearly trusted and appreciated him.
She was right. To act in the interests of the Gremory, she had no choice. It was a matter of doing the right thing for the Gremory and pushing him away publicly, or... Giving up her position. Admit her judgement and interests were compromised and that she couldn't put her house first. There was no surer or clearer way to do that than to submit herself as his Queen. A complete victory over her, a moderate victory over the Gremory. Milicas would become the next head instead and the underworld would keep turning. Or... Do whatever the underworld did from a cosmic perspective, it wasn't entirely clear.
"You think Zeoticus would even have accepted it?" he had to ask. The relationship between him and the current Gremory head had been cordial at best since the incident. Most bizarrely marked by odd moments when the man would send these strange, almost confused looks the Bael's way. Lelouch had never quite seen the benefit in the Phenex arrangement the man had been so enamoured with. He clearly had some idea of what he wanted Rias' and by extension the Gremory's future to be. Putting an end to that one path wouldn't put an end to those ambitions in their entirety.
"Lulu-nii, next in line is Milicas. The son of Sirzechs-nii-sama and Grayfia-onee-sama. The son of a Satan and a woman who could have been a Satan? Father wouldn't be happy but he'd know an opportunity when he saw one."
Well, there were perhaps some tangles involved in that arrangement that Rias was overlooking. Technically Milicas was next in line. He was a Gremory. Only Sirzechs had given up his claim as one. There weren't enough pillar devils to just purge an entire branch of a pillar's lineage, especially one that had proven to hold power. But it would certainly raise a political stink from devils working on assumptions that Milicas' lineage would make him an improper heir. Too powerful. A Satan in all but name. The expectations placed on the boy would be enormous.
"You could never have married me properly," she continued. "Even if Sona takes you as a consort to continue the Sitri line I could never have been your wife. I know your faction would never have accepted that. But if I was your Queen," she looked up at him with a sad smile, "They would have been satisfied. You would have given the Gremory a defeat. You would have won me and I," she swallowed, raising his other hand to hold it near her heart, "I would have been yours. Just like I wanted to be. You, me, Sona, we could have been together."
The problem had never been Kallen. It was that the Queen spot in his peerage had been taken. And with it, the only chance for Rias' plan to succeed. The Queen was still a position of status in a peerage, a salve for the blow dealt to the Gremory in taking her at all. Never in a thousand lifetimes would they let her become a literal Pawn. Even a Knight would require negotiations and concessions that he would never agree to. And going in the other direction, marrying her outright as the next Lady Bael... That was the kind of statement Zekram worried Lelouch was close to making by fraternising with the Satan families at all.
Sona unwittingly papered over such concerns with her exacting standards. She had turned herself into a prize to be won. No matter how quickly Lelouch had proven he could, it remained he was the only one who had, and not for lack of trying. Only the Bael heir had been enough to meet her needs, a fact that inflated both heirs' reputations. It was an arrangement that favoured both of them enough that it would be acceptable to Zekram should it come to pass.
The same couldn't be said for Rias.
Rias sniffed, sniffled, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry for... Getting mad at you that day. It, you didn't know about any of this. And sorry for kissing you like that. I..." Her face lit up, her cute embarrassment thoroughly undercut by the sadness in her eyes. "I just wanted a taste of what could have been, you know? It was stupid." She shook her hand out of his and held it close to herself. "I can't push you away. But... I'll find another way to make things work. Like you said. I don't ever want to lose you, Lulu-nii. Not for anything."
Lelouch could only watch as the Gremory heiress hurriedly walked away, her Queen taking her in a one armed hug as they moved not back toward the party but likely instead somewhere for Rias to freshen up.
This. This was a problem. His mind was already tracing the potential outcomes of this situation. Rias wouldn't push him away. She was resolved to take that course, for now. Either that resolve faltered with age, in which case she would do as her family bid. He would accept it of course, knowing what she was really doing. But by pushing him away in a very public manner she would explicitly also push away the protection he provided. No one had challenged his control of her life but if she herself did, no one else would need to. Zeoticus would be the controlling force in her life again. Whether that meant he would go back to old plans and try to revive them or come up with something entirely new, he would entirely decide Rias' fate regardless of any protestations she might make.
Worse. She had been 'proven' unable to fight her own battles because Lelouch had done it for her in the past. Her own choices and desires would fall on deaf ears.
And if she were to stick to her guns? Stand firm in her choice to keep close relations with him? That... Would be a circumstance the Gremory would not abide. The more tightly she held onto that bond, the more it would confirm to her parents and their allies in the New Satan faction that Rias' judgement was entirely compromised. That she was entirely owned by the Bael, by Lelouch specifically, and that if she were to become the next head she would follow his lead. She... She would be disinherited. Not by choice but by force. Instead of giving away, abdicating her future title, she would instead be stripped of it. Disavowed by the Gremory. Discarded by her family.
Meanwhile, Lelouch's options for intervention in the situation were limited. His hands were tied by his agreement with Zekram. Play along with the Great King faction. Going out of his way for Rias again, well, even the first time hadn't gone over well with Zekram and there hadn't been an agreement in place then. To do so now would likely end poorly for their arrangement. Though on the other hand, their arrangement didn't seem to be bearing fruit regardless. One instance of a benefit to Lelouch and even that was couched in completing Zekram's own objectives.
On the proverbial third hand, the task was not a simple one to complete, even for a man of Zekram's means. Devils had tried everything under the sun, both the real one of the human world and the false one of the underworld, searching for a cure. Searching for something. Even just an explanation for how the sleeping sickness was contracted, or what it was on the most basic level. Lelouch himself had resources few to none had when studying the disease and he fared no better.
... He would need to face his grandfather again. With facts. With solid arguments. It was the only way through this situation that could allow him to save his mother and protect Rias, maybe even give her the happiness she deserved.
But first, he needed to deal with the remainder of this celebration. He walked with purposeful steps back inside the grand villa, through the vibrant golden halls in the direction of the ballroom. But as he walked, his pace quickened at the sound of feminine shouts reaching his ears. Coming through the side door, he was greeted by a wall of well tailored suits and ball gowns faced away from him. All of the devils had conjured shields to protect themselves. Another duel had occurred while he had been gone, it seemed. He wondered who–
"Damn it all," he sighed, seeing Riser's Queen Yubelluna sailing through the air in lazy circles. If it was her, then he had a reasonable guess who the opponent was. He pushed his way through the crowd. Sure enough, still on the floor below Yubelluna was Kallen, her red dress halfway ripped off from the left shoulder leaving an admittedly magnificent breast entirely exposed. She was furious, her skin raw and scorched. She glared up at the other woman which only made Yubelluna laugh harder.
Flying hadn't been on the list of priorities for what Kallen needed to learn as a devil. Fighting as a devil had been on the list, but very low. Definitely not something worked on in the short time between her reincarnation and now.
"Ohohoho! Where has all that pride gone now, hm?" the Phenex Queen taunted from the safety of the rafters, a charge of energy forming over the mandala on her hand. "You dare to insult my Riser and this is all you have? Pathetic!" her eyes wandered, not even feeling the need to look at her opponent. "And look, now your King can witness the humiliation you brought on yourself! Oh, I wonder how he'll punish you for embarrassing him like this! If only he'd let me watch!"
Kallen followed the other woman's eyes to find him. She glared, as if accusing him of some wrongdoing despite the situation being entirely of her own making, at least as far as Lelouch knew. What caused it didn't matter now. He raised a hand to his ear. "I don't care what caused this. Whether you picked this fight. You're in it. So win."
The redhead started slightly at his voice suddenly finding its way into her ear. She glared all the harder in response to his words, to which he only raised his eyebrows and glanced back up at her opponent.
"Aww, look at that, no big bad Bael to come save you," the Queen tutted. "Poor little reincarnated devil, so out of her depth, isn't it just the saddest sight." A quiet chuckle seemed to pass through the crowd. Laughter at Kallen's expense and at her King's. "You should learn your place!" The mandala pointed down at Kallen, the charge of energy building until it blasted down toward the furious redhead.
An explosion. Explosive magic. The makeup of the spell matrix had suggested it would be something along those lines. The blast of noise and light obscured the aftermath, but Lelouch could have sworn he heard a yell in the middle of it.
"Ohohoho!" Yubelluna laughed in that derisive way of hers. "I don't need to waste even a tenth of my power on a fledgling like you. Go home and have your master beat some respect into you. Maybe then I'll let you kiss my feet as an apology!"
"Don't look down on me!" came the growling response as the smoke began to clear.
"What?!"
"Nobody..." the growling voice continued, the dissipating smoke revealing Kallen with an arm raised. That arm covered by a crimson gauntlet adorned by a large green gem. "Nobody looks down on me!"
"BOOST!"
The crowd gasped as they all heard the distinctive call that confirmed what they already suspected. Some eyes turned Lelouch's way. Inept enough to blatantly show the conclusion they had reached. The house of Bael, Lelouch Bael, now commanded the owner of the Boosted Gear. The newest incarnation of the Red Dragon Emperor, or Empress in this case.
Those who were more interested in the entertainment aspect, and especially those who knew a thing or two about the powers involved, were more intent on the new state of the fight. In short, many of them had realised the passable abilities Kallen Stadtfeld had already shown them had just doubled across the board. And in exactly ten seconds, they would double again. In essence, Yubelluna had just found herself with a time limit of ten seconds to end the battle, or have her attempt at humiliation turned around on her.
Unfortunately, "What even is that?" She chose to keep talking instead. Admittedly while she charged another explosive spell.
"What it is, love," Kallen grinned as she examined the gauntlet on her arm, testing the feel of the additional power flooding her body, "is you shouldn't look down on a dragon."
"Yubelluna, finish it now!"
The Queen gasped at her King's words, the worry in them. She grimaced, forcefully charged her spell faster and cast it down.
The redhead's grin was all teeth as she moved. More than she intended to, still getting used to the increased strength coursing through her already powerful frame. The tattered remains of the left side of her dress finally gave up the ghost, tearing off completely with the force of her sudden movement away from Yubelluna's spell. The blast, far bigger and stronger than before pushed her further, scorched her skin.
But... "BOOST!"
Double became quadruple. The dragon's speed increased yet again, faster than Yubelluna's scattering of smaller and faster bombs could keep up.
Lelouch searched out his fellow King. Riser and Ravel's golden hair standing out in the crowd. The young girl's excited jumping and clapping at the display. Riser's worrying at his nails. As if sensing the eyes on him, the third Phenex son's own found Lelouch. All Lelouch could do was shrug in apology. They could both see well enough how this would end. He didn't hear, but did see his friend sigh in resignation.
Another thing he would need to smooth over later.
Yubelluna had the advantage with her competence in flight. But Kallen proved she no longer needed to bridge that gap. All she needed do was wait for a hole in the barrage of spells. An inevitability when Yubelluna was still fighting aggressively instead of defensively, following her King's orders to end it as quickly as possible. The gap appeared and suddenly the raining explosions didn't matter in the slightest as the Red Dragon Empress launched herself through it. "Hragh!"
Yubelluna managed to turn just enough to see the grinning redhead rocketing toward her before she was tackled out of the sky. Brought back down to the ground by an open palm grasping the side of her head and slamming her headfirst into the magically strengthened floor. Then raised, "BOOST!" and slammed again.
The redhead took gasping, steadying breaths as she came back to her feet. The other Queen stayed right where she was, letting out only a low groan of pain, effectively announcing her own defeat.
Smatterings of polite applause began to erupt from corners of the room, a sound that grew as more devils joined in. Some reluctantly. Many focused on Kallen, though plenty of others focused their attention on the Bael heir. Adjusting their understanding of his position with the powerful weapon he had gained.
"RESET!"
The tension of Kallen's body dropped like a rock as all of the power she had been given fled at once, suddenly leaving her as her ordinary self again. Stepping over to her defeated opponent, she lifted her head.
"Hey, that's enough!"
She ignored the voice of the one who instigated this entire conflict, grabbed the woman's dress and tore off one side of it. With half of Yubelluna's body exposed, Kallen took the torn fabric and tied it around her chest to cover herself again. She felt a hand at her elbow, turned and saw her King looking at her with a flat expression.
"My apologies to the host," Lelouch spoke loudly over the dull murmur of the guests discussing the happenings. "We'll take our leave now."
"Wait!" Ravel Phenex rushed over as King guided Queen away from the situation she caused. "We barely got to talk at all!"
The Bael heir smiled indulgently at the little girl. "I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity for that going forward," he assured her. "Congratulations again, Ravel." Once again, he guided Kallen away, through the crowd of devils who seemed to alternate congratulating Kallen and Lelouch. Something that did nothing at all to brighten the girl's mood. "So, did you start that?" he asked.
"Might've been me," she answered with nonchalance and more than a bit of bravado. "Gonna be honest with yer, might've been the food platter that decided to smack her in her haughty bitch face. S'pose we'll never know, eh?"
"Your accent gets stronger when you're worked up like this."
"That a problem?"
Far from it, Lelouch thought to himself. "Just don't make a habit of picking fights," he sighed. "We're more tolerant of it but there's a limit."
"Aye, only if they're the ones who start the pickin', eh?"
Definitely another Kallen. Only this one even more aggressive than the one he was familiar with. Dragon. Yet another piece in his orbit that would be both blessing and curse. And yet still he doubted he'd trade her for anything.