Standing in the garage of the Viceroy's Palace, Cornelia stood silently as she drummed her fingers against her biceps. Standing before her, next to a nondescript car, stood her little sister and two bodyguards. Instead of her regal, pink gown, Euphemia was wearing a nondescript white skirt coupled with a tan jacket with pink highlights. The outfit was completed by a pair of pink rimmed glasses. To anyone else, she could easily pass for a Britannian student.
And Cornelia wasn't pleased.
"Euphie, I'm going to say this for the last time: I am not happy with you going to that convention." The elder princess said sternly.
"Don't worry, sister." Euphemia said, smiling sweetly. "It's only going to be for the day and I'll have my two bodyguards. I'll be fine."
Cornelia only frowned. She didn't think her heart could deal with the idea of anything happening to her sister. But Euphemia had a strong spirit and she was her little sister after all. With a sigh, Cornelia let her head drop.
"All right. But just for the day." Cornelia said sternly.
However, Euphemia only smiled before embracing her sister. The viceroy returned the hug, holding her sister for a few moments before pressing her lips to Euphemia's forehead.
"Be safe, little Euphie." Cornelia said gently.
"I will, Nellie." Euphemia said happily. The use of Cornelia's nickname from Nonette made the older woman wince, but she still smiled as she let Euphemia go. She stood watching her and her bodyguards climb into their car which promptly left the garage. Soon, Cornelia was standing alone in the wide expanse of the garage. Turning, the princess made her way to the elevator that led from the garage to the palace above.
On her way to the elevator, she ran in to the person she least probably wanted to see this morning.
"Hello, Nonette." She said simply, nodding her head to the woman.
"Hello, yourself, Nellie." The Knight of Nine said with a grin, causing Cornelia to roll her eyes.
"I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times: stop calling me that!" Cornelia hissed through gritted teeth. Quickly, she regained her composure. "What are you doing in the garage anyway?"
"Nothing major," Nonette said, stretching her arms above her head. "Me and Dorothea were just overseeing our Knightmares being moved in."
Cornelia merely nodded as she began continuing her journey to the elevator, Nonette falling in line beside her, the duo walking in an uncommon silence until they reached the elevator.
"If you cared so much about her, you'd send someone like myself or Dorothea with her." The champagne-haired woman said out of nowhere.
Cornelia let out a sigh. "I did say, but she refused."
"Then how about Guilford. Or even that young lieutenant?"
"I did suggest, but she refused anyway. She said that she'd be fine with just her bodyguards." Cornelia said as she pressed the button to call the lift.
"You could just give her a pistol of her own, you know." Nonette said off handedly. It was pretty sound advice too: members of the Royal Family in the past had faced assassination attempts, so many of them began carrying personal side-arms along side their ever present bodyguards.
To the princess though, it was like suggesting that Euphemia join a gang or something similar. Suddenly, Cornelia spun to face Nonette fast enough to worry about whiplash as she turned, a scowl plain on her face.
"I will NOT have Euphemia carry a weapon."
"But why not?" Nonette asked, genuine concern plain in her voice.
The ding of the arriving elevator filled the empty air as Cornelia was silent. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I will not loose another person I love."
With that, the two women climbed into the elevator, the princess pressing the button to make the lift rise into the palace.
Reaching across, Ciaran reached into the packet of biscuits, withdrawing one which he promptly bit in to. Currently, the young man was seated at Euphemia's desk, filling out some paperwork. Although he wasn't actually filling out the paperwork. As a lieutenant, he didn't have the authority to sign anything in the sub-viceroy's place, so all he was doing was doing what he did when he first worked with Euphemia: sorting the paperwork by date to say which documents needed to be signed first. He was also using a small collection of stickers to mark which papers were the most important for signing.
With Euphemia gone, he had decided to take some liberties with his outfit. Granted, Euphemia was never really that much of a stickler for regulations, as she had allowed Ciaran to leave his hat off, but now he felt like pushing it. His jacket was off, along with his hat and gloves, and he had rolled the sleeves of his under-shirt to above his elbows. To someone looking in, he'd more than likely have easily passed for a university student instead of a military officer.
Applying the last label to the paper and closing the folder, he stretched out his shoulders and back with an audible click before rolling his joints to ease out the stress before redressing. With the last of the paper work done, he picked up the pack of biscuits and exited the room. Euphemia hadn't left him anything else to do while she was away, so Ciaran pretty much let his feet carry him wherever they decided to go. It didn't take him long before he reached the entrance to Cornelia's office.
"Eh, worth a go, right?" Ciaran asked to no-one in particular before he knocked on the door. It didn't take long before the door opened, although to the young man's surprise, it wasn't the form he expected to see on the other side.
"Oh, Ciaran. What a surprise to see you here." Princess Cornelia said, a small smile coming to her face.
Rubbing the back of his head, Ciaran suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. "Well, I've finished the paperwork Euphemia gave me. So I was just at a loss on what else to do."
Cornelia nodded in understanding before pushing open the door wider. "Then come in then."
The young man bowed his head slightly before entering the room, the princess closing the door behind him. Together the two made their way to Cornelia's desk, Ciaran remaining standing until Cornelia had taken her seat before taking his.
"Care for a biscuit, your highness?" The young man asked, offering the princess the packet. Looking at the packet, Cornelia blinked several times before smiling and taking one out with a "thank you". The young man took a biscuit out for himself and started eating, the princess copying his action.
The two sat in relative silence before the purple-haired woman spoke up. "I'm afraid I haven't got anything for you to do at the moment, Ciaran, but since Guilford is assisting Nonette and Dorothea with their sleeping arrangements, I could do with the company, if you'd oblige me."
"Of course, your highness," Ciaran said, suppressing a smile at the idea of Lord Guilford trying to help Nonette. Looking across the desk, his eyes settled on the back of what looked like a silver picture frame. Following his line of sight, Cornelia smiled softly as she reached over to take hold of the photo-frame.
"I don't think you've been shown any photos of my other family, have you?" The princess asked as she reached over to the take hold of the frame as Ciaran shook his head 'no'. Turning the frame around, the young man leaned closer to look at the picture in the frame. There were five people in the frame: a young woman, probably in her early-thirties with long black hair and soft violet eyes, surrounded by four children. One was a boy with short black hair and the same violet eyes as the woman and three girls, two with pink hair of varying shades and one with long, curly, sandy brown hair. Ciaran couldn't help but grin as he recognized two of the figures.
"Euphemia was a cute one, eh?" The young man said, looking at the image of the young princess who could only have been six or seven. "And, if I may be honest, you look very different to what I imagined."
"How do you mean?" The older woman asked, confusion plain on her face.
"I just imagined seeing pictures of you when you were younger in a little hussar's dolman." Ciaran said with a shrug and a chuckle before looking at the photo again. "Who are the other three though?"
At that, Cornelia's face saddened, although a smile still remained. "The woman is the late empress, Marianne vi Britannia, the fifth wife of my father, Charles zi Britannia. The young boy is my half-brother, Lelouch, and the young girl is Nunnally. After Marianne was... after she was murdered and Nunnally was crippled, she and Lelouch were sent to Area 11 as political prisoners. But they perished in the war."
Ciaran gave Cornelia a concerned look. He could hear anger in her voice, anger directed at herself. Sadness was there too.
"You were very close then?"
Cornelia nodded. "I admired Marianne, with all my heart, and I loved her children as much as I love Euphie." She sagged forward in her chair, resting her elbows on the desk and her head in her hands as she let out a shuddering breath. "I was so happy to be given the post as the captain of her guard. But I..."
"What happened?" The young man asked softly, resting his interlocked hands on the desk. Sighing, Cornelia regained some of her former composure as she sat up straight in her chair.
"On the day that... that Marianne was murdered, as the captain of her guard, I was ordered to disable the security system of her villa and disband her guard contingent for the day. I tried to protest, but she still ordered me to do it."
"Sounds like you were stuck between a rock and a hard place." The young man said flatly.
"How do you figure?" Cornelia asked, looking him in the eye.
"Well, you were torn between your duty as a soldier and your duty as a family member. Your duty as a soldier told you to follow her orders, but your duty as a family member told you to stay and protect her. And, I'm gonna be blunt here, I doubt you being there would really have made much of a difference, your highness." Ciaran said, his light blue eyes locked with Cornelia's indigo ones. "Sounds like a lose-lose situation to me."
"What do you mean?" The princess asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Simple. If you hadn't left, Marianne would still have been murdered, along with yourself. The result would have been the same, but with one extra dead body and one more grieving family. And it is likely that Euphemia would have suffered the same fate as Lelouch and Nunnally."
Cornelia's eyes widened in shock at the bluntness of the man before her, before she let out another sigh. The idea of Euphemia being in the same position as Marianne's children. It just filled her with a feeling of dread. She let a small smile come to her face.
"That was a brave thing to say, Ciaran." The princess said, reclining back in her chair.
The young man chuckled as he picked up the photo-frame. "Well, I'll be honest: I think I prefer seeing you angry rather than sad." This made the duo laugh, Ciaran falling silent as he stared intently at the photo. Specifically, the young boy with short black hair and violet eyes.
"Something wrong?" Cornelia asked, looking at the man in front of her.
"No, nothing is wrong," Ciaran said, giving the princess a sideways look. "I'm just... having an odd sense of deja-vu."
The purple-haired princess had opened her mouth to speak but, just at that, the twin doors opened loudly with a crash. Turning to look at the door, the photo-frame forgotten, Ciaran was surprised to see Guilford. Well, it wasn't surprising to see Guilford, but the look on his face was surprising: red-faced and a look of near-absolute terror on his face.
"Your highness!" The bespectacled knight said, just as the forms of Lady Ernst and Lady Enneagram appeared behind the man.
"Guilford!" Cornelia bellowed, standing up from her chair. "What is the meaning of..."
But Guilford interrupted her as he stepped forward. "Princess. We have a problem."
At that moment, both Ciaran's and Cornelia's faces dropped.
In the now familiar scene that was the bridge of the G-1 mobile base, Ciaran couldn't help but rub his fingers against his temples as he looked at the screen before him. The Lake Kawaguchi Hotel and Convention Centre was designed like an obelisk: a long thing needle that rested slap-bang in the middle of the lake, connected to three of the lake's shores via bridges, two of which were now raised and retracted. Ordered to do so by the Japanese Liberation Front which had taken the hotel and all of it's guests hostage.
There was only one word.
"FUBAR." Ciaran muttered loudly.
"You are not wrong." Guilford said, the knight standing next to him as they looked at the screen together.
"If I might be so bold as to speak freely here," The young Briton said, turning round to face away from the screen and the assembled room, "What the bloody hell was on-site security doing?" The last part of the sentence was punctuated by him spreading his arms wide.
"That's one of the things we're trying to find out presently, lieutenant." Darlton said, looking up from the table as various reports poured in. From what information could be gleaned, several dozen armed members of the JLF had taken the entire hotel staff and guests, well over a hundred people, hostage, in less than an hour. From what information the military had gathered, the hostages were being held in one of the hotels large storage room on one of the higher floors of the hotel.
So far, no demands had been made but it was suggested by the media that the terrorists were using the assault to get the attention of the world on them. Currently, the Britannian military had made two attempts on the hotel, one from the air and one from the lake, although thankfully the media hadn't been told about those. Both met with disaster. Now there was an uneasy stand-off as the Britannian military bided their time.
"Anyone have any other suggestions?" Cornelia said, sitting on her command throne.
"Both assaults from the air and the lake have met with failure, so we're looking for alternative routes presently, your highness." Darlton said, turning to face the princess.
"We're also going through the schematics of the hotel to try and find another route into the building." One of the other officers chimed in.
Cornelia nodded in agreement before she waved Ciaran to stand near her. Walking over, she made sure his back was to everyone as he beckoned him to bend down.
"I hate to ask, but did you have any incidents like this in your world, Ciaran?" She whispered.
The young man nodded before speaking. "Several, your highness. One of the best ones involved the British special forces storming an embassy after it was taken by terrorists."
"Anything we could use here?" Cornelia asked, her eyes never leaving the screen in front of her.
Ciaran shook his head ruefully. "Afraid not. The only reason that example worked is because the special forces used buildings adjacent to the target building, coming from the sides and the roof."
The princess nodded in understanding, sighing in near resignation before speaking more loudly. "Thank you for your input, Lieutenant. You may return to your post."
Bowing his head, Ciaran turned to walk back to the front of the bridge. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the cloak-clad forms of Dorothea and Nonnette leaning over a view screen, the two looking at it silently, before the dark-skinned Knight of Four stood up and turned around, an annoyed look plain on her face. She looked around the bridge as she ran a hand through her hair, before her eyes settled on the young lieutenant. Unsure of what to say, Ciaran did the only thing he could think of as he gave her a soft smile. This seemed to have the desired effect as the woman returned the smile before turning back to look at her view screen, the young man moving to take his place next to Guilford in front of the central view screen.
Standing next to the knight, he couldn't help but notice that his face set in a fierce scowl.
"Okay, everyone," Cornelia said, her voice causing everyone to turn and face her. "We have to resolve this situation and we have to do it quickly. So if anyone has any ideas, speak up now."
Nearly everyone was silent, save for a small group of officers murmuring to each other, before one stepped forward, a captain by his rank insignia. He had brown hair and a pair of half-moon glasses on his nose.
"Your majesty, myself and some of the other officers feel that a frontal assault would be the most direct and quickest way to resolving this situation."
The man didn't even blanch at his own idea, even when the entirety of the room fell into stunned silence at the man's comment. Ciaran's mouth was open slightly, while it looked like Cornelia was about to have an aneurysm.
"How bloody stupid can you be?"
Everyone was shocked at the sudden outburst, expecting it to have come from the princess, only to find that it had come from the normally laid back Nonette, her calm face now a mask of rage.
"My lady, please-" the officer began only to be interrupted by the Knight of Nine's rage.
"Don't give me that crap!" The champagne-haired woman snapped, using her right hand to punctuate her sentence. "A frontal assault? In a high-rise building, and against an enemy that has hostages and entrenched themselves in one of the buildings upper floors? How bloody stupid can you be?"
The woman's rage had silenced the officer, but Nonette was on a roll.
"You have been trained in one the world's top military academies, inducted in to the world's most powerful military, and you give THAT as a suggestion? How can a person who calls themselves a captain be such a complete and total fu-"
"Nonette!" The Knight of Four cut in, her voice cutting through her partner's tirade. All eyes were on Nonette now, as her face relaxed from an angry scowl to a more neutral expression, letting out a sigh as she returned her hand to her side.
"My apologies, your highness. That was uncalled for."
The princess nodded her head before speaking. "It's all right, Lady Enneagram. While your words may not have been the exact words I wanted to say, but the sentiment is the same. Captain Morris, your idea is pitiful. We will not risk the hostages through a frontal assault."
Admonished, the captain stepped back and fell into silence as a technical officer came to stand near the princess. Straining his ears, Ciaran thought he heard the man mention the 'Special Corps'. After the man stood up, the princess nodded before staring the young lieutenant.
"Lieutenant Forsyth, I believe that General Darlton and yourself spent a small amount of time with the Special Corps a few days ago, correct?"
"Yes, your highness."
"Then, for the duration of this mission, I give you the brevet rank of Captain and assign you as the liaison officer with the Special Corps for the duration of this mission. Do you have any objections, Captain?"
Ciaran couldn't help but smile proudly at the news, before standing stiffly at attention and snapping off a crisp salute. "None, at all your highness."
Looking over, he saw Darlton give him a fond smile as the giant nodded his head.
"Well? What are you waiting for, Captain?" Princess Cornelia's voice drew Ciaran's attention.
"Sorry, your highness." The newly brevetted Captain apologised, making his way out G-1s bridge and into the open air.
In one of the many underground parking structures that dotted the Tokyo Settlement, the new mobile base of one of Japan's still remaining terrorist groups sat silently, any passer-bys unable to guess that inside sat the great terrorist himself, Zero.
Sitting in the top floor of the double-decker vehicle, in a private office, Lelouch vi Britannia, the exiled Britannian prince living under the name of Lelouch Lamprouge, was troubled, drumming his fingers against the desk as he sat in the swivel chair. Below him he could hear the members of the group conversing, talking to each other as they moved boxes around their new base.
His mind was trouble for two reasons: the more prominent being the fact that his school friends had been taken captive by the JLF. Milly, Nina and Shirley had only gone to Lake Kawaguchi as a peaceful weekend retreat (although how peaceful things could be with Milly around was anyone's guess). Britannians they may be, but they were as innocent as children in the wider scope of the whole world. Currently, that was playing at the front of his mind, especially as he watched Shirley's father, Joseph Fenette, lament the hostage taking, urging the terrorists to release the hostages.
A futile gesture, but a gesture nonetheless.
He wanted to fight them, but it was too soon. They were nowhere near ready, and knowing Cornelia, she'd sacrifice the hostages.
"Then why doesn't she make her move?" The teenage terrorist said to himself.
Watching the newscast, his mind wandered to that event two days ago. Thinking about that event made him scowl under his featureless mask as his second source of frustration boiled to the surface.
"Now I must be off. See ya." And with that, the man left Lelouch standing in the middle of the classroom, confused and angry.
"What the hell just happened?!" He cried, grabbing his hair.
A soft tutting drew his attention, as he turned rapidly. There, standing in the doorway, was the green-haired witch he met in Shinjuku, her long hair tied up in twin pig-tails and wearing the same uniform as the other female students of Ashford Academy.
"Even your defeat in Saitama didn't get you this upset, Lelouch." The witch said flatly, although Lelouch was sure he heard a subtle undertone of amusement.
"It didn't work." The teenager simply stated.
"What didn't?" C.C asked, cocking her eyebrow.
"My geass!" Lelouch snapped, fully rounding on the immortal girl. "You said it would make anyone obey me without question. But it didn't work!"
If the girl was surprised, she didn't show it.
"My power has worked on everyone I have used it on, so why not him? Why didn't it work on that man, when I was close to fulfilling my goal?"
CC shrugged.
"I don't know." C.C. simply said.
The witch's simple response only angered Lelouch further, but he restrained himself, knowing he couldn't get anything further from the green-haired immortal.
"Zero?" The sound of an opening door and a girls voice drew Lelouch back in to the real world. "What will happen to the hostages?"
He didn't even find it necessary to turn around to face the speaker, for he already knew who it was. Kallen, the ace Knightmare pilot of Zero's band of terrorists, and the girl with fire in her heart who masqueraded as a sickly girl at Ashford Academy.
Muting his laptop, Zero spoke.
"Naturally. Eventually there will be no reason to keep those Britannians alive."
"... yeah. You're probably right." The sadness in Kallen's voice was almost palpable.
The door opened again as someone else walked it.
"Hey, Zero, I found these" Said the pompadour haired Ohgi, walking in carrying a cardboard box filled with zip-lock bags filled with black uniforms. "Should I hand them out to everyone? I mean, as far as gear goes, they're pretty hip. But we're just a resistance group though..."
"Wrong!" Zero said, turning his chair suddenly, startling Ohgi. "We're not a resistance group. Is that clear?"
"Well, then what are we?" The Japanese man asked, confusion plain on his face.
"What we are," Zero climbed out of his chair. "What we're trying to be. Is knight's for justice!"
AN: Oh, boy, did this take a while. Hehe.
First off, let me apologise for the wait between the last chapter and this one. There are a few reasons for the long wait:
1: I've been called up for jury duty, so I can't ignore that. And that's knocked my writing schedule for six.
2: This chapter went through several revisions when I did manage to write it, since I had two scenes in mind. Both of which unfortunately didn't really pan out that well, and one that when I did write it, really ruined an idea I had for later on in the story. Plus, they made this chapter so long and I wanted it quite short..
3: I've also been working on a slightly more serious project, so I've been doing a lot of research and draft-writing for that bit. As you can imagine, that takes up a lot of my time.
4: I just had no idea how to do this. As I said, this story is based on Ripped Away, and I didn't want to copy that story so I tried something unique.
So I tried my best and... well, if I succeeded or not, I'll leave that to you. Yeah, it's another cliff-hanger, I'm not sorry for that. But I wanted to include more of Lelouch in this story, since it was quite focused on myself, and I didn't want that. So in the future, I'm hoping to spread the narrative around some of the characters.
So, as normal: read and enjoy. Until next time.