Fictions Mentioned:
Episode 2
OP Song:
Steins;Gate Opening Theme - Hacking to the Gate (Full Version)
Insert Song: Start
Dies irae - Animation OST: Ewige Wiederkunft
Lelouch vi Britannia couldn't have been more shocked in his entire life.
When trying to take up the offer from the Doctor, the man that he had recently met, he didn't think he'd bare witness to perhaps the strangest thing that he had ever encountered in his lifetime.
Bigger on the inside.
It was what can summarize what he was seeing right now. The walls were covered with golden, with smaller, hexagonal impressions. It also consisted of a circular area, with a red-tiled ramp leading from the doors to a hexagonal platform. On the platform was a second, circular platform. There was also a set of jump seats situated on the other side of the platform, but it can be occasionally moved if needed. The entire room was supported by six coral pillars arranged in a hexagonal pattern that met with the top of a rotor at the room's ceiling. There were also several black wires connecting to this rotor.
This room reminded him of coral; like it was the organic presence of a living creature.
"Well, what do you think of it?" the Doctor said, flashing a smile on his face as if anticipating what comes next. Touma Kamijou and Shinichi Kudo were busy dragging the wooden cart inside with Nunnally vi Britannia sitting there, who was simply in awe, somehow feeling a maternal presence in spite of her sight not being able to open.
"...I...I don't know," Lelouch simply answered.
The Doctor became crestfallen. "What? No side comments? No nothing? Come on, aren't you going to say it?"
"Say what?" Lelouch asked, confused.
"Well...you know...this," the Doctor spreads his hands, gesturing to the entire main console room in anticipation of what he'd always like to hear especially if it comes from the mouths of children.
"If I were to be completely honest, I've never actually seen this before in my life. This is all rather quite new to me," Lelouch said, thinking deeply about what he is seeing. The anger that he had for his father and his nation was forgotten in an instant in the face of a very deep mystery that he could not help but get intrigued by. As far as he can recall, not once has he seen something that was made by any other person. Looking back to the door that was now closed, he recalled that this was a police box from the outside. And yet, from the inside, there lies the deception. It was like a magic trick from a magician applying the concept of larger interior rooms to the next level.
"...Huh, not a comment about it being bigger on the inside...That's interesting. Quite rare of this to happen as most people usually say bigger-on-the-inside or impossible," the Doctor muttered softly. And yet, he thought to himself, Lelouch vi Britannia was not like most people.
"Welp, in any case, Touma, Shinichi, you two are to guide our guests to the wardrobe just down the left and turn a few steps as indicated by the signboards on the walls," the Doctor was addressing Touma and Shinichi.
"Right," Touma nodded. He turns to Lelouch. "Come on, it's time we show you around the place."
"R-Right," Lelouch nodded.
And so, the two Companions and the vi Britannia siblings begin to head to the left and head to the corridor nearby, leaving the Doctor alone by himself to contemplate his thoughts on what had now transpired. He begins to head to the main console room and performed a few scans that were checking the entire history of CG Earth-Prime. He was looking at the screen as his expression turned serious. Things fixated have unraveled. Meeting Lelouch unintentionally had now changed the future and an unknown road to a new future begins to form. Now the future is no longer set and it all depends on each decision that Lelouch vi Britannia can make.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"...Oh dear," the Doctor muttered softly.
If there was one thing that he was not wanting to attend, it was this particular meeting that was the result of his unintentional blunder. He looked toward one of the main console screens and sees someone quite familiar with arms crossed. She was giving him that look.
"...Welp, might as well give her a warm welcome," the Doctor said with a grimace.
The Doctor begins walking towards the front door and opening it slightly, poking his head, revealing a person that appeared quite ethereal and beyond, with several traces of a pink sigil found all over her black clothing which the Doctor was very familiar with.
"Caretaker," the Doctor addressed with a smile.
"Doctor," the Caretaker of Space-Time or the Dimensional Supervisor was currently looking at him with a smile that was showing that while she was happy to see him again, she was also rather annoyed (or the equivalent of one from her perspective) because she heavily noticed a distortion in the timeline of the universe.
"...Yeah, I can explain everything," the Doctor made an embarrassed expression.
"I'm listening," the Caretaker said, waiting for an explanation.
The vi Britannia siblings were now enjoying a very delicious and nutritious meal that they hadn't even experienced for a very long time.
They were currently somewhere in a large cafeteria area. Touma Kamijou and Shinichi Kudo, two elementary school children who appeared to be the same general age as they were, sitting just right near Lelouch, had shown them around the place...the ship as they called it. No, what is to be more exact was that this ship was so advanced that made the latest Knightmare Frames quite laughable for Lelouch because he had never seen anything like this.
There were various rooms with many distinguishable traits that the two children, the first among the Japanese in a while besides Suzaku Kururugi who had treated them rather nicely and with respect, a major far cry from the usual norm, had shown to them. In fact, one of the rooms was a place called the TARDIS wardrobe where pretty much any clothing you can think of exists and would be used by the passengers of this ship. It was how Lelouch and Nunnally got more commendable clothing in place of their raggedy torn ones, using it only after taking a shower for a bit, with Nunnally being first and followed by Lelouch after the former was done.
Lelouch wouldn't have even thought of this kind of possibility that was present to him if it were any other day of the week which is nothing but the burden of a very hard life and the constant surroundings wherein one had to be on the lookout because people from both sides practically hate you. For the Japanese, it was more on the justified case and Lelouch didn't hold it against them. These experiences actually made his hate against his father and against Britannia grow exponentially but he didn't really show it much in order not to make his younger sister worry.
"Nunnally, you have crumbs in your mouth. Here," Lelouch took a napkin from the table and gently wiped his sister's mouth.
Nunnally smiled, grateful for the help. "Thank you, big brother."
Touma and Shinichi couldn't help but smile as they see what they considered to be a very sweet scene. They however were wise to keep things quiet for now as they both looked at each other with concern, pondering the circumstances of the two siblings and the obvious familiarity that the Doctor had for them both.
"Say..."
But in spite of keeping quiet, the boys were interrupted from their pondering as they were being called by Lelouch.
"Yes?" Kamijou asked.
"Why are you two being so nice to us?" Lelouch asked, curious and cautious.
Kamijou was more than confused by the question, disturbed if anything, blinking his eyes. "...Should we not?"
"...Are you not aware of what happened to your nation?" Lelouch asked, confused.
"Umm..." Kamijou looked at Shinichi.
"We're not really from around here so we don't really have a clue on what you're talking about, sorry," Shinichi said with a contrite smile before turning serious. "However...does that have to do with the ruins outside?"
"Ruins? Do you mean Shibuya?" Lelouch asked.
"...I knew it," Shinichi made a grimaced expression, glancing at Kamijou who looked rather alarmed. "I noticed something odd about the ruins. While the Doctor was busy talking to you and your sister, I did a quick background check around the place, measured it with my glasses, and managed to realize that the TARDIS has literally landed on Shibuya Crossing...or at least, it was supposed to be Shibuya Crossing. But the buildings were all abandoned and some of them appeared to be damaged. There were also a few traces of battle scars throughout the walls, the floors, and the few abandoned vehicles where some of them had exploded due to the projectiles being hammered, showing that a battle took place from this very spot."
"...Hold on," Lelouch slowly begins to connect the dots together. "You two aren't from our world, are you?"
"Eh?" Nunnally looked surprised.
"How did you figure?" Kamijou asked, curious as to how did he find out so quickly.
"For starters, you two looked a lot cleaner with regard to your clothing. Most Japanese nowadays are suffering rather badly these days ever since the occupation happened," Lelouch explained.
"Wait? Occupation? Japan got invaded?" Kamijou asked with a sense of shock.
"That explains the battle scars," Shinichi said grimly before silently thinking. "("And that also somewhat explains the Doctor's reaction not too long ago.")"
"Can you start with the beginning and tell us what happened?" Kamijou asked.
Both the vi Britannia siblings looked at each other.
"Big brother, I think that we should explain everything to them about us," Nunnally said.
"What?!" Lelouch made a surprised and worried expression. "But Nunnally!"
"They are good people, Lelouch. You don't have to worry," Nunnally smiled as she looked upwards. "Isn't that right, Mrs. TARDIS?"
"Wait what?!" everyone became surprised.
"...N...Nunnally..." Lelouch became confused and concerned as he would see his sister genuinely smiling and appeared to look like he was talking to someone.
"...Well I'll be..." both Touma (who spoke) and Shinichi looked rather surprised.
"Hm? You two?! What do you two know about this?!" Lelouch asked out of concern as he stands up.
"Oh...I wouldn't worry about your sister, Lelouch-san," Kamijou smiled reassuringly, raising both of his hands. "After all, I experienced more or less the same thing as she did."
"What do you mean by that?!" Lelouch asked, still concerned.
"The ship—aka the TARDIS is actually...umm...how do you put it...alive in a sense," Shinichi explained.
"Alive?" Lelouch made a confused expression.
"Meaning that this entire ship is literally a living creature. As to how that actually works in theory and in practice, it basically has to do with a complicated set of mathematical equations that is known as Block Transfer which would be something that your Earth wouldn't know about really," Shinichi explained.
"Block Transfer?" Lelouch became intrigued with the concept even though he was confused because this is the first time he had even heard of a kind of mathematics that can make a living creature that can become a ship for the use of an individual.
"Well, if you both could stomach the history, might as well explain it to the both of you as simply as possible," Shinichi said with a smile.
"And that's basically the story really," the Doctor explained, with arms crossed and with a concerned expression.
Somewhere outside the TARDIS, the Doctor had just finished his proper explanation to an old friend that he hadn't seen in a very long while. The Caretaker of Spacetime. She was quite the mysterious figure that most people on CG Universe-Prime would probably have never even heard of. Having met her a few faces back, the Doctor knew her as the being, or basically the living collective consciousness of the universe whose one of her primary tasks is to ensure the balance is maintained.
The Doctor might as well have accidentally thrown off the balance. But he didn't mean it. Actually, he didn't even do anything. There was actually a random malfunction that had happened in the TARDIS which set the randomizer on and sent him and two of his companions to the location of the ruined Tokyo where they inadvertently stumbled upon Lelouch and Nunnally.
Whatever had happened to the TARDIS for it to occur the way it did disturb the Doctor if only because one of the more recent (relatively speaking) cases that had the TARDIS do that was based on a meeting between him, his two companions, Donna Noble and Martha Jones, and his daughter Jenny. It is because of this that the Doctor would give his warning to the Caretaker in order for her to be aware of the situation from his perspective.
"Hmmm, I understand," the Caretaker nodded. "This event is now being considered to be an irregular paradoxical inconsistency within the given parameters of the universal timeline that may cause a possible effect even to the World of C, therefore observation is strictly advised for the both of us."
"I understand," the Doctor nodded.
"I should warn you though that this encounter between you, your two companions, and the vi Britannia siblings have now been marked as a fixed event of this universe that can no longer change without consequence. Timeline modifications in light of administrative duties would soon follow shortly," the Caretaker added with great care.
"You act like I'm always the meddling Time Lord who pokes in things that he shouldn't pry his business into," the Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't you?" the Caretaker made a sly smile.
"Not all of the time," the Doctor made a pout which made the Caretaker laugh a bit in amusement.
"But I would have to admit, it was rather nice in meeting you once again, Lord of Time, even if the present circumstances are to be noted with care," the Caretaker smiled.
"Then I suppose that this would be our last chat for this day? I do have a couple of kids that I need to attend to back on my ship," the Doctor said with a smile.
"Ah, yes, still having a fondness for children. Even if a probable paradox were to not occur, I have the feeling that you would have saved Lelouch vi Britannia regardless from his fate by adopting him eventually in the future," the Caretaker simply smiled.
The Doctor however simply remained silent, making a sad expression.
The Caretaker, noticing the expression, made her way toward the Doctor and simply touched his cheek. "Take heart and do not falter, Doctor, even if it means that one day when you get to almost see what lies in the abyss."
"Why do I feel like you're trying to warn me about something?" the Doctor muttered in concern.
"Who knows? Who can say?" the Caretaker simply said with a sad smile before vanishing.
The Doctor breathes in and out with a heavy sigh before heading back to the TARDIS and closing the door right behind him.
Insert Song: End
ED Song:
YU-NO (Anime) Ending Sub Español『Konomi Suzuki - Shinri no Kagami, Tsurugi no You ni』
Incarnation(s)/Regeneration(s) of the Doctor:
The Tenth Doctor - A: David Tennant
Main Companion Protagonists:
Touma Kamijou - VA: Atsushi Abe
Shinichi Kudo - VA: Minami Takayama
Lelouch vi Britannia - VA: Jun Fukuyama
New Characters:
Caretaker of Spacetime - VA: Haruka Kudo