After They've Seen Paree

Bonaparte's horse watered itself on the Upper Seine, the portion of the river that was upstream from Paris, as Bonaparte himself sat down to think. His rear guards had given him reports of what was almost certainly a Sicilian scouting force, meaning that not only was he rushing towards the enemy, they were closing in from behind.

He had the most horrible feeling of emptiness in his gut, knowing that so much of his father's work had been made useless, but Bonaparte wouldn't abandon France to the rest of the world. His father, his brother Beauharnais, and his uncle Murat all died for the dream of a free France, and he would try his hardest to defend it.

Vi Britannia was a cunning sort, as he had beaten Beauharnais on the field, but he seemed a little more liberal than the rest of Europe. His father was an absolutist, as was the Tsar, the Danubian Kaiser, the King of Prussia, and the King of Spain, but the Sicilian prince seemed a little different although that didn't mean Bonaparte wanted to meet the man, no, the boy on the field of battle.

Standing up, he called for his men to continue on the march to siege Paris. He had bled the Senate's forces dry recently, and while he knew they still had thousands of men defending the capital, he had managed to gather more support from more monarchist elements in France. It was almost ironic, that his father purged the French Army of Italy of monarchists and made it radical only for his son to urge the same sort of monarchism in the rank and file of his own army.

Tsar Alexander had marched with the armies of Russia to strike at France, leaving Schneizel behind in the Britannian embassy in St. Petersburg. The snow was coming down in thick flurries outside, and he couldn't help but feel trapped and impotent, forced to negotiate with government lackeys as the real diplomatic changes in the world happened thousand of miles to the east.

At the very least, as long as the Tsar was preoccupied in putting down the French Britannia could act more freely in Asia, and Schneizel's mood was lifted by the pleasant company of the Tsar's younger brother, Nicholas, who shared his sibling's autocratic tendencies but none of his paranoia. On a darker note, Schneizel suspected that warming up to the man was important because Alexander had no living children, and either Nicholas or his elder brother Konstantin would probably ascend to the throne after him, although Schneizel had heard worrying rumors of the latter resigning his claim to the throne.

The army of the Risorgimento reached the city of Paris a few days before the end of October, and Lelouch couldn't help but think of the chaos that greeted him in Milan. Smoke drifted in the air above the city as Bonaparte and the Senate did bloody battle on and across the Seine, exchanging shells from the many walls that traced through Paris.

Inside the city itself, Bonaparte was fighting a pitched battle outside the Luxembourg Palace, where the Senate had entrenched themselves. It was almost ironic that the cannonballs that were used to destroy an old royal dwelling were being launched from Bonapartist cannons and not radical ones.

Almost all of the fighting had taken place south of the Seine, and Republican forces were defending the various bridges across the Seine, along with the two islands in the river, fiercely, but falling back across the Seine had left the Palace isolated, and while most of the Senate had escaped the symbolic power of seizing the headquarters of the opposing government was tremendous. It also kept the Republicans from attacking them from the rear as they did battle on the Seine.

The courtyards and boulevards that dotted the city had turned from places of recreation to positions for tremendous batteries of guns which roared throughout the day as teams of men scampered to wells or even the Seine to get buckets of water to pour over the guns to keep them firing as rapidly as they could possibly manage, and the air was thick with the smell of gunsmoke.

Bonaparte was horrified when his scouts reported that the Sicilian army had arrived on the outskirts of the city, but when he checked with his telescope the great mass of red-clad men were simply waiting, and Bonaparte knew they were ready to charge into the city the moment the fighting had come to a halt, and they would hold it until all the other great powers of Europe descended upon the city.

One of his lieutenants ran up to him, "What shall we do about the Italians, your majesty? By the time the fighting is ended they will probably have greater numbers than us…"

Bonaparte sighed. "We will surrender to the Sicilian, once the battle is done. We cannot hope to hold off all of Europe from Paris." Perhaps he would win some diplomatic favor if he surrendered peacefully, and if he was going to surrender to anyone it wouldn't be one of those autocrats ruling the other great states of Europe.

He could see the hope fading from the lieutenant's eyes, but he ran back to his post. There was no use in demoralizing the men during battle, after all.

He heard shouting and turned to see a mass of men charging into the Luxembourg Palace, bayonets flashing before they were swallowed up by the dark of the building. When the men surrounding the palace were freed up, he could hopefully strike with enough force to push past the Seine bridges and push the Republicans back from the right bank of the Seine before he surrendered.

Collins had cleaned his rifle for about the fifth time in the past hour, and many of the other men were in a similar state of anxious preparation before they besieged the city. The battle seemed to come to a decisive end soon enough, as the armies closer to them, presumably Bonaparte's, pushed their enemy across the Seine and forced the routing enemy out of Paris. He expected panicked defensive actions, a possible retreat across the Seine to bleed his men on the bridges, but instead Bonaparte rode out with a small escort of cavalry, nowhere near enough to charge them.

Lelouch shouted "Hold! They come to parley! Do not fire at them!"

Bonaparte rode to the Italian camp and shouted "Vi Britannia! I wish for no more bloodshed today, and I have come to surrender!" before he threw his saber on the ground at Lelouch's feet.

Lelouch smiled. "Shall we talk more in the city, then?"

Paris was a splendid city in spite of the damage from battle, and he and Bonaparte went to discuss terms in the Elysee Palace as his men set up camp outside.

Lelouch looked down, "I suppose it's not much consolation, but I didn't meant to kill Beauharnais. I'm sure the people of Paris are grateful that you could put something like that aside for their sake."

"I don't like you, vi Britannia, but you're the best option of all the powers I'm facing, and if I had to surrender it would be to you."

"Because I'm more liberal?"

"Of course. Also, I hope you have a little less dislike for me and my father then most of the other rulers of Europe."

Lelouch was suddenly struck by just how young Bonaparte was. He was his age, perhaps a year or two younger, but ran a campaign just as large as Lelouch's to try to live up to his father's legacy. Lelouch could respect that, even if they fought on opposite sides of the conflict.

It was decided that Lelouch would hold Paris until the other powers of Europe came, and Lelouch saw no reason to chase what remained of the Republicans into the French countryside.

And so, he waited, and drilled the men fiercely. Just because they were in Paris was no reason to let discipline loosen, and the men patrolled the streets to make it clear who was in charge of Paris now.

The Britannian court viewed the war on the continent with a strange mix of fascination and disdain. It may not have a tremendous amount of impact on Britannia proper, but watching the rest of Europe crush the French once and for all was satisfying, and for some a tremendous relief. The French were finally being brought to heel, even if Britannia had no real stake in the Napoleonic wars which followed the Revolution after they made peace with France in 1809.

Of course, they also focused on the Sicilian Prince, Lelouch vi Britannia, who had gone from a minor governor of a remote territory to ruler of the majority of Italy. He may have been half commoner and Italian, but the Britannian half more than made up for it. The court had talked about him many times before, but the news that reached the Britannian court in the first days of November brought him back into the limelight.

THE SICILIAN TAKES PARIS

After a pitched battle between Bonaparte and the French Senate that resulted in the latter fleeing from the city, Paris was surrendered to Lelouch vi Britannia, viceroy of Sicily and de facto ruler of Italy. Bonaparte surrendered to the young prince moments after the battle ended, and his reasoning remains unclear, although some suggest that it was a simple effort to avoid more bloodshed. While French forces still remain in other portions of the country, this seems to mark a turning point in the war, and in time the other powers of Europe will reach Paris as well. The forces of the Danubian Empire and the German states have crossed the Rhine already, and the Russians march through Prussia.

A member of the Britannian royal family controlled Paris for the first time in nearly 400 years since the French pushed the English out during the Hundred Year's War. Any qualms that the court may have had with Lelouch were temporarily forgotten as the magnitude of his achievements was revealed.

Across Britannia, stories of Lelouch's exploits in mainland Europe spread like wildfire, and particularly in more liberal and Catholic circles he was cheered as a hero, and even among the average Britannian he was looked upon favorably- how cunning, how bold, how brave!

The first of the other powers at war with France to arrive was the Danubians, and while their emperor may not have been able to arrive, the head of their delegation was a nobleman named Klemens von Metternich. It was decided that he would be hosted in the palace of Versailles, outside of Paris, although he did meet with Lelouch and Bonaparte over lunch first.

He gave a diplomatic smile and extended his hand to Lelouch "Your Highness, Vi Britannia, it's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard of your exploits in Italy." Lelouch noticed how he seemed to ignore Bonaparte, almost certainly because he wasn't a "legitimate" monarch of France in the same way a Bourbon would have been.

The rest of the conversation proved Lelouch's suspicions, that Metternich was a conservative who saw the upcoming peace as a chance to restore a traditional monarchy to France. At the very least, he did want long term peace in Europe, but Lelouch knew liberal monarchies or constitutionalism wouldn't factor into Metternich's Europe, at least at first. The Peat Gatherers were an example of a phenomena that was spreading across Europe, of demands for liberty, and the French Revolution was the beginning of changing times.

Lelouch was grateful to see Metternich ride off with his entourage to Versailles, although he didn't look forward to facing the man down at the negotiating table to try to defend his gains in northern Italy.

The next ruler to arrive was King Carlos of Spain who, fittingly enough, came riding into Paris on the back of a tremendously sized Andalusian horse with great pomp and ceremony. His royal finery made him quite the dashing figure, but once he dismounted Lelouch could see how his imprisonment had damaged his health: the thin arms and legs hidden under a splendid uniform, the sunken eyes.

He was of similar character to Metternich, a monarch for an older age, who still thought the divine right of kings would secure his rule. His retinue consisted largely of military men, their chests gleaming with insignia of chivalric orders, whatever Spanish nobility had survived the French revolution and returned to support Carlos. Representatives of the Ottoman Sultan arrived shortly afterwards as well, although they were mainly there just to watch the proceedings.

In time, the Germans arrived, with King Fredrick William III at their head, with several representatives from the other states by his side, like the Bavarians and Westphalians. They were lodged in Versailles and discussions began on a small scale between the other parties as the Tsar of All Russia made his way from St. Petersburg.

Lelouch participated in these preemptive talks as well, although he didn't give Bonaparte a cold shoulder like the rest of the visitors. Lelouch's days were a strange mix of peace and war, drilling and discussions of strategy with Jeremiah when his time was not filled with discussions with cosmopolitan diplomats. At the very least, these upper crust nobility tended to know French, which made discussions much easier.

The Tsar made his arrival as November drew to a close, and both the man and his horse seemed thoroughly exhausted by the trip, and just with a glance Lelouch could tell the man's horse, a great dark beast spotted with white fur, was on its last legs and might just die due to how hard the poor creature was ridden, across most of mainland Europe.

After a few days rest to recover from what must have been one of the greatest rides in the history of Europe, they gathered for the true beginning of the peace talks, with almost every great power in Europe in attendance disregarding Britannia, and they all knew that they would be reshaping the continent.

They gathered at a table that had been placed in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, although the natural light coming through the windows and reflecting off all the mirrors did nothing to make the atmosphere feel any less tense.

"At long last, the French revolution has been brought to a close, and now we must pick up the pieces and put Europe back together." Metternich seemed to truly bein his element, even as shared the table with two kings and two emperors (for now, at least).

King Carlos nodded in agreement. "At the very least, we must return some of the French conquests to their rightful owners. I have support in Catalonia, and it should be returned to Spanish rule, as it was before the war. In the same way, those French holdings in what was once the Holy Roman Empire should be restored- Bremen, Weser Ems, the Left Bank of the Rhine."

"And of the Holy Roman Empire? Shall we restore it?"

Metternich shook his head. "The Holy Roman Empire is dead and gone, and while we could restore it, the Empire of the Danube has taken a more eastern stance, and I do not think the princes of Germany wish for yet another foreign power to hold sway over them."

Frederick and the German representatives accompanying him nodded in agreement, and the King of Prussia spoke. "Talks are underway for how we Germans shall organize ourselves, but the old Empire was irrelevant, more a title for the Habsburgs than an administrative body with any real sway."

"What of the Dutch? We could restore the old Kingdom of the Netherlands, and members of the House Orange-Nassau fled to Britannia when it fell to the French all those years ago. Vi Britannia, do you know of them?"

"I'm afraid not. It's been years since I've seen the shores of Britannia, and while I've visited the imperial court before I've spent most of my life in Palermo." Lelouch didn't show it, but he was cringing internally. While he held Italy, he would need keen negotiation to keep it and looking inexperienced or young while in the company of these men wouldn't help him.

"It's a good idea, even if we find no member of the House of Orange to rule the Dutch, we could still let the provinces appoint a king. Another simple thing will be restoring the French holdings in Dalmatia to the Danubian Empire., as well as the Tyrol region."

"Of course, that leads us to the issue of Italy. Vi Britannia has consolidated most of the region under his control, and while it should be liberated from the French, should he be allowed to take it?"

Lelouch grinned. "I would argue that I am the best solution for Italy. The French have destroyed many of the older systems of government in the region, including killing the King of the Two Sicilies. There is no obvious choice for the majority of Italy, but Italy has practically chosen for itself. I landed with a mere 3,000 men, but thousands of Italians joined me on my campaign. Dividing up the country into pieces would only lead to revolts and anger."

Metternich turned to him. "What of the balance of power? The creation of a new Italian state would destabilize Europe."

"And would a divided Italy be any better? We all know that in the past Italy was a battleground for the great powers of Europe, as they scrapped over tiny cities. The Habsburgs you serve under did battle against the French in Italy. A unified Italy would be able to defend itself, to keep any country from growing by swallowing up minor states, and as such it would no longer be a battleground between European powers."

The Tsar, who had remained silent so far, began to speak, his rasping voice echoing through the splendid hall. "However, in doing so, we would be delivering a great portion of Europe into the hands of Britannia. We all know your ambitions are to rule Italy, and you still serve your father."

"I would see that as an advantage for European peace, your majesty. Britannia has grown more isolationist in recent years, and Italy being under Britannian rule would bring it into a similar state of isolation from European politics. Italy would be, for all intents and purposes, chained down and kept from prosecuting an offensive war for fear of dragging in Britannia. An Italy that can defend itself while not being capable of offensive wars would be best for peace in Europe."

The Tsar seemed to think on Lelouch's argument for a moment, and Metternich went to exploit that opening. "You make good points, vi Britannia, but what of Habsburg claims in Italy? While you may occupy those cities, Lombardy and Venetia are rightfully Danubian land, and should be returned to us."

"Did you not say that the Empire of the Danube had taken a more eastern stance? You know as well as I do that your Empire is full of malcontents, I see no reason why you would feel the need to add Italians when you know full well they would rather be a part of Italy."

"You saw no issue with Spanish claims to Catalonia, so why not recognize Habsburg claims?"

"I had no issue because the Catalonians want to be ruled by Carlos. You wouldn't be welcomed into Lombardy and Venetia like I was, you'd be forcing annexation onto a people who have clearly proven themselves willing to rebel already."

Metternich's eyes narrowed. "For now at least, can you agree to the annexation of the region around Friuli? It isn't a major part of Italy, but it will do something to show that Habsburg claims are being recognized. Make no mistake vi Britannia, while I may let you keep your Italian project for a while, will we have to negotiate more in the future, over concessions for the land you've taken, that is if we do not reach an agreement to return more of it. Is that clear vi Britannia?"

Those… were fair terms, in all honesty. Lelouch would have been willing to give up Venice and the area surrounding it (with full expectation of them eventually revolting, of course) if it meant he could get Italy, and while he certainly wasn't looking forward to those concessions they were a small price to pay. Lelouch had helped manage the accounts of Sicily and the household of the Norman Palace, so he should hopeful be able to harness the wealth of Italy to pay off whatever the Habsburgs demanded of him.

"Of course. I will certainly not forget all you have done to lead to the Italian unification. With the Italian situation handled at least in the short term, what of the Duchy of Warsaw, the French client state?"

Once again the Tsar seemed to stir from the lethargy he was in. "It should be returned to its previous owners, Russia and Prussia. The latter will take Greater Poland, and the remainder will return to the Tsardom."

"So there is one last question left to answer. Who will rule France?" Almost everyone turned to look at the young Bonaparte, who had remained silent for most of the negotiations.

"The most obvious answer is restoring one of my relatives to the throne." King Carlos said, "One of the late King Louis' brothers still lives. He would make the best candidate for the throne."

The other rulers and diplomats agreed, and Bonaparte seemed to sag. "And what of young Bonaparte? He is still Emperor of France now."

Lelouch saw an opportunity to at least give Bonaparte something. "Perhaps a concession could be made? Give him rule of an island somewhere, perhaps Elba or the like? It would be a small price to pay for Bonaparte's abdication, and it would keep him busy and allow for him to be effectively imprisoned by sea."

Metternich snorted in a rather non-diplomatic fashion, as if he had thought of something amusing. "Let's give the boy Corsica, then. It's where his father hailed from, is it not? Corsica for the crown of France is certainly a fair deal."

The broader strokes of the peace were decided that very day, although it took a longer time for all the proper documents to be signed and for the finer details of the peace to be ironed out. With his business done and rule over most of Italy secured, Lelouch could finally return home, to see Sicily, to see Nunnally. He would be riding ahead with a small group of cavalry, and he hoped to see Nunnally before Christmas.

Due to the fact that his destination was basically a stop on Lelouch's route, Bonaparte accompanied Lelouch as they rode to Provence, and the two of them would discuss tactics long into the night after hard days of riding. Jeremiah was leading the army on foot to Rome, where they would wait for Lelouch to set up what would become the new Italian government, even if it was technically part of Sicily, at least according to the Peace of Versailles.

Both King Carlos and the various German princes had left the city with the same haste Lelouch had, eager to return home and work on integrating their gains. However, the Tsar of Russia was planning on wintering in Paris, as his health had apparently been severely impacted by his mad dash to reach Paris.

TSAR ALEXANDER DEAD

Early in December, Tsar Alexander of Russia died in Paris, from a sickness that exploited his exhaustion from a ride across most of Europe. The Tsar left no issue, with both of his daughters having died before him, so the Empire will go to his brother Constantine.

Yet another chapter! The decision to give Bonaparte II Corsica was inspired on the fact that Napoleon was given Elba to rule in exile before he made his return in the Hundred Days. The title is a line from the song "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?", which talked about rural American soldiers who would have been dazzled by the sights of Paris/Paree during WW1. Once again, feel free to leave a review if you've got any concerns. Next time, we go from warfare and diplomacy to…. Statebuilding! (War is on the horizon, but for now Lelouch is going to consolidate. And see his sister, of course).