"I hereby renounce my claim to the throne!" – Regular speaking
'How dare the Emperor abandon Nunnally!' – Regular thinking; Italics not in singular quotations are used for emphasis
"Q-1, strike the left flank now!" – Speaking as heard over radios and other communication devices
"Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, DIE!" Speech influenced by using Geass
Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.
I hope you all enjoy the new chapter.
Chapter 3: The Knight's Fall Part I
(Shinjuku Ghetto, Area Eleven – Clovis' G-1 Command Center – 2:22 pm – September 11 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Lelouch's hands shook slightly as he typed in the password to unlock the safe behind his now dead brother's throne. He couldn't afford to leave the information about C.C. in enemy hands. He'd also have to do something about the base at Narita eventually, but for the moment he needed to focus on the present. He also needed to make sure that he left before anyone not under his control entered the room and found the corpse that was formerly known as Prince Clovis.
"Your hands are shaking." C.C. observed as Lelouch removed the briefcase containing all the data on her from the safe. "What makes this kill so different from your earlier ones?" She said in that same bored tone she used when they had first spoken to each other. She wondered what he would do with the information on her. Would he use it to try and blackmail her? Or maybe he would study it to see how 'immortal' she truly was? There were many possibilities of what he would do with all that knowledge and she wondered which one he would pick.
Lelouch silently picked up the briefcase from the safe before turning and picking up the other case containing his Ashford Academy uniform and his armor as he made his way to the door of the command room. "Clovis and I used to be close." He said in a slightly shaky voice. "Seeing what he had become, it made it easy to pull the trigger."
He took a shaky breath as he passed his brother's cooling body on the throne and walked to the exit. "But that doesn't mean I enjoyed it." He realized absentmindedly how that last statement would sound and decided to clarify. "I didn't really earlier, but I also didn't feel really anything for them either." He explained, "They were just faces on soon to be corpses. Nothing special. Killing Clovis, though…"
He paused as he turned to the green haired woman in the shadows, before facing the door as it opened automatically with his hair shadowing his eyes, "It was simply… necessary." He said tiredly. He didn't want to speak of it anymore at the moment. Besides, he had something more important to worry about.
His mind had gone blank before he pulled the trigger. He wasn't sure what he'd said or done other than putting the bullet through Clovis' skull, but he knew he hadn't been able to act completely sane for a moment. He wasn't sure for how long though. The length and timings of each 'episode' were always infrequent.
The periods of madness he experienced, they were normally extremely rare, at least months apart, and to have two in the same day, once with the soldiers and another in front of Clovis before killing him… Though it was a very stressful day… He needed to rest. 'I can't think right now.' Lelouch thought in irritation as he and C.C. walked calmly out of the G-1 while avoiding the patrols and other groups of soldiers. 'I need to be in a place where I can think everything through properly.' He had an enormous headache right now.
Once he and C.C. had made it to a secluded area of the Ghetto, Lelouch set down the two cases he was carrying and pulled out his Ashford Academy uniform from under his armor. He quickly removed his stolen uniform and put it on.
He then took out his communicator and spoke into it; he needed to make sure his allies didn't think he'd abandoned them. "Clovis is dead." He said simply as he tugged at his collar to loosen it slightly. He waited for the inevitable response to such a bold claim.
"What?!" A loud voice shouted over the radio. It was the one he'd labeled P-5. "What do you mean Clovis is dead?"
Lelouch explained the events that his allies needed to know. "After forcing Clovis to order the ceasefire, I put a bullet into his skull between his eyes." He said irritably. He didn't have time for this right now. "Does that explain things well enough P-5?"
Lelouch pinched the bridge of his nose as he heard cheering over the radio before speaking one last time. "I will contact you in a few days, until then B-1 is in charge." He trusted his Bishop to not make any costly mistakes without his guidance. After all, the man had led them this far without Lelouch's help.
He dropped the communicator before crushing it beneath his foot. Being an old radio, it wasn't that hard to crush. While it would have been useful to take home, he couldn't afford to have any physical evidence linking him to terrorists. He would find some way to contact them soon, but for now he needed to eliminate any links between himself and them.
He noticed that there was a lighter next to a canister of old gasoline nearby and thought 'Perfect.' An arsonist had probably abandoned it during the massacre. Still, he wouldn't complain about his luck getting better for once today. He quickly covered the uniform and the shards of the communicator in the flammable liquid and lit up before dropping the tiny flame in his hand.
As the material caught ablaze, he knelt down and opened up the case containing the flash drive and turned to his accomplice. "So, what would you like me to do with this information, my immortal witch?" Lelouch asked her as stood up and held the drive towards her with the flames to his back and the two cases at his sides. He saw her eyes widen in slight surprise.
He smirked. "What? Did you think I would take the information that Clovis had stolen from you when I have all that information and more with you on my side?" Lelouch asked rhetorically. "Besides, it's only right for me to return what's rightfully yours. If you choose to let me know about what Clovis did that's your decision and yours alone."
Hopefully this would give her the impression he desired. He needed her to trust him and he needed to know more about her before he could trust her. But if he used the information on the flash drive to learn about her, it could damage the sparse trust they currently had between each other and Lelouch wasn't willing to get the information faster at the expense of their partnership. She knew far too much for him to risk their alliance so recklessly. Most importantly though, was the fact that she was aware of his two greatest secrets. Nunnally and his mental distortion. He needed her on his side or she could ruin everything.
Of course, he suspected that she was most likely aware of what he was attempting with this gesture, she had seen the inside of his twisted mind after all, but he was genuine when he said he wouldn't take something that belonged to her. All the information contained on the flash drive was about C.C., and as such, it belonged to her and her alone. If she felt he needed to know something about her, like with the Irregulars, she would tell him and as long as it didn't compromise Nunnally's safety Lelouch was fine with her having her own secrets for now.
C.C.'s lips peeled into a small smile, revealing her teeth slightly as she replied, "I was right, you really are very interesting." So the young boy had chosen her over using the information to his advantage. She hadn't expected that. She knew he was attempting to influence her perception of him slightly with this gesture, but she could tell he was also genuine when he mentioned giving her what was hers to begin with. His mind was so interesting. It was clear his earlier statement about feeling shame in front of her wasn't merely bravado either, something she realized as he'd changed back into his uniform in front of her without hesitation. He really did believe that feeling shame in front of someone like her was a waste of emotion and it really did seem like he believed he wasn't anything special when it came to the physical form. And even now, under all the stress it was surely going under after having killed his older brother, his mind was still trying to turn things to his advantage. She wanted to see more of her contractor's twisted mind. She hadn't been so interested in a mortal in decades.
She took the flash drive from his fingers and looked at it as she held all the information that Clovis had obtained on her during her incarceration.
"One last thing to spite that bastard Prince." She murmured in amusement before taking hold of the flash drive with both hands and snapping it in half causing small sparks to erupt before dying down and destroying years of research in a single instant. She threw the remains of the drive into the flames behind her accomplice and turned to him. "I think following you will be a very interesting experience." C.C. said with an enigmatic smile. He was going to be a very interesting contractor.
Lelouch gave out an amused huff as he picked up the case containing his armor, helmet, and the power sources for them inside. He kicked the other case into the blaze and took out his phone to see how close Sayoko was to their location.
He replied to her 'compliment' as he opened the GPS screen. "Thank you, and I get the feeling having you around is going to be a very unique experience." It was the truth. He wasn't usually interested in people, finding them usually very dull, although that really could just be the nature of any school, but C.C. intrigued him. He wondered if he'd ever know everything about her.
He gasped as he realized his phone was receiving Nunnally's GPS signal along with Sayoko's and they were transmitting from the Shinjuku Ghetto. "Oh no." He breathed in fear. He almost dropped the briefcase that contained his Zero Armor as he ran toward the source of the signal.
Luckily for him, the signal was transmitting nearby and he quickly found the source of the signal, causing him to sigh in relief as he rushed to his sister.
"Nunnally!" He shouted as he saw her by the car that Sayoko usually drove. Her hand was bleeding and she was sitting next to the driver side of the door which appeared to be pretty banged up. 'She must have tried to help Sayoko after they crashed and cut her hand.' He realized belatedly as dropped the case and he ran forward to scoop up his beloved little sister in a deep hug. He felt her return it with equal intensity as she burrowed her face into his chest.
"What are you doing here?" Lelouch asked worriedly as he searched her for any other injuries and he was relieved to find none. "I only called Sayoko," then he'd realized something, "besides, shouldn't you be in class?"
He felt her body shake as she let out a choked giggle and retorted, "Like your one to talk Lelou." He chuckled lightly. "I'm just so glad you're safe. Sayoko accidentally crashed into something and I can't wake her up. Can you please help me?" She asked worriedly.
Lelouch frowned as he learned that Sayoko was unconscious. He hoped he hadn't gotten her injured by asking her to come. "Sure thing Nunnally, but first there's someone who I'd like you to meet." He decided to clarify. "She saved my life earlier."
Lelouch then turned his head up and looked at the green haired woman that seemed to be looking at an empty space to his side. "C.C., come introduce yourself to Nunnally."
C.C.'s golden eyes blinked after she stopped staring into space and he was surprised to see her eyes soften from their usual look.
She always seemed to have a sharp look in her eye, like a predator observing its prey. But when her eyes turned to Nunnally, the sharp look softened a little bit.
She slowly walked toward the two siblings and, instead of reaching out her hand for Nunnally to shake like most people did before realizing she was blind, she reached out and took Nunnally's hand before squeezing it in greeting.
Her voice was even softer as she spoke to the crippled girl after letting go of her hand. "Hello girl, you may call me C.C.," her voice was surprisingly soothing when she spoke so softly. "And I hope that we can get along well."
Nunnally replied quietly as she yawned, clearly tired after trying to help Sayoko for who knows how long. "Hello miss C.C., thank you for saving my Big Brother. I know he can get into trouble a lot, so thank you for helping him."
She yawned again before asking C.C., "Can you help him wake up Sayoko? Lelou is hopeless when it comes to physical stuff." She said cheekily. Lelouch huffed with a small smile on his face in false irritation as his immortal witch chuckled softly.
"Of course." C.C. agreed politely. "After all this Sayoko woman was coming to rescue me after your brother helped save me from the soldiers. Helping her out is the least I can do."
Nunnally then gave the two of them a soft smile and her breathing evened out as she fell asleep.
Lelouch smiled at his little sister's sleeping form softly and laid her down gently on a clean space of the road before turning to C.C. and explaining his next plan to her. "I'm going to need your help to get Sayoko out of there." Now that he could get a better look at the car he could see that the handle that would normally be used to open the door was ruined. Still, he could open it if he was careful not to cut himself like Nunnally did.
As he carefully gripped the door, he pulled it while he balanced himself with his other hand on the roof and sighed in relief as he managed to open the door without causing any more damage. He really didn't want to accidentally take the door off.
He looked in and saw Sayoko's prone form. Lelouch felt a spike of worry as he saw his maid's unconscious body underneath the airbag. He quickly stood and turned to C.C., who had been looking over the damage done to the hood of the car. The damage appeared mostly superficial, but he still needed Sayoko to examine the engine and the car's other functions before he would trust it with their safety.
"C.C." Lelouch called quietly. He reached into his pocket and handed her one of the knives that Villetta had given him while she had been under his Geass. "Use this to deflate the airbag; I'll pop the hood to check the engine over." Hopefully the damage looked worse than it really was. He didn't want to have to carry Nunnally through a warzone again, that would bring back really uncomfortable memories. He also wanted to avoid doing anything to remind him of Suzaku for the moment.
After C.C. had taken out Sayoko's unconscious form and Lelouch popped the hood of the car open, the two of them heard groaning. Lelouch quickly moved to stand next to C.C. and the two accomplices looked around before they noticed it was Sayoko who was groaning, causing them both to internally sigh in relief that the military hadn't found their little impromptu hideaway. C.C. quickly returned Lelouch's knife to him before the maid could notice it and think that the witch was a threat. He pocketed the blade just as Sayoko's eyelids cracked open.
As Sayoko's eyes opened, she spoke in a disoriented tone of voice. "Wha-Who? Who're you?" She slurred slightly before shaking her head. She looked up at the woman holding her formerly prone form and spoke much clearer this time. "Who are you and what have you done with my charge?" She asked forcefully as she tried to move out of C.C.'s grip.
Lelouch quickly moved into her line of sight as he defused the potentially hazardous, though for which woman he wasn't entirely sure, situation. "This is the woman I told you about on the phone Sayoko." He explained calmly. "Nunnally fell asleep after trying to help you by opening the door after you crashed."
Sayoko turned to face Lelouch as she saw him clearly and spoke more calmly this time, "Young master, I see." She then frowned as she stood up, balancing herself using the roof of the car and holding her head, and said, "I apologize for my mistake. I should have paid more attention to the roads, instead of looking for the military." Still, the pothole she had crashed into had hardly seemed dangerous when compared to the military's Knightmare Frames. Especially considering the fact that the road was absolutely filled with them. She attempted to give a bow, but she was still too dizzy and she almost fell over before Lelouch caught her.
Lelouch simply gave a calming smile to the woman as he held her disoriented form. "It's okay Sayoko, no harm done. We can bandage Nunnally's hand once we get home." He didn't like it when Sayoko bowed to him, but he understood it was part of who she was.
Bowing in submission to someone in the Japanese culture had many different connotations depending on how deep the bow and sometimes even the type of bow used. But he didn't like having such a strong woman that he cared for bowing to him like she wasn't worthy of being his equal. He valued her greatly and he believed she never had any need to bow to him.
Besides, he knew that it wasn't Sayoko's fault Nunnally tried to help her out. He was hardly unreasonable when it came to things like that.
Lelouch let her go once she regained her balance and he walked to the hood of the car and asked her, "Do you think we can still use this one?" He couldn't have them drive in a totaled car after all.
Sayoko walked up beside him careful to keep her balance this time, C.C. maintained a respectful distance as she stared into space again.
"Yes I believe so," Sayoko replied after looking inside the hood. "It was mostly the violent motion of the crash and the hood being crushed inward that discharged the airbags. I doubt any serious damage has been done." She would have noticed if something was wrong and it seemed like the car was fine. Although the airbags would need to be fixed and reset and the door on the driver side would need to be fixed up, the damage was mostly cosmetic.
Lelouch sighed in relief. "That's good." He said simply. He quietly bent down and picked up Nunnally as he moved to the backseat of the car and opened the door.
"C.C., you can take the passenger seat," Lelouch said quietly as he maneuvered himself so he and Nunnally were sitting upright in the back seat with the briefcase containing his armor at his feet, "I will watch over Nunnally back here." He finished as he buckled the two of them in.
"Of course." The green haired witch said simply as she walked to her side of the car. It was hardly a problem for her to agree, besides the military was still searching for her.
Sayoko carefully shut her own door as she got in and began driving out of the Shinjuku Ghetto. Wary of any other potholes as they left and careful to avoid the military.
Once they were on the highway, Lelouch allowed himself to relax his tense body and stared out the window. It was hard to believe it had only been a few hours since he had fallen in with that terrorist truck. It seemed like it had been days. Still, he was glad to finally be out of that warzone. He held Nunnally's hand as she slept next to him and Sayoko drove them back to Ashford Academy.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Student Council Room – 7:37 am – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b.)
As Lelouch caught up on his missed sleep, a shadowy figure armed with its favored weapon approached his still form.
"Wake up Lulu!" Milly shouted as she wacked Lelouch on his head with a rolled-up piece of paperwork.
Lelouch grunted under Milly's 'assault'. "Hey, what was that for Madame President?" He asked softly.
He had spent most of the previous night studying the Zero helmet and he had finally figured out how to activate it and sync it with the Zero Armor. He also knew how to activate the D.O.M Hostia system now, but since there weren't any hostile Knightmare Frames nearby he had been unable to test it and see what it did. Unfortunately, his studying the Zero Armor had made it impossible for him to get any sleep, not that C.C. had made that any easier with her antics the previous night. So he was running on fumes after yesterday's misadventure.
Milly hmphed in annoyance at her Vice-President. "I know you were sleeping, your hand stopped moving." She explained.
"Well you don't have to beat me up over it do you?" He complained tiredly. "I had a long day yesterday. I think I'm entitled to some sleep."
Rivalz gave Lelouch a smirk and said, "I think it serves you right for ditching me like that yesterday." He was just happy he wasn't the target of Milly's anger this time.
Shirley turned to look at Lelouch out of the corner of her eye. "That's right," she said, "what was up with you yesterday? You didn't even pick up your phone when I called you."
Lelouch's eye twitched as he realized Shirley of all people had almost gotten him killed. "I don't want to talk about it." The less he explained about Shinjuku to his friends, the better. The Britannian military would most likely be making a public announcement soon and he doubted his friends, other than Milly of course, would believe him if he mentioned having to escape from the military. They didn't really understand the true nature of Britannia, but he didn't blame them for their ignorance. Besides, he really didn't want to talk about it anyway. Yesterday was way too hectic to remember right now and he just wanted to rest today.
"That's enough you guys." Milly saved Lelouch the trouble of attempting to explain himself. "Let's not get sidetracked here. If we don't come up with a fix for the Club Activities Budget there won't be any money left for anything at all."
Lelouch's mouth twitched as he was tempted to bring up the fact that if it hadn't been for her impromptu Cross Dresser's Ball the previous week, they wouldn't need to balance the budget all over again. It was too early in the morning for him to deal with an annoyed Milly, especially after what happened the previous day.
Nina quickly spoke up as she was reading something over, "And if it comes to that point–"
"The Equestrian Club will be pissed. We don't want them coming in here on horseback to shake us down do we?" Rivalz finished her statement with a joke.
Although it certainly seemed less amusing once the members of the Student Council heard the whinnying of a horse right outside the window. They all looked out the window and saw the leader of the Equestrian Club shoot them all a warning glare before riding off.
The entire Student Council sighed in relief once he left their sight.
"Not cool Rivalz." Lelouch muttered. "You know the members of the Equestrian Club hate it if there are any mistakes when it comes to their budget."
"You know, Madame President it would have been nice if you reminded us about this a day ago." Shirley complained to Milly.
"Actually I'd rather it have been a day later." Rivalz jokingly commented. "Then we'd have given up."
Lelouch decided to go along with Rivalz's joke for fun. "Hey, good idea. We can still do that."
"I don't want to hear anything like that out of you mister." Milly said with a frown. "You're still in trouble after what happened yesterday."
Lelouch gave Milly a tired look. "Look, I really don't want to talk about it alright? I just wanted to help whoever was driving that truck. I had no idea I would end up stuck inside of it so it's hardly my fault–"
"GUTS!" Milly interrupted with her 'spell' and startling Lelouch into silence. Milly obviously wasn't going to take any excuse to have missed yesterday's informal meeting, no matter how valid it was.
Of course, it wasn't like Lelouch could explain that he'd led terrorists to a victory that had completely decimated the Britannian military so he had to give a bare bones explanation once Milly noticed the damaged car in the garage that morning.
"Are you trying that 'guts' spell again?" Rivalz asked as he pressed a hand against his ear after Milly's shout.
Milly placed her hands on the table that was covered in their paperwork. "Yep, I want you people to start putting your all into this." She said with a sly look. "That includes you mister slacker." She pointed at Lelouch.
Lelouch just sighed in resignation. "Yes Madame President." He said tiredly. It was just easier on what little sanity he had to go along with Milly most of the time. "Though, I don't really think your 'magic' is going to do a whole lot."
"Actually, it's got me going Madame President." Shirley chirped happily.
Ever the optimist Lelouch mused silently.
Milly suddenly got a gleam in her eye. 'Oh no.' Lelouch thought to himself as he mentally groaned. The last time he saw that gleam Milly had managed to force him into a dress for her Cross-Dresser's Ball last week.
"Supple and willing." Milly crooned. "Now that's what I like."
Lelouch silently covered his face with his hand as he heard Shirley respond. "I train hard in the Gymnastics Club." She said as she pumped her fist.
'Ever the naïve optimist.' Lelouch mentally corrected his earlier musing.
Milly's grin turned positively devilish as she replied. "That's not what I was getting at."
At Shirley's confusion Milly clarified, looking downright gleeful as she did so. "You're a ten. From what I've seen in the girls' locker room anyway. You've been filling out in all the right places."
As Shirley covered her clothed chest in indignation, Lelouch let out a silent snort at Milly's teasing of Shirley. He found her much more amusing when he wasn't the target of her crazy antics. He returned his attention to the paperwork in front of him. The quicker he finished, the quicker Milly would stop bothering him until he had to fulfill his promise to Nunnally to take the two of them shopping.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Hallways – 10:03 am – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b.)
As Lelouch walked to his next class passed the Chairman's office he heard shouting. "I don't care that I'm missing class, I'm telling you I want to know where Nunnally is!" His eyes narrowed at the voice of the girl who was shouting at Ruben. He stopped and turned to enter the office of his guardian.
"And I'm telling you, young lady, that Nunnally is fine, but she needs her rest!" He heard Ruben shout back.
As he walked in Lelouch came upon something rather surprising. He could see the girl asking about Nunnally standing in front of one of the chairs placed in front of Ruben's desk. She had light blonde hair along with light auburn eyes. She was about an inch shorter than Nunnally's height had his sister been able to stand, dressed in Ashford Academy's middle school level girls uniform. Which made it all the more surprising to see this slip of a girl arguing with Ruben.
Whereas she was barely five feet two inches tall, Ruben Ashford was a positively enormous bear of a man. He was six feet and seven inches tall, with bright blue eyes glinting with all the genius and madness that came with being the inventor of the world's very first Knightmare Frame. On his head he had a full head of dark black hair with small stripes of grey showing his age along the edges of his hair above his ears. He was clean shaven and his enormous form was dressed in a dark black business suit that he usually preferred to wear when he was busy; meaning he probably had a meeting with someone today to discuss funding for his Academy.
There was no doubt in Lelouch's mind that this man was where Milly got all of her insane ideas from, if not from tales about the inventor's past then purely by virtue of genetics.
Lelouch's guardian gave him a small smile as he spoke to his charge. "Ah, Lelouch my boy." Even his voice was deep. "What brings you here?" He asked kindly. Another feature of the enormous man was his surprising gentleness towards Marianne's children.
Lelouch blinked before replying dryly, "You do realize I pass this room on my way to my next class right Ruben?" He sighed and explained why he walked into the room. "I heard you shouting and I got curious." He turned to look at the young girl who stood up to Ruben without flinching. That was an impressive feat since the man was almost two feet taller than her
He turned back to look at Ruben. "Why were you arguing with Alice?" He asked his guardian.
The man raised an eyebrow at Lelouch. "Oh, so you know this girl then Lelouch?"
Lelouch nodded. "Yeah, she's Nunnally's best friend and a junior member of the Student Council."
Ruben's other eyebrow raised at that. "Junior member? You have them?" The Student Council was supposed to be made up of high school level students only. It wasn't exactly a rule, but after starting this Academy he hadn't expected membership to include middle school level students as junior members.
"Milly." Lelouch said simply, as though it explained everything. Which, as the three in the room knew, it pretty much did.
"Ah, yes." Ruben said fondly. "That does sound like my granddaughter." The man then shook his head. "Anyway, I was unaware of her connection to Nunnally so I thought it best if I simply told her that the girl needed her rest." Ruben explained.
"Ah, I see." Lelouch realized the source of the argument then. He turned to look at Alice. "Nunnally isn't feeling all that well, so she's not going to be in class today." He explained to Nunnally's best friend.
Lelouch had originally planned to stay home and take care of Nunnally after their little misadventure in Shinjuku, but she scolded him saying he shouldn't miss anymore school after yesterday. Nunnally wasn't actually feeling too bad today, but she also didn't really want to deal with school for the moment, so Lelouch had Sayoko call in sick for her.
"Is Nunnally alright?" Alice asked quietly.
Lelouch replied, "Yes, she just needs to rest." That much at least was the truth.
The girl then turned to glare at Ruben before spinning on her heel to walk out the door before she left she turned her head and looked at Lelouch. "I'll be taking Nunnally's homework to her later then."
"That's fine Alice. Nunnally should be feeling better by this afternoon, so I'm sure she'd like it if you came to visit." Lelouch said politely. He was glad Nunnally had a friend like Alice to help her out with her disabilities since he couldn't be there for her all the time.
As the door shut, Ruben spoke, "So why did you really come in here Lelouch?" The man's countenance changed from accepting to stern in an instant.
Lelouch blinked as he realized that he had the perfect opportunity to use his Geass on Ruben, but– "I told you Ruben, I heard shouting and I got curious." He didn't want to use his Geass on his guardian who had been so kind and helpful to him and Nunnally. He didn't want to have that kind of power over the man who he owed his current life to.
Ruben blinked and laughed as he realized that Lelouch wasn't here for anything other than what he'd said. "Ah, I see." He said simply. "I must be getting paranoid in my old age." He joked before laughing deeply once again.
Lelouch chuckled quietly as he left Ruben laughing in his office. The man was always making cracks about his age when he didn't look a day over his higher thirties while he was, in reality, in his early sixties. It was one of his milder pranks, especially compared to the stories Lelouch had heard about the man's younger years.
Still, Lelouch was surprised that the man had noticed the opportunity Lelouch could have taken when Lelouch hadn't even realized it himself. Without even being aware of his Geass. Honestly the man's intuition was scary sometimes, but that is also what made him such a great inventor.
He silently walked the hallways to his next class when he heard one of his classmates mention Shinjuku and about how it was only thirty or so minutes away.
As Lelouch made his way into the classroom, he stepped up next to Shirley and asked, "What's going on with Shinjuku?" It was better to play clueless until he knew what the cover story was.
Shirley started in surprise. "Oh, Lulu." She calmed down. "The news just said that terrorists let out poison gas in Shinjuku." She turned back to the screen the news was on. "All those poor people." She said in sympathy. "Killed by people who said that they were fighting for them." She said that last part softly.
As soon as he saw the scene depicted on the news, showing a few Japanese corpses while making sure to move along the camera quickly to avoid anyone noticing the fatal gunshot wounds that would blow their cover story, an image flashed into his mind.
He saw himself standing in front of Clovis' throne with the Viceroy pleading for his life before a phrase echoed in his mind in his own voice tinged with madness. "Besides, you can't change the world without getting your hands dirty!" A gunshot rang out in his mind.
He shivered as he returned to the present. He hated seeing what he did during his episodes of madness, it always made him acutely aware about his own lack of true and stable sanity and it scared him. However, he hadn't killed anyone other than the soldiers under his madness before and they meant nothing to him. But Clovis, Clovis had once mattered to him, he had cared about Clovis, before he became the monster who would order a massacre of innocents to protect his own standing in the court. 'Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick.' Lelouch thought as he began to feel queasy.
He still cared about Clovis; he still remembered his beloved older brother who he could easily beat at chess and his kind older brother who loved to paint Nunnally and Euphie in the Aries Villa's gardens. He needed to leave here and… Do something other than remember Shinjuku, anything.
"Lulu, are you okay?" Shirley asked him. "You're looking a bit pale."
Lelouch gave a shaky smile in return and replied, "Yeah, I'm not feeling so well right now. I'm gonna go, can you let the teacher know for me Shirley? I'm not sure how quickly I'll be back." He needed to leave, before he threw up in front of all these people. It wouldn't really be bad, just embarrassing.
Shirley gave Lelouch a small comforting smile. "Sure, no problem Lulu." She said kindly.
"Thanks Shirley." Lelouch whispered before he quickly made his way out of the classroom. He needed to clear his head. He decided to do what he normally did when he had the time and he needed to calm down. Besides, he could afford to miss a few minutes of class as long as he wasn't too late.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Restroom – 10:19 am – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Lelouch coughed as he threw up in the shower, the warm water washing his bile down the drain while it pounded down on his back in a soothing repetitive motion. Warm showers were a good way to recover from his madness induced memories, he'd discovered. The repetition and the temperature were useful for regaining his self-control. And so he found himself shivering despite the soothing temperature of the water, trying to regain control of himself and his racing mind. Only one thought in his mind was coherent, the rest undecipherable as he shivered and tried to prevent himself from puking again.
'I killed Clovis. I killed Clovis. I killed Clovis.' His mind rambled as images from his life in the Aries Villa flashed into his mind, cruelly reminding him of the kind and loving brother whose life he snuffed out with a single gunshot.
Eventually, he managed to regain control over his shivering form, standing up and allowing the shower to pour water down onto his head as he calmed himself down by reminding himself about the Shinjuku Massacre. The kind and loving brother he knew would have never done that, and he used that thought, the knowledge that Clovis wasn't the same brother he once knew and loved; to calm himself down and rationalize that who he killed had been what Clovis had become, not who he once was.
He would remember how Clovis used to be and not how he had changed. But he would never forget what had become of his brother either, it would serve to remind him of the terrible influence of Britannia's ideals and how it could twist some of the kindest people into monsters with its corrupt Social Darwinist regime.
He turned the shower off and stepped out to dry himself off. 'Britannia must fall.' Lelouch thought. 'I don't care about how, but I know that if Britannia isn't destroyed the entire world will suffer for it.'
His eyes hardened in determination as he put his Ashford uniform back on so he could get to class. 'I will not allow the entire world to suffer under Britannia's corrupt ideology.'
His left eye burned, as he reassured himself that his Geass was still able to work. 'And now, I have the tools to wage my war against Britannia in the form of the terrorists from Shinjuku, the Zero Armor, and my Geass.' He felt the burning in his eye stop as he deactivated his Geass, not wanting to accidentally use his Geass on a student.
He finished putting on his jacket and he quietly made his way to his next class, glad that he wasn't late despite the impromptu shower he had taken to calm himself down.
"Kallen it's been ages!" Exclaimed one of Lelouch's female classmates.
Lelouch's eyes widened as he heard the name 'Kallen', making his mind flash back to when he was stuck in the terrorist truck.
"Kallen, why don't we use it here?!" The voice of the dead driver echoed in his memory. "Because that would mean a bloodbath!" the voice of the red-headed terrorist echoed in back in his mind, causing the driver to concede with a sullen "You're right." and the door to the driver's side of the truck shut, making that the last Lelouch heard of the unfortunate man.
Lelouch blinked as he walked into the classroom, returning himself to the present to see a red-head who he knew was absent almost as much as himself and Rivalz. 'So that's why her name seemed so familiar.' Lelouch realized. 'Kallen Stadtfeld, sickly heiress by day, Japanese terrorist by night.' Lelouch thought it rather amusing to learn that he wasn't the only student who was sick of Britannia's ideology.
Then again, it could be a coincidence and it would be a big mistake to accuse the heiress of a noble family like the Stadtfelds of being a terrorist.
'I suppose,' Lelouch thought reluctantly, 'I could interrogate her with my Geass during lunch. I just need to make sure that I'm careful since I don't know all the specifics behind my Geass just yet.' C.C. had explained that every Geass was different, with different effects and powers, along with different weaknesses. The only thing that all true Geass had in common was that they all had something to do with the Geass user's greatest desire. He had used her offer from the previous day to get her to answer whether or not he was the only person with a Geass in the world at this time, and C.C. had confirmed his theory that there were others out there with the power, but she refused to tell him the identities of the other Geass wielders. When he'd asked she just gave him an enigmatic smile and said it'd be more fun for him to find out their identities on his own. After that, he decided pressing her anymore wouldn't be worth it. Especially without knowing the weaknesses of his own Geass.
He still wasn't fully aware of what the exact weaknesses of his Geass were so he was somewhat reluctant to use it, especially since the only ones he used it on were either all dead or enslaved to his will, but he supposed he wouldn't really get a much better chance to test out his power than then, and it would even serve a purpose other than being a simple test.
As Lelouch went to sit in his seat, he had the misfortune of having stared at Kallen a bit too long. Catching Rivalz's notice.
"What's up buddy?" Rivalz asked with a smile. "See something you like?" He nudged Lelouch's shoulder. He his hand up to cover his mouth and whispered conspiratorially, "You got a thing for her don't ya?"
"Just thinking that this is a rare event." Lelouch replied quietly as Rivalz rested his elbow on his desk, which was behind Lelouch's, cradling his head as he stared dreamily at Kallen.
Lelouch looked at the possible terrorist from the corner of his eye. "She hasn't been here at school since this whole term started." Which would lend a lot of credibility to his theory if he could find out whether or not her sickly persona was an act or not.
"Kallen Stadtfeld," Rivalz spoke with a slightly airy tone. "They say she's sick or something, and she barely showed up at school last year either." Rivalz explained. "Still, her grades are at the top of the class," Rivalz gave Lelouch a small smirk, "rivaling you in both lack of attendance and brains Lelouch."
Lelouch gave Rivalz a small smirk of his own as he retorted, "Wow, Rivalz, it sounds like you have a crush on her." Lelouch teased. "I wonder what Milly would have to say about that?" He said in false wonderment causing his friend to frantically wave his hands and whispered furiously at Lelouch, trying to dissuade him from telling the Student Council President anything about this conversation.
Lelouch simply laughed reassuringly as he explained he was only kidding and that he wouldn't tell Milly. Before Rivalz could get back at Lelouch for his joke, the teacher walked in making the rest of the class return to their seats as the break ended and all conversations ground to a halt.
Lelouch stared out the window as the teacher began to drone about the subject and he wondered what new revelations he'd have at lunch today.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Courtyard – 11:47 am – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Lelouch sighed, breathing in the fresh air, as he finally managed to leave the school building and enter the courtyard. He had forgotten that he still had to grade papers as punishment for missing class the previous day, but luckily his act to try and save the driver of the truck that crashed had allowed him to get away with a very minimal punishment since it was hardly his fault he fell in and missed the rest of the day. Instead, he was only punished for missing a half hour, instead of the three hours he ended up missing.
He found it strange that, even after having led a terrorist group to victory against Britannia, he still ended up punished for missing class. It just felt so odd to him. Still, he had at least a half hour or so left of his lunch break to meet with Kallen and interrogate her.
Suddenly, he heard screaming and he turned to see the source of the commotion.
"It's a bee! A bee!" One of Kallen's friends screamed.
"Run!" The girls quickly made their way as far from the little insect as they possibly could and Lelouch snorted in a small moment of Schadenfreude. Such a tiny little insect causing so much mayhem.
Still, as Lelouch saw Kallen run to a slightly more secluded place in the courtyard, he decided to take the opportunity presented to him. He silently made his way up behind her and witnessed her break her sickly façade for a split second as she sliced the bee in two with a karate chop, before quickly returning to her mask after taking a big bite her sandwich.
Lelouch kept his face impassive as she turned around and noticed him behind her. He saw her eyes widen in slight shock before she calmed down slightly and asked him a question. "Can I help you with something?" She asked with her mouth still slightly filled with her sandwich before she swallowed it.
Lelouch smiled disarmingly and activated his Geass. His smile turned slightly darker as he felt the now welcomed burning in his left eye. "You will answer my questions." He ordered.
He noticed her body slacken slightly as he felt his Geass crush any will to resist his command. "Of course." She said in a stronger tone than she normally used. Contrasting interestingly with her slack body.
Lelouch also noticed something slightly different with his target this time. There were strange red rings around her eyes, most likely a symbol of her being under the control of his Geass. 'Interesting.' The places he used his Geass on people in the past were usually covered in shadows or he simply hadn't paid too much attention to his targets at the time, having different things on his mind, so he hadn't noticed the rings before. He wondered if he was the only one who could see them. He could find out later, right now, he needed to learn as much as he could from Kallen.
"Were you the pilot of the Glasgow in Shinjuku?" Lelouch asked.
"Yes." His target responded simply.
"Why terrorism?" Lelouch asked. He was curious about her response.
"Because I'm Japanese." She responded.
Before Lelouch could ask the question about how she could consider herself Japanese when she looked exactly like a Britannian, she elaborated.
"Though technically I'm half-Britannian." She finished.
'I see. A half-blood.' Lelouch thought. Her self-identity conflicted with the type of environment she lived in causing her to turn to terrorism to try and do something to change things.
"But why go so far?" He needed to know more about her reasons before he ended his Geass.
"Britannia murdered my big brother. He wasn't a terrorist, he was a freedom fighter and he was the one who led our group before Britannia killed him." She said, causing Lelouch no small amount of surprise at how vehement and detailed she was in her answer.
'She must have loved her big brother very much and losing him must have pushed her to the edge.' Lelouch realized. 'If I don't give their group some direction, they're going to end up like the terrorists that were on the news yesterday, finding any loss of life acceptable if Britannians die in the exchange.' He was glad he'd found this group before they went off the deep end. They would make great first additions to his army in his war against Britannia.
"Okay, I'm done." Lelouch mumbled absentmindedly. He saw Kallen blink and he noticed the red rings around her eyes disappear.
"Um, did you want something?" She asked in her meek, sickly voice.
"No, I'm fine." Lelouch answered as he turned away. He had a thought, though as he realized that he probably should make sure she didn't mention Shinjuku to anyone.
He decided to make sure to add that as one more order. "Don't talk to anyone here about Shinjuku."
As Lelouch turned to walk away, he heard her shout. "Wait, what do you mean don't tell anyone about Shinjuku?"
Lelouch stopped and looked at her in shock. 'It didn't work?' He hadn't felt the connection form, but just to be sure, he needed to double check.
He felt his left eye burn as he tried to order Kallen again. "Go to class." He ordered.
Again, no connection. Lelouch frowned as he realized that he, most likely, could only use his Geass once on a person.
Kallen frowned in anger. "Not until you tell me–"
Their argument was interrupted by a voice from one of the second-floor windows.
"Lulu, Kallen" Shirley shouted. "If you don't hurry you're going to be late to the Chem labs!"
Lelouch realized that his opportunity for escape wouldn't be open for long and so he reacted quickly. "Ah crap, that's right! It's my turn to set up for class!" He exclaimed in 'shock' as he ran away.
Hopefully, she would just pass it off as him being a concerned fellow student, but he doubted it. She couldn't be a terrorist without having a healthy level of paranoia. 'I need to think of something to deflect her suspicions from me, and I need to find out why my Geass didn't work.' Lelouch thought as he turned into a more secluded area of the grounds to take a small shortcut to the Chemistry labs.
He walked along a small bridge that led toward the labs and paused to look down at the small river underneath. He turned and looked at his reflection. He felt the burning in his eye as his Geass activated and he finally saw what it looked like. His normally dark violet left eye glowed a bright red and it had a small, slightly darker red sigil in the center of his eye. The sigil that looked like a bird in flight, almost identical to the sigil he'd seen carved into that stone in the vision shown to him by C.C. in Shinjuku. 'So that's what my Geass looks like.' Lelouch thought. At least now he knew he could still activate it, he quickly turned it off before he could accidentally use it on himself.
"Lelouch, what are you doing here?" A teacher asked from behind Lelouch.
'Perfect.' Lelouch thought. 'Now I can test whether or not it can work twice on the same person if I don't maintain eye-contact after giving my first command.'
He quickly tested it out on the teacher, having him answer what this next exam's essay topics were going to be, before he deliberately severed eye contact and attempted to use his Geass on him again, only for it to not work.
Luckily though it seemed that the man had been unable to see the sigil glowing in his eye, reassuring Lelouch that, so long as he didn't run into a hostile Geass user, his secret was safe for now. He also realized that the fact that the man hadn't seen his eye glowing meant that the red rings that he'd seen around Kallen's iris were most likely only visible to him or another Geass user.
As the teacher left, Lelouch realized that the only differences between from when he used his Geass on Villetta and from when he used his Geass on Kallen was that he hadn't maintained perfect eye-contact with Kallen, while he had maintained perfect eye-contact with Villetta for the duration of his Geass' usage on her and the different intents he'd had behind the virtually identical commands.
He realized that he got really lucky that he wasn't used to his Geass at the time or his intent and order would have been exactly the same just like they had been with Kallen. Instead of giving Villetta the command to 'answer his questions' with the intent of 'gaining the knowledge he desired' and gaining the perfect sleeper agent, he would have made a big mistake.
If he had given the same order to Villetta that he had given to Kallen, the order to 'answer his questions' with the intent of having her 'answer his questions to the best of her knowledge and ability', he would have had to kill Villetta and he would have never gained such valuable pawn.
His order, combined with his initial intent, while also phrasing the command with a question relevant to his intent, thereby following his own self-imposed limitation for her to 'answer his questions', had ended up forcing her to answer his question in the only way that would satisfy his initial intent, causing her will to become subsumed by his own.
'Damn, I got extremely lucky when I was giving my commands to Villetta.' Lelouch thought to himself. He couldn't let something like that happen again, only fools rely on luck to assist them and he was no fool.
Still, now that he knew what had happened, he was that much more knowledgeable about his Geass, and that had been his side-goal for when he confronted Kallen, and he'd gained valuable information. 'Now all I need to do is figure out a way to have her lose her suspicions of me and all my current tasks will have been cleared.' Lelouch thought as he made his way to the labs so he could set up for class as per his earlier act. He had to follow through with his act after all, or Kallen would be even more suspicious.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Classroom – 3:02 pm – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b.)
After the last class of the day ended, Lelouch walked up to Kallen's seat and spoke to her. "Hey, can you come with me?" He asked politely.
"Sure, I was wondering when you were going to ask." She responded irritably.
Lelouch winced slightly as he realized how that was going to sound. Still, it could have been worse. At least she was willing to follow him. This way he could explain himself with the excuse he had come up with during class.
He quickly guided her to the Student Council Clubhouse. The walk there was, thankfully, silent and Lelouch sighed as he walked into familiar territory.
Kallen looked around the room in wonder. "I didn't even know a room like this existed."
Lelouch decided to give her a small exposition. Though he wondered what the tables were in here for. Had he missed something in the morning meeting? Either way, he began explaining the room's history to Kallen. "It was originally meant as a ballroom for special events, but it really doesn't see much use other than when the Student Council uses it. It's usually where we come to balance the budget and relax after school is over." Lelouch smirked wryly. "Of course, most of Milly's crazy ideas came from this room too, mostly while the rest of us try to minimize the insanity to the best of our ability."
Kallen looked at him confusedly. "What do you mean crazy ideas?" She asked.
Lelouch gave out a suffering sigh as he realized that, since Kallen hadn't been in school for all that long, she likely had no idea of the terror that was an inspired Milly Ashford. "Yeah, some examples of Milly's crazy ideas," Lelouch shuddered slightly as he recalled last week. "Well, the most recent ones are the Cross-Dresser's Ball, Swimsuit Only Days, and Absolute Silence Parties."
He gave the red-head a wry look. "You name it; Milly probably came up with it and completely perverted the idea to make it as insane as possible. The rest of us try to contain as much of the madness as we can, but we're hardly a match for her when she really gets going."
He shook his head as he realized he had gotten off track. "Anyway, unless the rest of the Student Council shows up we shouldn't be disturbed."
Her eyes sharpened at that. "We won't be disturbed here?"
Lelouch gave her a disarming smile and nodded. "Yup, now I bet you're wondering about what I meant about–"
"Here it is! I found it!" Lelouch heard Shirley shout and he turned to look up at the second floor of the room. He saw Shirley holding up a small microchip up in the air. "Look, this is it right?!" He couldn't see who she was talking to until Nina walked into view from further back on the balcony.
As soon as Nina got a good look at the microchip in Shirley's hand she sighed in relief. "What a relief, you found our lab data." She said with a small smile.
Rivalz groaned as he stood up from his own position on the floor that had caused Lelouch to miss him in his cursory sweep of the room along with Shirley and Nina. "Good, my ass is killing me." He groaned again as he rubbed his lower back and stretched.
Suddenly the sound of the automatic doors opening drew Kallen and Lelouch's attention and he saw Milly walk into the room wearing an apron over her school uniform while she pushed in a trolley covered in dishes that had their contents hidden by the silver covers for them. She looked up to the second floor and spoke loudly so the other members of the Student Council could hear her. "Were you able to find it?" At their nod in confirmation she simply breathed a small, almost unnoticeable sigh of relief. "I finished up on my end," she chirped with a smile, "shall we dig in?"
Rivalz gasped in awe at the spread that Milly had cooked up so quickly, likely not understanding or not caring that Milly had probably gotten Sayoko's assistance. "Oh, wow!" he said with a huge grin as he imagined eating the delicious food.
"Way to go Milly!" Shirley cheered as she clapped her hands once in celebration.
Milly simply gave out a charming giggle. "You adore me, I know." She said with deliberate false modesty as she set out the food on the tables.
Lelouch felt his irritation build up as he realized that his conversation with Kallen had been interrupted. He would need to find another opportunity to give her his excuse as to why he would bring up Shinjuku. Still, he couldn't afford to look too upset. He needed to remain calm; an opportunity would present itself eventually. He knew that Kallen had the sense to not bring up what they were discussing in front of the others, not if she was still suspicious as to what he knew about her. The last thing she wanted, he assumed logically, was to be ousted as a terrorist. He could trust her to stay silent on the matter for the moment. Now, all he needed to do was figure out what the heck was going on. "Um, what is all of this?" He asked in his usual soft tenor.
Milly gave him a questioning look. "Lelouch, don't you know?" She asked. "I thought that's why you brought her. We're inducting Kallen into the Student Council."
Kallen let out a confused, "Huh?"
Milly turned her attention to her newest minion… err, her newest subordinate. Right, that's it. She answered the red-head's question, hoping to cover up her less than noble thought. "It was my grandfather's idea, actually." She turned her attention back to setting up the tables. She couldn't celebrate if everything wasn't properly set up after all.
Lelouch blinked in slight surprise. "Ruben?" His eyes widened slightly as he realized the man's line of thinking. It actually made a lot of sense. "Oh, I see now."
Milly nodded as she caught on to Lelouch's train of thought. "Yep," she chirped, "he thought it best because Kallen's poor health would make it difficult for her to participate in other Club Activities."
Lelouch interrupted Milly as he finished his line of thought out loud. "And since it recently became a rule that all students have to participate in a Club, Ruben suggested that Kallen be allowed into the Student Council so she wouldn't have too many complications with her feeble health." Hopefully this would slightly alleviate Kallen's worries that he knew of her extracurricular activities. If he didn't reveal them, while also playing along with her sickly façade, her suspicions may end up dissipating. Or at the very least would end up becoming weaker.
Milly nodded happily, not annoyed in the least that Lelouch finished her sentence. He tended to do that from time to time. She realized that she hadn't introduced herself to her the newest member and decided to rectify that since Lelouch had finished for her. "By the way, I'm Milly, the President of the Student Council." She said kindly as she finished setting up the tables and turned to Kallen and Lelouch.
Kallen looked at Lelouch incredulously. This nice young woman was the one that Lelouch had said was the source of all the crazy events at Ashford Academy? She just couldn't see it. Milly was just so nice.
Lelouch saw Kallen look at him dubiously out of the corner of his eye. He almost sighed, if she did end up on the Student Council she would learn about Milly's craziness soon enough. Like all Clubs Kallen did have the chance to refuse membership, but it wasn't the best idea if she wanted to keep out of trouble and maintain her cover as a sickly student.
Kallen decided to exercise this right, feeling that joining a Club might cut into her activities. "Me?" She asked softly with a small, and Lelouch noticed, faked cough. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't think I'm suited for any kind of Club."
Lelouch almost frowned. He needed to be able to keep an eye on her, at least until he could be sure that she no longer suspected him of being K-1. He decided to sweeten the deal for the secret half-blood.
"You know," he said conversationally, "this is a really good offer." He gave the young red-headed woman a small look out of the corner of his eye. "Most students don't ever get the chance to get on the Student Council, despite many wanting to for varying reasons, because of the consistency that needs to be maintained when it comes to their grades."
He turned his head and gave her a slightly sheepish look, acting as though he were embarrassed at what he was about to say. "This is actually pretty good since the members of the Student Council have access to areas of Ashford Academy that even most of the faculty don't have access to. The only one with more access is Ruben and he's the Chairman." That should get Kallen to accept the invitation. He knew it was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up.
The secret terrorist reacted exactly as Lelouch expected. "Oh, I see." She spoke in a slightly shocked voice. She then turned to Milly. "Thank you," Kallen said quietly as she gave small nod of thanks. "The pleasure's all mine."
Nina, Shirley, and Rivalz had come down from the second floor during Milly and Lelouch's explanation and began introducing themselves to Kallen, hoping to make her feel welcome.
Rivalz decided to go first. "I'm Rivalz Cardemonde, the Secretary. If there's anything you need help with, I'm your man." He said with a smile and placed his hand on his chest to emphasize his statement.
Shirley went after Rivalz finished. "I'm Shirley Fenette." She gestured to herself with her hand on the collar of her uniform. "And I'm a member of the Swim Club. Welcome to the Student Council, I hope that we can become good friends."
Nina went after Shirley, although she was much quieter in her introduction due to her inherent shyness. "Hi, I'm Nina Einstein." She said quietly as she fidgeted in place.
Kallen looked at her fellow Student Council Members and responded quietly, "It's nice to meet all of you."
Suddenly, the sound of a motorized wheelchair echoed through the large room. "Hey Shirley." Nunnally called out as she rolled into the room with Alice walking beside her carrying two trays of cupcakes between them. "Can you give me a hand with these cupcakes please?"
"Oh, sure thing Nunna." Shirley replied as she walked up to the two junior council members and picked up the tray Nunnally was carrying and placed it on the table where Milly had placed the rest of the food.
Lelouch smiled as he saw his beloved little sister enter the room. He quickly walked up to her and grabbed her non-injured hand to squeeze it. "Nunnally, I'm so glad you're feeling better." He said making sure to maintain the story that she was out today because she was sick. After all, he had only promised to never lie to her, not in front of her to other people.
Alice set down her own cupcakes next to Nunnally's as she said, "Yeah, when I came over to drop off her homework she told me that all she needed was a little rest after yesterday." She gave a fierce look to Lelouch. "What, exactly, happened yesterday that ended up hurting Nunnally?" She asked protectively.
Lelouch sighed grabbed his sister's other hand and rubbed his thumb over Nunnally's bandages. "I got stranded somewhere and when I called Sayoko to come and get me; Nunnally had already been taken home by then. So my loving sister insisted on coming, no matter what Sayoko said." He said as he squeezed Nunnally's non-injured hand to let her know he was only teasing her a little bit with his last statement.
"Sayoko ended up crashing and Nunnally got out to try and open the door to help her out of the car since I wasn't nearby at the time." He brought up her injured hand to give it a small kiss on her injured hand, heedless of his audience and Nunnally continued his explanation for him.
He had explained to Nunnally, after they got home, that they shouldn't mention that where they got stranded was Shinjuku or their knowledge of C.C. since the military was after her and she had agreed, recognizing the danger of admitting that they were there after what the military had done there and not wanting to hurt C.C. after all the trouble Lelouch had gone through to save her. He trusted her easily enough to not let anything damning slip out.
"Luckily, Big Brother was able to help me get her out when he arrived, but not before I cut my hand on the door when I tried to open it." She finished, turning her face up to her brother even though her eyes were closed and smiled an innocent smile that Lelouch recognized all too well. "Besides, I wasn't going to let Lelouch get out of his promise to take Milly and I shopping today since he kept everyone waiting yesterday at lunch."
Lelouch laughed a little bit and quickly reassured his little sister. "Don't worry," he said with an amused tone of voice, "I haven't forgotten my punishment dear sister." The two siblings laughed while Alice calmed herself down, realizing that nothing too bad had happened to Nunnally. Eventually, the young girl joined in with her best friend and her Vice-President, giggling quietly at Lelouch's future punishment.
While Lelouch explained himself to Alice, Milly decided to enlighten their newest member about Nunnally and Alice. She walked up to the sickly girl and turned to look at the younger girls. She smiled slightly as she saw Lelouch kiss Nunnally's injured hand. "The girl interrogating our Vice-President is Alice," Milly started her explanation. "And the girl in the wheelchair is Lelouch's little sister, Nunnally Lamperouge." She smirked. "The two of them may only be in the middle school level, making them only junior members of the Student Council, but they're a big help around here." Milly's gaze softened as she heard Lelouch laugh at something Nunnally said. Lelouch almost never laughed, but he always made an exception for Nunnally since she couldn't see him smile anymore.
"What happened to her?" Kallen asked softly. She may not have liked Britannians, but seeing a young girl like Nunnally, who was so obviously loved very much by her older brother, crippled and blind; it made her remember her own older brother. It brought back some painful memories for her, seeing the love that the two siblings held for each other. She couldn't bring herself to hate the young girl like she hated other Britannians, especially when she clearly had so many other problems.
Milly simply gave a small sad smile to Kallen. "It's not my place to tell you, but I don't think it'd be a good idea to ask Lelouch until you know him better." She cautioned the red-head. "It's not something he likes to talk about." She herself had only learned about it from her grandfather when she had confronted him after Lelouch and Nunnally arrived after the 'occupation' of Japan. Lelouch hadn't spoken much when he'd first arrived and so she had to get the story from a secondhand source. After learning about what happened to the little girl who she had spent so much time with in the Aries Villa, she had promised Lelouch that she would do everything she could to help him out even though she was only eleven at the time. It was something that the 'dead' Prince had greatly appreciated.
"Okay," Kallen agreed simply. She knew about how hard it could be to talk about a painful past event, so she had no problem believing that Lelouch wouldn't want to talk about it. She found herself hoping that Lelouch wasn't the voice who called himself K-1 in Shinjuku the previous day, if only so he could stay safe and take care of his little sister. Still, she owed it to Ohgi and the rest of their group to find out for sure.
Lelouch walked behind Nunnally's wheelchair and began pushing it toward the newest member of the Student Council. "Here, let me take you to greet our newest member." Alice walked up to his right side and followed him as he pushed Nunnally's wheelchair forward. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, he internally sighed in relief when he noticed that she was no longer glaring at him. He liked how protective of Nunnally she was, but he still felt mildly insulted that she thought he would deliberately do anything to harm his beloved little sister. He turned his attention back to Kallen as he pushed Nunnally closer to the red-head.
Nunnally turned her head up to face the newest member of the Council. "It's a pleasure to meet you Kallen," Nunnally said with a kind smile. "I hope we can become good friends." She held up her hand in front of her for Kallen to take.
Kallen gave her own kind smile towards the younger girl and took the offered hand, squeezing it slightly before letting go and responding. "It's nice to meet you too Nunnally." She said softly. Kallen was glad that the young girl had so many kind people to help take care of her. This was one Britannian who she doubted anyone could ever hate if they met her. She was just so kind and polite.
"And I'm Alice." The red-eyed blonde said, placing her palm on the center of her chest. "I handle some of the more minor stuff to help out around here, but don't take me lightly." She explained with a grin. "Without me helping in all the little ways, Milly would've run everyone into the ground." She finished with a snicker and a duck as Milly tried to cuff her on the back of the head for her comment. It was true though, because Alice always did her best to make sure that Milly didn't go too far with her insane plans and schedules, by making sure things didn't get too conflicted or confusing, causing chaos to everyone involved as they tried to figure out the "Great Milly's" genius, Milly's words, not hers. Still, despite the work necessary to keep everything on track to make sure the insane President didn't go overboard, Alice truly enjoyed spending time at Ashford Academy with Nunnally, her brother, and the Student Council. It was so much more fun than the other stuff she needed to do.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way, let's celebrate!" Rivalz shouted as he pulled out a champagne bottle from underneath a table. He had managed to smuggle it in earlier in the day during the lunch break.
As he was waving the bottle around in the air, Shirley moved to take the bottle from him quickly as she shouted, "Oh no you don't! We're underage, we can't have alcohol!" Rivalz ran away from Shirley as he tried to protest, but the orange haired girl cut him off before he could say anything. "Besides, we're on the Student Council; we're supposed to set an example for the rest of the school to follow! We can't drink!" She shouted as she finally caught up to Rivalz. She reached up as Rivalz tried to hold it out of her reach, but since they were of similar height he wouldn't be able to keep it from her for long.
Realizing that he wouldn't be able to keep the bottle from Shirley much longer, Rivalz decided to get rid of it. "Hey, Lelouch!" He shouted as he tossed the bottle across the room to his best friend. "Catch!"
Lelouch and Alice had quickly moved Nunnally's wheelchair out of the way as soon as Shirley started chasing Rivalz, just in case either of the two ended up running their way. Lelouch had made his way toward the two troublemakers after leaving Alice to keep his little sister out of the way. He wasn't prepared for the champagne bottle to come spinning through the air at him though. He caught the bottle on reflex and he was quickly tackled to the ground by Shirley as she shouted, "Oh no you don't Lulu!" accidentally dislodging the cork from the bottle.
After having been shaken up so much, the bottle couldn't take it anymore and the cork popped off, flying toward Kallen. Since no one was looking at her closely, she quickly swatted the cork out of the air before it could hit her. Unfortunately, she was unable to dodge the spray of champagne that erupted from the neck of the bottle and ended up getting soaked in the alcoholic drink. She stood there dripping as the liquid soaked into her clothes, extremely thankful that the layers of clothing that made up the Ashford Academy uniform were thick enough to prevent her from giving everyone in the room a show. Still, she couldn't help the embarrassed blush that rushed to her cheeks as she gave Rivalz a glare that most definitely didn't fit her sickly personality. However, she knew no one would be particularly suspicious of it, considering it had been his fault she got soaked. Barring Lelouch if he truly was K-1.
"Uh, Shirley," Lelouch muttered as he looked at the orange haired girl on top of him. "Could you please get off me?" When Shirley had tackled him to the ground, they had ended up in a rather suggestive position. 'God, I hope Milly doesn't have a camera right now.' Lelouch thought to himself as he saw a blush erupt on Shirley's cheeks.
Shirley quickly pushed herself up as she sputtered incoherent apologies while blushing furiously. "Oh my- I'm so sorry Lulu. I didn't mean to-"
Lelouch just gave Shirley a small smile as he stood up and interrupted the girl's unnecessary apology. "It's fine Shirley, it was only an accident after all." Shirley went silent after that, simply blushing deeply while she glared at Rivalz in much the same way as Kallen.
Milly just sighed as she realized that they couldn't have the celebration with Kallen until she was cleaned up. "Sorry about that Kallen." Milly apologized. "Here, let's get you cleaned up." She then quickly led the sickly girl out of the room by the hand with Shirley following, offering to help out since it was partly her fault that Kallen got soaked.
Lelouch noticed that he had a perfect opportunity to speak to Kallen alone if he could play this right. As the three girls left Lelouch spoke to the remaining members of the Council. "I'll go get her some of my clothes since Kallen and I are pretty close to the same height." He said as he walked out. Before he left the room completely, he turned to look at Alice and Nina who had managed to stay out of the way with Nunnally. "Alice, Nina," He called. "Could the two of you make sure Rivalz doesn't have any more champagne in here?" He laughed lightly as he heard his friend protest in indignation. "I don't think that Shirley and Kallen would be amused." His laugh echoed as he left the room and quickly made his way down the hallway toward his room.
Since Kallen would need to take a shower to clean herself off completely, he would have the perfect opportunity to be alone with her so he could give her his prepared excuse. Of course, he'd still need to do something to eliminate her suspicions of him. He thought of a few ideas he could use on his way to his bedroom to get some clothes for the red-head.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Lelouch's Room – 3:16 pm – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Lelouch rifled through his closet, ignoring C.C.'s laughter that had erupted after he explained the current situation. He quickly picked out some clothes that he believed Kallen would find acceptable before noticing a small recording device on the floor of his closet. His eyes widened as a plan came together in his mind. Though he wondered if he could he count on C.C. to listen to him.
As soon as C.C.'s laughter died down, he popped open the briefcase that contained his Zero Armor and placed the helmet on. As soon as the helmet closed itself over his head, he spoke into the recording device with the voice modulator distorting his voice. Once he finished recording his message he turned to his accomplice and removed his helmet, placing it back into the case which he quickly closed as he spoke to her. "C.C., will you assist me with something?" He wasn't all that sure what the enigmatic witch would do, but he doubted she wanted him exposed.
The golden eyed woman gave her newest contractor an amused look as she mentally debated on whether or not to help him avoid exposure. On one hand, seeing him exposed to this 'Kallen' could be amusing to her, but on the other it may not be beneficial to him in the long run which would make it not beneficial to her in the long run. She decided, on a whim and since he had told her of the amusing events that had taken place earlier, that she would do as he asked, for now. "That depends," She said with laughter still coloring her voice. "What would you like me to do?"
Lelouch internally sighed with relief as he looked at his witch. "In five minutes, I need you to play this voice recording over the phone." He quickly grabbed a small notepad and finished explaining what he needed her to do. "Make sure you call this number in five minutes and when you hear a voice other than mine, play the recording. Hang up as soon as the recording finishes." He handed her the note and placed the recording next to the phone in his room. He then turned to the pile of clothes he had arranged for Kallen and picked them up as he walked out of his room. He made his way to the bathroom with a shower nearest to the ballroom and sighed in relief as he made his way down the hallway. As soon as that recording played, he would have cleared all of his current goals.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy Restroom – 3:19 pm – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Lelouch knocked on the door to the bathroom where he heard water running. "It's Lelouch." He spoke clearly so she could hear him over the running water. "I brought you a change of clothes." He explained.
A muffled voice echoed from beyond the wooden door. "You can come in, I've drawn the curtain already."
He pressed the button to slide open the door and walked in. He was briefly taken aback as he saw Kallen's shadowy outline thanks to the light inside the shower. His passing observation inside that truck had been spot on, she really was beautiful. Even with just a shadowy outline, he could tell that much. He quickly regained his bearings. "Sorry about all of this." He apologized as he walked in causing the automatic door to close behind him. "I know that they can be a little over the top."
"That's okay." She responded politely. "Nothing wrong with cutting loose every once and a while you know?" She joked.
Lelouch gave out small laugh as he responded while he put his clothes in a small basket. "That's true. I brought you some of my clothes, I hope that's okay."
"It's cool, don't worry about it." She responded easily enough. "That was pretty quick," she observed. "You went all the way to the boy's dorm?"
Lelouch's tone turned more solemn as he responded to her inquiry. "Actually, I live here." He explained. "It'd be pretty hard for my little sister to live off in the dorms." He leaned back against the small bathroom sink. "The Chairman lets us stay here as a favor."
"I see." Kallen responded sympathetically.
Lelouch turned to leave as he responded, hoping that Kallen would take the bait. C.C. would be calling soon. "Anyway–"
He was cut off as Kallen shouted, "Hey, wait!"
Lelouch smirked before schooling his features and turning around. "Yes?" He asked calmly.
She reached her hand out from behind the shower curtain. "Can you hand me that pouch over there?" She asked softly.
Lelouch turned to where she was pointing and he noticed a small pink pouch on the sink's counter. "Oh sure, no problem." He said back politely.
He grabbed the pouch and made to hand it to Kallen, making sure to clearly avert his eyes so she could maintain her privacy. As soon as his hand passed the shower's threshold, she grabbed his wrist tightly and ended up making him drop the small pouch causing a small splash. His eyes widened slightly in shock and he grunted quietly in surprise. "You really are a livewire aren't you?" He commented breezily, as though being held hostage by naked women in the shower were a regular occurrence for him.
Though, it hadn't been the first time this had happened. Milly had done stranger things to him when he was younger so he wasn't all that phased.
"What did you mean when you told me to not say anything about Shinjuku?" She asked him as her grip on his wrist tightened.
Lelouch believed that she was trying to get a read on his pulse so she could tell if he lied to her or not. Unfortunately for her, Lelouch was a master of deception and he purposefully kept his heart beating quickly to feign surprise after Kallen had grabbed his wrist. All he needed to do to trick his heart was to think about many different things that had caused him surprise in the past while making sure to stay aware of his current conversation, something that was very simple for his talented mind.
"Oh, that." Lelouch responded sheepishly. "Well you see–" The sound of the phone ringing cut him off. He turned slightly and looked at Kallen out of the corner of his eye, making sure to keep his gaze from roaming. "I'll answer your question after I answer the phone." He gave a disarming smile to the red-headed terrorist. "After all, if no one answers someone might come in here." She let go of his wrist and he picked up the phone before put it to his ear.
Kallen wondered what the dark haired Britannian was playing at. He was so… aloof. She wondered if he really was K-1 and what she should do if that were the case. Her eyes widened slightly as he handed her the phone.
Lelouch played his part perfectly as he held out the phone for Kallen to take. "He says he wants to talk to you. He says he knows you."
Kallen narrowed her eyes as she took the phone. "Hello?"
A deep voice responded to her query. "Glad to see your still alive, Q-1."
Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at Lelouch who was still averting his eyes to give her privacy.
"Come to the observation deck on Tokyo Tower, alone, in two days at 1600 hours." The phone on the other end then quickly clicked off.
"Wait a minute!" Kallen shouted futilely, accidentally yanking the shower curtain wide open with the phone cord. "Just who are–" She was cut off from shouting into the phone by Lelouch's cough. She glared at him and gripped the phone tightly. "What?" She growled caustically.
Lelouch had covered his eyes with his left hand and gestured in her direction with his right. "Um, you accidentally pulled open the shower curtain. Just thought you'd like to know." He laughed nervously.
Kallen gasped and quickly pulled the curtain closed. She knelt down on the tub's floor and covered her chest. "Oh God, I'm so embarrassed." She complained like the schoolgirl she was. For once, she wasn't acting. "Could you please not tell anyone about this?" She asked. "I don't think I'd ever live it down."
Lelouch gave a small, nervous laugh as he responded. "Oh sure, no problem. My lips are sealed." To be honest, he really didn't want this getting out either. Milly's teasing would be merciless.
Kallen was surprised at how gentlemanly he was being about this. Most guys she knew, even her friends in their resistance cell, would have likely chopped their own arms off with a blunt saw to get a good look at her naked. She knew she was beautiful and she appreciated Lelouch's discretion. She hoped that she'd get to know him a little bit better. Despite being a Britannian, he wasn't so bad. Now if only she could get her damn blush to go away.
Lelouch coughed and he decided to get back on track before he lost the opportunity. "Anyway, the reason I mentioned Shinjuku is because some of the guys around here might try and show you some of the images on the news from there." He shuddered lightly as fragmented images of what happened in real-time flashed through his vision. "The images are pretty grisly and with your weak constitution I didn't think you'd appreciate seeing them." He decided to explain a little bit better. "I threw up earlier after I saw some of the images on the news and I thought it'd be a good thing to warn you." Hopefully, if he ever had his identity exposed before her she would be able to remember this moment and realize that, while he was a Britannian, he didn't approve of what happened in the Shinjuku Ghetto.
"Oh I see." Kallen replied, still huddled on the floor of the shower. She had managed to get her blush under control and she now felt slightly foolish at the thought of believing Lelouch had been K-1.
"Anyway, I'll leave you to finish your shower in peace. Sorry for disturbing you." He quietly made his way out of the bathroom and made his way toward the ballroom. Soon, he would have to fulfill his promise to Nunnally and take both her and Milly shopping. He sighed resignedly as he made his way throughout the hallway. The things he did for his beloved little sister.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Jewelry Shop – 5:23 pm – September 12 – 2017 a.t.b.)
After Kallen had gotten cleaned up, the rest of her induction party went off perfectly. Eventually though, like all good things it came to an end once the participants needed to get to their dorm rooms or their homes so they could work on their homework for the night. Of course, that only applied to the ones who didn't have anything to do after the party.
Earlier in the afternoon Milly had taken him to a lingerie shop in her attempts to fluster and torment him, much to Nunnally's amusement. She had personally modeled some of the less risqué materials for him, but it was still fairly embarrassing for Lelouch.
After that she had dragged them into a dress shop and ended up tormenting him much less once Nunnally started asking about some of the dresses. At least for a little while. The two of them had a fun time describing the dresses to Nunnally and his little sister had ended up picking out a few for herself. Both Milly and Lelouch helped Nunnally pick out dresses that they knew the younger girl would like and, once they passed Nunnally's inspection on how they felt to her, they ended up getting a few for the younger Lamperouge.
Of course, once they finished that part of the shopping trip, Milly resumed her torment of Lelouch. She had continued with her earlier fashion 'show' for the Vice-President, by modeling mini-dresses in many different colors and other kinds of dresses. The older blonde woman had taken a fascination with dresses that had a plunging neckline, much to Lelouch's embarrassment and other male shoppers' envy. Once again, this was to Nunnally's great amusement as she had Lelouch describe Milly's dress to her just like she did with Milly's lingerie modeling.
Lelouch made himself a silent promise that, from now on, he would do his absolute best to make sure he never arrived to one of Milly's informal meetings late ever again because of his gambling. He didn't think he could take another day of mixed signals from the young woman.
Milly was a very confusing person for Lelouch. One moment, she could be a kind and understanding older sister, the next she was flirting with him and offering to take him out on pseudo dates. It didn't exactly help that he couldn't decide what he really felt for her either. His own psychological issues made deciphering his own emotions difficult for him without any of Milly's antics.
"Lelouch, what do you think?" Milly's voice rang out from behind him as he was looking over sapphire jewelry, drawing him back from his memories of the past afternoon.
The young Prince in hiding turned around. His eyes widened as he took in Milly's form.
The eighteen-year-old blonde had decided to wear one of the many dresses she had bought after she finished modeling them for Lelouch's torment. At the moment, she was currently wearing a light violet dress, covered in light silver glitter to enhance the dresses beauty, which went down to her shins. It had a slit on the sides going up to slightly above her knees to allow for proper movement though, so Milly wasn't in any danger of tripping. The light violet color of the dress really brought out Milly's dark blue eyes, which had sparkled mischievously after Lelouch had absentmindedly described the dress to Nunnally while he was in shock after she modeled it.
Thankfully, the neckline on this particular dress wasn't plunging, though it did show off a fair amount of her cleavage, causing many a male to do double takes as they walked down the street before Lelouch glared them off. The only thing that prevented their outing from looking like a date was the presence of Nunnally. That and the fact that Lelouch was severely underdressed compared to Milly, with his simple jeans and black turtleneck combination. He had on a brown jacket so he could weather the brisk autumn air and his arms were full carrying the many purchases of Milly and Nunnally. Thankfully, his arms hadn't started burning yet since dresses and underwear didn't weigh all that much, but he hoped they took a break soon so he could rest.
Regardless, what Milly was currently holding up to her neck was what held Lelouch's attention. It was a beautiful platinum necklace with a small aquamarine heart in the center of the silver chain. It was simple, elegant, and it was perfect for Milly.
"Wow, Milly." Lelouch said in slight shock. He was extremely thankful for his nigh perfect self-control, or his face would have been a perpetual shade of red throughout this entire outing. "That necklace really suits you." He said honestly. He may not have understood what he felt towards Milly, but he knew that he cared deeply for her and he, at the very least, loved her like family. He just wasn't sure if he loved her more than that or not.
"Aw, thanks Lelouch." Milly said flirtatiously with a wink. "I was thinking about getting it, I hope you don't mind." She walked off to another part of the store, satisfied with Lelouch's response.
Lelouch simply sighed in resignation with a small, tired smile as he nodded before Milly walked off to continue to put a dent in his winnings with a smile. As promised, he was using the extra money he had obtained from that nobleman to fund this trip. Fortunately, despite modeling so many clothes, Milly hadn't put too much of a dent into his winnings since she hadn't bought all of them. It pretty much went without saying that the dresses Nunnally had gotten barely scratched the surface of the three hundred thousand pounds he had won.
He turned his attention back to the sapphire jewelry and noticed a small sign he had missed in his cursory inspection earlier. "Hey," Lelouch called to the clerk who was serving a man searching for a ring to propose with. As soon as the clerk detailed the list of rings the man could choose from, she quickly made his way toward him.
"Yes, how may I help you?" The brunette asked politely. She was relatively pretty, but compared to Milly she was average. She was dressed in the shop's uniform.
Lelouch directed her attention to what had caught his attention. "Yes, I was wondering do you do engravings in Braille?" He asked the clerk. Nunnally's birthday was next month and he didn't know how long the pendant he noticed would be there.
It was a relatively large pendant, compared to the usual size of one at least, in the shape of a heart attached to a slightly thick silver chain so it could be worn around the wearer's neck. The size of the heart had enough space allowed for a message to be engraved.
Blue had always been one of Nunnally's favorite colors and, although she was unable to see it, he always made sure to use as much blue as he could for her parties. He always made sure to have different shades of blue along with other colors to accent the main one though since a single color would be stagnate and boring.
The clerk gave a thoughtful look to Lelouch and responded politely. "I'm not sure; I'll have to ask my manager." When she noticed Lelouch's intense look, she reassured him. "I'm sure it wouldn't be too much trouble as long as you can write the message in Braille. As long as we have a template and it isn't too large or complicated we can have almost anything engraved into our jewelry." She gave a smile and jubilantly boasted, "It's what makes Drake's Jewelers one of Britannia's best jewelry shops!"
Lelouch ignored the bubbly clerk and just gave an indulgent smile and asked the clerk politely, "Can you please check with your manager then?" He hoped he could set up his order for the pendant before Milly and Nunnally noticed where he was. He wanted to surprise Nunnally with this present and he didn't want to deal with Milly's teasing at the moment.
Lelouch quickly wrapped up his meeting with the manager after he met the man. He was glad that he hadn't had to use his Geass on the man for such petty reason, and now all he needed to do was wait three weeks until the pendant could be properly engraved.
He had written out the message he wanted engraved in Nunnally's gift with ease, since he had learned Braille with her when they had first moved to Japan along with Suzaku. He used a pen to very clearly mark out the letters of the language of the blind to make sure that the manager didn't mess up the design. He didn't want anyone to understand the message other than Nunnally, and since he knew that Drake's Jewelers didn't employ Honorary Britannians or Numbers, not out of prejudice, but out of reasonable business sense since many Britannians wouldn't buy anything from those 'lesser' than them, he wrote the message using Japanese words. Albeit, the words were written in English letters instead of Japanese kanji or katakana, but that was merely a technicality since Braille didn't really have any real differences between which languages it was used with. At least, none that Lelouch had learned.
Since Braille engravings were different from the norm, the shop that normally did the engravings needed to purchase a unique tool that would engrave the dot-like patterns that made up the written language. Also, since the shop in the Tokyo Settlement didn't have the tools necessary for such a project, the pendant would need to be sent to one of their shops in a different sector of Area Eleven so the engraving could be done properly. The schedule was one week to get to the other shop, one week to make sure the engravings were done properly, and one week to return the pendant back to the shop.
Since Lelouch was a suspicious person by nature, he managed to work out a very reasonable deal with the manager. He would pay one-third of the engraved pendant's complete price now, then the second week he would pay the second portion of the price, and the final payment would be once he came into the shop to obtain his engraved pendant.
The manager agreed easily since it was a very reasonable deal and Lelouch had proven that he had the necessary money to pay the full price for the heart shaped pendant after it was engraved.
After finishing his meeting with the manager, Lelouch had met up with Milly and Nunnally once again. He had found that Milly had picked out a small pair of earrings to go with her pendant and had been looking for him so they could leave after purchasing her new jewelry. He quickly did so, eager to leave the shop so he could try and speed up the ending of the shopping trip.
As the three Ashford Academy students were passing by an electronics shop that had televisions inside its windows, Lelouch, Nunnally, and Milly all heard an announcement being made by a man known as Jeremiah Gottwald. They stopped and turned their attention to the televisions in the window.
Jeremiah began his speech with a shocking statement to those who hadn't known beforehand. "Prince Clovis has been murdered!" The entire area around Lelouch had gone silent save for the sound of cars on the streets at the statement. "He fought for peace and justice against all of the Elevens," the Margrave declared, causing Lelouch to silently snort at the statement. If Clovis had truly fought for peace he wouldn't have ordered the Shinjuku Massacre. The man's speech continued as the camera moved in for a close-up. "He died a martyr!" Lelouch had to restrain his laughter as the man's speech made Clovis out to be some sort of messiah. "We must all bury our sorrow, and carry on his will." Gottwald said solemnly.
Suddenly the screen cut out with a newswoman replacing the Margrave. "We interrupt this broadcast with breaking news." She declared. "The man suspected as the murderer has been captured."
Lelouch's eyes widened as he took in the sight of his best friend on the television dressed in the same clothing they had found C.C. in, indicating his status as a prisoner. He could no longer hear the sounds of anything surrounding him; everything was blotted out with a single thought filled with relief and happiness that raced through his mind.
'Suzaku… He's alive!'
Author's Note: Whew! Finally, I got my fourth chapter of Zero's Revolution done! I hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope I made it short enough to not be overbearing and long enough to be enjoyed.
For those wondering about the jewelry shop, I made it up. I just picked the first name that came to mind and tacked on the word Jewelers at the end. The jewelry I described is something that I could definitely see Milly picking out, and the pendant definitely seems like something Lelouch would get Nunnally for her birthday.
Also, I realize that some of the times are slightly different, for example, I merged two days into one and I made Orange give Clovis' eulogy in the later afternoon/early evening, but I had wanted to take some liberties and combine the two days into one to make the story run smoother.
I hope that Milly's fans enjoyed my little teaser of a possible relationship between her and Lelouch, but I still haven't completely made up my mind when it comes to the pairings for Lelouch just yet. There are just so many options for him, and he just had to go and kill himself for world peace without picking any of them. Although, considering the fact that he could still be alive, Lelouch may have picked C.C., but the ending is just too damn ambiguous.
I'm a fan of Suzaku and Euphemia so I will definitely be incorporating that into this story since, despite their naivety, the two of them are very sweet together.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed my newest chapter.
Now, Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, REVIEW!
King Draconias Over and Out.
