"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 even if it's not much compared to the last few, I felt this was an appropriate time for a little world building.
Chapter 6: Reactions
(Kyoto Settlement, Area Eleven – Private Conference Room – 9:00 am – September 14 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Inside the private room of one of their allies, the Six Houses of Kyoto gathered to talk about the newest shift in their war to reclaim their homeland. The people gathered in this room were the one of the major reasons why resistance in Japan was as strong as it was. Each and every one of them contributed to the resistance effort using resources they had once used to manipulate the political situation in Japan before the invasion.
Japan had changed to a democratic form of government after the Emperor had been removed from power due to his disastrous leadership during the Second Japan-Qing War, which eventually grew as one of many different theatres of World War II, that occurred sixty-five years before Britannia's invasion. That war had been one of many attempts by Imperial Japan to expand its influence into the mainland of the Asian continent and it was now known as the "First Pacific Incident" after the invasion of Japan seven years ago. However, that change in government didn't stop the powerful families that controlled much of the industry in the nation from being capable of influencing the National Diet. There had been many of the members of the previous incarnations of the group who were elected to powerful Cabinet positions and even Prime Minister.
In effect, the Six Houses of Kyoto and its allies had controlled the Japanese government long before Britannia had decided to conquer it and make it one of its Areas. That control became a shadow of its former self after the invasion, but the influence of the Six Houses was still prominent in both the resistance as well as the Britannian occupation. The members of the Six Houses of Kyoto were unknown to the Britannian government, but the names were ones they knew well due to their effort to ensure a transition of power that left some parts of Japan still standing after the death of Genbu Kururugi, even if the Britannian government was unaware they were the leaders of the Six Houses.
They had been called traitors and sellouts for capitulating to Britannia, but it could easily be argued that it was their cunning deception that allowed Japanese resistance to be so strong compared to other Britannian Areas.
The five members of the Six Houses included Hidenobu Kubouin, Tousai Munakata, Tatsunori Osakabe, and, most importantly, Kaguya Sumeragi and her mentor Taizō Kirihara.
Hidenobu was a tall, thin man with dark eyes and long grey hair tied in a ponytail dressed in traditional Japanese garb.
Tousai's appearance consisted of a crisp suit along with an overcoat and a top hat hiding the fact most of his hair consisted of his full grey beard not leaving much for the top of his head. He was a rather broad man as well, being larger and taller than most Japanese men.
Tatsunori looked as though he expected enemies to jump out from behind the walls. He was dressed in a suit with a cloak-like raincoat that was equipped with a hood that could completely shadow his face if he felt it necessary. He had brown hair and rather long sideburns framing his otherwise clean shaven face.
The leader of the group, Taizō Kirihara, appeared to be and was indeed the oldest member of the group, as could be seen by his many wrinkles and lack of hair.
And finally, the youngest member by far, Kaguya Sumeragi appeared to be a young teenage girl with her long black hair set up in pigtails with a circlet further separating her hair so the remaining strands framed her face. She was dressed informally despite the importance of the meeting, wearing one of her favorite outfits that consisted of a pink blouse with white detached sleeves, revealing her shoulders, and a ruby colored miniskirt with black stockings underneath. She had removed her shoes so she could sit behind the screen as was typically customary for Kyoto meetings, but she signaled her displeasure with having to sit seiza style with a mild grumble before the meeting began. "Must we sit in these dusty old rooms all the time?" She complained. "Why can't we have our secret meetings in someplace more comfortable?" 'Like on a bunch of porcupines.' She grumbled mentally as she shifted to try and get as comfortable as possible on the hard floor.
"It's traditional you brat." One of the members, though Kaguya couldn't tell who behind the screen, muttered. "Britannia has taken damn near everything from us, the least we can do is conduct our meetings in the traditional manner." It wasn't one of the members Kaguya was familiar with, but, considering she rarely bothered to commit these figures to memory, it wasn't much of a surprise.
"I'd tread carefully if I were you Hidenobu." The one exception to that responded coolly to his colleague's insult towards his charge. "Miss Sumeragi is the heiress and current controller of the Sumeragi conglomerate." Kirihara's smirk could be heard loud and clear. "Considering you depend on her business to ship and distribute your goods throughout the nation I'd show a bit more respect." There were two people who held the most power in the Six Houses of Kyoto, and they were Kirihara and Kaguya.
Kirihara controlled the flow of Sakuradite from Mount Fuji as well as other successful corporations that helped him earn a profit all throughout the process of Sakuradite production. From the mining to the refinement process, Kirihara's influence over Sakuradite production was unmatched even by Britannian companies. He had managed to secure his position by working with Britannia when they were establishing their control over the Area, in part because of his negotiation skills as well as the fact they felt having a local producer would make it easier for them to reap the benefits.
Britannia still kept a sharp eye on the entire process to ensure that Kirihara didn't cheat them, but he still had managed to exploit their blindspots to deliver Sakuradite as a fuel source to resistance groups around the country.
Kaguya, on the other hand, controlled a vast majority of the ports of Area Eleven as well as many of the shipping lanes within the country through the business empire that had been amassed by her parents and her grandparents before them. She was the third generation of the Sumeragi conglomerate to control what went where inside the country she called home and her parents, despite their failing health, had managed to negotiate with Britannia to maintain most of their influence before they died, though they had lost a number of ports as Britannia deemed them too important to leave in the Sumeragi's hands.
Between the two of them, Kirihara and Kaguya also provided much of the financial backing for the group as well. But it was impossible for them to have a finger on every pulse around the country, so despite their influence they still had to rely on the other members of Kyoto for some assistance.
Hidenobu, who was currently gritting his teeth at Kirihara's insult, handled the acquirement of resources beyond Japan through negotiation with the Militarized Zone of India, who was their main foreign backer, as well as other nations and terrorist factions around the world.
Tousai's job was to placate Britannia and negotiate with them in order to ensure they did not lose the influence they publicly held as some of the more influential "Elevens" in the country. He acted as their face and made them aware of any soon to be public information so that they could remain one step ahead of their Britannian adversaries if necessary.
Tatsunori was their lead informant, gathering information that Britannia did not want out and making sure to alert the Six Houses so that they could plan accordingly. It was in part thanks to Tatsunori's efforts in information gathering that they had managed to move the JLF whenever the Britannian military began to close in on their current headquarters.
"Regardless, let's get to the meeting." Kirihara ignored the grumbling of Hidenobu and called the meeting to order. "We all know why we're here." He pushed a button on the remote, trying to turn on the television but it clicked without doing anything. "How do you work this infernal thing?" The old man growled, turning slightly at Kaguya's giggles. "Here, you do it then." He snorted when she grabbed the remote from behind her screen and clicked it, turning the television on and revealing the frozen visage of Zero staring directly at them.
"Right then," Kirihara continued, ignoring Kaguya as she choked down the last of her amusement, "Zero is an anomaly. He arrived out of nowhere to save Kururugi's life and he did it with, as far as we can tell, only two or three allies backing him up." He wrapped up his summation and let the other members compose their thoughts so they could speak their own opinions.
"I say we offer him our support as soon as we can make contact with him." Kaguya offered immediately. She liked what she had seen of the masked man, his charisma drew her in and his intelligence intrigued her, having never seen someone so masterfully play Britannia to rescue a prisoner so openly. Not even a prison break would have had the same effect as rescuing Suzaku on the way to his trial did.
Hidenobu snorted. "I say we do nothing, this man is clearly a madman." He glared at the masked visage on the screen. "This was nothing more than a fluke. We shouldn't back someone so unreliable."
Tousai scratched his cheek, deep in thought, before tossing in his own perspective. "I don't think this man is insane, Hidenobu." He started. "Reckless, most probably, but mad?" He chuckled. "No, I think this man has potential if he can rein himself in before he ends up biting off more than he can chew." This kind of operation required daring the likes of which he had never seen, but he couldn't discount this masked man just because his methods were unorthodox.
The Six Houses themselves were built on being unorthodox after all.
Tatsunori frowned as he delivered his opinion. "If I can be given enough time I'm sure I can discover this man's identity." His frown shifted into a smirk. "If we can discover who he is then we can decide whether he is worth helping or not."
Kirihara closed his eyes, considering the multitudes of opinions from his allies. He opened them to stare at the dark visage frozen on the screen. 'Never did I imagine the Zero Armor would resurface like this.' He thought to himself. 'I had thought the project lost forever, to resurface now. This could be our chance to return our nation to glory.' He had commissioned Project: Zero with the last leader of the Six Houses before his demise seven years ago. He had never expected it to resurface in the hands of such an interesting young man after it was lost during the invasion. The leader of the Six Houses delivered his orders. "Tatsunori, I want you to try and make contact with Zero's allies, tell them the Six Houses have an offer for him. Kaguya," he turned to his student who soaked up his teachings on politics and business like a sponge, "I want you to prepare a delivery of some Knightmare Frames to the group after we have discovered where they are based, a few weeks should be sufficient time to discover them and prepare the delivery." He stared through his screen at the two members he had addressed before turning to the third.
"Hidenobu, try to see if you can get India to speed up the prototype's schedule so we can obtain it for the JLF faster, with Clovis' death the Emperor will likely send in someone more willing to actively hunt down Japan's strongest resistance group." There were a few members of the Imperial Family Kirihara would expect, but as he couldn't know which one would be sent with certainty he wanted to ensure the JLF would be adequately trained in their newest weapon before it was too late.
While he was willing to offer support to Zero's group, he was unwilling to abandon the strongest chance they currently had of freeing Japan.
That could change, but for now he was unwilling to take a chance on an unknown factor.
(Forbidden City, Chinese Federation – Eunuchs' Conference Room – 10:00 am – September 14 – Restoration Year 100)
Deep in the palace of the Forbidden City of the Chinese Federation, the Council of Eunuchs deliberated amongst themselves. Hanging behind the lead chair of the conference table was the flag of the Chinese Federation, a remnant to remind both those in power as well as the people of the Federation of the power of both revolution against imperial might as well as restoration of imperial sovereignty.
The flag was a simply red cloth with a gold border along with a bronze eight-sided star symbol styled similarly to a pentagram inside a golden sphere surrounded by an eight-point star that was then surrounded by eight small white spheres.
It was a symbol of the short-lived Republic of China, which had succeeded in replacing the Qing Dynasty it had toppled during the civil war. Five years after the revolution, a group of soldiers from the Qing army had attempted to return Puyi, the last Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, to the throne during a period of chaos when the government was debating about whether to get involved in the Great War in Europe in search of allies.
Puyi did not last long, but during negotiations an agreement was reached with a young politician named Jiang Jieshi where the Empire would be reestablished as the Chinese Federation. Jieshi was ambitious and, knowing the three other superpowers would take advantage of any Chinese weakness on the world stage, especially once the war in Europia ended, did not necessarily want the Empire of China to fall. But he didn't want the Qing Dynasty restored either, so he… convinced Puyi by threatening to throw him to the angry populace for a citizen execution to abdicate to him and he served as the first Emperor of the Chinese Federation. The first Tianzi. Puyi lived the rest of his short life in obscurity, dying alongside all of his guards in what was determined to be a mass suicide due to the loss of his throne in the fledgling years of the Chinese Federation.
Jieshi, wary of the public's anger turning on to him after becoming Emperor, instituted a policy where the people would be allowed to elect representatives to serve as advisors to the Emperor. Thus began the system of the High Eunuchs, so named in honor of servants of Emperors past, serving as official representatives of the Chinese people for the Emperor. He also adopted the flag of the Republic to show his commitment to the people of his nation.
In theory, the Chinese Federation was still an absolute monarchy as there was no representative form of government aside from the Eunuchs as advisors and other government officials that represented and were appointed by the Emperor, but it was an absolute monarchy that existed at the pleasure of its populace who had shown no compunction against an uprising once before. It was the duty of the Emperor to balance the advice of the Eunuchs and the opinions of the people alongside the needs of the Federation as a whole. Jieshi consolidated power and led the Federation back onto the world stage as an equal to the E.U., the Soviet Union, and Britannia during the many decades of his reign before stepping down and handing power to his young son. This trend continued until the modern day.
Currently the third Tianzi was the granddaughter of Jieshi, but after the tragic assassination of both Jiang Jieshi's son and his son's wife, the Eunuchs used the youngest Tianzi as a puppet to enrich themselves at the expense of their people. The theory of the High Eunuchs representation of the people had once had merit, but now it was a mockery of what it once was. Even now, the High Eunuchs were trying to determine how they could use the new figure that had revealed itself in Japan to their advantage and amass more power for themselves at the expense of their people.
"Zero could prove a useful pawn if he succeeds." One Eunuch argued with a sniff of disdain. "However he only succeeded in one operation, I say we need to wait before committing resources to yet another resistance group in Area Eleven, we've thrown enough of our money behind the JLF they'll owe us until the end of time and they still have yet to succeed in a major military venture in the past few years." This Eunuch was named Huang Qian and he was by far the oldest of the High Eunuchs, having been the son of the first Eunuch and served the second Tianzi and continued to serve even after the mysterious assassination of each member of the Jiang family save for the current Empress. He was the most frugal of the group, despite his opulent lifestyle. He didn't like to waste money on failed ventures like backing the wrong resistance group, as the High Eunuchs had done often in the past.
"No, no, no!" Another Eunuch disagreed with a shrill tone named Cheng Zhong. "I say we help Britannia root out this fool!" He drooled slightly as he completed his argument. "We'd be richly rewarded if we helped them discover the masked fool who humiliated them so openly before the public." He was one of the greedier members, though that wasn't saying much considering this group was filled with individuals willing to kill to obtain more wealth and power.
"But if we offer our assistance to this Zero right now, he'll be indebted to us." Another Eunuch pointed out the benefit of backing Zero this early. "Should he succeed then he'll owe us a debt we can call in whenever we need." This Eunuch was the youngest member, having only been appointed just before the current Empress' birth. His name was Gao Hai and he was one of the more ambitious members of the group.
"I say we wait before committing any resources." Xiang Sheng, the second youngest member interjected. "Should Zero prove himself capable we offer some of our resources, but withhold our full support so we can prevent wasteful spending. That way he still owes us a debt, but we don't waste our own power." Despite being young this Eunuch had a cautious mindset, thinking a wait and see approach would be most appropriate in this situation.
"Why do we even need to bother helping this Zero?" Cai Lishi complained. "We're talking about whether we support either Zero or Britannia, but why do we have to support either? We owe neither of them a single thing!" He didn't like wasting his time or his resources on politicking like this. He'd much rather use his wealth and power to enjoy himself without regard for others.
Tong Lun sighed in irritation at the debate going on around him. "I say we wait and see if Zero will be caught by Britannia before doing anything either to support him or help root him out." He was in favor of doing nothing, but he'd be damned before agreeing with Lishi's whining.
"Hm, what do you think Xia?" Zhao Hao questioned who he considered the most intelligent of the High Eunuchs. Zhao Hao was not necessarily unintelligent, but he certainly preferred to spend his time eating and enjoying his wealth rather than strategizing like this.
Xia Wang pushed up his glasses and considered each of the options the Eunuchs had put forward. "Well, first we must wait for a new Viceroy to be appointed before making any moves." He decided. "But, should the Viceroy prove incapable of discovering Zero's identity and taking him out themselves then we'll graciously offer our assistance in the matter. While also providing this Zero with resources should he prove adaptable enough to defeat Britannia and conquer Japan himself." He smirked at each of his colleagues. "In other words, we act cautiously, but play both sides so that both of them owe us should they succeed in their goals. That is the best possible outcome for the High Eunuchs," he finished with a chuckle. "And the Chinese Federation, of course." He added as an afterthought.
His allies echoed his ironic afterthought, as though what was best for them wasn't somehow the best outcome for the Federation.
(Forbidden City, Chinese Federation – Private Chambers of Empress Tianzi – 10:00 am – September 14 – Restoration Year 100)
Within the private chambers of the Empress, a girl with too great a burden to bear alone spoke with her confidant. The young Tianzi, whose name was Jiang Lihua, had her knees pulled up to her small chest and was dressed in her silk nightgown, talking with the closest thing she had to a friend in the Forbidden Palace. "Do you think Zero will win Xingke?" She asked softly, feeling tired after having spent a lot of the previous night watching Zero's speech and his miraculous escape with the prisoner quite a bit. She had been held in a state of awe for hours at the realization that there was someone so capable of going against what seemed to be the unstoppable force of Britannia and actually succeeding.
Xingke stood like a silent sentinel against his Empress' locked door, ensuring any who attempted to enter the windowless room would have to go through him to get to his charge. His eyes were soft as he stared at the young Empress however, knowing that, while it would be good for her to have hope that this Zero could succeed and eventually maybe even help her retake her own country from the High Eunuchs, it would not be good for her to have hope only for it to be destroyed should Britannia kill Zero for his impudence. "I don't think so Your Majesty." He replied reluctantly. "This was only one operation, but Britannia is powerful. I don't think he will last very long against its might." He shifted slightly, keeping the blood flowing through his body to avoid having his legs fall asleep on him. "I don't know the future, but I doubt Zero can stand alone against Britannia."
He didn't sugarcoat anything for the young Empress when they were alone like this. He still remembered a young boy telling him that, if he wanted her to be strong to tell her the truth about the world so she could prepare to face it head on when she became Empress. He doubted either of them had imagined her ascension to the throne taking place in light of her father and mother's assassinations, forcing her to become Empress at the tender age of seven.
He didn't tell her the way of the world right away, instead Xingke took the approach of teaching the young Empress to use her mind and discern the facts from the information in front of her. As she got older, he began to explain more and more of the world around her so that, while she would no longer have the childish ignorance he felt she deserved to have, she would be prepared to handle as much as he could prepare her for.
At the age of fifteen, the Empress was far more knowledgeable about the state of the Chinese Federation in world affairs than the High Eunuchs knew or were willing to permit. And, should they have discovered just how much Xingke had taught her, they would likely kill him for ruining their "Puppet Empress" and then have her die in a mysterious "accident" and replace the Empress with someone more pliable.
The teenage Empress frowned at his analysis. "Yeah, you're probably right." Depression coloring her tone. "Still, I hope he succeeds." Lihua whispered to herself. He would be like a real-life hero then, and the world could use more people like that. The downside of being aware of everything going on in the world was that she was very aware of the High Eunuchs manipulations going on around her. No matter how hopeful young Jiang Lihua felt, she was tempered by a sense of pessimism about the world.
How could Zero free Japan when she couldn't even help her own people as Empress?
(Paris, Europia United – Central Hemicycle Private Conference Chambers – 9:00 am – 28 Fructidor – Revolution Year 227)
The history of Europia was a bloody one, appropriate for a continent that had been swept up in revolution in centuries past.
The current stability in Europia was… shaky at best. They were only a little over a half century removed from the second World War to erupt on the continent in just over a century. That war had been one that almost ripped Europia in half, after the contested election between leading representative of the British Isles Winston Churchill and leading representative of Germany Adolf Hitler for position of Chancellor of the Central Hemicycle, also called the Council of Forty in honor of the first forty members who had founded the superpower of Europia after the end of the monarchies on the continent, which would allow them to dictate the future of the superpower.
When the results were unable to be verified due to complications arising over the close election, Churchill had called for a new election, but his opponent decided to seize power by force. Hitler walked in to the chamber and declared himself the one true leader of Europia, declaring his intent to cleanse the nation of those he believed were corrupting its values and had led to its humiliating fractured defeat at the end of the Great War, as the first World War had been known then, where certain factions within the Hemicycle had sacrificed the resources of certain member nations, Germany among them, to spare themselves of having to pay reparations after the war.
The Treaty of Versailles had angered many, and Hitler had apparently obtained a sizeable support base within the Hemicycle as a bare majority of the members voted to void Churchill's call for a new election and elect Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Europia United, something that many, many of them had come to regret in the years afterwards.
Churchill, escaping an attempt on his life by an agent of the new Chancellor, fled east with a number of his supporters to the Soviet Union. While he was there, he negotiated an agreement with the leader, Josef Stalin, and further negotiated with the Chinese Federation leader Jiang Jieshi and the father of Charles zi Britannia along with the father of Genbu Kururugi. He urged them to support his claim to the office of Chancellor and used evidence from Hitler's plans he had stolen from the man himself to prove that a madman was in control of Europia.
What followed was years of bloody conflict that engulfed all four superpowers of the time, Kururugi maintained Japanese neutrality except for Japanese attempts to expand to the Asian mainland but offered resources and funding to combat the Chancellor once it became clear what kind of leader he was. A few other nations, including some Scandinavian nations and Australia maintained a stance of neutrality, but offered strong condemnations of Hitler's actions within their own governments as symbolic support for the war effort.
The war resulted in by far the highest death toll the world had ever seen once it became known how Hitler had planned to cleanse Europia of undesirables.
Millions of civilians had been slaughtered and it was only after five years of conflict, and millions more of military casualties, including the death toll from all sides, that World War II finally ended with Adolf Hitler being hung from the rafters of the Central Hemicycle after resistance forces in Europia finally succeeded after the world's largest water landing had distracted the Chancellor and other invasions around the continent forcing him to spread his military forces far too thin to combat the resistance forces in the capital.
Churchill had never abandoned his contacts and had warned the leaders of the resistance in Paris ahead of time about the invasions, declaring that the invasions were to be a signal for them to invade the capital and remove the Chancellor from power by any means necessary.
When Hitler died, it was like a spell had been broken. His former supporters begged for forgiveness, discovering the people held same amount of mercy for them that Hitler had given what he called the undesirables.
A radical shift in the power of Europia followed, with the Soviet Union attempting to join after dealing with severe economic repercussions due to the war before Britannia made its move and went to war against the Soviet Union. Jiang Jieshi was not a fan of the Union's politics, so he did his best to stay out of the war while he dealt with the aftermath of Japan's failed expansion, and Europia was dealing with a reconstruction of its government and so was unable to offer their one time ally their assistance. The Britannian military conquered the Soviet Union within ten years, though it was by far the most grueling military campaign, especially as World War II had drained Britannia heavily, but they established a semi-autonomous state declared Euro-Britannia to serve under the Emperor's authority.
Europia and the Chinese Federation were not happy to have Britannia's puppet state sitting on their doorstep, but as they were exhausted from the war, and Britannia was dealing with its own troubles with the advent of the Emblem of Blood Incident, they managed to strike a truce.
A tenuous truce, but still a truce that still lasted to this day, though it didn't stop either side from preparing for war. Or conducting shadow operations to get the upper hand. There were numerous skirmishes ever since Charles ascended to his current position and both the Britannian Empire and Europia were fighting proxy wars in Africa to the modern day.
And with the newest development in Britannia's Area Eleven, the politicians of Europia wasted little time in trying to figure out how to spin the current situation. The Central Hemicycle's political factions each gathered within their private conference rooms to debate on how to move forward. By far the most interesting discussion, however, was taking place in the office of the man named Gene Smilas.
"What do you think of Zero, Leila?" The leader of Europia's military forces asked his favorite subordinate. The older man scratched his full beard as he looked at a young blonde woman as she sat before him comfortably. Normally, the E.U. was made up of individual state armies, but after the Soviet Union fell and was replaced by Euro-Britannia, the Central Hemicycle passed the Military Cooperation Act, which, when Europia was in a designated crisis, merged the state militaries into a single force under a ranking officer that existed outside typical military structure. Smilas' uniform consisted of a deep navy blue overcoat with the crimson red inside revealed by two flaps peeled out, revealing the suit he wore underneath. His overcoat was decorated with military honors, honors he had earned with blood during his years of service for Europia's sake, revealing him to have the rank of Commander-General, the title of the one who was in control of the combined military force of Europia.
Leila's uniform appeared similar to his, consisting of the same colorings in part because, like him, she existed outside the traditional military structure and was therefore his direct subordinate. She had her hair styled up in two buns, but allowed the rest to cascade down her back. Her eyes were closed in contemplation before opening them, revealing their light violet coloring.
"I think, if he manages to succeed in freeing Japan, he could be a valuable ally in the fight against Britannia." The seventeen-year-old stated confidently. Leila Malcal was the leader of a… unique force within the E.U. military, and as such her opinion on the current situation going on in her subordinates' homeland meant something to Smilas. "My Lieutenant feels the same way, though he doesn't think Zero will last long enough to prove useful." Leila admitted with a slight twitch of annoyance. That was the polite way of repeating what Akito had said.
When she had asked for his opinion, he had laughed and called Zero quite a number of names ranging from masked lunatic to masochistic daredevil and quite a few more that she didn't feel comfortable saying. Though he did admit, should Zero succeed he might prove useful.
As a distraction in case they ever needed to infiltrate because he was draw the attention of every single security officer and camera with his rather… flamboyant persona.
"I agree." Smilas sighed as he frowned. "Zero, as he is right now, has only succeeded in a single rescue operation." He leaned forward and clasped his hands before resting his chin on his fingers. "While he could prove himself in the future, backing him right now would be foolish." He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead in annoyance.
"And of course, that's why some of our parties will choose to pay lip service to supporting Zero's resistance to Britannia." He muttered with irritation.
Some of the political parties in the Hemicycle would see the short-term benefit of backing such a public resistance figure and would gladly shout their support from the rooftops, while the opposing parties would likely condemn Zero and try to rile up their own base of support.
Either way, the level-headed leader of the military realized, the political animals would jump on this red meat made available to boost their poll numbers.
Politics made him sick to his stomach sometimes.
(St. Petersburg, Euro-Britannia – Grand Duke's Palace – 11:00 am – September 14 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Inside the palace of the Grand Duke, the Knight Orders of Euro-Britannia gathered under their leader's roof to consider the newest development in Area Eleven. Sitting around a table with a decadent lunch decorating the table, the Grand Masters of the Knight Orders, their Lieutenants, and the Grand Duke deliberated over how much support they should give to the Homeland regarding the situation in Area Eleven.
"I say we send a small force, not much but just enough to show that we haven't forgotten that we are a part of Britannia." One of the Grand Masters declared after swallowing some steak. He gulped down some wine to wash down the meat and finished with, "We don't want the Emperor to send someone here to check up on us, we should show we still know who rules this land by giving token support to finding and eliminating this Zero character." The Commander of the Order of St. Uriel, Raymond du Saint-Gilles, stated his support for backing the Homeland in their search for the terrorist.
"Why even do that much?" Another one suggested, swirling his own wine around in his cup, his cheeks already a little flushed due to the alcohol. "Just pay some lip service, it's not like he's cared what we do here for years." He hiccupped. "He's too busy dealing with the war against Europia in Africa." The head of the Order of St. Gabriel, Gaudefroy du Villon, drunkenly ranted. He preferred having as little interference from the Homeland as possible, it made it so much easier to run Euro-Britannia when they didn't have to ask permission from the Imperial Family to act.
"I say we do nothing, why draw attention to ourselves?" spoke the third Grand Master as he sipped from his water, having had enough wine. Unlike his colleague, he knew when to cut himself off. "Unless they ask for our support I don't think we should draw attention to ourselves here. We've been running this nation just fine without the Emperor's interference." The leader of the Order of St. Raphael, Andrea Farnese, declared. He didn't see the point in drawing attention to their side of the world when the Homeland would be so distracted, not only by what was going on in Africa, but in Area Eleven as well.
Michele Manfredi, leader of the Order of St. Michael, hummed in thought, ignoring the various statements of his contemporaries. "I'm leaning more towards offering help, but only once we know who takes power in Clovis' place. What do you think Shin?" He turned to his second in command.
"I agree, Lord Manfredi." The young man said softly, in contrast to the sharpness of his eyes as he watched the heads of the Knight Orders act so carelessly. "Doing enough to appease any sentiment that we may need to be reminded of the Emperor's power without committing too much is a good idea." He sneered at the other leaders in silence when Manfredi turned his back to enjoy his meal once more.
The Grand Duke, Augusta Henry Velaines, agreed with the Lord of St. Michael. "Manfredi is right, the Homeland does not need our resources and it is much easier to manage Euro-Britannia without the Imperial Family getting involved." He continued his meal with his friends, knowing his orders would be carried out without issue. "Draft a statement and prepare a selection of troops who could be sent on short notice to Area Eleven if necessary." He ordered his retainer who had remained behind him throughout the meal.
It was always good to get business out of the way quickly, now he could enjoy his meal with his friends. He raised his wine glass in a toast. "All Hail Britannia!"
Each of the leaders of the Knight Orders followed suit, raising their glasses. "All Hail Britannia!"
Shin Hyuga watched in disgust as they finished their toast before returning to their meal. He couldn't wait to get rid of them. But he had to wait. The time wasn't right yet. The situation in Area Eleven may prove useful, but he needed to wait a little longer before implementing his own plans.
Chaos in Britannia would only benefit Shin and he was curious at just how much chaos Zero could cause.
(Pendragon, Britannia – Thought Elevator – 7:00 pm – September 13 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Emperor Charles stood alone in the World of C, staring up at the face of God.
"Welcome back from the front, Marianne." Charles said warmly as he saw young Anya enter the world of the Gods. His smile grew when he saw the spirit of his dead wife arise from the girl's body in motes of red light, revealing her beautiful form for him and him alone. He swept her up in his arms and twirled slightly in a waltz with her, happy to see her again. "I missed you my love." He kissed her softly. He would be sending Cornelia and Euphemia to Area Eleven to replace Clovis soon. But until then he would enjoy the time he could spend with his wife.
"I missed you too Charles." Marianne said gleefully before stepping back and walking towards the edge of the platform. "What do you think of Zero in Area Eleven?" She asked her husband, curious if he felt the same thing she did. A sense of familiarity surrounding that figure.
Charles chuckled, causing Marianne to tilt her head in confusion. "What's so funny dear?" Charles didn't usually find a terrorist's actions so amusing. He must have known something she didn't she quickly concluded. She grabbed him by his collar and pulled, forcing him to look down at her. "Okay, spill. I wanna know." She whined cutely with a pout.
Her husband could never resist her when she wanted something. She was always his favorite.
"I just got through speaking with Clovis." He said, suppressing his irritation at his son's death. Clovis just couldn't keep his head down well enough it seemed. "He told me his killer was Lelouch." Charles ignored Marianne's gasp of elation. "I have no doubt that C.C. granted him a Geass, I felt the connection form the other day when the Shinjuku incident occurred, but I hadn't known it was Lelouch until Clovis told me that Lelouch killed him."
Charles looked triumphantly at his wife. "I have no doubt, our son is Zero." Charles always knew that their son would do great things, but after he decided to support his sister over his position as a Prince, Charles had felt he was too weak to survive another attempt on his life by V.V. His exile had been an attempt at mercy, to protect the boy from V.V.'s manipulation, but when negotiations broke down he decided that Britannia was more important than his son and daughter who he had used as bargaining chips.
Besides, after Ragnarök they would be together again.
Marianne let out a cheer. "Ha!" she pointed at him with a grin. "I told you our son wouldn't be so weak that he wouldn't be able to survive your stupid invasion!" She giggled, excited that she finally had proof after seven years that her child was alive. "I bet he was strong enough to protect Nunnally too! Despite what you did to her." Her mood dropped slightly as she recalled watching Nunnally suffer through the Geass of Absolute Memory through Anya's eyes after she had been shot by V.V.
Charles had to make absolutely sure that Nunnally and Lelouch wouldn't remember that night, but to justify why Nunnally had been unable to see the shooter, he had to make it so she lost her sight and mobility. The only way she could survive would be if Marianne had blocked her daughter with her own body. After Lelouch refused to give up, Charles had no choice but to exile them so that they would be out of V.V.'s reach.
Marianne had hidden Anya back at the young girl's home until she could muster up enough energy to speak with Charles, it had been her influence that had led the girl to Lelouch but she hadn't been able to influence what Anya said. Which was unfortunate because Marianne was sure that she'd be far more persuasive than little Anya. Regardless, by the time she had mustered up enough energy to take over Anya for the first time, Lelouch and Nunnally were already exiled.
She spoke with him after his last meeting and she had been torn between feeling pride in her son for his conviction and wanting to punish him for speaking to his father the way he had.
Marianne settled for telling Charles all about V.V.'s attempt on her life, leaving him to confront the little blond imp and made her way back to Anya's, now her own, home.
From then on, she used what little energy she could gather up to influence Anya from time to time. Driving her towards the military, where the bleeding effect from her soul would impart at least some of her skills upon the young girl. She couldn't take over Anya often, at first, but later on it became easier, if still draining. With her help, Anya had successfully become the youngest Knight of the Round in Britannian history. She had made Charles promise that he wouldn't promote the girl just because Marianne was inside her soul, Marianne wanted to make sure Anya could survive as a Knight of the Round without Marianne's influence because she knew she wouldn't be able to stay in control all of the time and Anya would need to develop her own skills to survive.
With Marianne's skills bleeding through the girl's subconscious mixed with her own surprising amount of natural talent, Marianne quickly help Anya become an amazing Knightmare pilot. She had no doubt that, even without her influence, the girl would have become a Knight of the Round. Maybe not as quickly, but Marianne didn't doubt the young girl's perseverance.
Despite the side-effect of severe random memory loss due to housing Marianne for such a long time, Anya still functioned amazingly well by Marianne's standards. And that was saying something.
A groaning sound distracted the husband and wife who were enjoying the view in the World of C, causing Marianne to repossess the young Anya before she could fully wake up. Marianne spoke through Anya one final time. "It looks like I'll have to leave for now dear." She said, not liking Anya's near emotionless tone of voice. "I'll try to get in touch with C.C. when I have more energy, until then I better get this body home." As she turned to leave, she finished up her conversation. "Poor Anya is exhausted and so am I, goodbye dear." Her body glowed before returning to the human world, leaving Charles alone once more.
Charles returned his attention to the God above, represented by the enormous Jupiter-like planet hovering above the world. He always enjoyed speaking with his wife's spirit, it reminded him of better times, but now the only way they would be together indefinitely would be to initiate Ragnarök. When Humanity became one, peace would finally be achieved.
With the death of the Gods, a world without lies would be born.
I know this chapter was mostly world building, but I hope it was fun to read regardless.
All of these conversations take place on the same day, around either the same time or a reasonable local time, but in different time zones (hence why it's September 14 in Area Eleven, but September 13 in mainland Britannia). The calendars are all either real (the French Revolutionary calendar has different months hence the replacement of September 14 with 28 Fructidor), use the Britannian calendar as they are a Britannian Area or part of Britannia itself, or a creation of my own design such as the Chinese Federation's.
I decided to create the "Restoration" calendar for the Chinese Federation in part to explain why it existed and why the Tianzi was named Jiang Lihua. Jiang Jieshi would be better known as Chiang Kai-shek and I figured he would be a good reason why the Chinese Federation seemed to be a blend of the Chinese Empire with the Republic of China considering he ruled the Republic for a good portion of his life. It was a compromise to protect China's place in world affairs when there were global competitors in both Europe and the America's, with Japan's influence over the world increasing with its monopoly on the majority of the Sakuradite supply and the Soviet Union forming to the north. Jieshi was ambitious and wanted to ensure that there would not be chaos in China that could be taken advantage of by the other superpowers. And he may or may not have had a little… supernatural help. I'll leave it ambiguous as to whether he had Geass or not for my own amusement.
The restoration I spoke of, where a group of soldiers tried to return Emperor Puyi to power, took place in our world in 1917. Obviously, it hadn't succeeded in our world and had a completely different result, but I felt it was a good starting point for this story since China has a history of changing dynasties and the Chinese Federation could serve in the same capacity as a new dynasty in China's history.
I also decided to stick with the Revolutionary Year calendar that began in 1790 for the E.U. like it is in canon because I felt it made the most sense to stick with it as it was established in Akito the Exiled.
Enjoy your present. Merry Christmas everyone.
King Draconias Over and Out.
