"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.
Hope you enjoy the new chapter.
Chapter 8: The Witch of Britannia
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Viceroy Office – 10:00 am – September 20 – 2017 a.t.b.)
"So, the two of you are the ones in charge of the Special Honorary Foreign Legion and the Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps., the only two Special Divisions in the Area?" Cornelia asked hiding her incredulity at the pair in front of her that seemed so different.
Earl Asplund looked as he always did, slouching in a simple turtleneck under his lab coat and jeans with simple shoes, hands shoved into his pockets looking around the office with a small smile that rubbed her the wrong way. Colonel Madd in contrast was standing in perfect military posture wearing his regulation uniform, proudly displaying the badges he had earned throughout his service to Britannia and the patch that signified his rank.
"Correct, Your Highness." Lloyd answered as he examined a view out of the window. "Though, please, call us Camelot." He looked at her with his grin widening, it almost seemed like he was baring his teeth. "It's what your brother, the Prime Minister, calls us after all. ASEEC is such a mouthful, never mind the full name." He threw his hands up carelessly. "Camelot rolls off the tongue so much better." He returned them to his pockets and resumed staring out of the window.
"Yes, Your Highness." The Colonel answered after Lloyd finished, remaining in position until she allowed him to be at ease. "Though we are normally called the Irregulars due to our… unusual composition of members." He ignored Lloyd's snort of amusement at the description of his soldiers. "For the sake of conciseness, I ask you please refer to us as the Irregular Unit or simply the Irregulars." He requested with a small bow.
Cornelia observed the two in front of her more carefully after each of their responses. The way they replied reflected was even reflected in how they stood before a Princess of the Empire.
Lloyd, knowing he had a powerful backer in the Prime Minister, was more informal. Even with Schneizel's influence he couldn't normally act that way, but as an Earl he had a little extra leeway when it came to acting informally if he so chose. Unless she wanted to take it up with her brother or the Emperor he likely would continue to act this way, though as long as she could count on his loyalty then she could handle a few quirks. The man, from what she understood, was easily one of the major reasons why Britannian technology had advanced as far as it had.
Colonel Madd on the other hand reflected his military training well. He had lost his backer after Clovis' death and was positioning himself into her good graces, barring a minor request in how she addressed his unit, by giving crisp answers that followed protocol. He even hinted that he had something to offer, something unique, within his unit as he looked for a new sponsor. She guessed he was hoping she would take the role Clovis once held as he was the one who established the Foreign Legion in the first place. After the murder of her brother, she'd be willing to bet that he was almost as eager to capture Zero as she was.
"Very well," Cornelia accepted their responses easily enough. "Here's how this is going to work." She looked at them both sharply. "The two units you are both in charge of are now under my control. Barring any orders from the Emperor or the Prime Minister," she glanced at Lloyd, "my orders will be carried out without question and to the best of your abilities." Her orders were clear, she wanted no part of any rivalry the two may have had with one another. "Am I understood?!" Once again, the pair responded in ways that she felt was going to become a new norm for her.
"Yup." Lloyd said simply as he closed his eyes with a grin.
On the other hand, the Colonel, "Yes Princess Cornelia!" responded with the fervor of a zealot.
She ignored the twitch developing over her eye as she moved on to the next order of business, making a mental note to try and avoid having the pair in a meeting together in the future. "I want to meet with your units so that I can examine them myself." She ordered, missing the slightly nervous look on Colonel Madd's face and the sheepish look on Lloyd's. "I want them brought before me ASAP." She looked up, noticing the pair's expressions. "What is it?" She growled.
"Ah, well." Lloyd stammered slightly, his grin faltering for a moment. "That might be a problem since your sister," seeing Cornelia's glare he corrected himself, "I mean, Sub-Viceroy Princess Euphemia, enrolled our only Devicer in a school and he won't be getting out until the afternoon."
The Colonel beside him gulped and answered with his own problems. "And I currently have one of my agents stationed in a school here to keep an eye on an exiled noble family, the rest I can gather up soon but it could take a few hours since today was their day off. I can get my undercover agent as well, but I'll need to be discrete about it." He wasn't a fan of mandatory days off, especially for his unit, but he was a stickler for protocol. Even if he didn't think they needed it with their gifts.
There was also the fact that they only barely met the cutoff for legal enrollment into the military now, considering the youngest was only fifteen he had a feeling he was going to have issues explaining how they had existed as a unit for a few years now. He supposed he could pin the blame on Clovis, the Prince's reputation had suffered greatly after his demise as a result of the Orange debacle and the Shinjuku Massacre, as the media was calling it, had been made public thanks to Zero. Even if no one had any idea what the fuck Orange was, Jeremiah had clearly known something after allowing them to escape without pursuing the masked man in the slightest.
The only secret project Madd knew of that could seriously damage the Prince's reputation had been Code R and if that had gotten out everyone involved would know by now. Considering his unit had been enhanced by that project, Madd would have found himself locked up right now if that information had gotten out. Human experimentation using the cells of an immortal witch was not a warm fuzzy story the media would find amusing like some were speculating Orange to be.
Seriously, Madd would never understand how one of the ideas people had come up with was that Clovis had a thing for strippers coated in orange body paint.
Cornelia leaned back in her chair and sighed through her nose, unable to prevent her left eye from twitching in irritation. "Fine, I can meet with them later this afternoon." She relented. She'd be having a talk with Euphie about using her influence as Sub-Viceroy and Princess to enroll someone into a school. It was just her luck that her sister seemed to have found a pet project in the form of Camelot's Devicer. "Let me know when you have them all gathered together and prepared to meet with me." She ordered. "You are dismissed, I have to read these reports sent by the Generals."
Lloyd cringed in sympathy and told her "Good luck Princess Cornelia." With a cheery wave as he left. "I'll get him out as soon as I can."
Colonel Madd remained however, as he had something important to tell the Princess. She noticed his presence and directed her attention to the Colonel. "What is it?" She asked irritably. "Make it quick, I have a lot of work to." She had gotten finished with her meetings with the Generals who weren't cowards and were willing to meet with her in person the other day, but now she had to go through the written reports of those who were either too busy or too nervous about angering her had written up.
Then she had a meeting with her Knights of Honor as well as a press conference. And then after that she had a meeting with the Purist Faction, or at least its remnants. She had deliberately scheduled her meeting with them last for their failure to stop Clovis' killer from going free as well as their failure to complete a real investigation.
By now any evidence had long since been lost thanks to their screw up and, unless she could capture Zero, her brother's killer would remain out of her reach.
She had only been Viceroy for a few days and was already missing the scent of sweat and blood as well as the simplicity of the battlefield. Paperwork and meetings with high level officials in the Area was just so damn boring. She greatly preferred the rush of combat to this dull drudgery.
It had been why she put this off the day before to hunt down a terrorist group claiming to have Zero among their ranks. It was a hoax, but at least she managed to eliminate one more terrorist group and begin her quest to establish Area Eleven as a stable territory of the Empire.
"There is something you need to know about the Irregulars," Colonel Madd began carefully. "Something that must remain between us." He stressed, even if Clovis had fallen in reputation he was not eager to pile on and potentially end up in prison as an accessory. "Can you do that for me, Your Highness?" He requested with a deep bow at the waist, arms kept straight at his sides.
He remained until he heard her voice. "At ease, Colonel." The man returned to his upright position and relaxed slightly. "Tell me what you need to and I will keep it between us for now." She agreed. "I need to get this done so hurry up." The Princess ordered impatiently.
"The Irregular Unit's… unique characteristic is that each of our members, aside from myself, has a special power." He began, treading carefully, noting the skeptical eyebrow raised by the Viceroy. "I'm not joking, it's why Prince Clovis, may his soul rest in peace, commissioned this unit, so that we might unite these individuals into one group." He swallowed nervously, treading dangerously close to lying to the Princess with that statement. "These powers are augmented by a set of Seventh Generation Knightmare Frames that we have commissioned, we have a small set of four Frames that are specially customized for each of the members. Despite Earl Asplund beating us in successful deployment of the first Seventh Generation Frame, we do have our own units." He was still sore about Lloyd getting the credit for the first successful deployment, but he knew his unit was better than the hunk of scrap metal he called Lancelot.
The Lancelot wasn't enhanced with the power of Geass after all.
"What I am asking is that you allow us to prove ourselves on the battlefield and to keep this characteristic secret." He bowed again, resisting the urge to wipe the sweat from his brow. "Prince Clovis and now you are the only ones who have been made aware of this fact outside of our unit. Please use your discretion in this matter." He froze as he waited for Princess Cornelia's reply.
"Very well," Cornelia agreed. She was skeptical, but willing to believe the Colonel for now. He didn't seem like someone who would mislead her in this matter. He was too strict on himself, she could tell. Despite her skepticism on the claims of special powers, she would do as he asked. "I will keep this under wraps, though I will ask for a demonstration in the future." She turned her attention to the pile of paperwork before her. "Now, go. You're dismissed." She waved off his response with a dismissive shake of her hand.
'She's terrifying.' Colonel Madd thought to himself as he left the Viceroy's office. Meeting with her, it felt just like meeting with Schneizel. The only members of the Imperial Family the Colonel had met were Clovis, Schneizel, and now Cornelia and there was only one thing they had in common. The power and influence they wielded felt overwhelming to a mere Colonel like him.
Whenever he was before them he felt like a wolf was staring him down, wondering if he would make a good meal.
He wondered if all members of the Imperial Family were like that.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy – 11:12 am – September 20 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Nunnally meowed cutely as she pawed at Lelouch, who Milly had tied to a post she brought into the clubroom to prevent him from escaping. It was originally meant for Arthur, but it was useful for keeping her unruly Vice President captured as well.
"C'mon Onii-sama." She whispered quietly since everyone else was busy talking behind her. "Have a little fun." She pouted, readjusting the cat ears on her head despite having a little trouble since her hands were covered with mittens in the shape of kitten paws. "For me?" She pleaded, pretending to sniffle before she heard Lelouch's groan of surrender. Her grin lit up the room.
Lelouch ignored the violent twitch over his left eye. "Oh fine, for you Nunna." He whispered softly as he surrendered and stopped trying to shake off the cat ears from his head. He had thought he drew the line at whiskers drawn on his face, but Nunnally decided to play jump rope with his line in the sand apparently. He stared over at the group in the clubroom, marveling at how a single twisted event could bring people together.
He looked at the cat Milly was playing with before it bit Suzaku on the hand as Rivalz and Alice laughed while the Japanese boy flailed in pain dramatically. Shirley picked up the little beast and began to pet it while Nina stayed a safe distance from Suzaku, still nervous about him despite saving Lelouch's life the previous day. Kallen stayed out of the mess as best she could, sitting next to Nina looking downright miserable in her red kitten costume.
The cause of his current predicament was the little furball Lelouch wanted to skin alive for the trouble it had put him through the previous day. He had been wiping down his Zero helmet, making sure that its appearance was immaculate when he set it down for a moment to help Nunnally with something. When he came back he saw the cat wearing his helmet.
He tried to chase down the little furry bastard, but it was too quick and it ran off. He accidentally drew Nunnally's attention and told her the cat stole something important, because he couldn't tell her it was nothing as that would be a lie and he couldn't tell her what it stole from him, but she inadvertently made things worse when she enlisted Milly's help to chase down the damn cat.
Milly, being Milly, involved the whole fucking school in the chase for Arthur, as Suzaku and Nunnally had chosen to name the furry fucker. Incidentally, Lelouch's suggestion of Roadkill had been voted down unanimously by the Student Council after it was adopted as the school mascot.
He had eventually cornered the bastard on the roof, but Suzaku, being Suzaku, wanted to make sure the cat didn't get hurt when Lelouch got his hands on it. And Lelouch, as he was climbing the roof, desperate to get to the cat before Suzaku so he could hide his helmet, had started to slip. He slipped off the roof and nearly fell, perhaps to his death but definitely headed for broken legs, before Suzaku had caught his arm.
The helmet had fallen off the other end of the roof into the bushes, and Lelouch had snuck over to stuff the helmet into his backpack when no one was looking. He counted himself lucky he'd only needed to use his Geass on a few students to make them forget and none of them had been any he'd used his power on before.
Nunnally had given both him and Suzaku a kiss on the cheek as that had been the reward Milly offered to find the stupid cat.
A kiss from any member of the Student Council. That was how she motivated the whole damn school to find one little furball and Lelouch was amazed at how many people were willing to waste their time doing Milly's bidding for a kiss. It was almost a Geass all its own.
Alice, poor thing, had been very confused when she came back after being sick for the past few days to find the whole school celebrating a single cat of all things with a festival the day after the incident. She seemed to get along with Suzaku well enough though, and Lelouch was glad for that. He was worried his friend would have a hard time at Ashford, but with nearly every member of the Student Council vouching for him he wouldn't have anything to worry about, though Nina would need some work since she was still afraid of him.
As it was now, he was trapped in a ridiculous looking cat costume to celebrate Arthur being accepted as the school mascot.
Milly sauntered over, having picked out one of the sexier versions of the costumes for herself, Kallen, and Shirley, and looked over her captive. "You done trying to run Lulu?" She asked sweetly, raising her paw and meowing slightly as she finished her sentence. At his nod, she smiled brightly, "Great, Alice please let our esteemed Vice President go free so he might partake in this wonderful festival!" She ordered gleefully, returning to a closet to pull out something for her second junior minion. Member! She meant member! Milly giggled mischievously as she found what she was looking for.
Lelouch rolled his arms slightly, trying to get the blood flowing once again and saw what Milly had selected from the closet. He grinned, realizing who it was meant for. "Suzaku help!" He shouted as he grabbed Alice's shoulders when she turned around. Suzaku, not knowing what was going on until he saw the costume in Milly's hands, moved a little slower than he normally would've reacted.
"What are you doing?!" Alice shouted in surprise and nervousness, wondering if she had been found out and realized after turning around it was so much worse than that. "No, no way am I wearing that!" She tried to escape, but by the time her attempt began Suzaku already had a hand in helping Lelouch hold her down. "Get that thing away from me!" She squealed as Milly cackled like a witch.
A little while later, Alice sat next to Nunnally's chair, twitching violently as she examined the costume she had been forced into. It was a bright neon pink, the same shade as Ashford's middle school uniform, specifically its blouse, and it didn't expose anything indecent on the fifteen-year-old. But still, it was the principle of the thing. "I look like I took a cotton candy bath or something!" She whined, to the amusement of the rest of the Student Council. "C'mon, do I really need to wear this stupid thing?" She pouted as she looked at Milly. "Haven't I been a good minion for you Madame President?" She begged pitifully, hoping for a little mercy.
Suzaku snorted, sharing a look with Lelouch. Even after just this first meeting, the Japanese boy could tell that being a member of the Student Council would never be boring. Milly's answer just confirmed that.
"Of course!" She declared as though she were Empress. "We can't have Arthur getting lonely, thinking he's the only kitty here after all." She patted the girl between her cat ear headband with her paw. "He needs to see us all as kitties so he'll love us like family." She looked at Suzaku and Lelouch who were standing together, staring in bemusement at the scene. "Though Suzaku is probably a lost cause. Thanks for the help you two." She appreciated Lelouch playing along and dragging Alice into the fun. That tended to be more difficult because of the girl's serious demeanor when it came to events like this.
"No problem Milly/Glad to help." The pair said together, sharing a look before chuckling. Once he gave in, the festival actually turned out to be a lot of fun, Lelouch realized.
Lelouch relaxed after the festival began to taper off around mid-afternoon, Suzaku and Alice needing to leave immediately after school and he needed to take Nunnally home so she could rest after all the activities they had done.
"Thank you for bringing Suzaku home with you the other night." She whispered as he carried her to bed after entering her room. She had been feeling sleepy and asked to be moved so she could take a nap. She didn't think she was still fully recovered from her stint in the Mark Nemo the previous week. "I'm so glad he's alive." Nunnally's yawn drew out her sentence, but Lelouch simply kissed her on her forehead as he tucked her into bed.
"Me too." He grasped her hand tightly. "I love you, Nunna." He whispered, holding on tight as she began to drift off into her nap.
"Love you too, Onii-sama." Nunnally said as she began to nod off, watching Nemo standing tensely behind her brother. She'd ask what had her twin on edge later, she decided as she felt the familiar darkness of sleep begin to take her.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Viceroy Palace – 4:43 pm – September 20 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Cornelia carefully considered the footage of the battle in front of her. It was a single Knightmare against the Purist Faction's best pilots, yet it still managed to not only hold its own but escape unscathed. Every single move was either a dodge, block, or strike. There was very little wasted movement, but Cornelia could see some of the inexperience reflected in how they moved. The Frame moved at the last second in some cases and it was not always the most practical motion when it did so.
That fact was even more grating because it revealed that it wasn't a pilot with years of experience under their belt that had held off the Purists long enough for Zero to escape with his followers and the prisoner, but someone who had enough raw skill that, even if they were inexperienced, were still capable enough to take on six separate, experienced pilots and escape. Easily.
There was also a strange sense of… familiarity she felt when she watched that Knightmare move with such raw grace. She could visualize what kind of monster on the battlefield it could be if their skills were honed. She had seen the end result after all. 'Why is there a pilot in this land that can move like Lady Marianne?' Cornelia wondered silently, not telling anyone of the memories the Frame evoked with each dodge and counterattack.
"We still have no idea where this Frame originated from as there was no sign of it on the IFF until it attacked Lord Kewell." Darlton, Cornelia's second Knight of Honor delivered his report. The video of the short battle was being broadcast on a large screen in a small theater in the Viceroy's palace. Cornelia had decided to turn it into a room where she could get an expanded view of any video during relevant reports.
"We also have no idea just what kind of model it is, though it can stand strong against a group of Fifth Generations so we suspect it could be either an advanced Sixth Generation or an enemy Seventh Generation, though we hesitate to give it that label because it doesn't seem to be as advanced as the Lancelot, at least according to that unit's post-action report." He walked up and pointed at the strange threads. "We gather these to be some kind of more flexible alternative to the Slash Harken."
Then he gestured to the back of the Frame, near the cockpit. "And here we suspect is something that can serve as a cloaking device, at least until the Frame moves and prepares to strike." He turned back to his Princess. "It doesn't seem to be able to remain hidden once it begins to attack." He concluded his report on the Knightmare and let Guilford take over.
"On to Zero." Guilford began his own report, the closest shot they had of the masked man appeared on the screen. "Regrettably, we are no closer to discovering his identity or what Orange is as Jeremiah refuses to talk about it. However, we have compiled a minor personality profile based on this incident." He shrugged apologetically to his Princess as she looked over the papers he handed her.
"Unfortunately, we can't definitively prove its accuracy as this is the first time we've had to develop a personality profile on someone like him." His body language and facial expressions were all concealed so the only thing they had to work with had been the tone and the words used in his speech announcing his presence to the world as well as his actions. The one exception had been when he flared his arms out as he introduced himself, allowing them a minor glimpse under his cloak.
"We have determined that the material under his cloak is some kind of armor, though we are unable to tell what kind or material." The cameras weren't good enough to capture all the details as the cloak almost immediately returned once Zero's arms had returned to his sides. "I apologize for how little I've been able to compile My Princess." Guilford bowed apologetically.
"You are forgiven, Guilford." Cornelia spoke absentmindedly as she perused the report. 'Potentially a narcissist with a sense for the dramatic, willing to potentially endanger bystanders in order to accomplish his goals, shows sociopathic tendencies.' She read curiously. 'This is concerning, we must make sure to take Zero as a serious threat. Still…' If she could use Zero's flair for the dramatic against him it could prove a useful way to draw him out and get an opportunity to capture him.
"Thank you for your reports." She announced as she stood. "I have another meeting to get to, but I want you two to try and figure out an area where we can recreate the conditions of Shinjuku." She smirked. "Zero won't be able to resist the bait, he'll want to humiliate me like he did my brother. And that's how we'll flush him out." She left the room, trusting her Knights of being capable of developing at least the start of a plan while she was busy.
'Now, onto meet the Irregulars and Camelot.' Cornelia thought with a minor sense of dread. 'I hope those two aren't together again. I don't think I could handle another meeting with the both of them in the same day.'
As she walked into the large meeting room she had selected, she noticed both groups arrive at roughly the same time. Two members in particular, one from each group, seemed to recognize each other immediately.
"Suzaku/Alice what are you doing here?" A brunette boy she recognized as Kururugi and a blonde girl she assumed was Alice questioned each other at the same time.
'Oh great, a new problem.' She mentally groaned. Cornelia officially hated the position of Viceroy.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy – 7:13 pm – September 20 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Nunnally groaned lightly as she awoke from her nap, noticing Nemo sitting against the wall with her knees clutched to her chest. 'Is anyone else around?' She directed the thought to Nemo, causing the dark girl to react. "No, we're alone." She responded, a sadness coloring her tone of voice.
"What's wrong Nemo?" Nunnally asked quietly, wondering what was bothering her friend. She had noticed Nemo was tense all day when they were at the cat festival. No matter what, Nemo just couldn't seem to find any enjoyment in the festivities going on around her, even when Lelouch had gotten himself tied to the post Milly had gotten for Arthur to play with.
Hell, Nemo hadn't even found the hunt for Arthur amusing the previous day, though Nunnally felt guilty after Milly enlisted the whole school to help find that stupid cat after she realized it had stolen his Zero helmet. She was glad she hadn't told the older girl it had stolen something from Lelouch, telling her he was chasing after it had been all the motivation she needed to sick every student around campus to find the cat.
Nunnally had told Milly under the belief that her brother could just use his Geass to make her forget about the helmet of Zero on it, but Milly had taken her request for help as an attempt to mess with Lelouch and it got out of hand far faster than she had been expecting. Nemo had been depressed and Nunnally was starting to get concerned, the dark girl hadn't been speaking very much the past few days.
Nemo stood up and moved to sit on Nunnally's bed. The teenager moved her feet to the side slightly to make room, but didn't feel the usual dip in the bed as someone sat down by her. Then she remembered Nemo didn't have weight when she was in her astral form. Nunnally decided to wait as Nemo gathered her thoughts, knowing it could take some time to discuss what was bothering someone.
"I don't sleep." Nemo began strangely before correcting herself. "Well, that's not entirely accurate, it's more that I get rejuvenated as a result of your rest rather than needing to sleep myself." She looked at the Princess she swore to serve loyally after they made their contract. "As a result, I can get really bored sometimes." Nemo smiled lightly as Nunnally giggled at that statement.
She sighed. "Anyway, the reason I'm saying this is because, sometimes when I'm bored I use our Geass." Nemo looked away from Nunnally. "I saw some of what happened yesterday, though some things were different as the future is never static when you're looking more than a little while ahead." The former Doll closed her eyes, thinking about what she had seen that put her in such a mood.
"I can't see much too far into the future, and neither can you," Nemo admitted. "But I can get a general sense of what the future is going to be like, like how I know Onii-sama is going to become great." She no longer felt issue with calling Lelouch that.
She had seen what kind of person he was with her own two eyes and realized that she, like Nunnally, couldn't help but love the dark young man. He had drawn her in, as she knew he would do with many more, so she no longer had a problem in her mind with referring to Lelouch in the same manner as Nunnally.
"I used our Geass a few nights ago." She admitted, not surprising Nunnally in the slightest.
She would've done the same were their positions were reversed and she was the one forced to remain invisible and ended up awake all the time.
"What I saw." Nemo shuddered and Nunnally moved to wrap her twin in a small hug, giving some comfort to the dark girl. "Nunnally, I saw so much darkness." Nemo felt as though she were about to cry even though she couldn't produce tears. "The world…" She choked out. "Nunnally, there was so much death in the future."
She looked at the blind girl who was holding her tight. "I'm scared for Onii-sama, I'm scared for us." She wrapped. her own arms around Nunnally, becoming somewhat solid so she could take proper comfort in the teenager girl's hug.
"It'll be okay, it'll be okay." Nunnally whispered quietly. "Whatever the future holds. We'll face it together with Onii-sama." She promised her twin.
"That's just it Nunnally." Nemo replied, fear coating her tone. "If we're not careful, everything could fall apart!" The teenage Princess reacted with surprise. "Saitama is our only chance to get things right." She mumbled into Nunnally's chest, snuggling instinctively closer to the warmth of her sister's body.
"Saitama, huh." Nunnally murmured in thought before laying back, bringing Nemo down with her as she pulled the covers over their bodies. She wondered what would be happening in Saitama that would make Nemo panic so much.
Nunnally wrapped her arms around Nemo, giving the girl some comfort as she prepared to return to her nap with only a single thought in her mind.
No matter the darkness, no matter the death in the future, she would follow her brother to Hell and back.
(Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven – Ashford Academy – 7:21 pm – September 20 – 2017 a.t.b.)
Lelouch wrote in his journal at his desk, while C.C. was playing around on his computer as she relaxed on his bed. He had decided to start writing in a journal the night he revealed himself to the world as Zero, but he still didn't quite understand why he felt the urge. It was a useful way to keep track of his thoughts he discovered, but he made sure to write in code, using phrases that would make sense to him yet confuse others.
Though if someone read it with the assumption he was Zero it was a rather damning piece of evidence against him. He made sure to never include the real names of anyone, making sure he only referred to Suzaku as "the Prince" or himself in the first person. He would eventually come up with an alias for others the more prominent they became if he needed to sort out his thoughts, but for now those were the only ones that were necessary. He had taken other precautions to ensure it was difficult to find and it wasn't like anyone other than C.C. knew he even had it in the first place.
Still, he felt better safe than sorry.
"Seriously, what kind of teenager doesn't have a porn history on their computer?" C.C.'s voice sounded from behind him, causing his hand to jerk as he nearly drew a line off the page. He turned slightly to look at her incredulously while she stared at the screen.
"A teenager that has far more important things to worry about during his daily life." Lelouch's dry tone drew her attention away from the glowing screen. "I never saw the point, it didn't make much sense to me." He admitted.
"Well, I guess there's a first time for everything." She smirked just as he looked back to his journal. "Except for you apparently." Lelouch's shoulders stiffened.
"Look, I don't know why you keep doing this, but it's not funny." Lelouch had hoped he didn't need to bring this up, but it looked like C.C. wasn't going to stop.
"Doing what?" C.C. replied, curious at what her accomplice was getting at.
Before Lelouch could reply, there was a knock at his door. He concealed his journal in one of his desk drawers and said, "Come on in." He blinked as he saw Sayoko walk into his room followed by Ruben. "What can I do for you?" Ruben rarely came to visit, having far more important things to do as Chairman of his school than to visit Lelouch and Nunnally.
He usually only came to visit on special occasions.
"Young master," Sayoko began. "Lord Ruben wished to discuss something with you personally, he refused to tell me what it was and requested to meet with you directly." The loyal maid shrugged. "I know it's late, but nothing I said could dissuade him."
She gave a small bow before she shut the door and moved over to straighten out some of the things in Lelouch's room, giving herself an excuse to remain in the room. She was concerned at how Ruben was acting and refused to leave her young master alone with the Chairman right now.
"I see, thank you Sayoko." Lelouch turned to Ruben who was staring at C.C., dressed in her prisoner's uniform on his bed. She was steadfastly ignoring him, still messing around on his computer. "What do you want Ruben?" Lelouch saw no reason to be formal with the man who had opened up his home to his sister and himself in their time of need.
Ruben took a deep breath and sighed. "I wasn't aware that you were interested in that sort of thing." He commented, drawing a snort from C.C. as she caught the implication the tall man was making. "Are you sure you want Sayoko in the room Lelouch?" The man stalled with a question.
Lelouch ignored his comment about C.C. and frowned at his insinuation regarding Sayoko. "Of course, I trust her with my life." Ruben had never questioned Sayoko's loyalty before and the maid had noticed that as well. She stopped what she was doing and walked until she stood beside Lelouch. "Anything you tell me you can tell her." Lelouch had a feeling he was missing something important.
"I saw you recover your helmet from the bushes after the Arthur fiasco." Ruben said, causing a numb feeling to overtake Lelouch. "I know who you are, Zero." He whispered, making C.C., Sayoko, and Lelouch all react with shock.
Lelouch just stared at Ruben, a feeling of dread flooding his mind as he learned his identity had been discovered.
Damn, this is some heavy stuff heading into the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one, even if it was a little short, I'll try to get the next one out by next weekend.
Three different cliffhangers in one chapter. I didn't think I could actually pull it off, but it came together very nicely I think. Almost everyone who will be a serious player in this story now knows something, but no one knows everything. Not even C.C. who, at this point, arguably knows the most about what's going on. There are only a few more individuals who are currently out of the loop entirely, but they won't get their share of knowledge for at least a few more chapters.
Nemo's comment about Saitama being their only chance is something I've considered for a long time now. The statement will be made clear in due time, just be patient.
Another thing, a new journal entry will be coming soon. I won't do all of them, but I thought it would be a good idea to have a few for a little foreshadowing and I like how it turned out in the other chapter. There are a few spoilers in each one, like Suzaku being referred to as "the Prince" in the journal when I revealed his nickname to be the "Prince of Japan" in the previous chapter.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, more will be coming soon. I'm working on getting as much work done as I can before I have to go back to college in a few weeks (ugh) and I drop off the face of the Earth.
Please review if you enjoyed the chapter, I do appreciate them even if I don't need them for motivation. I like learning what my readers enjoyed about my work.
Happy New Year everyone! Hopefully 2017 is better than 2016.
King Draconias Over and Out.
