Interlude 13: Perspectives
(A/N: Co-written with EvaUnit01)
Rei Kanagawa.
...well, that's the name my parents gave me, anyway.
The plastic ID card that identifies me as an Honorary Britannian does so by the name of 'Ray Kenton'... but I've never complained about it. Her family name had a more impressive history than mine did anyway, so when Rachel convinced me to marry her, it just seemed like common sense to use her name instead of mine.
Sometimes, when other Japanese see me and recognize what I am, they call me a traitor or a sell-out. I can understand why they feel that way, but... I don't consider it a mark of shame to be given such insults by hypocrites.
People who bow and scrape before the Britannians to their face, begging for mercy and table scraps, only to sing a completely different tune once their backs are turned. Two-faced garbage who complain that it's impossible to live an honest life in Area Eleven, when the reality is that they just aren't willing to put in the effort of burying their insipid nostalgia.
"Reeeiiiii, you're looking sour again!"
No sooner do I open my mouth than the lips of a beautiful woman are pressed against mine, and I can barely even remember what I was thinking of in the first place.
"There," she says with a grin, "that expression suits you so much better!"
...and yet, here I am now sitting amongst the Black Knights, in some godforsaken corner of the Middle East after Zero's attack on Tokyo ended in failure.
Well, I think as I take a sip of coffee, Rachel always said that I had the worst sense of timing.
I hear the command staff are having a meeting with regard to Zero's condition, and that means off-duty people like those of us in this small, cramped lounge, are stuck alone with our thoughts.
There aren't too many other people in it right now... but aside from another grunt or two like myself, I noticed a couple of Big Names. Her Highness, Euphemia li Britannia, is on a couch some meters away indulging in some tea, while a haggard Deithard Reid - former big shot with Hi-TV and Zero's main information man - is hunched over his laptop catching up on global news and propaganda released over the last few months since our exodus from Area Eleven. If I had to guess, I'd say he's keeping tabs on everything to compile a personal report to Zero on his recovery... as a dark chuckle wafts over from his table.
"Hahahaha..."
Well, I guess it's a good thing someone found something to laugh about.
"A picture perfect counter-propaganda piece."
His video starts playing, and even from over here I can make out parts of it.
"Rachel, what the-?! ...wait, isn't that -"
A Britannian news broadcast, then, apparently from just after the battle. Judging from the voice, that cameraman's probably... Kyle.
I quietly get up from my seat; if nothing else, I'd like the chance to see my wife's face and hear her voice again, after everything that's happened.
But as I go to stand over Reid's shoulder and watch what he's got showing on the screen, I see Rachel clutching at a familiar hand-sewn doll. Even though it's been abused to hell and back, I'd still recognize that doll anywhere as our daughter's favorite present from her last birthday.
"I made it for Tessa's birthday last year... She never goes anywhere without it, because Princess Euphemia makes her feel safer."
But, why is it there? I sent Tessa to stay with Rachel's parents, yes, but I know I warned them to evacuate in light of Zero's attack, so I can't understand why it would still be in the capita-
...and then I realize, with a sinking feeling, what must have happened. Instead of leaving town like I told them to, they hunkered down in a shelter someplace in accordance with Britannia's SOP, faithfully trusting that Cornelia would be able to protect them.
Euphemia POV
What I took initially to be a staged news piece designed to spew vile lies and propaganda...looks decidedly less so now.
Princess Euphemia...makes her feel safer? Oh Darwin...please no. Please don't let this be leading where I fear it's going...
"The worried mother, just happens to find a toy belonging to her daughter, while doing a broadcast blasting the black knights," the sneering voice of Diethard Reid sounds out, casting his own paranoid aspersions on this situation.
"As if anyone would believe this wasn't staged," he says with a snort, fingers clicking as he continues his analysis.
My head turns as I give him a stark glare for his callous and cruel words, "Mr. Reid, that is appallingly cruel, even if you were correct. Something I have my doubts about..."
It would be foolish to deny that he has a point. I admit, as callous and foul as it sounds, there is a possibility of this being stage managed. But something deep inside me, says otherwise. That while the TV show may be taking advantage of the situation, there is a ring of unmistakable and haunting truth in this.
His eyes rolling as he turns around to address me, Reid gives me an exasperated look, "With all due respect Your Highness-"
"Just...Just Euphemia. I'm certain I'm no longer royalty at this point."
A thought that fills me with complex emotions, most of which I'm still processing. I have been a princess all my life, told I was being groomed for a position of power and responsibility. And yet? Part of me feels relieved to no longer have the spotlight on me, to be free of the burden.
On the other hand, have my actions been selfish and caused others to suffer in my stead?
"Very well, Euphemia. I used to arrange broadcasts like this for Prince Clovis back when he was Viceroy. And I can assure you, that this bears all the hallmarks of a propaganda hit piece. Therefore-" Reid starts lecturing, only to pause as the footage zooms in on...an arm...
...Oh Darwin, no! Please don't let this be what I think it is...
Trembling in disbelief, Rachel crawled over to what remained of her daughter's arm, now mangled almost beyond recognition, and found it long cold.
"Tessa...!"
Screaming up at the sky in grief, there was no trace of the former journalist - in her place was a heartbroken mother.
This...this is no propaganda piece. This is a grieving parent whose heart has been ripped in twain.
My face takes on a stricken look as the woman turns her gaze towards the camera, addressing me by name.
"Princess Euphemia, why?! We trusted you, loved you! My daughter loved you, we all did! So why?!"
Staring into the camera lens as if somehow expecting an answer to come from it, Rachel screamed, "Why did you abandon us for the monster who caused all of this?! For a madman who tears our families apart at the seams - who laughs as he murders our children?!"
"But...I...that's not..."
No. No no no. This isn't what I wanted to happen. I spoke out against the evil of Britannia. I implored Lelouch to save it from itself. Did no one listen to what he and I said that day?
Though it might seem that I have abdicated my duty to my empire and my people, nothing could be further from the truth. The empire is sickened by cruelty and corruption. The existence and popularity of Zero alone is proof that I was right to go with him. My people must be saved from themselves.
My thoughts drift back to that day, when Lelouch destroyed my dream, and showed me a better way...
"Citizens of Britannia! People of Area 11! I...I'm sorry. I was only trying to do something to help people. I never intended to hurt anyone. But I see now that I was mistaken. My father is wrong. People are not equal. But that does not mean that they deserve to be treated differently for it."
I kneel before Zero, resigned that no one will understand why I am supplicating myself towards someone vilified as a madman. But I know my course is true. That only he can set right what has gone so wrong. And that I must make amends for my grievous error.
It was a mistake born of good intentions. A wish to help people, to give hope to the hopeless and downtrodden. To right a wrong long in need of redress. But...
"But though I do not wish to claim the throne, I also recognize that this cannot stand. Britannia must be changed. And since it cannot be done from within, it must come from without. Zero! Demon King of the Sixth Heaven! I ask you now. Please...save my people from themselves. Defeat the evil that has taken hold of Britannia. Stop my father's ideology from consuming the world. I ask this not just as a Princess, but as someone who wishes an end to pointless suffering."
But I realize now that it was not my wrong to right. That I cannot do what is needed. Zero however, can.
Even through his featureless mask, I can see the shocked expression on Lulu's face. Brother Lelouch, did you think I would not be moved by what you have done here? "You are the very example of the one who should claim rulership. I shall take up the charge you have asked of me."
And then he turns to the crowd, holding me in his arms, and calls out, "Here is proof that it is not all of Britannia that is evil! Here is what I spoke of! Princess Euphemia has just now declared an act of treason against her empire! Against her family! Seeing such sacrifice, how can I not be moved?! Britannians! Japanese! People of the world! Rise up against your oppressors! The Black Rebellion commences now! I, as Demon King, shall lead the charge for justice!"
My brother swore to return justice to this world. Though I cannot approve of his methods or the destruction and terror that follows in his wake, it is hard for me to condemn him given what he explained about his available options.
My vanishing before the siege began however, can only be taken as tacit acceptance of his actions from those not in the know.
The Black Knights sought to claim Area 11 and use it as a launching pad for Zero's grander ambition of taking his campaign globally. But in the end, we failed, and we were forced to flee halfway across the globe, with Zero's life still hanging in the balance.
Hmm? What's this? Tears? I look behind me and notice a male black knight staring in transfixed horror at the video on Reid's computer, his face a rictus mask of horror and grief, tears running down his cheeks.
"Rachel," he whispers. "Tessa..."
That tremble in his voice, it's just like hers - oh no. Darwin, don't tell me...!
"E-excuse me," I softly begin. "Have we met yet?"
After a long moment, he shakes his head, and a heartbroken 'no' comes back to me.
As I ponder what to say to him or even if he heard me, he raises a shaking hand... "That's my wife, there on the screen."
Even though Reid is sitting just next to me, it sounds kilometers away as he confirms with the Black Knight that the doll made in my likeness was genuine...
That woman on the screen, Rachel, just found out she lost her child. Good Darwin...does she know? That her husband is part of the same army that may be partially to blame for what happened? Is there anyone there with her to share her grief?
...How many times? How many times must this dreadful scene repeat itself? All of the people of Japan looked to Lelouch and I for succor and hope, only to have it dashed as cruelly as Japan's hopes in the first pacific war?
Had we succeeded, had Japan been freed, perhaps the pain this man and others are feeling would not strike so deeply. At least they would have a country, a name once again.
But that is not the case. And innocent people, whose only sin was to be born with the blood of a nation broken beneath Britannia's heel, who only sought peace and happiness, are paying the price for our failure.
In the face of that grief, that anger, that outrage demanding an explanation...I have no answer.
We, who sought to protect them, are forced to flee in the night, unable to offer any explanation or promises, while they must contend with the cruelty and depravity of Luciano Bradley, Vampire of Britannia, the Butcher of Africa. All while we, their saviors, must hide and lick our wounds.
"Oh, Darwin... I...I'm so sorry."
No, I did not abandon my people. But it is painfully easy to see how such an explanation can be drawn.
Father, why? What is the point of this...this...this unreasonable cruelty?!
Zero did not start this war. And he is NOT trying to uproot and destroy families as that grieving mother claims.
But I am not so naive as to not recognize the unspoken cost of war, being the sister of Cornelia li Britannia ensured that. It would be the height of hypocrisy for me to condemn my brother's efforts to save this world and those in it, while refusing to recognize the lengths he goes to in order to minimize the damage.
I can't deny that he has deliberately made himself into a scapegoat for Britannia, whether it's his being uncaring of vilification, or perhaps a repudiation of the Empire's rhetoric of holiness and divine right. A demon birthed by the blood and misery sown by the empire's actions. It is no wonder he cultivates such a grim aspect.
But, even so-
At that time, another Black Knight in the lounge, a woman, calls out in anger - "She's breaking like that from just one child?! I lost my son and brother at Shinjuku!"
The sad truth about war, is that even those on your own side face their own tragedies and pain from it. Our soldiers are not unmoved by their own grief.
Clutching my dress, I can't hold back a grimace...no. This is not the time for me to wallow in my own feelings. I have to say something. To show that there is something more than this, "I know her loss must seem inconsequential compared to what many of you have suffered. And I know it's hard, to have compassion for others who haven't suffered like you have."
The grieving father next to me, the mother a few tables over bitterly mourning her loss, both of them seeking reason and retribution for their grief, it is the same as the woman in the program. All of them drowning in a storm of rage and sorrow, with nothing to pull them from the abyss they are circling!
I take a deep breath to gather my thoughts, hoping that sharing them will cast out a life line to these poor people. "And yet, that is exactly why it is so important - because we are not like the Empire. Zero said to the world, more than once, that he was not part of Japan. That he and the Black Knights stood to defend against all injustice."
My words have attracted the attention of those around me and appear to be drawing a crowd. So much the better. "If we cannot find the compassion in ourselves for a mother who learned of the loss of her child," I ask, "even if she may prove to be a potential enemy in the future, then how are the Black Knights any different from those whom they so proudly stand against?"
The room drops into silence as my words carry through it, and after a long moment, the upset woman Black Knight stands up. "...so you're not wrong, but. All the same, are you saying we're supposed to set our grudges and our grief aside, just like that?"
"No," I say while meeting her gaze, "I am saying that we cannot let the cycle of rage and revenge continue. And if you think Zero does not understand this kind of pain, that he has not lost people himself? Then you have not been listening to him. How many people on both sides feel like this woman do, or you do? That their hate and their grief justify the suffering of others who bear no blame of their own?"
From behind me, I can hear Reid absentmindedly utter one of Zero's creeds, "The only ones who should kill, are those prepared to be killed."
I turn to the grieving husband and ask for his name. After giving him a moment to recover from his daze, my patience is rewarded.
"...Ray Kenton."
A Britannian name. One clearly chosen to distance himself from his identity as a Japanese man seeking to become an Honorary Britannian.
I may not have the skill to say this properly at this time, but saying this in his own tongue will perhaps help him to understand. "Wa...watashi wa..Eu-ru-fe-mia Ri Bu-ri-ta-ni-a desu. Yoro-shiku."
Ray looks at me with... incomprehension, and a little pity... Oh dear, was I that bad? "I've been Honorary for long enough that I think in Britannian and not Japanese. Please don't strain yourself, Your Highness."
I shouldn't be surprised at his reaction. He likely thinks I am pitying him or trying to offer a token gesture. "That isn't why," I explain with a shake of my head. "It's because I told Moebius and everyone else that I wanted to bridge the gap between Britannians, and those whom they call Numbers."
..Perhaps it is my former rank that causes him to be ill at ease with my speaking so candidly, "And please," I add with a smile to set him at ease, "just call me Euphemia."
It shouldn't be surprising that my title and position as a princess would leave him feeling awkward, but thankfully he doesn't seem to want to argue the point. "If you insist, Your Highne-... Euphemia."
"So despite being Japanese," the woman Black Knight growls in anger, "you still think of yourself as an Honorary Britannian?"
Ray, just as bitter himself, says, "My life was better and I was happier with that title than the other. Why not?"
"Where's your pride as a Japanese?! Hell, as a man?!"
Ray angrily slams his fist on the table - "I just saw evidence that Zero, whether he meant to or not, killed my daughter - and that on top of Darwin knows how many friends and comrades in the Knightpolice I've lost to this very organization! I don't give a damn about the Japanese, I came here because Zero and Euphemia promised a world where my family wouldn't be hated or abused for loving one!"
This man...this is the kind of faith Lelouch and I inspired. We cannot, we must not, let that faith be in vain. Oh Lulu, if you could only see this...you would be moved to tears, just as I am now. I cannot say that I would have that strength or conviction to set aside that kind of feeling were I in his place. That Ray Kenton can, makes him a man worthy of my respect and admiration.
Group POV
"I'm setting all of that aside," Ray shouts, "because even if it galls me? Zero's the only hope left for a world where this won't keep happening to someone else! What other choice do I have but to pray the devil I've dealt with survives to hold up his end of the deal?!"
With a furious gesture to Reid's laptop screen, he spits, "As for my pride? Buried amidst the rubble back in Tokyo. I'd go back for it, but I'm sure it's been excavated and more properly laid to rest in the months since that broadcast."
The female Black Knight's mouth clicks shut at that, understanding the pain and the point all too well.
In the resulting silence, Euphemia takes hold of the man's hand and softly says, "I know it is not much. But if you ever wish to talk, I am here to help, even if all I can do is listen."
Turning back to the rest of the room, she raises her voice, strong and confident, and asks: "What is more important - what people call themselves, or whether they can be happy?"
"The true sin," she continues, "is that the discrimination and oppression exists. Not that people chose to stomach parts of it to make a better life for themselves or their family."
The female Black Knight takes a step back, gathering her thoughts, before speaking her mind again. "That might be okay for some people, but... some of us can't be happy with an identity that we didn't choose for ourselves."
Reid, for his part, snorts in disbelief. "Pick one that actually exists, then. None of us here are Japanese, Britannian, or even Honorary."
The woman Black Knight, eyes wide with shock and a little offense, turns and asks, "Then what are we, aside from Black Knights?"
Reid, visibly incredulous, turns back. "What more do you need to be?"
"What we are," Euphemia cuts in with a clearing of the throat and an unamused glance at Reid, "is people. Human beings. Britannian, Japanese, Number... these are labels, some forced on us and others chosen for ourselves."
"And... Mr. Kenton," she adds, "you were mistaken on one point."
If anyone hadn't put the whole of their attention on her before, they certainly were doing so now. "You need not hope that Zero shall return. This ordeal we are enduring is far from finished, but? I know he shall return. Zero will shall rise to lead us once more."
She gestures with her hand across the room, eyes shimmering with emotion, "He will be back! And the Black Knights shall engrave the meaning of the word justice, upon a world that has forgotten this essential truth!"
And when he does come back, Euphemia vows, I have to keep him from going down the road of darkness and murder that he constantly straddles the line on. So I have to be there. To make sure he doesn't drown himself in the blood he's shedding, and that Lelouch will still be the man I love - and the king the world needs to save it from itself.
