Ch. 2: The Other Side
Lelouch suddenly woke up and saw he was laying in a rickety bed. A wool blanket covered his entire body. As Lelouch tried to get out of bed, he realized he wasn't wearing his Ashford Academy uniform. Instead he was wearing what looked to be a dirty shirt and a pair of old trousers. Right next to the bed was a small wood burning stove, which provided lots of warmth. Laying near the stove was Lelouch's Ashford Academy uniform.
"Where am I exactly? I did I get into these clothes? How did I get here?" thought Lelouch. Lelouch then suddenly remembered what happened before. "Wait, I remember being in that incident involving the particle accelerator before finding myself being dropped into an ocean. Then a ship came by and it saw me waving at them. Then someone threw a life preserver ring to me before they unraveled a rope ladder along the side of the ship. After being helped onto the deck of the ship, someone asked me something in what sounded like Japanese. And if I remember correctly, I was given some spare dry clothes to wear along with a place to sleep."
Trying to get familiar with his bearings, Lelouch got out of the bed and changed into his now dry Ashford Academy uniform. Wanting to thank the people who saved him, Lelouch decided to leave the room and walk down the hallway of the ship. But what made him more curious was how exactly did he survive the incident.
As he was walking down the hallway, Lelouch slightly lost his balance when the ship started to tilt slightly. He then turned right and saw a flight of stairs. He saw a sign right next to the stairs saying "UPPER DECK" in Japanese. The fact that the sign was in Japanese and the Japanese voice he heard the past night, Lelouch logically concluded the ship was being manned by a Japanese crew. Lelouch then continued to walk up the flight of stairs towards the upper deck.
It was then that Lelouch realized something.
"I thought practically all ships in the Japanese navy were scrapped after Britannia invaded. Could this be a ship under control of Area 11's naval forces? Area 11 forces do employ Japanese people if they are Honorary Britannians. No that can't be. The Britannians wouldn't allow a subjugated people's native tongue to be spoken in their forces. What is this ship and who are the people manning it?" Lelouch asked himself.
When Lelouch reached the upper deck, he looked around and saw something he wasn't expecting. The ship multiple huge guns on it's deck, large smokestacks protruding from the ship, and two taller masts pointing towards the sky. And flying from the masts was the Japanese flag.
"This is a battlecruiser?! And it's a Japanese one? This can't be right. And this ship doesn't look modern." Lelouch wondered. Suddenly Lelouch heard loud ship whistles coming nearby along with the sounds of people. Lelouch immediately ran towards the railing lining the edge of the ship and was shocked by the sight.
The ship he was on was already docked in what appeared to be a harbor in Tokyo. In the distance was Mt. Fuji, but Lelouch was confused to see it without the Sakuradite facilities defacing the mountain. And the city wasn't exactly the same city. It was a busy cosmopolitan full of activity and businesses, but the streets were lined with trolleys, rickshaws, and a few Ford Model-T-looking cars. Some people walking by were wearing Western-style suits, while others wore traditional Japanese clothing. The buildings that Lelouch could see were a few stories tall and resembled a mixture of Japanese and Western architecture.
"I see you have awoken young man." said an unknown man behind Lelouch. An now utterly confused Lelouch turned around to see a middle-aged Japanese man in a captain's uniform, along with two Japanese junior officers standing besides him.
"Yeah. Slept pretty well. Anyway where exactly am I?" asked Lelouch.
"Oh yes, my name is Capt. Okada Kazuhiro. of the Imperial Japanese Fleet. We are currently docked in Tokyo. Our ship Iyo left Tsingtao and was heading for Tokyo. Luckily we found you while our ship was heading for Shanghai for supplies. How exactly did you get yourself stuck in the middle of the ocean? And where are you from?" asked the captain.
Lelouch's head had a hard time swallowing what he had just heard.
"Imperial Japanese Fleet? If my Japanese history is correct, the Imperial Japanese Fleet was dissolved after the First Pacific War. Where am I exactly?" thought a confused Lelouch. It was then that Lelouch concluded he might've been sent back in time, which would explain the steamships, clothing, and automobiles. Wanting to get some answers, Lelouch answered the captain's questions.
"My name is Lelouch Lamperouge. I am from the Holy Britannian Empire." answered Lelouch.
Immediately Captain Okada and his two junior officers started to look at each other with confusion.
"I'm sorry, but where did you say you came from?" asked Captain Okada once more. Lelouch again answered his question. Captain Okada then whispered to his junior officers.
"Have you heard of the Holy Britannian Empire?" asked on of the officers.
"No, though maybe he simply means Britainnia, as in Britain." whisper the other officer.
"I don't know about that. I've been to Britain before, and this kid here doesn't sound like the people I've met in my career." responded Captain Okada.
The three men continued to whisper some other inaudible things until they went back to Lelouch for more questioning.
"I'm sorry Lelouch, but we do not know of this Holy Britannian Empire you speak of. Perhaps you should show us on a map." said Captain Okada.
As Captain Okada led Lelouch into the ship's navigation room, Lelouch started to get even more concerned about the predicament he was in.
"He hasn't heard of the Britannian Empire? How could someone not know about a world superpower? If I was truly sent back in time, then people should still know about Britannia." Lelouch thought.
Captain Okada unlocked a door and led Lelouch into a room full of navigation equipment, water charts, and maps. In the room, Lelouch spotted a large world atlas hanging on the wall. Lelouch quickly ran towards it and examined it carefully. It was then he noticed something.
"There's no Holy Britannian Empire on the American continent." Lelouch said out loud. Lelouch made sure he wasn't imagining things and carefully looked at the atlas again. Instead of the American continent being labeled Britannia, the continent was composed of several independent nations. One particular nation that caught Lelouch's attention was the one comprising much of North America. He looked closely and read the label.
"United States of America? No way. It can't be. The United States of America exists? Washington's Rebellion wasn't a failure? This has to be a dream." thought Lelouch.
Feeling overwhelmed by everything around him, Lelouch started putting his hands on his head and paced back and forth. Lelouch then knew that he needed to know more about this world but was hesitant to ask the Captain or anyone else in fear they would view him as a lunatic.
"Captain, thank you very much for your hospitality. But I need to head to the..." said Lelouch before being interrupted.
"Sorry, but I can't do that. Without any proper documentation, I am must ask you to stay on this ship until I can properly confirm what you're saying is indeed true." said Captain Okada.
Lelouch, already stressed from the overwhelming info being stuffed into his head, didn't have the time to sit around. He needed to find answers as soon as possible. Thinking to himself, Lelouch tried to think of multiple ways to leave the ship without lots of commotion. He didn't want to simply outrun the Captain or the crew of the ship. They would just chase him until they caught him. Suddenly Lelouch remembered the one thing that always helped him out of tight situations. The only concern he had was if it was going to work or not.
"Ok Captain Okada. I'll stay here on the ship. But I'll like to say one thing..." said Lelouch. Suddenly Lelouch swiftly waved his fingers over in left eye, looked at Captain Okada, and gave his command.
"What the...?" said Captain Okada as he saw the geass sigil fly from Lelouch's left eye towards him. He then immediately froze where he was standing.
"Alright then. You will tell the crew of this ship that I was given full permission by you to be released. You will also not write this in any future reports to your superiors." commanded Lelouch before he put his special contact lens back in his left eye. Immediately Captain Okada unfroze from his trans-like state and immediately grabbed a sheet of paper from one of the desks in the room. He proceeded to fill out the form, indicating Lelouch was clear and could be released. Once it was all filled out, Captain Okada gave Lelouch the paper.
Taking the paper, Lelouch suddenly ran back to the top deck and headed towards the platform leading towards the dock. The sailors patrolling the ship's deck stopped Lelouch, but immediately let him go when they say the Captain's signature on the release form.
Once on the dock, Lelouch decided to head towards the closest library, hoping to find more about this strange world he was in. After asking some by passers on where the closest library was, Lelouch walked down one of the various streets in Tokyo. Lelouch looked upwards and saw various wires used by trolleys hanging over the streets. At moments, Lelouch found himself among the large crowds of people that filled the streets of Tokyo. Like the ones he saw earlier, the buildings of Tokyo were multi-storied and had a Japanese/Western feel to it.
Eventually, Lelouch found the library, which was a large, multi-storied building made of what appeared to be stone. As he was walking towards the library, Lelouch felt a gust of breeze coming from the down one of the various streets. The breeze caused a discarded newspaper to fly towards Lelouch. The wind caused the newspaper to get caught on Lelouch's leg. Lelouch removed the newspaper on his leg and prepared to discard it in a nearby trashcan until he saw the date on the newspaper.
"JUNE 25th, 1918 AD"
Lelouch was now even more anxious to learn about this unknown world.
Author's Note: Just to let people know, there is no language barrier between Lelouch and the people he talks with. My reasoning behind that is that since Lelouch was a Prince, it was probably likely that Lelouch was highly educated and taught to be multilingual.
Once again, please review. I would love to hear your thoughts, predicitions, and ideas on this story.