Howdy, folks! Just here to make a quick public service announcement—as ya may have noticed, there were some characters that were a little out of place this last chapter, being from neither RWBY nor Code Geass. Working on the long-term planning for this fic, I was faced with the acute and unfortunate problem that a sweeping intrigue and strategy plot of the variety I was hoping to write required a much more extensive background cast and detailed setting than exists in either of the two core worlds. I was faced with two choices: I could flood the story in a sea of OCs, which could go well or backfire horribly, and in any case would require an immense amount of background work; alternatively, I could take advantage of this medium being a fanfiction and a crossover, and draw on established characters from other works to fill in the gaps. It seemed like the more fun and exciting option, and I do hope this works out as well as I think it will. In any case, there won't be any spoilers for the characters involved if I can help it, aside from possibly the ones from Kill la Kill waaaaay down the line—but if you haven't seen Kill la Kill yet, and are reading this Code Geass and RWBY fanfiction, I guarantee it's your speed and you should really go watch it! Thank you for your time.
TL;DR: Look out for more cameos and references in the future. They be a'comin.
Now, dear readers, we return to your regularly scheduled program. Excelsior!
"Weiss, I really don't think this is good idea…" Ruby said.
"Shush, you. You already agreed to help." Weiss replied, narrowing her eyes at the girl. Honestly, was a little loyalty so much to ask? "Now hold this while I get the lock."
It had been surprisingly easy to grab the scroll out of the Stadfeldt girl's bag during breakfast. Everyone had of course been distracted by Coco Adel's rather spectacular blowout argument with that troglodyte Cardin Winchester—literally blowout, given the hole in the wall and the collapse of what seemed to be a fairly important structural column afterwards. Still, Weiss liked to think it was her own skill at sleight of hand that had made the difference.
Of course, it wasn't actually stealing. She was going to leave Stadfeldt's scroll in the room, after all—Stadfeldt would come back and find it, after Weiss had gotten a chance to search through the prince's things, and no one would be the wiser.
"Aaand, there! It's open." Weiss said, pushing through the door. She glanced back at Ruby, waving her over. Her partner in—er, perfectly legitimate activity—scurried through the doorway.
"Yeah, uh... I mean, Weiss, this is definitely breaking and entering, and it just looks like a normal room, so maybe we should, not…" Ruby said, trailing off.
"I said shush! Now hand me the contraband bag again, and stand guard by the door." Weiss said.
Somehow Weiss had pictured something a bit more sinister when imagining the prince's room. In hindsight she felt a little silly. Aside from the replica Beowolf skull on the wall to the left, of course. Even its menace was frankly undercut by the colorful posters that surrounded it, mostly starring a yellow ghost-looking character offering two-for one deals and limited time offers while entreating the reader to 'gather round the good stuff'. Even the poster with a fedora-wearing mob boss yellow ghost-thing pointing at the reader with the caption 'No one out-pizzas the Hut, see?' was more cute than threatening. The posters plastered most of that corner of the room, to the left of the door though there were also some interesting-looking maps underneath. Weiss recognized the conventional projection of Remnant, what must have been Nihon, a Vale city map, and one of Albion, the far continent. This was clearly the side of the room they were looking for, based off of what the prince and his consort had been arguing about. The opposite side to the right of the door just had a framed picture of mount Fuji, a 'hang-in-there' cat poster with the word 'guts!' scrawled across it, and a poster for a movie Weiss didn't recognize, starring some sort of caped-do-gooder standing broodily on a gargoyle. Taking this into account, Weiss made her way immediately towards the two desks on the left side of the room.
The nearer desk was half-covered by a gigantic plush version of the odd yellow ghost thing from the posters, to the point that Weiss couldn't see how anyone could have gotten work done on it. Weiss moved on and went for the much more promising desk after it.
It was clearly the Prince's desk. Weiss recognized his hat, for one thing. He'd been wearing it with his uniform when he'd first arrived, a black military-style cap with a golden lining. Weiss had been so distracted by everything else then that she hadn't noticed the small silver skull badge affixed to the band, just above the brim. She didn't recognize it, however; the only Britannian heraldry she knew of that used skulls was that of the Totenkoth knights, and this certainly wasn't their emblem—the teeth were too long, the eye sockets too narrow, and there weren't any crossbones, just a skull.
The hat stand it was on was a bit more interesting. It was carved out of some sort of hardwood, left unvarnished, with three stylized animals holding up the center as a tripod; some sort of bird, a doglike creature of some kind, and a large beetle. The whole thing was covered in some sort of strange markings, which on further examination seemed to be pairs of letters… initials, maybe? It was the strangest hat stand Weiss had ever seen. Laying on the base of it was, of all things, a stuffed animal so ragged and worn it took her a moment to realize it was supposed to be a fox. It was kind of cute, she supposed, even if it was missing an eye, but it wasn't something she would have ever expected to find here.
On the opposite side of the desk, under the lamp, there was a framed photograph. A younger version of the prince—far happier too, Weiss realized with a jolt—smiled up at her, standing with a blonde and boisterous-looking grinning girl who had one arm around his shoulder and the other one waving at the camera. They wore uniforms Weiss didn't recognize, and were standing somewhere with vivid green grass and a clear blue sky. Weiss stared at it for a moment, feeling suddenly a bit ashamed. This wasn't what she was here for.
The only other thing on the desk was a chess set, and a fairly new-looking one at that. Weiss' squinted at it; she'd learned early on how to tell a truly valuable item from a convincing fake. It had been one of the few lessons her father had bothered to actually teach her. The chess set seemed to have been lined in gold, with crystal and obsidian squares installed as the board for pieces Weiss would bet her braid were carved from ivory and ebony. It was a bit flashy, for Weiss' tastes. More relevant was the pieces themselves, which were arrayed in a way that bordered on nonsense. Weiss had no idea how the game could have even gotten to this point; why in the world was the black king in the center? It was clearly vulnerable to being put in check from multiple vectors. Weiss was no chess player, but even she could see that the king was only a handful of moves away from being put in checkmate. Honestly, it was ridiculous.
Shaking her head, Weiss moved on to the shelves above the desk. Mostly they were filled with books—some Weiss recognized, being from Remnant proper, but there were many from Albion that she simply didn't know. Everyone had heard of 'The War of the Worlds', of course—this H.G. Wells person seemed to be a Britannian household staple, as did the book 'The Last of the Mohilcaz'. She'd even heard of this "Iliad', although she'd never read it. Far less familiar were titles like "Pride and Prejudice" or "Paradise Lost". Stranger still were the ones that must have been in slightly different languages, like "Politea", or "Il Principe" by whoever this 'Machiavelli' was supposed to be.
More interesting to Weiss was a box at the far end of the upper shelf, its corner just peaking out over the rim. Frustratingly, Weiss wasn't tall enough to reach it, and ended up setting down her bag on the floor and clambering onto the desk in order to get high enough to do so.
"Weiss, be careful!" Ruby hissed, shuffling over.
"I know what I'm doing! I just want to see what's inside this box. It has to be hidden up there for a reason." Weiss said.
"But, this just seems like, it's going a little too far? We should go before they get back." Ruby said. Weiss frowned at her.
"I'm just going to look in here, and then in the closet, and then we can go." Weiss said. Ruby nodded, still looking a bit nervous. Shaking her head, Weiss turned back to the box. It was about the size of a shoebox, and remarkably plain for something seemingly hidden away. The latch didn't even have a lock. Weiss popped it open, and lifted the lid.
Letters. Dozens of letters, signed, stamped, opened, and tucked back into their envelopes. Presumably they'd been sent, as well; some of them looked a tad dirty, and one had what seemed to be a coffee stain on the outside. Weiss picked one of them up, looking at the name of the sender.
"Milly… Ashford. Hmm. Wasn't that the name of the girl he fought with at the tournament? Why were these hidden? Is she working with him?" Weiss mused. Ruby looked a bit distraught.
"Weiss, we need to stop. This is clearly something he wanted to keep personal—and look, that one was sent months ago. It's got nothing to do with Beacon." Ruby said, pointing at the date. She was right, Weiss knew, which was frustrating. True, the letters could have been a way to set up some sort of plot or scheme, but she didn't really have a leg to stand on; odds were they were just some sort of love letters or something.
"I suppose…" Weiss began. Then, she noticed the box. It was a little thing, plain, black, and latched, half buried in the letters. A box hidden within a box… Weiss pulled it out.
"Weiss—!" Ruby hissed, but Weiss ignored her, unlatching the little latch. With a surprising amount of trepidation, Weiss lifted its lid.
She wasn't sure what she'd expected. The whole room had already been a bit of a surprise. Perhaps her expectations had been greater for this little box, tucked so far away from everything else. Maybe she'd thought it would be some sort of communication device, or a weapon, or something to hold evil plans. Part of her had bizarrely expected a necklace or some other sort of jewelry, even a ring, though it was a tad too wide to hold an engagement band.
The only thing inside the little box, though, was a neatly creased origami crane, folded out of pink paper.
"Huh." Weiss said, staring at it. Ruby stared too.
"Well that's… weird." Ruby said.
Neither of them really knew what to make of it. They were both quiet for a moment. Which is when Weiss heard footsteps in the hall, and a particularly distinctive voice complaining.
"It's that red-haired girl!" Weiss hissed, snapping the lid of the small box closed. She stuffed it back into the bigger box, closing that lid too, and realized in her panic that there was no time to put it back on the top shelf. She threw the borrowed scroll onto Stadfeldt's bed and looked back and forth between the door and the window, trying desperately to think. They were three stories up, with no way of closing the window even if they did land. But they couldn't go out the door without being seen, it was way too late.
"In here!" Ruby whispered, and suddenly her leader's arm was around her waist. A humiliatingly undignified squeak came out of Weiss's mouth as she was hauled backwards, practically toppling over onto Ruby as the younger girl shut the closet door behind them.
The sudden dark was startling. Weiss tried to orient herself and get off of Ruby, but the space was unexpectedly cramped. With what felt like a vacuum cleaner on one side and what seemed to be a shoe rack on the other, the two of them couldn't do much more with the space than getting untangled; she could feel Ruby pressing into her back, unnervingly close. As Weiss was not used to physical contact even in normal circumstances, it was incredibly distracting.
Weiss heard the apartment door open.
"Ugh… thanks, Suzaku. I'm sorry to bother you with this. I really could've sworn I had my scroll with me." The Stadfeldt girl said.
"It's no trouble—I was on my way back anyway. Thought I'd get some studying in." Suzaku, apparently, said.
"That's my partner, diligent as ever." The Stadfeldt girl said. There was what sounded like an awkward pause. Weiss did her best to remain motionless, trying to ignore how warm her back was starting to feel with Ruby pressed against her. Not for the first time, Weiss cursed Beacon's ludicrously cramped closet spacing.
"So… uh… how about that Professor Peach, huh? She's a real… character." The Stadfeldt girl tried.
"Yeah, sure. After Port and Oobleck, I guess I'm not surprised, but she's really bizarre." Suzaku said.
"I know, right? Maybe all that electric dust fried her brain." The Stadfeldt girl said.
"Hah, maybe." Suzaku said.
The silence afterwards dragged on. Even Weiss felt uncomfortable.
"So… I'm, uh, going to get started with the studying." Suzaku said.
"Right! Of course. I'm just, um, gonna read a book. Over here." The Stadfeldt girl said.
"Of course." Suzaku said. Weiss could hear their footsteps. She realized there was a little beam of light, shining through the keyhole.
"Ruby!" She whispered, as quietly as she could. The other girl's head was right behind her own—Weiss could feel her breath on the back her neck. "I'm going to try to look through the keyhole!"
"Uh—oh, um, okay, uh, be careful!" Ruby whispered back.
Weiss moved cautiously up onto her knees, holding onto the doorframe as she put her eye up to the keyhole.
Suzaku was sitting at what must have been his desk, the one with a small bonsai tree, highlighting something in a book. The Stadfeldt girl was lying on her bed, staring down at a book and occasionally glancing back up at Suzaku. Weiss bit back an unladylike expletive—there was no way they were going to be able to get past them.
"We're stuck! Ruby, you dunce, what are we going to do?" She hissed.
"Hey, I was the one who said this was a bad idea in the first place, princess!" Ruby hissed back.
"Well—that—but—you are infuriating!" Weiss hissed again, annoyed most of all at the sinking, impossible realization that Ruby was absolutely right. They hadn't found anything important—her plan had failed, horribly. It was increasingly clear that she'd been a complete fool about this whole thing. She was going to get the both of them in trouble… with a twinge of fear, Weiss realized she hadn't even considered what this attempt going wrong might mean for her position at the school. She'd read the student manual; breaking and entering was a serious offense. And she'd dragged Ruby into this whole mess too… how could she have been so foolish!
Weiss barely noticed the pale blue light come on behind her. She looked back in alarm, seeing that Ruby had activated her scroll.
"What are you doing, they'll see the light!" Weiss whispered. Ruby shook her head, and Weiss felt her partner push the scroll onto her back.
"I'm trying to text Yang—hold still, you'll block out the glow." Ruby whispered back. Weiss was grateful for the darkness, because she could feel her face begin to burn with embarrassment. This was humiliating.
"I'm not a table, you dolt!" Weiss hissed. Even so, she braced herself against the door frame and tried to hold still.
"Did you hear something?" The Stadfelt girl asked. Weiss froze.
"Hmm…?" Suzaku said.
"Just now? Some sort of, hissing? I thought… um…" She continued.
"Kallen, I'm trying to focus over here." Suzaku said.
"Hey, I was just asking! I swear there was some sort of weird sound." Kallen said.
"It's probably just the wind or something." Suzaku said.
"No, that doesn't make any sense, it was a hiss, like—like a snake, or a lizard. It wasn't the wind." Kallen said.
"Why would there be a snake in here, Kallen? We're on the third floor." Suzaku asked, putting down his highlighter.
"Look, I know what I heard. Maybe someone let one in, for a prank." Kallen said, crossing her arms.
"Or maybe, just maybe Kallen, it was just the wind, and you're just hearing things. We're high up in the air, it whistles through here all the time. " Suzaku replied.
"What the hell, Suzaku! You aren't even listening—it's always the wind with you. Always blowing everything away, always evading. What is it with you and the freaking wind?" Kallen said.
"What is it with you and trying to force all of this stupid small-talk, Kallen? I'm still fucking mad at you! I don't want to fight with you, I don't want to chat with you, I just want to sit here and study this stupid book and get this stupid fucking homework done, alright?" Suzaku roared, glaring at her.
"I—you… I just… fine!" Kallen replied. Weiss could hear the hurt and anger in her voice. The two were quiet again, for what must have been ten or fifteen minutes, though to Weiss it felt like hours. She would have breathed a sigh of relief, if she thought she could get away with it. Eventually, Suzaku closed the book.
"I… Kallen, I'm sorry." Suzaku said, sighing deeply.
"It's fine." Kallen said.
"No… look, that was absolutely inappropriate, and wrong, and I didn't mean to do that." Suzaku said.
"It's fine, Suzaku." Kallen said, her voice wavering.
"No it's not! We're partners. I… I don't want to be mad at you, and you didn't deserve that. It's just… I've been thinking, a lot, about what's been bothering me so much about all of this, and I think it's because I feel like I never knew you. So, if we're going to make this work, I'd really like to get to know you better. The Kozuki side, all of you. I think it would help." Suzaku said.
"I… you do?" Kallen asked.
"Yeah. So… I know we have our differences, but… will you trust me?" Suzaku said.
"Ughh, stupid Yang! She's not answering!" Ruby whispered into Weiss' ear.
"Try Blake!" Weiss whispered back. "I absolutely do not want to be here if they… you know…"
"If they what?" Ruby asked.
"I mean, if you want to… I haven't really even tried, with anyone, before." Kallen said.
"You know!" Weiss whispered back, somehow managing to panic even more.
"No, I—" Ruby began.
"There's no one around to interrupt or overhear right now, if… I mean, if you're sure you're ready." Suzaku said.
"Oh. OH." Ruby hissed. "WE NEED TO GO!"
"Yeah. You know… yeah." Kallen decided, heedless of their panic.
Weiss was seriously considering bursting through the closet door, damn the consequences, when in the nick of time the door to the hallway slammed open. She pressed her eye back onto the keyhole, and Ruby let out a squeak as the glow of the scroll momentarily shifted enough to be visible. Weiss inwardly cursed her own carelessness, but thankfully the occupants of the room beyond were distracted by prince Lelouch himself storming in.
"Oh, Lelouch—" Suzaku tried, but the prince ignored him. For a petrifying few moments Weiss could only watch as he grew closer and closer, and she found herself staring at his eyes. The turmoil in them was shocking, and his stare seemed to be a thousand miles away. His hair and clothes were disheveled, and his eyes were red-rimmed.
Just as it seemed he was about to rip open the closet door and confront Wiess, the prince turned, took a step, and collapsed onto his bed.
"Uh… long day?" Suzaku asked. The prince didn't respond. Suzaku shared a look with Kallen.
"Is there, um, anything we can get you?" Kallen asked.
"No." The prince said, almost growling out the word as he curled up tighter.
"Don't mind him, Kururugi. He's having a little tantrum at the moment." C.C. said—and suddenly Weiss could see the green-haired woman leaning on the doorframe. She managed to hold in her gasp of surprise, just barely.
"Blake's still not answering—I think her phone might be off." Ruby whispered into Weiss' ear.
"Keep trying, she's probably just got her face stuck in a book." Weiss whispered back.
"C.C…." The prince said outside, low and dangerous. Weiss felt a shiver run down her spine, colder than the ones she'd been getting from the feeling of Ruby's breath on her neck.
"Wait, really? That can happen?" Ruby asked.
"I didn't mean it litera—look, just keep trying!" Weiss hissed. Outside, the green-haired woman's head had tilted forward, her eyebrow raised.
"Don't act like it isn't true, prince lettuce. You've been huffing and puffing ever since you left our esteemed headmaster's office." C.C. said. The prince sat up and shot her a deathly glare.
"Not today, C.C.. I'm not doing this." The prince said.
"Poor little prince Lelouch, all torn up that he can't play with his toys anymore." C.C. said, monotonously calm. The prince continued to glare.
"I said stop." He growled.
"Or… what? You can't control me, Lulu. You can't even control yourself." C.C. said.
The prince was still, for a moment. Then, in a fluid motion, he slid out of the bed and strode over, standing face-to-face with the green-haired woman.
"I nearly lost everything today. My hopes. The best chance I'll ever have at happiness, of doing something good with my life. Everything. To a bunch of cameras." He snarled.
"Please. I was there too, Lelouch. We both know cameras aren't the problem." C.C. said.
"What do you want me to say? That I've realized the error of my ways? That I somehow regret what I've done? I haven't. I don't. I can't just turn off my feelings. I can't smile and pretend to be fine, every day, knowing those monsters are still out there. My life has been a long series of tragedies and disappointments—this is all I have left." The prince said.
"No one cares, Lelouch. The world doesn't care. You know that, better than most. You're in no position to fulfill either part of our bargain like this. You need to get a grip." C.C. said, calmly. The prince let out a frustrated snarl and turned away—only to stop dead in his tracks. Weiss realized, with a sinking feeling, that he was staring at the box of letters, still out of place on his desk. He stared at it for several seconds, stock-still. Then, he turned back to face C.C., standing taller. There was some madness in his eyes, burning bright, and it scared Weiss more than anything she'd seen from him so far. He lifted a finger, pointing at C.C..
"One thing. I asked you for one thing, back then, when we started living together. Just one." The prince said, voice low and terrifyingly calm. C.C.'s calm expression fell into a confused frown.
"Lelouch, what…" She glanced over at the box. Her eyes widened.
"Steal my shirts. Wreck my things. Leave pizza grease stains in my favorite books. Fine. But don't touch the box. That was all that I asked." The prince continued, low tone rumbling slightly louder as he stared down the green-haired woman.
"Lelouch, I promise you, I didn't." C.C. said, confusion warping into something resembling alarm. But the prince was barely listening; he chuckled.
"Really. Well. Suzaku, was it you?" He asked, turning to his friend, who had been frozen at his desk throughout the argument. Suzaku shook his head.
"No, absolutely not." He said. The prince turned to Kallen, smiling humorlessly.
"You then, Kallen?" He asked. Kallen stared, then shook her head vigorously.
"N-no, I swear—I think it was like that when I got here." Kallen said. The prince turned back to C.C., whose expression had gone studiously blank.
"Weiss, what's going on out there?" Ruby whispered, nervously.
"Shh!" Weiss hissed back, quietly as she could manage.
"So, I suppose it was the birds, then? Maybe the fairies?" The prince said, mocking tone and crooked grin clashing with the rage in his eyes.
"I gave you my word, Lelouch. I promise you, I did not break it." C.C. said, tone firm, eyes unreadable.
"Your word. Your promise. You think I don't know how these things work? I've read the tales; I've studied the old stories. In spite of what you may think, I am no fool. I know how easily words twist in clever hands, how wishes granted become curses." The prince said, snarling so quietly Weiss could barely hear him.
"Lelouch—" C.C. tried, voice shaking slightly.
"I will succeed as best as I can, in spite of your 'blessing'. I will live up to my end of the bargain. But I will do it on my terms. You have no right to ask anything more from me, to pry where you are not welcome. I imagine you're already going to take all I have left in me, when the time comes. I've come to terms with that. But the contents of that box will never be yours. Otherwise, we are done." He said, staring the green-haired woman down. She met his gaze, face impassive.
"Lelouch, as I have already said, I have not broken my word. You know I know better. You're not thinking straight. You need to take a breath, and calm down." C.C. said, slowly. The prince's eyes narrowed. He stared her down a moment more.
Without a word he turned, strode over to the window, and threw it open. But then he paused, staring out into the air, and stood there for what felt like an age.
"Damnit." He muttered, slamming the window back down so hard that the glass cracked. "God fucking damnit." He strode back towards the door, sneering at C.C..
"Well, I guess you get your way." He said, contemptuously, before turning to the other two.
"Suzaku, Kallen." He said, nodding to both before sweeping out of the room and slamming the door behind him.
Weiss… had no idea what to make of any of that. The prince was clearly unhinged, or at the very least under a great deal of stress, and Weiss was beginning to deeply regret getting so involved in whatever in Oum's name this whole mess was supposed to be. Especially the fact that she could still feel Ruby pressed against her, typing furiously on her back while Weiss knelt in front of a keyhole in the dark, dusty closet, where the two of them were still trapped.
Still, Weiss watched as C.C. stared down at the ground, almost motionless. Kallen and Suzaku looked shell-shocked, staring at the now-closed door.
"Ah, Kallen, do you… want to go study, in the library?" Suzaku asked.
"Yes! Uh, yeah. That sounds good." Kallen said.
"C.C., do you…" Suzaku asked. C.C. didn't look up.
"Alright. We'll see you later, then." Suzaku said, picking up his books and heading to the door. Kallen leapt up from the bed and followed. Weiss would have been much more pleased at having only one more person to deal with, if it weren't for the fact that it was this person.
C.C. shook her head, then stopped. Bending down slowly, she lifted something off of the floor, slowly but surely. A brown, nondescript hand bag, notable only because it had belonged to Weiss up until a moment ago. C.C. stared at it. Then, she crumpled the sides as her hands clenched into fists. She began to glance around the room. Weiss made sure to close her eye as the woman's keen gold eyes swept over the room, and shuddered as she waited a few moments before opening it again. The green-haired woman hadn't noticed. Looping the handbag over her shoulder, C.C. turned and made her way out of the doorway, slamming it behind her.
"Are they gone?" Ruby whispered.
"Wait. We have to be sure." Weiss whispered back.
A minute passed. Then two. Her legs had begun to cramp horribly.
"We should be fine." Weiss said. She popped open the door and stumbled out into the room, followed by Ruby. Bizarrely, the first sensation that struck her was not the wondrous freedom of not being stuck in a box, but how cold and empty the room seemed. With her back suddenly open to the air, she felt much worse. It was almost enough to make her shiver. She looked over at Ruby, who grinned sheepishly and pointed at her scroll.
"Blake finally texted back. Do you want to go read some books with her before lunch? I'm, uh, not really big on the books, I'm more of a comics person, but, you know…" Ruby said. Weiss glanced back at the desk, and the rumpled sheets on the bed, and the closet.
"You know what? I think that's a great idea." Weiss said, and meant it. For today, at least, she'd endured more than enough nonsense related to the Britannian prince. It was time to focus on something else, for a little while at least.
Weiss and Ruby set out, moving carefully out into the hallway.