Lelouch stood at the doors of the Clubhouse. It would be a while until it would be safe to infiltrate the Black King's Palace again. It was imperative that he use those days wisely, cultivating as many of his bonds with his Confidants as possible so that he could continue to develop his powers. He was planning to meet with Kallen…
"Where are you going?" Arthur asked, strolling into view and standing in front of the door. "Aren't you tired? You should go to sleep."
"I'm fine," Lelouch replied.
"No… you've already done so much today…. you really should get to bed."
Lelouch couldn't recall doing anything out of the ordinary that would make him particularly tired.
Arthur advanced, his claws flashing menacingly. "You should go to sleep now…"
Lelouch woke up with a start. It had all been a nightmare…. What a strange dream… Why would he imagine Arthur as some kind of tyrant determined to steal all of his free time by forcing him to go to bed early? It made no sense…
Still, the point remained that he had to manage his time carefully over the next five to six days, and following up with Kallen wasn't a bad idea…
xXx
The arrival of the new transfer student that morning, Rolo Haliburton, was an unwelcome complication to their plans.
Outwardly, Rolo seemed to be an unassuming figure. He had short brown hair, violet eyes, and had something of a boyish look to him. Indeed, Rolo seemed to be younger than himself. The image that Rolo projected in his introduction was of well-mannered, slightly shy boy, and some may have found it difficult to reconcile that with someone who was undertaking an investigation of the mental shutdowns and the Black Knights.
Of course, Lelouch knew that appearances meant very little. Kallen for instance pretended to be a fragile wallflower here at Ashford Academy, and most of the school would probably never believe that she was a Black Knight just by looking at her.
There had to be a reason why Rolo had announced his role so openly. The most obvious reason was so that he would have an excuse to ask questions about the investigation without it seeming out of place, giving him more freedom to act and gather information. But there had to be a reason beyond that. Perhaps it was a defensive tactic. By publicly announcing himself and presenting such an affable front to the class, maybe he hoped he could deter action against him. Not only would it turn the students of Ashford Academy further against the Black Knights, but it would more importantly telegraph to his superiors that the Black Knights were still active at Ashford Academy, especially if they were to change Rolo's heart shortly after his introduction. And there was a possibility that "Haliburton" wasn't actually Rolo's last name. It was a long shot, but if by chance Rolo had managed to put together that the Black Knights needed the true names of their targets, he could have assumed a false name to throw them off track, knowing that it wouldn't do the Black Knights any good even if he were to proclaim it for the whole world to hear.
In any case, he wasn't expecting Milly to be so quick to invite the young detective to join them on the Student Council.
Such a move was of course dangerous, considering how many members of the Student Council were involved with the Black Knights. But in retrospect, it did have some merit as a stratagem, that one should keep their friends close and their enemies closer. By being so welcoming to Rolo, Milly and the other Black Knights on the Student Council were effectively saying, "We have nothing to hide." Moreover, it was an opportunity to keep closer tabs on the spy in their midst, and to have the perfect excuse to distract Rolo from his investigations by saddling him with busywork and other duties on behalf of the Student Council.
For her part, Shirley gave Rolo a warm welcome, as she would for anyone. Thinking of it, she was now the only member of the Student Council not in any way affiliated with Black Knights or otherwise safeguarding knowledge of his identity as Lelouch vi Britannia, as Suzaku was. Shirley was just a normal girl, and while she had suffered greatly under Coach Nu's reign, Lelouch found he was always impressed by how well she had rebounded back to her normal, bubbly self. That sort of carefree smile always lifted his spirits a little, and it was when they were together on the Student Council with their friends that he found he could, for a time, pretend that he was a normal teenager, enjoying a semblance of an ordinary life unlike any he would have had back in Pendragon or the one that he did have as the leader of the Black Knights. Such moments were precious to him. He had no reason to involve Shirley in any of the Black Knights' Metaverse shenanigans, just as he purposefully kept Nunnally ignorant of his role as Zero, and with any luck it would stay that way.
"Have you had much opportunity to do some sightseeing around the Settlement?" Milly asked Rolo.
"No. I've been busy with the investigation, and I was back in the homeland before that," Rolo replied.
"Aw, that's no fun!" Milly pouted. "All work and no play makes Rolo a dull boy!" Her eyes lit up. "I have an idea to fix that though. Why don't I have my ever-reliable Vice President show you around?"
What? Why him? But while he was the leader of the Black Knights in the Metaverse, Milly was still the President of the Student Council in reality, and it would give him the opportunity to gain greater insight into his new foe, so he decided to play along.
xXx
"The Settlement might be as grand as Pendragon, but I didn't appreciate just how big it really was until now," Rolo said as they finished their tour.
"You've been to Pendragon?" Lelouch asked, trying not to sound too suspicious.
"I've been on cases all across the Empire," Rolo replied. "I've never stayed in any one place for too long though. But this case is different. The methods used by the Black Knights to change the hearts of their targets and cause mental shutdowns are not easily discerned."
"Why do you think that the Black Knights and the killer responsible for the mental shutdowns are one and the same?" Lelouch asked. "The mental shutdowns were happening well before the Black Knights ever made themselves known, and they don't strike me as the sort of group that wouldn't claim credit for it, since they've always sent calling cards to their known targets."
"That's an excellent deduction," Rolo nodded. "Though it's not a popular theory, I actually have speculated along those lines myself." He paused. "Did you know that recently there has been another spate of killings that the police have been unable to explain thus far?"
"I haven't heard anything about it," Lelouch replied.
"It's been kept out of the press so far," Rolo continued, "but there's a criminal styling himself as Medjed who appeared on the scene recently, carrying out several acts of blackmail. Several of his targets have committed suicide. At least, that's what the police say. But there isn't any evidence that they caused any real physical harm to themselves. Though it's not exactly the same, the manner of death seems in many ways similar to a mental shutdown. Some of the victims disappeared for a short time too before their bodies were found."
"Why are you telling me this?" Lelouch asked. "I'm just a civilian."
"True," Rolo replied. "But you may be able to offer me a fresh perspective on things. Besides," he said with a faint smile. "I think I can trust you guys." His eyes turned downward. "The police don't take me seriously because I'm a kid, and the Viceroy is wary of anyone from the outside coming in to help with the investigation. It's like she thinks I'm there to spy on her."
"Is she wrong?"
Rolo chuckled. "I suppose not. I of course report on anything of interest that I discover during my investigations, but at this time I have no reason to suspect that Viceroy Cornelia is anything but loyal and carrying out her own investigation into the Black Knights to the best of her abilities. She's very determined to catch the Third Prince's killer."
"He was her half-brother," Lelouch nodded. "In spite of all those crimes he confessed to, people will go to any lengths for their families, and that's true of the Viceroy as well."
"Family, huh?" Rolo mused. "I think we'll get along just fine, Lelouch."
I am thou… thou art I
Thou hast acquired a new vow
It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity
With the birth of the Moon Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…
So he had forged a bond with the spy? Very well then… He would be sure to exploit this new bond to the fullest…
xXx
"Big brother, you're home!" Nunnally said happily as he walked into their living room in the Clubhouse.
"Sorry I'm late, Nunnally… I was showing the new transfer student around the Settlement."
"It's okay…. I got back later myself… I thought you would be here before me."
Lelouch paused. That was odd.
"What were you doing out so late, Nunnally?"
"My trip to the hospital took longer than expected," she replied.
That seemed reasonable enough, yet there was a nagging feeling in his mind that something wasn't quite right here.
Lelouch shook his head. What was he thinking? His little sister had never lied to him. Besides, she had been the one to make him promise to eat a thousand needles if he lied to her.
He hoped that she never found out…
"Do you think my sight will ever return, Lelouch?" she asked. "I know my legs were damaged beyond repair, but they say that my eyes should still work. There's just so much I wish I could see…"
Lelouch frowned. By all indications, Nunnally's blindness was psychosomatic. There was every reason that she could see again… if only she could come to terms with something as traumatic as seeing their mother murdered right in front of her…
"I think you will, one day," he told her, urged on by Kodama, a tree spirit and a Persona of the Star Arcana dwelling within him. The Star was a symbol of hope, and Kodama assured him that Nunnally could grow beyond her limitations.
His sister smiled gently. Thinking back to what Kallen had said to her mother, he continued, "I'll make a world more beautiful than the one you remember for when you open your eyes, Nunnally."
"You don't need to do anything for my sake," she replied. "All I need to be happy is you, big brother."
Lelouch felt the Star resonate within him, a fortuitous sign.
Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 15
"Why did you want to meet me here, Kallen?" Lelouch asked. They had arrived at the old Tokyo Tower. Damaged during the war, the top half of the iconic structure had fallen off, leaving just twisted metal above its main observation deck, which had been repurposed into the Britannian Victory Memorial Center. He couldn't imagine that it was because she was interested in the exhibits.
The museum featured a number of artifacts from the war: anti-tank guns, photographs of the first advance of Knightmare Frames in combat, maps of the conflict and more, so in a sense the museum could be considered educational, except for the fact that it was blatantly designed as as pro-Britannian propaganda. An audio guide on the loudspeaker system even said, "Britannia's resounding victory over Japan opened the unenlightened nation's eyes to it's true place in today's world order. Since then the Empire and Area 11 have walked hand in hand down the road to revival…"
It was the sort of thing that would make Kallen's blood boil.
No one seemed to think there was anything there was anything unusual about the two of them being there. Kallen could pass flawlessly as a full-blooded Britannian, and Lelouch was just another schoolboy to any onlookers. In fact, the other visitors probably thought they were just a couple out on date…
"I've been thinking about a lot of things, Lelouch," she said quietly as they stood beside each other, alone on the upper level of the observation deck, looking out at the city and the ghettos beyond. "You probably already know, but my mother has been transferred into a prison hospital."
He nodded somberly, still regretful that he hadn't been able to help her sooner. "How are you holding up, Kallen?"
"Things have been quiet around the house… my stepmother has mellowed out and no longer treats me like I'm a stain that she's forced to tolerate. She even called Dad and apologized for everything." She sighed. "But it's been too quiet… Naoto's dead, Mom's imprisoned, Dad's in the Empire, and my stepmother just carries on now that her desires have been stolen…. There's no life in there…"
"It needed to be done," he told her. If Mrs. Stadtfeld's desires had continued to run rampant, who knew what might have become of Kallen and her mother?
"I'm really sorry for the other day," Kallen said. "I was out of line…" She shook her head… "I can't forgive what Britannia did to us…. This awful museum represents everything Britannia has done to try to stamp out our culture… And when I look out into the city, I see the ghettos, where too many Japanese people live in poverty and desperation, while Britannians live in luxury right beside them, too wrapped up in themselves to care… or they delight in trying to crush what hope we have left." She sighed. "But not all Britannians are like that… I should know that better than anyone… " She let out a small, self-derisive laugh. "I rejected anything Britannian… but now my closest allies are Britannians…. and I even fell for a prince… I guess my mother and I aren't so different after all."
Wait, what? Had he just heard that correctly?
"Say something, Lelouch." Kallen said suddenly, her cheeks flushing a deep red. "This isn't easy for me to say, you know."
He had noticed that Kallen's behavior around him had changed lately… But she liked him in that way? He felt a sudden throbbing in his chest, throwing him off balance.
"What did you think would happen?" Kallen continued. "I had all but accepted that I would die trying to avenge my brother, but then you appeared, gave me something to fight for, and helped me awaken to my other self. You became our daring leader. Then... you got me to open my eyes about my mother, and were there for me when I needed it most..."
This was a very delicate moment. Whatever he said next could redefine his relationship with Kallen, for better or for worse. He knew he couldn't remain silent, since Kallen would take that as a rejection of her, which couldn't lead to anything good.
"From the very beginning, Kallen, you have been my most steadfast ally," he began. "Your determination has carried us to victory again and again. I can't say what the future will bring, Kallen, but no matter what happens we will walk that road together."
"Lelouch…" Kallen said, a look of pure happiness on her face. Without warning, she pulled him into an embrace and kissed him.
Huh? Where had that come from? He had just been trying to reaffirm the promise they had made to each other, but…
"I'm sorry if that was too forward of me…" Kallen said, looking away as she broke the kiss. "If I stole…"
Lelouch knew well enough that stealing somebody's first kiss without their consent was an especially serious taboo in Japanese culture. To merely engage in a public display of affection, let alone kiss someone, was considered far more intimate than in Britannian culture. She really was serious about this.
"Don't apologize, Kallen," he told her. It wouldn't do if the Queen of the Black Knights were to be paralyzed by self-doubt. And while unexpected... he couldn't quite say it was unwelcome.
"Thank you, Lelouch," she murmured.
There was an awkward pause.
"There is… something else I'd like to show you…" she said after a moment.
xXx
Lelouch joined Kallen back in her room at Stadtfeld Manor. Kallen walked back over to him, holding a framed photograph. It appeared to be a family photo, with Mount Fuji, unmarred by the Sakuradite mining operations in the background. There was a young Kallen on the left, an older boy with reddish-brown hair who could only be her brother, and a woman standing between them, whose face was covered by rabbit stickers.
Kallen slowly peeled off the stickers, revealing the face of her mother.
"I know the road ahead isn't going to be easy," she said. "The Black King, whose drugs laid my mother and so many Japanese low, is still out there. And we've only begun the fight against Britannia's tyranny. We really will be able to change the world for the better, right?"
"We've already fought so hard to get here," Lelouch replied. "And I won't pretend that the way ahead will be without sacrifices. But we will change the world. We must. Not only for your mother's sake, or my sister's, but for everyone oppressed by Britannia. We'll destroy this world and make it anew. You aren't having second thoughts now, are you, Kallen?"
She shook her head. "I've already made my choice, Lelouch. I'll follow you, to the very end."
I am thou… thou art I
Thou hast turned a vow into a blood oath
Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion
And break the yoke of thy heart.
Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret
of the Chariot, granting thee infinite power…
A voice, much like Tsu's, rang out in his mind. "You shall now be able to fuse Haraedo-no-Okami, the most powerful Persona of the Chariot Arcana…" The voice turned into a snicker. "When you're strong enough, that is."
Lelouch suddenly felt a powerful resonance in the bond between him and Kallen, and a pulse of power was released. Suddenly, the two of them were alone in a sea of blue. Suzuka Gozen appeared before them, the chains connecting it to Kallen shattering as blue-white energy converged around it. There was a flash, and Suzuka Gozen was engulfed in light.
Kallen gasped.
As the light cleared, Suzuka Gozen has been transfigured… Kallen's Persona was still red, but its claws were now golden, and the female bandit was now heavily armored, more closely resembling a Knightmare Frame than anything else. No… it wasn't just a bandit anymore… Kallen's Persona let out a roar promising only damnation, the sonic blast unleashed threatening to scour away anything in its path. Infernal wings, blazing with nuclear energy, spread wide, and Lelouch knew it wasn't just a Knightmare Frame either.
It was a demon, and an embodiment of hell.
"Is this my true power?" Kallen whispered in awe. "Guren Jigoku… The Crimson Hell."
Kallen flexed her fingers, and Guren Jigoku did so as well.
"Incredible… and it's all thanks to you."
Guren Jigoku faded from view, and Lelouch and Kallen found themselves back in reality.
"To think I had such power within me all along…" Kallen murmured. "With this, nothing will stop us. We'll crush that Black King and defeat Britannia together!" She declared, clenching her hand into a fist.
"All in due time," he told her.
"I know…" Kallen frowned. "We've got to wait for that blasted security to loosen up. Even if I do feel like I could take on the Empire right now."
They sat together in silence, still processing the miracle they had witnessed.
Finally, Kallen spoke up. "We still have some time… don't we…"
"Yes," Lelouch nodded. What was she getting at?
"I am your Queen, right?"
"Of course."
"Then prove it, Zero."
He swallowed.
xXx
Lelouch arrived back late from the Stadtfeld Manor that night.
Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 14
xXx
Cell walls lined in Blue Velvet appeared before Lelouch as his eyes opened.
"Welcome, Trickster," Igor's deep voice said as he leaned lazily in his chair. "I must congratulate you on making a major step forward on your rehabilitation."
"Must you be a voyeur?" Lelouch replied irritably.
"I would be remiss in my duties if I did not follow the development of your bonds closely," Igor chuckled.
"Score!" Incubus hooted within him.
Lelouch scowled. "Tsu?"
"Yes, Inmate?" She asked, a mocking smile on her face.
"Execute Incubus for me."
"Wait! No! I didn't mean-" the Persona shrieked as Tsu dragged it over to the guillotine and roughly thrust a sack over its head.
The blades fell, beheading Incubus and Makami, and giving rise to a new Persona.
"I'm High Pixie. They don't call me a 'high' pixie for nothing! I'll be your mask and show you the real reason why!" the Persona said as it fluttered above the floor of the Velvet Room on four wings, infused with the power of his bond, however reluctant, with Igor.
"So much for that nuisance," Lelouch muttered to himself as High Pixie vanished.
"Pleased with your conquest, Inmate?" Tsu asked, smiling maliciously as ever.
"You…"
"Unlike poor Incubus there, you can't execute me," Tsu smirked. "You're still far too weak to pose even the slightest challenge to me."
"Can you and Mr. Inmate stop fighting?" Shi asked, looking uncomfortable.
"This is a conversation for grown-ups, little sister," Tsu chastised. "You shouldn't be eavesdropping on it."
"I want to summon Andras," Lelouch sighed. He needed a replacement Devil Persona for his meetings with Diethard.
"Are you sure?" Tsu asked. "Whereas Incubus is a demon of lust, Andras is a demon of wrath…. The devil you know may be better than the devil you don't."
"I don't care. Just summon Andras."
"That will be thirty-two pounds and twenty-six pence," she replied. "You're buying me a lot of pizza."
"Be quiet."
The pages of the Compendium flipped, and a Persona with the body of a man, angelic wings, and an owl's head appeared.
"I am Andras. You want to make me your mask...? You're an odd one. Don't blame me if you end up getting killed."
Lelouch continued to summon Personas from the Compendium, and instructed the sisters to execute Obariyon and Nekomata. From their demise emerged a Persona with the form of a skeletal bullfighter.
"I am Matador. This body of mine, born from the bloody throes of battle, shall be with you as a mask from now on."
"I believe this is what you wanted?" he asked Tsu. "Matador with Magaru?"
"Hmmm…," she said, inspecting the Persona. "Do you know why I asked to you make Matador?"
"Because a Matador must face death head on, waiting until the last possible moment to make his move," Lelouch replied.
"And like all men, he eventually dies no matter what he does," Tsu finished. "It's pointless. So why go on?"
"I wouldn't expect you to understand. You're cloistered away from humanity here. There is so much to life that you've closed yourself off to."
Tsu glared at him.
"So what Persona will I have to make for you this time?" He asked after a moment.
"My next request is nothing so trite as a Persona fusion," she replied.
"What is it then?"
"I'm not telling."
"What are you planning?" He asked suspiciously.
"You'll see," Tsu smirked.
The prison bell rang.
"It is time for you to return to the real world, Trickster," Igor said. "Until we meet again…"
xXx
Lelouch blinked his eyes. The night before seemed like a blur…. Had that really happened, or had it been just a dream? Was Incubus still taunting him from beyond the grave even now?
He felt something lying next to him on the bed. Was that… Kallen? No… that didn't make sense. Kallen had a four-poster bed. This was definitely his own bed and his own room. So who was that next to…
"I see you're awake, Inmate."
Lelouch leaped out of his bed at once.
"No… that's impossible… you can't be here! I must still be dreaming!"
"Says who?" the green-haired girl asked, her golden eyes glinting in the morning light as she stretched herself out on his bed. "You know, you were right about something, Inmate. I had forgotten just how comfortable a proper bed could be."
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, still staring at Tsu in disbelief. "You only show up in the real world to guard the entrance to the Velvet Room!" he hissed.
"It seems you're not as observant as I thought," Tsu said, glancing toward the wall. Lelouch turned to follow her gaze.
"Since when has that been there?!"
An entrance to the Velvet Room had appeared in his bedroom, its ghostly bars faintly glowing blue.
"I just put it there," Tsu replied offhandedly. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. If anything, you should be thanking me, Inmate. Now it's more convenient than ever for you to execute Personas or summon up replacements from the Compendium."
"You still haven't answered my original question: what are you doing here?"
"Are you usually this slow in the morning, Inmate? You said I cloistered myself away from humanity. So I've decided to manifest myself more fully in this world."
She was infuriating! But he was powerless to force her to leave his room. Tsu looked human, but she was a being of the collective unconscious of unfathomable power, and if there was any truth to her boasting, she could effortlessly annihilate him on a whim.
"Relax… I can't use my Personas outside of the Metaverse…" Tsu said, as if reading his thoughts. "For most practical purposes, I'm just a normal girl here."
Unsaid was the threat, "Cross me in this world and I will make you pay the next time you return to the Velvet Room." And of course, those purposes for which Tsu could not be considered a normal girl while in the real world would probably be the most important ones.
"To answer your question, my request is that you permit me to observe you more closely in this world, Inmate. I'll think of something more specific later."
"Master Lelouch? Is someone with you?"
That was Sayoko's voice.
How was he supposed to explain this to her?
"I thought you said people couldn't hear you in the real world," Lelouch hissed to Tsu.
"That used to be the case, but now that I've so manifested myself, I can interact with it and the people in it on equal footing to you." She smirked. "You'd better hurry. I'm interested to hear your explanation as well, Inmate."
Scratch everything he had thought about Rolo being an unwelcome distraction. A spy he might be, but he was nothing compared to Tsu's antics, which were already testing the limits of his patience.
What had he gotten himself into?
A/N:
Veterans of Persona 5 will recognize what Lelouch's nightmare at the start of the chapter is a reference to.
Originally, I planned for the writing the completion of Kallen's Confidant slightly later in the story, but the scene seemed to flow for me, and there's no reason why Lelouch wouldn't be able to do Ranks 9 and 10 consecutively, since he isn't bound by game rules (or a cat demanding that he go to bed). However, I always intended for her Confidant to be maxed around or a bit before the Black King, and in canon she fell for her masked leader Zero fairly and became his most loyal follower early on, though she likely didn't act further on it at the time. Later, near the end of R2, she does kiss Lelouch in canon, and when she does, she is the one to initiate it. While she is still Lelouch's suboordinate in this story, in a sense they are on much more equal terms than in canon, as they are both Persona users, and knowing Lelouch's identity from near the start of the story helped break down barriers that would have otherwise formed between them.
Guren Jigoku, Kallen's ultimate Persona, is one of the Eight Cold Hells in Buddhism, which has been personified here into a Persona with the form of a Knightmare Frame. Generally, Guren Jigoku looks like Guren Seiten Eight Elements, Kallen's canonical final mech in the original series, but more demonic and "alive". Sinners are flayed by freezing, scouring winds in Guren Jigoku, leaving their bloody bodies crimson, like the Crimson Lotus (Guren). It thus a bit ironic that Kallen should have an ice weakness still, but searing radiation could produce a similarly gruesome effect, and nuclear skills in P5 do bonus technical damage against frozen, burned, or shocked targets. Moreover, all ultimate Personas in P5 are either underworld deities or gods/demons that rebelled against the powers of their respective mythologies (or both), and having one that made a nod to Kallen's canon mech (the Guren) was too good to pass up.
Guren Jigoku's elemental attributes are upgraded from Suzuka Gozen as follows: Resist Nuke becomes Null Nuke, and Guren Jigoku gains resistance to Curse. Additionally, Guren Jigoku learns Evade Ice; it's still weak to ice, but it will be much harder to actually strike that weakness now.
As for the strongest Persona of the Chariot Arcana, this is originally Chi You in P5. I changed it to Haraedo-no-Okami because a Shinto goddess seemed more fitting for the conclusion of Kallen's Confidant than a Chinese deity, and as a nod to P4 Golden, where Haraedo-no-Okami is an evolved form of Suzuka Gozen (though not suiting the rebellion theme for Kallen's own ultimate Persona). That being said, Chi You still is a Persona that Lelouch can potentially fuse in this story - just the second strongest Chariot Persona instead.
As for Tsu, the twist of her appearing in Lelouch's room about halfway through her Confidant was planned from the start, and while her previous requests followed the canonical P5 fusion requests from Justine and Caroline, the second half of her Confidant will now diverge significantly from them.
Lastly, the chapter title itself. "Swear to My Bones" is the name of the theme that plays in Persona 5 when one of Joker's allies obtains their ultimate Persona.