Lelouch didn't have a chance to hear from his teammates until late at night, when they had safely made their way back to their homes or dormitories. Their reports of what had happened were every bit as disturbing as he had feared. Someone in the crowd had activated a flash grenade without warning, momentarily stunning everyone around Princess Euphemia, and had used the opportunity to drag her off, seemingly vanishing without a trace. A few guests had caught a glimpse of the princess's assailant, a man in a black mask, and the cry that the Black Knights were attacking was taken up by the crowd.
Leila and Milly had wanted to rush to Euphemia's assistance, but had been unable to do so. Leila had still been in Schneizel's presence when the flash grenade went off, and Milly had been drawn closer to the Second Prince too, as he was her fiancé's employer. If they had moved as soon as the blinding light filled the room, then perhaps they could have slipped away from the crowd to pursue the kidnapper into the Metaverse, but they were stunned just like everyone else. By the time they had recovered, guards begun closing in, forming a protective cordon around the Second Prince and the other nobles in his vicinity, who were among the highest-ranking in attendance.
Leila told Lelouch that Schneizel had sensed her distress, and grasped her firmly by the shoulder. Schneizel had said that he knew that she was a friend of Euphy's, but that she would be putting herself into greater danger if she went after her, and that she should let the Knights of the Round and Sir Kururugi do their job. Of course, Schneizel being Schneizel, he would know that Euphemia supposedly visited her regularly, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the Second Prince knew more about their meetings than he let on. In any case, she had little chance of pulling away from the Second Prince's powerful grip, and tempted as she was, she couldn't simply use aikido to turn Schneizel's superior mass against him and throw him to the ground. That would be the fastest possible way to get herself arrested and branded as a traitor.
Shirley came to him directly, arriving at the door of the Student Council's clubhouse, badly shaken. According to Shirley's account, she had been further away from Schneizel than the others when Euphemia was abducted, outside the protective ring of guards. The princess's assailant matched Nunnally's description of the Black Mask, and since he hadn't killed Euphemia immediately, Shirley guessed that he had taken the Third Princess into the Metaverse, just as Mao had kidnapped her earlier that summer.
Practically unknown among the guests at the party, Shirley had realized that no one would notice if she slipped away during the chaos, and so she had done. She entered the Palace as soon as she was sure that she was out of sight and wouldn't be pulling in any innocents when she activated the MetNav.
"You went into the Palace by yourself?!" Lelouch asked, aghast. He was very much aware that his reaction was hypocritical, given how he had snuck into her Palace alone, which had rightfully earned him a scolding from Kallen. But going deep into a Palace without support would be practically suicide for all but the most powerful Persona-users.
A Wild Card like himself could at least adapt to the many enemies within a Palace, and with a wide enough repertoire of Personas could effectively resist or nullify most attacks that they might throw at him, while exploiting their weaknesses. Even then, going into a Palace by himself for any extended period was a bad idea, as he would have to be constantly calling upon his Personas, which would very quickly deplete his reserves, leaving him incapable of casting spells. But Shirley had only one Persona, with a weakness that she couldn't cover on her own. If she were to be ambushed by a Shadow that could cast Mudoon...
He felt as if a knife had been plunged into his heart. As far as they knew, magic like Recarm and Samarecarm only had a narrow window in which it could work. It wasn't the sort of thing that he could test without unacceptably risking his fellow Black Knights, but it would almost certainly be too late before anyone anyone could find her, especially in a Palace as large as Gao Hai's.
"I know, Lulu..." Shirley said, her head down. "I guess this means I can't get mad at you for doing the same anymore. It was stupid of me." She shook her head. "But there's more," she whispered.
"What is it, Shirley?" Lelouch asked slowly.
"It's - it's Suzaku..." she stammered. "He... he's a Persona-user! He was already there, and he was fighting the Black Mask!"
"Suzaku's a Persona-user?! Are you absolutely sure about this, Shirley?" Lelouch pressed, suddenly finding himself holding onto her arms tightly, while looking intently into her green eyes.
"Lulu, you're hurting me," Shirley managed.
He let go of her at once. "I'm sorry, Shirley," he said with sincere contrition. "I would never intentionally-"
"It's okay, Lulu," she said with a faint smile to put him at ease. "I know you weren't trying to hurt me." Her smile changed to a frown. "But it was definitely Suzaku. After spending so much time around him on the Student Council, I'd recognize his voice anywhere, and his outfit barely changed in the Metaverse from what he was wearing at the ball. The only difference was that he had a mask, like some sort of red bird. It was kind of like Nunna's mask, but his was more of the bird's face and beak, while hers looks more like the wings."
Lelouch let out a bitter laugh.
"What is it, Lulu?" Shirley asked apprehensively.
"This explains so much, Shirley. It's not a coincidence that Suzaku got made a knight and turns out to be a Persona-user as well. No, Schneizel made Suzaku a Knight because he's a Persona-user. We know that Schneizel knows of Cognitive Psience, and he probably knows a lot more than he let on to Earl Asplund at Kamine Island. Schneizel's never been one to put all of his cards on the table, not when they can be held until the proper moment to be revealed as trumps. But who better to act as one's bodyguard than a Persona-user at one's beck and call, especially when there's a killer on the loose in the Metaverse?"
Lelouch shook his head. "We have to assume that Suzaku's been a Persona-user at least since he transferred into Ashford Academy. Mark my words, Schneizel was his noble benefactor back then too." He paused. "Did you see his Persona?"
"It looked like a white knight, but mechanical, almost like a Knightmare Frame. I think he called it 'Lancelot', Lulu. My Persona doesn't have analysis abilities like Bishop or Land's, but it seemed at least as powerful as Queen's Persona."
"And did he see you, Shirley?"
"I'm... not sure," Shirley admitted anxiously. "But he saw Noire in her thief suit! What are we going to do, Lulu?"
Damn! It should have been obvious, given that Schneizel had publicly credited Suzaku with saving Euphemia, but that was the last thing that Lelouch wanted to hear. Still, he needed to put on a brave face, for Shirley's sake.
"He knows that Princess Euphemia has been to the Metaverse before. That's not enough by itself for him to prove that she's a Black Knight. We all need to stay calm, and carry on like nothing's wrong. If we act out of the ordinary, our detective friend on the Student Council, or even Suzaku himself, will notice that something's amiss."
Shirley nodded, though she still seemed anxious. "You're right, Lulu." She paused. "There's something else I wanted to tell you, Lulu... But I don't think this is the right time..."
"You know you can tell me anything Shirley, don't you?"
She laughed a bit. "Oh, it's nothing like that, Lulu! It can wait, for when we're all in a better frame of mind."
He didn't sense that she was trying to hide things from him. "Very well, then. This was never going to be easy, Shirley. But I'm glad that you're safe."
He wrapped his arms comfortingly around her, with none of his earlier roughness. After several moments, their lips met, a kiss offering each other solace, but so very different from their first kiss together under the rain. That kiss had been wrong for both of them, but this one felt right, as the Lovers Arcana resonated within his soul.
xXx
While Shirley had been able to soothe his nerves for a time, his anxieties came back with a vengeance as he tried to sleep. His mind was too busy trying to make sense of everything that had happened at the ball, and it turned his fears for his teammates into nightmares.
Euphy suffered a psychotic breakdown at the hands of Britannia's agents, causing her to go on a murderous rampage, a machine gun blazing in her hands, before ultimately perishing from a mental shutdown. Shirley lay in a pool of her own blood, slowly leaking from her stomach, having been caught alone and ambushed by the Black Mask. Milly and Leila were arrested for treason. Nunnally was subjected to the same ghastly experiments that the other Irregulars had been, while the Cognitive Psience researchers expressed interest in dissecting Arthur to learn how a cat could use a Persona.
And then Kallen was laughing as she walked off with Gino, who had an arm wrapped around her, at the ball...
In spite of the horrors that he had just been treated to, it was then that Lelouch knew for sure that he was dreaming. He promptly woke up, though the absurdity of the last scenario didn't stop him from being drenched in sweat.
"Having bad dreams, Trickster?" Tsu asked, her golden eyes looking into his violet ones as she laid next to him on his bed.
"You should talk," Lelouch replied irritably.
"You're worried about them. Your teammates, I mean. I heard you saying their names in your sleep."
Lelouch grimaced at his warden seeing such a vulnerable side of himself, but after the moment he controlled his expression and replied,"Of course I am."
"They are your greatest weakness," Tsu murmured. "But at the same time, they are your greatest strength, Trickster, an intrinsic part of your power." There was a wry expression on her face. "I admit, Trickster, I was long envious of your bonds with others. For who knows how long, all I had was my sister." She shook her head. "But that was true for you once too."
Lelouch nodded, grimly recalling wandering across the war-torn Japanese countryside, carrying Nunnally on his back.
"The two of you have suffered - and grown - so much. Even now, more fates intertwine themselves with yours." She reached out to comfort him in an almost motherly manner. "Your greatest challenges still lie ahead, Trickster, but I look forward to seeing you overcome them." She smirked slightly. "I once said that you wouldn't even stand a chance against us. You're not there yet, but at the rate you're progressing, it won't be too much longer before you're able to fight my sister and I on equal terms." Tsu's smirk widened. "Both of us look forward to testing you, Trickster."
xXx
Somehow, he had been able to sleep again after that. Ominous as Tsu's interest in dueling him may have seemed, he knew that it was her way of seeing if he was strong enough to help them overthrow Igor. That she thought he would be able to do so sooner rather than later bode well for his plans.
Breakfast would have once been a highly unusual sight. Tsu joined him, and Shi came in as well, pushing Nunnally in her wheelchair as they emerged from her room. A few months ago, Lelouch would have found a pair of supernatural beings casually sitting in his dining room where his little sister or Sayoko might see them as a cause for alarm. But Nunnally was now as much a part of that world as he was, and while his maid was not a fellow phantom thief in the Metaverse, he had still introduced Sayoko to that world. She had even now worked with them on an official operation of the Black Knights.
There would of course still be misunderstandings on Sayoko's part, but it was better for Sayoko to be introduced to Tsu as "an accomplice" rather than continuing to think of the elder warden as some kind of dominatrix, and that he was her client. As for Shi, the younger warden was there as one of Nunnally's friends, which wasn't even a lie, strictly speaking. Sayoko probably assumed Shi to actually be another member of the Irregulars, like Alice, and Lelouch wasn't going to correct that misconception.
In hindsight he was thankful of the fact it was the older-looking Tsu and not Shi who decided to occasionally claim his bed as her own without asking. Sayoko might tolerate and even encourage many of his alleged kinks, but having that particular misunderstanding involve the younger sister instead, who had the appearance of a girl barely older than ten if even that, was something else entirely. At least when Shi did so with Nunnally, it was and would appear to be something more wholesome and innocent.
Sayoko was going about her usual duties, as if she hadn't been busy infiltrating the Chinese Federation Consulate just the night before, though she looked more content than usual. Was it because she had finally been able to fully put her skills as a ninja to use after so many years?
In any case, Sayoko had prepared an extra-large warm breakfast, taking their green-haired guests into account all with her usual efficiency. It turned out to be a breakfast pizza, topped with eggs, sausage, bacon, diced tomatoes, and some greens as garnishes. Had Tsu been talking to his maid behind his back?
It wasn't what he would have prepared for himself and Nunnally if given the choice, but it did taste good, and the look of pure happiness on Shi's face was enough that Lelouch couldn't possibly hold it against her. Maybe they all needed something like that to lighten the mood, because Lelouch could see that the events of the ball were weighing on his little sister's mind as well.
"Do you think... Euphy's going to be okay?" Nunnally finally asked.
"Physically, she's fine," Lelouch replied after a moment. "We know that for a fact thanks to Shirley," he said, grimacing once again at the thought of the risk that she had taken. "But Cornelia will also tighten Euphy's security after an incident like this, so it will be more difficult for her to sneak out to join us going forward."
Nunnally frowned. "And... Suzaku... he's really a Persona-user?"
Lelouch nodded. "Shirley swears that he was there in the Metaverse too, fighting the Black Mask."
Nunnally's frown grew. "You don't think... that we'll have to fight... Suzaku?" she asked.
"Neither of us wants to have to fight Suzaku," Lelouch told her. "He's our friend after all," he told her reassuringly. But in the next moment, his voice hardened. "But if it comes down to it, neither of us can afford to hesitate, not even for Suzaku's sake. I'm sure that's a reality you accepted, Nunnally, when you first became the leader of the Irregulars."
"Of course she did," Tsu interrupted. "As one of our Inmates, she knows that she is responsible for all of her own actions, and whatever consequences they might bring."
"But does Miss Nunnally really have to-" Shi started, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
"It's okay, Shi," Nunnally said, gently taking the younger warden's hand in her own. She sighed. "It was a possibility that I tried my best not to think about... but all that meant was that Nemo knew all about it, and wouldn't let me forget it either."
That made sense. Any thoughts that the conscious self tried to suppress became part of one's Shadow, and his sister's Shadow was anything but quiet.
"No, not now," Nunnally said irritably, seemingly to herself, but Lelouch knew better. Her Shadow manifested itself in the real world as a sort of hallucination that only she could see or hear, but it was far more real than any mere figment of her imagination.
It was not for the first time that he wondered why the situation with Nunnally's Shadow was so different than it had been for Shirley's Shadow. Both had come face to face with their Shadows, and accepted their other selves, but Shirley had never said anything that would indicate that her Shadow had been anything but a quiet guardian ever since it had become her Persona. It wasn't the same as when he conversed with his Persona's either. While he might be able to hear his Personas speak in their own voices and even picture them in his mind's eye, he never envisioned them as actually occupying a place in the real world, as Nunnally did for her Shadow.
Lelouch shook his head. He had no good answer for that question, and it wasn't something that he could dwell on, when the situation with Suzaku and Euphemia was far more pressing. As long as Nunnally was safe, he wouldn't pursue the issue further.
"In any case, we know beyond a doubt that we have another secret Persona-user on the Student Council now," he told her. "We have to be even more cautious than ever before. That goes especially because one of them is Suzaku. Don't lower your guard for a moment, Nunnally."
Nunnally nodded gravely.
Lelouch was about to end the conversation there, when he remembered there was one more thing that had happened at the ball that he had to tell his little sister about.
"Did I mention that I ran into Marrybell at the ball? I was going to play against Leila in the Consul-General's office, but Schneizel threw a wrench into that plan, so I ended up playing against Marrybell instead. I didn't realize it was her at first though. She had come to the party incognito."
"You didn't, big brother," Nunnally replied. She gave him a curious look. "That's odd, isn't it? I mean, Euphy's snuck off on her own before, but why would Marrybell be sneaking into a party?"
"I don't know, but it felt like she knew more than she was letting on. She even lied right to Gao Hai's face to help us, and threatened a diplomatic incident if he arrested any of us."
"You don't think that-" Nunnally started.
Besides his little sister, Shi shifted uncomfortably, which both of the vi Britannia siblings immediately picked up on.
"You know something, Shi, don't you?" Lelouch asked, looking intently into her golden eyes.
"Um... I'm... really sorry, M-Mr. Trickster," Shi began to stammer. "P-please don't get mad at me."
"Have I ever hurt you, Shi?" Lelouch asked gently.
"No... but I... I can't..." Shi continued.
"Shi can't tell you," Tsu cut in suddenly. "And neither can I, so don't ask. It's confidential."
Lelouch laughed.
"What's so funny, Trickster?" Tsu demanded, her eyes narrowing.
Lelouch smirked. "You've already told me everything that I need to know."
"You don't have any proof, Trickster," Tsu replied. "That's a leap in logic, and you know it."
"Nonetheless, it's true, isn't it?" Lelouch continued to smirk. "Proof will come in time." He turned back to Nunnally. "We'll be crossing paths with Marrybell again," he said, "likely sooner rather than later."
He saw a look of understanding in Nunnally's eyes. "So she's-"
His smirk spread to a grin.
"Indeed, Nunnally. I look forward to it."
xXx
Ashford Academy was abuzz the next morning. Firstly, there was the news of the brazen attack, supposedly perpetrated by the Black Knights, at the Chinese Federation Consulate the night before, leading to the short-lived abduction of Princess Euphemia. This was largely met with shock and outrage, but to his displeasure, Lelouch knew that there were some who frequented KnightWatch who had praised them for Euphemia's kidnapping.
Such notoriety would of course advance the objectives of the Black Knights in certain ways, such as helping them access deeper levels of Mementos, which would be necessary if they were to strike at the Treasure of the Public. He didn't care if the Black Knights were seen as heroes or villains either. But those who not only thought that the Black Knights were terrorists who who preyed upon the weak but glorified such acts were little better than the criminals and corrupt nobles that the true Black Knights stood against. As such, Lelouch had seen to it that a message was posted on KnightWatch under his handle as Zero, formally denying responsibility for Princess Euphemia's kidnapping, condemning such a cowardly act, and promising to bring the true perpetrator to justice.
But the other topic, which consumed far more of the school's attention, was the official transfer of Countess Leila Bresigau to Ashford Academy on the first day of the new term.
To their credit, the Ashfords had done what they could to ensure Leila's privacy once she was on campus. Due to her celebrity status, there would always be some paparazzi, and there were some reporters who wanted to interview her about her return to the public eye and what she had seen at the masquerade ball. But far more were preoccupied with Princess Euphemia herself, keeping their numbers to a minimum.
However, holding back the attention of the student body would always have been an impossible task.
As Leila would later recount, they had given her a wide enough berth at first, allowing her to make her way to her new homeroom without interruption. Few wanted to risk making a poor first impression upon her.
She was far from the only noble attending Ashford Academy, but the others, like Kallen, lacked substantive titles of their own. Leila was a Countess in her own right, with all of the privileges thereof, and as such automatically ranked higher than any other student at Ashford in Britannia's social hierarchy, royals in exile notwithstanding. Moreover, like the rest of the Tokyo Settlement, most of the students believed that Countess Breisgau would have become Princess Leila la Britannia if not for the untimely death of Prince Clovis. A number also remembered seeing her on the same stage as the Emperor during the broadcast of Clovis' state funeral. All of this served to put her even further above them.
Of course, that wouldn't stop Leila from receiving plenty of stares, some envious, some infatuated, even a few openly lustful as she continued to make her way to homeroom. That she would receive some amount of unwanted attention whenever she was out in public was sadly a given, especially when the mystique of a new transfer student was added on top of everything else. But if all went as planned, the opportunity Leila would have to spend more time with and develop friendships with the other members of the Black Knights on the Student Council would more than outweigh such negatives.
What Lelouch did not plan for was Leila joining his own homeroom.
In retrospect, he shouldn't have been so surprised. Milly probably arranged for Leila to be assigned to his homeroom so that she would have friends around her from the start. But there Leila was, standing at the front of the classroom, already dressed in Ashford Academy's female uniform. Though modest in of itself, the uniform's cream blazer couldn't hide a bust that was rivaled only by Milly's. Leila also had the same short black skirt that the other girls in the Black Knights wore while they were at Ashford, and for a moment Lelouch found himself wondering if it was an intentional design choice on Milly's part, or if the uniform had always been like that.
The only place where Leila made a small deviation from the standard uniform was her socks. Most girls at Ashford Academy wore dark socks that cut off below the knees, but Leila's black socks reached up to her thighs. By itself, it wasn't a big deal; Kallen also routinely wore socks that were longer than regulation and lighter in color. Lelouch found it more notable in Leila's case for being a holdover from her St. Lucy's uniform. But then there was how the smooth black fabric sheathed Leila's sleek legs and left a tantalizing glimpse of exposed skin between their tops and the hem of her skirt-
"Like what you see?" a perky female voice asked inside his head.
Lilim! He should have known it was her from the moment that such impure thoughts intruded into his mind.
"You just got out of Lockdown," Lelouch thought angrily," but you still haven't learned your lesson?"
"Sure I did!" Lilim replied. "Bless magic won't bother me anymore after what those two wardens of yours put me through. And I'm not going to be giving you any dreams like that again any time soon. You couldn't let yourself appreciate it, and I'm not suicidal," Lilim pouted. "This is all real."
"Keep it up, and I'll have you executed anyway," Lelouch thought back.
"You big meanie! You just can't keep killing off your own desires and act like it's healthy! Trying to repress them for too long will only make things worse! You saw what happened to your little sister, didn't you? She repressed her anger for so long that it became too powerful for her to fully control!"
That... actually gave him pause.
"I've mastered my Shadow," Lelouch told his other self, though he spoke no words. "That's what Arsene was, before he became my Persona."
"You don't get it, silly!" Lilim replied, sounding annoyed. "I was just as much as part of your Shadow as he was, and if you kill me, that's where I'll return to, deep in the dark, forgotten parts of the sea of your soul. No matter what, I'm always a part of you, a silent voice begging you not to let life's pleasures pass you by."
"You mean carnal pleasures."
Lilim ignored his interruption.
"Even Incubus is still there, and last I saw him, he's just itching to get out." In his mind's eye, Lelouch pictured Lilim shaking her head. "Besides, we both know that you're so much smarter that that. You've mastered your Shadow? Please. You draw strength from others, but you must know how frail your heart truly is, deep down. That's why you were so afraid of intimacy for the longest time. And its weaknesses are never fully vanquished either. Given the opportunity, it can betray you and return to darkness."
"A devil like you would know all about that."
"That's right!"
Lelouch found that his urge to execute Lilim for her cheek was quickly fading. She wasn't exactly being silent right now, but she had reminded him of something Leila had once told him. "The silent voice within your heart will whisper the most profound wisdom." It probably wasn't a coincidence that Lilim had used those words either. She was a part of him, after all. His memories were also her memories.
"You've given me much to think about, Lilim. Now quiet down before I change my mind and decide to execute you after all."
The Persona complied, and fell silent.
As that conversation had been carried out entirely in his head, and he was a very quick thinker, it hadn't taken much time in reality, though he hoped Leila hadn't noticed when he, under Lilim's influence, had given her a lecherous stare. She already had far too many people who were after her just for her money and/or her looks, and Lelouch respected Leila and her intellect far too much for that. He didn't want her to think he was like all of her other suitors.
Lelouch caught himself. No, he wasn't one of Leila's suitors. He was already in a relationship with both Kallen and Shirley. He wasn't going to betray either of them to pursue Leila.
But that line of thinking was eerily familiar to Lelouch. Not even two weeks before, Shirley had been in the exact same position that Leila was in now.
And just like Shirley before her, he was in love with Leila.
It was getting too obvious for him to deny it to himself any longer. It may have started out as bonding over a shared interest in chess and tactics, and the desire to be with someone that they didn't have to wear a mask around, but it had become more before either of them could realize it. His decision to make her his de facto second-in-command of the Black Knights had been a pragmatic one, as her extrasensory abilities in the Metaverse, analytical skills, and tactical acumen had made her best suited to lead their group if anything were ever to happen to him, but it had also served to deepen the trust between them. Each meeting they had outside the Metaverse had further strengthened their bond, and while Leila had fallen for him first, he hadn't been much behind her.
Had it only really been a bit over a month ago that he had had told Leila not to say that she was in love with with him too? How cruel he must have seemed at the time. He had first suggested that Leila transfer to Ashford Academy, thinking that if she had other friends, she might be able to move on past her own crush on him, or so he had consciously told himself at the time. But had part of him wanted her closer to him all along? It would still be good for her to have more friends at school, but the original reasoning had broken down completely.
Over the last month, the evidence had continued to pile up. Feelings of protectiveness toward her, and more than just simple irritation at the other suitors who hounded her... The erotic dream Lilim had given him, in which Leila had a starring role alongside Kallen and Shirley... That had practically beaten him over the head with the fact that he was physically attracted to Leila as well, but that attraction had gone back much further. From their first meeting, he had noticed her beauty, back when his heart had only begun to thaw, even as he had denied it to Milly at the time. For a long time, he had pushed those thoughts from his mind as he focused on leading the Black Knights and entered a relationship with Kallen, but now they had crept back to the fore.
"My name is Leila Breisgau," her heard her saying at the front of the class. He had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't even heard their homeroom teacher ask her to introduce herself. "I've just transferred here from St. Lucy's Academy. But please, don't feel the need to use my title. I don't want to be known as 'Countess', or 'Lady Breisgau' while I'm here at Ashford Academy. Just 'Leila' is fine. I'm just an ordinary student here, like anyone else, and I look forward to getting to know you all."
There was a small round of applause at the end of her speech, but also a rush of whispering and a number of appreciative whistles. Immediately irked by the crass display, which could not have made Leila feel comfortable, Lelouch couldn't help but overhear some of his classmates' conversations.
"Are we lucky or what? And we already had all of our year's biggest hotties in our class!"
"No kidding... she's drop-dead gorgeous! Is it any wonder that she was able to charm a prince?"
"She looks even better in person than in pictures or on TV..."
"Yeah... I thought she had to be made-up, or that the pictures were edited somehow... but she really looks like that."
"She's so lucky..." a girl said dreamily.
"I'd be her prince..." a boy's voice said cheekily.
"You're already planning to make a move on her? You're disgusting!"
"Didn't she say St. Lucy's? Isn't that an all-girl's school?"
"Does she really think she's fooling anyone with the modesty act? She's anything but an ordinary student, and she knows it!"
Their homeroom teacher quieted their conversations with an authoritative voice, and the day's lessons began in earnest. Leila acted as if she hadn't overheard the gossip that had already started about her, and took an active part in each class, raising her hand frequently and answering several difficult questions. Even when she was called upon during History, and asked questions about Napoleon's wars, and the flaws of Europia's democratic government, she did so without missing a beat on the obviously biased questions.
Lelouch couldn't help but notice that Leila had borrowed several points from Shadow Clovis' denunciation of Europia, but while everything she said followed Britannian political orthodoxy on the surface, in between the lines she was using those same points to attack Britannia. All the while, their teacher was none the wiser, and Lelouch heard a few students whispering about how smart Leila was.
Lelouch cracked a small smile.
Soon, it was lunchtime. Rising from his seat, Lelouch began walking over to Leila. At once, he found that his path was obstructed by a handful of students, boys and girls alike, who had also gathered around her.
"Watch out, that's Lelouch Lamperogue!" A girl hissed, obviously trying to keep him from hearing her, but failing in the attempt. "He may be the Vice President of the Student Council, but don't let him fool you, Lady... um... Leila! He's a troublemaker!"
"Yeah!" a boy agreed, somewhat more loudly. His back was to Lelouch, and so he was oblivious to the approach of the very person he was badmouthing. "He must think he's some kind of Casanova! He's got so many girls wrapped around his finger it's not even funny! Especially those on the Student Council!"
"Were you speaking about me?" Lelouch asked with a smirk.
"Huh?! For how long have you been there?" the boy asked in a panic. "Listen, Leila, don't trust anything he says!"
"Actually," Leila laughed lightly, "I've already met Lelouch. Your Student Council President invited me to join them on their summer trip when I was deciding whether I wanted to transfer to Ashford or not."
"What?! No fair!"
"Yeah, that's right," Shirley said, as she came up to join them. "She was there with us. I think it's safe to say that we're all friends."
After a moment, Kallen, who was standing by Shirley's side, nodded as well.
"You too, Suzaku!" Shirley said cheerfully, without giving any hint that she had discovered his secret the night before. For one who used to be a terrible liar, Shirley had clearly become much better at acting since becoming a Black Knight out of necessity.
"Oh, right!" Suzaku said, oddly faltering for a moment, which filled Lelouch with unease.
"Wait a minute..." a student said, looking at Suzaku, their focus no longer on Leila. "You were on the news last night..." Suddenly it was Suzaku who was being bombarded with questions.
"We should go now," Lelouch told Leila, determined to take advantage of the diversion that Suzaku had unwittingly provided.
She nodded.
"Lelouch!" Suzaku called as he left the room with Shirley, Kallen, and Leila, but to no avail. Lelouch knew it was best that he not get involved in that conversation anyway. Officially, he hadn't been to the masquerade ball last night, and as such he had nothing to contribute.
"Now that you're officially a student at Ashford Academy, you know that all students need to join a club, right?" Lelouch asked Leila.
"Yes," she nodded, clearly knowing exactly where he was going.
"On the behalf of the Student Council, I'd like to invite you to join us," he replied.
"I graciously accept," Leila smiled.
"How's your first day going so far?"
"It's about what I expected," Leila said. "But I already have friends here, and Ashford is just such a vibrant place next to St. Lucy's. I was put more on a pedestal than anything else there."
"That's still going to happen here, you know," Lelouch told her. "Give it a few days and they're going to make you into a new school idol. You might even get your own fan club, though Madam President will still have plenty of loyalists in her own."
Lelia let out a small sigh and shook her head. "I'm used to it. Actually, I did have my own dedicated fan club back at St. Lucy's, but I didn't learn of its existence until I was almost ready to transfer out. They couldn't believe that I was leaving them."
"You should talk!" Kallen interrupted. "You have your own fan club on campus, Lelouch, and it has way too many members!"
"That's not an official school club, and I have nothing to do with it in any case," Lelouch replied firmly.
"Isn't there something else you're forgetting, Lulu?" Shirley chimed in.
"Oh, right. Thank you, Shirley." He turned back to Leila. "Madam President figured that you would accept our invitation, so she's actually already arranged a welcoming party for you after school. We all hope to see you there."
Leila smiled again. "I look forward to it."
xXx
The party was set up much as the party welcoming Suzaku, Kallen, and Arthur to the Student Council had been. His friends seemed to be having a good time, though Lelouch couldn't help but notice the cloud cast over it by the events of the last night's ball. He saw Nina in a corner, anxiously speaking to Suzaku and inquiring about Princess Euphemia's condition. Listening in on their conversation, he heard Suzaku tell Nina that Euphemia was fine, if a bit shaken by the incident, and that Prince Schneizel was speaking to Viceroy Cornelia to make arrangements for her ongoing protection.
Thankfully, Suzaku showed no signs of suspecting that Nina had been responsible for hacking the embassy's security that night, though Lelouch made a mental note to speak to Nina in private when she could. She might still have video of Euphemia's assailant secretly stored on her computer, which might go a long way to confirming the identity of the Black Mask.
"It's scary to think that the Black Knights can just abduct someone like that, a Princess no less, in the middle of a party," a voice said, coming up to him.
Rolo.
"You saw it on the news, didn't you?" the detective asked.
"I did," Lelouch replied, raising his guard without making it sound like he was doing so.
"And what do you think?" Rolo pressed.
"I don't think that the Black Knights are the ones responsible for it," Lelouch replied.
"Why's that?" Rolo asked.
"It doesn't fit their style at all. The Black Knights have always targeted the corrupt, but Princess Euphemia is known and beloved for her good works."
"So was Prince Clovis," Rolo replied, but he had plenty of his own secrets that he was hiding."
"Funny that you should mention Clovis," Lelouch said. "I think Euphemia was kidnapped by the same person who killed Clovis. They've already shown that they have no qualms about murdering a royal."
"You think so?" Rolo asked with interest. "They really meant to kill her? Couldn't they have simply held her hostage?"
"If their goal was to discredit the Black Knights, as I suspect it was, Princess Euphemia would be even more useful as a martyr to them."
Rolo chuckled. "I like talking to you, Lelouch. The way you're really able to put yourself in the heads of criminals... it's quite fascinating... and useful."
"Come on! You're still talking about that?" They heard Milly calling out. "You're supposed to be having fun! RELAX!"
Rolo shook his head. "You guys are really like family... on the Student Council, I mean."
Lelouch nodded. "You could say that."
"Do you... consider me to be a part of that family too?"
"I'm sure everyone on the Student Council does, Rolo," Lelouch told him.
Rolo smiled. "Thank you, Lelouch. But more than anyone else here, I think you're the one I can rely on."
Lelouch felt his bond with the detective resonate as the Moon's power waxed.
"Well, I've got a little surprise for everyone!" Milly announced. She lifted up a bottle. "Straight from the Breisgau Vineyards in Yamanashi, a bottle of one of their finest wines!"
"What? This again?" Shirley gasped. "Madam President, we can't drink that! We're underage! Where did you get that anyway?!"
"I'm guessing that it's a present from the Breisgau Corporation to the Ashfords for making Leila's transfer here as hassle-free as possible, or a 'free sample' to encourage future business with them," Lelouch offered. Of course, that was just another way of saying a 'bribe'. Milly must have gotten her hands on a bottle or two for the Student Council's use.
"Even so," Kallen called out, "there's no way we can have that."
Britannian drinking laws were more relaxed than the old Japanese ones, which had prohibited all persons under the age of 20 from drinking, but they still weren't old enough without an adult present, and even then there were restrictions. Milly was 18, and she couldn't just serve wine wherever she wanted to.
"I mean, I'm not complaining Madam President, but that wine looks way too expensive to waste if it's going to end up like last time," Rivalz said cautiously.
Rolo looked at them curiously.
"No one had any," Lelouch said.
"Yeah, most of it ended up in Kallen's clothes and hair!" Rivalz complained.
"Don't remind me!" Kallen said, suddenly blushing.
Lelouch's cheeks went red too as he remembered what had happened afterward.
"I knew something went on between you two in the shower there!" Milly smirked.
"It's okay," Rolo said. "If we're like family on the Student Council, we can keep some secrets, right?"
Suzaku looked shocked. "Rolo, Shirley and Kallen are right, we can't just-"
"Everyone, relax!" Milly said. "I've thought it all out this time! And I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it, Kallen."
"Huh?"
"You know that the nobility has certain privileges, don't you?"
"Of course," Kallen said, doing her best to conceal her disdain for the system that allowed such privileges.
"I know she won't like me bringing this up, so I hope she'll forgive me, but our latest Student Council member holds a substantive title of her own, the rank of Countess. That gives her further privileges still. For one, she counts as a legal adult in the eyes of the law, and it's considered essential for a noble to be able to entertain in style..."
"You're saying you have a loophole," Lelouch interrupted.
"I am," Milly grinned. "If, in her capacity as a Countess, Leila offers us, young people at least the age of 16, wine during a meal or gathering, and we remain under her supervision, it's all good as far as the law is concerned!"
"I guess Alice and I will have to wait then," Nunnally said, looking on. Did she sound slightly disappointed?
"Don't worry, you two will get your chance soon enough!" Milly reassured her. She then turned to Leila. "So what do you say? A toast to celebrate you joining our Student Council? And a toast for Sir Suzaku Kururugi, who apparently went and got himself knighted without telling anyone! Such coldness makes this big sis very sad!"
"I'm sorry!" Suzaku said. "Honestly, I am, but Prince Schneizel didn't want me to tell anyone before he had made the arrangements for it to be publicly announced."
That confirmed that Schneizel was Suzaku's benefactor, but Lelouch chose not to say anything. And so the party was silent for a moment, as everyone awaited Leila's decision.
"Just this once..." Leila said after a moment. "It would be a bad look if any member of the Student Council were to get drunk or have a hangover tomorrow, so I'll pour just enough for everyone to have a few sips if they want to try some. It should be fine in moderation. And I must say, I'm curious..."
She uncorked the bottle which Milly had handed to her, and began to pour the wine into crystal glasses. As she did so, she sniffed the air slightly. "Such an aroma..." A slight smile spread on her face. "It smells so good..." she said with a bit of a giggle.
"You've never had wine before?" Milly asked. "Not even when you own one of the largest winemaking companies in Area 11?"
Leila shook her head.
"Well... I guess it's okay..." Shirley said slowly. "If it's just a little, and we're not actually breaking any laws..."
Lelouch fought back a snort. Shirley was worried about breaking laws when she now broke them all the time as a Black Knight?
"That's the spirit, Shirley!" Milly beamed.
Lelouch still wasn't sure about the whole thing, but his hesitation wasn't based in any laws, but whether or not it would impair their progress in infiltrating Gao Hai's Palace and stealing the High Eunuch's heart. At the same time, the wine was very expensive, and he didn't want to be seen as rejecting such a generous gift outright.
In the end, he decided that a very small sip wouldn't hurt.
"A toast!" Milly called. "To our newest Student Council Member and a successful new term ahead of us all!"
One by one, the members of the Student Council took sips from their wine glasses. Their junior honorary members joined the toast as well, but sipped grape juice instead.
xXx
Most of them turned out to be perfectly fine with a small sip of wine. However, it quickly became apparent that, ironically, Leila had very little tolerance for alcohol. It should have been obvious when she started giggling, as if the smell alone had been enough to get her drunk. And when wine actually passed Leila's lips...
Well, at least it appeared that Leila was the good-natured kind of drunk. She seemed to be having a great time, brightly smiling and laughing heartily at the littlest things, while her whole veneer of formality, which she had to maintain as an aristocrat and a socialite, almost instantly melted away.
But they definitely weren't going to let her have another drink, much less go near the wine again.
In the end, Shirley also showed some signs of being mildly intoxicated, her cheeks flushed bright red and also giggling quite a bit more than normal, but her symptoms took far longer to manifest, and in the end, she was fine to return to her dormitory with Milly after she had some time to sit down for a while and wait for the wine's effects to wear off.
Leila however was still quite drunk, and in no condition to be going anywhere, least of all back to her home. Or rather, she was in no condition to be seen leaving by the student body or the press.
It was decided that Leila would spend the night in a spare room of the Clubhouse, where someone could keep an eye on her. After a call from Sayoko, Leila's butler arrived with a change of clothes for the young Countess, and thanked them for their discretion in the matter.
It had definitely been an eventful day, Lelouch thought, even as he knew that it was actually the calm before they made their final push into Gao Hai's Palace.
He had said good night to Nunnally and was about to drift off to sleep himself, when he heard uneven footsteps making their way toward his door.
He froze. Was that-?
His door swung open, and in stumbled none other than Leila Breisgau. Her hair was no longer done up into its usual egg-shaped buns, nor the twintails that he had sometimes seen her put on when she didn't want to be recognized. Now every shimmering inch of her blonde hair flowed freely down her back, becoming wavier as it reached the level of her waist and twisting into curls at the ends of her tresses, down by her hips. She was dressed in a sheer pink nightgown, held in place by a pair of straps slung over her shoulders. The gown stretched to the floor, where its hem spread out like that of an evening dress. Underneath, he could see white panties in the style of a string bikini bottom, and on her feet she wore pink high-heeled slippers with a marabou trim.
For a moment, Lelouch was certain that the scene before him was another erotic dream conjured up by Lilim. But then again, Lilim wasn't suicidal, and unlike that dream, there was a clear, logical chain of events leading up to this point. Except wasn't Sayoko supposed to be watching Leila? Did she-?
"Lel-ouch," Leila drunkenly slurred in her French accent, a wide, silly smile on her face. Reaching her arms out as if to hug him, she clumsily lurched forward as she suddenly lost her balance. Not wanting her to hurt herself, Lelouch quickly threw out his own arms to catch her. He succeeded, but after a moment in which his brain seemed to stop working as it tried to process what was happening, he realized that he now had his arms wrapped around Leila, and she was there, almost naked, in his bed.
Leila blinked, her amethyst eyes looking unfocused. "Oh... That was you..." she said languorously. "Thank you... Lelouch." Still smiling, she wrapped her own arms around him tightly, and let her head rest on his shoulders.
"What are you doing here, Leila?" Lelouch asked quickly, being sure to keep his voice low so that Nunnally or Sayoko wouldn't hear. The whole situation was not at all what he had expected, and felt terribly awkward.
"I'm here to be with you," Leila said, lifting her head to look into his eyes, and raising a hand to caress his chin, drawing closer as she did so. "I... I want to be honest... My reasons to fight... And what I feel... about you..."
Her lips were so close to his own right now, close enough for him to kiss her if he chose to do so. It would be easy, and the more primitive parts of his mind wanted to do so badly, sending hormones that he had once kept tightly clamped down rushing through him. He could feel Leila's breath against his face, still laced with the fruity, intoxicating scent of the wine, and her body snug against his own, warm and inviting. His pulse was racing, and there was an involuntary stiffening sensation down by his crotch as his body prepared itself to act on his desire and intimately explore Leila's mysteries.
But the more rational parts of his mind knew that if he did so, he would be taking advantage of Leila when she was most vulnerable, and he would be betraying the trust that Kallen and Shirley had in him as well.
Leila remained there, gazing into his eyes expectantly, as if she was waiting for him to kiss her. But then, without warning, she began to sob uncontrollably. "Ever since... I lost my parents... I was... so alone... But then I..."
Of course. Leila's family had been the world to her, but they had been cruelly taken from her. In that sense, she wasn't much different from himself, Kallen, and now even Shirley. All of them had lost someone precious.
Reaching up, he moved a hand up along Leila's back, her blonde hair like silk as it passed over his fingers, and paused when he reached her shoulder, while his hand remained firmly around her waist.
It was true what Lilim had said. He didn't need to kill his desires.
But he didn't need to let them control him either.
"It's okay," he told her. "You can cry, as much as you need to. I'll stay here with you."
That was what she really needed, more than anything else right now.
"Thank you... Lelouch..." she whispered.
He didn't know how long Leila spent crying, but eventually she seemed spent, and drifted off to sleep in his arms. Gently, he extricated himself and laid Leila down on his bed. She seemed peaceful now, and he spent several long moments gazing at her, before stretching out on the floor himself.
Are the Black Knights Just?
Yes: 20.1%
Days Until the Empress is Married: 14
xXx
Behind him, Lelouch heard Leila stirring.
"Oh... what a... strange dream," he heard her say groggily. Her eyes were still a bit puffy from her tears earlier, and her voice sounded slightly hoarse.
"That wasn't a dream, Leila."
Suddenly, Leila bolted upright, fully back to her regular, sober self. "Lelouch!" she said, not realizing for a moment that she was still in her nightgown.
Lelouch turned away slightly so that she wouldn't feel like he was staring at her.
"I've brought your clothes over here," he told her. "I'll leave so that you can get yourself dressed. There's a jug of water and a glass by the bedside as well. I thought you might be a bit dehydrated after last night."
"Lelouch," she said firmly, "please wait."
He turned back to face her. Leila poured herself some water and sipped it to moisten her throat, and then met his gaze without flinching.
"I want to thank you... for everything. I wasn't myself last night, but you were nothing but a gentleman about it. You had every opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Maybe a part of me was-" Leila shook her head. "What I mean to say is that I want to thank you for taking care of me, even when I was at my weakest."
"It was nothing," Lelouch said.
Leila shook her head. "It wasn't nothing Lelouch. That kindness of yours... It's why I fell in love with you, even though I knew I shouldn't." She sighed. "There was so much that I wanted to tell you... but I just made a fool of myself last night."
"Trust me, I don't think any less of you, Leila."
She smiled slightly. "Do you remember me telling you about the silent voice within one's heart?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"For a while now, I've been searching for my own answers. I was raised to believe in Europia's democratic ideals, and to follow the same path that they did. When they died, I was as much trying to carry on their work as I was trying to bring their killer to justice. But Clovis' Shadow wasn't lying. Everything he said about Europia is true." She sighed. "Sadly, it really isn't that different from Britannia, when you look at it. My parents were fighting for an ideal, and in doing so wanted to make the reality better, but an ideal alone wasn't going to sustain me. How could I fight on for a country I've never seen with my own eyes? I would have just been left with emptiness and grief."
She looked up. "But then I met you, Lelouch, and your friends in the Black Knights. Each and every one of them is precious to me now... but you most of all. You're what binds all of us together." She shook her head. "But listen to me go on. What I realized, when I listened carefully for that inner voice, is that I don't need to change the world to be happy."
Leila smiled. "A simple life, roaming free, and with someone I can both care and be cared for at my side... that's all I need. I think that's why my thief suit took the form of Gypsy dancer in the first place..." She chuckled lightly. "It's a romanticized notion, I know, but I've always been a romantic deep down." Determination swelled in her voice. "But even more important to me... is protecting those I love. And that's why... I'll continue to fight!"
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 Priestess, granting thee infinite power…
Through his bond with Leila, a new possibility opened up deep within his soul: Anat, the Avenger, a goddess who descended to the underworld and even fought Mot, the god of death, to bring back her brother.
But the power of his bond was feeding back into Leila, causing something to change within her as well. Her eyes widened, and through their bond, a vision from her mind's eye was shared between them. Leila's Persona, Jeanne d'Arc, was engulfed in light, and when it emerged, it had been transformed, becoming a valkyrie, no, a goddess, carrying a shield, adorned with a brilliant necklace and a cloak of falcon feathers, and riding a chariot drawn by a pair of cats.
"Freyja," Leila whispered. "Goddess of Love, War, and Seiðr. My power... it's been born anew!"
"It suits you," Lelouch told her.
Leila's smile grew. "She does indeed." She paused. "Did you ever learn to listen for your own inner voice, Lelouch, silent as it may be? I think that's what's closest to each of our hearts."
He nodded. "I believe that I have. You're... also... precious to me, Leila," he said, the words eventually tumbling out. "We'd never have made it this far without you to guide us without fail through the Palaces and Mementos. You've always been someone I could match wits with, and more than once, you've seen through me, and made me realize something important that I was missing. And... I.. I..." He faltered, unsure of what to say.
"Don't worry, Lelouch," Leila said gently. "You've told me enough. I know." A mischievous look twinkled in her amethyst eyes. "For the record, Shirley is open to me joining the arrangement that you have with her and Kallen."
"What?!" Lelouch spluttered. "Did Milly tell you?" he demanded.
"It was rather obvious," Leila replied. "So no. I spoke with Shirley about it while we were on the way to the masquerade ball together. And even if I hadn't, you just did."
"Well played," Lelouch conceded. "But why didn't Shirley mention this to me herself when she spoke to me after the ball?"
"We were all shaken by what had just happened there. I'm sure it was the last thing on her mind at the moment, and it wouldn't have been the proper time or place."
Wouldn't have been the proper time or place... Wait! Was that what Shirley had wanted to tell him earlier?!
"You can ask her yourself later. But once Shirley and I had the chance to talk with just the two of us, we felt that we really were kindred spirits to each other, so why fight between ourselves?"
"Leila, you need to think something like that through! Leaving aside the question of whether Kallen would even agree to it, you're a public figure in a way that neither Shirley nor Kallen are! You wouldn't be able to do anything in public with me, unless it's part of a school activity now that you're at Ashford and a member of the Student Council. It would draw far too much attention to both of us!"
"I can accept that," Leila said without wavering.
"This isn't just a risk to your reputation, either! This isn't like joining... a... royal harem," Lelouch said, practically spitting out the words, disliking their very sound, "like the one my father has. He has 108 consorts, but that's all power and politics. They aren't actual relationships. They'd all happily backstab and murder each other if they thought they could get away with it, or if it would improve their own standing. In many cases, they have, while he just sits back to watch!"
"I know," Leila said softly.
"You're talking about entering a complex relationship with the closest friends that you have, one that I'm still not even sure will work in the long run, and each person in such a relationship makes the whole thing exponentially more unstable. I accepted the risks when I agreed to Shirley and Kallen's proposal, but if anything were to go wrong with this, I could lose all of you, and you could lose all of us."
"You're a gambler, Lelouch, aren't you?" Leila asked.
Lelouch was bewildered by the sudden change in subject.
"I am," he replied, wondering where she was going with this.
"What is the term in gambling jargon for a gambler making a lot of money in a single play, winning the big prize?"
"Hitting the jackpot."
Leila frowned. "That's close, but not quite what I was thinking of. What about when the player wins so much that they'd be able to retire from gambling right there and then?"
"Ah. I think you mean 'breaking the bank'. It's every gambler's dream. To bet it all and beat the house one for all."
"Imagine yourself in that situation, just about to wager it all, certain that if you win now, you'll be set for life. With that chance right in front of you, and knowing the risks involved, would you simply walk away from it?"
"Of course not. If the opportunity is really there, how can I not make the attempt? Why would I even try my hand at gambling in the first place if I don't have the determination to see it through? Isn't that what I've been trying to do with the Black Knights, to find the right hearts to steal so that I can 'break bank' and bring down the Empire with it?" He raised an eyebrow. "Still, I didn't take you as being so reckless, Leila," he said with a bit of a smirk.
"Love does that to people." She looked him straight in the eye. "Well, there you have it. That's my reason. How can I see the chance to 'break the bank', and get what most people spend their entire lives looking for, and not place my bet? Is there anything else in this world so worth the risk of having your heart broken?"
Lelouch gulped. There was only the utmost sincerity and conviction in her eyes.
"I love you, Lelouch. If this is the only path that will allow my wishes come true, then I won't hesitate to take it. Not anymore."
If Shirley and Kallen were to both accept Leila, how could he possibly refuse her after that?
"We still have a little time before we have to head out to class," Leila said, smiling as if a great weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Do you think we could play a quick game of chess together?"
"I'd enjoy that," Lelouch said. He still needed time to process everything that had transpired, and chess would be a most welcome diversion. But first, there was another diverting matter that he had to address. Leila was still seated on his bed and clad only in her very revealing nightgown.
Lelouch felt his cheeks burn red as his eyes took in her gorgeous figure.
"But please put some clothes on first," he added after a moment.
He'd never hear the end of it if Sayoko or Nunnally were to walk in on them now.
A/N:
Leila's evolved Persona as Freyja was planned for a long time. Coincidentally, between the time that I began the story and now, P5 Royal came out, in which Vanadis, an alternate name for Freyja, appears as a Persona, albeit with a different design.
Leila's Freyja was chosen for several reasons. While Freyja is indeed a Goddess of Love, and thus may seem most suited to the Lovers Arcana, while her chariot may suggest the Chariot Arcana, I thought that she was a good fit for the Priestess Arcana for her talent in Seiðr, which she taught both to humans and the Aesir. Known as a branch of sorcery practiced in Norse culture, seiðr is primarily concerned with telling the future and shaping fate itself. But more importantly, seiðr was traditionally a female art, very much situating as a tool of those associated with the Priestess Arcana, which also encompasses sorceresses, wise women, and other female magic-users. Seiðr was often seen in a subversive light, which further fits in with the theme of rebellion, and connects nicely to Leila's own canonical supernatural powers.
I also chose Freyja because she is not actually originally one of the Aesir, the ruling pantheon of Norse deities, but a member of Vanir, another group of gods which fought with the Aesir in the past. Freyja first joined the Aesir as a hostage given to them to guarantee peace between the Aesir and Vanir. To me, this was a loose reflection of Leila's status as a Britannian noble (as an aside, Freyja means "Lady", which is the honorific Leila receives as a noble) who feels she does not belong, as her loyalties do not lie with Britannia, and her parents had pro-European leanings.
Freyja will also go on to face Ragnarok, as the Black Knights ultimately must.
As a final note on the reasoning behind the evolution from Jeanne d'Arc to Freyja, in canon, when Leila was known as the "Maid of Orleans", her superiors were using her and planning to martyr her to further their own ambitions. Similarly, to this point in the story, Leila has been a pawn in the schemes between Europia and Britannia, and also of greater powers. In her second awakening, Leila realizes a far more authentic reason to fight, love, which is Freyja's domain.
And of course, cats. Given Leila's own love of cats, once I found that Freyja was also associated with cats, that made establishing Freyja as Leila's evolved Persona even more irresistible.
As Leila's Persona, Freyja nullifies Psychic spells cast by the enemy, and gains resistance to Ice. Freyja remains weak to Fire, but has a better chance of evading it than Jeanne d'Arc.
The ultimate Persona of the Priestess Arcana in canon P5 was Cybele. My beta suggested that perhaps Cybele didn't suitably reflect Lelouch's bond with Leila, so I decided to go with Anat instead, which doubles as a mythology gag.
As for the wine scene, it's established in a picture drama that Leila will display symptoms of drunkenness simply off the smell of alcohol (sake, in the case of the picture drama). In real-world Britain, individuals between 16 and 17 years of age are allowed to drink alcohol if supervised by an adult. While Milly is herself an adult by this point (she was already 18 in the first season of Code Geass, which the story has now caught up to in terms of the timeline), that clearly wasn't quite enough to keep the Student Council from getting in trouble if they were to drink the champagne that Rivalz brough in during Episode 3, so Britannia's laws must be different in that regard.
However, nobles do have certain privileges above commoners in Britannia (Milly is technically a commoner due to the disgrace of the Ashford family following the assassination of Empress Marianne). Going with this, and the fact that I'm not aware of anything in canon that specifically contradicts it, I established that privilege for Leila in this story.
That's enough for an author's note for now. Next time, the Black Knights will locate Gao Hai's Treasure, and attempt to steal his corrupt heart!
And while you're waiting, there is a growing TVTropes page for this story. Special thanks to everyone who has contributed to it so far, and feel free to check it out if you're a new follower of the story!