August 11
Area 11
Abandoned Base
Lelouch woke up and wondered where he was. It didn't take him long to remember everything from playing chess with the nobles to the accident on the highway, the fall of Britainnia, hearing of the attack on the school, meeting Cysgod, fleeing to the abandoned base, and then hearing Cysgod's talk on Ley-Lines. Every detail was etched in his brain, just like...then. His mother's murder, Nunnally's blindness, and the Emperor's response.
He would remember both days as days that would change his fate.
He looked down to see Nunnally, quietly sleeping in his embrace. He cast his gaze around the room to see the rest of the girls were still asleep. He checked his watch. It was almost six o'clock in the morning. He decided to close his eyes for a little bit longer.
Tokyo Settlement, Viceroy's Palace
Prince Clovis was woken up by chamberlain, washed his face, skipped the shower, got dressed, then made a be-line to the command room while leaving notice to Euphemia via said chamberlain.
Princess Euphemia stirred and slowly awoke as sunlight slowly seeped in. She was momentarily confused by her surroundings, but slowly recalled the previous day's events. She then got up, showered and dressed before being notified by the chamberlain.
"His highness, the Viceroy, told me to inform you that he is currently in the command room, over-seeing the current situation in Area 11. He says to let him know if you need anything and that he should be back in the palace proper this evening."
"Thank you chamberlain. Is the archive open?"
"Of course your majesty. Down this w-er, would you not want some breakfast first?"
"Oh, yes, yes I would; to the dining room then."
"Right this way your majesty." On the way to the dining room, Euphemia glanced out the windows at the cityscape. If you were unaware of yesterday's news, you would think it was a peaceful day like any other. Their father and elder brothers are dead, and Cornelia is missing. Clovis was busy keeping order in Area 11, literally all that was left of the Britannian Empire, so she might as well keep busy too. She'll start with where her mind left off last evening.
Lelouch and Nunnally, she thought to herself, if those two, and Cornelia, are actually alive, then at least our family could survive.
Aeternum Renegade Social Exchange
Cornelia's eyes fluttered open and she winced. Oh, right, she lost her right eye. She was able to get a glimpse of light through a narrow slit before a sharp pain pierced what little vision she had through that particular pupil. Looks like she's going to have to go around with only her left eye open; at least until she can get some proper Britannian medical treatment. She will never be able to see through that eye like she used to, but she would at least be able to see.
She turned her head to look at the other bed. There was the young man she just met yesterday. What was his name-
-Rivalz, that's who he is. Rivalz Cardemonde, son of... she forgot to ask yesterday. He was snoozing away with his mouth partially open. The bizarre night clothes he had on certainly were odd, but he obviously got used to them quickly, going by how peaceful he appeared. She had to smile to herself as she remembered him squirming as he changed into the ridiculous pajamas under her gaze. Perhaps she shouldn't have gone that far, but she felt some form of payback was required after the intense embarrassment she suffered.
She frowned.
Then again, the embarrassment in question occurred due to her failing to consider how much she was impaired due to her injuries. She rolled onto her back, looking back at the ceiling of their cell.
"is it that bad for a Britannian commoner to help a Britannian Princess?"
"what sort of Britannian would I be if I don't help a lady?"
Yeah, she probably took it too far. After all, he was just trying to be a man. She closed her eye and went back to sleep.
Area 11
Tokyo Settlement, Honorary Britannian Barracks
Suzaku woke up, got dressed, and did his morning exercises.
Britannia was dead.
He then went to the mess hall where most of the soldiers who were there ate in silence and barley spoke.
Britannia was dead.
He went to the firing range for a few minutes. He was only one of four people there.
Britannia was dead.
After which he went to the library. He was the only one there.
Britannia was dead.
Aeternum Renegade Social Exchange
"Alterie. Alterie."
Alex Powers woke up as Dillinger shook him by the shoulder.
"Yeah, what is it?" He glanced to the window and saw that it was barely sunrise.
"You called it, we're about to have some guests." That got him to wake up.
"And, I 'called' what exactly?" he asked while rubbing the sleep out of his face.
"Émigrés."
Émigrés. Alex, froze for a few moments, but then quickly slid out of bed and moved to the closet.
"Should we do something about the Princess and the schoolboy?" Dillinger asked, half-way to the door as Alex started to change out of his pjs.
"You think we should?"
"You intend to let them stretch their legs right?"
"You think there will be a problem if they cross paths with the emigres?"
"Don't you?"
"Well..." Alex said as he contemplated on either dress slacks or more open-leg khakis. "You think they'll try something if they recognize the Princess? Try and break her out, maybe?" He settled on the dark colored slacks.
"Or maybe that 'royale-blooded' princess will command them to free her and kill us."
"That's a bit far-fetched. And also, kill us with what?"
"OR they see her and make plans to tell everyone about her once they get back to 'proper civilized society'."
"Now that, I can see happening." He buckled a leather belt, before pausing. "Then again, I don't see them running into the arms of the utopians, in light of all that's happened."
"But even if they don't, if word gets out that she's alive, and that we're holding onto her, everyone else is going to want to get her. Especially Occulta."
"That is true... I was thinking about leaving those two in their cell for the whole day. But that would probably make them stir-crazy. That, and I'm not that bastard."
"I don't think they'll go crazy as long as we give them early lunch and supper on time."
"Hold on," Alex had just started to button a white dress shirt when Dillinger's words gave him pause-for-thought, "supper on time...time..." He looked to his friend. "Is there a clock in their cell?"
"I... do not think so."
"Aw crap, course I'll end up forgetting something." He resumed buttoning his shirt, paused again, then resumed with a sudden epiphany. "Okay, averlo! I'm going to have Meier escort our guests around the exterior. In the meantime, we'll handle the emigres and can you do me a favor and get a clock for those two."
"So we handle the emigres before letting our guests back in?"
"At least after we bring the emigres to the inner club," he said, dawning a black Brioni dinner jacket, "after that it shouldn't matter."
"Gotcha..." said Dillinger, eyeing his friend's ensemble as Alex fished out a black bow tie and a red necktie. "I'd wager the bow tie."
"Really?" said Alex with a hint of disgust.
"Well, you're bound to come across some former nobles. A bow tie is more impressive." Alex scoffed at this.
"If I want to impress aristocracy, I'd be better off with an ascot. And you should know by now," he tossed the bow tie back in the closet, "putting any sort of noose my neck is last thing I will do." He said this before putting the necktie around his neck.
Area 11
Honorary Britannian Barracks
Britannia was dead, and Japan along with it.
"Damn it!" Suzaku uttered, his eyes starring blankly at the pages of Ihara Saikaku's "Buke Giri Monogatari."
"Still hard to believe, isn't it?" So he wasn't the only one in the library. He looked up to see an Honorary Britannian, a few years older than himself with dark hair and eyes. The id on his lapel identified him as: Pvt. Arita Hachiro; Hachiro Arita in the Japanese fashion.
"What is?" Suzaku asked, obscuring his gloom.
"That we have lived long enough to witness the death of two empires."
"Indeed," Suzaku agreed, "at least it isn't as chaotic as it was the first time."
"Not 'as chaotic'? Just look out the window. We even suffered an attack in Area 11."
"We have?"
"You haven't heard? The Sons of the Serpents staged an attack on Ashford Academy."
"Ashford? Weren't they a high-ranking family at one point?"
"They were, quite a fall. First wealth and prestige, then reduced to educating the ignorant, then shattered as the head was killed off and the daughter is labeled as missing. They will probably be known as the cursed family in the history books. And to think it all started with the death of Lady Marianne."
"What?" This made Suzaku perk up. "Was the Ashford family connected to Lady Marianne in any way?"
"Yeah, they were extremely close. That's part of the reason why the family fell so far with her assassination."
Marianne, Suzaku thought, the Serpents specifically targeted the royal family and the Ashfords were connected to Marianne. So that would mean the Serpents were looking for... "Lelouch."
"What?"
"Er...nothing," Suzaku said as he stood up. "I just remembered something I need to check on, sorry, see you later."
"Oh, don't worry about it," Hachiro said as Suzaku left the library in a mad dash, "we will." Hachiro glanced round and, noticing the lack of security cameras in the library, let his Geass down. His clothing, skin, hair and eyes morphed back into their natural state. Orpheus checked his watch before standing up and stretching. His eye landed on the book that Suzaku was apparently reading. He couldn't read the elaborate scribblings of Eleven-ese, but the Britainnian title was displayed on the inside cover.
Tales of Samurai Honor by Ihara Saikaku.
"Well that looks interesting."
Ashford Academy
A young man in carefully entered the administrative office. He had close-cropped blonde hair, hazel-green eyes and a face that resembled one Frederic Ives Lord, despite his protests to the contrary (he preferred to be compared to Robert K. Brown). He adjusted the blue-lens goggles round his neck while looking around. He soon located a student roster and opened it on a desk while pulling out a notepad. He checked the male section first, jumping straight to the "L" section.
Lelouch Lamperouge - 5-year, Student Council - Female Dorm - Suite 9
"Gotcha," he said to himself when he saw the young man's picture next to his name. He loved it when he was right. Hold on, female dorm?
*notice* residency exception: see Nunnally Lamperouge
Okay then; he turned to the female section and jumped to the "L"s.
Nunnally Lamperouge - 2-year, Student Council - Female Dorm - Suite 9
*notice* Guardian: Lelouch Lamperouge, older sibling
Fair enough, dutifully brother looking after his feeble sister. He turned back to the front of the register and started browsing through the alphabet.
Ab...
Ab...
Ad...
dah
dah
dah
dah
As...
At... wait.
As...
As...
Ash...
Ashbacher...
Ashbecker...
Ashcroft...
Ashiem...
Ashenhurst...
Asherman...
Ashfield...
Ashford!
Milly Ashford - 3-year, Student Council - Female Dorm - Suite 1
B...
C...
D...
E...
Eb...
Ed...
Eg...
Ei...
Ei...
Nina Einstein - 2-year, Student Council - Female Dorm - Room 23A, Floor 3
He smiled: "Gotta love a good hunch."
Abandoned Base
"What time is it?" Milly asked, slipping her clothes on. Lelouch was behind the curtain again. He answered her question with crossed arms.
"Seven thirty-five in the morning."
"What a ghastly hour to wake up!"
"Don't complain Milly," said Shirley, having finished dressing Nunnally. "Now that I think about it, this is probably the way things are going to be from now on."
"I don't think it's supposed to be like this though," said Nina, adjusting her glasses.
"What do you mean?"
"Well...we're Britannian citizens! We don't have to hide in the woods, we have families and homes to go to. We have no business being with these elevens!"
There was a knock on the door.
"Hey, it's me, mind if I come in?" Shirley was the first to recognize the voice.
"Oh, please come in Kallen." The door opened and Kallen entered wearing denim pants, a dark green t-shirt, and a maroon jacket with a hood.
"Sorry to interrupt your morning, but we need to size you up."
"Size...us...up?" asked Lelouch from behind the curtain.
"Yeah, because, you know, since it looks like we're going to be stuck here for a while. Unless you want to wear the same clothes for a week."
Ashford Academy
The young man was relieved somewhat when he found the personal computer in hibernation and lacking a login password. He still had to check on the other rooms before he left, maybe even look for the Student Council room, if there even was a specific room. All things considered, he should still secure the more strategic objective first.
Desktop - Files - Most Recent - Documents
Here we go.
He scanned the list and decided to open the first five.
2 English assignments - close.
1 Student Council budget amendment - close.
My Project... oh? Well now.
There were a lot of diagrams and a series of notes, all scientific in nature. He was able to understand a handful of phrases, but the fact that the document was allocated with other files headed with "N. Einstein" was more than enough.
Then of course there's the other objective that Orpheus should be taking care of.
I have plenty of time, he soundly concluded, taking out a blue-colored data disc.
Aeternum Renegade Social Exchange
Rivalz stirred and opened his eyes.
Where was he? This wasn't his dorm room.
He turned around and saw he was in a jail cell. And in the other bed was a curvaceous woman with flowing fuchsia hair.
Wait...is that? Oh right.
He was prisoner alongside Princess Cornelia to a gang of juvenile delinquents in the middle of the desert, Powers Facinus or whatever. He sat up and remembered he was wearing cringy nightclothes.
"You're up," said Cornelia.
"Eh... yeah... good morning."
"Or night."
"What?" She turned to look at him with one indigo eye, raising a hand to cover the other.
"Do you have a watch?"
"I used to, but I think the creeps who kidnapped me took it."
"Well... without a clock, or even a window, there's no way to actually tell the time." She gingerly stretched her arms out. "We may be well-rested, but it could be midnight for all we know." Rivalz hmmed in acknowledgement, drawing up his knees while contemplating the current circumstances.
"So... what do we do now?" Cornelia looked over the edge of her bed at the two piles of clothes on the floor, her's was folded somewhat whereas Rivalz' clothes were just a messy clump.
"Normally I would get dressed; they gave us a laundry hamper, but the only clothes we got from them are these nightclothes."
"But, we're just going to be stuck in here all day, right?"
"Possibly, but I don't like the idea of being paraded around with just my pajamas." She paused. "Umm... could you put my clothes on the bed? I can change by myself, but-"
"Yeah, of course," he said before she could finish explaining. He quickly gathered up her pile and placed it atop her comforter as she slowly sat up. He quickly got back on his own bed and turned towards the wall. She smiled at how quickly he complied and also how he automatically adverted his gaze. She began to take her shirt off.
"Are you worried?"
"Huh, about what?"
"Your family perhaps? Your father and mother are probably worried about you."
"Not my father, but mom definitely will be."
"You don't think Mr. Cardemonde wouldn't care about the well-being of his son?" He gave a sharp "Hah" at this.
"Cardemonde's my mother's name. That man is probably still on the mainland."
"And does 'that man' have a name?"
"Yeah."
"..."
"His name is Allen Beacock."
"Beacock... does he have anything to do with medicine?"
"Oh, no, that would be my half-uncle, that man's half-brother. Common mistake."
"Apologies, I had to ask."
"I know, I know; you aren't the first to ask your highness."
"So... it's just you and your mother then?"
"Kind of. I live in the Academy dorm and I work part-time as a bartender, so mom pretty much takes care of herself."
"Does she still check on you?"
"I usually visit her every now-and-then. She's doing alright, working as a clerk at a department store."
"That's good. And what about school?"
"Aw man, they're probably worried too."
"You mentioned you part of the student council. I take it you're a vitally important person?"
"Eh... not really. I was just the secretary."
"But you have friends regardless."
"Yeah."
"So... they are probably very worried about you."
"Hmm... depends."
"On?"
"Well... Nina is as quiet as a door mouse, so I never could figure out what she's thinking. Milly- I mean, Miss President, will probably be wondering what's taking me so long. Shirley would be probably say I was stuck in traffic and suggest waiting for a little bit before giving me a call (pity I don't have my phone). And Lelouch will probably- oh crap!" Lelouch?
"What?"
"Ah, yesterday when- damn it, nevermind what I said. Shirley will probably want to kill me."
"That is quite the contrast," she observed, grimacing a little as she pulled on the last of her clothes. Did he say: Lelouch?
"That's because Shirley has a crush on Lelouch; she'll never admit it, but she always gets kind of... how do I say it, sort-of bashful when her 'Lelu' is around. But, aw man, she is going to be mad at me when she realizes I up-and-left him."
"What do you mean?" Don't jump to conclusions, there could be other people named Lelouch; besides he and Nunnally are dead.
"Well, before those goons grabbed me, Lelouch and I were on our way back to-"
beep beep beep
They both went silent as the corridor door opened an another young man appeared outside their cell and noticed only one of them was dressed.
"You get dressed too. Padrino is gonna let you stretch your legs for a bit."
Area 11
Ashford Academy
A black-haired man dropped through a hole in the ceiling, landing on the floor like a cat.
THWUMP!
Well... a slender cat with heavy paws.
Thump.
The young blonde man looked up from where he was, leaning over a computer keyboard. He had reached for his Yarygin Grach on instinct, but decided to focus back on the computer instead of the floor above.
The desktop beeped and he withdrew a second blue data disc before removing the on-screen message.
Out of paranoia, the black-haired man checked the transponders in his belt, the lapels of his coat, and six other places. Good, they were all off. He didn't want anyone to know where he was just yet. He placed a gas mask on his face and then opened the case he had brought with him.
"Hello my beauties," he said, eyeing the contents.
Suzaku got out of the taxi he was in and approached the alma matter. There were police lines, crime scene tape, and boarded up holes from explosions, but no police or military or even firemen. What the heck is going on? He cast his gaze around and spied a man in his late thirties and wearing a police uniform striding across the lawn. Suzaku stepped under the crime tape and approached the man whilst pulling out his military ID.
"Excuse me sir, do you know why there isn't any police over here?" The policeman shrugged.
"Clovis has ordered both the military and the police to enforce martial law. We're supposed to prevent crime and yet we can't solve any." He shook his head in apparent dismay. "If you intend to steal anything, make sure it fits in your pockets. Time given to pat you down would be less time for keeping watch."
"I'll keep that in mind sir, thank you sir." Suzaku bowed to the man then entered the school.
A Soviet-born intruder grinned as he looked at the screen.
"So that's what all the fuss is about?" He noticed a tidbit about "Nitrogen essential as a stabilizing agent for all Sakuradite tech," and pulled out a gray-colored disc.
Lets see, if Lelouch was here then he wouldn't want to be very far from Nunnally. So he would probably arrange for them to be in the same dorm. In addition, it would probably be the dorm with the most convenience to Nunnally. So that would be the girls dorm.
The young man glanced out the window and saw Suzaku walking up to the dorm.
Damn it, if that other guy is after the data too then he might kill Suzaku. He cast his gaze around, readying his MP7. What the hell could he do? Now! Aw, to hell with it!
He grabbed a small vase that somehow wasn't broken and threw it against the hallway wall.
SMASH!
The Soviet-born intruder froze as he heard glass shatter. Chert! He was planning to plant dummy data onto the computer while extracting the true data, but if someone else was looking for the same thing, not to mention that squad of Serpents that were on their way here; maybe he had to come up with an alternate approach.
He searched through the many rooms until he found a high-class suite. Apart from the blood stain by the door, the room was surprisingly clean. He opened a drawer next to a dining table but then quickly withdrew his hands, gasping as though he had just received an electric shock.
It was a picture, a picture of Lelouch, Nunnally, Suzaku, and Suzaku's cousin at a Shinto shrine.
They were here. Further examination of the floor showed tracks for Nunnally's wheelchair. But the entire section of the dorm was relatively untouched. He continued searching the rooms until he found a simple dorm room with...huh? This room was just like most of the others, partly shot up with a blood patch either on the wall, floor or bed. But the main desk in the room was clearly searched. Suzaku went through the desk and didn't find much apart from a few pictures, a school schedule, and two science text books. But the computer was a different story. He glanced over and noticed the computer was only in hibernation. He tapped a few keys and brought up the screen from when the computer was last used. A little box with a full loading bar was centered on screen with a simple message.
FILE TRANSFER COMPLETE
YOU MAY NOW REMOVE DATA DEVICE
What the hell?