Jebaited
Kallen Stadtfeld, Knight of Ten
Imperial Capital Pendragon, Imperial Palace
A few days after Euphemia returned
How did those mundane, monotonous, insipid and lifeless nobles endure coming to the king's court every day, listening to some boring doublespeak nonsense from their peers whom they detested, all just for a chance of gaining the Emperor's favour was wholly beyond Kallen. Since she was already bored out of her mind just having to tolerate the remnants of that bygone culture.
God… governments fucking suck, we really should give that anarchy thing a try. Kallen humoured herself through her wildest imagination, the stiffness growing in her legs didn't do much to take her roaming thoughts off the terrible predicament she found herself in as Lelouch's dependable aid.
"You look… unseated."
Ultimately, when Lelouch discovered his underlying mercy and dissolved his court for the day, he whispered to his knight, gleaming a sly grin. Kallen was almost impressed by his hubris to mock her for her service, himself slouching all comfy and the like in his throne while the lowly Round had to stand at attention.
"I want a divorce."
"Don't we kinda have to be married to get one of those?"
"I want a premarital divorce."
"So are we ex-husband and wife right now or does our first marriage not count?"
"We should give it a try, see which one happens." Kallen slid off her white mask and leaned in close, one hand balanced over the ridge of Lelouch's throne, the other invaded the precious little amount of armrest he had.
"That could prove to be… inconvenient. I do not desire rumours to spread."
"Should've thought about that when C.C. was shoving her ass in your face." Bending down slightly closer, the Knight of Ten raised one leg above the armrest and swung her body over Lelouch's laps.
"Takes one to know one." Kallen was basically straddling the monarch now, her ample bosom flooding his sightline and her sultry breath tracing the shape of his shaved jaw.
"Luckily, you know these ones so well." Cleverly, the flirting knight redirected the trapped emperor's attention to her most attractive feature, concealed only by layers of fabric she was loosening at that very second.
"Kallen… we're still in court, my court." In retrospective, perhaps she was way too bold in her approach of seduction, Lelouch was beginning to eye nervously behind him for signs of stragglers who didn't evict his palace when ordered.
"And isn't it the duty of the king to relieve their subjects'…—" Kallen stole a passionate kiss from under Lelouch's nose, one that he didn't expect. "…appetite?"
Their smooch continued, her lover finally found his senses to respond to her fervent offense. The taste of his lips was a teeny bit off its normal flavour, but that anomaly quickly faded away.
"You're not even trying to make sense now."
"Hmm~ I gotten this far, haven't I?" The heat in Kallen's body told her she had waited long enough, an airtight assertion. In spite of the compromising position and location they were in, she didn't pussyfoot around her choice to disrobe. "Whoever enters this room now… will face a tragic accident."
"Kallen, my dear… I do have my stature to consider, I must ask you to not be so engaged for the moment." When Lelouch firmly rejected her advances and pushed her half-clothed body off him, Kallen felt a surge of disappointment and irritation.
"C'mon! what more do I have to do to get you going!? Don't be such a wet blanket!"
"I understand your needs to… indulge, but won't you agree that's all you've been doing these days?"
"That's not true! I-I…" Suddenly, her stimulating daily life slipped away from her. "I… went… fishing… yesterday!"
"In Ultimate Fishing Simulator, where you fell asleep with your phone on your face." Busted.
"Fine! You caught me! I'm like- ultra bored, okay!? I just stand around you doing nothing every day! I'm so freaking bored it's unreal! I have had one good fight once you've become the Emperor and then nothing else. That kinda stuff ain't healthy for a girl like me!"
Kallen proceeded to rant her heart out, all her dissatisfaction and grievance acclimated over the months was bound to burst. Being torn away from her magnificent Knightmare was putting a dent in her tolerance for fun already, not having sortied ever since the anti-climatic battle against the old Knights of Round didn't alleviate her dreariness.
"Kallen, do you relish war?" Lelouch asked.
"Oh no, don't you try to spin this to a 'lmao she loves killing people' thing! I like combat, challenges, excitement! And I'm getting none of that here!"
"…Your woe has been heard, milady. I'll work something out… hopefully."
"But I want some fun right now!"
Lelouch sighed begrudgingly, wrinkles on his brow more apparent. "Come to my room tonight… and I'll be of assistance to your plight."
"Good doing business with you." A reluctant consensus later, Kallen donned her uniform and dismounted the Emperor. "I'm going to hang with Marrybell, we've been playing this flying game a lot recently, she's really into it."
"You're rather fond of my sister."
"I just really vibe with her, you feel? That and she's always loaded with foodies."
"Glad to know you're partaking in something that isn't my- …partaking in something that is edible." Lelouch was this close to getting a black eye. "Sadly, she isn't available for the moment, you must find some other forms of entertainment."
"Alright… whatever, see you in a bit, dummy." Her Rounds cloak cozily wrapping around her shoulders, Kallen departed.
— —
Kallen meandered around the palace for roughly a quarter of an hour, seeking amusement and occasions but only finding dullness. Giving up on her futile stroll, she opted to return to court once more after seeing the exact same decorations on every wall she passed bore a hole in her skull.
Back in the throne room, there was the Emperor's seat, but on that seat sat nobody. Lelouch wasn't there.
Intrigued, Kallen scanned around the vast chamber and no tracks of her beloved tactician were left behind. She hurried to the backstage hallways behind the podium scarcely patrolled by the Royal Guards, still no signs. Fearing something terrible afoot regardless of the unlikeness of such an incident happening, she heightened her senses and searched.
It didn't take too long to notice something out of place, or in her case, hearing something. Behind the doors to the dressing room, the sound of raggedy gasps could be perceived at a time when nobody should be present.
Kallen brashly intruded, prepared to deal with whatever potential threat laid ahead. "Hey, wassup! We doing some… stuff…"
Two pairs of eyes glanced up in panic. One was Lelouch, the other was Jeremiah.
After the split second it took her confused brain to register their action, her mind shattered into a million pieces like a chandelier being dropped from a spaceship.
Kallen's eyes bulged to an extent she didn't think was humanly possible, if she was still capable of cogent thought after seeing what she just saw. Her mouth was hanging open, wider than any baby when they hear an airplane is heading their way on a spoon.
Lelouch looked fine, Jeremiah looked fine as well. It was that they were doing that wasn't fine at all, not in the tiniest bit.
"-Argha…. AGRHAA—!" Kallen screamed at the top of her lungs, for witnessing Lelouch and Jeremiah kiss.
"-Wait, no! Miss Kallen! It isn't as it seems!" Lelouch sounded like he was saying something in a distinctively feminine voice, but that was too easily washed out by Kallen's horrifying screech.
"AHHGAAAAAA—! AGRA- AHHHHHH—!" Kallen was clutching her head painfully, despair seeped through every bone in her body. Her next course of action had no scrutiny put into it whatsoever, but that didn't stop her from drawing her sidearm. "WHAT!? What the-! Fucking what-!? WHAT THE FUCK! W-w-w-why!? Fucking WHY!?"
"Miss Kallen! Please calm down, please! It's me! Sayoko!" Lelouch said something again, something incoherent to the frenzying Kallen who couldn't decide if she should shoot him or herself. Then he peeled off his face and finally her logical operation was starting to reboot.
"Sayoko-! Sayoko!? But I just-! We just-! You- you bitch! YOU STUPID BITCH! Why'd you do something so-! FUCK! So fucking RETARDED!"
"I am so, so, so sorry Miss Kallen! Please, lower your weapon!" An unhinged Kallen was as likely to discard her pistol as she was to discharge it, although the redhead didn't consider that a problem.
"Fucking SHIT! You- you shitty maid! Why would you-!? That was you the whole time!? I was FUCKING seducing you and you just sat there like a dumb brick and didn't fucking tell me!?"
"I-I… I was tasked to play the role! Master Lelouch's orders!" Sayoko's excuse was rather flimsy at best, and it couldn't convince Kallen to lower her gun.
"And Jeremiah! What the FUCK!? Dude- DUDE!? I know it's fucking current year and shit- but you didn't think it'll be fucking weird to make out with a guy!?"
"I bear no discrimination against anyone with alternative preference nor do I despise it, therefore if His Majesty asks for me, I shall not decline." How the Orange man was so collected and calm as those words exited his mouth, Kallen would never know.
"Fucking… fuck! FUCK! FUUUU-CK!" When Marrybell said anyone could suffer a mental breakdown, Kallen didn't take her seriously then; she did now.
"-Excuse me, My Lord! We heard screaming!"
"-Get the FUCK-! …Outta MY FACE!" Kallen popped off a few shots into the ceiling, assuring the Royal Guards that stopped by of her sanity and hushed them away.
"God… oh my god- I need to… I need a break…" Letting go of her anger through some bullets did the trick.
"Miss Kallen, please, have a seat." Sayoko gently guided Kallen to somewhere she could lie down, careful not to overstep her boundaries after the whole fiasco.
"Why? I'm not even mad- no, I'm super mad, but first, why?"
"I… wished to know if kissing through this mask is different than kissing normally, so I can better enact my part next time something similar takes place."
"Bu-but we just- you just-! We kissed- oh god! I can't believe I just admit that happened! Fuck! But we kissed! Is that not enough!?" That explained the strange taste of Lelouch from earlier, Kallen's last scraps of sanity told her.
"It was a fleeting moment, and I was too taken back to properly remember the sensation."
"Ohhhhh- my god… how many times were you Lelouch before this!?"
"Three times, this is our first." A saving grace, hard to find amidst their sea of embarrassment.
"And the whole time, you said absolutely nothing. I shove my tits in your face and you're stone-cold, cool as ice, namaste, no reactions at all."
"I act."
"Oh-my-god, shut the fuck up. You- you're fired, you know that? You're so fired."
"I must apologize, but you cannot dismiss me, only Master Lelouch can."
"That whole time I was doing… doing the stuff to you, like some retarded lesbian hooker."
"I believe it was quite captivating, Master Lelouch would find it irresistible, for sure."
"Too bad he won't get to enjoy it, since I'm gonna kill his dumbass right now." Kallen leaped out of the couch, her newfound purpose blazing in her heart.
"I cannot recommend that, Miss Kallen."
"And I can't recommend making out with a guy using his face! But we don't always get what we want!" Respectfully, Sayoko moved aside. "Now tell me where he is or I'll give you something else to… to kiss! Or whatever!" Kallen had to admit, that threat wasn't too well constructed.
"Regretfully, I do not know Master Lelouch's whereabouts. I was ordered to take his place for the duration of today, that is my order."
"Awesome, awesome… thanks for nothing, shitty maid!" There was only so much fury she could bottle up inside, and taking some of it out on Lelouch's Japanese ninja was more than called for under her circumstances.
"-Oh, and Orange… are you two… you know?" The Knight of Ten gestured towards him and the ninja-maid, Jeremiah nodded once.
"Alright… nice. Never pull that sort of shit again, I swear to god, I'll gut you like a beached fish… but, nice."
Marrybell mel Britannia, the Witch of Britannia
Imperial Capital Pendragon, Underground
"C'mon here, let me take a look at you. You need to make sure you're presentable, Marry."
"Yes, yes. I can take care of myself, Oz." Slender fingers caressed Marrybell's forehead, rigorously treating wild strands of her hair with caution as they brushed them neatly to one side. "No need to be such a nanny."
"Mock me if you want, but it's important to set your mental state before confronting the Emperor. It's not something you can afford to mess up." Under the dim lighting of the underground cavern Marrybell didn't know existed until that very day, her dedicated knight cupped her flushed cheeks intently and held her in place.
"I know, Orpheus… I know." In a low murmur, Marrybell acknowledged. "I'm no Twilight character, I can feel things… and right now, it's feeling pretty scary up here." She lightly tapped her scrap, applying a bit of humour to soothe their mood.
"You… you don't have to go through with this, Marrybell. If you really are not up for it, we can keep going with the way things are. We can keep being ourselves and live our lives."
"Oz… that won't work on me anymore. I'm in too far to back out, we all are. I won't give up this opportunity, not when the Knight of Zero is off their roster." Even now, Marrybell could tell some parts of Orpheus still refused to accept the detrimental truth. "Besides, can you really live with yourself, knowing that a monster like me continues to exist?"
Dozens of seconds passed in unpleasant anticipation, Marrybell's captain couldn't disperse the gloomy tranquillity in the air.
"I would've told you no a year ago… but now…"
"So you're faltering too, Orpheus." What Marrybell said carried no fragments of ridicule whatsoever.
"When I saw you so determined to gouge your own eye… I-I couldn't take it, I was going to stop you, I really believed that."
"Well… my eyes are one of my most appealing features." The treasured princess cutely winked, earning a peal of muffled laughter from her talented Devicer. "And thanks, for caring so much, Orpheus."
"Don't finish this journey, Marrybell. Don't let yourself die bearing so much hatred."
"I came into this world not of my will, I shall not depart it the same way." Marrybell swore to herself ever since her false memories vanished, to carve out and leave behind her own legacy, not one of somebody else's design.
"What about the Glinda Knights? What about us? Oldrin? Despite all she says and acts, despite all the awful deeds you've done to her, she still loves you, not a sliver less."
"My knights… will grieve, but billions will rejoice. You and Oldrin will cry, but the world will smile again. Is that not a worthy sacrifice?"
"…Not to me!" A powerful force pulled Marrybell into Orpheus's embrace, a force that surprised her but she didn't feel compelled to resist. "It's not worth it… world peace isn't worth your life, Marry!"
"Oh… my dear Orpheus… won't you show them to me, your brilliant eyes?" Deliberately slow to react, the young pilot was lacking the resolve to remove his visor from where it hung. He understood that it remained as his last line of defense, and without it, he would become vulnerable to Marrybell's Geass, but more importantly, her charisma.
When Marrybell saw the twin Geass flaring dazzlingly in his eyes, it evoked the memories of her unswerving knight's dashing looks to the forefront of her mind, she remembered her fascination towards the young man never diminished ever since he first opposed her as a terrorist, until now where he stood as her loyal protector.
"Bet you didn't think this would be where we are when you first enlisted to join me." Marrybell pushed her advantage and teased.
"I… had other ideas in mind, I'll admit."
"Oh, Oz… you big dunce, how were you ever going to assassinate me if you fall in love with me?" Her keen observation scored a critical hit on the flustered teen, leading him to fumble his ill-considered retort.
"I-I it isn't like that—!" Before Orpheus could shut off the sensual functions of his beating heart, Marrybell seized her victory by landing a soft peck on his lips.
"You won't tell Oldrin about that now, would you? Or do, I can't stop you." She swiftly slipped out of his arms and darted over to the ancient gateway, the Thought Elevator.
"Marrybell… bu-but you and- and Oldrin are…!"
"You two are siblings, I'm sure you can work it out." Whatever Orpheus tried to say next, it was routed by the white noises of her soul and body transferring to another dimension.
— —
"Do you enjoy sunsets, Marrybell?"
"They have their charm. Although I must comment, most sunsets I've seen are… complete." Complete was not the appropriate word to describe the paranormal vista in her sight.
Like viewing a slideshow on a cracked computer screen, shards of their background were the pitch-perfect illustration of a vesper but the rest was of a barren space littered by spinning gears and metallic scraps. Between the splitting sky painted on a splintered veil and the vast emptiness it concealed, Marrybell could barely spot the unique outline of a planet in their galaxy, Jupiter.
"It is a work in progress, and not the easiest at that. I suppose it's like gluing together broken glass, which was what you tried to do that time you broke my mother's ceramic vase."
"Wow, low-blow, brother." Facing away from her, Lelouch chuckled, but was unable to conceal the entirety of his sadness.
"Do you hate our father, Marrybell?"
"I never stopped."
"He had a habit of showing only the most important individuals in this place and having covert conversations."
"Logical assessment is not a character trait." Marrybell caught onto Lelouch's implication promptly, reassuring him of his sovereignty from their parent.
"Confident as you may be, I fear him and I are not so different."
"He would never have made the changes to Britannia as you did, not him who crushed those ill of fortune underfoot."
"How do you know this isn't a ruse of mine?" If Marrybell was planning on blowing the lid off Lelouch's darkest secret, that was undoubtedly his invitation, especially considering that Lelouch most likely already knew ahead of time what dwelled on her mind.
"I saw your compassion, your brutality, your tactics, your persona. Petty tricks are beneath someone that used to bear the mantle of Zero." The title of Lelouch's alter ego made him flinch, unexpectedly so. He was so close to stepping away from the temple's edge and seeing Marrybell face to face. "Don't turn around, brother! I might not stand here as your equal, but I will be defiant in the presence of unjust authority!"
That stopped Lelouch's momentum, maybe temporary, maybe not. "Do you believe your Geass to be faster, Marrybell?"
"That is a gamble I shall not participate in. I wish for neither of us to rue this meeting." Partially the reason Marrybell gave was accurate, partially it was because she didn't want to expose the uncontrollable trembling in her legs.
"Very well, we will speak as is. Now tell me, where did you learn of it?"
"I was nudged to this deduction thanks to mentions of Euphemia and her tragedy. The puzzle snaps together if we assume it was Zero that made her commit her crimes utilizing a Geass, your Geass would do. That and Kallen being here plainly gives it away."
"I did give her a mask." The Emperor sighed, humoured by his sister's eureka.
"I'm good at cracking those."
Briefly, their exchange went silent. "Did you ask for a meeting to confront me today, Marrybell?"
"Somewhat, but I think I can understand why you chose the path you took. I'm certain I would've done the same thing in your place."
"Says the leader of our largest anti-terrorism task force in Europe?"
"I am a hypocrite, born of our father's blood." The foolish Marrybell of the past would never forgive or forget Zero's evil, but the Marrybell existing in the present was no longer a child seeing the world through her tainted lens of black and white.
"I'm glad you can understand, Marrybell. I took up the role of Zero for two main purposes, to bring down the Britannia under our father's rule and to solve the mystery behind my mother's murder. With both tasks completed, I deem that chapter of my life closed."
"Closed and buried, I hope. Although if this is publicized, I can guarantee your scandal would be one for the books." Lelouch produced a noise halfway between a wheeze and a chortle, maybe what Marrybell said struck too close to home as a jest.
"It is so, otherwise scandals will be the least of my worries."
"Didn't part with your men on good terms?"
"They were not so content when they found out the leader was another Britannia prince." As rebels often tend to be, not fond of royalties.
"Will they be a problem?"
"When is anything not a problem?" More overtly, Lelouch chuckled for sure. "With that said, the Black Knights have become bigger than I envisioned, they're not headless without me. Someone in there knows what harm divulging my previous identity will do to their reputation, hence the fraudulent declaration of Zero's death."
"You're still fond of them?"
"The past is hard to let go sometimes." That was a good segue for Marrybell to latch onto.
"We all have our pasts, brother. I still cling onto mine with every fibre, even if they hinder me more than assist. I must ask you something, not you as the Emperor or Zero, but just Lelouch." Marrybell inhaled sharply, filling her heart with conviction. "When you killed Clovis… was it hard on you?"
Without a proper view to Lelouch's front, Marrybell couldn't judge what expressions haunted him as she yanked the chains off the lock that contained his most notorious undertaking.
"Clovis deserved what was delivered to him, but it shouldn't have been me who delivered it. I believed myself to be the lesser evil then, and I was… I was, just not to everybody." The monarch delayed his next line, likely searching for the appropriate words. "I am no better than him, the two of us both are strained with the blood of the innocent."
"What about Euphemia?" Brazenly, Marrybell let a bit of her impulse get to her.
"Not the same. Euphie was a mistake on my part, a causality of war. None of the cards that was dished out to her was warranted, and her death would've forever tormented me- well, it still does, just not in the same way." When he reached the last sentence, Lelouch sounded like a slight burden was lifted off his shoulders.
"Will you tell me how she came back?" That was stretching her brother's goodwill, Marrybell knew clearly. Still, she had to give it a try.
"I cannot, for I do not know the details myself. If it means anything, I can tell you that she was once dead, without a doubt." Marrybell noted the curious factor behind the pink fluffy girl's revival and spoke nothing more, the reality that death could and had been undone still sounded like a concept too ridiculous.
"Lelouch, I cannot in good conscience allege that I esteem your deeds or condone your actions, nor will I attempt to learn from your mistakes that I too have made. But to me, you're an Emperor I can accept. Maybe not the one Britannia needs, but the one she deserves." When Marrybell endorsed her brother, she was heartfelt.
"Thank you, sister. I am honoured to have you supporting my rule. I aspire to never again spill blood that resembles mine." It was in a tender tone that the Emperor sought for his long-distance sibling's encouragement, prising abandoned memories of Marrybell's childhood to the surface.
Lelouch… you've always been good to me, I'm sorry.
"That is the second reason I asked for your audience today, Your Majesty. I want to propose a plan to take down Schneizel and Cornelia." That was her objective, rather paradoxical to what Lelouch preached only a minute ago.
"I have many questions, but I shall allow you to explain yourself."
"I know our brother, as much as anyone out there knows him. It'll be foolhardy to believe he's been twiddling his thumbs just because Damocles is put in check, we should not give him the time to plot and instead strike when he's on the backfoot. We can strategically and decisively knock them out, hopefully while they're still in disarray over Euphie's commotion."
Originally, Marrybell aimed to stir her pot of schemes a bit longer, until she could brew it to perfection. However, Euphemia's revitalization really threw a couple of wenches into her agenda, making it impossible for her to predict what the future held in store for a majority of her important siblings. Fortunately, she assumed the rest of them were all in the same boat, muddled and disorganized.
"What do you recommend?"
"I've kept in touch with Schneizel infrequently, telling him that I'm still uncomfortable with usurping you when you've done no wrong. I can use Euphie as an excuse, forge a story that she was never dead but kept in solitary by our father and now you're deeply upset with her for returning." Marrybell stopped to give her fiction a bit of thought. "Really though, any premise can work."
"Continue."
"I'll tell him that I Geassed you in a heated moment of debate, where I had no next step prepared and had to run from your inner circle. So I took you aboard my airship and escaped to him, reluctantly doing as he ordered. Once we are face to face with them, it'll be over."
"Schneizel will never leave himself vulnerable to Geass, he'll never meet us unguarded. Furthermore, nothing stops him from blowing us out of the sky with his F.L.E.I.J.A., he simply needs me dead, not necessarily dethroned." Lelouch summarily rejected Marrybell's strategy, poking it full of holes. While frustrating, the underlying message that Marrybell was still not in their league was obvious.
"Well, we can… we can still bring a sizable force with us, seize him through brute force. And I can threaten him with a warhead of our own, deter him from firing."
"Marrybell, what you're advocating for could lead to war. Schneizel is backed by the UFN, if we attack him outright…" Lelouch left the worst-case scenario unsaid.
"Brother, we cannot remain idle forever! Peace and prosperity only come to those who strive for it! I don't want to see your downfall on the horizon aided by your optimism and my indolence!" Feverish was her pursuit of harmony for the world, persistence to succeed lit every step on her perilous path.
For some time after she made her intentions known, Lelouch remained wordless as he kept his figure steady and his eyes unviewable to Marrybell. It wasn't meant to be a painless compromise she thrust onto him, nothing should be straightforward and basic for the Emperor ruling over an empire.
"When I was young, I played chess against Schneizel many times, never once was I able to defeat him. In truth, I hated chess. It's so rigid, so balanced, so fair. The only influence on the outcome was intelligence, something that I couldn't compete against." Marrybell began a story she rarely shared, one that she prayed could reach Lelouch.
"However, out here on the world stage, there're no rules, no limitations. We're only regulated by our morality, our humanity. I understand that if I must, I shall abandon all for the sake of the world, I have done so before. But with you, we can tip the scales- no, own the scales in our favour. I believe in us, Lelouch. You're the only one I can come to."
The king kept his tongue tied, Marrybell only hoped his ears were open.
"Together, we can make Schneizel lose, something I cannot do alone. And if we're strong enough, we can win with the minimum casualty on both sides. Then the world will be at peace, and you can be its protector."
That was every trick Marrybell had in her book, every technique she ever learned to convince. If even after all that, she still couldn't persuade Lelouch to take up arms in a fight for the fate of the world, then she would be no better than the dog she used to be, kept on a short leash barking at the symptoms of humanity's illness under the illusion of justice.
"…Your plan needs adjustments, but not a renovation. Three days to make the preparations, is that enough?" Marrybell smiled.
"Plenty, Your Majesty."
Kururugi Suzaku, Knight of Zero
Imperial Capital Pendragon, airship hangar
A week after Euphemia returned
"Con~ gratu~ lations! We get to work together once again, Sir Kururugi!"
"Yes." Honestly, Suzaku didn't know what drove him to go along with the erratic scientist's usual antics.
"How very fortunate that we were able to test out the Lancelot's remote system last time! I do anticipate an equalling productive opportunity this trip as well!"
"…Yes." The snappier he was, the more of Lloyd's prattle would get caught by his nonsense filters.
"And I must say how exclusively riveting it is to see Princess Euphemia again! She has taught me just how much of this world is still imbued with mysteries science cannot explain, won't you agree, Sir Kururugi?"
"Of course…" Suzaku said, copying the functions of an answering machine down pat.
"My word, even being ignored by you is a first for me! How delightful is it!" Lloyd's sharp observation broke the Round out of his daze.
"What? No never—"
"-Finally realized, hmm? Had to take a deep dive into your psyche to find that self-awareness, hmm… Earl Asplund?" Spiteful was the initial impression, but Suzaku soon banished such an adjective as a description of Euphemia's attitude. She was only being flippant in her jab towards Lloyd, nothing hurtful behind her tetchy mood.
Euphie approached the boarding ramp of the Avalon where the whimsical scientist and the stolid pilot occupied, the casual attire that was her low-hanging sweater and tight jeans under an overcoat with fur trims detracted a portion of her nobility but quadrupled her modernist style. She added some suggestive wiggle of her hips as she closed in, sending Suzaku into a shy turmoil when he noticed there was nowhere safe to land his gaze.
"Ohhhh~! To have Her Highness abuse me like so! Truly fascinating, what a drastic change to your personality it is!"
"I'll show you some of me that you wouldn't want to see if you don't start scramming back to your station, Lloyd." Euphie sniggered smugly, shooing the Knightmare developer away.
"An acceptable offer! I shall be on my way." And Lloyd disappeared into the belly of the airship, maybe never to be seen again.
"Euphie…" Sighing the name of his princess had grown to be a habit in the recent days for Suzaku, possibly because his methods of addressing her etiquette was relatively pitiful compared to her sass.
"Excited to be away from this boring place, love?" She stole a kiss on his nose, faster than he could react. "I sure am."
"You don't have to try so hard to convince yourself that you're different." Suzaku brushed aside her playful question, opting to lecture her instead.
"Oh- geez, Suzaku, please, let's not do this whole song and dance again. It's not that funny anymore."
"I've always been serious."
"Just-! Enough! Okay? Enough! Let me go through my rebellious phase without being babied by you! I swear even Cornelia didn't get this touchy!"
A part of him wanted to press forward, to rid Euphemia of her new identity that Suzaku didn't rightly approve of. However, he soon recognized that was the influence of his arrogance, treating her as something less than what she was, moulding her to be just a little bit more alike the Euphemia he used to know.
"…You're right, I'm overstepping." Suzaku sheepishly apologized, averting his glance.
"Well… don't beat yourself up over it. Seeing you being depressed isn't gonna paint my day bright." Euphie cheerfully remarked, she was always the proficient one at controlling her emotions. "It ended up being harder than I expected, being back in a world which welcomes me none … but there's nothing we can't do together."
"Right, Your Highness…" Finally, a proof of happiness from his precious princess, a giggle.
"Oh… Suzaku, how I love you so…" Euphie reached an arm out to her knight with unknown intent behind it, but the motion was suspended when her sight locked in on something else behind him. "Albeit not enough to express it in front of my brother…"
True to her declaration, Suzaku turned around and saw Lelouch approaching flanked by Royal Guards on both sides, fortunately not at a pace that indicated tension. "I don't blame you."
"Then don't blame me for so suddenly disappearing, can you believe I'm gone already?" Faster than the wind, Euphie dashed away at a velocity that could put the Lancelot's top speed to shame.
"Huh… I thought I was more popular than this."
"You would be if you didn't have trouble reeling in an ego that large."
"Wasn't my lack of physical capability a positive attribute of my character? It makes me more relatable to the everyman."
"Don't know about physical or positive, but to be objectively incorrect is an attribute of yours." To start their conversation with a friendly banter instead of bitter provocation, that was an exotic milestone worthy of celebration.
"How is Euphemia?" Lelouch asked once the wisecracking aura diffused.
"She is… healthy, but different. She's changed a lot, sometimes I don't recognize her as well as I should. Her anger bursts out from time to time, equitably or not." Reality had a habit of subverting people's expectations at random, often dishearteningly so. Regardless of his own feelings, Suzaku was well-versed in accepting that fact.
"It should be my responsibility to help her… I owe her that."
"Lelouch, tell me the truth. When you Geassed her, it was an accident, right?" Surprisingly, Suzaku managed to pose a question that clouded his judgement for an entire year so offhandedly. Equally surprising, Lelouch wasn't anywhere near prepared to provide an answer.
"…What makes you think that?"
"C.C. told me shortly after I got mine about how Geass goes rampant given enough usage. I just never put two and two together until recently."
"Is that what you want to hear?" It was Suzaku's wish to leave the past behind.
"It is what I want to believe." Lelouch lengthened his profound contemplation, his frown slowly subsided as the Japanese pilot offered him a pat on the arm.
"Then you have me." Given Lelouch's candid admission, the Knight of Zero tightened his squeeze on the Emperor's sleeve, not to intimidate or injure, but to certify their mutual acceptance.
"I am not the one to forgive you, I have more important things to consider than hatred. Nonetheless, I'll help you out since the one you need to amend keeps her tabs crystal clear."
"…You have my thanks."
"Don't thank me yet… I have- there's something I must let you know." Lelouch was patient as he waited for Suzaku to present. Purposefully or not, his anticipation caused a degree of vacillation to bother the knight. "It's about Zero Requiem… look- I… I can't. I can't do it."
"Is that so… I understand." Lelouch's facial appearance defaulted to an unreadable blank, giving off an eerie vibe.
"The situation has changed, I can't afford to be someone else for the rest of my life, I won't be able to keep up the act." Still, Suzaku was fueled by his own determination, prompting him to lay his cards on the table now that he was living his life for someone else's sake.
"Do what you think is right, give Euphie what she deserves."
"I will, and you?"
"I… will keep doing what's been working."
Which was basically nothing at all, both of them knew. Lelouch selected stagnation instead of progress on the route to the finale of his scheme, that much was palpable to anyone in on the plot. Not that Suzaku could blame his best friend, the stubborn selfishness which refuses to surrender one's own happiness was the indubitable evidence of his humanity, and the Knight of Zero rather him have that than his retribution.
"Once the world is in a better place, I plan to move away from here with Euphie." Not wishing to delve further into the shambles of Zero Requiem, Suzaku distracted Lelouch with a story of his own. "We'll go somewhere quiet, somewhere peaceful. Australia, or Greenland… or somewhere else. Away from policymaking and war, just the two of us."
"I can certainly see that for you two, I agree it's for the best. However, let me catch you while you're still here." Signalling with a crisp snap, one of Lelouch's Royal Guards came to him and delivered a peculiar briefcase. "You should take this, for the road."
"…Are you sure?" Suzaku was rather familiar with the white container ornamented by bits of gold trinkets, the vessel for the unmistakable symbol of Britannia's authority.
Lelouch was giving him the Imperial Spector, the only one of its kind.
"Just in case something happens, it's good to stay prepared." Possessing no reason to refuse, the Knight of Zero accepted the Emperor's endowment, along with it the responsibility.
"I'll keep it in good care." Lelouch nodded in recognition of Suzaku's sincerity.
"And… when you meet Nunnally…" The last snippets of Lelouch's sentence got caught in his throat, unsure of how to proceed.
"If she is free to reach her own resolution, I'll do nothing. Nunnally has the right to live a life she won't regret."
"Yes, that is preferable…" Suzaku could recognize Lelouch was dilly-dallying on whether he should transform the rest of his thoughts into English, but eventually decided against it.
Before either man could launch into another unusually friendly chat or awkward raillery, Cecile the scientist intervened. "Your Majesty and Sir Kururugi, we're ready for takeoff."
"Thank you, Miss Cecile. I'll be right behind you." The purple-haired researcher returned a smile, she stepped ahead of Suzaku to climb the Avalon's ramp.
"Miss Cecile, please wait a minute. Stay still for me, please." Until Lelouch ordered for her to remain where she stood, Cecile almost tripped over herself as she turned around.
Instances of Suzaku's bafflement compounded onto each other when Lelouch tip-toed beside him, whispering something to him within earshot. "I've heard that Cecile's cooking is absolutely abominable? Care to corroborate?"
Suzaku aimed his stare at Lelouch, then at Cecile, and back at Lelouch again. How in the world the teenage king felt the spur to gossip would be forever incomprehensible to the knight, although that couldn't stop him from taking an act of petty revenge. "Well… she does this thing where she follows a recipe up to a certain point… then she stops, and she really shouldn't have stopped."
"Curious, I see." Instead of clarifying his sudden inspiration to tattle, Lelouch decided now was a good time to fidget around with a toy car in his palm instead. "-Miss Cecile, please look at me." Tense and dumbfounded, the scientist nevertheless complied as Lelouch reached for his contact lens, exposing her to his inhuman power.
"-Woah- hey! Don't do that!" Suzaku impulsively protested, uncomfortable with the notion of his best friend abusing his Geass on a whim.
"Have some faith in me, I'll explain myself once the time is right. For now, make sure to keep a bit of distance from me, unless you want to…" Instructing Suzaku to take a step back, Lelouch raised his other hand without a model car, instead a smartphone.
"-Want to what?"
"Nevermind, it's not important. Please, just trust me." Ultimately, Suzaku believed the lies and deception of the once infamous freedom fighter were tools already discarded. He followed through on Lelouch's order and allowed him to wield his power.
"Now, Miss Cecile. Please, from now on follow the cooking recipes you see without deviation. If you must deviate, consult with someone who might enjoy your meal in advance, thank you." The Geass took effort, more politely than usual.
"Of course, understood, Your Majesty."
"Perfect." Lelouch shielded his luminous iris once its job was done, giving free-will back to a Cecile no less confused than before.
"Hummm? Oh, well- I'll go on ahead, Suzaku, take your time." The KMF developer collected herself pronto, not daring to leave behind a poor impression on the Emperor with her bewilderment. "Good day, Your Majesty."
"Did you need to do that?" Suzaku said, drowning out his unpleasant tone in a low scoff.
"Don't you trust me?"
"I want to, not if you keep testing it."
"I won't, you have my word." Lelouch provided his free hand for a shake. Suzaku took it, somewhat hesitantly. "You have a good trip with Euphie. Hopefully, our stalemate with Schneizel will be solved by the time you get back."
"Right… good luck with that."
"To you as well, fair wind."
— —
Author's note
I thought the opening bit was pretty funny, immature, yes, but pretty funny.
One thing though, is something I want to make sure everyone knows. I won't speak my opinion through the characters, definitely not. Every segment has a perspective character, that's who the narration takes its viewpoint from. The narration might even be incorrect if the character believes something false to be true, since it's all third-person limited. Very rarely the narration may jump to third-person omnipotent, but that's mostly because my writing skills can be brought into question.
Replying to a guest user's review on Euphemia's canonical character and her SAZ: Personally, I feel that there's no reason to assume the SAZ would've inevitably failed. We don't know enough about Britannia's political and economical structure to say for sure what could've happened. I haven't read the fic you referenced, and I'm not saying the SAZ is definitely going to work, but we shouldn't base our opinion of canonical facts on a fanwork, even if it's very well thought out.
I feel we should look at the authorial intent of the writers for what the SAZ meant to the story. I believe that the accidental Geass is a total copout where the writers wrote themselves into a corner and found it too difficult to continue the story for the SAZ to fail naturally. Because the implication of everything leading up to it was that the SAZ is a direct threat to Lelouch's rebellion since it has the potential to settle everything, ending the fight when he didn't want to. If the writers believed the SAZ to be unsustainable by itself, they would've mentioned it somewhere. But all this is my opinion, what I'm saying is we shouldn't speak our opinions as facts. The SAZ could've failed or not, it all depends on how the original writers envisioned it before they pulled the plug.
For Euphemia's character in this story. I won't spoil too much, but she isn't perfect anymore like her canon depiction. She is flawed and hypocritical, and that'll be a character arc in the future.
Replying to hughfj08's review on using the Geass canceller on Euphemia: Nobody knows what'll happen if Geass canceller is used on Euphemia, Suzaku didn't think it was worth the risk since getting a soul getting whisked away isn't the same as dying. If you wanna know more, I've said my opinion on the Geass effect in-depth in the last chapter's AN.
Shoutout to GabrielRavier for pointing out a previous typo I had, thanks dude. Also shoutout to Marche V for the same thing, I dunno why it took me so long to understand what you meant in that one review, I just never read too much into it.
Yeah, this is virus time.
