Lady Lily Anne and I worked on this for a few hours, and I'm glad we did it was fun! I've gotta crash for the night but I think it all works out so please enjoy! Read and review, and remember if you leave a guest review we can't respond to you!
ENJOY! Good evening to you all my friends!
Luluka awakened feeling like complete and utter crap. Her eyes felt like they were sealed shut with super glue, and her mouth tasted as if it was full of sand; not normal coarse sand obviously but more along the lines of that really fine near powdery stuff used for kids play grounds.
It hit her a moment later how completely ridiculous and utterly idiotic that distinction was and she soon rolled over to glare out the window. The sky was obnoxiously blue at the the moment, maybe she would have Suzaku shoot the sun out of the sky?
"Of fuck I am so hungover right now," stumbling from her bed she ignored her paramour who was sleeping on the couch for some reason and entered the loo. Taking a shower, cleaning herself, and taking some extra time to dry her hair the Empress of Britannia soon reentered her room with a pep to her step.
That is until she focused on her boyfriend who threw a piece of plastic on the bed while raising a brow in question.
"Something you want to share with the class?"
Staring down at the pregnancy test a few moments longer then was expressly necessary the Empress met her Knight's gaze evenly while she muttered her reply.
"Umm...maybe?"
Suzaku snorted in disdain, "Maybe? Really Lulu? You're pregnant with my child and all I get is a 'maybe' from you?"
"Right," Luluka began as she took a step back, "Umm... I can explain, really."
Suzaku stood and took a step forward while tilting his head to the side, "Really Lulu? Can you really?"
Luluka lost it at this point and glared at an inoffensive vase that happened to be out of Suzaku's line of sight as she shook her head slowly, "No...no not really. Everything has changed and..." Closing her eyes the tears came unbidden while she let out a soft sob, Suzaku then quickly rushed forward and wrapped her in a tight hug while he ran his hands down her back and she soon returned the gesture in kind. Still trembling she eventually calmed enough to mutter out, "I have no idea what to do Suzu."
Suzaku held his girlfriend in his arms and nodded to himself, he didn't know what to do either, so it was time to call in the experts.
Well...the closest ones anyway, the ones on the other side of the world would have to wait for the time being.
Because really, if anyone knew what to do with this mess, it'd be Millicent Ashford.
In the month following the Initial defeat of the Black Knights at the hands of Empress Luluka vi Britannia above the skies of what was left of Mount Fuji, Kallen Kozuki could at the very least reconcile herself with the fact that she had killed Japan's greatest traitor in single combat.
Then she had recently found out not only was the Knight of Zero Suzaku Kururugi still alive, he was sleeping with the woman she had fallen in love with on a regular basis, despite the fact that she was the one to kill his sworn princess well over a year ago.
She sighed at that and shook her head slowly as she tried to find a posture that allowed a semblance of comfort in the stiff prison garb she was forced into, staring out of the Plexiglas window doing her damnedest not to look at any of her fellow Black Knights sharing her cell block.
To put it simply Kallen blamed Ohgi and his lot for their current situation and quite frankly had been rather vocal in her disgust with the man and his decision making. Now more than ever wishing she had followed through with her initial feelings after his betrayal of Zero rather then going along with his plans out of reverence for her fallen brother's friendship with the man.
More than likely she otherwise would not have found herself dwelling in a prison cell, wearing a straitjacket, inside a fortress floating in the sky awaiting her execution date.
Because LOGICAL FALLACY.
Stewing on that she was startled when the far doors opened before the scheduled meal time and none other than the Orange Knight Jeremiah Gottwald stopped before her cell and bowed. A moment later his two escorts opened the cell and much to Kallen's shock gently lifted her to her feet and began undoing her straitjacket, once finished they discarded the article to the floor and bowed as one.
"Duchess Kallen Stadfeldt, the Empress of the Holy Empire of Britannia wishes for you to have tea with her this afternoon, I shall be your escort for said session," Lord Jeremiah began with a glint in his eye and a smirk upon his lips.
"I...what?" She internally winced while caustically thinking 'Wow Kallen, way to live up to your reputation.'
Lord Jeremiah didn't seem to take notice of this slip up, or more than likely simply didn't care as he turned to the cell next to her's, "If the Duchess is willing to wait I must collect the Empress's other guests, it shall not be but a few minutes."
"Of...of course!" She stammered out as she stumbled out of her cell staring down the near endless corridors in open confusion. Today wasn't going to be easy, was it?
Lady Kaguya Sumeragi was miserable, not only because of her failure leading Japan to freedom, but because she had completely misunderstood who Zero truly was.
Namely, he was a she, and happened to be someone she had once considered a friend and someone who wanted nothing more than to see Britannia burn to the ground.
Even if the bitch had convinced her she had been a demon in the forest sent to judge her when they were children.
Really, how was she supposed to know that the hostage sent from Britannia would have fallen for her arranged husband at such a young age and would go to such lengths to dissuade Kaguya from associating with him?
Honestly? She was impressed, and if the net result hadn't been the death of freedom across the world she'd give her former friend Luluka a standing ovation because really?
Well done.
Still, things did not quite add up, in fact they hadn't since the day she and General Xingke had been presented with the evidence that Zero had betrayed the Black Knights.
Something that, quite frankly, had made no sense to begin with.
Why would the person who founded the rebellion betray their people at the exact point they were needed most?
When Ohgi had given her what had to admittedly be a crassly stated piss-poor rundown on what Zero had supposedly done it hadn't made any further sense to her. After the brief rundown the Black Knights had supplied on the powers of Geass before the Empress's aborted meeting with the UFN leadership she still couldn't get one particular thought out of her head.
All of this was quite frankly a logical fallacy and not one person bothered to point that fact out.
So after Captain Kozuki was addressed as the Duchess Stadfeldt in the cell next to her own Kaguya perked up as she met Lord Jeremiah's gaze...in the organic eye at least.
"Lady Kaguya, my Empress requests that you accompany the Lady Stadfeldt to attend an afternoon tea, if it is acceptable for you that is."
Ignoring the soldiers removing her bindings Kaguya stood as gracefully as she could and bowed lightly in return.
"I gladly accept the Empress's gracious offering, but if I may ask one question?"
Lord Jeremiah stared her down a moment before nodding once, giving her permission to speak.
Clearing her throat she spoke loudly enough for all in the prison block to hear her, "If Empress Luluka had Geass'd us all to follow her blindly, how were the Black Knights able to betray her?"
Jeremiah stared at her blankly a few moments, Lady Stadtfeld facepalmed while shaking her head slowly, and the rest of the caged Black Knights had various shades of confusion running the gamete across their visages.
Eventually the Orange Knight broke out laughing, full, heart felt belly laughter, after a time he stood straight and wiped a tear from his good eye as he offered her his hand while shaking his head.
"Quite simply my Lady, you've hit the nail on the head. The Empress never ordered any of her knights to follow her. They obeyed, and betrayed her, all on their own free will. As the battle above Mount Fuji proved, mindless servants are little more than cannon fodder."
Lady Sumeragi nodded at this slowly as she ignored the now white faced visages staring out at her from their cells while taking Kallen's hand pulling her along gently.
"I see, what of the others?"
Jeremiah shrugged lightly at that while keeping pace with the pair of young noblewomen, "The Tianzi and General Xingke are being escorted to more appropriate lodgings and the mad scientists are all getting put back to work along with my fiance."
"Fiance?" Lady Kaguya asked in open interest, Lord Jeremiah's cheeks darkened as he quickly replied to the young noble.
"Sayoko Shinozaki, she is the 37th successor of the Shinozaki School of martial arts and the finest woman a man of chivalry could ever hope to win the heart of. She was playacting a traitor to our Lady Empress Luluka but that is no longer important. Is that not correct my love?"
Startling both young ladies a woman shrouded in dark silks and a stereotypical maid's hat appeared next to the cyborg Lord and pecked his cheek gently.
"Of course it is dear. Shall we escort dear Lulu's guests to her chambers now?"
Jeremiah nodded fondly to Sayoko as he quickly brushed his lips against her own and pulled her into a tight hug before grinning down at her, "Are you well love?"
She grinned in return, "As well as can be expected, my dedicated knight."
Kallen blanched as she glanced towards Kaguya, "Oh Kami they're flirting aren't they?"
The younger girl rolled her eyes as she bumped her hip against the redhead's, "Obviously, now pay attention! We have to meet with Master Zero now!"
Coughing into his metal shod fist Jeremiah stepped past his smirking fiance and the blushing teens as he quickly summoned the elevator, as the doors of the lift opened he bowed and gestured towards the cabins confines.
"Come along now the Empress awaits."
Sayako, Kallen, and Kaguya followed the cyborg Knight into the cabin and remained silent as they rode it up to the top floor, when they reached their destination they were presented with a beautiful garden that included butterflies and an open view to the void surrounding their home world.
"My God," Kallen muttered as she took in the natural beauty of Mother Earth.
"Right?" A sarcastic voice asked from the windows facing the world. Taking a step from the shadows Luluka vi Britannia approached the newly arrived pair and smiled at them as she rested her fists on her hips.
She was not dressed like the ruler of the world, she had on white capris, an Iron Maiden baby doll cut t-shirt and no shoes, she turned back to the open monitor and let out a slow sigh.
"Almost worth the troubles yeah? Kali, Princess, how are my two favorite ladies doing?"
Kaguya and Kallen exchanged glances before nodding to each other and soon charged the surprised Empress who let out a shriek as she was dragged down to the ground.
Held in a tight bind by Kallen she eventually gave in to the agonies of the torture Kaguya was inflicting on her and began laughing like mad as the tickling continued unabated. Eventually the three young women fell in a pile staring out at the windows open to their homeworld, and after a few moments the Empress finally spoke.
"You two have got to have realized everything I've done to this point is play acting right?"
"Obviously," Kallen stated as she dropped her head on Luluka's shoulder.
"And that I have no intention of ruling this world with an iron fist, right?"
Kaguya snorted at that, "I was just tickling you to giggling and you did nothing to stop it. Yes, I believe you."
The Empress glanced up at the window and let out a tiring sigh as she shook her head slowly, "My plan...the Zero Requiem won't work now. Suzaku won't go through with it, because...because things changed."
Exchanging glances Kallen and Kaguya turned to the Empress as they both raised their brows in interest, after a moment she blushed and glanced aside while muttering something.
"Didn't catch that Lulu," Kallen stated as Kaguya nodded in agreement.
Letting out a sigh Luluka finally stated clearly, "It appears I'm going to be a mother."
The ecstatic shrieking and hugging that followed very likely caused the Empress of Britannia permanent deafness and numbness in her limbs.