Entropy 7 (April Fools' Version): AMV HELL
Behind his mask Zero closed his eyes in resignation. Slowly, he brought up his hands to his helmet, prepared for the storm that would hit when he finally revealed himself. He was never as good as Lelouch at keeping secrets anyway.
There was a split second while no one but Nunnally beside him noticed what he was doing, before he could unmask himself and throw the Zero Requiem to everyone else's mercy. The Britannian Empress paled and her eyes grew wide, a thought pounding in her head, telling her this was too soon. Was it her own thoughts? Or was it an echo from the day when her brother died - when a flash of memories crossed from his mind to hers with but a touch?
It didn't matter. Time seemed to stand still and she knew she had to act quickly. Before a better solution could even present itself to her, Nunnally gripped the remote to the theatre controls in her fist and hurled it with everything her fragile body could muster.
The remote sailed the mere half a meter from Nunnally's hand and collided with Zero's head - a direct hit - producing a crack of abused plastic and metal and glass as they met.
"Ow, what the...!?" Zero cried in sudden pain, his voice coming out garbled through his synthesizer. Apparently the remote had shaken one of his mask's internal systems, and he reeled from the impact and fell into the next seat, right onto Kallen's lap. "Nunnally, what are you...?"
All eyes were instantly set on the Empress, and she sat still in her wheelchair, arm still poised over her head from lauching her makeshift weapon.
"I'll never forgive you!" Thinking fast, the crippled queen decided on the first excuse she could come up with. "You killed Lelouch! I don't care if he was evil, he was still my brother! I won't ever forgive you for that!"
There was dead silence in the theatre, even the show onscreen having been paused, as if the entire room was holding its breath waiting for something to happen. Cornelia stood slightly, looking to her sister with a knitted brow and a sympathetic gaze.
"Nunna, it's alright." To her voice, Nunnally looked back at the warrior princess. "We can stop. We don't have to watch any more if you don't want to."
Gino frowned.
"Stop? But it's just started getting interes-..." He trailed off at a stern look from near everyone around him.
"No," Nunnally slowly responded to Cornelia, paying Gino no mind. "It's alright, Sister. We'll continue until the end. I'm okay."
That made one person at least. Zero was still sprawled over the theatre seats and attempting to push himself out from Kallen's crotch, much to her rapidly growing fury. He might've even hurried if he'd been able to see where he landed, but his mask's visual feed was somewhat blurred, and he spent a couple seconds blinking and shaking his head slightly, trying to see if it was actually the mask or his own eyes that were malfunctioning. A couple seconds too many.
"Why you little...!" Kallen seethed at the caped form of Zero atop her, and with a howl or rage she bashed her fist into Zero's mask, throwing him once again, now in the other direction. "I'd rather kiss Gino than have you anywhere near me!"
Desite the situation, Gino latched onto the unexpected statement, his hopes suddenly soaring.
"Really?"
Kallen whipped her head to glare at him, red-faced, murder in her ice-cold blue eyes, and without another word Gino shrank in his seat, turning and suddenly becoming infinitely fascinated by the headless statue paused onscreen.
"So, if everyone's quite done?" Lloyd asked innocently, he as well as everyone else already used to the random outbursts and arguments, and now violence, that visited their little viewing every so often. "I'd rather like to get back to the show if you don't mind. If I'm right, and I always am, Cécile and I appear in the next scene."
Slowly, in cautious silence, Zero picked himself back up and tapped his helmet, confirming all systems were in proper order. He didn't move to take it off.
Satisfied she'd averted a crisis, with Zero only receiving a small beating to show for it, Nunnally sat forward and grunted slightly as she reached for the remote, having found its way from Zero's head to the floor. After the speech shared by Lelouch and Suzaku everyone was anxious to see what would come next, and she raised the controller to press the PLAY button before Zero could try to reveal himself again.
There was an explosion from somewhere nearby and the scene shifted to an old stadium where several Sutherlands faced each other down, weapons in hand. It seemed Kewell had already made his move to get rid of Jeremiah, and he intended to make it sure he didn't come back.
An ominous, but somehow upbeat keyboard tune began to play over the image of the battle, and from inside his cockpit Kewell began to sing.
"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
Don't plan the plan if you can't follow through!"
There was no response to what the audience was seeing, only silence as vague disbelief hit them all.
"Mm?" Jeremiah scratched his head in bewilderment. "I don't remember that happening."
Jeremiah fought bravely against the traitors, even outnumbered four to one, but he was caught unprepared by design, and he was slowly picked apart by his former friends. All the while Kewell continued to sing.
"All that matters: Taking matters into your own hands.
Soon I'll lead the Purebloods... My wish is your command!"
"No!" Villetta burst out in horror. "I was there! There was no singing!"
Rakshata frowned, unconvinced.
"Everything up to now has been accurate, or so you all have been saying. Why should now be any different?"
Chiba chuckled below her breath in agreement.
"Trust Britannians to be fruity enough to not take combat seriously."
The traitor Purists were about to deliver the final blow to Jeremiah, but at the last second a slash harken descended from above and forced them to break off. It was Suzaku, standing atop the Lancelot, the superknightmare staring down at the brawl from the stadium stands.
The Honourary Britannian grinned triumphantly, quite uncharacteristic of him, and tossed his hair to the side, more in line with Lelouch's behaviour than his own.
"Stand back everyone - nothing here to see!
Just imminent danger and in the middle of it: Me!"
Kallen shot Zero a confounded look, shared by Nunnally and even Tohdoh. He said nothing in response, but raised his hands in surrender, indicating he had no idea what was going on either.
"Exactly what are we looking at here?" Ohgi frowned as the scene continued, oblivious to the looks Zero was receiving. "I mean... This can't be real, can it?"
"Yes, Lancelot is here, hair blowing in the breeze-" Suzaku flashed an overly dramatic smile, the setting sun glinting off his sparkling white teeth, and sat down in his cockpit, the Lancelot powering on again, "-the day needs my saving expertise!"
The audience sat dumbfounded as Suzaku pushed his frame into a jump and landed by Jeremiah's Sutherland, singing proudly as he unsheathed the Lancelot's MVS swords and challenged Kewell and his men.
"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." The Lancelot nodded to Jeremiah's Sutherland and charged his attackers. "Seems destiny ends with me saving you."
Sayoko raised a questioning brow at her boyfriend and he shook his head in swift reply.
"That's not how it happened."
Everyone else was too confused to say a word, but as Jeremiah attempted to explain himself a sound came from beside him. Anya was clutching at her belly and gasping for breath, her face frozen into an open-mouthed grin as she threw her head back, shaking with laughter.
Suzaku made short work of Kewell's team, killing their pride but sparing their lives, and in a last ditch effort to win the battle the traitor Purist pulled a chaos mine from his frame's hip. Suzaku didn't mind though, and he began to move in for another attack, never ceasing his song, but something caught his eye.
"No, Euphie!" Cornelia shouted at the screen as her dear sister ran into the stadium, for what purpose nobody could tell. "Don't do it!"
The chaos mine was already thrown and Yuffie was in range, having run in to stop the fighting. There was a tense second as she looked up, saw her death approaching, and the grenade opened up, spewing razor shrapnel in her direction. She looked away in fear, but somehow found that she wasn't dying. At the last second the Lancelot had jumped in front of her, Blaze Luminous shields sparking green and Suzaku's voice singing from its external speakers.
"The only doom that's looming is you loving me to dea~th,
So I'll give you a second to catch your breath."
Cornelia began to shake as realization hit her, harder than it ever had and in a way she couldn't just pretend hadn't happened. Suzaku and Euphemia? Together? In love!?
"Why that... Little BASTARD!"
Nina glanced at the princess to her right, huffing and puffing and having apparently developed a twitch in the bottom muscles of her eye, and blushed, carefully raising her hands to try to calm her down.
"Princess Cornelia..." she whispered, reaching out and almost taking the woman's arm in her gentle embrace. She hesitated at the last second though as Euphemia's voice rang out from the theatre speakers.
Suzaku had disembarked from the Lancelot and now knelt before Yuffie, actually Princess Euphemia, awaiting her command, and she looked upon him with wonder in her eyes.
"Thank you, knightmare man, I don't think I can
Explain how glad I am you helped me not get blammed.
I would be splattered, I'd be woodchipped like a tree!
Thank you, sir, for saving me."
Suzaku glanced up roguishly and flashed another sparkling grin. Then, in one swift movement he tossed his bangs to the side and took Euphemia's hand in his own.
"Don't worry about it, A MAN'S GOTTA D-!"
Nunnally tapped the PLAY button on the remote again, pausing the screen on an image of Suzaku belting out another line, arm outstretched like he was gesturing to a, coincidentally enough, audience. She frowned and looked at the remote in her hand, giving a small, bemused shake of the head.
"This doesn't seem right at all."
Zero sat completely still in his seat, his jaw unhinged behind his mask. This didn't seem right? What an understatement. This was shocking, scandalous, nothing at all like how that battle had actually gone. And that he'd dared take Euphemia's hand in his own, a mere Honourary Britannian? Back then he wouldn't have even dreamed of it, though seeing it all play out so perfectly - so idealized - it made him wish it really had happened that way. If nothing else it would have made Euphie laugh. She was just that kind of girl...
With Zero lost in thought and not giving advice on how to proceed, Nunnally gave a mental shrug and thumbed the BACK button on her remote, earning various responses to ending the musical number, most notably Anya's disapproval, and then pressed PLAY once again.
The previous scene that should have played right before the knightmare battle began again, but this time it was different. This time Lelouch stood before his window looking outside at the setting sun and a catchy electronic beat replaced all sound.
He grinned.
"They sentenced me to seven years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within."
Milly's jaw dropped in awe of Lelouch's enticingly dark and sensual singing voice, and across the aisle Kallen raised a brow, starting to feel a little warm in the face. Gino looked around at the others in the audience, checking their reactions and finding them all just as confused, indicating he wasn't simply hallucinating this whole thing. He leaned forward, whispering to Rivalz a row ahead of him.
"Dude," he said awkwardly, attempting to sound casual but failing, "what the hell is going on?"
Rivalz shook his head.
"Dude, I never know what's going on."
"I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them." As he sang Lelouch spun in place then threw out a hand dramatically. "First, retake Japan. Then take Pendragon!"
Lelouch strolled through his room in the orange light of the setting sun through the window while the music swelled over the scene. He approached his chessboard, and as it came time for him to resume singing he picked up his black king, giving it a toss in his hand.
"I'm guided by a signal in the heavens!"
C.C. sauntered over to him, swaying her hips seductively and joining him as a backup singer.
"Guid~ed!"
"I'm guided by this birthmark-" he trailed his fingers along C.C.'s forehead, revealing an arcane red symbol engraved upon it, and she swooned from his touch, "-on your skin."
Kallen tensed, feeling her face flushing fully, not for the first, or, it seemed, even the tenth time since this stupid episode began.
'Seriously?' she thought, whether wondering over the sudden song or C.C.'s inappropriate behaviour, even she wasn't sure. 'WHY!?'
C.C. fell into Lelouch's arms and turned her head away, too overcome with passion to look at Lelouch as he continued to sing and hover a hand over his left eye.
"I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons.
First, retake Japan. Then take Pe-"
Nunnally pressed the STOP button on her remote and furrowed her brow in consternation. This was starting to get ridiculous. Had she damaged the little device when she launched it at Zero's head? Maybe if she tried again she could get the blasted thing to work. Hopeful, she hit the FORWARD button a couple times, trying to skip the episode entirely and go onto a new one, and perhaps bypass the bizarre musical bits.
She skipped right to the middle of a scene, with Lelouch dancing on a stage with flashing lights all around, purple, green, pink, red, and blue, and a funky electronic beat thumping. He was dressed in the stylish attire of Zero and both his eyes glowed with Geass, and surrounding him was an odd assortment of backup dancers. To his left was a boy with floor-length blonde hair, cocky and bearing slashes of red on his right palm. Farther out was Charles zi Britannia with Geass in both eyes, and finally Marianne on the end, Geass in her left. To Lelouch's right was Rolo Lamperouge, Geass burning in his right eye, and some unknown man with white hair, judging by facial features appearing to be Chinese, Geass in both his eyes, then lastly C.C. on the very end. They seemed to be performing for... It wasn't really clear if they were performing for an audience or if they were shooting a music video.
"This spell you got on me-" Lelouch waved his fingers over his eyes, "-it's like magic!"
While Anya's unladylike guffaws from the back increased in volume, Tohdoh's face actually dropped at what he saw, and for a moment Xingke and Chiba beside him weren't sure if he was about to throw up.
"What hell have we stumbled into!?"
Cécile was appropriately bothered by what she saw as well, but beside her Lloyd bobbed his head in time with the beat, completely unconcerned.
"Oh, I like this song."
C.C. and Marianne took to center stage to Lelouch's either side to sing a simple chorus while the other boys stepped back, dancing in sync behind them.
Rivalz gaped.
"Do they all...?"
He didn't finish his statement, his mind spinning as he tried to process what he was seeing. Each of the people onscreen, some more recognizable than others, had Geass in one way or another, either glowing bright in their eyes or etched into their skin, and the simple schoolboy found himself sitting in horrified disbelief. If more than one person could have Geass then there could still be someone out there with the power, and that was hardly a calming revelation.
Others around the room seemed to have the same idea, most notably Chiba, who sucked in a breath as her whole body tensed. She narrowed her eyes, carefully looking to the right and back, taking note of everyone else in the audience. Any one of them could have Geass, and until she confirmed otherwise she couldn't dare let down her guard.
As for Nunnally, as fun as this all was it was altogether strange and distracted from the goal of getting the truth, and her frown deepened as she hit the FORWARD button on the remote again.
Zero stood on a stage before a crowd of angry Japanese, clearly following the Princess Massacre Incident, and threw out his arms, ruffling his cape before him.
"BE PREPAR~ED!"
"No," Nunnally muttered, pressing the FORWARD button again.
Suzaku was flying the Lancelot under the cover of darkness, and from his cockpit speakers came the sound of Lloyd and Cécile singing.
"Brita~nnia! Brita~nnia~!"
Suzaku grinned and pushed his controls harder and took up the song as a rock beat began playing.
"This is..." Zero shook his head in horror. "What is this? I don't even..."
At one of the recurring words in the song, Tianzi glanced up to Xingke beside her curiously.
"Xingke? That word, with the 'F' sound, I do not know what it means."
"Nevermind that word, Empress," Xingke responded quickly with a shake of the head. "It's naughty."
"Naughty?" Tianzi thought to herself and nodded, repeating the strange word to herself a few times. It was fun to say.
The Lancelot descended from its flight, landing amidst a squad of Chinese Gun-Rus and tearing into them with its swords, Suzaku's voice roaring truimphantly above the fray.
"Terrorists, your game is through,
'cuz you now you have to answer to
Britannia, F-"
Nunnally considered herself a pretty peaceful girl. She'd hardly raised her voice in her whole life. But right then she felt a seething anger greater than anything before. It would be one thing if these music numbers had actually happened, but it was completely obvious they hadn't. It was wasting everyone's time, and worse, was starting to get annoying. She tried the FORWARD button again.
"ONE DAY MORE!"
She smacked the remote against her wheelchair and tried the FORWARD button again. One last try.
Lelouch sat on a couch in a huge and luxurious, if messy, room. He was wearing the fineries of Zero and held his head in his hands, shuddering in either pain or despair.
He whispered, the slightest inflection of song in his tone.
"Kallen, is it just you and me in the wreckage of Japan?
This really didn't go all according to plan.
And though the Black Knights will need me here with you,
I'm losing my mind and I'm afraid I'm going to lose you too."
Kallen's eyes grew wide at what she was seeing. She knew that look on Lelouch's face, the tired face of utter hopelessness. She'd seen it before, twice in fact. Once right after the failed operation over the Pacific. The second right after the FLEIJA. Based on the setting presented onscreen, it seemed likely that was when this song was taking place.
This time Nunnally didn't skip ahead.
Lelouch stood up and took a few uneven steps. Tears were starting at the corners of his eyes.
"This Geass keeps hope alive,
But it turns friends against me!
And I know one day,
It'll make me crazy.
Please, forgive me for whatever I do
If Zero abandons you."
'If Zero...?' Kallen wracked her brain, trying to put the lyrics of Lelouch's song into context. 'Lelouch, did your Geass affect your mind? Is that why you...?'
Milly and Rivalz shared a silent look as they processed what was being sung. They may not have understood everything, but they knew Lelouch, and they could hear the meaning in his words, hear the sincerity of Lelouch's song and the desperation in his tone. He was pleading - pleading in vain to the girl who didn't even seem to be in the room with him.
The sound of an omnichord began to play over the scene as Lelouch took another step, the setting fading into the Imperial Throneroom and his clothing drifting with it into the unfeeling white of the Demon Emperor.
"Kallen, I feel myself slipping away.
This power seems more like a curse to me every day.
And I'm thankful for all the love you give;
Please, Kallen, you have to live."
Kallen's mouth opened slightly, unconsciously, and the beginnings of a tear formed at the edge of her eye. There was so much, wasn't there? So much going on within the troubled prince that nobody knew about. What pain was he going through? What burdens was he shouldering alone? How much of his confidence was an act when he sat behind closed doors weeping? And why didn't he trust her enough to help?
And then those words.
"You have to live."
'Why, Lelouch?' The tears had finally begun to fall. 'Why did you want me to live? Why did you have to die? I thought I understood. After Zero showed up and killed you, I thought I finally figured you out. And yet...!'
"This Geass keeps hope alive,
But it's making me crazy!
And I need to tell you,
'You mean everything to me.'
Please, forgive me for whatever I do
If Zero abandons you."
Lelouch took one more step and fell to his knees, a spot of red starting by his heart and staining his white clothing. He grunted in obvious pain and the setting dissolved around him again, from the decorated splendour of the Great Hall to blank white. He fell to his side and then onto his back, staring up into the blankness of the world around him. Jupiter hung overhead, and as the red spot grew and expanded over his clothing he smiled and repeated the last line of his song.
"Please, forgive me... for... whatever I do...
If Zero... abandons... y-..."
Lelouch trailed off as his eyes slowly shut, and the screen finally went black.
The audience had a mixed reaction to the final song, but those more sceptical of Lelouch's supposed innocence at least had the grace not to speak and ruin the moment.
Kallen lowered her head to hide her tears. He actually said it, even if it was in a song that he clearly hadn't sung at any point in his life. He said what she meant to him. She meant everything to him. The thought of it took Kallen's breath away, but more than that, left a hollow feeling in her chest and a lump in her throat. It might've been better if he said he hated her. At least then she wouldn't have to regret losing him. She could untether herself from the dead prince, finally move on. Now she was only more stuck, and Kallen had a feeling she'd never get over him.
In her seat, Cornelia wondered to herself. She crossed her legs and put a hand to her chin in thought, and slowly attempted to make sense of Lelouch's words. He said that Geass was driving him insane. Could that have been the case? Is that why he took over the world as the Demon Emperor? Because the curse of Geass was slowly eroding his mind? It made sense, but at the same time Cornelia was fairly certain the overly dramatic finale hadn't actually happened in real life. Just like how it was obvious he hadn't danced on a stage with both his parents and, (she shuddered at the thought of him) their mad uncle.
Perhaps Lelouch was as much a victim of Geass as anyone else? After all, until now everyone was only aware of what the power did to others, the thought of what it did to its user going completely neglected. So then, that would mean-...
The video had continued right on after Lelouch's song and now showed him sitting across from C.C. on the train.
"Are you mad?" she questioned carefully, earning only a frown as reply. "You're mad aren't you?"
"I'M NOT MAD!"
Startled by Lelouch's sudden disgruntled shout blasting through the theatre speakers, the entire audience instinctively drew back and Nunnally fumbled with the remote, dropping it to floor only for Zero to hurry and grab it for her. Onscreen, Lelouch continued his professedly calm rant.
"I don't understand your outfit! I just don't!"
The outfit in question included pigtails under a tiny hat and a breezy white and red dress, but if C.C. was offended she didn't show it.
"I'm getting the feeling you're upset..."
"No! NO! I'm not upset! I'M NOT!"
The remote was hastily deposited back into Nunnally's fingers and she smashed the STOP button before the scene could go any further, bringing silence and letting the audience breath a collective sigh of relief. What they'd just witnessed had certainly come without context, but, it was silently reasoned, even if the whole scene had been allowed to continue there was no guarantee it would make sense.
Lloyd and Rakshata didn't seem to mind though, looks of puzzlement on their faces as they physically strained to assign meaning to the last couple clips. Milly was bobbing her head a little, one of the tunes stuck on her mind, and Cornelia, quite unsure how to react to the randomness displayed onscreen, simply settled on being furious, though since she was already scowling no one could tell a difference in her mood. Guilford meanwhile sat reserved, quiet and waiting for his lady's orders like a proper knight.
"Well..." Rivalz began, breaking the silence. "That happened."
The boy received a few looks, but his simple observation otherwise faced no disagreement. Then his stomach gurgled.
"Ah, ahaha..." He laughed nervously and placed an embarrassed hand to his belly. "Sorry. We've been sitting here for awhile now. I guess I'm starting to get hungry."
Nunnally let a small frown onto her face. They were hardly even halfway through R1 before the remote started acting up, and she was getting impatient to get back on track, but with a sigh she decided it wasn't worth pushing her friends to keep watching. Rivalz was right - with what little progress they'd made into the mysterious DVD they'd already been at it for hours, and they were certainly due for a lunch at least. She gestured around the room, addressing the others.
"How about I call some Pizza Hut for us?"
"OH, PIZZA HUT,
OH, PIZZA HUT,
KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN AND'A PIZZA HUT!"
"AAAAAAGHHH!"
LLLLLLLLLLLL