CROWN OF THORNS
CHAPTER 3
ACT 1
As Ashford Academy was rather crowded and full of brainless Britannian students in the mornings, I made sure to take carefully measured steps and use every little secret passage that I knew of. It was not that I was avoiding anyone in particular; I just liked being alone, and the absence of my obscure fangirls was just a bonus. Truly, I do not realize what they see in me that is so appealing. I'm not even trying to get in their pants like Rivalz does with Milly, that poor desperate fool.
Sayoko and C.C. seemed to get along like oil and water, and it amused me to no end, but with the right emulsifier, namely myself, they could get along just fine. While Sayoko was passionate and swift to act, C.C. was more akin to myself with her indifferent expressions and cold demeanor that would make sunbathing in Antarctica seem like a good idea.
I quite liked that witch; it seemed like every deliberate brush of the hand was carefully planned hours before, that she could read my thoughts, readily answering my every question. She ought to be a vital piece in my game. I only needed to earn her trust.
The sound of leaves rustling broke my train of thought and I gritted my teeth, thinking it was probably one of my ever growing band of brainwashed fangirls. Cursing my luck, I hid behind the trunk of an old cherry tree in the Ashford gardens.
As expected, a girl emerged from the shadows, a very annoyed expression on her face, if not a bit worried. I immediately raised my eyebrow at the strange girl; clearly , this one was not here to bother me.
The girl quickly inspected her surroundings, reminding me of a doe hiding from a vicious hunter in an unknown forest. Then she dug her right hand in the pocket of her uniform, which was a tight fit, I noted, squeezing the girl's body in all the right places and showing off her curves.
In her other hand, she held a pink pouch, her thumb hovering a spot.
Narrowing my eyes, I waited, hoping to hear the familiar sound of the knife sliding out. I knew I had seen that fiery red hair somewhere before, even if the hairstyle was different.
In a couple of seconds, I was graced with the sound I was aching to hear. Smiling from ear to ear like Cheshire Cat, I applauded myself for my newest catch.
This girl was most likely not the sick and frail girl she portrayed herself to be. If the hair wasn't of any indication, the pouch was a dead giveaway.
I had one of those as well. They were custom made by the Six Houses of Kyoto and shipped to all the resistance groups in Japan, its purpose similar to the one of my broach; only it was much easier to fabricate.
I had retrieved mine from a foolish Japanese man who had tried to rob me a few months back as I was going to a chess match with the Black King, the leader of Area 11's many con artists group. Surely enough, the man I refer to as Yamato, since he had claimed he was a member of a so called Yamato Alliance, did not live to tell the tale.
He had been my first kill of an Eleven, and I must admit, severing his limbs was a pastime I rather enjoyed. The pouch was just a bonus.
I froze when Kallen began moving around the garden, even searching through a bush near me. Holding my breath, I forced myself to remain still, or at least pretend to be sleeping.
The tense silence lasted only seconds as Kallen seemed to be satisfied and fished out a cell phone from her pocket.
Furiously typing, she pressed the phone to her ear and waited.
"Tamaki, I don't have time for your bullshit right now." She spoke impatiently in fluent Japanese, without the slightest hint of an accent.
Well, color me impressed, I mused absentmindedly as I listened to her conversation with a person named Ohgi, probably the same man from yesterday, and if I can judge from her tone, he was their leader.
She and her little band of terrorists should really work on being stealthy, or just use code names instead. The girl was lucky it was me who was eavesdropping, not some average Britannian student.
It honestly made me wonder how they have survived so long without someone to hold their hand through every step on the way.
I now knew not only the names of every member of their group, but the location of their not-so-secret hideout. It was a piece of information I could use in the future. They were curious about the voice from Shinjuku, as expected. Currently the most popular theory was that it was Todoh, and I barely stopped myself from snorting. As if Todoh would waste his time on them. Not to mention the old fool would not work with them on something as dishonorable as stealing poison gas.
That man was way too honorable for his own good.
After a few minutes, she hung up and hurried away from the scene, and it took me a second to realise she dropped something.
Crouching down on the grass, I lifted the picture, carefully examining it. Kallen was standing on a table laughing, while a boy who could not be older than 12 was flipping pancakes, laughing as well. The resemblance was uncanny. Shrugging, I took the picture and put it in my front pocket. It was probably her brother, a useful bit of info to have, I suppose.
Removing the blades of grass from my uniform, I hurried back to class, smiling all the while.
"It's her brother," C.C. said as she looked at the photo. Some time after class, I had returned to the suite to confer with the witch on my next move. "How can you be so sure?" I asked her.
"Look at their characteristics. They look too similar to be cousins, and their ages are close as well," she pointed out.
Well, if she also thinks that they're siblings, my first guess probably wasn't wrong.
"Now that I think about it, I've seen this girl before, here, on campus," she continued. "What was her name? Kallen… Stadtfeld?"
"Yeah, she's a student here."
"Why do you have her picture? You found someone new to stalk?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at that one.
"The day I found you, I heard her voice over the radio while I was in a knightmare. I even commanded her resistance group that day. Also she mentioned the name Ohgi, another name I heard while we were in Shinjuku," I replied.
"If that's the case, then you either have a potential ally, or a massive threat to your safety," C.C. said, returning the picture of Kallen and her brother to me.
"She's definitely could be an ally, along with that group of hers, but also a possible hindrance since she's so close."
"So, you have two choices, well, three really: convince her to lead you to her friends, use Geass on her, or kill her."
"Geass it is, then."
"But before you decide, you should know that your Geass has a limit of one usage per person. Any further attempts to control them will be met with weird looks and questions about your mental health," she said.
Well, fuck. I suppose that should keep things interesting, then.
"Maybe I'll just talk to her then," I said slipping the photo back into my pocket.
"Just use Geass to find out where her friends' hideout is so you can dispose of her. After all, the danger isn't worth it," C.C. mused. "You'll still have a sufficient amount of toys to play with, even without her."
C.C. is more vicious than I thought.
"No need for that. All she needs a bit of 'aggressive persuasion', then I'm sure she'll be understanding," I laughed. "You're a bit on the bloodthirsty side, aren't ya?"
"Hmph, just trying to keep you from dying prematurely, kid," she said blankly.
That look… that look was odd. Usually, that blank stare of hers was reserved for others. Others, I would assume, she wasn't interested in. Well, I've always taken to women with agendas.
Tracking down the problematic redhead had been easier than it should've been, in my humble opinion. No challenge at all. For someone who bragged about being stealthy, she was awfully easy to find. I did not know if she said it to convince Ohgi or herself; probably both.
It only took a smile sent to a teacher for her schedule, an offer to help out a fellow student for her current location, and whisper false promises of a possible date to one of her friends in exchange for Kallen's version of her past.
I pretended to listen to Rivalz as he talked about his newest idea to woo Milly, judging from the bits and pieces I'd gathered.
Kallen was right in front of us, like a sitting duck among her friends, who were too busy gushing over Leonardo DiCaprio and his new movie about Britannia's dominance over Japan.
I could practically see her ire radiating off her. I considered taking away to spare her from the misery, but decided against it; an annoyed enemy was easy to read and counter and the angrier she is, the better it was for me.
So, I waited, occasionally nodding my head at poor Rivalz when he considered the best way to show Milly he liked her and observed the young woman.
Sophie Wood began praising the Emperor for the Kyoto Massacre, an event where the Britannians burned over eight thousand Japanese women and children alive for refusing to cooperate and reveal the location of their men in the military.
I grinned, now completely ignoring Rivalz, and observed Kallen for a reaction. This was going to be interesting.
Kallen suddenly raised her hand, and for a split second I thought she was going to blow her cover and slap the girl, she seemed to have realised where her hand was, and merely used it to get rid of a mosquito buzzing near Sophie.
My grin dropped and I sighed in disappointment. That could've been interesting, to see that foolish girl losing her cool, not to mention a good opening for me to step in, playing the role of a trustworthy student who understands her completely; a timeless classic which works every time.
I excused myself, leaving Rivalz to his own devices, and passed the girls on purpose, dropping the photograph in the process.
I decided that terrified realization suited Kallen better than the pleased one in Shinjuku. She seemed so vulnerable in that moment, as if the thought of being discovered was running through her head faster than the speed of light.
Excusing herself with a shaky excuse of being sick again, I heard her footsteps as she slowly followed me into the Ashford Gardens.
Pretending to yawn, I eased myself onto the soft grass, leaning against the same tree I used for hiding from Kallen.
Her footsteps suddenly stopped. She was probably thinking about what to do, or how to make her presence known.
I decided to spare her the trouble. Opening my eyes, I faked surprise as I eyed her. "Miss Stadtfelt?" I murmured sleepily, "What are you doing here?"
She fidgeted, as if caught in the act of stealing cookies from the jar. "I just like the air in the gardens, to be honest. It's so fresh!" she laughed awkwardly.
"Because you're sick and all, is that right?"
She nodded almost shyly.
"In that case," I grinned, "Be my guest."
I patted the spot next to me, and she looked agitated for a moment. I raised an eyebrow. Was she thinking I would attack her when she lowers her guard?
I sent her my best sheepish smile and when she finally sat down, I made a note to thank Milly later. I used the smile to escape her scoldings because of my gambling addiction, or get her to allow me to skip classes.
Over the next five minutes, I chatted with her about ordinary things like grades, teachers, Milly, to get her to finally relax before I dropped the bomb.
I wanted to seem like an ordinary Britannian student, carefree and useless in almost every situation. At first, I feared she might be able to see through my act and read between the lines, but slowly she seemed to believe me, or at least I thought so, since she stopped holding her hand close to the pocket where her knife was.
I decided to test the waters after a few moments. "You've heard about Shinjuku, right? I mean, who hasn't?"
She continued to pretend to seem interested. "Yeah, of course. Shame, I think it's really a tragedy."
"Yeah, all those soldiers that died in Shinjuku, what a waste of Britannian blood." Forcing myself to sound sad, I shook my head.
I wanted to vomit.
"And what of the thousands of Japanese that died, don't you care at all about them?" She asked, raising her tone, though by a negligible amount.
I shrugged."I suppose, but come on, they were just terrorists, just Elevens. Why do you-"
Her hand at my throat cut me off. "God, I hate people like you!"
Check.
I smirked. "I saw a photo of you earlier. You bear a striking resemblance to another Japanese boy in the same picture. Odd, isn't it?"
Her grip on my neck tightened to an astonishing degree. I'll definitely have prints left on me after this one.
"Kallen! Hey, you're missing the movie! Leonardo DiCaprio is about to fight Todoh, you can't miss… what are you doing?" one of the girls from earlier interrupted.
"Oh, sorry, Lelouch and I were just discussing recent events, and I noticed his collar was misshapen, I'll be right back," she said, reverting to her droopy-eyed persona.
While her hold on my throat had loosened, the knee on my crotch was another story. I barely stopped myself from yelling.
"Right, Lelouch?" she asked with a sickeningly sweet smile as she pressed her knee even harder.
"Y-yes." I managed through gritted teeth. Damn girl was troublesome.
"We'll finish our talk some other time then, Miss Stadtfeld?" I asked as she removed herself from me.
She nodded with one last fierce glare at me as she departed.
Oh god, I can imagine C.C. smirking as she notices the fingerprints on my throat or my trouble walking properly.
Wincing as I stood up, I headed for the Student Council building in hopes of convincing Milly having Kallen in the Council was a good idea.
ACT 2
"Lose a fight?" C.C. asked me, referring to the prints on my neck.
I decided to head back to my suite and corroborate with C.C. once more on the matter. Despite her nonchalance and caustic remarks, she was ever the conspirator. "Somewhat," I laughed, "it was with a girl too."
"That red-haired girl?"
"You guessed it."
"So she is the one."
"No doubt about it. I didn't get to finish my conversation with her, though. Some nuisance decided to interrupt us just as I was about to get to the good part."
I hadn't noticed at first, but C.C. was once again eating a slice of pizza, and the box was on the nightstand next to her.
"I see you're using my money well," said I. She continued to enjoy her slice.
"Anyways, I think I can make her an ally, and perhaps a permanent one. Well, at least until she dies," I continued.
"If you can, then by all means, do it. Just be careful you don't end up making an enemy of her," the witch murmured through the cheese in her mouth.
"Hey, she and her little band already owe me their lives, so their culture probably demands that they serve me."
"Oh, and what about you and me?"
"... What?"
Her eyes lit up as if the universe was before her. "Were it not for me, you'd have died."
"True," I huffed, "but I'm sure the pizza is enough for you, or are you saying it's not a good reward? In that case I'll make sure you don't taste it anymore by ripping out your tongue."
The cockyness disappeared from her face, and she almost seemed afraid of the notion.
"I'm going to take a shower, I'll be back soon," I said to the woman, who was now grasping her tongue in fear.
ACT 3
"It's almost 4 P.M., hopefully the Britannian military will have taught Villetta to be punctual," I said to myself as I awaited my soon-to-be soldiers at the train. The outfit I created, while a sight to behold, could be a bit hot at some points, and I'd prefer to limit how much I wear the thing. Hopefully, the costume and persona I've created for 'Zero' will become an ideal rather than a person. Of course, the Japanese will take to Zero and what he stands for. After all, freedom and dignity are just what an oppressed people crave. The Japanese people, above all the others crave their freedom and 'honor' to be returned to them. Such a silly word, 'honor'. They need a single beacon of hope in their time of need. Unlike the JLF and those useless 'resistance groups', I actually plan on taking Britannia head on. That should satisfy them enough to learn to trust me. Though, it'd be best if I keep my identity as a Britannian from them. 'Purple-eyed devils' is what they called the Royal Family. Years of oppression had made sure their tolerance was rather low, not that I blame them. My own hatred towards Britannia was like a burning fire, growing bigger every single day.
"We're almost there, just a few more minutes," Villetta's voice spoke to me from the communicator. Convincing Villetta of my wish to go back to Britannia and take my rightful place on the throne was pathetically easy. She's so greedy, so uncaring, that she would sell her own mother for a glance from the Emperor. Heh, I bet she would sleep with him if he asked, regardless of age. Not a moment had passed before I saw several shadows rise from the bottom of the stairs leading to the train station. As I had rehearsed, I walked into the train and sat in a vacant seat. "Enter the train," I said into the communicator.
One by one, the confused members of the resistance group filed in after Villetta, whom I still hadn't informed of my plan. The one I assume they call Ohgi strolled in first, Kallen, who seemed to grow more worrisome with each step followed him, and an assortment of nameless, generic Japanese fighters brought up the rear. "Don't you all have to get off at this stop?" I said to seemingly no one at all. The people whom I had Geassed earlier all rose in unison once they heard the phrase and departed the cabin, leaving only my new legion and I. The stage is set. "Thank you, Villetta, for summoning the resistance group to me, and thank you all for coming," I said to the confused group.
"You're the one who radioed us at Shinjuku, yes?" Ohgi asked a bit reluctantly. I smiled beneath the mask. It would seem he was intimidated by me, to my amusement.
"Yes," I answered. "Before I begin, does anyone have any questions?"
The train began to move.
"What is your name?" Ohgi asked.
"You may refer to me as Zero," I replied with a small bow.
"That's not what I meant. What's your given name?" Ohgi asked once more. It would seem their leader was as clueless as he was annoying. A shame for them, but a good pawn; perfect for a figurehead leader.
"What does a name matter? No matter what you may call me, my actions and words will be the same. Shouldn't those prove my worth?"
"But how can we trust you if you can't even trust us with a name?"
Thankfully, my mask covered my scowl. Already, Ohgi has proved to be irksome. He was reluctant to follow my commands in Shinjuku, and now he seems to actually possess at least part of a brain, much unlike the rest of the lot.
The train picked up speed.
"I assume you know of Clovis' death?" I asked, deciding to use my trump card.
"Of course, some Japanese soldier, Kururugi murdered him," Ohgi replied. "What of it?"
"Ha, the Britannian news media is a joke. That was, of course, a fabrication to hide the truth about Clovis' murderer," I laughed.
The group seemed unsettled at my words as they shifted about. Only Villetta remained truly calm.
"Oh come on, what, are you saying you killed Clovis? What a joke!" One of the nameless faces near the rear yelled.
The train accelerated once more.
"Tamaki, shut it!" Kallen violently whispered at at the redhead.
"I did, and here's the proof." "I tossed Clovis' broach, which I'd taken from his neck after he died, to Ohgi" I hadn't bothered cleaning the blood from it.
"This is…-"
"It is," I cut Ohgi off. "I think that should prove my sincerity ten times over."
I paused for a moment to let the effect sink in. The wide-eyed stares from Ohgi, Kallen, and even Villetta informed me that they were well within the palm of my hand.
"I still don't trust this guy. That thing could easily be a fake!" the one called Tamaki blurted out again.
These people are going to be a handful, I'm sure.
"If you believe that that's a fake, then you must be the group fool," I said coolly, but viciously.
"Why, you!" The moron shouted as he drew a knife and charged at me.
Wordlessly, I drew my own knife with my right hand, and deflected his with my left.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" I asked, bringing the blade to his throat.
The train picked up more speed, turning the outside world into a blur of orange and white.
"Whoa, whoa, easy now. Let's all just calm down here," Ohgi said, coming over to drag Tamaki back to them. "Hey, isn't the train moving a bit fast?"
"Yes, I've asked the conductor to accelerate to top speed," I said to the lot.
"Why?" Villetta asked me, hand on her gun.
"So we can derail, of course!"
Villetta drew her pistol. "What the hell, why would-"
"You trust me, don't you?" I cut her off with a raise of the hand.
Villetta fell silent and lowered her weapon. The others, however, seemed terrified.
"See, I knew he couldn't be trusted!" Tamaki yelled as he grasped his throat, which now had a small cut on it from my knife.
Kallen glared at me with those sharp eyes of hers.
The train was now at its top speed, and it rumbled as it zoomed across the tracks. "You all may want to sit for this next turn!" I exclaimed as I sat. After all, the next turn would surely send us flying off the tracks. The horrified lot scrambled to find a seat, and I think I saw Tamaki start crying and beg for his miserable life. It's unfortunate that he'll survive this.
Once at the sharp turn, the train immediately flipped onto its side, and some of the cabins further up detached from the rest of the train and flew clean off the tracks and through the rails, ending their journey at the intersection below us. I got to my feet and turned to face Villetta. "You should leave now. You especially can't risk being caught here, so go leave this area."
She looked at me for a moment and grinned. "You planned all of this, didn't you?"
"If I hadn't, you'd have been crushed."
With that, she jumped out of the sizeable hole in the cabin that the crash had created and jogged away.
"There are weapons and explosives at the very back of this train. Now, if you would all follow me, we can retrieve them and leave," I said to the rest of my ragtag group, who were still recovering from the shock.
"I think we'd better do what the man says," Ohgi said through fits of coughing.
We thank our beta, Juvia, for her absolutely amazing work.