Code Geass: Rivalz of the Rebellion
Turn Three: Murderer and Demon
But things hadn't even begun to get bad...
... ... ...
"S-Suzaku...?" Lelouch gasped. "You...You became a Britannian soldier?"
"Uuh..." Rivalz looked between his friend and the random Eleven that Rivalz knew nothing about.
"Yeah." The soldier continued, putting his helmet under his arm. "And what about you? You're..."
"Um, hello?" Rivalz asked, pushing himself up from the ground and rubbing his face, "Is nobody going to explain to me what's going on here?"
Suzaku turned around, just now remembering the man he kicked to the floor mere seconds ago. "Who's he?" The Eleven soldier asked Lelouch.
Lelouch looked back, also forgetting Rivalz because of his old friend's return. "That's Rivalz. He's one of my school..."
But now it was time for Lelouch to be interrupted, for out of nowhere, the container in the truck suddenly glowed, humming mysteriously. The tubes sticking out of it suddenly detached, allowing the spherical object to break apart. As Suzaku tackled Lelouch to the floor of the truck, forcing a gas mask on his face, Rivalz simply fell backwards, out of the open door and into the tunnel.
Crashing into the ground with his hands covering his face, Rivalz cried, "WAAGH! I don't want to die!"
As he fell, his life flashed before his eyes. Granted, it was short and uneventful save for the occurrences of the past hour, but a life was a life, and Rivalz wasn't keen on losing his.
He slammed to the ground and waited for the rush of gas over his face that never came. Instead, there was a sprinkling of dust, a glow from behind his eyes, and a gasp from the two teenagers still in the terrorist vehicle. Moments later, there was a thud as a warm, soft, cloth-wrapped object fell on top of Rivalz.
"That's not poison gas..." He could hear the Eleven soldier say in shock.
Not poison gas? Rivalz thought and opened an eye. Obscuring his vision was a tangle of long green hair. Pushing himself up slightly, he could see a semi-conscious woman, wrapped in an unnecessarily complex white straightjacket, lying on top of his fallen form.
"Uh, not that I'm complaining much," Rivalz said shakily, "but there's a girl lying on top of me."
Quickly, Lelouch and the soldier picked the girl up and set her on the ground. They huddled over her, undoing the straps and leaving Rivlaz to the side. Man, who is this guy? And how does Lelouch know him? He thought, rubbing his head.
"Tell me the truth Suzaku," Lelouch asked the soldier, struggling with straps holding the strange girl's arms, "poison gas? This girl?"
"Hey, it's what they told us in the briefing, I swear." The soldier (Suzaku apparently) replied, unzipping a portion of the straightjacket that bound her legs.
"Well either someone screwed up in the military," Rivalz chimed in, kneeling over the woman, "or someone's..."
A sudden light blinded the trio, a voice calling out, "That's quite enough."
Squinting through the blinding light, Rivalz could make out ten soldiers, pointing their guns at the trio around the girl. As his eyes adjusted, he could make out the red uniforms of the men. These guys aren't the regular army... Rivalz noticed. Then maybe... Clovis' Royal Guard...?
The Eleven soldier stood up and rushed over to the newcomers and immediately saluted to their commanding officer, "Sir, I was told this was poison gas..."
"How dare you question orders!" The officer sneered at the Eleven, causing Lelouch to scowl at the man under his breath.
"However," the officer continued, "in light of your outstanding military achievements I'm going to be lenient." Extending a gun to the Eleven, the officer ordered, "Private Kururugi, take this and execute the terrorists."
"WHA-!" Rivalz cried as Lelouch and the Eleven both gasped. "Bu-but we're not...!"
"Silence!" The officer barked, causing Rivalz to back down. How can he call us terrorists... so quickly?
"But sir," The Eleven defended the two next to the girl, "they're not terrorists; they're civilians who got caught up in all of this!"
"You insubordinate little...!" The officer growled, looking like he was going to lash out at the soldier, but he restrained himself. "That's an order. Didn't you swear your life and loyalty to Britannia?"
"Yes, but... but I can't"
"What?" The officer growled.
"I won't do it sir. I won't harm civilians." He turned away from his commanding officer and looked directly at Lelouch, smiling softly and sadly. "I can't follow your orders sir."
I can't believe this, Rivalz stared at the brave soldier. He's disobeying the military for Lelouch... and me too...?
"Very well."
With a muffled bang, the brave soldier stiffened and crumpled in a heap on the floor, a bullet in his side.
"Suzaku!" Lelouch cried out, half standing up.
"Dammit! Why'd you just shoot him?" Rivalz cried out too, but was silenced when the officer's gun was leveled at him.
"This was a very bad day to skip class, student." The officer said in a low menacing tone. Glancing at his soldiers, the officer said, "Collect the girl. After that's done, kill the boys."
"Yes, my lord." The assembled soldiers said in unsettling unison.
"No, wait!" Rivalz said, stepping in front of Lelouch, his arms outstretched. "I can't let you do this!"
"RIvalz... you idiot..." Lelouch hissed behind his friend's back, but Rivalz paid no attention to that.
"If you want them, you're going to have to go through me first." Rivalz glared down at the officer with all the little intimidation he could muster.
Shrugging the officer replied, "Fine by me." And pointed the pistol at Rivalz's forehead.
Eyes widening, Rialz realized, Man, this is the stupidest thing I've ever done...
And with a bang, the word exploded.
Literally.
The truck behind him was suddenly consumed by a violent explosion, flames surging outwards and throwing everyone there off of their feet. A section of the roof, already weakened by age and finally broken by the sudden explosion, shattered into large chunks and fell to the ground. Through some strange instinct that whispered at the back of his head, Rivalz threw himself to the side and managed to avoid the collapsing ceiling.
When he finally looked up, the rubble had cut him, Lelouch, and the girl off from the Britannian soldiers, leaving the students with an entire tunnel network to flee down.
"Rivalz! Run!" Lelouch cried, pulling the girl into his arms and sprinting down the hall. Not needing to be told twice, the blue-haired teen followed after his friend, putting as much distance between himself and the burning wreckage of the truck.
As he ran, his thoughts raced alongside him, So it has to be some sort of cover up. But for what? Who is this girl? Who was that Eleven soldier, Suzaku? How does he know Lelouch? Why did I get wrapped up in all of this? Holding his head in his hands, he inwardly whined, Gah, all of this is making my head spin...
Suddenly the weak Lelouch stopped, throwing the girl to the ground, panting heavily. Rivalz stopped behind him, also worn down by the escape. "What the hell are you?" Lelouch asked the girl between deep breaths, "This chaos is all your fault, isn't it?"
"Lelouch," Rivalz moved over to Lelouch, "What the heck is going on? Who was that Eleven...?"
Suddenly Lelouch snapped, whipping around and staring into Rivalz's eyes with pure fury. "Suzaku Kururugi. He was my friend... my friend ever since... ever since I came to Area Eleven..." Tears in his eyes, Lelouch looked away, teeth clenched and fists closed.
Frozen in shock, Rivalz looked at the back of Lelouch's head. "I'm sorry..." Rivalz meekly apologized.
"Not now... we have to get out of here." Lelouch responded coldly.
Over their heads, the sounds of explosions and gunfire could be distinctly heard. The dull roar of Knightmare frames shook the roof of the tunnel.
"What's going on up there?" Rivalz asked, panicked.
"If Britannia's keeping with the story that this was poison gas," Lelouch explained quietly, "then when the truck exploded, the gas should have been released... and people would know about it... but if there are witnesses that say otherwise... the lie is broken... so..." but Lelouch's voice only trailed off.
For a moment Rivalz didn't understand, but in a shining moment of clarity, Rivalz's eyes widened with shock. "No..."
Growling, Lelouch picked up the girl and began running again. "Let's go Rivalz." Silently, RIvalz followed.
But inside his head, all was not quiet. They can't be. Clovis would never allow the military to just kill a bunch of people. Maybe this is higher than Clovis. Yeah, that has to be it. But those men were his personal guard? No, how could he just massacre an entire group of people without people realizing or caring? Maybe if they were Elevens...
The image of the murdered solider... Suzaku...his friend's friend... played again in his head. Dammit, how can anyone just kill someone...even an Eleven... for no good reason?
Leleouch stopped again, this time at the foot of a flight of stairs. Waving Rivalz to stop, he slowly climbed up the stairs to get a better look. Rivalz snuck in behind him, looking up into a dank warehouse.
Lelouch turned back and whispered, "Keep quiet, stay here." Handing over the green-haired girl to Rivalz, the black-haired youth crept up the stairs, only to stop at the sound of gunfire.
Rivalz gaped as a dozen Elevens, gunned down by Britannian machine guns, fell bleeding to the ground. He placed a hand over his mouth at the sight of all the blood, their twisted expressions of pain.
Voices echoed in the empty warehouse. The royal guard! Rivalz's thoughts exploded. Did they find us? No, they haven't seen us yet. If we keep quiet, maybe we can wait until they leave. Just keep quiet Rivalz, just keep...
His thoughts were interrupted by his obnoxiously loud ringtone, deliberately chosen to disrupt everyone around him. Lelouch looked back at him in fury as Rivalz pulled out his phone and saw the caller ID. DAMMIT SHIRLEY! He cried inwardly and put away his phone, looking up to find himself facing the business end of a military assault rifle.
... ... ...
"Dammit Rivalz!" Shirly cursed as she closed her phone. "I thought I could at least get to Lelouch through you. What could possibly be so important!"
... ... ...
Rivalz was thrown against the wall alongside his friend as they faced a firing squad of Britannian soldiers. The girl had been taken from them, and now stood to the side, fully awake, flanked by two of the soldiers.
"What a fitting place for a terrorist to meet his end," the Royal Guard said, standing in front of the massacred Eleven bodies.
"We're not terrorists!" Rivalz cried for the third time in the past few minutes. "Please, just let us go. We won't say anything about this, we promise..."
"I'm afraid..." The officer sneered, pointing his gun at Rivalz's head for a third time, "...I can't take that chance."
"HE MUSTN'T DIE!"
With a cry, the green-haired girl forced her way between the soldier and Rivalz, only to be struck in the forehead by the flying bullet. Gracefully, the woman fell backwards and was caught in Lelouch's open arms.
"Y...You just shot her..." Rivalz stammered, completely forgetting that he was about to be shot himself.
"Our orders were to bring her back alive if possible..." The officer grimaced, lowering his gun. "Oh well, nothing can be done about it now."
"But..." Rivalz tried to begin, but the officer cut him off.
"We'll just say that the Royal Guard found the terrorist hideout and killed them all. Regrettably, the female hostage had already been tortured to death." The officer sneered again, "A good story, don't you think schoolboy...?"
Rivalz backed up to the wall, the soldiers raising their guns at him and Lelouch, who was kneeling on the ground, staring off into space. This is it... Rivalz thought, I'm going to die! I'm sorry Lelouch... Milly...
"Tell me, how should a Britannian who detests his own country live his life?"
Rivalz looked down at his friend, who was slowly standing up, his voice calm and cool, his hand covering his left eye. "What are you, some kind of radical?" the officer grinned, only to look on in confusion as a wave of some strange power passed over everyone in the room.
"What's wrong? Why not shoot?" Lelouch continued
"Lelouch, don't give them any ideas..." Rivalz began, but was too stopped by the sudden wave of power. What's going on here...?
"Have you realized? The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed." Lelouch stared directly into the commanding officer's face.
His gun shaking slightly, the Guard asked fearfully, "What's happening here!"
His voice the epitome of power, Lelouch pulled his hand from his eye and cried forcefully. "I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you, all of you, DIE."
Suddenly a wave, like a sudden cold gust filled the room. Rivalz pushed himself against the wall and the soldiers backed away one step. But soon they stopped. Opening their eyes, Rivalz could barely make out a red ring surrounding their irises.
Laughing like a madman, the commanding officer replied, "Happily your highness!" and placed his pistol to his neck. The other soldiers pulled out their own pistols and placed them to their necks as well.
"Fire!"
Rivalz could only gape as drops of blood flew on his face, the soldiers crumpled down into dead heaps, and the energy seemed to leave the room, only to be replaced by a cool, unforgiving darkness.
"Lelouch..." Rivalz whispered, turning to his friend, "how...?"
But Lelouch didn't respond, instead he stared at the spot where the soldiers had once been standing. And he smiled. It was the smile of no mortal, it was the smile of no human being. It was the smile of a demon, as he sadistically watched the destruction of his enemies.
Yes, Lelouch always managed to surprise him...
... ... ...
Author's Note: Tada! Another update! I hope that I can get the next two up before Thanksgiving. Remember though, don't hold me to that. Well, Lelouch has Geass, CC and Suzaku are "dead" and Rivalz is even more confused than before. Will he get explanations? Well, I hope to get Shinjuku over with before Thanksgiving, but don't hold me to that. I have other obligations and my eternal procrastination to deal with. Oh, and him (points a finger at P-1, who is twirling a gun in his fingers) Seriously, why are you here? You haven't officially been created yet! (SIlence) Fine...
Now, how can I get Rivalz into a Knightmare...?
RESPONSES:
Worker72: Yeah, I have to admit, giving Rivalz the call sign P-1 requires me to come up with a new chess title for Ohgi, and R-1 is a more powerful name, but this is still Rivalz we're talking about. Besides, I have some dialogue ideas based around it.
Kiki Hayashi: Thank you for the praise. I hope I can keep up Rivalz's character, even if it is changed by the new events of this story. Though I have to say RIvalz already has a "backbone." He stands up for his friends, even though his ideas happen to be very stupid in retrospect... and while he's doing it... and before he does it... Rivalz, have you ever made a smart choice?