So there's going to be this character, Fluffy, and he is not an OC. He is the Crooked's Man lunch if he ever gets caught in the game. Yeah. I'm also considering if I should keep him alive. I'm pretty sure I want Lelouch alive. Maybe.
So. I'm back. How's life? I applaud anyone who can type on a tablet or phone. Like seriously, tell me all your secrets. I had to pause so many times because I accidentally press tab instead of the caps button. I also forget how to spell 'accidentally' and for twelve minutes I typed 'accidently.' Yep. Thankfully, I had access to a computer after my brother decided to go off and use the restroom. He'll sadly not be able to require his position next to the computer for most likely the next two hours because I'll get distracted by searching watching videos.
Disclaimer, I do not own Code Geass or he characters, and same goes with The Crooked Man. I also do not own the poem typed below called 'There Was a Crooked Man', and the extra lyrics added with the poem was just me being depressing.
You guys said it's now interesting that Kallen caught a glimpse of the Crooked Man. It should be the same for me, because I am making this up as I go. Yeah. I have no idea where this story is going. Oh well. I love how my grandma's old computer is better than the laptop my dad has.
I am going to continue to wonder if I spelled Schneizel's name correctly.
I just want to say, I got this chapter's idea from a review, and it really inspired me, so thank you, TheBlackWitchesCat!
Another thing...do you think this chapter's too cheesy or weird?
Should I retype this?
"We're not a charity case." Schneizel proclaims. Nunnally's jaw unhinged in shock, before immediately clamping back together from irritation once those startling words are replaced with Cornelia's next couple sentences.
"Who said we were in the first place?" Cornelia rejoinders. True to her word, Cornelia eventually continued with the conversation from earlier, however, now they included their other siblings and subject, dragging them into this argument. "Ands loud is not a charity case!" Cornelia hisses at Schneizel, who inclines his head in amusement.
"I do not recall you defending Lelouch as you are now when Father sent them away." Schneziel claims
"She had no say in that matter, and anyways, Lelouch was just attached with his dearest Nunnally," Jeremiah claims. Schneizel finds Jeremiah infathomable. Why do they continue to protect Lelouch after commiting all those unforgivable deeds? Especially Cornelia, Lelouch continuously foiled and intervened with her plans, constantly battling with her. He even shot little Euphie. Of course, Schneizel admits that he's quite distant with the periwinkle-haired beauty, but she's still his younger, useless sister.
"Lelouch is a bastard, disowned by Mother and Father, I admire Lelouch, but he is not truly our brother anymore." Schneizel simpers. It's quite simple, in Schneizel's complicated mind. He does admire Lelouch's strategies and boldness, but that doesn't mean he's just going to decrease his expectations from Lelouch just because he's sick; Schneizel expects Lelouch to continue to stay strong-minded. But he didn't. Too bad.
"He's dangerous. We can't keep him." Schneizel agrees with that, and he nods to acknowledge his approval. "I'm just saying this because he might end up hurting himself or others," Ohgi explains his reasoning. "And besides, Ried will want to have the scoop of the year, and if he even hears about the former Zero going losing his sanity after being stuck for three months underground, he'll twist that story in the most interesting way possible." Ohgi warns. Schneizel forgotten about the story-digging news reporter, he never really gave another thought about him.
"You talk about him as though he's a naughty puppy," Nunnally comments scornfully. "Ohgi. I understand your concerns, but there's no better service than here." Schneizel opens his mouth to gladly respond in a sage fashion, however, Nunnally's lavender eyes narrow as he inhales, and she quickly interject his first word. "And not, an insane asylum." Nunnally growls. "C.C., tell me that Lelouch's condition and mental state will turn for the better. Schneizel is unable to understand Nunnally's desperation on denying Lelouch's obvious need for a physcologist and the action of his removal. They can't keep Lelouch here, after all, Schneizel doesn't see any improvements or positive results from Lelouch. Yes, it's not trouble keeping Lelouch here, but he's distracting them from what's actually important.
"The probability of ameliorating Lelouch's mental condition is very high," C.C. responses after gnawing the tip off the greasy, cheese pizza. Nunnally beams at the positive news. Schneizel grimaces. He's quite happy for his brother, he guesses that he underestimated Lelouch in his deranged state, he should've known that Lelouch would insist and fight to get better. He's delighted and irritated from the news that causes the group settled and bunched around the glass table to smile sincerely; Schneizel is just frustrated that he was wrong for once. After all, he does think highly of himself. "Of course," C.C. continues in her pleasant, robotic, indifferent tone. The whoops of joy fades as she extends her previous sentence. "That is because he will die soon. When he deceases, he'll be free from his position." C.C. claims as she grinds a section of her beloved pizza from the slice. Strands from the stringy cheese connects the pizza slice with the portion in her mouth, until she yanks the cheesy ropes apart as she takes another bite.
Silence follows her proclamation. Even Schneizel prevents himself from smugly retaliating towards his distraught sisters. However, one, tiny sound that causes Schneizel's frosty, heart with morals set on pride, to tug and twist. His stomach concocts a nauseating, sick feeling as Nunnally's dry, broken sobs that rack her tiny shoulders shatters the silence. The scrape of C.C.'s chair being shoved back causes all of their eyes to fixate on her. C.C. stands up, and grabs her plushy Cheese-kun, and without another word, she leaves the room, her lime pigmented hair swaying behind her. Schneizel averts his gaze, until they attach onto Nunnally, sitting beside Cornelia in her wheelchair. Cornelia is murmuring hushed words too muffled and quiet for Schneizel to apprehend.
"I'm...going to go check on Lelouch." Ohgi mutters, and his chair groans as he gets up from his seat, and follows the same path C.C. used earlier to exit the room. Pretty soon, the group dispersed, leaving just the three siblings sitting there, one crying, the other trying to sooth the worries of the sobbing one, and the one sitting stiffly in his seat, trying to find a way to win this battle and call 'checkmate' upon his opponent, which is Lelouch's insanity. For once, Schneizel doubts if he has the skills to heal Lelouch back to health. At first, he didn't even consider helping Lelouch, he has the staff to play caretaker. Now, with C.C.'s credible information, he's skeptical on how far his staff's help will go. And now, he doesn't think there's a way to help Lelouch anymore, after listening to C.C.'s claim.
C.C. nuzzles the head of her squishy, stuffed, orange blob. Lelouch didn't recognize her twenty minutes earlier when she entered his unlocked room. So she didn't acknowledge him in return. Lelouch didn't utter a single sentence, nor emit any sound other than the occasional sigh. So C.C. remained mute throughout the whole twenty minutes. Lelouch didn't turn at the sound of the door opening, possibly Ohgi just checking in judging by the heavy footsteps that nobody but him could make, so C.C. didn't turn around to face the person who closed the door after swinging it open. They just sat there in silence. It's not an awkward silence. After all, C.C. doesn't find anything weird at all. Lelouch continues to stare at the black oval with a metal frame, that C.C. knew was once his mirror. Whatever happened to the glass, she doesn't know. C.C., during the comfortable hushed minutes, notices how Lelouch never showed his Geass once. C.C.'s quite sure that he still has it in his possession, as he's immortal. C.C.'s eyelids flutter close over her narrowed amber retinas, and when they open once more, to her surprise, Lelouch is in a different position. His gaze is directed at the corner. C.C.'s breathing falters as she takes note of what's in the corner that she'd been ignoring its existence for quite some time. Yet, the moment her eyes flicker to him, panic punches in. She wants to run. She wants to leave. Screw Lelouch. C.C. is quite sure that despite his lack of eyes, the man standing upright in the corner is staring at her. She knows that he's been here the whole time. But she can't leave. What'll happen to Lelouch? Yes, she's willing to admit she's fond of Lelouch, he matches her sardonic, uncaring personality, and she can relate to him on many levels. She convinces herself that's why she's so reluctant to give Lelouch up so easily to this man.
"Why do you continue to stare? It's rude you know," C.C finally decides to be the first to speak. She shivers as she senses the attention of the man leaving Lelouch, and focusing on her. She slightly regrets speaking out with her sentence obviously directed at him. Lelouch continues to be lifeless. She's quite aware that suicide possibly could be on his mind. C.C.'s also conscious of the Crooked Man. After all, she encountered him in various times throughout her life. Usually she notices him hanging around Geass users. It's not a surprise, as Geass often causes depression and for the owner's life to go astray, and then the Crooked Man appears, ready to claim the person, to drag him or her down after the person clearly cannot go back. Lelouch fits his criteria, his life is basically screwed, and his relationship with everyone wry, mainly Shirley and Euphemia and multiple people who hold a grudge against him, and throughout his life, his history is basically blood-splattered, even at a young age when Marianne was murdered. He was always surrounded by crooked things. However, C.C. never noticed him hanging around, until after he left his grave, probably also known as his prison. Probably because his mind was in a weakened state. C.C.,is ashamed to know the reason why she's been avoiding the building is because of him. She tried to coax her mind into thinking that the reason why she strayed away from the castle is because she has a feeling that people are not comfortable with the Green Witch just lounging around and rummaging through their food for pizza. Though, that fake, pitiful explanation for her skirting around the entrances of the castle shattered once she saw the Crooked Man, always a step behind Lelouch's shadow.
"You know, it's not nice to torment people," C.C. finally says. She levels her gaze with the Crooked Man's sideways eyeball, as his head is inclined to the right. She wonders if he remembers her. He better if he knows what's good for him. Actually, C.C. reconsiders that. Hopefully he doesn't remember her. No need to reignite his hunger and obsession for her. "You're being very mean to Lelouch, which I do not mind, but are you not going past the line of cruel?" C.C. asks. She does not recall his name. She's pretty sure she never learned his name. She just has recollections of him with Joanne, this man christened David, and countless other victims, though some were lucky to escape. She frowns, she realizes how she hadn't had his presence for a while. He stopped after failing to attack David Hooter...or was it Hollister? C.C.'s eyebrows furrow as she tries to think up the correct last name. Ah, no matter, C.C. gives up on that. She hadn't seen him for possibly decades or maybe a generation or so after she left America where David was. She tried to leave all her memories of her and her personal, invisible monster back in America. They all come flooding back, crashing upon her like a wave the moment she sensed the presence of this monster. She squeezes Cheese-kun even tighter now.
Then, as though to respond to C.C., a low, uncanny, raspy growl that causes C.C.'s shoulders to lock up and her spine to straighten, is sounded from his general direction from the corner of the room. C.C. has to struggle to remain her unfazed, casual, passive tone. "You know, what happened? You disappeared for a while after David. Did he not please your soul?" C.C. questions, tilting her head to express her curiosity. The man doesn't reply this time. C.C. is glad. She doesn't want to hear his low octave, throaty growl another time.
"You can see him?" A hoarse voice whispers. C.C. turns her head, to see Lelouch staring at her with those glassy, dead eyes. C.C. nods in response, but she continues to glance at his unblinking eyes. The dead eyes always come in whenever one finally gives up on life. And that scares C.C. Who else can she argue with that has the same intelligence as her if Lelouch dies? There's Schneizel, but C.C. prefers not to mess with people that she doesn't care about.
"So...he's real." Oh. So now he pays attention. Yes, C.C. is cognizant of Lelouch's terrible mental condition, but she still can't help but feel slightly miffed that he finally acknowledges her after she's been sitting there, crossed leg on the bed next to him, with Cheese-kun in the middle of her lap, after thirty minutes. The only reason he's talking to her is because she can see him, and C.C. bristles at that thought. "Is he from your world?" Lelouch questions, staring at the man. C.C. shakes her head. Thankfully he's not.
"I am surprised that you are still alive after being here alone." C.C. expresses nothing through her indifferent tone, but she's quite relieved that Lelouch's body wasn't found mangled and twisted with his neck jerked to the side on the floor. "I did see Tamaki leave your room, though. He seems drunk judging by the way he walked. Also because he passed out two steps away from your door." C.C. adds. She's quite delighted to strike up a conversation with the previously mute Lelouch, as it releases the tension bottled up in her.
"Kallen was with me. Then she left after Tamaki came in, and tried to get me to drink." He points at the nearly-empty tall bottle on his bedside table. "He drank most of it." Lelouch adds. "And then, he left. Two seconds later you came in," Lelouch drones in his toneless voice. After that, they settle back into their silent selves. Honestly, if C.C. was to admit it if not for her pride, she does find the figure of the Crooked Man terrifying. His hollow, darkened out eye sockets, wide grin with rows of yellowed teeth stained with some sort of crimson liquid, and sallow, splotchy face. His bent neck honestly doesn't add to his horrifying factors, he's scary with or without a straight neck. Actually, C.C. has to admire the length of his neck, it's quite long compared to others.
"I have to do something," C.C. proclaims, as she sits up and off the bed, Cheese-kun still in the crook of her bent elbow, cuddling against her chest. "And you are to come with me." she tells Lelouch. Honestly, C.C. just wants to get out of this room. She doesn't want to stay in an enclosed area with this man, knowing she cannot escape if he does happen to want her again. And having Lelouch follow her kind of defeats her whole idea of putting as much distance between her and the Crooked Man, but C.C. knows the moment she leaves Lelouch alone, within a couple seconds his heart will stop and his body will halt its thrashing, leaving him lifeless in his own pool of scarlet blood, with the man towering above him, his already dirtied clothing blotted with fresh, copper blood.
"Lelouch." C.C. calls out in her passive tone. Lelouch apparently has returned to his mute state, as he keeps his eyes on the Crooked Man, and refuses to reply. C.C. faces Lelouch, with her back to the man in the corner of the room. She prefers not to look at him, but she also doesn't like not having her eyes on him at all times, in case if he tries to pull something. Great, she's becoming paranoid. "Lelouch, do you want to hear a story?" C.C. asks. Lelouch makes no response. C.C. sits back down on the bed, clutching her Cheese-Kun.
"You know, there once was a Crooked Man. He used to be my own demon." C.C. quickly looks at the Crooked Man. He better remember her now. He doesn't move. Maybe he got over her. Probably because she stopped wanting to die.
"Yes, okay." She sets the phone back onto her stand in her office. Now, this patient should be interesting. She scrolls through the document her caller send over. To be hired by Empress Nunnally herself is quite an honor. She'd be able to obtain bragging rights after this. And to study the Demon King himself...
"Mom," a kid toddles in. "Mommy!" the kid hisses. Forsythia sighs, and she turns to her smaller child. "Can we go to the park today?" He asks cheerfully. Forsythia gives him a tired smile, and she ruffles the backwards, snap-back baseball cap, causing it to skew to the right.
"Not today, Fluffy." Forsythia shakes her head. "Today, we're going to go to a castle," She expresses the last word with wonder to excite Fluffy. She can't just leave the kid at home. And besides, Lord Jeremiah gave her permission to bring him, as long as he doesn't cause a ruckus.
"A castle?" Fluffy's sapphire eyes widen. "A real castle?"Fluffy gasps. Forsythia nods, smiling. She leans over on her spinney chair, her platinum blonde ringlets brushing against her knees as she did so.
"Yeah, a castle. Now, get ready, we'll be there for as long as Empress Nunnally wants us to." Forsythia says. "You might want to have something to do," Forsythia advises.
"Why?" Fluffy squeaks, frowning at her sentences.
"Because she's the Empress and she can do whatever she wants," Forsythia explains. She swivels her chair back to face the computer, and begins to print out the document and information of Lelouch vi Britannia that was sent to her.
"So that means she doesn't have to do whatever her Mommy and Daddy wants her to do?" Fluffy questions. Forsythia nods mutely in response, and she hears the shuffling noise from the old printer on a flimsy table next to her actual work desk, and the printer rattles, causing the table to tremble as it spews out the paper. She snatches it up. "Then I want to become an Empress too!" Fluffy gasps.
"Hey!" Forsythia chides. "I'll still make sure you listen to what your Mommy says, and you can't be an Empress. You're a boy. Rather, you'd be an Emperor, okay? The people would be happy for a brave boy who doesn't cry." Forsythia beams at Fluffy, who nods vigorously. She sweeps through the papers scattered on her desk, and underneath a stack of papers clipped together, she grabs her clipboard. She rips off whatever paper was already clipped to it, and replaces it with the information of the once forgotten prince. Finally, she pockets two ballpoint pens, and she finds an empty, new notebook that she could use to store notes, and on it, she prints in her neat handwriting, Lelouch vi Britannia.
"Okay, Fluffy, get into the car." Forsythia answers. "And yes, you can take the keys with you, but don't drive the car!" She shouts the last part, as her younger son already scurried out of the room. She sighs, yet a smile is still on her face.
As Forsythia opens the driver seat's door, and slides in, dropping her big purse holding her clipboard and other essentials, onto the seat next to hers. Fluffy is already on his booster chair, and he buckled himself in. Forsythia pushes her seat belt downwards, until she hears a click. "Okay, give me the keys," Forsythia orders. A jingling noise can be heard as something shiny flies to the front. Forsythia picks up the ring of keys that landed on the small tray between the front two seats, and shoves the key into its hole. She guns the engine, and begins to drive.
"There was a crooked man," Fluffy sings happily. Forsythia once again, does her signature feeble, tight-lipped smile that expresses her displeasure. Fluffy always loved that one nursery rhyme for reasons she cannot comprehend. She never loved it. She found it sad and creepy. "And he walked a crooked mile," he continues to belt out the poem in a tune as Forsythia speeds down the fast lane. She promised Lord Jeremiah over the phone that she'd be there within ten minutes. "He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile," Fluffy continues. Forsythia's car screeches to a halt as the red light beams above them. She inhales. It's been probably six minutes. There's so much traffic though, clogging up the roads. "He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, and they all lived together, in a crooked house."
Forsythia's sure that is the end of the song. However, the moment her tires hit the smooth pavement signaling that she's almost there and she could breath normally and not drive like she's an escape car, her son continues to sing, and the words that left his mouth nearly causes her to slam her foot on the breaks. "The crooked man was not happy. To live in such misery. He did not understand why, so he decided to die."
"Honey, what are you singing?" Forsythia asks, her eyes still on the main road, yet her question obviously meant for the person behind her who is kicking the back of her seat. She's able to see the castle in the distance, growing larger, she's almost there.
"Why must he live in a life, where he constantly shed tears, so he stands on the stool, below the place he'll stay for years." Fluffy chirrup. "A knotted rope, attached to the ceiling, thick and strong, around his throat." She flicker her moonstone eyes at the mirror hanging from the ceiling next to her, to see Fluffy happy, and probably oblivious to whatever he's singing.
"No, okay, Fluffy, what are you saying?" Forsythia has to stop herself from releasing a string of swears. "Where did this come from?" She literally shouts in her voice that leaps an octave higher. "Do you even know what you're singing right now?" She asks incredulously.
"I'm singing The Crooked Man!" Fluffy answers cheerfully behind her. She quickly parks her car, and though it's probably wry in its parking spot, she's more worried of whatever her son's babbling about. She thrusts the car door open, and after grabbing her purse and shutting the door shut behind her, she slides open the other car door. Fluffy gazes back at her, a smile on his innocent face. He unbuckles his seatbelt, and hops off the booster seat. She stares at her son.
"Don't ever sing that again." Forsythia tells her song, and his smile fades away, curling into a frown. She slams the door shut. She reaches for her keys in her skirt pockets, only to pull out two pens. She groans. "Great, I locked myself out of my car!" Her concern was on Fluffy, and because of that, she left the keys inside her running car. She'll deal with this later. For now, she has to head into the castle.
Kallen isn't used to seeing kids running down the hallway. However, when a bustle of red streaks by her, she blinks, as she stares at the midget who seemingly overdosed on coffee, leaps around, adrenaline oozing out of his pores. "Whoa!" Kallen grabs the young ball of energy by the shoulders so he can't scurry off. "Where did you come from?"
"From America!"
Kallen blinks at the squeaky, excited response. What? "No, no, is someone watching over you? A guardian?"
"What's that?"
Kallen stares at the blonde boy with the backwards ball cap. "L-Like, do you have a Mom with you or-"
"Yeah, yeah, I have a mommy!" The boy gasps. "She's with Mr. Lushlush." Kallen takes a moment to digest his words, and a smile breaks across her face at his pronunciation. His articulation is on point, she has to give him that.
"Did you just say Mr. Lushlush?" Kallen coughs. The boy nods. "Do you mean Lelouch?" Kallen asks. The boy nods again furiously. "Okay, why is she with Lelouch?" Kallen asks.
"I don't know. I do not like him." The boy suddenly blurts out. Kallen's smile becomes crestfallen at that. Before she can ask why, he whispers, "He's scary."
"Lelouch? Yeah, he's kind of scary when you first meet him," Kallen wasn't scared actually, when she was first introduced with the willowy male, but rather, she disliked the attitude of arrogance and haughtiness that he had. But Lelouch is clearly different and distraught now, maybe he did something that could've frightened the boy. "But he's fine."
"No, no, not him!" the boy shakes his head impatiently. His smile is gone. "The man." the boy whispers. "With the weird head. He was scary," his voice is now throaty, as though he's about to cry.
"What man?" Kallen asks. Right now, she's sure that Nunnally knows that a boy was brought along. She probably doesn't know that the boy wandered into the ballroom, however. The empty, vase room is where Kallen likes to go whenever Tamaki ends up drunk. Granted, he doesn't end up drunk too often, but the music annoys her. She actually found Ohgi carrying the lifeless body of the comrade back down into the basement. He definitely passed out at one point or another.
"There was this man. He kept on looking at me. But I don't know if he had any eyes." The boy hiccups. Kallen stiffens, recalling yesterday. Most likely imaginary, after all. But...his description...matches with the man Kallen saw yesterday. But Lelouch didn't act as though he noticed his presence. Or did he just not know that she did? Kallen shakes her head. She's overthinking this. "I didn't want to stay with Mr. Lushlush." When the boy says his personal nickname for Lelouch, a smile tugs at his lips.
"Don't worry, Lelouch is a nice boy," Kallen reassures. "Now, what's your name?" Kallen asks the boy.
"Fluffy!" The boy presents. Kallen blinks.
"F-Fluffy?" Kallen stammers, caught off guard. Then again, the boy mispronounced Lelouch's name. Maybe he did the same with his. "Do you mean Freddy?" Kallen asks, certain that Freddy is his name right now.
"No, Fluffy. My mom always said my hair is as fluffy as a towel, so she calls me Fluffy!" The boy chirrups. Kallen nods, when in reality, she's questioning this boy's intelligence. She does not know a single boy who would love to be called that. Then again, this boy seems younger, maybe five at the least. "What's your name?" Fluffy asks happily.
"My name is Kallen," Kallen introduces herself.
"Okay Miss. Kallen," Fluffy grabs onto her wrist. Kallen blanks out at Fluffy's style on calling adults. "Miss. Kallen, do you want to play with me?" Fluffy asks.
"Oh, yeah, uh, sure!" Kallen accepts his offer. "But you can't destroy anything or go into restricted areas." Kallen warns.
"Don't worry!" How can I do not know this restricted you talk about, so I won't be able to go into it!" Fluffy reassures. Uneasiness bubbles in Kallen's stomach at the boy's comment.
Yay. This one is actually long.
Those extra lyrics I added with the poem are so cheesy. I might get rid of them in fact because they're stupid. But oh well.
So yeah, I decided to include Fluffy into this, just so the Crooked Man can actually do something for once other than randomly scare out C.C. and Kallen. Even dead people need a life. I just realized what I just typed.
I feel like I need to end this quickly, or else this will end up really boring after a while. So there's probably just going to be one or two more chapters.
I don't know how I feel about this chapter. It seems kind of...I don't know. Messed up? What do you guys think? I think it's because of C.C. and the Crooked Man's story. Do you guys think that it's cheesy or just...plain weird that C.C. actually encountered him before? Should I just redo this whole chapter again?