The Vermillion Forbidden City. The centre of Chinese Governance. The residence of the Empress of the Chinese Federation, Tianzi.
While those two statements were both true, they were largely unrelated. Tianzi may have held the title of Empress, but she had minimal power. Instead a prisoner within the palace, her every need catered to, her every thought or opinion crushed by those who continually usurped her power. Any concessions of submitting to her authority were merely pretence. Over years of careful conditioning, Tianzi had been groomed to agree with those who knew better, the High Eunuchs. With the systematic removal of her agency, her confidence and competence where crushed. Leaving her barely more than a puppet.
But. Li Xingke. He had seen a moment she was an Empress still. And it was a moment that had spared his life. He lived only because she spoke. And so, her words, her desires, her dreams, they had become his will.
However, it remained, Tianzi held no power even within the walls of the Forbidden City. And so his orders came from elsewhere.
"You understand, don't you?" Gao Hai asked, his tone amused. Like he enjoyed the dissatisfaction the orders would cause. "You are a servant of the Chinese Federation. A servant of the Empress, who spared your life. This is the least you owe for that magnanimity. Hmhm."
"Japan." It was always a sore spot. Everyone wanted it, butt the great powers of the world had remained at a stalemate, knowing anyone trying would cause all-out war. Only for the Britannians to play a shell game and take it before anyone noticed. Only the agreement to continue supplying sakuradite kept war from breaking out after the dust settled. It was still a time when none were confident of taking on the might of the Britannian Empire.
However, the situation had changed a great deal. The empire was fractured, consumed by infighting between the many imperial princes and princesses. Many conflicts across the world telling the tale of the mighty empire eating itself. Few were interested in defending the greater empire over their own fiefdoms. The Witch of Britannia loomed, but she was the only one.
"General Cao makes good progress crushing the Britannians in Korea," Gao Hai continued. "I imagine you will have many willing recruits from those we liberate into the Federation. A perfect launching point for our assault on Japan, wouldn't you say?" Being seen as liberators would do just as the eunuch suggested. They would face no difficulty convincing them to 'liberate' another Area on behalf of the Federation. "Naturally, General Cao will be in overall command, while you will be given field command. A great honour, I should think."
"... Yes." And certainly not a way to keep him away from the palace for an extended period of time. Not that Xingke feared for the empress. They couldn't touch her, whether he was present or not. There was a reason they hadn't simply removed her the expedient way if they wanted to seize power. Some crimes were simply unforgivable.
-(-)-
"Damn it all!"
The map screen on the flagship of the imperial fleet was a delineation of a pitiful future. Cornelia li Britannia knew it would come to this, even as she tried so desperately hard to stop it. She had attempted to rally nearby Areas, 7 through 17. Even Euro Britannia, hoping they might attack the Chinese Federation from the north, force them to split their attention. The refusals had ranged from reasonable to outright rebellion. From Euro Britannia in particular, she worried they intended to break ties entirely and declare themselves their own nation. Cornelia supposed that was what happened when a territory was given largely autonomous rule and the grip on them slackened. Perhaps the Emperor had never imagined he would die and leave the Empire in such a shambles.
She had warned the viceroy of Area 16, Astraea. Gave so many concessions in negotiation to even get her half sister help. And yet that only made the paranoia of the woman even more severe. Astraea wasn't a gentle woman. She wasn't Cornelia, and neither was she Euphemia, but she was certainly closer in temperament to the latter most of the time. So long as she was kept happy, she could be as gentle as a breeze. But as fierce and unforgiving as a hurricane when she was not. She might have been a capable ruler one day if her worst instincts were curbed. Perhaps that was why she had been handed a less than stable Area bordering an enemy nation. In peacetime, that was fine, and good training as an administrator when there was the power of the empire behind her to swoop in if things went too pear-shaped.
Cornelia had tried to help. Over and over again, she had given her intelligence reports on the movements of the Chinese. A diversionary force was coming for Areas 10 and 13, but the lion's share of their forces were on a collision course with Area 16, moving like a tidal wave ready to crush and swallow the Britannian forces in what had once been Korea. She had offered her aid to defend the Area. Had done so unconditionally, then with concessions. Astraea had refused. Over and over again. Called it a plot by Schneizel. Or by Cornelia herself.
Before long, there was no more time for negotiation. Cornelia left her mentor Andreas Darlton in command of Area 10, with the viceroy of Area 13 happy to work with him if it meant keeping his head. Then, she set out. Praying she would make it in time, not even to save her sister. But to at least stall the invasion of the Area.
And in the end, she achieved neither.
The Chinese knightmare frame. The Gun Ru. It was the furthest thing from formidable. No melee capability. No manoeuvrability equipment beyond basic landspinners. Not even ejection functionality. They were the cheapest, most bare bones machines to hold the title of knightmare frame. But they were cheap. And bare bones. And so could be made in absurd quantities. Quantity had a quality of its own.
Her last conversation with Astraea had been the woman begging for help, the Seoul Settlement surrounded. The city's fall inevitable.
Cornelia was still too far out. Two days at least.
"Highness," the intercom crackled, the voice of her radio officer on the other end. "Please forgive the interruption. They've... The Area 16 capital has been breached. Federation forces are in the city, ma'am."
"Why?" Euphemia asked, trying to hold in her tears, knowing what would happen to Astraea. At best, she would be kept as a political prisoner. At worst, she would be an example. "Why didn't she let us help?"
"If I may, Princess Euphemia," Guilford spoke softly, "I do not believe it would have made much of a difference."
"Guilford."
"My apologies, Highness."
"No," the proud military woman sighed. Frustrated with herself for stopping him. He was trying to help comfort her, comfort them both. And besides, "You're right." She looked at her sister. "They moved even faster than I anticipated. There was nothing we could have done, Euphie." Moving earlier would have stoked Astraea's paranoia even more, maybe enough to divert her forces expecting to fight two foes at once. And even if they had moved the moment they learned of the Federation movements, by the time they had arranged the defences of Areas 10 and 13, it meant they would only have arrived in Area 16... Around now. When the fighting was already all but over.
But the question ate at her. Why? Why was Astraea so resolute that she wouldn't take help? They were all paranoid nowadays. That or salivating over the chance for greater power. Usually both. But to the degree that she would refuse help against one of the two closest nations to a Britannian peer. It was madness.
But... It was a question that did not change the current state of things, even if she could answer it. Area 16 had fallen.
She activated the intercom. "Navigation Officer."
"Aye, your Highness, navigation here."
"Our objective has changed. Our new destination is Kyushu, Area 11."
"Understood, your Highness."
"Euphie," she continued after releasing the intercom and her commanding tone, "Maybe you should go get some rest. I'll be finishing up here soon." A little white lie. There was much work to be done, but it was nothing Euphemia needed to worry about.
It was a dismissal. And more often than not, Euphemia would fight her on it in private like this. But for once, her spirited sister nodded and quietly left for her room.
"Princess Cornelia," Guilford spoke only when the younger li Britannia sibling had left. "I only say so to offer honest counsel. But... Is it wise for Princess Euphemia to stay with us? It isn't too late to divert one ship to the homeland. I'm certain Prince Schneizel would–"
"So long as I still draw breath, the safest place for Euphie is by my side," Cornelia refuted him, and like her dutiful knight, he quickly backed off with a nod of understanding.
It wasn't even simply the paranoia endemic to the imperial children. If all went as Cornelia hoped, leaving Euphemia in Schneizel's hands would be the worst decision she could make. Not to mention, if it all went as Cornelia hoped, Euphemia would never forgive her for denying her a part in it.
Hope. It was all she lived on these days. How far the Goddess of Victory had fallen.
-(-)-
Another pair of royal siblings were nestled together in bed. As they had been near every night since the Emperor passed. It remained the highlights of Nunnally vi Britannia's day. Waking in Lelouch's arms, and climbing into bed with him at night.
Nothing confirmed it more than the one time it didn't happen. She knew why. Well, she thought she knew why. She liked Kallen well enough when they met, and it was right for Lelouch to have... other ladies in his life. And she liked Shirley a whole lot, so when Nunnally found out it was really her Lelouch spent the night with... It didn't make it better. But it was more understandable. Shirley loved Lelouch, everyone knew it. So that was okay. But it didn't change how horrible it was to sleep alone after spending so many nights in her brother's arms.
His dreams changed after that night too. Just a little. In a way that conveyed a lived experience instead of an imagined one. He knew how Shirley looked when he was inside her. The faces she wore. The sounds she made. And so Nunnally experienced them through him. And while she did, while she endured her guilty fantasies, she took him in hand, and took Shirley's place for just those few minutes, making him feel good. Letting his seed coat her fingers for her to lick it off before sinking into her own slumber.
When she asked him about Shirley, he simply repeated what he always said. That Nunnally would always be the number one girl in his life. It was nice to hear. It was even true. But it wasn't true in the way Nunnally increasingly wanted it to be true.
Maybe she was letting these one-sided intimate moments get away from her. But she couldn't help it. The brother who took care of her, who gave her everything. The moment she accidentally pushed past that barrier of propriety, she couldn't imagine a world where she stopped. She wanted to be there for him. In any way she could. Even if he couldn't know it.
His dreams. Lately they had shifted. From dreams of pleasant encounters with beautiful girls to nightmares. Nightmares tinged with lived memories of the things he was grateful she never saw. But she saw them now, through him. Tonight he dreamed again. Of the bodies, of the silence of the dead. Of guns and explosions past, and undoubtedly future. His breathing quickened.
"Big brother, it's okay. I'm here."
His dream shifted at her whispered words. She was there. She felt the fear he felt for her. The sudden terror for her sake.
She hugged him, willed him to understand, to be calm as she whispered what soothing words she could. "I'll always be with you. We'll face whatever happens. Together."
Feeling daring, she stole a kiss. Her first real kiss. Given away to the one she loved most.
She wanted his dreams to move away from the hell they walked through. The hell they might face again. Even if it could be in his waking moments, it didn't need to consume his dreams too. As the stillness of the aftermath faded from his mind, trapped by the feeling of her lips on his, she reached down, grasped him as she had on so many nights.
What she expected, was for the dream to bring visions of other girls. Shirley. Milly. Kallen. Even Miss C.C. Instead, the focus stayed on her. Even as he saw what she was doing, it was still her face in his mind. It was still her eyes he stared into. Her open eyes. What a nice dream. She would love that too. To see him with her own eyes again.
"Nunnally, we shouldn't," he protested in his sleep.
"I want to," she whispered back in reality. Her dream self matched the words. "I want to be with you, be here for you, like you've always been here for me."
"Nunnally..." But no more protests.
She felt bold. He wasn't refusing her. This wasn't some new nightmare of his depraved sister for him. It was a guilty desire. One he wouldn't act on no matter how much she wished otherwise.
"Let me be here for you," she whispered, before she began awkwardly shuffling herself down the bed. Greeting his stiff thing with a kiss.
She had gotten a lot of practice of reading him over the past weeks. Of knowing when he would come to awareness. His dreams retained their hold on him, his sleeping mind trapped in fear, fascination, desire.
At least deep down, at least in his subconscious, he could be honest. It was wrong, but he wanted to be wrong just like she did.
Her lips parted, letting his crown pass between them. Rather than stiffen, Lelouch seemed to relax, like he was accepting this. In his mind's eye she stared up at him with his thing in her mouth, tenderly caressing her hair. So tender with her. Her tongue swirled the crown, letting the taste coat her tongue as she took what few lessons she had managed to glean from her brother's dream encounters. Milly liked to do this. Shirley liked to lick it all around before taking it deeply in her throat. Kallen... Kallen he liked to put his hands on her head and use her.
Nunnally wasn't ready for something that strenuous. No, instead she gently twirled her tongue around him as fingers slid down her body under her night dress. He wouldn't know. She learned his tells. She was already going this far so there was no further harm in enjoying it to the fullest. Lelouch liked to think of her as innocent but she was a teenage girl too. She had desires. And ever since she first held him, since she first licked her fingers clean, when she touched herself she thought of him.
However wrong it was, it was far too late to stop.
All she could manage was to bob on the first few inches, remaining careful to ensure he was asleep, and to control her breathing. She didn't want to risk gasping for air or panting for breath. And so it became a slow and compassionate fellatio. Gently coaxing Lelouch toward climax while Nunnally did the same to herself.
And like proper siblings, they did it together.
"Mm!" She did her best to keep her cry of pleasure quiet, her brother's cock in her mouth a great help in that endeavour. But that vibration of her moan was evidently enough to finally push him over the edge.
"N-Nun..." he grunted in his sleep. And she felt that familiar salty taste spill into her mouth. To fill it. Knowing it would spill, she caught the overflow in her hand as she continued to swallow down as much as she could. His warm, salty seed poured directly into her mouth satisfying her in a way that was sinfully hard to describe. She swallowed it all down, then cleaned him with her tongue, before taking the overflow on her hand between her lips and sucking that hand dry.
Guilt. So much guilt. But pleasure. She put him away and awkwardly dragged herself back up the bed to once again lay in his arms. Sticky, but satisfied.
When he woke up the next morning she could tell in an instant. Lelouch remembered his guilty pleasure dream. He was awkward, didn't dare look at her. Even seemed more in a rush to get his day going.
This wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want him to be like this around her. He was her Lelouch! He didn't need to worry about anything! And so as he got her situated only to seem to flee out the door... "Lelouch!"
He must have heard the plea in her voice. She didn't try to hide it, after all.
"Yeah, Nunnally?"
"Lelouch... I'll always be here for you. Like you've always been here for me."
She couldn't see his reaction. Couldn't feel it when he was already halfway out the door. "Thank you," was his reply. "I'll see you tonight... I love you, Nunnally."
"I love you too, Lelouch!"
-(-)-
Despite the situation, it was a struggle for Lelouch to completely put the night's events out of his mind.
He wanted to put it down to his mind playing tricks. After indulging himself with Shirley, and Milly, and to a much lesser extent Kallen, maybe he was so used to feminine contact meaning sex or other intimacy that sleeping with Nunnally was becoming corrupted in his mind.
The possibility that he might have to stop doing it... He recoiled at the thought. He was a source of comfort he knew she needed. And she was a source of comfort he never knew he needed. Certainly Shirley and Milly helped in their own ways. But Nunnally... He had never slept sounder. Always woke feeling refreshed in a way that was difficult to explain, to understand, even for himself.
In the end he decided, it was just a dream. His mind mixing things up in awkward ways. He would never take advantage of her like that. And so, there was no danger.
And on the subject of danger.
"This message is for all of the loyal citizens of glorious Japan! Those who still have the fires of patriotism burning in their chests! Who remember what our beautiful land was before it was violated by the bootprints of imperial soldiers on our necks! Japan still lives and she will live free once released from the chains of her occupation and oppression! We, the exiled government of the true Japan, have not abandoned you! As the noble resistance worked tirelessly, standing strong in the face of incalculable odds, we now bring strength and support our people desperately need! Those who see the injustice we have suffered and want nothing more than to release us from the torment of Britannia!"
"I, Atsushi Sawazaki, leader of our free Japan government, call on the proud Japanese people, to stand strong! To stand proud of the heritage that was stolen from us! To rise up, and become the image of what was once lost! A true Japan for the Japanese!"
"A more weasel-like politician I have never seen," Lelouch opined, watching the man's speech with his chin resting on a fist.
"Then I should introduce you to some members of parliament," Clovis answered, swirling his brandy, staring at another screen that showed a strategic map. "So that's Area 16 conquered. Or I suppose it will now be the Militarised Zone of Korea."
"Most likely." The Japanese government in exile, now puppets of the Chinese Federation. They weren't obvious enough to dominate the scene with their presence. Instead it was only Japanese politicians front and centre. But behind them were the commanders of the Federation forces. As if they had the backs of the Japanese. Well, in a sense they did. Had their backs, an appropriate position to ready for stabbing. "We knew they were moving, but I could never have predicted they would move that fast."
"According to all reports, their cheap knock-off knightmares swarmed over the Area like locusts. Each true knight is worth a dozen of them but..." The viceroy looked at the strategic map again and grimaced. "At least in Area 16, that was an acceptable outcome for them."
"Area 16 wasn't lightly defended. It was bordering an enemy nation, after all. If nothing else, this has made clear that however simple these Gun Ru are, they aren't to be underestimated."
Clovis sighed. "A dangerous enemy on the horizon." A glance at the smirking politician. "And they deliver a call to arms for the enemy within."
Lelouch sat back, contemplating just how successful that gambit might be. Less than if he hadn't been quietly building pro-Britannian sentiment within the resistance. And making fantastic progress on that front. This could hamper those efforts a great deal. And on top of that... "The JLF might rally behind him." The only other resistance movement that had access to knightmare frames, even if they were barely better than the Gun Ru and much fewer in number. "Or they might sit on the fence as they so enjoy... No. Even Katase wouldn't be able to refuse such an opportunity." Further unfortunate, with so much of Lelouch's talking points being how the JLF don't do anything anymore. Then again, if the JLF jumped at being Chinese lapdogs, they'd prove everything Lelouch had been saying as entirely correct. "The war for Japan is about to begin in earnest."
"I should've cleaned house of those desperate relics while I had the chance. At least then we'd have one fewer problem to contend with."
"... You're right, to a point," Lelouch allowed. "One way or another, they need to be at worst neutralised before the invasion force arrives. I'll see what I can do. Continue feeding me all intelligence reports on their activities."
"Still only one side of this mess," Clovis reminded him with a significant nod at the section of map showing the South China Sea. With markers for a fleet of Britannian vessels making their way north-east. "She's not wasting time on Area 16, not now that it's already fallen. How do we deal with that?"
"... Their landing point is likely similar to the Chinese." Kyushu would be the simplest start to any invasion plan coming from the west. In this era of warfare, getting knightmares on the ground was the highest priority. "We continue building defences. Preparing troops. And in the meantime, see if we can figure out what exactly Cornelia's play is here."