Destiny of the Geass
Chapter 3:
Karen sighed and put the report back atop the pile of paper on the small wooden table of her apartment room.
A week had passed since that fateful day, and the Order of the Black Knights was still trying its best at rebuilding itself.
They had lost over 60 of their members, and the remaining ones had scattered all over Japan in an
attempt to avoid capture. Nearly all of their Knightmares had either been destroyed or been lost to the enemy.
Of course, the Britannian forces had also suffered heavy casualties, and thus had not been able to launch any
kind of a retaliation. Instead, both sides had put all their strength and effort into stabilizing their own standings.
As a result, the past week had been unnaturally peaceful with both sides still recovering from the last battle.
Rising up, Karen did a few stretches – she had been working for quite a while and her body was all stiff – before making
her way to the shower. True, her current apartment was nowhere as luxurious as the house she had been living in before,
but for some reason, it felt suprisingly homey.
Turning the water temperature warmer, she let her mind turn blank, fully enjoying the feeling of warm water running
down her skin. She had been so busy the last week that she hadn't even had the chance to properly enjoy a shower,
much less a real bath.
After turning off the shower, Karen lightly wiped her body with a towel and returned to the living room where
she had been working earlier. Looking at the pile of papers on the table in the centre of the room reminded her
of the hell that the last week had been. It also made her remember something else.
Walking to her bed in the corner of the room, she kneeled down and looked below the bed. There, hidden away from
curious eyes, lay a suitcase. Just as always, Karen just couldn't help herself, and had to pull the case from under the bed.
Opening it swiftly, Karen paused to look at the contents. A black, decorated helm atop a set of black clothes.
The costume that was widely recognised as belonging to the leader of the Order of the Black Knights – Zero.
Looking at the clothes and the helm, Karen had a fleeting moment of hesitation. Had she done the right thing?
Would it have been for the best to just have let Zero's legend die that day, along with Lelouch?
The hesitation did not last long, and was soon replaced by resolve. She had already chosen her path – ever since
the day she'd met him, in fact – there were no longer any other options left for her.
Thinking back, Karen realized she really had been lucky to discover Lelouch's hidden safe where he had been
keeping another set of Zero's clothes. It could almost have been called a miracle – or, as she preferred, fate.
After that, she had taken it upon herself to continue the legend of Zero. Of course, there was no way she could've fooled everyone – even she knew that. But even now, only the innermost circle of the Order of the Black Knights knew the truth about the current Zero. And even they didn't know the whole truth.
Knowing that the Order was at the brink of collapsing, Karen had needed a way to secure a position at the top.
She didn't intend to become a puppet leader, and neither did she have any desire to give the position of Zero's
successor to anyone else. To achieve that, she had come up with a convenient lie.
She had told the ones that needed to know that Zero had been critically injured in the battle and was now
recuperating at a secret hideout.
She had also added that Zero himself had appointed her the leader while he was out of the picture.
As to the location of Zero's hideout, Karen had told them that he had ordered her not to tell a soul about it – for safety reasons.
After that, everything had went more or less smoothly. There had been some resistance, but the majority had
believed her and stood by her. Of course, they all thought that it was nothing but a temporary measure.
By the time they found out – if they ever did – she would already have the reins of power within her grasp.
And who knows, maybe the was would be over by then, in which case it would no longer matter.
Letting out a small sigh at the troubles yet ahead of her, Karen closed the suitcase and
put it back under her bed. She shouldn't need it for another few days, were things to go well.
Suddenly feeling tired, Karen gave the papers on the table an irritated look.
She had been going through them for who knows how many hours, yet the pile didn't seem to get any smaller.
'How on earth did Lelouch deal with all this', she wondered while lying down on the bed.
Most of the reports had just been informational, mostly about insignificant things, but there had been few
that had caught her attention. Like the one about the spreading negativity towards the Order on the internet.
According to the report, the public opinion had been swaying away from the Order in the past week, which was bad news. Moreover, it seemed as if there was a certain group of people involved in the affair. They called themselves the 'Rosa Alba', and had apparently been quite busy dirtying the Order of the Black Knights' reputation over the net the past week.
It had been just one thing after another ever since Lelouch's death. The thought made Karen heave another sigh.
She had been sighing a lot lately. Ever since then...
Karen shook her head, and a couple of red strands fell over her eyes. No matter what she did, no matter what she thought,
it all led back to that day. Back to Lelouch's death. Closing her eyes, as if to block away reality itself, she tried to empty her mind.
But there it was, staring at her from the back of her mind. Those purple eyes that seemed able to see right through to her soul.
It had been there for the past week, lurking inside the darkest corners of her mind, just waiting for a chance to pop up. But this time something was different. The usual sneer was gone, and his eyes seemed almost...sad. Then, without as much as a warning, it slowly starting disappearing.
Even though she had been wishing for his face to stop haunting her, Karen suddenly felt a surge of panic inside her chest. She tried to reach for the image inside her mind, tried to maintain it, but soon enough, it was gone, and she was left in the quiet darkness of her room.
Instead of relief or satisfaction, all she felt was loss – almost as if a part of her very self had permanently been ripped off.
She could feel tears streaming down her cheeks and hear her own sobs, but somehow it all felt unreal, as if she was watching a movie starring herself.
Eventually, the sobs died down, the tears dried up, and the blissful oblivion of sleep drew her into its serene embrace.
The next morning, Karen woke up to the warmth of the sun shining through the curtains of her apartment room.
Opening the curtains to greet the new day, Karen felt...revitalized. All the ordeals of the past week seemed like a distant,
bad dream.
A new day had begun, and she had a feeling that something good just might be coming her way.
A/N
Ahh, I had this chapter lying around half-written for quite some time...
Well, at least I finally got it written...even though I had actually planned it a bit longer.
Anyway, you could probably think of this chapter as a kind of an opening to what's to come. A prologue of sorts.
After all, I'll be beginning the new stories of Lelouch and the company. (Even though Lulu's not actually there, but...)
The next chapter...will be about one of the new main characters. Karen's obviously going to be in a central role, but who
else will get to play the 'hero'? As of now, I only have a vague idea of where I'll be taking the story, but taking into consideration my working speed, it might not actually be the biggest problem I'll be facing...
Also, I'm going to have a new Geass user make an appearance (well, new to Geass, that is), but I really have no
idea what kinda of a Geass she might have...So I'm open to suggestions. In fact, any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and to those who were wondering, Rosa Alba means 'white rose(s?)'.