Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, nor Persona. This story is a work of fiction, and what not.
Palace
Turning around to look at the source, he saw it was a teacher walking down the the path. Unusual for one to come this way at this time of day. And the one in question was a certain man.
Lelouch watched as the man, Benjamin Rosenberg, walked down the pathway in his direction. He was a bit on edge right now, hoping he hadn't heard anything from before. He "Good morning, Mr Rosenberg. What brings you this way this early?" he greeted him, speaking as if he was carefree student. Lelouch was quite good at acting the part when he chose to, having been putting on various types of acts over the years. The masks of his daily life had become easy enough to use as necessary. In that way, Lelouch was a pretty good actor.
"Ah, hello Lamperouge." His tone was pleasant, not seeming any different from usual. While Lelouch didn't have any classes with the man, his role on the Student Council did have him interact with many of the school's teachers frequently enough. When you had someone like Milly always looking to hold events at every given opportunity, he would need to keep various faculty members informed. In this case, his own dealings with the man had never been of note.
"What brings you this way? Did you need something I can help you with?"
"I just needed to discuss something with that Council President of yours." That reminded him immediately of the exchange he had witnessed yesterday. In all the chaos he had gotten wrapped up, it had completely slipped his mind to look into what he had seen between him and Milly yesterday. Plus, he had been too exhausted to do much else once he finally had arrived home.
"We're pretty busy with an emergency budget meeting right now. Can I pass along a message for you?" Not an untrue statement in any form, and one he probably would have given regardless. But in this case, he figured it best that Milly not have to deal with him right now.
"Its a personal matter, and I wouldn't want to distract her." Lelouch was hoping to get a hint of what was going on, but even this man wasn't giving him any. "By the way, thats a an interesting toy you have there."
Lelouch had been hoping he wouldn't say anything about Geachi. He wondered if he was suspicious of the thing. "Oh, this? Its nothing."
"Come now, no need to be embarrassed. Is it a gift for a girl? I know those Mokochi toys can be somewhat popular with the girls here at Ashford Academy."
"Nothing like that, sir. Its for my sister."
"Ever the doting older brother, I see." He checked his watch next before saying, "Well, I should be going. Keep up the hard work."
And with that, the teacher made his way back the way he had come, leaving Lelouch and Geachi on their own. If he had heard anything, he made no showing of it. Once he was hopefully out of earshot, he withdrew his phone.
However, much to his surprise, the screen was no longer blank. He had left the Navigator app open the whole time unintentionally, and in the process, the app's voice recognition had picked up his conversation with the teacher. Now on the screen were the words 'Rosenberg' and 'Ashford Academy' with a large 'Hit' icon at the center of the screen. For whatever reason, these two things, a name and place were relevant.
"Geachi, what does this mean to you? Can you share anything?" He held the phone in front of the plush.
"Hm... What is this app anyway?"
"I have a good hunch it has to do with entering Palaces."
"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" The doll took the phone from him and looked at the screen. "To enter a Palace, if you're able to that is, typically you need three pieces of information. A name, a place and then what they see the place as. So in this case, that 'Rosenberg' guy has a Palace at 'Ashford Academy' but you don't know what the place is to him in his heart."
Lelouch was extremely curious as to what these Palaces were, and on figuring out exactly how this app worked. Taking it and closing it, he decided that the best way to find out his information would be to go the source. And he had just the way to do it. "Excuse me, sir. I just have a quick question to ask you!" Lelouch quickly ran over to the man. As soon as he turned around, Lelouch activated his Geass. "Tell me what Ashford Academy really is to you. What do you see this place as in your heart?"
Immediately, his Geass took effect and the man's eyes seemed to glaze over. "Ashford Academy is a university where I am the real Headmaster." He spoke in a monotone.
'University' was rather basic, but as long as it worked, he didn't really care. He just wanted to learn how to use the Metaverse Navigator. "Thank you." he said as he walked away, leaving a confused man as his Geass wore off.
Once he was far away enough. he retrieved his phone out an spoke into it. "Benjamin Rosenberg, Ashford Academy, University."
"Beginning Navigation."
"Ah, wait! You shouldn't-"
But it was too late to stop, and Lelouch watched as the world around him began to distort and twist around him. Red and black seemed to ripple through the air and he watched as the buildings began to contort and transform. In addition, this transformation extended even to the clothes he wore, and his uniform shifted and became the same costume he had worn yesterday.
"Going into the Palace right in the middle is a really bad idea!" Geachi protested.
Indeed, in this situation, they were surrounded by several...things. Their bodies were shaped like humans, but their skin did not seem to be, instead being like an inky black. They wore suits and carried text books, while they had masks on their faces. Though different in designs, they reminded him of the knights from yesterday.
"Delinquents!"
As one yelled out, each of their masks came off. Like the knights from yesterday, their bodies transformed and they became floating creatures with pumpkin heads. They all looked identical, dressed in blue cloaks with pointed hats, each holding lanterns. And without hesitation, each of them shot out small fireballs from their lanterns at them.
Leaping out of the way, Lelouch found that with the outfit, his enhanced abilities from yesterday had also returned. Never baving been the most physically fit person by any means, Lelouch found his movements now seemed to be extremely agile. Wanting to test his limits, he avoided one blast with a backflip, then planting his hands down, he followed it up with another and then landed on his feet with little effort. He tgen avoided the next with spin to the side and used only a single hand this time. Lelouch couldn't help but laugh excitedly at these feats that had once been beyond him.
"Glad you're having fun, but you should probably fight back!" Geachi called out as he leaped up and over one. It was surprising to see something of its size and having no legs move like that, but Lelouch figured whatever rules applied to him probably applied to the toy, too.
"Franken!"
As Geachi called out, the same figure that had save them, the one that resembled Frankenstein's monster appeared. "Zio!" Following that declaration from Geachi, Franken shot electricity at the pumpkin heads.
"Moriarty!"
Lelouch grabbed at his mask, which transformed into ethereal blue flames that reformed into his Persona. It then flew forward at slashed one with his knife, Lelouch quickly getting the hang of controlling it. It was like a second body that he could instinctively understand how to use. It was like he had always done so. "Eiha!" Calling out the at, Moriarty shot out a dark energy. As he fired a dark energy blast, a couple of the fireballs struck him, but he felt no worse for the wear. Not only was he stronger, but he felt more durable.
"Aaaaaahhhh!"
A sudden scream drew their attention, and turning in the direction, he something completely unexpected. It was a boy dressed in the Ashford uniform, on ground as several of the masked entities. He recognized the boy immediately, and wondered what he was doing here.
Lelouch then realized something, and cursed himself for how careless he had been. In his haste to figure out how to use the Metaverse Navigator, he had pulled someone else in with him. That realization then drew him to another conclusion, of even greater worry. If he hadn't noticed him, had he been following him and hiding? If so, then how much had he heard?
These were questions that could be saved for later as he ran towards him and kicked at the things threatening him. They stumbled back but didn't go down. Their mask came off as well and became more pumpkin heads. It seemed that they didn't take much damage in the human form, while the mask coming off revealed what might be their true form. It was information he would need to check in the future.
"H-hey! Whats going on here!? What IS all this!?"
"Just hang back for now." Lelouch's mask returned to his face. He hadn't intended to call back his Persona, but it seemed it required concentration to maintain its form. Removing his mask to bring it back out, Moriarty cut at one of the pumpkin heads.
"We should get away from here for now!" Geachi called out to them, and Lelouch helped the other boy up and the two followed before the masked men could get their bearings.
As they ran, Lelouch took note of their surroundings. Their were students walking around, not seemingly phased by any of this. The boys looked relatively normal, but the uniforms of the girls had some...alterations to them. Gone was the cream blazer, and instead only the shirt worn underneath. Only this shirt was tied so that their midriff was exposed, and the buttons in the front undone so as to give a view of their cleavage. The skirts were shorter, and could easily expose the panties, while their legs were clad in fishnet stockings and high heels. The expression on the girls seemed to be a look Lelouch didn't really understand, but they didn't at all look very displeased by their altered attire.
The buildings meanwhile had grown in size, and into large gaudy structures. Entrances to buildings looked to have designs of scantily clad or otherwise provocative women on them. Occasionally, they noticed some items, decorations and other objects had a rather...phallic design. The whole place was rather uncomfortable to look at. It was a like a living embodiment of someone's lust.
"What is wrong with this place!?" their third companion said, voicing the same discomfort that Lelouch was already feeling as well.
"We're in that Rosenberg guy's Palace!" Geachi replied, who seemed to be frantically looking around. He was obviously looking for something, though neither boy knew what he could be trying to find.
"And what does that mean!?" This boy was understandably confused by
"I'll explain once we find a...Aha, theres a Safe Room!" the plush toy pointed towards an odd looking door. It was almost like mirage, as if it was both there and not at the same time. Not knowing what else to do, the two followed the plush and opened the door and went inside. As they entered, there was an odd affect briefly, as it flickered from being a room like the rest of this disgusting place and a normal classroom. "We can rest here for a bit, the distortion is weak in Safe Rooms."
"Right. Whatever that means..."
"Geachi, I think you're going to have to explain this all to us. What is a Palace?" Perhaps due to his nature, Lelouch hated not understanding things, especially when it directly involved him. A lack of understanding meant it was harder to plan and account for anything that could happen to him. And if he couldn't do that, he might be at the mercy of another, something he truly hated.
"Well, Palaces are another reality that a ruler's heart projects. Its kinda how they see the world in their heart, or at least the place they think they control, where their distorted desires manifest."
"And those people we saw, thats how he sees those people, right?"
"Yeah. Since Palace's are created from how they see a place in their heart, the cognition isn't just limited to the buildings but also inhabitants. So those are how he sees those students." Those words made Lelouch's skin crawl, as he was starting to grasp the perverse nature of this campus. Despite the professionalism that the man presented himself, in his mind he seemingly had a strong deep-seeded perversion. Beneath his mask, Lelouch didn't really hold back his look of absolute revulsion, and his disgust for the man was growing just thinking about it.
"And what about those creatures?"
"Those are Shadows. It'd be hard to explain everything about them, but when a Palace manifests, they get drawn into it and become part of it to serve the Shadow of the Palace ruler. Their appearance changes within to match the ruler's cognition. If the mask comes off, the ruler's hold on them weakens and they revert to their true form."
"The Shadow of the ruler?"
"A person's Shadow is the form of their suppressed and unconscious side, one they don't typically want to see. So in this world, they take of the form of those desires." This reminded Lelouch of the words of Igor in the dream, and in turn the Jungian concepts again. Personas, masks, Shadows and such were terms he used to describe his theories. Putting aside that, thinking about the appearance of the masked ones, they were most likely the "teachers" here like the knights in the previous palace.
"I hate to interrupt, but theres also something I want to know; How do we get out of here?" the third person here asked.
"We just gotta get back to the place we entered from." Geachi said, then turned to Lelouch. "Its generally really bad to enter into a Palace right in the middle of it, since you have no way of knowing what could be there when you get into. Because we entered into the Palace that way and all those Shadows were around, the security level is through the roof!"
Lelouch couldn't argue with that. He had rushed in to something he knew nothing about and the consequences were already accumulating. Because of that, he had dragged someone else into this and had to deal with the consequences. Now he had to worry about something else with him. Which also brought his mind to something else. "Hey, you."
"Huh?"
"This is yours, right?" He held out his had to reveal a blue origami crane.
"Thats..." Recognition and realization were on full display on his face. Lelouch wondered if he had known that he lost it, or if he had already had the suspicion that Lelouch had found it. Given the fact he seemed to be hiding and potentially following him, he wonder if he already suspected Lelouch had found it and could connect the dots to him.
"You were in Shinjuku yesterday, weren't you?" He flinched at the accusation, but didn't deny it. With that suspicion confirmed, he gave the paper crane back to the boy. "You helped me out in your own way, so I'll hold off on prying for now. I'll wait until we get out of here."
"Right..." He seemed relieved, though something was clearly on his mind. "By the way...My name is Mario."
"Right. And I'm Lelouch." Peaking out of the door, and not seeing any of the Shadows, he motioned for the two to follow him and the made a run for it. The objective was to get out of here, so they were best to avoid any unnecessary fighting. With the two following, they didn't run into much until they got closer to the point they entered from.
There were several teacher shadows all grouped up and in their path. Sneaking past them didn't seem to be an option, so Lelouch and Geachi prepared for a fight while Mario stood back. However, neither Lelouch nor Mario were prepared for what came next.
"What is this commotion?" A new voice spoke out, one that sounded distorted, but still otherwise familiar. After a moment or two, someone stepped onto the scene. This new person looked to be Mr Rosenberg...but not. His face was the same, but the similarities ended there. His attire seemed to be a suit, but open to expose his chest. His pants, or lack there of, was what appeared to be a speedo. His glasses were also far more ornate, with frames being made of gold. His eyes meanwhile, were glowing yellow or gold.
"What on earth...?" Mario uttered in disbelief at the disgusting site.
"Thats the Shadow of the Palace's ruler." Geachi explained, and Lelouch had a vague understanding what that meant. In Jungian psychology, the Shadow was an unconscious part of a personality. So if this Palace was a manifestation of how he saw the school, then this man before him was how Benjamin Rosenberg saw himself on some level.
"Headmaster, we caught these delinquents!" one pumpkin head spoke.
"Delinquents, you say?" the bizarre version of Rosenberg said and looked over Lelouch and then the other. When he laid eyes on him, a look of disgust came across his face. "You're one of those disgusting half-breeds hiding in my prestigious academy."
A look of panic crossed the young man's face. "H-how...?"
"A genius such as myself makes it his business to know everything. Knowledge is power, after all!" He adjusted his glasses before he spread his arms out as he grinned ear to ear. "I've meticulously researched everything about all students who come into my glorious school!"
As he ranted, Lelouch watched as more and more masked men began to come and surround them. Things were looking very bad. Even if he was stronger like this, he wasn't invincible. He looked over to Geachi, who had come to his side. He wondered what the limits of the plush's body were. Did it need stamina like a human body, and how much pain could it withstand?
"What makes you think this is your school to control? This is Ashford Academy, after all." Lelouch decided to see what would happen if he got a rise out of this man. With any luck, maybe he could create an opening.
"As if that matters! That old fool Ashford will leave it to me once I've married that sexy granddaughter of his!"
Lelouch's plan had quickly backfired, as it was nearly him who rose to taunting. Seeing the lust and perversion that his Shadow and Palace exuded, he shuddered to think what that meant for Milly. Still, this presented opportunity. "And why would she ever choose to marry you?"
"Whose asking her? Now that I know that old man's secret, he can't refuse me! I just need to move things along with him and her parents." Lelouch wanted to probe deeper at that part, but wouldn't get an opportunity as he saw they were surrounded. He wasn't sure how many there were now, but things were not looking favorable. "Now, lets begin with the expulsion process! I've been wanting to get rid of the two Elevens tainting my magnificent school, and now one shall be no more."
Lelouch went to remove his mask but was stopped as several of the teacher Shadows removed their masks and transformed into women dressed rather promiscuously with blindfolds on and just black strips over their sensitive areas and a chain connected to a collar. They shot out blasts of light, and Lelouch was knocked to the ground in pain. As he did, several of the men and creatures pinned him. Geachi tried to intervene, but was blocked by others. He was surprised by how much the light attacks hurt him compared the the flames from earlier.
As things looked grim, the remaining person, Mario, looked on, unable to do anything. "You're such a pathetic and useless person. Typical of Elevens." Rosenberg taunted. "You're just a coward leaving everything to these two."
Internally, the boy's mind was racing. His secret was out, and now he was in mortal danger. He found himself thinking about what someone might do if he died here. Someone was going to be be crushed. And if he was gone, what about the kids?
The thought of death also made something else flash through his mind. A burning room, and two people within. One was standing over the other who was lying lifelessly on the ground, and there was a scream from someone who saw this. This momentary vision filled him with fear, but also one other feeling.
In that moment, a feeling of anger...no, this was rage, burning within him. And as if to answer this feeling, something else came from within him.
"Been waitin' for this feeling. You're not gonna lie down an' die like that, right?"
As these words were spoken in his head, he began to feel an unimaginable pain from inside him and he screamed out from it as he fell to his knees and and hands. An unbearable force that was trying to tear him apart from his very core, and his head felt like it was going to explode. As this went on, his eyes began to glow gold. From his position, Lelouch watched on. It didn't require any thought to recognize what he was experiencing. It was exactly like his own awakening yesterday. Meaning he had an idea of what to expect next.
"You hate all the stuff you see, thats happened to this country, right? To your home, you family. You lost it all, and that hate you have ain't going away. And when you hate, you just gotta do somethin' about it. So we'll make a pact."
Getting to his feet, a mask appeared on his face. Its design was much less elaborate than the helmet that had appeared on Lelouch's face, being a blue one that went over the area of his eyes. The most noticeable feature was the broken circle at the center on the top. His breathing was labored, but he was now withstanding the pain. All the while, he focused on the voice in his head.
"I am though, thou art I...
"From this moment on, you're an outlaw, and you'll have a new pistol at your side."
He knew what do next on an instinctive level, and exactly what to do. Specifically, what to say, the name to invoke here and now.
"Come out... Jesse!"
As he ripped the mask from his face, what seemed like blood spurt out from his forehead and ethereal blue flames erupted around him. As they quickly dissipated, the new attire of Mario was revealed for all. His outfit was primarily black with silver trimmings, with a long coat. Though a notable thing about his transformation was that he now held a polearm in his hand. Next to him, his awakened Persona floated next to him. His most notable features was the wide brimmed hat and a kerchief over the face. It wore a a coat of its own, and held a pair of revolvers out.
Before any of the Shadows could react, Mario quickly swept the ones holding down Lelouch with his spear, then called out "Garu!" as Jesse shoy a blast of wind that dispatched multiple of the pumpkin heads. With Lelouch back to his feet, Jess then took aim at the Shadow Rosenberg. Several Shadows stood between them to protect him. Several Shadows came at him, but were struck with wind blasts that fired from Jesse's guns. The angel girls seemed to withstand it, but the attacks seemed to have a greater affected on the pumpkin heads.
"Don't wear yourself out." Moriarty appeared next to Jesse as Lelouch walked to Mario's side, as Moriarty struck down the angels. Lelouch surveyed the battlefield, then placed a hand on Mario's shoulder. "I know you might want to do something, but lets fall back." Lelouch's words made sense as he took a look around around. There were a lot of enemies coming to them, some even just appearing out of nowhere, and if they acted fast, they could still get away and return to their world. With a nod, Mario's Persona faded and the mask returned to his face.
"Then I'll clear a path! Lets go!" Geachi called out Franken and used it to charge through several in their way. The two humans followed the plush and eventually they arrived at their destination.
As they stepped into the area, they watched as the area around them rippled once more and the school returned to normal. The buildings distorted by the perversion and lust of that man began to revert as the distortion cleared away. In just moments, everything was back as it should be, free of all the twisted nature. And to confirm this, the voice from the phone announced for them "You have returned to the real world. Welcome back."
Almost immediately, Mario began to feel winded, as if he had run a few miles or something of similar exertion. "I can't believe that all happened..." he managed to say as he tried to stay on his feet.
"Apparently the first time takes a lot out of you." Lelouch for his part, felt the effects of having down all that activity, but he wasn't anywhere near as drained as yesterday. He would need a break, but he wouldn't be pushing himself to continue in the way he had yesterday. He also grabbed Geachi and stuffed as much if him into his bag as he could. He didn't need anyone seeing him walk around.
"Yeah..."
"Now then-"
"HEY! Lelouch!" someone called out to them in an irate tone, and they saw a group of four walking over to them. "So this is where you've been slacking!" Milly looked none to pleased. It was at this moment that Lelouch realized in all this time, he had completely missed out on the budget meeting.
"First you ditch me yesterday, skip the rest of school, and now you're a no-show for important council business?" Rivalz joined in, most likely annoyed by the extra work. Not that he could entirely blame him. Shirley looked just as disappointed, while their fourth member, Nina Einstein, stood back with her usual meekness.
Still, this did present him with an awkward scenario. He didn't really have a good excuse for his absence, and given some of his other recent actions, he probably wasn't going to get away with not giving some sort of excuse.
"Ah, sorry, thats my fault." Mario interjected. "I had an incident and collapsed. Lelouch was just helping me." It was a good save, and Lelouch appreciated it. Anyone could see that right now that the boy was not in the best condition right now.
"I was on my way to the budget meeting, and you guys should know better than to just think I would shirk any duties without good reason."
"Is he okay? What happened?" Shirley was the first to show concern.
"Exhaustion, from the look of it." Lelouch gave the easiest excuse. Illness would be too easy to poke holes in, and he didn't appear to be hurt, so that would be the simplest way to pull off this ruse. "I'm gonna escort him to the school's infirmary to rest, just in case he passes out again."
"Right. Just don't be late for class!"
As the two walked away, Lelouch waited a bit until he felt they were out of range of any of them hearing them before finally speaking. "Geachi, I have a question. How much of what happened in the other world will Mr Rosenberg be aware of?"
"A good question for someone new to this stuff. And theres nothing to worry about, he isn't aware of anything that happens there. But that said, messng around too much in a Palace can have an effect on a person. If you think about it like this, since a Palace is a manifestation of their subconscious, you're basically inside their head to an extent." The plush explained it in easy to understand terms, so that issue was something they didn't have to worry about in regard to their powers.
"But if the Shadow knows something, its because the one in reality knows it, right?" Mario asked. It was pretty obvious why he was asking that question, given the information divulged.
"Thats right."
Lelouch decided not to pry at this moment, since it wasn't really his place to in that matter. He was also far more curious about something else in regards to the things the Shadow had said. Particularly about the school, and of Milly and her grandfather.
The man seemed to have a hidden ambition beneath the metaphorical mask he put on for the school. Even putting aside his rather disgusting perversion, a whole issue unto itself, his aim of apparently taking over the school was a potential problem.
After dropping off Mario to rest a bit in the school's nurse's office, he stopped off by his home and told Geachi to wait here for now before heading to class. The plush was small, but still too big for his bag, so he didn't need him standing out. He didn't need people noticing or commenting on the thing right now with everything else on his plate.
He eventually arrived at class before the bell had rung. And as he did, he quickly took note of one particular classmate sitting at her desk with some other girls talking to her. And he had zero doubt that she took note of him.
"Hey, don't think I didn't notice that!" Rivalz whispered as he leaned in from the seat behind him. "So whats going on between you and Kallen? Don't try and hide it."
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"Uh huh. And you two just decided to exchange looks like that for no reason at all, right? Or how she kept watching the door until you showed up." Lelouch found himself wondering when Rivalz had become this perceptive when he didn't seem to show it in any other area. "So thats your type, is it?"
"You've got the wrong idea." There wasn't a lot he could say in this situation, since he couldn't explain his actions to him.
Still, this was good for him. He had wanted to interrogate her about yesterday, and this provided the opportunity.
Neither approached each other for the next couple periods. He did catch her watching him through a mirror in a case of hers a couple times. He did his best to discreetly watch her as well, doing his best not to give Rivalz another opening for more misconceptions.
Her demeanor most of the time was rather meek, and she wore an expression to suit it. She had a reputation for being sickly, and she played that part, even sitting out to the side during their Physical Education period. Her tone of voice that she spoke in was soft, befitting of a girl that she presented herself as.
This mask she wore was completely different from the girl he had encountered yesterday. It was as if he was watching a completely different person. The face and body might be the same, but no one would think this girl could be like what he had seen of her yesterday. He had to give her credit in that regard, she played this act well. He had enough experience doing the same, after all.
Eventually, their lunch period arrived and he got up and headed out on his own without a word. He didn't have anything lined up with Rivalz today, so there wouldn't be a reason for his blue hair to wait for him. And it wasn't uncommon for him to go off on his own, so he probably wouldn't think anything of it.
The main one he was worried about was Kallen, hoping she wouldn't make a bee line right for him to cause any unwanted rumors. Of course, he had already taken care of that during class.
She had gotten up around the same time as him, and when Rivalz, as well as Shirley for some reason he didn't understand, got up to watch the two, they saw them head in opposite directions down the hallway. Passing by a waste bin, he tore up a piece of paper he had brought with him before throwing the shreds away. On the paper had been a location and instructions, written backwards.
"When you know you're being watched so intently, its easy to send the one watching you a message." He mused to himself, before heading to his destination. Kallen had been watching him so much, he had a general idea of what he could assume she was going to do. From there, all he had to do was display a message for her, and hope she would see it.
Arriving at a secluded spot of the campus, he found the girl already waiting for him. Checking his surroundings carefully, not wanting to be followed for the second time today, he approached her only once he was certain that there was no one else around this time.
"You probably know what this is about." Her words were straight to the point. She probably had a lot of time to think about all of this, and wasn't in the mood to beat around the bush.
Of course, this would not go as simply for her as she probably expected. Activating his Geass, he quickly issued his order with it. "I've got questions for you right now, so answer them."
"Right. Understood." Within mere seconds, she was already within his power. He noted that after he used his power here, there was a faint glow of a red ring around her iris. That would be a detail he would file in the back of his head for now.
"Why were you in Shinjuku yesterday?" For whatever reason, he was curious as to why she had even gone into the ghetto in the first place. With what he, or perhaps anyone at the school new of her, it would raise questions why the meek and sickly Statdfeld heir would wander around a place like Shinjuku.
"I was looking for my older brother."
Lelouch found himself raising an eyebrow at that. A simple reason like that was unexpected to him. "Why would you think your brother is there?"
"He and I are Japanese. Half-Japanese and Britannian to be exact. I haven't seen him in some time, and I encountered his best friend there recently."
Lelouch took note of that, recalling the words of the Shadow Rosenberg from earlier. He had said that there were two Japanese on this campus, one other than Mario. He wondered what the odds of him having gotten personally involved with both. Still, given that he had discovered these details that even he had previously been unaware of, the man's ability to gather information had to be begrudgingly respected.
"And why were you at the crash site?"
"I heard the crash and rushed there. I was curious."
Simple enough answers, though nothing too notable. Their encounter seemed to be merely complete chance, and she didn't seem to know anything more about the situation then than he did. Satisfied, he let her know he was done asking questions, and her demeanor returned to normal, though she seemed confused by what had happened.
"Anyway," he once again activated his Geass, "You should forget all about what happened in Shinjuku yesterday."
After smooth sailing until now, Lelouch was not prepared for what came next. "No way! You think I'm just gonna forget all that weird stuff and nearly dying!?" She was clearly upset by that, but more importantly, she didn't seem to be under his Geass effect this time. Lelouch was kicking himself for already becoming so comfortable with using this power without testing it out. He had no idea of the drawbacks, like potential time limits or even number of uses. He had gotten a high on how useful it was that he didn't think to check its limitations.
He had ben planning to question Kallen for a little bit and then make her forget all about yesterday's incident, and now that was thrown out completely. Now he had to come up with a way to get her off of his back, and-
"Oh, and maybe you can answer something else for me." She held out her phone to reveal a familiar red and black icon. "And what is this weird app? Did you do something to my phone while I was passed out?" Lelouch groaned as he now had confirmation on something else he was hoping to avoid.
Kallen now had the same Metaverse Navigator that he did.
A young man with brown hair stepped off of a bus, and checked a paper in his hands. He was dressed in casual clothes and wore a pair of dark sunglasses over his eyes, as well as a bag with his belongings hanging over his shoulder. Looking around to once again confirm that he had gotten off at the right stop, he then took a look at one of the papers again, being a transfer order for him.
That was an uncommon situation for someone in his position. He was after all, just an Honorary Britannian and a lowly Private in basic infantry. Sure, he worked hard, but it wasn't as if he had done much in his time in the military yet. To his knowledge, there wasn't anything to distinguish him, but here he was. And even odder was that there didn't seem to be much information on the new unit he was being assigned to contained within the papers. Not even a name had been provided within!
"Excuse me, but are you Suzaku Kururugi?"
Hearing his name, he turned to see who had addressed him, and finding a young woman older than himself with blue hair. She wore an orange uniform, and she had a warm expression on her face.
Removing his sunglasses, and saluting, he confirmed her question. "Yes, ma'am. Private Suzaku Kururugi, reporting for duty."
She let out a light giggle before saying, "You don't need to be so serious here. Our group is more on the informal side. My name is Cecile Croomy."
Author's Notes
Rosenberg takes some elements of Kamoshida, particularly using the Lust theme. One of the reasons I created him, other than being a way to have something lower stakes at the start to push things for Lelouch in a given direction, where he could get a feel for Palaces and how they work, was that Persona 5 themed its Palaces mostly around the seven deadly sins (Or alternate sins), was that there wasn't really a good candidate in my lineup to fit Lust.
Mario Disel is the male player character of the mobile game Code Geass: Lost Stories. In following the game out of curiosity, I took a real shine to its protagonist. They are, in my personal opinion, a character that is a good addition to the Code Geass main cast. As for Mario's Persona, I went through several options, and ultimately decided to settle with legendary outlaw Jesse James. I don't know if cowboys or such would have existed in the Code Geass world, but it was an idea in keeping with Persona 5's thief and rebel theming for Personas. As for his outfit, I kinda imagine it somewhat similar to a cross between the Black Knights uniform and Joker's coat from P5. And the weapon he uses being a spear, is a nod to the Revolving Blade one his Sougetsu uses and the jousting lance his Sutherland Custom uses.
The Suzaku scene was intended to be longer, but I just did not like how it flowed. I went through several drafts of it, and ultimately decided to just cut all that stuff and keep only the important part of introducing him into the story. We'll see more of him as the story goes