Kallen walked through the door leading to the judge's seat and stood on the platform there. Immediately, the entire courtroom fell silent and stood up in one accord to greet her.
"Greetings to you, Chief Justice," chorused the entire courtroom. Kallen nodded to them before seating herself on the chair behind the platform. Gesturing tiredly, she motioned for her assistant to begin the trial. She rested her elbow on the arm of the chair and supported her head on the flat of her hand before closing her eyes. As the defendant started speaking, she slowly willed her brain to work and spot loopholes in his testment. After he had finished, she opened her eyes and glanced around the room wearily.
"Next please, the accused?"
"I will speak for myself."
Kallen's tired gaze drifted across to the young man who had stood up and was looking at her with a desperate expression. Controlling the urge to spit swear words out at him, she straightened up in her chair and motioned to him to swear the pledge that he would not commit court discrimination and begin his defence against the people who had accused him. In record time, Kallen's eyelids drooped again, but she willed her brain to stay awake and with a snap of her fingers, she motioned her assistant to take down notes. She knew that she could not take this any longer. Fatique was working its way all over her.
"Your Highness-"
"What in this sinned world are you rambling about now? I am busy, can't you see, Jeremiah?" snarled Lelouch savagely at the teal-haired man that had just entered his office. The partly cybernetic soldier blinked in surprise. Lelouch seemed to be in a surprising foul mood since ever he got back from Japan.
"No-nothing your Highness-"
"First you burst into my office screaming "your Highness" like your life depends on it and now you stand woodenly in front of me and stutter "no-nothing", what is it Jeremiah?" snapped Lelouch, glaring at said man, who looked extremely helpless under the 3rd Prince's laser-beam glare. He half-expected the prince to scream "Avada Kedavra!" and a beam of green light to burst through the room any moment.
"Well, Jeremiah Gottwald, explain your presence please," spat Lelouch, his amethyst eyes boring into Jeremiah's face. Swallowing nervously, Jeremiah checked that he was not dead yet before opening his mouth.
"There was a report that a suspious-looking person has entered the Royal Court of Britannia..."
Without waiting for the full report, Lelouch had already left the room. Jeremiah was left in the prince's office with papers and a cup of cold Earl Grey tea.
"Lady Stad- I mean, Chief Justice! We request your presence immediately-"
"What is the meaning of this? You are interrupting a court case you know? And it is being presided over by the Chief Justice herself!" exploded one of the jury when Kallen opened her eyes to glance lazily at the young man that had rushed into the courtroom. He lifted his eyes hurriedly up and gasped at the man who had just scolded him.
"But sir! The E.U. has just attacked the capital city of Pendragon!"
Kallen bolted up straight at the man's words. Lelouch.
Hushed whispers went around the room. The man on the jury merely looked infuriated.
"I don't freaking care if Emperor Charles zi Britannia has miraculously risen from the dead and wants Chief Justice Stadfeld to be ex-"
"Hold this case, Elderin, I am going there right away," barked Kallen to the man, who happened to be the head of jury. The man gasped, looking from the man to Kallen in a shocked manner.
"Bu-bu-but, Your Honour? Thi-"
"Keep quiet before I fire you!" snapped Kallen, throwing on her coat and preparing to exit the room. Lance immediately started clearing up her things while the man named Elderin frowned at the messenger before ordering disperse of court. Kallen did up the last buttons of her coat quickly and exited the room. Once she was out in ther corridor, she found herself face to face with the young man that had delievered the mesaage.
"Name and information please," demanded Kallen warily. She had not seen him around before, but she blamed it on not coming back to Britannia that often. She still remembered some old faces, the famous and the ones closer to her of course, but the new faces were complete strangers to her. Be cautious, she reminded herself, he could be an assassin sent to kill you. Assuming a pose that both casual and wary at the same time, Kallen took in the appearance if the young man in front her.
"I am Hitoshi Mayama, one of the Britannia royal army recruits," answered the young man, looking at her straight in the eyes. Tilting her head on one side, Kallen observed him silently.
"When did the royal family start taking in soldiers from the former Areas? From my knowledge, only me, Lord Kuurugi and a handful of the Black Knights are part of the units close to the royal family," asked Kallen quietly. She noticed that Mayama had started fidgeting, not something a trained soldier would do in times of emergency. She avoided direct eye contact, but kept her eyes on him all the same.
"Some ti-time ago, I believe, you must be te-terribly outdated, my lady. It was done some time ago," stuttered Mayama. He didn't even notice that he was repeating his words. That confirmed her suspicions immediately, she slowly closed it on the young proclaimed soldier.
"I believe that information was false, young Mayama. That sentence also betrayed you," smiled Kallen slyly. Her arm shot out and grabbed Mayama by the neck, throwing him down on the floor. The impact of the slam knocked him breathless and made his sight go black for a while.
When he came to his senses, he found himself looking into the barrel of a gun pointed directly at him.
"Now, talk."
Phew...finally finished this chapter. Sorry guys for not updating, but my End-Of-Year Examinations were coming up and they end tomorrow and I really can't study Chinese, so I finished this chapter and felt really good about it. Please drop me a review about what you think and what do you think went wrong anywhere in this story, I really appreciate it (Thanks guys XD). I will try and update more often, but I managed to get this story off hiatus. ALL HAIL DBSK FOR GIVING ME INSPRIRATION TO WRITE (ESPECIALLY XIAH XD)!
If interested what happened to me, please visit my blog or my Deviantart Journal, I rather not tell it over and over again~ it feels really bad when you can't finish an exam paper...
ALL HAIL XIAHNISM~