Sorry for the wait!
I felt that had to come before anything else. Hopefully those of you that decided to check out my Fire Emblem fic were satisfied with that until this came along, but I'm not expecting a whole lot. That fic – depending on the feedback – will be an ongoing side project, but if it makes everyone feel better this fic will continue to take priority. I can't promise that will always be the case; I act on my whims, after all.
As for why I will not introduce the Shinkiro, it is because I am being very restrictive with the technology I make use of in this fic. For all of it's worth, Code Geass lost a small amount of appeal when Knightmare Frame technology escaped the scope of realism it seemed to have in the beginning. Granted I have already gone beyond the scope of realism, but most of the technology from R2 took it too far. I will compensate in innovative ways, but don't expect battles later in the fic involving a Guren that can move so fast it's nothing but a red blur, or a Knightmare Frame with a huge sword that can redirect energy as powerful as the Baryon cannon. That's just too much.
Anyway, I hope sincerely that this does not bother anyone.
Sheer willpower was a vast misjudgment on my part.
Battles with Schneizel were fought regularly over the next week, each one ending either in our defeat or a mutual retreat. Even with our advantage in firepower, their numbers – which had become an obsolete thing with Knightmare Frames – gave them a small enough advantage to pull through. Neither side were faced with many casualties and we were forced to record each one as indecisive, but we finally decided on a course of action that would get our gears of change moving again.
January 15th, 2018 a.t.b. and the Anti-Britannian Front was already putting themselves into hiding. Retreating to the Mount Hua Sanctuary east of Xi'an we pulled all the stops to make sure the subsequent battle would be a decisive one. We hadn't accounted for the reinforcements, unfortunately, but plans were being made regarding that.
Every television network in Britannia were giving reports pertaining to what was now being dubbed the Yin and Yang War, and the response was overwhelming. Morale in the Anti-Britannian Front reached new heights from the new information, and it wasn't long before the soldiers were itching for the final battle against Schneizel's forces to unfold, fully trusting in the strategies Xingke and I had to offer.
If only I was so eager.
My resolve had been shaken. I'd been fighting on my father's terms, and giving it my all. But even that wasn't enough. Was Schneizel a far better commander than I was giving him credit for? Or was I overestimating my own abilities ... no, I'd made sure years ago that I would be ready before I acted. No strategist in Britannia is a match for Lelouch Lamperouge or Lelouch Vi Britannia. That much I was sure of.
Then why was I so afraid of the battle to come...?
o--o
"Are all the preparations ready?" Lelouch's eyes glanced from side to side rapidly, a small bit of paranoia invading his usual calm. It was a state he'd been in all day, and one that had mode those who noticed it avoid him.
"Yes, sir. The Raikou is in position, and our forces await only your order," Ogi replied, flexing his knuckles. He was more than a little put out by Lelouch's visible paranoia, but he had to admit; this more down to earth tactic screamed victory. If Lelouch wasn't so paranoid that he didn't execute it properly; that was a fear everyone had.
"How far away are the enemy?" Lelouch asked, eyes not leaving his tactical map. C.C. was seated next to him, head perched on his shoulder as she read over the map, occasionally whispering her own opinion – which was suddenly lacking any teasing intent, all seriousness as of the past week. It had surprised Lelouch at first, but the mixture of a far more serious attitude and her rather shameless behaviour – that had given nearly everyone the wrong idea at some point in time – was not completely unbearable to Lelouch.
In fact, he nearly enjoyed it. But he'd never admit to it, to himself or to anyone else.
"They've just entered the bottle-necked areas, and their defenses have tightened. Distance, 4200. They haven't caught sight of us yet, but it won't be long either. Give the order to launch? Distance 3800."
"Hold off on the launch. Make sure the Raikou is ready to fire," Lelouch answered, now visibly tensing. This was the moment he'd played out in his head so many times; and the only thing he couldn't predict – that black Lancelot – would be able to take out Raikou if he didn't act at just the right moment. Sweat was trickling down the back of his neck as he waited; eagerly, despairingly.
"Raikou ready to fire. Distance, 3600."
"Wait..." Lelouch took in a deep breath, willing his nerves to calm down. C.C. pulled back from him, preparing to do what she had to do.
"Distance, 3400! We can't wait much longer!" Ogi called, now quite worried.
"Fire! Launch Tamaki and Minami's squads for defensive purposes. We can't lose the Raikou. Xingke is already prepared for launch, but make sure the Hakumei, Lancelot and Guren are as well. Air supremacy is imperative in this battle. We lose air supremacy, and we die," Lelouch ordered grimly, his tone sending shivers down Ogi's spine. Lelouch watched on with faded breath as the first high velocity round was fired, making a direct hit on a Sutherland in the center of the Britannian main line and exploding, sending shrapnel flying in all directions. "How long to reload?"
"Another twenty seconds," Ogi answered, his voice now accompanied by furious typing. "Minami and Tamaki have launched, and their forces are deploying as we speak. The Shen-Hu has launched, and is awaiting further orders." They were now in the eye of the storm, as Lelouch had dubbed it, and failure would mean certain death for all of them. This was not a fact Lelouch had hidden from the troops, and determination to fight their best had never been higher. Even at Narita, where the stakes were much the same.
"Tamaki and Minami are to form lines surrounding the Raikou and are to attack only when the enemy gets too close. Our air units are to assault the Britannian lines when they can do so without being assaulted, but if anything comes from the air that is to take priority," Lelouch ordered, slumping back into the seat behind him. He rested his chin on his folded fingers, sighing. "This battle will not go Schneizel's way."
Down on the battlefield, Tamaki was more than ecstatic to follow these orders. The disdain he had toward following the orders of a Britannian prince were dispelled after he heard of the speech their prince had given to Schneizel, rebuking Britannia's very existence. Following that he followed Lelouch with the same devotion he had followed Zero, perhaps even more loyally now that he wasn't answering to a mask. It was with that devotion in mind that he eagerly took up his position, the fact that they were doing nothing but barricading the narrow passage lost in his enthrallment.
"We're going to defeat Britannia's White Prince!" he cried excitedly. All he got in response were sharp reprimands for his eagerness, but nobody could deny the glee that washed over them at the notion of defeating who could arguably be considered Britannia's greatest tactician. The very notion was enough to raise morale at such a point in time as this, where there was nearly no doubt in their minds that Britannia would be defeated.
But the night was young still.
o--o
"Our main line has been damaged! Seargant Jona is requesting orders!" Neil reported with a long sigh, hanging his head. "The Black Prince has outdone himself, hasn't he, Your Highness?"
"Indeed he has," Schneizel scowled, not in the least proud of the man he was hesitant to call his half-brother. "Order them to pause and make way for the Galehaut. It will lead the charge. This battle is our's if that Raikou is destroyed, and the Galehaut can do it."
The Britannian forces formed into a long wall, in front of it standing the Galehaut. The massive array charged forward in unison, heedless of the casualties they suffered under the impressive firepower of the Raikou. Their efforts were nearly rewarded as the Galehaut came within striking distance, but their hopes were dashed when a massive stream of red landed just half a foot away from it, tearing up the ground in front of it.
"It's that red Frame!" Darin cried, his voice breaking and revealing every bit of the worry that lay beneath his now broken calm exterior. Being put in the position they were in – staring down firepower that was decimating their main line with unheard of efficiency, it was not surprising that many of the Avalon's personnel were losing their cool.
"The ace of the Black Knights..." Schneizel groaned, recalling it's recent 'upgrade'. Needless to say, it – among other things in the firepower the Anti-Britannian Front possessed, was not something he wanted standing in his way. "Lloyd, did you assess it's abilities?" he turned toward his scientist, still wearing that slightly disconcerting grin. He was an odd person, to be sure. But Schneizel was well known for keeping such people around.
"Of course," the scientist replied cheerily, eyes closing as he nodded eagerly. "Compared to the Galehaut, in terms of performance alone it is 43 more efficient. It's armaments – as you can tell – are far more advanced. Completely outclassed."
"And you're happy about this?" Schneizel asked bemusedly, frowning.
"Of course not," Cecile put in, smiling. "But one can't help but admire such work, right?"
"Right – I mean, no!" Lloyd let out an exasperated sigh as he glared non-threateningly at Cecile, who continued to put on a look of pure innocence. "But that red Frame is no match for the defenses of the Gawain," he explained, raising his eyebrows in a knowing fashion.
"But the Hadron technology is..." Schneizel cut himself off, lowering his head in mock thought. It was quite quickly that he came to the conclusion that this was not something he could leave open for debate. And unfortunately, they needed the Gawain even as it was, with or without control of it's firepower. And so, he spoke with a sigh, not lifting his head, "Do we have a suitable pilot for it?"
"Fortunately, Your Highness, it's been designed with such simplistic technology that piloting skill is of little consequence when using it, and it's devastating strength and defenses need little raw skill. While I am adverse to the idea, I can allow one of my creations being used so carelessly."
Schneizel was still adverse to the idea. But as he looked toward the battlefield where his determination to removing the Anti-Britannian Front had already dealt devastating damage to his main line, leaving him with just the torn remnants of Seargant Jona's division and the lines laying behind it as viable options, it wasn't difficult to realize that the decision had been made for him.
"Well, Your Highness?" Lloyd wiggled his eyebrows as he spoke, enticingly.
"Set it up for launch. We'll need control over the air." He turned toward Darin, who was still watching everything with a long-drawn breath, his breaths coming few and far between and in short gasps. "Where are our reinforcements?"
"They are proceeding along the main road toward our rear. They should be in sight shortly," Darin replied without batting an eyelash, his eyes much too focused on his own task.
"When they arrive, we had better have control over the air," Schneizel sighed, cradling his head in his hand, supported by his elbow against the armrest of his throne-like seat. "Numbers are an obsolete thing, after all. But the extra firepower isn't unwelcome."
Schneizel's desire to overcome Lelouch's immediate plots, unfortunately, were leaving him oblivious to the inner machinations of his half-brother's mind.
o--o
"Distance, 2200! They're getting too close!" Ogi reported direly. Lelouch only smiled at the very notion, not in the least bit worried. In fact, since the first move had been a resounding success, the confidence and arrogance that were known to be prominent factors in both Lelouch and his discarded alter ego Zero had returned, perhaps ten fold. Ogi was more than a little worried about the situation, and he wasn't afraid to admit it, although he did feel a little foolish behaving in such a manner when their commander was so calm and collected.
"The Raikou is to begin using it's other artillery to keep the enemy at bay. How does this effect it's reload time?"
There was a moments' pause, "... Delays it by about five seconds," Ogi replied, clearly not at all pleased with that.
"That's fine. Make sure the defense holds for another few minutes, and then we'll have won," Lelouch responded with a smug grin. Ogi would have questioned him on the matter, but upon looking back and seeing the certainty in the young prince's eyes, he opted against it. Lelouch had been completely on top of things from the beginning of the battle, Ogi had noticed, and Lelouch seemed no less in control now, either.
Those next few minutes were beyond hectic. Schneizel had made the wise – wise from a tactical perspective, but ultimately morally wrong – decision to dispatch transport units by air in an apparent attempt to get behind the lines of the Anti-Britannian Front. His efforts were met with nothing short of terrible results, but at the same time it made the fight on the ground a much harder one. The Britannian lines continued to suffer greatly under the firepower the Raikou presented, but the lack of the Frames in the air gave them the opportunity to advance more.
It wasn't long, in fact, before the Galehaut had come nearly within striking range of the Raikou. It was only the second timely arrival of the Guren that saved the Raikou, and the brief pause it caused resulted in the Galehaut having the better part of it's Frame damaged by the shrapnel of the next shot from the Raikou, as well as the direct shot taking out it's arm. The Britannian line immediately turned to gain some distance, abandoning the cockpit that launched from the Galehaut which was swiftly captured by Tamaki.
Lelouch watched all this with great interest, watching the movements of the Galehaut closely. Movements that he vaguely recognized, no less. It dawned on him a moment later and he walked over to where Ogi was seated, speaking into the now confused man's headset, "Tamaki, take a second to secure the prisoner, and bring him aboard. I have a few suspicions regarding his identity."
Lelouch met Tamaki down in the hangar where the prisoner was passed off. Not a word was spoken as Tamaki nodded then turned on his heel, rushing out to return to his Gloucester. Lelouch didn't give the prisoner more than a passing glance; that was all it took for his suspicions to be confirmed. The pilot was unconscious and Lelouch, being needed elsewhere, passed him off to a couple other men, instructing them to put him into one of the cells in the lower area of the ship. They did so without another word, and Lelouch returned to the command center, all the while wondering why Rai had turned over to Britannia.
"What's the status?" Lelouch asked as soon as he'd taken his seat again, masking his discontent perfectly.
Ogi was silent for a moment. When he did speak, it was heavy with worry, "... We have a situation."
"A situation?" Lelouch repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Without the Galehaut, hopes of them overcoming us from the front have been lost. But they have another weapon." Ogi paused, gathering his breath before he finished, "You may want to see this."
"Put it on screen."
And Ogi did just that. When the Gawain appeared, in all it's six and a half meters of glory, Lelouch's breath hitched in his throat. Already the Hakumei had engaged it, firing a slash harken at it that was immediately cast aside from a slash harken launched from one of the massive fingers the Frame possessed. When the Guren joined the Hakumei, firing two waves of Fukushahado in unison, both fell short of their target when a massive MSV shield came up in front of it, blocking both without so much as slowing down.
"That thing is..." Lelouch was truly at a loss for words.
"It gets worse," Ogi remarked bemusedly, his eyes narrowed into tiny slits as he looked back at Lelouch. "They've declared an all out blitz, and all of their forces are charging forward with seemingly no formation whatsoever. They're being decimated, but keeping up with them in their blind charge is growing difficult."
Lelouch groaned audibly; this wasn't boding well for them. "Recall Suzaku. When he returns, have him outfitted with a new battery and have him discard the Float System. He'll assist on the front lines. The rest of them are to form a defense, while Karen, Xingke and C.C. try to take down that thing. We can't allow it to overpower us now."
As soon as the orders were relayed to those on the battlefield, Xingke smirked. He knew just by looking what kind of Frame they were going up against and, having assessed Lelouch's piloting skills in the past, was thinking much the same thing he was sure the younger of the two commanders was.
This Frame would be perfect for Lelouch's use.
Determined not to let such an opportunity go to waste, Xingke was the first to jump to action. He closed the distance until there was only a narrow fourty feet between them, and then the Baryon cannon was fired in a long stream at the Gawain that was immediately rendered useless by the large wall of transparent green that appeared in front of it. Xingke smirked as he fired one of his slash harkens, successfully embedding it in the torso of the large Frame. Sending large currents of electricity through the wire of the slash harken added a little extra to the hit, and the Gawain's response was exactly as he predicted as it stopped moving entirely.
But it was moving again far faster than he had anticipated. A large shot was fired from the cannon on it's right shoulder, and Xingke forced himself into an immediate descent that forced his slash harken from the bulky Frame and sent the Hadron blast going narrowly over his head. He quirked an eyebrow when it's stream was suddenly cut short, but took in the information with a smirk nonetheless as he returned to the attack.
"C.C.! Karen! Attack from both sides!" as they moved to obey somewhat grudgingly, Xingke navigated himself around to it's backside. As the pilot of the Gawain prioritized taking care of the Guren and Hakumei, it was completely unprepared for the two slash harkens catching it around the torso, effectively holding it in place. Xingke's victorious smirk faded fast as the Gawain continued to move, it's sheer mass rendering his capture method ineffective. "Damn!" he cursed quietly, extracting himself with great difficulty from the Frame.
Xingke turned himself over to a strict stance of defending and not draining his power as he thought over how exactly to go about removing the large Frame. "Blindly attacking won't work. We'll just drain out power and then it will win..." he mused quietly. His thoughts were put on hold as a short burst from the Hadron cannons sent him back a short distance from the pressure alone, despite having missed him by a rather wide margin on both sides. "If only we could drain it's energy first, then..."
He grinned widely as it hit him; the one scenario that may work. Executing it would be another matter, but having a plan to defeat such a beast was an accomplishment of it's own. He drew it's attention to him with another offensive while ordering, "Karen, find a good point and launch a Gefjun Net at it!" she seemed to get the idea rather quickly, escaping higher into the air with C.C. on her tail, waiting until the Gawain seemed completely oblivious to her.
Xingke continued his attack-and-defense strategy with questionable success, narrowly dodging the erratic but successive blasts from the Hadron cannons. It seemed almost like a rampaging giant to watch, almost carelessly firing at him with quick but uncontrolable shots. That made them nearly impossible to predict, but the basics to dodging them were quite easy to grasp, luckily.
The offense part of the strategy was another matter. While dodging the blasts grew to be more a sudden reflex rather than a carefully calculated action, the lack of a pause between the next attack left no opening for the Shen-Hu's more delayed and powerful attacks. It had quickly become a matter of constant defense with the occasional launching of a slash harken, but what little offense he was able to contribute was not enough to make a dent in the stellar defenses of the Gawain.
And so, he was overjoyed to see the Gefjun Net land around the Gawain, erupting into blasts of red electricity that left the Gawain completely and entirely immobilized. All three jumped at the opening; Xingke once again securely wrapping his slash harkens around it from the back, leaving it slack and non-moving as he tried to haul it back toward the Hogosha, the other two below it making sure it wasn't able to break free and to ensure it wasn't dropped. The possibility was certainly there.
But as they safely reached the Hogosha where it was swiftly loaded and it's pilot extracted, their nerves were finally put to rest. And Lelouch's grin was irrepairably transfixed to his face.
o--o
"We've lost the signal to the Gawain!" Darin reported frantically, arms waving exasperatedly over his head in a silent gesture essentially sending the same message that was running through the heads of just about everyone else. The same message that had made the nervous outbreak of sweat more an ever-flowing river of sweat rather than an occasional drop or two.
They were done. Flipped over twice and grilled to perfection. Courtesy of a certain half-brother of their prince, who just so happened to be a brilliant cook in his own right. And the worst part was, Schneizel knew from the beginning that Lelouch would be pulling all the stops to capture the Gawain. It was indeed a far too enticing treat for someone with limited piloting skill.
And now Lelouch's artillery was that much more powerful. Schneizel was out a powerful – and somewhat necessary – Frame, and his forces were now once again hounded by the damned harpies that dared release the extent of their mighty weaponry upon them from the air.
Oh yeah, they were done perfectly. And Schneizel was sure Lelouch was loving every minute of watching Britannia squirm beneath his lethal tactics.
But even so, it was too early to claim total defeat. His soldiers would never forgive him if so many lives were spent just to turn around and return home. No, they would lose all respect for their prince, and that is a harder blow to him than any blow Lelouch could deal. It was with that thought in mind that he gave consideration to what he was about to say, "Continue the assault. Their batteries will run out if we keep up the assault, and that will be our chance." He turned toward Darin, asking, "How far off are the reinforcements?"
"They will be entering the mountains within the next ten minutes, Your Highness," he replied dutifully, eyes not drifting away from the current object of their attention – the slight static he was receiving on his radar pointing to the entrance into the mountain region they were currently stuck in. It had shown up seemingly out of nowhere just a short while ago, and he'd found the disturbance too suspicious to ignore.
Down on the battlefield, words were shot back and for from superior to underling, superior to fellow superior, or even amongst the common man. No matter who it was, they all were saying more or less the same thing; words of harsh reprimand to their superior for the suicidal position they'd been put in. Their only hope – the Gawain – had been seized, and still they fought on?
Needless to say, they were not impressed with their prince's judgment. But like any red blooded Britannian, orders were not questioned. Reprimands about the idiocy of it or expressions of disdain were commonplace, naturally, and many disputed the wisdom of their actions. Even so, none could deny the yearning to avenge those that had already fallen on this bleak night.
"Another?! To the right!" assuming command of the blitzing Britannians was the Second Lieutenant of the 47th Britannian Commonwealth Platoon of the First Prince's Personal Division, Stewart Trueman. He had the self-assumed duty of directing the blitzing troops, now devoid of any sense of order whatsoever – as so many battles since the invention of the Knightmare Frame had become. The first prince usually made sure things were in some measure of order, but such a gallant effort had clearly been discarded in favor of the true Britannian way: the strong will survive.
Much to Stewart's bemusement, those who survived still – little more than half of their original numbers – were hardly worthy of being considered strong. They were the bottom of the barrel men that Schneizel could afford to risk on this bloody night, and Stewart was leading such a motley crew of men to either a gloriously underdog victory, or to certain death.
Though he was adverse to admitting it, Stewart was inclined to believe the latter was the more likely scenario.
Stewart managed to narrowly dodge the Raikou's destructive power but, as he had assumed, one of those behind him had been hit. The Sutherland in question exploded almost immediately, sending the shrapnel flying in all directions, piercing several other Frames; five were destroyed on impact, while another twelve managed to escape with minor damages. Those ones were the ones that would be sitting ducks if they ever reached the enemy's main line, Stewart knew.
Which wasn't all that far off. They were gaining a lot of distance with their blind charging, and even the damned Frames above them could only do so much with just four of them. But even that small success didn't make Stewart feel better; breaking through would mean the enemy would finally take some reasonable damage, but they'd lost so much by now that their remnants wouldn't be able to make a victory possible. They'd already lost, unless the reinforcements they were expecting arrived soon.
Stewart couldn't even speculate on the probability of that.
Luckily, he didn't have to wait much longer for what many hoped would be their second wind. As soon as Darin said, "They're here," and the messaged was relayed through Neil to the troops, morale increased considerably in a matter of seconds. Schneizel scratched at the bridge of his nose as he watched on, waiting for the turn of the tide. The change that would end the battle simply due to the draining batteries Lelouch's forces were now surely suffering from.
And so, he was completely taken by surprise when, Darin suddenly said, "Our reinforcements have been ambushed." It came out of his mouth as though it were the simplest thing in the world, but it had Schneizel's head doing backflips. Reinforcements? Where had Lelouch had the time to plan for such a compete victory? In hindsight he figured he should have checked for a possible ambush in that area, due to the fact that it was a very suitable place for one, but it had completely skipped his mind in his dedication to overcoming what Lelouch had put forth.
Never had he felt so foolish when ignoring a rule of war.
General Walter Borman of the 1st Brigade of the First Prince's Personal Division was taken equally by surprise when his entire brigade was covered in a thick smokescreen, the only thing having been seen beforehand was what someone had – supposedly mistakenly – identified as Todo Kyoshiro's personal Gekka Knightmare Frame, and then it all went black. By the time the general could see again it was nearly too late to salvage the situation; the Shisei-ken was upon them from both sides both with two companies of Sutherland and Burai, striking or shooting at any and everything they came across.
Outnumbered as they were, the stellar battlefield leadership Todo displayed coupled with the morale raising figure he presented were more than enough to turn the tide, and the last hope for Schneizel's forces were beyond salvation within what seemed like less than five minutes. It hadn't in fact been much longer than that, Walter figured, but that didn't matter too much.
Walter himself put up a decent fight, proving to be more than a match for one of the Shisei-ken, but when the Gekka backed off, only to be replaced with the black Gekka with flowing black hair behind it that marked it as Todo Kyoshiro's, he knew he was seeing his last day. Even if he survived, demotion was the least of things he expected to receive for this failure. But his worries were put to rest as Todo's Seidotou pierced his cockpit, and he died before the blade had been pulled out again.
Adding to Schneizel's worries was the sudden counterattack of their main forces, as well as the sudden deployment of the Gun-Ru Corps that suddenly left them sorely outnumbered and on the run. Schneizel didn't even need to give the order; whoever felt they could just mounted the command of the remnants and led them into an organized retreat. Schneizel stood up and immediately left the room, Kanon hot on his heel as he went through the narrow corridors of the Avalon to his personal quarters. As soon as Kanon had stepped into the room, he abruptly slammed it shut, fuming in a way he never would in the presence of his subordinates.
"You're not pleased with the man your half-brother has become," Kanon remarked with a smirk. The glare Schneizel gave him could have turned most anyone to stone with fear.
"He's a fine commander... but a terrible brother," Schneizel replied pointedly, venom dripping from his words. "I understand his reasoning for rebellion, but he's spreading war. Endless fighting won't solve a thing."
"He's changing the world, whether the methods are right or not. Opposing him now is opposing the will of the people. You want to prove he's wrong, you have to do it in a way that keeps the people's favor," Kanon replied immediately, his smile broad as he spoke. Schneizel's expression expressed complete agreement, but that didn't seem to placate him at all.
It would be a long time before Schneizel overcame the humiliation that now fueled his anger completely and entirely.
o--o
"Britannian forces have managed to group together and break through Todo's company and are retreating to Xi'an. Our forces have merged under Xingke's command and are awaiting your orders." Lelouch smirked when Ogi had finished reporting the latest development to him, and it was only with great effort that he managed to suppress his gleeful laughter.
Ogi and Sugiyama were the only ones who were still in the command center with Lelouch, both working tirelessly despite the undisputed conculsion to the battle. It had been their first victory over Schneizel, but it was a decisive victory that was sure to send enemy morale plummeting to the ground. Schneizel's presence in the Chinese Federation would be nonexistent and retreating would be the only option the Prime Minister would be left with.
It was short. It was sweet. And it was delightful.
Lelouch turned toward Ogi, fighting to suppress his grin as he spoke, "Order them to retreat. Our victory is already complete. We will only invite defeat if we press the attack further." Ogi nodded in agreement and began relaying the orders to Xingke.
A moment later, Ogi turned back to Lelouch, "Xingke wishes to speak with you personally regarding where things will go from here," he studied Lelouch's expression with almost obsessive intensity as he pondered the matter before finally giving a thumbs up. "He'll meet you in his quarters when you return," Ogi responded into the headset, removing it as soon as he got an affirmative. "What are your orders for the ship?"
Lelouch stood up, making for the doorway, "We'll stay here until after my meeting with Xingke. Then we'll discuss where we head from here."
When Xingke arrived in his quarters nearly twenty minutes later, eyes heavy from sleep, Lelouch was seated in the chair at his desk, turned around so he faced the doorway. Another seat was prepared across from him. Lelouch directed Xingke to it with a gesture of his hand, and his calm face dissolved behind a sudden focus the moment Xingke took the seat.
"You know why we needed to meet," Xingke started, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back.
Lelouch nodded, "Until Schneizel is gone and we have secured some form of agreement between us, our invasion of Area 11 cannot begin."
"And what do you want in exchange for our continued cooperation?" Xingke asked, leaning back and smirking slightly. He'd let Lelouch make his demands, then milk what he could in exchange. He'd keep control the entire time.
"I have no desire for anything, but for the sake of my men it is imperative that our presence in Area 11 when it has fallen is known. We will be able to control the Sakuradite resources in Area 11 when this is over, as well." Xingke nodded along the entire way, already working out his own requests.
"Then I will request a mutual alliance and pact of mutual benefit between the two of us once the Japanese have their freedom," Xingke responded, not missing a beat. "In terms of Sakuradite, we will be promised twenty percent of it without consequence yearly. Is that reasonable?"
"Indeed it is," Lelouch smiled slightly. Before he could continue, their negotiations were put on hold when the door opened. C.C. walked in nonchalantly, giving Lelouch a small smile before pulling down the sheets on her bed and sliding in, pulling them over her and curling up into a fetal position.
"Is she...?" it was no secret that C.C. shared a room with Lelouch and rumors had already been dispelled, but seeing this raised questions almost immediately.
"She's a secret I keep tucked beneath Zero's mask," Lelouch responded, as if it did not matter at all. In his eyes, it really didn't. In Xingke's case, their mutual benefit was all he needed to keep his assistance. "I'll tell everyone someday. But it's not a weight people need just yet."
Xingke nodded in understanding despite his misgivings. "Then regarding our current position --" Lelouch's phone chose that moment to ring, and Lelouch gave an apologetic look to Xingke as he moved to answer it.
"Hello?" he asked, skeptically. The number was not familiar to him at all.
"Hello, Lelouch."
The childish tone struck a chord in Lelouch immediately. Something inside him told him he wasn't wrong in his deduction, and he took the phone away from his ear, standing and gently nudging C.C. into awareness, "Take over negotiations. I have a..." he looked at the phone, carefully choosing his next words. "Situation."
That was enough to relay the urgency of the matter to C.C. and she got up immediately, taking his seat as he stepped out of the room. He didn't utter a word until he was far out of the reach of wandering ears, when he said, "V.V."
That's where I'll end it. I had an alternate ending planned, but this is more fitting and on a second thought the other stuff I had planned is better off going into the next chapter anyway. Sorry if the end of the chapter seemed rushed – it was a little – but I had little to offer in the way of filler. Hopefully you guys won't mind too much...
Also, like I promised, what does everyone think will happen next? It's pretty open-ended, but you can make at least reasonable guesses with the subtle advances into this next issue I've made.
And question two: Schneizel has mentioned once or twice about his secret 'Operation Muhon'. What do you guys think this is? There's a huge hint in the name that's pretty easy to get, too.
That's all!
