Disclaimer: I own nothing of Code Geass, nor of Guilty Gear, nor to a lesser extent, BlazBlue. I do own this story, and all the inspirations along with it. And of course, the brain where the ideas came from.
"Well then, my friends: until later."
The masked boy turned on his heel and left the place like a silent breath of air.
Immediately, her feet set to follow, but it seemed that "Alan Spacer" was a ghost, and Kallen lost his presence in the midst of the late-night Federation district crowds.
She returned to the group, where some of the Gears who had received the "tutelage" Zero brought were discussing it amongst themselves heatedly.
"Did you hear that, Ohgi? Perfect control! I'm a godamned genius! Hah!" cackled Tamaki, more than pleased that he had been praised by Zero himself to exhibit fine-tuned control over his Gear powers.
"Now isn't that nice for you huh, Tamaki?" Kallen grumbled, massaging the area where her right arm had hurt.
"Are you complaining, fresh meat? You jealous of my mad skillz? Heh, didn't Zero say you needed better control?" Kallen gave the loudmouth a quick chop to the head.
Off to the side, Ohgi turned from the exchange to say his thoughts out loud. "But I guess this cements the fact that he's the real deal." They had the same reservations as those who declined to speak to Zero again, unsure of his capability as a Gear. But as the afternoon showed, he seemed to have a deep understanding of the Gear form, far surpassing even his own, and he had access to some of Gaia's research on the matter.
"What'll you do, Kaname?" asked one of the others. "Are you going to tell Gaia?" At this, Kallen turned her gaze to Ohgi.
"I-" he said, flustered at the sudden question. "I won't...yet. I will wait and see how far Zero will take us."
"You intend to betray him?" Kallen demanded.
"Well, not exactly, but he is a shady kind of guy right? Even if he is stupid powerful."
"Hey, hey, Ohgi, you can't go off and think those kind of thoughts huh?" Tamaki said, leering at the former leader. "If there's one thing that I like about that Zero guy, he gives people respect when they deserve it. And that's an okay in my book."
"Are you giving him your trust then, Tamaki?" asked Ohgi.
"A bit, yeah. And it's not because he praised me or anything. He's a decent guy."
Truth be told, it was the first time in the life of this one Gear, going by the name of Shinichiro Tama-
"-Well, just remember you guys can't go off and betray him so easily," Kallen interrupted Tamaki's thoughts. She crossed her arms before her to emphasize her point. "We stand a better chance being with that guy than with those roobs at Gaia. You all know that. He's the only chance us Gears have, and that's a belief I'll stand by."
Ohgi shook his head wryly as the others stood speechless at the girl's determination. Ah, youth.
)()()()()()()()(
"Hoo wow. Lelouch actually disappeared from under your noses?" remarked Milly Ashford, amused.
"One does not simply "disappear" from the infirmary, Lady Ashford," said one of the nurses icily. They were gathered around the receiving hall of the infirmary, each of their faces wearing a silent, outraged glare.
"W-Well I can't say anything to that determination," said the Ashford, laughing and backing off. Dr. Baldhead's staff was not something she wanted to tango with on any day. "What do you think, Nina?" She turned to the girl beside her, who squeaked quietly under the collective glares of the nurses. "You were the last one who saw Lelouch."
Early in the afternoon, a nurse returning from examining a casting accident in one of the first-year rooms returned to find Lelouch Lamperouge's bed empty, healing field disabled, and the binding array underneath him mauled beyond recognition.
An alert was started, the Ashfords were informed, and security images confirmed the black blurry ship near one of the greenhouses as their fugitive patient, who had brute-forced through the Ashford barrier with frightening ease.
Milly was still laughing about it, even as she and Nina returned to the clubroom after hearing the nurses' stern vow against Lelouch for making them fail their eccentric superior.
"So did Lulu really disappear, Prez?" Shirley was the first to ask that question as they sidled into the room. Nina shuffled off to her terminal in the corner.
"Yep," Milly replied as soon as she poured herself tea. "Gave the nurses quite a blush. Lelouch is in for it now, if he wasn't before."
"Still, that's amazing," Rivalz commented, looking up from his homework. "Either Dr. Baldhead's a bonafide miracle healer, or Lelouch is secretly that powerful, to be able to escape like that. Either way, it's amazing!"
"What that Lelouch doesn't know, is that I have this lovely contraption that gives me free news of his location twenty-four seven." said Milly happily, brandishing the tracking invention at them all. Nina turned in her chair to gasp, as Shirley pointed at it with a cry of understanding.
"Dun dun dun dun~~~ Lelouch can't ever escape the gaze of this President...huh?" the blonde Ashford gaped in surprise at the screen in her hand.
"What's the matter, Prez?"
"Not here..." she murmured, eyes wide. Instantly she looked up at the ceiling and shouted, "Access code 6350-6626, access log!" A wall on the side of the clubroom opened up to reveal another terminal. She strode over to it, leaving the tea on the table.
"What's going on, Milly?" Nina asked worriedly, joining the others to look over the President's shoulder.
"That Lelouch...he didn't emit a single sound with his ars," said Milly in a hushed tone. Rivalz, Shirley and the others who didn't get it looked at one another in confusion, while Nina clapped a hand to her mouth and gasped, "...B-but how was he able t-to escape? D-did he use soundless...?"
"I've no idea." Milly said with a sigh. She returned the terminal inside after saying another passcode. "Aww, and I really wanted to know what's made it so important for that guy to risk his body like that..."
"Lulu's a real hopeless idiot," pouted Shirley, who, though not getting the conversation between Milly and Nina at all, seemed to understand a part of it.
"I-It's...probably going a bit far to say that," Nina protested weakly. Rivalz wisely kept silent. For the rest of the day until the council was dismissed by a pensive President, Lelouch did not return to the Academy.
)()()()()()()()(
There was a little reckoning when Lelouch returned the next day.
For example, the nurses of the infirmary were the first to get to him, snatching him before he could reach the building entrance.
And when he'd finally been able to bow himself out of their presences, he was confronted right on that instant by the President wearing a crooked smile, and was summarily dragged again to her grandfather's office.
It was finally on the afternoon that a mentally and physically exhausted Lelouch Lamperouge headed out to the grounds in front of Ashford to cool off with a can of tea.
And he was immediately mobbed by the members of his fanclub.
From the direction of the building, the student council members emerged to come to the rescue, the ever-smiling Ashford striding confidently in the lead.
"Alright you guys, it's time to stop~" she clapped, causing the crowd to disperse in some manner. "That guy's still hurting from his injuries. You wouldn't want to keep on giving 'Prince' Lelouch a hard time, riiiight?"
"Sorry! Excuse us for our rudeness, Prince Lelouch!" "We earnestly hope for your recovery!"
"Wow, I sure am glad I don't have a fanclub, huh Lelouch?" said Rivalz, coming up to give his friend what he hoped was a friendly jab in the chest after the girls dispersed. It made Lelouch flinch in pain, and blood trickled from his lips. "Oh, sorry dude!"
"You've got to be more careful Rivalz!" Shirley admonished the boy as she rushed to Lelouch's side, and began chanting a recovery ars. Rivalz stood back, the hairs on his neck suddenly standing on end after feeling a multitude of cold gazes from the grounds around him.
"I'm sorry, Milly..." were Lelouch's first words after the streams of water rushed through his body, bringing a solemn warmth to it. "...about yesterday, I really had to know if Nunnally was alright." Milly tilted her head thoughtfully, as if she did not believe that excuse, but shook her head and relented, raising her head magnanimously.
"Fear not, my dear Vice-Prez! Rest easy in the fact that grandpa and Baldhead's nurses got to you first, or there'd have been a stern preaching from myself too!"
"I sure am lucky huh?" Lelouch commented, his voice still weak. He caught Kallen's eye, and immediately continued, "Kouzuki! How are you by the way? Are you sure you've no injuries?"
The redhead started upon realizing all attention was focused on her for the moment, and her mind fought to drive itself into overdrive to think up an answer. Thankfully, a noise from the direction of the gates drew the group's attention away.
"It's Prince Suzaku!" "Mr. Son of Thunder!" "Sir Knight!"
"Oh, nice timing!" Rivalz exclaimed, the first to turn back to get a look. "Now the council's complete."
"Suzaku..." Lelouch murmured his name contemplatively. "Is it true then?" He asked the others. "Is he Area Eleven's newest Guardian?"
Nina opened her mouth to answer but was preempted by Shirley who didn't see her, "Yup! But they didn't allow the media to show it, so we never got to see the how. The news just mentioned a while back that he'd been inducted, just like that!"
"It's all been hush-hush with the Order nowadays, what with Zero and all..." Milly commented airily, staring into the distance where a crowd was steadily building up. Lelouch cleared his throat, chancing a glance at Kallen, who seemed to have lost interest in the spectacle of the fanclub and was examining a poster on the opposite wall.
Lelouch chuckled. "The way it's going, he's going to become Lord-Commander next year." That remark caused a faint wave of knowing smiles on the rest of the council's faces.
"Well, I guess it's time to go greet the new- uh-oh, the Poster Boy wants to challenge me." With that, Lelouch dashed out from the group, seithr pooling around him like a bubble as the air dropped in temperature.
"Boys," Shirley sighed, as Kallen put a tired hand on her brow. Milly turned to the remaining council. "Well, at least everything seems normal now."
In front of many eyes, right in plain view of the main entrance to Ashford Academy, seithr was pulled, and ice met lightning in a brief dance of flashes and waves. After the spellwork faded, two boys stood in the middle, fine ice cascading around them like powdered snow.
"It's been a while, Suzaku," Lelouch said between gasps, his hand clutched painfully to his chest. His friend shot a concerned look at the area before nodding with a grin. "Knight huh? The world seems to have been impatient to get a hero."
"I'm not the only hero here, Lelouch," replied Suzaku. Abruptly, his face broke down, eyes watering as the other youth gaped. "But I'm glad..."
"Huh...?"
"...That you're alright!" In that moment, the combined number of the two biggest fanclub on campus were treated to a rare sight of the two Princes locked in a heartfelt embrace. Behind, Milly made an appreciative whistle as Shirley and Rivalz looked on in unabashed horror.
"Right, right," Lelouch said drily, his face struggling to hide the constant pain the hug was giving his sore side. "I'm glad to see you're alright too." And he reluctantly patted his friend's back, returning the embrace.
)()()()()()()()(
It shouldn't have been like this.
True, he was secretly jumpy, giddy and excited beyond belief, the emotions breaking through even the stoic mask he'd painstakingly thrown on as soon as he'd gone into the Office. It had gone to the point that Brother Ryoga had commented on it with amusement.
There lay before him, after all, like a glorious relic the armor and uniform the Order had given him. It was ornate white and blue, with the sigils of Area Eleven arrayed around the neck, the emblem of the Unbroken shield featured prominently on the belt, gauntlets and shoulder-clasp which held the flowing, pure-white cloak with blue highlights. It was the armor of the lowest, humble Initiate, but Suzaku felt as if he'd been given a present from the gods.
From now on, the armor would be his. It would be his responsibility to take care of it, for it would be his until either he or it would die. And even in death it would be accorded a revered position, having served the Order's sacred vow. With the armor he would fight, if he were not needed on the Lancelot, and with the uniform he was identified as knight of justice. It was a lucid dream; no, it was a dream that had come true.
But it shouldn't have been like this.
He should have entered the Order properly, using the official methods and undergoing the tests as was required of all Knights. This shouldn't have been gifted to him so quickly and early. The Knighthood shouldn't have been foisted on him like this.
It was not fair.
But no, he thought, clenching his fist as he reached out to wear the armor. Justice would endure time, but the world would not. And with time came new threats, new injustices.
There had to be those willing to take up the mantle of justice.
He gazed long and hard at the golden carved image of the Unbroken shield before affixing it to his shoulder, where it sat proud and prominent. Uniform complete, he gave the mirror not a single glance as he swept from the room. The armor felt so right and fit on him, even if that was rightly attributed to the skill of the artificers who took his every measurement.
"Brother Kururugi," Ryoga saluted. Giving him a quick once over, the older Knight nodded and gestured for him to follow. "Come. Lord Brother Tohdoh wishes to speak to you at once."
"Sensei is- I mean," he cleared his throat. "Very well. Please lead on, Brother."
AN: I've a bit of a distraction in the form of a new VN to read, but I hope to finish it soon so I can get back into the usual pace.
Thanks for reading!
Merlin Out.