Yay new chapter! Sorry update took so long, graduating high school is no easy feat what with all the stress. Anyways, enough chitchat. Back to the story!
I don't own Code Geass
Enjoy~
Ch. 14
Leabella 13 December 5, 2013
"What do you think it is?" Masanori nudged Katsu, nodding his head over Leabella's sulking form. The princess was currently splayed across her favorite couch on the far end of the lounge she and her squad claimed as their own, looking over the capital through a window.
Katsu shrugged, "It might not be anything." He was only mildly concerned for the princess's mood. The majority of the time when she was upset it was caused by Marko. However, she never sulked about the President's decisions that would upset her. The second in command shrugged again, "Who knows?" and walked off to converse with Kichiro.
The soldier watched the solemn princess while the rest of the squad lazed on their day off. Masanori perked up seeing R.R. saunter over to the princess. He raised a brow as the boy sat beside the girl frowning. He watched curiously as R.R. started to pet the princess's head comfortingly. Masanori frowned at that. He didn't understand the boy.
The squad already knew he wasn't normal—they figured that out when he was shot in the battlefield. But his attitude was just bizarre. The majority of the time he acted like he didn't care at all about anything. Then, he occasionally had fits of anger and frustration and would take it out on the squad, which they didn't care if they got to see the boys change in demeanor. Then, even more rarely, were these small signs of affection—only ever directed towards Leabella.
Masanori sighed. If R.R. was going out of his way to treat Leabella like this, it wasn't something small bothering the princess.
"Happy Birthday," Richard said softly petting the princess's hair.
Leabella didn't look at him and continued to look out the window was the snow fell, "What's so happy about it? It's just another year that I couldn't find Lelouch and Nunnally."
"You have siblings?" Yuuto asked astonished.
"Well, I'm sure you have a family too," Leabella said sarcastically, "What, did it not hit you that there is something called the Royal Family?"
Yuuto groaned, "When you say siblings, normal people don't automatically think of over a thousand half-siblings."
Leabella raised an eyebrow looking at Richard, "They don't?" To that, the immortal simply shook his head. Leabella turned back to the smug soldier, "And, I don't have a thousand half-siblings."
Leabella 17
"Lord Asplund!" Lloyd turned when he heard someone call him. He raised an eyebrow seeing Princess Leabella's two top soldiers along with a downed man over their shoulders.
"Oh, what's this?" Lloyd started, "Littlebella's messengers?"
Yuuto frowned at Lloyd's nickname for his princess but otherwise ignored it and looked down at Suzaku—who was slumped between Isao and him, "He needs medical attention."
"Oh, my," Cecile hurried to get Suzaku to one of the medical trucks with Isao's help.
Yuuto stayed watching as the two subordinates walk into a large yellow truck. "Is there something else? I've been trying to get a hold on the qualified soldiers to test out the Lancelot on an actual battle field, but it seems our one possible candidate isn't complying," Lloyd said displeased.
"That's actually why we brought Suzaku to you," Yuuto said, "Leabella said that he is her personal candidate for the knightmare."
"Oh?" Lloyd, "And why not her second in command?"
Yuuto crossed his arms over his chest, "Despite the title, I'm not Leabella's first choice for everything. And, Suzaku has the highest knightmare simulator ratings out of all of us."
Lloyd raised an eyebrow but didn't question it, "Well, as soon as the boy wakes up, we'll get him suited up and ready."
"Good," Yuuto smirked, "Try not to scare him."
"What is this?!" Jeremiah Gottwald exclaimed. There, facing off his Sutherland was a green Glasgow. Behind the green knightmare were a group of Japanese civilians fleeing. "Dirty eleven," he growled, "As soon as I'm done with you, I'll go after them too!"
Leabella frowned, "Highly unlikely." Gottwald rushed at her, and she dodged. 'He's not using his gun…' Leabella noted as she shot a slash harken at him, which was dodged. Leabella growled inside the knightmare. 'He's toying with me…bastard.' In a fit Leabella caught Jeremiah's slash harken thrusting the Sutherland towards her Glasgow as she brought the other arm around to bash into the exposed part of the Sutherland's cockpit.
"B-Bastard!" Jeremiah chocked as his knightmare did an auto eject. "How can that be?" he muttered to himself, "They're just simple terrorists!"
"Lord Jeremiah!" A group of Sutherlands surrounded him as he exited his cockpit.
He pointed toward the direction he knew the green knightmare was, "Don't doddle! There's a green knightmare manned by a terrorist. Hunt it down, but don't finish the worthless trash. That'll be my job." Jeremiah seethed. He was going to take great pleasure in beating down that knightmare, dragging out its pilot, and executing him. "No one make a mockery of Jeremiah Gottwald," he growled. One of his men stayed behind with him. "You!"
"Y-yes, my lord!"
"Give me your knightmare," he snapped.
"I-I'm sorry, sir?" the knightmare jerked in surprise.
"Are you questioning orders?" he asked coldly.
"N-no, sir!"
Leabella growled maneuvering through the rubble streets of Shinjuku, "Lelouch, where are you?" The princess jumped a bit when she heard her phone ring, "Hello?" she answered attacking the phone to her ear.
'Lea,' Yuuto said on the line, 'We got Suzaku to Lloyd. As soon as he wakes up, he'll be briefed.'
"Oh, that's great," Leabella sighed relieved. "Now, I need you to do something. I saw my brother here."
'Clovis?'
"No, not Clovis," Leabella said annoyed, "I saw my brother."
'Lelouch is here?!'
"Shh!" Leabella started harshly, "Make sure no one heard you, and yes. I need you to lead the team on a search for him. The last time I saw him, he was in that subways with Suzaku, but he ran away with that woman."
'The one that's like R.R.?'
"Yes," Leabella said frowning.
'Alright, we'll do all we can do,' Yuuto said firmly.
"Great, I'm going to look all I can above ground, but I need to help Kallen if I can find her."
'Be careful, Leabella.' Yuuto hung up, and Leabella set down her phone just as someone rammed into her knightmare. She grunted out loud, looking for the attacker and coming upon a group of Sutherlands. "Ugh." She sped off as fast as she could from the group.
[AN: Sorry is this confuses anyone. The whole going from italics and turning them off got really frustrating to the point that I just blocked out using them from here on, except for Lelouch really. It's still pretty understandable. Hope you don't mind]
"You can't get away, you Eleven!" Leabella growled at the shout that came from one of the knightmares. She recognized it as Jeremiah's lanky, Kewell. The princess sped around abandoned building but couldn't lose the persistent Sutherlands. After some failed attempts of making sharp turns and ducking under bridges one of the Sutherlands shot out a slash harken catching Leabella on the foot of her knightmare. "Gotcha," Kewell said confidently.
"Dammit!" Leabella grunted processing what she should do. If she moved on, it was damage the knightmare and she wouldn't get far, but if she stayed, she'd be captured. Thankfully she didn't have to make that decision because before the other blue knightmares could advance on her, a stark red knightmare shot out from an alley way, ramming into two of the knightmares—one being the one holding Leabella down. "Thanks!" she shouted over the radio as the slammed one knightmare into a building.
"Don't mention it!" Kallen said, "Let's go!" And, the two set off. "What do you think we should do?"
"How much more time do you have on your energy filler?" Leabella asked eyeing her depleting battery.
"A little over a quarter hour," Kallen said as the two knightmares scanned the streets for any more civilians.
"We're going to have to charge up soon, lets head ba—UGH!"
"Isa!" Kallen shouted narrowly dodging the second attack from a slash harken.
"I got you now! Worthless scum!" Jeremiah shouted, triumphant from landing an attack on the green Glasgow.
"Kallen," Leabella said struggling to keep her knightmare up, "follow me!"
"Alright," Kallen said staying behind the green knightmare as the Sutherland advanced on them in a rage. "What up with this dude!?"
"I kinda pissed him off earlier," Leabella said looking at the map she had of the ghetto, "Okay we can move east from here and rendezvous with Kaname on foot till the energy fillers charge."
"Alright," Kallen said shooting up at a flight unit. She jumped when shots were fired at her.
"Don't get distracted!" Jeremiah hollered.
'First we need to lose this guy…' Leabella thought looking about for an idea to lose Gottwald.
"The west entrance," a voice spoke over the radio.
"What?!" Kallen shouted over.
"Use the tracks to move to the west entrance."
"Who is this?! How do you know this code?" Leabella shouted not recognizing the voice. 'It's not Kaname…who else would give us orders…'
"That doesn't matter. If you want to win, you're just going to have to trust me."
"To win…?" Leabella heard Kallen speak over the radio.
"What the hell?" Leabella growled seeing the rail road tracks up ahead.
"Green Glasgow go under the bridge, your knightmare is too damage to jump."
"Don't tell me what I already know," Leabella growled going under the overpass. She quickly turned around seeing Jeremiah jump on the train tracks to follow Kallen. Not a second later the last of his men came around the over pass in pursuit of her. She quickly slammed their cockpit with her slash harken sending the ejected cockpit at least a quarter mile away.
Leabella whipped around to see Jeremiah be shot down. "What?!" Leabella whipped around to find a Sutherland nestled in a gaping hole of a building nearby. 'Is that who gave us the orders? Someone in the military?' Leabella pocketed the thought for later on as she sped over beside the rail way to assist Kallen by shooting out her slash harken at the Jeremiah. The man didn't say anymore as he ejected from his knightmare and rocketed away.
"You really saved us," Kallen said through the radio to the mystery person, "but how did you get a hold on a Sutherland."
Leabella glared at the empty building the unknown person was once seen from, "They're gone." This was bad. Whoever this person was they didn't just get a Sutherland by luck. And they were skilled in strategy pretty well if they were able to come up with that ambush so quickly. She and Yuuto had a good control on the resistance group enough for them not to attack the military directly, but if this person interfered more, there was no saying as to how much damage they could inflict on Clovis's army.
"Isa, Kallen!" Leabella turned to see Kaname and the rest of the resistance on the rail ways with Kallen's Glasgow. "What the hell was that radio message earlier?"
"He gave you orders too?" Leabella ask over her intercom.
"Sure did," Kaname said, "And Yoshio's team outta be here soon."
Just after he spoke the radio he was holding cracked to life again, 'Are you in charge?' the voice asked.
"Huh?" Kaname uttered. "Uh, Yeah. Though, Isa is our strategist."
'I present to you the cargo in that train over there. They are tools for your victory. If you want to use them to win, then follow my orders.'
Kallen and others opened up the cargo carts and found fresh new Sutherlands. Leabella stayed quiet as the group opened up the rest of the carts to find more Sutherlands.
"Amazing!"
"There's more over here!"
"Maybe we should trust this guy."
Leabella narrowed her eyes. "Isa," Kaname brought her out of her brooding. He stood on the edge of the rail way eye level with her knightmare. "How do you feel about this?"
Leabella sighed looking over as the group picked out knightmares. "How do I feel about what? I'm ecstatic that we got a bunch of Sutherlands with little harm."
"No," Kaname said looking straight at her knightmares camera to look at her, "This guy said that we could win if we follow him. You and Yuuto have been in command when it came to this kind of stuff, but this is big."
"I know," Leabella said, "Beating Clovis's army is going to be cake with these Sutherlands, but the team will be unsettle if I just blow this guy off. And I'm sure by now Yuuto can't cover for me in the military. What else can I do?"
Kaname gave her a strained smile. "This isn't permanent. If we—"
"When we," Leabella interrupted him.
Kaname chuckled, "When we get out of here, we'll be happy to see you and Yuuto back."
At the moment the radio in Leabella's cockpit cracked to life, 'Woman in the green Glasgow…Isa.'
"Alright," Leabella said turning to look over the resistance group, "Listen, Hotshot. I'm letting you take command here, but by no means does this make these people your puppets. If I come back with anyone harmed, I don't care how hard it is to find you, I will have your head."
Leabella looked over at Kaname nodded with her knightmare's 'head' and rushed off in her practically broken knightmare.
'Leabella want me to pilot this…' Suzaku thought as he looked up from the Lancelot's manual. The nurse next to him was checking his vitals so he could be released to Lord Asplund. She stood keeping a stony face, "You're fine now. You outta rest, but I guess military life doesn't allow it. Try not to exert yourself too much or you'll just get worse," the nurse said before moving to the far side of the truck the fiddle with his record.
In rushed a dark figure of royal green and dark long waves, "Suzaku!"
Suzaku stood immediately and grunted as Leabella rammed into him. "P-Princess!" He stuttered looking at nurse who was pretending that a princess of the nation wasn't embracing an injured shirtless eleven soldier.
Leabella didn't seem to give a flying bear about the nurse as he notice that her hands were shaking as they wrapped around his shoulders, "Oh, I was so scared when you just laid there on the ground. You didn't even move." Suzaku smiled sadly looking down at the top of Leabella's head.
"I'm sorry for scaring you," he said softly stroking her head as one of his arms circled her shoulders. He didn't dare let his hands travel to her waist, especially when they had an unsubtle nurse as their audience. Not that he would do it if they were alone!
"My my, getting quite cozy aren't we?" Leabella sighed, releasing Suzaku and eyed Lord Asplund and Yuuto as the entrance of the truck. Suzaku rubbed the back of his neck. Lloyd smiled, "Ready then?"
"Good afternoon," Lord Asplund said enthusiastically through a video call he had to Clovis's consulate. Leabella raised an eyebrow as she heard General Bartley snap as the scientist. "I'd say it's time to deploy our special weapon."
"Mine," Leabella said low enough for her voice not to be caught by the communication line. "So, of course he doesn't want to use it." 'Let's see if this mystery person actually makes Clovis yield'
Yuuto sighed making his way into the Special Unit's transport. He had just regrouped the squad—along with informing them of Leabella's safety. Now the entire squad was again on the search for Lelouch.
"Oh, that is stupid," Leabella commented as she watched Lloyd's active map of the settlement as Clovis started breaking his formation to surround Kallen's signal.
"Why don't you go help your brother?" Suzaku asked looking concerned at the screen as he suited up in a white knightmare suit.
"Because I'm supposed to be dead," Leabella spat glaring at the screen.
"What!?" Suzaku exclaimed and Lloyd raised a curious eyebrow at the princess.
"You saw what was in that capsule, right?" Yuuto asked from where he was leaning on wall of the transport. With Suzaku's nod, Yuuto continued, "It was apparent that Prince Clovis wanted no one to know about it, especially the royal family. So, when he found out Lea knew about it, he gave his royal guard the order to hunt her down and kill her."
"An assassination?" Cecile questioned shocked.
"Yes," Leabella said, "But Clovis could have played it off by putting the blame on my guard. What more convincing story would it be. 'Untrustworthy soldiers kill innocent princess' pleh." Leabella watched as the army surrounded Kallen and she suddenly disappeared, "Lloyd get ready."
"Certainly, Princess," Lloyd said.
As if on cue, Clovis called through the line. "Lloyd!"
"Yes, Your Highness?" Lloyd replied springily. Leabella made her way to the Earl.
"Can it win? Can your toy beat them?"
"Why, Brother," Leabella said smirking when she saw the shocked face of her brother on the screen, "It's the most advanced knightmare in existence. Please be so kind as to call it Lancelot."
"Leabella," Clovis said trying to recover.
"So sorry I couldn't be here sooner to take command," Leabella said looking over at Suzaku with a nod, "but it seems I was held back. No worries, I won't say none of this little embarrassment to the family." And she cut the call. She looked over to Suzaku who was looking at her questionably. "Um…" she looked around to Yuuto, Lloyd and Cecile, "Can you give us a minute?"
Yuuto immediately made his way out. Lloyd shrugged and attempted to stay, but his assistant ushered him out.
Once the two teenagers were alone, Suzaku spoke up, "Leabella…"
"Yes?"
Suzaku looked around the transport searching for words, "This knightmare…"
"The Lancelot."
"The Lancelot…it's a really advanced…"
Leabella raised an eyebrow, "I don't believe you'll have any amount of trouble piloting it."
"But, shouldn't this go to someone else?"
"You have the highest simulator scores."
"But that's different from the real thi—"
"Suzaku," Leabella cut him off from his rambling, "You should cut to the question you want to ask."
Suzaku looked at her finally. He seemed to relax from just seeing her. Her hair was tussled but still miraculously beautiful. She wasn't smiling, but she still had a caring encouraging expression. He wanted to stay and just be in her presence—it had been quite a while since he had last had seen her in such a calming state. But, it couldn't last. Finally he asked, "Why did yo—"
"I'm so sorry to interrupt you two, but it seems the Prince is getting impatient," Lloyd called busting into the transport.
Leabella sighed, "Fine," she looked up at the Suzaku, "Go on. We'll continue this when you come back."
Leabella smiled seeing the Lancelot burst out of the gate as Lloyd laughed gleefully. Leabella rushed over to the monitor to see Suzaku's view.
Suzaku could be heard over the communication, "Cooler than the manual. With this—ugh!"
"Suzaku, be careful," Leabella chided well aware of Suzaku's injury. She was going to continue, but her voice caught. Through the monitor she saw the Lancelot take out was would be the Sutherlands the resistance group commandeered. She stayed quiet of Suzaku continued his assault silently hoping neither side got hurt.
"Oh, the energy shield is doing wonderful!" Lloyd voice brought her out of her stupor. She saw as a green tinted shield deflected the bullets from the enemy Sutherlands. She smiled slightly when she how useless the Sutherlands were against the Lancelot. In the back of her mind, Leabella thought of how hurt the group pride will be from following someone else's orders.
Clovis paced around his command room, "Damn her to hell, she like the devil."
"Your Highness?" Bartley hesitated.
"She'll ruin me!" Clovis said gripping one fist in the other hand, "Now, not only will she have the knowledge of that woman over my head, but I'll owe her this battle. Not to mention my older brother..." Clovis exhaled sharply making his way to his throne. "I will have to deal with my little sister some other time. Right now, I'll let her reap in this victory."
"His readings are even higher than we expected," Leabella turned her head towards Lloyd, Cecile and a tech who were hunched over a monitor showing the Lancelot's output.
Lloyd stood back throwing a smirk towards her, "It's because our pilot is taking his job very seriously."
Leabella frowned feeling a warmth crawl onto her cheeks. She turned her back to him giving her attention to the monitor in front of her. She watched as Suzaku used a slash harken to scale a building. The princess shot forward quickly when she saw it was seemingly the last Sutherland, nestled in the crumbled debris. 'That's who was giving us orders…'
"Are you the guy that's in command?" She heard Suzaku ask to the pilot of the Sutherland.
"Suzaku!" Leabella called, "Try to capture him."
"What?" Lloyd questioned giving her a bewildered expression. Sure, he understood the importance of arresting the leader to a group, but he wanted to get more information from the Lancelot.
"Yes, your highness." Suzaku replied. However as he set forth to capture the pilot, something confronted the Lancelot.
'Oh god no…' Leabella felt her stomach drop as she saw the bright red gleam of Kallen's Glasgow. She sighed in relief when she saw Kallen eject, and Suzaku went after the Sutherland again. Leabella took the time then to text Yuuto.
Leabella:
Call Kaname make sure everyone is okay.
Yuuto:
Got it.
When Leabella looked up from her phone, she forwarded her brows.
"Huh?" Lloyd said looking back to Cecile while he was looking over Leabella's shoulder, "He saved someone?" Leabella smiled seeing the Lancelot set down a woman carrying her baby.
"Suzaku," Leabella spoke over the call, "I'm sure you're tired. How about you return already?" Leabella looking over to a pouting Lloyd as he exited the transport, rolling her eyes.
"No," Suzaku replied, "Um, Your Highness, if you'll allow me. Would it be alright if I keep going?"
Leabella sighed at his stubbornness, "No, I don't see too much harm there. Don't exert yourself."
"Yes, my lord." Suzaku replied quickly.
"Cecile, If you may take control," Leabella said making her way out of the transport. Ourtside, she noticed all the smoke blooming in the sky, obscuring the crystal blue view. Leabella frowned walking around the transport finding a secluded area as she dialed a number.
"Hello, Isa?" Kallen picked up quickly.
"Hey, are you alright," Leabella asked concerned.
"Yeah, we're fine," Kallen said, "We're in one of the warehouses that we raided a few months back."
"That's good," Leabella said looking around, "Any clue on who that guy on the radio was?"
"Not a clue," Kallen said, "We don't even know if he's alive or captured."
"Well," Leabella said running her fingers through her hair, "he's not captured that's for one. Anyway, I'm glad you guys are okay. We still need to settle thing around here."
"Alright, call me when it's all over."
Kallen sighed just as she hung up with Isabella. Not a second later, she tensed hearing an explosion by a wall nearby.
"Attention all forces:" Leabella whipped around at the sound of her Brother's voice coming from his transport. "Cease fire at once." The princess's eyes widened. That may be her brother speaking was those weren't his words. Leabella started her way to the transport. "I, Clovis Prince of Britannia and Royal Viceroy of Area Eleven, hereby command you." Leabella used a geass focusing on the consulate. There should have been at least a handful of people in the command center along with her brother. "All forces are to cease fire at once. You will also cease destruction of any buildings or property. All casualties, weather Britannian or Eleven, shall be treated equally and without prejudges."
At that moment she only sensed two people: one being her brother; the other forcing these words into Clovis's mouth—most likely at gun point. "In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are hereby ordered: Cease fire at once. I shall allow no further fighting."
Leabella rushed to the consulate. Though a thick man aimlessly standing outside caught her attention, "Bartley!"
"Oh, Princess Leabella."
"What are you doing here," she snapped. He just looked at her dully. She scowled keeping tabs on Clovis-he was definitely feeling anxious and uneasy-as she walked through the transport. 'Damn the elevator' Leabella growled impatiently as the doors leisurely opened to reveal the elevator.
Suddenly a sharp pain shot through Leabella skull. She groaned as she stumbled into the elevator. She couldn't process what was happening clearly, but she knew something was mentally wrong with Clovis. She pounded on the side of the wall trying to keep herself up.
She gasped when the stain was released just a suddenly as it came. Clovis's mind was not being tampered with anymore, though now he was panicking.
The doors to the elevator opened.
And there was a bang heard.
The connection Leabella had to Clovis's mind was ripped harshly.
And Leabella's world went black.
Well, there you go! I hope this let you understand Lea's geass a bit more.
Feel free to post any questions or concerns.