Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

Isaiah: Every day, I find out more. Every day, I learn to love a little deeper. The world expands before me, and every day, I am a little more the master.

- Excerpt from the play The Fall of the Golden Empire; Ellett, 1932, Backgammon House.

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

Chapter 3 – Discoveries

Incipio.


Cornelia, distracted momentarily from her murderous rampage against her younger brother, looked at C.C.

"C…C.? Are… are you all right?"

C.C. seemed to be trying to shake something off, a greater weight than could be imagined.

"I… I'm fine. Just… distracted for a moment, that was all."

A snide voice emerged from the wardrobe. "Oh, really? And what distracted you, witch? The fact that Cornelia and Euphemia's mother is Ulrike Liftrasir? Even I knew that."

C.C. replied, "I did know it, boy, I had simply forgotten it. That aside… Miss Cornelia, I believe you may have more potential than I first thought."

Cornelia smiled, roguishly. "Everyone seems to find that out about me."

C.C. quirked a smile in return. "Well, Miss Cornelia, that isn't quite what I meant… I meant that I can likely make a contract with you as well."

Cornelia jumped onto the bed, her eyes alight with determination. "Would it help in the rebellion, do you think?"

"I have no doubt it would, Miss Cornelia. Many hands (or Geasses in this case) make light work, as they-"

"Then please do so." Cornelia was determined that she and her younger brother would share these benefits and the consequences equally; she did not want Lelouch taking on more than his share of danger for this rebellion that was, after all, their shared brainchild.

"Wait, what? No! No, C.C.! I forbid you to make a contract with Cornelia! Besides, can't you only make one contract at a time?!" asked Lelouch's voice, now frantic, from the wardrobe. He was trying to open the door, but it seemed to have stuck.

"That is usually the case, boy. I very rarely do this because it places extra strain on my mind having two or more contractors as opposed to just one. Also, possible users of Geass are not nearly so common as you'd think. To find two within close proximity of each other is no doubt thanks to your shared father. As such, I think it best to make a contract with both of you; it will boost your chances of success, and I have more than one wish I want to fulfill. Also? You don't give me orders, boy."

"No, Cornelia! Stop!"

Lelouch kept yelling, no longer caring if his younger sisters could hear him. He would not drag Cornelia any deeper into this mess; he owed her.

But his exhortations came too late.

C.C. faced Cornelia, and placed a hand on her forehead.

And suddenly, Cornelia was incarnated in a place that seemed not of matter, but of memories and endless time…

A toneless voice emanating from all sides asked her, "The Power of Kings brings loneliness. Are you prepared to walk your path by yourself?"

"Yes," replied Cornelia, firmly.

"I can grant you the Power of Kings, to help you fulfill your dream. But in return, you must fulfill my dearest dream. Do you accept these terms?"

"I do," replied Cornelia.

"Then, it is done. The Power of Kings – and the path of loneliness – is yours."

A searing pain in her left eye. And then, like a seal being placed, the sigil of Geass flashed from the eye. She clutched at it, feeling as though her skull was being riven by the power. She howled with pain. Then, as it reached its climax –

She sat by C.C. again. C.C.'s golden eyes seemed to be boring into her. She felt a pull toward the green-haired girl, and knew the contract had succeeded.

C.C. asked abruptly, "Why did you scream?"

Cornelia, surprised, replied, "Because it hurt."

"It wasn't supposed to."

Cornelia's brows knit together. "Why do you suppose it did, then?"

C.C. looked recalcitrant, and would not answer.


A few minutes earlier.

Nunnally studied Euphemia's tone of voice as her sister talked on about how fun most of high school was, but how boring Cornelia's classes were.

Sister Euphie was a naturally attractive personality, and her voice did nothing to curtail it. It had a lilting quality that seemed to make her simplest words beautiful. She charmed every person who came into contact with her, if it was the man at the hot dog stand, or every single boy (and a few girls) in her class. She constantly charmed Nii-sama, though unintentionally; Nunnally could tell that he was beginning to share his sister Cornelia's instinct to protect her.

Soon we won't be able to go anywhere, because there will be so much brotherly and sisterly love and affection flowing down, they won't let us step out of doors without an armed guard.

She giggled a little at the image, and immediately felt guilty. Why was she questioning her older siblings' motives? She had nowhere near the same pressures they had to bear daily, so why should she laugh at them for being protective?

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid…

"…And then I said, 'Nee-sama, I don't know anything about military history and I don't care about the Battle of London. Why are you asking me, when you could ask Lelouch?' Both of them gave me an angry look, but most of the rest of the class laughed. I thought it was pretty funny, myself." Euphemia stopped, noticing she had lost her audience. "What's wrong, Nunnally?" she said, a little anxiously.

Don't make sister Euphemia worried! Pull yourself together, Nunnally!

"N-nothing, sister Euphie. I'm – I'm just a little tired."

Euphemia laughed at this. "You're telling me! We really shouldn't have stayed up so late last night; we need our beauty sleep! Well, maybe we can sneak in a nap now, before - "

There was a muffled but distinct yell from upstairs. More followed.

Both the girls tensed in worry.

"You – you wait here, Nunnally. I'll go see what's wrong."

Nunnally hoped nothing evil had come of the stranger she had heard earlier…


Euphemia slowly climbed the steps to Lelouch's room. She was very worried – it was not in either Nee-sama or Lelouch's natures to be screaming that loudly. What if they had gotten hurt? What if the stranger Nunnally mentioned had attacked one of them? She would never forgive herself if her negligence had resulted in injury… or even…

She couldn't finish the thought.

She crept up to the door, and put her ear on the keyhole. She needed to know what was going on, after all, before dashing in.

A soul-rending scream greeted her.

It was Nee-sama's voice.

Euphemia could not control a gasp, but it was lost in the scream. She put her hand over her mouth, and felt tears start in her eyes.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. Not Nee-sama.

Oddly, the next moment she heard Nee-sama talking as if nothing had happened. She made out "…it hurt," and then a response from the stranger, too quiet to decipher.

Euphemia knew she ought to do something, but she was paralyzed with fear and anxiety. What if Nee-sama was being tortured? What if Lelouch was dead? What if the stranger was a holdout from the Japanese military or (oh no) a Britannian assassin? She cursed herself for cowardice, and pressed her ear harder to the keyhole, felt the brass mark it.

She could hear Nee-sama speaking more clearly now: "Well, now that I have this power, what does it do?"

A response from the stranger: "I can't tell you that. Your power is a reflection of the deepest desire of your heart when you received it. Whatever you wished you could most do, you now have that ability. What did you wish?"

A hesitation from Nee-sama, and then: "I… I wished to be able to protect. To save all those who I care for."

"Then, your ability should have something to do with that. Boy, why don't you come out of that wardrobe? Your sister isn't trying to kill you anymore."

A pause. "I would… but the door's stuck…" said Lelouch, rather sheepishly.

Euphemia suppressed a giggle. The situation was apparently not as bad as she had thought. But what was all this talk of powers?

Nee-sama, snickering at Lelouch's plight, said, "Here, let your big sister help you with that, Lulu. Don't worry, it'll be okay, I'm here…"

Lelouch, sputtering with rage at his sister, stepped out of the wardrobe…

A quiet whoosh, a shift from Nee-sama, a rush of wind from inside, a sound like a broken string.

The air had gone tense.

Euphemia held her breath and kept listening…


Cornelia's left eye glowed with the Geass sigil, and her body shook with the effort of holding the knife in place. She knew that if she dropped her Geass, the knife would continue its journey, and even though she had blocked the original target, Lelouch, it would find its home in not in his chest but in hers. Lelouch quickly got out of the way, sensing that his sister was not to be bothered in this, slipped around in front of her, and closed his hand around the knife's blade.

"Okay, Cornelia. You can drop the Geass now."

Heaving with the effort, she closed her eye in relief, and dropped to her knees.

The knife tried to continue its path, but Lelouch held it firmly, and it lost its energy to his hand.

"Now." With a cold and deadly tone, Lelouch turned to C.C. "Why did you just try to kill us? Give me an answer, or I will turn you over to the Britannian authorities. I don't care if we have a contract, I will consider it voided by this act of treachery."

C.C. smirked at him. "I was being expedient, boy. This is an easy way to discover what the parameters of Cornelia's Geass are, and as hers seemed to be based around protection, I thought that attempting to hurt you would bring it out quick." She looked dispassionately at Cornelia, on her knees and still breathing hard. "I was afraid of this; I'm afraid her heritage has made her rather resistant to Geass. This is a difficulty. She will still be able to use it, of course. It's just that it will be unlikely to work on herself, and probably strenuous to perform it on other people. She will need to train in its use, or risk losing control of it at critical junctures."

"You presume to tell us what to do after you just -"

"No, Lelouch… it's… okay…" gasped Cornelia, who still felt rather short of breath.

C.C. gave her a half-lidded smile. "I knew you were more sensible than your brother. Make sure that she's in top shape for your rebellion's little battle on Tuesday."

Lelouch ground his teeth. "It is not a little battle; we have to break into Sarubami Castle, the most tightly secured prison in the area, with Carine acting as watchdog until the person we want to rescue gets executed! I'm still not sure - "

"Whatever. Just don't forget our contract." C.C.'s eyes glinted as she disappeared beneath Lelouch's covers again. "Good night, Lelouch. Good night, Cornelia. Don't let anyone else try to stab you."

"It's eight forty-three in the morning, witch! Why are you – wait a minute, it's eight forty-three! Cornelia, you were supposed to be at Ashford for the staff meeting thirteen minutes ago, and I've got to be in class with Euphemia at nine!" He shot a glare at C.C., but she just sniggered at him, and pulled the covers over her head. "Don't worry, I won't look at you while you change," she said, clearly amused.

Lelouch ran over to the door, pulled it open and –

found no one there.

"Euphie! Use the bathroom if you still need to! We have to go in less than five minutes!" He turned to Cornelia. "You'd probably better get ready first, though. You're later than we are." Cornelia, still somewhat winded, nodded, and ducked into the bathroom.

The witch did have a point… how is she going to use it effectively if she gets this tired from stopping one knife?

He suddenly remembered that he had a student council meeting that day. Groaning, he halved his planning session with Cornelia; student council sessions always overran their times.

He shouted for Euphemia again, and began to change into his school uniform.


Euphemia crouched in a corner of her room, too shell-shocked to hear Lelouch calling for her. She was trembling at what she had just heard.

My half-brother is Zero. My sister is Infinity.

Although they had not said specifically that, she had no doubt it was true.

My siblings are trying to take down Britannia!

But why?

Any number of reasons presented themselves, but none satisfied her. She knew her siblings very well, having been their constant companion for seven years, and vice versa, but she could have in no way predicted something like this.

She would just have to ask them.

But she could not – would not tell Nunnally until she knew something more. It would be unkind and unwise to dump all this on her little sister without a better knowledge of the facts.

She realized the time, winced despite her shock, and hurriedly got ready for school.


A few hours after lunch.

This is the part of the day I dread the most, thought Lelouch grumpily.

The Ashford Student Council meetings were the times when he had to place himself under Milly Ashford's sexually charged tyranny; he had to dodge her innuendoes, pointedly ignore her shipping fervor, and still try and do the work of most of the council by himself.

To put it lightly, they were rather stressful.

If I do all the work… then why is she still the president?!

The answer came, unbidden: Because her family owns the academy?

Right.

He strode into the room. Milly brightened on noticing him; he was by far her most amusing target. Shirley was too easy, Rivalz reveled in the attention, Nina just curled up until it was over, and no one could be so mean as to make fun of Nunnally and Kallen.

But Lelouch was fair game, and a sporting player.

"Hi, Lulu." said Milly, winking slyly. "You're pretty late…Too shy to face me after what you did, eh?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, President."

"You know… this and that? There ought to be a law against enjoying it as much as you did."

"Oh, you mean tennis? Well, I must admit that I do get caught up in the game - "

"Nice cover, Lulu. Well, we'll let it stay a secret for now… just between friends, hmm?"

"Right you are, madam President."

He seemed to have escaped the verbal swordfight with only minimal damage to his reputation this time, and he was congratulating himself, when Milly hit him over the head with a piece of paper, and demanded to know how he expected them to get this work done if not everybody chipped in.

Ugh.

He turned his attention to the club budgets and resigned himself to a long afternoon.


Two hours later.

The club budgets were all done, thanks to Lulu's excellent math skills and Rivalz's knack for handling money. Shirley was just about to congratulate herself on a harassment-free day, when she felt the President's Roman fingers on her chest.

"P-p-president!" she gasped indignantly. "Don't do that! It's dirty!"

"Oh, how can I help myself?" said Milly brightly. "You're just too cute!"

Lulu was trying not to laugh. Come on, Lulu. Not helping.

Rivalz looked a little excited. He's a perv. What should I expect?

Nina was hiding behind her Britannian Physics Journal. Naturally…

Nunnally was still smiling politely, although she looked a little wooden, and Kallen looked remarkably uninterested.

Grr. Nobody ever gets the president off my back… or off my chest, as it were. Why can't Lulu at least stick up for me? He gets teased at least as much as I do!

Somehow she knew this line of logic was somewhat flawed. Seeing this, she began to sink into a bad mood, and wasn't sure why.

"Any other business?"

Lulu stood up, and her heart leapt for some reason. It's not like he's going to tell the president to stop; she'd redouble her efforts to make him blush. But she couldn't help thinking it all the same.

"President Milly, I have a proposition to make. I believe we will have an open seat soon?"

"Yes, Lulu; Kallen is going to have to go on sick leave for a few months, and her seat will be filled by a temporary member. What about it? Do you have a suggestion as to who should fill it?"

"Actually, madam President, I do. I would like to recommend Euphemia Langenrosa as temporary council member."

Shirley was confused. What connection did he have to Euphie? She was certainly the nicest and prettiest girl in the school…

Maybe he's got a crush on her.

For some reason, Shirley really wanted to block this motion. She didn't say anything, though.

"She'll need a teacher's recommendation for that – and it can't be from Miss Langenrosa!" said Milly sternly.

"I have her recommendation right here, madam President. All she needs is a student council member's recommendation and she will be (heh) a member of the council."

"All right, let's take a vote. All in favor say aye!"

"Aye." said Rivalz enthusiastically. He probably thought it would improve his scoring odds with her.

"Aye." from Nina. Euphemia had been kind to her several times before.

"Aye." said Milly, interested. She was always glad to have a new target… but she looked less predatory and more pleased than Shirley would have thought.

"Aye." said Kallen. Kallen hardly ever bothered to vote nay on anything.

"Aye." said Lulu. Lulu – of course he wouldn't vote down his own nomination!

Shirley felt unreasonably betrayed anyway.

She realized everyone was looking at her, and said, rather reluctantly, "…Aye."

"Good! Then it's unanimous. Euphemia Langenrosa will sit in place of Kallen Stadtfeld while Ms. Stadtfeld is on sick leave. Meeting adjourned! Mr. Vice President, please stay back, I need a word with you."

Slowly the room emptied of everyone except Lulu and Milly. Shirley was wildly curious as to what they would talk about, but she shouldn't eavesdrop… should she?

The curiosity won. She idled near the water fountain nearby, and waited till the door was shut. As soon as it was, she quickly drew as near as she dared and tried to listen in.

"… glad that Euphie's getting more involved in school activities, Lulu."

Lulu cackled. "Oh, I'm glad, too… I just hope that she'll be glad when she finds out!"

Milly sighed. "What did you do this time, Lulu?"

"I might've been getting back at her and Cornelia for landing me in the Student Council in the first place…"

"Aw, you're still hung up about that, Lulu? That was months ago! It was a joke!"

"A joke that cut my free time to an eighth of what it was before!"

"And so you're going to get back at her by… forcing her onto the student council as well? Little hypocritical, don't ya think, Lulu?"

"She had it coming. I know she's my half-sister - " what? " – but sisters don't have to scheme so much! Well, I can scheme, too! I've already gotten back at Cornelia, but this is my revenge on Euphie!"

"Just for that, Lulu, I'm not going to tease her at all, and I'm going to double up on teasing you! Honestly, you'd think banished royalty would comport themselves better around girls – especially girls who happen to be sisters! And speaking of girls, Shirley has…"

Sister? Royalty? What's going on?!

Shirley was so amazed by what she had heard that she heard neither the last statement, nor, unfortunately, Milly and Lelouch, until they were beginning to walk out. In fact, she didn't realize they were out until they had seen her.

The pair regarded their unwelcome listener with shock.

This was definitely a bad idea…

Chapter 3 – Discoveries

Consumo.

Author's Note: And I leave you at a cliffhanger! I'm sorry, that really wasn't nice of me, but I had to cut this chapter in half.

A request: I am somewhat worried about my characterization of the Ashford Student Council. If you have some constructive criticism to offer, please PM me and I'll try and work it into their next appearance. I've got to say; they are way harder to write for than Euphemia or Lelouch. I like writing for those two the best, because I like their personalities so much. Anyway, the next chapter will have some awesome Nunnally action!