"Tonight is the worst night of my life!" Lelouch whimpered. Surrounded by his most hated enemy, females who thought he was adorable, they'd now added one more to the mix- Milly Ashford, a girl just slightly older than Euphemia, who, though she was a bit more respectful to the prince than his sisters tended to be, still stuck to him like glue as soon as he'd entered the ballroom, and he was lucky that there weren't any dances for a boy and more than one girl, otherwise he'd never get a break from any of them...
"Oh... Uh... I didn't mean because of you, Nunnally." he added, glancing down at his sister who had insisted on taking him for this dance, but was now screwing up her face, her cheeks turning red and tears glistening in her eyes. "It's that Ashford girl, and now even Cornelia's friend looks like she wants to do weird things to me..."
"Nonette? But she's so cool!" Nunnally protested. "She taught me a whole lot of things today! She's really smart!"
Lelouch grimaced as he heard that, flashing back to their chess match earlier. Nonette? Smart? Just what the hell had she been teaching his sister...?
"What did she teach you, Nunnally?"
"Well, um, like, about how to get what you want, and stuff." Nunnally added, biting her lip and glancing off to the side.
"... I suppose if she is good at one thing, it's that." Lelouch added, rolling his eyes. "What do you mean, though? She didn't teach you anything weird, did she?"
"Well, like, she told me that... if you want something from a boy, you hafta act really weak and stupid and cry a lot, even if you're not sad. But once he gives you what you want it's OK to be yourself again. 'Cause boys are... 'spendable."
"Expendable, you mean? That sounds like a grownup way to think." Lelouch was starting to like this woman less and less- Nunnally was far too young to start thinking like a grownup. In fact, he couldn't imagine her ever thinking like that. He concluded that he never wanted her to.
"Yeah, but it's true, isn't it? You always do what I want when I start crying." Nunnally replied, cheerful at first, before taking on an expression of shock as she realized what she'd just seemingly admitted.
"So you mean... Nunnally, come on, you've never faked it just to get me to..." Lelouch trailed off, his mouth hanging open in shock as a blush crossed his younger sister's face.
"well, uh, maybe I have, but, y'know, it's... a girl thing, okay? I'm on my period!" Nunnally stammered.
This caused Lelouch to choke and stumble in his waltz steps. "Wh-what did... what did you say!?"
Nunnally blushed even harder and looked away. "... uh... what does that mean, Lelouch?"
"Did Nonette tell you to say that?"
"She, uh.. she said that... "that's what a girl can always say to get a boy to shut up." See? It worked!" Nunnally beamed, seeming quite proud of herself.
"Nunnally, that's... just, don't say that again, okay? I'll tell you when you're older." Lelouch glowered across the room at Nonette, who was currently laughing raucously at the bar while Cornelia sat with her friend's arm around her shoulders and seemed to be trying her best to be invisible in that sparkling green dress. As the song began to wind down, however, and Lelouch glanced back at the Ashford girl, there in a black dress covered in pink flowers, with a very predatory look in her eyes for an eleven-year-old, he would shoot Cornelia a glance that said, quite clearly, "Save me!"
"Well, uh, anyway, Lelouch, thank you for the dance!" Nunnally added, stepping back from her brother. Lelouch gave her a little bow as she curtsied.
"Uh... of course, Nunnally, now excuse me..." Lelouch stammered as he watched Milly begin to move toward him. Nunnally skipped off to join Lady Marianne chatting with Milly's parents near the balcony and tug on her mother's dress... and as Lelouch watched her, then turned away, he'd come face-to-face with Milly, who seemed to have moved almost twenty feet in far too short a time, prompting Lelouch to let out a little shout in fright.
"C'mon, Lelouch, this one's mine!" the blonde would add, before another voice would cut her off.
"Actually, Milly, would it be OK if I had this one? I haven't danced with Lelouch all night." Cornelia dropped down a bit to glance at the girl, giving her a sweet little smile. "Please?"
"Aw... Lady Cornelia, I only get to see him at these parties, you practically live with him, it's not fairrr!" the girl would whimper, still clinging possessively to Lelouch's sleeve.
"Hmmm... Is that true, Lelouch? Why haven't you invited Milly over to the villa yet?" Cornelia added, giving Lelouch a little smirk.
At first, Lelouch began to protest, before seeing that look on Cornelia's face. The same mild amusement she wore during their chess matches. Confidence. She had a plan...
"Uh... Milly, would you like to come over next weekend, maybe?"
"I'd love to, Lelouch! I've always wanted to see the royal gardens!"
"Oh, well, uh... then sure, I'll take you." Lelouch gulped. Putting off torment now in exchange for torment later. Perhaps it wasn't the wisest decision to make, but he would much rather dance with Cornelia at the moment and maybe see if he could weasel out of this trap tomorrow...
"I suppose it's a date, then, isn't it?" Cornelia chuckled sweetly before standing again.
"Heh! Sure is! Thank you, Lady Cornelia. He's all yours!" Milly smiled and strolled off to look for Euphemia, who was currently sitting in 'instruction' with Nonette and a group of Milly's friends, including Euphemia, all about her age at the kids' table...
"You really shouldn't leave her alone with those girls, Cornelia..." Lelouch began as he took one of his sister's hands in his and nervously rested the other on her hip. His face exactly level with her bosom, his eyes glancing up into hers.
"So you'd rather I'd ignored you, then?" Cornelia replied, sighing and beginning to coax him into making a few side-to-side motions. "I can't keep her under control and save you from those girls' clutches at the same time..."
"... No... Uh, thank you, Cornelia." Lelouch and Cornelia continued to move for a while, before he eventually added, "... I hate girls."
Cornelia peaked an eyebrow. "Even Nunnally?"
"Of course not Nunnally, don't be stupid." Lelouch growled. "She's not a girl, she's my sister."
"Well, she and Euphie are the ones giving you most of your trouble, aren't they?"
"Okay, well, then, fine, that's not what I meant... I don't hate girls. I hate the way they are. They're so weird! And they want me to be like them and they get mad at me when I didn't even do anything! And then they get even madder at me for not understanding why they're mad at me!"
"Tell you a secret, Lelouch?" Cornelia added, leaning down to press her cheek against the top of his head. "It gets worse when they get older."
"... No way, that's got to be a lie. That can't be true! Why would ANYONE ever get married if that was the case?" Lelouch protested, staring up at Cornelia with wide eyes.
"Well, they also get better at being sneaky about it. And at making men interested in them enough to put up with it."
"Interested...? I can't ever imagine being interested in that." Lelouch grumbled. "But you're not like that, Cornelia, and you're older...! And Mother's not like that either!"
"Oh, believe me, Lelouch, I'm like that sometimes. I'm just really, really good at hiding it. And you know another secret?" she added, leaning down once again. "Your mother's so good at hiding it that even I've never seen it."
"Maybe she's special. Maybe she's not like other girls."
"Oh, your mother's special, all right, Lelouch. She's the most special woman I've ever met." Cornelia added, glancing up at the chandelier. "The normal rules of the world don't seem to apply to her..."
"She said something like that to me, once..." Lelouch recalled, thinking back.
...
"You're right, Lelouch, the world is not fair." Marianne would coo, ruffling her son's hair as he sat in her lap, bawling his eyes out. His and Nunnally's favorite maid, Nancy, had just quit her job and moved away after marrying a businessman in Atlanta.
"It ought to be!" Lelouch whimpered, nuzzling into his mother's hand.
"Of course it ought to be. But it's not." Marianne frowned, before taking on a little hint of a smile and tilting her son's chin up to look in her direction.
"Why don't you change it when you grow up?"
"... how can I do that?" Lelouch looked confused. Such an idea was utterly foreign to him.
"I don't rightly know, Lelouch, but I hope to find out. It's not hard to change the rules if you just have the right attitude. When I was your age no one expected me to amount to anything more than a maid like Nancy... Now Nancy's gone and made her life better. Just like I did. You can't blame her for wanting a better life, Lelouch, everyone does." Marianne leaned down to kiss the top of his head, and as she leaned up, Lelouch would still maintain that twisted, deep-in-thought expression on his face.
"So you changed the rules...?"
"I changed them for me, yes. And now I hold the ear of the most powerful man in the world. He may not always like my ideas, but he always listens to them. Sometimes I change his mind, sometimes I don't. Mostly I don't. But it would never have happened if I had done what everyone else said, obeyed the rules and accepted my station in life. I chose to do something different. I chose to be noticed. I chose to be who I really am. And you can, too. And someday you can change the world. Make it better. For you, and for the people you love."
...
"She's a very wise woman, Lelouch. I honestly don't think there's an aspect of her I can't praise. I'm truly honored to know her." Cornelia sighed and gripped Lelouch's hand a little tighter, only to catch a figure approaching them out of the corner of her eye, her breath halting in her chest.
"Oh, come now, Cornelia, you'll make me blush." Marianne chuckled, before glancing between the two. "May I cut in?"
Lelouch glowered and his face turned beet red, and he kicked the marble floor of the ballroom. "Aw, mooooommmmm... C'mon, it's embarrassing, boys shouldn't dance with their mothers..."
"Oh, quit complaining, Lelouch, I didn't mean you." Marianne chuckled, offering a hand to Cornelia instead, whose blush quickly grew to rival Lelouch's as her breath returned, and quickened.
"Uh... Uhm... I... Your... Your Majesty, I'd... I'd be..."
"Hmmmm?" Marianne tilted her head. "Lelouch, go look after Nunnally for a little bit, would you?"
"Uh... Mom, I-" Lelouch started, but was quickly silenced by a visible bristling on the back of Cornelia's neck, her gaze still fixated on Marianne as pain shot through his knuckles and palms. "ah, okay..." he grunted, slipping away from Cornelia and standing on tiptoes to locate his sister by the children's table again...
"You'd be what, dear?" Marianne added, still keeping her hand extended and lightly wiggling her fingers.
Cornelia clasped onto that hand with both of hers, and let out a breathy, "honored." Eventually adding, "... my lady."
"Well, then, you'd better keep up, because the waltzes are done with for tonight. Time for a tango!" And without further ado, and much to her dizzying delight, Cornelia quickly found her body and cheek pressed tightly to Marianne's. After a few seconds, Cornelia managed to regain her senses enough to keep up with the Empress's movements and try not to be a drag on the dance. It all went in a blur, and she had no idea how well or poorly she'd done by the end of it- all she could remember were a few moments.
-
The Empress whispering, "you ready? dip me." into Cornelia's ear, and Cornelia being flooded with feelings that were strange and terrifying, and the even greater terror that she might drop her... Cradling Marianne like a precious jewel as she swept the Empress off her feet, Marianne would cluck her tongue into Cornelia's ear when it was over, "deeper next time, I barely moved..."
-
A misstep that sent Marianne's foot firmly behind hers, and for that one glorious moment their thighs met.
-
Pain as she misstepped again and Marianne's heel came down on her toes, and in pain Cornelia had flinched and their heads briefly bumped together, but they both held each other close for a short moment before continuing... Marianne acting like nothing had happened, and laughing at Cornelia's inquiry as to whether she was all right.
-
Toward the end of the dance, a bead of sweat that had trailed down Marianne's cheek and stuck to her own... one that, when they turned and pressed the opposite cheeks together, Cornelia stealthily tasted.
-
The last dip of the dance, and it had been Marianne leading, and for that moment that seemed like an age, Cornelia was weightless, supported entirely by her beloved lady Marianne, who gazed down at her and in the light of the chandelier the Empress truly looked like an angel, and she was, after all, the closest anyone would ever come to it on this world anyway, and it was more than good enough for Cornelia, she could stay like this forever, except that she was already coming up again and pressing her face and body to Marianne's was even better, she remembered now...
-
The both of them were flushed and sweating by the end of it, and had drawn vigorous applause from the small crowd around them. Nonette was at the forefront of it, putting her fingers together in her mouth and giving the women a piercing whistle.
"My god, Lady Marianne, but you can dance...!" Horace Ashford, Milly's father, a striking middle-aged man with a bristly moustache, would state admiringly.
"Ah, don't give me all the credit, Horace. Cornelia is a brilliant partner." Marianne tugged the blushing princess closer, before stroking Cornelia's hip, and the princess thought that she would die happy at that moment, that was, until Marianne asked, "but I believe it's getting a bit stuffy in here, so we'll go for some fresh air on the balcony if you all don't mind..."
"Your Majesty...?" Cornelia inquired, looking up at her before Marianne would give her one of her famous smiles with her eyes nearly shut, an utterly irresistible expression on her face.
"Shall we, Cornelia?"
"uhm... Yes... please." she stammered.
...
"Don't worry about it, Cornelia, it barely even hurt." Marianne would assure the girl after Cornelia had spent nearly the entire last two minutes apologizing for her missteps and for that moment where they'd knocked heads, while Marianne continued to reassure her. "I hardly noticed. You and I both know I've had far worse.
"But that still...!"
"I was the one who asked you to dance, Cornelia. And I enjoyed it. Very much. Thank you."
This silenced Cornelia, and she bit her lip and blushed profusely. "Uh... thank you as well, Lady Marianne, I... I don't think I've ever had quite so much fun in my life."
"Well, then, we'll have to practice it more, don't you think? Next year our tango will be perfect." Marianne smiled and reached over to toy with the pearl necklace dangling at Cornelia's throat.
Cornelia didn't utter a word of protest. She would have closed her eyes in enjoyment, but that would have denied her the sight of Marianne's smiling face...
"I... would enjoy that." Cornelia eventually replied.
"So are you still jealous of Nonette?" Marianne finally inquired, and Cornelia's heart plummeted. The game was up. She was exposed. Marianne knew exactly how she felt about... oh, of course she did, how could Cornelia have thought her so blind...! If only she'd been more subtle... No doubt the dance was just Marianne's way of testing her, to see if that was the way she felt, and now that she knew she'd no doubt never want to be alone with her again, it was so wrong, why did Cornelia even feel this way...
"y... yes." Cornelia couldn't lie now. Not to her. Never to her.
"Well, don't be. She's not my type." Marianne laughed heartily, and stroked Cornelia's shoulder. "Too much like myself, I suppose. Someone like that, it's no fun to be with. Someone who wears everything on their sleeve and has no mystery about them. I much prefer those who hide inside a shell, a carefully-constructed fortress. A challenge. Or at least, someone who isn't everything they seem... at first glance." Marianne's eyes swiveled to meet Cornelia's. "Not now, Cornelia, you're still a bit... on the unripe side... but someday... Someday I think you will definitely be my kind of woman."
someday... That promise of hope flooded Cornelia's heart with joy. She closed her eyes and nearly swooned.
"For now, though... Why don't I leave you with something to remember me by...? Something that will help ease your jealousy." And it was then that Cornelia felt Marianne's voice growing louder, and her breaths hot upon Cornelia's face, and as she opened her eyes she found each of hers staring directly into each of the Empress's.
And then... Marianne leaned in.
And then Cornelia's body was on fire as Marianne's lips met hers.
And the last thing she saw before she fainted was a palm pressed white against the glass of the door to the balcony, and a burning violet eye.
And the last thought that crossed her mind as darkness overcame her was this.
Tonight was the best night of my life.
...
Cornelia would wake much later in her bed at Aries villa, having slept through feverish and extremely confusing dreams of Knightmares and black hair and beauty and tantalizing torment... As she opened her eyes and saw the familiar surroundings of home, she wondered if indeed it had all been a dream... She flicked her eyes to glance at the rest of the room...
At her bedside, with Euphemia snoring and sprawled out on the floor, a puddle of drool soaking into the carpet by her cheek, was Lelouch sitting on a stool, his head repeatedly nodding as the boy fought sleep, himself.
"...nnh..." Cornelia grunted, shifting under the covers and finally turning to loll her head in Lelouch's direction.
"Lelouch... oh... hello... did I..."
The boy's eyes snapped open and he quickly dropped off the stool and got to his feet, striding purposefully to Cornelia's bedside and bending over her, looking her in the eyes.
"Cornelia..."
"... yes, Lelouch...?"
"You stay away from my mom."
And before Cornelia could react, the bedroom door had already slammed shut.