Chapter Three

Kingsley

"So, my errant son has returned." The Emperor bellowed upon seeing his second eldest son lead the former seventeenth heir to the Imperial Throne before him. "Last I checked you had been banished to Japan with your sister."

Kneeling Schneizel took charge ahead of his younger brother. "Your majesty-"

"I will hear nothing from you, Schneizel. I will have words with you later. For now, I wish to be alone with Lelouch." The Emperor commanded. Accepting his words, the Minister of Britannia bowed before his father. Turning, Schneizel gave Lelouch a sympathetic smile before taking his leave.

Alone with his father, Lelouch hardened his resolve, stiffening his upper lip as he looked upon the Emperor with defiance in his eyes. "Your Majesty, Nunnally and I-"

"You shall not stay in Pendragon." The Emperor commanded, his words emotionless as though it were some mundane decree.

Lelouch felt his gut twist once more as he recalled the last time he had spoken with his father. Suddenly he felt himself filled with rage, all his resentment for his father coming to a violent boil. "Nunnally has lost everything! Yet you cast her aside as though she were useless!"

The Emperor groaned in annoyance as he swiftly rose from his kingly seat. "I was not speaking of your sister! It is you Lelouch that I will not have in Pendragon."

Lelouch was taken back from this sudden proclamation, and in fact served to further his anger. "You would rip from me the one person I cherish in the world! I've already lost mother!"

"I will not hear any more of this! I will spare your sister exile. You, however, yet have much to learn, my son." The Emperor uttered coldly. "I would barter with you if possible, but Schneizel has convinced me that you are yet of some use to me. Instead of banishing you, I will use you as a tool until your usefulness to me has been all but snuffed out." Lelouch gritted his teeth, his loathing for the man before him becoming greater than ever before.

"You shall be trained, not as a prince with all the comfort and exuberance your title would grant you, but as nothing more than a commoner." The Emperor decreed. "You are to serve in the Britannian army. Not as Lelouch vi Britannia, you shall bear the name Julius, Julius Kingsley."

"I am not of age!" Lelouch shouted in protest.

"Then you shall be trained until you are ready to fight. From there, your life will be in your own hands." The Emperor scoffed. "Now, leave my sight before I change my mind and cast you and Nunnally out once more."

Groaning, Lelouch opened his eyes as a beam of light streamed in from an opening of the tent he had been calling home for the past few days. Sitting up, the colonel rubbed his eyes, trying to get the sleep out. Letting out a deep breath he pushed the dream from his mind. He had it a few times a month, each time the memory seemed to dig deeper into him. It had been six long years since he had been home, since he had seen his sister, and six years since he had heard his real name uttered aloud.

Reflecting, the former Prince, Lelouch vi Britannia now Julius Kingsley, brushed his long raven bangs from his dark purple eyes that looked to the portal of this tent where he noticed his bunk mate. "Has it already been an hour?" Lelouch groaned, putting his personal sentiments aside.

"You were the one who's always staying up with those reports of yours. It's not my fault you have to take so long with them." The Sergeant chided, taking a seat in the corner of the tent. His coarse brown hair was a mess with dust that clung to his short curls. The man had glowing yellow orbs that were as unexplainable as his own purple ones, yet just as enchanting. Wood was a tall, strong, man, towering over most others, but his heart was as golden as his eyes so long as you weren't on the other side of his rifle.

"I'm the head of the team, Wood, of course, I have to be thorough. I would never forget to report to command." Lelouch said, dismissing. He pulled his uniform over his head. However, that was only half true. In actuality, Lelouch normally finished his reports for their operations well before anyone else on his team had, but his nights were mostly spent on attending to other highly classified tasks that few, himself included, were privy to. In addition to his role as commander of an Imperial Special Operations squad, he was also an advisor to his elder half-sister, Chief General of the Imperial Army. It had been a few months now since his sister had taken over command in the Middles East. In that time Julius had been contacted by the Knight of One to overlook the logistics of the war on behalf of his Majesty.

"What you're really doing, I don't want to know. Last time I got into someone's personal business found Havoc's diary. Man, does that guy have some weird thoughts." Wood snickered. "For instance, did you know that his favorite color is pink? Pink! I mean, the guy is a walking nightmare on the battlefield, no pun intended. Would have never guessed."

The colonel chuckled at his friend's ramblings. He had known the Sargent for over a year now, and in that time, they had become rather close and he was one of the few people the Lelouch trusted fully with his life, so much so that he had often thought of telling him of his true self if it had not been for fear of what the Emperor might do to Nunnally in retaliation.

Having finished tying his shoes Lelouch gave a stern nod to Wood before making for the door; however, the Latinate found himself running into a blur of yellow, staggering the former prince back into his tent. Cursing, Lelouch grabbed at his chest, which taken the brunt of the accident. Looking forward Lelouch found the culprit was none other than the young Major, Monica Krushevsk, the youngest member to ever be inducted into the Imperial Special Forces at the sharp age of sixteen.

Rubbing her head, the girl looked up at Lelouch with her bright eyes, which Lelouch often pictured as a pair of bright sapphires. "I'm so sorry Julius sir!" Monica apologized, still rubbing the top of her head, through her amber long amber hair. "I was in a rush and didn't expect for you to be leaving your quarts."

Lelouch chuckled at her apology, the young commander had often told those under his command he detested formality, often opting to avoid it at all costs. It was one of the few things he appreciated about leaving behind his former name, the fact that it allowed him to permit those around him to just refer to by name instead of "your highness", even if that name was one the Emperor had given him.

"Don't worry about it, Monica, it's nothing. And how many times do I have to tell you that unless a superior is around, you don't have to be formal with me?" Lelouch chuckled lightheartedly.

"Sorry sir, I-I mean Julius." Monica corrected herself. "I just came to inform you that Havoc has received orders for you from command."

"Where are we off to now?" Wood groaned in the corner.

"David, why do you always have to be so negative?" Monica scolded.

"Mainly because we usually get put into near dead situations every time her highness decided to invade some God-forsaken dirt hole."

"Then why did you agree to be a member of Special Forces?" Monica chided.

"Because Julius had to go and accept his promotion. Someone has to make sure he doesn't get himself killed." Wood stated as if it were obvious.

"That's enough, you two." Lelouch said, finally having had enough of the two's exchange. "Monica, you should go and ready for mobilization, I imagine we won't be here much longer. Same goes for you Wood." Lelouch commanded, turning toward his friend.

"Yes commander." Wood and Monica uttered in unison. Somewhat satisfied with their response, Lelouch left his tent, clasping Monica on the shoulder as he exited into the dry desert evening.

The former Prince had never gotten used to the environment of the desert, and imagined he never would. He hated the dry heat of the day, and the chilling cold of night. He had often complained of the wind, which seemed to carry a never-ending stream of dust that dirtied everything which had caused him to all but give up on keeping his uniforms clean while on the move, which he almost always was. But most of all, he hated the blazing sunlight that seemed to make the heat even somehow more unbearable, if such a feat were even possible. While Lelouch had most of the comforts of home in his tent, including air conditioning, he still spent most of his time exposed to the elements on many of his team's long missions.

Walking though the base camp, Lelouch passed a plethora of tents that had been erected in the mobile forward base he had called home for the past week while he and his team had been in waiting for orders. The base was not large, comprised of around only five hundred souls; troops, commanders, and various support units included. Lelouch knew none of them due to the ISF policy of secrecy, and they were to keep their orders to themselves to prevent information leaks, and to do that they were advised to speak to the lower ranks as infrequently as possible.

Arriving at one of the larger tents in the compound, Lelouch ducked inside, thankful for the cool air that kissed his skin as he walked inside. The area the large tent composed was occupied by long tables with a variety of papers and computers scattered everywhere with officers hanging overhead, reading reports, relaying information through coms and rushing about to retrieve reports from another side of the tent. It was controlled chaos.

Scanning the room, Lelouch spotted a broad-shouldered man seated at a table off in the corner of the tent, his dark skin glittering upon his shaven head, his oak brown eyes scanning across the paper before him. Crossing the room, the solider seemed to sense his presence as he glanced up and, upon seeing the colonel, the brown eyed solider stood.

"About time you go here, Julius." The solider greeted Lelouch with a smile and handed the colonel a thin black folder marked with the ISF insignia which was identical to the Britannian flag except for the code of arms which had been replaced with two broadswords.

Taking the file, Lelouch read over its contents and, the further he got, the more he felt a frown creep over his lips. "Havoc, who sent out this report? It wasn't her highness who sent this out." Lelouch had decided after reading in-between the lines.

Picking up a sealed envelope Havoc handed it off to his commander. Taking one look at the insignia Lelouch knew what it was. "It's the seal of his Majesty." Havoc explained. He sounded tense just talking about it. "Why would he be sending you orders?" Lelouch glanced up at Havoc, giving away that the colonel knew more than he was letting on, but never said as much. "Thank you, I'll handle this from here."

"Got it Julius." Havoc nodded and gave one last look at the envelope before clasping Lelouch on the shoulder as he took his leave.

Lelouch stared down at the envelope for quite some time before eventually breaking the seal and peering inside.

Authors Note:

I'm going to keep this one short on the account of the holiday season. Take this as my Christmas gift to all of you out there! Everyone have a happy holidays, and I'll get a New Years Eve gift out to you all here shortly as Chapter Four is already written and is just in the editing stage at the moment; however I will not be working over the next two days.

Special thanks to BlackFruity

for beta reading and helping edit this chapter