Chapter Twenty Eight: Hatred

Arc Seven: Reawakening

Opening: "I'll be back" - Da-ICE

Lelouch Lamperouge scowled as he tugged at his collar once again, his reflection in the mirror growing a filthy frown line across its forehead. Sighing, the Minister took in a deep breath, before running cupped hands filled with water through his hair, attempting to cool himself as the drops trickled down his face and fell onto his plain shirt, suit jacket long abandoned.

To say he was exasperated was an understatement.

He had been running around all day since hearing back from Jeremiah as to what had really happened at Babel Tower. While he had had no part in the initial decision to release Kallen to Britannia, and had been nominally in favour of it, he certainly was not going to pass up an opportunity to get a few answers off of her now that he could.

It had not been an easy process; Guilford, through his weaknesses in Jeremiah and Euphemia, had taken some convincing to allow Lelouch to speak to her, as well as a promise to fund his new Knightmare innovation program in the next budget readjustment, and then to go against the Homeland Intelligence forces, as well as to then detain the terrorists under RPJ jurisdiction rather than handing them over to the overarching Britannian forces. Lelouch guessed it would take a few hours for the OSI to work their way through the paperwork to request a prisoner transfer, which would be plenty of time.

Of course, these political transfers and trades were all in anticipation of the main event, and Lelouch was now beginning to feel agitated in that same anticipation. They had met twice before in knowledge of their respective identities, and they had hardly been civil affairs; Kallen had wiped his memory of the first meeting, and the second meeting had ended with his sister shooting him in the chest.

He glumly looked up at the ragged person facing him in the mirror with shaggy, wet hair and a sweaty shirt and grimly chuckled "Third time's a charm."

With that, he briefly hopped into a toilet stall to swap into his third shirt of the day before stepping out and adopting his typical hard, scornful posture, complete with the aloof frown reserved for those who most displeased him.

Outside the bathroom Jeremiah waited patiently, who nodded as he stepped back into the prison hallway, commenting "You could have waited until we returned home, the facilities here are… suboptimal."

"While your premise is correct, it couldn't have been helped. I needed a moment to freshen up."

"For a criminal?"

Jeremiah phrased it neutrally, however his furrowed eyebrows betrayed a skepticism for Lelouch's perverted interest in Zero, whom neither of them were eager to name.

"For Zero, though they are not mutually exclusive."

The former Margrave paused, before he shrugged dismissively, as Lelouch was directed to the holding cells Guilford had arranged for the unexpected guests. They were by no means a shambles, but they looked plenty uncomfortable enough for Lelouch's standards, with minimal frivolity and a concrete setting.

"Through here, Prisoner T12/78. Guilford will have a cost summary on your desk tomorrow."

"Thank you very much, I'll take it from here."

As the aide retreated, Jeremiah gave a foreboding look, a final caution against going in, however Lelouch ignored it, and stepped inside.

The room struck him immediately as what he had expected a cell to be like; dark, plain, and walled with steel bars that segregated him from his audience of one. It took him a moment to spot that redheaded audience, curled up in the corner massaging her knee.

"Have they examined your kneecap?" Lelouch pondered aloud, to which he was afforded no response. Being the first instance of their meeting where he was reasonably certain he held all the cards, he took some pleasure in chuckling "I guess not. You've no sympathy from me."

"I didn't ask for your damn sympathy…"

"Well there's a thing we can agree on. I'm so glad we can really come together and be bipartisan on this issue."

He enjoyed getting a rise out of her, especially after her literal mental manipulation and being a major source of stress for weeks at a time. He loved to see her eyes stripped of her usual masks, rending hatred. He welcomed it, as it reinforced his childish notion of victory after so long.

After staring for some time, she finally growled "What do you want?"

"Good question, you're learning. Sharp as ever."

He envisioned a knife, coolly plunged into Kallens side, pinning her, which he would twist with sick reminders of their various prior meetings, here the Sakura tree where he had made that same quip, first denounced the terrorists doctrine, and stolen Ohgi from their group. He wanted to make light of how he had risen and she had fallen in as bitter and braggadocios a fashion as he could muster, being explicit with this intent as he spoke.

"First, I'm here to be smug, and I think I'm doing an excellent job of it, and while it is fun, I do actually have a few practical concerns."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

"People should shoot you more often, it has seemed to put you in a very agreeable mood."

"You seem to have a lot of men under you who would be willing to do it for being a pacifistic coward. Besides, you getting shot hasn't seemed to make you any more likeable."

"Touchy, touchy. Still, not quite true. I'm accountable to my constituents in my capacity as a Representative, and I like to think I'm a lovely person."

"I'm sure you do, what with interrogating me from the far end of a dingy cell."

Lelouch smirked, leaning against the bars as Kallen looked aside. He enjoyed her sharp wit as much as he would love to cut her on something equally sharp. Still, that would have to wait, as he slapped his palms together as he responded "Unlike you to be so practical; usually you're all about the irrelevant frivolities. Seeing as you're so cooperative, I'm sure you'd be so gracious as to explain what the hell you did to me back at Ashford."

She turned back to him, sniffing vulnerability in his question. He turned his chin up to reject her opportunistic advance, as she replied "Has that been troubling you?"

"Somewhat. Perhaps I may even arrange for a doctor to come around if you're a little more direct than usual. You haven't much to lose beyond a few pints of blood."

Kallen made a face, before smirking. "You wouldn't believe me."

"I'm in a charitable mood."

"Aren't you ever. Nonetheless, I think even you, in all your Augustine kindliness, may struggle with this gem."

"You managed to erase my memory using your voice. Persuasive as you may be, that's a little beyond a few lessons in rhetoric. I think my standard for the suspension of disbelief has been deftly altered."

He seemed to choke over the last few words, the veins in his neck swelling as he spat out the end of the sentence, sarcasm drooling from every syllable.

Kallen meanwhile seemed unaffected, enjoying in her own way Lelouch's scorn, which he quickly withdrew as he saw her sly eyebrow rise in amusement. He wouldn't allow her to enjoy this.

"Just get on with it."

She seemed to mull it over, before coming to a realisation, and quickly hiding it. While Lelouch was certainly concerned by this display, Kallen placated him by speaking to his questions as he turned his back to her in thought.

"It's called Geass, the power of Kings manifested in the eyes."

That was the beginning of her testimony of sorts, as she explained her understandings as to the origins of Geass, how it related to C.C, and how hers manifested. Throughout, Lelouch constantly tried to trip her up over her story and catch her out, but, to his surprise, she was genuine. He could only guess at what she was getting at, but, in the interest of advancing his understanding, he asked "Does anyone else posses this ability?"

"Mao, the man who kidnapped you before who has since been dealt with, a wealth of Britannian operatives under a 'V.V', and your father."

Lelouch snapped round, his face pressing tight against the bars as he focused his gaze on the air in front of Kallen, insistently demanding she elaborate.

She seemed to smirk at his sudden aggravated display, as she went on to explain "He has the specific ability to rewrite memories. Limited, but I've no doubt he's put it to good use over his political life, covering up stories and hiding secrets."

Lelouch's mind immediately raced to his mother's murder, and the apparent wall he had run into attempting to garner information. The bastard had likely erased all witnesses, he thought, as he grew increasingly angry considering the implications of this news, to the point his renewed hatred of his father overwhelmed his dislike of Kallen.

"Dammit…" he hissed, turning briefly away. He was more aware than anyone of the faults of his father, but for them to be brought back to the forefront, and for this else itch abomination of an ability on top was untenable.

Still, Lelouch was still calm enough to compartmentalise. He could move against his father later, but for now he needed all the information and assets he could conjure. He made a mental note to get back to the whole roaring rampage of revenge malarkey at some point or another, before carrying on once he had caught his breath.

"One more question. What happened that day where you erased my memory?"

Kallen's eyes narrowed in thought, as if strategizing, before she answered, selecting her words carefully.

"Mao, having the ability to read minds, wanted to capture C.C, someone he couldn't read, and live alone with her. She was under my protection, and so he kidnapped you and proposed an exchange. Given that you were to have no idea of Geass or my real identity, which he revealed to you, I was forced to wipe your memory."

Lelouch scowled. While her logic was sound, he could only scorn the use of such an ability. It was unnatural, cheating in a sense, to use Geass in this manner, against an opponent that could never even conceive of it. Lelouch doubted he would ever consider using it if offered. He abhorred it in concept.

"I see." he growled. "Well I'm glad we've gotten this out of the way. Here's to never having to see you again."

He finally moved to depart the segregated cell, as Kallen cried "That's it?"

"Yes."

"You'll hand me back over to that bastard Emperor? The whole point of his gambit was to get C.C, and you'll hand us both over to him to do whatever mythical abominations he plans?"

Lelouch paused, frowning over the challenge presented. Who did he hate more? He could not guess; all he could really do was frown at the floor, refusing to answer the question.

Sensing an opportunity, Kallen seemed to coyly comment on his hesitation "I guess you really are his puppet. I mean, you did sign an agreement with him."

The nerve! Lelouch swore as loudly and disgustingly as his throat would allow, growing hoarse with fury as he turned around rapidly, ready in his already agitated state to unleash a wealth of vitriol on Kallen before his loose, swinging knuckles against struck the steel bars, sending him into blinding pain. He withdrew his arm to deep within his figure, and resigned himself to glaring at her.

"I told you at the Sakura tree, I am no friend of that man, and that remains true. I despise him, detest him, and any other clause you care for. We were given an opportunity, no we created an opportunity for him to offer us concessions. Would you steal an enemy's ammunition supplies if he offered them to you?"

Kallen nodded, and spoke again "And if I offered my ammunition?"

Lelouch was taken aback, standing upright in visual shock at Kallen's simple sentence. The neat phraseology that had defined her career as Zero aside, he was at once appalled and admiring of her gall. If she was lacking in many traits, audacity, the same trait he had lectured to her on, was no longer among them.

"Did you just…"

"Perhaps."

After a moment of slack jawed silence, Lelouch finally responded with "While I admire your… candidness, why in the world would I take on such a risk as you?"

He became acutely aware that his outrage at Kallen's use of Geass and his hatred of Kallen herself seemed to tumble away as his brain cooked up ideas and opportunities it could never have imagined before.

"Because you can't do it on your own. I'm not going to doubt your intent, you've demonstrated that fine enough. But if you want to go against your father for all he's done to both you and Japan, you've a funny way of going about it."

Lelouch grimaced. The other development that had occurred since his inauguration was the exposure of his personal story. Diethard Ried had already done a feature documentary 'Lelouch Of Japan', detailing his life following his exile in full detail, which certainly was less than modest. His relatively Freudian excuse, his dislike of the Royal Family, and his personal life in Ashford were all now a matter of public record, and he hated it for this reason. Kallen now had a greater understanding of his history and some of his motivations than she had any right to.

"You have been complacent, you have lost your aim. You may say you still want to get rid of him, but what are you going to do? What is your plan?"

Lelouch scowled bitterly at her for some time as he mulled over her familiar words. They weren't familiar because Kallen had said them; this sort of direct demand for specificity had usually been the other way around, however Lelouch was very used to hearing that manner of argument from Suzaku.

He paused in a moment of quiet thought. While he remained unconvinced terrorist tactics could amount to much, and he recognised the risks, the idea of someone with Kallen's talent and connections operating under his direct control was extremely tempting, particularly with her former associates running about like gangsters threatening conflict as well as the news concerning his father.

"What… capacity would you be willing to operate under?"

He heard Kallen shift, though he couldn't see for looking away, as she incredulously responded "Whatever was needed…"

Lelouch paused as he weighed his options. It was thoroughly illegal, though that didn't concern the rebel within Lelouch. What concerned him a little more was how this may undermine the values of the RPJ, including but not limited to accountability.

On the other hand, there were plenty of other threats abounding. Kallen was in a unique position to quell the rebellious element for good, and turn it into a weapon that he could use to return to where he worked best; on the offence. He would now have initiative, and would no longer be waiting in paranoia. In fact, this was the best opportunity to gain influence in the rebellious factions that threatened the stability of the nation. After all, it would be impossible for anyone to enjoy hypothetical liberties, the idealistic goals he had railed against, unless they enjoyed practical security that he now could provide.

It was for the good of the country, he determined. This minor undercut of oversight would serve the interests of protecting the Japanese people from Civil War and Geass-based subjugation.

"Before we go any further-"

"-I'll do whatever I am instructed to. You've come out on top on this one, and I owe you some help for the pain I've been. It's you or the Emperor, and we both know how the latter choice ends. You're not like Suzaku, I know you at least care about the Japanese people."

Lelouch guessed she was lathering on the praise heavily to try to win him over, but she showed no hesitation in becoming second fiddle which reassured him. While her kind words fell on deaf ears, he definitely was liking the substance of her answers. It was a risk, but as long as the leash was small, the gains could be massive. Lelouch briefly envisioned a Japan that was united under one goal, to rid itself of the despotic Emperor, with Lelouch rallying the Ameliorates and Kallen consolidating the Revanchists. It was a glorious dream.

He smiled, and turned back to face Kallen.

"And I get to track your movements? Just to be sure?"

"Aye, all fine."

"Well, you certainly took my advice on boldness to heart. I think we may be able to make this work."

He would have to betray his country to protect it. He could definitely live with that.

I think this is my favourite Chapter of the story so far. The emotions ran about as high as they ever have, with our two arguable arch rivals displaying a vast range of feelings and reactions. I may be useless at writing action or combat, but damn if I don't love some dramatic arguments.

If I could make a cursory note to direct your thought, which ideally my writing should do on its own, wonder how things may have progressed had Lelouch decided to not bother himself with Kallen. Would he have worked his way out of his bored, yet agitated state alone? Would it have been a healthier stress release than conspiracy with Zero? Food for thought.

Now the plot of R2 is underway, and will not mirror canon R2 as much as R1 did, as demonstrated by this Arc's fresh approach to the tower incident. Said Arc now draws to a close with our coalition finding its dubious roots. Following a brief flashback, the eighth Arc, Killing With Kindness, can underway with Chapter 29, Yes Minister.

Join me then. Be safe, try to compromise with those you don't like, rate, and review.

~Eth0