A/N: All I can say is that I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: Eh, why bother with something like that.

Chapter 2

Meanwhile

At the Government Bureau

Cornelia Li Britannia was known as a goddess of victory. She was a woman that was not to be trifled with on any occasion. Most times, Cornelia was an emotionless warrior that took no nonsense whatsoever. She commanded her officers with ferocity and elegance as well as unfathomable power. Even in the fiercest of battles, Cornelia showed and felt no fear. Her motto was to laugh at the face of danger.

But at that very moment, at the ungodly hour of four in the morning, Cornelia's violet eyes were wide with fright. Yes, the woman who never showed fear in the face of guns being pointed at her, or mudslides raging through her forces, or even when her sister was trapped in the hotel at Lake Kawaguchi, was officially terrified at that moment.

"This just can't be," she thought to her distress as she approached the door to her little sister's room wearing a long pale blue nightgown and a white terrycloth robe. From under the door she could see that the light of a lamp was on and she could hear muffled sounds of unmistakable pleasure.

"Guilford," Cornelia whispered, reaching behind her and tugging on her knight's red flannel pajama shirt. "He's in there with Euphie! We have to do something before…"

"Princess, not to be rude," Guilford cut in, removing his glasses from his eyes so he could rub them profusely of the sand the sand man had left behind, "but don't you think you are overreacting a bit…"

"Oh! Suzaku!"

Cornelia glared at her knight. "Dang it Guilford, it's too late. He's taken advantage of my sister!"

"Keep your voice down princess," Guilford ordered, pressing his hand against her mouth. "I want to hear this…"

"Guilford!"

The sounds ceased for a moment. "Did you hear that Suzaku?"

"Nope, I didn't hear anything."

There was silence for a moment and then Cornelia heard Euphie groan again. The poor woman blushed a shade of burgundy.

"Guilford, we need to put an end to this," she whispered frantically.

Guilford's ear was pressed up against the door. "Just hang on."

"Are you disobeying me Guilford?"

"Just listen."

Cornelia pressed her ear against the door again. The first voice she heard was Suzaku's.

"Euphie, this is really fun."

"Mmmm, who would've thought we would have done something like this." She giggled. "I feel so naughty."

"Well, everyone bends the rules every once in a while."

Cornelia's face flushed to an even darker shade of burgundy. "Guilford, I can't take this anymore. I won't let him continue to corrupt my sister!"

"Princess..."

And with a great resounding cry, Cornelia pushed Guilford out of the way and kicked down the door. The two teens screamed in terror as it fell and screamed even louder when they saw Cornelia standing there. Hurriedly they tried to clean up the evidence of what they'd done.

But there was no need, for after two seconds, Cornelia started laughing hysterically at the sight before her. She couldn't believe she'd let her mind take her so far down the gutter. She really should have known better. I mean…this is Euphemia and Suzaku we're talking about.

Euphemia and Suzaku had only been laying on the floor by the fireplace in the room, sharing a massive plate of chocolate chip cookies with two glasses of milk next to them.

Guilford entered the room as Cornelia continued to laugh at herself. He looked at the two teens and sighed. "What a rip off."

Suzaku got up from the floor and bowed before the two of them. "I'm sorry. I'd just gone to the kitchen to get a snack and then Princess Euphemia showed up wanting help baking some cookies for Christmas, but after we finished making three dozen cookies we got hungry so…"

"We've eaten nearly all of them," Euphie finished, patting out the wrinkles in her violet nightgown. "I'm sorry sister."

"I'll take any punishment you dish out," Suzaku added, bowing his head in shame.

Cornelia smiled as she finally ceased laughing at herself. She took a good look at the boy, noting that he was wearing his school uniform except for the absence of his jacket. And the look on his face was entirely too innocent. For the first time, Cornelia actually thought the young lad was kind of sweet despite the fact he was a lowly number.

"Did you say any punishment Kururugi?" she asked, her tone of voice shifting to seriousness even though a devilish scheme had worked itself into her mind.

Suzaku nodded. "Yes Viceroy, any punishment."

A few hours later

In the A.S.E.E.C. HQ

It was about ten in the morning and the government bureau was bustling with activity despite that it was a holiday. Of course, the only reason why it was bustling with so much activity was because of the annual Christmas Eve party that the bureau held every year. It was a gala event, filled with all assortments of food and decorations everywhere to celebrate peace even though recent times guaranteed anything but. Of course, everyone takes a break on Christmas, even malevolent terrorists.

But back to the main plot, Suzaku was now receiving his punishment.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Suzaku wanted to cry in total embarrassment of what he was going through at that exact moment.

"Lloyd, stop that!" Cecile commanded, vainly hiding her own giggles. "It isn't nice to laugh at him like that. He's just dressed up in a Santa suit."

Lloyd only laughed harder. "Oh no, I don't think Santa could survive in the North Pole with a skirt that short."

"This is worse than when Milly made us participate in that cross dressers festival," Suzaku thought sadly as he stared down at himself in evident shame. He probably wouldn't have felt as bad had it not been for the fact that he was being forced to go to the party dressed like Santa's little 'helper'. Of course, what really made this horrible was the fact that Euphie was going to see him like this, make-up and all.

In all honesty, Suzaku thought that Princess Cornelia was crossing the line.

Black Knight HQ

Inside Communications

10:30 a.m.

"Rakshata, I thought I told you to recharge the Guren!"

Rakshata took a drag from her pipe before letting out a long sigh of sadness. "Zero, the Guren isn't going to operate for you today whether I recharge it or not, so why should I even bother?"

Lelouch's glare underneath the Zero mask was one of livid fury as he spoke. "Because," he drawled out, "I am your commanding officer and I have commanded you to recharge that Guren!"

Rakshata just rolled her eyes. "Zero, you don't have the intellect to understand how delicate my knightmare children are. If I don't get those gifts…"

"The intellect!" Zero interrupted, his arms flaying out from under his cape in a comical manner. "What gives you the audacity to question my intelligence! I am the C.E.O. of this corporation as well as the founder! I am the entrepreneur or entrepreneurs! I AM ZERO!

"That has nothing to do with my knightmare children," Rakshata pointed out, sticking her pipe back into her mouth as she sat down on the couch. "The Guren is very stubborn just as you and its pilot are stubborn. The second it doesn't get what it wants…"

"STOP PERSONIFYING MACHINES!"

Rakshata could do little more than shake her head in shame. "I'm not recharging the Guren nor am I repairing any other knightmare for you until I am allowed to go shopping for them."

Lelouch's eye twitched from underneath his mask. "Doing that will put our whole operation behind. Do you not understand the window of opportunity we have here…"

"Honestly I think all of this is a stupid plan."

Lelouch paused mid-sentence, unable to fathom how anyone in the Black Knights could blatantly question him and call him stupid all in the same sentence. He was so stunned that he left the communications office without another word and retreated back to his quarters on the other side of the base.

Or at least he would have had it not been for what happened the second he walked out of the room.

"ZERO! BUDDY!"

Lelouch stopped dead in his tracks. From behind the Zero mask, his expression soured considerably as the blabbering idiot, only known as Tamaki, ran drunkenly down the hall toward him. It was bad enough that Rakshata wouldn't work and that half of the Black Knights were complaining left and right about working on Christmas Eve, but dealing with this drunk…abomination…might just snap the already insanely tense exiled prince into a deranged state of no return.

"Hey man," Tamaki slurred, throwing his arm around Lelouch's shoulders. In his other hand he held a carton of egg nog…the kind that was obviously alcoholic since Lelouch could smell the blasted substance on Tamaki's foul breath. "Listen Zero, when am I gonna get that promotion I've been askin' about?"

"How about never," Lelouch thought, shaking Tamaki off of him. "Eventually Tamaki. Maybe once we takeover the government bureau." Lelouch laughed inwardly. "Like I'd ever be idiotic enough to do that. It'd be the equivalent of asking Euphie to kill all the Japanese when I know she couldn't hurt a pesky fly without feeling bad about it."

Um…should I tell him what happens a couple of episodes from now?

In any case, Lelouch was ready to be rid of the annoyance that was still drunkenly babbling on and on about the Black Knights, Kallen, and some nonsense about how C.C. was pregnant…

Wait…drunk idiot say what now?

"Congrats papa Zero, hahahahahaha," Tamaki bellowed before dousing the already irritated Lelouch with the remaining contents of his egg nog. The dreaded liquid slid down the Zero mask, splattered onto his elaborately decorated suit, and worst of all…the egg nog fell onto the cape.

The cape of the mighty Zero.

From behind the mask, Lelouch's eye twitched violently as Tamaki began to skip away, saying all sorts of garbage that simply wasn't true. Lelouch paid that no mind though, his fury was locked on the substance that was staining his Zero attire. It was unacceptable.

Somebody had to pay.

"Tamaki, wait a moment."

The drunk buffoon hadn't gone far. "Yeah Zero buddy?"

A malevolent smile twisted Lelouch's features from underneath the mask. "You've just been promoted."

A little later

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

Amber eyes looked away from the magazine and set themselves on the man who had been laughing evilly for the past ten minutes. Even now, the owner of those eyes still believed that the man laughing like a maniac was hung up on some type of drug.

"Crystal Meth?" C.C. wondered, setting the magazine down on the table as she stared up at Lelouch. She noted that he'd been doused in what appeared to be egg nog. C.C. then shook her head in disapproval. "So he's been drinking. Now he's a blubbering idiot like Tamaki."

Lelouch began to dance around the room, discarding his dirtied cape as he did so. He ran off to the far side of the room where the closet was and took out another one of his marvelous and dramatic capes. He laid it on the couch by C.C. before going back into the closet to find the other duplicate pieces of his elaborate costume, continually laughing as he did so.

"Lelouch, you're more irritating than usual," C.C. muttered, her eyes going back to her magazine. She was currently reading a pizza recipe. "So Tabasco sauce, huh? I should make Lelouch cook this for me after this silly plan of his fails."

"C.C., I've come up with another plan," Lelouch began, "a diabolical, horrible, awful, evil, malevolent, condescending, wicked, vindictive, and expertly crafted plan."

C.C. let out a long exasperated sigh. "Must you always say all that every time your twisted little mind comes up with a harebrained scheme?"

"In a word, yes," Lelouch replied simply. "Not doing so would bring me bad luck, and that isn't something I need right now C.C.. No, not with all these diabolical, horrible, awful, evil, malevolent…"

"Condescending, wicked, vindictive, and expertly crafted plans spinning around in your head," C.C. finished, clearly agitated. "Get on with it boy, I don't have all day."

"You're immortal and eternally young," Lelouch pointed out. "You've got all the time in the world."

C.C. heard snickering from within her mind. "He's has a valid point C.C."

"Shut up, Marianne."

"In any case," Lelouch continued, "along with 'Operation Takeover Britannia on Christmas', I have added another plan entitled 'Operation Kill Tamaki!'"

C.C. scoffed. "I told you to do that a long time ago. A buffoon like that only serves as comedic relief when there's too much drama." She turned her gaze toward the Zero mask on the table. "Why the sudden desire to kill the brat now?"

"Can you not see why?" Lelouch asked, pointing at the egg nog that was still dripping off him. "He got that nasty drink on my cape. He must die!"

"Does it really take that little to get on your bad side Lelouch?"

"In a word, yes."

C.C. shook her head again. "So what's your so called brilliant plan on that?"

"I will set Tamaki on the front lines of battle in 'Operation Takeover Britannia on Christmas'," Lelouch replied. "The man is a horrible pilot. If Suzaku is in the lead with his Lancelot, the brute will be killed in no time at all. I'll finally be rid of him. Wuhahahahaha!"

"Why not just use Geass?" C.C. asked, clearly missing the logic in Lelouch's diabolical, horrible, awful, evil, malevolent, condescending, wicked, vindictive, and expertly crafted plan.

Lelouch sighed. "Because," he drawled out, "it's a whole lot more fun to watch the idiot blow up into tiny bits and pieces. Killing him with a simple command wouldn't be satisfying at all, not only that, but I'd have the rest of the Black Knights trying to beat me up."

"I don't know," C.C. replied, "maybe they'd thank you for getting rid of the guy. I know I would. In either case, both of these plans are stupid. Don't you know that bad things happen to people who try and ruin Christmas. Lelouch, the holiday is sacred. You don't mess with a sacred and commercial holiday like that. It'll only bring disaster."

"Whatever." Lelouch gathered the clean clothes from off the couch and walked toward the bathroom. "I'm going to change and then I'm going to see what Kallen is up to. Unlike you, she'd probably love my diabolical, horrible…"

C.C. sent him a glare. "Don't you dare say it."

"Fine," Lelouch replied, disappearing behind the bathroom door with a final evil laugh. Once he was gone, C.C. finally relaxed some. The seventeen year old was really starting to wear her out.

"Admit it C.C., you have a big time crush on my son."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up Marianne?"

A/N: You know, I think I may have gotten a little bit carried away with this one, but in any case, I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter. The next one will have more humor, some action, and a little romance on the side. Thanks for reading.