Author's Note: It's now the July 7th for me as I start this. So have six days to write this. I can do that. Chapter 8 was written in about that. Of course I won't just be working on this story. So time to do it even faster. This will only be the first thing I'll put up on the 13th if things go according to plan. Willing to bet it doesn't. Just how it works. At any rate the goal will be sometime next week with at least this one being on time.
Would have started this a few days ago, but I was actually unsure how to approach this. There are still a few things that need to be handled before Narita. I do believe it is possible for me to reach it in this chapter, but I plan to leave most of it for for Stage 10. This chapter will be setting up the conditions I desire. Welcome to Narita. The first point since Lelouch and Nunnally fled where major change begin to happen. Things only diverge even more from here.
Whether these changes will be for good or ill . . . who can say. Not even I know how things will start panning out as it goes.
On a separate note this story has a new name! A Blast From the Past doesn't really fit well anymore as that was the name of it as a one-shot. Been considering this for a while now. So welcome to The Bonds of Family.
Disclaimer: If I owned Code Geass I'd reprint the DVD's so they are easier to find and not painfully expensive.
Stage 09
Moral Guidance
Lelouch scrolled through the list of applicants for the Black Knights with a cool smile. It was clear his pandering to the idea of being knights for justice had worked even better than he could have ever imagined. He would have preferred to wait on revealing his hand so soon, but the Kawaguchi incident was still turned to his advantage in the end. Following through with his message for the past month has allowed the Black Knights to expand quickly.
The support of the common people only grew stronger as they targeted corrupt bureaucrats and nobility. Deftly avoiding as many civilian casualties as possible while also going after threats closer to home. Such as drug dealers and the mob. The occupation had only added Britannian organized crime to Japan. The Yakuza hadn't even been absorbed into such groups and still existed within the ghettos.
He didn't accept everyone into the group of course. Especially since hearing of how the Yamato Alliance were destroyed. His sister, though infamous for her distaste for resorting to tricks such as spies, had used an honorary Britannian soldier to infiltrate the group. Not that it was any big loss considering the group's history. Even so it had been a shock to hear how it had occurred though he had held the name of the spy back from the others.
After looking into Warrant Officer Asada it was clear why he had been chosen. As such Lelouch didn't want any repercussions to fall on him or his family. They were doing what they could do live at least a half-decent life and he would never begrudge someone that. That same desire was part of why he became Zero after all.
He heard his door opening as the, now nearly nauseating, smell of pizza was renewed. Signalling C.C.'s return to the room, but he simply ignored her and continued scrolling through the list. An eyebrow raised as he found a Britannian in the line up of applicants. "Diethard Reid. Perhaps he's an extremist? Too confident to be a spy."
The slight creak of the bed was a telling sign of where C.C. was at the moment, "People are jumping at the chance to join the Black Knights. Isn't that wonderful?"
Lelouch glanced towards the immortal witch as she took a bite of pizza. "Of course." He chuckled knowingly, "While I bitterly hate the Britannians I can't condone terrorism. At least that is the prevailing view of most Japanese."
"So basically the Japanese support the Black Knights. More or less anyway."
He nodded in confirmation, "By gaining their support they won't report us and it is much easier to operate due to that."
"Hence the Knights for Justice spiel."
Lelouch actually liked the idea of doing these good deeds for the sake of doing them. Though he would be lying if he claimed his actions were for such benign reasons alone. "Exactly." Luckily for him, and unfortunately for his enemies, he had an excellent memory. During his time as a Lamperouge he had seen his fair share of usable ammo for the future. For Zero. It just so happens that giving these people the retribution they deserve also serves an even greater purpose.
His honesty about it made the corners of her lips turn up with an amused smile. "My, my. That doesn't sound like something a real knight would say."
"Just the truth. This way we're actually hitting two birds with one stone. Quickly getting rid of sects of corruption while gaining supporters. Even Cornelia would be hard pressed to take care of some of these issues due to the mountains of red tape that would be in her way."
"Politics have always been too messy for her tastes too," C.C. mused aloud. "She's a military woman through and through."
"Welcome back big sister." Euphemia smiled brightly as the viceroy and Guilford stepped off the private plane. Seeing Cornelia back was very much a relief. During this past month she had had little choice but to watch Zero's popularity rise. He was fixing things she and her sister should have been. She had been trying, but as sub-viceroy she only had so much power. Euphie was all too aware that the combination of her lack of experience, position, and paperwork had left her hands tied.
Not to mention how nobles and politicians alike kept slowing her investigations down. It had gotten rather frustrating to be honest. So much so that she was inclined to allow him to continue what he was doing. Especially considering that they always released damning proof of the crimes committed to the public. In a way they had formed an odd sort of partnership that didn't require communication.
Seeing her younger sister reminded Cornelia of their father's threat, but refused to let the anger show. Not here and now. She still had plenty of time and, for now, Euphemia was safe. She smiled genuinely, "I'm happy to be back." Then, after several beats, she continued. "Though you should remember to call me viceroy while we're in public."
Cornelia's lips twitched slightly in amusement at the pout on her sister's face that followed her quip. Truthfully with it only being herself, Euphie, Darlton, and Guilford here she didn't mind the lack of the title. She just enjoyed teasing her sister a little bit sometimes. Chuckling Cornelia mussed Euphie's hair, "Let's go. You can tell me what I've missed on the way back."
"Big sister!" The pinkette cried out in distress as she tried to fix her hair.
Darlton's eyes darted around them before speaking, "That should be fine viceroy. In fact I have some questions I would like to ask of you as well."
She stayed silent and simply studied her old friend. Then, seemingly having come to some decision, spoke, "Guilford. Have the driver get a separate ride back. Our route is going to be longer than it needs to be."
He nodded without hesitation, "I'll be sure to be careful while driving princess."
"I would never doubt you Gilbert," Cornelia's expression visibly softened as she spoke. With her eyes set on her knight in appreciation she didn't notice the knowing look exchanged between Euphemia and Darlton. "Do apologize to the driver for me as well."
Euphie giggled as the knight went to the armored limo not far away to do as he asked. This gained her sister's attention, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing at all Viceroy. I will just appreciate how happy he makes you."
Cornelia's eyes were wide as her cheeks darkened at the insinuation. Correct or not. She looked away and coughed into a clasped fist to mask her embarrassment. "I don't know what you're talking about." Without saying anything more she quickly walked away and slid into their ride.
"When do you think they'll finally be ready to admit it?" Darlton chuckled in wonder.
"Not as soon as I would like."
"This is incredible." Kallen breathed as she took in what Kyoto had sent them. There were more Sutherlands than she ever imagined with ammo, guns, and fuel to spare too. Ohgi and the others were just as astounded. If someone had told them six months ago that soon they would be the first members of the premier anti-Britannian group in Area 11 they would have laughed. Then probably shot said person to put the poor crazy bastard out of their misery.
Yet here they were. Lelouch even confided in her that, as far as he could tell, they had more public support than even the Japan Liberation Front. The idea that any group could surpass the JLF in support and thus more applicants sounded impossible. Though, she supposed, Lelouch had the habit of making such things not seem like such a far off dream.
Of course as impressive as all that was there something else that held Kallen's attention. The one-of-a-kind crimson beauty in front of her. She could only imagine how it would feel to pilot it. She admittedly felt jealous of Lelouch. After all he is their leader and needed the protection this machine would afford him. Nevertheless Kallen wondered if he would let her take it for a spin sometime.
"First Tamaki and Inoue. Now even the others are treating this like a party." Kallen jumped as Zero appeared from the shadows. He really shouldn't be allowed to be so quiet in those boots.
She didn't understand why he sounded like they shouldn't be. Was there something she was missing? "Of course they are. We've finally made it in. Kyoto supports us!"
Lelouch chuckled and gently shook his head, "This is just a test. We've proven ourselves to be competent, but all this? They want to know what we can do if we have more than a few meager scraps."
Kallen furrowed her eyebrows as what he was saying made sense. She couldn't really blame Kyoto for doing so, but wasn't worried. With Zero, with Lelouch, as their leader she knew they would go beyond expectations. "Here." Instinctively her hand shot up to catch the red and white object he threw at her. It looked like a feather, but was clearly the key to a knightmare.
"The Guren MKII is now yours Kallen."
Her gaze shot to the machine she had been admiring before centering back on him in shock. "W-what?! You need that protection more than me. If you were to die-!"
"I am a commander and thus I will do just fine in a Burai. You however are much more skilled than anyone else here. Myself included." He held up a hand to stop her from protesting more, "The simulators don't lie Kallen."
She flushed at the reminder of just how well she had done. Zero had averaged higher scores that most of the others, but nothing like her own. "Even so . . ."
Lelouch stepped closer and put a hand on her shoulder, "You will be able to do more with that machine than I ever could." He fell silent for a moment before speaking again, "I put my life in your hands."
Kallen was flabbergasted and felt her cheeks burn hotter than ever. "Why?" At the tilt of his head she elaborated, "Why do you put so much trust in me?" She was tense and his lack of an answer wasn't doing anything to ease that. It was only when the silence started to feel uncomfortable that he finally spoke.
"Come with me Kallen." Lelouch walked away from the main room where the majority of the other members were. She, not knowing what to say, decided to keep following him until he told her what he wanted to say. Then the prince stopped abruptly in an empty hallway.
"I put so much trust in you because I have to."
That confused her, "What do you mean?"
He turned to face her but opened the sliding mechanism in the mask. This place was still too public for him to completely remove his mask, but at least this way she could see it was Lelouch answering this question rather than her leader. "You haven't known me for all that long if you remember. Neither Zero nor Lelouch."
At her nod he continued, "Yet within a time span of a week or so you ended up learning more about the Lamperouge siblings than Rivalz, Nina, or Shirley did in over a year. You even came to the correct conclusion that I tricked you with the phone call. You confirmed that I was Zero."
Kallen winced at the mention of Shirley. Since the day of the Cat Festival party the orangette and Milly hadn't really spoken much to each other. Something mostly by the former's choice no matter how hard the president tried to talk to her. Though Kallen hadn't known what to think when Rivalz confronted Milly about her and Lelouch's shared love. Nor when she confirmed her side of that love. She didn't have the heart to tell Lelouch about the recent schism between their friends.
"I have no choice because not trusting you would mean being constantly worried that you would tell your friends who I am. People who wouldn't likely be able to accept being the subordinates of an exiled Britannian prince." He paused for a moment, "With the possible exception being Ohgi."
"Not trusting you would also require Nunnally constantly moving between our numerous safe houses to ensure her safety. Of course the simpler solution would be to make you disappear." The intensity his only visible eye and the not so hidden meaning in his words made her shudder. "I'd prefer not resorting to that however. Aside from your piloting skills being indispensable . . . Nunnally and I both have grown to consider you a friend."
Kallen was both flattered and understood where he was coming from now. "I see." She lived her life with a healthy amount of paranoia that her double life would be discovered, but Lelouch was describing something on another level entirely. She could see why he chose to trust her.
"You have also proven that I made the right choice." He fell silent and let her take that admission in.
It was actually Kallen who spoke next. "Do you remember the refrain operation last month? It was the same day we ran into each other at the park." Lelouch was willing to trust her so much yet he knew little about her own life. It was only fair she showed him the same courtesy.
"You mean when your mother called you a few minutes before the mission began?"
Kallen nodded as she thought back to that night. Her mother had sounded like she was in pain. She had had to repeatedly assure Yukiko that she did in fact love her. That all her comments and looks of disgust had been a mask to push her away. Because Kallen had thought her mother could be happier elsewhere.
It was also the same mission that she found the very same hot dog seller from earlier that day under the influence of Refrain. Proving Lelouch's hypothesis. "When I returned home I found the shattered remnants of a Refrain vial. The drug is now a stain on her wall."
His eyes widened, "Kallen-"
She clenched her fists as the anger she had felt towards herself since then reared its head. Interrupting him, "I drove my mother to use Refrain. Because she thought I despised her." Then, as it always did, her self-hate changed into feelings of sorrow.
She was trapped even as she tried to fight back against crying in front of him again. "If I had not answered her call . . ." If it hadn't been for Lelouch's suggestion Kallen was all too aware that she easily could have found her mother at that warehouse. That was a possibility that kept her up more often than not. "I was such a damned fool!"
"Kallen." Her gaze jerked towards her leaders only to almost jump as one of his hands touched her face. Before she could react he was wiping away her tears. When did she start crying? "A person can only take so much before they break."
"I won't lie and say you had nothing to do with your mother turning to Refrain, but it wasn't just you. If you let things pile up higher and higher . . ." His hand slipped back to his side and he spoke gently, "We all make mistakes. As long as you and she are alive you have the chance to make up for it."
Then, with noticeable concern in his voice, he continued, "Is she doing better now?"
Kallen swallowed hard before nodding, "The vial she shattered had been the last one she had. To get more she would have to go out and buy it. I never let her forget how much I love her to make sure that doesn't happen." She pursed her lips in consideration, "That isn't to say things are perfect. As she still has a hard time, but that is how the drug works."
"I once asked you about your reason for fighting Britannia. I think you've found your reason to fight this war and come out alive at the end. Don't you?"
That had been another question that had bothered her. Something else that drifted through her mind at night when she should have been sleeping. Kallen would admit she hadn't understood what he meant at the time, but she did now. The red head nodded, "I-I do. I'll come out alive so I can make it up to her."
"So I can get up each morning and see the smile I've robbed her of for the past several years." Kallen's reasons before were just things that would be the result of her fighting. Japan's freedom, the ability to call herself Japanese again, even being able to show her friends her culture. Those things would be the result of them succeeding. Not the reason for her fighting.
Lelouch chuckled good-naturedly, "Good." They fell into an amicable silence with a feeling of deepened trust between them.
"We should probably get back. I'm sure they are wondering where we are by now."
He nodded in agreement, but there was something he himself was still struggling with. Maybe Kallen would have an answer to his dilemma? "Before we do though . . ."
"Hmm?" She looked at him curiously, "What did you want to talk about?"
"Back on the yacht after the Kawaguchi incident Nunnally made a request. Since then I've grappled with it because I can understand her reasons, but it isn't something I can just agree with either." His eyebrows furrowed as he brought his mind to the problem at hand. He just can't easily justify bringing her into this. Good point or not.
Lelouch sighed, "She asked to join the Black Knights." Of the reactions he had thought Kallen would have her gigging was not one of them. He honestly felt sort of offended that after the heartfelt talk about her own life she would laugh at his problem. "What is so funny about this?"
She hid her mouth behind her hand to muffle her laughter while signalling for him to wait a moment. Kallen took a deep breath, "I'm sorry I laughed. It's just that you reminded me of my brother again."
"How so," his curiosity was peaked by with the comparison.
Kallen showed her bright grin, "My brother once had to deal with me begging to join him too. He refused and refused for a long time." Her memories of her brother were infused with her grief over his death, but since she got to know Lelouch it didn't hurt as much to think of Naoto. "Then even after he finally gave in he wouldn't let me move in with him out in the ghetto."
"He was the best big brother I could have asked for. Even if he was too overprotective time to time. I still suspect he only gave up because I kept sneaking out of the house to go visit him no matter what he said."
Lelouch began laughing as well, "That does sound like you." He could easily imagine Kallen doing that. Of course in the same way he could imagine his sister somehow convincing Sayoko to help her do the same. Nunnally was occasionally incredibly stubborn as proven over the past month when she mentioned her request at least once a week.
"Do you think I should let her? She recognizes she can't do much, but wants to do what she can."
"Why does she want to join? Is it just to be with you?"
"I wish it was so simple. Her request would be be easy to refuse then." Lelouch grimaced, "That is certainly apart of it, but there is more to it. She knows I'm doing all of this for her wish for a kinder and more gentler world so . . ."
Kallen nodded as she understood where he was going with that. "She believes that if you are willing to go so far for the sake of her dream then she should be as well."
He nodded, "Yes. My sister feels that she must if her dream is to mean anything. Beyond that she refuses to stay home waiting to hear an announcement that Zero had been killed."
That piece of information put a damper on Kallen's good cheer as she knew how that felt all too well. Her brother hadn't let her come with him on what became his final mission. Told her it was too dangerous and that had been the last time she had seen him. Dead or alive. She sometimes wondered if she could have saved him if she had followed him in secret.
"Let her join."
He blinked at the stark contrast between the fierceness of her stance and the fragility of her voice. "What?"
"Let Nunnally join the Black Knights. Don't make her go through hearing such a thing. Don't let her wonder if there was a way she could have saved you."
His eyes widened as he made the connection, but their conversation was interrupted, "There you are Zero!"
The piece over his eye closed as he turned to face his second-in-command, "Ohgi. You were looking for me?" What for Lelouch wasn't sure as everything should be in order. Should being the operative word.
Ohgi nodded and held the tablet in his hands out to his leader, "There is an applicant that you will want to see. Or, more accurately, what information he has sent us."
Lelouch's eyebrows raised and wondered if it could be the same Britannian as before. A man who, after some thinking on, he recognized as the camera man from his debut. He took the tablet and saw his suspicions confirmed, but Ohgi was right. Diethard Reid was telling them that Cornelia planned to take down the JLF this weekend.
His older sister may have returned just today, but it's likely she was working on these plans during her free time in the EU. Darlton was no slouch and would have been investigating where to find them all this time. Truthfully the JLF weren't as hard to find as they would like people to believe. The result of complacency and arrogance.
"So what do you think Zero?"
A dark grin settled onto his face as Lelouch already knew how to turn this to his favor. "This weekend we're going on a hike."
"It seems Zero has become a very real and viable threat in the month I've been gone then." Cornelia had given him a pass out of thanks for saving her sisters, but also partly due to necessity. Even if she hadn't left for the EU they had no leads on him. "I'm proud of you doing what you could Euphie."
The pinkette smiled appreciatively, "Thank you. I've also compiled a list of the people who have been hampering me all month. I thought you might want to see it." She didn't like people being hurt, but coincidentally several of the people doing so had been targeted by Zero. All were proven to be involved in some nasty things. So that had to mean something for the others as well.
Part of Cornelia didn't like that her sister was so willing to throw these people to the dogs, but she knew why. These people were undoubtedly either criminals themselves or had ties to criminals. Euphemia wanted to help people, but the list is of people who do the opposite. She wasn't sure if she should thank Zero for this. As it is surely the result of the shift in her view of reality he caused.
"Thank you Euphemia. I'll take a look at it later today."
Darlton took this as his opportunity to move the discussion to where he wanted. He had reported the success of the mission in Saitama to Cornelia, but knew not to bring up anything possibly delicate over the public line. "Now about my own questions."
Cornelia wondered how to start the conversation she was certain she was about to have. As she felt the car make another turn she decided it would be best to be straight forward. "I assume this is about why I didn't just demolish The Saitama Ghetto as I normally would have in such cases?"
"Yes. It isn't like you to go through the effort to insert a spy."
She nodded and shared a glance with her sister. Neither were too worried as they trusted Darlton. He would keep it a secret. "What you say is true," she admitted, "And I don't mind telling you my reason."
"However you should be aware that this is something that you cannot share with anyone. This is top secret." Cornelia stared hard at her old friend to make sure he understood she wasn't joking. Trustworthy or not it is best to ensure the other party fully understands the point being made.
The general suddenly wondered if this was actually worth knowing. A thought he immediately dismissed. "I understand viceroy. I will not breath a word of it."
She nodded tersely, "There are several places I could start at, but there is a central point where my reasons stem from. That place being Ashford Academy."
Cornelia would never admit it, but one luxury addition she always requested for her limos was a coffee maker and dispenser. Most would expect her to drink her coffee black. When, in truth, she actually prefers her coffee quite sweet, but never bothers to correct the general assumption. After all the fact that the Witch of Britannia actually likes several packets of sugar and a dose of milk in her coffee doesn't exactly fit her public image.
Fortunately everyone in the limo knew of her preference. So she allowed Darlton to wonder what she meant about Ashford as she watched her drink swirl around from her stirring it. "I'm sure you remember about two months ago I visited the school with Euphemia and Warrant Officer Kururugi. What you couldn't know is that while there we found the vi Britannia siblings."
Darlton's eyes widened in shock, but knew better than to speak just yet. "Euphie was the one who found them, but the encounter ended with them fleeing." She frowned as she thought back to the information they had learned in the aftermath of that. "We got to speak to them later, but that isn't immediately important to your question."
Cornelia took a serene drink of her coffee before growing more grim, "As it happens Kururugi grew to be a friend to Lelouch and Nunnally from their time here before the invasion. He happened to run across Lelouch during the Shinjuku incident and right next to the poison gas at that."
"You mean that-"
"No. Lelouch was there by chance." She didn't particularly want to ruin Clovis's image for Darlton, but there is no avoiding it. Even worse she planned to tell him of Lelouch's suspicions about the girl. Cornelia had only told Guilford of it as she didn't have the heart to tell Euphie.
Her stomach twisted uneasily before continuing with the summarized version of the events that had transpired. "Not long after Kururugi found our brother the capsule opened only for, rather than deadly gas, a young girl in a straitjacket to fall out." Cornelia's disgust became visible on her face and her grip on her cup tightened, "There was never any poison gas. Clovis instead ordered a massacre to ensure no one would find out about the girl."
"A girl that, at the time of his order, no one had seen yet. A girl that, even if they had, they wouldn't have connected the dots."
The color in the large man's face drained as he realized what that meant. "So all those deaths were for nothing?"
"When I talked to Lelouch I asked him about the girl. He told me they went their separate ways at the edge of the ghetto, but did tell me a theory of his."
"I was never told about this." Euphemia interrupted with her own face paler than usual. Obviously still disturbed by what her older brother had ordered before his death. "What did he tell you?"
"You will not like what I tell you Euphie. The idea horrifies me even now. Are you certain you want to know?"
Darlton was surprised when the sub-viceroy squared her shoulders and nodded. Her strength over the past month had truly astounded him. Something in her had changed since the incident at the hotel. "I recognize that Clovis wasn't the person I thought he was."
In response Cornelia sighed before draining her coffee. "He said he didn't ask her, but the circumstances led him to believe that she might have been a science project." She shuddered at the mere idea, "Lelouch believes Clovis was conducting human experimentation's and she was one of the test subjects."
She stayed firm as her sister looked like she was going to be sick. "I haven't had the time to look into that theory, but after we take care of the JLF that is my first priority. Discovering the truth behind Clovis la Britannia's activities."
"I'm home Nunnally," Lelouch called out as he closed the door. He cast a look to the set of clothes he had in his arms and hoped he wouldn't regret this.
"Sayoko and I are in here big brother."
He followed the sound of her voice into the dining room where she was folding cranes again. At this rate she might actually fold all one thousand of them. "I have something for you." Lelouch chuckled at how she seemed to sit up straighter at that and gently put the clothes onto her lap.
He noticed Sayoko's look of surprise, but simply shrugged in defeat. Nunnally's eyebrows furrowed as she identified it being a pair of pants, a shirt, and some kind of strange hat. "What is it?
"It's your uniform." The joyful smile that spread across her face once she realized what he meant helped him feel better about this. "Welcome to the Black Knight's." He blinked as her uniform tumbled to the ground and she threw herself at him.
"Thank you."
He folded his armed around her and held her close. "I hope you don't come to regret this. We can't save everyone Nunnally." Even though she herself won't be killing people an immutable fact of this rebellion is that people will die. Even civilians time to time.
"Don't worry about me Lelou." Nunnally tilted her head up and smiled, "I understand that." And she did. Her kinder and more peaceful world won't just fall down into her lap no matter how much she would prefer that.
She leaned into her brother's warmth and let it settle around her. He had finally given her the chance to help him. Now if only she could see. Maybe then she could feel less like a burden and be an even greater help. Until then Nunnally would be content to help keep him human by saving as many innocent lives as she could with interjections into his plans.
"Is there anything I can help with planning?"
She started wondering what he was thinking when he hadn't answered for what had to be a solid two minutes. However as she opened her mouth he finally spoke up. "There is actually. This weekend Cornelia will be going to the Narita mountain to go against the JLF. I think it's time that the Black Knights do something more than a raid."
C.C. stared out from the mountain side as she considered what was going to be happening soon. The boy was surprisingly not as arrogant as she had expected of him. Then again he had admitted to her that had she mentioned his attitude shortly after he killed his brother she would be on point. The passing time and his promise to Nunnally and that Milly girl has tempered that since.
He had went out of his way to look up as much as he could on Cornelia's tactics after the surprise take down of the group in Saitama. In doing so he was forced to remember that his older sister is a much different foe compared to Clovis. To beat Cornelia he realized he would need to set the battlefield up in his favor. "C.C.? What are you doing here?"
She stoically turned towards Lelouch, "We're accomplices. It's my duty to make sure you don't die."
Lelouch scoffed, "I'll be fine, but do as you wish."
"There is something that has been bothering me. Why are you Lelouch?" For a pair of siblings so against returning to Britannia they made it surprisingly easy to find them. Provided the one looking was actually trying at any rate. Or even slightly competent.
The prince gave her an odd look, "I don't have time for philosophy right now. What do you mean?"
"Why are you still Lelouch? You and your sister changed your last name, but stayed Lelouch and Nunnally. You can't let go of the past can you?" She looked up at the sky as snow began to fall.
"C.C. is the opposite is it not? That not even a human name."
Her lips lifted up in a half-smile showing her agreement. That in-human quality was the very reason for her choice. "Do you know why the snow is white?"
"Why must you always speak in riddles?"
"It's because it has forgotten what color it is." She fell silent and allowed him to try to puzzle that out briefly before taking pity on him. "Don't you think it's time you do what your sister asked of you?"
A beat of time passed before he realized what she was talking about. "Thank you for the reminder. I was about to do that when I saw you out the window." There was only one way he could even somewhat evacuate the town below. He didn't believe it would be needed, but one never knows. The Radiant Wave Surger could very well be stronger than he anticipated it to be as Nunnally pointed out.
Lelouch slipped his phone out of his pocket and went down to Cornelia's name in his contacts. Should he implore her using Nunnally's name she should cave and send a small contingent of soldiers to get as many people out as possible. Sayoko would be watching from the rooftops to help if need be as well.
Now all he had to worry about was his call making Cornelia overly paranoid.
Author's Note 2: This took longer than I expected, but it's finally done. Unfortunately there isn't anything else ready, but I'll work on that for the rest of the month. Better late than never. I suppose I should mention why I wanted to upload multiple things on the 13th. July 13th, 2016 marks the one year anniversary of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Talk Show being posted.
I'm not ready for the sequel yet so this was another of my ideas. Instead you'll be getting other things rolled out throughout July rather than just today I suppose. Oh well. It is what it is.
Also. Holy crapbaskets Batman! This story is currently at 117 reviews, 302 Favs, and 368 Follows. Mega thank you's to everyone! I absolutely can't believe how well this is doing.