Faze V: Interludes and preparations
(Lelouch's apartment, Ashford Academy)
"The answer is no, if it is a Faustian deal you are offering I refuse, but if you are offering an alliance, the answer is yes" Lelouch said, while he turned around and looked out the window.
And at his response C.C felt something inside her, something of which she after centuries of life, and with an encyclopedia of knowledge of almost every secret of the world and of human nature felt something which she almost forgot possible, it was confusion.
"What do you mean, that does not make any sense" she retorted.
"From what you've told me your offer is for me to become a demon, one that would have the power to change the world" He said with his back-side turned to her.
C.C gave a nod of the head which meant yes.
"But I ask you this,(He said with a thundering voice, while he turned towards C.C) does a demon have the right to decide humanity's faith?" Lelouch said, at which C.C was unmoved
"I ask of you, who would succeed you using witchcraft instead of one's own skill" he said.
"Napoleon, Stalin, Alexander the Great, Genghis Han, Oda Nobunaga, these are all men who had the power of Geass" C.C retorted.
"And all of them failed" Lelouch responded, and this statement made C.C change her expression from poker face indifference too the one of a person who was starting to receive the answers to the questions which had tormented her all her life.
Lelouch seeing her change in facial expression, smiled his most devilish and satisfied smile of all to her and said.
"I am guessing from what you just told me that you're much older than you look, centuries, maybe millennium's ( C.C nodded her head in response), and you also gave this power to men who were charismatic, and talented who where leader's amongst men, (C.C gave another node), and all these "warlock's" so to speak they all failed, do you know why?" he asked her.
C.C by now was even more confused, for this boy seemingly, was very much a man and had here intrigued "No why did they failed" she asked now curious.
"They failed because from the moment they accepted the power, they were no longer human, they were demon's and God, fate or whatever force that governs this world has a way of evening the odds, for only a human can judge and decide the fate of humanity, You (he said while pointing a finger at her) you have always done the same thing over and over the centuries, and over and over again it ended in failure, yet you never considered changing your methods of operation, so I will point out to you a different way of earning your goal " he said towards her.
At this C.C was shocked and also insulted but enlightened at the same time, she never considered her method to be wrong, but at the same time insulted that this 17 year old boy thought he knew more that she did, but before she could respond Lelouch continued.
"Instead of turning one who has ability into a demon and becoming his ally, become his ally without making him a demon, for a demon does not have the right to decide humanity's fate , but I don't recall anyone's saying a human who has a demon as an ally doesn't" he said and thus took a few steps towards her and his hand which was pointing at her turned into a hand of one prepared to take her hand into a shake.
" Once again I accept your offer of alliance but I reject your offer of power, for in my opinion, that power would mean cutting corners and nothing worthwhile is done by cutting corners, and that is the reason, the one who could change the world without cutting corner's simply had not been born yet" he said and waited for her response.
C.C was now speechless,(Could it really be that simple, could that really be the answer of why all those geass user's failed, that all those countries and empire's failed ,because the method used to create them was wrong, that the one man who would bring forth the age of peace had simply not have been born yet?) she thought to herself, as much as her mind told her from wisdom brought about from centuries of life, something which she thought extinct for centuries told her to believe him.
It was her heart, also she thought to herself that (I tried the same thing for centuries, suppose I could try something different,").
"Are you saying that you are that person?" she said her usual devilish smile curious about his response.
Lelouch, grinned for her answer showed that she was no fool, and then gave her the following answer:
"The only way you are going to discover the answer to that question is for you to join me, and accept my contract, you give me your allegiance and I will try to accomplish your wish, whatever it is" he said.
C.C was shocked, because for the first time in history someone was offering her a contract!, not the other way around.
"Alright I accept you're contract boy" she said and shook his hand, and when doing that it felt like some supernatural force had just filled her body and soul.
"Welcome aboard miss?"
"You may call me C.C " she said.
"C.C then" he said, just then his cell phone rang and he broke the hand shake and answered it.
"Yes, thank you brother for giving me a head's up" Lelouch said and hung up the phone."Please excuse me, I just remembered I have somewhere to go, remain in this room" he said and then exited the room.
"Hah, he really is yours and Charles's son Marianne, and I am rather glad that I did not give him geass, I have a feeling that it would get in his way more than help him" she said
(Six houses of Kyoto secret meeting room)
"What do you all make of him, this Zero?" one member of the six houses asked.
"The Iron Prince seems like the one good apple in a barrel full of rotten ones, the reforms he made did allow many of our people to regain they re livelihood, and even as we speak the country is being rebuilt" the second member said.
"We should not be so easily fooled by his apparent generosity" Taizo Kirihara said.
"What do you mean Kirihara-dono" the fourth member asked.
"Have we lived so long, that we have become senile and forgotten the oldest trick in the world, to make us look at his left hand while he attacks with his right" Taizo answered.
"The reforms he has carried out are building support for him, for his action's both with he carried out in Shinjuku and his reform's he is looked upon by the brittannian commoner's as a hero, a benevolent prince, the military give's him tey're support because of his exploits in Siberia ,he is even lookwed upon with well eyes amongst our own people,there is even a small minority who consider him a saviour and I fear his popularity is growing everyday, we even have reports that whole terrorist cell's have disbanded and gone to seek employment now that they can get a decent paycheck." Kirihara said.
"That is preposterous, are you actually suggesting that the Japanese might actually accept him as the country's leader" the second member said.
"The love of the people is fickle, they love those who ensure their lives are peaceful and prosperous and hate those who bring war, famine and destruction to the land," the voice of Kaguya Summeragi was heard from behind a curtain.
"For decades the people have know only leaders who brought despair to the country, the people want a savior, Prince Lelouch is the first to bring them some measure of hope for tomorrow, it is only natural that they should flock to such a person" Kaguya finished.
Kirihara looked at her and knew that despite her age and gender her words contained great wisdom.
"And what do you suggest we do Kaguya-dono" Kirihara asked.
"From his actions, it is obvious that he wants to earn the people's support, therefore is suggest we prepare our forces for war, but we must not strike the first blow because I believe that is what Lelouch wants us to do in order to brand the resistance as murderer's and terrorists instead of freedom fighters.
"We must wait for him to do so, also I suggest we tell the resistance to stop anti-government activities ,that way Lelouch might be caught off guard" she said and paused to let this information sink in .
"That is a good plan, Kaguya –dono and it will be considered , but for now I suggest we wait, who knows Lelouch might actually be doing this out of compassion and not for political gain" Kirihara said, he knew that what he said was a lie, and that Kaguyas plan was the best course of action, but a leader must not say yes to any suggestion one off lower rank says on the spot even if it is the best decision to make for, if he does he cannot call himself a leader at all.
(Narita mountain range, JLF secret base, main garage)
"Attention!" the voice of Senba Ryoga was heard and all those present snapped to it.
"At ease "he said and Col Todoh started to inspect the lineup of hundred's off new recruits for the JLF, among them was Kallen and the rest of the members of her brothers resistance cell, Todoh had gone to Oughi's apartment to try and recruit Kallen for the JLF, for he had heard of her skills as a warrior and as he knew that a great battle would befall them soon, so he decided that they would need all the strong warriors they could get.
Kallen for the most part was startled at the way things were moving for her, one moment she was still petrified from her recent "conversation" with Duke Lelouch, the next she was being phoned by Oughi to return to the apartment as fast as she could get there.
When she heard of Col Todoh's offer to join the JLF as a knightmare pilot, but she refused unless her friends could join too, she remained unmoved on this matter despite Tamaki and Oughi telling them that she should say yes, but she stood her ground until Col Todoh accepted.
For Todoh it was not so hard to accept the rest of her comrades into the JLF, even if they weren't much in terms of being soldiers ,they were a great for morale, since officially Clovis died fighting terrorists in Shinjuku ,namely them.
So it brought a great deal of good moral to the soldiers present to have the "Slayers of Royalty" join they're ranks as they were dubbed.
"As you all know you have all been selected to join the JLF, and during the next few days you will be tested for you fighting skills and those of you who are good will receive knightmare's" Todoh said.
"Why waste our resources with training ,when we should be fighting Brittannia" the voice of Lt Col Kusakabe was heard from behind Todoh.
Kusakabe then took a few steps forward followed by his subordinates until he was face to face with Todoh and his "Four Holy Swords" and said "Why are you wasting your time with them, we should be going on the offensive" Kusakabe's soldiers then gave a collective yes response, even some of the new recruit's agreed.
"Especially now with that timid little Tin-man leading Brittannia, why that fool Zero is such a coward he doesn't even show his own face" Kusakabe said and got another collective yes response from those around him only louder and with more participant's.
"His actions show that he has not the taste for war, he is a timid little insect which we shall crush, all we have to do is ram the door, and the whole rotten building which is Brittannia will collapse on itself" Kusakabe roared and a round of applause came from his men and even some of the new recruits.
"Do not be fools" Todoh roared out silencing the whole room.
"His actions in Shinjuku only prove that mercy is amongst his quality's, and a commander who is merciful is not a weak one, also to those of you who doubt his military ability, let me remind you that only a few weeks ago the E.U also considered Zero as nothing more than an insect" he silenced himself for a moment to let the information sink in and then continued
"But he proved them wrong in Siberia, with one blow he knocked the E.U out of the war, and when the E.U heard of it, they gave him the nickname "Niddhog" which means the dragon who brings destruction" Todoh paused once more and saw that they're zeal for battle or rather for suicide had died out , he then turned to Kusakabe, walked up to the man until there was only a food distance between the're faces and said.
"We must not make the same mistakes as the E.U, we must not be reckless, if we do that, then we shall be at his mercy" he said and at this all Katase could do was walk away angrily from the whole scene.
"That will be all for today, tomorrow we start training, for now you all should go to your bunks" he finished and the crowd started to disperse.
"Kouzuki you remain, I must have a word with you " Todoh said
Kallen was about ready to go when she heard him, so she walked up to him and saluted.
"Yes sir, what is it that you wish to say sir" Kallen asked trying her best to act like a real soldier.
"Come with us" Todoh said and Kallen followed him and his four holy swords, eventually, he stopped in front of a massive canvass which was covering something tall.
Todoh pulled down the canvass only to reveal a red knightmare frame.
"Gurren Mark 2 , the first true blue Japanese manufactured knightamre frame, here is the instruction manual and the ignition key" Todoh said while he presented to her the above mentioned objects.
" Colonel, your are giving our greatest weapon to a raw recruit, such a weapon should be piloted by you Colonel to protect you life on the batlefield" Chiba said partially out of concern and jealousy since Todoh apparently was favoring Kallen.
"Hold your tongue lieutenant, I have seen security footage with her in action I can honestly say that she is as good a pilot as I am, if not even better, and also" Todoh said while taking a heavy breath of air and then exhaling it out loudly trough his mouth "…Also we have the burais and they will be enough for us, right know we are going toned all the skilled pilots we can muster" he finished.
Chiba was shocked by his response and even more shocked that he used her rank and not her name when addressing her, he only did that to people with whom he was very angry and the thought of she making Todoh be angry at her or hating her made her very sad.
"Is Lelouch really such a dangerous opponent, he doesn't seem like the type to kill without reason Colonel?" Senba asked.
"Do not let that cloud you're judgment, even the most benevolent of king's and prince's must destroy, imprison or disable those who oppose they're rule, and that is exactly who we are, when "The Iron Prince" finds a reason to come after us, he will, and we must prepare for that day" Todoh said and walked away followed by Ryoga, Senba, Chiba and Urabe leaving Kallen to marvel at the gift she had been given.
Todoh after that dismissed the Four Holy Swords, and went to his personal quarter's to relax, he placed his sword oh it's holster, seated himself on the bed which was in his room took of his shirt,and took a sake cup from the table, he was about to pour himself some tee when a knock was heard at his door.
"Colonel sir, it's me Chiba, I'd like to talk to you sir".
"Come on in" Todoh responded.
Chiba entered the room gave a military salute which Todoh returned in kind, and stood in standard military posture and said "I am sorry for my outburst Colonel, it was very unprofessional off me" she said with a tone of shame and sadness in her eyes, and Todoh could notice that she was fighting back from breaking down and crying right in front of him.
" At ease Chiba, I'm also sorry for the way I yelled at you, and I hope you can forgive me" Todoh said and motioned for her to sit next to him on the bed.
Once seated in the bed next to Todoh Chiba's emotions went from shame and embarrassment to shyness, excitement, and a shade of pink appeared oh her cheeks, from being with Todoh alone in his room, seated next to the man she loved, on his bed, that and the fact that he was shirtless made for a situation which made the soldier in her disappeared and the woman inside her awakened.
She then quickly took the bottle of tee from the table and poured some into Todoh's cup.
"Could you please give me some of those aspirin tablets in the second drawer from the table next to you" Todoh said.
Chiba did this fast, and did not bother to properly look through the drawer which had more than one box of tablets within it, and gave two to the Colonel, she did this quickly because of their previously mentioned sitting arrangements.
"Can I have one of those aspirins " she asked.
Todoh nodded gave her one, then he himself took two.
"Chiba, I hope to God that I'm wrong about Zero, I hope to God that Kusakabe is right about Lelouch" he said and turned towards her his face only inches from her which made Chiba's heart beat so loud she could hear it, she could hardly believe this was happening and she was wondering if this wasn't some dream.
All of a sudden Todoh pressed onto her and pushed her on her back with him above her, this made her freeze, and the force of the impact made the tee bottle next to the table spill on top of them wetting their clothes
"Colonel, wait this is all going to fast, I've never been with a man before….but it's alright if it's you, …I…. I am yours" she said as she closed her eyes in anticipation waiting for Todoh to take her.
Except he was doing that, hell he wasn't doing anything at all, she opened her eyes "Colone?l" she said in confusion, she then rolled him to her right and of off her so that he was lying on his back on the bed and she noticed that he was with his eyes closed and not moving "Colonel?" she said alarmed, as she was trying to shake him awake.
She was panicking not knowing what to do, she then remembered, they were both wet , and her soldier training kicked in and she took of both their clothes which only left both Todoh and her in their respective underwear, the fact that this training was for when the temperature was low enough to make you freeze to death in wet clothes' and the fact that the room was hot enough to make a lizard feel warm escaped her as she was no thinking straight from Todoh current predicament.
Then she remembered the box of aspirin's which both of them took and looked at it, realizing to her horror that she by mistake gave the Colonel sleeping pills, not aspirins, this made ever panic even more.
"Oh my God!, Colonel wake up" she said as she got on top of his stomach and started C.P.R ,she massaged his chest several times, she then opened his mouth with her hands, put her mouth to his and was about to administer him artificial breading, when all of a sudden she became dizzy, and subsequently fell asleep as well for she also took a sleeping pill thinking it was aspirin, as Chiba fell asleep her hands slipped from Todoh's mouth to around his neck , and her feet unconsciously became entangled with his .
"Colonel Todoh, may I have a word with you…." Ryoga said as he entered the room, and he stopped in mid sentence when he saw the sight before him.
Only to be surprised of the sight of a seemingly naked Todoh, with Chiba in her underwear on top of him ,and the bought of them were asleep with lips locked and legs intertwined, that and the fact that they're skins were wet seemed to indicate great passion.
He then silently closed the room, so as not to disturb the two "lovebirds" and he went down the hallway." Looks like Chiba finally got the Colonel to fall for her" he said to himself, and filled with happiness for his friend and commander strolled down the hallway with a broad smile on his face.
(Ashford Academy grounds hallway towards main entrance)
Lelouch walked the hallways feeling more pleased with himself than he has ever been in his whole life. "I can't believe that hogwash worked on her," ,Lelouch said in his mind.
Lelouch knew that what he just said was completely false, for he knew that results matter above all else, methods are irrelevant and if he himself would have obeyed the ideals he presented to C.C he doubted he would have even graduated from West Point.
But the reason why Lelouch refused her offer was actually simple, IT DIDN'T TAKE A GENIUS TO UNDERSTAND THAT MAKING A DEAL LIKE THAT WAS CRAZY, he mentally shouted to himself.
He was a man who read a lot and knew that in the end every person who made such a deal eventually lost everything, and anything which they strode to achieve followed them into nothingness.
The fates of the above mentioned men "Napoleon, Stalin, Alexander the Great, Genghis Han, Oda Nobunaga", showed that this was true , so Lelouch decided to learn from his "predecessors" or so to speak.
He then thought to himself, that he best keep such a dangerous woman nearby himself at all time, and better for her to be an ally then an enemy and so in a split second he mentally calculated 500 possible scenarios in which he could get her to become his ally without that power of geass being a necessaty.
Out of the one scenario that had the highest chance of success, it itself had only 3% chance, but somehow it worked.
"Sometimes you even scare me" Lelouch said to his grinning reflection in the mirror which was placed on the hallway's walls, and after a few short step's walked outside in the courtyard.
" Well where's Shirley I thought we were supposed to get supply's" he said to wards Suzaku, who was apparently waiting for him.
"She's angry with you, you playboy" he said with a smile on his face and gave a light tap on Lelouch's shoulder.
"What for?" he asked confused.
Suzaku merely rolled his eyes, shook his head and said"You're hopeless, let's just forget about it, here's the list of supplies"he said.
Suzaku knew that when it came to understanding women, Lelouch was an amateur.
So the two friends went to the shopping district to acquire them, after that they for Rivalz to come with Lelouch's car to take them back towards Ashford.
"Oh, I wanted to be the one to tell you, the Phoenix fund is ready to start rebuilding the country and construction should begin in three days" Lelouch told Suzaku.
"That's wonderful news" Suzaku replied with an earnest smile, for he was happy that his people's lives where improving, and the fact that it was being achieved through non violent means pleased him even more.
"Also the new Governor will be arriving tonight "Lelouch finished.
"Do you know who it is?" Suzaku asked curiously.
"No, he won't be too much of a problem, you know how politicians are all grovel and no bite" he said with a small chuckle, which Suzaku reciprocities.
Just then a beautiful red jaguar pulled up on front of them and the driver's seat window went down revealing Rivalz.
"Hey guys hop on in" he said, the two men then loaded the supplies in the trunk and entered the car, with Suzaku in riding shotgun and Lelouch behind Rivalz.
"Hey Lelouch, want go gambling tonight?" Rivalz asked.
"Sorry Rivalz, I'm afraid I can't do that tonight, I have work to do, with the Phoenix fund" He replied.
"Ah man, why don't you just dump that on one of your servants, that Zero guy works you to hard" Rivalz asked disappointed, for seeing Lelouch mop the floor with his chess opponent's was the best show in town to him.
"Yes, I'd say Prince Lelouch is the biggest slave driver, and ass-hole this side of the globe" Lelouch replied which earned him a chuckle from Rivalz and a bemused look from Suzaku.
The three then arrived at Ashford's parking lot, and started to unload the supplies, and just as Lelouch was walking away he turned to Rivalz and said :
"You're 18th birthday is three months from now right?" Lelouch said
Rivalz gave a nod.
"Do you like the car" he asked.
"Are you kidding ? It is magnificent!" Rivalz replied while caressing the dashboard.
"Good cause it's yours," Lelouch replied.
At this Rivalz was speechless, and after his brains took a moment to pause and reboot he replied
"Are you serious!,you are actually giving me this !"Rivalz said.
"Happy birthday my friend" Lelouch replied.
At this Rivalz jumped out of the driver's seat, caught Lelouch head with his hands, said: "Thank you, oh! Thank you Lelouch", and he was so overcome with joy he gave Lelouch a kiss on the lip's.
A moment later both Lelouch and Rivalz we're coughing, spiting and wiping they're mouths in disgust.
" I'm sorry , i was just so overcome with happiness, and to be fair if you want to you can be prettier that most girl's I know,…not that I swing that way….I mean! That if I did ,I'd consider you attractive…I mean!" Rivalz was caught off by a raise of the hand by Lelouch who responded" It's alright …now why don't you take the car for a spin" .
At this Rivalz did not hesitate, and immediately started to burn some rubber, Lelouch was happy that Rivalz enjoyed his gift, it was Lelouch own way of thanking him for being his friend, and he had few friends in this world, which helped brighten his dark view upon it.
"Wow! You gave him a jaguar, what are you planning on giving me for my 18th birthday, a jumbo jet?" Suzaku asked with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Great! Now you've spoiled the surprise" he said and booth Lelouch and Suzaku continued towards the student council room while sharing a laugh.
(Narita Mountains, JLF secret base, LT .Col Kusakabe's private quarters)
"As you all know I've summoned you here because I like me you feel that the time for our Japan Liberation Front to take center stage has arrived" Kusakabe said, and receive a collective approval from those gathered around him.
"Also, like me you feel our leader's are not up to the task" he continued.
"Are you suggesting a coup d'état, Colonel?" one of the men present asked.
"Heaven's no, I am merely saying that we need to show General Katase and that coward Todoh that the hour is upon us and we must act" he replied .
"And what do you suggest we do, sir" another one of the soldiers present asked.
At this question Kusakabe smiled and pulled out a map, and laid it out on a nearby table.
"We shall strike the Brittania's where it will hurt them the most" he replied and started to go over his plan
Author's note
Some of you may feel disappointed that Lelouch did not accept the contract, but who knows the future is still unwritten so read and review to find out what happens next.
In my opinion Lelouch only accepted C.C offer because he was in a desperate situation, if it were in any other case he would have refused, simply because by accepting the power he would be indebted to C.C and be partially under her control, and the last person which had such a power over Lelouch was his father, and we all know how he feels about his father.
Also in my opinion Geass cost him more than what he earned from it, he accidentally massacred 100.000 people, he was forced to kill Euphemia, it made the black knight's betray him.
Also towards the end of the TV show he began to rely less and less on his wits and more on his geass, and one of the reasons he is my favorite character is because of his intelligence and his brilliant plan's, this in my opinion is how thing's would have progressed if there was no geass, and if Lelouch remained a prince.
Also i will be taking a break from the main story to write a prequel called "Code Geass: Niddhog", which will chronicle Lelouch's exployts in Siberia which has been referenced troughout this story, after that I will return to the main story.
Anyway, please read and review, let me know if I should continue.