So, here's the second chapter of Euphemia's Mage Knight. I had fun writing the scene where Cornelia shows the sycophants exactly what she thinks of them, albeit inspired by other fanfics...

EUPHEMIA'S MAGE KNIGHT

CHAPTER 2:

SUZAKU

"…As it happens, despite being shown evidence of his sudden betrayal, Kewell claims to have no memory of ordering Kururugi's release," the deep, smooth tones of Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald came from the speakerphone, early the next morning. "While it seems like a paper-thin excuse, given Aspirius's claims, as well as Dame Nu's report, I cannot rule out your theory of some sort of paranormal ability."

"That's still concerning all the same," Euphemia said. "Even if he wasn't under some sort of mind control ability, it would still mean that this Zero has leverage over him. And you have no idea what this 'Orange' could be?"

"None whatsoever, Your Highness. I have, of course, sent a report over to your sister. She is understandably incensed. We have a terrorist with a flair for the theatrical, and either has compiled blackmail material on key figures, or else has a mind control ability. That being said, we examined the interior of the device shortly afterwards to determine what substances Zero used in his little pyrotechnics display. Some coloured smoke and a few fireworks. However, the capsule itself proved interesting. It seemed unnecessarily complicated for a capsule used for storing and transporting a chemical weapon. In fact, while most of the mechanisms have been removed, enough remained to suggest that this was actually a stasis capsule of some sort. In other words, it wasn't poison gas inside, but quite possibly a person."

As Euphemia gasped in horror, Harry frowned at the phone. "Human experimentation would doubtlessly have seen Clovis disowned at best, if not executed outright. No wonder he tried to wipe out the populace of Shinjuku ghetto."

"As for this Zero…well, there is one thing I considered. His name, his chosen pseudonym," Euphie said. "Aside from literary traditions of calling yourself 'nobody' or 'nothing' dating back to at least Homer's Odyssey, I think it may be a refutation of the Numbers system. We can't be sure, thanks to that cloak or the voice changer, whether they are a man or a woman. We can't even be sure whether they are Japanese or not. They could be an agent provocateur from the Chinese Federation or the Euro-Universe."

"Hmm. And the Japanese Liberation Front tends to use uniforms closer to what the Japanese military wore. In any case, this is all too audacious for them," Gottwald said. "We've heard little from them but propaganda. Even the smaller groups do more to attack us than them. They're probably waiting for Tohdoh to get off his backside and perform another miracle."

"They'll be put paid to once Cornelia gets here," Harry said. "I can understand the Japanese resenting and hating us, but too many of these idiots get their own people caught up in this, let alone Britannian civilians. Too many Areas just have the life sucked out of them, instead of the people cultivated, to have them feel proud to be part of the Britannian Empire. Instead, we stomp them flat."

Euphemia nodded. "While Cornelia will be dealing with the insurgents, I will be trying to find ways to win over the hearts and minds of the people. Given how bad the state of affairs is here, I will have my work cut out for me."

"Indeed. But I have every confidence in your abilities, Your Highness. Private Kururugi's court martial is beginning soon, though, so I will need to go. Pardon my cutting this short."

"Just one last thing, Jeremiah," Harry said. "Have you told those sycophants not to throw a welcome party for Cornelia?"

"…Yes, but unfortunately, they won't listen to me. I'm afraid it will take Cornelia reprimanding them to get them to comprehend her desires."

"…Well, better get an undertaker for the tarmac," Harry snarked.

Euphemia wanted to tour the Tokyo settlement, and while she didn't want any of her minders coming with her, Harry was another matter. The two kept close as they left the hotel, only to bump into a familiar-looking young man, wearing sunglasses, and with bandages on parts of his face, with brown hair framing boyishly handsome looks. "Oh, hello!" Euphie said.

"Uhh, hi?" Suzaku Kururugi said, a bit hesitantly, though Harry was sure that the young Honorary Britannian hadn't recognised them.

"My friend and I…we're new in town. Could you show us around?"

"…Sure."

They soon looked around, the pair of them introducing themselves with their nicknames, which weren't that publicly known. Euphie, of course, got drawn to a stray cat in a nearby park with an injured paw, but while it had no issue with either Euphie or Harry handling it, it bit Suzaku the moment he tried to pet it. Harry couldn't help but chuckle, especially at Euphie's mortified, "Oh my!"

Still, after they got some bandages to dress the wound, and Euphie made some remarks about unrequited love, they began looking around, particularly at the shopping areas. Harry knew that they were being tailed discreetly by others, and he occasionally made discreet hand gestures to anyone watching to be careful and keep their distance.

And then, finally, as the afternoon dragged on, Euphie said that she wanted to visit Shinjuku, and asked Suzaku to take them there.

As they walked through the ghetto area, Harry said quietly to Euphie, "Is this wise? The people here may want a piece of you just for being Britannian." To say nothing of you being a princess, went unsaid.

"…I need to see this for myself," Euphie said, as they came to a graveyard. Perhaps it had been a park once.

Harry looked at the grave markers, and grimaced, especially when he saw a pair of idiot students filming damage done to some statue or monument. "Look at them. Civilians died yesterday, Numbers or not, and they're so damned cheerful about it," he snarled.

Suzaku was silent, until they saw a trio of Japanese, led by a belligerent-looking man wearing a red bandanna and a scruffy beard snatch the camera from the students and smash it on the ground. While Suzaku seemed set on charging over, Harry put a hand on his shoulder briefly, before walking over, and picking up the camera. "What I see here, gentlemen…a term which I use very loosely for all of you…is a public affray about to happen." He shot a glare at the Japanese trio. "You have destroyed private property and threaten assault and bodily harm at the very least." He then glared at the two Britannian students. "And you two morons have no respect whatsoever for the dead, whether they're Numbers or not. These were normal people caught inbetween terrorists and the army, they deserve the right to rest in peace at least."

"But they're just Elevens!" protested one of them.

"Funny that. You're just cockroaches. Here. Take your camera and go." His glare seemed to silence any protest the students had, and they scurried off.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? You've no business being here!" snapped the Japanese man.

"I'm here to pay my respects to the dead, not to gawk at them," Harry said.

"And why do you care, you Britannian bastard?"

"Because I care about people when they die because of others' actions," Harry retorted, favouring the man with a glare himself. "Personally, I wouldn't have really given a damn if you beat those two idiots up, but a fight may just get me and my friend involved."

The Japanese man seemed to debate with himself, before he sneered. "Yeah, well, bit of advice. Keep your girl away from that traitor. And keep out of this place, period!" With that, he and his friends turned and left…

It was some time later. They'd gone back to the Viceroy's Residence after spending a little more time with Suzaku. Harry had to admit, when Suzaku made some pretty little speech about how the world could be changed for the better…he had to say Suzaku was a naïve idiot. Euphemia may have been kind and gentle, and naïve to some of the realities of politics, but she also understood that the world was one that it would be impossible to change without doing some sort of evil.

They were picked up by a trailer driven by none other than Earl Lloyd Asplund, the notoriously eccentric Earl of Pudding, and his offsider, Cecile Croomy, the main players in the Japanese branch of Camelot. Camelot was an R&D group funded by Schneizel, and had apparently been the ones who created the Lancelot Knightmare Frame Suzaku had piloted in Shinjuku. Asplund had taken great joy in revealing Euphie and Harry's true identities to an understandably gobsmacked Suzaku, and they were forced to try and get him to stop kowtowing to the princess.

In any case, they were on the tarmac as Cornelia walked out of her transport. The idiots in charge had still decided to throw a welcoming party for her, and an extravagant one at that. So, Harry was going to take some delight in watching Cornelia punish them. "I heard about your little sojourn, Euphemia," she said quietly. "While I am pleased that you kept your Knight by your side, going into Shinjuku is dangerous, especially with feelings amongst the Elevens still raw."

"I'm sorry, sister."

Cornelia shook her head. "Not here. You must address me as Viceroy Cornelia, Sub-Viceroy Euphemia. We need to follow a stricter protocol because of our relationship. The eyes of the Empire are on us, after all." She looked sharply at Harry as he rolled his eyes. "That goes double for you, Sir Darlton."

"Yes, Viceroy. Incidentally, Viceroy, I'm looking forward to the entertainment you're about to put on in a few seconds."

A small but vicious smile touched Cornelia's lips. She'd been warned discreetly by Jeremiah about what the idiots here intended, and she got Harry's implication. As Clovis' chief sycophant scurried up, she snapped, "Report!"

"Yes, Your Highness. The first order of business is a welcome party for…"

BANG! The idiot's oleaginous words were interrupted when Cornelia shot her signature swordpistol so close to his ear, it was bleeding both from the bullet itself, and from the deafening noise of it being shot close to it. "I was told that you had been given more than adequate warning of what I will and will not tolerate. And yet I am seeing it here. Inefficiency. Ineffectuality. Incompetence." Her violet eyes narrowed. "If you had time to waste on throwing me a party, then you have had enough time to try and find and catch Zero! I will not tolerate this…folly. Am I understood?"

The man whimpered, nodding. A darkening patch staining his trousers suggested he was leaking another bodily fluid other than blood. "You're dismissed for the night. I may dismiss you from your office if I find anything further to object to. Go," Cornelia said, her tone brooking no argument, and the man scampered away, his dignity more in tatters than his ear.

Cornelia then began striding through into the palace, Euphemia, Harry, Gottwald and Nu following close behind. "I'm surrounded by idiots," Cornelia muttered. "Did Clovis really just surround himself with yes-men and sycophants?"

"Many of his staff are competent, Viceroy. Otherwise, Area 11 would have been in direr economic straits long ago," Gottwald said. "Of course, it isn't helped by the fact that Area 11 has one of the strongest levels of anti-Britannian resistance in all of our territories. For all the fact that the Japanese Liberation Front haven't pulled off many major operations since Tohdoh's Miracle, their propaganda is still troublesome, in that it inflames the Elevens' fighting spirit."

"And now, we have Zero to contend with. Doubtless there'll be an upturn in insurgencies across this Area and the rest of the Empire…"

They soon came to the room they wanted, and Jeremiah, without being bidden, swept it for bugs, along with Cornelia and Harry. After finding nothing, they took their seats, though not before Harry set up some Privacy Charms he learned in the world of his birth, thankful that Lupin had taught him. It was a crying shame none could have come with him, he thought, and he had refused them. He doubted that they would accept the Britannian Empire as it was now.

Then again, neither did he. Neither did Euphemia. And neither did Cornelia, albeit in her own way. They saw the corruption and graft, the needless exploitation, the xenophobia. What Lelouch desired for Nunnally, a better, calmer world where she could live without fear because of her blindness or paraplegia.

Which was why they were here. They were more than just powerhouses of the Holy Britannian Empire meeting here. While the main discussion of the night was to be Zero and his hand in Clovis' death, there was also one goal they had, above all others.

Those gathered in this conference room were amongst the core members of 'Warwick', the name given to the group by a sardonic remark from Harry's father, Andreas Darlton. They took the name from Richard Neville, the 16th Earl of Warwick, infamous through his actions in the Wars of the Roses as the Kingmaker. And there was a reason for this.

Most of the time, when one wanted to change the world or at least who was in charge, they would be impotent to do so. But when royalty was involved, it was another matter entirely. Warwick's purpose, then, was to put one of the li Britannia siblings on the throne…or, given his survival, Lelouch vi Britannia…

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. Harry and Euphie discerning what to do about Zero, some glimpses into Suzaku, and the fact that, even when he's been raised as part of a totalitarian dictatorship, Harry and those who are dear to him can make waves.

No numbered annotations this time.