As the first bell rang and the students began to stream over the campus grounds, Richard watched them silently, his cup of tea resting untouched before him. He really should leave, but yesterday—
He shook his head, scarcely still believing it. Lelouch Lamperouge, no—Lelouch vi Britannia was the heir to the throne. He had taught the kid, and this year marked the fifth occasion. The principal always smiled apologetically when the assignments came out at the beginning of the year, and he was again assigned the so-called delinquent for English.
Absently, he picked up the paper that had been sitting there since late last evening before he went home to his wonderful wife. It was a personal statement. A reflection on one's life.
Originally, he had been glad that Lamp—ugh, vi Britannia had turned in anything at all. He was notoriously tight-lipped about his past and completely willing to ignore assignments which did not interest him. It really was such a shame that he didn't put more effort in; he could easily be in the top of the class, claim one of the prestigious scholarships or be nominated for one of the internships Prince Clovis sponsored—had sponsored.
But—
He was royalty, wasn't he?
And in his personal statement, in a rare moment of honesty, he submitted an essay on why fathers were entirely useless, among other things.
Why would the Emperor choose him? The student he taught had never done anything extraordinary. He really wasn't anything special, regardless of how scandalous it was to think that of the future Emperor.
Or maybe the rumors and warnings from his colleagues that he had dismissed were true.
He sighed. He really shouldn't have mentioned that the boy was in his class to his wife. Now, she wanted him to be nicer to him.
And he probably should. Teenagers given ultimate power were terrible. He could order an execution on a whim. What was the Emperor thinking?
The second bell rang, and he winced, shoving the paper into the bag before he rushed out of his office. He could deal with it later. It wasn't like the heir to the Empire, with chronic absenteeism, would actually attend class on the day after the biggest announcement in his life.
As he rushed into his classroom, he smiled in relief for once at the empty desk and began to take attendance.
"Kallen Stadtfeld?" He frowned. The excitement of yesterday must've been too much for her. Although she did miss class quite often when their resident prince did...
One of the girls sneered and her whisper was just a tad too loud to be anything but intentional. "Maybe His Highness has a thing for sickly girls."
Shirley, poor girl, glared at her fiercely. "Have some respect."
"What?" the girl asked. "He should take care of his desires. It is admirable that he is able to handle their problems so readily, but soon he will have an Empire's worth of problems."
"I hope they're breaking up," one of the boys mumbled.
"Enough," Richard snapped. Seriously, teenagers. Did they not have better things to worry about than who was sleeping with whom? Sure, the future Emperor was a classmate of theirs, but the world continued to turn. "Perhaps, Miss Patricia, instead of gossiping, you should be finishing your revisions. I still have not received last month's paper from you."
She flushed as the room chortled.
The door opened, and out of breath, Lelouch vi Britannia stared at them. "Apologies for being late. I was... waylaid."
Behind him, a guard attempted to step inside, and Crown Prince Lelouch whirled around, his voice razor sharp. "Out! I don't need you."
Richard nearly dropped the attendance sheet at the sudden anger. With vague amusement, he noted his heart was beating faster than his cat's. Had he fed the cat this morning? It would be far too long for the poor creature to wait for food if he did not return home this afternoon.
The Crown Prince stepped inside, shaking Richard from his thoughts. He paused by Miss Kallen's desk with a slight frown before moving on. At the door, a looming figure crossed his arm, and Richard gulped, nodding politely to the Knight of One before staring at the prince again in befuddlement.
Protocol did technically dictate that they bow.
"Are you really a prince?" one particularly dull student asked.
Crown Prince Lelouch raised an irritated eyebrow. "No. I'm a body double."
"Your Highness..." Richard said.
"Lamperouge," the Crown Prince growled. "If I have to finish the year with assassins all aiming for my jugular, the least everyone can do is not announce my presence every time I enter a room. Lamperouge."
Maybe, Richard should forget about that essay and the vitriolic hatred that the boy professed for his father.
Teenagers...
The Emperor undoubtedly had his hands full with siring so many progeny. As a sympathetic shudder ran down his spine, he began their lesson on Hamlet.
He should've chosen a different play for the unit. Oh, by the Emperor, the Knight of One was here to judge his lessons.
Miss Stadtfeld was perhaps the wisest of them all. His wife was correct; he should've called in sick today.
It wasn't until Kallen was seated on an airplane that panic fully hit her. In hindsight, she had been a fool to think the Knight of One would take her to Lelouch. She was a full blown terrorist, with a known loyalty to Zero and a significant Britannian kill count. He would be a fool to let her anywhere near the heir of Britannia.
Now she was flying over the Pacific Ocean, not a speck of land to be seen as clouds parted over the wings. She should've fought. Why had she been so foolish as to think she would be meeting Lelouch?
But then the Knight of One had mentioned that Lelouch was fond of her. What did that even mean?
Why had she been sent away? Where was she going? To Temple Tower to be locked away, far from the light?
She shuddered, crossing her arms. She needed one of Zero's miracles now. He could engineer the most elaborate miracle, infiltrate far behind enemy lines, and even garner information out of thin air. He had to be some well seasoned commander, forged in the toil of previous wars and conflict. His hatred for Britannia was raw and real. That was not fake.
Lips curling, she mocked the idea that she once thought he could be Zero. Lelouch was a Britannian prince, the heir; he could never bear such hatred against Britannia.
It must be because they feared Zero would orchestrate her escape that they had sent her off. His reach did not yet extend beyond Japan, at least to her knowledge.
Although... the plane was far too nice to be a prisoner transport.
Her ears popped, and she pressed her face against the window, peering out. A small speck of land with glimmering lights grew on the horizon and they began their descent.
She pulled back, searching the seat for anything resembling a weapon. Finding nothing, she kicked off her shoes and held them up defensively. She should've fought against the Knight of One, even if he cut an imposing form. Shock was no excuse to go quietly.
While a minor noble, surely her rank could have allowed her to at least buy for time. She might hate it, but her father had connections. Not enough sway to get out of marrying that bitch, but enough that neither she nor Naoto had been branded as Numbers. To this day, she still didn't know what he had sacrificed, but afterwards, business kept him almost exclusively in the Homeland.
He had briefly come back after Naoto died, even secured his body and arranged his funeral.
Naoto's funeral had been a private affair, just her, her father and her mother, standing together with their grief binding them. She wanted to be furious with them. Wanted to rage that her father left, abandoned them. But there were tears running down his face, and tears on her own.
The three of them were the only ones who could understand each other's grief, so she had stayed quiet, holding her father's hand, and listened as he began to share old childhood memories.
Quietly, her mother had joined, a rare moment when she wasn't engulfed by a hazy daydream; Kallen had always hated that it was her father's presence which cleared her mind, not her own.
Sometimes, she wondered how much he knew of their activities, but he never said anything. She only knew that he loved them all unconditionally. After the funeral, he raised her allowance and once more disappeared to the Homeland. And her mother fell deeper into what she now knew was a Refrain addiction.
Even if she was declared a traitor, being sent off to a dark cell to be tortured, he would try to help her. That was the only comfort she had, so far from Zero.
The plane plummeted, diving right over the water, and for a moment she feared they would miss the runway, plunging them into a watery grave instead. The plane rumbled, touching down on the thin strip of runway extending into the ocean.
Her heart froze in her throat. To her right, the Imperial Palace stretched into the sky, golden inlays reflecting the sun setting across the water.
"My lady," the stewardess said, warily approaching her.
No. Kallen couldn't be here. What did they want with her?
She stumbled out onto the tarmac, clutching her heels protectively to her chest, her only weapon in this new hostile land.
Ahead, stood her father.
"Otosan?" she whispered. Was she dreaming? A nightmare to mock her with the impossible?
There were guards to the side, but her father's doppelganger paid them no heed as he rushed to her side and drew her into a tight hug. He smelled of old paper—like home. "It's good to see you."
She relaxed into his hug, feeling his breath rise and fall. His heart was too fast. "What are you doing here?"
This couldn't be real.
"Walk with me." He held out his arm and the guards near them stepped out of his way.
After slipping on her heels again, she followed him and despite herself, she stared in awe at the swooping arches of the palace above them. It was beautiful, she was forced to admit. It would be even prettier when it burned, and the people were freed.
What was her father doing here? She knew he worked in Pendragon frequently, but they were minor nobles. He should have never gained access to the palace grounds.
"You could've visited Kasan," she said, accusation slipping into her voice. "She's in the hospital right now. And that bitch threatened to throw out her things."
"Hush." He leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to the top of her head and slipped into Japanese. "Things were too busy for me to take time off unfortunately. I did ask but— I was going to pay her bills, I swear, but when I called, they told me someone else had covered her account."
Her brow furrowed. "I thought that was you."
"Your boyfriend didn't say?" he teased.
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"The doctor said he claimed to be a Mr. Lamperouge. He even provided a cover story of her being your favorite childhood maid."
That... asshole! Did he think he could buy his way into her affection? How did he even know what happened? Was he stalking her? Why did she have to have the future Emperor of Britannia interested in her?
Any other boy would've thrown it into her face the next day.
"I slapped him," she mumbled.
Her father snorted. "You have your mother's temper. She waited until the meeting was over before asking me to talk to her outside, and then she got right up in my face to tell me off for being such a stuck up Britannian twat."
"It's not— I don't get him." She stopped by a fountain and stared into the slow swirling water. "I think I need help. I don't know what to do."
"You're Zero's ace," her father confirmed, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I heard. Maybe, I should've stopped you two, but Naoto begged me, and I couldn't deny him, not after everything I had done."
"What did you do?" she demanded, spinning around and meeting his eyes steadily. "Why are we even here? In the Imperial Palace? I had the Knight of One arresting me and throwing me on a plane. And now you're here. Please, what's the plan?"
"I don't know." He sat on the fountain's edge, eyes drawn together in thought. "Naoto knew of my work, but I guess he neglected to tell you. I was asked to travel to Japan and settle down to form business connections with the government. Originally, I was there to negotiate clandestine sakuradite exports. Britannia didn't want to tip its hand by revealing how much they were burning through in research and development. Then I met your mother, and I foolishly thought my work was important and would bring about peace. So, we married."
Kallen stumbled backwards. "You were a spy."
"By the end, yes. Your mother found out of course; she was furious." He stared off into space, scratching his arms. "I told her that Britannia would invade regardless, but my job meant that she and our children would be able to flee the country. The problem was that I was the younger son, and marrying a foreigner is problematic. Any relationship I was in on a mission wasn't legally binding anyway."
She pursed her lips, holding back tears. Her father was in part responsible for Japan's catastrophic defeat. She didn't know him at all.
"So I begged for your and Naoto's life," he whispered. "I said I would do anything as long as you would be recognized as Britannian, with all the protections it afforded. I got my wish, even if Naoto was deemed too foreign and never recorded as my son. At least you were safe."
"How could you?" she whispered.
He stood, swinging his arm over her shoulder, and guided her inside the massive palace. "Britannia was always my home first, Kallen. I loved my nation, even as it was falling apart at the seams. He saved my life; he could have done nothing, so I swore my loyalty. I wish I could say I was sorry, but I am not. It kept the intelligence operatives off Naoto's back because they assumed he was working for me. If he hadn't run into a fire fight to save that fool he called a friend, then he would still be alive."
"It's not Tamaki's fault," she protested. She had blamed him once, but he had been the one that argued for her when she asked to join. He tried to make amends in his own way.
"He is a hot headed fool," her father said angrily, his grip tightening. "And then you joined him to follow a masked man."
If Kallen escaped this, somehow, she was warning Tamaki to stay far away from her father. His tone was too dark, and with the secrets being unveiled, she feared she didn't know her father at all. He could very well kill Tamaki... and there would be no repercussions.
She futilely tried to shrug off his arm. "It was my decision. He's constantly badmouthing Zero."
He sighed and suddenly drew her into a hug. "Kallen... I'm sorry. You went too far. I can't protect you from this."
"What's going to happen?" she whispered, her voice painfully timid.
"I don't know," he whispered. His heart thundered against her. His breaths were shallow and uneven.
Heavy footsteps approached them, and she swallowed as her father stiffened and slowly withdrew with a slight tremor in his arm. He dropped to the ground, kneeling formally in subservience.
She ignored his hand tugging at her shirt to join him and met the eyes of the Britannian Emperor.
"Your Majesty," her father said dutifully.
"This is your daughter then," the Emperor said, slowly circling her, like he was inspecting a prized hound. "She'll do."
Her resolve faltered, and she crossed her arms, hating his stare. She wished her father was standing next to her, even if she had never known him at all. "Otosan?"
"You should bow," the Emperor said. His voice was strangely tired, nothing like his state speeches.
"Kallen," her father begged quietly.
"I'm a Black Knight," she spat defiantly.
Her father inhaled sharply. "Your Majesty, please, my daughter—"
"—is not the type to falter in her convictions. It can be an admirable trait." His eyes narrowed. "Or a foolhardy one."
"I won't betray Zero," she said, almost a reassurance to herself.
His lips twisted in amusement. "Will you kneel for Lelouch?"
Her jaw clenched and she ground out, "We're not in a relationship."
"He paid your mother's medical bills," he countered, drawing a startled breath from her father.
Kallen's right eye ticked. Why had Lelouch inserted himself in her life like that? He should've left well enough alone. Now everyone was utterly convinced that he loved her! It was ridiculous, asinine.
"Or would you rather give yourself to Zero?"
Her cheeks warmed. "That's none of your fucking business."
"Kallen..." her father groaned.
"And even if it was, I can admire someone without wanting to be with them. Zero will kill you one day, and I am looking forward to it."
"My son certainly is," the Emperor said.
"Lelouch isn't Zero," she snapped back. That was ridiculous. It had to be. Lelouch might support the Black Knights, but only because Zero was removing obstacles between him and the throne. He couldn't be Zero.
"Who are you trying to convince?" the Emperor asked. "Me or yourself?"
Lelouch was Zero.
Zero had known what happened to her mother. That was why Lelouch took care of the bill. It was why he slept through class constantly. Why he was friends with Suzaku. Why Bismarck and the Emperor were utterly convinced Lelouch was fond of her despite Lelouch Lamperouge barely ever interacting with her.
Zero was fond of her. He had offered to share his identity with her, and she had been too much of a coward to take the opportunity.
She had held a knife to his arm. Had yelled about a cease fire order in the bathroom. He had even offered her a convenient excuse, and she hadn't spent a moment considering how outlandish it was because she realized she had been naked.
Lelouch, she would never have suspected something nefarious. At least not until Shirley shared his darker past. But Zero...
He had cornered her in the bathroom on fucking purpose! He had been counting on her being too flustered to ask too many questions.
She was such a fool.
"What do you want?" Kallen asked quietly, dropping her gaze. Zero wouldn't be rescuing her because he was a Britannian prince. Had he just used them to manipulate his way onto the throne. If you ignored the absurdity of naming a terrorist as heir, Zero made far more sense than the slacker Lelouch Lamperouge.
She had been used. Now, she was deep behind the enemy line, and no one was coming.
"You will kneel, child," the Emperor promised. His hand fell down on her shoulders. "You will make your father proud and kneel before Lelouch as the entire world looks on. You will add your strength to his and be the sword that he needs. You will learn to be the Britannian lady they all expect. You will prove that Britannian blood ultimately always prevails."
"You honor me, Your Majesty," her father interjects before Kallen can shout in outrage. "I never served in hope of a reward."
"Reward?" Kallen shrieked, ripping herself free.
The Emperor's eyes swept over her dismissively. "It is understandable that while I monopolize your time, you were unable to discipline your daughter properly. Now is your opportunity to rectify that mistake."
Her father bowed deeply. "It will be done."
"I'm not agreeing with any of this," Kallen spat.
"Kallen," her father hissed.
The Emperor smirked. "I hold the world in my hand, including your precious Japan. A word from me, and I can destroy your home. Impress me, and I can ensure certain benefits. Soon, Lelouch will be the one to choose."
"I'm a Black Knight, she said. "I fight for justice and—"
"Not anymore." The Emperor waved his hand at the connecting corridor where a man with a camera stood, snapping steady pictures. "You followed in your father's footsteps."
"No, no, no. You can't do that!" Kallen shrieked. She was not a traitor. She hadn't betrayed the Black Knights. She would never, but who would believe her? She was the Britannian noble only playing at being Japanese. "Why play such fucking games even!"
Tilting his head, the Emperor's lips formed a mockery of a concerned smile. "It is uncouth to threaten your own daughter."
When Lelouch had tried to help Suzaku, Bismarck only needed to whisper in his ear.
Nunnally.
As hatred welled up inside her, she considered that maybe Zero hadn't been lying. Maybe his rage was real. Because the Emperor had just implied he used Nunnally to keep Lelouch in line. Anyone with eyes could see Nunnally meant the world to Lelouch. He would do anything for her. Her only protection was being Lelouch's sister. This man certainly was no father.
Now, Kallen was leverage over Lelouch.
Surely, he wouldn't care.
But she had seen his grief at the death of Shirley's father. The way he fortified himself by insisting that they must bear all the costs to honor those who died already. Now... It was all in vain. Would he have the strength to go on? To sacrifice them all? And where would he go? He was going to be the Emperor. Arguably, he had already won.
But the Emperor still lived, his machinations rumbling steadily on as they became ensnared in a net of puppet strings.
She needed to talk to Lelouch. To know where his heart lay. To know if he had lied.
"She will have knightmare training in the afternoon starting tomorrow," the Emperor said, addressing her father. "Inform me when she is ready to play the role needed."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Her father bowed, his grip around her arm like iron, and he tugged her abruptly, pulling her into an accidental bow.
The Emperor shifted, half turning away, then coughed.
"Your Majesty!" her father cried, rushing to his side. "The physician—"
Shaking his head, the Emperor withdrew a handkerchief. "Time waits for no man. Everything must be ready."
For the first time, she allowed herself to truly gaze upon the Emperor without hate or fear. On the deep crevices running through his face. The stark shadows under his eyes peeking through a thin shade of concealer. The powder on his forehead and cheeks. The stray white hairs on the collar of his robe. The slight slouch to his back. His voice was far too weak.
Was he actually dying? Was that why he had chosen an heir out of the blue? But what did he intend to accomplish before his final days?
"You overexerted yourself with that announcement," her father whispered.
"Stephen, enough. Do what has to be done."
Her father retreated, grabbing her roughly and pulling her away. Desperately, she tried to pull her arm free. She would not be forced to fight for Britannia, to abandon her cause.
"Behave," her father hissed.
"I won't," she spat. Maybe she needed to talk to Lelouch. To know his side. To unveil the missing pieces in the puzzle that was his life. But she owed absolutly nothing to her traitor of a father and even less to the Emperor of fucking Britannia.
"You will, Kallen." He stopped abruptly and pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, but the Emperor has a way to force obedience. At least pretend, Kallen."
Ah yes, on the Kallen confronts Lelouch and tries to stab him but this is somehow seen as sexy trope (I somehow feel this is very common but not sure why) I took a right turn. Oh and I made Kallen's father a spy (instead of utterly useless douchebag she hates) bc there used to be this thing about him being important in r2 or something. And it really is strange that a Britannian would go out and have a relationship with a foreigner and then take care of her kids. Just a possible interpretation, but I think this a fun one. Kallen must be having a blast with all these secrets being revealed left and right. XD
Anyway, I hoped you enjoy this stock fanon departure. Until next time.
Or chat with me on the discord: discord . gg / MFKuCGYxcT