In the chaos of her father's announcement, Nunnally had been forgotten. It was not particularly surprising, nor did she blame her brother for it. He was to be the Emperor. All sorts of thoughts had to be running through his head. She only wished that he would open himself up to her instead of withdrawing. Before, he would every so often converse with the strange woman, Miss C.C., and she could take comfort that he talked to someone.
Now, there was only silence and the shuffle of the guards in their apartment.
She frowned to herself and rolled to the door. Lelouch had spoken to their father yesterday, but he did not once ask to speak to her. And while it was wonderful to meet Cornelia and Euphie again, Lelouch's anger clouded the room. Could she even ask to see them again?
What was she supposed to do? She was the sister of the future emperor. That had to mean something, but it was as if she didn't exist.
"I'm going to class," she told the guard waiting outside her room. Her brother had this same argument an hour prior, running late because of it. He did not want her to leave, worried that assassins would strike.
"Ma'am, you are supposed to stay here," the guard said.
Her nose wrinkled. Ma'am. Because her father had said nothing of her return. Because she was the crippled girl who had been so traumatized that she couldn't open her eyes. Would she be forced from her brother's side because she served no purpose? Because she was too weak?
Lelouch was always the strong one, sheltering her, moving behind her back to set right the injustices he saw. Every time, he promised that he would not lie. Then he did so anyway. And she pretended that she didn't notice because he needed it. His recent project had him out late for long nights and whispering with C.C. Was it why their father had reversed course? Welcomed him home?
Whatever it was, it had done nothing to stop Bismarck from threatening to harm her in low tones that she was not supposed to hear.
"I understand," Nunnally said, hanging her head. She could try to escape, but that would only worry her brother. He did not need that now.
"Bored?" Miss C.C. interrupted. "I am taking her to the dining room."
"Of course," he said respectfully.
How did the guards know Miss C.C.? Was that why Lelouch seemed upset with her?
"Thank you," Nunnally whispered as she grabbed her wheelchair and pushed her down the hall. Personally, she would've preferred to do it herself, but people never asked, and if she complained, then she would no longer be sweet, kind Nunnally, worth protecting.
Years ago, she once made a fuss, sick of the teachers only giving her childish assignments fit for a preschooler. The teacher had laughed, then patted her head before wandering off. But the students― Oh, they had seen and they judged. She was too selfish. A little bitch monopolizing Lelouch's time. Annoying. Too full of herself to do the world a favor and die.
Lelouch barely managed to maintain their cover for those months as the comments became more and more cruel. As whispers turned into spiteful actions. As her wheelchair was sabotaged. As she was dragged out of her chair when Lelouch wasn't looking. As they pushed her down a flight of stairs and laughed as she screamed.
Because she was just the annoying dead weight chaining Lelouch down and should know better than to do more than grovel for his scraps.
And Lelouch, furious on her behalf, declared war on her classmates. She heard what he did. The cruel pranks he would pull in revenge. The utter humiliation he delivered. The students only became more discrete, sure that her vileness had corrupted him somehow. The weak could only succeed through underhanded trickery after all. She in turn kept silent, trying to calm her brother's raging temper before he exposed them all.
Then one day he snapped; Reuben arrived in their apartment with weary steps. She didn't need the muffled yelling through the walls to know Lelouch had gone too far.
"Origami?" C.C. offered. "How about I show you how to make a cat?"
Sayoko showed her years ago. Technically, Kaguya had shown her the first time as they huddled outside in the cooling night air while Kururugi yelled at Lelouch and Suzaku for their latest foolish stunt.
"That would be wonderful," Nunnally lied brightly. It was her place to be thankful for anything given. Her brother didn't need more problems right now.
Silently, she allowed C.C. to instruct her, guiding her hand. She pretended to fumble a bit, anything to sell the lie, so they could feel useful.
"Did you have a fight with my brother?" she asked as C.C. begins to withdraw, radiating boredom.
"Of a sort."
The silence stretched between them, C.C. not rising to the bait.
Irritated, Nunnally barely suppressed an instinctive frown. "What happened last night? I'm worried for him."
"Maybe you should ask him."
"I thought he made you a promise." That was too accusatory. "Help me help him, please."
C.C. scoffed. "Do you ever tire of lying all the time?"
"I don't lie," Nunnally whispered―not in the way that mattered at least. She kept particulars from Lelouch to ease his mind. He kept unpleasantness from her.
"Of course," C.C. said with false sympathy. "I am sure you will have no objection then to spending your life locked inside a room."
"No!" Nunnally shouted. The woman was infuriating. She pressed buttons as easily as she breathed―although at times Nunnally swore she forgot to breathe. "I hate this! All of it. Lelouch is out there, and I can't do a thing because I'm stuck here. I want to do something and be useful for once in my life."
C.C. said nothing, her footsteps receding before she suddenly came to a stop and sighed angrily. "Fine. What do you desire?"
Would she really help her?
But... There are so many things she wants. To see again. To run again. To hold her mother's hand. But C.C. was tapping her foot expectantly, and these are all things that won't happen regardless of what she wished. Even a thousand cranes would not accomplish a thing.
"I want..." Nunnally swallowed.
"Your brother will be the Emperor, surely there is something he can give you that would make you happy."
She should've known better. C.C. had only asked out of obligation. She had no interest in helping her.
Yet... what did she want? Something that would help Lelouch. Something that she could do. Something meaningful.
"Sayoko. I know Ashford had her reassigned elsewhere, but she could help me write some letters... and Lelouch trusts her."
"I will see what can be done," C.C. said stiffly before turning away. As she left the room, she quietly mumbled, "You're welcome, Marianne."
Villetta listened as her captor left and busied herself with mundane tasks. He had set up surveillance throughout the apartment, and she could not let him realize that she had begun to remember―enough to know the kind, friendly woman he named Chigusa was an abhorrent lie. Enough to know that he was a filthy Eleven who should have never dared to look at her. If it wasn't for her injuries that left her wholly unprepared to fight, she would have already left.
Finally, she finished and sat down in front of the TV. First, she chose some mindless cooking show. The Eleven liked it when she played the part of a domestic housewife.
Then after some time had passed, she leaned forward and readjusted the TV so it pointed away from the camera and switched to the news.
The boy, the heir, was on-screen again. She had watched the broadcast for the first time with the Eleven. He said nothing. Such momentous political matters naturally flew far above an Eleven's head. She gasped when she saw the photo―a mere schoolboy―because she most assuredly knew him. And if she knew royalty, then the kind Kaname Ohgi was lying.
He was not her rescuer, but her jailor.
Intently, she studied the boy's face, trying to draw the memories forward. A gunshot echoed in her mind. Had she fallen in the line of duty, protecting the prince?
His mother had been a commoner. That felt familiar. She wasn't a noble lady then, perhaps a knight. It would explain her well toned body.
The picture vanished, replaced by a sinister black mask. Somehow, she knew him too.
"While Zero remains at large, Viceroy Cornelia has assured the public that he will be apprehended soon to stand trial for his crimes, including the assassination of Prince Clovis."
"I worry less about what he has done, but what he will do. Crown Prince Lelouch is attending Ashford Academy, and Zero has already killed one royal. The future Emperor is a far too enticing target."
Ashford. Red hair. A gunshot.
She fell backwards and raised a trembling hand to her stomach. She knew who Zero was. The question the Eleven had asked when she first woke up.
Lelouch vi Britannia, heir to the throne, was Zero... And his girlfriend shot her.
What was she supposed to do now? Originally, she planned to rest and recover, then make her daring escape and report Ohgi to the police. She would watch from afar as he was dragged off, the entire matter finally put to rest behind them. Unfortunately, that option was now entirely unavailable. She had tracked the boy down, discovered him unmasked and gloated before his girlfriend.
If the Crown Prince caught wind that she was still alive, she would be summarily executed. She knew too much of what he and the Emperor had been planning, even if she could not see the full picture of their machinations.
For the first time, she felt a deep sense of disgust for her nation. Loyal Britannians had died for this. Her nails dug into her thighs as if the pain could chase away the crime of such treasonous thoughts.
Sighing, she forced herself to turn off the TV. For better or worse, Chigusa was here to stay. Ohgi squirreling her away in his apartment might have very well saved her life. Wasn't it absolutely wonderful that her continued survival depended on an Eleven's compassion?
If only Jeremiah hadn't fallen at Narita, she could go to him and beg for his protection. He had been disgraced, but he had connections that could have protected her. Her brow furrowed. Vi Britannia. Jeremiah had once served Consort Marianne vi Britannia. Zero had utterly humiliated him despite it. Perhaps the boy blamed him for being involved with his mother's death.
She collapsed onto the couch. That was it then. There were no other options. Jeremiah was dead. Even if he wasn't, Crown Prince Lelouch appeared to despise him and she would only be sullied further by her former connection with him.
A key scraped against the door lock outside, and she slowly stood. In all her memories, there was one constant. Villetta Nu always survived. She was not going to walk out of the door to her own demise. She would somehow turn this to her advantage.
It was time to finally learn what business her captor was involved in.
Lelouch fell backwards abruptly as Bismarck pushed him and drew his sword. The young boy across from them swallowed nervously as the sword rested against his throat, and his outstretched hand trembled.
"I only wanted to―"
Bismarck waved the guards forward―they seemed to haunt every corner of Ashford―and they took the small box from his hand and dropped it into a plastic bag. Warily, Lelouch stood, his heart pounding in his chest. Surely, that couldn't have been an assassination attempt? The boy was two years below him, a frequent attendant of the horseback riding club which was the only sport Lelouch didn't fail at.
There had to be a mistake. The boy didn't have the guts to kill him―now, Kallen on the other hand...
"Come," Bismarck ordered, dragging him away by his shoulder. "Never accept anything from anyone, do you understand? All items must first be given to an aide."
"So you will be collecting my graded assignments as well?"
"Yes."
"He is a classmate. You do not have to terrorize the school more than you are doing so already. Now, let go of me."
Bismarck spun him around. "I think you fail to understand your position here, Your Highness."
Lelouch raised his chin. "I have no intention of dying, but all anyone here sees is you herding me around like an irritating child. Prance me around as bait, fine, but if you want me to believe for a single moment that the Emperor is sincere in naming me his heir, treat me with respect."
His eyes narrowed. "You are a child who upended Area Eleven for myopic impulses. You have no care for law and order nor an idea of what duty even means. If you truly wished to act as heir, I would be unable to stop you."
"Then I command you to use your words before drawing swords on my classmates." His geass warmed, begging to be used and to make Bismarck bend the knee for him. "And I will see my friends, which includes Suzaku."
"Nunnally." Bismarck smiled sharply.
"No," Lelouch snapped, furious.
"Then until you can acknowledge your duty is to your country instead of your crippled sister, you will be treated as the child you are."
He should geass the man, demand absolute loyalty, consequences be damned. The Emperor already knew of geass. It would be impossible for Lelouch to surprise him with it. So what if the nearby guards would know what he had done? At least he would finally have some freedom.
Or the Emperor would simply send the next Knight of the Round, this time with sunglasses.
"Nunnally is non-negotiable," Lelouch said, forcing his jaw to relax and the anger to fade. "Other elements are. I want to spend time with the student council, privately. None of them would betray me. They are loyal to Britannia, and more importantly, myself."
"Are you sure you count Miss Stadtfeld in that list?" Bismarck asked curiously.
Lelouch's eyes narrowed. She had been absent in class. He knew she wasn't sick, and she would most certainly never feign it after such a momentous occasion―or had she gone to Ohgi who talked her out of trying to kill the next Emperor of Britannia? "Did you do anything to her?"
"You wear your heart on your sleeves," Bismarck answered.
"What. Did. You. Do."
"Does it matter? She is a terrorist."
No. They knew. Of course they did since they somehow discovered he was Zero. He was so stupid. He should have been less concerned about Kallen killing him and more that Britannia would decide to take care of her.
Why did it matter? She was just a tool, useful to only Zero. That was why he paid for her mother's medical expenses. It stabilized her and would make her more loyal―except he hadn't told her. It didn't matter if she died. She was a threat to his and Nunnally's safety. It was better this way.
She had been so heartbroken about the death of Shirley's father. She had nearly faltered, and in her despair, he could remind himself to lead the way. Because someone had to go on.
He could lose her, right?
"Is she still alive?" Lelouch asked. Or was the plan to announce she died from her illness, effectively letting her slip into obscurity without ever revealing the scandalous truth that a noble fought for the Elevens?
"What would you do?" Bismark challenged.
While his main assets were now out of reach, with no way to establish contact, he had a new card in play. He cocked his head. The Emperor did not want him dead yet. That was telling.
He smiled. "My father hardly told the world the truth, and we're surrounded by so many eager ears. Do you think you could stop every wagging tongue?"
"You wouldn't dare."
"Like no one would ever dare to rise up against the mighty Empire of Britannia?" He stepped forward, his fingers stiff. "You accuse me of not caring for law or order, and you would be right. Why would I respect the customs of an archaic institution which I despise? The Emperor may have declared me the heir, but I have no desire to rule a rotting corpse. So yes, I would happily throw this world into turmoil so Britannia can be cleansed in rebirth."
"You understand nothing." Bismark's face darkened, wrinkles turning into deep trenches and lips curling into a snarl. "Do you know how many died in the Emblem of blood? Death brings nothing but ruin and more despair. You cannot disrupt a cycle with violence."
"An interesting statement coming from the Knight of One, the man who is the Emperor's sword." Lelouch laughed. "Britannia rules through fear. Zero is hope. It is a hope for a future that drives people on, and you deny it systematically to millions."
"Your classmates would hardly consider themselves denied―"
"The Numbers," Lelouch said. "The Numbers with festering hatred."
"They're weak."
Lelouch scoffed, a manic laugh building in his throat. Nothing ever changed. Nothing ever would. "My goals remain the same. A peaceful world for Nunnally, one not ruled by fear and hate. A free Japan... and every Area freed who would wish to join them." A slight chuckle escaped him. "And the destruction of the royal family."
"Your insanity would bring ruin," Bismarck growled.
"I think you should consider giving me a reason to care for a rotting corpse before I declare my crimes and throw oil on the fire the Emperor's announcement has started. I don't think Britannia would survive."
"Or I could lock you in a room so you can speak to no one."
"Then I would be poor bait." Lelouch spun around. "Or you let me go to my friends, so I may be reminded that there are others I care for in Britannia."
"She's unharmed."
His knees buckled as the weight of relief crashed into him. Kallen was still alive. It shouldn't matter, but it did. He hadn't failed yet another person. Oh, she would despise him for his supposed betrayal, but at least she lived. She was unharmed.
His legs straightened, and he walked forward, to the Student Council room, to his friends.
This time, Bismarck didn't stop him, merely coming to a stop outside of the door.
Yeah, sorry folks. Lelouch's hatred for Britannia isn't just going to evaporate because he's now the heir lol.
Apologies for the delay. School started up once again and I promptly caught a cold so I've been doing a lot of hw and sleeping instead of writing. Excalibur update is a little delayed as a result.
Chat with me on the discord: discord . gg / MFKuCGYxcT