Vivian woke up in bed in a hot flash. She noticed that her alarm hadn't gone off; indeed, after she rose and took care of her daily hygiene and subsequently checked her phone, it read 10:10 AM and there was no trace of the alarm that she had set the night before.
"What—fuck, I'm late!"
How is this possible?!! she queried to herself.
As she stampeded downstairs in her jeans and black t-shirt, she caught sight of a wild story making news headlines.
"This is a national emergency broadcast! Reporting from Waikiki, Hawaii, on December 7th 2018, 98th Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia has just been caught on tape capitulating himself to arrest by UFN Interpol!
This raises many concerning questions of what is going to be the repercussions against the Britannian Empire. Prime Minister Schneizel has been exonerated, and concerns have arisen of if he will place the country under martial law or quarter UFN military police within our own hometowns-"
"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!" Vivian screamed.
Her father, sweat coalescing on his whole head and torso, said "...I don't know. Were my efforts to save you from your mother all for a future damned to misery?"
Eyelid twitching, Vivian said "How, what happened?! What's gonna happen to us?!"
"I-" her father responded, immediately cut off.
"I had a nightmare yesterday," Vivian said, sweating and hyperventilating, "I dreamed that our town got bombed by a FLEIJA, it felt so real and then my alarm wasn't there, how is that possible?! Did you learn the code to my phone?!"
"No!" her dad shouted.
"USJ forces are reporting now that former Emperor Lelouch was in fact the true identity of Zero, and that among other war crimes, he commanded them to massacre civilians at the Taklamakan Desert including children, and has the ability to command anyone who makes eye contact with him to obey anything that they hear his voice say as an imperative. In response, Prime Minister Schneizel has declared that he is publicly releasing a dossier to corroborate their claims, and it is unclear what this means for the future of the Royal Family."
"...what..." Vivian gritted her teeth, face turning red.
"Is this real life?!" her dad asked.
Vivian's phone blew up with texts, most frequent of which was "THE MATRIX IS REAL"
"I can't fuckin believe it, did you see the news?" Nina texted her.
"How, what the hell is happening?!" she texted back.
She then called Nina, being told, "Hi; I was gonna pick you up but had to show up to school and you didn't wake up on time! I KNEW Lelouch in high school but he never told me a thing about himself!"
"Nina, last night I dreamed-" Vivian said, getting cut off.
"FUCK that bastard! Politicians and aristocrats ruined my life!" Nina screamed.
An alert showed on the phone:
THE BRITANNIAN EMPIRE HAS COMPLETELY SURRENDERED TO UFN FORCES. A TREATY HAS BEEN RATIFIED BETWEEN PRIME MINISTER SCHNEIZEL EL BRITANNIA AND AMBASSADOR KAGUYA SUMERAGI OF THE USJ. THE TREATY'S TERMS SURRENDER EACH DISTRICT OF THE COUNTRY TO EMERGENCY SATRAPS BY UFN FORCES.
"Did you see the alert?!" Vivian demanded.
"Yes I did! What the hell!"
A second alert was texted to her phone:
UP classes have been postponed indefinitely effective Dec. 7 2018 in response to the national emergency.
"I just need someone! Anyone! To tell me things are gonna be okay!"
"Lucas and I are doubling back," Nina shouted. "At least your home has a bunker!"
Vivian noticed that she had a red wing tattoo on her sternum.
"Dad, what is this?! How did it get on me?!" she shouted, pointing at it.
"Viv... You've had that birthmark since the day you were born."
"WHAT?!"
"I can't explain what I don't know."
"Prime Minister Schneizel is walking out of the building, and the broadcast of the UFN council reports that at the conclusion of the congress he declared that he would make a statement to his home country," the newscaster reported.
"Your honor, what will this mean for our motherland?" she asked him as he approached.
"No comment," he responded.
A strawberry-blond statesman by his side answered "The Prime Minister entrusted me with reporting that this will mean a cessation of the embargo restrictions and tariffs that Lelouch vi Britannia placed on trade to our country, and the restoration of a lawfully elected government."
The doorbell rung.
Nina... Vivian thought.
She ran and opened the door.
Nina was in tears, as Lucas pulled into the driveway.
"Let's go to the bunker," their dad said. "We'll have to keep watching until we know it's safe, but we do have a TV there."
Hours after they descended into the pit, they began making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as the national news broadcasters reported, "Terms of the Britannian Empire's surrender include indefinite UFN military monitoring and peacekeeping, but the treaty strictly prohibits war crimes under the Waikiki Convention. Strangely, the Waikiki Convention was written by the terrorist-cum-dictator Lelouch vi Britannia himself. The soldiers' relocation is expected to be finalized by the deadline of 12:00 AM on March 1st 2019, Waikiki Standard Time."
"Okay, so we're not gonna become the wild west," her dad breathed in relief.
"...Are businesses gonna collapse?!" Vivian yelled.
"Calm down, government-controlled departments are naturally not able to function until the legislature this country follows is clear. Of course the University of Pendragon was going to postpone its academic courses."
"...what is this thing on me..." Vivian asked.
"You used to boast about your birthmark, what do you mean 'what is it'?!" Nina interjected.
"I think this calls for a 'you survived' celebration," her dad said. "Let's go to Vinegarden."
"Thanks for giving me a second home," Nina told him.
"One day," their dad responded, "you'll forget all about that crap you had to go through in Area 11 and proudly wear the surname Tyndall."