I do not own Code Geass or any series/characters referenced in this story.
Surprise, surprise, look who updated after over a year. I would like to apologize to everyone who has asked me about the update and the story as well as anyone else reading my story. I don't really have any excuses; I'm more disappointed in myself than anything. However, with this update, I also bring the promise that I will never abandon the story completely. It might take a while, over a year, in fact, for me to update, but until I die, I plan on adding chapters until the story is finished.
Code Geass Lelouch The Demon of Britannia
Chapter Three: Twins of Truth
Holy Britannian Empire: Imperial Palace [A few hours after the atempt on Marianne vi Britannia's life]
Charles zi Britannia sat at his desk staring at a screen that contained the list of thousands of Geass Directorate members, including the nonessential personnel such as guards, cooks, and janitorial staff, all listed before him. No one knew of this list, not even his brother, Marianne, or C.C., as they all agreed that any paper/digital trail that could lead back to themselves was incredibly dangerous. Charles realized the irony of his situation as he was now looking at a list that he had lied about because of his brother's treacherous actions.
"Bismarck, what percentage of the Geass Order has moved from the base in Europe to the new underground city in the Chinese Federation?" Charles frowned as he realized that his brother's betrayal couldn't have happened at a worse time as C.C. was shedding her responsibilities as the leader of the Geass Order. Victor saw that as an opportunity to take her place. Of course, Charles couldn't blame him as he would have done the same, as it would have brought them one step closer to Ragnarök.
"My Lord, approximately 74 percent of the original Order has moved to the underground city of Sareer. The thousands of other new members recruited from Britannia are already in the city. The majority of those from Britannia are more loyal to you, my Lord, but they should be interrogated with the same intensity that the others will face.
Bismarck had always been in a position of power in the Geass Order; however, he never deemed it necessary for him to really look into the organization itself despite having access to more information than anyone except for the Emperor and his brother. He only really cared about Charles's safety, and if something important happened in the Order that was unrelated to his master's safety, he never paid it any attention. Bismarck's attitude toward his position changed radically in the past couple of hours as he looked through hundreds of documents to verify the loyalty of anyone close to the Emperor.
The 98th emperor of Britannia silently nodded as he opened up a new document with all of the 0new recruits. Thankfully, he had far more information on these individuals than the original Order.
Charles would need to look through both lists along with a few trusted subordinates and identify those who are loyal to him and those who are devoted to his brother. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to go through and manually rewrite the memories of everyone on the list; however, there were a few key scientists and squad leaders that he would deal with personally as they carried too much information to be simply killed off.
A sigh escaped Charles' lips as he continued to scroll, copying and pasting the names of those he knew to be loyal to a different document. He had been at this all night, and the sun had already begun to rise behind him. Charles wondered when the next time he would get a good night's rest would be. Before he started to wallow in self-pity, he looked back at the list of his loyal subordinates, and as he continued to scroll, he saw two names that changed everything.
"Bismarck, call Nicholas and Sophia Owston and have them report to me immediately. If they are at the new headquarters in the Taklamakan Desert, use the Thought Elevator to bring them here."
As Bismarck left the room with a bow, Charles recounted everything he knew about the Geass bearers he called for. Nicholas and Sophia Owston were fraternal twins with near identical Geass, not too dissimilar from himself and his older brother. They were loyal to him as well as young and highly skilled in a multitude of fields. Most importantly, their Geass, while simple, were extremely powerful. Both siblings had Geass that revolved around the truth. Sophia, with the Geass of Fallacy, could immediately tell if someone was lying, and her slightly older brother Nicholas, who had the Geass of Veracity, could force anyone to tell the truth. All Charles would have to do is gather the order members that he was not 100% confident in their loyalty to him and ask them in front of Nicholas or Sophia if they were loyal to him.
Charles decided to rest his eyes for a couple of minutes until Bismarck returned. "Elsie, could you grab me a pillow? I am going to take a short nap until your brother returns with Nicholas and Sophia."
A tall, slim woman with dark brown hair emerged from the shadows cast by the rising sun. Elsie Waldstein was the leader of the C.B.I.A (Central Britannia Intelligence Agency), she had installed a puppet leader who acted more like a manager who received orders from Elsie. She and her older brother had been Charles' most loyal retainers besides Marianne. They were both incredibly competent in their respective fields.
"Of course, my Lord. Shall I play something soft and mellow on the violin as well?"
Elsie's voice was very unbefitting of her body. She sounded far younger than she was, with a cutesy voice that would make one wonder if she really was a trained assassin.
"I won't need the violin, trust me." Charles gratefully accepted the pillow from his spymaster, laid it on his desk, and fell asleep the second his head connected to the pillow.
An hour passed quickly. Elsie spent most of that hour looking over the list her Lord had made of all those he believed to be loyal to himself. She also began to plan various ways to get the thousands of C.B.I.A agents back to Britannia to be interrogated by the twins. Elsie then looked at her phone that showed she had recived a message from her brother saying he was almost up to the Imperial Palace with the twins. She decided to wake up her one and only Lord, as one would expect from the man who ruled one-third of the world; he even napped with dignity, and the second Elsie tapped his shoulder, he woke with a quiet groan.
"Your Majesty, Bismarck has returned with the twins through the Thought Elevator. They look to be in high spirits. I will have a warm towel brought to you so you can freshen up." Elsie then grabbed the towel from a servant who had shown up just as mysteriously as she had. The servant vanished into thin air as Elsie began to wipe the groggy Emperor's face.
"Thank you, Elsie. I appreciate the gesture, but I can wipe my own face. That nap was all I needed to get back to the proper mindset, and now, with the twins here, we can begin to work in earnest." Charles sounded a bit tired, but his eyes were full of energy as he gently wrested the towel from Elsie's hand.
"Your Majesty, Nicholas, and Sophia Owston are here to see you," Bismarck announced from the other side of the grand door that led to Charles's office.
"Enter." Was all the 98th Emperor said as Elsie straightened his robes.
"My Lord, we live to serve." The twins spoke in unison as they swiftly entered the room and kneeled before their master.
"You may rise, Nicholas and Sophia. I have a mission for both of you that is of the utmost importance and secrecy. However, this mission will be based upon trust, so I will need to read your memories to verify you are loyal to me and only me."
After the Emperor spoke, the room was silent as the twins looked at one another and then back to Bismarck.
"My Lord, whatever you request of us, we shall do. Any test you desire, we shall take to prove our trustworthiness. We offer our undying loyalty to you, and you alone as Lord Bismarck, who saved us from certain death, is your loyal retainer. " Nicholas spoke as he and his sister lowered their heads even further.
"Good, good; however, I will still read your memories to verify the truth of your statements. As much as I would love to trust the both of you, the mission the two of you will direct may be the most important mission in the history of the Geass Directorate."
The twins looked shocked at the prospect of being in charge of the most critical mission their Emperor had ever ordered.
"Of course, my Lord, our minds are yours to search."
Sophia said as she raised her head to meet the Emperor's gaze.
Charles then closed his eyes for a brief moment and reopened them with a Geass symbol in each of his eyes. He then spoke as his powers activated on the twins.
"Charles Zi Britannia views your memories."
Charles took his time carefully reviewing any and all interactions the twins had with his older brother to make sure they, indeed, were only loyal to Charles himself. He also noted several friends and/or acquaintances the twins made who had similar views to them. He would later track these people down and view their memories to make sure the twins hadn't misremembered or had been trained to create false memories. Cross-referencing other people's memories was always a fascinating endeavor, as he often loved to compare and contrast how different people thought of each other. He then double-checked that the sealed memories he modified were still intact. He had slightly changed a critical moment in the twin's childhood to make them completely trust Bismarck.
Their loyalty to his Knight might have been manufactured, but it felt identical to the real thing. The twins would die for the Knight of One and, by association, the Emperor. This, of course, had been the plan ever since he heard about their Geass abilities. He could not allow such potent Geass users to be free from his control, especially considering that their powers could potentially expose him if he ever told a lie to his brother.
The twins had lost their parents at a young age and were forced into an orphanage. After the death of their parents, the twins were starving on the streets, like beggars scrounging for scraps. All he had to do to make the twins never question his most loyal Knight was make it seem like Bismarck had been the one to save them instead of a random good samaritan. Bismarck picked them up off the streets and cared for them before sending them to an orphanage. Of course, it was just pure luck that the orphanage they had been sent to happened to be run by the Geass Order. The kids were taken from the orphanage before they reached ten years old, but they never could forget the noble Knight who saved their lives all those years ago.
Charles was quite proud of the contrived story he made up. With the thorough modifications to both of the twin's memories, he was confident of their absolute loyalty to him. The hardest part would be revealing to Nicholas and Sophia that he had sealed their memories. After a brief moment of contemplation, Charles found a solution. He quickly made a new memory in which both Nicholas and Sophia nearly died on a mission because they saw someone similar to their parent's murderer. Only to discover it was an unrelated, innocent third party, and the team they lead died because of their actions. There is nothing like survivor's guilt to motivate people to change in the way you want them to. Charles then created memories of the twins, asking for their memories to be sealed as they felt it was a danger to themselves and to the entire Order. He felt confident that his modifications would be undetected, and he released his Geass and waited to see Nicholas and Sophia's reactions.
The two of them straightened up a little but didn't act as if anything had changed. Neither of them looked distressed or concerned about their new memories, likely because they didn't realize anything had changed.
Charles smiled at the confirmation his meddling had gone unnoticed and spoke to the twins in a confident, booming voice.
"I knew I could trust you; the two of you are to be assigned this mission, but first, there is something I must do. As a show of good faith, I must reveal to you the truth."
Charles took a deep, sad sigh as if he was bringing up something painful.
"I have sealed some of your memories away upon your own request. The two of you caused a great deal of damage because of these memories, and in your selflessness, you decided that it was better for both yourselves and the Geass Order that you sealed these memories away."
The twins look shell-shocked for a moment. However, before the twins could say a word, Charles turned towards Sophia and spoke in a calm voice.
"I give you permission to use your Geass on me to confirm what I say next is nothing but the truth."
Sophia looked confused, then looked towards Bismarck, who slowly nodded at the younger twin, a curt look on his face. Sophia then took a deep breath and activated her ability, her left eye glowing with the power of Geass.
Internally smirking to himself, the Emperor spoke calmly the sentence he had perfectly formulated.
"I have sealed away a traumatic incident that shaped your life and helped you grow into the people you are today. "
The Emperor paused and looked at Sophia for any reaction that she detected any lies.
"You will see in your memories that you asked me to wipe your minds of any and all events related to the deaths that shaped your lives. I had previously considered wiping your memories, but I did not do so out of fear that you would betray me."
Sophia's face was contorted in shock, but she did not react to any of Charles' words in a negative way. Her brother looked just as shocked and looked to his sister for confirmation, and as their eyes met, Sophia just gave a slight nod to Nicholas, who calmed down, knowing that the Emperor had not lied.
"My Lord, I beg of you, please stop being so vague and just tell us what you sealed away," Sophia begged.
"I thought it would be best if I explained the circumstances surrounding your memories. I wished to slowly ease you into the truth as the more you knew beforehand, the easier it would be on your minds."
The Emperor explained to the confused twins before him. They were going off his internal script. He would have to speak carefully if things continued to stray away from his plan.
"Your Majesty, just tell us what you have sealed away and then unseal it. Our minds can handle it now. We really wish to know what we have lost." Nicholas spoke in a tired voice, his mind clearly focusing on the countless possibilities of false memories that could have been woven into his mind.
"So be it," the Emperor said in a grand tone, causing both siblings to straighten up their posture unconsciously.
"The memories I have sealed away involves the deaths of your parents the two of you were not orphaned because your parents died in a car crash. Your parents were, in fact, killed by a noblewoman for reasons that even I am not privy to. You were both present in the home when the murder happened. You saw your parents, lifeless corpses fall to the ground, and you even saw the woman who did it. Your memories of that time are very unclear. Even after looking through your memories myself, I could not identify who your parent's murderer was due to my inability to identify the culprit; the two of you constantly searched for your parent's murderer; of course, your searches never resulted in any results. " Charles could speak freely here as he was not lying in the slightest; he genuinely could not figure out who murdered Sophia and Nicholas's parents. If he had found her, he would've presented her to the twins as a way of guaranteeing their loyalty, but due to the fact that the twins were so young when the incident happened, he could not get a clear picture of the woman's face that she was relatively beautiful, and had bright blonde hair.
The twins remained motionless for a moment. Then, in unison, they met the Emperor's gaze directly and spoke. "We are ready now, your Majesty; please unseal our memories."
The Emperor nodded, acknowledging their will and determination. He then rose from his desk, stood before the twins, and spoke. "Charles Zi Britannia unseals your memories!"
Immediately, both twins froze, staring into nothingness as their old memories and new ones, created by the Emperor, became unlocked. For over a minute the twins did not move they did not blink they barely even breathed. Then, in unison, they blinked, looked at each other and hugged. They gripped onto each other as a drowning man might grab driftwood, and tears streamed down their faces. However, while their eyes were full of tears, they gleamed with rage and anger; wrathful would be an apt description of their expressions.
They both remembered the same painful memories of that dreadful woman who had wormed her way into their family, posing as a poor college student who just needed a place to stay for a few months. She crept her way into their home, and finally, when she gained their trust, she betrayed them in the most heinous way possible. She had lied since the first day they met. They had looked up to her as an older sister, but she was really just after something their parents had. They don't even remember what she took, which is probably why she let them live, as both of their parents were aware of what she stole and were promptly disposed of right in the middle of their living room. The twins only remembered her gray eyes and blonde hair. Her gorgeous features, however, remain blurry as they were still extremely young.
They remembered the way their parent's bodies slumped in their chairs, their food still warm on the table in front of them. They remember reaming dozens of armed men in suits rushing throughout the house, tearing it apart, searching for something; they remember being knocked out and thrown into the worst neighborhood. However, one thing remained the same: a small speck of hope that had not been changed from their original memories. A tall, muscular gentleman scooping them up off the side of the road, feeding them, clothing them, and bringing them to an orphanage.
"Bismarck saved us from her. Bismarck saved us from Tess," murmured Nicholas as a second onslaught of memories washed over the brother and sister. The older brother and younger sister remembered their old team, their old friends, whom they had killed because of their own desire for vengeance, just to end up with nothing. Memories of the second worst night of their lives came back into their minds. Every crystal clear detail was etched into their heads as they felt the long-forgotten guilt that the two of them had reemerged. Nicholas and Sophia could have extracted and left the extravagant house party they were infiltrating. However, the two of them caught a glimpse of someone who looked similar to the woman who called herself Tess while staying with their family.
Sophia and Nicholas immediately gave up on the mission to gain information on the suspicious guest. They ignored their team's warnings and pleas, as they stayed longer and longer into the night. Eventually, their host's security teams began to take notice of the several oddities surrounding the property, such as the sleeping guard dogs and various other disarmed security systems. A quick search revealed a teammate, hiding in the elevator shaft above the in-house winery, who was promptly shot down from her perch. With the death of their hacker, the security systems began to go back online and reveal the positions of two more members hiding outside in the ornate bushes in the garden. They slowly lost every single member of their external team. All the while being unable to do anything much less mourn, as it would reveal that they were involved somehow in the covert operation surrounding the mansion. The final gut-wrenching death happened right before their eyes, where young Timothy, who had been disguised as a butler, was dragged in front of the houseguests and promptly killed to appease the anger of the guests who had been informed of the operation. Timothy had only been 12 years old when he was shot dead. He had begged them to come onto this mission, and begrudgingly, they had allowed him due to his charisma and charm that helped him so much as a spy.
Then the twin's blood went cold as they watched their target, the woman who they believed was Tess, puke in horror at the display of death in front of her. She cried, bemoaning his death, saying that he was too young, and Sophia's Geass confirmed that she was telling the truth. The twins came to a profound realization that they had caused their entire team to die for nothing. Their friends of many years, partners throughout countless missions, all dead because of their thirst for vengeance.
The worst part was they were barely reprimanded as none of their team members had a Geass. When Sophia asked about new teammates for an upcoming mission, she was informed that she and her brother would only be sent on solo or duo missions. At the same time, Nicholas went to the chief of external operations and was told that they would receive no punishment but would have a difficult time finding Geass order members willing to join them. Both siblings were seen as lost causes who weren't allowed to go on critical missions, much less work with other Geass users in the Order.
Now, alongside the hate and anger in their eyes was self-loathing to a psychotic degree. While the two siblings could never bring themselves to hate each other, they could hate themselves. Before either twin could say something they may regret later on, they both felt a pair of strong, warm arms wrapping them both in a hug with shocked, teary eyes. They both turned to see the hulking form of Bismarck hugging them both.
"It's ok, children. While your decisions may have been rash, your anger was and is justified. It would be best if you did not hate yourselves for the choices you made in the past. You learned from your mistakes and decided it would be best if you sealed those memories away. Now you have grown and matured, and it is time for you to make up for those mistakes by helping his Majesty."
With his Lord's encouragement, Bismarck spoke comforting words to Nicholas and Sophia, and he genuinely did mean them. Their anger reminded him of his master's vengeance, which he enacted on the entire royal family except for his older brother. The twins were too rash and not methodical enough in planning out their revenge and had paid the ultimate price.
The shell-shocked twins merely nodded and stayed in his embrace for several more minutes, composing themselves before finally hugging Bismark back and standing once more to face the Emperor.
"Thank you, your Majesty, "Nicholas said.
"Your Majesty, thank you," Sophia said.
The twins turned to one another, shocked that they were out of sync.
"You may have been right, my Lord; I feel like an explanation may have helped us deal with the emotions a little better. However, we are both incredibly grateful for the sealing of those memories."
Nicholas spoke, having recovered slightly faster than his sister.
"We thank you, your Majesty, for removing our memories. If you hadn't, we likely would've caused even more unnecessary deaths," Sophia said as she recovered just after her brother.
"I am merely returning what you gave me to hide away for a brief time until you were ready. I never truly doubted you. I knew you would both be ready eventually," Charles spoke as he smiled at the recovering twins; they had fallen into his trap.
"Your abilities will be needed for an extended period of time, so I will explain to you now what I require out of you and then let you rest a moment before the first test begins. The two of you are to help me confirm the loyalty of the entire Geass Order. This is a process that will take months, if not over a year; you will be testing former friends, former superiors, and former subordinates. All must be viewed as guilty until proven innocent. Now before we proceed, I must request that nothing I say is to be mentioned outside of this room. You will only mention this to people I wholeheartedly trust." Before continuing, the Emperor of Britannia looked at both twins in the eyes, not using his Geass, merely his intuition after years of ruling. He once again made sure he could trust the two twins before him.
"My brother betrayed me and attempted to kill my wife, the only wife who actually knew of the Geass Order. The only wife who I genuinely love. V.V. tried to kill Marianne vi Britannia, my true wife. Marianne is privy to my innermost secrets and is trusted as much as Bismarck. My brother knew all of this and tried to kill her out of jealousy. He broke the rule of mutual respect and trust that we had had throughout our entire lives. He can no longer be trusted, and by association, a large portion of the Geass directorate cannot be trusted as well. I will need the two of you to use your abilities to help me clean out the entire Order. A purge will be conducted, and the two of you will be my judges, with Bismarck as my executioner."
The twins received another shock, although not as great as the first one they experienced just a few minutes ago. This was still something absolutely shocking to them V.V. was the one who gave both of them their Geass. He was going to be the next leader of the Order. They had a significant amount of respect for him. They were shocked that he could do such a thing. Before either of them could speak, the Emperor sat back down, turned to his loyal night, Bismarck, and gave him a slight nod.
"Come with me, you two; I shall explain everything. Let's have you two sit down. We will return to the office later once my Lord needs us." Bismarck guided the twins out of the room as he prepared to explain the significance of V.V.'s betrayal.
The Emperor watched as the door closed behind his judges and executioner. He then turned and spoke to his prosecutor.
"Elsie, please take a look at the priority list and choose someone who would be a good first trial for the twins to use their abilities on someone. The person should be loyal but highly influential, someone who would ruin quite a bit if they were disloyal." He smiled slightly as his plans were going somewhat well, and if the Owston twins did their duty, he should have a totally loyal Geass Directorate within a year, as well as a clean CBIA.
After a few moments of carefully considering the names on the priority list that the Emperor had created earlier, she saw a name that had multiple adjacent files to it, including two positions of senior leadership. Seeing the name related to the file, she knew she had the perfect candidate for the twins.
"My Lord, I believe I have found a perfect first candidate to be tested. Olivia Zevon, the current leader of the Zevon family, and Pluton. With her position as a Knight of the Round Table, she must be loyal or be made loyal and would be an excellent test for the twins."
Charles seemed to ponder for just a moment before nodding his head in approval.
"You should also include her brother, Oiagros Zevon. He is someone who should be kept on a tight leash, as he seems to be highly ambitious for someone of his station. His hidden envy of his sister has made him valuable for the missions she might find distasteful. However, too much jealousy might lead him to rebel. I actually believe him to be far more of a threat than his older sister. Order them both here, and whoever arrives first, we shall be dealt with."
"Of course, my Lord. Should I order them here, or should we meet somewhere else? Your office may not be the most appropriate place to detain anyone if they turn out to be disloyal to you."
The Emperor thought that Elsie brought up a fair point and that he should have a little bit more security with him just in case anything went wrong, although, with his own and shadow guards surrounding him, he should be fine. He didn't want to take any chances, especially in this precarious moment where he could trust very few people.
"Let's move this conversation into one of the secure conference rooms. Don't forget to tell your brother what room we have moved to so he doesn't return to this room and wonder where we have gone."
Then, he turned to a dark corner of the room that appeared to have just a nightstand with a marble statue on it.
"You there transfer that list to a laptop so I can work on it while we wait for the twins to return and the Zevon siblings to arrive."
The shadow guard, who had been hidden in plain sight, emerged and immediately began to work on transferring all the necessary files to a laptop that a second guard was bringing toward the large African Blackwood desk.
So the Emperor and Elsie, along with the hidden guards, left the Emperor's office to prepare for several more hours of questioning and doubting alliances and allegiances.
End of Chapter Three: Twins of Truth
Unfortunately, I really don't have any explanations or excuses like I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. School just kind of overwhelmed me for the past year as I am finishing up my degree I have around a year left so we will see how much time that consumes. (Literally just an excuse) I added a lot of new characters in this chapter, three major ones that will be appearing consistently throughout the story. The twins were an interesting concept I had, and they are individuals who I think would likely be killed by V.V. Following his assassination of Marianne. Their abilities, while extremely powerful, are essentially useless in terms of overall versatility. They have one function that they serve, and that's it. Granted, they are absolute, but they aren't that powerful when compared to a genuinely powerful Geass like Lelouch, who could just order someone to tell the truth, as well as a myriad of other things. They are fun characters who I think have a lot of potential to change critical moments suddenly throughout the series. With the introduction of Elsie, I hope to kind of create a head of intelligence figure that will constantly be doing shady things in the background. Of course, there are many other organizations across Britannia, so they will keep their respective leaders, but all will be watched by Elsie. I mentioned in the author's notes of chapter 2 that if anyone still remembers that so long ago, this chapter was supposed to be around 10,000 words; I ended up chopping it in half to around 5000 words. Chapter 4 should be around the same length as this one. I have no idea when chapter 4 will be finished, but I promise it will eventually be released. There is some good news about my long break. I have thoroughly flushed out the next upcoming chapters and have expanded a whole lot myriad of side characters and subplots that will each get their own time in the spotlight. For those of you still reading, thank you, and once again sincerely, apologize.
