Chapter 5
The Worth of Dignity
"Fuck!" Kallen reflexively cried out.
A psychiatrist would probably have ascribed some meaning to the fact that she uttered an English curse instead of a Japanese one, but this really was neither the time nor the place to be doing psychoanalysis. Kallen's first instinct was to rush over to try and help Inoue, the woman having been caught in the bursting charge that started dispersing the Sarin gas. Others were already doing that however, and crowding closer to the weapon while it was spewing out the toxin was probably not a very good idea. In fact, the best way she could help anyone was to get herself and those closer to her as far away as possible. Especially considering one of those persons close to her was a high-ranking cardinal of Eden Vital, and might be the first Britannian of authority genuinely interested in helping improve the lot of the Japanese people. Things might not necessarily get better even so, but they would almost certainly get worse if he actually died.
Grabbing hold of Lelouch, Kallen started pulling him along as she broke out into a sprint. She was helped along with this task by Suzaku, an Honorary Britannian that Kallen considered a sellout to their people, but right now was not the time to be picky.
"Your Eminence!" a woman's voice called out and the knightmare drew closer to them.
"Sancia, extract the others closer to the gas!" Lelouch ordered. "Dalque, get back here and help evacuate the wounded!"
"Yes, Your Eminence!"
"On my way!"
The knightmare zoomed past the trio and hurried towards the other insurgents. One by one, she plucked them up as gently as she could manage, letting them grab onto whatever they could grab on the frame. For most of them, the masks they wore would be enough to protect them for at least a little bit, but Sarin was an insidious toxin. Mere contact with skin was enough to result in poisoning, and as a nerve agent, its effects were horrendous. Losing conscious control of your muscles was bad enough, but then slowly asphyxiating to death because your unconscious control over the muscles that helped you breathe was arguably much, much worse, and a very painful way to go.
"Do you have antidotes!?" Lelouch asked as they ran.
"Just enough for one shot for each of us!" Kallen called back.
"Inject them, now."
That was probably the right call. Kallen took out her syringe, but the girl felt her grip on it already start to slacken. Seeing the shaking of her hands, Lelouch took it before she could drop it and pulled off the cap. Finding a vein, he injected Kallen. Somehow the cardinal's own hands remained completely steady.
"Private, if you have an anti-toxin, I would suggest you use it now," Lelouch said.
"S-sorry sir, those aren't iss-sued as standard kit."
Lelouch grimaced. Due to the uncertainty as to what exactly was being produced, he had been limited in what he could prepare for the infantry platoon besides the gas masks. The cardinal had hoped that would be enough, but by the time they realized it was Sarin being produced, there was no time to get the appropriate anti-toxins delivered. That was less a problem for Lelouch and his entourage, their augmentations meant they were close to immune to any such nerve agents, but the soldiers were not similarly protected.
"What about you," Kallen said in between coughs.
"Worry about yourself, Lady Stadtfeld," Lelouch said. "I would be quite aggrieved if you were to die under my watch."
Behind the mask Kallen tried to crack a wry smile, but the tightness in her chest made everything hurt. "Right back at you."
Sancia's knightmare rolled up next to the trio, with plenty of people doing their best to hang on. In the knightmare's hands however were cradled those that could not keep on under their own strength. At the same moment, Dalque's frame appeared and raced over to them.
"Your Eminence, please climb on," Sancia said.
A crash sounded nearby, and when Lelouch looked over he saw another knightmare, this one with scarlet colored pauldrons, smash through the tunnel walls. The frame looked about, then caught sight of those clustered around Lelouch.
"For a pure Britannia!" a fanatical voice sounded from the knightmare and it charged forth towards them.
Something clicked within Lelouch. It was too primal to be a conscious thought, but also too calculating to be mere instinct. At best it could be termed a natural recognition, that the man piloting that knightmare was not merely a threat, but also a target. Intellectually, once Lelouch's thoughts caught up with this recognition, the cardinal would surmise that this was the knightmare Lucretia had tried to warn them about. That in all likelihood it was this knightmare that managed to get close enough to trigger the remote detonation, and very possibly end up killing thousands of innocent civilians. At minimum, quite a few of the insurgents and soldiers accompanying Lelouch might not make it, or would end up permanently crippled. All this was reason enough for Lelouch to want the knight dead. That the recognition that he desired this end occurred before the logical rationale that led to this conclusion could be formed in his head was irrelevant, since the result would be the same.
Lelouch fixed his gaze upon the advancing knightmare, ensuring he had clear line of sight.
"Stop."
The knightmare froze, its momentum seemingly evaporating in an instant. Its posture meant the mech did not topple over outright, instead the frame simply stood there as if nothing more than a statue.
"Dalque, break that thing," Lelouch ordered through his pounding headache.
The girl made no quips or cheery acknowledgments. Instead she charged forward and crashed straight through the other mech. It broke up into twisted shards of metal and scrap, and from amidst the debris a lone figure tumbled onto the ground. The knight scrambled to his feet, panting heavily. He looked about and tried to rise, then frowned. Within a few moments the man was clutching his chest and making ragged breaths. Lelouch did not even spare a glance.
"Sancia, Dalque, get us the hell out of here," he said instead.
"At once, Your Eminence," Sancia said.
At this point some of the other soldiers and insurgents were also having difficulty continuing to cling to Sancia's knightmare, so Dalque grabbed those she could and began rolling slowly down the tunnel. Lelouch had his own hands full grabbing hold of Kallen and Suzaku and making sure they did not fall off. The task of quickly evacuating everyone became considerably easier with the arrival of two more knightmares.
"Your Eminence!" Lucretia cried out over the radio.
"Lucretia, Alice, help grab the wounded," Lelouch ordered.
With the infected further distributed, it became easier for the knightmares to go faster without risking anyone falling off. Lelouch did not wait until they were clear of the tunnel before taking further action however.
"Sancia, get me Colonel Welkins of the Gendarmerie and Bishop Candice on the same line."
"Connecting." A beat passed. "The colonel and bishop are online, Your Eminence."
"Colonel, Bishop, a chemical weapon dispersing aerosolized Sarin has been activated in the Shinjuku ghettos," Lelouch wasted no time in getting to the point.
Gasps sounded from both the others.
"I am declaring a state of emergency," the cardinal continued. "Colonel, I need search and rescue parties down here immediately to evacuate and treat any civilians that might be exposed to the toxin. Bishop, I need you to organize the collection and distribution of the necessary medical supplies to help treat the Sarin poisoning."
"Right away, Your Eminence," Candice's response came immediately.
Welkins however had some practical concerns. "Will the military allow us entry into the ghettos?"
The relationship between the Britannian Gendarmerie and the military occupational forces was frosty, to put it lightly. The Gendarmerie was officially the Empire's military police force, with a firm emphasis on the latter. The former part came from the fact that they were kitted out quite a bit more heavily than the regular police, since they served as the predominant counterterrorist and hostage rescue specialists within the Empire. In general however, the gendarmes thought of themselves as police primarily concerned with the enforcement of law and the protection of innocents, and preferred it that way.
The refusal of the occupational forces to let the Gendarmerie actually police the regions of Area 11 outside of the Concessions had seriously irritated the Gendarmerie, especially considering the military had ostensibly taken on that duty themselves, but either made a complete hash of it or outright just neglected to even pretend they were trying. So while Colonel Welkins was likely not resistant to the opportunity of finally getting to do his job, his concern about potential military interference was entirely warranted. They would do little good trying to help others if they ended up getting shot at themselves, and just because the Gendarmerie was more heavily armed than normal police, it did not mean they were trained, equipped, or legally supposed to fight actual military units.
"A good portion of the Purists have already been purged," Lelouch said bluntly. "The rest of the military should adhere to my orders now that I have invoked secundus."
"I see," Welkins said cautiously, but then. "I will turn out the garrison immediately, Your Eminence. Bishop Candice, we should get a line of communications going between our offices to coordinate our respective resources."
"Agreed, Colonel."
"You two may continue using this line until you have your own communications properly set up," Lelouch said. "Lamperouge, clear."
Kallen coughed, causing Lelouch to look down at the girl he was cradling. Somehow she still managed a thin smile.
"T-trying to keep up appearances, Your Eminence?" she slurred slightly.
Despite it all Lelouch could not help but give a slight chuckle. "You do not seem a woman that would tolerate being disappointed, Lady Stadtfeld."
Kallen's smile widened ever so briefly, before she coughed again and closed her eyes. Her breathing, ragged though it was, continued however. And that was what mattered beyond all else.
While Bartley had been forced to accompany Clovis when the prince moved in to try and break through the Shinjuku perimeter, the moment the fighting began and their troops started getting slaughtered, the general managed to slip away with the pretext of going to rally reinforcements. Clovis probably had not believed a word of it, considering the indifference the prince displayed at Bartley's departure. The mattered little to the general though, his immediate priority was to get as far away from the fighting as he could. That Bartley was at least partially successful in doing, managing to retreat back to the main staging post the occupational forces maintained within the Concessions. From here he could start making preparations to insulate himself from the disaster unfolding in the ghettos, or failing that at last prepare a means of further escape. That was at least Bartley's intention. Whether anyone besides the general would have given him any decent odds of success was less certain, especially as Lelouch's orders started filtering down through the rest of the chain of command and began overriding those Bartley tried to issue.
The end result of all this saw the general hunkering down in his office and from time to time hitting the intercom to spout increasingly incomprehensible decrees. By now quite a few of his subordinates suspected the pressure on Bartley was driving him effectively insane, which was why no one offered any resistance when a detachment of gendarmes arrived, accompanied by Jeremiah and Lucretia. Despite the friction between the two services, the soldiers looked positively relieved that someone was finally here to deal with Bartley's ever escalating tantrums.
The general was actually in the midst of another tirade when the door to his office opened and a contingent of armed officers entered. None of them raised their weapons to actively aim at the general, but even in his crazed state Bartley could recognize the meaning behind their weapons.
"Who the hell are you!?"
Or maybe not. The next two persons that entered the general however recognized with no trouble at all, considering they were the source of his present predicament, or so he thought. It was doubtful whether the general was even capable of recognizing he had only himself to blame for what was about to befall him.
"You have some gall showing your face to me, Gottwald," Bartley sneered. "After you so cravenly abandoned our Prince Clovis in his time of need!?"
Jeremiah's expression twisted into visible disgust. Had he really sounded this unhinged before the Cardinal Lamperouge ran him through the ringer? It hardly seemed possible for anyone to be this removed from reality. Then again, so many of those he had once considered blood brothers had turned out ever so willing to draw his blood this day in pursuit of their ambitions. In honesty Jeremiah had to admit he too might have done the same had the situation been reversed, and likely not felt more than a tiny flicker of guilt before he was able to rationalize it all away. What a difference it made to one's perspective when one could no longer run away from reality.
"Bartley Asprius," Jeremiah began, forgoing the man's wholly undeserved rank. "By the order of His Eminence the Cardinal Lamperouge, you are hereby under arrest for extortion, black market profiteering in selling military contraband, and conspiracy to manufacture and employ a schedule 1 substance, Sarin."
"What audacity, for one of Eden Vital's mewling preachers to accuse me of anything!" Bartley cried out. "Is the cardinal such a coward that he needs to send one of his courtesans instead of coming himself?"
The margrave actually had to resist the very strong urge to cave in Bartley's face then and there. From the way the gendarmes accompanying him shifted, it was an urge they shared. Lucretia however did not seem perturbed in the least as she stepped forward.
"Your remarks have been duly noted and recorded, General Asprius, and my thanks for allowing us to add conduct unbecoming of a gentleman and officer of the Crown to your list of charges. I am certain His Majesty will take full account of the evidence when determining whether the noble patents held by your family are still deserved."
That sent a shiver through Jeremiah. To have your entire family stripped of their ancestral noble patent was the greatest possible dishonor that could befall a noble lineage. To be the one responsible for that dishonor was a fate worse than death. Not only did it mean a loss of your prior prerogatives, and the income that came from the lands associated with the patent, you were likely to become a pariah to the rest of your family as well. None of your former peers would want to associate with you either, you were well and truly cut off from the only world you knew. And since only the gravest of crimes would see a noble being stripped of his titles like this, it was unlikely your new fellow commoners would have much sympathy for you either. Of course what to do with the rest of one's life was also usually moot in such cases, as such crimes were generally also grave enough to warrant the ultimate sanction of death. Britannia was not some liberal democracy that preached the supreme sanctity of life, it was a constitutional monarchy that placed a heavy emphasis on personal responsibility. Mistakes can be made, but perpetuating them to the point of sedition or treason was more than ample ground for execution.
When Bartley heard Lucretia's declaration, the man's face briefly blanched before becoming flushed into a most puce shade.
"How DARE you! How dare the emperor! The Asprius has served Britannia for generations, and this is the gratitude we are shown!? We will not stand for it! The great peers will not stand for it! It is nobles such as I that form the bedrock of our great and pure Empire! To even think of discarding us like so show just how far Britannia has fallen from its true glory!"
Lucretia regarded Bartley for a moment. "Gentlemen, please take Mr. Asprius into custody." She tilted her head. "And if one of you has something with which to silence his ramblings, I would not object."
"With pleasure, Sister Lucretia," one of the gendarmes said as they moved in to seize the man.
"Stay back, do not touch me! Stop! Stop-"
They promptly shoved a rag into his mouth and someone even had some tape on hand to seal it shut, resulting in only muffled cries escaping from Bartley. The man continued to struggle, but it had been years since Bartley was required to actually meet the fitness standards of a line soldier and he was soon wheezing through his gag from his exertions. The gendarme more dragged than carried him out in the end, with Lucretia trailing after.
Left alone momentarily, Jeremiah looked around the office. Bartley's arrest removed the highest-ranking opposition to Lelouch within the occupational forces and under normal circumstances Jeremiah would have succeeded him until a more permanent replacement was appointed. Indeed right now, officially the colonel was the commanding officer of the occupational forces, at least in the immediate vicinity of Tokyo. There was a brigadier-general in Kyoto in command of some forces responsible for western Japan, and another up in Hokkaido, but neither of them were likely to start anything while the situation in the Area's administrative capital was still so unsettled.
Jeremiah however did not entertain any illusions that he was anything but a temporary placeholder for his current command. Whatever the official chain of command, Lelouch had demonstrated pointedly that final authority about the Area's affairs lay with him. Even now gendarme detachments were spreading throughout the city arresting suspects involved with the Sarin conspiracy, and Eden Vital lay members were spreading out through the ghettos carrying aid to whomever needed it. The cardinal's decisive action was winning much praise from the common populace, both Britannian and Eleven. If the emperor elected to appoint Lelouch as the new viceroy, Jeremiah would not be surprised in the least. All of which left interesting questions as to what was in store for the colonel himself.
The margrave knew that he could have easily joined Bartley in his fate had circumstances been just a bit different. He was still at considerable risk of censure, for it was becoming more and more evident that the Sarin conspiracy was almost entirely a Purist conspiracy. The damage to the credibility of the Pureblood movement was difficult to understate, especially once the trials got underway and the evidence was presented. At the very least their presence in Area 11 would be drastically curtailed, and there would likely be some repercussions for those branches operating in the homelands. If Jeremiah was to personally survive, he would need to win the cardinal's confidence. His having obeyed Lelouch's secundus decree would likely help a bit with that, but the margrave knew that that if he wanted to remain in the cardinal's service, he would need to continue demonstrating both his obedience and his utility. Jeremiah took a deep breath. There was much to do, and he had best get started.
Lelouch had taken the time to get properly scrubbed down, less for his own sake and more for the sake of anyone he would be running into in the near term. Sarin was an insidious toxin, not just because of the excruciating way it killed, but because of how it could linger onwards for quite some time. His clothes had also been thoroughly bleached and then chucked into an incinerator for good measure. Fortunately he had brought no shortage of changes of clothes with him, so he was already back to looking proper and dignified.
"What is our current status?" Lelouch asked as he finished changing.
"Rescue teams have already brought in a few hundred casualties for treatment," Sancia answered, having somehow managed to finish freshening up before Lelouch, though her hair was still slick from washing. "More civilians are also coming in themselves with symptoms of Sarin poisoning. So far the total reported fatalities have only just breached the hundred count, and the speed with which we were able to get people treated should keep that number from climbing too precipitously."
That might have been the case, but both knew that would be of little comfort to the families and friends of those that did perish. They may have dodged a major body count because so many civilians had fled the area of the fighting, and the gas being released inside the traffic tunnel helped more with its containment, but those were still casualties that should have never happened in the first place. Would not have happened at all if certain parties here in Area 11 had not gone full stupid in their schemes.
"General Asprius has also been arrested, and Colonel Gottwald is keeping a tight rein on the rest of the occupational troops in and around Tokyo."
That was at least some good news. And now onto potentially more bad news.
"And the soldiers and insurgents that were with us?" Lelouch asked next.
"The majority of the soldiers were far away enough and got their masks on in time such that their exposure was reduced compared to the insurgents," Sancia answered. "Most will likely make a full recovery. Private Kururugi however was physically much closer, and did not have benefit of an antitoxin. He is still unconscious, and while the doctors believe he will wake, they are uncertain as to the extent of the neurological damage he may have sustained."
That was unfortunate, in many regards. By all indications Suzaku would have had a promising career ahead of him, and might even have turned into something of an exemplar his fellow Japanese could aspire towards. To have that potential cut short like this was lamentable.
"The insurgents were all able to take or be administered an antitoxin that helped mitigate a significant portion of the Sarin toxicity," Sancia continued. "The woman working to disarm the weapon, Inoue, however suffered significant lacerations to her face when it went off. Current prognosis is that she has almost certainly lost sight in her eyes, perhaps permanently so."
Lelouch took a deep breath. "I see."
"The Lady Stadtfeld as well," Sancia was not done, "reacted extremely negatively to the toxin. The doctors suspect she exhibited an allergic reaction to the antitoxin, significantly reducing the protection it should have offered. She has already awakened, but indicates low levels of pain throughout her body and seems unable to maintain fine grained motor control."
That saw Lelouch's frown deepen even further. Losing Kallen to the Sarin poisoning would likely be even more problematic than losing Suzaku. The cardinal had been hoping to employ her and her fellow insurgents as a go-between with other cells to try and arrange a ceasefire, to maybe even getting them to disarm in the long run. Kallen's heritage, could have served as an even more potent symbol of what a partnership between Britannians and Japanese could be. There was no guarantee of finding another person of mixed heritage that also possessed her courage, conviction, and intelligence. Lelouch considered his options. There might yet be a way to salvage her, though he expected it would take some convincing to get Kallen to accept his offer. That could wait though, and Kallen could likely use the time to come to grips with her present situation. Lelouch had one other far more pressing matter to attend to right now anyway.
The interior of the command cruiser was empty and dim, even as the outside was ringed by a perimeter manned by gendarmes. None of them made a move to enter the vehicle however, and those personnel that had tried to leave after the gendarmes arrived were generally allowed to do so after a quick confirmation of their identity. Clovis was now truly alone, having dismissed even his armsmen after releasing them from their oaths. That was the least he could do for the men and women that had stood by him all these years, following him as he stumbled into one folly after another. He did not want them to waste their lives trying to resist the inevitable, as their oaths would have otherwise demanded, when the gendarmes outside finally got around to entering and taking the prince into custody.
And yet despite having accepted his fate, despite his readiness to face head-on what was about to happen, in the end it was not the gendarmes that came for Clovis. It was instead a sharply dressed young man with pitch black hair, and a pair of piercing violet eyes. Clovis could not help but smile wryly.
"I suppose I should have expected nothing less, Your Eminence," Clovis said. "You have after all demonstrated resolve aplenty. Why would you need to delegate this to anyone else when you are perfectly capable of arresting me yourself?"
"We all have our duties, Clovis," Lelouch responded. "To our station, as well as to our family."
Clovis' eyes widened slightly, then his face tightened a bit. "Family, hmm? I suppose we do. And what a complete travesty to our family I've turned out to be."
Lelouch said nothing for a few moments, then pulled up a chair and even a small table across from Clovis.
"If you are still interested," the cardinal said, opening the box he carried and letting the pieces spill out, "I thought we might have that game you suggested."
Clovis looked down at the chess set, then back at Lelouch. His brother's expression was hard to read as ever, but there was a definite hint of sadness in his eyes. Maybe even a bit of regret.
"I suppose I have nothing better else to do," Clovis said with a shrug. "Assuming you think there is time?"
"We can certainly make the time," Lelouch said.
Clovis' lips thinned for a few moments, but the man finally nodded.
"Very well then. If you would please set the board?"
Lelouch did so, and predictably placed white on his brother's side.
"I have always wondered," Clovis said nonchalantly. "Why is it that you always choose to play black?"
"I see no reason to grant my opponents such an advantage as to me playing white," was Lelouch's response.
That elicited a bark of laughter from the prince. "You know it's usually the other way around, Lelouch. White is generally considered to have the advantage thanks to its initiative."
"The only ones that get to say that are those that can actually beat me with white," Lelouch responded as he continued setting up the board, piece by deliberate piece.
"Oh, is that how it is?" Clovis said, offering a wolfish smile despite himself. "Well, I'll have you know I've practiced long and hard over the years in preparation for our rematch. I've even pressed Schneizel a time or two."
"Just the two, I take it then?" was Lelouch's repost, this time accompanied with a competitive smile of his own.
"Well, maybe just the one," Clovis allowed.
With the board set, Lelouch motioned for Clovis to make his move. The prince reached out with one hand, while keeping the other still tucked within his coat, and moved forward a pawn.
"Since we seem to have the time," Clovis said as Lelouch actually took a few moments to contemplate his response, "might I ask a few things of you?"
"Certainly," Lelouch said, finally responding by mirroring Clovis' opening. "I will endeavor to answer to the best of my ability."
Clovis took a deep breath. "How have you been, Lelouch?"
The question did not appear to come unexpected, as the younger man gave a slight shrug.
"Well enough. I cannot claim my time has been spent in much leisure since that day, but I think my life up till now has been fulfilling enough."
"That is good to hear," Clovis said with genuine relief. "We were all quite concerned after you, disappeared, into Eden Vital. Father refused to answer any inquires, and none of the Order's members at court seemed to know anything of substance either. We, had feared the worst."
"The Order can be overly secretive," Lelouch said. "In my case though, for the most part there was nothing terribly special about what I underwent. I was placed with a cohort about my age, and together we were schooled in a wide range of disciplines, from mathematics and logic to history and philosophy. Our education was exacting, but it was not as if we were given no time for leisure either. Our instructors and caretakers were dutiful in their attention, and saw to it that we were always given what we needed, and when appropriate what we wanted."
"That environment certainly sounds, stringent," Clovis remarked as he made his next move.
"It was certainly different from Pendragon," Lelouch agreed, "though in truth to me the difference was more of one in degree than kind. Mother was after all a prioress of Eden Vital, and herself raised in much the same manner as a child. As such she employed similar such methods when raising myself and Nunnally, if not to the same rigor."
"I see," Clovis said, tilting his head contemplatively. "This, cohort of yours. Would they happen to be the members of your current entourage?"
"They would," Lelouch confirmed. "Eden Vital organizes the orphans in their care into cohorts of four to six each, usually of the same gender. From time to time they would mix them up a bit, if they find being around those of the opposite gender helps with the temperament of one of their wards." The cardinal shrugged. "I was in a decidedly moody and volatile state when I entered the Order, so the grandmaster determined it would be better if I were to be around girls that would not take any crap from me and make me want to watch my conduct."
In the past few minutes Clovis had learned more about Lelouch than the past week combined. His brother might well be indulging him in expectation of what came next, but Clovis found that he still appreciated the sentiment. And the prince's innate curiosity was piqued by this insight into the mysterious Eden Vital.
"So you had the attention of the grandmaster?" Clovis said, making his next move. "Was that because of your heritage?"
"Yes, but likely not in the way you think," Lelouch said. "The grandmaster's interest in me was because of Mother, not because of Father."
Clovis blinked. "Oh? Because the Empress Marianne was herself a former member, like you mentioned?"
"More of a member on sabbatical," Lelouch said, even as he contemplated his counter. "Once her children reached adulthood, it was expected that she would return to the Order's service, along with whichever of us was deemed suitable for Eden Vital's needs."
"And Father agreed to this?" Clovis said incredulously momentarily forgetting about the game between them.
"His union with Mother was contingent on his agreement," Lelouch said, motioning towards the board. "As to your real question, I suspect he remained less than happy about the conditions even before Mother was murdered."
Clovis grimaced slightly, both at the state of the board and what Lelouch was revealing.
"I hope you will take no offense, Lelouch, when I say that this implied reach possessed by Eden Vital is far from comforting."
"None taken," Lelouch said. "Power that is both concentrated and opaque should give rise to concern. It is why the Order itself is very stringent with its own discipline, to seek to minimize any potential abuse of the authority that we possess."
"An authority that allows you to field knightmare frames?"
To that Lelouch actually took a beat to respond, though Clovis suspected that was less because his brother was debating whether to reveal the truth and more determining how best to explain it.
"Eden Vital has always possessed an Order Militant to defend our interests," Lelouch said. "This was true even when the Order as a whole was based more in continental Europe than the old kingdom. After the purge initiated by the Roman Catholic Church, we began quietly augmenting our defenses such that any further moves against us would be far too costly to attempt openly. This we have done in conjunction with that of the Britannian throne however, and our relationship with the throne has to this day remained that of a partnership."
"Not as the power behind the throne?" Clovis tested. "After all, it is always an Eden Vital cardinal that bestows the crown during a coronation."
"We are a power alongside the throne," Lelouch stated, "not one behind it. While it is certainly true that no British king or Britannian emperor has ever attempted to openly check our reach, that is also because Eden Vital has always stood by the throne, and on more occasions than I can count, defended the one seated upon it. We were after all the ones that helped Ricardo von Britannia rescue Elizabeth III and spirit her to America to reestablish the imperial government. And we were the ones that sanctified Ricardo's own ascension after Elizabeth's passing. We have no interest in placing one of our own on the throne, that was why none of Mother's children were intended to formally stand in the succession even had she lived to see us reach adulthood, but we care immensely that the one that does sit upon the throne is of the proper caliber and character."
"And if the Order ever determines the one seated upon it is not fit?" Clovis inquired with seeming dispassion, even as his eyes flickered.
Lelouch met his brother's gaze unflinchingly. "Great-grandfather is not exactly missed, is he?"
The prince stared back at Lelouch for a few moments before taking a deep breath. If Lelouch meant any of that to be reassuring, then he had missed wide of the mark. Or perhaps that was never his intent. He was simply answering Clovis' question with great candor. The prince supposed he had only himself to blame if those answers were not to his liking.
"Enough about the politics and intrigue then," Clovis said. "We were talking about family." The prince's expression softened slightly. "Is, Nunnally well?"
Lelouch did not look especially taken aback by the change in topic, but neither did he seem as quick to respond.
"She is, well enough," Lelouch said.
At the concern that appeared on Clovis' expression, Lelouch continued.
"Nunnally was injured grievously in the attack that murdered Mother. Her spin was actually, severed, by one of the bullets that hit her. And another actually entered her eye, and nearly killed her outright."
"My God," Clovis uttered, horrified at not just the severity of what Lelouch described, but also the calmness by which he spoke it.
"Her injuries force her to remain hooked up to life support at all times," Lelouch said. "She, is not physically capable of walking on her own, or of seeing where she's going even if she were."
Clovis actually wheezed at that. "That, that is not living, Lelouch."
Lelouch however remained stoically composed. "The Order has access to quite a bit of technology beyond that which is publicly available. That includes a neuro-link interface that lets Nunnally connect to computer systems that can then serve as her eyes, ears, and mouth. She can speak to us and hear us in turn, and she can see through the cameras of her avatar platforms. She can even, move about, using those platforms. She just can't do it with her own body."
That sounded a little bit better. Arguably more than a little, but it still sounded like a very bleak existence.
"The Order has been making a fair degree of progress in tissue regeneration over the last few years though," Lelouch said. "Some of our researchers think they will soon reach a point where the physical damage done to Nunnally's body could be made good. It might take a few more years, but I am hopeful that one day, she'll be able to open her eyes, and take my hand with her own once more."
That hope, that optimism, felt entirely sincere coming from Lelouch. Indeed it was enough to make Clovis feel heartened himself. Just as it reminded him that he was not going to be around to see that momentous, joyous day.
"Please give Nunnally my heartfelt congratulations when that day comes," Clovis said.
The expression on Lelouch's face shifted ever so slightly, from one of faint wistfulness to one of guarded composure.
"And why would I need to be the one to deliver that?" Lelouch said very carefully.
Clovis gave a dry chuckle. "Oh come now, Lelouch. You're smart enough to figure that out on your own. After what happened in Shinjuku, there is no way any of this can be swept under the rug. I've fucked up, on a scale almost unimaginable for an imperial scion. If Father wants to retain the respect and loyalty of the masses, he'll have to put me on trial, and then he'll have to order me executed. There is no other way that this could play out, not for something like this."
Lelouch regarded Clovis levelly. "If you understood that that would be the consequence of discovery, then why did you go along with Bartley's scheme?"
"I could come up with all sorts of excuses," Clovis said. "I could say that I cracked under the pressure, that I was desperate, and it would all be true. But the root cause of it all was, I wasn't good enough. Never was. I'm not like you or Schneizel or Cornelia. Hell, I'm not even an Odysseus! But I was too frightened of disappointing Father and the rest of you, and I convinced myself that I shared enough of whatever made the rest of you so special. And now, for my hubris, I've brought perhaps the most dishonor our family has ever seen since our great-grandfather had to be booted from the throne in a coup. So, yes, I understand full well the consequence of my actions. And I accept the need to answer for them." The prince smiled sadly. "But I can't let you take me in, Lelouch."
The cardinal regarded his brother. "You can't let me take you in."
"How can I, knowing full well how much worse it will get for our family before all is said and done?" Clovis said. "You know what will happen. Mother will try to plea for mercy on my behalf from Father, and when he can't grant it it'll rent a schism between the two. Cornelia will regard me with such disappointment, and flip back and forth between admonishing me and trying to reassure me that things will be okay. Schneizel will probably do the same, just a bit more tactfully. And Euphemia and Laila." The prince's face twisted into despair. "And Laila. I'll have failed her so utterly as an example. I am supposed to be her older brother. The rock upon which she can rely upon. How could I possibly face her, how could I disappoint her yet further when I have to tell her of the monstrosity of my acts? You understand, don't you, Lelouch?"
Lelouch's jaw tightened, but he dipped his head ever so slightly. "I do."
Clovis' breathing slowed a pace. "I have failed our family, Lelouch. And I owe a great penance for the pain I will be causing them. I cannot put them through any more of it than I am forced to."
"And you think that this," Lelouch said, his eyes falling to the hand Clovis kept concealed in his coat, "will somehow lessen it?"
"No," Clovis shook his head. "Nothing could lessen it. But at least this way they will be given the opportunity to move on more quickly. I realize now what you've been trying to do the past week. You weren't trying to rub in my face just how inadequate I was as a viceroy. You were trying to force me to confront my weaknesses, to work harder, and to stop wasting time feeling sorry for myself. If I had, things probably would have turned out differently."
"Probably," Lelouch agreed.
Clovis chuckled. "Well, it's a little late, but I did learn the lesson. And it's time I stopped running away from my responsibilities and owned up to all of them."
Finally Clovis withdrew his hand from his coat, revealing the pistol he was holding. Lelouch looked at the weapon, then back at his brother. He made no other move.
"I started work on a painting recently," Clovis said. "To try to take my mind off of all the problems that were piling up. Not exactly the best thing I could have done, but I suppose that's just a sign I should have stayed with the arts instead of trying to dabble in politics."
"You had a real knack for it," Lelouch said. "You always were able to draw such vivid scenes of natural landscapes."
"Why thank you," Clovis said. "I don't know whether it was just coincidence or fate, but I was actually painting the Imperial Ares Villa. For some reason, I could only ever associate happier times with that place, even now."
"I as well," Lelouch agreed.
"The painting's only about half finished," Clovis continued. "But, I would like you to have it. A reminder, of the brother I used to be, that I should have been."
Lelouch took a deep breath. "I accept it, as a reminder of the brother that I have."
To that, Clovis offered a faint smile. And then he brought the pistol up to his temple.
"Goodbye, Lelouch."
Lelouch met Clovis' gaze without flinching. "Goodbye, Brother."
Still smiling, Clovis squeezed the trigger. The white king, and it alone, toppled over a moment later.
End of Chapter 5
By now I think it's pretty clear the sort of tone this story is going to have. If the tone disagrees with you, it might be worthwhile to consider whether you want to bother continuing to follow this story. I won't suggest that the entire story will be bleak and dark, or that some characters won't find happiness, but they're all going to have to work for it.
As initially conceived, this arc would have concluded with Clovis being purposefully exposed to the Sarin gas or maybe a canister of the Sarin liquid by Lelouch as punishment for setting off the weapon, and given just enough initial treatment so that he would not die but would be basically crippled for life. As I continued writing however I could never get the story to develop in that direction, from the practical perspective of Clovis actually being close enough to be exposed to the narrative issue that having Lelouch do that would probably have pushed him further down the dark side than I wanted him to be. Eventually I determined that, based off of how Clovis' attitude was shifting, he would grow enough of a sense of conscience and duty to be willing to take ultimate responsibility for his failings.
I think there will be one more chapter for the Shinjuku arc, which will handle cleaning up the various loose ends. Some of what is coming up has already been foreshadowed, so readers should be able to make educated guesses about at least the scope if not the details, at least based off of the reasoning I've seen some reviewers demonstrate in their comments.
I suppose I should actually provide a basic explanation of what geass powers the characters have shown thus far. I have to remember that not everyone has read the Nightmare of Nunnally manga series, so the powers Lelouch's entourage have shown might not be immediately evident. Simplistically, Alice has super speed, Dalque has super strength, Lucretia has hyper awareness, and Sancia is a human computer. All of these powers can be channeled into the Eden Vital knightmares to further enhance either the powers themselves or the knightmares' performance. Exactly how these powers actually work, or rather what they do to perform the effects they do, is something that will be covered in later chapters.
As for Lelouch's power, I'll discuss it briefly, with again fuller details laid out in future chapters. At a basic level though, Lelouch can impose a conception of reality. For example, when he was interrogating that chemical weapons engineer, he conceived of a reality wherein the prisoner would answer all his questions without lying or hesitating, so that's exactly what the prisoner did when Lelouch imposed it. Similarly in this chapter, he conceived of a reality where that knightmare stopped dead, and so that is what happened. This is a very powerful ability, but it's not something Lelouch can just use to arbitrarily rewrite reality. There are limits to how much he can affect, and how long. Going beyond those limits will end up overstraining his own mind and body, and can even kill him if pushed too far. The one thing that Lelouch does do with it however is to provide a basic sort of reinforcement of his own body, so he is physically a lot tougher than would be the norm. He might not be able to survive a tank shell hitting him, but he can still keep going after getting shot by basic sidearms, even if he will still need treatment afterwards.
I find it interesting how many people are gravitating towards Kaguya. As far as I am aware of she's not a very common choice in the Code Geass fandom. At the very least it seems people are really taking into consideration the politics of a relationship over pure emotional satisfaction, which I think is also rather uncommon within this fandom.
Hmm. I'm kind of curious, what exactly would Leila provide in terms of political advantage? In canon she's ex-Britannian nobility so doesn't have much weight with the Empire's peerage, and the EU (officially) does not have a noble class. Her familial connections such as they exist also don't really provide her with much clout in the EU. Me even asking the question is obviously revealing, but I think it's still worthwhile, since I am interested in what my readers are thinking.
I always enjoy when readers try to read between the lines of my stories to try and draw conclusions. I ultimately consider my works to be fodder that can help inspire other people's imaginations. If all a reader does is passively consume whatever I put out, I feel like they're missing out on some of the most enjoyable parts of reading my works.