Chapter 40
In Restitution of Lineage
"What do you want to be when you grow up, Lelouch?" Marianne asked her son as she stroked his hair.
The two, or rather three of them if one counted Nunnally, were cuddled together on Marianne's bed. While Nunnally still eagerly clung to her mother whenever the opportunity arose, Lelouch was getting to that age where such an urge was less automatic. Still, the child was not quite yet at the point where his boyish rebelliousness would see him try to actively avoid such displays of affection, and he often acquiesced whenever Nunnally pleaded for all of them to spend the night together.
"I'll be a prince," Lelouch said. "I have lots of big brothers and sisters that'll become emperor before me, so I'll just be a prince."
This particular night, Nunnally had already nodded off, while Lelouch for whatever reason seemed not quite ready to fall asleep. Not out of stubborn determination to precociousness either, there were times when the boy exhibited a certain physical fortitude beyond what one might expect for his age. A quality of his lineage, perhaps.
Marianne chuckled. "And what exactly will you do as a prince?"
When Lelouch looked up at Marianne to answer, there was a firm determination shinning in his eyes.
"I'll lead soldiers, like Cornelia does," he finally said. "She's in charge of the people keeping us safe. I could do that, help keep my brothers and sisters safe. And you and Father as well. And all my other mothers."
"My, that's a lot of people you want to protect, Lelouch."
"Of course," Lelouch said with a nod of his head. "You're all my important family, I'd never let anything happen to any of you."
Marianne wrapped her arms around her son in a warm embrace.
"Hold onto that love, Lelouch. It will give you strength through the greatest of trials. And know that, no matter what happens, we all love you in turn."
Lelouch leaned his head back to look up. "Mother?"
"But you know," Marianne continued with seeming nonchalance, "Cornelia really isn't acting as a princess when she serves as captain of my guard. In fact her swearing herself to me like that is even somewhat un-princess-like."
The distinction seemed to provide enough mental stimulus to distract Lelouch as the nature of the uncertainty in his eyes shifted.
"So what is Cornelia then?"
"Well, she's commanding soldiers as a soldier herself," Marianne said. "We call such commanding soldiers officers, and Cornelia had to train long and hard to learn how to be a proper officer."
"I see," Lelouch said with an understanding nod. "Well, if Cornelia can do it, then so can I."
Marianne gave her son an indulgent chuckle. "My, but aren't you confident."
"I'm her brother," Lelouch said. "I can't let her down by falling behind her." Finally, a yawn escaped the young prince. "And if two of us are working to keep our family safe, then nobody will be able to hurt us."
"So you'll keep your family safe," Marianne said. "But is that all you'll do? You won't keep anyone else safe?"
Lelouch gave his sleepy head a shake. "That's Father's job. He's the emperor. If I can help keep him safe, then he can help keep everyone else safe."
That elicited a slight widening of Marianne's eyes. It was a very astute observation on Lelouch's part, and one she was actually proud of her son making. Still, if he had thought things through to such an extent, where then did the limit of Lelouch's own ambitions lay?
"Tell me, Lelouch," Marianne said. "Have you ever thought about how safe you yourself could keep others? Not just your own family, but the people of the Empire, of even the world."
To that Lelouch's eyes sharpened as his dimming consciousness flared back, even if for only a moment.
"The more people I need to protect, the fewer I can pay attention to myself. I don't think I'm strong enough for that. I need to know the people I love are safe, and I don't think I'd be able to give my all for people that I've never met. That's why, I don't want to try to protect lots and lots of people myself. I'll be just like Cornelia. I'll keep my family safe, and I'll do it with, soldiers, whose faces I all know, who I can believe in, and who believe in me in turn."
"You seem to have put some thought into all this," Marianne remarked.
"Of course," Lelouch yawned.
"So, whose guard-captain are you looking to serve as?" Marianne asked.
To that Lelouch actually looked away, but all that did was pique his mother's curiosity even more.
"Lelouch?" Marianne said, turning her son's head back to face her with one finger.
The boy's cheeks puffed out in a pout and it took all of Marianne's self-control to not giggle at her son's expression, it was simply too adorable.
"Come now, Lelouch," she said instead with all the maternal dignity she could muster. "Surely you could tell your own mother whom you would swear to in the future. Is it Euphie? Mary? Maybe even Cornelia?"
Lelouch continued pouting at his mother. "Why do you think it'd be one of my sisters?"
To that Marianne lost her inner battle and gave a bark of laughter, though she managed to keep it quiet enough not to disturb Nunnally.
"Maybe I'm old-fashioned, Lelouch, but I think there's just something lacking in a handsome prince not pledging himself to a beautiful princess," Marianne said. "There's a certain, chivalric charm missing."
Lelouch blinked in mild befuddlement. "They're all my sisters anyway. What's charming about that?"
"I wonder if you're brave enough to say that to their faces," Marianne teased.
Her son pointedly looked away, apparently well aware of what sort of minefield that could be. Precocious indeed.
"So, who's the lucky lady?" Marianne pressed.
With a sigh of exasperation that was so much like his father's whenever Charles conceded to his wives, Lelouch finally answered.
"Nunnally."
This time it was Marianne that looked taken aback.
"Nunnally?" she parroted.
Lelouch held Marianne's gaze, looking quite determined. "You and Father have been talking about Nunnally joining Eden Vital as a sister, just like you used to be."
Now it was with widened eyes that Marianne regarded her son, having previously been unaware he had overheard such conversations.
"Nunnally wouldn't be a princess anymore if she did that, that's what Father said, and he sounded really unhappy about that," Lelouch continued. "And you told him that even if she wasn't a princess, Father could still treat her like one if it made him feel better. Well, one thing princesses are supposed to get is their own royal guard. And even if Nunnally isn't a princess, I'm sure Father would let her have one. And I'll be in charge of that guard."
To say that Marianne was genuinely stunned would be an accurate summation of the woman's current state. Much discussions had been had regarding her children's future prospects, and as much as Marianne did not want to restrict their options, she understood what duty obliged of her and them. And of their children, Eden Vital had expressed the most interest in Nunnally. If Lelouch also deigned to join, they would certainly be welcoming, but their focus was on the younger of Marianne's children. Her husband had actually been a bit more fixated on the matter than Marianne herself, seeing as any of their children that took vows would need to renounce their secular titles. That had vexed Charles, the emperor disliking the manner in which this would increase the distance between those children and the rest of the family. After suffering the loss of his own parents, and witnessing firsthand the callousness of his more distant cousins, Charles seemed determined to not let his own children drift apart even as they entered adulthood and established families of their own. Part of the ties that bound them was their imperial lineage, a connection that would be made all the thinner if some of those children renounced their titles. As much as Charles understood the rationale, and obligation, behind this, he still made no secret of his discontent.
Marianne had dealt with her husband's discontent with her usual finesse, offering Charles a compromise that while meaningful did not impinge upon Eden Vital's own prerogatives. Nunnally could not be an imperial, but she could still be accorded certain courtesies if the emperor so willed it, one of which was the privilege of appointing knights of honor and taking own sworn armsmen. She had not expected her own son to offer to become one such knight however, and even as she felt a certainty that Lelouch was more than up to the task of keeping his little sister safe, so too did a slight worry that he might be throwing away a different future where he might accomplish so much more.
Lelouch was smart, even brilliant, and Marianne knew that was not just her subjective motherly pride talking. His academic prowess was already on par with the brightest of his older siblings, and being able to listen in on a conversation between his parents without them realizing was no mean feat either. He could rise to become a superb statesman like Schneizel, a fine officer like Odysseys or Cornelia, and even if he decided to do nothing else but act as a working imperial, he would perform even that duty with aplomb. That he would instead wish to dedicate that life to his little sister's safety represented an inevitable sacrifice of those other possibilities, some more so than others. It would be worth it, in the sense that Marianne could not discount the importance of her daughter's safety. It would still fill her with regret at what that safety would cost.
"I'm very happy that you would think so much of your sister like that," Marianne said. "But promise me, Lelouch, that you won't forget to live your own life as well."
Lelouch blinked, seeming to take a moment to understand Marianne's worry. After that moment though he nodded.
"Of course, Mother. I promise."
"Good," Marianne said, "good."
The woman cradled her son, letting his head rest against her bosom. The comfort and warmth saw Lelouch succumb to the lull of sleep as his eyes closed. At his level breathing, Marianne softly sang to guide him to a restful slumber.
"Dormi, Jesu. Mater ridet, quae tam dulcem somnum videt. Dormi, Jesu, blandule. Si non-dormis, Mater plorat. Inter fila cantans orat, blande, veni, somnule."
As Lelouch's eyes opened, the cardinal found his head resting against a certain familiar warmth. His poise was of such comfort that he was greatly tempted to just close his eyes again and let himself fade back into sleep. The soft humming that reached his ears only added to the peaceful lull. Indeed, despite having slept for what felt like an eternity, his body still ached and a dull pain throbbed in his head. Perhaps that was why even with his eyes cracking open, it took Lelouch a bit to recognize the face peering down upon him.
"Good morning, Lelouch," C.C. said.
"Mother," Lelouch murmured, a response that was elicited by instinct instead of thought.
C.C. smiled warmly, placing a hand on his cheeks.
"It's been quite some time since you called me that," she said. "A long time indeed since I last sang you asleep."
As determined as Lelouch had been to become strong enough to avenge his mother and protect his sister, he had still been a mere boy when he was taken into Eden Vital's custody. The first few nights that he spent in the Order's care, C.C. had actually lulled him to sleep. As time passed and Lelouch became more used to his new environs, the grandmaster had had less need to attend to him personally like this, with her presence reduced to perhaps once a week or even once a month. That was not to say Lelouch always slept alone. While it took a little time for all involved to open up to each other, Lelouch's cohort came to greatly cherish him, and it was not unheard of for the younger ones, such as Dalque, or Alice, or even Anya to sneak into his bed, and later his room after they stopped sleeping communally, to spend the night. Not that the girls got up to such antics these days, at least with Lelouch. Sancia and Lucretia at least still tended to have company at night, but the girls recognized the impropriety that others would regard them sneaking into Lelouch's bed to be. As for the sensation surrounding Lelouch now, it had arguably been even longer since he last felt it.
"Grandmaster," Lelouch said, still softly but seemingly more awake now.
"Rest," C.C. ordered. "You pushed yourself a bit too hard, and your body is going to need more time to mend."
While an accurate enough summation of Lelouch's current state, C.C.'s remark still constituted something of an understatement. Strokes, even non-fatal ones, tended to do irreparable damage to a person's nervous system. Add a heart attack on top and one might as well be dead considering the resulting aftermath. Indeed that was how several historical geass contractors met their ends, pushing their powers beyond the physical limits of their body and effectively tearing themselves to pieces like so. That Lelouch had lived, and could look forward to a reasonably full recovery, was a testament to not only the backstop his augmentations had provided, but also to the sheer good fortune that C.C.'s close proximity was. The grandmaster had arrived at the hospital even before Lelouch was put on the operating table, and tapping into the fullness of her code, was able to restore a significant percentage of the damaged data that composed Lelouch's body. Not all of it, some Lelouch's own self-restoration sequence would need to finish up, the strain of which would see him bedridden for some time yet due to all the energy required to fuel that process, but enough so that Lelouch was not in any further mortal medical peril. The cardinal would recover, but it was not his own condition that was his most pressing, immediate concern.
"I was the one that made the choice," he insisted. "Neither Kallen nor her mother are at fault. Do not hold it against them."
A genuinely irritated look crossed C.C.'s face. "Even now, you would seek to defend her?"
The real understatement here was to say that C.C. was furious with Kallen. Indeed the lay sister was currently under confinement on the grandmaster's direct order. The visible anger C.C. exhibited while issuing that order had actually worried Sancia enough that the young woman took to posting soldiers from the 597th as the guards minding Kallen's room instead of Eden Vital militants. It was very much not beyond C.C. to have killed, or kill by her own hand, a contractor that she considered to have foresworn his or her oath, but if the grandmaster could just be stalled long enough for her initial anger to dissipate, and maybe for Lelouch himself to wake up and plead Kallen's case like he was now, then the young woman's chances became that much better. Maybe.
"But of course," Lelouch said. "I made her a promise, and failed to live up to it."
"And what of her promise to me?" C.C. responded. "What of your promise to me?"
"I remain here, am I not?" Lelouch said, though the slight wince that accompanied his answer indicated just how narrow the margin by which he had managed to fulfill both promises.
C.C. gave an irritated huff. "If this is your definition of meeting promises, I see you will need a firm talking to once you're discharged."
The wince this time had nothing to do with Lelouch's current physical lameness, though he for some reason also managed a slight smile.
"Is that not nostalgic all on its own?" the cardinal said softly.
Another sign escaped the grandmaster. She rustled Lelouch's hair as she cradled him.
"How many generations of the Lamperouge lineage must I scold for their recklessness?"
Lelouch let out a deep breath. "I pray that you have cause to do so for many more."
"Not the sort of thing that brings any ease to my heart," C.C. retorted.
Somehow, Lelouch mustered the strength to try to caress the grandmaster's cheeks. Try, as it was C.C. that took hold of his hand and helped hold it in place for the gesture.
"For my ancestor's role in causing your heart to so ache, I am sorry, Grandmaster."
C.C.'s eyes lowered as she pressed the young man's hand against her cheeks. "That is not something for which you can or need apologize for, Lelouch."
"Even so, is it wrong of me to wish you happiness?"
This time it was C.C.'s turn to take a long, deep breath before answering.
"For all the unease you and yours have wrought upon my heart, I would still never trade a single moment with any of you for anything else in existence."
"Then dwell not on the past, Grandmaster," Lelouch said, as his eyelids became heavy. "Look always forward."
The cardinal slipped off into unconsciousness once more, and C.C. could but hope it would be a restful one. Still, one eyebrow quirked upward ever so slightly as she regarded the sleeping face she cradled.
"I suppose I should have seen this coming. Did the two of you have to pass down so much of your stubbornness to your descendants, Claire, Dash?"
Through the many years in which he fought in the resistance against the Britannian occupation, Ohgi was more than ready to admit he had done some things he was not terribly proud of. Desperation drove people to abandon quite a bit of what they previously thought to be inviolable, and there was some irony in that his siding with the Cardinal Lamperouge was another unthinkable just a few months prior. Still, there were some lines that Ohgi had yet to cross, to his immense relief. Others however, like the man howling in pain in front of him, were not so lucky.
Standing at his side were not just Minami and Inoue, but also Anzu Kadotani and her immediate seconds. Tamaki was also present, but he was busy applying his fist to add to the bruises already suffered by the man kneeling in front of them, a task he was applying himself to with great relish.
"What's the matter?" Tamaki growled as he grabbed a fistful of the other man's hair to pull him back up. "You gone soft on us, Hideki? Thought you knew how to take a punch, or ten!"
Before proceeding to sock him in the face again. Hideki tumbled back, not even bothering to pick himself back up afterward, clearly afraid that the beating would continue if he did so. It was not an unwarranted fear. Too bad the decision lay not in his hand, as Tamaki reached out to continue.
"Okay, I think that'll be enough for now," Anzu said, clapping her hand together.
For all her genial look, one certainly would not have expected the woman to have orchestrated this little beatdown. That she had however spoke volumes of the grievance she, and all those present, had with Hideki. Reluctantly, Tamaki stepped back and fell in line behind Ohgi. The man himself stepped forward, bending over to meet Hideki's eyes.
"I know things have been hard for a while now," Ohgi said. "But I didn't think you'd stoop this low, Hideki. The other women were bad enough, but Naoto's mother? After all the times we looked out for you back in school?" His hands reached out, seizing Hideki's collar. "What the hell were you thinking!?"
To claim that Kohaku Kouzuki had made a full recover would be a gross overstatement. Lelouch's restoration of her had managed to undo all of the physical damage done to her body, but the mental wounds were still very fresh. Even so, Kohaku had been cognizant enough to answer some questions, including how she had ended up in Babel to begin with. After Kallen's sudden disappearance in the aftermath of Shinjuku, Kohaku had been absolutely beside herself with worry. Kallen's brief message about needing treatment had not helped things, especially considering how sparse on details the girl had been. Furthermore, Kohaku's usual contacts to check up on Kallen, Ohgi and his colleagues, also suddenly dropped off the radar. Unbeknownst to the woman, that was because they too were receiving medical treatment for the injuries incurred at Shinjuku, but the immediate ramification was Kohaku having no way of finding out what was happening to her daughter.
Bereft of options, Kohaku took a risk, contacting a more distant associate of Naoto and Ohgi, Hideki, in the hope that he could help her. She had even withdrawn a substantial sum of her savings in case that might help convince Hideki to help. What Kohaku had no way of knowing however was that Hideki had gotten involved with some very unsavory sorts, and when Kohaku appeared at his door, the man saw an opportunity not to do good by his old associates, but to make a quick buck. Granted Hideki had hesitated ever so momentarily when he considered the possibility that Ohgi might find out about what he did and want payback, but the man managed to convince himself that, since Ohgi seemed to have dropped out of the picture, he probably had nothing to worry about. Even after Ohgi reemerged, Hideki had been confident that Kohaku would never escape Babel to tell any tales. Perhaps the most stunning display of his reckless self-confidence however was how, even after the Britannian authorities raided Babel, Hideki was certain that Kohaku had perished from the abuse her minders meted out before the raid. Unfortunately for Hideki, he had been wrong on all counts, and with his dirty little secret revealed, it was not just Ohgi that wanted their pound of flesh.
Hideki wheezed as he mustered the breath to answer. "Fuck you, Ohgi. You got no right to be self-righteous with me, what with you selling out to the Brits yourself. When you-"
Ohgi was not one to lose his temper easily, but the man still had his limits. The blow against Hideki's jaw marked when it had been reached.
"If you still insist on sticking to that line of bull, then there's nothing further for us to discuss," Ohgi said, shoving Hideki back. "For what you've done, there was never any way you could have made amends, but for old time's sake, I was still prepared to at least hear you out. But since you're such an utterly unrepentant ass, I'm really not going to waste any more time with you."
"Oh, and I'm sure your time is so important!" Hideki spit back. "How busy you must be, helping the imps sink their fangs deeper into Japan. What's that? This cardinal's different? Bull. There ain't no way anyone could be as goody goody as that, you're all just deluding yourself because you don't want to see how the real world is. It's dog eat dog, and the only mistake I made was not reaching harder to be top dog."
"Someone as simpleminded as you, top dog?" Momo sneered. "Don't make us laugh, small fry."
"Who's laughing?" Hideki said, then gave a bark of his own. "And if I'm so small fry, then why've I got all you ladies so hot and bothered, huh!?"
"You son of a-" Momo began.
"That's enough," Anzu cut her off however. "We don't need him to understand anything, we're just here to exact satisfaction." She looked over at Ohgi. "I trust you don't need anything else from him, Ohgi-sensei?"
Ohgi gave a curt nod. "Yeah, we're done here. Beating him any further isn't going to make me feel any better."
"Oh, sooo sorry," Hideki drawled. "Maybe if you weren't so feeble that you needed your own personal meathead to do the punching for you, you might actually feel something!"
Ohgi did not raise to the bait, though Tamaki looked like he very much wanted to continue said proxy punching.
"Alright then," Anzu said. "In that case, Yukari-san, if you would?"
"I'm going to need him held down," Yukari said. "Can't exactly stick him if he's thrashing about."
"We can handle that," Ohgi said.
He, Minami, and Tamaki surrounded Hideki and grabbed hold.
"Hey wait, what the hell are you all doing!?"
"So the Britannians actually gave us a choice," Anzu said, "when they told us who the crooks selling people to Babel were. They said they could move in and take care of them, or they could let us handle it inhouse. And after talking it over, well, we thought we'd take them up on the offer. To handle it inhouse, I mean."
Yukari uncapped a syringe and flicked the needle, making sure the liquid was getting through.
"Wh-what the hell is that!?" Hideki was now sounding genuinely panicked.
"We debated on how to deal with you lot," Anzu said. "Just putting a bullet in your heads is too messy though, all that splattered brain to clean up afterward. And strangling you, well, there's a chance you'd end up shitting yourself in the process, which isn't really much better as far as cleanup goes."
"S-stay the fuck away from me!" Hideki screamed, trying to pull away. Not that he had any chance of that with the three men holding him down.
"We may not deal in hard drugs," Anzu said, "but we do get our hands on a lot of medicine. And medicine, as you know, can be poison if administered improperly or in too high a dosage."
"STOOOOOOP!"
Yukari paid him no mind, running her finger down the arm to find a vein.
"Besides, there's a certain karma in having you OD, seeing how many of the women you sold ended up dying from all the drugs Babel pumped into them to keep them working."
The needle pierced the skin as Hideki screamed.
"Nighty night, Hideki. We're sure not going to be missing you."
The liquid flooded his veins, one of the last sensations Hideki ever felt.
The office that Kallen stood in now was new to her, at least the physical room itself. The colors that decorated it were however quite familiar, seeing as it shared the same styling and décor as Lelouch's office. Not surprising that, considering this room had been set aside for the convenience and use of Eden Vital's grandmaster during her stay in Japan. Despite her flippant personality, C.C. was still the leader of one of the largest ecclesiastical orders in the world, with all the attendant authority, privilege, and responsibility therein. It was therefore inevitable that there were times when C.C. needed to carry out her duties in a more formal setting, to impart upon the other party the gravity of the situation if nothing else. Not that Kallen needed any further reminding.
The eyes that met Kallen's were, cold, to put it mildly. That was leagues better than the incandescent fury that burned within those golden orbs when C.C. arrived at the hospital shortly after Lelouch suffered a seizure, a stroke, and a heart attack in quick succession. By all rights the cardinal should be dead, and if not that then permanently crippled. Even with Eden Vital's advanced medical technology, he would still have been looking at a recovery time of years. The Order could not afford for Lelouch to be out of action for so long however, and so C.C. had done, something, that Kallen did not quite understand, to forcibly reset Lelouch's condition. Something different than what the cardinal himself had done to heal Kallen's mother. Whatever it was, it had exhausted the grandmaster enough that any further admonishing of Kallen had been forestalled, until now. The deliverance of that admonishment did not however stop C.C. from seating herself on the desk with legs dangling instead of behind the desk in the chair like a proper lady.
"When the contract was made between us," C.C. began, "it stipulated a service you would owe me in exchange for your geass. I trust, Kallen, that you recall what that service is?"
"Yes, Grandmaster," Kallen responded.
"Well?" C.C. said impatiently.
Kallen grimaced. "To ensure Cardinal Lamperouge's safety, no matter what the cost to myself and others."
"And would you say you've lived up to your end of the contract?" C.C. asked, teeth showing in her scowl. "Either the letter or the spirit."
"I have not, Grandmaster," Kallen admitted, not even trying to dance around the issue.
If Kallen's honesty won her any points, C.C. did not deign to give any hints therein. In fact the way the grandmaster's eyes flared, her anger was in no way assuaged.
"Would you say then that I have ample grounds to consider you in violation of our contract?"
"Yes, Grandmaster," Kallen said.
C.C. closed her eyes, taking several long deep breaths as if to calm herself. The brief respite from her withering glare was over all too quickly however as she opened her eyes to meet Kallen's gaze.
"By all rights I should revoke your contract, as well as nullify the conditions that brought you into breach in the first place."
Kallen tensed, immediately inferring what the grandmaster meant. The cause for Lelouch's lameness was his restoration of Kallen's mother, and to nullify that would be tantamount to rendering her a complete invalid. As much as Kallen regretted Lelouch getting injured saving her mother, she was still not prepared to let her mother come to harm as some sort of recompense.
"You are fortunate that Lelouch and his sisters have developed a soft spot however," C.C. continued, not giving any indication she noticed, or cared, about the dangerous glint in Kallen's eyes. "While Sancia and Lucretia haven't so much as put into words their desire for you to be shown clemency, they've gone to quite some lengths to make sure you had a line of defense that I could not immediately bypass without them noticing."
That explained the Japanese servicepeople that stood guard over Kallen's house arrest, the girl realized, instead of the expected Eden Vital guards. Kallen made a mental note to thank the other two girls, assuming she was in a position to do so.
"And of course the first thing Lelouch does after waking up is ask me to not take my anger out on you."
Kallen's eyes flickered. "Is, the cardinal okay?"
"He will recover at least," C.C. said testily. "For all that means to you."
Kallen's jaw tightened. "I readily admit, Grandmaster, that I broke my word when I allowed His Eminence to overextend himself the way he did for my mother. And that I very much bear a responsibility for precipitating his actions by goading him. But that doesn't mean I don't care about the cardinal, far from it. I had no desire to trade my mother's health for His Eminence's own, and had I known he would go to such extremes, I would have never asked for it."
"A fine position to take after the fact," C.C. said. "Does your regret run deep enough that you would accept as restitution the reversion of your mother's state?"
This time Kallen's fists clenched. The grandmaster clearly was aware that that represented a redline for Kallen, even in her contriteness. Even so, she seemed entirely unfazed tiptoeing right at its edge.
"How does it feel, that anger?" C.C. continued without waiting for Kallen to muster a response. "The thought of contemplating the willful sacrifice of a loved one. That by your choice they might meet an end?"
The frown deepened on Kallen's face. "What do you want of me, Grandmaster?"
C.C. hopped off the desk and began circling around Kallen. "Lelouch and his sisters seem convinced that you are salvageable, and likely would continue holding that belief even if they knew about the oath you broke. Setting aside sentiment, the strength of your geass is valuable enough that discarding you out of hand would be wasteful if nothing else. But I cannot ignore the fact that you broke your oath, and nearly cost me one of my own." The grandmaster came to a halt in front of Kallen. "For that, I require recompense."
"What sort of recompense?" Kallen asked warily.
"I have no use for acolytes that feel their service is being obtained under duress instead of something they freely offer," C.C. continued. "As such there is nothing that I could ask of you as compensation that would not disqualify you from continuing to serve Lelouch."
The grandmaster was a rather astute leader, or at least one would hope after her centuries at the head of Eden Vital. That said, that what she considered fair compensation for Kallen's mistake would push the much younger girl to such duress was not a pleasant thought by itself.
"I therefore find myself with little choice except to impose upon you certain limits, enough to make the lesson clear, while not depriving you of anything intrinsic to your morality."
Not least because Kallen had firsthand awareness of the grandmaster's creative propensity.
"First and foremost, you are hereby forbidden from assisting the Ise Grand Shrine or any of its associated entities such as the Sumeragi group in any matter."
Kallen flinched. That one undeniably hurt, and it was not even she herself that would suffer the worst of it. In light of the difficulties in finding others that could interact with thought elevators, Kaguya had been counting heavily on Kallen to help with the initial reactivation and training of other stewards. With the grandmaster now forbidding it, there was no telling how many years Ise's efforts would be set back. And it was still the first of the limits.
"Second, your descendants for the next ten generations are also forbidden from entering into the service of any other ecclesiastical order."
"Ten generations!?" Kallen blurted out, her shock overriding everything else.
"That is how long Eden Vital has invested in the improvement of the Lamperouge lineage," C.C. said, glaring at Kallen, "of which Lelouch and Nunnally are the last surviving members thereof. Lelouch has yet to have any children of his own, and Nunnally may well be incapable of it. And you went and nearly got Lelouch killed, despite having been sworn to prevent that very thing. Be grateful that I find no value in the service of your family for ten generations instead."
Again Kallen jerked back slightly, as if C.C.'s words were physical blows. With the amount of acid in them, they arguably could not have hurt worse even if they were.
"Ten generations," Kallen said again, taking a deep breath. "That's a long time. And, uh, while I'm not going to pretend to know how my, descendants, would do, wouldn't there be a lot of them? Or are you going to tell me how many kids I can have as well?"
C.C. snorted. "Tracking your descendants is the most trivial aspect of this condition, Kallen. Don't think your descendants would be able to slip the leash before their time is served."
"That's not what I meant," Kallen said somewhat hotly. "You want to restrict me from helping Ise, fine, I screwed up. You want to keep my descendants from helping, I get the rationale, even if I don't agree with it, but I have my limits too, and I'm not going to accept Eden Vital breathing down my descendants' necks to track them to make sure they don't fall in with Ise."
The grandmaster gave a dismissive scoff. "We are capable of far greater subtlety than that, Kallen. All we need do is install a lockout in the thought elevator networks that prevents anyone of your lineage from interfacing with it."
Kallen blinked a few times, then felt her face flush slightly. "Oh." The reddening was not solely from embarrassment. "You couldn't have said that at the start?"
Another scoff there. "Your prejudices speak for themselves. Clearly despite all the consideration Lelouch and the others have shown you, the consideration that I've shown you, you still think so little of the environment that nurtured them that your thoughts immediately contrive the most abhorrent means by which your punishment would be enforced. Is your pride so fragile that you would prefer comforting yourself with such delusions than to accept the reality of what Eden Vital stands for?"
"And what does Eden Vital stand for?" Kallen snapped back reflexively, even as the more rational part of her brain immediately regretted it. It was too late to retract those words however, there was no way but forward. "Why did you come up with such a name for yourselves?"
"Edenis Vitalis," C.C. had an immediate answer ready.
At Kallen's confused blinking, the grandmaster let out an exasperated sigh.
"What are the schools teaching you."
Then, with a hardened expression.
"To be alive is paradise," C.C. said. "There is no need to wait until one parts the mortal coil to find oneself in paradise, and the heavens themselves are a poor substitute for the wonder that is living. That is the founding doctrine of Eden Vital, the guiding principle that underpins every endeavor we undertake. Have we killed? Yes. Will we need to kill once more? Yes, and on the scale of hundreds if not thousands. But you've witnessed firsthand the deliberation that goes into every such decision. You've literally watched Lelouch weighing the scales to decide who should die in order to let yet others live, and you saw him decide in favor of your own mother over that of his own personal wellbeing. Have you ever once had reason to question his moral rectitude? And if not, how dare you seek to disparage mine and Eden Vital's!"
As stubborn as Kallen could be, the girl was not so socially inept that she could not recognize when she overstepped someone's limits. In the grandmaster's case, it was quite a hefty list of offenses the woman was taking umbrage with. Whether all of them were justified, Kallen still lacked the certainty to determine. But the girl understood that enough of them were warranted that, in this particular case, as for who was right or wrong, she was certainly not of the former.
"I'm sorry," she said.
The words came out in a measured tone, with no rush or forced emphasis that would suggest it to be a merely reflexive response. That there was some degree of thought in their uttering, and therefore at least some passing measure of sincerity. C.C. regarded Kallen silently for a few moments, then stepped back and propped herself up back up on the desk.
"An apology does not excuse you from the consequences of your actions," C.C. stated, "but neither does acceptance of those consequences automatically grant you forgiveness in turn. That can only be done via your continued efforts, of which we will be watching very carefully."
Kallen gave a curt nod. Blunt as C.C. was, everything the woman said was at least true.
"The final condition. Your participation in Eden Vital's Lineage Preservation Program is now mandatory."
And Kallen was back to frowning, eliciting a snort from C.C.
"Back to assuming the worst already?"
The grimace did not disappear from Kallen's expression.
"I think for at least this one you'll have to excuse my fears," the girl said. "The notion of letting Eden Vital, harvest, some of my eggs ostensibly to keep them safe if something happens to me is, not the easiest thing to wrap my head around emotionally."
During Kallen's convalescence at the Citadel, the Lineage Preservation Program had been explained to her in almost excruciating detail. In light of the dangers so many of Eden Vital's prime lineages faced, there was always a rather substantial risk that some of their members might die before they had a chance to find a partner and have a family. To avoid losing those lineages wholesale, Eden Vital would harvest sufficient gametes from these persons to allow for invitro-fertilization and surrogacy to give birth to descendants even in the case where the donors had perished. Lelouch and indeed every other contractor under Eden Vital's command were participants, so it was not as if losing the cardinal would irrevocably end the Lamperouge lineage. It would still hurt, immensely, since even if Eden Vital got started right away, it would still take them another seventeen years or so before there were more Lamperouges running around. Considering the very pressing threat of the heretics, that was simply unacceptable.
The other difficulty with using the program to repopulate a lineage such as the Lamperouges was the stringency of the safeguards built in to prevent abuse. Short of a lineage being wiped out in its entirety, Eden Vital could not simply unfreeze the cells to have new children be born, they were obliged to adhere strictly to the conditions the donors set for their use. In the case of Marianne, the prioress had stipulated that only if all of her naturally born children perished or were rendered infertile could her own eggs be used. Indeed this was a fairly common condition set by the program's donors, Lelouch included, as while all of them understood the necessity of the program, they still preferred that their familial lineages develop in a more organic manner instead of needlessly bolstering it through artificial means. That the donors all trusted Eden Vital to adhere to their stipulations, even when the Order was facing such existential threats as the heretics, underpinned their willingness nonetheless to participate, but as with all things rooted in that trust, those that did not have it ingrained within them, like Kallen, had a more difficult time overcoming their reservations.
"Name whatever conditions you feel necessary to reconcile those emotions then," C.C. said.
Maybe the grandmaster could do with being less brusque after all. Kallen gave an unhappy sigh but answered nonetheless.
"For one, I'd obviously have to be dead."
C.C. tilted her head, as if to ask if that was not a bit too obvious. Kallen snorted and continued.
"I want the child raised not by Eden Vital, but by my family."
The grandmaster gave a slight shrug. "Certainly, but you're the one that will need to inform them of this."
That was not going to be a fun conversation, but Kallen nodded. Now for the big one.
"And, would you be willing to, lift the proscription, for any child of mine born from the program?"
The way C.C.'s lips thinned, it was probably a good thing Kallen had phrased that condition as a request instead of an outright demand, otherwise the grandmaster would probably have blown up at her all over again for trying to so blatantly circumvent her punishment. At least by asking, she was implicitly offering C.C. the chance to say no, or attach some conditions of her own. An opening position in negotiations rather than an ultimatum that she really didn't have the ability to enforce.
"Every generation of service your family provides to Eden Vital will see the proscription reduced by a generation in turn," C.C. finally said.
It was hard to say if the grandmaster's offer could be called generous, though under the very best case it would mean cutting the time of the proscription down by half. The trouble of course was if Kallen's descendants had really served Eden Vital for five generations, would they even be interested in shifting their allegiance over to Ise? Of course, that constituted only a single branch, so there were likely to be plenty other branches that would not be nearly as attached to the Order, so that might still work.
"Is this, offer, exclusive to only descendants of mine born of the program?" Kallen asked next.
Meaning if Kallen did manage to survive the conflict with the heretics and went on to have a family, could they also take advantage of the terms to shorten the proscription.
"It is not."
The grandmaster had clearly already worked out all the additional qualifiers that might be attached and decided which ones she would accept. That was good, at least this way everything could be settled here and now.
"And I presume the count starts not with me, but with my children."
To Kallen's mild surprise, C.C. actually shook her head.
"Should you remain in Eden Vital's service for the entirety of your life, I am prepared to count your service as well."
After thinking it over a bit, Kallen was able to mostly deduce the grandmaster's rationale. She may have previously barred Kallen from signing on with Ise, but that would not have prevented Kallen from simply leaving Eden Vital at some point in the future regardless. This way, Kallen would feel bound to remain in the Order's service, and even if there was a slight transactional tilt to her service, it did not cross into the duress that would have rendered that service useless to the grandmaster. As far as deals went, it could have been a lot worse. Some might say it was even a fair exchange. Kallen took a deep breath.
"I apologize for violating the terms of my contract with you, Grandmaster. I accept the terms of rectification you have stipulated."
C.C. nodded, apparently satisfied with this resolution. Kallen let out a deep sigh of relief.
"If you have any preferences of whom your counterpart donor will be, do make sure that is included," the grandmaster said.
A relief that was perhaps a bit premature. Kallen narrowed her eyes.
"And if I do not?"
"If you do not, and if none of samples from the preferred donors, Eden Vital of course reserves the right to pick for you," C.C. answered nonchalantly.
A sneaking suspicion was rising within Kallen.
"And, would His Eminence be one of Eden Vital's default candidates?"
There was no way to describe the grandmaster's grin as anything but smug.
End of Chapter 40
The, conversation, between C.C. and Kallen went over an iteration or two as I tried to strike the right balance between how pissed C.C. was and what sort of punishment Kallen would be able to stomach. The original demand from C.C. was that Kallen bear a child that would be inducted into Eden Vital, but as I was working on the dialogue it became apparent that such a demand would undermine a lot of the character building I've been doing for not just C.C. but also Eden Vital as a whole. And that character building came to a sort of culmination this chapter as well. In the final iteration, C.C. does get a similar concession from Kallen, but enough qualifiers have been added that Kallen can stomach it.
So it's taken 40 some chapters, but the underlying meaning behind the name Eden Vital is now revealed, and alongside it the real point of doctrinal contention between Eden Vital and the Catholic Church and arguably the biggest reason why the Order was branded as heretics. Whereas the Catholic Church, and most other Christian denominations for that matter, espouse the belief that it is only after death that one's soul has the chance to be reunited with God and thus enter paradise, Eden Vital rejects this notion and argues that the world we live in, and the life we live, is all that is necessary to create a paradise for ourselves. This was a rather radical doctrinal stance to take back in the Middle Ages, and the Catholic Church of the time really did not take kindly to the notion. They arguably didn't really need a reason to try burning an immortal like C.C. at the stake, but well, Eden Vital's philosophy didn't exactly assuage the Catholic Church much either.
Let's see, not much else to say. Probably one more chapter of cleanup and we can move onto the next arc.