A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated! I like hearing the thoughts and reactions of my readers!
Naoto took a deep breath, pulling lightly at the collar of his shirt, the 18 year old was nervous... this plan, it was dangerous, but his partner was confident, so confident in fact that Naoto was willing to take the risk.
He looked up at the smug Britannian noble in front of him. "Count Nathaniel Stadtfeld" had challenged this man to a game, with money on the line. He was gambling, he bet a substantial portion of his personal wealth against the Duke in front of him.
He followed his instructions, moved each piece as his partner commanded, like the devil was whispering in his ear.
The more he played, the more nervous the Duke got, and the more confident Naoto felt in the plan. Each turn got his opponent sweating just a little bit more as he seemed to realize the position he was in.
It all happened in a blur, checkmate. Naoto won- while playing as black as his partner insisted.
He felt numb almost, but also excited- no, elated even, as soon as he left the room with his winnings he grinned and slumped against the wall.
He lifted the collar of his shirt to speak into a tiny microphone hidden in his collar, connected to a micro-camera and a Bluetooth speaker hidden in his left ear.
"You're amazing, Lelouch."
Inside his room at Ashford, the 11 year old exile had a smirk on his face, staring at his laptop's screen, displaying footage from Naoto's hidden camera.
"You flatter me Naoto." Lelouch's voice came through on the speaker tucked away in the older boy's ear. "Hurry along now, we got another 3 matches to get to, we can't have you sullying your noble reputation by blowing off your appointments." The prince's voice was brutally sarcastic, and Naoto's small grin turned into a full smirk.
"Yeah, yeah I'm moving don't worry." Naoto chided as he walked away with his suitcase full of cash.
It became a rhythm, play a game, win a boatload of cash, stash it away, in the trunk of his car, and go to the next match. Rinse and repeat.
In just a few hours Naoto had cleaned house, scoring a cool 2 million Imperial Pounds and change from 4 other members of the nobility. Once he finished, he drove his car home, loaded half the money into his backpack, and snuck into Shinjuku ghetto.
Naoto walked into the hideout of the Kozuki Resistance. Tamaki saw Naoto and gave him a nod and a mock salute as he shouldered his gun awkwardly. "Welcome back to base boss, what's with the bag?"
"You'll see soon, follow me." Naoto said with a wink, waving for Tamaki to tag along. The other redheaded man raised an eyebrow, before closing his eyes for a moment and shrugging. "Yeah, sure man." He agreed before turning to walk behind his leader.
Minami and Sugiyama where seen on opposite sides of a work bench to one side of an old office, tinkering with some salvaged radios, while Ohgi was leaning against a wall chatting with Inoue.
Naoto put his pinkie and index finger in his mouth, giving a whistle to grab everyone's attention. Once everyone turned to look at him, he grinned, opened up his bag, and dumped a million dollars out onto an old desk in front of everyone.
Sugiyama and Minami both blinked owlishly, Ohgi almost fell, barely catching himself, Inoue gasped and Tamaki looked gob-smacked.
"Wha-what the hell!? Naoto, how did you get this much money!?" Tamaki asked, almost frothing at the mouth.
Naoto laughed. "A few hours of gambling, but it wasn't really much of a gamble, the games where practically rigged from the start."
"Wait, you won this money?" Ohgi asked.
"Not really, I'm just the delivery boy." He admitted, ruefully shaking his head.
"Delivery boy?" Inoue muttered.
Naoto smirked. "Lelouch sends his regards."
There was a shocked silence as everyone came to terms with what Naoto just said.
"No way!" Tamaki eventually declared. "You're telling me that little brit pipsqueak won a million in cash and just gave it to you!?"
"2 million actually." Naoto corrected, making Inoue gawk.
"Lelouch is just, giving us a million imperial pounds...?" She asked carefully, and Naoto nodded.
"We have an agreement, the two of us. He agreed to help me finance our resistance group. The deal was pretty simple. Half the winnings go directly into the current budget, a quarter goes into the bank for investments and having our money help make more money as a passive income bonus, and the last quarter goes to him for his own personal use."
"Damn... that's generous of him... honestly I'm shocked." Ohgi muttered.
"Yeah, though from my understanding he's using his cut to pay the Ashford family and cover his sister's medical expenses, he seems to live a pretty spartan lifestyle... honestly I think he should learn to live a little, maybe I'll sick Kallen on him, she'll annoy him into having fun." The elder Kozuki sibling chuckled.
"I wish we could thank him." Inoue muttered. "The little guy wasn't kidding when he said he'd repay us..."
"Don't worry, he hears ya loud and clear." Naoto said, turning his head to poke at the speaker hidden in his ear, and then lifted up the hidden mic and camera.
"Oh I get it." Sugiyama muttered from his seat. "You're his body. The kid can't go out gambling himself but since you're a legal adult and a noble you can go out and do it, and he plays the games through you, is that it?"
"Got it in 1." Naoto confirmed with a nod. "Not to inflate his ego too much but the kid's a genius I swear. We where playing chess and Lelouch was 10 steps ahead, even I didn't understand half the moves he was having me make until like 4 turns after I made them."
"That good huh?" Ohgi muttered, crossing his arms as he mulled over the information, and smiled.
"Well, since you can hear us, thanks Lelouch, this is amazing, really."
Naoto chuckled. "He says it's his pleasure."
Lelouch sighed, feeling a bit tired, he took a look at the time and saw that it was almost 8. If he didn't move now he'd miss dinner with Nunnally!
That gave the little boy all the motivation he needed to quickly say goodbye to Naoto referencing his urgent need to leave the call and then rushed out of his room. He entered the dining room just in time to see Sayoko finishing dinner preparations while Nunnally sat at the table, reading a book that was written in braille.
He smiled, walking over to Nunnally and placed his hands over her closed eyes. "Guess whoooooo~" he dared her in a playful, sing-song tone, causing her to giggle in a way that warmed his damaged heart and soul. Sayoko turned to look at them with a smile, setting their freshly prepared dinners on the table. Lelouch sat close to Nunnally, and helped her eat, but there was a look on her face, her nose scrunched up in a certain way, a tell that she had whenever she was thinking hard about something. He noticed it, but waited for her to broach whatever the subject was. Eventually she did.
"Lelouch." She said, and he turned his head to look at her.
"Yes Nunnally?" He asked.
"Can I have your hand, big brother?" She asked softly, and he agreed silently by placing a gentle hand on top of one of hers. She turned that hand over to hold on to the appendage, and then placed her other hand over his knuckles.
"You're hurt."
Lelouch blinked. "What do you mean Nunnally? I haven't gotten hurt, except for when that bully Cassian tripped me a few days ago."
Nunnally shook her head. "Not out here." She said, her voice soft but sorrowful as the hand resting on his knuckles moved, gently gliding up his arm before landing on his chest, directly over his heart.
"In here." She declared.
Lelouch couldn't help his eyes widening a little, he hadn't expected his little sister to sound so... sage.
"I'm fine Nunnally." He insisted, and she frowned.
"Nii-Sama..." She said knowingly, shaking her head. "I can tell. You're different... you've been different ever since-" since mom died, she did not dare to say. "It's eating at you, isn't it big brother?" She said sadly and she began to cry, his big brother instincts took over and he hugged her, even as she began to sob quietly.
"You're an angel Lelouch, my angel, always watching over me, protecting me. But you're so sad, you're hurt." She insisted.
He shut his eyes, unable to stop himself from crying too as she saw though him.
"I'm sorry Nunnally." He whispered. "I'm not as strong as I pretend to be... I can't-"
"It's ok big brother." She said reassuringly, even as the water works continued. "You don't have to be strong all by yourself, you have me, and Milly, and even Kallen! We'll make your heart nice and strong again, I promise!"
"Thank you Nunnally." Lelouch said softly. "But I'll be ok so long as I have you."
Nunnally shook her head, expecting a different answer, but she didn't want to push her big brother, she wanted to be there for him, she just hoped that he would let her help him...
"Enough of the excuses!" A young woman with purple hair, lipstick, and lavender eyes snapped. Her hands slamming into the surface of her desk as she regarded the black ops and special Recon troopers assembled in her office.
"You had a year, a YEAR to find them! Where are they!? Where are Lelouch and Nunnally!?" She demanded.
"Princess Cornelia please-" the platoon leader for the Recon team pleaded. "We've searched Area-11 from top to bottom, we even got help from the Viceroy prince Clovis, we haven't caught wind of them at all, even the slightest clue your highness... the most logical explanation is-"
He stopped as Cornelia Li Britannia looked at him with murder in her eyes, drawing a .357 magnum and aiming at his face.
"Don't you dare." She said in a frighteningly calm voice, even as her hand began to shake, her thumb pulling back and cocking the hammer of her revolver. "Don't you FUCKING dare suggest that they're-" she couldn't even bring herself to say it.
She was damn near ready to pull the trigger when the doors behind the soldiers opened, and the Knight of One, Bismark Waldstien himself, clutched a letter in his hands. All of the soldiers bowed to him, and she was forced to lower her firearm by his presence as she dipped her head to him, her face still scrunched up in emotional pain, now laced with a healthy dose of fear.
"Princess Cornelia, the Emperor told you to stop looking for the Vi Britannia siblings did he not?"
Cornelia paled. "With all due respect lord Waldstien I-"
He interrupted her. "Clearly you didn't get the memo the first time, so the Emperor sent me personally to made sure you got the message. Cease your investigation immediately."
He stepped forward, placing the letter he held onto her desk and slid it towards her. She fell back into her seat like a doll on strings as she stared blankly into space, not daring to argue with the Emperor's personal agent. He then summarily turned and left, dismissing the soldiers Cornelia had been using as her search parties. As soon as he left she let her emotions run rampant again.
Her face contorted into one of pure despair as she slouched over, her knees on her legs and her hands clawing at her face. Her eyes slammed shut and her mouth in a grimace. She began to shake uncontrollably as the floodgates opened and she began to sob uncontrollably.
She wanted to bring them home so badly, she wanted to see them again, to keep them safe, to keep the Legacy of Marianne the flash alive and to protect her family. Euphemia may have been her favorite sibling but Lelouch and Nunnally where tied for a very close second, she loved them dearly.
And now Britannia, her father, the Emperor, the courts, where all saying they're dead.
She began to wail, her hands coming down to hold her arms as she tried to hug herself for comfort, the tears coming out and dripping down her chin as she continued to shake, choking on her sobs. She reached out for the letter Bismark left her and tore it open, glancing at the contents to confirm her suspicions, her fears being realized.
An official state funeral for Lelouch and Nunnally. Closed Casket of course. Didn't matter if there where no bodies. Their fates would forever be unknown. No closure, none. For all Cornelia knew they could have died during the invasion, their unrecognizable bodies rotting in the mud, or eaten by Elevens, or being held as prisoners by one of the terror groups to beat and torture for revenge. How badly had they been mutilated? How much pain had they felt? Did they die alone in a gutter, starving to death, was it friendly fire being covered up? Did they get crushed by rubble or burned alive?
Did ANYONE care!?
She began to laugh, it started off as a chuckle, before slowly devolving into a maddened, broken cackle as she dropped the letter, her anguish only growing, until finally there was rage. She lunged out of her seat and swiped her arm across her desk knocking everything off, her reports exploding into a mess of scattered papers, pens, and other miscellaneous items all went flying across the room and her glass of water smashed against the wall as she fumed. Her knuckles turned white beneath her gloves.
Slowly, her head tilted up to look at a painting that hung above the doorway. The visage of Charles Zi Britannia watched over her.
She glared at that painting.
"This is all just a game to you, isn't it?" She asked lowly, baring her teeth. "You don't care, you never cared, ever. This is all just entertainment for you, watching us squirm and squabble for scraps beneath you as you watch us rip each other apart and beg for your favor." She twitched.
She felt her hands dig deeper into the desk. "I bet you had a hand in it, didn't you? Or at least you're complacent, you know who killed Empress Marianne don't you, you sick, twisted son of a bitch." She all but snarled as her eyes narrowed. "She had her guards pull back, it must have been a member of your inner circle, she knew her killer, trusted them even... and when she got gunned down in broad daylight you didn't fucking care." She bit out, beginning to put the pieces together.
"You saw Lelouch and Nunnally as pawns, and you martyred them, you stripped them of everything but their clothes, you sent them to a future war zone, and you had them murdered, if only to satisfy your own sick agenda or perhaps even because you found it amusing." She hissed.
She stared at his portrait with so much hatred that the real Charles might have somehow felt it through the fabric of the universe.
"Fine." She spat. "I'll play your game, if only to make sure you don't hurt Euphie... I may not have been able to save Lelouch and Nunnally... I might not have been able to protect Marianne... but I can still avenge them. Mark my words... one day..."
She grinned wickedly.
"...I'll kill you!"
Lelouch glared at the person in front of him, how dare they- how dare they! This wasn't just a slight, it was a full blown insult, he wouldn't stand for it!
"No Kallen, Gundam Unicorn can't beat Gozilla!" He hissed impertinently. "That's just plain stupid!"
Why'd he agree to this playdate in the first place...? Well yeah its because Nunnally asked him to but he could have just pretended to agree and then blew it off.
The redhead was his friend... but she was oh so infuriating, even more than Suzaku was! Somehow the little harlot knew exactly what button to push to set him off. No matter how composed he was, no matter what witty comeback he came up with... Kallen always knew how to set him off.
Lelouch was brought out of his brooding by Kallen baping him on top of the head.
He was sitting on the couch in his living room area, with Kallen standing behind him with a rolled up comic book.
She rolled her eyes. "Quit brooding."
"I'm not brooding!"
He was definitely brooding.
"Riiiiiiight. Well mister 'I'm not brooding' who's to say a big strong robot can't beat an off-brand Charizard?"
"I do." He grumbled.
"You just like those old B rated movies where he dances after every fight and acts like a WWE wrestler."
Lelouch flushed red and crossed his arms. "No I don't!"
"Do too~" She teased.
"Shut yer gob!" He whined, and turned to look up at Kallen, only to be caught off guard by her welcoming smile.
She plopped down on the couch next to him.
"Nunnally talked to me ya know, she said you're always sad when you don't have other people around to talk to." She admitted calmly, making him flinch as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're lonely."
"I'm not lonely." He grumbled.
"Yes you are." The little girl countered. And that's ok, it's ok to feel lonely. I'm here to make sure you don't anymore."
"...Why?" He asked quietly, looking at her with trepidation.
"Because I'm your friend." She said simply. "That's what friends do."
"Why do you want to be my friend?" He questioned.
She shrugged. "Why wouldn't I? You saved me, saved my brother, and now you're helping us fight back. Naoto told me about the money you won for him and the others. I'm grateful to have met you." She said honestly.
Lelouch stared at her for a moment... and then his body relaxed, and he sighed.
"So... pressing my buttons, hanging out with me like this, these play dates... its... your way of distracting me? Making me... not feel lonely and... brooding?"
Kallen smiled and nodded, her blue eyes bright and warm.
He couldn't help but sigh and smile, a smile that reached his eyes, as he felt gratitude for the redheaded girl next to him.
"Thank you, Kallen."
"You're welcome, Lelouch."
They kept looking at eachother for a bit, then they both blushed a little, realizing they had been staring.
"So uh..." Lelouch began. "Want me to teach you how I play chess?"
Kallen raised an eyebrow curiously.
"I figure... since you're a noble too you can start playing against other nobles one day, it's fun beating them and you can put their money to good use."
Kallen smiled again. "There's another reason though, isn't there?"
He blushed again, how could she see right through him!?
He nodded. "Yeah... I also... really love chess and don't have anyone good to play against, and you're my friend, and you're smart... smarter than most others our age..."
"So you want to teach me, so that I can become a good player and challenge you?" She guessed.
He nodded again.
She smiled. "Sure."
He smiled back.
Nunnally, who had excellent hearing, was sitting in the parlor next to a window with another braille book in hand. She listened in on their conversation and sighed happily. She set her book down and clapped her hands together as though in prayer.
"Thank you Kallen, Lelouch needs you, more than you know. My angel has been eating his own wings... he's falling... I tried and failed to hold him up myself, but you might be able to catch him."
Her mind wandered back... back to the invasion. Being separated from Suzaku... how desperately Lelouch fought to keep her happy, tried to shield her. Young she may be- but...
Nunnally wasn't stupid.
She quickly learned how to use her other senses to better understand the world around her after she closed her eyes.
She could hear the gunfire, the explosions, the screams.
She could smell the iron of spilled blood, the sulfur, the smoke.
She could feel around her when he set her down, the cold skin of a dead corpse, the blood that pooled around them, curdling in the sun.
She could taste death in the air.
There was no way she could remain innocent, not truly. But she pretended to be. She pretended to be oblivious to reality.
She did it for one reason, to convince her brother that he had managed to do what he intended, that he could protect her, keep her safe, maintain their innocence.
'A fruitless endeavor, I haven't been innocent since...'
She flinched, hearing the echo of gunfire and shattered glass, and she forced herself to swallow the bile rising in her throat as she tightened the grip of her hands.
How could she forget? An event so traumatic that it robbed her of her sight, she would not, could not bare to look upon the injustice that the world wrought.
Only big brother was there for her, he tried his best. He was at the hospital every day until she was well enough to travel to Japan. He spent every waking moment of his free time doting on her at the shrine. When the bombs dropped and they had to run he fought tooth and nail to keep her happy, healthy, and distracted.
Her big brother was everything to her, all she had left.
But big brother spent so much time taking care of her that he couldn't take care of himself. She felt him growing weaker every day when he carried her through the war zone. She heard the creak of his very bones, she heard him struggle to move, to breathe, even as he focused every ounce of his willpower to keep moving, to get her to safety.
Then they came across the Kozuki's, and Nunnally saw opportunity. A chance for someone to be there for her Nii Sama, someone that could truly support him.
Nunnally knew she was useless. She didn't say it, but she knew it. Blind, crippled, frail. She couldn't play with him like she used to back home, she couldn't do a single damn thing and it drove her up a wall.
Every day, she held her brother's hand, and she felt it, she knew she could. His soul once so bright, so free, was dimming, he was becoming more bitter, more jaded, all the time he spent alone, every day, he fell deeper into his sorrow and closed himself off to the world.
Nunnally NEEDED to do something. All she had was her voice, so she used it.
She spoke to Kallen, told her how badly her brother was hurt on the inside, how much he needed a new best friend to keep the darkness away... to stop it from consuming him completely.
Nunnally knew what Lelouch was capable of, he was smart. She could tell... he was so much like father, so ruthless, so cunning... manipulative even.
But she didn't blame Lelouch for that, no, she loved her brother and wanted him to succeed, wanted him to be happy. If she could somehow make sure that happened, then she could rest easy knowing that she found a way to help her big brother.
The truth was that Nunnally was just as hateful.
She knew full well that it had to be an inside job. She remembered how tight the security was, guards everywhere, some in full uniform for ceremony, some in full military gear, and more than a few servants seemed to have weapons hidden on them and communication devices in their ears, ready to move at a moment's notice.
How could anyone possibly murder her mom, and cripple her, and just get away with it, the perfect crime?
'Bullshit.' She thought, grumbling internally.
Nunnally frowned, and sighed, slumping in her chair, she picked up the book, and let her fingers wander over the page until she found her old stopping point. She needed a distraction, and she supposed re-reading Harry Potter would have to do. It was the best the Ashford library could offer to the 8 year old.