7Prelude
"We've got a helluva hornet's nest on our hands, don't we?" a soldier muttered to his buddy.
"That's an understatement," the buddy answered back. "More like a bunch of hornet's nests, dipped in gasoline."
"I mean, I'm glad she's joined us on the front, but it's not like she's gonna fight, so what can she do?"
"Yeah… still, I hear Emperor Charles didn't even really go outta his way to see us grunts even at base. She ain't Princess Cornelia, but at least she's willing to stand her ground with us."
"I wish she hadn't. If that monster comes out here after her, we're the one's that'll be first to get thrown out there like feed."
"That part don't make no difference. She comes outta there, we're getting sent to fight her either way. We're only holding back now 'cause they don't know what she's planning, and no sense forcing the issue when we ain't got no idea how to avoid getting slaughtered."
"What're you saying? That our superiors are just lining us up to see who to sacrifice first?" he said sarcastically, though the short wry laugh at the end said he might've hurt himself just as much with that jab.
"Basically," his buddy sighed. "We can't beat her, she hasn't even made any public demands, and now she's been holed up in that lab for two days without a peep. If the brass had any clue what to do, we'd 've done it by now."
It had been two days since Euphemia, Shirley, and Nina first showed up at the California Institute. As ordered by Nunnally, a perimeter was set up about five kilometers around the lab, all civilians evacuated from that area. Homes and businesses, within hours, became like something out of a terror thriller; eerie bits of a ghost town where things had been dropped in place as everyone fled. The bright sunshine betrayed the cool temperatures and made the no-man's land all the more ominous. That left soldiers like these two patrolling to make sure reporters, daredevils, looters, and property owners with more bravery than trust or common sense, stayed out of the area, and that none of the infamous trio snuck their way out.
The day of the occupation, Nunnally made a live address to the world stating that Britannia was monitoring the situation and that there was no cause for further alarm since no FLEIJAs were stored at the site, and the sanctions on materials meant the lab didn't have the materials necessary to create one. She confessed a lack of understanding what Euphemia would want with the facility but assured the world that it was a question they would have her answer, in addition to explaining her actions of the last several weeks.
It was roundly seen as a strong statement from Britannia, and from Nunnally herself who had been unaccustomed to making forceful statements. But it also had a hollowness that couldn't be ignored. There was no fooling anyone – Euphemia had to have gone there, of all places, for some reason. She hadn't just decided to randomly occupy a lab, after weeks of attacking military bases in otherwise hit-and-run style tactics, just for the hell of it. There had to be a reason for it, and the lack of an explanation only created room for suspicion and doubt.
While this was true for the public at large, it was at least as much true for Nunnally herself. It didn't take long for her to grow frustrated with her own attempts at learning the answer to that question. The people from the institute that had been rounded up detailed what seemed to be nothing more than the ordinary business of the lab.
Centirfuge operations related to biological samples sent by affiliated research labs lacking equipment as sophisticated as California's. Materials tests and analysis for a variety of contractors, including Anaheim Electronics. Low-yield energy storage system mixtures, another way of saying commercial-grade batteries. Wind tunnel testing and analysis of half-scale models for commercial and military contracts. And a number of similarly exotic but mundane topics of no specific importance outside their industry application.
As was supposed to be the case, very little work the Institute was doing nowadays had direct military applications. And the ones that did have a military budget support had originated as legitimate civilian projects that had a military offshoot. The materials programs, for example, had emerged from the commercial construction industry seeking improvements in the materials used for skyscrapers. This was predominantly for lighter and stronger metal composites. Of course, if you can make metals that are stronger and lighter, any military hardware, from the smallest gun to the aerial fortresses, and the burgeoning space industry, could more than likely benefit as well. So, the military sought to fund this research more broadly. And given its expertise just in terms of advanced minds concentrated in one place, in addition to the facilities necessary to test various theories and approaches, it was just a matter of course that some of this work would reach the California Institute.
But while that might all be terribly interesting to some, it meant little to Nunnally at the moment, whose focus was on finding out what Euphemia wanted with the facility. Research about materials analysis and studies, DNA sequencing to study viral patterns for drug treatments, battery technology… what could Euphemia need with any of that? Was she trying to get a rocket to fly off to space? Certainly, few would be upset about that.
It felt so much like there was something there that she just wasn't being told, and she wasn't even getting the sense that the folks from the lab they were speaking to were necessarily lying, as much as they simply didn't themselves have the insight she needed.
Therefore, Nunnally insisted on heading to California. She thought that if she was there, maybe it could rattle loose someone who actually knew what was going on and avoid this situation dragging on a moment longer than necessary. After all, if they didn't know what Euphemia was up to they didn't know how long they had until she was done preparing whatever it was she was getting ready for.
The initial news that Nunnally was on her way to California, Sara found out rather quickly, was only a rumor. The fact that the airfield was being secured as it had been was deemed an affirmation that she was on her way. Sara was crestfallen, but she understood well enough from past experience what happened. Someone low on the totem pole, new to how these things worked, jumped the gun and started spreading speculation regarding routine as fact. She'd berated sources before for sending her off on the wrong track because they "confirmed" something that turned out to be nothing.
Sara wasn't about to hunt down the guy from the truck to call him an idiot, especially after Nunnally saw fit to make the errant prediction a reality. In Sara's mind it was Nunally alone who'd fixed the issue.
Regardless, it meant that Sara didn't need to flash her credentials anymore. It was proving a mess to get out of California. The evacuation area, as large as it was, was still small relative to the proximity to the Institute people seemed comfortable with staying within. For miles further than the initial five, people were trying to get out of there. They didn't really know if they were in danger, didn't know where to really go either, but they seemed to just want to put California in their rearview mirror. Reporters and the media, however, generally enjoyed certain perks the average person didn't with regards to getting access to travel for official business. The airports were congested, but she could get herself priority access to a plane ticket to Pendragon. If a seat on a flight was opened up, reporters could be put at the top of the wait list. It'd be a red-eye flight in economy class, but she didn't really care. She needed to get to Pendragon and see Nunnally somehow.
The fact that Nunnally was coming to California instead seemed almost like divine blessing. It was, in Sara's mind, as if the empress heard her plea to meet with her and responded. Ridiculous as that may be, it would be, Sara reasoned, an easier matter to force a meeting with Nunnally out here in California than back in Pendragon.
Which of course was where her thinking now had to shift – how to get that meeting. While naming herself a reporter was helpful if wanting to get to Pendragon, it would certainly have the opposite effect in trying to meet with Nunnally. The last thing the empress or her circle would likely want to deal with was a reporter asking them a million questions, or prying for more information. The moment she called asking to speak with the empress, Sara knew she'd be hung up on. Besides, even in the best of circumstances, was it even feasible that the empress would talk to a reporter of such little stature or importance? It'd be one thing if she was Milly Ashford…
It wasn't the first time Sara thought about reaching out to Milly Ashford. Before even coming out to California Sara had considered if maybe the illustrious Ms. Ashford might be of some help. Much was made about the relationship between her and the empress when the empress was a student at the Ashford's school. But Milly Ashford had maintained professional integrity in not leaning on those ties. She had never sat down with the empress for an interview, and as best Sara could tell the two never crossed paths since some time before Nunnally last left Ashford Academy's grounds.
Which was to say nothing of Sara's own interactions with Milly, which didn't amount to enough to fill an index card. To be a little less polite about it, Sara's name would mean as much to Milly as the next random wacko who called her up asking her to help get them in to see the empress. Maybe as a desperate last ditch it might be worth trying, but that wasn't to say it would even work. After all, who even knew if Milly had the clout to pull off something like that, even if she had the will to try?
But as the day wore on, and as it became official that the empress had landed in California, Sara found herself getting a little desperate. She kept thinking about what she saw and heard in the lab, about what it actually meant, and what Euphemia Alter was up to. She felt like she was wasting time; precious time she didn't know if they really had or not.
The Lancaster base was abuzz with activity. It was positioned far enough away from the Institute, or so was believed, that in an emergency, a transport could be scrambled to get the empress out and away. That planning became somewhat more complicated when Prince Schneizel came along.
"Schneizel?" Nunnally said with surprise when she saw him boarding the royal air transport as she was ready to leave Pendragon.
"Your majesty," he greeted with his usual suave tone. "I thought it best I accompany you to Lancaster, Nunnally. I know you don't need me to shadow you, but I believe it will be more efficient if I was there to assist you in person rather than sitting behind a desk here in Pendragon."
"You do?"
"Yes. I understand that you've grown rather frustrated with the lack of answers about what is going on at the California Institute. So perhaps if I were to accompany you to Lancaster and assist in facilitating the questioning, it will alleviate some of the burden that you've carried."
"Do you really think there's anything different I should be doing now?"
"I think your bold decision to go to California is very sensible and may well be the catalyst to putting an end to all of this."
For the last several years, Schneizel had been the dutiful big brother. Not terribly close with his sisters whom he once betrayed, but not so distant either. It was an awkward arrangement, anyone could imagine so. He'd tricked Nunnally into being a pawn against her beloved brother Lelouch, had seemingly attempted to kill Cornelia when she questioned him on her suspicions that he had been lying to her and Nunnally about the whole situation.
But in the final showdown between Lelouch and Schneizel, Lelouch achieved a victory. He out played his older brother and was able to cast a Geass on Schneizel, binding him to "Zero's" will. Like an indelible curse, Schneizel has had no choice but to do as Zero orders him. It was Lelouch's compromise. He didn't want any more blood spilled if it could be avoided. He didn't want Nunnally to be with even one fewer sibling. He already knew by that point his own life would be coming to an end per the script he and Suzaku wrote together. If that had to be so, for the sake of the world Nunnally would thereafter inherit he would spare Schneizel's life, but with a surety.
Suzaku had no real cause to use that authority over Schneizel. The only order he'd ever given to Schneizel was to "never betray Nunnally." It was Nunnally's decision to make him the Prime Minister. He'd done well to uphold that order, though it wasn't as though he had means to disobey.
His place at the diplomatic table was an uneven one. Many wondered if he was secretly plotting something else now that he was restored to power. But his experience and skill was also something that Britannia elsewise lacked, and which a young girl thrust into the top echelon of power didn't inspire confidence in having, in the early stages of her reign. Thus, he provided a measure of stability and comfort as a known quantity out of Britannia. It made for a smoother several years, many would say.
During this Alters crisis he'd been the go-to for communication with many nations on behalf of Britannia. Most evenings he was on the phone with Nunnally, if not with her in person, discussing everything he'd spoken with other leaders about, helping her decide on the course of action she should take, the way she should address issues, and so on. He had counseled Nunnally to be lenient towards Cornelia and Suzaku over the incident with C.C., telling her she should consider the emotions they carried over having their past demons stirred once again.
He'd been even-measured, deferential, towards Nunnally. He would tell her the options as he saw them, the risks associated with each, and leave her to decide. In other words, he was the perfect advisor. Nunnally felt comfortable in that assessment. It seemed to be as Cornelia too had remarked about him; he truly does not see himself as the one that will stand on the center stage, but a supporting actor doing all he can to make the lead look as best as they can.
Given that C.C was going to be staying behind, as was Cornelia, and then Kallen was going to be joining later, it was a good comfort for Nunnally to have Schneizel coming along. But he always felt a little distant from her. She couldn't forget what he'd done, how he lied and manipulated her, and how she let him lie and manipulate her. They didn't have the closeness of a brother and sister. Still, she wasn't sure that mattered. The family had never been particularly close to each other outside their individual niches. If not for Cornelia's admiration of both her sister and Lady Marianne, Nunnally and Lelouch would hardly have known Cornelia and Euphemia so well. The most the siblings of the Britannia family usually interacted with each other was in one form of competition or another in one-upmanship, or in regard to whatever official duty they held once old enough to have one. That meant the relationship she now held with Schneizel was probably better than it once would have been hoped for even before she was banished from the family.
The trip out to California would be a pleasant one of chit-chat. There wasn't much to talk about regarding the situation on the ground until they could actually get there. The planning was something they both took part in, so it wasn't as though either needed filling in on what was happening. There hadn't been any new developments yet, though that lack of developments was something they did spend a little time talking about. Once on the ground it was a fraught business trip once more.
The sudden need to accommodate two royals was less an issue than the accelerating tensions. The waiting was becoming its own kind of torture on the general public, which was reverberating on up the chain to every level of leadership around the world. Euphemia Alter taking pot-shots at military bases was one thing, random brief public assaults was another, but the fact she'd now forced such a massive evacuation was a serious strain on those directly affected, and they weren't shy about speaking of it publicly.
Soon, Nunnally's statement on finding out what was going on and doing something about Euphemia was getting a lot more pushback, at least from the public. That nothing had been directly done yet was making people anxious, fearful. It was being explained as a siege situation, which was true. But the public still had fresh memories of the days of Emperor Charles, of when Britannia's military was able to just pummel enemies into quick submission – or at least that was the impression given of Britannia's might. There were even calls for Nunnally to drop a FLEIJA on the lab and be done with it. One angry citizen interviewed by a local news outlet went so far as to bitterly bemoan, "she didn't have any trouble using them against that demon of a brother. Is she regretting that decision now? Is that why she's going easy on her sisters now?"
"I must apologize, though I know it will never be enough," Schneizel said to her that evening after she saw the interview. "If not for…"
"It's fine," Nunnally cut him off, her tone sounding sullen and exasperated. "The people haven't any idea what really happened that day, and it isn't as though we currently plan to tell them. I've no right to be upset with them for being ignorant of a truth we've chosen to keep from them."
"Is it your desire that they be made aware?" he asked.
"We've spoken of it just recently, haven't we? To do so would only create new troubles for the people. I won't satisfy my own insecurities by pushing the burden onto the people. We won't save them from their grief and anger that way."
"Very well. I won't mention it again," he said with a smile.
"Yes you will," she smiled back.
It had been seven months after her ascension to the throne that he first broached the subject with Nunnally about possibly revealing the truth of Lelouch's actions, his involvement in them, and all of it. Cornelia was there at the time as well. They spent nearly three hours in discussions. And in the end, Nunnally had decided it was for the best not to… yet. The wounds of what happened still fresh, the nation's and the world's anger still raw, that speaking of Lelouch as a self-sacrificial martyr, explaining the existence of Geass, was likely to create chaos, anger, and resentment. Britannia would never survive it. They'd all be dragged out into the streets in a modern-day witch hunt and summarily killed as inhuman monsters, before even broaching the thought they might have an inhuman power like Geass. The people of Britannia would have to endure the utter collapse and civil anarchy of their nation. The world order would be fraught with suspicion over the possibility that anyone could have or be under the influence of a Geass.
The best case scenario, the least disruptive or destructive, was that no one believed a word of it, Nunnally and the last threads of Britannia royalty were labeled opportunistic lunatics, and the country tore itself apart in a mad dash to both tear them from the throne and fill that leadership void.
No… for now, then, it was best to not say anything, she thought.
But not forever. In time. When the wounds had healed enough, when the sorrow and pain were stale enough, that the fresh damage the truth would do was something the people could endure without such a high potential cost, then it would be okay. She hated lying, but she feared the consequences of not doing so in this case.
Schneizel next broached the subject after the first Memorial Day Anniversary event. Nunnally had held herself together well, like a true empress, during the several-hours-long dedication and remembrance ceremony. She had sat through nearly three hours of people speaking about the importance of that day, the memories of loved ones they lost, and how much they hated Lelouch. But once off the stage, once out of public view, she broke down and started crying. Schneizel knew, as did Cornelia, C.C., and Angela, that those tears were out of frustration. While others were letting their anguish out, she had not had such an opportunity. She was still bottling hers inside. And all that rhetoric directed at Lelouch's memory in such vile reflection angered her in a way she wasn't allowed to express. So once more late that afternoon he asked his little sister if it wasn't better that she let the world know the truth, let them know that Lelouch died for a cause not so vile as they believed.
"No," she said. "One day, they will know. But for now this is the burden and sin I have to carry. I must atone for Lelouch's sins, to protect the people from the problems our family has caused. It's not their burden to bear."
"Your highness's kindness and compassion are boundless. Perhaps it's best if I never speak of this again."
"It's okay. I can't allow myself to forget this promise."
"An occasional reminder then."
And so it was that when talk between them would touch the subject, Schneizel would raise the question of if it was in her mind to make that announcement. When she says no, he suggests he will not raise the issue again, and she invites him to do so another time. It was a minor but special thing the two shared. Nunnally enjoyed the fact that it was something they could share.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it at the moment, Nunnally," Schneizel said, referring to the simmering unrest. "The people will only respond worse if they feel we are attempting to placate them with meaningless platitudes. We should focus on attaining the answers they are seeking."
"Yes, you're right."
"Our allies around the world are also awaiting our next move. I've assured them that we would let them know the moment any new developments come about. We are fortunate for their patience."
"Wasn't the exiled Londonium government due in Scandanavia today? Have you heard anything about that?"
"No details I'm afraid. I'm told it went well, but nothing more."
"Marrybell hasn't left Londonium."
"That's true. It would seem her intentions remain with what she's claimed from the EU so far. It worries, however."
"You knew Marrybell better than I did. I've heard some people say she was very much like Lelouch."
Schneizel paused a moment as if in thought on whether to elaborate as Nunnally wished. "Our sister Marrybell was similar to Lelouch in some respects, but they were also quite different. She wasn't one to mask her feelings and thoughts very much. She was very strong and proud, and didn't enjoy having others stand over her. To be honest, I believed that if not Lelouch, Marrybell would have likely done back then as she has done now; take a part of the EU and declare it her own new empire. It concerns me that she has been so quiet since taking Londonium. I would have expected her to be on the move against the EU mainland."
"Yes, that's what it seems most people assumed too. I've been told it's caused a great deal of stress amongst the people in the EU."
"The EU is accustomed to war, so they are resilient if nothing else. Whether it was intentional or not, seizing Londonium and Spain should have given Marrybell ample grounds to pinch off a large swath of the western continent and form a wall to push eastward."
"But for some reason she hasn't done that."
"Much as we are seeing here now with Euphemia's actions at the Institute, the not knowing what the future holds creates certain strain."
There was a knock at the door. "You may enter," Nunnally responded.
"Please forgive the intrusion, your majesty, your highness."
"Has something happened?" Nunnally asked of the young soldier.
"No, your majesty. A call has come from the Chinese Federation. Additionally, Lady Ashford has also asked to speak with her majesty as well."
"If I may suggest, why don't you speak with Milly Ashford. I'll speak with Empress Tianzi. No doubt she only wishes to know that you're doing well."
"Please give my regards to Tianzi," Nunnally said warmly. Schneizel rose from his seat and made his way from the room. "Please send Angela, and I'll take Milly's call in my quarters."
"As you wish, your majesty."
Nunnally had a bit of anxious anticipation. She had previously had a couple different dates with Milly the last three days that were cancelled. She knew Milly understood. But still, it was disappointing. Like Tianzi, she was sure Milly only wanted to know she was okay. It wasn't until recently that Nunnally realized just how much she missed having Milly around.
Yet there was something nagging at her. It was a prickly feeling, as though some terrible fortune was waiting to snap at her. Was this the prelude of some further tragedy? It'd felt for some time now that every moment of small joy was only the prelude of greater sorrow. Nunnally was starting to grow weary of that cycle, so she was becoming increasingly accustomed to stifling that feeling of joy. Not forever, she told herself. Just… a little while.