AN: I do not own Code Geass.
DarkDremora: a proper date between Kallen and Lelouch is something I want to do, and it should come soon. (Hopefully). Also, Naoto's chair gag is one that I'll try to include when I remember.
Ranvor: A really good question. I mainly have him around simply because he's the only one who'll keep Suzaku from being folded like laundry in the future. As, by himself, Suzaku's gonna get absolutely crushed by Kallen. Also, I thought it'd be nice for him to have a wingman instead of flying solo in general.
ryder77: I don't know about the Milly bit, but the Yukata point is fair. I'm probably going to include Mao, but he won't be going anywhere near Shirley, because that's just a petty way of Lelouch confronting the poor girl about her feelings.
Chapter 39: Time
C's World.
"I'm… here again?" Kallen muttered while staring at the Geassed planet.
"Ah, so you've returned." Lelouch said while standing over the red head's body, "Well, I've got some good news. I've found someone who can answer my questions. But the bad news is that they don't look too friendly."
Kallen sat up, taking in her surroundings until her eyes landed on a black-haired girl with pink ends. The woman's left eye was closed, almost as if she was keeping something hidden. Or maybe… keeping something from seeing. Either way, her right eye was open, and in it, laid a beautiful pink orb that seemed to stare into the red head's very soul. With a snap of the woman's finger, the sky darkened, and the planet disappeared, "The usurper, Lelouch Vi Britannia, and Ace of the Black Knight's, Kallen Kozuki. What is it that you need?"
"Usurper? What have I done to earn such a title?" The Prince asked with a hint of hostility.
"Was it not you who usurped the Britannian throne from your father?" the woman retorted, as if stating the obvious.
"Oh. I didn't know that was what I was prominently known for."
"Don't be mistaken. The thing you're most prominently known for around here, is bending God's will to your own, with that Geass of yours."
Lelouch's eyes widened with shock, "Who are you?"
"I go by many names. Dimensional Supervisor. Caretaker of Spacetime. Manifestation of the Collective Unconscious. But none of that matters now. Call me as you like. It doesn't matter."
After hearing such a definitive, yet, confusing answer. Kallen got to her feet, while the Prince asked, "Was it you who brought us here?"
"Yes." a second passed, and she once again said in a sinister voice, "No."
"Which one is it?"
With the sinister voice gone, the Dimensional Supervisor continued, "Lelouch, why did you wish for a better tomorrow? Was it because of how much you messed up the world, that you wished for the time to repair it? Or did you simply give the command simply to spite your father?"
"I didn't give any orders. I simply asked for a tomorrow! A future! That's what humanity wants, isn't it?"
"Correct." the same thing happened once again, "Incorrect." However, this time, the right eye closed. Then, the left eye sprung open, revealing a blood-shot pink orb, "Who are you to dictate what humanity wants? You are nothing but a human, a human who merely yearns for power. One that doesn't care what means he takes to achieve his goals. You, Lelouch Vi Britannia, are selfish."
Kallen and Lelouch readied themselves for a fight, however, the sinister being didn't make a move, "Are you the one who sent us here?"
This time, there was one solid answer, "Yes."
"Why?"
The left eye closed, allowing for the right to reawaken, and with it, the sinister voice disappeared, "That's because you wished for a tomorrow."
Lelouch shook his head, "but how could my wish, or… order, cause all this? After all, my wish was already granted once Marianne and Charles were dealt with."
"You're wrong, Lelouch." the Dimensional Supervisor answered, "You see, such a Geass command doesn't stop at one thing. No, it's a vast plain that covers a plethora of events. One such event is the death of the Collective Unconscious. And the destruction of C's world."
"I thought I stopped that by defeating Marianne and Charles!? Why would the Collective Unconscious die without reason?"
"But there is a reason," the scenery changed, and now they stood before the Sword of Akasha. "That… blasphemous object may not have made contact with the Unconscious, but its destruction brought irreversible damage to C's world, and by association, the Collective Unconscious. If things had continued normally in your Original Timeline, then that dimension's destruction was all but assured."
Lelouch felt his entire body shake as he heard the sword cry out for god knows what. "You… you said original timeline. I thought we traveled back in time? But this… this is something completely different, something-"
"You can't comprehend?" the Dimensional Supervisor finished his sentence, "Then allow me to explain… what happened." two orbs appeared in each of the girl's hands, one was a fading purple, while the other was a shimmering blue. "This purple orb represents your original timeline. As you can see, it is flickering. That's because its C's world has been thrown off balance. There's not enough energy being created to sustain life. Now, look at this blue orb. It's shimmering brightly, with copious amounts of energy that sustain life. So, what would you do to save the purple orb?"
"That's easy. You'd simply take the extra energy from the blue orb, and give it to the purple one." Kallen answered.
"If only things were that easy. No. In order to save your timeline, we had to merge it with another, creating it anew. Think of it as a fresh start, if you will."
"Wait… another timeline?" the red head muttered, feeling her breath hitch, "There… are other versions of us out there?"
"Correct. One such individual, is the Suzaku Kururugi you met here. He's from a timeline where Lelouch Geassed him into becoming his slave."
"Lelouch did that…"
The Prince clenched his teeth in frustration, "So what? You're saying everything I did was for nothing!? The world I fought for. The one where Nunally, Kallen, Suzaku… and everyone else, could live peacefully, was for nothing!?" he cried in outrage. Feeling his whole world begin to crack, Lelouch fell to his knees, "Wh-what happens to the timelines used in the merge. Are they destroyed?"
"No." the Dimensional Supervisor pointed to the planet above, "They are combined into one, complete Collective Unconscious. One that has the memories and experiences of both timelines. Thus, the reason why I'm split in half like this. With the side from your original timeline in my left, while I, from that Suzaku's timeline, stay dominant over my counterpart in the right."
"That must be due to the difference in energy levels you had before the merge, correct?" Kallen asked.
"That is correct."
"So… why are Kallen and Suzaku here? What purpose do they serve, retaining their memories of the past in this new timeline?" Lelouch asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
Why? What was being gained from Kallen and Suzaku's presence in the current timeline?
"The answer to that question is simpler than you think. You see, that Suzaku hates your guts. He wants you dead for all you've done in his timeline, enslaving the Black Knight's, pulling Kallen by her heartstrings, forcing him to kill Euphemia, Milly, Rivalz, the list goes on and on for miles. Meanwhile…" the Dimensional Supervisor pointed at the red head, "this Kallen loves you. She wants to protect this past you, and prevent you from walking down the same destructive path you took in your original timeline."
"But… why them specifically? Is it because of how close they were to me? Or was it just because they were the only ones capable of achieving such goals reliably?"
The left eye opened, and the sinister voice returned, "I was the one who chose that Suzaku as my champion. You see, my counterpart may have access to my memories of the original timeline, however, she doesn't understand why my hatred for you runs so deep. We both have different outlooks on what would allow the march of time to continue." for the first time, the voices merged, with the lighter tone echoing in the background, "While my counterpart believes your death isn't necessary for life to continue, I believe otherwise. You destroyed both timelines. You forced the Collective Unconscious to become a slave to an endless cycle. It was you, Lelouch Vi Britannia! You're always at the epicenter of the universes problems! You shouldn't even be here right now. You're a walking contradiction!"
Lelouch stumbled back in fear. He wanted to leave behind a world where everyone he cared about could live peacefully. And yet, now he's finding out that they can longer live that life, because of his actions. They're set to live in an endless cycle of pain, until a solution is found.
"Wait… I still don't get it." Kallen mumbled, "How can you create a new timeline like that? Does the Collective Unconscious really possess such a power?"
"The Collective Unconscious can grant any wish humanity truly desires. As such, since Lelouch Geassed it into yearning the continuation of the march of time. Thus, it went to the extent of merging with another timeline."
"But how did the other timeline agree to the merge? Both had to agree… right?"
"Correct. Both did agree. After all, one stared down the barrel of death itself; the sword of Akasha. Hopeless, and unable to stop it if it activated. Thus, they agreed to merge, finding a champion that would destroy the sword, saving them from death."
Kallen looked at the sword with disdain, "Wait a minute… but I've met Suzaku. And he seemed normal to me. No hate, or malice, towards Lelouch."
"That's because…" the right eye closed shut, leaving only the gentle voice behind, "His hate is too strong. The will he has to kill Lelouch is powerful. So powerful, in fact, that it keeps him tied to this realm, preventing the boy from moving on. However, if some sort of… powerful event happened to the new Suzaku's body, he could awaken."
"Awaken…" the red head turned to the Prince, who stared at the sky in a daze.
"So it was all pointless…" he muttered, "Everything was pointless…"
Before she could try and comfort him, a Katana pierced through her chest from behind, "I'm sorry, Kallen. But this is between Lelouch and I." it was Suzaku, and he had a deranged look in his eyes. "Just leave him to me, and I'll fix everything." With that, he withdrew his sword, and cut her head off.
January 13th.
Kallen's eyes snapped open after having her head severed. Her blue orbs darted around the train, where her friends had their backs firmly pressed against the seats. Milly held a hand behind her back and said, "H-hey Kallen. It's about time you woke up. The train's gonna arrive at the hotel soon… so, you should probably get ready…"
Something was off, the red head could feel it. "Why are you acting so weird?" she foolishly asked.
"Wh-what do you mean? Who's acting weird? Not me. No way." the blonde responded while shaking her head.
Kallen got up, and forcefully grabbed her friend's arm, revealing a black sharpie with its cap removed, "Is this what you were trying to hide? Why were you being so weird about it?"
A nervous chuckle escaped Shirley's mouth as Maya ogled the red head with mischievous eyes, "Oh, don't worry about a thing. You look so peaceful in your sleep, by the way."
"You didn't," the Black Knight Ace reached into the overhead storage compartment and pulled out her bag. From there, she grabbed a hand mirror, and gazed upon her new look, "Milly!" she roared while putting the blonde into a choke hold, "Why the hell did you draw whiskers and glasses on my face!?"
"I tried to draw some ears too… but I didn't know where to put them- ack!" despite being in such a position, the President still replied with a sassy tone.
"You better hope this comes off easy!"
"Oh don't worry. I'll get my full of laughs by the time we reach our room!"
"Damn you!" Kallen shouted while tightening the hold, inciting more laughter from the blonde and her friends.
"This is so embarrassing…" the red head muttered while using her puffy red jacket to hide her face, drawing odd glances from guests in the hotel's first floor.
"C'mon Kally! Don't be shy! I'm sure nobody finds you ugly!" Maya stated in a boisterous voice, gaining even more attention.
"Shut up!"
"That's right, Kally," C.C chimed in for the first time since the trip began, "I'm sure there's a man out there that finds you attractive."
"I said shut up!"
Milly chuckled as she stuffed the key to their hotel room in her sweaters pocket, while handing Shirley her own, "Alright. So, it's going to be me, Kallen, and Maya sharing a room. While Shirley, Nuna, and Nina share theirs. Any questions?"
"What about Reifu? Where's she going to stay?" Shirley asked.
"She can choose whichever room she wants."
"What!? How's that fair?" the red head shouted in outrage.
"What's wrong? You don't want to snuggle with me in bed?" C.C teased.
"Don't touch me, you freak!"
The girls laughed at the interaction, before the blonde continued, "So, any more questions?"
"Yeah, just one." Kallen glanced at the innocent Princess as she took in the sounds with a beautiful smile. "Why is she here? Nunally shouldn't be here. She can't be here. Especially if the hotel jacking happens once again. If any harm comes to her… I can only imagine how Lelouch will react." her gaze turned to the main group as they giggled while reading a small pamphlet, "Why am I worried about that? I've already set up as many back up plans as I possibly could. I should just enjoy my time here while I can."
Shirley grabbed the red head's hand and dragged her to the group's huddle, "Look! They have a Gyoza eating contest!"
"They do?" Nunally asked, "I love Gyoza! We should enter."
"How much is the entry fee?"
"It says… free with hotel admission!"
"Really? That sounds almost too good to be true," C.C added.
Milly began chuckling maniacally, "Alright girls! Here's what's going to happen. We're going to enter this eating competition, and whoever eats the most… gets a favor from yours truly!"
Everyone seemed on board with the idea, except Nina, who quite frankly wasn't comfortable eating in front of so many people. Another person who wasn't exactly on board with the idea was Kallen, "Wait. What'll happen if you win?"
"Then you'll all have to participate in one of my future schemes. Willingly!"
"Nope."
"No way."
"I'm out."
Upon hearing her 'subordinates' deny her request, the President began whining, "Oh come on! It's no fun if I don't get anything out of it!"
"Then why don't we just do this for fun? It'll prevent us from taking a girl's trip to the bathroom, because we will be sick after eating so much food." the red head suggested as Shirley nodded earnestly.
"But… competition breeds victory! If we're not fighting for something, then what's the point of even participating in a contest at all?"
Kallen put her hands on her hips, "It'll be a nice memory that we, as friends, can reminisce about in the future-"
In an instant, Milly took out her phone and took a picture of the girl, "Alright! New plan. Kally, if you beat me in the Gyoza eating contest, then I'll delete this embarrassing picture of you. However, if I win, then I'll send it to you-know-who."
"You snake!"
Maya held back the raging woman as she tried to disarm the blonde of her new weapon, "Please don't make a scene. I really don't want to be kicked out seconds after entering the hotel."
With assistance from Shirley, Nunally took off her white cardigan as the hotel's heaters started getting to her. "I wish I wasn't wearing this sweater. I just know I'll be sweating buckets later."
"If you need a change of clothes, you can wear some of mine." the orange-haired girl responded happily.
"Thank you, Shirley. You're such a nice person."
"It's no problem, Nuna."
Nina watched the interactions from afar and muttered, "I have a bad feeling about this…"
After spending way too long in the shower, Kallen finally returned to the group, who chose to meet up in the hotel's massive dining area, where, surprisingly, very few guests were actually present. "I wonder where everyone is?" she wondered as Milly called her over.
"Actually, there's supposed to be some sort of important meeting with a bunch of Britannian big shots in one of the floors above us."
"Oh? How do you know about that, Milly?" Shirley asked with an innocent smile.
"That? It's because I'm supposed to be up there."
The group took a second to process what the President had just said, before they all simultaneously exclaimed, "What!?"
"But… how!? I thought you said the Ashford name wasn't worth anything anymore!" Shirley added.
"Well, I've been working hard recently to restore it. And a trip to Lake Kawaguchi was one of my rewards for doing so."
"M-Milly, you do know some of the greatest minds Britannia has ever known are currently having a conversation over our heads!" Nina chimed in surprisingly.
"Uh… yeah. Anyway, I'm hungry! And you're going down, Kally~" the blonde declared boldly, trying to move away from the topic. "So, who else is participating?"
"I am!" Maya joyfully shouted.
"Me too!" Shirley joined in.
"I'll pass. I saw an all-you-can-eat pizza bar at the other end of the cafeteria." C.C responded while casually walking away.
"I just wanna eat Gyoza…" Nunally murmured.
"And you will. After all, it's only Kallen that has to worry about losing."
At a long table, three grown men took a seat. Judging from their posture, they were each clearly experienced competitive eaters. Two of them even brought their own beverages, while the last simply said a prayer, before a man with a white top hat entered the room. "Only ten of you?"
"Nine. I'm not participating," Nina whispered.
"Good." the man harshly replied.
"Oh. I see what's going on. They purposefully chose an inconvenient time. That way, few people would actually come and participate in the contest." Kallen's eyes narrowed as several waiters brought out platters stacked with plates of Gyoza.
Once the host made sure everyone participating was checked into the hotel, and everything was set up, he began, "Welcome everyone to Kawaguchi hotel's first Gyoza competitive eating contest. Today, we'll be seeing which one of our fine contestants can take home the prize of a wonderful hand-made Gyoza trophy."
"There was a trophy?" the red head muttered, "I don't remember there being any mention of that…"
For the last few parts of the speech, the host mumbled through it, making sure no one could understand him, until he finally said, "okay BEGIN!" The eating group stared at him curiously, almost like they were expecting something more. "Um… are you guys gonna eat or what?"
He clearly had better things to do.
Eventually, the eaters began, with Kallen and Milly blazing out of the gate, shocking everyone, including the competitive eaters. Meanwhile, Nunally and Shirley calmly ate their Gyoza's while chatting about school, along with a curious mention of Alice Lanfranc. Of course, due to being too busy with eating, Kallen didn't notice the girl's name being brought up. Instead, she continued to eat, keeping pace with Milly, who was shockingly a fast eater. Though, whether she could keep it up was still up for debate. After a minute, the three competitive eaters stopped competing, and instead watched the intense battle taking place between the blonde and the red head.
Maya was trying to keep up at first, but eventually got bored and tapped out, before checking up on C.C. The group watched with a mix of shock and disgust as the girl's seemingly bottomless stomachs gorged on the beef and onion Gyoza's. The sounds also weren't doing Nunally any favors. Eventually, the match was unfortunately interrupted by a loud scream.
Everyone in the cafeteria turned to the source: a Chef, who was groveling at the feet of C.C, who was finishing off a slice of peperoni pizza, "Honestly, your cooking is subpar, with the dough being undercooked on most of these slices. However, I will admit that the flavors were at least decent. Though, there wasn't much variety." she chastised the man like some kind of critic.
"I implore you to leave this place! We cannot continue to feed customers like you!" at first, nobody understood what the chef meant. It wasn't until they turned to the pizza bar, which was completely ransacked of all its pies. "You'll eat me out of business, ma'am!"
"That's still no excuse to be serving subpar pizza! You're a disgrace to this industry!"
The host had an infuriated look on his face, looking as though he would snap at any moment. Unfortunately, at this time, Maya went up to C.C and whispered, "C'mon, let's go. You're making too much of a scene."
That's when his hostile eyes turned to the girls, "You! Is she with you!?"
Milly and Kallen gulped down their last Gyoza's and sighed, "Unfortunately, yes."
The host's face turned red from anger, he had reached his boiling point, "Get out!" he shouted.
"That guy was so rude." Shirley complained as the girls walked down the hallway to their rooms, "I honestly don't even know why he was so angry."
"Right? It was all you can eat anyway. Why have such a sign present if it's not true?" C.C added.
"That's because they don't want to lose money, so they can't truly give out an endless amount of food. Otherwise, profits would crash." Kallen replied matter-of-factly.
"Hey, you're pretty smart, Kally. Maybe I should have you as my secretary!" Milly added in a teasing tone.
"The last thing I want is to work directly under you. As, chances are, you'll force me to wear some kind of skimpy outfit."
"What!? I'd never do such a thing!" the blonde whined, "Though… if I were, what kind of outfit would you wear?"
"Milly!"
It seems the red head's worrying was all for naught, as everything seemed fine. There wasn't any sign of the JLF or Kusakabe moving in on the hotel, despite it being the afternoon already. It was only faint, but for a second, Kallen genuinely thought that today would be a normal day. One where she could enjoy innocent activities with her friends. While tomorrow would be a different story, today was a good day.
"Hina, please wait up!" Mario shouted while chasing the little girl around Ashford Academy.
Lelouch and Rivalz followed close behind with annoyed looks, "I can't believe we're babysitting while the girls have a nice day off!" the blue-haired boy complained as they rounded a corner.
"Look at it this way, it could be worse," the Prince responded, with the memory of helping the other clubs engraved in his mind.
Clearly, his friend felt the same as he shook his head, "You're right. We should be grateful that this is all we're doing." Hina climbed onto Mario's head and pointed toward the school's church, as if commanding him to take her there, "By the way, whose kid is this anyway?"
"I think Maya said it's her cousin." Lelouch lied while running after Mario. "They're supposed to be taking care of her until her parents return from their trip."
"I see. Well, that's nice of them."
As they ran, the Prince's mind began to wander to his girlfriend, who he wondered if she was okay, especially after such a strange request this morning. Nevertheless, he did as asked, and if things miraculously went awry, then he'd use the opportunity to deploy the Black Knight's for their first ever mission. "While it would be good for a debut, I don't appreciate Kallen putting herself in harm's way. It's bad enough that Milly roped Nunally into going, too. Even if it's only a slight chance, a terrorist attack would cause my heart to drop, especially with the thought of Nunally and Kallen being the hostages."
?
"The preparations are complete, Kusakabe. We can initiate the hotel takeover tomorrow," a JLF soldier reported.
"Excellent. With this, we'll be able to finally put the JLF on the map again. Showing Britannia that Japan is still alive and kicking. After our victory at the hotel, the people will forget about Zero, and be reminded of the group that will allow Japan to be reborn!"
"Long live Japan!" his soldiers shouted in joy upon hearing their leader's resolve.
AN: Latter half of the chapter was a bit half-baked, as it was mostly included at the last second. This chapter was mainly focused on the timeline elements, and how this all happened. The idea of the Collective Unconcious being able to merge timelines stems from when it erased Marianne and Charles (though, not their conciousness, because it would be dumb if it could do that.). It might seem outlandish, but considering the unconcious is 'God', I'm saying that whatever it wills, can be brought into existence. Also, the dimensional supervisor is an actual character. She appears in Akito the Exhiled. Another thing, Suzaku's conciousness staying in C's world and not moving on comes from when Marianne and Charles haunted Lelouch's concious in the Resurrection movie.
If you have any other questions about the 'time travel' aspect, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them.
