It had taken him quite a while, but Lelouch had calmed down about the situation with Suzaku.
Of course, he was still upset, but Lelouch was no longer overcome by his anger. He was also not cursing C.C. out or throwing his helmet around like a football.
Instead, he was attempting to view the situation with Suzaku from a more logical perspective, focusing on Suzaku and the problems that he presented as Lelouch would consider any other major figure that had emerged onto the scene.
And Suzaku was presenting a major problem to Zero and his rebellion; that was for certain, Lelouch reflected.
Of course, Suzaku had always been a problem; even if nothing had changed after the prison break, then Suzaku would still be an issue, as the Lancelot had always been a constant thorn in his side.
Now that he thought about it, it was just like Suzaku to be the Lancelot pilot. He'd always been an annoyingly persistent, idiotic force of nature, and it was just like him to disrupt Lelouch's carefully made plans in such an infuriating manner.
But now, the problem that Suzaku posed to Lelouch's rebellion had only grown one hundred times worse for the Black Knights.
It was bad enough that Suzaku was now known to the public as the pilot of the already rather famous Lancelot, which had proven instrumental in several confrontations between Britannia and his Black Knights. This would have already turned Suzaku into a formidable figure for the reformists and Britannian loyalists amongst the Japanese population.
But worse still was Euphemia's public announcement that she would be taking Suzalu as her Knight of honour; Lelouch had held out some hope that Suzaku would reject Euphemia's offer, but of course, the fool had accepted it, likely due to some unfounded delusion that it would aid him in his misbegotten quest to reform Britannia.
Suzaku's military record, his Kurrugi blood, and his unthinkable appointment as a Britannian Princess's Knight of honor, now meant that Suzaku was a figure who, in the minds of the Japanese people, was a viable alternative to Zero.
Sure, Zero had won many battles for the Japanese and gone to great lengths to fight back against oppression by the Britannians and to improve the lives of the Japanese. Still, the fact remained that Zero was a terrorist who often employed, in their eyes, despicable methods.
In addition to Zero's identity being unknown, leading to rumors that he was not Japanese, many still had reservations about him.
And the fact that his Black Knights had been purging and forcibly absorbing smaller resistance groups probably didn't help Zero's dubious reputation amongst the wider populace.
However, the fact that Leila and Wyvern Squadron had apparently managed to kill Earl Lloyd Asplund and his assistant, Cecile Croomy, who were apparently the scientists responsible for the Lancelot, was some good news, at least.
Even better, the two scientists had apparently been working for Schneizel, and according to all reports, Schneizel was rather vexed by their deaths.
Lelouch's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of knocking on his door. He looked towards the door to his office and narrowed his eyes. "Who is it?"
"It's me, can I come in?" C.C. answered him back.
Well, there was no reason to deny her entrance. "Feel free."
C.C. didn't waste anymore time as she entered the room and quickly made herself at home in Lelouch's office.
Admittedly, Lelouch could see why half of his Black Knights were convinced that C.C. was his mistress.
Though that didn't make Tamaki's perverted gossiping any less annoying…
Shaking his head to get his mind off of Tamaki's fantasies, Lelouch sent C.C. a questioning look. "What do you want?"
C.C. chuckled at him. "Am I not allowed to come and visit you without an ulterior motive? Maybe I just want to make small talk."
Lelouch rolled his eyes at her. "You never seek me out unless you either want something for me, want to annoy me, or want to ask me something about my future plans, so which is it?"
C.C. crossed her arms and huffed as if she was outraged by his response, though Lelouch knew perfectly well that the reaction was fake. "Very well, fine, decimate my fun, why don't you? Anyway, I wanted to ask you how you intend to deal with Suzaku."
Lelouch sighed at that; that was the one thing he didn't want to discuss right now. "I don't know; there's nothing I can think of that could convince Suzaku to join me."
C.C. raised an eyebrow at that. "Couldn't you use your Geass on him? Command him to join you and your cause?"
Lelouch scowled at her. "That's out of the question."
C.C. looked at Lelouch as if he had just told her that he believed Santa Claus was real and would give him a mega Knightmare for Christmas. "Well then, do you intend to kill him? Seems like a waste to me; he's an ace pilot on or above Kallen's level, but if you feel that strongly about preserving his free will, the-"
Lelouch slammed his fist on his desk, interrupting her sentence. "We're not killing him either!"
C.C. glared at him, seemingly fed up with his responses. "So, what, then, do you intend to let your Suzaku problem fester? Are you simply going to stop trying to destroy the Lancelot now? Just because the pilot turned out to be your friend? That seems like it is begging to backfire. I wonder how many battles you will lose because of that."
Lelouch clenched his teeth at that. "I'm in no mood to speak with you about this, C.C., drop it."
C.C. sighed, exasperated. "Fine. You should probably meet with your officers, though. They're concerned about this as well."
Right, Lelouch should see to them as well, unlike C.C.; he couldn't entirely depend on them to follow him no matter what.
This was going to be a long day, wasn't it?
It didn't take long for all his officers to join him in the meeting room, where they held meetings to discuss strategies for upcoming operations.
Normally, there were delays. An officer or two would be distracted by some concern or another, making the process of assembling everyone who needed to be there rather tedious.
This time, everyone showed up on time, and many even showed up early. It seemed everyone had the matter of Suzaku on their minds.
Lelouch sat at the head of the table. On his left were Diethard, the newly appointed head of Intelligence; Rakshata, the head of research and development; and Akito, Leila's second in command. Meanwhile, on his right was Oghi, his new second in command. Next was Tohdoh, the head of military affairs, and then Leila, who was still the commanding officer of Wyvern Squadron, as always.
He folded his hands upon each other as he observed his six lieutenants. "We are here to discuss Kururugi Suzaku and the implications of his emergence onto the stage, Diethard, if you would?"
Diethard nodded, clearing his throat. "As the pilot of the Lancelot and the Sub Viceroy, Princess Euphemia li Britannia's Knight of Honour, he can now act as a formidable figurehead for the reformers movement. He is perhaps the greatest threat that the Black Knights have faced, Politically speaking. I recommend assassination."
Leila was the first to speak up, glaring at Diethard. "That's despicable, Kururugi is only, what, seventeen?"
Rakshata laughed at that. "Yes, he's the same age as you, dear, and no one objects to you fighting in war, so I fail to see why Kurrurugi deserves special treatment. Besides, it's the easiest solution to our problem, isn't it? I say go for it."
Akito nodded in agreement with Rakshata. "Kururugi is an issue. We should eliminate him. It's the easiest method to neutralize the threat he poses."
Akito was disagreeing with Leila? That was surprising, given how doggedly loyal the man was to the EU, Leila seemed rather shocked as well, if her pale face was any indication. "Akit-"
Leila was saved from any embarrassment when Tohdoh cut her off. "Assassination is out of the question; it is a disgusting and cowardly method."
Diethard chuckled at that. "Is it? Or are you simply blinded by your love for your former student? We all heard about the words the two of you exchanged at the last battle."
Tohdoh narrowed his eyes at Diethard. "Watch your tongue, Britannian." Tohdoh went silent for a moment before resuming. "If word were to get out that we killed Suzaku with such a dishonourable method, then we would disgrace ourselves in the eyes of the Japanese people, who would never stand for something so cowardly."
Oghi agreed with Tohdoh. "Yeah, when you say assassinating him, you mean killing him when he's defenceless, don't you? That's not something that the Black Knights, who stand for Justice, should do."
His officers were evenly divided on the issue. Lelouch chose this moment to be the tiebreaker. "We will not pursue assassination; the Political Fallout from such an act is too great to risk. We will have to find an alternate means of dealing with Kurururgi."
Leila stormed out of the meeting room and made her way through the Black Knights's Submarine, which they were using as their primary base now, as Akito followed behind her.
Apparently, the Submarine was provided to the Black Knights by Rakashata and the Indian Government, which, while nominally under the control of the Chinese Federation, was engaged in its own struggle for independence and had seemingly found common cause with Zero and his Black Knights.
Leila did not begrudge the Indians for seeking their own independence; the Chinese Federation was barely any better than Britannia, after all, but they were making her life far more difficult than it had been before.
While Leila was here to aid Zero and his Black Knights and their war against the Britannians, and she intended to do just that to the very best of her abilities, she could not forget that her other objective was to subvert the Black Knights and bring them under the EU's influence.
And that was made much harder when the Black Knights had more than one foreign backer, it was harder to make Zero dependent on European aid and weapons when he didn't need to rely on them as his sole suppliers and allies on the world stage.
Well, there was nothing to be done about it now, Leila supposed. India had already thrown its lot in behind Zero, and it would be too far to disrupt that alliance and put their struggles for independence at risk. Orders or not, she had lines she was unwilling to cross.
Her ideals were one of the only things in this world that were wholly Leila's and Leila's alone; she did not intend to give up on them any time soon, no matter what General Smilas ordered her to do.
Some in Europe would say Leila was a traitor for such a conviction; frankly, she did not care.
Still, she would attempt to find other ways to make Zero a European asset. At the end of the day, Leila was still loyal to her country.
Leila had no intention of abandoning the nation that her father, her real father, had given his life for.
Leila had many issues to contend with, that was for sure.
One issue that was particularly irritating to Leila was how disastrously the meeting with Zero and his top lieutenants had gone for her. She was glad that they had made the right choice in the end, of course, but her performance had been rather humiliating.
And Akito certainly hadn't helped matters.
Speaking of Akito, however, Leila should deal with that matter.
Leila stopped and turned around, facing Akito.
Akito looked at her with a somewhat confused look in his eyes. "Commander? Why have we stopped walking? Our barracks are in the far left wing of the Submarine, which we are still nowhere close to. Is there an issue that has suddenly come up?"
Leila glared at him, exasperated by his hardheadedness. "The issue is with you, Lieutenant Hyuga."
Akito gave her a questioning look at that. "What infraction have I committed, Commander?"
Akito had always been… strange; though Leila was fond of him, there were times when she was convinced he was a robot.
Now was probably one of those times, Leila reflected, as she sighed, resisting the urge to facepalm at Akito's denseness and his overly blunt speech. "You contradicted me during the meeting with Zero, Lieutenant Hyuga; while I understand that you had your own opinion on the matter of Kururugi and what to do about him, others there were already expressing your opinion, so all you ended up accomplishing was making me look weak in front of Zero and the rest of the Black Knights leadership."
Akito nodded at her words, seemingly accepting her rebuke without any pushback or counterpoints. "I see; I apologize, Commander; I wasn't aware that my words would have such a detrimental effect on your political standing within the Black Knights' leadership."
Leila smiled at him as if to reassure him. "It's fine, Akito. It's ultimately a minor issue. Still, keep it in mind for future meetings."
Akito nodded once again at her words. Her second in command seemed to be accepting her orders without a second thought, as was typical of him. "Understood, Commander. I'll remain in lockstep with you in all future meetings from now on unless I have reason to believe that agreeing with you will prove detrimental to our mission."
Well, that went well; Leila supposed that, while many of Akito's anti-social tendencies concerned her, mainly for his sake rather than any real discomfort on her part, she figured that she couldn't complain about his staunch loyalty, at least not in this instance.
Leila nodded at him, showing her approval of his promise. "Very well, I am glad that we cleared that up, Lieutenant Hyuga."
She and Akito needed to stay on the same page, now more than ever, Leila reflected. The remnants of the JLF had proved just as resistant to her attempts to reach out, just as Akito had predicted, and Zero's power and influence only seemed to be growing greater and greater as time went on.
Wasting no more time, Leila turned back around and began to head back to the Wyvern Squadron's barracks, which had been set aside for her and her unit on the far left side of the Submarine.
The walk back to their barracks was not overly eventful, they did pass by C.C., who didn't pay them any mind, nor did they do much to acknowledge her either.
Eventually, they arrived at their barracks and parted ways, with Leila heading to her bedroom.
A week later, when the Submarine had come into a supposedly abandoned port under the control of the Black Knights, Zero dismissed Leila and sent her back to Ashford.
Leila found Lelouch in his living room, sitting at a table, sleeping, with his head resting against his arms. He tended to do that a lot. From what Leila could tell, Lelouch often seemed rather sleep-deprived for whatever reason. Perhaps he was an insomniac?
Leila shook her head and sighed; she shouldn't waste time thinking about it; it wasn't her business anyway.
She was about to make her way to the basement, though it was more of a bunker, truth be told, beneath Ashford, when Lelouch stirred from his nap, looking up at her with bleary eyes.
Lelouch yawned. "Leila, you're back, how was the Black Knights?"
Leila gave him a questioning look at that. "You're rather reckless, asking about that; what if your sister or Sayoko overhear?"
Lelouch had stressed to her the importance of not letting things slip around them often, as they were not in on his employment with Zero.
Lelouch waved off her concerns with a lazy smile. "Nunnally and Sayoko aren't going to be back for a while; it should be fine."
Leila sighed at that. "Very well, the Black Knights and I have been busy with this whole Kururugi business."
Lelouch raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh, I heard about that, the new Knight of Honor, right?"
Leila nodded at that. "The very same, he's something of a major issue at the moment."
Lelouch gave her a weary smile. "Because he's a pretty solid figurehead for the pro-reform Japanese, right?"
Leila shrugged in response. "That's the long and short of it; yes, honestly, the main trouble came from trying to agree on what to do about him."
Lelouch looked at her curiously. "Oh? And why was it so hard for you higher-ups to agree on that?"
Leila rubbed at her shoulder. "Well, to tell the truth, it wasn't that troublesome. Zero eventually put an end to it and settled the matter, but we were evenly divided on what to do before he spoke up."
Lelouch nodded. "That sounds like him. Zero always has a way of bringing people together."
With how much she liked Lelouch, it was easy to forget that he was as devoted to Zero as the other Black Knights, Leila reflected.
Leila halfheartedly nodded along with him. "As for what the disagreement was actually about, half of us wanted to assassinate Kururugi, and the other half, including myself, were against the notion. Ultimately, Zero agreed with us. Someone I respect quite a bit was on the other side of the argument, and they insisted that Kururugi is a threat that needs to be eliminated. Sometimes, I can't help but wonder if he was right to think so."
Lelouch shook his head at that. "No, I think I agree with you; what kind of Knights for Justice would we be if we murdered someone in cold blood?" He paused, looking to the corner of the living room. "Hey, do you play chess?"
Leila was caught off guard by the sudden topic change, even if she appreciated it. "I do. Why?"
Lelouch shrugged. "I was wondering if you'd like to play a game, that's all."
Leila smiled at him. "I'd love to."
It was that day that Leila realized that she considered Lelouch to be a friend.
Author's Note:
Compared to the previous chapter, this chapter was definitely less eventful. I personally wouldn't call it filler since, in my opinion, some of the stuff here is important set up for later, but it definitely didn't exactly contain anything unexpected.
