"She'll come," Lelouch repeated, more to himself than to Nunnally. It had become almost a mantra over the past hour. "She'll come. We just need to wait a little longer."
"But I'm tired, Lelouch," His sister complained. "It's been two hours, and we need to leave soon. Father said we only had a day to collect our things."
Lelouch scowled. "I don't give a damn what that man said." Nunnally gave a frightful squeak at the harshness of his words, and immediately his anger evaporated.
"I"m sorry Nunna," He apologized. "I'm not angry with you. Well go soon, I promise, but we only have to wait a little longer. She'll come."
She had to. Cornelia had urged him against going to the Emperor. She had urged him against speaking out, against demanding justice, but how could he not? Was he meant to simply sit by meekly? His mother, an empress, was murdered in broad daylight, and nobody seemed to be doing anything about it!
Cornelia might have been upset with him for ignoring her, but she wouldn't just let him leave without saying goodbye. And certainly not Nunnally, who had nothing to do with it. They were being exiled, sent halfway across the world, and they weren't sure if they would ever come back.
Not that it would be much of a loss, He thought bitterly. With his mother's murder, and his father's refusal to act, there was little and less for him in Pendragon. The court despised him, and the feeling was most certainly mutual. His home, the Aries Villa was an empty palace with nothing for him but the reminder of where his mother died. He had no desire to go back. And he could care less about most of his siblings. He might miss Clovis some, and he would sorely regret losing the chance to play against Schneizel.
But the only ones he truly regrets leaving are Cornelia and Euphemia. They had been close for as long as he could remember, and he hadn't even seen Cornelia since his fight with father. He hadn't seen Euphy since before mother's death.
He wrote them a letter, asking them both to see them off, so they could at least properly say their goodbyes. There…there was still too much he had to say. He ought to apologize to Cornelia, for not listening. Thank her, for keeping them safe, tell her he didn't blame her for what happened to mother. And Euphy was probably a wreck. He could reassure her, promise to keep in touch.
Even if Cornelia was upset with him for not listening, she would come. She wouldn't do that to him, and certainly not Nunnally.
"Your Highness…" One of the guards began, and Lelouch felt his anger spike.
"Shut up!" He snarled. "They're going to be here soon, and then we'll go off to the middle of nowhere and be someone else's problem. Do something useful with yourself and prepare the plane!"
The guard bowed wordlessly, walking back to the plane.
"That was mean," Nunnally whispered.
Lelouch crossed his arms. It's his own damn fault. He should KNOW they're going to come. He should know to wait.
But the minutes passed by, ten, twenty, thirty. Still the small airstrip they waited on remained empty, except for them. Still, no one appeared.
"I don't think they're going to come, brother," Nunnally finally said sadly.
No, He thought sourly. They aren't. Because they fear him more than they love us. Or perhaps we simply never mattered to them as much as we thought. Perhaps with mother dead they decided we weren't worth it. It was the bitterness clouding his mind, and he knew it, but he couldn't help thinking it. They should be here, no matter what the emperor said.
Finally, he turned away, gripping the handles of Nunnally's wheelchair. "Let's go, Sister," He sighed. "Japan awaits us."
"I hope it's nice there," Nunnally said, before frowning. "Why…why do you think they didn't come?"
Lelouch curled his lip. He wanted to say a lot. He wanted to tell her every insulting thought to enter his mind in the past hour. He wanted to tell her it was because they were cowards, or because they didn't care. He wanted to vent his anger, and his grief.
But Nunnally was still recovering, and anyways she didn't deserve to hear all of that. She still held their family in high regard. "I'm sure they tried," He said for her sake, even as he scowled.
Maybe they did try. But if they did, then it wasn't hard enough.
Cornelia winced when she hit the floor. She didn't make any sound that might give her away, thankfully, but the drop from the ceiling vent to the ground put a strain on her ankles.
She shook her head, willing herself to ignore the pain. It meant nothing. She was here for a purpose, one that would be worth whatever minor inconvenience it might bring her.
She was here for answers.
It had been seven months since the battle for the Tokyo Settlement. Seven months since the SAZ massacre. Seven months since her sister died. Seven months since her brother came back to life, only to haunt her.
No. Whoever that was, it wasn't her brother. Not anymore. Her brother died with the invasion, it seemed. Zero was a revenant, fueled by nothing but bitter hatred and revenge.
Her Brother would not have killed Euphy. Or made her do what she did.
Something that still puzzled her. How did Lelouch…how did Zero compel Euphy? Seven months, and she was hardly any closer to the truth.
Not that she hadn't made progress. She had. The problem was she didn't understand any of it. It was as if she had half the pieces to a puzzle she couldn't see the shape of. She had learned so much, but all of it only managed to give her more questions.
Geass. It always came back to that word. Geass. Whatever it was, her brother's madness was at the heart of it. Euphy's death as well. And not only that, but it seemed the emperor, and even Schneizel were mixed up in it as well. To what extent, she couldn't be sure, but they knew something. That much was certain.
Which meant she could trust no one except herself in her search.
It had been slow so far. Agonizingly slow, but she had finally found something that might prove interesting.
Britannia's offensive against the EU had reached a bitter stalemate around the time when she left office to begin her search. She hadn't given much thought to how the war was faring, but recently she learned the tide had turned against the EU after the forces of Euro Britannia had been placed in command of a Military Advisor sent directly from the Emperor.
Which brought her here. To St. Petersburg, the seat of Duke Augusta Highland, sneaking around the palace like a thief in the night, or an assassin. It was necessary. She had taken great pains to hide her movements from any who might be looking for her.
Any military advisor sent by the emperor able to simply take full command from a duke must be highly placed indeed. And one who can so quickly, so completely turn the tide of a war had to be exceptionally skilled. Which meant he might be privy to certain information that she was not. Information regarding Geass, and what the emperor had to do with it.
It was a risk, and one not certain to pay off, but she had little else to go on in the way of leads. A few whispers of rumor about a desert in China, but she doubted that would lead to anything useful.
At least here she might accomplish something.
She took a look around her, nodding in satisfaction. A security room. It had taken her long enough to find one. She worked quickly, grabbing a manifest on top of a stack of papers. She found him in moments.
Julius Kingsley. He arrived three months ago, bearing the Imperial Scepter and escorted by…Cornelia's eyes widened. Suzaku Kururugi.
She had learned Suzaku rose to the rank of a knight of the round, but she hadn't paid much attention to his activities since. It seemed her former sister's knight wasn't quite granted the respect he was warranted. She couldn't imagine any Military Advisor that would warrant a Knight of the Round to guard him, even if he did bear the Imperial Scepter.
She scoffed. That was their problem, if they chose to underestimate him. Suzaku was a true knight. Kingsley, however…Perhaps Suzaku might help me, if he knew my purpose. Surely he would. It was for Euphy's memory, after all.
No. No, what she intended would only bring more trouble for the knight. It was better if he didn't know.
The manifest made no mention of where they stay…But there was something of note. Every few days, Kingsley vanished for a day or two, only to pop up again as if nothing happened. The logs showed that Kururugi would go into the palace's holding cells during those same days, and order no one to enter.
Today was one of those days.
Cornelia had no idea why Suzaku would be locking Kingsley in the cells, but it was hardly any concern of hers. Maybe he wasn't as trusted as she thought. He still must know something if so much trouble was gone through at his expense.
She just needed to find a way to the cells. Cornelia sighed, shaking her head. Back into the fucking vents.
Lelouch coughed hoarsely, scratching his finger weakly across the wall. He wasn't trying to mark it in any way. He was far too weak for that. He was…he was just…
I've forgotten. Still, he kept scratching, without truly knowing why. He had little else he could do. It had been three days, or maybe four since Suzaku found out about his deception. It wouldn't be long now before he was dragged back to Pendragon, perhaps for the last time. He doubted he would be able to survive many more attempts to mold his mind into Kingsley. It was already driving him mad.
Strangely, he felt almost calm. He was falling apart, yes, but perhaps it was a good thing. He killed Euphy. He failed to protect Nunnally, he failed to finish what he started. The Black Knights had fallen apart, and he would never get to keep his end of the bargain with C.C.
There wasn't much he could offer anyone anymore. At least if he were dead, he could pay. At least if he were dead, the emperor couldn't make him hurt anyone else as Kingsley.
"Lelouch?" A voice called from beside him. He ignored it, hugging closer to the wall. "Lelouch?" he shut his eyes, willing the voice to go away.
"That's alright then. I'll just sit down." He heard the ruffling of clothes as the voice did just that, and soon began to quietly hum a song.
Finally, Lelouch sighed, giving up and turning around. "It's not enough I'm going mad," He scowled. "No, I have to hallucinate as well."
The image of Euphemia, as real as any memory he had of her, smiled warmly. "It's good to see you, brother." She frowned. "Although you look terrible."
He laughed bitterly. "You can thank your knight for that, sister."
"I've been thinking about the SAZ," She said, as if she didn't hear him. Of course she didn't. She wasn't real. It was Euphemia now, but occasionally someone else would come and haunt him instead. Suzaku was the most common, which made it hard to differentiate when it was a hallucination, or when he really was there. But he saw Cornelia as well, and Nunnally, Kallen, C.C., even mother and father sometimes. Sometimes they tried to comfort him, others to taunt him. Mostly he tried to ignore them.
But he was far too exhausted to bother anymore. If he was going to go mad, he may as well indulge himself. "And what about it?" He asked in a weary voice.
"I was wondering if maybe you would like to live there," She asked. "I know you're happy with the Ashfords, but it might be safer in the SAZ, even if you aren't Japanese. Plus, it'll make it easier for me to see you and Nunnally when I'm running the place." Her smile widened. "Can you imagine it? You, me , Nunnally, maybe we can even tell Cornelia about you. Once you're comfortable with it, of course. Just like old times. No more fighting. No more killing. A place for the Japanese to be free. A place to begin change, through peace instead of more war. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Yes," He agreed, swallowing hard as his voice cracked. "Yes it would, sister. I'm looking forward to it." Just leave me alone, He pleaded in his head. Go away.
More time passed, and the hours crawled by, and still Euphy went on and on, reminiscing. Eventually, he gave up responding, trying desperately to ignore what she was staying. He began scratching the walls of his cell to distract him. Not to actually make any mark, of course, he was far too weak for that. But it was enough for him to focus on, and eventually her voice fell away.
By the time it did, he found himself frowning. Why am I scratching the walls?
The hardest part of infiltrating the palace was stopping herself from sneezing.
The damn vents were a maze, and most had dust particles flying around, either pushed by the ventilation, or gathering in the sections that weren't commonly used.
Once or twice she had to pause, waiting for footsteps behind her to pass by. She refused to be caught because someone heard her shuffling around above her. She still had her dignity, after all.
When she was certain she had reached the cells, she carefully removed the vent cover and dropped down. She shut off the camera's for the security room, so she was hopefully safe to move around so long as she remained within the cells. At least, until someone decided to pay attention.
I still need to move quickly. The cells were uncomfortably empty, devoid of both guards and prisoners. Then again, Kururugi must have had some reason he wanted to hide away Kingsley. Now I only need to find him. She moved quickly, glancing from cell to empty cell.
Cornelia shook her head in frustration. "Where the hell are you?" She muttered to herself.
She almost missed him. Someone sat hunched, leaning against the wall of a cell, mindlessly scratching the stone. He was dressed in gaudy clothes that clashed viciously with the cell he was trapped in. A mop of black hair covered his face.
"Finally," She sighed, shaking her head. She stood up straight, instilling a strict tone to her voice. "Stand up," She ordered. "Look at me."
Kingsley, or who she assumed was Kingsley, ignored her. "I am ordering you to look at me, now!"
"Oh," Kingsley said softly, in a voice that made Cornelia freeze. He raised his head, revealing a face partially obscured by an eyepatch. "I remember why I was scratching, now. It was to make you all go away."
Cornelia's eyes widened. He looks awful. She forced the thought out of her mind. Good. It's no less than what he deserved. She scowled. "I see the emperor lied when he announced Zero had been executed. I suppose I should have expected you'd stick it through. You're like a cockroach, Lelouch. No matter what happens to you, you always manage to somehow survive while everyone around you suffers in your stead."
Lelouch sighed. "Go away," He said. Cornelia frowned. His words were slurred, messy, as if he was only half conscious. It unsettled her, hearing his voice like that, though she couldn't say why. "I've had enough…enough…" He trailed off, falling silent for almost a minute before finishing his thoughts. "No more. If I'm going to go mad…let me do it in peace."
He thinks I'm a hallucination, She realized. Which means he's already experienced them. It was far from the worst fate he deserved…but what had happened to him since his capture? "I'm no illusion, Lelouch." She told him. "I did not come here for you, but since fate has delivered you into my hands, you will give me answers." She leaned closer, gripping the bars of the primitive cell. "Why did you kill Euphemia?" She snarled. "And what is Geass?"
Lelouch smiled weakly. "Now I know you aren't real. Cornelia never knew about Geass."
So he does know something then. "I've been busy since last we spoke," She said. "There is much I don't understand, I'll admit, but I know enough to know Geass is at the root of it."
"Why did you come here then?" He asked suddenly, sounding more alive than she had heard him since their conversation began. "If not for me, then why?"
"I was looking for a man named Julius Kingsley," Cornelia frowned. "He doesn't matter to you."
Lelouch laughed, holding his stomach until he started to cough. She saw something red stain his hands when he went to wipe his mouth. "How…how I wish that were true, sister."
Don't call me that. "What do you mean?" She interrogated. "What do you know about Kingsley?"
"Come now, you're not a fool Cornelia," He mumbled. "If you are real, you still managed to outmaneuver me at Saitama. And if not, then you're a figment of my imagination, and you already know the answer."
Her eyes widened at his words. As soon as he spoke, she realized her mistake. Idiot, She cursed herself. How could she think for a second that Lelouch just happened to be held here? Here, in Euro Britannia, in the very same place she was looking for Julius Kingsley. Kingsley, who had arrived escorted by Suzaku Kururugi of all people.
"You're Kingsley…" She whispered. "But…that doesn't make any sense. You would never fight for the emperor. You loathe him." Loathed him enough to murder an innocent like Euphy.
"The emperor…" Lelouch winced in pain. "Of course I wouldn't. And he knew that. But I was still useful to him. He still needs me. So he put me to use. Erased my memories, replaced them with a lie. One that went against every fiber of my being. Julius Kingsley, the very embodiment of Britannian nobility. A snobbish, arrogant, racist loyal only to our father."
"That…" Cornelia blanched. "That's madness. How can the emperor simply erase your memories?"
"How could I get Euphemia to go against her nature?" Lelouch countered. "Geass, sister."
She gasped, stepping back in equal parts horror and disgust. "No…" The emperor cannot have a Geass. He can't. "No, he wouldn't…"
Lelouch suddenly lunged at the bars of his cell, his vigor renewed, desperation seeping out of his eyes. "It's killing me, sister," He told her. "Every time Suzaku drags me back, every time the emperor puts me under, more and more of myself slips away. Kill me. Kill me before I become him again."
Cornelia stood there, still frozen in shock. Geass is an abomination. It wrought all of this trouble. The emperor…I thought he might know something, but surely he wouldn't actually dabble in such a terrible power?
Lelouch gripped the bars of his cell tighter. "Please," He begged, and Cornelia felt something tug at her heart watching him. "If you are real, if we ever meant anything to each other, or even if you have nothing left in your heart for me but hatred, kill me. I killed Clovis. I murdered Euphy. Isn't that enough? Kill me, damn it!"
Cornelia remained silent, unable to believe what she had learned. Lelouch deserved to die. He deserved to be imprisoned. But…but this? His mind robbed from him, his will stolen away by a cursed power? Forced to live as someone that opposed his every ideal?
Even he doesn't deserve this. He…he deserved a clean death at the very least. But the emperor had stooped to his level, corrupting himself with Geass, and destroying Lelouch's mind.
And when she looked at him now, she couldn't see the man who killed her sister, or the terrorist who slew Clovis.
She saw her brother. One of the few she ever truly loved. She saw him, sick and dying, begging for her to kill him and put him out of his misery. He looked at me that way once before, She recalled. After Marianne died. When he begged me to go to the emperor. I refused, and that's why he went himself. It's why he was exiled to begin with.
Lelouch took her silence as an answer. He slumped away from the bars, his energy spent. The life that had returned to his eyes went away, and he began mindlessly scratching the wall of his cell. "I thought so," He whispered pitifully. "Just another trick."
"I…" She didn't know what she was going to say, but she was cut off by the sound of a door opening. Someone's coming. Likely Kururugi. She shook her head. "I will return," She promised.
"I know you will," Lelouch mumbled blithely. "You, and Euphy, and all the rest. You always do."
She shut her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself. What have they done to you, Lelouch? She opened them, a fierce new purpose shining in her eyes. "You are a prince, Lelouch. You will not die here rotting in a cell as you fall into madness. You won't let our father win, will you?" She had hoped to instill a sense of anger in him, but he only shrugged, not bothering to answer. Her face fell, her shoulders sagged, and she frowned remorsefully. "Hold on, Brother. Only a little longer."
She quickly moved back to the vent she had entered from, hauling herself up with a grunt and putting the cover back in place. She crawled quickly, not bothering to try and move stealthily. She was far too out of sorts to care.
Lelouch…there was so much she felt about her younger brother. She had mourned him, after the invasion. Tried time and again to search for him, begging to be allowed to scour the island for him and Nunnally. And each time, she was denied directly by the emperor. Then he returned, at the lowest point of her life, to reveal that none other than he had been Zero. He had murdered Clovis, Euphy, and waged a bitter and bloody war all for…for what? Revenge? It must have been. How she had hated him then.
Then the battle was over, and Zero was captured. Executed. She didn't take the time to even think about it. She was too busy trying to exonerate Euphemia's name. And in doing so, learned of Geass.
Lelouch possessed one. She was sure of it now. And that…that was the reason Euphy was dead. She thought Lelouch died in the invasion, and only his anger and spite remained.
I was wrong, She decided then. She had to be, or else why bother with the Black Knights? If he truly possessed such horrible power, why not go directly to Pendragon and kill the emperor?
He must have had a reason. He must have truly believed what the Black Knights stood for. And that…that she could at least respect. Her brother was a good man. He was still the child she remembered from Pendragon. But Geass…It must have corrupted him somehow. It must have. Lelouch would never have killed Euphy otherwise. Lelouch must have created Zero, and the Black Knights with good intentions, all while struggling against the curse of Geass. Yes, yes that was it.
And now, he was wasting away.
I will save you brother, She thought. I swear it. I will save you from this…this nightmare, and I will save you from Geass as well. I will clear Euphy's name, and yours if I can as well. You only…you only did what you thought was right. He had to have.
And the emperor…if the emperor truly possessed a Geass…
Then perhaps Lelouch had the right idea after all.
So this was supposed to be a oneshot, but I decided I enjoyed it too much to leave it that way, so here's another chapter! I know this set's up for a longer fic, but I'll just say now that while I plan to eventually continue it, and it might even be soon, it will by no means be updated consistently. I'm currently writing two other Code Geass fics, one a crossover, and they WILL be released with a schedule. Once I'm comfortable with those, Then I'll be able to plot this out and start really kicking it into high gear.
About the story. It is a minor au, as I only just now started watching Akito (currently three episodes in of five) A bit disappointing how little Kingsley is used, but I still am mostly enjoying it. The AU comes from the fact that here Kingsley has had command of Euro Britannia's forces for at least a few months before breaking down. And of course, Cornelia deciding to investigate is a diversion of itself.
Don't worry, expect more familiar characters to pop up soon enough! Leila, Kallen and C.C., and all the rest. I'm still figuring out where I'm going to take this, but I do have a few ideas.
If you enjoyed, then please leave a comment! I read them all, even if I don't respond to every one.
As always, I crosspost on AO3!
Next Chapter: No freaking clue, but it IS coming…sometime