[fanfic] Decayed, pt.4 [Code Geass]
Mar. 4th, 2011 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rex_sunTitle: Decayed
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Code Geass
Character(s): Lelouch-centric. Kallen, C.C., Cornelia, Euphemia.
Summary: (Kinkmeme request.) Suzaku dies in Shinjuku, and Lelouch sets off on a different path: one that is destined to decay with time.
Status: Part four, ongoing, incomplete. Unedited.
Zero returns to Narita again in the cloak of night, with a full escort of Knightmares. A small scuffle follows him between a covert unit under Brittanian command. The Guren appears and summarily dispatches them with the help of the radiant wave surger. Though the Black Knights attempt to capture at least one of the units, they all are either destroyed by the Guren or they self-destruct. No evidence of Britannia’s operation is left behind.
Once he is safely within the confines of the Black Knights’ base, Zero is greeted by a stream of reports that do not cease until the sun is halfway to its zenith. At length, with new commands issued, Zero returns to his quarters.
“Zero, have you finished your personal business?” Ougi asks as Zero is leaving the conference room. Zero can’t tell if it’s purely out of the man’s friendly nature, if there is some sort of accusation there, or if he is merely trying as a sub-commander to ascertain the ability of his superior to lead. Ougi is capable of being very shrewd, so Zero suspects a mixture of all options.
“I have,” Zero answers shortly. He hopes it puts Ougi at ease.
C.C. is lounging on his bed, right where he left her, almost as if she hadn’t moved once. Zero removes his mask with a heavy sigh and proceeds to strip. C.C. doesn’t greet him except with one of her trademark half-smiles.
“I brought you something,” he says when he is dressed comfortably for bed. He feels a little off, like the walls are too thin, because he is unused to being so close to the Black Knights without his uniform on, at least.
“Oh?” she purrs. Lelouch hauls up one of his many suitcases and withdraws a giant orange plush-pillow. C.C. smiles in a way Lelouch definitely has never seen before and pounces, ripping it from his grasp and crushing it to her chest. “My Cheese-kun,” she says, voice as flippant as ever despite her actions. “I won enough points and ordered it before we left for Narita.”
“Quite. It had been delivered to the Ashford Clubhouse.”
C.C. stares at him. “Lelouch.”
“Yes?” he asks, slightly unsettled.
“They can’t deliver here.”
“...I would hope not, witch.”
He vomits once more before finally settling into bed. It is softer than he remembers, not that he slept on it much. The bed is a little narrower than the one at Ashford, and he has to press closer to C.C. She huffs and tosses around, elbowing him good quite a few times. Then the room is silent, but Lelouch can hear machinery working and men shouting far beyond, as if they are underwater and he above it. C.C.’s breathing, also, is a steady lull beside him. The darkness has an orange tint to it. Not even the blackest of curtains, after all, would hide the fact that it is the middle of the day.
Lelouch closes his eyes but cannot sleep. Nunally’s face, red and shining and wet and snotty, keeps swimming under his eyelids. All of that, for Suzaku.
“I thought you got over that,” C.C. says suddenly. She speaks at just the right volume so that it doesn’t sound too loud or grating.
“Got over what?” he mumbles back, irritated.
“The throwing up thing.”
Lelouch turns on his side and says nothing.
He manages five hours of sleep before a knock on his door wakes him up. He groans, not wanting to be dragged from his pleasant, body-warm cocoon. He realizes he is so warm because he turned at some point in his sleep and that so happened to press him against C.C.
“Who is it?” he calls out, voice rough.
“Zero? I wanted to speak with you.” It’s Kallen. “...is this a bad time?”
“Is it urgent?” he asks, trying not to be grumpy with her. C.C.’s eyes open. She doesn’t look like she was asleep. Kallen isn’t answering at the door. Lelouch sighs. “Open the door. But stay there.”
The door slides open slowly. No bright light immediately hits Lelouch’s face, so he puts his confidence in the darkness and the angle to hide his identity. To be sure, he slips his face into C.C.’s neck. Kallen keep obediently to the doorway. He can’t see her from the way he is positioned, but there’s a sudden tenseness in the air that hadn’t been there before, and he can’t fathom why.
“Never mind,” Kallen says brusquely. “I’ll come back later--”
“Are you having second thoughts?” he asks knowingly. He had gathered such an idea earlier in the staff meeting. She is quiet for a moment before acquiescing.
“I thought the goal was justice. The only reason I fought until now is because I thought it was the right thing to do. So, I could live with the killing... but now...”
C.C. is breathing as if asleep next to him, unstirred. Lelouch, on the other hand, is stiff, and his stomach hurts. Kallen takes a single step into the room, and her voice takes on a more passionate tone.
“Tell me!” she says with a raised volume. “Is this all real? Is what we’re all doing here really going to change the world for the better?”
“Yes it will,” Lelouch says firmly. He raises his head the barest bit so that his voice can be heard better. C.C. raises her Cheese-kun and rests it on her chest, aiding in blocking the view of Lelouch’s face. “Or rather,” Lelouch continues, “it must change the world.”
“But--”
“Will there be sacrifices? Not only soldiers, but the innocent as well.” Lelouch thinks of Suzaku and doesn’t know which one to categorize him under. “And yet, because of all these things, we have no choice but to continue on. No matter the cost. Even if people see us as cowards.” Shirley, Milly, Nina, Rivalz. Nunally. “We have to prevail! If that means more blood will be shed, so be it. We’ve spilt so much to get here; we can’t let it be in vain.”
Lelouch lays his head back down. Kallen hasn’t moved an inch, enraptured by his words.
“But I won’t force you, Kallen,” he says gently. “If you want to turn back, now’s the time.”
She doesn’t say a word, just turns around and leaves.
When he wakes for good, the sun is starting to set, and the wave of reports and requests commences once again. Zero must speak with the Katase and negotiate the JLF’s new role as they integrate into the Black Knights; Zero must meet with Ougi and the rest of the senior staff to discuss how long the tension between Brittania and the Black Knights can last because it seems already to be stretched to its limits; Zero must avoid Tamaki asking for a better job; Zero must meet with this or that head of department to give approval to equipment use or food supply lines or something of the sort; Zero must check upon the captive, the most useful piece he has right now-- but how much more useful, he doesn’t know.
Useful to whom? To Guilford, certainly, to Euphemia, even more so. But if Schneizel were to step in-- ah, Schneizel. Uniquely utilitarian amongst their siblings; searching for happiness, but if that happiness has to come at the expense of one man for the sake of two men, then so be it, and it is just. And if the Emperor himself decided to step in-- no, not likely.
Nevertheless, the game remains to not push too hard, nor to give in too easily. Such is hostage negotiations in its most tedious moments.
But giving in a little isn't hard. Pictures and short videos of Cornelia are occasionally sent to the other side or broadcasted on the news. There is a certain contact, Brittanian, the same that offered the information of Narita, and he gladly hands over instructions on how to hack his news' network. For the sake of the image of the Black Knights, Cornelia is always shown in the videos as unbound, sometimes as eating at a table, and dressed in her own clothes. The reality, however, is not much different. Zero orders that she be kept in a room, unarmed and heavily guarded, but not handcuffed or tied. She is fed as well as any soldier. Attempts were made to offer her a change of clothes, but Cornelia refused to wear the uniform of the Black Knights, and they had nothing else. Thusly, Cornelia wears her own red military uniform for three days straight at a time before she is forced to wear a man's t-shirt and one of Lelouch's own trousers. Her clothes are washed, returned to her, and then she wears her uniform for another three days.
Eventually the tension and silence and halfhearted pushes and pulls can no longer last, and Zero must himself address the angry, fearful Brittanians that wish for the return of their princess. Zero is aware that the entirety of Area 11 and even the homeland is trained upon the situation.
Zero is a man who plans for many things, always calculating and analyzing the motivations and resulting actions of the key players around him. He's always one step ahead of everyone; this, the reason he was leader of such a rapidly progressing army at the age of seventeen, poised to destabilize the government of a country.
And yet. And yet...
He did not, could not, predict Euphemia, and that is why now he is staring her down in a building, abandoned but relatively untouched by the landslide at the foot of the mountains. She is very lovely even with her useless, mangled arm harnessed to her waist. Guilford is also present, as is Dalton, a few of their soldiers, and-- Zero is very surprised to see --a dark-skinned woman with long, steel-grey hair that the recognizes from Shinjuku. She stands one pace behind and one to the right of Euphemia. A knight, he realizes.
It is lovely how utterly opposite the Brittanians appear from the Black Knights. There: the knight, an eternal watchdog, stands behind the princess. Here, Kallen, Zero's personal guard, stands in front of him, ready to leap into action. Behind Zero stand Ougi, General Katase, Tohdoh, and the four holy swords.
Zero notices immediately that Euphemia seems displeased by her entourage, however. She focuses utterly on Zero, and her surprises, it seems, are not entirely used up.
"Zero. I wish to speak with you. Alone."
"Princess Euphemia!" Guilford hisses in utter shock. Euphemia's Knight also makes an involuntary move, as if to forcibly yank away Euphemia's intangible decision from her, but goes stock still only a second later.
Kallen, in front of Zero, tenses, but does not show the anger he has come to expect from her. In fact, she glances at Zero with something he has trouble identifying. All he can guess is that some sort of uneasiness is coursing through her, some indecision, and suddenly Zero does not feel at all secure with her as his bodyguard. Euphemia, on the other hand, is remarkably calm and firm. She reminds him of Nunally, because after all, they are royalty, bred and taught into such noble dispositions. But Euphemia also reminds him of Suzaku, the one that said, 'I won't shoot a civilian.'
Zero doesn't exactly trust where this is going, but he can't just stand around and say nothing, so he says, "Interesting, Euphemia. And why would you put yourself in danger this way?"
She is far, far too confident as she says, "It's a matter of family, after all."
Checkmate. Euphy wins.
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Code Geass
Character(s): Lelouch-centric. Kallen, C.C., Cornelia, Euphemia.
Summary: (Kinkmeme request.) Suzaku dies in Shinjuku, and Lelouch sets off on a different path: one that is destined to decay with time.
Status: Part four, ongoing, incomplete. Unedited.
Zero returns to Narita again in the cloak of night, with a full escort of Knightmares. A small scuffle follows him between a covert unit under Brittanian command. The Guren appears and summarily dispatches them with the help of the radiant wave surger. Though the Black Knights attempt to capture at least one of the units, they all are either destroyed by the Guren or they self-destruct. No evidence of Britannia’s operation is left behind.
Once he is safely within the confines of the Black Knights’ base, Zero is greeted by a stream of reports that do not cease until the sun is halfway to its zenith. At length, with new commands issued, Zero returns to his quarters.
“Zero, have you finished your personal business?” Ougi asks as Zero is leaving the conference room. Zero can’t tell if it’s purely out of the man’s friendly nature, if there is some sort of accusation there, or if he is merely trying as a sub-commander to ascertain the ability of his superior to lead. Ougi is capable of being very shrewd, so Zero suspects a mixture of all options.
“I have,” Zero answers shortly. He hopes it puts Ougi at ease.
C.C. is lounging on his bed, right where he left her, almost as if she hadn’t moved once. Zero removes his mask with a heavy sigh and proceeds to strip. C.C. doesn’t greet him except with one of her trademark half-smiles.
“I brought you something,” he says when he is dressed comfortably for bed. He feels a little off, like the walls are too thin, because he is unused to being so close to the Black Knights without his uniform on, at least.
“Oh?” she purrs. Lelouch hauls up one of his many suitcases and withdraws a giant orange plush-pillow. C.C. smiles in a way Lelouch definitely has never seen before and pounces, ripping it from his grasp and crushing it to her chest. “My Cheese-kun,” she says, voice as flippant as ever despite her actions. “I won enough points and ordered it before we left for Narita.”
“Quite. It had been delivered to the Ashford Clubhouse.”
C.C. stares at him. “Lelouch.”
“Yes?” he asks, slightly unsettled.
“They can’t deliver here.”
“...I would hope not, witch.”
He vomits once more before finally settling into bed. It is softer than he remembers, not that he slept on it much. The bed is a little narrower than the one at Ashford, and he has to press closer to C.C. She huffs and tosses around, elbowing him good quite a few times. Then the room is silent, but Lelouch can hear machinery working and men shouting far beyond, as if they are underwater and he above it. C.C.’s breathing, also, is a steady lull beside him. The darkness has an orange tint to it. Not even the blackest of curtains, after all, would hide the fact that it is the middle of the day.
Lelouch closes his eyes but cannot sleep. Nunally’s face, red and shining and wet and snotty, keeps swimming under his eyelids. All of that, for Suzaku.
“I thought you got over that,” C.C. says suddenly. She speaks at just the right volume so that it doesn’t sound too loud or grating.
“Got over what?” he mumbles back, irritated.
“The throwing up thing.”
Lelouch turns on his side and says nothing.
He manages five hours of sleep before a knock on his door wakes him up. He groans, not wanting to be dragged from his pleasant, body-warm cocoon. He realizes he is so warm because he turned at some point in his sleep and that so happened to press him against C.C.
“Who is it?” he calls out, voice rough.
“Zero? I wanted to speak with you.” It’s Kallen. “...is this a bad time?”
“Is it urgent?” he asks, trying not to be grumpy with her. C.C.’s eyes open. She doesn’t look like she was asleep. Kallen isn’t answering at the door. Lelouch sighs. “Open the door. But stay there.”
The door slides open slowly. No bright light immediately hits Lelouch’s face, so he puts his confidence in the darkness and the angle to hide his identity. To be sure, he slips his face into C.C.’s neck. Kallen keep obediently to the doorway. He can’t see her from the way he is positioned, but there’s a sudden tenseness in the air that hadn’t been there before, and he can’t fathom why.
“Never mind,” Kallen says brusquely. “I’ll come back later--”
“Are you having second thoughts?” he asks knowingly. He had gathered such an idea earlier in the staff meeting. She is quiet for a moment before acquiescing.
“I thought the goal was justice. The only reason I fought until now is because I thought it was the right thing to do. So, I could live with the killing... but now...”
C.C. is breathing as if asleep next to him, unstirred. Lelouch, on the other hand, is stiff, and his stomach hurts. Kallen takes a single step into the room, and her voice takes on a more passionate tone.
“Tell me!” she says with a raised volume. “Is this all real? Is what we’re all doing here really going to change the world for the better?”
“Yes it will,” Lelouch says firmly. He raises his head the barest bit so that his voice can be heard better. C.C. raises her Cheese-kun and rests it on her chest, aiding in blocking the view of Lelouch’s face. “Or rather,” Lelouch continues, “it must change the world.”
“But--”
“Will there be sacrifices? Not only soldiers, but the innocent as well.” Lelouch thinks of Suzaku and doesn’t know which one to categorize him under. “And yet, because of all these things, we have no choice but to continue on. No matter the cost. Even if people see us as cowards.” Shirley, Milly, Nina, Rivalz. Nunally. “We have to prevail! If that means more blood will be shed, so be it. We’ve spilt so much to get here; we can’t let it be in vain.”
Lelouch lays his head back down. Kallen hasn’t moved an inch, enraptured by his words.
“But I won’t force you, Kallen,” he says gently. “If you want to turn back, now’s the time.”
She doesn’t say a word, just turns around and leaves.
When he wakes for good, the sun is starting to set, and the wave of reports and requests commences once again. Zero must speak with the Katase and negotiate the JLF’s new role as they integrate into the Black Knights; Zero must meet with Ougi and the rest of the senior staff to discuss how long the tension between Brittania and the Black Knights can last because it seems already to be stretched to its limits; Zero must avoid Tamaki asking for a better job; Zero must meet with this or that head of department to give approval to equipment use or food supply lines or something of the sort; Zero must check upon the captive, the most useful piece he has right now-- but how much more useful, he doesn’t know.
Useful to whom? To Guilford, certainly, to Euphemia, even more so. But if Schneizel were to step in-- ah, Schneizel. Uniquely utilitarian amongst their siblings; searching for happiness, but if that happiness has to come at the expense of one man for the sake of two men, then so be it, and it is just. And if the Emperor himself decided to step in-- no, not likely.
Nevertheless, the game remains to not push too hard, nor to give in too easily. Such is hostage negotiations in its most tedious moments.
But giving in a little isn't hard. Pictures and short videos of Cornelia are occasionally sent to the other side or broadcasted on the news. There is a certain contact, Brittanian, the same that offered the information of Narita, and he gladly hands over instructions on how to hack his news' network. For the sake of the image of the Black Knights, Cornelia is always shown in the videos as unbound, sometimes as eating at a table, and dressed in her own clothes. The reality, however, is not much different. Zero orders that she be kept in a room, unarmed and heavily guarded, but not handcuffed or tied. She is fed as well as any soldier. Attempts were made to offer her a change of clothes, but Cornelia refused to wear the uniform of the Black Knights, and they had nothing else. Thusly, Cornelia wears her own red military uniform for three days straight at a time before she is forced to wear a man's t-shirt and one of Lelouch's own trousers. Her clothes are washed, returned to her, and then she wears her uniform for another three days.
Eventually the tension and silence and halfhearted pushes and pulls can no longer last, and Zero must himself address the angry, fearful Brittanians that wish for the return of their princess. Zero is aware that the entirety of Area 11 and even the homeland is trained upon the situation.
Zero is a man who plans for many things, always calculating and analyzing the motivations and resulting actions of the key players around him. He's always one step ahead of everyone; this, the reason he was leader of such a rapidly progressing army at the age of seventeen, poised to destabilize the government of a country.
And yet. And yet...
He did not, could not, predict Euphemia, and that is why now he is staring her down in a building, abandoned but relatively untouched by the landslide at the foot of the mountains. She is very lovely even with her useless, mangled arm harnessed to her waist. Guilford is also present, as is Dalton, a few of their soldiers, and-- Zero is very surprised to see --a dark-skinned woman with long, steel-grey hair that the recognizes from Shinjuku. She stands one pace behind and one to the right of Euphemia. A knight, he realizes.
It is lovely how utterly opposite the Brittanians appear from the Black Knights. There: the knight, an eternal watchdog, stands behind the princess. Here, Kallen, Zero's personal guard, stands in front of him, ready to leap into action. Behind Zero stand Ougi, General Katase, Tohdoh, and the four holy swords.
Zero notices immediately that Euphemia seems displeased by her entourage, however. She focuses utterly on Zero, and her surprises, it seems, are not entirely used up.
"Zero. I wish to speak with you. Alone."
"Princess Euphemia!" Guilford hisses in utter shock. Euphemia's Knight also makes an involuntary move, as if to forcibly yank away Euphemia's intangible decision from her, but goes stock still only a second later.
Kallen, in front of Zero, tenses, but does not show the anger he has come to expect from her. In fact, she glances at Zero with something he has trouble identifying. All he can guess is that some sort of uneasiness is coursing through her, some indecision, and suddenly Zero does not feel at all secure with her as his bodyguard. Euphemia, on the other hand, is remarkably calm and firm. She reminds him of Nunally, because after all, they are royalty, bred and taught into such noble dispositions. But Euphemia also reminds him of Suzaku, the one that said, 'I won't shoot a civilian.'
Zero doesn't exactly trust where this is going, but he can't just stand around and say nothing, so he says, "Interesting, Euphemia. And why would you put yourself in danger this way?"
She is far, far too confident as she says, "It's a matter of family, after all."
Checkmate. Euphy wins.
