Chapter 05: Sibling Reunion

Chapter 05: Sibling Reunion

Stopping at it, his bodyguard came up at his side as he reached for his mic, but he paused as he wished to say one last thing. "Like my father's Britannia, a rot is growing within the Black Knights, one that will see them betray their founding principles. I already have enough dealing with rooting out such corruption in my empire; I hope it doesn't overwhelm you." He ripped off the headset, dropped it, and left.

The doors closing behind him, the emperor’s expression was one of controlled fury. If that wasn’t bad enough, his lone bodyguard had her hand closer to the wakizashi she kept on her person, her other to the pistol. It would be only a moment between a possible threat and her taking it out.

Such defensive hostility meant that any black knights they encountered along the way kept their distance. Once they reached a quiet part of the building, with no guards close by, Kosaka relaxed as he gave her emperor a smirk that was equal parts amused and impressed.

She leaned close to him. "Remind me to never bet against you, as you might just be able to see the future." Lelouch only hummed as things proceeded precisely as he had predicted.

Line Break

Kallen raced through the school towards the auditorium where the meeting was being held. When she saw it, she sped up, praying that she wasn’t late. She threw open the doors, and to her relief, she saw Lelouch still there, descending the stairs with his shadow at his back.

Her winded and relieved blue eyes met his calm, if mildly startled, purple.

"Kallen? Is there an issue?" Lelouch asked, not a trace of his fury from the broadcast. In its stead was a serene boredom mixed in with concern for her. Seeing that made her heart flutter. "Were you given new orders?"

“What happened, Lelouch?”

“Why ask when you must have watched the conference like the rest of the world?” Lelouch continued down the stairs.

"That's not what I mean, and you know it!" Kallen yelled at him, marching up, but instead of grabbing him, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned on him again. "Please…I want answers." She uttered into her chest, Lelouch instinctively holding her.

Kosaka raised an eyebrow at this, but considering what happened earlier, this wasn’t too surprising.

“The conference was an abject failure. The Black Knights made a mockery of themselves. They left me with no choice but to refuse to continue, even with Xingke apologizing for their actions and resigning as compensation." Lelouch explained to her.

Kallen was surprised by it but not all that upset. While she didn't hold much of a grudge against the Chinese general for capturing her, she also didn't have a close bond with him. She respected his devotion, skill, and the fact that he was a higher rank than her, but that was all.

“I doubt he’ll leave, nor would the rest or Kaguya let him. He's too valuable. I suspect that's why he said he resigned from his position, not from the Black Knights entirely." Lelouch added, Kallen seeing that his mind was always moving 10 miles a minute.

“They'll keep him because they know you intend to go to war with the UFN." She didn't ask, she knew, as Lelouch glanced at her but neither confirmed nor denied her words. His bodyguard, silent as ever, was stone-faced.

She looked up, meeting his gaze with a frown. "You knew how they'd react to your request for a meeting, just like you know that Cornelia would let us pass during the hotel jacking. You knew…because you understood them, because they didn’t understand you.”

“You know that their fear would push them to make a mistake, turning into a situation that favors him and Britannia. A situation that gives you a black cheque to respond to." She finished, wondering if, only for a moment, he entertained the idea that they wouldn't, that things could have been better.

Maybe he did, but that wasn’t what happened.

Lelouch remained silent as she laid it out, listening to her reasonings before he replied. "Those who think themselves wise are easiest to fool."

"They know about geass, but they don't understand you," Kallen replied. Lelouch could read people to their core, which meant he didn’t need to think 10 or even 5 moves ahead, though he likely did. He only needed to figure out how they'd react to that first move and then plan his actions around that. It was a strategy that couldn’t be used on him.

That's what it came down to, wasn't it? He could pick apart others like a trivial affair, emotions, desires, fears, and motivations. He could see and comprehend it all, but reversely, he was an enigma, indecipherable. It made him scary because few could see deeper than whatever mask he wore.

It was an amazing position to be in, both in battle and in politics, as no adversaries could predict your moves.

But in life, it sounded lonely. Who could anyone form close bonds with something they couldn't even grasp?

‘No, he’s not alone.' She thinks, as one name floats to the top faster than the others. “Why Suzaku?”

Lelouch’s blank face shifted, allowing an amused smirk to stretch across it. “A couple angels didn’t quite approve of us killing each other. They wanted us to work together to bring about a better world. One which Euphemia, Shirley…Nunnally would have wanted. Though I can't quite forgive him, and neither can he forgive me…at least not now, but maybe someday."

Hearing him speak those names pained her. She knew enough from Suzaku's accusation on Kamine island and C.C. filling in the blanks before they rescued Lelouch to know that Euphemia was someone dear to both men and that Lelouch didn't intend to start the massacre or want to kill his sister.

She also knew that her death, more than anything, was what made Suzaku go from the well-meaning idiot to the cruel bastard he was now. Someone who would believe Lelouch would have Shirley killed and nearly drugged her to prove his accusation.

'Shirley.' She remembered her friend, one of the few good points from Ashford. Lelouch might have been an idiot who never noticed her obvious crush on him, but she knew he cared for her. Maybe he did love her; she'll never know; all he could do now was try and make a better world in her honor.

“And to create that ideal world…you needed the Black Knights to slip up, to give you an excuse to destroy them." She finishes, finding it tragic that Lelouch and Suzaku have to spill more blood to achieve the dreams of good people. But he had said something like this before. To honor those whose blood had been spilled, they had to spill even more to achieve the goal that the fallen had died for.

“She’s smarter than she looks, your majesty. You really know how to pick’em." Kallen ignored the urge to punch the bitch.

“You’re right. The change I seek to bring will be on a global stage. For that to happen, I must be the undisputed strongest, which will never happen with the Black Knights around. They'll always be suspicious of my every move and challenge me.”

"Of course, I had plans if the conference had gone better, even for the idea that they would have allowed the delegates to handle things. It would have taken longer if I had to work through the peaceful route, but now I can speed things up.” Lelouch broke their hug and started to circle her.

"They've cast themselves as the villains and lost a fair bit of standing with the UFN itself.” Lelouch smiled as he allowed him to bask in victory over his traitorous knights.

“We didn’t even need to do anything to provoke them.” Kosaka shrugged. Though they all understood what that meant, she didn't particularly care, as those she cared about would be safe on the winning side.

Kallen was silent this time as Lelouch continued, laying the brutal, uncaring truth out for her. “The Black Knights might be powerful on paper, but all those additions bring new military doctrines, customs, equipment, and languages; they’re a loose coalition at best. Even in an ideal scenario, it would take months to properly handle and organize all that men and equipment."

“But Britannia does not have that problem. I have at my disposal a military and economic power which is unified, experienced, well supplied, and thanks to their stunt, motivated.” He moved like a snake slithering around her as he came to a stop behind her, leaning to whisper into her ear.

“With my leadership, I could overrun the UFN in 6 months, if not less, as my reforms have made the idea of becoming an area rather than be downright destroyed much more…agreeable.” He chuckled.

Stepping back, he continued, "But I'm not an idealist. I know that even the best scenarios will see tens of millions of deaths, not just soldiers in the field but civilians, as cities with important rail junctions, factories, and ports will be bombed or shelled. Towns and villages that could resist razed to the ground.” Lelouch treated it like it was banal when it was anything but.

“I’ll use my navy to cut maritime trade in the Mediterranean and Indian oceans between UFN member states, potentially starving out tens of millions of the critical food and medicine they need, only to bring that in under my banner once those places have fallen to my control."

It was cruel; such an act could only be called evil, yet she didn't find herself repulsed as she once would have. Lelouch acted like he was some reformer, a new figure different from his predecessors, but in reality, he was plotting something that Charles had been pushing for since he came to the throne.

A world dominated by Britannia, a world dominated by whoever held the crown.

He didn't let up, his purple eyes piercing through her, watching, analyzing, and judging. "I'll crush my opposition to dust, starting with the Black Knights, and I won't lie, I'll enjoy doing it, but they’ll be the first as Area 11 has proven, where there is a will, there’ll always be resistance, no doubt they’ll be rebellions.”

"And I'll crush them all till all that can dare oppose me are silenced." Lelouch's eyes were intense, emotional, and brutally honest, but Kallen remained silent; she stayed strong.

She knew what this was; he was testing her. He might have opened up to her, but Lelouch wouldn't just trust anyone with his secrets or his plans; he would only trust those who could understand the reasoning and wouldn’t break when confronted with the harsh how and why. If she hesitates, if she falters like she did on Kamime island, he'll keep her close, but he'll never trust her with his secrets.

She recalled how Ohgi described how Lelouch plotted the SAZ massacre after the betrayal. With how Lelouch was talking now, it matched perfectly with the cold, malevolent, yet ingenious thinking. Lelouch used the Black Knight's justifiable fear to put himself on a pedestal, from which he could split the world into two camps and have the moral authority to destroy those who were not in his.

Kallen, in the past, would have wavered here. Maybe the person she used to be would have chosen to side against him because he presented the mask of a tyrant. There was no difference between him and the man who swore him other than that he was smart enough to say pretty words and do pleasant actions.

But that’s all it was, a mask. One of the many he had created and mastered. She saw how he reacted to Rivalz, held her earlier, and kissed her back.

"Are we going to declare war now, or wait?" she asked, Lelouch, raising an eyebrow at her, including herself in his actions. She met his eyes with a glare that housed a fire in them. Kallen saw a flash of relief and happiness in his purple orbs.

"Not yet. I want to ensure that Rivalz and Nina are out of the danger zone," Lelouch told her as they moved to stand by the side, frowning as he added. Also, it's not just the Black Knights I'm worried about."

Kallen immediately caught onto who he was talking about. “Schneizel and Cornelia”

“Yes, Schneizel made plenty of friends in other countries during his time as Prime Minister, so he has plenty of people to hide them off the books.” Kallen nodded, recalling the times she spoke with Nunnally after she was kidnapped, and they could talk freely. Nunnally, among other things, mentioned that Lelouch and Schneizel had been close growing up, the elder prince teaching Lelouch a lot and how, despite his best efforts, Lelouch could never defeat him, not even close.

Neither brother had lost a step with how things would get between Zero and Schneizel. The white prince forever stood as the counterbalance to the black king.

“So, the bastard could be anyway right now, and…” Kallen gulped, recalling that bright pink light consuming everything. “He’ll have them, won’t he?”

Lelouch was just as grim as she was, with no hint of lethargy or amusement in him. "All the FLEIJAs were produced by his private think tan. When I took the throne, they vanished along with whatever stockpile they had built up until that point. My intelligence agents can't give me a definite number, only that it's more than 10 but can’t be higher than 25.”

Breaking the talk, Lelouch got a call on his phone. Knowing that it could only be necessary, he quickly answered. "What is it?"

“Lelouch, it’s Schneizel, he’s made his move…” Leila spoke up on the phone, but his brow creased when he heard in her voice that she was terrified and disgusted.

“What did he do?” he asked, and she filled him in. Kallen and Kosaka watched how pinched his face got, a rage forming in his eyes. “I see…we knew he would strike... Yes, all forces are to move to level one battle station by my authority. We're at war." He ended the call, taking a breath to calm himself.

“What happened?” Kallen asked, and Lelouch didn’t sugarcoat it.

"Pendragon is gone. It was hit by a FlEIJA. There are no survivors.” Hearing that, both women got wobbly as Kallen recalled that Pendragon was one of the largest cities in the world. It housed many more millions than the Tokyo settlement.

Most of the royal family lived in Pendragon, so Schneizel just slaughtered all but 2 of his own. Her father was there, and while she and him had been distant for years, she knew her mother carried a flame for him. How would she take this?

“Wait…Pendragon? The capital of the empire? But why? Those were his people! You aren’t even there!” Kallen yelled at the insanity.

“Was it some ploy to gain support with the Black Knights? He had to have been watching that conference.” Kosaka asked.

Lelouch shook his head. He didn't doubt that that was part of his brother's reasons, but he couldn't have been the only one. “It was likely a show of force to show what he is willing and capable of, if not to cow me into submission, then to scare those under me into demanding that I surrender to his demands.”

"However, at this moment, no one in Britannia knows who fired it, and considering that just saw with the summit…" Kallen's face paled as she realized what was going to happen.

"They'll blame the Black Knights." He nodded as he moved to leave, but she grabbed his wrist tight, keeping him in place. "You weren't surprised to hear what Schneizel did." Kallen again didn't ask; now it was her time to test him.

His expression gave nothing away. “I wouldn't need such a massive slaughter to paint the Black Knights as my enemies. Besides, calmer heads will prevail soon enough and recall which side had the FLEIJA during the last battle, and as the emperor, I need to appear wise and patient."

Kallen let him go as Lelouch turned to her again, the redhead happy he hadn't lost all his humanity. Her pragmatic side also knew that he probably picked this path for his stated reasons and to avoid explaining how the Black Knights got their hands on a Britannian secret weapon and got past their defenses to strike at the heart of the empire.

Lelouch could see her mind moving and nodded. He appreciated that she was on his side. Still, he also wanted her and everyone else to understand that there would be times when his morality wouldn't factor into a decision, in which case they needed to be able to think for themselves how he would do something and why.

"But…if you knew this could happen, you must have thought of something to use it for, " Kallen said. Lelouch smiled, though it lacked any warmth or love; it was the smile of a monster.

"I plan to paint Schneizel as the guilty party and release the facts about the FLEIJA's production to keep any blame of incompetence or corruption from my administration.” Lelouch started, flashing teeth like a beast about to devour some poor little lamb. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t have intelligence reports and government memos ‘leak’ detailing suspicions and investigations into if Schneizel had the backing of the Black Knights.”

"So, you can further paint them as the bad guy without getting your hands dirty with the accusations," Kallen stated. Even if people called it out, there'll be no proof. He could already have scapegoats with believable means and motives for causing the leaks lined up.

She turned fully to him, her blue eyes burning with the same determination and emotion that had seen her get as far as she did, that made her who she was. "I walked away twice already. I left you to the whims of your enemies twice…I'm not doing that again. You'll need all the help you can get to defeat Schneizel and the Black Knights; you can't do that without your Q-1."

She finished it with a bow, not a Japanese one, but the one a Britannian knight would give to their lord or emperor. That caught Kosaka off guard; the same was true for her emperor.

"Kallen, do you understand what you're doing? What you're giving up?" Lelouch asked her as she looked up, the defiant spark in her eye brighter than ever.

"That's the thing, you idiot. I do. And I don't care. You're not going to get rid of me, and if you pull a stunt like you did the last time, you'll regret it, understand?” She got up from the bow and grabbed him, pulling him close, but this time, it was with the threat of violence. Looking at his bodyguard, she gestured towards Kallen with his eyes, but Kosaka stepped back.

"I learned my lesson a long time ago. Stay out of lover's quarrels." She stated though he could see how much she was enjoying this, she and Kallen.

"Let's hope I'm never attacked by my lover armed with a knife then." Lelouch was deadpanned.

“Knowing you, if one of them came at you with the intent to kill, you probably deserve it.” Kallen laughed at his expense, leaving the sovereign wondering who had control in this dynamic as he already dealt with C.C. doing whatever she pleased.

"She's right; you can be an insufferable ass sometimes, don't think I forgot how much you liked to mess with me when we were students. I swear, it's like C.C. rubbed off on you.” Kallen told him as she finally let him go, though he wasn’t dumb enough to think she couldn’t lay him out his ass.

“Or maybe I need to get bodyguards that actually do their jobs.” He muttered, though, despite that annoyance, he still enjoyed the situation. Taking a breath through his nose and letting out his mouth, that annoyance and amusement vanished as he got into the mindset of an emperor. “Lady Stadtfeld.”

"Your time with the Black Knights is over. Your orders are to steal the Guren and meet with my floating fleet. Here are the coordinates and clearance codes. You'll be caught up with the rest of things." He stated as he passed her his phone, unlocked so that she could not be attacked when his forces saw the Devil’s Right Hand approaching.

“And if someone tries to stop me?” Kallen asked, looking at the device before returning her gaze to him. She saw that his eyes were as expansive as the sea but had no tolerance for failure.

"You're free to move as you please, but you and the Guren are to meet up with the rest of our forces. Let nothing stop you, " he repeated.

“Yes,” Kallen was happy he didn't see her face. A giant smile broke out across her face as she missed this feeling. “Your majesty.”

Line Break

Strutting out of the building, Lelouch ignored the flashing cameras. After meeting with his security, he contacted Avalon using Kosaka's phone. “Details, Cecile. Lloyd.”

"We're still getting data, but we know at present that the blast that wiped out the capital had a radius of approximately 100km." Abroad the vessel, Cecile and Lloyd were combing through all the data coming in from observers in the homeland. "That's not the only thing. There's a fortress 30,000ft above the crater. It's 3km long."

"Well, at least we know that the old Prime Minister has as much a flare for the dramatic as you do, Your Majesty," Lloyd noted. Looking at the thing, he was pretty darn sure that no strictly military project would look that gaudy.

Truth be told, they had known that the Damocles was a project and that it was meant to be a floating fortress thanks to some plans they had ceased from the Totomo agency's Pendragon office. However, the plans were dated 2015, back when Lloyd had only just started making progress in float technology, so the plans they assumed were horrible and outdated, with the final result proving that assumption correct.

"100km, far larger than the warhead used over the Tokyo settlement, correct?" Lelouch asked, keeping to the topic at hand.

"Bingo, though we'll need to wait to speak with the big bomb's mother to figure out the why," Lloyd replied.

Getting onto his transport, he was followed by the rest of his guard, while Kosaka remained with the rest to keep an eye on things, Lelouch noted that both Rivalz and Nina were present, and he nodded towards René for accomplishing that. "She's going to be on the Avalon soon enough; I'll arrange for you to have room to work from them.”

"Lelouch." Rivalz started as the transport took off, and Lelouch ended his first call, but Lelouch raised his hand.

“One moment, please.” Lelouch was already calling up Suzaku and Leila on the larger screen. When it came on, it was in split mode to accommodate them, with C.C. being in frame with Suzaku aboard the Avalon. She was the only one of the three not surprised to see two civilians riding with the emperor, though Suzaku’s expression went back to a frown as he turned his attention back to his emperor.

“What are we dealing with?” Leila was straight to the point, though still emotional; she was also a professional.

"Damocles, it's a floating fortress designed by the Totomo Agency. With this attack, we can confirm that all the completed FLEIJA warheads are stationed on it." Lelouch informed her, and Nina, flinching when she heard the name of her creation, started to hyperventilate as she realized that there was only one reason they would be discussing it.

“Your orders?” Suzaku's eyes softened just a little when he saw Nina's state as Rivalz tended to her, but they had to focus on the bigger thing.

Lelouch agreed, which was why he hardly acknowledged Nina’s reaction. "Continue to put Britannia on a war footing and get me in contact with our regional commanders. They'll need to know what's happening and what their matching orders will be from this point onward."

Yes, many of its ministries were headquartered in the capital, but the empire was so vast that its many regional branches were given a great degree of autonomy in most aspects of governance; there was a reason that areas were considered less to be colonies and more to be satellite nations.

“And the UFN?” Leila asked, as she knew the plans, but Schneizel’s attack came too early; it hit a target that they hadn't thought he would.

"That can wait. Once they hear about this, they'll be scrambling a response.” Lelouch was already thinking of a means to continue with their plans. Still, as he considered that Kallen was on his side and how that could serve their plans, he saw someone else try to contact him.

“There only one who would know the imperial private channel is…” C.C. spoke up for the first time.

“Speak of the devil…" Lelouch knew who it was, Suzaku, Leila, and the rest of his people following him as he looked towards his bodyguard.

“René." The dark-skinned knight nodded. He hardly needed much more instruction, as while Rivalz was hesitant, he allowed himself to be ushered into the other room. With the two gone, Lelouch accepted the call. The screen split three ways now that the face of his elder brother was present.

 In a rare instance, Schneizel wasn't smiling when he addressed him. "Tell me, brother, did you enjoy forcing our family to submit to your will and ruling the empire? Or did you enjoy all the purges and executions you ordered?.”

Lelouch responded with an amused smirk. “It’s unbecoming of you to speak in circles, dear elder brother. I already know you destroyed Pendragon. Did you call to see if the emperor would be willing to negotiate since I can only assume you have the other FLEIJA aboard the Damocles?”

“A correct assessment of our fighting strength, but your question is a moot point when I don't recognize you as emperor," Schneizel replied, Lelouch raising an eyebrow at that.

"I don't care what you recognize as real or not; the fact is that the crown rests on my head. What, do you believe that you have a better chance at defeating me than father?" He asked, wondering if that was Schneizel’s play, one of the many he had predicted would happen.

His brother smiled back at him, the hairs on the back of Lelouch's head standing on edge. That smile wasn't the one he wore to appear pleasant; it was the one he had seen many times as a child, the one he wore when he cornered Lelouch.

“While that would certainly be an interesting clash, I don't act to claim the throne for myself. The person who is best suited to rule Britannia is right here.” Schneizel waved the camera to the side, and Lelouch’s heart nearly stopped as he took in the sight of something impossible, someone who should be dead.

But right before him and the rest of their eyes…was Nunnally, alive and well. When the camera zoomed out, she stood at the center of Schneizel’s group, his elder brother and sister closest to her, with Kanon and Diethard forming the wings.

“N-nunnally?!” Suzaku cried. This shouldn't be possible! She was dead. She had been in the viceroy building when he launched the FLEIJA, and nothing was left!

Nunnally, not seeing but most likely understanding their shock, she didn't smile, didn't greet them as she would have once upon a time. Her words were soft but had a core of steel to them. "Listen Lelouch, and Suzaku. I declare both of you,” There was no stutter, no hesitation. “My enemies.”

Line Break

Lelouch struggled to comprehend the sight before him. His heart was in flux as he felt joy, shock, relief, and so many other things fusing together, with one emotion on top for only a moment before another supplanted it. Nunnally, you’re alive?”

“Yes, thanks to our brother, Schneizel." Nunnally's calm response didn't soothe him; rather, the remainder of Schneizel made it so that rage came to dominate his emotion, as it often did. He just knew his brother planned this; he should have thought about it!

His brother set the stage for his meeting with Suzaku to turn sour, poisoning the idea of trusting him to ensure the odds that his new wonder weapon would be field tested. He didn't even question why, and in C's world, they didn't see Nunnally because he was too emotional to think straight. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Seeing that Lelouch needed a moment to control that ever-burning anger, Suzaku spoke up. "Nunnally, do you understand what Schneizel has done.” Suzaku hoped that she didn’t, hoped that maybe she was still the same girl he knew.

But how she carried herself killed that hope. “Yes, he targeted the capital, Pendragon, with a FLEIJA.”

“If you know that, then why?” Suzaku demanded of her.

“Is using geass on people to make them your slaves better?" Suzaku and Leila flinched back at that retort, both realizing that if she was with Schneizel that she-"You and Big Brother have been lying to me from the very beginning. You kept the truth from me all this time, but now I know. Lelouch, you were Zero all along, weren't you?”

At Nunnally's question, Lelouch flinched, his mind trapped in a loop as he tried to escape this, but couldn't. Leila and C.C. looked at both siblings, worried as Nunnally grew sad while Lelouch fell into the familiar pools of rage that kept him alive and sane through it all.

"Why? Was it for my sake, because if so, then I-" Hearing his sister talk, hearing her say what his reasons were, made him want to agree, to affirm that he did all he did for her sake, to try and make a world where she could be happy.

But he couldn't. Because then he would need to tell her that he never wanted to fight her, that he never wanted her in a position like this because he didn't want her to have blood on her hands like he did, to sin like does, to suffer nightmares every night from the evil you've committed and the evils you've witnessed.

So he lied to her. He lied to her that the shabby storeroom they had been given to stay in at the Kururugi shrine was actually accommodations fit for children. He lied to her about what he sold to Genbu Kururugi to protect her from potentially being married to him to keep war from happening between Japan and Britannia. He lied to her about the smell of corpses around them, telling her that it was just garbage. He lied about what Clovis did in Shinjuku so that she could hold onto the pleasant memory of their pompous, uncaring elder brother. He lied about Cornelia's actions at Saitama.

He lied and lied, and she has the gall to question that?

“Your sake?” he stopped her. If she wanted the truth, she'll get it. “Do you really believe that I do what I do…for your sake?” His words weren't loud or vile, but everyone's hair stood on end. It was like listening to a snake's hiss as it coiled up to strike. Most had experienced it at some point, either from him or Zero, but Nunnally?

Nunnally was terrified of how her brother sounded, how unfamiliar and dangerous he seemed.

Letting out a breath through the nose, Lelouch leaned back into his seat, his eyes and heart hardened by rage. “It seems that I made a mistake. Sheltering my little sister too much has made her a fool if she can utter such things with a straight face.” Schneizel’s face twisted in surprise and anger at how Lelouch reacted; he had known that Lelouch would get emotional, but he didn't think he would direct that anger towards Nunnally; he didn't know he could.

Nunnally started shaking under the barrage that was her brother’s callous words. “What? Did you appear with our older siblings to denounce me? Call my actions evil, unjust, or vile? What a duplicitous thing to say when you stand with the Witch of Britannia and the Cold Blooded Strategist.”

“What?” Nunnally tried to get a word in, but her resolve was faltering.

“Lelouch, watch you-!” Cornelia stepped in to intervene, furious that Lelouch had sunken so low that he could dare speak like this towards his sister, but Lelouch ignored her. His attention was focused solely on his little sister.

“Or perhaps you think you can change the world without burning down the old one and forcing the ashes to improve. Well, you're wrong.” Lelouch’s words were like hammer blows, one after the other. “You have no right to judge me for the blood on my hands or the sins that I bear when you never had to make those choices, never had to face the cold, cruel, harsh world and stand strong and fight it.”

Lelouch felt his anger rising but not growing as it continued. The rest of his command watched in concern. “You, my dear sister, have no right to speak like right or to judge anyone when everyone around you has taken the burden from you, shielded you, and suffered for it.

“Lelouch.” Suzaku wanted to step in, but C.C. touched his shoulder and shook her head. It was harsh, yes, but this was necessary for both of them.

Lelouch wasn't blinded by rage. He could see how his words hurt his sister, how she seemed close to tearing up, but he powered through because she wanted the truth. She wanted to stand against him so she'd get what she wanted and have to live with the consequences. He couldn't protect her anymore nor coddle her and keep her from the harsh world. He didn't even know if he wanted to.

“You, Nunnally, stand before me embodying all that I hate about the Britannia of old. A privileged and disconnected princess who, from her ivory tower, dares to judge those below her, who thinks that the world would just be how she pleases, letting others crawl, fight, work, and die in the mud while her hands remain clean.”

“Lelouch, that’s quite enough.” Schneizel stepped in now, as things had not gone as he thought they would.

Lelouch let out a short, mocking laugh at his words. “Oh, what's the issue, Schneizel? Nunnally here wants to stand against me, just as you and Cornelia do, so let her do so. She'll meet the fate of everyone else who tried.” The unwritten reminder of who killed Clovis and Euphemia slapped them all in the face as Cornelia’s rage grew to levels close to the emperor's while Nunnally felt nothing but fear.

With Lelouch, he said what he wanted to say and grew tired of a chat that was ultimately pointless. “But I will answer your question, dear foolish little sister. I don’t do it for you, I don’t do it for any one person, and because of that, no one person can stop me." With that, he cut the call. The last thing he saw was his sister starting to cry.

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I've finished planning the first 16 chapters of a new Code Geass story that isn't a commission, and man, is it long. I hadn't really engaged with the picture books or audio drama beforehand, but that, along with the change in direction I've planned, has left me with a lot of content, as those 16 chapters only get as far as episode 9. Hopefully, I'll be able to write out the first chapter chapters and have them up before the end of the month.

With this chapter, I didn't have as many issues writing it out as the last one, but I am starting to appreciate authors who have a lot to say. Strangely enough, this is my only story with that issue, though that could be because unlike everything else, this has a set number of chapters, so I can't just say, 'Well, it can carry over into the next chapter,' as that means cutting stuff from the next one to fit that currently cut content.