Chapter 46: The Insightful, the Hubristic, and the Aggrieved

Mao's actions have not just impact 2 people, but the entire council, while Marrybell meets with Jeremiah to try and gain some information which she'll very pleased to hear.

And another chapter, though this one was started late, and it shows, as I wasn't able to finish it in time. Allow me to apologize for that, as I had other priorities.

The day had come and gone, and it was one without much fanfare for those of Ashford. Kallen certainly had no qualms about it, though Lelouch did skip the entire day. Nothing weird, as he wasn't what anyone would call a diligent student.

As she went through the day and ate lunch with the council, she merely assumed he was busy with some plans and preparations for the next time they faced off against Marrybell. She already had two Lancelot knock-offs: that super heavy knightmare with a massive energy cannon and one that, honest to Kami, flew around the damn battlefield.

Who's to say she wasn't making more of them? Zero was no doubt off hatching up plans or on calls with Rakshata about her progress in getting those new weapons and Air Glides finished. Or maybe it was an important call from Katase, as with him in China, it helped secure their support lines.

She was prepared to head home when the last bell rang, but Milly called an emergency council meeting. Imagine her surprise when Kallen walked in with Rivalz, Nina, and Shirley to find Milly, Suzaku, Nunnally, Sancia, Alice, Dalque, and Lucretia.

No Lelouch, no C.C.

“What’s happening, Nunnally?” Rivalz asked as he took his seat, Nunnally having taken the spot Milly would normally stand in when she announced one of her ideas.

“Is Lulu around?” Shirley asked, as she would have thought he would attend an emergency council meeting after he decided to blow off the entire day’s classes.

"He's not; he's out with Claude," Nunnally explained, as even Sayoko wasn't present. She had asked her to purchase some school supplies for her, which meant going to a different mall that stocked for the blind.

“Oh.” Shirley sounded saddened by this. This was what she feared: He started by skipping classes, and now he's skipping the entire day.

She ignored the thought that she wouldn't have minded so much if he had taken her to wherever he and Claude had gone.

“He’s not being pretty good at this boyfriend thing with her.” Milly sighed, as she had hoped Lelouch would be more attentive.

Nunnally shook her head, her closed eyes seemingly to trace them. "I asked them to step out. I wanted to talk with you without them being around." That set off some alarm bells as Nunnally wouldn’t call for something minor. Hell, she hardly called when it was important, for her to do so now-

“Has something happened?” Nina asked, as this could be the biggest news of the year, and odds were, it wasn't good.

Nunnally hesitated, wondering if this was right, but hardened her resolve. What she had noticed, what she had been worrying about, wasn't something she could just ignore. She needed to say it and get some help before something terrible happened. “Brother has plenty of secrets, I already know them and you know it too, but it’s been…different, these past few months.”

Rivalz hummed, scratching his chin. "I'll say, I didn't even know he knew someone like Claude, and then he just introduces her one day."

“Didn’t you pressure him into that?” Alice asked. This was before she and her sisters were rescued, but she had heard the tale of how Arthur became their resident feline.

“The point still stands, Alice. Why'd he feel like he needed to keep that from us? You'll think he was ashamed of her, but we've all seen how they act." Suzaku stated that he knew Lelouch kept secrets. His biggest was his real parentage, but this didn't seem to be related to that.

Still, he had to be careful as Claude… was the woman Clovis was doing horrific, inhumane things with. He didn't know how the heck someone like Lelouch could develop enough trust to date her so fast or how much she knew about him, but he couldn't let things get too close to the truth.

"I don't worry about Claude; she's good for him, and I know he cares for her, even if he’s grumpy about when she teases him.” Nunnally frowned, as she was not in the mood for jokes at her brother's expense. "But this goes more than that, I'm worried for his health."

"Please don't tell me he's suffering from one of those temporal things," Dalque whined, partly a joke, but they could hear the sincerity and fear in her words.

“You mean terminal illness? ”Sancia corrected, though she shared the worry now that it was brought up. They had, after all, only recently gone over terminal illnesses in biology, and, geass or not, if he had one, they might not be able to cure it.

Dalque snapped her fingers towards her older sister. “That one, cause I really don’t want to have to think about him wasting away or something.” Their textbooks had pictures of long-term patients in hospital beds, connected to so many tubes, sickly and frail looking as they just…waited for death.

It was disgusting and hard to look at when it reminded the mischievous and lazy young lady of how others looked once those monsters in lab coats had been done with them, how she and her sisters looked from time to time after one of their…sessions.

Nunnally frowned harder, as she didn't like the thought, nor could she dismiss it, but she could worry about the other thing that broke the camel's back. “He and Claude left late last night. They didn’t tell Sayoko why; they just got up and left and came up hours later.”

The group looked at each other. Nina and Shirley flushed faces as they imagined a reason for that, while Kallen rolled her eyes, betting it wasn't that. Milly held back the smile as she hoped it was, both because she could hold this over Lulu's head for a while and because it would be something not serious, so they could just tell Nunna she was overthinking like her old brother tended to do.

Alice and her sisters completely missed the double meaning Nunnally accidentally used. At the same time, Suzaku ignored it, as he felt it wasn't that. Thus, it was left to Rivalz to ask the question. “Not to be that guy, but maybe they just…you know, wanted some alone time?” He struggled to say it in a way that seemed good, as how does one ask if perhaps the answer was that Nunnally's brother and Claude wanted to fuck, and maybe thought doing it here would be too noisy.

Nunnally looked as impressed with them as her father did in every portrait he had even given. With a voice as dry as sand, she added. “They brought back a Chinese woman who sounded like she had cried her heart out and was close to a mental breakdown, Rivalz. I don’t think that is what couples bring home.”

She was not a violent person, she was not a loud person, she wasn’t even a vindictive person, but she would have words if any of them tried to say that the emotionally raw and trembling woman Nunnally had met at breakfast was the result of a threesome.

Lucky for them, none made such a connection or suggestion, taking this as seriously as Nunnally needed them to as the blind girl continued to explain what she knew. "Sayoko also said brother's hands were all bandaged up, like he had been in a bad fight or something, but when I asked him about it, he just said it was nothing."

Nunnally hated how she wouldn't have noticed that, as only in hindsight did it seem off that her brother wasn't eating at breakfast. It was because his hands were all wrapped up. Without Sayoko pointing it out, she knew her brother wouldn't have even mentioned it.

Suzaku sighed. “Yeah, that sounds like Lelouch. Guy could take a bullet to the chest and pretend like he’s just got a bad cough.” He wasn't a fool; he had noticed the bullet scar on Lelouch's cheek, yet not a single person in the council seemed to think it was that, because, of course, Lelouch hadn't told them he was shot at.

Nunnally bit her lip. “They sounded…different. Claude wasn’t as sure of herself, Lelouch came off as strained and confused, and the other woman, Mao, I don’t know what to make of it.” She knew her brother and liked to think she knew Claude, so she could more easily pick apart what was off when they spoke, even when both tried to put up a brave face.

Mao was different. She didn't sound like she knew what she was feeling, and with no reference, Nunnally couldn't make any calls on her behavior. But she did seem to try to be close to Claude, but never could commit.

"I'm just…worried. I've tried to give this the benefit of the doubt, but I just don't know what to do anymore." Nunnally finished, her shoulders slumping as she fell to her knees.

The rest took the chance to think about that, as now even Kallen and Suzaku were lost, though they'll never hint at it, as that would invite questions. Kallen thought it was related to their…other work, but she had never met a Mao woman. More than that, she doubted Lelouch would so brazenly bring aspects of his Zero life into his Lamperouge life. As for Suzaku, he knew Claude was related to Project Eden, but he couldn't see this Mao being the same. Besides, if she were, how would she have contacted them in the middle of the night?

Was she perhaps someone who escaped the lab that the Black Knights hit at Narita? No, he shook his head. That didn't make sense. Even if she knew Claude, how would she have tracked her down, never mind avoided both the police and the Black Knights as Zero seemed to have an eagle's eye for hunting those vile people, done and leaving nothing for the proper authorities to investigate.

“Could it be related to gambling?” Milly asked, as cliché as it seemed, being called in the middle of the night and getting into a big fight over some gambling money wasn't impossible.

Rivalz shook his head. "I haven't heard anything. Lelouch hasn't been to his usual hotspots since that mess with Shinjuku."

“How would you know that?” Shirley asked him, her gaze narrowing as Rivalz offered a goofy smile.

“Because I work at one, you think gambling money was how I first got my bike?” he reminded her, as he and Lelouch had been honest about cutting back on gambling. Though he still didn’t know what Lelouch was doing with all that time, as he claimed he found someone better but didn't say in what way. “Anyway, I haven’t heard any talk about him, even from all those nobles he beat, so I don’t think it was one trying to get money back.”

“But he brought him an emotionally drained Chinese woman in the dead of the night…was she a friend of Claude who needed help?” Nina asked, doing her best not to think about the fact that this person was Chinese; this wasn't the topic right now.

"Maybe, but I asked, and they didn't say anything about it. Couldn't they have just said so if they were just friends?" Nunnally asked, as it seemed far too complex for something so simple.

Milly hummed as she tapped her glossed-up lip before a thought came to mind. “Do we know all that much about Claude?”

"We know that she's not a threat to us." Sancia was quick to respond. She didn't like how this was getting too inquisitive, as it could lead them down a rabbit hole they couldn't return to.

“We know she’s pretty damn sassy and loves to mess with people almost as much as Milly likes groping girls.” Dalque was quick on the uptake, and like her big sister, she wasn't about to let those secrets out, though she wondered why Lelouch and C.C. didn't just tell their friends.

“We know she’s dependable, even if she’s not the most…emotionally aware.” Lucretia finished, as, regardless of the why, it wasn't their place to out Lelouch and C.C.'s secrets to the rest. So, they'll work to throw in distractions.

"But do we know her last name? Where does she come from? Or even how she met my brother?" Nunnally continued, as those were…sadly good questions. Alice wished she didn't need to mislead Nunnally right now. Still, she was far too smart to just be told to 'not worry about it' and certainly not when she was very much worrying about whatever mess Lelouch and C.C. got into now.

“Hmm, she’s a mystery, and ever since she arrived, Lelouch has been spending more time out of the house.” Rivalz noted, leaning back in his chair as he hadn't thought the guy possible, but Lelouch and C.C. were regularly out for dates or 'work'. Even after that hotel jacking, they were busy.

“I mean, is that a bad thing? They’re always going out on dates.” Kallen suggested, as she couldn't quite tell them that Lelouch and C.C. were busy out leading the Black Knights. Although Nina was not the biggest fan of non-Britannians and seemed the most pro-Britannian supremacy, Suzaku was a soldier, and she didn't want to bet he wouldn't turn them in.

“Then shouldn’t he be that active with Shirley? He’s only taken her on the one, right?” Milly countered, pointing to the second redhead, who flushed a little but nodded as she and Lelouch had been closer at school and during council meetings. Still, she wasn't being taken out on these frequent dates that Lulu and Claude seemed to enjoy.

‘Dammit, Lelouch! Couldn’t you have found time for her?’ Kallen cursed as that blew up in her face.

“I agree that things are rather…concerning, but I can’t see Claude being a danger to him. Perhaps this is less serious than we assume.” Sancia proposed, to which her sister, Lucretia, nodded as she looked out the window, and spotted how the trees were stripped of a good chunk of their leaves, and how weak some looked. She got an idea.

"Could be stress," Lucretia suggested, drawing the conversation close as they turned to the typically reserved young lady.

“Stress? From that lazy grump of a guard dog?” Milly asked, sounding doubtful that it was so easy.

Dalque built on that, as they could work with it. "He's not active, but he's dedicated where it counts. We helped each other when we got kicked out of our homes, and I can't imagine how hard it was for him to just prepare things for my sisters and me so fast."

The four hadn't hidden their cover story from the rest of the council, and it was something of an open secret around campus, considering none of them had last names. Yes, some of them thought they were just brought in to be friends for Nunnally by her overprotective and terrifying brother, but the point still stood; he was why they could attend, and it wasn't so easy as snapping his fingers, even if he had a connection to the principal.

“He also helped with my family problem, and I can't imagine it was easy to do, no matter how much he claims otherwise, as it wasn't just a money thing," Kallen added to this. She couldn't tell them everything, as it would put unfair focus on her recovering mother. Still, the group knew she had an issue that Lelouch and Milly had helped her with not too long ago.

“He’s also like, the head of his own house since your folks are out of the picture, that probably means doing all that boring adult stuff.” Alice waved towards the student council building. Nunnally could agree that his brother certainly had a lot on his plate with that; more often than not, she had entered the study to find him working on their budget or having passed out while looking over some files.

"Right, and if Claude's living with you guys, she probably comes from a home she can return to, or that wants her back," Sancia said, as she didn't know her story, but if she was involved with Code R like them, it couldn't be pleasant. Besides, even if she had a family waiting for her, they were surely being watched, so the best play was to remain far from them, for both sides.

“Maybe she just got a call from this Mao woman, she was in serious trouble and sought her out, and they got into a bad fight getting her out," Sancia concluded.

"As for why Claude's acting weird, well, they probably saw some messed-up stuff as if we got kicked out for bastards, I can't see a Chinese woman being treated all that well by her Britannian family." Dalque finished, with again the gathered students pausing as they thought it over…and it made sense.

Nunnally seemed to be on the fence, but leaning towards the story as the pieces seemed to fit. “And all the animals' veterinary and nutritional needs…is it just stress? Why didn't he just tell me?" She still had that worry.

Suzaku responded simply, walking up to Nunnally and placing a hand on her shoulder in comfort. “Lelouch has never been one to share about such things, and I can’t see him doing so with you, Nunnally.”

“Well, he’s going to have to make the change! I can’t have my VP worrying his sister like this. Nunna shouldn't have developed worry lines so young," Milly declared, as she was already cooking up a plan to address this issue.

“So, what, do we…hold an intervention?” Nina asked, to which Milly clapped her hands, loud and clear for them to see and hear.

“Exactly.”

Line Break

Stamp.

The soft press of a stamp against a report rang through the small office. It lacked much of what was expected of a realm of a noble, but it was what he had to work with. He was too deep in the building to have windows and would need to settle for the dull lights overhead. The desk is made from sawdust and steel and is designed for affordability and durability over style. The same is true for the bookshelf, which holds not only books but also folders and ring binders.

Stamp.

Jeremiah Gottwald was not a man who indulged in vices. He didn't smoke, drank in moderation, kept in shape, and avoided drugs like the plague.

He also didn't believe a man of worth, a man of noble birth like him, should bellyache and complain, crying woe is me because life didn't work out as they wished.

Stamp.

And yet, only once in the past had he felt so close to doing just that as he sat in a small, cramped office, conducting mind-numbing paperwork. Only where his last demotion was due to his failure to apprehend Zero and bring honor to his fallen prince, Clovis, but it was because of practicality.

After all, how much space did one man need?

Stamp.

As he placed a stamp of suspicion onto a logistics report and set it aside, he couldn't help but linger on that. Once, the Purebloods had been one of Area 11's most powerful players, with dozens of members, nearly all from respected noble backgrounds, their high blood a cut above the rest, with only his right-hand woman, Villetta.

Stamp.

This one was marked with the stamp of approval. Villetta…his right-hand woman…his dear friend. She was of low birth, yet demonstrated proper Britannian skill and hard work, rising through the ranks and earning her place at his side. Because of that, he forgave her odd behavior at Shinjuku that day when it all seemed to shift for the worse.

Stamp.

In that tragedy, in the death of his prince, he had elevated the Purebloods to heights never before reached, and they were on the cusp of achieving more, but they were fools. Like Icarus, they burned and fell down to earth…no, not by the sun, but by a masked man who held the torch to their wings.

Zero.

Stamp.

He hated that name, that mask, and most of all, what he had taken from him. They had lost much, but they were still whole. If he and Villetta had been hot on the trail, they could have discovered a link that could have led to Zero.

Stamp.

Then Narita happened. And one by one, his comrades were slaughtered. He was a soldier, he knew death and could stomach bombs, shrapnel, and bullet wounds, but that red machine…it didn't grant his Britannian comrades the deaths they deserved, but cooked them like cheap food in an office microwave.

He paused, his stamp rising before he gently placed it down. He got no joy or relief from slamming or tossing the stupid. Resting his head in his arms, he needed a moment to just…collect himself.

Once he returned to friendly lines and the dust settled, he found that he was the lone survivor. Villetta’s unit hadn't been recovered or damaged, but its cockpit was bare, so they could only conclude she had been captured. His heart ached at what evils they could be doing to her, those Eleven savages Zero dared to call knights as if they were worth the title.

But he couldn’t do anything. With the Purebloods wiped out, he had been moved to administrative work in full.

When his door opened, he nearly snapped at the person, believing them to be another inexperienced intern who couldn’t do their job.

When he glanced up, he was glad he kept the outburst in as he choked on his saliva. "Y-your highness!" He stumbled to his feet to give her the proper show of respect.

Marrybell walked into the cramped, dusty office with as much grace as a princess should. At her side was her loyal knight, ready to defend her should the need arise. “Margrave Jeremiah, I must admit, when I was told you’ll be in such a…office,” Marrybell looked over the room. Jeremiah felt a second sense of shame at how unimpressed she seemed. “I believed there was an error.”

"It was a choice from General Dalton, your Highness. I did not protest." Jeremiah replied, keeping it crisp as he stood with his hand over his heart, waiting for the princess to allow him to relax.

"Good. I'm not happy with how you conducted yourself regarding my brother's death." Marrybell's eyes hadn't shifted; they remained cold, inexpressive, contradictory, and furious.

Jeremiah gulped. He had faced one princess's wrath and managed to keep his cool, but there was something…different with Marrybell. Her eyes held a fury that seemed almost inhuman and far too vast to comprehend. “I cannot express my shame for my actions then.” Jeremiah didn't bother with excuses or platitudes.

Marrybell let him stew for a few more moments, not making a move, and neither did her knight. But eventually, she spoke once more. "I didn't come here just to speak of it, though it is related. I trust you know why I am here in Area 11?"

That sounded like a trick question, but he couldn't figure out the trick for his life and could only go with the official reason. "You were sent to aid the Viceroy in capturing Zero, your highness. I had already heard you encountered them during your first operation against the Japan Liberation Front and forced them to retreat.”

'Is that what the rumor mill is distributing?' Marrybell mused, as the battle wasn't reported as such, but an accident to cover up the explosion. Eleven dockworkers were blamed for mishandling volatile cargo. “I would not call our operation something so positive. Not till I have the heads of Zero and his command staff.”

Jeremiah stood straighter, his chest puffed up as far as he dared without risking coming off as pompous. "Your highness, I wish you good hunting in that. I would request to follow you into battle, but-"

Marrybell cut him off. "But you can help. I sought you out because I wanted to hear your story. You were present from the start of Zero's rampage. It was against you that he showed his mask, so I wish to hear what you think of it."

Oh, that…seemed tricky. “I have already given my testimony to the Viceroy, I can’t say I’ll be able to give much else.” He had gone over the incident, which felt like a hundred times in his head, but he could never find more info he could share.

Marrybell stepped forward, her gaze never leaving his, never giving Jeremiah rest, as he stared into the fiery abyss held within her violet eyes. "Humour me. I prefer to hear such things in my own ears rather than read a report. More so, I've come to distrust what the Viceroy says and hands over."

Jeremiah's brow creased. Was it just him, or was there a bite of anger in her words? “The Viceroy?”

Marrybell clamped down on him like a bear trap. “It’s above you, Margrave. Don’t ask for a reason, just do as you’re told, understand?”

“Of course!” Jeremiah stiffened, his stance even straighter as he went into the details. Starting from when they first deployed, the events leading up to and following the battle of Shinjuku, and his reasons for how he handled Zero's debut, all while Marrybell listened without saying a word, barely moving as her knight silently wrote down what he said.

When he finished, it was only then that she made a move. “Interesting, very interesting…” She thought about what she heard. Like Cornelia, she found it had several holes, but now that they knew more about Code R, as her own efforts had confirmed to be its name, it made sense, and yet-“One question,”

Another step, and she pinned Jeremiah without needing to touch him. The man looked more like a mouse that had been spotted by a viper, who was deciding whether to devour it. “In the verbal testimony you gave the Viceroy, you claimed that Villetta received a distress signal from Clovis' royal guard and went to investigate, only to suffer an unexplained lapse in memory, and next she knew, she was without her unit.”

As she spoke, her words were like claws ranking against his skin, close to drawing blood, yet purposely never doing so, even as she tightened her grip, Jeremiah finding it hard to breathe as he kept his gaze locked into the fiery abyss.

Marrybell didn't care that he seemed to be sweating or seeing more of her true self than she showed most. As long as she could kill Zero, she would not lose any sleep if Jeremiah started crying when she left. “As your superior and the commander of the Area 11 chapter of the Purebloods, do you have theories about what happened?"

Jeremiah struggled to find his words for a moment. What did one say to this? "Well, your highness, it's difficult to explain."

"Do so, I can't very well punish a dead woman, and with everyone else, which has happened, I doubt your theory would be so insane." Marrybell quickly replied, as she wouldn't give him an out, and if he made this tricky…well, she was well versed in interrogation and didn't mind blind and other bodily fluids getting on her.

Lucky for Jeremiah, he didn’t make things difficult. “Well, your highness, I did speak with Villetta about the incident after the fact, though it would be more accurate to say she approached me about it. She couldn't recall the details, but one thing that did stick out was right before her lapse in memory, she recalled seeing two people, one of whom happened to be a Britannian school boy."

“A…school boy? That’s what she saw?” Oldrin, unfazed by Marrybell shedding more of her mask and showcasing what lay beneath, spoke up for the first time since she entered the office.

"Correct, Dame Oldrin," Jeremiah replied, praying they didn't think he or his missing right-hand woman was lying.

“Could he have been a hostage?” Oldrin asked once more.

"She didn't believe so, not when he was one of the 2 people left alive among the corpses of the royal guard. So, we had begun to investigate it. She couldn't recall exact details, but she did recall the general design of the uniform, and we managed to work the list down to just one place." Jeremiah was allowed just a little breathing room as he spoke. He reached for his desk, pulled out a small folder, one he didn't let others know existed, much less show them, and handed it to Marrybell.

The princess quickly accepted it and opened it, finding a list of schools within the settlement, with one marked where the rest had been crossed out. “Ashford?” Marrybell sounded, leading her knight to look at her in confusion.

"Isn't that—" Before she could say more, Marrybell silenced her. This…well, this was unexpected, and she prayed it wasn't anything more than a coincidence.

“Have you managed to look through their student records to find this student?” Marrybell asked, as she only noted a basic appearance profile, but no names or photos to be found.

“Afraid not, your highness. We hadn't had much of an investigation to present to the Viceroy, and with our blunders, she would not have given us grace, and thus, this had been something that Villetta and I had been doing on our own time. Before we could request the school’s student profiles, we were shipped out to Narita and well…” Jeremiah led off, as his small office was enough of a clue of how things had gone.

“I see,” Marrybell breathed, slipping the mask back on, as she appeared to be the kind, gentle, and beautiful princess she always presented herself to be. But now, there was a sense of genuine sympathy for her as she looked towards Jeremiah. "You have my sympathies. It couldn't have been easy to lose your comrades to those rats calling themselves knights."

“You believe me?” Jeremiah asked, as he had believed it would take more than this.

“I believe rats will find the most unexpected hiding spots to make their burrows where they can breed and infest,” Marrybell neither confirmed nor denied it. But when she slapped the folder closed, it might as well have been a gunshot as she turned her full attention to him.

“Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald, by the authority invested in me by his Majesty, 98th Emperor Charles zi Britannia, you will be moved to my supervision and authority. You’ll receive a new unit, and you will continue your Ashford investigations. All reports and findings will be delivered right to damn Oldrin's desk or hands. Am I clear?" she declared, to which Jeremiah swelled up his chest, beating his fist over his heart as he replied.

“Yes, your highness! I will not fail you.”

“No, I don’t think you will.” With that, Marrybell left, taking the folder with her. Only after some time had passed did he finally relax and return to his seat. When he did so, he wondered how to handle this change but knew he wouldn't waste this chance. He might not be the one who would capture or kill Zero, but if he could do his part to see that happen, he would gladly do so.

With such a promise to hold close to his spirit, he didn't mind needing to finish his work. After all, why leave it for someone else?

Stamp.

Line break

"I…I need to tell you both some things about what my true wish is, " Chantal said. This would be hard, but she had to say it; she owed them that much.

“I…I wanted to die.” C.C. started, looking away from them so they wouldn't need to see their reaction, but from how Lelouch gasped, and Mao cried, she had an idea.

“What? No, I can’t die!” Mao yelled, holding onto C.C. as hard as she could.

C.C.'s smile held no warmth or joy. It was hollow, bitter, and heavy. "Can't in the literal, but I wanted to…I've lived for over 700 years. I've watched so many, done so much, and lost everything, Mao. Friends and enemies, lovers and bitter rivals, entire kingdoms and dynasties. I've lived to see them rise and fall."

Lelouch and Mao could hardly believe it. They had known she was old. Clovis's records, Lelouch had seen, put C.C. back at least a century without any sign of aging, but 700 years? She was older than every superpower, bar some form of the old Chinese kingdoms. No, far older than its current dynasty. She was older than modern languages.

But she was the only one. How could he even picture that? The notion that he would outlive Nunnally, and any children she or he would have, and any grandchildren. Had C.C. had children in the past? Had she been forced to watch her family be ground to dust by time, till their memory only existed within her? Had she ever attempted such?

C.C. slumped against Mao, too tired and too emotionally exposed to pull back as she whispered in a haunted voice, “I just…I wanted it to end.”

"But how? You're immortal; nothing can kill you." Mao pointed out what seemed to be an obvious flaw in her mother's terrible and bad plans. She couldn't die; she was…she was constant.

C.C. shook her head, pulling back enough to look both of them in the eye, her gaze then falling to Lelouch's hands, which were free of his gauntlets and dripping with blood. "That's normally the case, but…there is a way, one way that kills the immortal, and that is for someone with a fully matured geass to commit the deed, as they can then take their-my code for themselves."

Both realized it, and they felt the stone form in their guts as Mao reached for her eyes, stopping short of touching her own face. He had seen her reflection enough times to know how it looked, how she and her geass looked. “Like…mine?”

C.C. looked ashamed and so small as she nodded. "The prime mark of a geass which has reached that level, is when it manifests the mark in both eyes and…you lose control of it. Like you did, Mao…like I did.” She turned to Lelouch, her wet eyes trying to convey some sort of deep apology for a great sin. "Like Lelouch is bound to."

Lelouch…hadn't considered that; he had been so occupied figuring out Mao that he hadn't thought much about how his geass could develop to the same state. He…he would never be able to look people in the eye again. He would need to watch his words when not wearing some sort of eye; otherwise, he risked casting an irresistible order, and the other would be forced to complete.

“So…you gave me this because I was meant to kill you?” He asked, his voice soft, yet his words smacked into C.C. like boulders.

"Yes, it's why I granted you the power, both of you, but…" C.C. looked towards Mao now, the woman teary-eyed, confused, and so much else before C.C. continued. “I was much like you once. I was an orphan. I had nothing, no one, and seemed doomed to die young, alone, and unloved like millions more before and after me, but then someone came."

C.C. continued to recount her past, a part she tried desperately not to think about, to not allow that wound, which never healed, to affect her. She should have known it never stopped.

So she could only expose it. “She was dressed like a nun and acted like one; she was the only one who lived at the church. She asked me what I wished for, and then, it was to live." C.C. paused, frowning as she looked at her hand, clenching it as she added with a sense of remorse. "I didn't realize how wrong that was."

"It's not wrong to wish to live," Lelouch added, to which Mao quickly nodded.

C.C. shook her head. "No, but that's merely a basic survival instinct. One which all beings have, or at least should. The geass she granted me had no bearing on such, for it targeted my true wish…one which mattered more to an orphan girl with nothing else…love.” Even now, admitting that felt…foolish, like she was back to being that dirty orphan who couldn't read, write, or count higher than 20.

It felt so small a desire when she looked at her 2 contractors, at the first 2 people she let herself truly love again in so long. "Lelouch, you wished for control over your destiny, and thus you gained the ability to command those around you."

She turned to Mao next. "Mao, you sought to understand this complicated world and its people, and so you gained the ability to read minds." And that said, she looked at herself.

"I just wished to be loved, and this, my geass, allowed me to make people love me. And I was, my geass ensured that I was loved by everyone who ever came across, everyone but the nun."

"Because she was immune to geass, because of her Code," Lelouch stated, wondering about the implications of a geass that forced love…and he didn't like it.

C.C. had lived through those consequences, having not considered what it would mean till it was too late. "My geass was a lie. I wasn't loved by them, not truly. They were forced to love me, and as time went on, my geass matured, and thus I couldn't stop it.” She broke from Mao and hugged her knees to her chest.

“People around me just become puppets to that false love, but the nun was exempt. The only one who still treated me like a person and not some object to show undying, unending love to."

She shivered, recalling the cheers, parties thrown in her honor, people writing songs, people near bankrupting themselves to send her as luxurious a present as they could, and the proposals from even married people. Near the end, her crazed followers wished to start a damn religion around her. A new faith in medieval France, so many burned for that, and couldn't stop them.

She had hated it so very much.

C.C. could never forget it. The day when it all came crashing down, the nun finally revealed how far gone she had gotten. "Then, one day, she snapped and revealed the truth. I was just a pawn, a means to an end to her. She attacked me, and I defended myself, but through the struggle, I was wounded…But I managed to kill her, unknowingly taking her Code."

Mao gasped at the statement, while Lelouch's brow creased, fury rising in him as he recalled C.C.'s scar. He had wondered how she gained it when she was immortal; now he knew…

C.C. reached for the mark of Code etched into her forehead, right in the same spot it once had been for that nun. "I lost my geass then, and thus, I was the immortal, she who gave out the power of kings, and as time passed, I too longed for death."

She looked at Mao, a fusion of longing, love, and shame. "But, with you Mao…you, you are so innocent, just a child, my dear beloved child, and…I…I” She nearly cried, but powered through to finish. "I couldn't stomach it, I didn't want to believe I had stooped so long as that damned nun, and yet I nearly did. I couldn't do that to you, I couldn't look myself in the mirror, so I left…"

Mao didn't know how to take this, any of this. It was just too confusing. C.C. was like her, so wouldn't she know? How it felt to wake up one morning and find yourself alone again? To not know why? Was she going to be forced to go mad and try to kill Mao to force her to kill her? She didn't know; she didn't want to consider it. She…she didn't want that, but she was…she was angry just now.

Angry, hurt, betrayed, and so many things, so she had shot her. She shot C.C.…could…could that have done it? Could she have accidentally killed C.C. for good just now?

Mao retreated into her broken mind, trying to put pieces together without a map, pieces that cut her hands and made it hard to inspect them. Meanwhile, Lelouch knelt to look C.C. in the eye, his face giving nothing away.

"Then why give me power? If you hated what you did with Mao, why did you repeat it?" he asked her, to which C.C. gave him another hollow smile.

“Because I didn’t.” She gave such a simple answer: “You weren’t like Mao. I didn’t raise you, and I envisioned that you would welcome immortality; it would be another tool in your quest for revenge, but then I grew to love you all the same." She had not planned for that, and she had not planned to meet someone who seemed to be a contradiction.

Filled with hate, which could freeze men's souls with terror, but also enough love to melt through her many layers. Arrogant as any prince was, and yet humble. Brave enough to face weapons of war like knightmares yet terrified for his own soul. Someone with the presence and power to demand, yet gentle and grateful to those around him.

She had no clue, and before she knew it, she had fallen for him, had received love from him, and found herself questioning her desire, yet so petrified of what it would mean. The idea that even this would fade- that even if he lived through this, he would be decades in 60, maybe 80 years, and she'll return to being alone again.

Mao pulled her out of that spiral, the woman holding onto her shoulders and shaking her left, right, and center. "No, I won't do it! I won't let anyone hurt you! I just got you back and I’m going to…to…” She couldn't finish it, as she didn't know what to do or what to say.

“Chantal,” Lelouch breathed, as he had not been expecting this when he had prepped for bed. And yet, here he was, in some old warehouse, Mao had become a crazy obstacle host. He was wet, he was tired, he was sore and bloody, and somehow that wasn't the biggest concern he had. "I don't know what to feel about this.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen, but…I still did it.” C.C. whispered. “So now you know, you’re doomed to kill me if I stay.”

"No," Lelouch stated. Leading to Mao and C.C. looking at him.

“No?” C.C. repeated.

Lelouch reached with bloody hands for his necklace, holding it by the chain to prevent crimson getting on the cross, and he held it up. “You heard me, as God as my witness, I’m not killing you, Chantal, you hear me? And I’ll be damned if I stand by and let someone else do it.” He allowed it to drop over his shirt rather than under it.

“Me too! So-so what if it was because of a lie, you still loved me, right?” Mao jumped right back in.

“Of course-!”

That's good, but Mao wouldn't let C.C. undermine that; she admitted it; they could build it from there. "You still raised me when no one else did. You fed me, clothed me, and held me when I had nightmares and when the voices got too loud. You took me to the forests and lakes and all those wonderful spots, and you always said you cared, that you'll be there for me!"

“So…I don’t like it, I don’t like working with him,” she hissed the last part, glaring at Lelouch. For once, she wasn't thinking of him as a thief…just a nuisance. Quickly, she turned back to C.C. That hate was gone. But I will if it means keeping you safe and keeping you happy."

“How can you say something like that? How can you still want me?” C.C. asked them both, as this…none of it made sense. She had told them the truth, that she had used them, that she wanted them to kill her! How could you love someone when they said that? Why would you stay?

“For a woman centuries old, you truly are silly,” Lelouch sighed, but before Mao or C.C. could move about that, he got down on his knees and hugged C.C., pulling Mao in as well.

"It's because we love you. I promised you once before, didn't I? That'll break your bird cage so you can fly as free as you wish. Maybe killing you is one way to take you Code, but there could be others, others which mean you'll live." He whispered loud enough to be heard as Mao reluctantly hugged him back, ensuring that C.C. was trapped between them.

C.C. started to cry, as she couldn’t…she didn’t want false hope, not again. “But I’ve checked, and searched for centuries…I could never find such.”

Lelouch’s response was as quick as a flash, and as confident as the sun rising in the east. “Then we’ll make one. Don’t forget, you’re speaking to the man of miracles here, and with a mentally questionable mind reader.”

“Fuck off, Colonizer.” Mao cursed him out in Mandarin.

“I think we can manage it.” Lelouch ignored the jab. “Just…give us the chance, Chantal. The chance to show you are loved, that we want to help you.”

“But there’s more, I know things-” Lelouch stopped her; he would place a hand on her lip, but they were badly cut up.

"Later, you've said plenty already, Chantal. I think we've all had an exciting night as is. Now let's get Mao and me to a hospital. I'm not much of a fan of bleeding all over the place." He sighed, as he was used to pain, but Christ, did his hands hurt. He might have missed some shards earlier.

Mao felt their focus on her, leading to the woman developing the slightest hint of a blush. She tried to look through Lelouch's head again, trying to find something she could throw in his face, but she couldn't piece together the angry, violent storm that seemed to encase his true mind.

She hated it, but she would need to ask him about it, as how could he be so…so not normal. "…I'm not apologizing for that. And don't think I'm going to start calling you dad." She settled on that.

Lelouch grunted as he got up, helping both women as well. "I figured, and please don't ever refer to me as 'father', it'll be near impossible to explain, and frankly, I don't need that image or memory atop all the other trauma.

“Deal, so let’s get going, Chantal…hmm, Chantal,” Mao paused, as Lelouch had been calling C.C. that for a while, and while she was pissed, he knew her real name before she did. She focused on something that wouldn't require her to draw a gun. “It’s a pretty name, way prettier than C.C. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She pouted at C.C.

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Now, as for the chapter itself, I had some routes I could take with this, and I did speak with some of you via Discord on a couple of details, but what I ended up deciding on during planning and refining during the first draft was something I feel does a good job of presenting more of the intrinsic differences in the world and not just the things that have snowballed.

It'll help down the line, as it would be insane to still use some of the other plot points of R1, such as Tohdoh's prison break, but Marrybell does present opportunities of her own. Also, I didn't know this when I first planned this, but she doesn't get her geass in canon until sometime before O2, with O1 being set after R1 concludes, so that kind of saved me some work as I was left wondering, 'How would she not just use it?'

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This took too long to finish, but it's done. I had planned for more, but then I saw the word count, and yeah, it just wouldn't have fit. On other news, Nunnally's getting to show off more of her intelligence and observation. As we've seen through the story, she's not just the sweet, innocent blind girl; she's much more aware than she regularly lets on. And because of that, the council is going to have some questions for when Lelouch and C.C. return.

To make things worse, Jeremiah's made his return to the story, and he's more determined than ever to uncover anything related to Zero. Because Marrybell's also on the case, she sought him out and now has reason to suspect Ashford. In what way? Well, who can say at this moment? But seeing how she's cut out Euphie, it won't be something that she could just pass to Suzaku and have him alert Lelouch that the school would have more royal attention soon enough.