Path 09: Switch

It was almost 11 in the morning and the school festival of Ashford Academy was in full swing. There were perhaps thousand's of people gathered around the school just in order to take a glimpse of Karen. Even though it had gathered quite a mass, it still hadn't given out the feel of a School Festival. Among the heavy security with a couple of knightmares, the drones which flew across the field from one place to other; didn't make any of the guests in there nervous. The students were only driven by one thought in their mind, making the attraction they were in charge of a hit. It was your calm and peaceful day with only the feel of a festival.

On the farther side of the school there was a huge line with many of camera crew and reporters flocking in front of a gate. A Fence was extended from the gate which seemed to go on forever on either side. It was further guarded by 4 Knightmares which regulated the crowd with the gigantic weapon and equipments on them. It wasn't the only one with such guard and crowd. At another 3 points, where gates were built on the square fence which extended over 1 sq-km the situation was the same. More gates were located at the vertices of the square which only let required personnel in.

Inside the square fence, there was only large plain. The centre of the square had a black surface spread around 160 m which had pizza base on it. 200m away from the pan was a building where the sauce was being prepared. Some outdated Sutherlands could be seen carrying boxes of ingredients inside the building. Hundred's of Lenses were adjusted over the pan to focus the sunlight and heat it. It really wasn't easy to prepare a 160m pizza but the process seemed to be going smoothly than it did last year.

Karen entered the facility with Dominic. She returned from her break in her crimson pilot suit along with Dominic who had just verified the report regarding ingredients and currently was escorting the Knight. They both now were heading to the actual site.

"Give me the progress report" Karen asked

"We are almost finished with the sauce, and the dough is also ready thanks to you my lady. All we have to do next is assemble them. The cheese team is also prepared but there may be a possible delay of 13 minutes"

"We can't finish this before Nunnally-sama arrives!" Karen sighed

"I apologize, my lady" Dominic said apologetically

"It's not your fault" Karen said as she remembered her last night adventure of stretching the dough. She was easily said to be one of the greatest knightmare pilot in the entire world but she never had faced such a challenge before. It took almost 18 hour for them to stretch the dough and Karen was exhausted like never before. She ought to have rested but only took an hour break and was resuming her position.

"Still" she said as she looked the numerous knightmares moving around her, "The students here are pretty skilled in piloting Knightmares. You must have had practiced a lot"

"Yes My Lady" Dominic said, "Since the event was decided, we had a recruited a special group and had been simulating this scenario for over a month. But, it would have still been impossible if it wasn't for Dumas instructions"

"Dumas, Wasn't he my escort the other day?" Karen asked as she remembered the blue haired kid who only had stricken her as a stupid noble

"He is pretty skilled" Karen said as she again saw the hardworking students.

"Yes" Dominic replied, "After all he is the son of Knight Sir Ronald Desmond"

"Ronald" Karen was a bit shocked. But she didn't let that appear in her words "you mean the knight of Prince Alibs?"

"Yes" Dominic replied

"Is that so" Karen slightly clenched her fist for a while and let it go.

Just then, a "Gen 2 VINCENT" along with 2 other knightmares, came escort the two into the premises. The cockpit of the Vincent opened and Dumas in his yellow pilot suit, dove before the two of them and bowed before Karen.

"My Lady, please board the knightmare" Dumas said as he offered his knightmare.

Karen looked at Dumas for a moment. She didn't see anything particularly shady about him. He didn't have any hostility towards her or any hidden agenda. But, she could feel his impressive amount of admiration for her.

"Good Job" she said as she climbed upon the knightmare and took off with her escorts. Dumas and Dominic were the only ones left behind. They started to head back to school

"Good Job, Dumas" Dominic said as he handed over loaf of bread from his bag. Dumas hesitatingly took the bread.

"It's alright. This is your own class's product" Dominic said as he too took another load and took a bite.

"Oh yeah, they took in charge of food right?" Dominic asked. He was in charge of the pizza preparation team so he was quite busy to keep up with his school activities. He wondered why his class had decided to do something boring like a kitchen because he wasn't quite informed about Lelouch's exploits

"It's not very tasty" Dumas said as he tasted the bread.

"I know, but it has a lot of glucose put in. So eat up" Dominic said as he ate his share without any complaint.

Dumas ate the bread as he was a bit tired. Although it wasn't sweet on mouth, it wasn't bad either. It had a weird addicting flavor in it.

"I am sorry on asking this on your break but can you accompany me in welcoming her Majesty?" Dominic asked the question which only left Dumas speechless

"Her Majesty! Is the Empress coming here?" he was shocked

"Don't scream. We don't want anyone to overhear us" Dominic said as he looked at the crowd which was far away.

Dumas lowered his voice, "Are you sure it's the Empress? This is not some kind or prank right?"

"No, Karen-sama herself told me"

"Then why are we making Pizza when such an important person is coming. Do you have any idea how much big of a news this is?"

"I Do" Dominic replied, "but everyone seems to want to present this pizza to her Majesty. If not, Karen-sama wouldn't have prioritized to be here over welcoming Nunally-sama"

They both walked without saying a word and crossed the crowd. Both had many things to think about. After a while, breaking the silence, Dumas asked

"Where is he? Your precious Vice-President"

"Not again Dumas" Dominic said. He knew how much Dumas hated Lelouch. "Give him a break. He is already busy coordinating the festival and on top of that I heard he is working hard in your classroom. He really has lot to worry about. I don't want you to cause him any more trouble"

"Hey, don't jump into conclusions" Dumas said in a relaxed voice, "I wanted to know whether our Emperor was going to show up in front of Empress that's all"

"No he is not" Dominic replied, "He too realizes what has to be done. He said he doesn't want appear before Empress himself"

"Oh! He has common sense then" Dumas replied to which Dominic didn't respond. The conversation returned to silence once again.

Class 1-B

Lelouch had succeeded in calming the classroom down. The students were working earnestly and weren't bothered by the fact that Lelouch was ordering them at all. They all responded positively to his calls and it seemed that their attraction had escaped its collapse.

C.C stood beside Lelouch doing nothing. It was because there were no calls of distress ringing in her ears. She just kept staring at the Lelouch who was immersed in his cuisine. Strangely enough, she wasn't feeling any boredom standing there doing nothing, but a pinch of haste could be noted by her foot taps.

"That's quite enough" Lelouch said. CC was surprised as she thought he had meant it to her

"What can I do I am bor…" she was cut by Lelouch's voice

"Oliver" Lelouch shouted "From now on you take this position"

"Y-Yes" the kid who was called replied.

"Then, I leave this in your hand. We can still make a comeback if you believe in yourself" Lelouch said to the ghost member of the cooking club.

Nobody understood what he meant except for the two of them

"Y-yes" Oliver replied in an upbeat voice.

"Let's Go" Lelouch said as he took off the apron and prepared to move. CC just followed him out of the room without saying a word which honestly surprised Lelouch. He was expecting an answer like, 'Why should I?' from her but her silence worried him a bit.

CC currently felt embarrassed. She was still thinking how Lelouch cut her speech which she thought was meant for her. At that moment it dawned to her that she was in haste which was slowly starting to cloud her mind.

As the both of the walked in the corridor, they could see a number of people who seemed to enjoy the festival. As they walked passed the classrooms, quite a few of them greeted Lelouch.

"It's rare" CC spoke, "I thought you would be hated more than this"

"Think what you want, but the facts won't change" Lelouch replied as though he was ignoring her

"This is the power of a festival huh?" CC said as she looked around the happy atmosphere, "They are so happy they aren't even bothered by you"

"That's natural" Lelouch replied

"I know" CC said, "Maybe not all, but many of them will realize it, the fact that actions make a human not the appearance. But…"

"But?"

CC remained silent for a moment, "What if instead of you, he was here? Would it go so well I wonder?"

"I wonder too" Lelouch said as he thought what would have happened if his Uncle was here in his place. Would the crowd still have accepted him for his actions forgiving all his sins?

"Humans are fickle aren't they?" Lelouch asked not really wanting an answer. CC didn't reply

"Have you ever piloted a knightmare?" Lelouch asked as they exited the school. They continued to walk together. Both of them were having their conversation without looking at each other.

"More than once" CC replied

"Are you skilled?"

"Fairly"

"Were you a Mercenery?"

"A Mercenery? I suppose in a way I was… A long time ago"

"What do you plan on doing next?"

"I don't know" CC said, "I have something to do but I don't know how to do it"

"Are you targeted by anyone?"

"No, I'm not"

"…"

Lelouch felt something was weird. The Stubborn girl that refused to talk to him before was politely answering all his questions.

"What's wrong you look you are worried about something?" Lelouch asked her looking into her eyes

"What's wrong I wonder" CC replied with a blank look, "I wonder…" she repeated

"Do you have any plans for future? What about your family"

CC didn't reply. Lelouch guessed what that meant. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he instructed her to follow him to which CC only nodded.

After the instruction, Lelouch began walking again and CC followed him. In a while, they reached the school gate which was crowded by a lot of people. They quickly walked passed them and were out of the school. Lelouch was walking out of the school and CC was following him not knowing what's going on. They walked for 3 minutes until they reached a sparsely populated street

"It's weird that no one is here" CC said as she compared the deserted street to bustling one next

As Lelouch led the way further, they came across a closed clothes store. There were 2 heavily armed guards near the closed shop

"What do you want kid?" they approached him and blocked him

Lelouch showed them a small piece of paper which he took from his right pocket and said, "I am on an errand"

After going through the paper once, the guards looked at Lelouch and opened the shop let him and CC pass into it. Then they quickly closed the shop and stood beside the door.

"What are we doing here?" CC asked.

"I am here on Director's errand" Lelouch said as he entered the empty store. This wasn't the answer for CC's question though "She wants few clothes and some transportation"

"It's here" a figure appeared before them which looked just like Lelouch.

"Sounn! Is that you?" Lelouch exclaimed

"It has quite a while your highness" the figure bowed before Lelouch

"You were my double?"

"Yes. I volunteered myself and May I ask who this lovely lady is?" he asked as he looked at CC.

"It's alright, she is with me. Don't worry, she won't cause any changes in plans" Lelouch replied to which Sounn responded by a smile

"I have a lot of things to talk about, but now is not the time. Shall we catch up next time with a cup of tea?"

"Yes, I want to taste your tea again" Lelouch replied with a warm voice to his old friend, "I leave the academy to you"

"Yes. I will do my best to live up to your expectations" Sounn-Lelouch's double moved out with an already prepared shopping bag.

"Disguise yourself" Lelouch said to CC as he gave her a pair of contact lenses from his pocket.

"What's going on?" CC asked Lelouch who showed no emotion on his face

"That's what you ask after this experience you went through?"

"Did you want me to scream and cry?"

"No that would be unsightly", Lelouch said, "Get ready, we will speak afterwards"

Five minutes later, both of them were in their disguises. Lelouch wore a blond wig and sunglasses. CC wore a black wig over her green hair and wore the contacts which were colored red. Both of them had changed from their school uniform to that of soldiers of Order of Black Knights

They then exited through the back door and drove a black car which was parked there with keys.

"I am amazed that you are still composed" Lelouch said to CC as he drove on the highway.

"It's not like you are going to harm me or anything"

"Are you sure? I might be dangerous than you think"

"Right" CC sitting beside Lelouch responded lazily.

"I am planning on assembling a small strike team to be in frontlines." Lelouch said as they drove on the highway, "Although I haven't decided on members, I want people who I can trust and who obey only me"

"Aren't you a Prince?" CC asked

"Yes"

"Don't you have the privilege to choose you own knight? Then what is this all about?"

"Currently my knight is my brother"

"Your Brother?"

"I mean Knight of Five – Ohgi Itsuki. But that's not what I am looking for"

"Is there going to be a war?" CC asked

"I don't know" Lelouch replied. "Currently we don't have enough data to predict whether it's going to be a war or just a small Coup but I want to be prepared"

"Can they really hold their ground against this Empire?"

"They might"

"This is not like you" C.C said

"I know" Lelouch replied, "But I have a reason to be like this"

"So, you want me join your strike force?"

"Yes"

"Why should I?"

"Because I want you"

CC was a bit taken aback from the blunt reply of Lelouch.

"You want me?"

"I don't know why but for some reason I trust you" Lelouch said in a soft voice

"You are not fooling me"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't want to let me get out of your sight do you?"

Lelouch didn't reply for a while, "But I really am planning on assembling a strike force and I want you to join me"

"You have an entire army to command. Why do you even need to create such a thing?"

"Currently, the entire army is not under my but under my father. He has more authority over my Knight than I do. That's why I want a force directly under me independent of the Emperor"

CC remained silent for a moment. "Do you doubt your own father?"

"I am not doubting him" Lelouch replied

Suzaku's face flashed before CC. She looked at Lelouch and thought for a bit.

"Are you planning on making a version of Knight's of Rounds for yourself?"

"It's not as pretty as that" Lelouch replied, "Interested?"

"A bit" CC replied as she looked outside the window into a heavy speeding traffic.

Suddenly, a huge shadow covered them. Lelouch almost crashed into the next car.

"What was that?" CC asked a bit surprised

"It's Daffodil" Lelouch answered, "Looks the Empress is here"

"You aren't going to meet her?"

"No, I have something more important to do"

CC noticed that Lelouch gripped the wheel more tightly than before. Of course he wanted to see her. Who wouldn't want to meet their mother. But circumstances had made him to choose different paths.

"Same as always I see" CC muttered

"What was that?" Lelouch asked

"I will join" she replied,

"You agreed pretty quickly"

"But I have a few conditions" CC said

"I am hearing" Lelouch confirmed

As the Empress landed in Toukyou, the Prince slowly moved away from it. None of them knowing what awaited them in the near future were enjoying their last moments of tranquility.

/* from this chapter on, I am writing all Japanese name in their format i.e; family name first and first name following it. I hope you are enjoying the chapters, because the introduction is nearing its end and the real story is going to start soon. I am going to try my best make every chapter as enjoyable as possible. Thanks for the pointers of 'Black White Demons' I corrected the mistakes in last chapter. Thank You for all the reviews*/