How the Mighty Have Fallen

"Look!" Liz said, pressing her face against the window, "It's the Golden Gate Bridge!"

"Yes, yes it is," C.C. said, rolling her eyes slightly. It was a bright San Francisco morning, and they had just gotten a car, and were now driving through the city to their hotel. The plan, as it stood, was to travel across Britannia, starting in the hometown of Lady Marianne, where Lelouch was buried. C.C. said that it was long overdue for Liz to visit her father.

Liz was all to glad to not be in her uniform anymore, now instead opting for skinny jeans with a purple shirt with a black lotus on it. She had also taken out her contacts, and had her hair in clips. Needless to say, the Student Council was rather surprised about Liz's short notice trip to Britannia.

"Why would you want to go to Britannia?" Kazu had said, which had caused Liz to have to restrain her slapping hand something fierce. But aside from that, Saki had assured her that they would hold down the for while she was gone. Liz wasn't shedding any tears over not being involved for the next week or so. Her grandmother had also been surprised, but supportive of it, though Liz had promised to call her regularly.

"You know its just a red bridge, right?" the immortal said, glancing at her ward, who still had her face on the glass, "I don't see what the big deal is."

"Its one of Britannia's most well known monuments," Liz said, before looking at C.C. with a big smile, "Now I want to see all the monuments in San Francisco!"

"I don't see why you're so excited over the monuments here," C.C. answered, "There are plenty of large monuments back in Japan."

"I've seen those monuments a dozen times," Liz answered with a frown, "And one out of five of them serve to commemorate my dad's death." C.C. opened then closed her mouth.

"I relent the point," the immortal answered with a nod as she turned back to the road, "But if you could rip your eyes from some painted metal for a moment, weren't you going to call your grandmother?"

"Aah! Yes!" Liz said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone and called Hanako.

"I'm glad to know you made it to Britannia safely," Hanako said after they exchanged greetings.

"It was a long flight, but at least nothing happened," Liz answered, "Again, I'm sorry for the short notice."

"Oh, think nothing of it," Hanako responded, "I always noticed how uncomfortable you were during Harmony Day while here. So how are you finding Britannia so far?"

"Its amazing!" Liz said, smiling through the phone, "I can't wait to see all the sites here!" She heard Hanako laugh softly.

"Well, be sure to take plenty of pictures," she said, "I'm going to want to know all about your trip when you get back."

"I'll be sure to do that," Liz said, "I'm hoping to see as many of the sites here as possible." She heard C.C. clear her throat.

"If my sister doesn't mind," Liz said, adding a couple drops of sarcasm. Hanako just laughed slightly.

"Actually, I don't know if I told you yet, but Kallen is currently in Britannia."

"What?!" Liz squawked, before quickly apologizing, "Sorry, just surprised to hear that."

"Oh I don't blame you, though I'll admit, I'm surprised you didn't know."

"Umm," Liz answered. She didn't actually follow much news about the Ace of the Black Knights, mostly because it just made her feel even worse. She was going to be 18 soon, and the only physical contact Liz and her mother ever had was (according to C.C.), Kallen lightly touching Liz's face when she was a born.

"Well, maybe I'll see her while I'm here," she said eventually.

"Well if you by some chance meet her, you can say you know me," her grandmother said, "Now you be safe out there."

"Of course, I'll be sure to talk to you again soon, bye." After hanging up, Liz sighed, and looked back out the window.

"Did you know my mom was visiting here?" she asked C.C.

"I did," C.C. answered simply.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Liz asked, looking towards her guardian.

"I figured if I did, it would just add some additional stress to you," C.C. responded, not looking away from the road, "I had us come here for you to unwind, not think about your parents."

"Well, consider that a failure," Liz said, glaring out the window. C.C. didn't say anything beyond sighing, as she focused on driving again.

This gave Liz sometime to gather her thoughts, and take in some more of the city. However, now that she was actually looking, something caught her attention. The streets were not in good condition, and neither were the people; not only did many of them look poor, but many looked homeless. That surprised Liz; beside what Kazu had said before she left, she had always thought of Britannia as in a good state, like everything else now that the UFN was established. That obviously seemed not to be the case. Maybe San Francisco in particular was having problems of some kind. Though it did make Liz think about Britannia's recent history.

After her father's death, the remaining authority in Britannia surrendered officially to the UFN, and the Treaty of Los Angeles was signed, and Liz's Aunt Nunnally was proclaimed the ruler. According to C.C., Nunnally ascending the throne was part of Lelouch's plan, and had Jeremiah and Suzaku set things up for her to take power. A war crimes tribunal was gathered in LA to root out the guilty, though most of them had died when Pendragon was destroyed; most of the remaining ones, with a couple exceptions, were found guilty and were serving life sentences. As for Schniezel, he was released without much charge, something Liz found a gross injustice; C.C. said her father did punish him by stripping him of his free will. But Liz wasn't sure if that was enough.

According to the history books Liz was made to read the Treaty took effect, part of which saw Britannia being downgraded to a principality, the UFN determined that all territories that were defined as having been "forcibly acquired" were to be granted independence. Those territories were defined as pretty much everything south of the Texas provinces, as well as all overseas territories. Officially, Britannians who settled in these lands were to be allowed to remain there; functionally, most Britannians were forced to vacate their homes, as they were defined as taken illegally. The only overseas place Liz could think of where the Britannians weren't all but kicked out was Japan, and even then they weren't especially welcome there. When you have so many (which is to say, potentially millions) of Britannians suddenly coming back to the homeland with no where to go, maybe it wasn't a surprise that there would be some poor and homeless folks.

Soon enough, the two got to their hotel, which was on the bay, much to Liz's delight. If there was one thing, Liz really did like about living in Japan, it was being on an island. The ocean was one of her favorite things in the world, and while SF Bay may not have been an ocean, it was close enough for Liz to be happy.

While C.C. was at the desk, checking in, Liz was sitting on one of the couch's in the lobby, looking over her map. As she was, she noticed a boy that looked to be her age coming up to her with blonde hair.

"Hey!" he said with a smile, holding up his hand.

"Hello," Liz said as she glanced up.

"My name's Alec."

"Uh, my name's Liz," the princess answered, not sure what he wanted. Actually she could strike that; Liz knew what she looked like, having inherited her mother's looks. It was not at all atypical for strangers her age to try and hit on her. It never worked then, and Liz had a feeling it wouldn't work now.

"Are you on vacation?" Alec asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. Me and my sister."

"Oh you got a sister?" Alec said, Liz noticing his eyes brighten slightly, "Well I've lived in this city my whole…"

"Pal," Liz interrupted, "I know what you're doing. I'm not interested, and my sister won't be either." With that, she turned her attention back to her map. The boy stuttered slightly, before getting the message, and taking his leave. Liz just chuckled grimly, shaking her head slightly. If only he knew the person he was really hitting on.

"Any luck?" Liz glanced up, as she noticed Alec gong over to a couple other guys.

"No. Too bad, she was pretty hot. Would've loved the school to see her." Liz thought as much, looking back at her map.

"I was thinking that I could take her to the parade and show them there." That made Liz's ears perk up, as she tried to look at them without making it seem obvious.

"Well whatever. You know, is it just me, or does she kind of looks like the Black Knight Ace?" A tinge running the length of her spine, Liz ducked back into her map, doing her best to hide her face. Not the first time someone made the comparison (her own grandmother made it multiple times), but it still didn't make her any less stressed about it.

"Well we're going to see her at the parade," Alec said, "Maybe then we can bet a better idea." Hold it! Liz's brain said. Kallen was going to be at a parade in the city? Liz would have a chance to see her mom in person for the first time since she was born.

Grabbing one of the brochures she had taken from the desk, she noticed that there was indeed apparently going to be a parade the day after tomorrow, followed by a carnival. It was supposed to be commemorating Harmony Day as well. Though Liz still wasn't happy to know that a celebration about her dad's passing was going to take place, the idea that her mother would be there. It made the princess' heart skip a beat.

Screw the monuments, Liz was going to that parade.

Note: Short chapter I know, mostly about Liz and C.C. making it to Britannia. Things don't seem to be going well for what was once the most powerful state in the world. At least Liz may be able to meet her mom.

The series never clearly defines what the "homeland" consists of. To that end, I'm defining the homeland as pretty much North America up to the US-Mexican border. Sadly I don't think that the lands conquered from Native Americans would be considered "forcibly acquired" in a situation like this.

Incoming pseudo-rant:

I'm sorry, but I just can't accept the premise that things fell so neatly into place after Lelouch's death, that all antagonism for Britannia would just poof away. That's just plain naive; that's not how the world works. Also few things irritate me more than a series that acts and prances around like it has gray morality, when there is so clearly a set of good guys and bad guys. Yes, Zero sometimes did some questionable things, but against a country that was almost entirely defined as the evil empire, you can't say you have gray morality. On top of that what did Lelouch mean when he said "obliterate Britannia"? Whenever I postulate that to people, they always give the same answer: "Well, he means destroy the system". That is possibly the most cop out answer I've ever heard; what makes the "system", how is going to be "obliterated"? Real moral questions that deserve to be asked, but are never answered.

*takes a breath

Okay, got that out of my system.

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