THE EMPEROR AND THE ALCHEMIST

CHAPTER 23

"How did this happen…?" Lelouch asked himself quietly.

His plan was foolproof, right? Everything was going as planned, but the witch was craftier than he thought. And now, somehow in the middle of all that madness, she managed to escape her restraints and now sat on top of him, pinning him to the bed, and to make matters worse, she was heavier than she looked.

"Did she actually GAIN weight during this past week?!" He muttered under his breath as the air was being squeezed out of his lungs under C.C.'s immense weight, "I-can't-breathe!"

"What was that, Lelouch?" C.C. questioned with an arrogant tone, cupping her ear with her hand, "I didn't quite catch that!"

"I can't-breathe!" He gasped. His face turned to an unhealthy shade of blue. "GET OFF ME!"

"Get off me, what?"

"Get off me NOW C2!"

"That isn't the word I'm looking for Lelouch!"

"My lungs are on fire! MOVE!"

"It starts with a P!"

"PLEASE! PLEASE GET OFF ME! RIGHT NOW! YOU'RE CRUSHING MY RIBS!"

"So you are capable of saying it!" She replied as if she were surprised while slowly moving off the crushed Emperor below her.

Lelouch quickly sat up gasping for breath and shot C.C. a menacing look while she started giggling, but suddenly, her expression turned serious.

"Hey, Lelouch?"

"What is it, witch?"

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"I… I don't know."

He turned away from her and prepared himself for her relentless teasing; she always did that when he was unsure of anything.
To his surprise, however, she remained silent. He turned around only to find her lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about C2?"

She closed her eyes and looked away for a few seconds.

"C2…?"

When she turned to face him, her face clearly showed her guilt.

"L-Lelouch… There's something I neglected to tell you…"

"What is it?" He replied seriously.

"Wehavetogetthosethreebackher ebeforetheendofthemonthtosen dthembackorelsethey'llhavetowaitanentireyearbefo rewecantryagain!"

"W-WHAAAAATT!" Lelouch yelled, "Why didn't you say that before?!"

"I'm sorry… But it's true; if we don't get those three back before the end of this month, we'll have to wait a year before D2 can open the gate again…"

Lelouch sighed deeply, trying his hardest to calm down.

" Why didn't you say this BEFORE?!"

"It can't be helped now." said a familiar voice. D.D. strolled into the room.

Lelouch quickly wrapped himself in the sheets. (He was still naked after all!)

"Whether or not C.C. told you anything, it wouldn't change the situation we're in right now." She continued unfazed by the couple's nakedness.

Lelouch gave an exasperated sigh.

"Why is that?"

The twins looked at him a bit confused. "Why's what?"

"What's the reason for the time limits?" He asked rephrasing his question, "Is it a limit of her Geass or something?"

"It's complicated." The twins answered simultaneously.

"Then un-complicate it."

"There's no real way to explain it fully, Lelouch." C.C. replied.

"Try."

C.C. sighed. She then went on to explain the entire thing, in detail. Hours later, she was finished… and so was Lelouch's brain as it tried it's hardest to process what was just said to him, but to no avail. For the first time in his life, Lelouch was completely and utterly confused.

"What it all boils down to is that for some strange reason, the collective subconscious can only be accessed during a particular time frame every year, which usually lasts about one month. What month it can be accessed every year, though, is something that we are unable to predict."

Lelouch sighed again.

"It would have been nice if you had mentioned this earlier, you know… If you did, I probably wouldn't have…"

"You would have." C.C. replied harshly, "Because no matter what, you're still you."

Lelouch looked away and heaved a heavy sigh.
"I suppose so…" he muttered in defeat, "However, it doesn't change the fact that we need them to return here."

"That's right… But they could be anywhere at this point…"

Lelouch sat and pondered the situation for a while.
"I've got it," he finally stated, "I'll simply send out some soldiers to search for them. Or rather, declare them official enemies of Britannia. No one wants to harbor criminals after all."

"You're serious….?" D2 questioned, "Isn't that going a bit too far?"

"You don't know Lelouch…" her twin retorted, "And once he sets his mind on something…."

Lelouch suddenly got up, a look of pure resolve plastered on his face.
"This will work. It will definitely work. I'll flush them out, no matter where they're hiding!"
But he seemed to forget his….predicament…

C.C. laughed out loud.
"…He seems to forget about everything else!" she continued, "Nice plan, Lelouch…"

"But you may want to put some clothes on first!" D2 finished holding out a robe.

Lelouch quickly grabbed the robe from laughing twin and covered himself, at the same time turning away from the girls to hide his embarrassment.
"I-idiots…!" he muttered.

BLACK KNIGHTS HQ
ED, AL AND WINRY'S QUARTERS

"Well that meeting certainly was…interesting…" Winry said in a small voice.

"But at least everything seems to be fine now, right?" Alphonse replied.

Edward stayed quiet. In fact, he had been quiet the entire walk back to their room. He dropped himself onto the couch and seemed to be lost in thought.

"Um, brother….? Alphonse called.
No response.

"EDWARD, YOU IDIOT! WE'RE TALKING TO YOU!" Winry yelled.

Ed was suddenly knocked out of his thoughts, courtesy of Winry's wrench, that is.
"Ouch! That hurt, damn it!" he yelled rubbing the bump that comically swelled on his forehead.

"What are you thinking about, Ed…?" Alphonse inquired, trying his best not to laugh.

"You noticed it too, didn't you Winry?" Edward said seriously now, to which the taller blonde nodded in response.

"Wait….Noticed what…?" Al questioned; his facial expression mirrored his confusion.

"That name. The mask. The suit we found. It all adds up! Plus there's the fact that Lelouch mentioned that he was once "involved" with these guys." Edward surmised.

"You're right…" Winry agreed.

"Wait….What are you saying…?" Alphonse asked, getting more confused by the second, "What does the Emperor have to do with all this…?"

"Don't you see, Al?" Ed explained, "That Zero guy that they were all talking about; the former Leader of the Black Knights. It was Lelouch!"

"Wait…WHAT?!" Al shouted in surprise, "How do you know that?!"

"Well…." Ed looked away with a guilty look on his face, as did Winry.

"What did you two do….?" Al berated.

"We….may or may not have been snooping around in Lelouch's room…..And we may or may not have found a suit that seemed to match that mask hanging in the Black Knight's Flagship…." Ed and Winry replied nervously.

"You guys did what?!"

"That's not the point, Al!" Ed shouted, "We had to know if we could really trust him or not…..And now it seems that we can't…"

"It seems like we've ended up in the middle of some kind of personal War…." Winry said in a sad voice.

"And now that you've realized that fact, what will you do?" a male voice inquired.
Suddenly, Li Xing Ke entered the room. Holding a pistol.
"You guys are all spies, aren't you?" he accused the three.

"W-what?!" they all exclaimed in unison, "We're not spies for Lelouch!"

"I never said you were that Traitor's spies." Li replied calmly, "Obviously you're not, or else you wouldn't be snooping around his room. What I'm assuming is that you're from another faction of this War; Someone that would need Intel from both Britannia, and the Black Knights. What I'm unsure of is who…"

A group of Soldiers now entered the room, all holding machine guns.
The trio stood staring, in complete shock.

"Until I can figure out EXACTLY what you three are doing here, and who you're working for, you're all under arrest for treason."

"But we haven't done anything!" Edward yelled, fighting off the soldiers as they attempted to handcuff him. Eventually, he managed to fight them off, and ran across to the other side of the room, and clapped his hands together.

"Quickly! After the-" Xing Ke started to say, but was cut off as a wave of concrete suddenly rushed towards him.
The soldiers that were holding Alphonse and Winry quickly released their prisoners and ran for their lives.
Taking the opportunity, the two ran to join Edward on the other side of the room, and they all ran out of the Hanger while the others were distracted. Arriving at the Main Gate, Edward used Alchemy to create a hole large enough to pass through, and the three ran off into the night, now enemies The Black Knights….

A FEW HOURS LATER
SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY…

Disturbing the quiet of the Night, a certain short blonde's stomach rumbled.
"Damn it!" he shouted, "Could this day get any worse?!"

"Just when I thought we found a safe place to stay, too…" Winry whined.

"Maybe we should go back to the Palace and beg for the Emperor's forgiveness….." Alphonse suggested in a weary voice.

"No way are we gonna go crawlin' back to that bastard!" Edward yelled in opposition. For some reason, the face of a certain black-haired, miniskirt-obsessed General found its way into Ed's mind with that statement.

"Umm..guys..?" Winry called in a worried voice, "It looks like that can't happen at all…"
She then pointed to a television screen in a shop window, where an attractive News Anchor was reporting a breaking News Story:

"This just in," she droned, "His Majesty, Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia has offered a reward for the capture of three criminals who allegedly attempted to take the life of Princess Nunnaly Vi Britannia earlier. No motive for the attack has been given, but the Emperor has deemed them official enemies of the Throne. It is preferred that these criminals be captured alive, or no reward shall be provided."

Pictures of the three "fugitives" then flashed across the screen.

"Well then…..I stand corrected." Edward deadpanned, "Apparently this day CAN get worse…"

Aaaannnndd! Chapter 23 is done! A THOUSAND APOLOGIES FOR MAKING YOU GUYS WAIT SO LONG FOR THIS! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SOOOOO SORRYY! *bows repeatedly* It's just that so much has been going on, and I could never seem to find the time! And now I got to be an Admin on this Facebook Page, so that eats up my time too…Argh! I hate making you wait…I really do, but I promise to try and update more often! So, as usual, please, NO FLAMES! R&R~

Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR!