Capítulo 14: 「Hamlet, To Be or Not to Be.」
A sleek black drone came knocking on the window of the Student Council Room, ramming its body gently against the frame, until Lelouch got up and opened the window. The object came floating into the room, its wings becoming legs as it landed on the table in front of everyone.
The world itself was large, but at the same time it was small. This drone here looked exactly like the earliest one which was used by Graham, however in this case, it had become more spider like due to the design of the legs.
At first they thought it was ominous. Getting behind chairs, ducking beneath the table. Yet nothing happened. The only ones who remained standing was Lelouch and Kallen, though Nunnally remained in her seat unphased.
"What... Is this?" Suzaku asked curiously before suddenly the top of the drone opened up and a project of some sort popped out. He blinked a few times and stood up, leaning on the table this time rather than the wall behind his chair.
Nina sat up and looked at the drone which was on the table. She tilted her head as her sights locked onto the projector which was on its back. It looked like a giant spider with a volcano on its head.
"Hologram?" Nina asked aloud and all of a sudden light erupted from the volcano shaped piece.
She wasn't wrong. There was a hologram projector on top of the machine. As light erupted from the top of its head, a life sized image appeared, an image of Graham. This hologram seemed to look over the people in the room. The drone was visually scanning the environment with blue light laser-like sensors.
"Haven't read the letters, I see." He said as he looked at the crew who he considered his friends. His eyes gazing over Kallen, a smile forming over his lips. A look of clear interest.
"Of course not, you left us hanging here!" Shirley snapped with her hands in the air.
Milly sat down into her cushioned chair and leaned back, staring at the man who was before them. Was it really Graham? Where did he get this kind of tech? Even she had only seen Britannians looking at hard screens. Holograms were rare, many of which were supported by either water or compressed air.
Yet this, she stared at the lively object, this was using light on its own? No, that wasn't it. She leaned forward, examining as best she could with her eyes.
"It's a lesser proto-shielding technological version of Lancelot's shield," Suzaku said as he leaned forward a bit more now, "It's a semi-solid image." He flicked a paper football at the image and it bounced off of the three dimensional image.
"Well put, White Knight." Graham responded as he looked over at his childhood friend with a glistening smile. "Didn't have to flick paper at it though. What a waste of resources," he put on a sarcastic tone, joking.
Lelouch let out a soft sigh hearing that his friend was the White Knight. However he had already come to that conclusion during the Hotel Incident when he had been told to send their mutual friend a message. That everything was under his control.
"Now, out of all of you who know me best. What is my favorite play?" He asked as he looked over the people who were present.
Shirley, Milly and Nina were completely blank on this subject. For the most part, Shirley didn't even think he liked plays. He was always sleeping during English class.
"Hamlet," Nunnally replied after no one else had responded to the question. Lelouch and Suzaku were thinking about Japanese plays, but that clearly wasn't the answer nor focus of his affection.
He lowered his head to look directly at the crippled young girl seated in the wheelchair who brought herself close to the table. "And why is that?"
"Because, they all die in the end?" Shirley said as she furrowed her brows, knowing that he was sometimes a morbid or dark person when it came to his humor. She could recall him talking about the reason for liking the play before. Though she couldn't necessarily remember when or where.
"Exactly, and why do they all die in the end?" Graham would ask them, he was having fun on his own. He was known to preoccupy himself. He was known to get reactions out of people, just to amuse himself or others. Riddles and tests, they were his favorite, but he often chosen to get a rise out of people instead.
"The King is murdered, the Uncle lays claim to the Throne. Hamlet, attempts to pin his father's murder on his Uncle... And so his plot for revenge and his attempt at taking back the Throne, gets everyone killed." Milly tried to deduce the reasoning of why they all died, in which she was correct, but he asked why and not how. He was asking for the moral of the story.
"Hamlet believed vengeance was a moral act, and so many people died along the road." His eyes glanced over towards Lelouch, then towards Suzaku, to Nunnally, then towards the other three. He continued to look at his friends with a printed smile across his lips.
"As selfish as this must sound, I am going to ask you to put on a play. This will be the play of the century. A play which will dictate whether or not the world will remain as we know it, or be destroyed and built in someone else's image. It will also dictate the very survival of the Britannian Empire and the remaining nations across the globe." In that moment, he appeared as if he was sorrowful for what he was going to ask them to do.
A play meant you had to play a role. To keep in character, meant you had to put your personal feelings aside, or use them as fuel, to project themselves in a different light.
This was something Lelouch had been doing since the very beginning. Using people as pawns, treating them as pawns, and yet he doesn't see them as pawns. He sees them as living, breathing, people. Everything he chose to do and will do, as he focused his feelings, was for Nunnally.
"Lelouch will play the deceased Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, the Prince who was betrayed by his Country and exiled Japan seven years ago and thought perished during the invasion. Along with his sister Nunnally vi Britannia, who was used as a prop for domestic terrorism, left physically crippled from weapons fire. Their fate decided by their own parents"
Even though the two roles which he had just handed out were just 'roles,' this immediately ignited the thoughts of those who didn't truly know their friend's backgrounds. In truth, he was just tearing their masks off.
On top of that, it seemed when he had used parents as plural, the nerves on the back of both Nunnally and Lelouch heads felt tingly. What he was giving them, wasn't roles. Lelouch and Nunnally could figure that out. They both looked at the sealed letters.
Shirley's yellow green eyes darted over to Lelouch as soon as he was labelled the Prince of Britannia. Not just any Prince, but the Prince who had been considered dead seven years ago. Her eyes moved to Milly who wasn't surprised. She was an Ashford afterall, this hit both Shirley and Nina, the President knew all along.
"Suzaku will play the Valiant White Knight who had betrayed his country, killed his father, so that his people may live to fight another day. Nina..." His eyes remained on the girl who remained there, seated in her seat, her nerves causing her to become clammy. It was Milly's hand on her shoulder which gave her support. "Together with Suzaku, will protect Euphie's image of a peaceful future."
They all saw he was in debate of what he was going to say. As if he knew something they didn't. Of course, Nina was working on a theory that would lead to the creation of a weapon more destructive than any nuclear bomb.
Nina seemed to dread his pause.
His eyes turned to Shirley who was awaiting his words with anticipation. What kind of mask will he remove? What will he say about her? What secrets will he unlock?
"Shirley, you are... The second most important woman to the Exiled Prince. One in which he..." In his mind he pictured Rolo having killed her in the shopping mall in a years time from now. "Wanted to keep out of his own arms reach, to protect and shelter." As Graham spoke, his eyes were beginning to glossen. It was clear he was showing emotion, but the reason behind them was unclear. "But his arrogance made him a liar. He denies himself everything, while scolding those who did the same."
The moment he had revealed to her that she was important to Lelouch, her yellow green eyes were focused on the crush of her life. The man who she had always denied her feelings for, always was embarrassed to feel for. Not only had she fallen for a Prince, but everyone here already knew she loved him, as she always dotted on him.
"Kallen, My Queen." He turned his head towards Kallen as she opened her mouth slightly, seeing his expression shift to near blank, but his eyes held more emotion than anything else on his person. "I may be Zero's Knight. You may be Zero's Queen. I am your Guardian, my eyes and my heart, will always be on you."
Everyone's eyes shifted to Kallen, not only because of the sudden confession of love, but the fact that she had some form of relation to Zero. Lelouch seemed to have broken into a cold sweat, his eyes being the only eyes locked on Graham.
His expression said a thousand phrases, a million emotions and a billion cries only for them to disappear in an instant. He was met with the eyes of a tearing Graham.
"Why are you revealing everything, Graham?" Lelouch stood up as he let his arms sway calmly at his sides, but he wasn't calm, he was trying his best not to try and bash the drone in anger.
Suzaku looked over at Lelouch, reading each and every move. He was sure he was Zero now, but he was too disillusioned with his own idea, to actually ever feel like it would be right to turn him in.
Nunnally after a brief moment of silence that ensued after Lelouch asked the question, spoke up with a question of her own. "Why are you crying?"
"Because a lot of people are going to die in all instances and scenarios. Civilians, Soldiers, Leaders. Men, women, children. Mankind spares no one in love and war."
Nunnally's lower lip quivered, she knew life and this world were not perfect. She knew that peace didn't come without sacrifice. The only reason why her life was moderately peaceful right now was because she lived on top of all the suffering that the world begets.
"My friends. We cannot build, we cannot demolish and we cannot fix this world alone, divided. Our mission comes in parts. Pain and loss to come will be unmerciful, but in pain and loss, we will always have each other. Justice, morality, freedom and equal chance. They all come at a price. Are we willing to pay it together?"
Those who could stand at the table, stood. Those who couldn't, remained in the seat with their hands clasped together and raised in amen.
"So be it~" Chimed Nina the coward of the group, the first to speak and put her hand out in front of herself.
"...So be it." Milly joined in quickly, putting her hand over Nina's.
"...So be it!" Lelouch, Suzaku, Kallen and Shirley's voices overlapped as if they preached a sing song hymn in unison.
Nunnally wore a simple smile across her lips, her brows scrunched together. Clearly she was unhappy, but at the same time she wasn't against them or her friends. "So be it..." Her voice was the quietest as she had found it hard to speak.
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