Hypothermia

Hypothermia
A Code Geass fan fiction story
Written by Archangel
Edited by Comixgal

Chapter 2 - A Right To Know

{Author’s Note: After receiving so many requests, I've decided to add a second chapter to this story. This will probably be the last as well. Simply put, I don't have any further ideas for Lelouch and Shirley. Music suggestion for this chapter: "Black/White" by Mr. Mister. Further notes at the end. Enjoy, and please provide feedback! RATE and/or REVIEW, please!}

[Three days later...]

Shirley heard her phone ringing. Pulling it from her purse, she gasped. The caller ID simply read “ZERO.” With trembling hands, Shirley flipped it open and raised it to her ear. “Hello…?”

“Miss Fenette,” spoke the confident, commanding voice Shirley remembered so well. “I understand that you have a question for me, and I believe you deserve an answer. Tomorrow, eighteen-hundred hours, Shinjuku train station. Leave by the main exit.”

A quiet beep announced the end of the connection. Shirley stood petrified in the corridor with the phone still held to her ear. Beyond simple surprise, she was scared. Scared of the conflict tearing the world apart, scared of these Black Knights who seemed to have a vendetta against all things Britannian, and especially scared of this man Zero who had murdered her father.

Would she go? Should she go? *Could* she go? Could she face her father’s murderer and listen to what he had to say? But on the other hand, could she *not* go and live with herself? That simple, impossible little question of “Why?” still burned like acid in Shirley’s mind. No, she decided as she slowly lowered the phone and let is slip back into her purse. No, she couldn’t pass up this chance to ask Zero in person. Brief thoughts of it being some sort of trap, of being held hostage again, flitted through her mind. Then Shirley remembered Zero’s opposition to taking hostages. He had freed all of them from the Convention Center without any conditions.

The rest of the day was a blur to Shirley as her mind raced over the phone call and recent events, running like a hamster on a wheel. By the end of her last class, Shirley thought she would go mad. She wound up watching a movie with Lelouch and Nunnally in their apartment that evening. Lulu’s arm around her shoulders and his warmth against her cheek helped Shirley forget her questions, if only for a time.

“Lulu… can I stay the night?” Shirley asked softly as the two prepared to say goodnight. She hugged Lelouch tight, asking wordlessly to be held and soothed.

Lelouch cupped her chin and gently lifted her eyes to meet his. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” he replied with a playful smile. “I don’t think I’d be able to resist seducing you…” His deep voice was a sensual purr as his violet eyes held her fast, sending those little shivers of delight down her spine once again. Shirley froze and felt herself blush violently. The worst part was that she would probably seduce him first.

Shirley couldn’t contain a fit of giggles as she flung her arms around Lelouch’s neck, letting him pick her up and swing her around. “At least one good thing has come out of all this,” Shirley whispered as he set her lightly back on her feet. She kissed him softly. It was the first of several. Finally, Lulu took hold of her shoulders and gently but firmly eased her away from him.

“Off with you, before I break down and carry you off to bed,” he told her in that purring tone. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“Oh! About that,” Shirley replied, thankful for the reminder to tell Lelouch. “I have to go to a meeting tomorrow about… about my father. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” Shirley desperately wanted to tell Lulu about the call from Zero, but something in the back of her mind told her it would be a bad idea to tell anybody. She looked up at her lover, expecting to see disappointment in his eyes. That wasn’t there, but there was something else that she couldn’t quite identify. Relief? Apprehension? It was so hard to tell.

Even after spending the past few years studying Lelouch and trying to figure him out, Shirley still couldn’t read him most of the time. Those times she could, she suspected that she was reading that which Lulu purposely let out for others to see, like his affection for her. It wasn’t faked… Shirley could tell that much without a doubt. Lulu didn’t counterfeit his emotions, she thought, he just hid most of them behind that bored expression and cool demeanor. Something had changed in the past month or so, though. Ever since that last day he’d cut class with Rivalz. Before, Lulu’s boredom had seemed all too genuine, despite all the things Shirley could barely glimpse beneath it. Now, that boredom seemed like a mask, a defense mechanism to hide whatever was going on in that mind of his.

“Lawyers can be such a hassle,” Lelouch replied, breaking Shirley’s momentary reverie. “Let me know if I can help, okay beautiful?” He leaned down and kissed her forehead softly. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

Shirley walked slowly back to the girls’ dormitories lost in thought, only the occasional wistful sigh escaping her lips.

*****

Shirley’s journey to Shinjuku Station the next day was a testament to the strength of her background and upbringing, although she would not have seen it that way. She thought she was a total bundle of nerves and that everyone on the train could tell that she was about to faint from apprehension. In reality, Shirley sat quite still in her seat, hands folded neatly atop her purse as it sat in her lap, wearing an expression so completely blank it would have made a courtier in the Homeland jealous. When the train arrived at the appropriate stop, Shirley gathered her courage, forced herself to her feet, and exited the train, heading for the main staircase out of the station.

She stepped out straight into the glare of the setting sun, bringing her hand up to shield her eyes as they took in the grim scene before her. This station let out into the Shinjuku Ghetto, which hadn’t been anyplace to envy before the disturbances the other week. Now it was in greater ruin, the people’s faces more downcast as they went about their business. It was Shirley’s first time visiting, so she didn’t know that it had gotten worse recently. All she could think about was how so many of these Elevens probably wanted to kill Britannians on principle… and how she really shouldn’t have worn her school uniform.

It was too late for second thoughts, though. A young man and an even younger woman wearing long, mismatched overcoats approached her. Shirley noticed that the one of the man's coat sleeves was empty, flapping against his side as he walked. “Miss Fennette?” the woman asked.

Shirley nodded. “Are you from the Bl—” Her voice died away as the man gave her a look. He said nothing, but his meaning was crystal clear: Shut up.

“We’re here to escort you to your meeting,” the young woman told Shirley calmly, as if nothing had happened. “This way, please.”

“Thank you.” Shirley followed the young woman as she turned away, the young man falling into step behind her. They didn’t appear outwardly worried, but she could sense rather than see their eyes constantly scanning everything around them, alert for danger. As they moved deeper into the side streets of the Ghetto, Shirley wondered what these two capable-looking people were worried about. Then Shirley saw the dirty looks many of the Elevens were shooting her. She felt hurt. What had she ever done to them?

As it turned out, they didn’t care. A group of five teenage boys stepped out of alleyways on either side of the rubble-strewn street and blocked the trio’s progress. Shirley drew up abruptly, her two escorts on either side of her as she tried to stare down the boy in the center, who seemed to be the gang’s leader.

“Well, well, looks like we’ve got a Britannian schoolgirl on the wrong side of town,” the leader cackled in horribly accented English. “Didn’t they tell you to stay out of the ghettos, sweetie pie? There’s *Elevens* out here… and we love to get our hands on beautiful young—”

“Shut up and get lost,” Shirley’s female escort snapped, cutting the leader off in mid-sneer. He turned a ferocious glare upon her.

“What, you want in on the fun too, baby?” he asked in a decidedly nasty tone. Three of his compatriots produced very large switchblades, opening them with ‘snicking’ sounds that drew a little peep of terror out of Shirley.

Apparently, the knives were one step too far for Shirley’s male escort. He stepped forward, loosing the single closed button on his overcoat and letting it slip off his shoulder. This revealed both the sharp-looking black uniform he was wearing and the submachine gun in his right hand, which he now leveled at the surprised gang.

“Holy crap!” the leader yelped. “S-sorry! We didn’t want to hassle the Black Knights! K-keep up the good work and all that!” The gang scurried back into their alleys. The male Knight pulled his overcoat back up and re-buttoned it.

Completely unruffled, the female Knight began walking again, and Shirley followed automatically. Somehow, the encounter had helped her adjust to the reality of where she was and what she was doing, and her fear began to ebb away. In its place rose anger and curiosity in equal portions. God help her, Shirley was going to get some damn answers out of Zero!

After a minute or two of such thoughts, Shirley directed her attention back towards her escorts. “Um? What are your names?”

“Yuki,” the female Black Knight replied without turning around.

“Hitoshi,” came the reply from behind.

“Well… thank you, Yuki. Thank you, Hitoshi.” Neither reacted at all, so Shirley fell silent again.

*****

Another two minutes’ walk brought the trio to what was once a nice apartment building. Now it looked uninhabitable, with gaping holes all over the exterior wall. Yuki walked right through the off-kilter front doors without pausing, heading for the stairwell. Shirley was surprised to find a path cleared through the occasional heaps of rubble and debris littering the stairwell. Seven stories the trio climbed, finally emerging into a corridor with a cold night breeze blowing casually down its length. Yuki knocked on a door that Shirley thought was marked “17” until she noticed the tan mark from the missing “8” at the front.

“Enter,” a familiar voice called from inside. Shirley followed Yuki inside to find a miraculously intact apartment. Towards the far end of the living room a figure in black sat in a battered old overstuffed armchair. “Yuki. Hitoshi. Thank you,” Zero told them in a pleased tone. “Your work for today is over. Go home and rest.” The pair nodded in unison and turned on their heels, leaving Shirley alone with Zero. The sound of the door shutting behind them was the scariest part of Shirley’s day thus far.

Zero regarded her calmly from behind that blank mask. Shirley set her purse down on a battered table near the door and folded her arms across her chest, waiting for Zero to speak first. But she was far too on edge to wait out Zero, who seemed to be carved from stone. Shirley could barely tell that he was alive by the slight motion of his breathing.

“Well?” Shirley finally burst out. “You invited me here to answer my question.”

“A question must be asked before it can be answered,” Zero replied calmly.

“If I wanted to play word games I’d take advanced philosophy,” Shirley snapped, her temper mounting by the second. “Fine then: why did you kill my father?!!”

“I did not kill your father. He was a collateral casualty of the Narita operation,” Zero told her flatly.

“Collateral casualty?!” Shirley nearly screamed. “You buried him under half the mountain! How is that collateral?!”

“You’re confusing collateral with atrocity,” Zero told her in that maddeningly calm voice. “When innocents are deliberately killed, that is atrocity,” he went on. “When an action against a legitimate foe accidentally kills innocents as well, that is collateral. I do not begrudge anyone for collateral casualties, even Britannia. Those who commit atrocities… are punished.”

“Your landslide buried nearly a quarter of the town! How is that accidental?” Shirley countered, slowly storming across the room towards Zero—until he abruptly stood up, his black cape flaring around him like a tame storm cloud. The blank violet oval of that mask burned into Shirley as no pair of eyes ever had. She stopped short as if she had run into a brick wall.

“This is a war!” Zero told her in a loud voice of absolute command. “With that single action, the landslide, I wiped out half of my enemy’s forces on the scene and isolated the target of my operation from her support units in one fell swoop.” Now Shirley understood why so many Elevens followed Zero, and why the government was so obsessed with capturing or killing him. Here was a leader. Here was a man born to command. Here was a very dangerous person indeed.

“However,” Zero continued, drawing Shirley’s attention back to that frightening mask, “I did not expect the landslide to penetrate into the town. I didn’t worry about it either way though, since the Britannian military had ordered the evacuation of the entire area. I assumed that they knew how to move civilians out of an area. I was wrong. So you see, Miss Fennette: your father’s death was nobody’s design, but the blame for it rests equally on my head and Cornelia’s.” Zero paused and tilted his head in an almost quizzical look. “And now that you know this, who will you blame? And when you assign blame, how will you act upon it?”

Shirley was taken aback by this reversal of the interview. Zero stood there with his arms by his sides, framed by the shattered cityscape of the Ghetto visible through the windows behind him. A reminder of where his power and apparent loyalties lay, as if Shirley needed one. Coincidence? Doubtful. Shirley moved over to the battered old couch near Zero's armchair and sank onto it, dropping her head into her hands. She forced herself to evaluate Zero’s statements fairly and think them through. Was he right? Could she blame the Britannian military just as easily? One fact stuck out in Shirley’s mind: although he had outright accepted responsibility for Dad’s death… Zero hadn’t even tried to apologize for it.

Shirley decided she needed more information to make a decision. “What really happened at Narita? I know the news doesn’t tell everything.”

“Viceroy Cornelia launched an attack upon the headquarters of the Japan Liberation Front, which was located inside of Narita Mountain,” Zero replied immediately, sitting back down and folding his arms. “I received advance warning of the operation and took position with my Knights near the summit. We used the landslide to destroy the central body of the Britannian forces, and also to isolate Cornelia’s wing from its counterpart and the reserves. With her group isolated, we were able to defeat them in a stand-up fight. The goal of our operation was to capture Cornelia.”

“So you could murder her like you did Clovis?” Shirley interrupted, lifting her head to glare over at Zero.

The object of her anger didn’t even twitch. “Very possibly. Cornelia has committed many atrocities in her day, both here in Japan and around the world. But what I was really after was information. Information only she possesses.”

“What information?” Shirley knew she probably shouldn’t keep interrupting like this, but she couldn’t help herself. Her immediate anger was past, and now she was mainly curious. Thankfully, Zero didn’t seem to mind at all.

“To explain that, you would have to know my background. Who I am, where I come from, why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

“And of course you’re not going to tell that to some high school kid,” Shirley commented bitterly, letting her head slump back into her hands.

“If you were just ‘some high school kid,’ you wouldn’t be here, Shirley.” The use of her first name startled Shirley, causing her to look up at the living enigma now standing over her. When had he gotten up? She watched entranced as Zero raised his hand, tapped a hidden control on the right side of his helmet. The back came up by segments. He took hold of the front of the mask and pulled it away.

Shirley didn’t see the face beneath the mask. All she saw was a pair of beautiful violet eyes. Lulu’s eyes. That was all she needed to see. She knew instantly, but her mind would not accept it. For nearly a minute, Shirley kept glancing up at those eyes gazing steadily at her, then cringing away with little noises of pain.

Lulu is Zero. Zero killed Dad. Lulu is Zero. Zero killed Dad. The two thoughts chased each other around and around inside Shirley’s abused mind as she tried and failed to accept the conclusion of the syllogism.

For the first and only time in her life, Shirley Fennette fainted.

*****

Shirley's first impression upon waking was something cool and smooth touching her cheek. She levered her eyes open and looked over to see Lulu looking down at her with a perfectly blank expression. It was his gloved hand that was stroking her cheek softly. Shirley cringed away. The cold leather of those gloves was a travesty when compared to the warmth and love this man had shown her not eighteen hours ago.

Unconsciousness had somehow cleared Shirley's head, and she was now able to accept what her eyes told her. It still hurt to focus on it, though. The man she loved and the man she hated were the same person. A single question arose through Shirley conflicted feelings, so she decided to ask it.

"Who are you?" she whispered quietly.

Lulu stood up, withdrawing his hand. He walked slowly over to the broad windows, his arms folded and his head bowed pensively.

Shirley sat up carefully from her supine position, looking over at Lelouch's dark figure framed against the view of Shinjuku. "Who are you?" she asked again in a loud voice.

Lelouch's abrupt turn jolted Shirley back into the couch's embrace. "I am Lelouch Vi Britannia!" he declared, his cape flaring around his body once again. "Son of the Imperial Consort Marianne and seventeenth in line for the Imperial Throne! Well, sixteenth now," he added.

Shirley's brain threatened to overload again. "You're a PRINCE? Why on earth would you hide that?!"

Lelouch sighed and shook his head. He seemed to deflate somewhat. Suddenly the imperious presence of Zero was gone and it was just Lulu standing there in a rather odd outfit. Calm, reserved Lulu, the man she loved. The way he switched back and forth so readily was beginning to scare Shirley a little bit.

He leaned back against the window and folded his arms in that familiar posture, looking over at Shirley through half-closed eyes. "Nunnally and I hide our true identities because as far as our *family* knows we're dead," Lulu explained, saying the word 'family' like he was spitting out something poisonous. "We were sent to Japan as hostages a year or so before the invasion. We were reported dead amidst all the chaos, and the Ashfords took us in."

"Hostages?" Shirley asked, now genuinely confused.

Lelouch sighed again. He suddenly seemed very old and tired. As Shirley listened, he began to explain. He explained about his half-siblings, his mother's assassination, about his friendship with Suzaku. Over the course of twenty minutes he laid out his life story, ending with C.C. and the power she'd granted him.

After he finished, Shirley thought for several minutes before speaking. "I still don't see why you're doing all of this. Why create Zero, why form the Black Knights? Why fight a war?"

"To destroy Britannia," Lulu answered as if she'd asked him the time.

Shirley goggled. "But why?"

Lulu straightened up. "To create a world where Nunnally can find happiness. But in so doing I will benefit everyone. Do you remember what I said in that broadcast when I rescued you and the other hostages from the hotel, Shirley? I draw my power from the oppressed and powerless of this world in order to achieve my goal. In return, I will create a better world for everyone. A world of justice and tolerance."

"You think there's no justice under Britannian rule?" Shirley shot back angrily. "The courts and laws and police slipped past your notice?"

"Open your eyes, Shirley!" Lelouch shouted, his eyes flaring. His arm shot out, flinging the cape wide and gesturing at the pitiful sight of the ghetto behind him. He was Zero once again. "You haven't seen the corruption in the police? The oppression all around us? You've never seen a gang of Britannian kids beating up a few Japanese for fun? The way the Japanese are casually humiliated, cheated, exploited, and murdered?" Sincerity and passion blazed from Lulu's violet eyes as he spoke. Shirley saw his raw charisma clearly. Many people would follow Zero gladly. She had never been more frightened in her life.

"They're Elevens!" she retorted, trying to mask her fear with defiance.

Lelouch made a sweeping, emphatic gesture. "Japanese! This land has a name, and its name is Japan! Do not demean people by reducing them to numbers and statistics. That way lies atrocity and inhumanity. The Black Knights destroyed a Refrain ring last Wednesday night," Lelouch continued more calmly. "We thought bringing along a knightmare would be overkill, but it turned out to be fortuitous. Do you know why?"

Shirley shook her head mutely.

"There was a unit of Knightpolice there already. They were working with the drug ring. We had to kill them all." Not a trace of remorse on his face. "This is merely the most recent example I can think of. The police are thoroughly corrupt, and the army is not much better. The law is usually ignored in favor of personal power. Britannia is rotten to its very core Shirley," Lelouch told her gently. "Right to its malignant heart: my father."

"Your father? You mean His Highness?"

"Charles, yes. I will kill him with my own hands or die trying. I swore revenge upon him and those who orchestrated my mother's death, and I intend to see it through."

"You would kill your own father?" Shirley was aghast.

"I killed my brother, didn't I?" Lelouch replied grimly.

Shirley sank onto her side, curling up in a fetal position on the couch. She felt tears sliding across her skin. "Oh Lulu," she whispered. "I love you, but I... I..."

"But you hate me too," he answered calmly. "And I love you, Shirley. Now you know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It is almost time for you to make your next move."

"M-move?"

"This entire conflict is a giant game of chess, played between many sides on a multi-dimensional board," Lelouch told her. "You are but a single piece, but you do not yet truly belong to any player and as such you must move yourself around the board."

"Chess?"

"Yes. That's what Rivalz and I used to do when we skipped class, if you were wondering. A good chess player examines a situation. He sees every possible move his opponent can make, and knows what he will do in response to each one. A chess master can do this many moves in advance, in a matter of seconds."

Shirley shook her head slowly. "But I'm terrible at chess." Lelouch gave her a soft, loving smile as he walked over from the window.

"I know. I will give you limited assistance after I end my turn." He reached into his tunic and pulled out a pistol, laying it softly on the splintered coffee table between the two of them. The 'clunk' of metal on wood sounded very loudly in Shirley's ears. "Check," Lulu whispered, gazing directly into Shirley's beautiful green eyes.

Shirley sat up again, looking down at the gun, then back up to Lelouch, who had stepped back from the table a bit. Zero's mask sat on the armchair to her right, seeming to watch her with equal intensity. What did he mean about moves and her being in check? She shook her head rapidly, closing her eyes.

Lulu's soft voice cut across the blessed darkness. "You have six options, Shirley. You can take the gun and try to kill me. You can attempt to simply leave this apartment; if you do so, I will kill you. You can join the Black Knights. You can go back to your life having given your solemn word that you will never speak of this to anyone for any reason; if you break your word, I will kill you. I can also use my Geass to prevent you from speaking of this. I can also use it to modify your memory to whatever extent you wish." Lelouch paused for a moment. "I do love you, Shirley, but I will kill you if I have to."

"Lulu," Shirley whispered with a quiet sob, "what about *us*?"

"If you live, I would like to date you," Lelouch replied simply.

"Why let me choose, Zero?" she asked in a sudden flash of anger at his seeming indifference to her life or death. "If you want me, why not just manipulate me into making whatever move you wish?"

"You deserve to know the truth. I can't manipulate someone without lying."

"How do I know you're telling me the truth?"

"You don't."

Shirley opened her eyes again to find Lelouch gazing unblinkingly down at her.

"Time's up, Shirley. Make your move."


{More Author’s Note: What move does Shirley make? I honestly don't know. This is the end of the story I can tell.

I hope that this doesn't seem like a letdown after Chapter 1. I could have had Shirley and Lelouch just break down and have sex, but that felt completely wrong. I don't believe in fanservice for its own sake; there has to be a justification for it. As it is, this chapter ended up being mainly a philosophical and moral discussion. I really hope you don't find it boring.

Hypothermia is not a fairy tale like Be My Knight. Lelouch is not a character who lends himself to definitive, happy endings. No matter how much he loves Shirley, Lelouch will not compromise his quest. Make no mistake, he's telling the honest truth when he says he would kill her.

One of my initial thoughts upon seeing the end of Episode 12 was that Shirley has a right to know that Lelouch is Zero, and she also deserves an explanation straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were. Lelouch obviously doesn't think that, much less act upon it. He just isn’t built that way.

However, a few minutes of thought brought me to the realization that he could in fact tell Shirley what’s going on with negligible risk, by virtue of Geass. Lelouch hadn't yet used it on Shirley, meaning he could use it to prevent her from speaking of it, or even wipe her memory of the conversation completely if it seemed necessary. But how would he arrange it, and then how would such a confrontation play out? Well, you just read my answer to that question, unless you skipped to the end to read this note, which I seriously doubt. I tried to remain true to the characters as I understand them insofar as possible. Of course, the events of “Hypothermia” have already deviated the two quite a bit from their actual characters, so I’m not sure why I even care. Wait, yes I do. Because I love the characters and respect them deeply.

I should mention that I had the plot of this chapter blocked out well before Mao showed up, although I didn't write it until this week. ;)

Yuki and Hitoshi are semi-canonical characters, assumed to be two of the many recruits to the Black Knights who haven’t been seen or named on-screen. Their names are tributes to Fred Gallagher’s superb webcomic, "Megatokyo."

As always, this chapter was greatly improved by the feedback of my alpha readers, JG and blubutterfly. (I'm always looking for more.)

I originally gave Lulu's name as "Lelouch Li Britannia" until Ichallenge pointed out the error. It has now been fixed.

Thank you for reading Hypothermia!}