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✞ — dropped characters — ✞

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Date & Time: March 13th, late evening
Location: Unit 105
Characters: Euphemia & Lelouch
Summary: SIBLING REUNION
Warnings: to be added

[ Things are a bit of a blur as she is rushed along. Euphie pads down the hall and finds the place she is meant to stay for her time here. It is quiet and as the person who brought her here departs, Euphemia looks up at the number as though making sure. She struggles a little bit with the handle, balancing the objects in her arms. But she manages it.

Stepping inside, the first thing she notices is that it is a shabby place. Of course it would be shabby to her-- she is used to palaces and sprawling gardens after all-- but Euphie does not turn up her nose.

And the second thing she notices is her brother. ]

... Lelouch?

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[ He is sitting alone in the dormitory, browsing over network entries and making quick notes - some mental, some personal. Nonhuman. Avian? Celestial roommate - idiot, easily persuaded. Mutation: codeword? Proficiency with guns. Years of Mossad training plus freelance operation. A witch? Each is scrawled with pencil and paper; when it comes down to it, he is absolutely uncertain how secure the connection is. The sound of an opening door is enough to make him calmly flip the notebook shut, eyes already glancing up to the intruder.

For a few moments, the calm mask he has worn since his arrival vanishes entirely. The gun at his side goes unnoticed - the notebook slips from his grasp. All his attention is focused on the young woman in front of him.

(As hundreds of thoughts begin to trickle into his mind, most going completely disregarded, it occurs to him that her dress is a pristine white. The dress. Whatever power brought them here really does have power over time, time and space and universes, and that means-) ]

Euphemia?

[ The name is breathed out, his voice somehow staying level. He will need to test this, of course - see her reaction to a Japanese name, see what she remembers - but hardly any of that matters.

This place has the power to bring back- Nunnally. Shirley. Euphie, Rolo, Mother- The mistakes of the past can be overwritten, every single casualty can be avoided if only-

He smiles quietly at her, as thousands of plots and necessities flood in at once. ]

Is it really you?

[ She looks him over, rushing over to set her things down on the coffee table. As she does that, she looks up at him and she smiles gently. ]

Of course it is. I must have startled you badly... I'm sorry.

But you're here too... I was worried from the moment I woke up. But I suppose that I don't have to worry after all-- you are here, and I am here, so things won't turn sour for you after all.

[ He chuckles at that, leaning forward to pick up the notebook. ]

The Third Princess of Britannia has been abducted, and the only thing she sees fit to worry about are my prospects?

[ He remembers so many things, just looking up at her smiling face.

He remembers lazy afternoons in the Imperial Gardens.
He remembers their first reunion at the hotel.
He remembers her plan to abdicate, to live peacefully with them-

But he remembers her taking the first shot that started a massacre, too, just as he remembers firing the shot that ended her life.

The smile softens - but even as he looks away from her, he never lets it fall from his face. He owes her at least that much. When he speaks, it is quiet and level. ]

...but then, that's just like you, isn't it?

Is it?

[ She laughs, and for Euphemia so little has passed. It hasn't been a year and then months, it has been hours and then minutes. It has been but a moment, whisked away and placed somewhere new.

She notices his softening smile, but does not question it. Lelouch must be worried about her, after all. ]

It's exactly because of that. I worried because of my present status. If you come out alone and me nowhere to be found...

[ Euphemia is frowning then, small and unhappy, but her face lightens as she speaks next. Coming closer and to sit next to him, their shoulders bumping-- it is a small couch-- Euphemia smiles gently. ]

I don't want to think too much about my worries right now. There are a lot of them... lots of things to be worried about. I don't want to be in a bad mood. So. Did you pick that, umm.

[ She gestures to it by his side. ]

That gun for your weapon?

Then we shall speak of other things.

[ Every last one of her words, every action she takes screams her previous position in time - but it is only a general range. Not that it matters, of course. Several ways to test the state of her mind have already run through his mind, each more thorough and precise than the last. And if she is under its sway...

He'll protect her this time. Until - until he can get a hold of Jeremiah. Yes, of course, if he can find some way to smuggle Orange into this place, assisting Euphemia would be a matter of routine rather than anything difficult. His mind begins to map out the course of events, preparing for a worst-case scenario in which the princess must be contained even as he chuckles and lays a hand on the weapon. ]

In a manner of speaking, yes. And as for yours...?

[ It is only as he quickly checks her person for any noticeable firearms that he realizes he has avoided the lie - the very reason he has been displaying the gun so proudly in the first place.

Euphie always was... incredible, in that way. ]

I chose something... a little bit strange. The woman said it was alright, so I believe her, but it's still unconventional.

[ Her smile fades and then rises up again. ]

Don't laugh, but... I chose my heart.

Your heart?

[ He is... actually unable to respond to that at first. What would weaponizing one's heart entail? Steeling it- no, that can't be right, such novice wordplay doesn't even lend itself to combat situations. Gut instinct? There are ten, hundreds of options, each as likely as the last.

Would her heart be able to hold each of those possibilities?

When he smiles again, it is genuine - amused, impressed, and a bit wistful. ]

You really are extraordinary, Euphemia.

I'm not, really... I am very average.

I don't know how to fight hand-to-hand despite Cornelia wanting me to, and I only barely know how to fire a gun. I'm also not as smart as many of my siblings. I don't mean to put myself down, this is just-- fact, I think.

But I do believe in one part of me more than the rest, so that's why I chose that.

[ She pauses, looking around the room again curiously before turning attention back to Lelouch. ]

Did you really just pick a gun...? It doesn't seem like you to pick something so ordinary when your options include things like what I did.

And that one part is what sets you apart from the others.

[ When she asks her question, he reviews his options at lightning speed. If she's already deduced that options like that are available, and if she's known him for so much longer than anyone else, then it makes no sense to attempt to conceal his weaponry around her - even assuming he wanted to, which he does not. Is that her power? No, this is just Euphie, through and through. Best case scenario, he retains sole ownership of the knowledge of his weapon; anything but, and he loses her her trust.

He chuckles, a dark little sound. ]

...no, of course not. No matter how powerful it may be, in the end a physical weapon is only that - a weapon, good for brute strength alone.

[ He reaches down, plucking the notebook off the floor in a single elegant motion before flipping through. The pages are all filled, line after line of notes on every person he's been able to gather data on, and he snaps it shut with an audible whumph. ]

But... If we are given strength-

[ And there is strength here, bishops and rooks and pawns beyond number. He rolls the notebook in his palm, pointing lazily at the gun as an illustration. ]

And paired with a heart capable of tempering it-

[ He stands, leaving the gun behind and pacing to the door. What a perfect word it is for her, to temper! She could soften steel with a word, and yet no sword would be more expertly wielded than the ones that had a chance to protect her. ]

Then only one obstacle remains.

[ All the pieces have been set on the board. The rules have been dictated, the core of the game is intact, the turn order has been decided. He turns back to Euphemia, that calm smile almost tilting into a smirk.

The only spot left is for the player himself. ]

There must be a mind to unite and coordinate them all.

[ Euphemia takes a moment to consider what he's said, after laughing briefly-- a wind chime in the gentle breeze-- and nodding. ]

So... you're saying you picked your mind?

Of course. We have no need for more firepower just yet.

[ And then, flawlessly, he moves into the next topic. ]

Ah - I don't suppose you've had a chance to meet our new roommate yet?

[ She shakes her head. ]

I haven't... I only just got here, so I haven't had a chance. Have you? Are they nice?

In a manner of speaking. More odd than anything, really. She offered me protection if I were to ever need it, though, so... if nothing else there's that.

[ He breathes in, breathes out - forces himself to idly twirl the pencil between his fingers. Every last movement is calculated, every reaction and observation a front.

He looks up and smiles at her. ]

Tenshi Hinanai- Japanese, isn't it?

[ If the Geass still applies, this is the deciding moment. ]

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