tampered | Log; Ongoing

Log; Ongoing

When; September 15th.
Rating; PG-13 for more-than-likely violence.
Characters; Mao {

lel0uch}.
Summary; Once Nunnally has been rescued, Lelouch and Mao engage in a nice little chat on this whole kidnapping thing.
Log;

What seemed to him to be only a moment ago, Mao had been waiting. Just as before, he'd known that Lelouch would never turn down this challenge -- his sister was half the reason for that worthless, stupid dream of his anyway. So selfish, so predictable.

This time, however, Mao had felt certain that Lelouch would be completely defeated. He could ask for all the outside help he wanted, but he'd only be helping himself lose. The second Mao heard the thoughts of anyone Lelouch could possibly have sent within those five hundred meters would also be the second of Nunnally's death. Not that it mattered. Either way, she'd die. But it would just be all the more enjoyable if he could see --and hear-- Lelouch suffer right in front of him, finally paying for everything he did to interfere.

But as Mao came to, slowly becoming aware of the fact that he was more or less unable to move, he only felt terrible confusion and rage.

Impossible. Why hadn't he HEARD them?!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lelouch vi Britannia couldn't contain the triumphant laughter any longer as Mao began showing signs of regaining consciousness. As much as he hadn't liked having to resort to relying on Dietrich's help, at that moment it almost didn't matter anymore. Seeing Mao completely subdued and defeated, tied down by the very ropes the monster had bound his sister in, was very satisfying.

"Good Evening, Mao," he greeted his fellow Geass user, bowing down mockingly for full effect. His voice echoed around him. They were alone now with him having dismissed Dietrich's Autojägers some time ago, and Suzaku and Nunnally far away and safe. He didn't trust Dietrich and his minions and no doubt, the subject of his Geass, and many of his secrets would spill forth during this conversation.

"How have you been?" he asked.

If those ropes were somehow to loose themselves, Lelouch comforted himself with the thought that, unlike Mao, he was armed with a gun.

Mao tensed immediately at the sound of his so-called opponent. Those thoughts reached him before that voice could, but they were both equally familiar and annoying to him. It was all he could do not to be overcome with anger at being called a monster, especially by the sort of person standing right in front of him.

But he was hardly afraid. Far, far from it. And Mao still knew the truth, that C.C had sent the one she really loved to this world in order to wait for her. Or so he thought.

"So great to see you, Lelouch!" Mao replied, glaring straight at him. "We've got some catching up to do, don't we?"

He paused, growing unusually calm, and continued.

"I don't know how those things made it past me, though, and it seems like you don't either. You even had to give up and accept help from somebody you can't trust! Maybe he has ways of finding out your secrets already."

Not that they were secrets to him, because every bit of his concentration had now been set on uncovering any new ones. Lelouch may have believed the game was over, but Mao knew that ever-present critic was still there in his mind, and it was a matter of time before something especially useful would slip to the surface.

Mao's words had forced Lelouch to tense ever so slightly but experience, and so much of it in a short time, allowed him to school his expression into that of calmness. He had no doubt Mao picked up on his thoughts and could probably sort them all out better than he could at that moment, but he would not give the child more reason to feel so triumphant.

"Maybe he has," Lelouch played along. "However, that matter is hardly any of yours right now." But you already know that, don't you? He spoke the rest in his mind; loud and clear so he could make sure Mao would hear, and Mao would know that he could use the other's powers to his advantage too.

How does it feel to be tied up? Are you enjoying intruding my thoughts like this?

"If it's C.C. you're wondering about. Rest easy that she is well, and relieved of your absence." C.C never said it, but she didn't say she missed Mao either. Lelouch was confident in his statement.

Oh, he would do this. Of course he would bring up C.C to try and distract him! Had Mao not been tied up, he likely would have clapped. Admittedly, it was a bit disappointing how Lelouch was pretending that nothing bothered him yet, but he could go ahead and hide behind some invisible mask for the moment. First a monster, now a child? That was fine. Lelouch didn't know a thing, and Mao wouldn't let such a hypocrite make him angrier. He'd drag his true feelings and fears right out of him soon enough.

Now, Mao was the one to laugh. "Very good, very good. I wondered how long you'd take to catch on! And enjoying it, hm? I think you know the answer to that."

"But," he added, in response to what had been said about C.C, "you didn't learn by now. Trying to make something like that true doesn't fool me." He shook his head in mock disapproval.

"So, what do you plan on doing?" Mao then asked, making no effort to suppress a grin. "Shooting me? Killing me? No matter what you'll think of, it's pointless, isn't it? You understand I'll keep coming back, again and again and again! In the end, it really won't do anything except make you feel better after something was taken away from you. Just like your little revolution. And I don't have much to lose, by staying in this place. You've got a lot to lose."

Did Lelouch feel like keeping at this all day? How amusing! How stupid. Typical, too.

At first, Lelouch's expression was that of careful apathy. Mao's words hit the right buttons, and that only caused the irritation and anger to rise up in his chest. Hah! Mao was at his most-beloved game again; presuming that he understood how the bare minds around him ran. Lelouch thought to shoot Mao already, but decided that not only would that be playing into the other Geass user's goading, it would also be pointless.

Mao was right, Lelouch grudgingly admitted to himself. Whether or not Mao was dead right now, if he was killed, he would only return shortly posing the same problems for him and Nunnally. Killing Mao was far from the solution Lelouch wanted, or needed. It would only serve him satisfaction, and his satisfaction alone wasn't going to ensure Nunnally's safety anytime soon in this matter.

"Annoying," Lelouch thought out loud. The look of apathy he had worn disappeared as he broke into a smile. "You really think you have the upper hand, don't you? Simply because you're right, and killing you wouldn't be too practical, however satisfying that may be."

He watched the expression on Mao's face, the glow behind the other's shades, especially. "But, perhaps I were to decide that I was confident in my ability to protect Nunnally, confident in my ability to destroy you, every, single time? Better yet, what if I wished to satisfy myself this time? After all, your effort was nothing more than a pathetic personal vendetta, why shouldn't I be entitled to reward you with the same motive in mind?"

He stepped closer and aimed his gun between Mao's eye.

"My revolution still continues, Mao. You and this place, hold no bearing towards its proceedings."

"But you're not confident," Mao hissed, eyes narrowing as the gun was pointed directly at him. "Because you already used the one thing that could have a chance to stop me here. Your power's still got that limit, even now. Even now, when you can't turn it off."

And then, Mao knew, he had him. As he delved deeper into Lelouch's insecurities, his tone grew progressively more excitable and unhinged.

"Funny how that worked, isn't it? You kept telling yourself you wouldn't lose to the Geass, but just look at what happened! Do you think you'll hide that by wearing some lens?! All you're doing is running from that truth. The truth that after controlling so many people with it, you're falling under control of something you thought you could master! What happens when it consumes you completely, Lelouch? WHAT THEN?!"

This was it.

"What's poor, helpless Nunnally going to think about her brother then?"

Each word that came out of the mind-reader was like an arrow hitting the bullseye each time. His grip on his gun tightened, almost to the point he feared he had pulled the trigger too soon and let himself lose against that child. The seconds seemed to stretch, and he felt like he was only waiting for that loud bang and the familiar sensation of warm blood hitting his face.

None came. Lelouch was thankful for his control, and the fact that his indecision only lasted a few moments, even if they felt much longer.

He had no words for fighting back Mao's words. No words that would give him a swift, and clean victory. Every argument he could think of, only lead to defeat, and Mao laughing at his face and the truth by which he was helpless against. It was true, not wholly, but for the most part. He hadn't noticed the battle before, and had taken the Geass for granted. Now, the Geass had caught up to him, attacked him in the back, and he was fighting it for control. Mao knew it too; how he was struggling. He was confident, surrounded by people who could no longer be affected by Geass, but he hadn't much mingled with other people ever since his arrival. There was a slight fear, one that he hadn't given much thought before, that he'd use the Geass too soon on a person, and regret it later.

"Don't think you've won yet," he hissed. No, he told himself, he'd never let Mao have the upper hand. He may read his mind, but the mind-reader had no control over his actions. With that opening, Lelouch knew he could still win. The King was still in action. "Foolishly confident; You may be a lost cause, but there are many here I can order against you, Mao." He put the gun away and leaned closer. Eye against eye, now they were on level with each other.

"Protecting Nunnally and I is such an easy order to issue. If I can't just tell you to leave us the hell alone--"

Mao had known all too well that Lelouch wouldn't shoot him; that pride would get in the way to stop him. And now, he was fully prepared to interrupt those words, finish them before they could have a chance to be said, and turn them straight against the worthless thief staring back at him to prove that his was a game which could never be lost.

This opportunity, however, was taken from him in less than a second. It was happening again, just like last time, the words becoming an order that he suddenly had to follow.

"I--NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!," Mao screamed in a blind rage, thrashing and struggling with every ounce of strength to free himself from both the ropes and the effects of the impossibly-issued order that were quickly taking over his mind. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I WON'T, YOU HEAR ME?! NEVER! NEVER!"

It was then of all times that the bindings suddenly gave way, and even before that fact could entirely register for Mao, he lunged violently at Lelouch in a last defiant effort.

There was shock as Lelouch realized the Geass had worked. It was followed by thoughts of wonder; How was it possible? Before he could think further on the topic though, Mao happened.

Managing to free himself from the ropes that had bound him, Mao lunged at Lelouch. The instant this occurred, in the exiled prince's mind, everything else was tossed aside for one thing; self preservation. There were too many things riding on his continued existence: Japan's revolution, the truth, Britannia's defeat and Nunnally. In the face of those things, Mao's welfare meant nothing.

Nothing at all.

There was a bang; one or two. Lelouch wasn't even sure how many it was he heard, simply that it had happened and the recoil was there. He didn't blink and watched instead as Mao fell back, away from him.

His mind processed one word: Safe.

Only then was he able to actually think. And thinking came to him rapidly, realizations hitting him as if Mao had shot bullets at him instead. The reason the Geass worked was right before him! Here was something he had never been able to try!

Laughter came to him easily, loud and triumphant. "You're dead, aren't you?" he exclaimed, standing by the still struggling Mao. "Dead. And that's why... that's why the Geass worked!" It was brilliant!

The Chinese Geass user was as good as taken care of, if only he would stop struggling.

He felt no pain at first, all he felt was falling back and hitting the ground. But even then, Mao moved to pick himself up, too lost in his own anger to realize that Lelouch could simply shoot again if he did. The voice, the laughing, the smug I've-won-I've won-I've won thoughts weren't supposed to exist; he was going to get rid of them!

...Except, he instantly found that he couldn't. And the wounds had little to do with it.

"Gotta get out of here," he muttered, "or I'll try and hurt you. I can't hurt you, I can't."

He would be disobeying the order if he did so, wouldn't he?

Lelouch watched Mao finally succumb to the order with immense satisfaction. "Yes, you can't hurt me," he thought, sure Mao would hear it as well as anything he said out loud.

The gun remained in his hand, clutched tightly, but killing Mao had lost its purpose. Having discovered a new dimension to the Geass, he understood killing Mao now would only renew his problems.

Then again, perhaps he'd hit a vital organ or two?

However, even if Mao died hours after this, Lelouch knew he wouldn't feel any regret.

Next time, he would issue Mao a better order.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Log; Ongoing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject