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verity-isle.livejournal.com in code_geassToday I bring fic of suckitude. There's actually a Suzaku fic, too, since it's meant to celebrate Lelouch and Suzaku's hopefully more pleasant meeting in Episode 6. I didn't get it done in time, so one is better than zero. And with my luck, it'll be contradicted to death anyways. :p
Title : Pawn's Gambit
Genre : Character Study (Lelouch)
Characters : Lelouch, Rival, mentions of Clovis, Empress Marianne and other minor mentions
Words : 2341
Summary : Lelouch - Chess, hatred, rebellion. In other words, Lelouch and Rival plays chess and he thinks about stuff.
Note : Code Geass does not belong to me, I doubt I'd do a good job of it. Also, what I know of chess amounts to Wikipedia and 20 consecutive losses to the computer. Clueless author ahoy! Also spoiling Episode 3.
Rival opened the game with the Queen's Gambit, reminding Lelouch of how much Clovis used to love it. He seldom played any other open game moves regardless of how his methods were completely see-through. Said it was the history behind the move, though Lelouch figured it was because beginning with a gambit made his brother feel like a sharp, risk-taking daredevil. Ironic that the Gambit was practically one of the most-documented openings in chess history.
The late morning sun lent itself to a sleepy atmosphere, so he decided to make things a little less boring by answering White's offer with an Alvin's Countergambit, and hid a smile when he saw Rival visibly cringing. The move was one he liked for a more unpredictable game. Meaning, he was likely to be ten times more aggressive than usual.
"Hey, Lelouch, surely you're not going to be serious against friends? We're not getting any money here. Let's just enjoy the game," he complained loudly, with an oh-yuck face only Rival seemed to know how to make. Lelouch couldn't help it. He just had to snicker, much to his friend's chagrin.
"I am enjoying the game. It's more interesting---I don't think you want to play any old chess when you're challenging me."
"Appreciated the thought, buddy, but---" Rival eyed the board like it was going to jump up and eat him "---but you know that thing you always make? That 'oh, I'm so enjoying beating the crap out of you' look of yours? It always pops up when you play like this, and you've got to admit it's sort of unnerving. I mean," he spread his hands, "what's the point of free time if you're just going to be decimated in three-round blitz chess?"
Lelouch tsked. "Rival, Rival, you think so little of me. First, this isn't blitz chess or lightning chess, and you know it. Take all the time you want. Second, I said I'm enjoying the game, didn't I? Letting you win would be out of the question, but," he picked up a spare Queen and wagged it in front of the board "I figure I can let you go for---oh, twenty rounds or so before thinking about checkmate."
It was not an idle boast, of course. 'Any old chess' was pretty much the main source of their pocket money, and Rival had seen enough that false modesty would only work to injure his pride. As it was, the blue haired student simply stared at him for a moment before settling back into his seat, mumbling something about a hundred stupid ways to pass time, trials of friendship, and the stupidity of asking chessboy to a match instead of going out with girls.
When everything was said and done, Lelouch did appreciate how Rival always found some twenty minutes or so to do something he knew Lelouch enjoyed, especially since it was at his own expense. Of course, laughter is never the same when the person opposite sees the real you as a boy seven years in the grave and he thinks he's talking to someone else, but Lelouch always made it a point to actually enjoy their friendship---a little bit of truth, like sugar in medicine, made the lies a little easier to bear. They the sound of school bells and ambulance siren calls, the chorus of pretty words that change nothing. Buried among all this was his own name, his real name, and he was tired and sick of digging through all these voices for it. A little truth made it easier to believe he was really the one who was alive.
It made Rival different from most other Britannians, the faceless banality in the streets. Selfish bastards. Each has something owed to him and Nanaly, yes, each has a debt he must pay for each day he lived on other people's misery. Each has a debt to pay for every future he stole, each life taken while he laughed in ignorance. It was just a fact that one's friend can die in front of one's eye and no one, no one would've thought it was anything but just desserts.
After several long minutes, Rival finally responded by taking Lelouch's gambit. Looking at the board, he decided to be a little traditional for Rival's sake (Rival never liked creative strategies or hypermodern school, for that matter) and responded by taking a White pawn and moving his remaining pawn to the previously occupied file. In this case, being traditional was also a little advantageous---Rival constantly forgot the power of pawns in the middle board, and the Black piece was in as good a position as it gets in a quick game.
It reminds Lelouch a little of the way he and chess officially met. It was in a dusty storeroom in his mother's house; the door was unlocked and easily opened. She later explained that it used to be her father's, and after he died no one thought of it again. He remembered being fascinated by its design, all pieces shut off in black and white. Two sides radically different but still the same in everything else. Once he asked his mother why the chess pieces were painted black and white.
"To amplify the difference," she said. "It doesn't actually matter if the pieces are red, or green, or blue. But black and white holds power, Lelouch. Black and white tells us there is fairness, there is no difference between two different views of a certain thing, two players in the game. It tells us---oh, like what your father would say---all sides are equals in the game of kings."
"But what of the pawns? They're not as strong as the knights, or the bishops, or the rooks."
"That's because they're pawns, dear." Her gaze was warm and understanding as she tousled his hair. "Pawns are meant to be manipulated. That's what it means for the unprepared to meddle in the game. And remember, most people are unprepared."
Britannian amateurs often made the mistake of letting their own biases over chess piece values cloud their decision, and Rival was no different. To him, like Mother, the pawn was the pawn. Lelouch saw it, like every other piece on the board, as a weapon to be used and sacrificed as necessary. It was not particularly powerful, but what it lacked it strength it made up for in variety.
Mother was unprepared and she was only a page in the history books now, but the philosophical genius in the design of chess remains : there are equal black and white pieces, and it doesn't matter which side is white or black. He who wins is he who makes the smartest moves, retains the most pieces, sacrifice the right ones, eliminate the other. Black and white has nothing to do with it, and there is no such thing as fairness in the world. A fair world would not kill needlessly. A fair world would not kill Mother, a fair world would not end in Suzaku being killed for him.
At least Rival was not stupid enough to wander into a Lasker trap, which would effectively render his chances of winning moot. He sent out a knight instead, and Lelouch responded in kind. Once again, it reminded him somewhat of Clovis. Clovis always liked symmetrical chess. Funny how he just managed to remember Clovis and all their old games now, when he rarely thought about it for the numerous times he'd seen the man on television, the countless games in smoky clubhouses...
Lelouch snapped back to reality again as Rival leaned across the board and waved a hand over his face.
"Hey. Lelouch. Buddy. You okay?"
He blinked. White had already made its move, a dark squared bishop up to midboard. "Uh...yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking."
Rival made an uncomplimentary snorting sound. "Yes, you. You, who play at twenty seconds a round for a living. I think I just saw a pig up in the clouds there, O best friend mine."
Shaking his head, he started to make the preparatory moves for kingside castling. "I've never been better. For all you know, I'm thinking up a grand, completely devious strategy to beat you so thoroughly your name would be written in the chess hall of shame. Ever thought of that?"
His friend cringed again. "You wouldn't."
"Oh, I wouldn't?"
"Yes, Lelouch, you're an arrogant bastard when it comes to chess, but you like playing cat and mouse. So no grand strategy out of thin air for you," Rival gnawed on his fingernails. "Oh, I think I'm busted anyway."
"Giving up already?" he grinned, then started to clear the board after Rival nodded his assent, tsking like it was a grand tragedy. "And we've just barely made it past the opening. I thought you would've been more sporting than that."
"I've seen you done that before and I haven't figured it out yet. Give me a year or something," Rival replied, slumping back in the chair. "At least you're looking lively. You've been zoning out all day, I've almost betted on you falling in love at first sight."
"Don't be ridiculous," Lelouch disregarded the suggestion dryly. He did not want to think of why he'd been zoning out; a few hours of walking home from ruined Shinjuku allowed him to convince himself that it was just chess, like it always had been. Chess, only that the checkmate was---not what he expected. Losing to that white Knightmare Frame was sobering enough for reality, but he did not see it completely enough until the end. The plan had been perfect. But when the time comes it was hard to remain completely still---professional, cool, collected, ever the master of the situation---when you have pulled your trigger. It is yourself. It is yourself, the words you've spoken and the still-tingling muscles in your hand. Your eyes see the blood splattered outside, and if you're stupid enough to aim point-blank, the brain, fragments of the skull, eyes turned upward, a face collapsed onto itself. It is a bundle of messed up proteins, calcium, yellow fat---but what you see is its past as a living thing, all hurling back at you. Your heart races, you tremble. And then you vomit. As simple as that.
Looking for something else to divert his attention before he vomits again, he changed the subject to another matter at hand. "By the way, Rival."
"What?"
"You know about Kallen Stedtfeld."
Rival whistled in an obscenely high note. "A-ha! So it's really her, huh? Springtime's came to Grandmaster Lelouch-kun at last!"
"I've told you it's not---"
His friend jumped on his feet, both fists high in air like he was cheering for a national Britannian Games athelete. "Say no more, friend! I know what it must feel like---the orphaned, estranged genius, distant from the world except his loyal friends like Shirley and mainly me---one day lays his eyes on a girl also likewise estranged for her health, clever and beautiful, someone he can't forget!" At this, he suddenly grabbed Lelouch by the shoulders and exclaimed, out loud, "Never fear, Lelouch, I'm always on your side! Ask and I shall answer!"
Lelouch blinked. "Uh..."
Rival looked at him expectantly. Lelouch could not help feeling like he was talking to a puppy. Or worse, a very young and immature poodle. "I, uh, just want to know where she goes for lunch."
"Down in the courtyard with her friends. I'm telling you, the school will be over this news like bees to honey." He grinned. "Go and give us some juicy gossip, will you?"
...sometimes he wondered if he ever had Rival figured out in the first place, if the man could revert to kindergarten in ten seconds flat. But he nodded before getting to his feet nevertheless. "It's nothing like you imagined, but thanks anyway."
His hand was already on the doorknob when he heard Rival's voice again; it was a little more sober now. "Hey, Lelouch?"
"What?"
"Where did you go yesterday? I looked all over and I couldn't find you. Shirley said you've been doing some weird gambling without me---"
"Just chess," Lelouch answered, and knew he was not lying. It was chess, just like everything else. "I've been playing a very lengthy match, and I've found a way to promote my only pawn to be everything it could be. I didn't tell since it wasn't a big match, just important. The phone was out of battery like I told you before, and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity."
"Oh." Rival nodded. "Got it. With the friend you talked about in class? That's some pretty weird games you're playing." He shrugged, then bent down to pick up his bags. "Anyways, I'd better get ready for the next class. Shirley's not gonna be happy if we're late again, so I suggest you make it fast with Miss Kallen, loverboy."
Lelouch sighed in resignation. "Fine, I'll make it brief. See you in class, then."
"Be seeing ya."
When he was out in the hallway and starting towards the garden, he thought back to everything that had happened. His eye. The dead girl. The pawn turning into a King, it was not manipulated anymore. The battle. And he told himself it would work, it was just like chess. Planned enough, he could win this fight and actually change the rules of the game. But the first thing was getting pieces for the board, and he would begin with the pawns.
Lelouch thought about Kallen Stadtfelt and the girl in the Glasgow. Something reminded him of Mother's words and Clovis' bloody, cracked skull. Pawns are meant to be manipulated, and pawns can checkmate the King. The ones that Britannians amateurs always overlooked. The King must move to make his subjects follow, it was his hands that must be used to blood, his hands that must stop shaking, his own self that must keep from vomit. But first he must rally his people and find someone to lead, if he was to prepare for a game he was never meant to play.
Yes, he would begin with pawns.
Title : Pawn's Gambit
Genre : Character Study (Lelouch)
Characters : Lelouch, Rival, mentions of Clovis, Empress Marianne and other minor mentions
Words : 2341
Summary : Lelouch - Chess, hatred, rebellion. In other words, Lelouch and Rival plays chess and he thinks about stuff.
Note : Code Geass does not belong to me, I doubt I'd do a good job of it. Also, what I know of chess amounts to Wikipedia and 20 consecutive losses to the computer. Clueless author ahoy! Also spoiling Episode 3.
Rival opened the game with the Queen's Gambit, reminding Lelouch of how much Clovis used to love it. He seldom played any other open game moves regardless of how his methods were completely see-through. Said it was the history behind the move, though Lelouch figured it was because beginning with a gambit made his brother feel like a sharp, risk-taking daredevil. Ironic that the Gambit was practically one of the most-documented openings in chess history.
The late morning sun lent itself to a sleepy atmosphere, so he decided to make things a little less boring by answering White's offer with an Alvin's Countergambit, and hid a smile when he saw Rival visibly cringing. The move was one he liked for a more unpredictable game. Meaning, he was likely to be ten times more aggressive than usual.
"Hey, Lelouch, surely you're not going to be serious against friends? We're not getting any money here. Let's just enjoy the game," he complained loudly, with an oh-yuck face only Rival seemed to know how to make. Lelouch couldn't help it. He just had to snicker, much to his friend's chagrin.
"I am enjoying the game. It's more interesting---I don't think you want to play any old chess when you're challenging me."
"Appreciated the thought, buddy, but---" Rival eyed the board like it was going to jump up and eat him "---but you know that thing you always make? That 'oh, I'm so enjoying beating the crap out of you' look of yours? It always pops up when you play like this, and you've got to admit it's sort of unnerving. I mean," he spread his hands, "what's the point of free time if you're just going to be decimated in three-round blitz chess?"
Lelouch tsked. "Rival, Rival, you think so little of me. First, this isn't blitz chess or lightning chess, and you know it. Take all the time you want. Second, I said I'm enjoying the game, didn't I? Letting you win would be out of the question, but," he picked up a spare Queen and wagged it in front of the board "I figure I can let you go for---oh, twenty rounds or so before thinking about checkmate."
It was not an idle boast, of course. 'Any old chess' was pretty much the main source of their pocket money, and Rival had seen enough that false modesty would only work to injure his pride. As it was, the blue haired student simply stared at him for a moment before settling back into his seat, mumbling something about a hundred stupid ways to pass time, trials of friendship, and the stupidity of asking chessboy to a match instead of going out with girls.
When everything was said and done, Lelouch did appreciate how Rival always found some twenty minutes or so to do something he knew Lelouch enjoyed, especially since it was at his own expense. Of course, laughter is never the same when the person opposite sees the real you as a boy seven years in the grave and he thinks he's talking to someone else, but Lelouch always made it a point to actually enjoy their friendship---a little bit of truth, like sugar in medicine, made the lies a little easier to bear. They the sound of school bells and ambulance siren calls, the chorus of pretty words that change nothing. Buried among all this was his own name, his real name, and he was tired and sick of digging through all these voices for it. A little truth made it easier to believe he was really the one who was alive.
It made Rival different from most other Britannians, the faceless banality in the streets. Selfish bastards. Each has something owed to him and Nanaly, yes, each has a debt he must pay for each day he lived on other people's misery. Each has a debt to pay for every future he stole, each life taken while he laughed in ignorance. It was just a fact that one's friend can die in front of one's eye and no one, no one would've thought it was anything but just desserts.
After several long minutes, Rival finally responded by taking Lelouch's gambit. Looking at the board, he decided to be a little traditional for Rival's sake (Rival never liked creative strategies or hypermodern school, for that matter) and responded by taking a White pawn and moving his remaining pawn to the previously occupied file. In this case, being traditional was also a little advantageous---Rival constantly forgot the power of pawns in the middle board, and the Black piece was in as good a position as it gets in a quick game.
It reminds Lelouch a little of the way he and chess officially met. It was in a dusty storeroom in his mother's house; the door was unlocked and easily opened. She later explained that it used to be her father's, and after he died no one thought of it again. He remembered being fascinated by its design, all pieces shut off in black and white. Two sides radically different but still the same in everything else. Once he asked his mother why the chess pieces were painted black and white.
"To amplify the difference," she said. "It doesn't actually matter if the pieces are red, or green, or blue. But black and white holds power, Lelouch. Black and white tells us there is fairness, there is no difference between two different views of a certain thing, two players in the game. It tells us---oh, like what your father would say---all sides are equals in the game of kings."
"But what of the pawns? They're not as strong as the knights, or the bishops, or the rooks."
"That's because they're pawns, dear." Her gaze was warm and understanding as she tousled his hair. "Pawns are meant to be manipulated. That's what it means for the unprepared to meddle in the game. And remember, most people are unprepared."
Britannian amateurs often made the mistake of letting their own biases over chess piece values cloud their decision, and Rival was no different. To him, like Mother, the pawn was the pawn. Lelouch saw it, like every other piece on the board, as a weapon to be used and sacrificed as necessary. It was not particularly powerful, but what it lacked it strength it made up for in variety.
Mother was unprepared and she was only a page in the history books now, but the philosophical genius in the design of chess remains : there are equal black and white pieces, and it doesn't matter which side is white or black. He who wins is he who makes the smartest moves, retains the most pieces, sacrifice the right ones, eliminate the other. Black and white has nothing to do with it, and there is no such thing as fairness in the world. A fair world would not kill needlessly. A fair world would not kill Mother, a fair world would not end in Suzaku being killed for him.
At least Rival was not stupid enough to wander into a Lasker trap, which would effectively render his chances of winning moot. He sent out a knight instead, and Lelouch responded in kind. Once again, it reminded him somewhat of Clovis. Clovis always liked symmetrical chess. Funny how he just managed to remember Clovis and all their old games now, when he rarely thought about it for the numerous times he'd seen the man on television, the countless games in smoky clubhouses...
Lelouch snapped back to reality again as Rival leaned across the board and waved a hand over his face.
"Hey. Lelouch. Buddy. You okay?"
He blinked. White had already made its move, a dark squared bishop up to midboard. "Uh...yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking."
Rival made an uncomplimentary snorting sound. "Yes, you. You, who play at twenty seconds a round for a living. I think I just saw a pig up in the clouds there, O best friend mine."
Shaking his head, he started to make the preparatory moves for kingside castling. "I've never been better. For all you know, I'm thinking up a grand, completely devious strategy to beat you so thoroughly your name would be written in the chess hall of shame. Ever thought of that?"
His friend cringed again. "You wouldn't."
"Oh, I wouldn't?"
"Yes, Lelouch, you're an arrogant bastard when it comes to chess, but you like playing cat and mouse. So no grand strategy out of thin air for you," Rival gnawed on his fingernails. "Oh, I think I'm busted anyway."
"Giving up already?" he grinned, then started to clear the board after Rival nodded his assent, tsking like it was a grand tragedy. "And we've just barely made it past the opening. I thought you would've been more sporting than that."
"I've seen you done that before and I haven't figured it out yet. Give me a year or something," Rival replied, slumping back in the chair. "At least you're looking lively. You've been zoning out all day, I've almost betted on you falling in love at first sight."
"Don't be ridiculous," Lelouch disregarded the suggestion dryly. He did not want to think of why he'd been zoning out; a few hours of walking home from ruined Shinjuku allowed him to convince himself that it was just chess, like it always had been. Chess, only that the checkmate was---not what he expected. Losing to that white Knightmare Frame was sobering enough for reality, but he did not see it completely enough until the end. The plan had been perfect. But when the time comes it was hard to remain completely still---professional, cool, collected, ever the master of the situation---when you have pulled your trigger. It is yourself. It is yourself, the words you've spoken and the still-tingling muscles in your hand. Your eyes see the blood splattered outside, and if you're stupid enough to aim point-blank, the brain, fragments of the skull, eyes turned upward, a face collapsed onto itself. It is a bundle of messed up proteins, calcium, yellow fat---but what you see is its past as a living thing, all hurling back at you. Your heart races, you tremble. And then you vomit. As simple as that.
Looking for something else to divert his attention before he vomits again, he changed the subject to another matter at hand. "By the way, Rival."
"What?"
"You know about Kallen Stedtfeld."
Rival whistled in an obscenely high note. "A-ha! So it's really her, huh? Springtime's came to Grandmaster Lelouch-kun at last!"
"I've told you it's not---"
His friend jumped on his feet, both fists high in air like he was cheering for a national Britannian Games athelete. "Say no more, friend! I know what it must feel like---the orphaned, estranged genius, distant from the world except his loyal friends like Shirley and mainly me---one day lays his eyes on a girl also likewise estranged for her health, clever and beautiful, someone he can't forget!" At this, he suddenly grabbed Lelouch by the shoulders and exclaimed, out loud, "Never fear, Lelouch, I'm always on your side! Ask and I shall answer!"
Lelouch blinked. "Uh..."
Rival looked at him expectantly. Lelouch could not help feeling like he was talking to a puppy. Or worse, a very young and immature poodle. "I, uh, just want to know where she goes for lunch."
"Down in the courtyard with her friends. I'm telling you, the school will be over this news like bees to honey." He grinned. "Go and give us some juicy gossip, will you?"
...sometimes he wondered if he ever had Rival figured out in the first place, if the man could revert to kindergarten in ten seconds flat. But he nodded before getting to his feet nevertheless. "It's nothing like you imagined, but thanks anyway."
His hand was already on the doorknob when he heard Rival's voice again; it was a little more sober now. "Hey, Lelouch?"
"What?"
"Where did you go yesterday? I looked all over and I couldn't find you. Shirley said you've been doing some weird gambling without me---"
"Just chess," Lelouch answered, and knew he was not lying. It was chess, just like everything else. "I've been playing a very lengthy match, and I've found a way to promote my only pawn to be everything it could be. I didn't tell since it wasn't a big match, just important. The phone was out of battery like I told you before, and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity."
"Oh." Rival nodded. "Got it. With the friend you talked about in class? That's some pretty weird games you're playing." He shrugged, then bent down to pick up his bags. "Anyways, I'd better get ready for the next class. Shirley's not gonna be happy if we're late again, so I suggest you make it fast with Miss Kallen, loverboy."
Lelouch sighed in resignation. "Fine, I'll make it brief. See you in class, then."
"Be seeing ya."
When he was out in the hallway and starting towards the garden, he thought back to everything that had happened. His eye. The dead girl. The pawn turning into a King, it was not manipulated anymore. The battle. And he told himself it would work, it was just like chess. Planned enough, he could win this fight and actually change the rules of the game. But the first thing was getting pieces for the board, and he would begin with the pawns.
Lelouch thought about Kallen Stadtfelt and the girl in the Glasgow. Something reminded him of Mother's words and Clovis' bloody, cracked skull. Pawns are meant to be manipulated, and pawns can checkmate the King. The ones that Britannians amateurs always overlooked. The King must move to make his subjects follow, it was his hands that must be used to blood, his hands that must stop shaking, his own self that must keep from vomit. But first he must rally his people and find someone to lead, if he was to prepare for a game he was never meant to play.
Yes, he would begin with pawns.
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(no subject)
Dude, that is SO Lelouch. I love that look.
I like your fic. Really descriptive and IC, yeah. Hurray for the first..erm..serious Code Geass fic *dies*
Oh, and did I mention that MY chess experience is only limited to a match with a friend of mine 6 years ago where my friend's father played the whole game? I've never even touched International Chess after that experience. Only...Go and...airplane chess.DD:
(no subject)
And that look is so totally one of his selling points, isn't it? ;)
Glad you like it!