rakuen | Next stop: Utopia Academy

Entry tags:

Next stop: Utopia Academy

You're falling, and you can't remember why. It's a sickening feeling that makes your insides lurch; the darkness and the vertigo combine, and all you can think of is a story you heard once, somewhere.

-I remember now. It's a simple story that everyone knows. A legend of a Princess, the Demon Lord who kidnapped her, and the Knight who fought to save her.

The Demon Lord had kidnapped the Princess countless times, but every time the Knight bested his challenges and rescued the Princess.

No matter what tricks and ploys the Demon Lord used, the Knight would always triumph in the end. This was because--

The world tilts on its axis one last time, and the dream slips from your mind as easily as it arrived. A new voice intrudes on your sleep.

"Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. This tramline terminates here; all change. Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. All change."

Sunlight streams through the windows of the long carriage, making the seats almost uncomfortably warm beneath its sleeping passengers. The air is muggy and thick, the atmosphere relaxing. Almost too relaxing; the warmth and the silence make it difficult to immediately muster any kind of reaction or thought. Your nausea settles, slowly. The last of the dream fades.

"We have arrived at Utopia. Repeat, we have arrived at Utopia Academy. Could all passengers please leave the tram, as it is terminating here."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gino, currently slumped over someone's shoulder near the end of the carriage, woke quickly enough that the transition from 'fast asleep' to 'faking it rather well' went off without a hitch. Perhaps a slight flicker of his eyelids, or a tensing of muscles, but with the raised voices of teenagers and children around him, they could have been dismissed as the shifting of the tram.

And, really, making obvious movements wouldn't really help any. From what he could gather whilst feigning sleep, he seemed to be in a bad situation. Hostages, maybe? The engine humming beneath them wasn't anything he recognised. And the dream. It was a weird one, alright. Sounded like it came straight out of a classroom. Knights protecting princesses from evil monsters? Like that was news.

He shifted a little, so he could crack one eye open and survey the the other passengers. A girl and a little boy were up at the front talking to the conductor, and some of the others seemed to be awake. He closed his eye again. More worrying was his memory of promising someone something. That could mean anything, and if it meant one thing in particular...

With nothing else to do, he tilted his head and inspected the person he was currently using as a pillow.

Well.

That was interesting.

Lelouch was also listening, eyes closed, assessing the situation. Whether they'd woken at the same time or not, they both had the same concerns. Lelouch thought back to what he remembered. Had something gone wrong in his bid to become emperor? Had one of the other Princes reacted in a way he hadn't anticipated? That seemed impossible. He'd calculated exactly how to get every single Prince that stood between him and the throne out of his path.

He took a moment to consider who this was, exactly, on top of him. It definitely was not C.C., and Suzaku was rather lighter than this. "Get off," he snipped, only a slight bit of drowsy huskiness in his voice. His contacts were firmly in place, so there was no concern of a misfire of the Geass. He gave Gino a steely glare. What could have possibly gone so very wrong?

Very interesting. Gino turned his head to the side to hide a brief, wolfish smile, then opened his eyes and made a show of sitting up. One hand, however, remained attached to Lelouch's shoulder. Loose, but very much there. No point taking chances. He couldn't remember why he should be suspicious of Lelouch, which was bad enough, but the feeling was there. He stretched now that he wasn't draped, and smiled again, brightly this time.

"Sorry, sorry."

Lelouch sat up after Gino had. He slid down the bench a bit, to get out from under the Knight's handhold. He adjusted the front of his clothing to lie properly. He recognized the design, it was what he'd had planned for his royal livery once he'd gained the throne. But it was barely ready to be produced yet. Why was he wearing it now? There were too many questions. He wanted some answers.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, sounding slightly ruffled, though his stony demeanor clearly meant business. He had a war to finish, and here he was, waking up on a strange train with a highly effective member of the opposing force.

"Dunno," He kept his voice light and friendly, even as his hand on Lelouch's shoulder tightened and he searched the tramcar for anyone he recognised. If he'd been compromised, maybe someone else would know what they were meant to do. He couldn't remember any orders... "Maybe it's terrorists."

"Doubtful," was Lelouch's only response to the possibility that it was terrorists. The Black Knights would be in very poor shape indeed if they had put this together. He expected that there would be something a bit more obvious. Something like this would require Geass, and to his knowlege, there was no one left alive that possessed one this strong.

He pulled away from Gino's grip, and stretched his legs by pacing a bit, considering the options at a lightning-pace.

Gino loosened his fingers enough that the other boy could stand, and flopped back against the seat to watch him pace. It wasn't like Lelouch was going anywhere, and this gave him a chance to stare at the guy's clothing. Imperial clothing.

"Is that your uniform or something?" The question was only slightly rhetorical; if there was an explanation for his being dressed like that, Gino wanted it. He reached out to pick up a matching hat from the floor, and spotted Lelouch's untouched uniform bag. "Guess not."

He didn't even dignify that question with a response. He merely glanced over at Gino, and returned his gaze to the car ahead. The others seemed just as confused. After a long pause, he finally asked him a proper question: "Where is Suzaku?"

Edited 2010-12-28 09:38 (UTC)

"Huh? Probably at the Tokyo Se-" He cut himself off. No, that didn't seem right. And why did he want to know where Suzaku was, anyway? He inspected the hat he'd found, turning it over as a distraction from nothing making sense. "Well, who knows? I'm his friend, not his governess."

Lelouch stepped over, and snatched his hat from Gino's fingers rather gruffly. "I would have thought with your height you would have been able to see him over everyone else." There was a note of derision in the statement as he put his hat on.

"Nope! No other Knights on this tram, my Lord," Gino returned, unexpectedly sarcastic. It was the truth as far as he could tell, he couldn't make out any flight suits or uniforms he recognised on the various sleepers. He leaned forward, and tugged at one of the trailing sashes on Lelouch's outfit, serious. "Why are you wearing this?"

"You'll find out soon enough," he replied, stepping out of tugging range. He wasn't about to tell anything of any value to the Knight of Three, even if his relevance was declining. He couldn't rule out that he had learned the truth of his identity and Geass from Schneizel. Certainly all of the Knights of Rounds had been made aware of it.

"Ah, how scary." He rocked back, and used the momentum to get to his feet. Now upright - mostly, the curve of the carriage roof meant he had to stoop over - he looked down at Lelouch. He wasn't above abusing his unusual height if it would get him answers. He wasn't holding out hope, though. "Is there something I'm missing, Mr. Vice-president?"

(no subject)

veepofchess - 2010-12-28 11:49 (UTC) - Expand

Across the aisle from where Gino had been sleeping, another blond haired, blue eyed male woke up. This one, though, was considerably shorter.

Kevin woke up with his start and drew back from the window he'd been leaning against with a baffled look. He didn't remember falling asleep... nor what he'd been dreaming about. All he knew was that it had made him ill to the stomach. As he glanced about with an alarmed air, looking at an unfamiliar train and unfamiliar faces, the youth began to grow concerned.

"Where the heck...?" He muttered, carefully getting to his feet and glancing at the person closest to him, Gino. "Where are we?"

"Not Japan," Gino replied instantly, far too cheerful for someone stuck on a tram headed to a strange island. He glanced over, and looked the younger boy over. No one he recognised, but if he was right in his guess, that could mean anything. "Hey, if you wait a few minutes and ask again, we'll be in Utopia Academy. Wherever that is."

... okay, this guy had officially rolled over the line into annoying. Great, he'd only known the man for less than 30 seconds.

"I know that. And why would we be in Japan?" He inquired, carefully getting to his feet and looking both ways down the aisle, as if he could try and spot a familiar face.

"Why wouldn't we be there?" He shrugged, and slide his legs around so he was facing the boy. Even with him standing they were essentially eye-to-eye; he grinned. "Ah, I guess you're meant to be somewhere else."

"I'm supposed to be in America." Kevin replied after a moment, a sour look on his face.

The fact that they were looking each other in the eyes wasn't lost on the kid, even though one of them was sitting. He also didn't fail to notice the other's colorful apparel. Something he decided now was the opportune moment to address.

"What's with the getup?"

America? Wasn't that a blast from the past.

"Huh, this?" He looked down, then tugged at the large section of his mantle that was bunched up rather unflatteringly behind him on the seat. "It's my uniform."

"Uniform?" Kevin repeated the word with a sense of incredulity. If only because the only kind of uniform he'd ever seen come with a cape were the ones from movies. Realistically, having a cape just wasn't really all that practical for movement.

... even if it did look kind of cool.

"What for? Are you a soldier or something?"

"Yeah," he answered, honestly. After all, chances were he'd end up fighting here. This kind of situation usually led to a lot of people getting killed. He eyed the boy's clothes, and hazarded a guess. "Student, right? That looks like a gym uniform."

"Seriously?" Kevin replied with a mix of both surprise and uncertainty. He honestly hadn't expected Gino to confirm his guess, mostly because he'd thought he'd seen all the kinds of cops there were and Gino hadn't fit the bill on any of them. Then again, soldiers were kinda different from cops so... maybe he was allowed to be different?

Then again, he'd never seen anyone dress like Gino did either, except on Halloween, so who knew?

"Yeah, junior high. I'm a tennis player."

"Knight of Three, Gino Weinberg," he supplied. The introduction was almost automatic by this point, after his time in Ashford, as was the friendly addition, "But just Gino is fine, okay?" He made a note to keep an eye on the kid; he didn't look like much of a fighter. He wondered, vaguely, if this Utopia Academy had a tennis club for him to join.

"A knight?" The reply was out of his mouth before he could stop it. He couldn't help it, who used the word "knight" anymore these days? Except for maybe people in Europe, and even then he was pretty sure it was just a formality.

... a knight? Seriously?

"Uh- sure. I'm Kevin Smith." He replied a little blankly as he began a less than subtle overview of the other, as if trying to spot a sword and shield.

Hey, that's what knights had, right?

"A Knight of Rounds, that is," he corrected, though he hadn't really expected the kid would know what he was talking about. Koharu hadn't. He brushed the front of his cape aside and indicated the insignia, in case that was any more helpful. "I guess you could say we're elite pilots, bu~ut that might be giving us too much credit."

Kevin Smith- that was a Britannian name. The first he'd encountered so far, in fact. With a slight shrug, he changed the subject. "Think anyone else here plays tennis?"