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Eye of the Beholder	By : ArchangelM127 Category: +. to F > Code Geass Views: 2907 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Eye of the Beholder

A Code Geass fan fiction story

Written by Archangel

Edited by klv

Chapter 1 – Muse

{Author’s Note: This chapter is dedicated to all of you who have encouraged and supported my writing… and not killed me for being MIA for so long. ^^ In particular I’d like to thank my lovely and talented editor, klv, for her grace and patience. The music suggestion for this chapter is “Fireflies” by Owl City.

Anyway yes, I’m back. We’ll see how long it lasts. ^^ In addition to the original stories I’m working on, I’m embarking on a fairly extensive Geass fic project, which I am humbly referring to as “the Angelverse.” Simply put, I am combining “Hypothermia,” “Be My Knight,” “Square One,” and this new story into a single alternate storyline for Code Geass. I have an overarching plot already drawn up, and I hope to reach an all-around better resolution than R2 did. You fine folks are, of course, both welcome and encouraged to critique it.

Further notes at the end. Enjoy, and please provide feedback! RATE and/or REVIEW, please!}

*****

Nunnally let the chattering of her classmates flow past her without really listening. She knew what she would hear: silly gossip and ‘political’ wrangling just like the snippets she remembered from her childhood in the Imperial Court. They were all so mean to each other. And to Nunnally, when they deigned to notice her. When she and her big brother Lelouch had first arrived at Ashford Academy, the crueler students had thought it amusing to torment the blind girl with spitballs and such. They had long since grown bored of it, but Nunnally still disliked most of her classmates.

Rather than listen to the ebb and flow of the conversations around her, Nunnally mentally replayed one of her favorite songs until a much more welcome voice cut through the noise:

“Good morning, Miss Nunnally.”

“Good morning, William!” she responded brightly, turning towards his voice and smiling. “And how are you today?”

“I’m good, thank you. Here, I have yesterday’s materials all transcribed.”

Nunnally held out her hands to receive the Braille copies William Abernathy had made for her of his class notes and various handouts. William had volunteered for the job when Nunnally had first arrived at Ashford over a year ago, and he had since become quite adept with a Braille typewriter. Nunnally liked William. He was always kind and gentle—to everyone, not just to her—and his voice had a wonderfully soothing quality.

“Thank you! You know, you really don’t have to go to all this trouble.”

“It’s no trouble, Miss Nunnally. Have a good day,” William replied, concluding their little morning ritual.

Every day they said the same words, every day she tried to summon the nerve to break the pattern, to get to know him better. But every day her self-dissatisfaction was the postscript to their conversation. She’d gathered a little bit about William: he was fairly quiet and to her knowledge he had two friends named Nicholas and Kaitlyn; they were a couple and seemed like nice people. Most of all, William was known around the school as a very talented painter. According to bits of gossip that made it past Nunnally’s mental filter (William’s name was one of the key-words), Will was of common lineage and his artistic skills had won him a scholarship to Ashford Academy. The nobles who made up the majority of Ashford’s students scorned William for his common birth. Nunnally admired him for getting into an elite school like Ashford Academy by merit. To her, he’d always possessed an awkward sort of charm: somewhat strange, but very sweet.

Nunnally looked forward to viewing William’s paintings… when she was able to see again.

*****

It was always a bit of a relief for William to sit down after talking to Nunnally; her smile made his knees go weak. Having taken his seat, Will concluded his end of the daily ritual by silently berating himself for his cowardice. Even after more than a year of fancying Nunnally, he still couldn’t find the guts to actually talk to her! How pathetic. He sighed, and took out his notebook.

“Wimped out again?”

“Oh shut it, Nick.”

“Talking to a girl isn’t so hard, you know. You open your mouth and make these things called ‘words,’” Nicholas Beranger teased with a smile.

“Easier to start a conversation with a girl you’ve known forever,” Will countered with a self-deprecating smile of his own.

“Easier still when she never shuts up,” Nick agreed cheerfully. “Ow! Speak of the angel.” This last in response to a swat delivered from behind.

“Morning Kait,” Will added.

“Morning Will,” Kaitlyn Presbyter replied. “And I can be very quiet when I want to, mister!” she continued with mock-indignation.

“You just don’t want to?” Nick shot back.

“Oh… you!” Kait giggled and ruffled her boyfriend’s hair. “So, how’s your muse?” she asked, returning her attention to Will. “Did you actually talk to her today?”

Will loved Nick and Kait, but they were card-carrying meddlers. Their mutual friendship had started on Will’s first day at Ashford, when he’d had the wonderfully good fortune to be assigned Nick as a roommate.

Knowing only that Nick was the youngest son of a viscount, Will had prepared himself for a long year of being harassed and put down. It was a pleasant surprise when Nick had accepted Will, and the boys had become fast friends within a week. Nick was cheerfully sardonic, unflappable, and prone to express his affection through good-natured teasing.

Appropriately, Will’s first encounter with Kait had been both a bit stranger and a complete surprise. After the second day of classes, Will had returned to his dorm room to find a pretty blonde girl lying on his bed and flipping through his sketchbook. Kait and Nick had been close friends as long as either could remember and had been dating for several years now. Like Nick, Kait had taken to Will quickly, although she often acted more like a bossy older sister than a friend. Middle daughter of an earl, Kait was energetic, outspoken, kindhearted, and rather loud.

His friendship with Nick and Kait had given Will an anchor through the past year, and he tried to repay his friends’ kindness to him at every opportunity. For the past week or two, though, the two of them had taken it into their heads that it was past time for Will to try his hand at the dating game. Specifically, they’d been pushing him to ask Nunnally Lamperouge out on a date.

“I talk to her every morning,” Will told Kait a bit defensively, feeling a blush burning its way up his cheeks.

Kait harrumphed and rolled her eyes. “I mean *talk* to the girl, not just hi-how-are-you,” she replied sternly. “For goodness’ sake, you’ve been mooning over her since our first day here.”

“Have not!” Will protested a bit too quickly.

“Oh no?” Nick cut in, punching Will playfully on the arm. “I recall you practically leaping out of your seat to volunteer to type the handouts and stuff for her.”

“I just wanted to be nice to a fellow student,” Will countered weakly.

Rather than respond directly, Kait reached over Will’s shoulder and flipped his notebook open to reveal a pencil sketch of Nunnally’s face covering the entire inside front cover. When Will started to protest, she started flipping to random pages; nearly every page had a sketch of Nunnally somewhere on it.

“Quod erat demonstrandum,” Nick concluded. “And a rather inspired work, I must say. You must fancy her something awful.”

Will sighed and hung his head in defeat. “But what the deuce do I *say* to her?” he moaned. “Just walk up and say ‘Hi Miss Nunnally, you’re the most amazingly beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life; would you like to go out on a date sometime?’”

“That’s perfect; go get her!” Kait grinned and smacked Will on the shoulder as if to propel him out of his chair. Seeing Will’s panicked expression, she relented: “Alright, I guess that is a bit too blunt.”

“How about starting small,” Nick suggested. “Spend some time with the lady in a safer setting than a date, get to know her a little bit. You’re kinda tanking algebra so far, right mate?”

“Erm, yeah, a bit.”

“Well, word has it that your muse is pretty good at maths. Why not ask her to tutor you?”

“That’s… a pretty good idea.” Will admitted. “I’ll ask her tomorrow morning,” he resolved confidently.

“You’d better, or I shall be reduced to tricks and stratagems,” Kait warned with a giggle. She patted Will on the head and took her seat as the bell rang.

*****

{More Author’s Note: A bit short by my usual standards, I know. My chapters will typically be shorter from now on, to help me maintain a regular posting schedule.

William Abernathy is an entirely original character of my own conception. He owes a great deal to OtakuKeith, though, who “stole” Will with my blessing and developed him for use in one of his own stories. I’m “stealing” the character and certain of his developed aspects back here, but lest I be accused of plagiarism let me note that I am taking an entirely different direction with Nunnally’s character development.

I have two primary goals for Nunnally in this story. One, obviously, is to give her a healthy relationship with a boy her own age. That’s fairly simple. My second goal is to break Nunnally out of the moe dynamic that she’s stuck in throughout the anime and give her a chance to contribute meaningfully to the story. All things considered, Nunnally is consistently portrayed as mainly useless and helpless, which has always sat poorly with me. I mean, think about it. She’s a freaking princess, and her brother is one of the smartest and most capable people in the whole world. I don’t consider it a huge leap to say that beneath her innocent disposition Nunnally is an extremely intelligent young woman. In this AU she has a particular gift for mental mathematics. As in can-easily-do-calculus-in-her-head. So, how does this make her useful? You’ll see! I promise you it’ll be awesome, especially if you’re also a fan of “Gundam SeeD.” ^_^

Getting back to Will, let me paint a slightly clearer picture of him for you (pun intended). He is not a fighter, so don’t expect to see him joining the Black Knights or anything like that. Likewise, he will not receive a Geass power (nor will Nunnally). Will is an artist first and last; his role is to observe the world around him and comment on it through his painting. Because he’s so removed from all the fighting and chaos that’s about to go down, I think he’ll serve as a valuable source of psychological support for Nunnally; she will get fairly involved with the war, and having a person to act as a sort of refuge from all the violence will help her stay sane. Also, having someone “back home” to protect and fight for will give Nunnally the strength she needs to carry on. Aside from being a bit strange in temperament, Will is a very kind and caring man. Think of him as a bishie, only straight and without the emo complex. He’s actually very handsome in a boyish sort of way. As we’ll see, he will stay devoted to Nunnally through thick and thin.

Nick and Kait are mainly present as plot devices, but I rather enjoy them for their own sake. Nick is about the most solid and reliable friend a guy could ask for; I write for him based on the two best friends I’ve ever had, Paul and Bryan. Kait is a lot like Milly Ashford in temperament, only less perverted.

+5 points if you can place Kait’s reference at the end of the second scene. ;)

If you are new to my stories, I would strongly recommend reading “Hypothermia,” “Blind Date,” “Square One,” and “Be My Knight” as well. All of these stories fit together into a single alternate universe, and can all be easily found here at AdultFanFiction.net via my profile.

Alpha readers: Mikey

See you next week! Same Angel time, same Angel channel!}
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Eye of the Beholder