Code Geass Fan Fiction ❯ The Elegant Game ❯ The Elegant Game ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Note: I've never actually played chess before, so it this ends up sounding terrible to a practiced eye, my bad. But the more I thought about the symbolism of chess in Geass, I did some research and found some interesting things. Thus, this little introspection was born. It's also something of a companion to Of Pawns and People, though it's hardly necessary to understand this. Mostly, that was Suzaku's view on life-size chess and this is Lelouch's. It's a little rough, but overall, I'm fairly pleased with it. Warning-wise, there are vague spoilers for R2, etc. Comments and criticisms are, as always, appreciated.

Author's Note: I do not own Code Geass.

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The Elegant Game

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From a young age, Lelouch found it fascinating how chess could be applied to real life. When Schneizel had been the only person he had been unable to defeat in a game, Lelouch knew that his brother would be his greatest obstacle in the future, though he never could have imagined how that would play out.

His father, the Emperor, had always approved of his children playing chess, because it was a game of strategy and only those who could successfully strategize could truly hope to succeed the throne. “Only fools wage war,” he had told them. Instead, behind-the-scenes strategizing and political machinations were the preferred methods for victory. Lelouch had never paid much attention to that fact until much later in his life. It took that long for him to be able to appreciate it, truthfully.

Later, when he had taught Suzaku to play chess, Lelouch found it fascinating that a person's outlook on life could transfer to their playing style. He had never noticed it before since he had only played with those who had lofty aspirations. But when he played with his friend, he couldn't help but notice Suzaku's reluctance to lose each individual piece, even if the loss was strategically smart. He had tried on multiple occasions to explain the necessity of losing pieces to Suzaku, but the Prime Minister's son refused to accept his explanation, saying each piece was equally important, no matter its standing. It wasn't until he met Suzaku seven years later that he could really appreciate that part of his personality.

Once Lelouch donned the Zero mask, he took up the role of the king on the side of the Black Knights. In chess, the king is the most important piece, and indeed, Zero was the most important piece of the Black Knights since they would not exist without his leadership. In chess, the object of the game was to trap the opponent's king so that it could not avoid capture. To take down the Black Knights would involve the complete destruction of not only Zero, but what he stood for. Yes, Zero would be continually moving around to avoid capture while working to trap his opponent's king: the Emperor, Charles Di Britannia.

Indeed, in chess, the king will rarely play an active role until the end; until then, he merely seeks to hide behind friendly pawns. In the end, however, the king emerges to play a prominent offensive role while assisting in the promotion of the remaining pawns. It would indeed seem like Zero was hiding behind his Black Knight pawns until it was time for him to take action; to take his revenge. He would direct his pawns and they would move for him. However, he gave them reason to act as his shield. Without him, the rebellion would be dead; the game would be lost.

What Lelouch had not counted on was the emergence of Britannia's knight: Suzaku. He supposed it was fitting, him as the black king and Suzaku as the white knight. For a long time, Lelouch fought Suzaku without knowing who he was, and once his identity as the Lancelot's pilot was revealed, Lelouch knew deep down that the battle would come down to the two of them.

Upon learning that Suzaku had killed his father to stop the war with Britannia at the age of 10, Lelouch had not only been shocked, but had been forced to reevaluate what he knew about his best friend. While Suzaku continued to believe that every piece was valuable, his reaffirmation of that belief seemed to stem from the guilt that his actions had cost his people their identity and livelihood. He had stepped outside his core of beliefs in attempt to stop the fighting, and had only left himself with more pain. It seemed appropriate, then, that Suzaku act as he did now.

As Lelouch became accustomed to seeing those around him as pieces on a life-sized chess board, he realized that the white queen was none other than his half-sister Euphemia. The queen was the most powerful piece on the chess board, and indeed, she was the factor that motivated Suzaku's actions more than anything as they grew closer. Even in death, she was his prime motivator in everything that he did. He would forever be Euphemia's knight before anything else.

The queen is most powerful when the enemy king is poorly defended, and indeed, had Lelouch's Geass not gone haywire at an inopportune moment, he would have cooperated with her Special Administrative Zone. When he was alone with her, she had convinced him to work alongside her and, had fate not had a twisted sense of humor, the game would have played out much differently.

If Euphie had been the white queen, then Lelouch's own black queen would, of course, be Nunnally. She was the entire reason he had taken on the Zero persona and the entire reason he fought for a better world. He wanted a world that she could be proud of when her vision returned. The bloodshed that littered the current world was not suited for her. And thus, Lelouch fought. His sister was the entirety of his being and without her, his actions no longer had meaning.

His thoughts often turning to his best friend, Lelouch would once again be struck by how chess could be applied to real life. After all, if, in a game of chess, only a king and a knight remain, then checkmate is impossible. Somehow, that seemed appropriate for the relationship between Lelouch and Suzaku. No matter the betrayals and heartbreaks on either side, Lelouch didn't think it possible for either of them to really end it. There was something deeper between the two that would just not allow it. Suzaku had tried when he brought Lelouch before the Emperor, but that had merely been check. And they both knew it.

Ironically, one of the ways to get out of check is to interject a piece between the threatened king and the attacking piece to break the line of threat, unless, of course, the attacking piece is a knight. Of course, due to the nature of their relationship, there was nothing or no one that Lelouch could put between him and Suzaku to keep himself safe from the white knight. And perhaps, part of him didn't want to be. After all, while Suzaku had sold him to the Emperor for an elite position, Lelouch had betrayed his best friend in turn over the course of their fight. It wouldn't be right to say that he hadn't had it coming, he supposed. He didn't have to like it, but facts are facts.

But while the Emperor erasing his memories had been check, the end of the game was still a long way away. In the end, Lelouch would have his checkmate. And he intended to do it by taking the white knight in the process. If neither of them could end it, then something would have to give. And Lelouch planned to come out on top then as well.

But, despite all the applications of the elegant game to real life, Lelouch found himself unable to completely dissociate those in his life and see merely a chess board as Schneizel seemed to do. Schneizel seemed to have perfected that talent from a young age, and though it had long seemed like a strength to Lelouch when he was younger, he had come to understand that seeing those around him as more than pieces for him to move at a whim could be a strength, too. There was something to be said for the strength of the human spirit, and Lelouch had learned early on not to discount it.

He would defeat Schneizel precisely because he could not distance himself from those around him. He gave his strength to the Black Knights, and in turn they gave him theirs. There were people in his life that should be protected and Lelouch would do his best to see that it happened.

So, not quite Suzaku and not quite Schneizel, Lelouch would play his own version of life-size chess. And he would be the victor. He would declare the final checkmate.

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End