Code Geass 1. Episode 1: Check and Mate

**Episode 1: Check and Mate**

Kururugi Suzaku was his friend, Kururugi Suzaku was his enemy, to think the day had finally come when they were forced to face each other with their identities. Yet that was not the most important problem right now, Nunnally had been kidnapped and he had to rescue her, above all else. Suzaku was an annoyance, a terribly big one, but not important, if Suzaku would simply step aside or at least wait! Euphy was the past now, but Nunnally was still alive.

Despite being at gunpoint by a tactically superior opponent Lelouch was fairly calm and certain that Suzaku could not kill him, the Sakuradite bomb he had on him was made for this very situation. The problem had been Kallen's appearance and her discovery of his identify, she was added onto his list of problems for after he retrieved Nunnally.

"Your existence is a mistake!" No! Lelouch was just doing whatever was necessary, anything that was needed to avenge his mother and build a new world for Nunnally, even if that meant killing Euphemia again. "You're someone that doesn't belong in this world!" To think Lelouch would hear those words out Suzaku, it stung Lelouch, yet at the same time, how dare he! "I will save Nunnally-"

Lelouch drew out his gun in fury, Suzaku was getting in his way and every second he was losing valuable time. How dare he deny everything Lelouch was now. "Suzaku!!!"

"Lelouch!!!"

The sound of gunfire surprised him, he was certain Lelouch had not even managed to aim at him yet, despite Suzaku's fury and shaking he had confidence that he could have shot Lelouch through the head before Lelouch even put his finger on the trigger. A pain in his sides erupted just as the sound of the bullet reached his ears. He had been shot! But not by Lelouch, no…

Suzaku turned his face towards Kallen, her expression had seemed like a lost child, in tears just moments ago but now it brimmed with resolve and that deathly expression he had imagined she wore every time he fought her and that red knightmare.

"Lelouch, get back behind the pillars, take cover!" She fired a second shot at Suzaku, aimed for his right arm, she didn't want to kill him, not yet at least. He was Japanese, and they had been friends, however short a time.

Suzaku leaped back towards one of the large stone pillars just as a second shot sounded in his ear. The bullet sheared the gun in his hands to pieces but he had managed to avoid taking another shot himself.

Lelouch's gun fired after Kallen's, Lelouch should have only had little accuracy from his range, but the bullet still managed to graze Suzaku's left arm, cutting through his pilot suit. The situation had turned tables on him, if Kallen could not let go of Zero even after discovering Zero's identify then he was at a significant disadvantage without a gun left.

Though odds meant nothing to Suzaku, he could no longer suppress his hatred, he would kill Lelouch, and he would not let Lelouch walk away now after he betrayed everything.

Suzaku pulled out a small military grade knife hidden tightly on one of his sleeves. Kallen was running up to him from the other side of the pillar, in a few moments she would provide him with a blind spot if he swung around the stone pillar at the right time. A miniscule blind spot, but for Suzaku it would be enough.

One more step…

Suzaku dashed out of the pillar's shadow and lunged straight at Lelouch before he had time to react. It would take Kallen only a second to see past the blind spot and realize that Suzaku had moved towards Lelouch, but that second was time enough.

"Suza-" Too late, Lelouch was too slow, Suzaku slid past Lelouch's held up gun and dove right in front of him, his knife drawn inches away from slitting Lelouch's throat.

The world seemed to slow in those last few inches, a part of his mind that was detached from everything remembered that there was still a Sakuradite bomb attached to Lelouch's chest. It would explode, kill Lelouch if he was not already dead, kill Kallen, and kill-

**Live!**

No! It was that same faceless voice echoing in his mind, controlling his thoughts, Lelouch's curse. He could not give out now, he had to kill Lelouch, his life did not matter, nothing but Lelouch's death did!

**LIVE!**

His body moved on its own, it swayed to the side just as a bullet whizzed by. Before Kallen could puzzle out what had just happened, a silvery flash appeared in front of her as Suzaku's knife cut right into her gun. The blade disappeared into the barrel and all she could see was the hilt of the knife. It was impossible! From that distance, and she never even felt it, the knife could not have been that sharp and Suzaku…no human could have thrown with that kind of accuracy and strength!

Lelouch fired his gun in the opening Suzaku has provided, yet the bullet went wide as Suzaku grabbed Lelouch's hand and jerked it to the side. In the same motion, he tripped Lelouch to the ground on his back flat to the stone floor. Crouching down on top of him, his fist raised. Even if had no weapon he had confidence he could still bash Lelouch's head far enough into itself to kill the man, whatever it took…

The sakuradite bomb drifted into his mind again.

**LIVE!**

The fist swung down onto Lelouch's head with a dull thud, but only enough to give a severely bruised eye. Suzaku stood back up and stomped on Lelouch's fallen hand a few times until he was certain he had heard bones crack. Bending down, he removed the gun from Lelouch's broken hand.

Euphy's killer was right in front of him, at gun point, vulnerable. He could avenge her now, he could kill Zero, he could kill Euphy's murderer…he could kill his friend.

**Live!**

Suzaku turned away agitated from Lelouch and pointed the gun towards Kallen as he began to walk out of the cave. His eyes clearly spoke of what he would do if she tried anything. "You're making a mistake Kallen, he will betray you, again and again until he has used everything you are worth, and then he'll toss you aside."

Kallen said nothing, she clearly seemed hesitant but likely not enough to change her allegiance now.

Once Suzaku walked past Kallen, he turned his subtle walk into a full sprint towards Lancelot. It took Kallen a moment to realize what was happening, she didn't know about the Geass cast on him, but she knew Lancelot stood just outside, and seeing Suzaku sprint must mean that he meant to use it.

But there was no way for her to get back to Gurren before him, he had a head start and he was a faster runner to begin with. She watched in dread as Suzaku slipped into Lancelot, his face covered with crazed delight.

The operating system booted up from within the cockpit and showed that Lancelot carried enough energy for his rifle, more than enough to turn Lelouch into a smouldering blot of flesh. Lancelot would also keep him safe, at least safe enough to prevent the Geass from triggering, whether he was truly safe mattered little to Suzaku.

Lancelot raised its rifle and aimed into the cave, the sensor only provided a weak estimate of Lelouch's position, but it didn't matter, he had enough energy to fire more than one shot, however many it would take.

"Stop Suzaku!" Kallen futile cry picked up on sensor, meaningless, Lelouch was within his hands now, even this curse could not stop him.

The aiming mechanism locked on, his finger was on the edge of the trigger and-

His hand slipped, his body slumped to the side and his vision began to double. He placed his hand back onto the controls, what had happened? He was so close! His left hand drenched in blood came up to his face as he remembered, he had somehow manage to forget the pain of the wound Kallen's shot had placed on him, but he had lost too much blood.

**LIVE!**

NO! He was too close, it would not make a difference, just one pull of the trigger. So quick and simple.

**LIVE!**

Kallen watched in amazement as Lancelot lowered the rifle and began flying away into the distance, back in the direction of the Tokyo Settlement. For some reason he had spared them, why she could not say, but she was glad, she still needed Lelouch, traitor or not, Japan still needed him.

Lelouch had survived, Suzaku had not decided to kill him, he could have, Lelouch was all too aware of that. Lelouch did not know why, but he could be certain it was not because Suzaku had a change of heart. The hatred between them was set in stone now, until the day one or both of them died.

Lelouch ignored all that now though, he could guess why Kallen had come after him, and he could not afford to go back right now, not before he had taken back Nunnally. Lelouch staggered up to his feet and reached out with the hand that Suzaku had not crushed towards the door of the ruins. The last time something had reacted to him he had simply needed to be here, hopefully touching this door would be enough to trigger it.

Upon contact the symbol of the Geass flared on the door, producing a ruby red glow. His consciousness seemed to jerk itself out of his body as he lost feeling of all his limbs and the pain. He began seeing images, very old images always against a white backdrop, a town…it used to be on this island, before there was Area 11, before there was even a Japan.

Voices, images flashed through his mind, of a man with Geass on both of his eyes like Mao had. He was old in the images, a long white beard, white hair, and a white robe. He was standing in a room as villagers worked around him, carving and carrying something into the room. "My…Geass…commands…god…kill…everything…"

The words were difficult to catch and the incomplete sentence provided little information, it was like watching a damaged video recording.

More images, but they began making less sense, Lelouch seemed to recognize and understand some of them but his mind couldn't retain memories from merely seconds ago. Racing across this plain of space and time, he saw and heard so much more than any one person could in a lifetime but forgot every thing the moment it went away.

Slowly the images and the sounds faded and he could begin feeling the tingling of pain rising from his right hand and his eye.

He was standing on some kind of platform made of giant slates of stone, seemingly suspended in mid-air. The platform was placed above a cliff overlooking an ocean. The sun was setting in the distance and it created a soft orange glow around everything. The platform carried little on it, simply an altar near its center where a blue sphere floated above, vibrating, expending, and then contracting at random.

Two human figures stood near the altar, gazing off into the sunset, their faces turned away from Lelouch. Neither of them was Nunnally but he could recognize the taller figure even in his nightmares. The source of the hatred Lelouch held for this world, the only man he could not let live since the day he put on the guise of Zero.

"…Charles zi Britannia…"

Charles kept his back to Lelouch and spoke, though he spoke towards the vast horizon, his voice seemed to echo in power next to Lelouch's ears. "Foolish son, by coming you have forfeited yourself. You have already lost."

Lelouch dearly wished Suzaku had not taken his gun at that moment. It was impossible to think he could kill Charles with his bare hands, a man who looked about twice as big as Lelouch. It meant he had only one weapon left, his Geass. "You are wrong father, the one who has lost is you. After I kill you now I will proceed to make Britannia fall at my hands." Lelouch was waiting, his Geass ready for the moment Charles turned around.

"My death? The fall of Britannia? You are indeed the son of Charles zi Britannia…but, such small goals for one with the power of the Geass."

Lelouch was glad Charles was turned around at that moment as he had no means of hiding the surprise that shown on his face. How had Charles learned about the Geass? Was he behind Clovis' project back in Japan? Behind this very place in Kamenijima? He had lost a dangerous edge if Charles knew about the Geass, it would be safe to conclude that Charles had also puzzled out Lelouch's Geass, hopefully the conditions it required was still secret.

"Do you know what this place is Lelouch? This is a part of the ultimate weapon built through the efforts of hundreds of years, a weapon meant to unravel god."

"God?"

"The bonds between human beings, friendship, love, hatred, betrayal. The laws that govern our world, the very nature of every object we know of. Everything is a part of that system, by which we call God." It was only now that Lelouch noticed the second much smaller figure standing next to Charles, a boy perhaps younger than Nunnally's age, with long streaking blond hair that almost touched the ground. He appeared to be slightly fidgeting, somewhat impatient it seemed, perhaps that could be used.

"That isn't important, where is Nunnally?"

The young boy giggled and turned to face Lelouch, he had violet eyes and the face of a boy as young as Lelouch had imagined, a child. Yet him being here contradicted that idea in every sense. "Behind you, big brother."

Lelouch didn't hesitate, his talk with Charles had calmed his temper with Suzaku, had had been thinking of every possible scenario during their discussion, bidding his time. The boy had given him one by turning his way and Lelouch intended to use it.

"Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, kill Charles zi Britannia!" The boy seemed stunned for a few moments, then he laughed. His laughter howled in Lelouch's ears as he stared in amazement, nothing had happened his Geass had failed to make an impression on the boy. That was impossible, he knew the conditions of his own Geass and there were only two cases where-

"You are most interesting Lelouch." The boy spoke back to Lelouch as though Lelouch was the child and the boy the adult. "You abandoned everything, hid from the royal family, retaliated against your very country yet you still use your name, Lelouch vi Britannia."

There was no choice, if the boy was somehow the same as C.C then Lelouch had already lost, he could only believe it had been some kind of coincidence, the boy had dodged his vision or…or something. "I command you, kill Charles zi-"

The boy's face turned from amused to impatient, "Useless, it is as you have most likely guessed at this point, I am like C.C, a bearer of the Geass' will. The power of Geass does not affect us."

Lelouch cursed under his breath, it seemed he was short of options. With his left hand, he pried the Sakuradite bomb off his chest and held his thumb on to what seemed like a button on the back of the bomb. "Then we can all die together, Charles zi Britannia."

Charles never bothered to turn around to look at Lelouch, he simply spoke. "Knight of Six."

The sound of pistol fire echoed in Lelouch's ears, he had not believed the boy's message about Nunnally being behind him, but he had never imagined that one of the Knights would have been here. His fingers slid off the Sakuradite bomb which dropped to the floor, his left arm fell limply towards his side as a small bullet hole on his forearm oozed blood.

The searing heat and sensation of pain did not register until a moment later. Lelouch collapsed onto his knees, a short moan escaped from his mouth.

"Don't be shy now." The boy seemed to be talking to the Knight behind Lelouch. Gesturing the Knight of Six to walk forward.

Crisp sounds of footsteps echoed in the air as a small figure cast a shadow over Lelouch. Lelouch looked up towards the Knight, this was his last chance, the Knight had a gun, and if he could gain control of him he could-

"…Nunnally?"

The young boy giggled in delight, "I told you didn't I? She was behind you." He began walking closer to the pair, his face carried the expression of an older brother about to explain something trivial to a silly little child. "She's no longer the Nunnally Lamperouge that you remember. Now she is Nunnally vi Britannia, newly dubbed second princess to the imperial family and Knight of Six under the emperor Charles zi Britannia."

He looked down at Lelouch's amazed expression, "In other words, she's not your sister."

Lelouch could not help but admit that he was right to some extent, the same smile she would wear when thinking of her brother was now painted over with a dull expression, as though she were bored. Her eyes stared at him, open, intent, a miracle in itself, but the look she gave him was beyond his worst nightmare. She had walked on her own two feet to stand in front of him, even wearing that look as though Lelouch was a pest waiting to be dealt with, Lelouch could not be sure whether he was not grateful for what they had done to her.

In a way his wish had been partially fulfilled, as the Knight of Six and second princess of the imperial family she held enough authority to stand on her own, and she been given back her sight and the use of her legs, something Lelouch could not have provided for her no matter how many battles he won or how many people he killed.

Charles zi Britannia strode up to Lelouch. Gently he took hold of Lelouch's face and lifted it to face the kneeling emperor. Lelouch could see the two Geass on the man's face, he knew, whatever Charles had done to Nunnally, it had been the power of the Geass.

Lelouch made no attempt to retaliate or fight back. Nunnally would shoot him before he managed to dictate his command, or Charles would cast his own mysterious Geass beforehand, either Lelouch had…yes…

"You have been defeated Lelouch vi Britannia."

Lelouch laughed weakly in resignation, he had lost, everything he had done to come this far, killing his cousins one by one, Clovis, Euphemia, Cornelia. Betrayed his friends and companions, Suzaku, Shirley, Kallen. All of it had come to an end.

"So it seems." Tears threatened to escape his eyes, his failure meant more than just himself, everyone he had killed or died in his name, everyone he had betrayed, all their sacrifices meant nothing now that he had lost, they had died for nothing.

"Foolish son, by coming you have forfeited yourself. Then as you wished, you will be Britannia no more, you will simply dance to whatever value you have left until there is none, Lelouch Lamperouge."

"Say bye bye to your sister child." The boy taunted him, for the last time.

Lelouch took one last look at the girl before him, a stranger now, but she was still his beloved sister. "I love you, Nunnally."

Then the world went blank around him, it could only have been the effect of Charles' Geass, it would be useful to note that Charles had not needed some kind of contact or command to use his Geass.

"Useful? No, I've already lost, everything is about to end."

Piece of Lelouch's mind faded away, and then slowly, his consciousness itself.

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He had survived, Suzaku had not decided to kill him, he could have, Lelouch was all too aware of that. Lelouch did not know why, but he could be certain it was not because Suzaku had a change of heart. The hatred between them was set in stone now, until the day one or both of them died.

Now there was the matter of Kallen knowing his identity. How much of the truth could she safely accept, how much of it would have to be a careful lie?

She ran up to him, and knelt down, which made Lelouch realize he was still down on his back on the ground since Suzaku threw him there. "Are you alright Lelouch?"

Lelouch used his left arm to hold himself as he slowly got upright and leaned against the giant door of the Kamenijima ruins. "Yeah, I'm still alive."

Kallen's attitude seemed to change as soon as he informed her of his health, "Good, now answer my questions, why are you Zero, what are you planning? Have you sold us out to Britannia? Is that why you're here?"

Lelouch paused, "Here? Here is…the Kamenijima ruins…why…"

_Click…Click Click Click Click Click Click Click…_

Lelouch's mind seemed to work in slow motion as he tried to piece together the answers himself. "I am Lelouch Lamperouge, the son of a Britannia merchant as my father and Italian politician as my mother. When I was younger my…father relinquished his position as a Britannian and went to the E.U to be with my…mother…"

Kallen didn't interrupt Lelouch, she seemed to find it perfectly normal that he paused awkwardly sometimes, as though trying to draw out the memories himself. Or perhaps she was simply remaining skeptical of everything he said.

"My father died in an attack on a city protecting my mother and I was sent away to Japan shortly, my mother hoped I would avoid death by pretending to be Britannian under one of its colonies."

There were too many holes in his explanation, they contradicted to too many things he had done, but for some reason Lelouch found the explanation fitting in so well in his mind he could find no reason to refute them.

"I became Zero in hopes that liberating Japan would shift Britannia's attention away from the E.U and my mother could use her political power to strike back while Britannia was occupied with Japan."

Kallen seemed to accept that explanation, it was logical, and human, but almost too much so for Lelouch, for Zero. Yet she accepted it, believed it, she wanted to, she wanted to continue believing in Zero, maybe more so now that she knew who he was. "Then why are you here? Why did you abandon the battle in Japan?"

_Click._

"That is…"

"Kallen?" The buzz of a voice from Kallen's communicator cut off their conversation. "Kallen, are you there?" The voice was hard to recognize but it seemed to be Kanami's.

"Kouzuki here."

"Have you found Zero? The Black Knights are being pushed back, our forces are slowly starting to retreat but most of them are being captured or killed, we need Zero."

Kallen looked at Lelouch, confounded, leaning against the wall, trying to puzzle out what had occurred. "I found him, I'm going to bring him back now."

Lelouch lifted himself up and placed his hand over Kallen's communicator, "Kanami, what's the situation?"

"Is that Zero? We've lost control of the school, it's been re-taken with the Avalon but something's happened and some of our people are still being held up there. Todoh has lost the front ranks and he's trying to organize our escape but it doesn't look like he'll make it, Britannia reinforcements have been spotted less than four hours away from us." Kanami sounded slightly panicked, but mostly resigned. Kallen cursed softly on hearing the news, the situation had completely turned around on the Black Knights.

Lelouch's regained his calm and ignored the hole in his memory, at least for now he needed to. "Kallen, how quickly can you get us back?"

"An hour if we push the flight unit hard enough."

"Kanami, have Todoh pull off the retreat, have our forces gathered to the Northwest Square of the Viceroy palace within the hour and hold their stand there."

"Impossible Zero! We'll all die!"

Lelouch used his left hand as he lifted up the veil that covered the lower half of his face. If Japan failed now then everything that had been done would have been worthless, he could not afford to lose yet.

Britannia would fall at his hands and E.U would be safe, his mother would be safe, and his father avenged. Lelouch took the communicator away from Kallen and spoke directly into it.

"I am Zero, and I will return with a miracle."


	2. Episode 2: Japan

**Episode 2: Japan**

Lelouch Lamperouge sat silently watching the monitor of one of the stolen Britannia Sutherlands he had amounted through the course of his campaign. In the storage docks near his, he had managed to amass a total of 51 Britannia Sutherlands including his that still contained the original identification codes, communication channels, and all data pertaining to the original pilots. For that matter Lelouch had 23 of the original pilots sitting inside their Sutherland under his Geass, and another 27 Britannia soldiers filling in the other Sutherlands also under command from his Geass.

"Todoh, turn left at your next intersection. C3, a small troop will be approaching you soon, ambush them from your right and make sure they don't get past, don't worry about reserving ammunition." Lelouch could clearly see both the enemy knightmares and those of the Black Knights. The stolen unit's original communication signals allowed him to synchronize the GPS system to the Britannia units, though only units who operated on an older model of the OS. While it did not provide everything, it gave Lelouch enough information along with the Black Knight's reports to put together a clear picture of the situation as soon as he arrived.

Lelouch moved his Sutherland forward and opened the hangar doors that led out into the docks, facing away from the battlefield but close enough to hear the explosions and gunfire. Lelouch switched his communications over to a private local channel, "Death Knights, formation 6."

"Yes your majesty!" The other side of the radio responded. Awkward that they called him that, Lelouch recalled no reason why they should have called him as such. Perhaps it had something to do with his subconscious desire to claim the throne once Charles was killed. Yet that was too far ahead in plans he hadn't yet made, first he needed to get Britannia's attention off E.U.

A merchant son becoming a king, Lelouch laughed at his own thoughts. "Then again a merchant son becoming the leader of a rebellion is strange enough in itself."

Hangar doors around Lelouch began simultaneously opening as knightmare frames ranging from a few fourth generation Glasgow to the royal guard Gloucesters began appearing from the hangars. They wheeled around the docks and came to formation on a main road, facing the Southwest side of the Viceroy palace.

"Death Knights, plan C." At his command, 15 of the units sped off towards the Viceroy building while the remaining 35 units started scattering themselves more slowly into the city. Lelouch checked the field map on screen again. Todoh's unit was almost where he needed to be, Asahina had managed to cut open a path for the Death Knights though he knew nothing of that himself. The Black Knights would not know the existence of Lelouch's Death Knights, he highly doubted they would have taken well to the idea of it. Sometimes people were so naive despite being willing to kill others for their ideals.

Lelouch moved his Sutherland closer to the Viceroy palace slowly himself, making sure that he fell behind the other units and most of the battle. He had sent Kallen off to help open up some pathways and to retrieve her backup arm from the moving headquarters, if Lelouch was ambushed at this point it would bring forth too many new problems.

Lelouch wished he had not lost possession of the Gawain, the fool Orange had forced him to plummet the two of them to the depths of the ocean. It was unlikely that he could retrieve it later on with it buried in the middle of the ocean along with Orange and-

"No that was it, Gawain was the only burial price I had to pay for Orange." Lelouch felt satisfied with his answer and continued on, looking occasionally at the battle map and giving out directions.

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Kallen waited as patiently as she could while Rakshata's crew moved a spare version of Guren's right arm to the cargo bay of the moving headquarters and began mounting it onto Kallen's Guren.

"This child isn't as powerful as the original, the power output is down approximately 14% and the stabilizer won't last more than 6 seconds." Rakshata was giving Kallen a quick briefing on the spare arm. "It should hold out against standard Sutherland equipment but maybe only a shot or two of that Lancelot's rifle. Anymore and you'll likely overload it."

Kallen nodded down to Rakshata from her cockpit. Zero had said he had a plan and could end this battle within the hour, she hoped she had made the right choice in listening to him and leaving him alone. If he decided to betray them at this point it would be a swift end to everyone in the Black Knights.

"It's done!"

"Thanks!" Kallen waved back to the technicians as she began closing the hatch to Guren.

Kallen made sure her meters were showing reasonable numbers before she let down Guren's landspinners. "Kallen Kouzuki, launching!"

Guren launched into the ruined landscape of Tokyo Settlement, Lelouch had sent her to join up with Todoh's forces in preparation to storm the Viceroy palace, though she had no clue how he intended to clear half the Britannia forces that now concentrated near the Viceroy palace.

She manage to clear good ground without moving into any of the enemy knightmares, most likely Todoh's actions had brought their movement closer towards the palace. She hurried on calmly through the streets, Todoh would need her assistance to hold out until whatever Lelouch was planning happened.

"Kallen!" A roar bellowed in the skies.

Kallen stopped Guren, it seemed she would not be accompanying Todoh too soon, though what she faced was primarily the reason Lelouch had sent her off. "Suzaku…"

Lancelot still carried the spare Sutherland left arm, it seemed he had not had an opportunity to re-equip himself, that or they had no spare arms for the Lancelot. Perhaps Kallen could count on that bullet wound she had made and his energy filler being lower if he had not managed a trip back to his flying fortress yet.

"Where is Lelouch?" Kallen could hear the soft rasps and pants in his voice. If he had managed to get his wound treated he was still in no better condition than before, she had gained an upper hand in that.

"Don't know and I wouldn't tell you if I did. You're in my way Suzaku, move!" She prepared her fingers for any signs that Suzaku would fire on her, Rakshata had said Guren might not handle Lancelot's rifle too well, Kallen trust that women with her knowledge of knightmares if nothing else.

"You're still trying to cover for him? After everything you know now? Can't you see it, that man will betray you, betray Japan! Everything!" Kallen could almost imagine Suzaku gripping the trigger to Lancelot's rifle as he screamed.

"Who he is doesn't matter, he's gotten us this far, and he'll liberate Japan. If I worry about his betrayal, I'll deal with it after I deal with you." In the distant, the sound of gunfire began erupting, something different had happened, was Lelouch's plan in action?

"Suzaku, get out of my way now!"

"Have you ever wondered why Euphy killed the Japanese? Why Kusakabe committed suicide? Why Jeremiah Gottwald betrayed the Britannian forces to help you escape?" He sounded calm all of a sudden, something about his voice made Kallen unnerve and grip her controls in nervousness.

"What are you trying to say Suzaku?"

"…" A sound of a large explosion muffled his voice as a fiery glow erupted near the Viceroy palace. Then a second explosion followed and a third and more until she imagined that the Viceroy palace must have already become a crater.

The wind from the explosion shook Guren as Kallen felt her entire body vibrate, yet she couldn't move any more than that as long as Suzaku towered above her with that rifle pointed at her. Surprisingly, the Lancelot's float system held up well in the backlash of the explosion, it only swayed slightly to the sides, not enough to force him to lose his aim.

"What do you mean Suzaku? What is that?" She had heard him, though muffled he had spoke of a foreign term to her.

"That is Lelouch's power, the power which warps the minds of people to his commands, the Geass." Another explosion sounded in the distance, yet Kallen's ears were now trained so intensely on Suzaku's words she could hear nothing else.

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Out of the 15 Death Knights he had sent to storm the entrance six had been able to make it as far as to the very doors of the palace while the other nine managed to decimate over half of the Britannia forces.

His plan had been surprisingly simple. He had garnered 50 Britannia knightmares and stocked them all with a large quantity of reactive Sakuradite to be used as a bomb. They were quite simply a suicidal bomb squad acting under the influence of his Geass. The fact that they were once friendly units with the respective identification code helped them get that much closer before the Britannia troops decided to open fire. At which point it was already too late.

"Now Todoh, take everyone across the east flank and swing right into the entrance, clear out all remaining Britannia forces within the palace and secure it." Lelouch could see victory now, there were only very few minor conditions that needed to be met. He checked his clock, time was one of them, he expected reinforcements soon, and likely those lead by Schneizel for that matter.

"What was that just now Zero?" Todoh sounded doubtful. Likely he already suspected some foul play on Zero's behalf.

"Now is not the time, secure the Viceroy palace. We need to win this war before Britannia reinforcements arrive." Todoh would grudgingly accept if he was told the truth, he was soldier enough to stand it though he would question too much about the details.

"…Understood Zero."

Lelouch turned his channel back towards the Death Knights as he instructed the remainder of the knights towards strategic locations to scatter and decimate Britannia troops that had not gathered at the palace's entrance during the first assault.

Lelouch had gotten his own Sutherland much closer to the palace now, as soon as Todoh's forces cleared the majority of the interior, he could make his way to securing Cornelia. If she was still where he had left her, his capture of her would end this battle, she had too much charisma and talent to be lost to the Britannians.

"Zero. Zero! Have you returned?" Diethard sounded surprisingly more desperate than Lelouch could remember the man in his impressions. It was interesting to know the bounds to which Diethard could be pushed to, likely Lelouch would need to do so in time.

"Ah, what's the matter?" Diethard's unit had been in charge of securing media outlets and backing up the temporary headquarters that they had established at Ashford academy. Lelouch had not expected problems with either of those tasks, but the vague reports he had been given on Ashford academy suggested otherwise.

"According to the reports I've been given, Ashford academy is still at a stand-still. The Avalon is still there."

Diethard emphasized Avalon's presence, he was right to do so. Avalon was a battle force that still posed a significant threat at this point. It had enough raw power to turn the tides of battle even now. Lelouch cursed under his breath, "Still!? What is that ship still doing there?"

"That seems to be the other problem Zero. It seems that the stand-still has been caused by a student who both Rakshata and the Britannian scientist Lloyd have claimed is armed with a prototype nuclear reactor rigged to detonate." Diethard sounded disbelieving at the last part of his report himself. Yet at the very least he suspected a situation of equivalent graveness to keep the Avalon harboured there for so long.

"A student!? That's impossible!" Lelouch had gone through the top minds of the academy to see if any could be useful to him. If someone had been brilliant enough to create a rigged nuclear reactor he would have already put them to use. For one his Death Knights would have been a lot more efficient.

"The reports say her name is Nina Einstein, this comes from my own personal agent."

Probably Sayoko…Lelouched muttered a curse, Nina was an anomaly, her academic abilities were above average at best, yet nothing she had done could have proved her capable of making such a device. "What does she want? She can't be holding up everyone with a bomb for nothing."

Diethard seemed to hesitate before he continued, "It seems she wants Zero in order to avenge the late princess Euphemia."

Lelouch swore, the stupid girl and her stupid obsessions, she was starting to remind him of Suzaku in their compulsion to avenge Euphemia. She would have just been another crazy lunatic if she hadn't been armed with a supposed nuclear bomb equivalent. "Who's the commanding officer on site?"

"…Tamaki."

Lelouch groaned and felt a headache coming on. He had been dealt the worst hand possible in this situation. Nina had often shown she was unstable to erratic situations and Tamaki had shown he was all too willing to create erratic situations. "Alright, make sure you have the broadcast station secured within 10 to 15 minutes, we need to make an announcement to the world as soon as all this is over."

"Understood Zero." He sounded very happy about the last part of Lelouch's command, no doubt he could see what kind of announcement Lelouch planned to make.

Lelouch switched his channel over to match Tamaki's personal communicator, "Tamaki?"

"Z…Zero? Thank you, I knew you wouldn't abandon us, my buddy!" Tamaki sounded erratic already, Lelouch was genuinely surprised this supposed bomb had not already gone off. Perhaps he had Rakshata and this Lloyd to thank for that.

"The situation?"

"Ah, this stupid student is here in front of the academy, we've pulled the majority of our men out slowly but she won't take her eyes off us in the front here. She's riding on some kind of blue knightmare with a big tube attached to its back. Rakshata says not to shoot, but…Zero, I can shoot right? She won't stop screaming, it's annoying." Lelouch could almost hear Nina's screams in the background of the communicator, she sounded very close to the edge, too close if she really had a bomb on her.

"Oi Zer-" Lelouch cut Tamaki off and patched himself through to Rakshata. Checking his monitor map, he saw no active knightmares nearby that could help the situation, Lelouch still didn't quite believe Nina had been capable of making what they had described.

"Rakshata, that bomb? Is it real?" Lelouch spoke before he confirmed her on the other line, Nina was wasting away his precious time though perhaps he should thank her for occupying the Avalon.

"Zero? Well…the pudding earl has explained the theory to me, and he said he's seen the girl with a nearly completed simulation of the design. The theory makes sense, and I trust his judgement, though whether the girl could have perfected it enough already is doubtful in my mind."

"Pudding earl?" Lelouch caught the rest of the details but the reference she made seemed a slight skew of Rakshata's image.

"That Lloyd Asplund, the Britannian scientist aboard the Avalon."

So it appeared Rakshata knew him on some personal level in the past at the very least, Lelouch kept a tab on that in the back of his mind, information sometimes became useful at unexpected moments.

Lelouch considered the option of simply ignoring Nina's threats and just letting Tamaki do as he pleased, though one problem was that he would probably kill her, and while Lelouch wouldn't miss her much he would rather not have left his friends to deal with Nina's death. The other issue was still the possibility of Nina's bomb being genuine. According to this Lloyd it seems the impact would be able to wipe everyone clean off the battlefield. It was humiliating to think that for all the battle and grandeur occurring around him, everything was being held up by a 17 year old girl with an unstable obsession.

"Rakshata, patch me through on some loud speakers and get me some feedback to the girl."

"Alright, give me some time, we're moved out a lot of our equipment." Rakshata proceeded to go off and order some of her technicians about preparing the setup.

"Zero! The Viceroy palace has been cleared!" Zero turned his attention on the other channel, Todoh's voice was the first good news since his return following strings of problems he received.

"Good, secure a route from the palace to Diethard's location." Lelouch moved his Sutherland out from the debris and cover, proceeding towards the entrance to the palace.

All he had to do was secure Cornelia, with her as a hostage he would force all remaining Britannia forces in Japan to surrender and then proclaim Japan's victory and independence to drive off Schneizel's reinforcements. Knowing Schneizel's personality, he would likely fall back from an unknown situation, though if he refused to do so, Lelouch still had a good dozen of his Death Knights left, they would dent his forces enough to make him change his mind.

Lelouch came to an open street right before the Viceroy palace, Cornelia would be on the roof, alive but likely unconscious with the injuries she suffered.

Then as Lelouch wheeled around about to enter the palace, everything changed at once.

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"A Lie." It was all Kallen could muster, what Suzaku said was impossible, for a human to have that kind of power, it was like something from an anime. But Suzaku's explanation fit too well for her to simply throw aside. It explained too many things she never could about Zero's behaviour, his actions, and his accomplishments.

"It is the truth." Lancelot still drifted in the air in that position, it made Kallen feel as though every word he delivered from above was some kind of divine truth.

"No it's all a lie! Zero wouldn't- Lelouch wouldn't do that!" Kallen felt her heartbeat rising, she tried to calm herself down to no avail. Regardless of whether he was telling the truth, Suzaku had managed to stir her up rather well. She had lost some of the advantage she had against him.

"Zero is a lie, and Lelouch is the one who created it."

Kallen could almost hear something crack inside her mind, a piece of reality that had been chipped ever since she found out Zero was Lelouch.

"Enough, where is Lelouch?"

Kallen held onto one single thread that had remained, a thin thread, one solitary ideal that she still stood behind. It reminded her that everything she had done had not been for Zero, her comrades had not died for some scheme in Lelouch's mind to help his mother and avenge his father, she…they had fought and died for their ideals, for Japan.

Kallen looked up at Suzaku from her display. Her eyes filled with renewed determination and the focus of someone who knew what they wanted. She stretched her fingers gentled and gripped them firmly on her controllers. "Sorry Suzaku, you can have him when we're done."

"Is that so Kallen." Lancelot opened fire with its rifle as Guren placed its right arm on the debris of a collapsed building that Kallen was next to the whole time.

Kallen set the surger to a high burst shield form and fired off two consecutive shots right into the debris. The result was a giant dust cloud bursting from the debris as Suzaku's fire disappeared within the brown torrent of dirt and stone.

Suzaku doubted he had managed to hit Kallen with that single shot. Seeing the dust cloud building bigger and gaining height, Suzaku pulled Lancelot higher and further up.

Moving in the torrent of dust Guren felt for what Kallen had seen was an abandoned building that still stood straight. Lancelot had been floating next to it the entire time and if she was fast enough, he still would be.

Finding a tall stiff wall for Guren's size in the torrent of dust, Kallen knew she had located the building she was looking for. Using Guren's right claw arm she stabbed into the building and flung herself up using the arm as a pivot. Using the landspinners, Guren gained temporary grip against the building as it continued to scale the structure. When Kallen felt the landspinners losing traction she kicked off the side of the building upwards, propelling her out of the dust cloud.

Suzaku had not gained enough height when he recognized Guren erupting through the dust clouds to his left, jumping even higher than his Lancelot was. He cursed as he flipped Lancelot to point upwards and aim his rifle at Kallen's Guren. Guren lacked any significant manner of propulsion to change directions in mid-air. She had given him a clear target.

"A pity Kallen." Suzaku opened two shots, one aimed at Guren's head and another at the chest.

Guren reached out with its right arm as Kallen turned on the radiation surger to the highest density shield it could muster. The first bullet aimed at Guren's chest was caught and stopped, yet the shot aimed towards the head pierced the shield with little resistance. The bullet was luckily deterred slightly from its course and only tore off half of Guren's head.

Its momentum maintained, Guren continued to fall right into Suzaku as the radiation shield caught another two bullets and let one rip off a large chunk of Guren's chest armor.

"Got you!" The radiation shield dispersed as Guren's right arm latched onto Lancelot's body.

**LIVE!**

Suzaku disengaged his float unit as the momentum of Guren's fall caused the two frames to spiral towards the ground.

Ignoring it, Kallen switched her radiation surger into assault mode as it charged up in what seemed to be the longest second of her life.

"You're mine!" Kallen fired the radiation pulse.

At the same time Suzaku fired his slash harkens into the building Guren had climbed up from. The harkens bit into the structure and the tension of the cables swung both Guren and Lancelot towards the building.

Just as Suzaku could hear the circuitry in his own cockpit explode from the radiation burst, his body shook violently as the two frames collided with the abandoned building.

The explosion around Suzaku seemed to die off along with the radiation charge. His wound had split open again from the collision, making him want to bend over and hurl.

Before Suzaku could gather his thoughts his heard the audible snap of concrete as the slash harkens ripped out the pillars they held onto. The weight of the two frames combined had put too much strain on the structure, buckling two of its main support pillars.

The two frames plummeted towards the earth with the building collapsing not on top but next to them. A giant dust cloud formed around the two as both Kallen and Suzaku impacted the ground.

Kallen's hands moved around as she fumbled for Guren's controls, she was no longer sure whether she was still even sitting on her seat. The spinning and falling had put a lot of damage on her; she could feel the dampness of her own blood in various parts of her body. She could still move her body, or at least she thought she was doing so, and her mind was too numb to be able to accept any of the pain that should have accompanied all the blood.

Opening her eyes as far as it allowed, she saw from a heavily damaged monitor that Guren had landed on the ground on top of Lancelot. Guren's damaged head could only produce half the image but she could make out that Lancelot had landed on its back, likely bringing Suzaku the brunt of the damage.

Taking no time to pause, Kallen moved Guren and mounted it on top of Lancelot. The rubble from the building had buried a good portion of Guren's lower body and the sensors showed that Guren's legs was likely not able to stand anyways.

She placed Guren's radiation surger on top and Lancelot and pulled the trigger. All she got in return was a spark and an error message on the sensors. She muttered as she used Guren's left arm to pull the melee knife out. She raised it and aimed straight at Suzaku's cockpit.

Suzaku watched helplessly through a cracked and static monitor as Guren attempted to use the radiation surger to finish him and failed. His geis screamed at him to find a way to live, to do whatever it took.

Yet all Suzaku could muster was holding onto his sides with his left arm as blood trickled through his fingers. His old wound had opened up further and some of his organs seemed to have punctured as he could taste blood gurgling up from his throat.

**LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! LIVE!**

There was nothing he could do, Lancelot was out of energy and his right hand had no feeling, he suspected he had broken it during the fall.

Suzaku seemed to breathe a sigh of relief even as the voice screamed in his mind. "I tried my best. Your victory Kallen." Suzaku lifted his left hand from his wound and searched for the Knight pin Euphy had given him. He lifted it in front of his face, it had managed to remain in one piece and clean from his blood except the stains from his hands. "Sorry Euphy, but…at least I'll finally be able to repent for my sins…and I can…see you…again…"

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"Where is Zero!? Where is he!? Where is he!?" Nina screamed, her fingers shaking violently, and her voice unsteady. It was very clear to everyone that she had become extremely unstable.

Lloyd seemed to be sweating bullets as he twice thought that Nina had pushed on the trigger. "Is it done yet Cecil?"

Cecil's face appeared on monitor and shook her head, "We need another 10 minutes at least, any imprecision and we might as well push the button now."

Cecil had started working on a custom EMP device that would be able to sever a physical connection between Nina's trigger and the reactor without affecting the reactor itself. The design and concept were simple enough to take Lloyd only a few moments to draft up but the amount of precision needed in actually making it was costing them time.

Lloyd opened a private channel to Rakshata, "Oi, can't you do something about that man down there? He looks like he's about to explode on her any second."

Rakshata looked down at who Lloyd was talking about, to find Tamaki standing there, truly appearing as though he was about to erupt. "Nope." She took a whiff of her pipe, rather evidently trying to taunt Lloyd even in a situation like this, "Haven't you been working on countermeasures yet? We're trying to put Zero on live feed over here."

"We need more time for the countermeasure, if Zero can buy that for us then it's best." Lloyd would feel no guilty conscience if participating with Zero meant that they would not be replaced with a huge crater at the end of the day.

"WHERE IS ZERO!!!" Nina screamed into the air, Lloyd muffled his own squeal at Nina's sudden outburst. Saying she was unstable was about to become an understatement.

"Ah shut up! Zero isn't coming for you, I know that cause I'm Zero's number one friend." Tamaki raised his automatic and pointed it at Nina, "I've had enough, get down from there before I shoot you!"

Lloyd stood open mouth staring at the ship's display as he slowly put on hand over his face and sighed in resignation. "Cecil, I'd like a cup of tea and some biscuits before we're reduced to dense energy matters."

On the other end, Rakshata shook her own head, once again she could not reason why Zero kept this man in the Black Knights much less in a position that gave him control of anything beyond his own limbs.

"It's done!" Cecil's image appeared on the monitor from a room housed with the setup for the Hardron cannon of the ship.

Lloyd felt hope gaze out from amidst despair. "Hurry, there's no time, activate it now!"

Cecil placed what appeared to be a palm sized square attachment into one of the panels of the room. In response a small shaft opened at the base of the Avalon revealing an antenna about the size of an adult.

"You're Zero's friend?" Nina asked Tamaki in a sudden and freakishly quiet tone.

"That's right, not just his friend, I'm Zero's number one comrade, his best buddy and his soul companion!" Tamaki boasted, it seemed with every relation he added between him and Zero the more he believed he truly was what he said he was.

"In that case if you die, Zero will be hurt right?"

"Eh?" Tamaki paused, something seemed to be trying to register in his mind.

"In that case Zero will feel so much pain. If he really won't show up then I'll just have to kill everyone here to make him regret it." She held out the trigger, her hands visibly less shaky but her expression beyond the state of unstable.

"You bitch, I'll shoot holes through your head before you try that!" Tamaki placed his hands on the trigger and fired.

The automatic was lacking in acute accuracy and the bullets strayed as they rained down over Ganymede's side.

"DIE!"

"Now Cecil!"

Everything seemed to happen at once. An invisible shock wave flowed out from the Avalon as electrical peripherals in the ship itself began shutting down or exploding. Down on the ground some of Rakshata's equipment sizzled and fried, particularly the live feed she was setting up for Zero.

Ganymede seemed to hum as the control panels dimmed down and the frame itself seemed to slouch. At the same time Nina Einstein's fingers pressed firmly down on her trigger.

It was a blanket of silence as Lloyd held his breath. There were too many uncertain variables, he had no clue behind that principle Nina had used to rig the reactor to explode, it was hard to say whether the EMP would detonate it.

Two seconds and what seemed to be a lifetime later Lloyd breathed in air. He sighed in relief, either Cecil's project had done the trick or Nina's creation was incomplete.

Three seconds later, Nina leaned back in her seat, disbelieving, she had failed. Euphemia-sama could not be revenged, she couldn't even cause Zero pain.

"Hah was that it! Now you're going to pay for wasting our time with that little stunt." Tamaki screamed at Nina victoriously, he began running up to the Ganymede ready to take Nina down.

_Click._

"Eh?" Nina could have sworn she heard something to her left. Turning towards it, her vision was suddenly engulfed in a world of white.

-----------------------

Rakshata watched as a beam exploded from the side of the Ganymede's tank. The beam erupted to about a diameter as wide as the Ganymede was tall so that one side of the beam practically grazed the ground in the direction it erupted.

The blast was so instantaneous that the Ganymede barely shook before the beam had traveled beyond sight. As soon as the beam disappeared beyond the horizon a raging wind roared from behind knocking Rakshata off her feet.

The beam had created a vacuum that threw the Black Knights, the Ganymede and even dragged the Avalon towards the center of the blast.

-----------------------

Kallen brought her knife straight down at Lancelot, towards where Suzaku would be. Normally her knife would only make a deep mark, but with the radiation burst she had shot before into Lancelot, a large amount of his midsection armor was already deformed and weakened.

The knife pierced smoothly into Lancelot's chest, a meter, half a meter and it would pierce Suzaku himself. She regretted having to do this but Suzaku was too skilled, if he was allowed to live Kallen doubted she would have equivalent advantages again.

Suzaku's vision of the Guren's blade was matched by a tiny glimpse of Guren's red frame as it slid not far from his chest. In that moment as his geis screamed into his mind, Suzaku favoured the coming death. He could almost feel the sweet sensation of what he had always imagined as his release.

In the next moment time seemed to stop, Suzaku had caught what he thought was a glimpse of a wisp of light flash past. The light seemed to stop time itself as everything around Suzaku went silent. Slowly he heard the rumbling of an escape pod ejecting and crashing into debris.

"What…is this?" Saved by a flash of light which destroyed Guren. Rescued by the light which gave him a chance to live. Denied his repentance for his sins and denied his peace.

"Incredible…" Suzaku muttered. Guren's knife remained still in Lancelot's chest, just about half a meter away from his own, yet he was alive, he had lived again.

"What a curse Lelouch…your Geass denied me even like this." Suzaku seemed to whimper as his frustration mixed together with his innate relief at surviving. "I hurt you Lelouch, I hurt you…"

------------------------

Perhaps out of everyone in those moments, Lelouch had been the one who had caught the best and longest sight of the result of Nina's bomb. Lelouch later described it more as a blindingly bright cylinder no longer than perhaps a truck.

The beam rammed right in and through and the Viceroy palace almost at the same time as it had left the Ganymede. The beam vaporized approximately a quarter of the Viceroy palace's foundations leaving no sight of debris, scent of an explosion or anything that would have been attributed to a conventional weapon.

"What was-" The slow groan of tearing caught Lelouch's ears. Lelouch looked again at the vaporized portion of palace, everything he had just planned out had suddenly been thrown out the window and replaced with a pile of excrement.

"Todoh! Go to the roof, secure Cornelia, hurry, the building is collapsing!" Lelouch swore loudly as he began to move his Sutherland away from the direction the palace was collapsing in. "Diethard!"

"Yes Zero?"

"Move a film crew over and begin taping the Viceroy palace this instant! Capture every single second of what's happening, hurry!"

Lelouch twirled his Sutherland just in time to dodge a piece of falling debris, plans had to change now that the situation was different, he would have preferred to utilize his original plan if Todoh managed to capture Cornelia but if not Diethard's video was going to have to substitute.

The building had tilted in its collapse beyond the tension that the remaining foundation could provide, it would soon enter freefall. It was unfortunate but likely a good deal of the Black Knights left inside would not make it out.

"Zero, I've made it to the roof but Cornelia isn't anywhere in sight." Todoh responded, Lelouch pointed his scanners up towards the roof of the building and vaguely managed to pick out Todoh's Gekka.

"Fine, evacuate the building. Take as many of our people with you as you can." Lelouch turned his attention away from the falling Viceroy palace and headed towards Diethard's location. He didn't have much time left with Schneizel about to land soon, he needed to strike while he still had a chance, particularly since he no longer had Cornelia as a trump.

On his way over to the station he had tried to get in contact with Rakshata, Lelouch wasn't sure but it was likely that the change to his plans had been caused by Nina's disturbance over at the academy.

His attempts to connect to Rakshata were responded to with an error message on screen, her signal had been lost. Lelouch hoped the rest of his friends were still safe and had not been dragged into the mess.

His contact with Kallen also failed, which troubled him as he gave her no further orders then to assist Todoh and watch out for Suzaku. Her connection being closed prepared him for the worst outcome, though since Suzaku had not come hunting for Lelouch, it was hard to say what had occurred.

Lelouch arrived at the media station in a few minutes, he dismounted the Sutherland and headed to meet up with Diethard at the broadcasting station, he had ordered Diethard to make the preparations beforehand. The broadcast would be aimed towards the entire world, it would not be enough that Schneizel knew they had won, if they wanted to pull his attention away from Japan they needed to make sure the entire world knew they had won so that anyone who dreamed of it might now dare follow in Japan's footsteps.

"Diethard, start the recording, play the footage when I signal you."

"Understood." Diethard went to instructing his man as they began broadcasting live across the globe.

Zero stepped onto screen, behind him stood the insignia of the Black Knights and the symbol of Japan.

"Citizens of Japan, residents of the world, and enemies of Britannia, my name is Zero!" Lelouch paused to let the moment soak through. "For years Britannia has raged its tyranny across the world, seizing freedom from our very hands, but that will no longer be tolerated."

Lelouch signalled to Diethard as a square on one of the corners of the live broadcast began displaying the collapse of the Viceroy palace.

"We have stood up against Britannia, we have stood up for our freedom! Britannia has fallen, the empire has lost. We shall stand in Britannia's shadow of tyranny no more for we are the Black Knights and we bring justice to this world!"

Lelouch waved out one of his arms as an image of the Japanese flag flared on screen, waving strongly in the wind and a background of a blue sky. "We return this country to its freedom, we return Japan!"

Lelouch could see the excited faces of some of those who stood in the broadcast station, some of those who were Japanese themselves and the fear in the eyes of those who Diethard had held hostage. The effect he wished to achieve could be seen across these very people, he was getting the results he had wanted.

Lelouch decided to give the world one last message.

"World, listen to me! I am Zero, enemy of Britannia, leader of the Black Knights, defender of justice! Seek me out and together, we shall free this world!"


	3. Episode 3: Lelouch Lamperouge

**Author's Corner**

So I've decided to start up a little author's corner just to talk about some things before starting up the chapter. First of all thanks goes out to the people who read this fic and show their support, it really makes me feel motivated and encourage.

This particular chapter took me a good deal to write as I notice I'm not very good with doing stretches of dialogue and I can never satisfy myself with the dialogue I write in one or two goes.

Nevertheless I did manage to satisfy myself eventually and here is the final product, I hope you all enjoy it. Read and review, let me know what you think, opinions, constructive criticism, suggestions, etc. It not only helps motivate me it also gives me ideas for future chapters, feel free to mail me as well.

I dedicate this chapter to all those episodes of season 1 I had to re-watch to really capture Shirley's feeling despite her not having too much to say. Not TOO big of a spoiler there I hope, well enjoy.

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**Episode 3: Lelouch Lamperouge**

Ohgi Kaname sighed again that morning as he reached for another sheet of the piles after piles of paperwork on his table. He admitted that he had never had the time or belief to imagine a free Japan, and now that it was here, he was utterly surprised to find himself sitting in an official's chair sifting through paperwork.

"Maybe I was more suited to retiring and opening my own bar." Life would a lot more simple that way, and he'd be able to close shop and rest instead of sitting here making decisions that were generally beyond his understanding with a bullet wound to his side.

He touched his aching side and was reminded of Chigusa. He had heard no more of her after she had shot him and fled off, but at the very least that also meant no one had given him reports of a dead Britannian matching her description. Ohgi couldn't help but think back to those days with her as fond memories despite her true identity.

At their announced victory following the Tokyo battle, Zero had given them very little time for rest but his reasoning was true, "The world doesn't stop once you win the war."

They had freed Japan, but at the same time destroyed much that supported the country, infrastructure, financial systems, security, the list went on and on. Basic necessitates such as water, electricity, and food had been put back into quick order as they were mostly managed through the Japanese people themselves. However policing, communications, and the likes had enough of a Britannia flavour that the systems collapsed when the Britannian who knew how to operate it were killed or too scared to leave their homes.

Excluding those things, everything was as Ohgi had hoped for when he joined the original rebellion with Naoto, yet somehow back in the nights when they hid from patrol and slept alongside garbage dumps Ohgi had imagined he would be part of the feast and celebration that happened among the citizens like from an anime, feasts and dances and…well no one ever had to think past that. He was ashamed to admit that being buried with all the problems and paperwork almost made him wish Britannia still ruled and took care of everything.

Ohgi finished marking through another document, this one had been on the damages some group of Japanese students had totalled in using the rebellion as a chance to steal, rob, mug and whatever else they wanted to. It disheartened Ohgi to see that people like those existed as well. Taking a deep breath he got up from his chair and shifted his gaze outside the window.

His office as the new Japan Cabinet Minister was located in a structure that had previously served as a fortified military station on the fringes of Tokyo. The structure was one of the few sturdy and safe buildings that remained in Tokyo and served well as a temporary government station with the equipment that existed already. As such his office itself was dull and gray, with only a table, chair and some cabinets to store documents and files.

On the fringes of the city where he stood, Ohgi could almost imagine a peaceful Japan if not for the destruction and ruins that hinged on the horizon and the sight of the empty streets, barren of life. The Japanese people were busy celebrating, though with the help of Todoh's enforcements, they were doing it in more legal and non violent manners, while the Britannian had been either placed under house arrest depending on their ranks or were simply too afraid to exit their homes. Zero had taken the largest hand in policies dealing with the remaining Britannian, surprisingly Zero left most of everything else up to members of the Black Knights who he had promoted onto government seats.

Ohgi sighed…like his. He had been made Cabinet Minister, though most decisions he reached came from Kaguya's guidance. Todoh was made Defence Minister and had started to re-organize Japan's own military, there were others, but the two of them held the most powerful positions in Japan.

A knock on the door interrupted his break, "Cabinet Minister Kaname?" It was the voice of his secretary, a woman that Diethard had found Ohgi, whom he was quite grateful for frankly because she had a talent for organizing documents and his schedule, which he did not.

"Yes, Sawaka-san?" She was dressed in simple business attire, not entirely how Ohgi imagined a secretary would be, though her abilities made up for any possible short comings such as her stiffness to his attempts at humor.

"Defence Minister Kyoshiro has arrived."

"Ah, Todoh. Can you bring us some coffee please? I'm afraid it's going to be a long talk." Ohgi moved another chair over to his table himself and pushed aside his pile of paperwork, at least he had a legitimate excuse for putting them off now.

"Very well." Sawaka stepped out and closed the door. It took another second for Ohgi to realize that the complex didn't have anything that could make coffee and that he had never asked for any before this point. He apologetically hoped that he had not just sent Sawaka across the city to find two cups of coffee, then again there was only half of the city left to go through.

A few minutes after Ohgi settled back into his seat, Todoh knocked on the door and walked in. Ohgi got up to grab another chair for Chiba who he had not expected to follow in with Todoh. Todoh still wore his old Japanese military uniform with a katana strapped to his side. Todoh's philosophy was that as a Defence Minister he needed the stern outlook to the public, particularly in this time where chaos ran amok, and Zero had agreed with him enough.

Chiba on the other hand wore something that resembled what Ohgi had imagined Sawaka would have dressed in before he saw her. Though spotting a bulge on the side of her hip, Ohgi could tell this secretary made herself distinct by carrying a loaded fully automatic pistol. Or at the very least a pistol, for all he knew it could be a mini-gun.

"Have a seat." Ohgi offered the two of them as he went and sat back in his own chair. "I asked Sawaka to grab us some coffee but it might take a while, I just remembered we didn't have anything like that in the building."

Todoh nodded and Chiba remained silent as they both sat.

"Well then, we need to update ourselves on our situations." Todoh grabbed some documents from Chiba and laid them out on Ohgi's table. "Firstly the military, the foundation has been established, we're pulling in recruits and Zero has managed to find us sufficient funding from the outside."

Ohgi observed the specific amount of recruits that Todoh was talking about, "This…isn't exactly a military."

Todoh sighed, "Yes, for a large number of the people, the conflict has just ended too soon to ask them to step back into the units. And unfortunately no amount of funding that Zero can amass over a week could fund a full military."

"But we're talking about just barely enough recruits here to make a second Black Knights, and this funding won't get them much further than standard arms and new set of uniforms plus their salary." Ohgi suddenly realized that they never got paid as members of the Black Knights, it seemed awkward to talk of being paid to fight the way they did. "What if Britannia attacks?"

Todoh continued looking down at the documentation, "No."

Ohgi raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"The Britannia forces won't be coming near Japan for a while, Zero's broadcast at the collapse of the Viceroy palace ensured that. He's bred enemies in corners and holes that Britannia can't see as opposed to enemies like Japan which they can still identify. For them, it's more important they find and suppress those issues they're not aware of first. It was a brilliant move by Zero."

If Todoh said so, Ohgi could hardly argue on it, Todoh had greater experience in this field and his intuition of the battlefield was stronger.

Ohgi put his palm on top his stacks of paper which reached higher than his head sitting down. "And well, as you can see, this is my progress." Chiba gave a slight chuckle at that remark and Todoh accompanied it with a smile.

"You've done impressive work from what I've heard Cabinet Minister."

"No, no. Mostly just learning and following Kaguya-san's advice." Kaguya had been raised to deal with what he dealt with now ever since she was born, Ohgi had simply been raised to…well, that wasn't important.

"Not at all Ohgi-san, you've proven yourself very capable on your own." Ohgi and Todoh both turned heads as Kaguya walked into the room.

"But you know, this place could really use some more colours." Kaguya said as she looked around the gray dull room.

Ohgi laughed, "Sorry about that, I haven't had the time to buy some paint yet."

Todoh got up from his seat, about to greet Kaguya before she gestured him to stop. "It's quite alright Defence Minister, I'm simply here to pick up a report for Zero-sama."

Even so Todoh gave Kaguya a small bow, Kaguya's position had become extraordinary complex. Following the rebellion, Zero disbanded the Kyoto group to ensure they would not struggle for control in a recovering Japan led by a small and un-established government.

The Kyoto group's assets were confiscated and given to Kaguya to manage and while she was consequently expelled from her own house to obtain neutrality in the issue of her inheritance from the late Kyoto group. Her political knowledge also made her Ohgi's advisor though that was left outside public knowledge, placing her as the most powerful person in all of Japan in a sense.

"More guests?" Sawaka entered into the room with a tray of coffee, Ohgi was convinced she must have had foresight to have prepared exactly four cups of it. She left the tray on a stool next to Ohgi's desk as everyone except Kaguya began picking up a cup.

"Perfect timing Sawaka, could you fetch that report I've prepared in cabinet 12? Kaguya-san's come to fetch it."

For a moment Sawaka seemed to freeze in place, her eyes wondered and stared into the middle of nowhere, "Very well, I'll be right back." Her strange behaviour lasted so short that Ohgi assumed she was simply having a small lapse of memory or the likes, and since no one else was looking at her to confirm it, Ohgi left it alone.

It took another few minutes for Sawaka to return with a red folder, in which Kaguya discussed another few issues with both Ohgi and Todoh. While Ohgi benefitted from another lesson he was somewhat surprised to learn that Todoh paid attention equally. It took a while before Ohgi recalled that Todoh had been more of a soldier in Japan's pre-war state as opposed to a politician.

"Here it is Kaguya-sama." Sawaka returned with a red folder in hand and handed it to Kaguya.

"Thank you very much Sawaka-san." She then turned towards Todoh and Ohgi, "Well then, if you'll excuse me."

Ohgi, Todoh, and Chiba got up and bowed as Kaguya departed. Ohgi then settled back into his seat and looked at the cup of coffee that remained on the tray, the cup that Kaguya had refused.

He held his own cup and swung the rest of its contents down into his throat, following that Ohgi took up the leftover cup of coffee and began sipping on it. Maybe Sawaka already knew Kaguya didn't drink coffee.

Ohgi turned back to look at Todoh and reminded himself of the stacks of paper sitting at the corner of his table. He desperately wished his work ended at 5:00 like normal jobs. "So, where were we?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lelouch removed his contact lens and stared the Japanese soldier in the eye. "No one passed through here."

The Japanese soldier saluted, "Yes sir!" He turned back towards the position he was facing before as Lelouch walked by him unnoticed.

As Zero he had placed soldiers in all Britannia facilities that still operated, in part it was to prevent remaining Britannia citizens from causing trouble, on the other hand it was to prevent the Japanese from making any assault on the Britannian. By the looks of Ashford campus, Lelouch guessed that Todoh's forces was managing their job at least.

As Lelouch put his contact back on, something bugged him at the back of his mind. He wondered how he had managed to get his hands on something that managed to suppress his Geass as he had no memory of making it himself. Unable to come to any kind of conclusion he shrugged it off to more pressing matters of which he had too many of.

Lelouch stood in the campus courtyard for a moment as he gazed up at the Ganymede which had toppled into a building in the aftermath of the blast. Ashford academy held no resources to move it back into storage at the moment, so it stayed there, a reminder to Lelouch that Nina Einstein had become a dangerous variable.

His eyes trailed a path of torn dirt, cement, and metal that stretched out from the courtyard into the city. It was presumably caused by that beam of light he had witnessed about a week ago, the destruction around the source hardly seemed worthy to indicate the power of the weapon Nina had created.

Entering the academy complex itself, Lelouch watched as people walked back and forth, crowded groups gathered in the hallways. Some groups were bundles of children playing card games together while some bandaged adults sat not too far away locked in discussion.

From what he had heard, Milly had opened up the academy grounds as a shelter to injured Britannian. Most of the people who had gathered here were family members who held no status or rank within Britannia and were simply civilians. Lelouch saw it as a good idea to keep Britannian calm, and if necessary the entire school was one large body of hostages he could utilize.

Lelouch's eyes veered around as he tried to spot Milly, or any of his other friends. His school uniform fit in well amongst the rushes of Ashford students who were helping deliver supplies or bandaging patients up.

"Onii-chan?" A little girl tugged at his sleeve.

Lelouch bent down as he looked at a six year old girl with an eye patch across one of her eyes and bandages around her arm. She wore a light green dress and had a pair of red running shoes on. Despite what appeared to be severe and painful wounds, the girl kept a bright smile on her face.

"Here." She offered Lelouch a flower folded from coloured paper. "Milly Onee-chan showed me how to make these and asked me to give them out." The paper flower was simple yet elegant, but what surprised Lelouch more is that the girl would have had to fold it with only one hand.

"Thank you." Lelouch accepted the flower and smiled back at the girl as he put the stem of the flower into his chest pocket. "It's beautiful."

The girl smiled back at him as she turned around and went over to a group of children, her able hand carrying a bag of the flowers she had given Lelouch.

Lelouch turned away and proceeded down the hall just in time to catch sight of Sayoko pushing a cart of warm meals down the corridor.

"Sayoko!" Lelouch called out across the hallway.

The maid dressed Sayoko turned in Lelouch's direction as her eyes lit up. Quickly, faster than Lelouch had imagined she was capable of, she approached him and bowed. "Thank god that you're safe, Lelouch-sama."

"I'm glad you are too Sayoko." Lelouch opened up his arms and gave her a gentle hug while thinking in the back of his mind. He hadn't heard nor given orders to Diethard regarding Sayoko, likely the man simply wanted to leave her alone for now or he found her useful within a Britannian camp.

"What about Nunnally-sama? I haven't been able to find her since the trouble settled down. I assume Nunnally-sama is with you?" Sayoko asked with a hinge of worry.

"Eh?" Lelouch looked at Sayoko in puzzlement. Who?

"I'm terribly sorry that I lost track of her during the…battle. I assumed she was safe with Milly-san and everyone else but…" Sayoko bowed down deeply in front of Lelouch, he could tell that she was serious about everything she said, only that he had no idea what she was talking about. "I'm truly sorry!"

"Don't worry about it Sayoko, more importantly who is Nunn-" Lelouch wanted to get more information from her as a prickling sensation itched at the back of his mind.

"Oi! Sayoko! Here, those meals are probably getting cold!" A student shouted out across the hall for Sayoko as he pointed towards one of the classrooms that Lelouch had seen being used as a sickroom.

"Sorry Lelouch-sama, I'll be right back." Sayoko pushed the tray as she sped off towards the room to deliver the meals.

"Ah, wait!" Lelouch called out after her, but his voice drowned amidst a crowd who pushed past him into an auditorium he had once used during a lecture. When the crowd passed him, Sayoko was already out of sight.

"Nunnally…" Lelouch tried to recall where he might have heard that before, but to no avail. He soon gave up, he could find out from Sayoko later on, he needed to find Milly first and take care of what he came to do.

"Lelouch?"

Lelouch turned around to the source of the voice and found Rivalz there, his eyes sparkling with joy and on the edge of tears. "Lelouch!" Rivalz jumped at Lelouch as he sent both of them straight into the floor.

"Ow that hurts! Get off Rivalz!"

"You're safe! I'm so glad you're safe!" Rivalz refused to get off as he continued to hug the downed Lelouch on the floor.

Rivalz tired out after a while and helped Lelouch and himself up while some kids watched and some adults pointed at the two blushing. Lelouch hoped no one took pictures of the moment, it was the last thing he needed to be remembered by.

"I'm so glad you're safe, we didn't hear anything from you after that call you gave us. You have no idea what happened after that, man, you sure gave us trouble with that phone call. I guess it turned out ok though since you're not in your frantic big brother mode."

Frantic big brother mode? Lelouch had no idea Rivalz saw him like that on occasions, then again Lelouch could almost imagine it himself, if only he had a sibling he would know for sure.

"Well…yeah…I guess it turned out ok." Lelouch tried to bluff through whatever it was he thought Rivalz was talking about, he was equally glad to talk no further of the rebellion, his own re-collection of some events seemed awkward to say the least.

"Have you seen Milly around Rivalz?" Lelouch asked.

Rivalz grinned hard at Lelouch, "Our dear Milly has finally decided to call off the marriage to that Earl."

It then occurred to Lelouch where he had heard of Lloyd before now, it was when he was introduced to him as Milly's fiancée. "Why?"

"Man Lelouch you almost look upset with that face of yours, this is good news! Now I've still got a chance!"

Lelouch didn't bother arguing with Rivalz over that it was good news, at least now Lelouch could be certain he wouldn't involve Milly in his war if he went to battle Britannia. "What changed her mind though?"

Rivalz shrugged melancholically, "Well not sure, she said she wants to succeed and take over Ashford academy while doing some publishing work. If I had to guess, this whole disaster made her realize how precious this place is to her. I guess her family finally came to see her decision more important than their family status."

"I see. What about Shirley?" Lelouch remembered that she had been acting odd when he arrived as Zero.

Rivalz went silent for a while as they continued walking, he had led him to a part of the academy that was less crowded, empty almost.

"She quit school." He responded to Lelouch's question at last.

"What? Why?" Lelouch couldn't help his surprise.

Rivalz shook his head sadly, "She wouldn't tell me, I think she might have said something to Milly but I don't know. She packed up everything and left three days after the battle stopped…I hear her mom also got caught up in the fighting and died."

Lelouch held back a cry of frustration, he had managed to steal something away from her again indirectly. He cared for her deeply and he had done what he did hoping it was the best for her…and now to steal away her family away from her again. "You're a despicable man Lelouch." He whispered to himself.

"What?" Rivalz pulled his ear, signalling he hadn't heard what Lelouch had said.

"No, nothing." He smiled back at Rivalz. "So Milly's around the west wing?"

They had walked towards the west wing of the academy, this wing compromised of small multi-purpose rooms. Thus there was no one wandering the halls and the rooms were empty themselves.

Rivalz shrugged, "Well one of the broadcast rooms were being used by her just a while ago, and they're all around here somewhere so I assume she would be too. You're not trying to strike up a date with my Milly already are you?"

Lelouch laughed nervously, "No at all, I only wish you the best of luck."

They continued walking for another while until they had searched the remainder of the first floor. Following Rivalz, they moved onwards to the second floor. Passing a corner as soon as they arrived on the second floor, they spotted someone they had not expected.

"Shirley!" Rivalz shouted as he looked at the orange hair girl who wore a set of casual clothing. Rivalz was about to run up to her but was stopped as Lelouch held him by the shoulder.

"What're you doing Lelouch?" Rivalz turned back and looked at Lelouch, who looked towards Shirley, or more precisely the pistol she held in her right hand.

"Shirley, what's going on, why do you have that gun?" Lelouch asked.

"Gun?" Rivalz turned back towards Shirley and realized that Lelouch was right. His face showed a clear expression of disbelief, it was impossible to think that Shirley would hold a gun.

Those thoughts quickly escaped his mind as she held it with both hands and pointed it at them. "What's going on Shirley? Why are you doing this?"

Lelouch began considering his options, how he could stop Shirley, how they could escape. Shirley's athletic abilities were better than his but she'd never used a gun before, Rivalz and he would be able to suppress her.

"Just don't interfere civilian, we're only after the black haired one." A voice came from behind them, Lelouch seemed to recognize the voice somewhere in his distant memories.

As the two of them turned around they came face with a dark skinned lady with her hair tied in a long ponytail.

Villetta? Lelouch recognized her as Orange's previous second in command. He recalled she had been terribly demoted along with Orange under Cornelia's rule, but why did she want him? Did she know something about his identity? Either way, his plans to overwhelm Shirley had been quickly scrapped.

Lelouch searched through his memory as he recognized Villetta as one of the first people he had cast his Geass on, before he had done so under the guise of Zero.

Quickly he put two and two together, if Shirley had somehow managed to wedge out of the influence of his Geass and Villetta had somehow managed to link a rogue Britannia student to Zero through that first incident…the pieces would fit and it didn't even take a big assumption.

"What's going on here!? Who are you!?" Rivalz shouted at the new comer, though he was wary enough to keep himself timid. Like Shirley, Villetta also held a gun in her hand, yet it was evident even to Rivalz that she was a professional and would use it a lot more willingly and effectively.

"Don't resist Rivalz, we're only after that Lelouch." This time the voice came from Shirley, while Rivalz turned around, Lelouch kept his gaze on Villetta, she was the more experienced one.

"What happened Shirley? Why are you doing this!?" Rivalz asked in puzzlement.

"That man isn't who you think he is, he isn't that Lelouch. He is Zero!" Shirley shouted back at Rivalz, her hands starting to shake as her emotions boiled.

"Stop fooling around Shirley, he's Lelouch, what's gotten into you? You should know better than anyone, you liked him!"

Shirley paused as her gun seemed to temporary lower itself, "…What?"

Lelouch sighed without taking his eyes off Villetta, things were unwinding in a direction he could never have predicted, he forced himself away from Shirley's memories to bring her relief, not more pain. It seemed she had only gained part of her memory back which just made everything worse.

"That's a lie…I couldn't have…no…" Shirley seemed to whimper weakly as she tried to retort Rivalz.

"Enough! How naive can you be? He is Zero! He killed your father, killed your mother, made you forget everything, and all this time he just smiles in your face. He's just a liar!" Villetta shouted across to Shirley while keeping her gun trained on Lelouch.

Her words seemed to put resolve back into Shirley as she gripped her gun harder, "Yes that's right! Return my memories! Give me my Mom and Dad back! Zero!"

Lelouch remained silent as realization began to dawn on him, he had failed. Trying to do what he thought was right, trying to protect those he cared for...was it wrong? Shirley was not happier, her family was dead, she was left with a broken memory...

Then at the very least he had the responsibility to carry on what he began, to make their sacrifices worthwhile, to see that their suffering was not a lie. For these people he could not put down the mask of Zero, the Zero who represented evil, their hatred, and the only salvation they could find after he had ruined their lives. For these people Lelouch Lamperouge no longer existed, there was only Zero.

Lelouch turned around to face Shirley, his hands clasped around his face as his expression turned into a wide grin. "Unfortunately, their lives are already mine. And your memories as well, all of it is mine." Lelouch spoke in a taunting voice.

Villetta cursed softly behind Lelouch, she hadn't expected him to come clean about his identity, it would mean the girl was less useful as a hostage and shield if he was willing to reveal himself to her.

Villetta pointed her gun towards Lelouch's leg, she decided that ending the charade now while she still had the upper hand was the right choice.

"What are you talking about Lelouc-Watch out!" Rivalz dived past Lelouch as Villetta's gun sounded. The bullet cleaved right into Rivalz's thigh as he dropped to the ground in pain.

Seeing her shot had failed Villetta was about to fire again when she stopped to watch Lelouch in amazement as he placed his foot on top of Rivalz and grinded at his wound. "Shirly was right Rivalz, I am Zero. Leader of the Order of Black Knights, Lelouch Lamperouge was merely a lie."

Even moaning out in pain, Rivalz looked towards Lelouch desperately, pleadingly, hoping that what he had heard was not true, simply hoping that he could not hear at all. "That's a lie...it has to be. You're...our...friend..."

Lelouch looked down at Rivalz with eyes filled with mockery and as if watching an animal in his palms squirm knowing what is inevitable, "Wrong."

He turned and looked towards Villetta, "And you, rushing here hoping to capture me, but ever so ignorant. Do you know how my power works?" The statement put Villetta into the sudden realization that she was dealing with more than just a student.

"My ability is as you surmised, I can control anyone I want...as long as they hear my voice."

Without thinking much about it, Villetta slammed her hands against her ears, trying to cover up any sounds that she could hear. At the same time all Shirley could find herself doing was standing there in awe as her reality crumbled, her nightmares confirmed.

Lelouch smiled as he watched Villetta slam her hands into her ears. "Situation cleared."

Lelouch began dashing towards Villetta, aimed towards the stairs that led down the second floor and back onto the first. As Villetta realized that she had been tricked, she removed her hands from her ears and pointed her gun at Lelouch. Just as her laser sight trained onto Lelouch, Villetta found herself suddenly collapsing onto one knee from a spell of dizziness.

The force and power with which she had tried to block off her ears had caused a minimal change of pressure within her ears. When she released her hands the pressure attempted to normalize which in turn rocked the nerves in her ears that managed balance resulting in her feeling as though she had been twirled lightly around.

Speeding past Villetta and practically tumbling down the stairs Lelouch screamed at the top of his lungs, "Terrorists! Two female terrorists with guns! They shot someone, help!"

Before Villetta managed to catch up to him, Lelouch managed to find himself back amongst a crowd of people who were now calling for the guards, "Terrorists! Back by the west wing, there were two female terrorists who shot another student!"

Chaos ensued as students tried to calm the civilians who had gone into panic and began trying to scramble in every possible direction while some of the other students went outside to call for the guards.

"Terrorists!"

"Run for your lives! We're all going to be killed!"

"No!!! Mommy!!"

The screams of terror, chaos and children crying allowed Lelouch to slip through the crowd without drawing any attention, the Britannian were still plenty nervous enough to forget about anything else at the call of a terrorist.

As he inched towards the exit Lelouch's shoulder collided with a blond figure sending them both to their knees.

"Lulu? What's going on I thought you-" Milly tried to speak but was cut off as Lelouch pulled her off to the side of the onrushing crowd.

"Sorry about the mess president, and not being able to say goodbye to you properly." Lelouch apologized with a sincere smile.

"Apologize? What're you talking about Lelouch? Did something happen?"

"You'll find out later from Rivalz, I'd like you to tell him I apologized but I guess that won't happen. Sorry for everything and thank you for all these years."

"Wait Lulu! Why-"

Lelouch removed his contact as his left eye gazed into her, "You didn't see me just now, Rivalz is on the west wing second floor. You should go help him."

Milly paused, her eyes staring at the wall Lelouch had pulled her aside to. After a few seconds of daze she spun around as though looking for someone who had been there seconds ago. Seeing no one she felt a compulsion to head towards the west wing, "I need to help Rivalz...second floor, west wing..."

Lelouch looked back at the school from the front gates, he had heard no gunshots which meant he could assume that Shirley was safe though it likely meant Villetta was as well. At the very least he no longer had to worry about his identity, it wouldn't matter if rumours spread from Ashford that Zero was a student, nor would Villetta dare try to use that to her advantage while she harboured herself in Japan soil.

He took one last look at Ashford academy as he turned around and walked away, saying goodbye to the Lelouch Lamperouge that had existed here for seven long years.

--------------------------------

Zero walked into the bridge of the new vessel of the Order of Black Knights, Rakshata had dubbed it Ikaruga and had spent the last week finalizing its design. The ship was equipped with a flight system modified over the Avalon's system based on Rakshata's study of Gawain's flight design.

Two hardron canons were enclosed on the ship along with multiple turrents and a defence system that had been based off Guren's radiation surger design. Rakshata had proudly boasted that her design would be able to best the Avalon in the right hands.

"Is it ready for departure?" Zero asked Rakshata who slouched on her own customized seat that she had placed on the bridge, essentially a long rug stretched across a random platform.

She answered without looking and Zero and continued drumming on her keyboard while smoking her pipe. "Well pretty much, it'll be able to head wherever you want to go but the flight system needs a few more tweaks and some more charge to the energy cells before it can be operational. Asides from that, the weaponry and controls are working fine."

"Good, that will be enough." Zero turned towards Diethard who had also been supervising some of the operations from the ship's bridge. "Contact Ohgi and Todoh, tell them that we'll be departing. Gather the men whom I've requested onto the ship, I want us to depart within two hours."

"Understood Zero, but...where are we going?" Many of the Black Knights had sensed that the next phase in Zero's plans were about to be put in motion, but no one knew of the specifics.

"First we'll be moving south from sea to pick up Asahina's squadron as well as Kallen. And then..." Lelouch paused and pulled up the display of a map on Ikaruga's main monitor. He guided a pointer towards their final destination.

"The Chinese Federation."

--------------------------------------------

A small human figure floated on the middle of the ocean, her back to the waters and her clothes tattered. Her face looked bored as she eyes gazed lazily into the sky with her green hair occasionally slapping her face from the force of the tide.

She had been adrift for a few days now, miraculously drifting closer to land with each passing day as opposed to away from it. Yet nevertheless stranded for days without the sight of fishing boats or trade vessels passing by.

"Boring..." She looked around again to confirm her view of blue ocean that stretched as far as her eyes could see on all sides. "Wish there was some pizza."


	4. Episode 4: Red and White

**Author's Corner: **Definitely the longest chapter I've ever written in my life thus far, but when all was said and done it really felt worth it. This chapter goes back in time a bit to talk about some of the things two specific characters did following the end of the battle in Japan. From this point onwards these two characters are going to start sidetracking from their equivalent in the anime series mainly because I want them to grow and develop according to the changes I've made to the series. Obviously they'll stay remain true to their traits and persona but as we move along the distinctions will become stronger. Enjoy.

**Episode 4: Red and White**

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_Three days following the liberation of Japan_

_-----------------------------------------------------_

"How's the response on the left arm?" Rakshata asked.

Kallen fiddled with the controls again, trying to get a feel for the new setup. The flexibility and the sensitivity the new control system provided amazed her to no extent. In addition to the standard roller control started back in fifth generation knightmares, Rakshata had added in a finger-glove like control meant to simulate the movements of the knightmare's fingers. Normally detail on that level was meaningless in a knightmare fight, but this unit was different.

Kallen nodded satisfyingly, "It works great!"

"Good, you can get off now. We'll calibrate the rest of it based on the tests. It'll be done before you head out tomorrow." Rakshata said.

Opening her hatch, Kallen stepped out of the motorcycle orientated cockpit similar to the one found in Guren, which was a expected considering the nature of this knightmare frame. From the outside, the knightmare appeared to be a modified variation of the Gekka unit that Todou and the others used, however Rakshata had made quite a few revisions to the knightmare as well as to the control systems specifically customized for Kallen.

In particular was a modification to the radiation surger that Rakshata had recently developed. Instead of the claw sized surger Guren originally possessed, this knightmare had been mounted with miniature versions of the radiation surger placed into each finger tip of the knightmare frame.

According to Rakshata, each surger was capable of generating 10% of the output of the original surger. Rakshata emphasized that Kallen wouldn't be able to deliver the same level of damage as with the original surger, but the new surgers had their own advantages. The new radiation surgers could be used to decimate circuitry, hydraulics, metallic frames up to one meter within the knightmare by simply making contact with the surface. The new radiation pulse was essentially a focused needle that pierced through the armoured layer of a knightmare and into the internal framework. And since the power of each surger was reduced, it meant the charge up period to fire a pulse of radiation blast was virtually non-existent.

"Still...it's not quite the same." Kallen muttered as she stepped down. This new nameless model was meant to replace Guren while Rakshata had it completely rebuilt following the devastating end Guren met at the end of the liberation war.

"Hmm? Something about the weaponry system or the response not satisfying enough?" Rakshata poked her head out from behind Kallen and asked. "It's based off an older unit so it can't be helped that it's a bit on the slow side."

"Eh!?" Kallen hadn't expected Rakshata to overhear her. "No, nothing like that. Just...after all this time fighting together with Guren, it feels a bit lonely without it is all."

Rakshata looked at her thoughtfully, "Is that so. Well Guren's going to take some time to rebuild so you'll have to use this unit in the meantime."

Kallen gestured somewhat apologetically at Rakshata, "Of course, I'm not trying to complain about it."

"It doesn't make a difference to me either way." Rakshata said as she walked off with an amused expression.

Kallen waved off to Rakshata before she left the docking bay of the Order's new flagship.

The flagship Ikaruga had apparently been in development before the end of the liberation and had only been brought out into the open once the develop team had completed the bare essentials. The ship was a battle class aerial ship designed to match head to head with the Britannia flagship Avalon. While Rakshata had not yet completed the flight system, the artillery onboard based off Gawain's hadron cannon alone made it a force to be reckoned with. To the Black Knights it was amazing to know they had come so far as to liberate Japan and now obtain a battleship with a float system comparable to Britannia's leading fleets.

Kallen wandered the corridors, trying not to get lost again as she made her way back to her quarters. The last time she had gotten lost trying to reach the bridge, she ended up mysteriously close to Lelouch's room.

Thinking of the incident, Kallen sighed, "What am I supposed to say to him..." She hadn't spoken to Lelouch since the liberation, in part because Lelouch had been busy as Zero, but mainly because she still wasn't sure what to think about the things Suzaku had said to her.

Passing through another one of the same bland corridor and turning right, Kallen realized that she was staring at a hallway she was sure she had passed before, the same layout appeared before her as she realized she was looking at a hallway that she had already passed through three times now. Once again, she was utterly and completely lost, nowhere closer to her own quarters than when she started, if not further.

"Why isn't there a single map on a ship this size?" She muttered to herself. Disregarding it, she took another left turn, hoping to bump into someone eventually so they could tell her where she was going since she no longer had any idea herself.

A black figure passed the corridor in front of her as Kallen turned at another intersection, her eyes brimmed with joy at the sight of another human being who didn't look like he was lost. "Excuse me! I need some help with direction--"

She stopped dead when she got close enough to recognize the figure.

"Kallen? What's wrong?" Standing in front of her was Zero, wearing his guise and looking as though he had just attended a meeting. An awkward pause incurred as Kallen tried to come up with an excuse to pull out without seeming too awkward, "Don't tell me you're…lost?" Zero asked.

"No, not at all…just taking a stroll around a bit." Kallen flustered. Why was Lelouch so good at reading minds?

Kallen couldn't see it but somehow she could imagine Lelouch's amused expression behind that mask as he looked at her silently. "Is that so? Well just don't forget your room is in that direction. Straight down the hallway, two rights and then a left."

Somehow that taunting amused expression of his just became stronger in her mind. "I know that Lelo- …Zero…"

The air turned heavy and tense all of a sudden, Kallen regretted her negligence for a moment, but then upon reflection realized this was as good a chance as any to pry some answers out of Lelouch. "I need to ask you some questions Zero." This time Kallen made sure she emphasized his alias.

Zero kept silent for a few moments, each passing second seemed to put another ton of weight against Kallen's chest until the silence felt suffocating. "Unfortunately…" Zero's voice finally broke the silence, "I have some things to discuss with the Cabinet Minister Ohgi. You can ask me what you need to after your mission." Without another word or waiting for Kallen's reply, he turned around and left.

Kallen wanted to call out after him, she needed to know, she had a right to know after all this. Yet her quivering lips and trembling body couldn't summon the strength to stop Lelouch. She was afraid, afraid of the truth, afraid of Lelouch, afraid of who she might become if she learned what he was.

As Lelouch passed out of sight, Kallen wiped the sweat off her forehead, she felt as though she had just taken on two Lancelots at once and now managed to live through to tell the gruesome tale. At the very least Lelouch had indicated that they would talk about it after she was done her mission.

Sighing, Kallen turned and walked in the opposite direction Zero had left in. It wasn't until a moment later when Kallen came face to face with another intersection that she realized that in all the tension she had completely forgotten the instructions Lelouch had given her.

"A map…we need a map…"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The battleship Avalon hovered outside the boundary waters of the western front of E.U. Beneath it floated about a hundred naval fleets of the Britannia navy and behind it a few other Caerleon class battleships hovering in the air. The combined force was approximately a thousand knightmare frames strong. It was hardly enough to challenge the formidable Belhind, if no one else believed it Schneizel knew it all too well, even after that man resignation from the throne of the fortress Belhind remained as impenetrable as ever. Yet Charles zi Britannia himself had ordered the assault on Belhind, an odd occurrence, the Emperor hadn't touched the countries affairs for a few years now, much less step in to conduct the affairs of a battle.

"What do you think, Suzaku-kun?" Schneizel asked.

Suzaku was clad in a formal white suit, somewhat similar in nature to the one Schneizel wore. Along with it, Suzaku wore a blue and gold cape around his shoulders.

His eyes studied the landscape before the Avalon from the monitor.

"From the data I've gone over this will be a difficult battle with our current forces, if we can't claim a decisive victory within the day we're best off retreating." Suzaku answered.

"Oi oi Suzaku! Don't sound so glum, you've a member of the Rounds now, have some more pride." A tall blond boy who stood beside Suzaku said. He wore the same uniform as Suzaku but covered himself with a cape of green and gold. Part of his hair was tied in braids and jiggled when he moved. "The Rounds is a rank given only to those who have the power to change the tides of battle by themselves. Not to mention we have two of us here." The blond figure spoke with undisputable arrogance and pride as he leaned onto Suzaku's shoulder.

"As would be expected of the Knight of Rounds." Schneizel turned around and spoke to the two of them directly. "Knight of Three, Gino Weinberg, and Knight of Seven, Kururugi Suzaku."

Suzaku gave a deep bow to Schneizel, "I'm indebted to your assistance in becoming a member of the Rounds, your highness."

"No at all Suzaku-kun. It was only the right thing to do under the circumstances. I can only imagine the impact you'll make once you're on the battlefield with your level of skill." Schneizel turned back to face the monitor again, "Now, Gino-kun, how would you feel if another Knight of Rounds joined us?"

"Eh? Another one? Don't tell me it's that Luciano Bradley, he's usually more trouble than he's worth." Gino said with a tint of annoyance.

Schneizel laughed at that remark, "Not quite Gino-kun, in fact I don't believe either of you have met her yet, she's been dubbed recently as the Knight of Six by the Emperor himself."

"Knight of Six? The Emperor finally decided for someone to fill that seat? That's surprising, the Emperor hasn't taken an active role with the Rounds since he appointed the current Knight of One." Gino said. Gino himself had been appointed by Schneizel after being recommended by another member of the Rounds.

The Emperor had left almost all state issues with Schneizel now, it was indeed odd for him to take such a large hand in setting up a confrontation with Belhind. In Schneizel's view, it was a waste of resources and time to assault the fortress given the current state of the world's affairs. Having been ordered to carry only this many troops, Schneizel almost wondered whether this was simply an elaborate way to execute those present.

But the Emperor must've had his reasons, that this awkwardly timed battle might have more to do with one mere Knight of Six than anything else troubled Schneizel.

"It was indeed a surprising decision from many perspectives." Schneizel said softly and mysteriously. "Well why don't you both meet her for yourself?"

"Eh? She's on the ship?" Gino asked.

"Yes, she was having Cecil-san help her make some adjustments on her knightmare frame. I believe they should be arriving on the bridge at any moment now." Schneizel answered.

"Ara ara, everyone's all gathered up already." Stepping onto the bridge with a cup of tea in his hand was Lloyd Asplund, meticulously perfecting the art of balancing his tea cup.

"So that's the Knight of Six…" Gino said with a serious expression. "She's different than how I'd imagined. And a cross-dresser, what kind of person is she…"

………

"…Actually Gino, that's Count Lloyd, head developer of the R&D department." Suzaku corrected.

"Oh! Sorry about that Count Lloyd, the tension of the battlefield must be getting to me." Gino laughed as he went and shook hands with Lloyd. Lloyd responded by laughing as though he hadn't heard a thing and shook Gino's hand.

"It's good of you to join us Count Lloyd, I imagine this means that the preparations are complete?" Schneizel asked Lloyd casually, he had been around Lloyd long enough to resist commenting on bizarre behaviour.

"Of course your highness, Lancelot and Tristan are ready for launch. Cecil's finishing up some final tuning with our friend in the hangar." Lloyd said.

"Good to hear. And the progress on Nina-san's experiment?" Schneizel asked.

Nina's name caught Suzaku's attention, he wasn't conscious when it happened but apparently Nina had been picked up along with himself following the rebellion in Japan, though Lloyd had never quite explained why he had taken her with them. It was only now that Suzaku learned she had been working on something for Schneizel.

Lloyd put on a serious expression he rarely wore, "It's going better than I could have imagined, she has talent without a doubt, too much almost."

"That sounds promising. It would truly bring a change to the current state of world affairs." Schneizel let the conversation hang there as he went back to his own thoughts.

"Sorry about the delay everyone, we're ready now." Walking in through the doorway into the bridge was Cecil, holding her hands up in an apologetic manner. "Some of the final adjustments were harder to perform than we'd initially imagined, but we're ready now."

Stepping in from behind her was a girl who was significantly shorter than Cecil, her long brown hair was tied in a ponytail behind her with strands of hair falling down the side of her face. Her eyes glistened with the intensity of battle as she surveyed the people on the bridge.

"She's the Knight of Six, Nunnally vi Britannia." Schneizel announced. "She'll be participating with the two of you during this battle. I hope to see great results amongst three of the Knight of Rounds." Schneizel said to Suzaku and Gino.

Suzaku had frozen when he had gotten a clear look at Nunnally, his face stuck somewhere between disbelief and shock as he tried to figure out whether he had entered some kind of alternative universe at that moment.

Schneizel looked at her as though she was a puzzle he couldn't even begin wrapping his mind around, but doing it all so with his ever so calm smile. "Now then, shall we get started? I'm afraid the enemy general won't wait around forever."

Nunnally nodded towards Schneizel as she approached Suzaku and Gino, "Don't get in my way rookies."

"Ro…rookies!? Hey you watch yourself new guy, a Knight of Rounds doesn't get to have anyone covering their butt if they screw up." Gino retorted.

"Is that so? Well then you must not be a Knight of Rounds, because I'm here to do just that if it happens." Nunnally said. At this point, Suzaku had gotten over the shock of her appearance and moved on to the difference in personality this Nunnally exhibited from the one in his memories, Suzaku could have never imagined she was capable of throwing insults and retorts with Gino based on what he remembered of her.

"Oi oi, don't think just cause you're a girl I'm going to hold back any punches." Gino said as he ground his teeth against each other in frustration.

Sudden she smiled, seductively almost. It made Suzaku think as though he was looking at someone who was much more mature than who she really looked like. "Good, but you should save those." She pointed outside of the bridges windows straight onto the battlefield. "You'll need them."

"Well then, let us begin." Schneizel spoke up before Gino could throw out another argument.

The two Knights silenced themselves as they turned around and proceeded out of the bridge. Schneizel was the commander for this battle and at the same time a prince of Britannia, his words carried weight, even to a member of Rounds operating under the Emperor.

As soon as Suzaku stepped off the bridge after them, he went forward and tried to stop Nunnally by grabbing her arm. "Wait a second Nunnally, you--"

She swatted his hand away before he could get a grip on her arm. "Watch yourself Knight of Seven, don't try and get so friendly." She glared at him before turning around and continuing towards the hangar.

Gino stopped and turned towards Suzaku, "So that's your type?"

"It's not like that, I just…thought I knew her."

Gino shrugged and looked like he had just heard the biggest lie ever. "How do your people put it Suzaku? Lolicon?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Kallen had returned the following day for her departure, she found the custom unit had been painted in red in a manner very similar to Guren. Rakshata had named the unit "Guren Kaizer" and had told Kallen so with a mysterious smile.

Along with Asahina, Senba, and Urabe, Kallen's assignment was to progress South in hopes of capturing or destroying the remaining Britannia forces that had managed to flee the destruction of the Capital and/or joined up with those forces from other Cities or establishments that had fallen during the liberation.

Zero had provided the four captains each with a trailer for their travels, and a few trucks to contain their knightmare frames. In total 36 members of the Black Knights had set off with an equal amount of Knightmare frames. The team of Black Knights was divided among four groups led under Kallen, Asahina, Senba, and Urabe.

From the latest intelligence report, Zero had estimated the troop to be around 40 knightmares strong and likely led by Guilford. Ideally, Kallen and the others would be able to capture the Britannia forces alive to be used as political tools, however they had been given permission from the onset of the mission to simply eliminate the resistance forces if necessary.

Four days into the pursue their trail had split down two possible directions, as such Kallen and Urabe went down one highway leading in the direction while Asahina and Senba searched down the other. Into the fifth day of the search neither division had found anything of note and their paths would soon regroup as they continued past Hiroshima to the West.

Kallen sat on a table she had reserved inside the trailer. Before her was a few of the intelligence reports that had been conveyed to them over the past few days. Based on Senba's analysis, it suggested Guilford was not simply fleeing blindly and was either aiming for some kind of counter assault or moving towards some kind of location where they could escape from the country.

Kallen hated to admit it but she couldn't see any of that from the reports. The last few days had confirmed her belief that she was better off leaving the strategies to others and executing them herself. She had also found out she wasn't made of much leader material either, as those under her command had to basically learn to cope on their own and essentially accept indirect orders under Urabe's lead.

Though she was perfectly fine with that, what with her own life and her mind unable to be made up regarding Zero, she certainly didn't feel like she had the right to tell anyone else what they should do.

"Mind if I sit here for a second Captain?" A girl walked up to Kallen's table as she gestured towards the empty seat across from Kallen. Her name was Minoko, one of the more recent member recruited into the Black Knights, quite a wizard with technology. She was in charge of handling the trailer's on board sensory equipment. "The boys have taken over the other table for a card game."

"Ah, no problem, have a seat." Kallen shoved some papers off to the side and left some room open for Minoko. At the same time Kallen wondered who'd be scolded harder between her or the boys if Urabe heard that they were having a game of cards when Guilford's forces likely lay less than a day's travel away.

Minoko sat down and took a sip of whatever she had in her cup. Kallen found this to be the perfect opportunity to stop looking at paperwork and pretend to herself that she was ever going to wrangle anything more out of the reports than Senba had.

"Sensors picked up anything in the last few days?" Kallen asked.

"Nothing worth noting about, if it weren't for these intelligence reports and Captain Senba, I for one would never have guessed which direction the Britannian are heading in." Minoko replied.

Kallen leaned back in her chair and sighed at the reports. "True, if it weren't for Senba…that guy is something..."

Kallen let her thoughts wander away from the reports, maybe now was a good time to get a second opinion, "Say, why did you join the Black Knights? The war's over now and Japan's been liberated, wouldn't it be better to enjoy this instead of being caught up in the fighting?"

Minoko seemed slightly surprised by Kallen's question as she pondered it a bit, "In other words, what am I fighting for?"

Kallen nodded, "Yes, even on this mission we could lose our lives, we're outnumbered, without reinforcements. Why risk all that, for what purpose?"

Minoko looked puzzled as she asked back, "To protect Japan, isn't that what you're fighting for Captain? Even though Japan is liberated there are still Britannia forces in Japan, and it wouldn't be unimaginable to think that they would attempt to invade Japan again. I'm fighting to preserve this peace Zero and everyone else helped make, isn't it the same for you?"

Kallen looked as though she wanted to answer but kept silent, was it the same? Minoko spoke with the same feelings Kallen imagined she must've spoken to Suzaku during their last battle. But now that it was all over, now that Japan was free, could she still say the same? Could she hide Lelouch's secret because it was to protect Japan? Could she fight for him because Japan needed it? Could she ignore the crimes he might have committed to his own comrades? Was it still for Japan?

…But if not, then for what?

"Sorry, it was an odd question. I've just had something stuck in my mind for a bit Minoko.

"Ahh…" Minoko wasn't sure what to say as she took another sip of her drink and finished it. She slowly got up from her seat and picked up her cup, "Well then Captain, I'll be returning to the monitor station."

Kallen nodded to her, "Yes, thank you."

Kallen got up from her seat and stacked up the reports into a pile. "Guess I might as well go take a nap…" Kallen yawned and stretched as she headed for the couch. While a bed was available on the second floor of the trailer she preferred the couch as it left her slightly more alert.

She lay down on the couch and pulled up a blanket she had brought down from the beds upstairs. Closing her eyes she tried to rest her body, though her mind knew no such peace. Her thoughts constantly erupted in reminder that she had to make some kind of decision, would she leave the Black Knights to Zero's reckoning? Would she expose his truth? Would she sit by and let things just continue as they were?

Above all…What was she fighting for?

"Captain! There's something approaching us on the radar!" A distant voice called out.

Kallen opened her eyes drowsily and slowly. She had lapsed somewhat into sleep, but the thoughts swirling in her head prevented her from getting any pleasant rest. The sky had turned dark and only the faint light of the dusk remained in the distance. Outside the window, the view was covered by stretches of hills that obscured anything further than 200 meters or so.

Kallen got up from the couch grudgingly, but as soon as she stood on her feet, her mind was more clear and alert. "What's it showing Minoko?" Kallen asked calmly as she walked over to the monitor station.

"13 knightmares approaching from hills ahead of us. All of them are Gloucester class, 10 minutes until rendezvous."

"13?" Kallen asked.

"Yes, I can't catch them on conventional radar due to the terrain but I'm picking up snippets of communications through to at least 13 units."

Kallen turned on her personal communicator and connected it to Urabe. "Urabe, we've got trouble heading towards us, Minoko's picked up 13 Gloucesters heading our way, at least 13."

Urabe's voice responded right away, "13? That's a tricky number. What about Asahina and Senba?"

Kallen looked at Minoko who in turn shook her head, "I just tried to reach them via satellite connection, but there's no response, either they're not receiving our signal or there's significant jamming."

Putting together both Kallen and Urabe's group gave a total of 18 combat capable knightmare frames, but to utilize all of it would mean abandoning their trailers and trucks and stopping their advance. On the other hand, if they kept drivers on the trailers and trucks it would mean they would only have 10 pilots available. But the real problem lay elsewhere…

"…" Urabe was silent, even Kallen could tell what the bigger problem was from a strategic perspective.

"If they've sent 13 Gloucesters on us, that means Asahina and Senba could be up against 27 knightmares." Urabe said slowly.

Asahina and Senba being outnumbered by 8 units was enough trouble, but if the enemies were also at the level of a Gloucester knight…

"Rendezvous in 7 minutes!" Minoko called out. The reminder sounded like a gong in Kallen's head, they had to make some kind of decision, and quickly.

"Kallen! Pick someone from your crew and have him and yourself launch in your knightmares. We'll have four units intercept them and hold them off while the rest of the team heads for the highway junction up ahead, once they get there, they can locate and assist Asahina's group." Urabe said.

It was as sound a plan as possible under the circumstances, if Asahina's group was assaulted by 27 units they would need all the assistance they could get whereas a few knightmares could stall for time and have more chances in sneaking away. The highway junction where the two groups were supposed to meet back up with was likely where they would be trying to move towards if they had been attacked.

"Seta!" Kallen called out into the crew standing nearby listening. "Mount up on your Sutherland, we're launching, hurry!"

She turned towards the others as Seta ran off to get into his pilot suit. "The rest of you, standby in your respective units, don't launch but see if you can provide cover fire from the trucks. You'll be heading towards the highway junction and searching for Captain Asahina and Senba, meet up and assist them."

"Understood Captain!" The rest of the crew ran off as some headed towards the bedrooms to change into their piloting suits.

Kallen moved towards the side doors of the trailer, she had been sleeping in her pilot suit, so there was no need for her to change now. She pushed open a side door that led outside the moving trailer, in front of her was the truck that housed her knightmare frames. The driver had matched his speed up to the trailers such that the two ran side by side and were close enough to jump over to.

Kallen jumped the gap, and quickly levelled herself into Guren Kaizer.

**System Start…  
**

**BDFF OS Support Online**

**Connecting Fiber Linkage…**

**Fiber Linkage Connected**

**Guren Kaizer booting…**

As the monitor system came online, Kallen could see Seta getting into his Sutherland in front of her. Behind her, the truck's cargo door slowly began to open, leaving a trail for Guren Kaizer to eject onto.

"2 minutes until rendezvous captain." Minoko's voice came through Guren's communicator.

**Linear Bi-Pattern Stabilization Check Complete**

**Critical Core Test Complete**

**System Part Test Complete**

"Understood, give me a remote bypass to your sensors Minoko, Guren's multi-range sensors aren't picking them up clearly in this terrain."

"Remote signal bypass key assigned…signal bypass granted…you're connected to the network captain."

**Guren Kaizer Online**

Kallen unlocked the land spinners as Guren Kaizer jumped off the cargo compartment onto the road. The wheels quickly sped up as Kallen gained speed and moved next to the trailer.

"Seta, Kotose, and myself will provide cover fire with our long range weapons, you stay by the vehicles and make sure nothing gets too close." Urabe said as he moved up next to Kallen in his Gekka.

"Understood." Lacking a long range weapon, Kallen had no ability to provide cover fire.

"Contact!" Minoko's voice announced.

"Here they come!" Urabe shouted out to the three of them.

......

......

Silence…nothing was around them, the trailers kept moving and Kallen kept about alongside it.

"There's…nothing?" Kallen asked.

Kallen scanned around, the silence was terribly discomforting. Knowing that your enemies were supposed to be right in front of you but not being able to see them was unnerving.

A sudden warning sounded off in Kallen's mind, like something was nudging at her lightly and encouraging her to head into a certain direction. The feeling was brief and vague but in the silence and heighten emotions, Kallen managed to capture the sensation she felt.

"Behind us..." She whispered.

"Urabe, behind us!" Kallen shouted as she moved Guren towards the back and onto one of the slopes.

On her display were 10 Gloucester units, cruising along the slopes as cover.

"10!?"

Noticing Guren's presence, the 10 units scattered as five moved to intercept and occupy Guren Kaizer while the other five aimed towards the trailer and trucks.

"Urabe, there's only 10 units back here! There's three of them left somewhere!" Kallen shouted as she attempted to move Guren Kaizer back with the trailers.

Two Gloucesters moved used their lance as they intercepted Kallen in her retreat and forced her back to the hilltops. Five units moved past Guren using the opportunity as they headed towards the trailers, Kallen tried to move Guren Kaizer after them twice, only to be intercepted again by the additional three Gloucesters that had stuck to her.

"Get out of my way!"

Kallen reached out with Guren's hands towards where a knightmare's primary motherboard was located, if she could manage to touch it with Guren's hands, the radiation surger would allow her to completely disable the knightmare just like that.

As Guren's hand landed on the Gloucester, a lance thrust out towards Guren's arm before Kallen could ignite the surger. Forced to pull distance away from the Gloucester, Kallen withdrew Guren's arm and dodged the lance.

"Damn it." Kallen swore as she noticed a scrape on Guren's arm that had resulted from the thrust she hadn't manage to fully avoid.

"The response is..." Kallen muttered in agitation, even though she was mentally aware of the fact that Guren Kaizer was inferior spec-wise to Guren, her body moved as though she was still piloting a faster knightmare. The delay in the machine's response caused her to miscalculate some of her movements.

Kallen gazed towards the trailer speeding out of sight past the hills, it looked as though Urabe and the others were successful in holding off the assault of the five Gloucesters, and the remaining three hadn't appeared yet.

"You're the pilot of that red unit with the claws?" One of the Gloucesters broadcasted onto open channel.

The Gloucesters had stopped their movement after putting distance between Kallen and the trailers. They now stood in front of her, blocking her advance back towards the main highway.

"What about it?"

Five units, even if her unit was inferior in terms of basic specs she should be able to...

"Then we have what we need. You die here eleven!" One of the pilots shouted as his Gloucester thrust his lance at Guren.

"We're Japanese now, you Britannian bastards!" Kallen shouted back.

Guren sidestepped the thrust with a small jump, once Kallen made it to the side of the lance Guren pulled out one of its daggers and aimed it straight towards the Gloucester.

"Not nearly enough!" Another Gloucester closed in and thrust its lance towards Guren's cockpit from the backside.

"Damn you're annoying!" Kallen gave up her assault on the Gloucester with her dagger as she moved to the side just in time before the lance pierced through Guren's back.

"This is the best you can do!?" Another unit moved in from the side this time, its lance swivelling around lightly, as though hungering for any target it could land on.

Dropping its land spinners, Guren jumped off the lances of the units it had just evaded as Kallen pulled off a mid-air spin and passed the unit trying to strike at her from overhead.

"Naive!"

"We've got you!" Two pilots shouted as they jumped and thrust their lances towards Guren while it was still in midair, looking as though they had been anticipating it and standing by waiting for this single moment.

Unable to maneuver in midair Kallen fired off both her slash harkens. One aimed towards the ground while the other aimed to divert one of the incoming lances from the Gloucester. As one of the slash harkens successfully veered the lance slightly off path, the other harken rooted itself into the earth as Kallen used it to pull Guren rapidly back to solid ground. Unfortunately, the other lance managed to land a hit on Guren and gash away a large fragment of the external armour.

The five knightmares pulled back and regrouped making it appear as though they had not begun their assault and everything was as it was just mere moments ago. The difference now was that Kallen had to admit she was flustered over how well these pilots managed to coordinate their actions together, unlike most of the pilots she had faced these five units managed to act in synchronization to the point that it felt like she was facing five parts of one opponent. It also didn't help that the last lance thrust had manage to clip some of Guren's hydraulics, causing the right arm to move rigidly.

"You can't win. And you can't escape." One of the pilots said.

"Shut up, obviously none of you have learned your manners yet." Kallen responded while trying to figure out if there was a way she could separate them. She was confident she could deal with two of them at once, even if they were well coordinated, however five was no doubt outside her limit.

"Surrender Red, you've lost." The Britannia pilot said mockingly.

Guren's visual sensors suddenly picked up three additional signatures from behind her. She watched in frustration and realization as three more knightmares surrounded her. Her sensors had failed to pick them up, likely Minoko's trailer had gotten out of range and the radar had automatically switched back to Guren's onboard system.

"I see...I was the target all along." Kallen said grimly. "But still, you'll have to pay a heavy price if you intend to take me out!"

One of the pilots snuffed, "Arrogant for just an Eleven! Die!"

The eight Gloucesters moved in a semi circular formation as they charged towards Guren with lance on land. Everytime Kallen attempted to engage one particular unit, it was quickly enforced by another one right next to it or by a unit that would come up and attempt to assault her from the back. If she tried to flee away using the hills as cover, the Gloucesters would break formation and simply charge at her, forcing her to stop her retreat and defend herself.

Yet after a while of fending against the Gloucester assault she began to notice that their formations were a lot more orderly and predictable than what she had encountered with the five units previously. The formations were intricate, complex and very powerful but the more she fought it off the better she became at it. Slowly but surely it was almost as if she could feel the flow of the battle through a sixth sense as she began to avoid all the lance strikes without taking a single graze.

"What the hell's going on! You three back down, we're switching back to the drone network!" One of the pilots shouted out, Kallen assumed he'd done it accidently while forgetting to switch his communications back onto a private channel.

Suddenly Kallen realized what it was she felt within the formation that had allowed her to move through it with such ease, among the eight units were three that acted more stiffly like how she'd come to expect of the average Britannia soldier, even at the Gloucester level. It would appear that whatever this drone network was accounted for a good part of the coordination between the five units she had faced before.

"Don't think you can run away!" Kallen shouted as she launched Guren at one of the three units, her intuition told her that if she let them escape the five Gloucester combination would allow them to turn the tides back on her again.

"Damn you woman!" The pilot shouted as he moved in to intercept Kallen from assaulting one of the three Gloucesters.

Her sixth sense seemed to activate again as the Gloucester moved in to intercept her, through purely sensation she could tell what was about to happen and through her experience she knew how to make use of it.

Kallen used her land spinners to move slightly to the side pretending as though she was trying to get past the Gloucester and continue her attack on the fleeing unit. In response the Gloucester who had moved in to stop her moved about again as it tried to stop her with a lance thrust. Everything lined up all at once as Kallen saw the opening she was provided with even without her new sixth sense.

"I've got you!" She shouted as Guren stopped chasing the fleeing unit and dove right past the Gloucester's lance. Kallen disengaged the landspinners as she used the traction from the ground to deliver a palm strike straight into the Gloucester while simultaneously igniting her radiation surgers.

There was no indication of anything except the sound of metal on metal as the Gloucester fell back, but Kallen was confident the Gloucester was disabled, she had manage to strike it directly at the control circuitry and the Gloucester tumbling effortlessly to the ground only confirmed her beliefs.

"One down! Well? You still think you can walk out of this Britannian?" Kallen asked mockingly.

"Bitch! All units regroup, surround her!" One of the pilots shouted.

Kallen couldn't help but smile as she realized her taunts had worked. If the commander had instead decided to stick with using his drone network even with only four units Kallen would likely still have lost seeing how Guren was becoming more damaged and low on energy.

As the seven units came at her Kallen found that she could slowly control her sixth sense to some degree. She could feel and anticipate the flow of the enemies movements, trace down one possibility at a time or multiple possibilities of battle. The heightened sensation and awareness of battle brought out a primal joy in Kallen as Guren danced in the battlefield and Kallen bathed in this new ability.

Kallen began using the three normal Gloucesters as cover and as an obstruction to the better coordinated Gloucesters, by doing so, Kallen was able create openings in the virtually flawless movement of the coordinated Gloucesters. One by one they began toppling to the ground as Guren's radiation surger disabled various critical components of the knightmare.

"Done!" Kallen shouted as Guren's hand gripped onto the last remaining Gloucester and disabled all four of its limbs. She panted as she tried to calm her adrenaline and recall the sense she had opened up before it faded away with the end of the battle.

"This is impossible! How did you…this is impossible!!" One of the pilots who still had an intact intercom system said.

Kallen flexed her fingers as she smiled contently at what she had managed to do. Guren Kaizer had suffered incredible amount of damage in the process and had lost its right arm during the battle but in the end even with only a left arm Kallen was able to finish off the remaining two units.

As her sixth sense faded away, the reality that the battle was now finally over sunk in. She still had work to do, meet up with the trailers, continue their pursue of Guilford, take care of any injured or dead, the list went on and on.

"But first." She said as she pulled out Guren's dagger and moved to the Gloucester that lay immobile on the ground.

She was happy to know that if nothing else, Zero was at least sure to get a few of the captured Britannia soldiers he had wanted to begin with.

"Surrender Britanian, you've lost." Kallen said with a grin.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suzaku watched as his Lancelot booted up. From the corner of a menu was what Lloyd had described to be systems that booted in the background while Lancelot's main functionalities came online. Cecil had been the one to add the feature to the operating system after Lloyd had taken the chance to revamp certain components of Lancelot following the end of the rebellion.

"New weapons, new features, Lloyd-san really does like this whole upgrading affair." Suzaku said. "Well I am going to need it."

The hangar door began opening as Suzaku looked out towards the ocean floor below. Behind his Lancelot was Gino's Tristan awaiting for launch after him, and beside him was Nunnally's Bedivere, which would launch at the same time.

From the outside Bedivere looked as though it had inherited many design decisions from the Lancelot, which was somewhat expected considering Cecil and Lloyd had created it. Unlike Lancelot, Bedivere had been painted blue throughout with hints of white likely for aesthetic reasons. Two pairs of energy wings used for the float system were mounted onto its back, likely something experimental that Lloyd had come up with. What bothered Suzaku was that Bedivere seemed to have no visible weaponry on it except for a sword mounted at its hip. On first sight it looked similar to his own Maser Vibration Sword (MVS) but it seemed more dull in colour and longer in length.

"What's our primary target?" Gino said over the intercom.

"The titan class beam cannon mounted near the top of the hills. Taking it out quickly will allow us to minimize our casualties when the troops move in from the ocean." Suzaku answered. He then turned towards Nunnally and addressed her, "Is that alright with you?"

Nunnally had been keeping her eyes closed for the past few minutes, almost as though she was meditating to her thoughts before battle. At Suzaku's call, she opened her eyes slowly to also look down towards the ocean floor seen from the hangar doors. "Yes."

"The standard military will begin their approach 10 minutes after we've launched, we'll receive cover fire from the Avalon and the Caerleons from the air. But we'll only have 10 minutes head start to take out that beam cannon." Suzaku said.

"Plenty of time." Tristan said.

"…" Nunnally kept her own opinions to herself.

"Lancelot, Kururgi Suzaku, Launch!"

The electric belt underneath Lancelot's feet charged as it shot Suzaku straight out of the hangar. For a brief moment he could see Bedivere beside him until Nunnally turned on her float system and moved away from Lancelot.

Following her example, Suzaku turned on Lancelot's energy wings as he guided it towards the battlefield.

Belhind was a military establishment placed across a mountain range on the coast of E.U that also provided a straight clear route towards the capital. Spreading across miles in either direction, the mountain ranges towered an average of 4,344 meters in height. The distinct landscape of the mountains provided numerous positions for cover, creating an environment that was easy to defend and hard to assault.

On record, Belhind consisted of about 300 artillery barracks hidden and scattered throughout the region capable of ground-to-air, ground-to-ground, and ground-to-sea bombardments. Adding to those numbers were approximately 3000 of Euro Universe's equivalent of Britannia's knightmare frames, called the Cyclops.

The Cyclopses were originally developed as an exoskeleton for foot soldiers around the same time Britannia began designing the first knightmare frame. Research continued to advance until E.U opted for a form of bipedal humanoid machine around the time when the first-generation knightmares had been born. Eventually, E.U decided to trade in the bipedal design for tank tracks to better adapt to the terrain found in many of E.U's regions. In the end, the Cyclops became a line of humanoid tanks armed with artillery on a level that could only be carried by the bulky sluggish machines.

The trade-off for mobility that Britannia's knightmare frames chose not to make allowed E.U to establish themselves as the third super power of the current world despite the difference in population size compared to the other two super powers.

As soon as the three Knight of Rounds flew pass the coastal border, a brilliant flash of green erupted from the ground as thousands of beam cannons fired simultaneously to greet the three knightmare frames.

"Oi, we must be on their VIP guest list to get this kind of attention." Gino said as he shifted Tristan into its flight mode for evasive manuveurs.

"Lord Kururugi, I'll break through from the air." Nunnally said as she moved straight towards the field of beams unfazed.

"Understood, I'll meet you both at the top." Suzaku replied. He breathed in a short breath of air quickly as he gripped tightly against his controls. "Nidhogg system activate!"

**Yggdrasil to Nidhogg ignition protocol activated.**

"Let's go." Suzaku said as he edged the thruster control forward slightly.

The world as seen through his monitor suddenly appeared to go white as Suzaku's body was compressed flat onto his seat while his hands strained to grip onto his controls. Blurs of green on his monitor alerted Suzaku that he had plunged straight into the volley of beam attacks. Tilting his controls lightly, Suzaku was able to instantaneously change Lancelot's momentum in any direction, the resulting shift in momentum and the acceleration associated with it made Suzaku feel as though his organs were flying about in his body.

Without being able to visually capture the beams, Suzaku relied completely on his bestial instincts and his combat experience as he wove through the beams. One step too short or too far and Suzaku would have collided straight into a beam blast while moving at tremendous speeds. Utilizing the Nidhogg system for the first time, Suzaku moved through the volley of beams like a bolt of lightning as Lancelot touched down halfway up the mountain range erupting a cloud of dirt with his landing.

Everything in the 3 seconds it took to cross about 1000 meters of distance.

"This…is a bit intense, Lloyd-san." Suzaku muttered as he tried to regain his composure amidst enemy territory.

"Ara, a bit too much even for you Suzaku-kun?" Lloyd replied from the bridge via the intercom.

"That's why I said it was unreasonable." Cecil cut in on the background. "It's not just Suzaku, no human being should be able to handle that kind of acceleration."

Suzaku took a deep breath as he moved Lancelot back on its feet. "It's fine Cecil-san, I can handle this." Placed at the middle of the mountain range, Suzaku had about another 2000 meters before he could reach the titan class beam cannon.

"Suzaku, Gino, and Nunnally-kun, you have 4 minutes until E.U fires their beam cannon again, the initial fire has taken out two Caerleon ships, the Avalon has suffered some minor damages. Also, 6 minutes before the knightmare forces arrive on coast." Schneizel declared to the three member of Rounds.

Suzaku breathed in deeply again as he braced himself. "Nidhogg system activate!"

From the bridge of the Avalon, Cecil watched as the green dot that was Lancelot appeared and vanished around the mountain range, moving up the mountain across large horizontal sweeps but still progressing upwards quickly. Every time the dot winked back into sight, it was followed by explosions of Cyclopses before it vanished and appeared again halfway across the mountain.

"I wonder how long Suzaku-kun can last like that." Cecil said with worry.

"Well, based on the simulations he should live through to the end of it." Lloyd said casually.

The Nidhogg system Lloyd devised had been based off an inspiration he came up with when he had first seen Nina operating on her project. The principal was to compress and deliver 99.99% of the energy generated from the Luminous core into the energy wings in 1000th of a second. The result was a compressed explosion of energy that created instantaneous acceleration from standstill to speeds close to 330 m/s. Though Lloyd had never tried implementing it until Suzaku found out and requested it to his Lancelot, mainly because Lloyd had never imagined anyone could pilot under conditions where they moved too fast to recognize anything.

Back on the battlefield Suzaku continued to move upwards towards the beam cannon using the Nidhogg system. With 3 minutes remaining until the titan class beam cannon fired again, Suzaku had cleared about three quarters of the way up to his destination. Gino on the other hand had been forced out of the air by heavy barrages from Cyclopses and artillery bunkers. The grounded Tristan was forced to move up at a crawl against enemy forces while lacking its aerial mobility. Nunnally had made the most progress and also drawn the most enemy attention since Tristan had been forced to the ground. Bedivere's second set of energy wings had burst out and wrapped around Bedivere as though it were a cloak. The illuminating blue pair of energy wings created an afterimage of Bedivere that lasted up to 10 seconds before fading. In effect, Nunnally's had created hundreds of images that looked identical to her knightmare frame. Her flight pattern and the intricacy of the technology gave the Cyclopses no chance at distinguishing between real and illusionary from their distance as she moved virtually unobstructed towards the top of the mountain.

With one minute remaining, Suzaku arrived at the top of the mountain to see Bedivere evading an unimaginable amount of enemy fire from the thickest of the defences that had been present so far. Even Nunnally and Bedivere could only muster enough strength to not be pushed back under the circumstances.

"Wait Nunnally! We wont break through like this, we need to pull back and regroup!" Suzaku shouted while panting from excessive use of the Nidhogg system.

"There's no time Kururugi! Weinberg won't make it in time, I'll draw in their fire, destroy the objective!" Nunnally responded.

Responding to Nunnally's words, Bedivere unleashed six booster harkens from its body as they sprang to life towards the defending party. "Go Kururgi!" Nunnally shouted out as a booster harken pierced into a Cyclops with such force that it was sent crashing into another Cyclops. The collision cleared up a path in front of Suzaku right towards the beam cannon.

Hesistating for only a moment, Suzaku utilized the Nidhogg system as he boosted towards the beam cannon. "Wait for me Nunnally, I'll be back soon!"

"You shall pass no further!" A row of Cyclopses lined up in front of the beam cannon, each holding gigantic metallic shields. The row of Cyclopses stretched so far in either direction that it was impractical for Suzaku to try to get around them from the sides.

Opting instead to pass by from above, Suzaku launched Lancelot into the air hoping to swing right by the metallic shields that towered at about twice the height of a knightmare frame, only a Cyclops could have enough base stability to hold onto something so large.

"I can see it!" Suzaku shouted out as he flew up above the metallic shields. The beam cannon was in its primary firing sequence now, Suzaku could make out various parts of the cannon beginning to torque about as a dark purple colour glowed from inside the cannon.

"I won't let you!" Suzaku shouted as he raised his beam rifle towards the opening in the cannon.

"Kururgi, watch out!" Nunnally shouted suddenly over the intercom.

**Warning**

The red letters glowed on Suzaku's monitors at the same instant Lancelot was bombarded with cannon fire. The cannon shell exploded on contact as it tore off one of Lancelot's energy wings and turned part of Lancelot's backside char black.

"Damn it!!" Suzaku swore as he tried to regain control over the plummeting Lancelot.

Barely managing to place Lancelot upright, Suzaku landed back in front of the shield wielding Cyclopses. While luckily Lancelot had not fallen from a fatal height, the shock was still enough to send a wave of pain up Suzaku's spine.

"It's time to die, Britannian Knight!" The Cyclops pilot shouted out as a dozen of them surrounded Lancelot in a circle with their shields held out, ready to ram and crush Lancelot in the middle.

"Nidhogg deactivate! Redirect all power to Arondight!" Suzaku called out.

**Nidhogg System Deactivated.**

**All power re-routed to Arondight, lapse time 2 seconds, effective time 3 seconds.**

Drawing the MV sword at his side, Suzaku made Lancelot take a kenjutsu stance he had learned from Todou which allowed for a technique that lets the user attack all directions in one stroke.

**Arondight, Full Power**

"Out of my way!!" Suzaku shouted as he slashed with his MV sword.

As the sword left Suzaku's side a sparkle of energy arched onto the tip of the sword from the base of the Lancelot's hand. The arch of energy expanded into a blade of green similar to the colour of Lancelot's energy wings and rapidly grew to four times the length of the MV sword itself. As Suzaku's stroke contacted the first metallic shield the beam blade pierced straight through the shield as though it met no resistance. The length of the beam blade allowed the MV sword to cut right through the metallic shield and the Cyclops in the same stroke severing the humanoid machine near the chest. The beam extension carried through the stroke without delay as it sliced through all twelve of the metallic shields and respective Cyclops.

**Arondite Shut Down, MVS (Left) Terminate**

Dropping the sizzling MV sword onto the ground, Suzaku drew the beam rifle in Lancelot's hand just as the severed Cyclops fell backwards, clearing a straight line of sight into the nozzle of the beam cannon.

"Stop!" Suzaku shouted as he fired the rifle straight into the beam cannon.

The tiny spark of green from the rifle appeared like a pebble dropped into the vast ocean at first, but in mere moments replacing the deep purple of the beam cannon was a red hot fiery glow looking to erupt from the depth of the nozzle.

"Kururugi, back down!" Nunnally shouted as she began moving Bedivere as far back from the beam cannon as she could.

_**Live!**_

Seeing that he wouldn't make it without his flight system intact, Suzaku grabbed one of the giant metallic shields from the ground as he plunged one of it into the earth and had Lancelot take cover behind it.

The beam cannon erupted in a thunderous roar as everything in sight was covered with a crimson flame. Suzaku felt the shock of the explosion as Lancelot continuously rumbled from the vibrations of the air. The shield was holding but through the monitor Suzaku could also see parts of the shield that were beginning to melt down.

"Suzaku!" Gino shouted as Tristan began swooping down towards Lancelot from the air.

"Thanks Gino." Suzaku said as Lancelot ran away from the direction of the blast and grabbed the extended hand from the flying knightmare as the two flew away from the plateau of the mountain.

A second wave of explosions erupted just which threw the combined weight of Tristan and Lancelot sprawling off the plateau. The two units were only able to stop themselves after colliding with remains of Cyclopses a few times and tumbling on the slopes for a while.

"I owe you one Gino." Suzaku said breathlessly.

"Don't forget it Suzaku, you own me some of those mysterious raw fish rolls you keep talking about."

Suzaku sighed wearily as he slowly began to lift Lancelot, hoping to join the fighting that had begun as Britannia's navel fleets began unloading their forces onto the shores.

"So I live again." Suzaku looked down the mountain and vaguely saw the battle beginning near the coast line. Already he could catch glimpses of Nunnally's knightmare frame flaying around its booster harkens halfway down the mountain and unleashing illusion after illusion of Bedivere with the help of the energy cape.

"I'll live on as you wanted Lelouch, I'll keep on living until the day I kill you with my own hands."

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A week and a half's worth of time ended with the assault team achieving half their desired results. In the end only Kallen had managed to capture eight members of the Britannia forces while the Gloucesters that had assaulted Asahina, Urabe, and Senba had all been killed.

The Black Knights had losses tallied up to 7 dead and 10 injured while the Britannia resistance lost all but 14 of its members who had managed to escape out of the country. It turned out that Guilford had sent only an additional 13 units to assault Asahina's group, among which Senba only reported 3 units that acted extraordinarily well coordinated, as Kallen had described.

Following the counter attack by the Britannian forces, the Black Knights had no choice but to stop for a day and regroup. The lost day of time gave Guilford what he needed to tap into the few remaining Britannia connections as he escaped along with various officials by sea from the harbour of Hagi.

Arriving a half a day after Guilford's escape, Kallen and company had been told to standby and await the arrival of Ikaruga in a few days. Zero had set a new goal to achieve and it appeared they would be departing Japan for now. While Zero told the team not to worry too much about Guilford's escape, he made note to have the team remain on alert in case any Britannians had been left behind as a strategic spy.

"You're still not satisfied after winning Japan are you Lelouch? What are you after now? How many more have to die at your whim?" Kallen said wearily while sitting on the shoulder of Guren Kaizer and staring out into the vast ocean from the harbour. The Black Knights had placed their trailers and knightmares at the harbour to wait for Ikaruga and kept a few members on standby duty in case of any suspicious behaviour.

"It's ironic that I've developed a sense for reading the battle like yourself." Kallen said as she recalled her battle with the eight Gloucesters. Her sixth sense had shut itself out since then despite her attempts at trying to reawaken it but she was confident that as time went by she would gain control over this new ability.

"A new power for battle, so much for what I wanted to say to Minoko. I guess I'm just not that different from you after all Lelouch, the battle's over yet I can't help but yearn for that new power within my grasp."

But at the very least she didn't want power simply for the sake of power. There was one opponent at the very least that she needed this power for. One opponent who despite the outcome of their last encounter she still considered herself lacking against.

"Next time you stand in my way Suzaku, I'll defeat you once and for all." Kallen said to herself.

The winds brushing by her hair and the scent of ocean air lightened her mood as she stood up steadily on Guren's shoulder and stretched her body. Her view shifted from the horizon of the ocean onto the beach nearby where some of the Black Knights who weren't in charge of standby at this time were having a swim or playing a game of ball in the sands.

"Well, maybe I should go for a swim too." Kallen said. "I wonder if Minoko's off duty yet, the guys are going to stare at me too much if she's not there--" Kallen paused suddenly as that familiar sensation crept up on her. It wasn't quite the same feeling, not as though she was reading the flow of a battle but instead more like a sharp ping that needed her attention.

"From the ocean?" Kallen reached back into Guren's cockpit as she pulled out a pair of electronic binoculars. Enlarging it as far as it could go, she pointed it towards the direction she had felt the alarm coming from.

"!! That's-- " Kallen jumped straight off Guren as she ran towards the docking area of the harbour.

"Hey Kallen, I just got off duty, you--" Minoko began speaking as Kallen sprinted past her.

"Sorry, I'll be right back Minoko!" Kallen replied as she kept sprinting.

Finding a simple motor boat on the dock near the rental shop Kallen jumped on as she ignited the engine and steered it into the ocean.

"Why would she be here?" Kallen asked herself as she neared what she had seen from the binoculars.

The boat slowed and eventually stopped right next to the floating body on the waters.

"I hadn't imagined you'd be my escort." The green haired girl said casually while looking up at Kallen shadowing over her from the boat.

"Probably because you don't have one, I'm afraid to tell you that you've been more or less forgotten until now, C.C." Kallen spoke back.

"It's good to know you remember me at the very least then Kallen." C.C said.

"I almost wish I didn't." Kallen said as she began pulling C.C onto the motor.

Kallen looked hard at C.C once they had both been seated on the motor boat. Kallen made no motion of moving the boat back onto the shore.

"C.C, how much do you know about Zero? About Lelouch?" Kallen asked straight off recalling that C.C had indicated she knew the Zero behind the mask before.

C.C looked slightly surprised for a moment when Kallen mentioned Lelouch, but soon the surprise turned into an amused smile, "Who knows, he is a mysterious man after all."

Kallen leaned back and made herself comfortable on the boat, "Tell me C.C, we're not going anywhere until I know everything you know."

C.C couldn't help herself but laugh at that statement, "That could take a very very long time Kallen."

"Didn't I just say? We're not in a rush to get anywhere."

C.C laughed again as she also tried to make herself comfortable by taking off her outer layer clothing and letting them drip off the side of the boat.

"Very well Kallen, where would you like me to start?"

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"Was all this what your highness imagined when we began the campaign?" Lloyd asked as he looked out from Avalon onto what remained of the battle.

Schneizel smiled in resignation to Lloyd's question, "You may not be aware of this Count Lloyd, but I once attempted to seize the fortress of Belhind when General Victor Weizen still resided here. I had at least seven times the forces, spies within Belhind, all controllable elements on my side, it was meant to be a campaign that pushed straight into the capital of E.U."

"That is news indeed, I can't say I've ever heard of that." Lloyd responded with a genuinely surprised expression. "Which means…you failed your highness?"

"General Weizen was a man from the Emperor's days. They engaged with the world as their stage for countless battles. For me, Belhind was a memorable learning experience." Schneizel said as he recalled.

"I suppose today would be the exact same of that except with the sides of battle reversed." Lloyd said as he looked back into the mountain range.

Within nine hours, 4367 troops from the fortress Belhind had surrendered to the Britannia assault. Slightly below half the Cyclops forces had been destroyed, while only 40 of the artillery barracks were left intact. At six hours after the fall of Belhind's titan class beam cannon, E.U troops had already begun to pull back in retreat, it was only after another three hours of struggle that the 4367 troops which had not managed to escape surrendered unconditionally.

The sudden battle arranged with a lack of comparable military power on Britannia's side. The mysterious arrival of the Knight of Six and her background as a princess to the throne who had supposedly been killed years ago. The fact both these elements lead a trail straight back to Charles zi Britannia. Schneizel frowned as he tried to consider the possibilities, his father had lifted the curtains to put…something in motion.

"This is Kururgi Suzaku reporting in, the coastal region is secure, all remaining artillery barracks have been disarmed." Suzaku reported in through an intercom system. Suzaku had returned to the Avalon once shortly after the destruction of the titan class beam cannon to equip some temporary spare parts for Lancelot, he quickly returned afterwards to the battlefield and continued fighting until just moments ago. Both Schneizel and Lloyd could tell from his voice that he had reached his physical limits despite his attempt to hide it.

"This is Gino Weinberg, the skies are clear." Gino said casually. Gino had remained mostly inactive and grounded following the destruction of the beam cannon, it was only until later into the battle once some more of the Cyclopses had been cleared up that Gino took to the skies and became a major force in finishing up the battle.

"Nunnally vi Britannia reporting, the perimeter is clear." Nunnally reported in sounding quite the opposite of Suzaku. She had returned to the Avalon five times to replenish Bedivere's energy filler and take a few minutes of rest. Yet on the battlefield she had become the most devastating force, having never used her MV sword and simply resorted to her energy cape and six booster harkens for the entirety of the battle.

"Good work to all of you, leave the rest of the cleanup to the local detachments, you may return to the Avalon." Schneizel announced to the three of them.

"Yes your highness." The three Knights said simultaneously.

As the voices of the three Knights cut off, Cecil walked onto the bridge carrying a clipboard with some papers on it. "The numbers have been tallied, it was just as you thought your highness."

Schneizel took up the clipboard Cecil handed him as he began to flip through the pages one at a time.

"70%..." He said wearily. "70% of the enemy forces were destroyed was accountable to her alone."

"70? Ara, that's quite commendable, even for a Knight of Rounds." Lloyd added in.

"During the initial 10 minutes of the battle she occupied and drew in 80% of enemy fire. Without a doubt this operation would not have succeeded without her." Cecil pitched in.

"A part even better than Suzaku-kun, this should be fun." Lloyd said cheerfully as he envisioned all the things he could attempt with such a powerful devicer.

"Truly, at this level Nunnally is at least an equal to the current Knight of One." Schneizel said.

The Emperor had already issued preliminary plans for Nunnally's next operation under Schneizel's command, evidently the Emperor had anticipated the outcome of the battle today. Yet E.U was no longer part of their next operation, it appeared to Schneizel that the entire point of this battle was to test out Nunnally's capability.

Lives almost thrown away for some unknown purpose, Schneizel was a merciless strategist when he needed to be, but to throw away Britannia forces for seemingly no reason like they did today was something he couldn't accept.

"Just what are you planning father…" Schneizel whispered.


End file.
