It had been so long since the last time Abel had gotten to travel outside of peace talks. He put a hand over his eyes to block the sun as he looked toward it, just above the ocean's horizon. The sky was already coated in a blanket of orange red and purple, as the sun set. Abel sighed at the scene as he tried to burn the image into his memory.

Best not to waste time. Abel ripped his gaze away from the scene and shifted his small bag into his other hand taking out a small device.

As the empire was more advanced than the outside world they had also been the first to create a teleporting device, that successfully worked. Not only that but it could also transport him into different dimensions and time. Abel tinkered with some of the buttons until he finally found the right one. The device began vibrating, violently then stopped as two bands erupted from the side of it, turning it into a make-shift-watch.

Pressing another button a holographic keyboard shimmered before him. Abel typed in a random year: 2017 a.t.b. Taking in a deep breath Abel pressed enter. The scene around him disappeared only to be replaced in another.

Large buildings towered above him. The paint on all of them had already begun to fade and chip away. Most of the building looked as if something had come in and nocked down the top half, leaving them without a roof, while others where tilting to the side, looking as if they were about to tip over. The windows were broken, and in their place were stacks of wood that had been nailed to the walls to prevent the air from coming in. Some of them had missing bricks, allowing Abel to see part of the metal structure of the buildings.

Abel glanced down one of the dirt roads to see tanks rolling up and down them. There were a few civilians running away from the area. They all had a look of fright on their face, but there was something more… hope.

The ground shook beneath Abel as he sprinted at human speed to where the tanks were. Rounding the corner he took cover behind a wall of debris. From here he could make out a brightly colored metal. It looked like a large robot over four stories tall.

A team of seven purple colored robots stood behind one of the taller buildings. They were all positioned in a semi circle. Four of the seven had their cockpits opened. These four all had a thick wire that dropped to the ground, it allowed their pilots easy access into the robots. In the middle of the semicircle three men and one woman were talking in hushed voices as they stared intently at a map.

Abel straightened and stepped out of his hiding spot. Bang! One of the robots that still had their pilot shot at him. "Stop there eleven!" Abel stopped in his tracks and held up his hands hurriedly.

"Eleven?" Abel repeated, not understanding why the pilot had just called him by a number. He glanced at the pilots who were still out of their robot. All of them glared at him,with a look he still recognized even now after all these years. The look of superiority that someone is better then someone else. Abel scowled at them and let his hands drop to his side. "Excuse me but, I would appreciate it if you four would stop looking at me as if I were nothing more then a pesky fly."

The four of them glared even harder at Abel, one even dared to reach into his pocket and draw a gun. Abel debated on if he should surprise the human by appearing behind him, but decided against it. In the end showing his powers at this time wouldn't be good.

"Shut up you filthy eleven!" the one holding the gun yelled, and aimed it at Abel but didn't fire. "How dare one of your kind speak to one of our superior blood line! All you Elevens should just die!"

"Please elaborate: what's an eleven?" Abel asked with a sheepish grin. The careful mask he had put on didn't show any of the true emotion he really felt.

"Look at this boys," the female spoke. "This nut case doesn't know his manners." Her laugh was echoed by the three men at her side, as well as the other three in the robots.

"Shall I teach him a lesson, Allisa?" the male with the gun laughed, he cocked his gun.

"Sure Mich, just make it fast we need to get back to our planning," Allisa said. She turned her back.

Abel sighed. He had expected trouble, but not so soon.

Bang! Mich fired his gun. Abel moved at inhuman speed, easily dodging the bullet before returning to his original spot. The only way someone would have been able to see him move was if they video taped it, and played it at slow motion. "What in the? I was sure that would have hit," Mich mumbled. He cocked the gun again, aimed, and fired. "What the hell?"

Abel couldn't help but smile at the look on his face. To all the humans, it would have seemed as if Abel was a still object, it was no wonder the man seemed to frustrated. Abel forced his smile to vanish and replaced it with a look of fear. "Hey- hey, you really tried to shot me just then didn't you?" Abel forced his voice to shake.

"What's wrong Michelle," one of the other males asked. He looked at Mich with a concerned look.

"Nothing. I'm aiming but-" Mich shot the gun again and Abel dodged. "But, I just can't hit the guy. I think there's something wrong with my gun."

"You just got it didn't you? It can't be broken," the male reasoned. He took out his own gun, "let me deal with this," he said in an irritated voice.Bang!

"I just got to this city!" Abel yelped. He pushed his hands out right in front of himself, as if to shield himself from the incoming bullets. Abel sighed inwardly, he might as well have fun with this.

"Thats what they all say," Mich yelled. He glared at Abel, this time not with a look of superiority but one of madness and hate.

"New-be amateurs," the machine that had shot at Abel first growled. "A mere eleven is giving Britanians a hard time, what a joke." The four story robot raised his machine gun and fired a set of shots.

Abel leapt back only just managing to avoid being shot. The pilot in the robot let out a stream of curses as he took aim and began firing once more, this time in a wider circle. Damn! One of the bullets managed to hit Abel in his shoulder.

Whoever said everyone's senses even the sense of touch, would dull over the years, was an idiot. That hurt like hell. Abel could feel the bullet in his shoulder.

"Ouch!" Abel yelped, as he brought his hand to his shoulder. He was still trying to fain the act of an innocent civilian.

XXX

Lelouch Lamperouge scowled as he tried to think of the best way to attack the small team of seven with the remaining three Knightmares they still had. If this were an ordinary chess game he would have sacrificed one of his pawns to get to the bishop… but in this game he couldn't risk it. Damn it, think Lelouch, think!

"Zero! We need to make a move now!" Tamaki yelled into the radio. "Damn it, I knew we should have kept more of our men here! Now look what happened! We're sitting ducks!"

"Don't rush him," Kallen's voice yelled back at Tamaki. Lelouch took off his mask and set it on the dash board in the knightmare. What a headache those two were.

"A1, I need you to go into the old underground rail road. About half a mile in, shoot the roof. Kallen, in exactly 3 minutes you will shoot the last bullet in your canon at eight o'clock," Lelouch ordered.

"Eight o'clock?" Kallen repeated questioningly.

"South west, but more to the west side," Lelouch said quickly. "Once you use the cannon, charge in and finish them off. Don't worry they'll be immobile."

"What about me Zero?" Tamaki asked.

"You stay put," Lelouch said simply. Tamaki began yelling into the radio but Lelouch shut it off.

Lelouch fingered the king chess piece, and looked it over. If his Black Knights did what he ordered, everything would go as planned. Checkmate. He placed the piece on the chess board. Turning the radio back on, Lelouch replaced his mask.

Three minutes passed without much commotion. Then- a large booming sound echoed through the eleven's city, followed by a bright flashing light. Lelouch straightened and typed in a sequel of buttons, activating his Knightmare.

"A1 report in," Zero spoke calmly as he headed to the area the purple knightmares would be.

"The roof collapsed in, causing all enemy Knightmares, to fall in. I'm retreating out of the tunnel at this moment, then I'll randevu with the Guren."

Zero nodded to himself and flipped the switch to a different radio frequency. "Kallen, have you taken care of the knightmares?"

"I have, however there are four Britanian pilots and a… well he doesn't look Japanese but he doesn't look Britanian either," Kallen spoke over the static. "Should we take them in for questioning?"

"Send me a video," Zero ordered. He wondered why someone who wasn't Japanese or a Britanian would be here. A few seconds later a screen to his left flickered to life. It showed four pilots by the edge of the hole, the knightmares were now in. They all had looks of hate and at the same time fear; the typical Britanian. Zero's eyes flickered to the other figure.

The man had long silvery hair that reached the back of his knees. He wore black pants and a white, long sleeve shirt that was under a blue vest. His eyes were wintery blue and he stared at the knightmares with no fear or hatred. Lelouches eye's zeroed in on a red spot on the sleeve of the man's shirt. It seemed to be getting bigger and bigger as the man lost more blood, but he didn't seem in the slightest bit affected by it.

Could he be someone like C2? An immortal witch who couldn't be killed and could give people the power of geass? If that were so, then this man could be a dangerous foe or a powerful ally.

"Bring in the man with the white hair."

XXX

Abel frowned as the red robots cockpit opened up. If it hadn't been for the fact the robot had just appeared from the direction the canon was shot from, he would have thought they were on the same side. Abel felt warm liquid trickle down his right arm, he glanced at his shoulder. Aw man, did it hurt. Abel forced himself not to remove the bullet. With so many people watching it wasn't a good idea.

Something pricked at Abel's uninjured shoulder. Great, now he was going to have a bullet lodged into both of his shoulders. Abel looked at it, instead of a bullet there was a large needle. A tranquilizer. He flinched, as he removed it and threw it to the ground. Even after all this time…

"That should have been enough to take down anyone," a shocked female voice yelped. Abel looked back at the cockpit to the robot. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of her. She looked- she looked just like- but that couldn't be, she died a long time ago. The skin color the hair color, even the style of the hair was so much like hers. Abel felt himself falling. The ground slammed into him, and his vision buckled.

XXX

"GAahhhh! Where'd that guy go now! We don't have enough money to pay for our expenses for next month! God damn it! And now we need to take care of this guy! What the hell does Zero think he's doing!" Abel felt a pillow land heavily on his back. "Zero!"

Abel blinked his eyes open, as his vision swam into focus. He blinked a few times before pushing himself up, into a sitting position and shaking his head. The pillow fell to the tiled floor.

"You woke him up, idiot!" a familiar female voice yelled. Abel looked at Esther- no at the female who happened to look like her.

"Hey don't blame me! It's Zero's fault for bringing him here anyway."

"Both of you calm down," a calmer voice spoke. "Zero will be down in just a few minutes so just relax, Tamaki, Kallen," the man said, glancing at the two of them in turn. His eyes landed on Abel once the two had stopped yelling. "Sorry about that, I'm Ogi, Ogi Kaname," he reached out a hand and Abel took it.

"Abel Nightroad," Abel said using his old alias.

"Zero said your shoulder was injured, and to tend to it," Ogi said. He showed Abel the first aid kit he had been holding then sat across from Abel. "Take off your shirt, so I can remove the bullet." Ogi ordered as he opened the kit and drew out a tweezer.

"You don't need to," Abel protested. "My shoulder's fine," he moved it as if to make his point, but the bullet was still lodged in it causing it to bleed. Abel stiffened as pain shot up his arm.

"Even if you say it's fine it doesn't look that way," Ogi observed. He gently prodded Abel's shoulder who flinched away. "It's going to get infected," he looked genuinely worried.

"It'll heal," Abel mumbled. He didn't want Ogi to put himself in danger by dealing with his blood. Not to mention the Crusnik would begin healing the wound as soon as the bullet was removed.

"It'll only heal after you get that bullet out."

"Can I use the tweezers? I'll take it out by my self," Abel finally said. Ogi raised an eyebrow but didn't say a word, instead he just gave Abel the tweezers. Abel took them and ripped his shirt by the bullet hole, so he wouldn't have to remove his clothes. He then proceeded to remove the bullet and grit his teeth. Once it was out he wiped the blood from the tweezers and handed them back to Ogi. "Thanks."

"No problem," Ogi said as he took the tweezers and began whipping them off with disinfectant.

"So why did you bring me here anyway?" Abel asked turning to the Kallen girl. He put a hand to his shoulder to slow the bleeding as it healed. Ogi looked troubled by this, as he wanted to bandage it but didn't say anything, instead he looked at Kallen.

"I'm- I'm not sure, Zero just told me to bring you in," Kallen shrugged. There was a slight blush to her face when she mentioned this Zero person.

"And where is Zero?"

"He's up in his room," Tamaki answered. He looked irritated as if he wanted to punch a wall, or something. "He's probably with his lady friend, leaving us to deal with you. The bastard," Tamaki glared at Abel and crossed his arms over his chest.

"He's not!" Kallen protested at the same time someone else said, "bastard am I."

Abel turned just as Kallen jumped to her feet and bowed to the masked figure. "He didn't mean it Zero!" she planted a hand on Tamaki's head and forced him to bow as well.

Zero seemed to ignore them as he turned his attention to Abel. Abel stiffened, something was different about this guy. He wasn't a methuselah and was human as far as he could tell. It almost felt as if this man had a hidden power. No, that couldn't be right; normal human's didn't have powers.

Silence swept over the room as the two men studied each other. Zero wore a black helmet with a dark shield over the front to prevent others from seeing his face. The bottom of the mask was rimmed with gold, adding to it's design. He also wore a black cape lined with gold around the edges and the inside was completely red. The collar of his cape came up so that it framed his mask. Thanks to the way he was standing Abel couldn't make out anymore of his costume, other then the fact that his shoes had heels in them to make him taller.

"I hope those two haven't been to much of a trouble for you," Zero was the first to break the silence.

"Not at all. It's nice to see… people with energy," Abel replied. He mentally slapped himself from almost calling them young kids.

Zero nodded to Abel's response as he walked around the table that was in the room. "You three may leave," he motioned to the others in the room. Kallen and Ogi both nodded, but Tamaki looked like he wanted to jump at Zero and attack the masked man. "We'll deal with our 'money problem' later," Zero sighed. The way he said it, led Abel to believe this wasn't the first time.

Abel straightened in his seat as the three walked out of the room. He was still trying to figure this guy out.

"Is your shoulder okay?" Zero asked.

"Oh, it's fine. Thanks for asking," Abel looked back at his shoulder. He was still clutching it with his left hand.

"I'm going to skip straight to the point," Zero sighed. "I want you to join the Black Knights."

Heh, did he hear right? Abel waited for Zero to say something more, to show he was kidding. After a while it became apparent that the man was serious.

"You don't even know who I am," Abel asserted. Was this man right in the head? "And for that matter, I don't even know who you are. If you haven't noticed I'm a foreigner and-"

"I don't care, you seemed to be a very unique person, and the Black Knights could use someone like you," Zero said. Oh hell. Did Zero know something about Abel? If he did it would make his job even harder. "A few years ago Great Britania declared war on Japan, like they did to so many countries before. Like all the others, they defeated Japan and annexed it. As Japan was the eleventh country to be concurred they declared this area eleven and all the Japanese became elevens," Zero explained.

"What does this have to do with you and the Black Knights," not to mention what it had to do with Abel. Though, he could already tell he wasn't liking what the Britanians were doing. World concur, never turned out well

"The Black Knights have existed ever since the Britanians concurred Japan. They are the Knights who fight for the freedom and equality of everyone, whether they are Japanese or not. But, the Britanians see us as rebels," Zero explained with a slight chuckled. "Do you play chess?"

"A little," Abel said lied as Zero pressed a button on the table. A part of the table flipped over revealing a concealed glass chess board. Zero motioned for Abel to make the first move.

"Do you know how to pilot a Knightmare?" Abel made a confused face at Zero's question. "They're the large machines Britanians made. You saw eight of them earlier today. The Gloucestor were the purple ones you saw. The one Kallen was piloting was the Guran."

"I don't," Abel answered. Riding something like that would make him motion sick. He moved one of his pieces up by 5 spaces, setting up another trap. Abel was currently in the offensive with Zero defensive. He scanned the board, damn, he hadn't been paying attention to the right corner.

"Will you join our cause?" Zero asked moving his queen, then looked up. Check. Abel smirked this kid was better then he gave him credit for. Of course if Abel really wanted he could have finished the game within the first 7 moves but hadn't.

"You still want me to join even when I don't know how to pilot a Knightmare?" Are you crazy? Abel kept this last part to himself. "I might not be of any help to you or your cause."

"I beg to differ," Zero said.

Ah, there was no way out of this. Both in the chess game and out of it. No matter what Abel did he would end up in check mate within the next three moves, and Zero wasn't going to let up, until he finally said yes. Besides, if Abel wanted to make a difference he might as well start now with the Black Knights. Abel chuckled slightly as he looked at the board again. Now that he thought on it he should have finished the game early instead of prolonging it.

"Forfeit," Abel sighed and leaned back in his seat. "I'll join you, but I must warn you that I don't stay in one place for to long. So if I suddenly disappear, don't look for me."

"I'll have Ogi give you a few documents, concerning missions and military tactics," Zero announced, and stood. "I'll leave you to your own devices then... perhaps next time we can play a real game of chess without any handicaps."

XXX

Lelouch opened the door to his office/ apartment, his mind was still on the newest member of the Black Knights. Abel Nightroad was certainly a unique individual. Their simple game of chess, had proved that much.

"C.C, are you certain he's not someone like you?" Lelouch asked. Without glancing at her, he headed for the back of the room by the dresser and hung up his cape. He set his mask on the manikin head.

"You question me? I already told you once, 'he's not,' if you don't believe me, use your geass on him," C.C. said, between bites as she ate a vegi pizza.

"It's not necessary at the moment."

"You're to kind. What'll happen if it's to late? You may never discover what he is," C.C. argued.

"You act as if you know something I don't," Lelouch pointed out. Within seconds he was before her, a hand on the back of the couch, as he glared down on her. "What is he? Who is he?"

"If it makes you feel better I also don't know, however I know he isn't normal. He said his name was Abel Nightroad, perhaps you should start from there."

XXX

Sit. Speak. Heel. Fetch Fido, Fetch! Get!

Abel groaned as another member of the Black Knights placed another dish into the sink. Tch, he would be another hundred years older by the time they would stop eating! As the buffet slowly diminished, dishes would suddenly appear. Not to mention he still had another 'chore' to do. What was he, their personal butler or something?

"Hey, Abel could you get something for me?"

"I need this ready by noon."

"One of the new members spilled their drink on the floor, can you clean it up?"

"Go do the dishes, our dishwasher broke."

If one more person told him to do one more thing… "Yoh, Abel! Rakshata, asked if you could pick up some Knightmare parts." Abel turned with one of the dirty dishes in his hand. It shattered in two, as he glared at Tamaki.

"Go get it yourself," Abel growled, and dropped the broken plate, so it landed between him and Tamaki. He spun around and snatched up another to wash, ignoring the broken plate.

At first he hadn't minded all the chores, but now, he hated them. People were just using him to their advantage, even Zero! 'I want you to join the Black Knights.' Yeah right, more like he wanted a slave, to do his every bidding.

"Hey, man don't be like that! You're the newest member so it only makes sense that you get all the junk work."

"Fine, I quit," Abel mumbled to himself. He whipped around and wiped his hands on Tamaki's shirt.

"Hey! I just got these washed!" Abel shot him a glare that shut him up and snatched the note in his hand.

"I'll get Rakashata's parts," Abel stated. At least it would give him sometime away from the base. Maybe when he came back, something more important would come up. Something that didn't include doing chores, and errands, and...

A/N: *Author is scared of what the readers might or might not think... Still hiding under a desk...*