Chapter II: Assistance

Soji continued pacing around relentlessly, the dry leaves crunching under the soles of his boots. He and his son were in the middle of no man's land, which was about sixty miles away from the border. Fifteen minutes had passed since he first got here and Fernandez-san was still nowhere to be seen. As such, he was agitated and no doubt jumpy. She had given them specific instructions yesterday just before she left which were:

bring whatever was necessary

leave at different times

and

C. use different words to get to the rendezvous

The first and second step had already been accomplished without any holdups, much to Soji's relief. All that was left was for Ritsuka and Yuki to reach here and they could leave. Get the hell out of this place. Fernandez-san had promised them starting cash, new identities and a warm home in the territory of the European Union. Soji still could hardly believe that this was happening to him. Why him out of all people? And more importantly, the girl was a Britannian. Why would she help an Eleven?

"Soji!" A voice called out. The pacing man stopped in his tracks and whirled around. Ritsuka hurried up to him, carrying an overnight bag. His face paled when he realized that she was all alone. Where was his little girl?

"Where's Yuki?" He asked, panicking.

Ritsuka's face fell. "I thought that you took her with Haru! She was gone when I looked for her earlier!"

Fear started to rise silently around them. "I'll go back there and find her," Soji announced.

"Find who?"

Three figures emerged from the shadows. Fernandez-san had arrived with two bodyguards. The one who came with her during her last visit to the Hiranumas gave them a nod of acknowledgement. "Yuki's gone!" Ritsuka said, tears streaming down her face. "She must have slipped out unnoticed and now we don't know where she is!"

The brown-haired girl bit her bottom lip. This was bad. Really bad. She took a deep breath. "This will slow us down, no doubt. The journey to the border takes around one and a quarter hours max and we have around an hour before the custom agents I —" Fernandez-san cleared her throat. "Point is, we have to get there before they're off duty."

Fernandez-san paced around as she struggled to come up with a plan. After a few minutes, she stopped and turned to face the worried family. "You three get on the horses and leave first. Stick to the shadows and stay as silent as you can."

"No!" Soji shouted defiantly. "Either all four of us leave together or we won't leave at all."

"You have to," Fernandez-san stated. "A group of three people at this area will start to arouse suspicion. Carl, you go with them." The familiar bodyguard nodded curtly. She turned to the other man. "Ryder, you're coming with me to Shinjuku. We will look for the child."

"Understood, Milady."

Ritsuka hastily wiped her tears. "You are a miracle from the gods, Fernandez-san. We can't thank you enough."

"Thank me by getting out of this place. Let's move!"

With that, Fernandez-san and Ryder disappeared into the shadows once more.


"This is footage of the terrorist bombing that occurred in Osaka a few days ago," the newscaster on the television screen said with a neutral expression. "This attack, which caused the deaths of eight Britannian citizens as well as fifty-two others, is —"

A dual timer beeped repeatedly. A servant who was holding the remote switched off the television, cutting off the newscaster. "Your thinking time is up," he announced to the old man seated in a plush-looking armchair. "You have to make a move within twenty seconds."

The clearly overweight man who was seated directly opposite smirked while filing his nails. He didn't even bother to cast a second look at his opponent. "It's as he says."

The frail-looking man trembled slightly. Where was the substitute of his? His brain was now stuck and he couldn't think of a way out. One wrong move and he would lose all his money that he worked so hard for. Just then, the double doors leading into the room flew open, bathing the dim room with ras of light. Two silhouettes walked in.

"Your substitute has arrived," the fat man said uninterestedly.

"Oh thank god!" Relief washed over the old man. Hope was not lost. "I am saved!"

The beefy man kept his small piggy eyes on both of the newcomers, judging them wondered who would be his next opponent. As they moved closer, he could make out their features. Both of them looked young. The tallest had ebony black hair and piercing violet eyes. The other one had his helmet on. The man snorted in disbelief. These were his opponent's saviors?

"Is it okay with your school?" The old man asked worriedly.

"Oh?" The man sneered. "A student?"

The tallest one had an easy smile on his face as he approached the small table. "Oh?" He retorted. "An aristocrat?"

The man huffed as he set the nail file down. "The young are so lucky. They have plenty of time... Time to regret." He gave a conniving smirk. "Your name?"

"Lelouch Lamperouge."

The other boy came over and observed the chess board and its pieces. "Oi, oi," he said worriedly. "You can't win this one no matter what, right?"

"Rivalz," Lelouch said with an unchanging facade, brushing aside his partner's worries. "How long can we stay if we need to make it back to class on time?"

Rivalz had a thoughtful look. "Hmm... If I speed we can stay for at least twenty minutes."

The fat man felt tempted to slap the calm look off Lelouch's face. "In that case, please do drive safely on our way back."

Rivalz looked even more confused as he looked between Lelouch and the chessboard. "Huh?"

As the man drummed his nail file impatiently on the table, Lelouch sat down. "It will be over in nine minutes." He turned to his left. "Master, about the thing I mentioned the last time..."

"I understand," the man said hurriedly as if he couldn't wait for the boy to make his move. "I"ll talk to them."

"Nine minutes?" The fat man said in disbelief. "It's twenty seconds per move."

"It's enough." Lelouch picked up a chess piece.

The man's small eyes widened. "Starting with the king?" The man burst out laughing. How naive of this kid.

Lelouch just gave a small smile in return. Almost as if he were amused.


Clink!

The nail file dropped to the floor. The man stared in disbelief at the chessboard. A school boy, had just beaten him. A school boy who just left for his next class.

"Aristocrats are the best!" Rivalz exclaimed happily as the two boys were walking down the corridor to exit the fat man's house. "They have their pride, so they'll definitely pay up! If they don't, you could always do what you did the previous time."

Lelouch sighed. "Rivalz, when we were at Viscount Aleister's house, I was hard pressed for time. I was already close to flunking my Chemistry." When the viscount refused to pay up and threatened to call the police since the two boys were clearly underage, the blue-haired boy was ranting about unfairness. Lelouch on the other hand merely walked up to a display case.

"That is one magnificent bowl you have there, viscount." Lelouch slid the glass case open and took it out, despite the various pleas. He held it out on his outstretched hand as if he was admiring it. "Chinese ceramic from the Tang Dynasty. Wait, my mistake. The pottery from that era aren't that colorful. I'd say — Ming Dynasty." The pottery was balancing precariously in his palm. "I wonder, how much does it cost nowadays?" He turned to face the blond man, pretending not to notice the viscount's horrified look. "Ten million, no?"

Needless to say, they got the two thousand pounds that they had gambled for. Lelouch still vividly remembered the chalk-white face of the viscount when they left the manor.

"Yeah, yeah," Rivalz said airily with a grin. "On top of that, anew record of eight minutes and thirty-two seconds!"

"He didn't have much remaining time either," Lelouch agreed. "Aristocrats are so sheltered. They just indulge in their special rights." He shook his head slightly in disgust, remembering that he used to be one of them.

Rivalz walked backwards, facing Lelouch with his hands placed behind his head. "Well, do you want to play with some Elevens then? They're different from us Britannians —" He trailed off as he heard loud murmuring from the crowd behind him.

"That's so horrible, involving innocent people."

"Elevens are so scary."

Rivalz turned around to look at the wide screen directly opposite them. Lelouch did the same only after he heard the announcer say one thing.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. There will now be a public address by His Highness Clovis, the Third Prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia."

The screen immediately switched to a close-up of Clovis who was in the Viceroy Palace at this very moment. Lelouch's jaw tightened visibly. "To the people of the Empire," the prince began. "And of course, to the many Elevens who are cooperating with us. Do you understand?" He dramatically placed a closed fist on his chest. Lelouch was surprised that he didn't start crying puddles yet.

"My heart is now being split in half! It is being torn into a heart of anger and a heart of grief! However, I, the one who bears with the responsibility over Area 11, cannot bend to to these terrorists. Why? Because this is a fight for justice! The very justice that protects all peace!"

His voice was now calmer, as if it was laden with nothing but sadness. It proved to everyone that the viceroy was well and truly mourning the deaths of the people. Not Lelouch. He knew all too well about the tricks of the Imperial family. "Now, everyone. Let us all give our condolences to the eight brave people who sacrificed themselves for the sake of justice, shall we not?"

"Let us pray silently," the announcer continued which was followed by total silence.

Lelouch turned away to deposit the two pounds for the parking meter. "Oh, you're not doing it?" Rivalz asked, referring to the praying which almost everyone around them was doing, Clovis as well.

"What about you, Rivalz?" Lelouch countered. The walls of the parking space where Rivalz's motorcycle was parked in lowered automatically.

Rivalz gave a sheepish laugh. "It's embarrassing," he protested as he got on his bike.

There was an electronic beep as the meter produced a receipt. "That's true," Lelouch said with his ever-teasing smile. "Even if we cry, the dead won't come back to life."

"Woah, that's harsh." The blue-haired boy pulled his goggles in place.

Lelouch looked at the slip of paper in his hand. "In the end, it's all just self-justification." He turned back to the screen where Clovis was still praying and sighed melancholically. "No matter how hard you try, the world still won't change."


"Hey, about that first move..."

"Hmm?" Lelouch said, not looking away from his pocket-sized book as Rivalz drove along the road.

"Why did you start by moving the king?"

Lelouch still wasn't looking up. "If the king doesn't lead, then his subordinates will not follow, right?"

"Hey, Lelouch..."

"What?" He asked calmly.

"Do you want to become a company director or something?"

"Of course not. Strange dreams will only serve to destroy you —" Lelouch was cut off when a truck behind them honked. He looked behind him to see a massive truck just a few inches away from them. Miraculously, he didn't even seem shocked. He just turned back to where he left off.

The same couldn't be said for the other boy, though.

"Wah!" Rivalz yelled. "What the hell?!" He swerved to get out of the vehicle's way. The driver instead turned straight to the left, traveling down a closed off road and headed right into an abandoned construction zone. The truck ended up crashing into the supports of whatever building was supposed to be built there.

Rivalz pulled over and both boys turned to look at the wreck. Huge plumes of gray smoke were rising from the accident scene. "Um, was that our fault?" The blue-haired boy asked with uncertainty.

"Of course not," Lelouch replied without hesitation. He did take a double take at the situation before him, though. I wonder why would driver rather do that instead of waiting for Rivalz to get out of the way... Was he or she really in such a hurry? He got out of the sidecar and took off his helmet, leaving that and his book on the seat. Little floating lights were appearing on the roof of the truck. "What was that?"

"Looks like an energy line got cut or something."

"Yeah." Lelouch took off his tinted glasses. "Isn't that —"

"Hey! Check this out!"

The black-haired boy turned to the direction of the chatter. A lot of people were also gathering on the side of the road. Though, their intentions were more of interest. Some were recording it on their phones. They were even calling other passerby to watch. None of them took the initiative to check on the driver who was caught in the wreck. Disgust rose like bile in the back of Lelouch's throat.

"Whoa, that's bad..." One said.

"What did you say? An accident?"

"I think they were drunk."

"Someone go help them!" A woman carrying an infant yelled. "They could be dying in there!"

Instead of rushing over to the accident scene, they began jeering at the woman. "Oh yeah?" One sneered. "Why don't you go help them, Number?"

"Go home, Eleven!"

That was it, his faith in humanity has been let down again for like the millionth time. The spectators were more focused on taunting the woman than tending to the wounded. Lelouch had seen and heard enough. Fine. If those people won't lift a finger, I will. Ignoring Rivalz's numerous yells, he ran down the road that the truck took, straight into the construction zone.

Little did he know that that very action would cause his life to change forever.