Turn 07

Fear was something Rolo was not exactly familiar with.

Orphaned at the age of two, taken in by the Geass Order at three, and trained as an assassin by six, he had long forgotten the concept of fear. After performing countless assassination missions, he had already ceased to be afraid. The only time he had felt it sincerely was during the Black Knight's attack on Babel, and even that was simply out of pure reflex from seeing his charge nearly fell to his death.

But right now, for the first time in his life, he knew what it was like to be terrified.

It had taken him several minutes to recover from his encounter with that mysterious stranger. His heart was still racing when he resumed searching for Haruna, and sweat beaded his forehead. He tried to control his breathing, letting his pulse slow down. Years of being an assassin taught him many techniques when composing one's self, yet none had prepared him for an incident like this.

Who was that man? Rolo had met a lot of people from the military before, either as allies or targets. However, not one had evoked the same presence as him. The sheer killing intent Rolo had felt was like a tidal that swept his mental fortitude. He never wanted to experence that again.

Suddenly he froze. No, this was stupid. Why was he even acting this way? He had a Geass that could stop a person's perception of time. He did not have to be afraid. If ever he was caught in a same situation, he could just kill the man. It was what he had always done for the last ten years, and it had worked for him all the time. There was nothing to be afraid of.

He paused to take a deep breath, then continued on his way. He had already spent too much time. He had to find Haruna soon.

Rolo spent the next ten minutes looking around the area, checking inside shops and restaurants. He made sure to keep a low profile; he even bought a cap to hide his face. He did not know who would Haruna meet, and he did not want her discovering that he was following her. He was certain that the girl was doing the same thing, keeping her actions discreet.

This part of the shopping district was large. He was having a hard time pushing through the crowds. It was past noon, and people were beginning to flood the streets. Haruna could blend here without difficulty, and he might not even noticed her. He had to get on a higher vantage point, preferably a restaurant with a rooftop overlooking the area. It would offer an excellent view of his surroundings without attracting attention at all.

However, it seemed he did not need to. Just as he freed himself from a particularly large throng of shoppers, Rolo caught a flash of black hair in his peripheral vision. He looked in that direction and saw his target running in a hurry toward a small plaza in the center, her expression serious.

Rolo quickened his pace and watched her carefully. The girl sprinted toward a bench where someone with a cap lounged casually, arms spread on the backrest behind him. From his position, Rolo could see the black shades he wore, concealing his eyes from view. Beneath the cap, a few inches of red hair peeked from view.

Rolo lowered his head and followed Haruna, careful not to let his face be seen. The girl had sat down next to the person, her eyes darting for a moment before opening her mouth to speak. At this distance, Rolo could not hear what she was saying. But as he got closer, he finally caught on to their conversation.

"—should have met him by now." The voice belonged not to a man, but a boy, much to Rolo's shock. He had to be no older than him.

"I'm worried," said Haruna. She wrung her hands in agitation. "It's too soon to be doing this. We should have waited until he's ready."

"Yeah. But someone is getting impatient and we have a timetable to follow." The boy stretched his neck, craning his head toward the sky. "We don't have much time. The sooner we do this, the faster it will be for him to remember."

There was a long pause. Rolo grabbed the opportunity to stalk closer, dropping down to a knee and pretending to brush off dirt from his shoes to avoid suspicion. Part of his mind was wondering what they were talking about, another part was trying to comprehend how the topic related to his Nii-san. They could not be talking about his amnesia. C.C. had already returned Lelouch"s memories.

He was no more than twenty feet away, so he could better hear their conversation now. "Yeah, you're right." Haruna sighed and let her shoulders dropped. "Maybe I'm just worrying for nothing."

"You are. Relax, will you? We've already talked about this. Besides, Sensei can intervene if something ges wrong. It's going to be fine."

"And if it doesn't? We still don't know how he will react."

"As long as he reacts, that's good enough. We just need to trigger his memories. The rest will be up to that."

"I still don't like how we're doing it though," Haruna said with displeasure.

The boy snorted. "Neither do I. But this is the best thing we got. Let's just hope the gang don't mess up."

"Don't jinx it," warned Haruna.

The two fell silent. Rolo stood and strode forward, his face turned away while he whistled as he passed behind them. The conversation really bothered him. It sounded like Haruna was involved in a conspiracy, and Rolo wanted to know if his Nii-san was related somehow. If he was and it proved dangerous… well, they were bound to separate sooner or later. It would be easy to activate his Geass and eliminate these two in a dark alley.

"How's school?" the boy asked after a minute. Rolo became even more alert this time.

"Oh, it's nice," Haruna said. "They invited me to the Student Council."

"You accepted?"

"Of course. It's the only way to get closer." She paused. "The fake little brother seems to suspect something though."

Rolo froze, and it was only due to his well-trained discipline that he was able to resist the urge to whip out his pocket knife and stab Haruna and her friend. They knew who he was.

"Naturally," the red haired mused. "Be careful around him. We don't want any complications now that we're so close."

"I will." Another long silence followed. Then: "Will that be all? I have to return soon. They might start worrying after me."

"Sure," the boy said, then paused. "Any message you want to say to our little blue snake?"

Haruna hesitated for a second. "Tell him I'm going to be fine. And don't you dare send him to the school," she added with a slight hiss.

The red haired-boy laughed. "Who knows? If this plan fails, sending him in might be our only option."

"You guys just wanted to see him in a skirt again," Haruna grumbled. "I'll keep in touch soon. Just don't do something without me knowing, please?"

"Of course."

Rolo glanced over his shoulders, watching Haruna as she sprinted away from the bench. His eyes followed her for a moment until she disappeared in the distance. Looking around and confirming that no one was nearby, he casually drew his pocket knife.

Lelouch had forbade him from carrying weapons ever since he saved his life, but Rolo was no fool to just forget his training; an assassin should never be without a weapon. Rolo did his best pretending otherwise, though he knew that Lelouch was not a person he could easily tricked. Leloch probably suspected that he still carried a knife.

Rolo approached Haruna's friend from behind, knife in hand. The boy still had not noticed him, humming a tune while relaxing on the bench. Ten steps. That was the distance which separated Rolo from his neck. In a matter of seconds, he would be dead. And then he would go after Haruna next. If they knew who he was, they could not be allowed to live.

Five steps... and Rolo's cellphone rang.

Faster than lightning, Rolo spun around and picked it up, placing the ear piece on his ear while sprinting away to a nearby low tree. He could have activated his Geass and kill the boy in one swift strike, but he had been scared that someone would hear the ring and come to investigate. He did not want to attract too much attention.

It was still ringing by the time he stopped. "Hello?" he asked, taking a peek to where his target sat. The boy had already stood, and Rolo's expression darkened as his target walked away. If he could not kill him right now, there was still Haruna.

Rolo frowned as the other line remained silent. He looked at the name. It was Lelouch, but that was odd. Why was he not speaking?

Then he heard a rough voice that was not Lelouch spoke from the background.

"We don't want your money."

Shortest chapter in this fic so far, and I'm very sorry for that. As I've said in the previous chapter, my novel, which is now entering the final stages of its second draft, takes prioroty. So, yeah. Seven months of absence and this is all I can give.

With that said, I'm going to be free next week, so expect a much longer chapter. Probably around 4k-5k words. We're almost nearing the end of the first act, and things will start heating up. :)

In response to Rankin de Merthyr's review, rest assured that the people of Class E, along with a few others, are not here as a deus ex. They have a purpose, and there's a reason why they are all here. Of course, I won't say anything more than that since it will be a spoiler.

Please Read & Review!

Until next time!