(A/N: For anyone who might ask, I have been working on this for a while so that's why i'm able to put these chapters up so fast. (You'd be surprised of how much your mind can thing of in three days!) Anyways, I hope you enjoy the show! (BTW: that's one of Julius's famous lines)


Chapter 7: Escape St. Petersburg

Caesar's Palace, St. Petersburg Russia

The chamber was dark and silent, as Lord Shaing and James waited for Lord Kingsley and Suzaku to arrive. Finally, after a while, Julius and Suzaku entered with Suzaku glaring daggers at the Military Advisor.

"Well, shall be begin?" Julius asked sitting down, taking his king and beginning the game by placing it forward. "It was foolish of Duke Velaines to turn against His Majesty. But now he will pay the price with his life."

"Yes," Lord Shaing agreed placing down his white king. "I hear he shall be beheaded in the Britannian homeland."

"Yes, he will." Julius confirmed, before placing his king down. He grinned smugly. "Checkmate."

Lord Shaing stared par curiously at the chess piece, as Julius took it into his hand, throwing it and catching it lightly. "Well played." He admitted, catching James off guard. He'd never admitted defeat. Never!

Suddenly, Julius asked, "Tell me, Lord Shaing? Did you project the real world onto this game?"

Lord Shaing narrowed his eye. "What do you mean?" He asked.

Julius grinned, looking back to him. "At one point, I would have lost had you only sacrificed your queen." He explained, making Shaing look towards him confused. "Am I wrong?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Lord Shaing replied, his confusion appearing across his face.

"Everyone processes a weakness, perhaps a sibling. A parent, or parents." He continued glancing at James for a moment, who glared back. "Or perhaps a lover?"

For you Lelouch? It was Nunnally that ended your Zero insanity, Suzaku thought.

"But I am different, I am immune to weakness like that." Julius said.

"Really?" Lord Shaing raised an eyebrow at him, his confusion replaced with new found curiosity. "How so?"

"What I must protect, what I am willing to lay my life down to protect," Julius voice filled itself with conviction and loyalty. "Is His Majesty, and no one else!"

And just like that, Julius lost control. His 'headache' came back, this time in full force, and god did it hurt. Beads of sweat started forming on his head. His right eye dilated and he let out a gasp. "His Majesty… H-His Majesty…!" Julius cried out, his eye widening even more.

Suddenly he had a flashback. It was of the Emperor, his red glowing eyes with the Geass symbol staring him down. In a fit of fear and a yowl, Julius swept the table clean of its contents. The glasses of wine and chess piece tumbled onto the ground.

And all the while, Suzaku glared at Julius in irritation. When he looked back at Lord Shaing though, he saw a look of amusement. He was surprised he hadn't asked James to escort Julius off the Palace grounds yet. Then again who wouldn't want to see this? He thought to himself.

Julius felt utterly lost in his mind, he couldn't remember who he was anymore. He was lost to the darkness in his mind, as the first, the original tried to regain and relinquish who he was. He, for the first, found his weakness. Himself.

"W-Who's there? Who are you?! N-No, I'm different!" Julius clutched his face in pain, staggering out of the seat. He reached out to the cold, empty air. "W-Where am I? The Tokyo Settlement? No, Kamine Island?"

Suzaku was honestly impressed, impressed at how much progress Lelouch had at regaining his memories. And judging by Lord Shaing's amused face, he'd seemed to figure something out.

I! AM! LELOUCH! I am NOT Julius Kingsley…. Or am I? Lelouch clung to his sanity as if it would kill him, trying to regain some composure.

Slowly, Lelouch lowered his hands, unsure of what to think. His mind became less foggy, making him come to the conclusion he had won the argument against Kingsley's subconscious. However though, his mind failed to realize Charles Geass had vanished, as it returned twice as strong. A last ditch effort?!

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD, JULIUS KINGSLEY!" Lelouch screamed, and suddenly Charles Geass couldn't compensate it any longer. It had been trying to keep Lelouch at bay, but couldn't no longer. It was too weakened.

Lelouch's red iris's flickered, before suddenly the red contacts like Geass broke apart vanishing into the air. Lelouch fell to his knees, hands on his heads. Though his emotions were a train wreck, he could still see though his right. I…I can see! Lelouch thought in shock, trying to push himself up.

Lelouch stopped for a moment, before realizing he felt no pain. He wasn't in his mind or some weird place. No, he was on ground. In his body again. Though he didn't understand how the Geass broke of wore off, he still accepted it either way.

Suzaku though was shocked, and now worried about how Lord Shaing would react to Julius's emotional pain. Though Suzaku didn't know, Julius confirmed to Lord Shaing that he was Zero. I knew something was familiar about those attacks, Shaing thought, standing up with James behind him. Those tactics, those idea's. I knew it, it IS Zero.

Lord Shaing smiled. "Well, Lord Kingsley," he said, gesturing to the downed man. "He seems to be out of sorts."

"I am terribly sorry, my Lord." Suzaku stepped forward, arms to his sides. "But I'm afraid we must cancel this chess game, and I must ask you to leave."

"You know, when I first heard of the Ark Fleet Plan, I was reminded of a certain masked terrorist in Area 11. Lord Kingsley's tactics resembled that of the terrorists as well." Lord Shaing explained, making Suzaku, and James, grow more worried.

Suzaku, because he feared Lord Shaing knew that Julius was Zero. And James, because if he knew Julius was Lelouch, then they'd have to act. Very fast. "What are you implying, Lord Shaing?" James asked, though he feared the answer.

Lord Shaing, standing proudly and now powerfully, pointed his armor plated finger towards Julius, who now slowly stood up. "He is Zero." He announced, making Suzaku, James, and now Lelouch grow eerily quiet.

Suzaku quickly jumped to speak. "Zero is dead!" He yelled to Shaing, making Lelouch flinch at the volume of his voice. "Executed by the Emperor!"

He had a feeling, a slim chance that somehow of would work with him, help persuade Shaing that Julius wasn't the masked terrorist. Sadly, God didn't seem to be on his side today.

"Kururugi Suzaku, The very face that you, a Knight of Round, is guarding him proves it." Shaing replied, making Suzaku reach for his pocket. "After all, the death of your father proves it even more."

That made Suzaku snap, and like on Kamine Island, he pulled out his gun in a flash. "Any further groundless speculations will not end well for you, Lord Shaing!" Suzaku warned, locking the guns pin.

"Don't shoot!" James said, pulling out his own pistol. Shockingly though, James was pointing it as Shaing instead of Suzaku. "Lord Shaing, do not move!"

"Or what?" Shaing asked, now facing James. He had a monotone look, before a smile formed onto his face. "James, my adopted nephew. You would dare shoot your uncle who raised you, who gave your parents a home and treatment?"

"You are not my father." James growled, moving slowly in front of Julius's downed state. "If what you say is true, then Lord Kingsley and Sir Kururugi are coming with me."

"Oh really?" Shaing raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think that?"

James smiled, as a light dot blinked on his ear. Shaing's smile faded as he realized it was an earpiece. "This." James said, and suddenly, the glass roofing broke. As it did, James quickly covered Julius, as the same Gundam from earlier landed in front of them.

"Overwatch!" Suzaku cried out, as suddenly several other Knightmare's, with red and chrome colors and Roman numerals on their chests, burst through the main door and outer walls. "Look out, it's the Order of Micheal!"

Suddenly, several Overwatch agents fired from above, sending Knightmare's and ground troops down. "Attention, Lord Shaing," a voice came from the blue Gundam, whose plasma cannons aimed at him. "You are interfering with an Overwatch operation. Leave and call your men off, or I will fire."

"Are you alright, luv?" Tracer, who'd landed next to James, asked Lelouch as he slowly stood up.

"Y-Yes… Yes, I… I'm fine." He said, looking at his hands as it he didn't have any to begin with. "I… I'm me again."

"Oh really? I think not!" Shaing suddenly ran back, a black and white armored Knightmare charged forward, smashing its head onto Delta Kai's.

The Knightmare was completely black, with white shoulder blades and knee blades. It wielded two large pistol like shotguns, and its head was replaced with one similar to a skull, only with its top jaw stretched into a triangle. "Well, well, if it isn't the infamous Delta Kai." A menacing voice called out from Knightmare, as it fired a round onto the Delta Kai's chest plate. "I've been expecting you, Lumen Sage."

"Reaper, I should have known it was you." Rikoto growled in anger, smashing the left gun of Reaper's Knightmare. "Only the commander of Talon would use that much black on a machine."

Hahaha! You're one to talk, considering you do not use the common Knightmare." Reaper growled, as he attempted to grab the Delta Kai's left plasma cannon. Sadly, he failed when Delta Kai shoved him back, then used its shield to slice off its right arm. "Damn you!"

Rikoto laughed. "It seems you haven't been training, Reaper." He said, grabbing Reaper's gun from the floor and firing at Reaper. Reaper struggled to stay up, but finally fell when his Knightmare's head went flying off. "SUZAKU! CALL THE LANCELOT AND FOLLOW US!"

"Right!" Suzaku said, quickly dodging the attempted attacks from the Order of Micheal Knightmare's. Jumping into the air, Suzaku pulled out the Lancelot's activation key and immediately called it to come.

Not a moment later, the Lancelot burst through a set of doors, making the Knightmare's turn to face it. Suzaku quickly jump from Knightmare to Knightmare, before landing on the Lancelot's control seat. Placing on his earpiece, Suzaku activated the Lancelot's battery cells and unsheathed its Master Vibration Blades, pointing them to the lead Knightmare.

"Kururugi! Forget about them, let's go!" Delta Kai ordered, firing a Shark Harken at one of the machines. With a powerful swing, the Delta Kai swung the Knightmare's into one another, sending them to the floor.

"Now we can leave!" Suzaku replied, gunning the Lancelot towards the broken glass window. The Lancelot Albion charged through, it's Landspinner's helping it rush through the streets of St. Petersburg as the Delta Kai and Overwatch dropship flew above.

"All forces, Overwatch had kidnapped the Military Advisor and Suzaku Kururugi had gone AWOL. ALL troops are to capture the Lancelot Albion and the Overwatch dropship!" Reaper ordered on a fully opened channel, making Rikoto grin.

"So, you want to play that way, huh?" He asked no one in particular, before charging higher than before. As he did, he charged the plasma beams as the computer warned of several aerial vehicles traveling towards the. He then opened a private channel with the Overwatch dropship and the Lancelot. "I'm going to buy us some time!"

With that, he fired the beams, destroying the closing in jets and Knightmare's. As they moved through the city. As they did though. They came face to face with a large spider designed Omnic like Knightmare, with four large legs and a human like body. "Die, European scum!" Its pilot screamed, firing a barrage of missiles.

Both the Delta Kai and the dropship fired back, destroying missiles mid-flight. As they did, the Lancelot charged to its legs. "I'll handle this!" Suzaku called out, using the MV Blades to cut through the first two legs. The Knightmare-Omnic hybrid fell to the ground, its arm slamming into a building on impact. "Now let's get out of here!"

"Suzaku, grab on!" Rikoto cried out, the Delta Kai reached it hand out, the Lancelot quickly grabbing onto it. "Don't let go!"

"Don't give me a reason to!" Suzaku retorted, sheathing one of its MV blades as they flew higher from ground. "So, where to?"

"To Watchpoint Gibraltar!" 76 responded through the channel, turning the dropship's direction of flight.

"Right/Understood!" Rikoto and Suzaku acknowledge, before the Delta Kai transformed and had the Lancelot hold onto its arm which was out of place.