Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or Death Note. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this now, would I?
In the history of the Holy Empire of Britannia there have been, as of right now, three civil wars. The first two were caused by a power-struggle between the two eldest princes, and both wars were resolved in a matter of months. For more information on the first two civil wars, please see volume two.
As for the third civil war, however, it was the most violent and bloody one to date. It occurred when Emperor Harold ve Britannia died of a stroke, leaving no heir (of age) to take the throne. Emperor Harold had five children, though all but two of them were barely into their teens. No suitable heir was left to take the throne. Thus, chaos broke out.
No planning had ever been done for an event such as this. The Nobles of Britannia all clambered toward the throne, each seeing this as their chance to take power. Nearly the entire royal family was assassinated, and a brutal civil war reigned for almost a decade. This all changed when Charles zi Britannia, thought dead when he and his brother mysteriously vanished, came back into the picture.
At the youngest age recorded in the Empire, he became the new royal leader of Britannia. With the personal backing of the main heads of the navy and army, Charles' rule was virtually unchallenged in those first few years. Many thought that his time in power would see more suffering, due to his inexperience. However, with the peace that followed Charles' rule brought the nation of Britannia back into the light. It would be in the decades to follow, though, that truly would show how much different from he was from his kind, peaceful, father.
Excerpt from The History of the Holy Empire of Britannia: Volume Five
Even though it was pitch-black tonight, Matsuda could see his target clearly through the scope of his weapon. The shuffling form of his target could be seen through the eye-view, trying to look as casual as possible while holding an automatic rifle. Of course, the man was failing quiet badly. If it weren't for the fact that the police was bribed to stay away and the area around the warehouse district was virtually deserted, someone would have investigated by now.
"Matsuda, you and the rest of the former soldiers of Britannia will take out the guards surrounding the district. You must do it fast, and make sure to be silent. We do not want to alert the drug dealers inside that they are under attack. If your part in this does not go perfectly, then our operation will be ruined. I trust you, Matsuda. Do not fail me now."
The words of Kira rang in Matsuda Touta's head. He made sure that the silencer was still attached to his weapon. The former Honorary Britannian took a breather to calm himself from his fears. He would not fail Kira, not now. He would make sure everything ran smoothly! As the new commander for the group, he had to.
Back when the team had still been apart of the special forces of Britannia, Suzaku Kururugi had been their leader. But that fool had refused to join Kira, and now Matsuda had been made the new leader (mostly because he was the oldest and most experienced of the group, not to mention Kira had chosen him as the squad's representative in the meetings of the senior members). The guys had been reluctant to have him as their commander at first, but Matsuda had managed to prove himself to them. Now was to be their first mission since defecting to the terrorists. He just hoped they wouldn't screw this up.
However now was not the time to be thinking such thoughts. This was not the right moment for thinking, Matsuda chided himself; he had a job to do. It was time to do it!
"This is Squad Leader. Everyone, report." Matsuda murmured into his radio. The rest of his teammates began to signal in one by one.
"Aki Fumio, reporting in sir."
"Haruo Iwao, gun loaded and checking in."
"Hotaka Kou, ready to bust open some Brit skulls, sir!"
"Kenji Daichi, ready to fire."
"Yeah yeah yeah, Ryo Osamu here too. Can we get this over with now?"
"All right, everyone cut the chatter and focus. Kira is counting on us, and we cannot make a mistake here. Everyone have your targets in sight?" Matsuda asked. A succession of 'affirmatives' chorused in.
After a moment Matsuda responded to his teammates. "Good. Let's be lucky that they don't have as many guards on patrol tonight. Now, you'll all fire on my mark."
Matsuda counted to three. "Fire!"
The once NPA trainee fired a shot, sending a bullet straight into the skull of his target. The man dropped to the ground. After making sure the target was dead, Matsuda called the rest of his group. They all reported that their targets were dead.
"Good. All visible perimeter guards are down. Ok guys, let's pack up and move in as fast as we can. Everyone else is counting on us. Go, go, go!"
Corpses were scattered around the room. Blood stained the walls. Bullets holes spread across the floor. Through the carnage a lone, beautiful woman stood alive, two smoking pistols in her hands. Not a speck of blood ruined her flawless appearance. She showed no emotion at the bloodbath around here. If anything, she had a serene, peaceful look on her face.
Another person stepped into the room, much younger than that of her companion. She as well showed no revulsion to the dead and dying littered about. Actually, she looked quite pleased at the results.
"Good work Sarah. Now, keep watch. I promise not to take too long."
The older woman turned to her as the girl marched toward a computer at the rear of the room. She took a seat and began to type rapidly on the key- pad.
"Master, we must hurry, though. We have 2.42 minutes before help arrives." The woman said, turning to quickly shoot a nearby now-dead body.
The girl nodded and continued to type at swift speeds. Within another minute she was done, and a disk was ejected from the device. The girl pocketed and said,
"All right, let's go."
Her companion nodded, and the two raced out of the room and down the corridor connecting to it, just as the sound of other approaching soldiers echoed across the hall. The young girl paused and smiled, casually tossing back something toward the room they had just left. She then sped away again, quickly catching up to her companion.
Not too long after their retreat, another contingent of soldiers burst into the room. They all looked horrified at the bloodbath before them.
"My god, what the hell happened here?" the commander dared to speak, breaking the stunned silence among them all. Then, a small beeping sound came from a nearby object, which he had only then noticed. His eyes grew wide as he immediately recognized it.
"Oh shi—!" the commander started to say, but then a roaring sound cut him off. He felt a brief surge of pain as his body was torn to shreds, then all went blank.
On hindsight, perhaps giving up his title as a 'prince' wasn't such a good idea.
At least, that was what one part of his mind was saying to Clovis as he lay on his bed in the Warrick Palace. Now that his ties to the Royal Family were severed, this was all he had left: this palace on the countryside of the capital and his mother's personal fortunes. Clovis had given up everything else when he'd surrendered his claims to the throne, after seeing how much of a heartless monster Charles actually was.
The memory of their confrontation made Clovis seethe with anger. He could never see how Gabriella had ever loved that man, and now Clovis knew that the Emperor had never actually cared for his mother at all. Gabriella had devoted her life to him and helping to make Britannia a better place, and this was how he repaid her?! That cold-blooded demon would pay for his crimes….
Of course, none of that mattered right now. What did matter was finding out who killed his mother, and making sure they were brought to justice. This would be no easy feat though, and it was even made harder by the fact that Clovis was now just a regular citizen.
Yeah, maybe giving up his title in the heat of the moment hadn't been such a good idea…
But there was no reversing this now; Clovis would just have to make due with what he had. Thankfully he wasn't broke, he could last on the funds his mother left behind for a time. And this house was his, so he wouldn't be homeless. Not to mention Clovis still had a few friends in the Royal Family, perhaps he could persuade them to open up an official investigation. He was better off then he could have been, and better off than past disowned Heirs had been.
The door to his room opened up. Clovis looked to see his manservant Xavier (Xavier had worked for his mother for years, and had always been remarkably loyal to the both of them) and, to his surprise, Euphemia at the entrance.
"Lord Clovis, Princess Euphemia is here to see you." Xavier said, giving a bow. Clovis sat upright and nodded.
"I can see that, Xavier. I'm not blind, you know. An idiot that made a horrendous mistake in the heat of the moment, but I'm not blind."
"Ah, good to know you're not being too hard on yourself Lord Clovis. I'll leave you two alone. Call for me if you need my assistance, my lord." Xavier gave another bow to the both of them and exited the room. The door closed behind him.
"So Euphie, what are you here for? I'm guessing you heard what happened." Clovis said after a moment of silence. The pink-haired (Clovis still wondered how that was her natural hair color) maiden gave a hesitant smile.
"I have. I must say, you had plenty of guts punching our father. It's the only thing the Court can talk about." Euphie said smiling.
"Personally I don't care what those stuck-up brats are talking about. They could gossip about me all they want, I don't care." Clovis said, giving his own small smile. Something else occurred to him then. Euphie wouldn't just come to tell him about this…what else was she here for?
"Hm, this can't be the only thing you came to tell me. What else is there?" Clovis asked. For some reason, Euphie looked agitated after he asked his question.
"Is something wrong?" Clovis continued, mystified by Euphemia's behavior. The Princess clenched her fists tightly, now visibly shaking. Just what was going on with his sister?
"Clovis I've…I've done something bad. Something horrible, that I've only now just realized. You have a right to know but…you're going to hate me after I've told you." Euphemia seemed on the verge to tears. Clovis got up from his bed and walked over to her. The young man took her hand.
"Euphie, I love you like Cornelia loves you, even though you're not my full sister. You, Nunnally, and even Lelouch are all very dear to me. You could never do anything that would make me hate you." He soothed, gently squeezing her hand. Clovis hated to see Euphie in such distress like this, and wanted to do his best to help her.
"No, you will hate me Clovis. I…" Euphie trailed off, looking away. Finally she looked him in the eye and continued.
"I'm the reason your mother is dead, Clovis."
"You have the money?"
"Yes."
Through the bright lights shined on her, Kallen struggled to see the refrain dealers. She had yet to see C.C. or her mother, but it was possible they hadn't been brought in yet or she couldn't make them out. She hoped they would be brought out soon.
This was it, she thought, the moment of truth. If everything went according to Light's plan, then they would be dealing a major blow to the refrain industry in Japan. And if not…
Kouzuki did not want to think of that possibility.
"Good. Where's the money? I don't see any bags on you. You better not be planning anything."
She glanced at her watch. Good, it was time now. Now these demons were going to pay for what they'd done. Kallen let herself smile as she began the countdown.
"Five."
"Huh?"
"Four."
"Just what game are you playing, girl?! Hand us the money now your we'll spatter your mother and your friend's brains all over the floor!"
"Three."
"Listen you little—!"
"Two."
"That's it girl, you're asking for it!"
"One."
"Men, open fi—!"
"Zero."
The side doors to the warehouse opened before the drug dealers even knew what hit them. A stun grenade was thrown in by one of Touta's men, throwing off the drug dealers off. A series of gunshots were heard, then silence. The lights were cut off and the building was bathed in darkness.
It was all over before Kallen even knew it.
Matsuda approached Kallen, turning on a flashlight. "You ok?"
Kallen nodded. "Fine, now let's go. We have some hostages to save."
Together they retreated from the building and cautiously began to spread out, searching the warehouses to see where C.C. and Kallen's mother were being held. Kallen ended up being left alone with Touta as they began to search.
The sound of someone trying to talk through Matsuda' radio nearly made Kallen suffer from a heart attack. She glared at the man, who fumbled to get the device.
"Matsuda here," he whispered into the machine. The garbled voice of Kira came back.
"….ort. I repeat, report Matsuda. Was—"
Static cut off Kira. Kallen once again wished the Guardians had better access to technology. While the things they did have were mostly good, there were some things in the black market the Guardians could not yet afford. Which was why they had to deal with a busted radio like this.
Kira's voice came back in, "—ion successful? Was the mission successful?"
"Hai Kira, it was successful. As far as we know all the dealers here are dead, though a few more could be lying around. We haven't found C.C. or Kallen's mother, but we're still searching."
"Good. Continue, and get out of there once you've found her."
The device clicked off. Matsuda hastily put it away in a pouch and the duo renewed their search.
"Here, let's try this building." Matsuda walked toward a warehouse at random and carefully opened the door. Matsuda scanned the room for enemies before heading in, his finger on the trigger of the rifle. Kallen followed him in.
"Clear," Matsuda announced, seeing nothing but some storage in the building. He did notice the entrance to another room, however. Indicating the door to Kallen, he stalked over to it, with the pilot not far behind him. As quietly as he could the soldier opened the door and walked in.
"I think I've found her!" Matsuda shouted. Kallen came running into the room. In the center of the small room was a bound and gagged C.C. Matsuda hurried over to her and began to undo her bonds.
"Are you ok?" Matsuda asked after taking off her gag. C.C. raised one eye lazily at him.
"Oh sure, I'm fine. I'm starving, cold, and have all sorts of drugs in my system that could be affecting me destructively in ways I don't know yet, but otherwise I'm completely fine. How are you?"
As Matsuda sputtered for a response, Kallen looked around the sparse room. Something about this didn't feel right to her. Something was off here, but what? They'd killed all the drug dealers here, and….
Wait. The drug dealers…
"Matsuda, don't you think something is wrong?"
"Huh? What do you mean Kallen? I don't see anything wrong." Matsuda said. He finished freeing C.C. and helped the woman to her feet.
"Baka! There's something wrong here; I know it. Haven't you noticed the lack of other people here? For a warehouse district this size, don't you think the refrain dealers would have more people here to keep an eye on things? Sure, we've killed a few, but they were not enough of them in my opinion to be the only ones here. A place this large would have more people here, right?" Kallen pointed out. Matsuda frowned at that thought.
"Well, Kira did tell us that this would be a small shift. At night, they don't have a lot of people here. The reports Kira obtained said so."
"Even so, why would they have so few here? They'd need more guards to protect this place in case terrorists attacked or the Britannian military finally did something about them. Unless…"
"Unless what?" Matsuda asked.
"Unless they have something here that makes them believe they don't need more than a dozen men protecting this place." Kallen said. Matsuda did not speak after Kallen announced the possibility of this grim fear.
Well…that was a very troubling thought. The notion of what that thing may be, if Kallen was right, chilled Matsuda to his core. Still, he tried to convince himself, Kallen was just being paranoid. The drug dealers were just overconfident in themselves; they didn't have some secret weapon.
Or so he hoped.
"N-now Kallen, you're just being fearful. I can assure nothing is wr—"
Someone trying to contact him via his radio again cut off Matsuda. He quickly got it out for a second time, after making sure C.C. was steady on her feet, and responded.
"Matsuda here. Who is it?"
"It's Kenji Daichi reporting in, sir. We've found Miss Kouzuki, and are heading your—holy!—"
Matsuda's eyes lit up with worry. "Kenji, report! What's happening over there?!"
"—ver! Take cover! Sir, we're under attack! We're pinned down, and Aki's been hit! Hold on, they've stopped firing. Are they…? Wait, what the hell's that thing!? I've…I've never seen something like this before! I-It's too fa—Holy sh—!"
A scream ensued, then Kenji's voice vanished. Only static could be heard.
"Kenji, report! Report! What the hell's going on over there!?" Matsuda shouted desperately. However, no answer came. Matsuda spat out several curses in Japanese and, surprisingly, Chinese. Kallen didn't understand the other half of what he said but, by C.C.'s raised eyebrow, she took it that the witch knew.
"Alright," Matsuda grabbed his two side arms and handed one to both of the women. "It seems we've ran into some unforeseen trouble. We may have to fight our way out of here. C.C., can you use a gun?"
"I'm ok with them." C.C. said nonchalantly. It seemed that even after all this, the witch did not appear to be affected one bit, much to Kallen Kouzuki's great irritation. No matter what the situation, it looked as if that woman wouldn't show any type of reaction to it, except looking rather bored.
If Matsuda was annoyed by her indifferent attitude, he didn't show it. "Good. Both of you follow me. Whatever you do, don't try to be a hero. More likely than not, it'll get you killed. Stay alert."
Matsuda led them out of the room and outside the storage building, keeping his rifle aimed and ready. No one was in sight, nor did they hear anything. For the dead of night in the Tokyo Settlement, it was a pretty quiet and peaceful night.
Too qui—
All of a sudden the peace was broken, and all hell burst open. Two large, fierce, explosions rippled across the storage facility along with the sporadic sound of gunfire.
Matsuda rushed toward the sound of the fight, Kallen and C.C. trailing behind him.
Another explosion happened, this one closer than before. Matsuda hurried his pace until, as he rounded a corner, he nearly slammed into one of his men.
"Commander! Thank Kami you're here! The others….we had to split up…Aki, he…" Haruo Iwao was covered in soot, dirt, and what appeared to be blood. The young terrorist appeared to be very much out of breath, and looked as if he'd collapse any moment.
Matsuda slung his rifle over his shoulders and grabbed Iwao by his shoulders. "Calm down solider! Now tell me, what the hell's going on here?! Where are the others? Who's attacking?"
Haruo tried to calm himself by taking deep breaths, but it didn't appear to work. Still, he did his best to explain. "W-We ran into some survivors soon after we found Miss Kouzuki. After a brief exchange of fire, they retreated. I thought it was all over, but…then they released this, this…monster, some sort of machine. By Kami, it was so fast! Before we knew it, the machine was right in the middle of us! Then…then…"
"It's ok Haruo, you're safe here. Now, what else happened? Did this…machine kill the others?" Matsuda asked, urging him on. Haruo took a shaky breath and tried to continue.
"N-No. Aki told us to retreat while he attempted to hold off the robot. We didn't argue, we just tried to high tail it out of there. Th-then, as we ran off, I heard a scream and…a sudden blast nearly knocked us off our feet, destroying a nearby storehouse. We all split up then, as another blast came even closer to us. Kenji went one way with Miss Kouzuki and…I-I'm not sure where the others are, or what's happened."
Matsuda grimaced and tried to call the others via his radio, but he got no answers. Matsuda mentally berated himself for the decision he came to, but he knew it had to be done.
"Alright, we've got no choice. If the others are still alive, then they'll come back to headquarters. At this point I don't care about subtlety, so long as we get out of here in one piece. Let's move out, now!"
Even though he did not like the prospect of leaving the others behind, Matsuda knew it must be done if they wanted to live. From what Aki described this…beast could easily kill them. He briefly wondered what kind of drug dealers had weapons like this, but that was another question for another time.
Aki seemed more than eager to leave, his will to survive outweighing his distaste of leaving his comrades. However, one look at Kallen proved she was dead against it.
"Matsuda, we can't leave! My mother…"
"Kallen, we're leaving. Now!" Matsuda said. The tone of his voice indicated that there'd be no debate over the subject. "I know you don't like this, and neither do I! I don't want to leave my men behind. But if what Haruo's said about this machine is true, then we've got to get out of here before we all die. Now, let's go! That an order!"
Kallen simmered with rage, but she knew Matsuda was right. However reluctantly she wanted to go, they had no other choice.
"Fine, let's g—"
The roar of an explosion interrupted the redhead. With increasing fear, the group looked to see a creature of some sort amid the flames and wreckage. The fire obscured most details of the machine, though they were able to see one thing; wicked, crimson eyes. It then stepped forward, its piercing eyes locking onto them.
"That's it!" Haruo cried with horror. An instant later he opened fire on the beastly machine, hoping to kill it before it had a chance to fight. Sadly, it was in vain.
With unimaginable speed, the monster jumped into the air just before Haruo fired upon it. Then in the blink of an eye it was right in the middle of them, two blades extended from its forearms.
With a swift, brutal kick, the machine knocked Haruo's rifle from his arms and nearly caused him to fall on the ground. Before Haruo even had time to react the beast was in front of him, and with a quick move it decapitated him.
Matsuda let out a howl of fury, got his rifle out, and proceeded to empty a clip into the murderous demon. Again, it seemed to dodge with unbelievable velocity. In the second it took for Matsuda's brain to process he had missed the thing, it had appeared beside him and knocked him to the ground with a swish of its right arm.
Realizing she'd be next, Kallen raised her pistol and tried to score a hit. It easily dodged all her bullets and, in a flash, was before Kallen. It knocked aside her gun and raised a blade.
"No!"
C.C. pushed Kallen out of the way, just as the brutish creature thrust its arms forward. C.C. let out a gasp as its blades punctured her chest, and emerged from her back. However, C.C., for some reason, began to smile. Looking past the monster, she opened her mouth and uttered,
"Checkmate."
Matsuda took this moment to fire upon the beast. Before the machine could withdraw the blades from C.C., it began to get riddled with bullets, which (unfortunately) passed through the monster and also went into C.C. Matsuda continued to fire until he had unloaded a clip into the thing, choosing then to stop. The blades inside C.C. retracted back into the machine's forearms. It turned slowly to face its attackers, its now visible internal components sparking with electricity. It took one step forward…then in a single motion it collapsed onto the ground, its crimson eyes going blank.
Matsuda slowly stood back up, just in case the machine really wasn't dead. He shot it once in the head, just to be sure. It did not get back up. Matsuda then rushed over to C.C., who was now bleeding profusely. Kallen quickly joined him after getting a hold of herself.
"C.C., stay with us! It'll be all right; we'll get you some help. You'll be patched up in no time, now stay awake!" Matsuda said, trying to keep the dying woman conscious. They all knew however, it wouldn't end well. Along with her stab wounds, C.C. had more than a dozen, still bleeding, bullets wounds. At the rate she was losing blood, C.C. wouldn't have much time left.
"Damn it, I'm a soldier; not a doctor!" Matsuda cursed to himself, regretting his choice to become a police officer instead of a surgeon at that moment.
After quickly composing himself, Matsuda turned his head toward Kallen. "Kallen, stay with her, I've got to find the others and radio in with Kira! Make sure she doesn't lose consciousness, and try to find something to stop the bleeding!"
Kallen didn't even have a chance to reply before Matsuda stood back up and ran away. She quickly started to tear off strips of C.C.'s clothes and began to wrap them around her various wounds, trying desperately to stop the bleeding.
"Don't worry Kallen, I'll be fine." C.C. managed to say, despite the massive amount of pain she must have been in. Kouzuki continued to do her best to bandage C.C.'s wounds, which wasn't good enough. C.C.'s eyes began to close.
"Hey!" Kallen quickly shook the green-haired witch in an attempt to keep her conscious. "Stay with me now! We'll be getting you to a hospital soon enough, so don't you dare die on me!"
"Don't worry, I won't. I was only trying to take a nap. It seems I underestimated the damage." C.C. casually said. Kallen gave C.C. a perplexed look, but took another look at her injuries. To her amazement, C.C.'s wounds seemed to be healing by themselves at an incredible rate. They no longer appeared to be bleeding, and it wouldn't be much longer until the injuries sealed themselves.
"Just what are you.?" Kallen asked, knowing that no ordinary human could heal like this.
"A witch." C.C. said, smirking in response.
"Freeze!"
Kallen stopped what she was doing and slowly turned her head toward the unknown voice, to see several armed Britannians aiming rifles at her. Off to the side two armed foes aimed their weapons at Matsuda, her mother, and the rest of his surviving men, all of whom were now disarmed. Aki Fumio was noticeably absent.
"Good, looks like this is the last of these monkeys. Thought you could all simply stroll in here and kill us, eh? Well, it's too bad that you didn't count on our secret weapon here." One man spoke up, presumably the leader. He gave a brief glance toward the broken shell of the deadly machine.
"I sure didn't expect you to kill it, though. Not bad, for a bunch of inferior Numbers. Good thing we have a backup model we can still sell to the military. Now, it's time you all paid for the trouble you've caused us. Both of you stand up! Slowly, now. My men are a little too trigger happy, and will fire if they see even the slightest sign of resistance."
Scowling deeply, Kallen did so, C.C. following her action. The leader motioned for them to go to their companions. Kallen and C.C., grudgingly, complied.
"Now, time for a little session of revenge. Our fallen comrades will be avenged! All hail Britann—!"
The ground shook violently as storehouses not too far-off from them began to explode, throwing everyone off balance. Matsuda took the chance provided to them and tackled one of the armed thugs, Kenji, Ryo, Hotaka, following suit. They quickly grabbed their enemies' weapons and opened fire before they could fight back. By the time the explosions had subsided, the remaining drug dealers were dead.
"Well, it seems those timed explosives we planted around here came in handy after all." Kenji commented.
"Come on, we'd better leave now. No doubt those explosions will attract the attention of the Britannian police soon enough." Matsuda said, stowing away his weapon.
"But what about Aki and Haruo?" Hotaka asked, glancing at the latter's corpse.
"We don't have time to recover the bodies, as much as I'd like to give them proper burials. We can hold funeral services later. We've got to go now, otherwise their sacrifices will be in vain." Matsuda said, regret evident in his tone. Kenji, Hotaka, and Ryo nodded.
"Are…you all right?" Kallen asked her mother with some uneasy, looking over at her.
"I'm fine, Kallen." Miss Kouzuki assured, giving her daughter a faint smile.
"Well," Kenji began, "At least we're safe no—"
"Die Eleven scum!"
Kallen whipped her head around, just in time to see a barely alive drug leaning on a wall lift his pistol and fired, the bullet heading straight to her mother. Miss Kouzuki gasped as the projectile entered her chest and pierced her heart. She swayed for a second until she fell to the ground.
At first, there was silence. Kallen stared at her mother, who was bleeding more by the second. After that second, however, it seemed as if the gates of hell themselves had broken loose as Kallen unleashed an unearthly howl of rage. With eyes full of bloodlust, Kallen hurried toward the dying Britannian faster than he could fire again. She swiftly knocked the pistol from his hand and proceeded to punch the living daylights out of the guy.
Matsuda and the others snapped out of their stupor. Kenji and Matsuda went to restrain Kallen, while Hotaka and Ryo went to check on Miss Kouzuki.
Kenji attempted to grab her arms, but got backhanded in the face for his effort. Matsuda ducked a punch inadvertently sent at him, and succeeded in grabbing Kallen's wrists and tried to restrain her. The young teen struggled to free herself from his iron grip.
"Kallen, stop it! He's already dead!" he shouted. Kallen stopped her fierce struggling to see that, indeed, the Britannian she had assaulted had stopped breathing. This calmed her down, until she remembered her mother.
Kallen broke out of Matsuda's grasp, though he wasn't trying to hold her any longer. Kallen ran over and knelt beside her mother—
To see that she was already dead. Kallen stared at her in disbelief, hoping that her mother was just pulling some cruel prank. That'd she be opening her eyes any moment, smiling and apologizing for the inappropriate joke she was playing…
But her eyes did not open.
"I'm sorry Kallen…she was dead the moment she hit the ground. Even if we had the proper medical tools, we wouldn't be able to revive her. I am deeply sorry." Hotaka said. Kallen ignored him and took his mother's hand, willing for him to be wrong.
"No…" she whispered, tears threatening to overwhelm her. Matsuda gently put a hand on her shoulder.
"Kallen…I know this must be hard for you, but we've got to leave now. The police will be here any minute, and we can't let ourselves be killed. Got it?"
Kallen gave a shaky nod. Using all her will power, Kallen stopped herself from breaking down and crying then and there. She slowly stood back up, looking over at her mother's body.
"We'll…have to leave her, won't we?"
"Kallen, I promise you we'll get her body back, whatever it takes. Now, we've got to leave." Matsuda said.
"Very well." Kallen simply said.
The group silently made their way out, as sirens in the distance began to be heard. And in the area they had left behind, a pair of blinking crimson eyes came back online…
End Phase Nine
Thus ends another chapter of Light of the Revolution! Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas to all! I know, another really late update, but at least I updated before Christmas. At least, as of the time I am writing this. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I also hope everyone here has a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
Also, I may soon be changing the name of this fanfic. I believe I may be shortening the title of this fic to simply, 'The Revolution', just so you all know. So don't be surprised to see this fic under a different title in the near future. I can imagine that a lot of you may wonder as to what exactly the machine that attacked Kallen and the others were. That will be explained in the near future.
Again, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Oh, and special thanks to my beta-reader Manysidestome. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
