Chapter 11: The Glass of Life is Brittle

Andrew was the one who broke the stunned silence.

"Well, this is sure to have repercussions," he said. "Okay, I know you guys are Britannian, so it's probaly a bad shock to you two, but that seemed a tad-Agh!" He cried out in pain as Lelouch swung a fist into his face.

"The fuck was that for?!" Andrew shouted, rubbing his jaw. "What did I do?"

Lelouch advanced on Andrew angrily. "Do not think I take Empress Nunnally's kidnapping lightly," he seethed. "The empress-"

"That still doesn't give you a reason to beat me!" Andrew yelled. "You think your empress is so great, think of the person standing in front of you!" Right after he said it, Andrew's face turned white, as though he'd said something he shouldn't have, and he turned and ran for the open doorway, slamming the door hard behind him.

Lelouch turned to CC. "Looks like he's got secrets to keep too," he said. "Son of the founder of ASEAN..."

CC glared at him. "You really shouldn't have flared up like that." Lelouch glared back at her. "I can't help it I still have a protective-" He broke off as a terrible scream sounded from outside.

"Don't tell me Kira tried-" CC began, as they rushed for the back door.

"No, he didn't," Lelouch said. "That wasn't a girl's scream. Something's happened to Kira." He wrenched the door open, and saw a heart-stopping sight.

Kira was on the ground, his eyes wide with shock, his mouth working frantically as he struggled to breathe, while blood poured from a huge gash in his throat.

An X-shaped gash.

...

Andrew ran through the dark streets of Tokyo, raging at himself. Stupid! He thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid, bloody brainless- The rest of his thoughts degraded into various profanities with which he used to berate himself. You were told not to tell anyone! Time and time and time again-

He turned a corner and ran headlong into someone. "Gah!" he gasped as his breath was knocked out from him. "Sorry!" he said automatically. "Sorry, sorry..." he looked up to see just who he was apologising to. It was a plump, middle-aged, somewhat balding man.

"Mr Peters!" Andrew exclaimed. "What're you doing here?"

Mr Peters looked at him, and Andrew thought he could see an expression of sadness on his face. "I can't say, Andrew," he said. "And you're not sorry. I am."

Andrew managed a bewildered "Huh?" before Peters Tasered him.

...

In the hospital, Lelouch and CC waited anxiously in the corridor for news about Kira. CC was huddled in a chair, and Lelouch had taken to pacing nervously up and down.

"Nicolette did this," Lelouch said. "Crazy as it sounds, she did it, and I don't know why. I thought she was okay now! How could she-" He was interrupted as the doctor came out of the emergency room.

"How is he? Can we see him?" CC asked, getting off her chair. The doctor simply nodded.

"He's stabilised, for the moment," he said. "Do you know what happened to him? How come he sustained such a wound?"

Both Lelouch and CC shook their heads. The doctor frowned. "Strange, though. It's almost identical to those slashed throat cases a few years back."

"Almost?" Lelouch asked. "Why?"

"Because those victims ended up dead, that's why." the doctor replied. "Whoever did this to him either wasn't out to kill him, or they missed."

"Can we see him?" CC asked again.

"He's not conscious at the moment," the doctor said, "But sure, he's well enough to receive visitors. Just don't over-excite him. He did get his throat slit open, after all. Room 702."

They fairly ran to the elevator and almost frantically jabbed the button for the seventh floor. "Come on, come on..." Lelouch muttered. "We need to know."

When the elevator finally opened on the seventh floor, they sprinted out again, to room 702, and burst inside. Kira was there, lying on the single cot, a clean white bandage around his throat. The steady, rhythmic beeping of the heartbeat monitor reassured them that he was all right.

"How long do you think he'll be out?" CC said. "Think we should try and wake him?"

Lelouch smiled. "No need," he said, "He's awake."

Sure enough, he was. Kira gave a weak smile and beckoned them over. "Hi," he croaked.

"Kira, what happened?" CC came round to his bedside, though she had a very good idea of just what had happened. "We were inside, waiting for you to come back with Nicolette..."

Kira smiled. "I was unlucky," he said. "So, the two of you, come here. You'll need all the luck you can get."

"Huh?" CC pulled Lelouch over. "Luck? What do you mean?"

"It's coming true. It's all coming true," Kira rambled. "Andrew knows. He heard Nicolette say so. Now you two, come here before I pass out again..."

Lelouch quickly positioned himself before Kira, who pulled at CC's sleeve, making her move into view as well.

"Get... lucky," he whispered, and his eyes lit up slowly, a shape issuing from each. Once they left his eyes, the shapes joined to become an all-too-familiar red sigil.

The shock of what they'd seen rooted Lelouch and CC to the spot, and Kira smiled, and closed his eyes.

"We've got to get out of here," CC said, pushing herself away from Kira's cot. "He's got a Geass, Lelouch. How? I never-"

"You're asking me how come he has a Geass?" Lelouch asked incredulously, following her out. "I think you should be the one-" His words were cut off as he was thrown to the floor by an impact on the side of the hospital building, accompanied by a splintering crash which sent dust and glass shards flying everywhere.

"Kira!" CC gasped. She rammed the ward's door open, and was greeted by a gigantic, five-fingered, armoured gauntlet, connected to a similarly armoured torso with an elongated, four 'eyed' head.

"Knightmare!" she yelled, for Lelouch's benefit. "Stay clear!" She didn't really have to be concerned; the knightmare was more focused on getting Kira, cot and all, out of the hole it'd made.

"Kira!" CC screamed impotently at the knightmare, as it unfurled the distinctive wings of a float unit, and flew away.

Lelouch ran up beside her. "They took Kira? Whatever for?" He looked desperately around the ward, then dashed to the jagged hole in the hospital wall. Already, the knightmare was indistinguishable from the hundreds of stars that dotted the night sky.

Then his cell phone rang an SMS alert, and he picked it up.

Everything will be made clear once you come to ASEAN. Come and save your friends, Luke Overton. Your father will be waiting.

Come and save your sister, Lelouch Lamperouge.