A Code Geass fanfic. I own nothing.
A sequel to The Funeral.

~ Truth or Lies

Justice

Xing Li Ke stared at the man sitting in front of him, disgust ind his eyes. He himself was a man of honor, having promised to protect his empress from coming to any harm. He would sacrifice his own life if only it meant saving her.
Being the man he was, he found it very hard to understand that other people wouldn't do the things he was prepared to do. Soldiers not prepared to die, politicians more worried about their pay than results, and the list could go on..

Weak men were one thing, and he'd long since come to the conclusion that he himself had to do what the others wouldn't. He accepted that as his way of life.

But traitors? He despised them. He loathed them. They were not weak. They lied, faked an appearance in order to achieve some unknown hidden agenda. They would betray anybody, at any cost, all out of selfish reasons.

Which was why Xing Ke regarded the man in front of him, eyes burning with anger. The betrayal was hard to understand. Not to him, after all it wasn't him who had been betrayed. But he could feel the anger from almost an entire nation, even before they knew about it. When the public finally got hold on this story, hell would break lose.

The anger radiating from him seemed to subdue the assassin, and kept him quiet. Which was quite lucky, since Xing Ke would hate to hurt the man. He wouldn't sink that low.

A faint knock on the door brought his attention back. He stood up, and opened it. Ohgi stood outside.

"He is here?" Xing Ke nodded. For security reasons he'd forced the man with him out of the public eye as quick as possible. It was only later he came to realize just how fortunate it'd been that he reacted like that.

"He is." Xing Ke frowned. There was blood on Ohgi. He'd left so quickly with the assassin that he hadn't really got a chance to see if Ohgi or some of the others had been hit. Ohgi noticed his glance.
"I'm not hurt."

Xing Ke looked over his shoulder, at the assassin. He wouldn't be able to move.
Xing Ke stepped out, and closed the door behind him.

"There is something you should know."

"Let me have that bastard!" Tamaki growled, as they walked down the hall to face the shooter. Everyone who'd witnessed Suzaku's death was there, except C2, who'd stayed behind to hide the body. It wouldn't be good if a maid or some other unfortunate person came upon the body of Suzaku Kururugi wearing a Zero outfit. Not good at all.

C2 had volunteered to make the body.. disappear. They hadn't argued with her, since it was pretty clear she didn't care about their opinions on the matter anyway. And she did have some skills in the art of disappearing.

Kallen pushed the silent Nunnaly. The young empress hadn't said much since Suzaku died. Kallen couldn't blame her. Losing Suzaku was to Nunnaly like losing yet another sibling.
And now they were about to confront the man who'd murdered him, who'd murdered Zero.

Xing Ke and Ohgi waited outside the room, when they arrived. Tamaki was growling, cracking his knuckles. "Where's the traitor?"

"Tamaki, please!" Kaguya stepped forward, concern written all over her face.
"Where is he?"

"Behind the door. But please, before we enter, there's something you should know." Ohgi looked at Xing Ke, doubt in his eyes. However, the soldier nodded.
"There's no doubt."

Ohgi coughed. "We all thought that the shooter was.. japanese."
"What are you talking about?" Kallen asked, frowning. "We saw him! There's no doubt that.."
"Kallen, please calm yourself. Looks can be deceiving. Remember how Sayoko disguised herself as Lelouch to throw off the Britanians at the school? Well, we have a similar situation here."

Nunnaly pushed herself forward.
"What are you saying? Who was the man, who killed Suzaku? Who?"

Jacob looked up when the Black Knights entered the room, along with Kaguya and the empress. Hate was evident in his eyes, as he looked at Nunnaly.
It was with pleasure he noted their shocked faces.

"Jacob?" Nunnaly sounded like she didn't really believed what she was seeing. Stupid girl.

"Empress. Still alive?"

Kallen sneered, and the confused looks of the gathered people turned dark.
Nunnaly held her composure, her face shocked but collected. Kallen looked at her out of the corner of her eye. Being betrayed by the man in charged of guarding her must hurt. But then again, the young empress was no stranger to betrayal from the ones closest to her.

Nunnaly regarded the bound man. No one said anything, until Jacob started laughing. A mad mans laugh.

"What's so funny?" Ohgi asked, his voice ice cold.

Jacob snickered. "Since your here, all of you, that must mean that the dear vigilante in the black cape is gone, no?" he shrugged. "He wasn't my target, but I'm not complaining. With him done protecting you, it wont be long until someone else completes my task." His smile disappeared. "Though I would have liked to be able to do it myself."

"But why? Jacob, I trusted you. How could you do this?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course you know, how can you not? Have you not robbed my family of everything? Have you not stolen my life? And before you, your insane brother! I hate you, empress!" he sneered the last word.

"I've never stolen anything in my entire life, Jacob. Please, what is it you think I've stolen from you?" Nunnaly sounded confused.

"I JUST TOLD YOU! OUR LIFE!" he yelled, trying to jump forward, but was kept back by Xing Ke who grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down.
"You wont hurt anyone else, chief of security."

Jacob looked up, loath in his eyes. "Don't touch me, you scum! Don't any of you dare to look at me. I'm a britanian!" he looked at the others. "You are nothing compared to me!"

"I'm britanian too, Jacob. Not only that, I am your empress. By saying I've stoled your life, can you please tell me exactly what you mean?"

He leaned back. "What do you think? Your brother banned the aristocracy, my family right! Our home, our servants! Forced to live in a common house among common people! The shame! He took our money, our dignity! And then I was forced to join his battle against Japan."

"But Jacob. You were already in the army. Surely you must've seen battle before that?" Nunnaly pointed out.

"Of course, under the noble rule of emperor Charles! Not his unworthy children!" Jacobs eyes turned soft for a moment, before sicking back into madness.

"And then he died." he laughed. "like the coward he was, not even able to defend himself. Being killed by his enemies, what a joyful day! I was sure everything would go back to normal. But then you were crowned empress. And you didn't give us back anything! You may not have stolen, like your devil brother, but you kept us in place! The lowest of the low, forced to work, to walk among the common scum of the world." he spat on the floor. "I loathe you, and your rule! Which is why I tried to set things right. Get rid of you, and get our estate back, our money, our pride!"

Nunnaly looked at Jacob, her expression unreadable. The others however were not. The dark frowns had disappeared when they heard the reasons behind the action, being replaced with contempt.

"So you decided to kill your empress, betraying your own country?" Ohgi asked, repulsed by the mans twisted idea of justice.

"I would save it! From unworthy kids with no dignity, no honor! I am worthy! I would do what is necessary to save my country from being invaded by filth."

"You are the one with no honor Jacob." Nunnaly's voice cut through. Her eyes had gone soft, her hands folded neatly in her lap.
"You are a selfish man. You are not trying to help anyone. You say I've stolen your life? The money, the land, your family owned, had all be gained by robbing the poor. Not only the countries my father invaded, but also your own servants. Blood money. You have no right to keep it."

"Why, you little bi.."
"Enough!" Xing Ke growled, making Jacob jump. "You wont say anything to insult the empress while I'm here."

Jacob glared at him, then shrugged. "No matter. I still got to kill the bastard who's been destroying my plans all year." He smiled, leaning back.
"I only wish I could've seen his face. So many bullets, and all that blood." he laughed again. "Did he die begging? I always pictured him as a man who'd rather save himself."

"What are you talking about? He threw himself in front of Nunnaly to protect her." Kallen exclaimed. The insane twisted idea that Zero, that Suzaku, was a coward, it made no sense! How could he think that?

Nunnaly coughed, gaining Jacobs attention.
"You may think you've lost everything Jacob. And still you fail to see how you still have what so many never got the chance to keep." Nunnaly blinked, sadness in her voice. "You still have your life."

"How pitiful it ever is." a new voice, unmistakeably, joined in.

They all whirled around, facing the door. Jacob turned pale.

Zero stood in the door. The jacket still soaked in blood, with the bullet holes.
He walked in, closing the door. Taking place beside Nunnaly, in front of Jacob, he regarded the now deathly pale assassin.

"You seem surprised to see me? You really shouldn't Jacob, after all the empress is our charge. I can't leave her alone when a shooter is on the loose. Though, it seems as if the culprit has been apprehended already."

"How can you be alive! No one can survive that many shots! I KILLED YOU!"

"You believed you did Jacob. And I will be honest, you'd killed any other man."
Zero leaned forward, staring into the eyes of the terrified man.

"But the thing is that you never understood that Zero isn't a man. He is an idea. Beneath this mask is an idea, mr. Edwards, and ideas are bulletproof."

Sorry I've taken so long, been really busy at work.
Last few lines shamelessly borrowed from the movie V For Vendetta (one of my favorite movies).

Last chapter is coming up. A small epilogue will follow.