Chapter Ten
Kallen turned and looked over her shoulder again. It was the umpteenth time she'd done it that day, but she felt it necessary somehow. The air of the city was bearing down on her, and she had this overwhelming sense of dread. It was one of those feelings that stirred deep in her core, like something was about to happen. Something was going to go horribly, horribly wrong, but she had no idea where this feeling was emerging from.
A car down the street blew its horn and she jumped. Her heart fluttered about. She sighed, embarrassed with herself. She'd never been this jumpy before. But she supposed that you're the easiest to startle when you know something's going to happen, yet you don't know exactly when.
Her hand found its way to the Knightmare key she kept slung around her throat. She gripped the makeshift necklace to regain her composure. Her certainty. It was comforting, because being in the cockpit of the Guren used to be the only place she could truly be herself. Where she could be in control. It gave her power. The ability to fight.
Rakshata had built it, but it was Zero that chose her as the most suitable pilot. He gave it to her- gave all of those things to her.
A smile formed on her face as she trotted down the street. She was surrounded with warmth, and all of her previous anxieties withered and crumbled into dust.
Before she realized it she found herself at her destination. It was a rather large building across town from the one Nunnally was currently staying in. It was the center of the Engineering Corps. There were large hangars in the back, and several offices and laboratories in the higher floors. Kallen went to the front desk and told the secretary her name, and that she had an appointment. The secretary then directed her to a lab in the rear of the building.
As she opened the double doors she was immediately pummeled with the cold smell of machinery. The whir of computers. A familiar, high-pitched voice called out to her from above, "Kallen, my dear!" She glanced up and saw Rakshata waving to her. "It's the most wonderful thing!"
Kallen smiled as the older woman hurried down the stairs from the 'observation deck.' "It's been a while, Rakshata. How have you been?"
Rakshata chuckled, twirling her long pipe in her fingers. "It's not a matter of how I've been but how you've been." The young girl looked perplexed for a moment. "Are you feeling well today?"
"A little anxious for some reason, actually..." Kallen admitted.
"Well that's perfectly understandable," she explained, and patted the young girl's shoulder. "Especially with the present I have for you today."
A present? From her? Kallen knew what it was instantaneously, without so much as a thought. Maybe her anxiety was completely reasonable. "You can't be serious." She gasped.
"Oh, but indeed I am!" The older woman spouted, pleased with herself.
Back up the stairs, the two of them could hear Lloyd grumbling to "keep it down." Rakshata simply ignored him. He was just jealous that he didn't have a pilot. And if he did manage to find one, he'd never get his hands on one as skilled as Kallen.
So she bounded over to one of the hangar doors and pressed a button to open it. "Behold! My pride and joy!" The door began to slowly roll up and Kallen felt her heart skip a few beats.
The smile on her face grew wider and wider as the door raised, and when the Guren was revealed in its entirety she was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her eyes darted around, looking over the machine at lightning speed. "You work so fast." She whispered. It hadn't even been a year! And on top of that, they didn't have a lot of funding from Britannia… or any private donors for that matter … Not to mention that repairing the Guren wasn't exactly on top of their To-Do lists… For Rakshata to finish something like this in such abysmal circumstances was just incredible!
Kallen made her way across the room and ran her fingers along the Knightmare's smooth surface. "Is it operational?" she asked.
"That depends," Rakshata started, blowing out a cloud of smoke. "Are you ready for a test run?"
xx
"It's been a while since I've worked like this." Lelouch breathed. He stepped out of the shadow of the warehouse while casually adjusting the uniform he was wearing. A sly smirk was on his face, like he was trying on a new suit- but the generic foot-soldier's uniform was nothing so savvy.
C.C. gave him a bored look as she lounged in the open cockpit of the Knightmare Frame. "That's because you have no resources."
"Tell me something I don't know." He grumbled, walking to a nearby crate and picking up a helmet. It was round in shape with a visor to cover his eyes. The previous year didn't change the uniforms at all. His gaze went suspiciously from the clothes to the Knightmare that C.C. was sitting in. "And you managed to gather all of this through one phone call?"
"I did." She answered matter-of-factly. He tucked the helmet under his arm and gave her a look. "It's pertinent to keep in contact with certain people, lest I need something."
"Don't they ask questions?"
"No. They gave up on questions long ago." A short sigh eased from her, and she began to climb out of the cockpit. "But they're well aware that I work for no one." When she reached the floor, she slowly twirled around to show him her smirk. "I only chase after my own interests."
Lelouch scoffed, "Don't I know it." His remark didn't seem to faze C.C. at all, so he took her place in the Knightmare and initiated the start-up sequence.
She turned to the side and examined her fingers in some nonchalant way. "You wouldn't have it any other way," her voice was light and airy. Almost sarcastic.
He was only half-listening to her, trying to configure the machine to a particular frequency. "What makes you say that?"
"Because you love me."
That made him stop what he was doing. He turned his head and stared down at her like she was completely mental, while she simply gazed back up at him with a mischievous look spread across her face. Eventually, he laughed a few times and went back to his work. "That may be true…" he mumbled, half-heartedly to himself. Even he wasn't sure if he meant it or not.
A more genuine smile appeared on her lips as a gust of wind blew through the open door. Her bright green hair gracefully flowed behind her. She waited in the silence, not finding it uncomfortable at all. The only sound they could hear was the wind in their ears, randomly interrupted by the hums and beeps of various mechanisms in the Knightmare.
"So you plan on infiltrating Nunnally's quarters under the guise of a soldier?" she asked, as if she didn't know the answer already.
"More or less," he said while deftly flipping switches. "It doesn't have to be her, but I need to make contact with someone I can trust within the ranks. Whatever the Japanese Government is up to proves to be a decent cover. I should be able to slip in with them rather easily."
C.C. nodded, watching him. "You know where to find me."
He gave her one last glance as some form of confirmation. A silent way of saying that he did indeed know where to find her. Then he shut himself in the cockpit and the Knightmare skidded off into the street.
The virtual maps within the machine were very up-to-date, and had a mark on every road that was blocked for the "tests." He noted this is as valuable information.
The warehouse that C.C. had all of the supplies delivered to, the one he'd just left, was a while from the Britannian Embassy. According to the information C.C. was able to gather, Nunnally was staying in another building a few blocks away. It was less obvious, he supposed.
As he continued through the city, more and more specks appeared on his map. They were other Knightmares, which he'd configured his own machine to recognize and display.
There were several squads of Japanese Knightmare Frames roaming about the streets, but he didn't want to get directly involved with them. If he had to, he could easily spin some excuse as to why he was out of formation, but no one bothered him.
He figured he was just under ten minutes from his destination when chaos suddenly erupted. It was an explosion. He could feel the reverberations; see the fire and smoke billowing up from behind the many buildings in his path. It was dreadfully close to where he was headed- where Nunnally was.
In an instant, he went from calm and calculated to borderline reckless.
xx
In the Embassy, Nunnally and Jeremiah were in the middle of a meeting with some Officers when they felt a tremor run through the building. Ripples formed in the glasses of water on the table, and pictures on the wall suddenly went askew. Everyone in the room glanced worriedly at one another, while the personnel outside scrambled like mad to figure out what was going on. The dull thud of whatever caused the tremor was punctuated by the commotion going on outside of the meeting room.
Nunnally's trembling hands reached for Jeremiah as she choked out his name. Her throat felt tight and overwrought. He put her hands in a reassuring grasp, but it didn't help calm her down at all. They were both silent, like if either of them breathed the peace they had all worked so hard to cultivate would tumble and shatter like a delicate piece of glass. Jeremiah didn't want to speak optimistically to her. He didn't want to get her hopes up because the situation was looking very grim, and bringing her up would only make the drop that much further.
One of the officials in the room stood up with a nervous jerk. He unconsciously smoothed out the lapel of his jacket and went to the door, leaning out and shouting into the main workroom. "What's going on out there? I need answers!" he demanded.
Another unseen person came forward and answered him. It was a woman's voice, but she remained unseen behind the open door. "Sir, there appears to have been an explosion a few blocks away."
The man in the doorway seemed to leave his body for a moment. When he returned, he stammered: "What about Her Majesty's chambers? Were they involved in the explosion?"
The woman continued in a rushed, panicked voice. "It doesn't appear that way, but we believe that it was the intended target."
Nunnally tightened her grip on Jeremiah's hand.
"It's alright, Your Majesty," he murmured. "I ensure you; I will be here to protect you."
The empress swallowed thickly, "Thank you, Jeremiah. But it's not me that I'm worried about."
He knew who she was really worried about. Of course he did. Zero, Cornelia, and the others. That was definitely like her, to be worried over others when she's the one in danger. The Empress's life was put as top priority, above all else. She just couldn't make herself believe that, let alone put it into practice.
"Your Majesty," The official at the door turned to face her, anxiety written all over his face- although his expression seemed tense and in-control. Nunnally returned his stare. "We have an emergency bunker here in the building. It may not be extravagant but please, let us escort you there."
Nunnally looked to Jeremiah, silently asking for his opinion. He simply nodded like it was the best thing to do. "Alright… But I want to be able to contact everyone back at headquarters to make sure they're safe. As soon as possible."
X
The ground was shaking under their feet. Tohdoh and Guilford searched the room, hoping to find some benign source of the vibrations, but there wasn't one. Zero and Cornelia shared the same thought, and unintentionally spoke in unison. "What the hell was that?"
Guilford went to the closest computer and began to type furiously. He brought up some footage of the outside onto one of the large screens mounted on the walls. At the sight of the explosion, everyone in the room was deathly silent.
"Your Highness…" Guilford faltered.
But Cornelia wasn't listening to him. Her eyes were glued to the giant cloud of smoke coming from down the street. It was so close. Too close. "My god…" she whispered without thinking.
Tohdoh clenched his fists at his sides. Not again. Japan was stuck in the middle of more conflicts. The people of Japan didn't need this. They didn't need any more violence or stress. The eight years under Britannia were bad enough.
The last year had been so peaceful… Why now? Just after a year of it? Schneizel had to play some part in this. It was something Tohdoh just knew. A gut feeling.
A pulsating whistle suddenly broke into the room. It was a sensor or alarm of some sort. Guilford went to check it, and his expression grew even darker.
Upon seeing his reaction, Cornelia became even more uneasy. "What is it, Guilford?"
"According to this, there are reports of Knightmare Frames in the streets." He glossed his voice over with disillusionment. He tried to detach himself as best as possible, as was necessary in dealing with things like this. He knew he had to keep a level head.
Tohdoh took a step towards him. "Of course. I have a group of them searching the city, as a precaution."
Guilford was forced to shake his head. "No, these are not Japanese. They're coming from the Bay."
"Those EU bastards!" Cornelia shouted, slamming her fists down onto the tabletop. In her mind, she immediately conjured a skeleton of a battle plan. "We have to defend the perimeter. Zero?" She turned to face the masked man, expecting him to be listening intently, but instead he was standing off to the side, mumbling something. "Zero!" She attempted to get his attention again but it was useless, as he wasn't listening to her at all.
"I don't care, where is she?" Zero muttered, his voice starting to reach hysterics. Cornelia and the others became intrigued just as he shouted into the communicator: "Find the Empress. Now!" That successfully gained the full attention of everyone in the room.
"What's going on, Zero?" Cornelia's voice was dominating, a bit of her worry slipping away from her. "Where is Nunnally?"
"They don't know." he grumbled, exasperated. "Some of them think she's not even in the building."
The princess clenched her teeth. How could those idiots misplace the Empress? But there was no time to make decisions based on Nunnally's whereabouts. Cornelia refused to lose another sister. Not after what happened to Euphemia. She was going to make sure of that. "Guilford," she swung her arm around to point directly at him, "Take our forces and defend this building. If Nunnally truly isn't here, then they can't be aware of it yet, and we can defer them without endangering her." Gilford nodded his approval, and then she set her sights on Tohdoh, "Tohdoh, use your troops that are already deployed to assist us."
The two men agreed and hurried from the room. They trusted her judgment. And although Tohdoh had no obligation to Cornelia, he knew that he had to help in any way he could. In order to save the Japanese people from even more hardships.
Zero was beginning to feel nauseous. How could Nunnally simply disappear without anyone noticing? There was no way that she was captured, was there? If she was captured, or something happened to her, it meant that he broke his promise. He wasn't even capable of keeping this one promise to protect Nunnally.
A voice suddenly came from Zero's communicator and broke off his thoughts. He opened the transmission impatiently. "What is it?" he barked.
"Sir, we've located the Empress!" the voice answered.
Zero felt his body untangle itself. He was completely awash with relief. "Where is she?"
"The Embassy!" The person sputtered out the words like they couldn't say them fast enough. "She went to meet with them without a word, she said. They have her in their emergency bunker. It should be rather safe there."
Zero cut off the transmission. That was all the information he needed to hear. He faced Cornelia and spoke slowly and calmly. "Nunnally's at the Embassy."
He watched her breathe a sigh of relief, like she was undoing the knots in her limbs like he'd done just moments earlier. "Good. Now I can join Guilford on the battlefield." With that, she began to leave the room, but Zero started after her.
"Let me-"
"No." she interrupted, anticipating him. "We can't be too obvious. Besides, we shouldn't need you for this. Where you should be is the observation deck upstairs. You can get a full visual on the combat. I'll order some guards to stand by the door, just in case."
Inside the mask, Zero set his jaw. "In case of what?"
Cornelia only put on a troubled grin as she took her leave.
X
Lelouch felt his worry dissipate slightly when he saw that the explosion was only close by, and had not demolished the building. It cleared his mind in a way. There was obviously still a threat, but it was something he could handle. Something he could control. He wasn't too late. It helped him regain his rationality.
He could see that there were other Knightmare Frames coming from the Bay. They had a different signature than the Japanese ones he saw patrolling around earlier.
As he came closer to his destination, he found more Knightmares deployed there, possibly to defend it. Some of the Japanese forces were swarming around in various places and getting into position. He ducked into an alleyway beside a seemingly abandoned building. There were very few foot soldiers around, but the ones he did notice were moving about in the shadows and speaking into transmitters of some sort. They were probably serving as look-outs, or some other way of "having eyes on the battlefield," since it was very unlikely that they would see any real combat. They had Knightmares for that.
Lelouch put on a smug grin as everything fell perfectly into place. He snatched up the helmet at his feet and emerged from the cockpit of the Knightmare. With a short drop to the ground he ran off, leaving the machine behind.
X
"Come on, you have to let me go!" Kallen pleaded from within the Guren, its hatch still open. "You need a test run, and they need my help!"
Lloyd ran his fingers through his hair. "It's not my call to make." His voice was lower than usual, as he was feeling rather uneasy himself.
They had felt a slight vibration, as far away as they were, but had shrugged it off. A few minutes later, one of the other workers in the building rushed in and told them about the explosion. Now all they could do was sit back and watch.
Kallen clenched her fists. "If someone's after Nunnally, don't you think Britannia would want all the help they could get?"
The scientist shook his head. "I'm afraid we have to wait for permission to go storming onto the battlefield." He gave Rakshata a sidelong glance as he kept speaking, "This isn't like the Black Knights. You can't just burst in whenever you want to."
Rakshata scoffed and took a puff from her pipe. "It's the truth. Zero was much more entertaining than you." Her narrowed eyes went unnoticed by him.
"We're just the Engineering Corps." Lloyd continued, pretending he didn't hear her. "Therefore we fall under different jurisdictions."
Kallen looked down at the controls of the Guren dejectedly. The key was hanging lifelessly in the ignition, not quite inserted all the way. All it needed was a tiny nudge and the machine would roar to life, but her hands were tied by all of this useless… red tape! "Cornelia would never ask for help. She's too stubborn for that…" she murmured.
"This is true!" Lloyd chuckled.
"But you can convince her!" Kallen shouted, standing and pointing her finger at him. "I remember… at Narita… and Shinjuku! The Lancelot came in near the end of the battle and… ended it." The last two words were barely audible, since it was basically her admitting she was defeated by Suzaku. "You had to ask for permission then, right?"
Lloyd frowned at her, "That was for the Lancelot. This is different."
She looked flabbergasted. "Different how?"
Rakshata interrupted their argument with a click of her tongue. "Let's wait a bit longer. If we're really needed, I'm sure Her Highness Cornelia would be happy to have our expert assistance… In due time." A sarcastic little smile came over her face as she said Cornelia's full title.
Kallen sunk back into the cockpit, unable to do anything and feeling useless for it.
X
Two guards were standing stoically at attention at their posts outside the Control Room. They had specific orders from both Cornelia and Zero to not allow anyone inside. It served as a sufficient decoy in case any opposing forces should enter the building, and assume the Empress was inside.
What a surprise when the one actually in the room was her bodyguard.
Things certainly weren't the same anymore. Instead of giving orders and acting as commander, Zero was standing there watching the battle pan out via computer screens and diagrams. And instead of fighting on the front lines, no matter how much he wished he could be of assistance, Suzaku was bound to his role. It was the final thing Lelouch had ever asked of him, and he'd solemnly accepted it.
In fact, those were the exact words Suzaku had used when he was holding the sword in his chest.
But how could he be of any help now? He was no tactician. He was a soldier. Sure, he knew Lelouch well enough, but he didn't have enough confidence to anticipate his moves. He didn't know what to do in this situation. He couldn't ensure victory.
Stop. That wasn't his job. No, all Lelouch had asked him to do was protect Nunnally- and that was something he could definitely do. It was all he could do.
Outside, the two guards simultaneously became aware of a lone soldier trotting down the corridor. He wore a helmet with a visor, so the only visible part of his identity was the smirk pulling on his thin lips.
"Halt," the first guard bellowed, "Who are you, and what business do you have here, soldier?"
The smirk never faded from the stranger's face. "I have some urgent information for Zero."
The second guard huffed, "Why don't you just give that information to us and we'll make sure he gets it."
"I was ordered to deliver it directly to Zero."
"And we were ordered to not let anyone past us," the first spoke up again, "under any circumstances." He added the last part menacingly, stepping towards the stranger.
So the soldier suddenly flipped up the visor and looked the two men in the eyes. "Then I suppose you'll have to keep anyone but me from entering."
X
Cornelia, Guilford, Tohdoh, and the rest of their subordinates lined up in a particular way around the building. They didn't pay much mind to the Embassy, as Nunnally was safe inside an underground bunker, and they didn't want to bring attention to the fact that she was there. The more adamantly they defended this headquarters, the more it would seem that the Empress was here instead.
Tohdoh volunteered himself and a group of his men to go out to the front lines. Cornelia and Guilford stayed behind with their own group of soldiers. These men were only in Japan to serve as a small military outfit to oversee Nunnally's safety, but with actual conflicts breaking out, they've been forced into the fold. The princess and her knight had their own specialty Knightmare Frames, while their subordinates operated those provided by the Japanese Military.
Tohdoh lead his men out as quickly as he could to meet the onslaught. But as soon as they reached the first line of Knightmares and began to engage them, lines of large trucks came from nowhere and screeched to a stop some blocks behind them. The trailers opened and produced more Knightmares, which headed straight for headquarters.
Tohdoh cursed himself and contacted Cornelia, who informed that that she was already aware of it. He could hear the sounds of battle through her transmitter. Now they were fighting on two fronts.
A Knightmare next to him took a heavy blow and the pilot was forcefully ejected. It was difficult, considering the enemy outnumbered them. He had to think of a way to turn this around in their favor. Somehow…
Tohdoh barked orders into his own communicator, and another squad of Japanese Knightmares came up behind the group of enemy machines. The enemy was surrounded, so now those on Tohdoh's side could slowly make their way around and push the mob together again. Then two fronts would be contained to one.
But these pilots were pretty skilled, and began decommissioning the Japanese troops one after another. Tohdoh had to make quick work of this. They were at a terrible disadvantage. They needed a miracle.
A miracle. That was it. He'd always disliked the nickname 'Creator of Miracles' but perhaps it wouldn't hurt to attempt to live up to it. What would Zero do in this situation? The real Zero.
Tohdoh's mind was so preoccupied that he couldn't find an answer for that.
However, while Cornelia was preoccupied, she did manage to make a move in the right direction. She was interrupted amidst the battle by Rakshata and Lloyd, who insisted that they could be of great assistance. Cornelia didn't give it much thought before giving them the green-light, if not only to get them to stop bothering her.
But as she shut off the transmission with the scientists, she caught a glimpse of Kallen's look of ecstatic determination just before the screen went black.
X
Zero was watching the little blue marks on the screen being picked off one by one. They were losing. This wasn't good. Not at all. The combined efforts of Cornelia and Tohdoh, along with Tohdoh's resources, were fantastic- but apparently it wasn't enough. Who on earth were they going up against now?
When he heard the door behind him opening, he whipped around furiously. "I thought I ordered that no one should be allowed to enter here."
The soldier simply stopped in the center of the room, his helmet blocking his face.
Inside the mask, Zero eyed the man suspiciously. He seemed too thin to be a soldier. "What are you doing here?"
The soldier grinned, "Don't you care who I am?"
Zero flinched a bit. For a moment, he thought he'd recognized the voice- but that wasn't possible. He shrugged it off as his imagination. "I couldn't care less. I only care what's brought you here."
The stranger was silent for a second, and then he leaned over to the side to get a clear view of the screen Zero had been watching earlier. "It seems you have quite a situation on your hands."
"Enough mind games." Zero muttered, not liking the person's voice one bit.
The soldier only shrugged, "It seems I'm better at that sort of thing. Don't you think so, Suzaku?"
That made Zero freeze in his tracks. He wasn't even sure he was breathing. Now he was certain that the soldier's voice was familiar. Very familiar. "Impossible…" He breathed, that being the only word he could manage to utter.
"Though I suppose you're right." The man sighed. "In all seriousness," Then he finally removed his helmet, and Zero couldn't tell if he was dreaming or not anymore. Lelouch let the helmet drop to the floor. "I'm here to fix things. There's no time for this."
"But how-"
"If it was possible to explain, I would."
Zero held his gaze for the longest time before removing his mask as well. "But you were…" Suzaku sputtered before he was interrupted a second time.
"Suzaku," Lelouch warned, "If you do not act now, everything we've created will be destroyed."
Suzaku nodded somewhat dumbly, and Lelouch came up to join him on the platform. The latter examined the screens and diagrams carefully, while Suzaku simply stared at him, still not believing what he was seeing.
He had sent the sword through him himself. With his own two hands. That day, he had been covered in his blood. Not to mention seeing his corpse in a coffin during the funeral. And yet here he was, in the flesh? He couldn't begin to wrap his mind around it.
"I must be dreaming," Suzaku mumbled to himself, earning a look from Lelouch.
"What are you blathering about now?"
"Me?" he gave an incredulous laugh. "You're the phantom in the room!"
Lelouch raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't talk nonsense."
Suzaku bit his lip, contemplating. If he didn't know any better, he would've reached out and touched Lelouch's arm or something. Anything to make sure he was truly there and tangible. But really all Suzaku could do was burst into hysterical laughter because of how absurd the entire situation was.
Lelouch gave him a sidelong glance, assuming the boy was completely mental. Though he certainly understood why. When his eyes returned to the screen, something caught his interest. "This one here," he pointed to it with an index finger, and finally gained Suzaku's attention as well. "It's just now advancing, and remarkably fast. Who is it?"
"I think," Suzaku stared at the rapidly moving dot for a moment. "It's the Guren."
"So Kallen's still fighting?" he hummed a laugh, "Not surprising." Then he reached over to the desk and grabbed some paper and a pen. "Tell her these coordinates."
Suzaku took the slip of paper uneasily. He knew he could trust Lelouch when it came to things like this, but could he really act as the middleman? There was no telling if Kallen would listen to him. He was sure she still held some animosity towards him because of what he'd done. Since he wasn't the true Zero, and in her eyes, he never would be.
But he had to attempt it, didn't he? So he brought Kallen up via a vocal communicator. "Kallen." he spoke sternly and lowered his voice, like he felt 'Zero' would. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lelouch smirk.
"Yes?" Kallen answered almost immediately. "I'm almost there."
"I see, but I need you at these coordinates."
As he typed the coordinates onto the computer and sent them directly to Kallen, he heard Lelouch muttering to himself whilst studying the virtual map of the city. "This would be much simpler if I could communicate with them directly..." The way he said it was like it was an afterthought.
Suzaku figured that it was easily done- considering all transmissions would be audial. No one would know it was really him… But they spoke differently. How could he explain a sudden vocal change?
Then he started coughing loudly, making sure Kallen heard it. Lelouch gave him a puzzled look.
"Are you alright?" Kallen asked. And of course, Suzaku noticed, that even though it had been over a year, she still refused to call him "Zero." Unless she was being sarcastic.
"Yes, I'm fine," Suzaku 'gasped'. He tried to make his voice sound as off as possible. "It's just a cough. But that's not important." With that, he glanced to Lelouch, who seemed to figure out what he was up to.
"I see…" she murmured. "Okay, I'm here, now what do I do?"
Suzaku stepped to the side, a humble grin on his face. He switched off the communicator for a moment so his words wouldn't leave the room. "You're better at this sort of thing than I am."
Lelouch nodded and moved into the space. He knew he had to make this believable. Kallen wasn't stupid. He cleared his throat as he reopened communication, also making sure she heard that as well. "Kallen." he heard her voice faintly respond, it seemed disoriented. "On my signal, you need to create a disturbance. I know you can handle whatever Knightmares are in the surrounding areas, but I need you to stay in that spot. Do you understand?"
She answered hesitantly. "Yes," then she added: "You know," a small laugh came through the transmission, "Right now, Zero, you're beginning to sound normal. Like you used to." There was that slight sarcasm Suzaku remembered.
Lelouch huffed non-abrasively, "I wouldn't say that." And then he immediately switched over from Kallen to Cornelia, contacting her using the same method. "Cornelia, this is Zero."
"Ah, what is it?" She sounded stressed. He figured she was in the middle of an altercation.
"Kallen is about to create a diversion, have your squad retreat for now."
There was a stunned silence on Cornelia's end. "Are you kidding me?"
He typed some more information into the computer to send to her. To better direct her. "I'm not. Order them to retreat as per the instructions I'm sending to you now."
"Look," the princess grumbled, "You'll have to forgive me for not trusting your instincts, but what makes you think that you know better than myself or-"
"Tell them." He commanded her, then closed communication with her. He was tempting her stubbornness, but he gave her no chance to argue.
Suzaku stood back and watched in some sort of quiet awe. That air of absurdity was still hanging about, and of course he knew why. Lelouch was dead- and yet, he wasn't. He was standing right in front of him. Suzaku had been the one to kill him for heaven's sake! It didn't make any sense!
He watched him work, give Kallen the "signal" or whatever he wasn't entirely paying attention to. He was thinking of how it was even possible for Lelouch to be alive. In fact, that was it. It wasn't possible. Suzaku knew very well what he'd done. It had haunted him for a while, but then again, he'd expected as much. He'd plunged the sword into Lelouch's heart- completely through his chest. So it was entirely impossible for him to have survived. Especially after being in a coffin for a year.
He had to be dreaming. There was no other explanation.
Lelouch was still giving orders to Kallen, while Cornelia had retreated. He'd given her instructions to lead her men through the underground tunnels of the transit system. The opposing troops were too busy dealing with several panicked calls for help from their comrades- who were now facing Kallen. And Suzaku knew all too well how skilled a pilot Kallen was. She wasn't the Ace of the Black Knights for nothing.
However, Suzaku wasn't really focusing on what was going on. He gave Lelouch a hard stare, looking to see if he was transparent or something, but he seemed the same as always. He directed the combined Britannian and Japanese forces with a deft hand. It was like nothing had ever happened.
But the air seemed to flow differently around him, like it also knew that something was wrong. Like it realized he didn't belong there. It was something…
Kallen's voice suddenly came over the speakers, knocking Suzaku out of his thoughts. It was a triumphant shout. Apparently, all of the troops that had responded to the SOS calls- made by those fighting Kallen- had fallen into the trap. Quite literally, since Cornelia's squadron had been instructed to strategically take out the support beams of the tunnels they had retreated through. None of the sections fell on top of Cornelia's troops, but the ones directly underneath the opposing forces were toppled, taking scores of Knightmare Frames with them. Since Kallen was ordered to stay put, the ground around her began to crumble while she was left unharmed on a small island of stability.
Suzaku blinked at the screen. "That's it?" It was so simple. He was thinking back to the Great War. Back then, they had made Mt. Fuji erupt. Compared to that, this was very low-scale. Extremely.
Lelouch crossed his arms, proud of himself. "It's nothing extravagant, but it serves its purpose nicely. You can't work above your means."
Suzaku looked to the screen, and upon seeing how widespread the collapse was, asked: "And what about civilian casualties?"
Lelouch gave him a look. "None that I'm aware of."
Suzaku had noticed that look. Like he didn't care about civilian casualties at all. Well, he probably did, but not to the extent that Suzaku did himself. It was important to him. "Good." he said, and clenched his jaw.
Lelouch seemed to just shrug it off, and Suzaku would be lying if he said that it didn't bother him. But he wasn't sure about anything. It felt too unreal.
This was someone he'd once called a friend. And then lines of unfortunate circumstances helped him call Lelouch his enemy. Finally, stealing a term from C.C., he became an accomplice. But he wasn't sure what he thought of Lelouch anymore. For a year he'd been a ghost- and it felt the same now. How could he possibly prepare himself to react to someone rising from the grave?
Suzaku just couldn't shake the feeling that he'd wake up tomorrow and realize this had all been a dream. He found that thought slightly depressing, but it was for some reason he couldn't quite touch yet.
xx
Author's Notes- Sorry that it took so long... and also that this chapter's not even that great... There's so much action, and my writing is very intrinsic. Not to mention that I desperately need to polish my 'Large Conflict/Riot Scene' writing skills. Oh, and I know there's also a number of stretches in this chapter, so to speak...
But anyway, it's incredibly long. That counts for something, right?
Yeah, I didn't think so,
-Destiny