The Greater Morality

Back to the drawing board! Missing snippets of certain characters' motivations and personality can be a real detriment to a fanfic. And this time I need to get past my extreme dislike for Suzaku and just write him as he always was. Since he will be consciously sparing his comrades—and friends—I can actually respect this version of him and have him have some meaningful conversations with the other KotR instead of being all, "I need to do my duty. Into prison you go! Grrrr!" Besides, the more that I think about it, out of everyone in their circle, I think that Gino would be the one who could figure out what was going on first when considering how closely tied to the plot he is and his background. But Bismarck is not going to be so forgiving to Suzaku this time around. Boy, did I glaze over a lot when I stumbled through season 2. -_- There's plot holes, then there's your own dumb ignorance.

Chapter 1: True Loyalties

Where were they? Suzaku hit the scanner and found their ID codes instantly. This would be tricky. Dorothea was on the front lines flanked on all sides by common grunts in significantly weaker war machines. Monica was inside the next rank over. Gino was significantly farther back, and Bismarck wasn't far behind him. Those were the only four people he had been ordered to spare—and that suited him quite well. Punching in the proper commands, he calculated the trajectory of the Lancelot's ultimate weapon and let lose a deadly ray of energy which bounced around the battlefield and extinguished scores of lives in an instant. It turned his stomach to do this. But it was absolutely necessary. He was the only one skilled enough to perform this delicate procedure.

As expected, Dorothea emerged from the smoke unscathed, her sword and shield drawn and ready to kill him for the massacre he had just committed. She was as spirited as ever and reckless, and that would fortunately make it easier to not harm her.

"What the hell are you doing, Suzaku?!" she demanded over the comm just before they locked blades. "We trusted you like a brother!"

"Which is why I'm making sure all four of you make it through this," he grunted as he realized that Monica was now charging his way as well. Oh boy. Not good, he thought as he realized that she was angling her trajectory so she hit his vulnerable backside. It's hard to beg for a fair fight after what I just did. Welp, time to get dirty.

Whirling his shield around, Suzaku deflected Monica's blade and maneuvered the Lancelot so that the unfortunate Knights of Four and Twelve collided with each other mid-air. Using the opportune moment, Suzaku delicately cut through both machines' stabilizers so they began plummeting to the ground, with both women struggling to keep their vehicles upright. "Don't do a thing to resist!" he called to them over the comm as he went to dispatch the next few ranks of soldiers. "Everything will turn out fine. Eventually. . . ."

Dorothea responded by throwing a few choice expletives his way before he cut the line and continued doing his unpleasant duty.

Now it was Gino's turn to face his former comrade, with Bismarck following close behind. Hundreds of soldiers had now been mobilized to surround the former Knight of Seven, and Suzaku pitied all of them for the bleak fate they were all about to share. Well, all but two of them.

"You can still come back to us, Suzaku!" Gino shouted as he purposefully locked blades with his friend so that Suzaku was largely immobile. "Use your head! Why are you following Lelouch after all that he's done?"

Suzaku chuckled sadly, knowing how hypocritical his actions were yet convinced of the true nobility of them in the very end. "Like we all followed Charles, Gino? What's the difference besides the result of their plans?"

"Because Charles was going to create a genuinely peaceful world," Bismarck admonished him, still fully convinced that the Thought Elevator could have wholly united mankind to the highest degree. "You destroyed that prospect, Suzaku."

"A stagnant world without any individuality," Suzaku countered the ideal. "I understand how you feel, Captain, but that doesn't mean it's right. So that's why I'm going to make sure you make it through this, too. I respect you—therefore, you have your own place in Lelouch's world."

"Like hell I do!" Bismarck challenged the idea as he charged the young man. "I served Charles because I knew that he would reach his goal in the very end!"

Now pinned between the two of them with his sword and shield, Suzaku struggled a fraction to keep them both at bay. "Look at reality, Waldstein," he grunted as his guard faltered ever so slightly. "Charles is dead. We're servants of Britannia itself—not just one man whose actions could never be justified despite his higher ideals. You'll learn—eventually—but for now, you're going to need to be put in your proper place."

"My . . . proper . . . pla—Ahh!" Suzaku pushed Bismarck off of him and juked so he could slash his stabilizers as he had Dorothea's and Monica's, and the Knight of One began plummeting to the ground like the last two. Gino had already recovered from the jolt of force that Suzaku had used on the both of them and was now circling him and pulling out his main cannon.

"Surrender now, Suzaku," Gino ordered him as he pointed the weapon his way. "You're completely surrounded. All I need to do is give the order and our forces will fry us both."

Suzaku glanced around in disinterest. "You saw what the Lancelot is capable of, Gino," he reminded him darkly. "Tell them all to surrender on the condition that you will become our guest."

"Guest?! Ha!" Gino threw back his head to laugh. "I know what you're planning for us, Suzaku. I'd rather die than become a mindless puppet of your 'friend.'"

"A fraction of you will, yeah," Suzaku agreed. "But the rest of you—I know how you really feel about Britannia, Gino. That's why you became a Knight, to inject some humanity into a corrupted system. So I know that you will truly understand what it is we are doing. I'm sorry—but I have to do this."

His brow sweating with anticipation, Suzaku calculated a final mass strike on the hundreds of soldiers that were left and let loose the volley that would extinguish them for all eternity. He reflected on all of their lives as he watched them burn. Rest in peace, everyone, he thought as he held back a tear. I know you don't deserve this. But . . . maybe there's still a chance I can live with myself.

Gino seemed to react more in anger than a measured sense of justice, yet his movements were as calculated as ever, firing small volleys of lasers as he circled his former friend, which Suzaku was naturally able to dodge without a hint of effort. Keeping his emotions in check, the Knight of Zero maneuvered himself so he was directly beneath Gino and cut his stabilizers before his opponent even realized that he had moved. Gino's Knightmare fell directly into the massive Lancelot's arms, and Suzaku sliced off its arms so Gino was completely defenseless.

His rage seething, Gino opened his cockpit's window so he could shout in Suzaku's face, "Damn you, traitor! I can't believe I ever called you my friend!"

Suzaku's heart sank when he saw the hatred burning in Gino's eyes. Maybe Gino wouldn't be one who could remain willful.

But he would be a useful pawn, nonetheless.

Lelouch waited impatiently upon his throne, his elbow resting on the armrest as he bobbed his crossed left leg over his right knee. Maybe his forces were having a harder time rounding the knights up than he realized. His soldiers had been ordered to not kill any of them, and that could make it more difficult to subdue them. Well, there were plenty more men in the empire who would make perfect soldiers once Geassed. A few more deaths at the hands of the desperate Knights of the Round wasn't going to upend his plans.

As if on cue, the doors to the throne room opened and Suzaku came in with Sir Weinberg in tow. The young blonde Britannian had ceased his resistance and was now allowing himself to be brought to the emperor even though his hands were still cuffed behind him. He looked up at Lelouch with a clear air of scorn, though he was too tired to fight anymore. "Welcome, Sir Weinberg," Lelouch greeted him after standing. "I can see that Sir Kururugi was quite careful in handling you. You have my word that you will be treated with the same utmost care and respect by your emperor."

Gino sneered in revulsion at the usurper to the throne. "Just kill me now, asshole," he mocked him as he dropped to the floor in defeat. "You can't convince me to join a nutjob like you."

Lelouch curiously cocked his head and smiled. "You say I'm crazy? You're right, Gino. I've been through so much that it's stricken my mind with more pain than most can imagine. But that's why I expect you to be able to understand what I am doing. Suzaku . . . please remove his bonds."

The Knight of Zero hesitated a fraction before he reluctantly unlocked Gino's handcuffs. The prisoner rubbed his wrists but only continued to stare in disgusted pity at the new leader of his country. "Enlighten me, O Emperor," he jeered. "Why should I betray my country to serve you?"

Lelouch approached him, unafraid by any potential violence Gino could inflict on him. "Because, at this point, Sir Weinberg, you aren't serving your country. You're serving a dead emperor. I am the next in line for the throne. Doesn't that warrant your cooperation instead of throwing your life away for an illogical loyalty?"

Gino pondered the emperor's words. He hated that he was right. When it came right down to it, he had only joined in on the attack because Captain Waldstein had ordered him to. Loyalty wasn't worth one's own life if your loyalty was all for nothing.

"Loyalty isn't worth one's life," Lelouch extrapolated as if he could deduce what his prisoner was thinking. "All of you Knights' ideals are noble—that is why I ensured your survival. I promise that I can make those ideals a reality if you cooperate. Otherwise—well, at least you will be alive."

Gino's gaze faltered a fraction. So . . . he could join Lelouch's cause or live his life from behind the lens of a willless mind. It was a fate worse than death that he didn't want to consider. "Alright," he sighed in defeat, staring at the floor sadly, "I have no other choice, I guess."

Lelouch seemed surprised that Gino would surrender so easily, but he relented his agreement, still cautious just in case the spirited young man might try anything. "Very good, Sir Weinberg. I will give you a proper room to sleep in, though I will be posting a guard. You are no fool, but you are also known to be quite reckless under certain circumstances."

Gino found the humor to chuckle, at least satisfied that his captor was treating him well. "You make me sound like Dorothea. Whatever. Just get me to that bed already."

Lelouch called over five whole guards to make certain that Gino had no chance of escaping, and both he and Suzaku watched their reluctant recruit get corralled out of the throne room. "He isn't as cooperative as he appears," Lelouch remarked concernedly. "He's too headstrong."

"Well . . . Monica and Dorothea will be more willing, I think, if you reason with them enough," Suzaku mused hopefully. "Bismarck, though . . ."

"It's inevitable." Lelouch shrugged the matter off nonchalantly. "He'll be an extremely effective pawn, at the very least."

Suzaku cast his eyes to the floor, his mind only dwelling on the worst possible circumstances. "What about Gino?"

Lelouch eyed his friend wistfully, knowing how much this was affecting him. "You're his best friend. If anyone can convince him, it's you."

As Suzaku continued to think about his wayward friends, an amusing thought took hold of him. It really was in Lelouch's character. "And you'll be working that smoldering charm of yours, Dear Emperor?"

Lelouch forced back a laugh, which caused it to come out in a squealing snirk. "Hey, it's not like I try to get them worked up. . . ."

"Uh-huh. And what about those dozens of dates you went on? Ah . . . scores of dates, wasn't it?"

Lelouch looked at the ceiling reflectively and grinned. "Heh. To get a girl like Monica Krushevsky at our school would have been the event of a lifetime. Well—I really hope we can get through to her."

"I know we can," Suzaku declared confidently. "I have even more faith in her than I do Gino."

Lelouch looked at him in surprise, but then his face softened as he understood, having looked at each of the knight's service records upon taking the throne since he knew they would all be extremely valuable assets. "Honor can't replace pure goodness," he agreed wholeheartedly. "And speaking of which . . ."

The beautiful young blonde Knight of Twelve was being led alongside the statuesque and dark-skinned Dorothea Ernst, their hands cuffed behind them as Monica hung her head in sad defeat. Conversely, Dorothea was just as fiery as her reputation bespoke, her admittedly captivating jade eyes burning with revulsion at Suzaku in particular. Both women were as legendarily beautiful as rumored. Lelouch hoped they would not need to spend the rest of their lives as pretty puppets warning of a corrupted age.

The guards forced both prisoners to kneel on the floor, and Lelouch approached them with a sympathetic smile playing upon his face. "Ladies Ernst and Krushevsky. Welcome," he greeted them cordially.

"Go to Hell, traitor," Dorothea spat at him, and she sneered in disgust. "I'm not going to serve a mass-murderer like you."

Lelouch looked at her curiously and frowned. "Mass-murderer? Like my father?" he reminded her in disappointment. "Lady Ernst, I am curious why you justify supporting a legitimate madman like him."

Dorothea's gaze faltered. There it was—the telltale sign that she knew her allegiances were utterly hypocritical for someone of her status. Back at home in the Middle East, she had been nothing more than a common street rat who would have lived an utterly humiliating life, as her people were a favorite for Britannians to enslave—particularly as comfort women, since many aristocrats and Britannian businessmen had an eye for the exotic.

"To . . . maintain order," was her first excuse to hold her resolve. "And . . . to make Britannia see that I am . . . um . . ." She was staring off into space now, lost in her own disbelief that her ultimate goal had completely failed. But Lelouch wasn't the one who had destroyed that prospect.

"Lady Ernst." Lelouch stepped up to her and knelt down so he was speaking to her on a sympathetic level. "I understand your desire to change the world through such idealistic means. But I believe that we can work together using a method that will gain more results faster. Trust me when I say that I sympathize with your plight as a Number. It was what got me to start this crusade in the first place, anyway. Together, I know that we can truly change the world."

The fight had gone out of Dorothea entirely now. She was considering so much of what had led up to that point. Was a pawn all she had ever been? But that didn't mean that whatever Lelouch was doing now was right.

"And what's that method, huh?" she challenged him, diving back into her usual tomboyish demeanor. "I guess a terrorist could only understand terror as a method for change."

Lelouch frowned in disappointment. Maybe this wouldn't be as easy as he had hoped it would be. "Let's just say this isn't about making people see things my way," he explained vaguely.

"Schneizel wants to genuinely unite Britannia," Dorothea went on, baring her teeth mockingly. "It's a hell of a better prospect than becoming your mindless slave who works together with everyone just because you tell us to."

Lelouch was strangely amused by that statement. His other side was beginning to come out—perhaps it was his true side. The one hellbent on humiliating Britannia to the utmost degree. "Yet who is the legitimate heir to the throne, Lady Ernst?" he challenged her, smirking petulantly as his tone began to digress more and more into a tone of joyful sadism. "Mark my words—that weasel will find a way to show his true nature when it suits him." He stood and looked down at her with his hands folded patiently behind his back. "I promise you, Miss Ernst: I will free your people. You will just need to trust me enough to understand my grand plan. Guards, please take her to her room."

Dorothea rose without any resistance, and Lelouch watched her go with a dejected expression on her face. The poor woman didn't have a clue what he had in store for her.

It greatly disturbed him, as well.

Now, Lelouch turned his gaze to Monica, who had sunk to the floor on her knees and was hiding behind her bangs and long, golden hair which framed it like a perfect picture of sadness. It was shocking that one as young as her had been allowed to become a Knight of the Round, let alone join the military. Another grave sin committed by Britannia that would soon be reconciled.

"Miss Krushevsky, please look at me."

His words had been harsh, and it caused her to shrink back a little more. Was she broken already? She was known to be the least experienced out of all of the Knights. She was as much of an idealistic young girl as her record suggested. Well . . .

He could use this to his advantage.

"I said look at me!" he scolded her, letting his vengeful side take over again. He reached out and grabbed her by the chin and pulled her face up so he could gaze upon it. She was . . . stunning. Tears of utter terror were trickling down her cheeks, making her only look more appealing and vulnerable. The side of Lelouch which had started his revolution wanted to comfort her and assure her that she wasn't going to be harmed.

But the Demon Emperor had a reputation to keep. "What's the matter, Monica? Can't take a defeat?" he jeered as he pulled her forward to look at her even closer. "Head of the Royal Guard? My father was a fool indeed. Maybe you were one of his secret consorts. Is that how you attained your status as such a sprout? Hm?"

Monica stammered to force some excuse out, but her gaze kept switching to Suzaku. Her bottom lip quivered and all she could utter was a choked, sorrowful "Why?"

Suzaku was taken aback by the question. She had to know the truth, he decided resolutely. He didn't want Lelouch's plans to destroy such a kind and gentle friend of his, even if it would further their goal. If he did, what little remained of Suzaku's self-respect would all but disappear. "Your Highness, may I please take Miss Krushevsky to her quarters?" he requested, the desperation evident in his voice.

"Denied, Sir Kururugi," Lelouch rejected the query with an appraising smirk at the young woman. "I believe that, besides Waldstein, Monica may perhaps be the most resistant. Guards, take her to be processed."

"Pro-Processed?!" Suzaku spat as his eyes snapped to Monica, who was now being forcibly hauled up by a couple of brainwashed guards and taken out of the room. "Hold on! What about helping them t-" He was cut off when Lelouch held up a finger for silence, keeping his gaze to the floor while a crafty smile split his chiseled features. A small chuckle escaped his lips and he finally looked up at his friend.

That look gave Suzaku cause for concern. He had forgotten just how scarred Lelouch's mind was. He wasn't evil—not entirely—yet the agony wrought upon his mind throughout his life had twisted it to a point that he may have some difficulty distinguishing right from wrong if he could benefit from it.

"Remember our goal, Suzaku: We're spreading fear to unite everyone against us. Monica is still too fresh out of the military academy to be hardened enough to deal with truly traumatic experiences. The people are very slowly taking up arms against my reign. And do you know how beloved she is to the public?"

Suzaku swallowed nervously. Please—not this. "I'm well aware of that," he stated with a quiver in his voice. "But how can you expect the other Knights to join us if you . . . t-torture her?"

"Fear, obviously!" Lelouch exclaimed like the idea was so obviously brilliant. "Suzaku, I know you want to remain moral as you always have been, but giving a speech to the citizens of Britannia to accept their Number neighbors as their friends is not going to get the job done. Monica can be a mascot to the oppressed. And her freedom from the Demon Emperor will be the ultimate victory for the people of Britannia, a physical sign that their lot in life will improve immediately after his death."

Suzaku's heart sank. That was right. Lelouch was going to be dead by the time this was all over. He didn't know if he should feel relieved or saddened by the reminder. "But . . . can you promise me that none of them will be permanently harmed?"

"Pawns are useful until the very end of the game, Suzaku," Lelouch reminded him as if it could reassure him of his intentions. "Ah, and there is our strongest one as we speak."

Bismarck Waldstein had to be bound in multiple sets of chains just to remain docile, and ten entire guards were stationed around him to hold him in place as they each pulled on one of the heavy bonds to keep him from getting an opening to try to escape. The powerful, one-eyed man sneered in disgust at the new emperor as he bellowed in his commanding, bass voice, "So the weak, petulant child finally has full control of the empire, huh? Too bad you didn't think of a very important factor that will topple your entire-"

"I'm counting on it, Knight of One," Lelouch countered him with a lopsided grin, and Bismarck was taken aback by the retort. "The people already loathe me, showing them that they are as weak as any other human being," he mocked him as he approached with more authority in his voice than even Charles had ever expressed. "So, before you become my mindless slave, I want you to know something: I will unite the world against me. It's my intention to do so. Imagine: Humanity itself versus the Demon Emperor. Doesn't that sound like quite the unorthodox solution to such a fundamental problem?"

Realization dawned on Bismarck, and he was stricken by a primal fear for perhaps the first time in years. And this solution . . . surely, it was insane. But so strangely intriguing. Maybe it was more out of curiosity than panic that he began to fight back. "Wait! I-I can be of service to you! Majesty, I-"

"You are no coward, Bismarck," Lelouch commended him as he held his head in place by his long, graying hair, "but I am afraid your curiosity is going to have to wait to be satisfied for a while longer—once this is all over and Britannia is finally at peace. Your consciousness will remain intact, but you will be watching from the inside of a vessel not being controlled by yourself. So enjoy the show. I can't run the risk that you would betray me."

"W-Wait! Please, I need to know h-!"

"I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you to serve me unquestioningly until my death!"

"Nnn-!" Bismarck barely had any time to protest as he felt all willpower relax from his psyche. He was staring out from behind his own eyes, as if they were lenses of some kind of mechanical body suit. "As you wish, your majesty," he said with a small bow of his head. "Would you kindly order your guards to release me?"

Lelouch smiled, satisfied that his Geass had done its work. "Very well, Waldstein. Guards, please release the Knight of One so he may resume his duties."

The soldiers acted immediately, as they were programmed to do, and Waldstein stood and rubbed his sore wrists before working some kinks out of his bones. Lelouch half-expected Bismarck to lash out at him, too headstrong to give into the rewiring of his brain yet. But Bismarck was subconsciously loyal to the royal family itself. He knew that Lelouch was the legitimate heir to the throne. Thus, Lelouch realized, he had the Knight of One's unquestioning loyalty from here on out.

He just hoped the other knights would not need to be forced into service like this. Yeah . . . Like this.

Lelouch grinned with a small aura of sadism about him, and Suzaku picked up on it. Maybe he actually was beginning to plunge headlong into a true pit of madness.

So much the better for the task at hand. "You are dismissed, Captain Waldstein," he excused the Knight of One. "You may retire to your room to recover until you are needed. Please follow the guards."

"As you wish, Your Majesty." Bismarck followed a couple of guards to his residence while the rest of them lugged his bonds away, and Lelouch and Suzaku were once again left almost completely alone in the throne room to ponder over the fates of the unfortunate knights.

"I suggest you go talk with Gino and Dorothea after they've rested," Lelouch counseled him. "It's going to take some convincing, but I think they may be most receptive to the idea when they see its value."

Suzaku paused and stared at the floor, still stuck on the bleak future of the one who was now several floors below their feet. "But what about Monica? She's just—Well, more of a kid than the rest of us . . ."

There was that telltale sign that Lelouch was in fact enjoying his work at least a small fraction, a cautionary gleam in his eyes and a tiny grin that flirted with his lips. "That's why she's so resistant. She's too scared to even talk. So . . . I can think of some ways to get her to open up that don't involve such drastic measures. If not—there is still the aspect of fear that will be most effective."

Suzaku resigned himself to silently accepting the fact that he had no power in this relationship. He was a pawn—even more so than he had been when serving Charles. He still wondered if this was truly the right path. . . .

"You're dismissed Suzaku," Lelouch excused his underling and more-or-less friend. "Please resume your duties."

With a smart salute, Suzaku left the room, and Lelouch called over Jeremiah to prepare a few things for him and began the long walk down to the dungeon where the new prisoner was being kept. As expected, Monica was already in the cell directly beside the torture chamber. He hoped that he wouldn't be forced to use it on any of the knights. It somehow felt wrong to Geass people as idealistically optimistic as them. In a way, taking away one's free will was far crueler than inflicting any physical or psychological torment on that one.

"Forcing your good intentions on others is no different than an evil act," he had told his father only moments before he had killed him.

So what did that make him?

"Lady Krushevsky," he called to her through the cell bars to get her attention.

The girl sat up from her fetal position. Her face was red from crying and Lelouch's heart ached with pity at the sight of it. Outwardly, though, he remained stoic. It was becoming harder and harder for him to stay emotionally detached. Had the trauma of killing his own parents affected him that much? Or maybe he was finally coming to terms with what he had to do to accomplish his goal. He hoped that breaking this sweet, innocent girl would not become a necessity to achieve that goal.

But innocence was one of the hardest traits to break down when one was so convinced of its priceless worth. Even if it damaged her beyond repair, she would no doubt try to keep her ingrained sense of morality to the very end.

"What do you want?" she asked him, the sadness in her voice making it clear that she had completely given up resisting.

"To have a calm and friendly chat with you, Miss Krushevsky. Why do you resist my rule? Because the captain ordered you to?"

"Because of all you have done," she replied in a pitiful tone of voice, and Lelouch realized how shaken up she must still be after her crash-landing. She wasn't a soldier anymore. She was traumatized by Suzaku's betrayal mixed with the deadly experience she had just survived.

"Is this based on morality or a sense of duty?" he reminded her of her own complacency despite her noble ideals. "Peace is only a relative concept that cannot truly be attained unless all are willing to cast aside their own prejudices. I know that you largely have, Miss Krushevsky. But what about Schneizel?"

Monica looked at him in surprise, seemingly offended by the suggestion that the one she had chosen to follow was so dishonorable. "He isn't like your father," she declared as she stood up and began to approach him, her puffy eyes now ablaze with hatred. "And he isn't like you." She met his gaze, staring up at him through the bars.

Lelouch took in every pore on her face, they were so close now. She really was exquisitely beautiful, even though she was staring at him with such revulsion. Chuckling ironically, he took a step back and crossed his arms behind him. "Did you not hear me in the throne room?" he reminded her as he cocked his head. "Scheizel is a manipulative weasel. He will show his true colors when the time comes."

"It must run in the family, then."

"Hm. Quite true, Milady. However, I want you to understand the true nobility of my intentions."

Monica laughed and sat down on her bed and crossed her legs haughtily. "Then why did you put me in here?" she argued, her impetuousness growing once again like her service record had said was such a key trait of hers.

"Because you are too pure for your own good. Innocence can also be an excuse for weakness, which is exactly why you have followed the previous system up until this point. You know how wrong it is—don't you?"

"It's no worse than following you," she fumed, her arms now crossed to display her growing revulsion for him. Good. Good. He was getting somewhere. "At least a portion of Britannia was free before you took over."

Lelouch smiled and wagged his finger chidingly. "Tsk, tsk. You forget your own ideals to justify a system of oppression, Monica. But I am a fair man, which is why I have given you all a second chance. Jeremiah, her gift, if you would please?"

From off to the side, the man Monica recognized as Jerimiah Gottwald appeared and bowed respectfully to her before pushing a plate of the finest food straight from the kitchen through the small hole in the bars at the base of the cell for such purposes. A small glass of wine was even included to cleanse her palette.

"Feh! A bribe?" she mocked the offer with a contemptuous flick of her hair. "A simple meal is not going to make me cooperate."

"Not a bribe. A reassurance," Lelouch allayed her contempt. "If I see that you are becoming more receptive to my point of view, I will allow you to have your own quarters and eventually give you your old position back. If you continue to resist—well . . . There are other ways of convincing you."

Monica swallowed visibly and clenched her jaw. "Do your worst, Demon. I would never forget my morals to serve you."

Lelouch paused before smiling and shaking his head. "Oh, my dear Knight of Twelve," he teased her, "you already forgot your morals so very long ago." Beckoning to Jeremiah, he left the hopeless prisoner to worry about the future which hung before all of the Knights of the Round.

As Lelouch and Jeremiah retreated back upstairs, the Head of the Royal Guard eyed his master smugly. "Ah, so you are quite taken by the young lady as well, Milord."

Lelouch smiled and looked at his tentative ally from the side. "Indeed, Jeremiah. Who wouldn't be? But, unfortunately, it is her gentleness which will make her so hard to convince—or break, for that matter."

Jeremiah's eyes widened when he caught on to the emperor's meaning. "You don't truly plan on converting her to our cause?"

Lelouch smirked and let out a wicked chuckle. Oh, was he ever enjoying this deception. "I meant what I said about her being a mascot for the oppressed. Suzaku's conscience is calmed for the time being, and I can be content with that. It will be a simple matter of, well, gas lighting, basically. I will treat her as the finest prisoner of war there ever was and make her think of me as the closest friend—perhaps even more, if I am so inclined. Then, I will pull the rug out from under her and dash any hopes she had that I may be redeemable."

Jeremiah thought the plan over and was greatly perplexed. "But . . . wouldn't she be more useful fighting? It could be as simple as ordering her to never die and to serve you unquestioningly as you ordered Sir Waldstein. In fact, all of the other knights could easily be-"

He was cut short when Lelouch began to laugh again. This one was laced with so much more iniquitous spite than the previous laugh. Looking Jeremiah in the eye, his countenance split into a manic grin of sadism. There truly was a demon beneath that suit of human flesh.

"You don't understand, Jeremiah—I am planning on breaking them all. Starting with Monica."