The Journey of the Unholy Trinity (English Version)

by Arremi

Six months have passed since the Zero Requiem, and the young Empress Nunnally has been presented with the opportunity to see the truth about the path her brother traveled, but the truth will show more than the story of Lelouch vi Britannia, after all, the life of the Demon Emperor has always been attached to the lives of the White Reaper and the Immortal Witch. (Watch the show fic)

16. Shirley at Gunpoint

Chapter 13: Shirley at Gunpoint

Everyone was still silent at the end of the episode, the only noise that could be heard was the sobbing of Milly, who finally couldn't stand what she was seeing, so she finally burst into tears, but her sobs were not the only ones that ended up being heard, as the other members of the council quickly joined her in her sadness, although they managed to contain their feelings a little better.

"Shirley, why, why did this have to happen," Milly thinks lowering her gaze as she feels her tears run down her face, the normally cheerful blonde couldn't hide her sadness in the slightest. "You didn't deserve that."

"It's not fair," Rivalz thinks, trying to hide his tears. "Lelouch, why...?"

Nina was crying freely as well, the young girl remembering her time on the council. "I didn't even get to spend time with Shirley after... I'm so sorry, Shirley."

"Sorry, please forgive me… Shirley," Kallen simply closes her eyes with all her might trying to keep the tears from falling. "I never thought that could happen."

Even Nunnally and Zero were affected by the scene, with the young Empress feeling tears streaming down her face, while Zero just kept his gaze down, his mask managing to hide his sad expression.

"Shirley..." Zero clenches his fist tightly. "Lelouch, I don't understand you, how did you manage to continue after something like that? No, I know exactly why you did it... Lelouch"

The cries of the members of Ashford lasted for several minutes, with the others unable to do more than simply stand still, as the students and former students let out their grief at what they saw, it wasn't until several minutes had passed that the situation had managed to calm down enough, with only a few still having their eyes red from tears and little difficulty speaking.

"Are all of you alright?" Ohgi asks worriedly, as he looks at those most affected by the scene finally calming down a bit more. "If you want we could take a break now, it's obvious this must have been very painful for you."

Milly listening to Ohgi looks at Rivalz, Kallen, Nina and Nunnally, then finally says, "N-no, it'll just get harder if we wait, I just want to get this over with, just let us calm down for a moment," the other council members nod as they listen to Milly, then leave the room and go to the bathroom, with Nunnally being helped by Zero, making only the adults, along with Tianzi, Gino, Anya and Kaguya, stay.

"I can't believe this. Poor girl," Ohgi says when he finally sees that the members of Ashford's group are gone. "And it was our fault, we killed her father."

"It's even worse considering who she's seeking comfort with," Xingke says, looking down at the floor and letting out a sigh. "I can't imagine what her reaction would be if she found out that Lelouch was Zero, the shock would be massive."

Chiba grits her teeth hard. "That would tear her apart, especially after kissing him!"

"Yes, I can't imagine how that must feel," Cécile says, her eyes lowered. "Though we could see that His Majesty was certainly affected."

Tohdoh nods. "Lelouch was undoubtedly affected by Miss Fenette's words, he even kissed her back.

"It must have been quite a shock for him," Schneizel says for the first time without smiling. "Up until this point, his actions as Zero had never negatively affected any of his classmates."

"The problem will be seeing how this ended up affecting him in the long run," Cornelia adds with a frown. "Lelouch, you could see how much it hurt the girl to lose her father, and yet..."

After that small discussion, the room fell silent again, with the people inside just waiting for Ashford's group to return, which finally happened after a few minutes, the members could now be seen in a much better state.

"Are you well enough, Miss Ashford?" Sayoko asks, looking worriedly at the blonde.

Milly nods weakly. "Yes, we're better now."

"I guess we should get on with the next episode then, if no one has any complaints," Zero says, looking at the others to see if anyone wanted to stop for any reason, but seeing that no one said anything, the masked man turns to look at Nunnally. "Your Majesty, would you do the honors?"

Nunnally simply nods, then uses the controller to start the next episode.

"The actions one takes are answered by consequences waiting at their conclusion. There are no exceptions" C.C. begins her narration while fragments of previous episodes are shown. "And even Lelouch's power cannot change this. Despite his absolute ability to make anyone obey him, there is no escaping the inevitable. Lelouch has acted to avenge his mother's death and to create a world where his younger sister Nunnally can find happiness, now he is confronted by the results of his acts, consequences he never imagined, and there are more to come. If these unintended consequences help to create new worlds, who will bear the blame for the sins that are committed, who will take the punishment and who will measure it out?"

C.C.'s words resonate with the audience, making several of them unable to help but remember all the damage they have done in order to accomplish their goals, no matter what they were.

"In the end it was us who took the punishment," Suzaku thinks as he remembers his old friend. "We have a peace that for the first time seems to be able to last, that can make others want to stick with it, but the cost was... I really didn't expect to miss you so much, Lelouch."

"Punishment? What punishment was it that I got?" Ohgi closes his eyes quickly as he lets out a long sigh. "We've done so much wrong, but in the end I got what many could only wish for... How unfair life is."

Kallen can only clench her fist tightly, the immortal's words infuriating the young Japanese girl. "Lelouch...! Things might have been different if... Why? Why did you alone have to pay?"

For her part, Nunnally only feels the tears show in her beautiful eyes again, though the Empress quickly tries to brush them away. "Big brother, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for thinking you were a monster, I'm so sorry."

The screen goes black, but quickly the title of the episode is displayed; "Shirley at Gunpoint".

Milly looks worriedly at the title. "What? What does it mean, at gunpoint?

"Nothing bad happened to Shirley, right?" asks Rivalz worriedly as he tries to remember if anything happened to Shirley after Narita.

Nina shakes her head. "I can't remember anything happening to her, at least not that could have anything to do with a gun."

Away from the students, Villetta could only sink into her seat as she watched her husband out of the corner of her eye, thinking she knew what the title referred to. "Kaname... Sorry, Shirley."

"Maybe the title isn't... literal," Kallen looks at her friends with concern. "Maybe it's talking about something else."

The other council members nod, even though deep down none of them really believed that hope could happen.

"He was a pious soul who always looked to God in his life and is a friend to all of us," says a priest in a cemetery in front of a grave on which a coffin with Shirley's father's name engraved on it can be seen, near it were Shirley, her mother and several other people, all dressed in mourning. "To his wife he was a devoted husband, to his daughter, a loving father."

"Dad," Shirley thinks as a tear wells up in her eye.

The sight of the funeral only causes almost everyone to look down sadly, Shirley's thoughts only causing the mood to drop even further, the only ones looking at the screen being those who had already been present, not believing they should look away, though several of those people also clutch their seats tightly.

"Now, may he rest in peace," the priest finally finishes his words, so the workers at the site begin to bury the coffin by covering it with earth with a shovel.

"No! Stop!" Shirley's mother screams tearfully as she drops to her knees to the surprise of the others. "Don't bury him anymore! Don't make him suffer any more! Honey! Honey!"

Shirley immediately drops to her knees as well to try to comfort her mother, who is still crying loudly. "Mommy. Mom."

Shirley's mother's sobs only sadden everyone, with the Black Knights being the most affected by the scene.

"Oh god," Kaname thinks, closing his eyes and feeling the bile rising in his throat. "I-I need to find her, I need to apologize to her, no matter what she tells me, I have to."

Tamaki simply tries his hardest to try and ignore it all as he averts his gaze, not wanting to listen to the woman's sobs and pleas anymore. "Shit, make this fucking stop, I don't want to listen anymore."

Kallen for her part can do nothing but grit her teeth and try not to cry, having already been there when it first happened, it doesn't make it any easier to see it again. "I'm sorry, Shirley, I'm really, really sorry."

Behind Shirley and her mother can be seen the other members of the student council, all looking sadly at the scene, though Lelouch's eyes are covered by his hair.

"Tch, that must feel like shit," Tamaki mumbles, rubbing his neck and looking at Lelouch and Kallen with an uncharacteristic expression of grief. "I can't imagine how that must feel, and at a funeral for someone you indirectly killed."

"Even worse considering he was a friend's father," Ohgi adds, biting his lip in frustration. "It really must have been horrible."

Cornelia for her part can only tense up and sink into her seat as she thinks about the Japanese duo's words. "I can see that Lelouch really was hurt, although I would be too if my actions had caused the death of Guilford or Darlton's father, but I don't get it, if Lelouch really was so hurt, why did he go so far as to kill Euphy? It doesn't make any sense at all."

"Guess what, Papa?" A scene appeared on the screen showing Shirley when she was just a little girl. "Someday when I grow up, I'm going to be your wife."

Shirley's father gets down on his knees so he can look his daughter in the eye. "Oh, that's very sweet of you, sweetheart. But your teacher already told you, didn't she? Someday you'll find a man you'll really love."

"More than I love you?"

"Hmmm, it's hard to explain," Shirley's father's voice is still heard even as the funeral is shown again, with Shirley kneeling in front of her mother's grave. "Well, if you really love that person and he cares so much about you, I'd be the happiest father in the world."

The cruel irony of Shirley's father's words regarding the situation in which it all ended only made several people cringe in their seats uncomfortably, unable to believe how cruel fate could be.

"Poor man," Xingke thinks, settling in and looking at Shirley's father with pity. "I can't imagine what he might think if he knew that just the person his daughter loves, is the one who would end up taking his life, it certainly must be quite a problem for any parent, or even anyone looking to protect someone," along with his thoughts Xingke can't help but look at Tianzi with sorrow. "Your Majesty, I hope everything will already be alright when I can no longer be by your side, especially when that time will come very soon."

Shirley finally gets up, to approach her friends, who were still in the same place.

"Shirley, I'm really sorry this happened," Kallen says as she holds her hands.

"Oh, stop it," Shirley says, trying to calm the redhead down. "What do you have to apologize for?" Shirley's words only make Kallen look away.

Gino can't help but frown and look away. "Oh!"

"I can't imagine how it must have felt to hear that," Tamaki says quietly, though sadly not quite enough for Kallen not to hear.

"Horrible," Kallen murmurs as she gazes at Shirley and grips her legs tightly. "Really horrible."

"Me too, sorry!" Rivalz says as he steps forward, to Shirley's surprise. "It's just, when we saw you on TV during the hotel takeover, we thought the Black Knights were heroes. I mean, the news was handling it all wrong, anyway, I was posting online, how I thought what happened in Narita was a great thing, and I... Forgive me," Rivalz finally finishes his words by giving a bow.

Rivalz lowered his head in complete shame. "I still can't believe I thought what happened in Narita was cool, it was obvious that a lot of people died because of it."

Don't blame yourself, it's normal that many times we don't see the consequences of something we think is cool, at least you had the courage to admit it," says Ohgi trying to comfort the student, who only looks down more, making Ohgi sigh and clench his fist. "After all, the only ones to blame are us, for agreeing to that plan."

"Come on! Don't be silly," Shirley smiles as she moves closer to the group. "That has absolutely nothing to do with this. I mean, even I was saying that Narita was..."

Milly suddenly grabs Shirley by the shoulder to look her in the eyes. "Shirley, stop. Seriously, I'm starting to worry about you here. Have you cried yet? If you just put up with it, it will only make it harder for you in the future."

"You don't have to worry. Really, I'm fine," Shirley replies, looking at the ground, but for a second the scene of Shirley crying on Lelouch's shoulder appears. "I cried a lot."

"Oh Shirley," Milly thinks, sinking into place as she takes a deep breath as she looks at the scene. "I should have realized what was going on, but instead..."

"Cowards!" shouts Suzaku out of nowhere, startling the others. "Zero and his people. Their methods are simply cowardly. He doesn't even get his hands dirty. He drives people into a frenzy, drives the world into chaos, and then sits back and congratulates himself. It's not going to change anything. Anything gained through these kinds of tactics is meaningless" the others just stand still as they watch and listen to Suzaku, though Lelouch still has his eyes covered and Kallen gets a slightly annoyed expression.

A frown appears on Kaguya's face, and she shakes her head, the young girl being completely disappointed. "Suzaku... that wasn't the right time to talk about that topic."

"It was rather insensitive of him," Tohdoh seconds, folding his arms, his face showing a disapproving expression. "No matter what his opinion on the matter was, he shouldn't have to start talking about morality at someone else's funeral, that's just being very disrespectful and insensitive."

"Not to mention hypocritical," Chiba mutters through her teeth.

Zero upon hearing Kaguya and Tohdoh's words can't do anything but feel ashamed for his behavior. "It's true, at that time I let my hatred for Zero guide me, I didn't even think about how Shirley might feel about it when I started talking about... I'm sorry, Shirley. I'm sorry for being so insensitive even when you were so kind to me."

"Well, anyway, I think it's time for us to go," Milly closes her eyes, then opens them and looks at Shirley as she smiles at her. "Shirley, we'll be waiting for you, back in the old student council room, as always," the blonde's words make Shirley show a sincere smile, so Milly turns around to start leaving with the others. "Let's go. Let's go."

Rivalz walks obeying Milly, but at one point he stops while looking at Lelouch. "Hey, Lelouch!" But before he can say anything else Milly grabs him by the collar to keep him moving forward, much to his confusion. "What?"

"Did you really not notice why she interrupted you?" Anya asked, looking at Rivalz with a raised eyebrow. "It was obvious what she wanted."

"I know, but I guess I was distracted by the situation," Rivalz replies, scratching his neck quickly.

Milly sighs as she grimaces in discomfort. "Though it seems I made a mistake in doing so."

"You can't blame yourself, you had no way of knowing that Lelouch was responsible for the collapse," Villetta says kindly.

"Still, I should have realized there was something very odd about Lelouch's attitude that day," Milly bites her lip and grips her seat tightly. "Maybe it only made things worse for both of them."

Quickly Nina tries to get closer to Milly, putting a hand on her lap in a comforting way. "M-Madam President, it wasn't your fault, we all felt bad about Shirley's father's death, Lelouch acting differently was normal."

"Thank you, Nina," Milly says, leaning toward her friend as she puts her own hand over Nina's. "Thank you, Nina.

All the council members move on with the exception of Lelouch, finally leaving him and Shirley alone. But strangely for a moment C.C. is shown getting a pizza at Lelouch and Nunnally's residence.

"Why did they show us the green-haired bitch getting pizza?" asks Tamaki looking at the screen in confusion.

"No idea, I don't see what could be important at this moment," Ohgi answers, not understanding C.C.'s appearance either.

Back in the cemetery, Lelouch and Shirley just stand facing each other, as drops of water begin to fall, signaling that rain is approaching.

"Lulu, forgive me" Shirley murmurs as she continues to stare at the ground.

"Huh?" Tianzi shows a confused expression as she tilts her head to the side. "I don't understand, why would she apologize?"

"Most likely because of the kiss she gave Lelouch," Schneizel explained with a small smile. "Miss Fenette probably thought it was unfair of her to kiss Lelouch."

Cécile looks worriedly at the screen. "But that was just a spur of the moment, she wouldn't have to apologize for it, no one would blame her."

"The problem is that she doesn't see it that way," Cornelia let out a rueful sigh. "A person will almost never act logically in such situations, much less a teenager."

"Agh, I can't imagine how Lelouch felt when he heard the apology, I couldn't bear the guilt," Rivalz says, clutching his head in fury.

"I doubt many could do it," Chiba adds, lowering her gaze.

Milly simply focuses her gaze on Lelouch. "Lelouch... please show me that you do care."

"What?" Lelouch finally came out of the trance he seemed to have been in and looked at Shirley completely confused.

Shirley for her part only averted her gaze at Lelouch's confusion. "It wasn't fair. Kissing you like that. It wasn't fair of me," the moment when Shirley kisses Lelouch in the rain is shown again. "It was just... something I did. Forget about it, okay? I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that. I'm sorry. It was totally stupid of me. I mean, you finally kissed me and I can't even be happy," Shirley finally runs off, to which Lelouch can only stretch his arm out towards her.

"Wait, Shirley!" In the end Lelouch ends up standing still and alone, the young man getting soaked by the rain.

"Damn." Tamaki can only thunder his tongue as he expresses his emotions in the most eloquent way possible for him.

"Oh God, it was even worse than I imagined," Rivalz says, averting his eyes.

Sometime later in Lelouch's room, Lelouch can be seen sitting on a couch, while C.C., who is sitting on Lelouch's bed, holds her Cheese-kun stuffed mascot. Lelouch's phone rings, showing that an unknown number is calling him, but the teenager doesn't answer or react at all, just stays still where he is.

"So that's why he wasn't answering my calls," Ohgi says, grabbing his chin as he remembers when he had called Zero several times without success. "Though it's not like I can blame him given the situation."

"Yes, at least now we can be sure that everything that happened really did affect His Majesty," Lloyd says, then lets out a few chuckles. "The interesting thing will be to see how it affected his role as Zero."

Kaguya nods. "No doubt it will be the most important thing; this was surely an important moment for Lelouch."

"Do you regret it?" C.C. asks, finally breaking the silence, which makes Lelouch finally raise his head a little. "That your friend's father was involved in all this? You recently accused Kirihara of being too soft. What happened to the path of blood?"

"Tch, she really couldn't stop being a bitch," Tamaki thundered his tongue and glared at the immortal in infuriation.

Kallen grits her teeth as she leans forward. "C.C., how dare you say something like that after how nice Lelouch was to you in the cave!"

"But it's true what Miss C.C. says," Schneizel says as his smile grows even wider. "It's true that Lelouch said Mr. Kirihara was too soft."

"Still, she had no business telling him that right after Shirley's father's funeral happened," Kallen says angrily as she crosses her arms and taps her foot on the ground.

Cornelia just slumped her shoulders and shook her head. "That's exactly why he needed to listen to it, if Lelouch intended to continue his role as Zero he had to accept that his actions could indirectly or even directly cause the death of people close to him."

"It's still too soon, she could have at least waited a bit," Cécile says, clasping her hands. "Even veteran army generals can feel sad about something like this, she could have waited a little while for His Majesty to be in a better frame of mind."

"And when would that be?" Rakshata asks teasingly as she leans back in her chair. "Britannia wouldn't wait for him to calm down, he couldn't just relax right after Narita."

Cécile doesn't know what to answer, so she can only look at the ground with a sad expression.

"Shut up!" Lelouch commands without looking at the immortal.

"But you happen to be the soft one. You thought this was all just a game? You've killed your fair share of people already. By hand, or by words most of the time."

Lelouch continues to keep his gaze down. "Shut up!"

"They all left behind a family. They all had lovers and friends." C.C. looks at Lelouch with a sneer. "Are you really telling me you hadn't figured it out yet? I thought you were better prepared."

Ohgi looks at C.C. with an expression of surprise. "It really looks like he's trying to provoke Lelouch."

"Maybe that's what she's trying to do," Chiba says, resting her face in her hand. "I wouldn't be surprised considering her personality."

"But why would she do that?" Tamaki asks, scratching his head in confusion.

"Maybe Miss C.C. is doing this to get Master Lelouch to refocus on his revolution," Sayoko suggests calmly.

Jeremiah nods. "It's a possibility, sadly His Majesty couldn't really afford to be distracted from something so important."

"Shirley's father's death was important!" Milly says, looking annoyed at Jeremiah as she leans towards him. "Lelouch couldn't just forget about it!"

"He didn't have to forget about it, but he couldn't just focus on that either," Xingke says, raising his hand to try and calm the blonde down. "We could already see Ohgi calling him, it's obvious he couldn't neglect his role as Zero, that wouldn't solve anything, and would only put even more lives at risk."

Milly can't help but clutch her seat tightly. "Still, Lelouch should have at least been by Shirley's side at that time."

"Sadly, that's a luxury Master Lelouch really couldn't afford," Sayoko says, looking at Milly sympathetically. "But I'm sure Master Lelouch thought of Miss Shirley whenever he could."

"...I hope so," Milly mutters as she sinks into her seat. "Lelouch..."

"Shut up!" Lelouch finally loses his temper. The moment where Lelouch had killed Clovis is shown on the screen. "I'm ready! I've been ready since the moment I killed Clovis!"

Gino looks at the screen confused. "But he almost threw up, we could see how when he remembered how he killed Prince Clovis he almost threw up, how can he say he was prepared?"

"He's probably trying to convince himself," Rakshata proposes, smoking her pipe and stretching out one of her arms, while a mocking grimace can be seen on her face. "He doesn't want to admit that he wasn't really prepared for such a situation."

Guilford nods. "It's most likely, after all, the Demon Emperor up until this point hadn't had any problems, and now that he has to deal with the fact that his actions caused the death of the father of one of his friends, he wants to think that he can move on without any problems."

"That doesn't sound healthy," Cécile says, raising her hand a bit as she remembers Suzaku's behavior. "If he keeps pushing himself even when he hates it or it hurts, he'll only end up hurting himself more."

Tohdoh tensed his face. "True, it was unhealthy, but Lelouch felt he had to do it, no matter the cost."

"Then why this hesitation? Has it shaken you so much? One kiss and you're torn to pieces then, huh?" The immortal's words and sneer finally make Lelouch glare back at her angrily, though C.C. herself closes her eyes. "So, for all your preening and posturing, you're really just a spoiled child with a swollen head and a big, fat mouth." Lelouch out of nowhere pounces on C.C., laying on top of her on the bed, all while the immortal stares at him expressionlessly. "You're too deep to be retreating now. You've passed the point of no return. You need a reason to live, don't you? You're not going to let me down, are you?" Lelouch could finally only close his eyes as he trembled at the words.

"How can she be so cruel?" Chiba looks at the immortal with disgust. "She's not even caring about the feelings of others; she just wants to get what she wants."

"C.C.!" Kallen grits her teeth at her old rival's attitude. "Damn it, you really are a witch! I don't see why Lelouch kept you on his side!"

"Tch, I can't believe for a moment there I thought she was more than a bitch," Tamaki mumbles, looking at C.C. in disgust.

"Miss C.C.," Nunnally murmurs, looking down. "I don't understand; why do you say things like that? That just hurt my big brother.

Several members of the audience also look at the immortal with varying degrees of anger, though some mostly show confusion or pity for Lelouch.

Schneizel for his part only looks at the others for a moment, then fixes his attention on Cornelia. "It seems that the others are displeased with Miss C.C.'s words, isn't it?"

"Yes, C.C.'s words were undoubtedly harsh.," Cornelia replies with a frown, but then lets out a sigh. "But I can't say that..."

"You disagree with them," Schneizel finishes the sentence, making Cornelia do nothing but nod. "Don't worry, I share the same opinion after all."

Ohgi looks at the siblings in disbelief. "How can you say that? C.C.'s words served only to hurt Lelouch."

"It's true that Miss C.C.'s words certainly hurt my brother, we can see that he even started to tremble from them, but that's exactly why he needed to hear them," Schneizel says with a strange glint in his eyes. "If Lelouch can't bear to hear those words, that truth, then he had no chance of continuing as Zero."

"Can I ask you to be more specific?" asks Kaguya, the young girl thinking she understands what the former prince was referring to.

Schneizel nods. "Of course, I'm referring to the fact that Lelouch would have to keep doing actions like he did in Narita, actions that would end the lives of thousands or millions of innocents, many of whom may be loved ones to Lelouch's friends... He needed to hear that, to see that he wasn't taking the war as seriously as it deserved," a small chuckle escapes Schneizel's lips. "Some might even say that Miss C.C. was giving him tough love at that moment."

"Too tough too, some would say," Anya murmurs, rolling her eyes.

"I-I suppose I can understand the logic," Ohgi admits, scratching his head, still a bit confused. "But I don't think it was necessary to put it that way, not to mention that C.C. keeps showing that her main reason for saying those words is to keep Lelouch's contract with her, not out of any real concern."

Tohdoh nods. "That's right, C.C.'s words aren't wrong in any way, but the manner and her reason for saying them is what bothers us most about the whole situation."

"I'm not saying you have no right to be upset by her words, I simply see that they are what Lelouch needed to hear at that moment, after all we could already see that he was ignoring Prime Minister Ohgi's calls."

"I guess it will all depend on how Lelouch will react to what C.C. told him," Xingke says, looking up at the ceiling. "His actions and attitude after hearing C.C.'s words will determine whether she was too harsh or not."

Zero nods as he tries to comfort Nunnally by putting a hand on her shoulder. "In the end, we just have to keep watching, then we can decide what we think of the whole situation."

A loud bang is heard as the screen goes black, and then C.C. is lying on the bed, but all alone. Lelouch is in the shower on his knees, and then he starts banging on the wall over and over again.

Whether willingly or unwillingly, several of the female members of the audience couldn't help but fix their gaze on Lelouch, feeling their cheeks flush, some even leaning forward.

"Stop it!" Cornelia immediately stands up to cover the screen. "If we're going to have a rule of not watching any of the women when they're in this kind of situation, we'll do it with the men too, and in this case everyone must do it, after all Lelouch can't tell if he's comfortable with being seen."

Nunnally nods with a small blush on her cheeks. "Yes, I really don't feel comfortable with my big brother being seen right now."

Quickly everyone in the room turns or averts their gaze, though some people like Kaguya doing so reluctantly.

"Are you all right, Your Highness?" Guilford asked in a whisper to Cornelia, the knight looking a bit confused. "I don't understand why you wanted to protect the Demon Emperor's modesty, it seems too trivial for a monster like him."

Cornelia frowned. "I did it out of respect for Empress Marianne, plus I could see that Nunnally wasn't comfortable with other people seeing Lelouch naked." Cornelia's words make Guilford nod as he understands Cornelia's reasons, though the knight doesn't notice the change in the former Princess' expression. "Honestly I didn't want others to see it either... I suppose in the end Lelouch is still my brother, as much as I'd rather he wasn't, it would make everything easier."

"Yes, that's why people discriminate against others," Charles says as the moment he gave his speech is shown.

"Is that why you killed my brother?" The moment when Euphemia confronts Zero in the hotel is shown.

"Because I believe that the end is worthless if the means are wrong!" The moment when Suzaku refused to work together with Zero is shown.

Tamaki looks at Ohgi with an expression of uncertainty. "What the hell is going on?"

"I think they're showing us Lelouch's... memories," Ohgi replies uncertainly.

"Why?"

Jeremiah closes his eyes for a moment as he relaxes. "It seems His Majesty is remembering important moments, perhaps trying to think about what to do next in terms of his fight against Britannia."

Sayoko nods as she leans towards Jeremiah. "It seems most likely."

"If Jerry says so, it's probably true," Anya also supports Jeremiah's theory, earning a few pats on the head from the Cyborg, making the young woman happy, even if her face is still emotionless.

"Will you really do it?" Ohgi asks Zero in Narita.

"That's easy to say!" shouts Kallen in a wagon, the moment he saw Zero for the first time.

"Don't do it!" Clovis pleads as Lelouch points at him. "We have different mothers, but we're still brothers!"

Cornelia can't help but look at Clovis with pity. "Lelouch, I can see that you did feel bad about murdering Clovis, even after everything you saw him do... So why, why did you kill Euphy even though she hadn't done anything wrong?"

"It really was a shame," Schneizel thinks, shaking his head as he sighs and looks at his half-brother. "Clovis, I hope you're happy where you are right now."

"It's just complacency!" says Suzaku in the council chamber.

"Like I'm any different," Zero thinks as he closes his eyes tightly at the scene. "I wanted to simply please myself too, even if I didn't want to accept it at the time."

"And to have a better world..." says C.C. in Lelouch's room.

In the shower Lelouch hits the wall again, but another memory quickly shows itself.

"I wish the world were a kind place," Nunnally says next to Lelouch.

Immediately Nunnally squeezes her dress with her hands. "Big brother, I'm really so sorry... I wish I never asked for that."

"You seem to have a reason to live," C.C.'s voice is heard as a young Nunnally is shown lying naked in a hospital bed.

"And I've come back to change everything," says Lelouch in Clovis' vehicle.

"Will you embark on the path of blood?" Kirihara asked.

Finally, Lelouch finishes his shower, in his eyes you can see a determined look, a look that shows the decision he made until the end of his life. "Ohgi. It's me, Zero," Lelouch's words are accompanied by a C.C. still lying on the bed, but looking at the window, looking at the world that would soon be destroyed by a demon.

"It looks like His Majesty is ready again... Good!" Lloyd says with a smile as he claps his hands together.

Jeremiah puffs out his chest with pride. "Obviously, there was no doubt that His Majesty would be able to regain his resolve."

"Who knows?" Gino says with curiosity in his eyes. "Lelouch may have decided to stop being Zero."

"Lelouch wouldn't have done that!" Kallen looks angrily at Gino. "He would never have abandoned his role as Zero!"

"How can you be so sure?" Chiba asks, looking at the redhead skeptically. "We could all see that he seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown."

Tohdoh nods. "Yes, we can't deny that there was a possibility that Lelouch simply decided not to be Zero again, either because of the guilt he felt over the death of Miss Fenette's father, or even because he couldn't bear the thought of something like that happening again."

"Could Lelouch really have stopped being Zero?" Milly thinks looking down at the ground as she remembers her time in Ashford. "Honestly I'd rather that had happened, maybe things would have been better, especially for Shirley."

Kallen at home looks at her computer, while two photos can be seen, one showing Kallen, her brother and Ohgi, and another where Kallen's mother appears in front of her children, in all of them it can see the face of each one.

"Mom, brother...," Kallen looks fondly at the pictures. "It's true, I too have a reason to keep fighting, not just to keep the world Lelouch left us."

Shirley is finally dropped off in front of her home, but not far from her is a parked car, a car that has a folder inside, in which a picture of Lelouch can be seen.

Villetta cringes at the sight of the folder in the car. "It's really going to show that, well, it was pretty obvious that it was going to show up, but still..."

"Are you all right, Chigusa?" Ohgi asks his wife worriedly as he grabs her hand, making her look back at him.

"No, it's just... I think they're going to show us something I'd rather not see," the answer only makes Ohgi more worried, but seeing Villetta's expression, he decides to keep silent.

"I have bad news, Suzaku," said Lloyd, approaching the Japanese, who was standing next to the Lancelot. "We've just received word from Princess Cornelia's Royal Guard. We're on deck for the next operation," the scientist's words surprise Suzaku, while Lloyd himself approaches almost to a level of discomfort with the young man. "Are they recognizing your ability or do they need another decoy?"

"Oh, Lloyd," says Cécile, entering the room while holding a tray with several onigiri, which catches the scientist's attention. "Would you like another lesson in proper social etiquette? Looks like you have some time to kill."

"Thank you, but I'll pass," Lloyd replies with a frown, though he quickly recovers his smile. "Now, speaking of that operation..."

"Hold on a second, Zero!" Ohgi's voice is heard as a port is shown, but quickly the Black Knights along with Zero and several knightmares are shown inside one of the buildings, behind them Diethard can be seen being pointed at by two members. "I understand it's a request from Kyoto, and we have no problem with accepting it. I know that the Japan Liberation Front would rather fight with us than escape to a foreign country, but..."

Tohdoh immediately tensed as he saw that he was about to see the moment General Katase died. "General... I'm sorry, maybe things would have been different if I had been there."

"General..." Chiba looks worriedly at Tohdoh, though he quickly looks at the Black Knights angrily. "The fact that General Katase died was because of them, I don't see how they failed to rescue him."

Zero interrupts Ohgi as he turns to look at the reporter. "You're Diethard who gave us this information, right?"

"That's right," Diethard replies calmly. "It's an honor to meet you, Zero."

"Strange, I expected him to be more excited, seeing how he acted about Zero earlier," Anya says dryly.

Schneizel very slightly waves his hand. "Mr. Ried surely realized that it would be best to remain calmer at that moment, after all it was the first time he was in front of Lelouch himself." Schneizel stares at the reporter. "Though his attitude is no doubt quite different from how it was when he decided to join me, this will be interesting to see."

"Then, Princess Cornelia is going to deploy the Royal Marines to capture General Katase of the Japan Liberation Front, is that correct?" Zero's words were accompanied by the image of the marines.

"That's right, we are already at the station for a special report."

Chiba glares hatefully at Cornelia. "It wasn't enough for you to finish us off! You had to make a spectacle of it too!"

"Obviously I had to finish you, you were our enemies at the time, and we couldn't afford to look incompetent," Cornelia says, clenching her jaw. "You're not telling me you wouldn't have done the same if we changed our position?"

Chiba slams her seat down hard. "Don't you dare compare us! We would never do something as dastardly as making a cheap spectacle out of someone's death! You're just making excuses!"

Again Cornelia just stays quiet as she grips her seat tightly, though before she stops Guilford from saying anything, knowing that anything her knight says would only make the Japanese woman angrier. "It's not worth it, It's not worth it... God, how I loathe that woman."

"Colonel Tohdoh will never make it to Katase in time," Zero says. "Which means the Japan Liberation Front has no military strength at the moment. Their only chance of escape is the liquid Sakuradite they're carrying."

Ohgi stepped forward. "That's why helping General Katase escape is more important than fighting Princess Cornelia..."

"Ohgi!" shouts Zero interrupting the Japanese. "Who are we?"

"We are the Black Knights," Ohgi replies, a little surprised by his leader's shout.

"Then we have a task," Zero says. "We will destroy Cornelia's troops, and in doing so we will rescue the remaining members of the JLF. Tonight, we will take back what we lost in Narita!"

"I don't understand, Lelouch should have been able to rescue the General," Tohdoh thinks with a frown. "I don't see what could have happened to make him not make it."

"What are our chances?" Ohgi asks.

"Do you need to ask?"

Ohgi finally looks at Zero with a confident look. "Understood."

"But, in the end we couldn't rescue General Katase," Ohgi thinks depressed. "Was Lelouch still affected by the death of the father of... But, he didn't seem to be!"

"Begin preparations," Zero instructs, and then turns around and starts walking. "Everyone is ready to follow orders."

Kallen approaches before Zero leaves. "Ah... Zero!"

"I have something to do," Zero says, turning slightly. "If you have something to tell me, do it later," after finishing his words the masked man continues walking, while Kallen just stares at him.

"You wanted to talk about Shirley, didn't you?" Milly asks Kallen, the blonde looking into the redhead's eyes.

Kallen nods. "Yes, it was also the first time I realized that my actions could hurt my friends, I wanted to see if he could tell me something that would convince me we were doing the right thing."

"Did he do it?" Rivalz asks worriedly.

"Yes, he told me just what I needed to hear in order to continue," a small, almost imperceptible smile appears on Kallen's lips at the memory of Lelouch's words.

Inside one of the warehouses controlled by the Britannia army, Darlton and Suzaku can be seen standing across from each other.

"You know, the Viceroy may disapprove of the use of numbers," Darlton said. "But my motto is 'use everyone you can', even if it's the son of the former Japanese Prime Minister. Our target is Katase. If we get him, the Japan Liberation Front is finished. We'll send in the Royal Marines. Your job will be to provide fire support from the coast until the Marines capture Katase and annihilate the rest of his forces."

"Commander Darlton had always been very fair to me," Zero thinks as he relaxes his face behind his mask. "Even when I was named Euphy's knight, he was there."

Suzaku's eyes widen in surprise. "Shall we annihilate them, sir?"

Darlton nods. "No one but the target must live. Is that clear?"

Suzaku just opens his eyes even wider.

"What did he expect?" Rakshata asks, smoking. "It was obvious they'd want to wipe out the survivors of the JLF."

Kaguya could only sigh. "We've already seen that Suzaku was too naive in those matters, surely he expected them to only seek to capture them."

"Technical Officer Suzaku Kururugi, prove your loyalty to the crown!" Darlton says as he turns around. "This is your chance to advance in the world, soldier."

"Yes, My Lord," Suzaku looks down as Darlton begins to walk away.

Lloyd appearing out of nowhere approaches Suzaku. "Will you prove your loyalty? You will be tested," Lloyd's words only made Suzaku avert his gaze, as he squeezed the Lancelot's activation key.

Lloyd quickly let out a grunt of pain when he felt a blow to the head, to immediately realize that the one who had hit him had been Cécile, who looked quite annoyed. "Did you always have to say those things to Suzaku before a mission? You only made him more nervous."

"Come on, it was obvious that Suzaku needed to see what was going on," Lloyd chuckles. "You're not going to tell me it wasn't true that Suzaku was being naive."

"Lloyd, that's not the problem!" Cecile puts her hands on her hips as she stares annoyed at her partner, who only lets out another laugh to the scientist's annoyance. "Seriously, you need to take things more seriously."

The screen goes black for a moment, but quickly changes to show the deep sea, where someone can be seen swimming while wearing a diving suit that covers his entire body, including his face. The mysterious person is carrying a large bomb in his hands, somehow managing to swim properly.

"Who is that guy?" Tamaki asks, completely confused.

"No idea, I don't remember Lelouch ordering anyone to carry a bomb across the sea," Ohgi also looks at the screen in confusion.

Guilford nods. "We don't know who it could be either, at no time did Her Highness order anyone to do that."

For his part, Tohdoh can't get a bad feeling as he watches the scene, for some reason sensing that something will go wrong.

At the port late at night, Shirley appeared walking around the place, while looking around with a confused look. "No, Lulu... It can't be true. He would never get involved with someone like that."

"What...?" Milly looks at the screen in disbelief and worry. "What's Shirley doing over there?!"

Rivalz, Kallen and Nina also look at the screen confused, none of them understand what Shirley is doing there.

"That doesn't make sense!" Cornelia says with a frown. "We made sure no civilians could get near that night, she should have no way of getting in the port in the first place."

"It's really strange, Miss Fenette has no reason to be in that place," Xingke closes his eyes for a moment. "Someone must have been the one who took her to the port, but the problem would be to know who and what reason they had for doing so."

Villetta can only shrink further into her seat, knowing full well that they would soon discover her role in the whole situation.

The scene changes to show the inside of the car that had been near Shirley when she had arrived home, inside it you can see Villetta and Shirley herself, who is holding the folder with Lelouch's picture.

"It's possible that this boy is related to the Black Knights," Villetta says to a completely distraught Shirley.

Quickly all the attention turns to Villetta, who tries not to show that she is affected by all the stares.

"Did you tell her about Lelouch possibly working with the Black Knights?" Ohgi says incredulously to his wife, making her feel worse.

"So you're the one who made it possible for her to be in the port in the first place!" Cornelia glares angrily at Villetta. "What would you have done if she had died? And why did you take her there in the first place?" Villetta can't answer any of the questions, too overwhelmed to say anything.

Ohgi quickly tries to defend his wife. "Stop it, we don't know the reason why Chigusa took her to the port! She might have a good reason!"

"What reason could she have that would justify taking a student to an area where there will be a battle?!" said Guilford looking at Ohgi with exasperation.

"Maybe we should keep watching the episode," Schneizel says, smiling. "It's obvious that Miss Ohgi is not in the best position to give us an explanation at the moment."

Cornelia is silent for a moment, but finally nods. "That's fine, but I still don't think she have a good reason to bring her to the port."

"What you're saying is that he's involved?" Shirley asks almost as if she doesn't want to know the answer.

"In terrorism," replies Villetta

Shirley shakes her head vigorously. "I don't believe you!" Shirley is shown standing in front of Lelouch and Nunnally's residence. "It can't be... It has to be a lie!"

"Shirley," Milly can only close her eyes. "You really always thought the best of others."

Shirley in a moment hides behind one of the pillars of the building, while Lelouch leaves his home and starts walking towards the school.

"Lulu," Shirley thinks as she looks at Lelouch. "Forgive me for doubting you, but... Please let me believe in you!" Shirley's last thoughts are heard as she turns to show her in the harbor at night.

As Shirley walked in the port, Villetta could be seen behind a building spying on the teenager. The soldier looks annoyed at the situation. "Damn, looks like she lost him. if she had called me earlier, I could have had him. I should have grabbed him when I had the chance," Villetta's memories of her encounter with Lelouch show. "No, I need proof. If he talks to her, I can find out what his role in all this is. Which is even more important if he can manipulate the memory somehow. I won't have to die, stripped of my position and honor as Jeremiah. No, I will use this as an opportunity to move forward. So I have to find a link to Zero. It has to be me"

"You only used it to advance in rank?!" Cornelia's shout makes Villetta flinch all over. "Do you really think we would take the words of a student obviously traumatized by her father's death? Not to mention that you seem to be completely willing to take advantage of her, even knowing what happened to her father!" Cornelia's expression shows a face full of pure fury, the former Princess not being able to avoid remembering the multiple times someone had tried to use Euphemia to gain her favor.

"Yes!" says Kallen who agrees with Cornelia for once. "How dare you use Shirley like that! She didn't deserve that!"

Villetta is silent for a moment, but finally gets the courage to say, "I know, I know what I did at the time was wrong, at the time I was only interested in becoming a noble, even more so after seeing how low Jeremiah had fallen."

"That's not an excuse!" Tamaki shouts angrily, then looks at Ohgi, "Why the hell did you marry her? How did you even meet in the first place? You never told us how you met!"

"Wait Tamaki, it's true that what Chigusa did was wrong, it was a mistake on her part, but she's not the same person she was at that moment," Ohgi tries to defend his wife, although in his expression you can see something strange. "How we met is not important, the important thing is that she would never do something like that now."

Milly frowns, the blonde being very angry. "Taking Shirley there wasn't just a mistake, she could have died in that place and she only did it to move up the ranks, not even because she considered capturing Zero as the right thing to do!" Rivalz and Nina nod at Milly's words, both looking at the pair with frowns.

"Come on, Ohgi!" Tamaki looks at his old friend. "You're not telling me you're really defending her? Even you have to see what she did!"

"I..." Ohgi's words die in his throat, his gaze quickly travels to his wife, who looks at him with fear and shame. "Chigusa... I don't know what to do, I know what she did was wrong, but... it's different now, she's not the same person as before, but I don't want to say anything that might hurt Kallen and her friends. Hell, I don't know what to do."

Out of nowhere a small cough is heard, which can quickly be seen coming from Kaguya, who with a rather fake smile says, "It's obvious that Miss Ohgi's actions were out of place, not to mention that it was certainly very bad of her to use a student that way, but I don't think we should discuss more about it, at least not at this moment, after all Miss Ohgi is still pregnant, we wouldn't want the stress she might suffer to end up harming the baby, right?" Kaguya's words manage to calm down most of them, who remembering Villetta's pregnancy, decide not to continue shouting, although several of them continue to look at the couple with bad eyes. Kaguya for her part, thinks about what she had just seen, thoughts completely opposite of what her expression might show. "What a disgrace, I can't believe the future of Japan is in the hands of someone so indecisive, I can understand that Ohgi would be conflicted by his wife's actions, but he should have made his choice, instead of just staying silent... It really is a shame, everything would be so much easier if Lelouch was still here."

Schneizel nods. "I agree with Miss Sumeragi's words, we would only be putting a life at risk if we continue discussing this topic at this time, it would be best if those directly involved try to calm down a bit, so they can talk to each other more calmly later."

Eventually, things calm down almost completely in the face of Schneizel's support for Kaguya's words, though some are still a bit affected, especially Villetta.

"Chigusa, are you all right?" Ohgi asks his wife in a whisper. "Don't worry, I know you're not the same person you were at that moment, just try to relax."

"Kaname," Villetta can't help but feel tears appear in her eyes at her husband's attitude, so she quickly gives him a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, thank you for caring about me."

Inside one of the warehouses in the dark, Lelouch can be seen sitting while wearing the diving suit, but he is only wearing it so that it covers from the waist down, leaving his entire abdomen and face exposed, though he has a towel over his head, which manages to hide his features a bit. Zero's mask can be seen on the floor.

"Wait, so Lelouch was the diver," Rivalz says incredulously. "That doesn't make sense, Lelouch could never do something like that."

Milly nods just as confused as Rivalz. "Yeah, there was no way Lelouch would be able to carry a bomb across the sea, he couldn't even run more than 100 meters without running out of breath, and I didn't even know he apparently knew anything about diving."

"It's really weird, diving in itself sounds like a very tiring thing to do, I can't imagine what it must be like to do it while carrying something that size, even if it weighs less because it's underwater," Kallen says, also looking at the screen as if she can't believe it. "I also don't understand what he did it for though, I don't remember him using any bombs in the whole battle."

The bad feeling Tohdoh had had earlier only grows bigger, almost feeling as if he should be angry for some reason, but something prevents him from knowing what.

For his part, Schneizel just smiles, quickly realizing what had really happened. "I see, so that's what really happened with General Katase... Very astute of you, Lelouch."

"He really must have gone to a lot of trouble to carry it, not to mention that no one in their right mind would be willing to do something so dangerous," Guilford says grudgingly. "It just shows how crazy the Demon Emperor was."

"Well, we could already see that my big brother was willing to put his life on the line for Suzaku to be accepted," Nunnally says with a tone that sounds like a mixture of concern and joy. "Maybe this was something similar."

"I don't know if you can compare the two, but it shows that your brother was willing to go to his limits to get what he wanted, Your Majesty," Zero says, putting his hand on Nunnally's shoulder in support.

The door to the warehouse suddenly opens, startling Lelouch, who turns to see who opened it. "Who's there?"

"Ah! S-sorry," Kallen says with a blush, then turns and walks away. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't realize it was Lelouch?" Nina asked. "His voice was completely recognizable."

Kallen just scratches her head uncomfortably. "I was too nervous to notice, and honestly I was also distracted by the whole Shirley thing."

"Do you have doubts now?" Lelouch asks, making Kallen stop.

Kallen stands still for a moment, but finally says, "I thought our goal was justice. The only reason I've fought so far is because I thought it was the right thing to do. That enabled me with the killing I've done. But now..." Kallen steps forward, moving deeper into the warehouse. "Tell me, is it true? Will what we're doing here really change the world for the better?"

"Yes, it will, or rather, it must change the world," says Lelouch.

"But..."

"Will there be sacrifices?" Lelouch interrupts Kallen. "Not just soldiers, but innocent people as well. Still... It's because of those things, we have no choice but to continue! No matter the cost, even if people see us as cowards, we have to prevail! If that means more blood will be shed, so be it. We have shed so much to get this far. I can't let it be in vain. But I will not force you, Kallen. If you wish to withdraw, now is the time."

Kaguya smiles at being able to hear one of Lelouch's speeches again, especially one she hadn't heard, but her expression quickly changes to one of seriousness. "Lelouch keeps giving excellent speeches, but I feel like there was something different about this one."

"Yes, now that I can hear him knowing it was Lelouch, I can also see that there was something different about his attitude," Kallen seconds with a frown. "It feels like... he's trying to convince himself."

"It's most likely, after all Miss C.C.'s words had made him have to accept that there will be thousands of casualties in his revolution," said Schneizel looking at Lelouch curiously. "He probably used the speech not only to convince you, miss Kōzuki, but also to remove any doubts he might still have."

Jeremiah nods. "You can see that His Majesty was still a bit conflicted about the matter, but I'm sure he eventually pulled through, as he always does."

Lelouch's words obviously affect Kallen, who only stares at her leader for a moment, but finally the redhead lowers her gaze as she closes her eyes and smiles. "I've made my choice; I'll follow you to the end."

Lelouch just smiles. "I'm grateful to you, Kallen," Lelouch's thanks only makes another smile appear on the redhead's face.

Kallen clenches her fists. "But in the end you wouldn't let me do it, you wouldn't let me follow you to the end... Lelouch, why?"

"Yes, you saved me before. Thank you," Lelouch's voice is heard as a C.C. dressed in her accomplice's clothes can be seen walking in front of the former Prince's residence, while snow starts to fall from the sky, but in a moment the immortal stops as she stretches her arm so the snow can fall on her palm. "C.C., I need you."

The immortal sees how a snowflake manages to fall into her hand. "What am I doing? I can't afford to make the same mistake again," just as C.C. finishes speaking to herself, the same white-haired man with a black visor from the previous episode is shown walking through a park as a smile appears on his face.

"That man shows up again," Cornelia glares at the albino. "At least now we can be sure he's going to play an important role."

"Maybe he's connected to Miss C.C. somehow," Sayoko suggests. "After all, he appeared right after Miss C.C.'s words."

Schneizel nods. "Most likely, but the interesting thing is certainly the words themselves, after all, not only does it seem that Miss C.C. has really been affected by Lelouch's words, but something similar has already happened, maybe even with that man."

"He might even be another Geass user," Tohdoh says.

"I'm thinking exactly the same thing," Schneizel says, leaning on his hand. "It seems that Lelouch wasn't the only person Miss C.C. made some kind of contract with."

Cornelia's gaze focuses on her brother. "Why would C.C. make a contract with Lelouch if she already had one with that man? Why would she even have a contract with that man? She seemed to have been interested in Lelouch since he was just a child."

"That's still what we don't know unfortunately," Xingke closes his eyes for a moment. "It may actually take more than one person to complete the contract, or perhaps she simply wanted to have a replacement in case one of them died, the possibilities are almost limitless. Honestly, what I'm most interested in is what exactly this man wants, what could have made him accept a power like Geass and why on earth none of us ever saw him."

"That's important too, even more so if he has a power similar or equal to Lelouch's," Tohdoh says, tapping his seat lightly as he thinks about it. "He could cause us problems in the future if he's still alive."

Ohgi nods. "Yes, but I think it's best if we just keep watching, so we can possibly know the answer faster."

For his part, Zero just listened to the others while still looking at the albino. "He really might have a Geass? That would explain how he knew about my father, but if it shows when he told me, the others... Damn, I can't do anything at this point."

In the Britannia-controlled port area, several troops can be seen lined up, and Princess Cornelia, Darlton and Guilford stand in front of the Lancelot as they look out to sea.

"It's time," Darlton says.

"Start the operation!" Cornelia orders as she stretches out her arm.

Immediately the Royal Marines begin to enter the sea, as an officer's voice is heard. "All submarine units, enter the water now! Dive! Dive! Dive! Dive!"

"Suppression team, use category C weaponry!" commands a soldier.

"Our unit will cover them from the shore," a soldier informed Suzaku, who was inside the Lancelot. "Be careful, we want the target in one piece."

"Yes, My Lord," Suzaku replies, then moves forward along the coast with other knightmares.

The Royal Marines start firing their torpedoes, which explode and send the water shooting out, something Shirley can see from where she is standing.

"It can't be!" Shirley says in horror. "Terrorists?"

"It looks like it's started, Zero," Ohgi reports from atop a construction site. The Japanese man uses binoculars to see what's going on, though he quickly turns to see a boat guarding the knightmares the Black Knights have. "Zero, do you want to move or what? Hey? Hey, can you hear me? They're attacking the Japan Liberation Front!

"We can't do that now," Zero says as he closes the part of the ship that makes the knightmares visible.

Ohgi looks confused at the scene. "Huh?"

"We have to hold on," Zero says. Cornelia moved faster than expected. "If we go now, we'll die along with them."

"You didn't do anything!" Chiba shouts in complete anger. "Did you really just stand there and watch while we were being killed!"

Ohgi cringes. "It was Zero's orders, we couldn't just disobey them, it would put us..."

"Please, you could have easily found a way to do it," Chiba retorts, growing even angrier. "Maybe the General would still be alive if you had done something."

"Chiba!" Tohdoh says firmly, making the Japanese girl flinch slightly. Tohdoh's words make Chiba calm down a bit, though she's still looking at Ohgi in aggravation.

"Commence fire support!" ordered an officer as the army knightmares moved into position. "All units are restricted to short-round ordinance only. Be careful not to blow up that liquid Sakuradite!"

From the boat carrying Katase a JLF soldier angrily looks out to sea, where Royal Marines can be seen approaching. "Damn you Britannians! When did you...?" In the middle of his words, one of the Marines surfaces. "Enemy units! They're coming from the water! Ah!" the soldier is shot, and falls into the sea.

"Itagaki!" shouts another soldier, only to end up getting shot along with his other comrade.

"2-0-2, 5-0-3, intensify torpedo barrage in the direction of nine o'clock," orders an officer as Suzaku and other soldiers can be seen firing at the ship.

Suzaku inside the Lancelot frowned. "This is not a battle. This is simply a massacre."

"Tch, and yet he continued to work for them," Chiba grits her teeth angrily. "The worst part is that I'm sure he'll say later that our methods were wrong, even though he himself admits to being part of a massacre."

"Many times we have to do horrible acts to get what we want, it's not fair that you only call Suzaku for that," says Cecile trying to defend the Japanese. "Suzaku just wanted to make things better, it's not his fault what happened there."

Kallen frowns. "That's not the problem! The problem is that Suzaku kept having the same attitude of acting like he was morally superior to us, even when he did the same acts!"

"Yes!" Tamaki sighs loudly. "The brat always acted like he was better than us!"

"But..."

Zero out of nowhere lets out a small cough, interrupting Cécile. "I think it would be better to leave this topic for now, it's obvious that each of you has your own opinions about Mr. Kururugi," at Zero's words, Cecile remains silent, but she keeps looking worriedly at the masked man, while he gets lost in his thoughts. "I really appreciate you wanting to defend me, Miss Cecile, but you have no case at all, they're not in the wrong."

"Technical Officer Kururugi," Cécile's voice is heard over the transmitter, while her face can be seen on the knightmare's screen.

"Yes?" Suzaku asks.

"I'm quite sure this must be difficult for you," Cécile says. "But you're a soldier, remember that."

"Yes, I understand."

Cecile listening to herself can't help but look at Zero out of the corner of her eye. "I must have been wrong to tell him that, I don't want to think that it was partly my fault that Suzaku..."

Several JLF soldiers fall off the ship as they are riddled with bullets, none of them even having a chance to defend themselves.

"How could they find out about us?" Katase asks inside the boat. "Where's Tohdoh?"

"General..." Tohdoh looks at Katase with shame for not being there at that moment. "I'm really sorry."

"We can't locate him, or the Holy Swords," reports a soldier.

Katase slams his desk angrily. "What about Kyoto? Didn't they say they'd send help?"

"Yes, sir," the soldier replies. "But we have no way to contact them now!"

"So they'll just sit back and let us die?"

"Yeah, that's just what happened," Chiba thinks bitterly.

"We surrender!" The voice of a JLF soldier is heard over Suzaku's transmitter, albeit heavily distorted. "Please cease fire! This is the Japan Liberation Front! I repeat, we surrender!"

Jeremiah shakes his head. "Did they really think they would let them live if they surrendered? It was obvious they would just take the opportunity to finish them off."

"You can't blame them for believing their enemies would have a shred of humanity," Kallen says with a frown.

Guilford quickly tries to say something, but before he can do so he is stopped by Cornelia, who with her gaze manages to convey to him that it would do no good to argue.

Suzaku looks to the side when he hears it. "Major, they're broadcasting a surrender signal over the open channel!"

"Ignore it."

"But sir."

Suddenly the JLF ship starts to move forward, interrupting anything Suzaku might say.

"You see," the officer asks. "They're just buying time. Now carry out your orders!"

Shirley for her part was still seeing the conflict in the same place she was before. "Lulu simply couldn't be a member of the Black Knights, could he?"

Milly again can only shrink back as she looks at Shirley with worry and sorrow. "Shirley, you really always thought the best of others, even when they didn't deserve it... Lelouch, please tell me you did something about it."

"Damn it!" Ohgi mumbles as he looks at what's going on, while Diethard can be seen beside him. "If we wait any longer, it'll be too late! When will Zero's plan start?"

"I really hope he's not doing all this to honor some childish notion of justice," Diethard says.

On the JLF ship several slash harkens from the knightmares of Britannia's army begin to appear.

"The knightmares are boarding the ship," Ohgi informs Zero over the comm.

"I see... Now there's only one escape route," Zero thinks as he sees the switch in his hand. "They must be careful with their precious little sakuradite after all," Zero's thoughts are accompanied by the scene of the JLF ship moving through the sea, to get right above the bomb that Lelouch had held in the sea.

Everyone's eyes, with the exception of Schneizel's, opened wide, all of them immediately understanding what Lelouch's plan was.

Tohdoh blinks a couple of times, trying to process the fact that the General hadn't decided to end his own life, but had been murdered by Lelouch in cold blood, and when he finally did, the normally stoic man couldn't help but let out all his pent-up emotion. "How dare he! He murdered General Katase, even though he was supposed to protect him!"

"I see, so that's why His Majesty didn't go out of his way to protect him at all," Lloyd says with amusement. "His Majesty never had any interest in making him survive in the first place."

Ohgi shakes his head. "I can't believe it; how could he do something like that?"

"You fucking monster!" Chiba slams her seat down hard. "I knew he was a demon; we should never have trusted him! I hope he's rotting in hell!"

"But I don't understand. Why would he do that?" Rivalz asks, confused and shocked. "What would Lelouch gain by ending his life?"

Xingke frowns. "He probably used them as bait, it's obvious that Lelouch's main concern was to capture Cornelia, but he might also be looking to kill off possible competition, after all Kyoto would still give some resources to the JLF if General Katase was still alive, while his death would mean the end of the JLF itself, so Kyoto would only have the Black Knights as a group to liberate Japan, which meant more resources for them."

"It's one of the more functional theories," Kaguya shows an indecipherable expression as she wiggles her fingers across her seat. "But Lelouch should know that saving the JLF at that time would bring benefits, after all we would see that the Black Knights are indeed completely trustworthy, and the JLF itself would be indebted to them, not to mention that Lelouch could easily save them and then find a way to eliminate them, which would make the Black Knights not be seen as incapable of saving the JLF, and at the same time eliminate possible competition for resources in the future, he might even have found another way to capture Cornelia."

"It might have something to do with his talk with Miss C.C.," Schneizel proposed politely. "Lelouch was conflicted about what had happened, perhaps taking down General Katase was a way to finally put an end to his indecision."

Chiba only gets angrier. "So he just betrayed General Katase so he wouldn't have competition or to get rid of doubts? That's even worse, it just shows his fucking selfishness!"

For once Tohdoh nods at Chiba's words instead of scolding her. "That's right, his betrayal of General Katase was a horrible act, even more so if it was for those reasons!" Tohdoh grits his teeth. "This is horrible! General Katase, I'm sorry, maybe I could have prevented this if I had been there... Lelouch, how dare you do that to the General! I must... I must calm down, it will do no good to keep getting angry, I must calm down, even if... Damn it."

"I don't think you can call it treason, after all Lelouch never worked directly for the General, he simply took advantage of the situation, he himself said that his main concern would be to capture Cornelia."

Chiba slams his seat. "That doesn't make it any better! He caused the General's death!"

"I'm not saying it makes it better, it just wasn't in itself a betrayal, but it was still a pretty dirty act, though I'll admit it was very effective."

Chiba looks like she wants to say something else, but Tohdoh quickly places his hand on her shoulder, making the soldier stand still as she turns to ask Tohdoh why he stopped her, but seeing the man's expression of complete fury, the Japanese woman does nothing but keep silent, knowing it wasn't a good time to argue with him.

"Big brother, did you really do that so you could keep fighting?" Nunnally lowers her gaze with a sad expression. "Why...? Big brother, was it to fulfill my wish? I didn't want you to do something like that."

"Zero!" Ohgi shouts as the Royal Marines begin to board the JLF ship. "If we don't hurry..."

"Understood," Lelouch says as his true face is fully revealed in the background again, and then he flips his switch. "Go ahead."

Immediately the bomb under the ship explodes, causing the sea level to rise slightly below the ship.

"What's going on?" Katase asks, completely confused, but before he can say anything else, the explosion of the bomb hits the sakuradite inside the ship, destroying the ship completely.

Tohdoh remains silent in respect, at no point averting his eyes from the screen. "You didn't deserve that ending, General Katase, not after all you did so that Japan could be free again... I hope you are resting in peace, knowing that Japan is finally free, even if that freedom was thanks to the same hands that ended your life... Lelouch, I don't know what to think."

"I can't believe such stupidity!" says Cornelia seeing what happened in the distance. "They blew up the liquid sakuradite!"

The explosion of the ship was still so loud that several pieces flew off, some even managed to destroy a knightmare that was next to the Lancelot.

"Just as I expected from the Japan Liberation Front," Zero says to Ohgi over the comlink, while the Japanese can only stare at the explosion in amazement. "They decided to take the Britannians with them!"

Schneizel can't help but chuckle. "Lelouch certainly knew how to put on a good show, don't you think, Cornelia?"

"I don't know if I'd call it a show, but Lelouch certainly had a knack for lying about such things without any trouble at all," Cornelia replies, shaking her head. "He didn't even hesitate to do it."

"Tch, he was just a damn liar," Chiba chuckles.

"A suicide?" Ohgi says, stunned. "But what about the message they sent?"

The ship carrying the knightmares of the Black Knights moves forward even with the waves generated by the explosion.

"We'll keep moving towards Cornelia's quarters!" Zero says as he shows himself to Kallen inside the Guren. "Forget about everything else! All that matters is achieving our goal! If you want to avenge the JLF, capture Cornelia! And show her our strength and determination!"

"Yes," Kallen replies, getting into position.

Chiba slams her seat down hard again. "The nerve! How dare he say he's avenging us! You damned devil!"

Tohdoh also reacts to Lelouch's words, the General clenching his teeth even tighter as he feels the fury coursing through his body. "Lelouch! You...! Damn it! What am I supposed to think about you?! What you did to the General can't be forgiven, but... "The old soldier recalled the time when he had accepted the deal with Schneizel and when he had witnessed Lelouch's death. "Was that your karma or mine? Maybe it was both. What happened in the end, could it have been your redemption? I don't know, even now I don't know."

Ohgi continues to watch from his post. "This is just like Narita!"

"It's exceptional!" Diethard says as he runs and then runs down the stairs from the platform he is standing on.

"Hey, come back here!" Ohgi shouts as he sees Diethard leaving.

"The JLF was just bait," Diethard thinks smiling as he walks down the stairs. "Their main force is weakened now. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book."

Gino looks at the screen in awe. "Did he notice? Pretty impressive, it didn't even take him long to do it."

"Yes, even Prime Minister Ohgi didn't notice," Rivalz says, not noticing Ohgi's expression change when he hears that.

"Yeah, I really couldn't understand what had happened at that time unlike Diethard," Ohgi thinks while showing a sad expression on his face. "How am I supposed to lead Japan when I didn't even realize something like that? I... I'm really not cut out for this."

Ohgi points his gun at the Britannian. "Where are you going? Hey!" Ohgi starts shooting at him, but none of the shots hit Diethard, who isn't even the slightest bit affected.

"Makes complete sense!" Diethard thinks as he walks away from the scene. "He wants to cripple his enemy's defenses by using the Liberation Front as a living trap! It's excellent stuff, this Zero! Its chaos incarnate! More, show me more of your genius! Let your ego swallow the world!" Diethard finishing his thoughts starts laughing madly as he keeps running.

"That guy really was crazy," Villetta says, looking at Diethard with a mixture of surprise and disgust.

Rakshata just laughs as she smokes. "I find it quite amusing, he was always so enthusiastic about what he was doing."

"Too enthusiastic, only a nutcase would act like that," says Tamaki sarcastically.

The ship of the Black Knights continued advancing, at one moment throwing several projectiles at the knightmares of Cornelia's army, and then activating a mechanism that made them come out of the water for a moment, to finish, falling into the harbor, destroying more Cornelia's troops.

"2-0-4, signal lost!" announces a soldier in the group Suzaku was in, away from Zero. "Erickson, join 3-0-8! Provide support! All units' report! I repeat. All units' report!"

"Why would General Katase commit suicide?" Suzaku asks to himself as he stares at the sea in disbelief. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Because he didn't!" Chiba thinks angrily. "The general was just another victim of the Demon Emperor!".

An explosion on the other side of the harbor draws Suzaku's attention, which activates the Lancelot's sensors.

"Ah... The main force," Suzaku's eyes widened as he realized what had actually happened. "Did they use the oil tanker as a decoy?"

"Get to your knightmares immediately!" Darlton orders as he prepares to enter his own knightmare. "Form a line of defense!"

"How could they know where we are?" Cornelia asks, annoyed.

Guilford approaches Cornelia. "Your Highness!"

Finally, the Black Knights' knightmare ship opens up ahead, making everything ready for them to move forward.

"Drop the knightmares into the ocean before the pilots can mount them!" Zero orders as he begins to advance. "Guren Mk-II, you're with me!"

"Yes, sir," Kallen replies and begins to follow her leader, though before she can go any further she takes care to quickly destroy a knightmare that was firing at them.

Gino lets out a whistle. "Wow, you didn't even take a moment, you really are amazing Kallen, how about..."

"I'm not going on a date with you," Kallen says dryly interrupting Gino, making the blond just let out a small laugh to the annoyance of the Japanese.

Cornelia for her part finally enters her knightmare, getting ready to enter the battle.

"Your Highness, we can handle this!" Guilford says over the comm.

"Silence!" Cornelia commands in annoyance. "How many more times do you think I'm going to let them make fun of me?"

Schneizel could only shake his head. "You're letting your emotions control you again, Cornelia, you saw how dangerous that could be."

"I know, but I just couldn't control myself at the time," Cornelia admits, looking at her brother. "I couldn't let them keep besmirching my honor."

But before Cornelia can even do anything, Zero's Burai crashes into her, sending them both through the wall of one of the warehouses.

Cornelia clenches her teeth as she crashes into one of the shipping containers. "I couldn't even turn it on."

The Burai approaches Cornelia's knightmare again, but Cornelia uses her slash harken, destroying one of the Burai's arms quickly.

"He just lashed out at you?" Xingke says, intrigued as he looks at Cornelia. "That didn't seem like a move Lelouch would make, he always seemed to avoid getting into a direct confrontation."

"He was probably being a bit overpowered by adrenaline," Rakshata proposes, smoking from her pipe. "It wouldn't be a surprise after all he's been through and we've seen that he's not above making such mistakes."

Sayoko nods. "Yes, many times a person can perform actions more directly if they have enough adrenaline."

"Do you think you can beat me in a knightmares match?" Cornelia asks angrily as she prepares to grab her weapon to start firing, but before she can do so, a slash harken from the Guren hits her arm, causing her to drop her weapon and then use her slash harkens again to immobilize her. "That new model again?"

"I'll smash your cockpit and drag you out of it, Cornelia!" Zero says as he prepares to fire, but before he does he notices on his sensors a heat force nearby, which upon checking it he can see that it is none other than Shirley, surprising Zero. "Shirley?"

Cornelia stares at the screen in disbelief. "Are you kidding me, is it really because that girl was there that Lelouch didn't end up shooting me? All because he got distracted by her?"

"It's really strange, I never thought something like this could have happened," Guilford says, also surprised. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter, but I think I should give my thanks to Miss Fenette for saving Her Highness, even if it wasn't on purpose."

"It really does seem a strange irony," says Schneizel, amused. "I wonder how Lelouch will react to seeing Miss Fenette in that place."

Out of nowhere the Lancelot appears, which with a spinning kick manages to knock Zero's Burai down, while inside Suzaku looks angrily at the masked knightmare. "Zero, your methods won't change anything! You only focus on your goals and don't understand the pain of others!" Suzaku starts to attack Zero.

"Zero!" Kallen shouts as she sees the scene, but she can't do anything as she's fighting Cornelia.

"This is my revenge for what happened in Narita!" says Cornelia, forcing herself against Kallen.

Suzaku for his part keeps hitting Zero's Burai, causing Zero to become enraged. "You again, knight in shining armor!"

"These are the lives of the people you're playing with," Suzaku says angrily. "You're nothing but a murderer!"

The Lancelot's blows finally almost completely destroy the Burai, causing him to fall to his knees with no way to defend himself.

"Why?!" Lelouch thinks in annoyance as his face is shown against a blue background. "Why do you keep getting in my way?"

"Why do you spill people's blood for no reason?" Suzaku asks as his face appears in a strange red effect.

"If it weren't for you."

"Because of you..."

Xingke watches the screen intently, as a smile grows on his face. "It really seemed like the two of them were destined to clash, even though they seem to somehow think on the same page."

"Yes, which only makes it even stranger how things ended up for the two of them to work together," Rakshata smokes from her pipe as she smiles in amusement. "It will certainly be interesting to watch."

Zero's Burai finally uses his last slash harken, managing to shoot himself into the air, though the Lancelot's own slash harken manages to hit him, destroying much of the machine.

The Burai is finally completely destroyed as it falls to the ground, leaving only the cockpit, from which Zero only manages to pull his head out.

"Zero, this is the result of what you do," Suzaku scowls at the sight of the Burai's fall.

Jeremiah looks at Kallen. "Nothing bad happened to His Majesty, did it? No one tried to attack him at the time?"

"Not that I remember, no one should have approached Lelouch, after all he ended up communicating with Ohgi in the end, right?" says Kallen looking at his friend, who simply nods, not noticing his wife's expression.

"Lancelot, behind you!" Cornelia's voice is heard over the Lancelot's communicator, causing Suzaku to turn around, only to see the Guren heading straight for him through the air, while activating his wave trigger.

"Zero, I will protect you," Kallen says as she uses her weapon against the Lancelot, who tries to defend himself.

The collision of the two generates a small explosion, only for both knightmares to climb onto the containers of the place, to continue fighting on top of them.

Away from the fight, in front of Zero's cockpit, Shirley can be seen shaking, as the young woman manages to see Zero, who is obviously unconscious from the impact.

Everyone immediately tensed at the sight of Shirley standing near where Lelouch had fallen, none knowing what to say, though the concern could be felt in each of the student council members.

"I thought you said no one had approached His Majesty?" Jeremiah demands of the red-haired Japanese woman.

"No one should have done it, I don't understand what Shirley is doing there," Kallen says trying to defend herself, though she's confused too. "It's really weird, maybe Shirley just ran out before Lelouch woke up."

Shirley takes a frightened step back, but as she does so she notices a gun lying next to her, which she grabs with fear. "Is this Zero's? Then with this..." Shirley points the gun at the masked man for a few seconds. "...I will avenge my father."

The tension only grows even more at Shirley's words and actions, almost everyone can't help but simply stare at the screen with their eyes wide open, the only ones who have a different reaction are Villetta, who just stands still as she closes her eyes tightly, and the student council members, who can do nothing but stare at the scene in complete horror.

"Shirley, no!" thinks Milly covering her mouth with her hands, almost as if she's trying to keep herself from throwing up. "Don't do it, please don't do it!"

But before Shirley can pull the trigger, Zero moves a little, causing his mask to slip just enough to show part of Lelouch's face, on which a line of blood begins to run down, causing Shirley to only stare in shock.

---

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, it was one that undoubtedly marked several characters, and it is still far from over seeing everything that happens in the next episode.

The text below is the original chapter notes.

Well, here's the new chapter, with which we officially enter the second half of R1, just when the plot gets more complicated with each new episode, I hope I can do them justice.

I'm sorry for the delay for the chapter, but some relatives visited unexpectedly, so I didn't have much time to write this chapter, even though I was on vacation. Sadly, that's not the only bad news, I have to warn you that during this and the next month, I will only be able to update the story every two weeks, due to my studies, since I'm finishing a semester, and everyone knows how difficult the end of the semester can be, so I won't have much time to write these two months.

There was almost no humor in this episode, but considering the episode the characters are seeing, it's hardly a surprise. This episode is quite important for Lelouch's development, as it shows our young revolutionary having to face the consequences of his actions for the first time, making both his suffering and determination grow by the end of it all.

I always felt bad for Shirley, even though she's far from one of my favorite characters. It literally seems like the world hates her considering everything the poor girl has to go through in such a short period of time, and then in the timeline where she manages to survive, she ends up losing all relevance? It really is a shame.

I hope to see you in the next chapter, as always don't forget to comment, it helps to improve this story. See you in two weeks.