First of all happy 2021 everyone! :D Hope this year will be much better than the last, because I'm positive it will be for me. Quick note that posting on my other crossover (Arc-V + Code Geass) may be a bit delayed due to a sudden family emergency that I must attend and it's out of my state, so yeah. I've got some chapters already written up for this story so posting may proceed as scheduled for this one but Arc-V takes a bit of planning and more strategizing than this. Sorry. :(

Warning! This story will have lots of swearing, violence, and blood/gore. If you don't like that, then this probably isn't for you and you shouldn't be reading this.

"Yes, I am Zero." = Regular speech

What is he up to? = Thoughts

"Where are you young one?" = Telepathic speech

"Hello, I am your PDA." = The PDA is speaking

I don't take any credit, nor do I own Code Geass or Subnautica. This story is purely for fun and my entertainment only.

Otherwise, let us begin.

Ch. 3: Frustrating Twenty Questions

"Why do you-" Suzaku gave a big yawn before shifting in his seat to get more comfortable. "Why do you still call him Zero?" Kallen suddenly froze, pausing in wrapping bandages around said masked man's arm. "We both know who he is. What his real name is, so why?"

The burnette's eyelids drooped, and his voice got lower and lower until it was softer than a whisper. Suzaku's head slumped down against the back of the chair as sleep began to overtake him. He barely managed to hear Kallen's response, and even when he would later wake up he couldn't tell if it really was from her or something his mind cooked up in his worn out state.

"Because I can't believe that Lelouch is Zero."

. . .

It was quiet.

The kind of quiet that felt unnatural and sent goosebumps across one's arms, raising the hairs on the backs of people's necks. There was a tension in the background that was increasing as the minutes, the hours passed by at what felt like was slower than a snail's pace. The feeling became unbearable immediately. It made one's paranoia shoot up, expecting an attack to come from any direction at any moment. When no attack came it only served to increase the fear and anxiety bubbling up in one's self. Making them wish that the attack would just come and end them now rather than make them wait in the tortuous suspense.

Then, a steady 'thump thump thump' began to fill the eerily silent void with noise. Whether it helped make the situation better or worse would depend on the person. While the noise in the sudden silence was a comfort to some and broke the tension, to others it was disturbing to hear. The sound signifying that it would be the last thing you would hear and echo throughout your entire being.

It was so cold in this strange place that one couldn't feel or move their limbs. Everything was numb, and you couldn't move. You couldn't move no matter how hard you wished, struggled, tried, or cried out for help in the darkness. That is, if you could gather enough strength to cry out of help. This place where one's limbs had become solid lead and the cold made you too drowsy and tired to properly process anything. One could see their own breath puff up in a fog in front of their face if it wasn't pitch black. You couldn't see anything, not your own body, not your own breaths puffing in the air, only darkness and the thumping noise over the thick silence.

Over time, how much no one could know, he realized the thumping sound was his own heart beating. The sound rebounding around in his head and pounding down on his skull mercilessly. With that sudden realization came pain. Slowly, but steadily gaining intensity and burning and itching pain. It was too much. The dark ever consuming silence suddenly being replaced with noise and thought and pain.

Make it all stop.

With the rising pain, which was especially felt on his right side, came a soft, barely noticeable ringing. It sounded like an electrocardiogram's ring when a person flatlined. It was barely there, but it just never went away and never stopped for even a second. It was right there in his head right beside the thumping beginning to gain a steady rhythm and the incessantly pounding headache.

Trying to do something about it, he tried to move, to speak, to do or say something to make the noises and pain stop so he could go back to the silence that suddenly seemed so heavenly and nice. Yet he couldn't. His own body betraying him with its inability to move despite his mind beginning to whir to life.

Then he heard something else besides the ringing and the pounding and the pain.

Voices. If he stayed still and silent long enough, but it was only bits and pieces.

"Can we…"

"...yes… no…"

"..I'm sorr… Two…"

"Why do y…"

"...can't… louch… Zero."

He couldn't concentrate enough to hear anymore, it hurt too much. The other noises and feelings were suddenly too much. His senses were too overloaded by everything to really process or understand. To function.

Sleeping sounded and felt nice.

. . .

Darkness greeted him again with happy open arms, like always. Yet, that darkness somehow seemed lighter. There wasn't a change in it's color and the pounding, the pain, the ringing was still there like an annoying, persistent pest that just wouldn't die.

He didn't know how he knew, but the darkness just felt lighter. Like it wasn't so oppressing or permanent now than how it felt before.

The ringing became quieter, but the pounding in his head got worse. The pounding seemingly in two places at once now. One in his head like a jack hammer and the other on his right side- in my right arm. The thumping of his heart rate now even and beating steady. Everything still felt too heavy, too difficult and unworthy of exerting energy over.

His tongue, his entire mouth, felt like he had eaten a bag full of sand all at once without vomiting it back up. It was dry and chapped, and- Good Lord I need water.

Then, as if granting his wish in a cruel way, water suddenly began to flood the darkness. Where it was coming from he couldn't tell because it was too dark to see. The water level quickly rises from his feet to his legs and then past his hips. The scent of salt was strong and nearly numbing his nose. It became obvious that this water wasn't fit for drinking, but he was so thirsty, so dehydrated. He was so close to taking a big gulp regardless of knowing it would only make his situation worse.

Then he realized the water was still rising.

It was starting to lap at his chest and shoulders. The sound of the waves crashing drowning out all other noise, even the ringing and thumping. He tried to move his arms and legs, to swim so he didn't end up drowning, but he still couldn't move. His legs especially wouldn't budge, and with it an exhausted burning pain swept through his muscles.

He took one last, deep breath before his head went under the water.

He felt something brushing against his body, something leafy and gentle after a moment of just floating in nothingness. It was mainly on the side of his neck, forehead, and right wrist. He held his breath for as long as he could, which was sadly only for a couple of seconds because he was just too tired. With it, he took a huge gulp to try and get some oxygen in his lungs, but only putrid tasting salt water greeted him and filled his body with a foreign substance he didn't want.

Instinctively, he started to thrash, tried to break free of the gentle grip that was suddenly holding him down tight like death itself was holding him and wouldn't let go. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe! I need air. I need to breathe! He heard a roar echo in the water, it was far away at the moment, but he just knew it would get closer.

Something was in here with him, watching him, stalking him- hunting me.

In this darkness where he was trapped and drowning something was swimming around him and watching and waiting for the right moment to strike. He couldn't see it, he couldn't see it just like how he couldn't breathe.

Another roar, this time it was much, much closer.

It was going to attack.

With exhausted strength that only came from moments before death, he managed to rear back and struggle. Then his body suddenly jolted forward from the unexpected force behind him moving and attacking.

That tight hold that was on him moments ago was gone now, and he could move somewhat freely once again if he had the energy to. The force that was behind him frantically swatted around at everything and anything around him in time with his emotions and what he wanted his body to do but just couldn't. This thing, whatever was right behind him practically on his back, was an ally, his only chance to get away, because everything else he tried to do wasn't working. Using this strange force, he forced himself to move upward, or what he believed was up, towards the surface so he could finally breathe and why am I not dead yet from drowning?

Then there was a third roar, and suddenly he was being dragged back down.

The sudden jarring motion threw around a few bubbles as he was suddenly dragged back down down down into the deep darkness that was most certainly death and whatever was hunting him was dragging him away by that force on his back that he could barely move now. Twists and turns that threw him for a loop and now he really couldn't tell which way was up or down or even left and right. Jarring and pulling this way and that and he was basically nothing more than a limp pile of limbs being dragged along on a ride he didn't want to be on.

As sudden as the actions and dragging came it left, throwing him forward and into a panicked, dazed sprawl of limbs frantically moving in the water in directions and places he didn't want them to go. Arms and legs twitching and that force behind him suddenly free and trying to help balance himself out since his body still couldn't move and he still couldn't see what had attacked him and he still couldn't breath.

As if a plug was suddenly pulled free, his body suddenly jerked to life and responded to his commands. He desperately kicked his legs out to swim away because anywhere but here was fine and he raised his arms up to protect his head.

Right into the path of a monster's maw that suddenly sprung out of the darkness looking to take his head off.

He watched as it clamped down tight on his upper right arm and jerked. Suddenly finding a voice he shouldn't have because he had drowned but he was screaming as loudly as he could at the extreme pain that matched the thump, thump, thumping he could no longer hear yet could feel beating in his ears and head. He was being pulled and forced around again this time much farther away than before. Then they were going down and the darkness felt even darker than before as he was released to wildly flail in the dark only to meet strong rough stone blocking his every move and way out and away.

That's when he heard a deep, rumbling growl that reverberated throughout his own body, and it was coming from right behind him.

Just as he turned his head a twitch to look back he saw bright, unnatural yellow glowing eyes staring back into his soul. A look of such hunger and need and bloodlust was bone chilling. This thing with an unquenchable thirst and urges to raze and tear him to shreds to help gorge itself to feel at least somewhat better before moving on to its next target. It's next prey.

He was prey.

He never felt like that before.

He was always the predator.

The thing lunged at him with its long mouth filled with big sharp teeth, but for once he was faster. The force behind him snapping and backhanding the thing in the side of the head, disorienting it. A pain filled cry escaped it's wicked mouth and bounced all over the enclosed walls of its home before it turned and quickly fled away in the dark to recover and eventually strike again.

An opportunity.

Without any hesitation left, he madly swam and fled whichever way he could possibly go. The darkness still upon his vision leaving him unable to see a thing still since the very beginning. Mainly using that strange force on his back to help get himself around and away without crashing into too many walls too harshly. The force gripping and grabbing, tugging and pulling him away much more gently and in a controlled manner than when in that thing's jaws.

Then finally, for the first time ever, there was something besides darkness. There was a soft light being filtered through the salt water of this enormous sea he was stranded in- still choking and drowning in. With a great push from the force behind him, he shot out of the darkness and into the light with as much wild desperation like that of a madman.

Then he woke up, and the first thing he registered was screaming.

That ringing was back and fiercer than ever before, it nearly deafened him to the screams going on around him coming from two different sources. His body was able to move much better than a pathetic twitch of his finger, he was able to thrash and throw his arms out as strongly as he wanted to. His sense of smell was still blocked with salt, but now there was the thick scent of smoke all around him as well. He was still so thirsty and everything in his vision was so blurry and black around the edges.

But he could finally, finally breathe again.

With this blessing, he took a humongous gulp of fresh air. Taking in as much as he could and letting it all out hesitantly in the form of stuttered pants and involuntary wheezes and coughs. He could breath, he could somewhat see, he could move and touch and feel the metal beneath him steadily rocking back and forth in a near calming manner. He could barely hear and all he could taste was salt and sand but he could use his senses and think again.

Something jerked in front of his face. It was still so blurry and black he only saw colors and heard loud frantic murmurs repeating something over and over. It was brown and white and yellow-

Instinctively, he reeled the force behind him back and struck out. Landing a direct, devastating hit that gave a loud crack it sounded like a whip. The thing- the danger- suddenly so close and right in his face was instantly gone. A loud bang echoed out and everything jerked harshly to the side, sending everyone and everything skidding around and onto the floor. Another bout of screaming, one in anguished pain and another scared.

As quick as he got rid of the force though, it was right back and this time it was harshly pushing and holding him down against that metal floor. It hurt so badly and he couldn't move- he couldn't move again and it was going to get him and kill him, sink its teeth deep into his flesh and tear him into bits. Fight back, make it hurt, kill it, kill it before it kills you!- He thrashed and bucked and squirmed every which way possible to escape or lash out again and fight back but he just couldn't. He raised the force behind him up again to strike and hurt and kill, but something else grabbed them too and pushed them down onto the metal floor behind him and on his side. A scream of his own tearing out of his dried and sandpapery throat was more like a loud, high-pitched howl that didn't even sound human; it sounded like that thing.

He snapped his mouth shut with an audible click, but he couldn't help the sounds that bubbled out of him more and more. His breathing was getting erratic and his lungs burned with the need for air he was going to go back under again. His movements got more sluggish with the lack of oxygen and his blurry vision began to go even more black.

Slowly, as minutes passed and his wild thrashing movements began to lose strength and momentum, as the force aiding him bucked with the same strength as always began to get free, he began to properly process the screaming going on around him.

It was yelling.

"Stop! Zero stop!"

"Lelouch stop!"

And was directed at him.

With it memories of the past twenty four hours began to trinkle back into his mind. Of meeting up at the top of Kamine Island, of falling down and feeling pain in his left eye, of getting cornered by the Britannian military. Of the bright light that suddenly brightened the normally dark and damp cave.

He felt there was something else there, but he just couldn't remember.

What else he remembered though was clear as crystal, as normal with his photographic memory. Him and Suzaku fighting and falling and hitting water on a strange new planet that obviously wasn't Earth. Of green tinted water and large quantities of kelp, of finding out Kallen was here with them. To getting attacked and dragged away by that crocodile-shark like monstrosity that teared and dragged him away. To escaping with his life barely intact and resurfacing, blurry colors from blood loss and orangey white lifepods. Teeth being pulled and repeating his breath properly in one, two, three, inhale, one two, three, exhale.

So he did as the voices asked.

He stopped.

He fell limp.

It was silent for a moment, a tense breath holding moment as they thought he was going to attack again, but he wasn't. He was too tired to fight back again anymore anyway. Too much physical effort and not enough mental challenge. Two collective breaths rushed out and relaxed before one of the two people in this strange lifepod with him moved off of his cape extensions and behind him.

They carefully placed a hand on his right arm, but were mindful to keep their hand away from his wound and only on his forearm. They paused for a moment, almost like they were expecting another sudden attack, before that hand started to gently move back and forth in a comforting gesture that he took because he was too tired to do much else about it and he didn't really care. A soft hum with occasional words sprinkling past their lips to speak quietly and calmly.

"You're okay. You're okay. You're safe here. You're safe."

It was Kallen.

Such a loyal soldier. He was glad he chose her as the captain of the Zero Squad. A decision he had sealed since before the Black Knights' group debut.

He was glad she was here, even if that was such a selfish thought. To curse someone like her to be trapped here with him in this hell hole. He would have soon thrown her and her friends under the bus and into a hailstorm of bullets and death without a second thought back in Shinjuku if things had gone horribly wrong barring Lancelot's debut.

Like a devil, or more like a warlock really. Just like C.C had told him time and time again.

Hehe. What a witch. If she were here she'd just stay back and watch it all in amusement. Probably wouldn't even care if she herself got teared apart by that thing. It's probably happened to her before.

"Zero-" Kallen stopped herself there, as if debating about something with herself before fixing her sentence and speaking again. "...Lelouch? Can you hear me?"

Oh. So they knew who he really was. Great. Fantastic really. What better way to put the cherry on top of the cake after having that weird panicking episode just minutes before. Or, well, it felt like minutes anyway.

"Hmm..?" Lelouch hummed out loudly, his eyes having closed since he realized he was merely panicking over nothing but a pathetic nightmare. Or was it a flashback? He'd have to investigate it later once he was back in better shape.

He didn't realize fingers were stroking through his hair until minutes later, but he still didn't care enough to tell them to stop. He just felt numb and tired, and if he were being honest with himself the gesture felt nice.

"Okay, I'm guessing that's a yes." Kallen huffed. Her fingers shaking lightly as she thread them through Lelouch's damp hair. This was really him, this was really Lelouch. Her classmate in Ashford Academy who had a crippled and blind younger sister. The 'Ice Cold Prince of Ashford' as he was called throughout the school and especially by the girls. Her student council vice president and who she had originally thought was an aloof jerk who didn't really care about anyone besides his sister and who didn't do anything but gamble for money in chess matches. Who never used his brain and wits for anything else other than for what he wanted and for himself like Shirley always said.

Good God was she wrong on her assumptions, so very wrong.

"How are you feeling? Both of you." She asked instead even though the answer was most certainly shit. Kallen wanted to keep Lelouch calm and distracted, because what she saw from him ten minutes prior was nothing short of pure, terrifying fear and an animalistic need to survive even if it meant killing to live.

What started off as twitches, tiny jerks, and small whimpers in his sleep from a nightmare evolved into wild swings at anything and everything, screaming and thrashing to which both Kallen and Suzaku struggled to keep down. It wasn't like Lelouch was strong, hell he was like a stick that could easily break in terms of strength against them. But what was really wrong and most troublesome were those cape extensions that they forgot about.

When Suzaku had gotten into Lelouch's face to check his pulse on his neck and see how dilated his pupils were, he received a very savage, very cruel swat into his stomach before he was sent flying and into the wall of the lifepod. It sent everyone off of their feet and skidding around screaming before the pod righted itself again and continued rocking gently despite the chaos going on within its walls. So, Suzaku held Lelouch's body down while Kallen practically flopped around on the ground trying to hold down those mechanical extensions and it wasn't going well at all.

They had no idea what happened to cause Lelouch to stop panicking and thrashing. Perhaps their screaming had finally registered into his brain, or because he was too tired and weak to do anything else, but Lelouch suddenly stopped and stilled. His cape extensions dropping onto the ground and getting an 'oof' out of the redhead.

When Lelouch was still and relaxed, Suzaku scooted back as far as he could on his knees until he was against the wall on the other side of the pod. The burnette's arms gently hugging his middle and a pained groan escaped him that made Kallen cringe.

"Ugh…" Suzaku groaned again, being the first to answer by curling up and burying his head between his knees. "I feel like I got punched in the gut by your Guren." Seeing as the wall just to his left had a rather sizable dent in it, Kallen wasn't surprised to hear that response. What she was surprised by was that he didn't break his back or spit up blood at the devastating blow.

Despite that blow being a hard hit, Kallen felt Lelouch could do much worse, more fatal damage with those mechanical extensions then that. They were lucky that what he did was an accident and sloppy in its aim because of his distorted thinking and panic.

"Thrssty." Lelouch rasped first, licking his dried, chapped lips. "Exhausted but not wanting to go to sleep again, and most certainly sore. But otherwise I'm actually feeling pretty good right about now."

An eyebrow hitched upwards on Kallen's face, the redhead deciding to call bull shit on that last one. "Alright, that's better than before I suppose. Let's get you sitting up so I can give you some water." With that, the Black Knight raised her leader up and placed him back against the wall, but this time she placed him right next to Suzaku. "While you were out, I patched you up as best as I could and rebandaged the wounds while Suzaku broke the latch on this storage container. Found a couple bottles of water, few flares, and these huge strange blocks that are edible but taste like chalk and dirt. Whatever this metal is made out of protected it from the fire that once went on in here, and frankly I think it's a miracle this pod is still functioning somehow."

Before Kallen could raise the water bottle she had just uncapped to his lips, Lelouch stopped her by grabbing the bottle and doing it for himself. He took one big gulp just to swish around his dry mouth and over his chapped lips for a moment before swallowing, while the rest were just a few tiny sips taken over time as he conversed with the others. "Alright, that's good if we're only here for a few days. Now here's a few questions. How long was I out for and what have you guys found out about this place so far?"

Kallen's shoulders bunched up as she and Suzaku traded a look before hesitantly answering. "Well, to answer your second question we haven't left this pod since we first got here, and nearly nothing works in it so we've got nothing on information or where the hell we are. As for your first question, well… You may have been out for about… a day and a half?" She said that last part lightly and with one eye closed as she cringed.

Lelouch nearly spit his water out if it wasn't for the fact that said water was such an important commodity at the moment. "What- A day and a half?! From a bite! You've got to be joking."

"Nope." Suzaku chimed in this time, getting up from where he sat on the floor to go sit in one of the seats. His hurt stomach stinging in protest. "Ugh… We haven't left the pod since we got here, but I've left the hatch open and we both watched as day turned to night and back again." Pained olive green eyes turned lighter in relief as he gazed into his best friend's own eyes. "I'm grateful that you're alive, Lelouch. I don't know how I would be able to make myself continue forward if you didn't make it."

Lelouch's eyes widened a fraction, before he quickly turned his head and looked away. Suddenly finding the open hatch above them very interesting. "Whatever, I'm sure you and Kallen would pull through without me somehow."

A near goofy grin stretched across Suzaku's face before it was extinguished and replaced by a crushed look. "But, you're Zero."

It became so quiet and tense at those three words you could hear explosions coming off from that huge ship that was so far away.

Finally, Lelouch looked away from the open hatch and sky to face Suzaku dead on. A serene smile ghosted across his still somewhat pale and sweaty face, raven hair sticking to his forehead and damp, making his eyes nearly glow. "Yes. I am Zero." Kallen couldn't help the sharp inhale of breath that came from her. The redhead covering her mouth with both of her hands and staring down at them with shaky, near teary eyes, and in disbelief. Lelouch's calm smile grew an inch wider. "What do you plan to do with this information now, Suzaku? Do you intend to kill me? Like you had originally strived for before seeing my face."

Emotions flickered across Suzaku's face in a blur in that moment of confirmation. Even though he already knew the answer was yes, to hear him, Lelouch, his best and only friend until recently, confirm it with his own lips. It hurt. Sorrow, anger, rage, grief, realization, acceptance, fear, it was all visible on his face and in his glassy olive green eyes that lightened and darkened with the sunlight and rocking of the lifepod. All of those emotions passed by, before he finally settled for being mortified at Lelouch's questions. "No! No I would never!" Suzaku unintentionally raised his voice at the mere concept of murdering his best friend. At realizing he had nearly yelled that answer, he shrunk a little in his seat and muttered softly. "I would never kill you Lelouch. You know that."

The raven haired teen raised one eyebrow in amusement, and tipped his head lightly to the side. "Oh? Then what do you plan to do about it?"

The burnette opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. He tried again, but still nothing. Kallen watched all of this on the sidelines like it was a ping pong match. Eventually, a loud sigh escaped through Suzaku's nose as he slouched back in his chair, head tipped up to look outside the hatch and into the day skyline. "I don't know. I really don't know Lelouch."

Another sigh, and another moment of silence for all three individuals in the suddenly very claustrophobic lifepod.

"I wasn't sure at first." Suzaku suddenly spoke up. His head still tilted back and his usually curly brown hair flattened down and wet, hiding his eyes from sight. "But I really should have known. I should have realized it sooner. You have the perfect motive, the same genius intellect, hell even that damn charisma you unintentionally flaunt at school. It was all a sign pointing to you… I should have arrested you when I had the chance, but I didn't… So instead I convinced myself that it wasn't true. I really wanted to believe in you Lelouch..." The knight of Britannia raised one arm to cover his face as he continued. "But you were lying to us. To me. Your sister Euphie, even Nunnally." Then something slipped past his arm, down his face and through his damp brown hair to hit the metal floor with a soft ping.

A tear.

It was quiet once more, a more somber mood in the atmosphere than the tension that came before it. Neither other occupants were willing to break that silence as Suzaku's frame lightly shook.

Suddenly, Suzaku stood up and went towards the ladder. "Excuse me. I just need a minute." With that raspy reply and shuddering breath, the Eleven soldier climbed out of the lifepod and into the open air with trembling hands and a shaking frame.

He made sure to close the hatch behind him. It's hiss echoing like a viper in the quiet.

.

.

.

Wordlessly, Lelouch slowly looked down at his water bottle and took another small sip. Raven black hair slightly blocking his eyes from sight as he did so. Once he finished and took his sweet time swallowing, the revealed masked man turned his silent boring gaze onto the only other occupant in the lifepod with him. The one who had, surprisingly, stayed deathly silent during that entire encounter.

Lelouch looked at Kallen, watching her clutch her fierce red hair for a moment before releasing the strands to look down at her own shaky hands. Her own breathing was stuttered as those sapphire blues slowly looked up to meet his gaze and silent inquiry.

So, what do you think about all of this? About me?

What will YOU do about this sudden revelation?

Like a rubber band had snapped, Kallen's frame stopped shaking and her shallow breathing calmed. Those bright blue eyes had calmed into a dark stormy sea as she glared down at the injured teen.

Opportunity was knocking. It was just them, alone. No one to get in the way.

The pilot of the Guren took in a deep breath, before silently crawling over to Lelouch until she was right in his face. The two stared each other down silently as Kallen wordlessly levelled the back of her arm against Lelouch's throat. The blades welded onto her suit flashed menacingly in the light. Her gaze was still a dark and stormy blue, but her arm shook just a tad. Enough to nick the raven haired teen's neck and make a drop of blood leak out and spill across his pale white skin. The two colors contrasting brightly.

Kallen spoke finally. Her voice was as hardened as her eyes, but there was an edge of hurt buried just beneath her masked surface. "How could you."

Lelouch did nothing to stop Kallen from placing that blade against his throat. His body and posture was relaxed as if nothing was even wrong. Those eyes of his near twinkled in the light filtering through the glass of the hatch as that same easygoing smile appeared again. "How could I not?"

The redhead grit her teeth and pushed her arm forward, the blade touching skin but not doing any damage. "Don't play with me!" She barked. "Where is the real Zero?"

"What's wrong?" Zero- no, Lelouch- raised an eyebrow again similar to what he did to Suzaku just minutes before. "Do you not believe what your own eyes see? What you hear from your own ears and what I myself have confirmed with my own lips? The answer is right in front of you Kallen, it always has been. I have said it with Suzaku and I will say it again with you." Lelouch straightened up against the metal wall of the lifepod, headless to Kallen's blade against his throat. "Yes. I am Zero." He smiled brightly. It looked wrong. Twisted almost. "The man who leads the Black Knights, who challenges the Holy Britannian Empire, the one who holds the entire world in his hand."

Finally, through the anger and the hurt and confusion, a few tears leaked down Kallen's cheeks and dropped to the floor. "So you used us? The Japanese people? You used me?" Her voice cracked at the end.

"And as a result Japan will be freed. You certainly can't complain about that." Lelouch stated, his eyelids lowered as he shifted back against the blade just a tad. Ignoring Kallen's sharp inhale of breath, he continued. "Besides, it's not as if you haven't been using me."

"What did you just say?!" Kallen growled, an ugly sound coming up from deep within her being as she pressed her blade forward. "I suggest you try not saying anything so stupid again unless you want your throat cut and your own blood to pool on the floor."

This time a grin stretched across Lelouch's face at the threat. As if he enjoyed being threatened with a harsh death. "Face it. You and the other Black Knights have been using me just as I have been using you. You use my intellect, my strategic abilities, my charisma to help yourselves move forward towards a free Japan. I myself want to see Japan freed from Britannia's disgusting grip, but that is not my end goal. At the moment though, we both have the same stepping stone and vision of a free Japan, and so we use each other to help get closer to attaining this goal."

"Then what is your goal!" Kallen snapped loudly. "What do you want out of all of this Lelouch?! Money? Power? Fame? To turn Japan into your own playground to toy with just like Britannia does?! What do you want!"

"I want to see Britannia burning!" Lelouch finally raised his voice, but it wasn't anywhere near as high as Kallen's. Yet, it did it's job in getting her attention.

"W-what."

"You heard me." Lelouch nearly sneered. His light expression and smiles all gone and turned dark. "I want to see that damned pit stained bastard child excuse of a country burning! I want to watch and take in the sights and breath the smoke coming from the remains of that pigsty razed to the ground. All of it having been caused by my hands!" His eyes burned with a fierce light that made even Kallen's own anger dim and quake. "Japan will be freed. That I swear to you Kallen. Yet, I won't stop until I deal out what punishment that corrupt country of pit vipers deserves! I will OBLITERATE Britannia!"

"But why!" Kallen yelled back. Their voices getting heated and so loud Suzaku could probably hear every bit of their conversation now. "Why do all of that! Do what you've done up until now!? What for in the end? For your own petty satisfaction? Revenge? Why are you using me-!"

"Because I'm doing it for her!" Lelouch roared. His cape extensions rising behind him in an intimidating display that made Kallen fall flat on her back with a cry of alarm. The raven haired teen breathing heavily, his chest heaving up and down.

The hatch above them opened up and Suzaku began to speak in a worried tone. "What's going on down-"

"Close the hatch Suzaku." Lelouch ordered darkly, calmly.

"No. What's going on?" Suzaku looked over to Kallen, who was regaining herself. "Did you just hurt-"

"No, Suzaku." Lelouch spoke lowly, his voice frigid enough to make the sea around them turn into solid ice. "Close. The. Hatch." Seeing his best friend's stubborn defiant gaze staring back at him strongly, unflinchingly. Lelouch sighed and lowered his shoulders, cape extensions falling as well. "Please, Suzaku. It's just a verbal spat."

The burnette pursed his lips, his face somewhat puffy and red but clearly stating that it didn't look like 'just a verbal spat'. But it was Kallen's voice that made up his mind. "Just close the hatch Suzaku. I can take care of myself if this idiot even thinks of trying to attack me."

With Kallen waving Suzaku away and Lelouch turning his back on both of them. The Honorary Britannian gave one more unsure look before doing as he was asked and closing the hatch. The brief reprieve from their shouting match being just what was needed to help cool each other off.

"I'm not doing all of this just out of revenge." Lelouch spoke up first. His back still turned to the redhead and kept himself in the dark shadows of the pod. The teen's cape extensions bring the discarded water bottle back into his hands before wrapping tightly around him. A comforting gesture he was unintentionally initiating and showing. "I'm doing this for her as well." His voice was a raspy whisper. The yelling from before straining his already strained and dried out throat. To help distance himself, the raven haired teen took another, longer gulp of water.

It took only a second to line up who 'her' was. "Nunnally." Kallen spoke softly, her posture slumping and empathy going out to Lelouch. "You're doing all of this? Starting a rebellion with the intent to free Japan and tear Britannia down bit by bit, all of it for her?"

"Nunnally can't survive in a place like Britannia." Lelouch turned and spoke boldly now, eyes alight with determination. "That place, with their poisonous corruption and Social Darwinistic ideals. Britannia is designed to single out and kill people like her. My own sister." His water bottle crumpled under his tightening grip. "Who became blind and cripple in the assasination of my own mother. Who I hold more dear than anyone else because she's my world and all I have left. I won't allow that! I refuse to accept it." Lelouch glared at Kallen, but it wasn't really directed at her. It was towards something only he could see. "And so I will obliterate Britannia to help her dream of a kinder and gentler world be realized!" With that he hurled the water bottle against the wall behind him, watching it crash and burst apart with a rage she could never match. Water slid down onto the floor in steady drops. "I'll do whatever it takes and use everything within my arsenal. I will even become a demon and breath my last breath as a human if I must in order to accomplish this. No matter what, at the end of it all, Britannia will be destroyed. I'll make sure of it."

"...Lelouch."

"Don't give me your sympathy or pity." He growled darkly. "I don't want it or nor do I appreciate it."

It was quiet again in the lifepod. Something that was beginning to become commonplace even if no one wanted it to be.

"...Lelouch." Kallen finally spoke once again. This time it didn't have any emotion even close to empathy in it, but was instead like steel. "You've lied to me this entire time. Just like Suzaku said before. You've lied to him, to everyone on the student council, to your own sister, even me." Her eyes glanced down at the metal floor as she said this, before looking back up to see Lelouch staring back at her with a blank expression. "You've lied to everyone and anyone about nearly everything. About being Zero, about that strange bullshit you pulled back at Kamine Island that got us all stranded here in this hell." She gestured wildly to everything round her. "You've got a lot of secrets that I'm positive you won't ever tell unless I slap you in the face with the truth."

Lelouch was silent for a moment. "Is this about Zero actually being your classmate? Or about my power?" He finally asked simply.

"Both." Kallen answered back just as bluntly. "Answer me this question! Did you use your powers on me? Did you mess with my heart and make me your follower? Was your words just a way to bind a spell on all of us in the Black Knights to make us serve you?" The unmasked teen bursted out laughing. "Lelouch!"

Whatever raven black hair that wasn't plastered to his head shook side to side with his head. Eyes opening to look back up into sapphire with an amused glint in them. "Your heart is yours alone. As was your loyalty and devotion to Zero." Lelouch answered honestly.

"Yes or no Lelouch!" Kallen demanded. Her body shaking at the idea of not being in control of her own actions. That who she had admired and near worshipped like a God was just toying with her like a puppet on strings.

"Kallen, take pride in it." Lelouch smiled. His cape extension handed him the remains of the water bottle he had thrown. "You decided. You made the choice. To choose me. Can't you believe it?" His expression twisted for a brief second that the redhead almost missed it. Hurt.

"I wanted to believe. I want to believe." Kallen stated firmly. Her shoulders bunching up to her neck as she looked to the side, arms crossing under her bust since she had no idea what else to do with them. "Enough to become a slave." The ace Black Knight nibbled on her bottom lip anxiously. "I wanted to be at your side." Blue eyes closed. "I want to be at your side." Her eyelids flashed open to glare at Lelouch wearily. "But I have to know. I need this answer, and I need it to be honest. If you've ever cared about me throughout all of our struggles then you'll answer. Did you use your power on me, to make me serve you and obey you? Are you just using me like a doll that you'll throw away later?"

.

.

.

"I see." Lelouch said quietly. The unmasked teen stepped forward towards Kallen who had her back turned to him.

"Please don't lie to me." She said softly. Her arms bunching together tightly as a few more tears ran down her face. "I know how it feels to lose a sibling, to lose a home country I loved and cherished only to see it become a sad, pitifully twisted version of itself, to see my family fall apart before my eyes and be replaced by a vain, controlling bitch of a stepmother." The Gruen pilot gnashed her teeth together at the thought. "I've felt so angry against Britannia for taking my oniisama away from me. I wanted to do nothing more than rip them to shreds and watch them burn. I could almost jump through every hoop and destroy every obstacle in my path to get my revenge and finally bring my brother justice."

In the thick silence, sapphire blues finally looked back until into mismatched purple and red. "But I can't take this. Not if you lie to me."

After listening to Kallen's words and waiting for a moment to accommodate and rearrange himself, Lelouch finally answered. "I did not use my power to make you join me and the Black Knights, but I have used it on you." A quiet shuddered cry went through her, and Lelouch placed a firm hand on her shoulder to help ground her. His voice calm, neutral, and blaringly honest for once in his life. "It was not to gain your loyalty, not for your trust or strength, nothing even close to anything you're probably thinking of right now. It was only to have a few questions answered. Bits and pieces I didn't understand like motive and a reason why you worked and fought for terrorists. Nothing more, nothing less."

Kallen stiffened, as if realizing something for the first time. Her head turned just an inch to look back to Lelouch. "Back when I wasn't inducted into the student council. I remember suddenly meeting you in one of the outdoor campus hotspots for lunch. You were mentioning Shinjuku and trying to order me to go back to class… That's when you used that power on me, didn't you."

The grin that Lelouch gave that had a hint of pride in it was answer enough.

"Should've known you would figure that out on your own with the bits and pieces I gave you." Lelouch praised. Either ignoring or missing the startled blinks and light red blush that was directed at him. "Yes. That's when I used my power on you. Only to get a few questions answered."

"You better hope it was only for questions, because if I find out it was for anything else I will kill you." Kallen growled lowly, her expression now becoming that of a near pout before regaining her composure.

Lelouch gave a sour look to the redhead before finally letting go of her shoulder and holding onto the ladder rungs instead. "Trust me Kallen. I wouldn't abuse my geass like that. Be safe and calm in knowing I only used it for questions."

"Geass?" The girl raised an eyebrow as she faced Lelouch fully, her arms still crossed under her bust. "Is that what it's called?" Lelouch only nodded, before going towards the storage bin to rifle through it and pull out another water bottle. Chucking the broken one into the bin and opening the new one with a grunt of effort. Kallen shifted a little, eyes filtering to and fro the water bottle and his dichromatic eyes. "If I can ask, what does it do? Your powers?" The redhead waved her arms in wild gestures as she spoke again. "I mean, can you just summon weird tendrils of light whenever you want or-"

Lelouch groaned, and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he did so. "No, Kallen. I cannot summon weird tendrils of light whenever I want. Frankly, I have no clue what the fuck happened back there on Kamine Island. All I can theorize is that it was a freak accident and that it had something to do with that door."

"Then what was with that light show? If you didn't do it, then who did?" Kallen sat down on one of the seats in the lifepod. "And if you can't do that, then just what CAN you do? Are all of your miracles just based on this power?"

Now Lelouch scoffed, offended by Kallen's assumption. "Please. All of the miracles I've done were from my own superior intellect and cunning. Geass only made everything just slightly easier to speed along than without it. Sometimes I didn't even have to use it, like at Narita."

If Lelouch had stared hard enough into Kallen's eyes, then he might have caught just the tiniest glimpse of awe filtering back into them at his words. But it was almost instantaneously gone right after. "But you still haven't answered my question. What can your geass do?"

Lelouch was quiet for a moment, before he gave another creepily serene smile. "Now, you should know better than to expect a miracle maker to reveal all of his tricks. Let's save that conversation for another day." With that, Zero, Lelouch, either one as they were both in the same body and the same person, climbed up a few rungs of the ladder and knocked loudly on the hatch above them.

"W-What?!" Kallen sprung up from her seat in disbelief. That jackass! "What do you mean 'save it for another day'?! I think I should have the right to know just what the hell you can do!" Kallen paused, and thought back for a moment before continuing to speak. Her voice was much louder and more frustrated than before. "And what the hell did Suzaku mean when he said that puppet princess Euphemia was your sister!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Lelouch deadpanned as he picked up the fire extinguisher to put it back in its proper place. His eyebrows quirking up in curiosity as a strange metal contraption with a very thick and strong glass panel slid into his foot as the lifepod rocked.

"-!" Just then, whatever Kallen had said or was going to say was drowned out by the sound of the hatch opening and Suzaku carefully sticking his head back inside. The redhead growled again, this time sounding much more human, and merely crossed her arms again and turned her head away from Lelouch in frustration.

"Are you guys done now? Since I see no blood and everyone is still standing I'm guessing there was no physical fight and whatever you guys needed to settle is settled." Suzaku asked, already beginning to climb down the ladder and into the lifepod without an answer.

"Depends. Are you done moping and brooding up there?" Lelouch asked back lightly. Not paying attention to even a fourth of the conversation he was having. The raven haired teen placed the fire extinguisher back in its rightful place before turning his back on the other occupants in the room.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Suzaku deadpanned, rolling his eyes in a sarcastic manner. "But yes, I got what I needed to vent out, out."

"Good, because we're done here too." Lelouch stated cheerfully.

"For now." Kallen grumbled under her breath. Still vexed at the raven haired teen dodging her questions.

"Well that can wait until later." Suzaku stated, before pointing at Lelouch and then to one of the lifepod seats. "Right now you're getting your bandages changed, so sit down."

"I'm guessing that means you don't mind me being Zero at the moment. That or you're just ignoring that pink elephant in the room." Lelouch hummed. Watching Suzaku intently for any unwanted reactions.

"I'm not ignoring it." Suzaku ground out. "Right now I just can't do anything about it. We are stranded on an alien world with no clue what to do or how to get back to Earth. Not only that, but we agreed on a temporary alliance, and I don't intend to break it. So right now I'm going to do nothing about it. I'll figure out what to do with you once we get back to Earth." The burnette firmly pointed to the seat again. "Now sit down."

"A temporary alliance, alright. I can live with that for now, and it's better than nothing." Lelouch huffed, before plopping himself down into the seat he was directed to sit in. Kallen pulled out the medkit once again while Lelouch began to fiddle with the strange device he had just found.

"What's that?" Kallen asked as she crouched beside the Black Knight leader with a new roll of bandages. "You didn't have that on you before." She noted.

"No. I only just found it a few seconds ago. Apparently you two didn't do a very thorough search here because I found this thing right beside the misplaced fire extinguisher." Lelouch stated, staring at the glass for a moment before moving to investigate its metal parts. Suzaku, very begrudgingly, sat in the other seat and watched Lelouch mess with the thing while Kallen began to unwrap the bandages on his arm.

"Should you really be messing with that?" Suzaku spoke up, his voice just a tad nervous. "We don't exactly know what that thing can do. For all we know it's a bomb."

Lelouch merely rolled his eyes. "Yes, because bombs have huge glass panels on their sides. It's definitely not a bomb Suzaku, so relax." With finding no obvious buttons, Lelouch went back to inspecting the glass. "I think it might be some communication device, data storage, or advanced book. Like the Kindle eBooks that we have back in our world, but much more advanced."

"What the hell? Speaking of advanced, look at this." Kallen reiled back from her work before rubbing her eyes and double checking that what she was seeing was real. Suzaku and Lelouch looked down at the raven haired teen's arm to see only four bright red scabs rather than four shoddily stitched up puncture wounds.

"What did you do?" Suzaku asked, curiosity and awe in his tone.

"Nothing!" Kallen snapped, slightly worried. All three watched as Lelouch casually poked at his wounds, only giving a light wince in pain before it shifted into intrigue. "I only cleaned, stitched, and bandaged the wounds. When I had changed them the second time I thought the wounds didn't look as grave as they were before, but I was too tired to really give a shit and take notice."

"Fascinating." Lelouch breathed lightly, turning his arm as much as he could so he could look at the wound as much as possible. "Those stitches you supposedly gave me seem to be gone now, probably were made to dissolve after a certain amount of time. Hmm… Even Britannia doesn't have the sophisticated medical technology needed to advance such substantial tissue growth and healing. That would mean either cybernetic implants or medical nanites have been invented and are commonplace here in this planet, or galaxy. Hell, this might even be a different dimension for all I know." A sour expression crossed the teen's face at the mere idea before returning to one of keen interest as he went back to morbidly probing and prodding at his own wounds.

"Stop that, you idiot!" Kallen chastised her leader and slapped his hand back. "You're not supposed to touch it, you could get it infected with some weird alien shit."

"Now is that really how you talk to Zero?" Lelouch grinned at Kallen's gobsmacked expression.

"I'm talking to you right now Lelouch!" The redhead barked, vexed. Suzaku silently looked up through the opened hatch and into the sky with a hopeless expression on his face.

"Right right. Whatever, that's fine with me." Lelouch rolled his head back against the chair, which felt rather uncomfortable with the way his cape extensions were crushed against the cushions. "By the way." The raven haired teen moved some of his damp hair away from his forehead and started to interact with the strange device again. "When can I put my suit back on? It feels rather uncomfortable being nearly half undressed in a tight wetsuit after all. Also, why take off the suit but not these?" Lelouch wordlessly made the ends of his cape extensions flap back and forth. "It makes sitting in this chair hurt more than the bite wound." From the corner of his eye, Lelouch watched as Kallen finished rewrapping his wound together before she and Suzaku exchanged weird looks. "What's with those looks?"

"You mean you haven't realized it yet?" Suzaku asked.

"No, realized what?" Lelouch asked again, voice getting higher in agitation.

"You know for being so smart, you can be rather blind and stupid sometimes." Kallen muttered quietly as she put the medkit away. An almost smug expression on her face as she was starting to get back at her ally.

"So are you two going to tell me what's wrong or are we going to keep playing twenty questions about it?" Lelouch rumbled, placing the strange device down on his lap while he was impatiently waiting for an answer. "Well?"

Kallen and Suzaku looked at each other again, urging each other to give the news. "Hey, I'm the one who told him how long he was out of it. I believe it's your turn to drop the figurative bomb. Besides, you're the one he's 'best friends' with. Though with you two being on opposite sides of the fight back on Earth I doubt that will last much longer." Thankfully she muttered that last part to herself and no one else heard it.

Suzaku sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Alright, fine. Let's just rip this band aid right off." Now Lelouch's eyes were darting from Suzaku and Kallen as he waited for an answer, his nerves starting to rise. Olive green met mismatched purple and red. "Those things are embedded into your back. We can't get them off even if we wanted to."

Lelouch's eyes widened in a near comical way if it wasn't for the scenario they were in at the moment. He quietly sat there for a moment, looking between his two allies for any sign of this being some sick prank. When he saw none his dichromatic eyes instead turned down to look at the bottom of his cape extensions that weren't being crushed between him and the chair and instead were lying idly on the floor.

One of those extensions twitched.

With that, Lelouch sprung up from his seat, the strange device in his lap clattering against the lifepod floor. "What the fuck." The unmasked revolutionary tried to look at his back, and spun around a few times like a dog chasing its own tail. "That's not possible. That is literally physically impossible! I never had any 'implants' in my back before we landed on this Godforsaken planet. I never had them on Kamine Island." From the corner of his only purple eye Lelouch saw one of his cape extensions completely. How the mechanical components and fiber mesh seamlessly melded with his skin right between his shoulder blades. A few small glowing white lights dotting around the metal. The lights and place where the implants melded were unnoticable when Lelouch had his wetsuit completely on. "You've got to be kidding me." His eyes snapped up from his back to Kallen and Suzaku. "What else about me has changed?!"

"Well, your eyes are dichromatic now for one thing." Suzaku spoke, seeing as the cat was out of the bag might as well go all the way. "Your left eye is red, and it doesn't have a pupil. Just that glowing red symbol that we saw back on Kamine Island." Olive green eyes narrowed in suspicion towards his best friend. "So are you certain that whatever happened back in that cave wasn't because you started it with your apparent supernatural powers?"

Lelouch glared at the burnette scrutinizing him. "We are not having this argument again." He stated darkly, but his left hand reflexively went up to carefully cover his eye from view.

In that moment, a light blue glow suddenly came to life and blinded the lifepod's occupants, distracting everyone from a possible fight and towards where the lightsource was coming from. It was that strange device Lelouch was messing with just moments before. The glass panel glowing a bright blue around its edges while being transparent in the middle. Everyone tensed for a moment, before Lelouch shook his head at their antics and went forward to grab the device.

"Be careful." Suzaku warned. His eyes staring down at the advanced device with distrust.

"Oh please, give me a break Suzaku." Lelouch snipped. "I especially would know to be fucking careful on this planet since I'm the one who nearly got eaten by an alien monster. Besides, unless we take some risks we are going to be stuck stranded in this damn lifepod for a long time, and frankly that would make me go insane. Something which I would not like nor appreciate, thank you very much." With that, the teen picked up the device and held it in both of his hands. "It must have kick started when I dropped it on the floor to look at my back." Lelouch cringed lightly at the thought of his deformed back. Hoping that it would vanish just as suddenly as it appeared once they got back to Earth. The device wasn't doing anything but glowing, making Lelouch purse his lips and tap on the glass panel a few times. Kallen and Suzaku looked down at the device over his shoulders.

Suddenly, a bar of text appeared in the middle of the glass screen highlighted in flashing yellow. Booting In Emergency Mode.

"Told you it was some communication device." Lelouch gloated in his small victory. Ego started to rear its head as he spoke patronizingly to Suzaku, who had an annoyed look on his face. "You really should listen to me more Suzaku."

"Whatever. See if I save you from any more alien predators next time." The burnette grumbled sourly.

"You two are fighting like children." Kallen deadpanned with a neutral expression.

"Alterra~" Suddenly, a mechanical voice chimed out from within the device Lelouch was holding. Breaking up the petty verbal spat and regaining everyone's attention. A loading screen and a logo with the apparent company name underneath appearing in the middle of the screen now. The emergency message moving up to the top.

It was quiet as the screen slowly began to load like a Windows Vista.

"The hell is Alterra?"

I truly feel and believe that if all of the shit that went down with the SAZ Massacre, Euphie's death and her being geassed didn't happen. That if Suzaku had found out about Zero in a more natural or more controlled environment he would have mourned at the discovery. Mourned for the friend he once had and now lost. Mourned for the monster Lelouch had become.

If you have enjoyed the story so far leave a REVIEW, Follow, and Favorite the story so you can keep track of when chapters pop up. Because FYI, I don't have a posting schedule and I just post whenever I feel like it.

Later folks! -MoonlightWright