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.

Ch. 12: Dance with the Grim Reaper

"... God I hate this planet." Kallen sighed lowly as she dragged herself over and beside Lelouch. Her eyelids already drooping heavily and her adrenaline from before nonexistent. Soon enough she was out like a light and slumping down to rest her head on Lelouch's shoulder.

"Ugh…" Suzaku groaned heavily, his muscles sore and screaming from everything that had happened today. Laying down on the ground, careless about how it will bring a crick in his neck when he wakes up. "... Me too." The Britannian soldier agreed before the darkness of slumber took over. The soft green glow of the alien tech still managed to be barely visible even behind his eyelids.

. . .

It was only when the sound of a particularly loud and shrill alien bird cry echoed out from the entrance of the cave that Kallen's drowsy blue eyes opened once more. Seeing the blurry colors of green and brown had her eyebrows furrowing in confusion however.

This isn't the seabase. Where- Slowly, memories of what happened the day before trickled in bit by bit. Memories of dangling over a cliff edge had the redhead springing up straight in her spot. A light gasp escaping past her lips as her arms clawed at the ground for reassurance, or, well, one of them did. The other arm remained immobile and in place tuck by her chest.

The sudden jostling had Lelouch slumping against the rocky walls of the cavern they resided in at the moment, before giving a soft, sleepily annoyed mumble and flopping onto the floor completely. Though the angle was rather awkward and sure to give him some annoyance later, Lelouch didn't wake up.

The PDA slipping out of his newly bandaged hands to clatter on the floor lightly did signify that he had awakened some time before, and merely fell back asleep.

What an idiot. He looks like such a goofball like that- Immediately, Kallen lightly pinched one of her cheeks to get herself to snap out of her current train of thoughts. Okay, no. Less time for dumb emotional thoughts and more for checking our surroundings. Those crab things still have to be on this island somewhere, so we're not completely safe.

As Kallen slowly and very, very carefully got out from her spot beside Lelouch and Suzaku she took the PDA with her. Not even Suzaku, the Britannian soldier, stirred a peep at her movements. The thing that got her immediate attention the most was the obvious arch made from some kind of alien tech she had never seen before both on 4546B and back on her Earth. Soft bright green lights lining the bluish metallic looking material. Though the arch was empty, and there didn't seem to be a console or anything else nearby to power those strange lights.

Must be self-sufficient somehow or something. Kallen theorized to herself as she walked around the huge creation that somehow managed to fit into this cave. This part of the island, this cave, must have been carved out by whoever built this. The easy albeit smoothly eroded path down made that obvious. Yet, whoever built this must have done it a long, long time ago for all the plant life to begin growing around it.

"This planet just keeps getting weirder and weirder." The ace pilot muttered to herself under her breath. The constant, subtle hum of the machinery droning on was also accompanied by another sound though. Thankfully though, this sound was a familiar one Kallen could identify even at home.

Rain.

The constant pitter patter of raindrops hitting the island was just a tad louder than the machine before her. It had started raining while they were knocked out, and it was raining hard to be that noisy.

The people that were on this island before them mentioned it rained a ton. The island being constantly flooded. It explained why the dirt was so eroded and easy to give way. Already there were some rain puddles forming on the cave's ground near the edges of the arch.

That certainly sucked. They'd have to move soon, most likely back to home base.

Kallen forced her eyes away from the entrance of the cave and over towards the arch again. Curiosity winning her over and she stepped onto the platform and felt the material with her one hand. It was smooth, even after what had to be decades, maybe even centuries of being abandoned. The only bumps coming from the intentionally made grooves and markings decorating it.

I wonder… Let's see if I can take a sample. Lelouch would probably like that, once he wakes up to enjoy it that is. Going and retrieving her survival knife from her bag, Kallen kneeled on the platform and raised her one workable hand high up into the air before bringing it down with as much force as she could muster.

A loud clang and crack echoed out, just as a huge boom of thunder and a bright flash of lighting crashed from outside. It's noise and light loud and bright enough to make it even into the depths of this cavern.

The sudden assault of sounds and light on their senses had both Lelouch and Suzaku stirring awake frantically. Both teens giving a loud swear in startlement before grabbing onto the closet thing in their reach, each other.

Kallen couldn't help herself. She laughed, loudly.

The sight was just too tempting, and their shocked, confused reactions soon turning into mortified embarrassment was just the cherry on top of the figurative cake.

The two boys pushed each other away at the same time, albeit Suzaku's had more of a shove and had Lelouch laying back on the ground with an insulted huff of breath.

Deciding to save face from most of the embarrassment by shoving more of it on Suzaku, Lelouch raised an eyebrow and spoke in mock offense. "What's wrong Suzaku? Don't you find me attractive enough?"

Even though he was also holding onto Suzaku like a child who was scared of the monsters in the dark. Though, here these fears were realized.

Everyone has been royally screwed up since being trapped in this place.

Suzaku's nose scrunched up in clear unamused annoyance. "I don't swing that way and I know you don't either." Olive green eyes flickering in the dim light at the mere thought before evening out. "Get up."

"After you." Lelouch merely rolled his eyes, before they scrunched up in light pain. The raven haired teen massaging his neck and back after sleeping so long on the cold hard ground. "Ah my back."

Kallen raised an amused eyebrow. "You sound like an old man saying that you know."

Suzaku merely decided to stay silent in his own cramped suffering, not wanting to face a similar comment from Kallen. Though his eyes did shift down to notice something worrying. "Woah, what happened to your knife Kallen?"

Blinking, the fun cleared from her blue eyes as she directed her gaze towards the platform and her knife once more after being distracted by the boy's antics.

A solid chunk of the blade was cracked off and lying idly beside her on the platform. Meanwhile, the arch itself remained perfectly unharmed, not even a light scratch or dent marring its face.

The redhead blinked a few times in astonishment, before lightly replying in a flat voice. "Well, I was attempting to get a sample of whatever this thing is made of for Lelouch, but I guess that ain't happening."

While Lelouch processed what she had just said with a few blinks of surprised puzzlement, Suzaku whistled. "Dang, whatever that thing is made of has to be wicked strong then. It didn't even leave a scratch."

"Are we just going to ignore the fact that we can just scan this thing with the scanner, and that we were dangling off the edge of a cliff probably twelve to fourteen hours ago?" Lelouch asked, his tone of voice showing just how baffled he was at that.

"Yeah well, I wanted it to be a surprise, okay?" Kallen pouted back.

Lelouch's face scrunched up in distaste. "After the hell we've been through so far, there's no way I will ever, ever like surprises again. I'd prefer if you never did give me a surprise for the rest of my life and I'd be happy."

"Same." Suzaku agreed meekly, rubbing one side of his head gingerly after hitting it against the rocks a little while ago.

"... Yeah you're probably right." Kallen agreed finally as she too came to the realization that while at least on this planet, she never wanted a surprise either.

Surprises here were usually very bad, and deadly.

After Lelouch pulled out the scanner and scanned the strange arch, Kallen looked onto the PDA to see the newly downloaded information. "The structure's intended purpose is unclear. Theories on Function: 1) Ceremonial or religious role. 2) Industrial applications. 3) Advanced transportation method. Assessment: Further research required."

"Advanced transportation, like teleporting?" Suzaku said in shock.

"Hmm, probably. Though I don't see any sort of control panel or console for that to be the case." Lelouch mumbled idly as he looked around with dichromatic eyes searching every nook and cranny of the place. "I'd say it's for some alien religion probably since there isn't any way to control teleportation. The sheer science that'd be behind such a phenomenon would have to be so confusingly complex you'd might as well say screw it it's magic."

"We can all agree that this is the work of alien's though, right?" Kallen questioned finally, as if asking if she wasn't insane or the only person seeing the arch. "Because we've seen human technology on this planet and this clearly isn't human."

"Yup." Suzaku popped the 'p' loudly in his voice of agreement.

Lelouch looked like he suddenly smelled something foul the way his nose twitched and face and mouth twisted. Dichromatic eyes darkened slightly as he lowly said. "Fuck's sake. First an alien planet with alien creatures and now alien aliens? For once I'm hoping that it's the sea creatures that did this."

"I'm cool with heading back to the sea base now if anyone else is." Suzaku piped in before Lelouch could walk down a dark triade. "We've seen everything we could here and there's nothing else we can do with this… thing." The burnette idly rapped his knuckles on the metal with on hand before pointing towards the entrance with the other. "Plus with the way its pouring cats and dogs outside we're probably going to need to leave soon anyway unless we want to get flooded out."

"Yeah, fine. I'm cool with that." Lelouch rubbed his face and gave a tired sigh. When he looked back up there were dark bag underneath his dichromatic eyes.

"At least it's more normal there than here." Kallen agreed softly.

With that, no further words needed to be said as the group packed up and shipped out back to home base.

. . .

The PDA had provided them blueprints for radiation suits seconds after the Seamoth gave a blaring red and yellow notification of radiation being detected close by.

"For your convenience the radiation suit has been added to your blueprint database. The status of the Aurora's crew, and the ship's long-range comm relay, is indeterminate. Exploring the crash site may provide more information." For once the thing seemed to be giving actual useful advice and information for the moment's situation.

"What's radiation? That sounds rather bad." Instantly, all eyes went towards the smartest person in the group, Lelouch, for answers.

"I'm not quite sure, but I do believe radiation involves being exposed to some dangerous elements like uranium. If the Seamoth is flashing red signs and even the PDA is giving input that isn't sarcastic then I suggest we follow their advice and make these suits quickly to protect ourselves." Dichromatic eyes narrowed as he mentally chalked another thing they had to do onto their rapidly increasing list. "I'd rather we don't find out the consequences since we already have so much crap going on."

"Agreed." Suzaku nodded his head firmly as olive green eyes stared straight ahead into the blurry, salty blue waters of the endless ocean. Leaving behind the fierce thunderstorm's noise and torrential rainfall behind.

So far beneath the ocean, it was like there wasn't even a horrible storm going out just above their heads. Just muted silence except for the hum of the Seamoth, their breathing, and the empty blue waters surrounding them on all sides.

It was unnervingly creepy, some would even say terrifying as the waters only got darker and darker.

Then a loud, shrill shriek echoed out loudly from the endless, dark empty waters.

Everyone's heart beats immediately started rushing as the trio all shivered in near unison at the sound. It sounded like a giant raptor bird mixed with a deeper, darker undertone just beneath its high notes. Seconds after it's high pitched cry a deeper toned sound that was almost like the beast gulping for air softly thrummed out three times before silence met the ocean once more.

Like a ghost that escaped from hell was screaming in the distance.

"..." Kallen had wordlessly increased the Seamoth's speed ever since she first heard that noise. Slightly dilated eyes from fear shook alongside her one usable hand. The two males in the submersible machine exchanged silent glances.

"What the hell was that?" Suzaku whispered hoarsely. New noises were bad, very, very bad.

Lelouch merely shook his head in reply. Clearly none of them would know what that thing was.

"Kallen, how much farther are we from home base?" Suzaku whispered right beside the redhead's ear, not that it was hard to do so.

In reply, the ace pilot flinched and fidgeted in place, the Seamoth jerking lightly in response to her movements. A quick glare was sent Suzaku's way for speaking right into her ear so suddenly before she briskly replied. "377 meters."

Just as the raven haired teen was about to comment, that same shrill cry snapped out again from the oceanic void spontaneously. Only this time it was closer, and something more disturbing quickly followed its cry.

A loud, sudden and absolutely terrified cry from a sand shark barked out for a single second, before there was a loud teeth crunching crack, and then silence.

The group froze like a deer in headlights, but Kallen didn't dare to slow down the Seamoth's maximum speed. The little innocent looking submarine casually strolling through the still waters like absolutely nothing was wrong. Sunshine and daisies down in the empty dead deep really.

After what felt like forever waiting, nothing happened, and that bone-chilling cry didn't echo out again.

Once they made it to what the PDA identified as the craig fields, and those familiar rows of huge spiky stone columns came into blurry view did the group untense and finally relax. If only just slightly.

"Oh thank the Lord." Kallen heaved a huge breath as her grip on the steering wheel went from nail-bitingly white knuckled to just nail-biting. "Did anyone see what the source of that noise was?"

"No idea, but it certainly had to have sounded big to make that big of an impact underwater." Suzaku lightly rubbed his face from the light sheen of sweat it had accumulated from the tense worrying they just went through.

"...No clue." Lelouch croaked while idly rubbing his somewhat sore throat with one hand. He had hardly even talked since entering the Seamoth, but it felt like his mouth and throat were as dry as a desert all of a sudden. Though that wasn't the only reason.

Looking back into the blank nothingness of the ocean. Lelouch could have sworn on his mother's grave that he saw a flash of long bioluminescent blue turn away and dive deeper into the ocean's depths, but by the time he snapped his head over to get a better look there was nothing there.

Must have been a bunch of bioluminescent plankton we rushed past in the water. The theory seemed likely. Especially since plankton would be the reefback's main food source for its diet. It was actually very possible.

But that screech.

In the very recess of Lelouch's mind, the revolutionary couldn't help but think that he was wrong. That his mind and thoughts were merely comforting him, shielding him from something far more dangerous, more aggressive, more sinister.

There's always a bigger fish hiding somewhere within the ocean.

. . .

Things were speeding up very quickly after the Aurora's explosion.

It was almost like the detonation of the enormous ship was what was needed to wake the rest of the planet up, and those within it. It was almost like everything was going too fast for Suzaku to keep up with. Thankfully, being a soldier for Britannia, the burnette was almost used to this sort of thing, though one could never truly get used to such a feeling. Just ride along with it.

When they got back to the sea base safe and sound with no incident the radiation suits were easy to fabricate. Something Suzaku was internally thankful for, because if Lelouch was wary of radiation then he was going to trust his best friend's instincts. This world brought all of the trio's walls down to basic trust, need, survival and gut feelings.

One such gut feeling continuously told Suzaku that things were going a bit too easy for them now that they had obtained the Seamoth. This feeling especially rose up when it felt like the Lancelot pilot was stuck in his own skin. That clammy feeling as if he was sweating, feeling distinctly uncomfortable beneath his diving suit.

Though, they've been swimming in the ocean for what Suzaku was guessing to be ten to twelve days now. It could've been shorter, could've been longer from the time he was unconscious. It was hard to tell at this point save for the rise and fall of the sun with that huge red planet hovering above them all far away in space.

The radiation suits weren't the only thing they did. There were three new radio messages waiting to be played after who knows how long they were left untouched.

The explosion seemed to be kicking everyone into high gear. Not just him, Kallen and Lelouch.

The first message was from Lifepod 6. The lifepod right after there's, which was number 5. "Playing pre-recorded distress call…" The person inside was female; her voice was composed, yet it couldn't hide how hollow it sounded. As if whatever field she worked in had sucked all the joy out of her soul only to be left with whatever bits of scrap were left. "This is Lifepod 6, I have a passenger onboard. Coordinates attached. We've landed a kilometer from the crash site, but there's radiation between us and the rendezvous. Request immediate assistance. 6 out."

The radio didn't even wait before it started playing the next recording.

"Playing pre-recorded distress call… This is Lifepod 4!" Another survivor from another lifepod. This one lifepod 5's predecessor. "We've landed close to the Aurora, flotation devices active, but we've got some big old fish in the water with us and I don't know how long we're going to last. We're close to the crash site, so bring radiation protection. 4, out." It was a male survivor that time. He sounded a bit winded, and there was a slight crackle of static from some sort of noise in the background of his message.

"High priority automated message from Aurora Lifepod 13. Coordinates attached. Lifepod is carrying high priority passenger 'Jochi Khasar. I said Khasar! Why do I have to record this anyway?' Send immediate burial details." A male person with a slight accent recorded his name in the message. Clearly he sounded annoyed when they did the recording for some reason or another.

"Were these before or after the Aurora's explosion?" Lelouch questioned flatly. "Because if it was before I don't believe the people in Lifepod 4 and 6 are alive due to the explosion. The PDA is a bit fuzzy on the times these messages were sent because of it, so I can't tell for certain."

"I'm not sure." Kallen tapped a finger beside the radio's big orange button in thought. "But seeing as these messages weren't here before we left for that island, I'd have to say after."

"Are we going to try and investigate those places?" Suzaku asked the main question. "Obviously the guy in Lifepod 13 is deceased… but what about the other two? Are we going to try and help them?"

"We should really be looking into a way to get back to our home planet, not wasting time searching for people gone on the current." Two pairs of eyes, one blue and the other green, turned to stare at Lelouch as he thought out loud. "But seeing as Lifepod 13's depth is too much for the Seamoth to handle at the moment we can't go searching over there just yet."

"And what do we do about this radiation?" Kallen interjected, crossing her usable arm under her chest and leaning back against the cool metal wall of the seabase. Her face being the definition of a poker expression. "If it's really bad it'll affect the animals we hunt and eat to survive here won't it? We'll need to patch that up."

"And quick." Lelouch agreed with a hum. His cape extensions twitched lightly before following the raven haired teen's movement. The revolutionary rubbing his chin with one hand as he thought. "That means we'll have to board the Aurora and fix what the PDA called its drive core."

"Well, Lifepods 4 and 6 are close by there, so we can just swing by and check to see if anyone's still alive with the Seamoth while we head towards the Aurora." Suzaku proposed as he rubbed his hands together. He could practically feel the build up of salt and grime on the inside of his suit and on his body in general. Unfortunately the habitat builder didn't really come with soap and a nice hot shower, and they had been stranded for a long while.

Everyone looked somewhat filthy and dejected no matter how much they tried to do the opposite.

"That's reasonable." Lelouch agreed with a stiff nod.

"But what about the stasis rifle?" Kallen questioned suddenly, and with that the suddenly very useful tool was brought back to the forefront of everyone's mind.

"You're right. I can't believe we forgot about something as important as that." Suzaku stated as he sheepishly scratched the side of his head.

"Well, with the idea of aliens being on this planet on top of dangerous alien sea creatures of the deep and exploding ships almost blowing us off a cliff I'd say we were a bit preoccupied." Lelouch huffed gruffly.

"Those things do kind of go on the top of the list of concerns over the blueprints of a rifle." Suzaku agreed again, though a concerned look passed his features. "Yet, we don't even have a clue how to work it, or if it will even be helpful to us."

"Oh it'll help alright." Lelouch disagreed soundly. The way his cape extensions curled in excitement gave away his true feelings on the idea of getting his hands on one of those rifles. "It's called a stasis rifle for a reason. At the very least we can use it to run away." Dichromatic eyes squinted at the somewhat worrying grin Lelouch had stretching on his face. "I can't wait to test it out and see how it functions."

Kallen idly brushed a bit of her red hair to the side and away from her eyes. "We can't even make the stasis rifle even though we want to. At least, not right now." At both boy's looking her way, she clarified. "The fabricator requires magnetite, and we don't even have that, much less know where to find it. We can get everything else, but that's a key component we don't have."

At that announcement, all sides deflated a tad. Bummed out at how close they were to getting an actually useful weapon besides a knife, but it was just beyond their reach.

Suzaku bit his lower lip in thought. "Well, that shouldn't stop us from heading towards the Aurora. Stasis rifle or not we were planning to salvage parts from that ship either way."

Lelouch reached up to rub his throat lightly before gruffly clearing it. "That plan is still going to happen. I agree with Suzaku on that. Though I suggest we gather some materials and supplies like food and water first before we start that journey. After we rest up we can finally investigate the Aurora tomorrow."

"Right." With a plan set ahead of them and a timeline somewhat made the group split off to do their own thing. They had been huddled together for so long, but the fact was they needed their own space and needed to do their own things alone eventually.

It would be stifling, unbearable to be glued together at all times. Suzaku loved Lelouch like a true brother in all but blood, but even they had differing views as obviously seen by which side they were on with the war for Area Eleven. If the two were handcuffed together Suzaku was positive they would've killed each other by now.

Lelouch went off towards their quarters to rest while Kallen began organizing and reorganizing the storage units out of boredom. Not wanting to rest, but not wanting to head outside either.

Suzaku meanwhile, decided to get his shift of collecting food and water over with. What with his almost supernatural ability to attract fish like a magnet, it wasn't too hard.

The burnette was somewhat thankful that the main planet's ecosystem was entirely based on fish, because that was the only animal that seemed to even tolerate or occasionally even like his presence back on Earth. Everything else seemed to kind of hate him or be standoffish.

Like Arthur. Cat seemed to take some sadistic joy out of trying to bite his fingers off.

Thinking of Arthur brought to mind a certain pink haired princess seconds after, and Suzaku heaved a heavy sigh. A deep sense of longing and home sickness hitting him hard at that moment. Just as a bladderfish idly drifted by his face, the burnette plucked the poor sucker out of the ocean and quietly into his supply bag.

He missed Euphy.

He wondered if she was missing him just as badly, or if perhaps she had moved on. How Ms. Cecile and even Lloyd were doing now that the Lancelot was missing its primary pilot. How Nunnally and everyone on the Student Council was fairing after half of their members suddenly disappeared without any reason. Vanished into thin air as if they were never even there in the first place.

Surely the Black Knights were suffering heavily after their leader and ace pilot went missing. That was probably the only single upside to all of this besides getting to know Lelouch and Kallen more as their true selves, and not their school life personas.

By the time they got back to Earth, Zero's power would be no more. Lelouch would be alive, but Zero would be gone.

As long as Suzaku kept a stiff eye on him afterwards, there would be no need to turn Lelouch into Britannian custody. That would just open up a new can of shitty worms.

Just as Suzaku managed to snatch a pepper with sparkling yellow scales dotting its sides with the help of his seaglide a surge of determination rushed through his veins.

They would be getting out of here and back home just fine. Everything would work out.

It had to.

. . .

Lifepod Six stood close to a ledge. Though the drop wasn't far, beyond the ledge the sandy sea bed sloped farther down with every step. The sea water surrounding the Seamoth was somewhat dark with just a little bit of sunlight from the sunrise peeking through the ocean's great depths. Just enough to light the place up and give a good image. The sound of the Aurora's hull and frame groaning and grinding against the sea bed echoed loudly from this point. The shifting of the ship slowly but ever so surely sinking was a loud rumble of rubble from point to point.

Lelouch estimated it was around every ten minutes.

He also suggested that they hurry searching for the pods and getting to the Aurora before it fully sank under the ocean's surface.

"The way it's shifting and making such loud noises means it's probably close to an edge of some sort." He explained while looking around Lifepod Six. "It's probably just barely teetering on the edge, and who knows how far it will sink once it tips over."

That was a good motivator. The Aurora had to have some very good parts and blueprints. Not to mention more supplies of food and water. It was crucial they investigate it, before it went under.

Just like every other lifepod before it, this one was destroyed just like the rest. A hole in the very top of the pod where the exit hatch was supposed to be. It looked as if an eruption had occurred within the pod itself.

Which wasn't a very far off assumption according to the PDA logs they managed to recover from the wreckage.

"Ma'am, I need you to stay calm. We are not in any immediate danger." That woman from before, with the hollow voice spoke once more to another person, the passenger she mentioned the day earlier.

Unlike the first lady, this one seemed to be full of fire. A fire that could easily spread out of control with all of the fear in her tone. The sound of frantic shuffling obvious in the logs. "Where are the rescue teams?!" She nearly shrieked her voice was so shrill in terror.

"The Aurora didn't make it." The hollow lady stated punctually.

"So where are the rescue teams!" Clearly, the scared woman needed the words to be spelt out to her. Her fear clouding her judgment and actions.

The emotionless woman gave an annoyed sigh. She sounded exhausted already having to spell everything for her other passenger. "They're dead, ma'am." The way she said it sounded so cold, but it got her point across well enough. "We have rendezvous coordinates, but the route's irradiated."

"So what are you going to do?!" The passenger snapped irritably. Fear turning into anger and lashing out at the closest person by.

"I'm head of human resources, ma'am." Though the first woman sounded a bit peeved that she didn't know what to do in this situation. That calm blank tone returned once more. "This is not my expertise. But the PDA says that if we can find some lead we can make radiation suits."

"At least someone seemed to have a good head on their shoulders in a crisis like this." Lelouch butted in suddenly.

"Out there? I am not setting one FOOT outside this lifepod without the proper protection." Clearly the scared woman wasn't going to be of much help.

The first, more collected woman seemed to understand that even before the second lady said those words. Her huff of resignation was clear cut. "Don't worry. I'll go."

Mere minutes after everyone was shuffled into the Seamoth and heading towards the coordinates of the next lifepod the second log began to play.

The sound of Lifepod Six's hatch opening was loud in the small space of the Seamoth. It was a shame the group couldn't find a way to turn the PDA's volume down even after being with it for so long. "...What are you doing?!" Suddenly, the woman whose voice was usually empty and occasionally calloused screamed out in horror.

"You were gone for so long, I thought you'd drowned!" The second woman, who seemed to have regained a bit of her common sense, spoke rapidly. The tension in her words coming out every syllable.

"Put the flare down!" The first lady yelled demandingly.

"I was going to try and attract someone's attention." The second lady snapped defensively. Clearly she was doing the opposite of what the first person asked because they suddenly made a severely distressed sound as if they were going to faint.

"That's a horrible idea." Suzaku rubbed his forehead as if trying to force out a migraine. "After what we've seen down here so far the most that would do will be to attract some very unwanted company."

"That's not a distress flare!" The human resource expert said shrilly. Now it seemed like the roles were reversed in terms of composure, because she was absolutely losing her mind. "Stop waving it around like that, you'll catch the fuel li-"

She couldn't even finish her sentence when the sound of a loud explosion and tons of static erupted from the PDA. The disturbance was so sudden that it had Kallen jerking the Seamoth back in surprise, flashing the sub's lights on accidentally as they did a sudden flip in the water.

"Woah-"

"Hey!"

Both boys protested as they were suddenly flopping onto the Seamoth's ceiling from being unprepared for Kallen's reaction to the loud noise. Though it admittedly had them jumping out of their skins for a second too.

It certainly explained the mystery of that lifepod and how it went down. Human stupidity.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Kallen apologized repeatedly. While the sounds of the Aurora's hull became desensitized to the redhead, she didn't expect the sudden barrage of noise coming from within their own Seamoth. Right beside her head and near her ears. Turning off the Seamoth's lights the group ascended towards the surface of the water and breached its waves right beside a flipped over Lifepod 4. The poor thing might as well have been torn in half. The top side of the pod which was now in the water was barely hanging onto its bottom portion by what looked like a measly thread of wires. "Anyway, we're at the next lifepod."

"Already?" Suzaku blinked as he readjusted himself in the Seamoth. Olive green eyes looking outside towards the daylight sky and therefore Lifepod 4. "Damn this thing travels fast in the water."

"Yeah- Agh, jeez. Did you really have to flip us upside down so suddenly? A little warning would have been nice." Lelouch grouched as he successfully managed to maneuver himself back to an upright position. Though, with the flailing of his cape extensions he accidentally bonked Suzaku on the side of the head.

To which the brunette hissed through his teeth in light pain. "Ow! Hey watch where you move those things Lelouch."

"Sorry." Dichromatic eyes winced slightly with his apology but otherwise did nothing else. "It's just extra hard to move and find a comfortable spot with these things." Just as Lelouch put one hand on the glass dome of the Seamoth to steady himself a sudden peeper flew by like a man on a mission. It breached the water, though only managed to gain about a foot of air, before diving back down into the water and swimming the opposite way like its life depended on it. "Ah shit!"

The sudden movement in the blank nothingness of the ocean water that was now tinted murky yellow had Lelouch slipping his grip on the glass dome. Banging against the side of the Seamoth his cape extensions flapped out, causing Kallen to lose her grip on the steering wheel and sending the machine flying face first into the wrecked lifepod four.

BANG

The collision of metal and glass on metal echoed out like a huge boom of thunder rolling across the empty plains. The force being the final straw on the camel's back as the top half of the lifepod was finally detached from its bottom half with the equally loud sound of tearing metal.

The trio watched with shocked eyes as the top of the lifepod sank to the bottom of the ocean rapidly. Just a few light bubbles and a couple seconds later and it was gone from visible view.

There was a faint thunk as it hit the bottom of the ocean a minute or two after that.

"..." Everyone stared, blinking and processing.

The sound of what was almost like a roar, but had to be the Aurora's haul shifting once more, echoed out not too far behind.

"Oops." Lelouch offered up meekly. "Uh, umm… Yeah, that's my bad." This is kind of awkward. Most of the stuff that could have been useful is probably on the seafloor now. Damn, can't believe I got scared of a little peeper. Needless to say, Lelouch was a bit thrown off and his pride a little sore.

"Really?" Kallen raised an unamused eyebrow and gave Lelouch a deadpan stare. Suzaku followed two steps behind her.

"You're feeling rather destructive today huh?" The brunette teased lightly. A light smirk twitching on the edge of his lips.

"What?" Lelouch grimaced, spreading his hands out as he gestured. "You got scared by the PDA just a few minutes ago Kallen." He crossed his arms, cape extensions copying his movements with only a bit of difficulty with lack of room. "I think I have the right to be a bit nerovus of what lies OUTSIDE of the safe Seamoth."

"Guess I'm not the only one who's jumpy then." Kallen grinned. All teeth and joking as Suzaku chuckled softly in the background.

The Aurora's hull shifted again, its noise mixing with that weird sound like an echoing cry that seemed just a bit closer than before.

No one noticed it for a second time.

"Hmph, whatever." Lelouch's dichromatic gaze drifted towards what remained of the lifepod then. The seamoth's drifting brought them to breach the surface as a light blue glow caught his observant eye. "Hey, I think that's a PDA log on top of the pod." The teen uncrossed his arms and straightened up in his spot.

Kallen and Suzaku followed his gaze to see said log. It was indeed on top of the lifepod like Lelouch had said.

"I'll get it." Lelouch stated. He didn't even wait before he was shuffling out of his spot reaching for the hatch of the Seamoth.

The raven haired teen didn't know why, but he just felt a sudden rush of discomfort of being cramped so close together with Kallen and Suzaku. The connection between his cape extensions and back ached alongside the joints in his hands and legs.

"Woah, hey wait a second." Suzaku objected suddenly. "What's with the rush? You know we were just teasing right?" The burnette suddenly looked worried.

"I know." Lelouch brushed the Lancelot pilots' concerns off easily. After a bit of movement between him and Kallen, who merely shrugged and went along with Lelouch's sudden whim, the hatch was opening and water temporarily flooded the Seamoth. Everyone's helmets already latched on for the adventure since they left their sea base. "I just feel really sore being cramped in here for so long. Need to stretch my legs so to speak."

It was only when Lelouch was free swimming out in the water and able to spread his cape extensions fully that Suzaku realized what he meant. They were bothering him.

"Oh." Clearly Kallen realized this before Suzaku, and merely just maneuvered the Seamoth around the dilapidated lifepod to survey for any dangers without saying a word.

You never know on 4546B, and they certainly didn't know what resided beside the Aurora frequently.

"We're rather close to the Aurora here, so let's make this search quick and board the ship before anything bad happens." Kallen stated firmly as she piloted the sub. Even with one arm the way she moved the Seamoth was done with grace and experience. It almost felt like piloting the Guren again.

She missed those times, before planet 4546B became a part of her life and a good chunk of her misery.

She missed having function in both of her arms and not just one.

But those were her problems, and she'd deal with them accordingly. Now just wasn't the time, so she shoved those thoughts away and focused on the empty ocean before her.

Which suddenly didn't feel so empty.

The Aurora had just finished shifting, its loud groans and wails of metal suffering, bending, and breaking ending when they all heard it from their respective spots. Two within the safety of the Seamoth, and one gratefully stretching and free floating beside the wrecked lifepod 4.

A roar that sounded like it belonged to a true monster. A noise fit to the things in people's nightmares sounding out from not too far away.

While the noise put fear in everyone's bones, that wasn't what had the trio's hearts nearly on the verge of cardiac arrest. It was the fact that it sounded so, so close, and they still couldn't even see it.

Lelouch stilled in the water. Only a light twitch coming from his cape extensions. It almost looked like the teen was petrified into stone as realization hit him like a freight train.

He was alone, outside of the Seamoth, with a monster heading their way. Crashing into the destroyed lifepod must have tipped them off on their presence.

Instinctively knowing that whatever it was had to be big and obviously from the sea, Lelouch did the obvious first choice, and looked down.

He kinda wished he hadn't immediately after.

The only thing dichromatic eyes managed to catch was the faint outline of pale white scales with a deep, bright blood red outline. If that color pattern was a sign of danger then Lelouch didn't know what was. Red was always, always a bad sign in wildlife.

Otherwise, all was quiet. The creature wasn't roaring anymore.

Screw this. I'm not risking my life for a damn dead man's message! Lelouch, seeing as he had nowhere else to go but to the Seamoth that gave the opportunity to escape or the broken lifepod, chose the Seamoth. Booking it as fast as all of his limbs could carry.

"Kallen! Suzaku! Let me in!" Lelouch screamed as he got closer to the pod.

"Open the door!" Suzaku said frantically as he reached for the latch.

Then like the grim reaper himself. The creature- the leviathan raced out of the blank blurry darkness of the ocean like a hound from hell. Racing in to go for its next kill, it's next meal.

Lelouch couldn't help it once he spotted it. He stopped. Unable to tear his red and purple eyes away from the creature's own.

Four empty, soulless pitch black voids.

With an enormous roar that was so loud it stunned Lelouch and had Kallen and Suzaku reaching for their ears respectively. The reaper crashed right into the Seamoth. Lelouch watched it all happen so fast, it was nothing like the slow motion that happened before with Kallen and the sand shark.

The loud bang and crash, the harsh crack of glass that sent a huge crack right down the middle of the Seamoth's dome. The way four huge, spindly red mandibles with permanently red rusted black stained claws gripped and stabbed into the sub's metal with zero intentions to let go. How the glass of the Seamoth faced the front of the aggressive leviathan. Only inches away from the almost human shaped jaw filled with huge sharp jagged teeth bigger than any human. The huge red horn sticking from the top of its head and its chin prevented the Seamoth from being within teeth chomping range by mere inches.

That was all Lelouch could see before the leviathan launched itself out of the ocean waters with another loud roar. Using its long, slim, lean yet muscular body to propel itself up and out of the ocean near entirely.

Alongside the Seamoth.

Which Kallen and Suzaku were now trapped inside.

"KALLEN! SUZAKU!" Lelouch bellowed as loudly as he could. In a near haze of terror for his two friends in the Seamoth, Lelouch swam forward a couple feet towards the leviathan before common sense snapped him back into the right frame of mind. Adrenaline rushing through his veins like a drug and lifeline. It made it hard to think straight except for one thing.

Fight or flight.

"Oh shit!" The teen scrambled backwards wildly in the water, before swimming to the side just as the leviathan crashed back down onto the ocean's surface with a loud clap. Right where he once was. The Seamoth still in it's mandible grasp as it roared and writhed like the victor. "Fuck!"

The backlash of waves and currents from the crash sent Lelouch sprawling head over heels, before ultimately crashing into the leftover parts of Lifepod four. The impact stole all the air from Lelouch's sensitive lungs and made his sore chest smart.

Immediately, Lelouch's cape extensions almost acted on their own as they helped him crawl above the surface and on top of the floating lifepod. Breathes stuttery before turning deep and raspy. He wanted to flop down right then and there by that damned abandoned PDA log, but worry for Kallen and Suzaku pushed him onwards.

The raven haired teen just managed to dunk his head back into the water to watch the thin yet long leviathan swinging its head back and forth wildly and diving down below with the Seamoth in tow. It's haunting roars loud and echoing as it went deeper down.

Leaving Lelouch stranded on top of Lifepod four with the sun at its highest peak, and silence.

"No! No no no no no!" Lelouch pulled his head out of the water and sat back on his legs. Hands clawing uselessly at his diving helmet in panic.

He was all alone.

Dichromatic eyes widened and pupils dilated in terror. Lelouch screamed. "No! Bullshit! Kallen! Suzaku! Guys!"

Quickly Lelouch took a huge breath before dunking his head back under the water, even though it wasn't necessary adrenaline did funny things to people. Looking around revealed nothing, but there was the occasionally blurry shadow of something moving around in the water by the lifepod, shaking back and forth. The familiar, traumatizing roar giving away just what it was.

It was the spark of the Seamoth's malfunctioning gears that really betrayed the creature's location.

"Crap crap crap! Shit, damnit!" Lelouch pulled himself back out and looked around the useless lifepod for anything else. Cursing up a storm like a sailor. Nothing but the PDA logs which the teen took and poured over for even a drop of information on what to do.

"To any Alterra crew." The male of lifepod four spoke frantically, trying to fill the PDA log with as many words and facts as fast possible. As if he knew that this was going to be his last stand, and wanted to provide as much help to the survivors as possible with this log. "Landed in an area of significant alien activity. Encountered predators in the leviathan class, highly aggressive. Spectroscope scanner assigned species designator 'Reaper'."

Lelouch didn't dare interrupt, but he watched as the leviathan's tail splashed out of the water a good distance away and sloshed the waves around it wildly before going back under. "One specimen attempted to swallow the lifepod, doing extensive damage in the process. Only viable option is to make for the safety of the Aurora crash site."

Lelouch looked to the Aurora himself, eyes calculating. No, it would take too long to get the Aurora. By the time I would even get close it would be too late for Suzaku and Kallen, and I'd rather die than face that… Damnit! After what happened in the red glassy plateaus I'm about to lose them all over again!

"I never should have left the Seamoth." Lelouch growled self-deprecatingly.

"I have retrieved a data box with the creature decoy, and enough resources to fabricate a couple of them. The swim's longer than the decoy lifetime, but it should be just enough to keep them busy. If you don't find me onboard the ship, presume I miscalculated."

He miscalculated.

It was obvious what happened to the lifepod now.

Lelouch was stuck there, useless. He couldn't do a single thing to help.

"New blueprint acquired."

. . .

Screaming.

That was all that could be heard over the loud pitifully painful whirring of failing machinery and blaring danger alarms within the Seamoth.

That and the roar of the leviathan just feet away from their faces.

Kallen and Suzaku had no clue what was happening. One second they were watching as Lelouch froze in stock-still terror, before bolting towards them demanding to be let back in. The next thing this creature had hijacked the Seamoth and was swinging it around like a chew toy.

With how big this creature had to be, they probably were a chew toy. Good tasty bits inside the puzzle that needed to be solved and all.

The force that slammed into them was so sudden Kallen thought her heart got lodged up into her throat from the impact. Then the Seamoth's glass cracked, a huge split right down the middle that fragmented the beast's face in two separate, horrifying halves.

Alarms were screaming, water was leaking and spilling into the sub at an alarming pace, and the loud groaning of metal and increasing formation of dents and destruction was near nauseating.

When they had been slammed back into the ocean Suzaku had screamed about the creature being a shinigami, before his head was harshly slammed against the back wall of the Seamoth and he slumped down unconscious. Kallen thankfully, was strapped into her seat, and while the jarring motions gave her rather bad whiplash, she wasn't in any state close to the burnette's.

Thankfully, adrenaline within Suzaku's veins must have been insanely high, because he woke up after the creature began diving down into the deep with another roar.

"It's going to kill us! Holy fuck we're so screwed! Freaking screwed!" Kallen screeched madly. Her working arm clawing into the steering wheel and jerking it every which way, trying to madly escape this creature's grasp. Apparently from what she could glance at and the increasingly forming dents, it had all four of its mandibles gripping onto the hull of their sub.

No way was it letting go anytime soon.

"Warning, maximum depth reached. Hull damage imminent." The Seamoth droned in varying pitches as it malfunctioned. The crappy icing on top of the crappy cake.

Just great! As if we didn't have enough to stress about! "Grahhh!" Kallen screamed loudly, her teeth bared towards the creature that didn't even care, just wanted to consume. To kill. Her workable fist hitting the steering wheel fruitlessly since there was nothing else she could do.

"We gotta get out of here!" Suzaku pushed up against the Seamoth's dented hatch, the exit stuck solid despite his efforts. Though the sweat, grunts of efforts, gasps, and even tears made it obvious the exercising nut was trying his hardest to open it. "Screw the Seamoth. It'll be distracted enough with it to hopefully leave us alone. If we can just- huff- get- huff huff- OUT!"

The Seamoth crumbled like an empty can by a good couple inches all of a suddenly from the force of the creature and pressure underwater. Taking up precious space inside and making the Seamoth just within teeth scrapping distance if the scratches on the glass were any indication.

Such dark black eyes, it was a wonder the thing could even see anything at all with how black they were. The scars littering its face were many, but the rest of its body was smoothed out almost like human skin from the dorsal fin down to its tail that split into four red ends.

"K-kallen!" Suzaku's voice buckled when a loud groaning sound of metal reached their ears. That certainly wasn't a good sound on their part. "Help me open this thing!"

With one last, almost frustrated, sounding roar the leviathan suddenly reared its head back, and tossed the Seamoth away. It's mandibles leaving deep scratches on the poor battered Seamoth's hull as Kallen and Suzaku were tossed away like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

"AH! Hold on!" Kallen screamed towards Suzaku, who instantly hugged the seat of the Seamoth and stuck to it like super glue. He certainly didn't want to hit his head again after the recent chaos. His poor head has already been abused enough.

Latching onto the steering wheel once again like a leech Kallen smoothly flipped the Seamoth around and resoundly away from the leviathan giving chase after them. It's roar loud and all encompassing through the blank ocean.

Well, the action would have gone smoothly if it weren't for two things. The first being how delayed and staggered the Seamoth's actions were.

The second was the sight of sand and rock they were speeding straight towards. The leviathan's apparent plan being to try and crack them open like a nut against the ocean floor.

"Oh shit!" Both Kallen and Suzaku practically reached a new high pitched tone at how loud and shrill they screamed at this sudden development. The redhead quickly attempting to pull back on the speed, but by then it was already too late.

The Seamoth crashed full force into the rocky sea side. The glass dome crumbling under the force, and with the sudden rush of water flooding the Seamoth both Kallen and Suzaku were expelled from its remains out from where the dome once was. Seatbelt torn away and damned. The two teens curled into as tight a ball as possible to avoid getting cut by any stray sharp glass, which thankfully for once seemed to go their way.

Unfortunately, the two weren't quick enough to get their sea glides, and they were instantly destroyed alongside the Seamoth when that leviathan crashed full force into the destroyed sub. Crashing face first into the demolished wreck and then turning its head to the side and slamming against the sea bed's rocky ledge.

In response, the leviathan only gave one resounding roar of mild annoyance before taking the Seamoth and diving back down into the deep.

"Huff. huff… huh… oh-oh man…. Holy fuck." Suzaku wheezed out, as if his voice was permanently lodged in his throat and couldn't get out.

Kallen was too speechless, too shocked in terror to even saw a word. The only thing she could do was silently grab Suzaku's wrist in a vice-like grip and scramble towards the ocean's surface. The burnette instantly following her lead.

They were pretty far down, and had to be careful and take their time to decompress when coming back up to the surface. It was questionable if they'd have enough oxygen to make it back up, but with the leviathan's temporary disappearance came one worrying thought.

Where was Lelouch?

It was clear wherever the creature was it was still close by, just out of seeing distance from the sounds of its roaring and tearing of metal. As if the titanium and effort put into creating the Seamoth was no more than paper mache in its fatal grasp. The only good thing about all this chaos was the fact that it was daylight outside still and the two could still see what was somewhat in front of them, and which way was up. Though with the way the creature's scales were nearly the same color as the ocean water, the only way they could tell where it is would be from its red marks and noise.

Finally, the sky above the ocean began to come in murky, chopped up view from beneath the ocean's waves. Still bright blue with a few small clouds. The sun high in the sky and making the enormous red planet above even more prominent. They could also make out the obliterated metal frame of the front of the Aurora. Even beneath the ocean, the bright orange of hot metal and sizzling electronics was clear.

Wherever the Seamoth spit them out it was close towards the Aurora. Towards safety.

They instantly shifted directions as close to the surface by the Aurora as possible. Seeing as just drifting in the ocean like a sitting duck was the worse option to choose.

If they would even make it was definitely questionable, if admittedly unlikely. From the way there was a loud bang of metal further beneath them and a much louder, angrier roar from the cruel ocean's depths was anything to go by. The leviathan figured out there was nothing worthwhile inside, and now it was going after them. With only small feeble knives to defend themselves against it.

"We're so dead." Kallen hiccuped. This was finally it. Even she had to admit that the trio did much better than expected for having been literally dropped from the sky into this hell hole, but there was no way it would have lasted. "Mom, I'm so sorry!" She cried even as the duo hopelessly continued to try swimming upwards.

"I never got to tell Euphy how I feel. Grr, dammit all!" Suzaku raged, even as his eyes were squeezed shut as if denying their current predicament. When those olive green eyes opened again, the Britnanian soldier instantly spotted the red markings of the demon not too far beneath them.

Roaring.

Searching.

Hunting.

Suzaku froze, and when Kallen saw him freeze she looked down to see the leviathan beneath them, and stopped as well. Stock still. Like frozen ice sculptures captured in time, like a freeze frame. They didn't even dare to try and breath, their breath too frozen within their lungs.

Those four void black eyes turned in their direction with another roar echoing out, and the predator began swimming straight towards them.

This was it. Death itself was upon them.

I'm sorry, Euphy.

Lelouch! Mother! Ohgi!

BANG BANG BANG

Another guttural roar, and suddenly Suzaku and Kallen were floating head over heels in the water as the currents around the leviathan shifted just beside them. The duo's eyes snapped open just as the enormous creature swam right past them and away. In mere seconds its figure was blurry and vanishing into the ocean away from the Aurora. Away from them.

BANG BANG BANG

The banging of metal against metal was loud within the water's endless expanse. It was obvious. It was also obvious that whoever was doing this was doing it on purpose as it went along a three patterned beat.

It could only be one person.

"You son of a- Lelouch." Suzaku whispered. "You absolute idiot. You- You self sacrificing motherf-" With a noise akin to a strangling, dying animal the brunette roughly grabbed Kallen's shoulders and they began swimming back up towards the surface.

"Watch the arm Suzaku!" Kallen jerked her injured arm away with a snap. Blue eyes glaring teary eyed up at the Britannian soldier, only to widen in shock as he gazed back.

BANG BA-

The creature's roar was soft and distant in the ocean, and the sound of banging metal was no more.

Olive green eyes surrounded by glowing red rings and dilated pupils shakily stared back down at her. "Sorry." He apologized, but immediately began swimming back up to the surface and the Aurora. "But we have to hurry. We can't let this chance go to waste."

Kallen's mouth was opened to say something, but nothing but air left her lips for a solid second. "...I.. uh.." She couldn't even finish her sentence because Suzaku was taking hold of her good arm and together the two were breaching the surface and booking it towards the Aurora.

. . .

"This advanced deployable is a catch-all solution for mimicking the behavior of a living creature, for purposes of scientific research or predator evasion. The creature decoy vibrates, cycles air and water, and sends out randomized, high-frequency sound waves to emulate a living organism. May be hand-placed, or launched from compatible Cyclops submarines. Short on-board battery provides a limited lifespan.

Attracts predators of all kinds."

Lelouch slammed his metal cape extensions against the pathetic floating remains of lifepod four like his life depended on it. Well, maybe not his life exactly, but a life nonetheless. His helmeted head dunked under the water while his extensions slammed the flipped over top of the lifepod leaving scratches and even more dents in its frame.

Within the water, Lelouch screamed.

He screamed and cried out like a madman as loudly and as long as he could.

If I can make enough noise and sound like a wounded animal crying for help. Maybe it'll target me instead. Lelouch took his head out of the water for only a second to regain the oxygen in his O2 tank, before dunking back under again to scream his voice hoarse.

He'd abandon the lifepod and make a mad dash towards the Aurora after he had the leviathan's focus on him. It was stupid, foolishly so. The chances of making it to the Aurora before the creature grew a brain and gave chase were practically non-existent. He was only decreasing his chances of survival even less by doing this, and for what?

For two people that were probably dead already? Yes. He'd risk that chance if there was even a shrapnel worth's possibility they could somehow, miraculously survive.

He'd at least pull off that miracle. He could pull this off. Zero was the Man of Miracles after all. Practically a pro both on Earth and 4546B.

Yeah.

He saw the leviathan take the Seamoth's crumbled remains down to the dark depths one last time. If Kallen and Suzaku were still trapped inside, they would've died from being crushed. At least that was a more peaceful death than from consumption by sea alien abomination.

Lelouch pulled his head out of the water again after hearing a faint roar, almost like a reply, from the beast of the deep. Panting loudly the revolutionary sneered down at the ocean with almost a mad look in his dichromatic eyes.

"If- If they're dying then so am I, but you can bet your nonexistent ass I'm not going down without a fight you demon!" The raven haired teen yelled defiantly to the ocean and the creature beneath. He could see it now, those red marks swimming just beneath him under the ocean's surface, roaring, looking for him.

As if it heard him, the reaper turned its body towards his direction, and charged with a roar.

Just as those mandibles spread out and lunged for the lifepod, Lelouch jumped.

Diving off to the side as the reaper leviathan breached the ocean's surface once more to ultimately tear the leftovers of the lifepod into four measly chunks. One of which was instantly swallowed down into the creature's gullet that could consume a human whole.

Lelouch dived too late however. He didn't get far enough away before the creature's pectoral fin swept under his legs and sent him spinning head over heels before face planting into the water.

"Oof-" The breath rushed from Lelouch's lungs as he went under. Seconds after, the revolutionary was caught in the stomach by one of the creature's four tail fins. "Ahh! OOH shit!" His cape extensions wrapped tightly around the creature's tail alongside his arms, and refused to let go even as the daylight began to slowly vanish the further they went down.

As soon as the leviathan swallowed a piece of the lifepod, it immediately began stuttering and was overcome with great spasms. The creature practically stopped in its swimming tracks as it choked on the inedible materials. It hunched over, floating in the ocean as its roar turned into half baked choking screeches. It flailed mindlessly, wildly in the water as if that would help dislodge the piece stuck in its throat.

Lelouch meanwhile, was stuck holding on for dear life as if he was in an underwater rodeo. Stuck holding on or risking getting smacked into paste by a stray fin or writhing mandible bisecting him.

The teen's voice, already screamed raw, was practically gone at this rate. His jaw cracked open yet no sound rushing out as he was viciously jarred all over the place.

Finally, the leviathans' struggles were too much to handle, and with one brutal swing of its tail Lelouch was torn off and sent free floating through the water. His cape extensions had gripped so hard that a few bloody red scales were ripped away from the creature as well. Seconds after the creature finally dislodged the piece stuck in its throat. Bits of yellow blood floating out of its mouth into the water, and with a final roar of enraged pain the reaper turned tail and swam back down deeping into the ocean's depths.

Back towards wherever the hell it came from. Off to sit and heal on its wounds or find easier to kill prey Lelouch figured it was both. A creature like that always had to be hungry.

The raven haired teen watched, practically paralyzed as he idly floated in the ocean, as the demon disappeared.

Only after he couldn't hear the reaper's roar did Lelouch finally, frantically move into action. All limbs scrambling in the water before regaining a sense of direction and heading up, just barely managing to avoid hitting his head on a huge, stray metal beam.

That beam was connected to an enormous metal frame belonging to a familiar Alterra ship.

As dichromatic eyes looked up, tears watered the corners of his eyes as the realization the leviathan dragged him underneath the Aurora hit him hard. The Alterra ship just finished shifting and sand floating mindlessly in the water all around him, nearly blinding him from anything else.

The creature unknowingly did him a solid and deposited him practically right where he needed to be.

Slowly, with stiff, sore limbs and with his soul having practically left his body, Lelouch went up.

. . .

When the revolutionary breached the surface of the water he made extra sure to be right by the Aurora as he did so. A broken, metal floor sloping just enough for Lelouch to pitifully crawl on with shaky limbs. As soon as he was out of the water completely, he collapsed.

Dichromatic eyes were hazy, vision blurry as a deep, painful sense of vertigo hit him especially hard in that exact moment. It felt like he was about to be sick after all of the events that had just passed.

He had survived. Somehow. Some way. He had lived.

Since the F.L.E.I.J.A hasn't been introduced in this timeline yet, I've made the trio somewhat unfamiliar with radiation. They are in no way experts, but just like everything else on 4546B they're being smart and avoiding what consequences being exposed to it has.

I decided to make it so that if everyone was going to look for the main lifepods their coordinates wouldn't be corrupted. Mainly because if they were, the trio wouldn't bother going to look for them. The chances of anyone else surviving were already low, to them those with corrupted coordinates would have no chance. Also, just because the sea creatures (leviathans) are confined into their respective environments in the game doesn't mean I'll apply that to this story all the time. The ocean's huge and open for free roam. Just a note.

Also, I know the ghost leviathan only eats microscopic lifeforms and only attacks because they're super territorial. What happened with the sand shark was that the ghost leviathan rammed into it with its hammerhead extensions and killed it. They're aggressive bois that don't like to share territory. 'Get off my lawn!' as they'd probably say.

I've given the trio their time to shine with the three different leviathans for their first encounters. The reaper, the ghost, and the sea dragon leviathans. Just these moments and thoughts in my head give me the motivation to continue the story. The leviathans are so, so terrifyingly cool. I think you knew what was gonna happen when you saw this chapter's title. ;)

Anyways. 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.

Otherwise, I'll be seeing you guys in chapter 13! -MoonlightWright :D