Spanish guitar intensifies

Kallen Stadtfeld, Knight of Ten

Somewhere

Sometime later

Recently, as in the last twenty-four hours, Kallen had doubled the number of times she experienced excruciating aching all over her poor bruised body upon waking up in an unfamiliar setting. Which was definitely unsettling, seeing as she was doubling a number that by all accounts should be at zero.

However, it wasn't all negatives. At least she had the luxury of a proper mattress under her rear when she peeled her eyelids apart to be welcomed by the sterile ceiling of a hospital bedroom. Also, she wasn't in as much suffering as when Marrybell detonated a brick of explosives under her ass.

"That… fucking bitch, I'll strangle her with her own guts." Kallen mumbled bitterly under her breath, it will never not irk her to remember how the eleventh princess played her like a fiddle. "…Fiddles, fucking kill me." Her detest for Marrybell was starting to strain even Kallen's opinion on instruments.

"-I hope you don't plan on seeking death after making us go through the trouble of saving you, sugar." To Kallen's left, a foreign voice announced itself. She turned and saw a full head of pink, but unlike Anya's pink, this one was more refined and decorated.

Kallen had uttered probably less than ten syllables to the massacre princess, so it put her in an awkward bind to have Euphemia as the person at her bedside. "Uhmm… yo."

"Yeeeees~ ma'am! A 'yo' to you as well." Full of youthful spirit, Euphemia beamed a childlike grin and gleefully saluted Kallen.

"So… emm, what're you up to, huh?" Her confusion wasn't expressed through her words alone, Kallen ensured her baffled and alerted glare was received by the smiling royalty.

As of late, she didn't have too high an opinion of Lelouch's sisters. And who could blame her?

"Just watching you, you know? I haven't talked to you in like- forever!"

"Yeah…" And I was keeping it that way. "…Hey, thanks for checking in, I-I guess. I just… I wasn't expecting you to be here." Kallen clumsily blabbed out her appreciation, doing what she could to keep the awkwardness in her system to a comfortable level.

"There's also something I didn't expect, you want to know what that is?" Euphemia affectionately said, bobbing her head slightly from side to side. The perplexity within the Knight of Ten was starting to transform to something a bit more clearer, something a bit more worrying.

"…No?" She absolutely wasn't feeling curious, but her dialogue options were rather limited.

"I surely didn't know you were actually Japanese! How delightful is that, buttercup?" Kallen could feel the rapid decrease in her body temperature down to the precise degree, a haunted glint was shimmering beneath Euphemia's violet lens.

Is my life a joke… Frankly, Kallen was more miffed than anything else, she just did not need this piled on top of all her mounting problems.

Gruelling, Kallen struggled to clench a fist tight enough to assure her of her physical competence. By her rough assessment, she wasn't so fragile that a sneeze would doom her, but a healthy teenager with a killing intent unequivocally could. Facing what could end up as the most roundabout way for the reaper to collect her soul, Kallen almost snickered at the princess' violent desire as she reached for a long wand on her belt.

Goddamn Lelouch, this is actually all your fault. Couldn't have said anything else at any other time. Who knew one accidental Geass discharge could cause so much damage, and a second deliberate one didn't even solve the issue.

"W-Wait a minute, where did you hear I'm Japanese?" Understanding her disadvantage, Kallen fuelled her inner bomb disposal spirit to defuse the situation from getting too intense.

"The other Japanese, the ones Suzaku wouldn't let me kill, they were all calling you by a different name, I heard them with my own ears!" The pink-haired maniac had brought her sceptre into plain sight, those four-pointed tips sure seemed like they would hurt. "You can't lie to me. I know you used to be with the Black Knights, that means I can kill you!"

The wounded knight teetered herself to the edge of the bed far away from danger, putting distance between her and a pummelled face. "Just hold on, okay? Think about this; how does having a Japanese name make me Japanese?" Where Kallen was going with this, she couldn't rightly tell.

"How does- what? Japanese people have Japanese names! What're you bleeding on about?" While her blunt tool wasn't disarmed, Kallen's philosophical debate did calm Euphemia's deranged bloodlust.

In desperation, a stroke of genius inspired Kallen. "But if you end up marrying Suzaku, what would your name be?"

"Euphemia li Britannia…? Why would I take his last name? I'm royalty." Suzaku's soon-not-to-be wife effortlessly answered, her victim's muted daze only compounded her bewilderment at the direction of their conversation.

Motherfucker! This selfish bitch! But not to worry, Kallen wasn't dry of mind-twisters for the Geass-compelled murderer just yet. "Okay, okay. Forget my last. But that still doesn't make me Japanese, because… I'm adopted!" She just kept digging her hole deeper.

"…Adopted? Really?" It was real as long as it lowered Euphemia's guard and her pointy stick.

It did cross Kallen's mind to just mention the truth, that she was a half-blood. Although that came with the risk of being half-dead, and it wasn't something she wanted to experience twice. "Look, it's complicated. I'm not gonna tell you my life story, but I'm not Japanese at all."

"Adopted… but- no… I want to kill the…" The Round's profound puzzle seemed to be doing wonders preserving her sorry life. Euphemia had totally abandoned her lethal objective and instead was mumbling nonsense to herself, the only hint remaining of her possessed tenacity was the insane sparkle left in her eyes. "What did he say…? Kill all Japanese…? Kill the Japanese?"

Against her better judgement, Kallen elected to give the confused killer another nudge towards an existential crisis. "You know, Lelouch once gave this speech about what it means to be Japanese. He was all like: woah, what is a Japanese? Is it the language? The land? The heritage?"

"What makes a person… Japanese?"

"Yeah, yeah! And your boyfriend was there too, they agreed that—" In the outermost fringe of her vision, Kallen spotted the door sliding open. "-They agreed that— SUZAKU! Get her off me!"

Luckily, the Knight of Zero's denseness didn't dull his lightning-fast reaction. Before Euphemia even registered what was going on, she was already restrained by the wrists and her lethal weapon was confiscated in the blink of an eye. Suzaku pinned her hands behind her back, ripping the spectre from her before patting her down for any supplementary acute objects.

"Oh! Oh my! How very assertive of you, love." Yet the unfazed princess managed to giggle innocently when she was caught red-handed in the process of homicide.

"Euphie! What's going on?"

"Hey, hey, relax! It's still me! I was just messing around with… Miss Koolzuki here? -Is that right?" Brighter than a ray of mid-spring sunshine, the massacre princess was completely pleasant while twisting the fabrics of reality to compose her blatant lie.

"Oh bullshit! -Your girlfriend is trying to bash my face in like the world's bloodiest Piñata! …And it's Kōzuki! You filthy gaijin!" Not that Kallen still went by that, but it didn't sit right with her to hear her mother's name butchered.

"It was a joke! I just wanted to give you a spook! I always knew you weren't full Britannian. What's wrong with having a laugh about it?"

Two girls staring down Suzaku had vastly dissimilar intentions, but it shouldn't come as a surprise who the unruffled knight chose to believe. "This is obviously not funny, and will never be funny, Euphie."

"C'mon! I'm not hurting anyone! I'm in full control here! Otherwise, I'd smothered her in her sleep."

"Euphie- Euphie, listen… you can't just…" Suzaku pulled Euphemia closer to him and further away from the bedside, his intense glare filled with complicated emotions was a rare display of unfeigned fluster from the Lancelot's Devicer. "You might be fine having me always babysitting you, but I can't circle you twenty-four seven."

"Then don't! No need to treat me like a cripple! I can take care of myself!"

"Not from what I've seen, alright?! You're crossing a line…! And this spectre is not for you!" Hushing the pitch of his scolding, Suzaku dragged his princess to the opposite corner of the room where their discussion continued out of Kallen's earshot. Once it concluded, Suzaku alone returned to her while leaving Euphemia by her lonesome.

"I… I'm sorry about that, Kallen. She slipped out of my sight, I kinda let my guard down after we left Japan." Sheepishly, Suzaku apologized for his girlfriend's action.

It wasn't like the Knight of Ten was completely oblivious about Euphemia's unbridled tendencies. Both Lelouch and Suzaku had clearly warned her about the resurrected girl's innate desire for Japanese blood, it was a battle she waged against the demon within herself, one that she doesn't always win.

"Don't worry about it, man. If she says it's a joke, it's a joke." Contrasting the pros and cons of venting her annoyance at Suzaku, Kallen eventually decided to not blame him for a fault that was ultimately at the feet of destiny. "It's not like she really wants to kill me."

"Well, she does, that's why she does it."

"Listen, buddy! I'm letting this one go, so just take the hint, alright!?"

"…Thanks."

Having reverted back to the present, Kallen bunglingly slouched her sluggish body to the edge of the medical bed. When the blankets glided off her torso, she saw herself wrapped in clean bandages from the chest up and dressed in a modest hospital gown. The injured ace pulled her arms back for some basic stretches, to her mild delight, her shoulders and triceps only stung marginally.

"Hey, I wasn't fondled in my sleep, was I?"

"You know all we have here are professionals." Kallen shook her head at Suzaku's missing funny bone, she didn't know what she expected.

"Do you know what's going on with me then?" A pessimistic Kallen didn't think she was going to like what her fellow Round would say, one way or another.

"It depends, are you looking to work?"

"I rest when I die."

"Then you're in for a ride." Suzaku calmly stated.

A small capsule of pills was tossed her way by Suzaku. Despite her wounds, Kallen detected no noticeable deterioration in her reaction time and hand-eye coordination. The text on the label was too small for anyone without a pharmaceutical license to read, So the red-haired knight didn't even bother.

"Take two of these before you have to move a lot."

"How about my face?" Bluntly, Kallen demanded to know the condition of where it hurt her the most. The sensation of her head swathed in cloth hadn't disappeared since she last went to sleep, so partially she already knew the answer.

"Well…" That was where Suzaku struggled to not come off as too insensitive. "You're not getting away without a scar." And failed miserably.

"Is that right…?"

"The surgery was successful, but the damage was too extensive, they couldn't fix everything." The Knight of Zero paused, briefly glancing over the anguish in Kallen's veiled brow before continuing. "The doctors said you should keep the bandages on for at least a week, and don't take any more damage to your… that place."

"Yeah, yeah. Avoid getting punched in the kisser, I get you." Kallen lightly traced her fingers across her enveloped cheeks, where her beauty used to be. The gauze over her skin felt tighter than before, but somehow more comfortable. If she just sealed her eyes and ignored the despondency, she could almost pretend she was actually wearing a balaclava instead.

"Anything else you need?"

"Why are you telling me all this instead of the doctors?"

"Hmm…" Searching for a retort, Suzaku appeared to be rattling his brain. "I guess the doctors trust me not to fondle you."

Kallen was almost startled for a moment there, although she did recall Suzaku having his own flashes of wittiness from time to time. She rewarded his sparse wisecrack with a short burst of chuckle, shooting a respectful smirk his way. "Alright, smartass. Now leave me alone so I can get changed."

"Come to the bridge for your briefing, we're getting close to Britannian waters."

"Hold on, just where am I again?" That was an imperative detail that Kallen just fetched from her mind's archive.

"Welcome aboard Hotel Avalon, enjoy your short stay."

— —

The quietude of a vacant hospital room left Kallen with only the meaningless noise resonating inside of her skull. Where she was now, who she was; those were the tip of the iceberg when it came to feeling agnostic about herself.

Am I back in it?

Kallen slipped her bare feet into the pair of slippers neatly presenting itself on the floor beside where she slept, they were neither too tight nor too loose. The first step coming out of invalidity was heavy on her entire body, the balance between the legs she was so used to sent her on a wobbly stumble sideways until she smashed her sore pelvis into the nightstand.

"Ow-ow-ow, ouch." It didn't hurt that much physically. Her pride took the brunt of the impact for her. "Forgot to wiggle my big toe…" It sounded funnier in her head, Kallen had to admit.

On the nightstand that she held accountable for the traffic accident, Kallen discovered a folded piece of scrap paper tidily tucked away under the alarm clock. Assuming the note was left on purpose for her, the Knight of Ten picked up the page and flattened out its content for a cleaner look.

In graceful handwritten Japanese, it read: "To my good friend Kallen. Unfortunately, we missed the opportunity to properly reunite with each other, your swift recovery is more important to me than a bit of catching up. I understand many things have happened since the day you left us, but rest assured I feel only relief and happiness knowing your good health is true. I wish for another chance at a reunion if you eventually find a suitable occasion, order a serving of Rakshata's specialty curry anytime you want to get in touch."

Kallen revealed an evanescent flash of reminiscing in her expression at the mention of the Indian scientist's cookery, which didn't exist legally or should ever exist pragmatically.

That woman can overcook water. However, the joke of Rakshata's cooking had become a code phrase to contact a curry restaurant she owned under a pseudonym as a front for the Black Knight's more illicit activities, it was for when all other means of communication had failed.

We kept that one around, huh…

Peeking at the bottom of the letter, there was a short postscript for her: "Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I hope you're still yourself."And then there was no more text.

"Ohgi… you silly goofer." Kallen didn't need to see his name to distinguish her old team leader's handwriting. Reading a farewell letter was miles better than confronting the comrades she left in the dust. For once the Britannian knight was glad she overslept and missed a meeting.

Their paths might have diverged as far as the two poles of the earth, but it warmed her heart knowing he still considered her a trustworthy friend when they pitched their tents worlds apart and under opposing banners.

However, Kallen couldn't afford to be ensnared by the nostalgia of a bygone life, despite the beckoning of those fond memories she kept within her heart's locker. There now existed something more significant to her than the dreams of the past, it was her path to the future that needed rescuing from devastation.

Lelouch… I'll be there. Understanding which foot she was putting forward, Kallen carried herself with resolute conviction as she unhooked a new set of flight suit and cape left for her by the closet.

— —

"Alright! Who's ready to go at them!?" That was the first thing to come out of Kallen's mouth when she stepped foot into Avalon's bridge.

"…Glad to see you're still on top." Suzaku flaunted his polite recognition through a casual salute to the Knight of Ten. He stood to the right of the Aerial battleship's throne where a relaxing Euphemia sprawled.

Fortunately for Kallen, the massacre princess appeared too distracted in the mundane banter with her older sister.

Never before in the history of civilization had she actually been grateful to breathe the same oxygen as Cornelia and her slick-looking knight in shades, who Kallen just realized was the same guy the Black Knights rescued after Tokyo was blown to another dimension.

Where did she even come from? Kallen's nosiness was inquisitive, albeit her self-control was immense. Cornelia could come from wherever she pleased and go wherever she wanted, the one Britannia used to label their 'Goddess of Victory' already had the last chapter of her tale written and closed.

Relic of the past, huh… It was funny how things worked, that given the passage of time, eras end and eras dawn.

"Okay, I'm sure this is everyone. Let's get serious now, quiet down." Suzaku raised his voice to edge out the many murmuring in the bridge. Kallen's presence seemed to kickstart the serious hour of the capital's defense.

Kallen scanned the room again, taking in all the familiar and new faces she would be working with. Other than the aforementioned royalties and knights, Jeremiah and Anya were the two pilots she instantly recognized. There were also team Camelot's Cecile on AWACS duty and Lloyd acting like a clown, the pair always managed to lighten the mood wherever their hijinks go.

Suzaku pressed some buttons on the computer by his station, the main screen projected the course of their ship along with lots of text too small to read. "Current time is… thirteen O seven. We're fifty minutes out from Pendragon airspace. The estimation for the Glinda Knights' movement puts them about three hours ahead of us, so they've been active in Pendragon for that long by now."

"Thus far, Pendragon has not sent out any distress signals on either the public or secure channels, so it's safe to assume things are still covert if Marrybell's forces are on the ground." The Knight of Zero claimed, moving the presentation along to the next slide. "The order from Pale-King before going offline prioritizes the evacuation of the surrounding population and the palace as opposed to a pre-emptive strike—"

"-Yeah, the guy is soft at the weirdest places." Kallen cut in, replacing Suzaku in the speaking role. "Depending on the situation, I believe he wants us to de-escalate the fighting if it hasn't developed to a full-blown war. Again, depending on if the stuck-up princess wants—"

"-Hey!" Now the cycle of interruption had claimed Kallen as the next victim. From the comfy throne, Euphemia complained or jested, Kallen honestly couldn't tell.

"Not you, your Highness, get in line." The pink-haired brat exhibited a cutesy pout, but Kallen dismissed the messed-up girl for Suzaku to tend. "Anyway, if Marrybell wants a war; we'll kill her. If she wants the throne; well, we'll kill her too."

"We haven't decided on that yet." Apparently, the Lancelot's Devicer was none too pleased with Kallen's unabashed brutality.

"I'm definitely putting that bitch six feet under."

Suzaku only shook his head, uninterested in prolonging a debate against Kallen's vengeance. "We'll discuss this later, let me continue the briefing." He clicked around the keyboard some more, bringing up more diagrams of their upcoming tactics. "We have four wings from Base Edwards already encircling the city, they're on station to repel enemy air contact if the situation escalates. For now, three battalions of army troops on the ground are assisting the local police directing the civilians away from the palace."

"We don't know how the evacuation effort is going in there, the Royal Guards outside the building are ordered to keep radio silent until the process is complete so as to not alert Marrybell. If things get hot, standard procedure dictates a complete lockdown of the palace and we'll know when it does. In the case we're on the ground, have eye protection at all times and beware of their Geass operative capable of taking the appearance of someone else. Make sure you stay alert."

That was the big picture of the upcoming conflict, Kallen assumed. Big pictures were good and all, but what boggles the mind more was where she was going to be. "And us?" So naturally, she asked.

"This ship alone lacks the fire or manpower necessary to alter the outcome of the war…" When the Knight of Zero replied to Kallen's proactive glare with only a calming nod, she knew he wasn't planning to sit back and watch the fireworks. "However, we're in the age of aces. A single pilot can change the course of history- well, that's what Lelouch believes."

"He is right." Kallen effortlessly agreed.

"I'm sure. That's why only those of us seeking to sortie will, nobody is forced to go anywhere." Suzaku flowed his determined gaze across each of the talented pilots on the bridge, each and every pair of eyes he saw shimmered a flash of resolute willpower.

"Snapshot ready for tasking." The first to speak was the Knight of Six, she seemed to have nothing against taking to the skies.

"Likewise." Jeremiah also agreed to fly.

"Not gonna count me out, yeah?" Kallen gave herself a nomination, making sure her spot was reserved once her Guren is retrieved.

"For you, Lotus, you'll hitch a ride with one of us until we can drop you on as near the hangar as possible for you to grab your Knightmare."

"Solid."

Part of Kallen desperately wanted to be on the search for Lelouch instead, thinking that he must be somehow down in the clutter if he stowed away on Marrybell's ship. But that was her irrational self demanding immediate satisfaction and forsaking the broader scope of the conflict. She understood Lelouch's rescue laid with either the Royal Guards in the palace or the army surrounding the city, both were places she didn't belong.

On the ground, Kallen was just another soldier. However, in the sky, she was the wrath of a thousand suns.

"I'll join you as well, Kururugi." An unforeseen participant, Cornelia voted to assist the help she used to hate. "On the condition, you keep this ship out of harm's way."

"Sis…" Understanding her motive, Euphemia gently clinched onto her older sister's hand.

Cornelia shared an affectionate smile for her long-lost sibling, giving her hair a docile stroke and placing a tender kiss on her forehead. "If it's keeping you safe, Euphie. I can help out Lelouch as a bonus."

"That's a pretty big bonus." The two imperial sisters cuddled again, smiling brightly.

"Then you shall have my aid as well, Sir Kururugi." Guilford, Cornelia's favourite knight, also joined the fray.

Their famed ace squadron was now fully assembled, and what an odd bunch they were.

"All of you, I am very grateful. Let's put a swift end to this bloodshed. Are there any questions?" Nobody objected to Suzaku's gratitude or strategy. "Then let's get ready and check our frames, dismissed."

Suzaku might be missing the dazzling charisma or the cunning schemes Lelouch was associated with as the leader of everything he was a part of, but the Japanese pilot could still manage an insightful briefing without crashing and burning the ship.

— —

"…A bit closer."

"Like this?"

"…Yes." In her outstretched arm was Anya's prized smartphone, the weirdly shaped one in pink. After the click of the virtual shutter in her phone's camera, the selfie featuring two esteemed Knights of Round was shared between her and Kallen. "Record successful."

"Looks good. Like a picture from the Mummy ride at Universal." Kallen honestly enjoyed the self-deprecating humour available to her now that she was scarier than the underside of a child's bed on Halloween night.

"…Come here." Anya dragged her friend down to her eye-level, careful not to apply too much pressure as she loosened the bandage stuck to the redhead's hair. It didn't take too long before many crimson strands were allowed to breathe as they poked out between the gaps.

"You like playing with my hair, hon?"

"It's a better look… very edgy." Kallen was rather neutral about the face that stared back at her in Anya's camera, maybe she was almost getting used to seeing herself under a sheet of white.

"Edgy like a sharp blade is who I am." The cloth across her face slightly shifted as they concealed Kallen's moody smile. She couldn't put her fingers on why, but it felt nice knowing Anya was looking out for her in her own peculiar ways.

The PA system buzzed alive, a message for the crew in the hangar forthcoming. "—Catapult final check complete. Snapshot 1-0 to the front, standby for takeoff."

"…That's me."

"Sounds like it."

Kallen's bandages obscured a melancholic glint in her irises as she watched Anya ascend the rope elevator of her Mordred.

A girl so petite, so young, going out to partake in a war not of her design. Even if she was a renowned Devicer, even if she took an oath to serve, it still wasn't right for someone to dangle themselves between life and death to solve the tyranny of a mad ruler.

All of this is on your head, Marrybell. And it's only coming off with it.

"Stay safe out there, don't make me pick up your refrag!" Kallen shouted after Anya's shrinking figure as she hopped to her cockpit block.

"You won't get the chance, I'm a true ace." Anya replied in her usual monotone, making it onerous to discern the sarcasm in her voice.

"Go break a leg!"

"…Not mine." When there was no time left for another sentence, Anya's cockpit sealed shut and the Mordred taxied out of the hangar towards the catapult.

"Kallen! We're up next, get in." Behind her, Suzaku's composed shout for attention got what he wanted. The wingless pilot pivoted away from the empty spot she stood and marched to where the ashen machine was waiting.

Joining her long-time nemesis and reconciled rival, Suzaku lent a hand for Kallen to climb aboard his glamorous Lancelot. Obviously borrowing a lift from the Britannia's white reaper wasn't the ideal ride to share, but he was in fact the fastest pilot around, and she had that need for speed if she wanted to reclaim her own steed.

"Damn, it's roomy in here." Kallen commented once the cockpit closed, making her realize there was a comparable difference in proportion between the two ninth-generation frames.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, you might have to jump once we're on station." Of course, since asking for a soft landing was too demanding.

"Ready for a hot drop."

The tracks under them slid forward, entrenching them on the outward path. "—Zero, Sociopath to Zero. All KMF status green, you're go for takeoff. Callsign is Reaper 3-0, confirm." Cecile, in charge of air traffic, radioed in to announce their permission to depart.

"—Good copy, Sociopath. Reaper 3-0 is away."

"—Reaper, your squadron will link up with the 43rd Wing for a joint-operation of securing the city or capturing it depending on the situation. Your team is tasked to be the spearhead and seize the palace in the case that it has fallen to enemy control."

"—Roger, 3-0 owns the sky."

The booster engaged, the Landspinners propelled, the energy wings unfurled, and the machine of engineering marvel blasted off. The Lancelot Albion soared away in the direction of the azure sky above Pendragon, the lonely blue that lacked its protector in the hour with a pending invasion at the doors.

— —

"—Resay your last, Snapshot 1-0. Did not copy."

"—Requesting confirmation on mission details: if there are no official transmissions outbound from Pendragon, are there private ones?"

"—What do you mean?" Observing the conversation between Suzaku and Anya from behind his seat, Kallen noticed the young knight's frown tipping upwards in trifling intrigue.

"—Can I call Gino on the phone?"

In a pause too long to ignore, Suzaku was dumbfounded by Anya's arbitrary yet ingenious suggestion, to the point that he started to mumble a bunch of slurring nonsense. "That's- yeah, we totally can… wait, hold on… no, we can't. Our signal bounces off satellites, it's not secure if Pendragon's telecommunication department is compromised. No- wait, wait, it could work. We should be in range of the LTE towers by now, we can just call him on cellular."

The range of emotions Suzaku went through in the five seconds he took to deduce whether ringing someone over the phone was almost hilarious, if not just a tiny bit concerning. "You okay, man?"

"I haven't done this much thinking in a long time, it's so much easier to take orders than to give them. I will never know how Lelouch does it."

"That is the big money question, friend." Kallen awarded Suzaku a few cordial pats on the back for his effort which he amicably accepted. "So, is it safe to buzz your boy?"

Instead of answering her, Suzaku provided his instruction to the one most addicted to her electronics. "—Anya, encrypt your call and give it a try, see if you can figure out what's going on down there."

Gino Weinberg, Knight of Three

Imperial Capital Pendragon, recreation centre

"…I don't think I understand this movie."

"It's just a funny thing. It's by the guy who did a bunch of animation work on the second Matrix movie."

"But… why are they beans?"

"Errm… because beans are rad~ duuuuude~!" Breaking into a comical hoot halfway through explaining the movie to Dorothea, Rivalz sought for a high-five with his good pal on the couch.

"Hell yeah! Beans are the dopest… the dopest beans around!" Gino enthusiastically returned the slap on Rivalz's open palm, priding himself for never letting a brother hang.

"Dude… they're beans, dude~! …Beans! Beans! Beans—!"

"-Beans! Beans! Beans! Beans!" The two chanted the praise for the coffee seeds on-screen performing consecutive backflips while shooting other coffee seeds gun-fu style.

It would be the worst film of all time if Gino watched it alone, but that was why he was watching it with Lelouch's celebratory party organizer and the Knight of Four. It was strange how good company just elevated the enjoyment of almost everything by at least half a dozen units of fun.

Dorothea had on the expression of a single mother too tired to properly discipline her children after working the whole day earning illegitimate income, so she simply shook her head and kept her ambiguous thoughts to herself. Maybe she was wondering how she got roped into hanging out with two of the coolest guys in the capital, Gino just didn't know.

Around that time something was happening in the movie, it was an action scene between the protagonist bean and a darker-looking bean, which was pretty slick. "Dude… that bean's name is literally 'Dark bean'. Isn't that a bit- like… wack?"

Unprepared for Rivalz's sudden quiz, Dorothea leaned up from her slump and paid attention. "What? You asking me?"

"I mean… you okay with that?"

"…I'm not black! I'm indigenous you asshole!"

"-Woah, woah! That's a bit extreme, let's not get so offensive now." Gino had to muffle a laugh into his can of soda. Rivalz was really getting bolder by the day, finding the balls to mess with a Knight of Rounds, especially one who didn't realize she was the butt of the joke.

Tragically, Gino had to divert his attention from the ongoing epic prank when his laptop buzzed a notification. He dragged the mouse across the screen to inspect the news, but it turned out to be nothing more than a coupon email sent to his personal account.

"Hey, you two down for some Pizza Hut? I just got a discount." Interrupting Rivalz's imminent liquidation by a pissed off Dorothea, he happily declared the promotion for the savoury goods he received.

"Oh, dude! Lelouch's consort loves that shit, the chick is an absolute pizza connoisseur." Ignoring Dorothea's deathly glare, Rivalz mentioned.

"Dude… based—" When the blonde knight was about to air his non-sequitur comment, the earth itself shook in a raging protest.

In reality, it was a sudden deafening boom outside the window that rudely sundered the laid back vibe in the recreation room Gino worked so hard to maintain. His animosity for that disruption had to be put on ice due to the horrific nature of an explosion occurring in the Britannia capital.

And it sounded really close, way too close.

"Get down!" Gino shouted an instinctual warning to the two playfully scuffling on the sofa, himself exerting a crouched stance to put his mind into focus. Being a trained soldier herself, Dorothea didn't skip out on heightening her senses as she bent Rivalz down behind the counter.

Pendragon under attack wasn't an unimaginable concept, no sovereigns ever had been so arrogant as to think the capital of Britannia was untouchable. However, following the practiced procedure for such a scenario during a drill was rather different from the real deal.

Nonetheless, while Gino still had a cool head above his shoulders, he wasn't planning on panicking just yet. After making sure no immediate danger was on the verge of bursting down from the ceilings or busting down the door, the Knight of Three cautiously moved closer to the shattered window oriented towards the explosion.

When Gino peeked out, what he saw was exactly what he had expected.

Smoke in the distance, panic in the air. Flickers of blazing fire lit up the streets and buildings like fireworks in the night. Faraway gunfire reverberated in a meaningless rhythm as a wave of alarms sounding through the hallway drowned out the firefight near the court.

"What're you seeing?"

Gino tried to peek a bit harder, but squinting his eyes didn't change the view of chaos. "Nothing good. It's not an accident, I can tell you that. That explosion came from Saint Darwin Street." He took his sight off the outside to reply to Dorothea.

"Hmm? Did something just flash?" While he was turned around, apparently the Knight of Four witness something atypical.

Gino followed Dorothea's gaze outwards, and in his peripheral, there was a trace of a line drawing across the sky. Following that streak, what he saw was an alien structure sticking out of the tip of the palace building where emptiness used to be.

Kallen Stadtfeld, Knight of Ten

Airspace over Pendragon

"—Gino isn't picking up."

"—Does he normally?" Suzaku asked the obvious, entreating Anya to contemplate her friendship with the easygoing knight.

"—Always." The one word was muttered with a prolific amount of emotion considering how stoic the short knight normally was.

Sitting behind Suzaku, Kallen had the privilege of sharing his perspective from within the cockpit. She could scan all the monitors he did, and some of the ones he did not. "Look, there's smoke." She pointed out the detail that soon became apparent as the squadron loomed closer to their home.

"You're right…" All the Japanese knight did was confirm the poor omen. All of them understood where there's smoke, there's fire; and in this case, fire meant destruction.

"—Snapshot 1-0 moving to scout ahead. Increasing airspeed." Anya radioed her intention to break formation and did so without gaining approval.

"—Snapshot, hold on! We don't know the situation over there. You're advised to approach with caution!"

"—Gino… might be in trouble, the city already is."

Suzaku snappishly clicked his tongue and rubbed his chin, restricting his annoyance to only manifest for a brief period. "—All units, Reaper 3-0. Increase throttle, we need to go see what's happening."

Despite outranking the Knight of Six, Suzaku didn't put his foot down to stop the impatient girl's advance. In hindsight, maybe that was the decision which saved them from the impending obliteration, although nobody knew what laid waiting for the visitors at the time.

The comms fizzled awake, drawing Kallen's attention to her earpiece. The noisy statics was soon clearing up to transmit Cecile's voice. "—AWACS Sociopath to all units. There is a high concentration of energy directly above the Imperial Palace building, any visual confirmations?"

Kallen looked for anything that resembled a 'high concentration of energy', but found nothing through the thick cloud of fumes rising from the capital. She was wise to assume the same of everyone else. "—Negative Sociopath, the smoke is obstructing visual."

"—All units, be advised. Satellite imagining is showing a structure at the tip of the- wait, is that a-?" Cecile paused in shock, leaving the pilots in suspense, albeit not for long. "—All units, caution! The energy beam- it's- it's firing! Evade! EVA—!"

When Avalon warned them, it was already far too late. When Kallen saw the brazen flash of pure light bolting past them in the shortest of seconds and blinding all sensors on the Lancelot Albion, it was beyond too late to do anything at that point.

"What the hell!? That wasn't a lighthouse!" Suddenly, the weight of just where she was and what she was doing dawned on her.

To fear for her own life, that was the first thing Kallen's intuition told her.

"That's… impossible! They shouldn't know-!" Too flabbergasted and a little bit scared to interpret the meaning of what Suzaku whispered to himself, Kallen glued her eyes to the displays looking for any hints to help her understand what happened as the world around her resumed.

By the time things were kicking back into real-time, the Knight of Ten almost wished to stay blissfully ignorant of the brewing disaster.

"—Hit- I'm hit- I'm hit. It pierced my shield…!" The radio sparkled to announce the worst news possible, Anya reported her status in a terrified tone she never before expressed. "—Snapshot 1-0 transmitting- my Knightmare is hit bad, I-I'm losing systems! No control, no control- I can't recover."

All at once, the radio was bustling with the worst type of traffic, shouts of panic and distress. "—Sociopath, Cyberpunk to Sociopath, Snapshot 1-0 is hit. Heavy damage."

In the moment of intense frenzy, it was difficult if not unfeasible to tell the voices of Kallen's companions apart from one another, all barring Anya's scared cries for help. "—Mayday, Mayday! Snapshot 1-0 cannot maintain attitude. I'm going down on grid Niner-Seven-Three-Three—" Her lines were starting to cut out abruptly, damage to her communication system too severe to transmit the entire message was the most likely culprit.

"—Snapshot, punch out! Punch out!" Suzaku recovered first and called out to the Mordred's Devicer, the peril endangering its pilot drove him to take the Lancelot into an intense dive chasing the burning trail of the plunging Knightmare.

Even if he ignored the Lancelot's fluttering electronics likely caused by the influx of electricity from the laser, the rickety trajectory of its descent still put Suzaku way out of range from his goal of rescuing the Mordred.

There was nothing any of them could do to save Anya, it became painfully obvious as her frame continued pummeling in freefall. "—I- I can't! Negati— it's stuck, my ejecti— stuck. I'm crashin—!"

The scorched metallic hulk of the Knightmare on fire nosediving from the sky slammed into the side of a high-rise, leaving behind a thunderous explosion as it disappeared from their radar and monitor.

"Jesus…! Is Anya…!?" The sentence flushed itself out of Kallen's mouth before she even decided on what to say, she freed herself from the harness to climb closer to the displays that were her only source of information when Suzaku didn't speak. "Hey! Show me her status! Is she okay!?"

It was a ruthless shove that pushed Kallen back into her corner, the fierce radiance in Suzaku's eyes was almost completely exhausted of his common sobriety. "Sit DOWN! Sit down and strap in! We're not in the clear!" His rhythmic breath noticeably amplified in volume, some droplets of sweat leaked down his neck.

Still, regardless of how poorly the circumstances were devolving into, Suzaku didn't allow himself to lose his composure. "—All units, break! Break! Take cover behind the buildings, this district should be mostly evacuated, don't get caught in the open!"

Some of the pilots were still boggled by the sudden eruption of mayhem surrounding them, but the alternative to finding their nerves amidst a battlefield was getting blown into smithereens.

A second shot rang out, its target was the large Air Group behind the foremost vanguard in disarray. Faster than a strike of lightning and more deadly than any thunderstorm, swarms of Knightmares were instantly swatted out of the blue.

The battle for Pendragon had begun. Boundless destruction and tremendous devastation were unceremoniously commenced by the searing light of a million degrees blasting through the atmosphere as double digits of lives were added to the ever-growing number of casualties.

"—What in the world was that?! When did we have a weapon like that constructed in the capital?" Kallen believed it was reasonable to assume the same question lingered in everyone's minds.

"—Spotted multiple Bogeys on radar, direct front, coming up from the primary hangar. They're on fast approach, not looking friendly." They were hard-pressed to find any positive news amidst all the confusion. and what Guilford reported was definitely not it.

"—Sociopath, all units. Snapshot 1-0 is lost. Did anyone see a chute?" Substantially shaken and frazzled, Cecile still managed to return to the channel to uphold her duty as their AWACS.

"—Negative, that's a negative, Sociopath. No chutes, no chutes. I was closest to her crash point. She went down with the KMF." That was Jeremiah's voice, sounding like his usual self if not also a bit perturbed.

"—Sociopath copies. That unknown weapon over the palace is charging up again, stay out of its line of sight. We're calculating its estimated power output, standby."

"—Is that necessary?! It's strong enough to shred the Mordred's Blaze Luminous, I don't believe the rest of us can take a hit like that." Cornelia was right to voice her concern. The two Vincent and one Lancelot in their flight hardly bolstered the same level of armour as Anya's frame.

"—We need to be faster than it, Sociopath. Is it possible to predict its projected targeting coordinates?" Guilford offered his suggestion, making a fair argument in the heat of battle.

"—We're working on it, but we have no available information on that weapon in our database. Whatever it is, it's not registered with any of our military research agencies."

"—Because it's a strictly classified project." Suzaku let out a short sigh, apparently still having some qualms about unveiling a massive secret. "—It's the last relic of Emperor Charles's legacy, a long-range anti-air anti-missile laser weapon. Bismarck oversaw its construction as far back as the eighties, it took them over a decade and billions of Pounds to build it."

"—A weapon even I don't know about…? Is this what father left behind…?" Cornelia commented, her tone was somewhat downtrodden.

"—It's meant to be the capital's last line of defense, Pendragon's sword in the stone… Excalibur."

— —

Author's note

Hey, just got this strange letter from Bandai Namco, wonder what it's about, hum?

I'm definitely somewhat conflicted about this reference to Ace Combat Zero, (and by reference I mean I just took what was in the game and casually relocated it.) all the ones before it had been more subtle, or something like that. But damn, I really just love the AC games so much. I mean, both AC0 and CG make allusions to Arthurian legend, so they're basically the same franchise, right?

(My favourites are Zero and Seven, you can tell because I reference them.)

Anyway, it's finally back to Kallen and the main boys, a very exciting time ahead. Big battles and boom booms for all. Minus Anya, maybe. Feels like I dropped too big of a death flag on her right before the sortie, and for that, I'm not very proud. But I feel it'll be even worse if she just gets sniped out of nowhere, so I prefer to be a bit more clear with the tropes in the story like this, it's also what I tried to do with Marrybell before officially revealing her as the antagonist.

Besides, it's not like I'm known for killing off characters, or for anything else, really.

What else I wanna mention? Hopefully, the militaristic dialogue isn't too cringe, I did what I could to make it sound realistic without being too boring. I watch war movies, sometimes, it's true.

So yeah, thanks for reading, as always. I'm still just working on this in my spare time, not really sticking to a tight schedule, hope you guys understand. Boost my numbers if you want to see more, doesn't hurt. Otherwise, let me know about any mistakes you spot, this chapter is a bit rough, not gonna lie.

~Yohoho! Who let Marrybell choose her coping mechanism just because it's her mental illness?