Chapter 7: "Initiation" V – His Name is Zero
On the rooftop of Ashford Academy, Kallen was speaking on the phone with Ohgi.
"What? That voice from Shinjuku contacted us?" Kallen asked unbelievably, before continuing, "hmm… I don't think that voice was Lelouch. Given that he needs to take care of his sister, it's not really a time for him to fight Britannia."
"I see… then it was someone else who contacted us," Ohgi answered, who was hiding somewhere in a ghetto.
"What did the voice want?" Kallen asked.
"He asked if we would like to rescue Suzaku Kururugi," Ohgi replied, surprising Kallen. Ohgi continued, "Indeed, if we save Kururugi, our team will grow larger."
Kallen showed a complicated expression as she heard what Ohgi had just said.
"Why did you look like that when you heard about the rescue mission? I thought you wanted to save all Japanese?" Gino asks the present day Kallen.
"Well, I have heard about Suzaku's name back then as someone who betrayed his country and his people, so I was not sure whether it was a right thing to do," Kallen answers as she is thinking back to that conversation with Ohgi. Was that the true reason? Or was it because she was a bit too keen to know who was behind that voice in Shinjuku and why did that person want to rescue Suzaku?
"You made the wrong decision, Ohgi-san and Kouzuki," Chiba is anxious to join the conversation to bash Suzaku, "You shouldn't have saved that traitor: look at what he had done to us Japanese!"
"But that's with the benefit of hindsight, isn't it?" Gino reasons as he looks at Chiba with his blue eyes, "You are speaking with the knowledge of what happened after, which is not fair to both Kallen and the Prime Minister."
"No I am not! I have always said that Kururugi was a traitor and we shouldn't waste any time on him!" Chiba vehemently defends herself.
"Uhm… well… that is…" Ohgi tries to join in the conversation, but stutters as he doesn't know what to say.
"In any case, rightly or wrongly, the rescue of Kururugi was a necessary action for the rise of Zero," Kaguya decides to jump in, "it helped Zero and, eventually, the Black Knights to gain the necessary momentum to rally people in rising up to the then seemingly undefeatable Britannia." Kaguya finishes her sentence while looking towards Tohdoh, and the stoic general nods to signal his agreement with the young UFN chairwoman.
Inside a government office, Jeremiah, Villetta, Kewell Soresei, other purist faction officers and Diethard Ried, a TV producer at Hi-TV, a Britannian television station, were discussing arrangements in view of the death of Prince Clovis. Jeremiah praised Diethard for the quality of the memorial programme he had produced for the fallen prince and extended his invitation to the TV producer to join the military, but Diethard respectfully declined and said working in the military was not his "cup of tea". Jeremiah didn't keep pushing Diethard to join the military, but instead requested for his assistance in helping to shoot the escorting of Suzaku Kururugi to his court martial.
"Lord Gottwald, there are those among the Elevens who see Private Kururugi as a hero. Some might very well make an attempt to free him," Villetta warned her superior.
"I'll be there personally aboard my Sutherland. If anyone even thinks of causing trouble, they will be executed on the spot," Jeremiah said in response.
"Tch, working for the military was not your 'cup of tea'? Then you must have endured many cups of bad tea when working for the Black Knights in the following two years!" Cornelia can't contain her contempt at the sly TV producer, scowling at Diethard's half-hearted explanation for declining joining the Britannian military.
"Speaking of Diethard, does anyone know where he is now?" Tohdoh asks.
"Not a clue, I thought he was with Prince Schneizel the last time we saw him?" Ohgi says as he looks towards Cornelia and Nunnally.
That only reminds Cornelia of herself being gunned down by Schneizel on the Damocles when the TV producer bastard was watching. "I have no idea," Cornelia says and turns away, her eyes close and her arms crossed in front of her enormous chest. Nunnally simply shakes her head and answers, "I wasn't near him most of the time when aboard the Damocles, so I don't know where he had gone to afterwards."
The next scene involved a running train on a monorail, with Kallen, Ohgi and several other resistance cell members scattered in the same cart. Kallen was holding her mobile phone attentively while trying to look around to pretend to be otherwise, but she immediately focused back onto her phone as it vibrated. "Yes?" Kallen answered the call.
"Face forward and look to your right. What do you see?" the voice inquired.
Kallen obliged and looked towards the right. "The Britannian city. It was stolen away from us and built on our sacrifice," she answered in a serious tone.
"And on the left?" the voice continued.
"I see our city," Kallen's anger was riled up as she answered, "Remnants of the desiccated city after the Britannians sucked it dry."
"Good answer. Now make your way to the front of the train." The call was then cut off.
Kallen walked to the front of the train, followed by Ohgi and others. She was not expecting what she was going to see: an empty cart with a masked man standing with his back facing her, dressed in a black costume.
"Was that… you?" Kallen asked the mysterious man hesitantly.
The man didn't answer.
"Well, was that you in Shinjuku? Was that cease fire your doing?" Kallen demanded.
The man suddenly turned towards the resistance group at the exact moment when the train entered the tunnel, darkening the whole cart.
"What do you think of my tour at the settlement?" the masked man asked.
"Your tour?" Ohgi didn't understand the question.
The masked man continued as he threw his left and right arm open, "I wanted you to fully grasp the two, the settlement and the ghetto."
"Yeah, we know. There is a difference between us and them. A very harsh one," Ohgi stepped in front of his group, facing the masked man, "And that's why we resist them…"
"You are wrong," the masked man cut off Ohgi, "Britannia will not fall to terrorism. It's nothing more than childish nuisance to them."
The resistance cell members did not like what they heard. Did the masked man just tell them in their face that they were playing childish games?
"You should know your enemy. It is not the people, but Britannia itself," the masked man continued in a gradually rising voice, "It is a war you must wage, but not on the innocent. Take up your sword! Fight for justice!"
"Sh… shut up! That's all easy enough to say, isn't it?" Kallen couldn't contain her anger and shouted back, "Hiding behind that mask… why should we even trust you?"
"She's right! Lose the mask!" a resistance cell member barked.
"Right. Can you show us your face?" Ohgi agreed with his group and demanded.
"Very well, I'll show you," the masked man answered, "But rather than my face, bear witness to my power. If I deliver to you the impossible, wouldn't you all trust me just a bit more?" a sly smile appeared behind the mask.
"Zero didn't answer any of your questions," Rakshata observes and turns to the former resistance cell members, "you didn't realize that, did you?"
"AHA! His Majesty was always good at steering conversation into his desired way I see!" Lloyd adds in a joyous tone before Cecile pulls his left ear, stopping him from adding any unnecessary comments further.
Both Ohgi and Kallen are shocked as this late realization dawns upon them. Rakshata is right, Lelouch never answered their questions and just kept saying what he wanted to say – at the end of the conversation, they still didn't know who was behind the mask, whether the masked man was indeed the voice at Shinjuku, or if the voice was responsible for the cease fire order at Shinjuku!
'And I actually followed him to rescue Suzaku without getting any of the answers I wanted… God, I was naive back then!' Kallen thinks back with horror, now knowing what a gullible decision she'd made in trusting someone who she didn't know anything about, and jumped right into a seemingly suicidal rescue mission against the Britannian Army! 'Lelouch, I know we weren't familiar at all back then but… but you were actually using me as a tool, weren't you?'
It was evening and the time had come for Suzaku to be transported to his court martial. Numerous Britannian citizens lined up on the two sides of a bridge, while the members of the Ashford Academy student council, less Lelouch, Kallen and the honorary member Nunnally, were in the student council room to watch it live on TV. Diethard was directing his staff members to move around to ensure timely and good coverage of the whole situation.
"I, I can see them! They have the suspect!" the announcer reported, "Suzaku Kururugi is headed this way!"
Britannians on both side of the bridge cursed a beaten and tied-up Suzaku loudly, accusing him of killing their beloved Prince. "Voices of scorn growing ever louder. Voices bearing testament to a people's love of their prince. Raining their judgement down on a terrorist!" the announcer continued to inject a scent of disdain against Suzaku, riling up the patriotic feeling among the Britannian citizens watching the situation live on TV.
"Suzaku!" inside a dark room, Nunnally was listening to the radio. She's worried for her friend.
As the circus went on, Lelouch was dressing up in his Zero outfit, getting ready for his debut. He was smiling in a seemingly confident manner, yet a large drop of sweat could clearly be seen on the left side of his face.
'Right. No need to turn back. The die is cast.'
'So it was really you, Lelouch,' Milly muses, 'I should have known it, you were the only one who could have pulled this off.'
"I can't believe it," Rivalz's voice was shaking, "Lelouch was Zero? The guy who couldn't even outrun girls on the field?"
"Rivalz, there is no denying to that," Kallen chimes in, hoping to calm her poor friend down with this shocking realization that she also had at Kamine Island a bit more than a year prior, "also, Zero was a commander, and it was the brain and not the muscle that was required," she said when shooting a discreet yet harsh glare towards the current Zero.
Zero, however, does not have any spare attention to notice Kallen's glare; he is watching intensely at how Lelouch was preparing to rescue him. 'That big drop of sweat… Lelouch, you didn't have full certainty to be successful in the rescue operation, yet you were still willing to risk that much to save me? No… it must be Nunnally being worried about me that has steeled his resolve…'
"Lelouch was truly worried about Suzaku," Nunnally suddenly whispers while still looking intently at the screen; only Cornelia, Kaguya and Zero, who sat on the left, right and back of Nunnally could hear it.
Zero looks at the two ladies besides Nunnally: Kaguya doesn't seem fazed about Nunnally's comment, but instead interested in knowing how Cornelia would react; Cornelia simply says nothing and keeps looking at the screen.
'I see… thank you, Nunnally,' Zero muses.
Jeremiah and his officers continued to escort Suzaku to the court martial, but was interrupted by a vehicle approaching the main highway.
"Do you believe the target could be a terrorist's vehicle?" Jeremiah asked his subordinate.
"Well Sir, it's His Highness Prince Clovis' car," the officer replied.
"His Highness'?" Jeremiah was surprised, but quickly regained his cool and ordered the officer, "Well it looks like we've got a comedian. Don't worry about it. Just let them through to us." He then raised his right hand and turned back to the escorting Knightmare Frames and other military vehicles, "All forces, hold here!" The escorting vehicles all came to a halt.
Everyone was confused; why did Jeremiah stop the procession? The announcer then noticed a car was heading straight to the cavalcade: it was Prince Clovis' personal transport!
Ohgi saw what happened inside his Knightmare Frame under the bridge and was puzzled. "What the… He's coming straight at them. What is he planning?"
Kallen, who was driving the supposedly Prince Clovis' personal transport, could not hide her worried and scared face while driving the vehicle towards Jeremiah's cavalcade. 'Really… using this fake thing?...'
"Whoop! Looked nice in that outfit, Kallen!" Gino completely ignores the tension of the scene and simply focuses on how Kallen dressed back then.
"Oh for the love of… Gino, that's not the point!" Kallen rolls her eyes. Was her costume all he could see?
"Just wondering, is there a reason why Kallen was assigned to drive that fake personal transport while the Prime Minister was assigned at the back?" Rivalz asks, "I mean, you all saw how Kallen freaked out when driving that vehicle, perhaps it would have been better if they switched their places?"
"AHA! That's quite simple, Mr blue-hair," Lloyd responds.
"Hahaha! Mr blue-hair!" Milly laughs at her friend's expense.
"Rivalz! My name is Rivalz Cardemonde!"
"Right, Mr Cardemonde," Lloyd continues, "that's quite simple: Prince Clovis had two simple criteria when choosing his personal transport's driver: one, a female; and two, pretty."
"Oh…" Rivalz didn't expect such a simple, or dumb, answer; Cornelia shakes her head and sighs, but she says nothing more on that subject.
"You dare desecrate His Highness's transport? Get out at once!" Jeremiah shouted at the fake personal transport as Kallen stopped it in front of Jeremiah's cavalcade. Suddenly, fire appeared and burned away the front cover at the top of the car; a masked man appeared as if he'd just performed a magic show.
"I am… Zero." The masked man calmly announced his presence to the crowd.
"Who is this person?" the announcer appeared to be surprised as well, but carried on his job dutifully and kept reporting, "This man called himself Zero, and is standing before a full military convoy!"
"Zero?" Diethard pondered, "What do you mean, like 'nothing'?"
'Is he an Eleven?' Suzaku mused as he looked at the masked man.
'Suzaku, I am returning the favour to you,' Zero mused.
"I've seen enough, Zero. This little show of yours is over!" Jeremiah fired a shot into the sky, and several Sutherlands were being airdropped to encircle the fake personal transport. "First things first, why don't you lose that mask?" Jeremiah ordered.
Zero slowly had his hand reached his mask. But just as everyone expected him to remove the mask, he quickly raised his hand to the air and snapped his fingers. The cover at the back of the personal transport collapsed, and a gas container was revealed.
"What the...!" Jeremiah stared at the gas container in shock.
"Lord Gottwald! That's…" Villetta stood up from the cockpit of her Sutherland and tried to warn Jeremiah.
'That's right, Jeremiah,' Zero smirked underneath the mask, 'since you have not seen its contents before, you will think that this is a poison gas container.'
Suzaku suddenly jerked forward and tried to shout out. "That's not it! That thing is!..." however, before he could finish his sentence, the neck restraint device shocked Suzaku into submission and prevented him from speaking further.
"What the hell was Kururugi thinking?" Chiba barks angrily, her body trembling. "He dared calling Japanese 'Elevens'? And why was he trying to warn the Britannian officers about the real content of the gas container, who were trying to write him off as a sacrificial lamb? Did he think he could save himself from certain dead by helping the Britannians to subjugate more 'Elevens' to Britannian tyranny?" Towards her left, Tohdoh simply closes his eyes and shakes his head upon seeing Suzaku's rather ridiculous thoughts and actions.
"I knew we shouldn't have saved that Kururugi guy!" Tamaki chimes in, finally finding a good spot for him to exert his manly existence.
Cecile doesn't even try to get into the conversation: she wants to defend Suzaku, but Suzaku's actions were so contradictory and offensive to the Japanese, Cecile can't find the right words to say.
Nunnally doesn't say anything as well, but she frowns when she sees how Suzaku acted. 'I don't understand, Suzaku. Why did you call your own people "Elevens"? And why did you try to warn Jeremiah when you already knew he was trying to get you killed?'
The TV announcer continued to report what he saw to his audience. "Can all of you watching at home see this? It's some sort of device, although its purpose is unclear. Stay with us and we'll see if this so-called terrorist has anything to say."
"That… that bastard!" Jeremiah still couldn't believe what he saw, "He's taken every Britannian here hostage, and he's done it without them even knowing it!"
Jeremiah raised his gun and pointed towards Zero, however the masked man wasn't fazed by even a bit.
Inside the TV studio, Diethard was dissatisfied with his crew's performance. "Unit 6, bring up the sound and get that camera right in his face!" he instructed.
"But sir, it's too 'hairy' out here!" the crew replied.
"Tch, amatuers!" Diethard decided to ditch his men and do it on his own, rushing out the studio with a hand-carried video camera.
Back at the standoff between Jeremiah and Zero, Jeremiah realized Zero wasn't going to back off despite being at gun point. Knowing he has no other better options at the moment to save the Britannian crowd from a potential poison gas attack, Jeremiah lowered his gun and conceded, "Fine, what are your demands?"
"An exchange," Zero answered, "This, for Suzaku Kururugi."
"Like hell! He's charged with high treason for murdering Prince Clovis. I can't hand him over just like that!" Jeremiah shouted.
"No, you're mistaken, Jeremiah. He's no murderer," Zero continued nonchalantly even being pointed by guns by several Sutherlands. At the same time, Diethard made it to the scene and aimed his video camera towards the masked man.
"The one who killed Clovis," Zero slowly turned and faced Diethard's camera, "was myself!"
The crowd exploded; they couldn't believe the man to have claimed himself having murdered a Britannian Prince!
"He's going overboard!" Ohgi exclaimed, "There is no way out of this!"
Kallen fared even worse: she was trembling in fear, "We are so screwed...!"
Neglecting the shocked crowd, Zero continued. "For a single Eleven, you'll save scores of precious Britannians. I find that to be a bargain."
'This guy… is he trying to make it one big show of his?' Diethard felt excited upon seeing this happening in his otherwise routine life as a sucked-up journalist to the Government of Area 11.
Jeremiah couldn't believe he was being threatened by such an imbecile. "He is mad, I tell you. Disguising this truck as His Highness'!" Jeremiah bellowed in a shaky voice, "He'll pay the price for mocking His Highness!" All the surrounding Sutherlands re-aimed their guns to the masked man.
"Careful. You don't wish the public to learn of Orange, do you?" Zero suddenly announced. Everyone, Jeremiah included, was confused about what "Orange" meant.
Zero tapped the car slightly twice to signal Kallen to slowly drive towards Jeremiah's cavalcade.
"If I die, it'll all go public. If you don't want that to happen…" Zero continued as his mask partially opened to reveal his left eye.
"What are you talking about? What is this?" Jeremiah demanded, still not understanding what Zero was talking about.
Zero ignored Jeremiah and continued, "…you'll do everything in your power to let us go, your prisoner as well!" a red sigil flew into Jeremiah's eyes and rewired his neural network.
"Right, understood," the geassed Jeremiah answered in a monotone, before turning back to his subordinates, "You there, release the prisoner."
"Huh?" Kallen couldn't believe what'd just happened.
'Lulu… you were so brave!' Shirley can't stop thinking how brave Lelouch was after seeing the event once again on screen. 'Even if I had that kind of power, I wouldn't have the courage to do all that!'
"…recorded." Anya quickly takes a photo of Shirley with her eyes shining upon seeing how brave her dear Lulu was.
"No wonder he never went out with me to the casino again… I didn't know he was doing such 'exciting' things out there the whole time!" Rivalz exclaims, finally understanding why Lelouch had stopped going out with him to play chess in bingo halls since that fateful day. Shirley frowns upon hearing it, but says nothing due to her good mood seeing how brave her love interest was.
"Well, we have to give it to Diethard, he was indeed a devoted journalist who didn't care about the danger in doing his job," Rakshata comments.
"Tch, that Brit… he's just crazy!" Tamaki snorts but reluctantly agrees with Rakshata.
Cornelia, however, is thinking an entirely different matter. "Guilford, Jeremiah did eventually follow Lelouch on his own will after all, right?"
"Indeed, Your Highness," Guilford nods in agreement with his liege, "which leaves us the question: why did Jeremiah follow Lelouch willingly? His reputation and career were basically tarnished by this 'Orange' incident. What's in it for him to forget all the humiliation he had endured due to this fiasco?"
"You know, I don't even have a good guess to that now," the warrior Princess sighs, "a lot more things have become incomprehensible to me even since this Geass thing has come to sight."
All the purist faction officers were confused at Jeremiah's order and questioned him why they should release Suzaku, but Jeremiah offered no explanation to his order other than just insisting that it was his order and his subordinates should obey. In the midst of confusion, the two soldiers guarding Suzaku eventually acquiesced and released the Honorary Britannian, sending him walking slowly towards an approaching Zero. While being released, Suzaku didn't look happy; instead, he looked wary at the masked man and demanded to know his identity, only to be stopped again by the neck restraint device.
"As I thought, they didn't allow you to speak," Zero muttered.
"If they get away, we'll lose everything!" Villetta realized how serious the situation would become if they really let Suzaku go, and she swiftly got back into her Sutherland, ready to stop Zero and Suzaku from escaping.
Kallen slowly walked towards Zero and whispered, "Zero, it's time."
"Right, until next time." Zero suddenly took out a remote control and pressed the button; the gas container started to release coloured gas, sending the crowd into panic mode.
"You cowardly Eleven!" Villetta screamed as she had her Sutherland pointed its machine gun towards Zero, only to be blocked by Jeremiah's Sutherland. "Lord Gottwald, why?" Villetta demanded.
"You heard me! Stand down now!" Jeremiah barked.
"Hahahahaha!" Zero let out an evil laugh as he carried Suzaku and jumped off the bridge with Kallen, falling to a large black canvas that allowed them to land safely into a cargo.
"It works! Now we can…" Ohgi said with a hyped tone, only being brought back to reality when Kewell shot Ohgi's machine down. "You imbecile!? There's nowhere for you to run!" Kewell hissed.
"Lord Soresi!" Jeremiah bellowed, his Sutherland pointing its gun towards Kewell's machine.
"Huh?"
"Are you going to follow orders or not? And believe me, there will be repercussions. All units, do I make myself clear? Do everything in your power to help them get away!" The geassed Margrave shouted at the top of his lungs.
"That is such a roller coaster adventure to watch!" Tianzi, being unrelated to any of the people involved in the fiasco, simply watches the scene like a movie and is excited by how Zero miraculously saved Suzaku. "What do you think, Kaguya?"
"It was exciting indeed! I still remember how excited I was when I first saw that on TV!" Kaguya agrees with her young friend, smiling cheerfully. "Even with this superpower called Geass, it was still an adrenaline-filled operation to watch!"
"I feel bad for Jeremiah and Villetta though," Gino chimes in, "I mean, yea they were purist and all that, but in all fairness, they have performed responsibly as Britannian officers; they did all they can in an attempt to save the people from a potential poison gas attack."
"Hey, are you trying to defend the wrongdoing of those two, you Brit?" Tamaki explodes once again. However, before Gino can continue to explain, Tohdoh steps in and stops Tamaki, "Stop it, Tamaki. Lord Weinberg was simply pointing out that Lord Gottwald and Lady Ohgi were performing their military duties to the best they could. I may be their enemy at that time, but now looking back, I agree with Lord Weinberg's fair observation."
"Grr…" Tamaki may be a fool, but even he has the intelligence to know not to go against well respected people such as Tohdoh.
"Guilford," Cornelia suddenly asks her knight, "if you were in Lady Kouzuki's position, would you have the guts to do what she did?"
"If Your Highness were Zero, then yes I would have," answers Guilford.
Cornelia smiles upon hearing her knight's answer before frowning into a thoughtful expression. 'Well, Lelouch, I am not exactly an expert in handling personal relationships, but it seems to me that you had found yourself a devoted knight right from the start. Had you chosen to trust people a bit more, would things be different for you and everyone else involved in your rebellion against father?'
Back at their hideout, Ohgi, Kallen, Tamaki and the other resistance cell members gathered and talked about the whole operation. They still couldn't believe they had actually rescued Suzaku from the heavily armed Britannian army, yet Tamaki was still not entirely convinced by Zero's ability. "That's crap! How many times can a bluff like that work, anyway?"
"You have got to give the guy some credit though," Ohgi interjected.
"Huh?"
"We've got to admit it, nobody else could've pulled that off. Not the Japanese Liberation Front (JLF), certainly not me," Ohgi reasoned, "We've always thought that a full-on war with Britannian wasn't a possibility at all. But maybe with him, it is."
Kallen's eyes widened as she heard what Ohgi said, and she turned her face towards the other side, where Zero and Suzaku were behind closed doors and having a private discussion.
"I wasn't sure about Lelouch not showing his face at first, but it seems that his logic prevailed: if he was able to show his power and do the impossible, he would have earned followers to do his bid without revealing himself," Guilford comments on Lelouch's rather unorthodox way of gaining followers as compared to how Cornelia did it.
"But that also means he didn't trust any of us!" Chiba chides, "He was simply using us without even considering us to be his comrades!"
'There wasn't enough trust between Britannians and Japanese for him to build his army through that path though,' Cornelia thinks internally, 'it's not like you would have trusted him anyway even if he approached you without the mask, Mrs Tohdoh.' Cornelia however does not say anything out loud, as she doesn't feel sufficient motivation to defend Lelouch on that one: after all, Lelouch did have paranoia and unjustly distrusted people close to him, to the point where he had unnecessarily created a number of powerful enemies who would have been his friends and allies had he trusted them, Cornelia herself being one of them.
Inside an abandoned theatre stood Zero and a Suzaku freed of the neck restraint device. "It looks like they have treated you rather roughly. Now you know what they're really like: Britannia is rotten. If you wish to bring change to this world, then join me," Zero extended his invitation to Suzaku to join him in his crusade against Britannia.
However, Suzaku was more concerned about another matter. "So, was it true? Were you really the one who killed Prince Clovis?" He demanded.
"This is war," Zero explained. "Do I really need a reason to kill an enemy commander?"
Suzaku realized he couldn't argue against that, and so he switched his ground. "How about the poison gas? You are taking the civilians as hostages…"
"You need a bluff to negotiate," Lelouch shot back, "The result: no one died!"
"The result?" Suzaku questioned before he turned down his face and mutters, "I see, so that's all that matters to you. Huh…" he gave a tired smile.
Zero once again reached out to Suzaku with his right hand, this time with a noticeably softer voice. "Come join me. The Britannia you serve is a worthless dominion."
"Maybe that's true, but…" Suzaku responded, before raising his head once again and looked at Zero with determination in his eyes, "but this nation, it can be changed for the better, and from within."
"Change…?" Zero couldn't believe what Suzaku had just said.
Suzaku turned and started to walk away. "Any ends gained through contemptible means aren't worth anything, you know."
"Wait!" Zero exclaimed, "Where you are going?"
"My court-martial begins in an hour."
"Damn, are you mad? The only reason they're giving you a trial is to find you guilty! The judge, the prosecution, and defence!" Zero exclaimed while clenching his fist, still couldn't believe what he saw before his very eyes.
"Be that as it may, rules are rules," was Suzaku's simple response.
"But you'll die!"
"It doesn't matter."
"Don't be an idiot!" Zero couldn't contain his anger any longer: why was his friend so willingly throwing away his life?
"An old friend of mine always used to tell me that. He'd say I was a fool. It's my weakness, I guess," Suzaku calmly replied. He then turned back and faced the masked man, "I'd try to bring you in, but you'd just end up killing me. And If I'm going to die, I'd like it to be in the service of the people," he once again turned and walked away, before finally saying, "Even so, I thank you… for saving me."
"That idiotic Kururugi guy!" Tamaki exclaims, "I can't believe that!"
"This again proved how futile it was to rescue Kururugi," Chiba spats, "I mean, look at him! He even considered to bring his rescuers into a Britannian Court, a Court he knew was biased against the Japanese! Just how thankless he was!"
"It's ironic, really," Rakshata observes, "you can see how Lelouch treated Suzaku as a friend and Kallen as a tool, yet it was Kallen, a Britannian-Japanese mix, who was willing to risk her life to help Lelouch. Suzaku, a pure-blooded Japanese, flatly declined Lelouch's invitation and even considered to turn him into Britannian authorities."
Kallen clenches her fists. She knows things were a lot different back then when compared to how they turned out later, but seeing with her own eyes how Lelouch had treated Suzaku and her so differently forces her to ponder with sadness again, 'Lelouch, what did I mean to you? Was I really a mere pawn to you? If so, why did you push me away back in the Ikagura…?'
Back in the dark living room where Nunnally was in, the young blind girl was still listening to the radio intently. "…yes, apparently. Private Kururugi has made contact with the authorities. It would seem the Zero has released him," the announcer said, "However now that the original charges against him have been thrown into question, it's very possible that Private Kururugi would be found innocent and acquitted."
"Thank goodness!" Nunnally was happy for Suzaku, hearing that her friend would likely be acquitted from the murder charges he faced.
Click.
Nunnally heard the door opened, and she turned back and greeted, "Sayako?"
However, it was not the Japanese maid, but a lime-haired woman wearing a white straight jacket emerging from the shadows, standing right behind Nunnally.
"Oh my god, a zombie!" Tamaki shouts. His loud voice scares Tianzi a lot, causing the young girl to turn to her older friend for comfort.
"How did she find her way to Lelouch's house?" Kallen is surprised. "Wasn't she being kept in the research facilities for quite some time?"
Cornelia frowns as well. She turns to Milly, "Lady Ashford, are you sure you have no knowledge of the existence of this C.C. woman?"
"I am sure, Your Highness," the usually playful Milly quickly turns into her noble mode and answers the princess with the appropriate tone and manner, "we have never seen her on campus grounds, nor was she caught on security cameras. She didn't trigger any of the security alarms installed throughout Ashford Academy either. Well, at least not during her first time getting into Ashford Academy and Lelouch's house."
Cornelia nods and continues to ponder. 'I thought Lelouch was careful in keeping Nunnally away from harm, and given how paranoiac he was, I don't think he was slackened on that. So how did this C.C. find her way to Nunnally without even triggering a single security alarm?'
