AN:
We have finally made it to the second disc! Thank you for your support and review along the way, they are crucial in giving me the motivation to keep going.
I would also like to take this opportunity to answer some of the story-setting questions in the reviews from last week as we continue to see how our Code Geass cast reacts:
1. This story is written based on the Japanese-voiced movie trilogy version and not the English dub TV series version;
2. Materials from the original TV series will normally not be included in this story unless (a) it is necessary to do so in order to help explain character motives/plot holes/etc. in the movie trilogy, and (b) those materials do not contradict with the plot and settings of the movie trilogy. Please refer to the AN in chapter 5 for details; and
3. If you find some parts of this story incongruent to your memories from watching the original TV series, please refer to the first point and the AN in chapter 10. Please also refer to the AN in chapter 13 on how to get a hand on the movie trilogy if you haven't watched it yet and want to.
That's all from me for now, happy reading!
Chapter 15: "Transgression" I – I Order You, Suzaku Kururugi
-Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion-
-"Transgression"-
"Hey, the movie title looks like crappy handwriting! I can write better than that!" Tamaki exclaims.
"Oh shut up, Tamaki, we have already heard that last time. Stop repeating yourself!" Kallen hisses.
Suzaku was walking out of a military warehouse slowly, where he was greeted by Lloyd, Cecile and a few other members of the Camelot Engineering Corps.
"Congratulations, Suzaku! Your achievements so far have been duly recognized!" Cecile was happy that the boy she had grown to be fond of was finally getting recognized by the Britannian Government.
"Regrettably, you will become even busier from now on!" Lloyd congratulated Suzaku in his own peculiar way. Suzaku smiled.
Meanwhile, Lelouch was contemplating in his cargo ship hideout on how to get Suzaku to join his side. He had recently successfully got Suzaku admitted to the Ashford Academy Student Council, and the next step would be to make him a comrade of the Black Knights, as well as serving as Nunnally's knight to protect her. The problem is: how to persuade Suzaku without revealing himself as Zero?
'My true identity must remain a secret: it's exactly because "Zero" is an avatar that it can act without any restraint,' Lelouch kept thinking as he was standing in a glassed elevator and staring outside, 'Then, should I use Suzaku's past as bargaining materials to persuade him?'
During the standoff at Narita, through C.C., Lelouch saw Suzaku's memory of committing patricide accidentally due to his sense of justice to stop the war. 'If I use that...' Lelouch mused.
Suddenly, Lelouch let out a few chuckle as he picked up his mask from its container, apparently amused by his own thought of "using" Suzaku. 'To "use" him, huh? Even though Suzaku may be willing to eliminate any threat coming after me and Nunnally on his own volition already? How pathetic!'
"It seems that the calculating side of Lelouch is fighting with the caring side of his," Rakshata observes.
"That just means Lelouch still had the intention to 'use' his so-called 'friend', but didn't have the gut to admit that!" Chiba spats. "What a hypocrite!"
"No! Lulu is not a hypocrite!" Shirley rebuts. The orange-haired beauty is fearless whenever the topic is related to the boy she loves.
Seeing how Lelouch was still hesitate on "using" his friend, a small doubt arises in Cornelia's mind. 'This shows that despite his heartless actions since he became Zero, Lelouch still had a human side in him, however small it was. Also, the fact that he was willing to even consider succumbing his friend into protecting Nunnally showed how important Nunnally was to him. Did Lelouch really throw Nunnally away at the end in favour of his world domination ambition? That doesn't make much sense to me now. What happened in between?' she thinks inwardly.
The screen proceeds to show a summary of what has been told in the last disc. As the recap runs through, a few new images were shown: a seemingly depressed Lelouch walking lonely through a dark alleyway, his left hand pressing against the wall to keep himself from falling; the Ashford Student Council members dressed in animal costumes, with the notable exception of an embarrassed Shirley, whose left breast was groped by Milly, who in turn looked like she was trying to get an estimation of the orange-haired girl's bust size; and, the most peculiar and perhaps disturbing of all, a naked and devastated C.C. leaning against the altar, sitting on a considerable amount of blood gushing down her neck.
"Woah, what happened to C.C.?" Kallen gasps, finding it hard to believe what she has just seen. C.C.'s image is too shocking, the audience didn't even notice the arguably inappropriate image of the Ashford students.
"Leaning against the altar… was C.C. being offered as a sacrifice to God?" Guilford observes.
"That's way too cruel!" Shirley exclaims. The kind-hearted girl can't stand to see someone she knows to suffer anything as merciless as being offered as a religious sacrifice. How could anyone do that to C.C.? Not far away, an eye-closing Kaguya is hugging Tianzi tight in her arms, both look terrified. In fact, all the other ladies in the auditorium don't fare much better as well upon seeing the horrid image.
Nunnally muses as she takes in the scattered information about the mysterious lime-haired woman being revealed to the audience so far. 'Ms C.C. has gone through so much sufferings: being bled naked in a church, being thrown at by rocks by a large group of people, and not to mention the human experiments Clovis had performed on her… and yet she is immortal. It must be an excruciating experience for her.' The young Empress has tears falling down her eyes upon realizing how much pain C.C. has endured throughout her life. She is still frustrated at how ruthless C.C. was when she tried to push her elder brother to geass Suzaku into submission, but this particular scene is simply too cruel for the kind, young Empress not to feel bad for the mysterious lime-haired girl that she has only interacted once back at Ashford Academy.
Cornelia is also thinking something similar. 'To have endured such endless lengths of suffering yet still somehow maintaining her sanity, this C.C. is one strong woman who has achieved something that none others could have achieved. For that, she has my respect.'
Inside a submarine, Zero was announcing the reorganization of the Black Knights upon the addition of so many new members since its founding. No one has any problem with Tohdoh being made the Chief of Military Affairs, but there were doubts, especially among the Four Holy Swords, about appointing Diethard Reid, a Britannian, as the Chief Intelligence Officer of an anti-Britannian resistance group. Such doubts, however, were quickly quelled by the fact that Zero, the leader of the resistance group, was not a Japanese himself. To acknowledge seniority, Ohgi was appointed as Deputy Commander, while Kallen was appointed as Captain of the Zero Squad, an elite force directly under Zero's command.
Meanwhile, a dressed-up Suzaku appeared at the front door of the Government Palace of Area 11, ready for his knighting ceremony as the knight of Euphemia li Britannia, 3rd Princess of the Empire. A Number serving as a knight to a member of the Imperial Family was unheard of, and the nobles gathered at the ceremony were whispering, displeased to see what was about to happen.
"He's indeed an Honorary Britannian no doubt, but an Eleven to serve as a knight?" a nobleman said.
"And they actually allow it to be aired on television…" a noblewoman murmured.
"Well, Her Highness has certainly reached the moment to ripe as well, hasn't she?" another nobleman mocked.
"How dare they?" Cornelia hammers the armrest of her chair hard with her fist, enraged. How dare the filthy nobles implied her dearest younger sister chose to appoint her knight due to raging teenage hormones?
Guilford quickly pats Cornelia's back. "Please, Your Highness, it is not worth it to be angered by those scums. They were simply parasites of the Empire who only took things from the Empire for granted; they were too primitive to understand the grace of worthy members of the Empire such as Princess Euphemia," Guilford pleads.
Cornelia is still visibly angry, but quickly brings her emotion under control upon Guilford's effort to calm her down. "Scum!" Cornelia hisses at the nobles on the screen, seething, but otherwise did not say a word further on the matter.
Suzaku ignored the whispering nobles. He walked slowly towards Euphemia's throne and knelt down before her; the pink princess stood up and looked at Suzaku.
"Suzaku Kururugi, wilt thou upon this day pledge thy fealty to Britannia and stand as a Knight of the Crown?" Euphemia recited.
"Yes, Your Highness," Suzaku replied solemnly.
Euphemia continued. "Dost thou wish to abandon thyself and be sword and shield for the sake of the greater good?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Suzaku affirmed again. He then drew out his sword, presenting it to Euphemia with the blade pointing towards his own heart as a symbol of unwavering loyalty. Euphemia took a step forward and held the hilt with both hands, raising the blade up. Suzaku bowed down to let Euphemia to tap his left and right shoulders with the blade.
"I, Euphemia li Britannia, 3rd Princess of the Empire, do hereby recognize you as knight," the pink princess announced.
She then handed Suzaku his badge. Suzaku received the badge with both of his hands respectfully, and he slid back his sword into the sheath. Euphemia waved her right hand to signal the completion of the knighting ceremony, and Suzaku stood up and turned to face the nobles standing below.
Back at Ashford Academy, Nunnally was listening to the proceedings of the knighting ceremony on the radio. She smiled as she heard her favourite sister knighting her cherished friend, raising her right hand up. Her maid Sayako also smiled and held Nunnally's right hand. Similarly, Cecile was standing in her office with other members of the Camelot Engineering Corps, happy to see Suzaku being recognized by the Empire as well.
However, the same congratulatory feeling could not be detected from the nobles. In fact, the nobles simply stared at Suzaku silently with disdain, and none of them clapped their hands, not even for the sake of courtesy, causing great embarrassment to not only Suzaku, but to the 3rd Princess of the Empire herself. Then, Lloyd, an earl and Suzaku's direct superior, decided to clap his hands; however, it made the occasion even more awkward because in such a grand hall filled with dignitaries of Area 11, only one person was applauding the Princess and her knight.
Suddenly, someone else was clapping his hands at a slow but precise pace: it was Darlton. Everyone noticed his clapping and realized that his clapping signifies the acknowledgement of Euphemia's appointment of Suzaku as her knight from Princess Cornelia, the Viceroy of Area 11 and a frontline contender of the throne. Knowing that continued silence would mean antagonizing themselves with the supreme ruler of Area 11 and a powerful member of the Imperial Family, they all started to clap their hands, albeit visibly unwillingly.
"Thank goodness General Darlton was there," Guilford says as he sees how his elder comrade has saved face for Princess Euphemia.
"I should have delegated my military campaigns to someone else and participated the knighting ceremony myself," Cornelia regrets that she did not attend one of the most important ceremonies of her beloved younger sister; back then, she thought that her presence at the knighting ceremony would blur the focus of the ceremony, making it difficult for Euphemia to establish her real authority as the next Viceroy of Area 11, and so she opted to have Darlton to attend the ceremony on her behalf while she kept leading her army to put out the resistance forces in Area 11 that would pose threats to Euphemia's future viceroyship. "And now, she's…" tears fall from the warrior princess' beautiful eyes. Guilford quickly pulls out a handkerchief and wipes away the tears for his princess.
"How pathetic Kururugi was, trying his hardest to fight for Britannia yet received no real recognition from the Britannian ruling class," Chiba spats. She avoids mentioning Princess Euphemia both because she does not want to recall the horrors caused by the massacre princess of Britannia to her own people, and that she does not want to infuriate Princess Cornelia, who rescued her and the others as they were being transported to the execution ground by Emperor Lelouch nine months ago.
"Not gonna lie, that's great disrespect towards Princess Euphemia the nobles had shown," Gino uncharacteristically snorts, "They applauded only because they saw General Darlton did so, and had no real respect to the 3rd Princess of the Empire."
Villetta and Ohgi silently watch the knighting proceedings. Being an interracial couple has offered them a unique perspective to the relationship between Euphemia and Suzaku that neither of them had back then.
"Back then, I didn't understand why Princess Euphemia picked Kururugi as her knight, thinking that she had been acting out of deviance to Princess Cornelia," Villetta says, "but now, Kaname, I understand."
"Yes, Chigusa, and we were the lucky one," Ohgi replies. The two hold hands with fingers interlocked.
Nunnally is excited to finally be able to see the ceremony with her eyes, but she frowns as she sees how the ruling class in Area 11 paid so little respect to her favourite sister.
In a sense, Euphy was a visionary of world peace; what Lelouch had done during his reign as Emperor was practically a worldwide version of what she had done in the failed Special Administrative Zone of Japan: abolishing the discriminatory Numbers system. 'I pledge to you, Sister Euphy, I will do all I can to protect this world peace we've finally got over so many dead bodies. I pray that you give me the courage I need as you rest in peace in heaven,' the young Empress muses.
Zero watches the replay of his knighting ceremony silently. 'Euphy, I am sorry I have put you through such embarrassment at the ceremony. I thank you for bestowing the unworthy me the chance to serve as your knight. I may have held many other positions throughout my life, but I will always be first and foremost your knight. Even if Suzaku Kururugi is dead, I shall continue to fight for and protect peace on your behalf, my dear princess.'
Back in the Black Knights' submarine, right after the reorganization announcement, Zero announced that they were heading straight to Shikine Island to intervene an upcoming meeting between the Sub-Viceroy of Area 11 and an important dignitary from Britannian Homeland. The objective of the operation was to capture Suzaku Kururugi and turned him into Black Knights' comrade.
"And I thought Zero was trying to bring in Kururugi out of generosity or strategic consideration. Turns out it was all for his younger sister and not for Japan," Chiba sneers as she sees how Zero made emphasis on not killing Suzaku in that operation.
"Damn right, he's just all about his own goals and used us as his pawns!" Tamaki spats.
The screen suddenly showed a floating open-roof temple structure basking in eternal dusk, where Emperor Charles is seen standing alone in his usual spot.
"The construction of the thought elevator is proceeding as scheduled… right, I understand," the Emperor was seemingly talking to himself. Right after that, a cult-like subordinate approached the Emperor from behind to report something.
"Hmm? Schneizel?" the Emperor asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty," the cult-like subordinate responded, "What should we do with him?"
The Emperor smirked with oozing confidence. "Let him do as he pleases. If he's that confident of himself, then let him come challenge me by all means."
'The "Thought Elevator"?' Cornelia frowns as she sees her father was clearly planning for something. She then recalls her encounter with Bartley at the underground Geass facility in a desert of the Chinese Federation, 'I see, so that's what Bartley told me about a plan that would bring the world towards destruction… also, from that conversation between father and his underling, Schneizel was already aware of what father was trying to do, and Schneizel was going to stop him?' It stinks when Cornelia is beginning to realize how much she didn't know about what was happening in Britannia despite being the second most powerful contender to the throne. 'Just how much more secret was kept from me and the whole nation all this time?' the purple princess muses, angered.
Back on Shikine Island, the Zero and First Squads of the Black Knights began their assault at the Britannian military base on the island. Tohdoh led the charge in the frontline while Zero stayed at the back of a hill to observe the progress of the battle.
"Hmm… as expected from Tohdoh," Lelouch praised Tohdoh's performance in his debut operation as a member of the Black Knights. 'Now I only have to wait for Euphemia to receive words of our little visit.'
Back on the battlefield, Kallen quickly eliminated the garrison troops with her Guren, using both the machine guns and the Radiant Wave Surger. "Worthless garrison unit!" she cried as she destroyed the Sutherlands in front of her. Behind her, Tamaki was piloting his Burai, trying to finish off the Britannian units damaged by the Guren.
"I'll finish the job!" Tamaki yelled confidently, but all of a sudden, his unit was hit by something and exploded. "Huh? Ah…!" Tamaki's Burai auto-ejected its pilot upon being destroyed. It turns out to be the Lancelot destroying Tamaki's Burai.
"Zero…" Suzaku zoomed in and saw Zero standing on his customized Burai on top of the hill behind the military base.
'That's right. Come to me, Suzaku!' Lelouch mused as he started to run decoy to lead Suzaku into his trap.
"You know, you really suck at piloting a Knightmare Frame," Rakshata ridicules, "I really don't blame you to try scavenging for a decisive blow to enemies after Kallen's done the main part of the job."
"Hey! I was just being unlucky!" Tamaki yells, "I totally got that one until that damn white machine stabbed me in the back!"
However, this time not even Chiba is on Tamaki's side. "Face it, you suck," Chiba deadpans.
"Not you as well!" Tamaki feels downcast that even Chiba, the supposedly friendliest person to him in the audience besides Ohgi, also sides with Rakshata.
"Tamaki, you should be happy that you no longer need to make a living by piloting Knightmare Frames," Kallen chides, dealing the final blow to the proud Japanese man's pride.
Tohdoh confirmed Suzaku's presence in the battlefield and ordered the Zero and First Squads to retreat in formation without attacking the Lancelot.
On the other hand, the commander of the Britannian military base in Shikine Island was communicating with someone high up in the command chain.
"Yes, thanks to the Special Corps. Wha…? But that would mean…!" the commander asked incredulously before standing in attention and responding affirmatively, "Yes, Your Highness!"
Someone wearing a white coat and a white glove put down the phone upon finishing the conversation.
"That's..!" Guilford frowns. "What was His Highness planning to do?"
Meanwhile, Zero has finally arrived at the sandy trap he had prepared for Suzaku. Both the customized Burai and the Lancelot got into the sandy trap, and the Lancelot was about to draw out its MVS to finish Zero.
"Nice," Rakshata said as she uses her pipe to hit the trap activation button, "'Gefjun Disturber'!"
Suddenly, a jamming wavelength was emitted from around the side of the sandy trap, and both the Lancelot and the customized Burai were forced to shut down.
"What the…?" Suzaku was surprised as he tried to pull the lever, only to realize that he couldn't move his Lancelot. "I am trapped!"
"I have something I want to speak to you, Suzaku Kururugi," suddenly, Zero's voice came through a loudspeaker, "Could you come out of the cockpit? Your secondary system should still be functioning. You'll be treated as a prisoner under international law. Of course, if you don't care to talk, we could just gun you down." A number of Gekkas and Burais came to surround the sandy trap to ensure their leader's safety and prevent Suzaku from escaping.
Euphemia heard Zero's request back in the control room and gave her permission for Suzaku to come out of his cockpit; she is more concerned about why the Lancelot couldn't move.
"Something's happened to the Sakuradite that's powering Suzaku's Lancelot," Cecile responded, "It has been interfered by someone…"
"Gefjun Disturber," Lloyd completed Cecile's sentence.
"Could it be?" Cecile turned to her boss.
"But they're actually using it as a jamming mechanism. I thought it was only theoretical… It really is you, Rakshata?" Lloyd spoke in an uncharacteristically serious tone.
"That's right, it's me!" Rakshata chuckles as she sees how her Gefjun Disturber has perplexed her long-time rival before switching the subject, "You actually look good when you are serious, Earl of Pudding. Don't you think so, Cecile?"
"Uhm… well, I mean…" Cecile was surprised by Rakshata's sudden question and she is not sure how to answer. "I mean, I have been working with him for so long already, I don't think… that is…"
"AHA! So you think I look good as well, Cecile… ah!" Lloyd asks as tactlessly and cheerfully as his usual self would, earning him a quick knock on his head by the embarrassed Cecile.
"So much fun to watch you two interacting," Rakshata chuckles. Not far away, Milly has the same facial expression as she watches her ex-fiancé's interaction with his gorgeous assistant.
Both Suzaku and Zero got down their respective Knightmare Frames and reached the ground, and both men walked slowly towards each other until they were few steps away from each other. Zero was pointing a gun at Euphemia's knight. "Suzaku Kururugi, let me go straight to the point: I desire you to join us."
"Are you threatening me?" Suzaku replied with a serious tone, "even so, I shall decline. As I have said previously, results gained through contemptible means are worthless!"
"Let me ask you then: are you saying the peace we currently have is worthless as well?" Zero has his verbal trap ready for the white knight, "Seven years ago, if Japan had chosen to adopt the fight-or-die strategy, what do you think would have happened?"
Suzaku seethed at the question before Zero continued, "The Chinese Federation and the EU would have intervened, thereby splitting Japan into three parts. They'd be fighting even now. Our current peace is the result of Japan's immediate and unconditional surrender."
Suzaku gasped before answering, "That's right, and I've been fighting to preserve my father's peace ever since it began!"
"You're wrong," Zero suddenly cut him off, "Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi and his Cabinet didn't choose surrender. That decision was selfishly made by his killer. With the government being thrown into chaos, surrendering became the only logical choice. The will of the people was stolen from them… by a lone criminal pursuing his own selfish agenda!" Suzaku was shocked at how Zero knew that his father was killed instead of committing suicide.
Back at the control room, Cecile was trying to pick up the conversation between Suzaku and Zero as per Euphemia's instruction, but to no avail as there was too much static on the microphone.
"Wait, I thought Lelouch said he wouldn't use Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi's murder case as a bargaining chip against Kururugi when he was in that cargo ship base?" Ohgi exclaims. "He lied again, this time to himself!"
"No, he didn't," Kaguya rebuts calmly.
"Huh? But Kaguya-sama, he did say…" Ohgi tries to reason Kaguya through.
"All Lelouch said was that using the fact that Suzaku killed his own father as a bargaining chip against Suzaku is pathetic," Kaguya explains, "Lelouch had never said he wouldn't do it."
"Wait, but if that's the case, why he did that soliloquy about how pathetic it was to 'use' friends?" Gino asks incredulously. "There was no one for him to fool there, so why did he say that? I don't understand!"
"I think I know what's going on," Milly responds, and everybody listens to her intently, "remember how Lelouch said at the pub that he was willing to 'play it dirty' to create a world where Her Majesty can live happily? I think Lelouch believed that recruiting Suzaku into the Black Knights against his own will was a necessary evil for Lelouch to commit, regardless of how 'pathetic' it was for him to do it as long as he got what he thought he needed to achieve his ultimate goal."
"So you mean that even if Lelouch knew that he would regret for something he would be doing, he would nevertheless do it if he considered it necessary to achieve his goals?" Kallen asks, to which Milly nods.
"Ah, so His Majesty is someone who justifies his means with the ends," Lloyd concludes.
There was a brief silence before Cornelia sums up the discussion, "it's fine that he took that point of view; his only problem was that he took it to the extreme, to a point where the majority of people cannot tolerate."
"There is only one way for you to atone your sin," Lelouch continued as he walked even closer to Suzaku, "you shall present the Japanese with the choice they were deprived from back then. The path they were robbed of seven years ago – to fight against Britannia!"
Suzaku frowned at the suggestion. "Fighting them? That again?"
Seeing Suzaku acting against his suggestion, Zero decided to change tactics. "Then let me ask you this: are you trying to put your ego before the will of the people by forcing them to eternally accept the choice you've made by yourself? Are you going to call that peace?"
Suzaku was wordless; he could only stare at Zero but otherwise offering no rebuttal.
"That's hypocritical!" Chiba exclaims. "I am the last person on Earth to subscribe to Kururugi's twisted views on how things work, but wasn't Lelouch's Geass doing exactly what he was accusing Kururugi of doing? 'Forcing people to eternally accept whatever orders he had given'?"
"Tch, he's good at pretending to fight for justice, I'll give him that!" Tamaki spats.
"Neither side was right," Villetta reasons, "Kururugi was forcing his world view to the people, while Lelouch was forcing the people to help him to achieve his own goals with his Geass. It's ironic that it was exactly these two men who eventually took over the world."
Kallen frowns. Now that she sees it from a third-person perspective and with total knowledge of Lelouch's thought process, she can see how good Lelouch was at playing with words to make things worked in his favour while sounding totally justifiable. 'He was not lying there: Suzaku's indeed forcing others to accept what was caused by his own mistake. The problem was that Lelouch was doing the exact same thing he'd accused Suzaku of. I am so confused right now: should I trust Lelouch's words or not?' the red-haired beauty is torn in her thoughts.
Just as Suzaku was thinking how to rebut Zero, a transmission came through the communication system despite the interference caused by the Gefjun Disturber. "Do you read me? Major Kururugi! Please respond!"
Suzaku picked up the call as Zero was watching.
"This is Lieutenant Colonel Fayer, commander here on Shikine Island! We're launching surface-to-surface missiles against the terrorists. Major Kururugi, your order is to keep Zero there!"
"What? They are ordering their own soldier to die?" Lelouch couldn't believe the Britannian Army gave Suzaku such order.
"Huh, typical of what Britannians would do with Honorary Britannians," Chiba barks, "Why was Lelouch surprised by that order?"
Nunnally reacts to Chiba's comment inwardly. 'Indeed, Big Brother must have known how the Britannian Army used to treat Honorary Britannian soldiers. Why was he surprised by that order? For someone who had sharp and accurate judgement of things, unless…' Then, she thinks back the scene when Lelouch flatly refused C.C.'s suggestion of geassing Suzaku into submission. 'So Big Brother did truly care about Suzaku, even though he nevertheless tried to succumb him by using the fact that Suzaku killed his father and caused the collapse of the Japanese government.' She then thinks back that time when her elder brother used his Geass to force her to hand over the Damocles Key to him, only to realize his true intention two months later. 'Big Brother…' the young Empress muses with sadness.
Suzaku reacted swiftly and caught Zero's gun-holding hand, forcing that arm to twist to his back and grabbed his gun, turning the table. "I can't approve of your methods. This is all I can do right now!" Suzaku said as he forced Zero into the cockpit of the Lancelot.
"Incoming missiles confirmed!" Chiba reported to Tohdoh. Tohdoh grunted while Kallen swiftly piloted her Guren to jump into the sandy trap. "Zero! I am now coming to save… ah!" However, before she could finish her sentence, her Guren became disabled by the Gefjun Disturber as well, halting half-way.
Meanwhile, Suzaku held Zero at gunpoint inside the cockpit of the Lancelot. "You're going to die here as well! Don't you have a problem with that?" Zero yelled incredulously.
There was a tint of hesitation in Suzaku's expression, but another transmission from Lt Col. Fayer came in. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain, Major. We are about to put an end to the most dangerous criminal our Homeland has ever known. They'll speak of your bravery for generations to come!"
"Shut up!" Zero hammered the control panel. How dare the Britannian commander lied to his friend like that? They were definitely not going to speak of Suzaku's bravery for generations to come; quite to the contrary, they would have written him off as an expendable, and Suzaku would have been forgotten by the general public within three days' time!
"All Knightmare Frame units, target on those missiles and throw up a barrage! Empty your guns if you have to!" Tohdoh immediately ordered all Black Knights units to stop the incoming missile to save their leader.
"Suzaku, release Zero!" Kallen opened her cockpit, yelling as she jumped out of the cockpit and started running towards the Lancelot. "I am… I am Kallen Stadtfeld of the Ashford Student Council! Look this way!"
However, Kallen has apparently underestimated the stubbornness of the Honorary Britannian soldier. "A soldier must always follow his orders!" Suzaku said while keeping Zero at gunpoint.
"Humph! You've certainly used it well as an excuse to seal your true thoughts!" Zero scolded, making Suzaku to hesitate for a split second. "What do you really feel about all this?" Zero screamed at the top of his voice.
Suzaku scowled. "You're wrong! That's my decision and my rules alone!"
"See, that's how fossilized my cousin's head was," Kaguya says half-jokingly to Tianzi while narrowing her eyes and shooting a glance at Zero.
"Ar… Archae…" the young Chinese leader is still struggling with that impossibly difficult word.
"Kyoshirou, I really think we shouldn't have rescued Lelouch back then," Chiba suggests to her husband, "we were practically rescuing Major General Katase's murderer and a serial liar who didn't care one bit about our cause."
Tohdoh ponders a bit but eventually decided against his wife's idea. "Nagisa, as much as I hate to admit, we couldn't have got to the point of forming the UFN without his charisma gluing more than 40 countries together. Not me, not even Xingke could have done that. The only other person that might be able to pull that off would be Prince Schneizel, who would not help us back then. Without the UFN, Japan would stand no chance in defeating Britannia." Chiba grunts but she understands that her husband was right: there was no way for them to accomplish what they have accomplished without the help of the Treacherous Emperor.
On the other side of the auditorium, Milly is amused to see how loyal Kallen was to Zero. "You were so desperate to save Zero that you even revealed your Britannian identity to Suzaku! I see where the jealousy towards Ms C.C. came from," the she-devil of Ashford teases her red-haired friend.
Kallen is of course embarrassed. "It's… it's not like that! I had just been appointed as the Captain of the Zero Squad back then, and I took my job seriously because I was excited about the appointment!"
A row in front of Kallen's, Shirley feels jealous about Kallen. 'If only I could fight as well as Kallen, then perhaps I can spend more time with Lulu before it's too late…'
"…recorded." Anya takes a photo of the two girls thinking the same boy.
Kallen was running towards the Lancelot until she noticed the sky turned dark. It was the Avalon, a Britannian Flagship. Kallen stopped and gasped at what she saw.
"They completed a float system? Well, I'm outdone," not far away, Rakshata gasped at what she saw as well.
The Black Knights' firepower dealt no damage to it as it was well protected by its own Blaze Luminous shield system. At Schneizel's order, the Avalon opened its underdeck, and four dim and reddish light spots emerged from total darkness. It turns out to be the Mordred's prototype Hadron Cannons.
Back in the sandy trap, Zero knew they didn't have much time left to escape. "Suzaku, we're really going to die if we stay here like this!" Zero exclaimed.
"Even so, that's still better than breaking the rules!" the Archaeopteryx of Britannia insisted.
"You stubborn fool!" Zero couldn't take it anymore, yelled at Suzaku while opening the left eye cover of his mask. "Live!" Zero cried out as he deactivated all the Gefjun Disturber surrounding the sandy trap. A red sigil flew into Suzaku's eyes, rewiring his fossilized head.
"So Lelouch did use his Geass on Suzaku," Gino observes.
"Apparently he was forced to do that, otherwise both Suzaku and him would have died, so I don't think we can blame Lelouch much on that," Rivalz comments.
Cornelia frowns. 'So my previous assumption that Kururugi was geassed by Lelouch into following him is wrong; Kururugi did follow Lelouch on his own will. However, I don't think Nunnally's wrong about Euphy has had Kururugi falling head over heels to her either. What had changed, Kururugi? Why did you abandon Euphy's ideals and joined forces with the man who killed and tarnished the name of the girl you loved?' the purple princess muses.
Meanwhile, Kallen realizes something. "The command was "to live,", so does that mean Suzaku can never die?"
"I think the command only forces Suzaku to live to the best of his ability, since Geass looks like a mind-twisting power instead of an elixir to cure anything," Lloyd cuts in, "hence, it would still be possible to kill Suzaku as long as you kill him quick enough and not let his 'live' command to activate."
"No worries, Kallen, you have prevailed in the last battle at the Damocles and finished him off. Otherwise, why would Lelouch dig a fancy grave for him?" Rakshata mistakes Kallen as being unsure of her victory against the white grim reaper of Britannia, so the Indian scientist tries to reassure Kallen's victory and her current status as the strongest Knightmare Frame pilot in the world after she has defeated the Knight of Zero.
Kallen says nothing but nods to Rakshata to thank for her reassurance; however, Kallen knows better than that as she glances at the present Zero again.
The geassed Suzaku's facial expression tensed; he immediately pilot the Lancelot away from the sandy trap as the Mordred's prototype Hadron Cannons fired at the sandy trap, destroying Lelouch's customized Burai.
On the Avalon, Schneizel was watching how Suzaku disobeyed his command and escaped. "So it moved. Is he trying to escape, or…" Schneizel ponders on his throne.
"Should we go after them?" Anya Alstreim, a pink-haired girl with a poker face who was also the Knight of Six, asked, "Since the Lancelot and the red one have escaped."
"There is no need for that," Schneizel's voice came through the transmitter, "all that aside, sorry for dragging you over here, Lady Alstreim."
"That's fine, my mission was at the neighbouring Kamine Island", Anya answered in her usual monotone voice.
"It was you?" Kallen asks the poke face pink-haired girl.
"Yes," Anya replies in her signature monotone voice.
"What was the mission my father ordered you to do?" Cornelia asks curiously.
"To guard the vicinity of Kamine Island," Anya replies.
"Kamine Island? I don't recall that place being strategically significant," Cornelia is perplexed, then a sudden realization comes to her mind. "That 'thought elevator' thing father mentioned," Cornelia says as she turns to Anya, "Lady Alstreim, was your mission related to that 'thought elevator' my father mentioned earlier in the video footage?"
"I was only asked to guard the vicinity of Kamine Island. I wasn't told why I needed to guard it," Anya recalls.
Everyone except Zero and Nunnally frowns. The fact that not even a Knight of the Round was told what was happening on Kamine Island means that something fishy was going on behind everyone's back, and the Emperor was no doubt highly involved in it.
In the control room, Lloyd's team was trying to locate Suzaku's whereabouts after the escape.
"What happened to Suzaku?" Euphemia asked worriedly.
"We are still trying to confirm that," answered an equally worried Cecile.
"AHA! We got back a signal from the Lancelot!" Lloyd exclaimed joyfully.
The Geass' effect faded and Suzaku regained his sense, finding himself in a forest area. "Where am I?" Suzaku sweated hard as he realized that he had just disobeyed the military order issued to him.
Zero fixes his eyes at the screen when he saw how worried Euphemia was. 'Euphy, I'm sorry. Please forgive the stubborn fool who had a twisted wish of getting KIA despite having sworn to be your personal knight to protect you…'
Meanwhile, Kallen was manoeuvring her Guren through the forest area with an open cockpit, and a frustrated Zero was standing on the side of the cockpit.
'They have even included Suzaku as their target. Were they trying to gauge our movement as well? Who was it? Who put me into such a difficult situation?' Zero was furious that his plan was wrecked.
Back on the Avalon, Schneizel and Kanon were discussing their observations of the operation. Kanon found it strange that instead of coming to Shikine Island, the Emperor had sent an expedition team to the neighbouring Kamine Island.
"Lady Alstreim was sent there to guard the area, correct?" Schneizel asked, "What's so special about that place?"
"There are some ancient ruins dating back to more than 5000 years ago," Kanon replied.
Schneizel sighed, his hand holding his forehead, "It's fine to go after some long-gone romance, but I really hope he'd paid more attention to the present." Apparently, the Emperor has sent the Gawain on a similar expedition trip in Tanzania before, and as a result, enemies from the India Military Zone stole it.
"By the way, about Major Kururugi disobeying your orders…" Kanon switched the topic.
"Ah, let's just overlook that for the moment. It was fascinating that there was no one firing at him when he was completely trapped…" Schneizel walked to his bookshelf and picked up a book while responding calmly, casting his doubt about the peculiar ways the Black Knights were treating Suzaku.
"Could it be that Major Kururugi is their spy?" Kanon immediately caught the implication.
However, the tall prince curtly dismissed the idea. "No, I don't think so. Also, even though he is a member of the Camelot Engineering Corps, Major Kururugi also serves as Euphy's knight. I am just not used to my sister to be angry at me," the prince closed the book while turning to his aide-de-camp, smiling.
"Prince Schneizel is a much better man than Lelouch," Ohgi comments.
"Wait, Ohgi-san, are you serious?" Kallen asks incredulously. How does Ohgi come to that conclusion?
"Huh? Of course I am, Kallen. Why do you ask?" Ohgi doesn't understand why Kallen asks that question. "I mean, it is clear that Prince Schneizel actually cared about what his sister thought about him, and he forgave Kururugi for not obeying his order."
"Ohgi-san, do you seriously think that a man who truly cared what his sister thought about him would have ordered his sister's personal knight to death without a blink of an eye?" Kallen can't believe the naivety Ohgi has displayed. Is this guy really the sitting Prime Minister of Japan?
"Lady Kouzuki is right, Prime Minister Ohgi. As much as it pains me to say it, Schneizel doesn't care about anything apart from his goal," Cornelia affirms Kallen's rebuttal.
"But… but Prince Schneizel spoke so gently!" Ohgi tries to defend his observation while recalling that time when Schneizel had so kindly informed the Black Knights about the truth behind Lelouch's supernatural power without asking anything in return, and offered his assistance in fighting against Lelouch and his army during the Battle of Mt Fuji right after Lelouch had held all UFN representatives hostages. "He's nothing like the ruthless Lelouch!" the tall Japanese man asserts.
"Diethard always spoke politely and with deference to everyone as well. Does that mean that he's a good guy too?" Kallen challenges.
"No! He gunned down Chigusa!" Ohgi reacts violently. "That's totally different!"
"So you are saying that everything's ok as long as Lady Ohgi is not involved?" Gino asks. Ohgi is stunned and has no words to say.
Kaguya observes the exchanges between Ohgi and others, and she mentally shakes her head. 'How did this blithering man become the Prime Minister of Japan? Can he really lead Japan through the international political arena and keep our country safe?'
