Stage III: Prelude to the Return

The History of Our Glorious Kingdom: The Holy Empire of Britannia:

Chapter 22: September 22

September 22 is one of the most dreaded and momentous dates in Britannian history. Euphemia Li Britannia, Third Princess of the Britannia Imperial Family was regarded as a puppet princess, her position as Deputy Vicerene a façade. Everybody assumed this delicate princess would be just another name in the family tree, another formality to remember. However, she shook the nation as she became one of the most hated Imperial Family members to ever walk the lands of Area 11. Her trickery and pretense was one of the most impressive traps to exterminate the Elevens ever recorded in Britannian history. Her name became a curse, and even the Britannians were careful not to mention the murderer. The day is now commemorated as E.M. ( Euphemia's Massacre, but another event's anniversary also lies on September 22. For as long as the citizens of that era survive, not a single one will ever forget the night that the Order of the Black Knights returned and brought hell on Earth once again.

-Cornelius Tacitus, 3000 a.t.

Saori kept her mouth shut. This crazy bastard was suicidal! She thought she had a general idea about the teenager named Lelouch Lamperouge, but she was nowhere near getting the real picture. She reprimanded herself for thinking that she was smart enough to use Lelouch, and cursed the Geass. In theory, it sounded like an unbeatable weapon. But the truth was that this eye was more fickle than C.C. It works when you first establish eye contact with your victim. Then, it continues for as long as it wants. And what happens occurs in completely random order. On top of that, there was no sound. It played like a silent film. When Saori Sees, flashes of memories bombard her, and she has to sort each one out. They could range from a few seconds to a few hours. There was no way for her to know whether this was a scene from the past, present, or future. The past was easier to sort out because the victim's age usually was notably younger. To put in other words, it was merely a mosaic of scenes from that person's life and thoughts, arbitrarily flashed before Saori's eyes. For Lelouch, the first thing she saw was an elegant, raven haired woman who was cradling a blond baby. That lasted about a second before she saw more and more scenes from Lelouch's childhood. These were easy to identify since she saw a mini-Lelouch. But then it became wilder. The time frames grew shorter and shorter, and it grew difficult to tell whether what she was seeing was Lelouch's thoughts or his future. The first time she used it, she got nauseous and vomited on Z.Z. Her skills were getting better but she preferred to not use it unless needed. A new trick she learned recently was to be able to force the Geass to see the future of the victim. The time frame was a minute. And sometimes, out of nowhere, a past victim's scene would show up. Her dreams were filled with the life events of a previous victim This whole unpredictability of it all get her a throbbing headache.

Her breath quickened and she tried to stifle it. She didn't see Lelouch notice her anxiety. He frowned. This person was now his right hand woman, and knew all his plans and inner workings. His first impression of her was another manipulative, intelligent creature like C.C. However, this one was becoming less admirable. This highly dangerous mission could not handle any mistakes.

Goddamn, I am not cut out for this, thought Saori. Her head was dizzy from earlier ago. Lelouch had her use her Geass on the main leaders of the plan and she tried to see the future for each one. It took more than 8 hours. She was watched by Lelouch the entire time like a lab rat. Her hand grew sweaty and her cheeks turned bright red. Her pupils dilated and her finger began twitching. She looked around. Everybody else was a veteran; nobody seemed nearly as nervous as she. What if everything didn't go according to plan? What if they are already anticipating this? Her thoughts rushed out like a damn breaking loose, and each idea was more dramatic than the last.

"Stop the car" demanded Lelouch all of a sudden. This was not according to arrangement. Saori turned sharply to face Lelouch and see what was going on. He stared at her coldly. " Get off."

"…..excuse me?"

" You heard me. Get off" Saori was flabbergasted.

"But…I already…why?"

" you are a threat to this mission. You're wasting my time. Get of the car now."

" I don't understand"

" Get off before I throw you off" Saori was at a loss for words now. He saw through her already? But how dare he humiliate her like this!

" You, and you, escort Saori-san off the car"

"Yes, sir" The two men grabbed Saori but her arms and lifted her out. When they reached the door, they tossed her to the ground. Saori was now shaking in anger and mortification.

"Go. I don't care where, just don't involve yourself any further. You are clearly inept for this situation. Let's go, we're leaving her" He turned and swished his cape behind him.

Saori was left lying on the ground, watching the car speed off toward their destination. Tears of humiliation burned her corneas and her stomach tightened so hard that it became excruciating. Three words burned over and over in her head. How…dare…he…

" Zero, are your sure that was the right thing to do" asked Karen. She was a little unnerved by the abrupt and harsh decision. Zero merely turned in her direction and she understood the answer.

"Forgive my foolishness" Nobody else had even batted an eye.

Flashback

" Hey Suzaku, want to go get a drink with me?" said Zino cheerfully, patting him on the back. Suzaku rudely brushed his hand away. " Come on, today is the one day we get a break!"

"Don't bother me" was his terse reply. Zino backed off but did not look the least bit offended.

"Well at least relax somewhere. Maybe a park or something. You look so incredibly tense all the time"

Walking around in the park, Suzaku softly laughed at how he actually took Zino's advice. This was the park where he and Euphie would stroll through when they weren't busy. It was a massive and well maintained park. Everything looked so delicate and beautiful. He missed her. The pain in his heart was like having his heart slowly pierced with nails, one by one. He stared at the stars. Or star. Tired, he sat down on a bench. Strange, this bench felt so soft.

" ARGH the hell you doing?" yelled the bench. He jumped up immediately. There was a girl lying on the bench. Five empty beer cans were lying by her side.

"My deepest apologies ma'am!" he exclaimed.

" hahahaha you look familiar. Have met you before?" she said slowly. For a drunk person, she was pretty articulate.

"No, not that I recall. Excuse me but do you want me to call a cab for you, miss?"

" Wait wait wait...don't you want to see the fireworks?" she laughed. Her hand grabbed his collar and pulled him down to the bench.

" I chose this spot JUST for you. Just wait. Fireworks. Hahahah"

" Miss, I think I'll call a cab for you. Where do you live?"

"Hey pretty boy shuttup and hic the damn fireworks."

" There aren't any fireworks this time of year, miss"

" Look, BOOM! Ahahhaa I cant wait. I cant believe hic celebrate without me"

"Where. Do. You. Live, miss" he asked slowly, pronouncing each word.



"Watch the bad boys go KABOOM! Then they can hic dance with the fairies. Hehehe" Suzaku sighed. He'll just watch her for now. Once she passes out, he will look for her ID and take her home.

" COME ON WHAT YOU WAITING FOR, YOU PRETENTIOUS BASTARD" she screamed. Suzaku shut his eyes. Just his luck. What a wonderful stroll in the park. This drunk was even using big words.

" Ah yes watch, a watch. Pretty boy, time hic it?"

"What?"

"Time, time" she said impatiently. He stuck his wrist out so she could see. She squealed with glee.

"Count with me! COUNT! TEN. SIX. ELEVEN. ELEVEN ELEVEN." Suzaku rubbed his temples. What an annoying girl, but she looked pretty insane.

"Here hic go! THREE, TWO AND A HALF. TWO" She jumped up and made a huge sweeping arm motion and pointed at Suzaku dramatically. She looked at Suzaku, waiting for his response with a demented smile on her face.

He sighed. "And one" he replied, quietly. The girl didn't say anything and pointed into the distance. He looked towards where she was pointing.

A huge flash of light rushed towards him like a flame.

"ARGH" his eyes were blinded by the sudden light. Silence.

Then.

The loudest explosion he had ever heard blasted all hell loose.

The force blew him over the bench and slammed him into the tree. The bench also lifted off the ground and rammed into his stomach. The wind was howling, rushing at him like an angry bull, and his skin felt like it was being torn off his face. He gasped as he spit blood from his stomach where the bench had hit. It pinned him to the tree, stomach down. He fought against the bench, with his eye closed because it was still painfully bright. He couldn't hear anything except the cried of the wind. Desperate to find something to grab, he braced his arms and slowly opened his right eye, just in time to see a flying rock soaring straight for his head. He passed out before he knew what hit him.

A/N: Thanks Tpolich nightmare70 TheDisruptiveOne Ominae for the reviews!!