Author's Note:
Uh. . . I have nothing to say right now. Just enjoy the chapter, and try not to get turned of by its length.
Oh, and I do not own Code Geass or Fullmetal Alchemist.

Edit, 4th of August 2012:

As per my beta reader's suggestion, I retconned a few things about this chapter, so that the Karminrote Sieben no longer has any official ties to the EU, since them showing up like that really would be just an open declaration of war against Britannia.

Alchemy is a science where one understands the structure of matter, breaks it down, and then rebuilds it.
However, it is not an all-powerful technique, as one cannot create something out of nothing.
If one wishes to gain something, one most present something of equal value.
This is the concept of equivalent exchange, the fundamental basis of Alchemy.
There is only one substance that allows one to bypass this law:
The Philosopher's Stone.
However, there is a taboo in Alchemy.
Human transmutation.
One must not commit this act.

-0-

Opening Ceremony of the SAZ
Area 11/Japan
September 1st, 2017 a.t.b. / 1962 AD
2:10 PM
A few minutes before the massacre at the opening ceremony of the SAZ

"You're being awfully cautious. I've had all the cameras turned off." Princess Euphemia said, as she watched Zero- or rather, Lelouch- cautiously search for any hidden security cameras or other means of covert observation.

Only when he finished that, he took of his mask."It should not surprise you that I'm being careful. I've had to hide most of my life, due to the machinations of a certain empire."

He then pulled out a small gun somewhere out of his cloak, and pointed it at Euphemia. "This is a needle gun, made from wood and ceramic. Metal detectors can not detect it."

Euphemia, however, didn't even flinch at the sight of the gun. "Lelouch, you're not going to shoot me."

"You're right- I won't. You're the one who will do the shooting, Euphie."

While it was obvious she did not understand what he was trying to say, Lelouch just ignored her and continued. "This ceremony will broadcast throughout the entire world. If you, a Britannian princess, were to shoot Zero now, what do you think would happen?"

"The ceremony would devolve into a riot." Euphemia answered, deciding to play along.

Satisfied that she had begun to understand, Lelouch continued. "Yes. And if it came out that you murdered him in cold blood, Zero would become a martyr, and your popularity would evaporate."

Euphemia gave him a baffled look. "What are you saying? We are going to rebuild Japan toge-"

"You think people will delight in serving you? You're just like Clovis. Everything is clear to me now- Zero will die, and then be miraculously be reborn, and the people will love him for it. People are more susceptible to miracles, than to logic, you see. Now, take it." He held out his gun to Euphemia.

Euphemia was still baffled. Unable to make sense of anything that he said, she just stared at her half-brother in confusion.

"There can be only one Messiah. When they see that you're a fake, the people will-" Lelouch interrupted himself, as he felt a searing pain in his right eye, bringing him to his knees.

Wanting only to help him, Euphemia ran over to his side. "Lelouch!"

She tried to kneel down beside him, to help him, but Lelouch pushed her aside."Stop it! Don't you dare cast your pity on me! I do not need your charity! I will make this happen on my own! To that end you'll be my tool, Euphemia li Britannia!" He shouted, getting up, unknowingly activating his Geass.

"I have relinquished that name."

With only these words from Euphie, his Geass deactivated itself again. Lelouch was completely put off his stride.

"I have given up my right to succeed the throne. I expect the mainland will announce it shortly."

Now it was Lelouch's turn to be completely baffled. "...why? Because you have accepted Zero in your heart?"

"I made you participate in my little endeavor, so I was sure you would expect something in return." Euphemia explained, giving him a smile.

"You gave it up so easily? Did you do it for me?" Lelouch asked, still in disbelief.

Euphemia chuckled. "You're self-centered as always. I did it for Nunnally. She told me if she could be with her brother, that was all she needed."

"That's why?" Slowly, he began to calm down.

She nodded. "This is what made up my mind. I asked myself what's really important in the world. Lelouch, I haven't given up anything that I really, truly valued.

"And don't worry," She added, laughing, "I haven't told anyone about you."

"What about Cornelia, though?" Lelouch tried to object, but only half-heartedly.

Realizing that she was about to win, Euphemia began to smile. "Well, it's not like we'll never see each other again."

Lelouch let out a sigh. "You're such an idiot. A total moron."

"Well, I never beat you at study, or games, but..."

"It's not exactly how I envisioned it, but I really will get all I want... when I think about it, you were Euphie long before you were sub-viceroy, or Third Princess." Lelouch said, now finally getting ready to accept defeat.

"So, if I'm just Euphie, will you help me?" She asked, holding out her hand to him.

"You were my most worthy opponent." He said, shaking her hand. "You win. We'll make out a way to make that Special Administrative Zone of yours work. And no, I don't want to be your subordinate."

Having finally convinced her half-brother to cooperate, Euphemia was cheerful. "Of course! You really don't trust me, do you? Did you really think that I would shoot you if you threatened me, Lelouch?"

Lelouch laughed as well, and stared off in the air, away from Euphemia's face. "No, I didn't. But if I really do give an order, none can disobey me. I could order you to do absolutely anything I want, no matter how obscure or unfitting for you it might be. Shoot me..."

-0-

"...Kill Suzaku..."

-0-

"...Kill all the Japanese..."

-7-

"...I could as well order you to officially declare that Britannia is evil, or command you to make out with Cornelia."

"Your jokes were never that good, Lelouch..." Euphemia sighed, visibly annoyed at what she thought was just bad humor on Lelouch's part.

Looking into her eyes again, Lelouch decided to give her one more example. "I'm serious. You see, I can be... very convincing if I need to. If I were to order you to go out there, fake your own death, and then go into hiding like I did, you would have no choice but to do it."

-7-

"Hmm... but how should I be doing this best...?" Euphemia started wondering aloud, looking as if she was thinking very hard about something.

"What are you talking about?" Lelouch asked, confused about her sudden change of topic.

Still visibly absent-minded, Euphemia stared at the ceiling, hand at her chin. "Faking my own death... how should I do this?"

"Wha- You don't have to do it, it was just an exam-"

"No..." She turned towards Lelouch. "I have. I have to! I have to go out there and fake my own death!" She began repeating the words, and every time she repeated , she took another step towards Lelouch. Finally, he saw the slight red rings around her irises, which would appear only if he had given a geass-enforced order.

Having a bad feeling, Lelouch looked into one of the room's dark windows. While his reflection in it wasn't exactly clear, it was still good enough for his biggest worry to be confirmed: Without him realizing it, his Geass had activated on its own. It was now permanently active, just like Mao's.

He looked back towards Euphemia, who was now again staring into space, trying to think of a way to best fake her own death. "No... no..." Lelouch began to mutter, unable to accept the reality of what just happened. "NO! DAMN IT!"

As if she had forgotten that he was here, Euphemia looked at Lelouch again, appearing confused. "Lelouch..." she said. "Could you perhaps help me think of something?"

Unable to answer, Lelouch just stood there, watching his half-sister try to find a good way to fake her own death during the ceremony. She didn't even try to fight the Geass - or rather, couldn't.

Suddenly, steps could be heard from outside the room. Only seconds later, Andreas Darlton stormed into the room, gun in hand, two royal guards behind him. "Princess Euphemia! Is everything all right?!"

Having no time to think of anything else, Lelouch gave the one Geass order that he so far had always refrained from giving. "Follow my every order!" He shouted, putting Darlton and the guards under his control.

"Yes, my lord!" The three shouted enthusiastically.

Lelouch took a deep breath and closed his eyes, taking a moment to think about everything.

For whatever reason, his Geass had become permanently active.

He had accidentally given Euphemia an order, and now she was thinking of a way to best fake her own death.

And then there were Andreas Darlton and the two royal guards, on which Lelouch had used an order that made him his slaves, something which he previously always refrained from, since he valued free will too much still.

And as he went through these things once more, a plan started to form in Lelouch's mind – a plan that would allow him to make use of the order he had accidentally given Euphemia, and still allow him to free Japan with the Black Knights.

He opened his eyes, and looked back at Euphemia, who was still lost in thought herself. "Euphemia" he spoke to her. "I have an idea on how you could do this... will you listen to my plan?"

Euphemia was visibly relieved at these words. "You do? Thank you, Lelouch! I was really having trouble thinking of something... so, what is it you thought of?"

"Just listen." Lelouch said, walking over to where Darlton and the two royal guards were. All three just stood there silently, awaiting orders. "Andreas Darlton! You will now return back outside together with me and Euphemia . You will act as if nothing happened, and just sit down in your seat, and wait until Euphemia mentions that Zero and the Black Knights will work together with Britannia on the SAZ. Once she does that, you will become angry, rise from your seat, and call her out on betraying Britannia by working together with us. After that, you will shoot her in a way that appears lethal, but should be possible to survive with medical aid. Once you have done that, you will call out to the soldiers for following her, and try to convince them to put the Japanese 'back into their rightful place'. When then the Black Knights arrive to save the Japanese, you will send all soldiers out to fight them. After all this, you will wait in the stadium, until I kill you."

Taking another deep breath after giving such a long order, Lelouch then addressed the royal guards. "You will return together with me, Euphemia and Darlton. After Darlton has shot Euphemia, and tried to get the other soldiers to join him, you two will one after another shout out your agreement to him. You will follow his orders, and in the fight against the Black Knights, get yourself killed as quick as possible."

He then turned towards Euphemia again. "How does this sound to you?"

Euphemia meanwhile just smiled, as if she didn't really know or understand what was now about to happen – which most likely was also the case. "Sounds good to me!"

-7-

And so, Euphemia as well as Darlton and the two royal guards ended up carrying out Lelouch's orders.

Everything went according the revolutionary's improvised plan, and Euphemia perfectly faked her own death, fulfilling the most important aspect of the Geass order placed on her.

That is, until Darlton came to the part of "putting the Japanese back into their rightful place".

Normally, when a Geass order is placed on a person, the person will have follow the orders just as the person giving the order intends them to.

In this case, however, Lelouch made the mistake to give the order "put the Japanese into their rightful place" without anything specific in mind, leaving the order open for Darlton's interpretation.

The result was the massacre.

The injured princess Euphemia, meanwhile, was taken to the Mobile Base that the Black Knights had taken over in the aftermath of the failed opening ceremony, where she was given medical treatment by Black Knights medics to that Zero revealed that she survived.

And then, the Black Rebellion began.

-7-

Tokyo Settlement
Area 11/Japan
September 2nd, 2017 a.t.b. / 1962 AD
5:13 AM

Kyoshiro Tohdoh was close to having an emotional breakdown.

Ever since Zero had left him in charge of the Black Knights' battle for Tokyo, their situation had gotten progressively worse with each minute that passed. This was in no way because Tohdoh was an incapable commander, or anything of the sort – it was just that neither he nor anybody else had been given any time to even prepare for the idea that he might end up in charge. They had always relied on Zero, and now he had gone. As such, Tohdoh could do little to prevent the looming defeat of the Black Knights, which began to seem more inevitable by the minute.

With increasing difficulty, he fought off the seemingly endless number of enemy Knightmare Frames. Their pilots seemed to have realized that the Black Knights were fighting a losing battle, and had begun to attack with renewed vigour. While Tohdoh's own custom Gekka unit was easily superior to the Britannian's standard Sutherlands and Gloucesters in almost every way, he was well aware of the fact that his Knightmare's energy battery wouldn't last forever, and that sooner or later he was bound to make a mistake that would cost him his life.

"You damn bastards!" He shouted, as he used his Gekka's sword to impale a Gloucester before its pilot even had a chance to dodge. "It can't end like this! Not now, not when we're so close!"

While he wasn't exactly a religious man, in his despair Tohdoh was now praying to whatever deity might hear his prayers. Praying, that through a true miracle that otherwise only Zero would be capable of, the Black Knights would somehow manage to turn the tides of battle in their favor again. That against the odds, their rebellion would still turn out to be a success, and not an attempt to regain freedom that had been launched too early.

And as if his prayers had been answered, he, and most likely everybody else in Tokyo Settlement, regardless of whether they were Japanese or Britannian, received a transmission over an open channel.

The voice that could be heard from it also echoed throughout Tokyo, apparently coming from a speaker up in the sky.

"Attention Japanese, Black Knights, and Britannians!" An enthusiastic male voice exclaimed, "We are the Karminrote Sieben (Crimson Seven), a group interested in Japan's freedom! We are here to help the Black Knights free this so-called "Area 11" from Britannian suppression, and overthrow the forces occupying it!"

In the general confusion that ensued after these words, Tohdoh quickly took out the remaining enemy Sutherlands and Gloucesters around him, whose pilots were busy staring into the sky, searching for the source of the announcement. Only then, Tohdoh allowed himself to be distracted, and looked up into the sky himself.

Floating above Tokyo settlement in the late night sky was a flying battleship, similar in appearance to the Avalon. There were however differences between the Britannian battleship and that of the newcomer: This battleship was noticeably larger and had, in contrast to the mostly white and orange Avalon, a blue and golden color scheme.

As Tohdoh watched the battleship, what seemed like several Knightmare Frames deployed from it – each of which appeared to have a sort of float system equipped, seeing how all of them descended slowly, almost levitating. One after another they floated towards several places in Tokyo, places where Tohdoh knew that the battle was going strong.

With each deployed Knightmare Frame, Tohdoh's hope increased by a little- until it suddenly stopped, after no more than 30 Knightmares having been deployed.

Those idiots! Tohdoh thought to himself. Do these people really think that they can help us with only one battleship and about thirty Knightmare Frames!?

Before Tohdoh could however continue that train of though, three of the newcomer's Knightmare Frames flew over to his position, giving him the first clear look of the mechs.

While Tohdoh at first thought that the Karminrote Sieben had sent what seemed to be an advanced version of the EU's standard Panzer Hummel Frames into the battle, he now saw that he couldn't have been more wrong. In fact, the machines that were approaching him now barely resembled typical Knightmare Frames at all.

What was approaching him now resembled Knightmare-sized suits of armor.

As the three Frames approaching him landed, one particular Frame caught his interest. While the other two Frames around it both carried guns like most Knightmare Frames did and were visually pretty much identical, this one didn't seem to carry any sort of weapon with it, instead holding a man who looked like he was wearing the EU's blue military uniform in its hand. When it landed, it lowered its hand, and the man stepped onto solid ground. After the Frame had let the man to the ground, it locked into a pose that looked as if though the pilot wanted to perform martial arts with his Frame.

However, this was far from the only outstanding aspect about the frame. In general, the entire machine appeared as though it was designed to be as intimidating as possible: Spikes adorned its body all over, with three on each shoulder, another three on its kneecaps, and yet another three on its feet. In addition to that, its forearms carried spikes as well, and on the Frames' head was a single horn. The entire Knightmare Frame was in a gunmetal color, and seemed to lack anything like the landspinner, which was the standard method of moving any other Frame. Lastly, on both of its shoulders was a symbol that appeared to be a snake folding around a cross; below, a crown and two wings.

Before Tohdoh could make any further observations, the man that had been carried down by the Knightmare Frame he just observed stepped forth towards Tohdoh's Gekka, his arms folded behind his back, and raised his voice. "I am Brigadier General Basque Grand, the Iron Blood Alchemist, a State Alchemist of the EU's military! State your name and your rank, Black Knight!"

"My name is Kyoshiro Tohdoh, leader of the 'Four Holy Swords', and currently commander of the Black Knights in Zero's place!" Tohdoh replied over the speakers of his Knightmare in a serious tone, doing his best to not let his confusion over a man of the EU's military being here find its way into his tone.

This seemed to change Grand's mood for the better; he started to laugh. "Haha, perfect! Just the kind of man that I am looking for." He turned around towards the three Knightmare Frames behind him, and ordered two of them to head into battle against the Britannian forces, leaving only the particularly weird one that had brought him down behind him.

Following the orders without question, the two Frames ran off into battle – as Tohdoh could see now, they literally ran like humans, instead of relying on landspinners for transportation, which only further increased his suspicion and confusion.

"Come out of there, Alphonse! Out here, you'll be of more use to me!" Grand addressed the pilot of the remaining frame, before focusing his attention on Tohdoh once more. "Well then, Mr Tohdoh." He said. "There are a few things I would like to discuss with you, and I would quite prefer to do so while standing face-to-face with you. So, may I ask you to leave your Knightmare Frame? I can personally guarantee that you will be safe."

Tohdoh quickly thought over the situation. He was facing a man who introduced himself as a high-ranking member of the EU's military, with no proof other than the uniform that he was wearing. This all was incredibly fishy, but there was no telling what could happen if he were to oppose the man. Tohdoh had no knowledge of the other's Knightmare capabilities, so chosing to oppose him would at the very least be tricky - especially when taking into consideration that no allied forces seemed to be nearby. While still wary, Tohdoh decided to play along for the time being, and opened his cockpit to climb out of his Gekka, which ended up taking several minutes. While on his way to face Grand, he also caught another oddity about the European Knightmare Frame behind the man: Its cockpit opened into the way the Frame was facing, instead of its back.

Then, finally, Tohdoh stood face-to-face with Grand, and for the first time he took a good look at the man.

Basque Grand was a very tall man, standing at well over six feet- almost two meters. He had tan skin, a bald head, and sported an enormous black mustache. The shoulder markings of his uniform had three golden stripes on them, the middle one being thicker than the outer ones, indicating his rank as Brigadier General. While Grand's current expression was rather satisfied, Tohdoh could easily tell that he was an otherwise very serious man.

Standing by his side was what Tohdoh assumed to be the Knightmare Frame's pilot. As it turned out, "Alphonse" was in fact a boy with short, gold-blond hair, and equally golden eyes. From the looks of it, he was even younger than Suzaku, and was wearing a long, blue cloak with the same symbol as was on the shoulders of its armor-Knightmare imprinted in black on its backside. Overall, he gave off a much friendlier impression than Grand, though bearing a serious expression.

"Alphonse, transmute us a seating. I am sure that General Tohdoh will agree that conversations like these are best held while sitting."

"That won't be necessary. I am content with standing, you don't need to-" Tohdoh tried to object despite having no idea what Grand was talking about, but Alphonse interrupted him.

"It's all right, it's not like this takes long or anything." The blond-haired boy said in a casual tone.

He clapped his hands together in front of him, which caused an surprisingly loud sound, and placed them both on the ground. Accompanied by blue sparks, a stone table and two chairs formed themselves out of the rubble that Alphonse, Tohdoh and Grand were standing on, just a few meters in front of the boy.

Tohdoh was surprised, to say the least. "What was that?!"

"That was Alchemy." Basque Grand replied, giving Tohdoh a calculating look. "I guess it was to be expected that this surprises you, considering that neither Britannia nor Japan research this science. However, we do not have the time to discuss that. There are more pressing matters at hand, so please-" He gestured towards the newly created chairs. "Take a seat."

Once again suppressing his doubts and confusion, Tohdoh did as he was asked. "Would you mind answering me a few questions, Brigadier General?" He himself asked, hoping to get some information about the EU's intentions out of the man (should these people really work for the EU, that is), who was just now sitting down.

Grand eyed him carefully before answering. "I will give you all the answers that I am privileged to give. What is that you want to know?"

Tohdoh decided to be simply blunt. "Firstly, what is the EU doing here, fighting Britannia in disguise? If the EU supports us, why are only doing it now? What do you want from the Black Knights? And more importantly, what do you want from Japan, should it regain its freedom?"

Grand didn't reply right away, taking a few seconds to think about what exactly to say while clasping his hands in front of his face, arms resting on the stone table. "The reason for us being not officially here should, in all honesty, be obvious. If the EU were to openly ally themselves with the Black Knights, and fight against Britannian forces on their own turf, it would be nothing short of an open declaration of war. Appearing as a terrorist group independent of the EU, we are able to act without provoking a war, while still helping Japan regain its freedom." He then began. "As for the reason why the EU is supporting the Black Knights to begin with- that is simple. Japan has the biggest natural resources of Sakuradite in the entire world. Liberating it from Britannian rule will severely weaken the empire."

Tohdoh, who had expected such a reply, silently nodded, while Grand continued. "To answer your second question: The EU doesn't want anything specific off the Black Knights. As I said, the EU supports Black Knights in their fight against Britannia. We only want to see Britannia weakened."

"Your third question, however, I cannot answer. You will have to talk with our commander, Lieutenant General Stauffenberg about that." He then added after another pause.

Tohdoh gave a short nod as a sign of understanding. "I see."

"I assume that these are all of your questions, then?" Grand questioned. Tohdoh gave him another nod. "Well then." Grand proceeded. "As you might have assumed, I myself have a few questions myself: You said that you are commander of the Black Knights in Zero's place. What exactly is the meaning of that? Where is Zero himself? Shouldn't he be the one to command the Black Knights during such an important battle?"

Tohdoh hesitated. He himself wasn't sure what to think about the situation with Zero yet, and was uncertain on whether he wanted to let the self-proclaimed Europeans in on the situation. Though, after he reminded himself of the fact that they had already officially announced that they'd work with the Black Knights, and couldn't just move out of that anymore, he decided to fill them in.

"I do not know where Zero is." He began. "About an hour ago he just contacted me, saying that I was now in command of the Black Knights, and that he had something very important to do, during which he could not be disturbed. He then simply left Tokyo, and turned off all means of communication. A few minutes after he left, one of our elite pilots flew after him, but we haven't heard anything from neither her nor Zero."

"Hm, this is unfortunate..." Grand murmured, looking aside. After a moment of thinking, he turned back towards Tohdoh. "Do you know in which direction he left? And could you perhaps give us description of Zero's, and your elite pilote's Knightmare Frames?"

While this question surprised Tohdoh, he still answered. "Zero left towards the south, in a bigger than average, black and golden Knightmare Frame, the Gawain. Our elite pilot meanwhile was in a average-sized red Knightmare Frame, with a large claw for its right hand, the Guren."

Having listened closely, Grand now turned towards Alphonse, who had been quietly following the conversation between the two men. "You got that, Alphonse?"

"Yes, sir!" The blond-haired boy replied, saluting.

"Good. Report that information back to the Hindenburg, and then head into battle. I don't care if you use your Panzerritter (Armor Knight) or fight on foot, just go." Grand ordered Alphonse.

As the young man ran off towards his Knightmare Frame, Tohdoh's eyes followed the boy with. "May I ask why the EU enlists soldiers this young into the army, Brigadier General?" He asked, hoping to get an answer that would somehow allow him to figure out whether this group, the Karminrote Sieben, really was a part of the EU, or was just an independet group pretending to be that.

"Quite simple. Unlike Britannia, which takes the ideological position that all men are not created equal, the EU believes that all men are, in fact, created equal. This also means that all should be able to fight if they wish to do so, regardless of race, gender, age or origins. And don't let Alphonse's youthful appearance fool you – the boy is both a skilled pilot and a very skilled Alchemist for his age..."

Alphonse, meanwhile, had already climbed back up to the cockpit of his Panzerritter, where he turned on the Frame's radio transceiver, preparing to send a message back to the Hindenburg.

"Ed, I've got news concerning Zero! The man commanding in his place, Tohdoh, told us that Zero left Tokyo about an hour ago in a big, black-golden Knightmare Frame in south-eastern direction, followed by one of the Black Knights elite pilots. Seems like you'll have to find him yourselves..." He said in his first language.

After finishing his transmission, Alphonse made a short break in order to think about how he should proceed. Having been given the choice on how to participate in battle, be it on foot or on his Knightmare, he was now considering both options.

When he finally made up his mind, Alphonse left the cockpit of his Panzerritter again, having decided to head off into the fight on foot. Though his body was still weakened from the malnutrition that it had suffered for about four years, the young State Alchemist was still certain that he'd be able to fight well enough.

After taking one last look at Grand and Tohdoh, who now seemed to be busy discussing various matters with each other, Alphonse turned around, and headed off into the direction that the other two Panzerritter that had accompanied him earlier went off to. After running for only a few minutes, Alphonse could already hear the noises of the ongoing battle between the Britannian forces, the Black Knights, and the Karminrote Sieben's reinforcements: Gunshots, explosions and Knightmare Frames moving at high speeds.

Not long after that, he could see the actual battle.

The scenery was shocking for him. While Alphonse himself had only ever heard about the Ishval civil war, what he was seeing now came rather close to how he imagined its battlefields.

Every part of the city in his view was destroyed in one way or another; there were destroyed cars and Knightmare Frames everywhere, smoke rising from their still burning wrecks. Luckily, there weren't any corpses lying around.

But even so, Alphonse's first direct view of a battlefield was not a kind or encouraging one. Get a hold of yourself! He mentally scolded himself. You knew that it would be like this, so don't act so surprised! The sooner you act, the sooner you'll actually be able to make a difference!

Alphonse violently shook his head to clear his mind, and started focusing on his surroundings again – and as it turned out, just at the right time.

A Britannian Sutherland, just coming out of a side alley, had spotted him and was now charging towards him, its gun aimed at the boy. Since the Knightmare was still a good distance away from him, Alphonse took a few seconds to take proper aim, before clapping his hands together in front of his body, and quickly placing them on the ground. The result of this transmutation were huge spikes shooting out of the ground, right into the Knightmare Frames' arms and legs, rendering it immobile.

Being completely certain that the Sutherland wouldn't move again, Alphonse went up to it in order to examine his transmutation.

Due to the size of the Knightmare Frame, Alphonse had to transmute bigger spikes than he usually did for combat, which in turn meant that he had to use a lot more material – something that clearly showed itself in the surrounding area of where the spikes came out of the ground. Around there, a deep, round pit had formed itself. Despite having to improvise this aspect, the spikes were just as solid and effective as ever.

Done with his examinations, Alphonse took one more look at the Gloucester. Just as he had intended it, none of the spikes had hit its cockpit, so that the pilot should still be alive – very shocked, but alive. He then clapped his hands together once more, and placed his hands on the spikes, transmuting them back into the ground again.

Being released so suddenly, the Gloucester simply feel over. The young State Alchemist meanwhile made his way over to where the Knightmare Frame's cockpit was, and transmuted a hole into it, giving Alphonse a view of its pilot, a young, blonde-haired Britannian wearing a red-black visor. Despite the visor covering the majority of his face, Al could see the disbelief and surprise written on his face.

"You should be able to climb out of this hole. I suggest that you try to somehow get away from the battlefield, and find a safe place to wait until the fighting is over."

Alphonse then turned around, and headed back into the battlefield.

It didn't take him long to find new opponents; just as he made his way to the next big street, he saw a group of about a dozen Britannian Knightmare Frames chasing four of the Black Knight's Burai, each of which were already damaged.

Realizing that he had to act quickly, Alphonse dashed forwards just as the four passed his position, throwing himself between them, and their chasers who were quickly approaching.

The Knightmare Frames' pilots seemed to care little about a 15-year old just having thrown himself into their path, and opened their fire at the Burai. Even if they had taken notice of him, the pilotes most likely would just try to run him over, perceiving him as no noteworthy threat - a threat, as they would realize. A few of their bullets came close to hitting Alphonse, who was now already clapping his hands together, readying himself for another transmutation.

Just when the Britannian Knightmare Frames were only a few meters away from him, the young State Alchemists placed his hands on the ground – and created a gigantic formation of stone spikes, so tightly packed it was bearing resemblance to a bush. The spikes completely impaled every single of the Knightmares, which all ground to a halt, rendered useless. Their pilots were certainly dead.

Seeing this, Alphonse frowned. While by now, he was mentally prepared to kill, he still didn't like the thought of it.

The fact that he didn't get to see the pilots didn't make it much better. On the one hand, he didn't have to see their faces, but on the other side, it also took almost all severity out of the act of killing them, making their murder just like simply destroying a machine.

Meanwhile, the four Black Knights had just now noticed that they had been saved, and turned their Knightmares around towards Alphonse. As they came closer, they started speaking to him over their Burai's speakers in Japanese. While he didn't understand a word they were saying, it was obvious to the State Alchemist that they were thanking him for saving them, cheering for him.

"You better try to get out of here before you get targeted again." He said in English while smiling weakly.

While the four Knightmare Frames showed no visible sign of having understood him, they still turned around after a moment of hesitation, and left for the direction where Alphonse originally came from.

The young European turned around, and ran off to find another fight to join.

As he was on his way, he could see a massive iceberg rising in a street not too far from him, and multiple big explosions over a short time in another street – clear signs of the work of other State Alchemist that had been flown into the battlefield like Grand.

Not long after he left the scene of his first kill, Alphonse found himself yet again confronted with a situation that required him to act: A pair of the Black Knight's Burai was desperately trying to escape from a group of Britannian Sutherlands – unaware of the fact that on a collapsed building above them, another Sutherland was positioned, getting ready to snipe the Black Knights.

To Al it was obvious that he would be unable to take out either of the Sutherlands fast enough to save the two Black Knights – he was too far away to properly attack any of them in time before they destroyed the Burai.

He had to improvise, and instead transmuted a high stone wall between the Black Knights and their chasers, hoping that despite the long distance over which he had to transmute, the wall would still be able to block incoming bullets.

But his hopes were belied.

The first shot from the sniping Sutherland easily broke through Alphonse's wall, and even buried one of the two Burai underneath a small pile of rubble in addition to almost destroying it.

"INOUE!" the other Black Knight shouted over the speaker of his Knightmare, his voice filled with terror.

While Alphonse was shocked as well, he didn't let it get the better of him, and instead ran towards the Burai, already clapping his hands together to perform another transmutation. Instantly, a giant fist formed itself out of the building that punched the Sutherland off the building, severely damaging it in the process. He then did his best to strengthen the walls that he had created earlier, in order to assure that the rest of the Britannian Sutherlands wouldn't just break through them as well.

Only then Al ran over to the heavily damaged Burai, and once again used Alchemy to open it. Inside the half-destroyed cockpit, he could see a young, purple-haired woman. She had lost consciousness, and was bleeding heavily on her left side. It was obvious that she needed medical attention. Making sure that the she would receive that would mean that Alphonse would miss most of the battle - which however only lay in his interest. While the young alchemist was still trying to think of a way to get her out of the cockpit without doing any further harm to her, the other Burai's pilot had climbed out of his Knightmare, and was now rushing towards Al, his fear written on his face.

"Inoue!" He once again shouted while running.

Alphonse turned towards the young man, and signaled him to stop and calm down, before speaking to him. "Could you perhaps help me get her out of there? She needs medical treatment as soon possible."

The blue-haired man was however far from being calmed. "Why don't you just use that weird magic that you used earlier to get her out of there?!" He shouted, his emotions getting the better of him.

"Are you blind? She's severely injured! Doing anything like I did earlier would just be risky now! And besides, it is Alchemy, and not magic!" Al replied, trying to stay calm.

This seemed to have the right effect on the Black Knight, who now asked in a calmer tone "Who are you, anyway?"

"I am Alphonse Hohenheim, the Iron Soul Alchemist, a State Alchemist of the EU's military. Any questions?"

-7-

At Ashford Academy meanwhile, the situation for the Black Knights under Diethard Ried was still problematic to say the least. While currently there was a ceasefire between the Britannians and the Black Knights due to the random appearance of a third-generation Knightmare Frame- that apparently carried a bomb dangerous enough to scare Rakshata, the otherwise calm head of the Black Knight's research and development team- it was certain that the moment the Britannians resumed the battle, the Black Knights would be doomed.

While everybody at Ashford Academy had heard the Karminrote Sieben's proclamation, not a single soldier, let alone a Knightmare Frame, had shown up yet. As such, the Black Knights at the academy, which were currently all taking cover in a passage between two of the academy's buildings, were starting to wonder whether the newcomers would aid them here, so far away from the actual battlefield as well. Especially Tamaki, who had been in an almost annoyingly good mood until Zero's departure, was having a hard time staying calm, much to the annoyance of Diethard and the others.

"Damn it..." He muttered. "Are these Karmin-bastards really going to help us? How come that not a single one of them has shown up here yet?!"

"Shut up! Your complaining doesn't make it better!" Diethard shot back angrily, despite Tamaki saying what everybody was thinking.

Tamaki was about to reply in an equally angry way, when something caught his attention: A single man was walking up to the academy through the main entrance. While he was currently to far away to make out any details, Tamaki could already see that he was wearing a white shirt and black pants.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Tamaki said in disbelief, drawing the other Black Knight's attention to the man. "They're sending one single man to aid us here?!"

Said man had meanwhile arrived at the scene, and was now standing not to far from the two Knightmare Frames that had forced the Black Knights to abandon the academy as their base of operations. Since the man was inevitably drawing all the Britannian's attention to himself with his sudden appearance, the Black Knights decided to come out of cover, to see what was going on, giving them their first close view at their supposed "savior". The man standing in front of the academy was very tall, measuring well over two meters. His head was almost entirely bald, except for a single, blonde hair-antenna on his forehead, and a humongous blonde mustache that made it impossible to see his mouth. The weirdest thing about him, however, was the fact that his head seemed for some reason to be constantly surrounded by what only could be described as pink sparkles.

Having taken a good look at the situation in front of him, the man then raised his voice, and began introducing himself. Loudly introducing himself. "My name is Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist, and heir to the noble Armstrong family! Britannians, I am here to end your unjust fight against this country's representatives of justice, the Black Knights! So I offer you only one time: Surrender, or else you shall feel the might of my Artistic Alchemy, a skill that has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" He proclaimed, while flexing his muscles enough that his entire shirt was torn apart, revealing his almost ridiculously muscular physique.

A rather awkward silence followed these words. While the reaction among the Black Knights varied slightly between each member, almost all of them were thinking that this man was... insane. Diethard, however, was having a feeling similar to the one he had the first time he saw Zero: The feeling that he was having a man in front of him that would have an impact on the world.

Tamaki, on the other hand, was unsure what to think of the man: He was torn between admiration for Armstrong's impressive boast and the thought that the man was just a lunatic. Rakshata, who was still watching the events from the roof of Ashford Academy, meanwhile decided to wait and see what the self-proclaimed Alchemist would do, watching him with her usual amused interest.

The reactions among the Britannians, regardless of whether they were student or soldier, were overall pretty much the same. Cecile, who was piloting the one Knightmare Frame that had essentially by itself forced the Black Knights to retreat, silently questioned the man's sanity, seeing as he apparently believed that he could take out a Knightmare while being on foot himself.

Nina, who was piloting the Ganymede, was too much of an emotional wreck right now after everything she had been through this day, including the failure of her Sakuradite-powered bomb, to even notice anything around her.

Milly, who was outside together with Rivalz and Shirley, to try and calm Nina, was interested to see how the man would live up to his threat.

Rivalz was, similarly to Tamaki, torn between admiration and disbelief.

Shirley's reaction was the same as almost everybody else's: The firm belief that the man was out of his mind.

Lloyd, who was watching the events from the Avalon, didn't have any strong feelings one way or the other – instead, he had a vague apprehension regarding Cecile's Knightmare.

Armstrong, who hadn't received any form of reply until now, prepared himself for battle. "VERY WELL THEN! HAVE AT YOU!" He roared, while strapping metal gauntlets to his hands. Each of the gauntlets had weird symbols involving a triangle inside two circles on their back, and large spikes in the areas of his knuckles.

He then charged at Cecile's Sutherland Air at a speed that nobody watching the scene would have thought a normal man capable of. When he was only a few meters away from the Knightmare, he stopped, and fiercely rammed his fists into the ground.

In an instant, large stone spikes shot out of the ground, which instantly pierced through the Knightmare Frame's arms and legs, leaving it completely immobile.

Meanwhile on the Avalon, Lloyd collapsed on the ground and curled up into a fetal position. He was shivering, just as if he felt the Knightmare's pain. "He's trashing it... he's trashing it!"

Back on the ground, Cecile was still unharmed inside the Sutherland Air, but had been massively shocked when Major Armstrong attacked her. Just now, she was calming down, and checked the functions of her Knightmare. The mech was completely unable to move, but aside from that seemed to be working fine. As such, she opened the cockpit, and climbed out, all the while staying alert in case the man would attack her again.

As it turned out, her suspicions were groundless; after taking out the Sutherland Air, Alex Louis Armstrong had moved on to take out the Ganymede, repeating the same attack that he used before.

While Cecile watched him do that, the Black Knights completely came out of their cover, with two of them running up to her, their guns ready.

"Put your hands where we can see them, Britannian, and don't try anything funny!" One of them shouted, aiming his gun at Cecile.

And as Cecile complied, Major Armstrong now also took notice of the Black Knights, and walked over to them. "Ah! You gentlemen must be the Black Knights!" He said, barely lowering his voice from the massive decibels he had exerted when he introduced himself.

It was Diethard who took it upon himself to talk to the Alchemist. "We are. My name is Diethard Ried, head of the Black Knights' Public Relations. I assume that you were sent here to help us reclaim our headquarters?"

Armstrong nodded in reply. "Indeed I am. However," He looked up at the Avalon "I suppose taking out these two Knightmares won't be enough, so if you would excuse me: My fight isn't over yet!"

Before the Strong Arm Alchemist could do whatever he had planned to take out the Avalon, Tamaki stepped forth. "Stop destroying the place! This is our new headquarters!" He grouched, pointing to the spikes the Alchemist had transmuted.

In response, Armstrong gave him an impressive glare, accompanied by more shouting. "YOU FOOL! Behind destruction, there lies creation! Behind creation, there lies destruction! Destruction and creation are two sides of the same coin! DESTROY AND CREATE! FOR THIS IS THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSE!"

In shock, Tamaki stumbled a few steps backwards. Armstrong however seemed to consider the conversation finished, as he turned around, and walked over to a relatively free space only a few meters away from the Black Knights.

"I suggest that all of you step back, this might become a bit chaotic!"

He then rammed both of his fists into the ground once more. However, instead of spikes, this time a thick, Greek-looking pillar shot out of the ground, and towards the Avalon.

Back on the ground, Diethard just stood and watched in awe, as the Strong Arm Alchemist made his way towards the Avalon, while at the pillar's base, more and more material was drawn from the academy's grounds, forming a deep pit around it. "Incredible..." the Black Knight thought to himself, a maniacal grin on his face. "Just what is this man capable of?"

And while Milly and the other members of the student council were using the distraction to get Nina out of the Ganymede (while also very impressed by Armstrong's feats themselves), the Alchemist was now on the same level as the Avalon, with the battleship's bridge being just in front of him, where he stopped the pillar's ascension.

Immediately after this, he jumped over to the Avalon's bridge, and shattered its window with a strong punch right-handed, before landing on the bridge.

Around Armstrong, the battleship's crew stepped back – except for those that were still taking care of Lloyd, who was still lying on the floor, shivering.

"Well then, gentlemen... I suggest that you land this battleship now, or else you too shall experience the might of the Armstrong family's Artistic Alchemy!"

-7-

Kallen watched carefully as the two figures approached the part of the cave where she, Lelouch and Suzaku were standing. It didn't take long till the two came in close enough for the light falling in from an opening above to illuminate them, giving them their first clear view of the intruders.

Standing in front of them were two boys, both around the same age as the three of them. Both of them were wearing what appeared to be a blue military uniform. It felt awfully familiar to Kallen, though she had no idea where she could have seen it before. Both of them were also each wearing a pair of featureless white gloves, and had shoulder marks with four golden stripes, and one equally golden star on their uniform.

While the one boy was fairly tall – probably more so than both Lelouch and Suzaku – the other one was very short, being a good deal smaller than even Kallen. The shorter of the two boys had long, gold-blond hair, which was neatly tied together in a braid. Most of the left half of his face, including his left eye, was covered by his hair. In the right half though, Kallen could see that his eyes were the same color as his hair – golden. His expression was serious and calculating, as he was probably thinking of what to make of the scene in front of him.

The taller of the two had long, dark brown hair tied to a ponytail, which was about as long as the other boy's braid. Unlike the shorter boy though, he didn't have his hair cover part of his face. Instead, the most noticeable thing about him was the he was wearing a pair of weird, orange triangular shades, which made it impossible for Kallen to see his eyes. He had a cocky smile on his face, as if what he saw right now greatly amused him.

Since Lelouch, Suzaku and Kallen had held their entire conversation so far in Japanese, it was obvious that neither of the two knew anything of what was going right now, since they had been talking to each other in English when they arrived.

Being the first one to regain her speech after the sudden appearance of the two, Kallen decided to ask the obligatory question. "Who are you?"

It was the blonde boy took it upon himself to reply. "Ah, how impolite of us... my name is Edward Hohenheim. I am the Fullmetal Alchemist, a State Alchemist of the EU military. This," He pointed towards the taller boy, who was still grinning "Is Felix Scholl, the Burning Blood Alchemist, also a State Alchemist of the EU military. We are members of the research division Karminrote Sieben, and were sent here to find Zero. Judging by the costume," He looked directly at Lelouch "I assume that would be you?"

Before Lelouch could react, Suzaku, who thought that the two newcomers where on his side, started talking. "The EU wants to aid Britannia in overthrowing the Black Knights? That's rather unexpected, but I am sure that it is not unappreciated. I will accept your help in capturing Zero. Though, if I might ask... why, uh, does the EU's military employ such young soldiers?"

There was a blue flash in the cave, and before anybody realized what happened, Edward Hohenheim had dashed to the other side of the cave while shouting angrily and delivered a strong punch to Suzaku, who was sent flying for about a meter. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING A PINT-SIZED RUNT THAT COULD EASILY RIDE AN ANT?!"

"Uh, sorry... that's not what I meant..." Suzaku stuttered, slowly getting back to his feet. The attack had completely caught him off guard, and now he wasn't quite sure of what to do.

Kallen, meanwhile, was quite amused to see Suzaku getting hit like that, though she too was not sure what to make off the European's unexpected behaviour. Lelouch on the other hand just took a step back, just to be on the safe side.

During all this, Felix Scholl was laughing out loud. "Good punch, bro!" He lauded, before finally becoming more serious himself – if only a bit. "So, I guess you're this Spinzaku Kururugi guy, the knight of that princess?" He addressed Suzaku.

Suzaku, who was still too surprised by the punch he received to actually notice his newly-given nickname, nodded.

"Well then," Felix said "I guess we better make this clear right now: Me and my bro are here to find Zero and take him back to Tokyo, not to to capture him. The EU supports the Black Knights, not Britannia's military!"

The honory Britannian's eyes grew wide with shock, while he was left completely speechless. While Kallen could understand what he might be feeling after the things that he experienced in the past few hours, she did feel no compassion to him – not after all the trouble that he and the Lancelot had caused the Black Knights over the last few months.

"Now, wait just a moment." Kallen however threw in. "How did you even know to find us out here?"

"Easy. The Black Knights in Tokyo told us in which direction you flew off to, and after that, we only had to find the island on which the Knightmare Frames were standing." Edward replied, before turning to Lelouch. "So, Zero... will you return to Tokyo with us?"

Lelouch meanwhile looked back and forth between Edward and Felix, before finally looking into Edward's eye. For some reason, neither of the boys seemed to either not notice or simply not care about the Geass in Lelouch's left eye, with the blonde just calmly responding Lelouch's gaze.

Trying to put himself in a more favorable position, Lelouch decided to make use of his Geass. The exiled Britannian prince wanted to erase the European's memory one after another, starting with the one of which he was most certain that his Geass would work on him. As it was, Lelouch was uncertain on whether his Geass would work through Felix' shades. "Forget that you ever saw my face!"

However, before Lelouch could even finish speaking out his order for Edward, the blonde boy quickly closed his eyes, saving him from falling under Lelouch's command!

"I can assure you that this will not be a problem. To the EU, what matters is Zero, not the person that is behind the mask." Edward remarked in a matter-of-fact tone, while opening his eyes again as if nothing happened.

Lelouch's mind was racing. Just how the hell could he evade my Geass? I was looking right into his eye! There's no way he could have reacted quickly enough to close his eyes in time! Unless... could it be that his left eye also has a permanently active Geass, one that allows him to predict my actions, similar to Mao?

At the same time, Suzaku was also trying to understand what he had just seen. Didn't this long-haired boy tell me that this Geass can force ANYBODY to do anything? Just how does it come that it doesn't work on this sho- blond guy?

Before either of them could however finish any of their train of thoughts, Edward started talking again. "Now then: will you return with us, Zero?"

"I... am still looking for somebody on this island. An important person that I think is behind this wall." He replied, forcing himself out of his thoughts. "I need to find this person before I leave."

Edward went over to the wall to take a closer look at it. "Hm... I don't see anything that resembles a door or an opening here. Are you sure that the person you're looking for is behind this?"

"I am certain." Lelouch replied, deciding to simply play along with whatever the Europeans where trying to do.

"Hm, in that case..." Edward murmured more to himself than to anybody else, while clapping his hands together in front of him, creating a metallic "Clang!" sound. He then placed both of his hands on the stone wall – which, accompanied by bright red sparks, transformed into a big, heavy-looking, metal door.

While this left Lelouch, Kallen and Suzaku equally flabbergasted, Kallen was the one that actually spoke out what all three of them were thinking. "Just what the hell was that?!"

Slightly confused, Edward turned towards her. "That was Alchemy." He said. "Didn't I tell you that we are State Alchemists?"

"I thought that was some sort of weird joke. Aren't Alchemists people who throw together all sorts of chemicals, hoping to find a way turn lead into gold?" Kallen asked.

Hearing this, Edward burst out into laughter. "Hahaha! Seems like Britannia is really way more behind with this science than I thought. Well, in Europe, Alchemy has changed a lot from this view that you described. Today it is a science, where one understands the structure of matter, breaks it down, and then rebuilds, as you just have seen." He pointed towards the door he just created. "However, in order to gain something new, something of equal value must be lost first. That's the first law of Alchemy: Equivalent Exchange."

"Oyoyoy! Can't we just cut out the Alchemy lessons, bro? It's not like we have all day, y'know!" Felix shouted out, obviously getting bored with all the talking.

"Yeah Felix, I was just done, anyway. Well then, Zero... here you go." Edward said, before moving away from the door, presenting it to Lelouch in an almost mocking way.

Slowly, as if he was expecting a trap or anything, Lelouch walked towards the door, while examining it closely. It looked as solid as if it had always stood there, despite how out-of-place it was for this entire island. After a moment, Lelouch could also see that at some places, the door seemed to consist of a series of small rectangles put together, which were also present in the stone wall surrounding it – signs of the use of Alchemy, he assumed.

Finally done with his observations, Lelouch placed his hand on the door – and hesitated for a moment. There were a lot of things on his mind right now: Suzaku, Geass, Euphemia, Alchemy, the EU, Kallen, the two Alchemists... but all of these things paled in comparison to his worries for Nunnally.

Lelouch opened the door.

While he wasn't sure what he had actually expected to see, what Lelouch was seeing now was definitely not what he expected.

Behind the door was... nothing. Just a small, empty room,which seemed to be nothing more than an extension of the stone platform that he was standing on.

Felix, standing behind Lelouch took a good look at the room behind the door. "Oy, Zero! Are you really sure that this person you're looking for is here?"

"I... was sure. She- she should have been here!" Lelouch's voice was shaking. Had his entire detour to this island really been for naught? Had Nunnally's kidnapper already taken her to a new location, after Lelouch didn't show up alone? "Nunnally!"

In his despair, Lelouch slammed his fist at the wall. His entire body was trembling.

Kallen observed his breakdown with a mixture of interest and compassion. For her, it was the first time seeing Lelouch show any real emotion; gone was the apathy- this was the first time she could remember Zero showing any humour besides his overly dramatic behaviour. Given that, she carefully watched the young Britannian showing what appeared to be his true face.

Just what is his real face now? Lelouch, the Britannian student, or Zero, the masked revolutionary? Did I even know who he really was? Kallen thought to herself. Though, for him to break down like this over Nunnally not being here... did he do this all just for his sister?

However, Lelouch didn't stay like this for long. Not a minute after his outcry, he straightened himself up, and regained his calm facade.

"How... was the situation when you left Tokyo?" He asked, still facing the wall so that nobody could see his face.

Once again, the Fullmetal Alchemist acted as if he hadn't witnessed anything odd going on, and completely ignored Lelouch's breakdown. "At the time when we left, our Panzerritter and Alchemists were turning the battle's tide in favor of the Black Knights, and one of the State Alchemists was sent to help them reclaim their headquarters."

Lelouch let out a deep sigh before continuing. "Seeing as the person I am looking for apparently isn't here... I will return with you to Tokyo."

Despite him not showing it anymore, the fact that he hadn't been able to find Nunnally here was still eating him up from the inside. However, seeing has he had been unable to find her now, it would make little sense to continue searching for her, since by now her kidnapper must have realized that it had gotten a bit to lively on the island. Even though Lelouch hated it, he had to forget about Nunnally for now, and instead deal with the problems at hand.

"And what about Spinzaku over here?" Felix asked, pointing at Suzaku, who had remained silent ever since he had been attacked by Edward.

Suzaku took a deep breath. "I will come along peacefully..." He then began in English, before turning towards Lelouch and continuing in Japanese: "...if you let me meet Euphemia as soon as possible."

Lelouch smiled weakly. "This shouldn't be a problem."

"We are ready to leave now." He said to the two alchemists.

As a sign of recognition, Edward nodded.

And so, finally, after what felt like hours to all of them, the five of them finally made their way out.

On their way out, none of them spoke a word – except for Felix that is, who started hitting on Kallen, much to the Black Knight's irritation. "Hey, you come here often?"

Kallen could only give a bewildered look in response to the European's advances. Just what the hell is going on his mind? She thought to herself.

Thankfully for Kallen though, she was saved from having to reply by Edward, who gave the taller teen an angry glare. "Felix, this isn't the time for that!"

Felix sighed and shrugged. "Bro, a man's heart never rests! I thought you knew that!"

Another angry glare from the short boy however shut him up for good – just in time for all of them to finally step out of the cave.

Outside of the cave, the sun had now completely risen, illuminating the island in its soft morning light. Standing in front of the unlikely group were four Knightmare Frames: Suzaku's Lancelot, Kallen's Guren, and two others which undoubtedly belonged to the two alchemists. Just like Tohdoh before them, Lelouch, Kallen and Suzaku were quite surprised by the design of the European Knightmares. One of the two looked exactly like the Panzerritter piloted by Alphonse Hohenheim, the only visible difference being its color, a gray tone with a red tint to it – not that any of the three could tell at this time, though.

The other one out of the two meanwhile was just plain odd, even for the standards of the other Panzerritter. While the Frame's general shape was more like that of a Sutherland or Burai, its torso alone was already nothing like that of any Knightmare. The entire torso of the red, black and yellow-colored robot consisted of a big, vaguely triangle-shaped face with an open, slightly grinning mouth gritting its teeth. Covering its eyes were black shades, shaped just like Felix' – which in turn left little doubt towards which of the two Alchemists was its pilot.

Other than this big face, the Panzerritter had another, surprisingly human face on its head, which was covered by what looked just like the helmet of a samurai's armor.

"Say, Zero..." Edward suddenly interrupted their observations "According to the information we received, you came here with a Knightmare Frame of your own. What happened to that?"

Lelouch let out a small gasp. Over everything that happened in the past thirty minutes or so, he had completely forgotten that C.C. was still out here fighting Jeremiah. Or rather, she had been fighting, seeing as everything around the island was completely silent, and the Gawain and whatever the thing was that Jeremiah was piloting was nowhere to be seen.

"My accomplice is using it currently. She should still be in this area... when I left her, she was fighting a Britannian... machine that pursued us. I wouldn't want to leave her behind."

"Hold on!" Felix interjected, hearing that. ""She"? That accomplice of your is a girl?"

"Um... yes." Lelouch replied, after a moment of hesitation.

"I'll go look for her!" The Burning Blood Alchemist immediately stated, wasting no time.

Lelouch made a grimace. Just why would the EU send somebody like him to bring me back to Tokyo? At least this Edward isn't as... weird. He thought to himself. Out loud, he however said: "That would be... appreciated."

And so, Felix climbed into the cockpit of his Knightmare Frame, all the while shouting things like "Los geht's! Karmingesicht!".

As the taller boy left, Edward turned towards Lelouch once more. "I suppose that you prefer flying back together with your subordinate, Zero?" He asked, sounding slightly annoyed, while bearing a fitting expression on his face.

Lelouch looked at Kallen. The European was right – Lelouch still didn't trust Suzaku enough to fly back with him, and Edward was far too dubious, so that left only Kallen. "Yes, that was what I was planning to do." Lelouch said, trying to ignore the implication that the European's tone and look were giving off.

"Right... and you?" The Alchemist then asked, looking at Suzaku.

"As I said, I'll come along peacefully. Besides, the Lancelot's batteries are already too low from the flight here to last for anything more than flying back." The Honorary Britannian said in a resigned tone.

"Good. We really should leave then. My superiors are probably already getting impatient as well..."

And so, the four of them finally left the island: Lelouch and Kallen in the Guren, Suzaku in the Lanzelot, and Edward in his Panzerritter.

Inside the Guren, it was rather cramped. Unlike the Gawain, the Knightmare Frame was designed with only one pilot in mind, so that Lelouch and Kallen had no choice but to stay quite close to each other. Neither of the two said a word.

"Well then. You said that you'd explain everything to me. So, explain." Kallen finally broke the silence, when they were at about the middle point of their flight back to Tokyo.

"I don't think that now I'll have enough time to explain absolutely everything to you before we arrive. There is a lot more to explain than you might expect." Lelouch retorted in a calm voice.

"Good... then only explain this Geass to me for now. What is it? And was Suzaku right? Can you really force others to follow your orders?"

Lelouch let out a sigh – and began explaining. "Geass...the power of the king. Suzaku was right – I can make anybody follow my orders, simply by looking them into the eyes. It is what made a good part of my 'miracles' even possible. However... I can only use it once on any one person."

Another moment of silence.

"Did you use it on me?"

"Shinjuku."

"...What?"

"I used it to confirm whether it was really you who was among the terrorists in Shinjuku. When I tried to give you another order after that to keep you from mentioning Shinjuku, I first discovered that it can only be used once per person. In order to eliminate your suspicions, I then resorted to a trick involving a recording of my voice."

"Ah yes... I remember."

Again, silence.

"So, do you believe me?"

"I don't know. I just... don't know yet."

Neither of them continued the conversation after that.

During all this, the Fullmetal Alchemist was reflecting on everything that just happened in his Panzerritter. Like he had hoped, he and Felix had found Zero – only for Zero to turn out to be a purple-eyed pretty boy with a glowy left iris, multiple girlfriends, and the tendency to act overly dramatic. While Edward wasn't even sure what he had expected him to be like, he had certainly not expected something like this.

Still, Edward thought. He has gotten this far for a reason... and I don't suppose that we have much of a choice but side with him if we really want to achieve our goal. But that eye of his...

Edward started his Panzerritter's radio set. Better warn Stauffenberg about this.

"Hey, crappy Lieutenant General! We have found Zero, and are currently on our way back to Tokyo, together with a member of the Black Knights, and Suzaku Kururugi, the knight of princess Euphemia. Felix stayed behind to look for another subordinate of Zero, who supposedly still is in battle in that area. It appears, however, that Zero possesses a power that allows him to force his will on to others when making eye contact. When we first met him, he specifically tried to use this power on me – I suppose that means that you can block it by wearing sunglasses or something similar. I guess you better prepare some countermeasures for this..."

-7-

Pain.

Endless pain.

The sheer torture of having her body being crushed by the water pressure again and again.

C.C. was floating through the cold ocean, just outside of the broken Gawain. After she had managed to get rid off Jeremiah Gottwald by forcing both the Gawain and Jeremiah's machine into the water, C.C. had left the Knightmare Frame's cockpit as soon as possible, in the hope of drifting to the surface sooner. Until that happened, she would have to wait – wait, and "die" time and time again, all while her Code slowly regenerated her body, keeping her alive. It was also due to her Code that C.C. was still conscious now, if only barely. For her, though, this was nothing new – over the course of her centuries long life, she had "died" already countless times. Burned to death, beheaded, stabbed to death, suffocated, shot, or even drowned: It had all already happened to her.

Her current experience was definitely among the worst things she ever experienced, though. Unlike these other instances, she was now being killed multiple times in succession, and there was no telling when it would be over. It could be hours, days, or even weeks before she would be able to set foot on land again.

However, despite the torment that she was in, C.C. could only think about one thing: Lelouch, her "accomplice", and reason why she had put herself into this situation. In the months since she had first met him, C.C.'s life had changed quite a bit. Little less than a year ago, she was still wandering around the world, alone. But then, things evolved rapidly, as she was first captured by Britannia, then stolen by Japanese freedom fighters, and then finally freed by the former 11th prince of Britannia, Lelouch – whom she made her first contract with since Mao. As it turned out, Lelouch was a lot like many of her former contractors, and at the same time completely different. Like so many others, he used the Geass given by her to try to change the world. But unlike all others, he did so while genuinely caring for C.C., and without falling into a blind obsession for her like Mao did. For C.C., who at last had a person who even remotely acted like this over one hundred years ago, this was almost enough for her to reconsider her one wish – almost.

As C.C. was thinking these things in her barely conscious state, she suddenly noticed a big shadowy figure swimming approaching her in the water. A... Knightmare? She thought to herself, before passing out, finally able to flee from her pain.

When she slowly regained her consciousness, she was lying on a somewhat soft, but solid ground, while her pain was steadily weakening – a feeling similar to how her Code regenerated her body when it was lethally injured, only much, much, faster. With a lot of effort, C.C. overcame her reluctance, and slowly opened her unusually heavy eyelids. At first, all she could see was a bright red light that seemed to come from somewhere down her body. Only a few seconds after she opened her eyes, the light vanished along with the rest of her pain, leaving only a feeling of incredible exhaustion and weariness in her. As her eyes were slowly adjusting to the light, she could make out a figure leaning over her, as well as the multicolored morning sky behind it.

"Are you awake?" The figure asked.

Instead of giving an answer, C.C. sat up, to get a better look at the person in front of her.

Kneeling before her was a young, dark brown-haired man, wearing the military uniform of the EU as well as orange, triangular shades, that made it hard to make out his eyes. Did this man heal me? How did he do that?

"I suppose that means 'yes', then." The young man said in a slightly deadpan tone, before adding in a more hammy way "Well then, right onto business! I guess you're Zero's accomplice, right? What's your name?"

But yet again, C.C. did not answer, and instead asked the young man a question on her own in her usual stoic tone. "Why is that of interest to you? What intentions do you have?"

"Zero send me to search for you. He left Kaminejima just a while ago, but asked me to recover you before he did so. You still didn't give me your name, by the way."

C.C. sighed."Yes, I am Zero's accomplice. You may call me C.C."

"C.C.? That's not a name for a human. That's what I'd call a robot or something!"

"So what? It serves its purpose: You have something to call me by."

"Pah, then I'll just give you a name. How 'bout... Cecilia? Or Cera?

C.C. could not believe her ears. This idiot had just by a sheer coincidence used the one name that she hadn't heard within several centuries being used to refer to her – with the one exception of Lelouch using it recently.

And as it seemed, C.C.'s sheer surprise and shock were written on her face, as the alchemist continued triumphantly "Ah, seems like I'm not too far off!"

"So who are you, then? What is your name?" C.C. quickly asked, choosing to simply ignore the young man's inexplicably correct guess.

"My name, huh?" He questioned, a huge grin appearing on his face. "Well, then dig the wax outta that ears of yours, and listen very well! Once people here in Japan start talking about the Karminrote Sieben, they won't talk about their leader – no, they'll instead talk the Burning Blood Alchemist, that inspirational epitome of manliness – me, the great Felix! Was zur Hölle glaubst du wer ich bin?!"

-7-

By the time they reached Ashford Academy, the last bits of red dawn had vanished, and sun shone brightly. As Kallen, Suzaku and Edward slowly descended with the Guren, the Lancelot, and the alchemist's Panzerritter respectively towards the academy' grounds, Lelouch was able to make several observations of the situation on the ground.

Had he not known perfectly well that the complex below them was the academy that he lived at for about seven years now, Lelouch would have easily mistaken it for a military base: Swarming around the grounds were countless members of the Black Knights. In multiple places were Knightmare Frames standing around, and on the academy's sports place was the Britannian battleship Avalon landed – and oddly enough, in front of the main entrance, an enormous pillar as well as several spikes had appeared. Lelouch simply interpreted these things as signs of an alchemist having fought here.

When the Guren had finally landed, Lelouch had already put on his Zero mask again, and was ready to leave the Knightmare. Before he however began to climb out of the background, Lelouch turned towards Kallen once more.

"Stay by my side." He said. In response, Kallen only nodded.

Lelouch had already called Tohdoh on their way back to Tokyo; he knew of the general situation from the perspective of the Black Knights, namely that they were able to narrowly avoid defeat due to the aid they received from the Karminrote Sieben, and that their leadership was now awaiting his return at the academy for a first official meeting. As such, it did not surprise Lelouch that the moment he stepped outside the Guren's cockpit, several members of the Black Knights approached him.

What did surprise him was that they were led by Diethard Ried. Lelouch had expected them to be led by Kaname Ohgi, who usually took care of these things.

Diethard meanwhile began talking to Lelouch in the same tone he usually talked in when he was excited about something. "Zero, we are glad to see you again. During absence things got quite... chaotic around here. Though" he added while looking at the Lancelot and Suzaku standing besides it "Your absence really must have had results."

Instead of addressing the issue of Diethard's presence however right away, Lelouch's first action was to order three of the Black Knights that Diethard had brought along to deal with Suzaku. "You three! Take Kururugi to the apartment on the second floor of the academy's Student Council building. Make sure that he doesn't leave it until you receive new orders."

As the three did as they were ordered, bringing Suzaku, who quietly obliged away, Lelouch now turned to Diethard. "Diethard, I thought it was not your job to deal with things like this. Where is Ohgi?"

"Ohgi... is currently receiving medical treatment. He has been shot by a Britannian woman. I don't know any details, but from what I have heard, it is not lethal." Diethard said in a lowered voice, as if to make sure that none of the soldiers with them would hear it.

Lelouch was surprised. He clearly remembered that he had put Ohgi in charge of the Black Knight's new headquarters here at the academy. So how could it be that a Britannian woman managed to not only reach him, but also shoot him? Lelouch was already about to ask Diethard to bring him to Ohgi so that he could clear this situation, when he saw Edward Hohenheim approach them. The sight of the Fullmetal Alchemist reminded Lelouch that right now, he had more important things to deal with. Ohgi could wait.

"Well will deal with this later. Now then" Lelouch said as Edward came into hearing range "I have been informed that our new allies want to have a meeting with me, is that correct?"

"Yes. Tohdoh sent me to bring you to the place of the meeting." Diethard replied calmly.

"Lead the way." Lelouch said out loud, though he already perfectly knew where the meeting would be held. After all, there was only place that would be suitable for an occasion like this: The Student Council building.

And sure enough, just as the exiled Britannian prince had predicted, Diethard led their group- consisting of him, Lelouch, Kallen, Edward Hohenheim and the soldiers- to the room where just a few hours earlier, Milly, Rivalz, Shirley and Nunnally had been following the developments of the Black Rebellion – and where Zero had revealed his identity to Kallen and Nunnally.

Now, the room was filled with more people than ever before, all of which sat or stood around the long table in the center of the room. The highest ranking members of the Black Knights sat around the half of the table which was closer to the door: Kyoshiro Tohdoh, the leader of the Four Holy Swords, Nagisa Chiba, the only female member of the Four Holy Swords, the elderly Ryoga Senba, the tall and blue-haired Kosetsu Urabe, the bespectacled Shogo Asahina, Kaguya Sumeragi, the Black Knight's representative of the Kyōto House, Rakshata Chawla, leader of the Black Knight's research division, and Shinichirō Tamaki. At this end of the table, only three more seats where free – one for Diethard, one for Kallen, and one for Zero.

The other side of the table was completely occupied by the representatives of the Karminrote Sieben, all of whom wore the EU's standard blue military uniform, with only two exceptions. As Lelouch entered the room, he could hear snippets of a conversation held by the three people at the opposing end of the table, who seemed to be discussing something in German. "...selbst wenn Zero eine solche Kraft besitzt, bezweifle ich dass er sie hier vor so vielen Leuten anwendet. Es wäre zu riskant für ihn."

When the three noticed who had just entered, they ceased their conversation at once, and the man sitting at the head of the table loudly addressed Lelouch, as the masked revolutionary sat down. "Ah, the man of the hour... Zero."

The person speaking was a young man in the prime of his life. He had black, slightly unkempt hair with a few white streaks in it, and appeared to have eyes to match his hair in color. Aside from that, his eyes appeared to be slightly out of place for a man from Europe, seeing as they were narrow, similar to the eyes of the people of Japan. His left eye was covered by an eye patch. He had a very harsh expression on his face, that made it apparent that he was a man who was not be joked with.

Folding his hands in front of his face, Lelouch stayed composed behind his mask. "That I am. But I do not know who you are. Would you mind changing that?"

"Ah, yes. You obviously weren't present when we introduced ourselves to your subordinates. I am Lieutenant General Roy Stauffenberg, leader of the military research division Karminrote Sieben." Stauffenberg began in a patient tone.

"This is Brigadier General Basque Grand" he said as he gestured towards the man to his right "And this is Major General Dante Eckhart." With these words, he gestured to the person sitting to his left, an elderly, gray-haired woman that appeared to be old enough to be in her seventies, and was yet wearing a military uniform as well as a serious facial expression befitting of a high-ranking person in the military.

"These are Brigadier General Hans Clemin and Colonel Henry Douglas." He continued, as he gestured towards a bald, black man, and a pale-skinned, bespectacled blond man. The expression on the faces of both men was far from friendly.

As Lelouch made these observations, Stauffenberg introduced the last two persons sitting at the table: A very tall and very burly man, with black, messy hair, and a big, horizontal scar running across his nose too far below his eyes, as well as a young woman with long, blond hair, which was fastened behind her head with a clip barrette. The former of the two had for a member of the military an unusually dreamy and absent-minded expression, while the latter was just plain stoic. "These are Lieutenant Colonel Randel Oland and Captain Riza Falk."

He then finally finished his introduction by going over the remaining people standing behind him: Edward, Alphonse, and a girl in about the same age as Lelouch. She had long, blond hair, blue eyes, and stood taller than even the taller of the two brothers next to her, Alphonse. Unlike almost every other European in the room, she was not wearing a military uniform, wearing instead an open white lab coat, with a black top underneath it. The way it looked, she seemingly could rival Milly in bust size. "You have already met Edward Hohenheim, one of our State Alchemists. The young man standing here next to him is his younger brother Alphonse Hohenheim, also a State Alchemist. The young lady with them is Winry Scholl, head of our Automail research division." Stauffenberg said without even turning around to the three.

"Now then – what has Fullmetal already told you about the details about our presence here?" He then asked, being done with his introductions.

"Not much. Only that you are members of the EU's military, and that you are aiding us instead of the Britannian military."

"I see. Then let me put it this way: Officially, the Karminrote Sieben has no ties to the EU. All of its members are either not a part of the military, wanted criminals, or officially stationed somewhere entirely else. Since we are a secret research division, we are currently acting as a terrorist group, as to not openly provoke a war between the EU and the Holy Britannian Empire."

"Good – whole introductions aside, let us please get down to business. What is the current state of the rebellion? Are there any remaining Britannian forces?" Lelouch asked. When he had called Tohdoh earlier, on his way back to Tokyo, the leader of the Four Holy Swords couldn't tell him many details about the general situation, and the little details that he did know where probably already outdated by now, so that asking Stauffenberg was by now a necessity.

"The fighting isn't done yet, but Tohdoh has already withdrawn your forces. Britannian resistance at this point is minimal, and our men are dealing with it. As we speak, one of our alchemists is leading a group into the viceroy's palace with the aim to capture Princess Cornelia. By now, it is safe to consider the Black Rebellion a complete success – Japan is free again." The Lieutenant General replied, keeping a completely straight face while doing so.

Lelouch remained skeptical. He was far from naïve enough to believe that the EU just acted out of altruistic interest in Japan's freedom. With the strength the Karminrote Sieben seemed to possess, it would be easy for them to overthrow the Black Knights, and bring Japan under the control of the European Military, should they see the need for it. Sakuradite could only be one of these reasons. Still, they could not do so and hope to hold Japan when the Britannian army came to reclaim it- this was far away from European supply lines.

"You bring up Japan's freedom so easily – from what I know, there is still the Chinese fleet as well reinforcements from the Britannian homeland that we have to deal with. And besides – I do not suppose that the EU is content with simply helping us. There still are conditions to your aid in the upcoming battles, aren't there?" Lelouch wanted to know, deciding to be blunt.

Stauffenberg raised his hands defensively. "You'll have to discuss these matters with Führer President Bismarck directly. I only know our orders, not the intentions behind them. Our orders are to aid the Black Knights in their rebellion, as well as any subsequent battles against foes that threaten Japan's independence."

Behind his mask, Lelouch raised his eyebrow. He didn't know much about Bradley von Bismarck, besides the few things that pretty much every other person could tell him – namely, that he was the most important man in the entire EU, being both the leader of the EU's collective military, as well as the state of Germany, and that he was nicknamed "King" Bradley, due to his efficiency in dealing with the monarchistic Britannia in international politics.

"However..." He added after a short pause "What I can already tell you is that Japan's Sakuradite resources are not a direct motivation for our interference. It is more so the fact that the loss of the Sakuradite supply from 'Area 11' throws the Britannian Knightmare production back to where it was seven years ago - which in turn weakens their troops considerably."

"Very well then. Now, to get back on the subject of the Chinese Fleet and the Britannian reinforcements – I suppose that you will aid us in the battle against them as well?"

"That you can." The Lieutenant General confirmed. "In the battle against the former however, I suppose that your troops will not be able to do much – according to our intelligence reports, the Chinese Fleet will already reach Kyūshū within several hours. I do not suppose that you have the means of getting your forces there in time – which we do. Our battleship Hindenburg will allow us to deal with their fleet before it can even reach Japan's shores."

"So I take it that you already have a plan on how to deal with them?"

"We do. Allow me to elaborate..."

-0-

The waves slowly moved back and forth. Silence had befallen Kaminejama, where not so long ago, the destiny of an entire nation had changed for the better. Now, the entire island was once again void of all human life – almost.

Lying on the island's beach was a blue-haired, unconscious man in his late twenties. He had just recently been washed up on the island, after just having narrowly escaped his sinking aircraft. The man was severely injured, bleeding from various places all over his body, and by this point barely alive. As a matter of fact, the only reason he was still alive was the fact that his body already had several mechanical parts built in it that made him more resistant to injuries than the average person.

Even so, by now it was only a matter of time until his body would give in to its wounds.

Jeremiah Gottwald would die, alone on a deserted island far off from any other human being, never having been able to clear his name, get revenge on Zero, or at the very least see his family again.

Thankfully for him though, destiny had something else in mind for him.

A young, purple-eyed boy with extremely long, blonde hair casually walked up to the man. Had Jeremiah been awake and in his mind, he would have found the boy highly unsettling, and would have tried to get away from him as quickly as possible. As things were however, Jeremiah didn't even know the boy was here.

The boy meanwhile just looked down on the unconscious body with an emotionless expression on his face. Behind this facade however, he was in a horrible mood. His entire plan, the entire confrontation between Zero and Euphemia's knight that he had set up just gone wrong, no, backfired, in a way that nobody could have expected, and now Zero was probably in a better situation than he was ever before. Fixing this mess would not be going to be easy...

Suddenly, the boy began to smile – a smile that just looked plain out of place on a child his age. Well, at the very least we now have a new test subject.

-0-

The Black Knights have gained new allies. But who are they? What do they really want? What is Alchemy capable of? Why was the Fullmetal Alchemist able to evoid the Geass? These questions plague Lelouch's mind as he prepares himself to talk to his first and best friend – while the EU fights the Chinese Fleet.
Next time, Code Geass: The Alchemists of the EU – Karminrote Sieben.
Seven... the seven sins of mankind?

Author's Note:
And this ends the first "real" chapter. Now, obviously, this has brought up some more questions: Why has Al already his body back? Why could Ed avoid the Geass? Why do they both use their father's surname? Who is Felix?
The only one out of these questions that I can answer now is however the last one. Felix is, as you might have guessed, a so-called "expy" of Kamina, and Winry's older brother. Why did I add him in? Truth to be told, I don't even remember. I do think however that I will be able to work him in without having him overtake the story.
Lastly, you might've noticed some more changed surnames for the FMA characters, namely Roy, Riza and Winry. My reasoning for changing those is again the same as for the change in King Bradley's name. Be assured however, that at least in the case of the former two, their real surnames will stay alive as nicknames!
With that said, I only have one thing left to note: Namely, translations for the untranslated german in the text.

Was zur Hölle glaubst du wer ich bin - Just who the hell do you think I am

Roy's line:
"...even if Zero possesses such a power, I doubt that he would use it in front of so many people. It would be too risky for him."