"Lelouch"- speaking
'Baka.'- thoughts
"Roger."- Radio/Walkie-Talkie
Former Japanese Liberation Front base royal holding quarters, Narita Mountain, May, 2018, 21:37 local time.
It had been three days since the Black Knights arrived at their base ever since Operation Fallen Noble has been initiated and the mission proved to be a success as Nunnally vi Britannia was now being held inside of the base at Narita Mountain. Even though her eyesight was restored, her hand-eye coordination was still terrible. She did notice that her quarters were very luxurious as expected for a captured princess, but it still remained a hard fact that she was still confined to a wheelchair. For the time being, Jeremiah had been assigned to guard her by Zero and even though Nunnally could explore the base's interior, she mostly remained within her living area. The situation changed three weeks later, when Zero received word that the Black Knights' limb reinforcement program had bore fruit in the form of experimental leg braces.
On the day that Zero had decided to meet with the captive Fourth Princess of Britannia, Nunnally was contemplating on if Alice was alright while in her living quarters late at night when Ohgi arrived with two other members who wore gas masks. "Excuse me Miss Nunnally, but Zero wants me to bring you to his private quarters. Says that he has something to discuss with you and that what he has to talk with you about can't be discussed elsewhere in case something happens." the former schoolteacher said.
"Oh, Zero just wants to talk to me? What does he want?" the princess asked.
"Sorry Nunnally, but that information isn't something that Zero was willing to discuss with me."
"Well, I guess I can have a chat with him then. Jeremiah, if you could be so kind as to move my wheelchair for me." Nunnally said to the teal-haired Black Knight.
"Of course, Lady Nunnally." the former guardsman said.
Jeremiah wheeled the Fourth Princess of Britannia down to Zero's living quarters while being escorted by Ohgi and the two gas-mask-wearing Black Knights. It took about five minutes and once they were there, Zero was in there wearing his helmet. Zero then dismissed the gas-masked soldiers before he said, "Ah, good to see you, Princess Nunnally. Now then, the R&D department of the Black Knights has successfully completed something that could benefit you later on: the leg brace. They are designed from the same technology used in the Fifth Generation Knightmare Frames and as such are very resistant to wear and tear. Now why is this important? Should you consent to having your legs be operated on so that the limb reinforcements can be attached, you will be able to regain the use of your legs and walk again."
"So what you're saying is that if I accept the leg braces, I won't be crippled anymore?" Nunnally asked.
"Indeed."
"Then it has been decided. You have my consent to perform an operation on me so that the leg braces can be attached to them."
"Well, that takes care of one issue. There's also another reason why I called you down here. Can you tell who is behind this mask?"
Nunnally thought to herself for a few moments and guessed, "A Japanese person?"
"Incorrect. If the person behind the mask was Japanese, I would not be as kind as I am right now. Furthermore, I have been planning my revenge on Britannia for over seven years and can now unleash it. Jeremiah, if you may."
"Of course, Zero." Jeremiah said before removing Zero's helmet and setting it down on a table. Nunnally then saw that the person behind the mask had raven-black hair and purple eyes. The young man then said, "Remember this, Fourth Princess of the Britannian Empire?"
Nunnally tried to comprehend what was going on and asked, "B- Big brother!? You're Zero!?"
"Exactly, although judging by my actions in the past I can no longer call myself your big brother." Lelouch stated.
Nunnally shook her head in disagreement and said, "No, that's not true! I should have figured that you had killed Clovis when you had returned home after Shinjuku, but back then I was still blind! Lelouch, please be aware that I can never hate you no matter what you do or what you have done! I couldn't bring myself to dislike you even when you had abandoned me before I was taken from our home at Ashford Academy!"
Lelouch slumped onto a bed, stunned by what his younger sister was saying. "I just don't want to be separated from you again, Lelouch! I now know that you intend to liberate Japan and create a better world for me and Euphemia! I. . . I. . . I love you, big brother!" The Fourth Princess stated before placing her wheelchair near the edge of the bed and then lunging onto her older brother as tears began to fall from her face. The force of the lunge sent the two vi Britannia siblings onto it and Lelouch noticed Nunnally bury her head into his shoulders as she began to cry. Tears began to stream down Lelouch's face as he held his younger sister in his arms and heard her say, "Lelouch, please. . . please sleep with me tonight!"
Nunnally's older brother simply hugged her tighter as they collapsed onto the bed. Meanwhile in the Viceroy's Office at the Area Eleven Administration Building, Cornelia was at her desk and in front of her was Princess Marrybell mel Britannia and her subordinate Oldrin Zevon along with a restrained young man with blond hair and green eyes.
"According to DNA results, he is telling the truth. This man, Orpheus Zevon, is the twin brother of your subordinate Oldrin." Cornelia said as she looked at a set of papers that confirmed what she had said.
"No way! She- She never said anything about having a brother." Marrybell stated.
"That's because Orpheus was thrown out of my family and left for dead in the streets of the homeland. I can't believe that my parents would be so heartless as to do such a thing! He had been recruited by someone and escaped from them, but they tracked him down and tried to kill him! They failed, but they had murdered his lover, a girl named Euria, in cold blood and escaped! He swore vengeance on Euria's killers and to that end he joined the mercenary/terrorist organization known as Peace Mark. If anything, he has been severely traumatized and I won't allow anyone to kill him!" Oldrin Zevon explained.
"Well then, I was planning to execute him, but I would assume that if I did then Ms. Zevon here would take her own life." Cornelia said.
"Correct, Viceroy Cornelia. However, you know what my stance on terrorists is, right?" Marrybell remarked.
"Yeah, I know about it. You don't spare anyone and you don't negotiate at all."
"However, my brother is different from the ordinary terrorists that have been put down by our hands. And judging by the information from my Gloucester's Factsphere, there's another thing that I need to speak about." Oldrin stated
"Okay, what is it then?" Cornelia asked.
"It's about Lelouch vi Britannia. He's alive and leading the Black Knights as the masked man Zero. For all these few months we believed that the Black Knights had executed him, but it was all a distraction so that he would not be returned to the homeland. He clearly doesn't approve of how His Majesty is currently running it, but that goes against everything that the Empire is built upon!"
"You're right, Oldrin. He also probably faked his execution so that Nunnally wouldn't try to seek him out. It worked and now that the Black Knights have her in their custody, the vi Britannia siblings are together again. Aside from Euphie, they're the only family that I have. It's also another reason why Lelouch wouldn't want to return to the homeland. He would do anything to protect Princess Nunnally from the Emperor."
"Wh- what!? Lelouch would go against the Empire just to protect his younger sister!? Geez, that reminds me of how I felt about my own sister until terrorists killed her and my mother." Marrybell said, clearly surprised.
"From how I look at it, His Majesty would probably coerce Lelouch into obeying him by threatening Nunnally and vice-versa! I don't even know how he fared for all those years before the Ashfords found them, but he must have been through tough times." Cornelia stated.
"If you thought that what Lelouch possibly went through was bad enough, then you have no idea what my brother has been through. In fact, I would say that Orpheus has had it even worse than what the Eleventh Prince experienced. But that will have to wait until Zero is captured. Right now, we don't even know where the Black Knights escaped to. Orpheus, acting on Peace Mark's orders, had delayed the Glinda Knights long enough for the Black Knights to escape with Princess Nunnally and then made his own escape elsewhere. In fact, it was only when Peace Mark sent someone and tried to assassinate a member of the high nobility four days ago that we were able to intercept and capture my brother." Oldrin remarked.
"So where do we start hunting?" Marrybell mel Britannia asked.
"Do you remember who else was among the people that the Black Knights had kidnapped along with Nunnally?"
To everyone's surprise, it was Orpheus who had asked that question. Oldrin then answered, "There was Princess Nunnally's personal Knight Alice, then three members of the Student Council of Ashford Academy. They were Milly Ashford, Sophie Wood and Shirley Fenette."
"I have a hunch as to where the Black Knights could have taken them. Do any of you remember the Japanese Liberation Front?"
"I do. Because of what had happened last year when the Sakuradite Conference was held at Lake Kawaguchi, I had them listed as a terrorist organization and moved to eliminate them." Cornelia said.
"The Lake Kawaguchi Incident was not authorized by their leaders. Colonel Kusakabe had been acting of his own accord during that incident. Have you been inside their old base at Narita Mountain?"
"No, the JLF had abandoned the base and probably rigged it with traps after they escaped. Are you saying that the Black Knights might be there?"
"Yes. The Black Knights have probably occupied the base and are currently using it as we speak. Another reason why they probably fled to Narita is because Shirley's father died there, buried in a landslide."
"Well then, Orpheus Zevon, it seems like we now know where to find the Black Knights. Any idea on any other Eleven terrorist organizations?"
"No. After the Black Knights and non-Honorary Britannian Elevens left for the Chinese Federation, all of the terrorist cells that remained fused with the Black Knights, including the remnants of the Blood of the Samurai faction. However, Narita is not their only base of operations. They have allied with the Chinese and have already conquered Hokkaido and Kyushu. They most certainly have bases there and according to Peace Mark's intelligence network, the Black Knights have also shuttered numerous Sakuradite mines on Mount Fuji in case Option Nihil is unleashed."
"Wait, they shuttered some of the mines!? What were they thinking!? Sakuradite production is down because of that!" Marrybell shouted.
"According to the Intel, Option Nihil is supposed to be used if the Tokyo Settlement cannot be held by Britannian forces and it calls for the detonation of the Sakuradite mines so that Area Eleven is rendered uninhabitable. Zero must have found out about it and has been focusing guerrilla attacks on the mines in order to slow down Sakuradite production and defuse Option Nihil at the same time."
At that point Cornelia gasped and then said, "Schneizel must have set this up in case Lelouch tried to take Tokyo guns blazing. Marrybell, have your Glinda Knights be ready to attack Narita in two days. You'll be working in collaboration with Andreas Darlton and his unit, the Glaston Knights for Operation: Bad Days. Our objective is to capture Lelouch and rescue Nunnally along with any other prisoners held in the base. After Lelouch is captured, I will personally interrogate him to find out why he chose to become Zero and fight Britannia."
A loud high-pitched scream was heard and was then followed by a man groaning in pain. Anya Alstreim then burst in and exclaimed, "Some perverted young man tried to feel up my breasts, so I kicked him in the family jewels!"
"Oh crap, it's Anya Alstreim." Cornelia said.
"The Knight of Six?" Oldrin Zevon asked.
"Yes. She doesn't trust her memories at all, so she maintains a blog that she accesses and updates with her phone."
A/N: Now you might be wondering why Anya complained about being touched inappropriately and think that she's out of character. That's completely intentional because in this fic, Marianne's Geass didn't function properly and she died completely when V.V. assassinated her as a result of her Geass going completely nuts. When she saw Anya, instead of Marianne's soul being transferred to Miss Alstreim as intended, it instead completely annihilated her memories. Since Anya has a weird mind, I decided to give her a flirtatious personality.
On the next chapter: Lloyd tears two members of Valkyrie Squadron a new one at the Gunma Ruins while Suzaku reaches the Black Knights base at Narita Mountain mere hours before Operation: Bad Days begins.
Update: Oh yeah, and Lelouch x Nunnally is the pairing in this story.