Alright everyone, since this is both the twentieth chapter and an important one, it's gonna be another double chapter!
Tomorrow gets the same deal, so let's get cracking!
First, reviews. Patch, thanks for the heads up, it's been fixed.
Deviate Fish, the reason everyone makes life harder for Lelouch is because Lelouch does best when life sucks for him. Of course, I also cut him some breaks, as you've seen, and these only get more and more frequent, both the increased difficulty and the breaks, as time goes on.
Ryder, Euphies fate is explained in depth in this chapter.
-}+{-
"More than 200,000 have already applied for citizenship of the Special Administrative Zone of Japan, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing." Suzaku said with a smile, looking down on the huge cues of Eleveners wishing to regain their rights.
"And it's all thanks to you." Euphemia told him.
"What?" Suzaku asked.
"The people trust our endeavour because they have you to represent their Japanese interests." The princess explained.
"No, it's because you announced this yourself." Suzaku told her bashfully. "I'm truly grateful to you."
"As I am to you." She replied. "I hope you can continue to help me like this."
"Yes," Suzaku saluted, "Your high… right." He stopped himself, smiling.
"The situation is grim." Toudou explained in the mobile base. "More and more, some even from our own ranks, are applying for citizenship within the SAZ."
"Because there's no risk in there." Silver replied with anger. "Completely different to joining the Black Knights, where you could get killed at any second." He clenched his fist. "Damned weak cowards…"
"Besides, when you compare a beloved princess to an anonymous rebel shrouded in secrecy," Rakshad added, "The princess will obviously win."
"I hear the Kyoto group is supporting them too." Minami told everyone.
"What the hell?" Tamaki shouted. ""You'd think that without Team Rocket acting as their personal army, they wouldn't turn against us like this!"
"Well, they're promising equality." Sugiyama pointed out.
"But we can't take their word for it!" Kallen reminded everyone angrily.
"You're absolutely right." Shogo nodded. "But we've gotta figure out how to deal with this, and fast."
"Say…" Ohgi suggested hesitantly. "I don't suppose that we can just do as Euphemia says and sign up the Black Knights en masse, can we?"
"We can't trust the Britannians!" Tamaki groaned.
"Signing up for the SAZ isn't necessarily against Zero's orders." Ohgi argued.
"But we'd still have to surrender our weapons and legendaries." Blue told everyone.
"Well, that would be a problem." Rakshad sighed, tipping ash from her long pipe.
"We'd be absorbed by the system and lose our independence." Toudou added.
"But if we don't participate, then we'll become enemies of peace and equality." Diethard told everyone. "It's a perfect trap."
"Then we should just participate!" Ohgi argued.
"But we've no proof that this is legit, or if the princess is just being used as bait to lure us into a trap." Rivalz sighed.
"But we can't just ignore it!" Ohgi pressed on.
"IMPUDENT CAD!"
Lelouch looked down the street to see a Britannian gentleman beating an Eleven student with his cane. "Equality? I'LL NEVER ACCEPT IT!"
"It must feel good to look down on others like you do." Lelouch said to him, walking towards the gentleman menacingly.
"Oi, that's enough." His bodyguard intervened.
"Don't you think you should be headed home?" Lelouch asked, Geass ablaze.
"Yeah, you're probably right." The huge man nodded, turning and walking down the street.
"Hey, wait!" the gentleman shouted after his guard.
"You mistook a hired hand's strength for your own." Lelouch told him. "How pathetic.You should just go off and die—Ngh!" he closed his Geassed eye as it was hit by a spasm of pain.
"Oh, think you're 'hot sizzle', do you?" the gentleman asked, swaggering up to Lelouch. "Do you?"
"Get Lost." Lelouch ordered, this time Geassing him successfully before kneeling down and helping gather the Eleveners papers. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah…" the younger boy nodded, getting up to his knees and gathering the documents himself. "Thanks."
"No need." Lelouch smiled. "Since Euphemia's telling us it's okay, I'm allowed to start intervening in situations like this." He handed the boy his papers and stood up. "It's a load of guilt off my chest."
'Now, where's Shirley?' Lelouch asked himself, scanning the area. 'She told me to meet her here, but…'
He didn't spot her on the bridge nearby, slinking away from him with her mind racked with indecision.
He was scowling all the way home, but set his face into a smile when he returned to the living room. "I'm home!" Lelouch declared. "Shirley never showed up, so I might end up going again at some point if we reschedule."
"Maybe she wants to get back together with you, but she's shy about it?" Nunnally asked. "You two haven't been on good terms lately."
'I wish.' Lelouch thought, remembering the festival. "We'll see what happens, I suppose," He told Nunnally, taking his jacket off and hanging it over the back of a chair. "Sayako, please would you make us some tea?"
"Yes, as you wish." She bowed, setting her leather-bound book on the table and heading into the kitchen.
"Are you worried about something?" Nunnally asked her brother as the maid left. "Euphie, maybe?"
"Ah, you spoke with her during the festival, didn't you?" Lelouch remembered.
"I don't want to insist on seeing her again," Nunnally continued, "I don't want to cause Euphie and you any trouble…"
Lelouch sat on a chair. "Do you like Euphie?" he asked his sister.
"Yeah." Nunnally nodded. "You do too, don't you?"
"Yeah…" Lelouch replied absently. 'I did…'
_\_ "We're here live at the new Shinjo Stadium for the dedication ceremony of the Special Administrative Zone of Japan." _\_ the news reporter told the camera. _\_ "Many Elevens, no, correction, Japanese, have gathered and are spilling out from the ghettos for this historic event." _\_
The stadium was packed full of Brittanians and Japanese alike, chattering excitedly amongst each other. Of the relatively few Brittanians present, it was mostly students who were eagerly speaking to the Japanese, quick to jump at the opportunity to show them that Euphie's feelings were mirrored in many of their hearts. Older Brittanians present sat somewhat awkwardly at first, unsure of how to act in a world not defined by discrimination, but that faded quickly once many of the elder Japanese produced their bottles of sake they had smuggled in to celebrate the occasion. As usual, alcohol began to bridge the gap between these once hostile races. Women rolled their eyes and smiled as their husbands began having drinking games with their neighbors, and children were running between the stands, laughing.
One pair of Japanese children were running in circles around a teenager with a pikachu on his shoulder, chattering excitedly at the pokémon. "I'm so sorry about them…" their mother apologized. The teenager just forced a grin and shook his head.
Of course, everyone was waiting for the guest of honour to show up, but as the time hit eleven O'clock, there was no sign of Zero. Euphemia felt her spirits wilt somewhat as she realized her brother was not going to share the day with her. 'I suppose it's to be expected… he has so much anger for Brittania after all. I only wish…'
"Princess Euphemia." Dalton whispered into the princess's ear, snapping her from her thoughts. "It's time."
She nodded, and stood to her feet, walking towards the podium.
"LUUUGIAH!"
Everyone went silent and looked into the sky, to see Zero riding towards the stadium in the pokémon beast of storms. The wind picked up as Zero's lugia swooped above the audience, causing the entire crowd to burst into deafening cheers. Behind him, two crobats with masked riders tailed him as his entourage.
"You came!" Euphie gasped with a smile.
'He came…' frowned the teenager with the pikachu.
"So you admit defeat." Dalton smirked.
"Welcome Zero!" Euphemia shouted as he moved in to land. "Welcome to the Special Administration Zone of Japan!"
"Princess Euphemia Di Britannia!" Zero shouted, his lugia hovering before the princess. "I am glad to be here. One request though- before the ceremony begins, I wish to have a word with you once I dismount."
"With me?" she asked.
"Yes, with you, and alone." He repeated as he landed, returning his lugia to its master ball. "May we go somewhere in private?"
"Hold it!" a guard shouted, holding out a tray and a metal detector. "Hand in your pokéballs first!"
"May I at least leave them with someone I trust?" Zero asked as the masked Silver landed beside him, dismounting from his crobat.
Dalton scowled and looked worriedly to the princess.
"It's alright." Euphemia nodded as Zero handed his pokéballs over to the red-haired young man.
Zero spread his arms so the metal detector could scan his body while Silver handed the pokéballs to the masked woman who flew in with them.
"Nothing especially suspicious." The guard declared. Silver smirked under his mask as he detected a hint of annoyance in the guard's voice.
"Well then, right this way." Euphie invited, gesturing to the doorway behind her.
"Princess Euphemia." Suzaku intervened. "I believe that it would be dangerous for you to be alone with him. At least allow me to accompany you."
"It'll be alright." Euphie smiled at him. "Believe in me."
'This cannot go to plan. This WILL not go to plan. I will not ALLOW it to go to plan.'
"You're being awfully cautious." Euphie told him as the lights died in the office. "I've even had all the camera's turned off."
"I've had to hide all my life." Lelouch told her, removing his mask. "Thanks to a certain empire." Placing his mask on the desk beside them, he reached back into the folds of his cape.
"I'm fortunate that you declined to use a millimeter-wave scanner. The metal detectors would detect pokéballs and steel, but nothing like this," he said, then pulled out dusted white blade, about a foot long including the handle. "It's made of hardened zirconia- harder and sharper than steel. Quite lethal, I assure you."
"Lelouch. You aren't going to stab me." Euphie stated sternly. She eyed the dagger warily nonetheless- it had a cresselia engraved on the side. A dagger made especially for her, then.
"Correct." Lelouch told her, flipping the ceramic blade and catching it deftly in his palm, holding the handle to her. "You'll be the one doing the stabbing, Euphie."
"Are you sure she'll be alright in there with him?" one guard asked another.
"She has her panic button, so it should be okay."
Something then clicked in Suzaku's mind, and he twisted around to see the masked woman standing with Silver.
'So he can see me.' C.C. realised. 'Is it because of my invasion of his mind and what happened on Mirage Island? Or… could it be…?'
'Please let something go wrong. This cannot happen. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN!'
"This ceremony will be broadcast throughout the entire world." Lelouch explained to Euphemia. "If you, a Britannian princess, stabbed Zero now, what do you think would happen?"
"The ceremony would devolve into a riot." Euphie answered.
"Yeah." Lelouch nodded. "And if it turned out that you murdered him in cold blood, Zero becomes a Martyr, and your popularity will evaporate."
"What're you saying?" Euphie asked. "We're going to rebuild Japan toge—"
"You think people delight in serving you." Lelouch interrupted. "Just. Like. Clovis." She gasped. "Everything is perfectly clear now. Zero will die, then be miraculously reborn." He smiled. "People will love him for it." He said. "Because people are susceptible to miracles, not logic, see? Now, take it." He told her, holding the dagger out.
"Huh?"
"There can only be one messiah." Lelouch stated. "When they see that you're a fake, they will—Ngh!" he grunted, grabbing his right eye and dropping the stake.
"I-it is you…" Suzaku gasped as C.C. removed her helmet and approached him.
"Answer me this." C.C. told him. "Are you-Ngh!" she grunted, closing her right eye in pain.
"No…" she gasped, falling to her knees, the Geass symbol on her forehead blazing. "No, not now…"
"Hey, are you alright?" Suzaku shouted, running up to her and grabbing her shoulders.
He immediately regretted it, and was forced into her memories.
Her subconscious immediately lashed out at him, pouring hundreds of years of pain and despair onto his psyche.
It was too much for him.
He fainted.
"Major Kururugi!" one guard shouted, grabbing C.C. by the shoulder and pointing a gun at the back of her head.
All three guards entered her mind, and met the same fate.
'Alright, good, but not enough. Make this not happen… MAKE THIS NOT HAPPEN!'
"Lelouch!" Euphie shouted, running up to her brother.
"Stop it!" he snarled, pushing her from him and rising to his feet as she fell to the ground. "Don't you DARE cast your pity upon ME! I DON'T NEED CHARITY! I will make this happen on my own… to that end, I need you to be my Pilate, Euphemia Di Britannia!"
"I Have Relinquished That Name!" Euphie shouted, standing to her feet. Lelouch took a step back, surprised by her outburst, and she glared at him before continuing. "I expect the mainland to announce it shortly, but I have given up my right to succeed the throne."
"W-why..?" Lelouch asked in shock. "Is it because you accepted Zero into your heart?"
"I made you participate in my little endeavour, so I thought you might expect something in return." The princess told him.
"You gave it up so easily…" Lelouch managed. "Did you do it for me?"
She giggled. "You're so self-centred as always." She joked. "I did it for Nunnally."
Lelouch stepped back in shock. "She told me that if she could be with her older brother, then that would be fine." Euphie continued.
"That's why..?"
"That's what made up my mind." She told her brother with a smile. "I asked myself what was really important in this world. Lelouch, I haven't given up a single thing that I truly treasure. Don't worry, I haven't told anyone about you."
Lelouch laughed.
He laughed with sadness, with sorrow, with the sheer absurdity of it all.
He laughed like a broken madman who had seen the light.
"You just toss aside your title, just like that? AND CORNELIA! You'll just leave her?" he shouted, at once both frantic and amused.
"Well, it's not like I'll never see her." Euphie shrugged.
"You're such an idiot." Lelouch told her, calming down. "A total moron."
"Well, I never managed to beat you in school or in a pokémon battle, but…"
"Whatever." Lelouch sighed. "It's not the way I envisioned, but I'm getting what I set out to get." He turned to her. "When I think about it, you were Euphie long before you were the Deputy-Vicereine or the Third Princess."
"If I'm just the regular old Euphie, will you help me?" she asked, holding out her hand for Lelouch to shake.
He hesitated.
Then…
"You were my most worthy opponent." Lelouch told her, before taking her hand. "You win."
'I defy this plan to succeed. I defy this rebellion to end.'
"We'll work out a way to make the SAZ of yours succeed." Lelouch told Euphie, who smiled in delight. "And no, I won't be your subordinate."
"Of course not!" Euphie shouted happily. "You really don't trust me, do you?"
"Hm?" Lelouch asked.
"Did you really think that I'd kill you if you threatened me, Lelouch?" she asked
"No, I didn't." Lelouch told her with a smile. "I have a special power, you see. I can give someone an order and I really want them to do it, then they won't be able to disobey me." He explained. "Kill me, fire Suzaku, eat a raw poliwag, I could order you to do anything really."
"You're such a joker." Euphie laughed.
"I'm serious." Lelouch told her.
'I DEFY THIS TO HAPPEN!'
"Even if I was to tell you to, say, Kill all the Japanese, you would have no choice, and would—"
"N-no!" Euphie gasped, stepping back from her brother in terror. "No… I..!" she gripped her shoulders. "No, I DON'T WANT TO KILL!" she screamed, falling to her knees. "NOO!"
'N-no…' Lelouch gasped, realising what had just happened.
His Geass had activated on its own.
He couldn't shut it off…
"That's right…" Euphie realised, getting up. "I have to kill all the Japanese…"
"FORGET THAT ORDER!" Lelouch shouted as Euphie grabbed the white ceramic blade and fled the room. "EUPHIE!"
'Yes… it's something's going my way…'
"ALL THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES JAPANESE!" Euphemia shouted, running out to the stands. "I HAVE A FAVOUR TO ASK OF YOU! WOULD YOU MIND DYING!"
'Wait, what!'
"Umm, I suppose I could ask you all to jump off a cliff, but I guess that that's not a possibility, huh?"
'Shit.'
The teenager grabbed the two children on either side and ran like hell. "MY BABY!" their mother shouted, and he ran, faster and faster to get these children out of the bloodbath that this stadium was about to become.
"SOLDIERS!" Euphemia shouted. "KILL THEM ALL! MAKE A MASSACRE OUT OF IT!"
"CUT THE MIC'S AND CAMERA'S!" Dalton shouted, as Zero ran onto the scene.
"STOP THIS EUPHIE!" He shouted, only to be blocked off by two scizor-riding knights. "MOVE!"
"Not a chance, damned terrorist!" one shouted, forcing Zero back with the back of the blades.
"Dammit…" he growled, opening the slot for his Geass. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
"GURK!"
The world grew silent and still as Euphemia threw the dagger with remarkable accuracy. It spun in the air, catching everyone's eye as it flew and sunk into the throat of an Eleven man sitting in the front row.
The only sound or movement anyone made was the teenage boy, running to get those children out of there safely, tears building up from his purple eyes.
Then came the screams.
"Now, soldiers, if you would be so kind!" Euphemia shouted.
"PRINCESS EUPHEMIA!" Dalton roared as the princess walked over to one of the guards and took a spear. "What happened to you! Stop this, please!"
She ran him through with the blade of the spear, his blood splattering over her face and white dress. "I'm sorry." She apologised sincerely, tugging it out. "But I have to kill all the Japanese. WELL THEN, BRITANNIANS!"
"YES!" they shouted, drawing their guns and releasing their pokémon. "YOUR MAJESTY!"
The worst part?
The elevens had to hand in their pokémon at the gate to prevent any assassination attempts.
It was murder.
All of it.
Suzaku woke to the screaming, and found himself trapped in the nightmare Euphie's dream had become.
"Why are soldiers- STOP THIS!" he screamed into his pokégear. "This is Suzaku Kururugi, Euphemia's knight! I ORDER YOU TO STOP!"
_\_ "We were ordered to do this by the princess herself." _\_ came the reply. _\_ "Come to think of it, you're Japanese too…" _\_
The soldiers around him turned and leveled their rifles at him…
…before being blasted into the concrete by a thick wave of green energy. Suzaku looked up into the sky to see the only welcome thing in amidst the horror.
"LANCELOT!"
"STOP THIS EUPHIE!" Zero pleaded, running through the bodies towards her. "THIS IS MADNESS!"
"MADNESS!" She shouted, firing her gun over and over again as her cresselia sliced down survivors. "THIS! IS! BRITANNIA!"
'Did my Geass do this?' Lelouch asked, too horrified to move at the sight of his ind-hearted sister slagutering innocent people. 'Did my geass turn her into… into this?'
"Z-Zero…" the dying woman asked, grabbing his leg. "Saviour of Japan… help us…"
"Stop it…" he told her in shock. "I'm no saviour… I'm no messiah!"
"You are our only hope…" she begged with her last breath, falling to the ground.
"Stop it…" he begged as soldiers tore around the stadium and children cried. "Don't… ask me to save you..! You want me to atone? To fight for your freedom? I…"
"Zero…" the dying Dalton managed, blocking Lelouch's path through the corridor. "What… did you do to Princess Euphemia..?"
"Andreas Dalton…" Lelouch said. "You were the innermost man in Cornelia's inner circle…" He looked down at the wound pouring blood out of his chest, between the ribs, under the heart. If he didn't get medical attention soon… but then, in this chaos, chances of medics finding him in time were low…
"Rest in peace," Lelouch said, the slot on his helmet opening to deliver the order. He pushed past Dalton and ran to C.C. who was waiting for him with lugia.
"Silver already escaped on his crobat after giving me your pokémon." She told him as they flew into the sky, handing the balls to him. "You mentioned this as a possible course of action, but I'm surprised that you'd go this far."
"It wasn't me." Lelouch replied, taking off his mask. "I didn't use the Geass on her. No, I didn't mean to."
'I see…' C.C. thought, staring into his crested eye while Lelouch stared into the distance, lost. 'So that was it after all…'
"I knew when I contracted with you that this power was dangerous…" Lelouch told her. "But, even so!"
The teenager ran through the cross-fire, working with his pokémon to get as many people out of that hell as he could. A handful of Brittanian students noticed what he was doing and followed his lead, breaking into the abandoned security room and taking back their pokémon to help with the evacuation.
A few attacked the soldiers to interrupt their assault, while others ordered their pokemon to use smokescreens and hazes to give cover to the terrified Elevens. The soldiers ignored them, focusing on hunting down the Japanese.
All the while, the teenager with the burning purple eyes ran to save as many as possible. None of the soldiers thought twice about stopping him, many even forgetting him altogether.
In a place outside of time and space, the Emperor of Britannia laughed.
"HE REALLY DID IT!" He shouted with pride and delight. "MY SON'S! I AM SO PROUD TO CALL MYSELF YOUR FATHER!"
"This isn't her." Suzaku told Lancelot as he descended and flew threw the air with his master. "This isn't Euphie. It can't be. We need to find her at all costs and stop this madness!"
"Hey, there are Britannian soldiers outside the stadium!" C.C. shouted at Lelouch.
"Yeah…" Lelouch nodded, replacing his mask. "We've no choice but to use this horrible mistake to its fullest. We have to…"
"LUGIA!" Zero shouted. "AEROBLAST!"
The pokémon opened its jaw and launched a compressed tornado at the targets Lelouch's mind picked out. The column of air shattered the assembly, and lugia turned its maw, dragging the tornado in a line to sweep up every last troop, obliterating the Britannian soldiers before they killed anyone. "Attention Black Knights!" Zero shouted, his voice transmitting over every radio the Black Knights possesed. "Euphemia is our enemy! The SAZ was a cruel trap to lure us out! Special Pokémon Combat Division! ATTACK THE GRAND STADIUM! Destroy the Britannian soldiers and SAVE THE JAPANESE!"
'I have to find Euphie…' Lelouch thought to himself, crying. 'And Kill her!'
Lugia sensed Lelouch's desires and screeched, prepared for the mournful hunt.
Ho-oh blazed into the sky, unleashing sacred-fire upon the Britannian soldiers below.
The Black Knights all burst from their hiding places in the forest, ambushing the soldiers who were attacking the Elevener citizens.
"WHERE!" Suzaku shouted in the confusion, flying with Lancelot. "WHERE IS EUPHIE!"
Lancelot blocked the flurry of pokémon attacks rising up at them. "Stop… I don't have TIME TO MESS WITH YOU!" he shouted, launching fire down at them with his own hands.
"This is unforgivable…" Ohgi snarled as he rode in on his feraligatr. "How dare you crush what little hope we have, EUPHEMIA!"
"STOP THIS!" Kallen shouted, her ho-oh launching fire upon Euphemia.
Her cresselia blocked the velvet flames with her shields. "Are you attacking me?" the princess asked. "How rude of you! I'm the Third Princess of Britannia!"
"I know who you are, you MONSTER!" Kallen yelled, ho-oh diving forward to get a better angle of attack.
"Oh, you were the one from the island." Euphemia realised, climbing atop her cresselia and rising to the height of Kallen's ho-oh. "I recognise you. You're Japanese, I take it?"
"Yeah, and I'll avenge my brethren." Kallen snarled.
"Wait." Zero ordered from above, descending on his glowing lugia. "I will take care of her."
The beast flashed forward, slicing the crescent dragon to pieces with a Sky Attack, and Euphemia fell to the ground amongst the cloud of blood and flesh.
"What do you want to do with her, Zero?" Kallen asked. "Shall we take her alive?"
"That would be useless, I'm afraid." Lelouch told her as Euphemia crawled out from her pokémon's remains. Kallen's eyes grew hard, and she nodded viciously in understanding.
"Massacre…" Euphemia gasped, searching for a weapon. "I need to slaughter all the Japanese…"
She picked up a rifle and began taking pot-shots at Zero and Kallen, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off their pokémon's chests.
"Why?" she asked, her gun running out of ammo. "I have to… I have to…"
Zero descended from lugia's back as Euphie picked up an ammo clip and began forcing it into the gun. "Um… I think… I think… uh…"
Click
Euphemia smiled as the bullets slotted into her rifle, but her face fell as she saw Zero approach her. "Oh, I thought you were a Japanese." She laughed sheepishly as Zero grew closer. "I was thinking, why don't we announce the SAZ of Japan together? Hmm?" She asked herself in confusion. "Japan?"
"Yes." Zero told her, drawing his sword as he walked past her. "I would have liked to do so… together." He turned on his heel and brought the sword up, poised to stab his sister through her heart.
"THERE SHE IS! SAUR, NOW!"
wo thick, brown vines shot out and slammed Euphemia away from Lelouch's attack and into the wall as the capped teenager rushed forward and slammed his elbow into her right arm, shattering it.
"AAGH!" she screamed, but the boy ignored her and grabbed her other arm with both hands and slammed it against his kneecap. "AARGGH!" she screamed again. "Why…" she sobbed in pain and despair. "I have to kill…"
"I know. I'm sorry," The boy told her apologetically. "VEE! NOW!"
An eevee leapt forwards and morphed into an espeon, landing on the boy's head. Euphie looked at it for a moment with confused, tear-filled eyes, and it took the opportunity to use hypnosis on the bloodstained princess.
She fell asleep just as Suzaku landed with Lancelot and charged at the teenager with his sword. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Kallen and her ho-oh dived to intercept him, but they were held off by the boy's pikachu, forcing them back with warning bolts of electricity that managed to singe the bird of morning's feathers.
Lelouch instinctively rushed in and blocked Suzaku's blade as the teenager in the hat picked up Euphie. Her broken arms tied firmly into splints, he carried her to Suzaku. "Take her to the Rayquaza base." He ordered the boy, handing her limp body over. "She is to be imprisoned and kept away from any and all Japanese, and she needs to think that every last one is dead. Especially you."
"Euphie!" Suzaku shouted, pushing Zero aside and snatching the sleeping princess. Staring at her in relief and shock, it took a moment for the teenager's words to fully sink in, but when they did he shot the boy a seething look. "Imprisoned? Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Grandmaster Red." The young man snapped. "The Knight Of One, and this is an order from me, your military superior.Understand, boy?!"
Suzaku stepped back in sheer obedience and instinct. "Y-yessir!" he bowed awkwardly, carrying Euphemia to Lancelot as the mewtwo flew them all to the flying base built around the great sky serpent.
Lelouch then turned to the boy. "Who are you?!" he demanded.
"I just told that guy." Red replied.
"Why the hell do you have the Geass?!"
"If you knew that, then you would've stopped me at the festival." Red chuckled bitterly. "But, that's irrelevant now." He turned away and left. "Say hi to auntie C.C. for me, and you best prepare for a scrap."
Lelouch didn't try to stop him from leaving.
He couldn't.
It was all he could manage to even be angry at him.
_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Silver shouted over the communication line. _\_ "We've taken the SAZ- I mean, Shinjo." _\_ he reported. _\_ "You'd best get here quick, because everyone's howling for blood." _\_
Lelouch looked up at Kallen who had swooped down to make sure he was unharmed. "Let's go. Now is the time to preserve the living."
"EQUALITY!" Tamaki shouted as he beat the ever loving daylights out of the noble he'd found. "DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT! HOW FREAKIN' DARE YOU TRAP US LIKE THAT! I'LL BLOODY KILL YOU DAMMIT! YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!"
In the aftermath of the massacre, there was silence, of a sort. A stunned, shell-shocked hush had fallen onto the survivors as they stared dumbly at what remained.
Parents and children sobbed over the bodies of their families.
Lovers held each other in tight embraces, not willing to let go lest their survival be revealed as an illusion.
Bodies began to be moved into lines, men and women working together without a shared word.
A few people brought blankets to wrap around the most traumatized victims, medics rushed in to deliver first aid, and the few Brittanian Black Knight members and civilians present set up table to make coffee at, to serve to the wary but grateful survivors.
This mournful reverie was broken by a single word.
"ZERO!"
Lugia descended beside ho-oh, and the crowd standing inside the bloody stadium roared in triumphant joy to see their saviour among them.
To Lelouch's ears, it sounded like a choir of spiritomb welcoming him to hell.
"We meet at last, Zero!" the young girl before him shouted amongst the bodies.
'Isn't this girl one of Suzaku's relatives?' he asked himself.
"Zero, will you continue to follow us?" the old man behind her asked. Lelouch recognized them as the executives of Kyoto, and scowled at their brazen attempt to act superior to him.
"Follow you! NOT A CHANCE IN HELL!" He shouted. "I expect Kyoto to follow ME from now on! You have no choice. There is no other way that you will survive this night otherwise."
"How is she?" Suzaku asked the surgeons as they left the operating theatre.
"She's stable, but you are forbidden from seeing her." The surgeon explained.
"Why!" Suzaku shouted. "I'M HER DAMNED KNIGHT!"
"You're Japanese." He explained apologetically. "She needs to rest, and we only just got her to stop screaming for their deaths."
"What the…?" Suzaku gasped. "What happened to her?"
"The CAT scan showed some brain damage." The doctor explained. "We believe that is the cause of her sudden shift in behavior, but we cannot identify the source."
Suzaku clenched his fists and glared at the ground. "Zero…" he snarled.
"CITIZENS OF JAPAN!" Zero declared to the cheering survivors, who were maddened with relief at surviving the ordeal and from the trauma of moving the bodies. "Your nation has been oppressed by Britannia for TOO LONG!"
"LONG HAVE I WAITED!" He cried. "For Britannia to correct itself, to see the error of its ways, but our hopes for such change have been shattered! DESTROYED ALONG WITH THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO DIED THIS DAY!"
"DAMN EUPHEMIA!" the crowd cheered. "LIAR!" "WITCH!"
"YES!" Zero shouted. "Euphemia is a symbol of Britannia's hypocrisy! They're nothing but murderers masquerading as a true nation!"
"GO TO HELL, EUPHEMIA!" "WE WON'T FALL FOR YOU BULLSHIT AGAIN!" "DEATH TO BRITANNIA!"
"I hereby declare our independence from Britannia!" Zero continued. "HOWEVER! We would be FOOLS to simply re-establish the old Japan, paying no heed to the lessons of the past! The new Japan we shall create this day shall be a nation of acceptance! One which shall welcome all those who seek its refuge, regardless of race, creed, or doctrine! A nation where the strong shall NEVER reign over the weak!"
"AND ITS NAME SHALL BE!" He roared, spreading his arms apart. "THE UNITED STATES! OF! JAPAN!
"ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO!"
"Are you going to storm the Kanto Region now?" C.C. asked Lelouch as he stepped into their room.
"Yes." He told her, removing his helmet and shaking his hair. "Now is our best chance—" he caught himself before he looked into her eyes and turned his gaze away from her.
"It's alright." She told him, stroking Jiro. "Your Geass doesn't work on me. You know that."
Lelouch looked her in the eye. "You're right." He told her, lowering the cloth covering the lower part of his face. "Thank you. I suppose that since I can no longer control my Geass, I can't see my friends anymore."
His pokénav rang, and he paused when he saw the caller id. "Nunnally? What's the matter?" he asked, answering it.
_\_ "Nothings the matter, it's just… Brother?" _\_ she asked. _\_ "I want to talk to Euphie again… we should go to the school festival again together, this time the three of us. Milly said that we can do another one soon, since the last one got interrupted by Euphie's identity becoming revealed, so I thought that maybe she'd like to come with us. Um, I'm sorry, I know that you said that we shouldn't see her anymore, but I really want to be with her, one last time. " _\_
"Nunnally, haven't you heard the news?" Lelouch asked her.
_\_ "The radio station suddenly cut off." _\_ she replied. _\_ "Did something happen?" _\_
"No, everything's fine." Lelouch lied, forcing his voice to be cheery. "Everyone's really happy with Euphie's new Japan. I'm sorry. I'll be home tomorrow, so let's talk then. I love you."
He hung up. "Have you noticed any other changes, other than being unable to control your Geass?" C.C. asked him, turning to face the blinds.
"No." Lelouch told her, sitting on the bed. "But… Euphie tried to disobey the order I gave her under the Geass. I thought that perhaps my power was waning, but now that I think about it…" Lelouch chuckled bitterly. "She was just unable to comprehend the idea of doing such a thing at first. Well, of course she would…"
"And?" C.C. asked, letting Jiro float around the room and walking towards her accomplice.
"That's it." Lelouch told her, hands clasped together, shaking uncontrollably. "I just…"
She sat on the bed and pulled him into a hug. "It's alright." She told him as he began to sob. "I told you, didn't I? That I'd stay by your side…"
"We've lost our advantage." The officer explained to Lord Guilford as he pointed to the red dots appearing across the map of Area 11. "In the past few hours, those who have heard the news on the internet have begun an insurrection. The largest armed force, the Order of the Black Knights, has set forth, absorbing civilians as it advances, and is headed for the Kanto Region! All the other Regions have had their hands full, and we can't hope for reinforcements. Including the Honorary Britannians who have defected, the enemy's force exceeds tens of thousands of trainers!"
"We cannot mobilise without the Princess's orders." Guilford told them.
"But after cancelling the attack, the Vicereine has locked herself in Princess Euphemia's quarters!" another officer protested.
"And with General Dalton MIA…" another stated, trailing off.
"Euphie." Cornelia snarled at her sister. "What the hell were you thinking!"
"I have to kill all the Japanese. Then we can continue with the SAZ," Euphemia told her sister with a smile, despite being currently strapped in a straightjacket. "They won't let me out, so could you please do it for me, sister?"
"This isn't like you, Euphie." Cornelia pleaded, shaking her sister's shoulders "SNAP OUT OF IT!"
"Viceriene!" a doctor shouted, pulling her off his patient. "She's not herself!"
"Tch." Cornelia grunted, releasing her sister and coming up with a thought. "And what about that Knight of yours, Kururugi?" she asked Euphie. "He's an Eleven too, isn't he?"
"Suzaku?" Euphie asked, frowning confusedly, becoming somewhat upset. "I love him, but he's Japanese… could you kill him for me?"
Cornelia realized, right then, her sister was gone. The sister who she loved, the sister who had fallen for that honorary Brittanian was lost to her. "Very well." She lied. "I'll kill every last one of them for you, sister."
Euphie smiled. "Thank you, sister!" Cornelia stormed out of there, putting a blade to Suzaku's throat as the door opened.
"Euphie!" Suzaku shouted, dodging under the blade and running for the closing door.
When it did close, he couldn't open it.
It wasn't locked, he just couldn't bring himself to open it.
He had to live on.
"She's gone mad." Cornelia told him, trying not to cry, but collapsing onto the turning Suzaku's chest. "She's… not Euphie… anymore…"
Cornelia screamed.
"Man, we're actually gonna do this, aren't we?" Rivalz asked Kallen as they rode to Kanto on the new torterra mobile base they'd taken from the Britannian's in Shinjo.
"It's what we've been fighting all this time for…" Kallen replied, sighing. "What happened tonight..?"
Rivalz put his arm around her shoulder. "It'll be okay." He told her.
She flicked him off. "I've been fighting a lot longer than you have." She growled.
"Then comfort me and tell me it'll be fine!" he laughed hollowly. Kallen paused and looked at her classmate. His eyes were darting around nervously and he seemed to be shivering. "I mean, we're really going for it this time, aren't we? Can we even…?" he asked, chuckling nervously.
"Eh, grow up!" Tamaki shouted, swinging his arm around the boy's neck. "By tomorrow, Kanto will be ours! Those Britannian bastards will get exactly what they deserve!"
Rivalz frowned at the 'Brittanian bastard' comment, looking away, and Kallen squeezed his real arm reassuringly. "We'll make it through," she told him.
He smiled a real smile in thanks.
"Euphie…" Suzaku asked absently in his own room. "What… happened to you?"
"Shall I tell you?"
Suzaku turned to see a middle-aged man with wild blue hair and a sunken, skull-like face standing in his room in an unfamilliar grey uniform. There was no identification badge on his chest- he wasn't a crewmember. "What're you doing here on the Rayquaza?" Suzaku demanded.
"We finally meet, Suzaku Kururugi." The man told him. "My name is Cyrus."
"Cyrus?" Suzaku asked.
"IF WE CAPTURE CORNELIA, WE HAVE WON!" Zero declared, rising from his throne. "All forces, proceed as planned, and remain on high alert! Silver, have Toudou hold the front line." He ordered, C.C. rising from her seat to follow as he walked past her. "You take care of things here."
"Hmph." Silver grunted, turning back to the console.
The young girl from before opened the door and blocked Zero's path. "Sumeragi?" Lelouch asked her.
"Thank goodness I caught you!" the princess of Japan declared. "That wasn't nice, leaving me behind like that! I've been a fan of yours since your big debut saving my cousin! I thought we could finally have a nice talk together…" she reached out, standing on her tippy toes to try and touch the top of his mask with one hand, placing the other atop her own head. "You're taller than I had imagined, but that's alright, I'll soon catch up!"
"Lady Kaguya." Silver noted. "I thought you were in Mount Silver with the other heads of Kyoto?"
"I caught up with you so I could see my husband fight!" the princess declared happily.
"Oh, you two are married?" Lelouch asked, turning to glance at Silver, who choked.
"HELL NO!" Silver shouted with rage. "Bitch, I will mutiny your ass if you aren't careful!"
"I'm talking about you, silly!" Kaguya giggled. "When you win this battle, you'll need to get married sometime! If you can't show your face, then you'll need someone who'll accept you all the same, right?"
"You sound confident in my victory." Zero commented.
"Of course!" she said with a smile. "I am, after all, the goddess Palkia herself, here to guide you swiftly to victory!"
"Well, that's reassuring." Lelouch chuckled. "I'm sorry to say, however, that I've already sold my soul to the devil, Giratina."
"Eh?" Kaguya asked as C.C.'s eyes widened.
"So as you can imagine, I can't get along with a goddess right now." Zero told the princess, striding past her menacingly.
Somewhere, in a mobile lab, a test subject broke out of his glass container, landing on the floor amongst the broken glass and orange slop.
The scientists meant to be controlling the subject scurried to reach the containment failsafe. They took about four combined steps before a web of electricity burst from their computer consoles and caught them, sending them into spasms on the ground. From the speakers, a voice echoed through the blaring static.
_\_ ROOoooTOOooooM! _\_
Jeremiah Gottswald stood up, his eye shining with an unearthly green. "Good morning to you." He stated as two orange thunderbolt-shaped spikes burst from his shoulders. He was surrounded by a ghostly green glow as he stepped past the paralyzed scientists. "Zero… prepare yourself."
"Hear me Britannia!" Zero declared from atop his lugia, flying to the front of his army. "I am Zero! I am a rebel against all those who abuse their power! I give you until midnight to surrender your armies before I utterly destroy you and everything you hold dear."
"This is my final warning." He continued. "I have been more than patient with you, so I shall give you until midnight. My forces shall not attack before then. You have three minutes."
"Your threats are meaningless, Zero." Cornelia stated from atop her dragonite. "Saffron is an impenetrable fortress."
"You can still go back." C.C. told Lelouch. "At this rate, not just Area Eleven, but the whole world will get dragged into this war of yours."
"I know." He replied as his pokénav began ringing. "But still…"
He checked the number. 'Euphemia! Impossible, I never gave her this number… but I know someone close to her who does…'
He removed his mask. "Hello?" He asked.
_\_ "Lelouch, it's me." _\_ Suzaku said from the other end. _\_ "Are you in school?" _\_
"No, but I will be tomorrow." Lelouch lied.
_\_ "I see." _\_ his friend replied. _\_ "I want you to tell the guys something from me." _\_
"What is it?"
_\_ "I'd… like them not to look up at the sky. Because I'll be up there… and I don't want them to see me…" _\_ Suzaku requested. _\_ "Lelouch, do you hate anyone enough that you'd want to kill them?" _\_ he asked.
"You know I do." Lelouch told him.
_\_ "Before today, I never thought that I could ever think that way." _\_ Suzaku said. _\_ "Because unless I followed the rules, I'd just become a murderer. But now… I'm being controlled by hatred. I'm fighting to kill someone. I'm going to commit murder tonight in the skies above Saffron, so…" _\_
"Let your hate flow." Lelouch told him. "This is for Euphie. Besides, we decided long ago that there was no turning back."
_\_ "For Nunnally?" _\_ Suzaku asked.
"Yeah." Lelouch nodded, checking the time. "I'd better go, then."
_\_ "Arigatou, Lelouch." _\_ Suzaku said, using the formal Japanese thank you.
"Don't worry about it." Lelouch replied with a smile. "We're friends, aren't we?"
_\_ "Ever since seven years ago…" _\_
"Yes." Lelouch nodded. "See you."
_\_ "I'll talk to you later." _\_ Suzaku added as Lelouch hung up and replaced his mask.
Then midnight struck.
And Saffron City collapsed.
"Suzaku." Lelouch said to himself. "My hands are already stained dark with blood. If you too wish to fight me, then so be it. I'll welcome you to hell with open arms. We are, after all, friends!"
And Zero laughed, watching the city fall and burn.
Ever since that day, I suppose I've been craving destruction and chaos
Yes, before creation there must first come destruction
If my soul stands in my way, then I shall toss it aside
Yes, for I have no choice but to move forward
So…
-}+{-
OH HELLS YEAH!
THIS! IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!
Man though, this took me a solid six and a half hours to write, so it damn well better be good!
COME ON!
Also, vote. Was this fate kinder to Euphie or crueler?
Varanus: And this is just the build up, ladies and gents. It gets worse before it gets better. You know, I told my sister about the scene where Suzaku tried to open Euphie's door.
She nearly burst into tears. Trust SamJaz to take something like Euphie's survival and make it even more messed up and tragic than what actually happened. Just wait until Fleija…
Fleija? Dude, just wait until you see what I have planned for Vincent for crying out loud!