The Black King

Do you have any idea how hard it is to think of battle plans with the lithe body of a sexy redhead sitting in your lap?

Because it's hard.

Really hard.

And that's not the only thing that's hard.

Err...nevermind.

You're probably wondering how we got here, right? Well, how else? We approached the Britannian patrol, I used my geass, and we stole a Sutherland. Unfortunately, in the one seat cockpit of the giant mech, that meant we had to...improvise our seating arrangements.

Kallen seemed all to happy to sit on my lap.

Some parts of me were happier about that than others.

Wait, Battle. Right. Where was I?

I gave orders as was my specialty. Using the radio to direct the Yamato Alliance, giving out the same chess code names that I had during the Shinjuku Massacre. When Cornelia ordered the retreat, I smirked. That was my way in. She was practically inviting me!

"Already?" The redhead in my lap asked incredulously as she looked at the tactical map, raising an eyebrow. "The hell's her plan? Draw you to her where we can't escape and then wipe out the resistance, springing one trap at a time?"

...Good point.

Q-1 is smarter than she looks.

Granted, I should have figured that out by now because she's made me feel fucking stupid these last three weeks.

The Black Queen

So, apparently Lelouch was a red-blooded male with a taste for the female body.

Of course, I would only realize this once I was sitting in his lap in a schoolgirl skirt and my underwear, piloting a knightmare. Which, my style of piloting led to a lot of shifting in my seat, even on normally mundane actions.

"Grk!" I heard him bite out, trying to ignore my ass grinding across little Lelouch, and my face flushed. Probably as red as my hair.

"You're right." He stated after taking a breath, leading me to look over my shoulder at him curiously. "It's too early." His eyes were narrowed in thought as he looked at the map. "But what can we do? She'll probably have her Royal Guard come in to exterminate everything left in the ghetto, so we can't stay here. And if you're right, and going to her is a trap, we'll be stuck in the middle of a formation where my geass is no use…"

God, I loved watching him think. Watching the gears turn at the speed they did in his mind? Watching as neurons made connections while his eyes flickered over the battlemap.

"Mine might be." I offered quietly, begging him to trust me. Begging him to put his faith in me.

The Black King

...Right. She had a geass too. Apparently. "...What is your geass?" I asked after a moment, meeting her sapphire gaze and finding myself suddenly short of breath.

Nothing to do with her being in my lap. Nope. Nothing at all.

Seriously though, it was more about the absolute devotion that shone brightly in her sapphire blues that floored me.

"Bullet time. I think. That's the best way I can describe it. If we're going to be in a melee fight, I can get us out alive. Bring the Yamato Alliance with us. If nothing else they'll be a good cannon fodder distraction. Just remember the lap-dance is unintentional."

Right. Sound plan, if what she says is true...wait...lap-dance?

"What lap-dance?"

The Goddess of Victory

This operation had better work.

I went through painstaking lengths to set this up, exactly like Shinjuku. Just to draw that bastard that killed my brother out. Zero would die today. I swear it. "Attention all knightmare pilots! Open your hatches and reveal your faces!" I ordered, and sat back in my throne, feeling rather smug in my assured victory.

"Why did you let them kill me, Nelly?" A voice asked. And I blinked, and looked up in irritation as to who would ever dare to use that nickname in a place like this...to see my long lost brother. Lelouch vi Britannia standing before me. Eyes unfocused and blood pouring out of his chest and mouth, staining the regal white clothing he wore in crimson.

"Why did you let Britannia kill me, Nelly?" He repeated, as I suddenly scrambled back in the seat of my throne. Eyes wide with fear.

I couldn't help it.

I screamed.

The White Queen

A sinister grin covered my face as my dear half-sister Cornelia screamed at the words. My eyes blazing with the geass that ensured that only she heard the words I'd spoken. And ensured that everyone else in the G-1 would see just a nameless and faceless officer, while my dear sister would see the nightmare that I'd had to see the day my brother ushered in his new world.

The day she'd swarmed the streets in rejoice.

What's wrong, Sis? I thought you wanted to see our brother dead?

The entire room whirled to look at her, and she was staring straight at me. They followed her gaze...and I let everyone else see what she saw.

I wonder what the world record is for evacuating a G-1 command center? Because they must have come close.

I laughed, and turned to follow them, my grin widening as I left my elder sister petrified on her throne.

Just something to think about, Nelly.

The Witch

The green haired witch blinked owlishly underneath the mask of Zero, ready to appear from the rubble of building, when instead a swarm of men ran screaming out of the G-1 like they'd just seen something horrifying. All the knightmares in formation around the command vehicle paused and turned to see what all the commotion was about...when they were followed out by...Lelouch? In royal clothing, covered in blood, with a sword buried in his chest?

The witch gasped under her mask, looking in disbelief at the glowing violet eyes that scanned over the formation of Knightmares, many of whom recoiled at the sight.

In a thousand years of life, the immortal code holder had never quite seen anything like this before.

The Black Queen

What...the hell?

I looked at the figure with wide eyes, breath catching in my throat at the all-too-familiar sight of Lelouch's grandiose death. A wraith of a future past that I hoped to never see again outside of nightmares.

No. No. No. It can't be...I looked over my shoulder just to verify that Lelouch was there. He was. And his eyes were just as wide and incredulous as mine. I swallowed. "Please tell me you have an explanation for this?" I asked quietly.

I received a slow shake of the head, and turned back to the screen, swallowing the lump in my throat.

The bloodied Lelouch was gone.

And then the Yamato Alliance decided it was the perfect time to attack. Which...well...I suppose it was. Rifle fire erupted and I quickly came back to the present, activating my geass to duck under slash harkens and rifle fire and retreat from the sudden chaos.

The haunting figure from my future stuck in my mind the whole time, along with a swirling maelstrom of questions and no one around with the answers.

...Speaking of questions, shit. I told Lelouch I would answer his after we'd dealt with this. Think, Kallen, how do you know about his geass?

How is his dead future self walking out of Cornelia's G-1?

How do you have geass, for that matter?

Jeez, I really suck at lying.

The Black King

I can't be hallucinating, right?

Because Kallen just asked if I had an explanation for it. Which I don't. That means she saw it too, right?

We both just saw me, walking out of the G-1, with a sword buried in my chest?

Right?

What the fuck is going on with my life?