Author's Note: Greetings there, bad timing on my part for acquiring a particular hemorrhagic fever that took weeks to convalesce out of, in the meantime I continued writing up for my other stories (which I see my girlfriend has already made the impetus of posting, thank God). Any of you still following this will be pleased to know that Chapter 1 of TLotA has been partially completed, so expect that first chapter in some weeks.
It was a cold day here in the settlement. How did Nunnally know it was cold? The people in the shopping district were wearing coats and sweaters under the open sky.
From her vantage point at the head of the Mind's Eye network, she could see all the people going about their lives, heedless of the eyes that watched them, almost every hour of every day.
To the owner of those eyes, using the system was as close to freedom as she thought she could possibly get. With a single thought, her gaze shifted from the shopping district to a secluded street, and then on to a spot overlooking the War Memorial, where a ceremony of some sort was being performed. And in another thought, she was back to a different perspective of the shopping district, where there was now a crowd of people gathering around.
After a moment's pause, Nunnally scanned through all the images to the one she was looking for, that of Ashford Academy. The camera had been placed on a pole opposite the school so that it gazed straight at the main gates, and here she saw the students already heading out en masse.
She watched them saunter out in pairs, alone or in groups, laughing, crying or any other emotion they displayed, Nunnally could not be sure since she couldn't hear their voices.
But she watched them nonetheless, the people freely walking in their uniforms under the passing afternoon. She watched them, as always, with a strange feeling of hunger.
In all her views of the school, the one she wanted to see was of her brother's. But with him being usually late, she'd already be resting by the time he would walk out the gates.
It was a result of the conditions he'd met when he had enrolled there, as part of his mission.
"Can you believe that Ashford? I've been forced into the student council! And vice-president at that! It means I have all the responsibilities!" had been what her brother had ranted when he had come back on the first day.
"You'll only have all the responsibility if Milly isn't there, so what's the problem?" she'd asked.
"Nunnally," he'd said exasperatingly, "It's like you don't know Milly at all. At this position, I will..." her brother had then made a gesture.
Nunnally giggled, "So? For you, a little work here and there won't be that hard."
"Nunnally..."
"And besides," she added, "It's fun, isn't it? To be with Milly again, and meeting new friends, doing normal everyday work..."
"I don't want this normality!" he retorted. "It's...hard, for me."
"Nii-sama, remember what I told you last night? You have to do this, not just for the mission, but for me."
For her, whose orders had been ever consistent in their intent and purpose ("Stay hidden and keep watching." ), seeing her brother go to school like this was just about the same as if she was the one attending. To learn at your leisure, to spend your free time with friends, to experience a little bit of the new everyday - all that was denied her, and all that she sought for whenever she asked her brother, "How was your day?"As the cameras had not been set up inside the Academy itself, Nunnally was forced to imagine in her mind the images of the new world that her brother had entered: from the familiar, confident Milly, to responsible Shirley, goofy Rivalz and the shy Nina, and the things they kept on doing. The images of learning from a teacher, who went about the lessons without forcing you to a life-or-death situation, to be able to look at the person beside you and smile tiredly...
"Viewing time exceeded maximum allotted extension minutes. This system will be shut down.
Mind's Eye System forced shutdown in 3...
Sometimes, she would have a dream. It was ridiculously impossible if one thought about it for more than a few seconds, but it was a dream that she didn't and couldn't forget. In it, she was there, her sight and legs had been restored naturally, and she was laughing with faceless classmates, she was laughing with nii-sama and his friends, she moved about freely and without restraints, without fear...
2...
If she could have at least one day to do all that, one day to be Nunnally Lamperouge, mere student of Ashford Academy, then it'd be enough... She knew she'd treasure that
forever.
1...
The tiny and helpless pilot of the Morgana cried, her tears hidden behind the Mind's Eye device. The image of the students milling around the gate was flooded like a images - the real, the simulated and the fantasy, all seemed to blur altogether, and Nunnally lost herself in it. Even after the simulated had faded to grim darkness, and had combined with the real in a queer juxtaposition, the dream continued to burn like a small fire in Nunnally's mind.
It was rare for a patron of a secret project to himself make a grand entrance into your small facility and demand a status report.
It was rare for Prince Clovis to come to the facility himself with a grand entrance and ask (quite strongly, in spite of him) about the project.
The Code-R project that the Prince himself had sponsored, though secretly.
Leaving their liaison, the portly General Bartley to entertain their patron, the rest of the small group of scientists involved in this project continued in their daily work.
This small group had been sworn to secrecy some time ago by the Prince, through certain inflations in their personal bank accounts that made their spouse highly impressed at them for working in such a lucrative drug company. That had bought their silence at the start, but the rest of it was when they realized what exactly they were working with.
By then, they had no need of the Prince reminding them of the need for secrecy, it was enough to know the nature of their Project, and of its implications. For the project had the means to transcend the petty human limitation of mortality.
As scientists, they had been highly skeptic of this when the Prince had briefed them at the start. But when the subject had been brought in, and after numerous tests that would have killed a normal man many times over, the group had opened their collective eyes, and saw the implications.
To be able to work with and try to understand the nature of this immortality, was something they were doing even now. The girl was pliant and submissive, though if it was only because she was always put under heavy sedation, they couldn't say.
Yet there had been no breakthrough, even after the endless batteries of tests and operations. The Prince had become impatient, the group, even more so. They did not need to have Bartley continue breathing down their necks to know what was on the line here.
It would be the greatest scientific breakthrough in history, and the societal revolution that would inevitably follow. Their names (and maybe even more) would be immortalized, and they would be the harbingers of a "Pax Terra" that would probably last forever.
"Get another sample. I lost one because of the damned machinery."
"I hope Bartley's talking about replacing that thing to the Prince."
"Are you kidding? He's royalty, they can make gold appear with a snap of their fingers."
They all had a short laugh at that, even as they started another extraction process from the subject.
As usual, she had no reaction other than to gaze dully back at the scientist who drew the blood. If the men had not been wearing the glasses of desperate rationality, they would have found the girl extremely beautiful, sensual, and...lithe...
All they saw was a subject, whose body was drenched in sedation - leaving her like a life-sized human doll. It was a living doll that was proof of the promise of immortality.
In her mind, the girl waited patiently as she felt that old familiar feeling of pain in her arm.
Not yet...
The man from General Affairs abruptly sat up, forehead sweating and mind reeling from the dream he had been having.
In the space of a second, the man's panicked look dissolved into his usual expression, and as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, he glanced around with a wondering look before settling on the night view of the vast expanse of sea before him.
He was in a secluded place, on a cliff overlooking the blue Pacific. Behind him was a sea-view lodge that a shrewd Britannian noble had had built, and it was notably filled to the brim with tourists at this time of the year.
If not for them, the man would have booked a room in there, for a better view. Now he was forced to make up a camp on the cliffs below, out of sight of the security cameras.
Apparently, he had fallen asleep as he was reading a report on the datapad, and as he stooped to pick it up again, he saw it was another one from a surveillance team on the two subjects. Portland's little setup had come out perfectly, and the man knew that the devious Breaker was now sitting back and waiting for the reactions to occur.
"Like web-spinning spider. Eerie."
The man shivered. The man from General did not say anything, and did not object when Portland had raised this in a meeting, because it did not matter. If nothing else, it was just another sidestep in the general direction he wanted for the subjects.
Yet a single seed of doubt had settled into the man's mind. Suppose those two would never be able to move again, what then?
"Unnecessary doubts. Irrelevant. Not unsalvageable."
The man nodded reassuringly to himself as he fished around in his pockets to look for his cigarette box.
He found none.
"Piste"
Nunnally would never see Lelouch walk out of the gates that day even if she could, for Milly had on that very afternoon decided that the student council room should be revitalized.
"I fail to see how this is not enough," Lelouch said coldly as he gestured around the room. He had been writing the conclusion in his forty-page paper, an assignment a disgruntled teacher had given him for "knowing too much".
"I dunno...I agree that some things could be added," Rivalz said.
"Something like a food cart for instance? It should save Sayoko-san some time so she won't have to prepare it anymore," suggested Shirley.
"Nice idea, Shirley! We could add our own personal favorites so we can eat it anytime we want!" Milly agreed with an enthusiastic gesture.
"Are you turning this into another food hall?" Lelouch asked. Incidentally, he hadn't visited the food hall yet.
"Oh, oh, what about a mascot? A pet of sorts would be nice, like a cat or something," Rivalz added. He had stood up, obviously inflamed by the president's enthusiasm.
Milly nodded energetically at this. "We could make it a monthly thing! Something like a theme for each pet for everytime! That's such a nice idea, Rivalz!"
She turned her head in time to miss seeing him blush.
"This isn't a place for pet-keeping..."
"Um..."
Nina had reluctantly raised her hand. "It's not an addition per se, but I would like to bring my computer at home here...I'd like to donate it for student council purposes..."
"That's my Nina!" Milly had exclaimed. "Always with the best ideas!"
"You know, we could always have the school get one for us..."
"Oh, shut up, Lelouch, you haven't even given your idea yet. What's yours, pray tell?"
"Mine?" Lelouch sighed, concentrating on his paper. "Separate cubicles so we can do our homework in peace."
"What kind of idea is that? That's not very fun at all!"
"Then I give up." He continued to scribble on his work.
"Lulu, are you almost done with that?" Shirley asked concernedly.
"It's his own fault for getting punishment homework like that!" Milly smirked.
"Really cruel of the teacher to single you out like that, man. I mean, forty pages of nothing but words? I could kill myself if I was given that." Rivalz said with a clouded expression as he watched Lelouch write.
"It's no problem for me. If I wanted to protest, I'd have done so verbally back then." It was really that minor for Lelouch, who was accustomed to writing up long battle-reports as his other persona.
"But still, it's nice to see you're actually doing good on that Lulu. I'm with Rivalz, I could have begged in tears or something if that happened to me."
"Let's stop fawning on the delinquent ("Why am I a delinquent?") and focus on our ideas, people!" Milly had cut in with a light thwack to the table. Barring Lelouch's horrible idea, we have a food cart, a live mascot, a dress-up room ("You just added that in for yourself, didn't you?") and a computer.
"Well," Milly said with a satisfied sigh. "Those are all good ideas, but they aren't enough. We should expand more, to really spice this place up."
"President!" Shirley then said. "I think it's fine if we start it slow, I mean we only just started the council, right? Isn't it good to start at the basics? It will be our foundation, and we'll look back to the pet, the food cart, the computer and the dress-up room with fondness when we grow older..."She'd grown increasingly flushed in the face as she said that, when she was suddenly at the center of attention, all eyes turned to her.
"...so then..."
"That's MY Shirley!" Milly shouted as she ran up to hug the orange-haired girl.
"Eh...?" Shirley was shocked at being hugged so suddenly, even more so as Milly proclaimed quickly afterward, "Now quickly everyone! The day's almost over, but I think we can snag a food cart to celebrate Shirley here! I think there's a shop down at..."
"You mean right now?"
"Yes, right now! We need to go down there, buy the student council a food cart, get some actual food, come back here and enjoy it for the first time!"
"Alright! Let's do this, then!" Rivalz said, inflamed twice as much now.
"If we can hurry, we can make the five o'clock train..." muttered Nina slowly.
"Come on then, let's not dilly-dally in here! Lelouch!" Milly admonished the raven-haired youth, who was still writing with head bowed.
"Pass," he said without looking up.
"What?" "Lulu?" "What're you saying, man?", their voices came in unison.
He rubbed his forehead in frustration as he said, slowly and deliberately, "I have a paper to write. I am busy. I will stay here and 'hold the fort' so we can enjoy it later. Please enjoy yourselves."
The others were about to leave it at that, but Milly was adamant.
"No excuses from a delinquent like you. Get up or I'm forfeiting your vice-president privileges."
"I had privileges?"
Spurred on by the other members of the student council, Lelouch reluctantly and very slowly stood up and allowed himself to be dragged out by the enthusiastic Milly. As she dragged the sullen, raven-haired boy along, Milly felt a sudden surge of heady pleasure, for being able to have enjoyable times like this with her old friend (and new friends). This small "victory" for her would be only one of many she planned to have, for a future purpose only the heiress of the Ashford family knew.
It was a raucous journey to the shopping district, with Lelouch being literally dragged by the others forward. It was no surprise, for the boy was stubbornly and deliberately slowing himself down in a feeble attempt to spite them.
The passersby looked on with suspicion at the blob of bodies that was the student council of Ashford, lumbering down a street in the shopping district and talking animatedly amongst themselves.
Finally, things came to a head when the blob collapsed in on itself, and they toppled down onto the sidewalk in a messy tangle of bodies. The passersby grew even more concerned, so a crowd started to form around the pile.
"Are you alright?"
No reply came but the sounds of much giggling and laughter as the pile dissolved into five very disheveled teens. After an apologetic bow, the group set off once more down the street - still having to drag Lelouch along.
For the perplexed Shirley, this whole trip was ridiculous, and she would never be caught dead doing this sort of thing with her friends in public. But there was something gratifying to forcing the enigma to do things, like dragging him along against his will.
The girl gained a certain type of pleasure when she looked at Lelouch's discomfited face. She didn't really care about the food cart, but she was glad that she had suggested it, for it allowed her to do these sort of things with her savior. The boy had not made any mention of his rescue, but Shirley was content to leave it at that. There would be other opportunities in the future.
On the other hand, Lelouch was mentally and physically balking at this outrageous new demand of Milly's. Although he'd mentioned that he was averse to going because of his paper, there was a hidden reason that had more to do with his other identity.
Many times since he started enrolling in the Academy, Lelouch had caught himself from displaying too much positive emotion. He'd told himself that it was wrong to feel this way, and quite unfair to Nunnally. The youth felt that these "farces" were the height of idiocy and insulted his and Nunnally's condition.
Easy, it's just part of the mission, nothing more...
Unlike the journey coming to the shopping district, the buying of the food cart itself and the return trip to the Academy was a subdued affair, something that seemed to suit both Lelouch and Nina - although everyone seemed to be in a good mood overall.
Back at the Academy, both boys in the council carried the newly bought addition to their room while the girls went down to the food hall for the preliminary stocking of their new food cart. They then spent another hour, having a little party in the room.
Milly then heaped loads of praise on Shirley for such an excellent idea. It was suggested that the boys bring in Nina's tomorrow, much to Lelouch's chagrin. Another sigh, not his last, escaped his mouth as he nibbled on some bread.
So this is what the food down there tastes like.
"Here are the results, ma'am. It's...another failure."
"No need to state the obvious..." muttered Dr. Aiyme disconsolately as she received the simulation results from her assistant.
Yet another week had gone by, and the new CORE system that was supposed to have been developed by now for the Morgana was still a bust.
Perhaps it was a flaw in the people under her in her department, as they'd not had any breakthroughs at all. But then, Aiyme thought disparagingly, I'm in the same boat. No genius epiphanies from this useless noggin...
She rubbed her bagged eyes and sipped cold coffee from a tumbler. Ever since she had started her role as the interim head, she'd started spending more of her days down at the Morgana hangar, overseeing research on the CORE and the comings-and-goings of the Knightmare itself as it embarked on missions.
She'd also chosen that part, because it was as far as possible from Valdez's own workshop. The slightly unhinged scientist had been howling at her heels ever since he heard that she had been made interim leader over him. As leader, Aiyme ensured that he still have his (miniumum) share of the sakuradite, and nothing more. Apparently, that had not been enough for the man, whose behavior then worsened to the point of hourly threats over the commlink.
At that, Aiyme had a strange sense of foreboding. Come to think of it, she hadn't heard the madman for some days now. What could he be doing? One thing for sure, Rouche Aiyme was not know for leaving loose ends lying around. If the relative silence from the normally abrasive man was an indication of what was going on, then she'd be stupid not to nip whatever that was in the bud before he could light a fire under her.
Thinking this, Aiyme stood to leave the hangar, signalling to some of the technicians to start the next batch of tests without her.
The certain feeling of uncertainty followed the esteemed engineer as she headed outside to the labyrinthine corridors that lined the facility. Her foreboding seemed to fuel her strides as she furiously went in the direction of Valdez's workshop.
She would not put it past the insane idiot were he trying something as reckless or ridiculous as, for example, wrecking the facility with his own creations, or worse, instigating a hostile takeover of the Project. (at the last, she was reassured, the man had as much influence on the other members of the project as a head louse)
The scientist was too occupied in her worried thoughts that she crashed straight into the back of Rimes Duran when she turned a corner.
"Ow! Who in the - "
"Who's there?"
Aiyme found herself lying on top of Duran's fallen body, and she hurriedly stood to straighten herself when she was able.
Grumbling, the sole developer of the Mind's Eye stood in his turn and adjusted and adjusted something on top of his head that had apparently been disturbed in the collision.
"Ah, Miss Aiyme. Did you just discover that you need the Mind's Eye or is pushing down the blind man a daily ritual for you bored Heads nowadays? Not that I'm bored myself or anything..." the scientist said sarcastically.
"It was an accident, Duran. I'm in a bit of a hurry, as you can see..."
"...Well, I don't see. Not now, anyway," he added before fiddling with the device on his head. After a rhythmic hum, the Mind's Eye activated, and Duran "stared" appraisingly at the other scientist. "So what's the hurry - breakthrough?"
"No, just going to check something. I've got this gut feeling that there's something I have to confirm by myself," Aiyme replied distractedly as she walked past Duran.
"Everyone seems to be in a hurry now. First there's Valdez, then you...there should be a rule to ban running in the corridors or something-"
"What?" Aiyme interrupted. She had stopped walking and was now turning back to the blind scientist. "Did - that man bump into you earlier?"
"Yep, in a corridor just like you, though not as apologetic. He looked like he was really in a hurry too..."
Duran was highly surprised when the esteemed engineer suddenly grabbed both of his arms in a desperate hold. "Which way did he go? It's important!"
"I-"
"QUICKLY!"
"I'm not really sure itwasinacorridorbackthere - OWOWOWOW! Not the coat! OKAY! OKAY! That way, that way!" Duran screamed as his arms turned to mush under the scientist's iron grip. As the now panicking Aiyme stormed off in the direction he'd pointed, Duran muttered,
"That was a really strong grip..." as he massaged his sore arms. "Now I get what the rumors meant..."
That man, I knew he would try something! But what? And why there?The direction which Duran had pointed to lead to the sakuradite store room, a vast area that housed barrels upon barrels of the precious resource. Would the man attempt to sneak a few barrels out for his own twisted purposes? If so, Aiyme thought as she stormed past sector after sector, it was high time then for her to exercise her powers as administrator, and make the man pay.
Her worst fears were confirmed when she saw the guards posted to the store room lying on the ground. They weren't dead, merely incapacitated, but this only pointed to that man being responsible.
"What in the name of all that is reasonable are you doing?" Aiyme shrieked as she ran to the door, staring at the ill-shaven man that was poking the side of one of the barrels with a crowbar.
The man looked over his shoulder, and immediately the face twisted into an expression of violent defiance. "Well, if it isn't the malicious harpy! You're too late. Just a few more inches and I-"
Aiyme lashed out in a way that was a far cry from her usual cool self - her face was a mask of rage like the man's.
"YOU IDIOT! OF ALL THE INSANE, MISERABLE THINGS YOU'VE DONE, THIS IS THE WORST! AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A GENIUS? WELL-"
"Yes, I am."
Momentarily deflated by the flat reply, the red-faced scientist spluttered on her words, as the man continued in his defiant, magnanimous manner: "Yes, it is precisely BECAUSE of my genius that I need this! Without sakuradite, as YOU well know, I cannot create! My labors won't take fruit! And no one, not even a shrieking harpy, will stop me!" Valdez's eyes glinted dangerously in the dim lights.
Just then, there was an audible click, followed by a persistent hiss. Aiyme's eyes widened as she saw the crowbar sink deeper into the barrel.
"Do NOT stick that in any further, Valdez! no more or I'll..."
"Too late." Inch by inch, the madman stuck the crowbar further in, and after another beeping sound, the world turned instantly white for both of the department heads.
"Didja hear that?"
With the sound of wheels turning, a brown-haired man emerged from the underbelly of the truck he'd been servicing.
"Hear what, Tamaki?", asked another man who was sitting close, examining something on a nearby table.
"I dunno, heh, must've been my imagination..."
"Tamaki, did you start taking Refrain?" the other says half-jokingly.
"That's not a joke, Ohgi! I was being serious there...what if that sound was from a Britannian patrol or something?" Tamaki said, sounding hurt.
"Well, I didn't hear anything, and even if there was, then Yoshida'd have alerted us already." The curly-haired Resistance fighter sighed, crumpling up a faded sheet of paper in his hand. "It's no good, The people from the Hand of Heaven say they're looking for a better target..."
"Hah! Those wimps are just looking for easy prey like an army convoy or something," Tamaki smirked.
"And the Blood Debts have some issue about working with you..."
"What? I'll give Shuichi a taste of my mind next time I see him in the factory!" exclaimed an outraged Tamaki.
"Well, that sums it up, no one wants to work with us...Even when Naoto sent all those letters..." Kaname Ohgi sighed despondently as he lifted his arm and tossed the crumpled paper like a basketball.
"Damnit, don't those idiots realize that we can only do it with Naoto's way? How long are they gonna just sit on their bums?" muttered Tamaki resentfully from under the truck. "It won't be long before that Britannian black-ops thing comes in and wipes each of us from the map."
"Don't say that, man."
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," replied Tamaki apologetically. "It's just...you know, it's really helpless just sitting at the factory, hoping and waiting, while your country goes to the dumps around you. It's not a pretty thought."
"Well then, you should take the initiative and DO something! Are you done with the repairs yet?" Ohgi chuckled.
Grateful for steering the tone of the conversation, Tamaki grunted, "Yeah...just a little while longer. Those Britannians really did a number on this thing. Hold on, where was that damn screw again?" With another sound of wheels, Tamaki reemerged, oil covering his face as he looked for something in the toolbox. As he went under again, he asked,
"So what do you think Naoto's gonna be announcing? That he's accepted me as his new brother-in-law? Hell yeah, I think I'm gonna be liking this meeting..."
Ohgi laughed, "It's a one-in-a-million chance of that happening, man. You know how protective he is when it comes to Kallen."
Tamaki whistled, "And who wouldn't be, with a girl like that? You've seen her, you know what she's already turning into."
Even as he laughed together with Tamaki, Ohgi couldn't help but feel the hopelessness the other had echoed just before, about their current situation. Certainly, their leader, Naoto Kouzuki was a brilliant man, one with a dream to match his determination to free Japan, but what could their small resistance group do against a more powerful force like Britannia?
Miracles wouldn't come easily to them, so easily were they swept under the Britannian bootheel in the first place. Indeed, it required such people as their leader, or better yet, a man like that of Toudou the Man of Miracles, to bring hope to their beleagured existences.
But even with their overwhelming disadvantage, they had something going on for them, something that all who fought like them carried inside, like an eternal candle.
Each and everyone had a dream.
Naoto Kouzuki had a dream. What that dream was, he only confided in his sister, and his most closest friends. It was a dream that lived on in him, sparked not just by the Britannian conquest, but by his own aspiration.
And now that he was the leader of a small resistance cell, he was determined to make true that dream, one way or another. Not just for his nation, his countrymen, his friends, but also for his mother, and his beloved sister.
It was a dream he hoped to make reality with his actions, even when those actions led him down a dark and dangerous path.
At the thought of Kallen, Naoto looked down at her picture placed neatly on the corner of the table. Amidst all the maps, logistic reports and other things related, there stood out clearly the picture of his family, and beautiful young Kallen's stood out most of all.
She would be turning fifteen soon, a delicate age, and Naoto wanted it to be a peaceful time for her as could possible be. Already, she was showing promise as an intelligent young lady, and he was considering petitioning their estranged father to have her admitted in Ashford Academy.
If she could land a potential suitor for herself, then so much the better, as she would then be assured of a better life, away from the potential squalor being an "Eleven" could bring her.
"But so much for that..." he muttered. He looked at the watch that hung on the wall and saw that it was almost time for the meeting. He'd called the members of his cell over tonight to meet at their secret base for a meeting, where he hoped to brief them in on their new mission.
It would be one of many missions where he hoped to be able to convince the still distant Japan Liberation Front that the resistance was still active even from the small time groups, and that the rumors of hushed up Britannian retribution did not deter them one bit.
All for the sake of his dream.
He looked out the window and saw the piles of ammunition that had been gathered there, their latest (and probably last, if they didn't succeed here) partition from the JLF. The courier had mentioned that the supplies had actually been easy to divide up now that there were fewer of them to give to, but that was not a pleasing thought.
Thinking to get his head cooled off from thinking, he descended the building and went out into the brisk, cold night air to where the boxes were. The comfort of having a cloudy overcast tonight was a better shroud for their activities, and he hoped it would stay that way for their future missions.
As he stood regarding the boxes, he was aware of a slight, crunching sound that, in the relative silence of this night, was just as loud as that of a blaring car in daytime. Naoto stiffened, heart pounding and senses heightening at this unnatural sound.
He had told Ohgi and the others to come in on the truck, as that truck would be useful to them, but what if it had still not been fixed? What if they were forced to go on foot, thus producing that unnatural sound?
He had chosen this place as their new base precisely because of its remoteness, no one was currently living in the dilapidated ruins of buildings that surrounded them, so-
There it was again. Another unnatural sound, like metal grinding on metal. Naoto's caution screamed at him now, to hide, but the cool part of his head started moving.
Looking about the ruined buildings, he strained his eyes for a glimmer, an indication of that thing that was making those noises. If it was indeed the rumored Britannian black- ops unit, then this overcast helped them as much as him, but not by much.
Going for the safe approach, Naoto swiftly headed back for the building, extinguishing the lights upstairs. Along the way, he grabbed an RPG launcher from the box and armed it, preparing for the worst.
If it would ever come to a terrible point, then Naoto needed to make sure that his friends wouldn't be hurt - and that these intruders would be foiled by an empty base. It was also a chance to discover who exactly these people were, an excellent starting point for the still confused resistance, who did not know what exactly was killing their comrades.
So thinking, the resistance leader crouched in the darkness, weapon in hand and night- vision binocular strapped to his eyes, waiting for whatever it was that he knew was coming.
Terse moments passed in the dark, accentuated by an eerie hush that had fallen over the place, as the sounds had seemed not to come anymore. Still Naoto waited, hoping that the others wouldn't stumble wildly here before that unit would strike.
Maybe that's what they're waiting for? That would certainly make more sense, if they were able to see the empty base now. And that meant that his friends were even now walking into the crosshairs of an enemy trap.
But he didn't have to make drastic measures as the metallic sounds came back again, this time louder and with a longer duration. And it was unmistakably, drawing closer and closer to their base.
He saw it as a humongous shadow, framed in between the buildings. With a sound that echoed amongt the desolate buildings it grew closer, and Naoto was able to see it clearer and clearer with each meter. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, the being came into full focus, and the sight of it framed in his binoculars was something that made even his normally calm face collapse in horror.
It was huge. It seemed to dwarf the buildings on either side of it. Undoubtedly, it was a Knightmare, judging from its metallic sheen, but it was more than just the normal humanoid robots that Britannia was using to patrol its streets.
No, this thing was bigger, and even more of a potential threat than a squad of Knightmares (which the JLF had suggested) could ever be. This was a monster, and it was bent on killing his countrymen.
As Naoto clutched the launcher firmly in his grip, he drifted off in his mind. He was at a crossroads, and choosing one way would seal his fate whichever happened.
On one hand, if he were to run now, he might be able to intercept Ohgi and the others, preventing them from being so mercilessly slaughtered by this thing. But he knew that if this was indeed the one responsible for the killings, then it would need the forces of the entire JLF to take it out. The way it was now radiating an aura of dread was proof of its brutal might.
On the other, this might actually be a chance to strike a mighty blow against Britannia! If he played his cards right, he would be able to make several successful blows against the still unsuspecting crew of that strange, huge Knightmare, possibly even disabling it. If he could pull that off, then he'd be able to singlehandedly put a stop to whatever it was Britannia was planning, and finally be able to take a small step towards liberating his homeland!
Both had its merits, but only one had the risk of the ultimate price. Deep in Naoto Kouzuki's psyche, the decision of honor against survival struggled fiercely, in the space of a moment that lasted for mere moments, but to him was that of a hundred years.
Finally, as his thoughts recalled Kallen and his friends, and that of his duty to his homeland, there could only be one real answer. As he stood in the dark, holding the launcher like a scepter, Naoto Kouzuki came to one conclusion.
After all, a man had his dreams, and if he wouldn't work towards that dream, then what use was he as a man?
"I have confirmed sighting of several boxes of what appears to be ammunition. There are some late-era weapons, and some that looks like it was stolen from Britannian arms storage, but..." Subject R. frowned in his cockpit, hands poised on the controls. There was no sign of any movement.
After he had come home - late, he had been greeted by a desperate looking Nunnally, who had told him that there had been an emergency transmission involving their next target. Naturally, the two of them sped away from their safehouse with haste and into the designated meeting spot where the Morgana had been delivered ashore.
It had been a short trip to this place - and the mission itself should've been shorter, if the description of their target was any indication, but as they reached the target area, the two of them were dumbfounded to find nothing but a pile of boxes out on the street.
Due to the nature of their mission, they were expected not to use any of the Morgana's illuminating tools, so they were working with the low-light vision from the Merlin module's factspheres and the light from the target's own base to see. But here in this starkly dark area, there was nothing that illuminated the base - almost as if there was no one there at all.
Had they been tricked? Was this another one of that man's schemes, tricking them by some action to garner some form of reaction from them? Lelouch flipped through the images sent by the Factspheres impatiently as he thought about it.
Subject N.'s clear voice chirped in from the comm device, "What is your suggestion, Subject R.?" Nunnally was waiting for Lelouch's orders as faithfully as ever.
"We will have to wait. If there will be no change by the time the core has reached 50% maximum output, we can do nothing but withdraw." Subject R. decided as he crossed his fingers in front of him as he set the Merlin module to idleness. He felt oddly impatient, a strange emotion, especially if he was impatient for something like THIS.
And who's to blame for that? Briefly, he envisioned the large, invisible figure that always seemed to dwell in their shadow. He shivered in spite of himself, and was glad that the interior of his cockpit was always warm.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
What?Subject R.'s nerves jolted at the sudden scream of alarm that blared at him from the flashing screens in front of him. In the space of a second, his whole world was rocked by gigantic tremors as he felt something big impact his cockpit.
The boy screamed in surprise and anger as he was knocked back by the motions in the cockpit, oblivious to the panicked voice of alarm that was now coming from the comm.
"NII-SAMA!"
Momentarily forgetting protocol, and the fact that they had just been attacked, Nunnally screamed into the comm device.
The attack had come from nowhere. One moment, she was relaxing from her brother's orders, in the next, bone-jarring one, the Morgana was sent reeling as something impacted the very spot where her brother's cockpit had been.
The girl did not need to listen to her brother's yells of pain to realize he had been affected by it, but it was painful to realize nonetheless.
"Are you alright? NII-SAMA!"
She desperately wanted an answer from her brother, who was now eerily silent through the comm device.
"No..."
This could not be happening. Not to her brother, the one person she wanted to protect in the whole wide world. So she failed again? How could she have...?
The bigger question was, how could they DARE to hurt her brother?
Tears burning hotly at the edge of her eyes, Nunnally forced her trembling arms into motion, as they clamped down fiercely on the controls.
Beneath her, the Morgana hummed almost appreciatively as it was now seemingly in sync with its Devicer.
Never had Nunnally felt this sort of union with the detestable machine, so united in cold rage with the towering Knightmare that seemed to purr in anticipation.
The Mind's Eye was like a red haze, and Nunnally Lamperouge lashed out like a fierce tide on an unsuspecting shore.
From outside, one could see the Morgana start by almost casually launching its harkens at the grand pile of boxes, igniting it and causing a great explosion. And then, with a great mechanical whirr, the guns on its sides began to spit molten fury on everything - the buildings, the streets, the cloudy sky.
When the salvo was over, the Morgana proceeded to swiftly decimate what was left. From the cracked buildings to the torn-up concrete the claws, glinting in a paroxysm of drunken glee, raked and slashed through everything there was.
It was a testament to the machine's destructive power as slab after slab was mercilessly torn from the very earth, and the buildings were reduced to their earthy foundations with each rending swing. The Morgana struck with blind fury, but it was as precise in its assault as always.
In between the sounds of concrete keening as they were sheared by the still untarnished claws and rocks falling impotently to the scarred ground, one might have heard a similar scream seem to echo from somewhere inside the behemoth.
Lelouch shook his head as he came to. He had a throbbing pain somewhere at the back of his head, and he realized, as he touched the place where it hurt, that it was bleeding somewhat.
Nunnally! First priority was always his sister, as he reached his hand to input something on the keyboard. "Subject N..." he called weakly. "Are you-?"
The boy became momentarily alarmed when he heard his sister crying on the other side of the line. "Sub-Nunnally, did something happen? What-"
Lelouch's eyes widened in naked surprise as the images from the Factspheres loaded on his screen. On it was displayed a scene of utter devastation, a far cry from the normal ruins he had just seen moments ago.
"Did you..." the boy uttered, dumbstruck and horrified at the scene's implication.
"Nunnally...what...Nunnally! Please answer!"
"Nunnally!"
The Morgana's hummed lazily as it cooled in the night air, its claws hanging limply at its sides. As its Devicer's impulse subsided, its lust for battle seemed to cease too as it waited almost impatiently for its pilot's next command.
Inside, Nunnally had put her head down on the cockpit, her chest heaving up and down as she choked on her tears - despite her brother's desperate cries over the comm.
Her arms were crossed over her heart, in an expression of utter shame and self-loathing.
The first sign had been the smoke that could be seen from the distance.
Then there had been the scent of burnt concrete, drifting over the dry night air.
"Tamaki."
"I know, damnit." The driver of the truck didn't need to be told twice as Tamaki sped down towards their secret base.
The occupants of that truck looked at each other with a growing worry - it was as if their worst fears had been confirmed.
For his part, Ohgi's thoughts were a wreck as he struggled to prepare his mind - even as he denied it still - for the worst.
"Damnit."
Total ruin greeted them as they arrived. Ohgi licked his now dry lips as he surveyed the scene motionlessly, even as he called out-
"Naoto?"
"Louder, maybe he can't hear us."
"Naoto!"
"Naoto! Damnit, where are you?"
This cannot be here, not now, when Kallen just... Ohgi willed himself to move as he joined in the others' search over the shredded stones - big and small, that littered the area.
By himself, he started to dig at a spot, his hands clawing in desperation as he shook small debris off.
Without realizing it, the members of Naoto Kouzuki's cell were now utterly covered in dust and soot, yet they did not care as they continued their search, ignoring the truth that their brains were throwing at them; ever calling out their leader's name...
"Ohgi! Damnit, anyone, help!"
Tamaki's cry for help was followed by a string of curses that no one bothered to scold, so intent were they to head to where he was. It was all that the few men could do to lift the huge slab of rock, but lift they did with a surge of strength that would have amazed them hours ago.
"No..."
The initial sight that greeted them almost instantly brought tears to their eyes. There lay their noble leader, his entire lower body crushed under a slab bigger than the one they had just lifted. They would have had the strength to lift even that, had it not been for the cloying smell of blood that was even now oozing down the ground.
"DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIIIIIT!"
"Naoto," Ohgi whispered as he kneeled down to take his old friend's visible hand. He was relieved when he felt that there was still a pulse - slight, but it was still there, so-
"Someone, find help! We need to have him out there ASAP! Quickly, or-"
"Every...one..."
Ohgi choked to a stop when he heard his friend speak.
"DAMNIT! NAOTO, BRITANNIA WILL PAY, I PROMISE YOU!"
Naoto Kouzuki's eyes opened, and he beheld, through a thin mist, the faces of his comrades, his most dearest friends.
His body was on fire, numbed as it was by the minutes of pain already. Instinctively, he just KNEW, and he also knew that the only, small thing he could do now was...
"Ohgi..." Ignoring the blood that oozed down freely from his mouth, he pressed the thing that he had held in his right hand on the curly-haired man. "Take this...proof of Britannia's...Only thing..."
He gasped, out of breath. Struggling to form his words, he looked with a fierce determination at his old friend. "Continue...the fight. Fight, for the future. For Japan. Fight, most of all...for dream...my...your dream..."
The others silently watched this horrific and painful scene, and it took no small amount of willpower not to look away. Meanwhile, Tamaki had balled up his hands so hard that his nails were already drawing blood.
"Ohgi...you..." He shook, as his pain was now so unbearable that all he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep. Steeling himself one last time, he said in the clearest voice ever, "Ohgi, protect everyone's dream, for the sake of the future. Please p-p-protect Kallen's..."
With heads bowed, the members of Naoto Kouzuki's cell wept, the only tears that they could ever cry in a long time. They continued to stay like this for quite some time after, even as the heavens burst to shower the earth with a slight drizzle.
The water washed away the blood that had been spilt over the stones, carrying them over and away into the depths of the ruins - rendering Naoto's body clean and pure as if he was just alive. The water also washed them from Ohgi's hand that was still holding on to his departed friend's own. In his other, he clenched the photograph that had been given to him by his friend in his last moments.
"I will do it, Naoto...I will carry your dream...and it will be everyone's..."
Daily Diary
"...And six weeks of nothing but repairs for the old storeroom. That's an additional cost, plus add the fact that we have to get twice the amount of sakuradite in the next shipment! It's a good thing we had strong reinforcement for that room, or we'd have been obliterated in that blast...the only good pleasure I can get from this infuriating setback is the fact that HIS own workshop will be the temporary storeroom, while he'll be working under close guard ten levels below in the heat!...It's a good thing I was in that good of a mood, because it helped when I saw the 'bruise' that had appeared on the Morgana when it came back. Upon closer inspection, it apparently came from some lethal tankhunter type of RPG, something that would probably shred a Glasgow cockpit. But it didn't shred the Morgana, just bruise it, nothing that another maintenance can't fix..This bruise shows exactly how tough my baby is, I can almost feel my tears well up from this, this pride at seeing one's baby work!"
Dr. Rouche Aiyme