It has been one year since the execution of Lelouch Vi Britannia, 99th Britannian Emperor, at the hands of the people's saviour – Zero.
In this time, the delicate peace the world had achieved through uniting against their shared oppressor has been shattered. Three months after Lelouch's death, Prince Schneizel El Britannia, having escaped from the execution block, unveiled his bid for the world, shattering the delicate peace the United Federation of Nations had found with Nunnally's Britannia.
The war had been fast and brutal. Any organised resistance which attempted to prevent Schneizel from overthrowing Britannia and the United Federation of Nations was quelled immediately by his knightmare army; their methods focussing on slaughtering each and every 'terrorist' rather than on destroying enough frames for the groups to no longer pose a threat to him.
Schneizel's army was equipped with mass production seventh generation frames which were on par with the original Lancelot. The few resistance groups who sought to operate independently from the Order of the Black Knights had been wiped out immediately, their knightmare frame technology being fifth generation at best.
The members of the Order of the Black Knights, save for Zero himself – having been indisposed through meeting with Li Xingke and the Tianzi at the time – had been captured during Schneizel's first invasion of Japan in simultaneous raids on their knightmare depots, supply stockpiles and command centres. Once Schneizel had secured Japan as his own, he had released the Black Knights with full pardons and severe cuts to their resources.
This action had greatly confused the public. Many Britannians saw it as a sign that Schneizel was compassionate and willing to work with the Order, while the majority of the newly renamed 'Elevens' believed that their Zero had been behind their rescue – Schneizel covering up his defeat by making it seem like he had been the one to order their release.
Very few saw it for what it truly was, though. The commanding officers of the Black Knights knew that they couldn't possibly hope to defeat Schneizel as they were. They retained only a handful of Akatsukis, aswell as the Lancelot Albion and Guren SEITEN Eight-Elements frames, which had been rebuilt immediately after their destruction. Upon the Black Knights' release, however, they had to be downgraded in order to be sustainable due the shortage in Sakuradite they were experiencing.
During the four months they spent as Schneizel's prisoners, the Second Prince had been able to map out all of their supply channels and the sources of their funding. Through controlled raids of these organisations, he had slowed their support capabilities to a standstill. Sakuradite, which had once been flowing into the Order of the Black Knights' hands in far greater quantities than they required, was now extremely difficult to procure. Knightmare frame contributions from the contemporary equivalent of Kyōto House had dwindled to an average of two generic Akatsuki frames per fortnight.
Despite still having some firepower remaining, the top rungs of the Black Knights knew that Schneizel had released them only so that he would be able to make an example out of them; executing them outright would be seen as redolent of Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia. Schneizel aimed to use the world's hatred of Lelouch to ensure that they would be willing to remain together under one banner; one which he could eventually claim as his own.
It was nothing short of a certainty that Schneizel intended to limit their resources and capacity to fight against him so that he would be able to effectively butcher them in war. The Order of the Black Knights were his means with which to prove to the world that he could not be defeated, even by Zero – the masked figure who claimed to deliver justice.
The lower level members of the Black Knights refused to subscribe to the pessimism which plagued the higher echelons. At the first mention of not achieving success, they would snap back with vehemence, loudly proclaiming that they still had Zero, who would allow them to win no matter how heavily the odds were stacked against them.
This did not raise the spirits of the command level; every one of them knew that Lelouch was the original Zero and that the new one was an imposter, not the strategic genius who had led them through their golden days. Regardless, they gradually began to acknowledge him over time, although if it hadn't been for his ability to assassinate Lelouch then they would have discarded him immediately.
With their final hopes resting on one last battle to liberate the world, the Order of the Black Knights went underground, biding their time and gathering resources for an all or nothing assault against Schneizel's forces.
In the five months following the Black Knights' disappearance, Odysseus U Britannia was crowned the 100th Britannian Emperor. Despite his station, it was clear that he was merely a puppet, Schneizel pulling his strings from behind.
Pendragon was rebuilt immediately following his inauguration, as was Pendragon Palace – the original schematics having been stored off-site. The few upgrades which had been made to the palace were predominantly structural, keeping as true to its original design as possible. People were originally reluctant to relocate to a site bearing the mark of FLEIJA, yet the Imperial Capital was once again back to full residential capacity in two months – the opportunity to be able to live in the prestigious locality in which it had previously been so astronomically difficult to secure a plot of land proving much too tempting for many Britannians to pass up.
The quality of life for both Britannian citizens and the 'Numbers' – particularly those in Area 11 – had declined dramatically under his reign. Cities were again divided between the Britannians in the settlement and the Elevens in the ghettos, which had begun to corrode once more.
Riots were commonplace in both localities; Elevens, spurred on by their confidence in Zero, fought back willingly against their oppressors. Neither the Britannians nor the Elevens were safe from racial violence, a pattern which was mimicked to some degree in every territory Schneizel had reclaimed after Emperor Lelouch had released them.
None felt it to the degree that those of Area 11 did, however; Schneizel had decided to personally operate from the area to assert his authority as Second in Command of the Britannian Empire in title – First in Command in reality.
The Honorary Britannian system was once again reinstated at the orders of Emperor Odysseus U Britannia, although it was by no means received well by the repressed Japanese. Less than fifty thousand across the entirety of Area 11 had applied for the status, the rest unwilling to submit to Britannian rule after their first taste of freedom for the better part of a decade. Those who did apply were predominantly families with small children who couldn't afford to support a war effort. All of them received the status and went into hiding in the Britannian Settlement, viewing the disgust from their own people as a small price to pay in order to keep their families safe.
Nobody would ever admit it, but both the Britannians and Numbers knew that Emperor Odysseus U Britannia's reign was destroying the world even more brutally than Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia's. If anyone were asked whether they would have preferred Lelouch to Odysseus, they would not give an answer. Lelouch's policies had been physically much kinder on the world than Odysseus', but it was the hope which had been rekindled though the Order of the Black Knights before he became Emperor that he had broken in them.
ŌgiKanameandŌgiVilletta (formerly Villetta Nu) have been recently removed from active knightmare duty at the insistence of Cornelia Li Britannia, in lieu of the birth of their child a month after leaving captivity. The decision was made on the basis that the two would be less effective as their efforts would have to be split between their duties and raising their child. Both of them are still highly wanted and actively hunted by Schneizel's men, so they have remained in hiding with the Black Knights, performing in an administrative capacity within the information sector. Kōzuki Kallen had been similarly relegated to light duties for reasons not released to any other than the core group.
Nunnally Vi Britannia and Shinozaki Sayoko, like ŌgiKanameandŌgiVilletta, also remain in hiding with the Order of the Black Knights, fearing that Schneizel will attempt to once again take Nunnally captive for use as a political tool.
Li Xingke and the Tianzi have remained in China throughout the war, Li Xingke's health not permitting him to regularly sortie on the frontlines. His decision to remain in China for its length was well received by the Black Knights, accepting that it was better for him to serve as the last line of defence for his country in the event that the war physically spilt across, rather than to succumb to his illness after a few minor battles in Area 11. The loss of his Shenhu was a huge blow to the Black Knights, but they had little choice other than to make do without it.
Jeremiah Gottwald has been inactive since the execution of Lelouch Vi Britannia. Lelouch's final order to him was to avoid any war which may follow; both sides would see him as an enemy, and he would be unable to persuade them otherwise without explaining Lelouch's actions and rendering his death futile.
Rakshata Chawla, Lloyd Asplund, Cécile Croomy and Nina Einstein have all been reported missing at various stages throughout the year. Nothing is known about their disappearances
Milly Ashford has been promoted from reading the weather to Head Anchor at the newly renamed Area 11 Television Network. She has now become a household name throughout the colony.
Rivalz Cardemonde continues to attend Ashford Academy after failing a year due to lack of attendance. He has been publicly noted to be "sad" about all of his friends leaving him.
Gino Weinberg and Anya Alstreim are enlisted with the Order of the Black Knights, having joined permanently in the immediate aftermath of Lelouch Vi Britannia's execution and their subsequent rescue at the hands of the Order. The remains of the Tristan Divider and Mordred had been salvaged and rebuilt in the period preceding Schneizel's invasion and annexing of the Black Knights' resources, although both frames–like the Lancelot and Guren models–had to be downgraded to cope with the deficiency in Sakuradite.
Twelve months after the death of Lelouch Vi Britannia, the Order of the Black Knights prepare to make their final stand against Schneizel El Britannia.
2019 a.t.b.
Command Centre - The Avalon
Suzaku sat alone in the Avalon's war room, his fingers resting on the arms of his chair. The ship had been salvaged almost completely intact following Lelouch's execution. A good deal of its armour had to be repaired, and its defences and fuel stores recharged, sure, but overall the ship was in remarkable condition for one which had seemed to sustain such heavy damage in service on the battlefield.
At first his appearances as their masked leader had been lacklustre and sporadic, still grieving from the death of his best friend – at his own hands, no less. Over time he adapted much better to his role as Zero, his resolve strengthening as his heart slowly decayed.
It took some time for Tōdō, Cornelia, Ōgi and the others to come to accept him as Zero, yet he never told any of them his true identity, and they seemed content not to know. Kallen, he thought, had some idea that he may have been Kururugi Suzaku, although she never made any move to either prove or disprove this theory. If she did, she either knew for certain who he was, or she was content in not knowing; the last 'Zero' she had gotten close to had betrayed her.
He stood from his position and walked over to the region map which was visible on the display. Almost all of Schneizel's deployed units were hovering around his aerial base, Damocles.
Suzaku clenched his fist in disgust. Schneizel had created another Damocles. The original was unaccounted for after his defeat at the hands of Lelouch, but it was evident that it was not the same Damocles which Nunnally had fired FLEIJA after FLEIJA from. The new model was in pristine condition; this battle would be the first it had ever faced.
'And hopefully, the last it will ever face,' Suzaku told himself with a grimace. Things were not looking good for him. Schneizel had easily matched the total number of mass-production frames he had brought to the battlefield; almost every single one of the Black Knights' trained pilots were hovering in formation around the Avalon, save for his irregulars and Squad Seven.
He still had the Guren, Lancelot, Tristan and Mordred frames, but Schneizel was almost a certainty to have many powerful frames under his command as well; Suzaku hadn't even seen the depths of his generic frames, let alone his most powerful units. Of course, that was without taking into account the fact that all four of his best knightmares had to be downgraded to fulfil the Sakuradite requirements, as well as the fact that every one of Schneizel's mass-production units were at the level of the prototype Lancelot, while the capacity of his own Akatsukis was somewhat below that level.
Schneizel's knightmare technology could be seen to be constantly improving over the full year, while that of the Order of the Black Knights remained horribly stagnant. Since the disappearance of Rakshata Chawla, Lloyd Asplund and Cécile Croomy, the Black Knights' technology department had been horribly bare. Despite his best efforts, Suzaku was unable to procure the services of a talented knightmare engineer. For the six months, the primary functions of his technology department were limited to repairing knightmares, building new Akatsukis from blueprints, downgrading his four best frames, and replicating a generic float system to be attached to the Akatsukis.
Somewhat ironically, Schneizel's units were all equipped with identical energy wing systems. The designs for them were created by Rakshata personally when she was still with the Black Knights. He often wondered who Schneizel had employed as an engineer; technicians of Rakshata's and Lloyd's calibre don't come by every day. There was every possibility the designs had been garnered from acquiring one of their float systems after a skirmish, but on the flipside, there was also the possibility that someone was leaking their data.
Suzaku slammed his closed fist into a section of the control panel which was unoccupied by keys and controls. 'No. There is nothing tohopefor. Thiswillbe the last battle the Damocles ever sees.' He clenched his eyes shut and stood up to his full height, opening them once again to regard the battle map in front of him. 'Lelouch, you left me here to win this war for peace. I haven't done the best job over the past year, but I won't….I won't let you down again.'
"Lord Zero."
Suzaku spun around to see a guard standing in the doorway on the far side of the room. He had the guard stationed outside the door to screen his visitors.
"Gino Weinberg and Anya Alstreim are here to meet with you."
He nodded and the guard vacated the doorway, stepping back out into the corridor. The visages of Gino and Anya replaced him.
Gino was the first to speak, walking in casually and sitting down in a spare seat. "Hey Zero, when do we get to go out and fight some?" he asked, pumping his fists in the air as if he were boxing an invisible opponent.
A click was heard, and both men turned to see Anya leaning up against the wall, holding her red camera phone up in the air.
"Moment recorded."
Gino sighed and rolled his eyes at his fellow ex-rounds member's eccentricities. Suzaku, not in the frame of mind for such banter, nodded towards her.
"It's good to see you too, Anya."
He turned back to Gino. "The two of you will not be deployed until the final stage of this battle. I will accompany you in the Lancelot."
Gino winced slightly as his words, no doubt recalling the 'loss' of Suzaku. Despite knowing that Gino was wrong about his death, it was just as hard for Suzaku, if not harder; watching his friends walk around thinking he had died had made into the top five worst feelings in his life, accompanied by those involved with murdering his own father, watching Euphemia die, hearing of Shirley's death and following through on Lelouch's request to kill him.
He blinked back tears; it was not the time to compromise his effectiveness as a leader. He would never be the genius Lelouch was, but he would do his best to honour his late friend's memory and realise his dream.
"Why the Lancelot? I thought you had ordered a personal frame. Only Kururugi Suzaku has been able to unlock the Lancelot's full potential," Gino queried, dropping his casual tone and adopting the mask of war. Anya followed suit, pocketing her camera phone and sitting next to Gino.
"I am a highly skilled knightmare pilot," he replied, his tone devoid of arrogance as if he were simply stating a fact. "You and Anya will pilot the Tristan and Mordred as you have been for years. I will pilot the Lancelot." His tone was that of a commander, leaving no room for argument.
Gino nodded and looked down, crinkling his brow in thought before lifting his chin to stare curiously at Suzaku's Zero mask. "You didn't mention the Guren."
Suzaku responded immediately, his reply pre-prepared. "The Guren will be piloted by a member of our regular forces who has shown increasing promise as of late. Kallen will be piloting an Akatsuki on the frontlines during the battle."
Gino leapt to his feet in fury. "This is it, Zero! This will be the final battle! You can't possibly refuse to send Kallen out in the Guren! We can't win without her! I mean I know she's–"
"SIT DOWN, GINO!" Suzaku barked, slamming a fist down on the table. "You are out of line!"
Gino backpedalled slightly, the backs of his knees pulling his chair with him. He'd never seen Zero so angry; the man had always seemed to be perpetually unperturbed, exuding an almost tangible aura of confidence and composure. Not even the former Knight of Two was prepared to tangle with Zero; original or not, the man's word could not be taken as anything other than law.
He felt Anya's grip on his shoulder as he went to reseat himself. He hesitated before standing up again, Anya addressing Zero. "We will wait in the hangar for your command."
Suzaku managed to regain control of his emotions and reined them in forcibly. "Yes. That will be all."
Gino nodded hesitantly, before following Anya out of the room.
Once the guard had checked the room and the door shut behind him, Suzaku collapsed into the chair in front of him.
He had almost lost control. How could he be an effective commander if he couldn't keep his emotions in check? 'Lelouch would have been able to–'
A beeping sound emanated from the screen behind him. He spun around to see a red message on the display, indicating that one of his pilots was attempting to engage a video link between them. A few screen commands later another window engaged, showing Nagisa Chiba at the controls of her Knightmare.
"Lord Zero."
"Report."
"Squad Seven reporting in after completion of objective," she replied formally, waiting for further specifics to be requested of her.
Suzaku caught himself from heaving a sigh of relief. The battle had been going downhill from the very beginning, when Schneizel had revealed his vast number of frames. Suzaku had known that the Damocles was capable of housing hundreds of units, but he hadn't expected the man to have so many of those knightmare bays full.
Squads One through Four, Squad Eight – one of two key frontline squads – as well as Squad Nine had been lost almost immediately in a front on attack, Schneizel having deployed a smaller force originally. It turned out to have been a trap, waves upon waves of knightmare frames pouring out of the Damocles' hangar to annihilate the weaker and less abundant Black Knights' frames. It had been an hour since then and neither side seemed willing to move until recently.
Ten minutes ago, Suzaku had been able to locate a four-man knightmare squad of enemy guerrilla troops making their way across the land far below them, off to one side of the Tokyo Settlement. A truck was seen driving inside the formation towards the point directly beneath the Avalon's position.
"Then the ambush was a success?"
"Yes, the ambush was a success. The lead enemy frame was larger than the others and of a different design. Its positioning also indicated that it was a stronger unit than the others, possibly an eighth or ninth generation model. We were able to get a closer look at its float system and it turned out to be an Energy Wing System."
'Cécile's Energy Wing System?' Suzaku thought to himself. 'How did Schneizel manage to get hold of that? The only two frames equipped with it were the Guren and the Lancelot, and we have both of them aboard the Avalon. I know he couldn't have retrieved them during the Black Knights' capture; the Guren's Energy Wing System was destroyed when they captured us, and I had the Lancelot with me.'
"We assumed that it was a ninth generation frame and switched from Plan One to Plan Three," she continued. "Instead of relying on having thirteen frames to overpower their four, we took a risk and dedicated five frames to setting up a large Gefjun Net at the ambush point. The field was successful and the pilots were executed. All four frames self-destructed when their pilots were killed; we found the remains of liquid Sakuradite detonators on each of their chests after examining the bodies."
Suzaku shivered. He remembered all too well what one of those looked like.
"Idiot! The world does not revolve only around ideals! Come, shoot me if you intend to do so! I have liquidSakuradite with me! It will explode if my heart stops beating."
He gripped the edge of the bench, out of view of the camera. "And what of the truck?"
Chiba hesitated slightly. "I…I think you should see for yourself."
She reached a hand out towards the screen and the display flickered to show the view from her knightmare's external cameras. Three men were loading a metallic device riddled with holes into the carrier on the back of her frame. Suzaku let out a gasp which went undetected by the microphone.
"Is…is that…?"
"FLEIJA," she finished for him, her tone scathing. "It appears they had planned to launch it at the Avalon from directly below. You would have been unable to avoid the blast."
Suzaku nodded slowly; it was mere chance that he had asked for the terrain scan which had revealed the enemy units. If he hadn't…
"The truck obviously wasn't fuelled by Sakuradite, so the Gefjun Net had no effect on it. They tried to escape but we eventually brought them down under heavy gunfire. We didn't know the truck contained a FLEIJA until we opened it up; we had assumed it contained some sort of linear cannon," she admitted, a slightly apologetic tone making its way into her voice for her inaccurate assumption. "The FLEIJA was equipped with a launch system designed to propel it in one direction. Our bullet fire destroyed it, but it was a miracle that the FLEIJA itself didn't activate."
"You Holy Swords seem to be good with miracles."
Chiba blushed and turned away slightly to school her features. When she looked back, her face was the picture of seriousness. "The FLEIJA has been loaded onto the back of my knightmare, where would you like it deposited?" It was clear to Suzaku that she was nervous about having the nuclear warhead strapped to her back, but to her credit she barely showed it.
"Load it onto Caerleon X-62. The pilot is skilled and has personally requested the first opportunity to complete any dangerous missions. Carrying a FLEIJA in a battle zone fits that criterion, don't you think?"
Chiba gulped, the words of Zero reinforcing the level of danger she was in by carrying an unstable FLEIJA. "Understood. Squad Seven Captain, out."
The screen flickered, returning to the map which had been showing before Chiba's transmission. He breathed a sigh of relief as he noted that the battle conditions hadn't changed.
He removed his mask momentarily to wipe the sweat off his brow, having accumulated in his unease. Doing the same to the inside of his mask, his fingers momentarily paused over the mouthpiece. When Lelouch had given him the mask of Zero, he had noticed that there was a green light on a small metal box where his mouth would fit.
Lelouch had explained that the box was a mouthpiece which amplified his voice and gave it the echoing quality associated with Zero. In preparation to relinquish the mask to Suzaku, Lelouch had upgraded the device to cloak Suzaku's voice, making it sound as if it were Lelouch's own. He had told him with a smirk that it was his only true technological invention, and that perhaps Suzaku could patent it for him one day.
He replaced his mask just as Tōdō and Cornelia burst into the room.
"Zero! What's going on? Where are our orders?" Cornelia demanded, clenching her fists at her sides and visibly seething in anger.
Suzaku remained unperturbed. "I have not given you any as of yet. The battle conditions are yet to change."
"What are you talking abo–" Cornelia began, before her gaze snapped towards the monitor and all colour drained from her face. "Your information is wrong! Someone must be jamming your display!"
Suzaku's eyes widened and his gut clenched, praying that he hadn't been made to miss something which had got the majority of his army killed. Cornelia grabbed him by the hand and raced out of the room, Tōdō falling into step behind her.
Less than a minute later they found themselves outside the communications department of the Avalon. Cornelia and Tōdō squatted on either side of the door as he took his place next to the Second Princess. Tōdō began a silent countdown with his fingers as all three of them drew rifles.
As the countdown came to a close, Suzaku followed his two allies as Tōdō kicked the door open and Cornelia raced in after him. The room was a mess; six bodies were littered around it, every one of them beheaded in grotesquely efficient style. A single man in a soldier's uniform spun around from one of the control panels and pointed a gun at Suzaku.
Tōdō had his forehead riddled with bullet holes before he could even disengage the safety.
"A spy," Suzaku mumbled to himself, quiet enough that his two comrades would be unable to hear him. "I thought they were all screened for loyalty…"
He watched Cornelia make her way over to the panels with a stern expression on her face, beginning to input the override codes which would reset the systems. Suzaku tapped a concealed button on the side of his mask which activated his headset. He pulled a device similar to a mobile phone out of his pocket and selected a line.
"Ōgi? This is Zero. I want you and Villetta up at the communications deck as soon as possible. A spy has been able to breach the Organisation and assassinate the communications staff in order to override my displays," he explained. Receiving a reply of acknowledgement from Ōgi, he continued. "You are to barricade yourself inside the control room and take over command. There is a supply chute in the room which you may use to dispose of the bodies; have one of the maintenance workers move them into a freezer from below. That is all."
He tapped the button on his mask once more to disengage the device, turning back to Cornelia, who was finishing up resetting the system. "What was the issue you originally wished to discuss with me?"
Neither of them answered for a moment, seemingly searching for words. Tōdō finally responded to his question. "I think you should see for yourself…"
Suzaku grimaced. The last time he had heard someone say that had been less than ten minutes ago, and that was to inform him that Schneizel had almost successfully hit his airship with a FLEIJA warhead.
Cornelia stood up and strode past him to the far wall, inputting another code into a keypad. Every screen and board in the room went black, before a whirring sound was heard from the reinforced cabinet holding the Avalon's main servers as the displays began to flicker between blue and pink in their reboot stage. She strode out the door and Tōdō beckoned him to follow, locking the door behind him.
When he arrived at the main deck, everyone's gaze snapped towards him, some with looks of panic on their faces, while others showed relief at his arrival. Taking in the anxious looks marring Cornelia's and even the typically fearless Tōdō's faces, he turned towards the window which covered the entire outer wall and faced towards the Damocles. What he saw made his eyes widen in horror.
"This is…"