Execution Grounds

Tōdō studied Cornelia carefully as the stranger disappeared into the distance. Why had she accepted the ice-cream? Did she know something he didn't? It seemed likely; that smirk she had worn hadn't been one of false confidence. She was sure something was going to happen. But what would happen? How could she be assured it would be a good something, anyway?

Regardless, something had turned Cornelia into the picture of confidence. Over the previous twelve months she had allowed the cold and harsh persona she had once worn as a Britannian princess to slip away, gradually being replaced by a far more tolerant woman, yet not one less formidable on the battlefield.

She had never for a moment lost any of the command in her voice, nor had she lost any of the power her stance radiated, but she had developed something of a softer side. In battle or in meetings with either the lower levels of the Black Knights or foreign parties, she would always cling rigidly to her 'princess' personality. When amongst the Black Knights command team, however, she would drop her guard, allowing a far more relaxed 'Cornelia' to surface – the kind who would roll her eyes at Tamaki's idiocy and rest her feet on the coffee table.

As a Britannian Princess she could never 'lower herself' to those sorts of 'unseemly' acts, even when alone, but after turning her back on the remnants of the Imperial Family, she had decided that she quite liked the life of a 'commoner.' Tamaki's funeral had been a very personal affair for all of them, so Cornelia had dropped the mask of her former personality as she attended his funeral – it would have been disrespectful not to, for someone who had become a close friend to her.

A mask – that was exactly what it had become. What once was Cornelia Li Britannia had now become little more than a piece of thin plastic placed over her face as both an intimidation tool to use on her enemies and a motivational tool to use on her allies. When they had left the depot on the way back from the funeral, Tōdō could easily see the change from one Cornelia to the other; it wouldn't do for the public to see the Cornelia Li Britannia who was desolate over the inevitable loss of Zero.

Throughout the entire time they had been waiting in the stands, up until the stranger in the baseball cap had arrived, Cornelia had been almost perfectly silent. Her 'Li Britannia' mask was held in place with more force than any of them, sincerely attempting to put up a façade of power and ability to transcend any level of despair. Save for her slightly increased jumpiness and tendency to anger faster, it would have been impossible to tell she was wearing one at all, if Tōdō hadn't known to begin with.

But then that stranger had arrived, and Cornelia's mask began to break down. Everyone else's broke much faster, but the one Tōdō was interested in watching was Cornelia's. As loathe as he was to admit it, Cornelia was far better at reading people than he or any of the other Black Knights were. As a Britannian Princess she had become an expert at the art through years of negotiations and similar activities, just as every child of Charles Zi Britannia inevitably had. He had only been able to identify Suzaku through his movements – movements he himself had taught the boy. Cornelia hadn't recognised Suzaku because she had no knowledge of his technique; if Tōdō himself hadn't, both of them would still be on square one.

When the man had finally finished his little show and turned to leave, Tōdō had immediately turned his full attention towards Cornelia to gauge her reaction, save for a small percentage which he kept dedicated to watching him leave out of the corner of his eye. What he saw both was and wasn't what he was expecting. Cornelia had dropped her mask, exactly like he had expected her to, but what showed wasn't the furious expression he had assumed she would adopt. Instead her features remained somewhat relaxed as she stared at the sky deep in thought, before she finally straightened herself and smirked – confidence rolling off her in waves. She wasn't acting, either; just watching her take a bite of the ice-cream she had been given was proof of that.

He allowed his thought processes to dissolve for a moment as looked down at his own ice-cream.

From what little he had been able to gather about the stranger, Tōdō had no clue which side he was on. He certainly seemed like an arrogant, spiteful follower of Charles' and Schneizel's ideals, at least on the outside. On the other hand, everything he had done seemed fake – forced. There was no doubt it was all an act, but what was the purpose of the act? Was it an act to further demoralise them, carried out by one of Schneizel's pawns? Was it perhaps an act to weaken their support base by making a mockery of them?

'Enjoy the show.'

What had he meant? It seemed as though the last way he could have meant it was literally. There was something about that phrase that screamed 'hidden meaning,' but Tōdō didn't know what to make of it. Cornelia did, however, which prevented him from falling back on the assumption that it was meant as it was said – Enjoy watching your comrade die.

'Enjoy the show.'

His eyes widened as he caught on to what Cornelia had seen in the man's comment. It hadn't been an act to demoralise them. It hadn't been an act to divert public support away from them. It wasn't just an act at all.

It was a show.

Tōdō grinned honestly for the first time in weeks, as he unwrapped his own ice-cream and took a bite of it. Chiba and Guilford seemed utterly scandalised that not one, but two of their own had succumbed to the lure of forbidden fruit. Darlton spared him only a slight glance before returning his gaze towards the same stars Cornelia's had previously been focussed on. A moment later he too had developed the same gleam of recognition in his eyes, turning to Tōdō and nodding resolutely before following suit.

Ten minutes later, a Britannian horn sounded, signalling the arrival of Zero and the execution party.

All heads immediately turned to their left, where they could make out the escort moving towards them. Chiba gripped the rail hard enough for her to begin trembling. Tōdō placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, helping her to steady her wild heart rate.

"Believe in Zero."

Chiba turned to him, her face showing obvious signs of both frantic worry and confusion. "How can I believe in someone who's helpless? Zero can't even save himself, let alone us!"

Tōdō stared down the road at the approaching vehicle, never once looking at Chiba. He pointed towards it and spoke. "Don't believe in that man."

"But that's Zero!"

"Don't believe in that man," Tōdō repeated, a smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "Believe in Zero. Zero is no longer one man to us; Zero is hope.

"Believe in hope, and you will be believing in Zero."

"Behold. Zero, the lowlife who has caused the deaths of millions of Britannians and Numbers alike over the past three years, has finally been captured and will be executed today."

Kanon Maldini surveyed the crowd from his position at the front of the vehicle carrying Zero. He wasn't able to make out faces very well at that distance, but the general mood was easy to decipher. Aside from a small contingent of Britannians who hated Zero, sitting at the far left of the stands, it was obvious that everyone was feeling despair in one way or another – hopelessness as their chances for a better world died with Zero, grief for loved ones who had died fighting alongside Zero in order to achieve a goal which would now never be realised, or even simply mourning the man wearing the Zero costume, who was about to be put to death.

He stood formally, just as he had been ordered, and allowed the palms of his hands to rest lightly on the rail in front of him. There was only a single transport in the execution procession, carrying both himself and Zero. The vehicle took the shape of a pyramid, the length of each side of its square base being approximately equal to the width of six of the road's eight lanes.

Each side of the abnormally-shaped unit was decorated by a Britannian flag, the longest sections of its cross running up the planes and meeting at the pyramid's tip. Attached to the very top of the vehicle was a large metal spire, easily adding a further ten feet on top of the already existing fourty foot pyramid.

While the vehicle was without a doubt designed with deliberate extravagance, it was clear that it wasn't the main attraction of the show. Rather, the figure bound to a platform three quarters of the way up the spire was.

Anybody in the world who was old enough to talk could recognise Zero, either as their Knight of Justice, or as a pest to their own desires. Kanon didn't turn round to look at the man suspended above and behind him, but he knew that Zero would be completely still. For days he hadn't moved other than when ordered – not even a twitch. More than once Schneizel himself would be called in to inspect the man and make sure there was still a person under the mask, having made it perfectly clear that none of his subordinates were to attempt to discover Zero's identity.

The platform Kanon himself stood on wasn't so much an addition to the base design, but rather a square indent made halfway up the pyramid. He had somewhere around ten feet squared to move around, although he had been specifically ordered to avoid movement as much as possible in order to demonstrate Britannia's confidence and power. The front and sides of the indent had been decorated by an intricate set of golden handrails, the bars twisting in the centre to form the design of Britannia's coat of arms. In the floor at the front right-hand corner was a hatch leading down into the cockpit of the vehicle.

"This day marks the beginning of an era where Britannia can flourish, unhindered by the violent methods of Zero."

The procession had entered from the same side as Jeremiah Gottwald had when presenting Kururugi Suzaku, Kanon noted, as they turned the corner and began to slowly pass alongside the first section of the stands. The stands weren't the only new addition to the area, however; a good deal of the settlement had to be rebuilt in the aftermath of the Black Knights' first rebellion – their use of the interlocking plate system destroying most of it – and again following the impact of FLEIJA.

To Kanon's right stood the newly-constructed stands, while to his left ran the new 5th Circinate Line. Revised planning in the wake of restoration had led to the monorail system being raised, so the tracks were now at the same height as the road, and its carriages moved alongside the cars. An empty carriage was stationed further along the tracks; Schneizel had wanted to make sure the tracks couldn't be used in a rescue attempt if there was one – something he had said was highly unlikely considering that Zero had already been captured.

Four extremely large video screens were positioned high above the train tracks at regular intervals, facing the crowd and level with the highest row of seats. For the moment they showed live footage of the execution procession.

Despite Schneizel's belief that there wouldn't be a rescue attempt which could make it past the frames guarding either end of the road, he had still dedicated eight Vincent Wards as an escort for the vehicle carrying the prisoner, Zero, and the executioner, Kanon. Four surrounded the vehicle, one at each corner, while the others moved side-by-side in front of it.

"Zero is now proceeding towards the execution point, along with the Britannian officer who will be performing the execution, Kanon Maldini."

Kanon remained unfazed by the emphasis put on his name by the speaker. Schneizel had previously informed him that Milly Ashford would be reading the prepared script over the loudspeaker. The head anchor of the Area 11 Television Network had been a Zero supporter for more than a year, due to her close relationship with more than one of the Black Knights. Schneizel requested that she be the one to broadcast it in order to fuel feelings of betrayal amongst those who knew her within the Black Knights, specifically Kōzuki Kallen and Nunnally Vi Britannia. It was a plan he had proven himself to be excessively proud of.

Milly had eventually accepted the 'offer' as it was put, faced with far worse options if she refused. It had come down to blackmail in the end; Schneizel had told her that if she 'declined' his offer, the announcer would be a noble Milly had contact with during her previous engagement to Lloyd – one she knew to be extremely bigoted and against Zero.

Kanon knew it was only natural for her to attempt to salvage the situation by straining her words and putting a spiteful emphasis on his name, as well anyone else in Schneizel's forces, but he couldn't bring himself to be angry about it. He had enough trouble trying to survive as it was; caring about what people thought of him wasn't his top priority.

Ever since being subjected to refrain by Lelouch aboard the Damocles, his life had gone completely downhill. Two years earlier he had applied for knightmare training so that he could be part of Schneizel's personal guard both on and off the battlefield, but he had been forced to ashamedly withdraw from the program over the previous year as his motor skills had degraded. He could still fire a gun as well as always, though, so Schneizel had allowed him to keep the same position he had previously held.

He owed Schneizel everything and served him faithfully; even when he did disagree with the man's methods, his objections would never last until the next morning. Schneizel would source his refrain for him, and keep his addiction under wraps. If word got out about it he would be dishonourably discharged from the Britannian Military and jailed; even when he did finally serve his sentence, nobody would ever employ him. His life would be over; he had no family or friends outside the military he could rely on if that happened.

He couldn't just stop taking refrain either. Refrain was unlike any other drug which had ever been seen; failure to continue regular usage had a one hundred percent mortality rate. It was rumoured that there was one way to break the drug's hold, but the exact method wasn't readily available information; it was thought that Britannia forcibly prevented the information from leaking in order to preserve refrain's image as a drug that could not be defeated, scaring people away from it. He had asked Schneizel personally, but was met with the reply that there was no such cure available.

Kanon had no choice other than to accept that answer as truth; he deeply respected Schneizel and knew that the man wouldn't lie to him. Once a month he would hole himself up in his private quarters and inject. It would always be at night; night was when his head was clearest from the slight distortion which was constantly present from the moment he woke up every morning.

Shaking his head of those thoughts, Kanon turned his attention back to the road in front of him. Moments later a transmission came through on his earpiece.

He reached up and pressed the connect button. "This is Kanon Maldini."

"There's a vehicle trying…get through the blockade at the southern end."

Kanon quirked an eyebrow at the somewhat broken message; evidently the transmission had come from one of the knightmare pilots guarding the road in front of him. "Whose vehicle is it?"

"It's His Majesty–"

"–Let it through," Kanon interrupted, the distortion returning to his mind in full force at the most inappropriate time. 'What is His Highness Schneizel doing here in person? I thought he was still aboard the Damocles. Perhaps he intends to give a speech of his own?'

"But–"

"–I said let it through," Kanon repeated, once again cutting the other man off.

There was silence for a moment, before the guard replied somewhat hesitantly. "O-Okay…but you're taking the blame for this."

Kanon hit the disconnect button on his headset with far more force than necessary, irritated by a combination of the guard's lack of respect for a superior officer, as well as his own pounding headache. He gripped his head as a particularly bad pulse hit him, clenching his eyes shut and leaning against the rail for support.

The crowd gasped and Kanon's head shot up, his eyes widening in shock as he focussed on the approaching vehicle.

'Clovis' vehicle? But Zero is restrained behind me; who else would do something like this?' he asked himself, disgusted that he could fall for something which had already been used. 'But I could always use this to show the world that His Highness Schneizel won't be defeated.'

Kanon raised his hand to the headset and hit the connect button once again, keeping his hand over it for future use. "I want four knightmares surrounding that vehicle."

Instantly, the four frames in front of the execution float moved to take up position at each corner of the approaching vehicle, successfully halting it twenty feet away. The vehicle carrying Zero rolled to a stop as the driver predicted his next order. Kanon remained silent for almost a minute, waiting for his opponent to make the first move.

Without warning, the top of Clovis' vehicle went up in flames just as dramatically as it had the first time, revealing the figure of Zero once again standing against an execution procession.

"I am Zero."

A strong sense of déjà-vu passed over the crowd at the familiar sight; even those who hadn't seen the footage had heard of Zero's first public appearance. More than a few murmurs broke out, wondering which of the two Zeros was the real one – the one Britannia had captured, or the one arriving on Clovis' vehicle.

All four knightmares surrounding Zero readied their weapons to fire, but were held off by a hand signal from Kanon. He hit a button on his headset and began to talk over the speaker system, placing a hand on his holster in readiness to gun down this new 'Zero' at the slightest sign of hostility.

"Who are you? You are not Zero."

The new Zero was silent for a moment, his arms folded and seemingly unworried by the amount of weaponry pointed in his direction. When he spoke, he made no attempt to prove his identity, instead responding with another question.

"Then who am I?"

"This is Zero, right here!" Kanon growled, indicating behind him and spinning around to make sure the prisoner was still there. "His Highness Schneizel personally confirmed his identity!"

"Naïve!" Zero boomed. "You cannot kill Zero simply by killing one man!"

Kanon had heard enough and whipped his gun out, pointing it and squeezing the trigger.

"DIE, ZERO!"

The Zero standing atop the replica of Clovis' vehicle made no attempt to move, accepting the bullet willingly. He stood still for a few moments, before clutching his stomach and collapsing to the roof of the car. The crowd watched in silence as their hero slid down the vehicle's bonnet and onto the ground, leaving a thick trail of blood covering the windscreen.

Kanon replaced his pistol slowly, vaguely recognising the same sense of hopelessness from earlier returning to the crowd in even greater force. He smiled slightly to himself; Schneizel would be pleased with his performance.

Another gasp came from the crowd, Kanon spinning around in time to see the image on the four screens dissolve into a very familiar symbol.

The silver sigil of the Order of the Black Knights.

Kanon cursed as the image switched to a video feed of Zero, the flag of the United States of Japan serving as his backdrop.

"You cannot kill Zero simply by killing one man!" he repeated, the built-in voice of Lelouch Vi Britannia commanding power and respect. "I represent the combined hope of the people – Japanese, Britannian and all others of the world. Britannia as it is now, is a system designed to crush the weak. I am a system designed to bring justice. That is why I will not fail!"

"You want to destroy Britannia, then?" Kanon spat, losing control of his already unstable emotions almost completely.

The Zero on the screen made no move to respond, taking everyone by surprise as the image dissolved back into the logo of the Black Knights, before returning to the live footage they were previously showing.

For a moment Kanon was unsure what to do; Zero had just disappeared without answering his question. He couldn't continue with the procession, whoever this new Zero was would be expecting that.

His thoughts were interrupted by a number of screams throughout the crowd as every light in the venue went out, including the video screens. A large spotlight was activated, pointing directly down at Kanon's position. Immediately after, a second spotlight was engaged, illuminating the empty train carriage. On top of it stood Zero, his arms crossed and seemingly unworried and unaffected by Kanon having already shot him.

'He's gained control of the electrical systems? This isn't some desperate rescue attempt.'

"No, I do not want to destroy the country of Britannia," Zero finally replied. "I aim to destroy Charles Zi Britannia!"

Kanon snorted as a mixture of excitement and confusion ran through the crowd at Zero's reappearance and declaration. "Emperor Charles Zi Britannia is dead. He was killed by Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia over a year ago."

Zero seemed unfazed. "Charles Zi Britannia may physically be dead, but his ideals live on in his sons Schneizel El Britannia and Odysseus U Britannia."

"So you plan on killing both of them then, do you?" Kanon accused heatedly, once again pulling out his pistol to point it at Zero.

"I aim to destroy Charles Zi Britannia's philosophies and policies with as little bloodshed as possible."

Kanon ground his teeth. 'I've got to get rid of him before he does something really dangerous.'

The crowd was silent as they once again watched Zero clutch his chest, reeling from the three bullets Schneizel's subordinate had fired into his heart. Blood began to seep out from between his fingers, slowly dripping down off the edge of his glove and onto the roof of the train.

Kanon looked on with a satisfied smile as His Highness' enemy fell backwards and over the far side of the carriage, dropping in excess of a hundred feet towards the ground. Something inside of him told him that he shouldn't be doing what he was doing – that he should be disgusted with himself to doing Schneizel's dirty work – but he crushed that feeling as soon as it appeared. For a moment the haze in his head cleared, but returned in full force as he reinforced his resolve to serve Schneizel.

Clutching his head in pain, he went to grasp the rail in front of him to prevent himself from falling over. Stumbling slightly, he instead missed and landed on his elbow as both spotlights simultaneously went out, blanketing the venue in absolute darkness. Moments later, all four screens flickered to life once again, as the perfectly serious visage of Zero became the only thing visible to the crowd.

"The time where it was thought that Britannia could be changed from the inside has passed. Today's Britannia is rotten! The hope we gained from Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia's death has been wiped out – destroyed by the last remaining relics of Charles Zi Britannia. I will create a world where the strong do not oppress the weak, where nations will not be identified by a mere number, and where a Britannia uninfluenced by the destructive ideologies of Charles Zi Britannia can exist. This is my promise of justice to you!"

The pilot of one of the knightmare frames surrounding the execution vehicle smirked behind his Zero mask, reaching into his pocket to press a trigger.

Instantly, all of the lights came back on, momentarily blinding all but the four pilots surrounding Kanon's vehicle, who were prepared for it. The four positioned at the corners of Clovis' vehicle were immediately wiped out, not expecting their allies to turn on them.

"Back up!" Kanon screamed into his headset, hoping that the basic command would be enough for the pilots guarding either end of the road to come to his assistance.

'They aren't going to make it,' he realised, seeing the frames begin to race towards him in the distance. The vehicle jerked slightly as all four knightmares attached themselves to the corners. 'What are they doing? Are they going to try and move the whole float out of here? That's insane, they'll never make it!'

Inside one of the cockpits, Zero smirked as he entered the last of the security codes into his command screen.

Kanon gripped the rail to keep himself steady as the vehicle lurched, his grunt turning into a scream as the ground fell away beneath them and the vehicle began to plummet down through what looked to be an oversized elevator shaft. With impossibly perfect timing, the four frames still connected to the execution float simultaneously attached their landspinner systems to the vertical steel beams at each corner, slowing their decent to a constant pace.

Pulling himself up into a standing position, Kanon looked upwards to see the hole above them close over as six other knightmares reached it. His eyes widened as he realised what had happened. 'He used the interlocking plate system to escape! Again! He even slid the spare plate for maintenance work into place after it. Who are we dealing with?' He ran to the edge and peered over it as he fumbled to pull the pistol out of his pocket, hearing the sound of metal hitting the ground below. 'That must have been the original plate.'

Too preoccupied in attempting to come up with a method of escape, was he, that he failed to notice the hatch opening to his right. Twin eyes surrounded by red rings peered out at him from the cockpit, as the driver aimed a gun at his side and pulled the trigger. Kanon immediately collapsed as the tranquiliser went to work on his body, forcing him into unconsciousness. The driver apathetically dropped the gun and walked over to Kanon's body. After checking that he was unconscious, the driver took the pistol out from under him and raised it to his own head, pulling the trigger without a second thought.

Zero grinned as they reached the bottom of the shaft. His plan had worked! Not only that, either; Britannia had fallen for yet another scheme involving the interlocking plate system. Granted, there had been signs of large security upgrades in the past year, but they should really have put far more emphasis on preventing a decidedly 'Zero' strategy.

Grimacing slightly, he flipped three switches on the side of his control board, activating communication to the other frames. "Complete Order 6."

Having no desire to hear his soldiers following through with the order, he flipped the three switches back into the off position. Even without the direct link, he could still hear the first gunshot go off outside his frame, signalling the life leaving the first pair of red-ringed eyes.

He disembarked from his knightmare carefully, but still with some urgency; although the closest entrance to the underground network was miles away, they could still be caught if they moved too slowly.

Zero made his way up the steps towards his bound counterpart, pulling out a lock pick as he reached it and began to work. Less than a minute later he was done, and had to place a hand on the other Zero's chest to keep him from toppling down one of the vehicle's sides.

"Who–" the prisoner began, before accidentally knocking his mask off as he reached for his face.

Zero attempted to catch the mask, but couldn't manoeuvre himself into position while still holding onto the disorientated man. He watched apathetically, shrugging as the mask collided with the ground below and shattered. They could always make more.

"Can you move, Suzaku?" he asked, pulling a thick strip of material away from the former Knight of Zero's eyes.

Suzaku blinked rapidly, trying to let his eyes get used to the faint lighting under the settlement. "Yes. I was blindfolded under my mask, but I can see now."

Zero nodded and pointed towards a small vehicle facing away from them. "There's a car waiting for us. We can talk more when we are in the clear."

Accepting the offered hand, Suzaku allowed Zero to pull him to his feet and followed him towards the vehicle, pausing momentarily along the way to bind Kanon and place him on the back seat. He had no idea who it was that had saved him, but he had accomplished a feat that was thought impossible after Lelouch 'betrayed' the Black Knights.

Maybe – just maybe – with him, they could have hope again.

Aerial Fortress Damocles

Schneizel watched the broadcast from a comfortable seat aboard the Damocles.

"They had no time to react; the rescue attempt was too fast," his companion mused out loud, a grin on his face as he stirred a cup of tea. "It is assumed they escaped through the tunnel network underneath the settlement."

"Doesn't that bother you?" he asked curiously.

The man slowly turned to face him. "Why should it?"

Schneizel made no move to answer, so he continued. "One third of the game of Chess is about drawing your opponent out into the open; you know that. It is impossible to beat an opponent who makes himself invincible by hiding their pieces where you cannot attack them. This is even truer in real life, where it is possible to take pieces off the board – either temporarily or permanently."

He nodded in understanding. "Go on."

"What I have done is create a situation which results in a victory for me either way. If Zero was executed, it would crush the hopes of the people and remove the figurehead for the Order of the Black Knights. As Zero was rescued, it has given me a valuable chance to study his rescuer. Without offering Zero as bait, I would never have known that there was someone with enough skill to oppose me."

Schneizel raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You think he can oppose you?"

"Not directly, no," he explained, taking a sip of his tea before continuing. "But he has some talent. There is no need to return to the original conditions, however."

"What can you understand about this rescuer, then?"

He rested his cheek on his palm in thought for a moment. "He is obviously a Geass user. From what I can see, his power is likely something which makes him invulnerable or semi-invulnerable. It is also possible that he has a code, and is thus immortal. The only other possible scenario is that he deliberately sacrificed two of his men, although I consider this situation extremely unlikely."

Schneizel smirked and lifted his glass. His companion immediately placed his tea on the table in front of him and followed suit with another glass.

"All Hail Britannia!"

"All Hail Britannia!"