Chapter 10: "Is it for Sins or for Honor?"
Seven Years ago after Britannian took over Japan...
After Cornelia's main force took over Tokyo, she ordered her men to drag out the Japanese Survivors from their homes or whatever is left of them and brought them before her presence. One of them happens to be Hikaru herself, who is 10 years old, along with her elder brothers Masaru, Kakeru, and Satoru, and her mother and father. Upon being dragged out by the Britannian Marines, Hikaru couldn't stop sobbing after seeing several of her other friends get beaten and pulled away from their loved ones. A 20-year old Princess Cornelia Li Britannia, dressed in a regal military officer's uniform, came out of the G-1 Base along with two of her Elite Soldiers, Viletta Nu and Jeremiah Gottwald, General Darlton, and Lord Guilford. As two rows of Britannian Soldiers and Knightmares paved way for the Princess, Cornelia stepped out of her G-1 Base approached the group of frightened Japanese people her men have rounded up in a cluster group. Before Hikaru knew what was going on, she was confronted by none other than Princess Cornelia, the Commander of the Britannian Military. Feeling frightened on what Cornelia would do next to her or her family, Hikaru was feeling scared, unable to say or do anything.
As Cornelia approached the cowering little girl, she held Hikaru's chin up with her right hand and gave her an evil smirk. The next thing Cornelia did was kneel in front of the little girl while giving out an evil smile.
"You do remind me of my little sister Princess Euphy," Cornelia chuckled. "What is your name, little lady?"
"I-I'm Hikaru S-Shidou," The red-haired girl said, nervously.
"That's a cute, pretty name," Cornelia grinned in a sinister tone. "I won't kill you, I'll take you in as my personal slave for life!"
By the time Cornelia grabbed Hikaru by the shoulder, making her yelp in fear, and attempted to drag her away to the G-1, her mother and her father stepped in, despite getting pushed back by several of Cornelia's guards and being held at gunpoint by Viletta and Jeremiah.
"WAIT!" Hikaru's mother shouted. "Please, not my baby girl! She's not worth it!"
"Why not?!" Viletta hissed as she aimed her gun at Mrs. Shidou in the head.
"Please, she's the only daughter in our family. Take us instead. We'll do anything to for our daughter. ANYTHING!" Hikaru's father begged while bowing down with his head on the ground.
"Why should we? Younger Elevens are much more worthy as slaves than Elderly Elevens!" Viletta sneered.
"She already attended private school since her first year in Elementary!" Mrs. Shidou whimpered after getting slammed on the ground head first by one of Viletta's men. "Please, I beg of you. Take me and my husband instead!"
After a few minutes of silence, Cornelia lets go of Hikaru's shoulder and ordered her men to drag her parents up front.
"I'd figured that Hikaru may be a little too young to serve under me as my personal maid yet," Cornelia clarified. "Very well, we'll let Hikaru and her brothers go and continue with her pitiful education but only on one condition: Mr. and Mrs. Shidou will serve under me as my personal servants for life in exchange for their children's lives."
"Are you sure about this, your highness?!" Viletta asked in doubt. "It may be a bad idea to spare Hikaru from slavery to continue to go to school in Area 11!"
"Don't worry, Viletta. Hikaru will still be put under slavery and torment at her school filled with Britannian students. After all, we always rise up above most of the cultures that surrendered before us!" Cornelia replied in a confident tone.
As she sees her parents get dragged away and out of sight by Darlton and Guilford, Hikaru was wailing out loud as tears came spilling out of her eyes.
"MOTHER! FATHER! PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE ME!"
"It's alright, Hikaru!" Mr. Shidou said as he turned around while being dragged by Cornelia's Knight. "No matter what happens out there, we'll always love you until the very end!"
"You listen to what your brothers say from now on," Mrs. Shidou told Hikaru before she and her husband get onboard the G-1 Base.
As both of her parents disappeared into the Britanninan Mobile Fortress, Hikaru screamed and cried hopelessly as her brothers tried to comfort her, despite tears coming out of their eyes as well.
When Hikaru woke up from her sleep, she exclaimed and gasped for air only to find herself tied up to a chair in chains and her mouth gagged. After remembering her previous fight at the docks and her encounter with the Britannian Elite Soldier and Shirley, Hikaru suddenly realized that they must've found out about her and held her prisoner somewhere in an unknown location. Since she got too much attention from both Viletta and Shirley, Hikaru starts to suspect that this is one reason why she woke up in a restrained fashion. Does her friends and her allies know where she is or will they have a hard time trying to find her? Unable to think clearly on any possible outcomes, Hikaru looks around and notices that she is surrounded in total darkness, not even knowing what is going on right now. Before she had a chance to react, Shirley appears from the darkness as she held a tall lamp post next to her face.
"Hikaru, you weren't really one of the Magic Knights helping out Zero, are you?!" Shirley asked coldly before taking Hikaru's gag off. "Please, tell me this isn't true!"
"Shirley, you have no idea what I've been through before 7 years ago..." Hikaru responded weakly before she was met with a slap in the face by a raging, whining Shirley.
"DON'T LIE TO ME! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I TRUSTED YOU!?" Shirley shouted at the top of her lungs while shaking Hikaru violently while tied to her chair. "YOU WERE MY FRIEND! YET, YOU LET THAT IDIOT ZERO KILL MY FATHER, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS ACTUALLY LELOUCH?!"
"If you don't believe me, that's fine. But can you at least let me explain everything from the beginning first before you could say anything else?!" Hikaru grunted while trying to keep his eyes onto a somber Shirley. "Because Zero wasn't the only one who was forced to experience such sin as this!"
Upon hearing what Hikaru just said, Shirley took a deep breather before continuing with her interrogation with the Knight of Fire. Meanwhile, behind Shirley, another man appeared from the shadows, unaware of his presence. He happens to be a 17-year old young man who is a Chinese Orphan named Mao. The man was wearing a light-blue jacket and a long-marooned sleeve shirt with black strips. He has brown gloves on his hands. On his lower half, he was wearing long black trousers with long brown boots with straps. On his face, Mao is wearing sunglasses covering his eyes and a purple headphone over his head. As he sees Shirley interrogating Hikaru, Mao started clapping with both of his hands with delight.
"So, one of the Magic Knights that was wreaking havoc on the Holy Britannian Empire is actually a young female Eleven lurking in the shadows of Area 11, eh?!" Mao grinned slyly. "With using such a deadly Knightmare Frame out on the battlefield, that little lady sure has such a deadly taste for vengeance, just like Zero, or should I say Lelouch vi Britannia. I can't wait to see how will Lelouch confronts Shirley while holding Hikaru as a meat shield."
Meanwhile back at the docks, several hours earlier after Hikaru got taken away by a confused Shirley, Lelouch regains his consciousness only to find that his handgun is missing and there is large bloodstain and a footprint of Rayearth lying a couple of feet from him. The next thing Lelouch saw was that C.C appeared from the shadows, this time wearing civilian clothes. Specifically, C.C is now wearing brown clothing and a big cap on her head. Unlike last time, C.C had her green hair tied back in a long ponytail. As she approach Lelouch, C.C was looking at the scenery for a few seconds before being asked by Lelouch on what happened. After hearing what Lelouch had to say, he was unable to issue any orders at the moment for he was convinced by C.C that someone saw his face and took his gun away. In his point of view, it might be possible that there were three witnesses; one who fired the gun, one who got shot, and one who appear behind both of them, which was presumed to be Hikaru and Rayearth. So, C.C gave the order to Ohgi to have the Black Knights and Cephiro's warriors fall back, by the approval of Zero himself. As soon as Zero put his mask back on, Lantis, Umi and Fuu appeared from the shadows with their Rune Gods and Knightmare and disembarked. The moment they all appeared before Zero and C.C, they were feeling worried of what happened to their friend Hikaru during their 2nd battle with Cornelia.
"Zero, we felt a faint presence that something bad happened to Hikaru again!" Lantis assumed, feeling concerned over his Magic Knight girlfriend. "What happened?!"
"It appears that someone must've captured Hikaru when trying to save Zero again!" C.C suspected. "And that someone already discovered Zero's secret identity!"
"You mean, Hikaru was a witness and that someone must've put her down first before taking her into custody?!" Umi shrieked out of worry.
"Don't worry Lady Umi, we'll find Hikaru and deal with whoever tried to make her spill the beans about who what is going on!" C.C said with determination. "It might also mean that they must've found out that Hikaru is one of the Magic Knights fighting against Britannia."
"Oh crab apples!" Umi muttered to herself and stomped her foot on the ground out of frustration. "I knew it was a bad idea for Hikaru to let her do things on her own, even out on the battlefield. It was just like at the one time we saw her badly injured after we regained our consciousness back in Cephiro. And when she faced off Lafarga when he was being controlled by Zagato alone."
"Well sometimes, you have to learn how to stay alive on the battlefield, with or without any support!" C.C summarized. "There won't be any choice in that matter and there's no going back after coming such a long way as Knights displaying honor for another country apart from where you all belong!"
"What do you even know about us, Magic Knights anyway?" Umi asked in annoyance.
"I've known a lot of things Lady Umi. You probably don't know just by looking at me, but I've been living in this world for more than a century and I've seen worse from people like Hikaru and Cornelia," C.C said grimly.
"More than a century?" Fuu asked in shock. "What kind of crazy talk is this?"
"Well the thing is, C.C isn't really half the human that you all know," Zero pondered. "Her life isn't normal to begin with."
"Are you saying that she's some sort of immortal witch?" Umi gasped in horror, referring to the green-haired girl.
"I guess you could say that," C.C smirked at Umi.
Upon hearing all this, Umi and Fuu were completely shocked at what C.C really is, despite being human. However, Lantis still stood between the two Knights, unfazed and emotionless from everything that C.C just said. Now that Lantis thought about it, she maybe just as strange as himself after taking a mortal blow by Nova before he got captured. The Magic Swordsman could not help but notice that, just like in Cephrio, there is a lot of strange things in Japan that are unknown to him and that C.C is no exception. He also sensed that even though C.C has no superpowers, she might have been able to speak to others that aren't really there.
"That is the strangest woman, I've ever seen in all my life," Lantis thought.
"Anyway, let's not waste anymore time! We have to find Hikaru before they turn her over to the Britannian authorities!" Zero said as he moved on.
After hearing what Hikaru just said during her interrogation, Shirley couldn't tell if the red-haired knight was being sinful or fighting for honor for both Cephiro and for Japan. Unable to hear anymore from Hikaru, Shirley stormed out of the dark room and went out the door, leaving Hikaru alone with Mao. When Hikaru took a few deep breaths after getting yelled at by Shirley due to her ranting and sobbing, she started hearing an ominous laughter coming from the shadows. In just a few seconds, Mao appeared before Hikaru while clapping his hands again.
"So Hikaru, you sure gave Shirley quite a scare after she found out who you really are back there, eh?!" Mao snickered with delight.
"Who are you?!" Hikaru asked sternly while still being tied to her chair.
"Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Mao!" The Chinese Man spoke amusingly. "It's hard to believe that someone in Japan would vanish to another world and come back as a different person, unlike seven years ago. You may have been trying to stay physically strong for your friends and been trying to maintain a strong, positive attitude with happiness, but deep down you've been emotionally traumatized by the sins that you have caused from the other world that you're in and by a horrible past that devastated your entire family before all of this. When you came back here, possessing supernatural powers that is not of this world, you think you can get revenge on the people that did your family in. Well, answer me this: Why do you fight for a country that isn't part of ours? Why did you continue to fight as a Magic Knight in another country? Is it for sins or for honor?! Which one is it?!"
Upon hearing those questions from Mao, Hikaru felt stunned for she was not able to come up with any answers at the moment. Every time Mao keeps saying things from his mouth about Hikaru, she started sweating while under stress and embarrassment.
"If you think you can save Japan from Britannia with this unbelievable taste of vengeance, you're likely going to commit more sins than ever before. It may be just like the time that you were forced to kill the very same person that brought you and your friends to Cephiro, leaving that world in disgrace. They called her the Pillar of Cephiro, a.k.a the Cephiro's Governess and Leader."
"Are you reading my mind, Mao?!" Hikaru blurted out angrily. "Whatever it is, I don't want to live in the past anymore. You better stop this or else, if I ever get out of this mess, I'll fry you and slice you up like a BBQ chicken!"
"Oh, so scary! It's also unbelievable that you were possessing overwhelming supernatural powers that'll make even an entire army crumble to their knees. Because of this, you were able to inherit that title, yet you abolished most of it's systems so that you can be happy with everyone that you care about. However, you'll eventually lose your happiness that you have fought very hard to achieve because the more you keep fighting against Britannia blindly with such force just to protect Cephiro and its inhabitants and your remaining family, the more sinful you'll become. There won't be any end to this violent cycle of sins, Hikaru!" Mao laughed. "If you think you can fight for honor for both Japan and Cephiro, you'll have to pay the price letting Zero take advantage of your heroism. Therefore, you won't really be any different from the Holy Britannian Empire!"
"Like I'm ever going to believe that!" Hikaru growled as she struggled with her seat in anger while feeling overwhelmed by what Mao is saying at her. "What makes you think Zero is just taking advantage of me anyway?!"
"Oh, you'll see, Hikaru!" Mao grinned in an evil tone. "That's right, you'll see."
Inside Shirley's room, she went up to her desk to write a note to herself about everything that happen on that night. After hearing what Hikaru said, about her story seven years ago, about how she became a Magic Knight in Cephiro, how she saved that world from destruction three years ago, and when Hikaru was on a warpath with Viceroy Cornelia, Shirley couldn't tell if Hikaru and her friends were being sinful or honorable to the Cephirian natives. Either way, Shirley started crying again and was unable to continue writing after a few words. Out of confusion and grief, Shirley attempted to crumple up her note until one of her roommates woke up and asked her about Lelouch.
Inside the Black Knight's hideout, Zazu, Lantis, Lafarga, and Ferio were all standing around in the warehouse nervously about what is happening to Hikaru out there. For Umi and Fuu, they went back to school after putting their weapons and their gloves away. As for Zero, he went inside his private quarters in their trailer before talking to Suzaku on his cellphone. While Zero was hanging out with C.C in the trailer, Suzaku picks up the phone while in the Student Council Office at Ashford Academy.
"Hello, Ashford Academy Student Council. How may I help you?!" Suzaku spoke through the phone.
"Hi, Suzaku. It's me, Lelouch," The former Britannian Prince said while on the phone.
"Hi Lelouch, what's up?" Suzaku smiled, realizing that he made contact with his childhood friend, despite being too absent at school.
"Suzaku, did anything unusual happened at school?!" Lelouch continued.
"Well, for one thing, you weren't showing up in school very often. You should take school more seriously," Suzaku scolded softly.
"Right, sorry about that!" Lelouch said in embarrassment.
"Other than that, Shirley hasn't been seen around the school for some reason," Suzaku added.
"Can you tell Nunnally that I'll be late tonight?!" Lelouch told the Honorary Student.
"If so, why insist on going to this school when not showing up?" Suzaku asked, concerning over Lelouch's absence.
Before Lelouch could answer Suzaku's question, he started hearing a cat screeching from the other side. It turns out in Suzaku's POV, that a cat named Arthur, who was found around the school as a stray but was adopted by Milly, was playing with the phone cord. In an instant, Suzaku started freaking out when Arthur tried to leap at him on his lap. After hearing Arthur screeching and Suzaku yelping, Lelouch ended the call and put his cellphone on the table and concluded that Suzaku doesn't known anything about Lelouch being Zero. As C.C reminded Lelouch about the evidence mentioned at the scene where Hikaru was last seen, he couldn't stop thinking about Shirley watching him from the shadows during his assault on Cornelia.
"I could've sworn I saw Shirley through the Burai's nightvision camera," Lelouch said to himself.
"You mean the girl who was crying on your shoulders and kissed you by accident?!" C.C smirked.
"Don't give me that, witch!" Lelouch grunted in embarrassment.
"Well, if she knows something about Hikaru and you, then we better find her as soon as possible!" C.C suggested to Lelouch.
Inside the throne room of the Britannian Government Bureau, Princess Euphy, Viceroy Cornelia, and Prince Clovis sat on their thrones while Guilford and Darlton presented themselves up front. Before any of the Britannian Royals could say anything, Darlton stepped forward to discuss the overall reports from the operations while dealing with the JLF.
"From our previous missions with obliterating the JLF and the resistance, I'm starting to suspect that someone is trying to target you directly during the Black Knights' assault."
"You mean, they're trying to eliminate the enemy leader in such astonishing tactics!" Cornelia rephrased.
"I can't help but feel traumatized after barely escaping from Cephiro after they wrecked my precious G-1 Mobile Fortress," Clovis said in fear, while holding both of his shoulders. "I'm just glad those Magic Knight Elevens didn't get anywhere close to me when their allies tried to attack me and my men back at Mt. Dakurd."
"Zero isn't just going after the Britannian Forces; he might be going after the Royal Family of Britannia instead," Darlton added in.
"Well, that Magic Knight Eleven was spouting something about remembering me seven years ago before she faced me in battle," Cornelia muttered as she held her chin with her right hand.
"I think it might have something to do with that little Eleven girl that you failed to bring in as your slave," Guilford assumed.
"Now that you mentioned it, Zero may have a deep hatred for the Imperial Royal Family and that Magic Knight inside that Rayearth Knightmare is trying to get revenge over Viceroy Cornelia for some unexplained reason!" Darlton summarized. "I also do believe that this Magic Knight is trying to get Cornelia's attention when siding with the Black Knights."
Now that Euphy thought about it, the young sub-viceroy is thinking that if she ever ran into to this Magic Knight inside that Rayearth Knightmare, she might need to find a way to talk this Eleven warrior out of resorting to violence for the sake of Cephiro and for Japan. She did remember that seven years ago, during the time when Cornelia ordered her guards to secure Hikaru's parents, Euphy was peeking out from one of glass windows from the G-1 base. Euphy saw a young Hikaru crying out to her parents, unknown to the young Eleven girl. As Euphy sees Hikaru's brothers comfort her, the young princess actually felt bad for Hikaru. But since Euphy is too young to do anything, she last saw Hikaru crying on the ground before feeling the floor around her shake. It proves to a point that the G-1 Base Euphy is in is starting to move away from the area where Cornelia confronting the Shidou Family took place in. After learning about how the Magic Knights rose up and protected Cephiro from Prince Clovis' men and how one of them went after Cornelia, Euphy is starting to wonder if Hikaru might be one of the Magic Knights pursuing Cornelia. If that's true, then Euphy might need to deal with Hikaru before the conflict between her and her elder sister gets worse. But before Euphy could think about her past with Hikaru any more, Euphy also couldn't stop thinking about from what Zero said before she was rescued by Suzaku during the Hotel Jacking; saying that Euphy would risk her life for the sake of the commoners. As Cornelia approached Euphy, making her snap out of her younger sister's thoughts, Guilford suggested Euphy to offer some protection from Zero and the Magic Knights.
"Why not assign a knight to Princess Euphemia?"
"A knight, really?!" Euphy asked as her eyes widened out of curiosity.
"If we were to assign a permanent Knight for Euphy, we might be able to build a Royal Guard unit around that Sentinel!" Guilford added in. "Now that Princess Euphemia is Sub-Viceroy of Area 11, she has been given the right to assign a soldier from the Britannian Army to be promoted as her personal champion!"
While Lelouch and C.C were investigating on what is Shirley up to, they were searching all over her room for evidence revolving around last night but not before Lelouch used his Geass to make Shirley's roommate wait outside, lying to her that they're conducting a disinfecting sweep in her room. During the search in Shirley's room, Lelouch discovers a Line Timetable log book from within the pile of notebooks in her desk. As Lelouch picked up the Time Table, he discovers that the Narita time log was marked with a faint-red rectangular marker. Upon seeing this, Lelouch may have a clue that will lead to Shirley's current whereabouts, along with a missing Hikaru.
For Lantis, he couldn't help but feel worried for Hikaru's safety too, along with her friends Umi and Fuu. Apart from her fellow Magic Knights, he knew Hikaru more better than either of them, despite the sins that she caused three years ago. In any other case, Hikaru was falling in love with the Magic Swordsman because it was what her heart was telling her deep down from the very beginning were they both first met. Not wanting to stand around any further for any miracle, Lantis stashed his combat armor and gear inside his customized Sutherland and embarked on another perilous journey to find and rescue Hikaru from whatever abducted her on the battlefield last night. As he is now wearing black and grey civilian clothes, Lantis is seen in a grey sweater, a black long sleeve shirt, a dark-green cap, dark-blue pants, and sunglasses before leaving the Black Knights' hideout and heading into Area 11.
When Lantis went to Narita, the place where his first battle in Japan took part in, he stumbled into a memorial area. Before he could press forward, Lantis hid behind some trees and bushes. As Lantis checked his surroundings from his hiding place, he spotted an young orange-haired woman walking up to the memorial site, with a young man in silver hair approach her from behind. Before Lantis could see where was this scene heading at, he started hearing the young man speak first towards the orange-haired woman. Unknown to Lantis, the man making his conversation is none other than Mao, the very same guy that almost got on Hikaru's nerves while in captivity.
If Lantis remembers correctly from what he learned after eavesdropping from Lelouch before leaving the Black Knights' hideout first, the young Britannian did mention that a girl named Shirley was spotted through Zero's Burai's nightvision cameras while hiding in the darkness last night. So that means that the girl standing out in the open is none other than Shirley Fennette the 17-year female Britannian Student from the Ashford Academy. Before Lantis knew what was going on, Shirley started sobbing as she kneeled in front of the young man while smirking underneath his teeth.
"So Shirley, are you playing the tragic heroine again, even though you kidnapped one of the Magic Knights after shooting down the second witness last night?!" Mao grinned in amusement. "A girl that kills, kidnaps, and goes fishing for attention?! Only evil witches do that!"
"NO I'M NOT DOING THAT!" Shirley shouted as she covered her ears in fear and deceit.
"Well, do you think capturing Hikaru personally is even worth it?! If it is, why did you not turn her over to the Britannians when you had the chance?!" Mao continued as he keeps putting the young woman under more pressure. "With such a hesitant behavior, you will have to pay the price for your actions, Shirley! Do you really want to burden yourself with these sins for the rest of your life? Because when Hikaru and her friends did in Cephiro's late leader and burdened themselves with their sins in sorrow, they were able to atone for them by doing the right thing for Cephiro's natives. Therefore, Hikaru was able to avoid paying the toll for her sins when they were able to save Cephiro from destruction. So if you weren't able to atone and free your heart like she did, then you and Lelouch will be consumed by your sins evermore!"
Unable to take it anymore with Mao's conversation with her, Shirley turned around and ran off while still sobbing as she covered her face with her hands and letting tears fall out of her sad eyes. After seeing Shirley disappear from the Memorials, Mao notices that her cellphone fell out of her pocket unnoticed. Without further a due, Mao picked up Shirley's phone, put it in his pocket, and let out an sinister laugh before turning his attention towards the bushes that Lantis is hiding.
"So Cephirian native, what do you think you're going to get after helping Lady Hikaru save her land from destruction, mmmm?!" Mao smirked.
As Lantis heard Mao's question, he reluctantly came out of the bushes and stepped forward a couple of feet away from the man speaking to him.
"I've been around Lady Hikaru for a long time in Cephiro. Since she has displayed her beliefs out on the battlefield to save me and my people, I was never ashamed at all!" Lantis spoke in a calm voice.
"Oh really?! Even after she killed your brother?!" Mao grinned while clapping his hands again. "Why did you let her get away with it? Is it because you couldn't risk sin?!"
"Zagato already made his choice even before he passed away!" Lantis grunted, feeling a little queasy from what Mao said. "We usually fight against our sins to live another day but since my brother didn't, I can't change him anymore when he fell in love. So, I let it all go! Therefore, I can't blame Hikaru for what she did because Zagato already done all of this on himself way before he faced her in battle."
"So, you insist on saving Hikaru from Shirley aren't you?!" Mao guessed, making Lantis sweat underneath his breath.
"I'll do anything to make Hikaru happy, besides we actually protect the people we love in order to preserve our honor, not aggravate our sins further!" Lantis continued, feeling anxious from what Mao is getting at.
"If that's true, what are you going to do when facing Shirley without your powers and your gear? Since you're not in your homeland anymore, you'll have to face different rules in Area 11, especially when facing Hikaru's enemies from the Britannian Empire because you don't have any power in this world!" Mao explained truthfully, while grinning at the Magic Swordsman.
"DOES IT EVEN MATTER?!" Lantis snapped at the Chinese Man with a loud, thunderous voice. "I'm still a warrior from Cephiro. So once a warrior will always be a warrior. You have no right to enter people's minds and use it against them. If you did something to Hikaru, I'll..."
"What? Are you going to take your rage out on me when you didn't after she killed your brother?!" Mao smirked. "Well, you won't escape your sins if you let your rage over your loved one get the best out of you. If you want to see Hikaru again, you better not lose sight of Shirley because she'll be facing Lelouch at sunset. See you then!"
Unable to come up with anymore words due to his stressful anger, Lantis clenched his fists while seeing Mao walk away from the Memorial. After Mao disappeared, Lantis turned around to face the statue at the Narita Memorial and ran back into the bushes to pinpoint Shirley's presence elsewhere.
"How could that man even know about my past?" Lantis muttered, fearing that someone else will get a wind of his story. "I must find Hikaru before its too late!"
Back inside the dark room where Hikaru was held, she was trying to find a way to break free from her confinement. While trying to discover a way to escape, Hikaru was thinking that if her friends or Zero are not going to be coming for her, she may need a backup plan to get out before her situation gets worse. Eventually, Hikaru spotted her magic glove on the floor a few inches from where she is tied up at. In Hikaru's thoughts, her glove must've came out of Shirley's pocket when she left the room in tears. Feeling confident in her opportunity to escape, Hikaru struggled as she jerked her chair forward and reached out her right foot to grab her glove. As soon as Hikaru's foot touched it, she dragged her glove towards her and lifted it up with both of her legs. In an instant, Hikaru's glove teleported itself back onto her right hand.
However, before Hikaru was able to do use her powers to escape, the doors opened again. This time, Shirley appeared before her with a gun drawn from underneath her school uniform. As she pointed the gun at Hikaru, Shirley stepped forward, not knowing that Hikaru finally got her powers back. In Hikaru's mind, she doesn't want to react yet; she and Shirley run into Zero or her friends yet. So, Hikaru did her best not to let Shirley get suspicious of her actions until the last possible moment.
"Hikaru, you are coming with me to meet up with Lelouch!" Shirley said grimly as she untied and held the Fire Knight in a headlock before heading out the door.
Meanwhile at the ruins of Narita, Lelouch was wandering aimlessly after starting with the Memorial not knowing where Shirley is. Just when his efforts are becoming more grim and useless, Lelouch's phone started beeping loudly from inside his pocket. As he held the phone in his right hand, Lelouch notices that he is receiving a call from Shirley. Just when he was about to respond, Lelouch hears something that is not coming from Shirley at all.
"Shirley, I'm here. Where are you calling from?!" Lelouch asked, only to hear a sinister laugh coming from behind.
"Where, indeed?!" Mao chuckled as he appeared behind Lelouch.
As Lelouch turned around, he sees Mao tossing Shirley's phone towards him on the ground.
"WHO ARE YOU?! What have you done to Shirley and Hikaru?!" Lelouch growled in anger.
"So scary, just like the face of the man for whom is woman is stolen away!" Mao smirked as he clapped his hands to his right.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO THEM?!" Lelouch roared in fury.
"If you want to know, then you'll have to go through a challenge with me first," Mao suggested as he took out a Knight Chess Piece from his pocket. "You do know what this thing is for, right?!"
Realizing that Mao is offering a challenge with Lelouch over Chess, he felt like he doesn't have any other choice but to go through what the Chinese man is saying.
Meanwhile at sunset, Lantis was silently pursuing Shirley from the shadows inside one of the abandoned buildings when all of a sudden, he sees Shirley holding Hikaru at gunpoint to the head at the railcar station with his binoculars. Upon seeing this, Lantis feared that if he makes one false move it will be the end for the Magic Knight of Fire. Now that Lantis doesn't have his powers or his sword with him, it's going to make things harder for him to deal with a hostage situation from afar. The only thing Lantis could do right now, is to sneak around unnoticed by Shirley while trying to get closer to her without getting caught. After he put his binoculars away, Lantis left the abandoned building and made his way up the stairs leading to the rail station above him before finding a hiding place right behind Shirley.
From another part of town, C.C was talking to a man on top of his motorcycle when all of a sudden, she spots Mao walking inside the railcar, in front of Lelouch. After taking a good look at the two, C.C's eyes widened as she realized that Mao cannot be beaten because unbeknownst to Lelouch, Mao has a Geass that allows him to read people's minds 500 meters apart from where he was standing. Not wanting to stand around letting Mao take advantage of Lelouch, C.C immediately grabbed the motorcycle and drove up the hill adjacent to where the railcar is heading, despite the complaints coming from the rider down below her. As C.C drove uphill, she makes her move in trying to keep Mao away from Lelouch by any means necessary.
As the two men are challenging each other on Chess, Lelouch started grunting and sweating that Mao is gaining the upper hand on the board game, despite the young Britannian's excellent board game skills. Before he even knew it, Lelouch realized that Mao got him trapped over his King getting confronted by Mao's Queen, much to Mao's chuckling. When the rail car stopped abruptly, it shook the chessboard, making all of its pieces fall off, with a few landing on the slanted floor between Lelouch and Mao.
"So, can we call this my game?" Mao asked, while smirking at Lelouch.
As Lelouch begins questioning himself over what is Mao's overall background really is, Mao immediately started answering Lelouch's questions from his head.
"Didn't C.C tell you anything about me?!" Mao said coldly as he lifted his visor below his eyes. "Of all 14 identities you were guessing from me, only one of them is totally correct."
When Lelouch looked up straight into Mao's eyes, he is shocked to realize that Mao has Geass too. Before Lelouch could say anymore, Mao started continuing his speech first about the Britannian's Geass.
"I see that your Geass is used to control people's minds once after making direct eye contact with them!"
"And your Geass can actually read people's minds?!" Lelouch snapped in a truthful manner.
"I call it Mind Reading!" Mao concluded.
"Tell me you didn't kill Shirley and Hikaru!" Lelouch shouted, feeling confused at his situation he's in.
"Of course, I didn't!" Mao smiled. "However, if you don't find a way to make it up to either of them, then you'll likely be killing those two women all at once. Even Hikaru's favorite warrior will not be able to stop this from happening."
Before Lelouch could ask anymore, he spots Shirley appear outside of the railcar, holding Hikaru with a headlock while putting the handgun at the side of her head.
"Shirley! Hikaru!" Lelouch gasped in horror.
"And now, let the punishment games begin!" Mao announced as he clapped his hands with delight.
Somewhere a few meters away behind Shirley at the top of the stairs, unknown to her, Lantis turns his head around the corner that he is hiding from only to see Lelouch get off the railcar but not before Mao comes up from behind and draws his gun at the young Britannian Prince. Up closer, he sees Shirley pointing the gun at Lelouch as well while still holding Hikaru in a headlock. Lantis maybe a Magic Swordsman from Cephiro, but now that he's dealing with a hostage situation, unlike last time when he attempted to rescue Hikaru from Eagle during Autozam's Invasion, the least he can do right now is wait until Shirley lets her guard down before he can move in and pin her to the ground. Before he can plan out any moves, Lantis hears Lelouch exclaiming to himself about what Shirley is doing right now.
"Shirley, that gun is..."
"Yes, it belonged to Zero; yours!" Shirley answered grimly, while keeping her grip on Hikaru.
"Why not use your Geass on her or Hikaru?!" Mao asked, making Lelouch's situation more dire. "You haven't used it on either of them!"
"Lelouch, what is he talking about?" Hikaru asked before Shirley shoved the gun up to her skull again, making her start sweating underneath her breath.
"Oh that's right, you were so confident in yielding to his allegiance earlier that you have not yet realize the risks of his supernatural powers, haven't you?!" Mao told Hikaru. "Because of your stubborn, reckless devoted behavior on the battlefield, you don't really see how mistrustful people can be until it is too late."
"I'm sorry I have to do this Hikaru, but you both need to pay for your sins against my father!" Shirley muttered ominously as she aimed the gun at Lelouch again.
"Even if you did use your Geass, I'll shoot you and that Magic Knight down myself!" Mao smirked as he drew out his handgun from underneath his light-blue jacket.
Realizing that he is cornered from both front and back, Lelouch started questioning to himself about what will become of the Black Knights now after this strategy game of cat and mouse. It's as if Lelouch's head was spinning round and round not being able to find a way to resolve this without getting him or Hikaru shot at.
"For a thief like you, this will be consider a more fitting death for you and Hikaru!" Mao grinned.
"Hikaru, Lelouch! Why won't you both die after you atone for your crimes in the past?" Shirley asked, not realizing that she's just being manipulated. "If you do that, I'll die along with you!"
"Wait, you don't mean...?!" Hikaru gasped, remembering about her last confrontation with Viletta Nu. "You actually shot Viletta last night, didn't you?!"
Lelouch was totally shocked, realizing that the blood from last night belonged to the 3rd witness, much to Mao's claim over Shirley's situation. While noticing that Shirley was being distracted by Lelouch, Hikaru emitted a little flame coming out from her magic glove and latched onto the ropes tied in the back of her hands.
"Yeah that's right! After Hikaru was knocked out cold, Shirley shot the 3rd witness in order to protect you and that Magic Knight, only to kidnap Hikaru without thinking properly!" Mao said, summarizing what the Britannian woman went through. "She did all of that just to protect both of your secrets from Britannia!"
"Let's end this!" Shirley muttered as she is about to pull the trigger from the handgun at Lelouch's face.
"Shirley, don't let this mad man fool you! He's just trying to..." Lelouch ordered before he was shouted back by Shirley Fennette.
"Seriously, Lelouch?! Let's face it, you're the one who's trying to trick her!" Mao presumed.
"STOP IT!" Shirley shrieked as she started shaking her gun arm.
"Shirley, I understand that we Magic Knights have to live with those crimes for the rest of our lives, but since they didn't blame us for what we did to Princess Emeraude and Zagato, we all have to move on, without filling our hearts with regret!" Hikaru shouted at the orange-haired girl. "But here, this is different! Murdering people here isn't going to solve anything at all, it's just going to make you even more regrettable than ever before!"
"Such admirable rhethoric!" Mao smirked.
"Did you really kill anyone last night?!" Lelouch asked Shirley while pointing at Mao. "He didn't just make you think you did, right?!"
"You can't change the truth, Lelouch. Because she has already realized the sins that she just caused before taking Hikaru into her custody!" Mao concluded as he stepped aside from Shirley's line of fire.
"Shirley, please!" Lelouch shouted.
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?!" Shirley shouted as she threw Hikaru to the ground and fired the gun, missing Lelouch by a few inches from his face and above his shoulder.
As Lelouch fell backwards down the stairs, several pictures of him and Shirley came out of his sweater, with him landing on the stairs a few feet down from where he was standing. Upon seeing all the pictures she took with Lelouch, Shirley was paralyzed in shock as she let her guard down for a few seconds.
Before Hikaru fell on her stomach, she finally broke free from her restraints with her Fire magic and landed on both of her hands on the stairs instead, with her left one close to her face and her right one on a stair below her stomach. Simultaneously, Lantis came out of his hiding spot from around the corner and pinned Shirley down to her right. In an instant, Shirley started struggling with Lantis.
"LET ME GO!" Shirley screamed as she kicked wildly while being held by both of her wrists by Lantis himself.
As Lantis lifted her up off the ground while pulling her wrists up, Hikaru gets back up and walks up to Shirley while being restrained against her own will. The moment Shirley sees Hikaru in her sights, she felt a loud "Smack" across her left cheek. It gave Shirley a light-red bruise on her face before turning around to face Hikaru again. In short, Hikaru slapped Shirley in order to make her stop struggling with Lantis.
"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!" Hikaru ordered at the top of her lungs.
"H-Hikaru?" Shirley gasped as she felt a bit of pain coming from her lips.
"Shirley, I can't blame you for your behavior earlier and when you captured me after being found out by the Baroness of Britannia. However, even though your father was accidentally killed because of us, you still don't have any excuse in trying to get revenge out on me and Lelouch." Hikaru glared at Shirley with a stern look. "You're not the only one who had to face something as dire as this! I was made a similar example of, just like Lelouch. You see, I was afraid of Lantis after killing his brother because I thought he won't love me back. But I fell in love with him because it was our will and our fate that brought us together. He let it all go because in my point of view, it all started off with a tragic misunderstanding. It's just like what Lantis said to me back there: I really shouldn't blame myself after what happened three years ago in the other world. He already saw right through me from the start. From what Lelouch has been through, you can't really get revenge on him because even he didn't realize the tragic misunderstandings that occurred back at Narita. You have to move on, Shirley! Everyone does! Even I have to move on. If you don't, your sins will become more worse and your honor will diminish! Do you understand me?! "
After hearing every word Hikaru just said to her, Shirley felt even more helpless in not being able to do anything other than let her grief and her rage get the best out of her. Even as a Britannian, Shirley started cowering before the stern Magic Knight while Hikaru kept staring at her in disappointment and foolishness.
"What Hikaru is trying to say is, getting revenge over the loss over your family isn't always the best answer. I knew that one day Zagato's love over Emeraude will be what will drive both of them into the brink of madness and mayhem," Lantis said, trying to summarize up what the Knight of Fire is elaborating. "I'm nothing like my brother Zagato and Hikaru is nothing like Princess Emeraude. The least you can do is make up for your losses by starting all over again."
"You really think you two can get through Shirley's head like that?!" Mao asked as he taunted both Hikaru and Lantis. "Let's face it, Lelouch is a murderer and must be punished. Period! End of story!"
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS, MAO!" Hikaru angrily snapped as she face Mao and drew out her broadsword but not before Lantis put his hand on her right shoulder, telling her to stand down. "You no longer have any business here. NOW BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT!"
"Alright fine, you win!" Mao grunted, feeling a bit defeated as he went back onto the rail car.
"Ugh!" Lelouch grunted as he slowly got up while holding his right arm.
"Lelouch, are you okay?!" Hikaru asked out of worry.
"I'm fine, my shoulder was just grazed," Lelouch said while walking up the stairs to where Hikaru, Shirley, and Lantis are at.
The moment Lantis lets go of Shirley, she fainted out of fright and collapsed into Lelouch's arms. Meanwhile back in the rail car, Mao refuses to give up on the situation that Shirley and Lelouch are in. So, he took out a rifle to finish both Lelouch and Shirley off. However, before he could get out of the rail car, Mao felt the ground below shook as the doors around the car closed on him. As Mao realized that he is head downwards inside the rail car he peeked out the window to look at what's going on around him. Before he knew it, Mao saw someone else that he didn't think he'll see again from the past. It was C.C. C.C was seen on the other side of the rail car as she activated the rail car controls inside the control booth while aiming her gun at Mao from outside of his window.
"C.C! It's you, isn't it?! It's really you! We finally meet again!" Mao cheered as he took off his glasses and his headphones.
As the headphone fell on one of the seats, it started blaring out C.C's recording voices.
"Mao? Are you awake Mao?"
"It's alright Mao!"
"See Mao, I knew you could do it!"
"Thank you, Mao!"
"Oh C.C, you look lovely as always!" Mao smiled as he stared at the green-haired girl from the rail car window. "Don't worry C.C, I'll come back for you. I promise!"
As the rail car disappears from plain view, C.C couldn't help but notice that Mao would appear among random people at a time like this. For Lelouch, Shirley, Hikaru, and Lantis, the Magic Knight and Swordsman stood several steps above from where the two Britannian Students are in silence. Before Hikaru could come up to either of them, Lantis held her by the shoulder and shook his head. It confirms that this is between Lelouch and Shirley from here on out.
"Shirley, are you okay?!" Lelouch said out of concern.
"Lelouch, I-I shot someone..." Shirley sobbed as she stared at Lelouch helplessly. "I even tried to kidnap..."
"I'm sorry, Shirley. This is my fault that all this had to happen!" Lelouch confessed as he embraced Shirley in his arms.
"I-I shot you and almost shot Hikaru!" Shirley told Lelouch as she whimpered while hugging him back.
"Please forgive me, Shirley!" Lelouch suggested. "Your sins are mine to bear, along with the rest of everyone else."
"M-My father is dead!" Shirley wailed.
"It's alright, Shirley. It's just like what Hikaru said: You have to move on and forget about everything bad that happened!" Lelouch told his girlfriend as he activated his Geass. "I'm sorry about what happened to your father. If only I could be reborn into something more better..."
"LELOUCH, PLEASE NO!" Shirley screamed before her mind went totally blank.
Before Shirley even knew it, Lelouch took her memories away from her, starting from what happened at Narita.
At nightfall, Lantis was able to safely bring Hikaru back to Umi and Fuu at their favorite bakery. Upon seeing Hikaru appear before them all in one piece, both Knights of Wind and Water ran up to her and hugged Hikaru in their arms while crying in tears of happiness. Feeling guilty for getting captured, Hikaru hugged them back while letting tears come out of her eyes in silent. For Lantis, he stood there with a small smile on his face, feeling relieved that Hikaru was able to make it through the day, despite being held hostage by Shirley and Mao.
As for Lelouch, he took Shirley to the Memorial Grave back at Narita where he'll allow Shirley to start all over again. This time, Shirley spoke like she doesn't remember anything at all and changed her story by asking Lelouch other questions unrelated to her family.
"So Lelouch, did you lose your family?"
"No, I only lost an important friend," Lelouch replied, feeling guilty for erasing Shirley's memories. "It is just how I was saved by her smile. As of now, I'll never be able to argue or laugh with her again."
"I see," Shirley said, nonchalantly. "Did you love her?"
"I don't know anymore," Lelouch replied as he looked down toward his feet.
"I don't remember why I bother coming to this place, anyway," Shirley spoke calmly. "Maybe it's because I'm expected to leave my past behind. Well, there's still things that can't be forgotten, as well as sad things too. Though, the morning will still come and you shouldn't try to hold your thoughts back anymore."
"I guess you're right," Lelouch smiled weakly. "Thank you for everything!"
As Lelouch turned away from Shirley, he disappeared back into the darkness, leaving Shirley questioning to herself on where Lelouch is getting at.
While Hikaru went back to her dorm at Ashford Academy, she is still wondering on what happened to Viletta Nu, the baroness that she fought earlier. From what she learned from Shirley before losing her memories, Hikaru is suspecting that Viletta might be the 3rd witness that saw through her while inside her Rune God before getting shot at by Shirley. As Hikaru put her clothes away and put on her sleeveless nightgown, she fell on the top of her bed, collapsed after her one day of life and death. After pulling her blanket up to her chin, Hikaru stared at the ceiling while giving into her thoughts from what Mao told her.
Flashback:
"Why did you continue to fight as a Magic Knight in another country? Is it for sins or for honor?!"
"I understand what I did was sinful but it's still never too late to do the right thing for Cephiro. Besides, even Umi and Fuu realized this too. So, we came back to discover who are we really fighting for!" Hikaru responded with self-determination. "When we finally did the right thing for the people we love, we Magic Knights finally fought for the honor that we all deserve!"
"Then I guess, you all were fighting in another country for honor, eh?!" Mao sneered. "But what about your honor in your own homeland?! Are you still going to display that same belief when fighting to save your family and all of Japan from certain death or are you going to cause more sins here that'll put you down on the wrong path forever?!"
"Only time will tell, Mao!" Hikaru glared at him.
End of Flashback.
"I hope I can display my honor to both Cephiro and Japan when protecting them from Britannia," Hikaru muttered to herself.
As Hikaru changed the subject, she is starting to sense that Viletta is out there, despite what may have happened between the baroness and Shirley.
"I hope I can find Viletta Nu out there," Hikaru thought as she slowly close her eyes before falling asleep. "Something is telling me that Viletta hasn't told anyone about me yet."
