Our journey into mediocrity continues.

Sorry for how long this took. Granted, comparatively speaking, this is actually pretty fast. I made a massive geographical mistake in the writing of this, and once I realized it, it was too late; thirty pages had already been written. So I had to completely overhaul this chapter. At the same time, I got really busy for a month and a half, leaving me without any energy to write. Fortunately, I am now back, and this chapter just flowed. As always, point out any mistakes I may have made, because I'm sure I have.

Hope you enjoy.

I do not own Code Geass.

…..

Tokyo, Japan, December 10, 2022

Nature abhors a vacuum. If a lion pride were to die out in the wild, a coalition of cheetahs would replace it. If a hole were put in a ship, water would rush to fill it. Even the dark expanse of space is filled with stars and planets.

Empress Nunnally vi Britannia stared out of the view port at the dome of F.L.E.I.J.A. that had begun to fade away. Her heart constricted painfully. Please, no.

"I have just received confirmation. The Guren Seiten and Ikaruga have both been destroyed! We've won!"

The bridge of the Avalon erupted into cheers, as the staff officers shook each other's hands and embraced. After more than a year at war, it was finally accomplished. The Holy Britannian Empire once more ruled the earth.

Silent tears fell down Nunnally's cheeks. Kallen, I'm so sorry. She closed her eyes to the scene of revelry. Would that she could close her ears as well. Oh, Big Brother, forgive me. I failed you.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, please," Schneizel said, raising his hands. "While I, too, am happy that peace has been restored to our war torn world, please be mindful of whom you are in the presence of." He turned to Nunnally, bowing. "Congratulations on your victory, Your Majesty," he said. "However, please allow me to express my deepest condolences. I know that you and Lady Kozuki were close friends."

Nunnally stared at him balefully. "Indeed, Brother Schneizel," she agreed. "In a better world, she would have been my sister. She loved my Big Brother dearly, and he loved her."

She remembered how Kallen had stood before her, in the days after the Requiem. "I wish he had told me," Kallen had said, tears in her eyes. "I would have followed him to Hell itself." She rubbed her cheeks. "That's probably why he didn't. That bastard." She had broken down into sobs.

Schneizel smiled. "Then we can at least be glad they are reunited," he said. "I'm certain Lelouch found redemption, at the end." He raised his hand to her entreatingly. "Now we must focus on the future of our world."

A new Damocles was being constructed, where Nunnally didn't know, but she suspected it was nearing completion. The Empire's tyranny would be absolute.

"May I ask you a question, Brother Schneizel?" Nunnally requested.

Schneizel lowered his hand, raising a curious eyebrow. "Of course, Your Majesty," he allowed. "I live only to serve."

"How did you break my Big Brother's geass?"

Schneizel's eyes widened in surprise. The whole of the bridge had gone silent at their exchange. Kanon Maldini glared at her.

A silky smile spread across Schneizel's face. "Before I answer, may I ask how you knew?"

"It took a while," she admitted, "but eventually, I noticed that you had red rings around your eyes. It was the telltale sign of my Big Brother's geass."

Schneizel bowed his head. "You are an astute observer, Your Majesty," he complimented. "The geass command that Lelouch placed on me compelled me to follow Zero. Once Suzaku was killed and unmasked, I was freed from its control."

Damn you, Zilkhstan.

Nunnally shook her head in disgust. "So all we had to do was put a stupid mask on someone's face, and you'd have been brought back under control?" she asked.

"I'm afraid it's not quite that simple," Schneizel admitted. "When I regained the full use of my faculties, I began hunting down anyone who might have had a hand in my downfall. Among that number was Jeremiah Gottwald." He clasped his hands behind his back. "It took quite a few men, but in the end I had his body brought before me, intent on showing it to the entire world. By chance, a device that was attached to him activated, and freed me from Lelouch's geass command." He smiled. "At that point, there wasn't a force on earth that could have stopped me."

Nunnally closed her eyes painfully. "Forgive me, Big Brother," she whispered. "Forgive me."

Schneizel blinked. "Of course I forgive you, Nunnally," he said. To Nunnally's disgust, he sounded genuine. "There was no way you could have known."

Nunnally's shoulders shook with repressed sobs. I'm so stupid, she thought. How could I not have seen through your mask, Big Brother? I was never meant for this. I'm just a stupid girl who got her Big Brother killed.

Schneizel reached for her, wiping her tears from her eyes. "Now, now, there's no need to cry, Nunnally," he told her soothingly, smiling warmly. "It's all over. The era of war is finished. A new Requiem can begin."

Nunnally smacked his hand away. "I hate you!" she screamed. "You're despicable! A monster!"

Schneizel flinched as if struck. His face closed, turning into a blank wall. "I am what the world has needed to me to be," he said. He turned his back to her. "Now, I shall be an angel of justice. The New World Order awaits."

"Your world is at an end, Brother Schneizel," Nunnally retorted. She placed her hand over the steel arm of her throne. "I, Nunnally vi Britannia, judge you to be guilty of High Treason and Crimes Against Humanity. The sentence is death."

The bridge was deathly silent. The officers looked back and forth between the two Royals.

Kanon Maldini broke the silence. "You dare!" He made to move towards her, but Schneizel stopped him.

"Her Majesty is grief-stricken and clearly exhausted," the Prime Minister said. He turned back to her. "The guards will show her back to-"

A sound of thunder roared in the room. Schneizel was hurled backward, rolling twice across the deck. He sat up, staring down in disbelief at the red flower blossoming on his chest. He looked back up.

Nunnally was holding a smoking revolver. The weapon had been concealed inside the throne's arm, covered by a security slate and number pad secretly installed by one of her Loyalists. Nunnally had been trying for the entire battle to free the gun from its lock, but the guards on either side of her throne were suspicious of any sudden movements. Unable to look down, Nunnally had been forced to carefully key in each number slowly, taking advantage of brief lapses in attention each time the ship rocked from artillery. Twice she had keyed in the wrong password, thanking God for the alarm klaxons every time she messed up. The third time had been the charm, but it was too late for Kallen and the Ikaruga.

Nunnally wept. "Damn you for making me do this, Brother Schneizel," she whispered. "Damn you for making me stand against another brother."

Schneizel said nothing. After a moment, the light faded from his eyes. He crumpled backward onto the deck. He did not get up again.

Nunnally closed her eyes, lowering the revolver. "Open a line of communication with whomever is left in command of the Black Knights," she ordered. "Inform them that Nunnally vi Britannia is once again in control. We are prepared to-"

Nunnally was thrown back as the explosion of a handgun ripped through the air. She was struck in the chest, stomach, and arm, her frail body shattering from every impact. When the gunfire ceased, she opened her eyes weakly to see a weeping Kanon Maldini holding a smoking gun. He was screaming something at her, but Nunnally couldn't hear him.

She slid slowly from throne to floor, her body weak, unresponsive. She felt indescribably cold.

Big Brother. Her eyes turned glassy. Darkness crowded in on her vision. Before she sank into oblivion, she thought she heard her Big Brother scream.

…

Tokyo General Hospital, Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven, 2017

The silence of the hospital room was broken only by the beeping of the heartbeat monitor. Rain pattered against the window. It was chaos in the rest of the hospital, but he'd succeeded in getting his friends their own rooms. It was the least he could do.

Her body was broken. Her ribs, her arms, her legs. Her skull had been fractured. There had been internal bleeding, bruised kidneys, a punctured lung. She had barely held on to life. It could have been so much worse.

He held the cast of her broken hand. His face was dry; he had no tears left.

"I should never have come back," Lelouch whispered. "I should have just stayed dead."

…

General Staff Office, Yamagata, Area Eleven

It had been three days since the Ashford Bombing. Three hundred and twenty-five people had so far been confirmed killed. There were more than six hundred injured, ranging from the superficial to the critical. The number of confirmed dead was certain to increase.

"That murdering bastard," Katase whispered. "I knew him to be a madman, but..." He buried his face in his hands. "How could I have expected this?"

"Have we heard anything from Zero?" Tohdoh asked. He and the Four Holy Swords stood in Katase's office, their expressions varying between disgust and horror. "We don't know for certain that he was behind this."

"Who else could it have been, Colonel?" Nagisa Chiba asked him. "If the reports we're receiving are true, the Sub-Viceroy was attending the Festival. There's no way he couldn't have known."

"And who else could have done it?" Shogo Asahina asked. He adjusted his glasses. "No one else has claimed responsibility. No one else has the reach Zero has in the Settlement."

"And we still haven't heard anything from him," Kotetsu Urabe pointed out. "It's been three days, and he hasn't said a thing. I'm not saying he did it, but it's highly suspsect."

Katase raised his head. "What do you think, Senba?" he asked.

The oldest of the Swords stood off to the side, his arms crossed and eyes closed. He opened them to address Katase. "I believe Zero is an honor-less dog that we should never have lay with. We should have left a long time ago." He stood up straight. "He is unfit to be a commander of men. I will never serve him again."

Asahina stepped forward, his fist clenched over his heart. "Senba is right! Zero isn't worthy of our service!"

"Maybe once we needed him," Chiba added, "but that is no longer the case. There is no need to stain our honor any further!"

Katase looked to Urabe, who, after a moment's hesitation, nodded. He turned back to Tohdoh. "Kyoshiro?"

The young man closed his eyes. The whole of the room was silent. Finally, he said, "I'll accept whatever decision you make."

Katase meshed his hands together. The plans that he, Kirihara, and Sawisaki had made needed more time to percolate; time they no longer had. The Settlement was in chaos, but that wouldn't last forever; and when it came to an end, the whole Area would burn under the Witch's fury.

Katase swallowed. It's happening too soon, he thought, but we don't have a choice.

"It's treason, then," he murmured. He raised his head. "Asahina, get on the line to Prime Minister Sawisaki. Inform him that we're accelerating the time table." Asahina nodded. "Tohdoh, mobilize our forces. We're making our move with or without the Chinese." He smiled ruefully. "We're jumping the gun a bit, but we're out of options."

"I understand," Tohdoh told him.

"Thank you." He looked around at all of them. There was a nervous energy in the air. It was one thing to scheme Zero's downfall, but quite another to enact it. "No matter what happens tonight, it has been an honor and a privilege to fight alongside you." He smiled bravely.

"Now let's go take our country back."

…

The Palace of Heavenly Purity, The Forbidden City, Beijing, Chinese Federation

"General Katase's forces have rebelled in Yamagata," Cheng Zhong said before the Court. "It is evident that this is a coordinated attack on Zero's part. I recommend that we support the advance."

The Empress shook her head. "We would speak with Lady Sumeragi first," she announced. "This is an alarming chain of events. We must not rush into this."

High Eunuch Xia Wang, a tall man with tanned skin, adjusted his glasses. "There is no time for debate, Your Majesty," he retorted. "The Black Knights are already on the move. If we dither, the Black Knights will very likely be destroyed. They cannot hope to stand on their own."

The Tianzi bit her lip. She turned to Xingke. "What do you think, General?" she asked him.

Why do you ask me that, Your Majesty? he despaired. He knew what this moment was; knew why the Eunuchs were pressing for war. This is the public break. It's the perfect opportunity. The Eunuchs would not only destroy the Empress' power, they would gain a colony in Japan as well.

There is still a chance, he realized. A chance to salvage this. "Your Majesty," Xingke said, "I believe the High Eunuchs are correct: now is the perfect opportunity to strike."

There were murmurs in the Court.

Agree with me, Your Majesty, Xingke silently begged. We can take ownership of this, make it our own. She could order Xianglin to take command, while he would stay behind as her protector. Do this, and you are a monarch that can listen to reason, regardless of whom advises you. This can only make you look better. Please!

The Empress' eyes were wide with surprise. To Xingke's silent horror, she shook her head. "This isn't right," she said. "This isn't what we planned. We must speak with Lady Sumeragi. Where is she?"

Anger rushed through Xingke. That Eleven whore is responsible for all of this! "My Empress," Xingke said, "at what point did the Lady Sumeragi take your place?"

There were gasps throughout the Court. The Tianzi looked stricken.

"Xingke?" she asked, her red eyes wide. Her lip trembled. "What are you doing?"

"That girl has no right to be here!" Xingke declared. There were murmurs of approval in the crowd. "She does not rule here! She has no standing! She is here because we allow it!"

There were applause.

Tears streaked down Jiang's face. "I-I don't understand," she said, her voice trembling. "Why are you doing this, Li?"

"You have allowed yourself to be used and manipulated like a child," Xingke accused, hardening his tone. The Empress' wide eyes, the utter devastation on her face, nearly served to unman him. I have no choice. One day, you will understand. "It is the Eunuchs who have the right of it. You have been bamboozled. Zero has made you his puppet!" He turned away from her, because he could no longer bear to look at her. "I call for support for the Eunuch's plan! Who else will stand with us?"

The Court broke out into cheers. The political theater was ash in Xingke's heart. He looked back at his Empress.

Her eyes were dim, her expression slack. It seemed all the life had been sucked out of her.

…..

Tokyo General Hospital, Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven

Sayoko held the Styrofoam cup of coffee in her one good hand; the other was wrapped along with her shoulder in a cast and sling. Her shoulder pained her, but she would have gladly swapped places with the little Mistress. She was certain she would hear her Master's anguished screams for the rest of her life.

There was a crowd of people gathered around a TV in the waiting area. The volume was turned up to the limit.

"Rebel and Britannian Forces, commanded by the Knight of Nine, are fighting over Fukushima," an anchor in a news report said. The anchor grabbed her earpiece. "I'm just now receiving breaking news," she announced. Her mascara was running. "Viceroy Cornelia li Britannia has confirmed that Sub-Viceroy Euphemia li Britannia was attending the Ashford Festival. It is safe to assume the bombing was an assassination attempt." The anchor's face twisted into a look of pure terror. "God help us all."

Sayoko felt a wave of fury wash over her. I'm going to kill you, Zero, she promised silently. For what you did to Lady Nunnally and Lord Lelouch, I will kill you.

She left the area, lest she destroy the TV. There were angry curses and epithets that followed her; shouts of "ELEVEN WHORE!" and other worse names. She bowed her head, doing her best to ignore them. They likely would have pounced on her, had she been on her own, but she was flanked by a pair of Britannian soldiers that the Master requested (perhaps ordered was the more appropriate word) to protect her.

Sayoko approached the young Mistress' hospital room. She took a deep breath, put on a kind smile, and opened the door.

The young Master was hunched over his sister's bed, as he had been ever since she was taken out of surgery. Her heart ached at the pain the young man was clearly in.

Slowly and painfully, Zero, Sayoko added. Slowly and painfully.

"Master Lelouch?" she said. He didn't respond. "Please have something to drink." She tried to hand him the coffee, but he didn't so much as acknowledge her presence. Tears gathered in Sayoko's eyes. "Lelouch, please."

He took the cup from her and tossed it in the trash.

…..

Office of the Viceroy, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven

"I should execute you for this," Cornelia snarled. Jeremiah, bruised and bloody, held what he was certain were his fractured ribs. "My sister is in an infirmary because of your stupidity."

Jeremiah gritted his teeth as he breathed. "You have my deepest apologies, Your Highness," he wheezed. "If I had known what was going to-"

"Save it, Gottwald, I'm not interested," Cornelia interrupted him. "If you had kept Euphemia here, where she belonged, none of this would have happened." She rubbed her forehead angrily. "Now we have this catastrophe." She turned her back to him, her hands on her hips.

"Zero hasn't turned up yet, so we can only assume the rebels in the north are a diversion. The Chinese Navy is on the move, which means that we're going to have an invasion and insurrection at the same time." She shook her head. "The coastal forts should be able to hold for a time, but we'll have to assume that Zero has some means of collapsing them quickly." She turned back to Jeremiah, her chin in her hand. "Or maybe they'll be a distraction, too. He hasn't appeared yet, so..." Her eyes widened. "The Sakuradite. He'll go for Mount Fuji. He's going to cut us off from our fuel and exhaust our supplies."

Is that the plan? Jeremiah wondered. He had no idea; the rebellion was too soon, his Lord was nowhere to be found, and Jeremiah was damn certain his beloved Prince would never target innocent civilians. His Lord wasn't capable; it wasn't in his character. My Prince, what is going on?

"You get a chance for redemption, Lord Jeremiah," Cornelia said, ending his musing. "We can't allow Zero to get his hands on the main Sakuradite reserves." She looked him square in the eye. "You have command of the Settlement, Marquis. Be grateful there isn't anyone more capable around. Evacuate the Sub-Viceroy, but do it quietly. I don't want any more of a panic than we already have. And get the Elevens out of the city. We don't need a fifth column if the rebels get past Lady Enneagram." She whirled around toward the door. "I'm taking eight thousand men to Mount Fuji. Defend the Settlement well, Marquis. Your life depends on it."

…

Fukushima City, Area Eleven

"Disperse, you damn rebels!" Nonette had shouted before the battle began. An artillery round had been the Elevens' response.

The Britannians had been in Fukushima by pure chance, and once the rebellion had been declared, Nonette had ordered that the roads north of Fukushima be destroyed. Twenty minutes of sustained artillery fire turned the interstate into smoking craters filling rapidly with mud and water beneath the heavy rain. The ruined state of the road had slowed the rebels down even further, such that what should have been an hour-long drive became a two hour slog.

Nonette deflected a stun tonfa with her shield, and thrust with her sword. The blade pierced the reactor core on the Burai with ease. She jumped back as it exploded. Using her momentum, she swung her sword, cleaving the head of another Burai from its shoulders, and slapped a chaos mine to its chassis. She sent it flailing backwards with a kick, flipped the blade around in her hand and stabbed it through the chest piece of another that had tried to sneak up behind her. She back flipped through the air, grinning savagely as the chaos mine exploded in a massive ball of fire that cleared the area around it.

"Is this the best you can do?" she taunted with a wicked grin. "I expected more from the mighty Black Knights!"

She laughed as she swept her blade through the midsection of another Burai, slicing it cleanly in half.

"You're boring me, boys!" she mocked. "If you can't keep up, you shouldn't play!" She swept a leg out from under another Burai and thrust her blade through the cockpit once it smashed to the ground. "Every Round is worth a hundred of you rabble!"

While the main rebel force had struck the defenses in a head-on assault, a second detachment had swept around to the side in an effort to flank them on the east. Nonette had, cheerfully, led twenty Sutherlands in a counterattack.

"This is our land, by right of conquest! We will surrender it to no one!"

"My Lady!" someone shouted in her ear. "We've just received word that Sendai has fallen! The rebels are advancing south toward Soma!"

Damn! Nonette grimaced. Seems I was a bit too hasty. "They'll envelop us from the east if we don't move quickly."

There were seven thousand Britannians in Fukushima, versus approximately eighteen thousand rebels. Against a frontal assault, in this weather, they had a pretty good chance of holding off the enemy. That wouldn't be the case if they had to fight on two fronts. And, despite her own boasting, Nonette was starting to feel the pressure from the enemy forces before her.

How did they take Sendai so quickly? "Prepare to advance to the rear," Nonette ordered. She checked her map display. "Rendezvous at Koriyama. Transmit orders for defensive preparations."

"Yes, My Lady!"

…

Captured G-1 Mobile Defense Platform, Interstate E6, Just North of Soma

Katase thought it surreal to see Britannian Sutherlands sporting red crossed Union Jacks moving alongside their own Burais, but it couldn't be helped. The Viceroy had apparently issued orders to intern all Honorary Britannian troops to prevent mass defections, but the orders had come too late, and a number of garrisons were already embroiled in revolts. Reclaiming Sendai, and appropriating this G-1 Mobile Base for his own use, was comparatively easy.

"General Katase," Tohdoh said over the communications rig, "the Britannians are withdrawing from Fukushima."

"Excellent. What's the status of our forces?"

"We suffered three thousand casualties in the taking of the city, and the Britannians have destroyed the roads in and out. Maintaining army continuity is becoming difficult due to the inclement weather. Permission to begin pursuit?"

"Denied. Take the next hour to consolidate your forces. We can't have the army scattered across the countryside."

"Understood. Tohdoh out."

Katase turned to a young officer. "What's the ETA on Chinese reinforcements?" he asked.

"The Federation Navy will be ready to bombard the coast in approximately three hours," the officer replied. "Airborne troop transports are already on their way, ETA forty-five minutes. Lord Gao Hai is in command."

"Good. We await their arrival with baited breath."

…

Tokyo General Hospital, Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven

"O-Our rig-righteous armies ha-have t-t-t-taken-"

"Say it straight, Brit."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The anchor woman sobbed. "Our righteous armies have recl-claimed Soma, Kyoto, O-Osaka, and we are m-moving against Mount F-Fuji. S-Soon we will ha-ve complete control over the means of pr-pro-pr-"

"Production, bitch!"

The anchor woman sobbed again. It continued for several moments.

"Finish it, Brit."

"The a-age of imp-imp-imperialists has come to an, an end. Remove y-your filthy bodies from our H-Holy s-soil." Having finally finished, the anchor woman said, "Pl-Please let me go! I did what you sai-ai-aid!"

"You're right, Brit. A deal's a deal. Tell me-you got a kid?"

The anchor woman nodded silently, a near hysterical terror on her face.

"You got ten seconds."

She physically recoiled. "No! Please no!"

"Nine seconds."

"I'll do anything, I'll-"

"Eight."

A light of calm seemed to descend on the woman. She turned back to the camera. There was still fear, but there was also a deep love. As her executioner counted down, she said, "David, sweetie, please take care-"

"Five."

"-of your daddy for me. He needs you, now-"

"Four."

"-more than ever. If you can-"

"Three."

"-hear this, please-"

"Two."

"-remember-"

"One."

"-MOMMY LOVES YOU VERY MUCH!"

Sayoko puked into a trash can as the sound of machine gun blared on the TV. She noticed she wasn't the only one. She staggered away from the waiting area as quickly as she could.

Have to save them, she thought. I have to get them out of here.

She ran to her Mistress's room, and swung open the door.

"My Lord, we must evacuate yourself and Princess Nunnally," Sayoko said. The Master didn't say a word. He just continued to stare at his sister. "My Lord," Sayoko repeated, a hint of desperation coloring her tone, "if we do not evacuate right now, we may not be able to escape the Black Knights."

"What do you mean?"

Sayoko started. It was the first time he'd spoken in her presence.

"The Black Knights have launched a rebellion," she informed him. "General Katase has risen up in Yamagata. The Britannian Army is putting up a good fight, but there's no telling how long they'll be able to hold them off."

He looked up at her, his expression baffled. "Why are the Black Knights rebelling?" he asked her.

Sayoko wasn't entirely sure herself; the estimate she had been given was three months for the insurrection. The bombing had changed her calculus completely. "My guess would be Zero sensed an opportunity," she said. "Sub-Viceroy Euphemia was at the Festival. All of this speaks to an assassination attempt."

The Young Master's eye turned sharp as a dagger. "An assassination attempt?" he interrupted her. His voice was no longer weak and listless. It was cold as ice, hard as stone.

"Yes, My Lord," Sayoko replied. It didn't matter how she did it, she needed to convince him to leave. "I know some people who can get us out of the Settlement before the Black Knights arrive."

She braced herself. If the Young Master asked her how, she would tell him everything; how she had come to believe in Zero's cause; how she had made herself his agent in the Settlement; how she had done everything she could to protect the Young Master and her Mistress.

The cause no longer mattered to her. All that mattered was the two young people before her: the young Mistress, the kindest woman she had ever met; and the Young Master, who held her heart in his hands.

It was inappropriate for a servant to love her master; so, she remained silent, content to serve him and his dear sister, the most wonderful people in all the world.

The Young Master stood. Relief filled Sayoko.

As she went to speak, he said, "Alpha Code X-5-J-3-C, Protocol Omega."

Sayoko's heart stopped. Her breath rushed out of her. She gaped at him. "You?" It was all she could think to say.

He turned to her, and looking into his violet eye was like staring into a blizzard. The other he had shut. His posture, so often slumped over, the very picture of the bored genius, was ramrod straight. There was an air of majesty about him that Sayoko had never seen.

"Captain Shinozaki," he said in a monarch's voice, "prepare Princess Nunnally for evacuation. She is to be taken to the rooftop helipad. A team of medical personnel will accompany you to ensure the Princess' recovery."

Her heart was beating so fast she almost didn't hear him. She fell to her knees before him, grabbed his hand, and kissed his open palm. "Yes, My Lord," she obeyed fervently. "It will be done."

His other hand gently tipped up her chin, so that she was looking up at him. Her expression was one of pure adoration. "Before you do that, bring me a phone," he ordered her. "There's a call I have to make."

…..

Viceroy's Palace Main Hall, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven

The Settlement was in a city-wide panic. The harbors, the airports, the streets, all were clogged with people. Fistfights had given way to riots. There were gun battles in the streets being waged between Occupational forces and Japanese irregulars. A group of terrorists hijacked the Hi-TV broadcast center, issuing their message and massacring the staff before fleeing into the alleys.

It was the perfect level of chaos for his master.

So where are you?

"Lord Jeremiah!" Jeremiah turned to see Viletta calling him. She was a fortunate woman; while she had been at the Festival with her partner, the two of them had left to find an ATM just before the bombing, so they hadn't been caught in it. "We've succeeded in evacuating Princess Euphemia. She's on her way to a small ship in the Philippines Sea. Do you have any further orders?"

Jeremiah didn't know. He had no way of knowing what was going on; he hadn't heard from His Highness at all, and he'd been unable to raise him on the phone. He debated what to do.

The phone in his pocket vibrated.

Jeremiah winced at the sudden pain in his rib, but he was also jubilant. It was his second phone. Only one man knew this number.

"Get me a status report on the expulsion," he commanded.

Viletta nodded. There was a flash of concern on her face. "Are you certain you're alright, Jeremiah?" she asked him.

There were bandages over his bruises and cuts, and there was a brace around his body for his ribs.

He smiled wanly at her. "Of course, Viletta," he reassured her weakly. "I have to be." She looked like she wanted to say something, but he shooed her away. "Get me that report." He played up a wince. "And just give me a minute."

She bit her lip, but nodded. "Very well," she said, and departed.

Jeremiah stepped out of the hall, and found a secluded spot. He flipped the phone open. "My Lord?" he asked hopefully.

"General Katase and his forces are on their way," His Highness said.

Jeremiah breathed a sigh of relief. "We'll have the Settlement ready to surrender to them at your command," he assured his Prince. "It's a little soon, and it'll be bloody, but we can-"

"You will do no such thing," his Prince interrupted him. "Katase has betrayed me. He was behind the bombing."

Jeremiah gaped. Fury filled him. "What would you have me do?" he asked robotically.

"Whatever you must. You will hold the Tokyo Settlement, by any means necessary."

"Understood."

"There are three rail cars in the Tokyo Settlement, in the south subway. On board those cars are devices that can disable your Knightmare Frames. Destroy them."

"Understood."

"Send helicopters to the Tokyo General Hospital. Princess Nunnally was injured in the bombing," Jeremiah choked on rage, "and she is to be immediately evacuated. A Japanese maid will be with her. Say to her, 'I hope you have a taste for oranges.' Once the Princess has been evacuated, you are to evacuate Rivalz Cardemonde, Milly Ashford, and the Fenettes."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"And Orange?"

"My Lord?"

"Flood the streets with traitor's blood." The line clicked.

He's thrown caution entirely to the wind. "It will be done, My Lord." Hopefully the helicopters stay airborne in this weather.

Jeremiah returned to the main hall. Viletta approached him, saying, "There's been resistance to the expulsion, My Lord, but five thousand people have so far been removed from the city."

Jeremiah nodded. "Good. Also," he lowered his voice, "what about him?"

Viletta flushed slightly. "He returned to the ghetto with his friends. They're going to stay away from the fighting as much as they can." There was clear relief in her expression.

Jeremiah nodded. "Good. I'm glad for you." He considered for a moment. "Get Sir David on the line," he ordered her. "I want the Narita Garrison here on the double. Have Sakuradite cells prepared for them when they arrive."

She nodded. "Yes, My Lord."

Jeremiah smiled inwardly. Sir David had at his disposal 200 Knightmares, of which all but 50 were Sutherlands; in addition, he possessed 30 armored troop carriers and prewar tanks, and a full company of infantry and army engineers.

If they arrived in time, no guarantee given the terrain, the Settlement would be reinforced by extra troops that could also help to increase the city's fortifications. If they didn't, they'd have to take on the vanguard of the enemy's forces.

And if they should be caught out in the open, forced to engage with the bulk of the traitor's armies?

So much the better.

…

Tokyo General Hospital, Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven

Rivalz was swaddled in bandages. His spleen was bruised, his ribs cracked, his right hand was in a cast. Milly, by contrast, was entirely unhurt. He was the reason for that. They were fortunate they had been at the end of the tunnel when it came down; the people that had been deeper in the tunnel were all killed, buried beneath chunks of the academy masonry.

Milly quietly wept at Rivalz's side. "I should have let the school close," she sobbed, clasping her hands tightly together. "I should have just let it close. I should have..."

They were all dead. All the students that had returned. Clyde, Daisy, everyone. Those that weren't killed by debris and shrapnel were trampled to death, or smashed to pieces by the Ganymede. No one among the Student Council had died, but that didn't mean they didn't have their casualties.

"It's all my fault," Milly sobbed. "I should have just let the school close." She clutched at her heart.

She was startled when a hand came to rest on hers. "It's not your fault."

"Rivalz!' Milly cried happily. His eyes were barely open, his voice a croak. It was the first time he'd been awake since the bombing. She kissed his hand, his fingers, stood up and kissed his forehead and cheeks. She couldn't kiss his lips; his face was covered in a breathing mask.

"It's not your fault," he rasped again.

Milly shook her head, tears falling on him. "It is," she told him. "If I had just let the school close, no one would have gotten hurt."

Rivalz's head moved ever so slightly. "The only one at fault," he croaked weakly, "is the one who did it."

Milly's lips trembled violently. "B-But I-"

"He's right." Milly looked up and saw Lelouch standing in the doorway. His left eye was closed. "It's not your fault. It's mine."

Confusion filled Milly. "Lulu?" she asked, brushing back her hair. "What are you talking about? How is this your fault?"

"I didn't want to let you go," he said. His tone was flat. "I'm sorry. It will never happen again."

"Lulu?"

He opened up his eye.

It was glowing red.

…..

Mrs. Fenette stood over her daughter. Shirley lay comatose, her beautiful red locks shaved from her head pre-surgery. It was the only injury she had.

The door opened behind her. She turned around to see a young man standing in the doorway. He had dark hair, a violet eye, and wore Victorian era garb.

"Mrs. Fenette?" he asked.

She smiled. "It's good to see you again, Lelouch," she said. She approached the boy and hugged him tightly. He was stiff for a moment, but he melted into her embrace. His shoulders shook as he sobbed. She ran her hand over his back soothingly.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Fenette," he wept. "I'm so sorry."

"She's alive, Lelouch," she told him. "She's alive. That's all that matters."

"But she's-"

Brain dead. That was what the doctor had told her. The stone that struck her head destroyed her brain. Her daughter was a vegetable, and would remain that way for the rest of her life.

She shushed him. She couldn't bear to hear it. The pain was too much.

"We're leaving the country," she told him instead. "My husband told me he's been speaking with a surgeon in the homeland. They might be able to help her." It was a forlorn hope, but it was all she had. It was the only thing keeping her from jumping out of this third story window.

Lelouch pulled away from her. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. "I wish you the best of luck," he told her.

She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you come with us?" she asked him. "You and your sister. Shirley loved-" she stopped herself. "Shirley loves you," she amended. "She'd be so happy with you."

To her disappointment, Lelouch shook his head. "No, I can't," he refused. "I'll never see her again."

Mrs. Fenette nodded understandingly. "You love her, don't you?" she asked.

Lelouch hesitated, staring down at her daughter. Haltingly, he placed his hand on hers. There was nothing in his eye but sorrow. "Yes," he confessed quietly. He ran his thumb over her hand. "But I didn't want to hurt her. Pain was the only thing I ever brought her."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Fenette asked.

Lelouch shook his head. He took his hand off of Shirley's. "It doesn't matter," he said. "They'll never see me again. It's better for everyone involved." He opened up his left eye. It glowed a strange red. "When I leave this room, you will believe that Nunnally and Lelouch Lamperouge are dead. This conversation never happened."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

…..

"Is Zero okay?" Kallen asked. "Where is he? What's going on?"

"Nobody knows a goddamn thing," Tamaki told her. "Can't nobody raise him on the phone."

"Goddammit."

"Just sit tight," Tamaki said. "No way he'd want you on the street right now."

Goddammit it all, Kallen thought. "Right. If you hear from Zero, let me know," she told him aloud.

"You got it."

Kallen hung up her phone, fuming. She had spent two days in that damn tombstone, stuck underneath the debris. She was fortunate; the tombstone had protected her from the explosion and debris, and the leftover food and drink that had been trashed nourished her until she was rescued. By the time she was rescued, the Settlement had been placed under martial law, and the populace restricted from leaving. That had suited Kallen just fine, at first; she made a beeline for the hospital, determined to find out what happened to her friends.

She wished she hadn't.

Kallen rubbed her eyes, batting away the tears that threatened to course down her cheeks. "How did this happen?" she wondered aloud. She stared back down at her phone. "Goddammit, Zero, what's going on?"

"Kallen."

She jumped. Lelouch was standing in front of her, still dressed in his costume from the play, a white medical patch over his left eye. There were a few cuts and scratches on his face, but otherwise he was unharmed.

Shit! Kallen cursed silently. Please God, tell me he didn't hear me. She didn't have her purse knife, but even if she did, there was no way she could hurt him.

"I need to borrow your phone," he told her, holding out his hand.

Kallen sighed with relief. He didn't hear me. "Sure," she said.

She pulled out her civilian phone, a red flip phone, but Lelouch shook his head.

"The other one," he told her.

Kallen froze. "What other phone?" she asked him. She felt uneasy. There's no way he knows.

"We don't have time for this, Q-1."

Her eyes bulged. No, he can't be…

Almost on auto-pilot, Kallen handed him her black phone. He flipped it open, clicked through the contact list, and pressed Send. He frowned. "Where's Ohgi?" he asked her.

Kallen, her mouth gaping open, shook her head. "Getting the Black Knights mobilized," she told him. "I just got off the phone with Tamaki."

His tongue clucked in annoyance. He clicked back through the phone. A moment later, he said, "Tamaki? It's me. I don't have a phone. Tell Ohgi to have everyone meet in the main conference room. I'm coming in." He snapped the phone shut. "Let's go, Q-1."

Zero walked past her; she pivoted around to follow him.

….

Koriyama, Area Eleven

Nonette slashed vertically through a Burai, cutting it in half. She jumped through the flames as it exploded, piercing another Burai with a quick thrust through its chassis. A stun tonfa was ducked, the arm chopped off.

"For your trouble!" Nonette shouted, plunging a chaos mine to the cables and jumping away. She had no time to admire the explosion; her next slash took out the factsphere of a Glasgow, and after that, a hard bash with her shield crushed the leg of a stolen Sutherland. "Thieving scum!" she shouted at the pilot as he ejected.

Nonette wiped away the sweat on our brow. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.

Nonette had less than half her troops left; a good number had been killed, but the real issue was that their Knightmares were running low on fuel. She'd had to change her energy filler three times. She didn't want to consider just how low her men were.

Suddenly, the pressure was relieved, the enemy Knightmares falling back.

Bereft of an opponent, Nonette called out, "Come back, boys! We were just getting started!"

"My Lady, INCOMING!"

Nonette jumped back with the energy of experience. The ground erupted in front of her just a moment later in a shower of asphalt and mud. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was too close," she mumbled. "Where on earth did that come from?"

"My Lady, we're receiving an open hale!"

"HA! Ready to surrender are they? It was just getting good!" Nonette flipped the switch on her comm rig. "Now let's-"

"To our dear Britannian friends, you are defeated," the high-pitched voice on the other end said. "I am Gao Hai, of the High Eunuchs of the illustrious Chinese Federation. By the power vested in me by the Mandate of Heaven, as established by our Divine Tianzi, we come here today to liberate our Asian brethren from the bonds of Western imperialists. Lay down your weapons, and you will be treated with all the protection reserved for prisoners of war. Failure to do so will result in your complete annihilation."

In the silence that followed the declaration, Nonette could hear a loud droning noise. She swallowed heavily. She redirected her cameras to the sky and gasped.

"I don't believe it," she said. A small grin appeared on her face. "Those idiots are actually trying to fly in this."

Even as rockets began to pepper the battlefield, she laughed. "The more the merrier, I say!"

….

Tokyo Prison, Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven

Suzaku slumped against the wall of his cell, rubbing his bruised knuckles. When the Viceroy ordered the Honorary Britannian units interned, Suzaku had been in the process of trying to leave the Palace and search for his friends. He had desperately attempted to plead his case, but the soldiers were unsympathetic. He considered fighting his way out, but the guns leveled at his head ultimately convinced him that discretion was the better part of valor. Once he was locked in this box, he smashed his fists into the transparent door.

"I just want to help them! Can't you understand?" he had shouted. "Have you no decency? No honor?" His words had, in the end, moved the guard; right out of Suzaku's sight.

"Help me! Help me!" the people had screamed.

Agonized cries filled Suzaku's ears. The Ganymede, spattered in blood and gore, rose up before his eyes. Suzaku scrambled over to the cell toilet and vomited.

"I'm sorry," he wept. "I'm sorry."

His face itched.

"I want him out here this instant!"

Suzaku raised his head, bewildered. "Was that Cecile?" he wondered aloud.

"You don't understand!" he heard Cecile shout. "Lord Jeremiah has sent out the call for all able-bodied men to fight! That includes Warrant Officer Kururugi! Or would you like to take this up with the Marquis, you fat trash?"

Suzaku's thoroughly cowed jailer waddled before Suzaku's cell, sweat flowing down his face. He entered the key code, and said, "Hurry up, Elev-"

"The term is 'Honorary Britannian,'" Cecile corrected him. Suzaku gaped at her. Cecile was soaked, her dark blue hair plastered to her lovely face. Water dripped from her coat onto the floor. "Warrant Officer Kururugi," she addressed him, "let's go."

Suzaku fell in line behind her, casting a backwards glance at the red-faced jailer. "What's going on?" he asked.

"The Black Knights are in open revolt," Cecile replied. "We estimate thirty-five thousand are advancing from the north. Lady Enneagram tried to make a stand at Koriyama, but Chinese reinforcements have arrived by plane." She smirked. "Fortunately, between AA fire and the weather, we took out around a hundred troop transports." The smirk faded. "But there are still too many. Lady Enneagram has withdrawn to Utsunomiya, but at this point it's only a delaying action."

"What about the Viceroy?"

"She's trying to fend off a Black Knight army to the south at Mount Fuji."

"Where's Zero, then?"

"No idea. He hasn't shown up. Wherever he does, though, you can be sure that will be the focal point of the attack."

"Lloyd?"

"Evacuated."

"And Euphie?"

"Still in the infirmary," Cecile told him gently.

They exited the prison a few minutes later into a hard storm. They dashed across the outside parking lot to the Lancelot's van. Suzaku stripped naked as soon as they were in, his back to Cecile, and hurriedly donned his flight suit. "What are my orders?" he asked.

"Join the defensive line at Sir David's position," Cecile told him. She had stripped down to her bra and pants, her ample breasts swaying as she worked on her boots.

Suzaku squatted down to help her, tugging her left boot off. "There's no time for that," she admonished him, pushing his hands away. "Get to your Knightmare."

Suzaku stood up, nodding. "Right."

As he turned to leave, however, Cecile said, "Wait! Let me give you this." She pulled a red scarf out of her bag and tied it securely around his left bicep.

Suzaku stared down at it, confused. "What's this for?" he asked.

"A favor," she replied. The rain seemed to have flushed her cheeks red. Suzaku hoped she wasn't feverish. "When a knight marches off to battle, a lady is supposed to give him her favor." She looked up at him, her eyes soft. "It's a promise between them that he will come home."

Suzaku coughed. "I'm not a knight, Cecile," he reminded her. His cheek itched.

"Is a knight just a title, Suzaku?" she asked him. "If so, I've known quite a few men who didn't deserve it. No," her eyes shined as she clasped her hand to his scarred cheek, "a knight his made by his deeds, by the heroism of his heart. You are a knight, Suzaku, in deed if not in name. You are the greatest one I've ever known."

Something strange welled up in Suzaku. He couldn't comprehend her, yet he felt a weird sense of understanding.

He shrugged it away. When Cecile's hand left his face, it started to itch again, so he pulled his mask up over it. "Thank you, Miss Cecile."

…

Black Knight Conference Area, Black Knight Shinjuku Headquarters, Shinjuku Ghetto, Area Eleven

"I am telling you I'm Zero!"

"There's no way a shrimp like you is my best bud!"

"A shrimp?" Minami asked. "A shrimp's got more meat on the bone than this kid."

"Inoue," Ohgi asked, "is this kid one of Zero's agents?"

"If he is, he's not on the list," Inoue replied. "I have no clue who he is."

"What on Earth would I want with a student anyway?" Well, quite a lot actually, but I doubt you-

"A Britannian student would be the ideal spy inside the Settlement," Inoue replied. "He could take pictures of buildings, sketches, really just about anything we might need without arousing suspicion. Aside from actual soldiers, he'd be perfect."

God...dammit Inoue. "Look, I have the key code to my room. Will that prove to you I'm telling the truth?"

"Not necessarily," Minami rejected. "If you were one of Zero's personal agents, why wouldn't you have his room key?"

None of you could be this discerning when Schneizel turned you against me?

"He could always be Zero's butt buddy."

"GODDAMMIT TAMAKI!"

"Hey, you know my name! That's pretty kickass!"

"Kallen," Yoshida asked, "isn't this kid one of your school friends?"

"That's right. He's Vice President on the Student Council."

"Do you believe him?"

Kallen stared at Zero with flinty eyes. "I don't know," she said. "I never imagined that Zero would be attending my school."

Zero huffed. "This is ridiculous," he said, grinding his teeth. "What do I have to do to prove that I'm Zero?"

They all looked at one another uncomfortably.

"Look," Minami finally said, "it's not that we don't trust you-"

"Though we sure as shit don't!" Tamaki interjected.

Minami rolled his eyes. "We don't know who Zero is ourselves," he admitted. He looked embarrassed at the admission, as did the other Black Knights.

Zero pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't believe this," he grumbled. "Hoist by my own petard."

"It certainly seems that way, doesn't it?" They all looked up to see Kallen's mother enter the room, sporting a Black Knight uniform not too dissimilar from her daughter's. "It's been some time, Lelouch." She smiled at him warmly.

"Captain Kozuki," Zero acknowledged with a nod. "It's good to see you again. Military life suits you."

"Hold on," Kallen interjected, her eyes flitting back and forth between the two of them. "Just what is going on here?"

Her mother smiled. "Lelouch was the one who set me up with the safe house," she told everyone. "Strange as it may sound, this young man is indeed Zero."

"Wait a second," Kallen said incredulously. "Did you seriously tell my mom, but not me?"

Zero shrugged uncomfortably. "It was necessary," was all he said.

"You trusted my mother, a drug addict- No offense mom!"

"None taken."

"But you wouldn't trust me?" There was genuine hurt in Kallen's eyes as an awkward silence fell on them.

Zero sighed. "We don't have time for this," he said, turning away from her. "Katase and his forces are moving against the Settlement, and the Viceroy has encamped herself at Mount Fuji. We need to get moving now."

The others nodded hesitantly, whatever objections they may have had made moot.

Ohgi said, "We're ready to move, Le-Zero. We have eleven hundred men on standby. They're ready for deployment against the Settlement."

"Then turn them around," Zero ordered, already moving to the stairway to his office. "We're not going to the Settlement. We're going to strike Mount Fuji."

"I don't understand," Yoshida said. "The plan was for us to take the city. What's going on?"

"Katase has betrayed us," Zero responded, stopping at the top of the steps. "He was behind the bombing." He heard Kallen suck in her breath.

Zero proceeded to inform them of what C-Two had told him. By the end of it, there were varying degrees of horror and rage displayed among them.

"I'll kill that bastard myself!" Kallen promised, punching her open palm.

"Katase's betrayal will be dealt with," Zero told her. "For now, we need to take Mount Fuji. I want full control over the Sakuradite in Japan before the night is done. What's the status of the Gawain?"

Ohgi answered, "Director Chawla has managed to get the Gawain ready to fly." He frowned. "However, there are still major issues with the power draw. She gives it an effective time limit of one hour."

"It will have to suffice." Before he left them, he asked, "Has anyone seen C-Two?"

The Black Knights looked one to another. Inoue shook her head and said, "We thought she was with you."

Zero huffed. Dammit, C-Two, where are you?

…

Outskirts of the Tokyo Settlement, Area Eleven

"Magnificent, aren't they?" Gao Hai asked, smiling down on the array of troops before them. The command bridge was now flooded with Chinese soldiers and officers, all standing at stiff attention. They nodded at the Eunuch's praise.

There were hundreds of Gun-Ru's, armored troop transports, and tanks displayed before them. There were less Chinese than there were Japanese, but that didn't matter to Katase. He wasn't an egomaniac like Zero; he didn't care who got into the city first. All that mattered was that they win.

"It is quite the sight," Katase agreed. He turned to the man. "Please accept my condolences for the loss of so many of your men. They were brave warriors."

The burned out remains of hundreds of Gun-Ru's, troop transports, and aircraft littered the Japanese countryside, a testament to the effectiveness of the Britannian air defenses and the terrible weather. They shouldn't have been flying in this.

Gao Hai waved him off. "It is of no consequence, General. Rest assured, we have plenty more where they came from."

Katase swallowed. Thousands of his men are dead, and he doesn't even bat an eye. Disgust rose up in Katase, but he held it in check. "Understood. I appreciate it," he lied through his teeth.

He looked back out the window. Even through the rain, Tokyo was beautiful. No, perhaps it was because of the rain that she was so radiant.

Do you weep, Tokyo, for your murdered children? For your defiled body?

"Open a haling frequency," he ordered. Once the comm technician gave him a thumbs up, he said, "Here me, Britannians! I am General Tatewaki Katase, of the Black Knights. Our armies have taken Hitachinaka and Takasaki, and you will receive no reinforcement from Utsunomiya. This war is concluded. You have lost." A great cheer rose up in the command bridge. Katase waited for it to die down. "Surrender, and your lives will be spared."

Katase waited. Any minute now, we should receive word from our forces inside the Settlement. They should have taken over by now. However, several minutes went by with no response.

"Do you think they heard you?" Gao Hai asked.

Katase frowned. "I repeat, surrender now."

There was still silence.

What is going on?

"Perhaps they've gone deaf," Gao Hai chortled.

Katase snapped. "You damn Britannians, hand over the Tokyo Settlement! Now!"

He received his response when one of the cannons on the Viceroy's Palace fired. The cannon round exploded in the center of the front rank, throwing up a shower of steel debris and body parts. Katase gaped in shock.

"ELEVENS!" the Britannian on the other end shouted. "COME AND TAKE IT!

…

Mount Fuji, Area Eleven

Cornelia spun her lance around, hacking through the ring of Knightmares around her. The three Burais that surrounded her went flying one after the other. The Gloucester's footing slipped in the mud, but Cornelia rolled with it, coming up to gore a captured Glasgow through its reactor core. She fired a slash harken at a nearby Burai, and used it as an anchor to fly through the air. The autocannon in her wrist rattled off concussive blasts, destroying another three Burais. She hacked off the head of a captured Sutherland as she came down.

"Filthy Elevens!" she shouted. "You disorganized rabble!"

Cornelia was outnumbered more than 2:1, but numbers weren't everything. There was a difference between a disorganized mob and a disciplined fighting force, and she had the advantage of occupying entrenched positions. Cannon fire resounded from Mount Fuji's defensive batteries, gouging great holes in the mob before her.

"Now you see! Now you understand!" she crowed. "You should have stayed in your holes! No ambushes! No hit-and-run!" She laughed maniacally. "In a stand-up fight, none of you can take the might of the Empire!"

She fired her autocannon into the head of a retreating Burai. The enemy was withdrawing.

"HA! Is there no one among you? Are there no men left to challenge me?" She laughed. "Swine!"

The ground in front of her was suddenly gouged open by a purple-pink beam of energy. A massive hole several meters wide appeared, the smoking ground beneath flash-dried by the heat of the blast.

Cornelia jumped back, her eyes tracking to the sky.

A massive Knightmare Frame, its arms parallel to the ground, floated above her.

"Face me, Cornelia! Come forth, unto death!"

Cornelia's grin was feral.

Zero had come out to play.

…

The Sea of Japan

The burning pain in C-Two's legs woke her up. She choked on the gag in her mouth as she tried to moan. She swayed back and forth, side to side, her body banging off the wall behind her, the salty spray of the sea stinging her eyes.

She discovered very quickly that she was practically nude, the only articles of clothing on her the rope that bound her hands and legs together. She wished she wore something, if only to cover the excruciating third-degree burns on her legs. The cold rainwater served only to exacerbate her miserable state.

"Oh! You're awake!"

Mao was suddenly before her, a happy grin on his face. His headphones and sunglasses were nowhere in evidence, but he did wear a yellow slicker and hat to ward off the rain.

"Sorry, C-Two," he said. "I'd take you down below, but the captain didn't take very kindly to how I carried you on board. Something about me being a 'psychotic freak.'" He shrugged whimsically. "It stinks to high heaven down in the hold right now, and I would never dare to let a lady sleep in such a sty." He smiled widely. "See, C-Two! I do remember my etiquette lessons!"

C-Two tried to say something, but the gag in her mouth made it come out as a grunt.

"Oops! Sorry about that!" Mao squatted down to remove the gag. "You almost came to a couple of times and tried to cry for help. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I had to stab your head a few times to make sure we didn't get in trouble. I'm sure you understand."

Once the gag was off, C-Two barked, "Where's Lelouch?"

The smile was gone in an instant. "Really, C-Two? That's the first thing you have to say to me? 'Where's Lelouch?" He grabbed her by the hair and smashed her head against the wall. "Why is it him? Huh, C-Two? Why is it always him?"

He smashed her head against the wall again. C-Two ground her teeth and endured. The pain would pass soon, the damage heal. It didn't matter.

"Where is he, Mao? Is he safe? Is he alright?"

"Enough about Lelouch!"

His fists rained down like the storm above, landing on her nose, her chin, her mouth, her eyes. C-Two sagged against the wall. She felt broken teeth slide over her lips. Angry hands grabbed her breasts, squeezing them painfully tight, pinching sharply on the pink tips till they oozed blood. C-Two ground her shattered teeth together against the pain and humiliation.

"This is all mine now, you see!" Mao screamed in her face. His eyes had a feverish glow. He reached down and tugged at the juncture of her thighs. "All mine! There's no one else you can share them with now! It's all for me! Do you understand?" When C-Two didn't respond he leaned in closer. "Tell me you understand." He turned his ear to her.

C-Two leaned forward. Through split lips she asked him, "Where's Lelouch?"

He whipped around, angry tears in his eyes. "DEAD! DO YOU HEAR ME? DEAD!" He cupped her cheek, an insane grin warping his face. "I killed him, okay? He's dead! I blew him sky high! Or maybe straight to Hell, there's really no way of telling, is there?"

C-Two's heart seemed to stop. "You're lying," she whispered.

He laughed in her face. "Not at all, my sweet C-Two. It's been three days since Ashford went the way of the dinosaurs. The Black Knights have risen up! And you wanna know the best part?" He leaned in close, so that he was right next to her ear. "Zero's nowhere to be found."

A cold weight settled in C-Two's belly. No...No! It wasn't supposed to be this way! We were supposed to- NO!

Tears mixed with the rain on C-Two's cheeks. No…

"You see, C-Two? You belong to me." He smiled at her gently. "I'm all you have left."

Mao leaned forward and kissed her, forcing his tongue down her throat. His hands settled on her breasts again, but this time they were gentle, squeezing them softly, his thumbs rubbing across her peaks with a lover's caress.

Lelouch…

Blood that wasn't hers filled her mouth. Mao screamed, staggering away, his hands covering his face.

"OU BISH!" he screamed. "OU BISH! OU BITH MY THUCKING THONG!"

"KILL YOU" C-Two screamed, spitting out the tip of Mao's tongue. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Mao roared. He grabbed around her neck, and-

Began screaming. C-Two's power flowed through her body. Her grief, her hatred, her rage, all flowed to the spot where he'd foolishly grabbed her throat.

"REAP IT MAO!" she shouted at him over the raging of the sea. "REAP IT!"

He let go of her and fell to the deck, still screaming. C-Two would have followed him, but she suddenly heard a loud horn sound.

She looked around behind her. Her jaw went slack.

A massive gray warship had suddenly appeared. She could barely make out the Chinese banner. There were voices coming over the radio that C-Two couldn't hear over the roaring of the waves and the storm. The little boat, without someone to pilot it, had drifted into the warship's path.

C-Two had no way of clearing it.

The prow smashed through the side of the boat, breaking it in two. She lost sight of Mao as she crashed into the hull, choking on the sea water that overwhelmed her mouth, her head banging off the side. She was subsumed beneath the waves, bouncing painfully along the ship, flipping over and over again.

For a brief moment, her body righted itself, but she still couldn't see in the darkness of the sea.

Above the water, lightning flashed, illuminating the dark depths of the deep. C-Two's eyes bulged.

She was heading straight for the ship's propellers.

Just before she reached them, the light faded away, and the darkness consumed her whole.