-Charles, if you could change everything, would you use this chance?
-Is it some kind of joke? You know well enough that I would gladly try to kill you again, God.
-You were our enemy, but giving you a chance may be useful. Even one different move can create a butterfly effect.
5th of December, 2019 a.t.b.
Imperial Palace, Pendragon
War Council room
Charles rubbed his tired eyes. The last two years everything was going incredibly terrible.
When he first reappeared in the past, his fury led him to make a few... misguided decisions. Decisions which he now bore consequences for. His eyes wandered through the room, checking the situation.
The meeting was far from normal war planning discussion, as they had on Area 11 establishment in 2010 a.t.b. Frantic movement of adjutants and scientists in the neighboring rooms was only two years ago unthinkable, but now – a common thing. Everybody was trying to do their work in protecting Pendragon, Holy Britannian Empire`s capital, no matter how tired they were. Even senior officers had enormous bags under their eyes, not to say anything better about condition of their subordinates.
Several monitors were showing the Knights of the Round, in their respective knightmares, fully prepared for the incoming engagement. The emperor could see resolved looks from Anya Alstream, Dorothea Ernst and Gino Weinberg, with only the Knight of Twelve showing hints of worry. His Knight of One sat with a stoic face. Though he wasn`t exactly optimistic regarding their chances against the enemy, he would be ready to face them in an open battle with his sword drawn.
Anya was sitting in a different knightmare that derived from Ganymede, instead of Mordred. In the last year, Marianne gained total control over her hosts body, so she decided to get for herself a much more maneuverable knightmare. Usually, Charles would try to disagree with her request, as suspicion about her real position would be bad, but now – everything that could bring even a slightest advantage was needed.
Charles silently observed the tactical map of the region. The number of forces gathered in the defense of the capital was immense – over a thousand Sutherlands, several hundreds of Vincents, as well as three brigades equipped with new Gareths. Entire map was covered in Britannian IFF signals. All important positions were heavily fortified, with the Imperial Palace being the most defended place. It had enough units to conquer half of France in a day. In addition, the remnants of the Pacific Fleet were also gathered there, though some of their ships they had to scuttle to repair others from the taskforce.
Such military positioning wasn`t without a reason – the Black Knights gathered most of the units for the assault of the Pendragon, leaving only a quarter of their army to keep in check military garrisons in New York, Vancouver and in the Caribbean.
But, for a brief moment, situation was looking tolerable. For a moment that ended the second the Black Knight`s fleet came into view.
From the get-go, half of the Black Knights fleet could be recognized as former Chinese Federation fleet. With it, there were two captured Longres-class battleships, as well as some newly built Japanese warships.
At the center of formation were two ships. One was ever-present flagship Ikaruga, which usually quartered the enemy high command during the battles as important as such.
The second one was a war trophy – former Second Prince`s Avalon, captured after a lost battle in the Chinese Federation. Britannian nobility and military were shocked to learn that unbeatable Schneizel was crushed, and seeing his former flagship in the hands of his murderer was bringing defeatism in the ranks.
"Your Majesty, a transmission from Zero on the open channel!" one of the communication officers exclaimed.
Charles only nodded, allowing the operator to connect.
"Hear me, Britannia!" The heavily modified voice spoke, though the fury in it was as powerful as ever, like an angry angel. "To all Britannian soldiers, serving under the tyranny of 98th emperor, this is your last chance to surrender! To the corrupt nobility and to Charles zi Britannia – this is the day of your judgement. The justice will be brought today!"
The transmission ended, as Charles fell back into his chair. He knew, to whom Zero addressed about the justice. Zero hated him, extremely. Zero meant everything what was spoken – the end goal of the battle is his, Charles`s death.
Charles knew why Zero hated him. Knew well enough to agree with the reasoning behind it.
On the dark display he could see his reflection. The emperor couldn`t recognize himself in it. The reflection showed a tired old insomniac, on whom befell the biggest hardships he had to face ever since the Emblem of Blood. He cursed that day, that everything begun to fall apart.
Was it the day Marianne was killed, or was it the day Shinjuku ghetto was destroyed? He couldn`t tell, but they were equally worse, as both days he lost his dearest…
"The enemy battleships are deploying their knightmares!" another officer spoke. Charles rose from his chair back to the map, revealing at least 400 Akatsuki`s. With them, up to a hundred of former Britannian units, equipped with repainted Vincent`s, appeared on the horizon beside their Japanese brothers-in-arms.
The Black Knights repositioned their forced in the attack pattern, as their Aces begun launching to join the formation.
On the front of the attack quickly appeared orange-colored Siegfried, that was repaired to the form V.V. once tried to fight Zero in, but whom he failed to defeat. With him there was a squadron of Vincents, that belonged to the unit of Britannian Volunteer Corps. Once they were only a two minor battalions within the Black Knights, but now they were reformed into a bigger structure. Some of the pilots fought for Zero since Kawaguchi Hotel incident, others joined after being captured in battle.
On his right stood the Four Holy Swords, with Tohdoh in his Zangetsu at the front, Asahina and Urabe on the sides and Chiba behind them.
On his left was a pink-colored Lancelot Conquista, piloted by a non-public advisor of Zero, whose identity was known only to Charles, Bismarck and Marianne, who still resided in the body of the Knight of Six. Fighting C.C. wouldn`t be hard, considering she`s immortal and there`d be nothing holding them back from harming her, but there were two other Aces that would shift the balance.
And here they arrived.
As a flash of lightning, two knightmares sped up from the Ikaruga and Avalon, going into different directions to flank the defenders. The moment they left the center, the Black Knights begun the battle, launching their battery fire against Britannian fleet. The green lightning was revealed to be a Lancelot Albion, belonging to a "White Reaper" who claimed lives of several hundreds of capable Britannian pilots. The red one a Guren S.E.I.T.E.N., belonging to an equally feared "Red Demon", who singlehandedly destroyed Schneizel`s escorts in the battle the prince met his end. The pilot of it – infamous Kallen Kozuki – was regarded as the closest thing to the well-respected Marianne 'the Flash'
"Knights of the Round – join the battle!" Charles ordered. "Bismarck, you will destroy the Lancelot. Gino – the Guren. Anya and Dorothea – defend the center. Monika – provide fire support."
The chorus of "Yes, Your Majesty" arose, then quieting down to a monotone exchange between the staff officers. The battle was raging on.
Kallen quickly took upon herself to destroy coastal fortifications, as well as units on the right flank. Her Radiant Wave Surger, updated to area attacks, was diminishing any effort to repel her slaughter of the Britannian positions.
Gino flew at the high speed against her, only to be met with Jeremiah, launching his slash harken against his Tristan. Though Gino easily avoided this attack, he could only watch his target go after the pilots on the ground, destroying fort after fort.
"Jeremiah, never expected to face you in battle"
"Neither did I, Sir Weinberg" Jeremiah responded, with subtle respect for his opponent.
"So tell me, Zero`s knight, why did you decided to betray us? What could drive a Britannian Pureblood officer to raise his sword against his compatriots?" Gino frowned, leveling his sword against him.
Any sign of respect he had was disappearing in mere seconds. Jeremiah`s expression changed to pure hatred, as he recalled that day. He leveled his spear against Tristan, his hands firmly on controls, before reopening the channel. "Because Britannia is rotten. Because the world is in a need for a change. That was what my lord wished to achieve, and for what I will defeat any enemy this dream may face!"
Siegfried then lunged forward, starting the duel.
Charles kept his eyes on the map, though his thoughts were far from the war raging outside. All this, everything was his fault, and because of that D.S. The loss, the war, and now – his demise. Oh, how much he wished for everything to change, but now could he? All bridges were burned either by him, Zero or because of his unwillingness to extinguish the fire when it begun.
"Have you tracked down Zero yet?"
"No, Your Majesty, Zero seems to still be on his flagship."
"Zero will leave to face me. Try to draw him out even more. Keep our units consolidated." Charles let a heavy breath out, before glaring on a mess a tactical map was becoming more and more ever since. "What is the status of our forces?"
"A-around 65% of our knightmares are destroyed, with the enemy beginning to launch his assault directly at the palace. We are sure the automated defenses will hold them out for some time, but…"
"But what?!" Charles demanded, receiving back only stuttered response.
"S-s-sir Gino was defeated by Siegfried!" The room stiffened at the responce. "Right now, he is captured by the Black Knights. Moreover, Bismarck had to fall back, as his Galahad was heavily damaged by Lancelot. Lady Khruschevsky was killed in battle by Tohdoh, and we`re having reports about Lady Alstreim facing the Guren!"
Charles stiffened. Losing her would be the last nail on the coffin. "Send out forces to cover her, pass the order for her to retreat back to the palace immediately!"
Officers looked between themselves, taking a note on the developing situation, mastering their courage.
"We believe, it`s no longer possible, Your Majesty."
Marianne was struggling immensely. Never did she face an opponent stronger than Bismarck, and even he was tough to crack.
She maneuvered her knightmare, trying to get away from the murderous claw, as well as get even a second to get a rest. Kallen in the meantime was far from allowing her opponent to recuperate.
She avoided the first salvo, directed at her right arm. Her KMF flew higher, avoiding the Radiant Surger. Her forces behind weren`t so lucky, as they got decimated by it. Second, third, fourth attacks were also unsuccessful on damaging her knightmare, though it was draining her mental capacity out on such constant maneuvers.
She tried to then launch a counterattack of her own, firing a harken at the Guren. Missing the Red Lotus completely, Anya was left open. Kallen saw it and used this window to strike directly at her left arm, destroying the flight unit in the process. She then blocked another strike, directed at her cockpit, though it left her knightmare without its legs.
Marianne was exhausted. She didn`t react to the call from the Palace at first, as her attention was placed on avoiding Guren`s strikes at her torso. When she got a small pause from combat, she got to analyze the situation. Her legs were missing, along with her left arm. Float unit was failing, but kept her from complete freefall.
She quickly put Charles on the line. The sight of his distraught face was putting her off, but she kept her expression. "My knightmare is lost. Continue with the plan, Charles. Do not allow yourself to be distracted by anything. Now it`s the time"
She saw him nod, and retreating from the screen.
Now, she only had to get to the throne room.
The frontline was being broken in several different points. With most of the Knights of the Round defeated, once monolithic Britannian positions were reduced to minor pockets of resistance. Britannian Volunteer Corps under Jeremiah were applying pressure in the center against Charles`s forces, while defence on the flanks was utterly demolished by Suzaku and Kallen.
"Your Majesty! We spotted Zero!" one officer screamed.
Charles looked at the video. Zero was flying out of the Ikaruga in his iconic Shinkiro, quickly approaching the Palace. Any defensive holdouts on his way fell under his wrist-mounted Hadron Cannons.
"Zero is going after me." Charles stood up from his chair, going into the throne room. "The battle is lost. Coordinate any last defenders out of here, deal the most damage possible to the enemy. We can keep our fight deeper into Arizona. Show the UFN that their complete victory over Britannia is impossible!"
Officers bowed before him with a chorus of "yes, Your Majesty". Even inexperienced officers weren`t sure about whether they could keep the fight after this battle.
He made his way out, strolling through a corridor to the throne room. He knew, that it wasn`t the battle – the entire war is lost. There were simply not enough reserves to hold other cities after this defeat. With Pendragon lost – Britannia would lose as well, no matter he survives or not.
Charles opened the back door to the throne room. Only the small number of guards remained stationed here. Four near the main door, two near the throne. Other than them – the room was completely deserted.
As on que, the mighty 20m high doors were kicked out, crushing the guards with parts of the walls. The smoke filled the entrance, and remaining guards were accurately gunned down with wrist-mounted assault rifle on the knightmare. When the smoke begun to disperse, Charles saw two Gekka`s stood on the sides of the doors, guarding the Shinkiro in the center.
The cockpit of the latter opened, revealing Zero. He got his boots on the ground and started marching towards him, with the pistol in right arm.
"Welcome again, my child. Though you have to kneel when you have an audience with the emperor…"
His speech was cut short, as Zero fired a bullet missing Charles`s head by a few milimiters. "Leave us," the voice beneath the mask spoke to his guards. They complied, reversing out of the room and covering the entrance from enemy forces.
"You are no longer my father, you bastard!"
"You speak boldly, though haven`t you been the one to kill the biggest number of the members of the Royal Family since the Emblem of Blood? You are no better than me." He played around with his words, trying to provoke figure before him.
Zero laughed before him. "I should`ve known that you lost any empathy before. So, to lose all pretenses..." Zero shook his head, as he rose his arm to open the mask.
"It was hard to make this character. Entire 'Zero' façade, every gesture, even the speeches themselves. It never was something I would`ve liked, or even thought about, but did I have a choice?"
Mask in left hand, pistol in right, Charles looked at a person before him. She clearly had some visible modifitacions, which made her legs operable again, as well as more powerful than of normal human.
"After all, you were the one, who allowed my Big Brother to die. You were the reason why he was shot dead in Shinjuku."
Before him stood the person he never believed to be anything higher than a tool to manipulate Lelouch. A girl, who should`ve never be able to see again before the Ragnarok was completed.
"You know, after I lost...or, rather, when I thought we lost Marianne, I never knew I could experience bigger pain than that. Lelouch was, quite literally, my entire world after that. I couldn`t see. Couldn`t walk. My entire existence depended on him. I survived through the invasion because of him. And then, when Japan finally met peace, occupational, disfunctional, unjust peace..." Her eyes were filled with tears, both from longing for her brother and from fury it caused within her. It took her a few seconds to calm herself. Her eyes shot open again, "and exactly then did Britannian Army killed Lelouch."
Charles glanced at her. He knew what she felt, and yet she was so far from understanding why it was for the better!
"I was distraught when he never got home. He was gambling sometimes, and I used to him arriving late, but never did he back down on promises he makes." For some reason, it stirred up his mind, "I even felt something was wrong in the middle of that day. I spoke with his friend, who saw him last time. I`ve sent Sayoko that evening to try and find him from the place he was seen last time. She kept in touch with me, calling once every two hours."
Marianne silently hid behind one of the columns. Gladly, the amount of rubble around it allowed her to bandage her bloodied hand from the impact she got from landing. Only fractured ribs remained a painful nuisance.
Her hand was on her pistol, yet she could lift her firearm on her daughter. Opting to listen to her first, she kept in her position hidden.
"I...I...I remember when she called me. She said only that she found him, and that she will explain everything when she returns. I was sleepless that night. When she finally arrived with his body in her arms, I...I couldn`t help it. I cried for three straight days. I didn`t understand, what he could`ve done to deserve it."
"I hoped to meet Euphemia, Cornelia, my other siblings. But that was before. And when Sayoko investigated his death, when she inspected the bullet that claimed his life and when it was revealed to belong to OSI..." She stopped. Her finger firmly on the trigger, purposefully neglecting any kind of gun safety, taught by Sayoko.
From her point of view, Charles wasn`t a person she should ever care about accidentally killing.
"The fury I had that day even lifted the curse you had placed on me after the death of Marianne. I saw the world again. The world that I never wished to see without him."
'But it was for your safety!' He wanted to say, but find himself unable to counter. As if something was stopping him from it.
"I remember how I met Kallen the next day after his death. When we learned how much we were similar, how different yet so similar in our losses, it brought me to the resistance. Just in two weeks, we reconstructed weak dispersed cells into a single force, capable of changing the entire world, much more than a single Area. In a way, your preaching of Social Darwinism was true – but it was you, who was weak all this time, and not my brother.
I remember how I met Jeremiah afterwards. While before he and many others took off their mourning and fury over Marianne`s assassination upon Japanese, he cut off every connection with Britannia when he learned about Lelouch`s real death. He helped us to raise a truly international insurrection, agitating even the staunchest Britannians to join us. Even Suzaku, whose loyalty was hard to achieve, fell completely to our side as Euphemia learned the truth upon her own investigation."
Oh, he did remember that. Public betrayal of Imperial Princess shook hard the stability within the empire. And for what reasons? She made a show of all of it! Publicly revealing how Britannia was corrupted! How everything it stood for was built upon lies! If only it was the matter of her knight defecting – it`d still be unacceptable. But that? Catastrophic!
It wasn`t strange that afterwards the number of pro-Zero loyalists was growing day by day even among Britannians.
"It was because of you that I became this. In fury, I killed Clovis, after crushing his forces in battle. When Schneizel tried to bring his vision of world united in fear, I killed him without mercy. Entire Geass Order had to be annihilated after I learned about Ragnarok. Nothing that I recall was something I`d ever do before.
I achieved what my brother wanted – created and successfully lead the biggest threat to Britannia it had ever faced, united the world, and brought his ideals to the pedestal of the new world order. Of a world, that will be truly gentle and caring to everybody."
"But I feel nothing. This world, this peace – it wasn`t what I wanted. I never wanted to lose my brother. You forced my hand, forced me to do all of this. And for this – you shall die."
Marianne broke from her stance. Her mind raced on how she could disarm her. Her hand pointed her pistol on Nunnally`s hand, but her legs and broken ribs finally failed her, causing to fall on the ground.
Charles saw Marianne fall, but he was too focused and enraged to even think about anything else than to stop his daughter. She grew too much to be like her equally fanatical brother. But it was too late.
With it, Nunnally Lamperouge pointed her pistol at his chest, before firing all her ammo in Charles, ending this cursed world. The last thing he saw was his surroundings fading into nothing, and of certain manifestation of C`s world approaching him.
AN: Time-travel fics are incredibly common, and perhaps even boring for some of the readers.
Time-travel fics with Charles travelling back are rarer kind of them.
Time-travel fics with Charles travelling back but not with Lelouch is a kind that was impossible for me to find.
Why he was the one to travel? What is the deal with C`s World and why Lelouch did not travelled back? It will be expanded and explained in the next chapters.
I`m waiting for the reviews. In the meantime, there is at least one request to complete and another fic to continue.
UPD(15/05/24): I will probably make this one a priority for some time, as I finally managed to plan out the story the way it will be worth it.