Throne of Glass
Chapter 17: The Day a Demon Emerged Part 2
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Shinjuku Ghetto; 2017 ATB
Explosions rang out as rubble sprayed around their position. He fired a rifle toward the oncoming knightmares, which did little to halt their advance toward him and his friends.
"Another squad is moving up from the south! They got us pinned down!"
Naoto cursed under his breath. Too many knightmares to deal with and not enough firepower to handle half of them. "Use the rpgs to take the two to the right out!" He ordered. The missiles were probably the only way they could take out knightmares, and that was if they were lucky. It required a precise shot to fell a frame with a single rpg round.
His friends fired the rockets directly at the closest knightmare-a Marianne he believed-it didn't really matter. Both of the rounds hit the frame dead on, causing it to lurch back before toppling over. However, their cries of success were quickly drowned out by the gunfire of the machines behind it. Naoto cursed as his allies fell, more than likely dead. But he didn't have time to check. He dove toward the discarded rpg, loading it as fast as he could. Taking aim at the knightmares barreling down on him, he hesitated a moment, before angling away from the enemy right in front of him.
The rocket sailed right in front of the knightmares, falling short of any target. Instead it impacted against a decrepit building. For a painful moment nothing happened, and Naoto feared his plan failed. But a loud crumbling sound followed by the slow descent of the building allowed him to release the breath he was holding. The building crushed the closest knightmare underneath it, as well as effectively cutting off their advance from that side.
"Naoto, to the right!" someone called out, pointing to another few frames advancing on them. They were being boxed in, barely anywhere in the half destroyed apartment they were holed up in was safe from the powerful guns knightmares carried.
Naoto reached for another rpg, before realizing there were none left. "Shit." He muttered, discarding the now useless weapon.
"Get to the center of the building!" He told everyone still fighting "The knightmares won't be able to hit us as easily!"
Sure, they would send infantry after them; but they didn't come here unprepared. They had set up quite well inside. He just hoped a knightmare wouldn't be able to get inside. The result of that would be less than pleasant. Except however, something unexpected happened.
Without warning, the entire Britannian force backed off. Naoto watched confused as the frames simply turned around and back the way they came. He was left even further baffled when a bright green flash swallowed one of the retreating knightmares. Just as quickly the light faded, and the knightmare just stood there. Completely unmoving.
"What the hell…?" He managed, unable to comprehend what just happened. "The Black Knights."
Zero must have shown up, the knightmares were going to fight the real threat. But what about that light? The frame was still just sitting there. And he was pretty sure he could see more of those flashes beyond the rubble as well. What was that all about?
To top it all off, a few soldiers dressed in black armor emerged from around the corner. They nimbly scaled the machine and pried open the cockpit, removing a terrified pilot, then took his place. Then just like that the knightmare drove off as if nothing had ever happened.
"What the hell." He repeated.
"Naoto!" Ohgi called out to him, climbing up the rubble to his position. "What's going on? Why are they retreating?"
"The Black Knights, I imagine." He answered, watching them run off with a Britannian knightmare.
"What are we going to do then?" His friend asked him. "We're pretty beat up here."
"Get a head count, and help the wounded." He instructed.
"Right. Are we going to do anything about the Black Knights?" He hesitated before adding "do you think Kallen is here?"
Naoto narrowed his eyes, watching which way the stolen frame was heading. "I'm going to find out."
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Lelouch was enjoying himself likely more than he should.
They had of course hacked their way into Clovis' communication channels, not that it had been necessary. In fact, it only served as amusement; as he listened to frantic shouts and orders as they desperately tried to figure out what was going on. They never would though, even if they watched with their own eyes what was happening to the knightmares that suddenly disappeared from the radar.
The answer was simple though, as long as you were one of the few who knew what Gefjun technology was. A bright flash coming from below the knightmare would render it utterly useless, before his soldiers moved to commandeer the frame. There wasn't very much Clovis could have done to prepare for what he'd planned, instead his brother all but gift wrapped some seventy Marianne frames and hand delivered them. How considerate; his birthday wasn't till next month.
"Truly, those Gefjun mines are incredible." He congratulated the woman standing beside him. Along with a few others, they stood away from where Clovis had set up his G-1, near a subway tunnel the stolen knightmares were moving in to. Lelouch had of course engineered the landscape of the ghetto to steer Clovis into a particular spot, as well as the rest of his small army. The mines were then placed in accordance to that.
"I have you to thank for encouraging the development." The Indian scientist replied. "And funding it, of course."
"I'd say the results were well worth the price. Especially for this brilliant little thing." He referred to the small handgun he was admiring in his hands. The gun itself was only modified to expand the chamber, simply to accommodate the size of the bullet. A miniature Gefjun disturber shrunk into a single bullet. Though the round had to be fired extremely close to the core of a knightmare-less than two feet from its core luminous-it was capable of taking down a knightmare with a single shot. With a well trained soldier, such a weapon could allow a single infantry to face an entire squadron and knightmares and come out on top. Unfortunately the Gefjun bullets were rather difficult to make, and could only remain powered for fifteen minutes. But in any situation where this was actually used, that was a crucial amount of time. So even still, it was a remarkable weapon he planned to produce in full.
"Sir!" Lelouch heard one of his soldiers call to him, and he looked up from his marvelous toy to see a squad dragging with them a red headed man Lelouch didn't recognize. "We found this one following the knightmares. He says he's from the cell that operated here."
"Is that so?" he replied curiously, eying the Japanese man.
"Naoto!" Kallen hissed angrily, stepping up from behind him. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Oh, so this is your brother." Lelouch commented. Kallen looked a bit more Britannian then he did.
"I told you to get away from here!" she yelled at her older brother, to which he remained stone faced. "How many of you guys were killed because you were too stubborn to listen to common sense?"
"I didn't think you cared anymore Kallen. I mean you didn't bother to check in for some two years after all." Naoto retorted from where he was still restrained.
The younger redhead snorted in response. "Well maybe if you wanted to check up on me you shouldn't have kept pushing me out."
"I was trying to protect you Kallen! This isn't some game, you could be killed!" Naoto told his sister, his own anger showing.
"So you just let me rot with that witch of a stepmother? I'm pretty sure she was more likely to kill me that anything you guys have faced so far!" The two came to an awkward silence, Naoto still kept bound as he glared at Kallen, the look equally returned.
"I must say I am impressed you chose to stay here, rather than run; knowing Clovis was coming at you with far more than you could hope to face. You're either very brave of extremely foolish. Or perhaps it's that old Japanese honor at work." Lelouch mused, grinning beneath his helmet.
Naoto turned away from the staring contest to regard him. "I didn't start a resistance group just to run away the moment Britannia turned to look at me." He said with a serious face. "I knew full well what I was getting into. And I'm not going to abandon what I right for."
He raised as eyebrow at him, though Naoto couldn't actually see the response. "And what might that be?"
"I just want to see a better world than the one we live in. Where people are treated equal, instead of how they were born."
"Interesting to hear a Britannian noble speak of such things." lelouch commented, earning a snicker.
"Half Britannian mind you. That's a weakness those kind don't exactly tolerate." He corrected with a snort.
"That's something I know all too well." Lelouch said. "Tell me, do you know who Marianne vi Britannia is?"
"I know there's a knightmare named after her. And I suppose she was royalty." Naoto answered, frowning. "What's that matter?
Kallen looked at him with a look of confusion as well. She could only guess where he was going with that.
"She was a commoner." He revealed, eliciting surprise from the man. "One who became empress after earning the emperor's favor. And as you said, those kind of people don't like it when that happens. She was assassinated seven years ago. Along with her daughter. But her son lived, exiled to Japan in hopes to get rid of him. A prince with a commoner for a mother, he was hated all his life for it. And they were all too happy to pronounce him dead after the war."
He reached for the back of his mask undoing it with a silent hiss. "I can tell you right now they were wrong."
Naoto straight up with the face of a young Britannian man. Not unlike himself, certainly not Japanese. Was he trying to say that he was…
"I'm going to offer you this one last time: join the Black Knights, and help me create a world where we are not determined our place at Birth. Where the strong do not consume the weak, until there is nothing left. I have lost everything once before, but I intend to take it all back."
Naoto stared dumbly at the man known as Zero. Was he actually a Britannian prince? He of all people shouldn't judge him on that alone, Britannian or not, it was his actions that counted. That was what he was fighting for wasn't it? So maybe, what they wanted was one in the same. Even still… "I refuse to be just some pawn to you. I'm not after revenge, but I know what that does to a person."
"No, you'd be a bishop actually. You're more valuable than that, Naoto Kouzuki. And yes, revenge does do something to a person: It drives them to achieve anything. That is why I created the Black Knights, to take the head of the emperor. And in return, I will give Japan back to its people who helped me do that. That's what you want isn't it? A world free of social Darwinism? Well it's my father who created that world, and it won't change so long as he's still in it."
The exiled prince offered his hand, prompting the soldiers to release Naoto. "So what will it be? Become a Black Knight, and build the new world? Or fight as a nameless terrorist until Britannia finally gets tired of you?"
Naoto stared at Zero's extended hand, genuinely debating his choice. Was he really going to give up his own dream and follow someone else? He fought because he wanted to see people free again, but was he really going to achieve that? With this man, maybe he would. Kallen clearly saw what Naoto refused to believe: that he could not do this alone. For now, he had little choice. It was either throw in his lot or die a worthless death. This way, his life meant something. But he refused to let it be nothing. "I won't be your pawn." He restated. He wasn't going to give up on his own dream.
"you're a natural born leader Naoto, how else did you get some fifty to follow you? All I ask is that you assist me, rather than get in my way."
He let out a sigh, before taking the Britannian's hand. "Fine. I can do that much."
"Good. I'm glad to hear it." He smiled, the gesture devoid of any real happiness. "I could use more people like you really. Someone who understands both sides, having seen them with their own eyes. You know Britannia is flawed, corrupt and diseased; Yet you also know Japan as it was seven years ago, was the same."
"Yeah." Naoto responded, actually agreeing with him. "A sense of 'pride', and 'honor.' That was nothing more than arrogance. I know that. I guess these last few years have been punishment for such boastfulness."
"But now it is time to redeem them. Isn't it?"
Vengeance, redemption, just what was this guy motivated by? If the history he just shared was anything to go by he certainly wanted the emperor's head at least. But this talk of deliverance? It really seemed genuine. It was impossible to figure him out, much less in a single conversation. Except at the same time it felt like he had been completely unraveled by the supposed prince's gaze. Like there was nothing for him to hide. That was probably the most infuriating thing. Maybe allying himself with the Black Knights might just be the best option. But this man made him feel like he was giving everything he had for nothing in return. Which was funny, since he was told a secret that Britannia would kill thousands for. Zero, a prince of their own nation. Well what could he really argue now at this point?
"Yeah, I think so."
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"So we meet at last, Viceroy."
And there he stood, the man who had haunted Clovis for well over a year now. He stood alone, shadows hiding all but a glint of that infamous mask. Though Clovis found it unlikely he'd have much an opportunity to take him down here. There were doubtless dozens of guns trained on him further in the darkness. Not that it really mattered though. He was beyond trying to escape this fate now.
"I've been expecting you Zero. It was so considerate of you to accept my invitation."
"Well now that you have me here, what were you planning on doing?" Zero asked, unmoved from his spot in front of Clovis.
"I was wondering if you might humor me, before you kill me." Clovis told him, completely serious.
"Oh? And how might I do that?" Clovis could clearly hear the amusement in his voice, even if it was synthesized.
"Why do you fight Britannia? Something that seems so impossible and yet you risk your life and the lives of all those who follow you to do so. Why is that?" If he was going to turn over his life to this man, he wanted to make sure it was for the right reasons.
"For a free Japan. Why else?"
Well he was certainly trying to be humorous. "That may be true, if you were Japanese."
The masked terrorist laughed. An eerie, almost threatening sound. "And you believe I'm not?"
"No, I don't." Clovis answered. "If you were, killing David Vincent would have come with a demand for Japan's liberation, not a declaration of war. You don't want to see Japan free, you want to see Britannia burn."
"And what does it matter what I want? Japan's freedom will come one way or another. And Britannia will pay for it's sins as I promised. Either way, you'll be dead long before any of those things happen." Zero said.
"Is it Britannia's sins-or the sins of it's emperor?" Clovis asked.
"It's a sin just to allow it." Zero spat, a sudden venom in his tone. "To eagerly accept it to the point of coveting it."
Clovis gave a hollow laugh of his own. "You're right. Britannia and it's people are guilty. The weak devour the strong until there is nothing left. And of that I'm just as guilty. I stood by and merely watched just like everyone else. I failed every single time when I was given a chance to stand against it." He grit his teeth. Whether it was the words spoken or simply some form of self reflection near the end of his life, he came to realize something. "All my life I have failed to do something right. I couldn't even save him, after years of trying."
Clovis said it only to himself, but that didn't stop his audience from hearing it.
"Save who?" Zero asked.
"My brother." Clovis told him, surprised he would even tell him. But it didn't make any difference, so why not. "I became Viceroy because I thought I might find him here, because I knew he was still alive. But even in that I failed."
There was silence after that, and Clovis looking down at his feet through tears beginning to form. How pathetic of him. If he'd looked up however, he would have seen Zero begin to visibly shake. Just before he heard him speak.
"You came here...to find me?"
...What? Did he hear that right? Did he really say that?! "It can't be…" he whispered. But before he could confirm it, Zero-no, he interrupted him.
"Why would you do that?!" He demanded, losing the condescending composure he once held. "Why would you try to find me?! I was your enemy, just for being an heir to the throne! That's how it works...that's how that world works. So why?!"
Now Clovis could clearly see it. He never found him because he didn't want to be found. He hated them, because of what they did him. It was no secret what really happened to Marianne and her children. They all just pretended to go along with the public story. Lelouch had every right to hate them, but it did nothing to change how Clovis felt.
"Because you are my brother." He answered with complete sincerity.
"That's why you should want me dead! I stand in the way of your progress! Those of equal ground have to fight each other until one shows weakness, then it's all the same, where the strong consumes them!" His brother was beginning to sound hysterical. It was funny, being the one about to die, and it was he who felt pity.
"And is it wrong to reject that kind of world?" Clovis asked, oddly calm in the situation. "Father cares not for us. Not for any of us, even the ones who are useful to him. He'd sooner see us all kill each other out right and it would make no difference to him. In his eyes, he is the strongest. And that means everyone else is weak. And what do the strong do to the weak?" That was the reality they faced, the path they were headed down. Everyone was comfortable so long as there was prey to feed upon below them. As long as they felt above someone else, so they could look down on them and feel superior. Even if there was someone above even them, looking for a ripe meal to choose. It wouldn't really happen to them or anyone they knew after all. Even if it did, they just ignored it. A society like that of wild animals. Humanity really was nothing better than that. And to think Darwinism was a science of 'evolution'. Humanity didn't evolve, it just perfected what everything less had already been doing. Clovis himself had wholeheartedly accepted such a world. He was so near the top wasn't he? But not high enough, he eventually realized.
"Something has to change." Clovis said. "You see that. You see that killing our father is the only way to change it. Nothing short of that will change anything."
Oh how he wished he could see his face, see the kind of man he became. Lelouch was always far more gifted, far superior to him. Life wasn't fair though was it. "So I only ask this of you: when you finally kill the bastard, put in a word for me as well."
It was a long time before any of them moved. Lelouch stood silent, and Clovis couldn't begin to imagine what he was thinking. He never could.
"I'm sorry Clovis." His brother broke the silence, delivering words that filled him with sadness. He watched however as Lelouch instead removed the helmet of Zero. Revealing a surprisingly familiar face. Hidden in plain sight it seemed.
He removed something from his eyes, and looked up at him with the brilliant amethyst befitting true royalty. Just something else Lelouch had that he did not. "But you're going to have to remind me, when that day does come."
Clovis blinked. Was he serious about that? But why would he do such a thing? "But what could I possibly have to offer you? You have to know what kind of position I'm in! I can't help you at all, in fact I'd be more trouble than I'm worth." the last thing he wanted to do was bog him down. Even if, deep down it was what he always wanted.
"Because you are my brother." Lelouch answered, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "And I'm not about to lose more of my family."
Clovis was dumbstruck. He could hardly believe what he was hearing, it was definitely the last way he was expecting this day to end. "But Cornelia is coming in less than two weeks. I'll be completely powerless when that happens. I can't do anything to help you." He argued.
"Quite the contrary. I think you might be just what I need to best Cornelia. All we need is just a little more time." His younger brother countered, a more feral grin quickly showing.
"And time is exactly what we don't have." Clovis reminded him. A year was beyond generous. There was no way in hell he could extend that.
That grin of his was rather terrifying, even now. "Cornelia is the emperor's attack dog isn't she? All we need to do is throw her a bigger bone."
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Viceroy's Palace; 2017 ATB
Clovis returned from Shinjuku utterly exhausted. He collapsed in his chair feeling like he was in a dream. It was all too surreal, and nothing felt real.
Lelouch spun this master plan right before his eyes, delivering a way where Clovis could actually come out alive, and his brother one step closer to achieving his dream. He still couldn't believe he was willing to give up as much as he would be just to save him. Even if he justified it five times over. Things felt like they were crazy a year ago, but they were about to get far more so.
He was still trying to comprehend the days events, Harold expecting anything like this to happen. To think Lelouch had been planning all this since he was ten. He built an army of his own backed by a self sufficient nation right under his nose, it was unbelievable. And very soon that army was going to start a real war. Clovis had somehow managed to land himself right in the thick of it. But he was glad he would actually be given a way to do something, after feeling so helpless for so long.
It suddenly came to him that It felt oddly quiet here. After actually returning alive that witch was bound to be nagging him. Just where did she go? It didn't matter, he was grateful to just sit in silence, thinking of what was to soon come.
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Ashford Mansion; 2017 ATB
A thousand thoughts tore through Lelouch's mind in a fraction of a second. All the possibilities, the opportunities opened up to him. How fortunate he was today! Things were going far, far better than he could have possibly hoped for. And yet, another thought kept returning, screaming louder than all the others. A fear that refused to go away no matter how many justifications he through at it.
Was he too weak after all?
He spent years preparing himself. Not just his army and his nation, but his own mind. Preparing for the day when he would face his own father, and kill him. He had to be stronger than any man alive in order to win. He had to overcome the system set in place by that man in order to truly win. It wasn't enough to just kill him-he had to beat him. Devour him and wholly consume everything he was.
And now he wasn't sure if he could. If he couldn't kill Clovis today, how could he possibly take his father's life?
And what of Cornelia? Was he going to come face to face with her just to find he couldn't consume her either? Was he really still so weak?
"Nunnally." He whispered to himself. "I thought I gave those things up."
His love, his compassion, joy and happiness.
His weakness.
Was it not enough?
"I thought you might be in here."
He barely even looked up to see who had disturbed him, he wasn't really in the mood for conversation. "What are you doing Kaguya?" He asked flatly.
"I bet I can guess what's going through your head right about now." she stated matter of factly.
He raised an eyebrow at her, looking up at her through his fallen bangs.
"You're afraid that you still care."
His eyes widened and he stared at her. She was right. Of course she was. He thought he gave up these things, becoming what he needed to in order to avenge his mother and sister. Nothing else mattered. But now he was afraid he couldn't even do that much.
"It's not a bad thing you know. It just means you're strong enough to admit you aren't perfect. Because try as you might: you're not. You can't do this on your own, but that's why we're here. Me, Suzaku, Todoh, even Kallen." She added the last name with odd irritation in her voice. "That's what makes you different from him, for your father. You accept others' help, even if you don't show it."
"What if I can't do it?" He asked her weakly. "What if I can't kill him?"
"Then we'll be there to make sure you do. You're not alone, not anymore." She answered with a smile.
It took his some time to eventually respond, still trying to decide if she was right or not. "Thank you, Kaguya." was all he could say.
"It's what I'm here for." She chirped. "Anytime you need me."
And with that she left, leaving Lelouch to continue brooding, although somewhat calmer than he was before.
Accepting the strength of others, rather than consuming them? He guessed that was what he was trying to create. He was just so absorbed in the current world he forgot that. Perhaps...perhaps he could beat the emperor not by becoming stronger in his own philosophy, but by casting it aside and proving him wrong without it.
Is that enough, Nunnally?
He heard more footsteps approaching him, only slightly irritated that Kaguya would actually come back for more. No one else would dare approach him like this.
"What is it now, Ka-" He looked up, it wasn't her. He sprang up, brandishing a knife in a split second. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" He demanded of the woman who casually entered his room.
She smirked at him, earning a vicious glare. "You seek power, Lelouch vi Britannia? Power greater than that of any man who walks this earth?"
He narrowed his eyes at the mysterious woman, slightly intrigued by her words. He lowered his weapon as she boldly came to stand mere inches from his face.
"I can grant you that power."
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Oh boy, things are looking good. And just like that we have started the official canon timeline. Although, this is actually a couple months later than canon. Around November. Looking at dates on the wikia Shinjuku occurred in mid August. (Using Clovis' death.) There's kind of a reason for this, but not a really big one. I'm only saying as much because people have asked about it.
Anyhow, thanks for reading.