A/N: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to a fellow author and recently-made friend of mine, The Sage of Toads. When you're done leaving your review here, please give his stories "Legends: A Story of Lies" a read!
G-1 Mobile Fortress, en route to Shinjuku...
"What do you mean, 'you lost them in the chaos of an explosion'?! You dare to call yourselves the Royal Guard?!"
General Aspirius Bartley was, at that moment, feeling a mix of emotions: indignation, embarrassment, and mortal dread.
The Imperial Viceroy's Royal Guard Captain, on the other end of the communications line, stuttered and started in the face of the General's wrath. "Well, the explosion was-"
Bartley couldn't have been less interested. "Imbeciles! Why do you think I only told you about this?! Continue the investigation!"
Several meters behind him, Clovis la Britannia considered the massive computer screen's tactical display of the situation in Shinjuku... and made a decision with consequences the like of which he could never have imagined. "...move the operation into the second phase."
Bartley turned back to face the Prince in alarm, the monocle nearly falling off of his face from the action. "Your Highness, doesn't that seem a bit rash?! I'm certain that we can still salvage this situation without a need for escalati-"
"If word of this gets back to the Homeland, I'll be disinherited." Clovis's tone was firm, but not heartless with his subordinate. "Worse, everything we've spent the last eight years striving for will have been for nothing, and any hope born from our endeavors will be lost."
Bartley clenched his fists, many emotions clearly warring within him as he considered the Prince's words. After several seconds, the General bowed his head. "...I understand, Your Highness."
"When the homeland asks, inform them that we're simply moving ahead on scheduled urban development," Clovis began before he stood and faced his entire command staff. Eyes glinting with the force of a great and terrible resolve, he swept an arm out before him and declared - "Now, as Third Prince of the Empire, Clovis la Britannia commands you: flatten Shinjuku Ghetto to the ground, and every Number in it!"
Within seconds of his decree, heavy demolitions and artillery forces began sweeping into Shinjuku Ghetto...
"...supposing that I offered you the power to change the world, Private Kururugi..."
The interior lights of the medical trailer gleam and glint off of Lloyd's glasses as he looks at me, that coy smile on his face like always. "What would you say to that?"
I... I'm going to change the world!
The memory of Suzaku's silent vow on the hill that day echoes to the front of my heart, even as I remember so many scenes from the anime of the incredible power that Knightmare possesses.
And the literal key to it all, right there in Lloyd's hand! With that, I can make this life mean something! I'll follow Suzaku's path as he wished, but with everything I saw in the anime, I can learn from the mistakes he and Lelouch made and use that knowledge to pave a better road for everyone!
Euphemia... Shirley... Lelouch...! I can change the future of this world into one where so many people don't have to die!
...damn I'm thirsty though, good thing there's a cup of Sprite here OH GOD THAT'S WATER I HATE WATER WHY IS SUZAKU'S BRAIN TELLING ME IT LIKES WATER-
We're not cavemen dammit, to have no other choice for survival but the most basic of options, I think as I swallow it down. Ugh. ...oh, right, Lloyd asked me a question. "When can I start?"
Come to think of it... if I can find Lulu's Sutherland and force him to make a beeline for Clovis early instead of taking time to chew through the rest of his forces, that should end the battle early and save at least some percentage of innocent Japanese that would've been otherwise been slaughtered. It might not be a huge difference, but it's a start.
"Oh we won't be able to deploy you until His Highness the Viceroy orders it," Lloyd admits with a put-upon sigh... before it morphs into a manic grin! "-but there's no reason we can't get you familiar with your new equipment in the meantime!"
"Sounds like a plan," I say with a nod, hop off the bed and then agony itself TEARS THROUGH MY SIDE-
"Mr. Suzaku!"
Through sheer force of will, I force down the scream of pain and stop it from escaping... but before I know it, I've got someone next to me holding me up and supporting my weight.
"You were found with a gunshot wound," a soothing voice explains from almost in my ear. "Even though we've cleaned and treated it, you're still injured. Please take it easy, okay?"
Fuck... okay, yeah, now I remember that douchebag sergeant shooting me back when Suzaku and I were with Lelouch.
"The last thing I'd want," I start saying as I turn to to the person holding me up, "is for your hard work to go... to... waste..."
...god damn son of a bitch, up close like this Cecile's even more beautiful than I thought earlier. Those big, lovely silver eyes gazing at me with concern, the curve of her lips as she starts to smile-
Aaahhhhh she's touching me! This amazing incredible beautiful woman is touching me! The fucking highest point of my life is right now!
Then I notice something soft pressed against me, and looking down - holy crap, her chest is bigger than the uniform makes it look!
...and then I realize I'm probably staring like a loser, and forcibly drag my eyes back up to where I know hers are. "I, ah... I'll make sure to be careful, Miss Cecile!"
She smiles (ah~, my heart keeps skipping beats!), overlooking my woman-crazy foolishness, and helps steady me back onto my own feet.
"Although I do find it curious," Lloyd drawls as the ceiling lights reflect once more off his glasses, "that the dosage of painkillers we gave you has apparently already worn off. Tell me, Private, do you still expect that you can pilot in your condition?"
...
Oh, right, I was shot. Nice of Lloyd to remind me again after I got distracted. "Yes, absolutely." Or at least, Suzaku did it in the anime, and if I can't take this chance to attach myself to the Lancelot as its pilot, then I'm gonna be shit out of luck on getting anywhere in this new life.
"Honestly," I think out loud, "I'm actually kind of surprised the injury isn't any worse than it is."
"It surprised us too," Cecile admits as she produces something wrapped up in a neckerchief. "It seems this watch stopped the bullet and kept it from penetrating nearly as much as it could have."
Oh, right, the watch: Suzaku's final keepsake of his father. Just from looking at it, I can feel the mix of pride Suzaku felt when Genbu gave it to him... and bitter disillusionment that tarnished that pride, culminating in the bitter rage and loss accompanying his murder. ...honestly, if it were me, I'm not sure I'd be strong enough to keep holding onto to something like that.
"Although," Cecile continues with a soft smile, "it doesn't seem to be completely broken."
...wait, what?
Sure enough, even though the pocketwatch is cracked and dented all to hell, the second-hand keeps trying to tick forward, before it skips back and repeats itself.
Almost like it wants to move forward but doesn't remember how - wait, why did I just think that?
"You Elevens believe that Gods reside in every little thing, don't you? It seems you missed out on your chance to go to Heaven." Lloyd's smile and tone are absolutely mocking... but less of Suzaku's race, and more directed at the Shinto beliefs and superstitions he's referring to.
"...if there is any such thing as a God in that watch," I mutter as much to myself as Lloyd, "I'd really be surprised if it's looking out for me."
Shooting her Glasgow's sole remaining slash harken into yet another military helicopter, Kallen Kozuki let her tears flow freely, using her grief and despair as a whetstone to further sharpen her fighting instincts.
"Damn Britannians... you took away our country...!"
Stealing the assault rifle from a fallen Sutherland, she turned and used the Glasgow's landspinners to quickly dart to the side before opening fire on a rocket that had been fired at her, detonating it before it could get close enough to threaten her.
"You took away our pride and our identity...!"
Counting up the sins of her enemy, Kallen continued darting across the battlefield as heavy artillery flew through the skies, obliterating buildings and causing them to collapse onto the street or even nearby structures.
She couldn't make herself focus on the carnage again. Not after she'd already seen more than a few of her fellow Japanese hurl themselves through skyscraper windows, having evidently chosen death on the pavement as preferable to being crushed amidst the collapsing building.
"And now, you turn the Shinjuku ghettos into a parking lot?!"
Coming across a Britannian infantry team that was scouting another city block for demolition - as had been going on for close to an hour - Kallen pulled the trigger on them with a scream, reducing them in turn to blood spatters on the ground. "I can't... I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"
"Kallen, pull back! We're completely outgunned and outmatched - the only hope left is to fight another day!"
Turning her Glasgow to face a trio of approaching Sutherlands that had just emerged from behind a fallen building, Kallen opened fire and tore through the armor of one, mission-killing it before retreating behind cover. "Understood, Ohgi! I'll draw their fire so the rest of you can escape!"
"Dammit Kallen," Ohgi swore on the radio, "that's not what I meant and you know it! We've already lost too much today. We can't afford to lose you too!"
Gritting her teeth as she led her damaged Glasgow to dance between the ever-shifting rubble, Kallen found a moments' safety in the ruins of a parking garage. Twisting the cap off a water bottle and chugging a third of it, she took a deep breath before addressing her handheld radio. "I've got things under control!"
The Glasgow's energy fillers were fast approaching critical, more Sutherlands were starting to emerge and box her in, and her stolen gun had jammed after her previous kill.
"I'll be fine!"
Kallen wouldn't be fine. Her parents were empty husks in the shape of people, her stepmother a vile bitch. Her brother had sacrificed himself to bring their group the information that had led to the day's operation, and had now spiraled into a waking nightmare of missile fire and crumbling buildings. All she could see in her grief was the determination to take as many Britannian bastards down with her.
Raising up her water bottle to pour some on her head in an attempt to cool off, Kallen's hands were off the controls for one critical second as a Sutherland peeked into her hiding place.
"FUCK!"
Just as the Sutherland raised its weapon to fire on her, however... it was promptly shoulder-tackled to the ground by another one, and then the cockpit torn through a short burst of gunfire at point-blank range.
Even as Kallen trained her jammed-up weapon on him as a bluff, her pounding heart almost in her throat, nothing else happened for the next several seconds as she and this apparent... Traitor Sutherland regarded each other.
Who the hell is this guy?! Even if he had some crisis of conscience or whatever that made him turn traitor, there's only so much one pilot can do, so what the hell is-
The Traitor Sutherland turned to face her, then, and lowered its weapon... before extending its open hand to her Glasgow.
"...huh?"
It was just a normal, mass-production Sutherland, completely unremarkable or indistinguishable from any other in the world. And yet standing over its brother machine's still-smoking remains, hand extended... it somehow seemed to Kallen as if it were ten times its size, larger than life in every way.
She heard an unfamiliar voice, then, and two things immediately struck her - first, that is wan't coming from the Glasgow's onboard communications, but actually her handheld radio! This mystery pilot stood out like a sore thumb, their Japanese quite good but colored with an obvious Britannian accent; clearly not a part of her group, and yet he was using their private communications band to contact with her.
Second, she noticed that the speaker's tone was one of supreme confidence, and beneath that Kallen could feel a deep, burning fury that struck a chord with her.
In her confusion and consternation, Kallen then realized she'd been too busy analyzing the voice to actually notice what he'd said.
"Wh... what did you say?"
Undaunted by the need to repeat himself, the Speaker said, "If you have any wish to see Britannia punished for their crimes... if you want to claim any kind of victory today, then all you have to do is follow my instructions."
His declaration was completely absurd. That he could say that so casually, like beating Britannia would be as simple as moving the sofa into a different room and all he needed was another person to lift the other end... "Punish Britannia...? Victory?! That's a fucking joke, right?! Why should I follow orders from some clown who just comes out of nowhere talking like he's hot shit?!"
The Traitor Sutherland's hand didn't waver, and when next he spoke, the confidence was bolstered with... a great deal of amusement.
"Tell me, then... what other choice do you have?"
Back at the Britannian G-1 Base...
Since I opened my eyes, one thing after another has been either recognizing things and people from the anime, or Suzaku knowing something despite my not recognizing it.
Honestly, two sets of memories - two mutually exclusive lives... reconciling them's been awkward. And given that the bits and pieces of Suzaku's memories flitting into my mind don't seem to be going in any particular kind of order? Lemme tell ya, that doesn't make it any easier.
In the meantime, though, I'm just sitting in the Lancelot's cockpit, getting myself familiar with its controls and taking a chance to read up on Lloyd's operation manual.
And I have to say, it's a good thing thing they gave me the manual to read, because I was almost too distracted by how amazing and pretty Cecile is to pay attention when Lloyd was talking about half of this stuff earlier!
I hope you don't plan on letting that become a habit...
Oh, heya Suzaku! I didn't expect to hear from you again... well... ever.
From within my head, I have the impression of Suzaku letting out a sigh of exasperation. I wasn't exactly expecting to be having a conversation again, either. It seems like instead of fusing together, all we did was change places.
I mull that over for a moment, and shake our head. Yes, I'm in the driver's seat now, but I can't agree that that's the only thing to have changed. Well, actually... it's getting hard for me to distinguish 'your' memories as being different from 'mine', Suzaku. And judging by that baffled discomfort I can feel in your heart, I'm betting it's the same for you?
...you might be right, Suzaku admits after a moment. But more importantly, I can't believe you spent an entire hour ogling Miss Cecile!
Hey, I wasn't ogling!
I feel, more than see, the image of Suzaku giving me the flattest, most unimpressed damn stare of all time. Whenever she or Earl Asplund had their attention elsewhere, you were staring at Miss Cecile's chest through her uniform. And when it wasn't her chest, it was her behind or her legs. And the whole time, you were fantasizing about how she'd look in her underwear beneath her uniform!
When you're in the presence of a Goddess, Suzaku? That's the time for worship!
You're a shameless pervert, Suzaku mentally growls in annoyance.
Yes, I metaphorically nod in agreement, but you should also be able to recognize that I'm never going to actually act on it. I mean, even if I'm running your body now... I'm still just me inside. Who the heck's ever gonna go for that, aside maybe from gold diggers who just want an extra paycheck? Any woman I might ever care for deserves so much better than someone like me - which of course goes more than triple for a lady as kind, classy, intelligent, beautiful, and otherwise amazing as Cecile.
There's a long, extended silence from the other side of my soul, before Suzaku starts... chuckling?
Hehehe. Is this what it's like? Hahahahaha, oh man, I... I actually get it now!
As sad, bitter laughter echoes across our shared headspace, I feel as though Suzaku's looking at me with an expression I know I've worn at least once or twice... watching some of his scenes from the anime.
This contempt and disgust at watching someone put themselves down, sabotaged by their own insecurities and self-doubt. Being so angry that you want to slap the stupidity out of that person and make them realize they're not half as worthless or evil as they claim they are - people in your world, where mine is just a cartoon. This is how people look at me, isn't it?
...well, I'm sure at least some people do - hold the fuck up Suzaku, are you calling me an angsty idiot?!
How does that saying go? If the shoe fits...
This from the guy who literally offered to kill himself so I could enjoy living the rest of his life, so long as I took up his legacy?
Suzaku's response is as immediate as it is vehement!
Yes, from that very same man! And it's also the reason why I'm more qualified than anyone in the world to call you out on your shit -
Abruptly, he stops, and I feel a sense of confusion from him.
...I just realized. I don't have a name for you.
...huh. I guess I never did actually introduce myself.
I guess you can call me One.
There's a momentary pause, and then I feel Suzaku let out a chuckle. What, taken from one of your online usernames? Or a joke on the idea that operating our body makes you Player One now?
...no. Even if Suzaku technically handed his body to me, as long as he's still alive, I think it still more appropriately belongs to him. And if my involvement gets him to appreciate and enjoy his life instead of hating it, wouldn't that be even better?
No, I wouldn't think of myself as Player One. More like... your plus one.
I can feel his confusion from the unexpected term. 'Plus one'?
Yeah, a plus one. Like when somebody mails you an invitation to a party and it says, 'plus one'. Unless something else happens, it looks like I'm your plus one for life.
At that time, before Suzaku can try to wrap his head around the idea, a girl's voice startles us out of our conversation. "Hey, who authorized you to be in there?!"
I turn up to look at the technician standing over me on the catwalk, and the first thing I notice is that she's damn cute. A Britannian girl wearing the same technician uniform as Cecile, with dark red hair in dual-ponytails draped over her shoulders, bangs split in the middle of her forehead that elegantly frame her face, smaller-than-average chest for Code Geass...
She seems so familiar, though, but where have I - holy shit, Mariel Lubie? But... but she and Cecile exist in mutually exclusive universes, so what the fuck is -
Mariel blinks, "Eh? You know my name?"
...shit, I must've been so surprised that I said her name out loud, when Suzaku shouldn't know it yet!
The redhead peers at me carefully, leaning over the railing, before suddenly her eyes go wide with... recognition? "Hang on, you're that cadet from two years ago, aren't you! Back in Akihabara?"
Akihabara?! Two years before now? I don't know anything about any of this!
Suzaku, for his part, makes an "aha!" sort of noise in my brain - That's right, I ran after a purse snatcher for three blocks, and then when I came back to return it to the owner, law enforcement personnel had finally shown up...
As Suzaku keeps reminiscing, I can see the memories of the event in question flit across the space between our consciousnesses.
"...it took almost ten minutes of you arguing with the Knightpolice before they finally decided not to just arrest me and call it a day," I mutter in surprise and... honestly, a little awe. "Oh! Uh, thanks for that, by the way. If not for you, I'm sure I would've-"
"Oh don't worry about that," she says with a wave of her hand and a smile. "Even when everyone else in that street just stood back and watched without a care, you heard me cry out for help and did everything you could to help me. Thank you... my knight in shining armor."
She says that with a wink and a beaming smile, and... gaaahhhh, she's just too cute! I think I'm falling in love! "U-um, Suzaku! ...my name, I mean. Private Suzaku Kururugi."
...you're an embarrassment, Suzaku mutters from inside my head. And you barely even have a clue of what love is. You're just overreacting to a girl being nice to you!
Oh yeah?! Well, uh... alt-universe you ate rice from straight off the corner of Lelouch's mouth, I say in return to shut him up.
Mariel, for her part, thinks over our previous words for a second. "Private, huh? If Lloyd's going to have you transferred to work with us as the Lancelot's pilot, then you're probably going to get a promotion just for the required security clearance."
Yeah, doesn't get Suzaku get bumped up to Warrant Officer in both Rebellion and Counterattack continuities? Ugh, I hope Mariel's the only curveball like this we get, otherwise this whole 'mix-and-match universe' thing is gonna be a real pain in the ass...
You do realize, Suzaku asks, that the more we act on what you know, the less reliable it will become... right?
Well, it's not like we can realistically stop Cornelia from attacking resistance bases, or stop Lelouch from becoming Zero. Not without killing them, anyway - which neither of us want to do.
...honestly, Suzaku mutters with a sigh of frustration and a little despair, we probably do need Lelouch as an outside force. Not to obliterate Britannia, but to challenge it enough to inspire doubt and create openings in its zeitgeist for the change we have in mind.
The old hammer and anvil approach, huh? I wonder which one that makes us...
From Suzaku, I feel grim resolve. The anvil. Lelouch can hammer on Britannia all he likes and even smash it apart if he has to... but it's our responsibility not to break or bend from the pressure if we're going to shape it properly.
Fucking hell, ain't it just my luck to always get the hard part of the job...!
If-
"If we don't do it, who the fuck will?" Yeah dude, chill out, I know. I've got that song and dance long past memorized...
I get a funny little feeling from the part of my consciousness where Suzaku seems to be, and... is that acceptance?
...I guess you do. Is he smiling, there? It almost feels like he's smiling...
"So," I turn my attention back to Mariel and ask, "what do you do around here?"
I mean, it seems a little redundant if she and Cecile have the same role as Lloyd's assistant...
Mariel blinks at the question and smiles... I guess she's pleased that I'm taking an interest. "Oh, I work on the Lancelot's bleeding-edge sensors and software. If Lloyd sent you here than you've probably met Cecile too, right? She's more on the physics and engineering side of things. ...although, I don't know if it's been decided who's going to be managing the pilot data yet?"
"So when reliable and accurate factsphere data pulls my bacon out of the fire," I ask with a little grin, "I'll have you to thank for it? It's good to know that ahead of time."
The redhead on the catwalk blinks, before she coughs and turns away a little awkwardly. What, did I say something wro- oh wait. I do have the air conditioning in here turned up pretty high to balance out against the ambient heat from the computers and machinery, so maybe she caught a blast from it and got a bit of a chill?
You... don't even have a clue what you're doing. Do you?
...why does he sound so annoyed with me all of a sudden?
What? I want her to like us, so of course I'm giving her credit where it's gonna be due! And it's not like I'm saying anything I don't actually mean, so what's the problem?
I imagine Suzaku heaving a sigh of frustration and says, You're using what you agreed earlier was my body... to flirt. With a cute Britannian lady. Do you see the potential problem?
...Suzaku, I'm not flirting. I'm lightheartedly teasing her in the same way that she did earlier with the 'knight in shining armor' joke to show I'm on the same page, hopefully leading to a mutual camaraderie and a positive work environment. As to the racial subtext you brought up... wouldn't acting like a heartless bastard and being unrelentingly rude and hateful to her be even worse? It's not like I'm even being all that familiar with her! Besides... even if the one universe I know her from presents her as your love interest, I'M the one she's talking to right now. What the hell could she possibly see in me?
I feel as if Suzaku is struggling violently with himself over how to express what's on his mind, and eventually he grits out a surprisingly livid growl.
You... dense... motherfucker.
Takes one to know one - wait, since when the fuck do YOU even swear, Suzaku?!
Since you took up residence in my head, apparently!
Before we can talk any further, the alert klaxon goes off and I hear Lloyd's voice coming from the Lancelot's internal comms suite. "Private Kururugi," he drawls, "we've finally been called on to serve our glorious Empire in battle. Do be a good devicer and show off our Lancelot, hm~?"
Cecile's voice is on next. "I'll be overseeing and coordinating mission data, Suzaku."
"Understood, Miss Cecile." Taking a second to confirm the readings on Lancelot's instrument clusters, I add, "All safety and operational checks show green on my end."
So I guess this puts Mariel on maintenance behind the scenes, then- "Hey," the girl in question says with a smile, "let's talk again sometime after you come back. Alright?"
"Yeah, I'd like that Miss Marie-"
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS FAST
"Only my superiors and my papa call me Mariel," she says with utmost seriousness and a pointer finger just centimeters away from jabbing me between the eyes. "That's Elle to you, alright?"
...heh, I guess I can at least count on some things to remain consistent with one canon or another. "I'll make sure to remember that. Alright, Elle?"
Elle offers one last smile, before hopping back out of the cockpit and onto the catwalk as Cecile's voice came over the onboard communications. "Initial startup, perceiving from phase twenty..."
From there, we go through the Lancelot's startup procedures, and as everything fully powered up I feel sort of a... pins and needles sensation start to crawl up and down my body, just under my skin. "Yggdrasil Resonance confirmed," Cecile intoned.
...hey, Suzaku. I just realized something.
Hm?
Even after reading what I could of the manual, and even though I'm getting flashes of your memories and experience?
Yes?
I HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE HOW TO OPERATE A GIANT MECHA! MUCH LESS FIGHT IN ONE!
I get the impression of a sigh, then, from Suzaku's side of our... consciousness, and his response is an exasperated-
Then just let me take control again, and watch how it's done from the back seat.
...oh. Duh. Fucking obvious. Although, how do I-
Almost before I can finish that thought, all of my senses kind of get dull for a second... before going back to normal as the tingling sensation passes, Suzaku moves our hand to adjust the air conditioning a bit. Hey...!
In another few minutes we'd have gotten cold.
...okay, yeah, I guess.
"Rejection Response fluctuating... momentary spike, now falling off and stabilizing. Devicer's Stress Response, eight percent higher than expected- falling within expected parameters. ...Suzaku," the bluenette angel asks in concern, "are you alright?"
"There was a bit of a tingling feeling," Suzaku says while shaking our head, "but it's passed now."
"Let's be sure to keep a close eye on that moving forward," Lloyd mutters, sounding so obviously interested that for a second I can't help but wonder if he's drooling. "To be on the safe side, we'll run you through some tests once the operation's complete."
Safe side? More like avoiding the hassle of needing to look for a replacement pilot.
"Status of back-up tactical bank," Lloyd continues, "authorized. Secondary confirmation, given."
And with that signal, I felt a spark of excitement race through Suzaku - and, hell, me too! Now if only we had some kickass music, like 'Gundam Shutsugeki', 'HEATS', or 'Dividing Driver'...!
Suzaku leans the machine forward into a three-point stance, eyes focused on the path forward as our hangar door opens up. "Lancelot, activating ME-boost."
Cecile makes the call of destiny, just as I finally figure out the perfect song!
"Z-01 Lancelot, launch!"
MIAGETA! OOZORA GA AOKU SUMIKITTE YUKU!
With a fierce rumbling, the Lancelot races forward on its landspinners, the terrain around us blazing by almost too fast for me to process details through Suzaku's eyes!
TOZASHITA MADO WO HIRAKU KOTO WO KIMETAAAA!