August 27th, 2018. Hiroshima docks, evening.

Lloyd Asplund stared up at the cloudy evening sky, seeing no appeal in the red sun sinking into the horizon and having already lost interest in his ever-so-limited access to Princess Maribelle's airship the Grandberry.

"I must confess I'm quite surprised at you, Lloyd. I thought you were the type to hate sentimental moments like this… nevermind that asking to speak with me alone out here seems wildly out of character."

"I suppose it does," he admitted while idly kicking at an empty pudding cup at his feet.

Catching the noise the little plastic made as it scooted against the concrete beneath them, Cecile started to bend down and grab for it in exasperation –

"Don't bother, I'll pick it up before I leave."

"Lloyd, that's completely irresponsible. It might be calm right now, but you must realize that the wind could pick up at any moment–"

"You'll be joining Kururugi on the Grandberry. Officially, it's to supervise last-second maintenance and repairs on the Lancelot. Unofficially," he said with an annoyed twitch in his eye and a tenseness in his jaw, "it's so you can keep an eye on him in particular… the sheer gall of that boy, do you know what he said to me earlier?!"

Cecile stood back and crossed her arms, the bluenette completely baffled as to what their test pilot might have possibly said or done to offend their boss as much as he appeared to be. "Well, I'm certain it wasn't any sort of complaint about your engineering," she began. "And I can't imagine anyone making you feel shame about shirking your administrative responsibilities… so no, I haven't any idea at all."

Pacing back and forth with his arms flailing around, Lloyd snapped, "He asked me for life advice of all things!"

Before Cecile could start to laugh at what an absurd joke he was telling, the lead scientist's veneer of anger evaporated into sheer, unadulterated panic. "Called me the closest thing he had to a male role model! Me! Me, of all people! Organizational administration is one thing, but I never asked for that kind of responsibility – spent my entire adult life doing my damnedest to dodge any such thing, and I've every intent to be rid of it! You understand people, I need you to fix that boy so–"

"So his expectations won't pressure you to try bettering yourself as a person?"

Lloyd beamed at his coworker, completely uncaring of her raised eyebrow. "That's exactly right, you've always been quick to understand the assignment! I'm already progressing the cause of scientific advancement and quite comfortable with myself–"

Cecile sighed, letting the white-haired noble lie to himself as much as he liked. "You're a walking disaster in your own way, sir."

"Be that as it may," the silver-haired scientist sniffed, "I can't do my best work when I'm beset with bothersome petty moral quandaries. And once I've seen that our pet devicer is properly debugged, I'll be certain to lavish you with a nice pay raise too, hm?"

Cecile crossed her arms, considering the offer. She had every intention of taking the opportunity for some possible time with Suzaku, such as it was, and the desire to help him as best she could… but a convenient moment like this just didn't come along every day. "A general salary raise of twenty percent, and overtime compensation scaled to double an equivalent hourly rate on top of that for hours worked more than fifty or for excessive consecutive days on duty."

Lloyd didn't even hesitate. "Agreed."

"I'm sorry, I meant for the entire unit."

"Excuse me?! I dare say, that's a bit steep… I've no compunction over paying everyone what they're worth, but the entire unit?"

Cecile offered a gentle and disarming smile, standing at parade rest. "I'm not accusing you of anything, sir… simply reminding you that we've been tasked with developing an entire new area of field doctrine in response to the threat Zero poses, both in terms of unit tactics and in terms of engineering potential equipment for use against him or potential other targets like him. This on top of outfitting, maintaining, and managing an advanced special forces unit, and the insistence from His Highness that Miss Lubie and I also have to accept responsibility as Suzaku's de facto mental healthcare providers? That's a lot more than anyone in ASEEC signed up for when they joined, that everyone's been doing their best to adjust to without complaint."

Lloyd scratched his head with a frown, mulling it over. "Hm… when you put it like that, I suppose we have undertaken quite the spot of mission creep over the last week and change… and we are being directly funded both by the Prime Minister and the Viceroy now…"

Ashford Academy, private clubhouse...

Nunnally sighed as the door shut to her family's living quarters, almost able to sense her big brother's next words before he even said them.

"Are you alright? I know it's been an exhausting day, we can–"

"You deceived me, Lelouch."

The girl closed her eyes – how novel such an action seemed, now that it wasn't her default state – and debated what she'd say next as he stilled behind her wheelchair.

Tried to stay calm as her pounding heart felt like it was going to break free of her chest…

"You know I wouldn't do such a hurtful thing to you, Nunnally. Whatever misunderstanding's gotten you upset, just explain it to me and we can resolve it…"

…tried and failed, grabbing Lelouch by the arm as he'd attempted to step past her. "Don't you dare try and confuse me like you did with Suzaku, big brother! You deliberately let me believe you were spending your late nights away from home trying to romance C.C.! Kept from me that you've been cavorting with terrorists who'd most likely kill you on the spot if they knew who you really are! Do you have any idea what I'd have gone through if someday you suddenly just never came home?! Or if I only found out what happened to you from a military news broadcast on account of Zero's dead body being unmasked?!"

Lelouch scowled at the door, anything to keep from looking at Nunnally. Or maybe just to stop himself from looking at her with a negative expression.

The second possibility irritated her more than the first.

"If we're going to have this discussion," he breathed with an almost infuriating calm, "then at the very least I'll need you not to raise your voice like that again. We may have the clubhouse mostly to ourselves, but carelessly speaking up like that could make something actually happen. Do you understand, Nunnally?"

He hadn't put a hand on her mouth.

He hadn't tried to shush her, or any such crass behavior.

But Nunnally still squirmed in indignation at her concerns being so bluntly shoved aside for risk of the wrong person overhearing and leading to a situation where her brother might be taken away from her.

To call it unfair would be an understatement beyond words…

What Suzaku did to me earlier was nothing short of despicable and cowardly, completely beneath him… and yet at this moment, I think I might just understand why he did it.

"…if I raise my voice again," she promised, "it won't be to say something so sensitive."

Lelouch gawked at Nunnally for a second, before letting out a chuckle that quickly broke out into an overpowering full-body laugh that left him wheezing in a chair by the dinner table.

"I'm being serious, big brother!"

"I know, I know," he eventually managed to say once he could breathe again, "but it's just – that petulant tone in your voice reminded me so much of our life in the capital before mother died. I couldn't help but get nostalgic from seeing that part of you make an appearance again after all these years."

And just like that, so much of Nunnally's anger was stolen away again. Like being left breathless after taking a punch in the gut.

Because here Lelouch was, always having done the best he could in taking care of her after their lives were turned upside down, and sounding genuinely happy in his soul for what might well have been the first time since the invasion of Japan.

And here she was, in the aftermath of having tried to rip him apart just moments ago for… what, taking the personal space she herself had granted him in trying to live his own life independently of her?

But he'd been so reckless, gambling with that life as though the notion of losing it didn't mean anything to him! As though the very real possibility that they could be ripped apart from each other didn't mean anything to him!

It wasn't fair, it wasn't right!

He tricked her.

But she'd been so happy to let herself be tricked.

But she was furious, both with Lelouch and with her past self.

But if they didn't have each other, then they didn't really have anything that mattered.

The mood was peaceful, loving again. It would be easy, so unbearably easy for Nunnally to leave it alone. To just accept the happy moment and run with it.

…to resume pretending her brother wasn't involved with shady goings-on behind her back.

To ignore the evidence that had been shoved right in front of her eyes that there were serious problems she needed to address.

To go back to living a lie.

Nunnally sighed, quietly damning Suzaku for so callously dragging her out of her blessed willful ignorance.

"Big brother. Lelouch. I want you to explain to me in clear terms the circumstances of how Suzaku got injured."

His face fell at the request, saddened but not seeming upset. "Are you taking his side?"

Judging from the look of unbridled indignation on Nunnally's face, that had perhaps been among the worst possible things to say.

"The both of you are supposed to be on my side," she snapped, and it was all Lelouch could do to stop himself from laughing again at just how alive she looked in that moment.

She still seemed to catch it in his face, however, and pressed on before he could answer. "And since the two of you don't seem to even know how to talk to each other anymore, it seems clear that I have to grow up and resolve whatever's going on between you myself. And I can't do that if you're going to insist on keeping secrets from me."

"Just like Suzaku apparently knows the truth behind our mother's death, and won't tell us…"

It was a damning confession he'd made. Even worse than the admission that he'd deliberately used Nunnally to hurt him, which was at least softened by the miracle that she'd regained her sight again.

Even if the way Nunnally kept said vision trained so tightly on Lelouch was proving to be inconvenient.

"He at least admitted he's keeping secrets," the girl snapped. "Which is more than I can say for you, big brother."

On the one hand, Lelouch had little care for being backtalked in such a way. Not when he was trying so hard in other parts of life to properly assert himself as Zero.

But on the other hand… if his precious little sister was going to insist on trying to fight her own battles from now on, then he could hardly shake the obligation to give her a safe target to practice on. "Admitting that a secret exists only serves to imperil it. If Suzaku was going to admit as much as he did, then he should have come completely clean instead of trying to hold it over us as leverage."

Nunnally began a retort, only to visibly pause mid-thought. "…I made a direct request of you, and you've kept changing the subject instead of giving me the answer I asked for. If it puts your mind at ease, big brother, then know that I will always love you more than Suzaku or anyone else…"

Well, good, that was a small weight off Lelouch's mind –

"…which is why I'm so disappointed in you for behaving this way with me. Keeping secrets as important and heavy as the fact that you shot our brother Clovis – letting me believe you're up to the kind of harmless shenanigans normal for a boy your age instead of masterminding conspiracies to commit treason… do you have any idea what it's like for me to realize that I might not even know who you are anymore?!"

– and in its place came a far heavier one.

Zero couldn't afford to be compromised by a connection like this. Not when he already had more than he'd bargained for.

…but the idea that the price for his sister's world might have to be his bond with her finally wore him down. "…I'm half of Zero. The mastermind, the voice… the director and primary actor. That night, I enlisted Sayoko as a backup to fend off Suzaku just in case he tried to do something stupid… it was never supposed to get as bad as it did!" he swore, all but begging Nunnally to understand. "The plan was for Zero to make a clean escape after leaping from the bridge; Suzaku would have been frustrated without any kind of trail to follow, but outside of maybe his pride he wouldn't have been hurt."

"…but instead he found Zero," Nunnally reasoned, keeping her tone neutral with all the will she could muster. "And Sayoko ultimately had to beat Suzaku to within an inch of his life so that Zero could make his escape."

"That's right. To maintain the illusion that Zero is still one person, however, I handle all of Zero's conversations personally through the use of a secure two-way radio that Sayoko and I both use. So even when Sayoko was trading blows with Suzaku, I was still the one speaking with him through her."

Nunnally considered all that she had been told so far, and put her hands on her face with an annoyed groan. "Then for all intents and purposes, you really did beat Suzaku to within an inch of his life. You were there through the radio. You argued with him. Using Miss Sayoko like a gun doesn't change the fact that you pulled the trigger. And then you tried so hard today to be coy about it. And only way to make him understand that you weren't outright lying to him would be to throw Miss Sayoko under the bus… and she doesn't have the benefit that you do, of Suzaku still trying to be your friend."

"…so even you don't believe there's anything left but for Suzaku and I to be enemies?" Lelouch asked, his face pained.

And oh, how it made Nunnally's heart ache to see that look on her brother's face.

"I believe… that the real problem is how stubborn you both are. Neither of you seem willing to listen to the other, and you both keep trying to make the other get out of your way to keep from getting hurt. And then you hurt Suzaku, big brother. And now he's hurt me because it was the only way he could think of to hurt you without getting you killed."

"Nunnally–"

"I want us to all be good friends and live happily again," she insisted. "…but the way you and he are now, I don't know what it's going to take. All I'm sure of is that if you hurt him again, Lelouch, he's going to lash out again. And I don't think even Suzaku has any idea what he might do next time. You and he are going to have to work together, and figure out how to make sure there isn't a next time."

Viceroy's Palace…

After the absolute rollercoaster of the last few days, it's… a little hard to imagine a Princess wanting to meet with me as being a good sign.

That's–

Yes, Suzaku, I'm very aware that it's mostly just the ingrained pessimism talking. Cornelia's mostly been a comparative non-issue since the wargame, and Euphie's one of a small handful of people in this world I actually really feel like I could trust. But we're not meeting with either of them.

Merrybell mel Britannia, Suzaku muses. Well, she said she wanted to have a more proper personal introduction in light of how crazy things have been lately, so we should make the best of this opportunity to try and salvage any impressions we gave from the other night.

I'd lay better odds that she just wants a word in private to make sure we don't start shit on her airship, and just feels like giving Euphemia the courtesy of not singling us out in public. Although, isn't it odd that we're being summoned so late at night?

Given that she ordered us medically off-duty for the time being, and in light of how much else Their Highnesses have had to deal with, I don't think it's unreasonable that she just might have some relative free time now.

A checkpoint guardsman looks over our official ID, before huffing in amusement. "Jesus… I guess even princesses have needs, huh?"

"You're right," I agree with a friendly pat on the shoulder. "For one thing, they need their first line of defense out here to be staffed by people who don't make smartass innuendos when official business is afoot."

The guardsman abruptly straightens up, breaking out in a nervous sweat. "C-Captain, I didn't mean anything by–"

"I'll bet you didn't, Private."

In our mind, I can feel Suzaku shaking his head. I don't know if I'll ever get used to this.

What, you mean the respect that comes with rank? You'd better, because we're not going back to the old status quo unless we fuck up big time.

"So how about you forget all about whatever you were thinking that prompted this discussion, capiche? And I'll forget to put this lapse in judgment on your record. Sound good?"

The frightened-looking Private nods. "Sir! Yes sir! I no longer have any idea what we were talking about, sir!"

I grin, happy that some people around here do know how to get a message without our having to inflict violence. "Me neither, so get back to work and otherwise have a good rest of your n– actually, hold on a second. While I'm here," Suzaku asks as he takes over, "would you mind letting me see your identification? It strikes me as a little odd for a site this important to have security as green as you appear to be."

As though taking off a mask, the Private sheds any expressiveness from his face and stoically produces an envelope from inside his uniform jacket. "I was starting to wonder if you were going to notice, Kururugi. The Sub-Viceroy placed me here to test you, as these signed orders will confirm."

Inside the envelope is, indeed, a letter identifying the guard as actually having the rank of Major, along with instructions signed by the Sub-Viceroy's official seal to pose as a grunt for specific purposes of covertly evaluating Suzaku… but it doesn't say on here what the conditions of the evaluation are.

"Understood, Major. And I apologize for putting my hand on you a moment ago."

The Major smirks, a small glint in his eyes. "Forget about being so chummy with your lessers, and I may forget to put this lapse of judgment on your record."

Suzaku immediately snaps to a salute, "Yes, my lord!"

Great. Mind games.

She is a major government official, and we are an individual with pretty unusual circumstances. It's perfectly understandable–

My problem isn't that I don't understand it, it's that I don't like being jerked around on principle.

I don't enjoy it either, but just bear with it for now.

Yeah, yeah, I know…

Without any further notable interruptions by security, we make our way into the palace and are guided to the Sub-Viceroy's lavishly-furnished private room. The décor seems somehow more in tune with a self-important old man than a young woman about my own age, but the boxes in the corner suggest that she ordered the moving crew to wait until other business had been taken care of first.

Reminds me of Cornelia threatening her welcoming committee at gunpoint when the first, second, and third things on the agenda they gave her weren't all "capture Zero."

"I appreciate your indulging me at such odd hours," Merrybell says as she opens the door for us, her a gorgeous smile blooming on her heart-shaped face.

I thought you said you were done acting like a love-starved twit?

I said I wouldn't act that way with as big of an audience as we had, and I'm still keeping it under control compared to before.

I can feel Suzaku rolling his eyes in the back of our mind. Uh-huh. Try saying that again when you can stop your eyes from flitting south of her neck.

It wouldn't help that much, her neck's nice to look at too.

Suzaku promptly takes over, allowing the princess to guide us inside. "Of course, Your Highness. I'm pretty sure it's the least I can do."

Merrybell nods and walks over to a small table, leaving Suzaku to mentally swat me when our eyes drift down her sexy back. "My subordinates had mostly good things to say about you on the day of the wargame, but in light of how… erratic you've been in my personal dealings with you since, I thought it would be helpful to take some time and properly get to know each other better."

The 'since we're going to be on her ship' goes unsaid, but it still comes across loud and clear.

Suzaku easily nods in agreement. "Sure, that makes sense. And I'd like to apologize again, Your Highness, for the mess I've been lately; there's been a lot going on, but that doesn't excuse my lack of composure."

"Hm… in any case," Merrybell says while offering a handshake, "I think there's one thing in particular I'd like to start off with."

Suzaku accepts the handshake, only to let out a wide-eyed grunt when Merrybell slams a fist into our gut, takes control of our arm, and then flips us over her back and slams us into the floor. "I agree with Euphemia in a great many respects," she begins, sternly looking down on us from behind her generous chest while stepping on our own. "I support a majority of her policy decisions, and I would rather be kind than cruel when my circumstances permit it. But you will not misunderstand me as sharing her aversion to violence, nor labor under the false belief that I will be as quick to entertain the kind of reckless insubordination or devil-may-care sarcasm you showed off in our previous encounters. Am I clear?"

Fuck, this stings… but fuck, she's beautiful…

Oh brother, when will you learn to GET A GRIP?!

Merrybell's gaze tightens a fraction, and Suzaku swallows before her grip can shift to match it. "Yes, Your Highness! It won't happen again!"

The princess hums, before releasing us and extending another hand to help us up with a friendly smile every bit as charming as Euphie's. "I'll hold you to that, Sir Kururugi."

Suzaku accepts her hand once again and is hoisted up to his feet… only for Merrybell to not release him after. "…um, Your Highness–"

"You're a hard one to figure out, you know that?" Merrybell asks. "You satisfactorily passed my test with the guard outside, if with a more casual air than I'd have liked… and yet here you are making yourself vulnerable to someone who just sucker-punched you mere seconds ago. I want to know why that is."

"I…"

"Are you truly so cripplingly naive when it comes to our nation's royalty? Surely you must know that Euphemia and even myself are the glaring exceptions, rather than the rule? You were at Shinjuku, you must have seen for yourself what Clovis did. And coma or not, I'm sure you must have heard about Cornelia attempting to replicate it at Saitama as a lure for Zero."

"…yes, Your Highness."

"Yes, what?"

Seeing that the princess seems short on patience and that this might not be the best time for Suzaku to carefully police our language, I take back control for the moment. "Yes, I'm keenly aware that many of your family, and many of my peers in the military, are scum with little or no respect for human life. I haven't forgotten eight years ago, either."

Merrybell hums, considering that. "And you think you can make a meaningful difference in this state of affairs despite your birth as the son of a conquered people?"

"I think it's unacceptable for the world to stay enslaved by lying old men who are too greedy or lazy to fulfill their responsibilities and then blame their traumatized children for the consequences. And I'm willing to use controversial methods to see that suffering kids like me, you, or Lelouch are never again punished for asking their parents to help them in a time of need."

Merrybell freezes at the mention, hand falling to her sword. "…did Euphemia tell you? Or do you know because of that Geass that Earl Asplund spoke of?"

"Does it matter?"

She doesn't answer at first, until eventually she lets go and slumps against the wall. "No, I suppose it doesn't."

A moment later, she lifts her gaze to meet ours. "I want to see your conviction translated into action, Sir Kururugi. While we're en route to the homeland, you're going to pick up a sword and duel me. You're dismissed for the night."

Suzaku retakes control, snapping to a salute. "Yes, Your Highness."

As we're halfway to the door, however, Merrybell runs up and grabs the back of our uniform jacket, her voice cracking. "You must realize how unfair it is, don't you? That you can know so much about other people while keeping so much to yourself, without even getting to know them?!"

Suzaku brings up a hand and looks at it, a kaleidoscope forming in our vision as our Geass momentarily activates. "I didn't ask for this power, and so far it's caused me as much or more trouble than it has any benefit. But it's… hard to trust people. Not just because I have dark and painful secrets, but because I'm afraid. It's not easy to give people the kind of tools they can use to hurt me… to give up any sense of control, even if in the back of my mind I'm aware on some level that it's just an illusion. The Viceroy, and my comrades in ASEEC have been helping with that a bit, but…"

Merrybell trembles and hiccups into our back, and Suzaku stops for a moment.

"…someone very wise told me that we cry with each other to share in their pain and make it easier to bear. Even if Princess Euphemia is among those most important to me, I…" he says before hesitating.

"You what?"

"Even if I'm not the one who protects you from your nightmares, even if I'm not the one most important to you, Your Highness… I'd consider it an honor to cry with you, if you wish it."

Dude, bringing up her nightmares is exactly the kind of unfairness she was complaining about…

Wait, I didn't mean anything by it–!

Too late, buddy.

Merrybell lets out an ugly wail and sobs into our back as she wraps her arms around us, before Suzaku gently places a hand on hers.

"You recklessly tore open my scars," she whispers between sobs. "You wretched brute…!"

"I apologize, Your Highness. I never intended for this to happen… I'm sure you'd like some time alone, I can–"

The Princess clutched at us harder, her fists bunching up in the front of our uniform jacket. "Don't you dare leave me like this! You're my sister's knight, aren't you?! Even off-duty, you're obligated to take responsibility for what you've done!"

"…of course, Your Highness."

Gently, we pry loose her grip before turning around and holding the anguished woman tight, just like Cecile had done for us on a night not so long ago.

It would be a while before she let us go.