Hello everyone,

I know I should be writing 'It could have been different'.

Nonetheless here's a new story. It's not going to be all that long though.

Request from Shiranai Atsune.

Finally I got the first chapter.

Warnings: It is AU, obviously. Suzaku as Zero and Lelouch as prince. Some fighting; shounen-ai later on (SuzaLulu)

Disclaimer: I don't even own enough money to own Code Geass.

"Send units T5 and T7 to the west marker. Group Serman meet up with K4 at the old hospital. The enemy is advancing towards main quarters," a young black haired man commands, amethyst eyes flitting over an electronic map.

"What about the attacks at point 7? Rumours say that Zero is there," one of the generals reports.

"No, ignore that. It's just a distraction. Their plan is to attack the commanding vehicle," the teen, not older than 17 retorts, grabbing a report from the side and studying it.

"Then we should evacuate, shouldn't we?" one of the old men throws in, fearing for his own safety alone as usual.

The young raven throws him a disgusted look, "If you fear that terrorist, go. I will stay here and command the men. We can win this battle."

"But your majesty…"

"No, I am not going to leave," he opens another visual, "Lloyd, is the Lancelot ready?"

"Nearly, young prince, nearly," a chirpy voice sounds from the speaker.

"What are you doing down there? Having a cup of tea? Hurry up," the raven hisses.

"Prince Lelouch!" a man shouts as he bursts into the room, "A unit of the enemy has been sighted behind our main lines."

"What? Who didn't pay attention this time? Tell whoever it was that they have been degraded to foot soldier," he growls, "Where is the enemy unit?"

All the older men are standing around, undecided between running to save their own skin and staying to save their honour. The young prince in their middle is still leaning over the map, tracing enemy lines and running over plan over plan in his head. Until a new transmission interrupts him.

"Your vehicle is ready, young prince," Lloyd's voice chirps.

"Finally," Lelouch growls, "Sir Leonhart, you take the lead here. I will get down to the Lancelot and call when I am situated. Then we can discuss the next steps."

With a last wave of the hand to the man with the spiky brown hair and scar across his face, who steps forward, the prince leaves the room. On the way down to the science department the lord is leading, he sheds his expensive jacket. Arriving down there, he takes his pilot suit up and changes in a close by room. When he exits he is welcomed by Lloyd's assistant Cecile.

"The Lancelot is booted up and ready, your majesty."

"Stop with the majesty, you have known me long enough to know that I don't exactly enjoy getting called that."

"You would prefer Sir then?"

"Over that for sure," he says as he follows the woman to the huge Knightmare.

Lloyd welcomes him with trying to hug him, but the raven steps aside, "Cut it out, Lloyd. We have to get moving. Zero is advancing and the normal units can't hold him back. You took too long."

"You damaged the Lancelot pretty badly last time. We had to get him back running," the scientist pouts.

"I was close to beating Zero at that time. If that idiot Clovis hadn't forced me to retreat I would have had him in custody," the prince grumbles and climbs up the stairs to the cockpit of the white machine.

"Yeah, yeah. You never fail…" Lloyd waves it off, earning a glare from the annoyed boy.

Then the young raven climbs into the pilot seat, the Knightmare coming to life around him. He takes a deep breath. Today he is going to succeed, today he is going to capture Zero. The roof slides closed with a hiss. A crack and Lloyd's voice sounds from the receiver inside the Knightmare.

"Hey there, young prince. The Lancelot is ready. Fully charged and well oiled."

"Good," Lelouch says, "Start in three… two… one…"

Pushing the controls forward, the Knightmare shoots from its holding position. Lloyd grins at the younger's enthusiasm. That boy really needs the challenge Zero can give him. Pushing some buttons on the panel inside the cockpit, Lelouch opens a connection to headquarters.

"Sir Leonhart. Where is Zero right now?"

"…We have not surely confirmed his position …crzck… Should be about five hundred east from you, Sir."

"Thanks, keep up the front lines. Make the group James track the units which are trying to escape from the distraction attack. Catch them or destroy them before they reach the warehouse. J-Units spread out and surround point 4 from behind. The terrorists are said to have a weapons supply there. Eliminate it!" he continues to give out orders while turning his Knightmare around harshly.

"Sir, are you sure? Maybe you should wait for backup. You shouldn't take Zero on by yourself."

"It will be fine. Group Fair follow me to point 5. Keep my back and catch up as fast as you can. Unit N3, N5 and N6 surround Zero's presumed position in a big circle. Now content, Leon?" he changes his plans, they have enough units after all.

A sigh comes from the intercom, "I won't be able to change your plan, will I Sir? Then please be careful. We need you here. We can't lose you."

"Sure, I understand. Now focus back on the battle. I can look after myself," the boy ends the connection, staring forward to where Zero is suspected to be.

Of course he is wary of it being a trap. So about halfway there he slows down and starts advancing more carefully. Using the scanners of his Knightmare he sneaks out two hiding machines and easily shoots them with the hooks to avoid getting attacked. A missile hits close to his foot and he can just so jump away in time. He turns and fires at the spot from where it came. An explosion tells him that he hit the target. He allows himself a smirk while advancing further into enemy territory. Seeing a part of his troops fall back on the screen he gives more commands through the speaker, trusting Leon to put them to use well.

Now he is standing just in front of a round that just screams for Zero and his dramatic streak. He is hiding behind the rest of a house wall when a group of unknown Knightmares rolls into his line of sight. The black colour identifies them as part of the Black Knights' forces. Shooting from his hiding place he catches them off guard and can destroy two of them completely and render two more out of fight. The two pilots shoot their cabins out. That leaves four more Knightmares to dispose of.

As they have obviously found him now, he scoots out from behind the wall, which is now being filled with bullets. Evading said bullets with fast motions, pulling his controls around hastily. The big white Knightmare moves swiftly, without problem destroying the last four smaller models too. Lelouch grins when he spots the last Knightmare hiding in a destroyed building. This one is a newer model. Better weapons, speed and armour. Undoubtedly Zero's Knightmare. Pulling his huge sword swiftly he holds it out in the direction of said machine.

"Come out, Zero. I found you. You have nowhere to run now."

He sees the signature of the machine twitch and stand up. Slowly a black Knightmare, still smaller than the Lancelot emerges from the rubble.

"I am not planning to run," a different voice sounds from said machine, "As I already have you here, I want to once again convince you to join our side. You must know of the wrongdoings the Britannian Empire has committed. We would have good use for such a good pilot and your Knightmare."

"My answer is still no. You were the ones who started the fight. We could have settled this peacefully but you instead wish to wage war against us."

"You leave us no other choice. We lost our belief in settling this peacefully long ago. You must see it too."

"I only see you fighting against us," Lelouch screams in his speaker and readies his blade.

In one moment he charges at the black Knightmare. The other brings his massive gun up to block it. Metal clashes one steel when the two collide. Forcing Lancelot's power on the smaller machine, the prince can see the black arms slowly giving away. Just when the gun breaks, Zero makes his Knightmare jump backwards and Lancelot's sword cuts air and ground. Unfortunately for the Black Knights' leader, Lelouch is swift in getting his machine back on track. He swings the sword again. While Zero evades he overlooks a hook shooting at him. With a clash it catches in one of the black shoulders, making him unable to evade the next sword slash. Twirling the Knightmare away, he can keep most of the machine safe, but the left arm is cut off. Lelouch smirks and gives a harsh tug on the hook and a satisfying crunch comes from Zero's Knightmare, telling him that he disabled the second arm too. Confident in having beaten Zero, he jumps forward but a different Knightmare comes in between them. It blasts off explosives, forcing him to do a huge jump backwards.

"Leon! Where are the units I sent here?" he hisses into his intercom.

"I'm sorry, Sir. Group Fair got held up and are now fighting with the Black Knights about seven hundred from your position. And we lost contact to units N3 and N6," comes the unwilling answer.

Mumbling something about weaklings, Lelouch hurriedly checks the map only to discover that there is no other unit in his area. Damn! Looking around he sees three more black Knightmares appearing from the rubble. He grits his teeth and readies himself for battle again. It is not too difficult to dispose of these attackers either.

Just when he throws away the remains of the last one away, a hit comes from left. He rips his arm up to block it. A black blade crashes onto it, making a dent into Lancelot's armour. He swings his own sword to counter, but just then said arm suddenly drops towards the ground, losing the sword. He yells out in shock and anger.

"Lloyd! What the hell is the meaning of this?!" he screams.

"Uhm, I'm sorry. We couldn't find the problem for that. We just hoped it wouldn't happen," comes the sheepish voice from the receiver.

"What!? You want to tell me you sent me into battle with an error-filled Knightmare," Lelouch yells and groans as the second arm loses force and causes the black blade to come much closer than is comfortable.

"Sir, we have deployed new units…" comes Leon's voice broken over the speaker, "Sir?"

Just then the Lancelot's arms sack down and Zero's Knightmare pushes it over. Lelouch curses loudly, so not like a prince at all, when his machine falls. Yelling every insult he can think of at Lloyd. The black Knightmare is now standing over him. The other's roof opens with a hiss.

"Surrender," the masked figure demands, standing from his seat in the back of his machine, "You are beaten. Come out of your Knightmare."

"I won't!" Lelouch yells back defiantly, "You will have to come and get me!"

"Then so be it," Zero answers in a smooth voice and stalks over to the Lancelot's cockpit.

Hurriedly searching around for any kind of weapon inside, Lelouch comes up empty. Of course. Because this is still a new model, he is not allowed to bring any. Besides the fact, he is not exactly the best in any fighting that involves actual physical action anyway. So when the top of the Knightmare opens (his eject button doesn't work either; damn Lloyd; he is giving the creep such an earful when he returns), all he can do is stare angrily at the dark helmet peeking in from above. Instinctively he jumps at the figure but is quickly wrestled down. Apparently Zero has more muscles than him; not that this is all that surprising. Even if he can't see behind the mask he knows the man is smirking after said man has apparently overcome the first shock.

"That is indeed a surprise, prince Lelouch vi Britannia," is the last thing the young raven hears before everything goes black.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading.

Hope that's about what you wanted Shiranai Atsune.

Suzaku is going to come next chapter.

Reviews please? Hope you liked it and see you next time.

Update 08-08-16: No, Lloyd is not a prince, just a Lord or something like that. Sorry, I mixed that up. I hope I found and corrected all of the times I wrote it. Thank you to kiara8 for pointing it out.