AN:

I have been skimming through the trilogy movie again to plan for the latter parts of my story, and I found that despite Director Goro Taniguchi and his team's best effort, there are still some small holes here and there throughout the movie that may make understanding the thoughts and views of individual characters a bit difficult. Therefore, I have decided that when and where appropriate and necessary, I will be incorporating elements from the original TV series, information from official materials and any explanation/commentaries given by the producers of the show at various occasions (such as Code Geass events held in Japan) to fill those holes. It is not necessary to know any of those to read my story and enjoy it, but if you do know, you will be able to enjoy my story even more.

That's all from me for now, happy reading!

Chapter 5: "Initiation" III – The White Knight Awakens

"Too bad!" Lloyd suddenly appeared on the screen, greeting the awakening but wounded Suzaku with his usual jolly tone, "it seems that God is not yet ready to have you joining Him, Private Kururugi!"

Suzaku blinked and realized that he was lying on a bed. His upper body was naked and bandaged, wrapping his upper abdominal area, left chest and left shoulder. "Excuse me," Suzaku woke himself up the bed, looking at Lloyd, "Where am I?" Lloyd and Cecile explained to Suzaku that they were still in the Shinjuku Ghetto, and Cecile tried to assure Suzaku that they were in the safest area possible due to its proximity to where Clovis was. "This is what saved your life, Suzaku." Cecile carefully handed back a pocket watch to Suzaku. The pocket watch's glass cover was broken, apparently due to shielding Suzaku from the bullet shot by the Imperial Guard Captain.

"AHA! My turn again!" Lloyd says in a jolly tone, happy to see himself appearing on the screen again.

Gino gets curious and asks Cecile, "Has your boss been like that since you have started to work for him?"

"Well… it's part of the job," is the nicest way Cecile can think of while answering Gino's question truthfully.

A few rows in front, Zero tightens his grip on the armrest of the chair when he saw the pocket watch on screen. It was his keepsake since that fateful day when he accidentally stabbed his father to death amidst a heated argument, and he had kept the watch with him as a symbol of his remaining ties with the Kururugi family. After his supposed "death" in his battle with Kallen at the Damocles, as a sign of ceasing to be Suzaku Kururugi, he buried that pocket watch into the grave for the Knight of Zero in Pendragon to signal the severance of his ties with his previous identity in order to take up the mantle of Zero, the faceless hero of justice. 'Father… will you be proud of me for finally making Japan independent again?' he silently thinks to himself, unsure what his father would have said had he still be alive.

Suzaku was worried about the safety of his long-lost friend. "Is Lelou-…," and then he realized that he shouldn't mention the name and changed midway, "What's the latest on the situation?"

"It looks like the poison gas was released. Massive Eleven casualties have been reported." Lloyd replied, before switching the subject to something he cared about much more, "Private Kururugi, have you ever piloted a Knightmare Frame before?"

Suzaku did not react much to the news that a lot of his fellow countrymen had been killed, but was instead slightly baffled by Lloyd's question. "But there's no way an Eleven would be made a knight!"

Lloyd ignored Suzaku's response, holding up a key with his right index finger. "Well, suppose that you could?" Lloyd inquired with a suggestive smile.

"Ok, so there was simply something wrong with Suzaku," Kallen can't hold back her disapproval against Suzaku upon seeing what has just been shown on screen. "Lloyd told him that there had been massive Japanese casualties, and Suzaku knew that there was no poison gas from the start. Yet, all he cared was whether he could pilot a Knightmare Frame and fight for Britannia? Why he didn't do his signature flying spin kick to the Britannian soldiers who were killing the Japanese, when he seemed totally ok doing that to Lelouch? What's worse, he knew from the start that he couldn't be made a knight, so what about his constant blithering of changing things from the inside?"

Chiba can't help but to agree with Kallen. "Kururugi was a disgrace. He was just a power-hungry, opportunistic traitor who didn't care about anything besides grabbing power for his selfish goals."

Cecile scowls and wants to voice out in defense of the boy she grew to like, but Lloyd holds her hand and silently reminds her that all will be reviewed at the end of this event, and it wouldn't be wise to stir up heated arguments at this juncture, especially with someone as stubborn as Chiba. Similarly, Nunnally frowns as she heard Kallen and Chiba bashing Suzaku, but also decided against speaking out on his behalf. 'If these discs are showing the "truth", then I am sure everything will be clear by the end; there is no point for me to pour more oil to the already fiery Mrs Tohdoh.'

Back in the battlefield, the Britannian Army kept killing any Japanese they could see. As an APC shot down a Japanese man, a slash harken suddenly blasted through the ground, hitting and destroying the APC. It was the red Glasgow, with a teary and furious Kallen in the cockpit.

"Those damn Britannians!" Kallen bellowed. Kallen then discussed with Ohgi briefly on how to deal with the situation. They both decided that she would decoy them while Ohgi would get the Japanese out the ghetto.

Far away in Ashford Academy, a group of schoolgirls in swimsuit were chit-chatting while watching a variety show on a portable TV. Shirley was putting on her swimsuit when her phone rang. It was Lelouch.

"Lulu? What in the world have you been doing?" Shirley scolded, "Where are you now? If you keep cutting class, you'll get held back…"

"Are you near a TV?" Lelouch cut off Shirley's lecturing, going straight to the point.

Shirley borrowed the portable TV from her friends and turned to the news channel to look for news regarding what was happening in Shinjuku just as Lelouch had requested, but the news were not reporting anything besides having an unexplained traffic restriction in that area. Lelouch realized that the military was covering it up and ended the call after asking Shirley to tell Nunnally that he would be back home late. He then noticed an abandoned chessboard and chess pieces scattered on the ground; he smiled at what he saw and showed every intention to actually get out of his Sutherland's cockpit to pick them up.

Shirley is shocked at what they saw. 'All this time when the army was killing innocent Japanese, we were being ignorant and enjoying our school life like nothing had happened? How could my country keep its citizens ignorant to what was really happening?'

'And I was worrying whether Lelouch and I could have got back to school on time…' Rivalz winces at what he saw on the screen, finally understanding what happened on that day. 'Sorry buddy, I didn't know…'

"Ok, it seems no one is going to mention this, but I just find it funny that Lelouch is such a chess addict. Picking up a chess board and chess pieces in a battlefield?" Gino gives an incredible look as he is trying to gain the attention of the audience.

"Well, considering the fact that we saw His Majesty gambling on chess and won that noble with such ease, it's not surprising that he was at least fond of chess," Cecile reasons.

"Yes Big Brother was very fond of chess," Nunnally chimes in, "He used to play chess a lot with Schneizel and Clovis back when we were but kids in Aries Villa."

"Oh so it goes that far back, Your Majesty?" Rivalz looks surprised. "No wonder he was that good! I have never seen him losing any chess game to the nobles…"

"That's not the reason for you to keep bringing Lulu to gamble on chess!" Shirley's nerve is fired up again by the fact that Rivalz had been constantly corrupting her dear Lulu to do illegal things.

"…recorded." Anya takes a photo of Shirley with her angry face on.

"Alright, alright, we all agree that Lelouch loved chess!" Milly cuts in to calm down her orange-haired friend. "Let's continue!"

Lelouch kept strategizing as he observed the battlefield, and concluded that the only way to get out of the sticky situation was to bring the terrorists under his command. "I want payback for being dragged into your fight," he mused as he was watching the red Glasgow shooting down yet another VTOL with its slash harken.

However, luck was not on Kallen's side: Jeremiah and his subordinate in their Sutherlands were tailing behind her Glasgow, and with only one arm left and the apparent machinery disadvantage between the two Knightmare Frame models, Kallen had no choice but to run away as quickly as she could. What made the situation worse was that her Glasgow was low on energy. "Just 30 minutes left?" Kallen found herself in a perilous situation.

"The west entrance! Use the tracks to move to the west entrance." A young, male voice came through Kallen's transmitter.

"Who are you?" Kallen was surprised as she didn't recognize the voice as one of her comrades, "How do you know this code?!"

"That doesn't matter. If you wanna win, you're just gonna have to trust me!" The male voice was revealed to the audience to be Lelouch's; instead of explaining who he was, Lelouch simply put forward a take-it-or-leave-it offer to Kallen.

"To win?..." Kallen's warrior instinct took precedence to the doubts she had in her mind, and she chose to obey the command and jumped her Glasgow onto the tracks as told.

"You followed instructions from a stranger just like that?" Chiba frowns, hissing with clear contempt in her voice, "How naive were you to trust your life to someone you didn't even know?

"I had no choice!" Kallen defends, "I'd either not follow the instruction and have died, or I'd follow the instruction and might have a chance to live. I think you would have made the same decision had you been in that sort of situation as well!"

"Of course not! I would never have taken orders from a Britannian!..." Chiba explodes upon Kallen's countering.

"Weren't you part of the Black Knights?" Cornelia suddenly joins the verbal sparring between the two lady warriors, making it a three-way battle.

"Yes, your point?" Chiba is irritated, not quite getting Cornelia's drift.

"Well, if you were part of the Black Knights, you took orders from Zero, right? That means you have taken orders from a Britannian." Cornelia points out curtly.

"That!... I didn't know! I was being used by that treacherous brother of yours!" Chiba spats, trying to justify her previous attack against Kallen. Before the lady warriors in the room can fight verbally any further, Milly was quick to catch what Chiba has just said.

'"That treacherous brother of yours"?... Wait, does that mean?...' "Mrs Tohdoh," Milly asks in a worried tone, "are you saying that Zero is… Lelouch?"

"…" the supposedly enraged Chiba suddenly went silent as she heard Milly actually called her "Mrs Tohdoh". Her face became as red as a tomato.

"Wait wait wait… Lelouch is Zero?" Rivalz is utterly surprised at what Milly has said just now. He points at Zero, "That's impossible! I mean, Zero killed Lelouch, right? I saw it with my eyes!"

"Let's continue, shall we?" Nunnally decides to step in before the discussion went full throttle, "I think we will see the answers to those questions very soon."

"Hey, what am I supposed to do now then?" Kallen demanded, not exactly knowing what to do next as she kept being chased after by Jeremiah and his subordinate.

"Since you trusted me, you're gonna win. Jump onto the train!" Lelouch ordered.

Kallen obeyed and had her Glasgow jumped onto the train. One of the ensuing Sutherland tried to jump onto the train to pursue the Glasgow, but was struck down by two unexpected slash harkens flying from seemingly nowhere.

"What?" Jeremiah looked to the direction where the unexpected slash harkens were fired with surprise: he saw another Sutherland hid behind a damaged building some distance away from the train tracks. "Shot by friendly fire?... What's your name and your unit?" Jeremiah demanded, but was answered by machine gun bullets shot instead. "You son of a–!" Jeremiah bellowed as his Sutherland drew a gun, trying to take aim at the renegading Sutherland.

"Aaaaah!" Kallen shouted, piloting her Glasgow towards Jeremiah's Sutherland at full speed. Seeing there was no way to win the battle, Jeremiah pulled the emergency escape levers and had himself ejected.

"You saved me… But how did you get a hold of a Sutherland?" Kallen thanked candidly to the mysterious voice that helped her, only to realize that the Sutherland piloted by the mysterious man vanished. "What? Where did he go?"

A group of terrorists, led by Kaname Ohgi, ran towards Kallen's Glasgow and tried to confirm with her that she too had received communications from the mysterious voice. As they were discussing, the mysterious voice came through Ohgi's transmitter.

"Are you the leader?" The voice asked.

"Ah.. yeah." Ohgi replied, but for some reason his response was filled with a pint of uncertainly.

"I present to you the cargo in that train over there. They're tools for your victory," the voice continued, "If you want to use them to win, then follow my orders."

The terrorist group opened the cargoes as instructed, and was shocked to see a legion of brand new Sutherlands inside; they could pilot and fight in Britannian's newest Knightmare Frames!

"Woman in the Glasgow!" the voice ignored the excitement radiated by the terrorists and continued to give out instruction, "Stay where you are. Your unit's gonna run decoy. You got that?"

"Oh… understood."

"Energy filler status?"

"About 15 minutes' worth."

"Then recharge it; in 10 minutes, I'll contact you with your next set of instructions."

Lelouch put down his transmitter, closed his eyes and panted. "This is wearing me out, surprisingly," and then determination was shown through his violet pupils as he opened his eyes once again, a king piece in his right palm, "Regardless, I'll need determination to succeed. After all, I'm betting my life in this game."

"He was treating that as a game? Those were our lives on the line!" Tamaki shouts.

'So that's it? That's how you saw us? Nothing more than pieces on a chess board to play your game?'Ohgi is not happy with what he sees on the screen either. Lelouch openly called the Black Knights his pawns during the confrontation on Ikagura was one thing, as Ohgi still had doubts about whether Lelouch really meant what he'd said, but seeing Lelouch calling their first battle a game in private makes Ohgi getting more and more frustrated. 'So you were indeed seeing us as your pawns, Zero?'

"I think that's just his preferred way to see things," Kaguya suddenly chimes in, surprising most people in the audience, "after all, he did say he was betting his life in that 'game', right? I think that showed Lelouch was serious about the battle."

Tohdoh thinks about what Kaguya and Tamaki have just said. Was it true that Lelouch did take them seriously as Kaguya has reasoned? Or did he treat all of them as pawns as Tamaki has accused Lelouch of? "…I think we all may have different views on this, but one thing is certain: Lelouch was a complicated man that we didn't really understand even up till this moment. I think that means the best way forward is to keep watching this "truth" to have a better idea of who he really was." Tohdoh concludes, in which the rest of the audience nod in agreement.

Just as the present audience were wondering what sort of man Lelouch truly was, the terrorist group was also debating on whether to trust the voice or not, even if the voice offered such advanced weapons as the Sutherlands to them. Ohgi ultimately decided to follow the instructions the voice was giving, but nevertheless wanted to know who was behind the voice. Lelouch flat out refused to give his name, citing security reasons; he then instructed Ohgi's group to shoot through the wall in 23 seconds' time, warning that two enemy Sutherland units were approaching. Tamaki was pissed, but Ohgi decided to follow those instructions nonetheless.

Back in G1, Clovis and his advisers were looking at the strategic map and were formulating their strategies. Clovis seemed unimpressed by the terrorists' tactics as Bartley were instructing soldiers to surround the terrorists. However, their troops were suddenly being attacked through the wall: it was Ohgi's group that was shooting at the Britannian soldiers.

Clovis was surprised. "Hmm? An ambush?"

"Hahahaha… An ID signal can be a double edged sword… Besides, if the terrorists follow the orders I issue, my task at hand is sure to be completed," Lelouch muttered condescendingly, and then issued a new set of orders to the terrorists, "P1, P4, P7, move a hundred metre to the right and fire your slash harkens toward 3 o'clock!"

"You heard him. Do what the voice says!" Ohgi instructed his comrades.

"Damn, what else does he want us to do?" Tamaki hissed.

"P5, still not ready yet?" Lelouch demanded.

"Yeah. Quit calling me that!" Tamaki shouted as he entered the cockpit of a Sutherland.

"Yeah! Quit calling me P5!" the present Tamaki shouts at the screen.

The others stare at Tamaki silently as if they have discovered an idiot among themselves. Finally, Kallen decides to speak up. "Can you quit being an idiot, P5?"

"Hey! I said stop calling me P5!" Tamaki exclaims with a pissed expression on his face, too pissed that he forgets to denounce the "idiot" part.

"…recorded." Anya takes a photo of Tamaki's pissed expression quietly.

The fight went on between Clovis' force and the terrorist group, and Clovis was gradually losing. Clovis was enraged and scolded his military advisers for their incompetence, and Bartley was apologizing to his Prince as Lloyd appeared on the screen. "Good afternoon!" Lloyd greeted with his usual high-pitched voice.

"What is it? We're in the middle of an operation!" demanded Bartley.

"I'd say it's time to deploy the ASEEC's special weapon!" Lloyd offered, trying to get a chance to collect data of his Lancelot from the battlefield. However, Clovis refused.

"R2, fire anchor. B7, use UN ordnance. N group, you'll continue your advance." Lelouch kept issuing orders to the terrorists as he was moving the chess pieces on the controlling panel. "Now then, the enemy has five options," Lelouch muses, "Their move."

"We'll have to bring up Quincey's squad," ordered Clovis.

"Your Highness, that will break the encirclement!" Bartley quickly warned his prince, but to no avail.

"Reinforce the breach with some of the units guarding me. All we know for certain is that the enemy forces are here." Clovis decided to go ahead with his new strategy.

"Well, that's a more stupid move than I have expected…" Lelouch muttered.

Cornelia can't help but to face-palm and sighs. 'Clovis, had you not learned anything in your military lessons?' Tohdoh, the other military commander sitting among the audience, also shakes his head disapprovingly. 'That was indeed a stupid move.'

"Uhm… Big Sister?" Nunnally asks, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Nunnally, I just can't believe Clovis would have actually made that sort of silly mistake when moving his troops around." Cornelia says. Nunnally, having no military experience and knowledge, looks a bit confused.

"Your Majesty, Prince Clovis should not have broken the encirclement," Guilford steps in to explain to the Empress, "by breaking the encirclement, the troop formation was destroyed, and the enemy could make use of the broken formation to launch an attack much more easily."

Clovis and Lelouch kept making orders and directed their troops into position, until Clovis' troops all crowded the point where the terrorists were supposed to be… only to find out that there were none of them around.

"What? Where's the enemy?" Clovis was aghast.

"With this, I call check." Lelouch placed his King piece on the control panel.

The ground where Clovis' troops stood on suddenly collapsed, bringing them down. It turns out that the terrorists went underground and destroyed the ground where Clovis' troops were on.

"My plan worked, didn't it? I can do it. I can. I can defeat Britannia!" Lelouch laughed hysterically and evilly when he saw his plan worked.

Tianzi is frightened by Lelouch's way of laughing. "That's scary!" Tianzi can't help but to bury her face into Kaguya's chest again.

Cornelia frowns. 'Well my dear brother… while that statement was true in hindsight, you were too arrogant to say that at that point of time… what gave you the idea that you could defeat Britannia just because you won against Clovis?'

Clovis couldn't believe what he had just seen on the screen. 'Who? Who in the hell am I up against?' he mused, and then he looked up at the screen and shouted, "Lloyd!"

"Yes?"

"Can it win, will your toy beat them?" Clovis demanded.

Lloyd's playful expression faded, replaced by a serious one. "Your Highness, please be so kind as to call it 'the Lancelot'."

"Oh so you can be serious too I see." Rakshata chides. "I thought you were just some goofy scientist who has an unhealthy obsession of pudding."

"AHA! You are just being jealous of my Lancelot!" Lloyd decides to shift the subject to go for the kill.

"Huh! Wait till you see my baby Guren beats your Lancelot completely!" Rakshata is pissed by Lloyd for implying that she is jealous of his Lancelot.

"Please! Calm down!" Cecile jumps in and tries to mediate the situation, "Let's not get distracted again!"

Upon Clovis' order, the screen then showed Suzaku getting ready to pilot the world's only 7th generation Knightmare Frame back then, with Cecile providing detailed instructions to Suzaku on getting the Lancelot to launch. Suzaku got into the cockpit and had the engine started, while Lloyd and Cecile were instructing staff to do the final adjustments before launching the machine.

"Lancelot, launch!" Cecile instructed, and Suzaku launched the machine at full speed, sending strong gusts back to the control room.

"HAHAHAHA! Running full throttle right out of the gate!" Lloyd fell onto the floor, but was nevertheless exhilarated to see his Lancelot in motion. Cecile simply kept forcing herself towards the floor to minimize the launching impact acted upon her.

"This is cooler than the manual. With this…!" Suzaku said to himself.

"You know, had I not known Suzaku better and just watched this scene, I would have thought that Suzaku was a hero who tried to save the world." Kallen sneers at how Suzaku was depicted just now.

"Damn right! He was just a traitor!" Tamaki exclaims in agreement, forgetting about Kallen calling him an idiot just a while ago.

Cecile scowls but says nothing, trying her best not to further stir up any heated discussion; Lloyd shrugs and also says nothing, believing that it will be better to allow the audience to take the wind out of their angry sails instead of splashing more oil to the fire. Zero simply remains silent and unmoved, for he has already been through so much harsh and often groundless criticisms from both Britannians and Japanese alike that he has developed a good amount of resistance to criticisms against him. 'I need to concentrate on being Zero; Suzaku Kururugi is dead already,' he muses.

Suzaku ran his Lancelot through the battlefield quickly and destroyed any Sutherlands he saw on his way with terrifying efficiency. The terrorists pointed their machine guns to the Lancelot and fired, but all their bullets were deflected by the Blaze Luminous Shield.

"What? It reflects bullets?" Lelouch was not expecting the terrorists reporting that.

"Arrh, what do we do?" the terrorists asked frantically. "Ishida! Ah!..."

"Tsch, useless so-called terrorists." Lelouch sneered, "With all the resources they have, they're being beaten by one unit?"

"We can't stop it!" another terrorist exclaimed in despair.

Lelouch couldn't believe his ears. "What happened? Something I didn't foresee? The enemy, can it really be only one unit?..."

On the other hand, things could not have gone smoother for Suzaku as he wiped out the terrorists' Sutherlands one after one. "If I can stop all the Knightmare Frames, then this battle is over… no matter what it takes, I've gotta save Lelouch and that girl!" Lancelot's radar then caught a heat source in a nearby high-rise deserted building, and Suzaku quickly shot a slash harken to lift himself up to the target. Lelouch was shocked to see the appearance of a white Knightmare Frame in front of him.

"You mean this thing's what's ruining my plan?" Lelouch exclaimed as his Sutherland was being punched by the Lancelot.

"Are you the guy that's in command?" Suzaku demanded.

"Nothing more than a pilot… How dare he?" Lelouch fumed.

The Lancelot's attack was too much for the deserted building to take, and both the Lancelot and Sutherland started to fall down through the punctured hole to the ground resulted from the Lancelot's non-stop attack.

"No choice, I've gotta get out of here…" however, Lelouch didn't have the chance to finish his sentence: the Lancelot suddenly appeared in the air, sending a spin kick towards Lelouch's Sutherland. "Argh!" The Sutherland flew a small distance back upon being kicked, falling to the ground.

Luck was on Lelouch's side, however, as the red Glasgow timely rushed out from the rubbles and punched the Lancelot to stop it from continuing its attack on Lelouch's machine.

"Hey! I'm returning the favour to you!" Kallen shouted. However, Kallen's Glasgow was too old, damaged and outgunned that she was forced to eject after the Lancelot destroyed its slash harken with apparent ease.

Lelouch kept piloting his Sutherland away from Lancelot without thanking Kallen's timely rescue. 'There is still much to learn… I must remember that the most vital element in battle is the human one.' He mused.

"See how good my Lancelot was?" Lloyd winks to Rakshata.

"Are you seriously trying to prove the superiority of Lancelot by its performance against an old, ramshackle and single-armed Glasgow?" Rakshata shakes her head and face-palms, "that's low even for you, Earl of Pudding."

"Hey! You will see later how good my Lancelot was!" Lloyd swinging his two arms with fists clenched, not ready to concede to his long-time rival.

"Please, you two, stop arguing! Lloyd, need I teach you how to behave in public?" Cecile has no choice but to threaten Lloyd into silence, eyes twitching.

"Lady Kouzuki," Cornelia sudden jumps into the conversation, temporarily halting the heated discussion among the scientists in the auditorium, "it was such a pity I haven't met you earlier."

"Huh?" Kallen is surprised by Cornelia's sudden comment. "Why? I mean, I am happy that you appreciate my piloting skills, but you also have had many skilled warriors serving in your Glaston Knights, no?"

"It's not just fighting skills that I take into account when I judge warriors," Cornelia explains, "if that's the only criterion, then I'd have to welcome Sir Luciano with open arms… no, I am talking about your quality as an honourable fighter. You were candid enough to have thanked Lelouch for helping you out, and you even risked yourself in saving Lelouch when your Knightmare Frame was in such a damaged state: you knew full well that you were likely to suffer a defeat all while not knowing who the voice was at the time. By comparison, Lelouch never thanked you for your help in that dire situation, and all he cared was to use you to achieve his goals. For that, you have my respect."

"Be honoured, Lady Kouzuki. Her Highness seldom offer such high praise to anyone." Guilford adds.

Kallen is flattered: the warrior princess gave her an honest praise! "I… thank you, Cor… I mean, Your Highness. I am happy… I mean, flattered by your high praise." Kallen tries her best to use "decent" speeches that she normally won't use, stuttering in her speech as a result. While they were once enemies, now that Kallen gets to interact with Cornelia frankly and directly, she realizes that Cornelia is actually an upright woman who appreciates who Kallen is, despite their previous antagonistic stances. 'I never knew… it seems there are members of the Britannian Imperial Family other than Nunnally who are not too bad after all.'

Lelouch eventually escaped from the claws of the Lancelot, when Suzaku strangely abandoned his chase and chose to save a woman falling from a tall building instead. 'He rescues someone in the midst of a battle?' Lelouch couldn't understand his enemy's logic, but was nevertheless relieved that he has finally got rid of the "white monster". 'Hm, I concede you the tactical victory here. However!…'

"Huh? He saved someone?" Lloyd was no less surprised and puzzled than Lelouch in view of Suzaku's action. "Hm… what a strange fellow we have. Be careful with his operational time!"

"Understood!" Cecile responded.

"My, that boy's an excellent piece of equipment." Lloyd was glad about letting Suzaku to pilot his Lancelot.

"Well, there we have it, the 'Knight of Error'." Kallen can't hold back her despise against how Suzaku's operate.

"Suzaku might be wrong from the viewpoint of fighting a war, but that does show he had a good heart, no?" Gino chimes in with his characteristic optimism and friendliness.

"No, that just showed how hypocritical Kururugi was," Chiba steps in the conversation, hissing, "he was basically wrong on two things: fighting a war in the wrong way, as you have pointed out; and fighting a war on the wrong side!" Next to her, Tohdoh can't agree more with his wife's observation and nods his head.

"Hell yea! If he was that concerned about us Japanese, he should have fought for us instead of destroying all of us!" Tamaki yells.

Zero remains silent to all those attacks on his actions and instead concentrates his mind to think back his journey in the Britannian Army up till this very moment. Back then, he had only considered all sort of violence to be wrong because it is the wrong means to achieve something, and any result obtained through despicable means is worthless. However, having gone through all the events and having his soul and belief shaken for so many times that forced him to keep reviewing his stance, he now understands that he was simply forcing his own brand of deluded justice onto others, for he eventually had to resort to using the wrong means to achieve his own goals, such as condemning Lelouch's use of geass but turned a blind eye to Emperor Charles doing the same thing in order to "punish" Lelouch for his crimes against Princess Euphemia; or that time when he tried to assassinate Emperor Charles in an attempt to have Prince Schneizel to become the next Emperor, thereby making Suzaku the new Knight of One, in which such action clearly fits into the category of "despicable means" he so vehemently tried to prevent others from using to achieve their own goals. Zero clenches his fists and can't help but to be embarrassed by how naive he was back then.

The scene changes again, and there was a soldier walking towards the G1, only to be stopped by the guarding soldier. "Stop there, your ID?" the guarding soldier pointed his gun towards the approaching soldier, "This is Prince Clovis' personal transport!"

"At last, the check point. And barely guarded, per my plan." The soldier spoke with a voice familiar to the audience: it was Lelouch dressed in a Britannian soldier's uniform.

"Your plan?" the soldier didn't understand.

"That's right. Now I'd like you to let me pass."

"Yes, sir. Understood." The soldier's pupils had red rings surrounding them as he let Lelouch got passed the check point.

'So that's it…' Cornelia muses, knowing what is about to happen. 'Clovis…'

Seeing his Princess getting uncomfortable with the things being shown on the screen, Guilford holds her hand. "Your Highness…"

"I am… alright." Cornelia insists. "I know I can't keep crying over spilled beans."

The scene switches back to Ohgi and his group, where they were seen entering a warehouse with many Japanese congregated, escaping from the Shinjuku massacre.

"Ohgi-san, who was that voice we heard?" Kallen asked worriedly.

"Damned if I know. He doesn't answer when I call so maybe he…"

Ohgi couldn't finish his sentence; a tank broke through the warehouse's gates and took aim at the helpless Japanese, ready to kill them all.

"There, you see!" exclaimed Tamaki, "Instead of following somebody we don't even know, we should've use the poison gas! Damn Nagata to hell!"

"You know, I usually don't like to state the obvious, but you were really an idiot, Tamaki." Rakshata says in a very calm tone, uncharacteristic to her usual speeches. "Your friend Nagata was killed because you didn't follow your leader's plan, and you blamed him for your failure and wanted to damn him to hell?"

Ohgi wants to defend his old friend but can't find the guts to do that, for it would be unfair to Nagata's sacrifice; Kallen simply shoots Tamaki a glare equivalent to saying "you are an idiot" and says nothing more. Tamaki, at the receiving end, remains uncharacteristically silent – even as intellectually-challenged as he is, Tamaki can understand his fault on this matter.

Hordes of soldier descended from the tank. "So this is where you Eleven vermin scurried off to.

"Prepared to fire!" the soldiers raised their guns and pointed towards the Japanese.

"O… onii-chan!" Kallen closed her eyes, wasn't quite ready to accept her fate.

In fact, it was fate that wasn't quite ready to accept Kallen. "Attention to all forces. Cease fire at once! I Clovis, 3rd Prince of Britannia and Viceroy of Area 11, hereby command you, all forces are ordered to cease fire at once! You are also to cease destruction of any buildings or property. All casualties, whether Britannian or Eleven, shall be treated equally and without prejudice. In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are hereby ordered, cease fire at once. I shall allow no further fighting!"

"Cease fire?" Suzaku was surprised.

Back inside G1, Clovis sat on his throne regally while the lights were being switched off.

"Is that fine?" Clovis asked the intruder calmly.

"Very. Well done."

"And what shall we do next?" Clovis resumed his usual condescending tone while resting his right elbow on the armrest of the chair, holding up his right cheek using his right hand. "Sing a few lively ballads, or perhaps a nice game of chess?"

"That has a familiar ring." The intruder replied nonchalantly.

"Hmm?"

"Don't you recall? The two of us used to play chess together as boys," the intruder took off his helmet while keeping his gun pointing at the Prince, "Of course, I would always win. Remember? At the Aries Villa?"

"Hmm? Who are you?..." Clovis realized something was wrong and frowned.

"It's been a long time, Big Brother," the intruder walked out of the darkness and showed his face, and Clovis was shocked and stood up while the intruder continued, "the eldest son of the late Consort Marianne and 17th in line to the imperial throne, Lelouch vi Britannia, at your service." Lelouch knelt down on his right knee as he finished introducing himself.

"Lelouch? But you…" Clovis couldn't believe his eyes.

"That I was dead? You were wrong. I have returned, Your Highness. And I've come back to change everything." Lelouch rose up again and pointed his gun to Clovis.

"Big Brother!" Nunnally lets out a soft but sad voice.

Cornelia frowns but doesn't say anything otherwise; while it is unacceptable to her that Lelouch was pointing a gun to her other brother, Cornelia's military career has given the allowances for her to view Lelouch's behaviour as marginally acceptable, as he was then technically facing his enemy's commander at that time.

"I… I am delighted, Lelouch," Clovis squeezed a smile out of his frightened face, "They said you died when Japan was incorporated into our Empire. How's Nunnally?"

However, Lelouch seemed unfazed by Clovis' remark. "When it comes to heirs to the throne, you seem to have much more to say." Clovis flinched at Lelouch's comment, knowing where the conversation was heading to.

"Me and Nunnally's mother held the title of Knight of Honour, but she was a commoner by birth. No doubt the other imperial consorts held her in contempt. Was it you who made her death looked like an act of terrorism? Did you kill my mother?" Lelouch started to fume.

"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" Clovis immediately shouted in response.

"Then tell me everything you know! No one can lie in front of me," Lelouch fired up his Geass, "By whose hand was she slain?"

Clovis visibly relaxed under the effect of Geass. "2nd Prince Schneizel and 2nd Princess Cornelia, they know."

"What?" Cornelia can't believe her ears. "How could you, Clovis? I knew nothing! I myself have been searching for the real culprit for years as well!"

Guilford immediately softly pats Cornelia's back to calm her down. "Your Highness, at least we now know a more recent reason why Lelouch was hostile to you."

Cornelia clenches her teeth and hammers the armrest with her right fist. How could Clovis say that? Especially he said that under the influence of Geass, which means he actually believed that she was involved in the murder of her idol!

Suddenly, Cornelia is pulled by a soft pair of hands; Nunnally pulls her elder sister into a hug without saying anything. Cornelia looks down to the silent Nunnally, sighing as she regains her cool and continues to watch what is going to happen on the screen next.

"What? They were the mastermind behind it?" Lelouch demanded.

"…"Clovis however remained silent.

"Tsch. That's all that you know, isn't it?" Lelouch scowled as he released Clovis from his Geass' control. Clovis regained his sense and started frantically denying him being involved in Marianne's murder. "I swear it wasn't me! I had nothing to do with it!"

"I believe you." Lelouch put up a smile while lowering his gun. "But…" he continued while raising his gun once more, pointing it at Clovis face.

"Stop! We may have different mothers, but you and I are still blood!" Clovis pleaded.

Then the scene switched abruptly to a flock of pigeons flying above Ashford Academy, heavily implying that Lelouch had killed Clovis in cold blood.

"Big Brother, why? Why did you kill Clovis even having confirmed that he has nothing to do with mother's death?" Nunnally can't hold back her tears, sobbing while witnessing the cold-blooded act of her supposedly caring full-blooded brother had committed against her second most favourite brother.

Cornelia was going to denounce Lelouch's fratricide act, but chooses not to in deference to Nunnally's sanity. She simply returns the hug from Nunnally earlier, gently stroking her light brownish hair, "It's alright, Nunnally, I am here. You are not alone."

"Oh, Big Sister…" Nunnally can't help but to release her sadness fully as she buries her head in Cornelia's chest, shaking. The rest of the audience remains silent, out of respect and courtesy, to allow the young Empress to calm down.

Kallen, who became much more aware about Cornelia after having received high praises from her, once again realizes the good side of Cornelia, this time as a loving elder sister. 'She is indeed a nice woman. Had she not been a Britannian Princess, I'd have to agree with her that we would have become good comrades, or even good friends.'

Opposite to the aisle where the Britannia sisters sit, Anya, while putting up her usual poker face, quietly curses the woman who had ruined half of her life, 'You bitch… you even kept your son in the dark and led him to kill his brother who had nothing to do with your "death"… Clovis may be guilty for his crime of massacring the people in Shinjuku, but that did not excuse you from dirtying your son's hand for the wrong reason! Damn you to hell!'