Author's Notes:

Weell, that took long enough. The wait between the previous chapter is about what you can expect for the wait time between new chapters in general. It just sucks to be lazy.

Now, before I get this chapter actually started, there are a few things that I would like to note.

First off: The first chapter(/second chapter, if you count the Prologue chapter as an actual chapter) has been retconned in regards to the K7's relation to the EU. As per my beta reader's suggestion, they now no longer have no official ties to the EU.

Secondly, to all mecha anime fans reading this fic: The "purpose" of this fic is NOT to give the FMA verse mechas. It is rather to give the Code Geass verse alchemy. Or, put into other words: Do not expect me to go to deep into the Knightmare Frames and all that. I myself am not really into mecha anime – the only ones I have ever watched are Code Geass (obviously) and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (and we all know that to most people, the mechas are not the main point of that series) – so making any references to Gundam or what these mecha animes are called by using mechas or characters from those series is pretty much out of the question.

Thirdly: The recently released Code Geass OVA "Akito the Exiled" is (obviousy) not canon to this fic, due to the different backstory. Though, conveniently enough for me, in the first OVA of that spinoff series, it was mentioned that Napoleon wanted dictatorship over Europe, so we can just assume that he actually went through with that in this timeline.

Fourthly: I know that this fic is currently quite lacking in interaction between FMA and CG characters, but don't worry – we'll get to that. It is just that I want to resolve the conflicts between the CG characters before I focus on the conflicts between the FMA characters and the CG characters.

And last, but most definitely not least: Thanks to the creative input and beta reader work of my good friend Greatkingrat88, who most certainly did play no small role in improving the overall quality of this chapter a whole lot.

Now, onto the actual chapter!

A man was running through the forest. Gunshots, coupled with the screams of dying people could be heard, and the smell of blood and gunpowder was in the air. Somewhere not too far away, there was a battle going on.

But the man was running away from the battle.
Away from the noise.
Away from the smell.
Away from death.

He knew why the battle was being fought.
He knew that his men, who were buying him time so that he could escape, and continue their rebellion, wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.
He knew that they would be dead soon.

The man was not much older than 20 years, and had light brown hair as well as gray eyes. As he ran, he cursed his enemies.

He had been fighting them for several years now, and never managed to achieve a noteworthy triumph over them. For a while now, he had been thinking that maybe, their fight was pointless to begin with, that maybe they didn't even have a chance to win.

But whenever these thoughts came up, he brushed them aside. He had to keep fighting. He HAD to. His country had been occupied, under the heel of foreign oppression, for far too long now. If he did not fight, then it might as well stay that way forever.

Suddenly, he stopped running.

Standing not too far from him was a green-haired girl with golden eyes, who eyed him with an curious look.

-7-

Ashford Academy
Tokyo
Japan
September 2nd, 1962 AD / 2017 a.t.b.
09:43 AM

Behind his mask, Lelouch let out a yawn. He hadn't slept since yesterday morning.

Over two hours had passed since the meeting between the Black Knights and the Karminrote Sieben. Shortly after it had ended, the Black Knights had held an internal meeting among the highest-ranking members that were not injured or otherwise indisposed – Lelouch himself, Kallen, Tohdoh, Chiba, Asahina, Senba, Urabe, Diethard, Rakshata, Kaguya Tamaki – discussing the results of the Black Rebellion, and, most importantly, their new allies.

All of them (except for Tamaki) were unanimous in their opinion of the Karminrote Sieben: They weren't trustworthy at all.

Their sudden appearance, advanced technology and use of "Alchemy" all were far too suspicious – not to mention the fact that at the current point, the Black Knights only had their word on them actually working under orders from the EU. The Karminrote Sieben could, for all the Black Knights knew, as well be working for a different party altogether, that was somehow trying to stir up a new conflict between the EU and Britannia. In the end, the Black Knights decided to remain suspicious of the Karminrote Sieben, until they had let Zero talk with Bradley von Bismarck – which Roy Stauffenberg had promised would happen as soon as the Chinese Fleet was dealt with.

Aside from that, the topic of Lelouch- or rather, Zero- having left the Black Knights during the Rebellion for seemingly no apparent reason did inevitably come up, though Lelouch managed to delay his explanation for it to a later point. He also had revealed to the rest of the high command that Euphemia was, as a matter of fact, still alive– though Lelouch withheld the exact reason behind her survival for the time being.

After the second meeting, the high-ranking members of the Black Knights all went off to deal with the various tasks that had come up in the aftermath of the rebellion: Tohdoh and the four Heavenly Swords organized the troops, and made sure that the injured were being treated, while Diethard prepared a first public announcement of the Black Knights with regards to their victory. In the meantime, Rakshata was just too keen to analyze the Lancelot, setting up the tools necessary for this within a matter of minutes on the academy grounds.

Kallen, on the other hand, had simply taken a small group of soldiers, and led them off to Tokyo Settlement. While Lelouch had no doubt that she did have a legitimate reason for doing so, to him, it felt more like she was trying to get away from him. But he couldn't really blame her; he knew that just like him, she had a lot on her mind right now, and the time she needed for herself he was more than willing to give her.

Lelouch himself had spent the time since the meeting with a visit to the still sleeping Euphemia, who was recovering from her wound. She was being treated in one of the academy's otherwise unused rooms, having been moved there from the mobile base not too long after the academy had been seized. During his visit, Lelouch made sure that a security camera was installed in room, which would allow him to check on Euphemia from any computer on the academy grounds. In the end though, even this visit ended up being rather short, since Lelouch just didn't feel comfortable around her – not after what had happened.

So instead, he went on to investigate the newly-captured Avalon, checking out its rooms and capabilities, which he was still doing at the present time. The Avalon's crew had been locked away into the battleship's various rooms, without causing much trouble – with the exception of one Britannian scientist, who had started to throw a fit when he saw from his room's window that Rakshata was taking apart the Lancelot on the academy grounds. But aside from being very loud, and providing great annoyance to the soldiers guarding said room, this incident had caused no problems.

Lelouch was just overseeing a group of Black Knights working on the Avalon's bridge to get a good understanding of the battleship's controls, and make it usable as quickly as possible, when all of a sudden, he heard a voice speaking behind him. "I missed quite a few things, didn't I?"

Standing behind Lelouch was C.C., still wearing the white uniform that she had been wearing since the Black Rebellion began. As Lelouch turned around to her, she was looking around the bridge, just as if she was avoiding looking into his face – or rather, his mask.

"There you are. Where have you been this long? The man who went to retrieve you already returned a while ago." Lelouch said quietly, causing C.C. to finally look into his face. "On second thought, though... forget about it. You're not going to tell me, anyway, and there are more important things I need to talk to you about."

Not even waiting for a response, Lelouch went right past her, and left the bridge, making his way towards the room that he had taken for himself. After a moment, C.C. began to follow him, somewhat irritated. Lelouch couldn't care less about her irritation, though- ever since he had left for Kaminejama, a plethora of questions had filled Lelouch's mind, and C.C. was the only one who could possibly give him answers to at least a few of these.

The moment both him and her where in the room, and Lelouch was certain that they would not be interrupted, Lelouch took of his mask, and began his 'interrogation'. "First things first. Is Nunnally safe?"

"How rude of you. I don't even know what exactly is going on, and yet you already start asking me questions?" C.C. retorted, slightly bemused.

"Just answer my question!" He shouted. While normally, he was very patient with C.C. since she was the closest ally he had, his sister was the one subject where he wouldn't accept any of her usual 'mysterious' behaviour.

C.C. remained silent for a moment, closing her eyes as if she were thinking about something very hard. Then, after about a moment of silence, she opened her eyes again with a sigh.

"Your sister is safe. No one has harmed her, and no one is planning to harm her, either."

Despite being already relieved by hearing this alone, Lelouch did not calm down. "Then where is she? Who kidnapped her?"

"She's in Pendragon... in Britannia. I do not know for sure who took her, but I suspect that... a person like me is involved." C.C. replied grudgingly. Lelouch could easily tell that she did not want to tell him these things.

"Like you? You mean an immortal person? Somebody who can give out a Geass?" Lelouch asked, his eyes widened in surprise.

"The proper term is 'Code' – but yes, a person like that. We Codes can communicate with each other even over a distance, and one of us told me that somebody had taken Nunnally."

"But why would a Code take her to Pendragon? Why would he even tell you about it? Is one of you allied with my father?" He inquired. The information she was giving him was just too unbelievable for him not to ask.

Once more, C.C. hesitated for a moment before she answered. "I do not know why he told me about it. As for your other question: that I cannot tell you."

For a moment, Lelouch thought about to ask her again, demand that she tells him why she can't reveal this information to him – but then he realized that it really did not matter. C.C. being secretive was nothing new, and the knowledge that Nunnally had been taken to Pendragon alone was as good as learning that Lelouch's father, or another member of the Britannian nobility was allied with a "Code". It was at times like these Lelouch couldn't help but to think that the entire universe was against him.

"Do you at least have an idea who this 'Code' is that is involved in this?"

"There... is one who I could see being involved in this. His name is V.V, and his physical appearance is that of a boy of about ten years, with very long, light blonde hair and purple eyes." C.C. quickly replied, obviously relieved that the conversation moved away from Lelouch's father. Purple eyes? Those are awfully common in my family...

Once again, Lelouch considered asking her more about this, getting more information out of her... but just like before, the knowledge that he would never get the information he wanted out of C.C. stopped him from doing so. Instead, Lelouch was starting to think about the possible meanings of Nunnally being taken to Pendragon, and ways to get her out of there as quickly as possible.

Lelouch was already sinking in thoughts when C.C. coughed, obviously trying to get his attention. "Didn't you say that you would fill me in on what exactly happened after I answered your questions?"

The former prince looked up, slightly irritated. "Oh yeah... well, basically, after we left Tokyo, a division of EU soldiers called Karminrote Sieben acting as terrorists showed up, and aided us in the battle against the remaining Britannian forces. As you might've guessed... I didn't find Nunnally on Kaminejama, and was instead confronted by Suzaku, who now both know that I am Zero, and that Euphemia is still alive. At some point during all this, we were interrupted by two... "State Alchemists" of the EU. One of them flew back with us to Tokyo, while the other volunteered to search for you – successfully, as it seems. By the time that we got back to Tokyo, most of the remaining Britannian forces were already defeated. Right now, most of those Europeans are out again to fight against the approaching Chinese Fleet."

"How unexpected. What do your new allies want in exchange for their help?" C.C. asked.

Lelouch frowned. "The only reason they gave me was that the EU wants to see Britannia weakened by all means. But for me to believe that, they are far too shady. They came out of nowhere, have technology that's easily on par with the best that Britannia has to offer, have Knightmare Frames unlike any Knightmare that I have ever seen, and then there's this "alchemy"... and the fact that two of them have seen my face after I took of my mask in front of Suzaku."

C.C. raised her eyebrows. "So what if they did? You can always use your Geass on them to make them forget it."

"Hmpf. About that... have you ever heard the name 'Hohenheim' before, C.C.?"
"Hohenheim?" C.C. repeated, unexpectedly sounding slightly surprised. "I... have heard that name before, but that was... many years ago."
"How many?"
"About a hundred."

Lelouch stayed silent for a moment. While C.C.'s immortality was no news to him, she had never let on just how old she actually was, and he had never given it much thought, either. To him, she was just his closest ally, the person he could trust the most, his accomplice – her past did not matter to him. In fact, the only time he ever asked her about it was when Mao had shown up. But hearing her bring it up herself like this, he couldn't help but wonder: For how long had she lived already? What had she been through?

Shaking his head a little, Lelouch pushed these thoughts aside. They had to wait. "Was this Hohenheim a... person like you?"

C.C. hesitated for about a second, and then shook her head. "...No. He wasn't. Why are you asking?"

"Because one of these two State Alchemists sent to get me back was a certain 'Edward Hohenheim', who managed to avoid my Geass." Lelouch retorted, smiling a joyless smile.

Not without a certain satisfaction, the exiled prince watched his accomplice's usually stoic expression change to one of simple confusion. "He avoided it? How?"
"Hell if I know. When I tried to give him an order, he simply closed his eyes for a moment, and then went on as if nothing happened. I'm assuming that he is either a code, or that he has a Geass himself, since his hair covers the left half of his face so that you can't see his eye."

C.C. once more hesitated before replying to that. "What does he look like?"
"About my age, rather short, golden eyes, and blond hair in a braid."

Again, C.C. hesitated a bit before she replied. "It does sound like he looks similar to the Hohenheim I knew... he could be a descendant of him. I highly doubt that he is a code, though."

"Then what about the possibility of him having a Geass?"

"I cannot rule that out."

Lelouch sighed. "Then I suppose I will just have to find this out myself. I can't let a potential Geass user who has seen my face run around like that."

"Is there anything else that you need to ask me?"

"Hm... yes, there is one more thing. Is there anything I can do about this?" Lelouch asked, pointing at his left eye, where the Geass was still clearly visible.
"If you give me some time, I will be able to get you some special contact lenses which will block off the Geass."
"Good... that will help things." Lelouch said, nodding. "Now..."

He put his mask back on, and got up, making his way to leave the room." Feel free to come with me. I wouldn't mind having you by my side for what I am about to do."
"And what is that you are about to do?" C.C. asked, getting up as well.
"I'm going to talk with Suzaku."

-0-

"Come at me, you terrorist bastards! There's no way I'm going give up before Zero shows himself here again!" Cornelia roared, as she once again charged at the Black Knights and members of the Karminrote Siebenthat were trying to capture her, Gloucester and all.

Not long after coming to her senses after her encounter with Zero- or rather, Lelouch- Cornelia had witnessed the arrival of the Karminrote Sieben. Until their interference, the second imperial princess had believed that victory was still well within her grasp: Since Zero had apparently completely left the field of battle, the Black Knights had been thrown into complete disarray, which in turn had made it easy for her troops to gain the upper hand.

With the sudden appearance of this new terrorist group, however, the Black Knights had quickly been able to once again turn the tide of battle in their favor, and had by now already seized all of the viceroy's palace, with the exception of the garden on the roof, where Cornelia was still fighting violently on her own, having sent her escort away to fight the Black Knights already hours before the Karminrote Siebeneven arrived. Gone was the madness that had seized her after Euphemia's death, instead, it had been replaced by a clear determination. She was determined to not give up her fight until the bitter end, not until Lelouch had shown himself again.

As it currently seemed though, this "bitter end" would be more anti-climactic than Cornelia had hoped; as things currently stood, her Gloucester's energy would not last much longer, and the soldiers trying to capture her had by now realized that they were be better off stalling for time, instead of actively attacking her.
The realization grated at Cornelia. If the Black Knights captured her now, there would be no telling when – or even if – Lelouch would come to talk to her again, answer her many questions-; why he was alive when it seemed like he died seven years ago, why he started a rebellion against his own country, and, most importantly, why Euphemia and Clovis– their siblings– had to die.
In her sheer desperation and anger, Cornelia was readying herself to start one final charge at the terrorists' cover, determined to not go out without taking as many of them with her as possible... when suddenly, somebody stepped out of the cover, and approached Cornelia.

The person that approached Cornelia was a very tall, almost-bald man wearing a white shirt and black pants, who walked with a determination that was just plain out of place (or rather, suicidal) for somebody walking up to a four meter tall knightmare suit, capable of effortlessly killing hundreds of soldiers within a matter of minutes. When he was only few meters away from the Knightmare Frame, he stopped and addressed Cornelia.

"I presume that you are Second Imperial Princess of Britannia, and Viceroy of Area 11, Governor-General Cornelia li Britannia?"

"Who else should I be?" Cornelia shot back over Gloucester's speakers, being in a far too bad a mood to deal with a terrorist's pointless questions.

"I merely needed a confirmation." He mumbled in a slightly sore tone, before starting to speak more loudly. "My name is Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist, and heir to the Armstrong family! I was sent here to capture you, and I intend to follow this order without failure. So I offer you only once: Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

But the second princess was far too confused by Armstrong's introduction to even think about his offer. Alchemist? Armstrong? Cornelia had heard both the name and the term before – but that was over six years ago, in the most recent war between Britannia and the EU.

The brief war, which had been fought shortly after the establishment of Area 11, had been an effort by Britannia to demonstrate the superiority of its knightmare frames on the battlefield. The plan had been to smash the European defenses, scatter them, plow through the Scandinavian north and establish a base from where they could assault Great Britain, their original territory, the one lost to Napoleon Bonaparte. It would have been a victory beyond comparison, one equal perhaps to claiming the sword Excalibur of legends… if it had worked.
Cornelia's mission during the Russo-Scandic war was to launch an attack at Briggs Fortress, a fortress located in northern Sweden, and destroy it. Doing so would've hit the EU even harder than the loss of the British Islands had, seeing as the fortress was a vital position for keeping Russia, which had only grudgingly joined the EU in response to the rising threat of Britannia, in check.

But like the attempt at the British Isles, her assault on Briggs was, in the end, a failure. She was the first person in its long history to test it to its limits, make it stretch in its seams as it nearly broke, but in the end its soldiers had been too hardy, its supplies too great and its commander too damn skilled. Yes, that commander… if not for Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong, and the fierce power of the alchemist under her command, Briggs would have fallen. But in the end, all that the invasion accomplished was solidifying Russia's loyalty to the EU.

But that was over six years ago, and in Europe. Now it was 2017, and she was in Area 11, the place where she would least expect to run into an alchemist. So what was an alchemist calling himself "Armstrong" doing here? Could the EU perhaps somehow be behind this new terrorist group?

Before Cornelia could further pursue this train of thought, a warning noise from her Gloucester brought her back to reality. According to the Knightmare's monitor, its energy would only last for a few more minutes. Outside, the muscular alchemist was already taking a fighting stance. Some last stand this was…

"I will not surrender for anything less than Zero returning to face me." Cornelia repeated grimly. "That is as much of an offer as I am ready to give you, terrorist scum."

"Then that means that we must do battle." Armstrong noted, as the second princess moved her frame into a fighting stance, too.

Cornelia knew that the instant that she made her move, Armstrong would attack – and that was the only thing she could be certain of. While she didn't know much about Alchemy, Cornelia had heard enough to know that the kind of Alchemy used by each individual Alchemist could drastically vary, which made it simply impossible for her to make any assumptions about the man's powers. Still, it was one man against one Knightmare Frame- a single round from her gun would end the man, if only she could hit him. Cornelia was however not naïve enough to even consider that a possibility; fraud or not, it was extremely unlikely that Armstrong would have approached a Knightmare Frame without being certain he could somehow protect himself against its bullets.

Taking a look around her, Cornelia quickly went through the options she had to begin this fight. Her Gloucester still had its lance and its gun, though using either would be too predictable as opening move. The gun in particular wouldn't be too practical, considering that it was designed to attack other Knightmare Frames or tanks, and not a comparatively small target like a human being. No, while directly attacking with either of those weapons would make for a good opening move, it was too risky, considering that Cornelia still did not know what Armstrong was capable of.

Inside her cockpit, the only weapon that the second princess of Britannia had with her was her sword – after regaining consciousness earlier, her gun had mysteriously gone missing, and there had been no time to search for it. As per tradition, all members of the royal family in official positions had to carry around a sword for ceremonial purposes, such as knightings. Where most of her relatives only used swords were carried for show only, Cornelia's sword was, as per her request, well suited for battle. Using it would be her very last resort, should her Knightmare Frame fail her.

The actual battlefield was not too rich with options on how to make the first move, either. The only noteworthy features of the garden within the proximity of the combatants where two trees standing to both of Cornelia's sides, both at least twice as tall as her Knightmare, and the stone floor that both Cornelia's knightmare and Armstrong where standing on.

And then, from just one moment to another, Cornelia got an idea that seemed good enough to her to open with. Instead of launching a direct attack against Armstrong, the second princess made her Knightmare use its lance to exert pressure on the tree standing on its right side. Almost instantly, the tree gave in to the sheer physical force, and collapsed in Armstrong's direction. Cornelia didn't leave it at that: Using her gun, she fired a burst of armour-piercing rounds at the man. Surely, either of the attacks would hit him, or at the very least leave him open for a follow-up attack.
But as Cornelia had already somewhat expected, Armstrong didn't go down that easily. With agility that she never would have expected from a man that size, Armstrong jumped backwards, evading both the tree and the gunshots.

The instant he landed and stood firm again, he rammed both of his fists into the ground. The realization of what he was doing struck Cornelia just a moment before she could see what it was – he was performing alchemy. Accompanied by many unnaturally blue sparks, an enormous stone wall emerged from the stone floor. Quickly, it grew from just ground-level to at least six meters in height – a good bit taller than her Knightmare – and one meter in thickness. Worst of all, though, was the shape of the wall: It was circle-shaped, trapping Cornelia!
Cornelia's shock was short-lived, though. If he believed that he could trap a Knightmare Frame like this, then Armstrong truly was a fool. A quick use of the frame's slash harkens would easily allow her to pull her machine out of this area. The second princess was in fact already aiming on a spot to fire them... when suddenly, something looking like a large stone missile formed itself out of the wall, and fired straight at her Gloucester.

While not exactly damaging, the attack was strong enough to shake Cornelia's Gloucester, and make her lose her aim. And that was only the beginning: Following the first missile, an outright hail of missiles of varying sizes began to form itself out of the wall, and launch itself at Cornelia.

Stuck within the circle, and with no way of locating Armstrong to put an end to this barrage, the second princess did the only thing she could do: Perform an outright dance to dodge the fire, and fire her gun at parts of the wall behind which she thought the Alchemist could be.

Only a few seconds after she started her Gloucester's dance, Cornelia began to realize what the intention behind the European's attack pattern was. He was by no means trying to destroy her Knightmare Frame and kill her – Armstrong was simply measuring the strength of his attacks. He wanted to capture Cornelia, and was therefore trying to render her Knightmare useless without killing her. To make things worse, there wasn't even anything Cornelia could do about it. She was stuck in her dodging dance, unable to make a proper counterattack to break out of this. This really could not get much worse...

Except that it could. Worn out by the hours-long continued use of the Knightmare Frame, its battery was now running out for good. While not completely empty yet, its energy was now too low to make the Gloucester function properly, and it was significantly slowing down. And so, the inevitable happened: The Knightmare was hit by several of Armstrong's missiles, causing it to fall over.

Almost instantly, Armstrong reacted, and made the wall retract. Before it had even completely sunken back into the ground, he jumped over it, ran up to Cornelia's Gloucester, and rammed his fists into the ground once more, causing several large stone spikes to form themselves out of the ground, and impale the frame arms and legs with it. The Knightmare Frame was done for.

Cornelia herself, however, was far from finished. So what if her Knightmare was out? She still had her sword, which should be– hadto be– more than enough to take Armstrong out. While the fall and the subsequent attack had greatly shaken her and the frame, it still functioned well enough to open its cockpit, and even had enough energy left to do just that.

Grabbing her sword, Cornelia climbed out of her cockpit, a grim look on her face. For Euphemia's sake, she had to press on, and fight until she no longer could fight. On the ground outside, Armstrong was already waiting, looking up to her, his fists lowered.

"Surrender, Cornelia li Britannia!" He shouted once she properly stood on her Knightmare. "You have lost this battle. Continuing is futile!"

"Didn't I tell you? I won't surrender unless Zero shows himself, and I don't see him anywhere!" Cornelia shot back, before jumping down to face Armstrong.

"So be it! Then, I shall show you what these muscles are capable of!" Armstrong said, as he got into a fighting stance once more, Cornelia following suit shortly after.

Both of them carefully eyed one another, trying to find an opening or weak spot, something that would give them the advantage for a good first move. Then, without a warning, Armstrong lashed out, fist first, aiming for Cornelia's stomach. Having already expected that he would make the first move, the second princess simply sidestepped to avoid his fists, and followed up by a quick slash aimed for his chest.

Cornelia had not expected to already land a decisive hit with her attack. Wary of the Alchemists quick reaction and movement earlier, she was rather trying to test his speed in relation to hers, and sure enough: While Armstrong did manage to react quickly enough to move out of the way, he was not fast enough to avoid damage altogether, so that her slash got him a not-to-deep cut on his left arm.
So far, so good...

Grunting in reaction to the sudden pain, Armstrong stepped backwards. "Not bad, Cornelia li Britannia! I do have to admit that I find your determination to fight quite admirable. You truly are a worthy foe!"

Cornelia merely glared. The last thing she needed right now was the praise of a terrorist with an extremely shady background. So in response, she scoffed:
"You can keep your compliments for yourself, terrorist! If you want to talk so badly, why don't you tell me what exactly what your connection to the European Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong is?!"

For just a moment, Armstrong's face showed surprise– which was all that Cornelia needed to know. The Strong Arm Alchemist had a connection of sorts with the European Major General, or at the very least had heard of her before.

Out loud, the man said, "That is NONE of your concern!"

And with that, Armstrong once more charged at Cornelia, his fists raised. As soon as he got into reach, he launched a right-handed punch, followed a left-handed punch, and lastly, an attempted uppercut with his right fist. With great difficulty, Cornelia dodged all three of the surprisingly quick blows.
If I am not very careful, this man's speed will be the end of me!

Without much thinking, Cornelia immediately used the opening that the alchemist's attempted uppercut had left, and kneed him in the stomach. While this didn't cause the man too much pain, it bought the second princess enough time for her to go into the offensive. Determined to not give Armstrong any chance for a counterattack, Cornelia launched a series of slashes and stabs, forcing him on the defensive. Just like Cornelia's Knightmare Frame earlier, the Strong Arm Alchemist was quickly forced into continuous dodging, giving him no opening to counterattack.

And just like the Frame, Armstrong eventually found himself overpowered, too: For just one moment, there was an opening in his guard, which was already all what Cornelia needed. Thrusting forward, she finally managed run Armstrong through with her sword, piercing his gut. Even though the alchemist seemingly managed to avoid damage to any vital organs, the wound would still severely weaken him.

Euphoric over the hit, Cornelia let out a psychotic grin. YES! I got him! Now I can finish him... for Euphie!

But the second princess had severely underestimated Armstrong's professionalism. Before Cornelia could remove her sword from the man's body, he rammed his fists into both sides of the blade, transmuting them.

Just like before, the transmutation caused blue sparks to appear, as the material changed. As Cornelia watched, the blade retracted itself from the alchemist's body, the swords material gathered itself in the handle, which changed shape... until Cornelia was holding a steel sculpture of Armstrong in her hand.
This man has issues...

With the blade no longer holding him up, Armstrong dropped on his knee, while Cornelia took a few steps back.

"Who should surrender, 'alchemist'?" Cornelia asked with a smug smile. "You're injured, and I'm still at my full strength. If you still want to fight, I might as well hit you with this sculpture, if this is what you want."

"Do not disrespect the Armstrong family's artistic alchemy like that! It is a skill that has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" He retorted, still defiant. It seemed like he still thought that he could defeat Cornelia on his own, for whatever reason.

But when Cornelia realized where the alchemist got his confidence from, it was already too late. Armstrong had once more rammed one of his fists into the ground. This time, the transmutation he performed was comparatively minor: He caused the ground that Cornelia was standing on the rearrange itself, unbalancing her. He then quickly got back on his feet, ran over to Cornelia, ramming her. Having already trouble staying on her feet, the second princess fell to the ground, dropping the sculpture while doing so.
NO!

When Cornelia hit the ground with her back first, Armstrong was already over her, his fist raised. In a last effort, Cornelia punched the wound in the man's gut in an attempt to make him get away from her. The alchemist's face twisted into a mask of pain, but he held firm. And then, he rammed his fist into the ground one last time, causing the floor to bind Cornelia's arms and legs, leaving her unable to move.

After this, he stepped back, and looked down on Cornelia. "You most certainly gave me more trouble than I expected, Cornelia li Britannia, but this is over now. The gentlemen of the Black Knights shall take you to this palace's prison. Please do not resist any further."

The second princess did not say anything in response to that. Instead, she considered continuing to resist once the Black Knights arrived, provoking them to kill her– after all, was there really a point to continue without Euphemia?– but then decided against it. There still was the slight hope that maybe, possibly, Lelouch would decide to visit her on his own, giving her the answers she so desperately wanted of him.

Cornelia let out a frustrated grunt. She had, by all means, lost.

-7-

The Korea Strait: A sea passage about 200 kilometers wide, between the Korean peninsula and the southwestern Japan island of Kyūshū. While normally the Strait was used mainly for trade between the Chinese Federation and Britannia, only a few weeks ago it had been filled with warships of the Chinese navy, which had attacked the Britannian forces in Area 11 in an attempt to help the exiled Japanese government use the general chaos brought about by the Black Knights to liberate Area 11, make it Japan once more– at least that was the official reasoning behind the campaign. In reality, the Chinese Federation only wanted to install a puppet government in Japan, and ensure that its large natural Sakuradite resources where under their control, which would have greatly increased the Federation's economical and political power.

The invasion had been thwarted by the combined efforts of Suzaku and Lelouch, using their Lancelot and Gawain Knightmare Frames respectively. The members of the Japanese government were imprisoned by Britannia, and the ships of the Chinese Fleet where destroyed.

Now however, the Strait was once more filled with ships of the Chinese Fleet, and they were more numerous than ever before. Encouraged by the outbreak of the Black Rebellion, the Chinese Federation had quickly launched another invasion at Japan, hoping that whoever won the Rebellion, be it the Britannians or the Black Knights, would be weak and unstable enough to easily overpower, and seize the Japanese islands for themselves. But though the fleet was strong, the Federation had been unable to send as many ships as they would have liked to, since there was no time to mobilize a major force.

But even so, the Chinese Federation had been able to send out five aircraft carriers, five battle cruisers – one of which was the fleet's flagship – and a dozen destroyers, with another four transporters containing infantry and Chinese Knightmare Frames, the Gun-Ru.

The fleet was now facing some unexpected opposition in the form of the Karminrote Sieben, who was facing it with their flying battleship, the Hindenburg, as well as their Panzerritter Knightmares and several stolen Britannian battleships that they had taken from the Britannian harbor on Kyushu. As soon as the fleet got into their reach, the Karminrote Sieben had launched their attack on the fleet, without even contacting any of its ships.
The Chinese, though surprised, rapidly returned fire, and soon enough the space between the Hindenburg and the Chinese fleet was filled with projectiles of all kinds, Panzerritter, and some Chinese jet fighters, sent to counter the Knightmares. Even though the battle had gone strong for hours, neither side had so far managed to deal any serious damage to the other.

And in this entire mess, Alphonse was piloting his own Panzerritter, the Vater, trying to evade enemy fire while attempting to shoot down enemy Knightmares or jet fighters – and he hated every second of it. Back when he followed his brother's example to become a State Alchemist- no, already back when his brother himself became one- he knew that the day could come when he would have to go to war. Knowing this made the act itself not the slightest bit easier. Alphonse hated how from one second to another people around him, friend or foe alike, could just die. He hated how he could die at any moment, if his luck just decided to abandon him. He hated that hehad to cause the death of others, people who only happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time in a battle.

And yet, he realized that it was necessary.

The first law in alchemy was that nothing could be gained without something of equal value being lost first, and just like that, it seemed like their world was one where peace could not be attained without war being fought, countless lives being lost first. Alphonse and the others had already realized that a long time ago. Even changing the world did not come without war, as it seemed– the Black Rebellion was proof enough of that.
But despite Alphonse's distaste for the situation that he was in, he could not help but worry about his brother Edward, and Winry. While Alphonse had been giving the task to fight the Chinese fleet using Panzerritter together with the rest of the Karminrote Sieben's troops, the task that the two of them had received was entirely different.

Together with several other State Alchemists divided into five groups, Edward and Winry were to infiltrate the ships of the Chinese fleet, sabotaging their engines, and take out their commanders. Alphonse had volunteered to accompany him, but had his request denied since he was more useful as a pilot because of his weakened body. As such, all he could do is fight – and worry.

For the time being, though, there was no need to worry. Undetected by the enemy sonars, the five small submarines made their way to the ships that they were aiming for. As soon as the submarines came close enough to the ships' husks, they surfaced, allowing the alchemists to open the hatch, and create a way into the ships by using alchemy. In his group, this task had been given to Edward, who was also 'chosen' to be the first one to board the battlecruiser – the fleet's flagship – followed by the rest of his group, namely Dante Eckhart, Silver Alchemist Giolio Comanche, Ice Alchemist Isaac McDouglas, and Crimson Alchemist Solf J. Kimblee, as well as a few soldiers whose names Ed hadn't even bothered to ask for. Nobody within their group was wearing a military uniform (Ed himself was wearing a red cloak, just like the one Alphonse had been wearing earlier), as to not cause any political trouble between the EU and the Chinese Federation.
The trip to the flagship had been a nerve-wrecking one. The air in the small submarine, produced solely for an occasion like this, had been unbearably hot and sticky, which was not all helped by the fact that space within the submarine was very limited. By the time that they had arrived on the fleet's flagship, Ed's already bad mood had reached a new low point for the day.
Not long after he got out of the submarine, though, Edward realized that being outside of it was worse than being inside. Directly above to sea's surface it was windy, cold, and not even a minute after he left the sub, he was soaking wet. Letting out an annoyed sigh, Ed clapped his hands together, placed them on the battlecruiser's hull, causing a ladder and a door on the level where one of the ship's corridor's had to be to take shape, the alchemy accompanied by the typical blue sparks.

And yet, as he was climbing up the ladder that he had transmuted into the battlecruiser's hull, the one emotion that prevailed in Edward was not anger, but concern. Just like Alphonse was worried about him in turn, Edward was deeply worried for his brother, but even more so he was worried about Winry. While with Alphonse, he could be certain that he was a skilled enough pilot that he would easily survive, with Winry, Ed was a lot more uncertain. Despite her having received some military training as a soldier over the past year, she still had never been in an actual fight. As aggravating as it was, all Edward could do was hope for the best.

Aside from her, though, there was still one more person that the Fullmetal Alchemist knew, that was involved in this operation: The Flame Alchemist, Roy Stauffenberg – though Ed couldn't care less about him. That bastard was more than old enough to take care of himself.

By the time that Ed reached the door, he was freezing cold. As he opened it, he half expected at least a dozen Chinese marines to await him on the other side, their guns raised to shoot him before he could even make a single step on the battlecruiser. To his minor surprise, though, the corridor that Edward found on the other side was completely empty, devoid of any soldiers.

One after another, the other alchemists on the mission, as well as the EU soldiers that had been operating the ship followed him inside, Dante Eckhart being the last to board the ship. Despite her age, the trip here, followed by the climb up, seemed to have barely bothered her, as she immediately began giving orders.

"All right, gentlemen. As you know, our task is to take out the fleet's commander, and sabotage this ship's engine. We will begin by doing the former, since the risk of that operation is lower than if we go for the commanders right away. Any enemy soldier that we run into during this is to be taken out instantly. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers shouted in unison, while the alchemists - Edward excepted - just grinned with bloodlust.

"Good. We should get going, then. Fullmetal, you take point."

Having already expected such a thing, Edward didn't even bother to respond. Even though he had known Major General Eckhart for over a year now, he still could not stand her, for various reasons. Her high rank in the military meant that he had to follow her orders though, and as such, he quietly obliged. Just as he was about to go off into the direction Dante had chosen as the one where they would start looking for the engine room, they all heard a loud explosion, coming from somewhere out on the sea.

Already assuming the worst, Edward hurried to the next porthole, trying to find out what had happened. What he saw was one of the fleet's battlecruisers, on fire. Flames burst out of its hull, starting from a point somewhere in the middle of the ship, from where they spread unnaturally quickly. Seeing this, Edward grit his teeth and frowned.

It seemed like that idiotic Lieutenant General had already finished his part.

-0-

Suzaku was restless. Uneasily, he walked up and down the room, trying to clear his mind.

It had been several hours now since Zero– since Lelouch had revealed to him that Euphemia, whom he had believed to be dead, was in fact alive, and that he would be able to meet her. Everything that happened after he had learned this went by in a blur of sorts: He realized what was going on around him, but his mind revolved around Euphemia and only Euphemia. Suzaku had barely been able to focus on the mysterious European State Alchemists, the flight back to Tokyo, or the Black Knights taking him to the place where Lelouch wanted to keep him for the time being – his own apartment, the one place that could be called a home for Lelouch.

Despite this, however, there were still a number of things that got through to Suzaku, things that managed to burn themselves into his upset mind.
The alchemists puzzling even Lelouch.
The weird European Knightmare Frames.
Lelouch's reconciliatory behaviour towards him.
The expressions of hatred on the faces of the Black Knights that took Suzaku to his 'prison'...

Out of these things, what puzzled Suzaku the most was how the Black Knights had reacted to his presence: They might be on different sides, and may have different approaches for making Japan a better place, but Suzaku had always been under the impression that the average Black Knight at least somewhat understood him, that it was only a matter of being shown that the relation between Japanese and Britannians could be improved without the violence that kept them in the Order of the Black Knights.

Had he really been wrong about this all along?

Were the Japanese and the Britannians really too far apart by now for a peaceful solution of the conflict even being possible?

After the opening ceremony of the SAZ had turned into a massacre, it would not surprise him.

But that was Lelouch's fault. It just HAD to be his fault – with his accursed Geass, he must have done something with Andreas Darlton and the soldiers there. It simply couldn't be that they would willingly commit such an atrocity when a peaceful solution was so close. Lelouch must have had something to do with it, and Suzaku would make sure to find out what it was.

But then what?

Even if it did turn out that this massacre was somehow his fault, there was nothing that Suzaku could do about it. He was in no position to punish him or anything, and the only thing that Lelouch had promised him was that he would get to meet Euphemia, nothing beyond that. He might just as well decide not to face Suzaku at all, instead locking him up somewhere for the rest of his life, or just having him executed.

As a matter of fact, Lelouch never even specified when he would let Suzaku meet Euphemia – he didn't even have any evidence for her being alive, other than Lelouch's word. All he could really do for the time being was sit around and wait until Lelouch decided to do something with him. Suzaku had already considered just escaping from the rooms that he was kept in through the windows to search for Euphemia himself, but he had already dismissed that possibility. By now, the academy grounds were crawling with soldiers of the Black Knights, who would most likely shoot him before he could even settle on where to search for her. Though perhaps, it was not that hopeless...

Suzaku was already about to reconsider the possibility of leaving the apartment through the window, when he suddenly voices on the other side of the door. Somebody was talking to the soldiers that guarded the apartment. And after only a few words that Suzaku couldn't make out, the door opened, and through it entered Lelouch, still wearing his full Zero costume, and closely followed by the green-haired girl that him and Suzaku had found in Shinjuku so long ago.

Right after entering the room, Zero turned towards the soldiers, giving them a quick order. "Do not enter this room until I specifically call for you, and don't let anyone else in unless I give permission. Now leave us alone."

Without any questions, the Black Knights followed the orders, leaving only Suzaku, Zero and the green-haired girl in the room. The moment as the door was closed, Zero removed the mask from his head, revealing a very tired-looking Lelouch underneath, the Geass still glowing in his left eye.

"You look terrible." Suzaku said, unable to come up with any better way to start the conversation. There were so many things he wanted to ask, that he wanted to know, and yet, he didn't know how to ask for them, how to bring them up – or if he really wanted to know them.

"I have been awake for over tenty-four hours now. And besides," he retorted in a nonchalant tone "You honestly don't look much better."

Since Suzaku had not looked into any mirror for hours now, he assumed that his restlessness showed itself on his face. "Just cut out the small talk already, Lelouch. What is it with Euphemia?"

Instead of giving a direct answer, Lelouch took a deep breath, and reached into one of his costume's pockets, pulling a gun out of it. Suzaku tensed.

"Just a safety measure. I don't quite trust yet, but believe me, I would very much prefer not having to make use of this." He said, taking a seat at the table, with the green-haired girl sitting down next to him. In response, Suzaku only grunted, and followed suit, sitting down on the opposite side of Lelouch. "Now, to get back to your question: Euphemia is fine. She is still asleep, since she has to recover from that she got from Darlton shooting her. It might take some time, but she will definitely make it."

The way Lelouch said these things, in a matter-of-fact tone and without hesitation, while not entirely eliminating Suzaku's suspicions in regards to Euphemia being alive at all, still managed to lower them. Despite this, Suzaku let out a grunt. "Darlton, huh? The man you forced to shoot Euphemia with your Geass, right?"

"...Yes. I did order Andreas Darlton to shoot Euphemia." He replied reluctantly.

While Suzaku had already expected such an answer, hearing his former friend openly admit that he was the cause of this all still got him agitated. "Oh, of course! How else could it have been! But why, Lelouch? Euphemia offered you a peaceful solution! A way to end it out without any further bloodshed! And what did you do? You trampled her offer, made the entire world believe that she is dead, and had the Britannians commit a massacre worse than anything they have ever done! I really was right when I called you nothing but a liar. Is there anybody who you are honest with? Answer me, Lelouch!"

At first, Lelouch just listened to Suzaku's outburst with a regretful, perhaps even guilty expression. But when Suzaku started talking about Euphemia's offer, his expression changed, and he too got agitated. "Do not act like you know it all, Suzaku! What happened with Euphemia was an accident. I did nothing more than make the best out of it! Andreas Darlton causing more bloodshed was nothing but an unexpected side effect."

If these words were meant to calm him down, to make him understand Lelouch's point, they had quite the opposite effect. "An accident? A side effect? What are you talking about?! Hundreds of people died, just because you had to use your Geass at a point where it was not necessary! I don't see how any of this can be an accident!"

Before Lelouch could however give an answer himself, another voice spoke up. "During his private meeting with the princess, Lelouch lost control of his Geass. It evolved, and became permanently active, which he did not realize until he had accidentally given an order to Euphemia."

Suzaku turned his head to Lelouch's left side, where the green-haired girl was still sitting next to him. It was her who had spoken, after she had until now only quietly observed the two former friends. In their heated conversation, Suzaku had completely forgotten that she was even there. "How do you know this? Who are you, anyway?"

"You may call me C.C.. I am the person who made a contract with Lelouch, giving him his Geass. I am his accomplice." She spoke in an emotionless tone.

"Oh... I suppose that explains why you were with him all the time. But why should I believe anything of what you just said? This could as well just be just another one of Lelouch's lies, only with you playing along. Can you prove what you said?" Even though C.C. speaking up in Lelouch's favour did make Suzaku less agitated, the knight still wasn't willing to believe Lelouch so easily.

"Proof?" Lelouch chuckled. "Proof I cannot give you. I can, however, remind you of something. Do you remember Mao? Like me, he was a Geass user. His ability was to read the mind of every person within a 500 meter radius, and he had already long since lost control of it. The Geass symbol permanently showed itself in both of his eyes, and he couldn't turn it off anymore. And now... I have become like him. I can't turn deactivate it anymore. By the time that I realized this, it was already too late, and I had given Euphemia an order that I had never meant to give her."

Suzaku remained silent. He did remember Mao: That bizarre white-haired guy with the weird eyes, who had kidnapped Nunnally, somehow beaten Lelouch in chess, and revealed that Suzaku had killed his own father... at the time, Suzaku had done his best to ignore his words, to forget the entire incident. Being so suddenly reminded of what Suzaku considered his greatest sin was not something that he did not enjoy looking back too. But in the light of Lelouch's explanation, the entire incident made at least some sense. It was not a proof like Suzaku had asked for, but it did make C.C.'s claim more believable. "Then... what was the order you gave Euphemia? And why didn't you just give her another order to cancel out the first one?"

Lelouch snorted. "Seems like whoever the person was that told you about my Geass, they left out one important little detail: It only works once per person. Once an order is given, I have absolutely no way of undoing it. If I could do either of these things, then we probably wouldn't even be here."

"You can't?" Suzaku inquired, leaning a bit closer.

"Obviously. Otherwise, when I had told you to 'not talk like you know it all' earlier, it would have been an order you had to follow as well." Lelouch said, not without a bit of sarcasm in his voice. Suzaku had to admit that he was right. During their entire conversation so far, he had looked into his eyes, having almost forgotten how the Geass even worked. "My order to Euphemia was for her to fake her own death, and go into hiding like I did. When Andreas Darlton interrupted us, I had to come up with a plan to make the best out of the situation – you know the rest."

"But... what about the rest of the soldiers in the stadium? Are you telling me they did this... all out of their own will?"

"The only people I used my Geass on aside from Euphie and Darlton were two guards." With just these words, Lelouch took away the last straw that Suzaku was holding onto. As the realization of what Lelouch's words meant struck him, he began to shiver.

Lelouch was not without fault in regards to the massacre at the SAZ – but at the same time, what caused the death of all the Japanese had been outside of his control. Andreas Darlton reminding the soldiers of Britannia's supposed superiority, two soldiers agreeing with him; that was all that it took for the Britannians to cause bloodshed worse than anything that Britannia had ever committed in Japan. Even their loyalty towards the royal family did not matter anymore when Darlton had pointed out that what Euphemia was doing went against the entire Britannian ideology. Euphemia and the Japanese had dared to question Britannia's pride, so they had to be eliminated, that's how simple it had been for these men.

Suzaku was in denial. Believing in Lelouch's fault had been his last resort, his very last attempt to justify his own methods, and now it had been taken away. Surely, not all of Britannia could be like this? There simply had to be people who like Suzaku or Euphemia believed Britannians and numbers could peacefully live together. What about the students at Ashford? What about Lloyd and Cecile?

But as Suzaku thought about the Britannians who were accepting of numbers, he realized that the problem was not that these people did not exist: It was moreso the problem that these people simply did not have the kind of power to make a change. The only person who did hold the power necessary for that was Euphemia, who the entire world believed to be dead. Andreas Darlton, Guilford and second princess Cornelia might be at least somewhat accepting of numbers – but the entire rest of the military was not. They all whole-heartedly believed in Britannia's ideology.

Lelouch seemed to have realized what Suzaku was thinking about, as he continued Suzaku's thoughts in just the direction that he was not willing to go into. "This really shouldn't surprise you, Suzaku. Remember when we first met after all those years? The very division that you were part off was tasked to kill me, a civilian with– at that time– no clear connections to any terrorist group or anything. And when you disobeyed, the commander attempted to kill you for insubordination, and had he succeeded, no one would have punished him for it. Hell, I'm pretty sure that he could have killed any number of civilians he liked, be they Britannian or Japanese, and he would have gotten away with it. The Britannian law is nothing more than a tool to allow those with power to exploit those without it, no matter if they are numbers, or average Britannian civilians. You heard my father during Clovis' funeral: 'All men are not created equal'. Suzaku, there simply is no way that you as an 'Eleven' can change a nation that I built upon this ideology from within! The entire honorary Britannian system only exists to create an illusion of equality to those that naïve enough to believe it. Overcoming an evil like that cannot simply be done with only optimistic words and a passive attitude like you attempted. No, against Britannia you cannot be passive. Against this nation, you need to fight, no matter the means!"

"But – you too have caused the deaths of countless innocent people! What about Narita? What about Shirley's father?! You've seen it, Lelouch, you were with me at the funeral! Just like him, there were hundreds, no, thousands of other innocent people who had no part in your fight! The all had friends, family, loved ones, people that they lost due to your fighting! What about them?" Suzaku interjected, making one last, desperate attempt to justify himself.

"Yes, I did do this. So what? This is war, Suzaku! Of course there are innocent people who get caught up in fights and get killed, but if I grieve every single one of them, or let it shake my resolve, then I will never succeed in destroying Britannia! I do admit that the death of Shirley's father was what made me realize what this truly meant, but for Nunnally's sake, and the sake of the Japanese people, I cannot turn back! I must continue walking down this path, to destroy this world, and create a kinder, gentler world! I believe it is a bit like these alchemists said: In order to gain something new, something of equal value must be lost first. The same applies here. In order to change the world, the world as it is must be destroyed, no matter the methods."

After that, Suzaku said nothing, and instead looked down on the table in front of him. As much as he hated to admit it, Lelouch had made valid points. He could try to deny it all he wanted, but the fact remained that slowly but surely, Suzaku realized that Lelouch was right – that he had been right all along. And as if to put the final nail into the coffin, Lelouch spoke up once more: "Suzaku... you must know: Despite everything that has happened between us, despite what the situation is now, I still consider you my friend. The reason I never used my Geass on you to make you join me is that I wanted you to join me because you wanted to, not because I forced you to."

Suzaku raised his head again, looking into Lelouch's face. There was not a hint of a lie, or anything that implied that he was attempting to deceive Suzaku in his expression: It was nothing more than the expression of a concerned friend. After silently looking at Lelouch for about a minute, Suzaku finally spoke up again. "...Can you... give me any evidence that Euphemia is still alive?"

Lelouch smiled. "Sure. Just follow me." And with that, he stood up, and made his way towards his own room, where he started up his computer. Once it was running, Lelouch somehow set up a connection to the school's security camera system, and only a few clicks later, the computer screen showed Euphemia, lying on her sickbed. Her eyes were closed, but she was clearly alive, breathing.

Seeing this, Suzaku could do little more than just stare, and try to hold back his tears. He had thought that he had lost Euphemia forever, and yet, here she was, clearly alive, almost as if the entire last day had been nothing but a bad dream, as if everything was still alright.

"So, Suzaku... now what?"

Rather unwillingly, Suzaku forced himself to look away from the screen, and into Lelouch's – his friend's face. After a bit of hesitation, he then finally found the right words. "Lelouch... I don't agree with your methods. I think I never will. But I think I begin to understand now why you resort to them. I won't join you, but I will work together for the time being. A truce, if you will. I do have my conditions, though..."

-7-

Berlin
Great Germany
September 2nd, 1962 AD / 2017 a.t.b.
20:01 PM, Local Time

"Area 11, Britannia. According to recent reports, the Japanese resistance group known "Order of the Black Knights" has gained the upper hand in their fight against the Britannian forces under Second Imperial Princess and Governor-General Cornelia li Britannia, whose troops are all but defeated by now. Unconfirmed reports claim that the Black Knights have received aid from another intervening group calling themselves the "Karminrote Sieben". Footage from the Area is currently scarce, and limited to a few photographs which will exclusively be shown here."

It was a late summer evening in Berlin. The weather had been good for the last few days, and as such, a big crowd had gathered on a plaza near Central Command to watch the official news broadcast on a big screen on a building.

The entire crowd shared the same emotions in regards to the announcement: Surprise, coupled with a feeling of satisfaction. While officially, the EU was at peace with Britannia, neither its citizens nor its politicians even tried to hide the fact they disliked Britannia in just about every non-official situation. As such, the people were glad to hear about any sort of development that would somehow damage Britannia, such as the now very possible liberation of Area 11.

Standing just outside the crowd at the entrance to a dark and remote side alley was a man who did not seem to share any of the excitement that was going on. The man's face was impossible to make out, due to it being obscured by the light brown hood that he was wearing. The man was, as a matter of fact, about to turn around and leave the place, when the broadcast switched from the news anchor talking to a photograph that showed one of the supposed terrorists that had appeared to aid the Black Knights in Japan.

Trying get a better look at the picture, the man raised his head just enough as for any possible observer to see his face – though not much of it. Anything that a possible observer would have been able to see was that the man had tan skin, white hair, was wearing sunglasses, and had a big, X-shaped scar spreading across the center of his face, which currently was twisted with shock and rage.

The man could simply not believe his eyes. He had just seen a face that he had only seen once in his entire life – and even that was already several years ago – but that still to this very day haunted him in his nightmares. Even more abruptly than he almost did it a moment ago, the man now turned around, and quickly walked into the dark alley. It was just the kind of alleyway where one would expect to run into people like him: Thugs, homeless people, drug addicts – or people who simply preferred to remain unseen.

His target was only a few meters further into the alley: Another man sitting next to a garbage container, and in front of a fire burning in a cask, while roasting something that looked suspiciously like a frog on a stick. Like the man who was making his way towards him, he was wearing a light brown, worn-down hood. Unlike him however, he had pale skin, black hair, a slightly aristocratic-looking face, a thin, long moustache, and was a good bit shorter than the other man.

As he noticed the scar-faced man approaching him, the short man immediately jumped up.

"M-Master! You're already back?" He began to stutter in a submissive tone.

"Put out that fire. We're leaving." The scar-faced man said, ignoring the other's behaviour.

"W-What? Where are we leaving for, master?"

"We're going to Japan."

-7-

Family bonds are strong – stronger than Lelouch had expected. A different choice of words has caused an unexpected interference, and now it might gain Zero an ally that he never thought he would gain.
Next time, Code Geass: The Alchemists of the EU – Schwester.
Did she really always care?

Author's Notes:
Thought that Dante being there automatically meant that this was a crossover with the 2003 FMA anime? Think again, because Olivier Mira Armstrong and Yoki travelling with Scar say "no" to that. So, just to be clear: Characters will definitely not tell you whether this is a crossover with the manga or the 2003 anime. No, the mechanics behind alchemy and things like that will do that – and quite obviously, I won't get to those for a while.

There's also something of interest to note in regards to the fight scene between Cornelia and Armstrong, as well as the scene about the Chinese Fleet: Originally, there wasn't even going to be a fight between Armstrong and Cornelia. He would instead have just taken her out, since she didn't know what alchemy was, and therefore didn't expect him to be able to pull up a fight. It's thanks to two of my friends that I now like Cornelia a whole lot more than I did back when I first started writing this chapter, and that now, she actually puts up a fight.
The thing to note about the scene with the Chinese Fleet is that I originally intended that battle to be resolved in this chapter already - I ultimately decided against that, since it would have made the chapter too long.

Now, one last thing that I should note: Some of my more critical potential readers will most likely think that the conflict between Lelouch and Suzaku is getting resolved to quickly – and I agree. What you need however to keep in mind is that like I said in my notes in the beginning of the chapter, I want most of the conflict between the CG characters to be resolved as quickly as possible. While this probably doesn't exactly make the conclusion any better, I hope that it very least makes it more acceptable.