Turn Two: Rookies
"Ashford Academy. I hadn't seen the place in nearly half a decade. I was truly amazed at how a former Britannian private school could be transformed into an international Career Academy. The biggest surprise was that Ohgi and Villetta Nu were now actually teaching there. Villetta had become the school’s KnightMare Frame instructor, and Ohgi taught command classes for the fledgling recruits of the Order of the Black Knights. It was truly amazing for me to see how much had changed, but what moved me more is how much had stayed the same since those glory days with Kallen, Rivalz, Nina, Shirley, Nunnally, and...Lulu." —Excerpt from Milly Ashford's interview with International World Review, dated October 22nd, 2025 a.t.b.
"Akira Nobunaga!" Villetta called out the name from the list on the sheet secured to the clipboard she held in front of her.
"He’s not here yet, Mrs. Nu," Lena Morrow told her from where she stood within the group of nearly twenty student pilots.
“Any idea where he is, Lena?” Villetta asked.
The young girl just shrugged her shoulders and then began playing with her long, braided, blue hair. “I don’t know, Mrs. Nu. He doesn’t tell me where he goes in the morning.”
There were “oohs” mixed in among the tittering within the group.
“I thought you were his girlfriend…“ Villetta started to say when she was interrupted by a person running into the KnightMare hangar.
A short, brown-haired teenager with jade-green eyes rushed through the large, open garage door of the KnightMare bay. His features became apparent in the overhead lighting of the hangar and betrayed his mixed Britannian-Japanese heritage as he got into his place in the group of rookies. “I’m here!” he wheezed, bending over and holding himself up by resting his hands on his thighs as he tried to breathe.
“Where the heck have you been, Akira?” Villetta interrogated him. “There is only a month left until graduation; you could at least try to get here on time for once before that.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he got his wind back and stood up straight. “I’ve been working with Ms. Rakshata,” Akira smiled.
“Really?” Villetta frowned. “Is fooling around with Dr. Chawla’s new inventions more important to you than defending the honor of your KnightMare team in the upcoming final game of this year? Japan’s Jaguars are playing in the International KnightMare Competition. We’ll be competing against the best rookie KnightMare pilots in the world, including the Chinese Federation’s Red Dragon team. The week-long competition is going to be televised to the whole world, or did you forget that today was the day of the Tokyo Broadcasting Channel’s visit to Ashford to cover our leaving for Sydney, Australia?”
“No, ma’am,” he answered her with a weak grin.
“You’re the captain of the Jaguars, Akira,” Villetta scolded him. “Where’s your Ashford pride?” She put her hands on her hips. “I know you want to be a Black Knight, you all do, but only the best KnightMare Devicers are selected. Your skill in a KnightMare is very impressive, Mr. Nobunaga, but your lack of professionalism and lax attitude towards your duties as a Japan Jaguar will hurt you in this upcoming contest. Members of the Black Knights are selected from the winners in this international competition.”
“I know, Mrs. Nu, but how are we supposed to prove ourselves when we’re practicing in these old Gloucesters and Sutherlands? They are obsolete and—”
“You think they’re obsolete, huh?” Villetta gave him a devilish smirk. “Fine, we’ll begin today’s practice lesson with you and me sparring off in a pair of Gloucesters.”
There were whispers in the crowd of students all around Akira.
Villetta commanded her troop of student pilots, “All of you get your suits on and meet me on the practice field in ten minutes.”
* * *
“You’ve done it now, Akira,” a tall, blond-haired, male pilot said. His Germanic facial features seemed strained as he smiled. “Mrs. Nu is gonna whip your butt out there, man.”
“We’ll see about that, Gregor,” Akira snickered as he secured the boot straps of his Devicer suit. “She’s good but out of practice.”
Gregor laughed as they made their way out of the locker room towards where the others were gathered. “Hey, Lena, our boy Akira thinks Mrs. Nu can’t beat him.”
"Is that so?" a tall, teenage woman with auburn hair and ice-blue eyes sneered. Her athletic figure moved to one side as she swung her pilot's braid of hair over her left shoulder. "Think ‘cause you're a guy that a woman can't beat you, Akira?"
Lena jeered at her, "He wasn't asking you, Princess Superior Me Pretendia!"
"Don't start, Mika." Gregor waved her off with an irritated look, trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. "He's got enough on his mind already today.”
Mika ignored Gregor. "Ooh, aren't we testy this morning, Lena. Maybe when you're all grown up I'll take what you say seriously. You know, when you actually fill out like a woman."
"What?!" Lena felt her cheeks flush with anger at Mika's gibe at the size of her chest. "You're one to talk, Mika. It's not like guys want a girl with a pair of bowling balls strapped to her chest. How are they supposed to help you up out of a car on a date...with a crane?"
"That's it, you little bitch!" Mika said as she spun around on her heel and let loose with a closed fist aimed at Lena’s face.
Mika's punch was caught in midair. "Stop it, both of you," Akira said as he let go of Mika's clenched fist. Nobunaga gave Gregor a frown before turning back to Mika. "I didn't say she couldn't beat me because she's a woman. That has nothing to do with it. I said I think I can beat her because she's out of practice."
"If you're so confident, then I guess you'd better get into that Vincent Ward over there instead of a Gloucester," Villetta said from the cockpit hatch of a Gloucester on the far side of the hangar.
"But, Mrs. Nu, there's no way you can beat me in a Gloucester if I'm piloting a Vincent Ward. Even Gregor could beat you in that thing," Akira protested.
"Gee thanks, old buddy," Gregor grumbled.
"No buts, Mr. Nobunaga. Get your ass in that Vincent Ward and meet me on the field ASAP." Villetta closed the hatch of her Gloucester and moved the machine over to pick up an MVS. "Be sure to arm your KnightMare with one MVS and no projectile weapons," Villetta told him over her KnightMare's loudspeaker. "We'll be engaging in hand-to-hand combat only."
"Oh man, Akira," Gregor said. "She sounds serious."
Akira gave him a blank look. "She is."
* * *
"What are all of you doing milling around this...thing," Schneizel said as he walked down towards the egress of the bronze spire. His finely woven, fur arctic coat whipped in the wind as he made his way to the mouth of the opening.
A man came up to Schneizel and opened his cold-weather mask. "Chancellor, they haven't come out of that structure for nearly an hour."
"Who hasn't come out of there?" he asked.
"Dr. Viviane, Chief Miyazaki, and that professor fellow," the man said.
"I see." Schneizel approached the doorway and peered into the inky blackness. "I wonder what could be keeping them," he mused to himself as a light came into view from a large, circular hole in the floor. Within moments, a bronze disc carrying four people came to a halt at the top of the orifice in the center of the chamber.
"Dr. Viviane, what have you discov…" Schneizel started to ask before he saw the faint, orange glow that shone in their eyes through the darkness of the room. "Geass, but how?"
"You're a handsome one," Sthenno cooed as she walked off the platform towards Schneizel. "I think I shall make you my personal plaything." She smiled as the sigils appeared in her eyes.
Schneizel tried to avert his gaze but it was too late.
Sthenno stretched out her left arm towards him. "I, Sthenno, Goddess of Tartarus, command you to be my slave and serve me and no other!"
Schneizel dropped down onto his knees and screamed, clutching his head, "NO! I must serve Zero! I must serve Zero!"
"Zero?" Sthenno asked aloud. "Ah, I see. This Zero must be a sorcerer who's enchanted you, or perhaps even a god. I suppose I could let you go mad and die, but on the other hand, I may need more knowledge of this Zero. Therefore..." Sthenno walked over to Schneizel and pulled the tiara she wore on her head down over her eyes. Instantly, the bronze-colored headband came to life; at its center a mechanical eye appeared, the symbol of the All Seeing Eye, and from this eye, the blue inverted sigil of Geass formed. A blue glow engulfed both Sthenno and Schneizel. The orange glow in his eyes subsided.
Schneizel stood up and looked around in a momentary daze. "What? What happened?”
Sthenno smirked, “I have freed you from the enchantment of Zero. However…” Sthenno flipped up her tiara and prepared to Geass him.
He put out his hand. "There is no need for that. I am in your debt. I can serve you more efficiently without the need for such....sorceries."
Sthenno paused, the sigils in her eyes faded. "How can you serve me better than if you were my slave?"
Schneizel seized the moment. "I can give you insight into knowledge of things that have transpired since whenever it is you came to be in this place. I imagine you’ve been in this place for some time. Would I be wrong to assume that you require information on the peoples, places, and countries of this present-day world?"
"No, you would be correct in your assumption. However, what concerns me most at present is this Zero. Who is he?" she inquired as she reached out and caressed his face. "What do you know of this person?"
"Zero was my younger brother," Schneizel told her.
"Brother?" Sthenno inquired. "So, then are you his champion?"
Schneizel thought fast. Champion? She must mean the Geass Lelouch put on me. "I was, but thanks to you I am no longer," he smiled. "I was not his champion by choice."
"As his brother, why would you not willingly be his champion?" Sthenno was clearly intrigued.
"He betrayed and killed our father and then stole our father's power for himself." Schneizel was casual in his demeanor. "My brother became a tyrant and a murderer, and the world has suffered for it."
"Oh, how tragic," she smiled. "Then you must want revenge against this brother of yours, this Zero?"
"Very much so." Schneizel pasted an innocent expression on his face. "I was once a prince. Prince Schneizel el Britannia, and I wish to reclaim the kingdom that is rightfully mine. I am the eldest surviving son, and this Zero has put his sibling, my crippled youngest half-sister, who is just barely a woman, in my place to mock our father and our Empire."
"Has he?" Sthenno's demeanor became cold. "This Zero would dare to put a weakling cripple child in place of a prince such as you?"
“Unfortunately,” Schneizel smirked.
“Then I think you may be able to serve my purposes, Prince Schneizel, and I in turn can help you.” Sthenno eyed him cautiously. “If you pledge your undying loyalty to me on your honor as a prince of this Britannia of yours, then I will grant you the power to take back your kingdom.”
“I will be eternally grateful,” Schneizel bowed.
“In exchange for this power I shall grant you, I expect you to free my people from their icy tomb within a fortnight.” Sthenno gave him an evil grin and held out her hand. “Do we have an accord?”
Schneizel realized that her offer was final and that she would probably Geass him and release her companions even if he refused. He knelt before her and gently took her hand in his own. Schneizel kissed her hand. “We have a deal, milady.”
“Very good.” Sthenno blushed at his gesture. She bent down and lifted his head gently as she kissed him on the lips.
A flood of imagery ran through Schneizel’s head: Sthenno as a young girl being given Geass from an old man; her power to enslave gaining her the stature of a champion of her god; wars fought in his name; her attainment of a full Geass power with sigils forming in both her eyes; her slaying of an Egyptian immortal and the transfer of her immortality, her Code, into Sthenno's body; the last image was of the final Geass War, which shook the very foundations of the Earth and caused the antediluvian civilizations of the world to sink into oblivion in the flood that ensued, sealing with it the ancient secrets of the gods.
Schneizel knelt before her, stunned at what his mind had seen and its implications, but one question burned in his skull. “I was under the impression that a person lost his power of sorcery when he gained immortality. Is this not so?”
Sthenno chortled and addressed him as a teacher to a student, “A champion becomes a sorcerer over time and may achieve immortality in one of two ways. He may either acquire it from an immortal, or he may obtain transcendence through the oracle of life. If he is given it or takes it from an immortal, then he will retain his power of sorcery provided that immortal is not the one who made him his champion in the first place; only a fool would kill the one that made them, though a master may sacrifice his immortality and force it on one he has made to end the power of his wicked pupil. I took my immortality from a god known as Bast, but the one who made me was Kronos.”
Sthenno motioned for Schneizel to rise before her. “You now have the power of a champion, my Prince.”
Schneizel could feel a sensation of power coursing through his body, its epicenter focused just behind his right eye. “So, this is the power of Geass.”
Sthenno leaned up to his ear and whispered, “Let us go now, my Prince, and convince your people to follow you in the name of your goddess, in the name of Sthenno.”
* * *
“Kannon,” Schneizel’s voice emanated from the back of the bridge as he and his female companion entered the command deck.
“Oh, Chancellor, I hadn’t realized you’d returned,” Kannon said, a bit perplexed by the attire (and gender) of Schneizel’s escort.
“Please Kannon, address me as Prince Schneizel,” he smiled.
Kannon was befuddled. “But, Chancel…I mean, Prince Schneizel, Emperor Lelouch abolished the royal system—“
Sthenno raised an eyebrow at the mention of Lelouch but said nothing.
“And I am here to rebuild it,” Schneizel said in his calm manner. He called out to the bridge crew, “Everyone, may I have your attention.”
The bridge crew turned to face Schneizel.
“Very good,” he said as the sigil of Geass appeared in his right eye. “I, Prince Schneizel el Britannia, command you to serve me with undying loyalty.”
The bridge crew stood up, a faint, orange glow just barely visible behind their eyes, as they declared in unison, “Yes, my Lord!”
“Well, now that the formalities are out of the way, we can begin,” Schneizel told a horrified Kannon. Schneizel laughed, “Don’t worry, Kannon, this is the beginning of a truly new era; besides, I would never use this power on you, my loyal friend.”
Sthenno looked over the bridge of the Thor as she waltzed in with an air of invulnerability. “This is a primitive vessel, but it will do.”
“And who is this?” Kannon inquired with a narrow-eyed look.
Schneizel turned and gently took Sthenno by the hand. She regarded him with a curious smile as he introduced her, “Kannon, this radiant creature is the goddess Sthenno. It is to her that I owe our second chance to reclaim the Empire, and it is she whom we owe our allegiance to for this grand opportunity.”
Sthenno snickered, “I assume by the jealous look on your face that you must be Prince Schneizel’s manservant.” Sthenno clasped Schneizel’s hand tightly. “I imagine that you serve your lord well, but I’m afraid there are certain functions that you are no longer required for; functions that only a woman is capable of providing.”
Kannon scowled, “I will perform whatever duties Prince Schneizel requires of me.”
“As you have for years, Kannon,” Schneizel said. “And as I expect you will throughout this great endeavor to restore the glory of Britannia.”
“What about the Black Knights?” Kannon asked the question as if it should be obvious that Schneizel’s plan would require more than just a Geass-wielding goddess.
“Ah, yes, my brother’s Order of vagabonds.” Schneizel turned to one of the bridge crew. “Order Captain Kozuki’s team to return at once,” the prince smiled. “And when they come in range of our weapons, destroy them.”
* * *
“Are you ready, Akira?” Villetta asked as she prepared her Gloucester.
“Yes, Mrs. Nu, I’m ready,” Nobunaga radioed her.
“Good!” Villetta said as the wheels of her KnightMare folded down. Her machine tore up the gravel of the academy proving grounds as she maneuvered it towards the Vincent Ward on the other side of the field.
The other members of the Japan Jaguars sat in the bleachers, which were built high above the field on the sidelines and were protected by a Blaze Luminous shield all along the rim of the proving grounds.
Villetta unsheathed the MVS of her Gloucester as she charged Akira’s Vincent Ward. “You need to learn to take the initiative!” she said as her KnightMare swung its Maser sword at the left leg of the Vincent.
“I prefer to let my opponent make the first move,” Akira said as his machine pivoted on its right heel while simultaneously unsheathing its MVS.
The Gloucester’s Maser sword just barely missed the leg of the Vincent Ward as Nobunaga’s machine swung down towards the right shoulder of Villetta’s mecha from behind.
“Go, Mrs. Nu!” Mika cheered from the stands.
“Get her, Akira!” Lena yelled.
The Maser sword of Akira’s mecha was stopped by Villetta’s own MVS.
The swords of both machines crossed several times before the two combatants separated again, driving across the field at high speed via their wheeled drives.
Akira’s Vincent flew into the air with the momentum of its driving speed and lunged at Villetta’s Gloucester with a cutting blow.
“You’re trying too hard, Akira,” she scolded him over the radio as her machine swerved in towards him. The blade of her Maser sword came up towards the left arm joint of the Vincent.
“If you say so, ma’am.” Akira countered with the hip-mounted slash harken of his machine, deflecting Villetta’s attack.
"Oh, man, that was close," Gregor said to Lena.
Lena reassured Gregor, "Don't worry, Akira just needs to get a feel for his opponent before he can whip ‘em."
"No way, Lena," Mika taunted her. "Mrs. Nu is a war veteran and an expert KnightMare Devicer; your boy is going down!"
“Not bad,” Villetta said as her KnightMare swung around and lashed out with a Stun Tonfa from its left arm. The weapon connected with the right arm of the Vincent.
"Oh NO!" Lena blurted out.
Mika laughed, "You see, there's no way he can win."
"Damn!" Akira cursed as the electrical jolt shot through his KnightMare Frame.
"You need to think two steps ahead of your opponent if you want to win," Villetta told him as she twisted her Gloucester around and sliced the right arm of the Vincent Ward off completely.
Akira tried to counter her move with a pair of slash harkens, but Villetta used her MVS to cut through both of them.
"Wow, Mrs. Nu is really good," Gregor said with a blank look.
Lena shoved him. "Whose side are you on?"
"Your moves are too predictable, Nobunaga." Her Gloucester thrust forward with its MVS.
Akira's Vincent Ward spun to one side as he instinctively moved the Maser sword of his mecha and slashed at her machine's left arm, severing the mechanical limb.
Villetta was surprised. "Impressive," she said as her KnightMare parried his second blow with its MVS.
"Thank you, sensei, you'll find I'm full of surprises," Akira retorted as he drove his machine backwards at full speed.
"What the heck is Akira doing?" Gregor asked, perplexed by his friend's move.
"Looks like he's running away," Mika chuckled.
"No, he's luring her in," Lena said.
Akira maneuvered his machine in a zigzag pattern along the field with Villetta in hot pursuit.
"I take back what I said," Villetta told him as she followed after him. "Running away isn't very impressive, Mr. Nobunaga."
"I agree," he said as he reversed the direction of his Vincent Ward and stuck the tip of its MVS into the ground like a pole vault stick, spinning his KnightMare to the side and behind Villetta's mecha.
Before she could react, Akira's Vincent Ward cut off her Gloucester's last remaining arm.
"Yeah, Akira!" Lena yelled. "He beat her!"
"I can't believe it," Mika said in amazement.
Akira pointed his Maser sword at Villetta's Gloucester. "I win, Mrs. Nu; there's no way your machine can fight..."
The slash harkens of the Gloucester launched out at the Vincent Ward. "The fight isn't over until your enemy is defeated completely, Akira!" The first slash harken tore through the arm of the Vincent Ward, cutting it off, while the second one smashed through the sensor head of the mecha.
"Surrender!" Villetta said over the radio.
Akira was shocked by how quickly his victory had vanished. “I concede,” he said as his Vincent Ward dropped to its knees.
“No way!” Lena whined.
“Oh yeah!” Mika raised her arms up in the air. “She really kicked his…”
“What the heck is going on here?” a male voice startled Mika as he inquired from behind the Japan Jaguars at the top of the bleachers.
“Hi, Mr. Nu,” Gregor greeted Ohgi as he walked down towards them.
“Where’s Villetta?” he asked in a befuddled tone as he stopped and looked around at the KnightMare team.
The Jaguars pointed out to the Gloucester that stood triumphantly over the badly damaged Vincent Ward.
“I see,” Ohgi sighed. He walked down past the Jaguars to the gate that accessed the proving grounds and strut out onto the field towards the Gloucester at a quick pace.
Villetta opened the cockpit hatch of her KnightMare as Ohgi approached her machine. “Hi, hun,” she said with a meek smile. “How’s your morning been?”
“Not as exciting as yours, I see,” he said with a smirk. “Is this some kind of last-minute training before you guys leave for Australia?”
Villetta knew Ohgi didn’t approve of her being the Ashford Academy KnightMare instructor because it brought out her Britannian training and conditioning, and Ohgi disliked that side of her personality. “Uh…heh, it’s something like that,” she stammered.
“Well, just try not to put your students in the hospital before the competition,” he joked. “The chief executive officer of TBC, Mrs. Milly Ashford, is here and would like to personally interview the Jaguar’s coach in a one-on-one exclusive before the Jaguars leave today. I told her I’d come get you, but if you’re busy with your team, I’ll tell her to wait…”
“No, no...Not if Milly came to see us off.” Villetta blushed. “I’ll get right over there.”
Ohgi laughed, “I hate to be the one to tell you, honey, but you’re sweating profusely.” He knew how conscious Villetta was of her appearance in public; her sense of royal decorum had not ended with her leaving the ranks of the Royal Britannian military. “Should I tell Mrs. Ashford that you’ll be a while?”
“Twenty minutes tops,” Villetta said as she climbed down from the KnightMare and yelled to the Jaguars. “Mika, you and the others help Akira get out of his KnightMare and then clean up this mess before we have to pack up and leave today. I’ve got to go!”
Mika looked at her teammates. “Clean this up before we leave? How the heck are we supposed to that? Those KnightMares are both wrecks. Can’t we just leave them here until we get back?”
“Come on, Mika, let’s go get the wrecker and the crane,” Gregor said as he dragged her off towards the hangar.
Villetta Nu came up to Ohgi and kissed him on the lips. “Thanks for understanding about all this, Ohgi,” she said before kissing him again. “It means a lot to me that you’re not mad about me going off to Australia for the week and leaving you with the kids. You really are the best, Ohgi. I love you,” she told him before she sprinted off towards the KnightMare hangar and the showers.
* * *
“Attention, Black Knight units,” the female flight control officer of the Thor spoke over Kallen’s radio. “Prince Schneizel has ordered your teams to return to the ship at once."
"Prince Schneizel?" Anya remarked over the radio in a befuddled tone.
"That's not the kind of déj* vu I need, Captain," Tamaki added.
"No kidding," Gino guffawed. "What do you think it means, Kallen?" Gino asked her with an edge of concern creeping into his voice.
"She probably just misspoke." Kallen tried to calm the rising feeling of dread that welled up from her gut. She flipped her radio over to the general Black Knight frequency and contacted the team leader of the other four members of the Yamato no Orochi. "Shoji, listen up. We're going to fly in together in a line formation, flanking the Thor from each side of her. My team port and your team starboard; that way, if anything's amiss, we can minimize any damage that might ensue."
"Uh...Okay, Captain, but is there something wrong?" Shoji asked, confused.
Kallen didn't want to alarm her teammates, nor did she want to alert the Thor if something really was wrong. "It's probably nothing...just fly in parallel to us on the starboard side, and keep your wits about you."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied.
* * *
The two flights of Type-21 KnightMares flew towards the Thor in a low, steady path along the tops of the Antarctic Sierras.
"Prince Schneizel, the Black Knights are in range of our port and starboard Hadron Cannons," a young, male officer said from his tactical station on the bridge of the ship. "I have a solid lock on the starboard flight and will have the port flight locked on at any moment."
"Very good, Ensign," Schneizel smiled. "You may fire at will."
* * *
The starboard and portside clamshell-type enclosures which housed the Hadron Cannons opened up and unleashed their deadly streams of energy.
"What the hell!" Gino blurted out as he instinctively veered his fighter away from the attack.
"SHIELDS!!" Kallen yelled over the radio as she transformed her Type-21 Shogun and used its Hadron Shields to try to protect her teammates from the deadly beam.
The streams of destruction cut through the unsuspecting starboard flight of Type-21s, reducing them to molten balls of slag that fell down in between the mountains below them.
Kallen's KnightMare shook violently under the barrage of the Hadron beam. The searing heat of the ray emanated through the superstructure of her mecha into her cockpit and smothered her until she started to black out.
Her Type-21 fell to the rocky crags below, smoking as it did so.
* * *
"Direct hit, my Lord," the young tactical officer reported.
"Excellent work, Ensign," Schneizel commended the man.
"Do you think they were totally destroyed?" Kannon asked.
"In all likelihood they were," Schneizel said as he sat down in his command chair. "However, they are equipped with an enhanced Absolute Protection Energy Shield. Some of them may have gotten lucky, so we should send out a recovery team to be sure all of them were neutralized."
"Yes, my Lord," Kannon said with a short bow.
"Oh, and, Kannon, be sure to dispatch a report to the UFN," Schneizel smiled. "Tell them we were attacked by mercenary forces that we believe to be connected with Cornelia's troop of Brazilian terrorists, and that these terrorists unfortunately managed to destroy our Black Knight escort. However, we are currently safe."
"As you wish, Prince Schneizel," Kannon nodded.
* * *
"It's been too long, Nunnally," Kaguya said with a smile as she kissed Nunnally on each cheek.
"Indeed." Jiang Lihua hugged Nunnally as she sat in her float chair.
"Yes, it has been," Nunnally responded with a warm smile at her friends as she greeted them on the landing pad of the Britannian surface warship Emerald Queen.
Suzaku looked on silently, playing his part as Zero while he stood behind Nunnally's chair.
Kaguya regarded him with icy glare. "I see you've brought along your bodyguard," Sumeragi said to Nunnally.
Nunnally tried to be diplomatic. "Yes, Zero is my trusted aide and protector. I thought it prudent to bring him along on this voyage."
"Oh, I see." Kaguya eyed Zero. "So, tell me, Zero, now that there is perpetual peace in the world, what need do we have of you outside of being a mere bodyguard?"
"Kaguya!" Lihua scolded her. "That was rude."
Sumeragi's stare didn't waver.
Suzaku knew she was trying to get him to speak out loud to her. Even with the helmet's voice modulation unit, Kaguya Sumeragi, his cousin, might recognize him. He stood maintaining his silence.
"Well?" Sumeragi pressed him. "What happened to the Knight of Justice? The man who changed the world with tongue and deed must have something to say in his defense."
She's trying to push me into revealing who I am to her with my voice! Suzaku thought as Sumeragi put her hands on her hips and stared at him. Maybe she won't be able to tell. Maybe the voice scrambler will fool her…and then again, maybe not.
Nunnally was too shocked to speak; she hadn't thought that Kaguya would be so bold.
I have no choice; if I say nothing, she'll suspect I'm hiding something which relates to her and me personally. This woman had known the real Zero. She would not be fooled by Suzaku's attempt to imitate Lelouch, so there was no use in trying to do so. Suzaku spoke using his own brand of verbal tact, which was to say as little as possible with the most verbiage he could muster. "I am the Knight of Justice, the one person the world looks to for salvation, and I, Zero, am the symbol of the peace the world now enjoys." His words were like a metal coin on his tongue: course, dry, and metallic.
"Is that so?" Kaguya tittered viscously. "The world is fortunate that it does not know you the way I do."
"Lady Kaguya, that is quite enough," Nunnally told her with a frown. "Zero is not a criminal, and I cannot tolerate you attacking him like he is one."
"I'm sorry, Empress Nunnally." Sumeragi gave her a sad smile. "It's just that I once loved Zero...the real one...your brother. And I don't know for certain who this imposter is, but I hate to think of who he may be."
Nunnally's heart sank. She wanted to cry for the loss of her friend and for her own loss, but she had to be strong for Suzaku's sake. "I...I'm sorry for you, Lady Kaguya, but please do not blame this Zero for what happened. My brother was responsible for his own actions, no one else."
Kaguya took hold of Nunnally's hand. "Thank you, my friend." She put on a grin as she changed the subject abruptly. "May I ask if it would be possible for us to get anything to eat on this ship? The flight was long and we've yet to have supper."
Nunnally laughed, grateful for the shift in Sumeragi's mood. "Yes, Lady Kaguya, there's plenty of food to eat in the ship's galley. We can go there immediately if you'd like."
"How about you, Lihua, are you hungry?" Nunnally asked the girl, who had been silent for much of Kaguya's verbal flaying of Suzaku.
Jiang nodded. "Umm-hmmm, I'm starving," she giggled.
"Good," Nunnally chortled. "Let's go."
"Okay," Jiang said as she took hold of Nunnally's float chair and pushed her along towards the elevator at the far end of the landing pad.
Kaguya turned to Zero. "I've wondered about you for many years, Zero. Who you are now and why you did what you did. I think I've figured it out, so when you see my cousin, tell him that I'll never forgive him for being a traitor to his people, to his family, and to a man who must have been like a brother to him." She turned on her heel without saying another word and sprinted ahead of Zero to join with her two friends.
Suzaku was frozen in place. Her words cut deep into him. It was true what she had said; he had murdered his father, killed his own people in the service of Britannia, and slew his best friend, and for what? What had he done that changed the world for the better? It was Lelouch that had made the sacrifice, not him. How had anything that he did save anyone he loved?
Back during the Rebellion, he had looked at the world through the eyes of a teenager, rash and impulsive, an idealist; now he had the wisdom of six years of experience in living a lie that tore at his sanity and his soul. He wondered how much more of this shame he could stand before he lost what was left of who he was and fell into total despair and perhaps even madness.
Suzaku looked up at the clear blue sky above him and spoke softly to himself, "Lelouch, if you can hear me, please, lift this curse from me and release me. I can bear it no longer."
The sky responded with cold hard silence.
Zero walked towards the elevators that led to the galley below.
