Soon Lelouch, Kallen and Kiara were back in their Knightmares and were heading to their positions. Kiara kept herself near to Lelouch in case he got into trouble or Suzaku showed up. She didn't think it would be long now before he sped towards them in his gleaming Lancelot. She was willing to bet he was still upset over the incident with Euphemia. Too bad for him the one that killed the pink haired princess wasn't actually here right now.

*Cornelia's supposed to be at the far back of the Britannian government at this point :/*

(Sorry, I don't know the battle off by heart like you do. I'll go back and change it)

"Hey what's that?!" gasped Shirley. Raina could imagine her pointing out the window. She resisted the temptation to open her eyes.
"It's the Lancelot - it's Suzaku!" said Milly.

*ok in case you don't know - this is the point where Suzaku fights and defeats Kallen, and gets caught in the gefyun disturber by Tamaki and Rakshata, while Lelouch goes off to find Cornelia.*

(I can remember that part, that's when they sneak outta the council room and away from Nunally and get caught by the Black Knights in the bushes and that's when Nina goes psycho and appears in the gamamyde)

"I've got a visual on the Lancelot," Kiara reported to Lelouch. "Looks like it's fighting Kallen at Ashford Academy."
"Kallen can handle herself against Suzaku," Lelouch replied, sure of himself and that Kallen could handle Suzaku and the Lancelot. "We have a bigger target, Cornelia."
"Right," Kiara replied. "Lead the way Oh Lord Zero!"
She was quite glad that it was a closed channel between their knightmares because then she could be as sarcastic and open as she wanted to be. Lelouch made a huffing sound but then sped off in the direction of Cornelia's Knightmare.

"Suzaku's fighting that red one!" said Shirley. "He defeated it!!!"
"He's heading this way..." said Rivalz.
"Hey - what just happened?! he stopped moving..." said Milly.
Raina allowed herself a small smile. So the gefyun disturber had worked once more.

Kiara got a visual on the Knightmare and quickly reported it to Lelouch.
"Keep a slight distance for now," he stated.
"UInderstood," she replied, moving out of the way so that the SHinkiro had a clear shot at the royal Knightmare. Inside the SHinkiro Lelouch was preparing himself. He would get the answers he wanted from Cornelia, she had been the one that was trusted to guard his mother after all so if anyone knew what was going it would be her.

*and you remember that while Cornelia is superior to Lelouch in battle, Lelouch used his geass on Andreas Darlton during Euphie's massacre so he comes and holds Cornelia in place while Lelouch attacks and defeats her?*

"They're drilling through the Knightmare!" said Milly. "He's trapped!"
"There must be something we can do!" said Shirley.
"Do what you have to do," said Nunnally. "I'll stay here with Raina-san."

(Couldn't remember his name but I did remember that she was held in place.)

It was then that Kiara noticed another Knightmare. Her yees widened as she realised who it was, the one that Lelouch had geassed at the SAZ!
The Knightmare held Cornelia's Knightmare still as Lelouch approached quickly and before Kiara could do anything the princess's Knightmare was down.
"That was quick," she muttered, staring up at the SHinkiro as she came up behind it to stand behind Lelouch's Knightmare. She saw the hatch open and Lelouch appeared before Cornelia, moving slightly closer so that she could see him clearly.
"Zero," she muttered, looking up at him from where she'd fallen with blood covering her face and body.
Lelouch nodded his head before lifting up a gloved hand and releasing the mechanism at the back of the helmet and lowering it, exposing his face for his older sister to see.
"Lelouch..." she murmured, staring hard at the black haired prince. "So it was you. We all thought you were dead. So all of this, this was because of what happened seven years ago?"
Lelouch nodded his head. "Now," he stated in a comanding voice and Kiara could tell that he was about to give Cornelia a comand. "Tell me the truth when you answer!"
He asked her the one question he'd been wanting to ask for years, who killed his mother.
Kiara and Lelouch waited with baited breath for her answer.

Raina heard the door open and close, and realised she was left alone in the room with Nunnally. Well, it was his sister that Lelouch had been worried about. Raina supposed that he'd prefer for her to stay with the blind girl, especially now that the otehrs were gone. It was then that she heard the door open again, and some terrifyingly familiar, light footsteps approached. It couldn't be...

"Who killed me mother?!" Lelouch demanded, his Geass compelling Cornelia to speak.
"I don't know," she answered. Kiara could picture the look on Lelouch's face even if she couldn't see it from where she was.
"How can you not know?" he demanded hotly. "You were in charge of the palace guard were you not?"
"Yes."
"Then where were you when she was attacked?"
"I was ordered to release the guard that night."
"By whom?" Kiara could tell that Lelouch was getting increasingly worked up and quickly moved from her piloting seat and moved from the cockpit to stand beside him, gripping his shoulder and giving him a warning look.
"Calm down," she hissed. He took a breath before tuning back into Cornelia who was just answering.
"I was ordered to stand down...by Lady Marianne herself."
"What?" This time they were both shocked, why had Lelouch's mother done something like that? It didn't make any sense!

"C.C.-san?" asked Nunnally. Raina could tell why she thought it was C.C. But it wasn't her. C.C. was off at the other side of Tokyo with Lelouch.
"Hello, Nunnally," said the voice which sent shivers running up her spine. She gave an involuntary shudder and sat up.
"Raina," said V.V., sounding mildly surprised. "I had no idea there was a useless little traitor hiding here as well."
Raina looked him in the eye. He was just over half her height, yet she knew he was much older than her, older even than the Emperor.
"What are you doing here?" she said defiantly.
"I'm here for Nunnally," said V.V. Nunnally gasped.
"What do you want with her?!"
"You're full of questions, aren't you?" he said.
"That isn't an answer."
"No. No, it isn't."
Shaking slightly and tryign to force herself not to, Raina stood up and placed herself between Nunnally and V.V. She stared at the little blonde boy in front of her, with his angelic face and purple eyes. How she hated that face, how she had feared it as a girl. How it haunted her sometimes even now. "I'm not letting you have her."
"Raina-sa-"
V.V. laughed. "And what are you going to do? Shoot me? Stab me? Use your geass on me? You know those things won't work!"
"Even so," said Raina.
She saw him draw a black gun and point it directly at her. She tensed, and concentrated on the barrel of the gun, on where the bullet would appear. Suddenly he fired, and she forced the bullet sideways, where it tore through one of the curtains. Milly would have a fit when she saw that.
She was expecting another bullet and was ready to use her geass on that too. But she wasn't expecting the gun itself to go flying towards her, and hit her on the forehead. Everything went black as she fell to the ground.

"This isn't possible...why would she...how could she..." Lelouch was in deep shock. "What about the body?"
"We were ordered to...clean up afterwards."
"By whom?" Lelouch demanded.
"By the emporer..."
"No, no but that means...answer me! Who killed my mother damn it!" Lelouch yelled. Cornelia tried to speak but she couldn't. she didn't have an answer for the castaway prince.
"Lelouch! Kiara!" C.C.'s voice came to them from the cocpit of the Shinkiro.
"Wukckly we must go!"
"Not now C.C.," Lelouch muttered. "I need to know-"
"Listen to me!" C.C. snapped. "It is important! It is about Nunally!"
That got their attention. Both Geass users whirled around to stare at C.C.
"What?" the demanded.
"She has been taken, by V.V.," C.C. said.
"Are you sure?" Kiara hissed, her eyes burning with her Geass symbol. If Nunally had been taken then what about Raina? Was she okay? Was she hurt?
"I am sure now hurry!" C.C. said, gesturing for them to hurry. "They are on the move to Kamine island!"
!Come on," Lelouch said, gesturing for Kiara to get into the SHinkiro. "Your Knightmare can't fly, climb in with us."
"Got it," Kiara replied, scrambling up the SHinkiro and managing to squeeze into the cocpit just as Lelouch took his seat and the hatch closed, sealing all three inside. The Shinkiro took off in a burst of speed into the air and began to make it's way to Kamine island. Lelouch gave quick instructions to Todou that he was to asume comand before disconnecting the radio completely.
"Hang on Nunally," Kiara muttered. "We're coming for you." She may not be close to Nunally herself but she knew how much she meant to Lelouch and she would't let anything happen to the blind girl if she could help it. She was the reason Lelouch was fighting after all and she' dhate to see what effect losing her would have on him. It wouldn't be pretty, she was sure of that at least.

*Raina's been taken? 0.0 This is complicated... I was intending for Raina just to be knocked out and rejoin the other students for R2...*

(Oh, I thought you'd been taken since you got knocked out. I'll go back and change it quickly then Sorry!)

*It's ok, I should have made it more clear. If I were you I probably would have made the same assumption*

"Raina. Raina!"
Raina opened her eyes and found herself looking up at Milly.
"Hey Raina, come quickly. We're evacuating all of the students, just one group left to go. Where's Nunally?"
"She's... I don't know..." said Raina, rubbing her head. It still hurt.
"Well hurry, Lloyd is taking all students up onto the Avalon."

As they flew through the air towards Kamine island Lelouch was focused ahead. Kiara turned her head and her eyes spotted something coming up behind.
"C.C.," she said, pointing. C.C. looked at the screen before tapping a few buttons and a picture came up from a camera behind them. It showed the Lancelot.
"Damn it!" Kiara cursed. Suzaku was following them. He probably wanted to know who had killed Euphemia and the best way to do that was to come after Zero. "This is SO not good..."
2And there is someone else behind him," C.C. pointed out. Kiara squinted and made out a red shape behind him.
"It's Kallen in the guren," she observed.
Lelouch had broken out of his reveree and was looking at the screen.
"This isn't going to end well," Kiara muttered darkly, staring at the screen.
C.C. pushed forwards more and the Shinkiro sped up, moving faster than the Lancelot could ever hope to. As they soared further and further towards Kamine Island a feeling of dread settled over Kiara. She tried to push it away but it was still there. Soon they were nearly there, the shore clearly visible even though it was night. They were only a few minutes away from touching down.

Raina and Milly rejoined the remaining students and were transported up onto the Avalon. There wasn't much space for all of the students, but it wasnt unbearable.
The tide of the battle had definitely turned in favour of the Britannians. Raina could see them panicking down below. She saw Ougi on a gurney being rushed away. Even he was injured. Things weren't looking good.

(Writing the scene in the cave is going to be quite interesting since Lelouch didn't kill Euphemia, I'll need to improvise a bit here)

Finally the SHinkiro touched down just outside the crack like opening on the stone that would allow them to enter the cave. Kiara immediately opened the hatch for the cocpit and jumped out before climbing down the SHinkiro to stand in front of it.
"You guys coming?" she called up. Before they could reply she felt a shudder go through her.
"A trap has been sprung!" she heard C.C. call out before everything around her faded to white.

The Black Knights began to retreat. Some of the students on the Avalon started to cheer, but Raina didn't join in. Why was everything going wrong? Was it because V.V. kidnapped Nunnally. She felt miserable. She'd failed at the task Lelouch had given her. She couldn't protect his sister.

Kiara had somehow managed to avoid getting hit by the trap as she was not inside the Knightmare with C.C. and Lelouch when it went off but she felt the impact of it and for a while neither moved, they were in a kind of status with blank eyes. Just as she was about to start hitting them over the head to see if they'd respond they seemed to come out of it. They shared a look and Kiara got the feeling she'd missed something important but pushed it to the back of her mind as she and Lelouch headed inside the cave as fast as they could.
As they entered they saw the large stone door like thing at the end. Lelouch began to scrabble around, searching for anything that would give a clue as to where Nunally and V.V. could have gone.
"Calm down," she hissed at him. "Panicing won't do you or her any good!"

*this is the point where Orange-kun makes another appearance and he and C.C. end up lying at the bottom of the ocean*

(I can remember that! Who could forget Orenge-kun?)

From outside the cave Kiara heard something, she couldn't quite tell what it was but she could tell that it involved the Knightmare.
"Hope C.C.'s alright out there," she muttered before turning her attention back to Lelouch. She wouldn't be able to do anything to help C.C. and she'd probably just get in the immortal witch's way if she did try to help her.
"There has to be something here, a clue to where he's taken her," Lelouch muttered, searching around a little more calmly than before but still clearly nervous and hurried.
"We'll find her," Kiara said calmly. "Just don't panic. We've got time to look."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," came a voice from the entrance before a shot rang out and hit the stone a few centimetres from Lelouch's hand. They both whirled around to see Suzaku walking in from the tunnel mouth, a gun raised.
"Well," Kiara said, staring at Suzaku. "Shit!"
"Answer my question," Suzaku said calmly, aiming the gun at Lelouch. "Who killed Euphemia?"

*Raina's doin' nothing...............*

At this point Kiara was swearing up a storm in her head. This. Was. Not. Good!
She couldn't tell him that it was Raina, he didn't know that she was a Black Knight after all and she didn't want to get her friend in trouble or put her in danger and obviously it wasn't Lelouch as he had not been in a Knightmare at the time and clearly visible...
"Put the gun down Suzaku," she ordered as calmly as she could, stepping slightly in front of Lelouch.
"Move out of the way Kiara," he ordered. Suddenly his head turned slightly. "Kallen? You want to know who exactly Zero is don't you?"
Kiara whirled to see Kallen crouched in the shadows. The red head's eyes widened at being caught and she stood up, her eyes on Lelouch/Zero and Kiara.
"You know who he is don't you?" Kallen asked, looking between Zero and Kiara. Kiara nodded her head slightly towards Kallen.
"I see," Suzaku replied almost flatly. "I'd hoped that it wouldn't be you but...I guess there's only one thing to do now."
He raised his gun and before Kiara could do anything he'd fired. How she wished she had Raina's geass right now as the bullet flew over her shoulder and impacted the mask of Zero. A crack appeared and the mask split directly in half, falling away to reveal Lelouch's face.