All For Your Memory: "Betrayal"

As Euphemia walks into the hangar, she is nearly blinded by the sudden brightness of several spotlights strewn about the ceiling. As her eyes adjust to the unexpectedly bright lighting, the core members of the Black Knights begin speaking.

"How dare you use us!" shouts Nagisa Chiba, the last member of the Four Holy Swords.

"We know who you are and," Ohgi speaks in turn, "we know everything about your Geass power!"

Zero remains silent in the face of their accusations.

Tohdoh shouts next, louder than the first two. "How dare you turn the desire for Japan's freedom into you twisted game!"

Zero still gives no response.

"Have you nothing to say for yourself?" asks Li Xingke, his voice starting strong but railing off at the end as he hears something quite quizzical: loud, booming laughter. A maniacal sort of laughter, pouring out of Zero's helmet.

"You know nothing. I've played you all, every single one of you. You're nothing more than pawns in a game much bigger than you can imagine. It's been like this for quite a while now and none of you have been any the wiser! I've played you all for fools."

"We are not your pawns, Lelouch vi Britannia!" Tohdoh and Ohgi say in perfect synchronization, almost as if their minds are linked. The laughter begins again, only much louder and with a slightly larger air of amusement.

"That's the first correct statement you've said in a long while. After all, you stopped being his pawns long ago."

"What are you talking about? If you're not Lelouch then who are you?!" Ohgi said, noticing Zero's tone as he spoke the word 'his.'

"You truly are fools." As she says this Euphemia slowly begins to remove the mask from her face. Kallen watches as this happens, staring in horror and shocked silence. Everyone gasps at the face they see. They expected to see dark hair and dark purple eyes. Instead, they saw long, bright pink hair tumble out of the mask and mismatched blue-violet and purple eyes look up at them. A face belonging to someone they thought long dead.

Cornelia stares in shock. "Th-there's-no way... Eu-Euphie? Is that really you?" she stammers out.

"That's...That's not possible" says Schneizel.

"Yes, it is me, Cornelia. I've escaped the jaws of death and found new purpose."

"W-wait, I was wrong? Lelouch is dead?" Schneizel stutters.

"Yes he is. He has been dead for quite a while now. Now that you know the truth, what will you do, my former comrades in the Black Knights?" Ohgi, Todoh, Chiba, Xingke, and those other two Black Knights (that are always present, but aren't given names as far as I know) all level their guns at Euphie.

"Wait, Euphie-" Cornelia begins. While she is speaking Euphemia has drawn her own gun. She raises the firearm and fires a round straight into Ohgi's head. Villetta screams. But her cries are cut short as Ohgi's gun goes off and a bullet pierces her chest. The rest of the Black Knights are taken aback at the death of one of their most cherished leaders.

As the brief gunfire ceases, Cornelia stares at Euphie in utter horror. "Euphie! You just killed a man! I know that you would never do that! What is wrong with you? The Euphie I know would never do that."

"That Euphemia is long dead" Euphie replied.

"B-but when? How?"

"She died when she saw the truth of Britannia. She died because the one you and Clovis tried so hard to find showed me the truth."

"What are you talking about?" Cornelia asks. "Don't be a fool, Euphie."

"You are the fool, Cornelia. You expect me to ignore the wrongs and offenses done to the world by your precious Britannia? You truly are naïve, Cornelia. You are no sibling of mine. I am not Euphemia li Britannia. I am Zero! The one who works miracles. And I will destroy Britannia!"

"SHOOT HER! Tohdoh and Xingke yell. Just as they commence firing, the Shinkiro falls from above, deflecting the bullets.

"Master! Get out of here!" calls CC's voice from somewhere above. While the Black Knights are in shock, she runs up to the Knightmare and climbs into the cockpit. As she boots up the Shinkiro she sees that Chiba and Xingke are doing the same with their own Knightmares. To buy herself time, Euphie fires one of the Shinkiro's wrist mounted hadron cannons at the wall of the Ikaruga, blowing a large hole in the ship. While they are distracted with the sudden turbulence, Euphie opens the hangar doors and begins flying away from the ship.

As she does, she evades fire from both the Mordred and assorted BK grunts. Finally, she accelerates and escapes them.

Meanwhile, back on the Ikaruga, Cornelia begins to cry, murmuring "Why Euphie?"

At the same time, Schneizel wonders 'How was Euphie alive? How long has she been Zero? How was Lelouch dead, but she was not? How did she, of all people, outsmart me?'

Miles away, within the Shinkiro, tears begin to slide down Euphie's face. "I'm so sorry Cornelia, but I can't let you or anyone else stop me. I'm doing this for Lelouch and Nunnally and the world they envisioned." She pauses. "Lelouch, Nunally, I'm going to pull this off. I swear it."

AN: This is a later chapter that Nurse Medusa and I wrote together a few years ago. I've been editing it on and off since then. However, I have not altered it much, so please forgive any grammar or spelling errors. Both Nurse Medusa and myself are rather busy at the present time, so I thought I'd just publish this because neither Nurse Medusa or I will ever actually finish All for Your Memory. Hope y'all enjoyed it. Until next time, BYE!