Chapter Text
BROADCAST 1 - THE STRAY
DATE: LATER IN OUR STORY THAN EXPECTED
On the eleventh of March, at 12:32 PM, the Knight of Seven entered the room where the Black Knights were being held prisoner.
Having spent the night whispering amongst themselves about their foolish hopes and heavy regrets, the captive members were exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned with the prospect of freedom. Their current guard had not been informed of any change in routine, much less the arrival of a Knight of the Round, and had just been emerging from the shallow end of a nap. No one was prepared, but that did not stall the steady march of oncoming boots or the ensuing chorus of stern knocks unleashed upon the door.
The Black Knights glanced up wearily, half-hearted interest barely leaking into their expressions. They had been held there long enough to know the rhythms of the day by heart, and could recognize a deviation with ease; something was going on. Whether it was something worth gathering up what was left in them to care had yet to be seen.
Still blinking himself to wakefulness, the guard rose from his chair and made his way to the door, swiping his keycard on a nearby reader. The door beeped its recognition and slid open, leaving the man face to face with the Knight of Seven.
The guard let out a shocked grunt. He blinked harder in short bursts, suddenly unsure if he was awake at all. "S-Sir Kururugi!" He gasped, hurriedly standing at attention.
Now the Black Knights stirred. A few exchanged glances of disbelief, hoping to glean a course of action from one another through eye contact alone. All of them looked to Tohdoh, who had been meditating in his cell. He opened his eyes but didn't acknowledge his comrades' appraisal. Instead, he stared in the direction of the door from beneath hawkish eyebrows, his posture suddenly tense and rigid.
"At ease," came a familiar, authoritative voice—one the Black Knights knew all too well. "I've arrived under the order of His Imperial Majesty, Charles zi Britannia," Sir Kururugi announced coldly. "There's to be a prison transfer."
The guard paled. "I-I wasn't informed of-"
"It was a last minute decision," Kururugi interrupted flatly, glancing around at his captive enemies for the first time. His eyes lingered on Tohdoh longer than the others, although his expression remained unreadable.
"Of course, Sir," the guard stuttered nervously. "The warden can prepare a team of escorts-"
"I've been instructed not to allow anyone else control of the prisoners," the knight once again interjected. "We have reason to believe that their leader is seeking them, and no one can be trusted except the Emperor's direct subordinates."
At the mention of Zero, Ohgi Kaname's eyes lit up in relief, but his obvious excitement was met by his companions with disapproving stares. Ever since they had been imprisoned, the young man had proven himself incapable of being cautious with his hope.
"Zero is dead," the prison guard reminded the knight, and his gasp when the Knight of Seven gave him a meaningful look in return sent a wave of tentative excitement through the room. "B-But, shouldn't we have more men escorting them, in that case?"
Sir Kururugi shook his head. "There's no telling how Zero may have already infiltrated the ranks of this prison. I am under orders to trust no one else with this task, as well as to keep it a secret from the warden."
The guard nodded fervently, not wanting to question the Emperor's will. Still, he paused. "Wouldn't you need a driver to transport them?" He asked the young knight carefully. "I... Forgive me, M'Lord, but can you drive? It's not the same as piloting a Knightmare..."
"Everything has been arranged by His Majesty," Kururugi replied simply, weaving his hands together behind his back. "I ask that you leave us, and have faith in His plans."
Although the guard looked uneasy, he must have concluded that questioning a Knight of the Rounds was above his pay grade, because he nodded and darted eagerly towards the exit.
Sir Kururugi waited several minutes for the sound of footsteps to fade, before turning to the surrounding inmates. "If you wish to avoid suspicion while we get in the appropriate position for you to be rescued, I suggest that you cooperate with me for the duration of my time with you."
Many pairs of eyes widened at him, incredulous.
"Yeah, right!" Tamaki scoffed before anyone else could respond. "You think we would trust you, traitor boy? Nice try, asshole!"
Kururugi narrowed his eyes, walking up to the bars of Tamaki's cell and pinning him with his stony gaze. "Do you think," he said evenly. "That if I actually intended to escort such high profile criminals to a different prison, I would do it alone? That I wouldn't take any precautions?"
Tohdoh abruptly rose to his feet, and the room assumed a respectful silence. He and Sir Kururugi studied each other silently for a time, before Tohdoh cleared his throat. "What does he have on you?"
Kururugi wrinkled his nose at the accusation. "Irrelevant," he replied curtly, leaning forward to extract a keycard from under his cloak. He jerked his head back towards the rest of the prisoners, continuing to address all of them as if he hadn't been disrupted by either exchange in the first place. "There is no reason not to comply. After all, you have nothing left to lose. I advise you not to look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Isn't not doing that what got the Trojans killed?"
"Tamaki!!" Someone hissed.
"Sorry."
To no one's surprise, Tohdoh was the first to be freed. As Kururugi made his way around to the other cells, he gave them instructions on what would follow: "I've ordered any guards I encountered on the way here to abandon post, but that doesn't guarantee we won't be spotted," he began flatly, almost reciting. "Stay behind me and keep your arms together like they've been bound until we get to the transport. From there, I'll release you once we reach the spot where Captain Kouzuki and the others are waiting."
"I still don't get why you're doing this," Chiba objected from her cell. "There has to be a catch."
"We are only allies for the time being," Kururugi continued, as if he hadn't heard. "Once you've been handed over to the remaining Black Knights, assume that I have resumed my role as your enemy. Now, line up behind me."
After a short nod from Tohdoh, begrudgingly, the Black Knights complied. "Well this is vaguely humiliating," Asahina mumbled good-naturedly, his arms already pressed together at the elbows against his stomach in a dubious attempt to appear bound.
As soon as the door slid open, Kururugi set out without looking behind him to check if he was being followed. Ohgi lowered his head as he walked, as if he were being marched to his death, and the others caught on and followed suit.
Although they weren't exactly inconspicuous given they were willingly following a Knight of the Round without shepherding, the two guards they passed briefly in the halls simply glimpsed the deep blue of the Knight of Seven's uniform and elected to keep their heads down. Kururugi still didn't glance over his shoulder to make sure they were following even once, striding ever forward almost single-mindedly.
The final set of doors slid open, and the Black Knights squinted out at the world from under the blazing light of a sun they had not seen in over a month. Kururugi pushed open the back of a prison vehicle, motioning them inside. He slammed it shut shortly behind them, causing Ohgi to release a surprised yelp as he scrambled out of the way, narrowly evading being crushed.
"So, uh- What the hell?" Tamaki piped up, plopping down onto the cold metal floor and leaning his back against the wall with a relieved sigh.
"I never thought Kururugi would be the next Orangeboy," Asahina declared, sporting an amused grin. "I wonder what info Zero has on him?"
Tohdoh made a sound of dissent from his spot near the back of the container. "Something is wrong. He's not acting like himself," he explained. "I don't think this was blackmail."
Tamaki scoffed. "I hate to break it to you old man, but the kid's been acting kinda like a robot for a while now. That's nothin' new."
Tohdoh frowned at his companion, shaking his head. "His accent sounds wrong," he muttered. "You really haven't noticed?"
Tamaki shrugged. "Sounded normal to me."
"Exactly," Senba interjected knowingly from where he was seated beside the other Holy Swords. "When have you heard the boy speak without repressing it?"
"Maybe it was because it was just us Japanese?" Ohgi reasoned, before stopping himself. "Well... There was the guard..."
"Guard or no guard, if that was all it took for him, he would have been speaking Japanese to us to begin with," Sugiyama appended. "From the day we met him, even."
Tamaki rolled his head back, banging it on the wall behind him with a metallic clunk. The other Knights winced sympathetically at the sound. "Maybe he's just having a bad day," he huffed, rubbing the back of his skull. "I don't see what the big deal is."
Tohdoh shook his head again, deep in thought. "It's not just that. It's a combination of things. Something is wrong," he repeated insistently.
"For the record, I noticed it too," Sugiyama volunteered, earning him a small glower from Tamaki for his continued support of the Holy Swords over his buddy. "Honestly, his accent sounded kind of forced to me."
Tamaki hit the wall behind him (with his hand, this time, instead of his head) with a crashing sound of reverberating metal. "It's just cuz he's turned into a Brit! He can't even pretend to be like us anymore. He's totally one of them now! He's not even worth thinking about."
"That doesn't just happen that quickly," the teal-haired rebel argued back. "It's not like you flip a switch or something."
While the conversation continued to devolve into the two men bickering, Asahina crossed his arms, tilting his head up at the ceiling pensively. "Tamaki does have a point. Maybe this is how he talks when he wants to play nice with us," he mused. "To get on our good side by reminding us of what we share with him."
"Play nice? The guy's been an asshole!" Tamaki objected, still rubbing at the sore spot on his head.
Abruptly, the transport came to a stop, and the Black Knights shot to their feet, prepared to fight their way to freedom when it turned out everything really had been a trap. They heard the thump of Knightmares landing and exchanged restless looks amongst themselves, but their unease was thankfully cut short by someone rushing to lift open the roll-up door to their container.
"Kallen!" Ohgi gasped, nearly sending the door back down on them both as he collided with his friend in a sniffling bear hug. Tamaki rushed towards them as well, sending the girl staggering backwards even further with the recoil of a second hug. Sugiyama and Minami came close behind them, smiling down at Kallen fondly, but wisely keeping their distance from the messy tangle of arms.
"C-Can't breathe...!" Kallen protested, flailing out awkwardly above their heads as if begging the heavens to save her.
"Both of you calm down! You're killing Kouzuki." Chiba deadpanned from the container's entrance as the other Black Knights stepped out after them.
"Sorry," Ohgi said sheepishly, releasing the strangled redhead. Unfortunately, that was when Tamaki decided to greet the girl with a hardy clap on the back, knocking the wind out of her.
As Kallen continued her struggle for air, Urabe Kosetsu stepped out from the shadows behind her. "Urabe, It's good to see you're alright," Tohdoh called out to him warmly. "I had feared the worst."
No longer the center of attention, Kallen took advantage of the distraction and stumbled away from the back of the carrier before anyone else could attempt to hug her, bracing herself by its side as she regained her breath. Suddenly, her eyes landed on a familiar figure exiting the driver's seat of the transport. She froze. "Suzaku...?"
The knight stilled, a flash of reflective green under the dense shadow of the vehicle flickering towards her as he attempted to meet her gaze. Their eyes locked, but he failed to focus on her, instead looking through her into the road beyond, leaving Kallen with a cold, hollow feeling building in her gut. He closed his eyes for a moment, opened them, nodded at her slightly, and then started to walk away.
Part of her wanted to call out to him, but it quickly lost the fight with the part of her that wanted to smother him to death for what he had done to Lelouch, so she just stood there as he walked off into the distance, dumbfounded.