「Abstain」

The attack on Shikine had begun. Explosions riddled the base, smoke was in the air. Screaming of the damned and the silence of the dead. He stood there on the beach as the panic spread like wildfire.

Dressed in his armor, wearing his helmet, a girl about five foot four inches stood beside him. She had straight pink hair which rested just a bit passed her shoulders. Her red eyes stared up at the sky. The smell of burning flesh welcomed them.

Princess Euphemia Li Britannia slowly turned her head to look at the movement which was in the corner of her eye. Her eyes narrowing on the Lost One, but quickly darting over to the young girl who was beside him. The first thing she noticed was that the girl was dressed in a uniform that was from the same school as Lelouch.

Was he using the girl as a hostage? No, her eyes narrowed on the side arm which was in the girl's hand and the empty holster on the Lost One's hip. The next thing she noticed however was the identity of the girl who was there. It was none other than Anya, one of the youngest to-be-Knight of the Round. What was she doing here?

"Hey!" One of the security officers who were accompanying the Princess and her group turned as they noticed them. "You can't be here! This is a restricted... Area..." The Officer paused as the armored man looked over at him. "Isn't that..."

Suzaku stepped between the two of them, separating himself from the group. "That man slaughtered everyone inside the Prison interior garrison. We're no match for him," He suggested with the Princess almost immediately nodding in agreement.

Graham glanced over and looked at the Officer, the Geass symbol lighting up on his helmet's visor.

Lloyd furrowed his brow seeing this and leaned forward a bit as he adjusted his glasses. "Oh... Interesting," he had some understanding over what the Geass Directorate was. "What brings him here?"

Suzaku glanced over towards his boss and raised a brow. This wasn't the reaction he was expecting. It seemed Cecile was also just as surprised as he was, she was eying the back of Lloyd's head.

"Isn't it the Earl of Pudding, love your work." Graham snickered, his voice distorted by his helmet.

"My, my. An admirer!" Eccentric as always, the man seemed to keep his cool and even seemed to be enjoying this. Even as Anya was casually posing with the gun at Graham's side; aiming at everything and nothing at the same time.

"Suzaku!" The Princess shouted to get his attention as he was focused on guarding.

Pulled away from what he was doing due to her shout, Suzaku glanced over towards the Princess he was the Knight of as of now.

"He doesn't seem to interested in us. Go help the others defend the base!" She pointed towards the Shikine base which was on the verge of collapse. It was clear that if Suzaku didn't go in, the base would surely fall to Rebels.

"Your Highness!" The security guard objected to this notion, "He's an Eleven! He could be working with the rebels!" He wasn't wrong technically, but he wasn't right either.

Of course originally this was to set up Suzaku so that Zero could publically recruit him. Now it was just a ruse to bring out a much larger fish. The Avalon was on its way to the Island, unknown by others who were present.

Graham seemed to smile slightly and tilt his head to the side. "Princess, If I may make a suggestion..." He trailed off as she glanced over at him. "If you're sending the Lancelot to battle, you should ride with him."

The Princess stared at him when he made the suggestion. What in the world was he thinking? The cockpit would be insanely cramped. That's when she paused and remembered back when Graham and Lelouch made that visit to the Viceroy's Palace.

The world they knew had become a tug of war for the Britannian throne. With the instability of the Homeland and the Tributary Empire which distrusts them, a civil war could break out. Suzaku and Zero could be used as examples.

This man before her had put a plan together so that the base wouldn't use surface to surface missiles. This was one of the warnings Graham had given. If there was a chance to destroy Zero, they would take it. Someone would order her death alongside Suzaku even if she was trying to save him from damnation.

Just who would it be?

The Princess nodded, "I will join Suzaku in the Lancelot," turning she rushed after Suzaku as he waited to listen in on everything before heading to Lancelot's trailer. "Inform the Base Commander!"

The Security Officer saluted as the Princesses Escort threatens him, by stating he was questioning royalty which would likely be considered a grave offense, considering his reaction.

Moments later they all watched as the Lancelot launched from the trailer and made its way towards the battle. It was clear that there was some difficulties piloting, but the ace quickly adapted.

Just like the plan to recruit Suzaku, he was lured through the forest after he eliminated multiple terrorist Knightframes within the area of the base. Breaking through the perimeter of the forest however, he found himself trapped on the west side beach. Surrounded by some sort of device used to knock out their controls and electronics, Zero commanded him to exit his frame.

When the canopy opened however, Zero himself was surprised to see the Princess stand up from inside the frame, followed by Suzaku himself.

He hesitated for a moment, but kept his pistol trained on the two of them with steady hands. At that moment, Graham and Anya had vanished. The escort dumbfounded as Lloyd and Cecile had watched him simply vanish into thin air.

"How in the world..." They muttered quietly as they looked in the direction of the base.

Walking through the fire and the flames, Graham entered the central building of Shikine base. Kicking the steel pocket door in, he waltzed through the corridors like he owned the place.

"Sir! We've got a breach! Probable hostile located at main entrance! One male, one female!"

Fayer blinked and looked over at the person manning the security CCTV screens. "Impossible! The door was sealed!" He yelled out, he had just been getting ready to tell Suzaku to hold Zero there while he ordered an airstrike.

"He's killing everyone he comes across!" The man at the screens was holding either side of his head. "WE have to get out of here!"

Fayer just looked at the man who was panicking, his right eye twitching in annoyance. "Soldier, look at me." The man turned around, a frantic expression on his face. Pale as a ghost. "Are you looking to desert your post?" His hand rested on the pistol grip on his hip. He wasn't going to hesitate in shooting him.

"No...No, Sir!"

"Good, now activate the con–" He was cut off as a sudden mechanical humming sound reached the door to the Fayer's command center. "Hmm...?" Looking over at the door, he saw a strange blue-green glow beneath it.

"Sir.. There's a Sakuradite reaction detected on the other side of that door." One of the officers reported as they were all getting ready to draw their weapons. Everyone here was scared out of their minds.

With two slashes of his energy blade, he kicked the quadrisected door to the ground, sending the steel plating clattering to the floor. "Evening gentlemen, ladies." Graham burst into the room with a galiable stride. His blade out to the side, his eyes narrowed on Fayer.

"It's late Noon..." One of the Officer's corrected him as they slowly went to draw their weapon, only for Anya to come rolling into the room and blasting away the majority of the command crew.

Since she was using his weapon, they disintegrated within moments of holes being punched into them from the force behind he weapon. The only one left standing was the commander of Shikine base, Fayer.

"Lieutenant Colonel Fayer, it's nice to see." Graham said as he gestured for Anya to stand up.

She rose and stood beside him, a pace behind him, hiding almost as if she were shy. Her red eyes however were locked on Fayer. There was this strange and intense feeling, it was as if she was thinking of killing him or not killing him.

Fayer cleared his throat, "What do you want?" He could only assume Graham wanted something, since he was still standing and very much alive.

"Hm.. Just a little time."

"Time...?" Raising a brow, Fayer snickered a bit. "For what exactly?"

"For the Avalon to arrive of course," Graham licked his lips beneath the mask. The man seemed to tense. He had believed that the base was the terrorist's target. That seemed to not be the case. It appeared they knew who was coming to the Island.

"Now... If you would abstain from drawing your weapon, you'll be just fine." Graham informed, deactivating his energy weapon while Anya went to hold one arm around his waist and keep the gun aimed on Fayer. "For the time being."