Naoto Recruited

Claudius p.o.v

"Yes... I see...It's okay I already expected it after all but still it's such a shame...call off the search and focus your efforts on looking near the Shinjuku memorial the locals set up near the refugee camp, I have a feeling that they'll visit there…thank you, goodbye Mary."

Yes, Suzaku just met Euphemia li Britannia, my younger sister.

I had nothing against Euphie, and even I thought their future relationship was cute.

It was such a pity that she died in the anime.

However, She would become a distraction to Suzaku luckily I already expected this outcome nevertheless with or without Suzaku It really won't change my plans anyways.

Still I can't help but be worried Especially that naïve little sister of mine supporting Suzaku's ideals, which would only lead him to become a shell of his former self, clinging to a desire for power while being the good soldier of the empire for my father.

The car stopped and after a few moments the door opened and a familiar head of red hair stepped into the limo and we set off.

"So how have you been Naoto Stadtfeld?" I asked my stone-faced lunch partner.

Naoto p.o.v.

After the prince took his leave I was left alone with my thoughts over my future.

He gave me two choices go back to prison or join him.

I knew I was backed into a corner, as I doubted anyone knew I was still alive.

And what he said about Shinjuku, I had to see for myself if what he said was right.

So I agreed to join him and his forces.

Part of me told myself that I was trying to survive and escape later, but then I remembered that he knew about Kallen, mother, Ohgi and the others.

The prince had me in a tight spot, damned if I join him, damned if I don't, and damned if I ever thought of betraying him.

But why would he go to so much trouble to get me to join him, by all rights he should have had me killed since in his mind I was the cause of the Shinjuku ghetto massacre.

As soon as I recovered enough to the doctor's liking, I was given a couple of documents to sign.

Most were release forms and documentation that were for personal information such as medical information, date of birth, and details about my past.

However two of the documents stood out, one was a death certificate for Naoto Kouzuki stating I died in prison, the other were enlistment papers for the prince's private forces the Ouroboros Corps under the name Naoto Stadtfeld.

So for me to live a part of me must die huh.

I found it poetic that my Japanese half was the one who died and the Britannian half was the one who was going to live now.

So I signed my own death certificate with my fingerprints and signed on the dotted line and began my new life as a soldier a part of the very nation that took my homeland away from me.

The past week I had been put through the ringer in a rush course to familiarize myself with the prince's way of doing things in the Ouroboros Corps.

To my surprise, there were a lot of people with various backgrounds, from progressive nobles, half-Britannians looking to advance in the military, and many non-Britannians as well working as pilots, personal, doctors, engineers, and many other occupations.

Everyone was welcoming and friendly a far cry from what I expected.

However, that did not mean that the requirements and demands were any less daunting.

Hell.

That was my week was like rushing between simulations, physical training, practical training, memorizing conduct policies, and many more requirements that are hammered out over a six weeks for a regular recruit.

I was given a week.

It was safe to say that over the past week I had worked the hardest I had ever had in my life.

I was waiting for the prince's arrival after my training was suspended for the day.

I was now in the standard Ouroboros Corps uniform that consisted of a blue and gold military jacket, black pants and a blue beret with a Ouroboros patch on it as well as the jacket signifying their allegiance.

So when Prince Claudius came to pick me up to go somewhere and asked me how I was, I only had one response for him.

"I feel like shit."

What do you want from me dragging me around town when I could be sleeping?

I wasn't sure if it was fatigue or stress that made me answer like that, but the prince took it in stride.

"Good that means you've been working hard, I wanted to have that talk I promised, I hope sushi for lunch is ok?"

"Sushi, your highness?" I asked unsure if I misheard my superior.

"Yes, I recently invested in a luxury sushi restaurant and even found a master sushi chef to run it," He said if it was normal for a Britannian prince to have his own sushi restaurant.

"Also, if it isn't too much trouble after our lunch, I would like to have you accompany me on a little trip to see another one of my projects, and no prince or your highness since you agreed to join Naoto we are comrades, so call me Claudius."

Not being in a position to refuse I merely nodded and continued to observe the man who held my life in his hands.

And was treating me to sushi instead of torturing me.

Lelouch p.o.v

After relenting and letting C.C. stay here at Ashford, I collapsed on a couch out of pure exhaustion.

The next day I was up early researching what had happened after Suzaku went back to his court-marshal.

To my surprise, he was actually was freed and released from all charges by my brother no less.

I wasn't sure what was more surprising Suzaku being free or my brother Claudius being the one to get him acquitted.

Knowing that Claudius was in area eleven put me one edge because he was one of the people who know what actually happened to my mother according to Clovis.

I wasn't close to Claudius like many of my other siblings back in Pendragon before my mother's assassination, in fact, I think he ignored me on more than one occasion, but he never said why.

At first, I thought it was because my mother was a commoner but he never held himself superior to others, he was more laid back and more accepting of things which were weird why he ignored me.

Instead, I would catch him looking at me sometimes with pity and sadness like he knew something was going to happen to me.

So I looked into my brother's purpose for being here in area eleven besides helping my best friend escape execution.

While searching my older brothers background, I realized he's been busy these past seven years.

He was a high ranking military officer with his own independent faction in the army, owns a successful Tech company called Magicka Corporation which is one of the empire's leading Knightmare developers, and even stranger was that he was quite the humanitarian.

Along with his accomplishments in the military and the tech industry, his philanthropy was well documented and he even went out and publicly said that the empire should help all of its citizens including the numbers rather than exploit them.

It didn't make any sense, it was like he was perfect, no faults, no dirty secrets, no skeletons in his closet, Claudius was considered the perfect prince, and a shining example of what is right with the empire and some people believed he was the one to bring change to the system.

Not only that but apparently he was a front-runner for succeeding the emperor even more so than our sister Cornelia and just as much as our brother Schneizel according to the opinions of his supporters who favored a more progressive empire.

The official reasons for his visit to area eleven were to inspect the military bases and check up on his latest humanitarian aid missions to the ghettos around Tokyo starting with Shinjuku.

Shinjuku, wait could he have been there in one of those white Knightmares?

A little more research into his background I came upon an article on a prototype Knightmare frame made by the prince's company code-named Merlin.

It was a sixth generation Knightmare armed with the latest technology and suited to the prince's needs as a frontline multi-purpose assault combat model.

So that means the blue and the gold one was Claudius', that just leaves the other mysterious white and gold knightmare.

And now he has taken over the temporary viceroy-ship until a replacement is chosen.

This would give me an opportunity to learn the truth from him if he stays in the country that is.

Some things didn't add up even if he was a good person that everyone made him out to be he wouldn't just let a murder suspect of Clovis go free, so why did he?

Letting that mystery go I continued to do research on my brother, Suzaku, and my power.

Yes, my power to command anyone, it will be my weapon against Britannia and help me find the truth of my mother's murder.

But I was still uneasy for some reason as a wildcard like my brother could complicate things and would definitely be an obstacle for me in the future.

I still wasn't sure what exactly he wants here in area eleven, but I won't let anyone especially the emperor's offspring stand in my way.

So I continued to plan the rise of Zero as a symbol of rebellion and revolution.

Suzaku p.o.v.

After a while, the prince's men seemed to break off their pursuit, for what reason only Prince Claudius would know.

"We haven't introduced ourselves have we?" The pink haired girl asked starting up a conversation.

Their target must have been this girl but why her of all people? Why would she warrant the prince's personal knight Mary Taylors to lead the search for her?

And what little I saw and knew of that woman looked like she wouldn't have failed her job and given up the chase so easily.

"My name is…Euphie." The girl introduced herself with a pause.

I was about to introduce myself as well when she stopped me and told me she already knew who I was.

"Hmm, why were you being chased before?" I asked, but Euphie had disappeared.

I looked around and saw her talking to a cat of all things.

She was meowing to the cat that was a stray with a bad paw.

Eventually, she charmed the cat and picked it up to let me see it.

So I reached out to pet it when it bit me.

After patching up the cat and explaining my one-sided relationship with cats and animals, in general, the cat chose to run away to who knows where.

Euphie then roped me into a day of exploring the settlement.

It was fun; she was a sweet, caring, and kind girl who didn't mind me being an eleven.

"Suzaku can you take me to one more place, please?"

"Your wish is my command my lady, where to?" I asked in a dramatic fashion bowing at the hip.

"Take me to Shinjuku." Her request shocked me, why would a girl like her want to visit there of all places.

"Suzaku Kururugi, please escort me there," She said with an air of seriousness she had not shown until now.

Naoto p.o.v.

True to the prince's word we stopped for lunch at a luxurious restaurant in the settlement that was designed like a traditional sushi restaurant.

Of course, it was reserved just for the prince that afternoon.

It was the prince who took the chef, a man who was a master of his craft and put him up in a new restaurant, which was proven to be massively popular even among Britannians looking for authentic foreign cuisines.

As we left the chef came and shook both our hands and profusely thanked the prince for the opportunity to work in a restaurant again.

Now we were back in the same car driving towards another project of the princes.

I still haven't had any talk about my future after my training, and I was getting nervous that I would be forced to fight my friends and countrymen because this bastard knew about my family.

But part of me wondered why the prince was doing this, helping the Japanese people, it can't be just out of the goodness of his heart, there has to be some objective.

Yes like what he's doing with me he was creating an image to win over the people just to take advantage of them later.

But why go to all this trouble when he has access to almost anything he could want in life, why help us?

He was supposed to be an offspring of the Emperor the embodiment of all that is wrong and evil with Britannia, his children were supposed to be no better.

Clovis for years put on a show while exploiting, and taking advantage of the Japanese.

But unlike his brother who used pretty words and false promises, Prince Claudius actually took action and raised others up like that man in the restaurant or the members of the Ouroboros Corps who were all fiercely loyal and thankful to him.

And he spoke of bringing about true peace, in theory, it was a nice idea but how would he do it.

How would he change things, what would he do?

The car then came to a stop.

"It seems we have arrived." The prince exclaimed as he got out of the car.

I followed after him through the other side.

Upon exiting the car, I realized where we were.

It was a refugee camp connected to Shinjuku.

I was still haunted by thoughts of guilt after the prince's accusations that the disaster was my fault, part of me agreed with him, though.

Now what, did he want to use my guilt to force me to work for him.

Looking around for the prince he had started to make his way down towards the entrance of the camp by himself without a care in the world.

I quickly followed the prince but had to dodge transport truck carrying what I supposed to be more aid to the thousands taking shelter there.

When I caught up, I saw that the guards greeted the prince by the gate but he was let through thanks to him being the prince and I was waved through because I was wearing the same uniform as the guards who were also under the command of the prince.

As I walked a bit behind the prince taking in the refugee camp, I noticed that the people had everything they needed.

Food, water, shelter, medical attention, and even stranger, was that they looked happy to be alive.

Children were playing in the open areas, families ate together, doctors worked to help the sick and injured, and not one of the prince's men seemed to look down on them because they were elevens.

It was like they only saw them as human beings like them in need of their help.

Eventually, I found the prince on a small hill overlooking the camp watching as his troops help distribute the new aid that just arrived alongside Japanese refugees.

"So what do you see Naoto Stadtfeld?"

"What?" I asked unsure what he meant.

"I mean, what do you see looking upon this place?" The prince asked.

Looking for the camp, all I could feel is regret; these people would still have their homes and loved ones if I hadn't been so careless.

"Another sad example of what the Japanese have gone through over the past seven years," I said in contempt of the status my countrymen were reduced to after seven years of occupation.

"Hmm, that's one way of seeing things, but I see things differently."

I looked at the back of the prince as he continued to look down at the process of unloading that was still ongoing but moving quickly.

"I see their undying will to live, Hope, Do you understand what I'm saying? Japanese were able to see Hope and because of this they'll never give up. The desire to see their children to be never hungry anymore, For the sick to get proper medicine, and to be able to sleep soundly knowing that they will be safe tonight. What People needed is hope not another despair who would make their current life harsher."

He turned towards me and looked at my guilt-ridden face.

"I told you not long ago not to let your mistakes become your legacy, you seemed to listen to me then because you're here right now instead of a prison cell waiting to be lined up in front of a firing squad. "

He turned back to watching the people work.

"That goes for your guilt over your actions as well, although you had good intentions they lead to tragedy, instead of thinking about all those who died, think about what you can do for the living."

"So I should just forget that my mistake got thousands killed?" I snapped out.

The prince kept looking forward unfazed by my outburst.

"No, you should never forget but do not let that regret paralyze you from doing something about it."

Turning to me he looked at me in the eyes.

"Will you fight for the past and return to how things once were leading the people to death and ruin, or will you fight for a future full of hope where people can live without the fear of annihilation from a foreign oppressor."

Was he right, could a freeing and restoring Japan only lead to its ruin?

Still I want to help my people.

But here before me this man has done more for the Japanese people in a few weeks than I've done in six years of fighting against the Britannians.

Should I help him to protect the people and fight for hope even if it means letting go of my dream that has only caused me hardship and loss?

"I told you I fight for true peace, I will change this broken and cursed world even if it means I have to tear the old one down, the future I desire is one in which there is hope, not despair and regret."

He stepped forward getting less than an arm's reach away from me.

"Now tell me where will you place that hope of yours?" He then looked at me.

I never got to answer the prince's question as explosions echoed out from somewhere in the ghetto.

The soldiers were keeping order and protecting the civilians by stationing themselves along the perimeter.

While the prince got on his phone and was talking to presumably his knight about what was going on, I presumed.

"Mary are you closest to the site? Yes deploy along with your squad, contain the situation from expanding and neutralize any further escalation till I get there."

The prince then began to leave, "Care to pilot a Knightmare Lieutenant Naoto Stadtfeld? I could use another man who can pilot with most of my men protecting the civilians."

My answer was to follow after the prince as we made our way to investigate the explosions in the ghetto.

I wasn't sure what I would be fighting for, or what the future he spoke of would look like, but fighting to protect the innocent seemed like a good place to start.