Entropy 10: (R1;9) Refrain

"Ahh," Kaguya sighed happily, hugging her arms and shivering with delight. "That speech gets to me every time. It's like a mission statement to the world!"

Tamaki grinned widely from his seat and posed, placing his hands on his hips in an effort to look cool.

"It was even better standing right there with him! Oh man, I felt electrified and ready to kick ass after that!"

"You were all standing together in perfect sync. How did you find the time to rehearse?"

Kallen spoke up to volunteer an explanation.

"We didn't. He just gave us our equipment and told us what to do, then left us to it. It was only after we got on the boat he said to gather around, be quiet, and look disciplined. That speech was as much a shock to us as anyone else." Kallen smiled wistfully, her eyes glazing over momentarily with nostalgia. "And so was the Black Knights."

Toward the back Ohgi chuckled lightly, remembering how confused they all were when Zero had them stand at attention on the yacht. When he realized what Zero intended, he bowed and made Tamaki mirror him on Zero's other side, and he felt pretty silly about it. But somehow it had gone over quite well, and Zero had even praised him afterwards for taking the initiative. Those had truly been the days - when they moved from one operation to the next without a delay in between, believing in their righteous cause and their infallible leader. Maybe, if those days had lasted forever, Ohgi thought, he wouldn't have cared if Zero was a Britannian prince or what his true objectives were. He almost felt disappointed that those times had to come to an end and Lelouch had to be disposed of to keep the Black Knights true to their morals - morals Lelouch himself had instilled in them to better control his soldiers.

"I notice you were at the back, Kallen," Nunnally said, oblivious to Ohgi's unspoken hate toward her brother. Kallen shrugged.

"My hair made me stand out, so I might've been recognized if I stood up front." She leaned back in her seat, again letting her thoughts drift and linger on the past, her recollection of events far rosier than Ohgi's just behind her. "But I was also closest to Lelouch; right where I knew I should be."

She'd already made it abundantly clear where she stood when it came to her views on Lelouch, but Kallen's words aroused the same mild outrage from the diehard Lelouch-haters as it always did, and she hastily changed the subject before they could all have another pointless argument.

"And what about you, Zero?" she taunted. "I haven't heard you make any impressive speeches since you showed up."

The redhead had to hold herself back from snickering at Zero's reaction. She couldn't see his face, but it was clear his mind was racing to decide what to say. That, and he tensed at the slight.

"What about-"

Kallen already knew he was about to bring up his speeches following the assassination of Lelouch, and the one-year anniversary of that same deed. He was a hard character to crack, but once she got used to his stunted morality the patterns in his behaviour became readily apparent. It was after she stopped thinking of Suzaku as a friend, and instead saw him only as an eternal enemy to crush between her Guren's claws, that she noticed how predictable he truly was.

"Those don't count. I bet someone scripted them for you."

Zero bristled at this remark, and Kallen narrowed her eyes and smirked. That idiot couldn't help but take the bait every time. If only she'd known how easy he was to manipulate, maybe Lelouch would still be the one wearing the mask, and not his traitor of a 'friend'. She pointed to the blank screen at the front of the theatre, waiting, as always, for the next episode to start.

"That speech Lelouch gave was off the cuff," she said, reveling in how much her praise of the man she loved seemed to bother Zero. "You can tell because he repeats himself when he mentions fearing us or rallying behind us. He wouldn't have been so redundant if he wasn't thinking it up on the spot."

He knew he wasn't the best orator, and Zero's first official speech while wearing the mask was indeed written ahead of time by Lelouch, but he couldn't let himself be verbally thrashed by Kallen like this. He still had his promise to Lelouch, and even if he failed miserably he had to at least try to reassert himself and keep his image strong.

"As Zero," he began, adopting an overly reverent tone, "it is my duty to speak to the people and inspire their love of peace and freedom."

Behind him and on the other side of the aisle Anya rolled her eyes and spat her tongue.

"Bleh! Buzzwords and platitudes!" She ignored Sayoko as she admonished her for the unladylike display. "You sound a lot like a certain someone I used to know."

For those who weren't sure yet who Zero was under the helmet, this was an intriguing comment, despite the vulgarity it was prefaced with. Anya was known to have been very quiet, and didn't associate with many people before the end of the war, so if she knew Zero before the mask it greatly narrowed the options for everyone else still left guessing. Luckily for the caped hero, Lloyd interjected, stealing the focus of the conversation and rescuing his true identity from discovery for a little while longer.

"'Stand in judgement...'" he recited from Lelouch's speech on the yacht, a flicker of mischief in his voice, seemingly intent on starting an argument for the sheer fun of it. "Rather a presumptuous statement, wouldn't you say?"

Rakshata laughed back, fully committing to the change of topic if it meant bantering with her rival.

"Bold and overreaching, perhaps, but I'm sure even you'll agree it was a rousing performance, no?"

"Why of course! Though hardly as overreaching as we all may have thought at the time."

It was true, back then, when Britannia loomed above all, seemingly invincible, no one could have predicted the outrageous feats Zero would perform, turning the whole world upside down, one battle at a time. His final declaration at Lake Kawaguchi, in actuality a promise, was seen as absurd, but somehow he made it a reality. He came out of nowhere and began his rebellion, the blows he struck against the Empire growing more frequent and more devastating as time went on, accelerating; not a man but a force of nature - everyone around him being swept up or aside in his wake. Almost single-handed, Zero - Lelouch - brought the world to its knees.

"It's rather ironic," Lloyd continued without delay. "Lulu wanted to judge the world as guilty, yet himself was judged the villain."

The cheery former noble was among the few who'd hardly spared Zero more than a passing thought over the years, that is, until he met Lelouch and began helping with the Zero Requiem. Even then though, he was only tangentially involved, and hadn't been forced to consider the personal sacrifice necessary to bring the plan to fruition. Yet somehow, despite his lack of investment, Lloyd's insight pierced right to the heart of Lelouch's tragic end, provoking some in the audience to rethink their stance on the Demon Emperor. From Lloyd's tone, it seemed he was almost hinting Lelouch was judged wrongly, but for those who still didn't know the truth behind his final actions the mere suggestion of it was repulsive. Still, there was no harm in believing Lelouch may have started out as good and fallen to evil over time for one reason or another. And for that, he at least could be afforded some pity.

Zero wasn't too taken aback at Lloyd's observation, remembering from his days in ASEEC the man's habit of commenting from the sidelines. He was the only one Zero knew of who hadn't picked an ideological side throughout the whole conflict with the Black Knights, and thus was able to point out the absurdity wherever he saw it, even amongst his allies.

Kallen meanwhile felt her spirits sink, Lloyd's words reminding her of a moment she'd never fully understood, but now made complete sense. It was when she first found out Zero and Lelouch were one and the same. Suzaku had said that Lelouch would eventually betray the world, just like it had betrayed him. She didn't know what he meant by that until this day, seeing Lelouch's past as if she'd been there. Lelouch truly hated his father, the Emperor, for throwing him and Nunnally away, and perhaps, being left to stew in that hate for so long, he grew to hate everyone and everything else as well. If she were right in this assumption, then Lelouch wasn't simply grandstanding for attention after saving the hostages at Lake Kawaguchi - he was giving voice to his deepest desires. He really believed the world was rotten and needed to be cleaned up. So he vowed for all to see, swore to eliminate the worst of the plague that devoured humanity, and thereby usher in a new age. And he succeeded at the cost of his life.

'Dammit, Lelouch.' Kallen wasn't about to cry - not over this, when so many tears had already been spent - but she felt pretty close to it. 'Why couldn't you think of a better way? Why couldn't you let me help?'

"Y'know," Tamaki added to the general discussion, "it's funny. I always thought we saved your asses just to make a splash." He waved in Milly and Nina's general direction. "But I guess Lelouch actually cared. Who would'a guessed?"

Ohgi wasn't quite as convinced.

"Did he really care though? Or did he only care because his classmates were there?"

Nunnally rarely reacted to these nasty comments questioning her brother's integrity, but this time Ohgi crossed a line. Speculating about if things had been different was becoming a common feature as they watched, but some speculations didn't need to be entertained. Milly was also turning in disbelief, but before either of them could say anything Tohdoh sighed from the front.

"He would have come, as surely as the sun rises over the dew-stained morning."

The grizzled general sat with his eyes shut and his arms locked in front of him, absolutely sure of his answer. No one was willing to argue about it, the subject a mere hypothetical, but Chiba was curious enough to question him.

"Why do you say that?"

He grunted back.

"His choice of words gives him away. It would seem he had several sayings and verbal ticks. 'The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed' was just one of those. Based on how often he said it, even when there was no audience to show off for, we can assume he truly believed in its message. That is why he would have saved the hostages regardless if his friends were there."

"Aren't you mad though?" Gino wondered to Tohdoh directly. "You were with the JLF, right? Doesn't it bother you Lelouch killed your buddies?"

Chiba answered for the dour man beside her, snarling, though the blond knight wasn't the focus of her ire.

"Kusakabe was a fool who brought dishonour upon the Japan Liberation Front!"

"So... You're not mad?"

Tohdoh sighed deeply, the sound seeming almost like a growl to those who didn't know him well. Yes, he'd been upset that Lelouch, as Zero, killed men he once knew by name and respected, and Chiba had shared his distress. But now they had the full context, and couldn't fault Lelouch in the slightest for casting his spell on the JLF splinter group.

"Our orders were to avoid taking brash actions that could jeopardize the future of Japan," he explained with the utmost calm, eyes still closed and arms still crossed. "But Kusakabe disobeyed, resulting in many unnecessary deaths."

Gino couldn't fathom it.

"You're really okay with him being killed?"

"If he'd somehow returned alive, he would have been compelled to commit seppuku, or be put before a firing squad for his shameful acts in Japan's name."

To Tohdoh's right, Xingke let a wan smile creep across his lips.

"It would seem Lelouch did Kusakabe a favour by casting a geass on him to die." He looked to Tohdoh, so stoic, all emotion restrained behind an unfaltering expression of neutrality, and for a moment the two soldiers caught each other's gaze, nodding in unspoken understanding. "It saved him the shame of facing his superior officers in disgrace."

Gino still couldn't fathom it.

"I don't get it."

"It's alright if you don't understand," Sayoko said reassuringly from the very back, adopting the easy tone of the doting maid. "It is a relic of our culture. Many Eastern cultures value honour above all else, and what Kusakabe did by killing civilians was an irreparable stain upon his character. Even the least traditional Japanese among us, and Xingke and Tianzi, should be able to recognize this, even if they don't agree with it."

Zero felt like Sayoko was singling him out when she mentioned the least traditional Japanese in the theatre, but as he looked back at her, curious, but only able to display the barest level of interest to maintain his persona as Zero, he couldn't pick out any derision in her body language. He saw where she was going with her thought, and inwardly nodded in dull surprise. After Kusakabe was dead he'd never spared the man a second thought, always so busy with his schoolwork and military life, so this revelation didn't strike down any particular pre-constructed narrative, unlike so many others that were being shattered about Lelouch and more as the Truth was gradually revealed, one episode at a time.

"You're saying Lelouch salvaged Kusakabe's reputation," Zero stated a little too bluntly. All eyes fell onto him and instantly he regretted saying anything that could draw attention to himself, but it was already too late, so he just continued on. "You think by claiming Kusakabe saw the error of his ways and took his own life by choice, Lelouch gave him the most honourable death possible."

Sayoko smiled pleasantly back at the caped hero, slightly surprised that he of all people would fully comprehend the intention behind her words. From what she gathered from Lelouch's attitude toward Suzaku before he took up the mask, and from her own interactions with him, he had completely repressed everything Japanese about himself, dulling his own mind so he couldn't relate to his own countrymen's feelings. It was why he refused to join them in rebellion. And why he was the perfect choice to be Zero. He'd already abandoned one piece of himself, so abandoning the rest, leaving only Zero, would be just one more step.

"Kusakabe could have either been killed and died a villain, been sent back to the JLF in disgrace and died there, or died by his own hand after realizing his mistake. I know which I would choose."

It wasn't clear if Lelouch intended it, but he had given Kusakabe the best end possible, given the position he'd plopped himself into, and it was a mildly amusing concept for the audience. Like Zero had already noted to himself, it didn't impact their thoughts on the man, or Lelouch, but it was thought-provoking.

Gino wasn't really concerned with all that though.

"But..." he wondered. "Could you really afford to be losing your own guys like that back then?"

His question had merit, Kallen thought. The JLF were the largest resistance group in Japan at the time, but being an 'army' instead of a covert force like the Black Knights made it much harder for them to act, and even more importantly, recruit new soldiers. True, most their force were veterans, but it was only logical that over time the number of Japan-era troops would be eroded, for one reason or another. Maybe they'd retire. Maybe they'd desert. Maybe they'd be maimed in battle and be unable to keep up the fight. Or most likely, be killed. As she understood it, there hadn't been much of a stream of new warm bodies to wear their uniform, so the loss of even one JLF member was a hit to the organization as a whole. Kusakabe dying, and losing his entire force as well, had to have been a major blow.

Tohdoh obviously knew this. And yet he responded to the young Knight without a hint of forgiveness for the misguided lieutenant colonel in his tone.

"In an army, discipline must be kept and examples made, no matter how dire the situation."

Gino could only shrug in defeat, though he still wasn't entirely convinced.

"I guess that's fair..."

Ohgi cleared his throat before the moment could drag on too long.

"Maybe we should just get right into it."

It had been two weeks since the Black Knights revealed themselves and-

"WHAT THE FU-!?"

"Kallen, calm down!"

"Shut up, Ohgi!"

Onscreen the camera panned over Kallen's mostly nude form, only her underwear in place to protect her dignity. She lay atop her bed on her stomach, perfect pink skin visible to all, from her toes to her long, muscled legs, to her-

Nunnally put a hand to her mouth and sucked in a breath as she winced on the redhead's behalf. Nina leaned forward as her jaw dropped and her cheeks flushed. Milly and Lloyd only turned to each other and giggled, the scientist faking a disappointed sigh, gaining another laugh from the blonde beside him.

"None of the good bits though."

"HEY," Tamaki barked in horror. "I'm sitting right next to her! Don't even joke about that!"

There was a crash from somewhere outside Kallen's room and she put on a robe to investigate. Outside her door was a maid, kneeling by a fallen chandelier and a small ladder, one of its steps broken through.

"Well, just get it cleaned up," Kallen ordered after the situation was explained to her. "And be quick about it. I have to leave for school."

Rivalz reeled back in astonishment.

"Kallen, since when were you so mean?"

"I..." She didn't have an answer. What could she say? "I can't believe it's showing this."

"Mistress," the maid began her reply pleasantly, almost eerily so, as if not entirely lucid, "you've been attending school quite a bit lately. Making any friends there?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business!"

Kallen retreated into her room before the maid could see her fighting back tears. There was a picture on her mantle, of her and Naoto, and a woman with her face covered by a sticker.

The surprises seemed to be coming rapid-fire this episode for Rivalz.

"That was your...?"

"Haha!" Everyone turned a questioning eye to Anya as she let out a loud laugh. She sneered down at Kallen on the other side of the aisle and laughed again, deliberately. "I've heard of people treating their mother like a maid, but that's ridiculous."

Kallen clenched her jaw and snarled back.

"And whadd'a you know about it!? HUH!?"

"Nothing," the pinkette replied coldly, the smile on her face forced and dead. "I have no parents."

At this, Kallen wasn't quite sure how to react. Anya took the opportunity to continue on.

"Do you think I'd ever be allowed in the military as early as I was if I had parents? I don't remember clearly if they were still around by the start of the Pacific War, but if they were, I'm sure they didn't last long after it did. A certain someone probably had them 'black-bagged' by that point at the latest."

Anya was supposed to be emotionless. She barely knew right from wrong. That's how people knew her. So when was it that she got so dark?

"You mean to say...?" Nunnally turned back to Anya, her eyes shining with empathy for the orphaned Knight. "A political killing? But why would someone want your parents...?"

"Because they were in the way. Because there was someone else making decisions for me."

No one dared ask what she meant by that. Her face at that moment was harsh, a cruel smile underneath lifeless eyes, warning against enquiring further. Inside though, Anya was awash with mixed feelings, feeling smugly superior that she had knowledge that few, if anyone else, shared due to her chance witnessing of Marianne's death, but equally filled with despair at what her life had been for so many years with her mind not her own.

'Damn you, Marianne,' she cursed to herself behind her empty smile. 'Damn you forever. I hope everyone sees what you did. Then what will they say about you? I wonder...!'

The scene flashed to night as Zero and his men ran through the shadows of a warehouse district, appearing as if from thin air to disrupt the sale and shipment of huge quantities of drugs. They were none other than...

"The Black Knights!"

The setting changed abruptly to a classroom at Ashford just as Kallen stood up, interrupting the lesson to practically shout the rebel faction's name. Apparently she'd fallen asleep and been dreaming of the previous night's activities, but luckily for her everyone merely laughed, not linking her outburst to its true cause. More likely she was simply fascinated by the mysterious group. After all, it was the talk of the entire Area, and most girls under 30 had already caught a case of Zero Fever.

Amid muted chuckles from the rest of the audience Rivalz nodded to Kallen.

"I remember when you did that," he said sympathetically. "It was pretty cringey, but I think you played it off well."

"Uh..." The redhead wasn't quite sure how to respond. "Thanks?"

After the class came to an end the main Ashford group gathered around Kallen to check up on her, Shirley questioning her first.

"That's not like you dozing off in class like that."

"You could learn a thing or two from Lelouch," Rivalz agreed. "He's an expert at sleeping in class."

Sure enough, the standoffish boy was sitting nearby, head held up against his fingers, eyes firmly shut, seemingly in thought.

Guilford quirked a brow in bemusement.

"Didn't anyone find that a bit..." The knight grappled for the right word. "Unusual?"

Rivalz, Milly, and Nina shared a glance, and a moment later the former two shared a laugh, the blonde grinning widely, though finding herself unable to keep a hint of sorrow from her smile.

"Of course they wouldn't! Lelouch always seemed like he had a lot on his plate, even if we didn't know what it was."

"He was always a mystery," Rivalz added. "Even before..."

He didn't have to finish his statement for the rest of the audience to know what he meant, and no one prompted him to continue.

Elsewhere, Cornelia was discussing the latest world news with Euphemia and how they should respond. The E.U. was apparently doing quite well in their still ongoing war defending against Britannia, and the elder princess thought Area 11 was just about ready to make a satellite nation, promising increased autonomy and slightly higher recognition of the natives, but most importantly freeing up troops to send to the front. The only obstacles to this were of course Zero, but also the rampant use of refrain among the Eleven populace.

"Uh, wow, Cornelia," Ohgi started hesitantly, "that's a surprise, coming from you."

The Witch of Britannia frowned, actually quite offended at the implied insult.

"Refrain is a disgusting substance that kills the mind. Why would you think I'd approve of it being abused by my subjects?"

"Well, I mean..." Now that he thought of it, he didn't really have an answer. Kallen did though.

"If you were so against it, why didn't you take measures to stop the Refrain Trade, rather than leaving it for us to clean up?"

"If you'll recall," Cornelia began her overtly annoyed reply, "I was busy governing a colonial territory and hunting Zero and others. I didn't have time for such a comparatively small issue. If it were the only problem facing the Area I would have cracked down on that vile industry and executed everyone involved personally."

Onscreen the princess continued.

"Productivity is plummeting."

"Of course," Kallen prodded sarcastically, "because the only one allowed to exploit the Japanese was you, right?"

Cornelia didn't reply, instead taking a long breath, her face betraying her frustration. A few rows behind her, Anya jabbed Jeremiah in the side with her elbow.

"Why did you guys break up their fight, anyway?"

The cyborg's one visible eye flitted to Sayoko before he answered in a whisper for both of them.

"It's best if we wait until everything's been revealed. Then we can make an informed judgement who deserves to die."

"Sounds like a plan." Anya smirked in amusement and shrugged. "But don't get your hopes up. Everyone's already at each other's throats - I'm sure they'll be more than happy to kill each other off when this is over and save you the effort."

Jeremiah's expression grew firm and he scowled.

"No one will deny us vengeance for His Majesty. Our loyalty will not allow it."

"Our loyalty..." It was a somewhat foreign concept for the pinkette, and one she was still trying to get used to. "Am I also...?"

Cornelia declared her intentions of having Euphemia take over as viceroy after Zero was dealt with, but the younger princess was barely listening. She was thinking back to when she was face to face with Zero at Lake Kawaguchi. He'd pulled his gun on her, but then, for some unknown reason, didn't pull the trigger, leaving her with a cryptic excuse:

"But I suppose for now..."

The Pink Princess really didn't know what to make of it.

Zero had never shaken the feeling since Euphemia died that she'd known more than she let on. Her behaviour toward the Zero of that day - toward Lelouch - had struck him as odd even then, and now he found himself pondering a question he'd long since repressed.

'Did Euphy know that Zero was Lelouch?'

So far there was no indication from what he was seeing onscreen that she did, but maybe she figured it out later... And so what if she did? Did it really change that much? Lelouch had still killed her.

Milly didn't share Zero's grim outlook on Lelouch and Euphemia's relationship, and made a mental note to herself.

'Yep, that's definitely a Lulu-Euphy moment.'

Back at Ashford, a new day had begun and Kallen shuffled to the Student Council room with lidded eyes. Since Zero showed up she'd been losing a lot of sleep, and unlike the rest of the Black Knights, didn't have the luxury of sleeping when morning came.

As she approached the clubroom door Kallen heard a commotion coming from inside, and what she saw upon entering was only slightly more outrageous than usual for the Council.

At the sight of the Ashford group dressed as cats Villetta visibly winced, recalling her time as a teacher and the constant, similar antics Milly would get up to. She hated Lelouch, to be sure, but seeing him tied to a chair as his friends painted violet whiskers on his cheeks, she found it difficult not to empathize with his discomfort.

"You looked so cute!" Kaguya cheered from the front. "You really know how to wear a costume, Miss Milly. Oh, and you too, Rivalz."

Nina's lips quirked into the start of a frown, feeling quite alone and forgotten.

"I was there too..."

Rivalz laughed in embarrassment while Milly smiled to Kaguya in thanks and looked back to Nina, as if to share some of the compliment with her. Beside her, Lloyd grinned broadly and was about to say something, but before he could Cécile stopped him.

"Careful what you say, Lloyd." The bluette ignored his protests and turned instead to Milly. "Don't mind this guy. You probably know better than most he's not tactful with women."

"Cécile, Cécile," he pouted back, arms crossed, "you have so little faith in me! I was only going to agree with... What's her name again?"

The engineer was referring to Kaguya, and as he and his assistant began to bicker about how he should know the UFN Chairwoman's name, Milly giggled to herself, rather flattered by Lloyd's unexpected praise. Behind them Gino spoke up.

"Did you get dressed up too, Kallen?" He glanced across the aisle to her with a smile, flashing his teeth. "I'd love to see that."

The redhead returned the gesture pleasantly, her smile not reaching her voice.

"Keep dreaming."

While this was going on, Cornelia and Guilford looked back and forth, from one speaker to the next in bewilderment. When Nunnally had first explained they were going to be witnessing 'The Truth' neither of them would have predicted they'd be seeing high schoolers have a costume party. In fact, it seemed like there was a whiplash of tones in what was portrayed onscreen, each setting cutting to the next in rapid succession to cram as much information and as many perspectives as possible into each episodic segment. Not to say they couldn't handle the breakneck pace, but it was at odds with the pacing of every other historical documentary in existence, if what they were seeing could even be called that.

Near to Kaguya, chatting away with Tianzi, Tohdoh sat in stony silence, only those who knew him the best having the faintest clue what was going on underneath his humourless expression. Beside him, Chiba was slightly more open about her feelings, her elbow on the seat rest and her head propped against her fist. As far as she could tell, almost everyone in the theatre was completely fine with this bizarre scene, herself not being one of them. Even Empress Nunnally was smiling, sparkles in her eyes.

The once-blind girl couldn't help but be astounded at what she saw, having the unique chance to actually see all the little things she missed when she was at Ashford. She'd heard about the welcoming party for Arthur the Cat and felt a little left out at the time, but seeing the costumes now, years later, she really wished she could have been present for it. If only she'd been a couple years older...

Much to Kallen's chagrin, Shirley pointed out a rack of frilly, catlike clothes nearby and told her to get into one as well. Then Lelouch spoke.

"She doesn't need a costume." He sounded so mysterious, unable to keep a hint of satisfaction from his voice, as if he was getting away with something in plain sight. "You're already wearing a mask, right?"

"Ha!" Anya laughed matter-of-factly. "I get it."

Kallen, and the others who'd been there at the time, did too, finally understanding Lelouch's cryptic comment. He meant that how she acted in public wasn't who she truly was inside, hiding her fiery spirit underneath layers of apathy, enough that she might as well have been a different person. And he was right. From what she'd seen already Kallen could tell Lelouch had her all figured out from the start, partially, she imagined, because he was exactly the same. He was filled with hate and compassion, rage and sorrow, yet he couldn't show any of it, just in case he stood out too prominently in a crowd and was discovered for his royal heritage.

At the time Kallen didn't know what he was getting at with his remark, and thought he was laughing at her expense, but now she had a much clearer picture of the man she had fallen in love with. So, while she glared at him onscreen, in her seat in the present a bittersweet smile came to her face to think the aloof Student Council Vice-President may have actually been empathizing with her, veiled as it may have been to preserve his own mask.

During the news coverage of the Lake Kawaguchi Incident Shirley, Milly, and Nina were caught on camera a few times, and since then they'd become plagued by their fame. In response to Kallen's offhand retort to Lelouch, Shirley recounted how they'd become trapped in the school to avoid people on the streets recognizing them and asking questions. Even so, they were still stopped by fellow classmates all the time. Even in the bath.

An image of them naked in a communal bath, presumably on campus, surrounded by other undressed girls flashed onscreen as if to support Shirley's assertion, and Tamaki and Rivalz gasped, in horror, in uncertainty.

"WHY DOES IT KEEP DOING THAT!?"

"Should I be seeing this?"

Onscreen Rivalz was feeling a little more snarky about the whole situation.

"Not that I don't feel for you, but I don't see why we can't leave either."

"Hm," Milly hummed in brief thought before giving her explanation. "That's the price of friendship. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms: 'It matters not that we were born apart. Upon this day we die as one.'"

Tianzi's face lit up as she recognized the quote, and beside her Xingke smirked.

"'If I go down, then we all do.'"

"If I go down, then we all do."

Rivalz blinked in dull surprise as Xingke predicted Milly's exact words.

"That's uncanny."

For Kallen, the casual talk between friends and rounds of laughter was heartwarming, and she found it surreal that some of them might not have been alive if not for her and the Black Knights saving them at Lake Kawaguchi. Ever since that night Zero had stepped up their operations, taking out every enemy of the people he could find, from terrorists who involved civilians, to the overbearing military, criminal syndicates, and even corrupt politicians and profiteers.

A montage of the Black Knights' exploits flashed by, but one in particular stood out to the audience, of a man bound from the top of a lamppost with a sign reading 'GRAFT CORRUPTION' hanging below.

Tohdoh shook his head and grunted in disappointment.

"What a shameful display. Justice should be carried out swiftly and silently, not be made a spectacle."

"To be fair," Xingke answered, "Lelouch was only doing what he needed to. It's apparent from what we're seeing that the Black Knights were weak, but by acting so brazenly and leaving public traces of their work it created the illusion of power, which could only be a good thing for him."

Kaguya put a finger to her chin in thought.

"Like power projection?"

"Kind of," Gino replied with a shrug. "More importantly though, publicly hanging criminals isn't anything new in Britannia. The Black Knights just did it unofficially without state sponsorship."

The Britannians in the room already knew this. Cornelia in particular happened to be known as quite fond of such capital punishments during her reign as viceroy, and even before that as well. The others in the room weren't especially surprised, except for Tianzi, who shuddered at the unpleasantness that was reality outside the safety of her palace, but Chiba still decided to weigh in on the matter.

"How barbaric," she said with obvious contempt in her voice. "Do you think you still live in Medieval Europe?"

Lloyd let out a long chuckle and narrowed his eyes accusingly.

"You're certainly one to judge considering the JLF clung to the old ways easily as much as Britannia." His smile widened as Chiba's haughty expression faltered, quite amused at how she reacted to being caught in a moment of hypocrisy. "Besides, it's tradition. Pretty much all the favourite pastimes in the Empire came from those lovely days of illiteracy and bubonic plague. Why would you think hanging is off the table?"

"As far as the nobility cared," Kallen added, looking straight at Cornelia with unreserved mockery, "the Middles Ages never ended."

Though Cornelia didn't appreciate the obvious attempt at an insult, she really couldn't argue with the redhead's claim. Up until Lelouch abolished the Peerage, many old traditions had endured in Britannian society, especially among the nobility, holding through the centuries all the way into the modern age. Perhaps that's why they resisted him so when he declared his sole rulership of the Empire. Formerly, it was the right of every nobleman to maintain a retinue of troops, though not every one did, and many barons and earls fought back with everything they had - because Lelouch wasn't just taking Britannia in a new direction, but shattering its culture. And perhaps it was because of this, after his death, it was so easy for Nunnally to create a new national character of peace and harmony within the global community.

It was almost like he'd planned it that way all along...

"Exactly!" Anya threw out her arms theatrically as she agreed with Lloyd and Kallen. "So how about we have a good old fashioned witch-burning? We've got one at our place who keeps ordering pizza, and even turned me into a newt!"

Tianzi's face fell in naïve bewilderment.

"Did you get better?"

"Speaking of which," Rivalz interjected, "I'm starting to get hungry. How long have we been watching?"

Rakshata considered.

"It's been almost four hours."

Nunnally hadn't really expected this viewing to take so long, but she was invested now, and wasn't about to stop the show. However, she'd invited everyone to join her, and was effectively the host of, as Lloyd had originally put it, a 'movie night', so after a moment to think, she nodded in assent.

"I guess it's alright if we got some food. How does Pizza Hut sound, everyone?"

A small cheer erupted from Rivalz and others around the theatre, and without any need for further confirmation, Nunnally touched a button on the armrest of her wheelchair. A moment later the double doors behind the rows of seats opened and an imperial guard stepped in and knelt at Nunnally's side.

"We'll be requiring food," the Britannian Empress stated as regally as her delicate form allowed. "Please arrange for the nearest Pizza Hut to cater. And... Oh-!" she accidentally dropped her formal persona as she looked around the theatre, "-Are there any requests?"

There were some murmurs from around the theatre, but it seemed no one had any particular preferences. Anya raised a hand.

"Can I get a charger for my phone?"

Nunnally blinked at the former Knight of Six in dull confusion.

"But the WiFi is turned off. Why would you need your phone?"

"You turned it OFF!?" The pinkette was appalled. "I thought we just didn't have any connectivity around here!"

Then, all at once, Anya remembered who she was speaking to and changed her tactics.

"Please turn it back on?" she asked, as cutely as she could. "Pleeeease? I promise I'll pay attention from now on."

As Jeremiah began to reprimand the girl beside him, Nunnally scrunched her face in bemusement then forced a smile as she addressed her guard once more.

"Also bring a phone charger and have the WiFi turned back on."

"You're the best!" Anya cheered, ignoring Jeremiah. Nunnally simply looked the other girl in the eye with as much sternness as she could muster.

"I'll have it shut off again if you focus more on your phone than what we're watching."

Anya did her best to politely reassure the queen, though ruining it by waving her hand dismissively, and Nunnally motioned for the guard to get closer, whispering something into his ear then sending him off.

"The food will be on its way," she declared to the rest of the audience once the guard had left and they were alone with the damning DVDs once more. "While we wait, let's try to finish this episode."

Much later, Nina was at the computer in the clubroom, as usual, but she stopped her work as she was reminded of a moment that was burned into her memory.

Euphemia turned to her - TO HER - and asked her:

"Are you alright, young lady?"

There was a close-up of Nina's cheeks as she thought about the Pink Princess, and they were clearly flushed red.

Nina was finding herself hiding deeper and deeper in the folds of her theatre chair in an attempt to escape everyone else's gaze. Cornelia in particular seemed quite uncomfortable with Nina's private scenes, and worst of all they were sitting right next to each other. Nina shivered to herself.

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

Time skipped ahead yet again and now it was a weekend, and there was a visitor to the Stadtfeld home.

"Madam President?" Kallen wondered as the maid, her own mother, opened the door for Milly to enter. The blonde was clearly uncomfortable being there.

"I just dropped by to give you something."

"Huh?"

Shina Kozuki looked to her daughter dutifully.

"Where would you like me to show her to? The parlor perhaps? Or maybe-"

Kallen frowned and interrupted, a little too forcefully.

"We'll be in my room."

"Jeez, Kallen," Ohgi started, his mouth agape. "We knew your situation was bad with your mom, but you shouldn't have treated her like that."

Kallen averted her gaze and gave her half-hearted reply.

"Yeah, I know."

Next Tamaki had to chastise her, and he gave her a foul look and shook his head at her. She really didn't think he of all people should be wagging his finger at her.

"What would Naoto say, huh?"

And yet, here they were. They were on pretty good terms with Shina from the days when Naoto was still around, and hated seeing her being mistreated. And Kallen knew, if she didn't say something to stop them now, those two would continue taking turns shaming her for as long as this (what could it even be called - a story arc?) went on.

"Shut up and watch! I changed my opinion of her, you'll see!"

At that moment, Mrs. Stadtfeld came down the staircase and added her own, cruel commentary.

"Oh. I heard you had a friend down here. I was sure it would be a boy - out all night and missing school!"

Kallen couldn't help but let out a single derisive huff at that horrid woman's assumption. After all, now that she thought about it, a boy was indeed the reason why she'd been out so much - the most incredible boy she'd ever known.

The hostility between stepmother and daughter was palpable, and after trading retorts there was a crash and all eyes turned to Shina, a broken vase at her feet.

Kallen hadn't noticed at the time, she figured because of her anger at her mother, but though it wasn't explicit, it seemed to her that Shina had knocked the vase over on purpose to disrupt the argument. It certainly fit with what Kallen later learned about her. She was willing to take on all the hurt for the both of them, to protect her only remaining child - much like Lelouch's sacrifice for the whole world, she thought.

Seeing these events again with a different perspective, Kallen made the connection between behaviour and motive easily, and a shiver ran through her chest and down her arms at the selflessness Shina, and Lelouch, had shown, and the regret she felt at not appreciating them more at the time.

But now was not the time for crying. Kallen had to keep reminding herself of that.

"Can't you do anything right?" the new Mrs. Stadtfeld spat at the former. "Besides selling your body, that is."

Gino cringed and sucked in a breath.

"Oooh, that's harsh...!"

Milly had come to deliver Kallen's school transcripts in person, the documents going back to middle school and thereby outing her as half-Japanese. It was a small gesture of camaraderie to keep the secret for the redhead, but at the mention of her mother Kallen burst.

"My mother is such a fool. In the end she wound up a servant. She doesn't have any real skills. And no matter who's ridiculing her, all she can do is laugh like it's nothing.

"She didn't have to choose to stay in this house, you know? She's just clinging some old lover who's jilted her!"

The conversation had gotten quite heavy and unpleasant rather quickly, so Milly tried to lighten the mood a little.

"Imagine, the wife and the daughter and the other woman all living together."

"Ah, it could be worse," Kallen answered, playing along. "Three square meals and a roof, right? I mean, it's not unbearable; most of the time, anyway."

There really wasn't anything more that could be said, and the scene ended with Milly reassuring Kallen that she wouldn't tell anyone that she wasn't full-Britannian.

"I apologize."

Milly turned to gawk at Chiba.

"What?"

"I..." The warrior woman looked like she was fighting to get the words out. "You weren't entirely oblivious like I first thought. I misjudged you."

"Oh...!" The Ashford girl didn't know much about Chiba except that she'd been especially confrontational since she arrived, and wasn't sure exactly how to speak to her. "That's quite alright..."

At that same moment, quite unknown to her daughter, Shina Kozuki trembled in her room of the Stadtfeld manor. It was prohibitively small, and the walls were covered in crude and abusive slogans, presumably written by the other maids. She opened a locked compartment of her desk, the only other furniture besides her bed, revealing a suggestive flask.

There was a collective dropping of jaws and widening of mouths from the Ashford group as they saw something Kallen would have preferred remain a secret. Ohgi and Tamaki already knew that her mother was a refrain addict, but it came as a shock to the Britannians, reminding them once again just how little they truly knew about their friend. Of course, there were some whose reactions were slightly more muted. Jeremiah only shook his head in disappointment while Anya and others showed no sign of interest either way. Cornelia tsked in disgust, but otherwise had the decency not to say anything.

"Kallen," Nunnally comforted, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know..."

"Yeah." Kallen kept her tone neutral. "That was the point of having a double life."

Behind his mask, Zero was shaken more than anyone by what he saw. He had never asked Kallen about her mom, even after learning her heritage. He'd claimed to care about his people, about all the Japanese living under Britannia, and yet never had the thought to ask Kallen, his professedly dear friend, about her Japanese mother, to see how she was coping with the colonization or even just what she was like. He'd never so much as brought up the subject.

And now he was finding out that she'd been a junkie. On refrain no less! So when he threatened to use that same drug on Kallen when she was imprisoned... No wonder she had such a strong revulsion to it, even betraying her usual indomitable exterior and starting to cry like the teenage girl she really was. She'd pleaded for him to stop, she'd cried out in terror, not because she was afraid of revealing what she knew about Lelouch, as Zero - as Suzaku - had assumed at the time, but because she had a personal history with refrain. It wasn't clear yet exactly how that history had been resolved, but based on her fear of it more than a year later, Zero was sure it hadn't been pleasant. No doubt she had seen her mother using the drug, had seen her completely addled and beyond reaching with mere words. Or maybe Shina even died because of its side-effects.

Whatever had actually happened though, Zero felt a fresh wave of guilt wash over him for almost going through with drugging Kallen, alone together in her high-security prison chamber. He was appalled with himself. He may have stopped before actually using it, but to think he'd even considered doing something so cruel...! He hadn't considered how incredibly unethical it had been, and had no idea of the added hurt of using that particular narcotic. And if he recalled right, even after pummeling him when he tried to apologize, Kallen still didn't forgive him.

Knowing what he knew now, he didn't think she ever should.

That same day at school, Suzaku was unpacking toys and housing for his new best friend Arthur the Cat while Lelouch sat nearby reading. They were discussing the Lake Kawaguchi Incident, the topic still fresh in everyone's minds even then. Lelouch suggested that the Black Knights were heroes. Suzaku couldn't see past the fact they were vigilantes. By his reckoning, they'd accomplish more for Area 11 by joining the police force.

Tamaki harrumphed.

"The cops wouldn't let us in even if we wanted to cozy up to them!"

"They were bought out like the rest," Kallen agreed simply. "He doesn't know what he's talking about with that 'evoke change from within' crap." She shook her head in frustration. "You can't change a system that's inflexible from top to bottom. It's like he thought Britannia was a democratic nation or something and not an absolute monarchy. Idiot."

Behind his mask Zero let out a small, inaudible sigh. He deserved this. His philosophy - Suzaku's philosophy - had been misguided. He could see that now, and he deserved every criticism hurled his way.

"Your conclusions are fair, Miss Kozuki," he responded to the redhead, as formally as he could fake, every sign of sincerity in his altered, metallic voice. But contrary to what he may have expected, that she might show him some respect for changing his attitude, Kallen cast a disgusted glare his way.

"You aren't gonna to defend Suzaku? Where's your spine, huh? The real Zero would say something insightful on Suzaku's behalf, but you just talk and talk and say nothing at all."

Zero honestly couldn't figure that girl out at all.

Lelouch wasn't as convinced, but Suzaku refused to budge on his position.

"If they had done everything in their power to change things, that might hold water," he argued, countering Lelouch when he brought up the Black Knights simply avoiding the overbearing bureaucracy. "As long as they don't, then all of it's just self-righteous posturing."

"Self-righteous?" Lelouch's face darkened, his true self filtering through his mask of indifference ever so slightly.

"And what constitutes evil in their eyes? What standards are they using? It's nothing but self-satisfying gratification!"

Rakshata reclined in her seat and let out her usual long laugh, flicking her pipe at Suzaku onscreen.

"Finally a good point from the boy."

Far to the front Kaguya nodded in agreement.

"He was terrible at stringing words together to make an argument, and he got a little redundant at the end, but he had the right idea. Vigilantes aren't beholden to the public - only their leader and themselves - and consequentially have no oversight whatsoever. If Lelouch hadn't been the one in charge, the Black Knights might have committed really atrocious acts in the name of 'the greater good'."

At his cousin's words, Zero again reflected on his past actions. He'd been so blind! How could he not have seen what he was doing was exactly what he was criticizing Zero for!? He was so sure of himself just because he had a higher standard, the Royal Law of Britannia, that he'd done horrible things; putting down rebellions, conquering sovereign nations... And he'd always justified it precisely as Kaguya put it: For the greater good.

The Black Knights didn't obey any higher standard, or tether themselves to a higher authority. They just did what Lelouch said, and he did only what was necessary for victory. They were the same, Suzaku and Lelouch. They had complete opposite sources of morality, and yet their actions were dictated by the same principle of ends justifying the means. Lelouch just had the decency to admit it from the start.

From her corner of the theatre Cornelia nodded.

"He was right about self-satisfaction too. Lelouch was clearly using the Black Knights to sate his thirst for revenge. He was just starting with the lowest offenders to get some practice and opportunity for bigger prey..."

The door to the clubroom opened and Shirley stepped in, noting only Lelouch and Suzaku were present. At seeing her, Suzaku stood up from his task and excused himself, glancing back at Lelouch then to Shirley with a knowing smile.

"Anyway, I guess I gotta go back to the base pretty soon." He winked to her before stepping out, a small gesture to confirm that he was only leaving so she could be alone with her crush. "See you around, Shirley."

Initially the audience had been conflicted about seeing people who'd died in this retelling of their shared pasts, but that had mostly passed by now. Milly in particular had decided not to miss Shirley every time she came onscreen, and simply enjoy those few precious moments of nostalgia - of a time that was beyond lost to her.

"That was a Shirley and Suzaku moment," she chirped. "But maybe we'll have a Shirley-Lulu moment to even the tally."

As Suzaku left, there was a moment when Lelouch was featured onscreen. The look on his face was of cold fury, outraged at his friend's obdurance.

Shirley was too busy saying goodbye to Suzaku and didn't seem to notice, and stepped up the Student Council Vice-President purposefully.

"So, Lulu..." She was trying to be strong, to tell him how she felt about him since they were alone, but the words just weren't coming. "I was, um... I was thinking if you had some time, you and I-!"

Lelouch didn't so much as look up from his magazine as he interrupted the girl.

"'Back to base.' Now that was an interesting choice of words."

Shirley had been blushing, but it quickly faded as Lelouch killed the mood.

'Go back...' he thought to himself, Shirley utterly invisible to him. 'Implying that's where he thinks he belongs!'

"Oh..." Rivalz didn't see that coming. Villetta did.

"Shirley always picked the worst times." Her tone was somber, and the former coach didn't get any negative feedback for her comment. A lot more had happened between her and the orangette than she would have liked, but now that she was dead Villetta couldn't bring herself to have any ill feelings toward her anymore.

Behind his mask Zero frowned.

'Lelouch! It was a misunderstanding! Where I belonged was always...'

From his spot by Kallen, Tamaki sat in stunned silence. But that never lasted long.

"REJECTED."

Much later Kallen was taking a walk through the Tokyo Settlement and talking on the phone with Ohgi. She hadn't heard about refrain, or else wasn't high enough in the chain of command to learn the details until now. The Black Knights were planning a raid, the target presumably being pretty major since they planned to field their new Glasgow Zero had gotten a hold of. They didn't go into the specifics over the phone though.

Nearby, an Honourary Britannian was being bullied by a group of Britannians and Kallen's attention shifted onto the abuse with righteous alacrity. She stepped forward, unthinking, her first instinct telling her to be a hero and draw way too much attention to herself, but she was stopped, a hand coming down upon her shoulder.

Kallen remembered that day, and that moment specifically. The Honourary Britannian was a street vendor, and while Kallen could only think to save him, Lelouch was playing the long game, and knew intervening would bring even more attention to the poor kid. And it wouldn't be positive. According to him, the former Eleven had accepted the possibility of ethnic and class violence when he got his license to work in the settlement proper, and was just paying the unofficial toll to do business.

Kallen hadn't agreed with Lelouch at the time, and she didn't think she could even now, but back then her opinion of the boy was quite low, and his words had just seemed like apathetic fence-sitting. She hadn't noticed the coldness in his voice or the harsh look on his face, nor the strength in his grip as he held her back. If only she'd paid just a sliver more attention, she might have realized there was more to Lelouch than what he usually showed.

"You got a problem over there?" The Britannian attackers must have noticed Kallen's hostility and turned on her next. "Not feeling sorry for this Eleven, are ya?"

"Nah," said another of their gang as they began to surround Kallen and Lelouch, "they feel the same way we do, don't you guys?"

Lelouch had already killed more people personally than these five would in their whole lives. Their attempts to act tough didn't so much as phase him.

"Not quite," he replied with a smirk and his left eye flashing red, "but you're tired of beating up Elevens now, aren't you?"

Kallen couldn't help but feel slow as she only now understood how Lelouch managed to convince those thugs to leave. Geass. He embedded a command into an innocuous phrase so no passersby, and Kallen, would notice they were suddenly obeying a kid with hardly a muscle on his body.

Gino grinned.

"Smooth."

As the gang walked off, showing no outward signs of being magically brainwashed, Lelouch feigned surprise, keeping up the act of a simple schoolboy. Kallen was still more preoccupied with the Honourary Britannian. He'd been beaten rather harshly, out in public in front of everyone, and she rushed to check on him, ignoring Lelouch entirely.

"Hey," she began softly, "are you alright?"

The man was in a daze, and as he looked upon his saviour he saw the emblem of Ashford Academy on her tie.

"Huh?" Almost immediately he smiled and tried his hardest to appear friendly and professional. His livelihood depended on making sales, and he couldn't sell food if he was lying in pain on the sidewalk. "A Britannian student! What can I get for you? How about a nice California hot dog, miss? Is this your boyfriend? I can get him something too! I have ice cream, if you like."

Kallen hadn't wanted to believe Lelouch. She wanted things to be black and white, oppressed and oppressor. But it wasn't that simple. With the vendor launching into a sales pitch with no time spent to dwell on his physical condition, Kallen understood. Lelouch was right. The Honourary Britannian was being oppressed, yes, but he accepted it. It was just a cost of business to him.

And it horrified her.

She talked about it with Lelouch afterwards and he gave a noncommittal answer. In some ways, he reasoned, Area 11 was better off than the old Japan ever was. As a colony of the Empire their military and economic position in the world was assured, and the natives could easily attain full citizenship through the legal process. And as citizens they'd be guaranteed the same rights and privileges as their fellow Britannians, though, for whatever reason, the police never seemed to enforce them.

Chiba shook her head, her biases getting in the way of her rational thought.

"How could he defend Britannia's actions? Even in passing!"

On the opposite side of the theatre Rivalz rolled his eyes.

"What'd I say about Lelouch saying things he didn't mean or agree with?"

Gino meanwhile practically had stars in his eyes as he sat entranced by the events playing out onscreen. He never got to know Diethard in the short while they were on the same side, and hadn't seen much of him in general while watching this mysterious DVD, but Gino thought he understood the man's instant obsession with Zero, or rather, with Lelouch.

"The hidden meanings to what he says, the constant subterfuge...!" Despite the drama and tragedy surrounding the events being portrayed onscreen, and even knowing it was, as far as anyone could tell, a one-hundred percent accurate representation, Gino still found it to be immensely entertaining to watch Lelouch fool every person around him. "I love it."

"And?" Kallen wondered to Lelouch, sitting beside her on a bench staring out at a massive fountain display at the center of the park.

"Hm?"

"Knowing all that," she clarified, "what does Lelouch Lamperouge think about it at all? What do you wanna do?"

His answer was a simple one.

"Nothing."

"You know, you've got a lot of brains but you don't seem to be doing much with them. It's all Shirley talks about, saying how intelligent you are but how you barely ever apply yourself."

Lelouch didn't seem thankful for the compliment, nor did he seem perturbed by the following slight.

"That's why I don't do anything," he explained coolly. "That Eleven we saw back there could tell you. He could lead a better life as long as he bows his head to Britannia."

At this, Kallen thought of her mom.

She stood up and slapped him.

The scene wasn't exactly funny, but Tamaki was Tamaki and laughed anyway.

"He was just striking out with the ladies that day!"

"Fascinating," Sayoko said suddenly from her place toward the back.

Anya turned to look past Jeremiah at the ninja-maid questioningly. Sayoko didn't have to answer though. She wasn't the only one who'd picked up on the hidden meaning in what Lelouch had said onscreen. Nunnally's brow furrowed as she considered his words carefully.

"If he didn't have any troubles at all in Britannia he'd have no reason to bow," she explained, mostly for Kallen's benefit, who listened to the Empress's interpretation of her brother's words with interest. "He was directly telling you that he wasn't showing his true self; he was suppressing it so he could live a better life - so I could..."

Rakshata hummed in thought.

"That was also just Lelouch Lamperouge's answer. I wonder what Lelouch vi Britannia would have said? Or what Zero would have said...?"

The scene continued and Guilford groaned at what he saw.

"Then he smiles about being slapped? I can't follow him."

Kallen understood though. It was so subtle, but that one gesture that she missed by walking away held a deep meaning, and it filled her breast with pride. She thought he was content to submit to the system, even knowing the injustices it caused and allowed. It was an affront to her that he could see the corruption and abuses yet not bother to do anything, instead taking whatever he could and going about his business, like it didn't even bother him that the system was malicious.

And so she slapped him, then proceeded to lecture him for what she perceived as indifference. That kind of life wasn't for her. She couldn't just sit idly by and let the injustices continue. Lelouch's smile was the subtlest of acknowledgements that, underneath his persona of dispassion, he approved of her attitude and willingness to fight in all Japan's name for what she knew was right.

Milly understood too, and she murmured to herself.

"That's definitely a point to Kallen and Lelouch being together."

That night in a quiet bar Jeremiah and Villetta sat together, the only customers around, having the whole place to themselves. Villetta asked about Orange, much to Jeremiah's discomfort, but rather than condemning him like the others, she corroborated his story with her own anecdotal evidence. During the Purge of Shinjuku she'd lost her memory as well, but only after running into a teenager in a high school uniform.

Almost everyone was more than a little surprised by this, never really expecting Villetta to become a potential major player against Lelouch. Zero knew exactly how entangled she eventually became with his old friend, but even he never thought it had started so early.

"Oh shit!" Tamaki cursed in shock. "You knew!"

Villetta only groaned in reply to her least favourite person in the room.

"I didn't know, I only had a small lead."

Yes, it was only a small lead, wasn't it? But, Ohgi wondered, just how far did that lead take her? In all the chaos since they got back together, he'd never been able to probe too deeply into the subject, that question being the whole reason why he'd even met her in the first place. And after the war neither of them had wanted to spend a single thought on Lelouch, so it had only fallen even farther from his mind.

But now his curiosity was reignited, and for the first time since the Black Rebellion Ohgi pondered exactly what connection Villetta might have eventually come to have to Lelouch. He could always just ask her as he highly doubted his wife would lie or refuse to answer, but he also thought it might be a good talk to have in private, and not surrounded by questionable former friends and foes in an enclosed theatre. For now, he decided, he'd just have to wait to see for himself what happened between the prince and the woman he loved.

At the same time in a shadier part of town the Black Knights stood at the ready, waiting for their leader's signal to strike. Tamaki still didn't fully trust Zero, and couldn't see the reasoning behind their latest moves, but Ohgi and Sugiyama defended the new direction their group was taking. They were all too happy to take the law into their own hands, and it was gratifying to know there was a growing number of people around the world calling them heroes on the internet.

Kallen wasn't so certain.

"Are we in the right?" she wondered, the conclusion to her earlier talk with Lelouch clearly troubling her. "I don't know any more."

All too quickly though the moment of reflection came to an end as Minami spotted Zero's signal and the Black Knights prepared to move in.

"We always wondered how he could get past any security," Ohgi mused to no one in particular. "He was just full of surprises."

The Black Knights' target this time was another refrain shipment just in from Nagoya. Unfortunately for them, without any warning a spray of bullets poured through one of the gates to their warehouse, killing several of the cartel workers instantly. Tamaki, contrary to his earlier protests, was the first one in after kicking through the now-tattered metal barrier, and he gleefully opened fire with his rifle on every criminal in sight.

The cartel guards responded at once, taking cover behind workbenches and firing back with their own weapons as vials of refrain set atop them exploded in the back and forth storm of bullets. Their defense didn't last long though as Kallen burst into the warehouse in her new Glasgow, painted red, of course, and pressed the attack.

She drove her knightmare straight through an interior gate like the first one the Knights had breached and paused to check her surroundings. She'd entered some kind of holding area where people currently under the effects of refrain walked aimlessly, entirely lost in their memories.

Shina Kozuki was one of them.

There was only silence in the theatre, each set of eyes glued to the giant screen in front of them. A few in the audience knew how this would play out, but the rest were shocked at what they were seeing. The refrain users were a wretched sight to behold, even the most jaded or ambivalent finding they couldn't look away.

The Ashford group and Gino were wide-eyed and their jaws hung open, all of them feeling slightly queasy at the drug-induced mania the addicts were displaying. Nina was more horrified than simply astounded like the others, all of her previous and still remaining racism toward Japanese momentarily forgotten as she held her hands across her cheeks, hiding the bottom half of her face at the thought of what those people had been driven to. Britannia had caused those people, all of which had promising futures, to lose hope and resort to drugs. It was awful to think that she, by the mere fact she was Britannian too, had partially brought those people to ruin. She'd moved to Area 11 specifically to attend Ashford Academy once she entered the 10th Grade, an opportunity for her bought by the suffering of the Japanese. It made her sick.

Anya had a different reaction. She was trembling, almost shaking as nightmarish flashbacks streamed through her mind. She'd lived for eight years in a near-constant state of mental vacancy just like those junkies, all thanks to Marianne's Geass, and this unexpected and visceral reminder shook her to the core.

A firm hand came down on Anya's shoulder and she looked to her right in distress, her panicked pink eyes meeting the unwavering orange of Jeremiah's. He didn't say a word, didn't move, just held Anya's shoulder reassuringly until the girl slowly began to relax.

Shina stumbled and Kallen reached out with her Glasgow's hand to catch her. It was hard for her seeing her mother like this, and she momentarily lost track of what was going on around her.

There was a rattle of gunfire then a pelting sound as Kallen's knightmare was hammered by bullets, blowing its right arm off completely. A white and blue Glasgow had come out of the shadows, a member of the Knight Police, specialized officers given outdated military equipment to help 'keep the peace', and it was firing on Kallen.

Cornelia growled in rage.

"Corrupt police taking money from drug-dealers! Degenerate filth!"

The way she saw it, the police were servants of the Crown, and anything less than undivided loyalty was as good as treason. And her punishment for traitors was summary execution. The Black Knights had been her enemy, but at least they were doing her a favour by purging her ranks of those who couldn't be counted on to act with the dignity expected of them.

Kallen was in a bad positon and had to retreat, but the officer followed after her. It would be so much easier for her to fight back if only she could ditch her mom... But no, Kallen couldn't bring herself to do it, and her frame was crippled by the other knightmare's armour-piercing rounds.

As the Knight Policeman ran out of bullets and approached Kallen's downed Glasgow, Shina turned, smiling directly up into her daughter's factsphere. Her face filled Kallen's visual display in her cockpit and she spoke:

"I'm here for you. I'm here for you, Kallen! I'm here, as I always have been!"

Was that the reason, then? Kallen thought back on her mother's actions and realized. Shina had stayed in the Stadtfeld house as a maid just to be close to her daughter.

The Knight Policeman pulled a progressive knife from his frame, ready to skewer Kallen's cockpit, but she managed to catch the blow at the last second. She fired her slash harkens at a series of shelving units and got lucky, the harpoons burrowing deep into the thick metal wall, then tried recalling them, instead pulling herself and the other Glasgow on top of her, the dirty cop's cockpit smashing in half against the shelving, killing him instantly.

Gino gawked. He thought he'd seen it all in his short time as a soldier, but it seemed even he could still be shocked by violence.

"That's brutal!"

Cornelia and Guilford huffed in unison.

"Good riddance."

Luckily Kallen wasn't hurt, and Shina was unharmed too. She sat smiling, babbling to herself about all the wonderful things her daughter could have since she was Britannian, the fight going completely unnoticed.

Zero stood close by, gazing upon Shina questioningly, and far up above the scene, standing atop a rafter, C.C. was present too.

'False tears bring pain to those around you,' she considered to herself. 'A false smile brings pain to one's self.'

Kaguya blinked in surprise.

"How did she get up there?"

Rakshata tutted back

"Super-soldier?"

"Oh, right."

Kallen was back in her school uniform having brought her mother to the hospital following the Black Knights raid, and a nurse was informing her about Shina's condition.

"It's an after-effect of refrain. She's unable to talk much. She'll recover eventually, but it will take time."

"Mother, your sentence..." Kallen was hesitant as she spoke, Shina remaining still and unresponsive. "You got 20 years."

"What?" Cécile balked at Kallen's words onscreen. "20 years?! Just for drug possession!?"

The Kallen of the present could understand the bluette's disbelief. She'd shared it herself when she found out.

"Britannian law was pretty strict about illegal drugs. The sentencing could range a lot though, and Elevens usually got the max possible..."

"But you wait!" the redhead continued tearfully. "I'm working to change things when you get out! I swear to you! I'll make a world where you and I can live a normal life again! So please... Mother...!

Shina placed a hand on Kallen's own, her face still blank and unchanging.

"Hang in there..." Her voice was trembling, the mere act of speaking taking a tremendous effort. "Hang in there, Kallen. My little girl..."

"Don't you worry! I will. I promise you!"

With that the screen went black and the audience was left in awkward silence. Eventually though, Rivalz spoke up.

"Well, that was depressing."

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