Kallen Kōzuki lay on the floor in her cel

Kallen Kōzuki lay on the floor in her cel. she had slept fitfully. afraid of what would happen if she were unconscious. she felt miserable she wanted to go home. she could hear people outside the cell. she strained to try and hear something from the conversation. she heard the door open and she could hear the people too. men, two of them. on of them grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her up painfully roughly. she cried out more in anger than in pain.

what are they going to do to me she wondered, than dimly realised that it did not matter they were going to kill her anyway. she looked around the hall they marched her down but there was nothing to see. her feet were bound with a chain to limit her stride and her arms were still wrapped up in the restraining clothes of the prison.

they marched her a long time she wondered if they were going to execute her now. when abruptly her journey ended when she was lead into a room. they put her in the plastic chair and then one of them waited inside with her.

the room was empty except a mirror, table and two chairs. it seemed like any of the interrogation room she had seen.

then came in someone she had never expected to see again. amber threw open the door and ran inside and hugged kallen crying. kallen felt stunned and then worried. a large man looking like an officer and a young girl with long brown hair came inside as well.

the officer motioned for the guard to go. the guard left, leaving her alone with the man and her sister and the mysterious girl. wordlessly the man walked over to her and started to undo her restraining clothes from behind.

'kallen i missed u so much and i was so worried. i'm so happy your safe.' amber said stil crying.

'amber what.. what .. why are you here?' kallen asked still a but unsure of what was happening. as the restraining clothes came lose she hugged her sister before amber answer.

the man undid her leg chains and the walked back to the other girl standing there. the man then spoke.

'allow me to explain kallen statefelt your sister asked princess nunnally to help look for you. she asked governor general lelouch and he found you and arranged for your release. and now you are free once more.' the man told her in a reserved voice like he did not fully agree with what was happening.

she could not understand it.she did not believe it. except her sister. she looked down at amber still holding onto her for dear life. it was impossible, they knew who she was right? then a word she heard came back to her : princess. she looked up at the girl the man had indicated when he said princess nunnally. is that the answer, is merely the wish of a princess enough to free her regardless of what others thought or knew?

it did not make sense.

she concentrated on her sister then. she just hugged her close 'i missed u so much amber i thought i would never get out of here.' she said her voice wavering. after a while the two sister legt go of each other and she could see that they had brought clothes for her too.

still holding ambers hand she looked at other girl then. 'don't worry sister that is my friend she helped me find u.' amber said. not letting go she raised her other hand to introduce them to each other. 'kallen this is nunnally. nunnally kallen.'

--

kallen and amber walked out the front of the government building in tokyo. she was still wondering if they had something planned. as they got into the car her step mother had sent for her and amber, as they sat there she finally relaxed.

maybe is was really that simple, the princess commanded and that was what happened. she had heard from oghi that sometimes they simply let you go for no reason. she hoped it was like that, not she thought looking to her side at her sister. leaning on her and holding her hand.

no it has to be that.

--

inside a normal flat in a area of the ghetto was a woman she was trying to cook, but not haveing much luck. it seemed to her that it should be easy. it looked easy when oghi showed her but now that she tried it it all fell apart.

she shook her head and her long green hair swayed as she did. smoke started to come from one of the pans. 'oh dear' she said and opened the lid of the smoking pan and a huge flame burst out of it. instinctively she threw herself back onto the floor

she could hear someone at the door and it opened in came this normal looking man. it seemed to her that it was a rare person to help a stranger. she could not remember much but she could remember him finding her cold and alone in an alley

--

sitting there all alone and cold in the ally she was hungry and confused. she did not know where she was or how she got here. and everything was so different. she could not recognise anything. she sat there and cried

she she saw someone blocking the light of the street lamp. she looked up and there was this man. he seemed to be a little sad. but he knelt near her.

'are you ok?'he asked in a voice filled with kindness.

she looked up at him. looking at his eyes.

'are you lost? do you want to go back to the settlement?' he asked when she did not respond.

'i don't know' she answered looking away and pulling her legs against her body.

'what do you mean you don't know, are you hurt.'the man looked her over but she was not hurt not in that way. she had lost all her memories. she did not even know her own name.

'you don't seem to be hurt,' he concluded. 'is there anyone you know here someone i can call to pick you up?'

'no i don't remember anyone.' she told him sadly.

'you don't remember? you mean you don't remember anyting?'he asked a little shocked.

she looked up at his eyes again.'i have no memory before this place' she said'

'well you can't stay here' he said taking off his jacket. and he put it over her shoulders. 'don't worry' she said taking her hand and pulling her to a standing position. 'we will find out who you are' he said

'come i'll get you something to eat it looks like you've been through alot.' he said leading her away.

--

walking into his flat oghi was surprised at the huge amount of smoke filling his living room. the he saw her on the floor looking at him. her green hair was spread behind her and her amber eyes looked at him.

he ran over to her and knelt near her. 'are you aright he asked ' concern in oghi's voice.

she was still looking at him and a little scared perhaps when she shy said 'i'm fine.'

the looking away. she told him 'i.. i wanted to make you dinner like you showed me but it is all burned' looking at him again full or remorse.' i'm sorry i burned it all, please forgive me'

'don't worry about it, we can order pizza, you like that dont'you, i'll teach you how to cook later.' oghi told her glad that she was not hurt.

opening a window he looked back at her picking herself up from the floor. 'have you remembered anything about who you are?'

she looked over the mess on the stove and looked a bit sad. the looking at oghi 'no i didn't i though maybe if i did something familiar like cooking i would remember something. but it turns out i can't cook' she seemed a little sad at that confession.

putting his hand on her shoulder he smiled.'well it doesn't matter, i'm just glad you did not hurt yourself.'

--

The Ashford academy was lit up with light of all colors and there was a buzz of people talking. all of the students were dressed in there best clothes men in uniform like suites and the girl in dresses of all the colors of the rainbow. at the edge of the dance floor milly stood tapping her foot in annoyance.

it had been over an hour and a half and still nunnally and her brother had not shown up. the guest of honour should be on time she thought fuming silently as she stood looking over the students gathered here.

softly she muttered 'if nunnally doesn't show up soon..'

'president' she heard a woman say behind her.

milly turned and saw shirley. she was wearing a green dress and golden necklace with a butterfly. 'president, the ..' shirley then noticed milly's way of looking at her that made her feel very self-conscious.

'presi .. dent don't look at me like that' shirley said

milly then broke the stare and smiled at shirley. 'you look lovely in that dress shirley. very curvy' milly said teasing shirley some more.

then she heard something in the air. it was not really sound she heard it felt more like a vibration and she looked towards the academy's gates and she could see two knightmares but of them with some sort of wing attached to them and they were hovering in the air like sentinels.

no they were not hovering the were moving with the black limousine moving towards the entrance of the school. slowly it moved up the driveway almost stately. as the car came to a stop the two massive knightmares touched down gently a few meters in front of it and stood there looking out over the ball.

by now every one who was there was looking at the two knightmares or the car bearing the two flags if the imperial family. milly was already moving and dragging shirley with her who was complaining loudly that she could walk. it took a little longer than milly liked because you really could not run in high heels.

as she came there she could see a boy getting out of the limousine helped by an older man who looked somehow dangerous even in his well made suite. she recognised the boy from the television. he was the governor general Lelouch.

Lelouch walked around the limousine and opened the door for nunnally. he helped her out of the limousine. he looked around at the academy. he would have liked to be allowed to study in such a surroundings, Lelouch mused. then he looked at the crowd of students who were all gaping at them.

among them he saw a familiar face. well slightly familiar. she had changed allot and if he had not seen her security file he would probably not have recognised milly Ashford. still he escorted his sister who had suddenly become shy under the attention of every one present to milly Ashford.

as Lelouch and nunnally were walking to ball ground between the two towering kinghtmares, one of the knightmares announced too all 'Prince Lelouch vie Britannia and his sister princes nunnally vie Britannia'

milly looked around then she looked at shirley who was staring at lelouch. she looked absolutely cute like this milly thought. then she nudged shirley.

she came to life with a blush 'pre.. president.. '

'what's the matter shirley' she asked with feigned innocence

''nothing i was just..' she tried turning redder.

'could it be that you have been stuck by love at first sight?' she teased the younger girl.

more embarrassed sputtered followed from shirley

luckily she was saved from more teasing when Lelouch and nunnally arrived at milly. milly stepped forward and held out her hand for Lelouch to shake 'long time since the last time i saw you' she added with a smile.

lelouch let go of his sister shook milly hand. your right 'milly it has been to long. i hope we can see more of each other now that i live closer.'

'he, president you know him?' shirley cried out amazed.

milly blushed a little herself, but lelouch saved her from having to answer as he spoke. 'you might say we grew up together. milly's father was a close friend of my mothers.'he smiled at shirley as he explained. the his face took on a more serious tone,'but that was years ago, i haven't seen you in almost 7 years'he said as he turned back to milly.

'

she nodded too 'yeah.. seven years, but look at you' she continued in a more enthusiastic fashion 'your governor general, you must be proud'

lelouch smiled at that 'well i still have allot to do, but why don't u introduce me to this student council you have dragged my poor sister into'

then a blue haired boy came walking up to milly he looked a bit anxious. milly saw him and pulled him over to where she and lelouch were talking and introduced him.

Lelouch this is rival he is a member student council. the boy seemed to hesitate between awe and annoyance in a strange way as he looked at Lelouch. 'i'm Lelouch nunnally brother.' they shook hands.

then milly let go and turned to shirley

shirley just stood there still a little flustered. she could not really understand her own reaction to this man. but when he stood there just looking at her. she felt like. like.

leouch held out his hand. shirley blinked had she missed what he said because she was spacing out. no i must not let him think i'm stupid. i'm graceful, energetic. i'm ... she resolved ho shake his hand then and decisively took a step forward to shake his hand.

unfortunately the high heels she was unused to wear struck the stone at an odd angle and slid out from under her sending her falling on top of a stunned lelouch. shirley let out a yell as she fell on top of him.

they lay there only mere centimetres apart from each other looking into each others eyes. in the few seconds of shocked silence. lelouch hand went to her face and again he had the idea that he was very close to something. a door to a something greater. a greater good or greater evil he could not say.

he let his fingers drift to her face. and he could hear someone speaking his name but time seemed to slow. unconsciously his finger brushed shirleys face and he could hear breaking glass somewhere then there was blackness.

--

consciousness came slowly, like he was returning from somewhere far far away. he could still feel the feelings the nightmare had left him with, guilt. a girl in his hand dieing and he could do nothing to save her no matter how hard he tried.

moaning lelouch stirred.

'prince' came an immediate response to the moaning. 'are you all right?'

opening his eyes he could see the shirley looking at him. a shock went through him as he realised she was the girl in his nightmare. she looked at him intently too then he became aware of his suroundings.

he was still laying on the floor and next to him was his sister nunnally and his knight jeremiah. are you alright brother nunnally asked worried.

'i'm fine , i'm just a little tiered' lelouch lied as he said this a shirley got off him and was turning many dangerous shades of red from embarrassment. lelouch got up and stood there while nunnally looked him over too see if he was hurt, even after he insured her he was fine.

looking at shirley he thought back to the images that had survived into wakefulness. it was definitely her. but he was sure he had never seen her before, and yet he knew her somehow.

--

later it was of course time to dance and since he was an eligible young prince there were enough girls who wanted to dance with him. frankly it surprised him that so many girl wanted to dance with him.

the first dance was of course with his sister. 'are you happy nunnally?' he asked dancing with her.

'i am now i was a bit worried you had hurt yourself when shirley fell on you.' she said enjoying dancing with her brother.

'shirley he, she seems nice if a bit energetic.' he turner his sister as part of the dance and the took her hand again. 'maybe i should ask her to dance so she knows i don't hold her clumsiness against her.' lelouch told her in his most neutral tone.

'do you like her brother?' nunnally asked him

the question startled lelouch. 'euh well i .. don't know her wel enough.' shaking his head 'i would like to know her better i guess.' he told nunnally.

'well then u should ask her to dance i think she like you too.' nunnally told her brother to encourage him. she had not seem him interested in another girl for a long time.

--

every time lelouch thought of the girl in his nightmare he had the odd feeling like he was somehow remembering thing he had forgotten. he walked to shirley with his sister. she seemed in a good mood, he was glad for that.

they found shirley near milly Ashford. 'shirley, milly' nunnally greeted.

they both turned. milly seemed glad to see them both. but shirley almost instantly blushed again. then nunnally whispered something in millys ear. this seemed to please her. 'well lelouch' milly smiled 'i never thought you'd like.. ' she was interrupted by nunnally pulling her.

'well anyway i promised nunnally to show her .. euh something, later!' milly said being practically pulled away by nunnally

shirley and lelouch we left alone. as alone as you can be at a ball on ashfort academy. shirley stood there wanting to talk and ask a thousand thing but she could only stand there looking at him, then quickly look away. standing there fidgeting with her fingers.

'would you mind if we took a walk shirley?' lelocuh asked seriously. she nodded unable to say much.

silently they walked a little while away from the crowd. lost in though lelouch didn't hear her question. he only noticed when she slowed a little. he stopped and looked at her, still the nightmare's emotion echoed though him, guilt.

'shirley' lelouch said looking at her and trying to ignore images and emotion she somehow conjoured up.'i wanted to thank you for taking care of nunnally'

'eh.'. shirly said. 'it is not a problem she really friendly and kind' shirley told him shyly.

'and i wanted to thank you for helping find kallen, everyone was worried about her. the student council was not the same without her.oh. and i'm sorry i fell on you i didn't mean to..'

shirley babbled

'shirley when you fell on me did you.. lose consciousness too?'

she looked at him in he could not tell if it was shock from remembering when she fell on him or something else. 'i don't know, i was embarrassed. i don't really know , lulu'

'euh i mean lelouch' shirley corrected herself blushing more.

'prince lelouch.' she corrected herself again and would have bowed had lelouch not stoped her.

'lulu is fine. its ok. actually it reminds me of what euphy called me' lelouch said trying to calm shirley.

'euphy?' shirley asked curiously.

'euphy is my pet name for my half sister, princess euphimya.' lelouch told her thinking back to his half sister.

'shirley would you like to dance with me now? ' lelouch asked her to divert her.

she seemed stunned. 'dance' she mouthed as if she did not know what that word meant.

lelouch smiled at her and took her back to the dance area. 'don't worry i can teach you if you don't know how to dance.' he told her amused at her response.

'no i know how to dance lulu but i was just... just a little surprised...' shirley told him trying to recover her spacing out.

--

lelouch sat in his office, in his hand was the intelligence file of shirley fenette. nothing that even remotely hints at anything. it was so clean he doubted the file. but still his preoccupation with her was not really something based in facts. still it was more than a coincidence, it was something important but he did not know how to access it except that it had to do with the girl shiley.

the door opened and in came a woman, she was attractive in a dangerous way. lelouch looked up what is it violetta? he asked her gruffly. she held up the files in her hands. the files u requested my prince.

lelouch looked up at her standing there with the files in her hands looking a bit nervous. she must be the knightmare pilot jeremiah was so impressed by.lelouch thought.

he motioned for her to come forwards and she came standing in front of his desk at attention. 'relax violetta i don't stand on ceremony here. so your the pilot jeremiah has told me about.' lelouch told her putting down the file he held and picking up the files violetta had brought. flipping though them he discovered that they were the files regarding the matter of a knight for nunnally.

'jeremiah told u about that?' she asked him a bit stunned.

lookin up at violetta lelouch nodded.

'violetta do you agree with jeremiah assessment?' lelouch asked her looking over the files.

'about what my prince?' she asked nervously

'i assume he told u of my plans and how he disapproved about me taking on the role of undercover operative?'lelouch said his voice still neutral.

'he might have said something sir..' violetta siad only to be cut off by lelouch

'so what do u think violetta. is it a bad idea or not?' he asked

'i.. i am not really qualified to speak about it sir.' she tried backing away sensing a trap in the words.

i did not ask you if you were qualified, i asked for your opinion' he said harshly

'i.. i agree with jeremiah , prince i mean you have so many other responsibilities...' violetta tried to think of more words but she was just too nervous.

'mm.. your a loyal subordinate violetta. i had already come to much the same conclusion i guess it was my pride that kept me from backing off. besides i have something else to occupy my time now.' lelouch mused.

then he looked at violetta, as he did she stood a little straighter. 'violetta i want u to find me a man who can go undercover and lead this terrorist movement so we can end this insurgency once and for all' lelouch told her this time looking at her intently

'me, sir?' she asked surprised

'i need to know your worth in other thing than knightmare combat violetta, this is as good a test as any. i know you won't fail me.' he told her confidently. 'dismissed' lelouch said waiving her away.

'yes sir' she said before leaving.

--

sitting up in bed the green haired woman held her head. the thing she had wanted since she had been here had happened. on her forehead the sigil of geass burned red. she could remember all of it. but it was all wrong somehow twisted like a ribbon.

something had happened on the thought elevator, something very wrong.

next to her stirred a man and she looked at him. to her came two different memories. he was still asleep. she felt some attachment to him for helping her but it would be best if she left him. she had to find him.

'lelouch what have you done' she mouthed silently as she got out of bed and started to dress.

as she was dressed she looked back on the man sleeping there. it was naive for her to be attached to him. she had know thousands of men and..

it did not matter she took a piece of paper and a pen.

she left the not for him, it was not much to comfort him but it should keep him out of harms way she hoped he would not look for her.

--

Obligatory banter with reviewers

Sakuramsm Arcaellos Azraeal, thanks for your hints I might still revise chapter one to include a summery, the idea was that the setting was an alternate universe and so there was not clovis. Oh chapter 2 might be a little worse in grammar and spelling errors because words refused to do what I wanted. Ah well you'll notice yourself