A/N: Hey guys! TTY7 here with chapter 2. Here I'll be compiling fragments of chapters 40-42 of A Date With Destiny. This is basically a recap of what occurs during these chapters before introducing the little choice that changes the entire story. So, let's not waste time. On to the chapter.

Warnings: I'm trying out a new writing style here. Or it may not be new, I don't know. Either way, I'm compiling fragments of chapters together, so what you'll see is mostly italicized dialogue scenes. There's a lot to cover, so I'm skipping a good chunk point of view stuff. Unlike my other stories, this one is going to be paced much faster...hopefully. Let's move on.

Secondary warning: The entire chapter is in italics.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or Sailor Moon. I only own the original characters that will appear later on.


Turn 0: Fragments


"Shirley?"

The girl he addressed stood motionless, soaking wet from the downpour that continued on without a foreseeable end. Lelouch, concerned for his friend, held his umbrella over her head once he was close.

"I'm sorry I was late," he murmured, trying to keep his tone lighthearted since Shirley was clearly upset. "I thought you'd already be back home by now."

Shirley stayed silent. She had barely heard him speak.

"Anyway," Lelouch continued, "Never mind that. Let's get somewhere out of the rain now..."

"Lulu, tell me…," she interrupted. "Zero, he fights for the weak doesn't he?"

The sudden question puzzled Lelouch, but he answered with, "Yeah, well, that's what he says."

"Then why did he kill my father?"

That single question shook Lelouch to the point where he couldn't hide his expression of shock. His eyes widened further as Shirley lifted her head. Before her bangs had covered her eyes, but now he could see the tears streaming down her face.

If there was ever a time when he needed an eloquent speech, now was that time. Unfortunately, Lelouch couldn't think of a single thing to say.

More tears dripped from her leaf green eyes. "You know my father, was so gentle. He never ever hurt me, he didn't do anything wrong."

Lelouch opened his mouth to say something, anything at all, but...

"But he was buried alive. He couldn't breathe…"

There was no sound in the air but the pounding of the rain as Shirley stared directly at him, her eyes boring straight through his soul.

Lelouch's heart ached at the sight. Her tears had awakened the guilt that he had long since buried within his heart. Now at the surface, he was able to see with clarity just what damage his actions had caused.

"I…don't want this," she cried, dropping her purse. "Nooooo!"

Lelouch lost his grip on the umbrella. It fell to the ground with a soft thud as Shirley pressed her face against his chest. Lelouch would have responded if the circumstances had been different, if he had been a different man, but there was nothing he could say or do. He was her father's killer.

Up until this moment, he hadn't grasped that innocent lives would be lost in Narita. He hadn't even considered it. His mindset then had been to capture Cornelia and win the battle...nothing more.

So, when Shirley looked at him once more, agony ripped through him. For a brief moment in time, Lelouch longed for death to take him. To escape from this one moment would have been ideal.

"Please Lulu...help me..."

Before Lelouch could grasp what was happening, Shirley had pressed her lips to his. At first he was unresponsive, still lost in his feelings of guilt, but then a spark ignited within him and his arms pulled her to him of their own accord as he deepened the kiss. He knew the instant he kissed her back that shouldn't have responded at all, but he couldn't change that now. Why he returned the kiss at all was a mystery to him. He couldn't be sure if it was because he felt pity for her, guilt over the fact that he had been the one to indirectly cause her this pain, or to simply distract himself from his thoughts.

In the end, it didn't really matter. He concentrated on being what Shirley needed him to be in that moment. Right then, she had needed someone to love her.

And in that lone instant, he loved her with everything he had.


The funeral for Shirley's father was a few days later.

That same day, Rei Hino was supposed to go to the funeral of her former boyfriend, Chad Matsumoto.

However, the senshi of fire couldn't bring herself to make the trip. After all, in her mind, she had let him die. She had no right to be in the presence of his family, friends, and all the other people who had truly loved him.

It was in that mindset that Rei found herself standing before Shirley and the others, just barely catching the last of the rant Suzaku Kururugi was spouting.

"He doesn't even get his hands dirty. He stirs people into a frenzy, tips the world into chaos, then sits back and congratulates himself. It's not going to change a thing. Anything gained from his kind of tactics is just…"

Rei spoke before she could stop herself. "Stop it Suzaku. Just...stop it. This is hardly the time to be saying things like that. Besides, it's not like Zero's the one who started the battle. That was Cornelia."

"Are you seriously defending Zero," Suzaku angrily questioned, turning to face her with malice in his emerald-green eyes. "After what he's done, you'd..."

"Not at all," Rei interrupted, her tone filled with bitterness. "What I'm saying is that you can't post all of the blame on him. He's not responsible for every death in Narita."

"How would you know, you weren't even there!"

Rei bowed her head, inhaling deeply before she spoke.

"I was there. I was in Narita when the landslide came crashing through the city."

Nearly everyone jumped in with an exclamation of inquiry. The only ones that stayed silent were Lelouch and Shirley.

Nina was the first to ask a coherent question. "What were you doing in Narita?"

"I was running an errand," Rei answered. "Just picking up my motorcycle from a good friend of mine. We had an argument. I left him behind in the town square, but when I saw the landslide coming, I went searching for him." She paused, her mind contemplating her reasons for saying any of this. She felt badly about it. She knew that talking about Chad's death with people she hardly knew wasn't going to help and yet...

"I found him," she continued, a lump forming in her throat. "But I also found my grandpa. He had been missing for the last week or so."

She took another deep breath, fighting back the urge to cry as the rest of the story spilled from her lips.

"Chad and my grandpa were on two different sides of an intersection. There wasn't time to get to both of them, or at least that's what I keep telling myself." Her heart started pounding, the vividness of the memory nearly taking her breath away with how much pain it caused to remember what she had done.

"I was torn between two people I cared about. In the end I saved my grandpa, but Chad…the second I found out about Chad's death I blamed Zero for everything. I even thought of him as being a heartless monster."

Lelouch flinched, but it was too subtle for anyone to notice. Rei herself missed it, though she knew her words must have hurt him.

"I realized something though, something I hadn't wanted to come to terms with." She stopped for a moment, her gaze briefly flickering to Lelouch. "I only blamed Zero because I hadn't wanted to blame myself. I know that if I had really wanted to I could've saved Chad and my grandpa, but I didn't even try to. I just let Chad die." She laughed bitterly at herself for how much of a fool she was being. Tears were sliding over her cheeks now. She couldn't stop them from falling.

"I let him die. I doubt that anyone, even Zero, would ever willingly let someone they cared about die. So if anyone's a monster, or a coward it's me." By then, Rei wanted to stop talking, but once more she couldn't bring herself to stop, even as her voice started to break.

"His funeral was today. I even got ready for it, but I couldn't go. I had no right to be there, especially not after the things I said to him before he died. So I just…came here. I thought it would be better to support Shirley. She needs all of us right now."

Truthfully, Rei was the one that needed them, all of them. Even Lelouch.

In fact, Lelouch's words to her a few minutes later were the words she needed to hear the most, but she didn't accept them. She couldn't.

"You shouldn't blame yourself."

"I have no one else to blame, Lelouch."

She didn't know it then, but soon she would be saying those words again.


"Lulu, I'm sorry."

"What?"

"It wasn't fair, kissing you like that. It wasn't fair of me at all. I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that."

Lelouch was silent. He wanted to refute her statements and tell her the truth, but couldn't. To do so would jeopardize his goal to create a better world for Nunnally. In the end, as much as he wanted to console Shirley, that goal was simply more important to him. However...

"I mean you finally kissed me and I can't even be happy."

She ran. He called out to her, but didn't pursue. How could he? He was her father's murderer. As far as Lelouch was concerned, he didn't even have a right to speak to her.


"No, It can't be true."

"Yes, this boy may be connected to the Black Knights."

Shirley Fennette shook her head in denial. An hour or so had passed since she had last seen the boy she loved. "I don't believe you!"

With Viletta Nu calling out to her, Shirley abandoned the vehicle she had been sitting in and ran. All of her thoughts were a jumble thanks to the seeds of doubt Viletta had planted in her mind. Within hours those seeds would grow and prompt Shirley follow Lelouch to an empty pier where a battle would take place.


The following day, Zero scheduled an operation to assist JLF operatives. Intelligence from a Britannian journalist, Diethard Ried, confirmed Princess Cornelia's intention to eliminate the former leaders of Japan once and for all while obtaining their reserves of liquid Sakuradite. This was all discussed in a meeting Zero called for all Black Knight operatives.

All but one showed up to the meeting.

The missing operative was none other than Rei Hino, a girl stuck in a classic predicament. She needed to be in two places at once because she hadn't gotten a chance to quit her position within the A.S.E.E.C.'s team yet. After all, the switch from Kyoto operative to Black Knight's operative had left her little time to quit her undercover commitments. Somehow, as Sailor Mars and Rei Hino, she would need to fight on both sides.

At the same time, she was still shouldering her grief and the knowledge of Zero's identity. She tried not to think about it as she packed up the things she would need in her duffel bag and continued to keep her mind clear of everything except her immediate predicament.

Yeah, that was definitely easier said than done.

When Rei left her quarters in the base, which were placed strategically across the hall from Zero's, she caught the masked man coming up the stairs. With widening eyes she took a step back in an attempt to retreat back into her room despite knowing that he had seen her.

"Rei!"

His tone was terse and cold, indicating that he had some choice words for her, words she didn't want to hear.

"I'm not going to talk to you about…," she trialed off when he grabbed her arm and forcefully dragged her to his quarters across the hall. She wanted to slap the back of his head then and there, but didn't get the chance to.

He let go of her arm when the automated doors closed behind them. Rei glared at the mask he wore then let out a longsuffering sigh as she moved to sit on his couch. Crossing her arms over her chest as a defiant gesture, she waited for him to make the first move.

He took off the mask slowly, revealing his face to her again.

"Well?"

Lelouch didn't answer, only stared back at her with remorse shining in his violet eyes.

"Are you going to talk or are you going to waste more of my time?" Rei asked, offhandedly glancing at her watch while hoping he would drop the subject he was surely going to bring up in the next few seconds.

"Why did you come to Area 11?"

Rising up from the couch, Rei started to brush past him."I don't need to explain anything to you!" His hand reached out as she spoke, firmly taking hold of her wrist in his grip. Rei stopped moving, but didn't turn around to face him.

"You're going to tell me what I want to know."

"Fine then," she muttered irritably before snatching herself out of his grasp. Without looking at him she sat back down on the couch and answered his previous question. "I was sent here."

"By whom?"

Rei shrugged. "I don't know."

"You're lying."

"It's the truth. I honestly don't know exactly who sent me. All I know is the first initial of their name."

"What is it?"

"M."

Silence hovered in the room as Lelouch contemplated Rei's answer. The girl in question opted to tap her foot against the carpeted floor to show that she was thoroughly ticked now.

"Why were you sent here?"

"Lelouch, is this going to be some drawn out game of twenty questions? If you don't get to the point I'm leaving."

"You're not going anywhere," he responded, his voice taking on a dark and deadly tone.

"Oh, so you're threatening me now?" Rei questioned, rising to her feet yet again. "What are you, an imitation of "Phantom of the Opera"? Seriously Lelouch, I don't want to talk about this now! I'm dealing with enough!"

"Why don't you blame me for what happened to your friend Chad?" he asked, taking slow steps toward her until they were only inches apart.

Rei turned her head toward the door as another act of defiance to his authority. "I absolutely refuse to talk to you about this, Lelouch. Now, if you don't mind I..."

His gloved hand reached up to touch her face then, causing the words Rei wanted to speak to die in her throat. Once quiet, he guided her face toward his. Their gazes locked.

"Why do you blame yourself?"

That single question nearly broke her then and there. Tears sprung to her eyes and made trails down her face before she could stop them.

"Because it's my fault," she told him breathlessly. "I let him die, Lelouch." All at once the thoughts of Chad came rushing back, tormenting her as she remembered catching the last glimpse of his brown eyes just before the building collapsed on top of him, crushing his body in an instant. Rei closed her eyes to chase the image away, but it was useless. She had hoped to avoid this. She had hoped to avoid the subject of Chad altogether because every day that passed was a fight to push the memories away. Focusing solely on the missions she had been given was the one thing keeping her sane. She couldn't allow herself to think about how weak and selfish she had been the moment her friend needed her the most, and yet...it was all she could think about. Try as she might to push the emotions away, she couldn't do it.

Lelouch's gloved hand was still resting against her cheek when she opened her eyes. Rei stared at his hand, noting the droplets of tears his fingertips had captured. She had the thought to push him away, scream at him to keep his murdering hands off her, or just leave, but didn't. For whatever reason, she stayed put.

"I caused the landslide," he stated plainly. "You should blame me for what happened to him."

"I did blame you, and the landslide is your fault, but…Chad…," her voice broke a bit when she said his name. "I can't blame you for what happened to him. I can't blame you for anything that happened that day. I don't have it in me to hate you and that's probably what bothers me the most. I should hate you. I should want to hate you, but I don't."

Afraid, but determined to see his reaction to her words, Rei shifted her gaze again so that she was staring directly into his eyes. There were a number of emotions in those violet eyes, but Rei wasn't sure of any of them. Lelouch was also trying to figure out what was going on in Rei's head, but her eyes were a perfect mirror of his. Deciphering everything she felt was impossible for him.

Rei sucked in a shaky breath, forcing herself to calm down. "Lelouch, I know you're fighting for Nunnally. Don't hate yourself or feel guilty about that. You did what you had to do and you can't turn back now. It's already too late to turn back, so...you have to keep moving forward just as I have to keep moving forward." She paused for a moment, almost as if she were trying to draw out any emotional strength left within her before speaking again. "That's why I'm here Lelouch. I have to finish what I set out to do. I can't give up now even though I want to. My fate is already sealed and yours is as well. So you can't give up, Lelouch. Neither of us can."

The senshi of fire didn't know how wrong she was in that statement. No fate is ever truly sealed...not until its too late to change it.

"You didn't love him, did you?"

A sigh fell from her lips. "No, I didn't. That's why losing him hurts so much, because he loved me and I couldn't protect him...I...just..." Her head fell against his chest, then she wrapped her arms around him in a near death grip as soft sobs wracked through her. Lelouch held her just as he had held Shirley and wished once again that he could die...if only to escape the guilt the tears these two girls had brought upon him. His soul was taking a severe beating, but he knew he had to press forward regardless. The peaceful world he longed to build for his sister could only come from his victory along this path of blood.

However, just because he had to suffer didn't mean that his friends had to. With his Geass he could take the pain away. Or at least...that's what he thought when he tried using his Geass on Rei.

"You will forget everything you know about Zero and Lelouch," he stated. "You will go back to Juban with your friends and you will forget about Chad dying. You'll forget that you ever came here."

Rei began to question him when the worst pain she had ever felt wracked through her skull. He shouted for her to forget and the pain grew ten times worse. She screamed, pieces of her memory beginning to fade until she slapped him hard across the face.

The pain lessened to a minor headache then, but Rei was officially in rage mode.

"LELOUCH, WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"

Lelouch stared back at her with his mouth hanging open. He couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Lelouch, answer me when I'm talking to you or so help me I will run you over with a bulldozer!"

"How do you still know who I am?" Lelouch questioned, still confused on how Rei had been able to resist his Geass.

Rei's anger heightened at his question. "Okay, first you try to do something crazy with some wacky, weird power and then you ask me a dumb question like that!?" Jabbing her finger into his chest she added, "Quit being a moron give me an explanation for this you...you...idiot!"

"I meant…listen I have a power called Geass," he admitted, trying not to incite any further wrath from her. "It's the power of Absolute Obedience. In other words, I can usually make someone do whatever I want them to..."

"Oh, I get it!" Rei interrupted, screaming in his ear. "You were trying to erase my memories!" With a loud snarl she proceeded to smack him upside the head. "You jerk! Why would you do something like that? You know I'm not going to tell anyone about you, although I should for that stunt you just pulled you rotten cape wearing dunce!"

Lelouch took a couple steps away from her to avoid being bonked in the head again. "I know you wouldn't say anything. I'm trying to protect you."

"I don't need your protection!" came her resounding screech as she hit on the head again. "I can take care of myself just fine!" With another angry snarl she hit him again and screamed, "Ugh! Because of you, I have a pounding headache now! I should...ooooooh!" Rolling up the sleeves of her Black Knights jacket she marched toward the door. She was definitely ready to fight now, that was for sure.

"Rei wait!"

"Oh no! I'm out of here! Let's see how well your operation to capture Cornelia goes without me!" After exiting through the doors, she practically sprinted out of the base while ranting to herself that Lelouch was nothing but a stupid, rotten, egotistical, maniacal jerk. At the same time though, as she marched down the docks of the pier where the operation was to take place, she noted that she didn't feel sad anymore. She realized, if not for Lelouch's stupid move, she would've almost been...

Happy?

Rei shook her head of the idea, determined not to let that little bit of kindness he extended get into her head. He wasn't going to win her over, especially not after everything he had done.

But then...out of nowhere a sudden vision came to her. She stopped dead in her tracks, taking in the sight of Lelouch as Zero barely crawling out from a damaged knightmare cockpit. In the next second, she saw Shirley standing before him, holding his gun in her hands.


"Lulu, I'm sorry to be doubting you like this, but…please I want to believe in you."

Shirley didn't know it yet, but she had been followed.


"Second thoughts?"

The question rolled off his tongue without him giving much thought to it. He was genuinely curious to hear what Kallen had to say to him, yet knew that her reasons for seeking him out was because she had doubts about what they were doing and what their end goal was.

"I thought the goal was justice. The only reason I've fought until now is because I thought it was the right thing to do, so I could live with the killing. But now…tell me, is this real? Is what we're all doing here really going to change the world for the better?"

Zero, with a towel over his head to hide his face from Kallen's view, answered, "Yes, it will, or rather, it must change the world."

"But..."

"Will there be sacrifices?" Zero questioned. "Not only just soldiers, but the innocent as well, and yet we've no choice but to continue. No matter the cost, even if people see us as cowards, we have to prevail and move forward. If that means more blood will be shed, so be it. We've spilt so much to get here. We can't let it be in vain, but I won't force you, Kallen. If you wish to turn back, now is the time."

Lelouch wasn't sure if he had spoken those words solely for her benefit. He had held his own doubts after what the results had been. Even so...he could not turn back and he couldn't allow Kallen to walk along this path with him if she didn't want to continue.

Yet her next words were full of confidence and determination. "I've made my choice. I'll follow you to the very end."

The red-head couldn't see Zero's face, but she saw the corners of his lips lift into a soft smile. "I'm grateful, Kallen."

"No, I'm the one that's grateful, Zero." Turning away, she moved toward the cracked warehouse door. "I'm glad we could talk like this. What you said means a lot to me. I'll carry them with me until the end of this war."

A soft chuckle sounded behind her. "Should I ever have any doubt, I'll need you to remind me of those words."


Cornelia Li Britannia's operation to eliminate the JLF ship and confiscate the Sakuradite on board the vessel began one hour later. Suzaku Kururugi, along with her royal guard and other forces fired at the weaker Japanese soldiers aiming to protect themselves from the onslaught of bullets. At one point they surrendered, to which Suzaku tried to end the operation, but was unsuccessful.

At the same time, hidden away from sight, Ohgi, with Diethard standing next to him, was urging Zero to do something. For whatever reason, their masked leader was waiting. It frustrated Ohgi to no end.

Eventually, Zero caved to Ohgi's concern or so it seemed. In reality, he had just ordered his troops to move out while pressing the button on a hand-held remote.

As soon as he pressed this button, the JLF ship exploded in a blast of pink light.

To all who were watching, it appeared that the members on board the ship committed suicide by blowing up the Sakuradite. In response to this, Zero ordered the Black Knights to go after Cornelia.

The second Cornelia got into the cockpit of her knightmare, the Guren was upon her with Zero close behind on his custom Burai. The Lancelot appeared a short time later to combat Zero when he hesitated to fire at the trapped princess.

The reason he hesitated was because he thought he caught a glimpse of Shirley.


Rei Hino, having transformed into Sailor Mars, was searching for Shirley just as the Lancelot sent Zero's cockpit hurling into the air. Crouching low to avoid getting hit, Rei ducked between two warehouses. The cockpit landed with a loud screeching noise seconds later, landing a short distance from Rei's hiding place. Not knowing for certain who was in the cockpit, Rei rose to her feet. The vision she had earlier flashed before her eyes again, distracting her just long enough for Shirley to appear before the battered cockpit. As Zero's body slumped over, Shirley knelt down to where his gun lay.

"Is this Zero's?"

The second Shirley spoke, Rei snapped back into reality. Her vision was happening right before her eyes.

With shaking hands, the strawberry blonde girl pointed the gun toward Zero's mask. "Then with this..."

Heels pounded into the pavement as Rei stormed forward. She may have been angry with Lelouch, but she had made a promise to herself. She wouldn't let another person she cared about die...even if it was the man who had taken Chad away. Like it or not, she still cared about Lelouch. She didn't want to see him die.

"I'll repay you...for my..."

"STOP!"

Shirley gasped, her eyes losing focus for a moment as Sailor Mars came to stand between her and the unconscious masked terrorist on the ground.

Rei noted that the mask was beginning to slide off, but had she arrived any later it would have been too late. Shirley would have killed Lelouch before realizing that he was Zero.

"What are you...you're Sailor Mars?"

"Shirley don't do this," Rei pleaded, then sighed heavily after realizing that she had just blown her cover. This was certainly turning into a mess.

The girl holding the gun took a step back, her hands shaking more violently around the gun. "How do you know my name? Who are you!?"

Rei knew it was a bad move to go with the truth, but she had no other choice. "It's me," she proclaimed, removing the red hood and the cloth that covered the bottom half of her face.

"R...Rei?"

"Look Shirley, you can't kill Zero, he's…"

"How can you protect him after what he's done?" Shirley cut in angrily, practically sobbing. Her hands steadied around the gun. Rei gritted her teeth in response, knowing that what she had to do next was definitely going to bring about severe repercussions later. Unfortunately for her, she was left with no other alternative but to do the one thing that could jeopardize everything Lelouch had worked for.

Lowering herself to the ground as slowly as possible, Rei removed the mask from Lelouch's head. "This is why."

Once again Shirley gasped, her leaf green eyes widening at the sight of another familiar face. "Lulu is…"

"I see, so the student is Zero himself," a new voice interrupted. "I also see that the supposed Sailor Scout of justice is protecting him."

From the shadows, a silver-haired, green-eyed woman with a darker complexion than the two teens appeared, a wide smirk of triumph written all over her face.

Rei's violet gaze narrowed on the woman. "Viletta Nu."

"And he's a Britannian too," Viletta proclaimed, laughing slightly while also ignoring Rei. "I wonder what grand execution will be in store for him."

"Don't you touch him!" Rei shouted, her arms bringing the man she held closer to her when Viletta got too close.

Viletta simply chuckled. "You shouldn't make demands. After all you're going to be executed as well."

Rei growled at that. "I'd like to see you try."

Another laugh escaped the older woman. "Princess Cornelia will make me a noble for taking in the masked terrorist and his protector."

In response to those words, Rei's grip on Lelouch involuntarily tightened. Fear gripped at her heart at the thought of the two of them being executed.

And then something unexpected happened. Shirley lifted the gun in her hands, pointing it toward Viletta.

"No Shirley! Don't do it!"

Viletta turned to face the shaky teen. "How stupid of me! He's your boyfriend isn't he?" She started to charge toward Shirley to take the gun away from her. It was a foolish and deadly move.

Turning her back to Shirley and the gun, Rei shouted for the girl to stop just as she fired the gun. For a couple of seconds, Rei's eyes were squeezed shut, anticipating pain since she knew Shirley had probably never handled a gun before. However, after a few seconds, she inclined her gaze over her shoulder in time to see Viletta stumbling away, clutching her side until her feet slipped from off the dock. The woman fell a good distance, but Rei wasn't sure if she had hit the water or the narrow areas of concrete below. To her it didn't matter.

Shirley ran off seconds later, leaving Rei alone with Lelouch.

The senshi of fire sat there for a long while, breathing heavily as the shock slowly wore off. When she finally let go, she noticed blood covering her chest. For a couple seconds, Rei worried it was her own blood, but quickly realized that she hadn't been harmed at all. Suddenly her gaze was darting around Lelouch's body, checking for wounds. Within seconds she noted a long gash across his forehead that was still bleeding.

"Ugh, Lelouch, you clumsy fool," she whispered, her expression reflecting deep concern despite the irritation seeping from her words. "You're worse than Serena...ah!" Rei bit back a scream as another explosion sounded through the air. With slow movements she looked over her shoulder again. The Guren Mk-II and the Lancelot were still locked in combat. Neither of them had noticed a thing. Rei was grateful for that. With Viletta gone, Shirley was the only one who knew about her and Lelouch's secret identities.

Glancing about to make sure no one was around, Rei began to move Lelouch over to the other side of the cockpit. If Suzaku, Kallen, or anyone else happened to look in that direction, they wouldn't see Lelouch in the Zero costume. Unfortunately, that wasn't only one problem Rei had to deal with. The other was the giant gash across his forehead. The poor girl had no clue had to treat it, though she figured stopping the bleeding was probably the best place to start. She'd had bandages in her duffel bag, but...she had left the bag in Lelouch's quarters back at the base after their...discussion.

Unsure of what to do, she lightly touched his forehead. Her fingers started glowing red almost immediately after she touched him.

"What the..." Before Rei could even formulate a proper sentence, the wound disappeared before her eyes, transforming into a light cut that was barely noticeable.

Looking down at her hand, the raven-haired princess began to wonder how she had healed her friend when her cell phone rang. She flipped it open without checking the caller I.D. and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Is he alright?"

Rei didn't bother to contemplate how C.C. had gotten her number. "Yeah, he's unconscious but he'll be okay."

"He'll probably wake up soon. You should leave while you can," C.C. stated. "You don't want him to find out that your Sailor Mars."

"Yeah, wouldn't want that," Rei replied in agreement before hanging up on the immortal witch. Her eyes drifted to the spot where Lelouch's wound had been in wonder, but after another explosion sounded she placed the hood of her cape back over her head and rose to her feet. Rei didn't like the idea of leaving Lelouch behind in the open, but she hoped he would be in good hands with C.C. After all, as far as she knew, the two of them had been working together since the start of this mess.

Taking off, Rei decided that it would be a better idea to go home rather than look around for Shirley. She had shot Viletta to protect them, so Rei was confident that she wouldn't tell the authorities who they were. Even so...regardless of whether Shirley was trustworthy or not, her knowledge about their identities was going to be a problem.

What the senshi of fire didn't know was that there was another person out there...no two people out there...aiming to turn this situation to their advantage.


A/N: I was going to make this the only recap chapter, but the truth is there's a couple more scenes that I need to implement before I bring about the changes to the original plotline. Unfortunately, putting them all here would make the chapter VERY long. As it stands it's already over 6,000 words, so I am going to end it here. Thanks for reading guys! Stay tuned for the next chapter. At the end of it, I will be implementing the big change. Thanks for reading. Please review! Tell me your thoughts. Constructive criticism is welcome. Let me know if there is a grammar or spelling issue up there. Sometimes I miss those.