A/N any confusion about the chapter title is easy to resolve to "Harken Back" is to "to bring back to mind" at least according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.

A/N2: I am suffering from a bit of writers block on the third and final part of the battle of Mount Fuji for my other story... I am just not satisfied with the confrontation between Kallen Lelouch and Nunnally. So I wrote this instead... sorry to those who were hoping for an update on that story.

Enjoy.

Red Recurrence Chapter 3: Slash Harken Back

Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.

-Jalal-Uddin Rumi

Kallen took a moment as she and Nagata sped off in the truck to take stock of what had just occurred. 'Nagata's alive... so I went back at least two years...Naoto Nii-Sama did you do this for me? Wait... no... You said I did it? HOW!? I'm not a miracle maker! That's Lelouch's job!... Lelouch...' Kallen thought as a tear rolled down her cheek 'If I am in the past... Then Lelouch is ALIVE! I have another chance! I can save him!' at that thought Kallen cracked a smile. Yet as Kallen cracked that smile the military's warning was called over the speakers and the object of her thoughts was contemplating his situation only a few meters away.

'Why don't they have a ladder on the inside?" the military's warning came out loud and clear. From the front of the truck A Red headed you woman came saying "can you get to the subway?" Lelouch fixated on her from the shadows beside the container.

From the front of the truck the other terrorist called out "Kallen! Let's use it here! Why not?"

"Because that would mean a bloodbath" the girl Kallen said... Lelouch noted an odd expression on her face like there was something more that she knew.
before she started climbing into the Knightmare in the back.

'Good Luck...' Lelouch thought 'Wait what the f..." and he recoiled back and hit his head on the side of the container this drew Kallen's attention and Lelouch prayed that he wouldn't be spotted.

Kallen turned to the source of the noise and peered into the shadows but she failed to see anything and turned back and finished climbing into the Glasgow. She stopped and looked at the controls and couldn't help it "Damn outdated piece of..."

'That was close!' Lelouch as he ran to the closing door that the Glasgow exited through "Sh*t these guys are real Terrorists" Lelouch muttered however his earlier observation still held. He was doomed if he left the truck; and would probably die if he stayed on board... still... only a fool chooses certain death ofver almost certain death and no matter what you could say about him Lelouch was no fool. As he went back he pondered his reaction 'Why did i wish her good luck? she's a terrorist she'd probably kill me!' he thought after a few more seconds a thought struck him 'No... No way... but I've never been interested in anyone before!'

Back on the highway Kallen had shot down another attack helicopter when a Purist Faction Sutherland showed up and sent the last chopper away.

"I can only assume you dug that obsolete relic out of some junkyard" a familiar confident voice; it took Kallen a moment to realize who it was "Jeremiah?" she muttered as Orange continued his rant missing part of it

"Not to mention a filthy Eleven who spurns the compassion of our glorious emperor!" Gottwald finished as he raised his gun to fire.

Kallen caught the movement when it started but was still barely able to dodge the shot getting some cosmetic damage on the arm instead of losing it like last time. Suddenly she got a message from Nagata "Kallen Split up we can't risk both of us getting killed!"

"No we have to stick togeth..." she started to retort when Nagata was forced to detour and Gottwald took advantage of the momentary distraction.

"Second hand CHUNK!" Gottwald cried out when he had to dodge a Slash Harken aimed at his cockpit while Kallen broke away from the engagement.

"I have to admit I really like your spirit..." Gottwald said with admiration "However..."

As Kallen Sped away she couldn't help but think 'GOD Lelouch really was a good influence on Orange...'

Kallen took a moment to take stock and realized that she had completely lost Nagata "I'm sorry Nagata I couldn't save you; Naoto I'm sorry but one of your friends is going to die... again. I couldn't stop it...'

Inside the trailer of the truck Lelouch was lamenting the Lack of a cell phone signal. After a while the truck crashed in the subway and Lelouch stood up.

"Have we crashed?" he asked he decided to take that chance to try climbing the container to get out through the roof and was part of the way up when the door opened and as he was turning around he was met with a spin kick 'Why does it feel like this has happened before?' "Are you Britannian?"

"That's enough mindless murder." the soldier stated

"Wait I'm not oneof..."

"Planning to use poison gas? Don't play dumb with me!"

"Get off me!" Lelouch yelled "I'm not here by choice. If that is poison gas it was made in Britannia wasn't it?"

"My god." the nameless soldier said recognizing Lelouch

"Mindless murder? Then why don't you just destroy Britannia!" Lelouch said

"Lelouch" the soldier said

'How does he know my name?' Lelouch thought

"It's me Suzaku." Suzaku said

Lelouch paused as memories flooded his mind "you became a Britannian soldier?"

"Yeah... What about you you're;" Suzaku started

"What are you saying?" Lelouch shouted back

Suddenly the container opened and Suzaku prioritized Lelouch

A restrained green haired girl appeared from inside the container

"That's not poison gas" Suzaku said with a mix of confusion and relief.

Kallen was sitting back gazing at the small ring that had somehow made the trip with her back in time... the ring that was proof that it all had really happened.

"So were we right?" Ohgi's voice came over the radio of the Glasgow in Kallen's hiding spot

It took Kallen a moment to respond she couldn't remember this conversation... "I think so, I bet its poison gas like intelligence says" she decided to respond

"And Nagata?"

"I don't know..." she responded though she knew full well what was going to happen to him as she mentally hit herself for not being able to save him "I think he made it underground."

When the Radio cut out she took a moment to think for herself preparing for the battle ahead.

'Lelouch you better be okay... how did you get in Shinjuku anyway?' Kallen pondered before she let her mind drift to her impending reunion with Lelouch... 'What do I do? What do I say?' Kallen started stressing herself out over it then she remembered 'Wait Jeremiah didn't remember anything when we fought! so Lelouch probably doesn't anyway...' She let out a crestfallen sigh before grasping the engagement ring tightly in her fist. 'Well he may not remember me but I will win his heart again!'

Back at the truck Lelouch was interrogating Suzaku about the green haired girl when lights suddenly blinded them.

"Stinking monkey! Being an Honorary Britannian will not excuse you!" the captain of the royal guard of Clovis exclaimed.

"But sir! I was told this was poison gas!"

"How dare you question orders!"

Lelouch meanwhile was thinking 'this is bad, a dangerous situation that would pose a threat to Suzaku's superiors if it were unleashed'

"However in light of your military achievements I am going to be lenient. Private Kururugi take this gun and shoot the terrorist"

"But he's not a terrorist he's a civilian who got caught up in all this!" Suzaku said

"You insubordinate little... Tha'ts an order didn't you swear your loyalty to the crown?"

"Yes but... but I can't" Suzaku said stunning the terrified Lelouch.

"WHAT"

"I won't do it sir. I won't shoot a civilian" Suzaku stated as he turned to look at Lelouch "I can't follow your order sir"

"Very well..." the captain shot Suzaku in the back.

"Suzaku!" Lelouch called out to his friend

'I could never Kill Lelouch anyway' Suzaku thought the last thing that occurred to Kururugi before his world turned black was how hypocritical that sounded.

In the cabin of the truck Nagata said "Death to Britannia! Nippon Banzai" before detonating the cabin.

In his G1 command base Clovis ordered the destruction of Shinjuku Ghetto to protect himself unknowingly sealing his fate.

Lelouch escaped with C.C. and had narrowly evaded the Royal guard when Shirley called unknowingly trapping Lelouch. Lelouch cancelled the call and went to flee but was cornered by the guard. when he was about to die the girl sacrificed herself Screaming "he mustn't die!" before taking the shot right between the eyes.

"You killed her!"

"Hm, our orders were to bring her back alive if possible. oh well nothing to be done about it now; well tell our superiors that we found the terrorist hideout and killed them all unfortunately the hostage had already been killed. What do you think school boy?"

'First Suzaku dies then this girl, now I'm about to die, before I could do anything with my life. It's gone... Nunnally!'

Suddenly the girl grabbed his hand and he gained power.

With the Royal guard dead Lelouch soon commandeered a Sutherland to use and decided to start his attack.

Kallen was doing better this time around than she had the last time she had managed to take out a couple Sutherlands as well as several tanks. but it was painfully obvious to her that even with her superior skill she would die unless Lelouch showed up soon. But she was becoming desperate

"Go to the west entrance" came a voice over the radio a voice she had desperately wanted to hear again.

"Use the tracks to go to the west entrance if you want to win"

"Rodger!" Kallen said feeling bliss at following Lelouch's orders in battle again though she hid it expertly.

After the battle Kallen was happier than she had been the last time; though it hurt her warrior's pride to lose to Suzaku again but even her prodigious skill was not able to make up for the technology gap (Stupid obsolete piece of junk, I can'r wait till I get the Guren). Still she was able to take some tride in having destroyed one of the Lancelot's Slash Harkens.

Still the recent repeat of victory wasn't why she was happy. 'Lelouch is Alive! I don't think he remembers anything but he's alive... I have another chance'
she thought while lying on her bed at home in the Stadtfeld manor. She let her mind wander and ended up blushing at some of her own fantasies. 'And I call Lelouch a pervert!' after some more lewd fantasies; 'Pot calling the kettle black...' after a while she drifted off to sleep.

In her dreams Kallen returned to the worst day of her life; at least when Naoto died she hadn't had to watch it.

'Zero' stood before Lelouch prepared to strike him down; the moment seemed frozen in time then as the blade glinted, as though bragging about what it was about to steal, about whom it was going to destroy; it started it's fateful plunge towards the heart of Lelouch Vi Britannia. Kallen stood immobilized by her restraints fully knowing what was about to happen. Just before the blade penetrated Lelouch's chest 'Zero's' helmet was replaced by a skull; its mocking grin taunting Kallen's inability to save the man she loves. Death had come to claim him and there was nothing she could do about it.

As the blade plunged through Lelouch his clothing started shifting going from his imperial robes to the Zero costume then to his school uniform. Finally it settled as the blade came to a stop on the other side of his body. Transfixed by the blade stood Lelouch in his black shirt; grey pants and brown jacket; the young man she loves, the young man with the simple desire to make a better world for those he loves; was dying and she couldn't do anything about it. His eyes made contact with hers one last time...

"No! LELOUCH! Wha... oh thank god..." Kallen screamed jolting up from her bed in absolute terror Startling and worrying the other occupant of the room.

"Kallen! What's wrong?" Mrs. Kozuki asked her role as a mother overcoming her act as a servant. Kallen stared dumbfounded at her mother. Mrs. Kozuki quickly realized her error "Excuse me Mistress... I was out of line..." she said. A single tear traced a path down her cheek She had lost her loving son Naoto not so long ago; and even though Kallen was still alive she felt like she had lost her loving little daughter too. That loving little girl had been replaced by an abusive stranger from whom she expected to receive a harsh punishment... what she wouldn't give to see Kallen smile for her just one more time; she no longer cared how. She just needed to see Kallen's beautiful smile again. She braced herself for her punishment... only to nearly jerk out of Kallen's sudden embrace.

It took Mrs. Kozuki a minute to realize that Kallen was weeping on her shoulder saying "I'm sorry; I'm so sorry Mom... I've been such a horrible daughter..." Kallen tightened her embrace as she kept sobbing softly apologizing to her mother.

Mrs. Kozuki couldn't make sense of the sudden turnaround just yesterday Kallen had been treating her with nothing but contempt and now she was apologizing profusely? Mrs. Kozuki carefully lifted her own arms and hesitantly at first returned Kallen's hug. In response Kallen hugged her mother even tighter Mrs. Kozuki then returned the hug wholeheartedly tears of joy flowing down her cheeks despite her confusion. After a couple minutes the two Kozukis broke their hug both of them sniffling from their tears; Mrs. Kozuki broke into a new round of crying because Kallen was smiling back at her. Mrs. Kozuki's curiosity got the better of her.

"Kallen what... or who brought this about?" she asked.

Confronted with the question Kallen didn't know how to respond. It took her a few moments before she decided to tell her mother a slightly altered version of the truth... "A friend helped me understand why you stayed Mom I'm sorry for not having figured it out myself." At this her mother smiled.

"Oh? Would this friend be named Lelouch?" At this Kallen blushed and her mother gave her a knowing smile. "Well I am extremely grateful to that young man. He has given me back one thing that I had thought I had lost." Kallen's face showed her confusion causing Mrs. Kozuki to chuckle. "He gave me back your beautiful smile Kallen."

At this Kallen broke into happy tears before embracing her mother tightly again "Mom I love you..."

"I Love you too Kallen" Mrs. Kozuki said in a warm tone whoever this Lelouch was; he had just given her a miracle and she was definitely going to make the most of it.

Kallen found herself indescribably happy it seems that her mother wasn't a slave to Refrain yet... then it hit her again... she was the one that had driven her mother to becoming a refrain addict in the first place.

"Kallen you better get ready you don't want to miss too many classes do you?" Mrs. Kozuki said getting Kallen to realize that she wasn't ready yet. Kallen quickly rushed to get ready while her mother helped. Kallen rushed out the door of the Stadtfeld manor to get to Ashford Academy. She couldn't wait to see Lelouch again.

Elsewhere Lloyd Asplund was going over the combat data from Shinjuku and realized something with what that devicer was able to do against the Lancelot in a 4th generation GLASGOW; he was sure that the Lancelot could have been destroyed had it been up against that devicer in a modified Sutherland... the implications of this revelation raced through his mind.

Lloyd Asplund being the peculiar fellow that he is grew very excited where others would be terrified; not only had this land managed to produce Kururugi who was a prodigy by all accounts but it had managed to produce a world class Knightmare devicer a battle tested veteran. This area was most definitely a fertile ground for parts. Lloyd desired to get his hands on the red Glasgow's devicer; such a perfect part didn't belong in a piece of junk Sutherland... or in jail for that matter... it belonged in one of his Knightmares.

To celebrate his decision Lloyd grabbed a cup of pudding from the fridge and went to ask Prince Schniezel to transfer more of the Camelot project to Area 11. As Lloyd Asplund held his small celebration Kallen felt a shiver run up her spine as she made her way to Ashford.

Back at Ashford Academy Lelouch found it odd yes he had reacted violently ill last night when it had hit him that he had just killed his own brother; but now it only slightly perturbed him. The bigger issue for him was trying to figure out why he had wished that terrorist good luck. As he and Nunnally ate breakfast that morning Nunnally noticed something was off with her Onii-Sama.

"Onii-Sama?" She asked getting his attention "What is it? You're being even more serious than normal. What's bothering you?"

"It's nothing Nunnally." He replied "I was just thinking about some girl I saw yesterday..."

This caused Nunnally to perk up "Does my Onii-Sama have a crush? Who is it? Shirley? Milly? Who am I going to call Nee-sama?"

This prompted an immediate reaction from Lelouch "No! Nunnally its nothing like that!" but on the inside he was thinking 'God I really do have a crush on that girl... its so obvious that even Nunnally could tell!.' suddenly Lelouch let out a small laugh at the irony. 'the 11th prince of the empire has a crush on a Japanese terrorist... god no one would believe that if they heard it themselves.'

Nunnally on the other hand didn't believe Lelouch's denial 'Onii-sama is finally moving on... I'm so happy for him.' she thought as she hummed happily to herself.

A/N so to recap: Kallen has gone back in time; Leloouch still has some form of emotional connection to Kallen though it is not as strong as it was before (and he finds it immensely worrying); Suzaku finds his own reluctance to kill Lelouch hypocritical; Lelouch still gets Geass; Kallen loses to the Lancelot; she later has a nightmare and reconciles with her mother averting the problem with refrain; and Lloyd Asplund has gone to contact Schniezel to divert more resources to Area 11. And nunnally knows that Lelouch has a crush on somebody now and feels happy for him while Lelouch tries to come to terms with that revelation.

Here is a question how do you think Kallen should react to Nunnally?

Please review and thank you.

BTW longest chapter I have written so far including everything it is 3333 words long!