Chapter 3

Milly side-eyed the boy who was walking next to her. He was wearing a well-worn t-shirt and jeans, a stark contrast to the majority of the Britannian's pressed and new formal attire. To be honest, with his black hair and old clothes, she'd thought he was an Eleven at first. But then he intervened on behalf of an Eleven, and she saw that he was a Britannian… albeit a poorly dressed one. She wondered why he was in such bad shape. It was obvious he hadn't bathed in a couple of days, judging by the greasy sheen of his hair.

Beyond that, he had a pensive frown upon his face and had seemed taken aback by her kindness. Maybe he was used to being looked down upon. Maybe he came from a lower class neighborhood. But even the poorest Britannians lived better than how Danny looked, and people his age were all required to go to school…

"…Did you need something?" Danny asked.

Whoops. She'd been caught staring. Danny was perceptive. "No, nothing," Milly deflected.

She looked away, but her thoughts were still very much on the teen beside her. She was an excellent judge of character, so regardless of his perhaps unsavory background, she was reasonably sure he was a good, kind person, like Lelouch. He'd fit right in at Ashford Academy, she was sure.

He wasn't the first charity case she'd picked up, after all.

"So, tell me about yourself," Milly prompted. She wanted to know more about the mystery boy who'd stuck his neck out for an Eleven.

"Um, well, I like astronomy," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Go on."

"Erm… my favorite food is spaghetti and my least favorite is roasted turkey. Also, I have some experience with martial arts."

"Ooh, interesting! Tell me more."

As they made their way through the Settlement, taking trains (which Milly paid for) and walking, Milly coaxed more and more information from the surprisingly cagey teen. He was certainly keeping some secrets, but she'd find them out in due time. Milly Ashford, head of the student body at Ashford Academy, always found out such things, be it through harmless coercion or sheer bullheaded stubbornness.

Finally, they made it back to Ashford Academy, one of the largest private schools in Area 11. It was certainly one of the most magnificent, with a beautiful campus and a huge number of facilities for students.

"I should warn you, I don't have any money," Danny said faintly, gaping at the huge school in front of him. He'd hardly seen such extravagance from the mansions back home, let alone the public (or even private) schools.

"I did hear you say that to the vendor," Milly reassured. "I'm not worried about tuition; the school has a dedicated pool of money for cases such as yourself. Come on, let's go meet with my grandfather. He's the headmaster of the school."

"Sounds good to me." Danny still sounded a tad bit dazed. Milly's lower-class background theory was looking more and more likely.

"Madame President!" someone called. Danny turned to see a blue-haired youth running up to them. "Madame President, where have you been? The Student Council meeting's about to start!"

"Sorry, Rivalz," Milly said. "Something came up. Tell our dear vice president to hold down the fort until I can get there?"

Rivalz eyed Danny suspiciously. "Uh-huh, sure. Who's this guy?"

"This is Danny, the newest member of our student body!" Milly announced.

"Eh?" Rivalz said.

"I was out wandering the city when I came across him. Isn't he marvelous?" Milly said, as though Danny were a prize.

"Uhm, sure. It's nice to meet you, Danny," Rivalz said.

"Nice to meet you too," Danny replied.

"Aww, aren't you two polite?" Milly cooed. "Like proper gentlemen!"

"Rivalz!" an orange-haired girl some distance away called. "Hurry up!"

"That's Shirley," Rivalz said. "I've got to go. Some of us have important business to attend to. See you later, Madame President! Don't take too long!" Rivalz ran off to the orange-haired girl, and they both disappeared into one of the buildings on campus.

"Let's go! Lelouch will get cranky if I keep him waiting for too long," Milly said, grabbing Danny's hand. It was surprisingly cool and dry. Milly idly wondered if Danny had bad circulation.

Milly led Danny into one of the buildings and up a flight of stairs to the headmaster's office. She knocked on the door and called, "Grandfather! I've got another one!"

The door opened to reveal an aging man with a moustache. "Another one, Milly?" he said genially. "When are you going to stop picking up strays?"

"When they stop being brave and heroic enough to rescue an Eleven," Milly replied.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. This one's got a good personality. Trust me."

"Well, okay then. I suppose the student body can benefit from one extra student," Ruben smiled.

Danny looked bewildered at the ease at which he was accepted by the headmaster. Milly giggled at his expression.

"Well, come in, my boy," Ruben said before gesturing to a chair in front of a mahogany desk. "Have a seat." Danny did as was instructed. "I'll take care of him from here, Milly. Why don't you go to the Student Council? A meeting has started, after all."

"Okay, Grandfather. See you later!" Milly bounced out of the office, excited. She couldn't wait to tell the Student Council about her newest acquisition!


Meanwhile, back in the office, Danny sweated. How was he going to enroll in this fancy school without Britannian identification or any money? This was starting to look like a worse and worse idea. He should have said no when Milly offered to take him to her school.

"Relax. I won't bite," the old man chuckled. "I'm Ruben Ashford. What's your name?"

Maybe he could still talk his way out of this. "I'm Danny. And I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm really not fit to enroll in this school."

"Nonsense. If my granddaughter likes you, you'll fit right in."

"I have no money."

Ruben's eyebrow raised. "We've got a trust fund just for cases like you. All you need to do is fill out some forms, and you're squared away."

This was such a horrible idea, but Danny couldn't speak up to voice his disagreement. The Ashfords, it seemed, had a penchant for steamrollering over any and all objections. "I don't have a place to stay," he tried to counter weakly.

Something firm settled into Ruben's gaze. "I won't leave a young man my granddaughter has vouched for out in the streets. We have dorms for students that you can live in."

Danny flinched. He was getting nowhere in this exchange.

"Here," Ruben said, sliding forward a packet of paperwork. "Fill this out."

Danny sighed. He'd been outmatched. At least Ruben was gracious about it; Vlad would gloat about one of Danny's defeats for forever. "Do you have a pen?" Danny asked.

Danny filled out the paperwork, taking his time to make sure he was doing it right and not giving anything away about his less-than-normal citizenship of this world. The paperwork asked for basic demographic information, which was simple enough to fill in. There were some questions to test his general academic aptitude, most of which Danny could answer. It seemed high school education here was similar to high school education back home, though the history was different (Danny was glad he'd skimmed that history book at the bookstore) and the math and science a little more advanced.

Then he got to the last page of the paperwork and Danny stopped. It was asking him for some form of Britannian identification. Birth certificate, driver's license, something. Danny, being an American citizen, had nothing.

"Something wrong?" Ruben asked, noticing that Danny had stopped.

Might as well. "I don't have any identification," Danny admitted. "I don't have a driver's license or passport, and I have no idea where my birth certificate is." (He did, in fact, have a driver's license and passport for America, and his birth certificate was safely stored somewhere in Fentonworks, but those would hardly do him any good in an alternate universe.)

Ruben was silent for a few moments. "So you have no form of Britannian identification, no money, and no place to go?" he asked incredulously, his expression harsh.

Danny nodded uneasily. Would the police be called on him? Not that he couldn't escape, but he'd rather not have a warrant out for his arrest.

Ruben's expression softened into something sympathetic. "My boy, do you really think I'd turn a case such as yourself out onto the streets? It's obvious you have no home and no family. You genuinely need help. Who am I to not extend a hand?"

Danny couldn't believe it. Despite their stubborn streak, the Ashfords seemed overwhelmingly altruistic. He doubted that schools back in his home dimension would be so welcoming. "Thank you, sir," he said humbly.

"You're quite welcome. Now, let's make up some form of identification for you, shall we?"

"…Isn't that illegal?"

Ruben put a finger to his lips. "Don't tell anyone."


Naoto flopped back on his worn couch, exhausted. He'd spent the entire day keeping his ear to the ground, waiting to hear of a story of a Britannian boy arrested between the ghetto and the Settlement, or a story of a Britannian accosted by some unruly Elevens. (It wouldn't be the first time Japanese kindness was twisted into such falsehood.) But he heard nothing. It seemed that Danny was good on his word to sneak out of the ghetto undetected. And he apparently didn't have anything against the Japanese, which was also a plus. As the leader of a resistance group, attention in his civilian identity's direction was always a bad thing.

Naoto smiled. It was good to be reminded that not all Britannians were bad. It was unfortunate that most of his experience was usually with the corrupted Britannians.

"You hear anything?" Ohgi asked, mixing up some instant ramen.

"No. Danny hasn't said anything about us. He seems like a good kid, if a bit poor for a Britannian. Excuse me, an American. I think I'm going to call myself that from now on."

Ohgi snorted. "Just be careful who you tell that to, oh wise leader. Don't want your Britannian identity getting compromised."

Naoto shot Ohgi a look. "Duh. …Maybe I should have offered to let him stay more than one night. I think he was telling the truth when he said he didn't have anywhere else to go."

"He'll be okay. He seemed like a tough kid."

"You're right… Oh well. We'll probably never see him again."


Danny found that enrollment at Ashford Academy as a charity case entitled him to three new uniforms – black pants, white shirt, black jacket with gold trim – one pair of black dress shoes, and one dorm room (a single – he was enrolling late and so was entitled to one of the empty rooms left over). He was also given a backpack, two notebooks, a planner, and miscellaneous other school supplies. His textbooks were provided for him, delivered directly to his dorm room. He was given a swipe card to pay for food on campus. Finally – and most magnanimously, in his opinion – he was given a small allowance for each month that he could use to buy things for himself in the city.

Danny had gone from having nothing in this world to having all his basic needs met and then some. Naoto had been right about the schools. Or maybe Ashford Academy was just special. Regardless, it was reassuring that he wouldn't have to worry about his basic needs for a while.

There was a knock at the door. Danny reluctantly got up from his bed and opened the door.

A black-haired and curiously purple-eyed teen about his age was standing outside. Just from a glance, Danny could tell that this teen was elegant and refined. His posture radiated confidence in himself.

"Hi," Danny said. "Who are you?"

The teen smiled. "I'm Lelouch Lamperouge. It's nice to meet you."


We finally meet Lelouch! Now that the groundwork is set, the action should pick up in the next chapter or two.

Also, I have no idea how Tokyo Settlement works, with those tier thingies Lelouch used during the Black Rebellion... Oh well.

Thanks for the favs, follows, and reviews!

-HM