People say the good things in life are free...

Clearly they've never tried to own Code Geass before.


I've decided to, at least this once, respond to the reviews I've been getting; I've never done this before, so bear with me =P I apologize if my responses are too long and get in the way of your reading - if you didn't post a review before I got this chapter out, feel free to skip this bit =P

Durecel: Thanks for the advice; I've tried to actually fix that in this chapter so here's hoping I've remembered to do it everywhere. As for your supposition about Sayoko, well, all I can really say is that's certainly a valid guess given the information I've provided to you thus far (I would love to confirm whether you're right or wrong, but sadly that would be a very important plot spoiler. Sorry about that =P). And thanks for the praise, hopefully this coming chapter is as good as you say the others were =D

Guest (mmhmm): Well, you will find out who the pilot is eventually, so hopefully you want to know by then =P As for which one out of Kallen and Suzaku is better, well, my personal opinion is Kallen like I said, but I can easily see how Suzaku can be considered the better one as well. Objectively, they're equal, since not only are they written to be the opposing 'greatest warriors' for either side and always be tied in combat, but also whilst Kallen had a more advanced Knightmare than the Albion, Suzaku had his 'Live' Geass and so on. I do have my reasons for considering Kallen better, but they're not all that strong and mainly come from a bias towards her because she's awesome =D

Pojko: After reading your first few sentences, I feel really happy about with myself =D Anyways, with parentheses, if I haven't been getting them right thus far, well, I'll definitely have to try and work on that (or not use them, of course). Showing is always more important than telling, like you said =D As for Kallen and Lelouch, hopefully they're not going to turn out quite like that. However, I think Breath of Life picks up much earlier than the 'epilogue' of the anime - personally I think there's at least a few months of time-skip between Lelouch dying and us coming back to Kallen, since Ohgi seems to have been elected Prime Minister and Nunnally has been inducted as the Empress or something, which would take some time. Thus, I think Kallen has had some time to get over his death, as opposed to seeing him just a few days after he's died. That said, I do love the way Kallen and Lelouch interact normally and that's what I intend them to reach: that sort of relationship, except with the tension finally resolved. Hooray for Kalulu! And the only thing I'm offended about is how you think a polite constructive review could offend me! =P

Myvampirepuppy: Thank you very much - my update schedule should be returning to some form of regularity (at least one chapter every two weeks, but hopefully faster than that. I just don't exactly know what I'll be doing in the few months before I start university for the first time, but hopefully it'll be writing).

Monkeymaka: You're the second person who've said something about my dialogue being hard to follow - I have definitely tried to fix it in this chapter (I'm not a hundred percent sure what the issue is myself, but it's obvious it needs to be fixed so I've tried to have less sections where dialogue is attributed to another person in the next paragraph and so on =P). And thanks for the praise, I'll try to keep it up =D

overdmacgregor: Yes, they most certainly are *evil author grin* Well, with the mooshy stuff, this is at least partly a romance story so there's going to have to be some of that, but don't worry, plenty more drama is coming. In the words of whose name I can't quite recall, you ain't seen nothing yet. And thanks for the review =D


The door closed behind Lelouch as he walked out hand in hand with Kallen, a wry smile on his face. It seemed she was taking a slightly different definition of escort than would make sense in a prison. Not that he minded, of course; he just thought they might have a little difficulty finding a ballroom to dance in. Kallen led him down the hall, towards the rather imposing door that lay at the end - it reminded him of the Mordred's chestplate. It clicked open as they approached, and the man who was presumably the warden stepped out, flanked by two guards. Each wore a full-face helmet, standard anti-Geass protection that served the dual purpose of rendering their expressions inscrutable as well as hiding their faces; if Lelouch could see their eyes, he suspected they'd be glaring at him.

"Lady Kozuki, I assume you're 'escorting' the prisoner to his new cell?" Lelouch ignored the slight edge in the warden's tone, but it seemed Kallen had other ideas. She dropped Lelouch's hand and walked towards the man, stopping a little closer to him than could be comfortable.

"Yes, Warden, I am 'escorting' the prisoner. Perhaps you'd like to show me where his cell is, if that's not too much trouble for you?" Her tone was as bitingly cold as the flames in her eyes were hot, and wisely the warden decided not to pursue the issue, not even slightly, as he responded in a tone of brisk efficiency.

"Of course, my Lady. This way."

Kallen turned around as the warden passed, collecting Lelouch's hand as she followed the man back down the hall. His two escorts did not move; rather, they remained in the same spot, hands fingering their weaponry a little too obviously for it to be subconscious.

He stopped before a cell two down from the one they'd exited, and then spoke a few words into his helmet. They must have been instructions as to which door to release, as the gigantic metal slab slid open, to reveal a cell identical to the one he and Kallen had just left. As the two walked inside, Kallen spoke back over her shoulder to the warden.

"Do you have any chairs? I don't particularly want to have to stand up constantly." she asked politely; or at least, Lelouch got the impression she was trying to be polite. It amused him no end to see her reign in her temper, especially when her attempts were so obviously attempts. It was just another one of the things he loved about her, he realized. It took Lelouch a surprising amount of effort to hide his smile.

"We do in fact, my lady. The former Earl Maldini liked to be comfortable when he interrogated prisoners. How many do you require?"

As she turned around to face the man, Kallen seemed to blush slightly before replying, and Lelouch wondered why.

"Just one."

Now it was Lelouch's turn to blush as he realized the implications, but he quickly controlled himself. The Demon Emperor did not blush, not even if he was in love. Such a thing would be too... too human. Happily, the warden didn't seem to notice (albeit his face was hidden behind a mask, so Lelouch couldn't tell what he thinking anyway), and instead turned spoke into his helmet again. The chair arrived a short time later, and Kallen directed the two prison guards who brought it in to place it towards the back of the room. They obeyed and left as quickly as they came - Lelouch suspected they didn't want to be in the same room as him for longer than absolutely necessary.

"Will that be all, Lady Kozuki?" the warden asked.

"Just one more thing - all surveillance and recording systems in this cell are to be turned off."

Even through the helmet's imposing visor, Lelouch could practically see the scandalized expression on the warden's face. However, before he could speak up, Kallen spoke again.

"Zero gave Lelouch over to me to escort, Warden, and as such I have full authority over what happens to him... which includes his cell. But if you're worried about him escaping, don't be - I'm not going to be letting him get away again, not this time."

Lelouch didn't miss the glance Kallen threw at him after she finished - it was filled with both the fire of love and what looked to be a warning.

The warden, recognizing defeat, saluted a bit too efficiently such that it was almost mocking before turning around and exiting the cell, closing the door behind him. As it slammed shut, Kallen turned to face Lelouch and smiled almost shyly before speaking.

"So, we're finally alone together."

"Is that an invitation, Ms Kozuki?" Lelouch replied - he didn't quite know why he'd responded like that, but he thought it might have been because of how familiar Kallen was, or because when she was around he could finally relax and just be Lelouch, rather than Lelouch Lamperouge or Lelouch vi Britannia or Zero or whoever else he'd pretended to be over the years. Being with Kallen was like... it was almost like being home, except without the painful memories he associated with every place he'd ever called home. He was wrest from his musing by a half-anguished, half-annoyed word, a word he'd heard so often he knew it as well as his own name. Which was rather fitting, considering it was.

"Le-louch!"

He grinned, a true smile, not the wolf-like bared teeth he'd given the Black Knights earlier, for he was smiling for Kallen, not for them. Despite her tone, and look of mock indignation, she was smiling as well, and in that moment he realized something, something he'd previously thought was only true in the soppy romance novels he'd seen girls back at Ashford reading - he'd do anything just to make her smile. No, it was more than that, a realization far beyond that. Lelouch vi Britannia, the masked man of miracles turned tyrannical overlord of all humanity had fallen head over heels in love with a woman. He truly was in love with Kallen, a love deeper and more mature than his for Euphie, than what he'd thought maybe he felt for C.C., and in another league entirely to the love he felt for Nunnally. The prospect enthralled him and frightened him in equal measure - much like Kallen herself, he thought to himself.

He closed the distance between the two of them, drawing her into the tightest embrace he could as he whispered a name, followed by perhaps the only true words he'd ever said.


As he spoke her name, Kallen relaxed into Lelouch's arms, only to tense abruptly as he spoke the three words she'd always wanted to hear him say. He loved her? He loved her? After all she'd done—after all she'd done to him—he loved her? She didn't start to cry, no, she was a stronger woman than that. The damp bead sliding wetly down her cheek was not a tear. The quavering voice, thick with emotion as it asked him a question belonged to some other woman, not her.

"You… you love me?"

"More than… than C.C. loves pizza." The reply was slow, almost as if Lelouch was trying to say more than just "Yes.", but didn't know how to phrase it. Kallen couldn't help herself; she started giggling, and a few moments later Lelouch started to chuckle as well, as he recognized the sheer absurdity of what he'd just said.

"Oh Lelouch, you really are clueless when it comes to romance, aren't you?" she managed to get out eventually. He silenced the rest of her laughter with a kiss.

"Okay, maybe that wasn't quite accurate." she responded breathlessly, somewhat later. She could feel his smile against her lips, and her skin tinged pink as he gave her one last long, lingering kiss before breaking away. It was only then she noticed the same flush on his cheeks to mirror hers; the unconscious smile on Kallen's face widened slightly at the sight of him, of the mighty Zero blushing like the schoolboy he'd been in another life.

A few moments later, she remembered there was a chair in the room and gathered his hand in hers as she led him over. If she'd been able to see his expression, she would have seen bemusement mixed with something so alien she probably wouldn't have recognized it at first – peace. They reached the chair together, and Kallen gestured for him to sit down as yet another blush danced like fire across her cheeks at the thought of what she was about to do. He sat down, for some reason not looking directly at her, although she thought under the shroud of hair that obscured her observation of him that his cheeks looked somewhat flushed as well.

Before she could change her mind, she settled herself in his lap, leaning back into his chest as she finished draping herself over him. His arms wrapped around her, holding her so tight it was almost uncomfortable. Almost. Kallen sighed contentedly; she sunk into his embrace as one of his hands slowly stroked the side of her face, tracing her jawline as if in an attempt to memorize it. To memorize her.

She brought her own hand up, holding his hand in place on her cheek as her fingers intertwined with his. She couldn't see him smile, but his voice, a warm whisper in her ear, still sent a shiver down her spine.

"This seems familiar."

She laughed a soft laugh, a laugh for him and nobody else; even if there wasn't anyone else in the room, or anyone else watching, it was still only for him. It was only then she realized it was only the second time she'd laughed since he'd died, and he'd been responsible for each one. But it was a bittersweet realization, because thinking about his death, even despite his survival, was still hard. Because to think of his death was to remember the Demon Emperor, and the Demon Emperor brought back her memories of the past few months, memories she'd rather forget forever. But she didn't know how she could ever forget, until she remembered something her mother, her real mother, had told her the night after Lelouch had died, when the ghostly paleness of his face had danced through each of her dreams, when she'd woken from them screaming his name as the sword plunged into his heart, over and over again.

Her mother had told Kallen that sometimes, there are people you could never forget, people whose actions will haunt your mind forever. She'd said that sometimes you just have to accept what's happened, because in acceptance you can find understanding, and understanding is the road to forgiveness. Kallen hadn't understood what she was being told, but she did now.

She could never forget Lelouch, especially not now that he was alive once more, but more importantly, she could never forget what he'd done. She could never forget Zero, just as she could never forget the Demon Emperor. But she could accept that it had happened, and now was nothing more than what she was trying to forget – a memory. And if she could accept that, with his help maybe she could understand why he'd done it all, and in that understanding, perhaps she could forgive him for leaving her, but more importantly, perhaps she could forgive herself.

So she asked him the question that had been roiling in her mind since the sword had first taken her king off the board of his own design.

"Why?"

"Hmm?" he half-murmured, almost sleepily.

"Why did you do it all, Lelouch?"

He stiffened slightly, and his answer was almost, but not quite, resigned, as if he already knew the reply he'd get.

"Do you really want to know why, Kallen? From beginning to end?"

She nodded, and latched onto both his arms where they wrapped around her waist, trying to tell him that she loved him, and always would, regardless of what he told her. Maybe once before she would have been more fickle, but what did the past have that could compare with losing him again?

And so he began to speak, taking her back to memories of his childhood, to tales of sweet Euphemia and sweeter Nunnally; as he talked, his voice was a mixture of sadness and joy, especially about Euphemia. Kallen still had conflicting thoughts about the Massacre Princess – she didn't seem like the sort of person to do what she did, and yet she had. Perhaps she should ask him about it later on.

The continuation of Lelouch's story took her to a time of peace, broken by a hail of bullets, crippled legs and closed eyes. To a time of confrontation, and banishment, and a vow made by a child who was no longer a child, a spoken vow to destroy Britannia, and an unspoken vow to create his sister's perfect world. A few tears trickled down Kallen's cheeks; she'd never heard a tale more tragic, not even from some of the oldest members of the revolution. He must have noticed, somehow, because he stopped talking and waited until she'd recovered before starting to speak again.

"But that's not really what you were asking me about, was it Kallen?" he asked softly.

"No… No, not really." she answered. Because it wasn't; what she really wanted to know was why he'd become the Demon Emperor. Why he'd used Suzaku Kururugi, out of all the people in the world. Why he'd… why he'd almost left her behind.

"Only those who are prepared to be killed should kill, and I have killed so many who did not deserve to die that even my own death, as fruitless as trying to die seems to be, was nothing but poor recompense.

I killed Shirley's father; he was crushed in the landslide at Narita – something I should have included in my calculations, but in my arrogance I merely focused on the results. And through his death, I led Shirley down the path that would bring about her death as well. I thought I had control of Rolo, but I did not, but I cannot blame him for what happened. He was what he was, a killer, and that's all he'd ever known how to be. It was my fault; of all my sins, those two almost weigh the most heavily on my soul. Almost.

For I have done much worse than just kill innocents – I have killed innocence. Euphemia li Britannia was not a murderer; she did not order that genocide. I did."

Kallen stiffened, before turning around to face him, staring into his eyes. They stared back, and she could see the pain, the hatred he centred on himself. She could see the anguish in them, and somehow she knew he wasn't telling the full story.

"I've been meaning to ask you this question for a while – what really happened that day, Lelouch?"

"Everything was going perfectly; Euphemia had convinced me that her way was right, something no other person in the world has ever managed to do, but then she asked me how I had been planning to make her shoot me, which had originally been my plan. So I started trying to tell her about my Geass without naming it, using ludicrous examples of what I could make her do."

Kallen's eyes widened as she made the connection, and hesitantly asked him another question.

"You… you didn't, did you?"

"Yes, I did. I told her I could order her to kill all the Japanese. C.C. had warned me about Geass Runaway, that there would be a time when it became permanently active – of all the days for that to happen, it had to be that one, didn't it? And so, I accidently looked her in the eye as I spoke."

His voice started to break as he spoke, and she could see the raw emotion in his eyes.

"You should have seen her Kallen; she fought and fought and fought the command, fought it with everything she had. All I could do was watch while slowly, so very slowly, my curse destroyed my sister's soul. It took almost a minute to finally bend her to my 'will'.

Jeremiah wasn't around back then – I only knew two ways to remove my Geass from someone. They either had to complete the order… or they had to die. And so, after taking her mind, her soul, her innocence, I had to take her life as well, and then use everything she did to my advantage, so her sacrifice would not be in vain.

To this day, that remains one of the hardest things I have ever done. But thanks to the Demon Emperor, nobody remembers the Massacre Princess anymore; my blood wiped the memory of hers away.

There isn't any redemption for me, Kallen, no matter how much I might try. But you want to know about the Knight of Zero, don't you? Why I chose him over anyone else, over you?

Suzaku is much the same as me – after how he's sinned, being Zero is merely his own curse. His Geass, if you will. Neither of us could live in the world we were trying to create, not as ourselves. Suzaku Kururugi was a man born for war, and so was I. We couldn't exist in a world of peace, and so both of us had to die. Only one of us was ever meant to be reborn."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Kallen began to understand. Every other avenue available to him had been exhausted; if he wanted to bring about his sisters' dreams, to make every sacrifice worthwhile, he had to become a demon, to become the white king whilst still playing for black. Who better for him to work with than the White Demon of Britannia? She realized then why he'd used C.C. as well, for witches and demons go hand in hand. And now she fully understood why he hadn't used her – when there was no escape for a king, what use was it to sacrifice a queen as well?

And so she hugged him, held his arms tight around her as she lay in his embrace, her body moulding into his like it belonged there. She could tell from his next words that it wasn't the reaction he expected.

"I thought you'd be angry at me."

"I was so angry when you died. Angry at you, angry at the world, angry at everything. But there's only one thing you deserve, Lelouch vi Britannia…"

"And that is?" His voice sounded slightly nervous, and she couldn't help but smile as she answered.

"My love." She said, and kissed him, unaware of the storm to come.


She watches them, watches as the knights rushed towards their steeds, led by the twice-blessed, fate-cursed general. She'd say she wished them luck, but that would be a lie; not that it would matter, anyway. Not against what they were going to fight – knights might slay a dragon, but they could never kill a god. But they didn't know that, and she smiled at their ignorance. They would learn, soon enough, and so she waited for the carnage to begin. If nothing else, the show would be entertaining, and perhaps afterwards they'd understand what they had to defeat to keep their precious peace.

Of course, it was his peace they had to keep; she wondered what they'd think, or at least what those who did not already know would think if they knew the truth. Her imaginings curved her lips up in amusement, in that enigmatic smile that annoyed him so easily. But they could never really know the truth, for that would spoil his plan; for someone who was supposed to be dead, even if he wasn't, he still managed to spoil her fun. Not that it mattered, really, she was going to have enough fun very shortly – it seemed the battle was about to start.

She returned her attention to watching the knights as they soared through the skies towards their opponent; she could see one of its arms move slowly, like a fighter drawing back his fist for a punch. Like the drawing back of the seas heralding the tsunami to come.


Xingke could only watch in complete and utter disbelief as Knightmares tumbled to the ground around him; he'd been delayed by a fit of coughing as he tried to board his Shen-Hu, and as ironic as it sounded, the disease that would one day kill him had saved his life instead. Thanks to his lateness, his Knightmare hadn't even been active when the blast had hit, and that was the only reason it was still functioning.

What just happened shouldn't even be possible! he thought as he, the sole line of defence Tokyo had left, slowly rose through the skies to meet this, this… demon in battle. Perhaps the only positive of what he'd seen was that his army had been crippled before they'd managed to get too far off the ground – each and every pilot should have survived, even if they'd probably all had to eject.

For some reason, the Knightmare wasn't attacking him; perhaps it was giving him time to reflect on what he'd just seen, out of some form of psychological warfare. And reflect he did – how could he not? Fifty-odd Knightmares, some of their pilots approaching official Ace classification, crippled in one shot from one Knightmare?

He remembered the strange sense of foreboding that trembled up and down his spine when that claw, the claw that looked so much like the Guren's, had drawn back, glowing with power, like it was charging an attack – in retrospect, that was probably exactly what it was doing. And then the storm had hit, the extraordinary wave of power that rippled out from the gauntlet like a tsunami.

He'd heard of Kallen Kozuki doing something similar before, using her Radiant Wave Surger in a wide-beam mode to defeat two Knights of the Rounds' Knightmares in one attack, but what he'd just seen? That was something else. The power generation required for that sort of attack should be beyond a lone Knightmare, and yet it had happened. Xingke didn't understand how, and it frightened him… and there were few things in the world that had managed to frighten the Chinese general.

It was only then he noticed that someone else had launched late enough to avoid the crippling assault – it was the Knightmare he recognized as belonging to Tamaki. Of course, he suspected Tamaki had a different, and perhaps not quite as valid, reason for arriving late than he did. Being Tamaki, his Knightmare tore through the air towards the other one without regard to strategy or tactics, but it seemed the other Knightmare hadn't noticed him yet, because it still hadn't turned around.

Tamaki opened fire, almost at point-blank range, but his bullets hit a shield that wasn't there before – it was like a Radiant Wave shield, only appearing on contact with enemy fire, except it was tinged with green, like a Blaze Luminous. Whatever it was, it was effective, because Tamaki's bullets deflected in every direction as he dashed closer, with his missiles exploding harmlessly as they encountered the defensive wall.

The general realized he should probably be joining in and, deciding to test the monster's defensive capabilities, began charging his Shen Hu's Baryon Cannon to full power, the same level he'd used to shatter the Blaze Luminous on Lelouch's Britannian flagship. Tamaki screamed in closer, yelling Japanese war-cries, and suddenly the demon spun in the air, its clawed hand lunging out to grab his Akatsuki's head, stopping it in its tracks. And then it spoke.

"Tag. You're dead."

Tamaki ejected instantly, just as the Knightmare's hand started to glow again and power coursed through it, melting the Akatsuki completely. Parts of it dripped out of the Knightmare's hands as it unclenched its claw, dropping the slag to the ground below. Xingke's eyes widened; it seemed to be just like the Guren's weapon, only exponentially more powerful. However, you're not the only one with heavy firepower, he thought as he triggered the Baryon cannon… only to see the impossible happen once more.

The beam roared through the air, burning like a solar flare; it met the shield, and for a moment the general thought he'd succeeded, as an explosion tore through the air around him. But as he manoeuvred the Shen Hu backwards through the air to avoid it, the smoke slowly cleared to reveal his opponent completely unscathed, almost mockingly pointing a rifle at him. It fired, and as Xingke dived through the air, the bullet, for it was a single bullet, clipped his right arm, utterly destroying it with one shot.

Three shots later, the Shen Hu was missing both its legs and the other arm – somehow, the pilot seemed to know where Xingke was going to go before he went there; or at least, it appeared that way to him. Beyond that, it didn't seem to recognize the existence of his shielding, or even his spinning slash harken defence - the bullets simply tore through both of them. It was like fighting an angry god; omniscient, omnipotent and out for blood. And then the god began to speak, booming tones echoing out through Tokyo; its voice reminded him eerily of Zero.

"This is all you have? This is your mighty army, the shield to protect a traitor's peace? Pathetic. You're not even worth wasting another shot on."

It dived towards him, even as he tried to escape, for all he had left was his float system, swooping down like an eagle pouncing on a fieldmouse; it halted directly behind the Shen Hu, and before he could turn, its gauntlet reached out, latching on to the end of his cockpit block. And then it pulled. Xingke slammed into his controls, coughing blood, as the Knightmare ripped it out of the rest of his frame – with the cockpit block removed, the Shen Hu dropped towards the ground below.

The last thing the Chinese general felt before he blacked out was a sensation oddly akin to some of the training he'd done in a centrifuge; he felt like he was spinning, like a leaf in a hurricane. If he'd remained conscious, he would have seen the demonic Knightmare hurl his cockpit block into the top level of the Black Knights headquarters before launching a slash harken towards the wall he was about to hit, shattering it so the Xingke wouldn't be crushed in the impact. It was like it was trying to keep him alive, to send a message that it could have easily killed him but chose not to. The block slid through several walls before skidding to a spot, just outside the door to the room where the Black Knights had discovered Lelouch's survival.

Then the godlike Knightmare simply turned and almost sauntered away, heading straight upwards, like an avenging angel returning to heaven. As it rose, it spoke again, this time somehow on the secure channel from the Black Knights to Zero – he'd been listening in horrified silence, unable to see what was going on and thus unable to do anything more than wait.

"Give my regards to my Emperor, won't you? Not that you'll need to, I'll be seeing him shortly."


Author's Note:

A hearty thank-you to the many people that helped with this chapter, be their contributions great or small - EisKrahe, Topears, dw77 and AlSmash, you've all been invaluable. Thanks for the help!

Also, wow, over a hundred follows and 11,000 views? Considering my initial expectations for this fic, breaking that after only six chapters has exceeded them all! Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I won't lie to you, part of the reason I write is so other people can enjoy my stories, and it seems like some people do. Hooray!

Anyways, the song for this chapter is Wild at Heart by Birds of Tokyo; it fits pretty much any form of battle perfectly, but in this case it fits not only physical battles, but Lelouch's struggle against everything he's done.

Once again (I really shouldn't be making a habit of this), I apologise for the extremely long wait for this chapter. Suffice to say that, initially, my real life (apparently I have one of these) got pretty hectic pretty quickly, and then I had a splitting headache for almost a week. However, there was a week in there in which I could have written, but I kept distracting myself with other things, so the blame rests solely of my shoulders. Thank EisKrahe and Topears for basically forcing me to stop distracting myself and write (it's not that I've lost inspiration or desire, I am just very, very easily distracted).

Now, on to the important stuff... the chapter itself! I'll skip straight to the section most people are probably wondering about - the battle. Yes, I know, my new Knightmare (I really need to reveal its name, it'll make referring to it much easier) seems to be ridiculously powerful, and in some ways that is correct. However, let me remind you that the Black Knights had no idea what they were up against, it attacked before any of them could really retaliate, and even the Shen Hu is only an eight-generation Knightmare. I will reveal in time what generation my Knightmare is, but suffice to say it's more advanced than the Shen Hu by a significant margin.

I'm afraid one of my lines from my last author's note is not quite accurate - you won't find out the reason why I gave you my personal list of the top three KMF pilots in Code Geass until next chapter. Hopefully you're all still interested as to why I said that.

Oh, and one last note - Kallen was not present at the betrayal meeting, when the Black Knights turned on Lelouch, so she wouldn't have known about Euphemia until someone told her about it. And considering how busy they quickly became right after that betrayal, and how long in the past the event was, I doubt she'd have asked anyone about it, so it's safe to assume that she didn't know about it at the end of R2.

That's about it from me, apart from asking you all to review this chapter (please tell me if I wrote the LelouchxKallen interaction well, or not as the case may be, and whether the battle scene was interesting enough. Considering how important some of those scenes will be to the fic, especially later on, I really need to know if I need to pick up my game or not =P), and asking whether or not anyone's opinions on who the mysterious pilot is have changed after this chapter or not. I look forward to hearing who you think it is!

Until next time,

Magery