The girls couldn't speak. They stared open mouthed at the bloodshed and hatred. They couldn't even begin to comprehend every murder, no, massacre that took place in their friend's past. Were they even telling the truth? Unfortunately there were no tells of lies. The group telling the story were warily eyeing the girls, wondering if they were going to run. They had sat down on the feet of the robots though and none of them seemed to be moving much apart from the odd uncomfortable shuffle on the hard metal of the knightmare. Finally, the story ended. The group sat in silence for a little while

"L… No… Lelouch." Mina bowed her head, shadowing her eyes "How many people… Have you killed?"

"Less than I've saved." Lelouch answered, if you could call it an answer, while standing up to approach them "Something you must understand is that everything I did was because I had one goal; create a safe and gentle world for my sister to live happily in. I don't think I can emphasize how much she means to me. When I thought she was dead, when she was in danger, when she was taken away from me. The pain was unbelievable. It was hard to keep up the impression that I was still sane, especially to myself. I was losing my mind as C.C. will be happy to point out." Lelouch sighed. C.C. nodded solemnly.

"It's true. It was certainly difficult seeing him in that state. It wasn't just his sister. When he thought that anyone close to him was in danger… When he had to erase Shirley's memory, it killed him. When she died, it almost literally killed him. Suzaku, I'm not gonna lie, he hated you for a while."

"Can't say the feeling wasn't mutual." Suzaku admitted

"And Kallen, I bet you thought he didn't give a damn about if you and the black knights died. You should have seen him crying at night. Actually Suzaku, I do have something for you." C.C. turned to him

"What is it?" Suzaku blinked in surprise at the sudden shift in attention.

"When he killed Euphemia. Remember that order he gave her?" C.C. ignored Lelouch, who flinched as if she had struck him with a metal pole across the face. "He was so upset after that. It was a total accident. He was making a joke and didn't realise he couldn't turn his Geass off."

"Hardly a joke." Lelouch growled. There was a long, painful silence after that. The girls stared at Lelouch. Lelouch stared at the ground. Finally a beeping coming from Serena's pocket interrupted the heavy air. Serena drew out her phone and stared at it

"It's my mum." She practically whispered.

"You'd all best go home." Suzaku stepped forwards "I'll show you out." And Suzaku walked off with the girls. Kallen sat down awkwardly besides Lelouch, mirroring C.C.

"That went…"
"Better than I expected actually." C.C. leant back.

"Yeah, I guess it could have been worse." Lelouch said thoughtfully " Lelouch said thoughtfully "Anyway, we'd best get some sleep. I'll go back to my shed."

"Do you want to sleep here?" Kallen burst out. Lelouch smiled at her in amusement.

"There's not exactly room." He raised an eyebrow

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Kallen huffed when she realised what he was implying "I just meant so it's easier to get to the knightmares in the morning and actually wake up."

"I'll be fine. If I'm too late, just come and get me."

"Fair enough." C.C. stood up. "Need some company?"

"Actually, that might be nice." Lelouch allowed a gentle and allowed a sincere smile to grace his lips.

Uh... Hey. So I'm alive. Sorry I suck at updating but I'm a busy person. Thank you all for being so patient with me and thank you to those who sent in reviews, I really appreciate it. And although I don't normally do this, I'm going to respond to a review to answer an intriguing question.

Moonprincess1456 - Will our emperor be paired with one of the lovely scouts? I didn't plan it in this fanfic but it is an interesting idea and I might consider going into it later. We shall see.

Thanks again

Kitty