Kallen stood nervously at the construction site, her voice already hoarse from trying to shout some sense into the protesters. The tarps and scaffolding that had been put up to protect the site from the recently passed typhoon had been torn down by the crowd late last night, probably because they felt their own homes hadn't been similarly protected, and the construction workers had refused to resume work that day, leery of the gathered mob despite reassurances from the Black Knights. The extreme volatility of the situation was exactly why she had heeded Ougi's request for help, even though she was missing the math test she'd been studying so hard for.
Ougi is counting on the core members of the Black Knights to resolve this without violence.
That, unfortunately, was looking less and less likely.
Kallen jolted as a sharp crash sounded off to her left. Someone had thrown a stone, shattering the frame of a newly installed window. "Hey! Who threw that?" she tried to shout over the angry complaints of the crowd, but her already strained voice didn't carry very far. Another stone came crashing against a wall, and then a third.
"Stop them! Find the people who threw those!" she ordered, but it was impossible to single anyone out of the frothing mass of humanity.
Don't these people realize that if they destroy this building, the housing situation will only get worse?
Something large and black flashed across the corner of her vision, and Kallen turned, expecting to find more trouble. Instead, two floodlights, bright even in the cloudy afternoon, snapped on, drawing all eyes to Zero, who was standing at the top of a concrete pillar. She was currently so nervous over the situation that she was actually almost happy to see him.
Immediately the volume of the protesters increased, as everyone began shouting and pointing.
"Hear me!" his voice boomed over the roar of the crowd, cape swirling around him as he threw his hands high.
"The recent destruction has been devastating! The current state of things is unacceptable!" he shouted, one hand slashing out as if he might cut away everything about the situation that offended him.
The crowd shouted in discordant waves of approval, beginning to gather around him, and Kallen found her relief beginning to edge back into nervousness.
Why is Zero saying things like this? Can't he just repeat his usual platitudes about maintaining the peaceful world we all sacrificed so much for?
"Tell me! Are. You. Angry?" he demanded instead, biting off each word with distinct finality, his arms spread wide, palms turned outward, inviting the crowd's response. They screamed in affirmation, drawing closer still.
What is he doing? That idiot will just get them even more stirred up!
"Good, because the world needs changing!" he responded, as if approving of the destructive bent of their mindset, and Kallen began to truly panic.
If I can climb up the arm of that crane, I'll be able to slip down the hoist line and reach the top of the pillar...
She began inching in that direction, wanting to believe that Zero had a solid plan behind his words and yet knowing that she couldn't allow things to go on like this much longer. If I tackle Zero down, it could set off the protesters and even cause infighting among the Black Knights, but if he keeps on talking like he is...
"You are the right ones to change it!" he assured the seething throng.
Please just stop speaking, she thought desperately, beginning to wonder if something really bad had happened to Zero, as she took another step toward the crane.
"Because every one of you possesses the most powerful tool of all! Do you know what that is?"
There was confused murmuring from most of the people assembled, and Kallen crept a little closer, noticing with dismay that some of the other Black Knights were beginning to get drawn in to his speech.
You idiot, Tamaki!
Kallen cursed them all under her breath.
This new Zero has never been able to hold people's attention with his speeches before. Why does he have to become so much more riveting now, when he's encouraging people in exactly the wrong direction?
"I will tell you! Humans have discovered one concept that no other creature has. That concept is zero, the number which represents the absence of something. That means, if we can count up the number of crimes and other cruelties committed by people against others, then we can also count down! We, as humans, have the imagination to see a world without injustice, and to make it our reality!"
He lifted his arms and the volume of the gathered protesters rose with them, their voices cascading over each other in their effort to be heard. Her heart pounded. She knew how they were feeling, because she'd felt that way before, when it was a different man behind Zero's mask. All of Lelouch's speeches had been powerful, unforgettable experiences, shaped by a reciprocal cycle of emotion as the speaker and audience fed off each other, the feeling building until everyone present was swept up in something huge.
I can't stop him, she realized. Even if I could tackle him down right now, it's too late. Whatever he tells them to do, they're going to do it.
"We all have the power already!" Zero assured them. "The only thing we need is the will! If you are angry, then it must be because you know things should be different. Tell me, do you have the will to change the world?" Zero asked them, arms snapped out and cape flaring around him like great wings.
The crowd exploded with proud, defiant cheering.
"Then follow me," Zero shouted in return, throwing one arm out to catch hold of the wire rope hoist of the crane, in order to slide down from the pillar he'd been standing on, "and I will show you change!" He urged the crowd forward with an overhead sweep of his hand, his long strides placing him at the front of what was becoming a very determined procession.
Kallen blinked. Zero...he's actually leading them away from the construction site!
It was almost unbelievable that the new Zero had succeeded in something like that, although she was grateful for his new found leadership skills. His speech, his confidence, even his gestures—it's like he's finally discovered some real charisma.
She'd actually begun thinking for a minute there that this Zero might be an imposter, sent to cause problems, even though Ougi had called ahead when Zero's transport had touched down at the airport, to inform the Black Knight's of his imminent arrival.
Ougi said he flew over with Nunnally, so she'd know for sure if this weren't the right Zero. She's spent more time around him than anyone else.
Kallen frowned, beginning to wonder if, by avoiding Zero so much, she'd perhaps missed noticing some important things about him. His most recent speech had actually mirrored Lelouch's own distinctive intensity, the way he would stand, proud and confident, as he boldly declared his plans to the world. It reminded her of how Lelouch himself had once looked so alive, even with his expressions hidden, his motions all the more powerful because there was nothing non-essential to detract from the raw, vital gestures he made, hands so articulate and swift, calculated grace in a perfect economy of form.
The world truly has no idea what it lost, in you.
For a brief time, though, this new Zero had come close to showing her what she really wanted to see, and even as it stirred up still aching memories, it comforted her that there was something of her Zero in his chosen inheritor. That only made her feel more guilty for doubting him at the start, though, and Kallen hurried, pushing through the marching crowd, to reach Zero's side.
"Leave a small contingent at the site. Then, make sure you round up the civilian stragglers and keep them with us, Kallen," Zero leaned in to whisper, when she caught up with him. She hesitated only a moment before nodding and turning back to do as he instructed.
He was Zero, after all, and even though she wanted to resent him for taking Lelouch from her, she also knew that this Zero was Lelouch's last gift to the world. You knew how much we depended on Zero, didn't you, Lelouch? How important a symbol he's become? She could easily get lost in memories of the charismatic speeches and daring plans that Lelouch had originally drawn her in with, had drawn them all in with, the focused, intense world he'd created where everyone present could share a single mind, one thought resonating through them all, like a ripple through an ocean.
Oh, Lelouch, even though it was supposed to be the day of my own execution, from the moment I heard the whole crowd chanting "Zero", I knew. I knew it had been your plan all along, because who but you could capture people's hearts like that?
She would have followed this new Zero halfway across the world, just to have that indirect connection to Lelouch. As it turned out, she only had to make it a few blocks away, to the building collapsed by the typhoon.
"Here, we will fix what has gone wrong. Here, we will change the world for the better!" Zero declared, raising his arms to the cheers of the crowd. "Are you ready? Do you still have the will?"
Her eyes were on Zero, but some part of her was still thinking of Lelouch. Surrounded by memories, she allowed herself to be swept along by the ghost of her past, following the directions Zero gave without question, alongside the other Black Knights and general members of the crowd, as Zero's flawless supervision inspired the belief that they could truly work as one.
Unfortunately, even the original had always had his detractors, and some individuals, faced with the prospect of doing actual work clearing debris rather than angrily rioting, decided to try to stir up more fury in their fellow crowd members. "Hey! Are we just going to put up with this? Just let those Brits get away with what they did?"
"I think Japan has the strength to deal with the result of typhoons itself, regardless of what Britannia has done!" Zero declared, and it felt so good to hear him say "Japan" as if it were the focal point and Britannia the irrelevancy, as if he could affirm a nation's existence with the force of words alone. We fought so hard, just to call our own country by name. "Is this nation not strong and free enough to stand on its own?" Zero asked, extending his hands to the crowd on either side of his challenger, exhorting cheers of pride from them, and her heart swelled with emotion. Though Japan might have been left wounded and ragged by a long occupation and the bloody sacrifices of the war for liberation, there was something beautiful about being able to stand, even on this scarred ground, and call herself free.
Kallen smiled fiercely at that thought, even if deep down it still ached, that not everyone who'd fought so hard for this dream was there to share it with her. Naoto, the first thing mother said after they released her was that she was so proud of me. But I would never have heard those words, I would never have been able to show her the better world I'd promised I would make, if not for the efforts of so many others.
...Japan wouldn't even be Japan, if not for you, Lelouch.
"Do you not see the true strength of this great nation?" Zero pointedly asked a man who refused to join in the building euphoria.
He sputtered angrily. "You really think you can just make us forget about getting back at them?" he shouted back, clenching his fists.
"I do not merely think—I know we do not need to attack where no crime has been proven!" Zero retorted, voice full of unwavering confidence. "But more than that, your anger here shows that you know this sort of destruction is wrong! Since you know it to be wrong, since you want the world to change, surely you do not want to cause the same destruction yourself?"
Clearly left at a loss by Zero's logic, the man ground out a furious, "It's not that simple!"
"It is!" Zero boomed. "Where there were three thrown stones, it is within our power to count down to two. From two, to one. From one, to none." He spread his arms in an appeal to rest of crowd. "I ask you all to work toward that pinnacle of human achievement with me: toward a world where there is no hate, no violence, no crime against others. A world of zero!"
The crowd went wild, erupting into cheers and applause.
"Zero! Zero! Zero! Zero!"
The deafening sound of that name on so many tongues at once sent a shuddering, electric thrill dancing across her skin, some indefinable quality in the roar of the multitude reminding her keenly of the last day she'd seen Lelouch alive. It's like he's still with us. Like he planned this all out, somehow.
She had felt some sense of loyalty toward the current Zero, but it had only been second hand, a mere shadow of what she had felt toward Lelouch. Now, though, she wondered if maybe she would be able to put a little more of her faith in this man, whoever he was. Even if the voice is just a little different, he's speaking like Lelouch himself.
Kallen hardly noticed the weight of the beams she carried under his direction or the sweat that dripped into her headband. Her arms must have gotten tired at some point, but she didn't feel it, some part of her desperate to prove herself all over again, to prove that she was worthy of this—the gleaming lines and tidy sidewalks, the sloped roofs and solid concrete, but most of all the people, proud and upright and strong, hopeful and united once again. Even if the dead would never know it, she needed to show herself that she was deserving of their final sacrifice, a worthy citizen of this newly freed country, her country, the Japan she'd known from when she was young, favored with her mother's caring arms and her brother's gentlest smiles.
"Thank you for taking care of that, Kallen," Zero had told her, after five hours of heavy lifting, and it made her eager to do five more, because she felt like it meant something.
I can't believe he actually noticed. Before, she'd had the sense that the new Zero didn't pay particular attention to what any given person was doing, as he instead focused on his own activities. Now, it seemed like managing the entire effort was Zero's objective, and although she was just one of many, she somehow had the feeling that he'd personally taken note of her individual contribution. In fact, Zero seemed to be able to unerringly show up as soon as any task was completed or ran into difficulty.
It's like he's keeping track of everyone at once.
That was impossible, of course. The current Zero had never shown the level of genius necessary to keep track of hundreds of people at the same time. Yet, all of a sudden, he had become an amazingly good organizer, somehow arranging for trucks to show up with gloves, tarps, garbage bags, bins, generators, wet vacuums, fans, and even portable toilets just as they were needed. He managed the Black Knights and civilians alike seamlessly, setting up an impromptu command structure, making sure everyone always had a task, shifting people just where they were needed, and coordinating different groups so that they would all finish together. Under his careful guidance, a solid sense of community had emerged, as if, rather than just being employed in related undertakings, they were all truly working hand in hand, together.
Of course, even with the number of people they had and Zero's expert direction, it had still taken hours of backbreaking labor before all the rubble was cleared, the furniture righted and drier personal belongings sorted neatly into boxes labeled with the apartment numbers they'd come from, while wet items were left out to dry on similarly labeled tarps, next to a wall of fans. What had changed the most, though, was that a sense of proud purpose had settled across everyone present, where before there had been only helpless rage.
Looking out across the now orderly site, Kallen felt a deep swell of satisfaction for all that they had accomplished, not as Black Knights and civilians, but as a group of people all working to make a better future.
We'll rebuild Japan, one day at a time.
The thought filled her with so much hope, when not so long ago, she'd been just another one of the people thoughtlessly revolting, a terrorist without a plan or a real chance of success, just filled with anger against Britannia and against her mother and against herself—until him. You told us we could be knights of justice, that our strength could be used to remake the world, rather than just rage against it, and it's only in looking back that I see how stealthily you insinuated your ideals into us.
Lelouch, you made us something better than we were.
Even now, it hurt to think it, because of her own unwitting ingratitude. You took our raw anger and turned it into a force for good, you burdened your hands and your own heart to keep ours clean, and how we cursed you for hiding things from us, for sullying yourself with the deeds necessary to give us what we truly wanted.
"So, you finally cool with the new Zero, now?" Tamaki asked as they watched everyone peacefully disbursing.
Kallen snorted. You're one to talk, Tamaki. I heard you whining when he put you in charge of setting up the portable toilets. Actually, that had only made her fonder of Zero. "I guess he's okay, after all," she said, smiling softly.
"I'm glad you're finally coming around, Kallen. Hey, Zero!" Tamaki called, practically dragging her over toward the man himself. She thought about physically objecting to the manhandling, but even if he could be incredibly rude, Tamaki had been doing his best to help that day. It seemed a bit too cruel to knock him on his back now. "Me and Kallen just wanted to tell you how awesome you were today!"
"I—I didn't say that!" she said, blushing as the words registered, and she hastily shrugging off Tamaki's arm. Zero was facing her expectantly. "I...I thought your speech was good, though." For once.
"It is poignant, is it not?" Zero replied. "Humans have no power over natural disasters, so we have no choice but to accept the inevitable damage," he said, sweeping a hand out to indicate what the typhoon had wrought. "However, we do have control over ourselves. It is at once the most hopeful and the most painful thought, that the number of human crimes could drop to zero, right now, if only we would collectively choose to stop hurting each other."
Wow, that sounded almost profound. "I never realized you thought that deeply about things," she admitted, starting to feel more than a little ashamed. Did I let my own resentment blind me to what he's really like? Perhaps her suspicions that he might be Suzaku had misled her—she was absolutely sure this Zero wasn't Suzaku now.
"I have a duty to fulfill, and so I am always thinking of this world, Kallen, and the people in it." She'd halfheartedly listened to Zero deliver similar lines on T.V. before, only to dismiss his statements as vague and meaningless, but something in his posture and inflection now made her to realize that when Zero said "people", it was a term imbued with deep and personal meaning, as if there were real faces and names behind that generality, individuals that he truly cared about and wanted to protect. Although Kallen couldn't see his face, she could tell that Zero was waiting for her response to his words, and she wondered if she might be included in that group of people he thought about.
I think I've really misjudged him.
"I'm glad you came today, Zero," she told him, suddenly feeling much more certain of her own words. "This incident could have ignited more violence if you hadn't shown up when you did."
"I won't abandon this new world when I'm needed," he assured her. "It's supposed to be a chance for everyone to finally be happy, after all. You should head home now, though, Kallen. You have school tomorrow, don't you?"
She nodded and was about to make her goodbyes when Tamaki distracted Zero by slapping him on the back.
"Yeah, thanks for saving our butts today, man! It seems like you're always doing boring stuff like going to meetings and pushing that silly Empress around," Tamaki said, apparently completely missing the way Zero's entire body tensed in fury at his disrespectful mention of Nunnally, "but since you killed the Demon Emperor, I knew you had to be an incredible guy!"
"...I'm glad you think so well of me," Zero bit out, obviously not feeling the same way toward Tamaki at the moment.
"Yeah! That was, like, the most epic moment in history! Dash around the gunfire, jump onto the platform, stab!" Tamaki shouted excitedly, pantomiming the motions.
Kallen blanched, as she recalled the final moments of Lelouch's life. At the time, her lingering anger and shock and fear for her own life and the lives of all her comrades had blunted the full effect of it, but as time passed and she forgave Lelouch for the underhanded schemes he'd used to achieve his goal of world peace, the thought of his death became more and more painful.
You were just trying to give us the future we fought so hard for, and here this idiot is, celebrating your death.
"Tamaki, shut up," she told him rather harshly, before she could stop herself.
"Hey, what is up with you, Kallen? How come you have to be so grumpy all the time?"
"...Nothing. It's nothing. I'm just tired," she told him, knowing she could never give her real reasons. "I had better head home to sleep." She looked one last time at Zero, at the form that had once meant so much to her. That still did.
"Goodnight, Zero."
"Goodnight, Kallen," he answered, and something in her heart twisted with the familiar swirl of Zero's cape as he turned to leave himself, because it reminded her so painfully of someone else.
Lelouch, you were selfish and secretive and an unrepentant liar. You betrayed us all—only to give us the very miracle we dreamed of. Why did you have to leave me on the outside? Didn't you understand that I'd want to be part of it, that I would have done anything I could to help?
The sudden resemblance of this new Zero to his predecessor was both a sweet balm and a bitter curse, and she found her thoughts kept coming back to the same place, again and again, as she walked away.
Lelouch...I miss you, so much. If I'd helped you instead of following Schneizel, would it have made a difference? Would we have been able to see this new world, together?
She'd been waiting at the station for a train to take her home to her mother when a loud voice hailed her from behind, for the second time that night.
"Hey, Kallen, guess what?"
"What, Tamaki?" she asked, trying to be patient. It was obvious that he hadn't figured out what Lelouch had actually been trying to do, so she knew she should try to be understanding when he spoke out against the Demon Emperor he believed had been planning to execute them all.
"Look at these awesome manly muscles!" Tamaki said, flexing his arms in a crass and self-important manner. "I out lifted Zero! Man, can you believe it?"
"Actually, I can't," she said, glad to hear the clatter of her approaching train. I don't know if I could out lift this new Zero. There's no way Tamaki could.
"But it's true! When Ayame told Zero she couldn't lift that huge padlock and chain to put around the gate when we left, he said he was tired and had me do it!"
Kallen shook her head as the train pulled in. "That little padlock? Come on, Tamaki. There's no way the new Zero could have any trouble lifting that!" She turned her back to the self-aggrandizing annoyance in order to step onto the thankfully deserted train, but Tamaki wasn't that easily dissuaded.
"Don't deny my moment of glory, Kallen!" he shouted from the platform. "This time, I really bailed Zero out!" he continued boasting, embarrassingly flexing his muscles again.
She snorted, grateful that no one else was there to witness his antics while he was wearing the Black Knights' uniform. "The only way this new Zero could have had a problem is if he suddenly got as lazy as Lelouch," she told him. Actually, having Tamaki handle the grunt work for him sounds just like something Lelouch would do.
"Maybe he was just really tired from carrying stuff all day, but that only proves how incredible my stamina is!" Tamaki shouted, even as the doors shut and the train started on its way.
Kallen shook her head in disbelief. How could he be that tired? I didn't see Zero lift anything heavy...all...day...
Her thoughts suddenly ground to a halt, as everything she'd been noticing fell together. The way Zero was suddenly so good at organizing so many people, how he seemed to know the skills of all of the Black Knights so well, his talent with words and gestures, that unshakable confidence and charisma, his sudden distaste for difficult manual labor...
"Wait!" she shouted, banging on the train door, but it had already left the station. She had no idea where Zero had gone after leaving the typhoon site, anyway.
But I have to find him! He said that he wouldn't abandon this new world, that it's supposed to be a chance for everyone to finally be happy!
She stared at her reflection in the door window, at the unfamiliar, hopeful exhilaration on her face.
Lelouch, does that mean...