A/N: Two days have passed since the events in the Narita Moutains. How is everyone dealing with it? Find out right now.

(Edited as of 2/9/14)

Disclaimer: None of the characters, places, or quotes from the original shows of Code Geass and Sailor Mars are mine, so don't sue me.

Chapter 37

The Aftermath Part 1

Monday morning

7:45 a.m.

Rei P.O.V.

It's been two long days since the battle of Narita and Chad's untimely death. I haven't slept during this time. The nightmares plagued me if I closed my eyes for more than ten minutes, so any hope for sleep was pretty much gone.

As a result of my lack of sleep, I'd hardly left my room either. I only left to get something to eat and then I would go back up to my room and stare at the ceiling. I did nothing more than that, but now I face the inevitable doom of reality. In other words, the great horror that is Monday morning.

I should have been on my way to school, but instead I still lay here in my bed, staring vacantly at the ceiling.

It wasn't long until Serena came into the room, fully dressed in the Ashford Academy uniform. Ami, Lita, and Hotaru had already left without her. Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna were downstairs eating breakfast and chatting.

How did I know this? I knew simply because I could hear them downstairs and because their voices kept me from spiraling into insanity.

"Rei are you going to school?" Serena asked timidly. Her blue eyes were filled with worry for me. I didn't blame her for feeling that way. She should be worried.

"I'm not going," I stated simply, barely glancing at her. For a few extra seconds she stood watching me then left the room. I stay behind and stare at the ceiling some more, still thinking of Chad. Still trying to accept the fact that he was gone and that it had been all my fault.

What's is that I got a phone call from someone close to Chad yesterday. It was a phone call I knew would come eventually, but I hadn't wanted to answer the call. I wanted to roll over and die. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to ignore the shrill ringing when it sounded. I answered and the voice that responded belonged to Chad's mother.

(Flashback)

"Hello," I answered groggily. The call came around two o'clock in the evening, but I'd been so tired that I could barely talk.

"Is this…Rei?" the woman asked. At the time I hadn't known it was his mother. I had never met her before.

"It is."

"You're Chad's girlfriend aren't you?"

The instant she uttered his name I wanted to slam my phone shut and hurl it across the room. The very thought of Chad nearly killed me on the inside and I didn't want to be reminded of what I'd done, but I stayed on the phone out of respect for her.

"I…am," I lied, inwardly cringing in disappointment at myself. "Who are you?"

"I'm Chad's mother."

I swallowed hard before replying. "Is he okay? Did something happen to him?"

I knew very well what had happened to him, but for his mother's sake I pretended to be ignorant.

"He was in Narita two days ago," she stated, refreshing the memories that really didn't need to be refreshed. "A building collapsed on him."

I tried choking out words. "Is he…did he..."

"He died," his mother cut in hastily. She had no idea that her words sent me reeling all over again. My heart still couldn't accept the reality of his death even though I witnessed it all.

"I was wondering, since you meant so much to him…I wanted to know if you would like to see him."

"He died?" I asked despite knowing the answer. Hearing the news from someone that truly loved Chad made me feel ten times worse, but I still needed to hear the words. I needed to know just who I'd hurt by abandoning him.

"Yes, his body was recovered in Narita," the woman replied, her voice breaking on the last word. "We're going to pick it up tomorrow so we can make the funeral arrangements. Will you meet me in Narita tomorrow around nine o'clock?"

I should've said no, but knowing that I was the cause of her son's death compelled me to comply to her request. I didn't hesitate to tell her that I would go.

(End Flashback)

Now I thoroughly regretted it. I didn't want to see Chad's mangled corpse, but I knew that I had to keep my promise to his mother. Besides that, a part of me needed to see him one last time.

So a few minutes after Serena left, I got out of bed and prepared myself for the long day ahead.

At nine o'clock

Narita Station

I got off the monorail train and stepped into the barren wasteland Narita had become. It was a terrible sight to see, and in all honesty this was the last place I wanted to be. Just seeing the mountains in the distance made me want to bolt in the other direction.

But I couldn't leave now. I had already been spotted.

"Ms. Rei!" Chad's mother shouted rushing toward me. She was wearing a dark blue jacket and skirt with a white blouse underneath the blazer. She wore white high heels and silver hoop earrings dangled from her ears. Her dark brown hair was about shoulder length. She wore two blue pins in it.

"Hello Mrs..."

"Please call me Julia," she interjected, cutting me off.

"Okay, Julia," I replied. "Are you ready to see him?"

"I believe so," she answered, making an attempt to be cheerful despite the devastation clearly displayed in her brown eyes. Those eyes remind me of Chad that it hurts.

My husband is here as well," Julia continued, attempting a smile. "He's buying us some lunch. Care to join us?"

I nodded halfheartedly, feeling my eyes water. When she turned away I closed them, willing them away. I wasn't going to cry right now.

Chad's father came up a moment later with some ramen noodles. He didn't say anything as he handed us the food. He was showing his devastation more than his wife was.

"This is my husband Tim," Julia stated, motioning to him. He nodded and led us to a nearby bench. We sat down and hastily started eating or at least me and Tim did. Miss Julia on the other hand ate as slowly as possible. She was discreetly trying to tell us that she wasn't ready to see Chad yet. I don't think her husband noticed because of his own distraught feelings, but I did.

Being here with the two of them was breaking my heart.

After we finished eating, we began making our way to the recovery base. I already knew where it was, but I let Julia and Tim lead me to it so none of the military officers around would become suspicious. I kept my gaze from traveling too much as we walked, focusing on keeping my emotional state as neutral as possible.

Once we were inside the base though, the real terror of what had happened of Narita hit me at full force.

There were a lot of people in here with every one mourning the loss of loved ones. Many of them stood or knelt near gray sacks that served as body bags for the deceased. My heart clenched in my chest at the sight. The landslide caused all this?

Viletta came over to us a few seconds later. I hoped that she wouldn't recognize me, but she was all about business for the most part. She led us to Chad's body in no time at all and pretty much left us as two military officers opened the body bag.

I had thought that I was prepared for this. I thought I was prepared to see the body of the man who had loved me with all of his heart. I thought that I would be ready to see him because I had already seen him like this in visions and in my dreams.

But I wasn't prepared. Nothing could have prepared me for the wave of immediate guilt that hit me as I saw his mangled form. The shards of glass and debris that had pierced his body had been removed, but I could still see the incisions and gashes that had torn through his skin. His eyes had been closed, but I knew what they looked like when they were open. Glazed over, emotionless…dead.

And all of it was my fault.

Julia sunk to the ground after only a few seconds of looking at her son. I could feel her pain and it made the guilt even worse.

"No," she whimpered, tears spilling down her cheeks. I knelt down, grabbing hold of her shoulders to try and comfort her.

"I'm so sorry," I told her, my voice threatening to break. "I'm…I'm so sorry."

As for Tim, he remained standing but a few tears fell from his eyes as well.

I refused to cry, just as I had before. I couldn't do it even though at times I wanted to for fear that my heart would explode from the sorrow. Besides that...what right did I have to shed tears when I could have prevented all this?

Julia's cries became more hysterical as time passed and I tried to calm her down. It was no use though.

"Oh, God! Why!" she screamed, abruptly turning to embrace me. Her tears would probably stain my jacket, but I didn't care. In that moment, my thoughts were so scattered and my already broken heart was shattering yet again.

I found myself trying to blame Lelouch for this again as I had many times before. In truth though, my wretched soul was just trying to save itself from the terrible guilt that was consuming it as Chad's words filled my head again.

You let me die!

I had to get out of here or I really would fall apart.

I hadn't wanted to be inconsiderate to Julia's feelings, but in that moment I had to leave. After extracting myself away from her, I helped her get on her feet while saying my goodbyes to her and to Tim. Julia probably said something else to me, but I was running away before I could hear anything, moving as fast as my body would allow. In the past I had always been a pretty good runner, but I can't remember a time when I had ever ran this fast or felt so happy about running. For a moment I could finally see why Haruka enjoyed running so much, why she craved speed.

It helped her escape, just as it was helping me escape now. Realizing that similarity between us now eased my pain as I focused on running and nothing more, determined to put as much distance between me and the recovery base as possible.

Later that day

4:00 p.m.

(With Lelouch)

"It was a tie, a tie, hahahahaha!"

Tamaki is an idiot, but that was the last thing on Lelouch's mind as the Black Knights went on about Kyoto. He was thinking about a certain strawberry blonde haired girl.

"Why would Shirley...just out of the blue..."

My dad works a really long way from here, but he likes to send me great stuff like this to keep my spirits up you know. So, I was just wondering…

"A date?" Lelouch questioned inwardly. He knew Shirley had a small crush on him. Honestly anyone with half a brain cell would know that, but he never thought Shirley would ever act on it by asking him to go to a concert with her. For Lelouch, her actions were nothing short of jarring, especially since the timing couldn't have been worse...

"Here," Ohgi stated suddenly, shocking Lelouch out of his thoughts.

"What's this?" he asked, taking the envelope from Ohgi's outstretched hand.

"A love letter," Ohgi replied.

"Oh..." Lelouch trailed off, trying in vain to hide the fact that he was freaked out, "from you?"

Tamaki burst into a fit of annoying laughter. "Hahaha, and they say you have no sense of humor, hahahahahahahahahaha!

"You laugh too much," Kallen stated looking up from her book to scowl at Tamaki.

(a/n: He really does laugh too much. It's annoying.)

Anyway…

"This is an official letter from Kyoto," Ohgi continued as if Zero hadn't just assumed that this so called "love letter" was written by him. "They urgently request a meeting."

"Is this really such a big deal?"

"A big deal!?" Kallen gasped, disbelief in her sapphire eyes at Zero's words. "It's Kyoto!"

"If they except us it means funding and support," Ohgi added before glancing toward Tamaki, "and it could solve our financial crisis..."

"Crisis?" Lelouch cut in, glaring at the deputy commander through the mask. "There shouldn't be any problem if you followed the budget I laid out."

"Well uh..." Ohgi started, only to be cut off by the most annoying of the Black Knights.

"It's not my fault," Tamaki blurted, making it clear that it was indeed his fault. "We're turning into a big organization now. That means new expenses you know."

"Like fancy dinners for the new recruits so you can show off," Kallen interjected while ingeniously killing Tamaki's excuse.

Tamaki glared. "Hey you..."

"I know where you've been taking them," Kallen cut in with a smirk. "You big spender."

"You know about it?"

Lelouch sighed, scowling from beneath the Zero mask. He was seriously getting tired of Tamaki, his over inflated ego, and his even bigger mouth. In all honesty he was beginning to wonder what the obnoxious Japanese man was even good for in this corporation.

(a/n: Seriously, what does Tamaki contribute to the Black Knights other than comical relief? Nothing! I rest my case.)

Anyway back to Tamaki being annoying.

"Wel'll put Ohgi in charge of the treasury for now," Lelouch stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. However...

"Hold it right there!" Tamaki shouted indignantly, rising to his feet to throw his tantrum. "I'm the one in charge of the cash! That's my job!"

"If you want me to trust you show me some results."

"Did you actually just say "trust" when you're the guy who hides his face from his own partners?" Tamaki asked. "How about it Zero?"

Ohgi tried to intervene, but because he's really indecisive he couldn't bring himself to say anything. Kallen intervened for him.

"Zero's not the problem here," she stated angrily. "Who cares who he is!? He had the skill to outwit Cornelia didn't he? That's why he's the leader of the Black Knights. Do you really need to know more?"

Lelouch was grateful to Kallen, but he knew she was curious about his identity too. Everyone in the Black Knights wanted to know exactly who he was, but he was determined to keep his identity safe from both Britannia and the Japanese he had working underneath him. If they ever discovered the truth...

Zero rose from the couch and left the room, but not before stating that the Black Knights would meet with Kyoto the next day.

There was someone there that he had to speak with.

A/N: That's the end of the chapter. Rei's really having a hard time with Chad's death. The guilt is starting to eat away at her. Lelouch is still oblivious to all this seeing as that he's hardly thought of Rei since her motorcycle accident. He saw her in that strange vision that he, Suzaku, and Rei had, but he thought that it was mostly a hallucination. Suzaku has suspicions that Rei might be Sailor Mars, but he isn't sure of it yet and he's pretty oblivious to what's going on with her as well. Mostly because he's busy working in Narita. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and I had to make up Chad's parents names, so there pretty much OC's, but if anyone knows their real names let me know. Thanks for reading.