Happy New Year's people, I hope you all had a good time. I would have started working on chapters again earlier but a storm wrecked the power lines in my area, so you can imagine that working on anything was a hassle, especially since I was stuck in a house with my extended family who came for Christmas with no power to cook, lights or heating….I have no clue how I didn't lose my shit when my cousins acted extra annoying through it all. Anyway, the power lines have been fixed and my family is now a more…stable one. Anyway, I have another three chapters, counting this on one before I focus on my Star Wars story which is done….Hmm, maybe I'll use that as a chance to focus on another story instead. Anyway, hope you like the chapter.

Chapter 7: The Search Begins

(The stables of their inn)

'Hmmm, what is this sensation? Why does my chest feel weird?' Chirona wondered to herself as she began to wake up. As usual, it was still pretty early in the morning as the sun was only starting to appear in the sky but when you grow up in a village that did a lot of farming, this was normal. What wasn't normal was the fact she could feel this weight on her chest, or more accurately, in-between her breasts. She lazily opened her eyes to look down, still not awake but the sight that greeted sure as hell forced her to full attention. Right there, still, on the elevated position he was in the previous night, Lelouch slept….with his head buried in-between her chest and his arms around her waist as if they were lovers.

'Oh my god! When did this….oh' Chirona started to panic as her blush worked itself onto her face as her mind jumped to possible reasons why there were in this compromising position, they both were still fully clothed so that….route was clear and she didn't drink anything alcoholic either so she should still recall everything, not unlike her 15th birthday, she also knew she wasn't some easy girl so she would never try something with some guy, no matter how cute-STOP! That train of thought, she did recall it rather chilly...the night….before….now she remembered. But even with that done, she looked back down at him and wondered when he snuggled into her as when she dozed off, he wasn't…this close. "When did he get…there? Did he wake up?" She asked herself as she looked down at his sleeping face and dispute frowning, he was still unresponsive.

'Nope, still out cold but it is still pretty early, the sun's barely risen.' Chirona concluded with a relieved sigh as she at least got the confirmation that he wasn't some pervert, still if he was like most of the people she had met along the way, he wouldn't wake for another hour or so unless she made him get up. 'Still, this is so indecent!' She hissed in her mind as she felt his breath move over hr top, through the fabric, and onto her bare skin, no wonder she was feeling warm in there.

(Later)

"Morning, Chirona. Did you have a good rest?" Lelouch asked after he had woken up and was doing some morning stretches to get his muscles and bones ready for the day, though he had picked up the habit during his Zero days, he had also noted that now he seemed to yawn with his mouth opening up to its fullest when he did it now. Lelei pointed it out once and e just felt it was a natural thing, though, for the life of him, he never figured out why he did so.

"Fine! It was fine!" Chirona yelped out, her face as red as an apple as she actively chose not to look in his general direction.

'What the hell is up with her?' Lelouch, who had no clue as to why he had moved in his sleep or how he was had held her, wondered to himself as she had been acting like this ever since he woke up. 'Did she have an embarrassing dream or something?' He asked himself as he was sure she would have told him if he had done anything improper so that was off the table as far as he was concerned but seeing how she hadn't brought anything up, he figured it was nothing.

"Either way, let's get ready for the day. I spotted a bathhouse not too far from here, if we hurry, there won't be many people there." Lelouch suggested to her as he looked over his robes for any stains or marks, which meant he was sitting there topless. As it was still being early morning, the two could hopefully shower without trouble.

"Are you sure we can get in?" Chirona asked, seeing how the capital and empire, in general, was a human-centric one, she wasn't too sure they'll be willing to allow a bicorn to use their public works like a bathhouse.

"Maybe, but I would like to bathe with warm water and not in a steam. I can be very convincing when I want to be." Lelouch answered as it been some time since he was last able to properly bath seeing how all the rivers and streams leading into the capital were either dammed off or feed the many aqueducts that supplied the city with fresh water.

"Please don't threaten or hurt them, we'll just make more enemies that way." Chirona asked of him, as she could already guess that he was one that could get very violent when he wanted to be.

"Sure." He replied as he reached for his continued to inspect his robes, as he did so, Chirona turned to face him and while she could see that he was a pretty skinny guy with some muscles to his bones, she also made out something she didn't expect on his back, right in the center of it, there was a pink scar that one could only assume come from a blade, but the angle of it was off.

'What the…is that a scar?' 'She thought to herself as Lelouch finished his inspection and after finding nothing, he put his clothes back on, but the image of his scar still lingered in her mind as she had seen enough wounds and injuries on the elder, more experienced bicorn warriors and adventurers to know that he could have only gotten that from being impaled, which would e impossible as from it's location, that would have damaged if not severed his spine. He shouldn't be waking right now, much less alive. 'What could have given him that?'

(Sometime later – at the restaurant from before)

"Chirona, do you have notes on your search for your family?" Lelouch asked as the two sat at the same table they had the previous day. They had returned to this particular restaurant seeing how not only was the food pretty good but it was also the only one capable and willing of serving someone like Chirona, though that didn't stop the staff and other costumers, few as they were, from starring at them.

"Oh-yeah! Right here." Chirona, how had been eating her meal, jumped a little as she reached into one of the pouches on her person and pulled out two books and some scrolls for him to look through. Setting aside his meal to not mess with her notes, Lelouch started looking through it all, though he found that it wasn't written in the common tongue he had long since learned and realized was similar to Roman Latin. He was only able to read it as Master Cato had helped him to learn a couple of languages along the way, the text he was reading at the moment, seemed to lean towards Old Castilian or Old Spanish.

"Not as thorough as I thought they'll be, but still detailed." Lelouch muttered to himself as he read through the notes slowly to ensure he didn't miss anything and because he wasn't the most versed in what he assumed was her native tongue. Still, it was clear that in her time on the road, she had been hard at work speaking with people and recording witness accounts and other information she thought would be useful. It was quite impressive seeing how the entire idea of detective work and government policing wasn't even a concept in this world.

"So the capital is the place you zeroed in on?" He asked as he saw that on a map she had on her, she had crossed out multiple spots in the area around the capital and along the way from her home to Sadera.

"Yes, I thought about the other areas but after speaking with some locals, none of them had even seen a centaur before, while in other places there was no-where someone could house just three bicorns. Here was the best bet." Chirona answered as she had found no trace or reason to believe that her people had been broken off into smaller groups, which meant that they were still together. Bicorns by their nature was larger than a normal human, she could wager she easily weighed five times what Lelouch did and she was already much taller seeing how she stood at just over 2m(6'5"), so not just any location could house so many bicorns, especially in a city that was built almost to inconvenience demi-humans of their size.

"The capital is a large place, there are plenty of places that they can be if they're even still in town. We need a plan of action, we can't just go asking around blindly." Lelouch suggested as he put the notes down and got back to eating. Granted the capital didn't have too many places to look but it was still a large city and if the people that took that saw that they were on their tail, they could go to the ground.

"But who can we ask? The guards don't seem to care for my kind." Chirona asked as that was the reason she sought them out the previous day and after that experience, she saw that they'll be of no help.

"If God doesn't answer, you ask the devil." Lelouch answered as he bit into his bread. His response, though making sense to him, confused his partner.

"Excuse me?" Chirona asked as she didn't see how and why they'll contact a devil, she hadn't bothered asking her god for aid yet so it wasn't like they were unwilling to help.

"We should speak with someone in the underworld," Lelouch explained as from his experience, whenever law enforcement wasn't of any help, one could seek the aid of the people opposed to them. Information to the underworld was a precious community, after all, something people killed and died for.

"You don't mean-" Chirona caught on quick as the very idea of working with criminals must have been far from pleasant for her but they needed new leads and they needed them fast.

"If raiders were truly the ones that took them, they'll be the best bet as to who they were and where they are, so that means another trip to the slums seeing how that is where organized crime is strongest and our odds of finding someone willing to help are best," Lelouch explained as they needed to find out more about this. "But still, something about this makes me uneasy."

"You mean meeting with pimps, dealers, and killers?" Chirona deadpanned as she had noted the prostitutes as soon as she entered the city and while spotting one in the lower-income areas and slums was as easy as spotting a tree in a forest, the ones in the upper-class areas dressed in less revealing clothing and didn't act like horny sluts(forgive her language), they still stuck out from the crowd if you knew what to look for, namely the fact they eyed every man, woman or in some sick cases, child, as a potential customer, acted far too friendly and didn't have servants or bodyguards with them. Same with the dealers as she had seen more then a couple back alley dealers selling who knows what, all she knew was that it was illegal as it was pretty easy to get a merchant's license and the main reason not to get one was if you're selling something that wouldn't fly with the local guards or merchant guild.

"Not that, I've dealt with their kind before. It's the fact that this whole thing happened to begin with." Lelouch answered as he ate his food and thought aloud so that she could hear where he was coming from. "Raiders are opportunity criminals, and cowards by trade, your village may not be in the center provinces but it was by no means more or out of the way. My concern is not only where they got the balls to try and attack but where they got the supplies and manpower to pull it through." He stated as, within the empire, raiders may be known, but they were far from a widespread issue, even on a local level, they were something to look out for sure, but not much in the way of a threat seeing how they typically only went over small villages or unguarded travelers and merchants. From her notes, her hometown was quite large and had a population of around 800-adding in the fact the average bicorn was larger and stronger than most humans meant that this attack by all accounts should have failed.

But it didn't…..and that was what was worrying him.

"What was something we discussed back home, more than a few of the bodies had armor and weapons too well made and expensive for a group of thugs to have obtained, but they could have stolen them." Chirona pitched in as she heard the surviving elders and many of the older, more experienced fighters discuss those very same points. Her village was the largest one for pure bicorns in the north of the empire, which meant that well over a few hundred of them were trained warriors and while they only lost 5 in the raid, the raiders themselves lost well over 40 people from the bodies they found and surely many more from wounds.

"Some of it, maybe but this much? Impossible, such a transport of goods being hit would have been big news. That doesn't even factor in their numbers. From your notes, the horde was more than 120 strong, last I checked, large groups of raiders were only 40." Lelouch answered as they both knew that for a horde three times the norm to form was a rare and very dangerous thing. Granted they lost more than a third of them in the actual attack but they did make off with more than a few of the villagers, many of whom were young girls. What they could be doing with them wasn't a thought he liked to entertain but they had to consider every avenue here.

"We assumed that they just absorbed other groups into their own for their attack, but we could never figure out the why." Chirona answered as they wondered about that and she had written that down in her notes.

"Yeah, they didn't touch most of the valuables, they also didn't destroy all that much. Bicorns are rare, but one can still find centaur labor." Lelouch said as he agreed with her that something more was going on here seeing how in the attack, the raiders broke character and barely stole anything of value, and though they started a lot of fires, from her notes, he was clear that she and the rest of the people found those to have been more theatre and distractions for their real goal of mass kidnapping.

"That is one of the reasons my elders allowed me to leave for this journey, to not only find them but find out the why they were taken to begin with and discover the truth of this." Chirona replied as she recalled when she was finally granted permission to leave and search for her missing people, though she left out the part where many of the elders implied that she'll only find corpses and her mission was more to find the truth than to rescue anyone. That was something she couldn't, wouldn't accept as she wanted to find them all, to see her father again, to spar with her little sister again.

"So what, you're some special investigator?" Lelouch asked with a small smile as he admired her drive to save people.

"I'm one of the best fighters in my village." Chirona bragged as she pats the sword at her side, which for him was quite large, easily being the size of a greatsword while for her and her higher levels of strength and side, it must have been something more of a longsword.

"And yet, you couldn't handle some dumb pricks yesterday." Lelouch chuckled as she faulted at that reminder of her less than stellar handling of the guards.

"For your information, I didn't want to resort to violence in the first place so I tried to be diplomatic about it." Chirona bashfully explained herself as she felt her cheek, the one that had been struck which now was back to normal color. "They didn't seem all that willing to listen."

"Some people don't listen to your words, not unless you have your sword to their throat." Lelouch told her as he could recall more than a few instances when he had to deal with people like that, from racist idiots back in Ashford to politicians during the shot time he was the CEO of the Black Knights and met with numerous representatives from around the world before the formation of the UFN and once it was established. The only time he didn't have to deal with that was when he claimed the throne and basically forced or otherwise threaten everyone to do their jobs properly or do what he said. "Either way, over 3 dozen bicorns being moved into the capital must have been seen by someone, regular people might not have noticed but information brokers make it their business to know these things."

"Don't they charge money for that? What if they ask for more than we have?" Chirona asked as the two finished up their meal and got up from their table, leaving the bill there for the waitress to pick up.

"Simple, we negotiate for a better price, we can even offer up information in exchange." Lelouch might not have known a lot, but he had picked up some interesting bits of information in taverns and bars on the way here. He was already willing to trade some of that for his affairs, he could spare some of them for this. As the two walked out of the restaurant, they noted how the people seemed on edge, the reason being that there was an increased number of city guards around, seemingly looking for something.

"What is going on?" Chirona asked as this was quite strange, so the two walked up to someone that might be able to help.

"Excuse me, why are there so many guards up and about? Is there a member of the royal family near?" Lelouch took point here as he asked the guy who looked at him before his gaze turned to a glare when he saw Chirona, nonetheless, he answered.

"Don't know about that, but they found the bodies of some guards not too long ago. They say that the entire squad was dead." The guy answered him at the same time a cart pulled by, one it, was a large cloth covering the bodies of the guys Lelouch killed just the previous day. The fact that they had been found wasn't strange to him, nor the fact that they were trying to find him. What was strange was the fact that they were no-where near where he killed those sons of bitches, was the morgue in the general area? While he seemed to be more concerned about the route taken by the cart carrying the bodies, Chirona seemed shaken and scared since she knew she could be implicated in their murders, her only saving grace was the fact the guy they were talking to seemed to make it a point to not look at her, else he would have picked up on her obvious distress.

"Anything about how they died?" Lelouch asked as he was always good to try and find out what your enemies knew about you and more importantly, what they thought they knew about you. If you could use their pretenses against them and make them think they know where you are and what you are doing or capable of, you could make them run circles around themselves, wasting time and resources, by doing practically nothing.

"I don't know about that, they haven't told anybody yet. All we know is that they are looking for suspects." The guy responded as he turned and left them to their own, seeing that they'll get nothing else from hanging about, Lelouch lead the way as the left on their way to the slums.

"What are we going to do? They're looking for us!" Chirona whispered harshly to him as she looked like she was getting ready to fight some unknown enemy that would spring from one of the corners of alleys, but Lelouch was as calm as you could be seeing how he had pulled some much…much worse and difficult murders in the past, something he was pretty sure you should brag about unless you want people to think you're crazy, a psychopath or both.

"Relax, we didn't leave any damming evidence, I used both magic and my blade to kill them. One of which is a weapon most thieves and bandits have and the other is a skill just about every magic user has." Lelouch explained to her as he had made sure to leave nothing that linked him to that crime, heck even the area as with most of the residents being demi-human who the government saw as little better then animals as witnesses, he was sure not one of them would talk, even if asked. "Just play it cool for now." He reminded her as looking suspicious meant you were suspicious to most people and seeing he has a foreigner with a thick accent and Chirona was a demi, they didn't need to give the city guards more reason to suspect outside racism.

"You're collected about all this." Chirona noted as she worked to keep herself collected.

"Let's just say my poker face can sometimes fool me as well." Lelouch joked, though he could recall times when he would forget who he was and what his actual goals were, he credited it to stress but C.C did imply that the weight of it all was getting to him in more ways than one.

"Poker face?" Chirona asked, having never heard of such a phrase before.

"I can hide my intentions and emotions well. I used to do it nearly every day from when I woke up to when I went to bed." Lelouch explained as the duo crossed into the slums, hearing that, Chirona paused as though he sounded like it was nothing, she could detect a hint of sadness in that, something she could sympathize with as she couldn't imagine maintaining a lie for more than a week, to do so for months, maybe years-it must have been painful.

"That sounds exhausting and lonely. Didn't you have people you could be honest with?" Chirona asked him as she had always had a good relationship with family and kept little secrets from then. Bicorns by their nature, were a trusting race as they were born with unfaithfulness and deceit, so to them, lying was even worse than it was to people, there were situations where lying was needed and not harmful to anyone, but they tended to avoid them. So the thought of having to keep most of her issues and thoughts to herself was daunting, to say the least. She watched as her partner paused for a moment before he continued to walk, seemingly stiffer than he was before.

"…It was, I'm still tired from the experience, but it was necessary at the time so my feelings on the issue weren't important. As for people I could be honest with," Lelouch answered as his thoughts shifted to Shirley, to Euphemia, to Suzaku, Kallen, and all the friends he had either lost or cut himself away from to complete his goals. "I didn't want to burden with that, especially since they wouldn't be able to help."

"You don't know that for sure, they could have been great of helping with your burden." Chirona said to cheer him up as they walked, but the thought of trying to get his friends into his war with an empire filled with dread rather than hope. Shirley wanted to help, look what happened to her. Euphemia threw away her title to help Nunnally ensure she could stay with him, and he ruined and killed her. Even if the former was a mistake, he still did it and he refused to disrespect her by trying to divert blame, he'll own up to his mistakes, his sins-but that also meant that he could never forget that like C.C told him, his power condemned him to a life of solitude.

"….No…They would have only been hurt by it. That I know for a fact." Lelouch replied, ending the conversation there as she could see that his past was a touchy subject, though she wondered just what he had been through as he didn't look too young, maybe a couple years younger than her and she hadn't heard of any major conflicts or disasters of late, so her best bet was that he was from somewhere really far, which explained the accent and the concepts and phases he made use of.

(Later – In Akusho)

'Well, what are the odds?' Some time had passed before the two found themselves in front of the establishment that someone had pointed out to be a good place to get information. The fact that amused him was the fact that it was the same place he was looking for when he came into town, the Dancing Orc, which from the outside looked to be the standard bar, a little dirty and needing repairs here and there but it was better than some of the other places in Akusho. 'And here I thought that I'll have to do this later.' He concluded his thoughts before he started to hear what was struggle beyond the door which he was about to open. "What was that?"

"Sounds like a fight." Chirona responded as she had been near training areas enough to be able to pick up the sounds of noises of a fight, and from what she was hearing, it sounded like a one-way beat-down.

"The only people who make this much noise in a bar at this time of day are either hopeless fools or someone seeking to send a message." Lelouch cursed as he pulled out his dagger and got ready to step in and hopefully save their source of information before they needed to waste time searching for another.

"What do you plan to do? This could be a fight between two families and we can't afford to have two out for our blood." Chirona reminded him as if this was a gang war, the less they got involved, the better.

"Well, that guy from earlier said that the bartender was our best bet for information. So we can't just sit by and let him be injured or killed." Lelouch explained as he walked up to the door, and against her wishes, opened it and stepped in.

"Oh for the love of-Wait up!" Chirona yelled as she moved to follow him. He would need the help if there was more and one.

"Alright, boys, why don't you step out while we have a drink?" Lelouch asked as e walked into the place like he owned it. As he did so, he took stock of the situation. The bar was a dimly lit one, most likely for the benefit of those who woke up with hangovers but should have been rather if it wasn't for the smashed tables and chairs lying around along with the bust vases and glasses of booze. In front of them, they spotted their target looking like he had been getting his ass handed to him for the better part of an hour, around him were about 7 others who looked to have been the ones who beat him s badly.

"Who the hell are you two?" One of them demanded as they dropped the bar-tender to the floor, where he didn't even bother to get up.

"Paying customers, one that don't have the apparent need to trash a bar." Lelouch replied, keeping to the arrogant persona he knew got under people's nerves as he gestured towards the property damage all around them.

"Get your ass out of here before we make you regret coming here, demi-lover." Another told them as he spat in Chirona's direction, though it didn't make the difference and made the girl mad if her twitching sword hand was any indication.

"Why don't you make me?" Lelouch egged them as he showed off his dagger as he started to twirl it around, though seeing as the attackers were carrying short swords and maces, they didn't look all that intimidated as they charged them with the intent to beat the shit outta them if not kill them. Both Lelouch and Chirona then split off to fight their foes as three charged her, deeming her to be the larger threat while just one went for him, and while he had drawn his sword, Lelouch proved himself to be quite the nimble and quick one as he all but danced around the strikes, making use of quick footwork and keeping track of all the debris on the floor to avoid everything the guy tried to throw at him while his attacker fumbled through the wreckage that he and his group had made, all of which made him sloppy.

'They're certainly stronger than me, most likely have killed more people in hand to hand but,' Lelouch concluded as he saw an opening as the guy extended himself too far so he jumped right into his personal space before slamming the handle of his blade into his right temple, dropping the guy like a sack of rice as he was still alive, he'll be asleep for a while, which allowed him to shift his focus to the others who were moving seeing how Chirona had dealt with two of her opponents. "Too slow." Lelouch commented as he charged the other two coming right for him, along the way he picked up the remains of a chair which amounted to a leg.

He used that leg to block an overhead slice attack from one before shifting his mass to throw him off him in time for the second one to try and stab him. To avoid this, he kept his body moving, turning his dodge into a full-on twirl which built up momentum for him to bring the chair leg to the side of his torso with enough force for him to cry out in pain from the hit. 'Looks all those times fighting against knights of round is paying off, compared to the Tristen and Lancelot, these guys might as well be turtles.' He thought to himself as he didn't give him time to respond before he kicked him away and moved out of the way of the first guy who had tried to jump him. At that same time, he spotted Chirona deal with her third and final guy when she tossed him over the bar into a thankfully empty shelf, crashing face-first into wood and brick did the trick as he didn't get back up.

"You son of a bitch!" Seeing that four of their guys were down, with the last one trying to take out Chirona, one of them cursed at Lelouch as he looked livid at the fact that they were still standing, though Lelouch just looked smug as he stared at his two opponents.

"None of that." Lelouch countered as the two charged him, only from two different angles now, forcing him to keep tabs on the two of them as though he knew they couldn't kill him, he wasn't in the mood to give them the chance. Seeing a chance to test something out, when he saw that one was the faster, he dodged him and kicked out the knee of the second one before he smacked him over the head with his makeshift club, not taking him out of the fight seeing how the blow wasn't strong enough, but long enough for him to deal with the bigger threat which managed to turn and try to attack him again.

"Sorry about this." Lelouch apologized as he picked up Chirona moving to treat the bar-tender as she had taken care of her opponent, as showcased by his twitching body hanging half-way out the window.

"Wha-HOOF!" The guy paused to ask as it was strange that someone would apologize in a fight, in that pause, Lelouch struck. He rushed the guy and made it seem like it was going for an attack to his side which the thug moved to counter, sadly for him, that was exactly what he wanted as he quickly switched targets and struck him with an underhanded to…right to his crotch. He followed this up by bashing his head twice, once with the leg and the other with the handle of his dagger before he dropped both once he saw that his target was stunned.

"Wasn't talking to you," Lelouch told him as he grabbed him under his arm and by is neck, and using the meager amounts of strength he had built up over the last 7 months, he picked the larger man up and slammed him right through a table, taking him out of the fight. "I was talking to the owner. Since that tale didn't look cheap." He finished as he used a judo throw to send the second guy who had tried to sneak up on him right into the other guy before he kicked him in the head, knocking him out.

(Later)

"And that makes all of them." Lelouch said a she finished tossing the last guy out the back into an alley. The fight had ended some time ago as some of the goons woke up and tried to get payback, the results were the same as the first time. "Man didn't know punching them would hurt me so much." He commented as he flexed his hands, having had to punch some of those guys, and even with his code healing the wounds and bruises, he still felt them forming in the first place.

"You act like you've never fought with your hands." Chirona, who was treating the bartender who had a black eye, bruised ribs, and a broken right arm, observed seeing how his hands didn't have the marking of somebody who used them a lot in fights or for much manual labor.

"Because I haven't, I always have some kind of tool on hand." Lelouch replied as he came up to them and sat himself down at one of the few remaining chairs.

"I don't know who you two are, but thanks. You just saved my ass." The bar-tender thanked him as Chirona wrapped some bandages around his torso. He tried to get up but found himself in pain from the effort, in response, the bicorn girl presented her hand to him.

"Here, let me." She said as he nodded thanks at her as he allowed her to help him to his feet, at which point he went behind the counter and started looking for some water.

"So," Lelouch started as he leaned into his chair, being careful not to go too far and fall over. "Why don't you tell us just why those guys were tearing up your bar and looked ready to send you to meet Hardy."

"They work for the Besssara's." The bar-tender told them as he pulled out some cups and poured all of them water, seeing that it was a little early for liquor.

"The Bessara's?" Chirona, who was unfamiliar with the term, asked.

"The Bessara crime family, they've been trying to muscle into Medusa tuff for a while now." He explained to the two as there was more than just the one crime family in the capital, there was a total of 4: The Gonzori; the Medusa; the Paramount, and lastly, the one that sent goons here, the Bessara. Each controlled a portion of the not just Akusho but the entire of Sadera.

"But why? I thought the crime families were at peace right now." Lelouch asked as he hadn't heard any chatter about tension or violence between them on the way into the city, this was odd.

"Not anymore, somebody took out the boss about a month ago, it's been chaos ever since." The bartender said after taking a sip of water to get rid of the taste of his blood in his mouth.

"That's news, the last boss was killed like 20 years ago." Lelouch commented as he had heard that the underbelly of the imperial capital had been relatively stable for two decades now and while the crime was still very much rampant in Akusho and the surrounding poor districts, he heard that it used to be a lot worse.

"Apparently, somebody thought that was too long without somebody dropping. I don't how or where, all I know is that the boss was taken out by somebody." The bartender told them as he spat in the corner, pissed that things will only get worse for them now that there was blood in the water.

"And the other families have been trying to use this as a chance to gain more tuff and power." Lelouch finished seeing how that was how organized crime worked, granted with syndicates, they would meet and divide the tuff, manpower and other sources of income among them to avoid violence the authorities will pounce on, here there was no such thing

"That's the gist of it. My place would have been the 7th they hit this week alone, they'll be back." He told them as he had a feeling he'll need to call in some people to protect him till things died down.

"Before they do, we need a favor from you." Lelouch cut to the chase, getting a chuckle out of the bat-tender which turned into a cough due to his injuries.

"Was kinda expecting that, nobody does shit for free in this world," He commented, with the immortal and the bicorn not saying anything to counter that since it was true. "What do you want, money? You won't find much here."

"We need to speak with someone that has information, they could know something we want. Can you organize that?" Lelouch asked him. The bartender took a couple of seconds to think about it before he gave them an answer.

"Yeah, I know a guy. It shouldn't be too hard to get him to come over, what do you want to know anyway?" He asked them as he poured himself another cup.

"We're looking for some people and figured that someone around here might have seen something." Chirona responded as if they were lucky, they'll be one step closer to finding her missing people.

"Fair enough. I'll see what I can do, came by tonight." The bar-tender replied as he started to walk towards the door.

"Are you sure, you are still injured." Chirona asked him as he walked on by, limping as he went.

"Ha, honey, you won't last a week in this business if you let something like this," He started as he gestured to the broken arm she had put into a sling for him. "Slow you down." As he responded, thoughts were racing in Lelouch's head as he took in this new information.

'This is odd, at the same time a bunch of bicorns are kidnapped and brought into the capital, a mob boss is taken down. There was also the fact that the guy was supposed to meet somebody here, He observed as all of this seemed too random to be random, there was a pattern here, he just wasn't sure what it was yet. 'Is it all coincidence, or is it all connected?'

'But the question remains, what would somebody need rare ore, a dead crime boss, and a group of bicorns for? Who could even pull that off?' That was another question as a person that also made use of the shadows and grand plans once upon a time, he figured that there was a party or group out there controlling this and making these events happen, the only problem was that they left no traces he could follow other than the lead that brought him here. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know any really good blacksmiths, would you?"

"There were two that I know of." The bar-tender, who was about to walk out, replied as he paused to recall the people in question.

"Were, are they dead?" Lelouch asked him, saddened that once more, he didn't have someone that could forge the ore he had with him.

"No clue, they disappeared some time ago. Same about them, for a couple of demi's, they were some damn good smiths." The bar-tender told them as he shook his head at the unfortunate news.

"They were not human?" Chirona asked him, surprised that there were demi-human smiths in the capital seeing how every business they've seen so far was run by humans.

"Nay, they were two Hellhounds. Father and daughter pair, they didn't get much business, but around here, they were known for some quality work." The bartender replied, speaking as if these smiths were top of the line.

"They set up shop here? Wouldn't they need to worry about being robbed?" Chirona asked as this was the crime center of the capital. Having a shop with armor, weapons and other tools would be a prime target for thieves and gangs. To her question, the bar-tender laughed.

"Anybody with the stones to try and rob armed hellhounds is either a beast or a damn fool. Besides, they were under the boss' attention. Must have skipped town when it got out he got iced." The bar-tender told them as he walked out, leaving them there.

'I doubt that, but the fact that he is saying this means that he's either in on whatever happened to them and is trying to distract us, or that the kidnapping left little evidence to it, to begin with. Both of which are not good things to ponder.' Lelouch concluded from that as now the ore made more sense as he suspected that those smiths could maybe work with it, or at least whoever took them believed that.

(Later)

"Alright, we're back. You have anything for us?" Later that day, as the sun was setting the duo returned to the bar and found that along with the bar-tender, there was another man present seated next to the bar. Unlike them, he was better dressed and wore a hood that covered his face.

"Me? No." The bar-tender started as he pointed to himself before he turned towards their guest. "Him on the other hand."

"So you're the two that saved this place and his dumb ass's life. Pleasure." The hooded man said as he turned to face them and aside from the brown hair sticking out from his hood, they couldn't make out anything about him.

"Hey."

"What? I'm glad you're still alive. This place sells some good drinks." The guy joked to the bar-tender as the two of them approached but didn't take a seat for themselves, hopefully they won't be here long.

"Could we please get back on topic?" Chirona asked them both.

"Right, right. So what do you want to know?" The hooded man asked them, turning fully to face the duo.

"We're looking for some bicorns that might have come through the capital lately. You know anything about that?" Lelouch asked him, cutting straight to the chase.

"Bicorns, bicorns….." The hooded man, the informant thought aloud before he snapped his fingers as he recalled something. "Oh yeah, I think I can recall something about that."

"How much?" Chirona asked as she already knew he wouldn't say more unless they paid him.

"Seeing how I still have my favorite watering hole, I'll give you a discount. 80 Denari." The informant told them, shocking the two at that crazy price.

"80 Denari!? That is downright theft!" Chirona countered that that was almost half the many she had. For Lelouch, it was a little less but still a sizable chunk of his money, even if you take into account the 100 Denari he got off those bandits.

"Hey horsy, information is power and power isn't cheap. So are you going to pay up or what?" The informant told them, not giving a shit that he was extorting them for a stupid sum of many and while Lelouch felt or so tempted to just geass the damn fool to give them the info for free, he held himself back as he pulled out his money and counted 40 Denari while Chirona reluctantly did the same.

"Here, you better know something we can use." Chirona told him as she all but threw her money at him, with Lelouch slamming it down onto the counter but it didn't seem to bother the man as he just started to count the coins to make sure it was the right amount. Once that was cleared, he started to speak.

"Yeah, word on the street is that the boss didn't want to get into the trafficking game but then he got taken out, afterwards some people make out this group of bicorns who looked like the shit had been beaten out of them being taken somewhere close to here. A large warehouse that hasn't been used in years. But that was like two weeks ago. No-one's seen them since." The informant told them as he gestured with his head to the side, pointing out the direction of the warehouse.

"You mean no one went to check?" Lelouch asked seeing how Chirona seemed silent due to hearing that her people hadn't been treated kindly.

"They did, they didn't see a thing in there. That's all I know about it, they could be on a boat heading south by now." The informant replied as he referred to the southern lands which were able reachable by boat.

"You mean….you mean I'm too late?" Chirona asked, almost falling to the ground in shock and grief at the knowledge that her people might already be gone. 'I was two weeks too late, I….I shouldn't have taken so long looking into the other spots, I should have just rushed her as soon as I could have!' She thought to herself as she started to tear up as her thoughts went darker and darker. They would have continued to spiral into depressing territory if not for Lelouch for took both her hands onto his own and grabbed her attention.

"Chirona, listen to me. I know this wasn't what you wanted to hear, but there is some good news to this." Lelouch told her to bring her back to earth before she could go any deeper down that road. He had been down it…it wasn't pretty.

"What? That we haven't seen them being used as prostitutes on the streets yet?" She asked him as she was close to tears at the thought of stumbling into such a sight, if not worse, finding their mutilated corpses on some od forsaken roadside.

"No, the fact that the last time anybody saw them, there were still alive, all of them. A little roughed up but wounds can heal." He told her, knowing that the thought of those who loved being hurt will always sting, but he needed to mix in some harsh truths so that she couldn't shoot his words down as blind optimism and empty promises. "We can still track them."

"Which warehouse?" Chirona asked, not even looking at the informant as she reigned in her emotions, ashamed that she cried in front of him to begin with.

"The large, red one down the road from here. About 10 minutes' walk." The informant told them as he pointed out the direction once more before he turned back to his drink, clearly done with this conversation-something they agreed with.

"Then we have another lead." Lelouch said as he took Chirona's hand into his own and lead her towards the door, despite her being far heavier than him and Lelouch lacking the strength to pull her, something he saw as good as it meant she was still willing to go on. "Let's go, the sooner we solve this, the sooner you get to see your family again."

(Later)

"We're here, but it looks like the door is locked." Lelouch asked as they came to their destination and much like the informant said, it was both largely red and large, but also old and damaged. Clearly whoever was using this legally was either neglectful or it was abandoned. Chirona was silent as the two came towards the door which though large enough for the two to enter, was locked.

BANG!

"Not anymore, let's go." Chirona spoke up after kicking the damn door down, blasting it some hinges while ripping off the actual hinges in other as she walked right on past him, into the building. This was concerning to him as she hadn't even said a word the entire way over, despite him trying to make conversation-she was quiet, despite the catcalls and whistles from either prostitutes or people who thought they were sex workers-she kept her mouth shut.

"Right." Lelouch replied as he followed her in, worried about her state of mind at this very moment. 'She's…determined, but that might not be a good thing, better be sure she doesn't bite off more than she can chew…wait, was this how C.C felt with me?' He thought to himself before his mind jumped to what C.C must have dealt with when it came to him. He never thought he'll became the immortal partner but here he was. The only difference was that Chirona didn't wish to start a rebellion or topple an empire.

"Look around, there has to be something we can use here." She told him as she started to look around the dirty and empty warehouse for any clues they could use, Lelouch did the same but he searched other parts of the place to speed things up, they were only lucky that they had brought along torches that they lit to see better as while there was moonlight outside, it was near pitch-black in here. As he did so, he came to spot some hair on the ground which he would have glossed over but decided against. He was glad he did once he picked it up as the horse didn't look like human hair at all, in fact, when he turned to face Chirona wasn't looking his way, he noted that he looked similar to hers.

'Horse fur…or it this, looks similar.' He thought to himself as he got up and walked over to her. "Hey, Chirona. Does this look like horse or bicorn hair to you?" He asked as he approached, getting a reaction out of her as she turned around to inspect what he found. She looked it over for less than a few moments before concluding.

"That's bicorn alright, and judging from how it looks, it came from an older one." She said as she noted the couple of grey hairs in the lump he found, she also picked up the roots still being attached which wasn't good as it meant that this hair didn't fall naturally but was pulled with enough force to came loose.

"So at least we do know they were here at least, but where the hell did they go?" Lelouch asked as they looked around and aside from the entrance they came through, there was no other way in or out they could make out. There was the roof, which had a massive hole but from what he knew about this world, even species capable of flight wouldn't have been able to get a bicorn off the ground, not unless it was a team effort, there was also the issue with the fact that most of them had poor night vision which would limit them to day-time flying-something people would have noticed.

"No-one saw them leave, did they leave when no-one else was around?" Chirona asked as the area was largely deserted. If they planned it right, they maybe could have done so, but the issue would have been someone would have seen something, and the informant would have found out. Did he not know? Did he keep info from them?

"Maybe…." Lelouch said as he looked around again, inspecting both the floor and the walls more closely now. "Or maybe they didn't use the same entrance."

"What are you talking about? There is only the one door in here right there." Chirona reminded him.

"The one that obvious. There." Lelouch answered as he gestured the ground, where though faded and hard to make out, there were tracks that could have only been made by something with a horse's legs. He looked around and now that he was looking for them, could make out a bunch of them, many of whom intertwining and messing with another.

"Tracks? We already knew they came here, what does this help us with?" Chirona asked as she looked at the garbled mess of footsteps as Lelouch looked them over, clearly searching for something.

"Easy," He replied as he found what he was looking for, a set of tracks that he could make out and follow. "We follow where they went from there, find some yourself and try and follow where they lead you." He instructed her as the trail he followed turned out to be a dead end.

"Alright." Chirona, seeing what he was doing, agreed as she joined in on the search. With that, the two started to focus only on that and though it took a while, they finally found a set that not only showed a clear path from the doorway but also lead them somewhere that they could use.

"So they all lead here?" Lelouch asked as they came towards a wall where the tracks led, they knew there was more happening as the set didn't just end there but seemingly continued as there was one-half set, cut in half by the wall itself in the same way that a door would. Chirona found more evidence for this as a couple of boxes next to them looked odd and when she looked down at them, she picked up the skid marks on the floor.

"This….this was moved." She said as she gestured towards the boxes, which when Lelouch inspected, he saw that they were attached to the wall itself, meaning that they found their secret entrance.

"Seems like it, great way to move things you wouldn't want seen. But how do we open it? These things are typically very strong or booby-trapped?" Chirona felt foolish with that as her only reference were the children books read to her as a little girl but Lelouch wasn't going to judge as he knew too little about this world's criminals to know if they would and he was cautious about it because he used to do the same thing. The issue for him was that he was used to automated sentries which don't exist in this world. However, the two had to cut their little brainstorm session short when the wall started to move slowly, opening up to them and while he would like to think someone was aiding them, he wasn't an idiot as he quickly killed his fire.

"I don't think that would be needed." Lelouch said as he grabbed Chirona's torch and killed that one too before he pushed her to a side before they could be spotted by whatever was coming for them. It wasn't a moment too soon before once the wall fully opened up, from the tunnel that it hid, a group of around 7 people walked out. One woman and six men, and all of them, as Chirona noticed, were dressed just like the raiders that attacked her village, only now they seemed to be wearing cloaks to hide that fact along with hoods.

"You both know your roles?" One of them, the suspected leader of the group as the others as he like the rest, held his lamp up, the candlelight illuminating his face somewhat but with his back turned to them, they couldn't make anything out.

"Yeah. And be back here in two hours." One of them spoke up.

"The next shipment is heading out soon, don't be late." That part grabbed their attention as they had no clue what this 'shipment' was, but they figured that it was the bicorns they were looking for. It was by bad luck, that as Chirona moved to hear better, she stepped on something that broke and made a noise.

SNAP!

"What was that?" One of them asked as they quickly turned to face their direction, all on high alert as they drew their weapons.

"Someone's here." Another said as they started moving towards their hiding spot, Lelouch cursed in his head and they had no way of moving to another spot without drawing attention to themselves and even if he threw something in another direction to distract them, there was assurance that they would all go to look for that. There was also their numbers as while he had faith in his magic and Chirona, these guys were better equipped them the thugs he normally took down and from what he had read about them in his companion's notes, they knew how to fight.

'Shit, no choice.' He thought as he jumped out of cover with a gasp from Chirona being the only other sound other than him making a noisy landing as he felt his power came alive in his eyes.

"There!" One of them pointed towards him as they quickly made their way over.

"You there, what are you going here?" Another, the sole female in the group demanded of him but before they could leave his field of vision and surround him, he looked right at them.

"Obey!" He commanded as his geass command left his eye and penetrated the minds of each of them, plowing through their wills in an instant and reducing them to puppets.

"Sure." They all said at the same time as the tension in their bodies left them as they slacked, now open to any orders he could give them.

'What!' Meanwhile, Chirona, still in cover, gasped once more at the sight she had just seen. She knew he was studying magic but she had never heard of a magic spell that worked so quickly, or of one that could be so effective without incantations or a staff.

"Stand down and don't move." Lelouch told them as he kept eye contact, not breaking his stare on them

"Yes, your majesty."

"Lelouch…what did you just do?" Chirona slowly asked as she walked out of her hiding spot and approached him. A little unnerved by the blank stares in the raider's faces.

"Not important right now, I'll explain later." He told her, now he had other things to deal with. "Will you all answer my questions?"

"Of course?"

"Is this entrance booby-trapped?" He asked as he gestured towards the tunnel/secret door behind them.

"Yes, there is a cauldron of poison directly above the door, if the door is damaged, it'll pour on your head." One of them replied as Chirona stepped forward at his behest and saw the cauldron in question.

"Is there a way around it?" He asked as though they now knew of it, he wasn't going to take chances.

"Yes, there is a mechanism that you can use to open the door."

"Show us." He ordered them as he started walking towards it, where the group explained how the door worked and how to both open and close it.

"What is down there?" Chirona asked, but she was surprised when they didn't even acknowledge the fact that she spoke, so Lelouch repeated the question for them seeing how they would only respond to him.

"There is some old labyrinths and tunnels under the capital, I don't know how old they are but they are older than the city proper, so over 1,100 years. This is one of the entrances into them." One of them responded, revealing no-one knew about these tunnels as they were not just so damn old but also because those who did know of them kept them a secret.

"Have you taken some bicorns down there?" He asked them, moving to the whole mission they can come here.

"Some came through the other day." That caught them as they finally caught a break in this. Chirona leaned in closer to hear them as she finally found a substantial clue, even if the method of gaining it was odd and very strange.

"How many?" He pushed.

"I'm not too sure, but I know it was over 30 of them." He didn't give them the exact number and while Chirona looked sadden by the fact it wasn't all of them, Lelouch believed that it was more because the man who answered simply didn't recall the number.

'Better than none of them, hopefully, it was the entire group.' He thought to himself as he thought of what further questions he could ask as he finally broke eye contact. He had ordered them to obey so it shouldn't be an issue.

"Are they still down there?" Lelouch questioned them as he looked down the dark tunnel, being reminded of the mine he had ventured into.

"Some of them, the rest have been shipped out already." At that, he felt his brow crease at the fact they had missed some of them, how many he didn't know, but he needed to focus on the here and now.

"Where and why?"

"…"

"So you don't know, dammit." 'He said to himself as he seemed like he was reaching the limit of the information he could glean from this group and he didn't have the time to wait for another group to come on by. 'This complicates things.' He thought to himself as it meant that even if they saved everyone that was down there, there would still be short and need to continue this. "How many are still down there?"

"Around 18 of them." Chirona choked at the number seeing how that was a little under half the number they were looking for, to begin with. Did they think that over a dozen others were 'just a few?

"Are they going to be shipped off soon?" He asked, seeing the rising distress in his companion.

"In three days."

"Who will be shipped with them?" Lelouch asked, suspecting that there more people down there than they originally believed.

"The blacksmiths we kidnapped." With that information, Lelouch looked through his bag before he pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to one of the raiders under his control.

"Take this, draw us as detailed a map of these labyrinths as you can, once you're done you'll keep this with you and not let it be taken, damaged, or destroyed. You will forget that you ever saw us, that this entire event ever happened and return to normal but tomorrow night, we will bring the map, complete to this inn. Understood?" He instructed them as they had three days to plan this operation, but he figured they'll only need the one.

"Yes, your majesty." The group replied before they left to start carrying out their tasks. As they had no further use being there, they wordlessly decided to leave as well and for the most part, their journey back to their inn was a quiet one.

"How are you feeling? About all of…this?" Lelouch spoke up, breaking the silence that had hung over them. Taking time to think about it, Chirona was slow to respond as this day had been one of the most stressful filled in her life.

"I don't know, I don't know." She replied with a sigh as she was confused, sad, hopeful, and anxious all at the same time. Everything from the info on her missing kin, to that mysterious power Lelouch had, were racing through her mind at a mile a minute. "We found them, some of them. I know I should be happy for that, but why do I still feel like my heart is dying?"

"Because you care about them, and fell for every one of them. I would say that shows you are human but…well you get the point." Lelouch told her, trying to make a joke, though unlike the night before, neither were in the mood for it though she did appreciate his attempt.

"Ha, yeah. I suppose." Chirona said as she looked forward, missing the look of understanding in her companion eye's before he turned to face the road ahead of them.

"We'll find them, Chirona. I promise you that." Lelouch told her, making a promise to her but not saying more due to the rather, emotional tiring night she had.

"That's a tall order, you sure you can keep that promise?" Chirona asked him, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, testing him as she waited for his response.

"When I vow on something, I don't stop till I'm either dead or have succeeded." Lelouch told her, being completely honest with her as he was someone that didn't give up easily, though he had broken some promises.

(Sometime later – Back at their inn)

'At this point, I might as well get used to stables.' Lelouch thought to himself as he and Chirona found themselves back in their 'accommodations' with the animals. They had been back for some time and using the light of a hanging light, Lelouch had been keeping himself busy by going through his notes, making changes, and adding things as he did calculations on another piece of paper.

'Seven mouths…..That's how long I've been in this world, the fall is coming and soon I'll face my first summer. I wonder…how are they getting on? Does time travel at the same pace as my world? Do worlds across dimensions or universes work like that?' He wondered to himself as he paused, looking out the window at the night sky and though it wasn't visible, the summertime was fast approaching, only being a month at best before it came. As he thought about the passage of time, he found himself wondering about the world and the people he felt behind. Sadly, he wasn't like Nina or Lloyd, theoretical stuff such as passage of time in relation to which dimension you were in. And that scared him, as it meant that he had no clue on what was happening in his world, everyone he ever knew could have passed from illness or age by now, or they could still be celebrating his demise.

'It's funny, I don't know the answer to that. It could have been a mere couple of minutes since I died, or centuries. I have no way of knowing what they are going, how they are treating their new world order.' But that thought was the one that scared him the most as while he held no delusions on the requiem lasting decades, he hoped that the people he left to safeguard it would create a better world then the one they were born into, with all the hatred focused on him, they would be hard-pressed to find another person or nation to despise enough to drum up support for wars but as soon as that thought crossed through his mind, his eyes widened as he recalled the words of the God that sent him here to begin with.

'You shall be banished from this world, you shall never see those you loved, those who held you dear will be forever kept separated from you. Your soul will no longer belong to C's World. As humanity moves forward' That was what she started with.

'You shall be forgotten.' But…there was a serious issue with that, with his world wiping itself clean of his very existence and while knowing that your place in the infinite cosmos wasn't solid or sure like everything else might have been a sobering thought, it paled in comparison to what was scaring him.

'That was she said to me…does that mean…that they all forget me?' Lelouch asked as that wording, the tone she had when she spoke them, all of it spoke of honest intent to wipe his existence, his mark from the world he once knew. Everyone from the fact he was the elder child and only son of Marianne and Charles to his position as the demon emperor of the world. To be frank, one of the reasons chose to pursue the requiem in the first place as that he would be punished for his actions in life, not necessarily with death but with the fact that someone who believed in change and wished for the future would be robbed of his own, forever being left in the past. 'I suppose…that is fitting for someone like me, the less they have to remember me and my sins, the better but…'

'How does that affect the Zero Requiem? Without a focal point of the world's anger and hate, they'll be at point one all over again!' That was what scared him as if he never existed as far as his world was concerned, how would his requiem exist? Did that mean he fell apart as soon as he was banished? But that begged the question of who she changed the history of his world to match that as he was an influential person, and the only person to ever conquer the entire planet. His best hope was that she rather replaced him with someone else to take his place, though he imagined she just picked some random bastard to effectively ruined his life-after all, she doesn't care. 'I can only pray that she thought of that and made corrections, Charles or Schneizel would make good replacements.'

"Lelouch." Chirona spoke up, catching his attention as he turned to look toward her.

"Yes." He asked her, noting that she didn't make eye contact and instead looked the other way, her posture told him she had something on her mind.

"About earlier…" Chirona started, bringing up something he suspected yet dreaded she would. She wanted to know just how he used geass on them since as far as he had researched, there was no magic spell close to what he did, and the ones that had similar effects were either high level or required the user to speak magic words of some kind.

"You want to know…what I did, what I can do?" He didn't ask and more stated as she nodded her head, turning to look at him with a worried face.

"Yes, what sort of spell was that? All you did was just look at them….and before I realized it, you bent them to your will, turned them into puppets." She said though it seemed that now that she had calmed down a bit, she had been able to think about it and like most he met that knew of his power, she was not happy. She took a breath to gather herself before she spoke again. "I thought you said you were still a student in the magical arts, how could you cast such a high-level spell so quickly, without incantation?" She asked him and while she didn't say it, he saw the unspoken question on her face.

'Did you do use it on me?'

'There is that look, that fear, that misunderstanding. I've seen that many times, yet somehow….it still hurt to see it on the face of a friend.' Lelouch mused to himself as he saw all the classic sings, the same ones he saw on Suzaku, Kallen, Cornelia, his Black Knight high command. Even scientists such as Nina, Cecile, and Lloyd all had that look to some degree. He hated those looks, but while he wanted to shield himself from any potential fallout, he was not that selfish, or short-sighted so he decided to be straight with her and though he'll keep many things secret for obvious reasons, he doesn't need to give her his life story to explain his power. 'What do I have to lose?'

"What you saw me do…that was no normal magic, rather it's a power not from this world. It is known as…geass." Lelouch started before he began to explain just what his power was, it's activation requirements, it's limits, how he had worked around those limits, and how he used it both in the past and recently. He also gave her a summary of the reasons why he even needed such a power but he kept things vague and left out names of both people and locations for her good.

And that…is the chapter. The first part came easier to me than the second part as while I had notes for how the chapter would go, for some reason, I kinda vegged out at the end there. There was supposed to be a part where he and Chirona would meet a younger, less experienced Mizari and learn more about the underworld and the facts about the death of the mob-boss but this chapter was getting too long so I had to cut it. Don't worry, I'll try to make use of that in the next chapter. As you all just read, they have found out more about the missing bicorns and Lulu suspects that it's all part of a larger scheme, which it is but I won't reveal who is the mastermind or their plans just yet, wait for them to be revealed in the story.

With their characters, I'm trying to go with a Shirley like feel to Chirona as I always did like her character, with Lelouch, his character is similar to that of C.C's where he's accepted everything he's done, everything he will do for his ends, but unlike the witch who was numb to the world, he isn't and still feels the pain of being alone. Add in the fact that he witness Shirley die because she got too close to his Zero persona, which drives home the fact to him that he can't have such close ties. Granted, in this world that's different but scars don't fade easily, they are otherwise he wouldn't be close to Lelei, and his kind nature, the one he showed to his friends and others in cannon is also still there as he stepped in the help someone in need.

Also, some of you might be wondering if Lelei and Cato know about his power, and the answer is no. They have never been in a position where he would need or want to use it in their presence. As for Chirona, he has no reason to lie and gains nothing from not being truthful seeing how he'll need to continue to work with her to solve this mystery and as his experience with the Black Knights showed him, trust is a two-way street and while he won't go and give all his secrets, he understands that he should at least try and be more open with the people he's close to if nothing else then to calm their minds about his powers and what he is capable of as they at least had a heads-up.

Anyway, the next chapter will have a bit of a surprise for all of you, it won't be the chapter or the main focus but something I wanted to show to you all, and no, I won't tell you what it is.

Now, the reviews:

FateBurn: Thanks, hope you liked the latest chapter.

M2R: Thanks.

SomePervyGuy: Lelei will still be the main bridge between them and while he'll travel around, he'll be involved with that shortly after they arrive and I already have the same revealing and interesting dialogue ideas for him and Itami. With the warrior bunnies…I'll let the story speak for itself.

Vein Bloodborne: Hope you liked it.

Zathol: Thank you, I was worried about that seeing how he's going to came into contact with a lot of OCs but it's great that she's been so well received. With your other comment about actions, I totally agree as actions speak louder than words and anybody can say that they agree or disagree with something, but people only act when they believe in that. In his old world, we as the audience know why he doesn't help Japanese as like he explained to Kallen, if he does, then it'll only make things harder for them and himself as that would mean placing himself into the spotlight and while you are right about him not wanting to start a revolution or join a rebellion, he does wish to help people if he can and is not someone that backs down on his principles. As for his fighting style, he's something a crude mix of a ninja's due to him hanging around Sayoko and Roy Mustang's if it's isn't clear enough, fire alchemy is going to become his bread and butter for combat.

YuukiAsuna-Chan: I have no idea where gambling, killing, physiologically messing with people along with all the other stuff he does fits into the generic MC. When as Goko or Naruto done half the stuff he has?

Lesancapo: Thanks.

Crossovernaru: Thanks for that. With Lelouch and his split from them, I'm trying to give him an enemy to fight, someone to oppose him and for him to be able to confront them, he needs to find out more about them which entailed a trip to the capital. His actions with the muggers just seemed like something he would do as we know from canon, that he could be an angel to people just as easily as he could be a demon. With Chirona and her character and struggles, I'm trying hard with that and it's nice to hear that it's well-received. With the lack of equality and laws that put down demi-humans, that incident won't be the only time it's shown that the empire is not a nice place for everyone seeing how one criticism I have with shows, such as RWBY, is the lack of showing the audience the racism you say exists and that it is a problem. Just because a character no longer cares or has dealt with their arc, doesn't mean it's no longer an issue.

Rondel will be the same as cannon, and from what I recall, it was already independent from the empire and its affairs seeing how mages are kinda underutilized in their world. I get that magic is not as powerful as the typical fantasy world but come on, there is a whole new element to the world in magic that most ignore. He may have given up some secrets to Chirona now, but he won't spill everything just yet. The main reason for that is that his world has no effect on this one so aside from just being open with people, there is no reason to tell them everything. He will tell some people eventually, but only to those who have earned his complete trust….something that will take some time.

I didn't consider that before but maybe…hmmm, FMAB did have some likable characters. Perhaps some of them can serve as templates for OCs.

ewertondragon10: The guy has some shitty luck as while we know it's done to keep the plot going and rise the stacks, it was like whenever he was winning, something else happens or the standard, Suzaku unexpectedly shows up and does something that is either considered impossible, incredibly stupid or both. With his fighting style, he is someone that learns as he goes and refines his approach much like his plans.

yuuji1: As far as I know, the Gods of the special region are for the most part, hands-off in their approach to things and rarely step in. Granted their followers can act on their behalf but it's rarely because they asked them to. I mean, we all saw Rory kill those bandits despite the fact they both worshiped the same deity.

yuuji1: Don't worry, he has already come up with a way to protect his research and while the other gods may not like it, so far, he hasn't done anything too bad like invent the steam engine or flintlocks. His research at this point is purely into magic and alchemy.

Dyliokhan: Don't worry, I have a plan for him to gain that guy friend since these types of stories, tend to pair the MC with just girls and unimportant guys with few exceptions. Lelouch isn't someone that searches for sex or love, so while he will have female companions, there will be guys mixed in too since he isn't thinking with his dick.

Zexceed:….what?

JumpingToaster: Well, I hope you find the story to your liking.

Adriaus Nighthunter: Who said I stopped?