Turn 00 - Before the Demon was Born

-August 14, 2016 a.t.b.-

Kallen's eyes snapped open as she found herself breathing heavily. "Huh?..." She said.

"Oh, you're awake." A voice said, pulling her eyes toward the source, a man with dark hair at her bedside.

She blinked in confusion. "Um... Where am I?"

The boy looked up at a sign on the wall. "The school infirmary." He responded. "The student council said someone should look after you. It was our fault you fell, after all."

"Huh?" She said. "I fell?"

He nodded. "You don't remember?" He asked. "No, I suppose not…" The boy said to himself. "On the stairwell to the first floor, you were carrying some supplies for the gardening club. You looked dizzy for a moment before too.."

She nodded. "Oh, that's why I can't remember it…" She said.

"You did hit your head pretty hard." He said. "On the bright side, it was the most spectacular fall I've ever seen. I'd give you a perfect 10 for execution."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "So my pain is just a big joke to you?" She said. "You Britannians are all alike." She said, reflexively.

He smiled and stood up. "Well, it looks like you're feeling fine. I better get going." He said, walking toward the doorway. "I'll go tell the nurse you're awake now."

"Huh? You're leaving?"

He nodded. "Yes. I have dinner plans with my sister. But we can talk again another time." He said, politely.

"Hey, wait." She said, stopping him. "Who are you?"

He turned back toward her, his amethyst eyes locking with hers. They were hardened, and held a sort of enigmatic air about them, but in an instant they brightened as a smile graced his lips. "Lelouch."

Her eyes widened. "Lelouch?" She said, images flashing through her head and disappearing in an instant. "What was…"

"You're Kallen Stadtfeld, right?" He said.

She wanted to protest that name, but then remembered where she was. "That's right, I'm a student at Ashford right now…" She thought. "Um, yes. It's nice to meet you… Lelouch."

"Well, see you later." He said, turning to leave.

Kallen stared at the place he had been standing, trying to figure out what was happening. "Lelouch…"

"Remember our deal, Kallen."

"Huh?" Kallen said, standing up. "Is… someone there?"

She finally left the infirmary, walking the halls of Ashford as the memories of this place came back to her. But for whatever reason, she was hitting some kind of block. "August 14, 2016 a.t.b." She said, reading off the date on her phone. "Looks like I went back too far…" She said. "Hang on… why did I just say that?"

She continued wandering Ashford Academy until she finally remembered, what she thought was, everything. She still didn't know what that voice telling her to save Lelouch was about, but she remembered everything up to this point in her life. "Something happened to me… but what was it?" she asked.

"Oh, Kallen, you're awake!"

Kallen took a deep breath and turned around, putting on a smile. "Yeah, I am. Thanks for taking care of me while I was unconscious, Milly."

She giggled. "Oh, I didn't do anything. It was Lelouch's idea to watch after you."

"Huh?" She asked. "Why is that?"

Milly shrugged. "Who's to say? By the way, you aren't a part of any clubs here at Ashford yet, right?" she asked.

Kallen nodded. "Yes, that's correct."

"Well, how about joining us at the student council?" She offered.

Kallen was a bit confused. "Why?"

"Well, to be honest, that's why I asked you to help us out before. I noticed you hadn't joined any of the clubs here, and it's becoming difficult to defend." She said. "You see, it's a school rule that all students must be part of a club, no exceptions."

Kallen nodded. "I see. That's very kind of you, Milly but…" She said, as the image of Lelouch appeared in her mind. "Hang on, is Lelouch part of it?"

She nodded. "Yup, he sure is. He's on the road to becoming our vice president next year."

"Really? I didn't know he had aspirations like that." She said.

Milly giggled. "Oh no, that's not why." she said. "He's going to be because I chose him. He may not seem like it, but he can be a real leader when he has to be."

Kallen nodded. "Oh, I see." She said. "Then… okay." she said, nodding to herself. "Yes, I'll join the student council."

The blond giggled. "Oh my, now you've got two lovely ladies after you." Milly said. "What a lucky guy you are, Lelouch."

-September 3, 2016 a.t.b.-

Kallen sighed, leaning against a wall, waiting for another girl to come out of the clothes store her "friends" just had to go into. She hated this. It made her feel sick having to be around these types of people. She hadn't even gone to a single student council meeting since joining it, but her brother always told her that her education was important and that she has to stick to her commitments.

"Attention, all imperial subjects! It is I, Prince Clovis!"

Kallen's eyes bolted toward the large screen on one of the walls. "You…" She said. "You're the one my brother's always fighting against… the one always standing in his way." She knew she should try to keep her emotions inside, but her anger toward the Britannians was something she found it hard to overlook.

"Pathetic." A boy said.

"What was that?" Kallen said, about ready to rip the boy's head off.

"The viceroy." He said, staring at the screen with an odd mixture of apathy and contempt. "Just look at him up there."

"And so, I have decided that it is my decree, as Third Prince of Britannia, that a museum shall be created in my name!"

"What a joke..." The boy said. "He's no leader. He's nothing more than a pawn. An over-glorified puppet."

Kallen was surprised to see a Britannian talking this way about someone from the royal family. "Um, excuse me, but…"

"Say, how should a Britannian who detests his own country live his life?" He asked. "Does he accept what is and continue forward just like the ignorant masses? Or does he fight back and risk losing everything for what and who he cares about?" He asked. "In the end, people are more likely to choose the peaceful route. Who cares if you step on a few ants on your way to your destination, right? So long as it doesn't affect you, it doesn't matter."

Kallen didn't know what to say. Should she answer his question? Was it even a question? She wasn't even certain if he knew she'd been listening to him. "Hang on, I think I've seen him somewhere before…" She thought. "Lelouch?"

The boy's eyes filled more and more with hate as he continued watching the screen. However, once he noticed that someone had said his name, he turned his attention toward them. "Huh? Oh, you're Kallen, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Hey, what was all that stuff you were just saying?"

"Huh?" He said before realizing he'd been talking out loud. "Oh, I was just-"

"Hey, Lulu. Sorry if I kept you waiting." Another person walked out of the store from behind the two of them.

"Oh, it's no problem."

The girl smiled. "You know, you could have come in with me."

He cocked his head to the side. "I don't know. There's not a whole lot of stuff in this place for guys." He said. He was right, this was a girls' clothing store.

The girl blushed. "Well, you know, you could have… told me if there was anything that would look good on me."

He shrugged. "I think you look fine no matter what you put on, Shirley." He said. "Come on. Rivalz and Milly are waiting in the food court for us."

Shirley looked a bit saddened by how quickly he moved on from the topic. "Uh… yeah." She said, following him.

Kallen watched as the boy walked away. "Lulu?" She said.

"Oh my god." One of Kallen's "friends" said. "I saw the whole thing. Were you seriously talking to Lelouch?"

Kallen wanted nothing more than to tell this girl to mind her own business. "Yeah why? Is he special or something?"

The girl nodded. "Uh, yeah! He's only the most popular guy in our class."

One of the girl's friends sighed blissfully. "He's so cool and handsome. Like a gallant prince sent to take me away to his castle."

Kallen laughed internally. "I don't think he would like being called a prince, considering what I just heard." She thought. She found herself watching him as he continued talking with Shirley.

"Kallen? Are you listening?" One of the girls asked.

"Come on, don't tell me you're in love with him too."

Her face reddened slightly. "Love? O-of course not. There's no way I'd fall for some Britannian-" She said, stopping herself. "I mean, um… what I meant was that I…" She didn't know how to make what she had just said sound good to these girls. She sighed and walked away, not saying a word to them.

-October 10, 2016 a.t.b.-

Rivalz groaned, leaning against his motorcycle with an annoyed look on his face. "Those two… what's with them? Leaving me out of it like this?"

Inside of the large building Rivalz stood in front of, Kallen and Lelouch had been going to work on the nobles that gambled here. The two of them were on a high rollers floor, playing their own games of expertise.

Lelouch smiled. "I figured you'd try that."

The man across from him smirked. "Please, boy, stop acting so confident. Quite frankly, it's embarrassing."

Lelouch smiled. "On the contrary, what's embarrassing is your assumption that you can beat me with such a pitiful strategy." He said, moving the queen to his designated spot. "And with this, I call check."

The man leaned over the board. "Huh?"

Meanwhile, Kallen sat at a table, holding onto her cards as if her life depended on it. "It's your turn, girl." A man said, causing her to flinch a bit.

"Oh, I, um…" She looked at everyone and finally her eyes squeezed shut. "I guess… I'm all in…" She said, shoving all of her chips into the pile. "That's… how this works, right?"

The men around her smirked, and responded by doing the same. Everyone showed their cards and one of the nobles reached toward the pile. "Alright, your turn girl. Not that you'll beat my hand."

Kallen nodded. "I'm sorry." She said, smirking behind the cards. "Um… is this okay?"

"What the?!" One of the men shouted.

"That's impossible!"

Despite the delicate appearance she was projecting, internally she was just as smug as Lelouch. "I-is that good?" she asked, innocently.

The men looked at each other, and finally one of them grew a wicked smirk. "Oh, I'm very sorry. Such rotten luck for your first time at the game.."

"Excuse me?" Kallen said, nearly breaking character.

"What's going on here?" Lelouch said, walking toward Kallen. "Oh, look at that, a royal flush." He said, smiling. "It looks like you won pretty big for your first time."

She smiled. "Did I?"

"Now hold on." One of the noblemen said. "Are you this girl's boyfriend?"

Kallen hid behind him, letting Lelouch speak up. "I am. Why do you ask?" With Kallen nodding her head rapidly.

"It just so happens that this woman cheated. I caught her trying to pull cards from under her sleeves during our game." The man said. "I think you'd best educate your woman to be more-"

"Really, now? Because I was watching the whole time, Jameson Gordsman.

The man smiled. "Ah, you know me."

"I do. You used to be a world-class Poker player. Rumor has it your tells are non-existent." He smiled. "I also seem to recall that you have been suspended from any sort of professional-level gambling on account of cheating." He said, smirking. "How appropriate that you would accuse her of cheating the same way you did."

Jameson's eye twitched. "Why you little… who do you think you are, talking to me like that."

He smiled. "My name is Lelouch Lamperouge. If you don't mind, I'd like to make you a deal."

"A deal?" He asked.

Lelouch nodded. "I'd like to play a game of chess. If you win then we'll give you twice the amount that you would have won from your last game." He paused. "But if I win, you'll pay us double what you owe her."

Kallen shook her head and grabbed onto his arm. "Lelouch, wait." She said. "What if you lose? We don't have enough to-"

Jameson laughed. "Very well, I'll play your little game. But if you can't pay us in money..." He said, eyeing Kallen as she pulled herself even farther behind Lelouch's back. "You've got yourself a deal, schoolboy."

Lelouch and Kallen exchanged looks. "We got 'em." They thought in sync.

Rivalz sighed. "They're still not done yet?" He said, just as they emerged from the building. "Hey, there you two are!"

Lelouch and Kallen walked up to him, both with confident smiles on their faces. "Here." Lelouch said.

Rivalz looked shocked. "What the… what is this?"

"Your cut." Kallen said. "We told you we'd give you some of what we got, didn't we?"

The boy counted the money and shook his head. "No way. You mean it worked?"

Lelouch nodded. "Exactly as planned."

Kallen smiled. "I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of playing the meek girl, but that was actually kind of fun."

Rivalz nodded. "Yeah… hey, if you don't mind me asking… why did you agree to come with us?" He said, curiously. "Aren't you loaded already? Your father's nobility, right?"

Kallen shrugged. "It's not like any of that money is really mine or anything. Besides, Britannian nobles don't deserve the money they have. Father included..." she said. "All they do is line their pockets with money while stepping on anyone they deem less important. Especially the Japanese."

Lelouch climbed into the sidecar of Rivalz's bike. "Come on, we should get going." Lelouch said. "Milly will be pretty upset if we're late."

"Oh no, that's today, isn't it?" Kallen said. "Crap, I meant to play sick to get out of it…"

Rivalz looked a bit confused. "Huh? How could you forget? It was your idea."

"I didn't think she'd think I was serious." Kallen said.

Lelouch chuckled. "Really? I thought you just wanted your 'boyfriend' to see you in a swimsuit."

Kallen's face burned as bright as her hair. "Shut up. If you're gonna be that way, then I'm breaking up with you." She said, climbing into the side car with him. She refused to sit behind Rivalz on the actual seat, considering how he drove sometimes.

Lelouch smirked. "Little close there, don't you think? We did just break up, after all."

"Then you can walk." She deadpanned.

Rivalz sighed and got on his bike. "Oh boy. Here we go again." He said, driving away toward the school.

-November 28, 2016 a.t.b.-

Kallen stood outside of a store at the mall, analyzing the items behind the window. "Maybe… that?" She said to herself.

"Kallen?" A voice called out to her. "What are you doing here?"

Kallen whipped around. "Oh, Shirley, hey." She said. "I was just looking for a present." She explained.

Shirley smiled. "Oh really? If you want, I could help you look." she said. "It's a present for Lulu, right?"

Kallen nodded. "Yeah. I want to get him something nice, since his birthday is coming up soon, but… I don't really know what to get him." She said. "The only thing I know he likes all that much is chess."

Shirley thought about it for a moment. "Well, is there anything you two do together for fun?" she asked. "Um, not that I'm trying to dig into your relationship with each other. That is… if you have a relationship with Lulu." She said, flustering herself as usual. "You aren't right? You and Lulu wouldn't happen to be dating, would you?"

"Shirley, we've talked about this." Kallen said. "You have to stop worrying so much about that kind of stuff, it's not healthy for you to be hung up on some guy like that."

Shirley nodded and took a deep breath. "You're right."

Kallen smiled. "Now, to answer your question… I'm not really sure what we do." She said. "Most of the time, we just kind of talk about stuff." She said. They would sometimes go off on rants about Britannia, but she wasn't about to tell Shirley that. Nor could she really get a gift based on that subject.

"I see…" She said, trying to think again. "Oh, I think I've got it!"

Shirley pulled Kallen with her into a small jewelry shop. "Here, give him this."

Kallen looked at the item in the case. "What is it?"

"It's a wishing star." She said. "They say if you make a wish on it every day for a week and fold down all of the fins, then your wish will come true."

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. That seems more like something we should have gotten for Nunnally." She said. "Huh? Oh hey. This would probably work."

She had found a set of carved black chess pieces. The king and queen ones also were decorated with black and red gemstones, sparingly, but beautifully. Kallen nodded and stood up, calling over to the shop owner. "Excuse me, I'd like to buy these."

Shirley smiled. "Oh, you found something?"

Kallen nodded. "Yeah." She said, as she paid for the two pieces. "It's just two of them, but I thought it would be kind of nice, you know? Besides, sometimes when we run plays on the nobles, he calls me 'Q-1' as a code name." She said, absently smiling at it.

Shirley looked at the items Kallen held. "But wait, those are the king and queen, aren't they?"

Kallen nodded. "Yeah."

"You can't!" She said, suddenly. "I mean, to be king and queen means you two would have to be married, doesn't it?"

A dusting of pink appeared on her face. "That's not what this is at all." She said. "I just thought it would be a bit more personal if I got him the queen piece because it's a symbol of our friendship."

"Huh? But you bought the king too." Shirley asked.

"Because then we'll both have one." She said. "The piece doesn't matter, they're just the ones we use. If I was a bishop or a rook, that's what I'd be getting instead."

Shirley nodded. "Okay, but still…"

Kallen sighed. "Shirley, you really need to either tell him how you feel or move on." She said, placing her hand on Shirley's shoulder. "I'm saying this as your friend… you have to stop worrying so much about every girl who talks to Lelouch."

Shirley sighed. "I know… I just get nervous, you know?"

After a while, the two of them parted ways, Kallen made her way back home, smiling at the chess piece in her hand.

"Glad you're still alive, Q-1"

"Lelouch?" Kallen stopped suddenly. "What was that?" She asked. "That voice… it sounded like Lelouch, but… why do I feel like it is and it isn't?" She looked back down at the chess piece. "Dammit, I still can't seem to remember…" She said, annoyed at herself. "Just what are you to me, Lelouch?" She asked. "And what am I to you?"

-December 24, 2016 a.t.b.-

Milly had gathered everyone in the student council together in the clubhouse, throwing a special Christmas party for everyone. Despite it being for the student council though, it seemed that word had spread and it was pretty much just another party thrown by Milly.

"Everyone!" Milly announced. "I'm pleased to inform you that the guest of honor has finally arrived."

She moved out of the way and through the open door, Sayoko wheeled Nunnally into the room. She was wearing a headband that resembled the antlers of a reindeer and a cute christmas themed outfit to go with it. "Hello everyone." She said, smiling.

Shirley smiled back. "Nunna, you look so cute in that!"

Nunnally's smile brightened. "Really? You think so?"

Kallen nodded. "It looks great, Nunnally." she said, before stifling a laugh. "But I think that looks even better."

Lelouch groaned. "Milly, come on, why do I have to dress up as Santa for this thing?" He said, the fake beard not even attached to his chin.

Milly smiled. "Well, no one else offered to play the role, so naturally it should fall onto the vice president, right?"

"But I'm not even vice president yet." Lelouch said, carrying a large bag with him. "Dammit, what's in this thing anyway?"

Milly giggled. "They're the gifts I bought for everyone."

Kallen giggled as well. "I think you look great, Lelouch."

"Oh, I wouldn't laugh yet." He smirked. "Wait til you see what you'll be wearing."

Kallen looked a bit confused, but sensing an odd look from Milly, she turned to the blond who had put this whole thing together. "Milly, what does he mean by that?"

Milly giggled. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" This did nothing to ease Kallen's nerves.

After a few minutes, Milly finally emerged again, dressed in a sort of Santa-girl outfit. "Alright, you can come out now."

"No way! This is way too embarrassing." She said.

Milly shrugged. "Okay, suit yourself." she said, grabbing Kallen's wrist and pulling her into the room.

"No. Wait." It would be more accurate to say she wasn't wearing much of anything at this point. Milly had practically forced her into this outfit and now Kallen just had to deal with it. It too was a Santa-girl outfit, but it somehow covered even less skin than hers. A short skirt, a shawl around her shoulders, and a red bikini top was basically what she was wearing now. Now that she was out in the open, a lot of the guys were staring at her. "Dammit… this is why I hate Britannians." She thought, her eyes drifting over to Lelouch. "Well… most of them, anyway…"

As time went on, the party began to move on from the attention that Milly had brought to the members of the student council. Lelouch had gone up to the roof to get away from all of the commotion below.

"I thought I'd find you here." Kallen said, still in the outfit from earlier. "Huh? Hey, when did you change?"

"I have my ways." He smiled. "Anyway, I had to get out of there."

She nodded. "I'm with you there. Milly really goes out of her way to make these parties a big deal, huh?"

He nodded. "I can sort of understand why though." He said. "Milly is a year older than us, after all. When she finally graduates, she won't be able to have fun like she used to while she was still in school with us. In a way, it's kind of tragic. She sees the end of her time here as the end of everything. She really has no idea what she'll do once she's gone."

Kallen nodded. "I guess that makes sense." She said. "Hey, Lelouch… what do you plan on doing once you graduate?"

His eyes shifted toward her, but he didn't move otherwise. "What about you?" He asked.

She twirled some of her hair with her fingers. "I don't really know…"

"Really?" He said. "I expected that you'd be joining the resistance with your brother." He said.

She looked at him, a bit shocked. "What? How did you-"

"I put it together through context." He said. "Oh, actually he called the student council room earlier today." He said. "He asked me to give you a message."

Her eyes widened. "Oh. What'd he say?"

Lelouch looked down. "Don't." He said, simply.

Her face cycled through several different expressions before landing on apathetic. "I-I see…"

He smiled. "I think he underestimates you. But I can understand where he's coming from." He explained. "If I went to war with Britannia, I wouldn't even want Nunnally to know it was me behind it, at the risk she may want to join me. Or worse… try to stop me." He said, his own eyes darkening.

Kallen stared at his eyes for a while. "Maybe I should tell him." Kallen thought. "After all, Naoto said if I feel that way about someone, then I should say something. This could be my only chance…"

"Hey, Lelouch…" She said. "Can I… ask you something?" Kallen said.

He nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Kallen shifted around nervously. "Well um… so when Area 11 was still Japan… Christmas Eve wasn't just a day for giving each other gifts and stuff. It was also kind of a… romantic holiday." She said, trying to avoid the actual question.

He nodded. "Really?" He said with a smile.

"Yeah, so I was wondering… if you're not too busy, maybe we could-" Before she could continue, her phone began to ring. She was frustrated with it, but she calmed down once she saw the name. "I've gotta take this. I'll be right back."

He nodded. "I'll be here."

Kallen smiled and walked away. "Naoto, listen, I'm kind of in the middle of-"

"Kallen…"

"Ohgi?" She could tell by the sound of his voice, something was wrong. "Ohgi, what's going on? Where's Naoto?"

"I don't know how to tell you this, but…"

Kallen listened to what he had to say. He started explaining the operation that the resistance group had tried to do, and that something had gone wrong. Very wrong.

"He's dead?"

She wasn't listening to anything else Ohgi said. It was as if the whole world came to a stop. She could no longer feel the cool night air on her bare skin, her eyes were facing forward as they stared off into nothing. She was stuck in a vacuum-like void that held her for what felt like an eternity. "Ohgi… I have to go…" She said, not even allowing him to talk again before hanging up.

She walked back over to Lelouch, him turning as he heard her approaching. "So what were you about to…" He said, his confident smile falling. "Kallen?... What happened?" He now had a serious look on his face.

"That was Ohgi." Kallen said. "Lelouch… my brother… Naoto, he…" she said, clutching onto the bottom of her skirt. "They went on a mission and the Britannian army showed up…" She explained. "He… got hurt trying to help the others get away…"

Lelouch's eyes filled with an apologetic softness as he listened to her. "Don't tell me…" He thought, knowing what was coming.

"He's dead…" She said, tears beginning to stream down her face. She didn't know why, but she felt like she had to go to him. Somehow she knew that he would help her get through this moment. She ran to him, clutching onto his clothes and letting herself cry.

He stroked her hair with one hand and ran his other down her back. He stayed unusually silent as he waited for her tears to slow. Neither of them knew how much time had passed, but it didn't matter. Lelouch was going to stay there for as long as he needed to. After all, he said he'd be here, didn't he?

I made this chapter to establish changes in the story right away, rather than have it go through the exact same motions. I tried to start off with the first time Kallen and Lelouch speak to each other in the anime, but it just didn't flow correctly for me.

I'd say the most notable changes are kind of obvious, but I wanted to establish that Lelouch and Kallen are friends before the beginning of the story and that she acts like her true self (due to her future self never putting on a sick act or anything like that) and she wears her hair in the spiked up way she usually didn't when at school. Also, I see that apparently people are unsure of if Kallen's father is or isn't nobility, but I decided to lean on him being so, as to give another sort of parallel to Lelouch.

I couldn't find anything online for when Kallen's brother died, but I thought it made for a good moment to highlight their relationship with each other at that point, so I had it happen a bit under a year before Shinjuku. Also, to note, she jumped back in time exactly one year and a day too far. Clovis' death is August 15, 2017 a.t.b.