Author's Note:

Well, it's been a few years, hasn't it?

Hello dear readers, I hope you've all been doing well. Sorry for the long absence, but I wouldn't say it was unexpected on my end. That's why I was writing this kind of series to begin with, so I wouldn't feel guilty about quitting and resuming writing at unusual intervals. Thank you so much for the support you've shown this story; it means a lot to me to know that even just one person was enjoying my writing.

Also, I have gone back and done some very light edits on previous chapters. Mostly just removed some of the cringiest writing. Not too much has changed though, so it's your choice whether you'd like to go back to reread previous chapters. The content and style is all the same; I've just changed some word choices, grammar, etc.

For any new readers, welcome. This is an anthology series set in the Code Geass universe, mostly during and around R2. These short stories are canon-compliant and are a collection of character studies from the series. Please feel free to read whichever ones interest you. I've also recently cross-posted this story to AO3 if you'd prefer to read the fic there instead.

This story is set between R1 and R2. I don't need to say much else. It's called Pizza so I'm sure you can guess at least one of the characters involved. Also, I wasn't completely satisfied with the quality of my writing here, but I didn't want to leave this story on my laptop indefinitely either. I might repost this chapter with some edits later, but I think it's fine for now.

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 6: Pizza

Although the Britannians residing in the Tokyo Settlement had never before experienced the devastation of battle, the people of Japan still remembered all too clearly the defeat of seven years prior. This time, they'd had hope of change, but the outcome remained the same. In the months following the Black Rebellion, the city had to once again been rebuilt from the ground up. Buildings and infrastructure were reinforced, and Area 11 returned to its pre-uprising state, one of superficial peace that belied greater problems for those who had never called Britannia their home.

The Japanese, now reduced to Elevens once more, retreated back into the shadows. No Britannians wanted to associate with them, the beaten dogs who'd lost seven years ago then risen back only to be kicked down even harder than before. And what could they do? Their savior – Zero – was dead, and his associates – the Black Knights – had been captured by the enemy, awaiting their execution date.

Still, rumors began to circulate about an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the settlement, about the few black-clad men or women seen entering. Every few days, some curious fool would find their way over to that location, hoping to discover the Black Knights still flourishing, with Zero back from the dead and prepared to initiate a surprise counterattack against Britannia. Then, they'd open the doors to the truth: the remaining remnants of the Black Knights, hiding from the Britannian military.

The crux of the matter was, though one of the Holy Swords had avoided capture, Zero was still gone. It also didn't take much investigating to spot the imposing red Knightmare in the back of the warehouse, the one that achieved so many victories during the Black Rebellion.

Visitors would all ask one question, awestruck. "Who's the pilot of that machine?"

Urabe would grimace. "She's… not here at the moment."

"But she'll be back?"

He always paused, not wanting to give his answer. "I can't say that for certain."

No one ever returned to the warehouse after that conversation.

One day, a younger member of the Black Knights approached Urabe later. "Sir, is that true? Do you really not know if Kōzuki is ever coming back?"

He sighed. "Well, she said she would convince our ace to return. You can understand why I'm skeptical."

The boy snorted. "I still wonder why Zero kept her around. You saw how she treated Ohgi and the others, right?"

"I'm sure you heard the rumors."

"And I'd prefer not to think about them."

Urabe's mouth formed a tight line as he mentally agreed. "Regardless of her attitude and… questionable relationship with the commander, if she can convince Kōzuki to rejoin, I would be in her debt."

"We all would be, sir."

Urabe cast his gaze towards the empty crimson monster that hadn't been touched since they'd lost the battle for Tokyo. He felt the weight of the ignition key in his pocket and wondered if it were possible for Knightmares to rust over.

Kallen listened to her cellphone ring for the second time that week, but she didn't move to pick it up. No one could possibly be calling who she wanted to talk to.

At first, when Kallen fled following the Black Rebellion, her phone rang all the time. It had been her father, but that barely made any sense when he'd remained in Britannia through all the fighting, not even bothering to check on his only daughter until it subsided. Then, the calls came less and less frequently until Kallen wondered if maybe her bitch of a stepmother had managed to convince her husband that she'd perished during the battle. That would just make her day.

It wasn't like either of them had cared what she did before or during the Black Rebellion anyway. Her spotty attendance at both Ashford and her residence went unquestioned, and they hardly ever wanted to be around her, the half-breed shame of the Stadtfelt family. For all she knew, her father and his wife both realized she'd been involved with the Black Knights and were just waiting for her to fail with all the so-called "filth" they looked down on.

For not the first time, Kallen wished her real mother would call her, but she knew that'd be impossible.

The only other people she'd answer for were members of the student council (not that she could ever talk to them again now that they knew her real identity) and members of the Black Knights. Ohgi and most of the others were on death row, and Zero…

A broken mask. Blood dripping down his face. Violet eyes staring back.

The ringing stopped.

Kallen tilted her head and leaned into the sofa back. She hated this, hiding out in the ghetto, waiting for the Britannians to finally storm into her tiny apartment and lock her away like they had everyone else. But what could she do? The Black Knights were disbanded and, according to what she heard on the streets, those who hadn't been captured were now operating under Urabe, the final Holy Sword. It seemed even Tohdoh couldn't escape from the enemy again, but without him, there was no way Urabe could lead anyone to victory, not against the largest empire in the world.

"Damn it, this is the worst," she hissed. Why won't they all just leave me alone?

A knock sounded at the door.

Kallen sat up. She wasn't expecting anyone. Hell, for the same reasons her cell phone wasn't important, no one she knew even had this address. And she was certain there weren't any door-to-door salesmen in this part of Japan. Kallen quietly slowed her breathing, hoping that whoever it was would just discover they'd come to the wrong place and leave.

They knocked again. "Pizza delivery!" a feminine-sounding voice called out in English.

Pizza? Kallen never ordered pizza. She wasn't even sure any pizza shops existed outside of the Britannian settlement. At least the strange announcement meant that the visitor wasn't the military or the police. They would have just destroyed the door without asking twice.

A third knock. "Pizza delivery for Kōzuki-san!" she called, this time in accented Japanese.

That caught Kallen's attention. Well, whoever it is, they definitely know that this is my address. But what do they want with me? Kallen slowly lifted herself from the couch and tip-toed to the entrance, making sure to grab a knife from the kitchen table on her way.

"I'm not leaving until you open the door."

A chill went through the Black Knights' ace as she peered through the peephole of the door. Outside, a shorter person with a white cap stood with her head turned down so that Kallen couldn't make out her face. She held multiple pizza boxes.

A flatter tone. "Kallen, please. The pizza's getting cold."

I'm going to regret this later, Kallen thought.

She slowly turned the knob before just flinging open the door completely, making sure to visibly display her knife. "I don't recall ordering a pizza. Who the hell are you?"

The woman lifted her head, allowing a few green strands of hair to fall out from under her cap. "Really, Kallen, has it been so long that you don't remember me?"

Kallen stepped back a little in confusion. "C.C…?"

Truth be told, Kallen hadn't thought much of the enigmatic woman in the past few months. She'd been so focused on Zero (Not Zero. God damn it, it's him) and the rest of the Black Knights that she somehow managed to skip over the fact that Zero's mistress had disappeared as well.

"Why are you here?" the redhead demanded.

C.C. blinked. "The question is, Kallen, why are you here?"

Because Zero was…

Kallen narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean? Because it's my apartment, that's why."

"You know what I meant." C.C. eyed Kallen's side. "Furthermore, I'd prefer it if you put that knife down so we could have a more courteous conversation."

Kallen looked down at the metal in her hand. Honestly, it was so worn that it probably couldn't hurt anyone anyway, but she supposed there wasn't any use in holding it either.

She sighed. "Fine. Hold on a second."

The ace retreated inside to put the knife back on the counter when a voice rang out from behind her. "I suppose you don't need too much space for one person, do you?'

Kallen turned to find C.C. already past her door and placing the pizza boxes on the ground by the lone kotatsu in the room. At least she'd had the decency to leave her shoes by the entrance.

"You know, its rude to enter someone's home uninvited," she huffed.

C.C. removed her cap, exposing emerald locks that flowed down her back. "Doesn't matter. I brought pizza."

Before the redhead could figure out a response, C.C. had already moved over to the kitchen drawers, opening each one by one.

Kallen was beginning to get annoyed. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for a pizza cutter." C.C. continued to rummage without looking back.

"I don't have one."

The woman stopped and faced her, though her expression didn't change. "I see." She walked back to the small table, grabbing Kallen's knife off the counter as she went. "I guess we'll be eating like heathens then."

C.C. sat on the floor, pulled her knees to her chest, and cut herself a slice, raising it to her face.

"No plate?" Kallen asked flatly. "I have those at least."

"Not necessary."

Kallen wanted to point out the woman's hypocrisy, but C.C. continued without giving her a chance. "Tell me, Kallen, and I'll say it more clearly this time," she said between bites, "why is it that you've chosen to hide out in the ghetto instead of remaining with the Black Knights?"

"The Black Knights?" Kallen figured she shouldn't be too surprised at the question, considering the rebellion was the only reason she was acquainted with this woman to begin with, but still, the subject was bitterly laughable. "The Black Knights were either captured or killed after the assault on the Tokyo settlement."

"Not all of them."

Kallen looked to the side. "Almost all the leadership, at least."

"Wasn't it all of you working as a team that made you formidable during the Black Rebellion? Surely, you must all be competent fighters by now, veterans of battle."

Teamwork my ass. It was mostly Zero that gave us any shot, and he… Kallen folded her arms over her chest. "Well, Japan's lost its chance, and the ones still standing by the Black Knights just haven't accepted that yet."

C.C. looked up from her pizza at that proclamation, allowing cheese to droop from a new slice. Kallen wondered how she'd managed to eat so quickly.

"That doesn't sound like a determined ace trying to free her country. It sounds more like a defeatist, like the rest of the Elevens who have already accepted their place at the heel of Britannia."

Now that made Kallen angry. Defeatist? "How dare you! You have no idea what I've been through, who I've lost to get here! For a while, I hoped that things could get better, that we – my brother's group, and then the Black Knights – could make some kind of difference in Japan, that our sacrifices could at least mean something. But now that's also been destroyed."

that was even more infuriating.

Kallen continued, "Why do you even care? You certainly aren't Japanese! I don't even think you're Britannian! Where are you from anyway? The E.U.? What stake do you have in the outcome of this war?"

C.C. carefully placed her pizza down in the box and looked at Kallen. Her neutral expression didn't change through any of her outrage. "You're right. I don't care about the fate of this nation, whether it rises again or remains in ashes, but the Black Knights and I have complementary goals, especially right now."

Kallen snorted. At least she'd admitted it. "What goal could you and Urabe possibly have in common? Freeing the other members of the Black Knights? I know you don't care about any of them, not like I do. They're not your friends, your family." A thought occurred to her. "You know what? You've only cared about one thing the entire time you've been with the Black Knights, and as terrible as it seems, he's dead."

C.C. stayed silent for a moment, and Kallen started to wonder if maybe she'd gone a bit too far, if maybe she'd gotten just a little too carried away in her feelings, her anger. But was it right to be angry at C.C.? Was it right to be angry at a dead man?

"What if I told you that Zero's still alive?"

Kallen froze, wondering if she'd heard right. "What?"

"Zero isn't dead. The execution was staged."

Her heart fluttered a little. That sounded like something the Britannians would do, a forged publicity stunt. Even if Zero were alive somewhere, the ignorant populace would feel safe regardless. Still… "How would you know this? Has he somehow escaped the military and gone into hiding? I know that traitor Suzaku would never have been made a Knight of the Round if he hadn't actually captured Zero in the first place."

"I can't tell you how I know. I just do. And, no, he's still in Britannian custody."

"That makes even less sense." Kallen moved on, having not really expected an answer to that question. "More importantly, why wouldn't Britannia kill their most-wanted terrorist?" Were they hoping to interrogate him? The only thing of worth the Black Knights had any more was the Guren, and Kallen doubted that one experimental frame was worth the effort.

"Why Britannia wouldn't kill him… that's a story for another time." Great. "What matters is that both I and the Black Knights are working on a way to retrieve him, and that requires your help."

Kallen didn't know what to think. She'd been trying for months to put it behind her – to put Zero behind her – and now this woman just popped in out of nowhere to proclaim the survival of Japan's savior? Trying again to free Japan would be impossible without the founder of the Black Knights, but… Kallen wasn't sure if she would be able to follow him anymore. The man who lied to her. The man who lied to everyone.

The man I fled from when he needed me.

C.C. interpreted Kallen's silence as something else as she retrieved her slice of pizza. "You don't believe me."

"No, that isn't it. I just…" Kallen couldn't figure out exactly why she trusted the woman's words. Maybe she'd never truly believed Zero could be killed, after everything he'd accomplished. No, that wasn't it; his capture had already proven he was fallible.

Another question was on her mind. "How long have you known Zero's identity?"

"We met in Shinjuku then lost touch until after he made his debut rescuing Kururugi. I've always known the man under the mask."

Kallen tried to keep her anger in check. He'd met this woman in Shinjuku and let her into his plans? He'd known about Kallen the entire time as well and made no such effort to reveal any amount of the truth. (Well, maybe that wasn't entirely true, but…)What made this woman any different?

"And if I were to help in this… rescue operation, then I would learn this information as well?"

"Correct, though I can't guarantee you'll like what you find."

Damn right.

"Lelouch," Kallen whispered after a brief silence.

"Hm?"

"Zero is Lelouch Lamperouge. I watched on the island as Suzaku shot off his mask."

C.C. continued eating her slice. Maybe this was just how she thought. Kallen had heard of people using caffeine or sugar to focus, so maybe pizza was just her drug of choice.

"I see. I don't know whether that makes this more or less complicated." She swallowed. "If you were there on Kaminejima, why didn't you defend your commander then?"

Kallen spoke the words she'd been repeating to herself. "He wasn't my commander. He was Lelouch, the slacker vice president of my school's student council."

"Is there a difference?"

"Of course there is! Zero was a brave leader, fighting for justice and freedom. Lelouch – a Britannian – was just… lazy, and complacent."

"Yet, they are inherently the same person, are they not?"

Kallen paused for a moment. Well, they had to be the same person in an objective sense. That one time, Lelouch stepped in to help a Japanese vendor, but he also acted as though his mistreatment was something natural, something that couldn't and shouldn't be changed. Maybe he was trying to keep his cover, a small voice told her, but Kallen didn't want to listen.

She turned the questioning back towards C.C. "Get off your high horse. Where were you during all of this? Weren't you supposed to be copiloting the Gawain with him?"

"An old friend came to visit and almost shot us out of the sky. I dropped Lelouch on the island before I went to take care of him."

"Not Suzaku then, or you didn't do a proper job."

"No, not him."

Kallen waited for a longer response but got nothing else. "So, do you still have the Gawain?"

"No." Well then. "It's at the bottom of the ocean. Maybe some of it can be salvaged eventually, but for now it's unreachable."

"And how did that happen? I thought the Gawain didn't have an ejection mechanism, and obviously you aren't at the bottom of the ocean with it." Even though now I almost wish you were.

"It was a long swim."

Kallen couldn't tell whether the woman was joking.

C.C. took another bite of pizza. "What's important isn't how we were separated but rather why. I provided him safe passage to the island while you abandoned him there the instant you heard something you didn't like."

"I was –" Kallen swallowed that thought down. "Maybe if he hadn't lied to me this entire time I wouldn't have left!"

C.C. quirked a brow. "Oh?"

Kallen was fuming and wanted nothing more than turn all of her anger at Zero outward onto his proxy, but she caught herself. She settled a bit, breathed deeply, and tried to ask what she most wanted to know.

"Was any of it real? What did –" Kallen paused slightly. "– we, the Black Knights, mean to him?"

C.C. took a small bite of pizza, swallowed, and spoke the answer Kallen knew would inevitably come from this conversation.

"You'd have to ask him yourself."

Staring at the ceiling from her futon, Kallen found herself alone again. As much as she hated the green-haired woman who seemed to provide just as many questions as answers, Kallen had to admit that the isolation had been getting to her. Ohgi was gone, her mother was gone, even the student council was gone. All that remained was her sparsely-furnished apartment.

The silence was deafening.

C.C.'s offer should have been a godsend. Here was the chance to reunite with what remained of the Black Knights, to rescue their presumed-dead leader who'd accomplished miracle after miracle, and to help the Japanese people once more.

So why hadn't she accepted on the spot?

Ordinarily, Kallen prided herself on her resolve. She loved the Japanese people, and she'd never hesitated while she fought for them in the Guren. Months ago, after Narita and the death of Shirley's father, she'd doubted herself. It wasn't a lack of confidence in her abilities but rather a fear of hurting people she'd grown close to. At Zero's insistence, she moved past that doubt and decided that she would do whatever it took to free Japan.

At least, that's what she'd thought.

When she slept, Kallen found herself back in the cave, frozen in fear. It always began with Zero's mask cracking along the center, clattering to the floor. Usually, Lelouch stood there, as he had that day. Other times, it was her brother or some nameless man she'd never met before. She could never hear what he said, but it didn't really seem to matter either. Whoever it was, they'd been lying to her since the beginning.

Although it almost always ended with Zero being taken down by Suzaku, the scariest was when she'd been the one to shoot first.

Regardless, she ran every time.

Kallen had taken months to try and rationalize both how and why Lelouch, a Britannian student, had decided to recruit a small group of Japanese rebels into an army to challenge his home country. In the cave, she'd assumed that the interests of the Japanese people were not what was most important to him, and he'd essentially confirmed that with his words. Freeing Japan was only a byproduct of whatever else he hoped to achieve. Every explanation she could think of never seemed to grasp the full story, and she hated it.

Zero – Lelouch – had positioned himself as the hope of the Japanese people. Regardless of his nationality or his youth, he'd brought them victory after victory against an enemy once thought unbeatable. She figured that many of the Black Knights would think the same. Yet… he'd continued to deceive them of his true intentions, time and time again. Was it because he was afraid of her own response to him as a classmate, or was it something else? Kallen felt like she'd only scratched the surface of the secrets Zero held, and she wasn't quite sure if she could handle digging deeper.

Her thoughts kept returning to C.C.'s proposal and the promises that came with it.

Naoto, what would you do?

Kallen turned onto her side and hoped for a dreamless night.

Though Kallen had heard the rumors about what remained of the Black Knights gathering with Urabe in the edge of the city, she still wished that C.C. had left her with a little more to work with. She'd been given no address, no direction, just a general invitation. So, she was left to her own devices. Dressed in casual clothing and a hat large enough to hide her face to distant onlookers, Kallen began her search. Luckily, after only a few days of looking and asking around, she'd found the warehouse.

Kallen lingered by the entrance, trying the figure out if she knew any of the people gathered inside. She could easily identify Urabe and a few men she'd spoken to maybe a few times at most. Other than that, the remaining men might as well have been strangers. She felt a bit lost without Ohgi or Tamaki being here to greet her.

Kallen removed her cap and held it at her side, gripping it tightly to stop herself from shaking. "Hey," she choked out, not quite used to the sound of her own voice.

Immediately, everyone in the warehouse turned in her direction. Kallen forced herself to take a few deep breaths as she stared back, unsure where to approach first.

Urabe, of course, was the first to respond. "Kōzuki, you're back."

Kallen thought she saw some shuffling among the other members of the Black Knights and maybe some passing of money. She felt like she should be more annoyed by this, but hell, she would've bet against her return as well.

She walked towards Urabe, trying to display more confidence than she was feeling. "I heard we're planning a rescue, and I'm ready to help."

The Black Knights were all smiling in relief, but Kallen couldn't find it in herself to feel the same.

As she took in the rest of the warehouse, her eyes caught on the imposing figure of the Guren. It had been months since she'd last seen the machine, but her thoughts still traveled back to it frequently. The feeling of pummeling Britannian forces had felt so… satisfying from within the mechanical extension of her own body. Kallen wondered whether Urabe had kept the key in the cockpit where she'd left it or if he'd chosen to move it elsewhere for safekeeping.

She paused at a more troubling thought. Am I even still worthy of being its pilot? After all, it was Zero that had ultimately put his faith in her, a faith she betrayed. Maybe Urabe or someone else who'd remained loyal in all these months deserved the Knightmare more than she did. Certainly, she couldn't be the only pilot in the Black Knights able to use the machine.

They did want me back though, enough to send C.C. to my apartment to retrieve me, Kallen thought, and enough to not begin the rescue operation without me.

She tore her eyes away from the machine, not wanting to dwell on it too long. "So, what's the plan? Which prison are we raiding?"

"We won't be entering any Britannian prisons."

Kallen looked up and spotted C.C. standing on the catwalk above, leaning forward with her elbows rested on the rail and her arms draped inwards across the middle. Has she been there the entire time? Apparently, she'd opted for a new outfit, a flowing black uniform that fell more in line with the organization than the white straight jacket she'd been wearing. C.C. stared back with a neutral expression.

Urabe stepped towards the woman with his arms folded. "Now that we have our ace, are you finally ready to reveal what you know?"

"What's necessary, at least." C.C. looked over the gathered members of the Black Knights, about a dozen men. "Would you say everyone here is trustworthy?"

Urabe frowned, probably thinking what they all were, that the mysterious foreign woman was likely the least trustworthy of them all. "The men gathered here were all a part of the Order before the assault on the Tokyo settlement, and together we've been hiding out from the Britannians since then. I'd trust them with my life."

C.C. narrowed her eyes. "I don't care whether you'd trust them with your own life. What matters is that you'd trust them with Zero's." She rose to her full height and gripped the railing as she addressed the group. "Are you all willing to take up arms once more to rescue your commander?"

Kallen glanced around, wondering how much the rest of the men here had already been told. Some looks of surprise and confusion seemed to indicate that at least not everyone had been informed of Zero's survival or the plan to retrieve him until now. Urabe himself even appeared taken aback, maybe at her bluntness?

That was strange. It's almost like he didn't –

After a series of affirmations, C.C. turned and started making her way to the floor.

As she waited, Kallen wondered whether she'd been wrong this whole time. Maybe Urabe really wasn't the one currently in charge of the Black Knights. She'd assumed he was the one calling the shots as a respected Japanese war hero and associate of the revered General Tohdoh. Kallen never considered that maybe C.C. was the one organizing the rescue operation, or even that the Black Knights would respect the foreigner enough to let her lead them. Apparently, her close association with Zero went a long way.

C.C. joined them on the floor, positioning herself across from Urabe. "We won't be entering any prisons because Zero is not being kept in one. We'll still need to do some reconnaissance to figure out his exact location, but it will be a more… public facility."

The Black Knights kept silent, trying to process what the woman had said. Urabe asked, "Are you saying he's walking free?"

"In a sense, yes, but under constant observation. The Britannians are trying to bait me into saving him."

Kallen supposed that answered why Zero hadn't been executed after his capture, if C.C. were of equal or greater value to Britannia somehow. However… "What makes you so important?"

C.C. looked over towards Kallen to give her a smug smile, but she otherwise said nothing. It was infuriating.

She turned back to the group as a whole. "There's one more detail you should know, about how Zero will be when we find him. It's likely he won't remember us at all, and he almost certainly won't remember me…"

Preparing to leave the meeting, Kallen felt someone grab her shoulder. She turned to find Urabe dangling the key to the Guren in front of her, its feather-like shape catching what light remained in the warehouse.

"You should take this back, Kōzuki. I've held onto it for far too long."

Kallen considered turning it down, offering the Knightmare to Urabe instead, but she accepted the gift in her hands before she could even begin to say otherwise.

As she walked back to her apartment, Kallen tried to process all that she'd learned from the meeting. Although retrieving Lelouch from a public setting seemed more manageable than an assault on a maximum security Britannian prison, she couldn't help but doubt what C.C. claimed about the unusual situation. Amnesia caused by a supernatural power? She could remember Suzaku mentioning some sort of power back on Kaminejima, a power he claimed Lelouch himself possessed. Were they related? She'd have to grill C.C. about it later.

When Kallen opened her door, she found the aforementioned woman already on her floor surrounded by pizza boxes.

"Welcome home, Kallen," C.C. said evenly. "You were running late."

The door closed behind her, and Kallen blinked a few times as she tried to figure out which emotion she should be feeling. "What the hell do you mean?! I took the usual way here, so you're the one who arrived absurdly early!" She shook her head. "What am I saying? How did you even get in here without a key?"

"I grabbed a spare during my last visit. I figured I should have one if I'll be living here."

All traces of C.C.'s sudden leadership were now gone, and Kallen once again remembered her as the woman who constantly put herself in places she didn't belong. The extra key in my kitchen drawer? Pizza cutter, my ass.

"You -!" Kallen clenched her fists at her sides. "Don't act like I ever gave you that invitation! Where were you staying before?"

"I was drifting between places. Since we'll be working together from now on, this will be easier."

Kallen simmered as she stood in the entryway. Easier? Sure, the two of them would be in the same location to work out the details of the upcoming rescue efforts. Actually, C.C. would be much more readily available to answer questions about Zero and supernatural powers…

Still, Kallen didn't know how long she could tolerate the woman in close quarters. "Maybe easier for you, but I don't have room. Go get your own apartment nearby. With the amount of food you've been ordering, I can't imagine you're hurting for cash."

"I took some funds that Lelouch had stashed around the city. It's been enough for what's necessary, but not more."

"Of course you did," Kallen said, trying to ignore the fact that take-out had somehow been deemed a necessity while a permanent lodging had not. "How much?"

"Around a thousand currently, give or take."

Kallen considered this. While she had a decent amount of money put aside as a member of the Stadtfelt family, those resources were getting harder to access while she was in hiding. Having extra spending money would be useful, and a thousand wasn't anything to scoff at. C.C. also made it sound like she could retrieve more if needed…

"If you're staying, then I'd prefer you at least pay me what you have." She'd put up with the woman if only to receive her rent money.

"Half."

Kallen crossed her arms. "Three fourths."

"Three fourths, but you order the pizza."

"Fine," Kallen agreed as she rolled her eyes, not really liking how 'the pizza' was phrased as if it'd be a regular occurrence. It can't be that much of an expense, right?

C.C. turned back to the kotatsu and continued eating as if she hadn't been interrupted. Kallen removed her shoes, dropped her bag by the entrance, and walked over to the woman, joining her on the floor. She grabbed a slice of pizza for herself as she considered how this arrangement was going to work. C.C.'s (or rather Lelouch's) money would cover the extra food and water, and Kallen assumed the woman had brought some clothes in the duffel bag that was now sitting by the window. A yellow plush doll rested on top.

All that was left were sleeping arrangements. "I don't know what you're used to, but there aren't any beds here. You'll have to use my spare futon."

"I'll make do. Lelouch's bed was always too soft."

Kallen's face burned as C.C. smiled to herself.

Author's Note:

I wish Kallen had a larger role in Code Geass. She's a determined and resourceful freedom fighter who for some reason gets completely sidelined for much of R2. I hope I did her justice here. I've been writing a lot of Kallen recently between this and my other fic lol. I also really enjoy writing C.C. for some reason. My brand of humor I guess?

Also, I apologize for the lack of any Geass or royalty discussion anyone may have been anticipating from this chapter. I figured that I already gave those explanations in the Guilford chapter, and I didn't want to rewrite them with just a different reaction. It also seemed as though only Kallen knew about this information during the rescue effort in the beginning of R2, so I assumed C.C. told her separately. That conversation really wasn't a part of this fic.

For a quick summary of what could have been: "Lelouch has mind control powers." "Did he use it on the Black Knights?" "You'd still have to ask him yourself." Kallen was pissed at him before, and the extra details likely just made her more pissed.

I know I promised C.C. last chapter with no mention of Kallen, but that's because my original plan involved this chapter being released after the one that's upcoming. However, I decided the next chapter works better as the ending to this fic.

That's right: I'm planning for the next update to be the finale for this series.

Okay, maybe it won't be the last update, but I do think it wraps up the series nicely. I also don't have any other major anthology story ideas at the moment, so I think it just makes sense to cap it off in a way I'd like instead of leaving it somewhere else. I might still revisit this fic to add on some sort of epilogue or expand the series if the inspiration arises, but I have currently have no plans to do so.

Instead, when/if I decide to continue writing, I'll probably continue with either my other published fic Coup D'état (which received a lot more attention than I anticipated) or some outlines for other CG fics I've had sitting on the backburner for a while. A sequel series? A crossover? Who knows?

Thanks again for your continued support. Feel free to leave reviews etc. if you'd like, but I'm also satisfied with just your patronage as well.

I'll see you soon with the next update!