Review Responses:

Pkd: I needed Clovis to say something that told Lelouch that he would keep his word, otherwise Lelouch just would have killed him like he did originally. A dead fiancée fit in pretty nicely. And… yeah, those disjointed memories are going to be a problem for her. This won't be the only time she has it happen.

zachosg7: It certainly will. Wouldn't be Code Geass without it, now would it?

TheMist33: Yeah, not great timing on that, huh? And I'm glad you liked the Area 16 conversation.

Turn 06 - Catching Up

"It is really you…" Euphemia said, her hands covering her mouth in shock as her eyes began to water. "Lelouch…" She said, moving toward him, uncovering her smile.

Lelouch took a step backward. "No, this isn't good. If anyone sees her with me, they might figure out who I am. Everything I've worked toward would be undone." He thought, looking for an escape from the situation. "I can't just run away. That would look suspicious. Can't take the chance of attracting the attention of others. I can't use my geass either. There are too many people here."

Before Lelouch's thoughts could continue, Kallen stepped in front of him, waving her left arm through the air and stopping it when it was extended across Lelouch. "Don't come any closer." She said, as she glared at the pink-haired girl before her.

Euphemia looked at Kallen, a wave of confusion overcoming her. "Huh?

"Euphie!" Suzaku shouted. "I told you to wait for me. If people are following you, you shouldn't just run off like that."

She smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry, Suzaku."

He sighed. "It's fine. Come on, you said you wanted to see… huh?" Suzaku said, his eyes falling onto the violet-eyed boy. "Lelouch?" He said.

"Suzaku?"

Euphie looked from one to the other. "Wait, you two know each other?" She asked. "I never would have guessed you were friends with Lelouch."

"Huh? Wait, you know him too?" Suzaku asked.

She nodded. "Of course I do. He's…" She said, looking a bit guilty. "He's one of my brothers."

Suzaku stared at her as he slowly realized who this was. "Wait a minute… you're…"

"Euphemia li Britannia." Kallen said, coldly. "I'm sorry 'princess,' but I refuse to allow you to come any closer to Lelouch."

"Huh?" Euphie said, confused before she began to smile. "Oh, I get it. He told you about me, didn't he?" She said, giggling.

"Wait, Euphie?" Suzaku said. "Hold on, does this mean that… you're a Britannian Princess?"

She nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry, I didn't want to tell you earlier."

He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry." He said, kneeling in respect. "Forgive me, I didn't realize who you were."

She looked disappointed by his actions. "Suzaku, please stand up." She said, quietly. "I didn't ask you to escort me as a princess. I asked you to show me around as… as a friend."

Lelouch leaned forward a bit. "Kallen, what are you doing?"

"Protecting you." Kallen said. "That girl is dangerous, Lelouch."

Lelouch couldn't help but laugh a bit. "You're mistaken, Kallen." He replied. "Euphemia may be a princess of the royal family… but she is far from dangerous. She's like Nunnally that way."

"I beg to differ." Kallen said, dismissing what he'd said.

Euphemia smiled toward them again. "Lelouch, do you and your girlfriend want to come with me and Suzaku?" She asked. "He's been showing me around Area 11, and it's been a lot of fun."

"He's fine." Kallen said, not even acknowledging being referred to as his girlfriend. This wasn't the time to get upset about that..

Suzaku looked at Euphie, somewhat apologetically. "Maybe we shouldn't. After all, that girl that's with him doesn't seem to want you near him. And besides…" He said, alluding to Lelouch's secret.

"Why not?" Lelouch responded. "It's not every day you get the opportunity to speak with a royal princess."

Euphemia smiled. "Then…. Let's go."

"Just a sec." Kallen said, pulling Lelouch behind a tree and pinning him to it. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Proving my point." Lelouch explained. "I want to show you that Euphie isn't a dangerous person."

"And what if you're wrong?" Kallen asked. "I'll tell you. The deaths of thousands of innocent Japanese people."

Lelouch looked at her in disbelief. "What?"

"I don't know when it'll happen, but that girl is going to do something terrible, Lelouch." She said. "She orders the death of all the Japanese people. It's not even out of self-defense. She got everyone together just to have them slaughtered." She was shaking.

Lelouch's expression became much more serious. "You saw something, didn't you?" She froze up, not wanting to tell him everything. It was hard enough to know about it. Slowly, she nodded her head.

He smiled and moved his hand, placing it on one of hers. "Don't worry." Lelouch said. "If you don't want to tell me now, I won't force you. But if something like that does come to pass, I'll deal with it." Lelouch said. "After all, you're not the only one with the power of the king now, are you?"

Kallen stared at him in disbelief. "But Lelouch… what if you can't?"

"Can't I?" He said.

Her expression slowly softened and her hands eventually fell to his chest. "Okay… but I'm not going to take my eyes off of her for a second." She said. "I don't trust her."

"That's fine." He said.

"You don't trust me?" Lelouch looked toward the pink-haired girl that had suddenly appeared at his side and Kallen glared at her. Euphie let out a giggle. "Oh, don't worry. I won't try to take him from you. Even if my younger self would have wanted to."

"Hmph." Kallen huffed. "What makes you think I want him?"

She smiled. "Well, you have him up against this tree..." She explained.

Kallen blushed, then looking at Lelouch. She took notice of their positions. She had him pressed against the tree, and her body was almost up against his. Her hands were placed on his chest, his hand grasping onto her left one. His face was right in front of hers as she saw his beautiful violet eyes. She felt her breath catch a bit, as she had gotten lost in his eyes, wanting to move closer.

"Well, Kallen?" Lelouch asked. "Are we gonna give her a show or not?"

Kallen backed her face away from his, seeing that teasing smirk she knew all too well. "Shut up!" She shouted, backing up.

"Euphie, before we go anywhere…" Lelouch said. "I have something important I need to tell you."

The four of them went to a more out of the way spot, where no one would probably see them.

"So, all this time…" Euphie said.

Lelouch nodded. "Yes. Nunnally and I have been in hiding. We can't let anyone know who we really are. If we did, we would lose everyone. Our friends would never treat us the same."

Euphie looked at Suzaku, remembering how he'd acted upon learning who she was. "I understand. So you want me to keep your secret then?"

He nodded. "Yes."

She looked a bit saddened. She knew how broken up about his and Nunnally's death Cornelia was, but she understood his position. "I understand. I'll keep your secret." She said. "If I told anyone, you'd be brought back to the homeland right away, and I know that's the last place you'd want to be. Oh how you must hate us…"

He smiled. "I don't hate all of you."

Euphie smiled. "I'm glad."

Kallen watched Euphemia suspiciously. "Alright, I'll admit it…" She thought. "This girl doesn't seem like she's capable of doing anything like that. But… it couldn't have been anyone else. It has to be her."

"And how long have you and Lelouch been dating?" Euphie asked. "If you know his secret, then you must be very close."

"What?" Kallen said. "Oh, no we're not, uh…"

"She's a friend." Lelouch said. "We aren't dating or anything. Although, trying to convince everyone at school of that is somewhat difficult."

Kallen's eyes narrowed. "It's your fault for egging them on about it..."

Euphie smiled. "And I had no idea that you and Lelouch would be friends, Suzaku."

Suzaku smiled. "I can't believe we finally got to meet again after all this time."

Lelouch nodded. "Seven years. Feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?"

"I'll say." Suzaku said. "By the way, how's Nunnally?"

Euphie nodded. "Yes, how is she doing?"

He smiled. "She's doing well. She still hasn't opened her eyes, but everyone at Ashford has taken care of her very well."

Euphie smiled. "Ashford, huh? Hey, Suzaku, maybe you should go there."

"Huh? I can't do that."

She giggled. "Sure you can. It doesn't matter if you're Japanese. I can make sure you get in."

"She even called him 'Japanese' instead of 'Eleven.' Does that mean she…" Kallen thought. "No, I can't drop my guard."

He shook his head. "You don't have to do that."

"I know." She responded. "I want to though. I want you to get an education, Suzaku. You seem like a smart person, but there's nothing wrong with learning more."

"Euphie…" He said, a smile coming to his face. "Alright. If you really can get me into Ashford Academy, then I'll go."

"Good." She said. "Oh, by the way, how is Milly?" She asked. "You two were to be married, weren't you?"

"What?" Kallen shouted. "You and Milly? I never thought that-"

"It wasn't like that." Lelouch explained. "When Nunnally and I were sent here, it was to be used as political tools. The Ashford family used to be nobility and they thought it was a good opportunity for a political marriage. We were only eight or so when the arrangements were set." He smiled a bit. "Though, we never actually met until we started going to Ashford and she didn't even know my name when we were to be married. She just knew it was a Britannian Prince. She had no idea who I really was for a while, but eventually she put it together. She's smarter than she seems."

"Huh?" Kallen said. "Wait, you never told me about that."

He smiled. "I don't really talk about it much."

"Well, why don't you?" Euphie asked. "We haven't spoken since father…" Her voice drifted away as she remembered again why they were sent to Japan.

"It's fine." He said with a smile. "Well, we first met when Nunnally and I had first enrolled at Ashford Academy. I was still in middle school then."

The other three listened as he explained his first meeting with Milly. How he'd rejected her attempt to show him around the school, the way she had assumed the reason he asked about how to get into the girls' dorms, what she promised if she didn't live up to her promise. It all felt like so long ago, but also like it hadn't been any time at all.

"Wait, what did she mean by 'have your way with her'?" Kallen asked.

"Jealous?" He asked, making her glare at him again. "Relax. I have no intention of taking her up on the offer. I simply don't think we would make for a good match." He said, averting his eyes. "Besides, she's upheld her end of that deal."

Kallen remembered that time in the shower when Milly had shown up. She even said it using those same exact words.

"Don't get me wrong, I think he's incredibly cute and charming, but I just don't think we would make a good match, you know?"

"I don't have the luxury of spending my time on matters that don't advance us toward our objective."

"I see. She didn't give up trying to get him. He never gave her a chance…" She thought to herself.

Euphemia smiled. "I think that was a really sweet story." She said. "Although, I don't know, I kind of always liked how you could be pompous sometimes."

Suzaku laughed. "Sometimes? You mean always."

"Quit talking ancient history." Lelouch retorted, letting out a laugh of his own.

Kallen felt strange. As if she didn't properly belong in this group of people. In the previous timeline, she'd never really had a chance to properly get to know Lelouch. Suzaku had always been her enemy and in this timeline, this was still just their first time meeting. And then there was Euphemia "Princess Massacre" li Britannia. She almost couldn't believe that the girl in front of her could be capable of something so terrible.

"What about you, Kallen?" Euphie asked.

"Huh?"

She smiled. "How did you meet Lelouch?"

She didn't really know how to answer. After all, their meeting now had two origins and their first meeting hadn't exactly been a positive one.

"We were in our first year as high schoolers." Lelouch explained. "She'd been missing a lot of classes and so the head master of the school told the student council to look into it. Milly wanted an excuse to go over things with her, so she asked for her help with moving some supplies for the gardening club."

Kallen nodded. "Oh yeah, I remember that." She said. "Wait, I do? But that would mean that it happened the first time too." She thought to herself. "Oh yeah, I remember now. They asked me to join the student council and I told Milly no."

"While she was carrying one of the boxes, I think she got dizzy or missed a step. Either way, she fell down pretty hard."

"That sounds awful." Euphie said.

"On the contrary..." Lelouch said. "It was the most spectacular tumble I've ever seen."

Kallen huffed. "You said that back then too…"

"We became friends sometime after that." Lelouch continued.

Suzaku smiled. "Well, you must be a pretty special person for Lelouch to consider you his friend."

"Huh?" Kallen asked. "You think so?"

Euphie smiled. "Lelouch has never been the most sociable person. Even back home, he never really got along with any of our brothers or sisters. It was pretty much always just me and Nunnally. Actually, we used to argue over which one of us would get to marry him when we grew up."

"What?" Kallen said. "But you're-"

"I know." Euphie said. "But when you're a little girl, you don't think about that kind of stuff. You just love them so much that you can't help but want to."

Kallen nodded. "I guess… I can understand that." She said, trying to figure things out in her head about Euphemia still.

"I'm sorry to cut this short…" Euphie said. "But I have one more place here that I need to go before I return to my sister."

Suzaku smiled. "And where would that be?"

"I want to go to Shinjuku."

All three of the teens stopped, as if frozen upon hearing her request. "Suzaku Kururugi… please take me there."

Kallen's look of shock turned to a cold stare. "Why?" She asked quietly. "Why do you want to go to Shinjuku? Is it some sort of inspiration for you or something?"

"What?" Euphemia asked. "Of course not. I want to go there because I need to see if what Zero said is true." She said. "I need to know. If my brother truly did order the deaths of all those Japanese people… I want to know. If he did then…"

Kallen slowly pulled out a pink wallet-like pouch from her pocket. "Then what?"

Euphemia's eyes shook. "I need to know why he would order such a terrible thing." She said. "I hate fighting. I always wished that the world could just solve all of their issues and conflicts, gathered around one table and talking instead of causing the pointless deaths of so many innocent people."

Kallen couldn't see even the slightest hint of a lie in her eyes. Unlike Lelouch's eyes which were always so guarded and enigmatic, Euphemia's eyes were clear as day. It was like she was looking into the princess' very soul. "You… you want a gentle world… right?"

She nodded. "Yes, I do."

Kallen looked at Lelouch. "So she really is like Nunnally."

He nodded. "I told you."

"But then why?" She said, placing her hand over her right eye as she contemplated the information she had. "Euphemia…"

The princess smiled. "You don't need to be so formal. You're friends with Lelouch, so please, call me Euphie."

She nodded. "Euphie… let's go. I want to go to Shinjuku too."

Lelouch nodded and looked over at Suzaku, who seemed confused about her insistence. "Kallen likes to be well-informed." He explained. "Trust me. She hates the Britannians just as I do. She has her reasons."

Suzaku nodded. "I see." He said. "That just gives me one more reason to try and change things." He said, standing up.

The four of them went to the Shinjuku ghetto and as they walked, they broke off into pairs. Suzaku with Kallen and Euphemia with Lelouch. Kallen wasn't exactly happy about it, she still didn't know if she trusted the princess, but she knew that he would probably want time alone with his sister.

"So, how've you been?" Euphemia asked.

"I've been better." He responded. "And yourself?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know. Ever since Clovis' assassination attempt, things have been kind of busy. Sister was really upset about it."

He nodded. "As over-protective as ever, I see."

She nodded. "Lelouch… does anyone else know? About you and Nunnally?"

"Clovis does."

She looked surprised. "What? But how-"

"I can't tell you." He said. "What I can say is that he's agreed to not tell anyone about us."

She nodded. "I see." She said, trying to put things together in her mind. "Lelouch, are you…"

He stopped, watching her as she fought with herself to finish her question. "Am I what?"

She shook her head. "Nevermind. Just forget it. Anyway, I was thinking, maybe sometime soon I could come visit you two."

"No." He said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "I'm sorry, but you can't. If anyone were to recognize you, our secret would be exposed. I can't let that happen."

She smiled. "I'll wear a disguise, Lelouch." She said with a giggle. "Pancake day is on Sunday, right?"

He smiled. "Some things never change."

Behind the two of them, Kallen walked alongside Suzaku, glaring at Euphemia.

"Are you alright?" Suzaku asked. "You seem upset."

"I'm fine." Kallen said. "I just don't trust her is all."

He looked somewhat surprised. "Why not? I think Princess Euphemia… er Euphie… I think she seems like a really good person."

"Good people don't order the deaths of thousands…" Kallen said, quietly.

"Deaths of thousands?" He asked.

She looked at him, eyes wide. "Uh, wait, I wasn't…"

"So that's why you wanted to come too." He said. "You heard what Zero said and wanted to see it for yourself, just like her." He said, a hint of shame in his expression. "I hate to tell you this… but it's true. Prince Clovis did order the destruction of the Shinjuku ghetto."

She nodded. "I know that."

"But you weren't there." He said. "I wish they could have sent me out way earlier than they did. Maybe I could've stopped it. But by the time I was dispatched, the terrorists had the upper hand. They were able to get away."

Kallen nodded. "You know… you may not agree with their methods. But the terrorists might actually be fighting with good intentions."

"Evil deeds with good intentions are contradictory." Suzaku said. "Any end gained by contemptible means are worthless."

"Then they should just bow their heads and surrender?" Kallen asked.

He shook his head. "I'm not saying they have to sit back and accept it. But as a society, we can't allow people to do whatever they want and claim it's for the better. I understand their pain, but they go about it the wrong way."

"And yours is right?" Kallen said.

He nodded. "Yes. Things can change from the inside."

She sighed. "You're naïve, Suzaku." He said.

Suzaku smiled. "Funny. Lelouch always used to tell me the same thing. You two really would make a great couple."

"Huh?" She said, pink appearing on her cheeks.

He smiled. "What? Don't tell me you don't like him."

She glared at him, her face still burning. "Maybe you aren't naïve enough…"

Things aren't coming to a head just yet with Kallen's distorted memories, but they are going to continue building.

I really wanted to give some time for Lelouch, Suzaku, and Euphie to talk because that never actually happened in the anime and I think they deserved to have time together. Kallen being there makes things odd and out of place because not only is this situation not supposed to happen, but she has a completely different relationship with each of them, with her knowledge of Euphie locked to the incident in the SAZ. I honestly think they're an interesting group to have interact with each other since all of them are different in how they go about things, but they all believe in a similar goal.

The exchanges between Lelouch and Euphemia were the reason I had them meet out of sync with the original timeline as I wanted her to know that Clovis knew he's alive. As for Kallen and Suzaku, they never had a chance to really have a civil conversation and I want to give them that. At least, as civil of one as they can have while being on opposing sides of a rebellion.

Also, if you're curious about the story Lelouch told about Milly, look up the audio drama of him meeting Milly. It's actually really sweet.