Lelouch finished recounting the story of how he had stolen Villetta's heart to Cornelia. Of course, he didn't tell her everything. He wouldn't betray his fellow Black Knights.

But while the appearance of the blue butterfly had granted him a momentary reprieve from the aftereffects of the Refrain that had been injected into his veins, he suddenly felt his blood turn to ice as the drug reared its ugly head once more. Where there had been clarity, there was now only confusion. His brain could process many ideas simultaneously, but now that talent worked against him, as dozens of disjointed memories, mixed with delirious hallucinations, all crashed down upon him.

In that moment, he couldn't tell what the truth was anymore.

Was there any truth, or was it all lies?

Who was he?

It was like drowning, but infinitely more seductive, just to let himself become lost in Refrain's delusions.

He felt his head sinking down into his hands, his eyes growing heavy.

SLAM!

"We're not done here, Zero!" Cornelia shouted, striking the table with her fist without warning, and at least partially startling him out of his stupor. "Don't think you get to doze off after telling me such a story! Stealing someone's desires, in the form of a 'Treasure'? Normally, I'd call you insane, but in the light of everything else that's happened, I have to question if such a thing truly possible. Or maybe your whole story is just a fevered dream brought on by the Refrain?"

She clenched her fist. "Keep talking, Zero! You managed to stay coherent longer than I expected, but you should be getting more lucid as the Refrain wears off, not less! If you can't do that, your story is useless to me!"

Lelouch had enough wherewithal left to realize the peril he was in. But where could he find the strength to pull himself together again? He wasn't so naive to think he would receive the butterfly's aid a second time. But… what had it said?

Remember….

Remember what?

"Remember our contract and the bonds you forged…"

That was it!

As much as Lelouch hated to admit it to himself, he was weak on his own, especially in his current state. But even in this darkest of moments, locked in a cell deep below the Government Bureau, drugged, and with his estranged and wrathful half sister as his interrogator, he could still faintly feel the power of his bonds and the Personas they had given rise to: the Fool, Magician, Chariot, Hermit, Fortune, Death, Temperance, and the Star. There were more of course, which he still struggled to recall, but the bonds of his oldest confidants were particularly strong, and with their power he seized back a measure of clarity, enough to keep telling his story to Cornelia.

She was his final confidant, and perhaps the most important, Judgement. Whether he lived or died depended on if he could deepen that bond and her trust in him.

"I thought we already established that there would be no point in telling you such a ridiculous story unless it was the truth," he replied, slowly raising his head to meet Cornelia's gaze once again.

"That you did," Cornelia nodded, pleased that he was talking once more. "But there is something else that is bothering me about your account. After Nu's confession, the Black Knights began targeting a number of petty criminals, and even those who were just bullies around Ashford Academy. Those changes of heart were your doing as well, were they not?"

"That's correct."

"Isn't that a contradiction in your story?", she pressed, leaning forward. "You expect me to believe that all of those people were twisted enough to have a Palace just like Nu did? Given the method you described to me, it should have taken you months to change all of those hearts, but you did it all in the span of mere weeks."

Lelouch thought for a moment, drawing upon his bonds once more to guide him through the drug-induced haze.

"Mementos," he murmured.

"Excuse me?" Cornelia asked sharply.

"Within the Metaverse is a place called Mementos. It is the Palace for the masses. Everyone has their own sins, but most don't cause the extreme distortions necessary to give rise to a personal Palace."

"I should have known that you would have an explanation ready," Cornelia murmured darkly. "But we'll see how well it holds up to scrutiny."

Cornelia shuffled her files, replacing the picture of Viletta Nu and a copy of the first calling card with a new set of files, with photographs to go with them. The first was of a prideful man in a military uniform, with neatly combed teal hair.

"Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald," she stated matter-of-factly.

The name triggered a cascade of memories in Lelouch, no doubt a lingering effect of the Refrain, though now there was some order to them. Jeremiah had been the leader of the Purist Faction, and a colleague of Villetta's. But he had met Jeremiah long before that… back in the carefree days at the Aries Villa. Jeremiah had always been kind to him there, something he had never appreciated enough at the time. But he had forgotten about Jeremiah after being exiled to Japan, and he had failed at first to make the connection between the Margrave and his mother's devoted servant.

"In the span of the two weeks after you changed Nu's heart, he was your highest-profile target," Cornelia continued, her voice pulling him back to the present. "Now tell me, Zero," she said as if waiting to pounce upon the smallest contradiction in his story. "Did Jeremiah have his own Palace, or did you target him in this 'Mementos'?"

"Mementos," Lelouch replied. Jeremiah's heart had been distorted yes, and if unchecked it might have spawned his own Palace, but the Black Knights had stolen his heart before that could happen.

Cornelia leaned forward slightly, and her voice became low. "Afterwards, Margrave turned traitor and began supplying information to the Black Knights. Is that correct?"

"…"

"You're not helping yourself by remaining silent, Zero," Cornelia said, annoyance flashing across her face. "Our intelligence has found plenty of evidence to identify your accomplices. For example…"

Cornelia put aside Jeremiah's photograph and pushed the next into its place, one that showed a woman.

Lelouch knew that woman well, but he kept his face impassive, lest his expression betray his confidant. He recalled her greeting him as he moved into the Clubhouse at Ashford, and how he had been anxious about letting anyone else care for Nunnally, but the woman had earned his trust with her unceasing diligence and loyalty. Yet she had held secrets of her own, which he had scarcely fathomed until…

"Sayoko Shinozaki," Cornelia continued, interrupting that chain of thought. "A maid employed by the Ashford family… and the 37th successor of the Shinozaki School, trained as a spy and an assassin for the Elevens' former intelligence agency."

Damn! So Cornelia already knew that much? She was just as sharp as always.

"Why would such a person be working for the Ashford family, and be assigned to you, no less?" Cornelia asked, before pausing for a moment. "Still, there' s no doubt that her expertise would have been helpful to your Black Knights."

He didn't answer her.

Sensing that it would be fruitless to dig further into what he knew about Sayoko for the moment, Cornelia took out the next picture, that of a man with a squarish jawline and blue eyes. The man had the look of a scoundrel written all over him. He wore a red turtleneck under a blue suit, but his most obvious feature was his sandy hair, tied into a ponytail and with a prominent bang covering part of his face.

"Diethard Reid."

The flashbacks were getting shorter as Lelouch continued to shake off the Refrain. He briefly saw himself shaking Diethard's hand as they sealed the deal between them, but in another moment he was back in the interrogation room.

"A graduate of Britannia Central University's Faculty of Law, he became a producer and press staff member for Hi-TV here in Area 11. Despite showing few signs of radicalism previously, he was nonetheless disaffected and used his position to increase the media coverage of the Black Knights' activities. He is also suspected of managing the KnightWatch, a seditious 'fan site' for the Black Knights."

Yes… KnightWatch… that was right… how could he have forgotten it? Diethard might not have been the founder of the site, but when he became one of its administrators….

"And last but not least…" the Viceroy reached deep into her files, pulling out a large photograph and placing it front and center, signaling that it was more important than those that had come before.

"Leila Breisgau."

The photograph showed a young woman, about his own age, who carried an air of nobility. She was undeniably beautiful, with delicate features, and a voluminous cascade of blonde hair, far lighter than Milly's gold, bangs and twin locks of it framing her face. On top, her hair was styled into an elegant pair of egg-shaped buns, one on each side, but even more striking were her large, amethyst eyes.

It was a color that was often associated with the upper echelons of Britannian society, with the Emperor, Prime Minister Schneizel, several princesses, including Cornelia and her sister Euphemia, and the late Empress Marianne and her children all having eyes in varying shades of violet. Though of course, it had to be remembered that Marianne had been a commoner before marrying the Emperor, so it wasn't unheard of for a commoner to display the trait.

Leila was no commoner though, and at a glance, one could have easily mistaken her for a princess of the empire. Yet her expression lacked the arrogance or cruelty that was all too typical of nobles, and rather than being vacuous, her eyes were filled with intelligence.

"The only daughter of the late Bradow von Breisgau and his wife, Claudia, who Intelligence suspected of being sympathizers to the E.U. and the Elevens, if not outright spies for them," Cornelia continued disdainfully. "They died in a car accident-"

"It was murder," Lelouch interrupted. "They were as good as dead before their car ever crashed. They were killed by mental shutdowns."

Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "That was certainly a rumor at the time. But how would you know for sure...unless you were the one who killed them?"

He grit his teeth. Many their targets who were so corrupt that they could barely be called human, and he would feel no remorse over killing them. But the Black Knights would not commit murder. His friends would never allow him to. That was a rule they had agreed to.

"The Black Knights fight for justice," he replied defiantly. Well, some of them did. Proclaiming that he truly sought justice was a lie he had told time and again, but revenge was his justice, and he had promised Arsene that he would commit any sacrilegious acts in pursuit of it.

"You really have the gall to say that?" Cornelia shouted with a sudden fury, her voice like a thunderclap. "After you-"

"The Black Knights were not the only ones operating in the Metaverse, Viceroy. You'll recall that the mental shutdowns were happening before I ever obtained a Persona. The true killer is still out there."

"Who is the killer then?" Cornelia asked dangerously.

Lelouch wracked his brain, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember the killer's true identity at the moment. The Black Knights had been pursuing them, that he was sure of. Perhaps the answer would come to him as he recalled more of his bonds. But Cornelia clearly wasn't happy with his reticence.

"So you're just trying to pin the blame for your crime on someone else?"

"Think about it, Cornelia!" Lelouch shouted, losing patience with her in spite of his tenuous position. "If the victim dies from a mental shutdown, they can't confess their crimes! I needed the targets to live so their confessions could undermine the public's faith in Britannia!"

"I told you to call me 'Viceroy', Zero," Cornelia snarled. "Don't think you have any right to act as my brother after what you've done!"

That was stupid of him! His half-sister's wrath was clouding her judgment.

He shook his head. "That doesn't matter right now, Viceroy," he said as calmly as possible. "Aren't you wondering who would silence the victims if, not the Black Knights? If not, that's the question you should have been asking all this time"

"Silence?" Cornelia asked

"Didn't you think it was suspicious? Can't you see there's something that someone was trying to hide by preventing the public from hearing their full testimony?"

For a moment, Cornelia looked as if she wanted to strangle him. But her curiosity won out.

"You forget your place. But if there is another party behind the mental shutdowns, I must know of them, so that I can end their threat to the empire once and for all. Very well, Zero. Tell me what you know of this group… and of your next major target after Margrave Gottwald…"

"Our brother, Clovis."

A/N:

As was foreshadowed in the previous chapter, Leila makes her formal debut in the story. Known as Leila Malcal in Akito the Exiled, she's Leila Breisgau here, as her parents never (openly) defected to the E.U. in this story, instead remaining in Britannia as spies, and thus she wasn't adopted by the Malcal family. Consequently, this modified backstory also makes her nobility (though her adoptive family in Akito the Exiled was undoubtedly aristocratic, the E.U. doesn't officially have nobility).

Leila's inclusion in the story was predicated upon a number of factors. I was trying to round out the list of confidants with characters from the cast of the original anime series, but there was one Arcana that I was having trouble finding a suitable Confidant for. Either the candidates had already been assigned to another Arcana, or they didn't have the right personality for the Arcana. Then I thought of Leila. She had a personality that matched the Arcana to a T (not going to say which one it is yet, though you're welcome to post your guesses in the reviews), and presented an opportunity for an interesting confidant. Moreover, she had an obvious Persona and a thief outfit that seemed too good to pass up. Likewise, with the alteration of her backstory, I could tie the deaths of her parents into the Conspiracy.

It will probably be a few weeks minimum before I can have the next chapter fully written and revised, but when it's up expect a trip into Mementos, and everyone's favorite Orange.