"It's a good thing you called for the ambulance when you did," Lelouch heard the doctor saying. "She was suffering from internal bleeding, but we were able to stabilize her and then go in and repair the blood vessels. Your friend is very lucky. If her injury had been just a bit over, it would have hit an artery." The doctor paused. "It's almost as if she were stabbed," he muttered to himself, "but there's no entrance wound."

Of course. When a Persona was damaged, the injury was generally reflected on the Persona user's body. Lelouch had understood that Personas and Shadows were fundamentally the same, given how he could turn captured Shadows into new Personas, but Shirley's Persona was unequivocally her personal Shadow, or it least it had been. The only difference was that instead of denying her Shadow, Shirley had acknowledged and made peace with it, and in doing so transformed it into her guardian, a Persona. But even when it was a Shadow, it was still a part of her, and by stabbing it she had done violence against herself. He supposed that since she hadn't yet attuned herself with her Shadow, the extent of the damage had been limited. But she could have died-

No… It was worse than that, Lelouch suddenly realized. If Shirley had actually succeeded in killing her own Shadow, she would have destroyed a foundational part of her own psyche. Could the human mind continue to exist without its unconscious desires, which controlled so much of its behavior from the shadows? It couldn't. Shirley would have…

It was almost too terrible to imagine, but the conclusion was inescapable. Shirley would have inflicted a mental shutdown upon herself, and from what he had seen of Clovis, it was a particularly agonizing and gruesome manner of death.

The doctor was saying something about how medical advances would ensure that Shirley would be left with virtually no scarring from the procedure that had saved her life. Across from him, Shirley's mother was tearfully asking when her daughter would awaken, but Lelouch knew that it wouldn't be a question that the doctor would be able to answer. Shirley may have narrowly avoided a mental shutdown, but paired with the exhaustion that usually accompanied awakening to one's Persona, the strain had caused her to slip into a comatose state shortly after exiting the Metaverse. To those ignorant of the other world and Cognitive Psience, there would appear to be nothing wrong with Shirley now that the bleeding had been stopped.

Shirley lay there in the hospital bed, still save for the slight rising and falling of her chest, unperturbed by the noisy beeping of machines around her, continuously monitoring and displaying her vital readings. Her eyes were peacefully closed, and her lips almost seemed to form a gentle smile, with her face framed as ever by her beautiful coppery red hair.

His heart clenched. He had come so close to losing her, first at the hands of Medjed/Mao, then at those of her Shadow, and then at his own, when he had considered destroying her Treasure to keep her from getting involved further. It would have given Shirley back a normal life, but she would have become a stranger to him. Was it just selfishness on his part? No, the others had been against him doing so from the start. But now… what if destroying someone's Treasure instead of simply stealing it away would have a similar effect upon them as killing their Shadow and causing a mental shutdown in the process? He could have killed Shirley himself. Of course, there was no way to be sure of that, which of course meant that actually destroying her Treasure would have been an unacceptable risk. At least, that was what he told himself. Either way, he would have to live with the decision and whatever consequences it may have.

At least they had been able to deflect the most awkward questions about Shirley's disappearance for now. She had of course been reported as missing; that was not something that the headmaster would or could cover up. When asked how they had found Shirley, he had said that they seen her wandering back onto campus in a state of distress before finally collapsing. Of course, the police were sure to question Shirley once she was awake, and it could be a problem if Shirley said something that contradicted his story, but on the other hand it would be easy for Shirley's testimony to be dismissed. Her condition would lend her plausible deniability; it would hardly be unusual for an awakened coma patient to have some amount of memory loss. But would Shirley think to use that lie?

Lelouch grimaced. All this ruminating was getting him nowhere. No matter how much he ran through every possible scenario in his head, he was powerless to help Shirley until she awakened, and there was no telling how long that would take. Leila would probably tell him to have faith in Shirley, but Lelouch knew that prayer was a futile gesture in an uncaring world.

He still couldn't help but silently pray for Shirley though.

He shook his head. Wallowing in self-pity like this was absurd. Besides, he was one chained to hell itself. That was what Arsene had said when they forged their contract. If there even was a god, it certainly wouldn't be a friend of his.

As he stood to leave, Shirley's mother looked up.

"I know I've said it already, but I want to thank you again for helping my daughter. If you hadn't called an ambulance for her, my Shirley might have died." Mrs. Fenette choked up. "Losing my husband was bad enough… but I don't know what I would do if I lost Shirley too."

"I would have done the same for anyone," he told Mrs. Fenette. He chose not to mention what Mao had told him about the true nature of her husband's work. Not only would he have no way of knowing that information if he was an ordinary high school student, as he pretended to be, but Mrs. Fenette could have been just as ignorant of it as Shirley had been, and to bring it up now would be pointless cruelty.

"You're too modest. You know, Shirley spoke a lot about you. She really thought you were the one for her. With how much she complained about you breaking rules or skipping classes to go out gambling, I wasn't sure, but I see now that you are, if nothing else, a true friend to my daughter." She paused. "But it's more than that, isn't it? You didn't just call the ambulance for Shirley, you -".

Mrs. Fenette's eyes widened slightly, and she promptly cut herself off. "No… I shouldn't ask that. What matters is that my daughter is safe and should recover." Unsaid, but communicated by her gaze was, 'You will keep her safe, won't you?"

Impossible! Did she realize who he was? Did she have any sort of proof? If she thought he was a Black Knight, shouldn't she hate him for killing her husband, just as Shirley had believed he had? Or did she simply sense there was more to him than being at the right place at the right time to save Shirley's life?

But in the end, he decided that it didn't matter, as long as Mrs. Fenette didn't talk about whatever she might suspect.

"Indeed," he agreed.

xXx

"How is Shirley?" Kallen asked, waiting outside.

"They've stopped the bleeding, but Shirley is still in a comatose state. They don't know when she'll wake up, though their prognosis remains hopeful, given how well she's doing elsewhere."

Kallen grimaced. "A coma… That's worse than I thought. Are you okay, Lelouch?"

"I will be."

"Then you're not." She scowled. "Listen, Lelouch. We need to talk."

"Not here."

"Fine. But don't think you're slipping away until we've talked."

Some time later, the two of them were in Mementos, standing in the safe zone at the top of the escalators that led down into the labyrinth of dark tunnels where Shadows lurked.

"What did you want to talk about, Queen?" Lelouch asked.

"Don't play dumb, Zero. You know exactly what I want to talk about," Kallen replied irritably.

"Shirley."

"That's right." Kallen sighed. "I didn't want to say this in front of the others, but I think I know why her Shadow bothered me so much… and not just because I felt threatened by her."

Lelouch looked at her curiously. This was not at all the direction he had expected the conversation to take. He had thought that Kallen would give him another verbal lashing for his indiscretion with Shirley at the funeral, or how he couldn't go on loving both of them, and had to fully commit to one or the other or call it quits with her. And so, slowly, he ventured, "How so?"

Kallen swallowed. "Because her Shadow was too much like me."

"I don't understand." Kallen and Shirley were so different in temperament that it was difficult to see them as similar to each other.

"She loved you beyond all reason, even when she thought you had killed her father, and said she would forgive you of anything! And I…" Kallen averted her gaze for a moment, before forcing herself to meet his again. "Back when I was fighting with my friends in the resistance in Shinjuku, everything was so simple. I would fight Britannia, and die trying to avenge my brother's memory. Then you came along, and I fell in love with you! But I never realized just how much that had changed me until I saw Shirley's Shadow! Avenging my brother or freeing Japan was no longer what was most important to me. It was being at your side! I mean, we're still fighting to free Japan, but somewhere along the way, you had turned my world upside down before I even realized it."

She took several moments to collect herself. "I knew of course that I wasn't the only one in your heart. There's Nunnally, and you can't be faulted for doting on your sister. But I thought that I had the rest of your heart. But when I heard that you also loved Shirley…. Firstly, why did Bishop have to bring that up right then and there? Nothing good could come it! Well, maybe she wanted you to be honest with yourself, but did she stop to think how I would feel at hearing that? She's really smart most of the time, but sometimes she's really lacking in common sense! Probably because she grew up pampered as a noble! I may technically be a noble now, but I at least had a normal life out in the real world before my father adopted me into his family!"

Kallen sighed and shook her head. "I'm getting off-topic. That doesn't matter right now. What does matter is I felt like I was being torn in two when I heard you say that you were in love with Shirley too. But…. That's exactly what she went through, isn't it? No… it was even worse for her. She didn't even get to hear that at least she had some of your heart! All she knew was that the guy she had crushed on since freshman year had rejected her obvious affections and chosen me instead! Is it any wonder that she formed a Palace of her own? And just like her… no matter how much it hurt, I found I couldn't hate you for it. I'd even let myself be dragged down into hell with you if it meant I could continue to stay by your side. Seeing that for myself scared me."

Kallen frowned, casting her eyes down. "You call me Queen, but I became no better than a slave to you. Not that I should be surprised. My mother became my father's servant after all… It runs in the family," she finished miserably.

"Kallen…" he whispered. Using her code name right now didn't seem appropriate.

"I'm sorry to dump all of that on you at once," Kallen said, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "But if Shirley could accept the weak and ugly parts of herself in front of everyone, what would it say about me if I couldn't do the same, at least with you?"

"Don't apologize, Kallen. It's better that you let it out instead of letting it fester inside of you. But don't call yourself a slave."

"It's true!"

"I would never think of you as a slave, Kallen. Your convictions are far too strong for that." He chuckled wryly. "More than anyone on the Black Knights, I'd trust you to stand up against me if I ever lost my way and became the very thing I set out to oppose."

"Don't joke like that! But you think too highly of me. As long as you still loved me, I would still follow you in spite of everything. If that's not being a slave, then what is?"

"Then I guess I'm the fool here."

There was an awkward silence between them. Finally, Kallen broke it.

"So where do we go from here?"

"We wait for Shirley to recover."

"And then?" Kallen pressed. "Do you plan on having her join us as a Black Knight?"

"It's not my decision if she joins us or not… but I think that she will."

"And what about us?"

"I would be honored to continue to have you by my side. But I would understand if you wanted time away from me or to break off our relationship if you have any lingering doubts about my sincerity or commitment to you."

"That's not fair, Lelouch. After I spilled out everything a few minutes ago, you know that I'm not going to leave you. Shirley's not going to be happy about it though," she added as an afterthought.

"We'll cross that bridge after she awakens."

xXx

"You're back late, Inmate," Tsu said, stretching out on his bed.

"Would it kill you to stop calling me 'Inmate' while you're here? This isn't the Velvet Room, and my maid already thinks you're some sort of dominatrix that I hired," Lelouch said, slightly shuddering at the thought.

"But you remain a prisoner of fate, whether here or in the Velvet Room. Thus calling you Inmate is appropriate."

Lelouch sighed. "Stubborn as always. Though there is a question that's on my mind, one that I can't ask the Nose."

"Stealing my nickname for him? You truly are a thief, Inmate." She shrugged. "If you didn't want him to know there's something you don't want to ask him, you shouldn't have mentioned it at all, Inmate. Didn't I tell you? He remains quite interested in you, and watches you like no other human. But if you still want to ask, I won't stop you from doing so, foolish as it may be."

"Igor said long ago that he granted the Metaverse Navigator to those who had the potential to become Tricksters and avert Ragnarok, along with those who might help then as fellow thieves."

"Yes. What of it, Inmate?"

"There's no way Medjed could have brought Shirley into the Metaverse unless he had the MetNav himself. That means Igor gave Medjed the app, just as he gave it to me, and to Kallen's brother before either of us."

"Your point?"

"Medjed tried to kill us and Shirley! It's not just Medjed either. The assassin who is causing the mental shutdowns and framed us for the deaths of Clovis and Shirley's father must also have the MetNav. Either that, or there's another way to enter the Metaverse that he hasn't seen fit to share with me."

Come to think of it, there was another who must have received the Navigator from Igor, or else her presence in the Metaverse was inexplicable: Leila. But Kallen's brother had the Wild Card, and while Mao was an artificial Persona user, it seemed that Momus was of the Fool Arcana as well. Leila didn't fit into that pattern. Her Persona belonged to the Priestess Arcana, and thus would not qualify as one of Igor's Tricksters, but she had been able to enter Clovis' Palace on her own. She had mentioned something about seeing butterflies and hearing a woman's voice too, which was akin to his own awakening. He didn't sense any deception from Leila, but the facts surrounding her didn't add up. He was missing something.

There was also the previously unknown group whom Mao had called the Irregulars. They could only exist if they also had access to the Navigator. Would they cross paths with each other? If they were copying the Black Knights' methods, as Mao claimed, there was a chance, albeit fairly small, that they might both choose to go after the same target at the same time one day.

"You're not wrong," Tsu said, interrupting his thoughts. "There is no way as convenient for entering the Metaverse as the Navigator, which is the Nose's creation. However, it is possible that Cognitive Psientists working for your enemies might have managed to artificially produce their own version of the Navigator. It wouldn't be the first time that humans have tried to trespass in the realm of the gods."

Lelouch gave her a strange look. "The realm of the gods?"

"In words that you might understand, the Collective Unconscious, where the dreams, desires, fears, and souls of all humans originate from, and to whence they return. In turn, the shared Cognition of humanity gives rise to the gods that they worship, as well as those that they condemn as demons. It's gone by many names over the years. Akasha… C's World…"

"The Metaverse?" Lelouch asked. "Mementos?"

Tsu let out a light laugh. "Do you honesty believe that the realm of the gods is a dingy old subway? The Metaverse is but a construct overlying yet apart from your world, made in twisted mockery it. Both owe their existence to C's World, which underlies and predates both realities.

Igor had never mentioned such a thing. Of course he wouldn't. This conversation was turning out to be surprisingly illuminating.

"You said the Metaverse was a construct. Do you know who constructed it?"

"I-" started, but she faltered, and clutched her head as if she was in physical pain. "I…. I can't remember…" she gasped. "Please…"

It was just like when she had suffered nightmares. Something had happened to her in the past, and now Lelouch was certain that whoever had done this to Tsu didn't want him to find out the answer to his question.

He had a good idea as to who might be responsible though.

"Not a word of this to anyone," Tsu snarled at him as she recovered.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

xXx

"You never cease to impress me, Trickster," Igor said that night in Lelouch's dreams, making no mention of his earlier conversation with Tsu. "Not only did you overcome your friend's Shadow, which emerged to kill you and herself, but you have forged yet another bond as well. Tempered by adversity, you have grown strong faster than I would have thought possible. That is not something easily done. If you continue to proceed at this pace, your chances of a successful rehabilitation are most hopeful, Trickster. You really may be the one who will stop Ragnarok." The Master of the Velvet Room paused. "And so this marks a turning point in your journey, Trickster. If nothing is done, Ragnarok will occur before the year's end."

That got Lelouch's attention. For once, Igor was being less vague than usual.

"What exactly is Ragnarok?" Lelouch asked.

"It is the twilight of the gods and the ruin of mankind, brought upon by foolish pride and humanity's impulses for self-destruction," Igor replied, immediately dashing Lelouch's hopes for anything but a cryptic answer from his jailor. But then, Igor's demented grin spread wider than usual. "It may interest you to know that your father is the one driving the world toward Ragnarok."

At once, Lelouch vividly recalled the vision he had upon making his contract with the mysterious voice and then Arsene.

"Distortions in the cognitive world….So Ragnarok begins once again?" The memory of his father's booming voice echoed in his mind.

Lelouch clenched his fist, but at once he recognized what Igor was doing. It was a blatant attempt at emotional manipulation, trying to get him to reflexively go along with whatever Igor had planned out of hatred for his father, and diverting his attention from other questions that needed to be asked. To be fair, anything that his father supported was most likely something worth opposing, but Igor having a common interest with him in his father's downfall hardly made the Master of the Velvet Room his friend. Beneath the guise of a mentor, Igor had already shown himself to be every bit as tyrannical as his father, so Igor could be nothing but his mortal enemy.

"Your father's Palace is extraordinarily well-protected," Igor continued. "If you were to challenge him now, he would… what is the phrase, Tsu?"

"Squash you like a bug," she replied, while her younger sister cringed.

"Ah, yes." Igor turned his attention back to Lelouch. "He is far too powerful for you to pose a meaningful threat to him at this moment, Trickster, but since you have already come this far, I am sure that you will rise to the challenge. Continue as you have been doing, Trickster. Hone your skills, stealing the hearts of the sinful and stirring those of the indolent masses. But before you go, let me bestow another boon upon you: the High Arcana Burst." Igor held out a hand, and Lelouch felt stronger than ever.

"With my blessing, your bonds will provide even more power to the Personas that you create here than before," Igor explained, even as Lelouch felt the power of the Fool grow stronger in turn.

Igor might be his enemy, but sometimes one's worst enemies were one's best teachers. And like the other boons Igor had bestowed upon him, he planned to exploit this one to the fullest.

xXx

Exams began the following morning and would last for three days. Lelouch felt exhausted from three consecutive days in Shirley's Palace, not to mention all of the futile excursions to Mementos before that, but he still tried to do his best on the exams. It was uncharacteristic of him, yes, but it would be worth the effort if it helped raise his standing with his confidants, slightly increasing his powers in turn. More importantly, if his grades were to suddenly drop significantly below the Bs that he usually maintained for himself, it might look suspicious, attracting the wrong sort of attention to himself.

The tests were long, but they didn't feel particularly difficult to Lelouch, even in his state of exhaustion. All things considered, he was amazed at how smoothly the first day of examinations went after actually after he actually put in some effort to study for them.

He visited Shirley's room at the hospital again after exams were done for the day. She was still sleeping peacefully, and he was heartened by the fact that her readings weren't any worse, but he couldn't help but worry about her.

He tried to take his mind off things with more studying when he returned to his room, but his exhaustion finally caught up with him, and he fell asleep at his desk. This in turn led to another bizarre dream involving Arthur, except the cat had inexplicably assumed a human form, a handsome black-haired young man with an androgynous appearance, not entirely unlike his own. In the dream, Arthur was putting the moves on Milly, who was dressed in her own cat costume, much to Rivalz's dismay.

The next days' exams were for the most part uneventful. If anything, they seemed even easier than the first day's exams had been, now that he had finally had some proper rest. However, he did see something unusual as he was walking across the grounds toward the academy's gate. Nunnally was accompanied by a girl he hadn't seen before, a blonde girl about the same age of his sister and dressed in the same junior high school uniform, who wore her hair in twintails and had red eyes. She looked friendly enough, and Nunnally didn't seem to mind her presence, but Lelouch couldn't help but feel anxious. Looks could be deceiving, and he had to do his best to look out for Nunnally at all times.

"Nunnally, who's this?" he asked as he approached them, trying to sound casual.

"Big brother?" Nunnally asked, looking up in his direction. "This is Alice!" she said happily. "She only transferred in a few weeks ago, but we're already good friends!"

Lelouch grimaced slightly, though of course Nunnally couldn't see it. That Alice was a transfer student only made him more suspicious. It was the perfect cover to bring in spies, as Rolo had used for himself. However, he kept that to himself. It wouldn't do to distress Nunnally, let alone make a potentially slanderous accusation against one of her classmates, particularly one whom she seemed fond of on such a flimsy basis. Even he had to admit to himself that he had no concrete evidence that Alice was anything but a normal student, though he made a mental note to look into her background when he found some time to spare.

But the public announcement that evening of Carine ne Britannian's change of heart at the hand of a group calling itself the Glinda Knights made it so that Alice was the least of his worries.

He couldn't say that he had liked Carine. She had always been mean to Nunnally back when they were in Pendragon together. But to think that there was yet another group changing hearts, this time in the capital of the Empire itself? Why were so many teams of Persona-users coming out of the woodwork now? Part of him wanted to think it had to do with his successes, but another part of him worried.

Were they all pawns of Igor? Might his jailer divulge his secrets to them in the Velvet Room? And what would it mean if Igor was more successful in manipulating them than himself?

xXx

Answers seemed to fly off his pen and onto the page on the last day of exams. There were one question on the physics test that he wasn't entirely sure of; perhaps he would have to study with Nina next time. But there was no question that he had passed his exams with flying colors.

But the pride he felt at his performance was nothing compared to the relief of Shirley finally waking up.

It happened when he was visiting her in the hospital after school. He was quietly talking to her, small talk about how exams at gone at Ashford, and conveying the wishes of all of her friends on the Student Council to her. He was sure that she couldn't hear him.

But then, she stirred.

Shirley's beautiful green eyes fluttered open.

He was the first thing that she saw.

Shirley blinked several times. "Lulu?" she asked softly. "Is that really you? I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"Shirley! You're awake!" he said, bolting to his feet and to her side.

Shirley raised her hand, a bit unsteadily at first, and tightly clasped his.

"It is really you," she said, beaming. Her expression faltered. "So everything that happened… that was real too, right?"

"Yes", he nodded.

"It almost seems too incredible to believe, Lulu, but… you saved me… and you saw everything. But it's kind of liberating… I can finally be honest with myself… and with you."

A/N:

As different as Shirley and Kallen might seem at a glance, they are similar in the degree of their devotion to Lelouch, and while not explicitly stated, I think that's pretty clearly shown in canon. That's not to say that there won't be tension between the two of them, but it does provide a basis for understanding and for them to work together without tearing the team apart.

Focused on setting the stage for things to come in this chapter. Rest assured, Lelouch will get some more time with his other confidants in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading! I'll be back in another week or two.