The Demon's Pride v2 Chapter 9, a code geass fanfic

The Demon's Pride V2

All right everyone, another chapter. This will have backstory for Lelouch, Milly, and Shirley, as well as an explanation as to why they are on the path they are on, and more along those lines. That being said, I plan on a long chapter. But ﬁrst some explanations:

I don't plan to hog everyone for Lelouch, one because eventually he would have to have a whole wing to himself, renovations to fit a bed the size of a swimming pool, and that wouldn't be any fun. Not that I'm saying he won't get with almost everyone. Just that some pairings fit better. As to the topic of those loyal to him, such as Rivalz, I don't mind sliding him some action but I think we have determined that Milly is his only real interest and she wouldn't leave Lelouch.

I appreciate the reviews; it keeps the motivation flowing so don't stop. On with the chapter!

Chapter 9: Origins of the Fallen Prince

Kallen looked around the room from the stoic faced girl eating pizza to the amused smirk of Milly, the apprehensive look of Shirley, and ﬁnally the god-damned smirk of Lelouch. Finding her voice, Kallen spoke.

"Just what the hell is going on?"

Lelouch retracted his hand before placing it on his face. "Hmm. That's a loaded question with many answers. Where to begin..."

Kallen sighed, recognizing a trend with Lelouch. "Cut the cartoon hero/villain motif crap and just tell me already."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow before turning to the giggling pair of girls. "Do I really sound like that?"

"Lelouch, if this was an anime, you would be the hero."

"Nah, the boy would deﬁnitely be the anti-hero." The green haired girl spoke up. "He's got the angst part of that down. I mean, just look at all the black" She said gesturing to Lelouch's outﬁt.

Lelouch glared at the girl before sighing and turning back to Kallen, who looked like she was about to blow a fuse. "I suppose I can answer some of your questions."

"Why not all of them?" Kallen shot back, still annoyed by them ignoring her and her lack of knowledge.

"Because I know I'm going to have to explain all of this to your friends and I really don't want to repeat myself."

Kallen growled in annoyance at the apparent show of laziness. "Fine! So, I guess my ﬁrst question would how those two-" she gestured to Shirley and Milly "-got roped up in all of this? No offence but you two don't look like ﬁghters."

"None taken." Shirley said. "As for how we got involved...Milly would you like to go ﬁrst."

Milly shook her head. "My story is tied in with Lelouch's, so I would rather tell it when he tells his."

Kallen felt like tearing her hair out. 'Are they doing this just to mess with me?' "Fine!" She snapped before pointing at Shirley. "Then you tell me why you are helping these two."

Shirley nodded, not the least put out by Kallen's anger. "Well it all started 2 years ago."

(Flashback)

A younger Shirley Fenette walked through the door of the student council clubhouse. "Today's the day." She told herself. "Today's the day I ask Lulu out...I'm gonna do this." She kept repeating to herself as she continued towards the student council room. Walking up to the door, Shirley grabbed the doorknob but stopped when she heard voices coming from the room.

"Did you transfer the funds to our "mutual friend"?

'That's Lulu!' Shirley thought before continuing to listen.

"Yes, Lelouch I did, but why couldn't we use a more real name for our account's alias. I mean what kind of a name is R.E. Alobvious."

'Milly...what are they talking about.'

"You know I love my games." Lelouch said, and, or so Shirley imagined him, smirking. "Besides, no one here in Japan is smart enough to ﬁgure out that the name is a pseudonym. The only ones who could ﬁgure it out are in this room, or back in the homeland."

"I think my grandfather would be able to ﬁgure it out."

"Oh, Reuben deﬁnitely could. But I don't think your grandfather has time for that. He has to deal with the school, as well as your...donors."

Shirley heard Milly laugh at that. "You have a point there. And now that all of that is squared away, why don't we move on to something more fun!"

Shirley let out a silent gasp as she heard the sounds of moaning coming from the room. 'Lulu and Milly? Why? How? Why?'

So concerned was Shirley with the door that she didn't hear someone coming up behind her, nor did she see the hand that moved to grip the junction between her shoulder and neck. Feeling pressure - and noticing that her eyesight was fading to black - Shirley tried to twist around to see who had attacked her, only to stumble into the door, forcing it open. The last thing Shirley saw before passing out was the sight of Lelouch Lamperouge and Milly Ashford engaged in a furious make out session on one of the chairs of the student council table.

(End Flashback)

"When I came to, I was tied to a chair with these three standing in front of me." Shirley said while gesturing to Milly, Lelouch, and Sayoko. "They explained to me what they were doing, while asking me if I would join."

Kallen looked at her in surprise. "And you just joined?"

Shirley laughed. "Of course not. I said that, while I wouldn't tell anyone, I wasn't going to ﬁght. The three respected my decision and left me to my own devices." Shirley's face then fell. "The problem was that I began to notice. I noticed how the Honorary Britannians were treated here in the Settlement, and how the Japanese had been treated, and seeing, and I mean really seeing, that kind of hate and bigotry began to get to me, to the point where I was beginning to question if I shouldn't join these three. Eventually something...happened and I ended up owing my life to them. So, I decided the best way to pay them back was to help them along any path they embark on."

Kallen couldn't help but feel that something was missing. "Anything else you want to add?" Instead of a verbal answer, Kallen was startled when Shirley glared at her.

"There may be more, but I don't have to tell you that. Maybe if - and I stress the if part - you gain my conﬁdence and trust, but for now, only these three know my reasons." Shirley spoke with quiet convection in her voice.

Kallen nodded, seeing that the girl wasn't going to budge. Pointing at C.C. Kallen continued to talk. "So, what's her story? You said that she was being experimented on by Clovis, but for what reason?"

Lelouch looked a little surprised. "I'm surprised Nagata didn't tell you about that. Simply put, this woman here is immortal."

Kallen looked from the bored C.C. to the blank-faced Lelouch, alternating between the two of them. Finally settling on Lelouch, she just blankly looked at him. "Seriously… you know, I don't even know what to think anymore."

"The boy tells the truth and that's the reason Clovis wanted to...play with me." C.C. said, her features darkening slightly when she thought of the pain she endured under Clovis and Bartley's watchful eyes.

Kallen narrowed her eyes, annoyed at the feeling she was getting. "So, just to be clear here. I'm not getting any sort of real information."

"That's rude. We gave you the reason for one of us being here and the fact that C.C. is immortal. That is important information. Besides, the purpose of bringing you here was never to tell you all of our deepest darkest secrets."

"Then what was the purpose!"

"I merely wanted to set up a meeting with you and your friends as soon as possible." Lelouch stood before holding out a phone. "This phone was created by the Ashford Foundation. It can't be traced and only a select few would be able to hack the private network that the phone uses. It's only got one number listed as a contact, which belongs to this phone." He said before pulling out another phone. "What I want is for you to take this with you the next time you meet up with your friends - hopefully soon - and dial the number before placing it on speaker. Then we'll talk about arranging a meeting. Understood?"

Kallen nodded at the easy instructions. "I have one more question."

Lelouch sighed before nodding in a 'Go ahead and ask' manner.

"Are the three of you...together-together?" Kallen asked while gesturing to Lelouch and two girls by his side, her face slowly turning red.

Lelouch smiled while Shirley and Milly giggled. "Indeed, we are. Why do you ask?"

"I think I know why!" Milly said as she stood up and struck a thinking pose. "I think our ﬁery redhead here has a little crush on you Lulu. Maybe she wanted to scope out the competition and her chances."

Kallen's face went tomato red before she began yelling. "I do not have a crush on Lelouch!"

"OH!" Milly gasped in apparent shock. "So were you asking because you have feelings for Shirley and myself. My, my, Kallen, I didn't know you swung that way. But if you are really desperate and backed up." Milly began while shaking her way towards Kallen, who looked on in both fear and confusion. "I can help with the...release!" She ﬁnished before shooting her arms out and groping Kallen's chest.

The rest of the group had various reactions. Sayoko and C.C. simply stared without blinking -one used to Milly's antics and the other simply not being fazed by much of anything these days - while Shirley rolled her eyes with a small smile. Lelouch also had a smile on his face and was struggling to hold back his laughter as he saw Kallen's face go from tomato to ﬁre red, while her eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock.

"I will say this." Milly continued talking while simultaneously moving her hands around Kallen's chest. "You do have quite the appeal, what with your hair, those eyes, and these cannons on your chest."

Kallen ﬁnally found her voice and regained control of her body, quickly slapping Milly's hands away and leaping back.

"PERVERT!"

(Scene Change)

(Back in the Student Council Room)

Kallen glared at Milly who simply smiled back at her from across the table. 'That damn she-devil!' Kallen raged in her mind while simultaneously plotting a horrible revenge, which currently involved pasta sauce, a turkey, and a surprising amount of shaving cream. Kallen's revenge plotting against Milly was put on hold however, as the TV in the student council room ﬂashed on.

"Huh that's weird." Rivalz said, turning to look at the screen. "The networks only forcefully activate the TVs if there's an issue of national security. Wonder what happened?"

As Rivalz was speaking, a man appeared on the TV. He was tall, with pale skin and blue hair. He wore an exquisite military uniform with a blue cape draped over his shoulders. "Hello. My name is Jeremiah Gottwald." Jeremiah Gottwald spoke. "It is my sorrow to inform the residents of Area 11 that our beloved Viceroy, Prince Clovis La Britannia, was murdered. Assassinated by a traitor!"

This caused Lelouch's eyebrows to quick up in surprise. 'I made sure to wipe myself from the video and sent all of the men with Clovis away. So, who are they...oh shit. He better not say what I think he's going to say.'

Jeremiah Gottwald continued. "But rest assured, the man who killed our dear Prince has been apprehended." At that, Gottwald pulled someone in from the right, forcing the ﬁgure to their knees for the camera. "The prime suspect is this man, Honorary Britannian Suzaku Kururugi!"

'Oh, fuck me.'

(Scene Change)

(Shinjuku Ghetto)

"How much further is it Kallen?" Milly questioned as the red-head led them through the ruins of Shinjuku.

"Not too much farther. Our base is this old schoolhouse that Ohgi worked at before the invasion." Kallen said as she continued to lead them through the rubble. Her mind was spinning fast, running over what had happened after Gottwald's announcement. The most dramatic had been Nunnally dropping her plate in shock, as tears began to fall down her face. Lelouch had quickly sprang into action, grabbing his sister and moving her to a bedroom down the hall. The rest of the student council had various looks of shock and sadness on their faces, genuine on the faces of Rivalz and Nina, but more forced on the faces of Milly and Shirley.

After returning to the council room, Lelouch asked if they could be dismissed for the day, which Milly agreed to. The group went their separate ways, but before Kallen could leave, she was grabbed by Sayoko, who took her back to Lelouch's room, where the two meet up with the ex-prince and his mistresses, as Kallen now called them.

Lelouch explained how they needed to move the meeting with the resistance ﬁghters to today. When Kallen argued that it might take time, Lelouch said they didn't have time to decide whether or not to meet him, as they needed to rescue Suzaku as soon as possible, and as such they needed to start planning now. Kallen reluctantly agreed and decided to bring them to their Shinjuku base.

Kallen shook her head to clear it as she approached a run-down school. Walking up to the door, Kallen knocked once, waited ﬁve seconds before knocking again, then knocked two ﬁnal times in rapid succession.

"Oh damn." A voice from behind the door said as the group heard the shuﬄing of feet. Slowly the door creaked open and a head of red hair peaked out. Upon seeing Kallen, the door ﬂew open and Shinichiro Tamaki fully appeared.

"Kallen? I guess hearing about Kururugi got you...concerned?" Tamaki began before dying off as he noticed the trio of students standing behind Kallen. "Uhhhh Kallen, who are they?"

"Oh, for the love of…" Lelouch started before moving towards the front. "Remember me Tamaki? I wonder if your back has any bruises from me throwing you on your ass?"

Tamaki's eyes widened before narrowing in a glare. "Oh great, now the damn prince knows where we live. Good going Kallen. Should we be expecting an air strike anytime soon?"

"You're going to receive another verbal and physical thrashing if you don't move and let Kallen lead me to the rest of your group. So, what will it be? Another ﬁght or being a good boy and moving aside?"

As Lelouch spoke, Kallen could see that Tamaki was getting more and more aggravated. His rage hit its peak when Lelouch seemingly compared him to a dog. Raising his ﬁst Tamaki gave a war cry, while Lelouch simply shook his head.

(Scene Change)

(Inside the Kouzuki Resistance Base)

Kaname Ohgi sighed as he listened to his friends and fellow resistance members argue about the proper course of action to take following the "arrest" of Suzaku Kururugi.

'I wonder if any other leaders have to deal with their subordinates arguing like children?'

(Scene Change)

(Nariata Mountain)

Colonel Tohdoh looked and sighed as his Holy Swords began to argue about the proper terminology of an object. 'Who really cares if it's a ladder or a step-ladder?' Suddenly the Colonel sneezed, causing the Holy Swords to stop arguing and look at their leader.

"Are you ok Colonel?" Nagisa Chiba asked.

Tohdoh nodded. Once he did that, his men turned around and starting arguing again.

'May the gods help me.'

(Scene Change)

(Kouzuki Base)

Ohgi and the rest looked up at the entryway to their meeting area as they heard the sounds of a ﬁght and Tamaki crying out. Ohgi sighed, Nagata laughed, while the others rolled their eyes.

"So, what do you think Tamaki did to piss Kallen off this time?" Kento Sugiyama said.

"With him, it doesn't take much." Toru Yoshida replied while shivering. "Although I don't think I want to deal with an angry Kallen right now."

Most of other members of the group nodded while shivering. Kallen's temper was legendary amongst the resistance members. Once, she had gotten so annoyed at Tamaki that she ended up drugging his drink, tying him to a target and using his body to practice knife throwing. To this day, Tamaki pales when he sees Kallen holding knives.

The recollection of angry Kallen moments came to an end when the door to the meeting room was knocked off its hinges as Tamaki's body came ﬂying through. The man had swirls in his eyes and was groaning in pain.

"Seriously? That's the third door this week." Yoshitaka Minami remarked.

"My apologies but Tamaki and I had a disagreement." A familiar voice said, causing the group to stiffen. Lelouch Vi Britannia walked through the door, as calm as could be. Following him were Kallen and two other girls, both of whom were wearing Ashford Academy School uniforms.

"I wanted to walk through and talk to you all, and well...he didn't."

As Tamaki continued to groan, Oghi ﬁxed his eyes on Lelouch. "Well...now that that's settled, can I please ask a question?"

"Of course."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I would have thought that was obvious." Lelouch said with a grin. "I said that we would meet again, so here I am."

Oghi sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can see that. But why are you here now? I doubt it's the proper time to explain to us why you decided to help us ﬁght your brother. So, allow me to restate my question. Why are you here?"

This time, Lelouch's smile seemed more forced. "Very well. Trust, after all, is a two-way street, and I guess I need to be the one to lay down the gravel ﬁrst. You see, once upon a time…"

(Flashback)

"Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia, 11th Prince of Britannia!"

The announcement rang out across the Imperial Britannia Throne Room, as a young boy of 10 walked across it. Around him, the boy could hear the whispers of the various nobles, many of whom were remarking on the horrible tragedy that happened to the young boy and his little sister.

The boy stopped at a set of steps that led to an ornate throne of gold, sitting in which was an elderly man of imposing physical and mental presence. The sheer authority and power which radiated from the man was enough to make most men cave in awe and fear. To some, this man was known as The White Lion, King of Britannia. To other's he was known as The Emperor. To others he was 'His Imperial Majesty'. But to Lelouch Vi Britannia, he called this man one thing.

Father.

Kneeling before The Emperor, Lelouch began to speak. "Your majesty, my mother, Empress

Marianne Vi Britannia is dead and my sister, Princess Nunnally Vi Britannia is blind and crippled."

The Emperor looked at the boy kneeling before him with something akin to pity in his eyes before they hardened. "This is old news. What of it?"

Lelouch's eyes widened before he lifted his head to look his father in the eye. "I would like to know why the search for my mother's killer was suspended indeﬁnitely? Is this matter not of importance?" The nobles in the court could all hear the confusion in the young prince's voice, as well as the underlying tone of anger.

"The investigation was ended because it was not a matter of importance. I have dozens of Empresses and dozens more children. Why should I care about the lives of two? Two who were clearly too weak to defend themselves."

The air went still in the throne room. The nobles were glancing between the boy kneeling on the ground, whose face held a look of horror, and the emperor on the throne, whose remained stoic to a fault.

The boy was the ﬁrst to crack. "You...HOW DARE YOU!" He roared before jumping to his feet and pointing an accusing ﬁnger at his father. "How can you sit there and call yourself a father - much less an emperor - and say such despicable things about your own family? How can you -"

Lelouch was cut off by his father slamming a clenched hand on the arm of his throne before standing. Lelouch internally winced at the look in his father's eyes, before his own eyes widened at seeing that the emperor, in his anger, had made a dent in his solid gold throne.

"You ask why? Because that is the law of the world, the law of Britannia. The weak die while the strong survive. If one cannot survive in this world, then that person is weak! If one cannot defend themselves, then that person is weak, and as such is not worth the effort of protecting, much less caring for!" The emperor slowly advanced down the steps towards the boy, ﬂanked by the Knight of One, the Emperor's Shadow, Bismarck Waldstein.

Finally reaching the ﬂoor, the emperor stood a few feet away from his son, the two glaring into each other's eyes. Lelouch was the ﬁrst to react, taking off his ornate purple cape and throwing it to the ground. "If that is the case then I do not wish to be a part of this anymore. I renounce my claim to the throne and my name. I am no longer Lelouch Vi Britannia. I am no longer your son."

Gasp arose from the gallery of nobles who couldn't believe what they just witnessed. The emperor himself showed at least a little emotion, in the form of raising his eyebrows. "Is that so." Charles Zi Britannia said. "Very well then. I shall accept this."

The young boy turned to leave before a hand grabbed his shoulder. Turning his head, the boy saw that Bismarck Waldstein was the one who held him in place. The emperor continued to speak. "I see that you have no idea what you have done, do you boy? You may have left this life behind. But your sister has not. Or rather, your ex-sister."

At those words, Lelouch's eyes widened and shock became apparent on his face. 'Nunnally...NO!'

The emperor let out a laugh upon seeing the look on Lelouch's face. "But I have no use for a broken and crippled pawn, nor for one who refuses to follow orders. Therefore, I banish you and Nunnally Vi Britannia from this realm. I believe the island nation of Japan would be the best place to relocate garbage like the two of you. Bismarck, see to it that the two are sent there."

"Yes, your majesty."

(End Flashback)

"After that, my sister and I were sent over here, without any sort of guard and only having the clothes on our back. Nunnally was still in critical condition, which the ﬂight only exacerbated. When we reached Japan, we were taken to the Kururugi Shrine, where Prime Minister Kururugi and his son took us in. They helped get Nunnally the proper treatment and helped the two of us acclimate to Japan. I believe you all know what happened next."

Oghi nodded. "Britannia invades and the Prime Minister commits suicide. What happened to you and your sister during the invasion?"

Lelouch broke eye contact for the ﬁrst time since he walked in as he forced himself to remember what he and his sister were forced through.

"The Kururugi Shrine was one of the ﬁrst places attacked. First there was an airstrike, which destroyed much of the surrounding landscape, as well as the main house. Luckily, most of us we're outside at the time, and were able to take cover in a shelter. However, after that the real battle began. OSI agents began to airdrop into the area. They were quick and eﬃcient, and it was only through sheer numbers and dumb luck that the Japanese who were guarding us were able to prevail. The ﬁve of us moved to a secure location, where the Prime Minister committed suicide and Nunnally and I became separated from Suzaku. I grabbed Nunnally and carried her for miles upon miles. Some nights we slept in the woods, other nights we were fortunate and were able to ﬁnd partially demolished homes in the countryside to stay in. Other nights were much worse. The cover we had on those nights often smelled of rotting ﬂesh and smoke."

Lelouch took a breath and looked back up at the resistance group. They all - even Tamaki -ﬂinched at the look of horror in his eyes and the grim features he bore on his face.

"Eventually, we made it to The Tokyo Settlement, where I ran into Reuben Ashford by complete coincidence."

The young blonde lady stepped up to Lelouch's right and took his hand in hers.

"I suppose that's where I can come in. My name is Milly Ashford. The man Lelouch ran into is my grandfather and the Dean of Ashford Academy."

(Flashback)

"Lelouch!" An 11-year-old Milly cried out as she leapt at her childhood friend, engulﬁng him in a hug. The boy winced before awkwardly placing his arms around her as well. Milly began to cry into Lelouch's shoulder as the boy began to pat her back in an attempt to soothe her.

"Milly this is uncalled for. As you can see, I'm perfectly ﬁne." The former-prince said in a monotone. "Now please let go. I need to check on Nunnally."

Milly pulled herself back, grasping Lelouch's shoulders. "She's ﬁne Lelouch, we have some of the best doctors we know looking at her. But I'm concerned about you! What happened to you out there!"

Lelouch simply looked her in the eyes, causing Milly to recoil. In Lelouch's eyes she saw nothing.

No anger, no sadness, no happiness. Nothing. It was like she was staring into a never-ending void. Lelouch gently removed himself from her before he moved past her in an attempt to ﬁnd his sister.

Milly, however, was having none of that. Quickly grabbing the boy, she threw him back onto the ﬂoor, before pinning him down with her own body. Lelouch continued to look at her with empty eyes. "Milly, I need to see-"

"ENOUGH LELOUCH!"

The young girl's yell was enough to elicit a response from Lelouch, who went silent and tilted his head.

"Enough, please. You need to talk about this. About how you feel about the war, about what happened to Nunnally, to yourself. About what your father-"

That proved to be a trigger for Lelouch, who cut Milly off with a note of anger in his voice. "That man is not my father. He left my sister for dead. His own daughter."

"He left you as well. Does that not bother you?"

"Should it? Before I was forced away, I renounced my name and my claims, stating that I was no longer his son. I feel no anger for what he did to me. However, for what he did to Nunnally. He invaded a country where his daughter was living, his blind and crippled daughter. That, Millicent, infuriates me! The actions of the emperor, all under the guise of Social Darwinism, are what makes me angry. For in a world of those principles my sister cannot live!"

As he spoke, the tone of Lelouch's voice began to get more and more angry, as though an inferno was being stoked in his chest.

"She can never ﬁnd happiness in a world such as that! And it is for that reason that someday I'll bring it all to an end. I will ﬁnd out why mother was murdered and exact my vengeance! I will change this world so that my sister can ﬁnd happiness! If I must become a demon, a monster, a creature from the very pits of Hell itself in order to do that, then I will! I swear to you that...that…"

"That I will destroy Britannia!"

Milly looked at her friend and secret-crush with alarm, which quickly gave way to anger. Standing and pulling the boy to his feet, she reared her arm back and let her open palm ﬂy into the boy's face, causing Lelouch to stumble back holding his jaw.

"You damn fool! Do you understand what you are saying!" Milly yelled. "Britannia controls a third of the world, and you think you can take them down. With what army? They have more advanced Knightmares than anybody else out there!"

"I'll build one. I'll get the resources!"

"HOW WILL YOU DO THAT WITHOUT DYING! YOU"RE AN IDIOT! AN IDIOT WHO'S GOING TO RISK EVERYTHING HE LOVES ON A FRUITLESS ENDEAVOR!"

"It won't be fruitless when I succeed."

"WHEN? YOU'RE SO DAMN ARROGANT THAT YOU THINK YOU CAN ACTUALLY WIN WITHOUT ANY HELP!"

Milly took several calming breaths before looking Lelouch dead in the eye. "If you're going to this, with even a 1% chance of actually winning, then you are going to need all the help you can get."

Lelouch's eyes widened. "Milly...what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we are going to do this together. I'm going to help you in this revolution of yours. I'm going to help you destroy the greatest empire in the world."

Lelouch quickly became furious with her. "Are you insane! What about your grandfather and his standing and your own for that matter!"

"What standing! My family was stripped of just about everything and sent to Japan because we supported your mother. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain from this gambit Lelouch!"

Lelouch looked her in the eyes trying to ﬁnd anything that would indicate her lying about her intentions or feelings. He found none. "Why...why do this. You should live a normal life. Why would you sacriﬁce all of that for me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Milly said before closing the distance and wrapping her arms around the young prince. "I love you Lelouch. I love you so much it hurts. I thought you were gone once before and I felt like the world had ended. And now here you are, just coming back into my life, and you announce that you're embarking down a path that has a near 100% chance of killing you. I won't allow it! I won't allow you to go down that path alone! I'll be by your side until the end. Whether that be the two of dismantling the empire or the two of us meeting a bitter, bloody end. Either way, I will not lose you again."

Lelouch could only stare at the young women in wonder. 'Milly…'

And in that moment, Lelouch felt something. Something that he had lost over the past few days. The will to live for more than just Nunnally. He wanted to live for Milly. But more importantly, he wanted to live for himself.

(End Flashback)

"That's our story." Milly said as she felt Lelouch wrap an arm around her in comfort, which she reciprocated. The two were joined by Shirley as they took in the scene before them. The resistance members were in various states of shock and disbelief. Many wore faces of sympathy for the teens standing before them. Tamaki stared at them in shock before lowering his gaze, while Kallen had to wipe tears away from her eyes.

Ohgi had been watching the two the whole time, listening to the way they talked and watching their body language, looking for any sign that their stories could be nothing but lies. Finding none, he sat down in his chair and cradled his head in his hands.

After a few minutes, Lelouch cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention.

"As nice as this trip down memory lane has been, I believe I explained everything about my past to the lot of you. Now I need to ask you a question? Would you be willing to work with us in our quest to destroy the current form of Britannia?"

Kallen looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean by the "current form of Britannia"? I thought your goal was to completely destroy Britannia."

"Originally it was." Lelouch admitted. "I was young and angry. I said several things out of anger and spite. But after calming down and talking about the situation with Milly - and later with Shirley - I realized that it's not the whole of Britannia that is to blame for the world's current situation. It is the nobility of Britannia, the upper crust, with the Royal Family sitting on top. They perpetuate the cycle of violence and hatred that Britannia spouts out in forms of propaganda. They are the ones who would not accept my sister for something that was not her fault. They are the ones who my ﬁght is with. Not the everyday man."

"How do you know that the average joe on the street won't think the same thing about your sister?" Nagata asked.

"Have you ever met an average Britannian. No? I'm not surprised. They aren't the ones who can come over to an Area as freely as the nobility or the aﬄuent. They mostly stay in the Homeland, where they work the same jobs that Honorary Britannians work here. They are bartenders, cab drivers, food vendors, and such. They don't have the…'quality education' that the aﬄuent have, and as such they escape most of the propaganda that permeates throughout Britannia. As such, they would not see a girl who was too weak to protect herself, but someone who couldn't help her circumstances. I cannot say whether or not they would treat her as they would someone who could see and walk, but it would be better than being discriminated against. I'm sure all of you can relate."

Ohgi nodded, as did the others. Lelouch sighed. "I'm sorry, but we are going to have to curtail anymore questions on your part. It's getting late and I need an answer. Will you help us?"

Ohgi looked at the ex-prince, then his two companions, then his group. 'Damn. What would Naoto do in this situation.' Making up his mind, Ohgi spoke.

"We do owe you for saving our lives and leading us to victory. But I don't trust you. Not yet, not entirely. After you left, Nagata told us about something you were able to do. You ordered a group of soldiers to kill themselves. Instead of shooting you like one would expect, they did exactly as you ordered. Why?"

"What did you do to them?"

So that's Chapter 9. We have one more chapter left from the original. He posted a Chapter 11 but it was just a message from him discussing how he was giving the IP to someone else. In this case me. So things will likely slow down, shifting from a daily to a weekly update as we go forward. Once again, review, favorite, whatever. I appreciate you all.

INUYAHA signing out.