AN: Greetings faithful. I'm pleased to bring you the 10th chapter of this story. I know it's been quite a ride already and we aren't even half way through this season. I would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time and reading, without every last one of you this would just be a story in microsoft word. You're the only reason this story is on this site! So again, thank you very much : ) Without further delay I give you the next chapter.

Tipping the scale

It was a rather gloomy morning in the Ashford courtyard, not only was the weather less than favorable but the mood that hung over Lelouch was just unpleasant. He never wanted to use his geass on Kallen, but he had to.. didn't he? He couldn't let Kallen sit and just soak in her mother's blood, not only would Q-1 prove useless to the Black Knights for some time but the way it would have effected Kallen Stadtfeld.. It wasn't a sight he cared to observe. The worst part of the scenario was he didn't really have anyone to confide in, perhaps it was him being selfish, but still he felt the burden he relieved Kallen of now rested on his shoulders. C.C. wouldn't understand and the Black Knights had to be left in the dark for that matter. He even took the precaution of talking to the rest of the Black Knights and telling them not to speak of the operation to Kallen. He made sure his suggestion carried plenty of importance to ensure that they would take him serious but not drastic enough for someone to be a 'good pal' and figure out what was wrong. Luckily they didn't see Kallen's mother burn alive, so they just shrugged it off. They had more important things to talk about anyway. Since they put up their site, as requested by Zero, applications were piling in faster than they ever imagined. Support from thousands of Japanese alone, not to mention even some Britannians were on their side after seeing the way that their country acted towards the civilian lives. It was true that at every opportunity, Zero took the initiative to show just how heartless the Britannians were and how he resembled the one shining star amongst the sea of black. Truth be told, he was no shining star, he was just the only one present. But it isn't difficult to step forward and be a hero, when everyone else simply steps back.

The sky was spitting rain, just drops here and there nothing serious. Just enough to keep the sun at bay. The students were all in a rush to get out of the sprinkling rain, only Lelouch walked. It was Wednesday, meaning that he would have to gym today. "Not today." He stated blandly to himself. Even though he expected it to be an easy day, he needed some time to be in his own head. The bell rang and everyone made their way to their classes while Lelouch calmly walked to the roof. He was no stranger to skipping classes and this was where he would spend his time, it was the one place where he could be by himself. Puddles of water collected on the cement roof, he'd forgotten to bring his umbrella and didn't care enough to go and get it. It wasn't going to kill him to get a little wet. He rested his back against the wall that encased the roof top and pulled his laptop out of his bag. As much as he wanted to simply brood in silence he still had a job to do. He pulled up the Black Knights site and started browsing through the serious applications. Most of the comments on the page were just short little one liners. 'You guys are so sick!1', 'I'm your biggest fan,' 'Zero marry me!' They were just a bunch of students most likely, voicing their support. While it was welcomed it was also tiresome, what did they expect in return for those comments? 'Thanks?' He wasn't working for the people's compliments, all he asked them for was their loyalty, and that didn't require them to speak.

At least some good was coming from the popularity though, Kyoto's shipment was due today at some point. After they receive the shipment they can finally move onto a new hideout, a moveable one. Unfortunately it's rather difficult to send a large shipment to a moving address, so they had to wait until the time was right. On top of their financial support there were a few applications that actually showed some promise, some claimed to have some weapons knowledge and even a little bit of experience with Knightmare frames. Of course all of this information had no proof, so he had to be careful not to bite on offers that seemed too good to be true.

"Hmm Diethard Reid.." Lelouch read the name aloud. The application says that he's in media, that would be helpful. "He's Britannian.. Then again so am I. Still I have to wonder about his motives." Still it was likely that this wasn't a trap, he'd been doing just fine without a media person on his side. "What's this?" Lelouch clicked a file that the man had attached to his application, it was a planned broadcast about an attack on the Narita mountains. It seemed that Cornelia would be going after the JLF tomorrow. "Well now, isn't that interesting." Lelouch clicked on the accept button, he would have to meet with this Diethard Reid. Perhaps he would prove more useful than initially anticipated.

Water dripped from his hair down onto his face, how much time had passed by? He looked down at his phone he'd missed a text message, it was from Kallen. "Everything okay? You weren't in gym class." Apparently he got a spell of tunnel vision and didn't realize his phone go off.

He calmly entered his reply. "Yeah, I just needed some time is all." He rested his head against the damp concrete behind him, looking up into the overcast sky as rain drops kissed his face.

Lelouch's phone chimed and he looked down at it to open the message from Kallen. "Where are you?"

He thought how to reply to her. He could lie to her, send her away. It was probably the right thing to do.. "I'm on the roof." Was what he typed. Lelouch couldn't deny it, Kallen's company sounded pretty good at the moment. Obviously he couldn't tell her what was wrong, but that didn't mean she couldn't make him feel better. She seemed to have that effect on him.

It didn't seem like very long before Kallen opened the door to the roof tops. "I thought you might be- what are you doing out here? You're getting soaked." She said, as if he had no idea. "Come on let's get you inside."

"Just a bit longer." Lelouch stated plainly, he gestured for her to sit beside him.

Kallen arched her brow, "Lelouch, there is no way that I'm going to sit in a puddle of water in a mini skirt." She looked closer to try to see into his eyes, he seemed troubled somehow. Understanding it was a bit more serious she approached him and squatted down, trying to dig a bit deeper into his violet eyes. "Lelouch what's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it, it doesn't concern you." Lelouch shook his head casually and stared in her eyes for a moment. Droplets of water falling from his dark hair.

"But it does concern you, which concerns me." She had never seen him so distraught. "Is it a Zero thing?" She asked curiously.

Irony had a funny way of creeping up on Lelouch it seemed. Here Kallen was trying to comfort him about her mother's death.. "No... It's a Lelouch thing. One of my friends is just having some troubles, I'm trying to figure out how to deal with them."

Kallen smiled sincerely back at him. "Just find a way to make them remember what's important to them. Everyone has something to live for. For me it's my mother, she left recently but I'm glad for her you know?" Lelouch locked eyes with Kallen, it took every last drop of his willpower not to break down in front of her as she spoke. "I just know that she's in a better place now. She's finally free of that hell she put up with for so long."

Lelouch couldn't stand it, he had to look away from her. How fate just loved to push his face in his mistakes. "I understand.." He moved to sit up but Kallen rested her hand on his shoulder, imploring him to remain for a moment longer.

"But she's not all.. I-I care about you.." Kallen blushed slightly, it felt good to get it off her chest as it had been weighing her down for some time now. She brought her hand to the side of his face and gently brought him to face her. His eyes were full of something she couldn't tell what, but something was there, much better than nothing. She'd come this far, there was little point at stopping now. Kallen inched further towards him, rain clinging to his lips. He made no motion to stop her as she closed her eyes and brought her lips to meet his. He closed his eyes and returned her kiss, it was the most bittersweet moment he had ever experienced. His lips had the faintest taste of salt from a tear that he hid all too well.

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Inside the Britannian flagship Cornelia was sitting at a table, looking over the preparations for Narita. She had her hand placed thoughtfully on her jaw as she looked at the map of the mountain, placing markers that represented units across the field. She had called in extra reinforcements for this mission and she had the Lancelot ready to go into combat with her. Still, she needed to ensure the safety of the command ship, Euphemia was going to be onboard and she didn't want to take any chances with her younger sister. "Guilford."

As summoned the Knight showed up on a screen in front of her. "Princess?"

"Change of plans, inform the pilot of the Lancelot that he is to remain guarding the command ship until ordered otherwise. I want him to protect Euphemia until we need him." Cornelia said bringing her attention back to the map.

"Understood." Guilford responded and cleared the channel.

This way if Zero comes and tries to ambush the command vessel the Lancelot will buy them enough time to regroup. If Zero moves into the battlefield she can bring the Lancelot from behind. Of course this entire plan hinged on the thought that Zero would show up. Britannia didn't want him to, with him out of the picture this victory was already won. Which was why no public statement had been made, if there was one, Zero was sure to come. Despite this Cornelia had faith that the information would find him somehow and prayed that he would show.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Suzaku knocked on the chamber of the sub-viceroy. "You may enter." Euphemia called out.

"Greetings your highness, my name is Suzaku Kururugi. I'm the pilot of the Lancelot." Suzaku kneeled before her in his white uniform.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Suzaku, I'm Euphemia li Britannia." She responded kindly, still unsure as to why he had come. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Oh no Princess, I'm charged with your safety for the time being." Suzaku clarified, he thought she would have been aware of the situation. It would appear that Euphemia was left in the dark about much that went on in Area 11.

She blinked twice and tilted her head slightly. "You're my Knight?"

Suzaku's eyes widened, "no, nothing like that. I'm just told to protect you for the time being."

"I see.." Euphemia seemed disappointed somehow. She'd always liked the idea of having a Knight, it was just so romantic. At the same time she was glad, although Suzaku was cute, she'd prefer her Knight to be her choice, not her sisters. Euphemia always looked up to Cornelia, even though she wasn't given a choice. Cornelia simply always stood above her in every way, which gave Euphie a bit of an inferiority complex. She knew that she could never amount to the standard her sister set. All she wanted was to make a difference, to make the world a better place. In doing so, she would surprise everyone, including herself, and prove that the world doesn't need hate to exist.

"Is something the matter your highness?" Suzaku asked as he stood up.

"It's nothing." She flashed him a wide smile that seemed to suit her so well. This did have an upside to it, perhaps now she would allotted more freedom since she had a personal body guard. She could finally break out of this cell and see the world through fresh eyes, instead of only seeing the politics and war."Tell me Suzaku, how does some fresh air sound?"

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Zero and Q-1 arrived at the warehouse shortly after receiving the message that the Kyoto shipment had arrived. They were both rather eager to see just how much faith they had placed in the Black Knights. Tamaki had already made short work of all the crates that contained the Knightmares. They had been given two dozen custom Burai Knightmare frames. Tactically speaking they were right on par with Britannians Sutherlands. The real prize they had received however was a one of a kind Knightmare, it was a seventh generation from the looks of it. The Guren Mk II was an intimidating piece of machinery, it's right arm housed a gauntlet that ended with a vicious looking claw. From the looks of it, the Guren was meant for close ranged combat.

"I would assume that it came with a manual?" Zero asked the other Black Knights who were still in awe at the bounty they had received.

"Yeah I'm flipping through it now." Tamaki said with the manual in hand. "I gotta say this is some pretty sweet stuff. It's obvious that the Kyoto group knows who the big dogs are." He finished with a huge grin on his face and his thumb pointed to his chest.

"I'm sure they do." Zero said flatly, grabbing the manual from Tamaki's hand. The manual was at least three inches thick, clearly the Guren couldn't be flown effectively by an average pilot. He began to skim through it quickly.

"Go figure that you get the bad ass ride." Tamaki scoffed with his arms crossed.

"Well it goes without saying that Zero would-" Ohgi began to correct his comrade.

"Incorrect. I will not be piloting the Guren, I will use a Burai just like the rest of you." Zero stated clapping the text shut with one hand.

"So then who gets it?" Tamaki questioned with his arms now in the air.

"I'll make that decision in due time. For now focus on getting everything unpacked and ready to move. We'll be leaving for the Narita mountains as soon as possible." Zero ordered.

"Narita Mountains?" Ohgi asked approaching Zero. "What's waiting for us there?"

"Nothing is waiting for us. We'll be waiting for Cornelia, but we must move quickly if we wish to catch her off guard. I want to be ready to leave within the hour." Zero turned his back on the Black Knights and began to walk away.

"One hour? You've gotta be kidding! We don't have time to pack everything we're going to need in an hour!" Tamaki shouted with his fist clenched.

Zero looked back over his shoulder. "Then you certainly don't have time to complain." Tamaki growled in frustration but did as he was told and began to make the preparations to leave. "Q-1, I would ask to have a word with you." Kallen stopped mid stride on her way to help the others and looked in Zero's direction as he beckoned her over to him. She bowed her head and made her way towards the masked man. "Walk with me Kallen." He said as they left the larger loading area of the warehouse. He opened a door to a smaller room that he had been using as his own private work area while acting as Zero. It only had a desk and two chairs but it did the job. He dropped the manual on the desk and walked around to the chair behind it.

Kallen bit her lip nervously she didn't know why he would want to talk to her in private but she imagined it couldn't be good. Probably a talk about how their kiss earlier didn't mean anything to Zero and how they would have to maintain a professional appearance among the Black Knights. She kept waiting for him to talk but just sat behind the beaten desk with his fingers intertwined in front of him. "Is something wrong Zero?"

"No, I simply wanted to do this away from the others." He seemed to enjoy making her squirm, he knew exactly what she would be thinking about. Zero wanted her to sit and boil in her thoughts. He picked up the manual to the Guren and extended it out to Kallen.

Kallen stared at it for a moment, unsure what to say. "Zero are you sure this is the best idea? You're our leader, we need to-"

"You are only half right Q-1. I am the leader of the Black Knights in terms of strategy and tactics, plans and schemes. However, in terms of combat ability, you are the leader. You're the best pilot I have, and you're the only one who will be able to achieve maximum compatibility with this particular unit." Zero continued to hold out the manual to Kallen, although it was starting to become heavy.

"Zero.." Kallen whispered beneath her breath. She looked at the text with pride and determination. She would prove him right, she would master this beast, make it her own. With this caliber of a weapon she would become a symbol that inspired fear on the battlefield. "This doesn't have anything to do with what happened earlier does it?" She had to ask, it was eating away at the back of her mind.

"It has everything to do with what's happened earlier." Kallen's heart sank for a moment, she wasn't quite sure how to feel. "Nothing to do with what happened on the school roof though. No Kallen, this I give to you as Zero. The Guren has nothing to do with Lelouch. You've proven yourself in combat numerous times, just as you have proven your loyalty. I believe in rewarding those deserving, and I couldn't think of anyone more deserving than you." Kallen's heart swelled with pride, a foolish grin now displayed on her face. "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes Zero." She replied, clutching the manual close to her chest.

"Then you had best report back to the others. We don't have any time to lose." He bowed his head generously as she turned to walk back out the door.

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Lloyd was pacing back and forth with some unique type of food in his hand. Cecile was always concocting things for him to try, most of them fell into the category of abject failure. Still he was a man of science and he knew just as well that it took a hundred mistakes to make each scientific marvel, perhaps it was the same in the culinary world. On today's menu was a twice baked potato topped with peppers, sauerkraut and the kicker caramel sauce. It looked good enough, Lloyd took a bite.. Abject failure. "I'm afraid we've struck out again on this one." He said as he gently pushed the toppings off of the potato to try and salvage the meal.

"What progress were you able to make on the Lancelot?" Cecile responded as she took note of the culinary disaster in her note pad.

"Well after some fine tuning and changing the variable output towards the shield I believe I've extended the Lancelot's energy capacity by three fold. It seems a miscalculation was devoting far more energy than necessary for the deflection of low-mid level impact. Even the lightest of hits would put the shield into overdrive. That's the problem with a first of its kind though, you have to work out the problems as they come." Lloyd adjusted his glasses as he looked over the data on the terminal in front of him. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, it was music to his ears. Devices were like puzzles to him, sometimes his creations seemed to have a mind of their own, a characteristic that he both loved and despised.

"And what of the new weapons systems? Cornelia won't be pleased with those results alone." Cecile said looking back at Lloyd with a sense of care. Even though there wasn't anything between them, it was difficult to work beside a single person for so long and not develop some kind of feeling for them.

"The sabres have the green light; that should give the Lancelot the edge it needs in close range." Lloyd was giddy with excitement, he couldn't wait to see how the numbers his fine tuned machine would put out. "Although the VARAS won't be ready for tomorrow. While it provided some much needed data during that hotel scandal it also revealed a flaw in its design. The beam becomes more focused at long range, resulting in a disappointing amount of stopping power at close range."

"Couldn't we simply allow the Lancelot to take it into combat anyway? If it's effective at long range than the sabres should be able to make up for the close range." Cecile questioned. She stood from her seat and moved over to look at Lloyd's terminal over his shoulder.

"We could, and then we would have to hold it back for the next mission, each time we would have an equal reason to simply send it into combat. No I like my devices to work exactly as they were intended, the sooner we complete the process the better."

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The Black Knights had arrived at the Narita Mountains; it was getting dark already as they unpacked their supplies and began to set up camp. Zero watched as the Black Knights worked like ants, they'd learned to work with each other rather well, things were going very smoothly. Even Tamaki was helping without complaining. Perhaps he should disguise more of their operations as 'field trips'. Zero laid out a map and took note of the surrounding area. While the others were pitching tents and setting up a fire, he was drawing formations and flanking maneuvers.

After the camp was set up Zero stood up and took center stage in the camp. "We have a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow." The Black Knights let out a slight groan. "I will assign everyone their groups and their individual tasks. The Britannians are due to arrive at 1800 hours. Which gives us plenty of time to ensure everything goes smoothly. They intend to strike when the sun will be to their backs, making it harder to resist from an elevated position. A wise tactic, one we will use against them. But for now, get some rest, there will be plenty of time for that tomorrow." The Black Knights nodded and began to thin into their tents, most housed two people but some preferred their privacy. Lelouch being one of them stayed awake in his tent restlessly going over his plan and all possible outcomes and variables. As time passed he heard fewer and fewer members awake in the center of camp, Tamaki had brought up a bottle of sake and was tending to it personally. He was sharing tales about the good old days and this bar that he worked at before the he joined the resistance. Lelouch sighed and brought his hand to his forehead, he needed to focus on the plan, not Tamaki's personal history lesson.

It was likely that Cornelia expected him to show himself during this battle. She would likely try to draw him in and cut off his escape route. Also there was that white Knightmare, it had proven quite difficult in the past but now that they had the Guren on their side, they should be evenly matched. That still left Cornelia and her royal guard to even out. Lelouch noticed that the sounds outside of his tent had ceased now. Perhaps he could walk around, get some blood flowing. The Black Knights were counting on him, Kyoto had given him the props to work with, now he had to put on the show. That was the drawback of a brilliant plan, after that point, everyone expects it of you every time, and not only that, they expect improvement. This plan was definitely on a grand scale, he would use the very earth they fought upon as his unyielding weapon. With the fury of a landslide he would deliver a crushing blow to Britannia. Still, this victory would be short lived, he needed a way to leave the Empire reeling...

He drew back the panel of his tent and stepped out taking a breath of the fresh mountain air through his mask. He looked around and noticed all the tents were dark except for one. Upon closer inspection he recognized the silhouette as Kallen's. A smirk came across his lips as he approached her tent. It was almost unnerving how still her shadow was against the thin material of the tent.

"Kallen?" He asked quietly outside her tent.

"Zero is that you?"

"May I come in?" He responded.

"Yes of course." Kallen said plainly as she opened the tent for him. He stepped inside and zipped the tent shut behind him. Finally he felt it safe to remove his mask. As he rested his mask on the ground he realized what it was that had kept her up so late.

"I see you've taken that burden seriously." He motioned towards the Guren manual. "I'm glad to see that, you never disappoint Kallen."

Kallen grinned as she folded one of the page corners over to mark her spot and closed the book. "Thank you."

With limited room available in the tent he sat next to her, an arrangement she didn't seem to mind much at all. He reached his arm around her shoulder and pulled her tight to him. She turned her head slightly to look at his softening features. His chest burned with desire as he looked down into her sapphire eyes that played such a striking contrast to her crimson locks that she hid behind. She was one of the few things in his life currently that belonged to Lelouch, not Zero. He had forfeit everything to the Black King, even the safety of Nunnally was now a charge of Zero's, still Kallen remained his. The two of them seemed magnetized, moving slowly at first, pulling towards each other before finally closing the remaining distance in a quick leap of faith. They caught each other in a simple but passionate kiss. Their lips locked and Kallen began to move her arms around his lean torso. With the limited space it was rather difficult to sit up-right and continue. Struggling back and forth, trying to find a comfortable position Kallen growled in frustration and laid back pulling Lelouch on top of her. She parted his lips with hers and edged her tongue into his mouth, seeking its partner. Before long Lelouch found himself needing to breathe and pulled back momentarily. Kallen looked up at him with a blissful smile. It was that very smile that seemed like it could answer every problem he could ever come up with. No matter what was going wrong, her smile had a way of grounding him.

In an instant flash that ripped through his mind everything became clear, he could picture every detail.

Kallen was the answer.

AN: Another chapter in the books, so to speak. Hope you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear some feedback from you. Until next time..