Disclaimer: Code Geass is the property of Sunrise, Bandai et al. No money is being made from this fanfic and it will be removed if the above parties so request. All your base are belong to us.

Notes: This is a revised version of Chapter 2, now featuring scenes from Lelouch's point of view.

Code Geass: Children of the Revolution

Chapter 2: Baby, You Read My Mind

Lelouch nervously left the kitchen and approached Nunnally's room, carrying a tray with a steaming plate of kedgeree and a pot of her favourite oolong tea. The prospect of facing his sister again was more than a little daunting, after the revelations of yesterday. He had spent half the night cursing himself for the mistake that had led her to find out about his double life, even if his worst fears of her hating and fearing him had not come true. The thought had even occurred to him to use his Geass to make her forget; return her to a state of blissful ignorance. However, he had no idea if it would work on her even if he could bring himself to force open one of her sightless eyes, and either way, he doubted he could ever violate Nunnally's mind that way without killing himself with self-disgust. There were some lines he would never cross.

"A young girl's first day as a revolutionary should start with a hearty breakfast. What a good brother you are." Lelouch suppressed a groan at the sight of his unwelcome roommate returning from the front door carrying a Pizza Hut box. As always, she looked unfairly well-groomed for someone who had just got out of bed, her eyes bright, her hair straight and gleaming and her skin clear.

"Go away. I'm not in the mood."

"What's new about that?" C.C. asked with a lascivious wink. Setting down the pizza, she leaned against the table and stretched lithely, making the hem of her shirt (his shirt, to be exact) ride up on her bare legs. He studiously averted his eyes.

"And get dressed, you can't answer the door like that."

"Why not?"

"Someone might get the wrong idea."

"Most teenage boys would be glad to have people know there's a scantily clad woman in their house."

"I'm not most teenage boys."

"That's certainly true."

Lelouch turned away in defeat. Nunnally's door slid open at the touch of a button, and he tiptoed in. Her sharp ears must have caught his footsteps nonetheless; she murmured sleepily and reflexively uncurled the hand she had clenched beside her face. Lelouch took a moment to look and smile fondly at her before setting the tray down and going to open the curtains. In repose, his sister looked as innocent and lovely as ever, her gently curling hair framing a face like a Botticelli Madonna. He felt yet another pang of remorse for disturbing such peace...but, he reminded himself sternly, he had not been the first to bring violence and death into her life. The morning sunshine flooded into the room, and there was a sudden, pained cry from behind him.

"Nunnally? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Lelouch was at her side in a heartbeat, touching the arm she had flung across her face. "Let me see..." She moved it aside...and he gave a high-pitched squeak and gaped. Her eyes were open, squinting and blinking but undeniably open and seeing, moving to focus on him.

"Oniisama? Am I still dreaming?" Nunnally continued to shield her face from the sunlight. "I can see you..." She reached out clumsily to touch his face.

"It's not a dream." Voice cracking, Lelouch hugged her tightly, then drew back to take in the sight again. "What...how...?"

"I dreamt you were in danger, and I couldn't save you without being able to see. So...I opened my eyes."

"Oh, Nunnally..." Lelouch smiled sadly, tears running down his cheeks. "I wanted the world to be different when you could see again..."

"We'll change it together," she said firmly.

"Shall I close the curtains again?" he asked, still not sure how to react to her enthusiasm for his crusade. "Your eyes aren't used to the light." She nodded.

/**/

Nunnally stared at Lelouch greedily as he returned to her side, eager to take in the sight of her brother after so long and unwilling to even blink in case her eyes never opened again. He looked like and yet unlike how she remembered; the same violet eyes several shades darker than her own with a familiar strong gaze, slightly wild black hair falling in front of them, the same lean frame and long-fingered hands. He had grown taller, of course, face more angular and intense, like a bird of prey...but so pale, so thin and stretched-out-looking. She had known he was tired and preoccupied, but it was still a shock to see it.

"What's all this noise about? Oh." Nunnally turned toward C.C.'s familiar, cultured voice, and saw her leaning in the doorway. C.C., it turned out, had a rather unusual appearance, with very pretty long green hair and golden eyes. She looked younger than Nunnally had expected from her voice and the way she moved, and was wearing a shirt that was too big for her, making her look smaller. There was a half-eaten slice of pizza in her hand, which seemed an odd thing to have for breakfast. Then again, Lelouch had said C.C. loved pizza (though he used words like 'obsessed').

"Hello, C.C.! I just opened my eyes, it's wonderful! Oh - I don't know if Oniisama told you, but I found out about him being Zero yesterday." C.C. remained impassive, but she shot Lelouch a look.

"C.C., I told you to put some clothes on for once," Lelouch said crossly. She simply rolled her eyes at him, finished her pizza and daintily licked her fingers, like a cat.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're here, C.C.," Nunnally said. "Now that my eyes work again, would you give me a Geass like Oniisama's?"

"Nunnally, no!" Lelouch exclaimed. "I told you, it wouldn't be safe. C.C., I forbid you to-"

"Since when do I do whatever you say?" C.C. approached Nunnally's bed. "I don't normally take on more than one contract at a time, but..." She trailed off, staring into space.

"I said no!" Lelouch grabbed C.C.'s arm to pull her away. Nunnally clutched at his wrist with both hands.

"Oniisama, please." Nunnally looked up at him, eyes wide and pleading. "I won't do this if you really don't want me to, but...I don't want to be useless any more. Please?"

"You're not useless, Nunnally." Lelouch let go of C.C. to take her hands in his own. "Don't say that."

"You know what I mean." She looked away.

"Do you want a Geass or not?" C.C. asked. "Because if not, I'm going back to bed."

Nunnally looked into Lelouch's eyes. The silence stretched out until she almost forgot to breathe. Finally, he sighed and stood up. "All right. But if your power can't be used without exposing you to danger..."

"Then I won't use it unless you think it's safe," Nunnally promised.

Lelouch stepped back and nodded to C.C. "Be careful," he warned. "If anything happens to her..."

"Yes, I'm sure your revenge will be swift and terrible." Sitting on the edge of the bed, C.C. took Nunnally's hand and leaned close, studying her intently. Looking into her unusual eyes, Nunnally got the sudden impression that the woman was even older than she had first thought. She felt suddenly nervous; how much did they really know about this Geass power? A quick glance at Lelouch stiffened her courage.

"Here's how this is going to work. My contract with Lelouch will be modified to include you as well. One of you will fulfil the wish I told him of in return for the power I grant."

"What is this wish of yours, anyway?" Lelouch asked. "And why keep the price the same for two Geass instead of one?"

"I only have one wish." C.C. spoke calmly, sounding bored, but Nunnally felt a strange tremor through her hand. "Accept this contract and accept the Power of the King," she continued. "It will set you apart from other humans, and condemn you to a lonely path."

"How could I be lonely if I'm with Oniisama?" Nunnally interrupted.

C.C. fell silent and glanced between the siblings. She closed her eyes, and Nunnally felt a sad, weary sigh go through her. Then she opened them again, calm as before. "Do you accept?" she asked softly.

"Yes."

The room around her vanished, replaced by a spinning tunnel filled with filaments and streamers of light. Two great spheres like clockwork toys replaced the vision in its turn, followed by a red and orange planet spinning against millions of stars. Then she was back in her bed, and C.C. was releasing her hand. Disoriented, she lost her balance and fell back onto the pillow. Immediately Lelouch thrust C.C. aside and knelt at her side again, examining her closely.

"Nunnally? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I think it worked..." Nunnally felt something alien in her mind, knowledge that had sprung into being as if recalled when waking from a long sleep. It was as though she had suddenly found a sense or limb she had forgotten and remembered how to use it. The sensation was like and yet unlike seeing again, since she had never forgotten the use of her eyes, merely been blocked from doing so.

"Can you tell what your Geass does?"

In her mind's eye, she saw words and images streaming into her eye from another's. "Something to do with reading minds, I think."

"Test it on me, then, it doesn't sound dangerous. What am I thinking?"

"Oh, this should be a laugh. Sure you have no secrets from your sister any more?"

"Shut up, C.C.!" Lelouch snapped, not turning round.

Swallowing nervously, Nunnally did as new instincts told her and looked intently into Lelouch's eyes, setting her new ability loose as easily as blinking. She felt a strange, sharp sensation like an electric spark behind her left eye. A glowing red symbol in the shape of a stylized bird appeared in her vision, flapping into motion and crossing the gap between the two of them. Rings of the same colour appeared around Lelouch's eyes for a few moments, then faded away.

Nunnally gasped and convulsed, her body briefly rigid. More new information, vast quantities of it, blossomed in her mind.

...hijack the Knightmare transport train to equip the terrorists, then use them to...

"Lelouch, you are dead, therefore you are not entitled to any rights. I am sending you and Nunnally to Japan..."

...queen takes king's bishop's pawn, checkmate, what does he take me for...

"Suzaku...for this, I swear...I will destroy Britannia!"

...the Britannian EX45 coilgun uses a G-class sakuradite energy filler and a twelve-dart magazine...

"Oniisama!"

When she regained her awareness of the here and now, Lelouch was looking at her, blinking. "Did you get anything? I just felt disoriented for a moment."

"I got a lot. I think I read...everything you remember. From your whole life."

His eyes went wide. "Everything?" There was a snort from C.C. which they both ignored.

"Well, sort of. I don't remember every event as if I was there, just a few. The rest is just like reading a book about it. I can only feel what you felt inside at the same few times. I think they must be the moments that meant the most to you, like when you felt sad when Mother died or triumphant when you became Zero. And when you were worried about me, like just now..." She tailed off, unable to find words. There had never, at any time, been any real doubt in Nunnally's mind that Lelouch loved her dearly, but to experience it directly was almost overwhelming, like seeing herself reflected in a magic mirror that erased all imperfections. She smiled, suddenly shy.

"Isn't this heartwarming."

"Out!"

"Fine, I'm going."

"Sorry about that," Lelouch muttered as C.C. sauntered off, smirking. "I'll never understand that girl."

"I think she's lonely."

"What? She has an odd way of showing it, in that case."

"Well, if all she wanted to do was keep you alive, she could just watch you without you noticing - the fact that she found us proves that. I think she came to live here and pester you because she wants to be around people, but she hides it by being rude and sarcastic. And she seems...sad, especially seeing us together. You should be nicer to her; after all, she was kept prisoner in a lab for heaven knows how long, that must have been horrible."

He raised a sceptical eyebrow. "I'll...think about it."

"You never know, perhaps she might like to actually be your girlfriend."

"What- That- I don't-"

Nunnally smiled mischievously. "You don't seem to mind having a pretty girl living in your room that much," she said, thinking of the occasional stray thought or half-remembered dream her Geass told her he had been having. "Then again, maybe you prefer Kallen? You did see her without any clothes on, after all."

Lelouch gulped. "This...is going to take some getting used to," he muttered.

/**/

"So what's this about?" Kallen tried not to fidget too obviously as she waited with the rest of the student council, minus the vice-president.

Milly shrugged. "Lelouch just said he and Nunnally had something important to tell us. Your guess is as good as mine."

"You don't think they might be leaving the school, do you?" Shirley asked, wide-eyed. "They've both been absent for three days...something might have happened."

"I hope not, but if so, you'd better say anything you have to say to him quick!"

"I...I don't know what you're talking about, President!"

Kallen tuned the conversation out. Her mind was still preoccupied with the weird business of Ohgi's phone call to Zero the evening before last. Their leader had called later that night and explained that he had had to change his number unexpectedly, diverting the old one to somewhere else to avoid suspicion. It was plausible, but odd. However, like Ohgi, she had trouble coming up with any reason why a little girl would have answered Zero's phone (Tamaki's dirty-minded suggestions aside) unless it really had been a wrong number. One possibility was that it had been Zero or an accomplice of his using some kind of voice-changing device, but what would the point have been?

"Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone." Lelouch opened the door for Nunnally's wheelchair, a broad smile on his face, rather to Kallen's surprise. His usual air of sardonic disinterest always dropped a bit around his disabled sister, but today he seemed almost like a different person. Oddly, he went to the window and started drawing the curtains as Nunnally halted at the head of the table.

"Ah...Nunnally, why are you wearing sunglasses?" Rivalz voiced everyone else's thoughts. The glasses in question were obviously Lelouch's, and looked comically out of place on Nunnally's face.

The room now dim, Lelouch returned to place a hand on his sister's shoulder. She smiled and removed the sunglasses. Immediately the rest of the student council jumped or cried out in surprise at the sight of her blinking her formerly perpetually closed eyes, which were large, luminous and pale violet. With them open, her face looked quite different, alert and focused instead of sleepy and vulnerable.

"Nunnally!" Suzaku rushed over to kneel down next to her wheelchair, followed by Shirley.

"I'm very pleased to see you all at last," Nunnally said. She glanced from face to face, smiling brightly. Kallen couldn't help smiling back - the younger girl's happiness was infectious. From what she remembered, Nunnally had been blind since the unspecified incident years ago that had crippled her, something Kallen found frightening to even imagine. It must have been even worse than being blind from birth. No-one deserved that, especially someone as gentle and sweet as Nunnally always seemed.

"How did you...?"

Nunnally glanced up at Lelouch. "I had a dream where Oniisama was in danger, and I couldn't help him without being able to see. I opened my eyes in the dream, then when I woke up, I opened them for real. Oniisama made a very funny noise when he saw it." Everyone laughed, Lelouch included.

"Lelouch in danger?" Milly asked, smiling. "You up to something you shouldn't be?" She poked Lelouch, who dodged aside.

Nunnally shrugged. "It was just a nightmare."

Kallen frowned. Was she imagining things, or had Nunnally's voice trembled a little? It could simply be fear from her dream, but it sounded suspiciously like evasion. The others seemed to sense that something had not been said as well, as there was a moment's awkward silence.

"See, Lelouch?" Suzaku said at length. "This is why you shouldn't go gambling in the city and getting into trouble. You're giving Nunnally bad dreams."

"You mean you'd rather she still couldn't see?" Lelouch shot back with a smile. Suzaku's eyes widened and he stammered a desperate denial, making Nunnally giggle.

Something was nagging at Kallen's mind. Lelouch, who she had suspected of knowing about her involvement in the Shinjuku incident, venturing out of the school unauthorized - Nunnally being concerned for his safety for some specific reason - a young Britannian girl with a high, sweet voice answering Zero's phone...her eyes widened. Surely not?

"This calls for a celebration!" Milly said with a dramatic gesture. "Someone call Pizza Hut and summon the finest victuals known to man!"

"I'll do it." Kallen forced herself not to run out to the foyer, pulling out her phone as soon as she was out of earshot of the others. She hastily placed their usual order with Pizza Hut, receiving a fawningly enthusiastic response (the school probably kept the local branch afloat single-handed), then made another call.

"Ohgi here."

"It's Kallen. I think I might have a lead on your mystery phone girl. Would you recognize her voice again?"

"Yeah, probably."

"OK, good, I'm going to leave this line open. Listen carefully and see if you hear her."

"Will do. Aren't you at school today, though? You think it was someone there?"

"Could be." Putting her phone back in her pocket, Kallen returned to the council room. She resisted the urge to punch Lelouch in his smiling face, grab the scruff of his neck and shake the truth out of him. Her original suspicions had been deflected by that phone call from the man she now knew as Zero that had come when she was in the shower and he was standing right next to her. She had been fixated on the assumption that Lelouch and the mysterious voice from Shinjuku were one and the same, since he had mentioned the place, but there were other possibilities, she now realized. Perhaps he was simply Zero's agent, unwitting or otherwise, which would certainly explain how Zero knew where and when to call her. Then again, if he was Zero, he could have used a recording or someone mimicking his voice - that idea probably should have occurred to her at the time, but she had been too flustered to think clearly (which might have been the point of surprising her in the shower).

"I was just saying, we have to have a festival to celebrate Nunnally's recovery," Milly said. "Maybe with an 'eyes' theme, and a competition to see who can come up with the most interesting sight for Nunnally to look at. What do you think?"

"I guess it's up to Nunnally." Kallen carefully moved closer to the wheelchair, angling her pocket to let Ohgi hear Nunnally's voice.

"I don't mind, as long as it's not too much trouble. And you're not allowed to make anyone do anything too weird, Milly," Nunnally admonished.

"Define 'weird'..."

"Does that mean we're not going to do the cross-dressing festival?" Rivalz asked eagerly.

"Not...this month." He and Lelouch groaned. "Although maybe you boys should dress up anyway, since Nunnally didn't get to see it last time."

"Oh yes! You all said how pretty he looked, and I was so jealous."

"Lelouch...dressed as a girl?" Kallen tried and failed to imagine it. He must just be Zero's dupe or pawn, surely? She couldn't connect the unflappable leader of the Black Knights with a boy who could be bullied into wearing a dress or have that pitiful expression on his face.

She took the opportunity to speak to Ohgi again by going to pick up the pizza from the door when it arrived, brushing aside the others' objections with a firm reassurance that she was fine, she could manage by herself, she wanted to help.

"Well?"

"Yeah, that was her all right. Who is she?"

"The little sister of the guy I was suspicious about before."

Ohgi swore softly. "He's involved with Zero after all?"

"Looks like it. I'd better not talk any more, they'll wonder where I've got to. Let's meet before the next mission."

/**/

"Sorry, Oniisama...I think that's checkmate."

Lelouch stared down at the chessboard, flabbergasted. He searched for a way out, but there was none. Nunnally's white pieces had trapped his black king. The only person to defeat him since he was seven years old was Schneizel...and now Nunnally, who had never played the game before in her life, had unravelled his every strategy. The sensation was not unlike being outsmarted by Cornelia at Saitama. He saw Nunnally looking at him apprehensively, and realized he was scowling. He hastily took a deep breath and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't apologize, Nunnally. I just...I never saw your trap coming. How did you do it? Not play the game, I mean - how did you set up the checkmate so subtly?"

She shrugged. "I knew where your king would end up after you advanced him and moved your king-side pieces around him, and I knew what you expected me to do in response, so I did it...just with a few differences I thought you wouldn't notice."

He nodded. It was much like what he would do in the face of an opponent whose strategy he already knew - let them think he was dancing to their tune, then strike and destroy them while he still held the element of surprise.

"That manoeuvre confuses people who're not expecting it, but I had an unfair advantage. If you had castled instead-" She gestured to her own king, secure behind a screen of pawns with a rook and bishop guarding him for good measure. "-I wouldn't have been able to get to him so easily even if I knew where he'd be."

"If the king doesn't move-" Lelouch began automatically.

"-how will his subjects follow? I know. You believe a leader should face the same dangers he sends other people into. But I don't think you're the king. In a sense, you're the queen."

He frowned, and Nunnally giggled. "I don't mean you're a girl, silly! The queen is the most powerful piece - she can do what none of the others can. Obviously there isn't a chess piece that can move opposing pieces, but the queen is the true leader. She and the others protect the king, who's weak and can't take care of himself. If anyone's the king in your chess game...it's me."

"Nunnally, you aren't weak." The image of their father lounging on his throne, dismissing Nunnally with a word as if her injuries were somehow her fault, flashed through his mind.

"I know, I know - not any more, anyway. I guess I'm like a pawn that's been promoted, now."

"Maybe we should invent a new set of rules, so that our metaphors don't get so confused."

She laughed again. "Now, how about a rematch?"

Much to his relief, he managed to win the next game by playing as uncharacteristically as possible, almost to the point of making random moves, bringing the board to a position unlike anything he had ever seen before. Nunnally was unable to adapt fast enough, and he managed to improvise a strategy on the fly to beat her. Facing a worthy, challenging opponent for a change (outside of real battle where people would die if his plans went awry) brought a sense of excitement to the game that he realized he had missed. Characteristically, Nunnally seemed to take the loss in her stride, more interested in sharing his favourite pastime than in winning.

In the third game they agreed to play as a tie-breaker, he again played deliberately uncharacteristically, albeit in a different way. Remembering her earlier comment, he tried to imagine that his king piece was really Nunnally rather than himself, and instinctively sheltered and protected it in a multi-layered defensive position. Nunnally caught on to what he was doing - her small smile told him as much - and switched to an aggressive posture led by her own king, more like his own preferred style. In this fashion, the game seesawed back and forth for a long time, almost like a dialogue rather than a battle. Eventually, however, both sides became depleted and, somewhat to Lelouch's regret, Nunnally's king was cornered and checkmated by his king and queen.

/**/

Nunnally found herself the centre of attention when she returned to class the next day, which was a novel experience. It was difficult for her to participate in class activities most of the time, and she was usually content to stay in a quiet corner at the back and work by herself, not bothering anyone. When she and Lelouch had first started at Ashford, quite a few children had made fun of her or tried to torment her since she couldn't fight back, which she had mostly ignored stoically, telling herself that being called names and having spitballs thrown at her was nothing compared to most of the other bad things that had happened in her life. When Lelouch and Milly found out, they had "had words" with the ringleaders, and it had died down. She still occasionally had problems when new students arrived or someone wanted to prove something, but for the most part her classmates left her in peace and were friendly enough when they spoke to her. Nevertheless, she could hardly be called popular.

Today, though, it seemed like half the class - mostly the girls - wanted to come over and exclaim over how wonderful it was that her eyesight had been restored. It was nice but a little wearing, and Nunnally was beginning to feel like a circus exhibit.

"Your eyes are so pretty, Nunnally!" Catherine Barton cooed as she perched on Nunnally's desk. Catherine was a tall, elegant girl with a rather strident voice, mature-looking for her age, and top of the class's social pecking order. She had never spoken more than five words at a time to her that Nunnally could remember, but she and her clique had seemingly decided she was now their best friend forever.

"Thank you," she replied politely.

"As pretty as your brother's," Catherine added with a sly smile. "Helena here can't stop thinking about him ever since she passed through the high school section on Swimsuit Day," Catherine said in a stage whisper. She made exaggerated kissing noises until Helena Black, bright red, swatted her with a textbook.

"Stop that! Ignore her, Nunnally, she doesn't know what she's talking about."

"I don't mind if you like my brother; I think quite a few girls do." This was something she could surmise from some of Lelouch's memories and things she had overhead, though he himself seemed to be quite oblivious to the fact.

"Really? Oh n-" Helena caught herself, and the others giggled.

"Excuse me," said a familiar voice. "Here you are, Miss Nunnally." Will Keating threaded his way gingerly through the crowd of girls with her usual Braille notes. One of the few boys in the class with whom she had much interaction, he quite often volunteered to hand things out. Unlike some people, who would carelessly drop the handouts on her desk like everyone else's, forcing her to grope around for them, he always announced his presence and was careful to put them into her hands. He proved to be short and sandy-haired, with a round, open face and blue eyes.

"Thank you, Will." Nunnally took the papers carefully - her hand-eye coordination was still terrible - and smiled up at him. He met her gaze, ignoring the whispers and giggles around them.

"Oh, do you still need those?" Catherine asked.

"Yes, for the moment. I was very small when I went blind, so I only ever learned to read ordinary writing a little." This was true, though Nunnally avoided mentioning that she could actually now read seven different languages, thanks to Lelouch's brain and her Geass.

"That's awful! How did it happen?" asked a girl whose name she wasn't sure of.

"It happened at the same time as my legs were damaged. I'd rather not talk about it," Nunnally said shortly. She and Lelouch had always been vague about the cause of her disabilities to help conceal their identities, and even part of the truth would horrify everyone here.

"All right, settle down!" the teacher called over the hubbub. "You can all discuss the miraculous Miss Lamperouge later."

"I'm glad you're back, Miss Nunnally," Will said quietly as the small crowd dispersed to their seats. "And that you can see again, it...I can't imagine what it must be like."

Nunnally was pleased, if a little taken aback, by the unfeigned emotion in his voice. "Thank you. It's...well, I suppose it's like coming to a foreign country. Everything's new and fresh and exciting to see."

Will took this in. "Oh, I heard at drama club that the high school division council are organizing a celebration for you, with a competition." Nunnally nodded. "That's great!"

She gave an embarrassed shrug. "Oh, Milly - the President - loves any excuse for a party."

"Can juniors enter?"

"The details haven't been worked out yet, but I'll make sure they can, if you want to."

"I do...in fact, could I...do a portrait of you?"

"Mr. Keating! Flirt on your own time, thank you," the teacher snapped before Nunnally could answer. There was a ripple of laughter from the class, and Will coughed awkwardly, gave her an apologetic look and hurried off. She blinked - she hadn't known Will painted or drew, but she supposed it wasn't something that was likely to have come up before. She could ask him about it later.

While the teacher explained the day's lesson, Nunnally listened with half an ear - Lelouch had learned this material years ago anyway - and thought about her Geass. All they had been able to determine about the power so far was that, like his, it only worked once on a given person. Lelouch had memorized the order of a deck of cards, and she had been unable to learn the new information from his mind. He had wanted her to test it around the school, but she had strenuously objected, not wanting to spy into people's private thoughts and secrets without good reason.

Fortunately, she had recalled that they were due to attend the opening of the Clovisland indoor resort in a few days, and suggested practising on the Britannian nobles who were sure to attend. She felt no particular guilt about reading the minds of the leaders of the occupation, who might have actual useful information for her to find to boot. There was some trepidation in her mind regarding what unpleasantness she might uncover, but she sternly told herself to be strong. If she was going to use her power to help Lelouch, she would have to learn to deal with, and do, a great many unfamiliar or distasteful things.

Indeed, this process had already started. She and Lelouch had spent the days she had been absent from school experimenting with her ability to put the knowledge she had pulled from his mind into practice. Playing chess against him had been rather fun, but strange. She had never expected or even really wished to be regarded as her brother's equal at anything, but now that it had happened - even if it was thanks to Geass - it was sweeter than she could have imagined.

Turning her mind to the Black Knights' operations had been more of a challenge. Lelouch had gone through his plans for their next few missions, inviting her to make comments and suggestions. Nunnally found it hard to view actions which could save or end people's lives in abstract, dispassionate terms, but that was precisely what Lelouch often did - to an often frightening extent. Still, she had expected to have to be his conscience occasionally. In time, she hoped she could temper her instinctive compassion with a pragmatic view of the bigger picture - keeping her own hands lily-white at all costs would do nothing to help the tens of millions of Japanese people suffering under the occupation, regardless of whether it let her sleep better at night, but at the same time there were lines she hoped she and Lelouch never crossed. She still vividly remembered her first nightmare of the other night.

Nunnally fervently wished for a future more like her happier dreams. She had learned years ago that wishing alone could not make something happen...so, now that she could, she would act.

/**/

"So what do we do if Zero is this Lelouch guy?" Ohgi and Kallen were talking behind the Black Knights' mobile headquarters, out of earshot of anyone else.

"Do? Tell the others and confront him, surely. If Zero's a Britannian, who knows what he's really up to?"

"You of all people should know that not everyone who calls themselves Britannian is our enemy," Ohgi reminded Kallen gently, making her flush. "He might have his reasons for helping us."

"But...he tricked us, even if he's someone else."

"He tricked you, assuming this theory is right," Ohgi corrected her. "Zero wasn't really working with us then, he didn't have any reason to trust you. He's never concealed the fact that he's not Japanese."

"So...we do nothing? He could be a double agent using us to get inside the resistance!"

Ohgi nodded. "You're right, and I'm not saying we do nothing. We'll bring the other original members in, and see if we can find out more before we take any action - we'd look pretty silly if it turns out this guy has nothing to do with Zero, or just works for him or something. Tonight's raid on the police station isn't going to harm our cause; the information on them came from one of Naoto's sources."

"But what if it's a trap and the police are waiting for us?"

"We'll be careful; we'll be watching for them anyway. Besides, what would be the point of sweeping us up now? He hasn't got in with Kyoto or the JLF or anything like that yet; they'd only catch us, and he could have done that weeks ago."

"I suppose so," Kallen said, uncertain.

"What kind of guy is this Lelouch, anyway?" Ohgi asked. "Does he seem like a radical or something?"

"Not really, but I don't know much about him for sure. He's smart, definitely, but mostly he acts like he doesn't care about anything, or just kids around." Kallen grimaced. "Half the girls at school are gaga over him because he's all 'mysterious' and 'brooding'. He's different around his sister, though...warmer, I guess."

"Sounds like Naoto. He acted tough all the time, except when he was in 'big brother' mode."

"He was nothing like - OK, maybe a little," Kallen conceded. "But everything Lelouch does might be an act for all we know. Nunnally might not even be his sister."

"Maybe." Ohgi shrugged. "I'd rather gather more information before we go crazy with paranoid theories. "

"I guess. You talk to the others; I'll see if I can find out any more at school."

"Try talking to the sister," he suggested. "She might give something else away. But be careful - she may know about you."

"I'll try."

TO BE CONTINUED

Omake (with apologies to LittleKuriboh)

"It sure is difficult to see in the dark with these sunglasses on," said Nunnally, "But I refuse to take them off because I'm a Britannian. And Britannians always wear sunglasses."

"Nunnally, that's not in the script," Lelouch said patiently.

"Screw the script," suggested C.C., "I have green hair."

Omake 2 (with apologies to everyone)

"You never know, perhaps she might like to actually be your girlfriend."

"What- That- I don't-"

"Can I have her, then?" Nunnally asked innocently, causing Lelouch, the cameraman, the sound guy and the 'The Making Of Code Geass: Children of the Revolution' crew in the corner to facefault.

"Meet me in my trailer in a couple of years," C.C. said, peering round the door and blowing Nunnally a kiss.