A/N: Here's another extra stage. Please enjoy

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. I do own my characters.

Setting: Between Turn 21 and Turn 22. A room aboard Britannian battleship.

A fierce battle was on the horizon. Even before they could arrive to their new post, news arrived that it had broken out. They'd have to deploy shortly. Damian Marsh considered this as he sat alone in a small room. He was past the point where any battle made him anxious. He would fight to win; that's all he could do.

Still, something about critical battles made Damian's thoughts drift. He thought of her. He thought of Hildegarde. Even if the child was currently unusually flustered, she really had come a long way. He'd have taken some credit for this, but everything rested on the child herself and her limitless strength. Damian's thoughts went back to the day they had first met.

---

Damian gave a ready nod to his old friend, Bismarck. The two of them had just returned from an intense battle, expanding the Britannian Empire for the sake of their liege, Charles zi Britannia. They had both survived. That is more than many could say. Even with Britannia's military superiority, friends were lost daily in this war. As Damian's eyes traveled to the child, just five years of age, grabbing at Bismarck's hand, he was made even more aware of this.

"So this must be young Hildegarde?" Damian started, looking at the child, nodding.

Bismarck nodded. He looked as his daughter. "This is Sir Marsh, a true knight of Britannia, Hildegarde."

"Is he a better knight than you, daddy?" asked the little girl in a cute voice, looking at her father. Damian felt somewhat embarrassed by the child's question.

"No knight is better than any other, Hildegarde, so long as they're willing to put their life on the line for the sake of Britannia," Bismarck said in a steady voice.

"Come now, Bismarck, Knight of One, you know you have me beat," Damian started, offering a short laugh.

"It's just a title. As knights we are both equally great," Bismarck insisted shaking his head.

Damian nodded. He looked at his old friend and then at the child again. "It must be difficult…" he spoke.

"It's unfortunate that I can't see her so often. It's unfortunate that she is being raised by strangers most of the time," Bismarck said with regret, closing his right eye. "but seeing her when I can between the battles does wonders for my heart."

"I can imagine…" Damian said, staring at the bright eyed youth, smiling without a care.

"You'd do well to loosen your grip on your sword and start a family of your own, Damian," Bismarck suggested wit ha swift nod.

"Eh, I'm not sure. I'm not as strong as you. In all likelihood my death will come before yours," Damian said, his expression stern.

"Death and war aren't things you can predict," Bismarck spoke in a remorseful voice. Damian looked at the child again.

"It really must be hard…" he said.

"Her mother was a knight just like either of us. She knew what could happen. I knew what could happen. It's painful, that's true, but it's not something I can let consume me. For Britannia and for Hildegarde, I cannot lose any of my strength," the Knight of One said solemnly. Damian nodded in quiet respect.

---

Damian sighed as he remembered the day. Hildegarde was an accessory to the scene. She was hardly even worth note in his mind. She was interchangeable with any other young girl her age. She made no impression; she was just Bismarck child, nothing more. It was only on their second encounter that the girl emerged as something more. Damian's mind went back to that hectic day two years after the first meeting

---

Bismarck Waldstein was dead. His death at the hands of a former comrade, Suzaku Kururugi, had been broadcast to the entire world as a means of showing the dominance of the new emperor. Damian had been ill at the time. He had received some heavy injuries a little over a year before and had to be hospitalized, in his weakened state he had contracted a powerful illness that kept him from the frontlines through the entirety of the Demon Emperor's reign. He was freed from his hospital watch entirely just a week after Zero brought an end to tyranny. Bismarck had moved to the makeshift capital that had been setup in the city of Vortigern to meet with the new Empress immediately, and seemed to have the respect of the kind young girl.

Now he was confused. A child was staring him down. He didn't recognize her even if something in her eyes was so very familiar. Everything about the expression she wore as she faced him was intense. Damian hardly knew what to make it.

"Sir Damian Marsh, please, teach me how to fight!" the girl all but demanded. Damian still stared at her confused. The child looked no older than seven years old.

Damian closed his eyes and shook his head. "Come now, child, the long war is at its end. Why would a girl like you need to learn how to fight?"

"I don't think it's over! Not like that. And even if it is, how do you know it will be forever?" the girl smartly snapped. Damian looked at her.

"Why is it me you want to learn from, girl?" asked Damian looking at her.

"Father told me you were a true knight. I want to learn everything from a person like that," the girl explained with fragile innocence. Damian finally could connect the dots.

"You're Bismarck's--!" his eyes' widened. "Child, I know you must feel angry and alone, but in this new peaceful world you'll find no target for your vengeance."

"It's nothing like that," said the girl closing her eyes. "It's respect. Because of the man my father was, I can see myself doing nothing else. I want to, no I must, become every bit the true knight he was."

Damian stared at the child saying these words, noticing the emotion in her eyes. This child was dedicated, but misguided. There really was no reason for a young girl to lift a sword in Empress Nunnally's Britannia. As much as this girl wanted it, it'd be foolish for this girl to pursue her dream. The age of knights was through; Damian was one of its last holdouts.

"That's an admirable thing, but it's not easy to become a knight of your father's caliber," said Damian in a quiet voice.

"Please! Show me the way! Teach me everything!" the girl demanded with enthusiasm.

Damian shook his head. The girl was insistent. She wasn't going to take no for an answer. It was vaguely frustrating. Damian considered how to phrase his feelings on the matter as he continued to stare into the child's burning eyes.

"Very well, I shall train you, but don't be afraid to quit if it becomes too much," said Damian, smirking just slightly. Despite her intensity, this was still just a child. Enough pain and she'd start to cry and give up on her foolish dream. Damian was certain he'd scare her away soon enough.

"Thank you so much!" the girl said with a full bow and a fuller smile. "Can we start immediately?"

"If you wish," Damian said, nodding and smirking a little more.

"Yes, please. I don't want to waste any time," the little girl spoke.

"Then follow me," said Damian.

He led the child to a courtyard, picking up some items along the way. They were two heavy wooden practice swords. When they had arrived, he handed one of the swords to Bismarck's daughter. She struggled to hold it upright. Damian smiled. This would be easy.

"To begin, before I can show you any technique, I want to see how sharp your spirit and your head are. If you can hit me with that sword, I will agree to train you," said Damian, staring at the girl who didn't know this was impossible.

"All right. I understand," the child said innocently as her grip on he wooden sword strengthened.

"Then let's begin," said Damian, issuing a silent apology to Bismarck.

The girl charged forward recklessly, and made a wobbly attempt at a slash. Damian easily evaded it and delivered a light blow to the child's side. She displayed pain on her face. She moved up into an upward slash, but it was slow and lacked any real strength. Damian met it with his sword and effortlessly threw the sword and the girl back. She fell to the hard surface below.

The child picked herself up fairly quickly, though she was flinching with pain, and made another attempt for a hit. Damian stepped aside effortlessly, then made a downward mid strength hit straight to the girl's back. She fell to the ground immediately, writhing in pain. Tears escaping her eyes naturally though she was likely trying to contain them.

"It seems you lack what it takes," Damian said, satisfied. He turned around.

"I'm not going to… I'm never going to just give up!" the child screamed. Damian turned back around to face her. She was picking herself up off the ground. Her eyes revealed that brilliant fire. Her body was shaking, pain still had tears leaving her eyes, but still she found her feet. Still that child held her sword.

Damian readied himself for another reckless charge. He'd just have to pound it into the girl again. It made him feel sort of guilty, but it was for the girl's own good. The girl came at him predictably. Her sword was held more rigidly this time, her stance was more proper. She seemed ready to make a proper high slash. Damian moved his sword to deflect it. The girl then jumped to the side. In a single motion, she let her sword come down in a horizontal low sweep. Damian felt it hit his left knee. It kind of hurt. Hildegarde Waldstein was stronger than he had anticipated.

"Very well, it seems you've passed my first test," Damian said, shocked and unsure, but not seeing anything else he could say.

"So now you'll show me sword technique?" the girl asked hopefully.

"Perhaps. But you know, this training will never be easy. You'll see pain that will make what you're feeling now seem like a joke," said Damian still sure he'd break the girl from this course eventually.

"I understand. I welcome it," Hildegarde spoke resolutely. Looking in to her eyes, Damian became less sure.

---

He had spent the first two weeks of training trying to hurt Hildegarde to the point where she'd quit on him and decide to dedicate her life to something else. It never worked or even came close. The blood of knights ran so clear in that girl's veins. She wouldn't be deterred from her ambitions, even for a second. Every day she became stronger.

Training Hildegarde, as it turns out, would be the most fulfilling chapter of Damian's life. Watching her grow, both as a knight and as a person, had been a true joy. Damian often questioned his decision never to have a family of his own, but something made him wonder if it was now a moot point. Something told him, the joy he received from watching over Hildegarde was the same sort Bismarck received in those all too brief seven years he spent with the child.

Damian had helped build Hildegarde into a truly worthy knight. She was a knight of the sort her father most definitely would have been proud. This set his mind at ease. Thinking on Hildegarde, he had little he could regret in his life.

A/N: a nice little scene I thought. Obviously, I wanted to flesh out this bond more after recent events in the main story. I think this is one of the better character pieces I've done here. Hope you liked it. if it was boring, you'll probably receive something you want more next week.