A/N: Hello faithful, I'm glad that you have all stuck around despite the darker tone of this fic. If you haven't done so already, please take the time to read my other work in progress: Wings of the Butterfly. Those of you that have read it and came to this fic because it's another piece of my work, I greatly appreciate it! I would like extend a special thank you to three of my readers as they have been a huge source of inspiration to me: S7K, Infinite Freedom and Gekkogeek. Thanks goes out to all of you who have reviewed, I thank you very much for your support and feedback, it is vital to me as a writer. Now then, onto the story.

Questioning

Kallen had just woken up, her eyes heavy and lazy. She looked around her room, trying to evaluate where she was. She recognized it as her bedroom and slung her feet over the side of the bed, wearily bringing herself to her feet. She stretched and let out a drawn out yawn. Looking at the pictures she had pinned to her wall, it was obvious she was back in her time. That's right, after she had come off her high she'd simply fallen asleep. Between her normal time, her dreams and the world she found within that drug, it was becoming difficult to tell what was real and what was merely an illusion. She reached to the back of her head once more, the spot was still sore. Somehow that other world had affected her somehow, that made it real didn't it? She continued to think as she began to get dressed for school. Kallen thought back on the events that took place while she was under the influence of the drug, the last thing she remembered was being consumed by the F.L.E.J.A. blast. After putting her shirt on and pulling up her skirt, she looked at herself in the mirror. For the first time in quite a while she noticed the slightest of smiles on her lips. Everything on the other side had felt so real, his voice... It was his voice, he reacted to what she said... Kallen sighed and slapped herself, she didn't brace for it and it left a sting on her cheek. "Get a hold of yourself Kozuki, it was a drug, that's what it's supposed to do. Make you believe..." Kallen knew all too well the effects of the drug from an external point of view, but she had never imagined it to be like that.

"Kallen? Are you ready for school? You don't want to be late do you?" Kallen's mother called from down stairs. Kallen took a deep breath and walked downstairs, taking her breakfast to go as usual. "Have a nice day dear."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Gino was waiting at the school gates for Kallen as usual. "Hey there, you feeling any better?"

Kallen thought on that for a moment. She imagined that she would be happier now, because she'd seen and heard Lelouch so recently. She had tasted the thrill of combat, flying the Guren again. It was fantastic, she never knew just how incredible her day to day life used to be. Unfortunately this had the reverse effect, coming down from that high was devastating, just like every dream that she'd had involving Lelouch since his death. The better she felt the harder she crashed, it was a vicious cycle, after all if she didn't ever get that taste of happiness she would eventually bottom out. Neither course held any promise.

"Kallen?" Gino asked again. "Did you hear me? Are you feeling any better?" His expression turning even more worrisome.

"Yes I heard you." Kallen snapped before letting out an upset sigh. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"It's okay, I understand." Gino was trying to be as comforting as possible, he reached an arm around to try to give her a reassuring hug. However, he quickly found his hand swatted away, before he could register what had happened Kallen barred his path and grabbed him by the breast of his shirt.

"What is the matter with you? You always think you can just fix everything with your painted smiles and your damned charm!" Tears began to well in Kallen's eyes but she resolved to stop them from falling, she would not show weakness here. "Well you can't..." Her tone was cold as she pushed him back with some force, just enough to make him stumble backwards. She shook her head and turned back to head into the school.

Gino was surprised, he was scared. Not afraid of what Kallen would do to him, but what something was doing to Kallen. She seemed to be losing herself recently, becoming less and less like the fire cracker that he once knew and admired. Was something going on with her?

Kallen's classes continued on in normal manor, she was preoccupied thinking about Gino. How could he think about trying to get somewhere with her through sympathy? Suddenly she was glad that she had the chance to fight him in Knightmare combat recently, and that she kicked his sorry ass. Much better than- What had happened during the first time? She remembered every detail, every word of her most recent battle, and yet for some reason she couldn't remember a single detail of its predecessor. The F.L.E.J.A. was fired and she'd been caught in the blast, both times or just the one? Did she fight the Lancelot the first time? Did she survive the second time around? The memories were merging, no longer was she able to discern the real battle from the refrain battle. There was only one set of memories now, could that mean... Clearly that realm was having effects on her in this one, that made it real didn't it? And if it was real and the memories replaced her old ones, did she have the ability to rewrite the past? A shot of hope ran through her a full smile coming across her face, yes she believed it, she had to. It was too promising to let go of. All she had to do was go back and fix everything, with her current knowledge of the events to come, she could certainly prevent the Requiem from coming to be.

However this time, Kallen would test her current reality, she needed something to signify that this world was real. Thinking back on what Nunnally had told her, the other worlds rationale did make sense, or perhaps that was just her heart trying to create reason for her mind. She needed something visible, just as she needed something only in her mind, like her headache. Visible was easy enough, she pulled a pen from her bag and scribbled 'zero' on the back of her hand. The mental as well wasn't difficult to think of, she needed something that she wouldn't have to think about that could still remind her of this world. She knew what she had to do. Kallen held her breath to stop any gasp of pain and kicked her right heel into the top of her left foot, just enough to make it uncomfortable when walking. She made a quick note in her notebook, just in case it healed and she'd forgot upon her return. She needed to find out just what the relationship between the two worlds were.

The bell rang signaling everyone to leave, she picked up her things and quickly made her way out of the classroom. She picked up her strides until she was full on sprinting, her heart raced, she had finally found that glimmer that she had been waiting for, begging for... dying for.

Gino noticed the red head in an incredible rush and tried to follow her. He kept up with her past the school gates. "Kallen! Wait up!" She didn't seem to pay any heed to his words as she never broke stride. Eventually Gino found himself unable to keep up with her, noticing that she was heading for the ghettos. "Why would she be running towards the ghettos?" His suspicion hiked as he continued onward.

Kallen finally slowed when she reached the heart of the ghetto, she paused for a moment and took in everything around her. The sounds, the smells, the sights, the way the crumbling buildings felt abrasive on her skin. Without at doubt this wasn't fake, this place existed, just the same as the other side. Looking from one to the other was no different from walking room to room in a house. But what did that mean? The two of them couldn't be real, could they? One of them had to be fake, both had some evidence on their side. It was a battle against her heart and her mind, her heart was commanding her to leave, while her mind pleaded with her to stay. "Zero always said our strength comes from our hearts." Kallen searched for the only 'normal' looking people that hung out down here, in this area there were dealers and there were addicts. If they weren't off spouting non sense, it was a safe bet that they were selling. All the dealers were in contact with the others to prevent overloading an area, if any military or cops were sited, they'd inform the others. Kallen found the same three men that had sold her the last batch. She approached them slowly. "Hey, remember me?" She again raised her hands to show she meant no harm, it was the uniform that made them jumpy. Britannian students weren't common customers of gutter rats.

One of the three laughed, "Yeah I remember you girly. You need another fix?" He smiled like the devil himself, a jacket full of sinful apples. Kallen nodded silently to confirm. "How much ya got?"

Kallen reached for her wallet and then realized, she didn't grab any more money from her room. "I'm sorry I forgot-"

"You forgot? What do you think this is?" The man asked, snarking.

"Well there must be something I can do." Kallen said, knowing money wasn't the only currency in the world.

The lead man looked to his two friends with a smirk, "yeah I'm sure we can work something out." His hand slowly moved down to his belt.

Kallen realized the gesture and pulled back in disgust. "What? No. That's not what I meant." She felt the three men widen their spread surrounding her, backing her up against the wall.

"We know what you meant." The lead mans belt now undone.

Kallen narrowed her eyes and quickly examined the three of them, to them it probably looked like she was afraid. They closed in all at once, Kallen swept her leg and kicked out the leading foot of the man on the left, forcing his stance to widen to the effect doing the splits. With a swift kick to the outside of his knee and a loud crunch the man was crippled. As he fell the other two backed up and began to reach inside their jackets. Kallen had realized where their firearms were located when she examined them, the fire arm of the crippled drug lord was well within her reach. She ducked behind him using him as a human shield while she pried the gun from his jacket. With two lightning shots the other two collapsed to the ground. The crippled man looked up at her with horror as she pulled the barrel to his head and squeezed the trigger. All head shots, ensuring she didn't destroy any of the Refrain on their person. She looted the three of them, only finding about ten bottles. "That's all your lives were worth." Kallen shook her head in disgust, standing over the deceased. At least they had another clean needle on them, seeing the opportunity she loaded up the first bottle and pulled it to her arm. It felt like nothing more than a bee sting as the cool liquid dumped into her veins. A smile grew over Kallen's face as her vision began to blur.

"Lelouch..."

A/N: Back down the rabbit hole our heroine goes. As I'm sure you could tell by now, I'm going to be splitting each chapter into a different 'realm'. You may think as either of them being the real reality, neither is correct or incorrect. You can either accept this as taking place during R2 or as an epilogue. Kinda like those old books where you got to choose how the story moves along. XD