"Ohgi is going to kill me," muttered Kallen, on the train with its press of bodies jolting against her.

She said it again on the bus ride out to the base with dozens of other JSDF soldiers, her duffel bag stuffed under her seat and her head against the rattling window, quietly: "Ohgi is going to kill me."

And she said it a third time alone in her quarters in the barracks, unpacking her things for the week (supposedly) with the lights off and twilight around her. She sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her face wearily with her hands: "Ohgi is going to kill me."

The next day, at noon, she was out on the tarmac, strutting through Japanese summer heat in the slightly-too-hot jumpsuit, the Guren's key sticking to the sweat on her chest. She went into the shade of a hangar, steeled herself, and went to meet a squadron of trainees who had just enlisted in the Black Knights and lacked proper training. She sat on a folding chair and distractedly briefed them on the exercises that they were going to be doing that afternoon: basic manoeuvring, bipedal movement and basic manipulation with the hands, moving up to land spinner use and misuse later in the day. It was all pretty boring and the things that she was saying barely passed through her mind on the way out her mouth. But every now and then she would glance up and see a bunch of privates and corporals taking notes, staring intently. Many of them were older than she was. It was a weird feeling, actually, now that she had the time to notice it: but it was nowhere near as weird as that other feeling, the one that made her mutter, "Ohgi is going to kill me," whenever nobody was in earshot.

After the briefing the recruits all piled into black Akatsukis and clumsily made their way out to the range. Kallen climbed tiredly into the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. for the first time in two weeks. The cockpit, above her, polarized and slid shut.

For a moment she sat without moving. She breathed in and out. When she closed her eyes she could still recognize her surroundings, by the faint smell of the Guren's electronics and its upholstery. And even just the feel of the seat.

It had only been two weeks since she'd piloted the Guren, yet now something was unmistakably different. Now, sitting in the cockpit, it didn't just make her feel nostalgic like it had before. It didn't make her miss the old times anymore. Just like her mom had said.

She would make new times.

So it was with a wide smile that Kallen powered up the drive and stepped out of the hangar. Tomorrow. Ohgi was going to kill her for what she would do tomorrow.

Training went about as well as could be expected. Most of the recruits were very raw, either totally new to the military or transferred from sections other than Knightmare piloting. Nevertheless, some progress was made. Wearily they all retired to the barracks, some clustering around Kallen where she was trying to scarf a quick dinner, asking questions, wondering this and that thing about the day's work. There was promise there, Kallen mused later on; they were eager, and proud to be Japanese. And only two of them had tried to hit on her.

That night she barely slept at all, nothing but tossing and turning. Closing her eyes made no difference, for she was still restless, imagining the ramifications of the next day's plan. And every time she closed them all she could see his eyes, piercing lavender, and his smirk. She should have demanded to see his face, shouldn't she? She couldn't bring herself to even think his name. So for now, in her rushing anxieties, she simply thought of him as him. There was only one him, really. The only person who could make her this terrified and excited at the same time. Not in a romantic way, of course. She could never think of him that way. Once, maybe. But not after everything he had done.

Why was she doing this?

Amazingly, it was the first time she had wondered this. It stopped her for a moment and she simply sat up in bed, in the pitch black. "What the hell am I thinking?" And she just sat there angrily waiting for an answer, until it became clear that none would come. So she turned over on her knees and just punched the pillow several dozen times. Eventually she fell asleep--or must have, because she was waking up now, into a pale morning glow. For a moment she was totally calm, took a huge yawn and a stretch, then settled comfortably. But then she remembered what was happening today, and her gut clenched right up. She was worried her hands might start shaking.

"Ohgi is going to kill me."

She stood up out of bed, nervously checking the time. She stripped out of her military-issue unisex pajamas, took a cold shower, and pulled on her jumpsuit. She put on her bandana and pushed it up under her hairline, took a long look at her own face in the mirror.

"It's not treason," she told herself. "It's totally not treason." But then, because it absolutely was treason, she started grinning like a maniac. Really, she should not have been amused. There wasn't much funny about it.

She sat on the edge of the bed, checking the time periodically. It was way too early. Her training wasn't for another hour. But there was no way she could go back to sleep. And for some reason she could not stop checking the time.

She tried to eat breakfast, but didn't do so well at that. All she could think about was what he had said, "And now you see me live." Maybe next time she saw him he would show her his face. He knew he could trust her. She was his personal bodyguard… Kallen frowned at herself. She used to be his bodyguard, sure. But that was until he'd betrayed everybody. He had betrayed everybody, hadn't he? For some reason, she wasn't so concerned with that anymore. Part of her expected it all to be a dream still, or some schizophrenic vision. Maybe she'd finally gone crazy. Figures it would take him to drive her out of her mind.

She left the barracks early, hung around in the hangar, pacing around skittishly in front of the Guren's red shins. Eventually her trainees began to file sleepily into the hangar. Many of them seemed startled to see her so animated today, as opposed to the previous day's slumped, nonplussed Sargeant Kozuki. Today's Sargeant Kozuki was standing rigidly, tapping a foot with her arms crossed and speaking loudly about the proper operation of land spinners over variable terrain, gesticulating wildly and shaking fingers at them as though really mad about something.

They powered up their Knightmares and went out to the range. An hour went by, laboriously. Kallen sweated and watched the time, barely concerned for the training mission now. The next half hour passed, and now she was sitting in clenched anticipation, trying not to watch the sky, the peripheries of the base. Another ten minutes passed.

Her clenched worry intensified. Where was that incompetent bastard? Zealous Shadow was late, of all things, late for the moment she`d been worried about for a week. She'd arranged a specific time, exactly according to a plan. If he was much later, Todou would be out with his own squadron on test runs, and if Zealous showed when Todou was on the field their plan was toast--

The speakers crackled and the voices of her controllers broke in on the frequency she was using to talk to her trainees. The voices were familiar, those of officers failing to maintain control of a situation, each vying for dominance.

"Sargeant Kozuki, we have a slight discrepancy in our--"

"--unknown contact! Fast-moving--"

"--please investigate--"

"--ETA three seconds--"

"--where did it come from?--"

"--Incoming fire!"

And with that the situation degenerated handily into chaos. Kallen looked to the sky in the east, where a tree-line had just blossomed three different missile trails which all arced in towards the base. And roaring overhead just behind them came the black silhouette of a Knightmare riding floats, swooping over at something approaching the speed of sound. The screech of the over-flight and the thuds of explosions came as one through her external microphones.

All of her communications from HQ suddenly ceased. Zealous had probably aimed his missiles for the comm systems of the base, or was using some kind of jamming. She looked for him, taking stock of the damage he'd done. She frowned. Looked as though the missiles had all impacted around the main building, sending up clouds of dust but not doing any serious harm.

From overtop one of the hangars came a pair of Knightmares, scraping the roof in close MVS combat. One of them whirled and caused the other to topple backwards off the hangar, the colossal machine slumping hard against the asphalt. The other dropped off the roof, drew an MVS knife, and smoothly crippled its foe with a gouge at each knee.

Ohgi was going to kill her. Each of these Akatsuki was worth millions. And repair cost almost as much as getting a new one.

As it finished its foe, Zealous' Knightmare rose to give her a goading look with its reddish factspheres. She itched to pound its face in but that wasn't part of the plan. She engaged her external mic and gave orders to her trainees.

"Fall back. I'll take him."

They did not seem reluctant to obey. Kallen barely gave them a second look before she charged in at Zealous. The plan was going pretty smooth so far. Only one step left. She closed in, getting her first good look at whatever it was Zealous was piloting. Jet black, some weird angular refit of a Gloucester maybe. Looked like he only had a few slash harkens, an MVS knife, and an SMG. The fact spheres were built into little red glowing 'eyes' in the frame's head.

She came in with the slash harkens first, negligently. They swept in towards Zealous' mecha and skipped off his forearm as he raised it in a parry--just as planned.

And then he slid to one side in a blur, and the fire-edged knife was plunging up to gut her--the hell was he doing? She parried, spun aside, gave him a short disapproving look. About now, he was supposed to be running…

But now he feinted in, shot the slash harkens low, trying to trip her up. She avoided this by flying straight up into the air on translucent pink energy wings, a rather impressive way to dodge something. He followed her on his second-rate floats, trying to close the distance further, engage her again with the knife.

What did he think she was, some rookie? If he wanted to play around, she would be more than happy to rip an arm or two off in the course of the match. With a growl she unfurled Guren's oversized silver right arm and let loose, an angry red spike of irradiated energy. She was aiming for the right shoulder, but he slipped out of the way and let loose a burst of cannon fire, orange tracers lancing up at her. She brought the arm around, easily collecting the bullets into a swirling funnel, vaporizing them.

Seeing this, Zealous's Knightmare turned and was instantly gone. Finally. She hoped the idiot had had his fun. She dropped out of the sky in a blistering pursuit. His mech was a distant skittering dark shape, streaking down towards an emerald vista of forest. This was when communication with HQ was restored. She assured them that she was in pursuit of the unidentified knightmare., then clicked her comm off.

She was gaining rather quickly. The distance closed between them as they fell towards the mountains. Zealous neared a green ridge and seemed almost to glance off it, maneuvering his frame jerkily around, placing the ridge between he and her. She swept past it and hovered, expecting some trick. But Zealous was already far below, seemingly unconcerned with her, his black shape skimming the floor of a valley, leaving the area in haste.

She swooped down after him, energy wings extended, screaming low over treetops as she kept him in sight. This too was part of the plan. This far down in the valley, the radar systems of the base would not be able to track them. Almost as an after-thought, Kallen reached to turn off her ID transponder. With it broadcasting, she'd be incapable of stealth.

Hopefully they would assume she had been disabled or destroyed somewhere in the mountains. And thus would never dream of thinking that she had run off with a couple mercenaries and him to kidnap the empress.

"Ohgi is going to kill me," said Kallen automatically.

Presently, she looked up and realized that Zealous had vanished. She whirled over as she flew, wondering if he wanted a rematch of their earlier fight. But he was nowhere in sight. On her cell phone, though, was a text message with coordinates for the meeting point. She input these into the computer and began to navigate herself towards it.

Halfway up a mountain, on a tiny gravel road, she found an eighteen-wheeler with a common Japanese corporate logo on the side. At her approach, the roof of the cargo section began to split open. This was her ride. Guren hovered daintily overtop for a moment, then lowered into the compartment, the energy wing system dissipating and folding in. She bent forward on one knee and hugged the arms forwards. It was a familiar sensation; it had been a long time since she'd needed to conceal the Guren for transport in this way.

She disembarked and dropped to the floor with a clang. This truck was old and ratty compared to Black Knights vehicles. There were scuff marks engraved in the floor where, presumably, Knightmare feet had shifted and ground into it. She noted that there was room for almost two other Knightmares in the space behind Guren. There were no tethers or hooks along the walls, for securing cargo during movement. Hopefully the Guren's paint would not get scratched. Though probably that was the least of her concern.

She clomped down the aft ramp of the truck and circled round for the cabin. There, sitting on the tall chrome fender, she found a lean man with brown hair, squinting blue eyes, and a cigar between his teeth. Kallen's eyes widened in fury and she pointed a finger at him:

"You!"

He turned ponderously to grin at her, then planted his hands on his thighs and stood, squaring his shoulders. "Thieving delivery service. You steal it, we deliver it."

Kallen planted a foot in the dirt, wound her arm up, put some shoulder behind it, and punched him in the cheekbone. He turned aside with the blow and the cigar flipped out of his mouth to land on the ground. His hands were on his hips and now he was scowling down at the dropped cigar.

"No appreciation for a good one-liner…" he muttered, stepped over, and flattened the cigar against the road with one boot. "You know how long it took me to think that line up?"

Kallen ignored his antics. Her fists were up in classic boxing stance. "Come on. You scared to finish what we started?"

"Sure. Whatever." Thieving's hand rose to massage his tanned cheek, where her knuckle had bit in and drawn a little blood. "You're crazy. That's good. We can probably work together."

She glared petulantly over her raised fists. "You think I'm joking? If you've got the chops for a fair fight I'm waiting."

He waved her away, turning aside, retrieving a fresh cigar from a pocket. "I already said I don't hit women."

"You are pissing me off." She grimaced and flicked her hands at him in dismissal. "A woman could kick your ass as easy as a man. Gender has nothing to do with combat ability. That's a stupid rule, not to hit women. You just trying to be a tough-guy?"

Thieving shrugged, producing a silver lighter. He flicked the cap off, let the tongue of fire lick his cigar. "I like 'em too much to hurt 'em."

Kallen put her hands on her hips, bristling. "And what if you're life depends on hurting a girl one day?"

He breathed out smoke. "Guess that day I'll be screwed." Then he looked up and swivelled his torso, casting around with a hand shielding his eyes from the sun. "Where's Zealous, anyway?"

"I don't know," she crossed her arms. "I thought he was ahead of me."

"Fool is always late…" Thieving said with a snort and a amused shake of his head.

"So I noticed." She turned away from him with her crossed arms and brutal stare aimed down the gravel road. A short amount of time passed in this way, Thieving slouching insouciantly against the grille of their truck and Kallen rigidly posed with deep reservations percolating in her mind.

Presently there came an airborne roar echoing over the mountainside, and Zealous' black Knightmare shot over a nearby rise, angling smoothly in towards them at great speed. It came down the length of the gravel road, kicking up showers of dust and pebbles, then braked to a quick halt just above the truck. Thieving craned his neck up at the floating Knightmare, gave a cursory wave with his cigar, and turned away. The red sensor eyes leered down as the Knightmare sank slowly inside the truck, disappearing from view.

As the muffled whine from within the truck powered down, Thieving lifted from where he sat and sprang up the ladder to the truck's cabin. He called to her, "You riding up front or in your frame?"

She considered for a moment. Then she heard a scraping of motion from above. Zealous had climbed on top of the truck and was now leaping the distance to the cabin. He slid down onto the hood, looked over at her, and gave a jaunty wave. Thieving leaned over and the two of them exchanged a lengthy, solemn handshake which began with fist-pounding, and culminated in finger waggling.

A long drive with these fools?

"I'll be in the Guren," she stalked around to the back, boarded the ramp, stood for a moment evaluating Zealous' hunched Knightmare, now that she was up close. Then she clambered up into the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. and closed the cockpit. She hung in the darkened space. Maybe at least now she could get some sleep.

The drive was a long one, on the order of several hours, and by the end she had managed to make up most of her lost sleep. She was finally awakened by Thieving pounding irritatingly on the Guren's hull. They had come to a warehouse in Chiba city, on the waterfront, nestled among blocks and blocks of other such warehouses. Totally nondescript. Thieving had rented it from a guy who knew a guy he knew, or something.

Zealous had already stowed his Knightmare in the darkness of the warehouse, hooked up to an energy filler. There was another filler there for the Guren, not up to her usual grade but serviceable. While she piloted the Guren down the ramp and over next to Zealous' frame, Thieving explained a few things, calling up to her open cockpit as he strolled around beneath. They were going to wait for a week or two in Chiba city, in a waterfront hotel C.C. had paid for. A small team of technicians was coming down to perform a hefty refit of Zealous' frame, engineers from one of the famed Indian design enclaves. While they were there Guren would be stored elsewhere, because it was such a distinctive design. It was even possible some of the techs had helped to build it, as part of Rakshata's team.

Anyway, these Indian techs would be paid well out of C.C.'s deep pockets and once they were finished with Zealous' frame, everything would be ready. Both Knightmares would be sneakily loaded on one of those brand new cargo airships, along with C.C., Kallen, Zealous and Thieving, and would go over the ocean to Britannia, where things would become interesting.

Through the whole explanation Thieving never mentioned Lelouch, or even another backer of the operation. Apparently he hadn't even revealed himself to them while in disguise. Kallen wondered exactly what was going to happen in regards to that.

After Thieving had gone she stood for a long while pondering these things, below the dim fluorescent lights of the hangar, staring at the Guren. Presently she heard footsteps behind her, and half turned, hoping to see C.C. and get some answers. But the person approaching was Zealous Shad, in a black and grey pilot's jumpsuit. He came to stand beside her and nodded in greeting.

"Nice frame--" he began.

"Why the hell did you attack me?" she demanded.

He shrugged. "Had to make it look good, you know. Besides, I wanted to see what you were made of."

"I could have killed you if I wasn't careful," she said, truthfully. "You shouldn't have tempted me."

"I know," he said quietly, crossed his arms. In the low light of the warehouse he was all in black-and-white, his face waxy and pale, and his eyes sunken into shadow.

"Where'd you go, anyway? I lost you. Had to find the meeting place based on the coordinates." she said accusingly.

He looked over at her with a slightly tentative frown. "I didn't go anywhere. You passed me. You didn't notice?"

"I was distracted." then she could not help but smile in a bit of triumph. "I passed you?"

"Like a bat out of hell," he said with a reluctant nod. "No way I could keep up." He grimaced and scratched at his cheek. "You know, I'm secure enough to admit this: your Knightmare makes mine look like a wooden catapult."

"Uh-huh," she nodded. "Well maybe after this refit Thieving was talking about, it'll be more like a metal catapult."

He shot her a pained look and she laughed at him. There was a long silence as she continued to be amused by this. Then Zealous shook his head with a sigh and turned back to look at the mecha.

He crossed his arms and strolled over to the foot of his Knightmare. As he went, he called over his shoulder, inexplicably: "Are you a samurai?"

Kallen snorted in annoyance. "What the hell? Just because I'm Japanese doesn't mean--" She followed him angrily.

"That's not what I meant," said Zealous. He seemed to be inspecting the legs of his frame, poking his fingers into cracks here and there in the armour. "I just want to know what kind of soldier you are. Since we're going to be fighting together."

"What kind of soldier?" she raised an eyebrow at the back of his head. "I'm… well… I've seen a lot of combat. Probably more than you. What do you mean 'kind of soldier'?."

Zealous reached up, dug his fingers into the knee-joint, and started climbing up the leg of his Knightmare. When he reached the hip area, he hung off, turned to look down at her, and said: "There's two main kinds. Those who understand war, and those who don't." Then he craned his neck, reached up, and clambered onto the frame's chest.

Kallen immediately said, with a scoff, "I understand war. I've seen so much of it. I understand it perfectly."

Zealous looked down in apparent surprise, an expression that turned slowly into evaluation. "Maybe," he said, and swung up to sit on the Knightmare's left shoulder. "Maybe you only think you do." He grinned maddeningly down at her.

Well then. She was tired of looking up at Zealous. She climbed onto the Guren's silver arm, heaving herself up until her fingers dug into a ridge on its shoulder, and swung a leg over to sit there, facing Zealous opposite on the other Knightmare. He watched calmly.

"Explain," she said, and leaned back against shoulder fin.

Zealous turned to face her, crossing his legs with his back against the black frame's head. He said: "Those who understand war understand two things: their enemy, and death." He raised a pale hand with two fingers held upright, an incongruent peace sign. "Those who don't understand war are always certain that they do, until they think about these two things."

"I understand my enemies," Kallen said instantly. "And I understand death."

"Maybe," said Zealous again. His knee unfolded and bent, an elbow came down upon it, and his fist went up under his chin. He stared out at her with his eyes masked in darkness. "Let's start with the enemy." He gestured for her to speak, then waited.

She gathered her thoughts for a moment. "Well… my enemy was always Britannia. When we were fighting them I had to come to an understanding: the peace they offered meant enslavement, subjugation. It was difficult to come to the realization that fighting and killing was better than submitting. Britannians have a feeling than they're superior than everybody else just because of where they're born. They see other races as lesser." She shrugged. "I told you, I understand them. I'm half Britannian. I've seen that side."

But Zealous was smiling in cold triumph. "Wrong. All wrong. You understand them from your side. To truly understand your enemy, all you have to do is realize they're exactly the same as you are."

Kallen stared for a moment with a slight frown. Then she scoffed. "That's ridiculous. Come on… I mean… look at Britannia! At what they've done. The massacres. The racism. I'm not like that."

"No?"

"No. They are not the same as us. We fight--fought them because of the evil things they did."

"Uh-huh." He looked away, seemingly not interested anymore. "Wrong. They are exactly the same as you."

"Don't make me come over there," she said in warning, hunching towards him on the Guren's shoulder. "Prove it. How are they the same as us?"

Zealous shrugged, leaned back again. He pursed his lips and cocked his head. "Let's say…for example… that you were born full-blooded Britannian. In Britannia." He grinned. "Or--even better--what if you never knew that one of your parents was Japanese? You don't look Japanese. If you were born in Britannia with just your Britannian parent… what then?"

Kallen hesitated. "I wasn't… that doesn't matter…"

"Sure it does. You'd be a Britannian knight, wouldn't you?" Zealous goaded. "You might even be a Knight of the Round. You would be just as positive that you weren't anything like the Japanese with their terrorism. You might have killed dozens of Japanese by now. Only difference is that you've killed dozens of Britannians."

"No," she said stubbornly, glaring at him.

"So that's the first one. Understanding that your enemy and you are the same. That requires careful consideration." He moved on, ignoring her protest. "Next: death. This is why I asked if you were a samurai." She scowled angrily at him but he pretended not to notice. He smiled darkly at her. "So, Kallen Kozuki, are you prepared to die?"

Kallen blinked at Zealous, slowly. She said, blandly. "Of course. How many times do you think I've faced death on the battlefield? Of course I've been ready to die." She shifted uncomfortably. "That's not something soldiers usually need to talk about."

"Sure it is," he growled. "Because usually we don't mean it." He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. "You know, I read an article in a newspaper a long time ago. It was about a girl who had just joined the army. Infantry division. Eighteen years old. Killed in action. The paper did a story on her family and how they were reacting. You know," said Zealous, cracking his knuckles one by one, "She only wanted to go over and fight for one tour of duty. Just to see what it was like. Wanted to do something exciting in her life and then come home, you see. After the tour she was going to come home and maybe start a business, have a family, that kind of thing.

"She was killed her first day there, by a roadside bomb. She hadn't seen any combat."

Zealous waited. Kallen stared unemotionally at him. He went on: "Do you understand? To me, what was striking was that she did not understand war. She had no business being there, regardless of her training. There is no 'after the tour'. There's no 'after the war'. A real soldier is dead already. Everyone else is just playing war."

Kallen said sombrely, "I've seen the type of soldiers you mean. People just coming in, wanting training, not seeing what it's all about. They want to be heroes or whatever."

"Then you do know what I mean," Zealous nodded, leaning towards her with a grin at their mutual understanding. "There are so many like that. Most, even. They don't get that to go to war properly you have to expect death. You have to believe in its inevitability. To fight is to be already dead. Even to live is to be already dead."

Kallen raised an eyebrow at him. "Already dead?"

"Sure. That's what the samurai understood. You ever read anything about them? In school or whatever?"

She shrugged. "A little. About their history. Not much about what they believed in…I only started taking Japanese history this semester."

Zealous nodded. "It's hard to find real Japanese history. But in China I found a few things about the samurai. They say the greatest warrior is the one utterly prepared to die at any moment."

"I am," Kallen said cursorily. "I've already faced it many times."

"At any moment," Zealous repeated, doubtfully.

"I already told you--"

"How about right now?" he said quietly.

"Now?" she snorted.

"Yeah. 'Now' is a moment, I think." he grinned at her.

"We're not even in combat. If I'm going to die, it better be on the battlefield," Kallen said and rolled her eyes.

"Ah," he said and nodded several times. He crossed his arms. "So if we had a battle to the death right here and now you'd be fine with dying?"

She snorted at the audacity. "I would kill you."

Now, suddenly, he snapped his fingers and pointed at her, grinning as if to say 'gotcha' or another irritating thing. "And when you're fighting," he said, "you think to yourself, 'I'm going to win this fight'. Don't you?"

"Of course," she leered at him. "I always win."

"But you're still prepared to die?"

She threw up her hands in disbelief. "I already said--"

"All right, all right," he waved her exasperation aside. "I get it. I understand. You're one of those soldiers who is prepared to die in the future. Like most."

"The future?" she was beginning to get exasperated with him.

"Yeah. You'll die in combat someday. In some hypothetical situation. When you have to sacrifice your life for a comrade maybe, or face a powerful Knightmare nobody's ever seen before. Not today. Not right now. Not on a roadside bomb or a car-crash. You're one of those who is willing to die later." he snorted in amusement. "Procrastinator."

"I'm seriously about to come over there and beat you," she got up on a knee, glaring at him.

Zealous just laughed and lounged back, a leg swinging off the side of his Knightmare. "It's easy to die in the future," he explained. "Because it never arrives. The future always stays the future. And Death is always a respectable distance of time from the present. But sooner or later, you'll have to die right now. Because all things, when they happen, happen in the present."

Kallen considered this for a moment, then said, a bitter anger rising in her, "You're a bastard. You think I don't understand death, and enemies? What do you know about those things? I've had to face the deaths of countless friends. I've believed that I was going to die. I've seen friends turn into enemies, and--and enemies into friends, until I didn't know anymore which side I was supposed to be on." Her voice was hoarse with rage. "I get it, okay? I know what you're saying. All of it. And I've tried to find something hopeful in it all, but maybe there just isn't anything." She sucked in a quick, angry breath, "so--so excuse me if I don't want to believe that were all already dead or whatever. Or that I'm just as bad a person as my enemies are.

"And don't ever again try to tell me that I don't understand war, and death, and enemies. I don't think anybody really understands those things but I'm closer than most to it." She was yelling at him. "You think you understand!?"

The warehouse rang with her shouts, echoes fading to dull silence. Zealous sat unmoving with a sad smile on his face. "Maybe," he said. "Maybe not." he shifted his shoulders against the head of his Knightmare. "I'm always trying to get closer to understanding it." He raised his chin at her. "I'm sorry to upset you. I think you know this all as much as anyone does." Zealous went up onto his knees and stared over the edge of his knightmare. "I think I understand you better now. Thanks for the chat."

Kallen glared at him.

As he swung over and began to climb down the knightmare, he paused for a moment and looked at her. There was an deep gravity in his stare. "With your help," said Zealous, "we might even succeed."

Hi everybody. Thanks for the continued support and words of encouragement. With this chapter I decided to include some "notes" at the bottom of the page here, that you can read if you choose to do so.

The reason for this is that I've included a few details in the story that are probably going unnoticed by most people. These details mostly have to do with the alternate timeline that the Code Geass story inhabits.

I'll explain, for those who don't know (you can also read up at the Code Geass wikipedia page or endlessly useful Code Geass Wiki)

In the Code Geass timeline, Julius Caesar and his Roman army were defeated by the Celtic King Eowyn when they tried to invade Britain. Modern day Britannia comes out of Eowyn's victory and he is officially the first King of Britannia.

Britannia went on to conquer the Americas just as real life Britain did: however, in the Code Geass timeline, the American Revolution was a failure and Britannian rule solidified over the colonies. (in this alternate history, Benjamin Franklin was bribed by the Britannians and was made a Britannian Earl)

Some time after that, Napolean Bonaparte actually succeeded in taking over London, and England basically became part of France. So the seat of Britannian power was moved from London to Pendragon in "America" and Britannia basically became the entire West as we call it.

Thus, ironically, England is not part of Britannia anymore, instead being part of the EU which is sporadically at war with Britannia.

Probably the most important thing about this is that all influence of the U.S.A. on history has vanished from the Code Geass version. So there is no such thing as a nuclear bomb.

Now that this alternate timeline has been explained I can move on to some chapter by chapter notes. Feel free to stop reading if you get bored, this isn't that crucially important. But it is interesting!

Not much to say about chapter one and two. Perceptive readers might have wondered even then if Weinberg and Gino Weinberg are related.

Chapter Three:

a couple little details that might have gone unnoticed: In order to get from Shanghai to Vladivostok, Zealous and Thieving move through three different time zones: Chinese time, Japanese time, and something the Russians call Vladivostok time. Vladivostok time (VLAT as Zealous refers to it) is an hour different from Japanese time even though the city is directly north of Japan.

Their client, the 'Independant State of Primorsky Krai' is based on the real life Primorsky Krai, which is the province that Vladivostok is capitol of. ('Krai' being the Russian equivalent of a 'State' or 'Province') This story assumes that Russia has fragmented into multiple different independant states.

The depiction of Vladivostok as full of factories is pretty much factual. Apparently some parts of the city are so polluted from industry that it's classified as hazardous to live in them.

Nothing really to say about chapter four...

Chapter Five:

This is probably the biggest chapter for hidden details. The hotel that they meet C.C. at, the ANA, Gloverhill, is a real hotel in Nagasaki. In describing the lobby and the restaurant I looked at photos of the place online. The cushion-chairs that Zealous finds strange are based on a real photo of the restaurant (which you can look up pretty easily on google if you want) I'm not sure if such chairs are common in Japan...so if anyone knows I'd love to be enlightened.

The conversation that Zealous and Thieving have on the balcony serves no real purpose other than to remind people of the alternate timeline. They muse that Nagasaki has never been attacked by anybody (as opposed to real history in which it was nuked).

Urakami Cathedral: The christian cathedral Z and T visit is actually the place where the nuclear bomb fell on Nagasaki in real life. The bomb fell only 500 feet from the cathedral and obliterated it. In 1959 Urakami (also known as St. Mary's Cathedral) was rebuilt, but Zealous makes note of the fact that the cathedral had (in Code Geass timeline) been untouched since the late 1800s.

When they're talking Knightmare Frames: the Vincent, which is guarding Aries Palace, is the same mecha piloted by Rollo Lamperouge when he first appears.

When Thieving says, "The Shen-Hu, eh? Maybe we could--" ...Here he's referring to the Knightmare piloted by Li Xing-ke (the Chinese guy with the long black hair who coughs blood, in case you don't know who I mean) Thieving implies that he is familiar with the Shen-Hu, which makes sense considering he and Zealous live in China.

Chapter Six:

Now would be a good time to point out that I'm naming most of my Britannian characters and locations after Celtic and Welsh things, and also drawing heavily on Arthurian legend (in line with the prior Code Geass Britannian naming conventions.

When Trevain congratulates Weinberg on his son being appointed knight of one, he's talking of course about the Gino Weinberg who we all know and love. Frederick Weinberg, the father, is a new character but is based on something on Code Geass Wiki: apparently Gino left home in his youth. He was in love with his family's Japanese maid, and when his father found out about it he beat the girl and fired her. Frederick Weinberg is based on this.

Chapter Seven:

ehhh.. not too much happening here that needs explanation. The split-face thing that Zealous and Thieving do is based on real psychological theory. You can look it up.

Chapter Eight:

The Japanese History thing that Kallen recites in class is a bit of real history, hastily looked up. Tokugawa Ieyasu in particular is a famous shogun and founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Chapter Nine:

when Sayoko calls Suzaku 'handsome', this is according to the 'Sayoko's Diary' thing which apparently came with the DVDs of the show. In the first season, Sayoko is apparently infatuated with Suzaku. heres a humourous quote from Code Geass Wiki: "When Sayoko hears Suzaku's voice with Lelouch, she tries to call him, but overhears them saying that they should not been seen together, so that nobody will know about their relationship. Sayoko thinks that Suzaku is romantically involved with Lelouch, which completely devastates her. "

Tintagel and the 'Shalott Memorial Shopping Centre' are both named for Arthurian legends. There's a poem called The Lady of Shalott in which a woman falls in love with Lancelot from afar, but is cursed or some such thing and eventually dies.

It's also worth noting that when Suzaku is thinking about FLEIJA power, this parallels the controversy surrounding nuclear power. FLEIJA serve the same purpose as nukes in the show really, and of course there is no nuclear technology in Code Geass. Interestingly, Nina's full name (who invented the FLEIJA) is Nina Einstein.

Chapter 10: (the chapter above)

not much to say here. Zealous' death argument is based on samurai ideology as he states. Oh! and I almost forgot. the story he tells about the female soldier is based loosely on a story I read in the paper, of Canadian soldier Karine Blais, 21 years old, who died in her first two weeks in Afganistan due to an IED.

The title of Chapter 10 "The Soldier Side" is taken from the System of a Down Song by the same name.

That's about it! If you have had the patience to slog through all these notes, I commend you. I hope they've been interesting and helpful. Let me know if I should continue to write out notes every few chapters or whatever. And I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

JDCT