Author's Gab: By the way, if ever you folks are wondering: no, I do not proofread this story, it's typed in directly into a blank uploaded document. I have seen the grammar mistakes in some sections, and I am working to make sure it doesn't happen anymore, but as it is, I will not be re-editing those again. Call it laziness if you will, but hey, my account profile says it all. Also, no longer distracted. Who knew a thesis would be so sobering an experience?

Eyebrows knit together in determination, Dr. Rimes Duran flipped the pancake over in the pan. A sweet smell wafted from it and he sighed as he breathed it in. He then took a nearby salt-and-pepper shaker and shook some salt into the pan.

He was pleased to find that even with the limitations of color currently imposed on the Mind's Eye (supporting only a meager range of 50), it still could finely distinguish shape, allowing its inventor to distinguish the fine circular shape the pancake had made. What bugged the scientist though, was the fact that he had to work as hard every morning as he would do in the day, attaching and then removing a mess of wires from his head.

Which was why it would only be fifteen minutes later, when the pancake and coffee had long since cooled off, before Duran could sit down and have breakfast. He felt around for the shaker again, and applied a liberal sprinkling of pepper on the pancake.

It was very fortunate that the room where he prepared and ate breakfast was a small one, with the stove being easily accessible from the dining table. Despite his stubborn insistence on cooking his meals or doing any other activities of daily living by himself, Duran had asked for facilities which favored his condition. That meant a kitchen doubling as dining room, a digital voice that read him his daily inbox, and other such aids.

That digital voice would alert Duran foremost, before any reminders from other staff in the project, to the announcements from the Chief; and today, there was one, a short statement about his intentions for the two subjects.

"So it's finally the day huh?" The man's thoughts turn towards the little girl with whom he'd spent the most of his time. Over the year, the scientist had begun to regard the girl as far more than just mere equipment, a mere "part" complementing his invention. While he could not guess the girl's feelings about her situation, not having bothered to talk about it in their sessions, he had been confident that at least he was a better man to be with than that Portland.

Yet his self-assurance came apart yesterday when the girl had heard that recording delivered by Dr. Aiyme. Duran did not know about the contents of that recording, but suspected that it was another one of Portland's "methods". As such, he was momentarily confused the moment the girl started moaning, even more so when Aiyme abruptly left. With that, he was left all alone in a room with a girl that was steadily growing hysterical.

He had been using the Mind's Eye at that moment, and all he could do was stand there helplessly as he watched the girl's face, seeing the texture classified as "moisture" by the system coating it. His mind had raced, thinking desperately on his course of action. The tests had not been through: would he have to use Portland's method of cowing the girl back into submission? But no, that would mean sinking to the man's level? Would he have to comfort the girl now, offering himself? But then, the man did not know how to do it. In all his years he had never known how to express his emotions, and he believed he would only be doing an awkward job with it now, which would certainly not help the girl much.

By then, the man could see the only way open to him. He quietly and quickly disengaged the Mind's Eye, scattering all the wires as he rapidly informed the soldiers-on-duty that the session was canceled. Then he left the room just like Dr. Aiyme had done, doing his best feeling out the corridor as he literally escaped from the suffocating room, leaving the girl to be picked up by the soldiers.

I'm sorry, I just can't.

Dr. Rimes Duran thought he felt a presence to his side, but he quickly waved it off his thoughts as he sought the privacy of his own quarters.

After that, it was the rest of the time spent avidly listening to soothing music in his room, which carried him through to dreamless sleep.

Having finished breakfast and his other daily necessities, Duran ambled slowly out of his room. He hoped that the girl had calmed down somewhat, as he was not prepared to face yet another scene like before.

Briefly, he wondered at that, at his seeming inability to connect. Perhaps it needed to be rectified.

Dr. Roderick Valdez glanced, bleary-eyed, at the assistants who were scrambling to clean up the aftermath of his rampage. He took a sip from the mug of coffee in his hand, and savored the bitter flavor as he swirled the mixture inside his mouth.

He glanced at the datapad that had been given to him by his assistants moments ago, and his eyebrows raised in amusement at Portland's grand message. He finished his hot coffee in one gulp, and tossed the empty mug at a nearby assistant, who promptly fell from surprise - dropping and scattering everything the latter had been holding in the process.

Valdez did his "morning stretches", mind preoccupied by something as he mulled over the information that had been given to him yesterday. His frenzy had sobered over the night, replaced by a creative mood as his imagination took flight.

I will perfect it first. The man thought to himself. I alone have the right!

The digital alarm beeped in loud, scratching noises. At this, the sleeping form of Dr. Rouche Aiyme stirred, slowly coming to life as she bashed the button on the alarm.

She rose, putting on the underwear that had been left on the floor from the night before, and began to freshen herself up for the day. After quickly heating and consuming the rations for the morning, she consulted her daily planner on a datapad. Her eyes widened slightly at the announcement from Portland, a message not hard to miss in the mostly empty inbox she had.

As she put on her lab attire, she began to think of how she should handle the subjects from then on. All this time, she had only personally handled one subject, Subject N., while only having the occasional curious look at the other. As they would soon be training together, Aiyme would have to adjust to managing the two subjects who would be simulating the complete Morgana, complete with theoretical armaments.

Abruptly, her thoughts turned to Dr. Valdez, who had promised her awhile back about installing his special gatling guns on the real Morgana. This step would round up the model itself, allowing the techs to be able to finally integrate the Merlin module into the Morgana. Again, the woman cursed the eccentric's penchant for tardiness as she considered the long period it would take for the two pieces to finally be combined.

As she made to exit her quarters, she spotted the dead goldfish floating limply in its pink bowl. For the second time, she cursed inwardly, planning for five minutes later that day to dispose of it. Then she would have to request for another one, to be delivered at the same time as the next inbound shipment.

Grimacing, she remembered that she would have to approach the strange man from General again about the requisition, something she loathed to do. But though the man was hard to be alone with, she would have to endure, as having a goldfish was a tremendous help - warming the occasional cold night.

The man straightened in his seat, desperately trying to hold back a sneeze. He succeeded, and his eyes watered as he snorted his nose heavily. After a while, he leaned back again, staring at the datapad on his hand.

Occasionally, the man's eyes would wander around the dark, messy room to the wall-sized electronic screen against the wall. Displayed were various images showcasing real-live happenings from inside and outside the facility. On the upper-left most ones were from the cameras that were hidden in each of the heads' quarters, and the man inwardly snickered at Dr. Aiyme and Dr. Duran's simultaneous exits.

His eyes flicked to the lower-right, where he saw the Lamperouges being stirred from sleep by the Breaker's booming voice. After another swift, cursory glance at the rest of the images, he returned his attention to the image prominently displayed on his datapad.

His fingers trace the little lines passing through the various names of Britannian Emperors long dead, from generation to generation as they cut a swathe through the annals of history. Here was the genealogy of the noble Imperial line, strong and pure. As his fingers descended to the very last to dwell on the current Emperor's name, his eyes knit together ever so slightly. For the briefest of moments his eyelids fling wide open, exposing the furious amber pupils.

But that moment quickly passes, after which the man flings away the datapad with a sigh. Then, placing his hands behind his head, he turns his eyes once more towards the image showing the room Portland had designated.

"Expected reaction? No, too unpredictable...", the man mutters.

Lelouch was in a calculating mood as he was escorted down the corridor. The boy had set his mind towards the task of discovering a way to get Nunnally and himself free. To that end, he'd begun actively observing everything around him: the structure of the facility, the behavior of the guards, and others. So far, he had yet to find a suitable condition that would help in his eventual plan. The boy was satisfied, however, at optimistic outlook he had been brave enough to adopt.

You had better watch for yourself from now on, fool. I will lay low for now, playing the part of the "dog" with this partner or whoever, but I shall forever be patient - waiting for that inevitable chink in the armor. The boy was heady with feelings of victory. And when that time comes, I vow that you will sorely regret humiliating me, and harming Nunnally!

So thinking, the boy tightened his clenched fist. He almost wished he could afford to laugh at this very moment.

Nunnally, for her part, was trying to keep herself as stable as possible. The girl had wanted to break down many times in a tantrum, so desperate was her yearning and concern for her brother. She realized that as long as the voice was there, she could not make her wishes come true.

She earnestly wished for the voice to disappear.

It did not help that the first thing she heard upon waking that morning was that voice's terrible booming, informing her of something that did not dwell long in her fevered mind. At present, Nunnally was intent on nothing more than the peace of mind afforded her at the end of the day, which was why she wanted this meeting with her "partner" to be done and over with.

She heard a distant humming as the one guiding her took her past the door. Afterward, the other one left quickly, not even giving Nunnally the chance to utter her thanks. She was then left all alone in this strange place, wherever it was. Oddly enough, the place gave her a bad feeling, comparably worse than the other rooms she had been in.

Lelouch stood all alone in darkness. This development put the boy on guard: darkness was a natural enemy. He prepared himself for what would come out of the darkness, and the boy instantly berated himself for feeling a little fear - a throwback to childhood memories.

"So? Where is my partner now? Are you suggesting that this darkness is my partner?" The boy grimly chuckled. "I see now, this is a figurative lesson: I am to use the darkness as a tool as well as consider it my partner."

There was no reply from anywhere, and at this Lelouch finally laughed, his first ever since being in this facility. It was a deep, hearty laugh, ridding the boy of all his pent-up tension.

He yelled into the vast darkness before him, "DID YOU HEAR THAT MY PARTNER??? NICE TO MEET YOU! I'M-"

The girl shivered, the bad feeling increasing. She did not how long she had spent standing there. Her artificial leg implants had begun to wear on her, something which she had been told was a bad sign. To counteract it, she would have to-

Abruptly, the girl stooped and crouched. There would be no leg exercises to be performed, she had too much going on still. She bore the pain in her legs from crouching as she hid her face behind her hands in an attempt to stem the silently flowing tears.

In her thoughts first and foremost, was her brother. She wanted to know where he was, was he safe, why isn't he protecting his little sister as all big brothers must do???

"Sorry for the wait, little girl. Shall we begin the introductions?" The girl started, standing quickly like a rapidly rising geyser. She wiped away her tears as the humming in her ears increased in volume, and she heard a loud thud somewhere as something was slowly lifted.

And then -

"OH YES! I WILL USE YOU VERY WELL, YOU SHALL BE A GOOD TOOL, NAY, MY GREATEST TOOL! I WILL-"

The boy's voice was loud, so loud, so familiar to the girl. Before she could stop herself, she had uttered that one word.

"Nii-sama?"

She desperately believed she was wrong.

The boy choked on his yells, a blinding light finally illuminating the vast tunnelly room. What he saw was equally as destructive to his vision, silencing everything in him.

The boy recalled uttering one word, a single broken word escaping tonelessly, hopelessly.

"Nunn...al...ly?"

The voice returned, an angry, incessant buzz. Background noise for the two, as one walked limply to the visibly shaking other.

The girl was hugged fiercely, drawn into an embrace with familiar touch and warmth. The waterfall had flown again, unbidden yet unchallenged, as she buried herself further in.

After saying that one word, the boy could utter no other. His thoughts: once so rampant, unchallenged in their mastery and skill, confident in their content, now dissipated, replaced by a dull void. As he beheld the familiar sight, the soft, beautiful face, the wavy chestnut hair, something within the boy sputtered into nothingness. So, partner huh? She is my-

There is a moist warmth in her hair, but she does not heed, so intent was she to let loose the torrent of emotions that contained all but happiness, at this "reunion". It must be a dream: a dim thought, but the boy she touches is far too corporeal, intransient...

And in that moment, Portland laughed from the depths of his being, his soul soaring in the sweet, familiar feeling of accomplishment, of sweet victory. He pulls out his flask and sprays it all around himself, heedless of the mess it made on his clothes. In this moment, he is a madman, but it is a satisfied madman as he stares at the screen and concludes that -

For the two, their bodies intertwined, shaking in utter anguish, there was one thing foremost in their mind. That they had been utterly defeated, that they were powerless. Yes for the siblings, they now realized that-

They had now fallen into the deepest pits of despair.

Entry Log:

(random mutterings) The Hadron cannon's design is very (grumble) unique...but a few calculations....afterwards (mutter)...reveal potent flaws....with this knowledge....(grumble)I have concluded that...YES? What is it, woman? Weapon? (mutter) No shouting, it hurts my processes. Dustbelcher! The Dustbelcher will work. (spit) YOU THERE! Bring the Dustbelcher gun to the Development division, pronto! (loud crash) Annoying woman...so intent on her flawed device...Yes, flawed...it's design is too, shall we say...(laughter) Without a good pilot, that thing will just bowl over and die, like a, um...a turtle! (laughter)

R. Valdez