Sideline Leaders

Introductions

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Ohgi stopped walking.

"Kallen." She froze, anxiously anticipating his next words. "I think we deserve an explanation."

Slowly Kallen turned around. She'd been expecting this: suspicion, fear, and even a little bit of anger from her comrades.

"Yeah, Kallen, what the hell happened!" Tamaki shouted.

"You asked us to help you, and we did." Yoshida added. "Now tell us: how did you get those men to listen to you?"

"Are you involved with the military?"

"No!" Kallen shouted. "It's not anything like that! I would never cooperate with those people!"

"Then why did they obey you?" Ohgi asked. Kallen started, clamming up once more. "Start talking. Or we won't be able to trust you."

"You might not believe me." She mumbled.

"Why not?"

Swallowing her fear, Kallen spoke. "Tamaki, do you remember that boy we found in the gas capsule?"

"The one who got shot? Yeah, I remember."

"Now that you mention it, it's kinda strange how the government put so much effort into capturing one guy." Inoue mused.

"No, it's not." Kallen burst out. Confusion bloomed among her allies, except for Ohgi, in whose eyes Kallen saw a spark of understanding.

"You mean to say-" He began. Kallen nodded and finished the sentence.

"Before he died, that boy grabbed my arm. And when he did…" This part Kallen wasn't so prepared for. How could she explain the alien, infinite and eldritch things she saw there? So she simply said, "He spoke to me."

"Bullshit!" Tamaki said. "I was there the whole time, and that guy never-"

"In my mind." A hush fell over the group. Most of them probably doubted her words, but she had to tell them. Kallen swallowed twice and continued. "I know it sounds crazy, but he made a deal with me."

"A deal?"

"He asked me to grant his wish." She paused. "Although he didn't tell me what that wish was, and now that he's dead I suppose I'll never get to uphold my end of the bargain." Everyone was still silent, waiting for her to finish.

"In return, he gave me this- this power."

"Power?" Ohgi whispered.

It's now or never, she realized. "I heard the word "Geass" when we made the deal." The moment of truth. "The power of the kings. The power to control people. To demand absolute obedience." Because that was what her family, what her father and step-mother expected of her- of all Japan. And because she was sick of it.

"Is she serious?" Sugiyama muttered to Yoshida. He shrugged, looking as doubtful as the rest of them.

"Do you mean as in psychic powers?" Ohgi stepped forward. "Kallen…."

"I'm not crazy!" She snapped. "And I'm not kidding."

"Look, I'm not saying that you're lying or anything, but you have to admit that this whole thing sounds a little bit… extreme."

"Yeah, telepathy is just a cool power used in books. It's not real!" Tamaki snorted.

"Then how do you explain what happened?" Kallen snapped. "Look, I don't understand it any more then you guys do, but I'm telling you, that's what happened! If I focus, and the Geass turns on. Then if I give someone an order while making eye contact, they do whatever I say. Just like those guards did, and Prince Clovis."

"It still doesn't make sense…" Kallen groaned at Inoue's words. Clearly, her allies weren't going to trust her without some sort of demonstration-

"But it is." Kallen froze. She knew that voice.

"Who's there!" Six guns turned on the source, but for once Tamaki didn't begin barking threats like usual.

"That's- that's impossible!" He gasped. Silently, Kallen agreed. Although after what she'd done today, the word 'impossible' should probably be removed from her vocabulary.

"You know this guy?"

"He's dead!" Tamaki insisted. "I saw the bullet go into his skull-"

"Yes. I died." The boy calmly stepped forward into a patch of light. "I just didn't stay dead."

"Tamaki, you know this guy?" Sugiyama asked.

"He's the guy who was in that capsule! The one that this entire mess was all about!" He shouted.

"The one who gave me the Geass." Kallen added.

"Correct on both accounts." The boy said. He kept walking even with the hostility of the resistance, until he came to a box and sat down on it.

Ohgi swallowed his fear and spoke first. "Then why were they after you? Why did Prince Clovis want you? What makes you so special that all those people were killed for you?"

"Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?" The boy didn't even blink. "There's at least two reasons why I'd be 'interesting' that you already know about."

"Huh?"

"What's he talking about?"

Ohgi understood. "So you did give Kallen psychic powers."

"Correct." By this point it was a miracle nobody had lost their cool and started firing.

"And somehow you survived being shot in the head." Kallen guessed.

"Like I said, I don't stay dead." The resistance began muttering again.

"Stay dead? What the hell does that-"

With a bang, a bullet embedded itself in the boy's head. For a moment Kallen stared in shock, then-

"Tamaki!"

"Well, he said he didn't stay dead, so it doesn't really matter if we shoot him!" Tamaki growled.

"Yeah, but you didn't-" Kallen began to yell, only to be silenced in shock.

"You know, usually I'd complain, but you've saved me a lot of time." Everyone, through their fear and anger, fell silent in awe. The boy sat up, correcting himself on the crate, as a small metal object dropped from his wound. It was hard to see through the blood, but the wound was closing quickly.

"What the hell?" Someone whispered. The boy caught the bullet in his hand as it fell from his head.

"If I was a fake, if Kallen was a spy, and this entire thing was a trap, you'd prove it when I stayed dead." The boy smiled. "After I claimed to be immortal, what better way is there to discredit me?" No one spoke, and even Kallen was frozen in shock.

"Of course, if my claim was valid- which it is- shooting me proves it. Since those were your own bullets, you know that they aren't fakes, and shooting me in the head eradicates the possibility that I'm wearing a bulletproof vest or something.

"Of course, doing so proves that which you thought was impossible is reality, and thus by extension, that no rule you believe to be absolute is certain. Your friend could easily have gained power from me. Especially since both instances of 'impossible' things happening have the same source- myself- you can simply adjust your way of thinking by accepting that I am an anomaly that violates the laws of reality.

"Really, you've been quite clever for a trigger-happy maniac."

"That's enough!" Kallen had enough of this. "You keep talking, but you're not explaining anything! Who are you? How did you survive that? What did you do to me?"

The boy smirked on the crate. "My name is C.C."