Been watching my weekly anime, as one does and while I'm also rewatching Naruto Shippuden, I had a startling realization while watching the latest episode of Demon Slayer, and that's the fact Tanjiro's got some serious rizz. I know that sounds weird, especially for those who see him, rightfully so, as the god boi but we have to consider the people he's managed to turn to his side, or at least calm down. There's Zenitsu who he inspired to be better, Inosuke who is calmed by Tanjiro just being himself, the Butterfly hashira Shinobu who doesn't feel like she has to pretend as much with him, Kanao who he helped to relearn how to express herself, no-name members of Kakushi AND the Love Hashira Mitsuri. It's even used for comic relief in the latest episode where a demon blood-infused Genya, a character whose been nothing but aggressive towards…well everyone, is calmed…just because Tanjiro is that friendly. This leaves out the literal demons he's shown kindness to like Spider Mom, Rui, Daki and Gyutaro. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if even Muzan himself can't bring himself to attack him out of malice.

Chapter 20: Dialogue of Warriors

With the others gone, the two women, and the two warriors sat silently opposite one another. Kallen watched the former Goddess of victory seated across from her, trying to figure out what she wanted whereas Cornelia observed the Devil's right Hand, catching how even in a relatively secure setting, she was as calm as a spring, her hand never moving too far from the dagger she most likely had hidden on her person but Cornelia couldn't judge, after all, she kept a loaded silenced gun on hand at all times. Still, it was Cornelia who spoke first, beating Kallen to the punch. 'I know what you're going to ask, and the answer is no. I'm not planning on killing my brother if we find him.' She didn't react when Kallen's eyes widened just a little and went back to normal, she understood that many believed that, it wasn't like she hadn't claimed such things in the past.

'Then why are you coming with us?' Kallen asked as she hadn't been told the real reasons why Cornelia was accompanying them and she wanted them. Yes, Cornelia led their people in Europe but she could have just as easily just sent Gino or Guilford, she didn't need to be here, yet she was.

Cornelia was silent for a moment, taking another sip of her water in a fashion that reminded Kallen too much of how drinkers nursed their booze. 'How well…did you know him, Lelouch, I mean?' Cornelia asked her gaze on the water. Kallen wondered about the question but still took a moment to think about how to answer it.

'Honestly? Not much. I mean, we were never close while I was at Ashford, most of our interactions related to council work. Those that didn't were rather…awkward.' Kallen replied, thinking back to their time on the council, and how he seemed to enjoy angering her with the fact he knew who she was and she didn't know who he was, allowing him to press buttons that others wouldn't know even existed.

'Awkward how?' Cornelia asked, getting a little colour to come to Kallen's face as while it had been years, it wasn't the finest moment nevertheless.

'He slipped up in the beginning, so I suspected he was, at the time the voice on the radio that led us to victory against Clovis.' Cornelia nodded her head at that, not needing the full details as while he was brilliant, and went on to do many things others would think impossible, her brother was still young and arrogant, a fact she learned when he fell for her trap in Saitama because he believed he could beat her like he did their militarily incompetent and spoiled brother.

'I would say that was sloppy of him but,' She took another sip. 'I suppose we all make mistakes when we're young and inexperienced, Lord knows I made more than a few.' Cornelia let out a short chuckle as she recalled better times when she was in basic, how she asked her instructors to not go easy on her due to her royal status and out of all of them, Andreas was the only one who made her regret that. The world needed more men like him, those that saw merit first and status second.

'Well, I'll leave out the details but I needed to use their shower and he was the one that brought me some spare clothes,' When Cornelia raised an eyebrow, Kallen knew what she was thinking and immediately shot that down. 'No, we weren't…doing that.' She looked away here, she suspected Cornelia knew of how popular her brother was with the girls, and she really didn't want her to think she was that easy.

'I didn't say anything.' Cornelia blandly told her, though Kallen didn't buy it.

'You-, never mind,' She stopped herself before she dug the hole any deeper, they could clear things up later, but now wasn't the time. 'Point is that I threatened him to see if he was Zero, but he already countered my move when I somehow faked a phone call and had 'Zero' on the other end. I was so caught off guard and embarrassed that I never questioned why he didn't make anything of my breaking my sickly, meek girl act twice.' Sneaky bastard.

'Twice?' Cornelia asked her to elaborate.

'I may have killed a bee with a single flick and voiced some frustrations.'

Cornelia only huffed out an amused laugh at that. 'Good thing you weren't at school more, else everyone would have seen through your masquerade.'

Kallen was about to counter that, but she paused to think and realized that she wasn't wrong. 'I know…' Thankfully, she had gotten better over the years but her Ashford days were not her finest moments. 'After that, I only ever saw Lelouch Lamperouge, the lazy vice president of the student council. Someone who could have done something, but was more content to just watch and comment from the sidelines. It pissed me off something fierce.' His comments about society and the status of Britannians and Elevens when they met up before the refrain raid stuck out to her, but thinking back on things, she realized that she had merely asked the wrong questions. She had asked what Lelouch Lamperouge would do and got an honest answer. Just like how Kallen Stadfelt couldn't do anything, Lelouch Lamperouge was just as inconsequential.

Perhaps she would have got a different answer if she asked what Lelouch vi Britannia or Zero wanted to do.

'But…he cared for Nunnally, and valued Suzaku as a friend, that much was clear from the get-go, but they never really explained how they met, I only realized later why.' Learning how close the two once were helped to explain some things, such as why before the Black Rebellion and after the reveal of who Lancelot's pilot was, they were ordered to never fight to destroy. She once thought it was due to the fact the odds that anyone besides herself and Tohdoh could was the reason, it might have been a large part regardless but she guessed he just didn't want to kill his friend, maybe bring him to their way of thinking.

Cornelia listened to this with a hum, looking out the window for a moment before she returned her gaze to Kallen, her hollow eyes being as unnerving as those of the many corpses she had seen over the years. 'I see, I don't know much about his relationship with Kururugi after they were…banished,' Cornelia stopped herself for a moment, painful memories no doubt surging to the surface as Kallen could only give her silent sympathy for them. 'We cut contact with them, I cut contact with them.' Cornelia looked down, too ashamed to face her fellow warrior woman in the eye as she regretted that choice. She had followed along with the others and listened to her mother on how it would negatively affect the if they kept in contact with the now fallen from favour vi Britannia sub-family.

She had told herself that it was for Euphemia, that they would understand why she did the things she did, but even then, it didn't help her sleep at night. Not knowing what they were going through, if they were eating right, if Nunnally had access to proper medical care if they were kept warm through cold nights. Now, she understood she took the coward's way out, she may have lied to herself that it was for Euphie, but she still chose to abandon two of the few siblings that she could call family to the wolves. Then they received the news that their father had done what they all feared he would, he declared war with a surprise attack-days later, reports reached them that in retaliation, her siblings were killed.

'What about you? What was he like before everything?' She was broken out of her solemn memories by Kallen, hoping to push things forward as Cornelia sighed, leaning back into her chair as she tried to think of happier times.

'Lazy is one trait that he seemed to carry to Ashford, he preferred his books and chess with Schneizel to running around and playing like other kids. It made watching over him easier at least, you didn't need to keep a constant eye lest he wander off.' She and Kallen shared a laugh there as they both knew just how much he resented physical activity, and how it didn't seem to matter how poor he was at it, he was either too proud to change or too lazy to. Cornelia had already heard the story of the time just about the entire council outrun him, including Ashford who at the time was in heels.

'But he was also such a sweet child, a loving child even if he was a bit of a smart ass. He loved his siblings, those of us that were around at least, very much. Looked up to his mother then I did.' She added as he often asked her to escort her to watch Marianne train, and while he was and never did become her equal, he didn't wish to be-he just wished to see her in action, to express herself in ways words and court intrigue couldn't. She remembered how despite how much he hated it; he wouldn't complain when Euphie or Nunnally wanted to dress him up in whatever new dress they got their hands on. How he would try and follow along with Clovis whenever he attempted to teach him how to draw and paint.

Those memories faded as she recalled how he killed Clovis and bragged about it, how he had killed Euphie in cold blood. 'But then, the next time I saw him, it was after he bested me during the first Black rebellion. I had believed he had changed so much…but it sounds like it had changed so little. Yet,' She lowered her head, placing it in her head as she recalled how he looked that day, framed by fire and destruction as she laid at his mercy. How cold his eyes were, how much they reminded her of Charles.

'Yet he could still fight us, kill the very siblings he loved so much…but perhaps it was us that changed.' She whispered, a shell of the woman she once was as she recalled how he killed Clovis after he attempted to massacre an entire ghetto, how she had done the same just to lure him out. how they left them to die and never once thought what that would do. Schneizel believed that he had become a monster in those years alone, but was he the only one? She would say no, not when she had earned the nickname the 'Witch of Britannia' for a reason.

'Kallen, we all become monsters in our own right, some bigger than others, and for the longest time, I believed he was the biggest of them. What else would you call someone that kills his family?' She asked Kallen, who remained silent as despite her feelings towards Britannia and the royal family, she wasn't someone that could say she could fight her family, as messed up as it was.

'But…I was wrong, so very wrong.' Cornelia whispered, her shoulders slack. 'He may have looked up to Schneizel, seen him as some peak to one day conquer but there was another difference between them.' Cornelia smiled as she recalled what that was, even if that smile was less a solid thing and more a collection of broken glass reassembled to attempt to appear what it was once.

'He still cared, even for just one other person, he loved Nunna…with all his heart.' She spoke with Nunnally before she left to find proof of geass and clear Euphie's name. She hadn't known about the truth of Zero, but she did speak fondly of her brother who stepped up as her primary caregiver, someone who helped others and never lost his patience no matter what crazy things Ashford could come up with. 'Schneizel in turn. In all the years I've known him, from when we were but kids, I've never seen him display any deep emotional response.' In contrast, when she thought of her older brother, even in their early days, it always seemed like he was...half-assing it. when someone bad happened, he would be sad, but never cry. When something good happened, he would smile but never cheer.

'Schneizel doesn't seem to care for anyone but himself.' She shook her head at Kallen's statement.

'He cares, that much I know but that affection has never factored into his decisions. He's as close to a heartless machine trying to mimic emotions as one can get. He knows the basics and can play the role perfectly, but that's just it-he's playing a role.' She corrected, though it didn't feel like much as she believed it was worse to have emotions and ignore them than to never have them to begin with. The latter could at least be explained as lacking them to make moral judgements while the latter…well, that was what they had to deal with right now.

After this, there was silence between them once more, with only the sounds of the slowly filling pub beneath to fill the air. After some time passed, Kallen spoke up. 'Why…why are you bringing this up?'

Cornelia remained silent for a moment, but no strength returned to her, the once mighty goddess of victory brought low. 'Because for so long, I hated him. I wanted Lelouch dead and when I found the destroyed mask of Zero, I was ecstatic as it meant he had removed himself from the world, even if he still drew breath.' She recalled the night after the fact, she had toasted Zero's demise, thinking that she could finally put that chapter of her life behind her. But then she heard what Suzaku told Schneizel, she learned just how much of a pawn she had been, that they had all been. How her father hadn't even believed in the ideology he sprouted, the one he enforced on his own family with ruthless efficiency. How Nunnally was blinded and crippled for the sake of a lie.

She knew he was the root of most if not all their problems, that it was because of them that the imperial family was a family in name only, but she had always thought he at least believed that it was right. In some twisted way, he just wanted the best for his family but in the end…

The ruthless competition, the deadly court politics, Marianne's 'death', Nunnally's blindness and crippling, the vi Britannia's banishment, the fall of Ashfords, all the wars and all the death…all of it based on lies. All for the selfish desires of three monsters.

'Then I learned just how much I didn't know; how much was kept from us.' She said, her internal struggles kept to internal. She looked up at Kallen, her gaze empty but filled with a profound sense of longing that Kallen never thought she would see again in her, not since she got the news that she lost her child 4 months into health complications.

'Now, now I just want answers. What did he feel when he killed Clovis? How much he had changed? Why did he use Euphie like that? What did he feel when he fought against us? At what part did his hate outstrip his love? Cornelia stated, taking a deep gulp of her water, finishing it and placing the empty bottle down, though it fell on its side and rolled off the table, neither reacted.

'I'm…not the best person to talk about Clovis, no real good memories when it comes to him,' Cornelia snorted there, she knew what her brother did, she didn't care if Kallen cursed him out, not like she could defend him. 'But people can change and sometimes…sometimes it's for the worst as I don't know if the Lelouch I knew was the better one or not.'

'Regardless, I've long since burned out my hate for him, I just want the truth, why he did do the things he did? I asked him once after he captured me during his attack on the Geass Order, but I could tell he was dodging the question.' Cornelia recalled his answer, he claimed it did it all for a sister he loved, but that was too broad an answer, she knew just about everything he did could be said to stem from that, but there had to be more to it.

Kallen could understand her, more than just two warrior women, more than former enemies made allies, she could understand Cornelia at this moment as she was also tired of it. tired of the hate, of the fighting, of the death. She was tired of just destroying and rebelling, she wanted to build instead, to make the world better, into one where her mother could be happy, where a brother could smile down on, one where her children and their children would need worry about race and weapons of mass destruction. Seeing that the conversation was over, she got up to leave but paused to say something first.

'I don't have the answers you want, there's only one in the entire world that does but,' Kallen started, giving the older woman her best smile. 'But I want to believe that he was-still is the brother you know, underneath all the lies and masks.' Cornelia's breath hitched there.

'Why? How?' Cornelia asked, her hand reaching for her chest while Kallen held the smile, brittle it might have been.

'Because I want to hope, I want to hold into hope. Because without it…later.' She turned to leave before she could see her smile break as she remembered what could become of her if she fell into that rabbit hole if she allowed the lure of the past to grab hold of her like it did tens of millions of others.

Hours later, Gino and Milly returned. The two had sought out her contact in the city to try and get them in on whatever was happening and managed to strike paydirt, learning that another "disappearance" was going to happen later that night. They had been worried that they would miss out on it, as they haven't talked with anyone about payments but to their surprise, they learned that it didn't cost them anything which while strange, means they can conserve their funds. After some back and forth, they managed to get into it and were told they are to meet at a point in the city.

'This seems strange, the location may not be in the open but it's no secret either.' Nagisa asked as they finished listening to the two explain the situation.

'We had the same concerns, but from what we were told. It's not the only location that they'll meet in, rather there a several but they don't tell people about the others-just the one they need to get to.' Gino replied as it did make sense, rather keep things innocent looking with multiple small groups rather than a single large one. It would certainly throw off the cameras and those watching them as they wouldn't see anything odd with it, not if the people were smart about it.

'They also didn't pick more discrete locations as that if of itself draws attention. People moving towards a semi-open area isn't as strange as if they were heading for abandoned or industrial sectors.' Milly added in as she figured those parts of town had the most surveillance because they were traditionally popular for under-the-table business and other criminal activities. But that left a small blind spot as if the targets were willing to avoid it, it'll mean avoiding the worst of the dedicated white cloaks and police actively looking for them.

'So, what's the plan?' Kallen asked the group.

'It seems like we'll all meet up outside the city, away from any patrols or surveillance that could spot us. After that, we're gonna board some transport out, mainly buses to cover the bulk of the journey to where we need to go. As for "Where" is, they didn't say. Security reasons.' Milly explained to them as she had hoped to at least get a direction to work with but alas, their contact had been tight-lipped and seemed ready to drop them if they pushed further, so they had to leave it at that.

'So, I'm guessing that we need to pack light, correct?' Guilford asked.

'For us, yeah since we're not uprooting our entire lives for this. Either way, the meet-up's at 10 pm, so we have about 3 hours to prepare and an hour to get there as I doubt they'll wait for stragglers.' Milly replied as the group dispersed to prepare, either heading downstairs to have a quirk drink and gather more information, take a quick nap before what they assumed would be an overnight trip, or checked their luggage to ensure they had all that they would need to protect themselves should things go sour.

Across town, a different meeting was occurring as within the halls of the Manchester police station, two people walked towards their destination, neither being members of the police but every officer, desk jockey or detective they came across made sure to give them a wide berth. It would be foolish to do otherwise as it was already a hard day when the Chief Inspector decided to grace them with her presence. The woman had extremely harsh expectations for them and little patience, a combination that had already seen her sack 23 of their number, a fact that shouldn't be possible when she didn't have official power over them.

However, while she was a large wave hitting their boat, she was relatively predictable and could be managed with little in the way of lasting damage. It was the man that walked ahead of her that made the blood of many freeze over, a man that was as dangerous to every one of them as a storm, one that kicked up monstrous waves, biting rain and terrifying lightning bolts. The Grand Inquisitor of the White Cloaks was a man that all wished to never see in person, nor ever draw his attention. All they could do was pity the poor bastard that had drawn the man here, to begin with. But none moved to help him and ultimately share in his fate.

'We arrested him shortly after you arrived.' Chief Inspector De la Garza said as the group walked through the halls towards the detention/question sector of the police station. 8 of the Grand Inquisitor's white cloaks followed behind them like shadows, silent and ever-present.

'Has he said anything?' The Grand Inquisitor asked his underling, the woman shaking her head as she read through the police report, sparse as it was on details.

'Nothing, my lord. He's remained stubbornly quiet even when the interrogator pressed.' The Grand Inquisitor didn't react much to that, it might have sounded impressive to common folk, but in this line of work, being able to keep a secret despite a beating or two was merely above average.

'His information.' He held out his hand, to which the Chief Inspector was quicky to hand him the file she had been reading. The man didn't stop in his stride as he read through it and immediately noticed some discrepancies in details relating to his place of employment and residence. Each had separate government agencies handling which meant different protocols to how they assigned and categorised details on people. His residence checked out, and so would his employment on a first glance but he saw the error-the code didn't match the neighbourhood of Manchester where he was supposed to work. He suspected that his employer was also in on this and hoped that his underling had already moved to have been arrested before he could flee. 'This isn't right, I assume this was what clued you in?'

'Yes, my lord. While it seems legit, the details don't line up, this man shouldn't even be in England but is registered as a carpenter from Stirling.' The Chief Inspector had the frame of mind to have one of her people look into this and had received a report back, one that she handed to him on top of the police file for him to read through. While the Manchester police could access records relating to the city, they could access all records relating to any and everything and everyone in the British Isles. With the additional aid of being able to directly contact Argus, there was little that they couldn't uncover, even in a rush.

'There could have been a small clerical error but-' She started but the Grand Inquisitor handed her both reports to silence her.

'No,' He told her, as they reached the man's cell, outside stood 2 policemen who shivered when he approached, a factor he didn't care if they were keeping up with their duties. 'I shall speak with him. He'll tell us with I want to know.' He told the woman who nodded and stepped back, leaving him to enter the cell with only one of his white cloaks following after him, the masked agent holding a briefcase in their hand.

Inside the cell, he found the standard furnishing as there was a small bed, a sink and a toilet. Little was present in the form of decorations besides some carvings on the walls and a poster or two, all worn and far too degraded to be legible. The door closing behind them, leaving the three alone in silence was enough of a prompt for the man, the prisoner to raise his head to glare at him. He was a large man, but mainly in size rather than muscle. His dark skin made it harder, but not impossible to see the growing bruises on his exposed arms and face, with eyes that screamed that he would have charged him if not for the restraints cuffing him to the bed. A rare set of eyes indeed, but it only further irritated the Grand Inquisitor.

'You know why you're here?' He asked the man, who continued to glare at him without a word, an act that didn't impress. 'Quiet type are you? It doesn't suit you, not when in my presence. You shall speak, or shall I have a finger cut off.' He asked with the same tone one would when deciding on if they wished for 2 teaspoons of sugar rather than 1. The masked white cloak to his back reached for his side where he kept a dagger he could use if ordered.

'I have nothing to say to you, Dog of Damocles.' The man spoke up, near spitting his response to his question as the breathing of the Grand Inquisitor remained calm and steady, the insult doing nothing to anger him.

'I care little for your foolishness. Tell me what I want to know and save us both time. what do you know about the string of disappearances? Is one going to happen on these isles? Who is behind it?' He pressed him, stepping closer to him, towering over the man as his frame blocked most of the light from the overhanging light. However, while the man started to sweat and shake as he looked into the acidic green eyes glaring down at him like he was a disobedient child, he remained strong.

'God to hell, your torture will never break me!' He declared at the man, but instead of rage, a smack, the man merely stepped back.

'Why break the body, when it's the mind that I wish to crack?' He asked as he opened his hand, a gesture which saw the silent white cloak at his back step forward and opened the case, revealing its soft-padded interior. However, this wasn't what drew the man's attention and fear, it was the dreaded injector and 4 vials that rest within.

'N-no, not that.' He whispered as the Grand Inquisitor gave him no mercy as he calmly waited for the white cloak to take out the injector and attach to it one of the vials before he handed it to his master and stepped back. With the drug in hand, the armoured man hummed, the horrid sound coming out like a crocodile's growl through his respirator. He approached the man, slowly, and calmly as he scampered to try and get away, even while his restraints held. The Grand Inquisitor stopped, but by that point, the man was pressed against the wall, the light near completely blocked by the monster's figure.

In his hand, he held an injector, loaded with the dreaded refrain, a drug that the regime had made illegal and brutally cracked down on for years, but one that effects were still known, especially to those that knew of its use by Britannia in its closing days. 'It's a variant of what used to be available on the black market, one that I pushed to be developed for such situations. However, it has…undesirable side-effects.' The Grand Inquisitor mused, holding it up for the terrified man to see, his eyes giving no pity, no sympathy, no hatred. They gave nothing, nothing but the rage he kept chained up.

Looking away, he sealed the man's fate. 'Hold him down.' The prisoner didn't even have time to scream for mercy, for help before the masked white cloak pounced on him, forcing him closer and holding him there, his body struggling against his torturer but despite him being larger, their grip was ironclad.

Stepping just a little closer, the Grand Inquisitor's harsh breathing remained steady, it remained calm, it remained slow as he lowered the gun to his victim's neck, pressing it into the skin and saying only one thing before he pulled the trigger. 'Now then, now you'll tell us all that I want to know. You will obey and answer my questions.'

Watching this go down through a camera, the Chief Inspector and the rest of the police high command on site stood, having been shocked and silent for the past few minutes as the prisoner, once so resistant to their efforts, spilt his guts to whatever the Grand Inquisitor asked, though what that was they didn't know as there was no audio. Despite that, the horror that they were seeing didn't need words as they watched the drugged man progressively wave about, looking about in confusion as the drug's many ill side effects started to present themselves.

'The Almighty.' The chief of the Manchester police force whispered, his legs feeling like jelly. He had seen his fair share of drug crime, and violent offenders as well but he had never witnessed such a surgical application of such of substance. He had never thought he'll see a man lose his sense of self and will so fast.

'Is…is he…' Someone else asked once the man fell over, out of the bed with his arms bent at near unnatural angles as, seemingly done with what they wanted, or perhaps seeing that he wasn't good for anything else, the Grand Inquisitor and his White cloak left the man in his cell. The police were present not able to tell if they had just left a corpse in their wake.

Before they could send someone to check, after working up to nerve to do that, the Grand Inquisitor walked in, with all eyes turning to him as the Chief Inspector, who had watched the entire affair with no response bowed to him. 'My Lord.' His eyes went over the gathered police, making them all flinch and take a step back in fear. But he didn't spare them any more of his time as his acidic green gaze went to his underling.

'I got the information. Make the preparations, we make for Wales.' He ordered her, turning on his heel and walking out, the echoes of his breathing rescinding into the distance, though no officer present felt any safer with him departing.

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