After having to walk – and run – across hills and forests, after the battle to free the prisoners, it felt rather comfortable to finally get a vehicle to ride and rest on for their journey to Silvania. The interior of the large bus-sized transport was somewhat akin to an armoured personnel carrier with the seats not attached into the wall but rather had a gap in between, clearly to accommodate the tails of the reptilians it was designed to hold.

Euphemia, Anna, and Ralf sat on the left side while the Ashford trio sat on the right. Krog, the driver, sat on what appeared to resemble a motorcycle seat. Another motorcycle-like seat, connected from the ceiling by a mechanical arm to its front, rested atop a short pedestal in the midline behind the driver's section, underneath an opening that could only be the space inside the twin-barrelled turret atop the vehicle.

"Finally, we got a ride," said Rivalz.

"Yeah," Milly concurred. "After everything we've just been through, I don't think I'd bear having to walk all the way over the mountains with all those dinosaurs around."

"We should be in Silvania by nightfall," said Krog. "Enjoy the trip."

Lurking in the forest foliage by the path, a reptilian turned its eyes on the transport departing the former prison camp as it passed by. It took a gun and fired towards the back of the transport.

A small metallic dart-like projectile stuck to the back end of the vehicle. On its back end flashed a small red light.

"Ashford Academy…" Anna wondered. "What is it like?"

"It's nice," said Milly. "Lots of friends, never a dull day. I make sure of it. Just some time ago we tried to make a giant pizza, didn't work out too well though."

"I've heard about your family's fall from grace after Marianne's assassination," said Anna.

"Yeah," said Milly. "But I'm not all too fuzzed out about that. Unfortunately, my parents are, and they tried to marry me off to Earl Lloyd Asplund just to restore their status."

"I'm sorry," said Anna. "Arranged marriages just…shouldn't be a thing at all. People should be able to marry who they want from their own heart."

"That's Britannia for you," said Milly. "Terrible nest of aristocrat vipers up there. Know it all too well. Good thing it didn't work out. Lloyd is just…not my type."

"Folks," Krog's voice broke the conversation and turned all eyes on him. "We have company."

Out from the forest behind them, reptilians riding what appeared to be strange, black metallic hovering chariots emerged to pursue. Twin guns mounted on front of the chariots opened fire with red plasma blasts towards the back of their transport.

Thankfully, the armour held. The Ashford trio and Anna however still became tense.

"We're under fire!" cried Milly.

"Any takers for the gun?" asked Ralf. "I'm not exactly the shooter type."

"I'll do it." Euphemia immediately got up and took the gunner seat.

"Press the buttons on the handles to fire, turn them to rotate the gun," said Krog. "Press the button in front of you at the centre to get in the turret so you can start blasting."

Euphemia nodded and pressed said button, prompting her seat to rise into the turret. A holographic screen appeared in front of her as she was inside, displaying the view in front of the turret marked with a crosshair. Turning the turret clockwise to the back, she aimed at the pursuers and returned fire, taking out one of the chariots.

One of the reptilians on the chariots aimed what looked to be a large-calibre rifle at the transport and fired, launching a rocket that impacted explosively by the side of the vehicle's rear section.

Anna became even more nervous as she and the others felt the vehicle shudder.

Euphemia aimed and opened fire with the turret again, taking out two more of the enemy chariots with one crashing into a third as it skidded.

The reptilians fired three more rockets, which hit by the sides of the transport as the larger vehicle moved to avoid direct hits on the hull. The pinkette returned fire, but the reptilians evaded.

The chase exited the forest into the plains. The open expanse allowed the chariots to spread out, which along with the manoeuvres the transport had to make to try and avoid the rockets and explosions, unfortunately made them harder for her to hit. Euphemia attempted to fire another burst, but the chariot she had aimed for narrowly evaded it.

One rocket directly hit the rear section of the transport. The shudder from the blast had most of the occupants struggle to keep balance with Milly nearly losing her footing and falling over. Fortunately, Sophie caught her in time.

"Thanks," said Milly.

Thanks to her knowledge and ability on piloting knightmare frames and thus handling the forces they experienced in performing certain movements, Euphemia fared better in keeping her stability in spite of the different seating configuration. She regained her focus and fired, taking out two more chariots.

The reptilians on the two remaining chariots fired a rocket each, directly impacting the rear and lower flank of the transport.

"We've got a pretty bad hit!" cried Krog.

"How bad?" asked Milly.

"Left rear hover units are down!" cried Krog. "I'm losing control! Brace yourselves! It's going to be a rough and hard crash!"

The vehicle began to skid as the left rear section fell and dragged against the ground. The reptilians fired a few more rockets into the vehicle as it skidded rightward and crashed through a couple of trees from the outer fringes of the plain into moderate forest.

It finally came to rest against a large araucaria, the crash having knocked down most of the occupants.

Anna groaned and got up. "Is everyone alright?"

"Man, that hurt…" groaned Rivalz as he got up as well.

Sophie, Milly, and Ralf also recovered and got up, while Euphemia descended from the turret and got off the gunner seat.

"The gun's hit," said Euphemia. "It's too damaged to fire."

"That's going to be hard," said Ralf.

"Stay inside." Krog took his bludgeon, got up from the driver seat and joined the others. "There's still a couple of enemies left out there."

"What do we do?" asked Rivalz.

"I can only assume we wait for them to let up the hunt by thinking we didn't make it," said Milly. "Then make a run for it."

"No," said Euphemia. "You cannot trust the enemy to be that gullible and their vehicles will easily catch us on foot. We have to kill them before we can continue."

The sound of gunfire bursts from the chariots outside and of the plasma bolts hitting the hull cut off any counterargument Milly was trying to come up with.

"Damn it," the blonde cursed internally.

The reptilians at the back of the chariots got down, drawing out their axes as they began to circle around towards the other side of the downed transport.

"We have to end this fight and end it quickly," said Krog. "More of them might get to us here if we take too long."

Euphemia took her position by one of the firing ports, readying her rifle for an opening. This was followed by Anna, Milly, Rivalz, and Krog taking their own positions by the ports as well.

"Fire when I do," said Euphemia.

Anna breathed heavily, not yet very well accustomed to actually being in the battle rather than within the safety of the command bridge from back in her time in the W-0. However, she tried her best to steel herself, trying to call forth the bravery she had mustered back when she helped liberate the prisoners from the camp.

"I'll go intercept the ones trying to get in close," said Ralf as he readied his axe and shield. He slipped out through the door opposite of the side being fired upon.

Euphemia opened fire, getting a few hits on one of the reptilians. The rest followed her lead, engaging the other reptilian in the ensuing exchange of gunfire.

The two axe-wielding reptilians charged as Ralf stood ready.

He met the first reptilian's strike with his shield, following it up with a shieldbash to stun his foe. He quickly moved to avoid the second reptilian's strike, denied the opportunity to follow up on his previous attack. With a swift axe swing to the neck, he takes out the attacker, but the first reptilian recovered and tripped him down with a kick across his legs.

As he tried to get up, the reptilian pinned Ralf down with its leg and prepared to deliver a killing blow. Just in time, Sophie rushed in swinging her axe deep unto the back of the reptilian's neck, killing it. She pulled its corpse off of Ralf and helped him up.

"Thanks for the save," said Ralf.

The second reptilian on the chariot had been taken out, with Milly having taken the lucky shot that made the kill. With both of the marauding gunner reptilians dead, the group were free to exit the transport. They checked their surroundings to find if there were any more, and fortunately there were none aside from the corpses of the reptilians Ralf and Sophie had killed.

Anna breathed out a sigh of mild relief. Any break is better than none at all, she supposed.

"We need to move fast," said Euphemia. "There's no telling if there are still more after us."

The reptilians' chariots did not have enough room for all of them, and the gunfight had left them damaged — there was no luxury of time to check on the extent of their damage. Then there was concern that they might be tracked as well.

Their journey was thus continued on foot. Through the plains would have left them open, so into the woods they went.

Two reptilian transports passed by the site of the crash. The choice to go through denser areas of forest and through hilly, rocky terrain had allowed the group to successfully elude the vehicles, but the reptilian infantry onboard went on foot and continued on the pursuit.

The group made their way across light, open woodland and stopped at the rim of a wide clearing around a river.

They found, some twenty metres away on the bank, a gigantic Apatosaurus taking a drink. The Ashford students became anxious, remembering their previous run-ins with giant wild dinosaurs.

"We have to tread carefully here," said Milly. "We're not really interested in being attacked by big dinos again."

"And we still have those lizards behind us," said Rivalz.

"I have an idea," said Euphemia.

"What?" asked Milly. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

"We'll hold them off for a time," said Euphemia. "The trees and large rocks should make for decent cover in our side. Make as much noise as possible."

"Make as much noise as possible?" Anna immediately realised what Euphemia's plan was. "You wish to draw in that sauropod, don't you?"

"Yes," said Euphemia. "Then, we let it run into them."

"A risky idea for 'reinforcements', don't you think?" asked Ralf.

"That's more than a bit of a gamble," said Milly. "What if it tries to flee from the noise instead? What if it ignores it and does nothing?"

"Then one of us should try to draw it in," said Euphemia. "Agitate it, then run here and move out of its way."

"It's very risky," said Anna. "But I'm afraid it might just be our best chance."

"What choice do we have…" Milly sighed. "Looks like we might have to anger a dino on purpose this time."

"Take your positions folks!" cried Krog, catching the reptilians come closer.

The group took their cover behind large tree trunks and rocks, readying their weapons as the reptilians drew closer. Milly, Rivalz, Anna, and Krog aimed and fired, while Euphemia took a couple of grenades and threw them to take out the closest group of reptilians.

"Sophie!" called Milly as she fired towards the attackers. "The dinosaur by the river, get its attention!"

"What?" asked Sophie. "Me?"

"You're not wearing any armour," said Milly. "You're not using a ranged weapon, and you're way more athletic than me or Rivalz. You also scream a lot like Shirley, and I'm pretty sure that can catch that longneck's attention."

"Hey!" Sophie shot back.

"It's true," said Milly. "Now hurry!"

Sophie gulped and exhaled. "Alright."

Euphemia reached for another grenade only to find her belt empty. She switched to her rifle and fired at the hostiles. Ralf lunged from his cover with his axe at the nearest reptilian as it got close.

Sophie ran back into the riverside clearing towards the Apatosaurus. The sauropod stopped drinking and lifted its head partway, staring towards her with a deep hiss and swinging its long, whiplike tail.

The purple-haired lass took a step back as she went a bit pale. "Looks like I didn't even need to do anything to get its attention…"

The sauropod maintained its stare as it lifted its head and neck to an upward incline of roughly between 40 and 50 degrees, turning its body to face her.

Sophie ran back towards the rest of her group as the Apatosaurus roared and began charging towards her.

"I have its attention!" screamed Sophie. "It's after me!"

"Move out!" cried Euphemia.

"Move! Move! Move!" cried Ralf.

The group complied, just managing to move out of the path of the Apatosaurus. Trees were shoved aside and the ground shook as the sauropod pushed through and burst out into the open.

The reptilians' gunfire hit the beast nearly as soon as it came into the scene. The enraged sauropod let loose a loud, deep roar and charged towards the reptilians.

It ran through and over the reptilians up front, undeterred by their ineffectual attacks. Its powerful limbs sent them flying or crushed them afoot into green paste, their armour effortlessly flattened like soda cans by the immense weight of over 50 tonnes of raging dinosaur. The Apatosaurus picked a reptilian up with its jaws and threw it against a tree hard enough to snap the top portion of the trunk off.

"This way!" Euphemia pointed towards a craggy hill eastward.

The others in the group complied and followed her lead towards and over the hillside away from the chaos of the battle behind them.

The Apatosaurus continued to stomp or kick the reptilians with its clawed hands and feet, the titan's roars and hisses filling the air. Many of the reptilians had begun to flee from their futile fight.

The group watched from atop the rocks on the hillside as the Apatosaurus finished off the last of the reptilians. It reared up triumphantly and roared, the deep sound still heard from their vantage point, in a display presumably towards the reptilians that fled.

"I'm never going to see Littlefoot the same way again," said Sophie.

"So much for gentle giants," said Rivalz.

"Let me guess," said Milly. "Jurassic Park was wrong again."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Ralf. "But even the mightiest predators of the land fear the wrath of those titans."

"Well, at least it kind of saved us," said Sophie. "Those nasty lizards are finally off our butts..."

It was late in the afternoon.

The group, having continued their journey northward, had entered a sizeable clearing alongside a river. It was moderately grassy with several fallen and broken trees strewn around.

"The sun is getting low," said Euphemia. "I suggest we stop here and camp for the night."

"Don't you think we can go a bit further?" asked Rivalz.

"We're close to the river bank for water and there's easily accessible wood lying on the ground here to use," said Anna. "And here in the open, there's less of a risk of predators being able to ambush us. I'd say this is as good of a place to spend the night as we can get right now."

"What do our guides say?" asked Milly.

"Silvania's still a pretty long way from here," said Krog. "We'd just end up in the middle of the woods at night if we kept going. I'm voting for camp."

"I agree," said Ralf. "Therocephalians get active in these forests at night."

"The what now?" asked Rivalz.

"Hairy predators on four legs, big nasty jaws with venomous bites," said Ralf. "They sometimes come in packs. Pretty nasty things to get caught by."

"Okay, between that and the meat-eating dinosaurs," Rivalz shivered. "Let's camp here."

They decided on a spot next to a large rock several metres from the riverbank. Under Milly's instruction, the Ashford students checked their backpacks for their remaining supplies.

"We got…a few chocolate bars," said Milly. "We only prepared for a hike until afternoon."

"We need to get more food from this land," said Anna.

"There should be berries in the bushes by the forest," said Krog.

"That should do," said Euphemia. "Given I still know next to nothing about this strange land, I have no choice but to get one of the locals to come with me."

"I'll need one of you two with me," said Euphemia towards Ralf and Krog. "As you both know, I'm foreign to this land."

"I'll go." Krog nodded.

"Let's set up a trap," said Ralf. "If it catches something, we can get some meat."

"I'll go with you," said Anna.

"Well, that leaves us here then," said Milly to her fellow Ashford students. "Let's gather up some wood and set up the bonfire."

Euphemia had gathered berries on the light forest on the outer fringes of the clearing along with Krog, while the Ashford trio had built the campfire and dragged a few logs around it to serve as seats, testing them to make sure they fit the bill. Meanwhile Anna and Ralf had set up a snare trap, managing to use stringy bark to fashion a cord, and had also brought back some bark to fashion into makeshift bowls for water as well.

The red and purple sky of dusk came, and the fire was alight using rocks by the riverside. Squawking noises suddenly came from the direction of the snare trap.

Euphemia, Anna, and Ralf came towards the source of the sounds to check, and found that the trap had done its work.

A nearly two-metre long Acheroraptor about the size of a large turkey, mostly covered in dark brown feathers with a cream colour on its legs and underside, rust wings and tail fan tips, and beige over its feet and face, had been found caught in the snare. It hung by its foot in the noose, thrashing around every so often in an effort to free itself.

Euphemia aimed her rifle at its head and fired, killing the dromaeosaur.

Night fell and the deep calls of distant dinosaurs rang through the forests and plains. The gathered berries along with the kill had made for a sufficient meal for the group, with water being boiled in the wooden bowls using stones heated in the fire. The Ashford trio, Anna, Krog, and Ralf sat around the flames on the logs while Euphemia sat apart from the others by the nearby rock.

Rivalz took a bite out of his portion of grilled Acheroraptor. "Man, if nobody told me this was a raptor, I'd have thought this was some sort of exotic chicken."

Euphemia looked up at the starry sky. She had loved to gaze at the stars since she was young. It had been a source of comfort and solace for her to find in the cosmos' serenity. She had long become very familiar with the various constellations of the sky.

And this meant that she quickly found that this was not the sky she was familiar with.

Even more prominent was the presence of not one, but two moons. One shone white like the moon they were familiar with, but the other, appearing smaller in the sky, was a rusty red.

"I need everyone to gather anything we learned so far today," said Anna.

"Yeah," said Milly. "Time to try and figure out where on Earth are we."

"We are not on Earth," said Euphemia.

"Huh?" The Ashford trio raised eyebrows at the pinkette.

"The stars…they are not the same," said Euphemia. "I cannot recognise any of the constellations. And there are two moons in the sky. This is not our world."

"There's also the fact that nonavian dinosaurs still live here," Anna added.

"Nonavian dinosaurs?" asked Rivalz. "What does that mean?"

"Dinosaurs outside of Aves," said Anna. "In other words, dinosaurs that aren't birds."

"Wait, doesn't that mean that some dinos are…well, birds?" asked Rivalz.

"Of course," said Anna. "Birds are dinosaurs."

"W-w-w-what!?" Rivalz's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.

"It's true," said Anna.

"No way…" uttered Rivalz. "We've been living with dinosaurs all this time?"

"Yes." Anna nodded.

"That actually sounds pretty cool to know," said Sophie.

"Geez, everything I thought I knew about dinos was wrong," said Rivalz. "Jurassic Park lied to me again…"

"You really shouldn't be using fiction as a source for that knowledge," said Anna. "But moving on, any other valuable data you all wish to share? You all came here through the wormhole generators, correct?"

"Right," the Ashford trio nodded.

"Well, when I first arrived in this world," said Anna. "I landed on a wormhole generator much like the ones we entered through. Although, it was degraded beyond any clear operability. Is the same true for the rest of you as well?"

"Yes," the Ashford trio nodded.

"Euphemia?" asked Anna. "How about you?"

"Same as yours, Ms. Clement," said the pinkette.

"I suspect that the degraded wormhole generators were still somehow able to act as anchors for the wormhole mouths," said Anna. "Even if they were too damaged to be operable otherwise."

"So, if someone from our world were to open the wormholes, we could go home?" asked Milly.

"Probably," said Anna. "But there's no telling which of the wormhole generators here would act as the anchor with the limited data we have. Then there's the fact that they're unknown to our world. We would have to find our own way home."

"That sounds like it'd take forever," said Rivalz.

"Shirley's going to be worried sick," said Sophie.

Milly sighed with sadness. "Looks like we'd be stuck here for a while. Sorry."

"I'm the one who should be sorry." Rivalz hung his head low. "I got you into this mess and now we're all stranded for who knows how long. It's all my fault."

"Don't beat yourself over it," said Sophie. "It's in the past. We'll get to the capital and find our answers. We'll get home."

"I like that optimism." Milly gave Sophie a small smile.

"Optimism alone will not help you," said Euphemia.

"Well, your pessimism doesn't help," Sophie replied with a glare. "What happened to you, Euphemia?"

"Come to think of it, you still haven't told us," said Milly towards the pinkette. "Please tell us what happened. What happened with your Special Zone?"

"Yeah," said Rivalz. "You said something happened between you and Lelouch."

"We're listening," said Krog. "Come on, tell your tale."

"Very well," said Euphemia. "I must start from the very beginning, from when I first met Zero. It was back when the Japan Liberation Front took us as hostages at Kawaguchi."

"Yeah, we remember that," said Milly.

"When Zero confronted me, he said I haven't changed," continued Euphemia. "Meaning that he had known me before. And even back then, I had recognised certain aspects of him that made me think. And after a time, gathering as much information as I could and piecing them together, I had formed a strong suspicion that he was none other than the lost prince Lelouch vi Britannia. One day I ended up stranded on what I now know as Kamine Island, and there we met once more. And my suspicions were confirmed as he unmasked himself before my eyes. He was indeed Lelouch vi Britannia, or as he went by in Ashford, Lelouch Lamperouge."

"Wait, what?" Rivalz couldn't quite believe it. "You're saying that Lelouch, my pal, was a prince, AND he was Zero!?"

"Yes," said Euphemia. "I had hoped for seven years that he was alive. And those hopes were answered. He said he held no hatred for me, and at that time I had believed it. I then wanted to bring us back together in peace once more. Me, Lelouch, and Nunnally. Just like back in our childhood. I came up with a proposal. One that would bring us back together and start what would have been our journey to making the world a better place."

"The Special Administrative Zone," said Milly. "You specifically invited Zero to come so the two of you could, as you had said, start to change the world together. If he was really Lelouch as you say…that sort of starts to make a lot of sense."

"He came to the ceremony," said Euphemia. "And I thought that was because he had agreed. He had requested a solo audience with me, alone, just the two of us. I had agreed. But that was when he revealed his true plans."

"True plans?" asked Milly.

"He wanted to sabotage the ceremony and make me take the fall for it," said Euphemia. "He planned to make it look like a trap, to discredit and ruin me and make himself look like a martyr before he would reappear like some sort of messiah. He told me in his own words that there could only be one messiah, him and him alone, and that I was a false one, a liar, a fraud. He said he was going to stain my hands with blood for it."

"And the next thing I remembered," Euphemia continued. "I was on the stage, the gun he presented to me in my hands. Somehow, he had made me do exactly what he wanted me to do, and I did not remember it. The crowds chanted curses at me. It erupted into riots, exactly as he had planned it. The Britannians stationed around me responded to the riots with a bloody massacre."

"That's horrible," said Anna.

Sophie was speechless and aghast. "T-the Special Zone…ended in a m-m-massacre!?"

"The Black Knights and their allies came," Euphemia continued on. "I was forced to run. Run from the people I had only wanted to help. I had tried to send my pleas to them, my side of the story, but it was of no use. They were out for my blood. I had tried to call Suzaku to come to my aid but they went unanswered. I was relentlessly chased and hunted by the Japanese as I fled to the hills. And they very nearly killed me. I only survived by the skin of my teeth. I ran, and ran, up the side of the mountain, and found what I thought was a safe place to rest. It appeared to be cave in the forest. I spared no time, and it led to a shaft underground into a vast stone chamber."

"Oh yeah, that's how we got in too," said Rivalz.

"That's when it all dawned on me," said Euphemia. "Lelouch had betrayed me. All this time, all those years, I had believed in a lie. I thought that despite his methods, his heart was in the right place. That was nothing a lie, everything I thought I knew about him was a lie. All those speeches he did as Zero, all his words about standing up against tyranny, all of them were nothing but lies. Every kind word he said to me before, all lies. He never cared about me. He only ever saw me as a mere pawn to use and discard when he was done."

"Everything that happened," continued Euphemia. "It was all according to his plan. He knew the people would riot. He knew that they would come for my life. He planned everything so I would fall and be fed into the slaughter. He betrayed me all for the sake of his own personal glory. All so the people would view him and him alone as their so-called hero. All this time, all he ever saw me, was as a piece to use and dispose for his own selfish ambition."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," said Anna.

"That Lelouch guy's a total sleazeball," said Krog.

"Euphemia, with all due respect," said Anna. "The Special Administrative Zone would never have worked."

"Go on," said Euphemia.

"The despots of Britannia would never let it stand," said Anna. "It goes against the very core of their ideology. It relies on Britannia's generosity, but Britannia is not what one would call generous. All the countries they invaded and conquered attests to that, and I'm sure you've already heard so many of their Emperor's disgusting speeches. They'd see it as making compromises with the people they dismissed as 'weak'. There would be many factions within the empire out to destroy it."

"There would also be opposition from the Japanese," Anna continued on. "After being stripped of their rights for years, the resistance would never accept anything given by Britannia. There would be tension and hostility towards it from both sides that would have brought the Zone to its end. It wouldn't have lasted very long. Even in the unlikely scenario that Britannia leaves it alone, the Japanese left outside of the Special Zone would look at it with envy that would turn to hate. And the land within it is highly limited, with all the problems that would entail. At some point it will reach its capacity and you'd essentially have to start turning away people back into the ghettoes, which I can't imagine would end well."

"Your heart was in the right place," said Anna. "but the SAZ really was fated to fail."

"I see," said Euphemia. "It was a mistake from the very beginning."

"But what Zero did to you…that's just wrong," said Anna. "That was just vile. There was no excuse. If he really stood for justice as he had claimed, if he was indeed sincere, he could have proposed to be the SAZ's protector and built up his resources to prepare for the Zone's inevitable collapse. All he would need is patience. But to go out of his way to deliberately ruin and betray you, leave you to a mob out for blood that he purposefully riled up, and cause a massacre out of it? And he was the one who claimed to be a protector of the weak! If your story is true…then Zero is just as bad as the despots he claimed to oppose."

"But that's provided the story is true," said Milly. "All we have to go from is her word for it."

"The Lelouch I know is pretty cool and nice," said Rivalz. "We've been pals for a while now. I know the guy. You're saying that not only he's really Zero, you're saying that he's this nasty guy who screwed you over for no other reason than personal glory hogging. I'm sorry but how do I believe this?"

"Rivalz has a point," said Milly. "Our experiences paint a completely different picture. That doesn't sound like the Lelouch I know. He wouldn't really do that, wouldn't he?"

Euphemia sighed. "Then it means that you don't know what he's really like."

"And you know something about him that we don't?" questioned Milly. "He hasn't met you in seven years!"

"Would I have a reason to lie about this?" asked Euphemia. "I loved Lelouch. I wouldn't have wanted to curse his name without reason. He…he was my first love. I wanted to believe in him so much…I really did…and for what!? To be stabbed in the back and condemned to die after you have shown him nothing but kindness?!"

Milly was silent. Euphemia wiped off a tear from her eye.

"Then what about all the good times me and Lelouch spent together?" asked Rivalz. "He may be a bit cocky at times, but he was never a bad guy to me!"

"Lies," said Euphemia. "It's all lies. Deny it all you want, that's the harsh truth of it."

"What about Suzaku?" asked Sophie. "He was your knight, wasn't he?"

"Suzaku!?" questioned Euphemia in contempt. "That shitty excuse for a friend? He can die and rot for all I care."

"What?" asked Sophie. "Why?"

"He promised me that he would stand by my side and protect me," said Euphemia. "He made his vow to me as my knight. But after Lelouch betrayed me, when I needed him the most, he abandoned me. He turned his back and left me to die. Some friend he was."

"So, let me get this straight," said Milly. "Everything we knew about Lelouch was a lie. That he has been tricking us all for seven years. That he was actually some sociopathic manipulator. And that Suzaku, your best friend, just left you like that. Is that it, huh?"

"It is what it is," said Euphemia wearily. "The truth. You asked for my story. I gave it to you. There is nothing for me to gain by lying."

"I guess…" Milly trailed off and sighed, unable to find more to say.

Rivalz and Sophie meanwhile remained silent, their heads hung and hands clasped together, processing the full implications of the story.

"Even those you trust most," said Euphemia. "Maybe even your best friends, they would take the opportunity to stab your back and shatter your heart if they stood to gain something from it. You would do well to remember that, Miss Ashford. You would all do well to remember."

She looked away from the others to stare blankly at the sky. "You may feel like you are with company, but in the end, you are truly on your own."

Notes: And there we go; Euphemia finally told her story.

Seriously, while the SAZ would never work and would indeed be doomed to failure, Lelouch's plan to deal with it was totally the wrong way to do so. I can't be the only one to think this, right? It was more emotional than logical.

Of course, as a consequence of Lelouch's betrayal, Euphemia had lost her former idealism. She's already well on the path to making a very large departure from her canon counterpart, because honestly, it would make absolutely no sense for her to remain the same as she was after all that. I'd like to say that I find quite annoying the weird headcanon people insist on that just because Euphemia forgave Lelouch for killing Clovis, somehow means that she would forgive literally everything. They even go as far as to assume that in a scenario where Euphemia either survives the SAZ massacre (the canonical one, though the one in this fic shouldn't be too different) or is resurrected, that she would just forgive Lelouch as if it was all fine and dandy. Like…what? This makes no sense. Because Euphemia is somehow not allowed to feel anger, hatred, and bitterness, right?

So, when a fic just has her brush it all off and casually forgive Lelouch like nearly nothing happened, it just breaks my suspension of disbelief. And it's not even just an isolated single fic, it's a trend I've seen in many and thus seems to actually represent what the fanbase thinks in general. But of course, Lelouch-centric morality is very heavy in the fanbase.