This fic was inspired by Thanathos' 'More than just a Man'. That fic was unfortunately abandoned way too early and I found that I really needed to at least tell my own interpretation of a vampire Lelouch and C.C.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. Many of the Vampiric characteristics were inspired by 'More than just a Man'.

Also to note, I am Australian so I will be using a lot of Australian spelling for many words. Aka, expect to see a lot of 'u's and replacement of 'z's with 's's.

"Hello" - Speech

'Hello' - Thought/Mental Communication

"Hello" - Radio/phone/walkie talkie

"Hello" - Speaker

Warning: Lime Scene ahead. If you don't want to read it, I will leave a warning so that you can skip past it

Debut of the Vampiric Demon

August 2017 a.t.b

It was busy within the gallery. Plenty of families, most of whom were Britannian with the few exceptions of Honorary Britannians and the very rare Japanese scattered amongst the crowd, were looking at the large number of exhibits, all containing heavily modified versions of Japanese history in order to present the image that Britannia was civilising the Japanese people who were happy to accept Britannian leadership. The fact that so many Britannians actually bought this very much infuriated Kallen, having to listen to all of the slander that was shot at her people.

She kept her emotions in check though, making sure that no one who happened to pay any attention to her would realise she was hating every second being in this mockery of a gallery. The only ones who knew what she was feeling were her three companions, Ohgi, Sugiyama and Yoshida. They were keeping their distance, in order to keep her guise intact. Because of that, she was left alone with her thoughts and emotions within her as she waited for any sign of the mysterious caller.

'To think I thought that Lelouch was the caller…' she chided herself, as she looked at a picture of Britannian marines rushing onto the shores of Japan from their transports, 'There's no way a proper Britannian school boy could have gotten a chance to kill Clovis, nor have any reason too. And also he was there in the room when the phone rang, just before he bit me…'

At that thought, she rubbed her neck where he bit her, something she had started doing a lot, almost like it was an itch that she couldn't help but scratch. God, it annoyed her, not the actual action, but the fact that it meant she was acknowledging that the bite happened, instead of pretending that it didn't, and that she struggled to pretend that it didn't happen.

Her mind was so stubbornly fixated on that moment, that she had trouble sleeping last night because all she could think about for hours on end was the bite, and the small whispers in her mind that begged her to get bitten again by him. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice that, and she had worse nights before, so she wasn't badly affected at all compared to in the past, especially the night of Shinjuku. She blinked as a memory of her people getting massacred flashed in her eyes, but before she began spiralling, an announcement rang out in the gallery.

"Attention please!" A female voice rang out from the loudspeakers, "Paging Kallen Stadtfeld, Ashford Academy." Said recipient blinked in surprise at her name being called out openly like this, while her companions gave a quiet gasp of surprise as well. "Please make your way to the front end kiosk, an item of yours has been turned in to the kiosk. I repeat…"

Kallen droned out the rest of the announcement, quickly making her way to the kiosk. There the lady finished using the loudspeaker, her mouth moving away from her microphone. She instantly spotted Kallen, her uniform standing out amongst the casually dressed visitors.

"Hi there, I assume you are Miss Stadtfeld?" she politely asked Kallen, who walked to the desk.

"Ah, yes I am," she said in her timid persona.

"Well, then, I am happy to hand back your phone," the lady said, grabbing a black phone from under the desk and handing it to Kallen. Kallen accepted it, turning it over, trying to glimpse a clue as to who may have handed it in. She apparently was too invested in it because a moment later the lady spoke up.

"Is there a problem, Miss Stadtfelt?" she asked, bring Kallen out of her inspection.

"Oh, no. Nothing's wrong," she was before pocketing the phone and walking away from the desk. With a quick glance at Ohgi, she began to make her way to the top of the observation deck, that was usually pretty quiet and empty at this time of day, having not noticed the blankness of the lady's eyes, nor of how she nodded to a green haired girl in a dress that was standing at the very edge of the gallery.

After she had arrived at the deck, with Ohgi and the others following and now using the binoculars to entertain themselves while they waited, it didn't take long for the phone to ring. It seemed to teleport into her hand, only hesitating to answer it as she saw the name id that appeared.

"Zero?" she muttered before answering, "Um, hello?"

"Good to see that you made it on time," the voice from yesterday came out of the phone. "However, I do need you to make your way to board the outgoing train on loop line five. Also bring your friends."

"What?!" she said, both surprised and slightly infuriated at the demand. "Why?"

"All I can say right now is that you will see," the voice said, the warped voice having an apologetic yet firm undertone. "It will be worth your time. Besides I did ask you to meet alone, and yet you are with your three friends."

Kallen spun around, trying to see if anyone was paying attention, even as the voice continued. "I can't blame you though, as it is a good back-up strategy, so I'll let it be."

"Where are you?" she asked. "How did you…"

"I'm making my own way to the train line, and I have my ways," the voice answered. "Now it'll be best for you to leave shortly, Ms Stadtfelt. I look forward to meeting with your cell." With that, the phone went dead.

She tried to recall the phone number, but it came up with a disconnected message. She looked up to see Ohgi and the others looking at her with a concerned expression. She sighed as she lowered the phone.

"What happened?" Ohgi asked, with Kallen briefly looking out the window, before turning to face Ohgi again.

"Come on, we have a train to catch."

Jeremiah Gottwald walked down the halls of the Viceroy's palace, flanked by one of his most trusted subordinates, Dame Villetta Nu, as he made his way to the viceroy office. There, he intended to meet the man who had been commissioned to be in charge of Prince Clovis's memorial service, Diethard Ried, who had actually worked on some of his Highness' media projects in the past. He hadn't met the man before, so it would be at the very least a fresh experience, after having to deal with Kewell and his machinations involving Kururugi. He felt pretty worn out after the past few days, so needed something new to get his mind back into shape.

Meanwhile, Villetta had been asked to join him as she was one of the few Purebloods that weren't as fanatical, and loyal to him. While they did clash on certain morals, they respected one another and could even count themselves as friends, so much so that he had told her of why he joined the Purebloods and moved to Area Eleven in the first place, a secret that she had kept ever since. If there was anyone he trusted with his back, it was her.

So it was this friendship that allowed him to notice how on edge she was, eyes darting side to side. Slowing down enough so that he would be right next to her, he waited for a pair of low level clerks to pass before inquiring.

"Is there a problem?" he asked her.

She frowned before leaning her head closer to his, whispering, "Kewell is up to something."

"When isn't he?" Jeremiah resisted the urge to scoff, instead lowering his voice to match hers. "But what's different enough to make you worried?"

"Normally, I am able to converse with some of the knights aligned with Kewell easily enough during breaktime," Villetta began to explain, "who always like boasting of Kewell's machinations on keeping the Elevens in line. Today though, they seemed to try to avoid talking to me at all, though always one or two had their eyes on me, and not in the usual manner. Plus Kewell suddenly cancelled the meeting for tomorrow."

Jeremiah narrowed his eyes. That was very suspicious, especially about the meeting amongst the local Pureblood leaders. Kewell loved those events, using them as a platform to try to undermine Jeremiah's authority and stance on the Elevens. For him to cancel it meant that he didn't view it as necessary. A thought that worried Jeremiah greatly, though he didn't show it.

"Good catch," he told Villetta. "Keep your ears out for anything that could tell us what's going on with him. Princess Cornelia should be finishing up her campaign within the next couple of days and will be arriving soon, so as long as we keep our guard up until then, we should be good."

Villetta nodded, but still seemed tense. "But what if he makes a move before then?"

"Then let's hope that we'll be in a position to try to prevent him from going overboard, or at least salvage the situation enough for her highness to clean up."

It didn't take much longer for them to arrive at the office, finding a blonde man in a blue jacket with a burgundy sweater underneath waiting for him. He had a clipboard with him and was texting on his phone before spotting the two officers heading his way.

"Your excellency," the man greeted, bowing.

"Mr Reid, I presume?" Jeremiah asked, to which the man nodded. "Well then, please come in," he said as Villetta opened the door, letting through Jeremiah and Diethard before entering herself and closing the door behind them. Jeremiah led Diethard to the desk, with Diethard standing in front of it, while Jeremiah sat himself behind it.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice," Jeremiah began.

"It was no trouble at all, your excellency," Diethard assured. "If I am being honest, this is a great way to escape the parasite that is my boss."

Jeremiah blinked, as if questioning whether he heard correctly or not, before he chuckled slightly. "Well, I'll hate to keep you away from him then," he said sarcastically before getting serious. "I have to say, you handled Prince Clovis' memorial quite well. I personally found it a little too weepy, but that's just my taste…"

"Yes, well the masses always tend to like tear-jerkers, your excellency." Diethard explained. "And it was his Highness' own preference for any sort of memorial, written in the official documents he signed in his early days as Viceroy."

"Spoken like a true TV man," Jeremiah commented. "But yes, I do remember him talking about making his audience cry as a sign of great artistry…" he sighed, reminiscing on the past. "Though I am surprised he made any sort of plans for memorials at all. He never did believe in the need for it."

"So he stated himself," Diethard confirmed. "However, a requirement of being a viceroy of an Area requires one to prepare for any sudden crisis, including one's demise. Thus a memorial service like the one for his highness needs to be pre-planned for a worst case scenario. This is the case for many of the important people in the empire."

"That does sound logical," Jeremiah nodded. "I doubt I am important enough for one, and honestly I couldn't care less." He looked over Diethard's shoulder, to where Villetta stood at the door, having opened it a slither and seeing into the corridor. She turned to glance at Jeremiah, giving him a nod, before closing the door again.

"That brings me to the second reason why I called you here," Jeremiah said, straightening his posture while lowering his voice slightly. "It has come to my attention that one of my subordinates, Captain Soresi, commissioned you to assemble a crowd and direct a showcase of the accused killer, Private Kururugi, being driven to his trial?"

Diethard blinked. "Yes, he did, your Excellency," he confirmed. "He wanted me to 'line the road with good, patriotic Britannians', and to make sure that they all see his face. He also told me not to bother you at all with this request."

"Is that so?" Jeremiah questioned, eyebrow raised. "I'll be frank, I did not give him the permission nor the authority to make this request."

"So I could tell," Diethard said. "I even asked him about your lack of involvement, your excellency, but he deflected the question, only saying that it won't matter soon enough."

Jeremiah's eyes narrowed, clasping his hands in front of his mouth. At the door, Villetta couldn't help but stare at Diethard in a brief showing of shock at how overt Kewell's declaration was, especially to a civilian of all people. Diethard himself was more than slightly concerned with the reaction from Jeremiah. This really showed how out of his league this power struggle was, and he really didn't want to be involved at all, especially with someone like Kewell and against the interim Viceroy. But unfortunately a commission was a commission and one didn't dare to deny a commission from any officer of Kewell's rank, unless they wanted their careers to go up in flames. Though with the work Diethard had been forced to do lately, that was looking more and more like a blessing than a curse.

After a moment, Jeremiah lowered his hands. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Since the trial is tomorrow night, I assume you have a lot of work to do."

Diethard breathed a sigh of relief, "I do, your excellency. If it isn't much trouble…" he bowed, accepting the subtle olive branch from Jeremiah.

"I unfortunately have business with my subordinate here, so I can't show you out myself, but I will dispatch someone to escort you out," Jeremiah said, getting up off his seat, while Villetta pulled out her phone to summon someone..

"I appreciate that, your Excellency," Diethard said, bowing to Jeremiah before walking to the door. It didn't take long for the person to arrive to escort Diethard out, leaving just Jeremiah and Villetta in the room.

"You could have told him to cancel the commission," Villetta said.

"Then an innocent would have gotten involved in this power struggle," Jeremiah reasoned. "Besides, I have a feeling that Kewell has made it so that this show of his will go ahead, with or without my interference."

Villetta reluctantly nodded at Jeremiah's reasoning. She still would have preferred to order Diethard to cancel this, regardless of the consequences that would inflict Diethard, but maybe she had spent so much time around Jeremiah that some of his morals were starting to seep into her. She had been taught from a young age that ambition and ruthlessness were the only things that mattered, a viewpoint that had brought her to arguments with Jeremiah, who believed that they were not the sole thing needed, but recently she was more tolerant of his ideals and sometimes at least understood why he followed them. But now was not the time to reflect on her morals.

"We should at the very least inform Her Highness," Villetta suggested. "That way, she may be able to prevent Kewell from acting further against your authority."

"Agreed," Jeremiah nodded. "Let's do that now."

With that, Villetta opened the door, only to find the barrel of a pistol pointed at her head. Her surprise was quickly overridden by her combat instincts and training, knocking the barrel away from her face and about to punch the person holding the pistol, only to find five other barrels pointed at her. Even if she could take down one of them, she couldn't take down the others before they could kill her. So she did the smart thing and raised her arms in surrender, scowling at the person behind the Pureblood soldiers pointing the pistols at her, even as one of them pulled her closer and took her hostage, a pistol aimed at her temple.

Jeremiah reacted quite quickly, pulling out his own pistol, but when Villetta was taken hostage, he hesitated, not wanting to hit his friend. It was only for a second, but it was long enough for more Purebloods to enter the room, his former subordinates now aiming their weapons at him. As much as Jeremiah could have shot them, it was pointless and would have only led to his and Villetta's deaths.

"Explain this, Kewell!" he shouted as said man walked past the soldiers and grinned smugly at Jeremiah.

"I am expelling all things that make the Purebloods weak, such as yourself," Kewell said. "You've never been a true believer, only using your position for something else. But that ends today. Tomorrow, we will begin to purify this Area and remind the Elevens of their proper place."

As he monologues, enjoying the sound of his own voice, two of Kewell's followers strode and grabbed Jeremiah, taking his gun away and dragging him to Kewell. Even as Jeremiah and Villetta were forced to their knees in front of him. Once they were, he decided to finish the monologue. "I will admit, I do respect your loyalty to Britannia and the Royal Family, sir, but unfortunately you are not what this Area needs."

"Damn it, you're going to make things worse!" Villetta shouted at him. "Besides, what will Her Highness say about you doing this to one of her former subordinates!?"

"Once she sees the glorious results of our actions, she will praise us," Kewell said.

"You're delusional," Jeremiah said. "You were always ambitious, but this is something else."

"I won't expect you to understand," Kewell said, before motioning for them to be taken away. "I won't officially arrest the two of you, but conveniently both of you will have fallen ill and will have to be confined to your quarters." As they were being dragged out of the room, Jeremiah felt a needle get plunged into his neck and something entered his veins. A cry of surprise from Villetta notified him that the same happened to her.

"This won't hurt you permanently, only make you feel really unwell for the next couple of days," Kewell 'reassured' them with a smug sneer. "I'm not a monster."

"Funny way of showing it…" Jeremiah muttered as he was dragged from his office.

This was it, the proper debut of the new personae Lelouch had concocted. Well, to a few individuals that is. The actual debut to the world will be tomorrow, when he rescued Suzaku. Now, however, was arguably the more important debut; to convince Kallen's rebel cell that he was worthy to lead them into liberating Japan and for them to join him in his quest to destroy Britannia.

That would be harder than one might think, as even disguising himself like he has, it would be an uphill battle. However, Lelouch was confident enough in his oratory skills, and the way he has set up this meeting. A 'tour' of the settlement, showing the difference between the two halves of Tokyo would help get the minds of the rebels to work a bit and hopefully get them in a state where they would be willing to listen to him. He knew they wouldn't believe him or take him at face value, at least no smart one would, but he had a plan. A plan where most of the conditions have already been met.

Right now, he had just finished changing into his new costume, a tight dark purple suit with golden stripes, long wrapped sleeves and a frilled white cravat with a sleek bodysuit underneath, finished off with a black cape outlined with gold and a crimson lining on the underneath, with a black cape that encircled his head. It was still missing one thing, but at the moment, he had to do one more thing.

Turning to face the passengers in the train compartment with him, who ignored him like he wasn't there, he just shook his head at their state, still in awe of how flexible vampiric powers could be, and a little jealous that he wasn't at the level of development to even consider wielding a slither of that power. Instead the credit went to C.C., who moments before had surprised him and everyone else aboard the train compartment by jumping on top of it. To get into the same compartment as him, she hung upside down outside the window and stared at all of the regular passengers in the eyes, placing them all under her spell. Once the hypnotised passengers let her in, she ordered them to forget anything that happens involving both her and Lelouch, as well as anyone who talks with either of them. This was something that she had just finished doing to most of the train, with the train, just before Kallen and her friends got on board. How she had done it so fast, Lelouch had no idea.

Even so, Lelouch had been told in advance of how she could do that, and even asked her to in this situation as he wasn't confident in his ability to control that many people at once with his current state of change, but he was still unnerved at how easily she did it. Still, it helped out with covering their tracks and he had already hacked into the cameras installed onto the train so they wouldn't show anything. All he had to do was wait for Kallen and her friends to arrive and then send them to him.

"What's the holdup?" C.C. asked, leaning against the wall, dressed in a smart business suit similar to the rest of the occupants in the compartment. "They're here, just a few cars down…"

"But we haven't reached the specific point of the train line where my little message will make the most impact," Lelouch answered, reaching into his suitcase and taking out his mask. "It should be coming up in the next few minutes. Though on that note, please send everyone out of the train compartment. Much more dramatic that way."

C.C. rolled her eyes, but complied. With just a single clap, everyone got up and started queuing at the door of the compartment, leaving as quickly as they could. Once there was only a few left, she herself left, taking Lelouch's suitcase with her, in order to blend in with the passengers but still be close enough to keep an eye on things, leaving Lelouch alone in the compartment

With nothing to do but wait, he brought up his mask to better see it in the light. It was a spiky black and indigo mask that resembled the head of the King piece in chess. While it was mostly blank, with the entire thing supposed to be devoid of many features except for the central large opaque visor which was actually transparent inside the mask, C.C. had insisted on painting an enlarged golden bird like symbol just under the visor. After a moment of arguing, he eventually relented, and to be honest, it did make things stand out more, which was the intention of the costume, to draw attention to itself and away from Lelouch vi Britannia or Lelouch Lamperouge.

He just stared at it, blocking out everything else as he contemplated what it meant when he actually put it on. His entire life seemed to flash before him, as if judging him for what he was about to do, trying to show him what was good and what was bad, doubts flooding in. For once he put it on, there was no going back. Some could say it would be just another mask he put on to show the world, hiding his true self, but a part of Lelouch was adamant that this would be the final mask, and would consume one of his other personas. That was the feeling that he felt right then and there, and to be honest, he was ok with that, especially if it consumed his persona as a prince of Britannia, his true self if you will. As much as it stifled him so much hiding that part of him, he did recognise that he never wanted to go back to that life, well most of it that is. If it meant bringing about Nunnally's perfect world, then that was a sacrifice he was more than willing to make.

He finally managed to avert his gaze from the mask, taking a glimpse of the landscape outside the moving train shifting to where he wanted it. Time was up. His face hardened with resolve as he forced down the last of his doubts and put on the mask.

For Lelouch vi Britannia was now forever gone, sealed away as the mask closed in around his face, and in his place stood Zero.

Kallen gripped the handle tightly with one hand as the train went along the turn, the other hand with the phone ready to be answered at any moment. It had been only twenty minutes since they got on the train line, and no word from this 'Zero' person yet. She wondered why the name was no longer 'K-1' like it had been, though it really didn't matter. It was the same person, so that meant that whoever they are, they most likely had answers as to what happened at Shinjuku.

She looked to the rest of the compartment, seeing Ohgi and the others maintaining a respectable distance from her in order to blend in a bit better, though they still stood out as Japanese amongst the majority Britannians that were present in the compartment. Still, she wondered why no one was reacting to them with the usual xeno-phobia. Yet no one was even registering they were there, no matter how out of place Ohgi was. Even as an announcement rang out for anyone to report any suspicious activities or sights.

She was brought out of this line of thought when the phone finally began to vibrate, as Kallen had previously turned it on silent. It only had the chance to vibrate twice before Kallen answered it in record speed.

"Zero?" was all she said.

There was a chuckle on the other side. "You catch on quick, Q-1. Thank you for coming. However, I need you to do one more thing before we meet. Face forward and look to your right," the voice commanded. Kallen arched an eyebrow at the weird request, but complied nonetheless. "What do you see?"

She took a look, and what she saw caused her anger to rise. "I see the Britannian city, the land stolen away from us and built upon our sacrifice, sucking us dry like the parasites they are."

"And to the left?"

"I see our city…" Kallen's voice faltered for a second as she saw the abandoned buildings that made up a place she had fond memories of during her childhood. "Remnants of the desecrated city after Britannia had taken everything from it and us."

"Good answer Q-1," the voice sayed with approval. "Head to the front of the train. I await you there."

With that the call ended. Kallen frowned as she put the phone away and started to make her way to the front. Seeing her move, Ohgi and the others quickly fell in place behind her, following her along as they silently travelled from compartment to compartment. As they were on the final one before the front, she noticed how the lights on the final compartment were off, with only the natural lights from the windows. She could barely make out a tall figure at the back, but the way the train was moving didn't help her look at the figure clearly.

Finally she walked through the door, getting a proper view of the figure, or rather their back as they were looking at the door leading to the driver's cockpit. They had a very long cape that concealed their body shape and gender, and the only thing sticking out was what seemed to be the back of a mask or helmet shaped with spikes, maybe. The back neck cape was blocking most of the details and she could barely make anything out.

The figure hadn't reacted at all to the group of four entering the compartment, and a few seconds later of nothing, Kallen got impatient.

"Was it you? On the phone?"

Still nothing. No movement or any sense of acknowledgment. Kallen tried again. "Was the ceasefire in Shinjuku your doing? Were you involved in helping Kururugi kill Clovis?"

Again nothing. This time, Yoshida snorted before stepping forward. "Hey, we're talking to you!"

That exact moment, the train entered a tunnel, and that was when the figure finally moved, spinning around to finally face them. If nothing else, Kallen had to give it to whoever this person was, they had a flair for the dramatic, both in actions and the way they dressed with the cape, hiding most of their body, and the front of the mask, giving them an eerily inhumane look. That combined with the timing and the shock of the lights going off made all of her group gasp slightly.

"Greetings!" The figure said, his voice barely even recognisable as a male, as it was rendered almost indistinguishable due to a voice modulator. "As you may have guessed already, I am Zero. Now, what did you think of my tour of the settlement?"

"Your tour?" Ohgi repeated, slightly confused.

"Oh, come on," Yoshida said, sceptical, "There's no way it was this Joker…"

"I wanted you to fully grasp the two," the figure continued, "The Settlement…" he raised his left hand, finally revealing what he had under the cape, a dark purple suit, "and the Ghetto!" He raised the other arm."

Ohgi stepped forward, the confusion present on his face now replaced with disgruntlement. "Yeah, we get it. There's a difference between us and them. A very harsh one." His expression again shifted to one more determined. "That's why we resist them."

The figure nodded in approval. "I can imagine that it is not the only reason why, but it is a very good one to have. And you are right, the difference is very harsh, one brought about by the policies of the reigning Emperor, Charles zi Britannia." He cocked his head. "However, there is one simple fact that jeopardises all of your effort: Britannia will not fall to terrorism!"

"Fall?" Oghi muttered, confusion once again present on his face, as well as on the others as well.

"Britannia is a state built on propaganda, lies and military might. The former thrives on the actions of terrorists proving their lies were right to the populace. To the military, terrorism is no better than childish nuisance, a fact that they have proved time and time again in the past seven years." Zero paused. "Your willingness to continue the fight is not only admirable but also inspirational. However, the way not only you, but all the other resistance groups, have done so until now hasn't worked, and will not work, at least not until long past the time Britannia's boot finally breaks the Japanese people in a permanent fashion. You need another way, a way that is not terrorism!"

"What do you mean?" Ohgi asked, halting Yoshida before he could speak out against what Zero said.

"To beat an enemy, one must know them," Zero chided. "That is what many military leaders espouse. That is something that the Japanese resistance has collectively failed to do. If you did, then you would realise that the ordinary innocents that make up the majority of the Britannian populace are not your enemy, it is the Britannian state itself, or rather the Nobility, and the current Royalty. They must be your target, not the innocent! Take up your swords, and fight for Justice!"

Kallen was torn. On the one hand, she could easily see his point. Her step mother was a prime example of the nobility being the problem, with her blatant racism and elitism even over the most patriotic commoner Britannian. And her new colleagues on the student council (she wouldn't call them friends at this point of time, though she would admit that at some point she would like to) were very much friendly and good people. Even the most xenophobic member, Nina, was nice. Very distant, but nice, and had some baggage from her past that seemed to maybe be the source of her xenophobia. So Zero's words about the Britannian populace being innocent had a lot of merit to it.

On the other hand, he had just said that ALL of the effort she had put into going against Britannia, ALL of the effort Naoto had put in, was WORTHLESS and would do NOTHING! That what they were doing was just useless childish flailing against Britannia. Her heart refused to accept that, to accept that her Brother died for nothing! In the end, her emotions got the better of her, and this time it was her who interrupted instead of Yoshida.

"Oh please! That's all easy to say, hiding behind that mask!" she shouted out. "Why should we ever trust you, especially since you hide even from us?!"

"She's right," Sugiyama spoke up for the first time, nodding with Kallen's words.

"Lose the mask!" Yoshida shouted again.

Ohgi nodded along, clearly agreeing with his peers. "I see your point, but I also agree with my friends, if we are to trust you, you'll have to show us who you are."

"Very well," Zero said, "I'll show you who I am. Not behind this mask, but the power and influence I wield. If I can deliver unto you the impossible, will you trust me?"

That caused everyone to pause in their calls, and looked to Ohgi, who frowned in thought, before his eyes narrowed at Zero. "What do you have in mind, as you clearly expected us to ask this of you?"

"Tomorrow, during the televised transit for Private Kururugi to be escorted to his trial, I plan to free him then and there, without any of the innocent being injured in any way or even killed!" Zero declared, much to the shock of everyone present.

"In the open, with the amount of guards Britannia will have there?!" Yoshida asked. "That's crazy!"

"Security will be tight for sure, as well as it being televised. Do you have a death wish?!" Sugiyama added, completely taken aback.

Kallen for her part was also shocked, yet also intrigued. Yes it was almost certain suicide, yet the way Zero declared his intentions radiated sheer confidence and assurance, like he knew he could do it. She was sceptical, but a part of her wanted to see if he could pull it off.

Ohgi was silent as he processed what Zero said, before asking one more question. "There are other ways to prove that you are trustworthy. Why choose this one?"

"Because I refuse to let the innocent, regardless of which side they are on, suffer even more in place of me, due to my actions."

"You did kill Clovis!" Kallen said.

"I was present when he died, and gave the order myself," Zero corrected. "It was someone in league with me that took the actual shot. After all, who am I to get in the way of direct vengeance, especially one that suffered as much as that individual did due to Clovis' actions."

That answered that question, and created more. But Kallen accepted the answer, it was probably the best they were going to get.

"Why did you imply that Britannians are already suffering, when they are clearly profiting from the current situation?" Sugiyama asked.

"For they too are suffering, albeit in a very different and more subtle manner."

That enraged the Japanese present. "SUFFERING!" Yoshida shouted, "How are they suffering when they are the ones who benefit from our own suffering.!?"

Zero didn't answer, only walking closer to the compartment door, and gesturing to the Britannians in the one behind. "Tell me, what do you see?"

"Britannians." Yoshida snarled.

"Yes, but only that, Britannians. I see ordinary, innocent people. Some may be good hearted people even who love their families and would easily die for them if given the choice to save them. All however, have been brainwashed. Brainwashed into believing the lies that Britannians are superior to all other humans when in fact they are not, they are the exact same. All fed the lies that their rightful place is above the Numbers, while in actuality they are just viewed as pawns by the Nobility and fed the lies in order to distract their attention away from their lack of freedoms and potentially overthrowing the establishment."

Zero turned back to face the group. "Make no mistake, while the Numbers are repeatedly told that they are less than human, and are treated like animals, but are self aware with many seeking to change that, the average Britannian is in fact a slave with a collar around their neck, but believe that collar to be a necklace and a sign of their power over others, even as the strings attached to them move them around much to the puppeteer's amusement."

That got them all thinking, as Zero looked out of the window. "It looks like our time is up for now." He looked back at them. "I understand if you all don't trust me, and think my words are just verbally exaggerated nonsense. But if you have any sense of wishing to see if I can back up my claims, contact me on that phone by midnight tonight!"

With that, the train came to a stop at the next train station, which was still underground. Since they were all in the front compartment, the area they were next to was shrouded in shadow, with no one waiting there to get on the train. So Zero exited the train there, and walked into the shadows. Kallen actually ran out of the train, to see where he went, but he had vanished without a trace. She stood there for a moment, her mind processing what had just happened, before Ohgi called out to her to get back on the train, so she did, getting on just as the doors closed.

"Congratulations!" The almost always cheerful voice of Lloyd Asplund echoed throughout the prison, especially in Suzaku's cell. "Those two you asked me about weren't on the list of casualties at Shinjuku!"

"That's good to hear," Suzaku admitted, sighing in relief. Lelouch and the girl were alright, with none the wiser that Lelouch was in fact royalty. 'Wherever you are now, Lelouch, I hope you are with Nunnally.'

"Unfortunately, I can't really say the same about your situation." Lloyd admitted casually with a shrug, his cheerful tone only diminishing very, very slightly. Suzaku chose to look at it as if it showed Lloyd did care somewhat about him. "Due to the disappearance of Margrave Gottwald, and the supposed takeover by Captain Soresi, the only thing you will get is a trial, and a rigged one at that."

"Disappearance… did the terrorists somehow get Margrave Gottwald?" Suzaku asked.

"No, more likely the good Margrave's been put under house arrest by Soresi in order for him to take over for now." Lloyd shrugged again. "Military politics, especially with the Purebloods involved, always involve such backstabs. All so Soresi can create his ideal vision of an Area." Lloyd sighed. "That's why he has set up this kangaroo court, where no one is pulling for you, just so they can use you as an example then dispose of you."

"But court is where the truth comes to light," Suzaku argued.

"I'm afraid the truth is in short supply these days," Lloyd admitted.

Suzaku became resolute. "Even if that's the case, I'll know the truth. I have no regrets!"

'Lelouch, Nunnally, I hope you guys…' he couldn't finish the thought in his head as he closed his eyes. 'Thanks for being such good friends.'

Lelouch had just arrived back with C.C. to the clubhouse, having changed back into his casual wear while C.C. remained in her business attire, claiming that she looked good in it, which Lelouch silently admitted to himself that she did. His mind also decided to then imagine Kallen, Milly and Shirley in the same suit, an image that he quickly threw to the bin in order to not get distracted. It still wasn't the time to get distracted.

'Maybe after Suzaku is free, you could celebrate by drinking from Kallen again…' a voice in his mind whispered, 'or even…'

"Nope!" he said out loud, slapping his own cheek, drawing an amused chuckle from C.C.

"Big brother?" Nunnally called out from another room, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine Nunnally," he reassured her. "Just trying to not think about something."

"I hope it's not something naughty," Nunnally teased, as Lelouch entered the dining room, where she was eating her vegetable soup, prepared for her by Sayako, who stood at the kitchen, finishing up Lelouch's own soup.

Lelouch gave off a guilty chuckle, before changing the subject. "Was the middle school musical good today?"

Nunnally smiled. "It was wonderful. I'm a bit jealous that I don't have the talent to sing like they did. But I'm so proud of my friends in the play, they did so well."

Lelouch smiled as he went up and gently held Nunnally's hand. "I'm happy you enjoyed it. Do you want me to see if there are any professional musicals coming up to tour Tokyo soon?"

Nunnally's expression brightened even more. "Yes please!"

"I'll check on it later then," Lelouch promised, "Do you want it to be just the two of us or…"

"The rest of the student council, please," Nunnally said without any hesitation. "Musicals should be enjoyed with our friends!"

"Of course," Lelouch said, letting go of Nunnally's hand before he took a seat at the table just as Sayako served him his meal. They ate in a comfortable silence from then on, the two siblings just enjoying the other's company.

An hour later, Nunnally got ready to leave to sleep over at Shirley's house tonight, having asked Lelouch just earlier to do so, as she didn't want to spend the night before Suzaku's trial in the clubhouse. Lelouch approved it, and so Sayako left to drop off Nunnally at Shirley's.

Once again, it was just him and C.C. in the house. C.C. was on the couch in the living room, enjoying some Pizza she bought with his credit card, while he was looking through the internet, trying to see if anything new had just come up for him to exploit or use. It didn't take him long to find a conspiracy article about the disappearance of Margrave Gottwald earlier today, and the fact that Captain Soresi had become much more active in the affairs of the temporary government at the same time. Interesting. Maybe something to investigate.

"Hey, C.C.?" he called out to her, who looked up with her mouth full. "Are you up for a quick trip to the Viceroy's palace?"

That got her attention, quickly finishing off her pizza slice as she got up and walked up next to him, reading what was on the screen. After a moment, she nodded. "Sure. We can definitely do that, and I can use the time to show you some more basics." She gave him a smile that sent chills down his spine. "However, this time will involve a lot more physical activity than the last chat."

Lelouch sighed but accepted her resolution. He was improving due to her forcing him to do workouts each morning, and he could already see the results. He was slightly faster than before, and could run further before having to stop to catch his breath.

"Though will we be back in time before Kallen's group potentially calls us back?" C.C. asked.

"When they call us back," Lelouch corrected, "and yes, if we leave soon."

C.C. looked at the time, just after 7pm at the moment, so less than five hours until Lelouch's deadline hit. "Alright, let's go."

So C.C. dressed in something more casual than her suit, while Lelouch quickly changed into his stolen Britannian soldier uniform he had acquired at Shinjuku. Less than ten minutes later, they left the clubhouse, having called Sayako to let her know that they were on a small trip out.

As there was still light present at this time of day, some students were still scattered about the academy grounds, meaning that they couldn't leave through the front gate. Well, they technically could due to C.C. being able to stop people from perceiving them, but she insisted that she wanted to teach Lelouch something else for today. So they made their way to the fence, where no one would be.

"Testing my climbing skills today, are we?" Lelouch sarcastically commented.

C.C. didn't answer. Instead she lowered herself slightly then jumped up, over the fence, landing on the other side with no issue. Lelouch took a step back in shock, eyes wide under his helmet. No human should have been able to do that in one single leap. He did recover quickly, giving C.C. a glare under his helmet.

"You expect me to be able to do that as well?"

"No, not yet, but I want to see how far you can jump at this point," C.C. said. "Consider this a benchmark of your progress in physical change and development. The more you change and strengthen yourself, the higher you can jump and I want you to keep on practising over the course of the next few weeks until you can in one single leap."

"I get it," Lelouch said. "But as for right now, should I just try to jump normally, or is there a process to do any superhuman movements?"

"Right now, put in some more effort," C.C. recommended. "Exaggerate your movements as well, especially your leg positions, lowering yourself more so your momentum is greater."

Lelouch followed through with her instructions and took a deep breath before jumping with as much might as he could his credit, it was a high fence and he did jump up a fair distance, but only managed to reach just over halfway before he had to grab the bars to stop himself from falling back onto the ground. C.C. couldn't help but chuckle as she saw Lelouch hold on for dear life, before taking pity on him and jumping back to the other side after he finally dropped to the ground. He looked at her with a scowl of embarrassment through his helmet even as she grabbed his uniform and threw him over the fence.

"Gah…" was all he managed before he landed on the ground over the fence, groaning from how his arms now hurt.

"You'll be fine," C.C. said as she landed next to him on her feet. "You won't feel anything in a few hours."

"Yeah, because you could have broken my arm!"

"Crybaby…" C.C. rolled her eyes, before getting serious. "Let's go," she said as she lifted Lelouch off the ground, who cradled his arm, finding that he didn't really suffer any injuries.

It didn't take them long to reach the Viceroy's Palace, a large, foreboding structure built with the usual Britannian flare of large is right mentality. While it had lots of guards, the walls surrounding the structure were easily bypassed by the two vampires, who used their hypnosis powers on any guards that were in their way. They were expecting an environment of tension and almost paranoia against any potential infiltrators, but instead, Lelouch found that that paranoia was focused on each other. Whatever had happened, a rift had formed between the Purebloods, well most of them, and the regular Britannian military soldiers and bureaucrats. He was almost insulted for Britannia's sake at how easy they were making things for him, except that it made his plan for tomorrow all the more promising.

From their hiding spot in one of the many corridors, C.C. shook her head. "How incompetent. This is why I very much disagree with the concept of social darwinism even on the most calculated level. But no, Charles never listened to me, saying that it never mattered." She scoffed. "It does now."

"As much as I sympathise with your ranting," Lelouch whispered as he peeped round the corner, where a patrol was making their way away from them, "I would prefer Britannia to not accept some of your requests and become a more efficient machine. And I don't think this is the right time."

"Sorry, but I get really passionate about incompetence like this," C.C. said. "Hell, that was one of the reasons why I got caught in the first place."

Lelouch turned to look at C.C. with a deadpan look, or would have if he didn't have a helmet on. "Did they catch you ranting?"

"Not verbally," C.C. corrected, "I had just finished off a squad showing some incompetence and overtly disgusting ideals that actually divided the squad itself, and I was just thinking that when I got struck down by someone in hiding. I never found out who exactly, but I have an idea."

"If you ever find out for certain, and I am available, I will help you get your vengeance," Lelouch promised. "But right now, let's get some more information about what's going on."

He looked back around the corner, seeing the patrol vanishing down another corridor. Motioning to C.C., the two of them snuck down the corridor, finding themselves in front of a door of an officer's living quarters, guarded by two soldiers wearing Pureblood symbols.

"That looks important," C.C. noted.

"Indeed, though the question is, are they guarding someone to protect them, or to keep them silent," Lelouch noted, focusing on a small attachment on the door. "And I believe it's the latter."

C.C. narrowed her eyes at the door. "If we enter without any code being imputed, someone would catch on. Hopefully the guards have the code."

"Do you want to take this one?" Lelouch asked.

"I don't see why not," C.C. said before getting up and striding over to the guards, who looked at her in confusion. She just smiled before saying "Please enter the code to enter the room."

They submitted instantly, answering with "Of course," before following through with her orders.

"Thank you, now you haven't seen me or my friend here, you won't let anyone in, and you won't remember anything you could potentially hear from inside this room, until after we exit the room and leave the corridor."

With that out of the way, the two of them opened the door, to find a sick Villetta Nu, still in her dress uniform, lying on her bed with a laptop open, fiercely typing something with a scowl on her face. To say Lelouch was surprised that the one room he had entered so far was occupied by the same woman who he had secretly turned into a sleeper agent was again a surprise, but a welcome one. As soon as she heard the door open, she looked up to see C.C. and Lelouch close the door after they had entered.

"Who the bloody hell are you two?" She asked in a sniffly tone, "Are you more of Kewell's lackeys, the very few outside of the purebloods."

"On the contrary," Lelouch said, taking off his helmet, causing her to frown at how young this boy was, as well as some sort of familiar feeling she got when she saw him. "But now: Obey me!"

Viletta stiffened before relaxing, her eyes slightly dulling as she got up from her bed and knelt in front of Lelouch. It seemed that his previous command was still embedded in her. Good, that would make finding out what was going on much easier.

"Master," she numbly said. "What is your command?"

"Report. Tell me why you seem to be under house arrest in your room here?" Lelouch asked.

"Because Kewell… Captain Soresi launched a soft Coup against the Interim Viceroy, Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald, just this morning, after Lord Jeremiah and I had met with one of the local Media producers. The Producer, Mr Diethard, informed us of Kewell's commissioning of a special arrangement for the trial, arranging a crowd of loyal Britannians on the way there to make the Pureblood ideas look popular. Just before Lord Jeremiah was about to inform her Highness Princess Cornelia of a potential coup attempt against him when Kewell did launch his coup right then and there. He had the two of us sentenced to house arrest and had implanted a small virus in our bodies to make us less likely to try to break free." She pointed to a mark on her neck, clearly caused by a syringe. "Since then, I have been trying to get into contact with Lord Jeremiah, but to no avail. I was just in the process of trying to create a backroom connection between the devices in my room to his when you came in."

Lelouch hummed as she finished her explanation. That did make what was happening outside make sense. It also gave him an even bigger chance of not only uprooting the Pureblood hold over Area Eleven's administration and military, but also completely ruining their reputation across the entire empire if his plan went well tomorrow. However, one small detail puzzled Lelouch.

"Wait, Margrave Jeremiah has a connection with Cornelia?" Lelouch asked. While he obviously hadn't had any contact with his elder half-sister since his exile, he had kept up to date with the news regarding certain members of his family, which included Cornelia and Euphie. Said news occasionally mentioned that despite a mutual racism against non-Britannians, Cornelia despised the Purebloods, having quoted that "they went against every single principle she held dear", principles that she had inherited from his mother and thus avoided them like the plague. So that begged the question, why would she keep in contact with one Pureblood leader.

"Yes, as he had served under her command as a member of Empress Marianne vi Britannia's Royal Guard," Villetta explained.

Lelouch's eyes widened in shock. The interim Viceroy served under his mother. That meant that he had most likely met already in the past. Then it clicked. 'That's why the name sounded so familiar when she said it in Shinjuku,' he realised in his head, 'we had already met at least a few times.' His eyes narrowed as he struggled to find a memory with the man present until… "Does Jeremiah have teal hair and orange eyes?"

"Yes he does," Villetta confirmed.

Lelouch frowned as an old memory reran itself in his brain, one where a single Royal Guard was happily escorting him and Nunnally over to the Ashford's residence in Pendragon, chatting with him over simple topics. A teal haired man with orange eyes. Lord, it had been so long since he had thought of the guard. What a small world.

"Oh, Gottwald," C.C. said, snapping her fingers. "Ah, I remember that youngster. Always on time and remarkable loyalty. Hell, I remember he even stood up to a few of the other consorts in defence of Marianne." She sighed. "Those were the days…"

In response to that, Lelouch turned to face C.C. "Loyalty to mother?"

"Yes, Marianne always commented on how if somehow she would ever go against Britannia, impossible as that would be, she knew that she could always count on Jeremiah to follow her to hell and back."

Lelouch's eyes widened as he processed the information. He really had never considered that any sort of Britannian outside of some of his half-siblings and the Ashfords would have had anything good to say about his mother, much less being completely loyal to her. However, the original question remained, or has shifted into a sort of new question.

"Still, why would someone who obviously held Mo… Empress Marianne in high regard join an organisation with the opposite views to her?" He asked Villetta, his attention back to her, "And why would Cornelia even accept him talking to her if so?"

"His admission into the Purebloods was certainly a surprise," Villetta admitted, "especially since he had in the past rebuked many invitations to join. That changed about four years ago, when a position for the Area Eleven branch of the Purebloods opened up, and he joined then. It also helped that the Knight of Six, Anya Alstreim, endorsed him."

That was indeed a surprising move. However, it didn't stop him from seeing the only thing that connected most of the elements together: Nunnally and himself. That was interesting, very interesting. Especially since the Purebloods were a major component of the Britannian military garrison here in Japan, which would grant them unique access to the array of information collected and compiled by the Area Eleven administration, whether useful or not. It didn't take long at all for Lelouch to deduce that Gottwald had been looking for the two vi Britannian siblings. Question was, did he think they were alive and if he did, what was his goal in finding them? However, if the information he had just gotten from both C.C. and Villetta were correct, then he doubted he wanted to kill either Nunnally or himself, especially if his loyalty remained the same.

"Did he explain why he wanted to come to Area Eleven?" he still asked to confirm with Villetta. This was something he didn't want to have an erroneous idea about.

"To find the vi Britannia siblings, who he believes are still alive, then serve them as long as they need."

That confirmation actually caused Lelouch to stumble and fall to his feet as his mindset of no one in Britannia caring about them crumbled from the knowledge that one man, one person who didn't even know them that well personally, still cared and was still looking for them despite the odds. Both C.C. and surprisingly Villetta went to help him up, the latter probably due to her seeing Lelouch as her master now, which he accepted, taking it a bit embarrassingly and unsightly that he fell like that in front of a stranger. But he threw off that feeling as his mind went on overdrive to account for this new development.

"Is the room where Margrave Jeremiah is being held nearby?" he asked Villetta.

"No," she answered, shaking her head, "Kewell separated us into opposite wings of the palace. This isn't even my normal room, as I usually sleep in the barracks a few blocks away, but Kewell had some of my belongings here just so his loyal purebloods could keep their eye on me. The same goes for Margrave Jeremiah, though they did treat him with more respect due to his rank, but only because of that…" her face grimaced in anger. "Not even because he treated them well and would have taken a bullet for his comrades, those backstabbing bastards."

Her end rant aside, due to the time restraints for tonight, he would have to put actually meeting Jeremiah on hold for now, especially if he wanted to gain access to certain data on the main computers in the palace then meet Kallen's resistance group if they contact him soon. After all, he had now learned of another skeleton in the closet for the local administration, and it wouldn't be so kind as to put it out in the open with actual evidence for everyone to see.

"Where is the main computer located in the palace?"

"Two floors up, in the central room," Villetta said, before grabbing her laptop, pressing a few keys before flipping it around so that Lelouch could see the screen. On the screen was a detailed schematic of the palace. "I was planning on studying this for use to get out, but if you need it, I can send it to you, Master."

Lelouch smiled. "Excellent. This will indeed prove very useful, not only for tonight but for the future as well."

"I am happy to serve, Master."

He was about to leave, when he thought of something to ask her. "By the way, what are your thoughts on Margrave Jeremiah and his views? The honest truth, please."

"Margrave Jeremiah is one of the best soldiers I have ever met, though personally I find his views in many ways antiquated and soft," she admitted, "At the start of his career here, his devotion to not going against his morals even disgusted me somewhat, as they went against what we are told and shown work in the nobility. However, over time that disgust shifted to respect as I worked under him more and saw that even when partnered with Purebloods who heavily disagreed with him, he still treated them with respect and as a comrade, as long as they did nothing against him or anything he viewed as abhorrently wrong. That made me realise that while the other Purebloods, myself included at the time, would have happily betrayed one other for even a bit of power, he wouldn't. Instead he would have my back. That was the beginning of me viewing him as a proper comrade and now, I do view him as a friend, as he does me, the only one in the Purebloods that he has if I recall correctly. As for his views, right now some I still view antiquated, as I said before, but some also have merits. Especially now, as I have now been on the receiving end of a backstab by an ambitious officer who was once a comrade of mine who I respected and shared the same view as." She shrugged. "I'm not sure what to feel about that right now."

Lelouch frowned. He'll admit, she definitely was not a good person, especially not now, and she was still a pureblood that still believed many of the beliefs they espoused. Plus the way she talked about the Nobility had the tone of someone wanting to join that exclusive 'club', so that was a demerit in his eyes. But, she had conveyed the beginnings of doubt about those ideals, and Jeremiah, who seemed to be a good person and would not get too close with anyone with despicable ideals, was friends with her, so obviously he saw something in her that could change, or a good angle to her. No one was simply two dimensional, so that made sense.

Still, she would make a fine inside spy within the administration for now, especially in the next few days once he rescues Suzaku, where there will be chaos everywhere. She would also be of help in getting into contact with Jeremiah, once he figures out what to make of the man and what to ask of him. So he would still leave her under his spell.

But another couple of thoughts crept into his mind. The loudest of the two ideas was him slowly using her current doubts to get rid of her pureblood and even Britannian racial ideas and replacing them with his own, using legitimate means to show her how to be a better person and redeem her. It would take a lot of time, effort and a lot of contact, which may clash with her work as a spy, but something about the idea appealed to him. If he could convert her to his side fully, not with his current brainwashing, then it meant that he could turn much of the Britannian military and populace against his father's social darwinism and actually make progress in creating Nunnally's perfect world.

The second thought was his vampire instincts acting up again of course. He really should have expected it, but it seemed that his instincts seemed to at least be more accepting of Villetta than most of the other girls that he sees at school, though still less than Kallen, Milly and Shirley. And he had to admit, she was very attractive. Her slightly darker skin made her look more exotic in his eyes, her hair style was also unique, her golden eyes were similar colour to C.C.'s but more yellow than gold. Her breasts were also quite big and…

'For fucks sake!' he shouted in his mind. 'Just stop! Am I going to have this reaction to every attractive lady I see?!'

'No,' a voice whispered in his mind, 'Only the good ones.'

'Shut up!' he responded. 'She may be very attractive, but she isn't a good person! Plus I don't really know her at all.'

'But you didn't know Kallen at all,' the voice countered, 'plus you can turn her into a better person, one suited as part of your harem.'

'I don't have a harem!' he retorted, to which there was no response. Lelouch sighed, trying not to show any signs of his mental back and forth. He did fail though as C.C. smirked, which he noticed. He glared at her, to which she rolled her eyes, but then went over to behind Villetta, who seemed confused at where C.C. was going.

[Lime Scene ahead. Skip if you don't want to read]

"Um, Master…?" she said before C.C. grabbed her from behind, starting to undo her uniform's buttons before pulling her shirt open enough to expose her cleavage. Villetta's hands went to grab C.C.'s to stop her from doing anything, but as she touched C.C., the vampiress began to fondle Villetta's breasts, touching them from both over her clothes, and on the bare skin as well, causing the victim to moan slightly.

"Oh, she does have a wonderful body, for someone belonging to such a bad cause," C.C. commented as she continued to play with Villetta.

"I… Is this really the time?" Lelouch said, stammering at the start as his eyes seemed glued to the sight before him. He even felt his mouth drooling slightly, so he quickly wiped it away to protect his dignity. There was also a mild feeling in his mind that was both of the opinion that he should get in on the action as well, and an urge to bare his fangs at C.C. for touching what was…his? 'Really?' he asked himself. 'I may have her under my spell right now, but she isn't mine.'

"Probably not, but it is fun," C.C. admitted, unaware of his thoughts on the matter. "Though this would be a good session on how to make any girl you fancy feel good."

"As if that's what's important right now," Lelouch sarcastically said. "We're here for information, not sexually harassing the enemy."

"Why not both?" C.C. half jokingly said. Lelouch gave her a look, mainly as an excuse to not look at Villetta's breasts. C.C. sighed in exasperation. "Well, look at this in a different light. If you do what I am doing to her right now, it'll create an easier avenue for you to control her, less through direct, full hypnosis and more into the subtle realms of manipulation."

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked.

"Well, no better way than actually having you start it to show it to you," C.C. said, stopping her ministrations on Villetta, but still keeping her hands on her breasts, making sure her cleavage was still exposed. "Come on, don't be shy."

Seeing Lelouch stay still, as if completely frightened of touching Villetta in the way C.C. wanted him to, she rolled her eyes and beckoned him with a finger. Suddenly Lelouch felt himself stiffen, losing control of his legs as he found himself walking up to Villetta stiffly. As he did, he gave C.C. a look of betrayal.

"Sorry about this, Lelouch," she said honestly, "but your inhibition towards these things is going to cost you in the long run in terms of your vampiric development. And as you said before, she is the enemy. It's better you test your hypnotic powers on her rather than someone you actually care for like Ms Kallen, the Ashford heiress, that red haired girl… You get the idea."

She had a point, but still, she did just control him, for the second time as well. Over something like this! To say he was not happy would be an understatement. But he knew that either he relented, or she would maybe force him to touch Villetta, and honestly, the idea of testing his hypnosis powers on his friends made him feel unclean and tainted.

So in the end, he sighed in defeat and raised his hands to touch Villetta's breasts. He did it softly, and while his hands mainly touched her clothed areas, his thumbs slid against her bare skin on her breasts, which felt so warm and soft. Even when he bit Kallen before, he never touched her breasts, so this was an entirely new experience. It seemed to draw him in, making him continue to touch her skin, while at the same time, making sure they never stopped touching her, used his thumbs to open up her shirt even more, exposing more and more of her breasts to him, while starting to move his hands slowly on her breasts.

He could hear her gasp in shock before her hands lifted up and went to the sides of her open shirt, holding the ends and pulling them open even more, one or two buttons actually undoing further down her shirt, before she stopped, holding her shirt in place so that Lelouch could continue his ministrations. He couldn't see it, but Villetta's eyes half-closed, as her head leaned forward, her mouth opening slightly before closing it as if holding back a moan, leaning more and more towards Lelouch.

As his hands seemed to find its way past her clothes and onto her bare skin completely, C.C. smiled as she watched how Lelouch seemed to reduce Villetta's will to bare putty, even with his command for her to see him as her master. Though it didn't seem obvious to both Lelouch and Villetta herself. C.C., being the experienced Vampire with a code could see how Villetta's soul was slowly being drawn to Lelouch's.

Finally, after a few minutes of rubbing and massaging her breasts, Lelouch felt his instincts take over and pull open the rest of her shirt, revealing her white bra underneath, which contrasted nicely with her chocolate skin. He pulled down her bra, exposing her pink nipples to his view and began to properly fondle her breasts. Now Villetta couldn't help but moan as he began to work on her breasts, her body now truly beginning to submit to him.

He stopped his work on her breasts here, leaving her to give off a whimper of disappointment, her eyes lidded with desire. But he wasn't done, instead he moved his hand down towards her skirt and slid in. He didn't slide under her panties, but instead placed his hand over them, rubbing just where her lower lips would be. She moaned again, leaning her head back, her silver hair flowing backwards, her panties becoming damp. He continued teasing her for a few more minutes before she stiffened, giving off a quiet cry as he felt a gush of liquid flow through her panties and onto his hand.

As she fell to her feet, panting, her skin glistening from sweat, he took his hand out and looked at the substance on it. It smelled different, a sweet auroma. That was all he could tell from it but it was enough. He rose it to his mouth and licked it. It was also a bitter taste, but not something that he inherently hated. But that seemed to fuel his vampiric instincts more, drawing his attention away from Villetta's lower body to her neck.

Placing a finger under her chin, he lifted her head up, with her getting to her feet in synchronisation. After she stood up, her eyes now dull like what Kallen's were like in the bathroom, he leaned more and more towards her neck, as if it was drawing him in. His iris turned red with hunger as he inched closer and closer before his mouth opened, revealing his fangs and…

[Lime End]

'VRRRT, VRRRT'

The phone in his armour's pocket began to vibrate, shocking him out of his trance and caused him to stumble back, away from Villetta quickly. It took him a moment of breathing rapidly before he took out the phone and answered it, calming himself down enough to talk coherently and at ease, even if it was a facade.

"I see you are interested after all," he said.

"Yes… some of us are," the voice of the puffy haired man, Ohgi Kaname from what he gathered, spoke out to him. "It's around 11:36 now, do you need us to meet up soon?"

"Of course. Meet me in one hour at the Kanagawa waste dump. I'll meet you there."

With that he hung up, and put his hand on his forehead. He looked back down at Villetta, who was breathing heavily as well, her eyes unfocused, yet she was blushing heavily. He then looked at C.C. who had a disappointed expression on her face, pouting slightly.

"You were doing great…" she sighed out after noticing him looking at her.

"We…we're going to have a chat about you forcing me into doing that!" Lelouch ground out, trying to calm his heart rate from the adrenaline coursing through him.

"Again, I apologise for it, but we do need to chat about it," C.C. agreed. "However, let's save it until after you save your friend."

"Alright," Lelouch accepted, "What should we do with her? Specifically, how should we get her back to normal to cover our tracks?"

"Just order her to do something," C.C. shrugged. "She's your servant now."

Lelouch rubbed his eyes in resignation. He did not want a servant, not an unwilling one, but he couldn't argue with his vampiric instincts and reality. So he stood in front of Villetta, trying not to look at her half dressed state.

"I need you to clean yourself and this room up, to the state it was before we entered," he told her, "Also once we leave, you will forget that we were here, only to remember when I tell you to. Also you will send your schematics to this email address," he wrote it down on a piece of paper, as well as a phone number, which she took. "Actually, do that now, before you clean up. Once you have done it, save the number to your phone, labelled as Alan Spacer, then burn the piece of paper so that there is no evidence left. Even after you forget what has happened, you must follow any commands I send through that contact by text, and if I start calling you, you have to make sure you are alone when you answer it. If that means ignoring it if you are under watch of someone, then calling back when you are able to, that is fine."

"Of course, Master," she answered, before heading back to her bed to follow his orders. After sending him the schematics, and cleaning up, redoing her uniform so it looked near immaculate. He noted that she did look very sexy in that, but shook the thought away.

After she had finished, Lelouch and C.C. left, heading towards the central computers to get the data they needed for proof to post on the internet after his plan is enacted. But his mind was not on C.C. 'convincing' the guards and operators to give her the information and wipe the security cameras, but on the meeting in an hour.

'Alright, now that they've contacted me back,' he thought to himself, 'it's time to meet them to finally set this rescue into motion!'

Kallen frowned as she and Ohgi walked through the scrapyard, looking at the visual indicators that Zero had told them to follow for them to find him. She had to admit, it would be the last place she would have thought to look for an extravagant individual like he seemed to be. But overall, she really didn't like it here, as much of the scrap left here were Japanese made cars, vehicles and pieces of buildings, with only the occasional Britannian obsolete junk as well. It reminded her of what the Britannians were trying to do to her people and culture.

Then her thoughts shifted to the present, or rather the very near future, of what Zero had promised to them: the chance to successfully rescue Suzaku Kururugi. To say that it seemed impossible was an understatement, but the fact that Zero's intervention in Shinjuku should have been an impossibility kinda made that point almost redundant. Almost. Shinjuku was in the eyes of Britannia a backwater, while this trial would be a televised event for the whole empire. So there would be even higher chances of this backfiring.

So, that begged the question, why was she here? To sum it up, intrigue and a small belief that maybe he can pull it off. If he could, she wanted to be a part of it. Plus, there was like a speck of something that beckoned her to follow him, but it was so little that she didn't really recognise it herself.

So she was the only one that agreed to join Ohgi in meeting Zero for the second time and helping him in the rescue attempt, both of them hoping that Zero would have additional help in line as well.

"Thank you for coming," Zero's voice called out to her just as she passed the last building that Zero had described to them.

There he was, standing on a pile of junk, completely impassive. Though there really was no way for Kallen to tell, as he was completely hidden behind his mask and cape, so she couldn't even read his body language.

"Zero," Ohgi greeted.

Zero nodded in greetings as well, before speaking once more. "So just the two of you then?" he asked, not sounding surprised in the slightest.

"I'm sorry, we just needed more time to convince the others to come help, but they just needed more assurances…" Ohgi began to explain, but Zero raised a hand to stop him.

"No need, though I appreciate the effort," Zero assured him. "In fact, the three of us will do just nicely."

"Wait, just the three of us?!" Kallen exclaimed, shocked. "Come on, that's ridiculous. There's no way that we can do anything on our own against…"

"On the contrary, with your help completing the tasks at hand will be mere child's play," Zero said, before reaching back into his cape and pulling out a picture of a car. "What I'll need for us to do before tomorrow. The only thing that matters is the exterior."

Kallen went up to the junk heap and grabbed the picture from Zero. She gasped when she saw what was on the image. She looked up back at Zero. "You want this by tomorrow?!"

Zero nodded. "We have all of the parts we need here, the only thing we lack is an abundance of time, though enough to get the job done." He jumped down off the pile. "Let's get started."

"You're working on this too?" Ohgi asked, surprised.

"Of course," Zero said. "I am a firm believer of leading by example, and while I am no expert at physical mechanical work, three people are better than two."

In the end, Zero's words proved prophetic, as they managed to get the work done by the rays of light for the next morning, the day when the trial would take place in the evening.

Later on

In the student council room, Milly seemed to be the one most at ease within the room. Shirley was sitting at the table, looking with worried eyes, Rivalz seemed relaxed sitting on the table itself, but his stiff back betrayed his true feelings, and Nina was at her computer off to the side, looking at the screen with anxiety. All of them felt more at ease whenever they looked at her neutral face, becoming less worried as if Milly could keep her wits about, they could too.

However, internally, she was the most worried of them all. There were a variety of reasons, the main one being one of the only members not in the room with them; Lelouch. Or more specifically what she believes to be the reason he wasn't present currently.

When Lelouch and Nunnally had arrived to seek refuge with the Ashfords, they had told her about their time in Japan, especially in regards to Suzaku Kururugi, so she knew how much he meant to the both of them. The fact that it was Suzaku who had been accused of killing Prince Clovis would have definitely set off Lelouch and Nunnally, especially the former, and especially since he was innocent with the act of treason that Lelouch himself committed instead. Lelouch's pride alone would force him to act to set Suzaku free, not counting how much of a friend they viewed each other.

The fact that Lelouch had been absent for large parts of the past two days since the news announcement only made it even more obvious to her that he was planning something, something big. Something that would set the ever growing powder keg that was Area Eleven alight.

She remembered that he promised to tell her if he had formed any plans but it was obvious that either he was too focused on making something work for today or he was purposefully excluding her from it, and she didn't know which infuriated her more. Actually no, she wouldn't if it was the former, especially since something big would require even Lelouch to divert as much attention to it as possible, but the latter could only be Lelouch's desire to keep everyone he cares about out of harm's way. She could understand it perfectly, but damn was it annoying. Especially if it could lead to him driving everyone away from him in order to protect them, or some sort of that selfless crap.

No, not this time. Milly would stick by him until the very end, whether he wanted her to or not. Only problem was that she had no idea of what he was about to do. So here she was, stuck watching whatever could be unfolding, useless. She hated feeling useless, especially when it came to helping Lelouch. But alas, she was also a realist, and knew there was little she could do. But she was the school council president for a reason, so she would keep morale high here at Ashford, for everyone's sake. Better than them worrying too much and distracting Lelouch from what he needed to do for himself.

Euphemia li Britannia couldn't help but have her eyes glued to the live broadcast from Area Eleven as she sat in her sister's battalion's officer conference room, where Cornelia, Guiliford, Darlton, his adoptive sons and the other high ranking officers within her mobile unit sat as well. While most of them were watching the screen every so often, Cornelia was mainly concerned with preparing them for their final offensive on the last stronghold of the Middle Eastern Federation, though Cornelia would take a moment every now and then to look at the screen and sneer at it, before turning her attention back to her officers. Though for once, her ire was not directed on the Japanese individual who was mostly shown on screen, but rather the Britannian officer leading the procession to the court.

Euphie understood exactly why. For the past few hours, Cornelia had tried contacting Jeremiah to see how his investigation was going, only for there to be silence from his end. This didn't bring any good tidings for Jeremiah, especially after the backdoor news from Area Eleven told of how the interim viceroy has disappeared, with Purebloods now lining the hallways of the Viceroy's Palace. To say Cornelia had been enraged was an understatement. And now this fake trial was happening due to the ambitions of one officer, at the expense of the true culprit of Clovis' murder being left unhassled by any attempts to identify him and bring him to justice.

It said much about the situation when Cornelia, a very devout member of Britannian superiority and the policy on numbers was willing to give one the benefit of the doubt when compared to a Britannian officer.

For her own part, Euphie had a lot of conflicting emotions inside her. First of all, she was really worried about the individual put on trial, Suzaku Kururugi. Someone who was completely innocent, brought to judgement due to their birth nationality and the fact that they were in a position that others did not want him and others like him to be in. The very definition of the word unfair. A world that Euphie hated with every fibre of her being.

She had also looked through his record together with Cornelia, and what they saw shocked the two sisters. Apparently, he had actually lived with Lelouch and Nunnally when they were exiled to Japan before the invasion, the hidden files that only a select few could access even providing a glimpse at the life that Lelouch and Nunnally had before their… No, no more on that thought process, otherwise she would cry again. She always cried when she thought about that time.

Though that led to the second reason why her feelings were so jumbled: Japan and Area Eleven had now cost her three siblings, all three being siblings that she had a very good relationship with in the past unlike most members of their family. Well, Clovis had become more distant after becoming Viceroy, but he was still friendly to her. But now his memory had been tarnished by what he did the day he died. Though Jeremiah hadn't outright stated it, she had surmised from his words what Clovis had been truly doing at Shinjuku: massacring the local population, those that Britannia had labelled Elevens.

That alone horrified Euphie beyond belief, as she had always hated violence of that kind, as well as how so many innocent lives, regardless of age and gender were usually gunned down by her own nation's soldiers. Hell, she had witnessed Cornelia's troops commit these acts constantly, so much that she always shut herself in her room, trying to distract herself from the screams that echoed in her head, even though she was miles away from the actual acts being committed, as she could do little if anything at all to stop them.

The fact that her own sister was involved in these massacres herself was… she couldn't really describe the disappointment and hurt she felt because of that, though she still loved Cornelia dearly, even the massacres couldn't change that. But there was an unspoken agreement between the two sisters that Euphie would not talk out against these actions, not only due to fears of her unwittingly disrupting the cohesion in Cornelia's unit, but also fear of someone snitching Euphie out to the OSS or even father himself about her views, while Cornelia would strive that she and her soldiers would not talk about the criminal acts while she was nearby, or even attempt them if she was close to the site. That was the only way Euphie could stop at least some people from dying, but it wasn't even close to being enough, not for her.

But that was going on a tangent. The point is, that her feelings on Area Eleven were complicated and soon that would be the place she would preside over as Sub-Viceroy soon enough. Father had sent Cornelia her orders to assume the position of Viceroy, with Euphie being Sub-Viceror, just as she had suspected, so after tomorrow, when Area Eighteen would be established after the final assault, they would pack up and head straight there. Though Euphie had been secretly planning on heading there earlier on a flight later on in the day, while Cornelia would be leading the assault, so she could get a glimpse of what life was like for the residents in Area Eleven, pay her respects to the fallen at Shinjuku and maybe even meet up with Milly for the first time since their exile.

She finally turned away from the screen, having stopped watching while she was in her thoughts, taking a sip of water offered by one of the servants tending to the meeting. She suddenly lost the desire to watch this dog and pony show, and wanted to go back to her room to continue packing, but then something changed on the screen, which caught everyone's attention.

"The convoy has just come to a stop!" a news anchor on the scene reported, the very scene playing before their eyes on the screen. "This is not a scheduled stop. Could there have been some sort of accident! Wait… This is site 5, there is a vehicle approaching them!"

As the anchor spoke, the camera shifted to view what seemed to be a stylised car heading towards the convoy. Euphie narrowed her eyes as the camera zoomed in, trying to make out the details on it before her eyes widened in recognition, just at the same time as the anchor.

"It's Prince Clovis' personal transport! And it's heading towards the convoy!"

Cornelia actually got up off her seat, her planning all but forgotten at this moment. The room was silent as the vehicle stopped in front of the convoy and after Kewell stood up from the open cockpit of his Sutherland, when the flag on the top of the transport lit up in flames and burnt away, revealing a figure, a figure with most of his body concealed with a cape, with only a mask being visible.

"I am… Zero!"

Milly had to say, Lelouch definitely knew how to catch everyone's attention. She had to idea what to expect but for Lelouch to actually stand in front of the convoy dressed like a comic book villain was… something else. Suicidal in her mind, but she had to trust that he had a reason for doing so, and a plan for when things went wrong.

But his costume was something she definitely approved of, the way the cape wrapped around him like one of the vampires from the ancient stories, the helmet that was devoid of most identifications, but shaped with spikes not unlike the king chess piece, which he had probably used as inspiration. She couldn't say anything about what he had under the cape, as he hadn't shown the full costume yet, but she definitely noted the purple suit pants with gold trimming, so even more of a flare of the dramatic.

"Who is this man?" the anchor questioned for the viewers. "This man calling himself 'Zero' in front of a military convoy."

"What is all this?" Rivalz questioned.

"I don't know, Rivalz," Milly lied to him, "but whatever it is, the trial just went out of control for good now."

Kewell Soresi was now both excited and annoyed at the same time. Excited because he was on the verge of using this trial as a means of fully assuming control over the area and transforming it into what Britannia should be; a haven for those of pure blooded Britannians, and a boot pressed down on everyone else. Excited because Jeremiah Gottwald had finally been dealt with for now, that bloody bastard who did not believe in the Pureblood ideals at all, only pretended to lead them in his own selfish goals, while Kewell had been left as just his lieutenant, sidelined due to his selfless goals. Excited because here was a chance to show off his superiority even more to everyone watching, to allow him to gain even more of a platform to push forward his ideals for a better Britannia. But annoyed because that same chance immediately outshone him with just three words.

Three. Words.

This couldn't be allowed to continue, so Kewell decided to try to take back the spotlight from this intrusion.

"I've seen enough, 'Zero'" he shouted, pulling out his pistol and firing a single shot in the air. Immediately, four more Sutherlands, piloted by his loyal followers, deployed from their Vtol transports, surrounding the transport. This Zero character's cape moved from the gush of air caused by the deployment, finally revealing a fancy suit matching his pants along with a white cravat. "First things first, why don't you lose your mask!"

Zero raised his hand to his face, as if about to comply, before raising his hand above his head and snapping his fingers. As if by magic, the upper level of the transport fell apart, revealing a very familiar spherical container. Kewell had never seen it in person, but the briefings of what was contained in it managed to horrify even him. So he actually recoiled in horror when he saw it.

'The poison gas!' he shouted in his head. 'Dammit all! He just took every single Britannian here prisoner, and they don't even know it!'

Contrary to what many would think of him, he was actually more worried about the innocent Britannians around him rather than his own life. After all, his goal was to make a better world for them, a world for Britannian superiority. And he did feel only slightly guilty about arranging for them to be here. The only reason why he treated Jeremiah the way he did was due to him stonewalling Kewell for years, so Kewell needed to take action and take him out of the picture. At least he didn't kill him, like many wanted him to.

But back to the situation at hand, Kewell knew that suddenly he had lost control of the situation. He couldn't even warn anyone, as that would cause a mass panic and may even cause a scenario with the gas being released, killing everyone here.

In anger, he raised his pistol at Zero, only for said target to raise a hand and wave a finger side to side. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You know what would happen if something pierced the container."

Snarling, Kewell reluctantly lowered his pistol, knowing that Zero was right. "Alright, what are your demands?"

"An exchange," Zero calmly stated, "this container, for Kururugi!"

A wave of gasping and whispering filled the crowd around them, all wondering what was so special about the container, enough for a terrorist to even suggest trading it for the prisoner accused of murder.

Kewell's eyes narrowed at the demand, glancing behind him at the Eleven bastard behind him. "Like hell. Kururugi has been charged with high treason for murdering a Prince. I can't hand him over."

Kewell expected Zero to say that it would be the only thing he would accept otherwise he would open the container. What he didn't expect was for Zero to chuckle.

"Wrong! That man is no murderer. He wasn't even near your so-called precious Prince when he met his demise. But you already knew this."

Kewell tensed up, eyes widening in shock, as murmurs changed to the crowd wondering what Zero was talking about. Then he paled as a speaker rose beside Zero and started playing a familiar conversation.

"Why bother searching for a long gone terrorist when we could use this opportunity to cement our power," He heard his own voice play out. "The Eleven Suzaku Kururugi is in our grasp. Let us use him as a scapegoat to get rid of the honorary Britannian system here in Area Eleven for good!"

"And let the real culprit be Scot-free?" Jeremiah's voice followed, the disapproval clear in his voice. "That is completely unacceptable."

"So what? The murderer was most likely an eleven. By destroying the honorary Britannian system, we not only purify our local military but also remind the numbers of their rightful place beneath our boots."

The recording ended there, causing everyone to look at Kewell. Until Zero spoke again. "I think everyone here could understand accidentally finding the wrong individual with little proof absolving the accused of any wrongdoing, but purposefully targeting someone for your own agenda in regards to how it benefits your own ideals over that of the state you swore an oath to? I would say that is more treasonous than murder."

"It isn't! But it's close enough!" Cornelia said, grinding her teeth in anger. "Can't help but say he had this coming."

Euphie couldn't help but agree. They had both known what Kewell was doing and had planned to deal with him when they arrived at Area Eleven, but thanks to this Zero, he had been exposed and humiliated in front of the whole Empire, plunging whatever credibility the Purebloods had down the toilet.

Speaking of Zero, she was very, very intrigued with this man. The way he calmly spoke when there were eight Knightmares pointing their weapons at him, each one capable of firing just a single bullet that could turn him into a smear against that container, which she suspected contained the poison gas from Shinjuku. And yet there he was, having taken Kewell's moment of triumph and turned it upside down. Plus the way he talked, something about it was familiar in a way.

Then Zero shook his head, even as the camera zoomed in on his head. "But that begs the question, who was the one who killed the Viceroy. That is a question I can answer, for the man who killed Clovis…" he said, before turning to look directly at the camera, as if staring Euphie directly into her soul, "was none other than myself!"

The entire conference room gasped in shock, both at the revelation itself and the audacity of the man admitting it. Euphie covered her mouth in shock, noting how there was a slight tinge of pride in Zero's voice. But something slamming into the table caught her attention, even as the news anchor spoke about this revelation on the screen. Instead she looked over at Cornelia, who had slammed her fist into the table with enough force to cause everything on it to shake.

"Zero…" she growled out quietly, but the anger and ever so quickly rising hate was clear in her voice. Euphie knew what she was thinking. Zero was now at the top of Cornelia's list of people to kill. Usually that spot was reserved for whoever she thought had killed Lady Marianne, and Lelouch and Nunnally, but because of obvious reasons, she had not even found a clue to whoever they may have been. But Zero, he had just admitted to killing Clovis, he was a tangible target for Cornelia to focus her ire on. To her older sister, killing Zero would now be an act of not only justice, but also cathartic at the same time.

"For a single Eleven," Zero continued speaking, bringing her attention back to the screen, "you'll have scores of precious Britannians! I find that quite the bargain, don't you think?"

"You dare mock us!" an officer shouted at the screen from the back, before Antonio Darlton stood up and began berating the officer for speaking out. Euphie paid this no mind, as a single thought went through her mind.

'This is just a performance to him,' she realised, looking directly at the mask of Zero with intensity. 'Who are you, and why did you kill Clovis?'

"He's the true murderer!?" Shirley spoke out loud in shock.

"Geez, I don't know what to think about this," Rivalz admitted.

Nina remained silent, trembling by the computer with utter fear. If Prince Clovis, who had been protected with entire battalions of guards, could be killed with ease by this one man, what's to say about the chances someone like her faces, potentially being killed by an Eleven or worse…

'No, not again,' she desperately told herself, as if trying to convince herself that it was the truth, 'it won't happen again!'

Milly had noticed this, walked up to Nina with a concerned look on her face and put a hand on her shoulder. This calmed Nina down enough for her to stop trembling, having just prevented tears from flowing out of the verdant haired girl's eyes. She then proceeded to hug Nina to calm her further down, though she looked to the rest of the council.

"We don't know much to even make heads or tails of this whole situation," she said. "But I know this, what Zero admitted, both about himself and Kewell's transgressions, is going to turn things nasty. Rivalz, I want you to…"

"Wait, there's more happening," Shirley said, turning their attention back to the screen.

Lelouch smiled as he saw how his declaration caused untold amounts of chaos within the crowds and the troops present on the highway, as well as Kewell panicking as he stood, forever understanding how tarnished his reputation will be from the fallout of his recording. It was like winning against the Nobles, except even more satisfying. The best part was, he wasn't even done yet.

He could see that Kallen was stressing out, having heard her mutter earlier how they were all going to die once the other Sutherlands landed around them. He could understand her stress and fear. She was an action girl to say the least. Put her behind the wheel of a Knightmare, or at least something that could fight back, and she would at least have a cool enough head to try and fight her way out smartly. Here, she was in an unarmed vehicle that can't outrun or fight an enemy that had them outnumbered and surrounded. But the fact that she didn't panic and flee showed her courage and belief in him, so maybe afterwards, he should reward that.

But that was getting ahead of himself. Now, it was almost time to deliver the coup de grace on Kewell.

"You…You're mad!" Kewell shouted. "You'll pay for making a mockery of the crown!"

Here it was.

"Careful, you wouldn't want the world to find out about Orange, would you?"

At once everyone fell silent. Until one of the soldiers guarding Suzaku asked "Orange? What's he talking about?", sparking a whole new wave of murmurs and even accusations. Seeing this, he stomped once on the roof, signalling for Kallen to move forwards, which she did.

As they moved, Lelouch continued speaking. "If I die, it'll all go public. Every little dirty thing that Clovis did, all of the atrocities he's committed. It'll all go out for everyone to see and Clovis' name will forever be tarnished as a villain amongst villains. If you don't want that to happen…"

"What are you talking about?" Kewell asked, incredulously.

On Leloiuch's helmet, a slide opened up, revealing his left eye, through which he focused all of his willpower towards the blond haired Pureblood. "...You will do everything in your power to let us go, with your prisoner!"

Kewell stiffened, his eyes widening as he tried to fight the foreign influence into his mind, but he fell within a few seconds, slumping as if in defeat. "Understood." He turned to face his subordinates. "Release the Prisoner!"

This caused everyone, even Kallen, to gasp in shock, with one Knight even getting out of their Knightmare, shouting at Kewell, but Kewell repeated what he said, causing even more of the Knights to dismount and start a shouting match with Kewell. Only Lelouch was the only one who wasn't, smiling in satisfaction as he saw the Purebloods begin to turn on each other one by one. In the meantime, the APC, the driver apparently having decided that disobeying the highest ranking officer in the area was not a good idea regardless of the circumstances, and so began to move towards Lelouch and Kallen, with a shocked Suzaku on top.

As the APC came to a stop beside Kewell's Sutherland, the soldiers uncuffed Suzaku, though they left the collar on him as a sort of protest against Kewell's orders. Lelouch jumped down from the car and waited for Suzaku to walk up to him, while Kallen stayed only slightly behind him, her eyes covered by the visor from her uniform dressed as one of Clovis' chauffeur.

"So, who the hell are you…" Suzaku asked before his collar activated, shocking him.

Lelouch looked at the collar in disgust, though outwardly he spoke softly, "I see they wouldn't allow you to speak at all. How very much like the Purebloods."

Kallen took that time to walk beside him. "It's time to go, Zero."

"Well then," Lelouch said, taking out a device from under his cape, "Till next time, Britannia!"

With that he pressed the button, the container shooting out pink smoke, and the whole highway descended into chaos. All of the civilians began screaming, running away from the scene in terror, all the while Lelouch grabbed Suzaku by the arm and dragged him along with Kallen to the edge of the highway, where the three of them jumped off the edge, where Ohgi had waited in an MR-1 Civilian Knightmare model unit, having set up a sheet for them to jump on safely.

One Knightmare tried to stop them, using its slash harkins as a rope for it to descend down the side of the bridge. As it was about to fire at them, its face shield opening up to reveal the Fact-sphere, Lelouch, in an act of instinct, pulled out his pistol at rapid speed and shot the sphere directly.

Due to the way the Knightmares were designed, the one major weakness of one is the Fact-sphere, where a single well placed infantry shot could destroy the equipment, which would cause a feedback loop within the Knightmare, crippling it for good. The Earlier Glasgow models would in fact explode due to the Sakuradite within being wired to the Fact-sphere in a certain way, but the Sutherlands and later models managed to fix this issue, so it was only a shut down of the Knightmare, leaving the pilot alive and unharmed.

That is what happened to the Sutherland about to attack the three escapees, shutting down mid motion, leaving it dangling over the edge like a limp doll caught in some rope in midair. Another Sutherland had moved in to follow, but stopped after seeing what happened to his comrade, the fact that Zero had that kind of accuracy scaring him off enough to hesitate, giving Lelouch and the others enough time to board a train heading to the ghettos and escape the scene.

"Wow, that was amazing!" Kallen said, having seen what Lelouch did.

All the while, Lelouch was shocked within his helmet, his eyes wide as he processed the impossible deed he just committed. He never had that reaction time before, and the accuracy… that was completely unheard of, and something he never would have imagined.

'Must be my body changing more than I thought,' he theorised. Something to talk to C.C. about when he got home.

The conference room was silent, all of the inhabitants all processing the utter fiasco that had just unfolded before their eyes on the screen. Euphie was no exception, her open mouth covered by her hand in order to prevent it from staying open in an undignified manner. Not that anyone would blame her or tell her otherwise, but still, old habits of staying dignified died hard.

As the news segment finally switched back to the station itself, giving a brief overview of what they believed just happened, Euphie looked to her sister, only to find her storming out of the room, an aura of pure, unadulterated anger surrounding her. Euphie only had to glance at both Guilford and Darlton before the three of them leap up simultaneously and chased after Cornelia.

"Sister, wait a second…" Euphie tried to call out to her, but Cornelia was too far ahead and too angry to even hear her, her movement powerful and purposeful. She tried to call out again, but was stopped by Guilford, who shook his head.

"We shouldn't try to stop her," he said to Euphie.

"But what if she does something she'll regret in her anger?" Euphie said.

"I doubt that she would," Darlton said. "She's not heading to the landing bay, but instead the main command centre, where all of the communication equipment is…"

He didn't finish speaking, because since the command centre was really close to the conference room, Cornelia had already barged in, striding up to the operators at the comms section, ignoring the fact that most of them had been watching the broadcast from Area Eleven as well. However, the one she was heading right for wasn't watching, working on his console with an intense look, which was broken by Cornelia slamming her hand on his chair, causing him to jump from shock.

"Get me a connection to any military force you can reach in Area Eleven!" she commanded.

"Already on it, your Highness," the operator said, recovering quickly enough to work for a few more seconds before turning to face Cornelia. "I've managed to get in contact with three Garrison units and one Knightmare mobile battalion. Do you want to connect to all four units?"

"Which one is the closest to the Viceroy's Palace and the highway where… the incident just occurred?" Cornelia said, her anger diminishing slightly due to the fast actions of the operator.

He went to check his screen again quickly. "That'll be unit 451, Area Eleven Garrison, only one block away from the Viceroy's Palace, and the 182nd Mobile Battalion, on stand-by for …"

"Connect me to both, now!"

"Yes, your Highness!"

It only took a few seconds for Cornelia's orders to be carried out, and soon enough two different live broadcasts replaced the information on the main screen for Cornelia to see, splitting it into two halves. On it were two officers, one garbed in his armour with his helmet off in the left image, while the other was in her knight's pilot uniform sitting in her Knightmare in the right image.

"Captain Joseph Bradley, Unit 451, at your service!" The one on the left introduced himself, saluting.

"Dame Claire Duckerman, 182nd Mobile Battalion, reporting as ordered, your Highness!" the knight identified next, giving Cornelia a nod as a salute.

Cornelia did briefly nod in acknowledgment before turning to look at the officer in the left image.

"Are you affiliated with the Pureblood movement, Captain Bradley?" was the first thing she asked.

"No, your Highness," Bradley denied instantly. Cornelia narrowed her eyes, before turning to Darlton, who had moved next to her. After taking a glimpse of the officer's face, Darlton's head movement barely even recognisable as a nod affirmed that the officer was telling the truth, so Cornelia turned to the other. "And you, Dame?"

"Negative as well, your Highness," Duckerman also denied, "however, I do have a couple of subordinates affiliated with the movement in my unit."

"Put them under observation at once," Cornelia ordered, causing Duckerman to flinch from the vehement tone. "From now on, all of the Purebloods in Area Eleven are suspects to this 'Orange' business that Captain Kewell Soresi is involved with. Investigate all of them to see if they are complicit in either Orange or Soresi's coup against Interim Viceroy Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald. Once you have your unit's Purebloods under watch, head down to the causeway and arrest all of the individuals involved in the debacle involving Zero."

"As you command, your Highness," Duckerman nodded, before signing off.

"Captain Bradley, I want you to follow the same protocol involving any Purebloods within your unit. However your orders are to head to the Viceroy's Palace, arrest any Purebloods there and search for Margrave Gottwald. I have a suspicion he or any loyal to him, may have been interned there under house arrest by Soresi!"

"Yes, your Highness!" Bradley said, saluting. But before he signed off, he asked one last question. "If they resist?"

"Take them down by any means necessary," Cornelia answered without hesitation, "preferably non-lethal, but if they give you no choice, you have permission."

"Understood, your Highness."

After Bradley had signed off, Cornelia sighed in frustration, her anger now sated slightly by her orders being carried out without any hassle. Looking back at the operator she stood next to, she spoke once again, this time with a much kinder, yet still quite firm tone. "Find all military and police units in Area Eleven and send them my orders regarding any pureblood units."

"At once your Highness," the operator said before complying.

As he worked, Cornelia gave Darlton a look, before stepping back from the console. Darlton took over, overseeing the operators and giving out orders on behalf of Cornelia. After getting a list of all units and their positions, he proceeded to give out orders on deployment in certain districts to ensure that no terrorist operations could take place and pour more fuel into the blazing fire that was Area Eleven currently. That was really the only thing he could do at the moment, as he would need to be in Area Eleven personally along with her Highness to get a feel for the situation and act accordingly.

It only took fifteen minutes of waiting and talking to the various units, before the main operator from before spoke again, turning to face the veteran commander. "Sir, Captain Bradley just sent an update. He's arrived at the Viceroy's Palace and has managed to locate Margrave Jeremiah's location within the palace, one of the many personal quarters within the palace itself. It'll be a moment longer before they will be able to release him."

"Good," Darlton nodded. "Any resistance?"

"None at all. After confirming that his orders came from Her Highness, all Pureblood soldiers stood down and allowed themselves to be brought into custody." the operator paused before continuing. "However, Captain Bradley has reported that almost half of the administration were in league with Captain Soresi's coup, but all deny any knowledge of Orange."

"Almost half…" Darlton baulked at this for a second. "What of the rest?"

"Followed along with their compatriots out of fear of being imprisoned as well, or just kept their heads down. However, General Bartley Asprius was out of the settlement fulfilling an unknown order that he claims Prince Clovis gave him just before his demise, swearing him to secrecy. Other than that, he is co-operating with our orders."

"Interesting, keep an eye on Aspirus, see where he is and any indication of what he is doing," Darlton commanded. "Especially since Zero hinted at something his Highness wanted kept quiet…"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Your Highness, things are going smoothly for now," Darlton reported to Cornelia, who had been silently rubbing her eyes, trying to calm herself down even more.

"Good, at least the non-Pureblood leadership appears to be competent… for now" Cornelia remarked dryly.

Euphie silently stood by, watching all of this play out. This was not her element and she felt much like a spectator instead of a key player like it is expected of her to be as a royal. Not in the sense of military matters like Cornelia.

"Sir, Margrave Jeremiah is on the line," the operator said to Darlton.

"Good, put him through the main screen," Cornelia ordered, having overhead.

There was a flicker on the main screen before Jeremiah and Bradley appeared. Jeremiah didn't look that well, as his eyes seemed puffy and his uniform was a bit worn. Despite his appearance, he saluted with no problems whatsoever.

"Your highness, it's good to see you." he gave a small chuckle to himself. "I would like to apologise for my late report, but I think you would have bigger concerns for me to deal with currently."

"Good to see your humour is intact," Cornelia noted, her tone much more friendly than before. "How out of the loop are you about what just occurred?"

Jeremiah's face darkened. "Kewell was kind enough to leave me a tv turned on in my room, so that I could watch with my two guards. I do have to say, it was almost worth watching their faces fall into complete panic and disarray after that Orange debacle. But other than that, I would say that the entire Area has been thrown into complete disarray." He looked down at a pad given to him by one of Bradley's soldiers, coughing slightly. "Already there have been vandal attacks all across the two main islands, as well as minor attacks and robberies, while mostly harmless, have overwhelmed the local police forces… the ones not completely shocked into inaction by what just occurred."

"Are you all right, Jeremiah?" Euphie asked, stepping up beside Cornelia so she could enter the frame for Jeremiah's end.

"Nothing bad, your Highness," Jeremiah assured. "Just a little present from Kewell to keep me from being able to escape from my room. I could have, but it would have taken much more effort and attention than I would have wanted. I should get over this induced cold by tomorrow."

"... He forcefully gave you a cold?" Cornelia asked.

"Yes, he did, your Highness," Jeremiah said. "Me and my loyal subordinate Dame Villetta Nu were both injected with a sample of a cold, and then placed under house arrest. Most of the administration either was on Kewell's side or kept their heads down, either bribed or threatened."

"The administration is that corrupt…" Euphie muttered out loud. "Clovis, what were you doing…?"

"We're going to have to completely rebuild the administration from the ground up, aren't we?," Cornelia sighed, resigned to the fact that she would have to do a lot of duties outside of combat now due to her younger half-sibling's incompetence.

"I'm afraid so, your highness," Jeremiah reluctantly confirmed. "I'll try to start the process here before you arrive. There are some individuals who I believe should remain in their positions, but they are the rare example." Jeremiah scoffed again. "The others are mostly the type of dregs Lady Marianne despised, always saying that Nobility rarely breeds competence over time."

"She always did like to mutter that under her breath after most meetings with those parasites," Cornelia agreed, her expression becoming melancholic.

"Is the Area Eleven local Britannian populace able to provide any replacements for the administration?" Darlton asked.

"To a certain extent," Jeremiah said, "but the potential recruitment pool is also rife with the same issues as the current administration. The rot is very extensive here in Area Eleven. Between that, and the fact that his Highness never really rebuilt much of the Eleven residences ensured that the Area remained severely unstable and rebellious, at least under the surface of the facade he built up."

"Surely there must be something…" Euphie pleaded.

Jeremiah thought for a second. "Well, the only Noble family in the Area that I can safely say were mostly exempt from this corruption are the Ashfords. In fact, their main investment to Area Eleven, Ashford Academy, is not only one of the most liberal schools for both commoners and nobles alike, but also has a very high skill level for most of the graduates. I suppose that the list of Ashford Alumni could be a useful starting point."

"Right, the Ashfords did get exiled to Area Eleven mid-way during the invasion," Cornelia recalled. "Is Reuben still kicking?"

"Indeed, and holds quite a lot of influence, more than his status of fallen noble would normally entail, though that is by no means a complaint. He was one of the few worthy nobles to have Prince Clovis' ears in many cases, though evidently not nearly enough."

"Is Millicent there as well?" Euphie asked, an idea springing to mind.

"Um, yes, young Millicent is attending the school and…"

"Excellent!" Euphie turned to face Cornelia. "Why don't we get back into contact with the Ashfords and get their assistance! After all, if Ashford's Academy's graduate standards are high most of the time, why don't we turn to the Academy itself as a means of training the next generation of the Area's workforce for the administration."

"Euphie, that's a very good idea!" Cornelia exclaimed, both pride and hope in her voice. Turning back to the screen, she asked Jeremiah, "Is this feasible?"

"Certainly possible and needed, but this solution is more of a long term solution, not for the immediate problems we face," Jeremiah cautioned. "But I will get right on it."

"Maybe not, Jeremiah," Cornelia said, much to the surprise of everyone. "At least not as your main focus." She turned to face Euphie. "Euphie, how quickly are you able to pack your belongings for a plane trip?"

Euphie blinked, caught off guard. "Um, within the hour." she answered.

"Good," Cornelia said, "Darlton, for tomorrow's battle, your original role could be filled by your adoptive sons, right?"

"Yes, your Highness," Darlton confirmed, immediately understanding where she was going. "I'll get Bart and Alfred briefed on what I expect, and then pack up my belongings as well."

"Excellent," Cornelia said. "Euphie, as much as I hate the very idea of this, I'll need you to head to Area Eleven before me as soon as you can. Darlton will be your escort. Once you arrive, get into contact with Reuben and Millicent, bring them up to speed with your idea and then plan on how to implement it."

Euphie blinked a couple of times from shock, but then smiled. "I won't let you down, sister!"

"I know you won't," Cornelia smiled back, before getting serious. "Keep a low profile flying in. Zero was able to get to Clovis while he was surrounded by loyal soldiers. I don't want him to be able to find you as well."

"Don't worry, Cornelia, I have a few ideas on how I can go unnoticed," Euphie said.

Darlton and Guilford shared a look of exasperation. They both knew that Euphie's ideas on being disguised rarely ended well, even if she did all of the right things. Of course, they hid this fact from her as they knew that it would not dissuade her at all.

"May Darlton and I take our leave to get ourselves ready?" Euphie asked.

"Of course," Cornelia nodded. "Jeremiah, I won't keep you anymore from your duties. Hope that they don't make you even more unwell."

"I'll ensure that it won't be a hindrance, your Highness," Jeremiah promised. "They don't call me the Emperor's Bulldog for nothing. A cold won't be anything to stop me from fulfilling my duties"

"Glad to hear it. See you soon." Cornelia said, before ordering the operator to cut the connection.

It was then that Euphie turned to leave, her mind focused elsewhere as she followed Darlton to her room. This was it. This was a chance to finally make a change! Make a world much fairer, starting with Area Eleven. Plus reconnecting with an old friend as well, which was always a good thing in her eyes. She walked along the corridors with a much more purposeful and determined stride, much to Darlton's amusement and pride.

"I see that they treated you rather roughly," Zero noted outloud to Suzaku, keeping his own anger in check at how they treated his friend. "Now you see what they are really like, Suzaku Kururugi."

Lelouch hoped that Suzaku would be at least a bit more positive at facing what is now the most wanted man in Area Eleven, if not the entire Empire itself, but instead his friend's gaze was full of distrust, suspicion and even a bit of derision. "So, you're the one who killed Prince Clovis?"

"In the way that I was present and ordered his death," Zero admitted, "so in a way that does make me the killer, in other ways it does not. But that doesn't matter now, as even if I was the one who pulled the trigger, we are at war. And in war, you often have to take out the enemy commanders in order to achieve the best possible outcome."

"Best possible outcome? Japan lost the war, Britannia won," Suzaku asserted. "Fighting a futile battle won't change that reality."

"Won't it?" Zero cocked his head, internally wincing at the tone Suzaku had. "Besides, I don't fight for the Japan from before the war, I fight for the Japanese and for Justice, to ensure that Britannia does not undermine their very rights and existence. Join me and together we can help make it a reality!"

"You say you fight for justice, yet what about the poison gas?"

"A Bluff," Zero explained. "It was only coloured smoke, no harmful components whatsoever. This mask doesn't come with an air-filter, you know," he tapped the chin of his mask with one finger a couple of times. "Besides, I have an utter hatred of such weapons, especially used against the innocent. The result, not a single casualty in your rescue, except for Britannia's pride!"

Suzaku narrowed his eyes and scoffed. "The results, huh? Is that all that matters to you?"

"Not at all," Zero denied, shaking his head. "I told you just before that I hate weapons such as poison gas. I would rather die and rot in hell for all eternity that use those weapons, even for a great cause, or to even save a single life. But despite that, for how much I wish to change things, I have to always weigh my options, especially those that are available to me at the time. And if such a result is something that isn't what I expected, then I won't try to run or deny my wrongdoing, rather accept it and strive to do better next time, so ensure that this worthless dominion you serve is removed so that the world can be better! Join me!" He pleaded again, hoping that he had finally convinced his friend.

A hope that was dashed when Suzaku shook his head. "I can't agree with your methods. Maybe you're right… Maybe Britannia is a worthless dominion, but I still believe that it can be changed for the better!"

"Changed?" Zero parroted in disbelief, blinking inside his mask. Did Suzaku actually believe that?

"And any use of contemptible means is absolutely unacceptable, and worth nothing," his friend continued.

With that, Suzaku turned and began walking away, much to Lelouch's shock.

"Where are you going?" Zero asked.

"To my court martial," Suzaku replied, still walking away. "If I leave now, I will still have time to arrive before it starts in an hour."

"Are you mad?!" Zero's voice rose. "The only reason why they even gave you a trial was to find you guilty! And you want to go back there?"

"If I don't, then others will suffer, and the purebloods will have achieved their goal, regardless of you humiliating them," Suzaku explained. "They'll start cracking down on both Elevens and Honorary Britannians. I can't allow that."

Lelouch's fist clenched, hidden within his cape. As much as it irked him, Suzaku was right. And even if he wasn't, he recognised that tone. Suzaku could be very, very stubborn and Lelouch saw that it was one of those times right now. However, that didn't mean that Lelouch couldn't try one last time.

"If you go, you'll die and won't be able to change anything!"

That got Suzaku to pause for a second. "Maybe, but I am ok with trying," Suzaku said. "I would take you in, but you would only get me killed." he turned to look at Lelouch's, or rather in his eyes, Zero's face. "Still, I thank you for rescuing me."

With that, Suzaku left, leaving Zero all alone. After he had left, Lelouch punched the wall in anger, not even noticing how his punch managed to cause the wall to shake slightly. "You idiot!"

After a few minutes of fuming, Lelouch turned to leave, only to hear footsteps approaching him. He turned around, and saw Ohgi and Kallen walking towards the centre of the room. He jumped down from where he was standing, and approached them. As soon as they spotted him, they stopped walking, looking expectantly at him.

"Where's Kururugi?" Ohgi asked.

"He left to go to his court martial," Zero said, trying to hide the bitterness in his voice.

"Wait, what? The court martial we just rescued him from?!" Kallen asked, sounding incredulous and angry. "Why?!"

"He believes that if he doesn't go, then they'll use that as an excuse to persecute the Honorary Britannians and Elevens even more," Zero explained, "and he does have a point, I'll admit." Seeing their expressions, he expanded upon his answer, even coming up with the reasons why Suzaku was right in a way on the spot. "While the Purebloods have now become humiliated beyond reasonable repair due to our rescue, there are still those who may not be as extreme as them, but may hold similar views and are just as opportunistic. If Suzaku did stay with us, he would have proved to be our ally and thus evidence that Honorary Britannians were a liability only to Britannia and thus sent back to the Ghettos as regular numbers."

"Serves them right for abandoning their pride…" Kallen muttered, earning a glare from Ohgi.

"No it doesn't," he said, surprising her. "Many may have thought that it was the only way to survive with even a shred of dignity, or to have them and their families survive. I can't fault them for making that choice, but neither can I completely agree with them. But they made their choice, and I won't hold that against them. Saying that it would be Karma is totally wrong."

"Ohgi-san is right," Zero said. "Not everyone makes the same choice, even if you believe one option to be the better one, but everyone has what they feel is right, or what they need to do to survive."

Seeing the two of them against her point caused Kallen to look down, frowning, but ultimately nodded in the end. "Yeah, you're right… But still."

Zero walked up to Kallen and put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him in surprise. "But today was the first step in creating a world where no-one will have to make that choice, where everyone can live with their pride and rights intact."

Kallen's eyes widened before she gave Zero a small smile. Ohgi also smiled at this, but there was a question that he still had. "What's our next move, Zero?"

"For now, we lay low," Zero said. "I have heard from a viable source that the Emperor has chosen a new Viceroy for Area Eleven, and will be sending them soon after they finish up with their current job."

"Any idea who it may be?" Ohgi pressed.

"No concrete evidence, but most likely Princess Cornelia li Britannia, head of the Britannian Military, the Goddess of Victory," Zero told them, much to their horror. "Her arrival will change everything here. Where once Clovis was incompetent and allowed resistance to flourish mostly untouched, Cornelia will immediately begin ruthlessly stamping it out. To deal with her, will require adapting to what she does, at least at first."

Zero looked to the ceiling, where part of the roof was exposed to the outside night sky. "But that is something we'll have to discuss another day. Again, keep a low profile and let things simmer for the next couple of days. I'll contact you again soon. But I must bid thee farewell."

With that, Zero turned around and walked away. Kallen put her own hand on where Zero had touched her, the feeling of it seeming familiar in a way, as if him trying to comfort her was natural for some reason. This very much confused the young rebel, who didn't know what to make of it.

That's a wrap for Chapter 5! We started with the Kallen, Ohgi and two other members meeting Zero. At the same time, Jeremiah and Villetta are couped by Kewell and thrown into House Arrest, cementing Kewell as orange in this fic, as well as putting both Jeremiah and Villetta in a different position from canon. The meeting with Zero also has a small change with Zero's dialogue and the fact that Lelouch views his Zero persona as replacing his true self of Lelouch vi Britannia. We have the same scene between Suzaku and Lloyd, with no major change whatsoever. Then probably the biggest change from the episode is Lelouch and C.C. infiltrating the Viceroy's Palace and meeting Villetta, where she tells him about Jeremiah's true goals for being in Area Eleven, though the time ensures that he can't act upon that information yet, though enough time for a spicy scene between Lelouch and Villetta to play out. That scene was inspired by Seerking's 'Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion', with the meeting, though not the lime scene. Then finally we get to the true meat of the chapter: the rescue. We all knew how it would go, but it was a blast writing the various perspectives on it, especially the original Euphie perspective, where she along with Cornelia and her followers watch things go down, as well as their reaction to the aftermath and setting up a potential plot for Euphie... And last but not least we get to the first conversation between Zero and Suzaku.

Phew, a very, very large chapter. The largest I have ever written! Sorry it took so long, but a mix of initially having my muse being silent for a month and wanting to cram as much into this chapter as possible ensured that this took a while. Hope you all enjoy it all the same! Next chapter will involve Euphie's arrival, Lelouch confronting C.C. over her controlling him and something rather special happening. Stay tuned!

Special thanks to the Seerking for beta reading this chapter! Check out his awesome stories and content!

Until next time!

Regards,

dalek117