I was nowhere. Simply among a sea of voices but those incessant voices around me were muffled by something nearer that coiled around me. Protective, nurturing. I touched upon it, and it touched upon me. For a second, I saw all. But that connection faded quickly and the second of memories I got from it became incomprehensible.

I felt frustration from the other side. It wanted to tell me so much, but I couldn't see like it did. Things had to be taken slowly.

I touched upon it again but this time the connection was looser. I could gather concepts, but the incomprehensible details were not there. I stayed for a second basking in the feeling of wholeness as two halves that had been separated reunited. I felt the wounds upon my other halves body, scorching beams, cannon shells, simple bombs and even an esoteric weapon, that tore apart multidimensional beings with some unknown mechanism, had been fired upon it.

Something had attacked my other half. No not something an army, thousands of men and Knightmares had somehow been funnelled into this odd dimension and had sought to take my other half down. They had unleashed cutting edge weapons and exotic war machines with odd designs along with more conventional Britannian vehicles and their Sword.

Among the faceless soldiers stood the odd cloaked cultist overlooking the soldiers. Upon their cloaks I saw a symbol similar to both the Black Knights symbol and the symbol on the Thought Elevator. It looked somewhat different, but the similarities were too much to consider a coincidence.

A second passed and my other half annihilated them with a cone like beam that looked suspiciously like the Radiant Wave Surger. It wasn't even a fight. They had inflicted a lot of damage but that was simply because my other half hadn't even bothered to stop them. The considerably sized army standing upon a stone platform kilometres wide was simply annihilated.

The platform however remained standing. My Passenger diverted its eyes from there to stare at something I couldn't clearly see. It must've been shielding me from whatever it was looking at. I wanted reach further to find out more.

I extended my hand forward to touch upon my Passenger once more-

And suddenly woke up. My eyes darted around the hospital room I was in and locked onto the IV stand hooked up to my left arm. I raised my cybernetic arm to block the glaring ceiling lights and my eyes flicked onto the hospital gown I was dressed in. I sighed and laid my head back on the pillow as I felt the tension drain out of me. I… I felt-

"Confused? Maybe Irritated? Not that it matters much. You will understand in time." An unknown voice said. I darted my eyes along the room once more searching for the person who had just said that. A hint of colour on the empty TV hung on a corner of the room drew my eye and I saw her.

Black hair with unnaturally bright purple highlights that seemed to glow framed a sharp feminine face I could only see her upper body on the screen of the turned off television. Her piercing bright purple eyes stared into me with a mix of curiosity and disgust. Another permutation of that Symbol that seemed to come up everywhere was on the collar of her dress.

That symbol was really starting to irritate me.

I stared at the odd woman hoping that she'd explain something. Or at least introduce herself. No such luck with a small huff she turned and left 'deeper' into the television. She eventually disappeared from my view.

My eyes flicked to movement on the window of my hospital room. Lisa's copy was there waving at me with a tired smile framed by the background of a stormy day as she sat on the reflected chair next to my bed.

"Looks like little Miss mysterious and broody is gone. And you've been through a lot. Want to talk about it?" She asked with false cheer.

Where do I even start? Maybe where you've been?

She grimaced as I thought of that. "About that… I know about as much as you do. For one second, I was there then the next I was not. I didn't even realise I had been gone until you and your Passenger -for the lack of a better word- Communed."

I internally raised an eyebrow despite passively staring at the window. That must not have been nice to experience.

"It was fine actually, kind of like I got the best sleep I've ever had. Just a bit jarring once I was fully 'awake'. But talking about my status is deflecting isn't it, Taylor?"

I can't exactly begin a conversation without asking about your wellbeing.

The shadow made a so-so gesture. "If I was physical, sure. But since I'm basically just software in possibly the most indestructible thing currently in this bubble of reality it doesn't really apply to me. So long as your Passenger thinks I should exist, as in it thinks you prefer having me around, I'll be around." She said with a borderline bored tone.

Does that not seem a bit… Terrifying?

She shrugged her shoulders. "Kinda, but I got over it a while ago. Now I'm mostly just terrified that you'll die, and I'll be forced to just exist as a memento of you within your Passenger for the rest of basically eternity."

I couldn't hold back my grimace from that. It sounded truly terrible. Though best to change the topic this time. This topic was beginning to unsettle me.

"I can tell." Lisa's ghost quipped. Yeah, yeah, I know.

More importantly do you have a clue as to what was going on with my Passenger? I get that some people -probably Britannians- attacked it and caused some damage but that wouldn't shut you down or cut the connection between me and it.

"Yeah, I can't exactly help you out there, I don't have any idea either. I mean I have a theory about the why but it's mostly guesswork." She said as she leaned forward towards me.

Her tone seemed almost like one of those conspiracy theory nuts, but we were basically working with conspiracy theories. Hooded cultists leading the military of the largest nation in the world and attacking an alien seemed just like something a crackpot forum would produce.

"Thank you for that vote of confidence." She said with a smile and then shook her head as if to clear her thoughts.

"So… You realise how your Passenger acted weirdly rashly? Like it made you impulsively touch the Thought Elevator to open a line of communication which is way out of their usual modus operandi. At most they tend to reinforce and amplify thoughts and desires. This time it basically implanted one so that it would get even the slightest chance to 'commune' with you. Which resulted in… what exactly? I mean you definitely saw a vision, but it could also do that with a simple dream, so what was the real objective here?" She ended her rant with a question, and I made a go on gesture.

"I'm saying that the little Miss glowing purple hair is somehow related. And I think with the communion your Passenger acted like a bridge for something else so she could also get in contact with you, because something in me says that that girl doesn't belong here.

And her getting into contact with you was important enough for the Passenger to risk more attention coming onto you. Which it will, even if those friends of yours do keep their mouths shut -which I doubt they can against a prince- things will still seem suspicious and a recording was made. People are going to pay attention to you now, even if only as a curiosity. That's dangerous, something your Passenger doesn't like when it comes to you." She looked about ready to continue her rant, but I motioned for her to stop.

So essentially there is something urgent enough for my Passenger to act rashly and since it showed me that attack on itself it's probably about the perpetrators of the attack.

"But therein comes the question "Why?". The attack harmed it yes, but clearly not enough to actually be a danger to it. But what if… It harmed something else? Something that your passenger thought was important." She asked with a wide grin.

Like the thing that you theorize the other girl came from.

She snapped her finger. "Yes, exactly! So your Passenger and whatever the other being is reached an agreement and they decided this was the best course of action."

There's a lot of assumptions there.

She once again shrugged her shoulders at me.

"Not much I can do. You'd probably know better, since you and your passenger were one being for a few seconds." She replied neutrally.

I winced at the reminder. I still had the echoes of the memories from those seconds, but they were beyond indecipherable. I doubted I was getting anything understandable from there any time soon.

"Yeah, I guessed so. And since we aren't getting a magical sign from anywhere as to what happened it's our best explana-" As she was saying that I was reminded that God -or whatever entity there existed that could be called God- had a twisted sense of humour sometimes.

Namely by the burning agony in my left eye. I barely held back my screams as the pain went on and forcibly pulled out the IV needles hooked up into my arm. I threw myself off the bed and towards the window Lisa was residing on.

I stared at my reflection as the pain faded away. My face looked entirely normal, but my left eye had turned a bright red and the pupil inside had morphed into another version of that damned symbol. I was really starting to despise that symbol.

As I calmed down, I noticed something. There was a sense of… direction. Every which way there was this sense that seemed to draw me towards something. Stronger towards certain directions but weaker towards others.

What was this? I looked deeper into my eyes just to see if it changed in any way, but it didn't. It was simply as if my sclera and pupil had changed into this crimson colour and that symbol. As I was checking my left eye, I felt a nurse coming towards my room with my bugs.

I naturally panicked upon realising that this eye might just be the thing that broke the camel's back and got me strapped onto an operating table. My mind ran at a thousand miles per hour trying to find a solution but just as the nurse touched the door handle the sense of direction went away and the reflection of my eye returned to its natural green.

I breathed a sigh of relief as the nurse stepped in and first glanced towards my bed than with a soft 'Oh dear' turned to me.

"Ma'am you're not supposed to rip out your IVs by yourself, it could cause infections. Please wait a moment I'll clean it and then I'll call your friends in. They've been waiting for a while." Spoke the nurse.

I gave her a nod of my head and then extended my right arm towards her, which she grabbed firmly and began to first remove the sticky bandage around where the IV had been and then wiped it clean with a disposable wipe, she poured some saline solution on. She proceeded to pour some of the solution onto the little pinpricks the IV-needles had made as well. Promptly she got off, ordered me to stay in bed a little while longer as she went to go and get Cecile and Lloyd.

I'd imagine normally a doctor would take precedence but if those two wanted something they didn't let up easily. They must've been worried… Or rather Cecile must have been worried and had dragged Lloyd along.

I felt Cecile dragging Lloyd along as she rushed up some stairs towards me a few seconds later. Another few moments passed, and she practically broke through my room's door.

I simply raised an eyebrow at her.

Her own eyebrow twitched in response.

I watched fascinated as she forcefully held back her boiling anger and let it turn into a simmering one instead. She massaged her temples as if beating back a migraine.

"I swear I will never bring you anywhere ever again. You practically attract misfortune." She said with an exhausted voice.

I couldn't help but give her a tired laugh.

"I've been told that I tend to find trouble." I replied sarcastically.

Lloyd leaned forward to examine me and then quirked an eyebrow at me. "Don't you mean 'trouble tends to find me'?" He asked.

"I know what I said." I said with a deadpan.

Lloyd nodded his head as if he understood everything.

Cecile pushed him away and he landed in a sprawl of limbs. She shined a light into my eyes and held my head steady with one hand. I didn't bother interrupting her when she got like this. What did she even expect to find? A concussion?

I let her mother over me as Lloyd got back up on his feet.

"You look fine, the doctors said so too but are you sure you don't feel anything odd? No nausea, headaches anything?" She asked with worry.

I sighed in frustration. "Cecile, I swear there is nothing wrong with me, I'm perfectly fine." I tried to reassure her.

Lloyd huffed from the side of the room. "I have you on camera touching the antenna like appendage of a giant bug monster. I can agree with Cecile that it seems a bit odd that you're totally fine."

I gave him a scowl. He wasn't making my life easier. "Well I don't have any eyes or anything like that growing inside of me. I just need to be discharged from here." I said sarcastically.

"Taylor you were mind controlled to open a portal into someplace and touched the giant bug thing then fainted. What you need right now is a detailed MRI and long-term observation." Cecile tried to reason with me.

"First of all it wasn't exactly mind control. I mean for a second, I… saw that thing staring at the other side of the thought elevator then I just… got the urge to touch it. I knew it would open the Thought Elevator." I began saying.

"That just sounds like a roundabout way of going about mind control." Cecile interrupted me. I grimaced and went on regardless.

"Secondly you know damn well that that isn't option for me. I can't just stay here under observation, and I definitely can't get an MRI. Sure more likely than not they'll just think the part that gives me my powers is a benign tumour or something like that, but I can't take that chance." I said gravely.

I was getting out of this hospital one way or the other. I couldn't risk the staff finding something weird going on with me and attracting even more attention.

Cecile looked about ready to argue but Lloyd butted in. "Well that makes enough sense for me. The giant bug thing is interesting, sure and I'd love to see what it did to you, but I have much more interesting things to focus on. More importantly, congratulations Taylor, you've officially attracted Schnitzel's attention. I'm sure I don't have to explain just how unfortunate that is to you." He said and I nodded my head.

Prince Schneizel was the second in line to the throne and almost certainly the most likely to become the next emperor in a decade or two. He was Britannia's golden boy, the White Prince. Also Lloyd and Cecile's employer. Supposedly he was also extremely smart, the real mastermind type. I felt somewhat annoyed that coming along with Lloyd had gotten me on his radar but there was nothing I could do about that now.

"Prince Schneizel isn't as unnecessarily cruel like most of his siblings, but he is likely the most ruthless out of all of them. It's why I trust that he'll continue to fund my Lancelot, he desires power in a way that the other Royals simply don't have the motivation for and is capable of accumulating said power very rapidly.

I don't know why he had me rummaging around an ancient gateway, but I imagine it was very important. So much so that he has me wasting my time going over the data we collected from your act with the giant thing instead of letting me continue developing the float system of the Lancelot. He will want to talk to you, be prepared." Lloyd said with unusual seriousness.

A glance at Cecile showed that she was quite worried too. She fidgeted and glanced out the window towards the stormy weather outside occasionally.

"You seem unusually concerned." I commented.

Lloyd's face soured even further. "I am concerned, Schneizel is a good employer and respects my talents, but he isn't the good-hearted diplomat he presents himself as. That man would do anything if it gave him more control." He replied with utmost gravitas.

It should be fine, so long as I present myself as just an old friend of Lloyd's with some computer expertise, I'm sure I could divert his attention. My Passenger itself is much more interesting than Taylor Hebert after all.

"I'll take that into consideration." I said and meaned it. I would be careful around that prince.

Lloyd merely gave a satisfied nod in return as if he had just taken care of a chore. Whereas Cecile still looked quite worried. But she didn't seem to be willing to act on that worry. I relaxed into the bed as I watched her fight her indecisiveness.

Cecile could act so mature yet suddenly also be so cute at the same time. I wonder just how she was raised that she ended up like that. To my knowledge she doesn't have any siblings so the mature side can't be coming from there… Hmm. I never asked her about her family before but asking right now would be kind of weird, wouldn't it?

Wait what day is it? How long have I been asleep? I didn't even call Reuben to say I would be absent since I thought this would be a one-day thing.

"Lloyd what day is it?" I asked the eccentric busy reading something on his phone.

"Hmm? It's Monday, why?" He said as he rose his gaze from his phone.

"Cause I still have an actual job with strict hours I had to get to!" I made to throw the covers off me and get up, but Cecile held me down. Just as I was about to ask what she was doing Lloyd replied.

"Oh, that. I had some business with the Ashford's today, so I also phoned to tell them you got caught up in an accident and are in the hospital. It seems they didn't even know you knew me." I breathed a sigh of relief as I stopped struggling and laid back down.

"Tell me that first next time." I said with tired relief.

"It didn't ev-" Lloyd began saying but was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He stopped himself and picked it up.

"Yes, Lloyd Asplund speaking. Aha… Yes. I am at the hospital right now. Why? Well a friend fainted. Hmm, Chinese ships sighted off the coast!? Wonderful! I'll go and get the Lancelot ready then." He shut the flip phone with a click and smiled brightly at me. I felt like laughing hysterically. Chinese ships off the coast? War? I looked at Lloyd's delighted expression and Cecile's terrified one.

It was definitely war. Lloyd clapped his hands together. "Well, we'll need to go the Princess needs her Knight perfectly armed and the Lancelot took quite the beating yesterday. We'll need to go and get it ready. Oh, I'm really looking forward to all that fresh combat testing." He said with joy in his voice.

It didn't get any less jarring no matter how used to sociopaths I got. Alec at least used to be just apathetic towards most things and his nonchalant attitude towards violence was just barely concerning. Lloyd was actively enthusiastic about what he liked and those likes tended to centre around war machines. When he got like this over an incoming war it reminded me just differently, he saw the world.

"Get on it then and get someone to come and discharge me please." I said despite my hidden discomfort.

Lloyd's smile widened. "Yes, yes but you have some other visitors to deal with before a doctor can discharge you. Come along Cecile, we have so little time." He said as he turned to leave. Cecile followed him hurriedly after a short goodbye and a little wave.

My goodbye was somewhat half hearted as Lloyds last few words made me realise something. A group of nine in the waiting room just a floor below. One of them was in a wheelchair and I recognised them from their heights and blurry colours. I didn't have enough bugs to get a perfect visual, but I could guess.

The Ashford Student Council was here, and they had brought Nunnally and Alice along. I felt like bashing my head in. Couldn't they have waited a day? Well… to be fair I was kind of glad to see them here. It felt nice having so many people care about you.

With my few moments of peace remaining I activated that odd power again. The sense of direction came back to me and all my bugs. Yet something felt off, one of the points the sense was pointing at was contradictory between me and some of my bugs.

I triangulated the point. It was the student council… To be more specific it was Lelouch, the power was pointing towards him. But why?


I didn't have much time to figure out why the power was pointing at him other than the fact that there was also another point it was pointing at, this one felt… slightly different yet related to Lelouch somehow. It was only a few hundred metres away from my estimate yet still outside my power's range.

I… I had no clue what this meant. Did it react to Lelouch being Zero? Maybe that he was a Royal? No, then it would also detect Nunnally. What made Lelouch unique in this case? His willingness to kill? That can't be it either, Kallen was also right there.

The Student Council began moving towards me with a hurried pace clearly being dragged along by Milly. I deactivated the power and let my eye return to normal. I got up from the bed and dressed into my clothes that had been left on the bedside table inside a plastic bag.

I hurried along as the student council neared and managed to get into my jeans and sweater before they neared the door. I turned my back to the door and leaned forward to stare into the storm right outside that possibly hid an invading Chinese army here to plunge the Area into total chaos.

I felt tired. This invasion could help along my goal of biting back Britannia and forcing it to change but if it got too successful and led to a Chinese Imperial takeover than both the Black Knights and I'd be back to ground Zero. I sighed deeply and opened the window to let some fresh air in.

Behind me two knocks came from the door and Milly opened it without waiting for my answer. Hmph, typical.

"Oh, Miss Hebert! Your dear Students have come to nurse you back to-." She abruptly stopped in the middle of her declaration. "Do you have to be dramatically posed every time someone enters a room you are alone in?" She asked with exasperation.

I slowly turned around and quirked an amused eyebrow at her. "Yes, especially when that someone is my students." I said.

Milly looked halfway between flabbergasted and affronted. She didn't get the choice to come up with a comeback as she was urged inside by the rest of the student council. They filed in into the small room.

I looked over the emotions on their faces. Milly had a somewhat strained smile whereas Rivalz and Suzaku had similar relieved smiles though Suzaku's one was noticeably slightly awkward, most likely due to Lloyd. Shirley also looked relieved, though in a completely different way, I imagine my sudden and mysterious injury after I showed her a classified document had been one hell of a spook.

She still wobbled on her feet though and leaned slightly onto Kallen, who looked… Shaken? Though I imagined that it wasn't because of me. She had the look of someone grieving a friend it was odd… It had barely been a day since I had last seen her, just what even happened while I was gone that she looked like she was barely keeping her meek persona on?

Did the Black Knights have another operation that went badly? A glance at Lelouch's calm face with a relieved smile would refute that… But no, now that I'm looking more carefully his eyes seem a bit… empty, lacking his usual spark. So something did happen the moment I was away.

I couldn't linger on those two, I would have to find out later when I had a moment to talk with Kallen. My gaze wandered over to a softly smiling Nunnally, who despite her attempts to hide it kept glancing at her brother. I bet she could sense that something was wrong. Alice meanwhile looked totally oblivious to what Nunnally was thinking and her expression was set in a neutral smile, the kind people usually gave to teachers.

I imagined she was only here because of Nunnally. My gaze wandered over to the last of the students that had come to visit me, Nina. She looked paler than normal, but her shaky smile and slouched posture were characteristic of her.

Once they were all in and the door was shut behind them, they chorused "Get well soon, Miss Hebert!" As if I was here because of a cold or something.

I huffed. "I didn't catch a cold or something kids, I'm getting discharged as soon as a doctor sees me." I said.

Rivalz took it as a que to ask what they had all probably been wondering about. "Yeah, about that… Just what happened that you had to come to the hospital anyways?" He asked without much thought behind it, he looked somewhat awkward as he did so. Seems Lloyd and Cecile hadn't told my students what had happened.

Though I predicted that they hadn't I still didn't have much of an excuse to tell the kids. Well it should be fine if I just say something, it's not like they'll question it much.

"We were out trekking in an island of the coast towards some ruins, and I ended up stepping on loose dirt and falling down a short drop." I lied.

A snort came from behind me. Shut up Lisa.

The kids looked somewhat horrified. Milly spoke up first. "And… you're unharmed from that? No broken bones or anything?" She sounded slightly sceptical but more so concerned.

I pointed at my cybernetic arm and knocked on it twice. "I slowed my descent by dragging this through the dirt as I fell, still hit my head on some roots apparently. But I don't have a concussion or anything." I continued lying and hopefully convinced most of the student council.

I imagined most didn't realise that even if I didn't have a concussion, I wouldn't be walking off a hit to the head like that this soon. Though Kallen and Suzaku looked especially suspicious. Kallen probably guessed that it would be near impossible to get me to step on dangerous ground with my bugs and I could guess that Suzaku had heard from Cecile that I had been caught up in something serious. Although it could also just be that he knew what head injuries were like.

Nunnally also looked like she suspected that I was lying but I imagined she stayed silent for my sake.

A moment of silence descended and then was broken suddenly by Milly. "Wait, if you're going to be discharged as soon as a doctor sees you, did we wait for two hours in the waiting room for nothing!?" She shouted but the emotion felt somewhat faked.

I glared at her and made 'shush' motion, this was still a hospital after all then made so-so motion. "Essentially yes, I was about to be discharged as soon as a doctor came in to give me a check-up." I said.

A chorus of groans came from my students. I shrugged at them. "But thank you for coming to see me anyways. I appreciate it kids." I spoke earnestly.

My reward was a flying Milly slamming into me and hugging me. I caught her and awkwardly patted her on the back.

"Awww! I almost forgot you could be nice after so long!" She said once she was done trying and failing to squish me to death.

"I reserve it for special occasions, otherwise you become insufferable." I told Milly.

She simply smirked at me. I sighed and pried her arms off me. "If the rest of you want hugs too, you'll have to wait till tomorrow. I'm dying to get discharged and out of here." I said and the kids took that as their que to leave.

But just as they began to make for the door something that I should say came to mind. "Oh and Kids, stay away from the beaches and if possible, get out of the city for a while." I said. Lelouch, Suzaku and Kallen turned to me abruptly, sudden fear in their eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" Lelouch asked with utmost seriousness.

I replied honestly. "Just a thing I heard from my friends; there might be a war with the Chinese soon. I don't want any of you all to get hurt, make sure to stay in the concession and if there really is war stay in Ashford academy, the building itself was made strong it'll be the safest place." I warned.

The entirety of the students turned to look at me as if to say "You're saying this right now?".

I continued. "I just heard about it and it might not come to be so don't panic right now, I'm just telling you to be careful. Don't try to rush out of the area or something, it's unlikely that the fighting will come to the Tokyo settlement, the Chinese won't invade from the Pacific. Just stay in Tokyo and it should be fine."

"You can't just drop there might be war, stay safe out of nowhere like you're talking about a hurricane or something!" Milly said with incredulity and frustration.

Before I replied to Milly a voice from behind me snarked. "They're practically about as rare in this world." Yes, thank you Lisa for the commentary.

"I very much can, we're all civilians other than Suzaku and he's… a mechanic. The only thing we have to do with a war is to stay somewhere safe regardless of what the media says." I lied through my teeth; I knew for a fact that almost half the people currently in the room were going to be taking part in the war.

Seeing their still shocked looks I was reminded that these kids were still young, young enough that even in this world only few of them had seen war. Suzaku, Lelouch, Kallen and Nunnally all had a look on their faces that told me they had already experienced what an invasion was like for civilians. They were afraid and in Suzaku's, Lelouch's and Kallen's cases determined to make sure Japan wasn't ravaged again. The other kids simply did not realise that there was nothing civilians like them could do other than try to stay safe.

Though Rivalz seemed ready to ask for more of an explanation Suzaku pushed past him with a hurried goodbye. He ran supposedly to catch up to Cecile and Lloyd. The alarmed exclamations of the student council called out after him, but he paid them no mind.

I was about to tell them to slowly get going as well but Lelouch acted first. "I suppose we should head out as well. Thank you for the warning, Miss Hebert, Nunnally and I have to go. We should prepare for the worst."

With the last few words he ushered Nunnally out along with Alice despite Nunnally's half-hearted protests. A sombre atmosphere was about to set in when Nina, who had a fearful look in her eye also bowed her head and with an almost silent goodbye left the room.

Rivalz took a glance at Milly and then sent a look to Kallen and Shirley to leave us alone.

"Uh… President, we'll be waiting for you down in the lobby. Take your time." He said and dragged the two girls out of the room leaving me and Milly alone.

The door clicked shut and after a few seconds of us listening to footsteps Milly spoke up. "Will… will there really be war?" She asked with a stuttering voice.

I nodded. "Yes, my friends got called in because a Chinese fleet was near Area 11. I doubt it's just some posturing."

Her fists clenched. "How… how are you so calm? Aren't you supposed to be afraid? Weren't you there when Britannia invaded Japan? I only saw the aftermath, but the very idea that the entirety of the Tokyo Settlement could be rubble terrifies me. I-I built a life here, we all did… At least Suzaku and Lelouch have the curtesy to look worried! You look bored!"

I listened to her fear induced outburst. I didn't divert my eyes. I could at least be truthful about what I felt.

"I am worried, worried for you kids. I am responsible for your safety. I promise you, none of you will be harmed by this war. I'll make sure of it." I said with as much confidence as I could put into my voice.

Milly laughed a hollow laugh. "How can you promise that? You're a civilian… But you're not, are you? I just… Even without a war you manage to end up in a hospital or otherwise just injured or ill with a war you might as well already be dead." She said with a voice laced with frustration.

She was worried over nothing; I would prioritise my survival so long as it didn't jeopardise Kallen or Lelouch's survivals. Neither was I eager to play the role of a Martyr to be sacrificed. I carefully laid my hands on to her shoulders and watched as her eyes flickered to my cybernetic arm for a second.

"I survived until I now Milly, I'm not getting myself killed now." I said with my attempt at a calming voice.

"Survived what? You say things like that, but it makes no sense. I've known you for more than a quarter of my life, but I still know nothing about you. You keep everything about you to yourself yet intrude on other's business constantly.

Your life makes no sense, where would you have even gotten the experience to do… whatever shady stuff you do? I'm terrified that the next time you're gone I won't ever see you again and I won't even know why you did what you did, because you refuse to tell me anything!" I flinched as Milly shouted.

I should've guessed this would become a problem; she always did worry about me. And I've consistently refused to tell her anything about my past, even the one in this world. I simply thought it would never be relevant.

But now that I'm throwing myself back into things it got her spooked. I hugged Milly close. I knew I could trust Milly; she had practically been like a little sister for me after taking care of her for close to six years. But even disregarding how absurd my life was I didn't want to drag her into things, or rather, I didn't want her to drag herself into things.

Milly was strong, she knew how people ticked and could manage them easily, she would've made a great talk show host or something like that. But she couldn't hurt people, not in the way that Suzaku, Lelouch, Kallen or I could.

She didn't have the conviction… no, that would be wrong to say. She wasn't fucked in the head enough that personally bulldozing other people to change the world seemed like a natural way of things. It was alien to her despite her Britannian upbringing. She was used to simple word plays and lies where the consequences were mostly monetary, or reputation based. The sheer destruction we threw ourselves headfirst into would ruin her.

"I kept things from you before because I was ashamed and afraid. Now I keep them because I know you would dive right in after me if you knew what was going on. This is not your battlefield Milly, people like you are needed after people like me are done so that you can build something out of what we prepared for you." I whispered.

She didn't say anything. After ruffling her hair a bit I let her go. "I want to see the world you kids will make Milly, but as it is now the only future that is waiting for you looks bleak. I will prepare a world for you to shape, after I'm done it will be your time to put in the legwork." I said as I tried to ignore the frustration evident on Milly's face.

I didn't want to argue with her anymore, I knew I couldn't convince her if she didn't want to listen. I ushered her out despite her protests and laid on the bed as I waited for a doctor to discharge me.

Milly wasn't stupid. She just needed some time to think.


The next day Zero called me to another Black Knights base. When I arrived it was like an ant's nest. Hundreds of Black Knights soldiers, technicians, and other non-combat personal alike rushed around loading munitions, delivering orders, organising their few V-TOL's and doing whatever else. It just might have been the entire Black Knights roster in here, it really did look like the Black Knights were getting ready for war.

The news itself had reported on the Chinese ships and Knightmares that bore the Japanese Flag making a landing in Kyushu. Apparently, the Chinese were using the Exiled Japanese Government as plausible deniability. Reminded me of the proxy wars that took place in the cold war.

The media obviously didn't report the full story but the fact that they warned Britannian citizens away from going to Kyushu tells me enough. Things aren't going well for the Britannians. It's an opportunity for us. We could side with the Chinese and strike at the Britannians, but that would just mean changing one oppressor for the other.

Lelouch isn't a fool, he probably already sees the real benefit. Good reputation. If we fight against the Chinese forces either with or without the Britannians the Brits can't cover it up and the Black Knights will be seen not as a force that seeks to amass power by any means necessary but instead as liberators seeking the best for Japanese. It's overall good PR in Japan and internationally.

It also helps quite a lot that most of the more conservative Japanese despise of the Chinese due to their constant skirmishes during and after the Imperial Japan era. Now that I'm thinking of it, those skirmishes continued up until the Japanese were conquered by the Britannians, there must still be a lot of bad blood between the two peoples.

Not really my problem though, it's something for Zero to think over.

There was a bit of time until Zero was going to be making his speech, I had come a bit early. Instead of waiting around and having to talk to whichever brave Black Knight decided to approach me I sought out Kallen, who uncharacteristically was alone in what looked like some sort of spare storage room filled with medical supplies.

I knocked on the door and after a few seconds of silence entered without waiting any more. Kallen was sitting on the floor to the side of the room huddled with her knees close to her chest. Her eyes looked empty, and in her right hand she clutched a tattered red headband. Her eyes flickered to me once and went back to the hallow stare immediately afterwards.

With an internal sigh I went up next to her and crouched down against a storage box. I stayed silent until she spoke. She said two simple words.

"Tamaki is dead." She said without her usual fierceness. She sounded regretful and ashamed.

"What happened?" I didn't beat around the bush.

She grimaced as her hand clenched around the red headband harder. "The idiot threw himself in front of an attack meant for Zero. Died instantly, Zero carried his Knightmare and cockpit block all the way back himself." She muttered.

That sounded like Lelouch, he must've been affected by the redhead's death as well. Especially if he died saving him.

"He believed in the rest of you and Zero to accomplish his dreams." I said simply.

Kallen laughed. "He did…" She said.

"He really did. I still can't believe he's dead. He… he always seemed like he was immortal or something. Ever since I was a kid, I've never thought that he'd ever die." Kallen laid her head on to her knees.

"He used to take care of me a lot. I used to get bullied often back then because of my Britannian heritage. He'd always say: 'Us red heads need to stick together!' and other things like that. Whenever some idiot kid tried to bully me, he'd step up. Now that I look back on it, it almost seems like whenever my brother wasn't around to protect me Tamaki was." She muttered.

I gently laid a hand on her back.

"Now they're both gone. No one to take care of me but Ohgi and myself. Even my mom's a wreck and dad is totally useless, he can't even deal with the rest of the family pressuring him."

Her condition reminded me an awful lot of what I was like when I realised that my dad had been reduced to a husk of himself after mom's death. Loneliness, fear, despair… were common emotions, Emma's betrayal had made things worse.

But Kallen wasn't alone, unlike me she had friends she could depend on and other people who relied on her. She could bounce back so long as she reached out to them.

"Kallen… you can't let this stop you from moving forward. Tamaki might have passed but his dream and the dreams of all the other Black Knights of a world where the Japanese people can live proudly and free is still here. You aren't alone either, you have allies and friends that will support you." I tried to say reassuringly.

A single blue eye peaked at my mask from the side. She remained silent for a few seconds studying my mask. Then she spoke.

"How many more will I lose?" She asked with a tired voice.

"More than you wish. Tamaki won't be the end, even I might die. But you can't let that stop you from doing what you believe in." I answered truthfully.

She chuckled. It was disturbing sound, unnatural and uncharacteristic coming from Kallen. "At least I know Zero cares, I saw how Tamaki's death shook him. There's the fear of him manipulating all of us gone, just the fear that I'll lose him along with the rest of my friends left." She said sarcastically.

I frowned deeply. "You two will take care of each other, I know it." I said. Kallen raised her head to look at me again and smiled a brittle smile.

"Maybe. I sure as hell won't let him out my sight for a second this time, I am not letting anyone else die because I failed my job to protect Zero." She said with a bit more energy, still not her maximum but just barely enough to get her moving.

I ruffled her hair and stood up. She stood up after me and put her visor on. It reminded me of something, and I began to open a pocket on my utility belt. Kallen turned her visor towards me, but I could only read vague curiosity from her.

I pulled out what I was searching for, a red half face mask made of spider silk. I had prepared it for her in my off time. It wasn't all that thick or protective like my mask was, but it would help hide her identity along with her visor.

I presented it to her, and she pointed towards herself as if asking 'For me?'.

"Here, a little present for you to hide your identity better."

Although she looked at me a little weirdly, she put on the mask. It covered her lower face up to her nose and wrapped around her neck. It looked a slight bit loose towards the neck bit but still fit well. Together with the Black Knights visor it hid her face perfectly.

"This feels a bit odd, doesn't it get annoying after a while?" She asked.

"I made it breathable; you'll get used to it soon." She looked at me, but her expression was inscrutable as I had intended.

"If you say so." She said and turned to leave.

I followed after her, Zero would be making his speech soon. I'm kind of curious.

An: Hello again, sorry for the delay. This chapter is a bit lacking in action but I thought Taylor earned a break after all I've been putting her through and will be putting her through soon. Anyways I would like to remind you all that this is a Code Geass fic and being Lelouch is mostly suffering. As always please review, I enjoy reading what you're thinking