'Think of it like a holiday' they had said. 'You can go round and see the sights.' 'It'll be good to get away from home for a bit.'

Those excuses had worked the first time. After the third or fourth she had asked if they really had to go, to which she'd been told just how very, very important it was that her father go to Cardiff. That he was going to be doing very important work. At the seventh time she had asked if she had to go, if she and her brother couldn't just stay home, she'd been told that no, their father needed his family there to support him.

She needed to be there to look the part of perfect daughter for the cameras more like. Her father had run for political office the year before. Earned a seat at the newly formed Welsh National Assembly. Naturally that meant looking like an upstanding family man was important. He and some other members had big plans. Wanted to turn the newly formed and largely powerless governmental body into a genuine legislative authority for Wales. That meant convincing the people of Wales that it was in their best interest to have such a thing and not leave everything in the hands of Westminster. Showing how trustworthy and capable the assembly was so the people would trust being told they needed to govern for themselves.

It was all fair enough. Except Kallen Stadtfeld didn't care in the slightest about any of that. It was all high-minded government bollocks. If she had her way she would be back at home busy not getting caught for the trouble she got into. When she was younger she got a lot of stick for being a hellraiser. Too much aggression they had said. She only got in a few fights. Lost one boy a few baby teeth. Not a big deal, the proper ones would grow in eventually. She'd been put in therapy once. A kind of anger management thing. When she came out of it she was cured. After all, she didn't get into fights anymore!

Not that anyone saw. Or was willing to talk about. After all, by then she was at the age where her male peers were shit scared of people finding out they got a kicking from a girl. And also the age where boys thought they could take liberties without it coming back on them. She liked to think she'd done the world a huge favour there. She gave a few boys a harsh lesson to not touch girls without permission.

And yet there she was, middle of Cardiff putting on a show of being a proper daughter for her father's burgeoning political career. Now her role in the trip was done, the photo op finished. And she was left a sixteen year old girl wandering the tourist traps for the fifth time, alone. Two years. Just wait two years, get her college quals, then she could sign up for army officer training. That was the one condition her parents had set when she told them she wanted to join the military. If she was going to do that, she should be an officer. While her behavioural record was... questionable, her academics were good. And she'd more than proven growing up that she could tough it out with the best of them.

Just two years.

In the meantime, here she was wandering aimlessly looking for something to do. And she had just found something promising. A group of teens her age hassling a couple of younger kids? They were probably all hot air trying that kind of shite with what looked like an adult guardian right there. Then again, picking on kids was probably a fair reason to teach some mouthy nobheads a lesson, right? But she'd been told to be on her best behaviour...

"Ana, please make sure he doesn't kill them. Or maim them."

What?

One of the boys only had time to voice her own confusion for her before he found himself grabbed by the shoulders and thrown at another boy?! What in the world?! Sure the kid looked to be in absurd shape for his age but still! The buff, wild-haired boy demolished the group of older boys in a matter of seconds!

"Sara, make sure people don't remember this please."

What the hell did that mean?! She watched as the blonde woman looked at the crowd who suddenly seemed to decide they had other places to be. Wherever the woman looked people suddenly started minding their own business again.

The other boy, the slimmer and taller of what she assumed were brothers scanned the crowd with his eyes as well. To her right, people seemed to drift away without even acknowledging the beatdown they had just witnessed.

And then his eyes landed on her. They widened. She didn't know why. Whatever he had done to everyone else either didn't work or he didn't do it to her. He just... Stared. Looked at her like he had seen a ghost. And while she would readily admit she was confused and unnerved by the past minute of her life, she wouldn't say she was scared by it.

And yet she was terrified all the same.

Something, some part of her changed when his eyes met hers. She didn't understand it at all. She had always had a drive in her. A desire to compete, to prove herself. Or so she liked to think. It was part of who she was. The part that might have been responsible for her 'anger issues'. She liked challenging others, challenging herself.

And as this strange boy stared, she felt that part of her sit down and shut up. The part inside of her that demanded she succeed, that she win, that she be the best, it fell silent for the first time in her life.

What could she do but run?

He chased her which only made her run harder. She heard someone shout what must have been his name. Sounded French. That didn't matter. She had to get away. She ran, used her gift for agility to dodge and dart her way through a crowd, down another street, some part of her always conscious of where he was so she could find his blind spots. Over a fence, cutting under a building's overhang then up and over a wall in the half second his eyes were off of her. She took slow, steady breaths through her mouth as quiet as she could as she heard the boy's footsteps come around the corner to find her gone. She stayed crouched as she waited for him to leave.

"Lelouch!" a female voice called out to him. That must have been his name. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"I thought I saw..." His answer trailed off, denying her the reason for why he was so fixated on her. Or what that strange effect he had on her was. "Never mind. My mind playing tricks on me I suppose."

"You shouldn't just run off like that, Lelouch. You're capable for your age but you never know who might be around the next corner."

"I know, you're right." For someone who scared the shit out of her he sure sounded like a kid getting scolded. "Sorry. Let's just get back and we'll see where we are with distributing the contract seals. And... Make sure those kids don't die, I suppose."

Only as she heard the footsteps fade into the background noise of the city did she take in air through her nose and release it in a relieved sigh. Dusting herself off, she stood. Felt her natural equilibrium come back. Without the fear of that strange feeling, she could think about what had just happened. A tiny yet buff preteen beating up four teenagers, tossing them around like ragdolls? Weird hypnosis powers? Ones that... Maybe worked on her? No, they didn't work on her. Or else she wouldn't have even thought of running. What in the world did she just stumble into?

A paper carried by the wind drifted down toward her, swirled around her as if trying to get her attention. She snatched it out of the air even if only to stop it annoying her. A glance told her she needed to give it a closer look. On the paper was an elaborate symbol in what looked like yellow ink. A promise. To fulfil the holder's wish for the right price.

Had she found this only ten minutes earlier she would've scoffed and thrown it away. Even now she was considering it. So magic was real or something. She didn't need any help getting what she wanted. Hell, getting help would cheapen it.

Still... It wouldn't hurt to hang on to it.

-(-)-

Two years could change a lot of things, and they did. War, the deployment of the British military to support American forces in the middle east. Suddenly Kallen's parents had been a bit more leery of the idea of her joining the military. Unfortunately for them no matter how concerned they were, they had already asked that she wait until she was eighteen to join up. Fortunately for her, that was also the age at which they could no longer tell her no. The best they could do was hope that the conflict would be over by the time she completed her training. Her brother Naoto at least supported her choice even if he begged her to be careful.

Sandhurst. One of the premier officer training academies in the world, or so the leaflet said. Quick to brag that militaries from across the globe sent promising officers there for additional training. A reputation as being one of the best in the world, but also a gruelling experience to be trained there, especially in the first several weeks.

Kallen thrived there. She was so eager to take the challenge head on it pissed off a lot of the instructors who banked on brutal training to instill discipline. Every victorious grin she wore only earned her a harder time. The instructors didn't show their relief when they finally found her limits, letting them go back to more or less the standard routine. But they also didn't forget. Kallen Stadtfeld had made a bit of a name for herself. Many expected her to go far.

And then came her first deployment. 2nd Lieutenant Kallen Stadtfeld had been sent to the arid, war-torn climate of the middle east. Her first couple of months there hadn't been easy but that was more getting used to the region and military life than anything else. It turned out her parents had gotten their wish. The vengeful conflict in the region had seemed to burn itself out by the time she had graduated from Sandhurst. While she had expected hardship and challenge, something that could sate the need she had never understood, instead she found herself doing the work of keeping the region stable. Being a local presence to suppress extremist elements while a new government was being established.

Keeping things stable. She had to be nice to people. People who really didn't want her country's troops in theirs and were more than happy to blame the closest face of that country for all of their problems. For the girl who spent her childhood and teenhood jumping into fights at the slightest provocation, holding that part of herself back when the locals said the vilest shit to her was the most difficult part. Those who would spit venom at her were in the minority, but her treatment by most would be cool at best. An uncovered woman doing men's work? Not in this part of the world. While her training had gotten absurd, she found herself thankful for the experience. If she hadn't learned discipline, the ability to keep herself in check, she would have already started breaking jaws. It wasn't even in question.

That was what made this part of the job the best part without the expected part of joining the army. She was in a convoy of equipment, supplies and personnel, distributing all of the above to the outposts and bringing the soldiers stationed there back to base for a breather. If she couldn't go out and do what she was trained for, at least she could shoot the shit with the idiots unlucky enough to be in the same vehicle as her.

"I'm just sayin', Godzilla could beat King Kong. It wouldn't even be hard. It's a fifty story nuclear dinosaur against a big monkey!"

"Yeah, 's a fuckin' big monkey though, innit? 'Sides, Godzilla didn't seem that impressive in the film."

"What film?"

"That one with the bloke from Ferris Bueller."

"Ferris... You mean that Emmerich shit pile? Fuck off mate, you're havin' me on!" The Corporal turned to her, suddenly dragging her into the stupid argument. "Lieutenant, you're Japanese or summat, yeah? Tell him how bloody stupid he's bein'! Godzilla would kick the shit out of a giant monkey with a human fetish any day!"

"You know there's more to Japan than Godzilla and anime, right?" she had to ask.

"Yeah, there's ninjas and samurai and all that shite an' all."

"You forgot the giant robots," she smirked at him. "And yeah, Godzilla would vaporise Kong."

"Too right he would!" the Corporal cheered.

"Whatever. Fine, Kong is the Yanks' giant monster anyway. What about the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog?"

"Strewth, you're bringin' Python into this. Fine, what about it?"

"Could it beat Godzilla?"

"Now you're just takin' the piss–"

"Vehicle three, this is Lead, we have movement ahead. Looked like a local, over."

Kallen snapped to attention instantly at the crackling voice on her radio. They were travelling through a region that had been abandoned. Bombed to near uselessness by the Americans, all the civilians driven to seek safety elsewhere. "Lead, this is Vehicle Three," another voice answered. The Captain, the officer in command. "Maintain speed. We're not stopping. All vehicles, high alert –"

The next words were garbled by another voice. A yell. "What the fuck is that?!"

She felt it. The sudden danger in the air. "Driver, get us off the road, now!"

"Is he fucking flying?!"

"Ma'am, the Captain's orders were–"

"Do it now or we're dead!" she shouted, before clicking her radio. Insubordination wouldn't matter much if everyone died.

She didn't have time to breathe a single word.

BOOM! A blast of light and sound consumed the car that had been behind them. Any misgivings the driver of her car had before died swiftly as he stepped on the accelerator and tore off of the road. "Vehicle Six is down!" A full APC wiped out in an instant. BOOM! "Three is down! The enemy is above us!"

She could see the vehicles were spreading out, exactly the order she would've given with a few more seconds. That would need to be good enough for now. She needed an idea of what they were up against.

"All vehicles, defensive driving! Someone blow that bastard out of the sky!"

Didn't need to tell her twice. Shouldering her rifle she threw open the door of her vehicle and clambered on top. Agility. Viciousness. Those were things she had been praised for during training. Some fellow cadets had joked she wasn't human. As she sat on the roof of a vehicle driving serpentine without worry, she thought maybe they were right. She sighted her rifle, looked up.

Sure enough. There was a man high above them in the sky standing on a platform that looked like it was made of light. "What in the fuck..." she breathed. The man raised his hands, then threw them down, an enormous blast of light coming down to strike another vehicle. She didn't have time to gawk at the impossible. End the threat. Slay the adversary. Her eye found her sights, aimed, fired a single round.

Upward trajectory. Small, distant target. It didn't matter. The bullet found its target, a body falling limply onto the light platform, which then vanished to leave him tumbling down to the ground.

Kallen clicked her radio. "This is Lieutenant Stadtfeld, enemy combatant is down. Regroup and be on the lookout for further hostiles. Over." She switched channel to contact home base, inform them of the situation and request support.

The convoy regrouped, the vehicles falling back into formation. Kallen elected to stay on top of the vehicle for the sake of a better vantage point.

With the impossible spectacle that had occurred, she could reasonably be forgiven for forgetting how the situation began. With the lead vehicle noticing movement. And they had said nothing about a flying light man.

Another explosion. This one far more mundane but no less destructive as it detonated beneath the lead car. Suddenly the road ahead was blocked by the wreckage, forcing the following vehicles to come to a halt.

Kallen didn't hesitate as she saw a body appear out of a doorway, pulling the trigger and dropping him. She didn't see the gun but in this situation she didn't need to. This was an ambush, plain and simple. Vehicles Three, Six, Eight and Lead. All of the vehicles with heavy armaments. All they had left were the supply trucks and a couple of APCs.

And nearly all of their officers were presumed dead. She had effectively found herself in command by default. She whirled around with her rifle, putting another bullet in the chest of another hostile before leaping down from her perch and clicking her radio. "All personnel, vacate vehicles and head south-west." It was as good a direction as any. Hostiles were appearing from all sides.

It was a running battle through the streets. The small ruined town had been taken over specifically for this ambush. She led the soldiers she had been riding with through a building, sighted a very surprised enemy combatant, pulled the trigger only to hear an angry click. She tossed the jammed weapon, drew her sidearm but the delay was long enough for the enemy to recover from his shock and shoot two of her comrades. She fired twice as she ran forward, drawing her knife and slicing the man's throat as he fell. "Keep moving!" she barked at the Corporal who was still with her, staring at the body of the man he had been arguing with before.

The next building over. She realised it would be the best they were going to get in terms of defensible structures. Not ideal, but with enough men on hand. "Secure a perimeter," she ordered, the lone Sergeant who had survived replying with a curt 'Yes ma'am!' and barking orders to get the few men they had moving. How many had made it? She did a quick head count. Not enough to feel confident. The hows and whys of it all danced in her head but they were useless questions. All that was important was to hold out until reinforcements arrived. She took a step, meaning to take a defensive position herself.

She stumbled. Her legs gave out on her.

"Lieutenant!" the Corporal shouted as he saw her fall. He pulled her up to lean against a wall. Checked her over. "Oh, shite," he cursed as he saw the growing stain spreading over her midsection. "'Ave we got a medic?!" A dreadful silence. "Shit, shit, shit!" He realised a little after she did. When her gun jammed. She had been hit too. She had just powered through until now.

"Shit start to my career, eh?" Kallen laughed.

"Yeah, you'll laugh about it in a few years," he tried to play it off with her as he desperately kept pressure on a wound that needed far more than that.

Somehow, she doubted it. "Corporal, man the defense."

"But–!"

"That's an order."

Reluctantly, he left her where she was. They needed every able body maintaining the perimeter. It was their only chance of holding out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. There was no room for wasting attention on a dying woman.

Of all the stupid ways to go. Shooting down some weird superhuman, only to get killed because her gun jammed. It felt like the world was out to get her. She couldn't help but feel like a failure. It might have been silly to think she could somehow have pulled these men out of this. Where the fuck had the enemy gotten this many men? And that flying bastard? She wasn't ready for something like this, but that endlessly unsatisfied part of her insisted not being ready was a bullshit excuse.

She wished... She wished she didn't have to die. She wished she could get these soldiers out of this. She wished she could show those bastards out there what they'd get for thinking they could take her down this easily.

... She must have been further gone than she thought. She could swear one of her pouches was glowing. With shaking, blood-stained fingers, she opened it, found an old piece of paper she had carried with her for years, never able to throw it away. 'Just in case' was always the half-arsed justification. And now it was glowing with an odd light that got the attention of a couple of the other soldiers.

A mist spread unevenly through the room. And then, a figure. Tall. Regal. Wearing a dark cape. A helmet with a purple mask. Its arms wrapped around itself. "You have called for me and so I, the Prince of Bael, have answered." It... He? Looked around the room, at the soldiers trying to both watch the outside and figure out what the fuck just happened at the same time. "So, which of you summoned..." And then, his eyes landed on her. "Me..."

For the moment until his eyes landed on her, she believed she was hallucinating an absurd answer to her prayer. Staring back into that reflective mask she knew in her soul it wasn't. She couldn't deny that impossible quieting effect she had experienced years ago that had terrified her. Whatever it was, it wasn't as scary as dying. She held up the paper, putting on a show of confidence she didn't feel. "That'd be me."