Kaori Murayama and Yui Katase were best friends. When Katase first started at Kuoh Academy, Murayama had taken it upon herself to be a proper senpai to the slightly younger girl, especially when Katase decided to join the kendo club. They had gotten so close that Yui no longer referred to Kaori as senpai anymore. She may have been younger, but there was no reason for propriety between them.

Even so, as Murayama reluctantly woke up at an appropriate time to get ready for school, she didn't think anything like this would happen. That her life would so drastically and dramatically change. That there was so much going on right under her nose. That she would give up her life.

That her father would walk again.

She had cried a lot when it happened. When the 'doctor' Lelouch had provided had proclaimed the 'operation' a success and prompted her father to move his legs. Kaori had cried when she had seen it. Seen him, under his own power, shift his own legs to sit on the edge of his hospital bed. Then shift forward to put his feet on the ground. Then, carefully setting his weight on the bed just in case, tested supporting himself on his own feet. Kaori had cried. Her mother had cried. And, the man who had been her hero as a little girl, the man who soldiered on through whatever life threw at him, the man who told them all that he was at peace with what happened, he cried too.

Kaori thought she was being selfish when she told Mister Lamper– Told Lelouch, the devil, what her wish was. Her motivations were selfish. She couldn't bear to see her hero like that. So... Helpless. She couldn't help but see him as defeated. She remembered when he ran around with her on his shoulders as she pretended to pilot her own giant robot with his ears as the controls. And then... All he did was sit in his chair and watch television. They would go out, and the one modicum of fiercely protected pride was in his insistence on moving under his own power. No electric wheelchair, even though the settlement money would have easily paid for one. It was the only sign she had that he was still there. Still her hero.

No. He was still strong. It was her that was weak. Her that hurt just seeing him like that. So reduced from how she saw him. She understood that, hated herself for it. But seeing him break down in front of them like that, once again able to walk under his own power, openly bawling as he hugged them both... Her motives might not have been pure. But that didn't change that it was the right thing to do. If Kaori Murayama would become a devil to see them truly happy again, the world could give her a hundred chances to change her mind, she would stand by her choice every single time.

Still... Even if she now felt satisfied, with full certainty that she made the right choice, that didn't change the fact that her life would be very different from now on. And not just her life.

Murayama watched Katase shuffle groggily out of her room in the apartment they now shared. The two girls now living together around the corner from their... From Lelouch's home. "Coffee?" she offered.

"Coffee...!" Katase hoarsely confirmed, plonking herself down at the table. "This sucks," the pinkette grumbled as she took the offered cup in both hands. "I used to be a morning person."

"Same. It's going to take some getting used to. A lot of things are."

Katase hummed in agreement before draining her cup, coughing at the bitter taste of black coffee. "It could be worse though. I thought there'd be a lot more... You know..." She made a circle with thumb and forefinger, while pushing a finger of her other hand through it.

"It's only been a day for you and two for me. Maybe that's still coming." Not that it would change anything for her, Murayama supposed. She made her choice, knowing that would probably be on the table. She wondered if Katase was even counting on it. Though, "It's not like there hasn't been... Um... Difficulties?" She tried to convey sympathy as she lay her hand on her best friend's. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Fine," Katase answered seemingly without worry, putting her other hand to her neck. "Didn't even leave a scar and I can't even feel it. The moment he brought me back I was as good as new."

She had said something very similar last night. "You know that's not what I mean."

The younger girl looked away. "I might have had a nightmare, I guess." She looked back at Murayama as the older girl squeezed her hand, only to look away again. "It's weird. I remember I was so scared, but, even when it was real it all just felt like a bad dream. Like it didn't really happen. It obviously did," she added, freeing her new wings and forcing Murayama's to emerge as well. "But all the bad stuff... I don't know. I guess the worst of it is that what happened that day... I would've done it the same even without knowing what was really going on. Some poor girl lost and afraid, and then some creepy people come for her? I'd've done the same thing, only I would've died and nobody would've noticed or cared. It was just that easy for them." She swallowed, looking down into her half-empty cup. "I felt... Disposable, I guess. Worthless. That hurt way more than the... You know... The neck thing."

"Oi, oi! You're not worthless to me! Or to Mister–" the new Pawn struggled over what to call him yet again, but, "Mister Lamperouge or Miss Stadtfeld. Or to Mash."

The reminder of the girl, the apparent devil who was the root cause for Katase's decision was enough to bring her doubts to the surface. "Was I being stupid?" she asked, cautiously looking to Murayama like a kouhai for once. ""Agreeing to this for... For that? I guess I'm pretty selfish. Compared to what you asked for..."

Murayama shook her head. "I wanted what I wanted, you wanted what you wanted. We're both selfish." She sighed, knowing there were other more important problems than Katase's motivations. "You know what I thought about you chasing her when she only has eyes for someone else."

The younger girl wore a pronounced, judging frown. It was an old argument and one of the few sticking points in their friendship, Murayama not having her back. "I just thought she had a crush on a teacher. She'd get over it and then... Maybe I could... I don't know." The frown evened out, her expressed frustration turning inward. "But it's way more complicated than that, huh?"

Another squeeze of her hand. "It's not. It's simpler. You know what we are now, Yui. You, me, Mash."

"Devils."

"Servants. We're all his servants now, Yui. He owns us."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Katase insisted. "They haven't done anything!"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Murayama believed her friend was right, but still. "You know he and Miss Stadtfeld have. We thought they had before all this and she confirmed it to me herself. Like you said, we can probably expect..." She took her hand away to pair it with the other in the same lewd gesture Katase had made earlier.

A hum of discontentment for that reminder. "Miss Stadtfeld said that too?"

"Not in so many words. I don't think she fully knows, but she implied it was a possibility."

"Well... At least he's good looking and not some creepy tentacle monster or like... Has a weird penis tongue or something."

Murayama blinked in complete confusion. "I... What?"

"A-Anyway about Mash–!"

"Yui, what does your search history look like?"

"That doesn't matter! I accidentally saw some things, okay?!"

"I– Well I guess if devils are real then he could probably help you try that kind of thing. I mean he does owe you a wish so–"

"Ahhhh!" The pink-haired devil put her hands over her ears. "Shut up shut up shut up! Stop saying it like I'm into that stuff!"

Well, she was the one who looked at it, but at least she was in a less despondent mood now, Murayama supposed. "Look, Yui," she said as she pulled her friend's hands away from her ears, "we're probably going to have to do stuff with him in the future. If you don't want that, hey, maybe make that your wish. But there's no stopping him and Mash. If you want to be with her that badly... You might have to think harder about what that has to look like."

"So he's like an NTR villain..."

"That's maybe putting it in unfair terms." And further cementing Murayama's opinion that Katase had more obscure tastes than she ever needed to know about.

"Ugh, no, wait," said Katase said with sudden realisation, "More like one of those gross harem things those two perverts won't shut up about. Did we end up in a harem?" Murayama's only response was to do the hand gesture again. "Dammit. Well, at least I can know those idiots will still die alone. Plus I have a better chance with Mash than ever!" Once again, the kendo practitioner had a dreamy smile on her face. "Maybe it won't be so bad!"

"Oh, by the way, she said she'd be coming over today."

Katase drained her cup, still lost in thought of handholding with Mash and kissing all up on her stuff. It took a good four seconds of waiting for her to realise Murayama had even said anything. "Sorry, what?"

"I said Mash is coming over today?" Murayama repeated. "She wanted to make sure you recovered well and to help you adjust to being a devil." The same orientation Kallen had given Murayama the previous day.

"Wha?! Buh-bwah-bah?!" The chair kicked out from under her as the formerly sleepy girl was suddenly wide awake and frantic. "I need to shower! And fix my hair! Ah, why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

-(-)-

"–in 1534. Following the refutation of the Vatican by Henry VIII, the Christian faith suffered yet another schism. Another fracturing of power that undermined the central dogmatic institution of Catholicism. With this refutation, the English monarchy abandoned Catholicism in favour of reformation into the Church of England, or Anglican Church, with the ruling monarch as head of both church and state. While the following monarchs would then follow varying denominations as centuries passed, including returns to Catholicism, the schism would only go on to further undermine the Vatican as England and later Britain would rise to become a global power. With only minimal considerations for the opinions of the papacy."

Social Studies was a strange subject to teach. Strange and intensive.

One of his students raised her hand, and he raised his eyebrows at her in invitation to speak. "Wait, so, the church kept splitting over and over and over? So nobody agrees on anything?"

"They agree on many things. The important things. However, political and practical concerns as well as theological disagreements have caused many divergences in how various people approach their faith. While many of these erupted naturally, others were engineered by other political concerns. After all, a would-be ruler does not appreciate another power entirely outside their control who can undermine them. For a more local and well understood example of this, we don't need to look further than Nobunaga's conflict with the Ikko-Ikki and the Jodo Shinshu. Religion and governance are often in conflict, all while outwardly claiming to be in service to the other."

"But Nobunaga defeated the Ikko-Ikki."

"And the Jodo Shinshu are still around over four hundred years later." The teacher gave an exaggerated shrug. "An overture to gain power is defeated, but the institution will still go on regardless so long as people believe in it. This is true for religion and government. And with the Christian church specifically, they have made it very easy to believe in. So many varying organisational, doctrinal and practical methodologies means there is a Christianity for everyone. Whether they believe the strict word of the book, or believe it's all metaphor. Whether they believe the church should be wealthy as kings or as humble and simple as a carpenter's means. Because of that, even as divided as it is, the Christian church holds incredible, some might even say excessive, political power. As I said earlier, an institution will go on so long as people believe in it. And the more people who believe in it, the more power it holds over them."

The school bell rang, indicating the end of classes for the morning. "Your essay on the negative impact of the First Crusade is still due on Thursday. Mail me if you're having trouble and we'll see if we can point you in the right direction."

Social Studies. A mishmash of geography, history, law, even a little anthropology. It was the subject that was the dread of Kuoh students. Not every school taught it as this one did, but Lelouch believed it was just as feared at any other institution who approached it the same way. A gargantuan behemoth of a subject that held so much material that it was the leading source of panicked, desperate girls begging for an extension or retest.

Still, in typical fashion, the focus of a high school history course was of course largely dominated by the national history. So most of his time was spent teaching girls about the Edo period, the Sengoku period, the Tokugawa Shogunate, and so on. Things that they probably would've preferred to have a Japanese teacher for, but he was oh so very qualified and Sona (who was absolutely not the secret power in the school) liked him. Plus, they couldn't argue against his results.

It wasn't lost on him that a lot of the curriculum that touched on more world history and sociology was pretty much dedicated to ragging on Christianity's effects on the world. And how many people were deciding to discard it. And how religions worshipping or claiming to worship the devil were cropping up all over the place. Imagine that! Worshipping the devil! A being that wanted humanity to indulge in their basest urges and live their lives seeking whatever pleasures they could find without worry for the consequences.

Well. Except that one that said they worshipped the devil but really just called themselves that to irritate those who wielded their faith like a figurative cudgel. They were mostly just well-meaning eccentrics and activists, with just a hint of amusing spite.

Still, as much as Lelouch found it amusing to teach his students all about how religion and government were out to manipulate them into toeing the line... It was all fairly petty. Christianity wasn't even a significant force in Japan, especially not in Kuoh.

... The Fallen problem still persisted.

Not to say they were still being a problem. In fact, they weren't a problem, and after taking in Asia, they continued to not be a problem. But they still remained in Kuoh and had not met with any incidents yet, so the threat they represented still plagued his mind. Lelouch had no idea how long it would be until Diodora made his move. All he could do until then was to sit and wait until the proverbial shoe dropped. There was only one other avenue he could look into and that was the church. He had done so, as distantly as he could. Hypnotised one of the idiot perverts to take a look for him and made him think a cute girl dared him to do it. Nothing at all to show for it. Just the remnants of a collapsed building. Even Shirone said as much when she got as close as needed while searching with her more spiritual abilities. Nothing.

But it continued to bother him. Why there? Why did the Fallen want Asia to go there if there was legitimately nothing there? He didn't buy that it was just a meeting point. There was something there. He knew it. There had to be, but he couldn't go and look. Was that where the method to extract Asia's Sacred Gear was? It seemed a probable reason. By the Fallen's own words, that was their only activity in Kuoh beyond spying on Gasper and Kallen.

"Lamperouge-sensei..." Rias said as she approached the teacher's desk, swaying her hips and offering him a saucy smile.

Lelouch was glad for the interruption of his thoughts that dwelled on a subject he had obsessed over for days. Rias was always a welcome distraction. He looked behind her, making sure the other students of this class were all gone already. "No, you can't have an extension on the assignment."

"Ohhh, but Lamperouge-sensei," the redhead continued in a painfully sweet voice, leaning over his desk in such a way as to highlight her enormous bust. And damn it all if he wasn't imagining it bared again. "I want to make sure I do the best I can with my essay. Give it all the care and attention you," she 'gasped' at her mistake, "I mean it deserves."

Lelouch truly couldn't tell. Was Rias actually looking to get an extension? Or was she being her usual salacious, insatiable self? There was no way to know. It could have been either or even both. "Rias–"

"I can make it worth your while, Sensei..." she promised, licking her lips before crawling under his desk on hands and knees. Popping up between his legs as she unbuttoned his pants. "You know I'm a hard worker." The buttons of her blouse popped open, her bra lifted to let her heaving breasts bounce free against his erection. "And you're hard too." She didn't hesitate, sucking his head between her lips, lifting her most prominent assets to wrap them around the shaft as she energetically sucked him off. A teasing smile in her eyes, her mouth too busy to share it.

"Ngh, you're–!" With a thought and a wave of his hand he locked the doors to the classroom, ensuring no one could come in and see him getting blown by one of his supposed students. "You're going to give me a reputation."

"Is that a bad thing?" Rias asked, massaging his length with her tits as she stared lovingly and lustfully up at him. "Beautiful girls lining up to get their extra credit assignments?"

"Ha, not how I operate," he answered, his hips jerking up to push himself against and then between her lips again. "Quantity isn't important to me. In fact I prefer, knowing my partners intimately. Like knowing you're an insatiable, exhibitionist, sex-crazed minx. And knowing Sona would kill me a hundred times over for even trying what you're suggesting."

"True..." She let her breasts fall away for a moment as she pushed herself down, and down, taking inch after inch of him into her throat, soaking his length as she held herself down as far as she could go, almost to the base. After a few seconds, she let herself up again, smiling at his overcome expression as her breasts surrounded his wet cock again. "You'll just have to settle for me and Sona. And your peerage. I noticed you reincarnated those two kendo girls. How long until you have your cute little Knight on all fours, begging for her master to breed her?"

"Hmmmnh." A drawn out groan from the image planted in his head.

"Oh, and probably Akeno will be interested too. She has a fascination with being the 'other woman'. She'll probably try to steal you away one of these days."

"She never could." Not that he needed to tell Rias that. A girl confident enough to get him fantasising about other women while having him fuck her tits.

"I know," the redhead said with a wink. "That's why I'll let her have her fun if you'll have her. But for now..." Once again she dove onto his length, sucking loudly and wetly, letting her tits fall away to stroke him with her hand. Demanding him to finish into her mouth and throat.

Before long, he had no choice but to indulge her. Letting his release overcome him and spurt his seed into her waiting mouth. His beautiful redheaded fiancé continued to suck as she swallowed down his load, like she were drinking it from a straw. When it was over, she let him go, smiled up at him before opening her mouth to show the last of the white cream still bathing her tongue before she swallowed that down too. "Thank you for treating me to lunch, Sensei!"

"Quite literally my pleasure," the teacher sighed, enjoying the afterglow only for Rias to push his chair away.

Then for the again insatiable girl to sit on his desk and spread her legs to show off her lack of panties and eager wetness. "Ready for more?"

Well... He wasn't about to say no. He moved toward his fiancé, taking hold of her thighs as he spread her legs wider–

"Master! Master, something's happened!"

Lelouch didn't wince. Didn't hesitate to turn his attention away from his waiting woman. "What is it, Ana? Has Diodora made his move?"

"I'm not sure! I can't see any sign of him but... The church exploded."

"There is no church. Just some scattered bits of brick wall."

"Yes, Master. And they exploded."

... What? "Where are the Fallen?"

"I don't know, maybe inside? I arrived too late to see what was happening and I didn't want to move in without your say so!"

Right. "I have to go," he told Rias, putting on his coat.

"Where are you going?"

"Something just happened in town. I need to look into it."

The former Gremory heiress nodded, fixing her bra and buttoning her blouse. "I'm coming with you."

Lelouch opened his mouth to protest but... Really there was no reason to do so. This town was their shared territory, after all. He nodded, headed for the door while contacting his peerage, giving them instructions as they moved.

"Loup is looking for Sona, he'll fill her in."

"Good."

Moments later, half of the Bael peerage and half of the Gremory peerage were standing outside what years ago had been a church. What more recently was a near empty clearing with smatterings of broken brickwork. What was now a field of corpses in priestly vestments.

"What?" Kiba asked, lost on what he was seeing. "Stray exorcists? Here?"

Meanwhile Lelouch was doing his best to resist the urge to slap himself for his own ignorance. Fallen. He had told Shirone to keep her senses open for fallen angels and devils. He hadn't even considered humans. Why would he? Only one group of humans allied with the Fallen and that was stray exorcists and excommunicated priests and other brands of clergy who had been discarded just as the Fallen themselves were. If such people had been in Kuoh, he told himself, they wouldn't have been able to restrain themselves even half as well as the fallen angels had. Fallen angels were disgraced for any number of reasons but their human counterparts were almost to a one disgraced for their zealotry.

For stray exorcists to stay out of trouble in a town filled with devils for years... No. That was so unlikely it bordered on the impossible. One of them would have attacked someone. A Pawn from Sona's peerage if he had to guess, the Sitri having up until recently held the weakest Pieces among the three of them. Or maybe some of their contractors. That not a single incident had occurred meant these were new in town. So when were they brought in? Before he geassed the fallen? After? Did he miss something that provoked this? Or was it just happenstance that he couldn't predict?

He had no reason to expect their participation in an operation like this, one that required quiet observation. But at the same time, Lelouch couldn't help but feel he had done exactly the same thing he was relying on for baiting the fallen angels. Ignoring the human element.

The dead priests weren't the only mark of the location, however. "A basement. A sanctuary." He had been right about that, at least. A space under the church hidden from prying eyes, much like the office in his home was.

Rias nodded. "Who knows how long they were hiding out here. Akeno, Kiba."

"Of course, Buchou," Kiba acknowledged the unspoken order as the three of them marched forward and down the hidden, and now broken, staircase.

Lelouch waited for them to be out of easy earshot before speaking. "Shirone. Do you sense anyone out here? Nearby?" He double checked the bodies, specifically how they seemed to have been moving a specific direction. "That way in particular?"

The nekoshou took a deep breath in, then out, her body taking on a shimmering glow for a moment. "A fallen angel. And a human."

Her King nodded, taking wing to find them.

A fallen angel. Raynare, the leader of their little squad. Cradled in her arms, a blonde girl. Both of them bleeding heavily. Raynare's black wings were only present on her right side, the left having been violently sheared off. "Shirone, let me know if–"

"Devils, got it, nya."

He nodded, knelt before the two women. "Raynare." She let out a grimacing creak of noise from her throat as her hand sparked with light. A spear failing to materialise despite her efforts. "You don't remember me?"

She gasped. "My lord!" She looked up, or at least tried to. "I... I did as you commanded, my lord! We protected her!" Her fervour for successfully completing her mission only lasted for long enough to declare it. That same passion sapping the last of her strength. "Are you... 'roud o... of m'...?"

"Raynare, what happened?"

"Master..." He looked at Ana as she spoke, and she shook her head. Silently telling him what he already knew. The last survivor of these fallen were dead.

Dammit. Dammit, he needed to know what happened! What did he miss?! Fallen angels wouldn't fall to some stray exorcists! There was more to this! Did Diodora already attack?!

He checked Asia's pulse, it was there, strong enough that he wasn't immediately worried.

He fingered the Pawn pieces in his pocket.

Rias returned before he could use them. "There were dozens more corpses inside. Including three fallen angels. I disposed of them." Watching him pull the blonde girl out of the fallen's arms and lay her down, the redhead cocked her head. "Do you know her, Lelouch?"

... He would tell her the truth. But not right now. "She's a former nun. Excommunicated. Mash met her a couple of days ago."

"Excommunicated." She looked at the girl with a touch more pity than before. "That's a shame."

"Shirone." He looked at his Bishop and she shook her head. "She also has the Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing."

"I see. Well... You found her, so I won't try to steal her out from under you. Do you want her?"

He shook his head. "You can take her if you like."

"I see. Thank you, Lulu-nii."

It was a strange contrast, seeing Rias like this. So solemn and serious after... Well only a few minutes ago she was much more like she usually was. It was nice to see her treating the situation with the severity and solemnity that it warranted. She knelt at Asia's side, pressed a Bishop Piece to her chest and watched it sink under the girl's skin.

"Do you want me to dispose of her too?" Rias asked as she lifted the comatose blonde in a princess carry.

Lelouch shook his head. "No. I'll take care of it."

His fiancé nodded, walking away to return to her peerage.

"Master..." Ana said quietly.

"I need to know." He pulled out a Pawn Piece and pressed it against the fallen angel's chest. She would be loyal to him. She was powerful enough. And she knew exactly what went wrong here. He wouldn't allow those answers to disappear into the ether.

-(-)-

A/N: This chapter seen very very early on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!

I trust you guys to be civil. The religious stuff is a very biased curriculum written by a very biased source and taught by another very biased source. Not trying to shit on Christianity, it's how the characters would treat the subject for their own ends, as noted in the chapter.