Chapter 49: Masks off at Ashford

It call comes to to a head for the council. the 2 months of lies, half-truths and mis-directions have hit thier limit and now Lelouch needs to asnwer for it, for better or worse.

November afternoons in Tokyo settlement always brought crisp, invigorating air and a gentle, warm sun that coaxes out soft golden light, though now those rays had taken on a warm orange and red as the sun fell further into the west, the chill of the night slowly working its way in, but it wasn’t so cold that one would worry about snow and for many, they could still find plenty to do. Plenty to see to take up their time with friends and family.

And yet, within the Ashford student council building, such thoughts couldn’t have been further from anyone’s mind.

“I did, Milly. For better and worse, I did. I’m him, the man who killed Clovis, who challenges Britannian, who created the Black Knights.” Lelouch refuted as he placed a hand above his heart and declared. “I am Zero.”

That response sucked up any warmth in the space, leaving the twos at heads. On one side, Lelouch, Chantal and Mao sat, the latter having no real dog in this race, but she knew Chantal did and that was enough for her.

On the other, the gathered council, baring Suzaku. Each had some sort of surprise, horror or terror clear as day on their faces. Rivalz looked like he had not heard it, even though the comment was racing through his mind in loop. Nina looked close to passing out on fright as she tried and failed to make sense of things. Shirley had just collapsed into her chair, her expression dazed and just a little hurt as she realized the implications of it.

Milly took it the best, and even then, she was holding onto the side of the table just to keep from falling to her knees. She knew more than the others, but she had hoped…she hoped it would never come to this, that her VP had found ways to live past it, but she was wrong.

Nunnally was stoic, at least she tried to be, as her lip trembled as all manner of thoughts and feelings formed and raced through her heart and mind. She had always known, more than anyone else presence, just what sort of hatred burned at her brother’s core. She had prayed and hoped and pleaded that he wouldn’t allow it to take further root, but she knew she had been lying to herself.

She had always known, but she had never allowed the thought to linger.

“Brother…is…is this real?” Yet, Nunnally still asked. She didn’t know why, she didn’t know what she wanted to hear, but she asked all the same.

Lelouch sighed, but he replied. “As real as the blood in my veins, or the red on my hands, Nunnally. I am Zero.”

“How…why…you-you don’t have any reason to want to be a terrorist, man!” Rivalz seemed like he was having a mental breakdown at the insanity of this.

“Why would you side against Britannia? Why side with the Elevens?” Nina followed suit. As she had always found it odd how chummy Lelouch was with Elevens, same as Nunnally but this...this was nothing like she would have thought.

Lelouch had to take a breath, his nerves were already frayed and it wouldn’t do to grow upset with Nina for using that label. He could feel Chantal at his side, his lover placing a hand of support on his back, allowing him to exhale and with it, expel some of that anger. ‘No more masks…not with them…no matter what.’

“Lelouch-” Nunnally started but Lelouch cut her off, his question aimed towards his gambling buddy.

“Rivalz, what is my name?” He asked what seemed like a simple question, but it set off alarm bells in Milly and Nunnally, while Kallen felt like there was more to this, much more.

“What?” Rivalz asked, confused as to what was the point of this. They all knew his name.

Lelouch didn’t back down, instead he turned his gaze towards Rivalz, his eyes looked…different. Rivalz couldn’t place it, but he just knew they weren’t the same eyes of his friend he had known since their first year at Ashford. “You heard me, what is my name? My full name?”

“Uhm, well,” Rivalz, put on the spot, just went with it and tried to respond as best he could. “I don’t know your middle name, I only know you as Lelouch Lamperouge, dude.”

Lelouch hearing that, took another breath, his brow creased as if something unpleasant flashed through his mind, but it was gone as soon as it formed. “That is not my name, at least, it the full name.” He stated, as this was a part of himself he had never thought he’ll show. It was a name he had wished he abandoned and yet, clang to him like the scent of copper on a old blade.

“Lamperouge is merely a mask. Something I came up with as a child before I ended up at Ashford just I could fill in official paperwork.” If he wasn’t recalling it wrong, he picked it on a whim. ‘Red Lamp’, it had no meaning, he didn’t suite him as right lights often meant prostitution and drugs-both things he avoided.

Shirley looked at him, and then towards Nunnally, who didn’t look the slightest bit shocked by this. Why would she be when she had also lied about their last name, but the part Shirley couldn’t get was the why. “I don’t get it, Lulu-why would you lie about your name? Is it because of your family history?”

Nunnally grimaced at that, which Kallen and Alice caught, while Lelouch let out a bitter laugh, a hard laugh. Oh, how she said it, it sounded so simple. “That, and because my true name is likely to net my even more people trying to kill Nunnally and I, and not for my gambling habit but to finish the job they started years ago.”

“Brother…” Nunnally uttered, as she hadn’t thought he’ll go this far though maybe she was just lying silly. If he became Zero, then it was deeply connected to this.

“Lelouch, are you sure about this?” Milly couldn’t help but ask him, as she didn’t know the full story, but she had learned through bits and pieces over the years that their family dynamic was screwed up to put it lightly.

Lelouch sent Milly a dry, tired look. “You all did all this to get the truth out of me, are you backing down now?”

When Milly didn’t back down, and the rest looking at him with such eager eyes, he allowed the mask to fall and shatter. “My name…is Lelouch vi Britannia.”

Sancia firmed her lips as the rest were hit with that bombshell. She wasn’t as plugged into Britannian society as the rest, she had no real interesting learning more than the basics, but that name, you’ll need to be a idiot not to connect it. “Wait, vi Britannia? Isn’t that similar to Clovis, Cornelia and Marrybell?”

“It is,” Nunnally was the one who answered it, looking incredibly uncomfortable about it. “Because they’re our siblings. Our father is the emperor, our mother is…was consort Marriane vi Britannia.” She whispered her mother’s name, needing a moment to gather herself as she could never forget, the flashing lights, the loud cracks of guns, the pain and the wet weight of her mother’s bleeding corpse over her.

“You….you two are royals?” Shirley looked like she would pass out, while Kallen was not much far from it as Rivalz kept on rubbing his eyes, as if it would remove whatever filter kept him from noticing something before.

Lelouch nodded. “In blood, though if I’m honest, only Nunnally still has any claim to the throne. I renounced my own years ago.”

That seemed to be news to Nunnally, as she gasped and turned her closed eyes towards her brother. “You did what? Brother, you never told me-”

“Because it didn’t matter to me. Not when it came with such a high cost.” Lelouch quietly affirmed. As he had never once regretted it. And that had only grown as he saw what it drove Clovis to do.

He then turned back towards Rivalz, freezing him in place as his friend saw something dark bubbling in Lelouch’s gaze. Something dangerous. “You said I don’t have reason to be a terrorist, Rivalz, but I disagree. I have ample reason to want to see my father dead and his empire given the same treatment Carthage got from Rome.”

“Is this…about mother?” Nunnally questioned, as she didn’t miss out in everything back them. She could fill in the gaps without much to work with. She could recall how absent and emotional disconnected their father had been, even when mother was still around.

“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a factor.” Lelouch replied as he leaned back, his eyes moving to the ceiling as he allowed himself to go down memory lane. “My mother was a former Knight of Round. Having held the title of Knight of 6. She was one of my father’s biggest backers as he fought to claim the throne. She was killed, a pioneer in knightmare combat and second only to Bismark, the Knight of One, though she often bragged she was the better dualist.”

He cracked a smile at that, one which Chantal mirrored. His mother…she was something else, so different from the other noble ladies and consorts. He might have been bias, but how his other siblings acted only affirmed it. His mother, she was a free and proud spirit. Someone who would ride a horse into court to get his father’s attention, a knightmare to scare the crap out of other noble ladies messing with Nunnally.

She was no flower, oh no, she was a rapier and a fine one at that. He could fondly recall watching one sparring session between her and Bismarck. How she got him to agree, she never said, but no matter how the Knight of One went at it, he just couldn’t land a hit as his mother moved like lighting given form, easily landing several hits and taking the win.

Kallen tried to recall about anything about Marriane, as the name did ring a bell. Yes…yes, she did recall haring about her. she was pretty popular with commoners at the time. “I think I heard something about her…wasn’t she a commoner by birth?” Because she was one, people saw her as proof that excellence would be recognised and rewarded, but nothing on her cause of death.

“She was, and she wasn’t very liked for it back in the capital.” Nunnally confirmed, as one didn’t need to travel long to hear whatever terrible things others had to say about her mother. Nor were the crueller of their half-siblings all that shy about calling them half-bloods for it. Carine loved to use that for Nunnally whenever they saw one another.

“So neither were you, being her children?” Lucretia put the pieces together, not liking what she saw as even as royals, their commoner bloodline was so disliked that the worried about assassinations.

“We had little allies, the Ashford were one of them. Along with some of our siblings, Euphemia, Cornelia, Clovis and the current Prime Minister, Schneizel.” Lelouch shrugged, treating it like it was of little importance, which in turn had the rest tun towards Milly, who raised her hands.

“I didn’t know them back then, consort Marriane did most of the meetings with grandfather.” She hadn’t even known why her grandfather had offered them aide when they met. They just seemed like 2 commoner kids and it took time for her to understand why.

“Then…mother was killed, and I was caught in the crossfire, it’s why I can’t walk or see anymore.” Nunnally looked down, which pulled on their heartstrings as Nina gasped. As she couldn’t imagine someone harming Nunnally, she refused to, but it had already happened.

“Tell me they’re dead.” Alice glared at Lelouch, as this…this demanded blood. Nunnally had been nothing but kind, patient and instructive towards Alice and her sisters. She accepted them with open arms and had become Alice’s best friend.

Lelouch matched her glare with one of his own, his hands resting on his knees. “I can’t, because I don’t know who did it. Funny thing, despite being his favoured consort. All she did in fighting his wars, slaying his enemies so he could take that damned throne, when our mother was gunned down in her home, our….father had no interest in discovering who the culprit was, and cancelled the investigation.”

“Wh-no, that-that doesn’t make sense, you must be mistaken!” Nina burst out, shaking her head but Lelouch didn’t fault her. Even now, he could barely understand his…the emperor’s reasoning for it. He knew more about it, such as the fact his mother wasn’t even given a proper funeral thanks to Clovis but not much else.

“He did, and you can ask around, there has never been an official report done. And when I confronted him about it, questioned him on why he couldn’t even bring his sorry ass to visit Nunnally in the hospital, do you know what he told me?” Lelouch asked, a smile gracing his face, but it was one which only unnerved the rest.

For Kallen, she recalled feeling a similar thing when he had laid into Tamaki for wasting money. She wondered if he had made the sae twisted face, a expression that looked half broken, half mad while polished with glee.

“ ‘Old news. What of it?’ He called Nunnally weak, claimed that such was the price of royalty,” He repeated like it was poison, his smile widening as bloodlust flowed through the cracks. “Charles was lucky I wasn’t armed then, else I would have put a few rounds into him even if it led to me death.”

“Lelouch.” Chantal calmed him before he let out too much and gave someone line Nina a heart attack.

“Right, right…” Lelouch reeled it in, the cracks filled with but still present, still visible. “So, I renounced my title. I refused to partake in his blood-soaked manipulations and for that, he accused me of being dead-having never achieved or earned a thing in my life before he exiled Nunnally and I to Japan, though the media reported it was merely studying abroad with no set destination.”

“Wait, you an Suzaku, didn’t you meet each other-his family, the former Prime Minister hosted you?” Rivalz figured out, as he had always wondered about that, but never pushed. But now it made perfect sense. Who better to watch over 2 royal kids then the Japanese Prime Minister?

Kallen in particularly felt like she should have suspected sooner that there were…had been that important once upon a time, considering Lelouch even knew Kirihara, enough that the man just seeing his face and having a simple conversation could sway him to their side.

Even Kaguya, another head of Kyoto, seemed especially close to them and now that she also knew who Zero was, had proven to be a strong ally within the halls of Kyoto. It was because they all met then, and both knew more then most-just how much Lelouch hated Britannia.

“For over a year. Things…were not great then.” Lelouch would spare them those details, things were heavy enough as is. “The Kurururigi’s knew our presence was more an insult than anything else. They caught on by how we arrived like commoners that our father had no love for us and most likely, he banked on Suzaku’s father or someone associated to him to try and kill us to give him an excuse to invade.”

His amused tone near the end was as ill-fitting as a shark in the desert. Even Nunnally seemed off put by his morbid sense of humour as Shirley looked between them. “But…you’re still here.”

“Correct, when the Japanese proved unwilling to slaughter a couple effective orphans, he decided he was done waiting and invaded anyway.” Lelouch glanced towards the window, towards the settlement built over the bones of Japan. That day, all those years ago when he looked to the skies and saw nothing but bombers. No warning, no declaration-just death.

“But…but Britannia invaded because the Elevens weren’t being fair with sakuradite trade, we wanted to show them the way, to share in our prosperity.” Nina rebutted, though unlike so many other statements she would have made in Britannia’s defence, it seemed like even she didn’t believe it.

Kallen’s hand clenched so hard it went white. Such statements, repeated in class, in public and that the Tokyo war museum, she hated them. She hated ow little context it gave, how much grace it laid at Britannia’s feet while undermining the suffering that ‘prosperity’ cost. She hated the double think which made people claim such utter bullshit while Japanese weren’t even seen as citizens, much less able to enjoy any of the wealth and economic benefits of the conquest.

Lelouch chuckled, his faux amusement a circling shark in the water. “Prosperity….what a foolish thing to claim a war is waged for. It’s was greed, for pride-nothing more.”

“But-!” Nina again tried to counter, though she didn’t even know why at this point. She trusted Lelouch, she trusted the entire council. She couldn’t dismiss his words, and yet, maybe it was her patriotism, maybe it was her fear of Elevens in general, but she tried to defend the empire.

The shark burst out of the water, but it did not bite, it did not roar. It made itself known and sent fear through your heart as Lelouch softly started to speak. “Do you know what the invasion really looked like?” He asked, but didn’t give them the time to answer, now could they, shaken by just how dead he sounded.

“Ever seen an explosion up close? Shrapnel ripping flesh like paper at bullet speed? Smelled a corpse rotting under the sun? Ever watched a building collapse on people, crushing them into red paste if they’re lucky, trapping them if they aren’t? Had to walk away from corpses, leaving them in the dirt because you don’t have the shovel or time?”

He spoke like he was discussing homework, or some assignment which was mildly difficult to complete. It was as if the weight of his words meant nothing to him, but to Nunnally, to Kallen, they could tell it was the opposite. He had dealt with the weight for so long he no longer reacted to its crushing pressure like they did. His shoulders had forever been warped by it.

Nunnally in particular felt sick as she had been there, but…but he didn’t say anything about this. He and Suzaku had never mentioned that people were hurt.

When explosions had gone off, they claimed it was damaged infrastructure or vehicles, that was also how shrapnel came to form. When they smelled the rot, it was always landfills and other trash heaps, Lelouch chuckled then, and noted they walked through them to avoid being scene. When buildings collapsed, she….she never heard those people. Had they cried out? Had they seen her? Had they cursed her? She didn’t know…

But she would now.

Lelouch was not unaware, he was not unperceptive. He could tell how much this was getting to Nunnally. But no matter how much he wished to stop, to claim it was all some fucked up lie and reassure her. she had said it best herself. She was far older than he had been when he lost such luxuries. Maybe it was cruel, maybe in a more just world, she wouldn’t hear such things till she was older.

Sadly, they didn’t live in a just world, and with how much was happening, he couldn’t keep trying to protecting her from the realities of the world, not when it could leave her vulnerable to the dangers of it.

And so, he continued, speaking like a corpse, without a soul or passion. Merely stating facts as harsh as a brick to the face. “Ever been so hungry you dreamed of chewing grass, swallowing bugs? Seen whole towns torched, bombed flat, thousands erased like they never existed?”

He got up, and slowly, robotically, undid his top. As he pulled it off his body, no-one could focus on his physique, which had improved since he started his career as Zero. No, they focused on the scars. Bullet wounds as Kallen realized, the others being slower on the uptake. But what stood out the most, was the large, ugly burn scar on his left side. One only 2 people even knew existed as Lelouch never undressed in front of others, or wore clothing which could reveal it.

Gently, as if the wound could burst out and gush his lifeblood anew, Lelouch reached for it, the tips of his fingers grazing it as he continued. “Ever been shot and had to have your best friend dig the bullet out of your side?” He smiled, though it lacked any feeling, any emotion. He came off like an animatronic as his friends and sister focused on the scar, Nunnally left in the dark about it, like so much about her brother.

“Had to bite down on a bark of wood you found in the dirt as he worked makeshift tweezers deep into your flesh and then sealed the wound shut with a pipe beaten into sharp and left in a fire? Had to lie to your sister and claim the two of you merely burnt some pork you found?” Nunnally whimpered, as she recalled the moment. He and Suzaku had gone off for supplies, claimed they ran into some wild animals and Lelouch hurt his foot to explain like he groaned and stumbled.

When she woke the next day, she…she had been upset that they tried t have pork without her. she had yelled at them. ‘Oh God…why…why did they…’ She couldn’t ask, because she knew the answer.

Better Nunnally think Suzaku and Lelouch had just been selfish and dumb, then had nearly been killed. Better she didn’t realise how close to death Lelouch had got in that moment.

She wasn’t the only one as Chantal bit her lip, but she didn’t speak, she didn’t move even when Mao tried to comfort her with a one-handed hug.

All of this, Lelouch noted, but he kept on going. “Have you ever killed to breathe another minute? Stared a man in the eyes as you pulled the trigger, kicked him off a roof, drove steel into his chest and felt his soul leak out—bit back the tears, the sorry choking in your throat? Got so good at killing it stopped mattering?”

Lelouch challenged them, looking them in the eye, letting them see just a glimpse of the killer that lay beneath.

The man who could sick rats on his opponents. Could deceive people into thinking a child needed help so his targets would move into kill zones. A man who could burry dozens in a landslide, fire tnak shells at them, or cripple a soldier and leave him to the birds to slowly, painfully and grotesquely pick apart till it eventually killed him.

None could look him in the eye. Shirley looked like she would break out in tears. Even Kallen and the Irregulars seemed disturbed by what layer beneath. “Seen what Britannian soldiers do for ‘His Majesty’?” He asked, forcing the questions to burrow into their heads.

“Mothers, sisters, daughters dragged screaming from their homes to ‘comfort’ the noble conquerors? Ever tried to strip their humanity away just to sleep—only to have every face you killed, every body broken by Britannian ‘kindness’, crawl into your skull and stay?” The calm couldn’t last, the shark wasn’t content in just swimming around.

His smile, now more than ever, was the open jaws of a shark, his eyes vacant of life and only housed death and ruin. “Have any of looked in the mirror and saw a beast wearing your face? Know what it’s like to lose dreams at ten fucking years old, to beg for blank nothing instead of the screaming, the blood, the rage carving your heart hollow?”

He broke out in broken laughter, bordering on exhausted, insane sobs as he tried desperately to keep it together. Chantal gently pulling him back to his seat and hugging him, holding his ehad to the crook of her neck as Lelouch fought just to keep from breaking down.

When he managed to get it under control, enough to speak, he sounded angry, tired and yet resigned at the same time. “Of course you haven’t, it’ll never make it into any textbooks. No reporter would have dared aired it back them. No, instead we ‘brought enlightenment, prosperity and progress to the backwards Japanese’ a modern-day crusade.”

He seemed to whisper, yet they heard it as clear as a gunshot. “But I know…I was there from start to finish. I cut off parts of myself just to remain alive, to remain sane.”

That…was apparent now. Milly biting her lip as she admonished herself for never noticing. For never asking if he was truly okay when he was clearly not. Rivalz couldn’t help but wonder if he was ever the dependable friend, or if he and Lelouch were friends. Shirley…she struggled to fit the pieces together. As Lulu…he was nothing like Zero, he didn’t kill, he didn’t gloat about committing such acts, but she hadn’t known he had been forced through something like that so young.

Kallen, who could understand part of it, wondered if her mother and brother had done the same for her. She had been kept away from the worse of the invasion. Safe as the country was torn apart because of her features. But Naoto wasn’t, and he was often gone in those days. Then there was mom…she had only recently started to reconnect with her, but…but she her smile hide similar scars. Were thy horror stories she kept locked up and never intended to speak of?

The exhaustion ran its course, as Lelouch fell onto his old friend, his longtime partner-his wrath as he snarled. “Britannia is a monster, it’ll rape, pillage and burn the Earth ill nothing is left by their excess, pride and decadence, it can’t be changed, because the rot isn’t truly rot, it’s built into the system, from the royal family down, the emperor breeds nothing but hate, competition and self-interest.”

Sitting straight, he looked his friends dead in the eye, dared them to challenge his words. “You want to know why I chose to fight? Why I could look my own brother Clovis in the eye and put 3 bullets in his chest? It’s because he deserved it! What he did wasn’t abnormal, it wasn’t ‘going too far’ it was standard practice and I hated that. I exposed it, I showed the world his evils and you know what changed?”

“Nothing.” Kallen answered, the rest quickly turning to her as she crossed her arms, a furious look on the other ‘meek’ girl. “Nothing changed. No-one was punished, not really. They just lost their jobs because it made the rest look back. Cornelia was able to carry out a massacre of her own and it didn’t even make the news.”

She knew they couldn’t have stopped it. She saw right in front of her the good they did when they saved Sancia and the rest from the Code-R lab. Yet, it was hard. It was hard to sleep at night when she knew they used a massacre of the people, the people they swore to protect to mask their other goals.

But more then that, she hated how it was hardly talked about. Cornelia could repeat such a horrible thing, and even when it did get out, no-one questioned it. No-one truly discussed it and if it was necessary. Why? She knew why and she hated that to:

It was because it wasn’t front page news. Because they didn’t need to face the brutal reality of the empire. Because so many didn’t want to question the status quo they benefited from.

“But you’re killing to, aren’t you?” Shirley almost whimpered, wiping away her tears, she couldn’t stop wondering how her father had nearly ended up dead because of Lelouch’s rebellion. “How many, Lulu…how many people have you killed?”

Lelouch looked away, not out of shame, but because he just couldn’t look her in the himself now. “I stopped counting years ago, but my hands in drenched in crimson and I won’t be washing them off anytime soon. Not till this damned world we live in is changed for the better. Till the killing, the hate, the discrimination and apathy is rooted out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me…” Nunnally softly asked, wheeling her chair forward, she didn’t need to see to figure out where Lelouch was, to know where his hand would be for her to grasp. It grounded her, this reminder that these same hands had carried had, cared for her, protected her and loved her. She had to remember he was still him. “Why lie to me, Lelouch.”

“Because…” He had to pause, he had to gather his strength for this. “Because I didn’t want you to forsake your soul like I did, I didn’t want the one good thing I still had to turn as vile as me, as angry as me…as broken as me.” He admitted.

Chantal wondered about that, she hated how it affected her lover, but he wasn’t the only one she had seen it countless times. How wars, strike and loss could turn even the kindest into monsters just to survive. “Wars are one of humanity’s failures. As all wish for prosperity, for glory but they’ll bring ruin and shame all the same. But also, ambition can drive man to such depths of depravity.”

She glanced at the group.one which had accepted her with open arms, who treated her like one of their one. Maybe…maybe she should also be a little more open with them in turn. “Clovis captured me because of my power. To put it simply, I’m immortal and he sought a means to replicate it. Maybe for himself, maybe to create a super breed of soldiers who could regenerate from serious if not lethal wounds to claim the throne.”

“Wait, wai-that’s impossible! People don’t just become immortality.” Rivalz cut her off, as the war parts were crazy enough, but they could happen. But people aged, people died, that was a fact.

Chantal agreed on that front. “They typically don’t. but I can assure you it’s true. I could cut my hand right now and you’ll see in seconds the wound heal, as if it were never there.” She claimed, speaking without a shred of deceit or bravado. “Clovis kept plenty of records of their experiments which Lelouch copied, you can all watch it later…if you have the stomach for it.”

“She’s not lying, we’re…results of that.” Sancia sighed, as this was getting a bit too heavy for her, but if everyone was sharing…

With the group turning towards her and her sisters, looking overwhelmed by all these secrets coming undone, she continued. “We were test subjects of Clovis, and he tried to grant us powers, and he succeeded, Alice, Dalque, yours are the easiest to demonstrate.”

Alice didn’t speak, she merely stood straight, looked to the far side of the room where a desk with a marker sat and almost teleported towards it.

She grabbed the marker, and followed it with a dash towards Milly, the wind still blowing the blonde’s hair back as she hardly registered Alice as the younger girl removed the marker’s lid, drew a line across Milly’s cheek, closed it and then back to where she had been at Nunnally’s side. “What-how did you?” Milly blinked, as she just felt the marker on her skin and reached for it, as she knew-but she wouldn’t have-

Alice cut her off and just explained it. “I was indued with superhuman speed as my cells can be forced into overdrive of sorts, with a minor healing factor to repair the damage done.”

“I got strength, same deal as Alice over here. If I try, I can lift around a 30 tons.” Dalque, with visible no effort. Picked up the couch with a single hand, raised it above her head and then gently placed it down. “Holding back in P.E. has been a chore, but can’t break training equipment and act like it’s nothing.” She added, pouting of all things.

“You know what? Screw it. Not like I’m innocent either.” Kallen grunted as she dropped the sickly act.

“Kallen?” Shirley blinked as Kallen moved to stand in the middle of the two sides.

“Since we’re forcing them to share, only right I do too. Milly already knew but I’m not a full blooded Britannian, I’m half Japanese on my mother’s side.” Kallen revealed, but she didn’t stop there.

“I joined the resistance and become a core member of the Black Knights because I hated the system, and saw my friends and family treated like dirt. By own brother, he was a lot like you, Lelouch. He believed in fighting for change, to right the wrongs, and he gave his life for it.” Kallen continued. As if Lelouch could reveal he was Zero, that he was a fucking prince of Britannia, she could reveal she was a terrorist…

Funny, compared to the rest of the surprises, that felt almost little.

“We had 2 terrorists in class this entire time…” Rivalz mumbled, as he just didn’t know what to take from…any of them. he was half convinced it was better if they just left sleeping dogs lay. Not like he was the only one as Milly, Shirley, Nina and Nunnally all looked sick to their stomachs, along with some other combination or word for confused, disgusted, angry or sad.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t hate any of you. I don’t hate Ashford, I love it here. People like you, they remind me that Britannian isn’t whole evil, that good people still exist and they try their best to help people feel welcome, you all accepted Suzaku like it was nothing, because you didn’t see him as anything more than another student.”

“So, at the hotel jacking, that was you?” Milly asked, as thinking back on it, there had been a redhead present who sounded familiar, but it was dark and she wore a mask. Was that Kallen?

“We were having a meeting then, which was why I couldn’t go with you all. When we saw the news, we couldn’t just stand by as our fight is with the system, the mentality which supports it, not the people.” Kallen relayed, as that was the truth. Yes, Lelouch hadn’t first ordered anything related to it, but it was because he didn’t believe they had a way in.

“I…I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to think.” Nina whispered, as she looked like she was about to crack and none were sure if that was from an explosion, or the girl just pouring out her shell.

“Ask, and we’ll answer.” Lelouch promised, as he just wanted this to be over, but hey had come this far, might as well see it done. Give them all the chance to hear it all and sleep on it.

Nunnally was the one who pushed, and she went for something she had wondered about ever since the news…since her brother had revealed it to the world. “What else is there about Clovis’s human experimentation we should know about?” She had to know-all of it. She had to know what made Clovis forsake morals and his soul, what was so horrifying he tried to wipe out an entire ghetto to keep it locked away.

Lelouch nodded and started to explain. “Well, there was something he didn’t know about it, a power which Claude can give which she has done for Mao and myself…”

It would take another 2 hours, plenty of tears, yelling and near breakdowns before they would finish. And by then, all were so emotionally drained that they couldn’t even leave to head home and crushed at the student council. Sayoko, who had remained silent but present through it all, laying out pillows, blankets and a spare mattress for them.

She would have words for her master, but they could come tomorrow.

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And we’re back and we got a full week’s worth of chapters finished this time! Which was god news for me as I went into this feeling just a little bit happier then I typically would which I needed as this chapter, oh boy, was it loaded in the planning phrase as how does one tackle the entire council finding out about Zero at this point? More so, how does this version of Lelouch, a self-professed mess of a man, handle all that?

Safe to say, it took some time to cook this up, but I’m happy with the finished product, which means tomorrow, I can work on other WIPs as I got ideas like nails in my head I need to put to word doc, edit, think-and reorganise so I’ll have plenty of content for this, new stories and reworking older ones.

Speaking of time, I have an announcement that may have already been shared with those who have read my other none commission works. As usual, I will be taking time off from November 23rd to January 5th. I'll have time to relax, see the family, and sit down for shorter, less frequent planning and brainstorming sessions. Good Lord, I have so many ideas. So yeah, just 2 more chapters for the year, not including this one.

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I had not planned for this to end here, and I know I still have over 2000 words to play with, but the next part was meant to be the part where they council, having learned all of it, would be able to slowly process this and interact as they do. That felt too important to try and fit into the smaller reminder of the chapter, so I decided it would better be handled in the next chapter. And that’s leaving out Suzaku who very much was not present as that’s just a bomb waiting to blow if he was, then there is Cornelia, Euphemia and Marrybell, the rest of the Black Knights-

Look, I had a shit tone of stuff planned for this and it just couldn’t fit. Besides, I think this came out pretty well as I don’t know of many stories which really tackle the rest learning about who Zero was during what would be R1. And those who do, tend to only focus on ‘well, he’s good’ and not really…stew on the fact Lelouch is a masked terrorist, he’s the most wanted man in Britannia. He’s KILLED people, and will continue to kill people. Here, Shirley’s dad survived by chance-of not for Tamaki, he would have first been maybe 20 feet under, dug up and put 6 feet under.