"Guess what papa! Someday when I grow up, I'm going to be your wife!"

She was walking with her dad back from school to go to the ice cream shop. Shirley had just placed first in the spelling bee, and that was good enough to merit an award from her daddy. "Oh, that's very sweet of you honey...But your teacher told you, didn't they?"

"Huh?"

Children really were great. There was a joy in sharing the good things of this world with them. "Someday you'll meet the man you really love."

"More than I do you?" Joseph paused to phrase this the best he could to her.

"Hm...It's hard to explain...Well...If you truly love that person, and he cares for you just as much, then that would make me the happiest father on earth."

"Oh well...If you say so, daddy! That sounds wonderful!"

Joseph chuckled. A smile like that was his joy. "And it will be, honey. Now, what flavor would you like?" They continued walking down the street.

"Cotton candy!"

"Well, if they have it, then I don't see anything wrong with that." Joseph and his daughter walked downtown, a smile on both their faces in the late spring sunshine.

There were panicked voices all around. Fading in and out in blurred vision.

This person's time had come, or so they thought it to be. And it was better this way. They were inserting needles and pins into his arms, yet he didn't feel them. As the world began to fade from him, his mind went back to that morning. It wasn't by his own will but rather the flow and chaotic nature of his thoughts bouncing around until they settled at last.

"Lulu?...Lulu!"

"Wh-what!?" He jumped, almost knocking over his drink as he flinched back into reality.

"...Wow, you're really out of it today...Is something the matter?" Shirley leaned across the table, trying to read his eyes and see if there was anything wrong.

"Oh, no...I was just kind of up late studying, that's all." Shirley smiled, her red-orange hair shimmering in the morning sun.

"Well, it's good to be studious, but have some time for yourself." A nod, her boyfriend's cheeks a little red after going the whole day without being distracted.

"What were you saying?"

She swirled her milkshake in a circle."I was asking..Why do people have to fight? Wars, I mean...So many problems in this world can be solved if people are just willing to communicate, you know?"

"Hmm. Things are pretty complicated when you think about it though. Some countries hold old grudges. Others need resources and simply can't find another way to get it." She nodded.

"Yeah...And people don't always want to listen.."

"Indeed. It's an unfortunate part of the world we live in. If people would just let go of their pride, we wouldn't have to see others pay the price for it.."

She fell silent. "Do you think Zero has ever thought of that?" Lelouch bit his lip. He took a long sip of his drink. He cleared his throat at the thought, watching the cars outside slow themselves in front of the traffic light.

"Perhaps he does...And he just really thinks what he's doing is right...He doesn't want to fight, but you know.." She nodded. A solemn look for such a well-dressed girl. This morning, she'd chosen her sleeveless pink top and white bandage dress. Something casual, but in her taste. Outside, a man had fallen on the street. A dirty brown bag of groceries spilled out all over, and the balding civilian stumbled all over as he tried to pick up cans and bottles alike. The people outside only frowned at him, stepping over the food as they passed.

"Oh no...Be right back!" She dashed out of the diner, orange hair flailing as she went. Shirley was quick to find every can that wasn't ruined. The few that were were tossed, and the ones that she could grab, she gathered into her arms. But without a bag, the man couldn't possibly carry his items. Lelouch watched with a certain wonderment as she ran to the counter, asking for some doggy-bags. The server, a Britannian as it would seem, nodded without even bothering to look at the man outside.

Once Shirley had the bags and darted out to hand them to the man, Lelouch could fully see that his eyes were slitted between those wrinkles. A common feature of an older "eleven." As soon as his bags were ready, she waved him off and he seemed to give her a "thank you" in return. She walked back inside, wiping her brow. "Did you see that? No one even stopped to help out.."

"That's how things are, Shirley. He was an eleven, you know." She raised a brow and looked back outside. The short man had made it to a stoplight. From the distance, one could make out a slight smile on his face.

"I guess he was," she said. She came back to him. "You know...I think he really is a good person. Zero...I just wish...I don't know."

Lelouch took another sip. "What's the right thing to do and what people do in their day-to-day lives aren't always the same." Another few seconds for the noise of the restaurant to settle in just long enough to make her next few words stand out.

"...Do you think he's doing the right thing?" Another one of those questions. He adjusted his collar, letting some of the air in.

"'Not quite sure...There's a lot we don't know about him. But he does give the elevens some hope."

"I guess I just want it to end soon. You know..my father.." Lelouch clenched his cup, then stopped to make sure she didn't notice.

"...I don't hold it against him...It was his fault, but I know he didn't mean to do it." A pounding arose in his chest. Once again, Lelouch was forced into a battle between his demeanor and his emotions. Shoving the pain back down there, he nodded. "There's something good in all of us...And it sounds a little weird, I know, but if I keep hating him for what he did, then I'm no better than those people that hold grudges. Do you know what I'm getting at, Lulu?" He nodded again.

"...I suppose letting go of the past is the only way we can move forward.." Lelouch cleared his throat.

"Yeah...Sorry for getting so personal with you. I just wanted to get it off of my chest. Y-you don't mind, do you?" A soft tug from Lelouch and the couple pulled close to each other.

"Of course not...Come here.."

Shirley got up, smiling. Her meal was pulled his side, and they smiled as she leaned into him. "My girlfriend's secrets are safe with me...Alright?"

"Please don't tell Milly...I don't want her to go around saying I have a crush on Zero or something like that, okay?" Even now, the class president had a knack for showing up at the most random of times. Shirley's eyes were on the watch for a blond head of hair hiding in the hedges somewhere nearby.

"A promise is a promise.." She gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek before finishing her sandwich. They would go for a walk in the park, then a movie. They'd share their thoughts on the film, then go their separate ways. "I hope you had a good time today!"

"Of course...Do you want to do it again next Friday after school?" Having woken up a little groggy this morning, Lelouch hadn't expected to enjoy being so active on a busy day in the settlement like this.

She sighed. "I have a swim meet that night.."

"Then I'll come to watch. Just promise me you'll do your best, okay?"

Shirley's eyes lit up. "Give me a kiss for good luck!" He looked around, noting how many people in town were passing them by. Though there were complete strangers, he knew for a fact that his partner-in-crime occasionally slipped in and out of town to spy on the two of them.

"Well...I don't know.."

"You're not even going to give me a kiss goodnight?" There it was. that adorable pouting. He knew she could forgive him, but they hadn't had the chance to get together for a long time. Britannia was becoming more and more aggressive since the arrival of Cornelia, and it wouldn't be long before he'd have to move them to another outpost. This time was precious. Pizza-lovers be damned.

"Sure" A sigh, and a resignation "...Come here."

"Hmm...Thanks.." She leaned in, and he felt her bangs tickle him as their lips met. A touch that he craved when the battle was difficult and the grim reaper crept between Knightmare gunfire and blades. Her lips slid against his, reigniting a candle in him once again. "Well..goodnight! Be safe!"

Across a short distance of cobblestone, the raven-haired boy bid farewell. "Bye! Love you!" She blew him a kiss, wistful and smiling as she scampered off into the night.

"I...I l-love you too!" And as much as that was true, it still felt a little odd for him to say it in front of the entirety of Area 11. His face was still a little warm as he walked back the street. A familiar voice purred from behind.

"Is your chest still fluttering...' Lulu?'"A sly giggle. "Have a nice day, Casanova?" Lelouch groaned, keeping his pace going as she walked to his side. "You're risking us both by coming out here like this, you know that, right?"

"I didn't follow you the whole time. There's a nice pizza place just a couple blocks from that diner you were at. Too bad you didn't come. 'Would've made it a bit easier."

"She's not going to like it when she notices another girl following us.."

"It won't be a big surprise. You've got the entire female student body drooling over you. Someone's bound to be jealous." He decided to give up. C. C. had been competent not to have been caught yet.

"What's the status on the next outpost?"

"We're setting up a couple in Yokohama and a new squadron of Knightmares is being shipped from Hokkaido to the western coast near Mt. Fuji."

They had been doing so well at their current location. Faculty and supplies were able to move to and from the site with little issue. "Any reason why?"

"Ohgi's paranoid about Hokkaido and I don't blame him. The princess has increased security around that area for the time being." Both of them were walking down the path that would take them to the nearest bus station, watching the faces and heads amongst the crowd as they went.

"We'll have to tell our forces over there to lay low until I can think of something." His head swirled with the thoughts of his sister at the helm of this. Childhood memories clashing with frustration. They'd always joked as children that should Lelouch become the emperor, she would be made the greatest general in all of Britannia. Now, the latter was what prevented him from usurping the very same throne.

"So, do you want to still mill around out here?"

Shaking his head, Lelouch took note of the sun falling beneath the clouds. "No...Let's go back to the clubhouse...I need to check on Nunnally.."

His little sister was asleep by the time he'd returned. A soft crack of light quickly shut out as soon as he could see that. Each one of his footsteps left a gentle pound through the halls. Peaceful noise challenged by the quiet air. Silence truly was a blessing. Much like Shirley, Nunnally was quite the pacifist. The news of Clovis and the deaths in Shinjuku had torn her to pieces...It would be a necessary burden for him to carry in the time being. As for Shirley...Her pondering on Zero had been an anchor on his thoughts all day.

"If I told her tomorrow...Would she still love me just the same?" Anyone normal would run from him if they knew the truth. He figured the student council wouldn't expose him, but the smiles he loved so much would disappear. He'd become an outcast. Just another face in the student body, and all meaning in his normal life would cease. Perhaps one of them might get nervous and let the secret out. He slipped into his room and locked the door.

"That girl of yours...She's quite the idealist, don't you think?" C. C.'s sudden remark broke through the peaceful silence of the clubhouse, as it often tended to when he was in deep thought.

"Nunnally? Yes, of course.." Though she was sure to grow out of it with time. A sad truth he'd accepted long ago.

"I mean Shirley. The one that Mao...Well, I'm not going to go there.." Words trickled off, the two feeling a certain weight float away with it. Slender male fingers gripped the side of his bed frame, feeling the small markings etched into it.

"That's why she can't know...Not yet.." C. C. Reached into a private pizza fridge she'd won from a contest at a local establishment.

"When do you plan on telling her? This charade can't last forever you know.." Lelouch sat down on the bed, staring down at the fine strands of his rug.

"...She'll be in danger if she knows." Taking a bite, she glared at him for a good minute. Abrasive as his partner could be, she was still at the very least, concerned when needed.

"And that's why I told you not to get involved. Didn't I say-"

"Keep the ones you love at a distance? Yes, I know...But there's still a chance.."

She pulled out the freshest slice she could find, examining the patches of baked cheese. "And yet, you're still going to fight fate knowing this? I've met more than one man in my life who gambled like this. Very few were ever successful.."

"You prove my point. A small chance is all I need."

"Heh...Defiant as always. I'm going to go check out the microwave. Be right back.."

She wandered off, pizza in hand as Lelouch was left with his thoughts. He had to be strong. The greatest men in history had carried the burden of thousands, if not millions of lives on their shoulders. Especially the ones they cared about. And yet, it ate at him every day. For each laugh with Rivalz, he saw him murdered by Britannian assassins. For each event with Milly, he saw her being incarcerated with the rest of the Ashfords for colluding with a criminal. For each memory shared with Suzaku, he imagined being impaled by the Lancelot's slash harkens on some fateful night. Nunnally being sent back to the homeland, Nina joining Milly in prison or forced to serve the empire as a two-bit scientist's lab assistant, Kallen on the run for the rest of her life or killed outright. Shirley...

"That. won't. happen.." He stood back up and went to his phone to plan the next mission.