Villeta was terrified.

In front of her stood Lelouch, the person she hated and feared more than any other. Behind her stood Jeremiah Gottwald, the man she had once admired above all others, the man who was now part machine and immune to knives and guns.

The man who now swore his undying loyalty to the same terrorist he once hated even more than Villeta did.

Lelouch nodded, and Jeremiah opened his mechanical eyepiece, activating his Geass canceler.

Villeta's eyes widened as a switch in her mind flipped, and for a moment she was in another place, another time.

She was in her Knightmare, staring out at the carnage in the warehouse.

"How could all these Royal Guards be dead?"

She saw a student standing in front of the dead bodies. "What happened here, boy? And why is a Britannian student in a place like this?!" she demanded.

"Are you deaf? Answer me or I'll-"

She raised her machine's gun and fired a series of warning shots around the boy. To her shock, he did not react at all

"Answer me!"

The boy snarled and glared at her. "I order you to come out. At once!"

Villetta looked at him like he was crazy. "Who the hell do you think you are to order me?"

The boy seemed to reconsider his attitude and raised his hands, acknowledging the power difference between them. "My name is Allen Spacer, my father's a duke."

"Nobility?" Villeta asked.

"My ID card's in my breast pocket," the boy continued. "After you confirm who I am, I'll request your protection."

Villetta removed hey activation key and began to exit her Knightmare. "Keep your hands up in the air, I'll take out your ID."

The boy grinned, and a glowing red symbol appeared in his left eye. "Now then, hand your Knightmare over to me."

Something came over Villeta, and she tossed the activation key to him. "Understood. The code number is XG21G2D4."

The boy caught the key and casually walked past her. She did not even turn around to watch as he drove her Knightmare frame out of the warehouse and into the ghetto.

Villeta leaned forward and clutched her forehead as her memories returned to her.

"Your majesty," Jeremiah asked in concern. "What's wrong?"

Villeta opened her eyes. Lelouch was leaning forward in the same pose as her.

"I'm fine," Lelouch assured him. He stood up straight. "I once faced a Geass user who had the power to read minds. To beat him I had to use my power to make myself forget my own plan. You just undid the Geass I used on myself."

Villeta turned to Jeremiah, who was smiling at this further proof of his prince's brilliance.

"Now then, Coach Villeta," Lelouch said, removing the contact lens which held back his Geass power.

She turned back to Lelouch at the sound of her name.

"Lelouch vi Britannia orders you to answer him!"

Villeta wanted to scream in horror as the power was used on her a second time, but her eyes glazed over before she had a chance.

"Yes," she said. "What is it you want to know?"

"How do you really feel about Kaneme Ohgi?" Lelouch asked.

Villeta answered in a neutral tone which belied the words coming from her mouth. "I hate myself for having fallen in love with an eleven."

Lelouch looked at her with a sad expression. "So, you really do love him."

"Yes."

Lelouch sighed and put his contact back on. Villeta blinked as she was released from his control.

"Thank you, Jeremiah. Now I know I can use my Geass a second time on people who have been exposed to your Geass canceller."

"Of course," Jeremiah responded. "Do you want me to use it again so you can put Villeta under your control permanently?"

Villeta gasped and turned to Jeremiah again. That he of all people would suggest such a thing was the greatest betrayal she had ever experienced.

"No. I'm not interested in having slaves," Lelouch replied. He walked over to the main computer of the control room and sat down.

"I need to examine the data on the order Lord Jeremiah provided. The two of you can go."

Jeremiah bowed and turned to leave. Villeta followed hesitatingly.

She closed the door and turned to grimace at her ex-boss. "Lord Jeremiah."

"Hmm?" He turned to face her.

"Why are you serving Lelouch? I was blackmailed, but you have nothing to lose by turning against him, and if you're really immune to Geass …"

"It's a matter of loyalty," Jeremiah said.

"Loyalty?"

"My loyalty was always to Lady Marianne first and foremost. Of course I would serve her son."

Villeta's eyes widened in surprise. "Her son?"

"I never would have guessed," Kallen said. "I mean, that you were a royal princess, Nunnally."

"Forgive me for hiding things from you," the Viceroy replied.

"Same for me," Kallen said.

Nunnally had ordered Kallen moved to a nicer cell and even given her nice clothes in place of her prisoner's uniform.

"It's so nostalgic, talking about Ashford Academy," Nunnally said. "They told me I wasn't to see Milly and the others, so Suzaku is the only one I've been able to talk to. They also said my brother has vanished. No one knows where he is!"

"Tell me, what sort of brother was Lelouch for you?" Kallen asked.

"Huh?" Nunnally asked.

"I used to have a brother too, so that's why I asked."

Nunnally smiled. "I'm happy just to have someone to talk to about Lelouch. I've been so worried about him since the Black Rebellion. First he lost Euphie, and then I was taken away on the same day. It must have been devastating for him."

"Euphie, do you mean Princess Euphemia?" Kallen asked in surprise. "She was close with Lelouch?"

"Yes. Euphie was always our favorite half-sibling. She and Lelouch adored each other."

Kallen leaned back in her chair.

She had seen Zero walk right up to Euphemia, look her in the eyes, and shoot her. Whatever crimes the girl who had become known as 'princess massacre' committed, it was impossible for Kallen to imagine any loving sibling doing that to his own sister.

'If he didn't love Euphemia,' she wondered, 'did he really love Nunnally either?'

Shirley took a deep breath as she sat at her desk in her dorm room.

It was time for her swim practice, but she did not feel like going. In fact, she had not participated in the swim club or entered the girls' locker room since she regained her true memories.

How could she, after everything that had occurred between her and coach Villetta?

Shirley took out her diary. But as she picked up her pen she stopped.

'What am I doing?' she wondered. 'If I write anything about Lulu it'll be physical evidence that he's Zero! But I can't write lies in my diary.'

Her phone rang, shocking her into falling out of her chair.

"Ugh," she moaned after she hit the floor.

Shirley pulled out her phone while still lying on the floor and looked at the caller ID.

"Madam president?"

"Your line wasn't busy!" the loud voice of Milly Ashford replied. "I thought you'd for sure be on the phone with Lelouch right now."

"Why?"

"You always did like to call him while changing in the locker room," Milly teased.

"I do not!" Shirley protested. "It's a convenient time to call people, not just Lulu!"

"Sure, sure. So, how are things going between you two?"

Shirley put her free hand on top of her desk and began to pull herself back up. "You know, we're still figuring things out. It wasn't exactly a normal way for people to become a couple."

"C'mon, gimme some juicy details."

"There's nothing to say," Shirley insisted. "We went on one date. That's it."

"You haven't even kissed?"

"Madam president, please!" Shirley yelled. "I'm grateful for what you did at your graduation event, but we have to move at our own pace!"

"All right, all right!" Shirley could practically hear Milly pouting over the phone. "So, has nothing really changed?"

"Well, Lulu's been a lot more open than he used to be."

"Aww. If I was still at school I could have finally had some dirt on him! Anyways, I gotta go. Just wanted to check in to see that everything was all right. See you around, Shirley!"

"See you, prez."

Diethard Ried stared at the map of the world on the monitor in front of him. The nations displayed were divided into three different colors.

"Twenty-three nations have agreed join the UFN so far," he said. "Along with the twelve governments in exile we've brought on board we now have thirty-five participants."

"Excellent," the voice of Zero answered.

"However, more nations have been caving in to Britannia as well. Now that the Saudis have been subjugated we will no longer be able to secure a bloc of Middle Eastern nations or reach our goal of a coalition of fifty nations. In addition, the longer it takes to ratify the UFN charter, the more nations we are likely to lose."

"I understand that. How long do you believe we can wait for more nations to join us?"

"Optimistically, I would say we have until the end of next week," Diethard replied. "But that assumes Prince Schniezel has not caught wind of our plan yet."

"Very well. I'll return as soon as possible."

Lelouch grimaced in frustration as he ended the conversation with Diethard. He looked up at his own monitor, which displayed all the information on the Geass order Jeremiah had given him.

He picked up one of the chess pieces in front of him and moved it six inches forward, beginning a new battle scenario.

Again, the losses on both sides were severe.

"Damn it."

"Lulu?"

Lelouch turned to see Shirley standing in the entrance to the control room.

"Shirley! What are you doing here?"

"I was wondering if I could … you know … help with anything." She laughed awkwardly. "I know it's silly! Me helping you in your fight."

Lelouch gave a small laugh and smiled. "It's not. You've already been a big help to me."

"I have?"

"Remember what you said about passion being power? Your advice led me to make the right decision then, and as a result Japan and China were able to put aside their long-standing differences and join together as allies for the first time."

Shirley stopped and stared at him in surprise. Even after all the revelations she had experienced recently, learning that her offhand remarks had changed the course of world history was a shock.

"Even I need advice from time to time."

Shirley stepped forward. "So, um, what were you working on? You seemed pretty upset before."

Lelouch grimaced again. "I finally have the location of the Geass order, but I'm no closer to a plan to defeat them. I'm running out of time."

"What's the problem?"

Lelouch clicked several buttons and pulled up the file on Rolo. "Neither Jeremiah nor Rolo knows how many Geass users are there or what their powers are. And as long as my forces don't know about Geass they'll be defenseless when they come across that power."

Shirley looked at several of the pictures Lelouch had pulled up. Rolo had been working as an assassin from an even younger age than she previously realized.

"Then why not just tell them the truth?"

Lelouch looked up at her, startled.

"If the problem is that they don't know about Geass, then shouldn't the solution be to tell them about it?"

"If only it were that simple," Lelouch said. "If word of either my Geass or my identity got out it would cause the Black Knights to break apart."

"Do you have any other options?"

Lelouch did, in fact, have one other option. He could order the Black Knights to slaughter everyone at the order's headquarters without hesitation or mercy, killing any Geass users before they would have a chance to use their powers. It would result in minimal casualties for his side.

But he wanted to take as many of them alive as possible. He needed more information about Geass in order to defeat the emperor. And a slaughter like that would be so anathema to everything the Black Knights stood for that it would pose the same risks as revealing his identity, that they would turn against him and split apart.

"Telling the truth is how you got Lord Jeremiah's support," Shirley continued, "and mine."

Lelouch smiled again. He pressed several more buttons and pulled up an image of C.C.

The green-haired witch was sitting on the couch in his private quarters in the Ikaruga, surrounded by empty Pizza Hut boxes.

Shirley frowned at the sight of C.C., or more precisely, the sight of the witch in her underwear, as she always wore as little as possible when she was by herself or alone with Lelouch.

"C.C., I need you to gather the Black Knights' leaders. Have Todoh and the others return to the Ikaruga within the next two days," Lelouch instructed.

"Why?" C.C. asked.

"I've discovered the location of the Geass order. I'll need to brief everyone on what we'll be facing before we attack."

Shirley stood to the side where C.C. could not see her, but she felt a chill as a silent moment passed between the two accomplices.

"Understood," C.C. said, ending the transmission.

Lelouch then pulled out his phone.

"Hello, Sayoko? It's Lelouch."

"Yes? What is it, master Lelouch?" Her voice was far stronger than it had been the last time he had spoken with her.

"Are you up for another mission?"

"I am ready for anything."

"Very good." Lelouch turned back to the controls and pulled up another set of blueprints.

"Tomorrow we commence with Operation Flying Ace."