The Black Knights have betrayed their leader, Zero, under somewhat false pretences. Lelouch, after being saved by Rolo, pursues his goal of destroying Britannia, whilst unbeknownst to him and his allies, an old friend is coming to join him in his quest (no OC).

"Kallen." Lelouch, under the guise of Zero, spoke suddenly, snapping said ace from her whatever thoughts had currently incapacitated her. "It's good you made it back. I'm sorry it took so long to get you out." He said, a relieved tone in his voice.

"Lelouch, listen." Kallen began. "When I was in prison, I happened to talk to Nunnally. She stood up for me and she saved me."

The doors of the elevator opened, showing a darkened hanger inside the Ikaruga.

"I see." Zero replied.

"Look, I'm not sure what to say at a time like this, but when I lost my brother, I…" Kallen wasn't able to finish her sentence, as the blindingly bright lights of several spotlights landed on the two of them.

"Surrender, Zero!" Todoh shouted from a walkway above them, rifle pointed directly at Zero, with the other members of the Black Knights following suit.

"How dare you try to run a con-game on us!" Nagisa added.

"We know everything about your Geass power!" Ougi yelled, causing Lelouch to jump in shock. He then looked slightly in front of him to see Deithard holding a camera, beginning to run commentary.

"Zero, the renowned hero, died in battle before he could triumph. But his gallant life and daring deeds will continue to live on in myth and legend."

"Is that the script you've written for me, Diethard?" Lelouch asked, seemingly unfazed to this rebellion of the Black Knights against their master.

"Actually, I wanted to film your brilliant campaign and glorious victory over Britannia. But I'm afraid that show's been permanently cancelled."

'What do I do?' Lelouch thought to himself, his mind racing for answers. 'The Knightmares are beyond my reach but Ougi and the others are defenceless! If I could use my Geass secretly…'

"Everybody trusted you, Zero!" Yoshitaka announced.

"Inoue and Yoshida sacrificed their lives for you!" Kento added.

"Wait a minute!" Kallen yelled, placing herself between the others and Zero. "This is all one-sided! Look at how far we've come because of Zero! At least let him answer!"

"You're in the way, Kallen!" Tamaki yelled, seemingly ignoring Kallen's request. "Do you wanna die with Zero? Don't tell me he used his Geass on you too?"

Lowering her head, Kallen began to speak in a hushed tone, so that only Lelouch could hear her. "I need an answer, Lelouch. What do I mean to you? I have to know." She paused before continuing. "If I could stay with you, I would. Please."

Unfortunately for Kallen, Lelouch was too busy trying to figure out an exit strategy to give a straight answer at that moment. Looking just beyond the rebels that were currently holding their aim on him, he noticed his pathetic Prime Minister of a brother, Schneizel el Britannia. 'Schneizel! You made your move and now you're calling check? There's no way out of this for me… it's over…'

"Please answer me, Lelouch!" Kallen demanded, speaking louder this time.

At this point, 'Zero' began to laugh maniacally. "Fools!" He said, raising his hand to his mask, causing Kallen to turn her head, shocked. "You finally figured it out! That I've been using you all!" Removing his mask, Lelouch revealed his face to the Black Knights. "That's right, you're all just pawns in my game."

"Zero, so you really are…" Ougi began.

"Zero!" Tamaki yelled, a look of sadness covering his face.

"…Lelouch, no…" Kallen, with a face of nothing but pure horror strewn across her face, managed to mutter out.

Lelouch turned to Kallen, his arrogant smirk ever present, before continuing. "Kallen, you were my most useful piece, much like a well-played knight. This whole world was the board for the game! And all for my entertainment!"

Kallen turned away from Lelouch, the meaning of his words stinging the more that she thought about them. "I see." She said quietly, head downturned and tears in her eyes. "Goodbye then, Lelouch." She muttered before walking away, out of the line of fire of the Black Knights.

"Get ready!" Todoh commanded, prompting the Black Knights to aim at Lelouch, ready to kill.

"Kallen." Lelouch spoke loud enough only so that she could hear. "You have to live."

Kallen jerked her head up, seemingly understanding the meaning behind his actions. She turned her head towards Lelouch just as Todoh gave the command to fire, and as the Shinkiro fell from the upper level of the hanger to block the shots fired at Lelouch.

"Are you okay, Brother?" Rolo asked from within the Knightmare.

"Rolo?" Lelouch questioned, clearly not expecting this as an outcome since he had actively disowned Rolo less than an hour ago.

"Everyone, open fire! Hit the Shinkiro!" Todoh ordered, causing the Gekkas on the lower level to take aim at said Knightmare.

"Wait!" Kallen yelled, but to no avail.

"Big Brother, I'll protect you!" Rolo announced, activating his Geass.

The next thing that the Black Knights knew was that the Shinkiro had seemingly vanished, as well as Lelouch.

"They're gone!" Ougi proclaimed, shocked. "The Shinkiro!"

"Vanished, just like in Babel Tower…" Kallen muttered.

"Attention all units," Diethard ordered over the radio, "The Shinkiro has been stolen. Set out and capture it!"

Despite these orders, Kallen didn't find herself hurrying to her Guren "SEITEN." Instead, she appeared to be moving at a fast walking pace. Others may be thinking that it would be because she trusted Zero so much that his betrayal destroyed her fortitude. In reality, it was much simpler – she was too busy looking into the inner meaning of the words that Lelouch had said to her before he vanished with the Shinkiro.

"Why did he say that 'I must live'?" Kallen muttered to herself, slowly making her way to the hanger where her Knightmare was stored.

Upon arriving, she was met with the sight of many of her friends and allies scrambling to their assigned Knightmares, many of which were Burais. Seeing this, Kallen felt like she should up her pace a little, before her actions became suspicious. She hurried to her Guren SEITEN and climbed in the cockpit, trying her best to ignore the many conflicting thoughts that clouded her mind. Starting the Knightmare, she quickly launched her way out of the Ikaruga using her new Energy Wings that the Britannian Scientists had used to replace the Float System.

Once outside, Kallen quickly noticed the Shinkiro in the distance, with the chasing Knightmares seemingly falling slowly toward the ocean, despite there not being any obvious damage visible. From a glance, it looked as though the only Knightmares that were being affected were the ones that were within a certain spherical radius of the ship itself.

'Is this a hidden feature?' Kallen thought to herself, rushing after it. However, after she began to get closer, she slowed down a little and decided to keep her distance to tail the Shinkiro instead of immediately attempting to engage in combat with it.

As Kallen loosely tailed the Knightmare, she found herself drawn back to her thoughts that she had attempted to repress back on the Ikaruga. Lelouch had said that she was merely a "well-place knight" but then said that she "must live." Was he lying? He was well known for lying, usually to protect, not damage.

She decided to push these thoughts to the back of her mind again, wanting to hear the truth from him rather than drawing her own conclusions before meeting him.

She drew her attention back to the Shinkiro that appeared to be…almost staggering as it flew away, heading into a forest on the southern side of Kamine Island. Once it landed in the forest, Kallen herself landed the Guren SEITEN a short distance away from it, making sure to not be immediately spotted. As she got closer to the Shinkiro, she could see Lelouch sitting on the shoulder of the machine, speaking in a hushed tone to someone in the cockpit. Getting even closer, but not so close as to give her presence away, she recognised what sounded to be the last breaths of Lelouch's 'brother' Rolo Lamperouge. Seconds later, Lelouch lifted Rolo out of the cockpit and began to dig a grave for the lost soul.

"He saved Lelouch… but how did he die?" Kallen muttered quietly, staying hidden. Glancing at the Shinkiro, there was very little damage done to the Knightmare itself – only minor damage that appeared on the rear side of the machine itself, and even then they were just dents or small bullet holes. But there was no damage near the cockpit itself, showing no obvious signs towards Rolo's unexpected death.

"I know you're there." Lelouch said out of the blue, causing Kallen to jump. "Come out of the bushes already, save yourself from some embarrassment."

Eyes wide, Kallen slowly moved out of the bushes that she had been hiding in, revealing herself to the man she had been sworn to protect. Lelouch clearly didn't expect it to be Kallen to have followed him, as his eyes widened in surprise.

"How did you know I was there?" Kallen asked. She would save the important questions for later.

"It's not exactly surprising when you can hear a very quiet muttering when you'd expect to be the only person around." Lelouch answered, standing in front of the completed grave that he'd built for Rolo. It was simple, just a wooden cross fashioned from some sturdy sticks with the heart locket that Rolo had always kept to himself.

"I suppose that's fair." Kallen responded, unintentionally revealing that she was out of sorts to the person that she'd been forced to betray.

"How did you follow me?" Lelouch asked, "Rolo's Geass should've stopped anyone from following us."

"I tailed you at a distance. I saw that the Knightmares that got too close to you were being incapacitated by the Shinkiro and decided to keep my distance for safety."

"As expected from my queen." Lelouch complimented, causing Kallen to blush. The last thing she'd expected from this encounter was for Lelouch to compliment her.

"On that topic…" Kallen continued. There was no better opportunity than this. "Will you give me an honest answer to the question I posed to you on the Ikaruga? No lying this time… please."

Lelouch stared at her, clearly thinking. After roughly a minute passed, he chose to repond. "Kallen… I can't give you a straight answer just yet, as there is much to be done." Disappointment flooded Kallen's face; she wasn't ever going to get a straight answer, was she.

She began to turn back to her Guren SEITEN, but stopped once Lelouch grabbed her shoulder. "However…" He began, "I can promise you that I will give you a straight answer once I take down that bastard of a father of mine."

"You plan to take down the Emperor of Britannia?" Kallen asked, stunned. "How? Your small army has betrayed you, you only have one Knightmare and your Geass power. What can you hope to do?"

"Ah, but that is where you're wrong, Q-1." Lelouch replied, giving Kallen the name that she had grown to love over the past year or so. "I have both C.C. and you."

This caught Kallen off guard. First she betrays the man she loved, then follows him during his escape attempt, has a casual conversation with him then receives a request from the same man to help her take down the Emperor of Britannia, Charles zi Britannia?! This was ludicrous by any standards.

"And what makes you think I'm just going to help you?" Kallen countered, still slightly suspicious of Lelouch's actions. "Plus, C.C. doesn't have her memories. How is she going to be of any help?"

"That's where you're wrong." Lelouch replied smoothly. "My contract with C.C. has changed slightly. It feels different than it did about an hour ago. I think she's got her memories back, and I wouldn't be surprised if she was on her way to this very island."

Kallen nodded, seeming to understand Lelouch's logic. She'd gotten a very brief tutorial on Geass from C.C. before they'd saved Lelouch.

"As far as you go, my dear…" Lelouch continued, "I wouldn't be alive right now if you didn't have the intention of helping me, now would I?"

Kallen's eyes widened. He'd read her like a book once again. And once again, she had to agree, nodding her head slowly to show this.

"Well then, Kallen." Lelouch began, "Will you join me in taking down Britannia? Will you turn your back on your country and allies to take down the biggest problem in the world?" Lelouch finished, stretching his hand out to her, almost waiting for the inevitable handshake.

Kallen, however, paused. In siding with Lelouch, which her heart was screaming at her to do, she would be forced to turn her back on Japan, the country she'd been fighting for, and her allies and friends.

In the end, she listened to her heart and clasped Lelouch's hand in a tight grip, nodding and smiling to the smartest man in the world.

"Excellent." Lelouch said, clearly happy with the response that Kallen had given. "Now then, we must find our way to the entry way to the World of C."

"The what?" Kallen asked. She hadn't been told about anything like this from C.C., as she assumed that it had something to do with Geass.

"Come. I'll explain on the way." Lelouch answered.

It's finally under way! I've had this idea for a fanfic floating around in the back of my head for a while now, but have been struggling to get it started. So happy that it's started!

I'm not exactly sure where I'm gonna take this – whether I'm going to go down the path of the Zero Requiem (which I might prefer) or the path of Lelouch taking the Britannian Empire for himself (which also has potential).

Once we get the next chapter done, I'll make the decision based on what I feel like doing. Either that or I will decide on what people would like as an outcome.

Reviews would be appreciated, as well as what path people would prefer for Lelouch to take.

Looking forward to the next chapter, should be up in about a week or so.