#villeta nu

[shutupandmakemepizzaroll]

really, REALLY love this but also i have the humor sense of a middle school boy and i can’t get over lelouch being uranus

Code Geass characters + the planets I associate them with.

[blckgem]

[paralumansakalyetrese]

I have just finished reviewing Code Geass R1. It really is the king of detailed symbolism. Let me present to you this part in Episode 25.

When Villeta and Ohgi were talking in Ashford Academy, we get this screen shot of two paper cranes- black and white. They're facing each other like two sides of a chess board. As we all know, chess is a recurring theme in the whole series. We can assume that the white represents Britannia and the black, the titular Black Knights.

After Villeta shot Ohgi, we are brought back to this same frame again. Only with the black paper crane fallen off balance- signifying that the Black Knights will lose the Battle for Tokyo.

There's also another interesting thing I've noticed in this scene- the use of papercranes. In the series, we see Nunnally continuously making them because she wanted to make a thousand for her wish to come true.

Hear me out, Lelouch left the battle in order to rescue Nunnally in Kaminejima. She was kidnapped by V.V. (but at least at that time, Lelouch did not know V.V. ) We can infer that Nunnally is a major cogwheel of the battle. Without her, the Black Knights wouldn't even have been created in the first place. So the use of papercranes created by Nunnally is pretty symbolic for cluing in the outcome of the fight which, in the first place, started because of her.

[sakkarose]

Ok so I’ve been watching the Code Geass Movies and

RRROOOOOOLLLLLOOOOOOOOO

[incorrect-codegeass]

Suzaku: [reading the mail] Baby shower invitation? Um, no thanks, Villeta. I have a regular-size shower I can use whenever I want.

Lelouch: Give me that!

[incorrectcodegeassquotes]

Tohdoh: Please, Ohgi, that woman is a Britannian soldier!

Ohgi: Hold on, Tohdoh! You don't know all the facts!

Tohdoh: Which are...?

Ohgi: I love her!❤

[imherknight]

⚔Guilty Pleasure⚔ -open starter-

Guilford knew it was a dirty habit but sometimes he just needed a quick break. A small escape. And while he would prefer the satisfying burn of alcohol drinking on duty was out of the question.

A quick cigarette didn't cloud his judgment and would not alter him in any way. Except ease the tension headache that was building up.

Of course this was his little secret, his guilty pleasure that he believed he kept well hidden. He would slip behind buildings, go to the far side of hangers, or engine rooms. Places he could be seen. Once he was done he would pop a quick mint and a small spray of cologne. He thought he was clever.

Normally he one allowed himself a quick break now more then 2 minutes and then back to Cornelia's side. But tonight he was already on his second cigarette. Today had worn on his nerves with meetings this, paper work that.

So once he bid good night to his princess he snuck out the back of the embassy. While technically not on duty, tonight was not a drinking night. So a few smokes would have to do. He let his mind wonder as he looked up.

Of course, if he had stayed sharp he might of heard the approaching footsteps.

[lapassantjuriste]

Villeta Nu

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the difference between Villeta and Chigusa striking?

Now I've seen R2 I know that she gets character development later on. But ...

She's a no nonsense ruthless soldier as Villeta and when she's living as Chigusa she's a she's almost the opposite?

Now I understand that when you are a woman doing what is traditionally a man's job you've got to be tougher than the boys. But what got me thinking is what is the situation for women like in Britannia? Because we have Cornelia and Marianne and Nonette and they are all awesome and there are a whole bunch of women in high positions so is there a particular reason that Villeta acts tough? Or is she just emulating some famous Britannian ladies to get ahead?

[emo-rejects-archive]

OC Master Post: Regina’s

(Real quick, special thanks to my little brother for helping me out with coming up with these characters!)

What is Regina’s?

Regina’s is a bar that sits in the back alley side of a small city, owned by a burly man with a passion for drag and bartending named Regina. The joint is known throughout the city for employing young men with feminine physiques.

Nicholas “Nicky” Collins

Age: 22

Height: 5’4

Weight: 115 Pounds

Faceclaim: Hideri Kanzaki (Blend S)

Background: Born with a rare medical condition that stunted his growth in his teenage years, Nicholas was often picked on in high school for his short stature and his shoulder length hair, often getting called “girly” and a “man slut”. Nicholas found solitude in painting, which after graduating, he decided would be his career field of choice. After a few years of saving up money, he moved out of his parents’s house and to the city so he could go to art school. However, being a flat broke college student, he needed to quickly find a job. Luckily for him, Regina’s was hiring. Regina quickly hired Nicholas after admiring the young mans feminine qualities. Despite hating being taken in for “looking feminine”, Nicholas (now nicknamed Nicky) accepts the job since he needs the cash. All of the employees at Regina’s are asked to act “cute” and “flirtatious”, but Nicky usually drops the act when Regina’s not paying attention. He’s also somewhat of an insomniac, since he usually stays up studying or working on projects for his classes after getting home late from work.

Annabelle Smith

Age: 28

Height: 5’5

Weight: 135 Pounds

Faceclaim: Asuna Yuuki (Sword Art Online)

Background: Annabelle Smith was married to her high school sweetheart at nineteen years of age. By the time she was twenty-six, she had given birth to her fifth child. As they both get closer to thirty, she and her husband grow increasingly distant. Her husband works an office job, and when he comes home, he sits in his chair, turns the T.V. on, and cracks open a beer. Meanwhile, Annabelle is left all day to cook, clean, and take care of the kids. Annabelle and her husband barely speak to each other anymore. They’re lucky to still even sleep in the same bed together. On the outside, Annabelle says that she full heartedly believes that all women should get married and cater to their husbands and families, but deep down she’s bitter, she hates what her marriage is making her becoming. When she was a little girl, she had dreams of becoming a princess, travel the world, and marrying a dashingly handsome prince. Suffice to say, she feels as if she never got her happy ending. She typically walks into Regina’s under the excuse that she was taking an evening stroll and needs a quick drink of water, but really, she comes in to get a few shots of something to distract herself from the headache of having to take care of five bratty children. That, and she thinks the boys are attractive, at least in comparison to her husband.

Emily Dakota

Age: 24

Height: 5’6

Weight: 130 Pounds

Faceclaim: Touka Kirishima (Tokyo Ghoul)

Background: Emily often walks around trying to feel like she’s better than everyone else, however, she also constantly questions the point of her experience. Despite some of her nihilistic feelings, Emily is very politically active on her social media, and is often found attending local rallies and indie rock concerts. She especially believes in overthrowing any form of patriarchy, stemming from a rocky relationship with her father and multiple unwanted sexual advances made on her during her time in college. Despite this, she enjoys coming to Regina’s since she finds cross dressing to be “cool” and “progressive”. She also likes to vape for some reason.

Nancy Hatchling

Age: 30

Height: 5’8

Weight: 135 Pounds

Faceclaim: Irina Jelavić (Assassination Classroom)

Background: When she first graduated from high school, Nancy had dreams of being the greatest actress the world had ever known. Twelve years later, and things didn’t exactly turn out the way she wanted them too. She can’t exactly recall when everything went wrong, or maybe she just doesn’t want to, but at some point along the line, she made the drastic career change from acting to a high school teacher. She often comes by Regina’s to drown in her sorrows, and to procrastinate on grading papers. Even Regina himself warns Nancy that she might be drinking too much for her own good, but at the end of the day, a customer is a customer.

Marisa “XO DEATH” Deshawn

Age: 21

Height: 5’7

Weight: 130 Pounds

Faceclaim: Yoruichi Shihouin (Bleach)

Background: Marisa Deshawn had dreams of being a successful rapper ever since she was in high school. At fifteen years old, Marisa produced her first mixtape all by herself under the name “Lil’ Killa”, which quickly became popular around her high school. Upon graduating, Marisa changed her stage name to “XO DEATH”, and set her sights on starting an independent label. However, in the years to come, she came to realize that starting a label was harder than she initially thought. Even with only a few acts signed on, she can barely amass enough money to send them on small concert circuits around the city, let alone whole tours. Marisa herself desires to put out a full length album, but every attempt she’s made in trying to amass budget for one has failed, forcing her to put out small mixtapes that receive very little success. She often comes to Regina’s to try and scout new talent, and to write new songs on the table napkins.

Shakstimtar

Age: Unkown (But it’s extremely old)

Height: 6’6

Weight: 240 Pounds

Faceclaim: Villeta Nu (Code Geass)

Background: Many ages ago, Shakstimtar ruled over the lands, and was worshipped by people far and wide. But as the centuries dragged, many a people began to stop believing in Shakstimtar, until eventually, she was mostly forgotten. Left with very little to do now that she’s no longer worshiped, Shakstimtar often grows bored with her existence. Once a year, she descends from the heavens in search of entertainment, said entertainment being in the form of a bar called Regina’s.

[rp-icon-source]

Villeta Nu RP Icons

Shakstimtar

[naruwitch]

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 27: Geass vs Geass

Lelouch stood up slowly as Zen landed gently in her hanger. Their mission was successful. Nunnally was safe and sound in his arms and far away from the Royal Family own below on Earth.

"Where are we going, Lelouch?" Nunnally asked as he and Sayoko exited the Black Lion.

"Don't worry, Nunnally," Lelouch smiled, "we're going to see our friends."

Nunnally smiled, but it was a sad smile, "I'm sorry, brother, for being such a burden all the time."

Lelouch stopped and clutched Nunnally closer, "Nunnally, you are never a burden. Never have been, never will be. Okay?"

Nunnally didn't say anything, but she did burrow her head deeper into her brother's chest.

Fortunately, the medical bay was practically right underneath the Lions' hangers (which made sense in case someone needed medical attention quickly), so it took about a two-minute walk for the trio to get there. As Lelouch entered the bay, he was greeted by the other Paladins, as well as Allura, Coran, C.C., and Kaguya.

Something else was also there, which made him stop short.

There was already a cryopod raised behind the group, and inside of it was Villeta Nu. Why was she here? Lelouch highly doubted it was because she wanted to join them. But he shook his head, he'd ask about her presence once Nunnally was taken care of.

"Nunnally! You're okay!" Suzaku was the first to speak as he and the other Paladins rushed over.

Nunnally's head perked up when she heard Suzaku's voice and eagerly held her hand out, which he took and held.

"I'm glad you're okay too, Suzaku!"

"We're here too, Nunna!" Milly exclaimed with a grin.

"Hi, Milly," Nunnally greeted. Everyone in the student council took turns, welcoming the young princess, who was smiling and crying tears of happiness.

"Hey, Nunnally! Remember me?" Kaguya finally came up after the student council parted. Nunnally frowned in confusion, not recognizing Kaguya's voice at first, but once the young girl grasped her hand, her face lit up again.

"Kaguya? Is that you?"

"Yep! It's so good to see you again!"

Allura smiled at the scene. Now that she saw Nunnally with her own eyes, she understood why Lelouch spoke so highly of her. This was a girl that had gone through severe traumas from a young age, and yet she still had the strength to smile through it all. She simply prayed that the cryopods would be enough to take a least some of those traumas away.

"Nunnally, there's a couple of other friends I'd like to meet, is that okay?" Lelouch asked.

"Who is it?" Nunnally asked curiously.

Lelouch gestured for the Alteans to approach, and they both did.

"Hello, Nunnally, my name is Allura," she introduced herself. Nunnally cautiously reached out and lightly touched Allura's face. Lelouch had explained previously that this was how humans, without their sight, were able to 'see' people, or at least imagine what they looked like. Plus, since one of the five senses had been eliminated, the other four were heightened to compensate for this. So Nunnally was usually able to hear or feel things that other people normally couldn't. He had added with a wry smile that it was due to this that she was tough to lie to, especially if Nunnally had some sort of physical contact with you. She was simply able to feel the shift in heartbeat or the slight sweat of their palm, as those were common signs that one was lying.

It was a practice that intrigued Allura and Coran. Thanks to the technology and magic on Altea, it was sporadic for an Altean to be born blind, and if their sight was damaged in an accident, the doctors were usually able to repair them in some way.

Nunnally's curious expression soon shifted into a small smile, "Hi, Allura. You're beautiful."

Allura blushed, "Oh, why thank you."

As Allura backed up, Coran approached, "Pleasure to finally meet you, Nunnally. I'm Coran."

Nunnally felt along Coran's face and stop at his mustache, curiously inspecting it. She then giggled, "Wow, your mustache is big."

This caused a round of giggles from the rest of the group, including Allura. Coran didn't seem to be offended, though, as he straightened and proudly twirled his mustache.

"I'm quite fond of my mustache myself. Why the art of grooming a fine mustache has been passed down my family line for several generations now."

Nunnally giggled at Coran's silly comment as Lelouch smiled. He was glad that Nunnally was getting along so well with the Alteans so far.

"Anyway, Nunnally, I know I promised to tell you what's been going on, but I actually have a surprise for you first," Lelouch said.

"Really? What is it?"

"Well, Nunnally, we may have found a way for you to get your eyes and legs back."

Nunnally was stunned as she processed this information. "Like a surgery?"

"Not quite," Rivalz said with a shrug, "but it'll be something like that."

"You don't have to worry, Nunnally," Lelouch reassured her. "You're just going to take a nap for a while, and by the time you wake up, you should be fully recovered."

Coran had already made his way to the cryopod control panel, and a second pod rose up and shifted to a horizontal position so Nunnally could lie down.

"Ready when you are Lelouch," Coran reported with a nod.

Lelouch slowly approached the pod and gently set Nunnally down in it. Before he pulled away, though, Nunnally grasped his hand.

"Wait, what if you're not here when I wake up?" Nunnally asked in a trembling tone.

Lelouch smiled sadly, and he squeezed his sister's hand back, "I'm never leaving you again, Nunnally. I promise."

Nunnally still held Lelouch's hand, and for a moment, the Paladin feared he would need to remove her hand from his. However, a moment later, Nunnally sighed and let her hand slide out of her brother's.

"I'll see you again soon, Nunnally," Lelouch reassured, just as the pod closed. Nunnally's face relaxed as the healing process began to start, the pod shifting back into its upright state.

Lelouch finally let out a sigh of relief and nearly fell over if Rai and Suzaku hadn't rushed forward to catch him.

"Woah there, Lelouch, you okay?" the Green Paladin asked.

"Yeah," Lelouch nodded before regaining his footing, "I'm relieved, actually. That everything worked out."

"Yeah, no kidding! So much has happened over the past couple of days I'm having a hard time keeping up with it all!" Rivalz said, waving his hands around a little.

"Tell me about it!" Shirley agreed, massaging her forehead.

Lelouch smirked a little at his friend's dramatics before he turned to Coran. "So how long do think Nunnally will be in here?"

The advisor hummed as he examined Nunnally's health charts, "It's hard to say at the moment. Her legs are one thing. Despite there being no physical nerve damage, plus the fact they haven't been used for several years, your sister's leg muscles are going to need to be built back up again. So even after the pod fixes the damage, she'll still have to go through some therapy to walk again."

"Wait, are you saying that the pod can't fix her legs?!" Milly asked, sounding shocked.

"Oh, no, no, no! They will most definitely repair the damage done there," Coran assured them, "but it would be advisable to use therapy afterward to help her adjust. Actually, my main concern right now is her eyes."

"What do you mean?" Suzaku asked, noticing the flicker of doubt on Coran's face.

"Well, from what the cryo-pods are picking up, Nunnally's eyes haven't suffered any physical damage. As you mentioned before, Lelouch, your sister's blindness is caused by trauma, meaning that this is a psychological injury rather than bodily."

"So, what you're trying to say is… is that you can guarantee that she'll walk again," Kallen said carefully, "but you're not a hundred percent sure she'll be able to see again?"

"Injuries like this are always a hit or a miss for the pods, even after being used and perfected for generations," Coran explained. "My best guess as to whether her sight will be restored is about sixty-forty."

Lelouch's face shifted to one of disappointment upon hearing those odds. Though they weren't the worse ones he'd heard, they weren't the best either. He would've felt more comfortable if the odds were around the seventies at the very least. But, there was, unfortunately, not much he could do right now.

Lelouch jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Allura standing by him with a determined expression on her face. "Lelouch, Nunnally will be safe here on the Castle. And even if the pods can't fix her vision, I promise, I'll do everything I can to make sure she will someday."

"Yeah! Don't worry, we'll take care of her, Lelouch!" Shirley said, raising a determined fist.

"We stick together! That's the price of friendship!" Milly proclaimed.

The other Paladins and Kaguya all voiced their support as well, and Lelouch felt himself relax. He was glad that he had their help in all of this. At this point, he had no idea what he would've done without any of them.

"Thanks, everyone," he said with a smile. He then finally decided to address the elephant in the room as he looked back towards the cryo-pods. "So, does anyone want to tell me why a Britannian Pureblood is currently occupying the pod over there."

An awkward silence followed before broke it with a sigh, "Shirley and I ran into her on the Avalon. She attacked us and managed to knock Shirley's helmet off. I was ready to kill her when that happened, but after I incapacitated her, Shirley insisted we bring back to the ship instead."

"We-well, I-I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time," Shirley stuttered, "I-I figured if we kept her alive and brought her to the Castle, Lulu's Geass could make her tell us information about what Britannia's up to? I-I mean, I figured even if she wasn't high-ranking, she might know at least a couple of things, you know…?"

As Shirley babbled through her explanation, Lelouch inwardly flinched. Shirley had the right idea of taking a soldier prisoner. Under different circumstances, this indeed would be very beneficial to the Paladins. There was one small problem, though.

"Shirley, I personally think that what you did was strategically brilliant," Lelouch commented, causing the Orange Paladin to blush. "Since Ms. Nu was present on the escort ship, she likely does know some of the things that my brother has planned… Unfortunately, I can't use Geass on her. Not a second time anyway."

"A second- Wait, you mean you've used on her once already?" Suzaku asked, with similar expressions of surprise replicated on the other Paladins.

"Yeah, all the way back in Shinjuku actually," Lelouch nodded, "She was one of the first people I used it on. I asked her for her Sutherland."

Kallen's mouth formed an 'o' in realization. So that's how he got a hold of it. She should have known.

"Oh," Shirley sighed, bowing her head in guilt, "I guess it was a bad idea after all."

"You don't need to apologize, Shirley," Lelouch reassured her, "you didn't know. Plus, the odds of running into the same soldier again are extremely low anyway. Just call this bad luck. Besides, your original intentions were still sound, so good job."

Shirley nodded meekly, blushing from the praise.

"Okay, but there's still the question of what we do with her then," Rivalz observed, "We can't let her go, especially if she saw Shirley, right? But if Lelouch can't use Geass on her…"

"Coran, Princess, this Castle wouldn't happen to have a dungeon, would it?" Kallen asked.

"Yes, it does," Coran nodded. "It's located in the lower levels of the ship."

"Alright, once she's healed, we'll just chuck Villetta down there," Kallen suggested and then cracked her knuckles, "Then we can just start interrogating her the old-fashioned way. Should be a good stress reliever."

Most of the Paladins took an involuntary step back from Kallen, though C.C. looked more amused than disturbed.

"Um… Kallen, don't you think you sound a little bit vindictive?" Suzaku asked.

"Well, Suzaku, considering this woman took part in the Shinjuku massacre and doesn't seem have much remorse doing so, I think I have a right to be just a little vindictive," Kallen shot back.

"Anyway, now that we've got that figured out, what's our next move, Lulu?" Milly asked, changing the subject.

"Our next move? The best thing to do right now would be to lay low," Lelouch said, "Considering we just 'abducted' a Britannian Princess, the military will be trying to track us like bloodhounds. The wisest thing would be to wait for some of the dust to settle before we do anything significant again."

"I agree," Sayoko nodded, "Not to mention that Lady Nunnally was 'abducted' while under the care of Schneizel el Britannia, a man that's considered one of the greatest military minds on Earth. The Empire will be in an uproar for at least several days."

"That's also true," Lelouch acknowledged, but no one missed the cocky smirk that graced his lips for a split second. No doubt, he was proud of the fact that he actually bested the man he could never beat at chess. "Perhaps what we can start doing is work with Kyoto to finally have some Knightmares brought up to the Castle so we can start modifying and upgrading them. Does that sound feasible, Kaguya?"

"I think that's doable, yes," Kaguya nodded.

"Alright," Lelouch nodded before turning to the rest of the team, "in the meantime, the last few days have been exhausting, so just take a day or two to relax. I think we've all earned that at the very least."

Murmurs of agreement echoed amongst the group as everyone started filing out of the room. Rivalz even gave a big yawn to emphasize.

Lelouch was the last to exit. But before he did so, he turned back to the pod containing his sister.

"I'm never leaving you again. Never…"

o~o

Cornelia li Britannia was livid.

One didn't even need to look at the princess to know that she was practically seething. The tension in the room was so thick that one could almost cut it with a knife.

Just yesterday, she and the rest of the Britannian military had to be fished from the ocean after they were bested again by the Voltron Lions. And what was worse, they had been successful in kidnapping Nunnally.

No one in the room dared to speak up as they didn't want to accidentally send the Viceroy into a rage. Several knights, including Darlton, Guilford, and Nonette, were present, as well as Euphemia. The younger Sub-Viceroy looked distraught. They still knew so little about the Black Knights, much less about Voltron. At the moment, she could only pray that Nunnally was at least safe for now.

Schneizel was also there, stone-faced as he waited patiently for Cornelia to begin speaking.

"Schneizel," Cornelia said calmly, but everyone could tell she was using all her self-control to not begin screaming at the Prime Minister, "explain. Now."

"I can give no excuse for what happened, except for a miscalculation on my own part," Schneizel answered calmly. "It seems I gravely underestimated our enemy, and for that, I take full responsibility for this tragedy."

Cornelia grit her teeth and continued to glare at her brother. However, she knew that lashing out wouldn't fix anything. She had made the same mistake of underestimating Voltron at Narita, after all.

"Your Highness and I mean no offense when I say this, but I think this situation has gotten out of control," Guliford said, "I suggest calling in reinforcements from the homeland immediately."

"I agree, Cornelia," Nonette said her voice grave. She didn't even use her nickname, "Perhaps I can call in my colleagues to join us here as well." Many eyes widened at Nonette's suggestion. The Knights of the Round were only called upon when they were absolutely needed. And Nonette seemed to be suggesting bringing in more than just a couple of them.

"Hold on, before we take any drastic measures, I think we need to take a closer look at this situation," Schneizel interjected.

"What is there to look at?" Darlton asked, "Zero disappears, then reappears two months later with a war machine that could easily wipe out our armies in a matter of moments. Now he's taken a member of royalty captive."

Before Darlton could continue, Schneizel spoke up again, "Which is precisely why we need to look at this situation carefully. For example, why exactly did Zero want to capture Nunnally? Why her specifically?"

Darlton blinked in confusion, and the rest of the room also looked at the prince curiously.

"Not only that, but Zero went through the trouble to capture Nunnally alive. If they wanted to kill her, he had the firepower and the opportunity to do it. And yet that didn't happen. We also haven't received any kind of ransom demands from Zero at all," Schneizel continued.

"Get to the point, Schneizel," Cornelia snapped impatiently.

"All I'm saying is that we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions on what Zero and Voltron's intentions are. There's something else happening in this situation that we don't know about yet," Schneizel explained, "Just think about it. If Zero wanted to, he could easily have taken Voltron straight to the homeland and destroyed Pendragon immediately after the Emperor's speech. We know through these last encounters that he has the means to do just that. However, despite being clear that Britannia's destruction was his goal in the past, that's the one thing that he has not done yet."

"What are you saying?" Euphemia asked. Now that her brother was bringing up all of these points, it was true. When he first appeared, Zero had made it clear where he stood in the conflict between Britannia and Area 11. So, now that he clearly had the resources he needed to destroy the empire, why wasn't he doing it? In fact, from the way he worded his speech after the Battle of Narita, it sounded more like he wanted Britannia to surrender. He sounded… unwilling to fight anymore, but was doing so because he had to.

"I believe that Zero's goals have changed," Schneizel answered, "I don't think he plans to destroy the empire anymore. I think his goals are more along the lines of crippling it instead."

"'Crippling it'?!" Guilford exclaimed, "What on Earth would Zero achieve by simply crippling us?"

The room soon filled with voices as the officers debated back and forth on the possibility of this theory, and what possessed Zero to suddenly take this route in his campaign.

Schneizel remained silent through the rest of this as his mind debated on this theory silently. He was sure that this was now Lelouch's intent. But why the sudden change of heart. Even back in Aries Villa, it was rare to see his brother suddenly change his mind about something that mattered so strongly to him. The only explanation Schneizel el Britannia could think of is that Lelouch discovered something so vital that it forced him to scrap his original plan and build a completely new one that he was implementing now.

'Lelouch, what is it you're planning? What do you know that we don't?'

o~o

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rivalz asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I know Lelouch basically ordered us to take a break, but I still think we should have at least told someone what we were doing," Shirley added.

"It'll be fine, and why are you worried? This was basically your idea in the first place, Shirley," Milly said as she climbed into the pod in her regular Earth clothes, "Besides, we'll only be gone for about an hour. They won't even notice we left when we get back."

"Back from where?"

Shirley shrieked as she and the rest of the group turned toward the voice. She almost fell out of the shuttle, but Rai managed to catch her bridal style. The Orange Paladin blushed and cleared her throat as she got back to her feet, dusting off her short yellow skirt.

"What are you four doing?" Allura asked them, noticing that they were in their casual clothing. She did see that their Bayards were in the front seat of the shuttle, though.

"We-well um, we-"

"We're going to Shinjuku," Rai answered for Shirley, "Shirley said she wanted to see it."

Allura raised an eyebrow. She remembered this Shinjuku place being mentioned multiple times when the Paladins talked about their home and particularly about the war happening on the planet.

"I-I just wanted to see the ghettos for myself," Shirley explained, rubbing her right arm, "I want to see if their condition is like the Balmera. I lived most of my life in the Britannian settlement. The only time I caught glimpses of the ghetto was if a train passed through it. Now that I know the truth, I want to see how bad it actually is. I don't want to be ignorant about it anymore."

"Yeah. Lelouch and I would see it sometimes on the freeway driving back and forth from school and gambling," Rivalz explained, "and I'll admit, some of the comments I made about it and the Japanese weren't the best now that I think about it."

"We figured since Lelouch won't be making another move for a while, that this would be the perfect time to see it without drawing attention to ourselves," Milly added.

"Please don't try to stop us, Allura. We're going whether you approve or not," Raai said with finality.

"...No, I won't try to stop you," Allura said with a frown. What she said next surprised them, though, "In fact, I'm going with you."

o~o

Tamaki grunted as the Gladiator delivered a massive kick to his face, and he tumbled backward into Sugiyama, who had been flipped onto his back previously.

"End training sequence!" Coran exclaimed when he saw that all the Black Knights were done. He had a feeling that some of them would be sporting some pretty big bruises for the next couple of days.

"Okay, what the hell?! Kallen made this look so easy when she fought it on her own!" Tamaki ranted as he stood back up.

Even Ohgi looked a little discouraged from the fight. Coran had put the training level in the same setting that the Paladins' first fight had been on, which was apparently pretty low. So the fact that they all had their butts handed to them by a robot wasn't exactly a shining moment for them.

"Oh, don't beat yourself up too much, Tamaki," Coran reassured, "Remember, the Paladins have been training with the Gladiator two months longer than any of you have. Not to mention that all of you have only been rebels for a short amount of time, and allies of Voltron even shorter. It's going to take more than a couple of days to get used to it. Quiznack, I think a couple of the Paladins still aren't completely used to it."

"Coran, can I ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me," Ohgi suddenly asked.

"What's on your mind, lad?" the advisor questioned.

"If the Galra were to invade Earth right now, like this very second, what do you think would happen?" Ohgi asked.

Coran sighed, "If the Galra were to come this very moment, I'm afraid your planet wouldn't stand much of a chance, not even Britannia. You'd be wiped out in a matter of varga. A quintant, or a day, at the very most, and that's being optimistic."

"That's not exactly reassuring," Minami said as he took a sip of water next to Inoue.

"Not to worry. That's exactly why Voltron's here," Coran reassured them, "I promise, the Paladins, myself, and the Princess will do everything we can to protect your planet."

Ohgi frowned. He had another question but was debating whether to ask it or not. After another second, he did, "When we were talking to Kallen earlier, she mentioned that Zarkon had 'witch' working for him too?" When he said the word, it sounded like Ohgi didn't quite believe Kallen himself.

"Number Six is correct about that," Coran nodded, "We, unfortunately, don't know very much about her. All we know for certain is her name. Haggar."

o~o

Jeremiah groaned as he opened his eyes. Or well, eye. The Margrave didn't seem to register that one of his eyes was missing, as he attempted to take in his surroundings. All he could make out was that he was in a dark room, barely illuminated by dim violet lighting along the wall. From how he was positioned, and from the feeling of hard cold steel pressed against his back and limbs, Jeremiah felt that he was strapped to a metal table. When he looked directly above him, he could just barely make out what looked like some sort of medical instruments.

"So, you're awake after all," a cold feminine voice said to his right. Straining his head in that direction, his eye widened upon seeing the hooded, hunched figure next to him.

"Who are you?!" he demanded. He tried to sit up, but the restraints on his arms and chest stopped him, "Are you with Zero?! If he's here, I demand he come and face me!"

"You know of Zero… you've met him before," the figure murmured before raising her hand. Jeremiah gasped when he saw that the hand was dark purple. He failed to notice the purple aura surrounding his own body, "Show me."

Jeremiah stiffened before a blood-curdling scream emanated from his throat. He didn't think a person like him could make such a noise. Before his eyes, events of the past several days flashed before his vision. His first encounter with Zero, where the 'Orange' incident first came up. Of Zero's mask opening and revealing his eye, commanding Jeremiah to let them and Suzaku Kururugi go.

His memories went even further back. Next thing he knew, he was in Aries Villa, watching over the vi Britannia siblings as they played with Lady Marianne.

"So you knew him even as a child? How interesting."

More memories of Aries Villa flashed in front of him until it got to a memory that still pierced Jeremiah's heart to this day. Lady Marianne was lying on the stairwell of the villa in a pool of her own blood. Her body was curled around her daughter's, shielding Nunnally from the attack that took the Empress's life. The memory then paused and rewound before playing through once more.

"Peculiar…" the woman muttered, "How is it that the two of you possess the same memory? Even if you remember the same event, it's never viewed the same way through different eyes."

Jeremiah was barely able to hear what the woman said, both from the pain and the delirium he still felt. However, despite this, looking through all of these memories, his broken mind managed to pull information together. Information he never considered before.

"My prince... My Lord... is... Zero...?" He gasped through the pain.

"You wish for revenge on Zero?" the woman then asked, "I may have the means to grant it to you, but first... you will tell me everything!"

Jeremiah's screams continued to emanate through the halls of Haggar's private vessel, stripping every shred of information she could get from the soldier.

o~o

Before Area 11 was established by Britannia, Shinjuku was said to be a trendy place for both citizens and tourists to visit in Japan. It was commonly known for being an extensive shopping and entertainment area and had the busiest railway station in the country. It was even where many of Japan's tallest skyscrapers were located.

Now though, most of the district lay in ruins. Bullet holes and remnants of blood were splattered everywhere. All of the roads and structures were grey and rundown. Most of the windows didn't even have glass in them.

Shirley's sad face fell as she spotted several memorials, likely put up by Japanese survivors, lined up along the sides of several crumbled buildings. Flowers and candles burned, illuminating the signs that listed the names of the deceased. She gasped softly when she spotted a photograph of a family among them. It had a father, mother, and a tiny baby wrapped in the woman's arms. It didn't take a genius to know what fate befell them.

Shirley sniffled and wiped a tear away, her throat closing up from emotion.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, Rai stood there looking down sadly as well. There were other photos in the memorial as well, but this one, with a child that didn't even seem a year old, nearly knocked the wind out of them.

"I knew that the ghettos would look bad," Rivalz said softly, "but, actually coming to see now is still..."

"Heartbreaking?" Milly asked, frowning softly.

"...Yeah," the Blue Paladin nodded, looking at the ground.

Allura, hair now a lighter shade of blonde than Milly's, with blue eyes and Caucasian skin (and rounded ears), dressed in a white short-sleeved jacket over a blue shirt, and a light pink knee-high skirt with white heels, stumbled when she felt her foot step on something soft. Looking down, she found a small handmade doll with a dirty, plain pink dress, and black button eyes.

As she picked it up, Allura heard a shuffle behind her. Turning around, she barely saw the silhouette of a child, cowering in an alleyway. But they were hesitantly eying the doll.

"Hello? Is this yours?" she asked gently. The child didn't answer and only shrunk away further.

Allura crouched down, hoping to look less intimidating, and held out the toy, "It's alright, you may take it."

The four Paladins watched cautiously as the child slowly lean out, but still didn't make a move to come closer. They could now see that it was a little girl, probably only six or seven, with messy black hair and wearing a smudged shirt that looked two sizes too big for her. They could barely make out small black shorts she was wearing underneath it. She also wasn't wearing shoes.

Allura, seeing that the girl wasn't willing to approach closer, very gently tossed the doll in her direction. It landed just within arm's length of the alley. The girl, as quick as a snake, lunged for the doll before turning and running back down the lane, the toy clutched to her chest.

Allura frowned, not because she was offended, but because the girl's behavior greatly disturbed her. That child had been terrified. So terrified that once she had her doll, she turned and ran, not even looking back. And she knew it was because she looked like a Britannian. Allura originally wanted to go as a Japanese citizen, planning to use one of the Black Knights as a template, but the four Paladins said that authorities would get suspicious is they saw an 'Eleven' hanging around Britannian citizens, even if they claimed she was an 'Honorary Britannian.' So for safety's sake, she chose her current guise. One could easily mistake her for Milly's sister or cousin.

She heard a crack behind her and turned to see that Rai had punched the wall of a building. Hard enough that the wall cracked slightly.

"I've never felt the need to punch the Emperor more than right now," Rai muttered, and cradled his hand. His knuckles were bleeding slowly. Though she didn't voice it aloud, Allura silently agreed. It disgusted her that a single man had caused so much fear to spread on the country and planet.

"I don't know…" Shirley whispered, drawing the others' attention, "If we use violence like that, we're not any better than him. We're Paladins, we need to be stronger than that. Yeah sure, we still fight, but only when we need to, or when we're protecting something."

The Orange Paladin turned back to the memorials, eyes lingering on the family's photo, "When this is over, I want to be here to help rebuild this place and others like it. I don't want people to have to live like this, ever!"

Rai smiled and nodded. He was proud of Shirley and her determination.

"Being a Paladin has really helped Shirley out of her shell, huh?" Rivalz whispered to Milly.

"Yeah, I totally agree," she answered.

Allura was also smiling. She was happy to see that the Paladins wanted to do good both in and out of their Lions.

The group walked along the ghetto path for a while longer. Some areas looked to be in the process of rebuilding, but considering the priorities of the empire, it was going to take a long time.

"Man! They didn't use RG on the Elevens. I figured they wouldn't," a boisterous voice exclaimed. Allura turned toward the noise and spotted two boys around the Paladins ages. They were

"Hey, look! Those are marks from hummer rounds. Get a clear shot of it!"

Allura gasped in horror when she saw what exactly they were taking photos of. It wasn't of the memorials, but of the bullets and military debris left behind. These boys were showing absolutely no respect for this place, nor did they seem to care that people had died here.

"Stop it! Both of you right now!" Allura shouted, running towards them.

The two boys turned in confusion before gasping in shock when Allura hit the camera out of the boy's hands.

"Hey! What's the big idea, lady?!" the taller boy gasped.

"Do you not realize that innocent people have died here, and you dare to treat this place like a childish playground!" Allura exclaimed angrily.

"Oh come on, lady, don't tell me you're sympathetic to these lowly scum," the first boy sneered, gesturing casually to the graves. "What's a couple of dead Elevens to a girl like you-"

A sharp crack filled the air as both boys stumbled back, the first now clutching a red cheek.

"You call them lowly, and yet you're the ones acting like barbarians!" Allura seethed, hand still raised from her slap, "I've never in my life seen a more disgusting display of depravity!"

"What did you say?!" the taller boy growled.

"I think maybe we should teach this girl a lesson!" a first one shouted, before charging at Allura. What he wasn't expecting, though, was for Allura to grab him by the wrist and shirt, and judo flipped him over her shoulder, causing him to land hard on his back.

This display made the second boy back up a little in fear. Allura glared at both of them venomously.

"I think you'll find your pursuit to be in vain," she spat, "Now get out of my sight and never disturb this place again!"

The two boys seemed to take the hint and ran off and away, not even stopping to gather the camera they had dropped earlier.

Allura sighed and shook her head. This was her first encounter with how the Britannians seemed to treat people like Suzaku, people of another race. Needless to say, she was appalled and began to wonder if perhaps her Paladins were the only good Britannians out here. They at least seemed to have good hearts.

Glancing down, she noticed that one of the plates of food had been knocked over by the boys and knelt down to fix the arrangement.

"My, my, that was quite the display of strength," a voice from behind her praised, the sound of hands clapping accompanying it, "but then again, I guess being an alien princess comes with its benefits now doesn't it?"

Leaping to her feet, Allura spun around to see a man with medium, silver-white hair with five long bangs hanging over his face, wearing black and purple headphones, two golden earrings, and purple sunglasses that cover his eyes. He had on a light blue, short jacket with symmetrical gold and blue designs, a long, linen shirt with maroon sleeves, and brown gloves. On the long shirt, there were eight black strips with golden circles on each side, with three of the pieces being on his neck and the others going down the front of his chest. He was also wearing long, black trousers with brown boots with two straps on both, and buckles similar to those on his wrists around his calf.

"Who-"

"Oh, who I am isn't important, Princess Allura of planet Altea. Daughter of the late King Alfor and Queen Melenor of Altea."

Allura took a step back. How did this man know that? She'd never seen him before, and he certainly wasn't a Black Knight. He didn't look like he was part of the military either. Still, the fact he was able to identify her was troubling. The best course of action would be-

"To take me to your Castleship and have Lelouch, AKA Zero, AKA Lelouch vi Britannia interrogate me with his Geass correct?"

If Allura wasn't shocked before, she certainly was now. It was almost like he-

"Read your mind? You're wondering how I know about you and Lelouch even though I've never met you before, right?" the man laughed. He then smirked and lowered his glasses, "Anything look familiar?"

Allura's eyes widened. If this man had a Geass, did C.C. know about him? Or-

"Oh! You've met C.C.? Where is she?" the man exclaimed excitedly. Before Allura could voice it herself, the man answered for her, "Oh, she's on your Castleship with Lelouch and everyone else, right? Well then, I guess I can bring her to me if I've got you here."

Allura didn't waste another moment and charged at the man, attempting to punch him. The man gracefully dodged and stepped out of the way. Allura spun around and tried to kick him, but the man blocked it and stepped back again. This went on for a couple more minutes with Allura failing to land any hits on him.

"Well, I'm impressed. For a princess, you're quite the fighter," the man complimented with a giggle, "I suppose having two Paladins as parents has its perks, doesn't it? You were bound to pick up a thing or two from them."

Allura growled and attempted to punch the man again. But instead of dodging it this time, he grabbed Allura's arm and twisted it behind her back. Allura didn't have time to try and counter as she was too shocked at how well this human predicted her movements.

"I'll admit, you coming to Earth was quite noble of you. You came to Earth to prepare it for Zarkon, right? Even though you think Britannia and the Galra are the same. And you're right, I'm no fan of Britannia, and I couldn't care less about Lelouch's daddy," the man shrugged, still keeping her in an arm-lock. "Though honestly, I can't really see much of a difference between him, Zarkon, and you."

"What?!" Allura gasped in outrage, "How dare you! I'm nothing like Zarkon or Lelouch's father!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure, Princess," the man cackled, "I can see your hate Allura. I can see it as bright as day. You hate Zarkon. You hate the Galra. You want to kill them. You want to kill them all, just like what Zarkon did to your people. But if you did that, you're just like him. Right?"

"Wh-what?!" Allura exclaimed, her anger increasing but also bubbles of fear and sadness rising in her chest as well, "No. No, you're wrong!"

"Just like him! Just like him! Just like him!" the man sang and continued to laugh gleefully.

In a rush of furious rage, Allura wrenched herself free from the man's grasp, though he didn't seem to fight too hard to hold her either. Her appearance dropped as she clutched her head, trying to block out his maniacal chanting, "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!"

The last thing Allura registered was seeing a foot colliding hard with her head, then everything went black.

After he knocked her out, the man sighed, "Wow, you are a whole library of angst, aren't you, Princess? Well, maybe I can trade one princess for another? What do you think?"

With a grin, the man scooped Allura over his shoulder and walked off, a perfect plan already forming in his head.

o~o

"Allura?!" Milly shouted down a random street.

"Oh come on, where did she go?" Rivalz groaned. The group had realized that Allura wasn't with the group about a minute after they left the memorial. They were now wandering down the of the streets, looking at the buildings and houses that had been destroyed.

"Maybe we should check back by the shuttle? We did say if one of us got separated that we should meet back there, right?" Shirley asked.

"I don't know. Something's not right. I can feel it," Rai muttered.

"Yeah, that's the thing with Princesses. They just do whatever the hell they want."

The group jumped and spun around. They blinked in surprise to see a Chinese-looking man with large classes and a long coat standing behind them.

"You never know when they'll get into trouble," the man sang as he held out his hand. In them was a pair of familiar-looking earrings.

"Wait-those are-"

"Where's Allura? What have you done with her?!" Rai exclaimed, cutting Rivalz off.

The man seemed to ignore Rai's question as he pocketed the earrings. He then grasped his chin as if in thought.

"Hmm, let's see…" the man scanned the four before pointing to Shirley, "Shirley Fenette, Rivalz Cardemonde, Milly Ashford, and the nameless Rai, right?"

The group froze, eyes widening.

"How does he know who we are?" Milly whispered.

"Maybe missing person's reports on the news or something?" Rai answered.

The man then started clapped with a broad smile on his face, "I gotta say, it's quite the honor being the presence of the Paladins of Voltron!"

Their eyes shrunk further. Not only had this man identified them but knew that they were Paladins as well.

The man hummed, "Well, almost all of them. Of course, we're missing Kallen Kozuki, Suzaku Kururugui, and Lelouch Lamperouge AKA Lelouch Vi Britannia AKA Zero."

Okay, now they were scared. How did this guy not only know the identities of everyone on the team but also about Lelouch's heritage? Who the heck was this guy, and what did he want?

"Hmm, I wonder how the Britannian royal family would take it if they found out their own subjects are rebelling against them?" He laughed and clapped his hands again, "I mean, if the Emperor is willing to sacrifice his own son and use his own daughter as pawns, I'd say he wouldn't be above killing your families and making you watch as he did so."

Rivalz and Rai tried to sneakily pull out their Bayards but jumped back when the man pulled out a gun and shot several times at their feet.

"Nuh, uh, uh," the man giggled, wagging his finger at them, "Looks like bullets fly faster than your Bayards. Tell you what, you want Allura back? How about you meet me up there," the man pointed at a large abandoned building to the right, "And bring all your Paladin pals too, even C.C, especially C.C. If you need to convince her, tell her Mao's waiting for her! You got two hours, bring your Bayards if you want, but NO Lions! If I see a single mechanical kitty cat, your precious Princess Allura dies."

The man then laughed before turning and leaving, whistling a tune as if he was taking a casual stroll through the park.

The group stood there frozen for about two minutes before they all slowly turned to look at one another, each of them thinking the same thing:

What the hell just happened?

o~o

"Hey, Lelouch, Suzaku, can I talk to you two for a minute?" Kallen asked after she found the boys in one of the lounges. Lelouch had a tablet in his hands, and Suzaku seemed to be in the middle of meditating.

"What's up, Kallen?" Lelouch asked, placing the tablet down. Suzaku looked up and relaxed his posture.

"Okay, I'm gonna get to get right to the point. Suzaku," Kallen turned to look at the Purple Paladin, "How did you know what that white Knightmare was called? You're the only one on the team I've heard call it by a specific name. No one here or in the Black Knights knew what it was called. So how do you know?"

Suzaku sighed in resignation, "Well, the answer to that is easy. How do I put this…? It's… well, it's because I'm the one that used to pilot it. The Lancelot."

Lelouch looked at Suzaku in surprise, "So was that you piloting that Knightmare in Shinjuku that day?"

"Yeah, that was me," Suzaku confirmed with a nod.

"And you never told us this because…?"

"Well, to be honest, I didn't think I had to," Suzaku confessed, answering the Red Paladin, "the Camelot Unit, the unit I was under, is an irregular unit with an Eleven pilot. I figured since I wasn't there to pilot it, Britannia wouldn't use it again, at least for the sake of their pride."

"Well, obviously, you were wrong," Kallen snapped irritably.

"Look, I am sorry," Suzaku said, "but like I said before, the subject was never really brought up, and I honestly didn't think they would use the Lancelot again."

Lelouch sighed, "I'm not mad, Suzaku. I am disappointed, though. You wouldn't happen to know who's piloting that Knightmare currently would you?"

"No idea. Sorry," Suzaku his head with a frown, "Kallen said that it was a woman, though."

"Can you describe her, Kallen?" Lelouch asked, turning to the Red Paladin.

Kallen was about to answer when the intercom went off.

"Kallen, Lelouch, Suzaku, you're needed on the bridge immediately!"

The trio's eyes widened in alarm. Coran's tone sounded almost panicked.

They didn't waste any time and rushed to the bridge. When they got there, Coran and C.C. were waiting for them, and a video call was coming in on the screen.

"What going on?" Lelouch asked.

Coran quickly answered the call, and the faces of the other four Paladins appeared on the screen. They all looked frightened.

"Hey, is this thing on or what?!" Rivalz exclaimed hurriedly.

"Rivalz, we hear you, what's going on?" Suzaku asked.

"Okay, good!" Rai sighed in relief, "Sorry, but we have a situation!"

"Where are you guys?" Kallen exclaimed, "Are you on Earth somewhere?!"

"Lelouch, please don't be mad at us, but we're in Shinjuku right now," Shirley confessed.

"What?! Why did you guys go alone?! If someone saw you-" Lelouch gasped.

"That's not important right now, Lelouch! We have a problem! A big one!" Milly interrupted.

"Well, spit it out, what's wrong?!" Lelouch demanded.

"Uh, well… someone may have… kidnapped Allura," Shirley squeaked.

"WHAT?!" Coran shouted, "How is this possible?!"

"We got separated at some point in the ghetto," Rai exclaimed calmly, "When we were looking for her, some guy approached us and said that he had her. And he knew who we were too."

"What? How?!" Lelouch demanded.

"We don't know!" Rivalz denied, "All we know about him is his name! Mao or something!"

C.C. gasped, eyes widening.

"He said he'll tell everyone who the Paladins are unless we meet him. He wants to see C.C. too!" Milly finished.

Lelouch grit his teeth. He'd be lying if he said wasn't angry, but they could resolve that later.

"All right, you four stay where you are. We'll be there in a minute!" Lelouch decided.

"Wait hold on! Don't bring any of the Lions!" Shirley gasped, "The guy said if he saw even one of them, he'll kill Allura!"

"Okay, we'll be there in a minute!" Suzaku said as the connection was cut.

"C.C. do you know this Mao person?" Lelouch asked, having noticed C.C.'s reaction earlier.

"Yes, I do," C.C. answered, "I apologize. He's a former contractor of mine."

"A contractor? So does that mean he has a Geass?" Suzaku asked.

"Yes, he does. His Geass allows him to read minds. That's likely how he found out about you."

"Very well, thank you for telling us. Let's go, we'll take a pod down. Coran, ask Sayoko to meet us there. Come on, we need to get their armor," Lelouch commanded.

"Got it!" Suzaku nodded.

"Lelouch, maybe we should ask Ohgi and the others to help!" Kallen suggested.

"No, we'll inform them of what's happening, but they can't come with us. Besides what C.C.'s told us, we don't know anything about this Mao person. Also, he specifically asked for us to come, no one else."

"According to the Castle's scans, their Bayards are on Earth. It looks Number 1, 3, 5, and 7 brought them with them," Coran told them, his eyes shaking with worry.

"Okay, that's one less thing to worry about," Lelouch muttered, "Alright, Kallen, grab Shirley's armor, Suzaku, Rivalz's. C.C., collect Milly's. I'll get Rai's. Move now!"

o~o

Grabbing the only other pod that had an invisibility function, Lelouch, Kallen, Suzaku, C.C., and Sayoko rushed to the Shinjuku ghetto, Lelouch at the wheel. They were able to pinpoint where the other pod was thanks to the trackers already built into them. They spotted Rai waving up to them, likely having tracked them from the other shuttle.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Rai gasped as they landed, the other three Paladins waiting next to him, "Mao's in that building. We didn't want to go in without back-up, though."

"All of your armor is in the back, get changed now," Lelouch ordered sternly.

The four meekly nodded, even Milly, and quickly scurried to the pod.

It took them about five minutes to change, but once they had, they stood at the ready in front of Lelouch, dressed in his Zero armor.

"Okay, from C.C.'s told us, this person, Mao, is a former contractor of hers. His Geass lets him read minds, that's how he was able to get so much information out of you," he explained quickly, "We'll head inside, but we're going low and quietly, and try to think as little as possible. C.C. you stay out here with Sayoko in the pod. If we need you, we'll alert you."

Everyone nodded before Lelouch opened the door. Inside, the building was in shambles. The walls and floor were cracked, and several rats scampered into the shadows when they approached.

"Ew," Milly murmured in disgust.

The stairs were stable enough for them to walk on as the Paladins slowly walked up the stairs, Bayards out and ready to strike if they needed to.

Upon making it to the top floor, they found Allura. She was tied to a chair, that was nailed to the floor in the middle of the room. She had duct tape over her mouth. Allura's eyes widened when she spotted them, and she started to struggle in her bindings, muffled screams erupting from her throat.

"Allura!" Shirley shouted, she and Rivalz about to run over. They stopped dead in their tracks when a sharp knife gleamed in the dark and pressed itself to Allura's throat. The princess's eyes widened in terror.

"So you're Mao," Lelouch stated. He narrowed his eyes from behind his mask. Even though C.C. had warned them that his Geass let him read minds-

"Well, you can call it mind-reading."

-they really didn't have a solid plan to beat him. Lelouch's biggest weapon was his mind. But now that would be his most significant disadvantage.

"Keep talking, freak!" Kallen shouted, "Because I'm gonna-"

"-Kick my ass so hard I'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life?" Mao chortled, withdrawing his knife and clapping his hands in delight, "My, my, you've got quite the wicked imagination Kallen Stadtfeld. Oh, sorry, silly me! You prefer Kallen Kozuki, right?"

Kallen growled, whipping out her Bayard, "Lucky guess, bitch!"

"Kallen, wait!" Lelouch shouted as the Red Paladin charged forward. Before Lelouch could stop her, though, Mao whipped out a detonator, and with a grin, pressed the button.

The floor underneath the Paladins collapsed, sending the group screaming and tumbling to the lower levels of the building.

Allura screamed in terror as she watched them fall. Her scream of fear turned into one of fury when she felt Mao pat her head.

"Now, now, you stay here like a good girl while I go hunting alright?" he grinned before disappearing into the shadows. Allura screamed again and renewed her struggles to escape from the chair.

o~o

With a groan, Lelouch got to his feet. Looking around, he saw that he was alone. The other Paladins must have landed in other areas of the building.

"I see, so this was your plan, Mao. Divide and conquer, huh?" he sneered. He quickly pressed his helmet to contact the others, "All right, who's not dead? Speak up now!"

"I'm okay," Milly responded first, "I think my armor took most of the-ah!"

"Milly?! Milly, what's wrong?!"

o~o

Milly had managed to duck before any bullets could hit her. She activated her Bayard and readied the kusarigama. She spotted Mao at the entrance to the room she landed in.

"My, my, you're quite the she-devil, aren't you, Milly?" Mao smirked, casually walking towards her. Milly tightened her hold on your weapon. "You're concerned about helping devious little Lulu and his helpless sister. But really, you didn't just help them out of the goodness of your heart now, did you?"

"What?" Milly asked, genuinely confused.

"Oh, Milly, Milly, Milly," Mao giggled, "Admit it, there was at least a little bit of selfishness from your actions, wasn't there? Your family lost everything once Lelouch's mommy died, so you thought that by taking him and Nunna in, you might regain favor with the Emperor if he ever found them again. Isn't that right?"

"N-no that's not-"

"Admit it, that is the case, isn't it? Or at least in your parents' eyes, right?"

Milly gasped, her weapon shaking in her grip.

"Oh, so I was right, wasn't I? I was, I was, I was, huh?!"

Finally, Milly shrieked in anger, "Shut up!" she blindly threw her kusarigama in Mao's direction. It hit the wall next to him, causing it to collapse. As the dust cleared, all she heard was the sound of Mao's laughs, having retreated to another room.

Milly grit her teeth. "He's wrong. I was a friend. I was just trying to help! That's all!"

She received no response from the silence that surrounded her.

o~o

Rivalz looked around warily as he crept down the hallway. He kept his rifle out and ready to shoot. Whoever this Mao guy was, it was a bad idea to take him lightly. That's what Lelouch would say.

"Yes, I can see Lelouch saying something like that."

Rivalz whipped around and shot blindly behind him where the voice came from.

"Now, now, Rivalz, you even didn't check to see if I was an enemy or not. Now how would you have felt if you had shot one your own teammates?"

"Well, first of all, I know what their voices sound like!" Rivalz shouted back.

"Hm, I guess that's true. Well, I suppose that makes you at least a little different from other Britannians."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Rivalz asked.

"Oh, don't try to fool me, Rivalz. You and I both know that you used to look up to the military, didn't you? Why, you looked up to the Emperor himself, right?"

"Yeah, so? That was before I knew how much of an ass he is!" Rivalz snapped back.

"But even so, it took someone like Lelouch to finally open your eyes?" Mao chuckled, "You said so yourself, you and Lulu drove past the ghetto all the time between school and your other activities. You had every opportunity to change your view of things before. But it took a friend practically knocking it into your skull to see reason. Now, what exactly does that say about your character? Hm?"

"Shut UP!" Rivalz shouted, rapidly shooting in the direction of the voice. Rivalz didn't stop shooting for almost a full minute. By the time he finished, he was breathing heavily, and Mao's laugh couldn't be heard anywhere.

"Just because I was ignorant for a while doesn't mean I'm stupid!" he shouted at nothing before leaning against the wall, exhausted.

'Find us quick, Lelouch,' he begged, looking down the hall desperately.

o~o

Kallen groaned as she rubbed her ass gingerly. She felt like an idiot for charging towards an unknown enemy like that. Now they were in trouble because of her.

"Hold on, guys," she said quietly, "I'll get us out of this mess."

"Well, hopefully, you can do better how you 'helped' your dear brother, huh?"

Kallen spun around and barely made out a silhouette in the distance, but it didn't take a genius to know who it was. But that comment immediately flared her temper.

"Excuse me?!" he shouted, "Say that again! I dare you!"

"Oh, what's wrong, Kallen? Do you hate me? Like you hate your dear mommy, who's behind bars?"

"Why you-"

"You hate her. You've admitted it plenty of times, haven't you? Oh, why else would you leave her behind to rot in prison?"

"I don't hate her!" Kallen shouted furiously.

"Mm, maybe not anymore. But you used to, didn't you?" Mao tisked, "So why the sudden change of heart, huh? Is it out of pity? It's pity, isn't it?"

"No, I-"

"You hate her! You hate her! You hate her!" Mao sang and clapped to a rhythm of his own.

"Argh! Shut up!" Kallen screamed, taking her Bayard and slicing through a pillar. She then leaped out of the way as the ceiling came caving in. After the debris stopped falling, Kallen got to her feet. Geass on, she scanned the area, only to see that the coward had made a run for it.

"Okay, buddy! Now you're going to get it!" she growled, spotting the crazy, Geass wielder running down the other hallway.

o~o

The first thing that Shirley did once she regained her senses from her fall was to activate her own Geass. She was glad that she seemed to at least have one advantage in this situation. Now she just needed to find the others before Mao the maniac did.

"Now that's not very nice, Ms. Fenette!" the very man gasped dramatically.

Shirley nearly gasped in surprise but bit her tongue just in time so she wouldn't give herself away.

"Quite clever of you to use your own Geass. But, unfortunately, just because I can't see you doesn't mean I don't know where you are," Mao cackled, "So long as you have your thoughts, you're never invisible to me."

Shirley bit her lip and struggled to stay silent. Despite her best efforts, though, her thoughts kept wandering to other things. Her family was one of them.

"Oh dear, dear," Mao chuckled, "I really wonder what your family would think if they saw you right now. I mean, your father and mother are loyal Britannian citizens. But I doubt that would mean much to the Emperor if he found out that you were acting against him. What do you think he'll do to them? Hold them for ransom? Or maybe simply send an assassin to get rid of loose ends?"

"Stop it," Shirley whispered instinctively, beginning to shake. Tears gathered in her eyes.

"Then again, I guess that isn't completely your fault, isn't it? After all, Lelouch isn't exactly the most moral man in the world, huh?"

Shirley blinked. What was he talking about?

"Well, it wasn't until he nearly abandoned you that he finally came clean to all of you, right? He deceived you, and you liked that, didn't you?"

Shirley started shaking. Sure she felt terrible for Lelouch and disappointed that he didn't trust them sooner, but he did now, and that's all that mattered. Plus, like Rai-

"Ah, yes! And of course, there's the matter of the 'other boy' no? You've gotten quite close to the mysterious Rai, haven't you?" Mao guffawed joyfully and clapped, "Oh, it sounds just like a romantic tragedy! Two boys, but only one heart! Who on Earth will you choose to fill it? If you pick one, what will become of the other? Will they hate you? Will their heart break as well?"

"No, that's not-"

"Oh, what a naughty girl you are, Shirley! Admit it, you enjoy the attention you get from both boys, huh? You're no Paladin, you're a witch that fishes for attention aren't you?!" Mao cackled again, clapping joyously.

"N-No I-"

"Hey! Leave her alone!" another voice shouted.

Shirley gasped and looked up. She looked at the door and saw Rai standing behind Mao, Bayard out.

"Oh, looky, looky here! One of your prince charmings is coming to save you, Shirley! Isn't that just precious?!"

"You talk way too much," Rai barked.

"Yeah, I do talk quite a bit, but maybe you should think about doing the same."

"What?" Rai raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm simply referring to how much your own mind is racing. I mean seriously, if everyone could read minds, they'd call you quite the chatterbox."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Rai denied.

"Oh, just say it, Rai, get it off your chest!" Mao encouraged with a grin, "You're worried, aren't you? Oh, no, no, sorry, not just worried. You're terrified. Terrified of the memories that you lost, aren't you? You're scared that if you get them back, you'll be a terrible person who did unspeakable things, huh? Well, then again, it's not like you haven't already!"

Rai's eyes widened. So did Shirley's. What was Mao getting at?

"I mean, you already know that you were a gladiator. The Champion was it? I mean, you must know what that means, right? There's only one way you could've possibly obtained that title. Isn't that right, murderer?"

Rai gasped and stepped back. While he didn't remember exact details of his gladiator fights, he had a feeling that most of them didn't end with both of them leaving that arena. But, it's not like he wanted to kill them. He was trying to-

"Survive? Yeah, I guess that's the answer they all would give, right? But murder is still murder Rai, whether in self-defense or otherwise. How many innocent lives do you think you have on your hands? Hundreds? Thousands?"

"Shut up…" Rai muttered.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Shirley shouted.

"Sure, you were noble enough to replace your sister, but that leg wound you gave her looked pretty serious. Who's to say you didn't cripple her for the rest of her life? I wonder if she's even still alive? After all, what good is an injured slave to an Empire like the Galra."

"SHUT UP!" Rai shouted, head shooting up and charging at Mao. Mao dodged to the right, but to his shock, he felt something cut into his face. He cried out, and clapped a hand over his cheek, feeling blood drip. Looking up in shock, Rai turned to him, and Mao's eyes widened, seeing a familiar red symbol in his eye.

"What? You have one too?!"

Rai roared and tried to charge Mao again, but Shirley ran up behind him and hugged him from behind.

"Rai, stop! Please!" she cried, tears running down her face. The Green Paladin turned back to her, and Mao used this opportunity to hastily retreat.

Seeing the terrified look on Shirley's face, Rai forced himself to calm down. When his Geass finally faded, he collapsed to his knees as tears of his own fell down his face.

Shirley simply held him as he cried.

o~o

Mao panted after he escaped the floor. He had not been expecting the Green Paladin to have a Geass. He even managed to cut him quite well.

"Well, nothing too bad," he told himself, "just a little miscalculation-"

"Don't. Move."

Mao froze when he felt the tip of a blade on his back.

"What?! How didn't I hear you coming?" Mao gasped in shock.

'A little something Todoh Sensei taught me,' Suzaku explained coldly, through his mind, 'He called it 'Silencing the Mind.' Apparently, ninjas used it in the ancient days of Japan. Helped them keep focused on their goal or something like that. I'll be honest, I never really thought I'd have to use it. But I'm glad I did. Sure, you hear my thoughts now, but I doubt you can get much else out of me.'

Mao grit his teeth, as Suzaku was correct. He tried to probe more in-depth, but he wasn't pulling up anything in Suzaku's mind to use against him.

"Now, I think you've caused enough trouble, Mao. We're taking you in."

Mao growled, and faster than Suzaku could react, Mao pulled out a grenade he had hidden in his coat and threw it. This forced Suzaku to take cover as the grenade detonated, destroying most of the hallway he had Mao cornered in.

After the smoke cleared, Suzaku looked around, but Mao was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it!" he cursed, before racing in the other direction, desperate to find stairs to find the others, or get back to Allura.

o~o

Allura gasped as she heard the grenade go off down below. Despite having superior strength, her bindings were extremely tight, and she hadn't made much progress trying to get out.

She gasped again when she heard another noise. Looking up, her eyes widened in relief when she spotted the space mice scampering towards her. Lelouch must have brought them along to free her while they tried to deal with Mao.

The four didn't waste any time and quickly chewed through the rope bindings around her hands and feet. Once she was free, Allura ripped off the duct tape covering her mouth, barely registering the stinging pain across her face.

"Come on, we have to help them," Allura told her friend as they scampered up to her shoulders. Allura would be lying if she said that Mao didn't frighten her. But he was threatening to hurt her family, and she would do anything to save them.

o~o

Lelouch grunted as he maneuvered around another slab of debris. He then heard the sound of another bomb going off. Pressing himself against the side of the wall to avoid any debris, he tried to contact the others again.

"Paladins, can anyone hear me? Please answer!"

Before he could listen for any replies, a bullet fired very close to Lelouch's mask. He instinctively ducked before slowly getting up.

"You realize killing us isn't going to bring C.C. any closer to you right, Mao?" Lelouch asked coldly.

"Oh, like you killing other people hasn't brought you closer to your own goal?" Mao taunted, though he didn't sound quite as cheerful as when he confronted the other Paladins.

Lelouch shook his head, "If you think you can manipulate me through my guilt, you'll be disappointed, Mao. I accepted long ago that death can't be avoided in war, no matter how hard you try."

"Oh yeah, you'd be an idiot to think that otherwise," Mao admitted nonchalantly, "I mean, you did kill your own brother in cold blood."

"Clovis was as much of a murderer as I am. He ordered the massacre of hundreds of innocents in this very ghetto. Just as the Emperor needlessly slays those who stand in the way of his empire. I don't care if people still see me as a prince of Britannia. I'm something better than that now."

"You mean the Black Paladin, right?" Mao smirked, "But is that really what you are?"

Lelouch frowned but made no move to correct or deny the man.

"Sure, maybe your precious princess told you such, and sure, your little kitty cat saved you and your sister over the ocean. But she's betrayed you before. Who's to say she won't do it again?"

"Just because Zarkon still has a connection to Zen doesn't make him her Paladin," Lelouch argued back calmly.

"True, that's very true," Mao nodded, "I can see that getting quite complicated if that wasn't the case. So it should be pretty easy for the next Paladin that comes once they get rid of you, huh?"

Lelouch blinked, genuinely caught off guard, "What?"

"Oh, don't try to deny it, Lulu," Mao chuckled, "You've seen the parallels that you have. You know, between yourself and Zarkon? You're both the leaders of the Paladins, but look what happened to him? How do you know you're not going to end up the same way?"

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen!" Lelouch barked back.

"Oh, I'm sure Zarkon said something similar when he was in your shoes," Mao countered, "Isn't that what Alfor himself said?"

Mao shifted to the side as a bolt of red lightning whizzed past him. This only seemed to amuse Mao.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve there? Oh, poor, poor Lelouch. So scared that you're going to become a psychopath just like Zarkon. But then again, team leaders do have a tendency to do that. Just read a couple dozen manga if you don't believe me."

Lelouch shouted and shot more lightning at him, but he didn't see the grenade that Mao threw until it was too late. The blast sent him flying backward, knocking his helmet off in the process.

He heard Mao sigh dramatically, "You should really be more careful, Lulu," he chastised as he approached closer, drawing his gun, "you never know when something will trip you up."

"Mao, that's enough."

Mao gasped and looked to his left. His eyes widened when he spotted C.C. approaching.

"C.C.! C.C. I knew you'd be here! I just knew it! We're finally together again!" he exclaimed as he ran towards her.

Before he could get into the hall, though, Mao cried out in pain as electricity shot through his body. He collapsed, convulsing in pain.

"Wha-"

"Can't read robot minds, can you?" Lelouch smirked as he slowly got to his feet. He calmly walked to his mask that fell off and put it back on. Rover beeped loudly as if to taunt the Geass wielder.

Mao managed to get to his feet and spotted the little drone hovering by the building. He raised his gun to shoot him only to receive a solid kick to his face. Before he could recover, several more kicks hit him in the face and stomach, before a final one to his abdomen sent him flying out of the building's entrance.

"Perfect timing Sayoko," Lelouch acknowledge as he joined her side.

"Are you alright, My Lord?" Sayoko asked, two kunai held tightly in her grip. She too had learned the 'silent mind' technique in her youth, so sneaking up on Mao was child's play for her.

"Yeah? And the others?"

Lelouch got his answer as the other Paladins emerged from the hallway to stand by the two. They all looked less than pleased as Mao struggled to his feet. C.C. slinked back into one of the rooms out of sight. It was dark now, so it was much easier to hide in the shadows.

Mao looked around in shock, having not sensed the other Paladins coming. They were quick to follow after him and surround him, weapons raised.

"Hard to read minds when you're unfocused, right?" Kallen growled before charging him, knowing there was no floor collapsing underneath her this time.

Mao, now on the defensive, desperately tried to avoid as many of Kallen's blows as possible, as well as any other attacks from the other Paladins.

He coughed when Kallen slugged him in the face before slicing his shoulder badly with her Bayard. He cried out again when he felt a laser hit his thigh, courtesy of Rivalz. He then stumbled and tripped over Shirley and Milly's outstretched legs. He got up and limped away only to have to dodge a close slice from Suzaku's katana, though it did slice through his jacket. He tried to reach for his gun, only for Rai's katar, grappling hook caught his hand. With a sharp tug, Mao lost his balance again, falling on his rear. He failed to see a final figure behind him as he struggled up again.

Just as he turned around, Allura delivered a hard, solid punch to his jaw, sending him flying backward into the circle of Paladins again.

Kallen whistled, "Nice hook!"

"Thank you," Allura replied with a smug grin before turning to scowl at the man again.

"Mao, surrender now, you have nowhere to run," Lelouch ordered with an angry frown. "However, if you can really read minds, you can tell that I'm hoping you don't, so we can drag your beaten ass back to the Castle by force."

Mao just growled as he sat up, "You'll regret this!"

Everywhere then cried out as a smoke bomb exploded in Mao's hand, blinding everyone in the circle. Everyone covered their eyes to protect them from the smoke.

Once the smoke cleared, to everyone's shock, Mao was gone.

"Where'd he go?!" Rivalz exclaimed.

"Uh, guys…" Shirley said nervously, pointing just outside their encirclement. Looking over, the group spotted a removed sewer lid next to a manhole.

"Dammit, he escaped to the sewers!" Lelouch exclaimed, running closer.

Silence fell over the group. But the gravity of the situation slowly hit them. There was mind-reading psychopath running around Japan. Not only was he dangerous, but he also knew every single one of the Paladin's identities.

The question on everyone's minds?

What now?

[waifuoftheshow]

Happy International Waifu Day

Top 10 Waifu’s because my opinion is better than yours :D

10. Villeta Nu (Code Geass)

9. Cornelia Li Britannia (Code Geass)

8. Caster Medea (Fate Series)

7. Momo Yaoyorozu (BNHA)

6. Rem (Re:Zero)

5. Riruka Dokugamine (Bleach)

4. Kaori (Your Lie in April)

3. Annie Leonhardt (Shingeki no Kyojin)

2. Kiss-shot acerola-orion heart-under-blade (Monogatari Series)

1. Chane (Baccano)

Sad not to include them but they should be mentioned :

Chelsea (Akame Ga Kill)

Sasha Braus (Attack on Titan)

Matako Kijima (Gintama)

Mandalay (BNHA)

Vorona (Durarara)

Bishamon (Noragami)

Nel (Bleach)

Fabiola Iglesias (Black Lagoon)

Medusa (Soul Eater)

C.C. (Code Geass)

Android 18 (Dragon Ball Series)

Ennis (Baccano)

Izumi Shimomura (Ajin)

Akame (Akame Ga Kill)

Kallen Kozuki (Code Geass)

Nobume (Gintama)

Megumin (Konosuba)

Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill)

Black Hanekawa (Monogatari Series)

Nico Robin (One Piece)

Seras Victoria (Hellsing Ultimate)

Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood)

Mine (Akame Ga Kill)

Eureka (Eureka Seven)

Tohsaka (Fate Series)

[minnastream]

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: 2×3 Lelouch returns to the Ashford Academy during the broadcast, causing Villeta Nu's Special Division to have doubts he was the Zero on television.

[incorrect-codegeass]

Ohgi: We can make this work! We're Romeo and Juliet!

Villetta: It didn't work for Romeo and Juliet! That play ends in a tragic double suicide.

Ohgi: That's how it ends? Why do people like it so much?!

[animeworldtime-blog]

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellionggg: 2×3 Lelouch returns to the Ashford Academy during the broadcast, causing Villeta Nu's Special Division to have doubts he was the Zero on television.

[imherknight]

⚔It sounded like a Good Idea⚔ -Open Starter-

Guilford was drunk...very drunk. He had to be because no sober person would be doing what he was doing right now.

No sober person would break into another person's sleeping quarters just to see if they could poke said person in the cheek without them waking up.

And that is exactly what he was doing now, his glasses slightly askew and his pony tail holder missing.

Slowly he approached the sleeping form. At least he hoped the target was sleeping. And slowly he reached over them, his finger poking a soft cheek.