Chapter1: Normalcy

Insert standard disclaimers of ownership here.

[A/N] I'm taking the last Picture Drama (which happens shortly after ep 25) into account here, and this starts not long after. There's a transcript of it at kay-willow,livejournal,com/292014,html (switch commas to dots), I couldn't find any subbed versions of the video itself, but this works fine. For those who don't care to read it, all you have to know (that isn't evident below) is that Nunna and Suzaku (as Zero) come to Ashford for a visit. If anyone knows of a good location to find a decent quality subtitle job on the video, let me know.

Nunnally and Suzaku, after all, Kallen though, who else could it be, had left to resume their duties once again, and Milly, Nina, and Rivalz had returned to their lives, which had left Kallen and Gino still roaming the halls of reminiscence by themselves. Kallen wasn't really sure why it was just her and Gino, and she really didn't like the devious smile Rivalz had when he'd excused himself, but so far Gino seemed to not be too bad of company. They were just walking down corridors, not speaking much, and Kallen had begun to think more about her companion, rather than dig up memories she'd already been over way too many times in her mind. He seemed to be a normal stuck up Britannian noble boy, bred for leadership, power, and being way too stuck up for anyone's good; but here he was, perfectly comfortable with the former traitor to, as he thought, her country. Then there was that conversation they'd had before the final fight with Lelouch, where he'd said that he might've understood her feelings a bit. She believed him too, even though understanding her would've been completely beyond any noble she'd even known.

Since she'd fallen a bit behind, Gino stopped for a second to let her catch up, looking out over the grounds. "Hey Kallen," Gino said, looking towards her, "Do you think I'll fit in here? I mean, I did well enough last time I was here, but I don't think I really connected with anyone. Truth be told, I can't really remember anyone I met other than the student council," he looked unsure of himself for the first time since Kallen had met him.

She couldn't help but sympathize, "Actually, I wasn't very close to anyone either." She gave him a smile to try and cheer him up. Gino being depressed made absolutely no sense at all, no matter how she looked at it. "I think you'll do fine. At least, you can't do any worse than I did," she laughed a bit at herself.

"Really, and I thought you didn't like me," his usual smile returned to his face.

Kallen, rather than be defensive as she usually was, backed off a bit, and answered honestly, "It's not that I don't like you... I don't know, I've just never gotten along well with people like you. Well, nobles anyway."

Somehow, Gino's smile brightened. "So you do like me," Gino said, calm but sincere happiness evident in his voice.

Kallen blushed, something in the way he'd said it had thrown her into way too intimate territory, "I didn't say that!" she nearly yelled, her defensive nature returning.

Gino instantly picked up on her misunderstanding, "Sounds like you're trying awfully hard to deny something."

She could barely talk, "I, well, I mean..."

Gino pushed her a bit farther, "You know, keep acting that cute and I may just have to do something about it," he stepped closer to her.

"Like what, exactly?" a nervous chuckle backing her words as she found only a wall behind her.

Gino said playfully "Oh, I think you know,"

Kallen momentarily stopped breathing as Gino got closer and closer. The only coherent thought that passed through her head was; what's going on? I don't like him, why can't I move?

Gino stopped just inches from her face, so close, Kallen could feel his warm breath on her cheek. He whispered softly to her, pale blue eyes staring directly into her soul, "You're pretty easy to get to, huh?"

Kallen's brain screeched to a halt.

Gino stumbled backward laughing as hard as he could, barely able to keep standing.

Kallen's confusion slowly gave way to blind rage as what had just transpired became clear to her, or at least as clear as it could be to a girl that found no humor in Gino's little joke could. As she stormed off (more a hurricane than mere storm), one though flashed through her mind, "This is why I hate Britannians."

The next morning came sooner than she would have liked, and her mood had not much improved. This was her first day back at school since being "rescued," when she'd bid farewell to an era of her life that she was sure would live on in her mind as the most trying times she would ever know. Plus she'd also had to put her life on the line more than a few times, and that was pretty bad too. In any case, it was all over now and things could get back to normal; or, well, whatever normal was supposed to be.

Looking out over one of the many courtyards in Ashford Academy, she watched her fellow students walk around living the kind of life she'd never known. The one where the biggest thing you had to worry about was whether a boy liked you or not, rather than worrying about whether he was going to be alive tomorrow. A melancholic haze fogged her attention and she was sure that someone was just about to interrupt it. Someone always did. That was normal.

But they didn't. She stood there, looking out that window for what must've been ten minutes. Students walked by or sat on the lawn eating; she even watched as a younger girl confessed to an older boy and, from her reaction, was rejected. For some reason, one that she could not explain, she started smiling. She knew all too well what that girl must be feeling, but she was smiling despite having her chest ache, remembering the one kiss she and Lelouch shared before she left him forever. It was then that she realized a crushing fact; one that, to most, would bring happiness, but to her, brought only pain. She wasn't going to be normal, ever. She was going to be Kallen Kozuki, Knightmare pilot and national hero for the rest of her life. No one here could come even close to that. No one in the Academy would ever have to be so irrevocably different, to know how lonely that felt. Yet, she was smiling. She swore she was going nuts, but she knew that at the same time, this feeling felt like home. She'd known it since she had joined the resistance, she'd known it while being a Black Knight, hiding in plain view amongst her friends, and she'd known it while watching her fellow knights go about their business, knowing she'd never really be one of them either. All of it being Lelouch's fault, of course. She realized then that she was smiling because this feeling meant she really was home. It may not be the normal the students below knew, but it was hers, and even though it hurt more than any other feeling she'd known, it made her happy. She laughed a bit, too loud, and turned noticing that people were staring. She figured they'd just been too scared to interrupt her reverie.

Then she remembered why she'd been standing around in the hallway to begin with, prompting her unexpected mood. She was headed to the student council room to officially welcome another student back from the front lines. Him, she thought, an edge of near dread came over her, rooting her once again. Never in her life had she known someone so damned frustrating, someone so infuriating, someone so confusing as him. She resolved to not mention his name. Ever. Not even in conversation, she'd find ways around it.

"Come on Kallen, Gino's not that bad."

She lost it and spun around to meet her friend's face, cheeks red, "Of course not, that's not why I'm late! And what are you doing here Rivalz? Shouldn't you already be there?"

He scratched his head the way he usually did when asked about an uncomfortable subject and said, "I got ambushed by the fan club again"

His name for the bunch of people that mobbed them for inside info about why they'd been visited by the new Britannian empress (Nunnally had been inconspicuous enough, but it was hard to have Zero walking behind you and not get noticed) brought back unpleasant memories of her own. It seemed to be a theme for her life these days. Sighing, she replied, "Oh, that makes sense. So what else is on the agenda today?"

"Nothing much really, we just need to find some new officers," another sigh for their collection, "I wish Milly were around, she knows this stuff way better than I do," he said as they continued on to the Council Room.

When Kallen and Rivalz had returned to Ashford, now without all but one of it ranking student council members, the appointment of a new President was a must, and since Kallen had made it clear that she wasn't going to apply, that pretty much made Rivalz president by default. Rivalz, however, was not as willing to let Kallen off the hook as the school staff had, and practically begged Kallen to be his Vice-President. After all, they were really the only true friends each of them had left at school; everyone else had been too obsessed with being impressed to realize that both of them needed a person to just be themselves with.

They entered the club room and whatever fragment of a smile on Kallen's face was replaced with the best don't-mess-with-me look she could manage. There Gino was (her silly resolution forgotten) with his arrogant smile, arrogant aura, and his arrogant little bundle of braids tossed arrogantly over his shoulder. Geez, he pissed her off.

"You'd think I'd done something horrible with that look you're giving me," Gino said, eyebrow quirked tauntingly.

"You showed up here today, that's enough." Came the cold reply as Kallen sat down and retrieved some paperwork from here bag. It would need doing for another few days, but no time like the present. She was in no mood to deal with his antics today, not after what had happened last night.

"Aw, what's wrong with you today? Here I thought you and I were finally starting to be friends and now you treat me like an enemy again."

Gino's bringing up those times was not helping him in the slightest. "No, I'm treating you like a stuck up Britannian noble."

Gino shrugged and decided to cut his losses, for now.

Rivalz spoke up attempting to regain some sense of civility, he was president after all, "Come on now guys, we're all in this together. Let's all be..." Kallen cut him off, she wasn't going to give Gino any more reason to act all "friendly."

"So you said something about finding new officers for the Student council? We've got the Presidential and Vice-Presidential positions filled, so we just need a new treasurer and secretary then."

"Right," conceding his momentary loss to his Vice, "Gino, since you're now part, or, well, the rest of the student council, which one do you want?"

Gino mulled the question over for a few seconds, "Well, I've never really been great with money, but I think I can handle writing letters. I'll take Secretary."

Kallen decided it would be best to be at least professional. Swallowing her pride she said, "That's not all you'll be doing. You'll basically be handling record keeping and public relations when me and Rivalz are busy."

"Hmm, I think I can take care of that too. Of course, you'll be around to help me if I run into trouble right?" Gino once again wielded his grin with deadly precision.

Kallen, however, decided she wouldn't lose this time, and knowing full well that Rivalz would interrupt if he sensed a fight coming, she returned the grin and replied, "Just don't expect me to be there all the time to get you out of every little situation you're in,"

Gino took up the challenge, forming his next counter in his mind but...

"Guys, let's try to get along here. I'll go get everything Gino'll need. Kallen, see what you can do about finding a Treasurer." Rivalz said, right on time. However, Rivalz's next sentence made it a bittersweet victory, "Hey, I've got an idea. Maybe you and Gino could work together. After all, if you two manage not to kill each other, you should be able to do a great job with just about anything," and with a smile, Rivalz left.

Final Score; Gino 1, Kallen 2, Rivalz, the game. Damn him, Kallen thought.

The two decided to relocate to one of the courtyards, ironically being the one that Kallen had been staring into not an hour before. They sat, not looking at each other, on one of the stone benches and looked around, scanning for any potential candidates. Gino, having only been at the school a few days some time ago, was only doing so to prevent another scene until the right moment. He'd be damned if was going to screw up his best chance at a real friend at this school.

Kallen, however, had much less poignant things on her mind. As her eyes swept the emerald lawn, occasionally pausing to take in a face for a moment, she searched her mental student directory for possible candidates. This in and of itself was difficult enough, given that she didn't recognize anyone. Just then, her eyes settled upon someone sitting on another bench not far off, who, she thought for a moment, might've even been looking at her when she noticed him. Now though, his sight was concentrated firmly on the ground. She pulled up what information she had about him in her mind. Alec Keane, son of a lower-middle ranked noble family. From what she had seen, he was good with math and since he didn't seem like he talked much, he might be able to balance out the loudmouth beside her. But there was a bit of a snag. As she looked at him, she was forced to remember someone else. Charcoal black hair, almost royal features, if it wasn't for his blue eyes he could've passed for Lelouch at all but a short distance. He even had the distant, almost bored, arrogance that Lelouch had perfected before actually finding something to care about in the Black Knights. No, he's no good for the job.

Gino, however, had had already noticed that Kallen had looked a little too long at the guy, "Think he might be a good candidate?"

"Maybe, but I think I know a few other people that might fit better," she lied, trying to dodge the question and move on.

Gino, as usual, Kallen would have thought, didn't know when to quit, "Hm, you sure you're not passing him over because he looks a bit like a certain someone? I couldn't blame you really; even I see the resemblance," he asked, actually beginning to sound concerned for her feelings.

At least he's got the decency to be considerate now, Kallen said to herself. Then, to Gino, with a greater degree of honesty than she usually mustered, "Yeah, that might have a little to do with it."

Seeing the opening he'd been waiting for, Gino managed to assure himself a friend by stepping, heedless of consequences, into very personal territory, "You know; you'll have to move on eventually. I'm sure it's what he would've wanted for you."

Despite, or perhaps because of, Gino's subtle intrusion into her heart, Kallen turned an angry eye to her new friend, "What do you know? You didn't know him; you were too busy trying to kill him."

Gino smiled a bit, seeing Kallen return to something of herself, "So were you, if you remember. That aside, if he even comes close to deserving that crush you still have on him, he would've wanted you to forget all about him."

Even though he was undoubtedly right, she persisted, "Anyway, It doesn't matter what he wanted; I still don't want some look-alike hanging around."

Gino's impenetrable aura of confidence returned and he immediately took his victory and ran with it, "That's a lousy reason and you know it. Come on, I think we have our Treasurer," and with that he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along with him as he walked toward the boy that had appeared to now notice their intent.

Once they were closer Gino called out, "Hey, mind if we ask you something?"

Alec looked up at him, face still unchanged from when he was alone, and replied, "Which would be?"

Un-deterred by the clear lack of interest, Gino said, "We're from the student council," Alec's eyes narrowed, indicating he would have to be a complete fool to not have already known that, and that he thought Gino was a fool for insinuating it. Gino continued "We're actually looking for a Treasurer and my friend Kallen here," he put his arm around her shoulder, at which time she began to protest, but refrained from interrupting, "thought you might be suitable for the job."

Alec stood, looked at Gino, his expression still muttering insults, then at Kallen, with a more appraising gaze, and said, plainly and somehow with no tone of snobbishness "Sure, now if you'll excuse me, my servant has arrived to drive me home." With that he turned and left, walking towards a tall man wearing a suit and sunglasses that had just entered the courtyard some distance away.

Kallen and Gino stared a bit, somewhat confused. Both of them were well accustomed to being the first to notice anyone entering a given area, especially someone that stood out. However, Alec's mention of the man's arrival had come some seconds before they actually noticed him. Gino spoke first, "Think he was just waiting for the guy?"

"He would have been at the front gate, besides, the timing was dead-on. Also, did you notice that he didn't even look over there before he said something?"

"Weird." Gino's comment was the last they spoke of it, before heading back towards the club room to inform Rivalz of their pick.

Rivalz, meanwhile, was taking care of the chore he disliked most that comes from holding the position of student council president, paperwork. He figured he'd fill out all the forms for Gino's appointment and then finish as much as he could of all the forms for whoever was going to be his new Treasurer. He had just finished making Gino's appointment official when he heard two of the faculty talking in the hallway. The only thing that made Rivalz, normally a perfect gentleman, begin to eavesdrop was the tone of their voices, which sounded oddly concerned about something.

"I'm not really sure how much longer we'll be safe from those Eleven... cultural purity groups... or whatever they're calling themselves. They're beginning to seem dangerous."

"I don't know about yours, but my husband's been considering moving back to the mainland. I'd rather be here teaching at Ashford, but I can't say I blame him."

They walked too far for Rivalz to hear any more. This brought to mind the other, almost daily, harassment in his life these days. In addition to the incessant press and onlookers attempting to butt in on things he couldn't say anything about, every so often he'd have some Japanese person just start yelling about how he and the rest of the Britannians should just leave the country.

Naturally, after having been liberated from Britannian rule, the Japanese population had returned to being the dominant power in what portion of the city of Tokyo was left. Most of the surviving Britannians had already returned to the Mainland, and many were still on their way out. Thanks to their newfound majority and their, admittedly justified, anger, some of the Japanese had taken to demanding that the rest of the Britannian population leave as well. Fortunately for the students of Ashford, remarkably few of which seriously wished to return to Britannia, Prime Minister Ohgi had managed to keep those of that opinion from gaining the support necessary to remove the Britannians from the city and, as a few wished, from the entire country. Thankfully, Rivalz's mother shared his opinion and had no intention of leaving Tokyo, barring an order from the Japanese government. She wasn't particularly fond of the Japanese but, regardless of the politics involved, this was their home now.

He finished the all the forms he could and headed back to the club room where Kallen and Gino were waiting calmly and, believe it or not, were talking to each other without trading their respective trademark looks. Rivalz smiled a bit to himself, the first major problem of his presidency solved. He waited for them to finish whatever conversation they were having to speak up, "So, find me someone good?"

Gino answered, "Yep, I think so," he cast a glance at Kallen, asking her to finish the explanation.

"His name is Alec Keane. You remember him from some of our classes before I had to leave?"

"Yeah, I think so. Don't think I ever talked to him at all though. Looks kinda like Lelouch right?"

Gino caught the barest flinch from Kallen as Rivalz pointed it out. Clearly Rivalz wasn't terribly sensitive to that sort of thing.

Kallen's voice betrayed none of her feeling though, "Yeah, a little. From what I remembered, he was pretty good at math, so he should be the right one for the job. Besides, he's a noble's son, so he should have some idea of how to manage money."

Gino disagreed, "Um, Kallen, you grew up in a noble family, did your parents ever say anything about money to you?"

"Huh? Hm, now that I think about it, not really. I figured it was just the boys that got taught all that stuff. Besides I was around as little as possible."

"I think that's how it was for all of us." Only Gino's eyes showed his distaste for those memories of his childhood, or, rather, the lack of defining ones. Well, other than those of her.

Rivalz had to admit he felt bad for them, even though his family was well off, and had its own share of problems, he was at least close to his mother.

They sat, not saying anything for a few moments until Gino dissipated the gloomy fog that had settled over the three of them, "Well, enough of that. Rivalz, you said there'd be something I need?"

"Oh, right," Rivalz bounced back to his usual self and chuckled a bit before handing a handful of papers to Gino. "Here you go buddy, your first bunch forms to fill out."

Gino took the papers and mentally noted that he had now two friends he could count on. Not a bad start, he thought before turning his mind to the task at hand.

They finished up with what little official business they had left and went their separate ways. While Rivalz and Gino headed to their respective dormitories, Kallen, however, left for her usual stop before going home, Tamaki's bistro.