A/N: Wow, this really is the last chapter…I can hardly believe it! Please enjoy!

Chapter 14: Intelligence

"There is no way I am agreeing to this," Kallen spat.

Ohgi ran a hand through his curly hair. "Kallen, I'm not asking you to agree," he said. "I'm asking you to follow orders. I'm not just the deputy commander of the Black Knights anymore. I'm the Prime Minister of Japan now, and, since you've joined the military, you have to listen to me."

"Prime Minister or not, you're being an idiot!" Kallen insisted.

Ohgi sighed. He wished he hadn't listened to Zero. Yes, he'd been able to do a good job as prime minister, and he was happy that he had the job, but having to deal with Kallen when she was like this was almost impossible. If he'd let someone else run for PM, she would have been their problem, and not his. Even the plush office, which was in the same place that the Viceroy's office had been, and still retained much of its expensive furniture, was not worth the constant complaining of his former comrade-in-arms. Kallen was right. He was an idiot.

That didn't mean he was about to back down, though. "Kallen, Suzaku Kururugi is a skilled Knightmare pilot and a loyal soldier. We'll need people like him if we want to stay independent."

"He was an Honorary Britannian!" Kallen shouted. "We can't trust him."

"Kallen, we've been having this argument for a while, and you should have realized by now that I'm not going to change my mind," Ohgi said. "Kururugi stays."

He should have known it was a bad idea. When he'd decided to form an elite team of Knightmare Pilots, and call them "Nihon no Kishidan" or "The Knights of Japan", he hadn't stopped to think of how few pilots had survived the war seven years ago. Really, the only pilots with sufficient skill were Todoh's Four Holy Swords and Kallen- Todoh would have been a good member as well, but as the Commander-In-Chief of Japan's military, he was somewhat busy. So, when Kururugi had offered his services, of course Ohgi had accepted.

"Why, though?" Kallen insisted. "How do you even know he's a good pilot?"

Ohgi nearly laughed. "You should know as well as I do. You've seen Kururugi in action before."

Kallen gave him a sideways glance.

"Did you think it was Cornelia in that white Knightmare?" Ohgi asked her.

"…Wait! That was Kururugi?" Kallen gasped. "At school, he told us he was in the engineering corps."

"He was," Ohgi explained. "He was the test pilot for Britannia's first seventh-generation Knightmare-that white one. It was still technically in the experimental stages."

"Then why did it keep showing up in battle?" Kallen grumbled. "And why are you trusting him, if he fought against us like that?"

"I'm not asking you to trust him, Kallen," Ohgi said. "I'm asking you to trust in his skills as a pilot. It's the same as Zero. We didn't even know who he was, but we could trust in his skills as a strategist and a leader."

"Don't compare that idiot to Zero," Kallen snapped.

Zero…Ohgi thought. It was strange to think that he would never see the Black Knight's mysterious leader.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"You're what?" Kallen demanded, the soundproof walls of the headquarters muffling the volume of her voice.

"I'm disbanding the Black Knights," Zero repeated. "Our goal has been accomplished. Japan is free. There is no longer a purpose in our continuing to exist as a group."

Japan is free. The words echoed in Ohgi's head. Only hours earlier, he had been delivering pizza for no apparent reason. Now, it turned out that he had helped his country finally reclaim its freedom. He could hardly believe it.

"But what about crushing Brit-" Kallen began.

Zero cut her off. "For now, this is enough," he said. "I still intend to crush Britannia. However, I intend to do it without you."

"What?" Tamaki asked, a surly tone to his voice. "Aren't we good enough for you anymore?"

"It's not that," Zero said firmly. "All of you have the potential to play important roles in Japan's reconstruction. I cannot keep you from those roles in order to fulfill my own goals."

"So…" Kento began slowly, "this is it? We won't see you again?"

"Unless the situation demands my return." Zero stated. "I intend this to be the last time that I wear this mask,"

"Will you tell us who you are now?" Kallen asked.

"No," Zero said. "I believe my purposes will be best served by my identity remaining a secret.":::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ohgi tried, one last time, to calm Kallen down. "Kururugi had his own reasons for joining the Britannian army. Todoh explained it to me. He really was acting in what he saw as Japan's best interests."

"Yeah, right," Kallen said, allowing the door to slam shut behind her after she walked out.

Naoto, please let me figure out how to deal with your sister, Ohgi thought.

Only moments later, the door opened again, and Kururugi himself walked in, along with another boy.

"You don't look happy to see me," Suzaku said. "Did Kallen start complaining again?"

Ohgi walked over to the desk and sat down. "She told me she used to act sickly at school, so she could skip with fewer questions. Sometimes I wish she actually was a little less energetic. It would make her a lot easier to deal with." He felt bad about lying to Suzaku, but the young Knightmare pilot had wanted an explanation for Kallen's sudden healthiness, and that one was as plausible as any.

"I brought my friend," Suzaku said. "You, know, the one I recommended for that position…"

"Oh, yes," Ohgi said, sitting up. He looked at the other boy. "Can I ask your name?"

The boy smiled, though it never quite reached his violet eyes, and gave his name. Ohgi recognized it as one that Kallen had mentioned before.

He glanced at Suzaku. "You didn't say that he was Britannian."

The boy frowned. "Not by choice," he said, his words clipped and precise.

Suzaku shrugged. "I know he's Britannian in terms of nationality, but in terms of loyalty, he's no more Britannian than you."

Ohgi regarded the boy curiously. "So you don't have any lingering loyalty to your home country?"

"Seven years ago, during the war, I promised myself that I would crush Britannia," the boy said, his expression utterly serious. "I hope that you will lend me your military strength so that I may accomplish that."

Ohgi remembered Suzaku warning him about this. Apparently, the boy had some kind of grudge against Britannia. Then again, who in Japan didn't? Besides, according to Suzaku, he was some sort of prodigy.

"…Maybe after you graduate," he replied nervously, regarding the boy's school uniform. "In the meantime, do you think you're up to this? It will be a lot of responsibility."

The boy looked him in the eye. "I am accustomed to responsibility," he said evenly, "and I believe you will find me capable of much more than you expect."

Ohgi closed his eyes. This kid was clearly unstable. Brilliant, but unstable. He could turn out to be an incredible asset, or a huge liability. He was confident, that was for sure, and he definitely knew how to deal with people. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if that would be enough. He was only seventeen, and, like most of the younger generation, the war had scarred him. Depending on him was a gamble, at best.

But Ohgi's didn't have a whole lot of options. Japan's population was decimated, and most of its warriors and leaders had died in the war with Britannia. He had to rely on those who had survived the war. Even if they were Britannian, or mentally unbalanced, or both. He was, after all, the same person who'd entrusted his life to a masked man, in the vain hope that Japan might ultimately benefit.

"Congratulations," Ohgi said. "You are now the head of Japan's intelligence agency. Report here tomorrow for your briefing."

"Thank you, Prime Minister Kaname Ohgi," the boy said. He pulled something from his pocket. "You have just passed the test."

"What test?" Ohgi asked, confused.

"A test to see if you could be relied on to act if it became necessary," the boy stated. He handed Ohgi the paper. "This number is a direct, private line to the individual responsible for the blackout three months ago. Because that individual is currently residing in Britannia, this is our only means of communicating with them. You now possess the only record of the existence of that number. You must not show it to anyone, and you must keep it with you at all times. If any of the terms written below the number, which are those which Britannia agreed to on that day, are violated, call this number and say my name."

"But why?" Ohgi asked, confused. Had the blackout had something to do with Japan's independence? And how exactly was Suzaku's friend connected to all of this?

The boy smiled a smile that sent chills creeping up Ohgi's spine. "Trust me," he said.

He turned and walked out of the room, with Suzaku following close behind.

Ohgi didn't move for a few moments. Then, almost robotically, he folded up the paper and placed it in the pocket of his suit.

Kallen had told him that she had, at one time, suspected the boy of being Zero. Now, Ohgi saw why. He had a feeling that history would remember Lelouch Lamperouge.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

NinthFeather: There you have it! A happy ending…for everyone but Ohgi. Oh, and Corny-sama. Corny-sama's gonna kill me…

Suzaku: She's going to kill me, too, so don't feel bad.

Lelouch: I'm looking forward to working with Ohgi again.

C.C.: Actually, I think you just gave him a heart attack. You might want to work on not scaring people.

Lelouch: You should talk!

C.C.: I'm different.

Lelouch: That much is obvious.

C.C.: If you continue to behave this way, I won't share my pizza.

Lelouch: *…*

C.C.: Well?

Lelouch: *…*

C.C.: I take it you don't want pizza, then.

Lelouch: Oh, fine! I apologize. Now if you'll pass me a slice of the pepperoni…. I've been too busy blackmailing people to eat.

NinthFeather: I'm kinda sad that this story is over, but I'm also really happy that I actually finished it. After I watch R2, I plan to write a sequel. Some stuff to look forward to: Ohgi interacting with Lelouch, Ohgi meeting Nunnally (I think that'll be cute), Kallen and Suzaku on the same side, Euphie and Corny on different sides, some Chinese Federation, more LelouchXC.C., some OhgiXVilleta if I can manage it, and some AnyaXGino (I only know the pairing from fics and I already love it). Please look forward to it! In late August, I will be turning the Private Messaging function on my account on, so from that time forward you can PM me about starting the sequel. Also, I will be creating a deviantart account, where I will post a sketch of "Euphine Lamperouge" that I did as a reference, as well as art for some of my other fics.

In the meantime, I am starting another fic. I'm going to call it Code Geass: Blind Justice. It will be a Code Geass AU with a fairly simple premise- what if Lelouch was the one who had ended up blind and in a wheelchair? Instead of shifting main character duties to Nunnally, though, I am going to keep Lulu as the main protagonist. He will still receive Geass, (Unlike Nunnally, his eyes will be open, he just won't be able to see) and become Zero. It's just going to be a little trickier for him to pull everything off. Lelouch is way too stubborn to let anything get in the way of taking down Britannia. So, I decided to write about what would happen if he had a few more obstacles to overcome. I hope that some of you who have followed this fic so faithfully will read my new one as well.

I really appreciated your reviews, praise, criticism, and geekouts, so thank you! Bye, everyone!