"My brother Naoto had a dream," she tersely began. "He always said, one day the Japanese people would be able to walk with their heads held high. One day we wouldn't have to live in fear of some random Brit picking us up off the street and beating us to death. One day we'd be free. One day we'd be a liberated nation! And now it's been three months since you gave us our rights back. There aren't half as many resistance groups anymore, we're treated just the same as anyone else."

"But it's not enough," Lelouch said. "So now you are struggling between your brother's dream and a feeling you're being selfish for wanting independence."

"You idiot! You don't get it at all!" Kallen cried. Cried? Yes, those were tears. He'd misjudged her mood worse than he had thought. "My brother, he died fighting Britannia. My mother died because... Because those bastards used her as a lab rat. Now here we are playing cleanup crew for some Prince? What the hell are we doing anymore? Tell me, Lelouch! What's the point of the Black Knights if we already have our freedom?"

In many ways, Lelouch had been thinking along similar lines. He had been moved into a corner and was having to fight his way out. He had to think for his sister's sake. For the sake of a mother, for the sake of his beloved sibling, he would fight against his own nation with every ounce of breath in his body and yet here he was, being forced to perpetuate the same system that he despised so much. He examined their surroundings with Painted Black to ensure they weren't being listened to. Because what he was about to say, he had told absolutely nobody. Not Nunnally. Not Shirley. Not Kirihara or Joseph. Nobody knew this.

But Kallen deserved to know. Because they really were so much alike.

"Do you know what my original intention for the Black Knights was?" Lelouch asked. "They were to be my military force. To fight Britannia. To gain freedom for the people of Japan, and set up a new nation that would be different from what came before. A place where people could live, so long as they adhered to the rule of law."

"Then what's your plan now?" Kallen asked, rather demanded of him. "Now that you're Viceroy, you don't need us anymore do you? You can play politics with the court to get what you're after. Become Emperor, force through any reform you want -"

"But I wouldn't be Emperor forever," Lelouch interrupted. "Nor will I be Viceroy forever. That is the key element to remember: I may change the system however I desire, and yet a future leader could easily set it all back to the way it was. Given sufficient justification and political pressure all of the freedom I have given the Japanese could easily be taken away."

"Wait, I'm confused," Kallen sniffed. "Then you mean you still want to use the Black Knights to liberate Japan?"

Lelouch answered by smiling at her. That seemed to calm her down a bit. But there was a little more to it than that...

"Don't get too excited," he warned. "Since becoming Viceroy, I have made a few discoveries that make me a little more cautious of grand scale future moves. It's quite amazing what you can discover with a little time sitting near the top."

Alright. This was it. This was the part he hadn't told anyone. The part that worried him the most regarding his future plans. Kallen was eyeing him suspiciously. She had every right to. In her place he would do the same.

"There is a grander game being played, and Area Eleven is merely a small part of it. To my current knowledge there are four players: The Emperor, who is apparently conducting personal projects that demand a great deal of his time. Schneizel, who has been funding a variety of research projects throughout the Empire for unknown reasons. There are rumours he is setting up his own future claim for the throne. Possibly even a coup. Of course, he has been too careful for anyone to take such rumours seriously enough to warrant action against him."

Lelouch paused for a moment, which prompted Kallen to ask "And the other two sides?"

"An old rivalry between adopted siblings," Lelouch explained. "The first is Chancellor Dio Brando. From your reaction you have heard of him."

"Yeah, I've heard of him," Kallen shuddered. "He was a shareholder in my dad's company, and father used to always talk about the guy like he was an Angel. Even Naoto liked him after meeting him once, and believe me that says a hell of a lot."

"Naturally," Lelouch said. "He is the man who taught both Schneizel and I how to read people, how to manipulate them, sway them to your side and how to use charisma and words as dangerous weapons. He has been lending support to both the Emperor and Schneizel's projects, and is my current lead suspect for the person that sent Anubis, although the evidence is all entirely circumstantial. Otherwise I might have made a more public move against him."

"Sounds dangerous," Kallen said. "And the last side?"

"Shirley's Great-Grandfather."

Well, if nothing else the expression of shock and surprise on her face had made telling her all of this completely worth it. Had he actually managed to render Kallen speechless? Oh dear.

"His name is Jonathan Joestar," Lelouch began. "He is known as a terrorist and a criminal throughout the Empire's highest ranks, feared as a kind of fable for Imperial children. Don't be naughty, or JOJO shall take you in the night and feast on your blood. That sort of nonsense. His appearance before Ohgi shortly after the Stand Out incident tells me that he is real, that he is quite probably a vampire, and that he too has a stake in events throughout the Area. It is also possible that he is the one who told Shirley to take Nunnally and defeat Anubis, in his own attempt to mitigate Dio's scheme."

"R-Right," Kallen nodded. Anyone could tell from her expression that she had a thousand and one questions, but didn't know where to start. So Lelouch picked one for her.

"It is entirely likely that someone on one of these sides might elect to target Shirley or our friends in an attempt to manipulate or harm me. For that reason, the training the Black Knights have been going through serves two purposes: To prepare them for the inevitable future conflict, and to prepare Shirley in case someone is foolish enough to make such an attempt. Kallen. Even she does not know this, but I am trusting you with this information. Do you know why?"

"Because we are so alike?"

"No... Because I share the same dream as your dear brother."

-Lulu's Bizarre Rebellion Chapter 41