I recently got interested in High School DxD (don't ask why, I blame my friends who know I can't resist an interesting plot. Even if I personally could do with less fanservice). And I've seen a couple crossovers with Code Geass and I had a couple ideas so I wanted to throw my lot in and see what comes out.
Fair warning, I really have no clue where I'm going with this (unlike my main Code Geass story, I have so many plans for that one) so this may follow DxD canon for a while as I try to hit my stride.
Still, as Lelouch tries to figure out why he's in this world and brings his own unique experiences into the story, things will begin to change.
Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.
I hope you enjoy this story.
Chapter 1: This Feels Familiar
Lelouch yawned as he slowly walked down a somewhat busy street in the Japanese town of Kuoh. He rubbed his left eye to try to rub out the last vestiges of his sleep as he stopped once more to stare at the gates of a school. Rather, the school he attended.
'How in either my world or this one did I end up having to go to school again?!' Lelouch mentally groaned to himself as he tried to remember what he had done to deserve this.
Oh wait, that list was rather long actually. Being the Demon Emperor back in his world before his death had given him a rather… impressive list of sins.
A body count in the millions would have justified pretty much any punishment a God wanted to deliver unto him.
Still, he could not for the life of him remember how he had arrived in this world. The last thing Lelouch remembered was lying next to Nunnally as he slowly felt his heart stop beating as it had to deal with a rather large slice after he was pierced by Zero's blade. And, even if he was meant to be punished by the God of his world, why in his Hell or any other would the Collective Unconscious choose to send him to another world as the punishment for his actions? He was rather certain he deserved to rot in the deepest pits of Hell for his actions, despite the remorse he felt for his crimes and the fact that he all did it to try and create the peaceful world his beloved little sister deserved.
When attempting to become the most hated tyrant in history, whether he felt bad about it would mean nothing in the eyes of a God seeking to punish him.
He had considered that perhaps the reason he had been sent here was because his ultimate punishment wasn't to suffer in Hell, it was to be denied the right to see if he had succeeded in creating the world Nunnally desired, even if he could have only seen it from the underworld. But he dismissed it as unlikely since he had already planned on being unable to see his world after he planned his own death.
It had to be another reason.
Lelouch was shaken from his depressing line of thought as he heard squealing from a bunch of teenage girls mixed with the sound of many, many kendo sticks smacking flesh. "You freaks!" shouted one of the girls. "How dare you spy on us as we're changing!" She screamed incoherently and gave one final swing to hit the brown-haired boy between his legs.
The resulting crunch could have been the boy's equipment, or it could have been the bamboo sword snapping in two. Either way, Lelouch cringed in minor sympathy even though he knew full well the boy and his two friends had at least some of that coming to them considering their rather open perverted tendencies.
The "perverted trio" as they were known were rather… infamous with how little traditional boundaries like changing rooms, or even bathrooms, meant to them if it prevented them from catching a peek at one of their classmates' more intimate areas.
He was genuinely surprised none of them had been arrested for sexual harassment yet, but guessed that there could be a few reasons why. Perhaps, while the girls here were more than willing to beat them up for spying on them, they were reluctant to ruin their lives by giving them a criminal record with something like that. As that required Lelouch to assume a great deal of personal decency on the part of every girl who had ever gotten peeped on by the trio, he felt it was rather unlikely. He preferred his second theory and believed it was more likely there was someone in the school protecting the trio, or at the very least one of them, by making sure the incidents didn't leave the school.
Coming up with conspiracy theories was a fun pastime, but the fact remained that it was a genuine miracle none of the idiots had gotten arrested for being a public menace.
Lelouch sighed in irritation and decided it was a waste of time paying attention to the idiots as he made his way to class. According to the records he had, which he had to request from the Japanese government, he was an emancipated minor born to parents from the United Kingdom, apparently this world's Britannia though far less powerful. It still felt weird to consider the massive differences between this world's history and his own, but by far the strangest thing, well personal thing, was the fact that both of his parents in this world, had they even existed in the first place, were killed when he was nine years old. The same age he had been when his mother had been murdered in his world. There was no cause of death given to him, all he knew was that they had left him a small home in the city in which he lived and a small, compared to what he was used to at least, amount of money thanks to their insurance.
His means of living were far more modest in this world, but it wasn't too bad. He wouldn't have to worry about money until he graduated high school at the very least. Though the fact that he was somehow legally considered sixteen kind of pissed him off.
He had spent two years, dear God that was a short amount of time now that he thought about it, waging war against his homeland and conquered the world when he was eighteen. Being reset to the age of sixteen, the age he had been a year before he had begun his rebellion, made it seem like those two years hadn't even happened. Which, in this world, he supposed they didn't.
Still, he had conquered the damn world without graduating high school, he was pissed he had to go through all of the same crap again. Though, without Milly, at least things were far less insane at Kuoh Academy.
Apparently, his irritation had shown through slightly as he noticed a small hand touch his shoulder to try and calm him down. "You okay Lelouch?" a soft voice asked the dark-haired young man. Lelouch turned and gave a soft smile at the petite white-haired girl who spoke to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine Koneko." He replied easily. Koneko didn't talk much, preferring to indulge in her sweets rather than conversation, but the fifteen-year-old was one of the few female students who didn't pester him for dates.
Not really interested in talking with any of his classmates had unfortunately saddled him with the title of "Kuoh's Black Prince" with a reputation for being the "cool, silent type". No matter what world he was in, he apparently couldn't escape fangirls.
At least Milly wasn't around to egg them on anymore.
"Just a little tired, I was studying rather late last night." Koneko blinked at his explanation and, with blank "later", waved and made her way to her own classes. Lelouch ignored this rather odd, though normal for Koneko, behavior and did the same. It wasn't like they wouldn't meet up later.
Koneko would want some of the sweets he had brought today for lunch.
After it was outed to the whole school what a good cook he was, he was meticulous to the nth degree when it came to mixing ingredients, she politely asked for some sweets. And he had said no, then she had asked the next day. He'd still said no. This routine had continued for weeks before Lelouch gave in and, before she could ask again one day, had shoved a cookie he had made into her mouth.
The quiet moan she let out when she tasted the cookie he had made for her creeped him out a lot, but he nonetheless had given her the batch he made and promised he would bring her sweets from now on if she would stop bothering him with her begging.
Koneko sat with him at lunch ever since, though he did notice the periodic glances her club's President had given her whenever she did so. The four foot six Koneko sitting next to the near six feet tall Lelouch did seem rather odd at first glance, but Rias had gotten a kick out of Koneko declaring his sweets some of the best she'd ever tasted so she had little problem with her friend indulging her sweet tooth.
Though Lelouch had found the warning Rias had delivered when they were alone one day rather amusing. He had no romantic inclinations to anyone, at best he considered Koneko a close acquaintance. There was no one at Kuoh he thought he could consider a legitimate friend, but considering his luck with friends that was probably a good thing,
As Lelouch sat down in his class, he ignored the bell that signaled he had only just made it in time, and stared out the window. His first class wasn't something he would learn anything new in after all.
He'd devoured this world's history as best he could when he learned that no one had ever even heard of "Britannia". There wasn't much a high school history class could teach him that he didn't already know because of his paranoia at making sure he wouldn't have to deal with any superpowers deciding to invade Japan.
Unless America, apparently Washington's Rebellion had succeeded here, got a hair up its ass and decided to invade Japan for some reason, Lelouch didn't have much to worry about. Apparently, this world had been a relative peace ever since the end of a period known as the "Cold War". Except for the American's interventions in the Middle East, which was the most understated way of putting it, there hadn't been any major wars in quite some time.
As he was asked a question by the teacher, Lelouch answered with his typical poise, not even acknowledging the teacher's existence out of sheer boredom.
As it stood right now, maybe the unending boredom of high school was the punishment intended by the Collective Unconscious.
Lelouch walked quietly out of his school back onto the streets of Kuoh and shifted his backpack slightly as he grumbled to himself. "I hate homework." He would almost prefer Hell to this he mused. Then the former Prince blinked as he saw something rather strange. A girl dressed in some sort of bat cosplay handing out flyers.
"Hey sir, would you like a flyer?" She saw him, shit. Lelouch sighed and figured he could always throw it away later. "Sure." He said with resignation. Just another thing to read later, he groused. As if his homework weren't enough.
He stuffed the flyer in his pocket and kept on walking. He wanted to get home and finish up his homework before trying to get some more sleep. He had studied far too late the night before and needed the extra nap he planned on taking if he didn't want to lose his edge.
A mind, no matter how talented, needed adequate rest or it would fail to function at full capacity. Lelouch refused to let his mind lose its edge just because he was bored out of his skull.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, he fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out his key. Blinking slightly at the change in light since he had shut the light off before he left, he flicked the switch on the wall close to the door.
"Home sweet home." Lelouch mumbled sarcastically. He tossed his backpack onto the couch next to the entrance and made his way to the kitchen to make himself a snack. His home was a modest two story dwelling in the city, with the second story mainly containing his single bedroom and a bathroom with a shower and bathtub. The first floor, after entering through the entrance, held a closet on the back wall and a kitchen to the left, the staircase leading to the second floor on the far-right wall. The rest was the living room that contained a single couch in front of a window, a glass coffee table in front, and a television inside a medium sized entertainment center between the closet and the staircase. There was also a bookcase filled with history books and other books Lelouch had found interesting between the entertainment center and the staircase. There were no excess decorations, it was very Spartan for a high school student, but that's how Lelouch preferred it.
Not much, but it was a decent place to live all things considered. Lelouch finished making his snack, placing the knife in the sink after making his sandwich. He ate it quickly as he walked up to take a quick shower to relax after another annoying day in class, then he'd get started on his homework.
He quickly climbed the stairs, walked down the hall, and made his way into the bathroom. As he flicked on the light, Lelouch removed his uniform jacket before peeling off the rest of his clothes, he turned the knob in the shower and waited a few minutes for it to warm up. Stepping in, he groaned in relief as he felt the nice warm water cascade down his form.
Nothing quite like a hot shower after a day of boredom.
It was the simple pleasures that made life worth living he decided.
Later that night, Lelouch was dreaming about his past. Only, it had been going differently than he remembered.
He found himself trapped in Shinjuku again, but instead of escaping after taking control of the terrorist group, he found himself trapped under rubble with C.C. who granted him Geass once more. Only this Geass was a completely different kind compared to the one he had been granted in his first life.
He woke up suddenly, feeling suffocated by the black armor that had appeared around him in his not-memory dream. Lelouch slowly sat up, moving the blankets off of his sweating body as he tried to stop himself from shaking. 'What… was that?' He wondered quietly as he stared at his shaking hands. Whatever that armor was, it was nothing like his own Zero uniform. It was impossible to describe how it felt as anything other than wrong. It was something that should not have existed.
"I need a drink." Lelouch murmured as he clenched his fists to force them to stop shaking. He shoved his blankets away from his sweating body and stood up wearing only his black boxers, preferring to sleep like that when it was a hot night like this. He let his eyes adjust to the darkness before making his way down stairs to avoid falling down the stairs. As he made his way to his kitchen, Lelouch thought about what he was going to do about the dreams he kept having.
This dream was only the most recent in a string of strange dreams that had been occurring on and off for the past month or so. This one was somewhat different, he could actually recall it for one, but it was also different in the overwhelming sense of pure dread that had permeated the dream. He had not felt like that in Shinjuku back what felt like a lifetime ago, he had been scared for his life yes, but the overarching sense of dread he felt in that dream felt far worse.
He opened up his fridge and pulled out some milk and a glass from his cupboard. He poured himself a glass of cool milk and made his way back to his living room. He decided to flick on the television for a little background noise as he drank his milk and turned on his couch to stare out the window at the black sky. It was a full moon tonight, lighting up the vast expanse of space alongside the stars in the sky.
Although, there seemed to be a shooting star tonight he noticed. Lelouch blinked as he realized something alarming. 'Um, it's coming this way… and it's not stopping.' His mind supplied only one phrase he could say at this moment as he quickly ran to the far corner of his living room, curling up to protect his head between his bookcase and the stairs. He saw the light about to crash through his window. "Fuck my life." His window shattered and Lelouch ducked down to avoid the shards of glass flying through the air. He got lucky for once and none of the shards hit him, but the star, rather the body that was glowing like one, smashed into his table and he had to resist a groan at how much it was going to cost to replace it as it completely shattered.
Lelouch eyed the groaning mass of flesh laying on the remains of his table from his position in the shadow of his staircase. "Ow, fuck, fuck, fuck!" the female figure shouted. "I'll kill you for that you fucking devil bastard!" The blonde-haired girl's clothing was… well shredded was the best description Lelouch could come up with.
Her Lolita dress was hanging on to her petite form by literal threads, one of her pigtails had come loose, draping her hair over her right eye. And he could very easily see her breasts, the shreds she may have once called clothing doing nothing to hide her form. But the thing that drew most of Lelouch's attention were the black feathered wings coming out of her back. He heard flapping sounds and turned to his window again in time to see another figure with black wings enter through his destroyed window, landing on the shards of glass and glaring at the blonde thing in front of him.
"You're quite vulgar aren't you," the voice of Kiba sounded. "Is that why you Fell?" Lelouch blinked in shock at seeing his blond classmate with black wings coming out of his back. Unfortunately for Lelouch, when he tried to shift to escape upstairs, his foot crunched some of the glass on the floor, he flinched as the glass dug into his foot but more importantly the sound had the effect of drawing the attention of the two winged creatures that broke into his home. "Hello there," the blonde said seductively which creeped Lelouch out. "Are you dressed like that just for me?" On the other hand, Kiba's response made Lelouch want to strangle the blond man.
"Lelouch, what are you doing here?" Kiba asked confusedly. He had been doing a little extra homework in the clubroom when little miss Fallen had burst in looking to attack Rias for some reason he hadn't bothered to ask about before jumping into action.
"I live here you dumbass." Lelouch grumbled before blinking in shock. The blonde girl had moved, she wasn't where she was a second ago. Suddenly, a familiar pain spread through his body as Lelouch grunted, coughing up some blood, the metallic taste coating his tongue as it once had a lifetime ago. His blood dripped down his chin as he looked down to see the petite blonde girl holding a spear of light.
The spear of light that was piercing through his chest in a mockery eerily familiar of his first death.
The evil blonde chuckled. "I'm sorry bout this cutie, but if this guy knows you then your death will provide me a good distraction as he tries to save your life." She whispered into his ears as he felt his legs become numb as his spine was severed by the spear exiting his back. She yanked out the spear and burst through the second floor and the roof, flying away as Lelouch collapsed when the spear was no longer around to hold him up. He hit the glass covered floor, and coughed again as he felt the familiar pain of his own death rearing its ugly head.
He heard someone calling his name, forcing his body to turn over as Lelouch self-examined his own wound. His sternum was pierced all the way through, severing his spine from anything below it, the blade, whatever it was, was also wide enough to pierce both of his lungs as well as his heart, but was just small enough to leave small enough wounds to where he wouldn't die immediately he clinically analyzed. He would die either from the shock of his spine being severed, by drowning in his own blood, or by his heart refusing to continue beating.
This was meant to be a death where the victim would suffer, he realized as his fear began to overtake his mind for the first time in a long time.
He couldn't hear what was going on above him, his eyes were too weak now to see anything other than a blurry blond figure over him, trying to convince him to stay alive he guessed. "I don't want to die alone, not again." His whispered last words slipped out by accident as two tears streaked down his bloody face. For the first time since he had resigned himself to his fate to die at the hands of Zero, Lelouch felt the overwhelming fear of death flood his soul. This time he didn't even have the beautiful visage of his beloved little sister to comfort him as he died. He had been so proud of her. Nunnally had finally chosen her own path in life. "Nunnally." He whispered brokenly as the last thing Lelouch saw was a bright crimson light fill his living room.
In the presence of a being he didn't know existed wearing the face of a somewhat close acquaintance, suffering at the hands of a Fallen Angel, Lelouch Lamperouge died.
Lelouch gasped as he breathed in, opening his eyes in shock that he was somehow still alive. He sat up, realizing he was in someone else's bed as soon as he noticed the blankets had a bunch of kitten designs on them. His own bed was nothing but plain white, having felt little reason to decorate it.
"Oh good, you're awake." The flat voice of the last person he expected whose bed he expected to wake up in sounded next to him. Koneko sat up next to him and stretched her arms above her head before wrapping one arm around him giving him a small hug. "I'm glad you're alive." She whispered quietly before letting him go.
"Koneko, what the hell is going on, and why are you naked?" Lelouch asked calmly, trying to remain collected so he didn't do something stupid. He closed his eyes as his confusion began to spawn a headache. "And for that matter, why am I naked, in bed, with you?" He looked her directly in the eyes. She returned his serious look before kicking off the covers from her body but leaving some still pooled around his waist to protect his modesty, crawling over him before standing up and moving over to her closet. Lelouch closed his eyes again as he turned his head to give her some privacy as she got dressed.
Koneko pulled on her underwear and spoke to her friend. "Clothes interfere with healing magic." She clasped her bra after pulling on her panties and fumbled through her closet, looking for some good clothes to wear. "Kiba called the President after he realized he couldn't save you and she brought you back, but she had to go heal someone else so she brought you to me." Koneko turned her head to Lelouch as she pulled on a pink t-shirt with a white cat's face on it. "Akeno isn't much of a healer and I needed to make sure the healing magic had as little interfering with it as possible." She blushed slightly in embarrassment before admitting, "I'm not as good as Lady Rias when it comes to healing wounds, but your wound wasn't going away even after Lady Rias saved you and I didn't want to lose my friend." She pulled on the white skirt she had picked out before fully turning to Lelouch, who was rubbing his forehead in irritation. "Any questions?" She asked, knowing that the transition wasn't always easy to take.
Lelouch mentally groaned as he listened to Koneko. He rubbed his head as he began to feel a severe headache developing the longer her explanation went on, though he felt a spark of appreciation that she considered him a friend even if he had yet to go so far. Apparently, there was far more to this world than he had been led to believe, and now he was truly wondering why in the Hell would his world's God send him here. At that thought a splitting pain pierced his skull causing his groan to become audible. He ignored it and considered the possibility. Koneko had said his wound wasn't healing despite… something. "What do you mean when you say when Rias," how had she put it? "brought me back?" That was rather confusing.
Koneko moved back to her bed, crawling over and sat down next to him, getting comfortable leaning back into her pillows which she had fluffed up to lay back against her headboard. "After you were stabbed by the Fallen Angel Kiba was fighting," she started, ignoring Lelouch's snort at Fallen Angel, "you were dying." She brought her knees up to her chest to block out the pain in her heart. "Actually, by the time Lady Rias arrived. You had died." Koneko looked at Lelouch to gauge his reaction, his face had gone blank.
So, he had died at the hands of a Fallen Angel, and somehow Rias revived him. "I see." He said quietly. "Why did Rias bring me back? And how, exactly can she bring back the dead?" His voice was hollow as he considered what he would have done with that power. Pink hair and warm eyes flashed in his memory as he closed his eyes, reminding him of the two deaths that had affected him the most in his life. 'Euphie, Shirley.' He ignored his memories as best he could so he could hear Koneko's reply.
"Kiba convinced her," Koneko said, which reminded her, she needed to thank him. Maybe she could share some of her sweets with the blond next time he asked. "As for the how, she brought you back as one of her Pieces." Lelouch went ramrod straight at that, causing Koneko to look at him strange. "What's wrong?"
Lelouch resisted the urge to growl, took a deep breath before asking his question. "What do you mean by pieces?" He asked, suppressing his rage at the thought of being used by someone yet again after everything that had gone on in his past life. He didn't care if she had saved his life, there was no way in Hell he would be forced to be someone's pawn again.
"Evil Pieces are a tool given to Devils so they can revive humans to act as their servants." Koneko spoke, noticing Lelouch still looked incredibly tense. "But Lady Rias doesn't force us to do anything we don't want to so we're more like her companions." Her friend's body loosened up slightly, but Koneko knew what his next question would be. She had been trying to dance around the Devil topic as carefully as she could, but discussing the Evil Pieces pretty much required her to bring up her status as well as his own.
"What do you mean, Devils?" Lelouch asked carefully, calming down slightly though he was still uncomfortable with being someone's Piece, he was somewhat reassured that Rias, whatever the Hell she was, wasn't likely to abuse this. At least according to Koneko.
Koneko sighed, turning her head to look out her bedroom window as she explained her friend's new circumstances. "Devils, like Lady Rias, have tools called Evil Pieces that can be used to gather humans as servants." She repeated before elaborating further. "Evil Pieces are capable of resurrecting humans who have recently died as members of the Devil's Peerage, each Piece corresponds to one in the game of chess and it is those Pieces that give us unique attributes depending on the Piece used." Koneko punched the wall next to her bed, causing a much larger hole than should have been possible for a girl her size. "I'm a Rook. I don't know what Piece Lady Rias used on you because she was in a hurry to get back to healing another person, but you can ask her when we meet up with her later today." Koneko turned to see Lelouch's reaction, seeing his shoulders shaking as his hair covered his eyes. She reached up to hold his shoulder in comfort and when she did she was surprised to hear a chuckle escape his lips.
So, he was a Devil now. How… amusing. Lelouch had no idea why he was in this world, but this development was just too funny! He remembered Koneko mentioning that his wound had been failing to heal despite being resurrected and he suspected he knew why. His world's God, he deduced ignoring the pain that split his skull, had likely intended for him to die at the hands of that Fallen Angel as his punishment and because of that his wound refused to be healed at first. This resulted in the Evil Piece's power being insufficient to heal him alone even though it severely weakened the wound's resistance to being healed. It had taken Koneko's constant application of healing magic throughout the night to finish what the Evil Piece had left undone.
A chuckle escaped his lips, before he spoke. "Alright then." He said with a sigh of… satisfaction? It had been a while since he had felt that emotion. He finally had a hint as to why he was in this world in the first place. He turned to Koneko who had placed her hand on his shoulder for some reason. "Do you have any clothes I can wear so we can go meet Rias?" He assumed that, since Koneko hadn't dressed in her uniform that they weren't going to be heading to classes today. Considering how high the sun was, they were likely going to end up skipping the entire day.
Koneko blinked, having forgotten that he was naked. She couldn't let him go to the club room like that. "I don't have any boy's clothes, but I do have some pants you can squeeze into." Koneko got up and pulled out the longest and loosest pants she could find for Lelouch to put on. "You'll have to settle for a coat to wear since I don't have any shirts in your size."
"It's alright, I can wear them on the way to my house so I can get my own clothes before we leave." Lelouch said before he noticed Koneko freeze. "What, something wrong?" She turned to look at him sadly.
"Your home was destroyed, the Fallen Angel launched another spear after escaping. It's pretty much rubble now." She mustered as much tact as she could, which is to say not much.
Lelouch groaned. "Great, just great." He considered his options. "Would you mind buying me some clothes? Until I can get my wallet out of the rubble of my house I have no money and I'd rather not meet Rias in your clothes." Lelouch hated asking Koneko this, but he didn't have much choice.
"Just don't get anything too expensive." Koneko said as she tossed Lelouch some grey sweatpants before digging around in her closet for a coat he could wear and giving him some privacy to put on the pants. "Your boxers were covered in your blood so I had to throw them out, sorry." Koneko would have preferred it if Lelouch wore underwear when wearing her clothes, but desperate times call for desperate measures. She pulled out the biggest coat she had.
Desperate times indeed.
Lelouch walked next to Koneko, trying his hardest to not let his embarrassment get to him as he picked out some clothes at the closest shop the pair could find. The clothing Lelouch was wearing was comical at best and he really wanted to get something that fit him properly.
The sweatpants he wore were either forced to ride uncomfortably low on his hips or they would bunch up around his knees with each step. On Koneko's four foot six frame they would probably cover her feet, on Lelouch they barely covered halfway down to his shins. And the coat, dear God the coat. Lelouch ignored the splitting headache that he got again, he was noticing a pattern here, as he considered his terrible luck.
Koneko's largest coat was the brightest neon pink Lelouch had ever seen and it left a portion of his lower stomach uncovered, clearly showing he had no shirt on underneath. To top all of this off, the clothes were also uncomfortably tight on his body. If he wasn't as skinny as he was he probably would have ripped them by now actually. The flip flops weren't much better, considering his feet were larger than hers by at least two sizes apparently.
Once Lelouch found a good shirt that was a little bigger than normal and a pair of pants he rushed to the changing room, ignoring the whispers of the few customers in the store. Thank God, the headache was back again, there weren't many people in the store. He didn't think he could handle the humiliation.
Lelouch quickly removed Koneko's clothes once he was in the changing room, after making sure to lock the door. He pulled on the black jeans he had selected, breathing a sigh of relief once he was no longer confined by the grey sweats. He looked at himself in the mirror and blinked in surprise before pulling on the black t-shirt he picked out.
He guessed he filled out more in this world than in his, he hadn't remembered his body having muscles like he currently had. Then again, it could be a side-effect of his resurrection, but it wasn't like he had made it a habit to stare at himself in a mirror to see if he was developing better than before.
Though the massive scar in the middle of his chest was somewhat unnerving.
He walked out of the changing room to find some shoes, he'd get socks and underwear later since they could only be bought in bulk and getting those now felt too much like taking advantage of Koneko's generosity. No matter how uncomfortable he was going commando, he'd deal with it. He quickly found a nice pair of black boots and slipped them on before he made his way to the counter to purchase his clothes.
Koneko was already there waiting for him as he pulled out the tags he had removed from the clothing so they could be scanned, but before she used her cash for his selections she tossed up a large grey hoodie and surprised him. "This too please." Koneko had… gotten him a gift? She had loaned him the money to buy clothes, but he was only planning on purchasing the necessities. Shirt, pants, and shoes. This… was unexpected.
The guy at the checkout counter snickered before Lelouch paid with the cash he'd borrowed, Koneko grabbed the bag they were given and Lelouch placed the clothes she had let him use inside before he found the hoodie shoved into his hands. "I thought this would look nice." She said quietly with a little blush flushing her cheeks. Lelouch handed her the bag and held up the hoodie in front of him. On the upper left side, where a pocket would be on some shirts, was a design of a small black kitten curled up on a white pillow. The back was empty of any design, so Lelouch assumed she must have gotten it for him because of the kitten on the front.
He slipped it on and zipped the hoodie up, leaving a little space so it wouldn't choke him revealing his black shirt underneath and leaving the hood down for now. It was a little big, but comfortable as the wind had picked up a little bit after they left the shop.
"Thank you Koneko. This is the first gift anyone has gotten me in a long time." Lelouch believed the last time he had gotten a gift would be when Nunnally had gotten him a birthday gift the year before he began his rebellion. After that, he hadn't gotten a gift in years.
'It's been so long since someone has cared enough about me to get me a gift.' Lelouch realized. C.C. wasn't the type, and when he was acting as Zero he was far too busy to handle celebrating his birthday and it's not like he could've told anyone. When he was Emperor it just didn't seem right to celebrate at all considering what he was doing. Suzaku had agreed. It had been years since he felt genuine thankfulness without a taint of bitterness.
"Thank you." He repeated with a small smile, the first genuine one he had given in years.
Koneko grabbed his hand began to lead him away from the store. "Come on, we have to meet the President." Koneko changed the subject and dragged Lelouch towards the school. "We should get there soon." Lelouch followed her easily enough, but he noticed she didn't let go of his hand.
Maybe there was someone in this world he could try to consider a friend after all. He hoped this friendship turned out better than the last.
Lelouch sighed deeply as he made himself comfortable on the leather couch in the club room of the Occult Research Club. His eyes didn't seem to need to adjust to the darkness anymore, he had also noticed the sunlight was bothering him during his and Koneko's little trip. He leaned back, tossing his right arm over the back of the couch and crossed his right leg over his left. Lelouch closed his eyes, smelling the incense and candles. Despite the differences, he enjoyed this. Sitting in a club room in a high school, now that brought back some memories. He wondered how Rivalz and Milly turned out, having never been able to find out if Rivalz had told the flighty girl how he felt about her.
When he had enrolled a few months ago into the Academy, against his will since he really hadn't wanted to return to school and had to be forced with the threat of getting arrested for truancy to make him sign up in the first place, he had made it a point to avoid getting involved in any clubs. Despite his good grades which had netted him many offers, he refused because he didn't want to get involved. Come to think of it, one of the few groups that hadn't sent him an offer was the ORC. That just gave more credence to his theory that it was a cover to allow Rias' Peerage, as Koneko had put it, to meet without issue since at least three members of said Peerage were students. He didn't include himself quite yet and he didn't know the name Akeno enough to know whether she was a student or not.
Koneko sat down next to him eating some of the sweets she had made him purchase on the way. After they had stopped by the rubble that had once been his house so he could pick up his wallet, which had miraculously survived as he'd discovered when he found it in the remains of his nightstand's drawer, he bought her some chocolates from a street vendor. His phone had been toast though which annoyed him since they were pretty damn expensive and he'd been determined to make that thing last. Once he'd had his wallet he withdrew enough cash to pay Koneko back for her generosity, but she refused the extra he'd tried to give her in return for the hoodie saying "It's a gift, you shouldn't pay for your own gift." He let it drop after that, but he made a mental note to get Koneko something nice in return.
Other than sweets of course, with the white-haired girl those were less a gift more a promise he had to keep if he didn't want her begging him every day.
"Not as good as yours." The fifteen-year-old complained about the sweets with a pout.
Lelouch's eye twitched. "Gee, sorry my ingredients were all blown up by a Fallen Angel. Along with my house." He retorted sarcastically. "Would it make you feel better if I made you extra tomorrow to make up for not preparing well enough for that possibility?" He blinked, wow, that was more bitter than he'd intended for it to come out. Maybe he was more stressed than he'd thought, midterms were coming up soon after all and his house had been absolutely demolished in the attack. And maybe he wasn't taking this whole Devil thing as well as he'd thought.
He'd told his neighbors, when they saw him come back, that he had gone out to get something to eat late at night and stayed over at a friend's, he'd made sure to stress that when he saw the knowing looks the older couple had tossed him and Koneko, when he realized his home had been destroyed. He told them it was a gas explosion due to a heater malfunction and that he forgot to turn off the stove when he left. It was not an argument that would stand up to serious scrutiny, but he had a feeling his neighbors wouldn't dig too deeply into his explanation.
They did offer him a place to stay, but Lelouch declined, not feeling comfortable with the idea. He lied and told them he already had a place, but he didn't know what he was going to do. He hoped to have a plan figured out by the end of the day.
"You don't need to be mean about it." Koneko said sadly. Lelouch saw her hair practically droop in response to his biting comment. "Fine, I'll make you extra tomorrow." He conceded, ignoring the sudden return of her "perkiness". What was perky or sad for Koneko was flat for a vast majority people but Lelouch, an individual who was an expert at reading people due to his experiences, had managed to discern most of Koneko's moods rather well since they had known each other over the past few months. He still couldn't do it as well as her friends, he assumed, but he had observed her in their interactions and managed to figure her out somewhat.
He knew that Rias, Kiba, or even the Akeno person he had yet to meet could likely read her better, but Lelouch knew enough to avoid the landmines that could either enrage or sadden the stoic girl. He had seen her mad once… Only once. And he was very glad he wasn't the one on the other end of her anger.
They had transferred to another school, last he heard.
As for making her sad, well Lelouch wasn't a vindictive person to someone who didn't deserve it. Koneko, aside from bugging him for sweets for a few weeks, hadn't done anything that seriously angered him or even annoyed him in their interactions with one another. In fact, he infinitely preferred her silent companionship to the vapid conversations most of his classmates tried to involve him in. He didn't want to make her sad for much the same reason he didn't want to make any of those he at least somewhat cared about sad.
He had a heart, even if it was old and out of use due to his experiences forcing him to harden it to protect himself.
The door to the club room opened up and two girls walked in. One he instantly recognized as Rias, and the other he assumed was Akeno. Lelouch stood up and held out his hand, surprising Rias and her friend. "I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life Rias." He said as she shook his hand. "Koneko told me quite a bit, but I want to know more before I decide to join your Peerage." He smirked hollowly. "I'm sure you can understand." He returned his hand to his side and flexed his fingers, she had a good grip. He sat back down on the couch, leaning back into the comfortable cushion.
"Very well, Lelouch." Rias stated before making her way to the curtain separating the shower from the main room. "Akeno can handle most of your questions as she is my Queen. She's been with me for a long time." She removed her clothing smoothly, slightly surprised to not hear a gasp from Lelouch, before stepping in the shower and closing the curtain.
Lelouch blinked in surprise at seeing Rias strip so casually before looking at Akeno with wide eyes. "Does she do that often?" The last person he'd seen with such little regard for clothing had been C.C. and that had been after centuries of being an immortal had permanently dulled her sense of shame.
Akeno giggled at his surprise. "Not too often, at least around newer members, but Rias is a nudist." She said. "She has very little care about whether she's seen naked or not. In fact, she prefers going without clothes sometimes, says it's more relaxing." Akeno found Lelouch's somewhat gaping mouth amusing. "I assume you have many more questions than just that."
Lelouch closed his eyes. Looked like this group was going to be far more interesting than he had thought, quirks upon quirks it seemed. "Why did Rias bring me back to life?" Koneko had told him Kiba asked, but he assumed there was more to it than that.
Akeno walked and sat on the desktop, kicking her legs out as she replied. "Kiba asked, according to her." She sighed quietly in annoyance, second hand information was never fun. "I wasn't there so I don't know the conversation, but apparently, he said you didn't deserve to die." She gave her handsome classmate a hooded look. "From what I heard he was rather adamant that you deserved another chance at life. Maybe there's a little thing going on between the two of you?"
Lelouch choked in surprise at the insinuation, and he wasn't the only one. Koneko's face went red as she coughed down the chocolate. He turned to her and pat her on the back, helping it go down. "Not funny, Akeno." Koneko rasped out. "Ruined my last piece of chocolate." The petite girl gave the older girl quite the glare and Lelouch patted her on the shoulder.
"I'll get you some more later okay, I still have questions." Lelouch doubted Koneko could do the same thing to Akeno as she had done to the one fool he had seen make her mad, but he wanted answers to his questions first. "To answer your question," he turned to Akeno before responding, "no, Kiba and I are barely acquaintances. The closest we've ever come is hiding from a couple girls in the school library at the same time when they started to become too much for him." Lelouch still thought it wasn't Kiba's brightest idea egging them on by treating them like he did. Then again, Lelouch's strategy of ignoring them and hoping they went away or just flat out leaving their presence whenever possible didn't seem to work either.
Lelouch shrugged before moving on to his next question. "What Piece did Rias use on me and what are the attributes it granted me?" He had been curious ever since Koneko had shown him her strength and mentioned the different Pieces and the fact that they had differing attributes. It had been a long time since he played his favorite game and he was intrigued.
"Rias told me she used her second Knight Piece on you." Akeno answered, standing up from her position on the desk and wandering about the room. "As for your attributes, aside from the enhanced strength of a Devil, your main attribute will be a speed increase." She half-turned to Lelouch to wrap up her explanation. "However your main weakness will be low defense and damage to your mobility, your legs."
Lelouch pondered the irony of the fact that he would be resurrected as a Knight and a Devil, he probably found it funnier than he should have, but be managed to suppress his amusement. "I don't have any more questions right now, thank you for clearing everything up." He thanked her as he fell silent, watching as Koneko moved behind the desk and pulled out another stash of chocolate. When she sat back down on the couch next to him, she answered his questioning look with, "Emergency stash." before taking a bite of the sugary treat. She held out a chocolate piece on a toothpick for him and asked, "Want some?"
Lelouch leaned forward and took a small bite, leaving the rest for Koneko. It was pretty good. "Thanks, it's tasty." He said after swallowing the treat. "Still, I need to eat some real food later, I can't subsist off of only sweets like you somehow can." He joked before falling silent and leaning back into the couch to relax. He closed his eyes and tried to rest, a lot had happened in the past day or so.
After a few minutes of silence, a few minutes Lelouch was grateful for, the door opened once again.
"Wait, I know those two don't I?" The voice of Issei Hyoudou sounded from the entrance, disturbing Lelouch's meditation.
"I don't know, do you?" The voice of Kiba joined in, causing Lelouch to open his eyes as he looked to the door and saw the two walk into the room.
'Great, just great.' Lelouch mentally groaned. He could deduce by Issei's presence here that he must have been the other person Rias had needed to heal the previous night. He did not see that one coming.
This may not end as well as he had begun to hope.
Author's Note
I did not expect to write a story like this at all, but my friends got me hooked onto the plot of Highschool DxD and I just couldn't stop my mind from coming up with a scenario where Lelouch, after his 'death', ends up in that world without knowing why and ends up becoming Rias' second Knight.
The fact that Zero was the quintessential "Knight of Justice" in Code Geass and Lelouch was the Demon Emperor is just makes it too much fun to consider "What if Lelouch, and therefore the first Zero, became a literal Devil Knight?"
My mind is way too creative like that. Anyway, if you like this feel free to check out my normal Code Geass story. It's not a crossover with anything except other Code Geass materials and it is definitely my main story, but I think this one may become secondary for me since I was recently inspired to write it.
This story is a crossover with Code Geass canon and Highschool DxD, not my Code Geass story, just to be clear.
Anyway, I didn't intend for this story to exist, yet here it is.
Maybe it's a Christmas miracle that I've essentially written three chapters (two for this my main story and one for this one) in essentially one week.
Merry Christmas everyone, hope you check out my other story if you enjoy this one.
King Draconias Over and Out.