282Zero of The Black Crusade, a Code Geass fan-fiction.
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.
Chapter One: The Day a King was Born.
Two young boys jumped along the small ruts and crevasses of the forest in which the two of them played. One crowned with black hair the other brown, with eyes of violet and green respectively. The two of them were the best of friends, despite a rough first meeting which left the both of them with several scrapes and a lack of dessert, which the black haired boy's younger sister laughed at greatly.
But that was behind them and now the two of them were playing as closely as if they had been born from the same womb.
They were the picture of innocence. An innocence that died the moment the black haired boy, born Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia, saw the vast armada of airships traveling towards them as they stood upon the island nation of Japan. This was the day Lelouch had feared would come, the day his uncle the Emperor realized where he had been hidden.
In the year 2010 of the Imperial Calendar, Emperor Charles Zi Britannia had killed by a young man called V.V., later identified as the long thought dead Vincent Zi Britannia. Aided by a private army called the Eden Elite, V.V. had been able outfight the elite Knights of the Round and held off the Britannian military as he carried out his pursuit of Charles, who had only recently announced his intention to make his most recent concubine, Marianne Lamperouge, his wife and full Empress of the Empire.
In the resulting conflict, Marianne vi Britannia fled with her two children by Charles, Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, and Princess Nunnally vi Britannia. Following their trail, V.V initiated a large scale invasion of the island nation of Japan. Utilizing the power of the autonomous Knight frames, or Knightmare Frames, Japan fell within less than a month following the death of Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi.
Japan from then on became known as Area 11 and it's people Elevens. The country had lost its honor, its dignity, and its name. Something a young Lelouch understood all too well.
Seven years later.
It had been an average day for Lelouch, he had woken up, eaten breakfast with his sister, and their 'parents', and skipped class to gamble with his friend Rivalz. It had been routine, Lelouch often gambled against stuck up nobles with money they could easily afford to be parted with. But by a bizarre turn of events, a truck nearly forcing him and Rivalz off the road, and Lelouch's following 'heroics' to search for people who could have been injured.
As it turned out the truck was the suspect vehicle identified for the theft of chemical weaponry that Viceroy Clovis La Britannia had announced mere hours ago. The truck had run off again, Lelouch barely having time to find a hiding place. He caught a good look at one of the supposed terrorists, a girl about his age, with red hair and blue eyes.
She rode out on an old red Glasgow Knightmare Frame and engaged in battle with Britannian forces. Leaving Lelouch alone with the canister, though only briefly, a lone Britannian soldier appeared and forced him to the ground before responding to his face. As fate would have it, it was his old friend Suzaku Kururugi, the son of Japan's last Prime Minister.
Before the two old friends could continue the canister opened, and as Suzaku forced Lelouch to cover, placing his own gas mask over Lelouch's face, the canister opened and revealed not toxic gas as had been reported, but a beautiful girl with long green hair.
As the two stood puzzled a group of elite Britannian soldiers came and shot down Suzaku. They would have done the same for him, had the girl not leaped in the way only to be shot herself. As the girl lay dying in his arms and the soldiers ready to kill him, a bizarre sensation overcame Lelouch.
"Do you want power?" asked a voice inside his mind.
Looking down at the girl, Lelouch saw her eyes were still full of life, and looking directly at him.
Suddenly the whole world began to disappear and visions of different times passed through Lelouch's mind. Ancient civilizations, the Industrial Revolution, the wars at the turn of the 20th century, a vast celestial body that reminded Lelouch of the planet Jupiter, and most damning of all the image of his beloved mother Marianne, whom he had not seen in years. The image of his father ordering him to leave with his mother and sister as V.V's armies bared down on them.
"Accept the power and you will be able to avenge that which you have lost," said the voice again. "Will you make a contract for the Power of the King?"
The image of his sister Nunnally, sitting at home with their guardians, entrusted to them by their mother, flashed and Lelouch found his answer.
"I accept that contract," he said.
The world came back to Lelouch and once more he was back in front of his would-be firing squad.
"I'm afraid this is where you end my clever friend," said the lead soldier.
"I think not," said Lelouch with a smirk.
In his left eye the crimson sigil of a bird shone brightly. When the lead soldier fired his gun, Lelouch miraculously dodged with seemingly inhuman speed. Running towards the soldier, who was stunned by the superhuman feat, Lelouch struck with a blow across the man's face. The blow was powerful enough to break the soldier's neck in one blow. He then grabbed the gun away from the fallen soldier. Lelouch then quickly opened fire on the remaining soldiers, their movements known to his mind by an unearthly force guiding him and allowing him to make his marks.
His enemies dead, Lelouch allowed himself to calm down, and reel in what had happened. Looking at the gun in his hand, and the dead bodies on the ground, Lelouch began to feel ill, for despite knowing of death he had never taken a life till today. He also began to feel very weak and collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath.
"What...what the hell?" gasped Lelouch.
Not to long after that a large Britannian Knightmare burst forth with its gun trained on Lelouch.
"Hold up your hands?" said a commanding female voice.
Fear and agitation surging through Lelouch and the crimson bird symbol appeared in his eye again and his desire for the pilot of that Knightmare to stand down and exit her machine filled his mind. The desire felt like it would literally burn itself out of his skull.
To his astonishment and surprise the Knightmare seemed to deactivate and its cockpit opened up. A woman with dark skin and long silver hair exited and stood with a blank, expressionless face, with a red ring of light around her eyes.
Lelouch was puzzled before recalling the strange vision he had. Recalling the great strength with which he had killed the lead soldier. Although he was relatively fit thanks to the teachings of his guardians, he still should not have been able to break a fully grown man's neck so easily.
'I see,' thought Lelouch, placing the pieces together in his mind.
Quickly taking the activation key of the Knightmare from the female soldier, Lelouch leaped into the Knightmare. There was a massacre of innocent Japanese civilians going on, and Lelouch could not let that stand.
'I'm sorry I have to leave you here Suzaku,' thought Lelouch. 'As much as I hate leaving your body here, I need to stop this. I owe the Japanese too much for sheltering Nunnally and myself. I know you'd understand.'
Lelouch drove off in the stolen Knightmare and in a few short minutes, the woman he stole it from, Viletta Nu, blinked in confusion. She felt odd as if waking from a dream. Regaining her senses Viletta gasped at the sight before her. Not only were there several dead Britannian soldiers, her own Knightmare was missing. As was the black haired boy she held at gunpoint.
Another thing missing, unknown to Viletta, was the body of the green haired young woman.
Lelouch had managed to get in contact with the terrorist group whose truck he had landed in, and by the means of his strategic brilliance he had managed to keep them alive. He had been able to use them even as a strange white Knightmare, more powerful than the others on the Britannian side, had come to show more of a challenge. Regardless they had managed to hold off the military until Lelouch had made his way to Clovis, his half brother, and at gunpoint force him to call a ceasefire.
"Lelouch, my god you're alive," gasped Clovis.
"Indeed I am, brother," said Lelouch. "I see our uncle has treated you well. What would father say?"
"Lelouch, I know how this must seem but I swear I am not loyal to our uncle Vincent," said Clovis, tears in his eyes as he sunk in fear of his brother's gun. "I hate him just as much as you for the murder of our father."
"And yet he never went after your side of the family as he did for myself and mine," said Lelouch.
"Oh god, Nunnally! Is she alright?" asked Clovis.
"Better than you are at the moment," said Lelouch.
"Please, although we are from different mothers we are still blood," said Clovis.
"Just as our father and uncle Vincent," said Lelouch.
"I am loyal only at the point of Vincent's Eden Elite soldiers," said Clovis. "But I believe I've found a way for us to defeat him. To avenge our father and restore Britannia to honor. The gas the Elevens stole wasn't gas. It's a girl, but she isn't normal."
'I'm beginning to realize that,' thought Lelouch.
"I've placed her under a battery of tests and have made an amazing discovery," said Clovis. "She's immortal. She cannot die."
Lelouch's eyes widened in surprise.
"Yes brother," said Clovis, seeing Lelouch's surprise. "An actual, honest to god, immortal. I've managed to keep it outside of Vincent's influence. If we can find a way to transfer her immortality ability to humans we can have an army of indestructible soldiers. With such a force we can overthrow our uncle and restore the Empire of Righteousness our father sought Britannia to be."
Lelouch thought about the girl with green hair, about the powers he had been given, and what his brother was saying. Possible strategies began forming in his head. He lowered his gun and looked at his trembling half-brother.
Although indeed they were born from different mothers, different concubines, when they were young the two brothers had been close. He had been close with a few of his half siblings. Cornelia, who idolized his mother Marianne, and her younger sister Euphemia, who was the only person to rival Nunnally in terms of innocence. Cornelia had thrived in the military even after their father's death, no doubt only trying to protect Euphie, whom she had always doted on.
There was also his half brother Schneizel, the only one whom Lelouch had ever lost chess to.
They had not been hunted as ruthlessly as he, his mother, and Nunnally, but instead they had been kept under V.V's sword. Indeed, the entire Empire found itself cowering under V.V's blade, he was nothing but a dictator. Many Britannians would treat the conquered people's of the various areas as dirt if only because they needed an outlet for their frustration. It was oppression breeding oppression and Clovis was just another victim.
However, he had still killed numerous Japanese innocents in an attempt to cover up his operations with the green haired girl. Lelouch had always sought to find a means to strike back against his uncle. And he acknowledge that war would bring numerous losses in life, both guilty and innocent. However Lelouch always swore to himself that the lives he took would never be wasted, that they would serve for a greater purpose, for the freedom of the world.
What Clovis had done was nothing more than a cowardly waste of innocent lives. Lelouch recalled the lessons his father had taught him. Charles Zi Britannia was a man who believed in a certain principal of justice, one based on a somewhat cold but rational philosophy.
"I'm sorry brother," said Lelouch, cocking the gun. "But the only ones who should kill are those who are themselves ready to be killed."
And with that Lelouch Vi Britannia ended the life of his half brother.
Lelouch had returned home late, much to the frustration and worry of his guardians, Jeremiah Gottwald and Sayoko Shinozaki. Lelouch could barely argue against either of them, as an inhuman exhaustion overcame him.
Promising to explain upon his awakening Lelouch went straight to bed. In his sleep once more a strange sensation filled his mind. It was not like the sensation of dreaming, it was something else.
Images of the girl Lelouch saw in the terrorist truck. She was looking at him, her eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue. They were soulful and shined with passion and kindness. Her hair was the most perfect shade of red he had ever seen in his life, flowing down in the front around her face, almost framing it in the shape of a heart. The back was raised as if it were fire. She wore a red headband over her forehead, as regally as a queen's tiara
"Tell me about your home Lelouch," she said.
Her voice was so soft and so gentle, he could almost not believe that she was the same girl he saw fight so brutally during the chaos of Shinjuku. He wanted to answer her, finding a sort of peace in her eyes. But before he could speak another image filled his mind. A man appearing to be in his 20s with shoulder length white hair and purple eyes. They were cold, like the eyes of a serpent, and the smirk he wore was nothing less than the smile of a hungry predator.
"I will end you," he said.
Lelouch knew this man very well. This was his uncle, the murderous V.V. Despite his youthful appearance V.V had been the older brother between him and Charles. A genetic test revealed to the masses showed that he was indeed related to Charles by blood, close enough that he was indeed his brother, but his unnatural youth, as well as other factors had made him a thing of fear for all of Britannia. It earned him the name of Demon Emperor V.V, a title that he seemed to enjoy.
Lelouch awoke, reeling from the images he saw. He held his hands to his temple, trying to find some meaning in the dreams. He knew his uncle and he knew his hatred of him. But the girl was a mystery.
"Who is she?" a voice asked from behind him.
Leaping from his bed Lelouch stared in shock as the green haired girl from the day's battlefield, shot dead in front of his own eyes, was lying in his bed and was very much alive.
Author's Note: For those who have read my previous Code Geass story Redemption and Madness, I want to say that while I am proud of that story, it was my first on this site, I will not be pursuing plans for a sequel and have already deleted the two spin-offs. And unlike my former AU story Marianne the Infinite, I will be continuing this one. The reason I'm doing all of this is sort of to return to my roots, as well as make up for certain mistakes I made in my first story. This story has more of an actual plan behind it and I have a clearer idea of what I want from this story. Sorry I had to fast forward through a few key issues, and that is something I will do a bit of if only because I want to get to what's different in this universe. I also felt it wouldn't be right to continue on the story of my version of a third season, when there already is a third season in the works. So I figured an AU would be nice.
I'll also been holding back on the Geass abilities, while still making them more powerful, they will not be as absurd as they were in my first story. They'll keep more into the realm of retaliative biological possibility. Some abilities will be so strong that they will allow certain users to go beyond their normal physical limits, as seen by Lelouch's physical strength, and I will give a reasonable explanation for it. His main ability, much like in the original anime will be his ability to control others. However instead of direct eye contact it relies on intense concentration but it still has its drawbacks, as Lelouch's exhaustion shows. As well as a few other gifts that will play into a fairly new role he will find himself in.
And for context, much of the inspiration for this story comics from Frank Herbert's science fiction epic 'Dune', as I felt Lelouch and the epic's main protagonist Paul Atreties were very similar. Both are nobles who are cast out of the elite of an empire by the machinations of the Emperor and retialiate with the strength of an oppressed native people whom they identify with, finding love and glory with them, and eventually rising to become the Emperor. Also, Suzaku is not dead and he and Lelouch will still have their disagreements. However, although I believe he had some valid points of his own in regards to his actions within the show, he will have somewhat different motivations and principals. I'll be getting into those in the next chapter, as well as expanding Lelouch's altered past and other key issues such as the aged up V.V.
Next Turn: The Queen and the Kingslayer.