"The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first."
― Jim Morrison
Prologue
As he lay there at the bottom of his Imperial Float, life slowly slipping away, Lelouch felt comfort that he had succeeded. The cost may have been his life, but the new world would begin. His only regret was that Nunnally would have to grow up in the world safe, but without him at her side. However, the final words he would hear from her were a small comfort indeed.
As she held his hand tightly in hers, enlightenment covered her features as she finally understood. "You mean...everything you've done until now..." she gripped his hand tighter and pulled it close to her face, "Oh! Big Brother, I love you!" As her tears ran down his blood soaked hand he smiled weakly.
"Yes...I...I destroy...the world." He replied weakly as in his mind's eye he remembered his journey. From the battle at Shinjuku, to the taking of the Damocles, back to his childhood with Suzaku. "And created…" The cold sensation he heard so much about swept over him, it wouldn't be long now. "Anew." His final words pierced Nunnally's heart as she felt the life disappear from his body.
"You can't leave me! You can't! Please open your eyes! Big Brother Please! BIG BROTHER!" Nunnally cried as she collapsed atop his form. As tears fell down her face she could only long for the impossible as her brother and protector since childhood passed into the next world. Zero swung his sword swiftly, wiping an arc of blood across the floor of the carriage.
"LELOUCH THE DEMON IS DEAD! FREE HIS PRISONERS!" Cornellia Li Britannia cried from a nearby platform, her hand raised high in the air. Black Knights swarmed the prison transport and carriage by the hundreds.
Jeremiah placed a hand over his headset activating the transmitter, "This isn't good. Everyone retreat!" Even as the Black Knights swarmed the platform and carriage he couldn't help but grin. His eyes locking onto the form standing high above. Zero, the leader of the Black Knights, sword dripping in the blood of a tyrant made no speeches. For behind the mask, Suzaku Kururgi wept for the life of his friend, which he had just taken to secure a future of peace.
Tohdoh looked up in puzzlement, "Is that...who I think it is?"
"It's Zero." Kallen abruptly said cutting him off.
"Huh?"
With tears in her eyes Kallen continued firmly, "It's him. It's Zero."
Nunnally ignored the Black Knights and protesters even as they began freeing Kallen and the remaining Black Knight Leaders. "It's unfair. All I wanted and needed to be happy was to be with you." she pleaded futilely against his form. Logic and reason failing her she fell once again upon him and simply let hysteria and sadness sweep over her. "How can I ever look forward to the future without you?"
Despite the chaos, Kallen Kosuzki stared up at Zero, her eyes filled with tears. The Masked figure stood for peace and justice as did the surrounding Black Knights. Who rapidly freed her and the other political prisoners on the transport. As if sensing her gaze, Suzaku looked down at her and simply responded with a nod. The crowd growing in intensity as they began to chant over and over the name of Zero, their savior.
Kallen leapt from the prison transport and immediately made her way to the crying Nunnally. Her legs collapsed beneath her as she placed arms around her. "Nunnally, he's gone." She said quietly as she attempted to pull Nunnally from his body.
"Kallen!" She cried as she pulled against Kallen's prison jumpsuit. Her tears already soaking the fabric as she continued to cry. Her own eyes filling with tears as she stared at the motionless form of Lelouch. The only comfort that she had was that he was still smiling. The smile only matched by a lone figure standing high atop another building. The gaze bright, matched only by the red bird emblazoned on his green eyes...
((Author's Note: When I initially uploaded this on Friday July 22nd of 2016, I wasn't expecting so many to read simply a prologue in such numbers! Thank you all! I have gone back and tweaked the Prologue to properly match the final scene of Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2! The dialogue is a 100% match word for word the final statements made by the main cast when Lelouch was killed by Suzaku as Zero. From this point onward, the story is completely original! I hope everyone will enjoy this tale as I write it! If you like or even dislike this story, please leave a message! Perhaps you'll come up with something I can work into the story! For now, read and enjoy!))
