Author's Note

A few things of note: The story begins between the events of Code Geass episode six and seven, and the majority of characters have been adapted to the world of Code Geass. My reasoning for using the CG world is because it is a more unique setting. The world is more intricately crafted and there is a far wider cast at play here. Death Note characters are typically plot important, and being that the CG world is an adaptation of our world, it wouldn't be too difficult to adapt the Death Note characters as I intend to do. In any case, I will attempt to update one chapter every Thursday, but I am an inordinately busy person, so this may need to be altered occasionally, but I hope I won't need to deviate too much. As for major changes, I've decided that having Villetta remember that the person she met in Shinjuku was a student who had black hair, purple eyes, was fairly tall, and had a troupe of dead soldiers around him would be WAY too easy for L to figure out, so I've decided to give her plot amnesia. Other than that, I'm going to attempt to alter the CG world as little as possible. Please review if you think it is worth your time based on the story itself, and with no further ado, enjoy.

Prologue

"Jeremiah," Villetta whispered, standing at his side. The two were dressed in drab clothing, their security detail oblivious to where they were at the moment. They had double, and then triple, checked for any kind of wire tap or bug on their clothing or personal effects. All was requested by the man starting down the alleyway. They could tell he was a man, but other than that, it would be almost impossible. He was decked from head to toe in a huge trench coat and a hat pulled in front of his face.

"Are you sure we can trust him?"

"At this stage, this is the only way I can reclaim my status," the Margrave, Jeremiah Gottwald, said back to her, not looking away from the approaching man. "Our own pure bloods think I'm a disgrace, and the Princess is having me start from the ground up as a pilot. Capturing Zero is the only way to erase the stain of this . . . orange business."

He said the word "orange" with as much malice as he could summon. Villetta only bowed her head and frowned in thought. She was Jeremiah's friend and wanted to see him reinstated to his old position of power, but at the same time, she feared he was so desperate right now that he might not be thinking clearly. In fact, she wasn't even certain how he had arranged for this meeting, but she supposed it was far too late to worry about that right now.

"Good evening," the man said, standing roughly five feet away from them.

"Are you Watari?" Jeremiah asked, lowering his voice. "What does the great L have to say?"

"Be calm, Jeremiah Gottwald," the man said evenly, retrieving from an inside pocket a laptop. He unfolded it and tapped a few keys.

"L is already on the move."

On the screen, a calligraphic L flickered into view. Then, through a voice filter, a voice greeted the two.

"Greetings, Mister Gottwald, Miss Nu. I, am L."

"Does this mean you've accepted my case?" Jeremiah asked quickly.

"Truth be told," L went on. "I had already begun investigating before you contacted me. This Zero is quite interesting to me."

"So what can you tell me, then?" he demanded. "How soon can I bring Zero to justice, and reclaim my honor!?"

"Please, remain calm," L retorted evenly. "There is no real reason to become so distressed. Zero may be difficult to catch, but I would hardly call him cautious. If now is alright, I would like to share my thoughts on the investigation with you."

"Yes!" Jeremiah answered gratefully without hesitation. "Of course!"

"Very good," L said in a tone so pleased with himself the two Britannians could almost hear the smirk on his face. "Well then, first of all: Zero is most likely a Britannian."

The two were surprised to find themselves gasping in shock at this incredible assumption so early on.

"What?" Jeremiah said, recoiling slightly. "How can you be so sure?"

"My reasoning is how infrequently he takes action. If Zero were an eleven, then he would most likely be conducting far more missions, operations and attacks than what he has done so far. If he were an eleven, he would have less to do than if he were a Britannian. Which also leads me to believe that his subordinates do not know his true identity, either."

"What makes you say that?" Villetta asked, her curiosity piqued.

"The Japan Liberation Front, the Blood of the Samurai Faction, the Yamashito Group. What do all these organizations have in common?" he asked. After a pause, he continued. "They are not in the public eye. Zero is attempting to gather support, hence his highly dramatic show regarding the Kururugi Trial. It is my opinion that only a Britannian would need to use the media as a way to gather support to his cause. If he were an eleven, there would be nothing to stop him from simply conducting battles the way the others have done so. At this stage, his staff is limited, and I would say it's almost certain that the Shinjuku Incident was his first ever time commanding the terrorists he later used for the Kururugi Trial."

"I see," Jeremiah said, frowning in thought, putting his thumb and forefinger to his chin. "Zero is trying to use his charisma rather than his lineage to attract followers. That would make sense, and it would also explain his sudden appearance, as well as why our current investigations have yielded so little. We've been looking for an eleven."

"The next thing I need to investigate will require both of you," he said, ignoring Jeremiah. The two looked slightly taken aback. "Miss Nu, you reported after the Shinjuku Incident that you had no idea how your Knightmare Frame was stolen from you, am I correct?"

"Yes, it's as I told my superiors," she stated.

"And Mister Gottwald, you claim to have no-,"

"I have no idea what ever the hell orange is meant to mean!" he shouted preemptively.

"If you would let me finish," L scolded through the laptop. "I was going to say, you claim to have no memory of anything regarding orange?"

Jeremiah suddenly looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"You claim not only to have no idea of what 'orange' could mean, but also any memory anything between the time that Zero accused you, and until after they had safely escaped. During that time, however, you seemed very complacent with Zero's request, to the point of military insubordination."

"Correct," Jeremiah said. "But what does that mean?"

"Miss Nu, do you know where your Frame was found once the operation was completed?"

"It was brought back to the Mobile Command Center," she answered.

"Yes, but did you know that many of the guards stationed in the Mobile Command Center have no memory of it ever being brought back?"

She flinched. "No, I didn't."

"Wouldn't it be interesting if your Frame had been taken by Zero, and he had used it to sneak right up to the Command Center?"

"That still doesn't explain how he managed to get in close enough with the Viceroy to kill him, though," Jeremiah chimed in.

"No, but it does explain much about Zero himself," L said with a sigh. "The pattern between all of those who have encountered Zero is memory loss and irregular behavior. For just one moment, I would like to entertain the idea that this Zero is somehow able to command people to follow his orders temporarily, and subjects of his brand of hypnotism lose all memories of the time they spent under his influence."

"That would explain it, actually," Villetta said, not looking up. "Right before my memory lapse, I remember seeing someone demanding me to give him my Knightmare. I refused him, but I never got a good look at him."

"Do you think you could remember one thing about him?" L asked. "This could very well lead us to our first grouping of suspects."

She thought hard, but sighed. "No, I'm sorry. Everything of that day was too difficult, I can't remember much before or after the blackout."

"That's alright," L said reassuringly. "There are still plenty of leads to follow up with. However, this does give me something very important."

"And that would be?" Jeremiah asked.

"That if Zero possessed a power as I mentioned before, it would mean that he needs to see his target in order to enact his command. If it didn't affect you until you left your Knightmare, then it would stand to reason that any form of blocking will suffice. In fact, it would seem that you saw him, meaning that it may well require him to see you. If this power of his is real, and I'm unlikely to admit such a thing, then there are many precautions we can take to prevent it from becoming too troubling in the future. My last bit of information I will share with you is this: catching Zero will be difficult, but catching one of his followers will be very easy, and it is almost certain that he has an informant within the Britannian ranks, and if he does not yet, he will soon. In the meantime, I would ask of you two things."

"What are they?" asked Jeremiah.

"For starters, I would ask that you keep this meeting and my involvement strictly between you two. And second, I would like to have access to any resources you can provide me with. I am very affluent, however, almost all things require government approval, and I intend to use the media to run a little . . . experiment with this Zero."

"I will help you how I can," Jeremiah replied. "But I must warn you, right now, that won't be very much. I have little in the way of actual resources since I was stripped of my old status."

"And what about you, Miss Nu?"

Villetta tensed. Jeremiah turned to her, his orange eyes pleading. She could tell that he needed her right now, but was she really prepared to risk her own standing with this. The purebloods were under scrutiny as it was, and if anyone was to find out about her being so involved with a private detective acting on her own without the military being informed, it might cost her more than an apology. She sighed.

"I won't guarantee anything," she said, closing her eyes. "But I'll see what I can do."

"That is all I ask," L replied calmly. "Now, to conclude, Watari will give you instructions and contact information for reaching me should you need to do so. I have already arranged to contact you in the most secret way possible using conventional communication, so I don't see that being a problem. We shall be in touch when I can uncover more information for the both of you."

"I see," Jeremiah nodded. "Thank you, L. I look forward to it."

"As do I," the voice responded. "And make no mistake: I will catch Zero. This is hardly the most difficult case I've accepted. Merely a strange one. At any rate, goodnight."

And with that, the computer went black. The man, Watari, closed the laptop, put it back into his jacket, and handed a tiny slip of paper to the two of them with his gloved hands.

"Once you are sure you won't need this to remember the instructions, destroy it, and make sure no one is able to copy it at all."

"Of course," Jeremiah said, accepting the card.

Without another pleasantry, Watari turned around and walked away down the dark alley.

"Jeremiah," Villetta began in a hushed tone when she was sure the man would not hear them. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes I am," he responded confidently, not taking his eyes off the slowly disappearing frame of Watari. "L has solved every case he has ever investigated, and he's considered the greatest detective of all time. And even if I wasn't , what other choice do I have?"

"But his theory on Zero having some sort of supernatural power?" she pressed. "Surely you don't believe that."

"How else could you explain what happened to us?" he demanded, turning on her. "If anything, his saying that should confirm our suspicions! We are two of the most loyal servants of the Holy Britannian Empire in the entire military, and yet we turned on our brothers and sisters in arms because a terrorist told us to? And the memory loss is too specific for it to be coincidence, especially if multiple soldiers are corroborating this! Honestly, Villetta, the more I think about it, the more it actually makes sense! Yes, it's all coming together now!"

With that, he let out a relieved laugh, assured that he was neither crazy nor an insubordinate. Villetta, on the other hand, was not so assured about the former. She would need to keep an eye on this L, as well as her dear friend, lest he go too far in his hunt for Zero.