Phoenix: Okay! Well...this is something new that I've wanted to do since a few things happened in Code Geass. But I never watched season 2...Don't kill me! So there will be some things different but just tell me and I'll try to come up with an explanation as to why its happening like this in my story. Please review!

The night was cool. The full moon hanging overhead kept it from being dark, as did the streetlights of the city. A light blanket of snow was starting to collect on the city. Hardly anyone was on the streets now, aside from a few stragglers here and there. Not one of them suspected they were being watched by one Suzaku Kururugi in a black and indigo-colored mask and a long black coat wrapped around his body from a rooftop a few stories up. Behind him were a dozen people clad in all black wearing black masks -the Black Knights- all squatting around a rooftop window painted black. One pane rested on the ground by one of the people and they were all glancing into the inside of the building, which was bright and alive with movement, despite the late hour.

The masked man turned to the Knights and walked over to them.

"Does everyone understand what we're doing?" he asked. The group nodded at him and he pulled a gun from his belt under his coat. He pointed the barrel at the window. "Then lets move," he said before firing a shot, shattering the window. Almost instantly, the group leapt down into the warehouse.

On the floor below them, dozens of men started firing up at them. Each member drew a gun and began to return fire. Suzaku took aim at a grey box on the wall and fired. The bullet hit and sparks flew, sending the warehouse into pitch blackness. Bullets turned red as they screamed through the air. Suzaku's mask turned to infrared vision and he easily found his targets.

As he landed and took cover, he scanned the rest of the warehouse. Several large clusters of hot colors were stacked on top of one another in a truck and a few more were scattered around the vehicle. His teeth clenched as he knew what was in those boxes.

Within minutes, the men firing at the group were hog-tied and sitting away from the crates and being watched by a couple of the Black Knights. Suzaku picked up a layaway crowbar and opened the crate closest to him. A flashlight came on behind him and his mask turned back to normal vision. Inside the box were men and women ranging from ages 8 to 17 and they all wore orange collars on their necks, meant to electrocute them if they made a noise. They were all covered in bruises and blood. The only thing he knew they had in common, was that they were Britanians born on Japanese soil.

Slowly, the other crates were unloaded from the truck and the people inside were set free. Suzaku watched as a few of the Knights began working at the collars, trying to remove them without hurting the people.

"Zero! You may want to come see this!" called one of his men. Suzaku walked over and looked into the crate he stood over. Inside was a teenager with short black hair, dressed solely in an oversized black t-shirt. Pale, thin limbs were marred with bootprint and hand-shaped bruises. Whoever this person was, they made certain to keep their face hidden.

Suzaku stepped into the crate and knelt next to the person. He placed a hand on their shoulder and they flinched under his touch before turning their head towards him a little bit. Black hair shifted, showing finger-shaped bruises under the collar.

"Its alright now. Those people won't hurt you anymore, I promise." The teen started trembling and moved a little closer to him. "Can you get up?" They shrugged. He placed his other hand on the other shoulder and felt the teen stiffen. He looked up at his men watching him. "Go help the others. I can handle this one." The man nodded and left his flashlight on the crate floor before walking away. Suzaku gently pulled on the teen's shoulder until they sat up, head still bowed. A few cuts and bruises could be seen on the cheeks and blood was caked around the nose.

He slowly moved to wipe at what he could. The teen shoved him away and met his eyes for the first time. Suzaku stopped breathing. He gripped the thin arms and pulled the teen against him forcing them to continue looking in his eyes. Bright violet irises stared back at him, the same irises that had closed not too long ago and were never supposed to open again.

"Lelouch?" The teen looked confused. "Do you know who I am?" His head shook, sending tangled, messy black hair in every direction. "If he doesn't regognise me as Zero...then...does could that mean he doesn't remember his Geass?" Suzaku covered Lelouch's face with his coat and scooped the teen into his arms.

"Sir?" asked one of the female Black Knights.

"This one needs medical attention. I'll see to it that they get it. The rest of you, remove the collars from the victims then take everyone to the police station." The Knights all nodded. "Good work tonight."

Suzaku carefully set Lelouch on the balcony outside his apartment as a fresh layer of snow began to fall. Lelouch's toes curled together as he started rubbing his hands together.

"The person who lives here is a friend. He'll help you alright?" Lelouch nodded and Suzaku leapt off the balcony, jumping from rail to rail until he reached the roof. He grabbed a black duffel bag off the roof of a shack that protected the stairs from anything Mother Nature could concoct. He quickly pulled off his Zero costume, revealing the black t-shirt and jeans underneath, and stuffed the dark clothes inside the bag. "He's alive..." he thought to himself as he zipped up the bag and bolted down the stairs.

The phrase kept repeating itself in his mind over and over again until he reached his door. He started cursing under his breath when he couldn't get the key in. He slammed his shoulder into the door when it finally opened, dropped the bag and ran for the balcony.

"Lelouch?!" he said as he opened the door. The raven-haired teen turned and stiffened as Suzaku threw his arms around his old friend. He pulled back, holding the boy by the shoulders. "Remember me?" The violet eyes narrowed a little as if confused and trying to recall something. "Suzaku. Remember? We were kids together?"

"Su-" Lelouch's collar flared to life, sending a shock down his neck that had him bite back a groan of pain and grip the device as he grimaced. Suzaku pulled the boy along with him inside and sat him down on the couch.

"I'll try to find you something to eat and a screwdriver or something so we can get that off. Have you eaten anything in the last three days?" Lelouch shook his head. "Week?" Another shake. "How many weeks?" Lelouch started counting on his fingers but by the time the boy had gone over the same hand three times, he stopped him. "I'll just make you something light, alright?"

With that, the Japanese went into the kitchen and Lelouch could hear some things be moved around.

"I really hope I have a screwdriver! I'd hate to try using a knife to take that thing apart. And I'm fairly sure you'd hate me for it," Suzaku joked. Lelouch looked around the room and his eye caught on a picture on the shelf. He got up and walked over to it and picked it up. He started at himself wearing a black cat costume with the rest of the student council.

That was how Suzaku found him a few minutes later when he walked into the room with a plate of toast and a screwdriver in hand.

"Remember when that was taken?" Lelouch snapped around, dropping the frame in surprise. He yelped when the glass shattered on the carpeted floor and ignoring the shock from the collar, bent down to clean up the glass. Suzaku put down what he was carrying and grabbed Lelouch's wrist before he could touch the glass. "Its alright, I'll clean it up later. Right now, let's just get this off you, okay?" Lelouch nodded and let Suzaku sit him down on the couch again. The Japanese boy handed the toast to the Britannian and began working on disassembling the collar as the other nibbled on the food.

The better part of an hour was taken up by the task until Suzaku finally was able to pull the collar off Lelouch's neck. The teen rubbed at the chaffed raw skin. Suzaku felt his blood begin to boil at the vivid purple bruising in the shape of someone's hand on Lelouch's throat. And there wasn't just one, but many handprints; left-handed, right-handed, thick, thin, all were fresh.

"Who did that to you?" he asked. Lelouch cast a sad glance at Suzaku before looking down at his fingers and starting to pick at dead skin. "You know, you may be able to get away with not speaking to me, but when Nunally finds out you're alive, she's going to want answers." Lelouch looked at Suzaku again.

"Who's Nunally?" he asked with a raspy voice. The teen stood up and pulled on the back of his shirt until it was skin tight. Where a flat chest should have been was a pair of well-developed breasts. "And Lelouch sounds like a boy's name. I'm a girl," she said plainly.

Suzaku wanted to slap himself. The girl released her shirt and sat down on the floor in front of him.

"Are you disappointed that I'm not Lelouch?" she asked. Suzaku shook his head quickly, both to answer the girl and drive away his shock so he could properly deal with the situation.

"Its kind of my fault really. I jumped to conclusions and anyway..."

"This Lelouch person is dead, correct?" she asked. "I overheard the traders mention it. One of them caught me eavesdropping and they started beating me, calling me Lelouch. One said I looked like a girl and they've called me Leah Lou ever since," she explained.

"So Leah Lou, isn't your real name?" She shrugged.

"It could be. I don't remember anything before they grabbed me a year ago. But I like being called Leah." Suzaku nodded.

"Well Leah, looks like you'll be staying with me for a bit." Leah looked up at him, surprised. "I work with the police so just think of it as protective custody, alright?" Leah smiled and nodded. "Alright. How about you wash up and then we go to bed, alright?" Leah nodded again and Suzaku helped her find the bathroom and start the shower. "Yell if you need any help," he said as he shut the door.

"Okay!"

He sighed as he sat down on the couch and pulled a cell phone from his pocket.

"I'm going to need a little help with this one," he said as he pressed a few buttons then held the receiver to his ear.

Leah hummed to herself as she hung a towel around her neck and pulled the edges of her over-sized shirt down. Her hair was soaking wet but looked and smelled clean and fresh. Her bruises stood out as bad as ever against her clean, pale skin but there was no sign of blood on her body. She used the towel to chase after a few stray water droplets as they raced from her hair onto her face.

She stepped into the living room and took a seat on the floor by Suzaku's feet. The news was on.

"And here we can see Tokyo's finest have done it yet again. Reports say that they have arrested anywhere between five to twenty men responsible for the recent disappearances of?-" Suzaku turned off the television and turned to Leah. He took hold of a lock of her hair.

"You'll catch a cold walking around like that," he said simply as he pulled the towel over her head again and took a seat behind her.

"Really?" she asked as he started rubbing her hair dry.

"That's what I was told," he said. After that, the two were silent.

"Those policemen didn't arrest those people..." she said quietly, catching Suzaku's attention. "Zero did," she finished.

"Well, not in the eyes of the law. He may have found them but its the testimony of the witnesses that has those people behind bars now. Understand?" he said. Leah nodded as Suzaku pulled the towel off and stood up. "I should have a comb you can use to brush your hair out. Just a moment."

He came back after a few minutes and started combing through her hair. Leah winced a few times but otherwise, it was a rather painless experience. Her hair was a little longer than Lelouch's but it didn't do much to change the fact that she did bear an uncannily similar resemblance to him.

Leah glanced up at him and took note of the sad, far-off look in his emerald-colored eyes.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Suzaku nodded.

"Yea just...its getting late and we need to get to bed," he said dismissively. He helped her stand up and lead her to his room. As she snuggled under the covers, he dug around in his closet and pulled out a plastic-wrapped rectangle.

"What's that?" Leah asked as he set it on the edge of the bed.

"They were going to be a present for a friend on her birthday but she passed away not too long ago."

"I'm sorry," Leah said. Suzaku pushed her bangs from her eyes.

"Its not your fault. And if you need anything tonight, just call and I'll come, alright?" Leah nodded and Suzaku left. "Good night Leah," he said as he shut the door. He made his way back to the couch and lay out on the cushions, staring up at the ceiling. "One way or another, I have to tell Nunally what I found. And then there's the whole matter of just who Leah really is. And then there's..." he droned on until he fell asleep of all the things Leah would need.

Leah tossed and turned in the bed, gripping the sheets and pillowcase as her teeth grit and she groaned again, muscles tensing from the images behind her closed eyelids. Soundless words made their way past her lips as she began to shake her head back and forth.

"No...no...NO!" she screamed as she sat up in bed. She slapped her hands over her eyes and started to calm down her breathing. One hand slipped down and the eye opened, a red glow reflected off the girl's pale skin, turning her face the same color. The Geass symbolic bird flapped its wings once over her face before her eyes shut and she collapsed back into a restless, dreamless slumber.

Phoenix:...Um...Am I allowed to be frightened of myself right now? Because I kind of am.