Disclaimer: This story was inspired by WDCain Man's story 'The Death of Dreams,' mostly for the beginning of this story.

Suzaku arrived at the front entrance to the Imperial Palace of Pendragon when Gilbert G.P. Guilford noticed him arrive with a defeated Lelouch and said, "Sir Suzaku Kururugi, what business do you have with Her Majesty Cornelia li Britannia?"

Suzaku just stood there looking surprised at the revelation that Cornelia was Empress and asked, "Wh- What do you mean by Her Majesty Cornelia? Isn't Charles zi Britannia the Emperor!? I have come to deliver Lelouch to him!"

"Charles zi Britannia was the FORMER Emperor of Britannia, Sir Suzaku. Her Majesty Cornelia li Britannia is currently the 99th Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire, having killed his former Majesty Charles and taking the throne by force. You merely spared us the trouble of finding Lelouch."

Lelouch then remembered what had happened when he had geassed Cornelia. He had told a bit too much about his suspicions behind Marianne's assassination to Cornelia and among those suspicions was the idea that Charles had ordered her death in the first place. "That's right, I remember now. I remember telling Cornelia that my father had ordered my mother's death be carried out. Since she wanted to kill those responsible for the assassination, Cornelia must have come to the conclusion that Charles was one of those responsible and killed him out of revenge." Lelouch stated.

Suzaku paled at that information and said, "No. No. No! You're lying, Lelouch! Princess Cornelia would never kill the Emperor over something like that, unlike you!"

"I'm afraid that you are wrong about that, Suzaku Kururugi. You seem to need a bit of punishment right now. As for you Lelouch, Her Majesty wishes to speak with you. However, those prisoner clothes do not suite you at all. Royal Guard, come here at once. Gilbert G.P. Guilford, the Knight of One, demands it!"

The Royal Guard stampeded onto the scene and formed a circle around Suzaku and Lelouch from various doorways and alleys before one of them asked, "What is your command, Honorable Knight of One?"

Guilford ordered, "Release Lelouch vi Britannia and arrest Sir Suzaku Kururugi."

At that, several of the Royal Guard in the circle moved aside and let a group of more of them move into the circle as they approached Lelouch and Suzaku. When they got within arm distance of the two, Suzaku realized that he simply could not win against so many of the Royal Guard and allowed himself to have his hands taken off Lelouch before he watched as two members uncuffed the former prince before they removed the prisoner confinement uniform from Lelouch and escorted him into the palace. It was after Lelouch was out of Suzaku's sight that the Honorary Britannian was forced into the prisoner suit and his hands were cuffed before being dragged inside the palace.

Inside a private room, the two Royal Guard members who escorted Lelouch said to him, "There is a change of clothes fit for a prince like yourself in the closet. Even if you were disowned, we still consider you a prince and thus you should still look the part. You have ten minutes to change." before exiting the room and locking it from the outside. Lelouch considered his options and took about seven minutes to change into the outfit that had been provided (It's a larger version of the outfit that Lelouch wore when he was a ten-year old prince). Once he was done changing, the two Royal Guards came in and escorted Lelouch to the Throne Room.

Guilford was in there, waiting along with Cornelia when the two Royal Guard members came in with Lelouch and they said, "Your Majesty, we have brought Lelouch here and imprisoned Suzaku as instructed."

"I do not remember ordering you soldiers to arrest my sister's Knight. Release him and bring him in here." Cornelia li Britannia, 99th Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire, stated. The Royal Guard left and then Cornelia said, "Lelouch, my half-brother. It has been a long time since I last saw you, hasn't it?"

"I know that you have something planned for me, half-sister. Why else would I be here in front of you?" Lelouch replied.

Before Cornelia could reply, two members of the Royal Guard came in with a restrained Suzaku and said, "Your Majesty, we cannot safely allow Sir Suzaku Kururugi to be released without reasonable fear for Lelouch's survival."

"Very well, you shall remove the gag on his mouth." Cornelia ordered. After the gag was removed, Suzaku shouted, "Your Majesty, I recommend that you have Lelouch executed! He is too dangerous to be allowed to live!"

"Denied, Sir Suzaku. Besides, thanks to a little ploy that I cooked up before the S.A.Z. Incident occurred Euphemia is still alive. Also, if I had Lelouch executed I would have taken no chances and needed to have Nunnally and his other friends at Ashford Academy executed as well. Consider that, if you will."

Suzaku remained silent, shocked by what Cornelia had just said. She had clearly stated that if Lelouch was to be executed, then his friends and Nunnally would share his fate. "However," she said, "This does not excuse the fact that Lelouch losing control of his geass caused the Special Administration Zone to end in failure. Just listen to what I have to say to my dear half-brother."

Cornelia focused her attention on Lelouch and said, "Lelouch, even though you had killed a body double of my younger sister and instigated rebellion against the Empire you are still the one half-brother I love the most. I will be clear here, you shall be granted ONLY ONE chance to redeem yourself. If you fail, you will spend the rest of your natural life in prison. Now then, here is what has been going on so far."

Cornelia inhaled a deep breath before saying, "An organization known as the Geass Order has based itself in the Chinese Federation within a sanctuary beneath the Gobi Desert. They are led by our deceased father's vile brother V.V. and are holding Nunnally hostage. You are to become Zero once more, take the Black Knight forces that we have captured and use them to both destroy the Geass Order and rescue Nunnally. Intelligence has also located former Knight of One Bismarck Waldstein, former Knight of Four Dorothea Ernst, former Knight of Ten Luciano Bradley, and former Knight of Twelve Monica Kruszewski at the Geass Order. You are to kill them as well. Screw this up and I will assure you that I will figuratively have your and Nunnally's heads on a silver platter."

Lelouch remained silent for about a minute before he said, "Very well, dear half-sister. I will not fail you."

"You're lucky that most of the Black Knights we captured haven't been executed yet. Schneizel is with Guinevere and Carine in a maximum-security prison in the middle of nowhere. Just be aware that I know that you are Zero and that I WILL expose you as a fraud should you try to revolt against me."

Lelouch remained silent as he was escorted out of the Throne Room by a member of the Royal Guard that just arrived. Suzaku was also escorted of the room and about half an hour later, a young blond boy wearing a royal outfit entered the room.

"So you've finally decided to show your face to me, V.V."

"So what Bismarck said was true all along. You did kill my brother Charles out of revenge for that bitch Mari-" V.V. began but was interrupted by Cornelia standing up and drawing out her personal firearm before shooting the immortal in the head. V.V. dropped to the ground and Cornelia ordered the Royal Guard to throw the immortal's corpse into a prison cell.