Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Code Geass, CLAMP, Sunrise, or any affiliated companies. This was rewritten purely for the enjoyment of the reader. No profits were earned from this. My wallet weeps at this.
Summary: Who is Orange really loyal to?
Hero worship. That's what everyone he knew called it. Or, perhaps heroine worship would be a more fitting term. She was, after all a she. She was The Flash, Marianne Lamperouge, fierce and fearless knight of the Holy Britannian Empire. She commanded the next generation war machine with the ease of a fencer wielding a foil.
She was of common birth. Filthy, lowly, beneath everything that he was. Everything that he believed, in the birth right of the nobility to hold dominion over the commoners, she spat in the face in. So, why did he accept her so willingly?
She was ruthlessly effective in producing results. As a soldier, she followed her orders to the letter, always accomplishing her goals. A faceless pawn marching in the name of a king who was more then willing to sacrifice it's followers. She earned recognition from his peers, his fellow nobility. She was proof of what the empire believed in all along. Progress.
Born of nothing, she fought and earned her titles and her own form of nobility. She caught the eye of the emperor himself! And wed him, no less. Boldly she suffered the adversity of those that did not accept her, what did she care? The others had not earned what she had, yet they had it all the same, sometimes they had more. But they didn't… deserve it. Yes, deserve is the word he would use to describe the spoiled nobility that he was now a part of.
Jeremiah recognized what so many of his peers had not. Nobles had grown complacent with their wealth and influence. They forgot the legacy of their forefathers. Conquest, plunder, iron-willed obedience, and unwavering loyalty. These things are what earned Britannia it's place in the world. These things earned the nobility their place in Britannian society.
But far be it for he to judge his equals so harshly.
A true man of noble birth, Jeremiah's family had taught him, would know this and use it. Always remembering to maintain these values. To always be loyal to the empire before all other things. That is what earned Marianne The Flash Jeremiah's praise. She was noble of heart, not birth, and through sheer force of will and competence, she made herself not a mere noble, but royalty! And it was the first duty of nobility to protect and serve it's royalty!
Everything that Jeremiah believed in, he could see proof of it in her. He was never without hope, but she filled him with it just the same. As a young military officer fresh out of the academy, he was proud and overwhelmed to be assigned to her personal guard as a first assignment. Even while others scoffed and dreaded the idea of having to obey a common whore who 'seduced her way to power.' Jeremiah, ever the gentlemen, ever the loyal soldier, never stood for these utterances-not in his presence. And most certainly not even within the same building as his beloved hero.
No, Jeremiah was never attracted to her. Admittedly, she was a breath taking woman. But he knew his place in society, he held her in too high regard to even consider the thought. She was an Empress! Such women cease to be women, and become deities, beings to be worshiped and served upon marriage.
He endured the ire of his peers and colleagues, in the name his loyalty to the empire, in the name of his loyalty to his hero, Lady Marianne.
Then tragedy struck. He had failed her! While on his watch, the empress of the empire had fallen. Though all evidence and manner of thought and reason said that the fault could not of possibly been his alone, he took it personally. She was magnificent, she was loved, she was royalty, and he had not been there to through his own body in way of the assassin's storm of bullets to shield her holy frame from harm. The pain was only doubled when he learned that her equally beautiful daughter, Princess Nunnally would never see or walk again. It should have been him to bare the burden! Bare the burden of a sightless life confined to a cold chair! Not her! Not the child of The Flash!
Another tragedy. Her son, Lord Lelouch, had confronted the Emperor. When he heard the news, the gears began to turn in his mind. Yes, he had failed her. But so had everyone else! They not only let her die, but the investigation was cut off before the soulless terrorists responsible could be made to hang for their crimes! Justice was denied the woman who above all others deserved it the most! And her son, oh her loyal son! He demanded answers, demanded the truth! He was force-fed excuses, and out of loyalty, he renounced his claim to the throne, threw away everything his mother had given him. Because it was meaningless, because what she earned, Jeremiah realized, was the false praise and acceptance of a court of liars! The Empire had betrayed her loyalty! He bit back his rage that day. It wouldn't be proper for a noble man to comment on the politics of someone else's family. Let alone the Imperial family.
Years later, Margrave Jeremiah, as he was now known, served in Area 11 of the Holy Britannian Empire, under his majesty Prince Clovis. His loyalty to the empire was renowned, even amongst his fellow purists. He believed that only those purely Britannian could show true loyalty to the nation itself. And born of his loyalty, was his discrimination. It was Imperial policy to discriminate against numbers. In the name of the Empress, Marianne vi Britannian, Jeremiah followed through. He blindly followed the policies of the empire that had wronged his inspiration.
It was then that fate dealt Jeremiah the card of tragedy yet again. Again he had failed to protect a member of the imperial family! Lord Clovis had fallen to a cowardly assassin's bullet! Rage came quickly to Jeremiah. And he remembered bitterly the betrayal of The Flash. He would not let the death of another member of the Imperial family go unpunished! That precedent, the Margrave concluded, was just out right unacceptable.
It didn't matter, guilty or not, he had to see someone hang for this crime. Suzaku Kururugi, Honorary Britannian and soldier of the empire. He was an easy scapegoat. An easy vent for years of pent up, unleashed rage at injustice! There was enough evidence to blame him, the fact that there was evidence at all was enough! He must be made to pay for the blood of Clovis! Or was it Marianne? Both!
His last tragedy, the last one that really mattered at all to him, was the true assassin's identity. Zero, he called himself. Jeremiah was made to look a fool by that terrorist! And to add further indignity, Zero claimed that they were allies! Orange… the bitter taste of the nickname poisoned Jeremiah's career.
He lost everything! His title, his nobility, the respect of his men, whatever reverences his peers held for him. For all his loyalty, his sacrifice, his devotion, he lost it all! On baseless accusations and speculation, Jeremiah was mocked with Orange. He was not Orange! He had no idea what that even meant, and that only furthered his rage! The injustice, the pure absurdity of the entire situation… he was going mad! And it was all Zero's fault!
He had to be made to pay! The world itself had gone made! Marianne, who was royalty, true deserving royalty in ever sense of the world… was betrayed! She embodied everything that meant anything to Jeremiah, and her loyalty was betrayed! Lelouch, who sought only what he deserved, the truth of his proud mother's murder, was exiled! Clovis, who was artistic, talented, and of royal blood, had died at the hands of a man with no face! And now, Jeremiah was reduced to… Orange. A laughing stock, a joke. Had loyalty truly no meaning? Had the complacency of the nobility not been a sign of lethargy, but of wisdom? The values of old, the values that once defined nobility itself… had they no place in the modern world of internet, Knightmares, and politics?
Zero had to be made to pay! This could not be true! If Zero was made to suffer, then his hate would be satisfied. If Zero was made to die, Marianne would be able to rest easy. And the world would start making sense again.
But it didn't. For a time, Jeremiah went completely mad. Zero, the man with both the blood of Prince Clovis the talented and the innocent Princess Euphemia on his hands… was of royalty himself! Not only that, but he was born of Empress Marianne! This was too much to stomach for Jeremiah.
Then, it dawned on him. He needed to confront the man he once called Lord. Why?! Why had he betrayed the Empire to which his mother had been so devoted?
He realized, as he spoke with his Lord, why he had felt so confused all this time. He realized where his true loyalties had always lain. Lelouch vi Britannia, Zero, was fighting in the name of Marianne The Flash! In the name of Justice! Justice that was so denied the woman he was loyal to above all others. The Empire… the Empire was treasonous all the way to the top, all the way to the Emperor himself! The woman he claimed to love, whom he named as the closest anyone could be to his equal. He buried that woman in a cloud of suspicion without ever seeking her killer.
The Empire had no loyalty! And he had known this all along, yet still served it! What a fool he had been! Orange… he was Orange now! That name is something he should take with pride, he realized. The name was given to him by the one true ally of justice, by his one true lord and master! For too long the ghost of Marianne vi Britannia screamed for justice, for too long he had remained deaf to the orders of his mistress!
Lelouch vi Britannia fights in the name of Marianne! He is a man of unyielding loyalty! An inspiration! And in the name of his own loyalty, Jeremiah swore himself to the service of the man he once swore to destroy.
He forsook everything! His country, his land, his life style and largely his way of thought!
And he asks himself now, was it worth it? He had aided his beloved Emperor, Lelouch the Demon, in what was essentially suicide. An overly dramatic, and highly public suicide. But, such was the taste of his Lord. Was he loyal? Or crazy?
He the realizes he was loyal to the very end. He carried out the will of his Emperor, and his Empress despite his drastic feelings to the contrary. He watches his new Empress, Nunnally vi Britannia from a distance, yearning to rush to her side and pledge his unyielding devotion. If only his lord had left the world in a state that would allow such an action.
End.