A/N: yes the beginning takes cues from Dishonored but beyond the mark I am testing the waters with this concept here I just had to write this at least after completing Dishonored;

Lelouch awakened from his slumber. A feeling of unease permeated the air as he looked around the room in the destroyed building in which he had spent the night; the night that followed the day in which he saw his best friend and sister die in a Britannian airstrike. He stumbled to the door following the song of some spectral choir, as he opened the door of his room and was stunned.

A series of islands extended into an infinite and cloud filled space, above it all a gas giant planet swirled almost as if it were an eye observing the impossible landscape below it.

"Greetings, Lelouch." a voice announced.

"Who said that? Where are you?" Lelouch asked, refusing to show his fear.

Just then, a well-dressed gentleman with eyes the same color as the gas giant materialized in front of Lelouch Vi Britannia.

"I am an aspect of what you might call... God." the man announced.

"What do you want with me?" Lelouch asked worried about what was going to happen before he realized something "Wait... God? Can I see Nunnally? Is she here?"

"No young man; your sister has not joined me nor has your friend, and before you ask I brought you here because you are destined to play a big role in shaping the future of this world. That combined with who you are makes you very... interesting..." the manifestation before him said "That being the case I bequeath you with my mark." With this the manifestation gestured toward Lelouch's left hand and Lelouch felt horrible pain stemming from his very soul as the outline of the Sigil of a bird taking flight inscribed itself upon the back of his hand. Once that was done the apparition spoke once again "Use the power I have just given you to find me Lelouch"

The apparition before him dissolved and Lelouch watched astonished as the floating islands rearranged themselves before him; forming a path off into the cloud shrouded distance. He hesitantly walked up to the edge of the Island he stood on and looked at the next; he tried several methods to try to activate the power when he finally thought 'I can't jump that distance... He told me to use this power to find him... but how am I supposed to use it when he didn't tell me how? I just want to go...' and as Lelouch thought those last few words he noticed the very place he was looking at was glowing red 'There?' he finished the thought and found himself disoriented he quickly looked around and found that he had teleported to the next island. With this a grin crossed his face before he started using this new power to jump between the islands.

It wasn't long before he came to an Island that showed a scene he hoped he would never have to see outside of his nightmares again; his mother's body sprawled on the stairs shielding Nunnally from the hail of bullets that took her life. Lelouch nearly broke down seeing this but bolted to the next Island instead. After a few more jumps Lelouch paused for a second only to hear the voice of the apparition again.

"I'm glad to see that you have figured out how to use the power I gave you, Lelouch; I have one more thing to give you before you return to your world." with that the apparition gestured to Lelouch's right hand and Lelouch steeled himself for more pain but instead felt a ring materialize around his finger. "Listen to this to find that which bears my mark."

Lelouch brought the ring which bore a single midnight gem up to his ear only to hear an eldritch whispering but suddenly he knew exactly where there was an object which bore the mark that was now on his hand, with this information Lelouch made a few more jumps in the direction before coming to a stop stunned by the scene he saw, a frozen image of Suzaku struggling against two attackers while a third was escaping with a struggling Nunnally slung over his shoulder; all of this activity being watched by a young boy with impossibly long blond hair frozen in the middle of a laugh. Seeing this Lelouch saw red and charged at the man treating his sister like that only to pass through the image as though it wasn't even there, after a moment of confusion Lelouch realized that it was only an image and he realized that it was merely an image of what happened to his dear sister and to Suzaku. With this knowledge he pushed down his anger and studied the scene looking for any clue to the attackers, unfortunately all of the attackers had a mask on... except for that one boy noticing this Lelouch memorized the boy's appearance before returning to his quest; upon finding what appeared to be a small altar grabbed a small artifact from the altar that bore the symbol he now had inscribed on his hand only for the apparition to appear before him yet again.

"Lelouch, use the gifts I have given you, find your sister and change the path that the world is on, for better or for worse the choice is yours."

Lelouch suddenly awoke in the room that he went to sleep in the night before "So it was only a dream..." he said to no-one in particular before he rose to a sitting position and casually glanced at his hand only to see an empty bird sigil emblazoned upon it. 'It... It was real? then... Then that means Nunnally is still alive!' he tried teleporting across the room and to his great delight he was able to do so without any problems at all. He sat for a moment trying to figure out what he should do next when he heard the unmistakable sound of his sister Cornelia calling out for him and Nunnally and the sound was getting closer he took a few minutes and almost decided against revealing himself to Cornelia 'No my best chance of finding Nunnally is if I go with her, If I have Britannia's resources at my disposal then I have a better chance of finding her.' So as reluctant as he was to do so he quickly found a black glove in the dresser of the abandoned room to cover the sigil on his hand before teleporting to the ground outside, he only had to wait for a moment before a purple Glasgow appeared off in the direction of his elder half sister's voice was echoing from.

Rounding the street corner it only took Cornelia's fact-sphere a second to highlight the diminutive form of her little brother waving his arms frantically and zoom in on the sight which nearly brought Cornelia to tears. If Lelouch was here she hadn't failed she could still protect him and knowing her little brother Lelouch probably had Nunnally with him, Cornelia could still protect both of them she wouldn't fail them again. With an uncharacteristic cry of joy Cornelia screamed his name before bringing her hulking machine to a stop before him. Jumping out of her now kneeling Glasgow Cornelia quickly rushed to her little brother quickly checking him for injuries fussing over him much like a mother hen.

"Are you alright Lelouch? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm Okay Sister..." Lelouch trailed off but Cornelia was too happy to notice

"Thank God... where's Nunnally?" she asked before feeling dread come over her because of the expression on her younger sibling's face

"I-I... I don't know..." Lelouch said tears flowing out of his eyes

"WHAT?" Cornelia couldn't believe her ears

"I SAID I DON"T KNOW... I left her with Suzaku Kururugi when I went to go relive myself; Next thing I know half the city block is flattened by a Britannian airstrike!" His tears flowing like a river from his eyes as Cornelia fought hers back her own countrymen may have killed Nunnally.

"Lelouch..." Cornelia Said before hugging her little brother tightly

"Cornelia..." Lelouch said sniffling "Will you help me find Nunnally?"

Her response was automatic "Of course I will Lelouch."

Hearing this Lelouch hugged her back thanking her softly.

Several weeks passed while Lelouch and Cornelia continued to search for Nunnally enlisting the help of a large portion of the Britannian military to help in the search but finding no trace. Eventually Charles Zi Britannia ordered Cornelia to bring Lelouch back to Pendragon personally. As the Jet landed at the private royal airport Lelouch noticed a large number of vehicles gathered in the parking lot and knew what was coming.

As he and his elder sister disembarked they were greeted by a mix of welcoming and unwelcoming siblings, those counted among the former were Schneizel, Euphemia, Clovis and Odysseus, who were happy that at least one of their siblings had survived the hell in Japan, among the latter were Guenevere, Carine, Castor and Pollux all of whom had neutral expressions on at best.

As he was bowled over by the flying blur of pink known as Euphemia Lelouch focused more on his closer siblings as they fussed over him or in the case of Schneizel watched with a barely visible smile on his lips.

Once all the pleasantries were exchanged between them Lelouch and his closer siblings all went to depart for a Limousine that had been chosen for the occasion to hold the six of them and bring them back to the Imperial palace where Lelouch would have to confront their father and ask to be reinstated as the eleventh Prince.

As they walked to the limousine Carine couldn't help herself "So the weakling survived"

Hearing this Lelouch tensed but Cornelia put her hand on his shoulder "Its not worth it" she assured him.

Compounding the insult Castor commented; "Now sister be nice he is after all the only piece of trash still polluting the bloodline."

That comment pushed Lelouch too far, they could insult him all they liked but he would not tolerate them insulting Nunnally; he whipped around and teleported before Cornelia could react to stop him.

Jumping the fifty meters between the two groups instantaneously Lelouch appeared before the offending siblings with a wrathful expression "Say that to my face." was all he said, the combination of all of this caused them all to jump and fall backwards in a mixture of surprise and fear, trip over themselves and each other land together in a sprawling heap only to hear the sibling that they considered little better than the dirt beneath their shoes [ass his judgement on them; "None of you are even worthy to shine my shoes." he turned and teleported back to the equally surprised but far more congenial siblings he had just left behind.

As he and the others piled into the Limousine Lelouch was certain of one thing above all else; he would find and rescue Nunnally even if he had to cast the world into darkness to do so.

A/N: well I hope you all enjoy this story its something I came up with while playing the game "Dishonored" that I picked up a couple days ago using giftcards. I just had to write this chapter. Please review, I'll actually be going into a theory about how the codes themselves developed.