Code Geass: Nunnally of the Rebellion

Chapter 1: The Assassination

Aries Imperial Villa – 2009 A.T.B

A small girl no older than seven stood frozen at the top of the stairs of the once beautiful Aries Imperial Villa. Her eyes were wide as they stared down at the bleeding form of her mother and her shaking older brother under her. Her beloved mother and brother had been shot by a bunch of terrorists in the Aries Palace, a place no terrorists should have been able to get into. The palace was one of the most heavily guarded areas in all of Britannia. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see her older brother, Schneizel el Britannia looking down at her sadly. "Big Brother Schneizel?" the sight of her brother brought the tears that she had tried to not let out fall freely down her cheeks. Her chest felt tight as she tried to speak. "M-mother…what happened to Mother?" Schneizel said nothing as he silently walked past her to where her mother and brother lay. Royals were already lifting her mother and starting to take her away. "Wait!" Nunnally attempted to run towards them, towards her beloved mother and brother.

She could feel her foot slip and felt the cold, unforgiving stairs knock the breath out from her. She coughed as she cried, and only cried harder when she felt strong arms lift her up and pull her into a warm hug. "Nunnally? Are you hurt? You're not hurt... are you?" asked Cornelia in concern, while fighting the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. Nunnally shook her head. "Big Sister Cornelia? Why are you crying?" asked the young princess, glancing back towards the bottom of the stairs she looked up to see her half-sister crying as well. Nunnally looked up at her, tugging on the woman's arm. "What happened to mother Big Sister Cornelia?" she asked. Cornelia didn't answer as she squeezed the young girl closer to her. "We have to help her!" She turned to Clovis who was slowly walking to them behind Cornelia. "Big Brother Clovis! We have to help Mother!"

"Nunnally…Lady Marianne…she-" At the pitiful looks of her siblings and the guards taking away her mother's body, the truth finally occurred to the small girl. Her eyes widened as she again tried to break free from her half-sister. "No! Mother can't…! No…" she fell limp in Cornelia's arms as she sobbed loudly, gripping her sleeve tightly between her tiny fingers. She glanced up to see Schneizel gently lift up her unconscious brother and have him escorted to the medical bay.

"Did you catch the assassins?" she could hear Schneizel ask the head of the guards. "Forgive me Your Highness. There were no traces that we could see. It was as if they left without a trace." Schneizel's face was blank, and it scared her. "Keep looking. Send guards to watch over Lelouch. I…" his voice trailed off as he turned to Cornelia who still held Nunnally in her arms. The youngest princess looked up as Schneizel gently held a hand out to her. With upmost care, he lifted her in his arms and quietly took her back to her room, passing the few nobles and butlers and maids that came late to see what had happened before running off quickly at the sight of the blood covered Schneizel and trembling Nunnally.

Nunnally awoke to the sight of a vast, never ending field of white and blue roses. Slowly rising up, she took it her surroundings. Not to far from her, she caught sight of a figure standing amidst the blue and white mass. Her long-wavy raven hair flowing lightly with the breeze. "Mother!" Her mother stood straight, but started to walk away. "Mother... mother! Where are you going?" Lady Marianne turned around and just gave a motherly smile at her before walking in the opposite direction. Nunnally frowned, she chased after her. But no matter how hard she ran, the distance between her and her mother continued to grow farther and farther... "Mother wait!" , still calling after her mother, far in the distance. Then everything became bright and light poured in, filling her vision with white.

"Mother!" Nunnally shouted, waking in a fit of shouts from her disillusion, or rather a dream. Her breath came in short staccato bursts as she took a long, calming intake of air to calm herself down. She took in her surroundings, finding herself inside her own bedroom, she sighed. "Nunnally! Are you all right?" Nunnally gave a startled cry before noticing her half-sister sitting nearby. "Euphie... what are you doing here?" asked her. "I'm worried about you." Nunnally blinked before noticing another's presence approaching them. Upon gazing upon Cornelia's solemn expression, the young princess gave a sigh, one of defeat and of sullenness. "It... wasn't a dream, wasn't it? Mother is dead."

Little Euphemia frowned at seeing Nunnally's gloomy face. She shrugged to herself as she climbed onto the bed and wrapped her arm around the young princess. Nunnally turned around towards her as she gave her a bewildered look."Euphie... what are you doing?" Euphie pulled away as she tilted her head at her. "You looked so sad. So I gave you a hug to make you feel better! Did Nunnally feel better?" chirped the pink-haired princess and Cornelia patted Euphie's head as any sister would. The elder of the two princesses smiled adoringly at both of them. "How are you feeling now, Nunnally?"

Nunnally shook her head "I'm fine." She glanced at the wooden chair that was next to her bed that Euphemia sit. She remembered that Lelouch had sat in this chair a few days ago when she had a fever. He had always been the protective big brother, always watching over her. She jumped off her bed. "Nunnally, where do you want to go?" asked Euphemia. "I want to see my big brother in medical bay. He is injured on his leg when I see Big Brother Schniezel carry him to infirmary." said her as she walked out from her room.

She froze as her blood boiled. People were walking around as if nothing happened. Nobles stood together and gossiped, sometimes laughing. Guards walked around nonchalantly as if what had occurred never happened. None of her siblings that had seemed so upset were in sight. What angered her the most was that no one seemed to care that her mother had just been killed or that her brother was injured. Her mind set, she held her chin up high as she walked past the nobles, not giving them a second glance as they hurriedly tried to bow to her. She walked past the guards, disregarding their attempts at speaking with her. She was able to find the medical bay well enough when she began to hear more whispers with her brother's name in them. She looked around to see doctors rushing around. There was a frantic feel in the air. She quickly ran as fast as her small feet could carry her as she ran inside.

"Your Highness." a friendly looking doctor walked up to her, absolutely calm. Biting her lip, she gave him the hardest glare she could which only resulted in him giving her a sympathetic smile. No! I don't want your sympathy! She thought bitterly. "Would you like to see your brother?" he spoke in a sweet tone, as if regarding her merely as a small child. Which she was, but not anymore. Death had changed her, stripped the childish innocence she once had to be replaced by the corrupted maturity that the incident had brought.

She raised her head until her eyes met his, a scowl marring her face. "Let me see him." The doctor looked surprised for a second before smiling at her again and leading her into a small hallway. One wall was made entirely of glass and on the other side of that glass was her brother. Her chest tightened at the ghastly sight of her brother. The proud, clever brother that she had known now laying motionless, his form horribly fragile. Eyes, kneecaps, and large portions of body are heavily bandaged. Strange machines with wires are snaked around numerous parts of his thin body, IV solutions and other liquids slowly dripping into long tubes and stucked him under his skin. She was not even allowed to enter the intensive care unit where he was admitted to. She was only left with the choice to watch him from outside the glass enclosure that was like a bubble that shielded her brother from the outside world. She could not sit beside him now, could not offer comfort or do anything for her only brother, but only watch as he suffers and it pained her, this sight. She looked away.

But there was one thing that she noticed more than all that had happened. Her father wasn't here. Albeit that he was Emperor, her mother, his wife, had just been assassinated and his son had been injured. But not once had he come to visit his brother or try to investigate the murder.

Few days later...

The next few days passed by painfully slow. Her mother's funeral finally arrived and she was to be buried with a normal funeral at the royal cemetery placed behind the palace. Dressed in her finest clothes that she could to mourn for her mother, she followed the small carriage that held her mother's remains in a car. She noticed with great disdain that there was absolutely nobody here. It was worse than a burial for a low class noble who would have at least family here. But this was the Empress who was being buried! She was the highest, most revered of royalty yet nobody was here to mourn for the painful death that had ended her life. And even if she is not an empress, at least she should be given a military-style memorial service as evidence her former services to the country. No knightmares for the woman called Marianne of the Flash. Not even her father had tried to attend. She watched as the burial site came into view, with only four men waiting to put her mother into the ground. Nobody was there for the family.

"Lady Nunnally…" she turned her head to see her driver standing at the door waiting for her to exit. She ignored his outstretched hand as she climbed out of the car on her own. She stepped away when he attempted to lead her to her mother's remains and stubbornly walked there herself. In the casket, she put two flower resemblance of her and her big brother who can't attend. She watched with hard eyes as the coffin holding her mother was raised and put onto the ground in front of the hole where she would be buried. She lowered her head so that no one would see the tears that she desperately tried to hide. But she wasn't going to cry anymore. She had seen what happened with only crying. The death of her mother had opened her eyes and showed her the true face of the meaning of royalty. The beautiful gardens and friendly nobles were all lies, covering for the real meaning behind them. The throne. They all wanted the throne, enough to fight each other for it. She had known that her mother was royalty of common birth and that many people despised her for it. She knew that it was a good enough reason to try and get rid of the Empress… her fists clenched.

If only she was stronger… If only! She could have saved her mother and she could have saved Lelouch. Lelouch! The thought of her brother brought another wave of sorrow. Because of his injuries, he wasn't able to attend. She snapped out of her reverie when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see her mother's remains placed into the ground. She stepped forward and watched as her mother slowly disappeared from her vision. The four men that had been waiting silently covered her with dirt until the late Empress Marianne was buried. "Let's go Lady Nunnally," her driver spoke to her softly. Nunnally hesitated as she glanced around, hoping to see somebody coming to see her mother. But she was disappointed. Nobody had come and the men that had been there earlier had disappeared. She was alone.

Ignoring the man behind her, she knelt over the freshly turned dirt and brushed her fingers over the tombstone. Marianne Lamperouge. Her fingers pulled into a fist as her hand fell to the ground. They didn't even put the name that she had earned, Marianne vi Britannia; stripping her to her maiden name. It was as if she was never the Empress, as if she had never mattered. Why hadn't her father done anything? He was the Emperor! He could have done something! He could have given her a proper funeral, kept her name, kept her from this disgrace!

A month later

Returning late after midnight after visiting her brother, Nunnally struggled to bring herself up the stairs to her room. In her current state, reduced to a woeful shade of what it once was, even she found the task of ascending the stairs problematic. And occasionally, while climbing the grand staircase of the now vacant Aries Villa, she would let out muffled sobs. The reason for her mournful stature was none other than the shocking news regarding her brother. She originally felt relieved to discover that her brother was finally awake after months of induced sleep, imagine her dismay when the revelation downed upon her. "Nunnally, why is the room so dark?" He was blind! "What are you talking about, big brother? The room is perfectly lit. It is nearing summer and the sun is shining brightly" Not only that, he was crippled as well! Now arriving at her room, she weakly pushed the wooden doors open, almost trembling forwards in the process. She walked to her bed, wambling unsteadily along the way. This can't be true! I cannot take this! Mother! Big Brother! Collapsing unto the bed, the wall that she had been holding finally broke. The sobs become louder, shuddering her body with every impulse. Her body trembled, like a leaf dangling down from its branch in autumn. Her breathing erratic and loud, coming in stoccato gasps. What little comfort the soft velvet mattress offered, it was insufficient to ease her.

She remembered, her elder sister Cornelia and her younger sister arriving to see the scene. Never before had she seen such a sorrowful expression on both her sisters face, but alas, at the time, in her grieve, she was obliviuos to the fact. When the pain deep inside became unbearable, she relented and let out the dam that had been holding back her tears. Streams of moisture raced down her cheeks, almost glittering in the moonlight and dampened the feathery pillows. She recalled the doctor clarifying the blindness as mental trauma, which the only cure was time. Then, the doctor presented the x-ray slides showing the numerous fragments of lead and metal once encased within her brothers leg. And when asked of a remedy, the doctor, with a heavy heart, suggested amputation and prosthetics, to which the prince declined. After lying in stasis for an insurmountable period, she finally regained her composure; evening her breathing, her body now ceased shaking, and lines of tears already dry. She rose, centering on the large glass windows of her room. She brought her sight up, setting her gaze to the briliant shining moon. She wondered, everything that befell them, had it, in a way, been avoidable. Who could have prevented it? Who held absolute power within Britannia? With those thoughts, her expression hardened. She had plans for tomorrow. She would find her answers.

To Be Continued...