Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass.

A/N: Well, I was reading a bunch of fics which were basically retelling of episodes from a certain character's P.O.V. and I suddenly came up with this idea.

I didn't really want to use any dialogue, just because I can't remember them well, but the main idea of what they said is here just don't quote me. Spoilers from the episode with the same name.

I've had this in my files for forever actually, and just found it today. I'm not even sure if anyone reads Code Geass fics anymore, but I decided to upload it anyway. My first (and probably only) Code Geass fic, yay!

Oh, and I didn't mean to make Helena sound like an angelic version of Nina, she loves Euphie but like a mother. She did watch over her her entire life.

Summary: An angel had watched over her from the heavens her entire life. From the day she was born, until the day she came up to join her in heaven. One-shot.

At Least With Sorrow

Helena had been told being a guardian angel was a hard job. She knew that. It was a thankless job in which you worked 24/7 everyday of the year, without vacation or pay; unless you count eternity in paradise once you're done.

But she had never truly understood what all the other angels meant when she was signing up for the job. "It's better than Purgatory," she had nonchalantly said, not understanding why they just sadly shook their head at her. She wouldn't understand until she got her first charge.

Euphemia Li Britannia.

Since the moment she was born, with her brightly colored hair, Helena knew she would be special. The minute she laid eyes on her a warm feeling filled her heart and all she wanted to do was hold her, soothe her, and protect her.

She was a perfect child. Never yelling and always doing just as she was told. She was always kind to everyone around her and always tried to get along with her siblings, though not all her siblings could say the same.

And then she grew up.

She was a beautiful young woman, that no one could deny, and it made Helena worry of all the men who surrounded her at all times. The government used her beauty to popularize the royal family. Placing her in front of a camera every time they could so that all their plans would be beloved.

Just like her.

Perhaps her beauty was her curse. Maybe if she wasn't so lovely she wouldn't have been used as living propaganda. She wouldn't have been sent to that place, Area 11, Japan, or whatever humans were calling it now. She never would've come into contact with her half-brother, Lelouch Vi Britannia... Zero.

She never would've come in contact with Suzaku Kururugi either, and she knew that wasn't right. The day that "Euphie" met Suzaku was the day that everything changed, that set her destiny in motion. As tragic as it was, Helena knew that some things had to happen. And she felt she could trust the honorary Britannian with caring for her charge.

He changed her.

For the better, at least. He gave her the courage to stand up for what she believed in and demand for what she wanted, like when she made him her knight.

She watched as they fell in love, and she was happy but she hated it. It was not a love that could end happily. Euphemia would have to give up her right to the throne and that was something she could never do. Even if she never became Empress, which was not something Helena wanted, she would be able to live comfortably for the rest of her life.

But she did.

She chose the happiness of others over her own comfort and gave up her family name in order to give the Elevens, the Japanese, their freedom. Helena was proud, even if her real family was not, and thought that nothing could go wrong. If someone was so good to others, how could they ever be punished?

But she was.

The day came when they inaugurated the Special Zone and Zero came to her. He wanted her to kill him, to become a martyr, but she wanted them to live in peace together…happily. After some debate, even he had to admit that she was right. There was a way for them to co-exist. And they were family again.

For a brief shining moment they were content with each other. They smiled, they joked, just like normal families do; and then it happened. His teasing joke, "I could even make you kill all the Japanese if I wanted to," became a reality. His devil power, that Geass, rewrote her mind, made her something she was not. She fought it for as long as she could, but there was nothing anybody could do against that power.

So she ran, with a gun in her hand, towards the cheering crowd of thousands of innocents. Even under such a malignant order she maintained her innocence, asking the crowd if they could please kill themselves. No one believed it until she shot a man herself.

Then the end started.

The Knights of Britannia attacked everyone, the Black Knights attacked back, even Euphemia herself joined in the battle. She met up with Zero and still expressed a desire to join with him. Helena couldn't tell, he was wearing his mask, but he almost sounded honest when he said he would have liked that. Then he pulled out a gun and ended her life, doused her life's flame.

Suzaku appeared in time to help her hold on for a while longer. Not even the advanced medicine of Britannia could sustain her for long. Only for a few minutes, only long enough to see one person. Even in the end, she fought against the Geass, refused to hurt Suzaku, and worried about others. "Did everything go fine with the Special Zone? Are the Japanese happy?"

Helena knew she would have answered the same way, "Yes, everybody's really happy!" It was enough to see her smile, to express relief with her last breath. But when she got there, when Euphemia finally met Helena, she was crying. She had seen what had really happened and knew that Suzaku had lied.

No one was happy, she hadn't done well, and she would be remembered as the person who drew innocent people to their deaths with false hopes and promises. As Princess Massacre.

She had watched her from the heavens from the day she was born to the day that she came up to join her. She wasn't sure if others would call Euphemia's life a success, but she did. She had been kind, she stood by her beliefs, and she even found love in her short life. Even her killer knew that.

At least, with sorrow.

At least, her killer had felt sorrow when he brought her life to an end.