Author's Ramble: Recently I've grown to love the complex storyline of the anime, Code Geass, this is a story about what might've happened had Lelouch had a close friend when his mother had died. And yes, it's a "Stay in Britannia" story too.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass; if I did Lelouch wouldn't have suicidal tendencies. I mean really, why couldn't he have tried being the Emperor he could have been, if everything went to hell, well then he could have started the Zero Requiem. And why not use a double, either way; he did not need to die. But I'm probably missing something so just ignore this ranting of mine.


"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
- Lao Tsu


The Stage is Set

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June 19, 2010 a.t.b. - 12:35 Hours

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Lelouch vi Britannia wasn't angry, he was furious. Barely a day ago he'd found out his mother had been assassinated, only to learn his father hadn't done a thing about it, behaving as if he didn't even care and going as far as to even call off the investigation into the identity of the attackers. Well if his father wasn't going to do something, he was determined to lead the investigation himself.

Even at the young age of ten, Lelouch was shown to be exceptionally brilliant, at the age of ten his brother Schneizel was the only one he had yet to defeat at least once in his favorite game of chess. With his determination to find his mother's killers, he had no doubt he would succeed. Although most people would see such a thing as the arrogance of his youth, Lelouch had never been called ordinary.

And just as he was about to storm into the imperial throne room and confront his father he was suddenly grabbed from behind.

"Your Highness, please consider what you're about to do," he heard a girl speak as she held him from his goal. Pulling himself free and turning around, he found himself looking into a pair of concerned crimson eyes.

Cynthia Rou Tjarrd, probably the only friend he had who wasn't one of his relatives besides Milly Ashford. She was an oddity to say the least, her combination of deep crimson eyes and blonde hair giving her a unique appearance, even amongst Britannians.

The daughter of a baron and a year older than him, she probably shouldn't have even known the prince with her family's recently attained nobility. But when her father had been invited to the capital she had gotten separated from him when her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she'd wandered off on her own. Before she knew it she was lost in the gardens of the Aries Palace, soon encountering the young Prince and Princess vi Britannia. How she had gotten into the garden in the first place was left unasked and in the way that only children can became friends with each other almost immediately.

They'd had been playing for a couple of hours before anyone else noticed the strange girl hanging out with Marianne's children as well as the third princess, Euphemia. And with the news of Baron Rou Tjarrd missing little girl, it wasn't hard to figure out who she was. When learning about it, other members of the nobility were outraged that the daughter of such a minor noble was in the company of the royal family, even if Lelouch and Nunnally were considered the children of a commoner themselves.

All arguments were put to rest though when his mother had admitted about knowing their little arrangement from the beginning. She'd even gone as far as to say the prince could use all the female attention he could get, joking about the fact that Nunnally and Euphie fought for his attention whenever they were in the same room. The joke had brought a blush to both his and Cynthia's faces though, furthering his mother's enjoyment.

When one of the nobles had been foolish enough to continue the argument, she repeated an act that was still recalled in the court. After the meeting had been adjourned and the noble men and women were heading their separate ways, Marianne's renowned Ganymede surprisingly showed up on the front stairs of the court building, stopping right in front of the noble who had spoken out against her children, and like when she'd previously pulled the same stunt when one of the other royal consorts had been foolish enough to insult her children, the event cemented the idea in the minds of all nobles present. Don't mess with the vi Britannia siblings, not unless you wanted a trained Knightmare pilot after your tail, prepared to kill, and willing to do so with smile on her face, albeit a creepy one.

Since then, Cynthia was acknowledged as a friend of theirs by the guards and nobles alike, and while their other siblings stayed away from the "commoner", that similarity between themselves and her had only strengthened their friendship over the past many months. And now that said friend was in his way.

"Cynthia, what are you doing?"

"Prince Lelouch, you need to think about what you were just about to do. You're angry; you aren't thinking straight, you need to calm down."

"Calm down!" he yelled back, proving her point, "How am I supposed to calm down, my mother's dead, my father doesn't give a care, and Nunnally's…Nunnally, she's…"

Yet another reason he had to be grateful towards Cynthia for, she'd come earlier that day to play with them, unknowingly distancing them from the assassination by bringing them to the garden, he didn't want to imagine what would've happened had either one of them also been hit in the cross fire.

When they'd heard the gunshots they immediately ran to the lobby, finding their mother's body bloodied and full of holes on the stairs. Physically, his dearest sister was fine, but they were both deeply attached to their mother and her death came as a sharp blow. Nunnally was currently at home with Euphie, trying to console their sister who had barely stopped crying since the day before. It didn't stop the fact that even if his sister was fine, she had still been hurt, and badly, and for that he vowed that he would get revenge on those responsible. But his father had just prevented any of such events from taking place.

"She's going to be fine Lelouch, right now she needs her big brother, she needs you."

Sometime during their conversation Schneizel and Cornelia had shown up, without a word and only a brief glance, Cornelia knelt down and embraced him while Schneizel himself slipped into the throne room. From his shoulder Cynthia could see Cornelia giving her a thankful smile, and unknown to the both of them, the original fate of the Black Prince had been altered forever.

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Afterwards, Cornelia and Cynthia escorted him back to the Palace where he joined his sister and Euphemia in Nunnally's room. Schneizel promised to see what he could do about the situation in the court. Realizing the fault in his action, he was quick to apologize to Cynthia for yelling at her, to which she waved it off as he wasn't himself when he had. Seeing that everything was fine as the elder vi Britannia sibling took his place next to his currently sleeping sister, the two looked over at Euphemia who gave them a soft smile saying everything would be okay, although it wasn't hard to notice her own distress at the events that were happening. The two closed the door, giving the three some peace, they needed some time alone.

"So, what do you plan on doing now?" Cornelia asked the blonde eleven year old, receiving a curious glance.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that now that Marianne is… dead," Cornelia hesitated, having trouble accepted the idol she saw in the older woman really was gone, "I don't want to sound rude, Cynthia, but you can't stay here, if for no other reason than for Lelouch's and Nunnally's safety. You were only allowed here in the first place because of her counsel. With her gone, the other nobles are going to jump at the chance to get rid of you again. With their mother gone and neither Lelouch nor Nunnally being old enough to counter such an action, they'll probably succeed this time. Just look at what's happened to the Ashfords."

"What? But," Cynthia replied at the revelation, struggling to keep her own emotions from surfacing, "Why would they do that?"

"Because, this government runs on the Darwin system, and while originally their response had been from the outrage about the daughter of a minor noble in the company of royalty, I fear this time will just be their way to hurt Marianne's children."

"But that's, but that's horrible!" Cynthia cried out, disgusted that such people existed.

"Yes, but unfortunately, that dear Cynthia, is the world in which we live in," Cornelia answered with a bitter tone, "Now, once again, what do you plan on doing?"

Cynthia and Cornelia were wrapped in silence for the next few minutes as the younger of the two thought of her situation. Visibly steeling herself, she answered, "I guess I'll leave then, Lelouch and Nunnally are in trouble enough already, they don't need me to screw everything up for them even more."

"That," Cornelia responded, "Would probably be the best." She herself didn't want to see the little noble girl leave. She had grown attached to the little girl too, and she knew that it would just add insult to injury in the eyes of Lelouch and Nunnally who had just lost their mother, that they were about to their best friend too. Not to mention with the downfall of the Ashfords, her little brother and sister would literally be friendless. She was confused why her father wouldn't let her continue the investigation she'd started into Marianne's death, but she wouldn't let her siblings' sacrifice be in vain, one way or another. No child deserved such actions forced upon them at such a young age, and she made a personal vow to herself that even if it was against father's wishes, she'd do everything in her power to avenge their loss.

Schneizel would later make the comment to her that Cynthia had unknowingly saved their younger siblings. The court was in an uproar, and many enemies of the Lamperouges were taking the chance to get rid of the siblings. Through his own intervention he'd managed to save them. But their father hated anything weak, and unless Lelouch and Nunnally proved otherwise, Cornelia feared for their future.

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June 20, 2010 a.t.b. - 13:06 Hours

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Lelouch was confused; Cynthia had asked to meet him out in the gardens, and then run off for reasons unknown to him. So now here he was, in their usual meeting place, with no Cynthia in sight.

"Hey, Lulu."

Strike that, he turned around to greet his closest friend, only to see something he never thought he would. It was Cynthia alright, but the unshed tears in her eyes and bitter smile on her face were new concepts to him. As long as he'd known her, he'd never seen Cynthia cry, having one of the most positive personalities he knew, rivaling even Euphie's. She had been a big support to him and his sister in the few months they had known her, and she was in many ways their role model. Something was happening, and he wasn't going to like it, that much was obvious.

"I'm going to be leaving Lelouch," she continued.

"Oh, when are you going to be back?"

That question seemed to only visibly darken her spirit even more, "I'm not coming back, Lulu."

Sudden realization dawned on him when he realized what this meeting was all about, and why she had only wanted to meet with him. "No, Cynthia, not you too," he tried to deny as tears arose in his own eyes.

In an unspoken act of companionship, they both drew each other into a hug, probably for what they realized would be the last time for a least quite a while. "Don't worry Lulu, it's not forever, we'll see each other again." Of course, such a thing was hard to believe with the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm going to join the military," she continued, "You're a prince, Lelouch, and you're incredibly smart, there's no doubt in my mind that you'll be leading your own division one day like your other siblings, and if I work hard enough and get high enough into the ranks I might be able to join you, but for now I have to leave. Things are too unstable now that your mom's gone, and people are going to look for reasons to hurt you and Nunnally. You don't need someone who's just going to cause trouble for you."

Lelouch didn't answer, and while he wanted to deny her statement, he just responded by holding onto her tighter, hoping against hope that if he did so, she wouldn't leave. But they both knew it was a futile effort.

The next day, like she'd told him, she never showed up. And it would take a full week for him to finally accept that his friend was, in fact, gone. He'd be found sleeping in Nunnally's room that night, something as an act of assurance. The two of them would be alone for a while.

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June 23, 2010 a.t.b. - 5:42 Hours

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A single private airline was preparing to leave, a solemn event that warranted no attention, and that was how Ruben Ashford had wanted it. With the death of Marianne the Flash, her supporters, the Ashfords, were banished from their positions in the nobility. Wanting to avoid any unnecessary conflicts, the Ashford noble had made a final request to have him and his family relocated in what was currently known as Japan. His son and his daughter-in-law were already on the plane, probably sleeping. His granddaughter stood next to him, wanting to join him as he took one final look at what was previously their home.

Both of the Ashfords were interrupted out of their thoughts though as an unknown limo pulled up the runway, stopping near them. Both of them were further surprised to see prince Lelouch and princess Nunnally exit the vehicle.

As they walked towards the previous head of the Ashford home, he asked, "Lelouch, what are you doing here, and Nunnally too?"

"I figured the least I could do for your support of my mother was to see you off and to wish you luck. Besides, Nunnally never got to say goodbye to Cynthia, and she refused to just let you guys go too," he answered with a smirk, but neither of them missed the subtle hint of depression and exhaustion in his voice. And Nunnally just mirrored his true thoughts on the subject, the little girl's sad expression spoke volumes.

Reuben, like most seniors, knew a moment when he saw one, and took his leave after a brief thank you for his consideration for both his family and his granddaughter.

While Cynthia could definitely claim to know the vi Britannia siblings better thanks to her frequent visits, Milly had known them longer thanks to the bond between Marianne and the Ashfords. Some had even speculated that if the young prince didn't marry his half-sister Euphemia, it would be the young Ashford heir. It was a cute rumor, but sometimes Reuben wondered if there might have been some truth to it.

"So I guess this is goodbye," Lelouch started, reaching his hand out for a handshake. He was speaking for both himself and his sister, the latter being too emotional to voice any of her own comments.

Milly, ever being the most forward of girls he knew, ignored the gesture, grabbing his shoulders to bringing him into a hug. "Take care of yourself," she answered, "And take good care of Nunnally, if anything happens to her, I'll hunt you down myself." That comment got a humorless laugh out of the prince and princess, all of them knowing how much he spoiled his little sister. "Promise me something Lelouch?" she continued once the joke had passed.

"Sure, anything."

"Visit us sometime in Japan, okay. I'm gonna miss you guys." Milly continued, separating from their hug, only to lean down and give the little girl one as well. Nunnally chose that moment to break down, returning the hug knowing it might be the last time she saw her friend.

Unlike the goodbyes of before, there were no tears besides that from his sister, Lelouch because he'd cried more than he could ever remember doing so in the past couple of days than the rest of his short life, and he wanted to regain some dignity as the prince he was supposed to be. Milly remained strong, because he had made a promise, and for as long as she had known him, Lelouch always kept his promises.

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June 25, 2010 a.t.b. - 15:29 Hours

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Marianne's funeral was a quiet affair. The only nobles willing to attend being Lelouch's siblings, Nunnally, Euphemia, Cornelia, Schneizel, Odysseus, and Clovis, and then a member of the old guard named Jeremiah Gottwald, the only member to have shown up. And besides the men assigned to lowering Marianne's coffin into her grave, there was no one else.

The weather had been a soft rain, suiting the lonely funeral. It was short and to the point, Lelouch holding onto a crying Nunnally as he gave some final words as he struggled to hold his own tears back, like with Milly, he thought he'd done enough crying, and right now his little sister needed her older brother to be strong for the both of them. Meanwhile cursing his father and those who'd reduced his sister to such a state, swearing revenge on them and Britannia on his mother's grave.

After the small service Lelouch and Jeremiah followed behind the group, Nunnally being escorted ahead of them by her two half-sisters.

"I'm sorry for your loss your Highness," Jeremiah initiated.

"Don't worry about it, it's in the past, and we must move on," Lelouch replied, "Jeremiah, why are you here? I know you were a member of mother's personal guard but I can see no one else of the royal guard decided to attend."

The former guard grimaced, ashamed at the behavior of his fellow men, "I'm sorry, your Highness, they did not wish to attend, and I cannot say why. But I assure you that my loyalty remains with Lady Marianne, and through that, yourself, my prince."

Jeremiah was a proud and dedicated man, loyal to a fault, and as such blamed the death of his charge on himself, even if he had been following orders and therefore nowhere near the incident. Lelouch already knew this, one of the first things he had done was look into the movements of the guard, only to come to a dead end when he found Marianne had ordered Cornelia to withdrawal with all members of her personal guard, she'd been expecting someone, whether or not they were the ones who killed her was the question. Unfortunately, he had only a few suspicions, and they seemed farther and farther from the truth as he slowly received information.

"Thank you, Jeremiah Gottwald," Lelouch began, then with a sigh he continued, "I hope you can forgive me, but I cannot give you my trust for right now. You will receive your chance to prove yourself to me in time, but for now my sister and I have lost much. I can't afford for her to be betrayed again. I hope you can understand."

Jeremiah seemed disappointed at being refused by the prince, but in his eyes was also understanding, and determination. "Then at least allow me to continue my duties as your guard, my liege," he asked, deciding to cut his losses.

"That, I think I can do."

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August 12, 2011 a.t.b. - 22:47 Hours

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"Cornelia, what are you doing?" Lelouch asked as he leaned over his sister's shoulder from behind the couch she was currently sitting in, looking at the assorted maps and documents spread on the table in front of her.

"Going over battle plans, Lelouch. Want to help?" Cornelia informed, she didn't really expect him to be a help at all, but she understood the curiosity of a child, and she enjoyed the company of her siblings.

"Sure," Lelouch answered as he took a seat beside her, the elder sibling wrapping her arms around her little brother, enveloping him in a hug from behind as she pulled him onto her lap and rested her head on top of his. The young prince didn't react much to the gesture, just getting more comfortable in his sister's hold. He'd long since grown accustomed to the signs of affection from his sisters.

"What is it?" he asked, failing to have figured out the meaning of the assorted papers.

"An attack plan on the EU, Schneizel will be opening another front on France, while I'll be leading a diversionary attack from the front in Spain. Now I have to figure how I'll get their attention without leading the men to slaughter." Most parents would be disappointed in an older sister discussing war with her eleven-year-old brother, but Cornelia was a commander, she didn't care about such things.

"Well, why not use Special Forces? Disable or destroy hard points to make your advance easier. Then again, the pincer formation has always proved effective throughout history. Divide your forces in two and capture their frontlines in an ambush," Lelouch listed off suggestions.

"What? Lelouch?" Now that had caught the Witch of Britannia off guard. While she knew of her brother's love for strategy like Schneizel before him, the fact that he was making real battle plans surprised her. They weren't half-bad either.

"You could also fake a retreat, lead them into a false sense of security before ambushing them. Using someone's ego against them works really well against Britannian nobility."

"Lelouch!" Cornelia exclaimed, stopping her brother's train of thought before asking in a quieter tone, "Where is all of this coming from?"

"I've been studying," he explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I've been reading books and using chess pieces to reenact the battles, it actually makes a lot of sense, and using human factors like overconfidence, pride and ego to your advantage can always lead to your victory."

"Lelouch," Cornelia started in a delicate tone, "Why are you trying to learn all this. You're still a child; you should be having fun outside with Euphie and Nunnally."

"I know," he answered, "And I do have fun, we played in the gardens today. But that doesn't mean I can't learn, does it? One day I'm going to lead an army just like you and Schneizel. I need to be ready."

"Ready for what?" she asked with a questioning look directed at the boy in her arms.

"For my war with Britannia."

Of all the responses she'd been expecting, treason wasn't one of them. "Lelouch!" she exclaimed, her voice suddenly switching to that of a scolding tone, "Don't talk like that, it'll get you hurt, or worse."

"But Cornelia, I'm serious," Lelouch explained as he faced the maps, turning his head away from her, she could notice his fists clenching in his lap, his expression that of enmity, he really was serious about this, "Britannia killed my mother and took away my friends. And don't you see them Cornelia, the numbers I mean, Nunnally and I took a trip to Japan a couple of months ago. We were visiting Milly, and we met the Japanese prime minister, we even became friends with his son after a while. We also met a bunch of other people, and they weren't really any different than we are in some ways."

"But then we beat them in a war, call them Elevens, what makes them any different than us? Because we had Knightmares and they didn't. Where's the reason in that. We should be working with them, helping them rebuild, that's how you get people's loyalty. But father's policies on Darwinism deem them weak just because we have better technology than they do. Not to mention Nunnally and I were almost thrown away ourselves if you and the others hadn't helped. I won't put Nunnally in a position like that again. She deserves the best, and if I have to fight father to do so, then so be it."

To say Cornelia was shocked would be an understatement if there ever was one. Not only was Lelouch giving out reasons, but he was reasoning like an adult. Had Marianne's death really change him this much? And what took her so long to notice? He was eleven, his biggest worry in life should be that of "what's for dinner?", and here he was planning a rebellion against his own country.

The worst part was that she couldn't argue with any of it. She also found their government to be corrupt, but she didn't have any thoughts of rebellion. She suddenly felt a lot worse of her prejudice views on the numbers. Her brother was right about one thing, they were people. Men, women, children just like the people of Britannia, oppressed for the simple reason that they couldn't defend themselves.

Then he had to bring up the events following his mother's death. There were still a few nobles who tried to get rid of them, and these two were her precious brother and sister, their father willing to dispose of them for just being children. Oh, she had such a headache coming.

"Lelouch," she asked, "Have you talked to anyone about this?"

"No one except Jeremiah and Nunnally," he answered, having calmed down from his rant on his mother country.

Cornelia smirked; Lelouch had accepted the guard's request to serve him after an event where a noble had the guile to insult Nunnally in court. Jeremiah had turned a gun on the man in an alleyway after the meeting. He'd proven he was willing to commit treason in order to protect his prince's and princess' honor, and Lelouch had been impressed when he had heard the news. The event had been downplayed as to protect the man, and on October 23, 2010 a.t.b. Jeremiah Gottwald was decreed Lelouch's first royal knight in court.

Since then the knight hadn't left his prince's side, the only time being where he was ordered to watch over Nunnally instead. Anyone could see he was his chief advisor and informant, so it didn't surprise her that he had been the only one Lelouch had besides his sister. Nunnally had been a give in, the two kept no secrets from each other.

"Promise me, Lelouch," she instructed, "Promise me you will not tell anyone else about this plan of yours, not even Euphie."

"I promise," Lelouch stated, whatever her reasons were for asking, he trusted them. She was his sister after all.

Cornelia inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. She'd just avoided a bullet. Perhaps with time Lelouch would grow out of his fantasies of revenge, or at least, she hoped. But she couldn't help but think…

If he went through with his plan, would she support him?


Author's Signoff: As it says in the description, this is a Lelouch/Harem fic. Why? Well after the ending of the original, I think it's safe to say he more than deserves it. Current girls I'm positive in including would be CC, Kallen, Milly, Shirley, and probably my OC Cynthia too. But as a subtle hint, when it comes to the Code Geass universe at least, I don't necessarily look down on incest. Besides, LuluNuna has its own cuteness about it at times.

And yes, Cynthia will be the only OC character in this story that may make it in the harem. Why? Well, truth is she's actually my favorite character in one of my favorite Japanese visual novels, and I read a lot of these. Unfortunately I couldn't find myself able to write her character right and that's what makes her an OC, so… anyone want to take a guess at who her character is, digital cookie to anyone who guesses right. Hint: Her real last name begins with an "M" and the company that made the visual novel is named after a month of the year.

Anyone have ideas of a Geass you'd like to see. No promises, but it'd be nice to have a list in case I plan on ever including such. After all, like Lelouch described in the anime, a Geass also reflects the desires of its wielder.

I added the scene with Cornelia for several reasons. One, I wanted a more realistic approach to Jeremiah becoming his knight. Two, I wanted to have an explanation of Lelouch's knack for strategy. Having a natural instinct for such things is one thing, but you still need at least some base knowledge, and I'd like to imagine Lelouch was self-taught. Three, I wanted to establish that despite his staying in Britannia, he did make Japanese contact. Four, I wanted to further explain his reasons for his rebellion for later in the story. Five, I just wanted to screw with Cornelia's mind as he said that. And six, maybe develop loyalties that he'll use later… And the Lelouch/Cornelia moment was just an added bonus.

And like all writers I like reviews, so yeah, this is where a give a big list of things you could review about, so anyone else you'd like to see in the harem? Predictions of what'll happen in the future? How's this beginning going to affect the future? What did you like about the story so far? Dislike? Should I include lemons in this story, or at least attempt writing them?

Finally, I'm looking for a beta, so if anyone's willing to volunteer or has any suggestions, please send me a PM.

See Ya!