TURN 0: GENESIS

"The date was August 10th in the year 2010 of the imperial calender. The Holy Britannian Empire had just declared war upon Japan. The far east nation had held fast to its neutrality, and now Britannia looms as the world's only superpower. Rights to Japan's underground resources became a hotly disputed issue, draining the already deep-rooted diplomatic tensions between the two sides. In the deciding battle for the mainland, Britannian forces introduced into combat the humanoid autonomous armoured knight known as the knightmare frame. The enemies forces were far greater than anticipated and the knightmares obliterated the Japanese line of defence on the mainland with little effort. Japan became a dominion of the empire. The country was stripped of its freedom, its rights and its name. "Area 11" – the defeated and once proud nation of Japan was re-christened with a mere number."

—Excerpt from Code Geass, R1 Episode 1, C. C

THE ASSASSIN

She remembered the moment. That one glorious moment. When it occurred, it had been as though time had stopped alongside all the inhabitants of Japan. The sky had darkened with thick smoke, the normal sounds of daily life replaced by the rumbling in the distance. Most saw a terrorist attack on the Akuma Towers which saw a Japanese plane flying directly into the apex of the first of the two buildings, causing an explosion that gave birth to the clouds of black and smoke into the air, and a noise as loud and erupting and lightning. But she remembered the event to be something else. It had been an act for liberation to her, by which the Japanese told the unholy Britannians that they still fought and would continue to fight until the very bitter end, of either the Japanese nation itself or Britannia.

Now, the Britannian citizens that came to Japan seven years ago crowded at the centre of Tokyo Settlement, waiting for their prince to make his appearance on the stage that was made up far in the distance. All around her, she saw different faces; some slim, some chubby. Some with brown eyes, and some with blue eyes. Though she saw no ally in the crowd, no one she knew. The thought at first made her feel sad, but then she realised it would be better this way. Better that the people she knew would not see her today, see her damn herself twice over until she found the only place for her was in the depths of Hell.

The people began to cheer. They shouted "Prince Clovis! Prince Clovis!" over and over. She looked toward the stage to stare into the very man they all cried for. The prince was one of fine features, much like the rest of the many members of the Royal Family. He wore a white and golden cape that hung over his shoulders, and beneath it, a vibrant attire of indigo and gold. But she did not waste her time inspecting him for his clothes; she looked straight into his eyes. "Prince Clovis! Prince Clovis! Prince Clovis!" the crowd continued to chant his name in symphony, though her lips did not move except to curl into a slight curl as a thought entered her mind. She thought of what she was about to do, and she smiled.

When the prince held his hand in the air, the voices and cheers stopped; everything became quiet. "To all my imperial subjects," he exclaimed, looking into the massive assembly for a moment's pause. "Including of course the many co-operative Elevens who chose to serve the empire of Britannia," he added.

We're not Elevens! she thought. We're Japanese! She clenched her hands into fists until her knuckles turned a deadly white, her nails digging into the skin of her palms. Staring around her, she'd hoped to see the Japanese, so she'd have at least someone to share her anger with. But she found no such face. They were all Britannians around her. And though the face she wore that she had long realised to be somewhat a mask was all Britannian, her shock blue eyes and fiery red hair, it was her Japanese blood that made her identity. But she wouldn't have to wait long before that mask was removed and the truth was revealed. By the end of this day, she vowed, everyone would know her name, or at least the idea that she represented: Salvation.

"Do you see my pain?" The prince's voice snapped her back to reality. He gripped at the silk at his chest to express this pain. "My heart was ripped from my chest only to be torn apart; the remnants are filled with rage and sadness. However," he said. The feign of sadness had graced his face, but now the features of the third prince of the Holy Britannian Empire hardened, becoming grim. Her smile had left her face now, and her own features matched his. "as the ruler of Area 11, I will not tolerate terrorism of any kind; because the battle we fight is a righteous one..." And what of their righteous cause? she asked internally. What of their sacrifice? She let her fingers unfold slowly, and with her right, she went into her coat's chest pocket. She felt the metal skin of the weapon with her fingertips. "...a virtuous battle to protect the well-being of one and all." the prince's voice continued, though she was no longer listening. She was waiting.

"Now then everyone, let us praise those who died in justice in our line of duty!" An uproar of screams and shouts began "Let us come together to fight these terrorists who think they can do us harm!" Prince Clovis held his fist into the air. And all the while they were chanting, "Prince Clovis! Prince Clovis!" And all the while she was waiting. "Let us show them that we will not cower to their attacks – no!" Another uproar and she wrapped her fingers around the handle. "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!" Clovis roared. She pulled the gun from her coat, and, extending her arm with the barrel pointed forward, she screamed, "LONG LIVE JAPAN!"

No one heard the gunfire from the screams. "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!" that was what they all chanted in unison for their prince. Their dead prince. They knew this not from any given signal save the blood that trickled down the prince's face like tears as he fell to the ground, limp.

THE STRATEGIST

The news of his brother's death hit him harder than he thought it would. Yet, he waned not from the grief of a sibling, but from surprise. How could he not have seen such an attack coming? How could he have not seen? The questions raced through his mind. He would have remained in his constant silence if not for Kanon Maldini's presence behind him. "The late Viceroy of Area 11's body is on its way to the Mainland. His Majesty, Emperor Charles zi Britannia wishes all the princes and princesses to return to Pendragon for his funeral." Kanon said the words in a solemn tone. What he said only mattered for they were already aboard his Avalon, on their way to E.U to sort out political issues. On other days, Schneizel cared little for his father's orders; he was the true emperor in his eyes, and the title his father bore simply made his ignoring of such "mundane" issues acceptable.

The Second Prince of Britannia slummed in his chair. "Very well," he said to Kanon who now stood by his side, waiting for him to go on. "I shall make the order to turn the ship around, and return to the Mainland for my brother's funeral. Be sure to inform the Captain and the rest of the ship crew." Every word had been directed to Kanon, but he said not one word looking into the man's eyes. He consumed himself in all his thoughts on what to do next, on what would come from his delay to the E.U, of what would become of Area 11 itself. Who would take his brother's place as Viceroy? And there was one thought, one specific thought, that made Prince Schneizel anxious. "And the Sakuradite?" he asked quickly just as he saw Kanon was about to leave him. "Are they still distributing their shares?"

Kanon turned to face Schneizel. "If what you mean by 'they', you mean the Six; yes, they're still co-operating. Everyday, more and more Sakuradite deposits are being made." Then, the earl's face turned nervous. Schneizel sensed this, though he neither said anything nor showed any sign to give himself away. He just continued to look into Kanon's eyes until the man spoke once more. "But, there have been reports, Prime Minister, that the largest resistance group of Japan, the Japanese Liberation Front, have secured amounts of the mineral. We know not what they require it for."

"They require it simply because we do, my friend." Schneizel said flatly.

A moment of silence passed between the two men, but it was Kanon who broke it. "Will that be all, Your Majesty?" he asked politely.

Schneizel answered the question by saying, "Do we know who was behind the attack on the Akuma Buildings?"

"We believe the attack to be the work of the Japanese Liberation Front, though it isn't certain. They are most likely the offenders in my opinion." The earl looked angry, almost frustrated at this point. He, for all the time Schneizel had known him, had always hated the idea of terrorism, living in a world where an attempt on innocent people's life could be made. The thought disgusted Kanon. Peace was the key to everything, he once told the prince, but this world was made up of so much evil. "Do you think they were also behind the assassination of Prince Clovis, Prime Minister?" he inquired, shaking Schneizel from his deep thoughts.

"Here," the Second Prince began in a quiet voice. He looked around before he spoke any further; he would not have this conversation interrupted, or even worse, overheard. "Here, I will tell you that the Japanese Liberation were not behind my brother's death. The Government Bureau had been surrounded by Britannian forces, men belonging to the army situated in the far east nation and men belonging to Prince Clovis himself. Though the speech was broadcast across Area 11, the audience would have only been made of Britannian citizens. An Eleven would have not even been able to enter the area, never mind be able to enter the crowd without getting noticed."

"So you believe the culprit to be Britannian?"

"Perhaps," Schneizel replied. "Or someone who could easily pass off as one."

"An assailant sent from the E.U?"

"That was what I originally thought, my friend. Yet, now that I have thought long and hard on the concept, it is unlikely they would make such an attack in such a critical time. They wanted peace with the Britannian Empire not war; why would they order the murder of a member of the royal family?" War between the two superpowers was inevitable, this they both knew. The only question left standing was when it would be declared. But there was something inside him, and the prince knew not of how strong that part was, that told them it was not the E.U that murdered his brother. Then who? he thought to himself. "Here," he repeated aloud. "I will tell you the JLF were not behind the assassination, but to everyone on the outside, we will mark them out as those who are guilty. We will blame them for my brother's death." The Second Prince shifted his vision to his right-hand man. He saw that he looked confused, but voiced no question. For that, he smiled. "To everyone in the Holy Britannian Empire, the Japanese Liberation Front will be painted as not only the terrorists of the Akuma Buildings, but also the assassination of Prince Clovis la Britannia. From this, we will be able to strike Japan for her resistance without question, and squash the rebellious factions from within. Once this is done—"

"We will be able to retrieve the Sakuradite." Kanon interrupted, pleased.

"Yes," Schneizel let his lips curl into a slight smile. "Only then can we begin preparations for new Knightmares to be manufactured for the war we will rage against the E.U."

"Should I send a note to the emperor?" Kanon asked.

He said simply in reply to the earl's question, "Do not concern my father with such mundane issues. I know someone else who will be willing to take the task of destroying the resistance in Japan in hand. No," he said, this time sinisterly. "do not send any note to my father. Send a note to my sister, the Goddess of Victory herself, instead."

THE GODDESS OF VICTORY

Cornelia walked through the Shinshiku base, her person knight, Lord Gilbert P. Guilford, and General Andreas Dalton alongside her. She had walked those first few moments in silence, the only sound being of her white boots as they connected with the polished ground beneath her. But then the Second Princess stopped, making her company do so as well. Staring into the figure before her, Cornelia had never thought to see her sister again for a long time, she was, after all, in Area 11 now. "Euphie," she whispered, half pleased and half confused. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of her only full-blood relative, but there was a part inside her soul Cornelia could not begin to suppress. It was made of fear, not for herself, and not even for the upcoming events that would occur in the next few hours, but for her sister. Of all the people the Goddess of Victory knew, Princess Euphemia li Britannia was ever the only one to worry her.

"Sister,"Euphie said, beaming. She ran towards her elder sister and embraced her, burying her face in the thick locks of Cornelia's magenta hair. They remained that way for a moment, for they both did not wish to let go, and when they untied themselves from each other, Euphie laughed. "It's been so long, hasn't it, Sister."

Cornelia immediately frowned, "You should be in school," she chastised.

"As you should be in Pendragon with mother and our siblings." Euphie too frowned, her features mirroring that of her sisters, but only younger. "You left in such a hurry after Clovis' funeral, people are beginning to believe you cared little for our brother." In truth, Cornelia didn't know how she felt about the late Viceroy of Area 11. She had cared for him the same way she had for any of her other half-siblings. And yet there was something undeniable about the...feelings that coiled within her. She pictured two faces, the first being the face of the child she remembered playing chess with her dead brother Lelouch, and the second being the face that was revealed before an audience of thousands of Britannian nobles, white and pale, beautiful and yet dead. Cornelia remembered something had stirred within her – grief? Pain? Guilt.

"And I am, I'm afraid, beginning to become one of those people." her sister said quietly, her eyes dropping for the ground, saddening. Cornelia's eyes widened ever so slightly; to normal people, perhaps they would have seen no difference, but the Second Princess felt the eyes of her knight on his skin as if he had sensed her surprise at the younger princess' words. It hadn't been something she'd expect to come from her sister's lips, those words, and perhaps it had hurt her to hear such a thing, though Cornelia remained silent, unwilling to answer as of yet.

"Why are you here?" the goddess asked after the silence became too long and far too deafening to bear.

Euphie's gaze shifted from the ground and looked directly into Cornelia's indigo irises. As beautiful as they had always been, there was something cold as ice in them; and as bright as they had always appeared, a darkness as foreboding as the night grew within them. "Father," she began, her voice very much still strong. "His Majesty, requested that I follow you here to Japan as I am to become Viceroy once the resistance has minimized." She looked away from Cornelia once more, as though she felt some form of guilt over being one of the successors of her brother's role, established only moments after his death. "For now, that title remains with you though." she finished.

"Yes," That was all the Second Princess said before she began to walk away. In that moment, Cornelia truly felt as though her heart had become stone, and if there was any doubt that it wasn't, she wished it to be. It was, after everything, much easier for her to be cold, distant, stoic, than to be...human. She felt she was more apart of the Gloucester she controlled in battle, metallic and robotic, than apart of the family Euphie envisioned the royal family to be. "I am the Viceroy," she broke the silence. "And you must stay within the base until I instruct you to do otherwise. Battle will commence in a few moments' time. Do not get in the way." And she turned into a walk, brushing past her sister, her only thought before her mind shifted into its mindset of militarism being that there were far worse things she could have said, and that they, if said, would have been even less meant than what she did say.

Cornelia walked through the narrow halls again until she stood directly before her Gloucester. It was a magnificent sight, she'd thought, the purple of her knightmare's body and metallic limbs and the golden of her lance illuminating beneath the gleans of light. "Guilford, Darlton," Cornelia said, the tone in her voice changing immediately. They stood beside her now, mute and waiting. "Your Highness," her personal knight murmured.

"It's time." she said. They each climbed into their knightmare frames, and soon the Second Princess became enclosed in the cockpit of her Gloucester. "We are here for one reason," she spoke to Guilford over a private channel. "That is to wipe out every single damned Eleven that pose a threat in their God-forsaken rebellion. We will drive them out, the Japanese Liberation Front, by attacking what they hold dear, and they will rue the day that they were formed." She then spoke through an open channel so that all the men in her service heard her. "These terrorists will pay. Prince Clovis will know his vengeance! All hail Britannia!" This message was echoed throughout the Shinshiku base, but Cornelia's only reply came to be only one word. "LAUNCH!"

THE LORD OF MIRACLES

Kyoshiro Tohdoh sat within the Narita military base, with his Four Holy Swords beside him, his eyes closed. He wished for silence, and in return, the voices of Japanese Liberation Front members quarrelling filled his ears. Lieutenant Colonel Josui Kusakabe was arguing with the men about him. He aroused a frenzy within the ranks, even the greenest of soldiers heeding his cries for vengeance. "How dare they?!" he shouted to all the faces around him. His countenance was tailored by his fury; his teeth grit, his lips tightened into a frown, and his eyes... His eyes, normally dull and without lustre, became refined with the stain of red anger. "Thousands!" his roared from across the room. "Thousands! Thousands of men dead!"

Tohdoh knew from the moment Kusakabe opened his mouth what he spoke of. Yes, he thought, thousands of lives were lost. The Britannians destroyed the ghetto, killing everyone and everything in their path. But Kyoshiro could not think of them now, in their tyrannical rule and their new purple knightmare frames. The colonel thought only of the bodies that graced the earth, that watered the soil with their blood, and how, without proper burials, their souls were neglected of the embrace of the Kami. Yet, even this conception, however consuming, was easily replaced by the uproar caused by the Extremist Faction leader, Kusakabe.

"They're blaming us for the death of their Mazoku Prince!" He was on his feet now. "They killed our people out of revenge – but what about our revenge?!" His audience of soldiers cheered at those words. "While our people turn to carrion, his body lays in Britannia. Let it be that way, I say, as his body would pollute our earth if ever it touched our land with its blood!" Another cheer, and another and another.

"Vengeance!" someone shouted in the crowd of hungry men. "Death to the demons!" came another man.

By this time, Tohdoh had had enough. "And what do you expect to achieve your vengeance, Lieutenant Colonel Kusakabe?" He said the word "vengeance" as if it disgusted him, though deep down, he knew not how he truly felt about the concept. He wanted freedom for his people, his country, but how far was he willing to go to get that? As of now, he gave himself no answer, and that, of everything that could induce such a thing, worried him. He gave no indication of this worry nonetheless, and remained as stoic as ever as he continued to speak. "What will you do? Will you kill as many Britannian citizens as they did the Japanese at Shinshiku?"

Kusakabe did not answer the question directly. "We must show the people that we have not lost our power – that the Japanese are still strong! We are not weak, and we will not bend!" was his words.

"And again, I ask you the same question: How do you expect to achieve this?"

"If we must kill the Brits we will! Every last one of them!" one of the soldiers that rallied to Kusakabe spoke out.

"Then you risk becoming the very tyrants we seek to demolish. The Britannian citizens, yes, they're the ones who oppress us, who discriminate against us, but they should not be our targets. You go after the people, and transform this army from a military front into a pack of slaughterers."

"So we should just wait until the Viceroy herself comes to our doorstep?!" a female voice shouted. For a moment, no one knew who spoke, but then a tall, slim figure came forth from the crowd. Kumori was her name, Kumori Urabe, the youngest sister of one of Tohdoh's very own holy blades, Kosestu Urabe. She bore a beautiful face, taken from her mother and not her father as Kosestu had, but that beauty was now impeded by her evident frustration. "You know fair well we ourselves would slaughtered on open battle!"

Tohdoh said nothing. He waited to see if Urabe would speak out against his sister, though the elite combatant said nothing,remaining quiet and distance as ever. "Perhaps," Tohdoh finally said. "But to me, that is the only way to free this country is to eliminate Princess Cornelia. Whoever assassinated Clovis did us a favour, and has now given us the chance to truly strike at the Britannian army. After all, the so-called Goddess of Victory is the soul and heart of the Britannian military..."

Author's Notes: For this chapter, I have used PoVs simply to introduce the story. They may or may not appear in future chapters, but will focus mainly on the characters of the Japanese Liberation Front members. For now, chapters will revolve around what happened in the anime series but as the fanfic progresses, I hope to move away from these events. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Please tell me what you think and review!

Next Chapter: Turn 1, Initiation