Right then people: New, original story. In all probability my last Code Geass fan-fic (even though it's only my second fan-fic ever). I'll be uploading a chapter every week.
I have no idea what you'll think of it. All I know is that I'm tired of looking at the M-rated section and seeing nothing but yaoi, lemon, one-shots etc. I want to make something orginal, so I have decided to write this eight chapter epic. Some chapters will be short (2,000 to 4,000 words) and others will be epically long (7,000 to 10,000). Lelouch will be going solo for this. Don't expect Kallen, Suzaku or the rest of the gang to appear (I promise there will be no hallucinatory C.C.s...maybe) as this is a Lelouch centered story set after R2 (although there are a bunch of other characters...). Very slightly influenced by Death Note and heavily influenced by these songs: El Dorado (Iron Maiden), El Dorado (Elton John) and Eldorado (Electric Light Orchestra), this will be an epic quest from start to finish.
Please review.
And read on...
For Lelouch's epic quest to find salvation at El Dorado.
"Ah…"
The fires burned. They burned so bright.
"At last…"
Figures danced in the corner of his eye. Ethereal shadows. Tormenting him.
"It is time… I'm so glad I found you…"
That voice…
"Ah… that's a problem…"
The voice was so sinister and so dark, that his head hurt just listening to it.
"I think you should wake up now Lelouch…"
He groaned. The heat was intense. He must be surrounded by fire.
"I could probably take three. But eight of them are gathering…"
He opened an eye, just a crack. He couldn't see much.
"…And I think they've seen you."
He opened one eye. He stared at a rock that was quite close to his face. It was charred and scorched. Where… the… hell… am I?
"Wake up Lelouch…"
He opened both eyes to stare at the rock. He still couldn't see much.
"WAKE UP!"
Lelouch shot up, to see the most horrifying face he had ever seen. It was hideous. Cracked and scarred skin was matched with two glaring, mad eyes. A row of razor sharp teeth, covered in blood and excrement opened wide to reveal a blotched and bruised tongue, covered in all matter of foul shit. The menacing eyes glared at the person it was about consume.
And then a huge beast came out of nowhere and knocked the creature down, throwing it away into the darkness. Lelouch felt huge hands grab hold of him and he struggled to break away. He tried to shout, but his throat felt like sandpaper.
"Stop struggling! I'm trying to save you!"
That voice… it was so dark and so horrifying that it sounded like it belonged to death itself. Lelouch tried to look around, but all he could see was darkness. He didn't know if he was blind or not.
"Well… I can't really save you. You're damned already."
The figure dragging him was moving fast. Lelouch felt himself bump over hot, rocky terrain. He could hear horrifying snarls and squeals in the background and felt his clothes being tattered and torn by the journey. He felt like he was being dragged by a car, the speed of which he could only guess. But the bumps and scrapes he felt across the rocks weren't as painful as they should've been.
"We must make pace. The Scavengers do not give up quickly. Here, take a shoulder."
Lelouch felt himself lifted up onto a hunched back. He gripped the shoulders of the beast he was riding and hoped not to fall off. It felt like a mix between fur and wire, a strange leathery substance that his fingers found difficult to grip. He just held on and hoped for the best.
"Hold on tight!"
The creature bounded off across the rocks at a pace that was must have been over fifty miles per hour. The wind rushed into Lelouch's face, cooling it down from the intense heat around him. He struggled to see. But as they ran at an inhuman speed, his sight gradually returned.
A rocky landscape as far as the eye could see. No grass or trees. Just rocks and stones of all shapes and sizes. Huge boulders were matched with tiny pebbles. Huge lava flows came out of cliffs in the distance. He tried to look at the sky, but it seemed to be night. A night with no stars or moon. Or clouds.
"What is that?" Lelouch asked whimsically, talking about the strange sky.
"The ceiling."
Lelouch looked down at the monster he was riding.
He screamed.
His fingers lost whatever grip they had and he fell off the creature, smashing into the ground at speed and bouncing off the rocks. He tumbled and bounced off heated stones before smashing into a boulder. He spat blood and sat up, wincing in pain. And came face-to-face with an even more horrifying creature.
It was the creature he had seen before, all fetid face and disgusting teeth, eyes too wide for its small head, claws the size of razors on its leathery hands. It rushed at Lelouch, screeching like a banshee, hungry for fresh meat.
The huge, pitch-black creature barrelled into it again. It knocked the screeching creature down and started pummelling it into submission. The smaller, uglier creature screeched for help as huge, black claws the size of swords raked the demon across the face. Blood and mucus splashed against the rocks. However a second screecher leapt onto the back of the huge black creature and started tearing at its wire-like fur. The black beast roared and stood upon its hind legs, revealing the terror that it was.
When not on all fours, and when not hunched, it stood around eight feet tall, jet-black and clawed. Entirely black, all the way to its claws, which looked like upside down scimitars. However, its eyes were blood-red and its grinning mouth held teeth shinier then the moon. Two small, black pupils embedded in those red eyes hid an intelligence and sense of cunning that Lelouch found strangely comforting. As if he had seen it before somewhere.
The huge, dark beast grabbed the gnawing screecher on his back and gripped it in his two black-wire hands. Gripping its torso in one hand and its legs in the other, the pitch-black creature held the screecher above its head and pulled with all its strength. With a sickening crack of the spine, the screecher was torn in half, its guts spilling onto the hot rocks, the smell of hot flesh in the air.
The other screecher, whose face was covered in blood and shit, started to crawl away in fear, but the huge black beast bore down on it. With a raise of its massive, bear-like foot, it brought it down on top of the screechers head. Its brain splashed across the stones, blood splattering Lelouch. He moved away, keeping his back against a rock.
The huge beast turned to look into the distance.
"One other followed me. But he is running. No doubt to tell all that his two pals are dead."
Lelouch backed away even further. To all intents and purposes, he seemed he was trying to disappear into the rock.
The huge beast turned around to look at Lelouch. Lelouch looked into those cunning red eyes and his heart leapt to his throat.
"You looked surprised. I can't think why." The beast grinned.
"W-W-W-What are you?" Lelouch asked with a shiver in his voice.
"Me? I am a demon. So were they."
"A-A d-demon?"
"Sure. You'll find a lot of us in Hell."
Lelouch stared at the bulging nightmare. He reckoned that was where he was: A nightmare.
"Heh heh… you look shocked. I wonder why. After all, didn't you expect to go to Hell for all the things you've done? I don't actually know what you've done, but to end up here, you need to have done something really special to piss off the powers that are."
Lelouch looked around him. The heat. The sharp rocks. Not a soul in sight. Rivers of lava on the horizon. The Hell described in so many religious books. This had to be a joke.
"This is bullshit!" he shouted, "Hell doesn't exist! You're tricking me! You're no demon! I don't deserve to be damned! This is all a lie!"
"I'm afraid it's true. And believe me, you probably deserve to be damned. What did they call you on Earth?"
Lelouch remembered the title with a startling realisation. He looked down at the irony. "A real demon huh…?"
He sat back and looked at the ground. He knew there could be no mistake. He had just ridden this creature and he was covered in blood. This was no illusion.
"So… I'll be here for all eternity?" he asked in a distant voice.
"That's about the long and short of it. You're fucked six days from Sunday. Then on Sunday, you're double-fucked. Ain't no rest for the wicked."
Lelouch just stared at the ground. How is this? How could this be? He looked around.
"But… if there's a Hell… why do I seem the only one here?"
"Good question. It's because only the very special ones enter Hell. I don't know what you did on Earth, but you must have done it real bad in order to wind up here."
"I did do a lot of bad things," mused Lelouch, "But all in the name of world peace-hang on a sec!"
The demon looked at him.
"Why am I telling you this?" shouted Lelouch, "Who the hell are you? Why did you save me?"
The demon stared at him out of those cunning red eyes.
"Because I am you."
Lelouch stared at it.
"Whenever a demon dies, his soul will wander the Blasted Hills to find the Forest of Self-Sacrifice for many years. Once he reaches the forest, he is reincarnated into a new body. However, sometimes, one in a million, a human will be sent to Hell. When this happens, his soul may merge with a demon's. When that happens, that demon will take on parts of the human's personality. The demon must then protect the human or if the human dies, the demon's soul will be destroyed again."
"A-Are you saying that you are me?"
"No. I'm just the evil, cunning, malicious, mad and traitorous parts of you all rolled into one. Call me Raum."
"Raum… If you are everything evil about me, why should I trust you?" asked Lelouch.
"Because if you die, I die."
"What happens if I die? Do I wander to this forest as well?"
"No. If you die here, your soul is trapped by the first demon that gets his hands on it. Then you'll be in a world of hurt for all eternity."
"This doesn't sound good…" muttered Lelouch.
"Tell me about it. I have to babysit a whiny little human in order to survive, whereas if I die, you don't. I have to keep you alive until you can find salvation."
Lelouch looked up at the demon as if a ray of hope had descended from his vile face. "Salvation…"
"The point of Hell, is that it is an obstacle course of life and death. You are here to look into your soul and save yourself from eternal punishment. I must help you with this task in order to free you."
Lelouch stood up and stared at the hunchbacked demon. "Where can I find this salvation?" he asked firmly.
The demon chuckled, a low, haughty sound.
"El Dorado."
Lelouch looked at him quizzically. "A make-believe city of gold?"
"It is what you see it to be."
"Is it a way out of Hell? A way back to Earth, or Heaven?"
"It is what you see it to be."
Lelouch gripped his head in his hands and closed his eyes. After a few seconds he opened them again.
"So, you have to help me?"
"Who said anything about that?"
"I die, you die. I'll commit suicide before I go this road alone."
"You arrogant little shit. You really expect me to believe you'll commit suicide if I don't do your bidding?"
"Yeah. I've done the suicide trick before. Ended up here. Don't expect me to have changed."
"I'd already guessed you were suicidal."
"How?"
"It must have been hell, sharing a body with your ego. There must not have been much room."
"Ha ha. Where is this El Dorado?"
"You seem awfully calm-"
"No stalling! Where is it?"
The demon chuckled its evil chuckle. "No idea," it replied.
Lelouch sat back. "Great," he said, "So where am I supposed to begin?"
"You could go exploring. That's how places are usually discovered."
"Cut the sarcasm."
"How? I am part of you. You are brimming with utterly pointless wit."
Lelouch tried to change subject from himself. "Tell me," he half-commanded, "Do you have any memories of mine?"
"No. I'd rather not anyway."
"Tell me everything you know: What were those things that attacked us? What is your likeness of me? How big is this place? Anything you know about El Dorado, you tell me-hang on. Why have I decided to trust a demon in the middle of Hell?"
Raum laughed. "In answer to your first; those things were Scavengers. They populate Hell like lice on fur. They gather in tribes or go it alone. They're low-ranked and not respected by demons capable of thought and speech. But we're in their territory, and they haven't had good meat in a long time. Expect them to pursue us.
"In answer to your second; I am every part evil and cold as you are. Or were, depending on whether you want salvation or not. All those horrible feelings and schemes are what fuel me and make me stronger. I exist because of you.
"In answer to your third; fucking massive. Hell stretches on for a long time. I don't think anyone has reached an end to this place. It might be spherical like Earth. Or it just may stretch on for eternity. Who knows? But this'll make finding El Dorado a bit more tougher.
"In answer to your fourth; you can trust me because you can trust yourself. As I am a part of you, you automatically felt a connection and instantly decided to trust me. However, I wouldn't trust you with a bone. You seem like the kind of guy who would backstab his own sister for a rock."
"Don't mention my sister," muttered Lelouch angrily.
"Oh, touched a nerve, did I?" Raum laughed, "I didn't even know you had a sister! Hah! You need to keep your mask on at all times in this world… or you'll never get out."
"Whatever."
"Unless you're still feeling sore, I can tell you where to start."
"To find El Dorado?"
"No. To survive."
"Where then?"
"Anywhere but here. We should move fast."
"You seemed capable against those guys. What's the problem?"
The demon levelled his eyes at Lelouch.
"You know, you're awfully calm for someone who's in Hell."
"I've seen worse than this place," Lelouch muttered, remembering a night in Aries Palace.
"For some reason, I believe you. Although you really haven't seen the full measure of the scum and villainy who own these places, I can see you've seen a lot. Through those eyes," Raum pointed at Lelouch's left eye with a sword-sized finger.
Lelouch subconsciously touched his eye. Suddenly, a look of panic encompassed his face. His hands went to his head, and they scrambled around his eye. He fell back onto the rocks.
"My Geass! It's not there! Where is it? Who's taken it?" he shouted.
"I suggest you calm down. The Scavengers have good ears and you just may have alerted all in the surrounding eight miles. We need to move."
Raum started to use his huge, black, scimitar-fingered hands to clamber over the rocks, leaving a shell-shocked Lelouch behind. Raum turned his head.
"You coming?"
"Where's my Geass gone?" cried Lelouch in hysterics, "How am supposed to beat these stupid demons with no fucking Geass?"
"It never matters about who has what powers: It's about who makes the best plans and who uses his balls to go through with those plans. Remember, no-one knows what you've done on Earth. Surprise them. Surprise me. Because so far, all you've proven to me is how much you can whine."
Lelouch raised his head to the demon's taunts. He stared at the huge, lumbering beast.
"El Dorado, you say?"
"Yes."
"Is it a real place?"
"The Demon Code states that all humans who end up in Hell must seek salvation at El Dorado."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"I know."
"You're really annoying, you know that?"
"Now you know how everyone around you felt. Now are you coming?"
Lelouch stared around the blasted landscape of Hell. He stared into the horizon of heat and hate. He remembered the faces of those he knew. Nunnally. Suzaku. C.C. Kallen. Shirley. So many others.
They were gone. He was alone. In Hell. With no Geass. And with a demon who may have been leading him into a trap. But there was nothing else to be done.
"Let's go."
And so Lelouch and the demon started upon the epic quest to find salvation at El Dorado.
There will be blood.