Code Geass: Nunnally's Wish

By: The Fanfic Stealer

Summary: Years after Zero's Requiem, Nunnally makes a desperate deal with a mysterious entity. As a result, Lelouch the Demon Emperor wakes up in Shinjuku, back when it all began... except, before he can even start making his own changes, he finds that things are already different, like the fact that the soldier that he encounters ISN'T Suzaku, or the fact that Nunnally isn't blind, or the fact that instead of Sayoko, Nunnally's maid is... wait... WHO? Lelouch/Harem, Harry/Harem, Fem!Suzaku, Fem!Rolo

A/N: Another work that I will probably never update, or, if I do, will be updated sparingly. My foray into the world of Code Geass, after going on a Code Geass fanfiction kick. This is a "Lelouch Goes Back In Time" fic, with a twist. Inspired by various works, especially the works of kyugan (update Lelouch of the Second Chance, damn it!), and maverick9871's Shinigami Servant (Yes, THAT one). If anyone wants to take this fic over, be my guest.

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Prologue: The Wish of the Pure-Hearted Empress

She didn't know why she was still doing it.

The Legend of the Thousand Paper Cranes was a pleasant thought to be sure- a wish in exchange for folding a thousand paper cranes, a wish she could use to fix everything that had gone wrong- but, in the end, it was just that, a legend, a superstition... ultimately useless. She'd actually learned that the hard way when she finished her first thousand paper cranes mere weeks after Lelouch's murder in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, the legend was true, that her wish would be granted, that she would close her eyes, open them, and everything would be as it was before her life had fallen apart- before her brother donned the mask of Zero, before he had been forced to kill Euphie, before Shirley had been gunned down, before Zero's Requiem. Only she had received nothing, not even a sense of accomplishment.

Yet, despite all this, she still found herself sitting at her desk night after night, folding paper crane after crane until birdsong drifted through her window to herald the coming of the morn and the beginning of her duties as the Empress of an empire that had taken so much from her. Since the first thousand cranes had been completed, she had maybe completed close on to a million more, each one folded with the same meticulous care as the previous, each one an embodiment of a hope that had died long ago.

Perhaps somewhere, deep down, that hope hadn't completely died? Perhaps something was telling her to keep her hopes up, that maybe, if she made enough, she would still get her wish?

Yeah, right.

It was more likely that this was just a sign that she should seek psychological help- an obsessive-compulsive need to do something so completely useless could not be a good sign of her mental stability.

Suddenly, just as she completed the last crease of her most recent crane, she found herself struck with an intense sense of fatigue, to the point that just keeping her eyes open was becoming a chore, much less the tedious process of getting to her bed. Her vision blurred, and before she knew it, she was resting her head on her arms, paying her recently completed crane no mind. Keeping her eyes open was quickly becoming impossible, and her last thought before the darkness took her was that her arms had never been so comfortable.

She closed her eyes.

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She opened her eyes, and was greeted with... nothing. There was no light, no darkness, no up, no down... a complete, perfect void, something that she was sure should have driven her completely mad trying to comprehend it.

"Pure-Hearted Empress, What Is Thy Wish?"

She spun around to the source of the voice- a deep, rumbling roar that practically dripped with power beyond anything she had ever encountered- and saw before her a figure cloaked in a shimmering silver cloak. Nothing could be seen but the lower half of the figure's face, his lips curved up in a warm smile.

"I Ask Again, Pure-Hearted Empress, What Is Thy Wish?"

"What do you mean?" she asked. Despite the situation, she found herself oddly calm- this figure, though she was sure she had never met him before in her life, felt familiar, and made her feel safe in a way only her brother and Euphie had ever been able to.

"You Have Completed The Trial Of A Thousand Thousand Cranes, Milady. For Your Pure Heart, And Your Determination, It Has Been Decided That You Shall Be Rewarded With One Wish. Now, What Is Thy Wish?"

What? It worked? The legend actually worked? All those paper cranes weren't a waste after all?

More importantly, could this be her chance?

"I..." She began, but trailed off, doubts suddenly clouding her mind- no way this could be real, right? This had to be something her exhausted mind dreamed up, and she was, even now, sleeping at her desk, back in her room at the rebuilt Imperial Palace... right?

But what if this was it? Her one and only chance to have everyone she loved back? Could she really bring herself to turn her back on it, no matter how unlikely it was?

A part of her didn't want to continue this, wanted to just close her eyes and will this dream to end. She didn't think she could take the disappointment if this proved to be just a dream, didn't think she could survive it.

But another part of her, the part that kept her folding those paper cranes, wanted very much to take this chance and run- as much as it would destroy her to find that this wasn't real, could she live with herself forever wondering if she had tossed away her one and only chance to have her loved ones back? Would she be able to live with the "what if"'s?

Was there even a point in wondering? After years of living with the knowledge that the last words she had exchanged with Lelouch before the completion of Zero's Requiem were those of hatred, years of wondering if her apology at the very end had been too late... she knew that her hold on her sanity was frayed to the breaking point, and either choice could potentially push her over the brink. She was damned both ways, she realized, so no, there was no point in wondering.

So she took a deep breath (even though there was no air in that void),and figuratively leaped head-first into the abyss.

"I wish... I wish I could have a second chance!" she told the figure in the silver cloak. When the figure did not immediately reply, she continued, finding that she couldn't stop, "I wish I was never Empress! I wish none of this had ever happened! I wish I had my brother back! I wish I had Euphie, Shirley, Cornelia... I wish I had them back! I want them back! " By the end she was screaming at the figure. She was dimly aware of tears running down her cheeks, but, as she fell to her knees (despite there being no floor, or gravity, or even the concept of "down" in the void... and when had she been standing in the first place), she couldn't bring herself to care about the image she was presenting to this stranger.

"...And What Would You Give For This Wish To Be Granted, Pure-Hearted Empress?" the figure asked, his warm smile having turned into a serious frown sometime during her tirade.

This answer was much faster in coming then her previous one. "Anything! Whatever it is you want, sir, and if it is in my power to grant it, you are free to it!" she declared.

"...Even If It Is To Be Your Eternal Soul?"

"Yes." It spoke much of her state of mind that she didn't even hesitate in giving her answer.

The figure was silent for an eternal moment, before speaking once more. "...A Second Chance, So That All That Has Happened Might Be Changed For The Better. In Exchange, When All Has Been Said And Done, You Will Serve Me Until I Deem It Fit To Release You From My Services. Do You Agree To These Terms, Pure-Hearted Empress?"

"Yes!"

The figure nodded. "Then So Be It!" he declared, "Pure-Hearted Empress, YOUR WISH IS GRANTED!"

The figure's hands appeared from beneath his cloak and he clapped, unleashing a wave of light from his hands that washed over her and momentarily blinded her. When the stars in her eyes cleared, the figure was much closer to her, close enough for her to see that the clasp of his cloak had a strange emblem engraved on it: a triangle with a circle circumscribed within, the whole thing bisected with a vertical line running down the center. A hand came up and lowered the hood, and, despite her emotional turmoil at the moment, she found her cheeks involuntarily warming up in a blush at the face revealed: aristocratically handsome face, messy black hair tied in a low ponytail, and a pair of penny spectacles sitting on the bridge of his nose. The warm smile returned, now all the more brilliant by breathtakingly emerald-green eyes.

"Now that the formal stuff is out of the way..." the man said, his voice a warm, comforting baritone that sent a pleasant shiver up and down her spine. His hand came up, and she watched as one of his hands moved up to gently wipe away her tears. Her blush deepened. "Please, dry your tears," he continued, "I cannot stand it when a woman cries, especially one as beautiful as you."

"Who... who are you?" she asked, finally, somewhat embarrassed that it took her this long to ask such a basic question. He chuckled.

"My name is Harry James Potter, also called Azrael..." he replied. His hand moved up from her cheeks to her forehead, a finger extending as he reached his destination.

"...And I very much look forward to working with you."

Then he lightly tapped her forehead, and she was falling down... down... down...

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A/N: As one can see, in my barely formed plotline, one of the girls with Harry is Nunnally. Also, unlike the Harry of some of my other fics, this one embraced his inner Marauder, so he's not afraid to hit on any girl that interests him, and will help CC and Milly tease the ever-living crap out of poor, uptight Lelouch, while trying his best to get him laid by both afore mentioned girls... among others. So if you, whoever you may be, take on this fic, please keep that characterization of Harry in mind. I would greatly appreciate it.

Review!