AN: My first fanfic! Hmm...I always wanted to read a story like this but no one ever finished the story. So, I've decided to write one myself! I'm not sure how this will turn out, so any help is appreciated!

Sorry about the scene changes and things. It won't save any of the scene changes that I try. Any suggestions? For now you'll have to deal with these '/' things.

Disclaimer: Code Geass is not and will never be mine. Unfortunately.

/

A small girl no older than eight stood frozen at the top of the stairs of the once beautiful Ares Imperial Villa. Her eyes were wide as they stared down at the bleeding form of her mother and her shaking older brother under her. Her beloved mother and brother had been shot by a bunch of terrorists in the Ares Palace, a place no terrorists should have been able to get into. The palace was one of the most heavily guarded areas in all of Britannia.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see her older brother, Schneizel el Britannia looking down at her sadly. "Big Brother Schneizel?" the sight of her brother brought the tears that she had tried to not let out fall freely down her cheeks. Her chest felt tight as she tried to speak. "M-mother…what happened to Mother?" Schneizel said nothing as he silently walked past her to where her mother and brother lay. Royals were already lifting her mother and starting to take her away. "Wait!" Nunnally attempted to run towards them, towards her beloved mother and brother.

She could feel her foot slip and felt the cold, unforgiving stairs knock the breath out from her. She coughed as she cried, and only cried harder when she felt strong arms lift her up and pull her into a warm hug. "B-Big Sister Cornelia?" she looked up to see her half-sister crying as well. Nunnally looked up at her, tugging on the woman's arm.

"What happened to mother Big Sister Cornelia?" she asked. Cornelia didn't answer as she squeezed the young girl closer to her. "We have to help her!" She turned to Clovis who was slowly walking to them behind Cornelia. "Big Brother Clovis! We have to help Mother!"

"Nunnally…Lady Marianne…she-"

At the pitiful looks of her siblings and the guards taking away her mother's body, the truth finally occurred to the small girl. Her eyes widened as she again tried to break free from her half-sister. "No! Mother can't…! No…" she fell limp in Cornelia's arms as she sobbed loudly, gripping her sleeve tightly between her tiny fingers. She glanced up to see Schneizel gently lift up her unconscious brother and have him escorted to the medical bay.

"Did you catch the terrorists?" she could hear Schneizel ask the head of the guards.

"Forgive me Your Highness. There were no traces that we could see. It was as if they left without a trace." Schneizel's face was blank, and it scared Nunnally.

"Keep looking. Send guards to watch over Lelouch. I…" his voice trailed off as he turned to Cornelia who still held Nunnally in her arms. The youngest princess looked up as Schneizel gently held a hand out to her. With upmost care, he lifted her in his arms and quietly took her back to her room, passing the few nobles and butlers that came late to see what had happened before running off quickly at the sight of the blood covered Schneizel and trembling Nunnally.

/

Nunnally woke with a start to quickly cover her eyes from the bright sun flooding her room with light. Memories of what happened flooded her mind and new tears sprang to her eyes. Her mother…her beloved mother had been killed and Lelouch…she didn't want to think of what happened to him. She glanced around the room and noticed that there was nobody. It was empty save for her. She glanced at the wooden chair that was next to her bed that Lelouch had sat in a few days before when she had a slight fever. He had always been the protective big brother, always watching over her. She jumped off her bed and ran to the door with the resolve to see to her brother.

She froze as her blood boiled. People were walking around as if nothing happened. Nobles stood together and gossiped, sometimes laughing. Guards walked around nonchalantly as if what had occurred never happened. None of her siblings that had seemed so upset were in sight. What angered her the most was that no one seemed to care that her mother had just been killed or that her brother was injured. Her mind set, she held her chin up high as she walked past the nobles, not giving them a second glance as they hurriedly tried to bow to her. She walked past the guards, disregarding their attempts at speaking with her.

She was able to find the medical bay well enough when she began to hear more whispers with her brother's name in them. She looked around to see doctors rushing around. There was a frantic feel in the air. She quickly ran as fast as her small feet could carry her as she ran inside. "Your Highness," a friendly looking doctor walked up to her, absolutely calm. Biting her lip, she gave him the hardest glare she could which only resulted in him giving her a sympathetic smile.

No! I don't want your sympathy! She thought bitterly.

"Would you like to see your brother?" he spoke in a sweet tone, as if regarding her merely as a small child. Which she was, but not anymore. Death had changed her, stripped the childish innocence she once had to be replaced by the corrupted maturity that the incident had brought. She raised her head until her eyes met his, a scowl marring her face.

"Let me see him." The doctor looked surprised for a second before smiling at her again and leading her into a small hallway. One wall was made entirely of glass and on the other side of that glass was her brother. Her chest tightened at the ghastly sight of her brother. The proud, clever brother that she had known now lay motionless, his form horribly fragile. His skin was pale with multiple wires stuck under his skin, watching every movement his chest makes in attempts to breathe. His legs were heavily bandaged, as well as his eyes. From where she stood, she could see he was in pain. She looked away.

But there was one thing that she noticed more than all that had happened. Her father wasn't here. Albeit that he was Emperor, her mother, his wife, had just been assassinated and his son had been injured. But not once had he come to visit his brother or try to investigate the murder.

The next few days passed by painfully slow. Her mother's funeral finally arrived and she was to be buried with a normal funeral at the royal cemetery placed behind the palace. Dressed in her finest clothes that she could to mourn for her mother, she followed the small carriage that held her mother's remains in a car. She noticed with great disdain that there was absolutely nobody here. It was worse than a burial for a low class noble who would have at least family here. But this was the Empress who was being buried! She was the highest, most revered of royalty yet nobody was here to mourn for the painful death that had ended her life. Not even her father had tried to attend. She watched as the burial site came into view, with only four men waiting to put her mother into the ground. Nobody was there for the family.

"Lady Nunnally…" she turned her head to see her driver standing at the door waiting for her to exit. She ignored his outstretched hand as she climbed out of the car on her own. She stepped away when he attempted to lead her to her mother's remains and stubbornly walked there herself. She watched with hard eyes as the coffin holding her mother was raised and put onto the ground in front of the hole where she would be buried. She lowered her head so that no one would see the tears that she desperately tried to hide.

But she wasn't going to cry anymore. She had seen what happened with only crying. The death of her mother had opened her eyes and showed her the true face of the meaning of royalty. The beautiful gardens and friendly nobles were all lies, covering for the real meaning behind them. The throne. They all wanted the throne, enough to fight each other for it. She had known that her mother was royalty of common birth and that many people despised her for it. She knew that it was a good enough reason to try and get rid of the Empress…her fists clenched.

If only she was stronger…If only! She could have saved her mother and she could have saved Lelouch. Lelouch! The thought of her brother brought another wave of sorrow. Because of his injuries, he wasn't able to attend. She snapped out of her reverie when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see her mother's remains placed into the ground. She stepped forward and watched as her mother slowly disappeared from her vision. The four men that had been waiting silently covered her with dirt until the late Empress Marianne was buried.

"Let's go Lady Nunnally," her driver spoke to her softly. Nunnally hesitated as she glanced around, hoping to see somebody coming to see her mother. But she was disappointed. Nobody had come and the men that had been there earlier had disappeared. She was alone.

Ignoring the man behind her, she knelt over the freshly turned dirt and brushed her fingers over the tombstone. Marianne Lamperouge. Her fingers pulled into a fist as her hand fell to the ground. They didn't even put the name that she had earned, Marianne vi Britannia; stripping her to her maiden name. It was as if she was never the Empress, as if she had never mattered. Why hadn't her father done anything? He was the Emperor! He could have done something! He could have given her a proper funeral, kept her name, kept her from this disgrace!

She was only half aware as she was gently pulled away and was only aware of her surroundings when she was placed back in her room. She growled to herself. Her mind was made up. She would speak to the Emperor. She would call an audience and figure out why he hadn't done anything.

/

AN: So, how was it? Should I continue? I for one was not really happy with how this turned out but the next chapter shouldn't be as boring.

I also made Lelouch and Nunnally only two years apart instead of four because it would be easier later on when she's taking care of him.