Author's Note: If one's love for a show/book/movie/comic was measured by how much work they've created for the aforementioned, then my fanfic readers would think I'd never even heard of this show, much less love it given that I've never written anything for Code Geass. Well, I do. I absolutely love this show; I rank it as probably my second favorite anime and the only reason it doesn't tie with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood for first place is because it doesn't explain anything about its magic system with the codes and geass, and it also has this annoying habit of making characters survive who really shouldn't (*cough* Viletta, Mao in episode 15, Cornelia, Guilford *cough*).

Anyway, the reason I've never written anything for Code Geass is because I know too little about the magic system to want to explore that aspect of how the codes and geass came to be and everything else has already been covered by other fanfics. I am fully down with Lelouch being dead at the end of R2, BUT I also like the idea of him being alive for C.C.'s sake because they're my fucking OTP. So, this here is my postulation of how Lelouch might have survived, given what little we do know about geass and the damn codes.

Disclaimer: I think Sunrise owns Code Geass, but it's definitely not me.

Curse of Immortality

His Majesty had overcome the final obstacle. Emperor Lelouch had defeated his elder brother, and now controlled the entire world with Damocles, focusing all the world's hatred upon himself just shy of four days ago. The most difficult phase of the Zero Requiem had been accomplished and there was nothing more to do now but wait for the world's hatred to fester and then execute the selfsame world's enemy.

It was this last part that Jeremiah Gottwald was having a hard time accepting. He was sitting in a red armchair placed near the fireplace and staring darkly into the dying embers; their red-orange glow casting the same color upon the biological half of his face and matching his mechanical parts. He was hunched over, his arms propped up by his legs, and his fingers laced together supporting his chin. On the table next to him was a half-pint of beer, but it had been sitting so long untouched that there was no more foam remaining at the top of the dark amber liquid. One didn't have to be a genius to guess that Jeremiah had been sitting in that position all evening.

Ever since returning to His Majesty's side upon his ascension to the throne, he had known this would be the outcome; that the 99th Emperor of Britanna and only son of the late Marianne would sacrifice his life for the sake of the world's future. The Emperor had informed him that if he was to serve, he must not stand in the way of the Zero Requiem. Jeremiah swore upon his life that he would not allow his loyalty to interfere with the Emperor's and Sir Kururugi's plans.

He had meant it with every fiber of his being, but it was so much easier back then when there were still so many uncertain factors at play. Back then, his duty had been to protect His Majesty and ensure his survival. It would have done no good to anyone if he was killed too early. But that phase of the plan was completed, and now His Majesty had to die. Not now, but soon, and it didn't sit right with Jeremiah. He had failed to protect Empress Marianne, then a short year later, he'd believed her two motherless children were killed in the war with Japan, and then Prince Clovis had been killed under his watch. So many failures to serve and protect the royal family rested on his shoulders, and now he would be forced to sit back and watch yet another one die.

Jeremiah's gaze narrowed and his fingers tensed a little more. He didn't want that. His desire to prevent His Majesty from being killed was born out of selfishness and he knew that Lord Lelouch would not fail to dismiss him if he stood in the way. He had rejected even his little sister for the sake of the Zero Requiem; Jeremiah meant nothing to him by comparison. He wouldn't be able to convince his lord to pretend to die nor have someone else, such as himself, pretend to be him to take his place for the blade. His lord would not meet this task halfway nor have anyone else die for him. He was too noble for that, and it only increased the despair Jeremiah felt at being incapable of preventing the younger lord's inevitable demise. Was there nothing he could do? Could he not save the world and his emperor simultaneously?

"If you continue to sit so stiffly, you'll harden into a chair yourself," a voice cut sharply through his thoughts and he snapped his head around to look at the unexpected speaker.

"My Lady C.C.!" Jeremiah exclaimed, hastily removing himself from the chair and bowing before her. "Pray tell for what reason are you here this evening?"

"It's morning now," the green-haired woman corrected, but she answered his question anyway, "Lelouch and Suzaku were up the whole night talking about the past and some fond memories they shared together from their childhoods, an unusual occurrence for Lelouch under normal circumstances anyway. They've only just now fallen asleep, so Lelouch won't miss me, and I figured I would find you brooding one evening sooner or later."

"M-Me? Brooding?" Jeremiah started as he stood up. "My lady, you're mistaken, I was just-"

"Do you think I was born yesterday, Jeremiah?" C.C. said curtly, cutting him off and Jeremiah didn't fail to note that there was a sharper edge to her voice than normal. "Don't bother; I sought you out for a reason because though Lelouch hasn't picked up on it yet, I knew that you would feel conflicted between your loyalty to serve him, but allowing him to die under your watch."

So it was out now. She was a perceptive woman indeed. Lady C.C. had noticed, but hadn't told Lelouch, so he wouldn't be cast out as long as he continued to serve, but… "I see…" Jeremiah said, his shoulders sagging and his gaze lowering to the ground. "You're here to reaffirm my loyalty to not interfere with the plan then?"

She gave a quiet 'hmm' and replied, "That would be a rather contradictory thing for me to do, given my own feelings on the matter."

Jeremiah raised his head and frowned at her in confusion. "What do you mean, my Lady?"

She swept past him without a word and sat in the armchair next to the one he had previously occupied before her arrival. The embers cast her features in a warm glow, the same color as her amber eyes. He stood there entranced for a moment, astounded at how regal she could look even while wearing a Britannian straightjacket, before remembering that she was His Majesty's lady, and it wouldn't do to stare at her like a starstruck teenager.

"I once told Suzaku that he and I are very similar in that we both wish to die and yet are unable to," C.C. said softly, "And now I tell you, Jeremiah, that you and I are similar in that we both support Lelouch and his plan whole-heartedly and yet wish that he didn't have to die to fulfill it."

Jeremiah's remaining orange eye widened and his jaw dropped in shock. He could hardly believe it. She and Sir Kururugi were the two closest people to His Majesty right now, and perhaps she'd come even closer in a different way since the fight for Damocles if he was reading the signs right. He'd assumed that she supported His Majesty without restraint, no complaints, no objections. To hear this from her… that she supported his viewpoint was…

"Why are you telling me this, my Lady?" he asked finally.

She tilted her head slightly. "I'm not quite sure, to be honest," she admitted. "Centuries of broken promises have made me uncomfortable with revealing information about myself and especially my feelings. A year ago, I wouldn't have told you anything, no matter how much you begged or threatened. It used to irritate Lelouch immensely too. But Lelouch, he…" her eyes softened and she smiled a little; just a little, but it was very beautiful all the same. "Even after everything that's happened, all the friends and family he's lost, and all the pain he's suffered since I came into his life, he still accepts me, still values me, still wants to see me smile and be happy. For the first time in forever, I feel alive. I've been more alive since I met him than in all my centuries' worth of accumulated experiences, and just as I'm beginning to explore these feelings that he's awoken within me, he's slated to be the world's sacrificial lamb and die for the sake of peace. I suppose… I just wanted a sympathetic ear to listen. You understand, don't you Jeremiah?"

The plaintive note at the end of her usually even tone nearly made him break his composure. "Indeed, my Lady. I understand completely," he said as he moved to resume his place in his armchair and leaned against its back. "My failure to protect Empress Marianne was my first of many failures, and it hung over me like a phantom. No matter how strong my loyalty or how high I rose in prestige and skill, every successive failure continued to follow me and haunt the dark recesses of my mind, plaguing my thoughts with constant reminders of what had happened; that it wasn't enough, and that it would never be enough. But then, I finally met Lord Lelouch in the Tokyo settlement, knowing his face and knowing his identity as Zero, whereupon I listened to his glorious revelation that he was in fact royalty, Marianne's own child. Then suddenly, everything became clear, and I had new reason and will. I had failed to protect Empress Marianne, but I'd been given a second chance with her son. Yet, even my sworn fealty to my lord seems to be for naught and there's nothing I can do to alter the course of action that he's decided must be taken. I'd gladly give my life to the sword and masquerade as His Majesty in his place to spare him his fate, but…"

"But he wouldn't allow it," C.C. finished. "He is prideful and stubborn to a fault and will not allow anyone else to die for him. Despite his good intentions, he has committed heinous crimes against humanity, and his death will atone for all the sins he's accumulated upon his wretched soul, or so he believes. Nothing I say can change that either."

Jeremiah's heart sunk with this declaration. If there was nothing even His Majesty's highly-regarded lady could do to change his mind, then… "So there's nothing to it then? We're to remain as conflicted parties of interest until the deathblow is struck?"

"Perhaps not. I don't know how much you learned of Geass from V.V., but I presume that your knowledge of it is rather extensive. Charles was still killed by Lelouch the evening after the F.L.E.I.J.A warhead was fired in the Tokyo settlement even though he had become immortal. What happened that night was a critical turning point for sure, but perhaps more so than I had originally believed. Tell me, Jeremiah, did V.V. tell you about the final stage of Geass?" she asked.

"No, he did not mention anything like that."

"In the final stage, a person with a strong Geass takes the place of the Code bearer that gave Geass to them, thus becoming immortal. However, for a limited period of time after a new person becomes a Code bearer, that individual will be able to take the Code from another Code bearer if it's so desired; the only condition is that the two must be physically touching for it to happen. This nearly happened to me, so I know it's true."

"What's the significance of this in relation to how it will help Lord Lelouch survive?"

"The fact that the Code can be transferred between two people that do not have a contract with each other," C.C. explained. "Lelouch's Geass was already powerful enough to kill me a while ago to become a Code bearer himself, but he couldn't bear to do so and I… couldn't force him to take my place. When we were in C's world and Charles was dying, Charles grabbed Lelouch's neck and I thought nothing of it at the time, but with a powerful Geass like Lelouch's and a dying Code bearer touching him, if only for a brief moment, it's a distinct possibility that Lelouch actually took Charles' Code without intending to. His ceremonial death may only result in the beginning of his new, immortal life."

"You mean…!" Jeremiah began as he sat up a little straighter in his seat and stared at the young woman intently, hardly daring to hope, "You mean to tell me that His Majesty will both die for the world and live to see the future he brings forth?"

"No. I said it was possible. Despite my experience, my knowledge of Geass and the Codes is still limited. I might be completely wrong and he'll die where he stands without coming back to life. Are you prepared for that?"

Despite her cautious words, Jeremiah smiled and stood up, bowing his head to the lady. "Before now, I had no choice but to accept the inevitable, but thanks to you, I can now continue to serve the young lord as diligently as I have done with the hope that he will be able to live to see the future. My faith is renewed and my loyalty resolute. Thank you, my Lady."

"I don't need to tell you twice that this secret is just between the two of us," C.C. said as she stood up from her own chair and pinned him with an imperious stare.

"No, that much is obvious. I fear what His Majesty would do if he discovered too soon that there was a chance he would become immortal upon his death. Nonetheless, I thank you all the same. However, given that there is a possibility that His Majesty may yet survive this, we must meet later to discuss the… arrangements we must make for his body after he's been slain."

"Of course, Orange," C.C. agreed with a slight smirk and left the room, leaving Jeremiah more at ease than he had been since he'd first learned of the plan.

()()()()()

C.C. did not expect that when she returned to hers and Lelouch's room, Lelouch would be awake and in the process of pulling on one of his black tank tops. He was already wearing his long black pants and socks.

"It never fails to amuse me how long and lean you are given your family tree, Lelouch," she commented with a smirk. "And should the Emperor of Britannia really let his robes lie in a crumpled mess on the floor?"

"They're obviously not going to stay there, my witch," Lelouch retorted as he finished pulling his arms through the holes and brought the material down to cover his stomach. "I at least put my clothes away, unlike you."

"And why should I bother to hang up or fold my clothes when you're so good about doing it for me?" she replied.

"You won't bait me tonight-"

"-This morning."

"Still dark out."

"How convenient."

"I take what I can," Lelouch said with a smirk that the morphed into a frown as he picked up his emperor clothes. "Where were you, C.C.? I've slept maybe an hour, but when I woke up, you weren't beside me like usual."

"And naturally, your overly analytical mind couldn't possibly rest until you learned what had become of me," C.C. said as she stepped closer to him and made to move past him, but Lelouch caught her hand and she turned to look at him expectantly.

"You will always be physically alright with enough time, C.C., but that speaks nothing for your emotional state, which has been anything but well for centuries. Are you really okay?" he asked with a soft, concerned frown.

"Yes, Lelouch, I am quite alright," she reassured him and let herself lean against his slender form. He turned her around and she smiled contentedly when he wrapped his arms around her in a gentle embrace and rested his chin atop her head. Yes, she knew the answer to Kallen's question now. She did love Lelouch. "I had just sought out Jeremiah to discuss something important with him."

"Hm? Jeremiah?" he said, his surprise evident in his tone. "Do you have any intention of telling me why?"

"For once," she conceded and smirked when she felt him do a slight double-take. Yes, she was actually going to answer one of his questions for once. "I wished to reaffirm his loyalty to you now that the plan is in its last phase."

"Because I must die," Lelouch muttered under his breath. "How did he respond?"

"Reluctant, but as loyal as he's always been. You don't have to worry about him unexpectedly betraying you; he'll play his part." She mulled over her next words and relented with a weary sigh. "Jeremiah's not the only one who feels that way."

"C.C., you…" Lelouch started and then sighed as he tightened his arms around her. "I can't seem to keep any of my promises to you. I promised I would fulfill our contract, I promised I would never hurt you, and I promised I would give you the smile you never had, but in order to recreate the world, I won't be allowed to live to see it through. I will give the gift of the future to the rest of the world, but for you who deserves it more than most, I can only give you the gift of today for the rest of my life."

"It's more than anyone else has ever given me," C.C. murmured, resting her head against his chest and listening to his steady heartbeat.

What she'd told Jeremiah was a lie. There was no distinct possibility that Lelouch had acquired Charles' code. A code bearer could release their code to another, but it simply wasn't realistic to presume that a powerful Geass user could inherit the code from a code bearer he was not contracted to. That wasn't a possibility, it was a chance; a tiny, miniscule, improbable chance. It had been so easy to lie to Jeremiah about the truth and necessary too to ensure his loyalty to the plan. The plan that would kill the one and only person she'd ever met that truly cared for her. How could she possibly smile once he was gone and she was alone all over again? Yes, she wished to live now, but what was the point if she had no one to share it with? She silently cursed his noble heart even as she loved him for it and remembered exactly why she did as her real name ghosted over her ears in a whispered breath from his lips.

()()()()()

There was nothing but absolute blackness and if he were alive, Lelouch knew he would have panicked because he couldn't sense anything either. Vision, touch, scent, the feeling of wholeness; all these sensations were entirely lost to him. He had had seen the collective unconscious of the world with his very own eyes from a living mortal perspective, but he wasn't sure if that was what became of the dead once they passed on and if they had the same viewpoint as he had, or if something else entirely happened to the dead. In short, Lelouch had never had any expectations for what he would encounter after he died, if there was any kind of afterlife at all, even. Maybe this was the afterlife; a timeless blackness that stretched on forever. Maybe he'd already spent a hundred years here and he would have smiled if he could feel his facial features make the motion. Maybe he already did.

Then something odd happened that would have made him frown. The blackness became lighter. It was nothing too dramatic, just a slight lessening of the oppressive color, but it didn't stop there. It continued to steadily lighten until it was no longer completely black but speckled everywhere with minute hints of color. He couldn't quite make them out, but there seemed to be traces of red and orange and violet decorating the obscure blackness with a possible splash of white off to his left. So focused was he on trying to make out the colors before him that he almost didn't notice the feeling of wholeness returning to him. It was slow, but he felt less like a disembodied specter and more like a human being with form and substance.

That wasn't all; he could feel something too! Something soft was beneath him from the back of his feet to his head. He was lying down, but why? How? On what? And why had he felt no sensation initially? Was it simply a part of the dying process? Perplexing. It was made all the more perplexing when his feeling of touch returned in full, and he felt as physically attuned with himself and his surroundings as he had been when he was alive, save his vision which he quickly deduced was because his eyes were closed and the colors he could barely see were being cast by a nearby light source. So the dead experienced even that aspect of living? How curious. Lelouch slowly opened his eyes, expecting anything from the fiery pits of Hell to a gloomy Underworld, a swarming mass of faceless souls, or even Jupiter.

He did not expect, and never did expect, for the first thing he saw in death to be C.C.

"No, that's impossible," he breathed, refusing to believe his eyes because what he was seeing could not be true. "She can't be- Not both of us at the same time. I died before her and unless- No, I didn't take her code, I couldn't, she didn't die, so why's she-? But the alternative-?"

"Lelouch," she said softly and he fell silent. He tried to read her expression and her tone, but her features were carefully guarded. That did not bode well. "I am not dead, and you…" her mouth thinned slightly before continuing, "You are now only dead on paper."

Lelouch opened his mouth and then closed it. Dead on… paper? Then… then that meant he was… He narrowed his eyes and stared intently up at C.C. "Why am I alive?" he said coldly. He was not meant to have survived. The very fact that he was already threatened to destroy the beginnings of the world peace he'd given his life to bring about. And yet, here he was, and he knew it has something to do with Geass and the codes.

"By an unexpected fluke, it seems," C.C. replied. "When humanity rejected Charles, it killed him even though he was an immortal with a code. Usually, an immortal can only be killed if they've made a contract with a person whose Geass has become very potent. You know from your own experience that an immortal can also be killed by another immortal taking their code with physical contact. It's my guess that a combination of these two events is what caused you – a powerful Geass user – to take in Charles' code – an immortal you did not make a contract with – upon contact as he was dying. However, the code does not activate until you die for the first time."

"Meaning that none of us would have known that I was immortal until today," Lelouch finished bitterly as he sat up and purposefully turned away from her, noting that he had been lying on a bed and he didn't recognize the room they were in. "Who else knows?"

"Only Jeremiah," she answered.

"Jere- I see. It was that time then," he said in realization.

"Yes," she said with a nod, "I told him for the sake of keeping him loyal to you. I confess I let him believe it was a more likely outcome than the reality of the situation."

"And yet, despite the odds against me and my careful planning, I'm still here," Lelouch said with a sigh and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. "All the sins I've committed that my death was supposed to atone for… all the blood I've shed… not even death can grant me respite from this burden now."

"Now you know how Suzaku feels." Lelouch blinked once and brought his gaze back down to look at her. C.C.'s amber eyes were sharp and, though difficult to tell, subtly angry. He could feel her quiet anger pulsing through her lithe frame. "For you who've committed heinous crimes against humanity and brought the whole world's hatred upon your shoulders, death is not a form of atonement, but a means of escape. What right have you to shirk the burden of your sins through death? The only means of atonement left to you is to take full responsibility for your actions and to help rebuild the peaceful world you brought to life. This is your solemn duty to carry on living with your grievous sins and it's the price you have to pay for the evil you've committed. This is your eternal penance."

Lelouch continued to stare at her in silence for a few minutes before he lowered his violet eyes to his hands resting in his lap. "So it seems… that this is how I am forced to bear my lot in life… Constantly, endlessly striving to create a better future. Yes. Perhaps, if there is a god that this is a more fitting punishment than any literal Hell I could have been subjected to." He gave a weak half-smile. "Heh, and yet… even for me, such a god must have at least an ounce of mercy. I can now keep my promise to you, C.C."

Just like that, the anger was suddenly gone from her features and replaced with a soft smile and a loving look in her eyes. Still smiling himself, he extended a hand out to her, and she took it, allowing herself to be drawn in until she was sitting right beside him. Lelouch caught her chin with his free hand and rested his forehead against hers.

"I now have all of eternity to give you that smile," he murmured and kissed her softly.

It was not the first time he'd ever initiated a kiss with her, and it was certainly not the last, but it was beautiful, splendid warmth all the same. A mere hint of the many long years to come.

And now I've written for my Code Geass OTP. I can cross that off my to-do list now! Somebody else can write what Lelouch and C.C. will now do with the rest of their immortal lives. :P

Ironically enough, this story was written a while ago, back in 2014 or something and I only found it after going through my collection of unfinished fics. I know I had originally intended to write more (though I can't for the life of me remember what), and when I read this earlier this week, I found that it read like a completed oneshot and didn't need more. I just cleaned it up a little and tried to hack off some of my extra unnecessary writing (I discovered that's a problem I have, so that's a new thing I'm working to improve on). I surprisingly didn't feel the need to add anything to it despite it being several years old, so I'm impressed that it's held up so well.