An Edge of Soul

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.

Author Notes: This is the 2nd Fan fiction request I got and the idea is given by Terlander. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. Thank you.

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

Lelouch looked at the bright expanse of sky that was decorated by stars. If he had been back in the homeland, he would've been star-gazing with Nunally, his mother and Euphie. But as fate would have it, he wasn't in Aries Villa. He glanced at the boy beside him. Brown curls framing a chubby face with bright green eyes, Suzaku Kururugi was his brother in all but blood.

It was true that they had been bitter in each others company when they had first met but soon warmed up to each other with Nunnally's help.

Thinking about his sister, he turned towards the girl on his other side. Her eyes were closed and he knew that she couldn't see the stars but the smile on her face expressed her feelings at how happy she was to just be with them.

"Isn't this beautiful?" He smiled at the wonder in the Japanese boys voice and closed his eyes, the wind blowing his hair around his face.

"The stars are same everywhere isn't it?" Nunnally piped up.

"Of course they are. The stars are gases-" Lelouch started when he felt a hand clasp over his mouth. His muffled protests were met with a giggle from Nunally and a tsk-ing noise from Suzaku.

"I meant that they give hope to people everywhere." Nunnally clarified as Lelouch tried to remove Suzaku's hand from his mouth.

"Oh." Lelouch muttered finally succeeding in freeing his mouth.

"I think everyone is same. We all are made of bones and flesh and we all care about the people we love." Suzaku grinned, sitting up to look at them.

"You didn't seem to think so when you punched me when I first came here." Lelouch shot back, no anger in his voice. But Suzaku's face colored and he looked down. "You were being arrogant." He tried to defend his actions though there was no real power behind his words.

"Well, there are different ways of making friends." Nunnally cut in before Lelouch could say anything.

Glancing at each other, Lelouch and Suzaku smiled. "Of course. Friends will remain forever, won't they?" Suzaku declared causing Lelouch to chuckle and Nunnally to giggle.

Little did they know that there are a few things that cannot last forever.

ATB 2010

Lelouch glanced at the various dead bodies that littered the fields around them. He felt bile rise up in his throat at the sight of decapitated bodies, and the various body parts spread all over the field. But he kept his mouth tightly shut. He didn't want Nunnally to know what was happening. She clutched his shoulders tightly and he struggled with her weight.

"Where are we, Brother? It smells foul." Nunnally's innocent question and observation made Lelouch falter but he continued on. There was no way he could let Nunnally know the truth. She had seen enough of death and bloodshed when their mother had been killed. He didn't want her to suffer even more.

"We are just passing by a garbage dump. Right, Suzaku?" Lelouch stopped when he didn't hear anything from his friend. Turning back, his eyes softened when he saw Suzaku standing a few feet back, tears flowing down his face. He jogged back to his friend. Nunnally wiped the tears off Suzaku's face. Even though Lelouch couldn't see her face, he could imagine the warm smile that was there and he sighed in relief when Suzaku smiled back.

"Let's go." He turned around and continued walking towards their destination.

"Let me hold Nunnally." Suzaku offered.

"No, it's fine." Nunnally was his responsibility and he wasn't going to push her off to anyone.

"Lelouch, Nunnally is like my little sister too. Please. And then there's the fact that I am more physically fit than you." Lelouch pouted a bit at that slight jibe but in the end he relented and transferred Nunnally to Suzaku's back. He felt a small smile grace his features when he saw how carefully Suzaku handled Nunnally. For now, they were a family.

They continued on.

They came upon a small village. Or what was left of it anyway. The houses were all broken into and most of them were missing their roofs or walls. There were only a few people sitting on the edge of the street with their heads in their hands as if trying to hide their eyes from the destruction around them. Suzaku and Lelouch exchanged a glance. The guest house they had to go to was a few more kilometers from here. It would be better for them if they rested here for a while.

Sitting against a tree stump, Suzaku set Nunnally down gently and sat side of her. Lelouch, still standing, looked at them. Suzaku, noticing that Lelouch was still standing, called out,"Hey Lelouch. Come and sit for a while."

Lelouch hesitated before saying,"I will just go and look around." Before Suzaku could protest Lelouch continued,"I will just see if there are any Britannian soldiers around. I will be back within a few minutes so you take care of Nunnally." Suzaku pursed his lips but nodded. He knew that Lelouch would feel better if he was sure that there was no one there who could recognize him and Nunnally.

Lelouch smiled thankfully and made his way towards the center of the town. The condition seemed to be worsening the more inside he went. There were no sign of the greenery that was abundant in Japan and all that was left of the trees were the stumps. The buildings were in an even more worse condition and Lelouch was sure that they had used knightmares to blast apart many of them. The thought made Lelouch sick to the stomach. He couldn't understand why people had to be so violent.

Before he could continue his search further, he heard a loud siren. He froze.

Turning back to the way he came from, he felt his heart nearly stop at the sight of a group of bulky knightmare frames that was making their way towards the village.

"Nunnally and Suzaku." He thought with growing horror. They were there on the path of the Knightmare frames and they could be trampled. People around him had started to run around in panic.

"Hey boy! Get away from here as soon as you can." An old woman warned in Japanese before fleeing.

He just stood in shock fora few moments before his survival instincts kicked into action. By now the Knightmare frames were too close for him to run away so he did the only thing possible. He ran into a building that was still standing and hid himself.

'If I hide for sometime, they will leave and I can go and find Nunnally and Suzaku.' He thought.

But, life always had an habit of ruining plans.

"Looks like there is nothing left of this town." Alpha 101 commented, sitting in his cramped knightmare cockpit.

"That is true. So who shall do the honors this time?" Alpha 102 asked leaning back against his seat.

"Since you all have already done it at least once, I think its my turn now." Alpha 106 declared.

His fellow comrades laughed at his eagerness. "Then go ahead." Alpha 101 turned his huge bulky knightmare frame and made his way out of the village. Many people were still hiding in the houses and all the soldiers knew that very well. All the more reason for destroying this pitiful excuse of a village. Britannians were superior than those pathetic fools who called themselves Japanese and what better way to show them than through this.

Alpha 106 grinned in the cockpit and raised an arm. On it was mounted a Carbon Fusion Launcher that could release a high pressure gas that when reacted with oxygen caught fire and caused an explosive reaction, blasting everything in its path. The last thing Lelouch remembered was the huge Launcher directed towards the building he was in and a huge stream of fiery explosions from above him before he lost conscious.

'Nunnally... Suzaku...'

Every part of his body felt like it had been run over by a Knightmare Frame. His head was hurting so bad that he could barely open his eyes. But, at the thought of Nunnally and Suzaku he summoned enough energy to crack his eyes open.

'It's so bright...' Lelouch thought as he closed his eyes again.

"Lelouch..." If it had been Nunnally calling for him he would've responded without any hesitation but it was an unrecognizable voice. So he lay there, in between the ruble, trying to ignore the pain in his body.

"Lelouch..." He just closed his eyes tighter and ignored the voice.

Then everything faded away.

"Lelouch are you awake?" It felt like the voice was coming from the end of a tunnel.

'I feel a bit better than before...' Lelouch thought as he tried to open his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the softness of the ground he was lying on. Moving his hand on the 'ground' he realized that it wasn't any land but a mattress.

This forced him to open his eyes. It wasn't advisable to be off guard in an alien place.

It took some time for reality to set in. The fireplace and fully furnished room made him to frown. The room was furnished in a typical Britannian style. But he couldn't be in Britannia. There was no way he would have reached the mainland from Japan so quickly.

But then, who knew for how long had he been unconscious?

His sense of time was badly off mark and he couldn't see any kind of clocks in the room. The tastefully bright sofas and polished wooden table were placed near the fireplace. The bed he was lying on was huge.

"Glad to see you are awake."

Lelouch snapped his head to the side, immediately regretting the action when he felt pain shoot through his spine.

It wasn't surprising that he hadn't noticed the other occupant in his first inspection. The other boy who looked even younger than Lelouch, stood by the side of the bed, his head barely reaching over the top.

"Who are you?" Lelouch voice was scratchy due to dryness. He clutched his throat and coughed.

"Drink some water." A glass of water was pushed in his hand and he drank it without any complaints.

He felt his head clear a bit.

"Who are you?" He asked again, his voice no longer scratchy yet still harsh. He wanted to find out if Nunnally was still alive. He wanted to find both of them.

The child just smiled. "I am VV, your uncle."

"Uncle?" Lelouch stared in shock. The shock soon turned into disbelief. "I don't have any uncles. Definitely not one as small as you."

VV, instead of taking offense, just chuckled. "Just like Charles."

Lelouch hands immediately tightened their grip on the blanket at his father's name. "I am nothing like him." He didn't even want to be associated with that man. The man who had abandoned him and Nunnally without any second thoughts and then proceeded to declare war on the same country they were exiled to.

"You are more like him than you think." Before Lelouch could protest anymore, VV turned towards the door. "Can you walk?"

Lelouch frowned. He didn't like the sudden change in the conversation. Nevertheless, he decided to try using his limbs. His hands seemed to be working properly even though they were covered with bandages. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and grimaced at the pain.

He could see VV observing him but he ignored the child. Gingerly stepping down,he stumbled a bit before holding on to the bed. His legs felt like jelly and he didn't think it would be able to support his weight.

"Are you alright?" But he would be rather walk on hot coals than admit it to the weird boy.

"Yes." He slowly left the bed and tried to stand on his own. And nearly fell. Before he could meet the ground, a pair of surprisingly strong arms held him steady. He jerked away reflexively but the arms held him in place.

"You aren't completely healed to stand by yourself." When that didn't seem to have any effect on Lelouch, VV sighed and said,"You are being as stubborn as your father." Almost immediately, Lelouch stopped struggling.

VV steadied Lelouch with his arms around Lelouch's waist. He reached to Lelouch shoulder and that was all he could do to steady his nephew.

"Let's go." VV began guiding Lelouch to the doors. They had along way to go and if their pace was as slow as this it would be best to start as soon as they could.

"Where are you taking me?" Lelouch asked suspiciously even though he didn't struggle against VV's grip.

"To meet someone." It was clear that VV didn't want to reveal who they were going to meet.

As soon as they entered the hallway, Lelouch looked around trying to figure out where they were. It was a completely foreign hallway. The moon shined brilliantly through one of the big windows- like the window's through which the bullets at Aries Villa had entered- and gave an eerie feeling to the dark hallway. Lelouch unconsciously huddled closer to his support and he looked at the various paintings lining the hallway walls.

The hallway seemed to be endless as they continued to walk. No one talked or even gave any indication of being aware of each other. Both were lost in their own thoughts and fears.

After what seemed like a eternity, they reached a big door with a huge knocker. VV adjusted Lelouch's weight and lifted his hand to knock on the door ignoring the knocker. After 3 sharp knocks there was a moment of silence before it was broken by a booming voice.

"Enter."

Th first thing Lelouch thought when he entered the room was that he was in the throne room. Everything was similar to the it. But he knew that it couldn't be because he hadn't recognized the hallway he had walked through. This was a replica of the original room.

Even the intimidating presence of his father was the same as when he had stood in front of him all those months back to demand an explanation for his mothers death. But this time there was no adrenaline flowing through his veins and he was tired. So he stood quietly in front of his father, his pride forcing him to hold his head high.

"Lelouch vi Britannia, the exiled prince." Lelouch clenched his fists and leaned away from VV. He didn't want to seem dependent in any way. Charles noticed the slight shift.

"VV, you may go." VV opened his mouth to seemingly protest but with another look from Charles he sighed and gently helped Lelouch to stand by himself before leaving the room. Lelouch felt the hatred for the man in front of him grow. But he still kept his mouth shut. He knew that it was dangerous to talk back to the Emperor and it could lead to disastrous consequences like last time. That prompted him to think about Nunnally and he started to wonder how she was.

"You have successfully survived a war zone with minimal help. Perhaps you aren't as weak as I thought you were." Charles had a small smile on his face and Lelouch was flabbergasted. Though the smile was far from happy and was more calculating, Lelouch had never seen his father smile with anything other than cruelty. That was enough to put him on guard.

"I want to go back." The thought of Nunnally had bought back his will to fight and helped him to stand straight despite the pain in his legs and back.

Charles raised an eyebrow. "Back? To Area 11?"

"A- area 11?"

"Japan had surrendered to Britannia 2 days back and is now called as Area 11." Charles explained without any concern.

"But then what about Nunnally?" Lelouch shouted hysterically. Nunnally had to be alive, she had to be. She had Suzaku to protect her and Lelouch knew that Suzaku would do anything to keep her safe. But then, how much could Suzaku do? He too was just a 10 year old boy like Lelouch and he stood no chance against the huge Knightmare Frames.

"Dis you think that your crippled sister would survive the war zone?" Charles asked, unworried about his choice of words.

"But-but..." Lelouch was shaking and he fell to his knees, his legs no longer able to support his weight.

"She is dead." The words were blunt and it cut through Lelouch sharply. For a few moments there was complete silence.

"No." Charles, who had started to look bored, stared at his son. "We can't say for sure that she is dead. As long as there is some hope that she is alive, I am ready to keep searching for her until I die." Lelouch's passionate voice resonated around the chamber. Lelouch bright eyes stared into Charles cold ones.

"Then you leave me no choice." Lelouch blinked and felt his automatic survival instinct kick in as he tried to stand up. Something told him that it would be the best for him if he escaped this room as soon as he could. But he was still weak and not yet healed so he just collapsed back to his knees when he tried to stand up.

He looked at his father, unnerved by the sudden silence from the man. He nearly gasped in surprise when he noticed his father's eyes gleaming, some kind of symbol making his eyes look red.

"You will believe that your sister, Nunnally vi Britannia is dead. You will forget about this meeting with me."

Lelouch clutched his head when he felt the his mind tampered with.

Suddenly, the image of Nunnally being crushed by a Knightmare Frame enveloped his thoughts. He could see the expression of horror on her face as he tried to rush to save her. But, he soon found himself buried under a lot of rocks. The last thing he remembered seeing was Nunnally tear stained face as the Knightmare Frame came upon her.

"Nunnally!" He screamed as he sat up, shivering and crying.

He was in a comfortable bed with bandages around his forehead and hands. He could also feel the rough texture of the bandages around his legs too. But he couldn't give much attention to it.

"So you are awake." A quiet voice remarked from beside him. He turned to see a barely old enough boy sitting on a chair beside his bed.

"Where is Nunnally? Where is my sister?" He didn't care about anything else.

A sympathetic look came on the boys face. "Don't you remember what happened?" He asked gently.

"I-I..." Lelouch remembered the dream he had. "You mean that it wasn't a dream. Nunnally being crus..." Lelouch stopped, unable to complete his sentence. His face had lost all its colour as he slowly started to remember what had actually happened. Nunnally was with Suzaku when Lelouch decided to go to check out the town. As soon as he heard rumbling, Lelouch turned back only to see a huge Frame bearing down in Nunnally. He couldn't see Suzaku anywhere. He couldn't believe that Suzaku would leave Nunnally on her own but he was no where to be seen.

Lelouch shook his head as he wrapped his hands around his body. He didn't want to believe that Nunnally- that his beloved sister was no more. But he had seen her... and there was nothing he could do now. He wasn't able to keep her safe like he had promised. Suddenly another thought came to his mind. 'What about Suzaku?' Lelouch tried to remember what happened to his friend but he couldn't remember anything. The last thing he remembered was leaving his friend with Nunnally and the next thing he knew Nunnally was...

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright." The other boy's smooth voice broke in. Lelouch froze before snapping his head towards the boy, glaring with all his might. "What do you mean by everything will be alright? Nunnally is dead! I failed to protect her, to keep her safe. She trusted me and I.. I..." Lelouch took another shuddering breath. Then he realized that he didn't know who the boy sitting by him was.

"Who are you?" He asked, inching back. "Where am I?" He asked, looking around. He felt like he had been in this room before though he had never seen it before. The brightly colored sofas near the fireplace along with polished wooden tables emitted a sense of deja vu but he wasn't able to place why. So he turned his attention back on VV.

"I am... VV." The child, VV introduced itself. "I know you are hurt... that you want to be with your sister." Lelouch pursed his lips and glared at VV. "If you help me, I can reunite you with your sister."

Lelouch froze, staring at VV with wide eyes. "But- but isn't Nunnally dead? Or are you going to kill me?" Lelouch's glare returned full force. "Is that what you mean by helping me reunite with her?"

VV chuckling didn't help alleviate Lelouch suspicions. "No. You won't be much use to me dead. Your sister is dead but you don't need to die to be reunited with her." VV put forward his hand. "Accept my contract and help me with my project and you can meet your sister whenever you want." Lelouch stared at the hand that was offered to him.

"What kind of contract?" Lelouch asked.

"One that will benefit both of us."

Lelouch weighed his options in his head. He had to accept an unspecified contract in return for being with his sister once more. It was obvious that VV was not ready to reveal more than it was necessary about the contract. It made Lelouch wary but the thought of meeting Nunnally again removed all hesitations from his mind. Now, he could only think about his dear sister and her warm smile.

He took the hand that was offered. "I accept." And he was sucked into a paradox.

Various random images flashed through his mind as Lelouch tried to make sense of what was happening.

"If I grant you power, could you use it accordingly? I propose a deal—in exchange for this power, you must agree to help me fulfill my dream. Accept this contract, and you accept its conditions. While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other: a different providence, a different time, a different life. The power will help you achieve whatever you want. Do you accept it?"

"I accept." Lelouch closed his eyes as he felt himself being filled with something.

He opened his eyes and looked around. Though everything seemed the same he felt different.

"Sir, I bought breakfast." A maid entered the room. Lelouch felt his left eye burn and he felt like something had activated.

'I wonder who this little boy is. He seems familiar. He is injured too. Is he the son of some noble?'

"Leave it on the table." VV ordered.

The maid bowed respectfully and proceeded to keep breakfast on the table. 'It still feels funny to be taking orders from a 8 year old boy. We don't even know who is he. His Majesty has given him this house but who could he be? An illegal child of His Majesty?'

Lelouch could hear the thoughts even after the maid had left the room. He felt the burn in his eyes die down and the flow of thoughts suddenly shut off. He blinked in surprise and looked at VV.

"I was able to hear her thoughts." He could hear the awe in his voice. "How?"

"You now have the Geass, the Power of the Kings." VV smiled. "And it is going to help you us achieve our dream."

"Our dream?"

"The Ragnarok connection."

A/N: Another fan fiction request is started. I hope you all enjoyed reading this. Review your suggestions.