Well, here goes the first story I've ever written. Enjoy!


Wanderer: Chapter 1
A chance encounter


a.t.b. 5th January 2019

A lone wanderer walked down the road, his world on his shoulders.

"Lelouch Vi Britannia, walker extraordinaire. Oh how far I have fallen." Lelouch mused to himself, pulling his straw hat ever so lower to shield him from the sun.

-A few months earlier-

"This is bad! Retreat! We must retreat from here!" cried Jeremiah. He really did it!

"Is that… really…" Toudou couldn't believe his eyes.

"Yes… It's Zero!" said Kallen tearfully.

And now, my comrades, the path to peace is forged; it is time for me to disappear. Lelouch was watching his own "execution" from his newly rented room, about to begin his new life in anonymity. From the start, he had planned to disappear without a trace. How could he bear to leave his friends, the relationships he forged though this bloody fight for reconciliation? Kallen? Nunally? How could he leave them in anguish for giving him so much pain when he was fighting for their sake?

Hence, he put his Geass, which had become such a hated part of him, to use for one last time. Using the same technologies that created Jeremiah's altered body; he created a clone of himself, and forced it to adopt his persona, take over his roles, and generally be his replacement. One day, he would come clean with the people he loved, but for now, for the sake of Zero Requiem and for the world, a clone would have to suffice. After knowing that Nunally would succeed him and would have Suzaku as her knight (which ironically was his unfulfilled plan to protect his beloved sister while he adopted the persona of Zero), he left Japan, and resolved to create a new life for himself in the U.F.N., more specifically China.

Nunnally, one day I shall come back to find you. Till then, wait for me.


-present time-

"Identification please." The border official, standing outside the gate to Luoyang called out in heavily accented Britannian. Lelouch handed over his top-notch fake passport over.

"Ah. Welcome to Luoyang, Lee Shu Mu (inspired by Suzaku's family name). What is the nature of your visit?" the official droned on lazily, comfortable in the security that a Sutherland could provide.

"I'm here to find work." Why not? Odds are that all I'll do here is trash them at xiangqi (Chinese Chess)

"Alright. You are welcome here, however please do not create trouble or we" he jerked his thumb at the Sutherland "will exact swift and terrible vengeance. Clear?"

"Yes sir."

Now, to find a place to live and run my gambling empire from- a growl escaped from his stomach. Realizing his last meal was twelve hours ago, Lelouch ducked into the nearest restaurant; ironically an outlet of Pizza Hut. Oh the irony.

"Excuse me, can I have one small Hawaiian pizza." Lelouch called out. Oh how would C.C. love this: the great hater of pizza being forced to eat it to survive? He put down his pack and observed his surroundings, a habit borne out of his days as Zero. He saw an Indian, engaging in an animated discussion over which belonged to the more technologically advanced country with a Britannian. He noticed a model of the Shen Hu in one corner, adorned with flowers and messages. Lelouch settled into his seat, comforted by the fact that his sacrifice, though not what it seemed to be, had achieved the desired objective- that the world was at peace with itself.

"One small Hawaiian pizza?" said the waiter, a young woman with cropped brown hair. Lelouch leaned back to allow the waiter to place the pizza on the table, making eye contact-

"Lelouch? But how?" C.C. said over the hubbub in the restaurant. No one noticed the stunned looks they threw at each other.

"Lelouch? You must have confused me for someone else." Recovering from the shock, Lelouch pulled his straw hat lower to mask his telltale violet irises.

"Don't you lie to me!" C.C. cried out, reaching out for his hand.

Shit! Lelouch quickly withdrew the opening in his defenses-

But C.C. made contact first.

Memories flashed by. Men lying on the floor, shot by their own pistols. Flesh and metal buried together under a sea of rock. A Knightmare spinning a large disk of dough. A girl with waist length lime-green hair, taking out a yellow-

"It IS you!"

Lelouch sighed inwardly. C.C. sat opposite him, grabbed a slice and started eating.


"Don't you think that you can make it up to me so easily" C.C. said, nibbling on the last slice. "This isn't even pepperoni!"

"I didn't even offer to share this pizza- this is all I have for lunch!" Lelouch objected indignantly.

"What are you even doing here?"

Lelouch cringed. The same as ever. "I'm hiding? Duh?"

"But why? Why hide from us?" C.C. stopped nibbling long enough to express her doubts. "The Black Knights? Nunnaly? Kallen? Suzaku?" Me? Weren't we accomplices, allies? The witch and the warlock?

"I wanted to disappear. Yes, my death was necessary. But I just couldn't bear to leave everyone: I guess you could say my emotions got the better of me again" the painful words came out as memory after memory came back. "I Geassed a young attendant to take my place, and promptly left Japan under the guise of Lee Shu Mu –C.C. smirked at this point, understanding the reference- and resolved to hide away along with this cursed power until the world had largely consigned me to the history books. If I reveal myself to our old circle, who knows what their reaction will be? What if someone like Tamaki blabs?"

"That doesn't answer my question." C. her last slice, focusing her attention on the source of her confusion. He's hiding something. Again.

"So i planned to wait and slowly reveal my presence, one at a time, making sure that the world will never hear from Lelouch Vi Britannia again." Lelouch finally relaxed at this point, not realizing until now that this had been worrying him –that he might have ended up permanently leaving his friends scarred and never being able to tell them the truth.

A long and weighty pause followed Lelouch's explanation. At this point, C.C. wasn't exactly sure how to react. She had believed him dead, and spent the month after Suzaku and Lelouch had planned Zero Requiem reconciling herself with the fact that once again, another person she had gotten attached to was leaving her. Should she slap him? Hug him? Cry? She didn't really know, and continued to stare at him with her honeyed eyes, munching on her beloved pizza.

"So what do you plan to do now that I've found out?" the witch continued nonchalantly, hair flowing in the air conditioning.

"Nothing."

"What-"

"I don't intend to ask you to come. "

"WHAT!? Why?" C.C. quickly regained her composure but left her pizza hanging.

"Firstly, I can no longer afford 3 pizzas a day, so if you really want to tag along regardless of my wishes, this will most likely be your last for a long time." At this point C.C. really wanted to slap him. How could he still crack jokes like these now, after all he has done? "Secondly, you must surely have an objective coming to Luoyang, don't you? Why else would you ditch Kallen and Ougi at their time of need; just when the Order of the Black Knights needs their leadership? Furthermore how can I be even more selfish by asking you to stay with me when I'm trying to repay the blood I've spilled?"

Once again you're spot on…. But I can't reveal that I'm here to sort things out with Mao, who knows just where he is? And I can't cause more hurt to Lelouch, not after what he's done for me, for us, for the world… "I'm here to investigate the remnants of the Geass Directorate; they may have left data, clues, information regarding Geass that V.V. unearthed in his short time as director."

Over the centuries, lying became almost second nature to C.C.; it was needed for survival. She never had any qualms about telling lies, so why was this one so hard?

"I wish you good luck with that." Never being one for teary goodbyes, Lelouch made to leave, but not before C.C. caught him.

"Wait! At least come to my apartment. You let me stay for so long at your house, it's only fair that I let you stay at mine."

Since I still need a place to rest for the night… "Alright."


"I see you haven't lost your taste" Lelouch commented, staring at all the Cheese-kuns lying around the small room.

"What did you expect, life-size posters of you topless all around?" said C.C. with her signature smile- the one she always wore then teasing Lelouch, her second most favorite pastime.

Lelouch actually blushed at this, but countered. "Not really, I expected portraits of Milly and Kallen."

C.C. was momentarily stunned at these words. Lelouch fighting back at me? That's new…

What on earth am I doing? Lelouch himself was confused by his actions.

An awkward silence ensued.

"So why did you want me to stay over?" asked Lelouch, knowing that C.C. was not the sentimental type.

C.C. was frank. "I lied to you back there. My real objective here is to deal with Mao."

"Wh-"

"Wait. The reason I told you here is because this room is effectively Geass-proof – courtesy of the Geass Directorate. Or what's left of it. The technology that gave rise to Jeremiah Gottwald's current left eye was immortalized into a portable form, something that some of these Cheese-kuns have. " She smirked at the fact that for once, her beloved plushies actually had some tactical value. "I'm sure you understand my actions now."

Naturally the moment C.C. mentioned the Counter Geass technology – originally used to assassinate him – all the pieces became clear. "Still, you haven't explained why you need all these cheese-kuns."

"That's because Mao's out to revive the Geass Directorate."

At this point Lelouch realized just how many details he was lacking and gave up, sinking into the embrace of a nearby Cheese-kun.

"Somehow, he got into his head that if he assumed my old role, I would be impressed and return to him. Of course he's wrong, but if the Directorate is revived, and under the control of that sad child-"

"-The world could be plunged into war again. Using the power of Geass." Lelouch completed the sentence. Of course he knew the danger of Geass; it had caused him far too much hurt in the past."But how is he even alive?"

"That I shall save for another time. Let's just say that a few poor fools reawoke him."

Lelouch raised a hypothetical eyebrow. "Still, why did this escape my notice, and how do you know about it?"

"Simple. Because he's been going at it alone, until recently. And because he confronted me just yesterday, asking me to join him."

Lelouch chuckled. "Now how did you get out of that? By performing another instantaneous wardrobe change?"

"Close, but not close enough. You left out the part where I hid in the men's room." C.C. replied with a mischievous smile. She pointed at Lelouch's resigned face. "What's with that reaction?"

"Nothing." 100% what I expected from you: another wild solution that has absolutely no regard for social norms or laws. "But how does he plan on reviving the Directorate? And how do you plan to stop him?" Just how alike are we… wait, what am I thinking?

"He's going to steal either my Code or Charles' Code. How I do not know. The simple way to stop him would be to disappear; he'll be forced to go for Charles', which we both know is impossible." At least in theory. "However, I plan to remove his Geass."

"Well then, I hope you don't mind me taking one of your Cheese-kuns for revenge." And just like that, he fell asleep in the embrace of a Cheese-kun bean bag.

Why must he look so cute when he sleeps… One of the reasons why C.C. made Lelouch sleep on the couch back in the Ashford mansion- it gave her a full view of him when he slept.


"Wake uppppppppppppppp" shouted C.C., bouncing on top of Lelouch.

How can she possibly be awake earlier than me? Was I drugged or something? "Get off me! Remove your huge mass from me this instant-" Lelouch received a tuft of hair in his mouth in exchange for his outrage. "- pwwffpwppwfwfwfu"

"URGH MY HAIRRRR"C.C. freaked at the sight of her precious, pristine waist-length lime-green hair in the mouth of a 17-year old ex-emperor and yanked it out, brushing the tips straight. "Just get up!"

"Alright…"Lelouch mumbled as he rose from his stupor, opening his eyes. He quickly shut them back, cheeks flushed bright red again. "Why are you topless?"

"I'm changing for work? This is how I normally dress when I'm here anyway." C.C. snapped back, irritable at the need to wake early to hold on to her place among her beloved Cheese-kun and pepperoni pizzas. "Put these on."

She tossed him an employee uniform, belonging to Pizza Hut.

"You're coming along with me!" That teasing smile, so reminiscent of Milly's, convinced Lelouch that today was going to be hell. However, being the gracious Britannian gentleman he was raised to be, he went along with C.C.'s plan, knowing that it would involve no more than pizza.


ARRRRRRRRGH

I'm sorry if i went too far OOC, this is my first fanfic

please comment!

cj4675: Thanks for pointing out the factual error ._. can't believe i didn't notice it *hangs head in shame* Never mind, hopefully I fixed it. Don't worry, I have a solution :)