A/N: This chapter was originally part of chapter 1, but if you've read the original version, you should still read this again because there are key changes.
"What a truly incredible power," Lelouch said to himself as he held a mirror in his hands that showed a palace guard walking off into the distance.
The previous day, Lelouch had run a multitude of tests on his Geass by going off to the capital city of Pendragon and giving commands to random citizens. Since then, he had discovered that his Geass worked only through direct eye contact, had a maximum effective range of 272 meters, could issue highly complex and complicated orders, and forced the victim to carry out orders as is physically or mentally possible. Orders that were not possible were attempted to the best of the victim's ability, resulting in situations where a victim may not have a certain knowledge, but would refer Lelouch to somebody who they believe would know, and/or situations where attempts an act even if it is not possible. Interestingly, it could force victims to carry out orders related to the subconscious and any orders related to a person's state of mind, such as an order to forget.
Just now, the idea came upon Lelouch to test out the Geass through reflective surfaces, among other new ideas.
Lelouch walked around the main courtyard of Aries Villa, pacing back and forth near the doors to the main house. He was planning to continue with his original plan to seek an audience with the Emperor, but with the questions that C.C. had left him the previous day, he recognized that he needed a contingency plan. Without the support of the Emperor, there was very little he could do as a prince of the Empire. Indeed, if the nobility were involved in the assassination, any of his own attempts to investigate would surely be futile if the nobility got wind of it.
At the moment, he could trust nobody. Nobody except his Geassed victims, that is. But he knew he could not dwell on this for too long. His plans hinged on the decision of the Emperor, and there was little to do until then.
But before that, he found another guard to be his next Geass victim.
The royal palace was a vast place, a gigantic monument that displayed the lavishness in which the royalty and nobility enjoyed at the expense of the numbered Areas they conquered.
Lelouch strode into the hall of the great Emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia, who sat upon a gold lined throne located some two flights of stairs above the rest of the officials present. Nobility, royalty, and other officials lined the two sides of the hall, waiting to hear the request of their eleventh prince.
"Presenting his highness the eleventh prince, Prince Lelouch vi Britannnia!" Shouted a deep voice from somewhere in the hall but which nobody seemed to know the exact location of.
Lelouched walked forward with all the regality he could muster – actually quite an impressive display for a child – with his chin held high and his blue, regal robe touching the carpet. Though his face was towards the Emperor, he noticed all of the nobles around him and their disdainful gazes. He knew that the whole lot of them was a mass of contemptuous fools that looked down upon him and his mother simply because of his mother's commoner status, as if the Empress could be a commoner. He also recognized perfectly that the assassination of his mother most likely had nothing to do with terrorists from Japan as was the official statement. No, it was much more likely that one or perhaps multiple of these arrogant nobles that were the cause.
As Lelouch's strides slowly came to a halt, he knelt down before the Emperor, who boomed, "Why have you come before me Lelouch?"
"Mother was assassinated yesterday. Why were there no guards at the time?"
"You come before me to tell me of that? That is old news. Leave if you have nothing better to say," the Emperor Charles di Britannia waved off.
"What? Do you not care?"
"She allowed herself to get killed. There is nothing more to it," Charles di Britannia answered harshly.
"What about Nunally? Will you not care for her either though she has lost the use of her eyes and legs?" Lelouch demanded.
"They were both weak. I have no use for the weak. Only the strong survive in this world."
Lelouch fell back in shock at hearing these words. He had never imagined his own father could be so cruel, so utterly ingrained in that ridiculous philosophy. He realized then that his father…no, Charles di Britannia, saw the vi Britannia branch as just that, another branch in the family. Or perhaps, he saw them as even less than that. For all Lelouch knew, Charles could well be a part of the whole conspiracy to have Mother eliminated. Slowly, tendrils of hate and rage seeped into his being, and his entire body trembled as his fingers clenched together to form fists. This revelation shocked him to his core, as he had always believed that the love between Charles and Mother was true. After a moment, he calmed once more, knowing that he could not stray from his strategy so easily, lest his rash decision prevent him from enacting his future investigations.
Lelouch then slowly rose again, gracefully, as if to dissipate his shocked demeanor, which was unbefitting for a prince.
"Look at you my son, how pitiful," the Emperor's voice boomed again.
"I apologize for my less than graceful behavior, father. It will not happen again. I will take my leave now."
"You are also weak Lelouch. As you are, you are of no use to me," the Emperor suddenly spoke out just as Lelouch was backing up, preparing to leave the hall.
This time he could not help but allow his rage to control him, if only for a short moment. But that short moment was enough to excite an outburst from him, "I am not weak! I will prove to you!"
"You believe yourself more useful to Britannia than Marianne the Flash?" sneered the Emperor, with strangely enough, an expression of immutable indifference. "So be it. Go to the Indochinese peninsula and prove your strength by leading our forces to victory within the week. Lord Gottwald shall accompany you now to the Imperial Colchester Institute. If you want any hope of matching your Mother, you will need some semblance of Knightmare training."
Every noble present looked shocked at the decision. Low murmurings began, carrying doubt of the Emperor's sanity. Other nobles kept to themselves, but none had expected this turn of events. The commotion quickly quieted with the prince's reply.
"Wha—Yes, of course your Majesty." The decision seemed to Lelouch irrational, but it was a perfect opportunity. Still, the deadline was really quite ludicrous, and it gave practically no time for real training. He doubted he could become adept at Knightmare controls so quickly unless he was a natural genius. Perhaps Charles simply wanted to rid of him
But this would not deter Lelouch. He would show his father, and prove that he was useful. Though of course, he had to find out why the Emperor would give such an important task to a ten-year-old, especially one without any experience in war. It was unlikely that he'd discover that any time soon. For now, he would become strong.
He walked out of the hall, with Lord Jeremiah Gottwald following closely behind him, and all the nobles staring at his retreating form.
As they moved out of the palace grounds, Lelouch's chauffeur stood outside his black car awaiting orders. The aged chauffeur opened the doors for Lelouch. The prince and the deep, forest green-haired noble both seated themselves in the vehicle.
"To Aries Villa," ordered Lelouch.
Gottwald looked confused for a moment, and then asked, "Your highness, didn't his Majesty say we should go to the Institute?"
"We'll go there after I take care of a few matters."
The meeting with Charles di Britannia had left Lelouch with a fury that he knew could be outwardly shown. One would think that a lack of support from his father would discourage him, but it was quite on the contrary: his resolve could only strengthen, supported by what he felt was the highest of Britannia society all attempting to block his justice. And with Geass, it would only be a matter of time before justice, against all barriers, would prevail.
A/N: There are a few things I want to address here. First of all, thank you for reading this first chapter and I hope you enjoyed it.
Secondly, I want to address a few possible points of contention within the story thus far. As you've read, the premise of this story is based on C.C. giving Lelouch his Geass early on. There are no other separate changes from canon. Everything else that has happened so far, is what I believe to be a direct result (or one possible direct result) of Lelouch receiving Geass early.
Apologizing came as a result of C.C.'s question of Lelouch would do had Charles refused to take action. The meeting simply gave him the opportunity to think clearly. As a result, he does not get caught up in the moment, and instead continues with his strategy. Like canon Lelouch says, a battle cannot be "influenced by real-time tactics, but only by strategy."
Another point you will most likely ask about is what's with the Indochinese peninsula. If you check Code Geass wiki, you'll see that Lelouch and Nunally were sent as hostages to Japan in 2009, and the Indochinese peninsula was taken over sometime between 2009 and 2010. In 2010, Japan changed its policy from neutral to be more pressuring on Britannia because they felt threatened by the successful invasion of the new Area 10, and aligned themselves with the EU and the Chinese Federation. This severely strains tensions between Britannia and Japan even though Lelouch and Nunally are in Japan. The Second Pacific war starts on August 10th.
Edits July 2, 2010: I split this chapter from chapter (the prologue) 1 because I felt it was inappropriately put into the prologue. I also had to correct some issues in chapter because I realized that some things I wrote would have introduced plot holes and/or misinterpreted a character's intent. For one thing, I removed Charles' order to Bismarck.
You may also have noticed that I removed most of the thoughts of the characters, and replaced them with a more narrative style. I also added a portion explaining Lelouch's known Geass restrictions.
I also changed Jeremiah's title from Margrave to just Lord, because the title Margrave is only supposed to refer to his military status in Area 11, which is not under the control of Britannia yet. And he is a Lord because he is of nobility (Margrave titles are only given to nobility in real life, so I assume it is the same in CG).
