"Who are you?"

It was a simply question. The man sitting in front of him – Not the brunette! The old guy – was Zero, the terrorist threatening the Britannian Empire. Someone who Lelouch, as the eleventh prince, should have hated with all his guts.

But…he couldn't find the hatred he was supposed to feel for the terrorist, for this old man. "Who are you?" He repeated, frowning slightly when the man – Zero – in front of him chuckled. "Do you really need to be reminded?"

With a scowl set on his face, he walked up closer to the large desk and, placing his hands on the firm wood, glared at said terrorist. "I mean, really, who are you?"

"Ah." The white-haired man simply said before turning to the brunette that was sitting on the side of his desk. "Suzaku-san, would you be a dear and keep that cat from murdering my desk?" Both teens looked down and saw that Arthur was, indeed, scratching at the mahogany desk, trying to get to Suzaku.

"Arthur!" Lelouch exclaimed, moving to retrieve the fat black cat. Arthur, in turn, hissed loudly as the prince made to pick him up. Jumping up, and using Suzaku's legs as leverage, he landed on the brunette's lap, making himself comfortable. "Well that's strange. He never hisses at me." Lelouch mumbled, moving to pet the fur ball. He jerked his hand away as Arthur made to bite his hand.

Suzaku chuckled slightly, petting the cat. Arthur purred happily, snuggling closer to the brunette. "As I was saying, I am Edmund Bostwick but more commonly known as Zero."

Recalling some old memories at the mentioning of that name, Lelouch recognized him. A blond man about his father's age, dressed up in a black suit – handing him a small gift as it was his birthday – with a young brunette clinging to his side. "You….you were a Britannian noble…weren't you?"

"Were, being the key word there young Lelouch. And you remember Suzaku, don't you?" Looking over at the brunette, Lelouch instantly recognized the teen as the child clinging to the noble's leg, a scared look on his young, slightly chubby face. "Of course." The prince nodded.

"So what happened?" Lelouch asked, deciding to sit on one of the plush chairs that rested in front of the large ornate desk. "The Britannian government stripped me of my nobility when they found out about Suzaku. They were revolted that I adopted a Japanese child as my own. This, of course, made me realize just how corrupt the Britannian government was.

"And, this made me want to change the world for those that had their traditions, lives, and honor ripped from them because of the Britannian government. Also, to make the world safer for my son and other children."

Lelouch was truly shocked at the elder man's proclamation. The prince, along with the rest of the Britannian citizens, thought he was a simple terrorist – greedy for money and power. He understood where Edmund was coming from. Stripping one of their nobility just for adopting a number – no, a Japanese child was absolutely pathetic. Realizing this, Lelouch wondered why he hadn't just walked up to the terrorist – not in his eyes anymore though – and offered himself as a successor.

Lelouch looked Edmund in the eyes, sharp violet meeting amused grey, and gathered the courage he needed to say the new few words that would change not only his life, but the rest of the worlds as well.

Stepping up to the mahogany desk, ignoring the knowing looks of Suzaku and Edmund, Lelouch squared his shoulders and bowed politely.

"I accept you offer. I will be Zero."


"This is the training room. Those two are Anya and Gino, they are leaders of Team Two and Team Three." Suzaku stated as he waved in the direction of said room. Lelouch glanced in, noticing the extremely high ceiling along with the padded mats that covered every little space, even the ceiling itself. A short, pink haired girl wearing a orange tank-top and Capri shorts quickly dodged a kick to the head from a much taller blond, wearing a loose blue shoot and white sweats. The prince recognized the man from when Edmund had, oh so graciously, picked him up from the castle.

Noticing that Suzaku had continued on with the tour, the blackette quickly jogged over to where he was standing. "This is the gym. We have weights, boxing set ups, and basically anything you'll ever need to stay in shape. Those two are Luciano and Dorothea, also team leaders."

A dark haired, dark skinned woman – wearing a dark blue loose T-shirt with knee-length brown shorts – was running on a treadmill, iPod attached to the control consol. Benching weights – roughly 70lbs by the look of the weights themselves – an orange haired man, wearing a simple white tank with black sweats, finished and, after grabbing and wrapping a towel around his neck, walked over to the two of them.

"Morning Zaku-chan! Been a while since you came down here." Luciano stated, smiling as he wrapped his arm around the brunette's shoulders, leaning on him slightly. "That's cause you're down here." Suzaku muttered, pushing the orange haired man off of him. "Morning Yoshitaka." A taller brunette waved to the trio as he walked past them, going towards the treadmills as well.

"You're so cold to me Suzaku-chan." Luciano pouted as Suzaku started walking off. Lelouch took this as his cue to follow. Jerking to a stop as the elder tugged on his arm, the blackette glared at Luciano. "Watch out for Suzaku. We don't call him the Ice Prince for nothing."

Ignoring the odd feeling he got from the orange haired man's statement, Lelouch quickly made his way up to Suzaku.


After another hour or two of the tour with Suzaku, Lelouch felt like he was going to die. He hadn't walked that much in such a long time. Actually, never. Lelouch mentally cursed his lack of strength and stamina.

"Don't worry. We'll work out a schedule for you so you can get some meat on those chicken bones of yours." Rakshata stated as she sat down across from prince. The two had passed by her office in the medical wing earlier. They were now in Zero's office. Luckily for Lelouch, Edmund was currently not in his office.

Suddenly, a bright green haired woman barged into the room, a large Cheese-kun plushie in her hands. The woman walked over to the desk, plopped down onto the leather chair, and swirled around a few times before stopping and starting to search through a few of the drawers for something.

"That's C.C." Rakshata stated, smoking her tobacco pipe. "We all call her the Ice Princess. She'll always barge in if you don't lock the door, bathroom or not." Kaname said as he plopped down beside the wiped out prince. "Once, she walked in on Kento when he was in the shower. Let's just say that he's still terrified from that experience." The dark-green-haired man said as he stood up once again. "Well, anyway, just wanted to see if the boss was in. See you around later I guess, newbie." The much older man walked out of the office, whistling a happy tune as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

"Newbie?" Lelouch questioned as he turned to Rakshata. "We haven't told any, except the team leaders and sector heads, that you're the successor of my father. To them, you're just another person who wants to change the Britannian Empire." Suzaku stated as he sat down next to Rakshata. "That's it?" Lelouch raised an eyebrow, hoping that he had more cover than that.

"Of course not. You're in technical support. When you're not at the palace, you'll be here with Lloyd and Cécile. Of course, you'll have to learn everything about the Black Knights and Zero's plans, so the section heads will be briefing you down in the testing hangers." The brunette finished, before leaning forward and picking up Arthur from the floor.

"I swear he likes you more than me." Lelouch muttered as he jerked his hand away, almost being bit as he tried to pet the black cat. Suzaku simply shrugged.


A little more insight on the Black Knights and….yuh. Anyway, this story won't receive as much attention as 'Black Queen' and 'Blackened Hearts and Secluded Misery', but it's not on hiatus either. Just except updates to be slightly slower (You can kind of tell where I stopped writing for like a week or two). IGNORE ANY GRAMMAR MISTAKES. I'm too lazy to go over it. I don't own Code Geass (but I wish greatly that I did, but we all do right?).