Chapter 7: Memory

Timeframe: Season 2, in between the events of episode 16

"Do you what Geass is?"

"No"

"Does the name V.V ring any bells?"

"Umm…is that another servant?"

"Pizza? Surely you must remember what pizza is"

"I'm sorry, I don't know"

A loud groan came from the questioner.

"All the times you stole my credit card for your own whims. Constantly insulting me and going against my direct orders. What about the time you threatened to shoot me in the leg? Do you remember any of this C.C!?"

The green haired girl reeled back in fright from the loud yelling. "I would never do such things to you master"

Zero held his hands on top of his helmeted head in disbelief. How exactly had things ended up like this? This should have been one of the happiest days of his life. Charles vi Britannia was gone. Lelouch had kicked his father's royal ass all over some other dimension. The emperor of Britannia, not to mention one hell of a lousy father, was now gone forever. Yes Lelouch should been quite happy at the moment and yet he wasn't due to what he had lost in the process.

The masked man turned and took a long look at C.C. No not C.C, the young slave girl that she had been prior to obtaining geass. A scared girl with barely any education who kept asking if there were any sheep or cows she could care for or if there were any dead bodies that required cleaning. Lelouch was actually finding that last request to be rather creepy.

'Although she is a lot more moe right now' Lelouch mused. 'Wait, where did that thought come from? Anyway although I want to get C.C her memories back, I have other things to do. I need to put the finishing work on the U.N.F charter and I can't be keeping a watch on C.C the whole time as well. Hmm, I might need some assistance for this'

"Is something wrong master?" C.C asked tentatively worried that her master had been quiet for so long.

"Wait here" Lelouch muttered as he quickly strolled out of the room.

Sitting behind a desk at a nearby office, Zero looked over the people he had selected for this vital mission. These two were the best ones for the job. Technically, they were also the only two that Zero could use for this job but that was beside the point.

"Jeremiah. Sayoko"

At the mention of their names, Lelouch's former childhood guard and his former maid quickly snapped to attention looking straight at him.

"Due to the fact that you two are the only ones that actually know about C.C and Geass," Lelouch was excluding Rolo due to the fact that his so called brother would be dead as soon as possible. "I have a vital mission for you both. While I am busy finalizing the charter, I need the two of you to watch over C.C. Speak to her, try to get her familiar to these surroundings and see if she recalls anything at all"

"Yes your majesty!" Jeremiah declared loudly.

"We will take good care of her for you" Sayoko replied forming a warm smile.

"I am counting on both of you. Dismissed"

Jeremiah and Sayoko turned and headed towards the exit. Just as they were about to leave however, something else occurred to Lelouch.

"Hold on a moment. Sayoko?"

The ninja maid stopped in mid step. "Yes master Lelouch?"

"If you are here then who is impersonating me back at Ashford?"

A hint of nervousness formed on Sayoko's face. "Well sir, there was a small issue that I had to come here and take care of"

"What kind of issue?" Lelouch asked.

"Nothing overly important" Sayoko responded not wanting to concern him with the minor issue of Villetta attempt of betrayal. Especially not right now with Lelouch showing concern for a girl's well being for a change. "But you don't have to worry Lelouch. Before I left, I set up an airtight alibi to explain your absence"

- Back at Ashford -

Rivalz walked into the student council room, a room that had become very empty lately. With Nina out of the school, Milly graduating, Suzaku busy with the army, and Shirley's unfortunate passing, it was just down to him, Lelouch and Rolo right now. Rivalz was actually wondering where the Lamperouge siblings were since he hadn't seen them in a few days. Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed a note lying on the table. He quickly picked it up and started to read it aloud.

"Rivalz, I have gone to Las Vegas to participate in an illegal underground chess tournament. I have taken Rolo with me to help pick up some women for him while we are over there. Please look after the student council until I get back. Lelouch"

Rivalz stared at the note for a few moments before dropping the note back on the table and sighing. "Poor guy, he must still be taking Shirley's death hard and needed to leave for awhile to clear his head"

Rivalz went silent again as he suddenly thought about the other part of the note. "Wait a second, what student council? I'm the only one left here now!" A sadder sigh escaped from the young man's lips. "Ah man, I wish I could have gone to Vegas"

"I suppose it doesn't matter" Lelouch muttered, "I would have had to drop the second life at Ashford eventually. Now is as good a time as any to do so"

"I was wondering about something, my lord" Jeremiah said "Are you ever going to inform the rest of the Black Knights of your special abilities?"

Zero looked over at his former enemy turned ally after a few minutes of conversation. "Perhaps. I might explain Geass to them at some point but not right now. There are too many things ongoing at the moment and this would just confuse and distract them. Besides, if the Black Knights did not have my powers and actions properly explained to them, then a few members could actually consider turning against me"

"I see"

"But we do not to have to worry about that now. You two have your mission so get to it"

"Yes sir"

The door slid open and C.C turned around with a bright smile for her master. It quickly faded when she realized that it was not Lelouch but two other people she didn't know.

"Who are you?" she asked slowly.

"Jeremiah Gottwald at your service" The man shouted.

"And I am Shinozaki Sayoko" the maid said politely, "The young master sent us to keep an eye on you while he is busy"

"Oh" C.C said a bit sad.

Jeremiah walked up to C.C and began to study her closely. "It is a pleasure to meet you face to face for the first time C.C. I still recall our encounter over Kaminejima. Truly that was an epic battle for the ages"

"I was in a battle?"

"Hmm, oh right your memory. I forgot for a moment" Jeremiah pondered what else he could talk about. Suddenly he spotted a nearby bowl of fruit. "Ah, would you like an orange? They're delicious and are full of many healthy vitamins for you"

The man walked over to the blow of fruit, picked up an orange and with a quick pop his wrist blade sliced the fruit in half. "Here you go. Eat up" he said as he passed her a piece.

"Please don't kill me" C.C cowered as she was more focused on the large blade then the food he was offering.

"Stop that! You're scaring her! There, there" Sayoko said gently as she laid her hand on C.C's shoulder to help calm her down "Don't worry. I am one of Zero's most trusted servants so nothing bad will happen to you"

"…Okay"

"Yes, that's right" Jeremiah agreed, "Miss Sayoko is well trusted. Not as trusted as me mind you but still"

"If you say so" Sayoko replied curtly as she continued to comfort C.C.

Jeremiah blinked at her. "You think otherwise?"

Sayoko turned and looked back at him maintaining a polite smile. "Does it really matter?"

"No, of course not. Although I am the most trusted given how I know all of his majesty's secrets"

"Yes, well Zero did in fact choose to reveal his secrets to me. I think that says a little bit more about trust, wouldn't you agree?"

"Perhaps. However I once served as a royal guard for his majesty so obviously he trusts me more"

"I have also faithfully served master Lelouch for several years now"

C.C suddenly felt that the other servants had forgotten she was here.

"Yes, but as a mere maid"

"I am also a highly skilled ninja" Sayoko countered.

Jeremiah chuckled lightly. "One that I bested quite easily in our previous encounter"

"That was more of a lucky hit then an actual victory"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me"

All pleasantries were gone between the two as Jeremiah and Sayoko stared down each other as hard as possible with poor C.C stuck in the middle.

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation in a more open environment?" Jeremiah suggested.

"I agree" Sayoko said quickly before she looked back at C.C forming a smile again. "C.C sweetie, I'm going to be gone for a few minutes. I need to go teach the nice orange obsessed robot some proper manners. You stay right here and I'll be back shortly with some yummy cookies for you, alright?"

"What are cookies?" C.C asked.

"That's a good girl"

Sayoko gave the girl a warm hug before pulling out a pair of kunai from underneath her maid skirt and quickly followed after Jeremiah who had already exited the room. As the door closed, C.C stared at it unmoving. Her master's other servants were scary.

"This is the last paper you need to sign sir"

'Finally' Zero thought as he quickly scrawled his signature on the form and passed it to Diethart who had a stack of other papers in his arms. "Are you sure that this is the last one?"

"Positive" the blonde reporter smiled. "Everything is all set for the ceremony and the broadcast. I must say that I'm surprised that you appointed so many Black Knights to such important positions.

"Everyone worked hard for this Diethard. They deserve to be rewarded. Now if you will excuse me, there is something else I must take care of"

"Actually, there was one more thing I wanted to discuss with you"

Zero groaned as he looked back at Diethard. "This isn't about the lighting for the event again, is it?"

"No, this is actually concerning C.C. Are you aware that no one has seen her in quite a while?"

"Yes, she is quite ill at the moment and is resting. She also requested that no one see her like this" Zero smoothly lied. "What's your point?"

Diethard paused for a moment carefully choosing his words. "Sir, you have to understand that everyone here respects you. They know that it is because of you we have been so successful and are on the verge of a great victory. But they have also grown accustomed to seeing C.C around you all the time and to have her not be seen at all is strange. Also, with the U.N.F about to be formed, some of the troops have gotten nervous and a tiny bit superstitious"

"My troops are superstitious?" Zero repeated not believing what he was hearing.

Diethard nodded his head "Yes. Some of them feel that because C.C is not around, that it is a bad omen that something is going to go horribly wrong with the ceremony and that we are going to lose. It's not that we doubt you or anything sir. It's just that some of us see C.C as your good luck charm especially how she looked after things when you were gone last year"

'That's right. C.C did look after the Black Knights for me when my memory had been erased and then she…………wait, that's it! Why didn't I think of this sooner?'

"So if the black Knights could see C.C walking around with you, it would be a great boost for morale" Diethard went on not realizing that Zero wasn't paying attention anymore, "Perhaps she could boss some people around or better yet eat a slice of pizza"

"I'll look into it" Zero muttered shoving Diethard aside nearly causing the man to drop the stack of papers.

Zero walked towards the exit and the door slid open revealing a nervous Black Knights member who had just been about to knock.

"Zero, there's an incident ongoing on top of the ship" he explained.

"What kind of incident?"

"It would be better if you saw it for yourself sir"

Zero had a feeling that he wasn't going to like this.

Zero ended up being right.

"Fighting? I gave you two a simple assignment and instead I find out that the two of you are on top of the ship fighting each other. Fighting! What is wrong with the two of you?"

"It was his/her idea!" the two yelled out simultaneously.

Zero turned and gave Jeremiah and Sayoko a cold stare that could be felt even through his mask. The two lowered their heads in shame as they followed Zero back to where C.C was. After a few minutes, Jeremiah decided to try again.

"Your majesty let me explain. You see, we were not really fighting per say. It was more like umm…"

"A spar" Sayoko quickly chimed in. "A simple and friendly spar where we had no intention of actually hurting one another"

Jeremiah nodded quickly. "Exactly, we were having a simple spar for the sake of pride and honor. There were no real hostilities at all between us"

"None what so ever"

"Also, we were very discrete"

"As much as possible Lord Zero"

Zero stopped again and looked back at them. "You were fighting in broad daylight and people were watching you while placing bets!"

"Who was the favorite to win?" Jeremiah asked without thinking.

Zero just stared at Jeremiah and Sayoko quickly elbowed him in the ribs. "What I meant to say was, we're very sorry"

"Our deepest apologies sir"

"I'm very disappointed in both of you" Zero stated sternly. "I place a great deal of trust in both of you, sharing many secrets and this is how you repay me? I expect this kind of stupidity to come from the regular Black Knights members, not from the likes of you"

Several regular members of the organization actually stopped when they heard this and looked back at their leader in shock.

"Don't you all have jobs to do?" Zero muttered gravely causing the members to quickly flee. Zero then noticed his two trusted servants trying to leave as well. "Not you two"

The walk resumed once more with silence until Jeremiah decided to speak again. "So, umm…"

"The odds were three to one in favor of Sayoko, Jeremiah" Zero responded in an annoyed tone.

With her master face turned away from her, Sayoko allowed herself a brief smirk of victory directed at Jeremiah before resuming her usual calm face.

"There is really nothing to be concerned about. C.C was fine when we left her and I'm sure she is eagerly awaiting our return"

At this point the three of them reached their destination. The door slid open to reveal Zero's chambers but no C.C in sight.

"Or not" the ninja maid said forming a very scared look, the same one Jeremiah currently had.

"Find her. Now!"

C.C looked around a hallway, one that looked just like every other hallway she had walked through. She sat down on the floor and began to weep. When the other servants hadn't come back, C.C had gone looking for her master. After all, she wanted to be helpful to him so he wouldn't get rid of her or sell her to a meaner master. But instead she was now hopelessly lost and had come to realize a very hard truth.

Master's castle and all of his servants were really scary.

First she had run into a young boy who she had politely asked for directions from. It turned out however that this was actually her master's brother. The second she realized her mistake, she quickly bowed her head and apologized for her rudeness. However it was not enough to appease the young lord's ire. He told her that she had better not spend too much time with master else he would have to kill her. C.C quickly nodded in fright that she would remember this to which the young lord smiled, said that it was nice meeting her and calmly walked away.

It didn't improve much from there. After that a group of people came up to her. They were all wearing the same type of uniform; obviously they were soldiers. But to the shock of the young girl, they began to talk casually with her and even asked her to come and get some of the pizza thing master had mentioned earlier. C.C backed up when they made the offer. Surely she a mere servant was not permitted to talk with, let alone be in the presence of decorated soldiers. It must be some sort of trick so she quickly said no. Strangely though, the soldiers seemed to become scared when she said this and they quickly went away talking amongst themselves with one of them even mentioning it was the end of the world.

C.C did not have anytime to ponder this as an arm suddenly grabbed a hold of her and pulled her in close to a body. It was another solider but this one seemed to be acting differently as he was swaying back and forth and had an opened bottle in his free hand. He very loudly proclaimed that he was master's best friend and that they should be friends too and do fun stuff together.

C.C shivered as she recalled this man. His breath smelled just like the old stable master, the one who would hit her even when she was good and finished all her chores. C.C quickly shoved the man aside and ran away until she now found herself in this spot.

"C.C? What are you doing here all by yourself?"

C.C looked up to see Kaguya staring down at her although she had no way of knowing who it was. C.C was smart enough to guess that she was some sort of princess though based on her clothes and grace.

"I was looking for master but then he got lost and I don't know where he is now" C.C explained as Kaguya helped her back up on to her feet.

"I think Zero-sama is still doing some paperwork in his office. I'm surprised that you don't remember where it is though" Kaguya studied C.C closely. "Is something the matter? You seem different today"

C.C sniffled a bit. "I just want to be with master and do whatever he asked of me. That's all"

Kaguya looked at C.C in confusion. With no knowledge of the amnesia, the girl was struggling to figure out what could have made C.C change from her usual cold self to someone who looked like she had just been crying. Suddenly she thought back on C.C's words and it became crystal clear.

"Oh my god," Kaguya's eyes went wide in shock. "You're going to take the next step in your relation with Zero-sama! Well I did want to be Zero-sama's first but I guess you have earned the right"

"But I…" C.C started to say now the one confused.

"Don't worry. I realize that you need help doing this and I would never let down a fellow court lady" Kaguya grabbed a hold of C.C's hand and pulled her along. "Come on. I borrowed something from one of the men and it's the just the thing you need!"

"Umm…yes my lady" C.C responded as she was pulled along.

Zero stomped into his chambers quite angry and nervous at the same time. Three times. They had searched the ship three whole times and there was still no sign of C.C anywhere.

Zero began to pace back and forth. "Where else could she be? What if she went outside to look for livestock? I'm going to have to form search teams and…"

"Master?"

Zero whirled to see C.C sitting on his bed, both alive and without any livestock. He quickly made his way over to her removing and throwing his mask to the side as he did so.

"Oh master, I…"

The rest of C.C's words were cut off as her master grabbed her face and gave her a deep romantic kiss. C.C was still at first as Lelouch's lips pressed into hers but slowly her mind gave into the passion and furiously kissed her handsome master back. Zero's mind was also going but sadly not on the same wavelength.

'Alright, this is just like the kiss C.C gave me to restore my memories. Therefore at any moment she should be back to normal and then will proceed to slap me and start insulting me continuously' the young genius thought proudly.

"Thank…you…master" C.C moaned as she continued to kiss him back.

"Damn, it didn't work." Lelouch quickly pushed C.C off of him causing her to fall back on the bed. It was at this point that Lelouch actually realized what C.C was wearing or rather what she wasn't. "Why do you only have your underwear on?"

The door opened and Sayoko along with Jeremiah stepped in to report that they had no luck finding C.C yet. They quickly saw the scene before them, smiled with pride for Lelouch and quickly made their exit not wanting to interrupt.

C.C blushed at Lelouch. "I'm sorry I displeased you master. I was trying to do what the books said to do but there were a lot of words I didn't understand so I was attempting to practice what I saw in the pictures"

"What books?"

C.C pointed to a pile of magazines which Lelouch took a look at and instantly recognized as various adult magazines for men.

"Who gave you these?" Lelouch seethed looking like he was going to lose it at any second.

"Your mistress did" C.C quickly responded.

The next twenty minutes went by fairly quickly for Zero. The first five minutes were used by Lelouch to scream in rage while he destroyed the magazines, retrieved his mask and convinced C.C to put her clothes back on. Three minutes to calm down C.C with an extra minute used up in which he agreed to let her clean up his room, something that made C.C very happy. Next up was the six minutes that Zero needed to track down his mistress (whose identity took under five seconds to deduce). Kaguya only needed two minutes to cough up the name of the person who loaned her the magazines and Lelouch then spent two and a half minutes deciding on the best course of action and making a mental note to talk to Diethard later on about a minor change. For the final thirty seconds, Zero took a very deep breath before speaking.

"TAMAKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Elsewhere a very drunk man blinked and looked around in confusion, "Hey did someone just call my name?"

And that my friends is the story of how during the formation of the United Federation of Nations, one Shinichiro Tamaki got himself appointed as the Internal Cleaning Supporter for the Black Knights.

On a sad side note, C.C never did get the chance to clean any dead bodies for her master.