***Thanks to mcdinh, Ulrich362, JumpingToaster, XT3100, Jarjaxle, BlackTyrantValvatorez, Demons Anarchy of Pride, 1000 Cherry Blossoms, MM Browsing, OBSERVER01, and A friend, the eleven people who reviewed the previous chapter, and OBSERVER01, who also reviewed chapter 5!***
Guest Review Reply - A friend: I'm… kind of curious as to what it was that you WERE expecting. Though, if you don't want to, you don't have to tell me your expectations. Thanks for still reviewing, though!
Author's Note Part 1: Hm. Originally, it was my intention to have the public debut of Zero aka. the Orange Incident occur during this chapter. Then my muses went and decided, "Screw it! Foreshadowing and development for S.S. time!"
I also wasn't intending to finish this chapter before Saturday, so I could post it then (Saturday is my 16th birthday if anyone cares to know). But, once again, my muses decided they didn't want to wait.
In any case, this chapter is still quite fun… and by fun I mean evil.
I don't own Yu-G—CRAP WRONG FANDOM I MEANT Code Geass, but I still hope you enjoy!
Stage 7: Zero Vision
Kallen Kozuki—or rather, Kallen Stadtfeld—was at school the next day, pretending to be the frail-bodied daughter of a nobleman. But Lelouch knew who she really was—a half-Japanese young woman who fought for the terrorists in Shinjuku. She had also been one of, if not the, most loyal of his—of Zero's—followers in his visions.
He had to tell her who he really was. Not right now, but soon. Perhaps after his public debut as Zero because right now, she did not trust him. Would he tell her about his Geass? It would depend on how much she wanted to know. Telling people about his Geass could be dangerous… but then again, so could hiding it…
"What's up, buddy? See something you like?" Rivalz teased as he elbowed Lelouch. He'd noticed that his friend had been staring quite intently at the red-head. "You've got a thing for her, don't you?"
"Just thinking this is a rare event," Lelouch replied, turning to face his friend. "She hasn't been here at school since this whole term started—"
He suddenly couldn't see. He was drowning in an endless sea of darkness, and in one of emotions. He felt hatred, hatred directed towards him. He felt fear, fear from others about whatever was going to happen. But the one he felt the most was relief. He knew that, for some reason, that relief was coming from inside of him.
He tried to call out, but his mouth stayed shut. He tried to move, but his arms and legs would not respond.
And then he could see. The inside of a dimly-lit throne room—the inside of the Holy Britannian Empire's throne room—with only two occupants. He, Lelouch, dressed in white robes with golden trim, a red eye-like symbol tipped on its side adorning both the front and the back of it, was one of them. The other was Suzaku, in a skin-tight uniform not unlike a custom one for Knightmare pilots, the legs a deep royal blue and the torso mostly white—the eye-like symbols were on his outfit as well.
He could only watch as this other version of him held out a mask—the mask of Zero—to Suzaku. "Suzaku, you have to kill me… You must promise."
A flash.
The throne room was gone; instead, he stood on the edge of a large, ornate parade float. He saw the members of the Black Knights along with several others he did not recognize, bound to poles on trucks flanking the float. He saw Schneizel, dressed in rags, chained to a pole just in front of the float. And he saw Nunnally—his pure, innocent sister—chained to a platform on the front of the float he was on.
And then all he could feel was pain. His entire body felt like it was on fire, centered just above his stomach. If he could move, he would have doubled over. If he could speak, he would have cried out.
He soon found out the source of the pain: there his alternate stood, in front of the throne stationed on the float, still dressed in those ornate robes—as though he was the Emperor of Britannia. He was not alone, however. Zero—yes, the masked man that he had created; that he was going to be—stood in front of him, hands gripping a sword tightly.
A sword whose blade had pierced this other Lelouch through the exact spot that was causing him so much pain.
"…You shall sacrifice the ordinary pleasures of your life for the benefit of the world… for eternity…" Lelouch told the person beneath the Zero costume, his bloodied hand pressed against their mask.
Another flash.
Suddenly the dying man was at the bottom of the float, on the platform right next to Nunnally. A bloodstain covered the ramp above the two, smeared across it vertically as though the other Lelouch had slid down it. His sister clung to his hand, tears in her eyes.
"Yes… I… I destroy… the world… and create it… anew…"
…
And barely a whisper, "Don't make the same mistakes I did… Lelouch…"
Lelouch's eyes snapped open while he inhaled sharply. His head spun, and there were phantom pains dancing around inside his chest. His heart beat rapidly, and he could not slow it down. Th-That was… That was my own death, but why? What happened to make me order Suzaku to kill me? Was I really Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire in that? And if so, why was I having the Black Knights executed—and why the hell would I allow Nunnally to be chained up like that?! Also, what did my last words mean…? Destroying the world and creating it anew—
All of a sudden, he felt arms grabbing him, squeezing him tight. "Lulu! Oh, thank God you're alright!"
He finally saw where he was: on one of the cots inside of the nurse's office. Shirley was the one almost crushing his rib cage, and both Rivalz and Milly were standing behind her, looks of relief on their faces. He blinked a few times—why am I in the nurse's office?—and eventually settled on squeezing his eyes shut. "Shirley, you're crushing me…" he grumbled into her ear.
The orangette released him immediately, her face turning bright red. "Ah—s-sorry Lulu… I was just…"
"Man Lelouch, you had us all worried sick," Rivalz said with a sigh.
Worried? But all I did was probably pass out in front of them, right? It's not like that's an uncommon event at this school. Why would they be worried…? He held a hand to his head. "Why were you worried about me?"
"Well, you kinda started screaming and grabbing at your chest when you fell…" Rivalz looked away.
"…And you almost stopped breathing…" Shirley added quietly.
Instead of going back to his room—like he had been practically ordered to by both the nurse and his friends—Lelouch set off to find where Z.Z. and S.S. had gone off to. They would give him the answers he wanted one way or another—Z.Z.'s "entertainment" be damned. He had the right to know more about that mysterious dream, and about why he had almost died because of it.
"Yeah… For whatever reason, anyone else I try to send them to end up having heart attacks and… well, they die." Z.Z.'s words echoed in Lelouch's mind, but they only made him try coming up with more questions surrounding the vision of his own death.
Could there be more people like Z.Z. and S.S. that are hostile to me? Did they send me that hoping that I would die? Then again, Z.Z. said that they all died. If that were the case, then I would be dead, and I most certainly am not. I also can't rule out the possibility of there being other immortals who decide to interfere with others. Z.Z. would definitely hide that fact if I didn't specifically ask about it…
It surprised him that he did not have to walk far; in fact, he almost missed S.S. as he started down the sidewalk just outside the campus. She was wearing a wide-brimmed white hat with an orange ribbon on it, the brim tilted down to almost cover her eyes from his perspective. She was also not wearing that dress—she was instead wearing a pale blue jacket over a white shirt, and a pair of black jeans. It was only when she reached out and grabbed his arm that he realized who she was. "We need to speak in private," she said quietly.
"I agree," Lelouch replied. Hopefully, she would be more cooperative than her brother…
With all the students in class, it was easy to sneak S.S. back on campus and into his room. No one would bother them there; for all his friends knew, he was resting. He noted that C.C. was not in his room—that worried him just a little because of how important she was, and how much could be messed up if she was caught.
"The witch is fine. She's with my brother," S.S. said.
He narrowed his eyes. Was it a coincidence, or did she just read his mind? It would not surprise him, if the latter was the case. "I never said anything about being worried about her."
"Oh… I-I just… you were looking for something so intently… I assumed…" The blonde slipped back into the overly timid persona, staring at her lap and fiddling with her thumbs.
She's not a mind reader, then. Unless she's lying, of course, but I don't think she is… "That's actually what I was thinking. You just caught me off-guard."
S.S. heaved a sigh of relief, a small smile on her face. Her hands stopped fidgeting. "Sorry, then. I'm… Like I said yesterday, this is my first time outside of C's World, and… because of that, it's also the first time I've ever been around people who aren't my brother. S-So if I get awkward or say something strange, that's why."
This woman… has only ever known her brother? Based on what Z.Z. was saying yesterday, they've both been alive for quite some time. This is… almost as bad as an eternity of solitude. "I see."
S.S. hummed a little, "But that's enough about me! Z.Z. sent me back here to make sure you were alright. Did something happen?"
"Yes, actually. I spent most of the morning unconscious after, quite literally, almost having a heart attack," Lelouch replied. "The reason I was going to go into the Settlement was because I thought you or your brother could explain what I saw while I was unconscious…"
He explained everything he had seen in that strange vision while she listened intently, a slight look of confusion buried deep within her eyes. He spoke of being Emperor, of passing the mask of Zero to Suzaku, of sending the Black Knights, Schneizel, and Nunnally to their executions, of "Zero" publically assassinating him, and of dying in Nunnally's arms.
S.S. nodded slowly. "…Yeah. That's… that's… It's on the tip of my tongue…" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Zero… Re… Requiem. Zero Requiem. But… are you sure there were Knightmares guarding your float?"
"I'm certain."
"Well then, that doesn't add up. The only world where Zero Requiem happened… didn't have Knightmares."
A world without Knightmares? That sounds like it would almost be peaceful, and yet it wasn't. Not if I had to orchestrate my own death for some reason… "What's this 'Zero Requiem' you keep talking about?"
She explained to him that it was a plan he had concocted in the wake of Nunnally's "death"—his other self had no idea she was not dead until he had gone too far to turn back—that would fulfil her wish of the world becoming a gentler place. He became Emperor, and proceeded to do all sorts of horrific things—enslaving his people, taking the leaders of every other nation hostage, taking control of fortress that nothing could defeat—all to make the world's hate be upon his shoulders. "Zero", the embodiment of the people's hopes, could then kill him—and hatred would die along with him.
To him, it sounded like an unfinished plan. The peace that his death bought for the world… without several other failsafes in place, it would most likely not last for very long. A few years, at the most. But he also wondered… what sort of hell that version of Lelouch had to live through to be so willing to order his own death. It couldn't have just been Nunnally's supposed death—yes, he would be devastated if that happened, but there had to be other factors.
"So, you say that this Zero Requiem has only ever happened once in all the other worlds you've witnessed, but it was in a world where Knightmares did not exist, meaning my dream is just a weird sort of coincidence?"
"It really can't be a coincidence, though," S.S. said. "You didn't know about the Zero Requiem before now—there's no way your subconscious decided to graft the robots into a previous dream you've had about it. Not only that… but the fact that you almost had a heart attack when you started having it…"
"Are there others like you?" Lelouch asked. "Perhaps one of them has seen more than you have, and they—"
"No. It's impossible," S.S. interrupted him. "Z.Z. and I are the only ones who know how to send visions, and my big brother is the only one who actually can. And… And the Collective Unconscious told us that the first world we saw—that one lacking Knightmares—was, in fact, the first to exist. They've never lied to us before… so…"
But then where did my dream come from? And why… at the end, why did he—why did he speak to me directly? What sort of mistakes did he make…?
"Oh!" She suddenly exclaimed, as though she remembered something. The blonde grabbed her satchel, and dug through it for something. (He had no idea how he didn't notice it there before.) She pulled out some sort of book, and handed it to Lelouch. "Before I forget, Z.Z. asked me to return this to you."
It was not just a book. The cover had been torn off a while ago, the edges of each page frayed and torn, the stains of dried liquid staining many of the pages. He could still make out the handwriting on the first page; the faded ink made by the shaky hand of a teary-eyed six-year-old boy. Anger boiled up inside of him. "Why did Z.Z. take my journal?!" he shouted.
"Eep!" S.S. shielded her face with her arms. "I-I'm sorry! Big Brother, h-he wanted to know what dreams you've had t-to see how much you kn-know… I-It varies based on wh-what world… and t-time…"
He scowled, but forced himself to calm down. S.S. wasn't the thief—her brother was. And it wasn't like they had destroyed his journal. They only wanted to read it—even the note he used as a placeholder was still there, undamaged. "Just… don't touch my things without my permission."
"O-Okay…" she said with a shy nod. "Um… there's… one more thing… Z.Z… he wants to… he wants us to be there when you stage the public appearance of Zero. That's why he's out shopping—he had to buy us both costumes."
He was serious about wanting to join the Black Knights? I thought he'd only said that to get further under my skin. Nn… I can't just let him run around, but do I really want him as a close ally? I suppose he'd be a much better ally than foe… "You'll both be helping me?"
She nodded. "Yeah! We'll do whatever it is you need us to do—oh!" Her legs suddenly gave out from underneath her, and she ungracefully fell to her rear. "T-Tch… that smarts…"
"Are you alright?" He offered her a hand.
"I'm fine… this happens from time to time. Give me about ten minutes and I'll be able to walk again." She ignored his outstretched hand and began massaging her own legs. "I wish my legs wouldn't do this…"
Lelouch stared at her. Should he ask why she suffered from this… condition? Or could she not know why it happened to her? Either way… if she was to be part of the Black Knights, he could not give her a fighting role—not if she was a walking timebomb. Just my luck… the one I might be able to trust is useless, while the one who I don't trust is the one wishes to be my ally…
It was eight minutes later that S.S. regained the use of her legs.
It was nine minutes later when she walked out of his room.
It was ten minutes later when Lelouch sat down at his desk, the journal detailing all of his previous nightmares laid out in front of him.
"Don't make the same mistakes I did… Lelouch…"
Whoever that was in his mysterious vision earlier, he vowed to change everything.
He had some planning to do before the announcement of his half-brother's death.
Author's Note Part 2: And now Lelouch knows something about the Zero Requiem. Oh, and S.S. wasn't lying when she said she it happened in a world without Knightmares; it's called the Lelouch of the Rebellion manga (of which I don't actually know the end, but from what I can gather it didn't have Knightmares so IT WORKS). Yes, I'm tying in all of the manga-verses with previous worlds that Z.Z. and S.S. have witnessed (this was before Z.Z. decided to entertain himself by interfering with those worlds). Now, why she is unaware of the existence of the anime world, well…
Aha, I just love answering questions with more questions. …Actually I don't, but this just happens to be how everything has to play out.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Check back next time for the Orange Incident, with Z.Z. and S.S. by Lelouch/Zero's side!
And in the meantime, review!
