Hello guys ^_^ I'm back! Without further ado, I present to you, Lelouch of the Afterlife, Chapter 10.

Lelouch ran down the dark hallway, sweat beading all over his body. With his physical condition, there was no way he could outrun the shadowy figure behind him. Something flew out of the darkness, cutting Lelouch's leg and sending searing pain coursing through his body. Grunting with pain, Lelouch toppled, rolling and coming up in a crouching position. Another dark object flew out of the shadows behind, embedding itself in Lelouch's shoulder and knocking him back into a sitting position. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Lelouch glared into the darkness, where a shadowy figure detached itself from the wall of blackness and walked up to stand over Lelouch, looking down at him with contempt. His eyes glowed from the dark shadows that shrouded his form, gleaming red. "I'm immortal." Lelouch spat. "What are you going to do?"

The figure leaned down and stared into Lelouch's eyes, stretching out his arm towards the Demon Emperor. Thousands of knives rose up behind him, pointed at Lelouch. The figure chuckled, eyes flashing with the red eagle of geass. Lelouch's eyes widened, and he felt true fear for the first time in a long while.

"Die!" Lelouch screamed, activating his geass over and over. "Die, die, I command you to die!" The man merely laughed, staring at his pathetic form, geass flaring.

"I am fear itself." The man finally spoke, in a deep, commanding voice. "I'll take you down, Lelouch vi Britannia."

Before the shock could register in Lelouch's brain, the man snapped his fingers, sending the thousands of blades flying at the Demon Emperor.

Lelouch started, sitting bolt upright and knocking C.C. off of him and onto the floor. Sweat dripped off of him, fear still consuming his senses.

Lelouch felt all over his body, and only relaxed upon not finding thousands of stab wounds. "Lulu…?" C.C. murmured, climbing back onto the bed, still half asleep. "What happened?"

Slowing his breathing to a normal rate, Lelouch managed, "Nothing, just a bad dream."

Yawning, C.C. slipped under the covers and smirked at Lelouch. "How old are you, five?"

"Shut up." Lelouch muttered and pulled the covers over himself as well. The covers were scratchy and uncomfortable against his skin, making Lelouch shiver. "Fuck." Lelouch sighed, climbing out of bed and grabbing a shirt and a pair of underwear from the closet. Throwing them on, Lelouch slid back into bed.

C.C. was lying there, watching his movements with an amused expression.

"What's so funny?" Lelouch demanded, lying down facing her.

"Are the covers ruining your delicate skin Lulu?" C.C. teased.

"No." Lelouch replied, poking her in the cheek. "Of course not." Rolling onto his back, Lelouch laced his fingers behind his head and stared at the ceiling. That dream had really shaken him up. Although he had considered that as a possibility before, he had dismissed it as unrealistic. After all, it had taken Lelouch tons of use for his to reach the final form.

"Are you okay?" C.C. asked, leaning over him with a slightly worried look on her face. "You look like you just saw a ghost or something. Was the dream really that bad?"

"C.C…" Lelouch began cautiously. "Do you think it's possible that the assassin will reach the final form of Geass?"

C.C. frowned, rolling off of Lelouch to join him in his scrutiny of the ceiling. "I hope not. I suppose it's the end of us if he does."

"We need to end this fast then." Lelouch stated. Silence reigned over them until Lelouch suddenly asked, "Say, do you trust Orpheus?"

After a short pause, C.C. answered confidently, "Yes. He was one of the most efficient accomplices I ever had."

"I hope so." Lelouch chuckled nervously.

"There's no use worrying about it now." C.C. murmured, draping an arm over Lelouch's chest. "Go to sleep."

"Good night." Lelouch whispered, somewhat calmed by C.C.'s words. Expecting a reply, Lelouch glanced down at her, but she had already drifted off.

Sighing lightly, Lelouch turned and gazed up at the ceiling once more. Though his thoughts whirled at light speed around his head, he quickly fell into a restless sleep.

Shadow stood on the top of a building, gazing down at the road below. Cars zoomed by beneath, unaware of the assassin observing everything. His target had just emerged from the hotel across the street, and was about the climb into a car. Shadow held his hand out, gauging the distance. Just as he was about to send his knife into the throat of his target, he heard a voice behind him.

"Shadow. Long time no see." Orpheus said with a smirk, eyes narrowed. "I see you're actively pursuing your dream of eliminating the Black Knights.

Shadow froze, dagger in mid air about two feet from his face. Retracting it into his hand, he turned his head to face his addressor. "Orpheus Zevon. It's quite a pleasure to see you." He responded lightly, careful to not let his surprise show.

Orpheus grinned. "Took me quite a while to find you too." He walked up to stand beside Shadow, joining him in his observation of the road below. "What are you doing on this building at this hour?"

Shadow returned his attention to the road, but his target was long gone. "That's the question I should be asking you, Orpheus. What brings you here?"

"I seem to recall asking you not to destroy the Black Knight." Orpheus began, still looking out at the street. "You know it's far too dangerous to take on the entire organization by yourself."

Shadow's eyes darkened, and he turned his head slightly towards Orpheus. "I will do it. It is my obligation to pay them back for what they did to us. I am the only one capable of opposing them."

"And if you fail?" Orpheus questioned skeptically. "You make one mistake, and you will die. Then nothing would come out of your so-called 'revenge'."

"It don't care." Shadow growled. "I have nothing left to live for except vengeance. My friends are all gone. My family is dead. I have nothing."

"And what will you do when you are done with them?" Orpheus glanced up at the sky, calmly questioning his friend.

"I-I don't know." Shadow admitted, calming down and shifting his gaze to his shoes. "I suppose then I will have no more reason to live."

Orpheus looked over at the assassin, holding out his hand. "Come with me. Let's give up on this silly vengeance of yours."

"No." Shadow said quietly. "I can't." He then looked up at Orpheus. "This is my burden alone. I would rather you not get tangled up in my business. This is something I alone must do."

"At least consider it then." Orpheus pressed. "Meet me in two days at that cafe at 1:30." He pointed down the street to a small diner at the corner of the road. We can talk, and if you still won't give up, then I will leave you alone."

"Fine." Shadow sighed. "Don't expect me to change my opinion though."

"Oh, that's quite all right." Orpheus smirked. "Know that I will try my best to make you give up."

"I know." Shadow responded darkly, turning away from the road and beginning to walk. After a couple of steps, he paused and turned back. "However, if you continue to bother me regardless, I will kill you on sight."

Orpheus smiled and turned back to the road. "Oh, trust me. You will change." He said under his breath so that Shadow could not hear. His geass flashed, and he disappeared into the night.

Kallen positioned herself on the designated rooftop, heart beating faster than it needed to. Pointing her rifle down at the diner, she looked through the scope. This range is kind of long… Even for me. Kallen gulped, thinking of what would happen if she failed. Orpheus had positioned her there, saying that Shadow had keen eyesight and would probably notice her if she were any closer.

She could see Suzaku, sitting alone, a newspaper draped over his face and pretending to be asleep. Meanwhile, Lelouch and C.C. were disguised and were having a very deep conversation in another booth. Orpheus sat in the booth between the three of them. The booths were lined up along the wall, so that Shadow could see neither Suzaku nor Lelouch while they talked.

Looking at C.C. and Lelouch, Kallen felt a pang of jealousy in her heart for a second. Fuck. Not now please. Kallen took a deep breath and steadied herself.

Just then, Shadow entered, and scanned the room, looking for Orpheus. Upon spotting him, Shadow walked over and took a seat across from him. Good. Kallen thought. He didn't notice Suzaku or Lelouch. First obstacle down. So far so good.

The waiter approached them, and they each ordered a drink, then settled for talking. Relaxing her muscles and taking a deep breath, Kallen focused the scope on the two of them, watching for any aggressive activity, or the hand signal Orpheus had taught her. If he were to hold his hands up in surrender, Kallen was to immediately shoot Shadow.

Kallen rubbed her finger on the trigger, careful not to press it. Her hands were breaking out with sweat in anticipation, but she didn't dare move away in case something bad happened.

As they were talking, Shadow suddenly stood up and slammed both hands on the table, bringing his blade out into the air to threaten Orpheus. Orpheus calmly looked him in the eye and continued talking. Shadow's blade wavered for a second, and suddenly Suzaku, C.C., and Lelouch jumped out on him while Orpheus held his hands up. Taking that as her cue, Kallen quickly centered the rifle on Shadow and pulled the trigger. However, the assassin turned at the last second, and the shot wasn't lethal, embedding itself in Shadow's arm.

Cursing, Kallen quickly reloaded and looked down the sights again, in time to see Shadow's blade pierce Suzaku's side, sending him to the ground, and through C.C.'s chest. The green-haired girl looked down for a second, eyes wide with shock, then crumpled to the ground. blood pooling underneath her. Lelouch's eyes widened, and he moved to engage on Shadow with a scream of rage. That's what Kallen assumed it was, anyways, through his expression.

Kallen gritted her teeth, trying not to focus on C.C., and aimed closely, then pulled the trigger again. Shadow suddenly stopped, and looked directly at Kallen with surprise, then looked down at the bullet wound in his chest, before Lelouch brutally tackled him to the ground and began beating up his face. Orpheus quickly ran up and dragged Lelouch off, standing him up, and began talking to him. Lelouch visibly calmed down as he slumped into a kneeling position. Kallen quickly dumped her gun, and rushed down the stairs and sped towards the diner as fast as she could.

By the time she arrived at the diner, police had already arrived, and were questioning Lelouch and Orpheus. C.C., Suzaku, and Shadow were nowhere to be seen. Kallen ran up to the diner and looked in through the glass. Suzaku was kneeling with C.C.'s head in his lap, and Shadow's body had been covered with a large piece of cloth.

Kallen's eyes widened with horror, and ran up and pushed open the door, ignoring the yells of the police. She collapsed next to Suzaku, and asked frantically, "She's okay right?"

"Yeah." Suzaku said, looking down at C.C. "Shadow didn't have the final form of Geass… I think." The immortal girl was still, eyes closed, a pool of blood around her.

"You think?" Kallen shouted. Throwing the tarp off of Shadow, she pried open his eyes with her fingers, peering into them and searching for signs of geass.

"Stop." Suzaku sighed, placing a hand on her arm. "You can't see it after they die anyway. We'll just have to wait and see."

Kallen slumped down, tears beginning to flow from her face. "It's all my fault. If I didn't miss the first shot-"

"No." Suzaku said firmly. "The distance was long. It wasn't your fault. You did great to hit his heart with the second shot."

"But… but... " Kallen glanced over at C.C.'s prone body.

"She's fine." Suzaku comforted with a slight smile. "She's immortal, remember?"

Just then, C.C. stirred slightly and turned onto her side, letting out a light moan of pain.

"See?" Suzaku's smile grew wider as he ran over to her. "Come on, help me."

Wiping away her tears, Kallen smiled too, and ran over to help Suzaku carry C.C., glad everything was over.

Phew, that's over. I think I'll do some fluff now ^_^ Next chapter is coming soon...?