Redemption and Madness

by patrickthenobleman

A year has passed since Zero Requiem. While the world celebrates the death of a tyrant, a few mourn a friend, and one plots a terrible crime against humanity. Lelouch must rise again and accept a title greater than Zero in order to battle the evil Amadeus Bloodbeard. Love, friendship, horror, and glory will all be experienced as Lelouch makes his trancendence from demon to hero.

20. Discussion with the Devil

Chapter Twenty: Discussion with the Devil
(sorry about that mix up, please review)

The air was becoming thin and the chill of the mountain was becoming as bitingly painful as if piranhas were nibbling at his flesh. The path had become narrower and he was forced now to climb with his cut and bleeding hands as well as his tired and aching feet. The peak was becoming more and more reachable and yet more and more difficult to reach. The more he moved on the more strength he felt ebb away. But the demands of his duty were too great for him to fall to weakness now for when he closed his eyes to try and rest he saw the horror that hounded him in his dreams when the people cried up to him as if crying to God. His loved ones dead and dying in a city of shattered bricks and falling fires with his own face being torn away to show the face of an ancient horror.
'I can feel you,' his enemy whispered.
Lelouch could feel the connection between himself and Bloodbeard becoming stronger. So strong he could practically feel the fiend's breath as hot on his neck as if he were a dragon. He wished he could curse his foe but knew it would be better to what little breath he could until he reached the top.

The city was a corpse of its former self. The once shining metropolis was a necropolis, a home of the damned and the sorrowful and rising from the darkness was an idol of devilry. The Meat Machine-Tower was rising and he who would be lord was in his temporary arrangements, waiting to make full contact with his foe.
"I can feel you," he laughed in a whisper.
Morgan worked her power on her son's mind as Bradley watched over them.
'He looks so excited to be so dangerously close to his enemy,' thought Bradley. 'He has to know that Lamperouge won't join him. But if he knows that then what's the point of all of this?'
"The point Lucario Bradley is that my son is a madman," said Morgan.
"Just focus on your work witch and stay out of my mind," yelled Bradley.
"This work is madness," said Morgan. "Delving so deep into C's World to meet his greatest nemesis in such a risky move to try and tempt a man whom my brother has no doubt warned against such a trick. He's doing this to show off and nothing more. To prove he will not be defeated by something as trivial to him as a missing arm and public humiliation. This is a deadly battle of wits Bradley set in the most dangerous battle field of all: the mind."
Bloodbeard simply giggled happily.

Lelouch found a ledge to rest on and tried to use the purple flame he seemed to once be able to summon to try and warm himself. He had climbed nonstop for days; at least that was what his weakening body was telling him. The perpetual twilight made his internal clock uncertain but his stomach and throat did not lie. Thirst and starvation were working their hideous wonders on him and exhaustion was setting in as well. He felt himself lose all of the great strength and stamina he had known ever since the sword fell from heaven. He was as weak as he used to be. His body at least, but he feared that if it continued his mind would shrivel as well, and thus it would be all too easy for someone as sadistically clever as Bloodbeard to tear his mind apart for information. Information that would lead him to Nunnally and the destruction of the world.
The tip was still miles away and Lelouch was losing his strength fast but he needed to get to the top.
'I've fought harder battles,' he mentally hissed. 'I tore apart the most powerful nation in the world and forged world peace. I can damn well climb a mountain.'
The strange wind of C's World chilled Lelouch's body.
'Although I'd right now prefer to fly,' he thought.
He began climbing again and once more felt the ache of his mortal flesh. He slipped slightly but managed to find his grip again. Without the code on his shoulder he was without immortality. If he died then there would be no one left to stop Bloodbeard or to protect his friends. He needed to reach the top at all costs.

"Where is Bloodbeard?" asked Red-Cap from his monitor.
"That is no business of yours Red-Cap," said Bradley. "Be glad that he allowed Morgan to heal your wounds and bail you out when you were caught by the enemy."
"When will she be back in my care Bradley?" asked another delegate of the UFD.
She was a massively obese woman lying nude on a massive bed with naked women lying with her asleep.
"Madam Cyst please be patient," said Bradley. "The witch is working with his majesty on accomplishing our goal."
"Wasn't the destruction of the UFN supposed to be our grand accomplishment?" asked another delegate.
He wore the robes of a monk and a bronze mask of Greek design.
"The defeat dealt to us by the coward Lelouch is a mere set back oh Holy Lord Talos," said Bradley.
"The man who built this organization, the most powerful being any of us have ever known, had his arm blown off and the Infected are out of control," said Talos. "I hardly call that a setback."
"If he cannot uphold his promise to this group then perhaps it is time we uphold the sacred laws of the UFD," said a delegate who wore an antiquated gas mask and dressed as a doctor.
"Such words can be counted as treason Doctor Epidemic," said Bradley.
"But does Bloodbeard not promote treason and encourage it among we dictators as well as the ranks of the enemy?" countered Red-Cap.
"He is correct," said Cyst. "The laws of the UFD are clear on the subject and Bloodbeard should not be surprised as he was the one who penned them down in our charter."
"'We who would wish to rule must take our thrones by any means necessary,'" said Talos, quoting the charter.
"'Whosoever among the Fellowship is slain by another fellow shall thus render all plans, property, and power to he who made him prey,'" said Red-Cap. "And the benefits of betraying Amadeus Bloodbeard are worth the risks. Would my fellows not agree?"
"I do agree Red-Cap," said another delegate.
He dressed in a long black coat, ominous bandages, and a bejeweled crown.
"I have been talking to our brothers who are not able to communicate with you as of now and they are indeed considering a coup against Bloodbeard," he said. "The failure at the UFN has given the sheep teeth and now they battle against the wolves."
"Unknown Lord please," said Bradley. "The master is…"
"Unable to make his defense against those who would question him?" said Unknown Lord.
"He is working to eliminate the greatest threat to our rise in power," yelled Bradley. "Lelouch VI Britannia."
"From what he gleamed from the final news feed of the UFN conflict Lelouch wasn't breathing," said Red-Cap. "Besides he's a coward anyway. He could have simply cut off my head but didn't. He's weak and so are the rest of the Black Knights."
"And even if he isn't dead the appearance of his possible demise at the UFN has transformed him from a demon to a martyr," said Talos.
"But if he returns we would need someone who could match his new abilities," said Cyst.
"Do you wish to defend Bloodbeard, Madam Cyst?" asked Unknown Lord.
"It does seem only fair," said Cyst. "He has transformed us from singular troublemakers trying to make a dent in the world's controlling lords into a mighty organization. Besides he's given me immeasurable amounts of pleasure. Although I will never give up cake."
Giggling at her words Cyst ate a piece of cake one of her slave women was feeding her.
"For now let Bloodbeard do what he wants and if it costs us any more setbacks then we'll take him out," said Cyst.
"It would be fair," said Bradley. "The UFD can still come out on top if only you give his Excellency the opportunity to emerge triumphant. The Meat Machine-Tower will be ready in a matter of months and…"
"And you still need the Chalice," said Red-Cap. "Without that the Meat Machine-Tower is nothing more than an extremely large waste of metal and resources."
Before they could continue on Bradley cut all communication and returned to Bloodbeard's private room where Morgan was still working on the master.
"Any progress?" he asked.
"As much as the Collective is allowing," said Morgan.
Bloodbeard was lost in his own little world giggling childishly. Bradley couldn't help but feel that the UFD's doubts were slightly justified. Not that Bloodbeard had failed but that he was falling deeper and deeper into insanity.
"I can hear some of what you're thinking," Bloodbeard whispered.

Lelouch struggled with the difficulty of hiding his thoughts in a place where 'thought and flesh were not different' and keeping Nunnally's identity a secret.
'If I try and get him to do most of the talking, which should be easy knowing that maniac, then I might be able to hold him off,' thought Lelouch.
The peak was coming closer and closer. A few miles more and he would be at the top after starving and struggling through the terrible trek upward.
"I can hear some of what you're thinking," said Bloodbeard's voice in Lelouch's head.
'Go fuck yourself,' Lelouch mentally cursed.
Five or ten miles more and Lelouch would reach the top and there the two would face off against each other once more.
"I could barely do any damage before," said Bloodbeard. "Hurry up so I can really have fun."
'I'm on my way,' thought Lelouch.
The two bickered and bantered without true voices being carried on wind for hours until Lelouch reached the top. He looked down at the plateau before him and could see far beyond the distant horizon. He saw the enormity of the lake which surrounded the large isle and saw far and far beyond to where land met sky and saw a shimmering castle of pearly white stone shinning like a jewel in the farthest and blackest darkness.
"Camelot," Lelouch whispered.
The sound of thunder rang loudly in his ears, deafening him and forcing him to his knees. As he was nursing his blown and bleeding ears Lelouch looked up and saw the massive gas giant of the Collective coming down towards him. The thunder roared and roared before the lightning came with all the power of humanity's thought and will powering it. Lelouch felt his body burst into terrible pain as if each and every one of his atoms were exploding with the force of a nuclear blast.
The pain shattered his thoughts as well as his body. All the images and experiences he had ever seen or been through became burnt like photos in a fireplace.
The sensations soon ended and the wind of C's World blew Lelouch's ashes off the mountain.

"Finally!" yelled Bloodbeard as Morgan made the connection.

The first thing he saw was darkness and the first thing he felt was the cold. He looked up and despair painted in the sky. A dark purple hue over the land which seemed cold, dying, and dark held the specter of wounded spirits in absolute power of the strange world Lelouch now found himself in. The town below the hill he found himself laying on was in shambles and the marching of armored men echoed alongside the cries of the people who were being punished for even the slightest of crimes. He saw two figures riding on horseback, a woman and a child, and although he was younger Lelouch could tell who the child was. The bastard of a king and a witch and his mortal enemy.
"Bloodbeard," he whispered.
He saw as the woman, no doubt the witch Morgan Le Fey, presided over the soldiers as befitting the head of a police state. She muttered words to her son Mordred that Lelouch could not hear, but the look on the boy's face as the soldiers executed a man for stealing bread was clear. The boy could not have been any older than Lelouch was when he first saw blood, the blood of his mother and sister, and unlike Lelouch all those many years ago when Lelouch's horror was clear in his face, the face of young Mordred was blank. The ending of life not having an effect on the boy seemed almost more disturbing than him completely enjoying it as man. As if even when he was being taught the harsh lessons of cruelty, slaughter, and war he was treated not as a boy and was robbed of the enjoyment Lelouch had seen on his blood caked face when he wiped away the lives of the innocent. The teachings of Morgan seemed harsh and joyless, raising the question of when Mordred first felt joy at the slaughter.

The light blinded him at first and then the sounds of childish laughter deafened him. Three little girls and a little boy played in a lush garden under the watch of a beautiful woman in regal clothing. The woman had been famously remembered as a warrior and was now at the arm of an emperor and the mother of the boy who would be God-King and the girl who would be Empress. Young Nunnally, Euphemia, and Cornelia held down the young Lelouch, the two Li Britannia sisters holding his arms while Nunnally placed a crown of flowers on his head. Now made king of the little garden the three girls began tickling the boy all over as Marianne watched over with a happy smile and as he who was born Mordred scowled bitterly.
At this time in history he was wandering the world as a gun for hire, trying to rid himself of the endless boredom placed by his father King Arthur, and all the while the God-King had been born to the most powerful household in the world and he never knew. Worse than that it seemed young Lelouch had a happier childhood than he did. One of light and warmth and love while his was of strict teachings, dark hardships, and a cold controlling affection. How he would have loved to play with siblings and to have smelled the flowers instead of memorizing battle strategies and stringing bows back when he was a boy. As a man he found such things as the joy felt by the young siblings nauseating and meaningless, but whatever child was left inside of his soul found it so beautiful and longing.

Lelouch felt the anger and the slight longing and his strange phantomlike state moved from the dismal stage and settled in a place both familiar and comforting. Lelouch saw his younger self play with his sisters under the watch of his mother long before darkness found its way into Lelouch's life. The summer's sun and the garden's sweet smells was a welcome change from the brief and dark image of Bloodbeard's youth as Mordred.
He felt the sensation of sudden and sadistic joy and raised his head from the joyful moment and saw his enemy, dressed in civilian guise similar to that which he wore when not Zero or a student, and his thoughts betrayed all discipline and his mind shouted one name in horror.
"Nunnally?" said Bloodbeard in a slight confusion.
Lelouch then struggled to think of something different and the world faded into the gray mist of C's World before shifting into his own Hall of Memory.
Whereas his father's was a library and C.C's was a museum, Lelouch's hall seemed to be coliseum where in the pit of the stage, the events of his life pandered like a play.
"Kind of fitting I'll admit," said Bloodbeard.
Lelouch turned his attention to his enemy and clenched his fists.
"Britannia is the Rome of its day after all," he continued. "And like Nero you burned your empire away."
"I believe that comparison between me and the old emperor has already been made," said Lelouch. "I know why you're here."
"Really? Has my fiendish plan been spoiled?" laughed Bloodbeard.
"You won't get me to join you Bloodbeard," said Lelouch.
"What makes you think I want to share anything with you?" said Bloodbeard. "Are you that vain? That arrogant?"
"I'm not arrogant enough to believe that I can kill God and take his place," said Lelouch.
"Not arrogance, confidence," said Bloodbeard walking towards Lelouch along the seats. "Something you are terribly lacking."
"I'm confident enough that I can send you to hell," said Lelouch, walking towards Bloodbeard.
"But what is Hell?" said Bloodbeard. "Where the damned go? And what are the damned? People who simply didn't like listening to the word of God because they had mind of their own? And what was poor Lucifer if not like us? One who disagreed with the ruling laws of the world and wanted something different and perhaps better and punished for it."
"Is that who you believe yourself to be now?" asked Lelouch. "Lucifer wanting to bring down paradise and replace God out of his enlarged sense of pride?"
"Remember what Lucifer's name is my friend," said Bloodbeard. "The Light Bringer, the most beautiful of all the angels in heaven. He who gave knowledge and the love of God to man."
The two men were now face to face, their eyes lost in each other, and their wills armed and ready. Lelouch kept his mind focused on one person to perhaps save his sister from Bloodbeard's suspicions, having raised them already, and that person was someone he hoped would interest Bloodbeard more than Nunnally.
"My father has told you what I would wish?" asked Bloodbeard.
"He has," said Lelouch.
"Is it not something you would have wished had you not lacked the courage to go further?" asked Bloodbeard.
"Destroy the entire universe and remake it in my own image?" said Lelouch. "That is not what I wished."
"When you thought Nunnally had died in the FLEJA's blast would you still say what you have told me?" asked Bloodbeard. "Have you thought hard about this? About what such strategy could accomplish? You'd have made your sister's wish come true in every sense of the word and made it last eternal. All you had to do was be a little more…ambitious."
"I'm sorry but I'm not that arrogant," said Lelouch.
"Or that imaginative I do believe," said Bloodbeard. "Did you honestly believe your plan would last forever even if I had never come? There are always those who would wish to rebel, you should know that better than anyone Lelouch of the Rebellion."
"A nice title," said Lelouch.
"Indeed but I like mine better," said Bloodbeard. "God."
"What makes you worthy of the title of God?" asked Lelouch. "What makes you better than all other creatures in the universe?"
"It's not about being better," said Bloodbeard. "It's about a much different matter but we can get to that later. Why don't we just have a nice chat you and I?"
"What could there possibly be between us that we need talk about casually?" asked Lelouch.
"We could ask each other how our friends are doing?" asked Bloodbeard.
"Or we could just kill each other right now," said Lelouch.
"Is every thought in your head about war?" said Bloodbeard with a risen brow. "There's more to life than war and bloodshed."
"Yet those are the things you love the most aren't they?" said Lelouch.
"No more than anyone else," said Bloodbeard. "Look at today's media. So violent and cruel that even children develop a taste for it. Humanity is a race destined to march towards self-destruction."
"And you're just helping them along aren't you?" said Lelouch.
"Aren't we all helping them along?" said Bloodbeard. "Even those who fight for peace are still technically fighting and even non-violence brings out violent tendencies in those who are violent. As I said before I am what must happen and I am the one who will destroy the world. I am destruction."
"But you said I am what is necessary, what is needed to happen and mankind needs to survive," said Lelouch.
"But why?" asked Bloodbeard. "Answer me that God-King."
"What?" asked Lelouch.
"Why does mankind need to survive?" said Bloodbeard. "What great purpose do they serve? What has the current God done to answer this century's old question? What do you believe is the answer? Why do you deem their survival necessary? What if what is needed is what must happen? What if your true goal is not the give them a tomorrow where they live but the ultimate tomorrow where their boatmen comes to collect them? After all, you who asked God for the future, who are you to stand in the way of the ultimate future of all men? Who are you to stand in the way of Death?"
Bloodbeard's words caught Lelouch's tongue slightly.
"No answer," said Bloodbeard. "I thought so. The future you ask for, as Schneizel had said, would be worse than the present and given the dark urges and desires of man, human extinction was inevitable whether Zero Requiem succeeded or not, whether I came from my stupor or if I remained cursed until the day the sun died. Your request and your short sightedness have done nothing."
Lelouch said nothing but held his ground. The world around the two of them began to turn again and Lelouch and Bloodbeard at next to each other a lush opera house, sitting in the balcony with the angels. Lelouch immediately deduced that this new realm was Bloodbeard's Hall of Memory. On the stage the young Mordred grew from a disciplined and harshly trained youth to a deadly and sadistically happy young man.
"I have the strength of ten men mother why do I continue to train with these rats?" young Mordred complained to his mother Morgan on the throne.
"Your father is not called the Lord of Battle for nothing Mordred," said Morgan. "He's fought and bested all my soldiers and plots and if you are not ready you will be cut down like a pathetic weed."
Mordred sliced the head of an opponent who charged at him without even the slightest bit of stressful effort.
"If you are trying to frighten my mother then you are most foolish in thinking it would work," said Mordred. "Arthur is aging and I am still young. I could sneak into his palace and slit his throat with my knife."
"That would never work," said Morgan. "Have your studies in strategy been so lax? Have you forgotten my plan? You will do as I say and go along as I have planned until Arthur is dead and his throne is mine."
"Wouldn't that be my throne seeing as Guinevere has not borne Arthur a swaddling whelp?" said Mordred. "Would I not be King of England then and…not you?"
Morgan stepped down and slapped her son across his face.
"You forget to whom you speak," she said.
"I never forget mother/aunt," said Mordred. "Nor have I forgotten my father/uncle Arthur who is your brother/lover and king/enemy."
Morgan slapped him again.
"I am your queen first and foremost and you are my tool and champion before my son," said Morgan. "When I deem it time you will be crowned king but before that I intend to have a long rule for myself. Now back to your training whelp."
Lelouch saw the hatred and contempt in Mordred's eyes and saw the Geass flair in Morgan's. He forced her son/champion/tool to kneel before her feet and hiss her toes as a sign of his subjugation.
"Isn't a mother's love beautiful," said the current form of Mordred.
"Is this justification for you evil then?" asked Lelouch. "A harsh childhood?"
"No, I have not justification because there is nothing to justify," said Bloodbeard. "I am what I am, a creature of both nature and nurture. Born of an unholy coupling and raised to be a fierce dictator and for that I give no apology. Does a bear or a lion apologize for being the most fearsome of killers? Does the hurricane apologize for its awesome destructive power? And what of man for the invention of weapons, war, and hatred? Where is their apology?"
"Is that why you wish to wipe out all current life?" asked Lelouch. "To clean the slate as the God of the Old Testament did? Or to create your own world where your actions are not so frowned upon and you are a welcome member in a world of others like you? No different than what my father had planned. The wheel turns and nothing is original. I can't believe I had a fear of you for now I see you as what you are. A pathetic being who believes himself to be worthy of Godhood and this attempt you're making to dissuade me from stopping you is also pathetic."
"I seek neither to dissuade nor to recruit you," said Bloodbeard. "I'm here to destroy you."
"And yet you haven't made a move against me," said Lelouch.
"There are is more than one way to skin a cat," said Bloodbeard. "I don't need to slam a stone into your head like Cain did to poor Able to destroy you. I can do it in any way I please."
"Then why haven't you?" asked Lelouch. "Surely you want revenge for my publicly humiliating you. Showing the world you are not as invincible as you have claimed to be."
"Revenge is a fool's game," laughed Bloodbeard. "But in the end aren't we all fools?"
"If you're going to kill me…"
"Destroy you," said Bloodbeard. "Any idiot can go and kill someone but it takes true talent to destroy someone. True…fire and hatred like I have with you. The God-King, my only real threat, and the continuation of the line of Arthur. I want to destroy everything you love and cherish. To burn down your dreams and your hopes. To have your heart in my hand and crush it. If you want to stop fighting me now I can respect that and just let you get blasted out of existence along with the rest of your sheepish flock."
"Do you honestly think I'm going to let you threaten me?" hissed Lelouch. "I am the Man who works Miracles."
"And I am the Man who commits Atrocities," hissed Bloodbeard. "Don't think you're better than me. I am better."
"At?" asked Lelouch.
"Everything," said Bloodbeard.
"Then explain why in the real world you are missing an arm," said Lelouch smugly.
Bloodbeard let out a deep resonating growl as Lelouch looked down on him. He inhaled a deep breath and gave a snake's smile.
"Why don't we change the subject?" said Bloodbeard. "How are the Black Knights? Kallen and Nunnally have been on my mind for some time now. She's becoming quite a woman your little sister. I can't wait to see what she looks like with full breasts. I bet she'll be larger than Kallen. Maybe I'll keep her alive in my tower while I do my business. If that's happens can I call you brother-in-law?"
Lelouch tried to think of another subject other than Nunnally.
"Why would you be thinking about…?"
Lelouch thought hard about chess.
"Chess?" asked Bloodbeard.
Lelouch's heart froze.
"You're still an Infected Lelouch," said Bloodbeard. "I can get inside your head and although you're slamming the door on me I have a shoe in the doorway. Now why wouldn't you, a guy who practically keeps his sister so close to him it's a crime against nature, be thinking about her when I mention her name?"
Lelouch continued to think about chess.
"Is there something you don't want me to know about her?" asked Bloodbeard.
Chess, chess, pawns, rooks, and kings.
"I've never liked chess," said Bloodbeard. "Too orderly for my taste. All black and white and no grey in the mix. And the fact that you go after the king when I would rather go after a queen any day of the week. Nunnally's a fine queen and is a hell of a lot better than Marie Antoinette, although she was a great party girl and made a great mess. I wonder if Nunnally would make a great mess."
Mess, chess, stress, and bless. Lelouch tossed around words.
"Oh is she a lesbian?" asked Bloodbeard. "Is that it? She's a lesbian and you're keeping her in the closet because society is so narrow-minded and self-righteous they will never accept a love that is as beautiful as love of the opposite sex and punish her for it? No, I don't think that's it at all, well maybe because she hasn't really experimented yet. I guessed that by her shyness when I stripped her nude."
Lelouch strained his mind finding different subjects to think about and the Hall of Bloodbeard gave way to the Hall of Lelouch and a soft voice was heard.
"Lulu," said the voice.
Bloodbeard and Lelouch's attentions turned to the pit in the coliseum. Lelouch's eyes widened and his heart broke as he saw the past image of himself holding the dying Shirley in his arms.
"I order you to live," Lelouch's past self-cried to try and save Shirley's life as the tears ran from his eyes like liquid Mercury.
"Oh, this is interesting," said Bloodbeard maniacally.
Lelouch ignored him and watched Shirley die for the second time and the pain was just as hot and stabbing. He listened to her sweet, weakening voice, promise that no matter how many times she dies and is reborn she will always love him and be true to him. He felt himself come closer to his past self as Shirley's strength continued to leave her. He heard her whisper for a second time about how it seemed that the whole world was lying to her. Heard how sad and frightened she sounded when she mentioned the false teacher and how her friends had no memories to share with her. He saw how her eyes were watering with fear and suffering as the blood continued to pour out of her like a fountain.
"Shirley," he cried. "I'm so sorry."
"Lulu," her voice called.
Lelouch looked up and saw her looking at him. He looked deep into Shirley's eyes, his own quivering in fear, sadness, and disbelief.
"Shirley," he whispered fearfully.
"How…how could you…betray me?" she cried.
No blade, bullet, or bite could ever match the pain those words forced Lelouch to feel.
"I loved you and you killed me," she cried. "Why? What did I do to you that you would hate me so much for it?"
"No…no Shirley please…"
"You…you murdered my father," she cried accusingly.
"No…no Shirley it was an accident," he cried. "I'd never hurt you Shirley. I'd never do anything to bring you pain or suffering. I…I loved you…I loved you so much."
"Then why didn't you save me?" she yelled. "Why did you let me die and then betray me for…Kallen?"
Lelouch froze when Shirley mentioned Kallen's name.
"No," he said. "You're not real."
"Now you're denying that I even existed," she yelled. "How could I ever have let myself fall in love with a monster like you?"
A monster? The phrase rang in Lelouch's mind as loudly as the bells of Notre Dame. Shirley had called him a monster. The first love of his life had called him a monster.
"I was true to you," she cried. "And you repaid me with lies and pain and suffering. Why?"
"I…I was fighting a world of lies and tyranny," he cried. "I…I was trying to make the world peaceful for Nunnally, for our friends, and for you as well Shirley. I wanted to you be happy."
"Then why did you let Rolo kill me?" she yelled.
"I…I wanted to kill him," yelled Lelouch, his heart aching as if a nail was driven into it. "I wanted to slaughter him and hold his cold lifeless body in my hands for what he did to you and slaughtered the Geass Cult for you."
"You…you slaughtered in my name?" Shirley cried. "How could you?"
Lelouch realized the error of his words.
"You used me as an excuse for you evil," Shirley yelled. "Monster, villain, demon."
Shirley's cursing hurt more than any other curse laid on him because it came from her mouth and in her voice.
"Please," he whimpered. "You only ever said kind words. You were kind and sweet and pure and I loved that about you more than anything else."
"Then why Lulu…why did you do this to me?" she cried.
Lelouch broke down, his throat aching in pain, and the misery of the conversation tearing his soul. He curled up like a wounded bird as Shirley continued to cry and curse him and Bloodbeard loomed over him.

M.M stumbled over and fell as the Collective thundered above. Alerted by M.M's fall the Black Knights huddled around him and Cornelia knelt close.
"What's wrong?" she whispered, her Geass instantly activating.
"The…the God-King," he whispered.
Kallen heard Lelouch's title escape the wizard's mouth and knelt down closer.
"What's wrong with Lelouch?" she asked.
"The…the God-King converses with the Beast and the Beast has struck a blow," M.M gasped.
The fright that went through the hearts of the knights was greatest in those who loved Lelouch most out of the group.
"Is he alright?" asked Nunnally, frightened enough by the fact that she would be holder of the Eternity Chalice.
"Despair," M.M whispered. "The God-King despairs and despair will lead to weakness and weakness to corruption and corruption is the power of the Beast."
"What the hell is he talking about?" yelled Tamaki.
"It means Lelouch is in trouble," said Tohdoh. "And judging from the way the Collective is acting it's deadly serious."
"And it's definitely affecting M.M," said Cornelia as she elevated the wizard's head onto her lap.
"There has to be something we can do," said Ohgi.
"I'm a scientist not a magician," said Lloyd. "We can't just say a few magic words and suddenly be at our would-be leader's side to assess the situation."
"M.M could but as the princess said he's obviously very badly affected by what's happening," said Rakshata.
"Maybe it'll pass and Lelouch will be alright," Kaguya suggested.
"I sincerely doubt that," said Tohdoh. "Lelouch was in such a bad state of despair when he came back that he was engaging in self destructive behavior. If he's in such a state of despair now Bloodbeard will have exceptional power of him, especially now that he's an Infected."
Kallen's rage and worry were rising quickly. Rage over the thought of Bloodbeard tormenting her love even more and worry over Lelouch's health and person.
"M.M is there any way you can get even one of us to Lelouch's side to help him?" she asked.
"This…discussion is for the God-King to face alone," said M.M. "Lelouch must rise and face his demons."
"But Lelouch is such a tormented soul," said Ohgi. "How can he face his demons alone? He needs someone to help him. Someone who would understand his pain better than anyone else."
"We need Suzaku," said Tohdoh. "He and Lelouch have a strong connection. They're practically reflections of each other. If anyone could understand Lelouch it would be Suzaku."
"Except we don't know where he is," said Chiba.
"Or how he can begin to help his majesty," said Jeremiah.
M.M slowly began to rise from his place on Cornelia's lap but the princess tried to keep him down.
"For once don't vanish and do whatever it is you do," said Cornelia. "You're in terrible shape."
"The God-King will be in worse if I do not reach Kururugi," said M.M. "He will not return unless it is with Lelouch at his side and thus I must go to him."
Before Cornelia could protest the wizard vanished, leaving the Black Knights alone in the place as the Collective thundered above them. Kallen felt her heart skip a beat as she was left silently praying Lelouch would return to her.

The storm of the Collective had Suzaku on edge. His immediate thought was his friend's wellbeing and he began to question if he should risk the lake as he was willing to do before. Believing his friendship with Lelouch was worth the risk he activated his Geass, ready to fight whatever sea demon came his way when the wizard appeared and fell before him.
"M.M?" said Suzaku. "What are you doing here?"
The wizard seemed to be struggling to stand something Suzaku had not seen the wizard have difficulty with before. He rushed over to the wizard and helped him to his feet.
"What's wrong with the Collective?" asked Suzaku.
"Lelouch is in grave peril," said M.M. "He is in the depths of despair with his enemy's hands ready to wrap around his throat."
Suzaku gasped in surprise before scowling angrily.
"No more tricks or riddles," said Suzaku. "How do I help my friend M.M?"
"Of all who have love and fought with Lelouch VI Britannia you are considered to be one who understands him better than others," said M.M. "In a world where only Lelouch can walk save for the Beast how would you reach him to save him from despair and utter damnation. What could possibly save a man who suffers so fiercely? Who can offer his forgiveness to others but not to himself?"
Suzaku was puzzled by the wizard's words. He had never been good at word puzzles or strategy. He was no philosopher either and his skill was always with the blade and never with the pen. There was also the tormented nature of Lelouch's soul. Such a deep and terrible pain Suzaku understood all too well when he lost…
The idea suddenly sprang into his mind. It was a long shot but if it worked he would be saving two of the people he loved most in the world.
"Euphie," said Suzaku.
"Excuse me?" asked the wizard, his weariness taking its toll.
"Bloodbeard's connection to his Infected is a psychic link," said Suzaku. "You said that where Lelouch is thought and flesh aren't as different as they are on earth then maybe you can have Euphie appear to Lelouch through Bloodbeard. Have her bring to Lelouch what she brings to everyone who has ever known her. Have her bring hope."
"Hope?" said the wizard. "Yes…there has been little hope. And there has been no Infected that has ever tried to use the connection on their master."
"But Euphie isn't a true Infected," said Suzaku. "She was forced and she still has her free will and her soul is still pure."
"And you truly believe such a feat will work?" asked M.M.
"One of Lelouch's greatest pains was what he was forced to do to Euphie," said Suzaku. "If she comes to him she will be allowed into his heart."
"But you forget that Bloodbeard will still be there," said M.M. "Would you risk your beloved into the hands of her murderer and your best friend?"
Suzaku grimaced at the obvious test. A true test of forgiveness in trusting Euphie to be protected by the man who cursed and killed her.
"I…I would," said Suzaku. "Lelouch will not and would never willingly hurt Euphie. He will keep her safe from Bloodbeard's wrath."
"Do you realize that such a strategy would risk both of them to oblivion?" asked M.M.
Losing them both again? Such a thing would drive Suzaku to suicide despite the damning command that Lelouch gave him.
"I…I won't lose them," said Suzaku. "Lelouch will win when blessed by the Angel of Britannia herself. I have no doubt in either of them. I have faith in Euphie and I have faith in Lelouch. So do it wizard no matter what…no matter what happens do it so that I can keep my promise to both of them. My promise to Euphie that I would be with her and the one I made silently for Lelouch, to make the world better for him to live in. Do it wizard. Do it."
The wizard saw the determined, albeit somewhat painful, gleam in Suzaku's eyes.
"Very well," said M.M.

Lelouch tried to block out the sounds of Shirley's cries and curses but they refused to be ignored to blatantly. Bloodbeard stood next to the agonizing Lelouch chuckling deeply.
"Like Ophelia died with her unrequired love for Hamlet burning so maddeningly in her heart so dies Shirley," he said. "Made to look as if she died offending God with her final breath. Suicide…I wondered if she really would have killed herself when she saw you with another woman on your arm."
Lelouch merely wept over the still cursing Shirley.
"You know Lelouch we're a lot alike," said Bloodbeard. "We both had kings for fathers and we both rebelled against them and in our rebellion so many innocent lives were lost and ruined either intentionally or unintentionally. Of course I never made any attachments and thus felt nothing. But poor little Shirley, a sweet pure flower, trampled by your colossal war machine, and now she is damned for it."
Lelouch looked at Bloodbeard through the corner of his eye, filled with sadness, rage, and contempt.
"Oh it's never easy seeing a loved one die," said Bloodbeard. "I can see the dream you had not too long ago. A city in ruins, your dearest love dying naked in the street with her belly heavy with a child, and my own face on your body. I can feel the pain you suffered. I can hear the cursing of Kallen's dying voice. I am going to kill her Lelouch. Her, Cornelia, Suzaku, Milly, Rivalz, and all the others. I could make sure you live through all of their deaths. I could make you feel more alone in the world than ever before. There's no need to suffer such pain. Just give in and you won't feel anything ever again. Just let me in and I'll take care of everything."
He placed his hands on Lelouch's shoulder and knelt down next to him. He brought his lips close to Lelouch's ear and whispered.
"Just let me in and you won't even care about Shirley, Kallen, or any of them again," he whispered.
Lelouch struck Bloodbeard in the jaw.
"Unhappy?" he asked with a chuckle.
Lelouch grabbed his enemy by the collar of his clothes and bashed his own head into that of his foe and with his hands he sought to strangle his enemy.
"Shut up," Lelouch yelled.
"I will not be told a command ever again," growled Bloodbeard, grabbing Lelouch by the neck. "I have been the slave of mother, father, and fate too long. I decide what happens to the universe when I'm in charge and what I do won't be for mom or for dad or because fate demands it but because I demand it."
No other reason but his selfishness.
"Just like my father," hissed Lelouch. "The wheel turns and nothing is original."
"Oh I can be original," laughed Bloodbeard. "I can be very original."
He threw Lelouch down and as Lelouch recovered he saw nothing.
"Bloodbeard," he yelled. "Where are you? You coward."
"You'll find cowards live longer than heroes," said Bloodbeard.
Lelouch searched around and was caught by surprise to meet Bloodbeard's fist. He fell down and deep into the darkness. The floor of the realm giving way to a drop to a ruined city with nothing in its limits but despair.

"He said what?" asked Cornelia in a less than happy voice.
"You cannot disagree that she is perfect," said M.M. "Euphemia has always been an avatar for hope. I have known that without ever knowing her for many years. And this brief front of defense Lelouch has placed is weak. The despair and anguish is still deep within his heart. So deep it might never be removed but it can be joined by hope."
"But what about the risk to Euphie?" asked Nunnally.
"A sacrifice…"
"Don't you even start with sacrifice," yelled Cornelia.
"And yet without sacrifice there cannot be victory," said M.M. "You should understand that better than most."
Cornelia was taken aback by M.M's words, how cold and lecturing they were, and how correct they were.
The other Black Knights at the Round Table were not as affected by M.M's news of Suzaku's advice as Cornelia was but they did take some affect.
"So our best chance at giving Lelouch a hand while he's up doing god knows what along with Bloodbeard and the big guy himself is a cursed pink fairy princess is that it?" asked Tamaki.
"It looks like that," said Guilford.
"But can it be done?" asked Xinke. "Can you really use Bloodbeard's own connection to his Infected against him?"
"Those who have accepted the corruption lose their minds and their souls but Euphemia has lost neither and thus the possibility does exist," said M.M. "And the Collective will no doubt help but Bloodbeard will try and interfere and therein lies the risk but…"
"But what?" yelled Cornelia.
"This risk is worth it if the God-King is to be reborn and rise against the coming evil," said M.M.
"Reborn?" asked Chiba.
"But that would mean Lelouch is…"
Kallen couldn't try and finish her sentence.
"If this gambit works he will return," said M.M. "However there has been a significant change in him."
"What do you mean?" asked Kaguya.
"His invincibility has been blown away," said M.M.
"His invincibility?" asked Tohdoh. "Do you mean his Code?"
"Yes, the backlash from his fight with Bloodbeard cost him his scabbard," said M.M.
"His scabbard?" said Viletta.
"The legends of Arthur speak of a scabbard that would keep him from spilling blood," said M.M. "That invulnerability combined with his powerful combative skill made him invincible in the eyes of men. Earning him the title as the God of Battle. But Arthur lost that glory and gave it to his son in an act of punishment that held no small amount of misplaced love. And now like his predecessor Arthur, Lelouch has lost his scabbard in a battle with Mordred and suffered a crucial wound and like Arthur has gone to be healed. Now, if there are no more words on the subject I must go to work with the sleeping princess."
"How can you even set up such a thing?" asked Kallen. "What about Euphemia's subconscious? How do you know if she will be able or willing to do what you plan?"
"I do not know," said M.M. "Her mind may be in a state of despair and disorder of her own and the plan may fail. I lie not when I say that there is a deadly margin of error in this plan. But I fear there is no choice for us if the God-King falls further and further into the darkness."
M.M left without another word leaving a nervous air in the room. Cornelia's brow furrowed and her stomach ached with fright. She feared that she was going to lose both Lelouch and Euphemia again and with Nunnally being the holder of the Eternity Chalice there was a deep and residing fear in her heart that she would be unable to protect her from the might of the deranged Bloodbeard.
Kallen looked through the high windows of the hall and saw the thundering cloud of the Collective, knowing that somewhere in there Lelouch was battling with Bloodbeard, enduring god knows what else. She wondered if she was going to be made a widow before she ever had the hope of being a bride. That the conflict would forever engulf any hope she had of her and Lelouch laying together in the marriage bed with the flowers of a peaceful spring decorating their mattress. Of her and Lelouch becoming the mother and father of playful and happy children who would never know of pain, or suffering, or war. Of fading away together like binary stars who danced and hugged each other so gracefully and joyfully that their passions burnt away in a blazing ballet of cosmic beauty. She recalled the statue of Arthur and how it looked so much like Lelouch and remembered the story of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. She wondered if Guinevere and Arthur had any true love between them before Lancelot came in. Did the old queen feel nothing for Arthur or was the choice to love Lancelot painful and the choice of betraying Arthur painful as well. How was she like Queen Guinevere? How did her relationship with Lelouch reflect Guinevere's relationship with Arthur? She had betrayed him to his knight yes, but not in a romantic sense, and looking at the current drama set forth on the stage of her life there was the damnable triangle of love between her, Lelouch, and Gino.
Alas poor Gino, who although he betrayed their company Kallen felt a sense of pity towards him. She could not blame him for falling in love and thought of all the times he had tried to court her. Relentlessly he tried to be there for her when depression was rising within her like a disease and when Lelouch returned to her hounded by a demon and saved her from demise…how could Gino possibly compete with him? How could he compete with a man who had now become almost a god? And it was not because Lelouch was more god than man that Kallen loved him. It was because he had come to her land in a time of desperate need and with the Excalibur that was his tongue and the lightning of his words and passions he fought away the darkness just like Arthur before he. But this was not the sole reason. Once his mask was torn away she saw two men, both of whom she didn't understand. One the mysterious rogue and the other the dark prince and yet she found herself more and more putting the two together in her mind. When she came in his darkest hour, broken and longing for the bliss of the drug Refrain, he dared to take her to his bed and she became so tempted to comfort him as he asked but she struck out, not having fallen in love with a pathetic drug user but with a fearsome warrior who stood gallant and brave and strong and after he tearful cries he was returned to her. She began to grow closer and closer to him ever since and even when she was snatched away he cried out a promise to rescue her and his promise gave her hope and courage as she was tied and bound and tossed into a cold dark cell and even when her accommodations had been made more comfortable she still felt the claustrophobia of the prison walls and the sinister eyes of her captors on her and the promise was all that kept her strong save for the words of his sister who told of his gentler side and perhaps there, while locked and bound, she discovered the truth of her feelings even as he later pushed her away and stoned out his heart. She loved Lelouch VI Britannia.
A warm and comforting smile graced her lips as a tear slowly rolled down her cheek.
"I love you," she whispered up into the cloud of the Gods.
The wizard, not entirely leaving the room, heard this and hummed in thought.
"I wonder," he whispered.
The idea of using Euphemia's connection to contact Lelouch was one he felt could indeed work but he questioned if the princess was enough. He began to think on the situation and on the past. Love was something the wizard had never been good at. Always something so painful and yet so delightful. So hellish and yet so heavenly in its nature. He had loved before in his long gone, almost forgotten youth, and felt the pain of her loss. He loved again and again over the centuries and felt the loneliness and suffering felt when his love clashed with his duties. And Arthur, poor Arthur, whom he had loved like a son and mentored from the cradle more than he had done with any other would-be hero under his tutelage, had been brought to ruin by love. He loved Guinevere and Lancelot and they hurt him. He loved Morgan and she bore his greatest threat who now threatened his heir. M.M had also loved at that time and was left in a deep sleep, unable to save Arthur or the dream the past God-King had enchanted everyone, even the wizard, to believe.
A lunacy he often called the phenomena of love but aren't the most extraordinary people in the universe lunatics in the eyes of men?
"It could work," he whispered.
He returned fully to the room, having no time for the questions of the likes of Tohdoh, Tamaki, and Xinke, and instead went straight to Kallen.
"Do you love him?" he asked her.
Kallen was surprised by his question but immediately responded, "Yes."
"Then come with me," he said. "You may be able to help me."
Before Kallen could respond M.M wrapped her in his cloak and vanished.
"I really hate it when he does that," said Tamaki.

Lelouch stood up and smelled the familiar stench of blood, gunpowder, and war. The city was a corpse of what it must have once been. Ruined by bullets, bombs, bayonets, tanks, and the marching of soldiers. The chill of the area along with the particular architecture and scraps of language on the signs of the buildings that made a few familiar characters.
"Shinjuku," said Lelouch.
"Reminds me a bit of Stalingrad," said Bloodbeard.
"One of the bloodiest battles of World War Two. I can see it," said Lelouch. "Let me take a wild guess and say that you were on the side of the Nazis."
"I was one of the best SS officers in the whole of the Third Reich," said Bloodbeard. "I marched, shot, stabbed, and herded better than most others."
"You worked in the Concentration Camps?" said Lelouch.
"A fine machine of destruction and genocide," said Bloodbeard. "Efficient as clockwork and effective as hell. A very nice recreation of hell really. Especially Auschwitz and I even worked in the Work Camps in Russia. Ask me how I got out of the Nuremberg trials?"
"How did you get out of the trials?" Lelouch asked, annoyed.
"Being alive for a certain amount of centuries you have a lot of time to amass a large fortune which helps when you want to make steep bribes," said Bloodbeard. "Amass a large fortune; organize international crime syndicates, and all the necessary connections to bring them together if I ever had the motivation to do so."
"So you had the makings of the UFD ready for years haven't you?" asked Lelouch.
"All I lacked was the title and when you came up with UFN, United Federation of Nations, I was inspired," said Bloodbeard. "If you had never become Zero I would never have found out that the God-King had been born again. All the blood on my hands is on yours as well."
"Then I'll be next to you on the chopping block," growled Lelouch.
"And what about dear Kallen?" chuckled Bloodbeard.
Lelouch charged and struck Bloodbeard across the jaw but the villain laughed it off.
"Oh look…we're not in Russia anymore," he laughed.
Lelouch looked around and saw familiar sights. Cornelia, Suzaku, Euphie, Tohdoh, Ohgi, and…Kallen were all lying dead like in the dream.
"It's not real," he said. "None of this is real."
Kallen coughed up blood and the movements of her pregnant belly suggested she was giving birth. Lelouch, his rational mind losing to his terror, began to run to her but Bloodbeard held him back and forced Lelouch to watch as Kallen painfully gave birth to his child, Lelouch's child, born in the era of Bloodbeard.
He heard her painful cries of agony, ten times worse than the cries of any he had heard before, and watched as he wounds and fluids tore and poured.
"Lelouch, help me," she cried out.
Lelouch struggled against Bloodbeard but the villain's grip was like iron and Lelouch's left eye was held open when he tried to look away.
"The miracle of life," laughed Bloodbeard. "A miracle you could never pull off but one I will be able to do without even thinking twice about it."
Lelouch's attention was only on Kallen.
"The Tower, the Cup, they are only the tools for obtaining my truest weapon," said Bloodbeard. "A weapon more powerful than the Catapult, the Atom Bomb, the FLEJA, and even the Geass combined."
Kallen continued to cry out and plead for Lelouch to come to her and the cries of a baby were joining her cries.
"My greatest weapon," Bloodbeard continued to whisper in Lelouch's ear, "is the Collective Unconscious of God itself."
Lelouch watched in horror as he saw Kallen and the baby struggle madly whilst one died and the other struggled to be born.
"I'll remake the universe as many times as I want," said Bloodbeard. "In whatever way I imagine. I could make a gentle world or I could make a world of barbarians. I could create a world where there is nothing but darkness and life is fed by darkness and the light is a cancer. I could do anything and everything I thought of and God would be my slave. I could even recreate you and your friends and kill you only to recreate you again."
Kallen groaned agonizingly before finally…she stopped…and died. Died with the baby halfway born and crying for salvation. And as he heard the cries of his one and only child Lelouch became a limp doll in Bloodbeard's arms.
"Don't try and rationalize it," Bloodbeard whispered. "I can feel everything about you. We're more intimate than lovers right now. Although…there is one thing you are still trying to hide from me. I'll find out."
Lelouch didn't respond. He only listened to the dying cries of his and Kallen's baby as the world turned to ask and the sky turned to fire.
"Why are you doing this?" Lelouch finally said.
"Why?" said Bloodbeard. "Is a reason truly necessary? Is there a justification for burning an entire world and making a new one? Can you answer that Lelouch? After all you sought the same thing I seek. The power to change the world. You understand that destruction always comes before creation and that you must first destroy a world to create one. I am only doing it in the most literal and most permanent of senses. Sure you became emperor and 'remade' the world but even if I never came along it never would have lasted. It would only have been a matter of time before some other lunatic in a costume, driven mad by a mad world, came and ruined everything either for some ridiculous cause that would never mean anything in the tomes of history or because he just wants to. But if you had gone further, made the real sacrifices, and fought the real battles, and became God, imagine the world you could have made not just a world for Nunnally but an entire universe, a multiverse even. But you didn't and to that I ask you why?"
Lelouch, still reeling from the sights of his beloved and his baby dying, actually tried to think about such a terrible question.
"Going that extra mile is worth it," said Bloodbeard. "Being lord of all creation. But to answer your earlier question, giving you time to find your answer, and let me tell you my friend…I'm doing what I'm doing just because I want to."
Lelouch looked at Bloodbeard's demented face and could feel his sinister thoughts clawing at his own soul, if he ever had one, and felt agonizing bile rise in this throat.
"You see, we are the slaves of the wheel of fate and I don't like that," said Bloodbeard. "Father was fated to be king, mother was fated to be his enemy, and I was fated to be the destroyer of Camelot on the orders of my mother. That's another thing, parents just suck, and I'm sure you'd agree with me. Mom always giving me orders, turning me into her little tin soldier, and of course Dad's little curse that was a living hell to a man like me. It was actually after that little incident, a few decades later, that I got this idea in my head. Mother wanted to use the Eternity Chalice to rule Britannia because she believed Arthur stole her destiny. She wanted to bring about a plague that would cripple the world into submission and mentioned that my Geass would have helped her but then I came up with my plan. Corrupt God and destroy the world's laws of physics and fate, of course that would run the risk of tearing realty asunder but I believed if it's for my dream to come true what the hell."
Lelouch thought he saw something moving from where Kallen lay naked and dead. Was his baby alive?
"Hope is the worst kind of torture really," said Bloodbeard, following Lelouch's gaze. "Despair wouldn't be as bad as it is without hope. Because hope can always be false but despair is always true. Here, let me show you."
Bloodbeard tossed Lelouch onto Kallen's naked and bloody corpse and saw crawling from her vagina was a bloody creature moaning in agony, stuck between the world it had known for nine months and the world it would grow in for years to come. Lelouch, his stomach and heart aching, dared to investigate. He spread Kallen's legs and helped the baby out, its screams of pain matching his internal screams of torment until the deformed creature was free from its deceased mother. The baby cried softly in Lelouch's arms, its father's arms, as Lelouch cried in misery. He dared to look at the child that would have held some of Kallen's beauty in its eyes but when he brought the child down from his embrace…there was no beauty to be found.
The baby hissed and screeched with fangs and jaws befitting a monster. It squirmed and scratched at Lelouch, who was frozen in fear and panic.
"Congratulations," said Bloodbeard, looking down on the dead mother, the frightened father, and the demon child. "It's a boy."
Lelouch looked at the horror that he held in his arms, born from the womb of his Ace of Heaven, and could find none of Kallen's beauty or grace in the babe. He could not throw it away nor could he continue to stand holding the child.
"Here let me take care of that for you," said Bloodbeard.
He pulled out a gun from his costume and shot away the demon child of Lelouch and Kallen. Lelouch froze in shock and in his demented joy Bloodbeard forced Lelouch's head into Kallen's bloody opening.
"How romantic," he laughed.
Lelouch, through Kallen's bloody and torn thighs cried for Bloodbeard to stop and the fiend complied with that plea of mercy and raised his enemy's head, dragging him by the hair, and in a twisted sense of comedy Lelouch's face was just as painted with gore as Bloodbeard's.
"Hey look, we're twins," Bloodbeard laughed.
He threw Lelouch aside and kicked the dead Kallen's body until it was bruised. Lelouch saw this and in a fit of blind rage he charged only to be knocked back to the ground.
"Struggle all you want but here you are my punching bag," Bloodbeard's mental voice whispered while his lips were sealed.
Lelouch felt the pain of his mind being torn by the whispers of the beast's mind.
"So much pain," he whispered with his actual voice. "So much suffering and so much fear over losing the ones you love. I can make it all go away."
Lelouch tried to rise but Bloodbeard kicked him down again.
"All you have to do is give in," said Bloodbeard's thoughts. "Give in and accept my power."
Lelouch needed no riddle book to know what Bloodbeard was talking about. Accept him as the other Infected accepted him. Accept the sinful corruption that made him a devil among demons. Lelouch understood that would make up for Bloodbeard's defeat at the UFN and make him, the God-King, the slave of the Devil and with an Infected as powerful as him there would be almost nothing to stand in Bloodbeard's way as he made his Apocalyptic plans for the world and for…
"Nunnally again," said Bloodbeard, feeling Lelouch's thoughts through their unholy connection. "I know you have this whole sister complex thing with her but after seeing the woman you love give birth to an abomination and die where the hell are your priorities?"
Bloodbeard's sickening laughter echoed in Lelouch's tormented soul and in his shattered mind.
"Unless there is some other reason that you thought of Nunnally," said Bloodbeard. "Brotherly love or…knightly duty?"
Bloodbeard then began to think and the realization struck him like the rock struck Able.
"I'm an idiot," he said. "Of course it would be the crippled little empress. No matter what she suffered she stayed pure and virgin even as family died and lied, as war and death corrupted the world around her, and the loss of her legs. She's perfect for the role. God why didn't I see that and I…I had her in my hands, literally and I didn't know. My God, my god how…ironic. I was seeking the very thing I had in my clutches in that one moment and didn't notice it until it was too late. It's too much; I mean it is just too much, what a sense of humor destiny must have. Have your laughs now you old weavers because I'm calling the shots now. Not you, not mom, not dad, not the goddamn dogma, or the rules of a society that has its fat ass so comfortably set that when the world goes crazy they go in an instant instead of acting like the so called Master Species they so arrogantly think they are. I'm in charge now and I'm going to do what I want."
Nothing but his selfish desires to be in charge, that was what Mordred Pendragon had been fighting for during the untold centuries he'd been alive, cursed never to find satisfaction or excitement in his plots. There was no desire to make the world better for anyone, no redeeming qualities as even Charles and Marianne's plan had, and it was absolutely insane in Lelouch's mind.
"I…wouldn't have," he said.
"What?" asked Bloodbeard, turning his attention to Lelouch.
"I wouldn't have gone that far," said Lelouch, answering Bloodbeard's earlier question.
"Oh really?" laughed Bloodbeard. "But it's the literal definition of what you wanted from the start. The destruction of a cruel and rotting world and from the ashes would rise a utopia better than the paradise of God's own design. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"I wanted a peaceful world for Nunnally. And I've done terrible things to make that dream come true but I needed to draw a line somewhere," said Lelouch. "What you want to do would require something worse than anything I ever did as Zero or as the Demon Emperor. It's the Apocalypse of scripture, you'll destroy all life on Earth and you could destroy all reality itself."
"Worth it if I can finally be what I was always born to be," said Bloodbeard. "The master of my fate and the fate of the universe as I want it to be. So I say screw the cosmos and let's get it on baby. Besides I could do whatever I want with the people who die in my little…remodeling project…so what's the problem?"
"The people you'd create would be nothing more than painted dolls without souls or wills of their own," said Lelouch.
"What makes you think that's not true of the current humanity?" said Bloodbeard. "Philosophers and scientists throughout the centuries have debated the existence of souls and the question of free will's existence and there has never been a single shred of concrete proof. The human race I'd make wouldn't be any different if it was true that souls don't exist and that free will is a shame. It would just be nature, what must happen, and as you have noted before and as all have noted before, destruction always comes before creation. And this plan of mine is not original I understand that but it too is nature. If I am a child born from God's power then I am a son of God and the son always takes what belonged originally to the father and often times the son overthrows the father when the old man just won't give in the ghost and let the newer, better generation take over with new ideas, better ideas, and who is to say that isn't what Lucifer wanted, to do things better because he knew better than God and as punishment was cast out for it even though he had never done anything wrong other than dream of a finer world. You should understand that just as clearly as I do Lelouch. For are you not like Lucifer cast out from the home of the Royals just as Lucifer was cast from Heaven and like Lucifer did you not rule in Hell with those other angels cast away for defying their cruel and ancient master. Answer me this now Lelouch VI Britannia; are we not truly the same man cut off from the same cloth from whence Lucifer's glory was originally carved?"
He picked up Lelouch and looked him completely in the eye, forcing his connection through Lelouch's mind, all defenses first weakened by the images of Kallen's death and the birth of their monstrous child, and Bloodbeard's realization of Nunnally's identity as the Fisher King, and he easily came in and let Lelouch inside his own mind.
"Are…we…not…Lucifer?" both Lelouch and Bloodbeard said in perfect unison as if all their pieces of identity were becoming one.

The Collective stormed again and worse than before and the wizard felt the effects.
"What's wrong?" asked Kallen.
She, the wizard, and the princess were in the same room. A room where only two stone beds were at the center of a circle where letters long forgotten to mortal alphabet and memory were written along the circumference. Kallen and Euphemia were on the stone beds with a hand from the wizard on both of them.
"No questions," said M.M weakly. "This will require all the concentration and power I can muster less we lose Lelouch forever to the evil of Bloodbeard. You will need to concentrate as well. Make fast friends with Euphemia and then with her you must with all the might you can muster concentrate on the connection between her and Bloodbeard. The thundering of the Collective can only mean Bloodbeard is making use of his own connection to Lelouch. There is a possibility Euphemia might be able hold off her dark tormentor but you both must work together to give Lelouch the one thing he needs in order to break free. For if he breaks free and strikes away his enemy's will and influence his body and mind will be cleansed and perhaps, just perhaps the princess herself will also be saved."
"Two birds with one stone," Kallen rationalized. "Pleas hurry, I won't do anything to distract you."
"Thank you," said M.M.
He placed his hands on the crowns of both the ace and the princess, the Collective storming above him, and the Geass of Absolute Possibility flowing through him, strongest in the realm where both he and his power were born.
"Let there be a miracle," he whispered.

The harsh treatments of Morgan's dictatorial motherhood, the judgmental eyes of M.M during his knighthood, and Arthur's final blow running through him, all of these and more from the life of Mordred Pendragon were being experienced by Lelouch whose own experiences were being felt by Mordred or as known better in the twenty first century, Bloodbeard. Even more intense than walking through the mere memories of their lives, the two of them were experiencing each the other's life. Bloodbeard felt the terror of watching Marianne and Nunnally being shot at by unknown gunmen; Lelouch felt the harsh whips of trainers and the uncaring words of Morgan. Lelouch felt the cool and yet almost divine touch of King Arthur's blade as he was knighted Sir Mordred and welcomed with open arms by the man he was destined to slay; Bloodbeard felt the blows from Suzaku on the first meeting at the Kururugi shrine. Bloodbeard ignited a rebellion against Britannia under a wicked king; Lelouch ignited a rebellion against Britannia under a good king.
They were becoming familiar with each other in ways they could never be. Lelouch felt the centuries pass by. He felt the terrible boredom that kept Bloodbeard in a near constant state of inactivity, breaking it only slightly by doing the one thing that seemed to help, defying the laws of man in the most terrible ways. Feeling the rush of sin and the excitement of crime helped slightly. The adrenaline rushing through him as he shot, stabbed, and burned away hundreds of thousands over the years on whatever side of the wars he fought, double crossing each side and setting up connections that lasted for years and grew in power as he continued on. Lelouch saw the deals and plans he made in the shadows while the world wasn't watching but the worst came when Lelouch started off as Zero. He stood in a café watching the televised execution parade of Suzaku Kururugi and the moment Zero appeared on screen the Geass that held Bloodbeard's murderous excitement in slumber finally broke and Lelouch felt the insane amount of joy that rose up in him. He began laughing loudly and inappropriately and with speed that only a psychopath can possess he broke his mug and used it as a knife to slaughter the other patrons and when the police arrived they fell as easily as flies.
"I was so happy when I saw you," Bloodbeard's mental voice cried in. "It was like I had awoken from a dark and dismal dream of melancholy existence. You breathed life into this soulless corpse when you showed up and boy did it feel good to finally feel the thrill of my favorite past time."
"You're nothing but a mad dog," said Lelouch's mental voice.
"Maybe but what are you?" said Bloodbeard.
"I'm…"
"A man who slaughtered the just and the unjust alike using a sweet little thing like Nunnally as an excuse and in the end you damned your own soul to hell when you had the same arrogance as I and commanded God with your Geass," said Bloodbeard.
In the bizarre connection between Lelouch and Bloodbeard their clashing will continued to struggle but as the memories, thoughts, and feelings of Bloodbeard's relentless and ruthless personality continued to knock upon the gates of his mind Lelouch could feel his resistance failing him and his individuality giving way to Bloodbeard's sinister will.
"I can't give in like this," Lelouch mentally cried.
"Why not? No more pain or suffering," said Bloodbeard's thoughts. "Nothing but bliss and ignorance for the rest of your miserable life. No more having to worry about little sister's needs, the constant struggle of upholding your promises and your lies alike will be gone, and you will never have to stress your soul again."

Kallen moved through the misty fields of Euphemia's mind, finding it somewhat barren and dead, unlike what she believed would be the mental realm of someone who seemed so pure. The Euphemia she had always seen was a girl of almost angelic decency and warmth. Although the Massacre of the Registration Zone had somewhat painted a demonic image of the princess in her view. But if she was going to get anywhere with saving Lelouch from the temptations and demonic hold of Bloodbeard, Kallen knew that she was going to have to bury any and all terrible feelings she might have held for the princess who slaughtered her people, even though she knew it was a horrible accident on both her and Lelouch's parts.
She wandered through, trying to focus her gaze through the mist, not sure if her Geass would work in the new world she found herself in. She suddenly heard a female sobbing not too far ahead of her and she ran to investigate. She found princess Euphemia but she was not an easy sight to see. The princess was submerged up to her cleavage in what appeared to be diseased red tar. Acting on pure instinct Kallen went to pull Euphemia up from the tar but the princess yelled before she could get to close.
"No, don't touch it," she yelled. "Whoever you are please run and leave me here or it will take you too."
"Is that…is that the Corruption?" asked Kallen.
Euphie cried and nodded in response.
"It's trying to pull me down," she said. "To force me into the bliss of darkness and thoughtless savagery. To become a monster in the service of…him."
"Bloodbeard," said Kallen.
"He's always whispering and…punishing me," said Euphie.
"Because you refused to be his pawn," said Kallen.
Euphie nodded in agreement.
"Have you ever tried reaching out to him like he does to you?" asked Kallen.
"I don't want anything to do with that monster," yelled Euphie. "Whenever he's silent is the only time I can have anything close to peace although I am never at peace. This place in my mind was once green and sunny. A field of green grass and lilies, just like what I've dream of lying in with the man I love, Suzaku Kururugi."
Euphie sighed miserably and shed a tear in misery. Kallen understood the princess's pain.
"I know Suzaku," said Kallen. "He's a…friend of mine."
Kallen still didn't entirely forgive him for betraying Japan and killing Lelouch.
"Is he alright?" Euphie asked frantically. "That demon mocked me saying Suzaku was dead."
"No," said Kallen, although she didn't know Suzaku's current situation. "He's alive and so is Lelouch."
"Lelouch?" asked Euphie. "Thank goodness."
"You…don't hate him for what he did to you?" asked Kallen.
"No, of course not," said Euphie kindly. "I know Lelouch would never do anything to willingly hurt me. No matter what hurts him, deep down there is a kind and gentle soul in Lelouch. Others might not see it but I do."
Euphie managed to gain a deep look into Kallen's eyes and smiled.
"You can see it too can't you?" she asked.
Kallen gasped slightly at Euphie's quick deduction at her feelings but her crimson blush and shy little smile answered the princess's question. Euphemia giggled happily even though she was half submerged in unholy corruption.
"I love him," said Kallen. "And I need your help to save him."
"What?" asked Euphie.
"Bloodbeard has cursed him just like he's cursed you but he's…he's somewhere where he can try and cure himself but he's losing and he needs something to give him the motivation he needs to win," said Kallen. "Bloodbeard is using all of his guilt and torment to try and destroy him."
"But…but what can I do?" asked Euphie. "Please tell me, I'll do anything."
"M.M, a wizard who is trying to help us, thinks we can use your connection to Bloodbeard to try and get a message to Lelouch," said Kallen.
"But…but you have no idea of what it's like," cried Euphie. "This…this damnation I'm trapped in is worse than any pain I've ever suffered on Earth and I don't know if I have the strength to resist it anymore. I can feel my individuality and humanity slowly being eaten away. If that happens I'll be a monster and Suzaku would never love a monster."
"I think that's what he's afraid of too," said Kallen.
Euphie gasped in confusion and looked with doe-like eyes at the girl before her.
"I haven't talked to him much in recent days but I believe I know what he fears most," said Kallen. "He's afraid you'll reject him because of who he became after your…death. Cold and unfeeling with his only motivation being the murder of Lelouch. Surely that monster told you such things."
"I refused to listen to him," cried Euphie. "I can't stand the thought of Suzaku being anything but the kind and gentle soul I fell in love with. I would give anything to be free of this horror and be with him again."
"Please help me and perhaps we can save you as well," said Kallen. "The wizard actually said that was a possibility."
"Really?" asked Euphie, her hopes rising. "I could actually be free of this horror."
Kallen smiled and nodded in positive response. Euphie smiled as well before her face became serious.
"I'll do whatever I can," said Euphie. "Come in and hold onto me and if…if I fail…"
"Just don't think about it," said Kallen as she dipped herself into the red ooze with the princess. She wrapped her arms around Euphemia's body and the two slowly began to sink.

Every trace of individuality began to tear away from Lelouch's psyche. He felt his body began to twist and contort as he made every attempt to try and resist Bloodbeard's influence but the resistance was proving to be futile.
Lelouch could feel the tickle of blood running down his throat as he felt the same sensation Bloodbeard felt when he first committed the taboo of cannibalism himself. He was lost in the woods as a young man with another. A fellow soldier fighting in the jungles of some west Asian country, one of the few Britannia was fighting in during the middle half of the twentieth century. The soldier was lying bleeding and crying on a rice patty, begging for what little food Bloodbeard, using the name Amadeus Mordred, was searching his provisions and found no rations. Lelouch felt the gnawing hunger in the pit of his (Bloodbeard's) stomach at the time. The despicable thoughts ran through his head like quicksilver and the urge to lick his lips was too much for Lelouch. All thoughts of morality and ethics were meaningless and the hunger was becoming all he could think of. The soldier looked strangely at his ally and when he saw the knife come up to his throat he cried out for his comrade to stop before being silenced quickly with a swift slice. Lelouch felt the irony taste of the blood being licked off the knife by Bloodbeard's tongue.
"Good," he said. "No…I mean…no, I'm not a cannibal."
"But you are," hissed Bloodbeard's voice. "Devouring those you have defeated, feeding off those who relied on you, and turning all of their suffering into personal satisfaction. You are a cannibal Lelouch and you are now me."
"What?" Lelouch's mental voice cried out. "No I'm…"
"Stop resisting," said Bloodbeard. "It's better that way if you just accept and become one with my spirit. Let go of your pain and indulge in the bliss of savagery. Let this be your salvation."
Bloodbeard's choice of words managed to stir a little more resistance in Lelouch.
"Salvation?" he asked. "What do you know of salvation?"
"I know more than God does," said Bloodbeard. "Sitting here high and mighty upon his throne while we are left to the table scraps he holds out to us like a damn sadist. Aren't you tired of it all? Aren't you tired of scrimping and scrapping while God and his loom of fate make a buffoon out of you? Of being given nothing but silence and disinterest instead of the wisdom and love he promises."
Lelouch felt through the memories and feelings he and Bloodbeard were now sharing and found those were the same words he used to rally rebellion against Arthur.
"Feel me," said Bloodbeard.
Lelouch felt and felt as the darkness in Bloodbeard's heart crept into his like a spider creeping through the darkness spinning its web of all consuming hunger. The hunger was there, a hunger for blood and power unlike any he had before experienced. That the mad lust for all the power of the universe to be laid before his feet and for God to be made his slave was becoming as much his as it was Bloodbeard's.
Lelouch, with whatever bit of himself was still available to him, thought to what Bloodbeard had earlier said about the two of them being carved from the cloth that spawned Lucifer. The Light-Bringer, the Morningstar, and the most beautiful of all the angels in Heaven before his pride and lust for power made him turn against God and try to assume control only to be cast out into the abyss that became his kingdom of Hell.
"To rule in hell, as Milton said," said Bloodbeard.
Lelouch thought of those he had loved in his life, as the corruption spread through his mind body and soul like the plague. He thought of his mother and his father. He thought of Clovis and Schneizel. He thought of darling Euphemia and dear Cornelia, and his beloved sister Nunnally. He thought of The Black Knights, he thought of Suzaku, Rivalz, Milly, Nina, dear Shirley, poor C.C, and Kallen.
The three girls who all wrestled for his heart. He loved all three of them and in his heart he loved Kallen most and regretted that he could not have reconciled with all three of them so that Kallen might not, if she ever did, feel that she was his beloved only because she had survived the longest. He loved her because she was the strongest, the bravest, and at the same time one of the warmest souls he had ever known.
He lied back as the darkness of Amadeus Bloodbeard, born Mordred Pendragon, set over his body and soul with one last word in his true voice.
"Kallen," he said.
Oblivion responded.
"Lelouch," it yelled with Kallen's voice