Chapter Twenty

Cornelia made a point to meet with Zero the instant the Avalon was airborne and heading back to Tokyo. She just couldn't sit still. Once all of the pieces snapped into place inside her mind, she knew she had to do something about it. She wouldn't allow him to run any longer. She figured it out. She was sure. The uneasy feeling she'd had for days wasn't unprecedented after all. She took it as a form of validation. She was still sane.

To a point, anyway. Because if she was correct about Zero… he was supposed to be a dead man. It was impossible, by all accounts. But Cornelia had seen the impossible before, during those long months spent researching Geass and what happened to Euphemia. She'd seen the strongest men bend to another's will through nothing but eye contact. Young girls, no more than children, traverse grand spaces like instant transmission. She'd sent her knife deep into a boy's forehead, only for him to stand back up, remove it, and scold her for being rude to her elders. There were times Cornelia was sure she had seen everything. Nothing was impossible anymore.

But again, Zero was known for doing the impossible.

She knew. If anything, she knew. Once she rooted out all of the incorrect theories, whatever was left had to be the truth—no matter how impossible. Now all she needed was confirmation.

So as soon as Zero set foot outside of his secluded wing, she was standing in his way.

He regarded her with nothing but a slight tilt of his head. Like he was expecting her.

"Conference. Now," she demanded, and stormed off towards the closest planning room, not giving him the chance to argue.

He wordlessly followed her inside. The door automatically locked behind him.

Cornelia turned and studied the masked man before her with a strange pounding in her chest. This man was a symbol she'd known so long. He was an adversary. A criminal. Her sister's murderer. Her brother. Then someone else donned the mask and became the figurehead behind the Global Revolution. She'd learned to loathe him, understand him, and finally tolerate him. But now… How did she feel, now that she knew the truth? Every rational part of her brain screamed at her. It was impossible. She saw his body in a coffin. She watched from the sidelines as he was killed with the final shove of a sword, and unlike that boy from the Geass Order, he did not get up afterwards. So how could he be here now? Even miracles had their limits, didn't they? She refused to think that final assassination was a trick. Zero… her brother Lelouch was not like that.

Zero continued to watch her in silence. He didn't even twitch. With such patience, Cornelia had a feeling that he already knew what she was going to say.

She forced her teeth to unclench. "Zero… You're the true Zero, aren't you" He said nothing. She wasn't surprised. But it was all the confirmation she needed. "How is it even possible?" Still nothing. "I'll take your silence to mean that you're just as clueless," she huffed. He didn't deny it. "But you better start figuring it out, before I start testing some theories—My way, understand?"

Zero nodded. He knew full-well that Cornelia would hold no remorse about it either. She was ruthless that way.

But then the Warrior Princess did something he did not expect: She stepped toward him and stuck out her gloved hand. A grudging respect gleamed in her violet eyes. He took up her hand almost clumsily, her grip strong enough to crush his thin fingers. Still, he didn't say anything.

Cornelia grasped his hand for a short moment before she jerked her arm back, pulling Zero with it. He had to take a step forward to avoid crashing into her. Her voice was next to his ear, clear and quiet despite the mask. "Do not believe for a second that this means forgiveness for your sins. If you show any indication of doing something that will make me regret not killing you on the spot, rest assured, I will right my mistake immediately."

"And I assure you, Cornelia, that I would do no such thing. I am on the side of the angels," he murmured, speaking at last.

She recognized that voice instantly. A grin slowly crept onto her lips. "A demon on the side of the angels?" she scoffed. "How amusing."

Beneath his mask, he reflected her grin. "I've never claimed to be anything different. Even evil has its principles."

"I certainly hope so," she warned. "for Nunnally's sake."

She released him and stepped back. The only movement he made was his gloved hand slipping beneath the cover of his cape. This masked man suddenly held an entirely different presence in her eyes. It was one that she couldn't place quite yet. It was neither hatred nor hope. If anything, she found the whole situation dreadfully entertaining

Cornelia chuckled, "To think that I would ever shake hands with Zero… Not to mention a dead man. Speaking of which," and her face became serious again, "figure it out."

"I intend to," he muttered, and Cornelia turned and left, heading for where Jeremiah was waiting with his briefing.

xx

The trip back to the Britannian HQ was long and uneventful. After dealing with the aftermath of the battle, swimming through numbers, percentages, names, gains, and losses, everyone aboard the Avalon was on the cusp of exhaustion. There was nothing but relief when the massive ship finally alighted back in Tokyo.

Almost everyone finished up their necessary work before excusing themselves. They would return after a long night's sleep, ready to tie up all loose ends.

The White Knight disappeared into his own chambers without a word to anyone, much to Lloyd's chagrin. He'd barely gotten anything out of the masked Knight before, during, or after the operation. But Lloyd found that he couldn't complain too much. The Knight had shown a high percentile in the Lancelot. Not that he expected any different. Still, if he was going to be such a capable pilot, he could at least have the decency to be somewhat cooperative about it.

But perhaps it was on purpose. Surely the White Knight knew that any conversation with Lloyd had a tendency to drag on for hours on end. He'd merely ducked away, lest he be caught in the trap. The Engineering Corps swept their Knightmare Frames across town as soon as the Avalon was docked. They would surely be up until sunrise, locked inside their labs, running tests and crunching numbers.

They tried to ensnare Kallen along with the Knightmares, but she wasn't having any of it. Unlike the White Knight, she had no problem stepping on Lloyd's hopes and delivering a flat-out "No." She walked off without looking back.

As for Zero, he made himself scarce as soon as he was able. Once the majority of these "Neo-Black Knights" went their respective ways, he made for his own chambers within Britannian HQ. There wasn't anything demanding his immediate attention, and after his confrontation with Cornelia aboard the Avalon, even she had left him to his own devices.

He was tired, but he'd been through worse. There were still several things he needed to worry about. But they were things he could worry about on his own.

Zero entered his personal chambers at last. C.C. was already sprawled across her own bed, legs tangled in the covers, and possibly feigning sleep. He marched into the next room without a word to her. The mask left his face and Lelouch stood alone in the quiet darkness.

He draped the cape over a chair and sat on the edge of the bed. A heavy breath decompressed his body. He could feel the thoughts jumbling around in his head. He'd certainly jumped right back in, didn't he? He wakes up from death, and not even a week later he sits here as Zero. Once again. And fighting another war.

Another sigh leaves his lungs. He can't even sleep when he's dead, huh?

Lelouch ran a hand down his face. He needed to clear his mind. He would never get anywhere this way.

And now that the counterattack was finished, he finally had some time to think about things. He had time for the things that had been weighing on his mind for so long now. Schneizel was an issue—an obstacle—as a matter of course. But there was something far more pressing that Lelouch wanted to deal with. No, he had to. There couldn't be anything more important. It was something Suzaku, Cornelia, and especially he had wondered: How is this even possible?

How is he alive?

He remembered the horrible pinching in his chest, the squelching of his flesh, the cool slickness of his blood. All of it. The sword had pierced him. Nunnally's voice had slowly faded from his ears. He was so tired. Even breathing had become burdensome. He felt all energy and life leave his body as everything shut down.

He died.

It wasn't a hallucination. It happened. He wasn't a fool. He refused to believe that he was wrong. That he was tricked or misled. There's no other explanation.

And even C.C. was shocked upon his return. It was an expression he had never seen her wear before. This immortal witch who had seen all, done all, and grown bored of her very existence, with widened eyes and a slack jaw. It was a sight to behold. He'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it. He was alive. And C.C. was surprised. This was not a plan. Not by either of them, at any rate. To add to it, he can still wield Geass, something that would be impossible if he possessed a Code. Him having a Code would be the easiest answer, wouldn't it? But he doesn't have one. And Lelouch slammed his fist on the mattress at the thought.

He gathered himself immediately after. Getting frustrated won't help here. He needed to think. If anyone could unravel this, it would be him.

Would that be considered conceited? Lelouch didn't care.

He died. That was plain. If anything, it was the only sure thing he had. Considering he was walking around now, if death was his only certainty, would that mean he's not actually alive? He couldn't rule out the possibility, but he shook his head anyway. That sort of thinking was at the end. He needed to start earlier.

From the beginning. Think.

Yes, he was dead. But then what?

He had memories from his time in C's World. He wasn't fully aware of them until he regained his Geass. It was like a shock to his memory. It made sense. Geass was his link to C's World, after all. Where he met with the dead and received blessings he didn't deserve. And then… the mood shifted. What was it that Shirley and Euphie had said?

"Tomorrow is in jeopardy."

And then he fell.

And then?

He appeared, seemingly out of thin air.

That was far from helpful.

He appeared out of thin air one year after supposedly dying.

That was slightly better.

He appeared the same day Schneizel's Geass command was accidentally erased.

Now he was getting somewhere.

Suzaku said that, didn't he? On the anniversary of the Zero Requiem, Jeremiah's Geass Canceller had unintentionally affected Schneizel, and he disappeared soon after. It was the same day Lelouch found himself alive again. After being told Tomorrow was in jeopardy. It was too much to be a coincidence. There had to be some purpose to it. Schneizel was more than capable of endangering tomorrow, and with his command cancelled it was practically a certainty. So Schneizel disappears while Lelouch is resurrected. In that way, he was brought back because of the situation.

Lelouch paused. "But by whom?" He mumbled out-loud. There was no one around to hear him, anyway. 'How?' aside, 'Who?' appeared to be an even bigger question. He didn't consider himself to be a man that relied too heavily on coincidences. This wasn't some freak act of nature. He was so focused on the how that he completely disregarded it. The way things were, there had to be a culprit. A who.

But it was so far-fetched. Assuming he was revived from necessity, how could anyone instantaneously know of the Geass Canceller and possess the ability to raise the dead? It would have to be some sort of all-powerful, omniscient, and omnipresent being. A god.

"I am going to kill God!" His father's words rang out in his head from an eternity away.

Lelouch sat as a statue on the edge of the bed. There was no way.

But he knew from experience, right? The Collective Unconscious wasn't a passive entity. It possessed a will of sorts. Lelouch had appealed to it. He'd attempted to use his Geass and beseech it. And it acted. Unconsciousness was a state of being. It was capable of interacting with this world, perhaps in ways Lelouch couldn't even fathom.

But, he reminded himself, it was only on the mental plane. The Collective Unconscious was, by name, something non-physical. It was the amalgam of humanity's undercurrent of thought. It was practically theoretical. It connected everyone on this earth—but only mentally.

And so… what did that mean?

Lelouch grabbed ahold of this thread of thought with everything he had. If he assumed the Collective Unconscious was the culprit, what did that mean for him? He was a physical being… wasn't he? He was here. He was alive. He could interact with people and the world around him. So how could something purely mental create his existence? He even had a scar on his chest from the sword blade. He needed food and water. This was his body.

Right?

Lelouch blinked. As much planning as he put into the Zero Requiem… he didn't know what happened to his body afterwards. It wasn't of high importance. He could've been buried. Cremated. Dumped into the ocean. Left in a ditch to rot. The crowd could've swarmed and torn him to shreds until there was nothing left of him. He didn't know.

But he suddenly needed to find out.

Morning was too far away. It wasn't too late in the night. Although, he didn't know how long he'd been sitting here, lost in his thoughts. It couldn't have been long. So he quickly picked up his mask and glided into the next room. His hand grabbed ahold of C.C.'s slumbering shoulders a second later. "C.C."

She immediately swatted him away, covering her head beneath the blanket with a groan.

"C.C.," he pushed.

"What?" her voice was scathing, despite the fact that Lelouch doubted she was even asleep in the first place.

"After the Zero Requiem was completed, what happened to me?"

She spoke matter-of-factly from underneath the covers: "You died."

Lelouch's eyes screwed shut. "Certainly. But what of my corpse?"

"How am I supposed to know?" she grumbled. "I made sure I was far away by the time your plans came to fruition. You'd be better off asking a witness. Suzaku, for instance."

Well. It was definitely an idea.

And since C.C. made it very clear that she would be of no help whatsoever, he decided to act upon it. It wasn't that late. He slipped on his mask left the room.

He made his way down the secluded corridors of the Britannian HQ without dampening his footsteps. He actually didn't care what time it was. This was far more important. Possibly more important than anything else.

He didn't knock before he used his master key. As he suspected, Suzaku was on his feet in a flash, arms raised in a fighting stance. His eyes passed over Zero's mask, but his arms didn't lower. "Don't do that," he warned, not sounding drowsy at all.

Lelouch ignored the other's annoyance and removed the mask. "Suzaku. There's something I need to ask you."

"Now?" Suzaku whined, and rolled back onto his heels. The fight slowly drained from his body like a retreating wave, arms falling to his sides. "Can't it wait until morning?"

"No. It's pertinent. It can't wait," Lelouch practically snapped, "not when I'm this close. Overthinking may cause details to warp. Significance to be lost. I have to make sure I have all the pieces before I can create a proper idea." Suzaku blinked at him. Was he… rambling? "But more importantly, I may begin to doubt myself. What I'm thinking… is truly unreasonable."

"You don't say," he sighed. For Lelouch to be talking like this, he had almost entirely retreated into his mind. His sentences were a broken mess because he was otherwise occupied. Not to mention how far into the night it was. Lelouch had forced his sleep-deprived mind into overdrive, but apparently arrived at some sort of conclusion. However nonsensical it might've been, it was enough to bring Lelouch into this room in the middle of the night. And here he was, at the precipice of a revelation, looking to Suzaku for the final piece to fit everything together. Suzaku pulled a tired hand behind his head. Might as well get it over with. "What is it, then?"

"What happened to my corpse?" Lelouch asked, entirely unrestrained.

The words stabbed through Suzaku for reasons he didn't quite understand. "After the Zero Requiem?" Lelouch nodded. "You—you're standing right here, aren't you?" Suzaku stammered. Why was he dodging?

But Lelouch only smirked back at him. "Am I?"

Suzaku swallowed thickly. He'd wondered himself, not too long ago, about the same thing. If Lelouch was here… what was in that coffin? Suzaku had seen the corpse inside—saw the technicians seal the shiny black box—watched as it was set into the earth. One year ago, Lelouch's body was in a coffin. But now…? "We buried you," he admitted. "I saw your body in a coffin. It was lowered into the ground and buried in a cemetery in New Pendragon." Lelouch remained silent. His eyes had already glazed over at the information. Suzaku shot him a narrow stare. He had no idea what was going through his head. "But now you're standing in front of me. So I'm compelled to ask: what exactly was in that coffin?"

That dark grin of his slowly returned to his face. Nervousness twisted in Suzaku's stomach until he felt sick. "Well, we'll just have to find out, won't we?"

xx

Rivalz took his time on his way out. His motorcycle was unloaded from the Avalon and stored in the parking deck beneath Headquarters, and he was free to go for the night. The bike had even been cleaned upon their return to Tokyo. Rivalz was thankful for it—the mission had left his beloved vehicle covered in sand.

But as he slowly strolled towards the blue bike, he couldn't help but notice that it didn't gleam very well under the artificial lights of the garage. He clicked his tongue at the sight, although it was out of disappointment rather than frustration. He just polished it a few days ago. He'd have to give it another coat of wax before he was satisfied.

Not today, though. It was already late, and he was more than tired. It was just a short drive back to his apartment, and then he would be reunited with his bed. His exhausted muscles tingled at the mere thought of it. He leaned against the parked motorcycle and relished the tiredness for a moment. The heaviness of long day completed. Of a job well-done. A sigh dropped from his chest. It was good.

He was finally involved. He was helping his best friend accomplish miraculous things. Zero was once again conducting the tides of the world and Rivalz could say that he was part of the movement. He couldn't ask for anything more. It's all he'd ever wanted, anyway.

His hand absent-mindedly passed over one of the side compartments of his bike. Fingers popped it open without a thought. He pulled the disguise out and studied it in the emptiness of the parking deck. Zero's mask gleamed in his hands.

Well, a copy of it. He couldn't say that it was Zero's mask because Rivalz was most certainly not Zero. But it was indeed the mask of Zero. It was one that he wore as an extension of Zero. A shadow. It was the validation of his usefulness. He knew he wasn't as skilled as Kallen or Suzaku, as bookish as Nina, as clever as Lelouch, or connected as Milly, but if he couldn't be any of those things on his own, then he would emulate. He would be the other side of the card. If Zero needed someone to see or reach places he was unable to, Rivalz would be the one to do it. He would be the reflection in the mirror, dealing with the world on the other side of the glass. He was Zero's double beyond the barrier. Whatever that barrier may be.

Rivalz grinned down at the mask. He hadn't told anyone yet. He didn't know if he should. Even to someone like Milly. How could he even explain it to her? She'd immediately scold him for taking on such a job so willingly. She'd call him bait. She wouldn't stand for it. He knew how she operated. That reaction was obvious. So how would he explain? Because it wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when. Milly always managed to pull everything out of him so effortlessly. He couldn't hide anything from her. He never could.

And honestly, he didn't want to.

So he'll have to think of a way to tell her. It'll have to be soon, because the topic was sure to come up the next time they see each other.

Rivalz vaguely studied the lights reflecting off the surface of the mask. It gleamed more than his motorcycle, at the moment. And yet, despite the fact that the mission was over and done with, he still couldn't believe it. It all still felt too unreal. It was too good to be true. Zero's mask, in his hands. Zero, his best friend. It was seriously unbelievable.

A sharp intake of air suddenly caught his attention. Rivalz's heart leapt into his throat and he shoved the mask back into its compartment. But it was too late.

Milly's bright and furious eyes were already upon him. They felt like daggers. "You didn't—!"

xx

Author's Notes—/Suddenly kicks the pacing into overdrive/ Whoops.

But after the announcement of Lelouch of the Resurrection… I have to fully cement my headcanons and theories within my fic, right? Especially since I finally sat down and finished Boukoku no Akito, and… well.

I also went through and re-read all of this fic. (As many of you might have to, at this point… /sob/) Even all the bits I haven't posted yet. And I'm kicking myself so hard—you guys just don't know. I will finish this. As long as I still breathe, I will. It doesn't hurt that my love for Code Geass still burns like a FLEIJA blast, though… Ah, I wanted to keep these ANs short…!

Oh man. I haven't written in the past tense in forever. It feels so wrong.

/Falls back into the realm of darkness/,

-Destiny