Lelouch Vi Britannia hid within the truck that had been appropriated by a certain group of terrorists. Contrary to the expected emotions of shock, confusion, and pants-shitting fear that would be appropriate for any high schooler placed in this situation, our protagonist was perfectly calm.
"So... there's actually a button right under here that opens C.C.'s container immediately. This prevents us or Suzaku from dying by accident."
Said woman glanced curiously at the boy prince within the confines of her prison. Her suspicions were cut short by the sound of a soldier's footsteps. Realising the danger she and her contractor-to-be was in, the code bearer offered the power of kings.
CODEVIOLENCEWARHUMANDEATHSEXPROCREATERAGNORAKEMPIREKNIGHTMAREJAPANGEASSTHEORDERLIFEPRECURSOR
Within Lelouch's eye, a crimson bird took flight.
"That's enough mindless murder!" Suzaku Kururugi charged forward.
"Understood. The code number is XG21G2D4."
"Thanks for the Knightmare, Ms. Nu. Now, if you hear the phrase 'zero requiem' you must obey me. That is all. Dismissed!"
"Yes, your majesty!" The Britannia officer saluted.
The exiled prince boarded his newly acquired war machine and began hacking the Britannian communications and organizing the broken resistance members in the area. They would be his chess pieces for today's game to defeat Clovis. What the viceroy didn't know, however, was that his opponent intended to flip the board and pop a cap in his bitch ass.
Meanwhile, C.C. had just recovered from being shot in the face. She briefly considered the absurdity of conscious reality and the greater universe before trying to quietly sneak off and surprise her contractor. At which point, the Sutherland suddenly turned around. Her heart rate hiked as the machine reached out for her and… picked her up?
With its "cargo" in hand, the Sutherland's land spinners began powering to the highest setting. Winding up in a rapid series of spins, Lelouch ejected the arm at the last possible second, sending C.C. 's straitjacketed body careening into the distance at breakneck speeds. Said immortal woman struggled against gravity for nearly an entire minute and finally landed with a 'splat' against the walls of a deserted office building, shattering her entire spinal cord in the process.
"Alright, now that will make her get to my house faster, which will allow her to meet Nunally faster, which in turn…"
Suzaku Kururugi was having an eventful day, to say the least. To say nothing of being deployed in a military operation against your own people, he had miraculously reunited with his long lost friend… and promptly lost him to said military. Oh, Lelouch. How he hoped that he was still alive. Beyond his dreams, Lelouch was one of the only people worth living for.
Therefore, when he was offered the chance to pilot the Lancelot, he jumped the gun. He tried his best to not remember the last time he killed someone to save Lelouch, channeling despair into sheer determination and ungodly martial prowess.
He was well underway with his terrorist subjugation, brutally executing a full squad or resistance fighters in knightmares, when he spotted a single one-armed sutherland emerging from behind cover, with no rifle or weapon in hand.
"Some kind of trick…? Hey, you! I've already defeated your comrades. Just surrender. There's no point to this figh-"
His heroic speech was cut short by the tell-tale sound of collapsing concrete. Suzaku barely had time to react before pulling into a full reverse, narrowly avoiding the destruction of the hundred million pound KMF.
"Now, we initiate a ramp assisted backwards hop…" A familiar voice announced over the Britannian comms.
Suzaku didn't have enough time to overcome his shock this time as the supposedly grounded sutherland flew over the collapsed building. To his credit, he at least managed to fire his slash harkens at the airborne mech, but the crazed pilot merely fired his own in return, knocking the Lancelot's harkens off target and finding their target around the white machine's legs.
Simultaneously, the falling sutherland began firing its thrusters, creating a counterbalance that lifted Lancelot into the air. The entangled pair of mechs made a single revolution before Lelouch ejected, using the unholy catapult of physics to propel himself directly towards the G1 command center.
"I don't really feel like killing my brother today, so I'll just make him my slave."
"That's very interesting and all but can you let me go now, no wait fuck Lelou-"
"Obey me!"
C.C. calmly sipped her cup of tea within a palace in Tokyo, pondering the recent few month's developments. Her contractor was certainly an interesting character, not even considering their… traumatic first meeting. She first thought his past would lead the boy to kill Clovis as revenge for his perceived crimes against Marianne, but surprisingly he kept his cool and puppeted her tormentor from behind the scenes, using his half-brother's public image to control Japan.
The elevens, for one, were certainly glad to have their viceroy act like the fair saint he proclaimed himself to be. The corrupt police and Britannian mafia had been dug up by the roots. Terrorist and military activities decreased dramatically. There were even rumors of a "special administrative zone" of some kind.
It was thus a surprise for the area when Cornelia li Britannia announced her intentions to visit the zone. The media declared her purpose to be visits for "peace." Noblemen behind closed doors however, knew that her true intentions were to eliminate the JLF to finally cement Britannian dominance in the region and deter attacks from Chinese forces in Kyushu. Behind even more closed doors, Cornelia was under orders by the prime minister to "investigate the radical changes in Clovis."
Back to the topic of her contractor, he kept his fair share of secrets. He frequently did nonsensical things that left even the oldest human alive utterly confused. Speaking to himself and some imaginative audience about something. It was admittedly frustrating to be confused about his true nature, but at least he was progressing quickly on his usage of Geass?
The witch moaned in a not-suggestive way as she bit down on her baked treat. These worldly affairs were irrelevant. Her contractor knew how to whip up a wicked good pizza and was well on his way to fulfill the contract. Life was great. Wait, if life was great, why did she need to die again?
She was pulled away from her thoughts as Lelouch - is that a suit he's wearing? - barged into their shared quarters, some kind of cloth draped over his arm. She yelped as he knocked the pizza out of her hands and pulled a dress over her head.
"Get up. We're going on a date."
"Wait, I haven't-"
Kusakabe played restlessly with his katana. Damn those Britannians! Ever since Clovis had a change of heart, even his countrymen had turned on him. Every day the brainwashed dogs praised the prince's honorary Britannian system and enjoyed luxuries built on the blood of Japanese soldiers.
He would show them. He would show the world and Britannia that the spirit of Japanese resistance was not dead, swayed by mere second class citizen status.
Or at least he could have, if that damn sutherland hadn't ruined his plans to take the sakuradite conference hostage. The lunatic pilot of that machine had somehow leaped off the back of a plane riding a riot shield, crashing into the building killing every one of his men inside with pinpoint precision.
Across the world, the mysterious pilot of the sutherland had become renowned as an agent of chaos. Showing up at any time, any place, at any battle. His (?) mere presence was said to determine the direction of entire wars. Using only a mass production machine and physics defying stunts, the anonymous agent had managed to achieve the impossible every time.
He and his closest lieutenants had barely managed to escape the clusterfuck with their lives intact, and were now hiding within a nearby safehouse. He considered committing suicide to avoid the shame of retreat, but his plans were cut short by a purple Knightmare bursting through the warehouse. The last Kusakabe knew of the living realm was a flash of coilgun bullets.
"Damn you… Zero!"
Zero performed a gracious somersault over a dozen Gun-Ru's, zipping past the entire Chinese garrison in Beijing with little effort. A couple of well placed shots broke down the vault gates at the end of the forbidden palace, revealing the conspiring men cowering within.
"W-wait! We can give you anything!" High eunuch Gao Hai yelped.
Zero smirked. "Is that so? How about restoring power to the Tianzi?"
"She's just a child! She'll ruin this country!"
"Like you are?"
"Even if you kill us, this country won't be united! The people still support us!" Another protested.
"Well, I'm running out of time to discuss politics. Say hi to your people!"
A swarm of rioters later broke into the palace, following the trail of destruction left by Zero and fueled by sheer anger for their leaders' treachery. The eunuch's bodies could not be properly identified even weeks after their deaths.
V.V. hummed a quiet melody to himself. Worldly matters were finally going well. Charles' brats had finally managed to properly secure all the thought elevators. The end times were near. God could finally be slain, and all the world's lies obliterated. The only missing piece was the other Code Bearer.
Then there was the matter of Zero. While he didn't directly interfere with any of the directorate's activities, his miraculous victories suggested the possession of a powerful precognitive geass. The only active code bearer left who could achieve such a thing being C.C.
It was an understatement to say that he hated her. He knew better than to trust his fellow immortal from the very beginning. There was something about her behavior that ticked him off, that she had no desire to die and was merely stringing them along for an untimely betrayal at the end.
Those concerns became real, but were neutralized by carelessness. The OSI had managed to detect her appearance in area 11. A picture of her had been taken at some ridiculous "giant pizza festival" and appeared in a news broadcast. Already, a contingent of geass order and OSI agents were on their way to seize the code bearer.
The young immortal didn't have much else to think of as he felt a rumbling and turned around, only to have his body vaporized by a 3 kilo liquid sakuradite bomb.
"Mao, become my agent and destroy the geass order."
"Nina Einstein, you will not research the destructive potential of your work and refuse all offers of weapons development. Specifically, look into artificial sakuradite production."
"Kanon Maldini, you will take my brother to a resort in Hawaii and ask for his hand in marriage. Suggest a month-long honeymoon."
"Charles Zi Britannia, go fuck yourself."
It was done. Britannia was slowly becoming a force of good. The geass order was destroyed. Charles was dead, his wife sealed away forever within Anya's mind. China restored sovereignty to India, along with Britannia to Japan now that artificial sakuradite invalidated most of the strategic uses of the island.
Schneizel returned to court and announced his marriage with Kanon, to the shock (and disgust) of many nobles. He would be preoccupied with improving homosexual rights within Britannia for the foreseeable future instead of creating nuclear winter, and Lelouch didn't even have to use a geass on him. Meanwhile, the other scattered nations of the world began working on the formation of the UFN.
In Europe, Gene Smilas was found dead following an attack by the infamous Zero on his personal estate. Despite the blatant terrorism and assassination, Zero's actions are quickly ignored when Smilas' warmongering and secret deals are released to the public, causing outrage and public demand for better democracy. Shin Hyuga Shaing and his lieutenants are similarly routed easily by a one-armed sutherland. It is here that Zero becomes a proper legend and his "bunnyhopping" maneuver is made the gold standard for elite KMF piloting.
And Lelouch Vi Britannia? The dead prince remained in anonymity, still presumed dead by all but a handful of individuals. To be precise, he enjoyed his days at a cottage in Australia with his little sister.
"Strictly speaking, none of the romance routes are needed. C.C. doesn't need to be involved romantically to create the win conditions. You can also seduce or geass Suzaku early on and ensure his cooperation, but that would be too easy."
"However," Lelouch stroked the immortal's head as she laid asleep on his lap. "It does make the post game a lot better."
A/N: Thanks for reading. I challenged myself to write this in a few hours, hence the lack of conclusions for all the side characters. Here it is anyway, because I'm not going to edit the actual story.
-Kallen Kozuki and the resistance were ditched by "Zero" in Shinjuku. They joined the JLF after Japan regained independence. They often drunkenly brag about having fought alongside Zero, but no one believes them.
-The student council is confused by their vice president's long unexplained absences. They live peaceful, uneventful lives, just like how Lelouch wants it.
-Suzaku Kururugi left Britannia and rejoined Japan. He died of old age, surrounded by family, but he never let go of his guilt.
-Leila Malcal helped fill out the power vacuum left by Zero, becoming a prominent figure within the EU.
-Rolo was not in the order headquarters when it was destroyed. He became a hired gun but eventually retired due to health complications. He died in a car accident shortly after surviving a heart surgery.
-Jeremiah Gottwald retired from his position in the purist faction. Some rumors say he left for Australia, although no one really cares enough to learn why.
-Charles Zi Britannia's body is found smeared across the floor of his personal chambers. The remains are reminiscent of Zero's "relativistic knightmare catapult" maneuver.