The Demon and the Red Moon

Diclaimer: Code Geass is owned by Sunrise. Please support the official release.

Part of this was written/co-written/edited by ryder77, and that person is awesome. Writes solely Code Geass and lots of good stuff.

Bloody-handed

Lelouch peeled the wetsuit from his torso and set down with a deep exhale. His muscles screamed at him. He slipped the goggles off of his neck and set beside him, frowning. The prince grabbed a towel and wiped the salt-water from his hair and face. He let the towel hang over his head like a shroud.

He winced and recalled the funeral for Shirley's father. Lelouch hadn't had the heart to look Shirley in the face. Just like in the rain, he'd pushed her away. He'd been distantly aware of Kallen standing beside him.

When her hand had landed on his shoulder, Lelouch had stiffened at the comforting gesture. The demon didn't deserve it.

"Zero?" came Kallen's call. Lelouch put a hand to shade his face in case she wasn't alone.

"Who's there?" Lelouch questioned loudly.

"It's just me," Kallen replied, downcast. Lelouch almost eased himself. Instead he looked away, leaning back against the crate behind him. "You were quiet at the funeral," she commented, walking closer. Lelouch didn't reply, grim-faced.

"You called me Zero," Lelouch commented. "Am I not Lelouch to you anymore?"

"What?" Kallen replied, confused.

"Nevermind. You should get to your post we'll be ready soon." Lelouch stood and faced away from Kallen. He heard Kallen's retreating footsteps. Lelouch opened his black case and gazed down at the replacement helmet.

"There's no need to turn back," he reminded himself.

'No,' Zero corrected. 'There's no reason to turn back. If you stop, you die.'

"The die has been cast," Lelouch declared. He gripped his mask in one hand and pulled it free from the black case.

0.0.0

Shirley peeked around the corner of a darkened shipping container. She leaned back and glanced at Villeta screwing a thin metal tube to the end of her pistol slowly. The ebony knight smirked to herself. Shirley frowned at Villeta's expression and went back to scanning the harbor complex. She could see the Black Knights sneeking around. Shirley ducked back as a curly-headed man with a red headband glanced her way.

"Are you sure Zero will be here?" Shirley asked softly.

"Mao said so. He might be crazy, but he's never been wrong about these things," Villeta replied, drawing Shirley's gaze again. Villeta was thumbing her pistol, her eyes narrowed with dark glee.

0.0.0

General Katase was in his office when the Britannian's began their assault. The boat had begun to move. Still, Katase knew they were cornered. Kyoto had told him the JLF would be getting rescued by Zero. But where were they? Where was Tohdoh?

'General Katase.' growled the radio. Katase swiftly grabbed it.

"Yes," he spoke into the radio. "Zero? Have you come to save us?"

'Of course,' the radio replied, carefully. 'I just wanted to speak to you before hand.'

"Before what? We're being taken apart! We're being slaughtered like pigs!"

'More like bait,' the radio corrected quickly. 'So why did the JLF never act sooner? You didn't even react to my great debut.'

"We didn't have the strength to attack Britannia," Katase defended. "We were outmanned, outgunned, out maneuvered."

'No,' Zero corrected over the radio. 'You were incompetent. I defeated Clovis in the open field with nothing before I even knew what I was doing. I even had the courage to engage Cornelia. And I didn't let that first defeat stop me.

'I salute your sacrifice. With the final death of the JLF we will rebuild a better Japan. If I give you one last chance to strike Britannia, will you take it? Will you help us defeat Cornelia now?'

"Yes," Katase declared. "Just help us! We will sacrifice our lives to defeat Britannia."

'Goodbye, then.' With a soft click over the radio, Katase, the last JLF, the boat they were being slaughtered on, and the eight Knightmares who had boarded it were incinerated by the explosion.

0.0.0

Waiting for Zero's signal to deploy, Kallen grasped the controls firmly, her determination to see this through strong in spite of the doubts that plagued her. A large part of her had reasons to not want to be here. The other part argued just as strongly that those exact reasons were why she should.

She left Lelouch because he didn't trust her fellow resistance members ― her family. Yet, she couldn't simply stop fighting for him (Zero? Lelouch?). They trusted him to help win against Britannia, and she had to admit that she still trusted his genuine hate for Britannia.

Lelouch blamed her for Shirley's father's death. While this was mostly supposition on her part (he stiffened at her touch during the burial, refusing to even look at her), she was strongly aware that they both knew it was her hand that triggered that landslide.

The same hand that killed Clovis.

Despite his words, maybe he actually resented her for it. And now this.

(She had turned around in that rain, thinking perhaps she had been too hasty in her judgment of him. Then she saw the two of them embrace, then kiss. Two people hurting finding solace in each other.)

She shook her head at the memory. What did she care for who he kissed (loved)? She was the one who walked away.

Then came the guilt. The reality that the fruits of their actions aren't all good for everyone, after all. She had reached out at the burial, needing someone who understood what she was feeling. The hurt that came when he stiffened, refusing her.

But deep down, she understood. His (and her own) desire for revenge, his (her) desire to protect what family he (she) had left, his (her) will to survive to see their (not his?) revolution through.

Their guilt for having sacrificed the lives of innocents.

Ultimately, their paths ran side-by-side, their goals led towards the same direction, and though their hearts might not beat for each other at present, they beat to the same rhythm. He somehow overcame his guilt and found his resolve to carry on his crusade, and she knew she was glad of it.

And so, though he might never hear it, she declared it for herself.

"I'll walk down this path with you, Lelouch. Forward. Together."

Her vow. Her truth.

And the world beneath them shuddered.

0.0.0

At the order 12 Knightmares burst forth from shipping containers placed hours before the Britannians even arrived. Lelouch pushed forward on the reins, charging. As predicted his first salvo had eliminated half of the Britannian Knightmare force. His earlier victory at Narita had cost Cornelia dearly with the landslide.

Cornelia must have been desperate when she'd heard the news of the JLF escape route. Had they disappeared, they would've eventually come back stronger. She'd commited a very small force, not knowing the Black Knights had been alerted.

"Battles are won and lost by intelligence," he shouted to himself, shoving a Britannian Sutherland into Tokyo Bay. Lelouch didn't bother to fire into the water, wasted ammo. The pilot might not drown in the time before they pulled him out, but he was no longer a threat. He yanked the reins back to fire at another Knightmare and punched holes in the Sutherland's cockpit block.

"Damn you!" came Cornelia's shouted curse. Lelouch spun to see Cornelia's Gloucester charging with its lance. Then just as suddenly Kallen's red blur gripped the violet machine and threw it down with a modified choke-slam.

Lelouch wouldn't remember what happened next. Kallen had moved to dodge an offensive slash harken. The harken had been fired by Guilford in his mistress's defense. The rocket anchor struck Lelouch's command Burai and ruptured one of the fuel tanks for its ejection system.

Lelouch's burai's safety system had declared this a master alarm and inititated the ejection system, throwing Lelouch away from his intended quarry. The ruptured tank fired just the same as the other three rocket engines, but instead threw the cockpit into a spin. The first thing Lelouch had done was pass out from his head hitting the screen of his Burai. His helmet had done more harm than good.

0.0.0

Kallen turned the Guren's controls to the left to launch the Guren's silver manipulator into the purple Gloucester. Guilford tried to fall back from its reach, but the Guren's arm was longer than he had anticipated.

"Let me see you burst!" With a roar she pulled the long trigger bar of the Guren's right rein. The wave surger flooded the purple machine with humming red energies and it immediately began to expand as the massive radiation affected its armor. The Gloucester's golden lance shot up and the exposed prongs pinched around the silver limb.

Kallen gasped at the action. With a great heave her violet enemy lifted both weapons above the Knightmares. Kallen raised her fork knife almost instinctively to knock the assault rifle, that had been leveled toward her, away. Then she drove the knife straight into the visor and helmet of the enemy Knightmare with a shout.

Before she could breathe easier she saw Cornelia coming at her again.

"This is my range!" she declared pulling her Guren's weapon right arm free. But the RWS didn't cycle a new round into its microwave chamber. She gave it a sideways glance and saw that the spent cell hadn't been properly ejected, probably had been blocked by Guilford's lance. But the aforementioned Knight wasn't available to harass Kallen anymore. No Knightmare functioned without a factsphere, and Guilford had none.

Kallen dodged Cornelia's thrusted spear. She wasn't in danger of being attacked. The Black Knights were winning this skirmish. Even the Britanian infantry was being held at bay thanks to Ohgi leading a campaign of suppressive rifle fire.

But her weapon arm was malfunctioning. If she weren't tied up by Cornelia she could force it to finish cycling manually. She wasn't going to run though. Lelouch wanted Corrnelia alive.

"COME AT ME YOU WEAK BITCH!" Kallen roared at her enemy.

"HOW DARE YOU!" came Cornelia's angry reply, surging forward. Kallen threw her fork knife at the Knightmare like a shuriken and rolled forward. And prayed.

Designers across the world would tell you Knightmares aren't designed for jumping. The very reason Slash Harken's were considered elementary to a Knightmare was the mobility they granted. Feet designed to roll on the ground at high speed powered by land spinners do not take jumping well.

And yet Kallen jumped into a swan dive under Cornelia's lance. The tip had been knocked up by Kallen's fork knife hitting Cornelia's shoulder joint. Even then it only missed skewering Kallen by a few centimeters. Kallen turned the swan-dive into a roll over the Guren's head, and held on for dear life as the cockpit block took the full weight of the Guren. Even being made of thermo-ceramic plates and hardened plastics, the Guren weighed a lot. The world was in slow motion as the Guren got its feet beneath it and used its free hand to pump the RWS arm like a shotgun.

Cornelia gave a stunned yelp as she was rocked back and slammed into a shipping container. The Guren had hit her with a grenade fired from its left arm. The grenade blew away Corrnelia's lance arm, and then the princess was throttled by the silver arm again and held up by the face or her Gloucester.

Kallen panted as she smirked up at her caught prey.

"Gotcha, bitch."

Around Kallen the Black Knight Burai's leveled their rifles one handed at Cornelia.

0.0.0

Shirley walked over to the upturned cockpit block. Villeta followed close behind, her pistol held at her side. There was no one else around. Shirley could get justice for her father.

"Open it," Villeta ordered. As if by Villeta's command, the cockpit's back hatch opened. The seat slid out on its hydralics, dumping Zero on the ground, awkwardly. Face down, Zero's black cape stretched over his back like a pair of bat's wings. A silver gun had fallen near him. Shirley knelt and picked it up, not quite pointing it at Zero. The head turned with a groan. The back portion of the rebel's helmet retracted, revealing black hair.

Shirley stood up with a yelp. When Zero didn't move any more she pulled the pointed bottom of the helmet off, removing the article completely. She wished she hadn't. Lelouch's sleeping face, marred by blood and black fabric across its lower half, met her eyes. Shirley stood up, eyes going wide.

Lelouch had been Zero...

Lelouch had been at Narita...

Lelouch had killed her father.

"No," she whimpered, stunned. Villeta walked up quickly, kneeling down by Lelouch and gripping his hair in her fist. The black Knight dug her gun into Lelouch's neck firmly.

"At last we meet again Zero," Villeta growled with glee. "Face to FACE." she yanked his head up and slammed it back into the concrete to punctuate her sentence. "I knew Jeremiah and Quel were dangerous men, but they had the balls to show their FACE," she growled, bashing his head again. His purple eyes opened, pain radiating through. Then he smiled, amused.

"Stop," he mocked plaintively, "my father's a duke." Villeta slammed his face in again.

"No, it can't be Lelouch," Shirley insisted, staring at her hands.

"Lelouch Lamperouge," Villeta declared softly. "I just wonder what they'll do to you when I deliver you to the Emperor's Justice."

"Emperor's...justice?" Lelouch continued his hissing laugh. "The Emperor doesn't know the meaning of the word 'Justice.'"

"Well then," Villeta replied, before pushing her pistol into his left eye. "What do you think HE will do to you?" Lelouch's laughing ceased.

"HE?" Lelouch asked.

"The funny thing is," Villeta gloated smirking down at Lelouch. "I would actually tell you just to see the fear in your eyes. If I hadn't already made a deal with him. Once you're out of his way, he'll be off to save his green girl and you'll be hanged. And I'll be rewarded." She stood up keeping her pistol aimed down at Lelouch.

"Baroness Villeta Nu? Countess? Which do you think sounds better?"

"I think you're about to be washed up corpse Villeta Nu," Zero declared. Villeta's eyes widened and she spun just in time to see Shirley shoot her. Villeta stayed standing, her body registering the shock. Then she felt her strength leave her. Villeta rarely felt the need to engage in vulgarity, but given the circumstances nothing else came to her mind.

"Aw, fuck," she breathed, before passing out.

0.0.0

"Come on," Shirley whimpered, pulling Lelouch up by the arm. Lelouch gave out a groan as he raised himself. Shirley caught him before he fell again, and hugged him to keep a grip on him.

"Thank you, Shirley," Lelouch breathed, placing his arm around her shoulder to support himself. His helmet was in his other hand. Slowly Shirley walked the pair away. "I didn't know how I would get out of that."

"Is she dead?" Shirley asked, concerned. Lelouch winced at the ringing in his head and eyed Shirley's eyes. Tears were still threatening to burst forth from her green eyes. It might have been the pain, but Lelouch thought with pleasant surprise that Shirley's eyes were quite lovely.

Don't think about it," Lelouch advised. "She's not going to hurt either of us anymore."

"She didn't hurt my father," Shirley reminded herself and Lelouch. "You did. You killed my father." She suddenly pushed him away as she remembered. Lelouch hit a cargo container and leaned against it. "I thought you were my friend, how could you?" Lelouch winced at Shirley's heartbroken accusations.

"It was an accident," Lelouch explained softly. "I would take it back if I could." Lelouch realized with a frown that a part of him, and he didn't know how dominant that part was, that was lying. Zero had been liberating. To give his repressed hatred free reign, applied by his mad genius. "I didn't mean to kill your father." Only mine, he added to himself. Shirley ran at him and gripped him by the front of his cloak, tears flowing now.

"THEN WHY DID YOU DO IT?" Shirley demanded, sobbing. "I loved you! I wanted to belong to you! I wanted to make you the best person who ever could have lived!

"When we kissed, I thought I had all I ever wanted, what I needed to keep going. But you're Zero!" She shook her head, as if denying the truth of that statement. "Why?! You were a genius, but you never needed to brag about it! You helped people out without taking credit! You― you were a nice guy!"

You're a demon, Zero reminded inside him. 'We're not nice. That was a lie we chose to show ever since the day we abandoned that place.'

"I'm not a nice person, Shirley," Lelouch replied softly. "And the world isn't nice. That's why I can't stop. I will have to keep killing nice people for the world to change." Shirley's eyes shot too wide at his declaration. "But I can help you Shirley." The power in his left eye began to burn behind his eye, ready for him to unleash. "You don't have to be sad anymore."

"Zero!" came Ohgi's shout. Shirley ran away at the voice. Lelouch blinked as if awakening from a trance. He looked back the way Shirley came.

When Ohgi came round the corner, Zero was walking back towards where Ohgi had come.

'Status B1?' Zero asked, business like.

"We captured Cornelia," Ohgi began. Zero froze.

'Yessss...' the helmet hissed, and then Zero took off running back. Ohgi was about to follow when he heard a moan.

0.0.0

Kallen was beaming in the cockpit of her Guren when Cornelia had been dragged, screaming, from the Gloucester's cockpit. Guilford might have escaped, but she had caught Cornelia! Now Zero was striding into the battle-field, straight to where Cornelia was sitting, bound with two guards watching her carefully.

"My lord," came Diethard, running up beside Zero. "A brilliant coup! If we handle this correctly we'll have all of Area Eleven in our palms!"

'Later,' Zero declared. Diethard paused, frowning.

"But," Diethard, continued, confusion edging his voice. "We must declare that we have the princess immediately. This will rally every Eleven in the country to our banner."

'You're bothering me because of that?!' Zero shouted, spinning to face Diethard. 'This means nothing to my struggle to defeat Britannia! For now this is my matter, and mine alone! Now go do as you're told like an obedient lackey!'

'Lackey?' Tamaki thought angrily. 'We're the ones who risked our necks.'

"Hey Zero," Tamaki shouted. "Shouldn't we like, be congratulated for beating this bitch?"

'Later we shall have all the awards we can dream,' Zero declared, stepping before Cornelia's kneeling form. 'NOW. I have some questions I'd like you to answer.' Kallen saw Zero's helmet open on the left side for a brief instant.

"Go on," Cornelia said, dumbly.

'The late Empress Marianne vi Britannia was slain in the Aries Villa. You were the head of her Royal Guard, yes?' Kallen's eyes widened. Cornelia was guarding his mother! No wonder he was determined to catch her.

"Yes."

'Then the day she was murdered, why was the Royal Guard pulled back?'

"I was ordered to," Cornelia replied. Kallen blinked. Who could order a Britannian Princess around like that?

'By whom?'

"Lady Marianne." Lelouch's thoughts shattered.

'Lady Marianne lowered her own guard?'

"Yes, specifically."

'Why did she order her guard lowered that day?'

"I...don't know why she ordered her guard down that night."

'WHAT?' Zero hissed. Cornelia didn't respond. The Black Knights looked around, confused.

"Hey, what's this got to do with us?" Tamaki asked, annoyed.

'Shut up,' Zero barked. 'Marianne was killed that day, in the morning. Who killed her then?'

"Marianne was killed at night by unknown assailants." Lelouch recoiled at the comments. He remembered seeing Marianne's murder. There was no way it had been at night. Was Cornelia lying? It was impossible with his Geass. Wasn't it?

'How are you lying to me?'

"I'm not lying," Cornelia replied, frowning.

'You have to be. HOW ARE YOU LYING? WHO COULD TELL ME THE TRUTH?'

"My brother, Prince Schneizel-"

'Fine. Will you summon him to Japan for me?'

"Of course," Cornelia replied. Zero turned away.

'Diethard, allow her to compose a letter to summon Prince Schneizel. In the mean time, find a secure place to hold her. Ask Kyoto for assistance if we need to.' lelouch looked back at the Geass-compelled Princess. 'Without her, the Viceroyalty will crumble like a house of cards.'

0.0.0

Mao gave a disappointed groan as he watched Shirley run away.

"Aw," he whined. "They didn't work. Stupid girls. Now I'll have to do this myself. Well," he gave a devious glance back toward Shirley's retreating form. "Not entirely by myself."

0.0.0

Lelouch sat in the Black Knight command RV. He was staring at his own helmet, but wasn't really looking at anything. His mother must have known something about she couldn't share with her guards. She hadn't been someone to scheme with others. Especially not to politic within the Royal Family. She was highly direct.

'She wouldn't send her guard away if she were meeting an enemy. So she must have been meeting someone she trusted.' Lelouch's eyes narrowed as the mask called Zero spoke his thoughts.

Had they been ambushed at the time? No, Nunnally had been with her. She couldn't have been having a secret meeting. Lelouch had been right there.

'Unless our memories are lying,' Zero cautioned. Lelouch's eyes shot up.

"No," Lelouch told himself, eyes widening. "It couldn't be."

'Think about it,' Zero told him. 'You told yourself a lie that mother died protecting Nunnally. You're a victim of trauma. It matches the symptoms.'

"Wait, then what trauma did I suffer to cause the change of memory? Mother's murder couldn't have been enough to do it." Lelouch gritted his teeth when his mind couldn't come up with anything.

A beeping drew Lelouch's attention to the large TV. He put his helmet back over his face and walked over. The prince turned the device on to reveal Kirihara's face. A simple modification made after the meeting with Kirihara had turned the device into a way to communicate.

"The JLF were destroyed," Lelouch informed. "They used the liquid sakuradite to commit suicide, and took several Britannian soldiers with them."

"Was that what really happened?" Lelouch narrowed his eyes, unseen by Kirihara. Lelouch turned his head as the remaining resistance group filed into the vehicle.

"The JLF committed suicide," Lelouch assured. "But thanks to their heroic sacrifice, the Black Knights achieved a great victory. Cornelia has been captured. I was incapacitated but they achieved all of our objectives."

"Except the one I requested," Taizo added sternly.

"The situation changed rapidly," Lelouch insisted. "Unless you are implying that the JLF are more valuable than us?" The intent was clear. The Black Knights were growing. Kyoto could be their ally or their enemy.

"You captured Cornelia. That alone will be an excellent way to destabilize the Tyrannical Government." Taizo wasn't looking at Zero with pride.

"In honor of that," Lelouch turned to the resistance members. His gaze lingered over Kallen. "I apologize for my earlier misconduct. I'm proud that you were able to fight the Britannians on your own without my leadership. Thank you." Zero bowed to the resistance. He noticed Ohgi wasn't present. The prince made a note to personally congratulate Ohgi later. "Go enjoy your victory. Kallen, may I speak with you privately in my office?" Lelouch spun when Kallen nodded.

"What did you want to talk about?" Kallen asked once Lelouch had closed the office door. Lelouch steeled himself with an exhale and removed his helmet.

"Before I begin," Lelouch declared. "I understand your current feelings about me."

"Actually," Kallen began, stepping forward.

"Shirley knows that I'm Zero," Lelouch informed quickly. "When I ejected earlier Shirley was there with the woman knight in Shinjuku. The one whose uniform you borrowed?" Kallen nodded her recollection, then he went on. "My mask was removed. The knight won't be a problem any longer, but Shirley is emotionally unstable."

"Why were they even there?" Kallen asked, stunned at the revelation.

"Someone made them go there. Someone dangerous."

"What do you mean," Kallen asked, guarded. "Dangerous?"

"He made his presence known to me earlier. He left a note on my bedside table." Kallen blinked at the words. Her mind raced back.

"When?" she asked slowly, perturbed.

"While we were sleeping," Lelouch answered uncomfortably.

"While we were..." Kallen trailed off. "Oh my god!" She wrapped her arms around her chest, disgusted. "That is so damn creepy!

0.0.0

Okay so the elephant in the room is the Demo in chapter 15. On my last fic I demo'd a slightly early version of the first chapter of this fic. So the demo chapters are something that I do to beta test, but don't worry that demo is not getting written. And probably taken down.

Answering reviews before the OMAKE (wait, come back it's better this time I promise!)

ANON: Kallen didn't leave Lelouch for speaking Japanese, rather for using his sleight of hand magic tricks to avoid showing the Black Knights his face. Kallen doesn't really like that Lelouch isn't trusting his fellow soldiers

OMAKE:

Villeta came to bleeding in the pavement. She could barely move from blood loss.

"Whelp," she sighed to herself. "Time to conveniently lose my memory so I don't complicate the plot."

"Stay with me," Ohgi demanded, slowly picking Villeta's wounded body up.

"Can't hear you," the ebony Knight replied, her voice going sing-songing. "Losing my memory...bleeeeeeeeeeegh."

"Why are you losing your memory you got shot in the stomach!" Ohgi asked incredulously. The woman in his heads began to hum the theme to the twilight zone. "Hey! Stay awake I'm taking you to get patched up."

"Aaaah," the woman said dreamily. "Call me a Japanese name...lalala..."

"You are the most annoying woman I have ever met," Ohgi grumbled as she continued to moan nonsensically.