The Demon and the Red Moon

Disclaimer: Code Geass is not owned by me and this is a non-profit work of fiction. Please support the official release of Season 1.

Pre-Chapter:

Dalton directed the influx of containers from the recently arrived General Revil. The carrier and its escort group had arrived in the night, bringing Cornelia's desperately needed reinforcements. Dalton took special interest, in the screen of the command center, to the large container marked with Special Corp. logo. Lloyd's spare, a gift from Schneizel in the face of the immense threat.

"Dalton!" came a familiar shout. The blonde general turned to see a bloody and disheveled human in Guilford's pilot suit.

"Guilford?" Dalton exclaimed, concern turning Dalton dead-cold. He gave voice to his immediate concern. "Where is Lady Cornelia?!"

Geass vs Geass

Kallen was buttoning her cream school uniform jacket when her mother entered, carrying a large basket with fresh sheets. Kallen quickly walked over to help when her mother was having trouble.

"I'll help, Mom, it's alright," Kallen declared, carrying the basket over to the foot of her queen-sized bed.

"You haven't called me Mom in a long time," her mother noted, emotionally. Kallen looked over her shoulder, surprised and amused. She looked back and began to yank her sheets off of her bed, setting them in a pile beside her nightstand.

"I'm bringin' it back," Kallen commented, smirking.

"Kallen,"her mother chided, walking closer to her daughter. "If your step-mother found out, or the other maids-"

"I don't care," Kallen huffed, still smirking. "Like that bitch is going to do something about it?" her mother gave a gasp at Kallen's language. "Mom, I know why you're doing this. You don't have to be my maid. If I asked Dad he'd let you live in the house with me."

"No," the older Kozuki replied with a sigh, grabbing a sheet from the basket. "This is all I was ever good at." Kallen frowned and thought back to many broken vases and chandeliers. She gave a thoughtful noise and began to help her mother spread the white sheet over the mattress.

"You're not very good with certain parts," Kallen carefully stated, tucking the sheet under her mattress. "I've noticed someone else isn't so good with certain parts." She frowned and tried to get Lelouch from her mind. She shook her head to clear it, focusing on making her bed. "Maybe Dad will let me make you my personal maid so you don't have to worry about the other things."

"It's very sweet that you think of that," her mother told her, smiling. "How is school? Good friends?" Kallen winced briefly.

"They're okay I guess," Kallen admitted. "Most of them are pretty nice for being Britannian spoiled kids. I mean," She paused to stand up straight and brush her crimson hair from her eyes. "Milly is a pervert, and Rivalz is kinda whiny. At least they're never boring. Nunnally is really sweet. You wouldn't think it from Lel-" Kallen winced again at the name. She tried to ignore the peal of longing inside her.

"Is something wrong with Lelouch?" Kallen was jolted from her thoughts by her mother's question. She took the side of the next sheet her mother offered and began to spread it out.

"It's complicated," Kallen decided out loud after a few moments.

0.0.0

Lelouch sneezed and scratched his nose, irritated. He looked around his bedroom and growled loudly at the sheer amount of pizza boxes laying around HIS bedroom. A few were even inside the drawers of his dresser.

Lelouch's desire for control and his calm demeanor had sundered to the heathen ways of that unkempt witch. Now Lelouch's anger stormed like the ancient Greek Gods.

"C," he said loudly to the prone figure on the bed, "where is my phone?!"

"Zzzzz," was his only reply. Lelouch growled once again and picked up a pizza box and flung it like a shuriken at the bed. It fell short and bounced to the floor. He growled yet again and began to dig through the pizza boxes, throwing several on the floor. Finally he drew his phone from the mess, as Arthur drew a sword from the stone.

"Lelouch, keep it down. Your so loud and messy." C rolled over with a groan.

"Messy?" Lelouch hissed to himself. "Messy?!" Enough was enough. Lelouch's irritation, constant companion since C had come into his life, now erupted like a volcano. He took a deep inhale as he spun, preparing to finally voice his princely wroth.

0.0.0

"He's kind," Kallen finally explained as she patted down a comforter. "But he doesn't like to show it, he just wants to keep seeming so cool. And he doesn't trust others easily. He's always coming up with these plans so he doesn't have to open up to people." Kallen redid the top button of her jacket. "And he's really stupid about love."

Kallen's mother froze, concern edging her eyes.

"Kallen, it's not my place exactly," she began carefully, speaking very low. "But that night you snuck out in that black coat your father got for you, where did you go exactly?" Kallen's eyes widened, blushing.

"Wow look at the time, I'm going to be late, gotta go, see you tonight!" Kallen grabbed her bag and began to run from the bed room. She stopped and ran to give her mother a hug. "Love you!" Kallen shouted as she left.

0.0.0

When Kallen got to her first period class she saw Lelouch sitting in the back with his face in his hands. She heard a muffled sound that Kallen would normally attribute to a dying animal. The red head moved over to where Lelouch was sitting.

"Lelouch?" Kallen called softly.

"She's ruining my system," Lelouch groaned, despair ringing his voice. Kallen realized he meant Shirley and leaned down.

"Don't worry," she whispered near his head. "We'll find out where she is after school. Then you can use your Geass on her to erase her memory."

"I can't use my Geass on that evil witch," Lelouch despaired once again.

"Why can't you use your Geass on Shirley?" Kallen hissed, suddenly intensely worried. The prince raised his head up, his one eye she saw visibly narrowed in confusion. The half-breed frowned as she realized Lelouch meant C. Kallen lowered herself down to a crouching position.

"What is she doing?" Kallen asked, sighing. Lelouch lowered his head back down with a groan. Kallen rolled her eyes.

"I can see pizza boxes when I close my eyes," Lelouch groaned. "I want my damn room clean again, she has no right to destroy my only place of solitude." Kallen felt the beginnings of a headache and stroked her brow with a sigh.

"Try not to think about it," Kallen offered, helpless. She rose with a sigh.

"Don't think about it?" Lelouch sat up and propped himself up with his elbows. "I can't stop thinking about anything. Including the fact that if I see one more pizza box I'm going to go insane and blow my brains out." Kallen made a wincing sound and Lelouch looked over to see the rest of the class staring as the teacher had opened several boxes of pizza. Lelouch gave a groan and put his head in his palm.

"I thought you liked pizza," Suzaku commented as he sat down, chewing on a bite of pepperoni.

"I detest pizza," Lelouch affirmed. "The sloppy construction of a meal."

"Lelouch is weird," one of the girls next to Kallen commented loudly. Kallen bit into her pizza to stop from laughing.

0.0.0

Villeta became aware that she was somehow both numb yet sore in her gut. She moved her hand and felt linen sheets. She smelled dust and homely scents and moldy carpet. She tried to stretch to erase the cramps from the bed, and she felt a catch in her abdomen and gave a hiss.

"You're awake," came a male voice. Villeta's eyes shot open and looked around. An Eleven with dark curly hair held aloft by a red headband was sitting next to the bed. Villeta tried to sit up but her body protested again, causing enough pain for her to give up. She felt around for her firearm with her hands, but she found even her previous outfit was gone, leaving her in her bra and panties.

'Dammit,' Villeta growled to herself, 'not again.'

"I had a friend patch up your wound. He lost his medical license when you people invaded our homeland. I had to pay him a lot to fix you up." The eleven stood up and lifted Villeta's pistol up. "I'm going to hold on to this," he told her. "So what's your name?" Villeta scowled at her...host, she decided, defeated.

"I'm Dame Villeta Nu of the Order of the Purebloods," she finally told him, haughtily. The eleven absorbed this for a second.

"Short for something?" he replied sarcastically. Villeta smirked despite herself.

"Since I'm far from completely dressed I think it is fair enough for you to call me Dame Nu," Villeta conceded. She tried to sit up again but gave a groan. The eleven man set the gun far away from Villeta on a table.

"Here, if you wanna sit up I'll help," he leaned over her and slipped two arms under Villeta's back. Lifting and sliding, he began to move Villeta to a more sitting position in bed. Villeta had to admit, if she were a weaker woman, that the man's arms weren't entirely unwelcome. They were pleasantly muscled and toned, and he was gentle enough that she only had a small amount of pain in the process.

"Thank you," Villeta said when he let her down. She looked down enough to pull the sheet to cover her breasts from any prying eyes. But in the corner she noticed he'd avoided staring at her bosom.

"What were you doing down at the docks with a gun?" the man asked, not picking up the gun. It didn't matter, Villeta was in no shape to retrieve it.

"I was tracking that traitor, Zero," Villeta confessed, in no position to refuse to answer. "And I had that boy, until that little bitch shot me."

"Zero? You know who that guy is?" the man sounded very interested now, sitting down and leaning forward, his brown eyes boring into her.

"Why do you ask?" Villeta countered, meeting the eleven's stare. "Are you one of those idiots who believes he can make things better?" Despite the unintended insult, the man glanced away, in thought.

"The old man said Zero was a true mortal enemy of Britannia. Who the heck could be a mortal enemy of the whole of Britannia?" Villeta's eyes widend as the man spoke.

"No, Zero is a school boy named Lelouch Lamperouge. He can't be that important." Villeta drew the young man's gaze back.

"Lamperouge? Is he European?"

"No, definitely Britannian," Villeta corrected.

"But if he's Britannian why does he hate Britannia?"

"He's nothing but a traitor, and if you support him that makes you a traitor."

"And I'm the one who saved your life after you got shot," the man reminded.

"Good point," Villeta began, then dropped off when she realized she hadn't heard her savior's name.

"It's Ohgi. Kaname Ohgi."

0.0.0

"Did one of you guys upset Shirley?" Milly asked the student council as they ate. Lelouch remained silent and placed another piece of tuna and rice into his mouth with chopsticks.

"What the hell was that voice?" Rivalz asked, looking around in confusion.

"I didn't say anything to Shirley," Kallen replied, nibbling her sandwich.

"Did she find out that you and Lelouch did it?" Milly asked pointedly. Kallen choked on her sandwich a few moments and managed to swallow it. Lelouch gave a weary sigh.

"Milly-" Kallen choked, beginning an explanation.

"You're not denying it this time," Milly declared. "Shirley left and she's been gone the entire night. You know she likes you Lelouch so you better go apologize to her!" Lelouch winced, remembering Shirley's sudden confession.

"We'll get Shirley first thing after school," Lelouch promised.

"Kallen go with him," Milly ordered. "Seriously guys, Shirley is really messed up after her dad dying."

0.0.0

"Is it wrong for me to be excited to be on the train?" Kallen asked as they boarded the train-car. "I've never been on the bullet train." She followed Lelouch and sat down right next to him. The seat was small so Kallen had to get really close to be actually seated on the bench.

"I wouldn't think it'd be such a big thing, the bullet train has been around since before the invasion," Lelouch replied, double-checking the location of Shirley's phone on his laptop. The prince saw the flash of a white coat in the corner of his eye and ignored it.

"I know," Kallen replied, excited. "My mom wanted to take me and..." she frowned looked out the window. "Anyway, I got sick and we couldn't go."

"You never told me about Naoto," Lelouch noted, closing his laptop. "I'd understand it it's too painful." Kallen smiled.

"Thanks for understanding," she told him. "Naoto was...well he was Naoto. Everybody liked him. When Britannia invaded Japan, we were already safe in the country side, but Naoto wanted to help fight back. And afterwards he told people that if we wanted to keep our homeland we had to fight to take it back. Freedom wasn't a right, we had to take it ourselves." Kallen looked up at Lelouch's face.

"He was kinda like you," Kallen noted. "You're both big softies on the inside."

"You're also a softie," Lelouch noted with a smirk.

"I am not dumbass," Kallen declared, her face going hard again, looking ahead.

"Sorry to interrupt," came an accented voice. "You guys sound like you're having a lover's spat." The teens turned to look over his shoulder. Lelouch frowned to himself at the man. White hair over a mostly white and soft green outfit, big headphones and sunglasses. Weird dresser.

"Yeah," Kallen admitted to him. "He's been a little distant with some friends of mine so I'm not really sure I can trust him."

"Aw," the man said, almost a whine. "Well I hope it works out for you."

"Thanks, that's nice of you," Kallen told the man.

"My pleasure," he replied as Kallen turned to look back ahead. Lelouch kept watching him. Something was bugging him. Something he couldn't nail down. His Geass eye felt...unnatural. Like it didn't belong.

"Hey," Kallen said, drawing his attention. "Stop glaring at him, he's just riding the train like us." Lelouch looked ahead once again. He could see the white-haired stranger in the reflection on the window. He was writing on something, a notebook maybe. Lelouch narrowed his eyes, focusing carefully on the reflection.

Lelouch kept glancing at the reflection as the train went along. The ride to Narita was supposed to be thirty minutes, though stops prolonged it. The prince kept talking with Kallen, about a few subjects, but not the Black Knights or Zero.

"What are we going to say to Shirley?" Kallen finally asked. A gasp came from behind Lelouch, irritating the prince.

"Was that Lelouch two-timing on you?" the other passenger suddenly asked, offended at Lelouch. Lelouch realized something with a start. He spun around to meet the stranger's eyes, almost knocking Kallen off the seat. The redhead sat down on top of his legs. The stranger just glared at him.

"No," Kallen explained, looking at the stranger. "She just really likes Lelouch and ran away because of our relationship. We're trying to get her to come back to our boarding school."

"Who are you?" Lelouch growled softly. Kallen recoiled.

"He's just a harmless guy. We were talking loudly, he couldn't help overhearing us." Lelouch didn't look at the read head as Kallen spoke. The albino stranger simply kept staring at him.

"No he's not," Lelouch replied softly. "You made your pen strokes obvious in the reflection, to match the note you wrote for me. Your accent is too careful, and when you gasped you broke it. The lilt in your voice means you spoke Mandarin as a first language. It's probably Hong Kong but you learned it from listening to it, not from school, so it isn't perfect. Kallen never spoke aloud my name for this entire ride. And your sunglasses aren't so reflective that I can't see your eyes. And I know the voice coming from your head phones. I doubt you'll be surprised to hear, she hasn't aged a day."

The stranger merely smirked.

"You underestimated my hearing and that I could read your strokes. And this isn't the first time you've seen Kallen." Kallen recoiled as she realized what Lelouch was saying. She was about to rise when Lelouch gripped her thigh to stop her.

"I'm impressed. You came up with 8 different possibilities for my identity," the stranger finally said. "Including the correct one." He dipped his sunglasses and showed a pair of avian Geass symbols. "That was your chance to kill me, Lelouch." the friendly tone was gone, now the albino was speaking in a threatening tone. "And you won't get another chance."

Lelouch quickly scanned the rest of the car, noting the other inhabitants.

"Nanny," The albino said, parroting Lelouch's thoughts as fast as he saw the other people in the car. "Off-duty cop, unarmed. Two teenagers, a third, listening to headphones. The off-duty cop is an alcoholic, you can see the tremors in his hand, the spill on his lower lip. The nanny has a brick in her purse, you come up with three plans to get the purse and hit me."

Lelouch froze as he realized the strangers power.

'Kallen and I have to get away from this guy,' Lelouch thought to himself.

"Kallen and I have to get away from this guy," the Stranger mocked, mimicking Lelouch's inner thoughts exactly. "How can he read my thoughts? Lelouch can't read my thoughts with his Geass." Lelouch frowned as he realized Kallen's thoughts were being read too.

"I'm Mao," the stranger finally declared. "You're Lelouch, she's Kallen. You morons can't stop thinking about each other. Do you know how sickening that is to hear?" Mao's expression was bored. "Even when you're naked and asleep."

0.0.0

Kallen was going to throw up. This sicko pretended to be friendly to lure her in. And she fell for it like an idiot. And it was worse because he'd seen her after she and Lelouch had made love. That was supposed to be-

"Only for Lelouch?" Mao asked, looking up at her face, meeting her eyes. Kallen had to look away, disturbed. She sat forward, gripping Lelouch's hand on her thigh.

"I would like to think we can reach a mutually beneficial agreement," Lelouch finally offered, diplomatically.

'Oh, god, Lelouch,' Kallen thought to herself, desperately. 'Please tell me you can beat him. This guy scares me.'

0.0.0

Mao hissed as a large group of hooligans entered the train car at the next-stop. Lelouch noticed and shot up.

"Hey!" he shouted. They all turned. Lelouch's Geass was waiting. "Grab him!" Mao lunged for Lelouch in a sudden rage. The hooligans quickly grabbed Mao and pulled him from Lelouch however. "Run!" he told Kallen. The pair of teens just managed to get off the train as the doors closed. Mao screamed and beat against the doors as the train began moving again.

0.0.0

The young pair had had to walk the rest of the way. Thankfully it wasn't far. But that meant that Mao could potentially catch them again. The concept deeply vexed Lelouch's inner calm. He knew none of Mao's weaknesses. Yet he'd taken the Chinaman's hinted challenge too quickly. Too brashly. Arrogant, stupid.

"So that's the guy," Kallen finally thought aloud, jolting Lelouch from his self-flagellation. The prince eyed the rebel, curiously.

"His ability is pretty terrifying," Kallen admitted. "To have everything you can think be read so easily. For someone like you it must be impossible to overcome."

"Thank you for reminding me of my constant failures," Lelouch replied sharply.

Lelouch was unprepared for Kallen's bare hand striking him across the face hard enough to see stars. Lelouch brought his hand to the tender cheek with an irritated frown.

"You're more of an idiot than I thought," Kallen admonished. "First you don't trust anybody, then you can't understand anybody, and now you're thinking you're a failure. You're still alive, aren't you? You still have time to fix yourself don't you?" Lelouch recoiled as the girl shouted at him.

"So what if you couldn't beat someone like Mao this time? You keep fighting Lelouch, until you win or you die!" Lelouch winced at how loud Kallen was speaking and glanced around.

"Kallen," he advised softly.

"What?" Kallen looked around to see that everyone around had stopped to stare at her. She blushed and shielded her face and continued walking the way they'd been going. "This is why I hate Britannians, always sticking their nose where it doesn't belong."

"Thank you, Kallen," Lelouch finally offered, catching up. "I wasn't thinking." Lelouch gave a smirk at the irony. "You managed to dispel the doubt in my heart." Kallen smiled to herself, putting her hands behind her waist and lacing her fingers together. "You know, you don't hate Britannians," Lelouch commented, suddenly.

"Oh, you're angry at Britannia itself," Lelouch quickly added. "But ever since I've met you you've protected Britannians. In the van you didn't want to disperse the poison gas because it would've been a massacre. In our first battle you protected me, a Britannian prince. At Lake Kawaguchi you saved the student council members, and a bunch of other Britannians.

"I think you wanted to hate every Britannian, but you saw your friends in a new light after Naoto's death. A lot of them were just people. And people don't become evil when they suddenly have a Britannian Flag over their heads. But you got it stuck in your head so now you just say it when you're embarrassed."

"Alright," Kallen started. "Two can play this game." She stopped and faced Lelouch, who paused in his stride and eyed her, curious. "You never undo the top button of your jacket when you can be seen. You try to put on a detached expression in class, like you're not really involved. But you watch them. Whenever you're not reading a novel you're usually either sleeping in class or watching people.

"Because deep down you don't understand them. You're not really connected to anything except Nunnally. Probably because you don't understand emotions, except anger at your father, and sadness. You feel those things the same as us but you don't know how to process those things. So you bury them to stay in control because when you're in control you understand how you work."

Lelouch narrowed his eye, irritated. He huffed and looked away. His eyes widened. Shirley was sitting on a bench. Staring at her hands.

"You should stay here," he softly advised Kallen. Then he slowly walked over to where Shirley was sitting. She probably heard his shoes on the ground, but didn't react. He carefully sat down next to her. He called her name quietly to draw her attention.

"Did you come to kill me for knowing your secret?" Shirley asked softly. Lelouch's eyes shot wide.

"YES HE DID," came a loud triumphant voice. Lelouch looked back to see Mao walking over swiftly. With a pistol.

"Don't listen to him, Shirley," Lelouch ordered swiftly. 'You can't beat me, Mao,' Lelouch thought carefully to himself. 'You would've killed me already if you could. But C wouldn't take you back if did. Which means I can never lose to you.'

"You can't lie to me, Lulu," Mao replied. "You're going to kill poor little Shirley for knowing your secret. Or you'll use your Geass to make me do it." Lelouch winced.

"I'm sorry for what I did to your father, Shirley. But I'm not going to kill you, I promise. We're friends." 'Meaning now she might think that I'm killing her if you do. You know that you can still take things away that matter to me.' Lelouch's mind went against his control and thought of Nunnally. He silently cursed.

"What will Nunnally think, Lulu?" Mao taunted. "When they all find out who killed Shirley for finding out your widdle secret?"

"Then how come you brought the gun, Mao?" Lelouch challenged. 'I just need to use my Geass on Shirley and she'll rip you apart with her teeth. Even if you can read my thoughts you can't beat me that easily Mao.'

"You can't out-think yourself, Lelouch," Mao challenged back.

'Maybe,' Lelouch thought to himself. With a smirk, Lelouch began to think.

'You're arms are too thin so you're not physically strong. We're still near a large group of people. So how well can you hear me?' Lelouch also began to memorize the words to 'All hail Britannia,' while mentally reciting Pi and translating the Quran. Mao hissed, his free hand going up to his temple.

'More,' Lelouch realized. 'I need more.' So he began to let loose with his feelings.

'Even if you can read my thoughts, I can still manipulate you. Because you still feel emotions. You should've increased your own mental power instead of relying on every one else's.'

"I won't fall for such stupid bait, Lelouch!" Mao was angrily screaming now, his free hand gripping his skull. "If I concentrate I can focus on which is your true thought, and stop hearing the rest of the chatter."

"Don't think about C," Lelouch reminded with a smirk.

"C is mine!" Mao growled. "Mine mine mine mine!"

'I've even seen the parts of C you'll never get to,' Lelouch taunted with a thought. Then he began to remember the cave...

"SHUT UP!" Mao screamed, raising his pistol. "Ow!" Mao and Lelouch looked down to see a cat biting down on Mao's leg. Lelouch felt something jump over him. Mao looked back up just in time to see Kallen Kozuki land a flying kick to the center of his chest, knocking him backwards.

When he landed Mao rolled one way. His sunglasses, blocking Lelouch's Geass, went another. Mao looked up to fire at Kallen just as Lelouch called forth his Geass, standing.

"Die!" the two Geass-users chorused.

The best thing about Lelouch's weapon, was his didn't need a trigger pulled.

0.0.0

Getting Shirley to come home with Kallen and Lelouch had been easy afterwards. Lelouch had quickly controlled the police. He wasn't planning on going back to Narita ever again.

Kallen pet the cat in her lap from the opposite bench in the cabin as Shirley and Lelouch sat side by side. Lelouch had taken a few moments to explain Geass. Shirley had seen him use it after all, it was simpler to answer.

"Could," Shirley hesitated. "Could your Geass bring back my father?" Lelouch winced.

"I'm sorry," Shirley sobbed at Lelouch's apology. "But I can help you. The Black Knights fight for justice. So I'll swear that one day you'll get the chance to get your own justice." Shirley looked up at Lelouch, confusion wrinkling her brow.

"When you get back to Asheford," Lelouch ordered, his eye alight with Geass, "forget about Lelouch, and forget who Zero is. Zero is evil, no matter how he achieves his goals. Find a way to seek your justice against him, Shirley."

Kallen gasped as the order took effect on Shirley.

0.0.0

Alice unlocked the lab door with her Geass-alight eye reading in the retinal scanner. She carefully walked inside the massive laboratory room. She came to the far wall to stand beside a man overlooking an operation in progress.

"Will he live?" Alice asked, coldly.

"We're uncertain how he lived this long," the overseer admitted.

In the operation theater, Jeremiah Gottwald awoke with a scream. He could feel the pain all over. Out of the corner of his eye he saw them taking away pieces of him. He heard the incessant beeping. The smell of solder and fire in his skull.

"He's awake," a female voice warned.

"Where is Zero?" Jeremiah screamed. He couldn't move. He was trapped and in pain. They were ripping him apart. He heard something being clicked home close to his eye. "Just let me die," he begged. "LET ME DIE!" He began to howl in pain again.

"Are we really going to send him into the field so soon?" the overseer asked Alice. "Lord V isn't thinking such a dangerous mechanism is ready."

"The fact that Jeremiah even survived the Red Knightmare's radiation attack with his brain still alive means that he's far more sturdy than your average human. Once the Geass Cancelling hardware is installed, and with the proper neural connection ports he'd be an excellent candidate to test the Siegfried system."

"But," the other man hedged, "his obsession with Zero-"

"It's an ideal motivation," Alice interrupted. "Lord V can't afford to fall behind. Even Geass can't tip the delicate balance. If we use Gottwald to hunt Zero, and test the Siegfried system at the same time," Alice spun away, still frowning. "We can kill two birds with one stone. If we're lucky, we'll kill one of those birds before he becomes powerful enough to be two birds."