He woke up quite early than usual as Lelouch refreshed himself and changed into a simple outfit before leaving his room. It was something that he suddenly thought about as soon as he was awake—and perhaps it's also because he wanted to head somewhere 'quiet' to sort out his thoughts. So he sneaked out of Aries Imperial Villa to head to the Pendragon Palace.

If any of the guards stationed at the place had noticed Lelouch leaving the imperial villa, none of them could've said a word about it as the young prince ordered them to forget having seen him leaving the place.

.

As he entered the World of C from the palace, Lelouch noted that the scenery barely changed since the last time he was here. He continued heading further towards the strange platform where he used to see his father standing on it by himself. He just needed to check on something; or more like check on a certain monument. The monument... that his father called the Sword of Akasha.

He reached the place where the surrounding areas were lined with marble pillars and he reassure himself that he was right on track. Lelouch frowned as he noticed the strange pillar that he used to see before—which looked like a giant grotesque pole that pointed upwards towards a planet that looked like Jupiter. While he couldn't quite be sure about it, somehow he felt as if the pillar appeared a bit 'shorter' compared to the last time he saw it. What could that mean?

Did his father somehow have the power to manipulate the things inside this world?

He tried to recall the things that his father had told him before about his Ragnarok plan. How they planned to use the 'sword' and kill the 'Gods' thus allowing them to manipulate the collective consciousness to unite everyone—living or dead—so that they could exist as one mind. 'True equality' they called it... because his father thinks that trying to achieve it by normal methods was pointless. He still had trouble trying to grasp some of the details of that plan, how could they be sure that such a plan would work?

Lelouch turned around to leave but then stopped, as something else caught his eyes.

A door. A strange solid, metal door was standing on its own. Lelouch was about to approach it before sensing a presence behind him. He turned around to see that it was just his mother.

Wait, wasn't his mother supposed to be in Japan right now?

"Mother? But how—?"

Marianne just shrugged at her son. "Kaminejima," she said simply as Lelouch frowned.

"But I thought last time you said that the other entrances to this place were sealed beside the one here in Pendragon—"

"The entrances were sealed. Besides the one here and in Kaminejima. I just neglected to mention the latter back then."

Lelouch gasped. "But then V.V—"

"—won't be able to use the entrance anyway no matter what. That person no longer had the ability to come into this place now. So there was no need to worry about that. Unless the Geass Order decides to interfere."

"Geass Order?" Lelouch shook his head. No, there was a more pressing thing that he needed to know.

Lelouch glanced up to look at his mother. "What do you mean that V.V. can no longer come here?"

"Because V.V. no longer had the Code."

"What Code?"

"The Code of Immortality... as well as the power to grant the power of Geass to another." Marianne shrugged again. "He gave that power to your father... many months ago. To allow your father the ability to manipulate the things inside this World of C."

He frowned. "Was that the reason why both of you were looking for C.C.?"

His mother nodded her head. "It's because the situation changed drastically that he took the Code from V.V. instead."

"And V.V., just gave that power to Father?"

"Well, back then they used to have the same goal they wanted to achieve... until you convinced your father to change his mind."

Lelouch's eyes widened. So did that mean his father received the Code sometime after he was brought back here? Was that why his father seemed like a different person when he saw him here in the World of C that time?

He frowned again as Lelouch addressed his mother. "When did that happen? I mean, about V.V. giving his Code to Father."

Marianne just shrugged at her son.

"It was sometime after your disastrous rebellion in Japan. I was supposed to recover C.C to get her Code as well."

"Why was it important for you to get the Code from C.C when Father already had V.V's?"

"Because we realise that we could manipulate the World of C better when we had two."

"Aah!"

Lelouch clasped the side of his head as his head hurt trying to understand the reasoning for the things that his Father and uncle had done and how those actions affected him and the people around him. All of this was madness, honestly. How could they even think up such an elaborate plan and think that this was the best idea they could think of?

And then there was that other thing...

.

Lelouch turned his head towards his mother.

"Mother, how did you get that Geass powers of yours? To be able to possess someone else's body and exist as a soul... did you really wish for that kind of power as your own?"

His mother shook her head. "No. When C.C. made a contract with me... I didn't receive any power from the Geass immediately." She sighed. "But when I was shot that time by V.V... I desperately held on to a wish. I wished to remain in this world still. Because I couldn't leave you and Nunnally behind so soon."

His mother just let out a soft sigh.

"And then my eyes caught sight of young Anya who had witnessed the incident by accident back then. That time, my wish to keep on surviving as well as my desperation for that small girl to come to help me somehow triggered my Geass power to allow me to transfer my soul into Anya's body."

Marianne placed a hand on her chest. "Back then when I 'died', a part of my soul had returned to the collective consciousness. But because of my Geass, another part of my soul remained here. Somehow, I ended up becoming a bridge between our world and the World of C."

"And because of that, you believed that returning everyone to the collective consciousness could bring about the kind world that you wished for..."

His mother nodded.

.

His mother gave him a blank look. "Lelouch, why did you ask me about how I receive my power—?" she asked, almost childishly before appearing thoughtful. A stray thought made him wonder if being wrenched out of her own body and having split her soul into two have affected his mother. The times he noticed how Anya's personality fluctuates between two extremes came to mind. As well as her words before about having lost their minds...

Lelouch just sighed.

"I just wondered, about how I somehow receive this power..."

Back then, when he first found C.C the situation had been quite chaotic. He had accidentally got caught in a conflict between a local resistance group and the Britannian soldiers. And then he was briefly reunited with Suzaku before seeing his friend get shot. And then C.C got shot as well trying to save him, before later offering him to take on a Geass contract with her.

That time, C.C never stated what kind of power he'd receive from her. He just... knew. And it just happened to be that the power he received happened to be one that was quite beneficial to him. Lelouch thought about the conversation he had with his father the other day as well as the nightmare he had after. Did his Geass really manifest due to the trauma he used to have as a small child? Was that because of all those harsh words his father used to say to him?

While it's true that his father did have a great influence on his life, he didn't think that he could so easily be manipulated by his father, unconsciously or not. Yet, his Geass turned out to be the exact thing that his father once told him to do. So if how his mother gain her power was the same as how he got his—had he really wished to receive this kind of power?

But all he wanted was for people to listen to what he said and—Lelouch gasped. He thought back about his frustrations and his anger at his father and everyone who had committed injustice to him and the people he cared about. He thought about his own powerlessness despite being one of the royal heirs to the throne of Britannia. All these times all that he ever wished for... was for someone to listen to him and do what he asked for without question. And his Geass of Absolute Obedience did just that.

He gasped as Lelouch realised something important.

Was that what Geass is? It took on your strongest wish and manifested it in a form of power that was closest to it?

Was that why... his father's Geass had been the ability to rewrite memories that were borne out of the trauma of seeing his grandparent's death due to the political infighting? A wish to be able to change one's memories... an ability so powerful that it not only rewrote his sister's memory of the past but also made her believe that she was actually blind when she wasn't.

How could such things be possible? How could one's wish... be turned into a power that could affect the reality around him? Or is it because there were so many wishes accumulated throughout the ages that somehow... those wishes ended up powerful enough to grant someone power to make their wishes come true.

What was the collective consciousness actually? Or was it actually a collective unconsciousness? Regardless, it was a concept that he couldn't quite understand and he refused to let something like this dictate what kind of future he should have.

.

He sighed.

Everyone was wishing for peace... yet, everyone had a different idea of how that peace could be attained. And because one's own thoughts and wishes could be so hard to be completely understood or comprehended, it leads to actions that may end up being the opposite of what they wanted. Even then, despite everything, humans will keep on doing what they've done. That's human nature. But still...

...everyone was wishing for peace. Yet the cycle of hatred and unhappiness continued on.

Lelouch turned towards his mother as his thoughts wandered towards his own father.

If Charles's wish was also the same—desiring peace despite how his own actions escalated the war and pain instead—could he still fault his father for doing what he did? Lelouch thought about his own actions as Zero while trying to survive and to liberate the country that fell because of him. As much as he'd argue that his cause was justified, he still couldn't deny that he's also left a trail of casualties behind him.

"Why don't you use it to your advantage?"

He smiled weakly.

Ah, that's true. He'd reach this point after so much pain and hardship as well as losses.

He shouldn't start wavering now.

xxx

He returned to the Villa to find Cornelia and Kallen anxiously waiting for him. He gave them a weak smile before apologizing for making them worry.

"Where did you go? I was shocked to find your bed empty when I woke up!"

"Lelouch! I was worried when I heard you went missing—I know I might be too hard on you last night but..."

A certain warmth crept up into his chest as Lelouch stared at the two women fondly. And just as the realization came to mind, Jeremiah also came over and added on his concerns about him.

Right, he thought to himself. He wasn't alone. He had people who supported and cared and worried about him. Why did he think that his burden and pain were only his to suffer and carry alone?

"Sister..."

Cornelia stopped talking as she gave him her attention. "Schneizel's position as the Prime Minister was still empty, isn't it?" He took in a breath to steel himself. "I know that it's not the kind of thing you're used to doing, but could you fill in on that role for the time being?"

"Oh? All right, but what do you want to do now in the meantime?"

Lelouch shrugged. "I guess a meeting with Father again should suffice, considering how he announced that he'll pass the throne to me once he thinks I'm ready for it yesterday." He sighed. "I'm sure he's already had in mind the things he wanted me to do in order for me to prove myself. But before that, there are still a few things that I need to do."

"And what was that?" Kallen asked as Lelouch turned his attention towards her.

"There's still the matter about Schneizel already taking the weapon he's been working on based on Nina's invention. We barely saw how powerful that weapon could be and there's no telling how dangerous that weapon could be for us." Lelouch cocked his head to the side. "We need to at least make preparation to counter what the enemy would use against us."

"The Anti-FLEIJA!" Kallen gasped as Lelouch nodded.

"Even if I did give the Science team the task to create a counter weapon against FLEIJA, I doubted that they could really do much with their own power. And even if there are still some remaining researchers left in Camelot that hadn't gone to the other side I don't think I could fully trust those people to work with us."

"So you mean we needed to get our own people into this matter," said Cornelia, ever so quick to pick up on his hints.

Lelouch nodded again. "That's why I need your help with this." He shrugged. "As I couldn't do everything by myself."

"Of course," said Cornelia again as Lelouch glanced up at her. The second princess immediately frowned at him again.

"But really, Lelouch... where have you gone earlier?"

Lelouch just shrugged. "I went to Pendragon Imperial Palace to sort my thoughts a bit. A lot of things happened yesterday after all."

"The Imperial Palace? Why there?" Kallen asked as Lelouch sighed.

"Because I wanted to take a look at the World of C again... aside from sorting my feelings about it. And I did have a talk about it... with my mother."

Jeremiah cocked his head at him in confusion. "Wait, my prince. You said that you've gone to the Imperial Palace but how were you able to get back here? The front gate was still full of the journalists still in an uproar over yesterday's announcements!"

Lelouch chuckled awkwardly at the man. "W-well, Lord Bismarck had arranged one of his men to send me back here without drawing anyone's attention-"

Immediately Cornelia let out a loud groan. "Gosh... as if we don't already have enough problems to deal with. Lord Jeremiah, send some men to tell those journalists to leave the compounds. It's understandable that yesterday's announcement left them with many unanswered questions but right now there are too many things that we still have to deal with."

Jeremiah hastily left as Lelouch bit his lips.

Cornelia was right. This was just the beginning...