This has been an idea of mine I've head for a couple months now so I had just had to give it a swing. This is just set up but I do encourage that you read the whole thing. I hope I catch your interest with it and you following the story and drop a review down below. I'm always willing to listen to reviews and PMs so please, don't hold back.

Chapter 1: Gate - Thus The demon was banished there

2018 a.t.b

Imperial Crown Colony of Japan

Tokyo Settlement

Two months after the Battle of Mt. Fuji

'Let me start out by stating this, I am not perfect. I have made miscalculations…mistakes, some bigger and more bloody than others. That being said, there was always three things I fought for. The first, was to create a world where my younger sister could be safe and find true happiness. The second, was to avenge my mother's murder. The last reason…

I wished to burn down everything my sperm donor of a father had built, and make him watch as I did so.

But if life has taught me anything in my short but eventful existence, it's that things are never as they seem, and that truth is often more painful than any lie.' Lelouch thought to himself as he sat on top of his float. In the front of his little parade were the two floats that carried the chained and defeated heads of both the Black Knights and the Chinese Federation. Each bond to their poles while wearing restraint jackets, everyone from the little Chinese Empress, Tianzi to the ace of the Black Knights herself-Kallen Kōzuki, who understandably enough, would glare at him with a fury that would terrify a lesser man whenever they made eye contact. Behind them was the much smaller float which carried and rags adored and chained former Prime Minster to the Holy Britannian Empire-2nd Prince Schneizel el Britannia. He was the most docile of all his prisoners. Lastly by the feet of his own float, lay the chained former viceroy to Area 11, Nunnally vi Britannia-the very person that for years, was his reason to live, his reason to fight.

'Of course, things weren't always like this, they were once upon a time much simpler.' Lelouch thought to himself with a fake cruel smirk as he looked down on his little sister. 'I suppose this all started just a few weeks shy of Euphie announcement for the SAZ, she would have never had the support for it if I just listened to C.C. and killed or geass Suzaku when I had the chance. And believe me, I had more than one chance to do so but I let my attachment to him stop me, foolishly believing that I could sway him to me side with logic and enough time…should have remembered that he was the most bull headed and stubborn bastard I had ever met for that to work but I suppose I was merely fooling myself.

Then…the SAZ massacre happened, something that has haunted my every waking moment ever since, arguably my….no, that day is my greatest failure. To think, all that was the result of my dark sense of humour and the mistimed controlled geass command.

Any chance for the friendship I shared with Suzaku being saved was lost along with Euphie that faithful day. Despite to all, I was winning and would have dealt the empire a crippling blow if not for the thrice be damned V.V. kidnapping Nunnally which lead to my capture and 'imprisonment' for a nearly a full year.

But I rose once more to challenge my father and the status quo, I rose to fight once more for my goals and my sister.

But…

So much was revealed to me that I now have nothing to fight for. Firstly I lost Kallen, a women who held a third of my heart. With her capture I felt so damn powerless to stop it, Suzaku had taken her from me, the thought filled me with a rage that I seldom ever feel.

Then Shirley's…Then Shirley died…..right in my arms, in a pool of her own blood. I never really understood why she loved me, that anyone could love be after seeing what darkness I have in my heart and know of my many sins…..but she did. She could look at me and see past every mask, every lie. She saw me for who I was, and for that, I loved her, more than I loved any other…

I just wish that I could have told her, that I could have saved her, held her close and never let go.

But as she breathed her last, as those eyes, such a beautiful fusion of green and gold, lost their shine…..I understood the rage that Suzaku felt for me for taking the life of the women he loved. In revenge for the death of the women who a place of my heart, I razed the Geass Order to the ground, it was there I fought V.V, that I cornered that little 'immortal' brat

Even with CC warning me that he couldn't be killed with normal means. I was far too furious to be in the mood to grant him a quick death. Oh no, my plan was to burn everything he had built, make him watch an then ensure he suffered 1,000 deaths before I made sure he would never see the light of day again.

'After-all, I could have always sealed him in an iron maiden, encased in in high density cement and dropped him into the challenger deep…or maybe placed in a rocket and blasted him into the sun so he could burn for the next few billion years.' Lelouch thought to himself with a very real cruel smirk as he thought of all the ways he would have made that waste of bio-mass suffer if not for C.C and Jeremiah talking him down before he went down a truly dark road.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it, Jeremiah was able to save/capture Cornelia while C.C and I pressed on. It was then my father appeared and sprung his own trap, nearly killing C.C. (granting her wish) if not for my selfish wish to not see another person I cared for die. It cost her though, she lost her memories and was reduced to that…shell of herself. I never thought I would miss the women she was but nonetheless, it was an eye opening experience as I had never known she had such a side to her, such a tragic past. In a way, I found myself liking her even more as despite wishing to die, despire being sick of watching the world go on without you, of having watch the friends and enemies she made fall to the ravages of time while she remained. She never, ever tried to force her code on another.

She still had a heart, enough of one to never deceive and curse someone she cared for like she was all those centuries ago.

Taking care of her was a different experience but it did bring some colour to the greying world. She still can't believe she compared me to Merlin during this time. Never really saw myself as a magician or mage, despite having geass.

Afterwards I met with Suzaku to ensure that Nunnally wouldn't be in harm's way during the 2nd Battle of Tokyo Settlement. He did what I predicted he would and threw back all my sins and faults, right in my face. I could tell he was just lashing out, like he always does, he was angry with himself more than more since he must have realized by then that the person he become was a man that Euphemia would never love. So I threw him a bone and lied about my goals and intentions, as much as I wanted to watch as his mind shattered like glass at the reveal that I didn't want to kill Euphemia and instead wanted her to shoot me instead to discredited her, Nunnally still cared for that son of a bitch, so I held back the truth and gave him the lie he wanted.

Though the entire meeting went to shit when we both got jumped. 'What a foolish decision, if not for a last minute choice to 'use' Guilford as a failsafe, I would have been captured once more.

'And because of the brilliant move of that sociopath Schneizel, I didn't believe Kururugi when he told me he was carrying a WMD but it wasn't my fault that he fired it, killing 35 million innocent people with Nunnally among that victims.' Lelouch thought to himself as he recalled punching his former friend in the face when he tried to dump that sin on him about a week into their planning of the requiem. It was quite satisfying to land that blow and then coldly remind him that his command was for him to 'live' not kill and how it was of Suzaku's own free will that he rode out to battle, his choice to carry that trice be damned weapon when he, as a Knight of Round, had the authority to have it removed and after speaking with Lloyd, it was his choice not to retreat when it was abundantly clear that Kallen outmatched him in speed and power.

Even if his Geass made the fire worse, it was his bull headedness that started the fire in the first place. Plus he was justified in believing he wouldn't do it as such a weapon would devastate Tokyo Settlement, the Britannian colonial capital. Only an idiot would fire a WMD over their own city rather than just let it be occupied by an enemy force. Sadly, Suzaku is and forever will be, that idiot and with all his faults and one tracked thinking, he pulled the trigger and wiped out most of the city along with 35 million people, both Japanese and Britannians perished in that blinding light.

"I wanted him to know that he has more blood on his hands than I did, that he was far more deserving of Hell than I was, so that it would break him on the inside." Lelouch said to himself, not realizing that Nunnally caught what he said, even if she didn't know what he was talking about.

None the less, watching his reason to live perish in that blaze of power and light, it proved too much and his lost all sense of composure, if not for Jeremiah, he would have done something very stupid in the heat of the moment. Thank the heavens that his faithful man-servant and house vassal(though the vi Britannia line was all but finished, even then) was present to see to him and get him back to his personal quarters on-board the Ikaruga without being spotted as he was in no shape to be a leader at the time and Jeremiah knew that.

But Schneizel, having planned for that like the snake he is, used the moment to strike. It was in those few short hours he was incapacitated that he made his move, with no doubt the use of half-truths, lies and my own men's fear and bitch Villetta(Should have killed her when I had the chance), he was able to turn my own command staff against me.

'I get that there pissed off that I kept some secrets to myself but to betray me on the words of a prince of the royal family that enslaved the very nation they were fighting for, the same prince who just happened to be the enemy commander we were fighting? Those fools didn't even stop to think that if they were my slaves, how would have they had the free will to both question my orders and motives time and time again and later stab me in the back?' Lelouch as he locked eyes with Ohgi, the no doubt ringleader of the coup against him. Oh how he hated them, he hated them almost as much as he did his father.

But Kaname, he held a special place in his blacken heart. That bastard was never worthy of his title or command, even during the battle, he was unable to keep up with the flow of the battle and had to allow those under him to decide what to do for themselves. The man that Kallen thought cared for her was willing to kill her, she trusted him, he was there for her when her brother was killed but that didn't matter one bit that faithful day. Swine headed fool was this close to killing her along with me when she defended me. All she asked was for the chance for me to explain, to say me side of things but nope! None of them were willing to use their words and would have killed the both of us, most likely in some sick believe of 'liberating' Kallen from my control in death.

The man in question glared at him from the moment they made eye contact before he flinched away from emperor's harsh, cold gaze.

Spineless Coward.

After that, as much as he wished it wasn't the only option he had at the time, he was forced to Kallen behind with them to spare her life, I was able to somehow out of there before they turned me into humanoid Swiss cheese thanks to Rolo, who died soon after from heart failure. I had lost almost everything I loved and cherished, everything that I fought for….

Almost everything.

I still had my goal to burn down everything my father had built, to beat him.

So I challenge him once more in Kanime island, it was there I learned the truth about Ragnarok

About my mother's connection to the plan

How she had been alive while we were left to think her dead….

How she, my uncle and father conquered nations after nations, killing tens of thousands and enslaving millions. How she just stood by and watched as her 'beloved children' were forced to fight and kill one another as to keep up appearances.

How Marianne and Charles didn't just use change everyone's memories of that night she supposedly died…But how had their own daughter, sweet and innocent Nunnally, crippled for the sake of their lies before they robbed her of her sight!

How that bitch couldn't even be bothered to shed a tear for the passing of her own daughter, killed by a weapon created by Britannia(indirectly by her very husband).

'I suppose that it doesn't matter since I erased both of them from this world and C's world. Not even immortality could keep Charles safe from his much deserved fate, but to think, I was able to bend 'God' to my will like any other mortal.' Lelouch thought to himself as he looked towards the building he was sure was the hiding spot was of left of the Black Knights and those who were foolish enough to rebel against him. Though he would give them credit, they had guts, not much brains but guts nonetheless.

After that mess was done, claiming the throne was nearly child's play. Making all those who looked down on me for my mother's commoner blood my slaves and puppets? That was just icing on the cake.

Losing Pendragon on the other hand was a blow I didn't even think Schneizel capable of, he wiped out his own capital just to make a point? Turning Nunnally against me was a move I could respect, mental warfare isn't anything new and I have used it myself but to wipe out tens of millions just to prove that he could?

I would have thought that Schneizel was above such barbarism. Still, I don't think anything has hurt me more than hearing her denounce me like the rest of them, for her to see me like a monster.

'I kind of find it funny that after 7 years of taking care of her, it took Schneizel only but a month to turn her against me, she declared me her enemy before asking my reasons and motives for my actions as Zero. I suppose in the end, you were right Kururugi, this world and the people in it...they will always turn their backs on me.' Lelouch thought to himself with a broken look in his eyes as he gazed into the sky, thinking to his last great battle.

How he outsmarted Schneizel.

Confronted Nunnally.

Hearing her denounce him with so much pain and hate as he left her defeated like the rest of his foes.

From that he accomplished something never before thought possible, he conquered the world and made it his own. Through fear, superior technology and his personal Geass, he stamped out any and all who could oppose his reign and surpassed even the mighty Julius Cesar and Alexander the Great in the history as the youngest and most powerful figure in human history, he who before he was legally old enough to actually gamble had brought the world to its knees and became the undisputed ruler of it all.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't noticed the convoy stopping as his forward units spotted a figure on the horizon. That figure turned out to be Zero. Like he planned, he slapped a look of shock and anger on his face as Zero started running towards them, dodging the fire from his Vincents, using Jeremiah as a launch pad, jumping passed a chained Schneizel, leaping passed an shackled Nunnally before finally making it to his throne.

"You just don't know when to die, do you?!" Lelouch yelled as he pulled out his sidearm to try and 'kill' Zero but was disarmed by the masked man and swiftly stabbed right through the chest. As he slumped over Zero's shoulder, he heard him gasp for air, honestly, he was far too emotional, it makes him both easy and difficult to read.

"Your punishment shall be this then…you will go on, forever wearing that accursed mask. You will no longer have the right to laugh, to cry, to hate or to love. You may take no wife…have no children….in order for this lie to last and create peace…you must give up everything that makes life worth living….for the sake of this blasted world." Lelouch spat out along with some blood as he started taking painful, heavy breaths as his internal organs begun to shut down from either direct damage or blood loss.

"This Geass, I do solemnly accept." Zero/Suzaku replied as he pulled the blade from his chest and stood aside, letting him stumble forward and fall down the ramp, smearing his lifeblood over the emblem of the empire. His last act of defiance in a way.

"Lelouch? Are you?" He heard someone ask, but he couldn't really see them. Must be Nunnally, she was the only one close enough last he checked. He…felt a hand grasp his own but he could feel himself slipping into the abyss. The last thing he knew was this hand before everything faded to black.

And with that, Lelouch vi Britannia. 99th emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire and he who conquered the world, breathed his last.

If only that was the end of it.

(Later – In C's World)

"Wake up, little demon. This is no time to sleep, after all, you're already dead." At the sound of a voice he didn't know, Lelouch found himself awoken, his eyes shooting open like bear traps as he instantly got up.

"Wha-!" he sounded as he looked around to take in his surroundings. First thing he noticed, he was back in C's World, which made sense, he was dead after all. Second thing he noticed was that he was laying on the ground, as if he was asleep. Thirdly he was wearing his emperor's attire, bloody and all. "Oh, I'm back here."

"Oh yes. You have returned, little demon." Someone spoke up as he turned to see the source of the teasing voice. What he saw was a rather young looking women, maybe a year or two older than him. Her hair seemed to be made of fire as it flickered from side to side while her eyes were a near unsettling violent blue, they appeared to be as uncontrollable as the seven seas. Though the part that had him puzzled was that fact she was wearing a zero costume sans mask, her take being reversed of his own with the black swapped out with white, the red for blue and the gold for red.

"Normally I'll take offense to that, but seeing as you're a useless, ageless God, I don't care." Lelouch said as he worked himself to his feet, noting that he was still in pain from his injury though he stored the thought. He didn't have time to worry about such when he was already deceased.

"Useless?" The unknown being asked as she titled her head to the side, less angry at his insolence and more amused, as one would be towards a child that just talked back to you.

"You couldn't even save yourself from being killed." Lelouch reminded her, but not being prepared for how she all but laughed in his face at his statement, which was really starting to get to him.

"And who ever said that it would have worked?" She asked him, finally revealing her card to him, so to speak.

"Excuse me?" Lelouch asked her, this was new. From all he had heard from CC, this should be the Collective Unconscious, right?

"Who said that your parent's plans would have worked?" She asked again as she looked towards the sky, towards the gas planet that represented humanity here. "Humans have such a small-minded understanding on us, and tend to see only what they want."

"Then what are you?" Lelouch asked her, hiding what fear he felt towards her as he did with every other challenge. Though he could tell she knew of his fear but he was thankful she didn't say anything about it.

"That would be a difficult question to answer, and one that would take too much time to even bother. Short answer, I am change itself." She introduced her with a shrug, telling him that she was not human and most likely never was, so another code bearer like CC or VV was out. Though there was the possibly she was lying to him, she wouldn't be the first.

"Change?" He repeated, finding her answer as simple as one of CC, which meant it was far from simple and more along the way of cryptic/complex.

"Oh yes, I am a first and foremost, the God of change, of evolution, of progress. I don't have one form as I constantly change from one form to another. Hence why your parents and CC had one image of me while others would have their own." She explained to him as her eyes changed colour before his own, going from an untamed ocean blue to a dull forest green while the fire that was her hair grew smaller and changed colour to mostly red. Even her skin changed from a healthy tan to a pale white.

"That doesn't answer my question. Why would their plans failed?" Lelouch asked, after he got over the fact that she could change her appearance, seemingly at will.

"Simply put, because they were arming their little device at the wrong target." She replied as she gestured towards the gas planet, looking at him as his looked up as well. "What you see above us, isn't my form but rather the collection of human minds gathered from across the centuries. Everyone that ever was, is and ever will be all comes from there." She explained, revealing the true source of every human soul on his plain of existence.

"So they wouldn't have succeeded in killing you but…." Lelouch couldn't even fathom what any sort of damage could mean for humanity. That uncaring bastard and parasite of a women thought they were about to kill God and didn't even have their aim on point!

"But rather ruptured the relatively fragile state of the human race. They would have got their wish, but only because they would have robbed mankind of the will to press on, to grow. No-one could be born and the dead spirit's would ravage the land as you can imagine, the undead prefer to stay dead and when rudely awoken, it never ends well for your kind." She answered his unspoken question, revealing that such a act would have doomed them all to the past.

"To think that….they would have destroyed the world, just like that." Lelouch know felt like his own world had been blown, it was one thing to try to keep the world in the past but this….this would have meant the end of….everything.

"Indeed Little demon." This…God responded as he looked at him, drawing his own gaze without a word. "Though I was curious. Never before had this been done, so I decided to sit back and observe them, observe Cera," She said, revealing that she knew far more than anyone else if she knew CC's true name. "And observe you."

"Why? Why not do anything?" He found himself asking, if she was truly a God, would she not have the power to have stopped them years ago? To stop the suffering?

"Because unlike most of your foolish depictions of deities, I am not all knowing or everywhere at once. Of course I am capable of feats that your feeble mind couldn't comprehend but," She answered him, her own arrogance shining through as she bragged about herself. "I do get bored every now and then, and opted to watch how things played out. If nothing could be done on your end, I was planning on destroying the sword myself and seeing you're your parent's punishments." She answered showing that she cared little for the millions of lives that were effected by their mad plan to 'peace'. To her, those people might as well been ants, something that angered him as it meant all the people he lost during his struggles didn't have to die.

"But you beat me there. Even to me, taking control of every soul that ever has and ever will exist and bending their will to your own? That was impressive." She said as he looked him over, as if he was a piece of meat though she got bored when she saw that true to her observations, he was really skinny, oh if only he was as built as his Japanese friend, oh well. "But still, we have other things to discuss, namely, what to do with you." She finished as she snapped her fingers and in that same moment, they shifted locations. They were still in C's world from what he could tell, though he couldn't be sure.

They found themselves in a beautiful garden, where a stone table and chairs had been set up. On said table, was a tea pot and two tea-cups. Though he could tell that everything from the cups to the finely trimmed grass was too perfect to be real.

"Tea?" She asked him as she took a seat and started to pour them their drink.

"I have to admit, I was expecting fire and brimstone." Lelouch said as he eventually took his seat and graciously accepted the offered cup. Strange, the cup should have been really hot going by the steam rising off the brownish liquid it contained but it was cool to the touch,

"That is certainly on the table, but not the only thing on the table." She answered him, revealing that his fate was still up in the air, how….unexpected. "I already now of your methods, your motives and your results, be they good or bad. But I do wish to know something else." She stated, sparing him the notion of the two of them re-watching his life or something.

"And that would be?" Lelouch asked as he took a sip of his tea. It was very sweet but not to the point of bitter and he was right, it was really hot, hot enough that he was thankful for the fact he followed court protocol and didn't take a large sip.

"Do you honestly believe that it can work? That mankind can leave wars and bloodshed in the past?" She asked him, staring into his eyes with her own as they shifted colour once more to a pure white as the fire that made up her hair changed to a purple shade. Her answer was his laughter as he saw no need or point to try and lie, not her, not to her.

"Oh heavens no! I may have given my life for it but that was more out of obligation then belief." Lelouch answered as he looked away towards the flowerbeds, recalling his own duty in all the carnage and destruction.

And how he carried it out to the bitter end.

"Oh?"

"Even when I first started on my path, I knew that peace would never be achieved unless someone won." Lelouch answered, thinking back to that conversation he had with CC that felt like a lifetime ago. Giving the same sort of answer to this God as he did his witch.

"But didn't you win? Your father is dead, his empire completely restructured and your younger sister will most likely ascend to the throne and do her very best to keep the peace." The God whose name he did not know inquired as she stirred her own tea.

"But that's just it, I'm didn't win, not fully. Schneizel was right, so long as people have free will and the power to carry out that will, they will always be conflict." He answered, thinking back to all the times he and Schneizel would argue such things when he was younger. Sure the older blonde bummed down his points and opinions for him but over the years he spent in exile, he never forgot them and would always think back to them.

"So you're saying as long as there is freedom and liberty, they will be conflict. That's a rather authoritarian way of looking at it" She asked him as a teasing smirk as she took a sip of her tea and leaned back into the chair, crossing one leg over the other as she did so. "Didn't you fight for those same elements you claim are the root cause of struggle and strife?"

"I won't deny that I did and to some extent, I'll do so again." Lelouch shook his head at that. He knew that it was a contradiction on his part, seeing his elder brother pointed that out in their final confrontation. But he was never a simple man.

"But?" The god could tell there was a but in there.

"But what's life with struggle, without strife? If you got everything just handed to you on a silver platter, is life even worth living at that point?" He asked her, voicing the lesion that he came to learn through his hard fought battles. Granted he didn't like sending people to their deaths time and time again but he also enjoy the taste of a hard fought victory. He could even see such a feeling in the faces of his former commanders, though they tried to hide it.

"Oh yes, something earned is worth more than something given." She finished, having seen others before him coming to that conclusion.

"Indeed. As much as people like Nunnally, Suzaku and Euphemia would argue otherwise. That is mankind's desire. The desire to go be the strongest, to go the furthest, to climb the highest." He stated, thinking back towards how he viewed the world and how those in treated each other. Everything from sports to science, humans would always have something they wanted to be the best at.

"Humans will always compete, if not with each other than with their environment and predators. From this competitive spirit, envy is born, from envy-hatred. And from hatred the desire to devour what you hate." That one was spoken out of experience as it was his hate that carried though the darkest days up until recently.

He loved Nunnally dearly, despite everything, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't bring himself to hate her even though she condemned him like everyone else, it was a confusing and sick feeling, to want to hate but only feel this…tragic love. But even when she was with him back in Ashford, even before he met CC that faithful day. He hated every minute of it, of being powerless, of being afraid for their futures, of the nightmares that plagued him every night he went to bed wondering if that was their last day before they were discovered.

"Such a dark view you have. But one that has some merits." The god mused, having come to a similar conclusion what felt like, and mostly likely was, a few millennia ago.

"It isn't just my viewpoint. That is human history. Every great man and woman, every king, peasant or scholar. They all wished for greatness, for safety, for prosperity. But in order to ensure these basic desires," He started, having a feeling she knew where he was going with this.

"One must be willing to fight. To die. To destroy." She finished as she stared him down, the deceased emperor meeting her gaze with his own. "Much like Britannia, under your father, they grew to become a world superpower the likes of which was never seen before, and only surpassed by you own conquest of the world." She stated as she took a sip of her tea, seeing the flinch as she brought up that sore point.

"Survival of the fittest. I hate the law but it's a fundamental law of reality. If I proved weak, then Nunnally and I would have paid the price for it. So I had to become stronger, smarter and more ruthless then my competition." He admitted, having had a similar conversation with CC the day he allowed his pride to get the better of him and challenge Cornelia in an arena where she held all the cards.

"So to shield your weak sister, you become strong. Such a paradox as logically, one would have either forced her to grow along with you or abandoned her. Love is a powerful if not a foolish thing." She observed, writing off his brotherly love as trivial at best and a hindrance at worst, which at this point, he found didn't surprise him, why would a being like her understand? Would she even want to?

"Yes, but humans are far from perfect." Lelouch replied, thinking to all the faults he observed in others and his own and not one person he knew, was perfect-not only those he cared for were even close but then again, neither was he so he never made anything of it.

"Yes they are, most creatures we God created are like that." She said, more to herself then to him but giving him another clue, that she wasn't the only being like her. That there were others. "But then again, you seem to be aware of that, seeing as you believe that progress and by extension, life in general need struggle and pain." She stated, staring at him with now violet eyes much like his own.

"No great victory with sacrifice. No great innovation without failure. Though…." Lelouch said, thinking back to an old saying he found in an old book in his father's library. Nothing was created without something first being offered up, whether that be time, money, lives. But there was something that he always found would snag his attention.

"We humans, as a race….could exist without having to fight." He mouthed out, thinking back to Euphemia(Bless her soul) and her own desires, about how in another time, another life, they could have flourished. "But many of us, choose to fight. Not just for country, or justice, but to protect something. Whether that be ourselves, our friends, our families, our liberty, our futures. Fundamentally, to protect what we hold dear, we as humans are willing to bathe in blood." He said, thinking about the cold reality of life as even Suzaku, in all his BS about bringing about change the right way, still took up the sword.

"But sort of future or liberty would be worth all the pain and death?" This God of progress asked him, wishing to see how deep his conviction went, how much he believed what he said. "After all, there is no future for those who have died, and what about those who did the killing? What sort of future do they have now that they smell of blood and ruin?" She questioned on.

"Whatever future that may be, it has the potential to better than the present, because they have earned that right through their struggle. Whether or not it will be better for everyone depends on who's still standing in the end." Lelouch answered, thinking back to every game changing victory he could think of and how the in some rare cases, even the losers were treated right but more often than not, they found themselves either indebted to the winners for slaves in all but name(which only came about in modern times, prior to the 1860s, numbers were called what they are, slaves.)

"And human history has shown that if there are winners, there must be losers." She observed as she drank the last of her tie.

"Those losers will become the new weak, and the only thing the weak can do is be devoured by the strong. Until some among them rise up and challenge those strong." He finished, recalling rebellions and uprisings that become the stuff of legend. From Joan of Arc to Washington, though they both fell to the British in the end, quite ironic that like himself, they were not defeated in battle but by treachery. It seemed that revolutionaries should be wary of the Britannians buying out your so called allies with the promise of land, it seemed to be their favoured tactic when the going got tough.

"Which will keep the wheels of progress going." The god finished the topic before she laughed, having found him to be quite the amusing little demon. Oh how she wished more mortals she took the time to meet were like him but alas, almost all of them were far too optimistic and hopeful for her tastes.

"I never would have pictured you to be so jaded, so pessimistic but I should have expected that. It's a shame that this is likely the first and only time we've ever talk." She said as she finished her tea and placed the empty cup down.

"Oh yes, this is supposed to be a trial yes? I must say, this is the first time I been brought forth to one." Lelouch, having finished his own before she did, placed his cup down. Upon doing so, she snapped her fingers again and with it, the used cups and pot vanished. They had served their purpose.

"Oh they are not here for a trail but rather for a little game." She waved him off as she snapped her fingers again and this time, a deck of card appeared. Now, he had been to enough casinos to know what they were.

"Oh?" Now Lelouch was intrigued, this whole event was going so much differently than he imagined.

"You see, a great many people in C's world wish for you to suffer for your many sins but I on the other hand, have another idea." She stated as the cards started to shuffle themselves before they both found two card thrown to their sides of the table.

"Cards?" Lelouch asked as he picked up his cards and saw he had a three of hearts and a seven of clubs.

"I though it fitting to give you a fighting chance, and what better way to do that than with a game of poker?" She asked with an honest to god, Milly sounding giggle as she picked up her own cards.

"I like the way you think, but what are you even wagering? I can only assume that I'm betting my life on this." He asked as he didn't feel like she had anything to gain from this, was she bore perhaps? He knew the feeling well but he could think of other ways a being like her could deal with it.

"You are correct about that, little demon. As for me, I shall wager information." She stated as they started the game. And with that they began the most high stacks game of poker. During said match which seemed to go on for hours, hundreds of not thousands of masks appeared around them.

For their audience was the collective unconscious itself. He would look up and see the faces of people he never met, of those he killed, of those he hurt, hated, loved and mourned staring down at him.

Shirley looked down with a hope for his success, the Black King seemed more like he was there for fun, Clovis looked disappointed, Euphemia looked torn, the rest of his siblings glared down at him, most likely wishing that he burst into flames. It was all very confusing and pulled at whatever remaining heart he had left but he kept his cool the best he could, seeing that unseen stack of chips rising as they both placed more and more into this.

"It seems that the game's coming to a close. So, do you believe this notion of 'Lady Luck' to be on your side?" The god asked after what felt like days of play, or maybe it had only been an hour. He couldn't tell in this realm as his own sense of time had been confused due to him concentrating on the game. But at her question, he couldn't help it. He laughed as if he had heard a funny joke, not caring for the intense glares on the majority of the faces looking down on him…or picking up the smile on his opponent's face which had changed to that of a dark skinned women with pink hair and yellow eyes sometime ago.

"Such a funny notion, luck. I never believed in it. Card counting, angel shooting, fake hands, dice control, risk management. I have always been an advantage player. I make my own luck, whether it be in on the casino floor or in the heat of battle. If Lady Luck does exists, then she is already mine." Lelouch proclaimed to them all as he held his four cards close to his chest, not showing them yet.

"I control my own fate." He finished as his opponent placed down her own cards, seeing that there was no point in this going on any longer but she did have fun, that Cera girl was right, he was a truly unique one.

"Full House" She called out as she showed off what she had. One eight of hearts and another of diamonds. With that, she had all the jacks except the one of clubs. To the audience, she had already won as many, and he meant many, of the faces gathered looked pleased that he had lost in the day. That he had gambled his last hope away…and lost but they clearly had never seen him play.

"Royal Flush." Lelouch said as he placed down his card and showed that he spoke the truth. For that card he put down were a ten, jack, queen, king and ace of clubs. The event was immediate as the very world around the seemed to quake and howl in fury. The vast majority enrages that he had won. Some even claiming he cheated in somewhat and they must play again or just skip the game and punished him. At this, he couldn't help himself, he could feel the devilish smirk already growing across his face. Would you look at that, how many people can say they bested a god in poker?!

"Very impressive, little demon. You may just prove worth the effort." She congratulated him, having figured that the game would be his which she actually wanted.

It made the next part of her plans possible.

Before he could question it, or noticed anything amiss. He felt it, from within Lelouch's very being, pain overflowed his senses. It was as if Suzaku had stabbed him again….no this felt far worse, it was as if every nerve was burning! Like his body and soul were being torn asunder by some great beast! All the while somehow healing only for the process to begin anew. He couldn't help it, he screamed in agony, no wait….in some corner of his mind, he thought that sounded more akin to a howl from some mythical wolf or dog.

Succumbing to the dark human brutality of continuing the act, over and over. He stumbled, falling out of his seat as he tried to work his way to his feet, using the table as crutch but it was no use. The pain proved too much for him as he could feel his bones snap and reform, his muscles tearing under this mysterious strain, only to regrow from nothing. All while the pain only got worse as he fall to the ground, straining the now white ground below him crimson as blood flowed from his eyes, his nose, his ears, his mouth. It was as if blood vessels had burst on mass and the red liquid wanted out.

Before he had the capability to think, much less ask, the god rose both her hands, wisps of energy flowed like ribbons, ending at where the former emperor's heart should be. Lelouch could barely hear through the agonising experience.

"What is….happening…?!" He managed to cough out as he worked his restraint to its very limits and beyond to stop howling in pain. How was this happening? He won, didn't her? Was that game merely that, a game? One last piece of entertainment before he was subjected to this torment?

"Oh that? That is your code activating, I am only making some adjustments to it so it better suits what I imagine you'll be getting up to." She didn't seem to care about the pain she was inflicting on him but she did catch the look of shock on his face as she brought up that little took for a (relatively) extremely long human lifespan. "Your father did touch you when you killed him." She reminded him before she lost her miff and instead looked down at him like he was a complete stranger. One she didn't feel like entertaining, which in some corner of his mind, he realized meant that this torture was coming to an end.

"Lelouch vi Britannia, Saviour of Mankind's future, Destroyer of the Sword of Akasha, he who be guilty of and not limited to: fratricide; regicide; sororicide; genocide; patricide; matricide. The first Zero, 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire and he who conquered the world, this be your judgement." She told him as golden threads of fabric shot out and started to dig into him, chaining him, binding him to something. He wondered how something as soft looking as this silk threads could hold him but then that one, they were not really threads and two, even the great wolf Fenrir was held back by such things.

"You shall be banished from this world, you shall never see those you loved, those who held you dear will be forever kept separated from you. Your soul will no longer belong to C's World. As humanity moves forward…." She started as she lifted her palm towards the floor under him. her plan glowed with an symbol he couldn't make out or had even seen as the ground beneath seem to glow as well before he broke away, revealing this swirling vortex of shades of red and black that slowly begun to suck him in.

"You shall be forgotten." She finished with a cruel smile. One that was the last thing he saw as he dragged down through the vortex that closed right as his head went under. Sending him off to whenever she had wished. But now that was okay, she sighed in relief that he wasn't immediately torn apart by her….rearrangement of his body. He wasn't the first she had attempted that on but he was the first to survive the worst of it. Now all she needed to was wait, wait and see what her little gamble would bear for her.

'I wonder how his new Gods will react to him….Emroy and Palapon are sure to like him, he's their kind of guy after all.' She wondered to herself as she thought back to the Gods she knew presided over the gate she had sent him do. Old school buzzkills didn't accept that change was inevitable and necessary, more concerned in keeping themselves at the top. Sure she was biased as she was a constant that would never change, having existed since the beginning and will continue to exist till the end….in one form or another.

"Oh well, let's see what those humans how those humans are using his death. With any luck, I'll see some progress, one way or another." She spoke aloud, the Collective Unconscious leaving her to herself, knowing that there were powerless to stop her and her whims. But it wasn't a whim. She was the force of change. And come hell and high water, she would ensure that at least unlike that world she had sent her now favourite mortal to, that this world would progress and evolve. Even if she had to see to the death of half the human race.

For that was the price of progress.

And it's done, the introductory chapter is complete. That was surprising easy to write, all considering as I always find the first chapter to be the hardest as I have to set the stage. Now onto the chapter. I at first, wanted to throw the dude a bone and blame the whole SAZ thing on VV meddling as his geass going out of control at that moment was the worst timing but then I changed my mind as it was an event that for better or worse, shaped him so I wanted to do it justice and keeping it as it happened in cannon.

I also changed it or more accurately, made his feelings for Shirley bare and that he did love her. It was so endearing to see her be able to love him, despite the fact he had wiped her memories of him. they made new ones that made her fall in love. Even when she remembered that he indirectly(I say indirectly as he didn't want to) killed her father, she still forgave him and loved him. Her death was like, the one that made me cry. Even her words to Suzaku said a lot of her character: 'Nothing in unforgivable, you know. In other words, it only means that you're not willing to forgive him. You don't want to forgive him. Like when she said that, the look on that bastard's face was priceless as he realized she was right and he couldn't deny that.

It was also a sweet icing on the cake when she just drops that she loved Lelouch on Suzaku, who must have been thinking? 'Oh could such a lovely girl love that piece of murdering trash? She should be with someone else, like me' that last bit was me just poking fun at him, imagining him as a simp. But with Lelouch and Shirley, I would have loved to see the two survive as there was another story I read on this site which had him return to Britannia as a prince(the plot was different) and he took her as his wife. It was a great read.

That little bit with what he intended to do with VV. That was me just showing off that he is one vindictive son of bitch. Like no joke, this was the same guy who waged a war on an empire partly out of his desire for vengeance.

The part where he recalls how he grovelled to ensure Nunnally would be okay shows that he's willing to throw away his pride if it meant he could protect what he held dear and it showed that he knew Suzaku couldn't or most likely, wouldn't accept the truth to the questions he was asking as though he figured his old friend was lying, it is never stated that he sought the truth from him at a later date. Those secrets died with Lelouch, most likely because Suzaku was afraid the truth wouldn't be want he wanted it to be.

The part about the 2nd battle of Tokyo and its'…results was my own personal take on things, using logic and the information the show provides as Lelouch wouldn't be too pissed with Schneizel as it was a great move, messing with his head and making the odds of him taking Suzaku's word at face value, pretty low. But what I felt was off was the fact that Schneizel seemed to be…pleased when Fleja was launched, up tll this point, he avoided senseless violence what was practical about heavily damaging one of their own cities and 35 million plus deaths? Hell, as I had stated in my Star Wars crossover, Zero not believing Suzaku would fire the weapon was completely reasonable as that would be the same as the US opting to nuke a city like Seattle to keep it out of Russian hands, while the people that live there are still present.

His thoughts of his confrontation with the Black Knights? We all knew it, he knew it too. They were convinced he was bad and they were good. Even if he tried to speak up, they wouldn't have listened and shot him and Kallen right then and there, despite the fact that several of them were people that were supposedly Kallen friends. So of course he would hate them for that as he had to save one of the few people he believed he had left(Nina doesn't count as she hates his guts and I still can't believe they were that close to begin with, they're too different.) by pushing her away.

I made his thoughts in his parents, pretty clear in the chapter so let's leave it at that.

Now, the conversation he and this unnamed God had was based around the opinions and observations as Rau Le Creuset and Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed and what someone like Lelouch would make his life experiences. He said it himself in R1 that creations is preceded by destruction, so he has the mindset of a God of Destruction from Dragonball in a sense, he doesn't view destruction as evil but a necessary aspect of the universe. He understands that something must be lost to gain as he had lost a lot throughout is short but impactful journey. Also, I simply can't see someone as jaded, cynical and trust issued filled as Lelouch trusting that the world won't simply back into habit as that habit a driving force of man. Like I wouldn't trust the Black Knights with shit if they tried to kill me so….maybe that's just me.

The poker game was I change I made as another story had him rolling a dice so I wanted something different. I know that poker isn't really played like that the whole thing would have ended quicker but it was for the sake of plot so bear with me.

Next chapter will start in the special region as the Gate anime and manga refer to it. We'll meet some of the cast that will make up some of the main cast in the coming chapter as well so don't worry. Things will pick up. And before we get that far, allow me to clarify that that story will take place in the special region for the next coming chapters as I'm still undecided if the gate should open in the Japan of cannon or the code geass universe as it won't open for 10 years past this chapter. Giving Lelouch plenty of time to become accustomed to the new world he will wake up to.