Chapter 8

For a moment, Clemont's vision went completely blank, but he was still conscious. Am I dead…? He thought to himself. But seconds later, he was suddenly sitting alone in a large, blue room.

"Do you want to live?" a voice said, seeming to be coming from every direction. Clemont recognized the voice as the voice he heard before his vision went blank.

"Who are you?" Clemont yelled.

"That's not important," the voice quickly shot back. "Do you want to live?"

Clemont hesitated for a moment. "I'm not afraid to die for my empress!"

"Don't make me ask again. Do you want to live?"

This time, Clemont sighed. "Yes."

"I can give you the power to get out of this alive," the voice said. "But, the power of the king will condemn you to a life of solitude. Are you prepared to accept that?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you accept this contract, you will live a life different from any other. How you use this power is up to you. But know that I will be with you until you die. There's something I want as well, and if I give you this power, you must help me achieve it. Do you accept the terms of my contract?"

Clemont was silent for a while. The voice seemed to be patient enough, fortunately. He just sat still. He was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the situation. There's no way this is real. I must be having some kind of dream. Maybe Zero just put me to sleep. But then again, if it is a dream, I really have nothing to lose. And if it isn't and what the voice is saying is true, then accepting this "contract" is my only hope.

Finally, Clemont looked up. "I accept the terms of your contract."

"A wise decision," the voice boomed. It bounced off of the nonexistent walls. Clemont suddenly felt himself feeling sleepier. He tried to wake himself up, but his eyelids kept getting heavier. He felt himself falling, his head about to touch the ground…

His head slammed the ground, and at that very moment, his eyes shot open. The syringe Zero was holding flew out of his hand and shattered as it hit the wall, causing the mysterious drug to splatter all over the stone floor. Zero flew across the room, pushed back by an unknown force. Clemont had no idea how, but he knew that this was his doing. The voice was telling the truth. As Zero tried to pick himself up, Clemont pushed him back down. He didn't even need to make physical contact. He stared directly at Zero and looked up towards the ceiling. As he did this, Zero's helpless ragdoll-like figure shot through the ceiling. He looked back down, and he flew back toward the floor, landing face-first, shattering his mask. Zero could only moan, his face sliced open by shards of glass, his entire body splintered with wood from flying through the ceiling. He was lying in a pool of his own blood. Clemont closed his eyes and opened them again, breaking the telekinetic connection between himself and Zero. He walked towards the beaten figure lying before him and flipped it over.

Standing at the back of the room, Lelouch's eyes widened at the sight of the man behind the mask. The broken, helpless figure was a face Lelouch hadn't seen in nearly fifteen years.

"The Fallen Prince," Clemont snarled. "Alexander ci Britannia, right?" Clemont stomped on his stomach, and the prince coughed so viciously that he threw up on himself. "They said you died in battle when Britannia invaded Korea." Clemont kicked Alexander in the ribs, causing him to moan in pain.

"Britannia…" Alexander groaned. "They turned on me… Lady Marianne-" Clemont stomped Alexander's front teeth out.

"You attempted to desert. Charles zi Britannia ordered your termination himself."

"No! I… I…" Clemont took the handgun attached to Alexander's belt and pressed it to his skull.

"You're the traitor, you cowardly piece of cow shit." Clemont squeezed the trigger and the prince closed his eyes.

"Death to Brit-!" the shot caused Clemont's ears to ring and blood to splatter across the room, even hitting Lelouch's mask. Alexander had died mid-sentence, his mouth gaping open with the curse frozen on his face. Lelouch stepped out of the shadows. Clemont heard the footsteps and turned, pointing the gun at Lelouch's face.

"You did well. I see you're getting comfortable with your Geass?" Lelouch said somewhat sarcastically.

"Is that what you call this power?" Clemont said with a murderous look in his eye. "Geass? Is that it?" His shoulder blade length hair was a mess and he looked like a teenager who had just gotten out of bed. Lelouch found it hard to take him seriously.

"That's right," Lelouch slyly replied.

"And what's that you're wearing?" Clemont snapped, referring to Lelouch's Zero outfit. "Are you really Zero, or are you just another fake?"

"I'm the real deal, alright."

"I find that hard to believe." Clemont's hand began to shake. "The real Zero would have helped me. He would have killed Alexander before he could drug me."

"I did help you. I gave you that power." Lelouch was beginning to get irritated with Clemont's misdirected rage.

"Oh, you mean this power?" Clemont picked Lelouch up and threw him against the wall like he did with the prince, and he slid to the ground. "Then prove it to me! Prove that you're the 'real deal'!"

"Gladly." Lelouch opened out his arms, making himself an easy target. "Shoot me, see what happens."

"I wasn't born yesterday. I know what happens when someone a bullet to the chest." Clemont pulled the trigger and the bullet pierced Lelouch's heart, and his head slumped down on his shoulder. Clemont holstered the gun to his own belt and walked towards the door.

"I told you," Lelouch said coolly. "Do you believe me now?"

Clemont turned around and was shocked to see that the wound on Zero's chest had completely healed. "Just die already!" he screamed as he fired more shots at Zero as he stood up. He just walked towards Clemont, not seeming to even feel the pain of getting shot, although he was bleeding profusely. He continued shooting until the magazine was empty. He attempted to walk towards the door but tripped due to his legs shaking from the nerves. He crawled backward away from Lelouch until he hit the door. After that point he remained still staring at Zero.

"I told you I would be here until you died," Lelouch cooed. Clemont attempted to use his Geass on Lelouch, but this time it had no effect.

"Why won't it work?!" Clemont screamed. "It worked earlier!"

"I figured out how your Geass manifested itself while watching you demolish that prince," Lelouch coolly replied. "Good work, by the way. He was a dickhead. But anyway, your Geass doesn't work on me because I gave it to you. I just played along the first time and threw myself back." Clemont still had the same terrified expression on his face. "Why are you so scared? I'm not going to kill you. I need you to do me a favor and fulfill the contract. You can't do that if you're dead."

Clemont stood up slowly, holding himself up on the wall. "So…you were telling the truth?" he muttered. "This power is called… Geass, right?"

"Correct."

"Well… what is it?" Clemont asked.

Lelouch had to try to remember the explanation C.C. gave him when he first received his own Geass. He gave up trying to remember and just improvised based on what he learned from experience. "Geass is a power that manifests itself differently for each user." Lelouch held up a mirror. Clemont saw, in his gray eyes, a strange sigil that seemed to resemble a bird. Lelouch pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal the same sigil on the front of his neck. "See? This identifies me as someone who is able to bestow the power of Geass on anyone I wish."

"But why me?" Clemont asked. "Why did you come here? I'm a soldier. There was no reason for you to save me. I don't matter to you."

Lelouch thought back to the day in the warehouse when C.C. gave him his Geass. "Well, to be honest-" the door crashed down onto the floor. In front of the two stood a tall, muscular man dressed in clothing similar to that of the soldiers of Zero's Fist, but it was cleaner and he wore a longer coat that fell to his knees. He appeared to be a high-ranking member.

"General Callum Tesla, at your service," the man said. He looked down at the floor and saw the lifeless body of Prince Alexander. "So Zero is dead, huh? I was the only one who knew his identity, but now it looks like-" Tesla turned his head and looked at Lelouch. "A second Zero?" he asked, his eyes full of wonder.

"The original Zero, in the flesh," Lelouch said, taking a bow.

"Funny, that's exactly what Alexander said. Not that I believed him, but that doesn't mean I should believe you." Tesla removed his hat and coat, revealing his completely hairless head and two ornate gold-trimmed broadswords strapped to either side of his belt. "Well, since you're palling around with this Britannian dog, I'm afraid you both have to die." He pointed one sword at Clemont. "This one is for you…" He pointed the other at Lelouch. "And this one is for you." He charged at Lelouch first. Lelouch moved so fast that Clemont couldn't tell what he was doing until after he did it. He had drawn two submachine guns that had been completely concealed before. As Lelouch began firing, Tesla stopped in his tracks. He began waving his swords, deflecting the bullets behind him. "You won't hit me! These swords are made of an unnamed metal just recently discovered in the mines of the E.U.!"

"You'll tire out," Lelouch calmly retorted.

"Like hell I will! I've been training my body intensely all my life! My speed, strength and stamina are ten times you could ever hope yours to ever be!"

Lelouch just sighed as he ran out of bullets. Almost on cue, a single bullet flew threw an open window and passed clean through Tesla's skull. His body fell to the floor and he lay across Alexander's corpse. Lelouch walked towards the window and gave a thumbs-up to C.C. who was sitting on top of one of the taller buildings in the village, sniper rifle in hand. Clemont followed Lelouch towards the window. "Who's that?" he asked, looking up at C.C.

"A good friend of mine," Lelouch replied. It took him a moment to think of a fake name for her. "Charlotte. She's from the New Zealand region of Britannia." C.C. waved. The battle between Britannia and ZF continued raging. "We should go," Lelouch said with a quick change of tone. Clemont walked to the chest from which Alexander got the syringe and pulled out two bags of extra ammunition, some medical supplies, and the key to a Knightmare frame.

"Hey," Clemont said. "Why don't you take off that mask and show me your true identity?" Lelouch wanted to kick himself for not realizing he would probably ask something like that.

"Tell you what," Lelouch said. "Make it past a month and you've got yourself a deal."

"I suppose that works," Clemont agreed, although he was obviously a little disappointed.

"Remember, you have a contract to fulfill, so try not to die on me," Lelouch said. "Oh, and try not to overuse your Geass. It becomes hard to control when you use it too much. I would know."

"Noted," Clemont replied. He looked over at Tesla's body and walked over to remove the swords from his belt. "You won't be needing these," he whispered as he strapped the swords to his waist.

Lelouch threw his robe onto the floor. "This'll just get in the way." He held out his hand and Clemont tossed one of the ammunition bags to him. He caught it and refilled his SMG's. He then put the bag on his back.

Clemont looked at Lelouch and smiled. "Shall we?"

"Sure, if you're so eager…" Lelouch replied, not excited for all the physical activity. Clemont drew out his handgun and kicked the door down. They sprinted outside into the night and the midst of the crossfire.