I do not own Code Geass

This chapter will either make you hate me, or love me, depending on where you stand. ALSO - Reviews would be REALLY REALLY nice. And I hate to put this out there, but everyone who reviews me I always check out their page and look through their stories, so a review here could earn you multiple reviews with yours . . . think about it xD

And I didn't realize anon reviews were switched off - they are now accepted

"WHAT?" Cornelia roared. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could this be? How could no one have told her? After all this time, no one had thought to tell her?

"E-empress p-p-please be rational ab-b-bout th-this," a man from the research unit stuttered. His name was Micheal van Dogh, son of Edmond van Dogh, and had only been working at the HBESRU for a few months. It figured they would send him to tell the Empress the news, he was about to get torn to pieces by her!

"WHY WAS I NOT ALERTED OF THIS EARLIER?" Cornelia practically screamed.

"W-we w-were d-demand-ded-d not-t t-t-to t-t-tell an-an-anyone," Micheal insisted. He was actually shaking with fear. "W-well-ll I w-wasn't-t, I d-didn't w-work their-r yet-t-t bu-"

"WHO DEMANDED SUCH AN ORDER?"

"Ch-ch-charles z-z-z-z-z-zi B-b-brit-t-t-t-t-tannia-a!"

"MY FATHER?"

"Y-yes m-m-miss," Micheal said, silently praying to God that he would live to see another day. He was too young . . .

"Why would my father order such a thing . . .?" Cornelia muttered, mostly to herself. She turned away from Micheal - who sighed in relief - and began to pace. "Well, I suppose it makes sense not to tell anyone, but why do it at all? Why not get rid of . . . No, no that's awful, but he would do it normally . . . It must have been someone else who convinced him, but if not me than who? . . . No! No, not convinced, what if . . . Lelouch wouldn't have possibly, and he was the one that . . . No, maybe not . . . But . . . No! Why on Earth? None of it makes any sense! Would Schnizel have known? But, he would have . . . No, no he . . . DAMN IT ALL!"

Micheal jumped at the Empress's scream. "M-my lady?"

"None of it makes any sense!" she shouted. "What else do you know?"

"N-nothing my lady I swear," Micheal said. "I just started working at the research center a little while ago. B-but my father, he's been there the whole time, he knows much more than I-"

"Take me to him," Cornelia demanded. "Now."

"Lelouch, will I see you again?" Kallen asked as she faced the man she had once called her hero for the last time. They were outside the hotel she was staying at, and night was finally beginning to fall.

"It's unlikely," he told her. "But not impossible."

She offered out her hand, and grinned a little in spite of herself. "Well, then I guess I'll be seeing you soon. You tend to make the impossible happen in speedy time, Zero."

Lelouch was a bit startled that she had called him by his old name, but quickly shook it off and grasped her hand. "I guess then, until next time, Q1."

The side of her mouth twitched a little, but this time she held back her smile. She shook hands with CC as well, then turned and walked into her hotel. When she was safe inside, Lelouch started moving again.

"She called you 'Zero'," CC said.

"So? She's always called me that," Lelouch replied.

"No, she called you 'Lelouch', she called the man she saw as her hero and savior 'Zero'. What does that tell you about how she's changed since we found her at the river a few hours ago?" CC asked.

"She's starting to see me the way she did before," Lelouch concluded. "Before she thought I betrayed the Black Knights."

"They were all convinced you had used your geass on them to make them sign up for you group," CC told him. "You could have just proven that you hadn't. It would have saved a lot of issues you came across later from happening, you know."

"How exactly was I supposed to demonstrate that I hadn't?" Lelouch asked. "Tell them I could only use it on a person once and then use it on someone? They'd say I was lying and kill me anyway. The way things turned out was the best possible outcome, thanks to Rolo."

"What happened to his body?" CC wondered aloud.

"I buried him a little off from where he died," Lelouch told her. "As far as everyone else knew, Rolo Lamperouge wasn't even a real person, he was just a made up brother for me, right? No one would go looking, and the kid didn't have anyone else."

"Was what you told him true? About you trying to kill him?"

Lelouch smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, yes. All I could see him as was someone trying to fill Nunnally's place, and I hated him for it. I didn't realize how wrong I was until it was too late."

"Everything ends up like that," CC said. "You didn't realize you loved Shirley until she was murdered, you didn't realize how much you really cared for your sister Euphy until you had to kill her, you didn't realize how much you needed me until I lied and told you I was going back to Mao . . . Everything you have you take for granted, do you know that?"

"Not everything," Lelouch insisted. "And the things I do take for granted . . . Well, isn't it human nature to be oblivious to the best things around you?"

CC layed back on the hay stack. "I dunno. Maybe . . . I haven't been human for a long time . . ."

Lelouch said nothing. He was just reminded of how much he truly wanted CC to be able to die. Not because he wished her dead, but because he knew that was what she wanted, and what would make her happy. And CC was the only person he had left, so therefore, he would have to die with her, or he would be completely alone. Not that that had ever mattered before, but now . . . Something was different. He had already lost so many people, and immortality just seemed so . . . Miserable.

CC yawned. "Could we please stop somewhere for the night? I'm so tired I could . . . fall asleep . . . here . . . right . . ."

But she never finished her thought, because she was already asleep. Lelouch chuckled a bit and simply shook his head. He wasn't that tired, so he decided to continue to carry on throughout the night, lost deep in his own thoughts as he rode.

"Princess Nunnally! Princess Nunnally!"

The cries of reporters never stopped at these press conferences. Just one moment of silence, Suzaku thought. That would be golden.

"Yes?" Nunnally pointed to one of the loudest reporters, who stood in the third row back from the front. He had dark red hair and piercing gray eyes. Not only was his voice loud, but his clothing stood out more than everyone else as well. His jacket was bright green, with sparkling orange buttons, and his pants were matching plaid. Everyone around him was clearly intimidated.

"Is it true that Empress Cornelia has planned a trip to come and visit us all here in Area 11?" the man asked. "And that she will be bringing with her a suspicious male partner?"

"Yes to the first part, no to the second," Nunnally replied, clearly becoming just a bit annoyed with all the dumb scandal questions.

"So you are saying that Empress Cornelia is not involved in a sexual relationship with a man?" the reporter asked.

"Not that I know of," Nunnally told him.

"What about with a woman?"

"Next!" Nunnally pointed to a female reported in the first row, leaving shiny buttons to curse under his breath and stalk out.

"I have a question for Zero!" the woman said. Suzaku's head snapped up. No one ever asked him questions, he was just the security. "Zero, who are you really? Under that mask! It's the question everyone wants to know - are you the original Zero?"

Suzaku looked at Nunnally for assistance. She merely shrugged and gestured for him to step up to the microphone. He did so. "Well . . . uh, who I am doesn't matter, only who I serve."

He stepped back satisfied that that was an answer Lelouch would have given, and believable enough.

"Why won't you give us a straight answer?" a different reporter called. "You're fighting for our side now, you don't need to hide your face!"

"Do you hide behind a mask because of emotional scaring?" another called.

"Is your face horribly mutilated?"

"What's the point of the mask when you're protecting the princess?"

"You're more recognizable in a crowd this way, wouldn't it be safer to go without it?"

"Zero, how long do you plan on staying in the post?"

"Will you ever go back to terrorism?"

"Are you still in contact with any of the Black Knights?"

"Was it by your request that they be cleared of all charges?"

"Zero, is it true that you killed Princess Euphemia in cold blood?"

"Has Princess Nunnally seen the face behind the mask?"

"Zero, are you currently involved in a sexual relationship with anyone?"

"Has this person seen your face?"

"Where did you get your mask from?"

"When did you decide to switch sides?"

"What made you stop your terrorism?"

"Some people are saying you're only staging as a Britannian Knight to get closer to the Royal Family and kill off more of them, do you have a comment on this?"

"Zero do you have any family?"

"Does ANYONE know what you look like?"

"How old are you, Zero?"

"Do you have any children?"

"Will you EVER take off your mask?"

"Where do you see yourself in five years?"

"Is it true you were bitten by a radio active spider and can now fly?" - Shiny buttons had reentered the room.

"Are you in love with Princess Nunnally?"

"Your voice seems to have changed since your last interview!"

"How can we tell you're the real Zero?"

"There are rumors that the real Zero WAS indeed killed, and you are nothing more than an imposter, what do you have to say on this?"

The questions continued to roll out, and each one seemed even more ridiculous than the last. Suzaku attempted to answer a few, but he would always get cut off by another reporter before he got the chance. He couldn't take it anymore, he could hardly hear himself think. Why did these people care so much anyway? It's not like they knew him, it shouldn't matter to them if he lived or died, let alone what brand of shoes he was wearing!

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" he screamed. All of the reporters became deadly silent. Finally, he couldn't help but think. But, realizing that he had acted irrationally and impulsively, he cleared his throat and spoke gently into the microphone - "no further comments at this time."

He returned to his place beside Nunnally, and allowed her to retake her place at the microphone. "This concludes today's conference."

Together, the two of them exited off the back staircase of the stage and back into the courtyard, where they quickly hurried to get back into the castle and up the stairs before any reporters could chase after them (it had happened twice already that month).

"I apologize for my misconduct, your highness," Suzaku told Nunnally. "It was wrong of me to speak out in such a harsh manner."

Nunnally giggled. "Are you kidding? I've been waiting for someone to do that forever! I've just always been too shy."

"So you're not . . . mad?" Suzaku asked. "I probably just really embarrassed you."

"Not at all that was funny," Nunnally assured him. "Feel free to do it again any time."

Suzaku smiled although his face was concealed behind his mask. Because for the first time in a long while, his smile was genuine. He wasn't smiling because there were people around who he had to make think he was happy, or because he was trying to comfort someone. That was the one good thing about being Zero, no more fake expressions. But no, now . . . Now, his smile was real, and no one could even see it.

Cornelia looked down at that face. The porcelain white skin she had known so well . . . "So all this time, Lady Marianne was . . . Alive."

"Yes, ma'am," van Dogh said. "She, like your brother and father, possessed a power known as 'geass'. And let her soul leave her body upon being shot to save her life."

"And it was she who . . . Asked my father for this to be done?" Cornelia asked, choking up slightly. How could something this big have gone right under her nose?

"Yes," Edmond said.

"He wasn't under the influence of Lelouch after all . . ." Cornelia muttered to herself. Then, louder, she asked, "so what happens next is up to me?"

"Well, initially the decision was to be left to Schnizel if anything were to come of the Emperor and Empress, because Charles felt that he would make the correct choice on the matter, however since you were next in line after your late elder brother, we have no choice but to let you chose, no matter how unwise the outcome may be," van Dogh said.

Cornelia nodded. "Well, I think my answer is clear. And although I know this probably isn't the best choice, I hereby issue the order to take her off the medication that is keeping her comatose. Let her wake up, and I and I alone, shall explain to her everything that's happened in the past year and a half, this whole time everyone's thought she was dead. I will also find away to cover up everything that's happened, and make it appear that Princess Euphemia li Britannia is indeed dead."

Cornelia looked down at her sister one final time, stoked her hair away from her face, and walked out the door, calling after her, "when she's awoken and dressed, have someone bring her to my room. And if you wish to keep your head, you will not tell her anything. Not yet."

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

What do you think? Review PLEASE.

~Kurai Kyofu