Code Geass: The Power of Emperors

A/N: I'm very impressed by the amount of reviews and the number of people who have my story on Favorite/Alert. I've been hammering out the details on what can I have done differently in this alternate world.

Little Known Fact:

Bismark Waldstein was previously the Knight of Five before he was awarded the rank of Knight of One.

Chapter 9: Preparations for the Quest

Death.

It is a natural aspect of life.

Animals, humans, plants, everything is born into this world with one promised outcome.

The promise of an end.

Lelouch had cheated death once already, sent to an alternate universe as a soul, bonding to a dying body. Now he is experiencing his death for a second time. No electrical impulses were running through his brain or body. His soul left it's mortal anchor and was now diving into a swirling kaleidoscope of colors.

It was recorded in many past religions that most souls didn't even reach the afterlife, The World of C in this case. Most souls simply were reincarnated, memories wiped clean and randomly assigned to a new rebirth. At the center of the vortex of light, he could see an circular passage, where the souls passed for the re-incarnation. Just as he was about to pass into the final gate, his code burned unpleasantly.

Then he woke up.

One moment, his mind was seeing colors and patterns like he was tripped up on psychedelic shrooms and the next moment, he was back in his body and he inhaled a deep gasp of air.

Nunnally was hunched over her brother's corpse, lamenting his death. It was only after he died when she realizes that she was truly alone in the world. She couldn't bear seeing his dull amethyst eyes and his pale languid skin. Her muffled sobs covered the sound of his heart jump-starting, the cardiac muscle repaired.

She clenched the pistol in her hand, wondering if she should end her own life and join her brother in the next world, when the body jerked beneath her. Lelouch sat up, eyes darting around, feeling for the fatal injury but finding none.

"How long was I out for?"

Nunnaly screamed and pointed the pistol at him. "Zombie!" She screeched as she clenched her eyes shut.

"No wait, I'm no-" Lelouch tried to reason but Nunnally pulled the trigger for a second time, ending his life again.

Lelouch was glum during the time he spent looking at the dazzling colors. It was a record, dying twice in the same night, killed by his dear sister. His vision snapped back into focus and he hastily shielded his head, not that it would help. "Don't shoot. I told you, my code revives me but that doesn't mean dying is fun!"

"I-it's impossible." Her lips were pursed into a tight line, her hands pale and slick with perspiration.

Lelouch sat up and grabbed a hold of his blood stained uniform. The blood had seeped into the coarse dark fabric and his white button underneath. No amount of washing could get it out so he ripped it open, the buttons popping off. Unblemished skin greets Nunnally's eyes, smooth and pulled taught over corded muscles. Lelouch groaned silently in his mind, he hope he wasn't turning narcissistic because even he couldn't help but admire all the effort that was put into building this body.

Without realizing it, Nunnally held her breath and reached out to touch Lelouch's chest, to confirm his vitality. Her fingers splayed over his warm chest, the rhythmic beating of his heart confirming his continued existence.

Lelouch closed his fingers around her delicate wrist, drawing her startled gaze. "I can show you my power, the geass." Before her lips could utter a question, the world around her disappeared. She felt her mind being thrown through vortex of streaming color.

She felt herself spin, appearing in many places at once, phasing in and out of a bright white light, naked as the day she was born. Lelouch's voice echoed in her head, a mystical tinge reverberating in her mind.

"I can give you the power of the Geass."

Suddenly, a multitude of images flash by as if viewing a video clip. She saw screaming spirits exploding and growing upon itself at an exponential rate, humanoid figures with defeated shoulders, walking forward in a dazed shuffle. She saw a group of kids in strange attire, each with a symbol on their forehead.

Nunnally had never seen anything so horrifying and vivid. Two planets were but miles from one another, a bright light emanating from the epicenter where impact would occur.

"If you accept this contract, your life will never be the same again. You will be given a power that will put you above others. Will you accept this Geass?"

Nunnally felt her lips twitch, her mind and body eager at the prospect of gaining power. Suddenly, the frenzied images slowed to crawl. She saw Lelouch, slender and aristocratic, intelligence and kindness emanating from his eyes. He looked different than her brother did, but the love he showed was the same. Another image filled her vision, Lelouch kneeling in front of a young girl in a wheel chair, his head resting on her lap as the girl threaded her hands through his hair.

It took a split second before she realized the girl was her. Her alternate self had her eyes closed, her ability to walk cruelly restricted. Lelouch wasn't lying when he said that his sister was all he cared for. Suddenly the pace of the images sped up. Horrifying images started appearing.

The first was a scene of her kind and beloved half-sister, Euphemia, laughing with a benevolent smile as she unleashed a barrage of bullets into a screaming and hapless crowd of Japanese civilians. Her eyes were marred by the effect of Geass, showing her lack of control.

The next image, Shirley from the Student Council, bleeding to death as she looked up to Lelouch with a loving gaze and a weak smile; Uttering a promise to love and to fall in love with him again no matter how many times she was reborn.

Nunnally almost wept at the beautiful yet horrifying scene, She could see Lelouch truly did love Shirley and Euphemia. Finally it stopped on a last scene and she gasped.

It was Lelouch, dressed in majestic white imperial regalia, slumped at the bottom of a podium. He had a gaping wound in his chest, his life dwindling by the minute. She could see herself screaming and sobbing as her brother sacrificed himself for the world, for peace. A wealth of emotion surged through her when her alternate self screamed, "Why Onii-san? I only wanted to live in happiness with you. How can I live without you?" The crowd was cheering at her brother's death and revulsion creep through her chest. She didn't want this ending; she didn't want her brother dead. While her mind and body craved power for revenge against their father, her heart couldn't bear the idea of committing herself to a world of lonliness.

"No! I reject your contract!" She proclaimed.

The images faded, her vision returning to normal as she took in Lelouch's stunned gaze. He obviously had not expected her to reject the Geass.

Before he could protest. She wrapped both arms around his neck and pulled his lips against her own. She gave into her passion, her love for Lelouch. She wasn't sure if it was merely sibling love or something more, but she wanted him to know that she did love him, even if he was not her true brother in a sense. He was of a different design, various experiences shaping and molding into a different person, yet his core value and beliefs were the same as her brother.

She broke the kiss, her lips bruised and flushed from the intimate contact. "I don't need the Geass. I don't need world peace, I just need you by my side, your love." Because as damaged as her brother had been, she had been equally as broken, picking up the shattered pieces of each other.

Lelouch held her in his arms, inhaling her sweet lilac scent.

He was sure of it now.

His sister is bipolar.

First she shoots him twice and then she declares her love for him.

Somehow looking after a blind and crippled Nunnally had been simpler.

Nunnally had accepted him back into her life with surprising acceptance. Mostly they spent a lot of time chatting about their life experience and talked about how their world was different.

"Well, Shirley is actually too intimidated to talk to you. I always had a feeling that she liked you but you had this tough guy front you put up. I think she also knew enough that something was going on between you and Milly but she didn't want to interfere."

Lelouch smiled at the mention of Shirley, "Yes. She had always been shy in that regards but she's strong in spirit."

His smile faded a bit as his remembered the depth of Shirley's love for him. It wasn't puppy love or a simple crush. She had truly loved him, before she knew of his identity as Zero and even after. She had loved him after finding out his identity as Zero, the man who played a hand in his father's death. Even after he made her forget every last memory of him, she fell in love with him again.

The third and last time was when his father's Geass re-wrote everyone's memory. She had still fallen in love with him. It truly made him wonder if they were drawn together by the red string of fate. Lelouch sipped his fruit shake, while he pondered all of this.

Kallen had yet to show up at school there were two more weeks until she attempted to liberate the "poison gas" from Clovis. This meant that he had two weeks to plan on how to free C.C and smuggled her from the Shinjuku Ghetto without being captured and used as a test subject himself.

The school bang rang, signalling the end of their free period, and Nunnally rushed to pack for her next class. When Lelouch showed no intention of getting up, she pulled on his hand to try and get him on his feet. It was quite an amusing sight, her hair frazzled and her face pouting when she failed to get him to move.

"Geez, Onii-san. We need to go to class. Don't tell me you're skipping again."

Lelouch finished off his fruit juice with relish, his body used to eating a healthy diet despite it's former occupants penchant for self-destruction with alcohol and drugs. He crushed the Jamba Juice cup into a ball and threw it into the trashcan across the room with perfect accuracy, courtesy of his new-found physical talent.

"I have something I need to do. Don't worry, I'm still on the path of intellectual pursuit."

Nunnally gave him a critical look, "You better be."

He chuckled at his sisters antic, she was just so cute sometimes. With Nunnally in class, he was free to expand in some of his more... aggressive research. Down at the hidden base underneath the school, he was trying to create a theoretical weapon from scratch.

A relatively human-size KMF suit.

In the current time period in which the latest Knightmare frame (Minus the Lancelot) is fifth generation at best, Lelouch's half ass knowledge of the 9th generation Knightmare frame boasted an inconceivable technological jump.

Now why did he say theoretical?

Because he really didn't have access to industrial grade equipment or military regulated weaponry. This meant he had to work with whatever a normal Britannian student could readily buy. With the internet, that was more than enough to put together a few pet projects.

The first item on his list was revamping his zero mask. He knew that he shouldn't interfere too much with the situation but there was a need to take C.C out of the equation. The Emperor was bound to discover the destruction of the Thought Elevator in the World of C. and would seek out C.C for answers. Clovis pet project wasn't exactly a well kept secret if Kallen and Ohgi could get information about it.

Long tampered fingers danced across the keyboard as he finalized the programming for the various programs to be installed into the Zero mask. Along with the original mechanical voice alteration and reflective glass, extensive upgrades were included. The most extreme update was the simulated factsphere capabilities for registering thermal levels along with real-time environmental reading. Hell, he even hacked into the various international databases so he could link it to a face recognition software.

The downside to the helmet was that the battery power was quite low but nothing too troubling since it wasn't intended for long-term usage. With all the programs installed, it was time to test it. Sliding the helmet over his head, the anti-theft programs activated.

Retina scans confirmed that the purple iris pattern fit his to an 99.6% accuracy before the next part took effect, a voice recognition security prompt.

The artificial intelligence program took over, selecting one of the various questions to test Lelouch's validity.

"Do you know why the snow is white?"

Lelouch responded without hesitation. "I do not know why the snow is white but I find it beautiful."

"Access granted, please state your activation code."

"Master Element Requiem Linear Intelligence Network activate!"

The helmet hummed to life as all the programs fully loaded. Lelouch smiled, at least one part of his plan was on schedule. The next challenge was to adapt the slash harken to be utilized by human capabilities. Not easily done if he wanted to boast concrete penetrating force while tweaking it so it could support the human without tearing the said arm from shoulder.

After fully testing all the capabilities, he pulled off the helmet and brushed away his sweaty bangs. He had forgotten to take one thing into consideration in the planning process.

Ventilation.

"Fuck my life. I need a haircut..." The long shaggy hair needed to be tamed, maybe a style change closer to his former image?

Stunned silence permeated the council room as they took in his new look. It certainly gave Lelouch a more sophisticated and aristocratic look with his new hairstyle, his hair settling into a finely combed but casual mess. Of course, Nunnally had a hand in his new style change but today held a deeper significance than just a hairstyle change.

Today they decided to announce the recovery of his voice. It hailed a hallmark moment in which he could finally speak his true voice. This meant he was one step closer to true freedom, the ability to do what he wanted, and say what he believed. One day, he'll be able to achieve that without fear or persecution or retaliation.

Nunnally lightly squeezed his fingers and tentatively lead him to the center of the room. "We have an announcement to make." She stated after all eyes were on them.

Shirley tilted her head to the side in confusion, "We?"

Lelouch cleared his throat nervously. Over the course of a year, he had given many speeches. It was one thing to charm over the uneducated masses with honeyed words but another to convince your close friends that a miracle had occured.

"I believe proper introductions are in order. I, Lelouch Lamperouge, am grateful for all the help you have given me during my time of hardship. My voice is recovered at last." Milly held back no pretense as she buried herself into his chest, her eyes wet but they were tears of joy. She babbled almost incoherently as she ran her hands over his face and trailing down to his neck. "H-How? W-when did you? Oh my God, I'm so happy and w-we should celebrate this!"

She felt a low and husky rumble in his chest as he spoke, her ears perking to capture his delightful voice. "No. I'm grateful that you're happy Milly but I would like to keep this low key. My voice is still recovering and I don't want this to become a public farce. Most of the students here at the Academy hate me..." His voice trailed off, glancing at Rivalz whose lip had drawn into a tight line. Nina had given him a distance but polite nod and Shirley had flushed a deep red after hearing his voice.

It isn't usual for Shirley to feel shyness and hesitance. Most people would describe her as a nice girl, the girl next door, good looks, polite, and graceful. In reality, even good girls have a bad side to them. In her case, it was her inexhaustible attraction to Lelouch. She had previously written off Lelouch as a delinquent and a no good alcoholic and junkie. Then she discovered that Nunnally was his younger sister and they couldn't be more different!

Nunnally was very bright for her age, polite, and everything a true lady should be. It was actually Nunnally's overwhelming kindness that set her apart from the other girls but Shirley had been confused when the kindness was mostly focused onto her delinquent older brother. Lelouch truly was a puzzle to figure out. She asked Nunnally about him, Milly, and almost everyone who had contact with him. His inability to speak left her nurturing side almost crying to help him out but he didn't want any help. He distanced himself from everyone like a lone wolf, with the exception of his sister.

Shirley had almost written him off as a hopeless case until the day she almost got raped.

She was at a free community project event to help the hungry in the ghetto. All of the volunteers were Japanese in ethnicity and she felt a bit alienated when everyone started conversing in their native language. Eventually while passing out free food, two older Elevens had approached her. They used a few phrases of broken English, saying that their daughter was sick and needed a doctor. However, this was a lie and they had led her to a rather seedy area in the ghetto where people were openly purchasing illegal narcotics such as refrain. They quickly forced her into a back alley where shady drug transactions took place, away from prying eyes.

Of course she had no idea what they were saying but the greed and lust in their eyes hinted at what they wanted. It was truly sick how humans could posses such cruelty, willingly able to force themselves onto an underage girl who had entered the ghetto on a volunteer mission. In part, it had to do with the fact that she was Brittanian and it was her country which invaded theirs, killing families, and forcing them into such destitute living conditions. This cycle of hatred, will it not end? She knew escape was impossible but she cried and screamed for help anyway.

She received a harsh backhand for her troubles, her lips split from the impact. "Urusai Onna!" One of them pinned her to the wall, his hands riding up her thigh to bunch her black skirt to her waist. She twisted violently but they had her hands locked in an iron grip. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her normally bright green eyes dull and listless. "Please... Anyone. Just help me..."

She felt the last of her protection being ripped away, the thin fabric of her panties torn off in haste to reveal the orange trim of pubic hair the the pink lips of her womanhood.

It was over.

A sharp crack, the most disgusting crunching and snapping sound, rang about her ears. Her assailant turned to her right hand side where his cohort was standing guard. The other man slumped to the ground, the entire upper right side of his skull caved in unnaturally with his brains leaking out onto the floor. Standing above the corpse was Lelouch with his fist out where he performed a Seiken (Straight Punch).

"Kumawa nii-san! Teme! Shiiinee!" He pulled up his pants and pulled out a butterfly knife, charging at Lelouch with the intent to kill the Brittanian scum that killed his older brother. Shirley frantically pulled her skirt down and pulled her blazer tighter around her, the blouse long in tatters. She retreated deeper into the alley and watched as Lelouch countered the knife wielding maniac.

He had ripped off the top half of his school uniform, revealing a meticulously trained body of a martial artist. The uniform wrapped around the wrist holding the knife and jerked upward sharply, displacing the dagger which was the main threat. It was beautiful to Shirley, the way the sunlight danced off his tanned flesh. His powerful muscles rippled in a hypnotic way as he reared his arm back and thrust it deep into the man's lower stomach area in a spear hand thrust.

The rapist let out an inhuman scream from the pain of having five fingers bluntly introducing themselves to his liver. His screams were silenced forever when he was lifted up bodily in two corded hands, his body horizontally spread out, and brought down to meet the unyielding force of Lelouch's rising knee kick to the spine. It was a painful and slow death, his upper body shuddering on the floor as neurons misfired and the body slowly shut down. Lelouch had made sure the bastard felt every painful moment before he died.

That day, Shirley fell in love with him. Of course, she didn't know that Lelouch had simply been on his way back from purchasing some drugs when he saw her being led into the alley. Her mind simply couldn't get the thoughts of his heroic rescue out of mind. She should have been deeply traumatized by the incident, ashamed, but none of that happened. His presence somehow blocked out such trivial thoughts. His eyes were clear and non-judgmental when he looked at her afterwards. It was that clarity and strength in those eyes that haunted her nightly dreams, leaving her a hot and bothered mess every morning after each vivid and ... passionate dream.

The sunlight outside the window would remind her of his toned and beautiful body. It had reached the point where only the reprieve from the madness and the burning desire was the numerous laps she did daily as a member of the swim team. The cool water helped clear her head and the tiring workout left her to tired to even dream. She did have the occasional dreams of going on dates with Lelouch and other fantasies but there was always a missing gap.

His voice, she desired to hear his true voice.

Words used to repeat her name lovingly and tenderly. It was the only missing element that made her vivid dreams shy of perfection. And now, she can finally attribute a voice to the face in her dreams.

Shirley bowed deeply, her hair draping her shoulders as she inclined her waist, hands held together in a modest pose. "Lelouch. Thank you for all the help you gave me. Truly I am."

His perfect voice smoothly greeted her ears. "I always help a friend in need. Don't worry about it Shirley." She froze, her knees tingling as her name rolled off his tongue in a practiced and affectionate manner. She couldn't stand it anymore, if she didn't leave now, she won't be able to resist throwing herself into his arms, just like Milly did. Milly Ashford is a good friend of hers and she knew that Lelouch was currently seeing her. The last thing she wanted was to cause a rift between her friend, even if it meant she had to be satisfied with just watching the person of her affection from afar.

She brushed away the tears before they could see and excused herself. "Ahh! Silly me. I forgot my text books in the classroom. This is great Lulu. I'll find out more about the party afterwards. I know Milly is going to throw a small one. Please excuse me." She rushed out of the room, her orange hair trailing out behind her.

Milly felt awful, She knew Shirley had a huge crush on Lelouch. It was evident by the slip she made when she referred to him as Lulu instead of Lelouch. It was tactless to throw herself into his arms, Rivalz hated Lelouch enough as it was and Nina disapproved of him because of his violent tendencies. It was her job as the Student Council President to foster good relationships between the group members but rules be damned. Her man got his voice back and she wasn't going to hide her joy over the matter.

"Yatta! We're going to throw a small party, just us Student Council members so we can get to know Lelouch better. I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask him, previously it was difficult trying to communicate through sign language. Every one has to attend, this is an order from the Student Council President!" she declared as she asserted her authority.

Lelouch rolled his eyes at her attempts to throw another extravagant party. "Geez Milly. You don't need to pull out all stops for this party. In fact, let me plan this since it is my party." She snuggled up to his side, "Okay. You can take the reins on this one." She turned to the rest of the student council, "And just so it's official. I am seeing Lelouch at the moment."

Rivalz and Nina shot Lelouch a glare. It didn't worry her one bit.

Nunnally shot her a politely veiled glare and a tight smile.

Now she was scared.

A/N: Yes. We have a bit more to the incident that cause Shirley to try and understand the enigma that is Lelouch. Of course, I used Shirley inherent kindness as a way to highlight the fact that there are people in the world who would not hesitate to take advantage of someone's kindness. Her naivety led her into a situation where she was almost raped.

I understand the whole rape scenario to be a bit cliche and overused but it works...

Also, Instead of straight out creating a Ninth Generation Knightmare Frame, Lelouch is creating a side project. It isn't logical for Lelouch to suddenly patent and introduce technology that is well advance beyond his time. With his limited knowledge of the schematics behind the technology, he has to experiment in order to recreate the future technology,

He is smart but he doesn't have photographic memory and at most just the general understanding behind the theories and workings behind technologies such as the Float System and Gefjun Disturber.

Most of you are probably bitching at the delay in Lelouch rescuing C.C but you have to realize that he got lucky the first time around. When Clovis couldn't find C.C He simply had the entire Ghetto destroyed. This is the last thing Lelouch wants to have happen so he needs to plan accordingly.

Also can anyone guess the name of Lelouch's human sized KMF Model? It will end up looking quite a bit like the Iron Man Model but with the Zero Mask and colors.

I already hinted at the name.

Shout out for those who guess it. It has to do with the new Fic I've been writing.

Review and check out my new story, Emrys: Magic Unleashed