Code Geass: Lazos de Sangre

BOOK R1:

Lelouch el del Re;greso

Niccolò Machiavelli once wrote: "People should either be caressed or crushed. If you do them minor damage they will get their revenge; but if you cripple them there is nothing they can do. If you need to injure someone, do it in such a way that you do not have to fear their vengeance". And I think he's right. A tragedy is a terrible thing. But the man who survives to one of them is even worse. No revenge begins without a tragedy and all revenge is an ambitious project that haunts the thoughts, is a deep personal wound that corrodes the heart and is a life-changing stigma. Don't you believe me? I would like to tell you about a survivor.

This is his story.

Preface

"Lelouch, can you tell us what happened on the night of July 10, 2011?" asked the prosecutor.

"Yes. I was with my sister in the room helping her with her homework when we heard someone open the door and we knew it was our mom. She dismissed the babysitter and entered in the room. She was nervous. She told us we had to go and pack. Suddenly, at that instant, someone rang the bell. Nunnally ran to open it and Mom wanted to stop her, but I asked her why we had to leave. She just said it wasn't safe and then we heard a gunshot and my sister shout"… Lelouch paused in his statement. His gaze was lost somewhere in the courtroom as if he were watching moving images pass one after another. He blinked, took a deep breath, and continued, "I wanted to go with her, but mom ordered to me to hide and then she went out. I stayed the room, although I didn't hide. I leaned in the door. I wanted to know what was happening. I saw several men and Mom. I didn't know any of them. One asked her where the memory card was. She said she didn't have it. So he told her that if she didn't tell the truth, he was going to blow a hole in her head like the one he did to my sister. My mom didn't say anything, so he threatened to her to drive a hole in my head to get me out. He knew I was there because he saw my umbrella in the lobby. That day it had rained a lot. I had to get out." The boy turned his hands into fists. He had them on his thighs thinking that if he kept them still he would not shake. His voice grew hoarse. "That man threatened to break my neck if Mom didn't give him the chip. She asked to let me go. He wasn't listening. She had no choice but to give it, but they wouldn't let me go back to her. The man took out his phone and called someone. He told him that he already had the card and asked what to do with us. I heard a voice answer him. He ordered to get rid of us," and for the first time in the entire narrative, Lelouch turned his attention to the room. His tear-stained eyes met the steely gaze of a seated man at the back of long silver hair and bone-colored skin, "it was his voice."

Whispers crackled in the courtroom displacing the deathly silence that reigned seconds ago. It was to be expected that this would happen. The admission as evidence of the testimony from the young Lelouch Lamperouge, the eldest son of the victim, had been the subject of controversy. Opinions were divided between those who applauded the boy's bravery and those who questioned the court's decision; well, despite the fact that Lelouch was recognized as a prodigy, he was a child. They weren't sure he could testify. But there he was, on the dais, and he had declared in great detail, which had been as surprising as it was frightening. Sure, there would always be skeptics who think that everything was prepared.

Beyond the growing hubbub and the hammering of the judge's gavel, Lelouch mustered a lot of efforts to hold back the tears. His breaths were ragged and rapid. His heart was beating fast. Still, he stared at the gray-haired man, who hadn't flinched at the accusation. Then, lawyer Gottwald jumped out of his seat, cutting off the witness's account:

"Objection, your honor! The witness is speculating. You can't claim anything without solid evidence to back it up."

"Approved" the judge agreed. "Witness, limit yourself to describe what you saw and heard".

Lelouch nodded heavily.

"The man hung up. It looked like he was going to let us go, but he pointed his gun at me again. Mom guessed what he was going to do and asked him to spare my life. He got upset and hit her over and over and over and over again," he muttered sourly, as if he were biting off words. "I asked him to stop. Those made him remember that he had to kill me. One of the men tried to stop him, but he was determined to carry out his orders. It was when mom confronted him. She ordered me to run and get to safety. I couldn't move. I didn't want to leave her or Nunnally alone. She had been shot too. There was a lot of blood. Their screaming and fighting distracted me. In the middle of it all, he shot her" at the end of the sentence, he had gasped to articulate the word with greater force. Lelouch cleared his throat to conclude his testimony. "And mom fell. I wanted to run right to her when someone grabbed me. It was that man who wanted to stop the murderer. He took me away. Although it was useless, they caught up with us later. The next thing I remember is that I was in the hospital. My sister was in the next room and my mom was…, she was…"

"We understand, Lelouch," the prosecutor cut him off politely. Lelouch took a deep breath in order to control his emotions. It was a rather noisy inhalation. Prosecutor Waldstein continued with the interrogation: "In your testimony you indicate that a man broke into your house, shot your sister and killed your mother. Can you identify that man?"

"Yes".

"Is he in this room?"

"Yes".

"Can you point it out?"

"Yes. It's that man who is there."

The boy pointed without hesitation at the lanky man in the seat next to Lawyer Gottwald. His name is Luciano Bradley and he was the bodyguard of the President from Britannia Corps, Charles zi Britannia. He made a face that appeared to be a mocking smile; but he looked away before anyone else could take notice.

"No more questions".

"Good," said the judge. He turned to the lawyer Gottwald. "Does the defense want to question the witness?"

"No, your honor."

The boy stepped off the podium and sat between the employee sent by social services and the only person who has been supporting him since his mother died that fatal night: his friend, Suzaku Kururugi.

Immediately, the detective in charge of the case, Villetta Nu, went on to testify. Prosecutor Waldstein asked her to explain the details of his investigation:

"Marianne Lamperouge was last seen heading inside her home on Monday at 7:00 PM. According to eyewitness statements, she looked agitated, nodding rapidly and rubbing her hands nervously. Her body was discovered the next day in the room around 1:00 AM. The incident was reported by the man who is sitting next to the attorney for the prosecution, Mr. Luciano Bradley."

"Can you tell us the exact location of the body?"

"At the house living room. She was lying face down in a pool of blood. She died from a point-blank shot".

"Do you want to reveal the results of the autopsy?"

"There was no autopsy: it wasn't necessary. There were no signs of a fight at the crime scene and the evidence we collected indicates that it was all suicide. The murder weapon only has the victim's fingerprints".

"She's lying," Lelouch muttered, low enough for Suzaku to hear him. The boy in question turned to him in dismay. "I know, Suzaku. I heard her say that President Charles ordered her to be cremated quickly so nobody wouldn't notice my mother was beaten.".

"There was no autopsy? Did it not occur to you that perhaps the evidence you were looking for might be on the victim's body?" The prosecutor questioned without hiding the obviousness in his tone.

"Objection, your honor! The prosecution is asking questions to get the answers it wants," claimed the defense.

"Approved, prosecutor…"

"One more question, Your Honor: what about the memory card?"

"No such thing was found among the defendant's belongings when we arrested him at his home or at his workplace," Detective Nu replied calmly. "No one is aware of a missing or stolen memory chip."

"Well. That's it, your honor."

Lelouch frowned: would he leave it like that? The detective's testimony had just discredited him: without the memory chip and the autopsy, there would be no evidence to back up her statement. He had to sadly admit that even he would rather believe in a professional who worked in the police department than in a child who was learning to divide. However, was the prosecutor not able to show that a full investigation was not carried out or to delve further into the procedure to uncover any flaws? Even though the little boy was unable to explain on his own terms how the interrogation could have been better or what questions he should have asked, a bad omen took hold of his heart and he began to grow impatient. Things were not going well. He didn't want to pay attention to the moment when the defense questioned the witness. Irony that, even being the prosecutor's witness, the detective collaborated more with the defense with the evidence provided by her investigation.

Suzaku placed his hand on Lelouch's shoulder, who was avoiding looking at the dais. It hadn't been easy to convince his father to allow him to attend the trial instead of going to school, but he had to do it: Lelouch needed it. How could he have anything else on his mind but his friend? Not to mention that his mother had died in front of him and his sister was admitted to the hospital, he had no one. When Lelouch asked him why he had argued with his father over a nonsense imagining the conditions he could impose on him to agree to his request or the absurd annoyances that Mr. Kururugi would have taken against him, Suzaku replied that he wanted to be there to celebrate that justice had been served. Not to be the one there comforting him. Still, Suzaku hoped that the prosecutor was keeping some secret card for himself that he would draw later when the defense was believed to be invincible.

And it could be that he was right, the prosecution summoned their last witness: Dr. Bartley Asprius to the stand. Up to that point, the defense had rejected the charges suggesting that the victim committed suicide. During the police investigation, a bottle containing some rather unique pills was found in the bathroom medicine cabinet: olanzapine. A powerful antipsychotic that Marianne had been prescribed once giving birth to her daughter. It was a matter of putting all the pieces together in order to solve the puzzle and comprehend that, in a fit of madness, Marianne herself had shot Nunnally and then took her own life, so Luciano were just a poor man whose only crime was being the first witness who fulfilled his duty to report such tragedy to the police. Throughout the various hearings, the possibility that it was a hideous misunderstanding to accuse Luciano of killing Marianne grew stronger as new evidence emerged. What could tip the balance in favor of the prosecution? A doctor statement. Not just anyone, but he who treated Marianne's condition and it is for this reason that Dr. Asprius was called to take the oath and describe the progress of his patient.

"Have you been Marianne Lamperouge's psychiatrist?" asked Prosecutor Waldstein.

"That's right. I was for almost four years," the doctor agreed.

"Please state your medical opinion regarding the victim's condition."

"I diagnosed Marianne with postpartum depression the month her daughter, Nunnally, was born. The causes could be a combination of external factors that profoundly affected her mood: the stress of her job as a lawyer for a major company, lack of sleep, and the fact that she had to raise two children on her own. She had no one else to support her. I prescribed the typical antidepressants and, of course, we had our regular check-ups. It's important to keep a close watch to prevent relapses that are often frequent in these patients and Marianne sincerely wanted to improve for the sake of her little ones, but her symptoms were evolving. I recommended that she go to hospital before her condition became critical, yet she refused: Marianne didn't want to abandon her children, so I prescribed olanzapine for her. I confess that, although I understood and respected my patient's decision, I was concerned about Lelouch and the little Nunnally." Dr. Asprius cocked his head in regret and expressed in a strangled voice. "I felt very sorry when Lelouch came over to see me. Marianne had already passed away. He asked me to testify at the trial to attest that his mother was okay. Children have a harder time accepting when one of their parents...".

"LIAR!" Lelouch yelled, standing up and slamming the back of the bench in front of him. "I never asked him that, nor did I go to see him. You were the one who came to me and said you could testify in court to say that my mother was fine! TELL THE TRUTH!"

"Get the child out. This is too hard for him", the judge whispered to one of the policemen.

The officer went over to where Lelouch was. The social services agent stopped him and, grabbing the boy's arm, indicated that they were going to vacate the room voluntarily. Suzaku accompanied them. Outside, Lelouch promised the social services agent that he would calm down and to not go anywhere. Only then did the adult agree to let him go. Suzaku approached, measuring his every step.

"Lelouch…," he started saying. Finding no words, he fell silent in shame.

"The witnesses are lying, Suzaku! They're making my mom pass off as a crazy woman and me as a liar", he snapped, pointing at the door. Backward, Lelouch had a lot to say. He continued as his thoughts were forming. "I swear to you that the doctor told me: 'No one will doubt that your mother didn't committed suicide if her doctor declares in the trial that her mental health could not be better, contact me with the prosecutor and I'll gladly go to testify.' Suzaku, I'm not lying, he assured, touching his chest. Nor did I dream that some men came to my house to kill Mom, that they shot Nunnally, and that they were about to kill me too. Why would I go to court to accuse this man if it weren't true?"

"Lelouch, calm down. The judge hasn't said anything yet. He is the one who makes the decision."

"They're going to release him, Suzaku. Let's not be fools", Lelouch groaned resignedly.

The children didn't enter the court until it was time for sentencing. The judge asked the defendant, Luciano Bradley, to stand up as he read the verdict:

"The death of Marianne Lamperouge was an unfortunate event that will not be erased from our memory. However, the evidence shows that the murder charge for the defendant, Mr. Luciano Bradley, is insufficient. In doing so, I pass a verdict of not guilty."

And he struck with the gavel three times, sealing his decision and ending the matter. The approval of those present was almost unanimous: there were no clicks of protest, others showed their agreement by nodding their heads or murmuring their opinion to the person next to them. Luciano didn't hide his joy and expressed his euphoria out loud. He got up to hug his defense attorney, who was filing the paperwork in his briefcase. For some reason, he made no more than a cold nod. The silver-haired man was the first to retreat. Two men in black followed his steps. Lelouch had frozen as he realized this reality's blow: his mother's murderer was on the loose. The social services agent rubbed his arm in an attempt to comfort him and try to pull him out of his trance to take him away. Suzaku looked at Lelouch with concern. He repeated his name incessantly. He was fearing that his friend had gone catatonic when he ran off at the speed of an arrow. Suzaku chased after him. The agent's reflexes were very slow. By the time he reacted, he had lost sight of the children.

President Charles had been approached by a sea of journalists who were eagerly awaiting him outside the courthouse. He passed them without any problem thanks to his bodyguards who served as a protective shield. His chauffeur had opened the door of the brand-new black Cadillac when Lelouch barged in. He almost pounced on him, except for the bodyguards holding him back. Yet the boy struggled to make himself heard in the confusion:

"You, listen! I'm meaning you! Charles zi Britannia!" The president of Britannia Crops responded to the name by parking in his tracks. Over his shoulder, he gave the child a dismissive look. "Look at me! Take a good look at me! Look at my face!" He demanded with a frown. His lips were retracted and he was showing his teeth. "This is not the end. I'll be back. I'll clear my mother's name and reveal all your crimes. You shall never be able to wash the blood off from your hands. You'll regret it! Remember who is going to destroy you," he spat angrily.

The president turned his back on him. He went inside the car and made it as if he hadn't heard a thing. The bodyguards shoved Lelouch away.

"Let's get out of here," said one.

"Yes, I can't stand the gaze of that child," the interlocutor commented uncomfortably, avoiding cross his eyes with those of Lelouch.

They entered. The chauffeur turned on the car and, after a few seconds, drove away. Some of the reporters wanted to go after him. Others defected. Suzaku had heard what Lelouch said to that man, but didn't want to investigate. Something inside him claims that he wouldn't want to know the answer. On this, he had an idea and with renewed spirit exclaimed:

"Lelouch, I got it! You said that one of those men opposed the rest of his gang and that he helped you, why don't we ask the prosecutor to find him? With his testimony the case could be reopened, they will have no other way but to! Do you agree?"

Lelouch turned half slowly. He looked at Suzaku and shook his head. Suzaku smiled at him. The kids went to locate Prosecutor Waldstein. Not much time had passed: perhaps he would be in the building and if not they could go to his office and wait for him. At last, their location wasn't very distant: they could walk. Both of them stumbled around the courtroom several times, attracting the attention of those who worked there and earning a few reprimands. Prosecutor Waldstein wasn't alone: he was chatting with lawyer Gottwald in a small room. Suzaku was going to interrupt. Lelouch stopped him by stretching out his arm and shot him a look: he wanted to hear what the prosecutor might be doing with the defense attorney right after the trial was over. Suzaku nodded, showing that he understood. The two of them peeked through the half-open door.

"Who would guess that after so many trials facing each other, we work well together."

"We are in the same boat rowing in a single direction, how could it be otherwise?"

"Hahaha, that's it! A bad karmic relationship yesterday becomes a normal relationship today," Prosecutor Waldstein mused aloud. "The world is a kaleidoscope, isn't it, Jeremiah?" He asked with a wicked smile.

"Life takes a lot of turns," observed lawyer Gottwald. "We don't know if in the future our relationship will be one of bad karma, for now fate has reserved this for us".

"I have no more trials throughout the day. I invite you to have a drink. We should celebrate that everything has gone according to plan."

"I won't say no," he smiled knowingly.

Suzaku backed away. So it was not only the witnesses, but the prosecution and the defense as well? The boy turned to Lelouch, but he was no longer by his side. Suzaku quickly glanced around searching for him. Lelouch was in the hallway striding away. It was logical that he had no need to hear more to be conscious that the trial had been rigged. Suzaku reached him in seconds. Lelouch kept walking without slowing down.

"They sneered at our faces, Suzaku, how could I think we would have a slim chance of winning?! It was clear that Charles wasn't going to stand still watching everything, he was going to do what he could to win!"

"There was no way to know. Its' okay, today they won. It doesn't matter. We'll find another prosecutor to take the case."

"What good would it do? We would be giving Charles another soldier and the trial would have the same results. No. For things to go well, I must take matters into my own hands. You were there. You saw it. The witnesses lie, the prosecutor stops doing his job, the press and the media say and spread what the high lord wants and, in the end, everyone bows their heads in front of the power".

"There must be a reason…" Suzaku muttered. Lelouch froze and turned to him.

"Which reason would it be, Suzaku?" Lelouch added. "What can justify that they were bought to destroy a family? Do you think they thought for a moment about the injustice they would do because of their actions?! Of course not! They don't even care. Do you know why? Because they're evil."

"Maybe, some of them. But don't make the mistake of making too big of a generalization," Suzaku said seriously. "I assure you, there are still good men"

Lelouch caught a glimpse of Suzaku with wide eyes in disbelief. It seemed that he was arguing with a fool about a matter already done.

"No. They're selfish, liars, cowards, they only think about how to increase their power. They don't care even if needed to step on others to get it," Lelouch asserted with aplomb. "You were wrong: truth does not win at trials, but the one who has resources and knows how to use them better".

Lelouch glanced at the window. Through it, anyone could see how imposing a powerful infrastructure stood. On the electronic sign the letters appeared one by one until they constituted two words and a powerful name that would make anyone fear: "Britannia Corps," anyone but Lelouch. The boy's fists were clenched so tight his knuckles turned white. He no longer felt like crying. The pain had hardened his heart.

A chill ran down Suzaku's spine. He had blurted that out without thinking. It hurts him to see his friend suffer saying such terrible things. Perhaps Lelouch acted rashly, but now he was sure he wanted to defend his claim tooth and nail. So he had to transform himself into what he said. The judgment of that day had changed them forever. Suzaku would never forget it. Lelouch's gaze was glassy. Unrecognizable. Creepy.

Finally, he said, unaware that he was severing the last ties with childhood:

"Suzaku," Lelouch snapped. "I'm going to destroy Britannia!"

It was a promise, a point of no return in their lives.

The beginning of everything.

A / N: hello, hello! If you've made it this far, I want to thank you for giving a chance to this novel and I hope you stay. This story is the translation of a novel that I'm currently publishing on Fanfiction and Wattpad titled Code Geass: Bloodlines. I've long wanted to share my work with the English-speaking community; however, because of my own English being horrible, my desire was restrained until some kind gentleman proposed to translate my novel. English isn't our mother language, so if you notice any grammar or writing errors, please let us know. In this way, we'll both be learning and exercising our English.

Too many novels in Spanish have titles in English, despite the fact that their readers are Spanish-speaking, and I would dare to say that they decide to title their stories in that language for purely aesthetic reasons and nothing more. In my case, "Bloodlines" is one of my favorite English words because its morphological construction. It's a word made up of two others. Each one with its own meaning. We have "blood", which is a very important image within the story, and "lines". In Spanish, the literal translation of this term is "Linaje". It isn't a compound word and it doesn't have that allusion to blood that I love. In fact, I don't like the word itself and I think titles made up of a single word are powerful. Hence the novel is originally called "Bloodlines" and not "Linaje" or "Lazos de Sangre". But, for the English version, I decided to rename this story as "Lazos de sangre". That way none should forget the roots of the novel and so it stays in harmony with the original English title. In another chapter I'll comment on the other reason that led me to name the novel "Bloodlines" and that is intrinsic to the text. For now, tell me, do you like the title? Does it sound exotic or curious? By the way, the novel is structured in three books. The first is originally titled Lelouch of the Re;turn (translated here as Lelouch el del Re;greso).

As you may have notice in the description, Code Geass: Bloodlines is a retelling of Code Geass. What is a retelling? It's a genre that has become popular in recent times and, as its name implies, consists of taking a story and retelling it differently. In this case, I took the plot of the Code Geass series which is a science fiction story set in a dystopian reality and turned it into a noir fiction (with some hints of dirty realism), which is a genre I'm more than familiarized. It's no coincidence that the preface ended in the same way as the preamble to the first chapter of the series. However, I didn't want to limit myself to recycling the series and present the plots that we have already seen with a new backdrop, but I took the opportunity to correct and change certain aspects that I dislike about the series and I know that they could have been treated much better, as well as propose new scenarios and delve into characters and narrative arcs that generated my interest (for me, the construction of the characters is very important and you all shall find it out at my main cast: Lelouch, Suzaku, Kallen, C.C. and Schneizel). And, of course, offer new twists.

This story was born around the end of 2019 by my own initiative to write a novel for Code Geass since it is an important series in my life and I wanted to express my love to it in some way. Back then, I was watching numerous legal dramas along with the characters and their background shared phew mutual traits compared to Lelouch, Suzaku, and Kallen. This led me to consider that I could move the Code Geass characters and their respective conflicts into a legal context and that is because essentially Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is a story of revenge. To be honest, that was one of the reasons why I was encouraged to watch the series. Revenge is one of my favorite subjects. Those programs that I saw made me realize that the concepts of revenge and justice were closely related and that the court was the perfect setting to address them. It could be said that in this novel I elaborate on my considerations about revenge. Also, the idea of writing and developing an adult Lelouch placed in a more realistic context was tempting.

Anyway, I don't want to extend myself. If you like this story or it seems promising; feel free to share your love and expectations through a comment. I'm always reading them. If you're Fanfiction user, I'll reply to you by a private message. If you're guest, you'll find my answer to you down in the next chapter.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you when our update date will be. Compared to my original novel, the English version doesn't depend only on me, but Mr. Translator. Translation is worth it if there are readers, so it's up to you to keep the story updated.

Tell me, what did you think of the preface? What do you think Suzaku, Kallen, C.C. or are your favorite character currently doing in this story? What things in the canon do you think I am going to keep or change?

Take care, roasted marshmallows! Kisses on your bum!

We will meet next right in the first chapter of this story: Re;turn.

P.S. Hello, guys. It's "Mr. Traslator". Perhaps, this shall be my only comment. Why? The story actually belongs to Miss Alice. I would love for any one you, curious readers who came here by some mythical force to share your opinion, love and thanks with her. For that reason I'll stay anonymous. Also, I know my English sucks, so we highly appreciate any suggestion, corrections and more. At last, don't forget to leave Choco-chips cookies offering down here if you want us to keep translating this story. It's okay, we won't be stealing your soul…for now.