I'm gratified by the response to the first chapter, but again, as always, there's no guarantee of this becoming a full fic at all. Hell, I wasn't sure I'd even finish this chapter. But I hope you enjoy it, regardless.
EMBLEM OF OLD BLOOD
CHAPTER 2:
AN IMMORTAL IN A DREAM
Once, she was a nameless slave girl in France. Then, she was given a name, Cera. But after a certain nun inflicted her with a curse, she became known as CC.
And right now, she was more than a little confused.
True, being shot in the head tended to disorient her, as did any 'death' that involved brain damage. But even that went away. It was never pleasant, but death, while bearable, was also purely temporary for her, much to her chagrin.
Yet now, she was in a mysterious garden, eerie and ethereal, filled with gravestones, and with a cottage or hut overlooking it all. It felt both like, and yet unalike, the World of C, in the times she had been in it. This place, the one her new contractor had sent her into, was a different layer of reality. And a rather soothing melancholy one at that. Not Heaven, certainly not Hell, and not quite Limbo. It felt…serene. Calm. Gentle, in an unearthly way.
She wasn't sure what to make of that. She'd thrown herself in front of her new contractor, Lelouch vi Britannia, to save him. True, he seemed like he knew how to fight, but against Clovis' Royal Guard? And then, she made her contract…only, it felt strange. Like she sensed that Lelouch's nature was a veneer, and underneath that…
As she recovered, she blinked, as the soil seemed to bubble, and out of that bubbling portal appeared a number of pale, monstrous shapes. Like malformed infants. Yet despite their bizarre appearance, CC swiftly realised that they were not malevolent, and she gently stroked one on the head with a smile.
"Ah, so the Messengers like you. Strange they may seem, and yet, they are rather sweet, no?"
The husky voice with a Slavic accent startled her, but she kept as calm as she could, before looking in their direction. She was surprised to find two people waiting there for her, a study in contrasts. And yet, both wholly at ease in this realm.
The most striking of the two was a tall woman with pale skin, hair, and eyes, dressed in a bonnet, shawl, and dress. She was taller than most people, CC realised. She also noticed that the woman's hands had joints not unlike a doll's. Yet there was a sensation of power coming from her.
The other was a girl with light brown hair and violet eyes. CC knew this girl all too well, even if she was now a teenager. Though she was surprised to note a lack of a wheelchair…and innocence in those violet eyes. Yet there was still a gentleness in those eyes despite the lack of innocence.
"Yes, despite their macabre appearance," CC said, standing, the creatures sinking back into whatever dimension they called home. "May I ask who are you, and where am I?"
"You're in the Hunter's Dream," the girl said. "I am Nunnally Lamperouge, and this is Kos."
"Or some say Kosm," the woman said, smiling slightly at some joke CC was not privy to.
"Call me CC," CC said.
"…See-two?" Kos asked.
"Pronounced 'See-two', spelled 'See-see'," CC explained.
Before they could react, her contractor appeared in a shimmer of light. "Sorry I'm late," spoke what had to be Lelouch vi Britannia.
"…Big brother? Is Clovis…?" Nunnally asked.
"…Dead. I sent him to Ebrietas to deal with. I'm sorry, Nunnally. But…after what he ordered, what he did…he was wholly unrepentant of what he did to the Japanese, and to this girl," he said, indicating CC.
"And the insurgents?" Nunnally asked quietly, presumably trying to take her mind off her half-brother's murder.
"I questioned them over the radio. They wanted to expose Clovis undertaking chemical weapons development, despite the treaties. Not using the bomb themselves," Lelouch said. "They survived. But that battle was something of a wake-up call. I'm done with waiting. This power this girl granted me is useful. I was able to compel Clovis to tell the truth. Cornelia and Schneizel may know something about our mother's death. I doubt Cornelia would have done the deed: as ruthless as she has become since our reported deaths, she admired our mother. But Schneizel?"
"…But Lelouch…did you have to kill Clovis?"
"…He felt no remorse for ordering the murder of the people in the Shinjuku Ghetto, let alone torturing this girl for the secret of immortality. He also didn't seem to care that, if brought back to Pendragon, we'd be pawns of the Emperor once more. I'm sorry." He gently hugged his sister, stroking her back. "And it'll only get worse. Don't worry, I'll try to ensure we bring Nelly and Euphie to our side if they end up in Japan. I want to avoid as much of our family's blood on our hands if we can. I'll only re-enact the Emblem of Blood if I have to."
CC, despite herself, was touched. And a little worried. True, that Lelouch had been angered by her treatment at Clovis and his cronies' hands was truly heartening. But she was also reminded of Lelouch and Nunnally's father and uncle, their own pact. Indeed, Nunnally in particular resembled old pictures of Charles and VV.
After a moment, the two siblings broke their embrace. "So, may I ask your name?" Lelouch asked CC.
Before CC could answer, Kos cleared her throat. "She called herself CC. We did not press her on such an obvious alias, partly because you arrived. The Messengers seem to like her, though."
"But she resurrected from a bullet to the head. She's not bound to anything like the Hunter's Dream or the Hunter's Nightmare?" Lelouch asked.
CC cleared her throat. "Pardon me, but I am standing right here. And this is the first time I have heard of such things. My immortality does not come from them, whatever they are."
"Her power, whatever it is, does not come from a Great One," Kos said. "Or rather, not one as we know it. I do sense it, though. You have a fragment of it within you now, Lelouch."
"Yes…I was able to control a number of people with it," Lelouch said. "CC granted me this power…" He turned to CC, and gave a sad smile. "And I'm sorry you thought you had to sacrifice yourself to save me, CC, but…I didn't need that. I was about to start fighting my way out, and…well, let's just say you're not the only one here who is immortal, though we have different kinds of immortality, I believe. Anyway, where was I? CC granted me a power that allowed me to take control of people's minds. I forced Clovis' Royal Guard, corrupt bastards that they were, to kill themselves. I managed to take control of a Purist called Villetta Nu, took her Sutherland, and interrogated her. I think we may have an ally amongst the Purists, but I want to be sure. I used the power to get into Clovis' command vehicle, and then I interrogated him on what he did to CC, and whether he knew anything about our mother's death. Cornelia and Schneizel may know, but…"
"But the Emperor was the one who tampered with my memories," Nunnally said quietly.
CC was shocked. True, she knew that Charles had tampered with the scene of the assassination, and had Nunnally shot to sell the story, altering her memories with his Geass. All to cover for VV, who had murdered Marianne in the first place. That spiteful little gremlin's feud with Marianne, and indeed anyone who got more attention and affection from Charles than him, reached its zenith that day. CC had to admit to becoming disillusioned with their plan that day, or at least the seeds had been sown. Allowing Clovis to capture her and torture her as a means of keeping her ready until their Ragnarok plan was ready…CC still wanted to go through with the plan to find eternal rest, but if she could do that through a contractor like Lelouch, then to Hell with Ragnarok.
But to think, Nunnally broke her father's Geass' hold on her. And the quiet undertone of anger in her voice as she revealed that reminded CC that, as gentle and innocent as she seemed, Nunnally was still the daughter of two of the most ruthless people CC had met. And she had met more than a few over the years.
CC decided to interject then and there. She wouldn't tell them everything, at least not yet, but she would tell them enough. "The power you and your…father share is the Power of the King, known as Geass," she said. "It varies from person to person, based on their own wishes, conscious or not."
"You knew the Emperor?!" Lelouch snapped.
"I knew both of your parents. And before you ask, I cannot tell you who your mother's murderer is. If you began making too much noise in searching him out, he would learn, and come for all of us. It is best you learn about that on your own. However, your father holds him…or rather, held him in high regard."
"You knew our parents, but you don't look older than…late teens? Early twenties at most?" Nunnally mused. "Then again, if you are immortal, you might be older than you look."
CC chuckled bitterly. "Old enough to have fought in the Hundred Years War." She smiled a little at the shock on the teens' faces, though the Kos woman merely titled her head bemusedly. "I have lived a long life, long enough to have many painful memories. Let us leave it at that. Marianne, before she was murdered, asked me to look after you. While you will not have seen me, I was in Japan, keeping an eye on you. Indeed, during the invasion, I intercepted more than a few hitsquads sent after you by your mother's killer, hitsquads from what is now called the OSI."
"…So that's how highly-placed he is," Lelouch said, gritting his teeth. "Damnation. Do not misunderstand me, CC, I am far from happy you are keeping such information from us. And I do not intend to let any of me and mine be hurt. But…if my mother's killer is that highly-placed…I always had suspicions. In any case, thank you, for that, and giving me this power, this…Geass."
CC nodded. "Your mother asked it of me. I would have made contact with you sooner, but I was imprisoned and experimented on by Clovis for many years. While I have died many times over the centuries, his pet scientists and torturers were…creative in how they killed me. Over, and over again."
At this, Lelouch winced. "…You have my sympathies. I know what that is like."
CC blinked in confusion and surprise. Wait, what? What did he just say?
Lelouch continued. "I may not have lived anywhere near as long as you have, and I was not locked up in a lab…well, for very long, anyway, but I have died many times over. Slashed, stabbed, immolated, poisoned, melted, disintegrated, fell from a great height, crushed, electrocuted, disembowelled, exsanguinated, crushed by a meteor, hit by a miniature exploding star, cursed, oh, and let's not forget my personal favourite, having knowledge humans weren't meant to know forced into my head and causing it to explode."
CC would have called him a liar then and there, but his eyes told the story. They seemed too old, too weary, too much like a window onto a psyche scarred by repetitive deaths that did not stick. Much like the eyes she saw whenever she looked in the mirror.
She did glimpse something strange about him when she made his contract with him. But it was like a barrier was there, preventing her from seeing too much. Perhaps she should be grateful she didn't try to push past said barrier. Given the deceptively flippant way he spoke of his head exploding from having knowledge humans weren't meant to know about…well, she'd had her head explode from a shotgun blast at point-blank range, to say nothing of some of Clovis' experiments causing the same thing.
Damn, she thought to herself in sudden realisation. Is this a little of what I look like from the outside?
"I find myself curious," CC said, calmer than she actually felt. "How did you survive that?"
"It's a long story. The short version is, after I was caught up in a Japanese terrorist attack, I was in a coma, for a few weeks on the outside. My mind and soul, however, ended up bound to this realm, the Hunter's Dream. And yes, you are in a dream made manifest, one that is every bit as real as Earth. I was contracted to hunt monsters…and gods, of a sort. Are you familiar with the works of HP Lovecraft? I could never stand his xenophobia, even when it was somewhat typical of Britannians, but I fought beings not unlike the deities he wrote of, known as Great Ones. I also befriended or at least allied myself with some." He indicated Kos. "Kos here is what is left of a Great One who was murdered, her tattered soul bound to this doll body by another Great One. Her original form was not remotely human, though it had its own beauty."
"You are very kind, Lelouch," Kos said with a smile. "However, I retain few of my memories as Kos."
"In addition, I sent Clovis to be killed by another Great One," Lelouch continued. "Ebrietas and I came to an accord, and she cooperates with me while we work on a way to free her from her physical prison. However, other Great Ones were far from benign. And I slew them. When I slew the Great One that acted as warden of this prison we call the Hunter's Dream…I underwent apotheosis."
CC gaped. "As in…you became a god…or rather, a Great One?"
Lelouch nodded solemnly. "This body is only an avatar of my true self. I became the Hunter's Dream, CC. But more than that. I became another source of the Healing Blood that was without corrupting influence from other Great Ones, particularly Formless Oedon. But I was able to use my own Healing Blood to cure Nunnally of her paralysis, and restore her eyesight. Once I recovered the ability to take on human form, or at least project a proxy body, I brought her here. As with me, she is under a contract, but I would never force her to hunt as I did." His violet eyes became haunted, staring into the distance. "That night felt like an eternity of madness and blood, where the lines between reality and nightmare were forever blurred. No, Nunnally just helps organise the tomes I brought back during my journey, from Byrgenwerth, Yahar'gul, the Choir, and the Nightmare of Mensis. I know these names mean little to you, but for all their countless crimes, these were once grand seats of learning. She also only does so part-time."
Oh dear. CC was trying to make sense of it. That her newest contractor was now a god. Not omnipotent or omniscient, it seemed. He didn't speak with hubris or arrogance, just a calm relating of fact. Yet it was tinged with a surprising amount of uncertainty, even self-loathing and sadness. Lelouch hadn't wanted to become a god, he was just trying to make the best of, in his eyes, a bad situation, if CC had read him correctly. He could be trying to deceive her: even an immortal with over half a millennium's experience could be deceived. But it seemed unlikely here.
She decided she needed to tread carefully. She probably only just managed to avoid trouble by alluding to VV and his reach. Maybe some part of her instinctively knew what he was on some level.
"What would you like us to do with you?" Lelouch asked her. "You're no longer a prisoner of Clovis and his peons. While I am sure that my father and my mother's assassin may yet be looking for you, as long as you don't endanger my sister and I with your presence or actions, you're free to do what you wish."
"I would prefer to stay by your side, Lelouch Lamperouge," CC said, choosing to use his alias. "My granting of Geass, as I stated before you accepted it, means that you and I have entered into a contract. In exchange for that power, you will grant me my wish…should you become capable of doing so." Though as a god, and practically immortal himself, she wondered whether he needed her Code, she mused to herself.
"And you're going to be annoyingly enigmatic and vague about it?" Lelouch asked, before sighing. "Story of my life. At least you've been more helpful than Gehrman. In that case, I'll discuss matters with Milly when we go back to Ashford Academy. She's the only one at the academy who is in the know about these matters, and helped cover up Nunnally's recovery. We can either set you up as a student, or else as one of Ruben's staff. It's not the first time we've done that."
"My big brother loves bringing home strays," Nunnally said in a faux-whisper, and with an impish smirk on her lips.
"Nunnally, Eileen would smack you if you called her a 'stray', as would Gwynevere," Lelouch sighed. "And both Gwynevere and Priscilla lost their parents that night, along with their grandfather. Too many people died who shouldn't have that night."
"…I know, Lelouch. I was just ensuring our guest felt at ease," Nunnally said.
Guest, huh? It had been a while since she heard such a term used to describe her unironically, instead of being a euphemism for being a prisoner. Still, it wasn't like CC had much to lose. They were offering her a place to stay and hide out, and conveniently stay close to Lelouch. They even offered to let her go free before she stated all that about her contract.
"…Very well then," CC said. "I am glad the Ashfords survived the fallout of Marianne's assassination. Ruben and I never met in person, but he was a man of considerable character. So I will accept your offer. Thank you."
"You're welcome. We'd best go now," Lelouch said. "We'll be able to catch Milly and Ruben while they're still awake."
As they gathered at a gravestone, Kos waved them off. "Goodbye. May you find your worth in the waking world…"
CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:
So, CC has met Nunnally and the Doll/Kos. And now, she has a more open partnership with Lelouch.
Now, the Doll being Kos reborn is something I took from my Potterverse crossover Eldritch Blood. Honestly, though, it fits.
Nunnally, here, is more aware of her brother's darkness and ambitions. She is far from happy about them, and doesn't want to see him become a killer. But on the other hand, she is grateful to him for healing her, and giving her a purpose. I think Nunnally is canonically frustrated at her own disabilities, and wants to do more than sit around in a wheelchair and look cute, so Lelouch basically making her his part-time librarian helps her. True, she's not going to be fighting anytime soon, I'm not making like Nemesis13 did in Let Me Share the Burden and turning her into a cute little psychopath. She's basically Lelouch's confidant, much like the Doll/Kos.
And, as in canon, she's his Morality Chain. In fact, they seem like a parallel between the relationship between Charles and Victor/VV. But where VV and Charles amplify each other's worst impulses, Nunnally helps keep Lelouch sane and human. And because she's in the know, she can hold him back from going too far. Not that she's happy with his act of fratricide, to say nothing of pending patricide, but she understands why. She can't exactly argue with Clovis ordering the massacre of thousands of Japanese (and torturing CC), let alone her father ordering an invasion that nearly killed them. Nunnally is idealistic, but she's not stupid, at least not in this version of events.
As for CC, why did she give up more information initially than she did in canon? Simple: Nunnally and Lelouch already know about the Emperor fucking with Nunnally's memories, so they know something, and CC, who seemed to enjoy stringing Lelouch along in canon, nonetheless is grateful enough here and pragmatic enough to realise keeping too many secrets will end badly. What's more, she is touched by Lelouch thanking her for trying to save him. Not that he couldn't survive it, but Lelouch, despite being a Great One now, still remains human enough in terms of his psyche. Plus, she's been blindsided enough to discombobulate her a little.
Now, while the Code Geass wiki claims that the OSI did not exist until the events of the series, I have trouble believing that, or at least that an equivalent organisation didn't exist prior. So, for this fic, the OSI is just the latest name for an older intelligence organisation, a little like how, say, the Soviet KGB eventually became the FSB of modern-day Russia, for an example.
And those names…readers of Eldritch Blood might recognise two of them. It seems that Lelouch did save a few canonically doomed characters from Bloodborne after all.
No numbered annotations this time.