PROLOGUE

Euphemia's eyes were rimmed with red rings. She seemed to struggle, as if something was conflicting inside her heart, but in the end, she submitted to the irresistible order. With a smile, she said, "I must kill all the Japanese."

Lelouch, realizing that his geass had gone uncontrollable and the geass order that he had given as a joke had taken over Euphie's mind, knew that he couldn't let her do it. Euphie would be devastated once every single Japanese in the zone died, and she wouldn't forgive herself, because she would never, ever blame him.

And so, without thinking, he grabbed Euphie's hand, preventing her from going out there. He used his free hand to put his mask back on, and said, "Euphemia! If you want to kill all Japanese... you only need to kill me."

Euphemia blinked in confusion, "But Zero... you're Britannian. I can't kill you. You're not Japanese. I need to kill all Japanese." She pointed out, a bit miffed as she struggled to break away from Lelouch's grasp. "Now let me go and let me kill all those Japanese!"

"Euphemia, listen to me!" Lelouch demanded. "I am now Zero, not your brother Lelouch vi Britannia, not the Ashford student Lelouch Lamperouge! I am Zero, symbol of freedom to the Japanese! I am Japanese itself! If I die, the Japanese won't be free, they shall forever be Elevens. Not Japanese, but Eleven." He explained slowly. "Kill me, and there will never be Japanese ever again. Only Elevens remained."

Euphemia blinked. "You're... right. So if I kill you... Japanese would be dead... yes..." She nodded in understanding. She tilted her head, asking him with a smile. "You seem ready to die, Zero. Do you have any gun that is not a needle gun?"

Lelouch winced, but nodded. He brought out another gun and handed it to Euphie. 'This is so that Euphie won't be destroyed for killing the Japanese... Nunna... Nunnally would have the student council… and Euphie knew she is alive...' He thought, as Euphie took the gun from him. "End this all, Euphemia-hime." He purposefully used the Japanese title instead of the Britannian one, enforcing his image as the Japanese symbol to her.

"Good bye, Zero." Euphie bid with a smile.

And with a loud bang, Zero fell to the ground, bleeding to death.

The red rim from Euphie's eyes disappeared, and as she came to her senses, she watched as Zero, as her brother's body began to bleed to death. Unknowingly, due to shock, she dropped the gun. She let out a small, scared gasp. "L-Lelouch—LELOUCH!" She cried out, kneeling besides Lelouch, prying the mask from his face. "No, no, no! Please, big brother, don't die!" She cried.

She fumbled for her phone, speed dialing Cornelia. Once the call connected, she immediately cried out to the phone. "Cornelia, Cornelia! I—Lelouch, Lelouch is hurt, please, Nelly, come here, please! He's dying!" she sobbed out.

"Wh- Lelouch?! Euphie, what's—"

"Just come here ASAP, NELLY!" Euphie screamed to the phone, ending the call on a distressed tone, before going back to Lelouch, pressing his wound. "Please, please, Lelouch, stay alive, please..." Euphie cried. "You can't—you can't leave Nunna alone, leave me alone! I-I just found you again!"

"E-Euphie..." Lelouch rasped out softly, looking to Euphemia's lavender colored eyes. "P-Please... take care of Nunnally... and Suzaku... for me... okay?"

"No, no... Lelouch...!" Euphie sobbed, tears falling from her eyes. "Don't... stay alive for me...! For Nunna! For Suzaku!" She tried so hard to stop the bleeding. "You'll get through this alive!"

"You know... it's too late... Euphie..." Lelouch replied, smiling wryly as he felt his life fading away. "I'm glad... I can... save you..."

"Lelouch...!" Euphie sobbed.

The door to the room burst open, revealing Cornelia, Darlton, Guilford, and Suzaku, who entered the room in a worry, only to see Zero, with his mask off, dying on the floor. The man behind the mask, a teen with raven hair and amethyst colored eyes whose light was fading away.

Suzaku was the first to recognize the dying man. "LELOUCH!" He exclaimed, dread and confusion filling him as he ran towards the unmasked miracle man's side, cradling his upper body. "Lelouch, wh-wha—how—why are you—?!"

Lelouch smiled weakly at Suzaku. "J-just know that... it's not... Euphie's fault... okay? It's... mine..." He whispered, reaching out to put his hand over Suzaku's chest. "Suzaku... take care... of Nunna..." He coughed out more blood, life only seconds away from fading completely. "I never... told you, but I..." but before Suzaku could hear it, the hand on his chest fell down, and the life faded completely from his eyes.

"Lelouch? No, no, this is... this is just a prank, right?" Suzaku asked, voice weak and unbelieving, not wanting to accept the death of his best friend, who had just— who had just—! "Lelouch, please, wake up, please! Don't—don't leave me—LELOUCH!" He yelled, tears falling from his emerald eyes. "No, don't, Lelouch, don't! LELOUCH!"

"Attention, people of all Area Eleven." All channels in TV and radios switched to a showing of news live from the SAZ, showing Cornelia standing in front of all the Japanese that had gathered there, that day. Her face was grim. Behind her stood her knight Guilford, General Darlton, Euphemia, and Suzaku, all looking grim as well. Suzaku and Euphemia looked even worse.

Nunnally, who had been feeling that something bad happened, had asked to be brought to Milly and the others, who were watching the news in the student council room, frowned as her bad feeling worsened. "Milly, what's wrong?"

"I don't know... but Princess Cornelia and Princess Euphemia look grim, and Suzaku..." Milly bit her lips. "Suzaku looks even worse, as if..." she didn't continue the sentence, not wanting to describe the utter despair etched on Princess Euphemia's face. "Zero's not there."

"A life... has been lost today." Cornelia started, closing her eyes, as if trying to bury the pain. "Zero... had foiled an assassination attempt on Princess Euphemia... and had lost his life then."

Gasps were heard from the Japanese gathered in the zone, and even some of the student council members were shocked.

But none were as shocked as Nunnally that moment.

"Nunnally, I'm sorry for forcing you to open your eyes like this, if only because I need to put this geass on you in case I..." Lelouch paused, but his left eye flashed crimson, with a red, crane like sigil on it. "Nunnally, when you hear either Zero or I die from whomever, you shall open your eyes, be cured from your blindness, and you shall remember this conversation." He commanded, smiling sadly. "I'm sorry, Nunna, I love you."

"Alright, big brother..."

The memory flashed through her mind, and she choked a sob. Soon, sobs followed, and she broke into crying. The eyes she hadn't opened since seven years ago, finally revealed a pair of glistening violet eyes, showing nothing but sorrow, as her arms wrapped around herself, clinging onto herself, as cries of despair escaped her lips.

"N-Nunna?! What's wrong?!" Shirley asked, confused as she and the rest of the student council members ran to their honorary member, worried to her sudden crying. "W-Wait, your eyes—!"

Nunnally closed her eyes again, not wanting to be able to see in a world where her brother was gone.

"Zero... is dead." She managed to say between sobs. "Zero... Lelouch is dead!"

C.C. watched wistfully from the Gawain, feeling her connection with Lelouch snapped. Another contractor dead, another chance that wish of hers went unfulfilled. First Marianne, then Mao, and now Lelouch... all of them dead, unable to fulfill her wish. How troublesome.

It seemed that the Ragnarok Connection really was the only way to end this eternal life of hers.

"Lelouch is dead, huh?" Charles grunted in the world of C, voice unemotional as he watched the pink haired girl who held the soul of his favorite wife crying.

"Charles, our son is dead!" Marianne cried, as she tried to wipe the tears from her face. "Can't we just hurry up and finish this Ragnarok Connection already?! I want to be reunited with my children!"

Charles placed a soothing hand onto the girl, the woman he loved. "Soon, Marianne, soon... we will all be together again."

Zero was dead, and without Zero, the Black Knights disbanded. There was no one out there in Zero's league that would want to help them free Japan from Britannia's grasp. Without Zero, there was no hope for the Japanese.

Sure, after Zero's death, Cornelia had enforced laws that would treat Japanese better (to honor Zero, she claimed), but that alone wasn't enough. There was still oppression in various places in the area, and now that the SAZ was busted, the Japanese will never be Japanese again, staying as the ever so degraded Elevens.

All hope was lost, and the future seemed bleak.

To Be Continued

Credits: I don't own Code Geass, nor do I own the title. Title taken from Bungou Stray Dog's Nakahara Chuuya's ability and the real Chuuya's poem. :D

A/N:

Well, usually, I wouldn't even consider killing of the main character of the series to start a story, but this idea came to my mind, and well... :D

Honestly, Lelouch's accidental geass on Euphemia could be cancelled with just a few wordplay. It all came down to the wording of the order, after all. He could have just said that there were still no Japanese out there because officially, the SAZ had not started yet, and all Japanese were still considered Elevens at this point, so technically, they were not Japanese... but I needed the angst, so... *shrugs*

Charles might seemed OOC in this, but he was trying to reassure his favorite wife. He might or might not really care for Lelouch, but all his action in this prologue was to soothe Marianne, who in a twisted kind of way, did love her children.

More things will be explained in the next chapter, and also more reactions from other characters. Not to mention that spoiler, spoiler, Nunna's gonna kick some asses!

I hope you enjoy this prologue, I'm sorry for any mistakes that I did in this chapter. Thank you for reading!