In this story Lelouch performed the initial Zero act but after Saitama he held off on creating the black knights, because Nunnally wanted to go on the trip to lake Kawaguchi, so he went along as well. That is where the story starts.

"This is an emergency broadcast from the homeland," the announcer said before the screen changed over showing the second prince and prime minister standing there at a podium.

"Citizens of Britannia, I Schneizel el Britannia, stand before you on this tragic day, today my family has lost more than it has ever lost in a single day for over seven years." The voice of Schneizel said from the T.V. "My Father, Charles zi Britannia, was found dead this morning. Faced with this much loss many of my siblings cannot face the people, yet we must remain strong in this trying time. An autopsy performed on my father revealed that he died of a heart attack in his sleep. It was discovered that his Cholesterol had increased considerably over the past seven years, he always had a sweet tooth, something many of us inherited, but after the death of lady Marianne his consumption increased dramatically." Schneizel said. "After reviewing his will it was discovered that he had a special clause, put in place 14 years ago, stating that should he die due to a heart attack, a video recording should be played to the nation, revealing the next heir."

An image of the emperor appeared on the screen. Unlike his usual pristine appearance, he appeared annoyed and had some jam on his face directly below his lip.

"Alright Mari fine, I Charles Zi Britannia hereby declare, should my death come due to a heart attack caused by my own lack of control with regards to unhealthy foods." He glared "I hereby disinherit every royal line other than the Vi Britannia line, not that any of the others are actually mine. How was that?"

"Perfect dear," Marianne said.

"Can I have my box back then?" Charles said.

"You seem eager as ever to have Lelouch take the throne." His wife retorted though handing him the box. "He's only three years old remember."

"The doctors give me 25 years still, even with my current consumption, he will be old enough by the time I clock out." Charles joked taking out a jam doughnut.

"And I want to have a husband I can dote on my grandchildren with when I'm turning grey," Marianne said.

"Well aren't you the one that always tells me that 'I want doesn't get.'" Charles quipped.

"And to think I was going to give you another child if you take this poor care of yourself, how well would you treat them." Marianne joked.

"You are kidding aren't you," Charles said.

"Who knows," Marianne said.

"Come on, Bismark keeps making fun of me for being the only emperor to not touch his harem," Charles said.

"And who's fault is that," Marianne said.

"Your's, have you seen you, the moment I laid eyes on Marianne Lamperouge, I was under her spell, how could I ever touch any other woman in my life," Charles said.

"I'm going to need to keep ahold of that silver tongue of yours," Marianne said taking the box of doughnuts off Charles' lap and replacing it with herself. The two started kissing before Schneizel cut the feed.

"For fear of this announcement becoming not suitable for minors we have cut the feed of the video. As was stated at the beginning, all royal lines with the exception of the vi Britannia line are now considered illegitimate, myself included, to maintain order all current appointments will persist until further notice. That includes Military and government, in all territories." Schneizel said. "Finally, the circumstances surrounding Lelouch vi Britannia, the heir to the throne, are vague at best. Regardless we will do our utmost to ensure that the role of emperor is filled as soon as possible. ALL HAIL BRITANNIA"

Almost Immediately afterwards the news switched back to the developing situation at the Lake Kawaguchi convention centre. Rivalz just stared at the screen terrified, aside from Suzaku and Kallen all of his friends were there, Nunnally had insisted she wanted to go, and Lelouch he wanted to make sure he went with her.

Inside the convention centre. The hostages were left unaware of the sudden power vacuum in Britannia, or it's effect on rescue efforts. The Student Council was sat around Nunnally's chair, Shirley and Milly were explaining what was going on the Nunnally. Nina was struggling to keep her fear under control. When one guard walked by she accidentally slipped out, "an Eleven."

"What did you just say?" The man yelled.

"I, don't, no, stop." Nina struggled to get words out.

"Lulu, what do we?" Shirley started to ask.

"Don't say a word." He commanded then stood up.

"Leave her alone," Lelouch said. "I am Lelouch vi Britannia, Eleventh Prince of the empire. I demand you take me to meet your leader." Lelouch said.

"A prince huh?" The guard said leaving Nina alone and going to grab Lelouch.

Lelouch was brought up the building. When he was with only two guards he geassed them to do as he said. He took the gun from one of them.

Cornelia was struggling to keep those not loyal to her personally from making decisions that could compromise the safety of the hostages, specifically Euphemia. She was dealing with the news of her father's, no not her father's if what he said was true, the Emperor's death herself. But right now the hostages needed the viceroy Cornelia, the witch of Britannia, to get them out safe and sound. She looked towards the building then the T.V. came back to life showing the face of Kusakabe.

Back inside the hotel.

"Sir we have someone here claiming to be prince Lelouch." The guard said.

"Oh really, bring him in," Kusakabe said. Lelouch entered and the guards remained outside, but in truth went back to release the hostages and get them to the boats. Kusakabe turned on the stream and was about to restate his demands and add his royal captive.

"Why did you do this?" Lelouch asked interrupting Kusakabe, his voice shocked the royals watching the event unfold.

"Why, for Japan obviously, a Britannian prince like you could never understand what it means to lose your home, everything you have ever had," Kusakabe said, Lelouch just smirked at that statement, he had no idea.

"Are you sure about that?" Lelouch asked. "Not understanding your enemy is the biggest mistake you can make."

"I'm going to prove the Japanese aren't dead yet, even if I die here I will die a martyr, now shut up boy." Kusakabe said.

"So you're no better than Clovis then, you don't care for the lives you take, just that you come out smelling of roses," Lelouch said.

"What?" Kusakabe said.

Lelouch stood up and took out his gun, he pointed it at the Japanese soldier. The shock giving him just enough time to get the upper hand. "You have taken innocents hostage, and already you have taken the life of one. You are no better than those you oppose."

"What, how did you?" Kusakabe asked.

"Britannia will not fall to terrorism," Lelouch said darkly. "The senseless slaughter of Innocents will not continue. I will bring an end to it. I will make sure that tragedies like Shinjuku and Saitama never happen again by removing men like you. The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed as such, I Lelouch vi Britannia sentence you." He cocked the gun. "To death."

"Long Live Japan," Kusakabe said attempting to rush Lelouch with his sword.

BANG

"At least you didn't beg for your life. Everyone should be on the boats by now. But what now, I can't go back into hiding, I revealed myself in front of a room full of people, maybe they will buy that it was a lie." Lelouch mused then left the room.

The world was still. That was the new emperor of Britannia, he himself had brought himself before the leader of the terrorists and killed him without a shred of remorse. He did so, after calling for an end to the merciless slaughter of innocents. Britannia felt both pride and fear at the boy they just saw. He just took the life of a terrorist, then left as if nothing happened.

Lelouch made it down to the boats and got on with Nunnally and Milly.

"That was stupid of you," Milly said.

"I wasn't going to let them kill Nina." Lelouch said. "Not when I could stop them."

"You know you probably won't be able to stay in hiding now." Milly said.

"I know, I wasn't thinking, I just, I didn't want to lose any of you." Lelouch said.

When the boat touched ground the media were distracted asking everyone else questions. So Lelouch, MIlly and Nunnally tried to slip away. Unfortunately, they were stopped by a soldier as they tried to slip away.

"Hold on." A voice said behind them as they made their way away from the chaos. They turned around and saw Suzaku standing there, in his jumpsuit.

"Suzaku?" Lelouch asked.

"Nice suit," Milly said then turned to Lelouch. "I have an idea for the next..."

"Thank god you're all ok," Suzaku said walking over to them interrupting Milly. "Did you hear the news whilst you were in there?" Suzaku asked.

"The news?" Milly asked.

Suzaku nodded. "You should probably watch the announcement, it's kind of important to the state of the world. We have a recording in my corps truck."

Lelouch was tempted to skip but decided to follow Suzaku back to his truck, if there was news that Suzaku said he should see, even if it meant going into a military truck he would trust him. There he met Lloyd and Cecile they were nice enough and let Lelouch, Nunnally and Milly watch the announcement that they missed earlier, then the video of Lelouch killing the terrorist.

"Well, your Majesty. I must say that was quite the show you put on, are you sure you had no idea the video was active?" Lloyd asked a still shocked Lelouch.

"Yeah, with how dramatic you were with it all you would think it was rehearsed," Milly noted.

"That's not the problem right now," Lelouch said.

"Yeah well you are a prince, you should have expected that you might end up needing to take the throne," Milly said calmly clearly to try and lighten the mood instead of providing actual support. "Besides think of the perks."

"Perks?" Lelouch asked.

"If you are and I quote 'Nothing like that man.' then you get to enjoy your own harem," Milly said.

"You're insufferable," Lelouch said.

"You love me really," Milly replied.

"Do we need to go back now?" Nunnally asked.

"I probably do. The empire is on the brink of collapse and as much as I hate it, I have basically just been handed the key to turning this world around. I can make the gentle world you wanted." Lelouch said. "But if you want to stay out of the public eye you can, if you want to stay at Ashford we can act like I met you during our time there and used you for my cover story and you can stay in hiding." Nunnally grabbed his hand and shook her head.

"I want to stay with you, no matter what," Nunnally said.

"We should probably save the other hostages from their new captors in the media," Milly noted pointing at the news vans outside.

Lelouch walked out of the truck with Milly, Suzaku and Nunnally. He pointed his gun in the air and shot it. The sound overpowered all of the other noise and everyone turned to him. Whilst tempted to begin barraging him with questions they had just established he was not afraid to fire a gun in a crowded place.

"I'm only going to say this once so listen up, the survivors and their families want to reunite in peace. As for the media, I'll be making a public statement tomorrow, go home for the night and get some rest. You've got enough for tomorrow's headlines." Lelouch announced. With the uncertain character of the new Emperor, the media was quick to disperse, they didn't want to risk their lives or worse press credentials over a few emotional pictures of the hostages.

"That works but I wouldn't say it was right." Suzaku said.

"Sometimes it's not about the means or the ends, but the optics." Lelouch said.

"Already thinking like an emperor, good start." Milly joked.

"Optics?" Suzaku asked

"Now they can see that I care about the hostages genuinely and that I'm not afraid of using force when necessary," Lelouch explained.

"Setting yourself up as the strong-armed father figure of the country," Milly said. "Should I start calling you daddy?"

"You're older than me." Lelouch stated. "And with my father figure, I'd be the single worst example for anyone to take after."

The four made their way through the reuniting families and approached the military, the soldiers just saluted and let them pass, after the show today there were probably very few people that wouldn't recognise him. He found Cornelia talking to a pink haired girl he thought he saw among the hostages. He walked over to her.

"Lelouch." Cornelia said as she saw him. The pink haired girl turned as well and looked at Lelouch. "It really is you" Cornelia said sounding relieved. "When I heard your voice I was so scared, I was certain I was hearing things, but then you, you saved them, you saved her." Cornelia said rushing to her brother and hugging him.

"Her?" Lelouch asked, did he not notice someone important in the hostages, but who could it. Then it struck him, and by it I mean the pink haired girl, she had removed her hat and he recognised her immediately. "Euphie?" Lelouch asked.

"It's me, but more importantly." She backed away from the hug she had caught him in and smacked him on the arm. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" she yelled. "You could have been killed!"

"Sorry, it won't happen again." Lelouch said, sounding like a child getting scolded, he had learned better than to challenge a woman when they were nagging him.

"Good." Euphemia huffed, then went down to hug Nunnally. "And don't think I forgot about you Nunna."

"Euphie, it really is good to see you again." Nunnally said. "Cornelia is here too right?"

Euphie nodded but punctuated it with an affirmative sound. Cornelia smiled down at the two girls then turned to Lelouch.

"I doubt you will have seen it, but there was an announcement from the homeland whilst you were…" Cornelia started.

"We saw it." Milly stated. "Suzaku caught us trying to slip away and convinced us to come watch it with him. Just as well he did, I doubt even Lelouch was prepared for what happened, and he has a plan for everything."

"Not everything." Lelouch said.

"You have a contingency for the event that your mother is a ghost possessing one of the knights of the round." Milly stated flatly, this gave Euphemia and Nunnally a good laugh and Cornelia stifled one.

"To be fair, I was off my head on meds the day I came up with that, and need I remind you who it was that mixed your grandfather's medicine with the skittles." Lelouch said making MIlly cackle.

"I never got to see it yet. Neli was lecturing me until you showed up." Euphemia said with a smile.

"I'll get her to watch it later tonight, for now, what do we do?" Cornelia asked Lelouch. This seemed out of character for her, she never asked for instructions, or orders, but with the state of the world right now they needed a leader and Lelouch was supposed to be it.

"We will rest for the night. Let the news of today sink in for everyone. Tomorrow we'll make a statement to Britannia. Once I'm done here, we will head back to Pendragon."

"We?" Cornelia asked. "But I still need to…"

"As I said 'once I'm done here'. It shouldn't take too long." Lelouch said cockily "And we might not get vengeance, but Japan will be under control within the week."

"Not setting the bar a little high there are you?" Suzaku said.

"Not at all." Lelouch said he then yawned.

"I suppose I can hear your grand plan tomorrow." Cornelia said ending with a yawn of her own.

"Today has been pretty long for all of us." Milly said. "Where will you two be staying?" She turned to Lelouch and Nunnally.

"We're coming back with you. Can't have you going through my stuff whilst I'm away." Lelouch said.

"We will see you again right?" Euphemia asked.

"Don't worry Euphie, I'm not going to leave you alone again." Lelouch said earning a blush from Euphemia.

"I won't either." Nunnally also said as she was wheeled away.

The following day.

Lelouch didn't get a proper night's sleep. C.C. had his bed and he didn't really feel like fighting her for it. So he went and slept on the couch. Because of that, he was grouchy in the morning. It didn't help that Milly was there first thing to tell him that Ruben wanted to talk with him. He knew he needed to talk to the head of the Ashford family. He would need to explain his plan to him, he needed allies and the Ashfords were as loyal as they come.

His discussion went well until Milly came up. Ruben stated that many years ago there had been talk of having Lelouch and Milly wed, this was something that both her parents were banking on. Lelouch was personally opposed to it because he wanted Milly to make the choice. Her parents were adamant and said that if not him they would likely arrange a marriage for her shortly. Lelouch said he would talk to her about it.

He took a quick trip to the student council room, he wanted to talk to his friends on the council, he felt he owed them that much at least, before he went away. and if he could, they may prove to be valuable allies in the future. He entered and there was only Nina sat at her computer like usual.

"Good morning." He said.

"Lelo-Your majesty, I didn't think you would come back here." Nina said in shock, he took a peek at the computer and spotted the video of him from last night.

"So you heard about that too huh?" Lelouch asked.

"Well, it is the biggest news in the world right now. But I wanted to know, why did you keep it from us?" Nina asked meekly.

"Well, number one is who would believe me." Lelouch said, Nina thought for just a moment then nodded.

"I guess you are right. But the other reasons?" Nina asked.

"Well me and Nunnally didn't want to be royalty," Lelouch said. "When our mother was killed, I went to my father to demand answers." Nina gasped, "It seems stupid now, but I'm glad I did it. It made me wise to the world we live in. If I had stayed in Pendragon I never would have learned what a cruel world he created. He exiled me and Nunnally to Japan. Six months later, Japan was invaded, Luckily we were out of the shrine when the airstrikes hit."

Nina sat in silence, she had no idea he went through something like that.

"Once the war was done, me and Suzaku carried Nunnally to the Ashford family, since they were old allies of our mother they agreed to take care of us. That was how we ended up here, I've always resented my father for it." Lelouch said.

"How are you so strong?" Nina asked. "You went through so much but you are still so…" Nina started.

"Nunnally needed me to be strong. If I relented, for even a day, then we might not be alive today." Lelouch said. "Milly told me about what happened to you." Nina looked down. "I know you are still struggling, but if you think you aren't strong then let me tell you this. I've never seen someone who went through what you did still go to school, still try so hard." Nina blushed a little at that. "Why is it that you keep trying?" Lelouch asked.

"My father, when he found out what happened, he got mad at me." Nina said quietly, "He said that I was no good to him now, no man would want me now." Nina started crying a little. "He sent me to live in the dorms after that. Since I was no good to him, he got rid of me."

Lelouch held her, there wasn't any meaning behind it, but at the moment he just knew that she would need someone to just hold her.

It was at that moment that Shirley decided to enter.