Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass.

Turn 10: Undeniable Truth

"What do you by 'this whole charade'?" Nunnally asked.

"Come now, look I don't understand why you're wasting our time with this nonsense," Schneizel said, "It is quite obvious what you're trying to do."

"Oh, and what would that be your royal serpent-ness?" Kaisuke asked sarcastically.

Schneizel ignored Kaisuke's obvious insult and continued, "It's obvious that you're trying to gain pity with your sad stories. Well too bad, it won't work on us."

"That's right," Cornelia interjected, "it doesn't change the fact that your Geass killed Euphie. You won't get any forgiveness from Schneizel and me."

"You under minded others with your Geass, those cannot and will not be ignored," Kanon added.

"Don't forget Lelouch," Schneizel spoke holding out his little recorder, "this is the disturbing confession you made to Suzaku about what you did."

Schneizel plays the recorder.

'Lelouch, did you use your Geass on Euphie?' Suzaku asked.

'Yes…' Lelouch responded.

'To massacre the Japanese?'

'I gave the command.'

Schneizel ended the recording.

"That's the proof, the proof that he used his Geass on Princess Euphemia and orchestrated the slaughter," Ohgi said to Xingke.

Kaguya turned and gave Lelouch a serious look, "Lelouch, is this all true?"

Lelouch nodded, "Yes, it is true. I won't deny it, what was said in the recording was the truth. But something is bothering me."

"Oh no you don't," Ohgi said in anger, "you are not going to try to weasel out of this. You just admitted to the recording—"

"That's not it," Lelouch interrupted, "what I'm wondering is that if that is all of the recording."

"What do you mean?" Kanon asked.

"There was more to that conversation so is that all you had or are you refusing to play the rest?"

"It doesn't matter," Schneizel said, "we have what we needed to hear."

"Play the rest," Jinta requested suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"I said play the rest, play the rest of the recorder."

"Absolutely not, give me one good reason why I should?"

"We just want to hear the rest of the recording, unless, that little so-called 'confession' is really all you have," Kaisuke said.

"Ridiculous," Schneizel stated as he put the recorder away.

"So, is that it?" Jinta asked.

"It's more than enough," Schneizel stated.

Nunnally glared at her half-brother then looked over to Suzaku, "Suzaku, doesn't it bother that the little confession is all have? Aren't you a little offended that my brother set you up when you were will to actually work with Lelouch to stop the war?"

"Regardless of how Sir Kururugi feels, it makes no differences," Kanon interjected.

"Suzaku, I know that when Lelouch 'confessed' to you on some of the actions he took, you knew that he was lying."

"Nunnally, how could you possibly know that?" Schneizel asked, "I suppose Suzaku told you himself."

"Yes, he did."

"How do you know it's not a lie?" Cornelia asked just out of curiosity while Suzaku felt offended that Cornelia would even ask such question.

"I just know." Nunnally knew the truth from touching Suzaku's hand back on Kamine Island but she figured that Schneizel and Cornelia would wave off as a lie or they would accuse Nunnally as being delusional.

"In any case, that recording is no good anyway," Jinta stated.

Most everyone in the conference was shocked at Jinta's statement.

"Now I'm starting to wonder if you're actually sane Mr. Kuromaki, this recording proves of the heinous act he did."

"You did hear the intentions that they had, right?" Jinta asked.

"Hmm, the intentions to stop the war?" Kaguya asked.

"They had planned to stop the war together and rescue Nunnally but Schneizel here ruined all that," Kaisuke said glaring at the blond second prince.

Xingke ponders this, "Lelouch, is this why you were taking so long to get to the battle."

Lelouch simply nodded.

"But seriously, I am shocked," Jinta spoke.

"And what exactly are you shock about?" Minami asked.

"I'm shocked that you, the core members of the Black Knights, would just take in a recording, a recording that could have been constructed in their way to only play what they wanted you to hear."

"How dare you," Cornelia interjected with an angry tone, "this recording is in no way a fake."

"I didn't say it was a fake, I'm saying that it Schneizel purposely cut out the rest of that conversation or maybe he's too scared to let the others hear the rest."

"Hmm, that is a possibility," Kallen added.

Schneizel sighed, "So that's how you want to play? So be it, "Schneizel looked over to his aide, "Kanon, bring out the folder."

"Yes," Kanon obliged and brought the folder toward Lelouch and the others.

"What's this?" Lelouch asked raising an eyebrow.

"Hmph, that folder contains pictures of people we've suspected that you used your Geass on," Schneizel answered.

Lelouch opened up the folders and looked at the pictures. The others in his group joined in and looked at the pictures as well; the pictures of the people Lelouch used his Geass on.

Kallen, Rai, Jinta, and Kaisuke looked closer at the pictures. Xingke, Kaguya, and Tianzi looked over the photos as well. They were shocked to see Gao Hai among the pictures. Gino and Anya were surprised to see Shirley and Villetta among the pictures as well.

"I find it surprising that you got photos of people Lelouch used his Geass on exactly," Jinta said.

"Well, that's just to show that our intelligence network is that accurate," Kanon replied.

"Yeah sure, intelligence network called Suzaku and possibly the files of OSI and the Geass Order," Rai said in his head.

"With all of this, you may have Geassed all of here and made us follow you," Ohgi said.

"Even Schneizel and the other could be under your Geass and not know about," Tamaki added.

Lelouch and his group's eyes were widened with surprise.

"Excuse me?" Lelouch blurted with shock.

"Are you serious?" Nunnally asked in shock then looked at Schneizel who cleared his throat.

"Schneizel," Lelouch spoke, "if you were under my Geass, there's no way you would be able to convince the Black Knights to betray me."

"It can't be helped," CC interjected, "since he already had the core members wrapped around his fingers with his 'evidence', he probably figured that saying anything would get them to believe him."

"But still, it is a fact that Lelouch used his Geass on us on well," Chiba interjected in anger.

"He never used is Geass on any of us," Kallen responded.

"Your words mean nothing to us at this point Kozuki," Todoh countered.

"For all we know, you would say anything to defend this monster," Ohgi added.

"Hmph, that's correct," Cornelia stated as she, Schneizel, and Kanon nodded.

"Well Lelouch," Suzaku spoke, "you're going to have a hard time to prove them wrong."

Lelouch simply grinned, "You think so?"

"Hmm, do you have a way to prove otherwise?" Xianglin asked.

Lelouch turned his attention to Jeremiah and Jeremiah and the others in his group realized what former prince had in mind.

"Oh, you're going have him do that?" Nunnally asked.

"Oh, I think that would work," Jinta said.

"It would remove doubts when we use it on the two," Kallen added and Kaisuke and Sayoko nodded.

"All right," Lelouch said, "Jeremiah, if you will please…"

"Yes, my lord," Jeremiah obliged willingly.

"What's going on?" Diethard asked suspiciously.

"What are you planning to do now?" Schneizel asked glaring at Lelouch's group.

"You'll see," Lelouch answered, "as we know, Anya and Suzaku are still affected by Geass. We know that for sure."

"Yes, what's your point?" Gino asked.

"As you know, with my Geass as well as the late Charles zi Britannia, it affected their memories of how this happened to them and the reason they know now is that someone told them. So with that in mind, my loyal knight, Jeremiah Gottwald, is going to perform a cancelling effect."

"A Cancelling Effect?" Suzaku asked in confusion, "Lelouch, what are you talking about?"

"You'll see Suzaku, Jeremiah is going to get rid of something that you hate. Jeremiah, do it."

"Yes," Jeremiah obliged.

Jeremiah activated his Geass Canceller in the entire conference room. After the quick blue flash died, Suzaku, Cornelia, Anya, and Villetta felt the effects. Kallen smiled on the inside. She knew what was going on from the expression of their faces. Right before they had headed to their means of transportation on Kamine Island, Kallen actually asked Jeremiah to use his Geass Canceller on her just to clear any lingering doubts. Jeremiah complied and when the effects took place on Kallen, she was shocked of the command Lelouch gave her, to answer questions he had regarding her affiliation with the Ohgi's resistance cell and her reason why she would she was involved. When it dawned on her, she realized why it seemed that Lelouch had known a bit about her intentions and it made sense to her. Although she was a bit annoyed, she was relieved to know that Lelouch didn't use his Geass to make her loyal to him. Any small remaining doubt Kallen Kozuki had about her feelings towards Lelouch Lamperouge had vanished. In the conference room, there were surprised looks on the faces of Suzaku, Villetta, Anya, and Cornelia. It was like they woken up from long dream.

"What in the world?" Villetta asked in shock.

Ohgi had a concern look over his girlfriend, "Chigusa, what's wrong?"

"Well, do remember something back at Shinjuku?" Lelouch asked.

It earned Lelouch glares from the Black Knights and Villetta.

"Yes," Villetta answered and took a deep breath, "you stole my Knightmare and had me give you my code to start it up. You took my gun as well."

"Well, you now remember," Lelouch responded.

"Shinjuku?" Kaisuke asked, "Did you participate in that damn massacre?"

Villetta was caught off guard but answered none the less, "Yes, I was giving order to annihilate Shinjuku, as was Jeremiah."

Villetta pointed at Jeremiah and the cyborg simply nodded.

Kaisuke clenched his teeth in anger, "Under orders from Clovis no less."

"What the hell?" Tamaki spoke in shock and anger, "Ohgi, you're shacking with a woman who took part in the slaughter in Shinjuku?"

"Tamaki, that's enough," Ohgi responded.

Rai nodded towards Kaisuke nodded towards Lelouch and Rai and Lelouch nodded as well. Kaisuke suddenly pulled out his blue hilted katana from his long coat and suddenly charged at Suzaku who didn't react fast enough to Kaisuke's speed. Kaisuke had the blade of his katana at Suzaku's throat. Suzaku was stunned at what just transpired and everyone else was surprised as well except for Lelouch and his group.

"What…the…hell?" Suzaku spoke.

"Notice anything different Suzaku?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku's eyes widened, "I didn't react like I normally would have when my life is in danger," the Knight of Seven began to realize, "wait, does that mean that…?"

"That's correct," Lelouch spoke, "the Geass command I placed on you that forces you to live has been removed."

"Otherwise, you would have reacted quickly against Kaisuke's attack," Jinta added.

"You should be happy Suzaku, that 'curse' I put on you is no longer with you."

"That means you won't have that Geass command to save you next we face each other on the battlefield." Kallen said.

"Of course if you want, you can simply go kill yourself like you wanted to do before but let me tell you that ending your life is not a way to atone like you so foolishly think," Jinta said, "it's really nothing more but a way to run away from your problems."

Suzaku only glared at them.

"I guess you won't be so hard to kill, Kururugi," Todoh interjected.

"Todoh-sensei!" Suzaku blurted in surprise.

"So does that mean that—" Cecile was about to say her thoughts.

"I remember!" Anya blurted out all of a sudden.

Everyone turned their attention to the Knight of Six.

"Anya, what is it?" Gino asked concerned for his young friend.

"That night," Anya replied, "that night, in the Aries Villa, Lady Marianne was meeting with a little boy. I couldn't make out the whole conversation but the next thing I saw was Lady Marianne being gunned down by that boy."

"You witness that incident?" Gino asked in surprise.

Anya simply nodded, "I was called in to the throne room by the emperor the next day and said things to me and my mind went fuzzy," Anya's eyes widened, "in fact, every time he called me in the throne room, he would say things and my mind would get fuzzy and I would leave not remembering the night before."

"Anya…" Gino muttered.

Anya looked at Lelouch and Nunnally, "It's true, isn't it? The things you said…it's the result of Geass."

The vi Britannia siblings nodded.

"I'm remembering a lot in my past, I remember the things I did," Anya looked over her handheld diary, "yes, I remember everything I did in here, even from the things nine years ago." Anya then remembered something and looked at Lelouch.

Lelouch looked nervous when Anya stared right at him, "Anya?"

Anya switched to a photo and showed it to Lelouch, "I'm certain that this is you."

Lelouch and his group saw the picture of a young Lelouch when he was living in Britannia.

Meeting Room somewhere in Pendragon

Bismarck Waldstein, the Knight of One was pacing around. He was waiting patiently for two things, Gino's call and the arrival of another Knight of Round who were going to assist him to avenge the late Emperor Charles. The door opened and Dorothea Ernst, the Knight of Four appeared. The one-eyed knight turned his attention.

"Bismarck, Jarvis is here," Dorothea said.

A man went in and wore a Knight of the Round uniform with a red cloak who had short brown hair and light blue eyes. Dorothea excused herself out.

"Jarvis Trenton, Knight of Eight, welcome back," Bismarck greeted.

"It's good to be back," Jarvis replied, "Now what is it I'm hearing that His Majesty is missing and what has become the Ragnarok Connection? Did someone get in his way?"

"Yes, well about that…" Bismarck responded and he started explaining the recent events to the Knight of Eight.

Ikaruga's Conference Room

As things went on, Tamaki decided to speak.

"Hey," Tamaki spoke, "I don't feel any different."

"Yeah, neither do I," Minami added.

"I don't feel anything different as well," Sugiyama added.

"I recall what happened at the day at the Tokyo Settlement," Cornelia said and looked at Lelouch, "you were asking me questions regarding your mother's death."

Lelouch simply nodded, "That's right."

"I don't get it," Ohgi said, "if Chigusa and the others are able to recall their memories when they were Geassed, why can't we?"

"Yeah, why haven't we got cured from Geass?" Tamaki asked in a demanding tone.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kallen asked who looked annoyed about the idiotic questions.

"Of course, it just means that Zero never used his Geass on us," Rakshata concluded while smoking her pipe.

"W-What?" Ohgi asked in surprise.

"Are you that shocked?" Kallen asked, "Is it really that hard to believe Zero never used his Geass to make us loyal to him?"

"It is true that my brother wants to control but he never saw fit to control his own subordinates through Geass," Nunnally stated, "you all followed him only by your own free wills."

"There you go, if that doesn't show proof that I didn't use my Geass on any of you then I don't know what will," Lelouch said.

"How about you Schneizel? Do you still want to continue saying that Lelouch may have used his Geass on you?" Nunnally asked with venom.

"Nunnally, please, the way you're acting doesn't suit you," Schneizel said trying to calm her down and change the subject.

"I just have a little advice for you big brother, next time you want to make such claims, make sure you have all the facts. If you had, you would have known more about Geass than what you had presented."

"The same goes to you Villetta," Kallen interjected, "although I guess it can't be helped since you weren't giving enough information by the emperor."

Villetta huffed at Kallen statement and looked away.

"What was that anyway? What happened?" Cecile asked.

"That was me that activated the Geass Canceller," Jeremiah answered pointing his left eye, "this thing on my left eye."

"Geass Canceller?" Suzaku asked.

"Yes, a product of the Code-R project."

"Code-R? Wait…that's…"

"Yes, the project that Clovis and Bartley were involved using me as a test subject," CC clarified.

There was a gasps in the room.

"C-Clovis? What are you talking about?" Cornelia asked.

CC sighed and continued, "Kallen, do you remember the day that you and some of your 'comrades' stole the canister that was believed to be poison gas?"

"Yeah," Kallen answered, "Nagata and I infiltrated Clovis's lab and stole the canister."

"Yeah, that operation in which led to Nagata's death," Ohgi added bitter of that event.

"What you all never realized was that it wasn't poison gas that was inside, it was me that was in there," CC said.

There were surprised gasps in the room again.

"I'm sure you recall Suzaku, you discovered that little fact yourself and you were shot for asking questions and refusing to kill me," Lelouch stated.

Suzaku nodded, "Yeah, I remember."

"So you were in that canister CC?" Ohgi asked.

"That's right," CC answered.

"Clovis didn't want anyone to know his dirty little secret for he was afraid of simply being disinherited, so in desperation to make sure CC's existence didn't become public knowledge, he order the massacre in Shinjuku," Jinta said.

"No!" Cornelia shouted, "That's not true, Clovis would never be involved in such a thing! He was trying to end the terrorists who planned to use poison gas," Cornelia glared at Lelouch, "you killed our brother just start a war against Britannia and now you would disgrace our brother's memory by making up these lies! Just how low are willing to go!"

Schneizel, Kanon, and most of the core members of the Black Knights nodded in agreement.

"Damn you Cornelia…" Lelouch muttered as he was glaring back at his sister but stop as a hand was placed on his shoulder and he turned to see Rai who placed his hand, "Rai…"

"Allow us," Rai said and Kaisuke nodded.

"I take it you have something," Lelouch spoke.

Kaisuke nodded and turned his attention to opposing side, "It's not surprising of the reaction you gave Cornelia but you're going have to face facts. We have proof of what was just said."

Cornelia scoffed, "Oh really?"

"Cornelia," Nunnally spoke, "everything that we have told you so far has been the truth. There would be no gain for us to lie at this point."

Cornelia glared at her younger sister, "Nunnally…you…"

"You can glare and hate me all you want Big Sister but I'm just letting you know."

Kaisuke pulled out a disk, "What I have in my hand is the data of the project that was kept in the OSI station in Ashford Academy."

"What? But how did you…?" Villetta asked in shock.

"We snuck in the building in Ashford Academy and obtain the data," Rai explained.

"But how?" Lelouch asked, "I never knew that data existed."

"It was kept well hidden in the computer, we even had a bit of a hard time getting access but we knew it was there." Kaisuke paused a bit, "Say, we would like to activate this and I don't see some sort of projector here."

"We can head to the bridge and use the projector there," Xingke suggested.

"Very well," Kaguya agreed, "to the bridge then."

Almost everyone in the conference room agreed except for some people but would go regardless as they saw they was no pointing in arguing against the notion. In the bridge of the Ikaruga, the people were in the bridge and Kaisuke put in the disk in a CD Rom. Rai and Kaisuke accessed the contents of the disk and well enough showed all the data of the Code-R Project that was being conducted with CC as the test subject and Clovis and Bartley overseeing the project. The expressions on most of people on their faces were shown as shocked. Cornelia, Schneizel, and Kanon were surprised to see what Clovis had gotten involved in. Schneizel was aware only a little bit what Clovis and Bartley were doing but not even he was aware of how far and deep Clovis and Bartley were proceeding in the project.

"This…this is why Clovis ordered the massacre in Shinjuku," Minami said in surprise.

"All of this just so no one would know what he was doing?" Sugiyama spoke in distraught.

"Can you imagine how many innocent people were killed that day?" Jinta asked, "All this just keep a secret and not wanted to be disinherited."

"It can't be…" Cornelia muttered still having a hard time to believe.

"It was bad enough that the Japanese had to go through one massacre in one of the ghettos and to think that you, Cornelia, wanted to re-create that trauma at Saitama."

"That's right," Kallen muttered, "Cornelia did the same thing just to draw out Zero."

"I did that to punish the terrorists in that area and the people weren't innocent for harboring them," Cornelia responded defensively and then pointed her finger at Lelouch, "all in all, Zero did show up after all."

"But still Sister, how many unarmed civilians were killed for your prejudice agenda," Nunnally asked, "Just how many lives were destroyed just because you didn't see them as people like Clovis when he gave the order for the massacre in Shinjuku?"

"You say you were punishing those people for harboring terrorists?" Kaisuke asked, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe that the terrorists were hiding in Saitama without the residents' knowledge? Did it ever occur to you that not all Japanese condone terrorism but were killed anyway simply because they were the same race?"

"It didn't occurred to you, did it Cornelia?" Jinta spoke with disdain, "Because you had already made up your mind of what you thought about them. You, Clovis, and most of Britannians didn't see us Japanese as people who are made of flesh and blood like you."

Cornelia gritted her teeth and looked away.

"Do you want to know what else is sad?" CC asked.

"What?" Cornelia asked.

"What sad is that Charles was aware of the project Clovis was doing. In fact, he practically handed me over to him without Clovis really knowing it."

"What do you mean?" Cornelia asked, "You're saying my father knew what Clovis and Bartley were doing?"

"That's right," CC replied, "I was captured six years ago by members of Geass Order and I was sent directly to Bartley and Clovis by Charles's order."

"But why?"

"It could be curiosity on his part to see if it would benefit his main plan," Jinta answered, "to make a legion of immortal Geass soldiers."

"Immortal Geass soldiers?" Villetta asked.

"Most likely," Jeremiah responded.

Everyone in the bridge was taking in the information.

"So what you're saying is that my father manipulated Clovis to work on this Code-R project just to see if it would benefit him for his goals?" Schneizel asked.

"Pretty much," Jinta answered, "although I guess for some time Charles lost interest when the Ragnarok plan was near fruition but of course, your uncle Vincent did wanted to see the project finish."

Cornelia and Schneizel were too shocked to ask anymore. It was a reminder to them that their late father had been pulling the strings and had been aware of the things that were happening and chose not to do anything and it made them quite upset.

"So in other words, that man even had Clovis under his wraps," Lelouch said, "Clovis was worried about being exposed when he didn't have a clue of the fact that man was already aware of what was going on. The massacre that Clovis ordered, he was too ignorant of the destruction he caused."

"Lelouch, did you really kill your brother Clovis to stop the senseless slaughter?" Suzaku asked suddenly.

"Why are you asking him?" Cornelia asked in rage.

Suzaku ignored the raging princess and continued, "Lelouch, it's very frustrating of not hearing the whole truth."

"Suzaku, just what are getting at?" Gino asked.

"You want me to give the real truth," Lelouch spoke.

"How will we know he won't lie or leave out some details," Gino replied.

"It just as Nunnally said," Suzaku replied with a serious tone, "they have been giving us the truthful facts so far."

"Even so, that doesn't mean that they'll continue to be truthful," Kanon said.

"I can assure you all that any questions you give now, you will get honest answers," Sayoko replied in a serious tone while glaring at the opposing parties.

Lelouch thought about this for a bit and then had an idea popped up in his head.

"What if I Geassed myself to answer all your questions truthfully?" Lelouch suggested.

Every single person in the Ikaruga's bridge was stunned at the former prince's suggestion.

"Did I hear right?" Xingke asked, "Did you suggest of Geassing yourself?"

"That's right," Lelouch said, "I Geass myself to answer any more questions you all have. I'm not immune to answering them truthfully. Any questions you have and I will be compelled answer them truthfully."

"Lelouch, are sure you want to do it this way?" CC asked.

"Is this what you want Lelouch?" Kallen asked.

"Yes, after all, neither of us have anything to lose." Lelouch said determined, "I did it before to beat Mao and already had Jeremiah use the Geass Canceller on me so I'll be Geassing myself and they will be getting nothing but the whole truth from me."

Rai, Jinta, and Kaisuke were thinking about Lelouch's suggestion while the core members of the Black Knights, Villetta, and Schneizel and his group thought about it. Nunnally, Jeremiah, and Sayoko thought about Lelouch's suggestion as well and then figured that it would be a good idea with the hope that any lingering doubts that Schneizel and the others could still try to place would be countered.

"Are you sure that's going to work?" Villetta asked suspiciously.

Kallen glared at the dark skinned Britannian, "Yes, why? Are you afraid that you have nothing left to use against him?"

Villetta returned the glare but spoke softly, "Do what you want."

"All right, first, I'm going to need a mirror," Lelouch requested.

"Does anyone have a mirror on them or is there somewhere where we can get one?" Jinta asked.

Meeting Room somewhere in Pendragon

Bismarck had just finished informing Jarvis of the events that occurred on Kamine Island and explained the fate of the man they were extremely loyal to.

"I see," Jarvis said, "so His Majesty is really gone."

"Unfortunately," Bismarck replied.

The Knight of Eight clenched his teeth his anger, "How dare they…those ungrateful fools dare destroy the dreams of Emperor Charles and Empress Marianne."

"We will mount a plan of attack against them as soon as Gino returns."

"But wouldn't that be a problem?" Jarvis asked as he raised his eyebrow.

"A problem you say?" Bismarck raised his own eyebrow.

"Yes, from what you're telling me, Gino is at the Black Knights' flagship, no doubt hearing what's been going on. If he hears what His Majesty has been really doing, what wouldn't that keep him from helping us? You know, change sides."

"Yes, that did cross my mind, but it's not something to worry about, after all, I already told him that no matter what he hears at that meeting, if he decides not assist us, there would be consequences to him and his family. He would forever be branded as a traitor to Britannia."

"Would that really keep him in line?"

Bismarck nodded, "It will…"

"All right, but what should we do about Kururugi? You know that Prince Schneizel is keeping him close. There's no doubt in my mind that assassinating the emperor was either his idea or he allowed Kururugi to carry it out."

"We'll deal with Kururugi and Prince Schneizel when the time comes."

Jarvis crossed his arms, "I guess my only question now when and where shall we counter?" The Knight of Eight realized something as well, "Wait, what about Anya as well?"

"Well, since Empress Marianne no longer inhabits Anya's body, we can't really expect her to help us."

"But why?"

Bismarck sighed, "Jarvis, you know why…"

Jarvis sighed, "Yeah I guess…"

Conference Room in the Flagship, Ikaruga

Everyone went back to the conference room and a mirror was given to Lelouch by Rakshata.

Everyone in the room waited in anticipation for Lelouch actually Geassing himself to answer any remaining questions truthfully. Lelouch was facing one side of the room while everyone else was facing the other side of the room just to clear out any doubts.

"Okay Lelouch, are you ready?" Jinta asked.

Lelouch nodded, "It's time."

"Okay Brother, anytime you're ready." Nunnally added.

Some of the people in the room were left with their thoughts.

"Is this really happening?" Ohgi asked in his head.

"I never would've thought that Lelouch would use his own Geass on himself," Suzaku said in his head.

"If Lelouch is actually willing to go this far," Schneizel said in his head.

Lelouch held the small mirror in to his eye level and removed the purple contact lenses from his eyes revealing his Geass.

Gino was amazed, "So that's Geass…"

"So that's what that power looks like," Cornelia muttered while glaring.

"It's just as Sir Kururugi described," Kanon added.

Lelouch Geassed himself using the mirror, "Answer any questions that anyone in this room have."

The mirror reflected the Geass right back at Lelouch and the effect took on Lelouch and the red rims circled around his eyes. Lelouch looked up and just stood there looking content.

Jinta nodded, "Okay, now shall we start?"

"But is it going to be okay?" Cecile asked.

"Let's see," Gino said and walked towards Lelouch, "Lelouch, where are the general gambling spots that you usually go to?"

"Manors of various noblemen and underground gambling spots in various businesses," Lelouch answered indifferently.

"Why would you gamble?" Cornelia asked suddenly not happy that her younger brother would participate to in such events.

"For money to mostly take care of Nunnally, to make sure she is comfortably."

Schneizel and Cornelia were shocked at the revelation.

"Lelouch was doing whatever it took to make sure we were taken care of," Nunnally stated.

"I see…" Cornelia muttered as she and Schneizel recalled a little of what Nunnally told them back when she was reunited back to the royal family.

Other people in the conference room looked at each other before someone began.

"I think this is credible," Suzaku said with a nod.

Suzaku looked at Lelouch and was amazed and thought, "I still can't believe that Lelouch would be willing to go through with this."

"So, does anyone one want to start first with their question or questions?" Jinta asked looking back at the others.

"Lelouch, are you the one who killed Shirley?" Suzaku asked.

"No I did not," The Geassed Lelouch answered.

"Do you know who did?"

"Yes, it was Rolo."

"Suzaku, you already heard this at Kamine Island, why—" Nunnally was asking but cut herself off when she guesses what he was doing.

"Yes, I see it's legit," Suzaku said, "You were saying on Kamine Island that Rolo had killed Shirley. I know Lelouch would never truly admit to me what happened to Shirley. If Lelouch was truly Geassed to tell the truth, then there would be no way for him to leave out any details."

"Interesting, so you do know how to use your head sometimes," Kallen commented.

Suzaku was about to retort but Gino spoke up, "Hey, so Shirley didn't commit suicide?"

"No, Shirley would have never done that," Suzaku answered, "but that doesn't change the fact that it was under Lelouch's orders," the Knight of Seven turned his attention towards Lelouch, "Wasn't it under your orders that Shirley was killed?"

"No, it wasn't," Lelouch answered.

Suzaku was shocked and taken back as he was sure that Lelouch made had her killed.

"W-What, are you saying that Rolo acted on his own?" Gino asked surprised.

"Yes."

Anya walked up to Lelouch, "Were you upset that Rolo killed Shirley?"

"Yes." Lelouch answered.

"If that's how you felt, then why didn't do anything about it?" Gino asked with an angry tone.

"I tried, two times, to eliminate Rolo."

"When?" Suzaku asked shocked.

"The first time during the raid on the Geass Order, I planted a bomb on Rolo's Knightmare Frame and intended to blow it up while he was fighting VV. That plan failed when Cornelia's unexpected interference prevented it. The second time was during the Second Battle of Tokyo, I intended to eliminate Rolo after he finished his job rescuing Nunnally from the government bureau."

"You were willing to do this to avenge Shirley?" Villetta asked curiously.

"Yes," Lelouch answered.

"I guess Shirley's death wasn't really Lelouch's fault," Suzaku thought feeling ashamed.

"I knew Lelouch would never cause Shirley's death," Kallen said.

"Yeah I guess," Suzaku said quietly.

"Okay then," Cornelia spoke, "what I want to know is why did you kill Euphie?" Cornelia didn't bother to keep her rage in check.

"To stop her from killing anymore people." Lelouch answered.

"Of course…you damn…"

"Wait…" Kaguya called out.

"What?" Cornelia asked with venom in her voice.

Kaguya turned her attention to Lelouch, "Lelouch, did you intend to Geass Princess Euphemia to cause the massacre at the Special Administrative Zone?"

"No I did not," Lelouch answered in monotone.

Some of the people in the conference room where about to rebuke his statement, calling him a liar.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" Jinta screamed, "Need I remind you all that Lelouch is under the powers of his own Geass to tell the truth."

Most of the people were gritting their teeth.

"Okay then, as I recalled, Zero asked Princess Euphemia to speak to her in private." Todoh said make sure he kept his cool, "Lelouch, what happened when you and Princess Euphemia met with each other at the Special Zone?"

"Euphie and I went to talk."

Flashback: In the bridge of the G1 within the SAZ, one year ago

"Even though the cameras are off, you're still being extremely careful, aren't you?" Euphie asked as Lelouch turned off all the power in the G1.

"I have been in hiding for a long time due to a certain empire I'm afraid," Lelouch stated as he took off his mask. He took out a needle gun and pointed at his half-sister, "This is a needle gun made from ceramic and bamboo. It can't be picked up on a metal detector."

"Lelouch, you would never shoot me, would you?" Euphie plainly asked.

"No," Lelouch answered, "I would never do that; you'll be doing the shooting Euphie."

"Huh?" Euphie was a bit disturbed of her half-brother's response.

Lelouch, on the other hand, felt that this was the only way to do things. He refused to receive 'hand outs' from anyone, no matter how much good intention behind it.

"This ceremony is being broadcast globally and the world is going to witness you, a Britannian princess, shoot Zero," Lelouch stated, "What do you think will happen next?"

"Rioting would break out, I imagine," Euphie answered.

"Right, Zero will become a martyr tricked into a deathtrap and instantly your popularity will crash to earth."

"What kind of nonsense are you saying? You should just help me rebuild Japan—"

"If you force it upon us from up high, then you're just as bad as Clovis was!" Lelouch interjected.

Euphie was taken aback by what Lelouch was saying.

Lelouch continued, "All task at hand have been cleared. After hovering near death, Zero will be met with cheers when he makes a miraculously recovery because people don't give a damn about reason but nobody can resist miracles," Lelouch flipped the needle gun and extended to Euphie, "now take the gun."

"Huh," Euphie uttered still confused on what Lelouch was planning.

"There can only be one messiah you understand and when the people realize that you're a false one, they'll—"

Lelouch didn't get to finish because of the sudden pain he felt from his left eye and he fell on one knee. Euphemia began to worry for her brother and went to make sure he was okay but Lelouch slapped her hands away from her angrily.

"Stop it!" Lelouch demanded as he got up still covering his left eye, "Stop giving me your pity!" He began to look at his sister with contempt, "Stop giving me your charity!"

Euphie only had look of concern.

Lelouch continued ranting, "This is something I have to achieve on my own and so for that, I shall now stain your hands with blood Euphemia li Britannia!" Lelouch started activating his Geass.

"That isn't my name, I renounced it!" Euphie declared with passion.

Lelouch was caught off guard by Euphie's declaration and deactivated his Geass.

"There'll probably be a formal announcement issued by the homeland about it any day now, but I've given up my claim to the throne."

Lelouch was shocked to hear his sister's words, "But why? It isn't because you accepted Zero, is it?"

"Well of course, I had to pay the price for doing something so selfish, those are the consequences," Euphie answered with a smile.

Lelouch was surprise but kept his composure, "Yes, but it wasn't difficult to give that up, was it? And I suppose you did it for my sake."

Euphie chuckled, "As conceited as you ever were but no, I did it for Nunnally.

"For Nunnally?" Lelouch asked in his head.

Euphie turned her back, "She told me herself, 'all I want is to be with my brother and that's all that matters, I want nothing more'".

"For that petty reason?"

The third princess turned to face the mask less Zero with a smile, "That's right Lelouch, that's how I made up my mind. It made me stop and reflect what was truly important to me in life. Do you understand now? I'm not giving up anything that has significant meaning or real worth to me and you don't need to worry, I won't tell anyone about you."

Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle, "And Cornelia?"

"It's not like we'll never see each other again."

"Euphie, you are a fool, an amazing fool."

"I know I'm as smart as you Lelouch, I've never been able to beat you in games or study, however—"

"However," Lelouch interrupted softly, "in your usual rash fashion, you've managed to win all of it. When I think of you, I don't visualized a Sub-Viceroy or a princess, I only see the plain little Euphie who you used to be."

"Then will you join plain little Euphie and help her?" Euphie asked as she extended her hand.

Lelouch considered the notion and saw the determination on Euphie's face, "You are…you are the worst opponent I have ever faced," Lelouch took Euphie's hand as being ready to cooperate, "you win."

Euphie was a bit surprised.

"I'll amend my plans to help out your special zone," Lelouch said and that made Euphie very happy, "ah, but not as your subordinate, all right?"

"All right," Euphie replied in glee, "though you haven't got very much faith in me, have you?"

"Huh?" Lelouch uttered.

"Did you honestly believe that by simply threatening me I would shoot you?"

"Oh no, you got it all wrong. When I really want people to follow my orders, they will not resist me, whether to shoot me, to grant pardon to Suzaku, or any order at all."

Euphie couldn't help but find it silly, "Oh now you're being silly, stop playing with me."

"I'm serious," Lelouch replied unaware that his Geass activated, "for example, if I told you to kill all the Japanese, it wouldn't matter how you felt about."

Lelouch's Geass affected Euphie without his knowledge and the command began to take hold on her. Euphie gasped as she felt something evil was taken hold of her to do something terrible.

"No, don't make me do it please," Euphie pleaded as she was trying to fight the horrific command that was invading her mind and body, "I'm not…"

Lelouch didn't know was going with his half-sister.

"I'm not going to do it please," Euphie continued to struggle against it, "I don't want to kill them."

Lelouch gasped, "Did I…?" Lelouch realized that his Geass activated and gave the command to Euphie to commit genocide.

"You're right," Euphie said suddenly in a monotone voice, "I have to kill all the Japanese."

Lelouch was horrified when he realized what just happened, "I've become like Mao, I can't control my Geass power." Lelouch kneeled down to Euphie, "Forget the order that I gave you!"

Lelouch's words were on deaf ears as Euphie picked up the needle gun.

"Wait Euphie, don't!" Lelouch called to her as she ran outside.

Flashback End

"By the time I went to try the stop her, it was too late," Lelouch said finishing his story.

"Too late to stop her since she shot the first shot and ordered soldiers to do the same," Jinta spoke, "Is that right?"

"Yes."

The core members of the Black Knights, Suzaku, and Cornelia were trying to keep their cool and it was too much for them.

"Is that so?" Suzaku spoke clenching his fists, "So in other words, this all happened because you were unaware that your Geass activated and that you were careless with your words?"

"Yes."

"Dammit Lelouch!" Cornelia roared and lunged at Lelouch but was stopped by Schneizel.

"So that's what really happened," Kaguya said and it brought everyone's attention to her.

"Well giving the circumstances at the moment, Lelouch is telling the truth," Xingke said.

"It's a shame really," Lloyd said, "he did say he would never shoot her, but he end up doing it to stop the genocide."

"I certainly didn't know Euphie was so ready to give up her claim to throne," Schneizel said in his head, "to think my little sister was ready for the consequences…I wonder…was Suzaku aware of that detail?"

"What I find disturbing about this is that he used this horrific event to further his own ends," Todoh said.

"Yes, I do as well," Chiba added.

"Then how about this," Diethard spoke and turned his attention to Lelouch, "Zero…no, Lelouch, why did feel the need to use what happened at the Special Administrative Zone to rally up the Japanese to start the Black Rebellion?"

"With the popularity I gained after stopping Euphie, I decided to use this as an opportunity to defeat Britannia and take back Japan to the Japanese and force my father, Charles zi Britannia to take notice and make Britannia realize that they are not as invincible as they brag to be," Lelouch answered.

Minami wanted to ask Lelouch a question about what was going on with him but he decided to not to bother, figured that there no point and also the fact he may have already answered his question about his motive.

"It's a real tragedy, as much as Euphie tried to fight, even she was not a match against to Geass command," Rai said.

Rai, Kaisuke, Jinta, Nunnally, Kallen, Jeremiah, and Sayoko looked over at the others.

"It's obvious that you still want to wring his neck for what happened," Jinta said, "well, that can't be helped but know that Lelouch did intend to help Euphemia with the special zone. It was just bad luck of a 'run away' Geass and bad comment that started all of this."

Cornelia walked slowly to Lelouch with anger and sadness and Jinta and Jeremiah kept guard.

"Lelouch, did you ever think that there would some consequence for what you done as in some people like myself and Kururugi that would want to seek vengeance against you?"

"Yes," Lelouch answered, "it did cross my mind but not so much as I have should have thought."

"Tch, I see," Cornelia spat, "I'm done. I have nothing else to ask at the moment," she continued to glare, "but you will pay dearly for this. I'll see to it that you suffer ten times over."

Suzaku was still clenching his fist while others were taking all of what they heard in.

"I'm curious," Lloyd spoke, "when you first appeared, you went through a lot of trouble to save Suzaku when we was being held for Clovis's murder. Did you rescue because he's your childhood friend or was there an ulterior motive?"

"I rescued Suzaku because I didn't want him to be convicted of a crime he didn't commit and it was a way debut Zero and with the way Britannia typically operated especially when it occurred to 'numbers', my intentions were to recruit Suzaku to join me to fight against Britannia."

Lloyd held his chin, "Interesting, well thank goodness, you failed to recruit him, I would have lost my devicer if you succeeded." The scientist was grinning and Cecile only sighed.

"Lelouch, what about what you did at the hostage situation at Lake Kawaguchi?" Suzaku asked, "Did you only rescue the hostages just so you can debut the Black Knights?"

"It wasn't the only reason," Lelouch answered, "It was also to show that there would be no tolerance of the strong crushing the weak, whether they be Britannian or Japanese and that we don't act of terrorism rather that we are fighting a war against injustice, that was my intent."

"I still don't see the difference in what you were doing," Suzaku said in his head.

"Lelouch, I have a question for you regarding General Katase," Todoh said, "was his death an accident as well?"

"No, it wasn't," Lelouch answered.

"Did Katase commit suicide at Port Yokosuka?"

"No."

"What happened then?"

"I place a bomb underwater and calculated that JLF's ship would sail above it."

"You bastard!" Chiba screamed and was ready to kill Lelouch but Todoh held her back.

"Why did do that?" Todoh asked angrily.

"As a last resort to when taking on Cornelia and her forces."

"Were you trying to make it easy for you to recruit General Todoh?" Chiba asked.

"Having Todoh was a bonus."

"The Holy Swords?"

"The same."

"How did you really view the JLF?" Todoh asked.

"I viewed the JLF as nothing more but a group operating on an act of terrorism and who as a whole group were not looking at the big picture for Japan and who would most likely hinder the goals of the Black Knights."

Todoh narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean by that?"

"The Japan Liberation Front was a group who wanted to relive the past and was willing to threatening those that didn't agree with them."

Todoh and Chiba were taken back at Lelouch's statement. He heard rumors but he hoped that all they were just tasteless rumors.

"Is that the reason you saw fit to eliminate General Katase? And what about Lieutenant Colonel Kusakabe?" Chiba asked.

"Kusakabe was threatening unarmed civilians for his own agenda and I used my Geass on him and his soldiers making it look like they committed seppuku," Lelouch answered.

Todoh and Chiba were angry. Todoh turned his back on Lelouch with the feeling he got what he needed to hear in his Geassed state.

"I'm done," Todoh said

"Sir?" Chiba spoke.

"Are you sure you're done Todoh?" Jeremiah asked.

"Yes."

"Well if no one else has any questions for the moment, I'll release my lord from his Geass."

Jinta and Jeremiah looked at Tamaki like he wanted to ask Lelouch something. Seeing that Tamaki was not going to say anything, Jinta motioned Jeremiah to proceed.

With that Jeremiah was about to activate his Geass Canceller on Lelouch for the second time.

"Actually, I have a question," Kaguya said suddenly.

"Lady Kaguya?" Sayoko asked.

"What is it?" Nunnally asked.

Jeremiah looked at Kaguya as well as Kaguya went and approached Lelouch

That's it for this chapter. Next chapter: The meeting ends with lingering questions that gets answered while Lelouch goes to see Rolo regarding his recent actions.