Chapter 1

Betrayal

Pendragon, 2009 a.t.b

Aries Villa

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the empty gardens of Aries Villa. The intruder seamlessly ignored the beautiful garden that boasted of Britannia's taste for beauty and elegance. Instead this person's eyes were fixed on the approaching doors of the Villa, the giant windows on its sides were completely destroyed due to the numerous bullets that were fired on them.

There was a deathly silence in the entire villa, it was as if life itself had stopped.

Quickening her footsteps and with a firm push of her hands, she opened the grand doors of the Villa and the sight before her made her stop in her tracks.

Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief as there lay in front of her, the once fierce Marianne Vi Britannia- the fifth wife of the 98th emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire

The Empress's body was lying flat on the long stairs, blood was oozing out of various parts of her body and spreading across the velvet sheets covering the barren surface of the stairs.

And then her gaze shifted towards a young terrified boy, who too was witnessing the same scene from his young innocent eyes.

There was a series of emotions passing through the boy's heart ranging from fear, sadness, shock, anger and much more.

Her hands tightened around the side of her royal coat, as she briefly lowered her head with a single tear slipping from her bright blue eyes. The lustrous mane of her pink hair doing an admirable job of concealing the pain in her heart.

After all, this was her fault.

Cornelia li Britannia hesitantly glanced in her brother's eyes, the anger that burned within Lelouch Vi Britannia's eyes made her nervous.

Despite being a mere 12 year old boy, the boy possessed the same intimidating eyes as their father, Charles Zi Britannia. If looks could kill, then the perpetrators of this terrorist attack would have been reduced to ashes by the fury in the boy's eyes.

And he had every right to be furious, to be wanting revenge against the culprits of this heinous act that had robbed him and his sister Nunnally of a loving mother.

"Mother..."

His silent whisper broke her heart, if only she had been more vigilant. If only she had refused to compel with the order Marianne gave her, then none of this could have happened.

18 year old Cornelia was the second princess of the empire and was regarded as the brightest and strongest among every princess of the royal family. She had dedicated her entire life in following after Marianne footsteps, who was her mentor and role model. Not only did she admire and love the woman, but she was the head of the Empress's security.

And the cold body lying in front of her was the fact that she had failed.

Miserably.

She was grateful that her younger half sister, Nunnally was not here to witness this tragedy. The innocent little girl was safely enjoying her weekend with the Ashford Family, specifically with its head Reuben and his family. Milly Ashford had certainly taken a liking to the fifth princess of Britannia, and it was perhaps one of the factors that had saved her half sister's life or at least spared her from witnessing the brutal murder of her mother.

But Lelouch Vi Britannia, the 11th prince of Britannia and 17th heir to the throne did not have such a luck.

It was fair to say that out of all of her siblings (excluding Euphemia, who was her real sister), Cornelia cared about Lelouch and Nunnally the most. These two were perhaps the only children of the Emperor who were genuine, real people. The Imperial family was always at war with each other, siblings fighting for their succession to throne while the Emperor and his wives simply seemed to enjoy the battle, as if it was a mere game.

"Cornelia..."

Her head snapped as Lelouch uttered her name, looking up she winced on seeing the cold, betrayed look in her brother's eyes. It was perhaps the first time he had called her by her name, while all their life he had referred her as "Sister" or sometimes "Head Captain" to mock her since she was the chief of security.

The anger in the young prince eye's had changed into a sea of determination, he merely gave her a disappointed glare before retreating back towards his room ignoring the several questions for help offered by his faithful servants. The only thing she could do was stare at the lifeless body of her mentor and half mother.

She wanted to say something, she wanted to console her brother. Despite being her half sibling, and sometimes a smart ass brat...Lelouch was a young innocent child and her brother. A prince who had surprised her his entire life with his superior intelligence and determination.

And he surprised her yet again, as after a few minutes the young boy emerged from his room. Dressed in his princely robes, he took perfect steps down towards the stairs. He stopped for a moment and glanced towards Alfred, who was one of the head servants of the Villa.

"Have my mother's...body be taken to the hospital" ordered Lelouch, his voice sounding like a true prince of Britannia and not a young boy who just lost his mother half an hour ago.

"Master Lelouch, I-" answered Alfred hesitantly, but the young price had already walked ahead expecting his order to be followed without any hindrance.

He stopped near Marianne's body, grief clearly evident in his eyes and a lone tear slipped from his eye as he gently closed his mother's eyes. Knowing very well, that he would never be able to witness her beautiful eyes. Lelouch then knelt further and laid a soft tender kiss on his mother's forehead, and a second later his entire demeanor changed.

Gone was the grief stricken boy, and emerged a furious prince who walked towards her and yet ignored any eye contact with her.

But she had to do something, anything...

"Where are you going, Lelouch?" asked Cornelia sympathetically, her voice full of compassion for her little brother.

"To get justice for my mother..." answered Lelouch sadly, and started moving towards the door when a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.

Turning around he simply stared as Cornelia was down on her knees, tears freely slipping from her eyes before she embraced him in a warm hug. And even then he remained still, his hands lying idly on his sides refusing to grant his elder sister any solace. Right now nothing mattered to him, even the tears falling from Cornelia's eyes or the pain she was in seemed meaningless to him.

''Let me go, Cornelia"

"Lelouch, it's not safe. I'm getting you to a secured-"

Whatever protest she was about to lodge was stopped when he roughly broke her embrace and glared at her. So much anger, so much pain visible in his eyes would have been enough to break even the most cold hearted women.

"If you really want to help, then get Nunnally to a secure location. And take me to the Emperor..." said Lelouch in a straight forward manner, bluntly saying his thoughts to his elder sister. He refrained from showing a single emotion even when Cornelia wanted to protest again.

Fierce violet eyes glared into desperate light ocean colored eyes, both of them fighting a long battle with themselves until the latter closed in defeat.

And for the first time Lelouch's gaze softened when Cornelia gave him a hesitant nod. Even if she was against his decision, even if she wanted to drag him to a bomb proof bunker she accepted his request.

Which was perhaps enough at this point of time...

The Second Princess of Britannia could not understand what was going through her brother's head. During their entire journey to the Imperial Palace, Lelouch had never uttered a single word. Instead the boy had settled to simply stare at the forest of buildings, mansions, as they approached towards the place where the ruler of the Great Britannian Empire resided.

Lelouch had always been hard to predict, he was a boy who always kept his thoughts to himself. In a way, he was like a miniature version of the Second Prince, Schneizel El Britannia. The only difference between these two brothers were the way in which they expressed themselves. While Schneizel was a sly fox who liked to manipulate people through his words, Lelouch demanded to be obeyed and was extremely protective towards his mother and sister.

But right now, his silence was worrying Cornelia...even then she had to do this. If she wanted to have any semblance of a relationship with her orphaned siblings, knowing that it was her fault that led to their mother's death then the least she could do was bring Lelouch to their father who could provide them a solution to this tragedy.

Or the man could make things worse...

"We have arrived, Princess Cornelia" replied the Driver of her Limousine, breaking Cornelia out of her thoughts.

Without a word, Lelouch stepped out of the car with the valet opening the door. With great confidence and determination combined with the anger and grief burning in his heart, the 11th Prince of Britannia courageously walked through the magnificent halls of the royal palace. His every step screamed bloody murder, and the various servants, nobles, dignitaries inside the palace at least had the common sense to not look him in the eye. Because even if Lelouch was a young boy, he was still a prince and heir to throne.

News had apparently spread quickly, that the common-born french swine(Marianne) had finally been shown her true place. The woman that had gathered much of the Emperor's attention was finally dead, and her supporters would soon be either banished, killed, or disgraced. Even her children would lose any value and lose all rights to the royal throne.

It was fair to say, that for the double faced aristocracy of Britannia this was a day of rejoice rather than tragedy.

Cornelia had barely managed to catch up to her younger brother as he proudly walked through the main hall, with their father sitting in the middle of the hall. The man simply stared with a bored look, as one of his sons approached towards him although he was intrigued when he spotted Cornelia emerging in the hall, her eyes fixed on Lelouch.

"Interesting, Cornelia..." thought Charles nonchalantly, as Lelouch faithfully kneeled before him.

He simply signaled the boy to rise on his feet, fully aware about the matter which the boy was about to present before him. Although, Charles was quite pleased with the fire that burned in his son's eyes, it reminded him of himself.

The day when he lost his own mother...

Further more, the arrival of Cornelia had instantly silenced the nobles standing inside the imperial court. They would have said predictable things, but the mere presence of the Second Princess was enough to silence them. Even Charles was impressed with his daughter's behavior, to think she would go so far for someone other than Euphemia.

But then again, the girl was young and could be simply blaming herself for this tragedy. Such nonchalant matters...

"Lord Emperor, my mother was murdered" said Lelouch seriously, expecting a response from his father.

Right now he did not care about the formalities anymore, for him the man before him was not the God Emperor. Rather he was a man whose wive had just been murdered and he had not even cared to visit her or his children who were in mortal danger. That alone would have been enough to plant traces of bitterness in Lelouch's heart, but even then he was willing to give the man the benefit of doubt.

Maybe the Emperor was secretly working hard to find the real culprit...

"It's old news..."

Charles would have laughed if they were alone in the court, the shocked and betrayed expression on his foolish son's face was quite amusing, to say the least. He was satisfied when Cornelia simply lowered her head and clenched her fists, it seemed the princess had expected this outcome.

But certainly not Lelouch, who had probably suffered the biggest betrayal of his life.

"WHAT?" asked Lelouch incredulously, his eyes burning with righteous fury as he glared at the man who had conquered half of the world.

"You wasted my time and the time of the people around you for simply conveying the news which we already know. You even threw a tantrum and dragged your sister into this nuisance. You should be ashamed of your behavior" chided Charles aggressively, his eyes boring into his son's very soul.

First there was shock, then hurt which slowly transformed into rage. The boy climbed the stairs towards Charles's throne, as the two royal guards blocked the way, even then they felt a little uneasy when Lelouch glared at them and even Charles.

The son simply glared at his father, as if challenging the man to remove the useless obstacles that were in front of him.

With a flick of his fingers, the guards got out of the way as Lelouch glared at him, his eyes burning with pure hatred.

And what happened next would forever be remembered in history, it was this moment that would change the future of Britannia and the world.

"You bastard..."

Pin drop silence prevailed in the Imperial Court, with each and every person trying to confirm what they had heard were indeed true words. The nobles in the court had their eyes wide as saucers, some of them even shivered in fear as they saw their Emperor's entire body going stiff.

The guards around the Emperor, including the silent "Knight of one" standing behind the throne had become alert and seemed extremely nervous.

A shocked gasp escaped from Cornelia's lips as she saw her young brother committing treason right in front of the Imperial Court. It was one thing to dislike the Emperor, dislike even Britannia. She knew people who harbored such feelings, but none of them had the guts to say a single offensive word in their public or private lives, fearing the backlash they would have to face.

But Lelouch, that 12 year old prince had done something which no one in history of Britannia had ever dared to say.

Judging from the twitching of the Emperor's eyebrows, was enough to show Cornelia that Lelouch had practically signed his own death warrant.

However Lelouch simply settled to stare at his father, the pain he felt on hearing those words had destroyed any respect, feeling which he ever harbored for this man. It was hard to believe his mother was murdered, and people were behaving as if nothing had happened. Even his own father had abandoned his deceased wife and his orphaned children, when he should have been fighting tooth and nail to at least find the culprits and protect Nunnally.

This was the Ultimate Betrayal.

"You maybe the Emperor of Britannia, the conqueror of nations- The Sovereign. But you're nothing more than a traitor, who turned his back on his own family, his own children. Lord Emperor, it is not me who should be ashamed but it should be you who should be ashamed" countered Lelouch furiously,

Bloody Murder.

Everybody tensed when Charles angrily got up from his seat, his full blown furious eyes glaring daggers at his impeccable son. The royal guards who had stopped Lelouch were now pointing their weapons at the young prince, while Bismark (The Knight of One) had already unsheathed his sword and was ready to kill the dastardly prince on any second.

"You dare?" asked an infuriated Charles, and the old ruler was further irked when instead of collapsing on his knees- the 11th prince of Britannia stood his ground, fearless violet eyes staring back at Charles.

In his 56 years of life, and after fathering several children, after making Britannia a glorious empire- never once had Charles faced a man who could defy him openly, even his own children who secretly wished to ascend his throne had never dared to raise an eyelash on him.

But this boy had did the impossible.

Lelouch VI Britannia was a prince who would fight for justice, rather than flee as a coward.

However it did not change the fact that Lelouch had committed treason in front of several witnesses, and had to be punished for his actions.

"Bismark, punish this traitor" ordered Charles mercilessly,

"As you command, your majesty" replied the Knight of One devotedly, and moved forward to execute the 11th prince with his sword.

The sound of metal clashing against something was heard in the Imperial Court, and seconds later streams of blood flew in the air. The nobles had practically pissed their pants on witnessing this stand-off.

But rather than Lelouch's head being severed, it was Cornelia's right hand that had firmly grabbed the executioner's sword. Blood freely flowed from the Princess's skin and was falling down on Lelouch's forehead.

How the princess managed to cover the distance and stop the incoming attack on Lelouch even baffled Charles...

"Sister..." said Lelouch in shock, the young boy was simply overwhelmed by her actions.

"Cornelia, what's the meaning of this?" asked Charles sternly, and the very next second she kneeled beneath his feet.

"Lord Emperor, I request you to show mercy. Lelouch does not know what he's doing..." said Cornelia quickly, and the young boy was about to protest but one threatening glare from the elder sibling silenced him.

"He committed treason, Cornelia. You know the rules of Britannia...get out of the way, or you will face the same fate" ordered Charles seriously, and he waited patiently for the response which his daughter would present.

"He's still a naive child who lost his mother, he's traumatized. What he said was blasphemy and treason, but you're the great Emperor. The one who has led this empire to glory, you are the symbol of justice. That's why I humbly request you to spare his life, for you are the Emperor while Lelouch is simply a foolish kid." explained Cornelia crisply, completely ignoring the betrayed expression on Lelouch's face.

Charles got a small smirk on his lips, as he glanced at the people in the Court. By requesting his sense of justice, Cornelia had effectively prevented him from killing Lelouch. Even if he was never going to go that far...

If he killed Lelouchh right now, the aristocracy would obey him as they were nothing more than dogs. But the common people of Britannia would turn to dislike him, if they became sympathetic with Lelouch's emotional traumas. Cornelia did present valid points...

However he had to punish Lelouch, not only for his treasonous actions but also for another hidden agenda. Finally after a few moments of thinking, a bright yet cruel idea came in his mind. It would not only serve as an example to his children who thought they could go against him, and he would make sure this incident never escaped the premises of the Court or the common people of the Empire.

Being an Emperor granted him immense powers, not to mention his other power.

"Kneel"

Cornelia silently signaled Lelouch to follow the order, and if not for anyone else he at least obeyed the order for his little sister's sake. In his anger, he had failed to realize what he had just done.

The Emperor came forward and removed the royal cloak from the prince's back and tossed it towards the ground...

"Lelouch VI Britannia, 11th prince and 17th heir to royal throne of the Holy Empire of Britannia- you are hereby banished from the royal family. You will give up your title, your home, your wealth." declared Charles, and was satisfied when Lelouch finally realized what had just happened.

The boy's gaze shifted towards Cornelia for help, but the princess could only hang her head in defeat. There was nothing she could do for him anymore...

"You are dead to me, and as punishment for insulting the Holy Empire of Britannia and the Emperor- your sister Nunnally VI Britannia will be sent to Japan. A princess would serve as a good bargaining chip with the Japanese." ordered Charles, as Lelouch collapsed on his knees.

His entire body started shaking, and for the first time fear was visible in the defiant boy's eyes. Charles Zi Britannia had taken away the most precious thing of his life...

And in that moment his world got destroyed.

Author's Notes: End of prologue.

The ages of the characters have been deliberately changed, as this is an AU story (with some elements from Cannon). You can certainly see the changes in comparison to Cannon.

The current ages stand like this: Charles (56), Marianne (Deceased): 30, Lelouch: 12, Nunnally: 10, Cornelia: 18, Bismark: 40

Feel free to leave reviews, constructive crticism, pairing suggestions (Even if romance is not the main focus of this story, I am open to hear your opinions, just NO Yaoi or Yuri, I am simply not comfortable with writing that kind of story) or leave just any kind of suggestions.

Your feedback will certainly be quite helpful to me and in the development of this story.

Until Next chapter,

Blackwolf501