The youngest Planeswalker

"You are dead. You have been dead from the moment you were born. Who gave you the clothes you wear? Your home, your food, your very life! All of those, I have given to you! In short, you have never actually lived! And yet, you dare to speak such foolishness to me? Lelouch, as you are dead, you have no right!"

Words falling like a hammer on a young heart, battering it, shattering it in a hundred pieces. You are dead. You have no right. You don't exist. A young mind, trying to process the meaning of the words, stubbornly refusing to realize their true meaning. Yet it didn't have a choice. He understood. He understood all too well. His sister was weak, a cripple. And he didn't exist.

He didn't live.

Lost in his thoughts, he only barely heard the words of the Emperor – I am sending you and Nunnally to Japan. As prince and princess, you will serve as bargaining chips – but his mind heard them loud and clear. Bargaining chips. Tools. He and his sister truly meant nothing to their father.

Something Ignited. A Spark that had been dormant for nine years, ever since the prince was born. A power that awakened and burst ablaze.

Before the startled eyes of the royal court, Lelouch vi Britannia disappeared.

–v–

He was falling. Where he was or when, he didn't know. The world around him felt like a sea of chaotic energy that dragged him further and further away from his world, away from his home. He didn't know how long the journey lasted, but it ended eventually. Something cold and hard touched his body. Groaning, the boy looked around.

Stone. He was in a dark alleyway. Rising on his feet, he looked for the exit, not too far from his landing place. Carefully, he stepped toward it… and froze. The panorama was something totally different from anything he had ever seen.

Towering spires of white stone, going further than the highest towers of Pendragon. Hanging gardens and twisting trees jumping over the street, providing welcoming shade. Airborne canals and aqueducts binding buildings together in an intricate net. People in foreign clothing, walking, arguing, laughing, living. To a childish mind, it was like waking up in a dream. Except the dream was very real.

Its name was Ravnica.

"Are you lost, kid?"

The boy turned to see two reptilian creatures, both wearing rags and wielding knives with a toothed, sharpened edge. Their white fangs were perfectly visible in their grinning mouth. One look at them and he was running for the exit.

"Catch him!" One of the lizardmen screeched.

Lelouch heard it. He ran faster. As he barged in the main street, one of the viashinos grabbed him by the cape. Fortunately, the chain was pure gold and snapped easily. The boy didn't slow down. He ran straight in front of him, not caring where he was going as long as it was away from the thugs. His mad race was stopped when he collided with something hard and metallic.

"Hey!" A man yelped. "Huh? Are you alright?"

Lelouch looked up. What he'd crashed into was the armored leg of a man, tall, buff and of Mediterranean appearance. His long hair was tied in a ponytail and his beard seemed to form some kind of muttonchops. The man knelt to the boy and held his hand. Lelouch was about to take it when the voices of the viashino thugs echoed.

"There he is!"

"Catch him!"

Instinctively, Lelouch hid behind the man who frowned.

"I see…"

The next second, four leashes of light sprung from his forearm, binding the viashino to the ground.

"Trying to mug a kid. I swear, those Rakdos have no respect for anything. And no mercy either."

He turned to the boy, who was still clinging to his leg.

"It's alright. They won't hurt you anymore."

Lelouch meekly nodded. In his mind, he was seeing again and again the leashes of light that were currently holding the lizardmen. He had never seen anything like this before. A winged silhouette flew by their side.

"Gideon? What's going on?"

The man, Gideon, turned to the angel.

"It's nothing, Asura. Just two Rakdos muggers who picked on a kid. If you could take them away…"

The angel looked at the thugs and nodded.

"Right away."

Gideon smiled at his friend and turned to the boy… only to freeze when a very familiar power touched his own. His eyes widened.

'No, it can't be true! That boy… He has the Spark!?'

Lelouch didn't say anything, merely clinging to his leg. Gideon looked carefully at him.

Short black hair, soft features with an air of nobility despite his young age, iridescent purple eyes that were looking at him with worry, but it was the clothes that struck the most. They were regal and obviously of higher quality, but most of all, they fit none of any Ravnican guild's fashion. And it was definitely a Planeswalker's Spark he sensed in the boy's soul.

"Hey kid…" He asked softly. "How old are you?"

"…Nine."

Gideon held his surprise. What exactly happened to a nine-year-old boy for him to ignite his Spark? Asura was still around. He called her.

"Asura! When you're done, could you contact the Living Guildpact? Tell him Gideon Jura needs his wisdom regarding a particularly important matter." After a hesitation, he added. "Tell him as well we may need the assistance of the others."

The angel nodded. Gideon turned to the boy and smiled.

"Alright, let's find somewhere quieter. By the way, what's your name?"

"Lelouch."

–v–

Jace was surprised when a Guildless angel entered Guildpact's Chamber.

"Excuse me." She said politely. "I have a message from Gideon Jura. He says he needs your wisdom regarding a very important matter. You may need the assistance of the others."

Jace's eyes widened. A quick brush with the angel's mind told him everything he needed to know. The discovery left him floored.

"Find Gideon." He said very quietly. "Tell him I'm coming."

As the angel left, the telepath took the time to catch him breath. His friend had found another Planeswalker… a nine-year-old boy, obviously of origins foreign to Ravnica. There was only one explanation for how he could have ended here; no living being could cross the Blind Eternities and emerge intact unless they had the Planeswalker's Spark. Now, how in the Multiverse did the kid ignite his? If his memory served him, the youngest ignition known was Chandra, at eleven. Planeswalkers discovered their powers either during teenage or early adulthood. A child awakening was unheard of… but he could be mistaken. Swiftly, Jace left his room and headed to the Ninth District, the district dedicated to the Guildless since the events of the Implicit Maze. This was where Gideon had set shop of sorts, acting as an authority figure and a protector toward those who renounced the Guilds.

But, just like him, the hieromancer was a Planeswalker. They had more than one home. It was especially true of both men, who belonged to the organization called the Gatewatch, a group of five Planeswalkers so far, all dedicated to protecting the Multiverse from threats a single person couldn't handle. The Gatewatch's main headquarter was in Zendikar, at New Sea Gate. Despite this, the only steady resident was Nissa Revane, who was native of the plane. Liliana felt at home in Innistrad and Chandra was actually the abbot of Keral Keep, in Regatha. Gideon spent his time between Ravnica and Zenkidar and was native of Theros, while Jace was the Living Guildpact of Ravnica, de-facto leader of the whole plane.

He quickly sent a mental message to the three other members of the group.

'Come to Ravnica, Gideon found something.'

He reached Gideon's home an hour later. The hieromancer was here, as well as a young boy who was sipping a cup of warm liquid. Gideon was watching him, a gentle smile on his face. It didn't take long for Jace to sense the boy's power.

'He has the Spark. And he is exactly as young as I've seen in the angel's memory.'

Gideon turned to him and smiled.

"Lelouch, meet my friend, Jace. Jace, this is Lelouch."

As the telepath looked at the boy, Lelouch gave the man an once-over. He was shorter than Gideon by half a head, and considerably less muscular despite the blue robes with silver patterns that shrouded his body. His eyes and hair were brown, and blue markings adorned his cheeks and chin. Then he felt something touch his mind, as if someone was looking in his head. Jace's eyes were glowing…

"Get out of my head!"

The telepath narrowly avoided the cup, which crashed on the wall. He turned to the boy, who was glaring angrily at him. This time, Jace was softer in his probing of the boy's mind.

"He's a telepath." He uttered as he sensed the boy's mind react to his presence. "A latent one, but me touching his mind was enough to awaken it."

Gideon smiled.

"You two are going to get along fine, then."

Jace nodded. The boy was a nine-year-old telepathic Planeswalker. He would need guidance to use his powers without hurting himself or others. As he sat at the table, Gideon went to retrieve the broken cup.

"It's alright." Jace reassured the boy. "I didn't expect you would have powers like mine. It's quite a surprise actually."

"Powers… like yours?"

"Yes, the ability to sense people's minds and read them. I can do that, and it seems you can do it as well since you can sense my mind."

Indeed, Lelouch could sense the man's mind around him, and Gideon's as well. They felt different, though. Gideon's mind felt bright and sturdy, unshakable. Jace's mind was a twisting maze of water and wind, which he didn't know how to grapple because it felt so slippery. Annoyed, the boy decided to hell with subtlety and sent his consciousness toward the man's. The maze became an iron wall he crashed upon. Jace held a chuckle as he saw the boy massage his head.

"No, not like that."

Gideon looked at him. Jace shrugged.

"He tried to read my mind and crashed against my defenses."

"Ouch."

The mentalist nodded and looked at the boy.

"You were too brutal in your attempt. To read someone's mind, you have to be gentle, otherwise you will tear it apart. Here, let me show you."

His mind reached to the boy like a feather, caressing it, cuddling it. After a moment, Lelouch let him enter. He could feel the man in him, looking at his memories. It was gentle indeed, painless as the tendrils searched for information about the boy's identity, what his world was like. Instinctively, he brought the information to him. At the same time, his own childish mind was poking and tickling Jace's, looking for an entrance. The mentalist let him and the boy watched as memories came to him.

People and places, all stranger than others. Words he didn't understand and faces he didn't recognize. Events he knew nothing about and knowledge he didn't know what to make of. Some things, he noted, were tightly protected behind an iron wall. He poked it, mostly out of curiosity. The mental defenses were sturdy. Finally, he saw three faces, each with a name, as well as Jace and Gideon. Words came to him along the names.

Jace Beleren – For the sake of the Multiverse, I will keep watch.

Gideon Jura – For justice and peace, I will keep watch.

Chandra Nalaar – If it means that people can live in freedom, yeah, I'll keep watch.

Nissa Revane – For the life of every plane, I will keep watch.

Liliana Vess - If that means I can do what needs to be done without relying on the Chain Veil, then I'll keep watch. Happy now?

An oath. A promise. He tried to look for more, to learn more about it, only to be softly rebutted.

'Gentle, I said.' Jace's voice echoed in his head. 'You're being too eager.'

'But I want to know!'

'Later. There is so much you have to learn, Lelouch vi Britannia. It will take time, for you to learn and me and my friends to teach.'

'You're… really gonna teach me?'

'Yes. An untrained mind mage can cause a lot of harm, to himself and others. Besides, I am the best mentalist in the Multiverse, with maybe the exception of Bolas.'

The picture of a gigantic dragon flashed in the boy's mind, causing him to recoil. At the same time, Jace looked into the young Planeswalker's memories. What he found made him frown.

Lelouch vi Britannia, eleventh son of Emperor Charles zi Britannia, seventeenth in line for the throne. Nine-year-old, born of Imperial Consort Marianne vi Britannia, has a little sister called Nunnally, three year younger.

'God…' Jace thought to himself as he looked in the boy's memories. 'What a messed-up family.'

And a huge one at that. Charles has a hundred and eight wives, and even more children, all vying for the throne, all trying to outdo the other through manipulation, scheming and backstabbing. A typical decadent, racist and Darwinist aristocracy where the weak served the strong or were crushed by them. The Britannian Empire they ruled controlled half of the world, mainly because of that mentality. And the boy belonged to it.

Except, not anymore. He watched as the boy walked one morning and found the body of his dead mother, her little sister trapped under her. There had been an assassination attempt and the woman had lost her life. The girl, Nunnally, had lived, but her legs had been injured and the trauma had rendered her blind. A cripple. His heart full of sorrow and rage, Lelouch had confronted his father, only to be violently rebutted. Jace winced at the Emperor's words.

"This guy is an asshole."

"Who?" Gideon asked.

"His father."

Gideon said nothing and sat, patiently waiting for his friend to finish reading the child's memories.

As it turned, the rebuttal had been the last straw in the young prince's heart. His Spark had ignited, taking him to Ravnica where he crashed into Gideon while fleeing from some viashino.

Jace breathed.

"Poor kid. The past days have been exhausting, huh?"

Lelouch looked down. Jace caressed his shoulder.

"It's alright. You're safe, now. We'll take care of you."

"What do you mean, we?"

Both Gideon and Jace turned to the entrance. Three women stood there, all different from the other. The first had a golden diadem and a purple dress, and a haughty gaze that made Lelouch shrink in his seat. The second was red in clothes and hair and had strange devices on her arms. Finally, the last had long pointy hairs, a green robe and a wooden scepter.

The woman with a diadem spoke.

"Jace, what is this child doing here? Since when do we pick strays?"

"Since this boy is a nascent mentalist and the youngest Planeswalker I've ever met." Jace answered matter-o-factly.

Liliana sighed.

"Another mind mage. Perfect… Wait, he is a Planeswalker!?"

"Yes."

Nissa looked at him and crossed his arms.

"I can sense his power… How old is he? It surprises me that someone so young could ignite his Spark."

"He's nine." Gideon answered. "And I don't know how his Spark ignited, but his family is apparently quite nasty."

"That's an understatement." Jace scoffed. "Lelouch's family rules over the largest empire of his plane, and it is one of the most royally screwed-up I have ever seen. Literally. Just to give you an idea, his father's reaction to his mother being assassinated was, and I quote 'Old news, what of it?' Seriously."

Chandra cringed.

"Good thing he's with us, I get?"

"You have no idea. His father was going to send him and his sister to another country as bargaining chips. And his sister is blind and paralyzed from the waist down."

Chandra's hair ignited reflexively.

"Did you find what ignited his Spark?" Nissa asked.

"Yes. It was his father putting him down when he called him out for not protecting his mother and sister. Combined with the trauma of seeing his mother dead and his sister injured, it gave him a break down that, well…"

"Took him there." Chandra said quietly.

Liliana crossed her arms.

"When did he arrive?"

"About two hours ago." Gideon answered. "That's when his Spark ignited."

The necromancer looked at him and Jace in disbelief.

"When you said he was the youngest Planeswalker, you weren't kidding! Nine, and just awoken! By the way, what is it you found?"

"Him."

Jace crossed his arms and looked at his friends.

"Planeswalkers meeting other Planeswalkers right after their awakening is very rare. Planeswalkers that young are unheard of. Right now, Lelouch is sad, frightened and lost, and his whole family has turned on him. The only person he has left is his little sister, and even then, she can do nothing for him. We have to decide what we'll do with him since leaving him alone is out of question."

"What have you decided?" Nissa asked.

"Keep him. He is a telepath so I'm considering taking him as a student."

Chandra looked at Jace.

"His family is that bad?"

As an answer, the mentalist sent her what he found in the boy's mind. For the second time, the pyromancer's hair burst ablaze.

"Keep." She said with a snarl.

"I will keep him as well." Gideon decided. "The way things are right now, he might as well be an orphan."

Nissa didn't answer immediately.

"It is rare for Planeswalkers to have the privilege of teaching their kind. I will be one of his caretakers."

The whole group turned to Liliana. The necromancer returned the look, then shrugged and sighed.

"Majority wins."

Jace smiled, then looked at Lelouch as he tugged his sleeve.

"Yes?"

"Say…" The boy asked timidly. "What is a Planeswalker?"

Nissa smiled gently.

"Before we answer that, I suggest you get some sleep. The past days have been rough for you, and you have much to learn about your kind."