AN: Hello everybody, and welcome to my first story on the site! I will be having a proper author's note at the end, so I'll talk there, as I want to simply get people to start reading the story first. So, let's dive straight into it!

I do NOT own either Mass Effect or Code Geass. They belong to Bioware and Sunrise Entertainment, in that order. The only thing I technically own are any OC's that I personally create and appear in the story. Any similarities to characters outside of Mass Effect and Code Geass that I do not explicitly mention that I am basing them off of in either the beginning or ending Author's Note are not intentional. Same goes for any similarities to other OC's by other authors.

So, on that note, I hope you enjoy!

"Anyone there?" – Normal speaking

"What is that?" – Character thoughts

"Intruder Alert!" – Speaker/Computer text

"Command, this is Alpha-1." – Radio/Communications

"Die!" – Geass command

The Illusive Knight

Prologue: A Change Through Time

Silence.

That was the most noticeable thing about the island. The sounds normally associated with other islands were missing, with no indication that the sounds even existed. If anyone walked into the area, they would most likely find the silence strange. Unnerving. Some may even call it unnatural. But, then again, the silence was anything but natural.

The island was barely travelled to, as there was nothing of note that could be of use to anyone. Realistically, the only true knowledge of the island came from explorers that charted the area a few centuries prior. The only thing that was reported about the island, along with the fact that there was no resources that they didn't already have in abundance, was the silence. No animals, no winds, no nothing. This silence always unnerved it's visitors, so it never really had any. No one came to it. It was of no use to anyone. No one except for one individual.

The individual in question was getting off of the small fishing boat that he had gotten a ride on. While the island may not be important, most sailors in the local area knew about the island. The man thanked the sailor for his services, and asked if the sailor would return at the time he had specified, which the sailor agreed to. As the boat began to leave, the man turned, and began to head deeper into the island, a destination obviously in mind.

If you had asked the sailor what he thought of the man, he would say that, while he did find the man pleasant, he found him to be unnerving. The man, standing at 6"4', had a cloak that he wore at all times, not revealing anything of what he looked like, with nothing but small body movements and his voice to give way to his emotions on what he thought. Every time he talked, the man portrayed an air of confidence and of command, always seeming to be in control of every conversation they had. While the conversations they had were pleasing, the sailor couldn't help but think that there was something off with the man. Something that he was unable to identify, but would always evade his ability to place it. He wondered why the man wanted to come to this specific island, when there were islands larger and less of a distance to the mainland, but then decided not to worry about it. The man paid him a good price to take him to the island, so why should he bother trying to figure out why if one man decides to go somewhere?

The man walked through the forest, moving further inland as he kept a watchful eye out for anyone, maybe even the sailor that had followed him. The shifts in his hood were the only indications that he was doing so. After a few minutes of walking, he reached his destination. The ruins stood before him, as silent as every other time he came here. Watching. Waiting. Here, at this ancient structure, the silence was deafening. No sounds of animals, no noises of the wind, no crashing of the waves at the shore, nothing. It was as if this structure was avoided by everything, even sound itself.

The structure was one created by a powerful civilization, one whose history was forever forgotten in time. Seemingly erased from history, almost no one knew about this civilization. In the coming years, many people would speculate on what this ancient structure was, make great discoveries, and advance mankind farther than they ever would believe that they could. But that was not now. Right now, this structure remains desolate. Empty and forgotten, residing on a small island of little to no importance to the world. Hidden to all, except a few who knew of their purpose.

The individual standing in front of the structure was one of these people. He stood in front of the structure, silently observing it. Like always, it had not changed. Untouched by even the jungle around it, everything was still in the same condition it always was when he came. The man took one last look around, making sure that no one had followed him, and, when certain that there was no one, he entered the structure.

Just like the outside, the inside of the structure was in a similar condition. Untouched by the outside world, many designs and symbols could be seen lining the walls of the structure, unknown to all, even to those who know the purpose of these structures. Other than the symbols, there was nothing else of note to any regular observer. But for the man who just entered, there was something of note.

At the back of the room, a wall, almost in the shape of a door, stood out from the other walls, due to the drastic difference of the design on it. In front of it was a raised platform, seemingly putting importance to that area, even though there seemed to be nothing there. Years later, research groups would find that there was nothing behind that wall, or even in that area. But for the man, there was something. Something only a few people knew. The man immediately went to the platform, walking with a sense of purpose. When he got on the platform, he stopped, staring for a few moments at the door.

As the man stared at the door, a light began to glow through the fabric of his cloak. At the same time, a light began to shine from both the wall and the floor. In that moment, the man stood stock still, almost like a statue, with nothing occurring to indicate that he was even alive The only thing indicating any activity in the structure was the pulsing light, one that had formed a symbol. A symbol that would influence the world greatly in the coming years. The symbol of Geass.

On that day, on the little island known as Kamine Island, the Thought Elevator was activated. Because of that activation, one that in another time never occurred, the world would change. Wether it was for better or for the worse, no one would truly agree on. But one thing was certain: the world would never be the same after this.

No matter how many times he activated it, he always found the transition of his mind from the real world to C's World disorienting. The sudden change from the ruins to a decently decorated entranceway, one that you would usually find in a mansion, had that kind of effect. The first time he entered C's World, he was so shocked that he nearly passed out by the suddenness of the transition. But, to be fair, anyone who was in the ruins and suddenly found themselves in a mansion's entrance of all things would certainly be disoriented as well.

The man, after reorienting himself, began to walk down the nearest hall, searching for a particular room. The reason? He had a meeting, one that he would not miss under any circumstances. Even if he had to knock himself unconscious and let his Code transport his mind here, he would have made sure he was at this meeting. The only reason he didn't simply follow that path was that it could be a bit inconvenient if someone interrupted the meeting by waking him up. So, he simply decided to transport himself from Kamine Island instead.

After a few minutes of walking down the halls, the man stopped and turned down into one of the rooms, entering it with it's door already open. As he entered the room, he immediately took notice of the other individual already sitting there, holding a cup of tea. After taking a sip of his tea, the individual turned to him, nodding in greeting, and said, "A pleasure to see you again, D.A."

The man nodded back, sitting down on the chair. "The pleasure is all mine, Reaper. Although, I would prefer it if you actually used the code names we agreed upon." he responded.

The man identified as Reaper scoffed. "Why use code names when we are safe from eavesdropping here?" he asked. "It's not as if anyone other than our little group even know how to get into these rooms."

D.A. simply stared at Reaper, and eventually, Reaper sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll call you by your code name, alright Arca?" he replied. "There. I called you by your code name. Happy?"

Arca continued to stare for a few moments, and then sighed. "Yes, that's better." He eyed Reaper, looking at his appearance, and asked, "What happened to you? It looks as if you just got off of a battlefield."

Reaper began to chuckle, as he poured himself another cup of tea. "That's pretty much what happened." he responded. "Got caught up in a small gang battle on my way down to the Thought Elevator. Thought I could simply sneak through and get here early. Unfortunately, one of the gang members spotted me, and thought I was a part of the rival gang. Got pretty scratched up as I got through it, with quite a few people trying to shoot me. Nothing that a little bit of time won't heal, but it sure stings like crazy."

Looking at his appearance, Arca could easily agree to that. His clothing, a regular pair of slacks, along with a blue polo shirt thrown on top, were full of holes. Inside, Arca could tell the skin there was freshly healed, meaning that he had only started healing at least 30 minutes before Arca entered the room. Otherwise, the wounds would either still be healing, or showing signs of injury. Along with his clothes, his face was also showing signs of a fight. His golden-brown hair, cut short, was in disarray in comparison to his normally straight look. His emerald green eyes also showed signs of fatigue, which Arca could easily see, and understand. Even though Reaper stood at 5"9, and had a fairly decent body build, he always had trouble with excessive action.

Arca nodded in understanding, and said, "I can understand that sentiment completely. Although, I do have to ask: why did you go through the battle instead of around it to get here?"

Reaper didn't even bother to look at Arca, as he replied, "Why didn't I go around? Well that's simple. I would prefer a small bit of wounds to heal from within a short amount of time, than go through another one of your three hour speeches on how we should be orderly and on time."

Arca frowned, continuing to stare at Reaper. "Oh, come on." he replied. "My discussions are not that long, or that bad for that matter."

Reaper simply raised an eyebrow at Arca. "Really?" he asked. "Because I remember wishing that I could find a way to knock myself out without you realizing I was knocked out just to get out of it. I mean, seriously, how does someone go on for three hours on the merits of being orderly and on time?"

Reaper then began to rant about how boring Arca's talks were, and how he wished he could just avoid them entirely. Arca didn't even bother answering, as he looked around the room, and realized that someone was missing. "Wait," he said, interrupting the little rant that Reaper was going on. " Where's Ghost?"

"I don't know." Reaper replied, halting in his rant. "She hasn't shown up yet. In fact, I'm not even sure she'll show up. You know how she is. For all we know, she simply—"

"I simply what, Reaper?" A voice called out from the corner of the room. Reaper let out a yelp, as he turned in his chair. Unfortunately, the chair was not meant to turn in the way he tried to turn, and ended up throwing him onto the floor. As Reaper looked up, trying to get himself off of the floor, he could see the cloak that Arca wears shaking slightly, as Arca tried to hide his laughter. A soft chuckle was also coming from the corner of the room. He glared at the corner that the chuckles were coming from, and said, "Ha ha, very funny Ghost. Laugh it up, as I'm not going to let that happen again."

The chuckling turned into light laughter, as Ghost replied, "That's what you said last time. What's going to stop it from happening again?"

As she said this, Ghost stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room. If Arca were to describe her, she would have to be described as a beautiful predator. Standing at 5"4', Ghost had a finely honed figure. A cloak covered her body, but Arca could make out the usual skin tight infiltration suit she usually wore, accompanied by various belts and harnesses. The only reason he knew of any of this was because of the times he sparred with her. He still remembered how many times they either tied, or one of them beat the other without even breaking a sweat. As for Ghost's face, it was unique. While her blond hair didn't stand out too much, especially with her fair facial figure, it was her eyes that were striking. As crimson red eyes looked around the room, Arca couldn't help but approve of her actions, sweeping the room quickly for any indications that they were being listened into. That was one of the many reasons he considered her a predator: always ready to pounce on any prey, she gave off the feeling of someone to remain cautious around.

Reaper finished placing everything back into their usual order, and said, "That incident happened because you decided that it was fun to spice up my tea, and then waited until I was about ready to strangle Arca, thinking that he had done it, when you decided to scare the crap out of me!"

Ghost simply chuckled, taking a seat next to the others. "Yes, I did do that." Her smirk widened, and she replied, "I regret nothing, and would do it again in an instant. After all, you've never been able to get me back for it."

Reaper began to sputter, as he responded, "T-t-that would have worked that one time, if Arca hadn't interrupted beforehand. I almost managed to nab your only—"

"Enough!" Arca shouted, gaining the attention of the two other individuals in the room. While it was nice to remiss about other times, they were here for a reason. That reason couldn't wait any longer. "As much as I'd like to simply relax and talk, we have to confirm some of our preparations. Ghost, have you managed to complete your objectives?"

Ghost nodded, her back straightening as she replied, "Yes sir. I've scouted out the locations of the other Thought Elevators, and have people we can trust keeping an eye on them. If there's any change, or V.V. tries to get a hold of any of them, they'll let us know. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out anything about the Directorate's current operations or development sites." Ghost sighed, as she rubbed her forehead. "They recently tightened up security on every one of their agents and facilities, making it too risky for me to get anyone into a good position to spy on them."

Arca nodded. "Understandable." He replied, drumming a gloved hand on the arm rest of the chair he was sitting on. "While unfortunate, we were at least partially expecting it. Reaper, what about you?"

Reaper took yet another sip from his tea, a frown on his face. "Similar to Ghost, in terms of success. I've been able to keep up the alias you made in the both the business world and the Britannian courts with a proxy agent, just like the you asked me to for the last few years. People in the business world are getting a bit antsy about not seeing the man they usually talk to, but that's about it. What I'm more worried about is the nobles in the Britannian courts. They're starting to ask questions, and I can't stall them from trying to find out more for much longer."

Arca simply nodded. While he hoped that it would be a little while longer before they started to ask questions, he couldn't say that this was entirely a surprise. If anything, he was just glad they held off for this long.

"As for the sites you asked for me to purchase, I've been partially successful." Reaper continued. "I've managed to get a few sites in the northern area of Area 2, as there hasn't been much development due to the conditions of the land up there. With no resources to really exploit, not many people had an interest in it. Unfortunately, those were the only sites I managed to get a hold of. The other sites we had in mind, while they seemed as if they would have no issue in acquiring, have recently become hotly contested due to other interests wanting it for themselves, along with recent discoveries of usable materials. The other available places don't suit the specifications you asked for. So, for now, we're stuck with only the places in Area 2."

Arca frowned when he heard the news. He had been hoping to acquire those sites without any issue. It would have been extremely beneficial to have them in the future. Luckily, it won't hinder them too much, just slow down their schedule a bit.

"Alright." Arca began, straightening his back a bit. "While I would have liked a bit more done, what you've done will help us immensely. Now, I believe we are ready to conduct the final preparations."

"The final preparations?" Reaper repeated, eyes having gone wide at the statement. "No offence, Arca, but are you absolutely sure that we're ready for that?"

"I have to agree with Reaper on this, sir." Ghost chimed in. "You said it yourself before, everything has to be just right in order for it to work. Are you certain that everything has been worked out properly?"

Arca just nodded, seemingly dismissing their concerns. "While I know what I said, and I know that you're worried, you have nothing to fear. I've made sure everything is in proper order. Everything will work, I can promise you that."

Reaper nodded, his face betraying his nervousness. "If you say it'll work, I'll believe you. But if this doesn't work, don't be blaming me for anything."

Arca scoffed, raising himself out of his chair. "As if I'd blame you. If anything goes wrong, it'll most likely be my fault." he replied

The two others followed suit, getting out of their chairs and following Arca. As they walked to another door in the room, Ghost asked, "Sir, if you really think that everything is ready, then I'll believe you. But the only question I have is how we'll be interacting with him when he's brought over."

Arca, as he reached the door and began to open it, looked at Ghost and said, "We'll deal with that when we reach it." As he said this, the door was opened all the way, revealing a rectangular device, covered with wires entering and exiting it. Pipes connected to the device, disappearing into different points in the walls, an unknown liquid flowing through them. Three terminals were in front of the device, with wires on the ground in front of them.

As the three entered the room, they each went to one of the terminals, grabbing the wires and attaching the pads they were connected to onto different areas. Arca placed the wires above his heart. Ghost placed the wires on her forehead. Reaper placed the wires on his throat. Arca, once making sure that the others had attached their wires, gave a nod, which the others returned. Each of them closed their eyes, the only noise in the room being the faint humming of the device. Nothing seemed to be happening.

Then, one by one, a light began to glow at the areas the wires were attached to, and a symbol began to form. The sign of Geass, the sign of a Code Bearer, began to glow on the areas that each individual attached the wires to. Shortly after, a geass symbol formed on the device. A few moments later, Arca began to feel it. The machine began to send out pulses of energy. Starting out periodically, and rising in intensity and frequency, the machine began to pulse. The power of the Codes, harnessing both their connection to C's World and the innate power of the Thought Elevators, began to enhance the sheer power of the machine to unfathomable levels. Soon, the pulses became constant, occurring rapidly and without pause, and the area began to rumble.

As the device activated, only one thought went through Arca's head. One thought that he was banking the future of everyone on. A hope, one that may yet fail.

"Let's hope this works."

He expected to feel pain.

That was the strangest thing about it all. He anticipated pain, anger, even regret for all the actions he could have done differently, better, and without all of the pain he caused. But instead, he felt nothing. He should have expected this, he mused. When Shepard shot him, he thought the pain would be agonizing. But it wasn't. In fact, he felt none at all. Probably the Indoctrination suppressing his feelings, he supposed. It would make sense as to why he didn't feel anything.

While Jack Harper laid against one of the supporting pillars of the Citadel, he began to ponder his decisions as he took his final breaths. Could he have done something different? Something that could have left him and many others alive? Could he have done something to prevent his Indoctrination, and prevent his turn against the very people he founded Cerberus to protect? Perhaps he would never know. It would be a suitable punishment, dying without ever knowing if something could have been done differently. Without ever seeing if Shepard was successful. Without ever seeing the fate of the Reapers.

As his body slowly failed him, he turned his head to the sky of the Citadel, the emitters simulating a sky having been destroyed in battle. Now, nothing was left except for a view of the Widow Nebula, as many other ships combatted the Reapers defending the Citadel. It was ironic, he mused, that the organization he created to ensure human supremacy and fight off aliens ended up being forced to obey the orders of an alien. It wasn't even that he hated aliens, as he had met a few that he had pleasurable experiences with. It was simply a tool he used to raise support to help him combat the very real fear of humanity becoming slaves in all but name to the Citadel Council. That, and the fear of what laid behind the Indoctrination devices.

Soon, he mused. Soon, everything will be over. Shepard will have stopped the Reapers, Humanity will rebuild, and soon, the galaxy will be back to normal. In fact, if anything, the Reapers will have made it so Humanity will have to be relied upon more heavily to aid in the rebuilding of the Council. That thought brought a smile to his face, as he closed his eyes for the final time.

With that last thought, The Illusive Man completely let go, and his body began to die. At long last, The Illusive Man, Jack Harper, died.

At least, that's what was supposed to happen.

With a sudden jolt, Harper screamed out, his body trembling in agonizing pain. He began to thrash about, as if battling an unseen foe. Eventually, the screaming stopped as Harper fell unconscious. If anyone was observing him, they would have noticed a strange symbol glowing in the air in front of him. A symbol that looked like a bird in flight. Shortly after the symbol appeared, a bright flash of light could be seen. Once the flash subsided, one detail would become clear. A detail that many would wonder about in the following years.

The body of Jack Harper was gone, and in it's place was the same symbol that could be seen in the air. One that no one would be able to understand the importance of.

No one in this universe, at least.

As the pulses from the device began to slow down, the three individuals began to pant in exhaustion. Even though no physical energy was expended, utilizing their Codes in this manner was exhausting. As the device began to power down, Reaper looked at Arca, and asked, "Did it work?"

Arca just looked over at Reaper, his arms on the console to stabilize himself, and replied, "I don't know."

Reaper just looked incredulously at Arca. "What do you mean, you don't know?!" he shouted.

Arca raised a hand to forestall any arguments. "What I mean is we won't know until we actually go and look. I never expected him to be near the Thought Elevator or in C's World. In fact, I tried to aim his entrance to one of the empty ICU rooms in the hospital that we own. Even if we had got him here, it would be a bit suspicious if we came with another person out of the Thought Elevator. Two others will already be strange enough. An extra person, unconscious unconscious even, would raise too many suspicions. "

Reaper slowly nodded, understanding what Arca was getting at. "So then," he slowly replied, "guess we'll have to head over there?"

"Yes." Arca replied. He looked at the two others, and said, "Alright, we'll exit out of the Kamine Island Thought Elevator. It's the closest Thought Elevator to mainland Britannia that's not under guard already by V.V. and the Directorate."

The other two nodded in agreement with Arca's assessment. Arca then turned to Ghost and asked, "Will your assets be able to handle themselves for a while?"

Ghost huffed, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Of course they can." she replied. "What, do you think I don't know how to choose people who can follow simple orders?"

Arca simply began to walk out the door as the other two followed him. "Of course not. I'm completely confident in your abilities to choose individuals. I simply want to make sure that nothing goes horribly wrong in this situation. Things are fragile enough as it is."

As they walked out of the Thought Elevator, the Codes of Reaper and Ghost began to glow. As Arca reoriented himself with his body in the real world, he observed the elevated area he was standing on. The bodies of his allies began to materialize on the platform, being transported from their respected Thought Elevators covertly. The pulses normally associated with it were being masked by the efforts of all three Code Bearers. Why did they mask the pulses? The answer was simple. Arca could not afford V.V. or the Emperor finding out about his actions. Not yet. Not until it was too late would they learn the truth about what was yet to come. Maybe, just maybe, there might be some hope for everyone. As they walked away from the platform and out of the entrance of the Thought Elevator, the symbol of Geass that formed on the wall and platform slowly faded away. Now, nothing was left to indicate that anything had been there in the first place. The silence returned, leaving the ruins in the state they had experienced for countless years.

When the sailor returned to the island, he was surprised to see that there were two other individuals with the man he had brought to the island. Were they the reason why he came here? But then, why didn't he see any traces of other vessels when he landed? The sailor was about to ask the man about it when Arca handed the sailor a set of bills in his local currency. He told the sailor that, if he kept quiet about the trip and took the others with him back to Japan without any trouble, he would be paid extra. The sailor accepted the money as he realized it was best not to ask any questions. After all, why give up the chance to make more money than he usually makes in a year? So the sailor set course for Japan, taking along his passengers. Once they arrived at the shore, Arca thanked the sailor as he and his group left to the nearest airport to catch a flight to the Britannian mainland.

In the next few days they would see what would change, Arca mused. Even if things didn't work out, he would find some way to succeed in his objectives. No matter what.

He expected something different.

That was the first thought that went through Harper's mind. After that excruciating amount of pain he felt, he expected to feel nothing: to no longer think, to no longer exist. What he didn't expect was to be feeling as if he were floating in nothing but a void of space. To him, something felt off.

For a brief moment, when he felt that pain just before he fell unconscious, he saw the symbol that was in the air in front of him. That symbol of a bird in flight. What did it mean? Why was it there? Was it part of the reason he was not simply gone from all existence? Whatever it was, it didn't matter. For him, he simply accepted it. He was dead, so what did it matter? Perhaps this was all just an illusion, an after effect of Indoctrination to torture him before his consciousness completely faded. Perhaps it was all just one more form of torture inflicted by the Reapers, to torment him before he passed away.

As he continued to think on that train of thought, he began to hear something. A faint beeping could be heard, almost inaudible to him. He latched onto it immediately, as it served as a line to try and figure out what was happening. Most people would have simply left it alone, as they would have believed that it was a trap laid out by the Reapers. But not Harper. For Harper, he needed to know. He needed to know what was happening, if this was a form of torture by the Reapers or something else. Perhaps that symbol was an illusion. Perhaps his body held on just long enough for the Alliance to get hold of his body and get him to a hospital. If that was the case, he would most likely be facing charges for his crimes. But at this point he didn't care. He just needed to know whether he was being trapped by the Reapers or if he was finally free.

As he pulled his mind towards the noise, it began to grow louder. As he did that however, it began to get more and more difficult to pull his mind towards it. As he forced himself to get closer to the sound, he began to hear voices. At first they were unintelligible, but soon they became clearer, and he could make out what was being said.

"Doctor, his vitals are spiking!"

"What?! Arca said that he shouldn't be up for at least a week!"

"I-I-I don't know sir! All I know is that his vitals are spiking!"

Harper began to force his consciousness forwards, trying to get his body to respond to his commands. As he fought for control, he slowly began to feel his body again. He immediately winced as he began to feel the pain he was in.

"Sir, heart rate is 160 bpm and rising! Blood pressure is exceeding the safe zone!"

"Get me a sedative Nurse! Also get the painkillers! If his system is acting up like this, it's quite likely that he'll be feeling extreme pain right now if he's even semi-conscious!"

After regaining feeling in most of his body, Harper forced his eyes to open. He immediately winced, the light being blindingly bright to him. As he adjusted to the light in the room, he could slowly make out the shape of two individuals: a man and a woman. Obviously they were the Doctor and Nurse that he heard talking.

"D-Doctor! I-I think he's awake!" the woman shouted.

"Give me that sedative and the painkillers now!" the Doctor bellowed. "His system hasn't healed enough for him to be conscious! He could accidentally harm his system to an irreparable state if he isn't sedated!"

As the Nurse gave the sedative to the Doctor, Harper took notice of a few things. The first was there were no holograms usually associated with an Alliance or Council medical facility. Nor did the doctor seem to have an Omni-Tool. The place he was in now looked nothing like any medical facility the Alliance, Council, or even Cerberus had. The only thought that came to Harper's mind as the Doctor began to inject the sedative was, "Where am I?"

As the sedative began to take effect, Harper began to slowly lose consciousness again. The last thing he heard from the Doctor was, "Keep an eye on him in case this happens again. We don't want him harming himself. Also, inform Arca of this development immediately. He'll want to know about this."

Just before he fell unconscious, he couldn't help but feel that something was about to happen to him. What it was he didn't know. But whatever it was, he did not have a good feeling about it. Harper, for the second time in his recent memory, fell unconscious due to circumstances out of his control.

Soon, Harper would wake to the world. For better or for worse, The Illusive Man would live on. Even if he didn't know where he was, he would live. He didn't know what had happened since the events on the Citadel, but he would soon be able to find out.

Little did he know that nothing would be the same when he woke up.

AN: There we go! The first chapter of The Illusive Knight is now finished! I really hope that you liked the chapter, as this is my first time writing a full fledged story like this. Please rate and review, as that would be greatly appreciated. If you notice any errors, please let me know, and I'll modify them as soon as I can.

So, this is going to be an interesting one to say the least. The Illusive Man in the Code Geass universe. I can tell you right now, if the story pans out in writing as it has been panning out in my head, then it is going to be quite interesting for me to write. Hopefully, it'll be interesting for all of you as well. I got the idea for this story after reading Living an Indoctrinated Dream by Aberron, and A Cold Calculus by Z98. If you haven't read those stories, then go check them out. They're extremely well written, and are just great reads overall.

Basically, the idea came after a binge read over the period of a few days of reading those stories, as I couldn't put them down and had the time to spare. I started to think about what would happen if the two universes clashed. While I know there are some Code Geass and Mass Effect crossovers out there, and a couple of really good ones as well, I realized that there was no stories about what would happen if someone came from one into the other. When I read these stories, the idea came to me that it would be interesting to see what would happen if The Illusive Man was transported into the Code Geass universe. The idea of transporting The Illusive Man had two reasons behind it. The first was how different things could be with someone as intelligent as The Illusive Man thrown into another world, and attempting to change it, demonstrated by Aberron's story in how The Illusive Man is sent back in time to a period of his life before most of the events in the Mass Effect timeline occurred. The second reason is that I really wanted to explore The Illusive Man's character when it's not shaped simply by Mass Effect's story repeating, but when it's changed by the Code Geass universe, along with the changes The Illusive Man would have on the Code Geass timeline. I don't know how it'll pan out, but thank you, Aberron, for not only giving me the idea to send The Illusive Man into the Code Geass universe, but for a great read overall.

As for why I listed A Cold Calculus, it can be partially seen in this chapter on how I'm changing how Geass, Codes, and the World of C works. While I will be making it unique to a way I feel happy with, A Cold Calculus is what cemented the idea of changing how Geass works in this story. Honestly, I don't expect the change to be as good or as solidly implemented as Z98's changes, but I hope that they'll at least prove interesting enough. Again, thanks for the great story and the idea Z98.

So, who are Reaper, Ghost, and Arca? What are their objectives? How does Arca seem to know exactly who The Illusive Man is? Well, you'll find out as the story goes on. If any of you have any guesses, let me know! I'm curious to see if anyone can get close to what I've planned for aspects of the story. Again, I really hope that all of you like the story. You will not believe how nervous I am posting this, as I've never done anything like this before.

So, that's it for this Authors Note. I hope all of you who read this had a good time, and I wish you all a good day.

Signing off.

Gammatron942