~Chapter Eight: Zero's Identity~

"It's so great to see you again, little brother."

"Odysseus… You actually believe somebody like me could be Zero?"

"Well, I can't say. It's quite mysterious how my said-to-be-deceased brother is now living, though. It's also mysterious how our father had his eye on you since the 'death' of Zero."

"How are you going to decide if I'm Zero or not? What is the proof that I'm even connected to all of this?"

"Well, we have somebody here who can testify against you…" a smile grew on Odysseus' face from saying this. "Uncle, please come forth."

Lelouch's heart began to race. A door behind the emperor swung open and a small boy with long, blonde hair walked out and a familiar symbol across his forehead. In fact, it was the same symbol C.C. had across hers.

"Lelouch, it saddens me to know the truth about you," the small boy said.

"Damn you, V.V.! What did you tell Odysseus? You were supposed to remain loyal to my father, so what the hell did you tell him!" Lelouch, who was on his knees in front of the emperor with his hands chained behind his back, yelled.

"Don't be so hot-headed. I haven't told him anything yet. I thought it'd be more fun to tell him while you were in the room."

"Don't… Please, don't!" Lelouch was panicking at the thought of all his secrets being told.

"Why don't we start with your power? Yea, that's a good place to start." V.V. turned away from Lelouch and towards the emperor. "You see, Odysseus, Lelouch carries a special power called Geass. Do you remember the panic in Shinjuku way back when?"

Odysseus nodded.

V.V. continued, "Lelouch, here, was caught up in the mess. The truck the Black Knights stole that was carrying 'poisonous gas' actually carried a girl who is much like me. We create contracts with others, giving them powers beyond belief. Lelouch came in contact with the girl from the terrorist's truck and obtained Geass.

"From there, he took up the name Zero and became the leader of the Black Knights, using his power to bend the mind of others in order to gain what he wants… He's using Geass and the persona called Zero in order to exact revenge on his father and Britannia, as well as to free Japan from our grasp."

Odysseus had a shocked look on his face. "Geass, hmm? Well, this all makes sense now… I mean, how could one little boy do so much damage to a country without the help of the supernatural? V.V., can he show me his power? It's all quite unbelievable."

"He's blocking his Geass at the moment. Lelouch," V.V. turned back to Lelouch now. "Why don't you try your power here and show the emperor how you've attained such the status as a terrorist leader?"

"What the hell are you talking about, V.V.? I don't know what this 'Geass' is, and I know damn well who I am… and I am NOT Zero!" Lelouch still refused to confess, even though he was powerless in his current state.

"Hmm? Oh, then why don't I just remove those contacts our friend C.C. gave you?" V.V. walked up to Lelouch and grabbed his head. Lelouch tried to close his eyes to prevent the contacts from being taken out, but V.V. held his eyes open and removed them. "Behold emperor…"

Odysseus rubbed his chin as he stared at Lelouch's glowing eyes. "Are you going to try it out on me? What is it this Geass allows you to do, exactly?"

Lelouch began to laugh. "Why don't I show you, my brother?" Lelouch jumped to his feet and knocked V.V. over with his shoulder.

A guard came running towards Lelouch, but Lelouch stared in to the guard's eyes and said, "Lelouch vi Britannia commands you: kill the emperor!"

The guard stopped. "Yes, My Lord!" He then aimed his rifle at the emperor.

Before the guard could fire, there was a red flash. He stopped and shook his head, then mumbled, "What the hell… just happened?"

The guard turned back to Lelouch and attempted to detain him. "I command you to kill the emperor, I said!" Lelouch yelled. There was another flash of red, and the guard stopped.

"I know it all along…" said Cornelia as she walked out of the door V.V. had come from. "Don't you remember? I found out your identity long ago…"

"Damn it… Just as I thought, you have a Geass Canceller." Lelouch grit his teeth as he thought of a way out of the situation.

"Lelouch, no… Zero, I told you I'd kill you by my own hand once I proved who you were. I'm sticking to my word!" Cornelia suddenly lunged at Lelouch as she unsheathed her sword. Lelouch quickly attempted to dodge the attack, but his chest was cut open. It wasn't a deep wound, but it tore his uniform and he began to bleed. "You don't have your Black Knights to save you now, Zero! Nobody knows you're here except those in the room right now! You're finished!"

Lelouch attempted to dodge her attacks, but he kept getting cut. "Why are you doing this! Don't you see that Britannia is the true enemy here! I know you've seen if with your own eyes!" Lelouch tried to reason.

"Quit preaching that Black Knights' bullshit! To me, you're just the bastard-child who's only out for revenge… You're but a filthy traitor!" Cornelia thrust her sword at Lelouch, but this time he was able to completely dodge it.

I got lucky… but damn, she's way too fast! Help me… Somebody, help me! Lelouch thought to himself.

"Sister, don't you think it'd be more appropriate for somebody like Zero to have a public execution? I'm sure if the people saw him without his mask and then killed, the Black Knights would be sure to give up," Odysseus tried to reason.

"Don't you see, you fool! He doesn't deserve to be executed! He deserves to be murdered like how he murdered Clovis, Euphemia, our father… and even his own blood-brother, Rolo!"

"Perhaps it's true he murdered Clovis and Euphemia, but Father and Rolo's murders haven't been found yet," Odysseus added.

Cornelia became irritated. "Who the hell else would kill them! Zero has both the reason and the power to murder them!"

Lelouch, who was leaning against the wall from exhaustion and pain, began laughing. "You want to know the truth? Do you! I admit it! I'm Zero! I killed my siblings and brutally murdered my father! Are you happy now?" Lelouch continued to laugh. "Even though I tell you this now, it'll be useless information to you in a little bit…"

"How do you mean useless?" Odysseus asked.

"You overlooked one thing: I'm what you refer to as a terrorist! I have minions in all nooks and crannies in this God-forsaken country! I'll bet you that somebody's going to burst through that door any minute now and kill you all…" Lelouch cringed from the pain he felt from the cuts. "How dare you underestimate my power…" He coughed again and slid to the floor, panting. "I really didn't want to spill anymore of my family's blood, but looks like I'm going to have to…"

Cornelia approached the pitiful Lelouch and poked at his chest with her sword. "Quit talking like you're so tough… Why is it that the one who's about to be defeated has to die while acting smug? I don't get it at all. But, act as smug as you want, because you're dead, Lelouch… This is for everything you've done to this world!"

Odysseus stopped Cornelia before she could plunge her sword into Lelouch's chest. "Sister, stop this now! Zero needs an honest trial! Killing him like this makes us no better than him!"

Before Cornelia could even think about Odysseus' words, the two large doors to the throne room were thrust open. Two men who had been guarding the door outside dropped to the ground. Blood soaked their uniforms, and sticking from their throats: kunai-knives.

Lelouch laughed under his breath. "You really should have killed me when you had the chance. It's too late, now."

"What the hell is this, Zero!" Cornelia yelled as she attempted to bring her sword down on Lelouch again. Suddenly, there was a whistling noise, and Cornelia screamed. "What-!" She felt her arm to find a kunai stuck in it. "Who's there! Who is it that dares to interrupt official, royal business! I'll have you…" she was cut off by two other kunai, which both stuck into her stomach, splattering blood across the floor. She fell to her knees and swore under her breath.

Odysseus began to sweat as a shadowy figure entered the room. Her appearance showed when she entered into the light. "Sayoko… You don't know how glad I am to see you…" Lelouch said, grimacing from his wounds.

"I would never let you die, Lelouch… You know that. I swore on my life to protect you and your sister." Sayoko said in a sweet tone.

"Guards, kill this intruder!" Odysseus yelled out. However, only two people entered, and they weren't guards.

"What've you gotten yourself into this time, Lelouch?" one of them said. It was Jeremiah Gottwald.

The other one spoke up, saying "I hope you know how big of a risk I've taken to save your ass…" It was Villetta, another Britannian who joined Zero under a forced condition that wasn't caused by Geass. "I can't believe you convinced Orange Boy to join the Black Knights, by the way."

"Damn you! Quite calling me that! It's not funny anymore! Agh-… it was never funny in the first place, either!" Jeremiah cried.

"Jeremiah and Villetta… You're traitors as well?" Cornelia asked as she struggled to stand up. "The bastard Lelouch obviously didn't use his Geass on you, because you have a Geass Canceller as well, I see…"

"You're right, my sweet Viceroy! I've sworn my loyalty to the Black Knights, because I've found out the truth behind Marianne vi Britannia's death. She was assassinated by the late emperor, and once Lelouch told me about the depressing truth, I had no reason to fight for your damn country!" Jeremiah explained.

"Are you going to kill us?" Odysseus asked.

Lelouch struggled back to his feet before anybody could answer. "No, we will not. I would like to, but it'd be pointless bloodshed if I had you killed. Sayoko, if you would please take Cornelia back to headquarters and have the device connected to her eye removed, I would be pleased."

"Yes, Lelouch…" Sayoko said. She approached Cornelia, who still couldn't stand despite her effort, and took her out of the building.

"Now, Jeremiah, please take my uncle, V.V., and hold him as I erase Odysseus' memory…" Lelouch was now speaking with his powerful voice as if he was Zero again. He walked up to his brother, who sat on the throne, and smiled. "My dear Odysseus… It's too bad you'll never remember the day you almost caught the leader of the Black Knights… Now," the light in Lelouch's eyes became even more intense, "you will destroy any and all evidence that Lelouch vi Britannia or Lelouch Lamperouge is linked to the Black Knights in any way, and you will forget this encounter and all knowledge of me completely!"

Lelouch's eyes flickered in the light as he commanded the emperor. Odysseus said, "Of course, My Lord!" He then stood up and left through the door in the back of the room.

Now turned towards V.V., who Jeremiah was holding still, Lelouch smiled devilishly as he spoke. "I've got something worse in store for you, my uncle… You will never see nor walk ever again, just as my father commanded my sister!" His eyes flashed and V.V.'s body went limp, his eyes closing as well.

"You can't kill me, so you stoop down to as low as your father's level… You remind me so much of him. It's a shame you didn't take my Code instead…" V.V. said. "We could have been partners and accomplish what your foolish father could not."

"I don't need your damn Code, you bastard… I already have somebody whose contract needs to be fulfilled. For helping my father attain his goal, this is what you truly deserve… Dying would be too sweet… May you never see this beautiful earth again, my uncle…" Lelouch took his contacts from V.V. back and put them in his eyes. "Jeremiah, will you take V.V. back to the base and make sure he's locked in the lowest and harshest part of our prison? I want him to rot for eternity there… You know, he is also responsible for my mother's death… Now, I need you to take me back, too, so I can get patched up."

Jeremiah smiled, "What! He deserved far worse than what you've given him… I say we chop him to pieces and force him to live for an eternity without his limbs!"

Lelouch gave Jeremiah a stern look. "Excuse me, Orange Boy?" Jeremiah smiled. "I mean… Of course, Zero!" They left the room with Jeremiah dragging V.V. by the hair. "I'm going easy on you, V.V. I'll be glad to kick your immortal-ass right here and now…"

"Master Zero," somebody said from behind the door to Lelouch's office, "the device connected to Cornelia's eye has been disassembled as you've asked."

"Good, good. May I speak with her alone?" Zero asked.

"Of course, Zero. She may be groggy from the sedatives, but you can if it's what you wish."

Zero stood up, gripping his chest as his wounds sent a shock of pain throughout his body. Damn it… I really need to learn how to fight…

Zero entered the operating room where he found Cornelia laying on a bed. She turned to look at him and he noticed a bandage wrapped around the half of her head where the Geass Canceller had been. "What do you want? Why don't you just kill me?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"I don't want to kill you… I mean that. I don't want to kill any more of my own family," Zero replied.

"How can you live with yourself after all you've done?"

"I just imagine the world I'm going to create, where Britannia is destroyed and its tyranny is stopped. And, you're wrong… It's more than revenge I'm after," he explained. "I've gotten the revenge on my father for what he's done to Nunnally and me, but I'm not stopping until Britannia is completely wiped off the face of this planet. I promised myself that I'd use my power to create a safe world for Nunnally to live in..."

Cornelia sneered at Lelouch. "Tch, how sweet… What about Odysseus?"

"What about him?"

"Did you allow him to live?"

"Yes, but I completely erased his memory of today. Nobody that's a threat to me will know my true identity anymore."

"I honestly don't care if you kill anybody else… I don't see any of the children of our father as siblings, anyways… except for Euphie." Cornelia turned her head away from Lelouch.

"Cornelia … I want you to know that killing Euphemia was a mistake…" Zero said in a sad voice.

"What do you mean by 'a mistake?'"

Lelouch began to explain what had happened, but Cornelia interrupted. "I don't want to know why you killed her… The fact is that you did kill her. Even if you didn't mean to, I still won't stop until you are dead."

"I'm not trying to get your forgiveness, Cornelia. I just thought you should know the truth."

"Why would I believe anything a terrorist tells me?"

"Because we're siblings, remember?"

Cornelia couldn't find anything else to say. Zero finished by saying, "Again, I'm not looking for forgiveness, but I'm sorry things turned out this way…" Before he could get a response, Lelouch left the infirmary and back to his office.

"How did it go?" C.C. asked as Zero entered, taking off his mask.

Lelouch put on a spare uniform that he pulled out of the closet. "It doesn't matter. She's the enemy and she'll remain the enemy."

"I see," C.C. said before taking a bite of pizza. "Lelouch, will you answer a question for me?" she asked.

Lelouch put Zero's outfit away. "What is it?"

"Why is it you've changed so much in the last couple of weeks? It's almost like you've become a totally different person."

"Is that bad?"

"I'm not sure yet. You just seem… different."

"It doesn't matter, okay? I'm still the same me as I've always been." Lelouch wondered if she could really tell something different about him. Should I tell her everything? I mean, she's the whole reason I'm able to do any of this at all… Maybe I'll tell her later... For now, I have to get back to Ashford Academy before people start thinking I've gone missing.

"LULU!" Shirley exclaimed as she tightly squeezed Lelouch.

"Ow-ow-ow…! I'm sorry, Shirley… I'm a little scraped up…" he explained.

"I'm so sorry! I was just so worried, Lulu! I told Sayoko what happened and she ran out of the building without even saying anything…"

"So, you were really the one who saved me then? Thanks for getting Sayoko. If you hadn't done that, I would have been dead for sure…"

Shirley blushed. "Y-…You're welcome… By the way, Rivalz is wondering where you are. He texted me, but I told him I didn't know…"

"Well, I'll be sure to see him later."

"But… What about the Black Knights? Doesn't the emperor know your identity? What are you going to do?"

Lelouch smiled. "Don't worry, don't worry. I erased everybody's memory and had the Geass Canceller removed from Cornelia's eye. As long as somebody else isn't equipped with one of those and I don't know about it, I'll be fine."

Shirley smiled brightly, but her smile quickly turned into a scowl. "By the way, Lulu… You still owe me a date!"

-End Chapter-

Author's note: Woo! Two chapters in one week! Lucky you ;P Keep writing your reviews as usual, and I'll brainstorm more chapters. I actually have a lot of material I can use for chapters to come. I've finally gotten V.V. out of the way, which is a plus :T Especially V.V., because he hasn't even made an appearance until now! But, now he's gone ^-^

Look forward to the next chapter! :U