Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass or Kingdom Hearts and other series mentioned in this crossover; they all belong to their respective owners.

A/N: My newest crossover with an estimated eighteen chapter length and a Christmas present I am putting out with this fic serving as a prelude for a much larger story. A radical alternate universe for Code Geass Season one and Kingdom Hearts… Please enjoy.

*Special Thanks to Epic Ebi for the beta/clean-up work on the chapter*

Chapter 1

It begins with Zero

A gentle, warm wind was blowing as a lone figure was sitting on top of a giant clock tower with two large bells hanging from giant arms on the sides of the tower's roof. The Clock Tower was Twilight Town's most distinctive landmark; a world set in an endless sunset, genuinely befitting a world that was in between light and darkness.

The lone figure sitting on the edge of the clock tower above the giant clock's face was seventeen years old, approaching eighteen. The teenager was wearing a tight dark purple suit with golden stripes and long, wrapped sleeves. The outfit combined Victorian fashion with that of a sleek bodysuit, elegant but practical. Worn over it is a black and gold cloak with crimson spandex on the inside and an enormous black cape encircling the head and black leather gloves.

Lelouch vi Britannia sat on the edge of the clock tower, looking at the sun that's remained locked in the same position for a while eating Sea-Salt Ice Cream with his right hand. In his left, he held onto a reserve ice cream bar for someone else he was expecting. Sitting beside him on the right was his trademark mask: the mask of Zero.

The young prince was alone on the ledge for a few minutes until someone else arrived dressed in a black cloak with a hood covering their head and silver drawstrings. Lelouch looked over his shoulder seeing the visitor…he knew who she was as he offered the extra ice cream he had been holding. She took it before taking a seat next to him.

"I was worried when I heard you were captured," Lelouch said to the hooded figure.

"Don't worry. I am not something Xemnas would quickly execute," the young female voice answered to the former prince as she takes the offered treat.

"I can't be sure of that."

"Heh…"

"So what happens now, Xion?"

"Well…" Xion began, but her voice stopped before she could form the rest of her sentence. "Do you remember when you received the Keyblade? Why did the Keyblade choose you?"

Lelouch was a little surprised by the sudden subject change, but nevertheless, he saw no harm in trying to answer her question, although the complete answer wasn't one-hundred percent clear to him.

"I remember that time when I received the power of the Keyblade..." Lelouch began.

(Eight Years Ago: August 19th, 2010 A.T.B.)

It was a bright summer afternoon in Japan, somewhere near Mt. Fuji. A trio of children was heading into a small cave found at the base of a small hill. Two boys, both same ages, entered the cave. One with short brown hair and green eyes entered the cave first, while the second boy was pushing a seven-year-old girl sitting in a wheelchair through the cave's opening. Surprisingly, the cave entrance was large enough to allow them to gain easy access. The children eventually reached the end of the cave where they found an ancient wooden door at the end of the tunnel.

"What is it?" The black haired youth asked.

"I don't know. I found it yesterday. While the war is going on, we can hide here." The brown-haired boy replied.

"I guess we could for a little while."

"Brother, are we going to be here for awhile?" The little girl asked.

"For now, but don't worry." The black hair boy said, but his attention was on the door in front of him. Something about it was drawing him to it. "Hey Suzaku, did you open that door?"

"I tried opening it, but I could never get it to open," the boy named Suzaku answered.

"I see." The young black-haired boy approached the door, but as he drew closer, a golden keyhole appeared on the door.

"What the...?" Suzaku muttered.

The young boy placed both hands on the door. His curiosity got the better of him as he, much to his surprise and Suzaku's, managed to open the door with little difficulty. But their awe turned into terror as a powerful suction effect grabbed the black-haired youth, trying to pull him in. Suzaku managed to grab onto a thick tree root from the ceiling, but the girl in the wheelchair was pulled in with nothing to grab onto.

"Help me, brother!" The girl cried as her older brother tried to grab her, but sadly his remaining hand wasn't enough to hold both of them as the darkness within the door sucked them in before slamming shut, leaving Suzaku alone.

"LELOUCH…NUNNALLY!"

A short time later in the middle of a seemingly endless void, a young child who appeared to be of at least ten years old, was slowly stirring to awareness. He was wearing a simple short-sleeve collar shirt with tan shorts and possessed short black hair, a fair skin complexion, and amethyst eyes.

As he awoke, his vision was blurry at first, but soon his sight cleared, giving the child the chance to look around and observe his surroundings. As he struggled to his feet, he saw that he was lying on a large circular platform with a stain-glass-like surface that holds a portrait of a beautiful woman with long flowing brown hair, dressed in the white royal garments identical to a European suit lined with gold.

The young boy examined the portrait and saw behind her, well standing in its hand, was a recognizable giant machine with a gold background behind it with roses making up the border of her portrait.

Mother...?

The child rose to his feet dusting himself off while trying to figure out where he was. "Hello; is anyone out there?" The little boy shouted into the dark void. "Where am I?"

"There is so much we must do, young man, But here in this place, we have time so don't be hasty," A voice called out.

"Who are you? I demand an answer!" Lelouch vi Britannia shouted.

". . .Step forward." The voice commanded before three trapezoid shaped pedestals materialized ahead of Lelouch, each one displayed a different weapon. The first pedestal on the left had a staff with a star on top, in the middle was a sword, while the last pedestal bore a shield with spikes on it. "Power sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly as I said it; choose well."

Lelouch looked at each weapon curiously before stepping forward to examine them more closely. As he stepped towards the staff, the voice spoke again.

"Power of the mystic; inner strength, a staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?"

The child stepped back deciding to check all of his other choices by checking the sword next.

"The power of the warrior; invincible courage, a sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?"

Lastly, Lelouch checked the shield.

"The power of the guardian; kindness to aid friends, a shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek?"

Lelouch stepped back and considered his choices.

"Take your time, young man. But know that there is one of these three powers you'll have to give up in exchange." Lelouch didn't quite understand what the voice meant, but after some consideration, the Lelouch took the staff from the pedestal.

"Now choose the power you must give up."

Lelouch picked the shield.

"You have chosen the power of the mystic and given up the power of the guardian. Is this the form you choose?"

"Do I have a choice? Then the answer is yes."

The glass platform shattered, sending Lelouch tumbling down into the dark abyss. After falling for a few minutes, he slowly landed on top of a new stain-glass platform. It had the portrait of a young girl with ash-blonde hair wearing a green and white dress, sitting in an elaborate wheelchair. Behind her was a field of beautiful sunflowers with pink roses decorating the edges of her portrait and green vines.

"Nunnally..." Lelouch muttered, recognizing his younger sister.

"You now have the power to fight!"

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! I NEED TO FIND MY SISTER!" Lelouch snapped.

"But beware: the closer you get to the light..." The voice continued seemingly uninterrupted.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?"

"...the longer your shadow becomes."

Suddenly, a small black inky creature appeared behind Lelouch with glowing yellow eyes, a pair of crooked antennas on top of its head. The presumed dead prince turned around, feeling something was wrong seeing the Heartless. The dark creature moved closer while acting cautiously with the young man before getting ready to pounce on the boy.

At that moment, the staff in Lelouch's hand began to glow as it transformed into a unique weapon, a hybrid of a key and a sword. Without even looking at the newly formed blade, Lelouch raised it up and cleaved the Heartless in two with one strike. Once the Heartless was defeated, he took a moment to examine the transformed weapon.

It was simple in appearance, but it was apparently a key-fashioned weapon similar to a sword. It was an unusual weapon; unlike anything, Lelouch had ever seen before. The blade in his right hand was a large classic skeleton key approximately 4.5 meters long, which possessed a four-inch-long silver Keychain extending from the polished black hilt, and a black Nobody token on the end of the Keychain. The blade and teeth of the Keyblade were silver, the rain guard was gold, but the teeth of the Keyblade form the outline of a crown.

What kind of weapon is this? Lelouch thought to himself.

"Keyblade..." The unknown voice spoke.

As Lelouch continued examining the blade, three more Heartless appeared; surrounding the young Keyblade wielder.

"Damn it!" The child cursed as he raised the Keyblade above his head. He rushed the first Heartless, killing it quickly before it had a chance. The other two were already converging on Lelouch, but the former prince evaded promptly by backing towards the edge of the platform behind him. One of the two Heartless leaped at him. Lelouch beheaded it with a well-timed cleave, while the third jumped towards him. However, Lelouch dodged it as the Heartless fell into the abyss behind him, sailing over the platform's edge.

"What the hell was those things?" Lelouch didn't quite comprehend entirely what just happened. Shadows moving on their own? It was absurd.

A moment later a large brown decorated door appeared in the center of the platform. Hoping for it to be a way out, Lelouch ran to the door, attempting to open it. But when he did that, a blinding light consumed Lelouch; instantly transporting him to another small pocket dimension where he found himself standing inside the old Aries Villa of the royal palace. He was standing in the middle of a beautiful rose garden with a round clearing in the heart of it. Seated on white chairs to his left, his right and directly in front of him were old friends from his memory.

To his left was a little nine-year-old girl wearing a bright orange dress with long pink hair and light amethyst eyes. To his right was a woman who was slightly older, but appeared to be at least in her early twenties or late teens with long purple hair and matching eyes, dressed in the uniform of a royal soldier. However, directly ahead of him was something he never thought he would see again. Sitting on a white chair, dressed in a white kimono with a blue hakama, befitting the style of someone dressing as a Shinto priest, was a young Japanese boy with short brown hair and green eyes.

Suzaku...

"The door will not open yet, but I wish to know more about you."

"Damn it, I don't have time for these games! I want answers!" Lelouch snapped, but the unknown voice didn't reply. After attempting to leave the small clearing he was in, Lelouch discovered some kind of unseen power was keeping him trapped in the area, so he had no choice but to play along.

"The day of destiny is both very far and very near for you."

"Stop talking in damn riddles!" Lelouch sighed heavily after there was still no reply. As he approached the young eight-year-old girl, Princess Euphemia, she asked Lelouch a question. "What are you afraid of?"

"What I am afraid of?" Lelouch retorted as he thought about the question. "I fear for Nunnally; my sister."

"Is that so scary?" The little girl said before fading away. With no other choice once again, Lelouch walked over the other woman: Euphemia's older sister, Cornelia.

The elder sister asked, "What do you want out of life?"

Lelouch took a few moments to consider an answer. "I don't know. I am living a lie?" Lelouch wasn't sure about his answer.

"Then speak with your heart, where your true self can be found within it."

Thinking on her words for a moment, Lelouch offered a new answer. "To have power so I can do more for my sister."

"Everything revolves around your sister, doesn't it?" Cornelia said before fading away, leaving one person left.

Without hesitation, Lelouch approached the ten-year-old Suzaku Kururugi.

"What is most important to you?" Lelouch's first real friend asked.

"Nunnally is the one who is important to me."

"Wow, you really care for your sister, don't you?" Suzaku said before fading away.

The voice spoke to him once again a moment later.

"You have chosen your form. Your journey will be beginning at dawn." Another blinding light overtook Lelouch as he reappeared atop of another stain-glass platform. But this time, the image of the platform showed a portrait of an older Euphemia with a field of pink roses behind her, wearing a royal and elegant white and pink dress with the border of her painting composed of pink roses. Red ribbons were linked to every rose in a double-helix pattern.

At that moment, five more Shadow Heartless appeared, once again surrounding Lelouch. The young exiled prince stood his ground, holding his Keyblade, ready for combat. This time, Lelouch didn't give the creatures a chance to attack first, as he moved in and quickly cut down the first Heartless before killing another one before the others could join in. As three more Heartless appeared to reinforce their fallen kin, Lelouch fought off the oncoming three dark creatures as one jumped at him. But despite Lelouch not being the athletic type, he had no problem dealing with the monsters; as long as he prevented them from surrounding him.

Bringing his Keyblade back around, Lelouch impaled another Heartless through the head before ripping the blade out of the dying creature, and cleaving through the second target, leaving Lelouch with the newly arrived three Heartless as they charged him. Moving to the left to maintain proper spacing between the trio of enemies, Lelouch swiped one of the three in the face, killing it. The second enemy attempted to avenge its fallen kin by jumping at Lelouch, who merely ducked to avoid the attack, quickly being struck down. The last Heartless that jumped over Lelouch was all that remained.

Turning around, Lelouch threw the Keyblade straight into the Heartless' head. This was when he discovered one ability of his weapon: he could summon it back into his hand by his own will. It was instinctive to him; he didn't have to think about it if he didn't want to.

"Well done. The door awaits you," The voice said as a stain-glass staircase appeared, leading across the black abyss to another station in the distance. With nowhere else to go, Lelouch made his way to the second platform, walking across the void via the stairs. But the minute both feet were planted upon the second platform, the stairs disappeared.

Taking a moment to gaze down at the portrait on the platform he was standing on now after wandering to the center of the station, he was shocked this time as he saw a picture of himself. It wasn't that of a child, but he was older and in a way that was both impressive and fearsome, while holding a mask under his left arm, with his right hand held over his nose, covering part of his right eye while his cape moving to the wind. But his left eye displayed an odd red light with a bird-like symbol in the middle. Behind him were destroyed buildings and the burning wreckage of destroyed Knightmare Frames. Unlike the other portraits, this one displayed him in an intimating light. The border of this portrait was made up of interconnecting versions of the symbol on his eye, and black chess pieces in-between the connected emblems, making up the border as well as the edges of the portrait.

"Is that me?"

"It is what you are meant to become," The voice replied as Lelouch's shadow grew longer until it began rising up from the ground behind him. As his enlarged shadow emerged from the ground its towering form cast a shadow over Lelouch, who at that moment realized the danger he was in. This Heartless was nothing like the shadows, but stronger and more dangerous. "But always remember: you have the strongest weapon of all."

"Oh crap!" Lelouch shouted as he narrowly dodged the Darkside's fist. Despite Lelouch's best attempts to cut away at the creature's hand, an explosion of dark energy knocked him back; giving the monstrous Darkside a chance to pin Lelouch to the ground with its other black hand, holding him in place as a vortex of dark energy opened up underneath his body.

The darkness began to consume him, but before fading out as the Darkside was looking straight at him, the voice spoke for the final time to him.

"Never forget you are the one… Who will change everything."

Everything went dark as Lelouch lost consciousness.

A/N: that is the first chapter and the reason I went with making Lelouch ten years old when he begins his journey was to give him plenty of time to better train and prepare himself as a Keyblade Wielder. I thought this way would be better than having to start off much later where he would be at a serve disadvantage given his lack of endurance among other physical issues.

I had considered rewriting it to begin later on after growing up a little bit, but I felt I should just follow through on what I have created.

As such I should offer a reminder that since Lelouch is ten years old I did design some of his remarks and comments to reflect his younger age since his current canon self was a result of experiences from the time he was a child to being the young man he grew into.

Enjoy…