Chapter 1: Rebirth

The year is 2018 of the Imperial Calendar. The Empire of Britannia has seized control of the entire world under the leadership of 99th Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia.

Lelouch sighed and looked up as his convoy continued its procession down the road. It was a cheerful sunny afternoom, a perfect contrast to the tragedy unfolding before him and his captive audience. By defeating his elder brother Schniezel El Brittania, Lelouch had taken control of the world's only stockpile of Field Limitary Effective Implosion Armaments (F.L.E.I.A's) and destroyed the last vestiges of organized resistance to his rule. Now all that stood between him and absolute victory was simply the execution of his enemies. Once the last remnants of the Black Knights were dead, Lelouch's victory would be perfect.

Or so it seemed to the world.

In reality, Lelouch knew that his "victory" was far from perfect. In fact, couldn't have possibly turned out worse. When this had all began, all Lelouch had wanted was to was create a better world for his sister Nunnaly to live in. For Nunally had been the only truly good thing Lelouch had in his life, the person who had mattered the most to him. She had always given him all her love and kindness, and he wanted to fulfill her greatest wish in return.

He glanced down at Nunnally, forcing himself not to flinch when she turned away from his gaze. He knew how she must see him now, how much she must hate him. Little over a year ago, he had been the center of his little sister's world, and today he was the tyrant who had sentenced her to death. When he had thought Nunnaly dead, he had intentionally donned the mask of a tyrant, a monster upon whose shoulders all the world's hatred could be focused. He could only hope that once this was all over and he was gone from this world, Nunnally would someday come to understand the truth, that everything he had done had been done for her.

'If only things had played out differently...' Lelouch thought.

He was snapped out of his somber train of thought when the procession suddenly came to a stop. "What is that?" Cried Jeremiah Gottwald.

'It's time...'

A lone figure blocked the path of the procession. Almost immediately the crowd recognized the figure as the self-proclaimed knight of justice, Zero. But like Lelouch's "victory", appearaces were decieving. Lelouch knew that beneath that ebon mask was really his childhood friend and rival Suzaku Kurrurugi. To bring peace and atone of his past Suzaku would kill Lelouch. Once he was dead, the whole world would come together to recover from his rule. For once, the nations of the world would commit to united collaboration, rater than competition with one another.

The knightmares guarding the convoy opened fire. Had the target of their fire been any ordinary man, he would've been torn to shreds in an instant. However, Suzaku was no ordinary man. The geass placed upon his mind forced him to survive, no matter the odds or circumstances. Suzaku dodged, his geass forcing his body to evade each shot with superhuman speed.

"Cease fire! I'll take care of this interloper!" Ordered the Knight of Orange as a hidden blade shot out of his sleeve.

Jeremiah charged forward, swinging his blade in an arc towards Suzaku. However, Suzaku's geass drove him on once again and he leapt over Jeremiah at the last moment. He continued forward, pushing himself off Jeremiah's back with his foot for momentum and launching himself into the air towards Lelouch's transport.

In an instant Suzaku leapt past Nunnaly, then Schniezel, then he was right in front of Lelouch, drawing his sword in preparation for the final blow.

"Impudent fool!" Lelouch shouted as drew his hidden firearm, playing the part of the tyrant until the last moment. Suzaku easily knocked away the firearm with his blade and prepared to drive the sword straight into Lelouch's heart. For a single moment, Lelouch allowed his mask to fall, and let Suzaku see his genuine smile of happiness as the sword entered his chest.

There was a great deal of pain, but really that was to be expected from a lethal stab wound. Lelouch was probably only still standing because the sword was still stuck in his chest, preventing him from bleeding out entirely. But even through the haze of pain, Lelouch forced himself to continue on, passing on a geass to Suzaku. "You will live on, always serving as a knight for justice and truth. You will no longer live your life as Suzaku Kurrurugi. You shall sacrifice the ordinary pleasure of life for the benefit of the benefit of the world for all eternity."

"This geass, I solemnly accept." Zero replied, and removed the sword from Lelouch's chest.

Lelouch unable to hold himself up any longer, Lelouch stumbled forward and tumbled down the ramp, sliding to a stop beside his sister. Lelouch was only vaguely aware of his surroundings now as the last of his lifeblood came pouring from his wound. He almost thought he heard his sister say she loved him, but he couldn't tell if that was real or merely a hallucination brought on by blood loss.

Lelouch spoke one last time, saying his last thoughts aloud.

"yes... I am the one who destroys worlds, and also creates them..."

And with that, Lelouch's vision began to blur, fading out further and further until he could see nothing at all.

The first thing Lelouch realized when his vision refocused he was he was not standing in an ivory palace above the clouds, nor was he in a plane of fire and brimstone surrounded by the screaming of the damned. Instead, he found himself standing in a filthy warehouse surrounded by dead bodies. He gasped in shock.

"What? How?"

What was going on? How the hell did he get from a parade float surrounded by an armed convoy to a warehouse God knows where? Possible scenarios began flowing through Lelouch's genius mind. Had everyone mistaken him for dead and just dumped his body somewhere as a final insult? No, that was preposterous. It was impossible for that many people to believe him to be dead. For a person of import such as he, there would have to be expert coroners who would examine his body and confirm his death. Then there was the matter of the Black Knights who knew about his Geass. No doubt they would've attempted to examine his body in order to find out exactly how the mysterious power they believed he'd used on them worked. Not like they would've had any results, but it was highly unlikely they would have just looked him over then dumped him somewhere.

That's when he saw the bodies. Dozens of Japanese and Brittanian corpses lay sprawled all over the floor of the warehouse covered in dirt and blood. Many of the bodies were riddled with holes, most likely shot with automatic weapons, Lelouch thought. He also noticed that the majority of the bodies were shot facing away from the door, like they were trying to run when they'd been gunned down.

As horrific as the scene before him was, all of Lelouch attention was soon drawn to the body laying at his feet.

A body with lime green hair…

"C.C!"

Lelouch knelt down to the "corpse" of his companion. He knew that C.C could never truly die, but that didn't explain how or why they were in the warehouse. Upon examining her "body" closer, realized that she had been shot in the middle of her forehead. The bullet appeared to still be lodged inside her head, which prevented major bleeding. However, it would also make it difficult for C.C to revive, her body having to first expel the foreign object.

"Troublesome witch," Lelouch muttered under his breath as he wiped a trickle of blood of C.C's face with the sleeve of his school unifo-

Wait.

Lelouch was dressed in his uniform from Ashford Academy. Not only was he wearing his uniform, he was also wearing his favorite pair of school shoes, a pair he had lost the day he met C.C when in the Shinjuku Ghetto. He'd had to leave them behind when he'd changed into that soldier uniform. He could tell it was the same pair because the left shoe had very faint tire marks on it from when Rivalz had absent-mindedly ran it over with his motorcycle one day when they were coming back from some gambling. Any suspicion that someone had set this up evaporated. There was no way any of his former subordinates could have created an elaborite setup with such a minute level of detail.

Lelouch undid the front of his uniform shirt, searching his chest for the wound where Zero stabbed him. He only saw that here was absoultely no trace of the lethal bounding whatsoever, meerly a couple fresh bruises. Brusies that Lelouch knew he had recived the day he got his geass when a Brittanian Commander had punched him in the gut.

'This can't be….'

There was only one explaination left in Lelouch's mind and that explanation sounded impossible. There was only one way to find out. Lelouch activated his geass. He could see from his reflection in the slowly growing pool of blood on the floor that his geass only manifested in one eye. Then he willed it to deactivate. It actually worked, and the glowing red sigil disappeared from his left eye, fading away as sudden as it had appeared.

'There's no way that could happen!'

Lelouch knew his geass was stuck in a permanently activated state, a side effect of use his geass multiple times. The only person Lelouch knew of who fully manifested and could still activate his geass at will was his father the Emperor, and Lelouch was sure that the man had never developed Geass Runaway. There was no possible way for Lelouch's geass to have somehow regressed. 'Unless…'

Before he could finish the thought, the wall in front of him exploded. Lelouch brought up his arms to shield his face as dust and wall fragments flew past him. A knightmare emerged from the hole. The massive cyclopean war machine activated its eye and began to scan the warehouse.

"What happened here boy? And why is there a Brittanian student in a place like this?" an imperious voice questioned from the knightmare. It was a voice that Lelouch knew all too well. Villetta Nu, Pureblood Knight of Brittania turned unwilling pawn to Zero. Lelouch could not respond, too lost in his thoughts as the reality of the situation dawned on him.

As ridiculous as it seemed, as impossible as it might have been, Lelouch had somehow been sent back in time.

It sounded impossible, but so did immortal witches that could bestow mind control powers when he though about it. "Answer me now!" Villetta demanded as she fired several warning shots from her rifle. Lelouch stood unfazed, already knowing that the shots would harmlessly fly just above his head. 'This will be easy,' Lelouch thought. 'Now, what was that trick I used on her again?'

"Please don't shoot! My name is Alan Spacer, my father's a duke." Lelouch said without a hint of dishonesty in his voice. "Nobility?" Villetta said aloud, clearly confused. "I can prove who I am. My I.D is in my breast pocket. Once you verify who I am, I'll request your protection." For a moment there was silence from the knightmare, then Lelouch heard the frame power down as Villetta emerged from the cockpit.

She drew a small firearm from a holster on her uniform and began to advance towards Lelouch. "Remain where you are. I'll take out your I.D myself." Lelouch smirked triumphantly as his geass activated. "Of course Ma'am, but I need you to do something for me first."

Villetta visibly relaxed as Lelouch overrode her mind, the arm holding the pistol fell limply to her side. "Of course milord, what do you require of me?" She said in a servile tone, in the voice one would use when speaking to a member of nobility. "First, I need your knightmare. Then I want you to forget ever seeing me here." Lelouch ordered. He didn't know exactly how Villetta had discovered where to find him the first time, but removing any memory that might remain of this brief encounter most likely eliminated the best lead she might have.

"Of course milord. The code number is X-G-2-1-G-2-D-4."

For a moment, Lelouch entertained the thought of putting a bullet in the back of Villetta's skull before taking off, but remembered the theory of the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect was a theory about time travel that indicated that small changes here and there could lade to major consequences in the future. Killing a future enemy might be hazardous in the long run, as he really had no clue what the woman had done between this point and the start of the Black Rebellion. He decided that for now, he would just play it safe until he was certain he could deal with any unforeseen consequences to his actions.

Lelouch let C.C's body lie were it was. He knew that C.C had managed to find him just fine last time on her own, and couldn't take the risk of carrying a dead body around if things took a turn for the worst. For a moment, he wondered if he wasn't the only one with memories of the future. 'Hopefully yes,' he thought. As nice as it would be to have Suzaku or Kallen on his side from the beginning, the thought of Charles Zi Brittania having knowledge of future events frightened him.

Lelouch sped off into the ghetto, regardless of whether they had memories of the future or not, Lelouch had an Ace to save and a battle to win. A couple blocks away he used the slash harkens of the knightmare to scale the side of the ruined warehouse and got in position at the vantage point he would rescue Kallen at. Sure enough, Kallen's red Glasgow came speeding around the corner, pursued by two Sutherland frames. Kallen was an ace, but even a piot with expert skills didn't stand a chance against two sutherland while piloting an old Glasgow.

Lelouch turned his radio's frequency to Kallen's cockpit. "The west entrance." Lelouch ordered over the radio.

"Who's this? How the hell did you get this code?"

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that if you want to win you'll follow my instructions. Now take the west entrance."

"To win?"

Just as Lelouch expected, Kallen followed his orders and leapt up onto the tracks, speeding toward the oncoming transport train.

"Since you trusted me, you're going to win. Now jump onto the train."

Kallen obeyed, and the lead Sutherland was forced to stop his pursuit to stop the train coming right at him. "You! Go after the Glascow!" the pilot ordered his subordinate. "Yes milord!", the other pilot answered as he jumped up to pursue Kallen. Lelouch fired his slash harkens, catching the Knightmare and midair and sending it flying off the overpass.

"You there! What's your name and unit? We're after the one armed Glas-" The Leader's orders were interrupted as Lelouch unleashed a hail of gunfire, blasting off one of the Sutherland's legs and critically damaging the frame. One round actually punctured the cockpit, and the sound of a sharp intake of breath came over the speaker.

"Y-you...B-b-bastard..." wheezed the pilot in audible pain.

Kallen turned the Glasgow around and charged the fallen frame with a battle cry. The pilot still managed to eject however, and the ejector seat flew off into the ghetto far beyond Lelouch or Kallen's reach. "You saved me!" Kallen excamied with relief. "But how did you get ahold of a sutherland?" But Lelouch was already gone, speeding off into the Ghetto to a second vantage point.

He tuned his communicator to Ohgi's channel. "Are you the one in charge here?" he asked, although he already knew the answer. "Yeah..." Oghi said clearly suspicious. Just who exactly was this guy? Was this some sort of trap?

"I present to you the contents of that train. They're tools for your victory. Now all you need to do is follow my instructions..."

Suzaku Kuururugi wasn't sure how he should feel about this recent chain of events. On one hand he was glad to have been given an opportunity that he hadn't though possible even in his wildest dreams. His eccentric new boss Lloyd had not only revived him, but also gave him an opportunity to finally change the world as the pilot of the Lancelot, the world's first seventh generation Knightmare frame. But he was also disappointed, for in the bottom of his heart Suzaku felt that he had deserved to die. It was all because of his sins that Japan was the way it is today, a decaying ruin of its former self. If he hadn't killed his own father, than maybe Japan could've won the war and remained a nation. Then maybe Lelouch and Nunnally...

Suzaku shook his head. Now was not the time for doubts and second thoughts. Suzaku was set on this path and determined to see it through to the end. Regardless of the past, he now had the chance to change the future. And Lelouch might still be alive, and as long as there was that chance, Suzaku had to fight on for his sake. As much as he deserved death, he wouldn't let his best friend suffer if he had the chance to save him.

"Lancelot, Launch!"

Even though Suzaku had braced himself, he was still momentarily stunned by the speed of the frame as it accelerated into the streets of the ghetto. He was amazed by the almost graceful way the frame could cut sharp corners and weave around the various debris and fallen building around the ghetto. Suzaku's marveling was cut short as a torrent of gunfire came at him from his left. The short bust of fire barely scratched the heavily armored frame, and Suzaku quickly spun about. At first he couldn't see the source of the gunfire. In the abandoned and dilapidated ruins of the ghetto there was a thousand and one different places for a gunman to take cover.

"Suzaku, try searching for heat signatures." the voice of Lloyd's assistant Cecile Croomy suggested from the console. "Right." Suzaku pressed a series of buttons on the console and the display went to infrared. Sure enought, he could see a terrorist knightmare frame taking cover inside the hollowed out ruins of an old warehouse.

The Lancelot closed the distance in a second and smashed through the wall right next to the enemy frame, catching it completely off guard. "What the fu-!" the pilot started but was cut off when Suzaku had the Lancelot execute a spinning kick right to the knightmare's "face", smashing the frame and sending the pilot ejecting deeper into the ruin.

Suzaku didn't have time to marvel at the ease by which he took down the other frame as he immediately caught sight of an entire group of Sutherlands moving away from him deeper into the ghetto. He made to pursue them, but was stopped by another hail of gunfire behind him. He reacted with lighting reflexes, spinning 180 degrees and immediately firing his slash harken at the advancing enemy frame. His aim was dead-on, catching the knightmare directly in the torso and exploding it in a plume of flame.

Suzaku heard another rifle roar, and quickly maneuvered out of the way just as the wall he was standing in front of was shredded. From his cover in the warehouse he could see with the Lancelots inferred vision three knightmare frames advancing on his position, with two more taking cover in ruined buildings on both sides of the street. Suzaku clenched his teeth in frustration.

"My, my, these chaps are quite organized for terrorists, aren't they?" Lloyd noted. He almost sounded as if he were enjoying himself with this turn of events. He probably was. The Lancelot was his life's work, no doubt he was excited to see how it would fare against an opponent.

This was bad, the Lancelot could tear through these frames like a knife through butter but they were all spread out. In the time it would take to finish off this group, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to find the other withdrawling frames. These terrorists lived in this ruin, probably knew how to spread out and vanish if given enough time. As long as they had all that cover in the ruined buildings, it would take ten times as long for the Lancelot to finish them.

Cover in the ruined buildings...

That's it!

Suzaku had an idea, it was risky, but with the Lancelot, he just might pull it off. Suzaku backed up, if this was going to work, he needed a running start. "Private Kuururugi, just what are you doing?" Lloyd asked over the channel. Suzaku didn't answer, he had to concentrate he had one shot to take them all down, if he failed, it was all over.

'This is for you, Lelouch...'

Lancelot launched forward towards the wall of the warehouse. Using a fallen piece of wall as a ramp, Suzaku launched the Lancelot into the air and went flying through the roof of the warehouse towards the Sutherlands. At first the terrorists were too stunned to move, then began firing at the airborne knightmare.

Flying through the air, the Lancelot had no way to dodge and a hail of bullets pelted the armor. 'Now!' Suzaku began spinning the Lancelot in the air and deployed the slash harkens. The Lancelot spun through the air like a tornado of blades as the harkens smashed into the buildings containing the Sutherlands and effortlessly cut wide arcs in the foundations.

Already strained having to support several knightmare frames, the buildings began to crumble from the new structural damage. Soon the guns inside the buildings went silent as the ceiling collapsed and they were buried under several tons of metal and stone. But the Lancelot continued flying through the air, and as the slash harkens withdrew into the frame as the Lancelot came down on the three Sutherlands on the street below, taking them all out at once as Suzaku decapitated them all in a single spinning kick."I did it!" Suzaku sighed with relief as the Lanclot stood back up. "Well done Suzaku!" Cecile cheered. "Yes, yes, very impressive Private Kurrugi." Lloyd chuckled, sounding quite amused.

Suzaku was feeling quite happy himself. He could do this! With this knightmare, he finnaly had the opportunity he had been dreaming about. With this knightmare, Suzaku would gain the confidence of Brittania and rise to a position to infulence policy. He would finally be able to make the world a better place. And if Suzaku died along the way... Perhaps that's what he deserved.

But now was not the time for such thoughts. The battle was not over yet.

Lancelot turned and charged forward into the ghetto in pursuit of the terrorists.

Lelouch thought the battle went rather well the second time. Clovis and his men had rolled in expecting an easy massacre of defenseless Japanese. He had been totally unprepared to take on an opponent that was equally equipped as his own. The force of the Sutherlands combined with Lelouch's genius had easily overwhelmed Clovis' forces and once again forced the prince to break the encirclement surrounding the ghetto, giving Lelouch a path straight to the command vehicle.

The Lancelot had still posed quite the challenge however. There was absolutely no hope to defeat the more advanced frame in direct combat at this point, so the best Lelouch could've done was withdraw as many of his forces as he could. Lelouch did this by using a portion of his forces as a distraction while the rest escaped into the ruins. After making sure none of his future black knights were among them, Lelouch sent the "Suicide Squad" charging at the Lancelot from multiple directions.

While the Sutherlands were still be no match for the formidable frame, the multiple lines of fire had made it more difficult for Suzaku to maneuver, giving the rest of the Black Knights a chance to escape. While the Brittanians would never realize it, this had been something of a win-win for both sides. The Lancelot had proven its worth to the military by taking down some of the terrorist forces, and Lelouch once again proved his value to the resistance fighters. Not to mention it had bought him more than enough time for Lelouch to reach Clovis and force the ceasefire.

"Halt! You are approaching his majesty Prince Clovis' personal transport! State your business and identify yourself! " the guard at the military checkpoint barked while leveling his rifle at Lelouch. "Yes sir. There is an important matter I must discuss with Prince Clovis personally. I need you to escort me to him at once." "Yes milord. Right this way please." Lelouch allowed his geassed thrall to lead him though the halls of the personal transport, only stopping to geass anyone who saw him to leave the transport. Finally, they came to the double doors Lelouch knew led into the command center.

"That will be all soldier. You may return to your post now."

Lelouch watched as the soldier gave a stiff salute and marched back down the hall. Once the man rounded the corner Lelouch entered the command center.

At first nobody seemed to notice Lelouch's entrance. General Bartley was barking orders to his subordinates in a desperate attempt to salvage the operation, while Clovis was just lounging back in his throne and staring absent-mindedly out the window at the smoking ghetto, looking bored out of his mind. He didn't look at all like he was ever going to regret the countless deaths he was responsible for today. Lelouch took the opportunity to prepare himself for what was to come. Last time, killing Clovis had torn his heart out. Like Clovis had said right before Lelouch shot him, they didn't have the same mother but they were still brothers by blood.

Speak of the devil, Clovis finally seemed to notice Lelouch slowly edging towards him from the corner of his eye. "And who's this then?" Immediately every pair of eyes in the room was turned on Lelouch. "Who the hell let you in here?" Bartley shouted in outrage. "This is a restricted area! Military offices on-"

"Everyone leave now." Lelouch made sure to have his back turned to Clovis so the Geass wouldn't affect him.

Immediately everyone in the room made thir way to the exits, totally ignoring Clovis' protests. "Bartley? Guards? Where the devil are you all going? How dare you ignore me! I am a prince of Brittania! I order all of you-!" Clovis stopped talking when Lelouch pulled Villeta's firearm out of his pocket and aimed at Clovis' face. "Now now your highness," he said. "Losing your temper is unsightly for a prince of Brittania."

Clovis paled. "W-who the hell are you?" he said, utterly terrified. "I'll tell you, but first I need you to do something for me." Lelouch tossed Clovis a microphone he knew was connected to the PA system. "Call a ceasefire. Tell your men to fall back and treat the wounded. Japanese as well."

"Elevens? Why on Earth would you-"

The protest died in Clovis' throat as Lelouch cocked the pistol. He was unaccustomed to being ordered around instead of being the one giving the orders. Clovis began speaking into the microphone. "All forces ceasefire at once! I, Prince Clovis La Brittania command you to stop this violence at once. All Brittanian forces are ordered to withdraw and treat the wounded, whether they be Brittanians or Elevens!"

While he was a poor tactician, no one could deny that Clovis was a wonderful public speaker. His voice didn't hold a hint of fear as he followed Lelouch's instructions. It also seemed to restore some of Clovis' confidence as he spoke. "Now that that's taken care of, what will you have me do now? A little dance? Sing you a song? Or perhaps you would like to play a game of chess?" he joked.

Lelouch chuckled. Everything was working out just like last time. "Now that's an idea," Lelouch said as he began stepping closer to the throne into the light. "We used to play chess together quite often back at the Ares Villa. But I would always win our games. Do you remember...Brother?" he finished just as he completely stepped out of the darkness.

Clovis gasped in shock. "It's you?" he said as he rose from his thone. "Is it... Is it really you Lelouch?" he looked as if he was standing face to face with a ghost. "Yes brother, it's me. I've come back from the dead. Come back to change everything." Lelouch smiled even wider at the hidden meaning of his words.

Clovis just stood there for a moment, utterly awestruck. Then his face lit up in an expression of pure joy. "I'm so glad you're alive!" he said, taking a step towards Lelouch. "I always held out the hope that you and Nunally were alive. And now you're here! Oh please Lelouch, come back to the homeland with me!" He seemed genuinely happy to see his half brother again, and didn't seem to care that said half brother still had a gun trained on him. Lelouch grit his teeth and took a step back. 'Dammit Clovis,' he thought. 'It was hard enough having to kill you last time, stop making this harder than it has to be!'

"I'm afraid I can't do that, brother." Lelouch sighed. Clovis stopped apprachng Lelouch, confused. "For the sake of Japan, and the world, you have to die here." "What?" Clovis chuckled still smiling, peharps he thorught this all was some sort of big joke.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me."

Lelouch raised the pistol and fired a single shot. The shot pierced Clovis' heart, and he collapsed to the floor, dying almost instantly.

Without another word, Lelouch turned and left the command vehicle, pausing only once to geass a pair technicians to erase the security footage inside the command center. He went back outside and jumped in his knightmare and began the long ride out of the ghetto. Lelouch smiled as he began to plot. He didn't know how it had happend, but he had been given the chance most people could only dream about.

'A chance to do it all over again...' Lelouch wondered at the possibilities.

There had been so many questions, so many mistakes last time that had prevented him from fulfilling his plans last time. But now, he knew what was coming and how to prepare. He wouldn't mess up this time. This time he would change the world the way he had meant to at the beginning.

"This time," Lelouch said aloud "This time I'll do things right. I swear that this time... things WILL be different!"