Code Geass: Insanity Plea

A/N:
This was inspired by the idea from DW77's Chess Board called Plan Orange. While I do intend to write that story, Plan Orange would be a short story whereas this story is a spinoff one-shot based on that story idea.

A/N2: Had 5 minutes so I fixed couple small problems in here.

'Damn it all! The Requiem is supposed to be complete in a few days and Suzaku won't be able to stand for another MONTH!' Lelouch groused internally; he had to come up with some way to prevent Kallen and the Black Knights from being executed while the 'Demon Emperor' still died and took the hatred of the world with him to the grave. Then an idea struck him – he didn't entirely like it, but it was his best option.

Kozuki Kallen was sitting in a corner of her cell wondering how things had turned out like this – Lelouch; Zero; the man that she had put all of her faith in, the man she had trusted above anyone else, had betrayed them all. He'd defeated Schneizel, defeated the Black Knights and then captured them all. And if that wasn't enough, he was also going to execute them. How could she have fallen in love with this monster? 'I can't believe that I ever followed, ever loved that bastard' she thought, yet no matter how hard she tried it just didn't ring true when she tried to convince herself that she hated him… there was always that nagging question of 'What If?' standing in the way.

Suddenly the cell door opened and a backlit figure entered; whoever it was, she noted he seemed to be trembling slightly. It took her a second to recognize the robes and hair.

"What is it… your majesty?" She spat out hatefully and was surprised to actually see him flinch at the vehemence of her words. She watched as he collapsed onto his knees and watched unbelievingly as a few tears started to form a puddle on the ground while a knife slid to a stop in front of her. She didn't believe what she heard come from his shaking wavering voice. "Wait… WHAT!?"

"Please Kallen; I beg of you. Please… kill me." Lelouch repeated a little louder.

This was the chance she had been waiting for, the chance she'd spent a month locked in this cell praying for; heck, he was even begging her to kill him… so why couldn't she? 'Why can't I kill him? He's right there! I can end it now! So why can't I do anything?'

"Why?" was all she was able to voice, and even that died off weakly.

"Because otherwise he'll kill you and Nunnally." Lelouch replied in his broken, strained voice

"He? Who's He? Aren't you the Emperor?" Kallen replied, confused by his words.

"I'm sorry Kallen, I'll have to explain quickly; I'm not sure there's much time…"

Before she could ask him what he was going to explain, he started to speak again.

"I am a broken man… the Lelouch you've been fighting is but a shard of the one that used to exist; the Lelouch you have fought against, this 'Demon', is the old Lelouch's desire for revenge given form… GAH! NO! You are not getting control back!" he yelled as he collapsed to the ground again and seemed to struggle for control "Please Kallen! KILL ME NOW!" he yelled before going to just breathing raggedly and sounding entirely exhausted before the struggle ceased and he breathed a sigh of relief.

But Kallen wasn't even able to move – she was rooted to the spot; 'Wait the Demon isn't the real Lelouch? Then what is going on? I don't understand!'

"Then what part of Lelouch are you?" she asked shakily, not really comprehending what he had just told her. A part of her prayed that it was true, that the man she had fallen in love with really had been who she thought he was, whilst another part filled with dread at the very thought of it, for it meant that she had failed the man she loved in the worst possible way.

"If you need to know…" he started and she nodded her head weakly "I see… I am that part of Lelouch that will do anything to protect the people I lo… NO! You are not going to hurt her!" he yelled desperately before collapsing to the ground seemingly at the limits of his will power. "Sorry Kallen… I protect the people I love… please Kallen… Kill me… I don't want to be that bloodthirsty beast… Please Kallen I beg you… I don't want you to die..." his face was a mask of absolute terror at the thought.

Just five minutes before Kallen would have been ecstatic to see the man before her terrified, but now she was absolutely devastated… the man in front of her had broken and his personality had split into fragments… and she was part of the cause. And now one of those fragmented personalities was begging her to kill him… because he couldn't stand the thought of another personality killing her.

She and the other Black Knights had done this to him… she had done this to him… their doubt and betrayal of Lelouch, of Zero, after he'd thought his sister had died had shattered him.

'Oh God; what have I done to him?' She had fallen in love with this man; this man who had done so much for Japan; for her… She finally understood why he told her to "Live on"; he had sacrificed himself back then to protect her… 'And how did I repay him? By letting him break; letting him finally shatter? Now he's here begging me to kill him so that I may live?' She had only just realized that she'd been crying long enough to form a puddle of tears to match Lelouch's.

She felt absolutely disgusted at herself; she had wanted to kill him for betraying the Black Knights; she had hated him for what he had done… hated him for betraying her… hated him for not loving her back… but he had not betrayed the Black Knights… they had betrayed him at the worst possible time… she had let him push her away at the worst possible time… she had let him push her away out of love… and she had wanted to kill him for it? 'What kind of a terrible person am I? I've hurt him so badly… and I wanted to kill him after I did this to him.' she thought as she fought the rising bile.

"I'm sorry… Lelouch… I'm so sorry" she started but suddenly Lelouch lunged towards her and she automatically grabbed the knife and buried it in his stomach.

For Kallen it didn't really register what had just happened as she stared in shock at her bloodstained hands until Lelouch whispered in her ear in obvious pain "Thank…you… Kall…en…" Obviously having to force each pained syllable, as he slowly wrapped his arms around her in a final embrace. "Thi…s is… my… fin…al… gift… you'll… be the… woman… who… saved… the… wor…ld… fro…m… me…"

At hearing this she panicked "No Lelouch… NO! PLEASE SOMEO…" But Lelouch cut off her panicked cry for aid with a kiss; a kiss that contained all of the passion that she had searched for when she kissed him at Ashford… she tried to fight it at first but found herself melting into the kiss blissfully and only came back to her senses as Lelouch broke the kiss and started to fall backwards, eyes closed.

She caught her broken love and laid him down softly, working on automatic as her mind screamed in agony, and proceeded to rip strips of cloth from his robes to try to staunch the bleeding while she begged him to stay with her and screamed in desperation for a doctor.

Lelouch dimly heard Kallen's terrified cries and thought 'I am so sorry Kallen; I am sorry I had to do that to you; but it was the only way I could be sure that the Zero Requiem would still happen. Forgive me… my l…' before his entire world faded to nothingness.

A/N.

Anyway, as I said before this story spun off of the 'Plan Orange' idea because I actually had an idea of how each of the main characters would react to the claim of insanity; since Suzaku was too injured to complete the Requiem, Lelouch had to find another solution. Of course, that raises the question for you, dear readers… Why'd he pick Kallen?

Many thanks to Magery for Beta reading this story on such short notice

Word count: 1499.