Warning : Character deaths, Moral Ambiguity

"Speeches, where I lie, manipulate, and deceive"

'Self talk, because people are too stupid to hold discussions with.'

C.C.-ese, because you need different language to understand different woman. - R.R.

He hates her, he positively, certainly hates her. He's supposedly the smart one between the two of them, but every time she confronts him about something, he always ends up the one being wrong. The only consolation to his wounded pride is that she have centuries of experiences.

He remember the night after he had taken over Pendragon, as soon as they parted way with Suzaku she right out telling him how stupid Zero Requiem is, though in his defense, he's not thinking straight when he made that plan, his men had betrayed him, his mother's death turns out to be a ploy, and his sister is dead, only to reappear later and declaring herself as his enemy. What really convinced him is when she said she would rather let the world burn than to let him die and left her alone for some misguided belief. He fears what this woman would do to follow through that threat.

When he was at a lost and ask her what to do, she simply laugh and with that aggravating smirk on her face told him to go ahead with the plan. She then explain that he have a dormant Code inside him, waiting to activate on his first death.

He knows which Code she's referring to and refute her by saying that his father had been absorbed by World of C, she had laugh again and said that there are conditions to be met to transfer a Code, a mature Geass, physical contact with Geass sigil, the bearer's willingness, and bearer must be in death or near death state, all of which is fulfilled when she inherited hers, and apparently, it's all fulfilled when he killed Charles. It had brought forth another thought, that if his father, knowing his plans had been foiled, decided to left the Code in his son's hand to aid him, since they both wish the same thing, only in different form. He won't put it past that old man, making that decision in the split seconds while he's being absorbed. For all his faults, he didn't become the Emperor of Britannia by just having loud voice and big body.

In the end of it, he realized he never have any choice to begin with, that he's been outplayed by the witch, the last stage in his play, as Zero, as Lelouch vi Britannia, is written by this woman. With that thought, he grabbed C.C.'s wrist and pulled her to the bed, laughing all the while.

He is brought out of his reminiscence by the question from that woman, now sitting across him, nibbling on her pepperoni pizza.

"So, will the great real Zero finally make his reappearance this time?" she asked with the dull monotone lazy voice of hers.

One would expect her to be meek, cute, adorable woman after finding someone to remain by her side forever, but no… if anything, she's grown to be even more irritating now. It seems like since he can pull his own weight in her games, she step up hers. Even after so many years living together, not even once had he ever seen her blush. Not even during making out or night activities, no matter what kind of words or plays he used. It had made him feel inadequate for some time, until later when he can read her better, she isn't blushing because she's C.C., enough said. Unfortunately, even if he can understand her better doesn't make her any less annoying when she want to, but not at this instance, it's something else, Worry.

He stole a glance at the TV, a report from the frontline of the full out battle between China and India. It's just like she had said that night, "I won't give it one decade before the first firework sparked off." The first conflict had been between EU and China, it's easily handled before escalating, but others soon followed, it can't be helped, there are too many problems remain unsolved, poverty, power vacuum left by his and Charles' reign, resentment, dissidents, distrusts, F.L.E.I.J.A.'s damages, not to mention he had blown up Mt. Fuji, making Sakuradite even scarcer along with it's effects on Japan's economy. The Man of Miracles or not, he would need at least years to stabilize the world, so he just left some general outline and some rebuilding plans.

He turn his attention to the Witch, taking a bite of his mushroom pizza, and scoff at her question, "I'm done being a Hero of Justice C.C., let Suzaku deal with it." He answers with more bitterness and resentment than he intended to. He doubts his friend can, even with Schneizel & Black Knights at his side. His brother have loss his free will, and Suzaku, being Suzaku, will greatly restrict Schneizel's capabilities, after all, a tool can only be as great as the user. And as he has proven again and again, even with all of them combined, they still can't hold a candle to him.

There was a brief spark of understanding in her eyes. Both of them know, some part of him has died, destroyed at that time. When he lost his sister, betrayed by his men and nearly killed, only to be saved by false brother he wants to kill, finding out his parents' ploy, and Nunnally, his raison d'etre, someone whose wellbeing he values more than anything else in this world have been the one last nail to the coffin, by declaring herself as his enemy.

C.C. has done everything she could to hold him together, to retain any semblances of his old self, picking up parts of his broken selves and put them together piece by piece. It is in her comfort and embrace that he realized his realities. His schoolmates had been drawn by his false mask, Suzaku sold him to the Emperor twice, Kallen left him to die in Kamine Island, his parents abandon him, and a few words from Schneizel is enough to turn his sister and Black Knights against him.

His Witch, the woman he once called cruel and despicable, had always been the only one to remain at his side and stay loyal to him, she had lied to him, hide things from him, but never betrayed him, even when he was captured and lost his memories after Black Rebellion, she was the one who gathered and convinced the battered and scattered Black Knights to reclaim him.

That night, prior to Battle of Mt. Fuji, he accepted and acknowledged that he had become another Mao, someone whose existence is relied on C.C.. She had become his anchor to himself, this world, and his sanity. Should she ever decided to leave him, he would surely driven to madness.

"Oh? Did His Highness Lelouch vi Britannia, Emperor of the World, just tucked his tail and ran away from his duty?" the Witch ask with amused tone and a smirk.

Worried still.

"And whose fault do you think that is?" he ask back with incredulous face. I'm staying here, just as YOU've asked me to. Is what is left unsaid.

"Who is it, Lelouch?" she counters with mirthful eyes and completely innocent face, finishing the last of her pizza.

She seems satisfied with that answer. He rolls his eyes and takes another bite of his pizza "Do you know any other witch that can seduce me out of my responsibilities?"

"Well, I can name a few…"

"DO NOT go in there, C.C.!"

Despite his glare, she just giggles and stands up from her seat. As she walks past him, her hand lash out to grab the back of his shirt and yank him away from table, making him fall to the ground with a grunt. "What are you doing, Witch?"

"Seducing you." She answers simply while dragging him away to their bedroom.

"At least let me finish my pizza."

"You can do that tomorrow."

He just grumbled while he finishes up the pizza slice he had hold on to. His eyes strayed back to the TV.

In hindsight, perhaps there really was no way for Zero Requiem to proceed as he planned it to. One week before the planned day, while Suzaku was away, Jeremiah and Sayoko had barged to his room, armed to the teeth, and declaring they refused let their master to die, even if they had to drag him away kicking and screaming. When Sayoko had brought out her ropes, he reluctantly decided to explain everything to them. Afterwards, when they still remain skeptical about it, C.C., who remain silent so for long, rolled her eyes, pulled out a gun, and shot him straight in the chest, earning her several gunshots and kunai knives courtesy of Jeremiah & Sayoko's reflexes.

The moment he woke up from his first death, grumbling all the while about a certain sadistic witch, with his loyal servants hovering over him, is the first time he found out about his morbid sense of humor, he laughed at a blood-soaked C.C.'s body, resulting in an annoyed witch when she woke up later.

That night had turns up to be a good thing, as it was Jeremiah who suggested to replaced the weapon with the ceremonial blade he had used in Battle of Mt. Fuji, to gave him wide enough wound to regenerate, leaving him in dead state long enough to convinced everyone else. While Sayoko had helped him hid the Geass sigil in his forehead with her specialized make ups and hidden further by his hair bangs. And he only have a single bullet wound in same place with C.C.'s mark of first death, instead of large sword wound across his chest.

At Zero Requiem's day, it's funny how no one suspected anything, with his closest servants not shedding any tears, and Jeremiah even smiling all day along.

Though, it is at that day, when he 'explained' the truth to his sister. As he died for the second time, he realized how fickle humans truly are. As his sister wailed how she loved him, without single word of apology, forgetting how she had easily betrayed him, destroyed his soul, flailing F.L.E.I.J.A. bombs at him, calling him demon, vile, devious. As darkness consumed his consciousness, as he muttered last ending sentences of his play, he solemnly understood and accepted, that he truly no longer held any love for his sister.

"What are you thinking about?"

His eyes flickered to the witch as she held the door to their bedroom open, "Nothing, just remembered when you got littered by Jeremiah and Sayoko."

"Oh my, I don't know you have necrophilia fetish, Lelouch."

"I DON'T have a necrophilia fetish!"

"What do you call it then?"

"A witch fetish." He answered with a smirk.

"Hmph, be grateful then, since I will give you a lot of it." With that she throws him to their bed.

As their bedroom's door slammed shut, his last words were "Uh-oh."

'That woman is wicked.' Is the first coherent thought he have that morning. 'Well, more wicked than usual anyway.' As memories of last night begin to clear, he felt something is wrong, since they didn't do any worse than the first time after his immortality kicked in, yet he feel much worse than that night. She had taken full advantage of his immortality's benefit, his body being in peak condition, with extra stamina and regeneration.

He groggily opened his eyes and find bright blue ceiling, 'Correction, the sky'. He slowly pushes himself to sit, to find himself lying on asphalt, at some back alley, 'Doesn't look like Italy, where is this?'. He turns his eyes to his body, to find himself clothed in a white straitjacket, similar with the one C.C. wears he first met her so many years ago. His long hair is much less disheveled than he expect. His braid that he wears last night has came undone sometime during their second round.

As the pain and fatigue that wrecked his body begin to fade, he braces himself against the wall to his right and pulls himself up. When he reaches full height his body has return to normal, "Witch, if this is your newest idea of a joke, I'll drown you next time we bath together."

"What are you mumbling to yourself, Britt?"

He turns around and come face to face with 3 Japanese, surrounding him and trying to look intimidating.

"Weird clothes you have, got something to share?" One of them approaches him while flicking out a pocket knife.

'Gave me eye catching clothes and dumped me in Japan? Forget drowning, I'll stab you AND drown you.'

Slowly his face shift from bored to his Emperor persona, and as he stand in his full regalia, an existence known as the Demon King, the 3 men begin sweating, scrambling back away with shaking limbs.

The Emperor's eyes focused to one of them, singling him out and looking him up and down, eyeing him like a predator would to his prey.

"Nice clothes you have, care to share?"

A moment later, a tall man with long ebony hair, with sports cap hiding the upper part of his face, wearing dark red jacket, faded blue jeans and dirty white sport shoes walk out of the alley, counting his bills in his new wallet.

'Well, at least those countless training hours with that witch is good for something.'

Done with that, he take a glance back to the alley, past the unconscious thugs sprawled in the ground to the pile of straitjacket that he discarded, it was surprisingly comfortable and easy to move in, no wonder C.C. likes to wear it long ago.

Then he remembers another C.C. he met inside world of C, 'I wonder if it comes in black.' With that thought he begin to walk at a random direction. 'Hm, first of all, I need to get back to Italy, making a fake passport is a hassle, guess I'll just have to find a smuggler then. But then again I'll need more money, that means acquiring more funds is the priority.'

A news broadcast stops his walk, traffic jams in Shinjuku… Ghetto? Funny, he remembers he had abolished that place, rebuilt it for apartment complexes. Or did Suzaku messed up something ? The time stamp in the news stop his brain dead in its tracks, poison gas, terrorists, C.C., Suzaku, Kallen, Geass, the contract, deaths, his first battle, Clovis…

"Excuse me, is the time in that TV correct?" he ask a man that walk past him.

"Of course." The man answered while looking at him weirdly, not seeing the problem.

"Thank you." He said robotically when the man briskly walks away.

There is only two possible explanations for this, C.C. hijack the TV, then bribe the man he just asked as part of her pranks, which is impossible, she's not that audacious or he had travelled back in the past, which is even more impossible. But his genius mind already knows which one is more probable.

Lelouch never curse, no matter how irritating C.C. is, even when his mind nearly collapsed, he raged, he wailed, but never cursing. It's rude, crude, ungentleman-like, and something that only uncivilized commoner would do. Not even C.C. the Witch ever curse, despite the irony of that sentence, and obviously cursing is something far beneath him, as a gentleman, a noble, a prince, an Emperor. But still, there is only one thing he can really say at this moment…

"Well, fuck."

A.N. : I'm not Native and my English is autodidact, so... [shrug]. The funny thing is, I just realized NOW that this chapter explain a lot of plotholes in it's canon's version. Yes, I can honestly say I don't like season 2, I mean seriously, someone who said "Everyone love allies of justice" & "Everyone love democracy" with evil & mocking face is honestly saying "I believe in people"? What the flying hell? Not to mention... Oh... I'll just cut it here then. I'll wait for your reviews, corrections, flames, whatever. And, see you next chapter. - Q.