HIS NAME WAS ZERO

CHAPTER 6

MEMORY MUSEUM

The body of 22 year-old Andrew Gibson has been found in the trunk of his car today in an alley in the Tokyo Settlement, the latest in what has been a series of strange murders. Like the others, Mr. Gibson's head has been cleanly severed from his body, along with two of his limbs. The police are still searching for the persons committing these murders. In other news, the Eleven terrorist group-

Kallen quickly switched the television off before the perky blonde reporter could finish her report.
"They're a RESISTANCE GROUP! Get it right!" she shouted at the TV.
"Uhhhh…Kallen?" Milly asked worriedly, while picking up a torn cushion and placing it in a large plastic bag.
They were in the Clubhouse cleaning up the wreckage left behind by Lelouch. Amazingly, the television was the only thing in the room left untouched.
"Ummm, NOTHING!" Kallen blurted, "I'm just a real stickler for details you see and well…"
"It's fine," Milly replied, "But we should start working harder so we can finish clearing the debris in here…"
"I still wonder what happened." Kallen mused, "It's as if a bomb went off in here…"
"Yeah… And then there's Lelouch…"

As if by magic, or simply because Lelouch's name was mentioned, Shirley suddenly burst in the room, in her swimsuit, dripping wet.
"WHAT HAPPENED?" She shouted, in surprise, "I heard some other students saying that something happened over here but this is just…"
"That's the thing…We don't know…" Milly said sadly, "We came in here and met the place like this, and Lelouch was just lying there right in the middle of the room, unconscious…"
"LULU? Where is he?"
"Calm down Shirley, he's fine. He's in his room now. A nurse is taking care of him, so help us clean up."

AT THAT VERY MOMENT
LELOUCH'S ROOM

The nurse sat at her patient's bedside, clasping his limp hand. Tears fell from her golden eyes and ran down her pale cheeks before dripping onto their hands.
"I lost another one…" she whispered.
Her long, silky, green hair fell like a veil, hiding her face which was devoid of any emotion, despite her tears.
"You took another one from me… how could you…"
"How could I what?" A familiar voice whispered weakly.
Amethyst eyes opened slowly to stare into her golden ones.
"Why are you crying C2?"
"Ah-I-I wasn't crying!" she blurted suddenly wiping her eyes.
"Yeah, right. I saw you." He responded with an arrogant tone, "You were afraid I was dead, weren't you?"
"N-no… Actually, I couldn't care less if you lived or died; As long as you fulfill your end of the contract, that is."
Lelouch chuckled, but stopped when he noticed the deep, clean slice on her neck and the bloody shirt stuffed in the corner of the room.
"C2, what happened to you?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing… It's just a scratch."
"It's not just a scratch C2, and why is it still there? All your wounds heal immediately, right?"
"I said it's nothing Lelouch." She snapped, "This sort of wound just takes a bit longer than the others."
"This sort of wound…?" He whispered while moving his hand to her neck to examine her wound more closely.
She slapped his hand away.
"That's right. So if you're alright now, I'm leaving."
With that, she got up and hastily made her way out of the room.
Lelouch couldn't remember what had happened before he passed out, but somehow, he knew C.C. would know, and that wound had something to do with it…

In her room across the hall, C.C. placed her hand on her wound and cried silently in a dark corner.
"Why… Why did you have to come out of the shadows at a time like this?"

"Because the light was once my home as well, (insert name here)"

Her eyes opened wide, though she was not that surprised when he replied. In fact, his voice came to her again, but he only said one thing:

"I'll be coming for you soon… Wait for me…"

A few miles away, Lucy stood staring up at the cloudy skies.

Zero… No, that thing you saw; it was not him. He's dead.

C.C.'s words echoed though her head, over and over again. She refused to believe it, but she knew better than to reject the witch's claims; she was often right about these things.
"No, I have to find out myself…" she thought to herself, "I'll bring him back out and ask him myself… I'll make him answer me next time."

She knew what she had to do. She would go to Ashford Academy and keep an eye on the boy, then, when the time was right, she would get her answers…

IKKEBUKURO STATION
11:57 PM

"Mommy, mommy, look at the strange man!" a little boy shouted as he pointed at the man crouched in a corner.
Mommy slapped her son's hand lightly as she said, "Don't point honey, it's not nice."
"But Mommy, he's really weird!" the boy insisted, "Look at all those arms!"
"What are you talking about…?"
Mommy looked across to where her son was pointing and gasped.
The man had his back turned to them, and emerging from him were ten plainly visible "arms."
The woman grabbed her son's arm tighter and proceeded to hurry away, but the little boy managed to wriggle away and headed towards the "strange man."

He had his knees hugged to his chest and was whispering something, as is he were having a conversation with some invisible person.
"I'll be coming for you soon…" he whispered in an eerie voice, "Wait for me…"

His long, black hair slightly covered his face and was terribly messy. He wore a bloody lab coat and no shoes, but the strangest thing, that were only seen by the boy when he approached were two small horns on his head.

The little boy gasped, before reaching for the man's head.
"Cooooool…!"
He was stopped though when one of the arms that were just hanging around suddenly grabbed his arm.
"What the hell do you think you're doing you stupid little bastard…" the man said in an icy tone, without turning around.
"I-I just wanted to see them…" he answered timidly, "They look really cool…"
The man raised an eyebrow, then, slowly, he turned around.

He was a sight to behold.
Not only his coat, but his face was stained with fresh blood. His lips were cracked and his cheeks were hollow. He had dark circles under his eyes and an empty look in his eyes.

"Cool…?" he asked coldly, "Are you STUPID?"

The boy's mother, who had been chasing after her son, finally arrived at the place where the boy and the strange man stood. She froze dead in her tracks.

"Look, kid… These things, they're not cool at all." He continued, "In fact, they're-"
He was cut off by a blood-curdling scream, followed by:

"LET MY LITTLE BABY GO YOU FREAK OF NATURE! LET HIM GO NOW!"

"But, mommy he-" the boy started to say, but then the unthinkable happened… The man snapped. His eyes burned with rage.

The boy's screams of terror were soon followed by cries of pure agony as he saw his mother's head suddenly fly off of her body then finally landing at his feet. A fountain of blood sprayed from her neck as her body fell to floor.

"Mom-my…? M-m-MOMMY!" the boy screamed.
The "arm" released the boy from its grip, allowing him to run to his mother's body.
"No! NO! NOOOO!" he continued to scream, "Bring her back! Bring my Mommy BACK!"

"I-I can't do that…" the man whispered, slowly approaching the boy, "But, I can send you to her…"

The next morning, the police added two more victims to the list of serial killings, and like before, the killer had disappeared, leaving no traces of his existence…

In an old shack a couple of hours away from the station, the killer lay in a heap, clutching his head and screaming in agony, like the little boy the night before. Sharp pain shot through his head and along his spine and his vectors whipped around erratically, then suddenly, an eleventh vector sprouted; they all extended one meter longer, and they all became less transparent. Then, everything stopped. The screams, the convulsions and the vectors stopped their erratic movements and faded until they were no longer visible.

At the same time, in his room in the Clubhouse, Lelouch lay unconscious on his bed. Furniture lay scattered across the room, and his dresser had been sliced clean in half; one half of it now barred the door, preventing anyone from entering, and eleven vectors slowly disappeared from sight.
Outside the room, responding to the crashing noises and screams, Milly, Shirley and Kallen stood at the door pounding and yelling for Lelouch to open the door, while the "nurse" climbed up a vine and through the shattered window. She walked across to where he lay and placed her hand on his head. The geass sigil on her forehead glowed, and then, in both her eyes. Her body slumped to the ground as she, too, slipped out of consciousness.

She woke up a few seconds later in a vast space enveloped in a bright, white light. Two doors suddenly appeared before her. The door on the left was immaculate; Pure white with golden trimming in an intricate design. Thick vines covered in blood-red roses covered the door, acting as a barrier. The right door, however, was something straight out of a horror movie. It was extremely beat-up and stained with splashes of fresh blood. There was a 'barrier' on this door also, in the form of thick, heavy, bloody chains. She stood before the door on the right and placed her hand on the lock. She then closed her eyes and whispered, "Zero…"
Suddenly, the lock and chains shattered, leaving behind a cloud of sparkling, blood-red dust that dissipated shortly after, and slowly, the door creaked open. The smell of blood suddenly became prominent and she crossed the threshold, entering the bloody world within.
Inside, millions of picture frames floated around, all depicting a different scene. She continued to walk past pictures of people being killed and a child being tortured in thousands of different ways. Nowhere in the room was there a scene of something that brought joy; only pain and sadness. At the end of the hall that seemed to go on forever, a man with silver hair stood in front of a blank frame, and appeared to be staring at it intently. She stood behind him and waited for him to acknowledge her. Everything remained silent, until he suddenly spoke. His voice was like a gentle breeze.

"You know, I've had hundreds of children…All of my sons have died, many before they were actually born, but my daughters have all survived… Why do you think that is…?
He didn't wait for an answer, and she wasn't about to offer one. She just listened as he continued,
"All my daughters… they all went off and had children of their own… all girls… all born with horns… like themselves, but not like me… Why is that?"
He turned around now, and she realized that his eyes were closed. Again, he spoke.
"They all inherited something from me, however… Immense power and these eyes… as red as blood…"
He opened his eyes now, revealing his ruby orbs.
"I was the beginning of the Diclonious race…and I shall be its end…"

She stared into his eyes.
"So, who are you?" he asked, "What brings you to my Memory Museum?"
"You've forgotten me, have you Zero?" she replied.
"Hmmm…Could you possibly be the reason for this hole in my memory…?" he asked looking at the empty frame again.
She simply walked across to the frame and placed her hand on the black canvas. A picture slowly started to develop. It showed a scene of two people kissing; specifically, the two of them.
"Of course…I remember now…It's you…The one responsible for my only happy memories…"
More empty frames appeared now, and pictures started developing within them, each showing scenes of them kissing, sharing a warm embrace and uhhh…other things along those lines.
"So, tell me… How have you been, (insert name here)? It's been what? 500 years?"

So, I finally got another chapter up! Hooray! I would have done this sooner, but my Zero's (my laptop, for those of you who have been paying attention the past few chapters) fan stopped working and now it's heating up more than the island of eternal summer! It overheats in about fifteen minutes now, and shuts itself down, even when I'm not doing anything! I should be getting it fixed today though…Hopefully… Oh, BTW, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2012 BABY! The year for more Fanfictions, more frequent updates and of course, Armageddon! Oh boy, the story's heating up now huh? This Chapter… I totally winged it, and honestly, I'm not very sure where to go from here… it doesn't really make sense… But I'll figure it out like always! Anyway, R&R and, I shouldn't have to tell you this at this point in the game, but, NO FLAMES! If I get even one, I'll send Zero after you!