That evening, Ren Sawamura turned on the TV, poured himself a glass of water, and drank it in one go.
He thought for a moment, then decided to make a quick trip to the bathroom. By the time he came back, it was just hitting eleven-thirty.
On the screen, episode twenty-five of Code Geass season two began right on schedule.
The battle outside was still raging. Inside the base, Nunnally sat in her wheelchair, looking up at Lelouch. "Eight years, and I finally see your face again. Is this the face of a murderer? I suppose I must have the same face as you."
"So you were the one who fired the Fleija?" Lelouch asked.
"Yes. It was to stop you, even if it meant your death. That is why I cannot give you the Fleija. I cannot give you the key to the Damocles, even if you use Geass on me!" Nunnally's voice was firm and unyielding.
Use Geass on Nunnally?
Lelouch considered it for a moment. He had no real desire to twist her will with his power, but then he understood what she was truly trying to do: she wanted to give the world something to direct its hatred toward, and she had chosen the Fleija as that target.
Once he understood, he gave her the order with his Geass, commanding her to hand the Fleija controller over to him.
Nunnally resisted with everything she had, but under the force of his Geass, she lifted the controller and held it out to him with both hands.
Lelouch dropped to one knee before her.
"Nunnally, you have lived beautifully by your own ideals. It is because of that, that I was able to walk my own path."
He reached out gently and took the controller from her hands.
"Thank you."
"I love you, Nunnally."
He said it softly, then rose to his feet.
By the time Nunnally processed what had happened, Lelouch already wore the smile of someone whose scheme had come together exactly as planned.
Seeing the controller in his hands, Nunnally said furiously, "You used it, didn't you? Your Geass."
Lelouch gave her nothing in return, not a word, not a glance, and turned to walk away.
"Wait!"
Nunnally frantically wheeled herself after him.
But Lelouch walked down a flight of steps, and the wheelchair could not follow easily.
In her desperation, Nunnally lurched forward and fell from the chair, tumbling onto the steps.
At the sound of her cry, Lelouch stopped and looked back.
Nunnally raised her head, her voice shaking with fury. "You're a demon, brother! You're despicable! You're a coward! How could you be so cruel?!"
By the end, her voice had cracked into something close to tears.
Lelouch said nothing and kept walking.
With the Fleija controller in his possession, Lelouch used it as leverage to force the entire world into submission.
Two months later, in Japan.
Lelouch led a military procession through the streets, marching condemned prisoners toward the execution grounds.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out.
At the far end of the road, a figure dressed as Zero came charging forward, cutting through the crowd, and stopped directly in front of Lelouch.
Lelouch drew his gun and fired, but the bullet was knocked away by a sword. Then Zero settled into a stance and leveled the blade at Lelouch's chest.
The scene cut away.
In a vast, quiet hall, Lelouch and Suzaku stood facing each other under the light.
"Suzaku, as per our promise, you are to kill me."
"Does it have to be this way?"
"Just as I anticipated, the hatred of the world has gathered on me. All that remains is for my death to sever that chain of hatred once and for all..."
Suzaku disguised as Zero, assassinating Lelouch. That was what Zero Requiem meant.
In Lelouch's own words: "Only one who is prepared to be shot has the right to pull the trigger."
The scene returned. Zero, played by Suzaku, drove the sword through Lelouch's chest.
"Lelouch..."
Beneath the helmet, Suzaku could not hold back his tears.
Lelouch spoke quietly. "This is your punishment too. You, as a herald of justice, will wear this mask forever. You will no longer live as Suzaku Kururugi. Every ordinary happiness, all of it, you will give to the world. Forever and always."
"I accept this Geass." Suzaku said it through tears, his voice trembling slightly, as he withdrew the sword.
Lelouch staggered forward two steps and slipped from the edge of the platform.
Below, Nunnally sat bound in chains.
She froze, leaned toward him, and whispered his name. "Brother."
Only in that moment did she truly understand everything he had done, everything he had been working toward.
But it was already too late.
"All this time, you were still..."
She could barely say it. Then she grabbed his bloodstained hand, and the tears poured from her eyes. "I love you, brother."
Lelouch's eyes shifted just slightly, and he murmured faintly, "Yes... I have destroyed the world... and created it anew..."
Memories flickered past one after another. When the last of them faded, he closed his eyes and went still.
The insert song Continued Story began to play. Its gentle vocals carried the weight of classical sacred music, lending the piece a sense of something almost holy, and the tragic grandeur of the scene rose to meet it.
Nunnally wept and screamed his name. "Brother!"
Then her words came out in a flood, barely coherent through her crying.
"No! Open your eyes! Brother! Brother!"
"Brother! Brother!"
Her sobs tore through the silence.
Elsewhere, former Second Princess Cornelia issued the order. "The demon emperor Lelouch is dead! Release the hostages, now!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Crowds surged forward in every direction.
The Zero played by Suzaku was hailed as a hero, but almost no one knew that the real hero had already fallen.
"It's not fair. I just wanted my brother to stay..."
"Without him, how am I supposed to face tomorrow..."
Nunnally's face crumpled with grief as she collapsed against Lelouch's lifeless body and sobbed.
All around them, the crowd chanted Zero's name.
At his television, Ren was crying, and the tears refused to stop.
"This is unbelievable!"
"It's the last episode and he still made me cry again."
"Yuta Shido, you absolute monster!"
He muttered under his breath as he watched the final scenes through, then let the TV run for several more minutes before wiping his eyes, turning it off, and opening his computer to see what people were saying online.
The internet had already erupted:
"Lelouch actually died! I cannot accept this!"
"I've been crying so hard, I can't stop."
"All hail Lelouch!"
"Everyone cheering for the hero, not knowing that the real hero has already fallen. That absolutely destroyed me."
"Poor Nunnally. Lelouch understood her all along, but she didn't understand him until the very moment he went down."
"Rolo dying was already bad enough, but now Lelouch too? Is Yuta Shido graduating from killing heroines to killing main characters?"
"Wait, School Days also ended with the male lead dying. Yuta Shido, you still want to claim that one has nothing to do with you?"
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