Hi all, Kyugan here.

Don't get too excited, this is just me going over my old works to do a little spring cleaning, tidying up any spelling, grammar issues before I see if any of them can be salvaged/continued.

I was actually dreading coming back to this one as it was arguably the first little brainchild of mine after being exposed to the world of Code Geass and in some way it still holds a special place in my heart.

And apparently it holds a similar place in other people's hearts because my god there are still people asking for updates to this day, so many I've honestly considered an honest-to-haruhi reboot at times.

Again, please don't get your hopes up. For now, this is merely me tidying up one of my older fics. If anything comes of it? Well, who can say.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Second Chance.

Epilogue: Fall of the Demon Emperor.

September-Holy Britannian Empire

It was the culmination of a life's ambition, a perfectly scripted play, carried out to perfection in a fashion that would make Shakespeare weak at the knees.

There was no pain, unsurprising really, as the blade piercing through his chest had been thrust through expertly, severing both muscle and bone in a single fluid movement, rendering him numb from the chest down.

He could hear the shock from the crowd, despite the eerie silence that had fallen over them all. He almost wished he could see their faces, looking on in awe as the Demon Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia, who had attempted to conquer the world by taking the EU hostage, was silenced by the renegade Zero, the masked revolutionary that had stirred the nation of Japan against the empire.

Only the captive members of the rebellion, the former Black Knights, looked on in confusion, though he suspected that several had dawning understanding of what was going on. They, after all, knew his true identity, that HE was in fact Zero, and had 'used' them to pave his path to the throne.

All a lie, all a means to an end, to ensure that the world no longer deteriorated into a never-ending cycle of hatred and bloodshed, where people like his beloved sister would no longer live in fear.

'Nunnally…' he wondered, even as he spoke with Suzaku, his closest friend, and now his executioner, bloody fingertips trailing against the mask he himself had once worn, which shielded the Japanese Knight's face, a smile on his face as he bestowed his last instructions on the teen, even as he stumbled away.

He never felt the pain as he fell, his back hitting the walkway, leaving a bloody smear across the Britannian flag displayed there. He slid all the way, under the watchful eyes of the world, coming to a rest at the foot of the pagoda, broken, bloody, an oppressor dethroned before the oppressed.

A shadow moved in the corner of his waning vision, Nunnally, his precious little sister, the one that had first denounced him as a demon, now looking on in disbelief as he lay there, a smile on his face.

'It's over…Nunnally…' he wanted to tell her, but he couldn't even turn his eyes to look at her, no more than he could draw air into his ruptured lungs, nor move his leaden arms and legs.

"Big Brother, I love you!"

Those words, four simple words that, to the dying Emperor, carried with them a greater power than if God himself had spoken them. His lips parted, eyes turning upwards into the growing light, a smile on his lips as he willed his numb fingers to grasp her own, to comfort her one last time even though their positions were reversed.

"I know…" he assured her, the words barely more than a whisper, continuing to smile for her benefit even as the light gradually faded from his eyes as the world sank into darkness "I...Destroyed the world…to Make it anew..."

And with that, Lelouch vi Britannia, the 99th Emperor of Britannia, passed away, his eyes shutting beneath the shining sun of his homeland and the broken cries of his distraught younger sibling.

However, just before the monarch's eyes closed forever, a brief image, a scarlet crest, reminiscent of a bird in flight, shone red against his purple eyes…

Man, coming back to this one after so-long was just...wow.

When I first posted this, I honestly didn't expect any reviews for a long time, only for it to seemingly explode overnight.

This fic holds a special place in my heart, as it was one I used to base most of my portrayals of Lelouch in fiction.

And yes, I know Epilogues are used for ENDINGS, that was a deliberate word-play to usher in the end of Lelouch's former life. The life he wrought from one mistake too many.

Time to change that, click the NEXT Button to continue!