CHAPTER ONE: Lelouch of the New Beginning

When Lelouch vi Britannia died, he expected brimstone and fire. Instead, he found himself floating in an infinite void, silent and completely still.

'Is this purgatory?' He wondered. He found he could 'swim' in the void- not that there was anything to move towards at the moment.

But then there was a light- dim, distant. Lelouch turned his attention to the light and watched as it began to rapidly grow larger and brighter. Before Lelouch could even guess as to what the light was, the light had become blindingly bright and totally engulfed him. Lelouch shut his eyes tightly and suddenly felt grassy ground under him and a breeze on his face. He opened one eye a crack and saw he was in a forest of verdant trees. "So much for purgatory..." muttered Lelouch. He stood up and looked down at himself- he wasn't wearing his emperor's garb, instead he was wearing his red jacket and black t-shirt underneath. "Don't understand how I got an outfit change by dying..." he said, checking his pockets- they were totally empty. He took a look around and began walking around the forest, trying to find a way out.

He found himself lost in the woods after an hour. As he found a clearing, he suddenly heard screeching from above. He looked up in and felt a wave of horror crash over him as he saw a bird the size of a car flying above him- pitch black feathers, clawed fingers on the wingtips, a white mask-like bony protrusion on its face and four red eyes that glowed balefully as it looked down upon Lelouch and chose him as its prey.

'I take it back, this is Hell!' Lelouch thought before running for the trees. The flying abomination screeched as it flew low over the treetops and raining spear-like feathers around Lelouch. One landed only half a foot to his right as he ran for his life. He was quickly running out of breath and was slowing despite all his efforts to keep running. The bird screeched again as it let loose another volley of feathers.

"I'd advise you to duck!" shouted a woman's voice from in the forest. Lelouch went prone and immediately there was a crack of thunder and lightning struck the massive bird down. Lelouch turned to see a bespectacled blond woman in a skirt and tattered cape holding what appeared to be a riding crop. She gave it a flick and the feathers launched by the monster suddenly glowed with a purple light before being uprooted from the ground and launched right into the bird's head killing it. Lelouch looked at the woman with bewilderment. "What was that?" he asked hysterically. "That was you almost getting yourself killed by Grimm." said the woman.

"Grimm...?" Lelouch parroted the term unfamiliar to him. The woman looked at him skeptically. "You're kidding." she said, giving Lelouch a dubious glance. "There is no way you don't know what Grimm are-"

Something beeped in the woman's pocket and she stopped mid-sentence to pull out a phone-like device, glancing at the screen and sighing. "It seems that Ozpin wants me to escort you to him."

"Wait, who's Ozpin-"

Glynda gave a flick of her crop and suddenly Lelouch was hurled into the air screaming, flying up past the cliff face and slowing to a stop a few inches over the top of the cliff.

About half an hour later, Lelouch was seated before the man known as 'Ozpin'- a gray-haired man with shaded spectacles and a green scarf. When Ozpin asked his name, Lelouch used his assumed last name- 'Lamperouge'. He'd figured that this wasn't the afterlife and that he'd somehow ended up here. If he was in a new world, he was going to make a new life for himself.

"I'm curious, Lelouch, where are you from?" asked Ozpin. Lelouch struggled to come up with a response. "I'm...not from around here." he said half-truthfully.

"I see," Ozpin said before showing Lelouch his Scroll, a video of surveillance camera footage in Emerald Forest loaded up. "Maybe that will explain this."

Ozpin pushed the play button and the video showed an empty clearing for a few seconds before a flash obscured everything in the camera's sight- when it went away, Lelouch was sprawled out on the ground. Lelouch felt his palms getting sweaty with anxiety- he had no idea how he was going to explain this. If he said he was a dead man who was from another world, they'd either have Lelouch committed to a mental hospital or, worse, they'd believe him and proceed to do tests on him.

Ozpin seemed to sense Lelouch's nervousness and gave him a reassuring smile. "You don't have to worry, Lelouch. We're not interested in where you come from, just that you're safe."

"What was that thing that attacked me? I think your associate called it a 'Grimm'..."

Ozpin explained what the Grimm were to Lelouch- voracious monsters that try to destroy humanity and all its creations. They didn't need to feed, but chose to...from what Lelouch was being told, they were pure evil given form and life. Ozpin also explained the existence of Hunters and Huntresses- valiant warriors who served as the best defense against the Grimm. Lelouch thought of this and thought- he had been willing to sacrifice himself to bring peace to his world at the cost of his name and his life. But could he do it here? He knew he wouldn't be much of a Hunter as he was- scrawny, easily exhausted, practically a wet noodle- but if he could find a way to be trained, he could fight. He could protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

"How can I become a Hunter?" asked Lelouch.

Glynda gave Lelouch a frustrated look. "I doubt you could. Getting into a Hunting academy like Beacon takes 2 years of combat training at a preparatory combat academy like Signal, and students enroll there when they're 15. You're too old to enroll at a combat academy."

"I'm a fast learner." said Lelouch. "Even if that is the case, you hardly have the physicality to fight a Grimm." said Glynda. "You don't even have a weapon!"

Ozpin furrowed his brow, thinking deeply. "Perhaps if we condensed his training..." he said. "Enrollment at Beacon doesn't begin for another five months...and if Lelouch is the academic he makes himself out to be, all that would stand in his way would be combat training...something I think you would be perfect to supervise, Glynda."

The teacher balked. "Ozpin, have you gone insane? The boy's a twig with legs, the Grimm will eat him alive!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," deadpanned Lelouch, earning him an icy glare from Glynda. "You're the best teacher to whip him into shape." Ozpin said to Glynda. Lelouch grimaced, remembering Glynda's choice of weaponand fearing that Glynda would take that phrase literally.

Glynda sighed, resigning herself to the fate of being Lelouch's mentor.

The five months were living hell for Lelouch- it began with rigorous physical exercises that pushed him beyond his limits- long sprints, hundreds of situps and pushups, and having to hold himself up by a horizontal bar ten feet off the ground for a half hour at a time.

When Lelouch wasn't being driven to his breaking point, he was studying everything about the world of Remnant- from 'Aura' (the manifestation of a person's soul, protecting them from fatal blows but depleted if pushed too far) and 'Semblances' (a projection of Aura that gave a person a unique ability) to Dust (a natural energy propellant that could power technology and be used in weaponry, imbuing it with elemental power) and weapon design. Glynda was surprised at just how quickly Lelouch understood the concepts of life in Remnant- he could name Grimm just by being shown a silhouette, he could name all the major Dust types, and had practically memorized the history books.

Eventually, Lelouch had gotten all he could from basic workouts, and it was starting to show. While he wasn't looking much more muscular, he was definitely more toned in appearance, and physically felt better.

The training only proved to get more difficult. Glynda tried to instruct him on the use of multiple weapon types, trying to find the one that Lelouch was best suited to. Eventually, Glynda found Lelouch had an affinity for using a quarterstaff. After getting Lelouch familiar with the weapon, he was assigned to designing his own weapon. He consulted the weapon design documents and considered creating a hybrid quarterstaff-rifle, but when he went to a shooting range to test his compatibility with the rifle, he found the kickback to be a bit much- as in it took him more than two seconds to recover from the recoil, something he couldn't risk in combat.

He went back to the notes he compiled on Dust usage and developed a staff with a revolving series of Dust chambers located near one end of the staff. The Dust could be activated by a button near the other end, and both the chamber controls and the release button were located near where Lelouch would hold the staff, so he could easily change Dust types with one hand and activate the Dust with the other.

In that five months, Lelouch went through what most people undertook over two years and came out stronger, more determined to be a Hunter. However, during that whole time he more or less lived in an empty dorm room and didn't leave Beacon's campus. He helped out at the school library in exchange for food and board. But even sheltered from the rest of Remnant, he found that the Grimm wasn't the only problem Remnant had.

He had been working in the library one afternoon when he heard a girl's pleading voice: "Stop, let go!" Lelouch peered around a bookshelf to see a pink-haired girl tugging on a brown-haired girl's rabbit ears. Lelouch recognized the rabbit-eared girl as a Faunus- a subspecies of humans that possessed an animalistic physical feature such as claws or animal ears or tails. He also knew that Faunus sometimes got mistreated for being different, but didn't know the extent of said mistreatment. Lelouch rubbed an itchy eye as he approached the two. "What's going on here?" he asked. The pink-haired girl gave Lelouch a smile, releasing her grip on the Faunus girl's ear and acting like she was innocent.

"Just messing around with my friend here, isn't that right, Velvet?" she said in a sickly-sweet voice. Velvet nodded, obviously fearing what the girl would do if she contradicted her. Lelouch rubbed at his eye again- did he put in his anti-Geass contacts wrong? He didn't know if he still had his Geass, but he was wearing them as a precaution. He opened his eye and looked at the instigator. "I want you to leave her alone." he said, and the girl's face went blank. "I understand." she said dully before walking away. Lelouch felt a pang of dread. I still have my Geass...I thought I was free from this damn curse!

Velvet stepped towards Lelouch with a worried expression on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked. Lelouch made a point of looking down, making sure he didn't make eye contact with her. If she looked him in the eyes, anything he said could be construed as a command she'd have to obey. "I think my contact fell out." he said, sweeping his hand over the library floor, keeping his contact-free eye shut tight as he felt around. Velvet got on hands and knees and did the same, before picking it up. "This your contact?" she asked, holding it out on finger.

"Ah, thank you." said Lelouch, wasting no time in putting the contact back in place- the less he had to worry about Geassing someone, the better. "Does she give you trouble often?" he asked as they both stood back up. Velvet went red in the face. "Yeah...Saffron likes to pick on me." she said sheepishly. Lelouch frowned. "I'd heard people didn't always treat Faunus properly, but I didn't realize that students would engage in that kind of behavior. Let me know if someone bothers you like that again."

"Right, right..." Velvet said shyly. She paused, looking at Lelouch. "I don't think we've met...are you new here."

Lelouch already had a cover story planned out, one that Ozpin and Glynda were well aware of and ready to back up. "Kind of...I wanted to be a Hunter but I got really sick before I could enroll in Signal. Had to spend the better part of a year in a hospital. Professor Glynda personally got me up to speed to I can enroll." He gave her a smile. "The name's Lelouch Lamperouge."

"Oh, good for you!" Velvet said, her tone supportive. "I'm Velvet Scarlatina. It's nice to meet you, Lelouch." Lelouch glanced at a clock on the wall- it was getting late.

"Just remember what I said- don't be afraid to come to me for help," he said before leaving.

The day of enrollment began, with students arriving in the garden that led up to Beacon Academy. Lelouch decided to poke around, get to know some of the students. He was aware that he'd be on a team with three other students, and wanted to build rapport in case one of the students he met ended up being on his team. He walked by as a white-haired girl in a complimenting dress shouted at a shorter girl with dark red hair and a red cloak. (Or was her hair black? Black with red highlights? Lelouch couldn't quite tell.)

After walking around, Lelouch bumped into a dark-skinned boy of athletic build with black hair wearing a faded green shirt with light metal armor of similar color over it. Strapped to the boy's back was a green longsword. The boy gave Lelouch the kind of smile that girls went crazy for- warm, beaming. "Oh, sorry about that!" he said. "It's fine." Lelouch said casually.

"Name's Moss Brenin." said the boy, extending a hand to shake. "Lelouch Lamperouge." responded Lelouch, accepting the handshake. Moss gripped Lelouch's hand tightly and shook vigorously, leaving a sore feeling in Lelouch's hand. "Nice meeting you, Lelouch."

Lelouch and Moss chatted, getting to know one another as they headed to the academy's great hall, where Ozpin addressed all the new students: "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

Lelouch was surprised by hearing this from Ozpin. This was a bit harsher than what he had expected from the headmaster. Ozpin continued: "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

With that, Ozpin left, and Lelouch could overhear some girls talking: "He seemed kind of...off." "It's almost like he wasn't even there."

Moss looked over to Lelouch. "Whaddya make of that?" Lelouch shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe something came up that he's got on his mind."

The students were led into a ballroom full of sleeping bags- one half of the room for the boys, the other half for the girls. Lelouch was reading a news site on the Scroll that Ozpin had given him when he looked up to see a scrawny-looking blonde kid in...

"Bunny pajamas? Seriously?" guffawed Moss. Lelouch couldn't help but snicker at the poor kid. "Man, whaddya think you're doing?" Moss asked the blond kid. "Who are you?"

"J-Jaune Arc." mumbled the kid, red in the face. Moss laughed. "C'mon, man, take it easy. Just messin' with you. After initiation, I'll get you some pajamas that won't get you laughed at." he said. Jaune paused, then nodded. "Sure, that sounds alright."

Lelouch rolled over, closing his eyes. He had heard about initiation from Glynda- it was a dangerous first step on the path of being a Hunter, and some students had died in previous initiations. If that was the case, he needed to be as well-rested as possible.

When morning arrived, all the students were gathered on the cliff over Emerald Forest. Lelouch looked around at his fellow students- a girl with brilliant red hair in bronze hoplite armor, a boy in green that Lelouch thought looked a bit like himself, the girl in the red cape from yesterday, the white-haired girl, then there was Jaune Arc...Lelouch stopped looking when Ozpin spoke up: "For years, you have trained to become warriors-" (Lelouch smirked smugly to himself.) "-and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda continued. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams.' Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...today."

Ozpin spoke up again: "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well..."

Lelouch clenched a fist anxiously. He didn't know who he'd work well with. Ozpin finished by saying that their partner would be the first person they made eye contact after landing. Landing...? wondered Lelouch, not sure what Ozpin meant. Ozpin didn't specify, he just outlined the students' objective: get to the northern end of the forest and retrieve a relic from an abandoned temple before returning to the cliff top. Ozpin told the students to take their positions, and one of the students pointed out a tile in the ground to Lelouch. Lelouch stood on the tile and saw a student to his left being catapulted into the air, towards the forest. Lelouch paled. Not again! As soon as he realized what was going on, he looked to see Glynda (Lelouch could have sworn that for the briefest of moments that the professor gave him a cruel smirk) and then he was airborne, hurtling through the sky like a reluctant cannonball and trying to regain his nerve...