Dauntless



Dauntless is a Code Geass Fanfic by Allora Gale, notable both for its quality and for updating at Ludicrous Speed.

The premise: Lelouch is spotted by Clovis while out gambling. With only enough time to hide Nunnally away, he allows himself to be brought back to Britannia and reluctantly reclaims his status as an Imperial prince. The remainder of the story (so far) follows his navigating Britannian politics and later joining the military, with separate plot threads expanding on the Backstory of Kallen and Naoto Kozuki's resistance group from canon, Jeremiah Gottwald's attempts to track them down, Nunnally's coping with loneliness and separation from Lelouch, and the activities of the Lelouch-less Ashford Academy student council.

This fic contains examples of the following tropes, in addition to those already present in the source material:
"Emperor Charles: "Explain to me why Cornelia ," The Emperor said, raising one eyebrow in a silent challenge."
 * A Father to His Men: Lelouch.
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Averted hard with Lelouch, to the point that Chapter 58 is more or less dedicated to this fact.
 * Alternate Universe: Yeah, it's a fanfic.
 * Arch Enemy: While the Emperor's head is his ultimate goal (and with Suzaku as his ally) as far he is concerned, Cornelia is at the top of Lelouch hit list after.

"Britannian soldier: You some kind of Eleven sympathizer? You feel bad for him?
 * Arranged Marriage: Lelouch and.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: The Darwinist society of Brittania. Also the Emperor Charles who can easily bring down any of his sons and their entire Families with but a glance. Even Schenizel walks very careful around him.
 * The Chessmaster: Schneizel, right down to having a chessboard with pieces representing people. Sound familiar?
 * Also, Lelouch keeps the trait of referring to people with chess notations, as well as claiming that Ohgi's group is just "pawns on his board".
 * Berserk Button: C.C. only has one: anybody who would so much look at Lelouch wrong will die. Messily and begging for their life, if she had any say in the matter.
 * For Lelouch, it's racism and bigotry, reasons why he can barely tolerate his wife.
 * Also, don't even think of harming Euphemia around Lelouch.
 * Euphemia, his friends, Suzaku (as the Purist faction learned the hard way), Nunnally, Edith...
 * Blood Knight: Deconstructed with Cornelia. While she is intelligent, extremely capable, and an all around stelar strategist, her desire to confront her enemies has left her unimaginative and stubborn. Lelouch compared her to an spoiled brat, used to getting her way in battle. Schneizel happens to agree.
 * The Butcher: Lelouch is not amused by this after Area 18.
 * Children Are Innocent: Ken is a prime example.
 * Celibate Hero: Lelouch, possibly more so than canon, in that he is married and also has to deal with C.C. acting as his Dark Mistress and has yet to do anything.
 * Cloudcuckoolander/Bunny Ears Lawyer: Lloyd is just as strange if not stranger than his canon portrayal, constantly referring Suzaku as a "machine that needed to be repaired".
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: It's all but genetic for the Imperial Family.
 * Dark Mistress: In Dauntless, C.C. actively cultivates her image as this to Lelouch in order to keep people from asking questions about who she is and why he lets her hang around.
 * She even goes as far as sleeping in his bed with him.
 * Marianne was this for Charles, literally carving the way to power with the bodies of the entire Imperial Family and his enemies, long before she was even considered wife material.
 * Deadpan Snarker: This quote shows Lelouch's verbal ownage skills. And it only gets better from there.

Lelouch: Hardly. I feel worse for you. That the sole purpose of your existence is to brutalize an unarmed civilian is a little sad."


 * Disproportionate Retribution: Clovis has the soldiers who roughed up Lelouch while bringing him in executed.
 * To be fair, it is shown that Clovis and Lelouch were rather close as children and Lelouch is royalty.
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sergeant Harken. Don't call him "Slash".
 * Doomed By Canon: Naoto.
 * as well, although it happens a little differently than in canon.
 * Doorstopper: Overlaps with the sensation of Arc Fatigue, thanks to slow pacing.
 * The Empire
 * The Emperor
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Lelouch's squad's mechanic in Area 18 appears to be one of these.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Of some sort. Lelouch allowing himself to be caught by Clovis and his men so Nunnally can evade recognition and capture.
 * Also Suzaku and C.C. when confronted with Clovis's royal guard... just like in canon.
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: Edith. While actually several magnitudes lower than Lelouch, she is one of the most competent individuals in the series, literally commanding all the resources of Lelouch and deciding who lives and who dies unless Lelouch says otherwise. She is also probably the second person in the entire planet Lelouch actually trusts.
 * Infant Immortality: Averted with Marianne and the slaughter of Area 18 and Shinjuku.
 * It Got Worse:  To the point of being a Wham Episode.
 * Katanas Are More Symbolic: Lelouch gives Suzaku an authentic katana for his knighting ceremony rather than a Britannian sword to show him that he is still Japanese.
 * Kick the Dog: Jeremiah's treatment towards the Elevens (especially Naoto's resistance group) is a pretty big one of these, albeit very fitting to his canon portrayal in Season 1.
 * His  are quite likely to be seen as a Moral Event Horizon crossing by.
 * Large and In Charge: The Emperor Charles, of course. He is a giant, both in strength and spirit.
 * Laser Guided Karma: Like canon, the Purist Faction tries to use Suzaku as a scapegoat. In response, Lelouch
 * Like Brother and Sister: Milly claims this about Lelouch, likely an attempt to discourage shipping of this pair.
 * Like Father Like Son: Cornelia says this word for word when
 * Mama Bear: Charles describes Marianne as such.
 * She reacted with a pure snarl of fury when the news that Lelouch was being nearly killed.
 * Must Make Amends: Jeremiah for framing Suzaku.
 * Noble Bigot: Jeremiah, mainly because he is still technically a Noble but a complete and utter bigot with no sense of shame whatsoever of his past abuses. He is still kind, loyal to a fault, and honorable... so long as you are a Britannian and/or a member of the Royal Family.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Lelouch shows up at Edith's door in the middle of the night and tells her he needs her to help him with something. No, not that.
 * Original Character: Many, although they are all characterized well, and are made with good reason.
 * Official Couple: It's  When the author admitted this during a post chapter message, it brought about a mild Fan Backlash. Allora Gale found that to be hilarious.
 * Offing the Offspring: Emperor Charles really, really doesn't like his sons and daughters, marking them as annoyances for a game he has grown tired of years ago. The only he actually felt proud and a little of empathy with is Lelouch, and well...
 * Oh Crap: Gino's reaction when
 * ...aaand C.C.'s reaction when
 * Pet the Dog: Lelouch's birthday present to Nunally.
 * Another to Jeremiah. After he, Lelouch tells him that he can call him by name from now on.
 * Properly Paranoid: The amount of security Lelouch places on Ashford Academy, his friends, and his sisters is ridiculous.
 * Put On a Bus:  was disbanded by Lelouch.
 * Red Baron: Lelouch becomes known as the "Wolf of Britannia" with his Royal Guard occasionally referred to as the Wolf Pack.
 * The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Kenshiki faction use civilians (or what is left to them) to scare the population to follow their demands.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Lelouch when he thought the JLF had killed Euphemia. Even when he finds out she's still alive, he tells Hector, "I'll be upset if you leave any of them alive."
 * Screw the Rules I'm Doing What's Right: The reason for Lelouch's insubordination after he was ordered to fire on an 18 convoy that mostly had.
 * Shout Out: Who the hell do you think Lelouch is?
 * Sliding Scale of Realistic Versus Fantastic: The author has claimed to wish to keep the fic quite realistic, with many fans finding this one of its strong positive points, and has also apologized for how unrealistic Suzaku's recovery from being shot is.
 * Undying Loyalty: Jeremiah to Marianne and, through her, Lelouch.
 * Lelouch's personal guard to pure fanatic levels. The leader (Hector) was thoroughly pissed when Lelouch put his life in danger in Area 18 to save one of them. He was pissed at the soldier (his best friend) and flat out tells him if that ever happens again, he would let him die. The soldier agrees.
 * Later, Lukas turns down  because it'd mean that he'd no longer serve under Lelouch.
 * Villain Episode: Chapter 43 has a section devoted to Charles and.
 * Charles gets another one with V.V. in chapter 57.
 * We ARE Struggling Together: None, absolutely none of the Japanese terrorist groups work together in any way, fashion, or sense. They are even antagonistic with each other, almost as bad as they are against Britannia.
 * To be fair, given the Kenshiki's standard M.O. of targetting even Japanese civilians, it's little wonder that no one wants anything to do with them. Even freedom fighter groups have standards, y'know.
 * What If: Basically the whole point of the fic.
 * What an Idiot: Done by Kallen to herself for, all thanks to her hot head.
 * What the Hell Hero: Milly, Suzaku, and even Lelouch had given one to
 * To be fair, it's not like he didn't have a good reason. He wanted more than anything to do exactly what they requested, after all, he just puts her safety above everything else, even his selfish wants or her own happiness.
 * You Killed My Brother: One of Kallen's main motivation for fighting in the resistance.
 * You Killed My Brother: One of Kallen's main motivation for fighting in the resistance.