Assassin from the Past (episode)

Assassin from the Past is the thirteenth episode of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2.

Summary
Having recovered her memories, Shirley questions her perception of reality while Lelouch heads to the train station to check on the delivery of the G Trains, a network of Gefjun Disturber-equipped trains that will black out Tokyo once activated. Meanwhile, Jeremiah makes his move on Ashford Academy, overwhelming Sayoko and Rolo in his search for Lelouch. Jeremiah corners him, but is paralyzed by the G Train. Struggling, he asks why Lelouch betrayed the Emperor, to which the former prince reveals his motivation to avenge his mother. Having greatly admired Marianne vi Britannia, Jeremiah joins Lelouch's cause. Shirley finally reconciles her restored memories, asking Suzaku to forgive Lelouch as she has. Before she can reach Lelouch, she runs into Rolo, who mortally wounds her when she reveals knowledge of Nunnally. Lelouch discovers Shirley alone and bleeding to death, and stays with her in her last moments.

Plot
Shirley is seen in the girls' locker room along with the other swim club members. Immediately, several girls begin talking to her about how she and Lelouch are a couple right now, which she denies and says that they only did the hat exchange for Cupid Day. Villetta comes in, however, and joins in with the girls on how Shirley has always had a huge crush on Lelouch to the point where she shot her for him. She then rambles on about how it's always been so hard having to act like a normal teacher in front of Shirley, and her face suddenly turns into a white metallic theater mask that falls and clutters on the ground like bouncing on hard water. Horrified, Shirley runs out of the locker room, but every time she passes by someone, their face also reveals similar masks. She then sees Lelouch coming out of a classroom, and she greets him happily. Initially, he turns around and gives her a warm smile, but his own face soon turns into a mask, revealing Zero underneath. She then flashes back on all of her erased memories, and is revealed to have been dreaming. As she wakes up from the nightmare, she muses that it was all true.

Meanwhile, in the Chinese Federation, Xingke and Tohdoh lead two armies against the High Eunuchs supporters in different areas. Going over this victories, he gives orders for Asahina, Hong Gu, Minase, and Kaguya. Rolo decides that, with the rebellion's lack of manpower and Tianzi's support, they pretty much have the Chinese Federation all to themselves. Agreeing with him, Lelouch heads over to the train station to do something, promising to help Rolo with homework when he returns. At the same time, Shirley is on a train herself. With her memories restored yet also with her previous memories, Shirley appears to be losing her grip on reality, questioning who Lelouch, Villetta, Kallen, and Nunnally really are with their new identities, as well as Nina, Milly, and Rivalz. Lelouch arrives at the station and uses Geass on two soldiers to make him do his bidding while he is there, as he needs to test out some specialized train cars. Shirley arrives at the station, where she is planning to meet Suzaku. He arrives there wearing the disguise he wore when he met Euphemia, but Shirley nearly runs away when they run into each other. Shirley tries to ask him something, but Lelouch ends up seeing them and says Hello.

Back at Ashford Academy, Villetta finds Rolo in the OSI room and questions why he would betray Britannia, but he refuses to answer beyond that it has something to do with Lelouch. At that moment, an alarm is signaled saying that a mass murderer has come onto the campus. The man is confronted by two men, but he stabs both of them. Through the security cameras, Villetta discovers, to her horror, that the man is Jeremiah, who has come looking for Lelouch. Jeremiah, after killing more staff, is confronted by Sayoko at the Student Council building. She reveals her ninja skills to him, but when she tries stabbing him with kunai close-range, she discovers that his robotic prosthetics have been internalized. Meanwhile, at the Geass Order, Bartley takes Cornelia inside a large hall. He explains that the people in the Order are trying to kill the Gods with firm belief in what they are saying, to which Cornelia reveals her atheism. V.V. suddenly appears from behind a pillar and confirms that he is not referring to the Christian God, but before he can elaborate, Cornelia throws a knife into his forehead. Bartley protests, but Cornelia says it was only justified because he was a Geass user. However, V.V. reveals his immortality, and commends her for living up to her name before revealing that he is her uncle. He then begins talking about a contract he made with someone.

Sayoko continues to fight Jeremiah, aiming for his obvious human parts, but her agility is unable to counter Jeremiah's defenses. Rolo quickly appears to help, using his Geass to halt Jeremiah. Sayoko goes in to slit his throat, but Jeremiah uses his Geass Canceler, then jumps behind Sayoko and slashes her back. Rolo tries using the Geass again, but Jeremiah pins him down and reveals that he is an assassin for the Geass Order. Villetta comes and tries to appease Jeremiah, who thinks that Lelouch swayed her willingly. Villetta reveals Lelouch's location, and pleads with Jeremiah to spare the rest of the people there. He agrees, then moves to find him. After he leaves, Villetta and Rolo get one of the Black Knights to treat Sayoko's injuries, then make plans to warn Lelouch with the intention of trapping him on both sides. Shirley, meanwhile, takes the two boys onto the train station's roof, which marks the boundary between Eleven territory and the Tokyo Settlement. They all begin asking questions to themselves: Shirley about how to tell Suzaku without alerting Lelouch; Lelouch about what Shirley is planning or if Suzaku is trying to gauge his reaction again; and Suzaku about whether or not Lelouch is Zero and, if he is, how he was able to stay in both the Chinese Federation and the Tokyo Settlement, refusing to believe anything else. Suzaku mutters about erasing the border, causing Shirley to wonder if the two are allies. Before she can act under this assumption, however, she imagines them with the theater masks. Traumatized, she begins backing away from them, and when Lelouch gets closer out of confusion, she scampers over to the edge of the roof. Lelouch and Suzaku try to approach her, but she slips and falls off the ledge. Lelouch jumps off and grabs her wrist, while Suzaku stays on and grabs Lelouch's foot. Shirley then tries to get Lelouch to let go, but he pleads with her not to die on him, and she eventually listens.

After Suzaku pulls them both back up and everyone calms down, Shirley remembers how Suzaku saved Lelouch when he nearly fell off the roof trying to get Arthur. Suzaku then jokes that if it had been reverse they would have both fallen, but suddenly stops himself, refusing to have a pleasant moment with Lelouch because of Euphemia. In the awkward silence, Shirley realizes that Lelouch and Suzaku are not allies like she thought. Just then, Rolo, who is in a helicopter with Sayoko, calls Lelouch and informs him of Jeremiah and his position. Suzaku tries to pressure Lelouch into saying what the call was about, but Shirley pesters him by saying that she wants to resolve her problem first. As she drags him away and thanks Lelouch, Lelouch decides that Suzaku can protect Shirley while he takes on Jeremiah.

Lelouch sends his Geassed officers at Jeremiah when he arrives, and when try to shoot him and have their bullets repelled, Jeremiah uses his Geass Canceler, catching them off guard and allowing Jeremiah to knock both of them out. Seeing this, Lelouch understands his power and activates a smoke system, scaring the public away. Jeremiah then sees Lelouch from a balcony, and they smile devilishly at each other. Shirley, meanwhile, takes Suzaku outside. She re-confesses that she loves Lelouch, but questions why Suzaku hates him when they used to be so close, avoiding mentioning she has her memories back. Suzaku angrily says that he liked him at one point, and can never forgive him for something he done (implying about euphemias demise). However, Shirley counters that everything is forgivable, and that Suzaku merely refuses to want to forgive him, yet she has. Before Suzaku can question her, he sees the smoke. He promptly rushes over to take command of the situation, asking two soldiers to protect Shirley.

Back in the Vermillion Forbidden City, the Black Knights are in a meeting when Tamaki comes in and tells Ohgi that Zero has sent an emergency call. Ohgi calls the line, but ends up calling the OSI, with Villetta answering. Reluctantly, she reveals herself. At the same time, Rolo arrives at the station via a helipad, and rushes in. Shirley also escapes her guards and heads inside, desperate to help Lelouch, while also taking the gun of one of the Geassed officers. The two end up encountering each other in a room, where Shirley asks if Rolo loves Lelouch, but Rolo pays attention to her gun. After he confirms it, Shirley acts under the correct assumption that Rolo is with the Black Knights, and asks to join them, to Rolo's suspicion. Shirley continues pleading, saying she wants to make Lelouch happy again. She then mentions reuniting Lelouch and Nunnally, but Rolo suddenly activates his Geass, and another mask falls.

Lelouch, meanwhile, has Jeremiah chase him to the trains, but eventually must come to a standstill. He questions why Jeremiah would act in such a way out of mere loyalty, then clicks a switch. Gefjun Disturbers suddenly pop out from the train cars, frying Jeremiah's cybernetics. With these, Lelouch plans to bring Tokyo to a power outage if needed. He then tries to interrogate Jeremiah on the Order's location. Jeremiah, however, manages to press onwards slightly and questions him why he is Zero. To that, Lelouch reveals that he is not Lelouch Lamperouge, but Lelouch vi Britannia, then reveals his intentions. Jeremiah suddenly stops, and reveals his past saying that his first assignment as an officer was to protect Marianne, which he obviously failed to do, and has regretted the moment ever since. Shedding tears, he says he is only loyal to her, and collapses. Seeing truth in his words, Lelouch cancels the Gefjun Disturbers. After Jeremiah recovers, Lelouch asks him to join the Black Knights' cause to get his own revenge, and he immediately agrees.

After this, Lelouch runs up some stairs giving orders to let Jeremiah be because he is now with them. As he passes by one room, though, he stops to see Shirley, lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood, gun still in hand and a huge slash mark across her stomach. Rushing over to her, he questions what happened to her. Instead, upon opening her eyes to see him, Shirley says she is glad that he is with her in the end. Waving away her comments, Lelouch quickly gets his phone to call paramedics, but Shirley reaches up and stops him by holding his hand. Shirley then reveals that she has had her memories restored, and continues to say that, ever since then, she's been so afraid because all the knowledgeable people have all just been trying to kill them and everyone else on Earth. Having finally seen from Suzaku's insanity that Lelouch is only trying to make the world best for everyone, she wanted to be the one person he could rely on to be truthful. Shirley then finally confesses her feelings for him and begins to close her eyes, so Lelouch frantically gives a Geass command for her to live; because of the Geass Canceler, it takes effect, but Shirley is physically unable to do it and can only continue speaking. Lelouch, leaking tears, desperately orders the Geass over and over again, but Shirley says that, when they go to the afterlife, she just very well may still fall for him, making it all feel predestined. She then says that she will happily fall in love with him over and over again, then let's her hand clutter to the ground. Lelouch desperately shakes her, but realises that Shirley is dead and unleashes a scream of anguish.

Battles

 * N/A

Powers or Abilities used

 * Lelouch's Geass
 * Rolo's Geass
 * Jeremiah's Geass Canceler

Quotes

 * "Nothing is unforgivable you know. In other words you are not willing to forgive him. You don't want to forgive him." -Shirley


 * "Well, well I see you've done your homework. You're aware that when the Sakuradite disruption system is complete we can paralyze all urban functions with the railway circular route. In other words, bring Tokyo to a standstill." -Lelouch


 * "Ever since my memories have come back, I've been feeling so very afraid. A teacher who wasn't a teacher. Friends who don't have memories to share. Everyone... was just.. lying... It felt as though the whole world was spying on me. That's the world you've been fighting for all by yourself, isn't it? All alone. So that's why I... why I wanted to be someone who would at least be truthful to you. Lulu. I love you. Even knowing how you caught my father in all this, I simply couldn't hate you. Even though you made me forget everything, I still fell in love with you. Even though my memories were tampered with, I kept falling in love... with you all over again. "No matter how many times I'm reborn. I'll keep falling in love with you Lulu. I suppose that it's simply fate. So is that okay then Lulu? And as I'm reborn, I'll fall in love with you over and over I'll keep falling in love with..." -Shirley