C.C.



C.C (シー・ツー, Shī Tsū, pronounced C2) is one of the secondary protagonists in the Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion anime series by Sunrise. Her seiyuu is Yukana while she is voiced by Kate Higgins in the English dub. C.C. is not her real name; she involuntarily reveals her real name to Lelouch in her sleep, but it is muted so the viewer cannot hear it.

In the 29th Anime Grand Prix, she was awarded 3rd place. She was chosen the most popular female character of 2007 at Animage magazine's annual Anime Grand Prix.

Character outline
C.C. is immortal, healing from any wound (implied to include beheading) with enough time. She also doesn't age. Apart from her immortality, C.C. has the ability to bestow people with the power of Geass, which manifests differently in each person but generally carries the ability to affect the minds of those it is used on in some way. A Geass sigil appears on her forehead whenever she manifests this power, and she has a similar scar on her left breast. Her powers caught the interest of Britannia, who imprisoned her for experimentation purposes.

In the first season finale, C.C. triggers a trap set by V.V., causing herself and Lelouch to be submerged in a shock image sequence similar to the one she used on Suzaku. Through this, Lelouch sees memories of her past, including repeated "deaths". One shows C.C. attempting to escape from a World War I-esque battlefield, only to be shot in the forehead. Further memories show her being persecuted as a witch and suffering various forms of torture and/or execution throughout history and various time periods, including burning at the stake, guillotining, and the iron maiden. This would suggest a minimum lifespan of at least six centuries. In a special feature included in the series' fifth DVD, she and Lelouch discuss Washington's Rebellion, during which she speaks of participants such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin as if she had been close friends with both. In the past, she appears to have observed Suzaku and Lelouch when they were both children, having even interacted with Lelouch at one point, though he doesn't remember their meeting.

Her individual experiences have led C.C. to become a detached and lonely individual, with little care for even those she has entered into contracts with. She tells Lelouch that she has been alive so long that she can no longer remember who loves her and who hates her. Due to her nature and history, she has been lonely as long as she can remember. Lelouch replies, "You're not alone. We are partners. If you are a witch, then I'll become a demon." Lelouch is possibly the first person that has ever truly cared for her and it appears that she reciprocates at least some of these feelings, as she unexpectedly kisses him after their memories are shared. However she claims that she has been selfish, keeping Lelouch alive just so that she could be able to die. In episode 23 of the second season, Suzaku asks her to be Lelouch's shield, defending him from his enemies while Suzaku strikes down those enemies as Lelouch's sword.

C.C. is willful almost to a fault, usually doing whatever she wants regardless of whether or not it inconveniences others, particularly with Lelouch. In episode 5, she purposely make use of her contract to make it sound like it was an engagement in front of Nunnally and in one Sound Episode, she said to Nunnally that both she and Lelouch are 'busy' making Nunnally misunderstood.

When left alone, she has sometimes spoken to a previously unknown person through means unknown, which, in episode 23, was revealed to be Marianne, Lelouch's deceased mother, although in episode 19 it appears that she is talking to V.V. as well. According to the DVD Magazine 02, she is talking to more than one person when she seems to be talking to herself.

C.C. also has a somewhat obsessive penchant for pizza, especially Pizza Hut's Cheese-kun (which sponsors Code Geass in Japan); she constantly orders pizzas to Lelouch's house using his credit card, much to his chagrin. This is often used for comedic effect. Her love for pizza is so strong that she is willing to risk herself being captured, twice exposing herself to get a piece of a giant pizza being made by the Student Council (which is ruined both times); both Lelouch and Kallen sometimes refer her as "Pizza Girl". In addition to this she is an avid collector of Cheeze-kun related merchandises and is often seen hugging a Cheeze-kun plush doll.

During the planning stages of Code Geass, C.C.'s name was originally intended to be Cera (セラ, Sera), but it was later dropped.

First season
C.C. is introduced in the first episode, where she emerges from a fake gas capsule seized by Japanese rebels. She saves Lelouch Lamperouge from the Britannian soldiers trying to recapture her, taking the shot intended for him. To keep the soldiers from simply shooting again, she grants him the power of Geass, which she calls the "power of kings", on the condition that he grant her greatest wish. Lelouch accepts and is granted the power to control people's actions. Since she appears to have died following this, he leaves her body behind.

She unexpectedly reappears in the fifth episode, casually folding origami with Nunnally. From this point on she passively oversees Lelouch's missions as Zero, wanting to keep him alive so he can fulfill his contract, often going as far as wearing his clothes and impersonating him when situations become life-threatening.

When C.C.'s existence is revealed to the Black Knights, she gains considerable unofficial standing, as she is seen by other members to be one of Zero's closest advisers, if not his top adviser. However, her willful attitude and lack of an official posting annoys some veteran members and causes confusion as to her role within the Black Knights. At one point, Tamaki goes so far as to accuse her of being a member only because she's Zero's lover, a claim which she coldly denies. When the Black Knights gain possession of the Knightmare Frame Gawain, she becomes its pilot while Lelouch operates the weapons.

In the season finale, she uses the Gawain to battle Jeremiah Gottwald's Siegfried so Lelouch can save his sister. She drags both it and herself to the ocean floor to end the battle while narrating that the spark of Lelouch's actions was the core of human motivation: the desire for just a small amount of happiness. According to Yukana in a conference memo, C.C. was crushed by the water pressure, but managed to come to the surface; it is stated that it was too gruesome to show on TV.

Second season
At the start of the second season, C.C. appears to be commanding the Black Knights. She and the rest of the surviving Black Knights initiate an operation to unlock Zero's memory that was sealed away by the Emperor of Britannia. Despite the Intelligence Agency having followed Lelouch in anticipation of that exact outcome, she is successful in restoring his memories. She takes up her old position following this.

She is revealed to have formerly led the Geass Directorate, a secret organization that studies and produces Geass users. V.V. succeeded C.C. as the leader, and relocated the headquarters to somewhere in the Chinese Federation. Lelouch leaves her to find its exact location down while he returns to Japan. After pinpointing the location of the Geass Directorate, Lelouch orders C.C. to lead the attack against it. She also reluctantly kills V.V.'s direct subordinates when they attempt to escape by bullet train in order to bury the existence of Geass.

Her past is revealed to Lelouch after he is transported to the Sword of Akasha to face the Emperor. She also reveals that he would have become immortal had he granted her wish, which is to die, and spares him by offering her life to the Emperor. Lelouch refuses to let her die unhappy and rescues her, but she loses her memories of Geass and reverts to her personality as it was before she came under the contract that ultimately bestowed immortality upon her. Later it is revealed by Marianne that this was a result of C.C. sealing away her own Code rather than giving it to Charles vi Britannia.

Following her memory loss, C.C. remains in Lelouch's quarters, believing him to be her master, once he told her "wear your clothing inside out and sing for me as you dance on one foot", but he stopped her as she was taking off her shirt. When Lelouch's identity is revealed to the Black Knights and Rolo is forced to take him to safety, C.C. is left behind. Marianne, possessing Anya Alstreim's body, locates C.C. and awakens her memories. The two then leave for Kamine Island, rescuing Suzaku along the way. Marianne enters the Sword of Akasha, while C.C. stays behind to speak with Suzaku. She compares herself to him, as both have a death wish they cannot fulfill. Suzaku denies this and has C.C. take them to the Sword of Akasha, allowing the Emperor to begin Ragnarok. When Lelouch turns the tables and the collective unconsciousness of the human race destroys Charles and Marianne, C.C. is spared because she had long turned against their plan. Later on, when Lelouch appoints himself as the new Emperor, C.C. looks on from the shadows.

She is aware of Lelouch's plan after becoming the Emperor and is shocked to learn that Nunnally is alive. C.C. later comforts Lelouch when he is troubled on what to do about Nunnally. When Kallen attacks the Avalon with the Guren and is about to kill Lelouch, C.C. intervenes in her Lancelot. She engages in battle against Kallen, but is easily defeated. She ejects to safety, surprised that she even cares about winning or losing. During Lelouch's planned assassination, she prays for him at a church, shedding a single tear while commenting on the price he's paying for using Geass on others.

During the epilogue, C.C. is seen traveling the countryside in the back of a cart. She talks about how the Geass is supposed to bring loneliness, yet Lelouch proved this wrong. With the knowledge that Lelouch did not hate her for giving him the Geass, she is now able to express her true feelings.



Abilities
C.C. is immortal, neither suffering from age nor capable of being killed by conventional means. She has been shot fatally a number of times, been crushed by water pressure, burned at the stake, subjected to the guillotine, and placed in an iron maiden, all of which she recovered from.

C.C. has the ability to bestow people with the power of Geass, which manifests differently in each person but generally carries the ability to affect the minds of those it is used on in some way. The Geass sigil glows on her forehead whenever she manifests this power, and she has a similar scar on her left breast.

When in close proximity to another person, C.C can afflict them with a hallucinatory experience of chaotic and ominous images, pertaining in part to the memories of the target involved; the content varies with the afflicted. Physical contact, either direct or via a Knightmare Frame, may facilitate the process. Suzaku is shown images of his father (whom he murdered) as well as parts of C.C.'s memories, driving him into a panic. In another instance, Anya is shown images of Lelouch's childhood, causing her to freeze in wonder until contact was severed. It tends to activate involuntarily at various points, such as when Lelouch's Geass becomes permanently active. This effect is described as 'a merging of consciousness'.

Apart from psychic abilities, C.C. is a capable leader, able to rescue Lelouch from Britannian traps, handle firearms with some proficiency and seems to be a skilled unarmed fighter as well. She is also an accomplished Knightmare pilot, able to pilot both standard Knightmare Frames as well as copilot the Gawain with Lelouch.

Geass
Before becoming immortal, C.C.'s Geass, as contracted with a nun during apparently medieval times, granted her the power "to be loved," which allowed her to make anyone around her love her. She originally started with a Geass symbol in her left eye, but as she matured, she eventually developed another in her right, and inferredly became unable to control it, causing everyone to love her. After C.C. had became bored by the tranced society around her, the nun who had bound the Geass contract to her shifted her immortality into C.C., as signified by the Geass sigil on her forehead. The nun died in the process, and as part of the exchange, C.C. became immune to the effects of Geass while losing her original.

Quotes

 * (To Lelouch vi Britania) "Without death, all we have are random events, accumulation, you can’t call that life! If you have a reason for living, then you have to kill me."

Nightmare of Nunnally
In the manga spin-off series, C.C. appeared in a capsule with Nemo on her side and was picked up by Lelouch. When Lelouch was about to be killed, C.C. grants him a geass ability that turns his body into armor. C.C. now sees Lelouch's plan to destroy Britannia with the newly formed Black Knights and acts as his double. In this continuity it is revealed that once, she was known as the "Witch of Britannia" and was the rival and foe of Joan of Arc, who was known as the "Witch of Orleans," during the Hundred Years' War presumably leading the Britannians in the same role as Joan leading the French. When Lelouch was a child, she saves him from being executed by a disgruntled Genbu Kururugi.



Code Geass: The Manga
C.C. is present in the manga with only a few differences in her appearances. She was discovered in a plane crash and she appeared before Lelouch creates a plan to save Suzaku.