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Fanfic / Code Geass: Mao of the Deliverance

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It hurts Mao more. Really.

Code Geass: Mao of the Deliverance is a Code Geass fanfic by Kleptographer of Alternates, which details the history of Mao , beginning with his abandonment by C.C. It primarily focuses on his desperate search for her as he first wanders around Beijing, supporting his operation through gambling and blackmail, though clues uncovered during his travels eventually bring him to Japan where his relation to early events in the series is revealed in an attempt to shed new insight on his subsequent actions.

Its portrayal suggests Mao to be a brilliant Anti-Hero whose love drives him to sacrifice everything (and anyone) in order to save his beloved C.C. from her Death Wish so they can be together again. Forever. Given events seen in the show, however, the outcome is a bit of a Foregone Conclusion with a few original twists.

Code Geass: Mao of the Deliverance provides examples of:

  • Action Girl: After Kallen unknowingly captures C.C., Mao ruminates over the fact that when he finds her, he won't be able to attack her, as she's a skilled fighter and his Geass won't help him predict reflexive muscle movements.
    • He gives the same reason for avoiding Sayoko, who is also a martial artist.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Much of the entire first half of the story, along with detailed explanations set in between Canon episodes. The ability of the author to take the core source material (consisting of about three episodes, a couple of cameos and a brief series of flashbacks), and create an engaging storyline that is both plausible and woven into established Canon very well, however, is rather impressive.
  • All Just a Dream: Apparently, Chapter 20.
  • All-Loving Heroine: Nunnally is kind to everyone, even the person holding her hostage. At gunpoint. In the sewer.
  • All There in the Manual: The separate one-shots "Mistakes of the Past", "Memories" and "Kisses and Wishes" provide additional details about Mao and C.C.'s past, such as a retelling of their parting from C.C.'s perspective.
  • Alone in a Crowd: While Mao is alone for much of the time, it's slightly averted by the fact that he hears the thoughts of those around him, giving him a measure of (unwanted) conversation.
  • The Atoner: By the last chapter, Mao seems to have come to consider himself this, even Having Sympathy for the Devil over Lelouch and feeling genuine regret for his own actions, although because of his Blue-and-Orange Morality, it's not very clear whether or not he still thinks that because it was all for C.C., it was worth it.
  • And This Is for...: Mao whispers C.C.'s name when he shoots someone dead for the first time. He later shouts her name repeatedly as he massacres a roomful of scientists with an machine gun.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Mao gives one to C.C. in Chapter 23.
  • Asshole Victim: Doctor Huai.
  • Anti Villain Protagonist: Mao is either this or the Anti-Hero.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: On one of Code-R's recorded video sessions, a scientist condescendingly berates a colleague for wondering aloud if C.C. could be an extraterrestrial, despite the fact that moments before he discussed her having psychic powers without batting an eye.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Several thoughts Mao overhears suffer from this.
  • Badass Longcoat: Mao.
  • Back from the Dead
  • Batman Gambit: Because his Telepathy enables him to acquire intimate knowledge of anyone he wants, Mao often comes up with schemes that are dependent on people acting the way he predicts they will. He is very good at this. Unfortunately for him, his first attempt against Lelouch ends up failing, though just barely. Then later, Lelouch uses an even better one against him though it actually fails as well.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Nunally reveals that Mao's Geass ultimately stems from his desire to understand people.
  • Berserk Button: Mao's apparently include Code-R experimenting on C.C. Prostitutes propositioning him. Zero.
  • Big Blackout: Mao engineers one of these in his escape from the Geass Directorate.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Lelouch became a terrorist and started a war for his handicapped sister Nunnally.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: Mao and C.C., in C's World near the end.
  • Bilingual Bonus: In one chapter Mao starts shouting obscenities in romanized Chinese. See also Foreign-Language Tirade and Foreign Cuss Words.
    • Later when Mao witnesses Suzaku outrun and disable his sentry gun he remarks in disbelief, "Cào nǐ zǔzōng shíbā dài!". Translation: "Fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation!", a particularly insulting Chinese curse.
  • Bleed 'Em and Weep: Shirley has this reaction after shooting a Britannian spy about to expose Lelouch's identity as Zero. Because of this she becomes suicidal later and Mao uses her guilt to manipulate her into attacking Lelouch as part of his cruel "punishment".
  • Blessed with Suck: His Geass gives him the ability to know other's thoughts. No matter what. All the time. Without fail.
  • Bloodier and Gorier: Starting with Chapter 12.
  • Blown Across the Room: Mao's shotgun tends to have this effect on its victims. Oh, that and backside gorn.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: Mao's moral compass begins and ends with C.C. He starts his journey perfectly willing to do anything to get back to her and his actions often seem inexplicably insane in the sheer innocence of their brutality, all the while seeing himself as a paragon example of a Knight in Shining Armor engaged in a struggle of Black-and-White Morality. It becomes muddled near the middle, however, as Mao seems to acknowledge that his recent actions are evil (at least as far as he can grasp the concept) but necessary. Regardless, his status as a Cloud Cuckoo Lander often causes him to do things normal people would balk at, such as his outlandish attempt to chainsaw his immortal beloved in order to make her more compact for a cramped flight.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Mao delivers a few of these—notably to a mook who forgot his helmet earlier.
  • Break the Cutie: Revealed in several flashbacks that Mao was just a Troubled, but Cute little boy until his Geass slowly drove him insane.
    • He also deliberately does this to Shirley and tries to do it to Nunally but she's portrayed as too pure.
  • Break the Haughty: Mao terrifies Lelouch after a single chess match and later brings him to his knees in apparent defeat. Also inflicts this on Suzaku, prompting Lelouch to realize that the key to removing Mao's power over others is to permanently remove his ability to speak.
  • Breaking Speech: Mao gives out several of these. One played straight to the doctor of a psychiatric ward, one to a Britannian soldier with a guilty conscience, and one to Shirley and Suzaku, respectively. Subverted, when he actually gives a positive one to Doragoniki to gain sympathy and convince him to sell him weapons, by comparing his quest to save C.C. with the seller's frustration over the loss of his wife. Inverted twice. Once when he unsuccessfully attempts this on Rolo but is prevented because of the fact that he had already come to terms with what Mao said is true, causing it to have no effect on him. And again it fails with Nunnally (possibly due to her cognitive dissonance), however, and she instead gives him a rather jarring one.
  • Broken Bird: Mao realizes C.C. is this, determining that she must need him just as much as he does her therefore.
  • Brother–Sister Incest: When Mao first uses his Geass on Lelouch, he learns, among other things, that he really loves his sister. When he kidnaps Nunnally later, he discovers that the feeling is intensely mutual. No actual sex seems to have been involved.
  • Bulletproof Vest: Mao has to work around these while fighting an army of mooks. He also survives because of one after getting shot in the back.
  • Bullet Sparks: Mao's shotgun has this effect when he turns it on Kallen's Knightmare Frame.
  • Butt-Monkey: Let's just say Mao is prone to misfortune, including getting kicked around by police officers, locked in an insane asylum to be experimented on, and especially C.C.'s initial abandonment. All three of Mao's major schemes end up failing, the last of which has horrible consequences. Possibly Played for Laughs when he tries to fly to Area 11...and narrowly misses crashing into a building, gets caught in a hurricane, and almost wrecks in the landing.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Despite the fact that she professed to love Mao many times while he was growing up, as shown in several flashbacks and the (intended) posthumous recordings she made for him, C.C. refuses to give him the satisfaction of saying it to him when he finds her again, instead claiming she was only using him from the start all the way till a tender moment near the end, where she finally admits it, though it's still debatable whether she is supposed to be speaking from her heart or just trying to Let Them Die Happy.
  • Chainsaw Good: Mao's chainsaw isn't just any ordinary chainsaw, but one powered by liquid Sakuradite!
  • Chekhov's Armoury: Mao accumulates one of these as the story progresses.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: The ring Mao forged for C.C. in the first chapter turns out to come in handy in surprising ways on multiple occasions later.
  • Chekhov's Skill: The training Mao received during his time with the Geass Directorate, such as learning how to alternate the focus of his telepathy between different groups of people instead of all at once, which he later uses to spy on Prince Clovis and General Bartley from outside the Viceroy's Palace to learn where they're holding C.C.
  • The Chessmaster: Mao becomes this. Though Lelouch turns out to be even better, except when it comes to, you know, actually playing chess, which he loses both times they play thanks to Mao's mindreading.
  • Coincidental Broadcast: In Chapter 14, Mao turns on the television just in time to catch the broadcast of Zero's first public appearance with a mysterious capsule in his possession. As it's same one he lost to Kallen's terrorists at Code-R with C.C. inside, Mao suspects that C.C. is being held by Zero and begins investigating him, jumpstarting the third Story Arc.
    • Also C.C.'s (intended) posthumous recording, which almost never seems to run out of new things to say and fragments that play often relate somehow to Mao's present circumstances.
  • Combat Pragmatist: In the shootout from Chapter 12. Kind of required due to the fact that Mao goes up against trained fighters with only his telepathy to give him an edge. Mooks with bullet proof armor? No problem. Just shoot them in the neck.
    • Averted to his own detriment at other times, however, such as when he waits to simply kill Lelouch and Shirley with a shotgun after his ploy to get Shirley to kill Lelouch and then herself falls apart. Or how he devises this overly-complicated plan to fool Lelouch into thinking that he got Nunally killed only to try and unceremoniously shoot him with a pistol after the plan is foiled by Suzaku.
  • Cool Shades: Mao wears these or, at least, he thinks they're cool. Though later he has to keep wearing when dealing with Lelouch, since he will be vulnerable to his Geass if he doesn't.
  • Cow Tools: The writer seems to enjoy elaborating on details that appear to be nothing more than this, seemingly added for atmosphere or flavor. Especially prominent any time Mao's telepathy is written out.
  • Cradling Your Kill: C.C. does this in a way to Mao at the end of Chapter 26.
  • Creepy Child: V.V. comes off this way.
  • Death Glare: Subverted in Mao's treatment of Rolo, however, as he takes him down wearing a friendly smile.
  • Death Seeker: C.C. reveals that the contract she made with Mao is dependent upon him killing her so he can [Who Wants to Live Forever? relieve her of her immortality]. Mao refuses to kill her, arguing that he's in love with her and needs her, which is why she abandons him. Mao later seeks to kill Lelouch, the person C.C. makes a contract with after Mao, in order to prevent him from eventually completing the contract by killing her.
    • Mao also casually reveals that Suzaku is secretly one of these, due to guilt over murdering his own father as a child.
    • Finally, Mao becomes one of these himself when he approaches C.C. for the second to last time and asks her to kill him as he can't go on like this anymore.
  • Death Trap: Mao engineers a few of these against Lelouch using his Teen Genius skills. The freaking Sentry Gun he manages to install in the school without anyone noticing is pretty much hand-waved.
  • Deal with the Devil: Mao's acceptance of Geass as revealed in Chapter 24, given what it ultimately turns him into...
  • Demoted to Extra: Mao is the ONLY character actively present for all chapters (obviously). C.C. is mentioned at least once in every chapter but only present for 7 of them. Lelouch himself, though treated as the main antagonist, is only present for 9 of them, though techhnically also in 2 earlier chapters as "Zero" on broadcasts. Shirley and Nunnally are present for 3 chapters, respectively. V.V. and Rolo are present for 3 chapters. Suzaku is in 2 chapters. Kallen is only in 1 chapter, giving her the same amount as Diethard of all people, who also gets 1 chapter. Prince Clovis, General Bartley, Jeremiah and Viletta also appear in 1 chapter (although Viletta gets a later flashback cameo). Numerous other characters from the show are mentioned or hinted at but not present as well.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Finally crossed by Mao in Chapter 22 after a long Trauma Conga Line.
  • The Determinator: Mao gambles, blackmails, steals, does drugs, flies through a frickin hurricane, takes on soldiers and terrorists and gets shot repeatedly all in his quest to save C.C. and be with her forever. What's incredible is that, for many of them, it's his first time attempting to do so!
  • Disappeared Dad: Shirley's father is killed as a consequence of Lelouch's terrorist activities. Also Mao was orphaned at an early age, though it's hinted a few times that he was of noble, possibly even royal, birth.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: Towards the end, even though Mao feels like he can't go on like this anymore and wants to die, he is determined to get revenge on Lelouch and make him suffer before he goes.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Mao to Nunnally.
  • Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: C.C. takes Mao to C's World while he is unconscious and leaves him there with the mental version of herself so he can be happy and safe within her memories. Mao's reaction, however, is a subversion as, while grateful for her gesture and the company, he isn't satisfied and ultimately misses the real thing too much to be truly happy.
  • Downer Ending: Depending on your interpreation of the final chapter, the ending is either this or a Bittersweet Ending since Mao is now trapped in C.C.'s memories forever with only a simulacrum of herself who doesn't even know who he is at first to keep him company. At least he got the satisfaction of hearing C.C. telling him she loved him again and giving him one last kiss first.
  • The Dragon: Rolo to V.V. Mao also thinks of Kallen as this for Zero.
    • Suzaku later kind of becomes this in the story too in order help Lelouch save Nunnally.
  • Driven to Suicide: Mao strongly contemplates this option, before deciding he'd rather have revenge first. Also an example of Spurned into Suicide, as he is beginning to fear that C.C. might not really love him. He later meets with C.C. and ends up asking her to kill him instead to put an end to his suffering, but this turns out to be a ploy on his part to find out whether or not she truly loves him after all.
  • Dr. Jerk: Any of the doctors Mao meets in the hospital qualify, but especially Dr. Huai.
  • Drunk on the Dark Side: Both Mao AND Lelouch suffer moments like this the further along their rivalry goes.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite everything bad that happened to Mao, he is finally reunited with C.C. in C's World at the end.
  • Either/Or Title: Several of the idiosyncratic chapter names have alternate titles included as well, most commonly puns or symbolic allusions.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: Just like in the show, the Geass Directorate is a city hidden underground beneath a desert in the Chinese Federation.
  • Empathic Environment: The storm in the first chapter is the best example, but it appears fairly consistently afterwords as well if you watch for it.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Side characters, both male and female, frequently ruminate on how sexy he is (or how awesome his clothes are). Like, for example, a hotel employee who teaches him how to use the computer and Prince Clovis' own security guards! Probably a case of Author Appeal more than anything.
  • Evil Counterpart: Mao comes to view Lelouch this way.
    • Both are geniuses, both consider the well being of a single individual their entire purpose in life, both are given a Geass by C.C. and both are extremely proficient in manipulating people to their own ends. And both make their exit with a Thanatos Gambit.
      • Their differences are portrayed as complementary as well, however—Mao is portrayed as physically superior while Lelouch always ultimately comes out on top in their mindgames. Mao's mechanical skills are also contrasted with Lelouch's prowess with strategy and tactics.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: Justified because Mao not only hears every thought within 500 meters of him but can focus in on those that interest him. Much of what he hears though is completely random. Humorously averted when gaps sometimes appear in his awareness, which Mao attributes to people speaking without thinking about what they're saying.
  • "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: When faced with Lelouch's brainwashed police execution squad, Mao attempts to shout that Lelouch is the terrorist Zero. Unfortunately, his attempt is shot down before he can get it out.
  • Fake Trap: In an convoluted solution to the instance in the show where Suzaku deactivates a motion sensitive bomb by simply jumping and cutting the correct wire in midair, the author gives the explanation that it was really a malfunctioning smoke bomb designed to deceive Lelouch by tricking him into thinking he had gone outside his Geass' radius, when he actually hadn't, and draw him into Mao's real trap. It was supposed to go off so that Mao could show the video to Lelouch to make him think he had caused the death of his sister Nunally by losing their game to Mao. Being a homemade explosive that Mao cooked up in the kitchen, it turns out to be a dud, much to his chagrin.
  • Fantastic Drug: Refrain.
  • Flaw Exploitation: Mao uses this against others, including Lelouch, and ends up receiving it from Lelouch as well.
  • Foreign Money Is Proof of Guilt: While not actually guilty of a crime, Mao is treated with suspicion when he tenders Chinese yuan inside Britannian Area 11, and one dealer even refuses to sell to him (until that is, Mao makes An Offer You Can't Refuse). At one point, Mao tries to skirt the issue by playing to a clerk's racism and drawing attention to the fact that he won it gambling against a Chinese man.
  • Foregone Conclusion: Mao is going to fail in his quest to be with C.C. and die.
    • Played with: Mao actually kills Lelouch and escapes to Australia with C.C., but it turns out to be All Just a Dream. Then again at the end, Mao loses to Lelouch and C.C. appears to kill him, but in reality she takes Mao to C's World to hide him away inside her memories.
  • Freak Out: Mao does this several times. Notably when his player first runs out of batteries; and then again when he loses C.C. to Kallen's terrorists.
  • Freudian Excuse: Apparently Dr. Huai was sexually abused by his mother since he was little. And essentially, this whole story is Mao's Freudian Excuse, laid out in detail!
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Mao displays a natural aptitude for making complex machines out of odd or scarce materials, as well as repairing broken ones. He apparently learned this while making devices to ease their chores when he and C.C. lived together in the wild.
  • Gambit Pileup: In Chapter 23, Mao and Lelouch's AND C.C.’s schemes come to light, and are shown to have become so intertwined at one point as to have actually canceled each other out. Which makes Lelouch's on the fly victory in Chapter 21 all the more remarkable. Worthy Opponent indeed!
  • The Ghost: After her disappearance in Chapter 1, C.C. becomes this for a while, constantly referred to by Mao and mentioned during flashbacks, but not actually encountered until much later, except for a brief cameo.
  • Government Conspiracy: Mao uncovers several clues pointing to one of these, eventually uncovering that Prince Clovis and General Bartley abducted C.C. to synthesize her immortality with the hope of presenting her to the Emperor to curry his favor.
    • Also, the Britannian Rosenberg Institute paid for illegal experiments on asylum inmates to produce the drug Refrain and addict colonial populations with armed resistance movements, turning right around and making it illegal so as to reap the profits.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: A lot of the conflict underlying the story comes across this way, although since everything is told from Mao's perspective, it often reads like Blue-and-Orange Morality while Mao continually affirms that its actually a Black-and-White Morality tale of a knight trying to rescue his maiden.
  • Gunpoint Banter: Mao starts to have one of these with Rupert Deneuvre during their Mexican Standoff. Also gives a Breaking Speech to a guard he has pinned with a gun to the head.
  • Guns Akimbo: During his assault on Code-R, he opts for dual pistols as his weapon of choice when he can get away with it. Probably also a case of Rule of Cool for the author.
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: The battle between Lelouch and Mao in Chapter 20, culminating in an absurd chainsaw vs. katana duel.
  • Harmful to Minors: Directly stated that Mao's Geass forced him to learn about things that were far too mature for a child to handle and distorted his view of everyone but C.C. as inherently evil.
  • Headphones Equal Isolation: Thinking that Mao would fulfill her contract, C.C. made him a recording to ease his loneliness filled with words of gratitude and encouragement. When she abandons him after he doesn't though, Mao uses it to drown out his constant telepathy that would otherwise debilitate him.
  • Healing Factor: C.C. can revive from any injury, no matter how severe. Demonstrated poignantly in Code-R's experiments, which included everything from immolation up to disintegration, as well as Mao's plan to make her more compact for a cramped flight by keeping her body parts separate until they get there.
  • Heel Realization: Kind of manages to have one at the very end.
  • Hellbent For Leather: The lengths Mao goes to in order to acquire his white leather Badass Longcoat.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Although his Man Childish Blue-and-Orange Morality makes his judgements questionable to begin with, Mao comes to consider his Jumping Off the Slippery Slope as this, pledging to do whatever it takes to save C.C.
  • Hope Spot: Chapter 20. Too bad it turns out to be All Just a Dream.
  • Humans Are Bastards: Mao's basic outlook on everyone except for C.C. due to the fact that he knows what everyone around him is really thinking and most of it is selfish or depraved.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Mao's name appears in all the chapter titles, preceded by a present tense verb, apparently based on Turn 15 of the show, translated "Cheering Mao".
  • I Have a Family: Invoked by a guard named Alex when Mao calmly explains that he needs to kill him in order to steal his I.D. Rebuffed by Mao when he reminds him of all the families he killed (including children) as a soldier during the invasion of Japan.
  • Impossibly Cool Clothes: See Badass Longcoat and Cool Shades above.
    • He does shed those when they get shot full of holes, after which he becomes something of a Rummage Sale Reject thanks to the charity of a kind nurse.
  • I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Mao reserves a single-bed cottage in deep Australia so he can take C.C. there.
  • Indulgent Fantasy Segue: Turns out that Chapter 20 is this. And it's kind of Fucking HILARIOUS!
  • Indy Ploy: Mao travels to Shinjuku in order to liberate C.C. from the Britannian military. About the only thing he plans for, however, is a shoot out and when he gets there he just happens to find a guard on break whose uniform and ID he can take in order to get into the lab.
  • Instant Expert: At poker. A somewhat Justified Trope, in that he defeats his opponents simply by reading their minds to know what they have in their hand and how much risk they're willing to take. Later demonstrates the same ability when he easily defeats Chessmaster Lelouch at chess.
  • I Will Fight Some More Forever: Even when Mao is confronted by Kallen's Knightmare, he fires his shotgun at the damn thing, almost getting him killed when she retaliates with her rocket grapple.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mao tries to act like a jerk to intimidate his enemies, even though he's really a Troubled, but Cute Manchild on the inside...mostly.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: For awhile, Mao only seems to use his Geass to attack those who threaten him. Later, however, he shoots up soldiers and unarmed researchers and extorts innocents without a care. He even goes so far as to come up with two separate twisted schemes just to humiliate and break Lelouch for nothing more than his own personal resentment towards him.
  • Karmic Death: Mao tells Shirley that her and Lelouch's death would be this, though he himself muses over the fact he doesn't really care what she did and is just using her to take down Lelouch as punishment for making a contract with C.C.
  • Kick Them While They Are Down: With Shirley. He also receives this from Lelouch.
  • Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Mao follows a kind of mental hit list of people who know about C.C.'s true nature to eliminate them in order to keep her immortality a secret so the Britannian government won't come after her again.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Mao fancies himself as one for C.C., though later begins to act like a Knight in Sour Armor when things become more difficult for him.
  • The Last Dance: Chapters 24, 25, and 26 are this for Mao.
  • Let Them Die Happy: Inverted. Mao's favored method seems to be to Mind Rape them, give them a Breaking Speech about The Reason They Suck and then either just kill them himself or get them to do it for him.
    • Played straight with C.C. to Mao, depending on how you interpret her complicated feelings for him.
  • Literal Genie: Lelouch's Geass. Mao survives Lelouch's firing squad because of his poorly phrased command to the brainwashed police officers to "shoot" rather than "kill". It requires quite a suspension of disbelief but, admittedly, the show doesn't explain it much better.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: C.C. for Mao and a pretty dark example at that, considering the lengths he is willing to go to in order to get her back. Just her voice apparently soothes him like nothing else.
  • Living Lie Detector: Mao's Geass enables him to do this. Nunnally is also revealed to be able to tell when someone is lying and view their memories just by holding their hand. She does this to Mao, but he has a Freak Out instead from the ensuing Mind Rape.
  • Love at First Sight: Averted as a flashback reveals that Mao shouted that he hated the world and everyone in it, including C.C. (whom he had never met till then).
  • Love Martyr: Mao admits to himself that C.C. lied to him by breaking her promise to be with him forever, but decides he doesn't care and still loves her anyway.
  • A Love to Dismember: Mao attempts to make C.C. more compact for a cramped flight to Australia. In the preceding chapter, we get to see Mao actually do this to a willing C.C. And then C.C.'s severed head talks to him and blows him kisses afterward! Thankfully, it was All Just a Dream though.
  • Manchild: Mao is still very childlike, despite physically being an adult.
    • When he excitedly rides a carousel for the first time.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Do we even have to tell you who?
    • Also Lelouch attempts to be one in a desperate bid to win the already confused AND murderous Shirley over to his side in the midst of Mao's Batman Gambit. It doesn't work too well.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Since realizing that Mao is still chasing her, C.C. has been running a Batman Gambit in a bid to coerce either Lelouch or Mao to take her immortality by pitting them against each other.
    • Mao also accuses Shirley of being this, although he's really just reading her mind and playing it back to her.
  • Mind Rape: In a bizarre twist, Nunally does this to Mao!.
  • Mind Screw: Chapter 20! Signs inexplicably change, a dismembered head carries on conversation, carousel horses ride off their carousel, people talk after their already beyond dead''...and Mao becomes an Invincible Hero with Charles Atlas Superpower. All without any warning right before the climactic showdown.
  • Moral Myopia: Mao often berates others for doing (or thinking, or remembering doing or thinking) things that he sees as evil. While it's affirmed that he begins the story thinking his actions are an irreproachable demonstration of Black-and-White Morality, he later acknowledges his slip into Grey-and-Gray Morality, remarking that he really doesn't care what the world does to itself, so long as he can find a quiet place to be with C.C. away from it all. To the reader, however, it is a stark case of Blue-and-Orange Morality. Yeah...it's complicated.
  • More than Mind Control: Mao excels at this.
  • My Hero, Zero: Inverted in that the daring terrorist Zero is really Lelouch, a calculating bastard who becomes Mao's Evil Counterpart.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Doctor Huai. "Huai" means evil in Chinese.
  • Necessarily Evil: When Mao ponders his morally questionable actions, such as manipulating Shirley to kill Lelouch and herself [Chain Saw Good deciding to chainsaw]] C.C. to fit her on a plane to escape to Australia, he concludes that their necessary for the greater good—protecting C.C. from her own Death Wish so they can continue their romance.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By C.C. giving Mao a player filled with recordings of her voice, she also inadvertently enabled him to cope with his telepathy in order to follow her trail in the first place.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When the terrorists escape the containment facility with C.C., Mao delivers a particularly bloody one of these to the head conspirator Rupert Deneuvre after already shooting him.
  • Non-Action Guy: Lelouch is portrayed as physically inferior to Mao, whose rugged life in the wild has apparently made him fit by comparison.
  • No One Should Survive That!: Just like in the show, he comes back after being riddled with bullets in the previous chapter. The writer attempts to explain it though.
  • No Place for Me There: Notably, C.C. says this to Mao at one point of him. He, predictably, disagrees.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Several times Mao notes the similarities between other characters and himself, including the arms dealer Doragoniki who is haunted by the loss of his wife, Shirley Fenette for not hesitating to kill someone to protect Lelouch (even though he still More Than Mind Controls her without a care so he can use her against Lelouch), Nunnally for considering Lelouch the only thing that matters and excusing his actions therefore, and finally, even Lelouch himself, for being willing to commit any atrocity in order to ensure Nunnally's happiness.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Rather than just exposing Lelouch's identity as Zero to the military and letting them take care of him, Mao is determined to personally be the one to bring him down. Twice!
    • Mao pursues this course out of fear that exposing Lelouch to the authorities will place C.C. in danger of being recaptured, since she's with him.
      • When he realizes he's probably about to die, though, he does try to shout it out to the police to no avail. Except he doesn't die
  • Organization with Unlimited Funding: The Geass Directorate and its associated research projects and secret institutes.
  • Out of Character: The story interprets certain characters somewhat liberally. Some of this is justified in that it's seen through the eyes of Mao. Others, though, such as how Lelouch is assumed, by both Mao and C.C. to have been using a Freak Out to convince her to kill Mao, rather than being merely obsessive and viewing C.C. as a sort of Freudian fill-in for his mother, which is arguably a more canon interpretation are more original.
    • Given how far gone Mao is by that point, Mao's unusual mercy towards Nunnally, by not actually putting her under a real bomb, can come off like this too. Though the story makes it out to be a trick to deceive Lelouch into thinking he is outside of his Geass' range, when, in fact, he was not.
      • Although there are small moments scattered throughout where Mao takes the time to at least attempt to do something unusually kind, such as scaring away an overbearing Britannian jerk from a random Japanese girl or scrawling the words 'thank you' in soap on his hospital mirror, serving as a reminder that deep beneath the insanity and self-adopted evil, he can be a sweet kid.
    • Lelouch and C.C.'s final talk in the story is pretty standard at the start: Lelouch is worried that C.C. might have spared Mao, and that he may come after Nunnally again. But then, Lelouch takes the opportunity to threaten C.C. out of some head trip, even after Suzaku's break down has knocked him out of it.
  • Parental Abandonment: Mao was orphaned as a young child, no older than six. Then C.C.—the one who effectively raised him—abandoned him years later.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: When he infiltrates Code-R, Mao's original plan is to eliminate the guards and escape with C.C. After he sees videos of the experiments performed upon her, however, he decides that "these people are monsters" and proceeds to mercilessly kill every unarmed scientist he comes across.
  • Persona Non Grata: After winning particularly large sums of money all night, Mao is kicked out from a luxury casino by the venue's armed guards for 'winning too much'.
  • The Plan: Mao's The Last Dance involves four different goals, some of which directly conflict with each other, in an odd case of self-made Gambit Pileup.
  • Precision F-Strike: When Lelouch boasts how easy it was to deceive Mao with the monitor trick while he was distracted by C.C., Mao retorts in disbelief, "Don't fuck with me brat!", the only (English) use of the word so far. Justified as it's a direct quote from the show's subtitle script.
  • Properly Paranoid: Mao lampshades plenty of schemes that he could perform to secure his goal along the way, but fears that many of them will expose C.C. to danger, especially when he finds her in the company of the highly-sought after terrorists, the Black Knights. Given the Code-R affair, he's got a point.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: Despite the increasingly violent and twisted acts Mao engages in as his quest becomes more desperate, he continues to excuse them by considering saving C.C. to be the only thing that really matters.
    • Lelouch is revealed to operate with the same basic outlook in regards to Nunnally. He's a little more compassionate towards others, as pointed out by Nunnally - he puts himself at great risk to rescue Suzaku and the Student Council, though it also furthers his plans.
    • C.C. also seems to have this for...um...herself.
  • Protectorate: Mao views protecting C.C. as his sole responsibility and is determined to do so, even from herself.
  • Purple Prose: Some descriptions of C.C. Justified since the work is from Mao's perspective, who has Single-Target Sexuality for her and sees her like a Draco in Leather Pants.
  • Raised by Wolves: Mao spent his early childhood as an orphan, scavenging to get by. Later, however, C.C. became something resembling a parent for him. And you wonder why he's so screwed up.
  • Really 700 Years Old: C.C. of course.
  • Refuge in Audacity: The airplane Mao swindled is a bit too small to fit both him and his beloved C.C. Just like in the show, after seriously pondering the issue, Mao comes up with the ingenious plan to use a chainsaw to make said immortal love interest more compact. The story makes it worse as we get to read Mao fumbling through explaining to the seller what he needs to do with it.
  • The Reveal: Not surprising, given the nature of Mao's power and his personality. Most especially, he reveals that Lelouch and Nunnally are in love and Suzaku is a Death Seeker who murdered his own father.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: Mao avoids fighting against Kallen and Sayoko because his Geass is not able to predict reflexive muscle movements. His analysis is based on a mistaken understanding of human neurology, but he is correct that he would be at a disadvantage in physical combat.
    • A reflex is an involuntary response that bypasses the brain. A reaction is a voluntary response which can be automatically executed using muscle memory but is initiated by the brain.
    • Mao either lacks the muscle memory required to execute an effective response to an attack or can only predict deliberate decisions made in the frontal lobe as compared to the motor cortex.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Played straight when Mao goes on one after watching several recorded experiments carried out by Code-R on C.C., accomplished by obliterating several roomfuls of scientists and culminating in the mutilation of a corpse with the handle of a pistol (he already used up all the bullets!)
  • Sadistic Choice: Mao presents several. Sometimes his victims manage to Take a Third Option.
  • Sanity Slippage: Mao's experiences in the insane asylum, locked in a straitjacket and almost constantly being injected with experimental drugs.
  • Sarcastic Clapping: Subverted in that he tends to clap when he gets really happy or excited, but played straight when he wants to deliberately unnerve someone or prevent them from concentrating.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Well, Shirley seems to think this of Mao's visor, and Lelouch spends time wishing it wasn't there.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: To a degree, Mao and Lelouch.
  • Sentry Gun: Mao hooks up one of these to guard the hallway leading to the underground level where he has Nunnally trapped. Apparently, he forced the military to give it to him off screen. Rendered useless when Suzaku defies gravity and outruns it, delivering a Hurricane Kick to disable it. Cue Chinese Swearing by Mao while watching this on camera.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: Lelouch uses his Geass to make Mao mute when he's distracted by Suzaku in a vivid case of A Fate Worse Than Death. After he awakens in C's World with C.C., however, she uses her powers to break Lelouch's Geass on him, just as she did in the show for Lelouch at the start of R2.
    • C.C. also gives a playful one to Mao in C's World when she tells him he "talks too much" before shutting him up with a kiss.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: Mao for C.C. but he has no other options outside of her. Illustrated when an enterprising prostitute attempts to seduce Mao...and gets struck across the face for it.
  • Smug Snake: Mao's opinion of Lelouch.
  • Song Fic: Several chapters have scenes in which a related song is playing in the background, usually on the radio, including the Rolling Stones, Karen O, Hoobastank, and The Police.
  • The Soulless: Rolo is portrayed this way, interrupted by flashes of Stepford Smiler.
  • Spell My Name With An S: C.C.'s name is rendered "C.C." throughout but a Shout-Out to the dub version "C2" occurs with Mao's luxury hotel suite: "Floor C, Suite 002".
  • Stalking is Love: Mao travels hundreds of miles following C.C.'s trail in order to find her again while listening to her voice constantly on his headphones. Although he is really just trying to save her life (albeit against her wishes).
  • Stepford Smiler: Mao is a combination of Type A and C. When he confronts his enemies, he acts extremely cool, confident, and self-satisfied, even though he's really severely messed up and miserable without C.C. See also Hidden Depths.
  • Sympathetic P.O.V.: Mao's, obviously, although it does explore his moral decay.
  • Teen Genius: Mao not only has aptitude for engineering, from repairing broken machinery to devising elaborate Death Traps, but demonstrates excellent deductive reasoning skills as he traces C.C.'s movements and investigates Zero's identity. His Geass helps.
  • Telepathy: His Geass power. In this interpretation, it penetrates the minds of everyone within 500 meters and, if he concentrates on someone, he can penetrate all the way down to the subconscious to read through their mind to find whatever information he's looking for.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Mao secretly approaches C.C. asking her to kill him. After she reluctantly agrees, he attacks Lelouch while she's away by abducting Nunnally and holding her hostage with a Fake Trap. Unexpectedly, however, Lelouch gets a chance to use his Geass on him and, as Mao flees, C.C. appears, seemingly to fulfill her earlier promise. Afterwards, he wakes up in C's World, however, and she reveals that she merely injected him with a chemical to deceive Lelouch into thinking he was dead because she really does love him too and wants him to be safe and happy. Mao then reveals the entire thing was his own plan to prove to C.C. that she really did love him, take his revenge on Lelouch, and finally be free of his Geass.
  • Thinking Out Loud: Mao often does this to differentiate his own thoughts from all the others he has to hear. Played for laughs when several side characters question his sanity or he accidentally reveals information he didn't intend to.
  • Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket: Mao has to call hotel reception to show him how to use a computer.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After his training at the Geass Directorate for an unspecified period of time, he manages to take on a guardhouse of Britannian soldiers with an arsenal of automatic weapons.
    • Justified somewhat because Mao's Geass allows him to know exactly what obstacles his enemies are hiding behind, when they have to reload, where they're aiming, and what their tactical strategies are.
  • Trauma Conga Line: The story. And it progressively gets worse for Mao.
  • TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life: In-Universe. In a display of their savvy familiarity with the site, the author gives a humorous warning about specific tropes to be encountered in the work as part of the introduction.
  • The Unfettered: Mao, C.C. and Lelouch all consider themselves this way. Problem is...they're not.
  • Unhappy Medium: Mao. Very, very unhappy. And became one when he was only about six years old.
  • Unreliable Narrator: The story is told from a third person rendering of Mao's perspective. Thus, Mao's personal bias ends up, depending on your point of view, coloring descriptions of other characters, i.e. He = Knight in Shining Armor, C.C. = Not So Stoic Purity Sue In Leather Pants and Lelouch = Ron the Death Eater.
    • Although his opinion of others is based off of whatever he learns about them by reading their minds, his interpretation of the information he learns this way is often skewed.
  • Was It All a Lie?: Mao begins contemplating this possibility after his failed reunion with C.C. in Chapter 21.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Mao tries to give one to C.C. in Chapter 23, confronting her on slowly doing to Lelouch the very same thing she did to him. Somewhat a case of Villain Has a Point.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Subverted. While Mao uses his Geass for a lot of Exact Eavesdropping, More Than Mindcontrol and Batman Gambits, he also relies on his Teen Gadgeteer Genius and training by the Geass Directorate.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: The main motivation behind most of C.C.'s actions comes from weariness of her own immortality.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Nunnally, who fervently declares that "everyone can be redeemed", despite the fact that Mao has imprisoned her in the Ashford sewer and threatened her if she doesn't comply with his scheme.
  • Wife Husbandry: Gender-Inverted. Because Mao and C.C. lived together in the wild for several years while he grew up, sleeping and bathing together without impunity, Mao becomes so attached to her that, as he matures, he comes to treat her as his lover. The story seems to take the stance that she had sex with him at some point too early, only fueling his obsessive attachment to her.
  • Will Not Tell a Lie: Seems to have a childish hang-up about telling lies, despite the occasional hindrance it poses. His reliance on Telepathy also tends to render deception pointless anyway. Slightly subverted when he muses that pretend isn't the same as lying if the situation calls for it. He also willfully sows confusion in order to manipulate people (up to and including their own ruination) toward his own ends. Mostly by repeating what they really think back to them and emphasizing the negative. It's even explicitly stated that he doesn't always believe his own Breaking Speeches.

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