Author's Note:
Hey guys! This is my first Fanfiction. The story starts at the end of Episode 13 when Esdeath finds Tatsumi. Feedback is really appreciated!
Chapter 1
The sky was shadowed and sprinkled with a few dim stars, but it had a calming, yet gloomy moon. A magnificent flying danger beast moved through the sky just like a magic carpet, as there was nothing less royal than the Empire's Greatest herself, General Esdeath, as it's rider.
This was not a joy ride, however. The chilled wind blowing into Esdeath's face was her attempt to cool her new, conflicted emotions. Her true desire for him seems to not be so easily annihilated.
Tatsumi.
All that she could imagine was his stunning smile, his forest green eyes. He truly was the perfect man to fit her descriptions, but he managed to escape her frozen clutches. Nothing could anger Esdeath more than the thought that he had escaped, yet the simple thought of him elevated her to a slight smile.
Esdeath spotted a shadow, and she desperately needed something to release her emotions on through her sweet torture. She didn't care if it was a danger beast, the culprit, or an innocent civilian.
She needed a victim.
'This must be the criminal causing all the trouble!' she thought. She jumped off her danger beast, and with fine form, pointed her sword at the figure on the rock.
"Would you-" she paused.
No one was there. The shadow seemed to have vanished. Esdeath called her danger beast back, and hopped on, carrying on with her search for a victim.
Tatsumi's invisibility faded. "Phew. That was close. I didn't expect to almost be found by her." He began his retreat back down from the peak, but he stopped at the the roar of the danger beast.
It was coming closer.
Esdeath had turned around, her killer instincts told her that her prey would show up eventually, and it did. She dashed off of her danger beast. She noticed that her opponent had invisibility, and thus prepared to swiftly incapacitate her opponent.
"As I was saying. Would you like the privilege to be tortured by the Empire's Finest?" she jeered.
Despite Incursio being so strong, it shattered even as Tatsumi attempted to dodge her strike. Not a flesh wound, luckily.
"A feisty one, aren't you?" Esdeath inquired. She turned around, to look at the wounds she had inflicted on her opponent, but she froze. "Tatsumi?" is all that she managed to blurt as her face came to a slight blush.
Tatsumi was in a state of shock. He knew that he must be too weak if Incursio can be shattered by a mere sword. He stood there as Esdeath flung her arms around him like a child to it's favorite teddy bear.
Esdeath's spree of joy was quickly interrupted by an ambush from a group of danger beasts. Esdeath face turned wrathful and swiftly cut down all the danger beasts down with no care for the spread of blood.
After she was done, a large smile in realization dawned upon her face. "So this isn't a dream!" Esdeath gushed.
Tatsumi's state of panic slightly faded. "Seriously, I wish this was a dream," he murmured to himself.
Esdeath towered behind Tatsumi and put her arms around his neck, and with a slight grin, went through another reality check. "Undoubtedly this is Tatsumi's scent." She leaned in behind his ear. "You're the real thing. How dare you run away?" She nipped his ear, making Tatsumi grimace.
"I was lonely."
Tatsumi desperately thought of a way to weasel out of this situation. "Wh-Why are you here?" he exclaimed frantically.
Esdeath calmed down a little and told a white lie to avoid hinting Tatsumi of her weakness towards him.
"Lately, I've been exterminating the Danger Beasts harassing the Capital, and I just happened to run into you." She then created a face of curiosity. "What are you doing here?" she marveled.
"I'm here because of Nigh-" He tried to change the subject, and made a worried glance on his face.
"Um, before I answer, do you mind doing something about this position?" Tatsumi said as he bided for time.
"No." Esdeath firmly stated.
"When we're this close, I can't concentrate..."
Esdeath wondered the reason for this concentration Tatsumi mentioned. Love or fear? Her frozen grip strengthened on Tatsumi.
"I won't, and I can't let you run away again." Esdeath chided.
Tatsumi broke away from her grasp and raised his sword. "I'm here to test my skill. I hear plenty of Danger Beasts roam this area!"
Esdeath's suspicions grew, as she knew he wasn't entirely truthful, but she decided to interrogate him later. She played along. "Then you're here to fight them, too." His story seemed to be somewhat realistic as she could see Tatsumi's physique quite more pronounced than she remembered.
That reminded her of something. "Have you joined the Revolutionary Ar-" She heard footsteps.
A dark hooded man walked a few meters front of them. "My toys seem to have been destroyed. I see that the Empire's Strongest has a little crush of her own," he taunted.
Esdeath stood her ground and drew her sword, and moved into stance. "I'll escort you to the torture room," she threatened.
The man drew a smurk. "Unfortunately, that's not my style."
"Imperial Arms Shambala!" he yelled, creating a portal with violet energy around Tatsumi and Esdeath.
Tatsumi woke up on a beach. General Esdeath was sitting beside him, looking at the sunrise.
"I think this was destiny, Tatsumi." Esdeath mused as he stood up. "No one else, but you and me."
Tatsumi's panic seemed to have faded. He can't be bothered with panic, as he looked around the island and came to the conclusion that he was stranded with this sadistic woman. However, he glanced at her. "But she's quite beautiful," he thought.
"Esdeath." Esdeath glanced at Tatsumi. "Have I ever mentioned how beautiful of a woman you are?" He knew that she might be interrogating him soon.
Esdeath blushed. "Why, thank you. But now that you say that, I'm not quite sure this is real." She did yet another reality check.
Tatsumi pounded his fist into his chest. "Hurt me."
"I didn't know you were into that type of thing, Tatsumi. I am as well." Esdeath's cheeks turned into a shade of red, grinning in her imagination.
"No! Not like that!" Tatsumi exclaimed. He felt as if he was shaken at the very core by one simply comment. "I mean to check if this is real!"
Esdeath noted all humidity, the taste of sea salt in the air, and the smell of the sea. She then put her hand under Tatsumi's chin and brought it to her face, kissing him and causing Tatsumi's eyes to go wide in surprise.
"This is certainly real," she came to a conclusion.
She remembered what she was going to do before the hooded man interrupted her private time with Tatsumi. Her eyes flared with anger, thinking about the interruption and one other thing.
Esdeath pounced on top of Tatsumi, preventing his escape. "Tatsumi, I noticed you have the Imperial Arms, Incursio, as you hid from me with your invisibility. Do you happen to be part of the Night Raid?" she interrogated as he began to panic once again.
"No, I'm not part of-" Tatsumi received a swift slap to the face.
"Do not lie to me, Tatsumi. I can tell when you lie."
"Erm...fine. I'm part of the Night Raid. Are you happy?" A sigh came from Tatsumi.
Esdeath didn't want to scare Tatsumi away again, thus she decided to show praise for what he had done.
"I'm pleased that you went beyond the Revolutionary Army and managed to find yourself an Imperial Arm. However, we have other important matters to attend to." Esdeath drew her notebook and pen.
"First, we need to investigate our surroundings, as it seems were are on a stranded island."
After a long day of exploring the two sat down on the beach where the sun has already set.
"Esdeath, do you know how to get out of here?" Tatsumi cooed, still deeply desiring to leave.
Esdeath sighed."I think I know a way out. This island seems to be one of the south eastern islands according to the Empire's map."
Tatsumi murmured to himself, "I never thought I would miss Night Raid so much."
Esdeath heard and made a face of pure hatred. She pretended not to hear, and took out her notebook again.
She ripped out a page. "Tatsumi, please take my drawing of us together." It was the two drawn together inside a heart.
"Okay." Esdeath wasn't satisfied with his answer.
"In order to leave, we need to capture a danger beast. I know how to tame one."
A danger beast flew nearby.
"Let's make this quick." Esdeath summoned a large array of ice crystals aimed to trap the danger beast.
Tatsumi wasn't quite sure what to think of this Esdeath's power besides fear of what could happen to Night Raid.
He jumped in surprise as the portal reopened.
"The perfect chance to get away!" Tatsumi thought. But, the least he could do for the woman who seemed to legitimately desire him is warn her before he left.
"Esdeath! Look over here!" He said as he went through the portal.
"Tatsumi! Wait!" She began to run towards the portal to catch up.
Tatsumi was back where he started. He ran for the nearest hiding spot, and cloaked himself within Incursio.
Right after he hid, Esdeath came through the portal.
"Tatsumi!" she yelled. "He must have hidden again, unfortunately, since he has Incursio, and knows that I might come back, I don't think he will be as foolish this time around."
She called for her original danger beast, and pounded her fist into the ground.
"I'll find your Night Raid, and once I'm done, you'll belong to me, and me only." She mounted her danger beast and left.
Tatsumi began to walk back to Night Raid's base. He decided to keep the drawing of him and Esdeath. Despite her obsession with him, Esdeath seemed genuine with her emotions, and it was a nice drawing, after all.
Little did he know, but that might have been one of the biggest mistakes of his lifetime.
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading! Feedback is highly appreciated! The next chapter will be focused primarily on Night Raid.
