Prologue - Shiver
Trapped within an abyss of despair, experiencing regret she did not know she was capable of, the Capital's Strongest screamed and unleashed her might, freezing the tendrils of time. Her soul cried out and she surpassed the limits of her Teigu - for not only did she stop time, she turned it back as well...
Music - Liar Mask (piano version) by theishter.
The flawless blade of her rapier buried itself deep within his heart, the heart whose love she had yearned for so long. She twisted the blade and he gasped. His spear fell to the ground and clattered. His armor faded, dissipating with a soft white smoke. Pure green met icy blue. He looked up at her with melancholic sadness and gave her a forlorn smile. It was the smile of one beyond heartbreak, of one weary with bloodshed and sacrifice.
"It is the way things are, Tatsumi." she whispered. "The strong live and the weak die. There is no changing it."
"You are.. the only one who could have." he sighed.
Her expression hardened. "I will not."
"You are heartless.. after all." he said, breathing his last. His limp body slumped down the length of her weapon and she caught him in her arms. Warm blood drenched her immaculate uniform, marring the cloth. She slipped the rapier out in one smooth pull, and he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
She looked upon the burning city, the horror in the eyes of the survivors. She gazed upon the unmoving husk of the metal giant that is the first Teigu and the corpse of the child emperor who had been Onest's puppet all his life. She stared at the ruins of the royal palace, the seat of an empire that had endured a thousand years of strife. She watched at the works of her hands, her blade; the result of her ultimate victory.
Yet all she felt.. was emptiness.
Loneliness.
Silence.
Confusion.
Feelings she had never felt before. Never experienced. Never known. She has always been a being of unbroken will, a person who knew who she was, what she was and what she wanted to do. She was the strongest warrior in the world, a predator whose hunt encompasses the entirety of the planet, the culmination of survival in human evolution.
A woman who wanted to fall in love.
She dropped to her knees, staring at the frozen earth with a haunted expression on her face.
What had she done?
Her Jaegers, gone. Run slain by Najenda. Wave slain by one of Shikoutazer's beams. Kurome had disappeared. She was a ruthless general in battle, merciless on her enemies, but loved by her subordinates. They were caring comrades, brave souls, and admirable warriors. They weren't simple minions, disposable soldiers for her to use.
Were they?
But isn't that all she's used them for? She did not so much as change her expression when Stylish died. She comforted Bols and Seryu merely for morale - the girl cannot perform well with unresolved grief and the big man should work better if he opened up a bit. News of their deaths only made her sigh. She knew Run joined to change the empire from the inside, and he knew she knew, and she doesn't care. Wave, the laughable idiot, was just a source of comic relief to her - an expendable pawn like every underling she had ever had. Liver. Nyau. Daidara. None of them really mattered to them. They were pieces in the game of survival they all played, where all were inferior to the Queen.
And then there was Tatsumi.
The idealistic youth who had captured her heart with his innocent smile. He fought with incredible skill, nearly mirroring her own when she was his age; brimming with potential and will. The soft locks of his brown hair, the purity reflected in his emerald eyes.
He had escaped her, a feat no living soul could boast of - not only once, but thrice. He believed in justice, in the strong helping the weak - the complete opposite of what she herself had lived for her entire life, but that did not detract from his attractiveness. Far from it. She longed for his presence, adored his naivete and lusted after his appearance.
Their time alone in that isolated island served only to amplify her hunger for his love, for his approval, though it never surpassed her want for power and her will to survive.
When he was captured infiltrating the Imperial Palace, she gave him an option - to join her or have her personally kill him in a public execution. It should have been an easy decision. He would have stood by her side, the winning side, as her champion and lover. But he refused. In the face of certain death, in the dark of an underground cell, starving and in misery, Tatsumi preferred to remain in his situation rather than becom
Did he see her as something so demented that he would rather die than submit to her side and affections?
Thinking back, perhaps she was.
She had planned to torture him before executing him, telling herself that it was to see whether or not he was the man she thought he was, but it was nonsense. She knew who he was, what he was, what he stood for, the moment he rejected her offer in that dank, dark cell room.
His last battle proved his unmistakable strengths.. and weaknesses. He could not allow Shinkoutazer's metal carcass to fall upon the people of the city and took it upon himself to sacrifice the last of his strength to hold back the remains of the first Teigu. So great was the strain that Incursio broke apart in the end, its owner helpless and close to death's door.
And then they saw each other.
She walked to him, rapier unsheathed, taking in the sight of her beloved. Even in his state he rose, gripping the spear that was a remnant of his Teigu so weakly it dragged along the ground pitifully. He tried to swing it yet it fell halfway before reaching her.
He did not waver in her icy presence, did not cower as her blade entered his heart. The echoes of his last words, weighed with indescribable grief, haunted her.
You are heartless, after all.
Tatsumi was right. She is heartless. Always had been, always will be. It was an inevitable consequence of her philosophy, a consequence she accepted gladly in exchange for unbound power..
What?
She touched her cheeks and found it moist. Did she use her Teigu without realizing it? But she followed the dampness and reached her eyes.
Her? The Mistress of Ice? The Capital's Strongest? In tears?
The incredulity of it all made her laugh. Her laughter was hoarse and choked, and she clawed at her eyes shredding her skin and drawing cautious stares from the wary onlookers in the distance. They wouldn't stop, damn it all. The people watching, the tears forming, the pain raw and burning.
The crushing weight of regret she did not know she was capable of forced her to the ground. Every fibre of her being screamed in unfamiliar agony. The agony of realization. The anguish of loss. The throes of sadness.
She involuntarily summoned her powers and a frozen field extended across her world. Shards of frost erupted from the marred streets, impaling men and women alike, their corpses jutting towards the sky like bloody needles. Houses were crushed, buildings were ripped apart and soldiers from both sides were slain in the wake of her unrestrained powers. The entire city was soon covered the coldest ice; the ice of her heart, forged from her frozen soul.
Her entire world exploded into a bluish void. Streaks of beryl arced across the fading sky, icy bolts of cerulean frost rising from the ground. The sun stood still, wrapped in the embrace of sapphire clouds, until it moved against the natural course it had travelled for countless millennia. The moon rose from the horizon and leapt across the heavens in a split second; the sun returned, followed by the moon, and she witnessed days and nights pass her by. The mountains of ice she had raised cracked and crumbled, drifting across an ocean of molten water. The stars drift by, bright specks upon the sky.
She levitated above the earth and the passage of time regressed even further.
Her eyes blazed of the darkest blue and coils of pure white energy exuded from her body. The tattoo on her chest blurred and dissipated. Her hands shook like mad until she regained control of her body, tightening her fists until it drew blood. But her blood was not of the crimson hue of life, but that of clear blue.
The tattoo on her chest throbbed so hard she gasped. The rapid cycle of night and day above her slowed to a crawl and the pain intensified. She clutched her chest, gritting her teeth in pain, and felt the tattoo lose its cohesion. It dissipated into the air, a ghastly silhouette appearing for the briefest moment.
There is always a price. it whispered.
It disappeared, and darkness enveloped her.
The swirling chaos that was her reality faded, and she collapsed to the ground - or rather, the ocean. She was immediately drenched. The water was surprisingly warm and welcoming, soaking her long hair. She could still feel the steel of rapier beside her - a slight relief.
Analyzing her surroundings out of habit, she discovered a tropical island a few hundred paces away from her. She immediately started swimming towards the beach,
The sun burned and the waves crashed upon the shores of the uninhabited island. She realized that it was the island where she and Tatsumi were trapped a long time ago, and smiled in reminiscence of day. She had never had so much fun until then, picking coconuts with the flustered boy, hunting giant boars and, of course, showing off the extent of her powers against the mega danger beasts their mysterious assailant had left on the island. He ended up impressing her instead of the other way around. Running to a mega class danger beast without a Teigu, he slew it with uncanning speed and precision.
And now he's gone.
She did not know what she did - her powers grew out of control and her memories of her time in the azure dimension. Did she unveil another aspect of her Teigu she did not know before? Could it now teleport her like Shambhala, albeit with a heavier drain on its user?
She would sort it out later. For now, she needed to find a way back to the Capital before it descends into utter chaos once again. The rebel army would definitely make their move while she was away - she will teach them otherwise. Perhaps a few nights in the torture chambers would bring her back to her former state.
A giant boar appeared from the underbrush, chasing a huge coconut rolling down the beach. It glanced at her with a curious look, and she realized she was hungry. She raised a finger to summon spikes of ice with which she will impale the beast for supper.
Nothing.
She raised her hand once again, drawing out her power, but realized she no longer felt its freezing grip on her body. She tried again and again to no avail, and the horror of reality descended upon her like a tidal wave.
She looked upon her untainted chest - the tattoo that symbolized the presence of her Teigu within her was gone.
There was no doubt about it.
Her Teigu was gone.
A/N: So, that was a thing.
It was an idea that festered in my head for days now. I could not, will not accept the blasphemy of an ending the anime gave me and decided to give it a go myself.
Oh, the possibilities! The grandeur! The wonders of time!
Here's a deal - I'm working on another fanfic as of this moment and probably won't update this for awhile. But I'm willing to make an exception if this story gets a decent reception. Give me ten reviews and I'll get three chapters done by then. I will freely admit that I am a review whore but then again, isn't everyone?
Other than that, have a good day!
-Deathwhisperer.