(Revan's AN): I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Full Summary: Tatsumi Seika, the second son of Kaito Seika, was a rebellious child. Unlike his siblings, he didn't care about the duties of a prince, and after being told that he was going to marry some noblewoman, he ran away from home. Now, after five years of being away, Tatsumi has finally returned.

Non-canon, single-pairing, OOC Characters.

"Flashbacks" - Thinking

"Flashbacks" - Talking

[Flashbacks] - Letters or Reports.

Theme Song: Rise, by The Glitch Mob, Mako, and The Word Alive.

Main Writer: Revan the Edgelord

Co-Writer: None.

Tatsumi couldn't help from shuddering as he hugged his knees in an attempt to warm himself.

They had departed from Ylona two days ago, and were about to reach a small town when all of a sudden a snowstorm started.

At first, he was happy that this happened because this meant that it would take them longer to reach the border and enter the Empire's territory, but after what felt like hours of being in it, he had grown to hate it.

The reason why was because it was freezing cold, and there was no way for him to get warm. Unlike Esdeath's troops, he didn't have a thick blanket to wrap around him he only had the clothes on his back.

"I-I'm go-going to d-die from hy-hy-hypothermia at th-this rate." He muttered to himself as he continued to hug his legs.

With his teeth clattering, Tatsumi began to wonder if his captives cared about his wellbeing anymore. Esdeath may have claimed that he was her prize and that she planned on breaking him, but since leaving Ylona, she has yet to check on him and see how he was doing.

The last time he had seen her was when they were shoving him into the prison wagon, after that he's not once spotted her. Her subordinates rarely checked up on him as well, the only time they paid really any attention to him was when they were giving him his meal, besides that they didn't bother looking after him.

As if the Gods had heard his thoughts, Tatsumi saw a torch approaching his wagon. Seeing it come his way made him sigh in relief. He may hate Esdeath and her men, but right now he hated the cold more than he hated them.

After about a minute of waiting, Tatsumi was greeted by several soldiers, and one of Esdeath's bodyguards.

"Open the door." Liver commanded after examining Tatsumi for a couple of seconds. "He can't stay out here any longer."

"So they purposefully left me here..." Tatsumi said to himself as the cage's door was unlocked and opened.

Throwing Tatsumi a blanket, Liver said to him. "Wrap yourself up, and let's go, my lady is waiting."

Tatsumi didn't bother taking his time; he wanted to get out of the cold as soon as possible, so for now, he was going to comply with their commands.

After covering himself with the blanket Tatsumi exited the wagon, it had taken him a little while due to his chains and his body being stiff, but he was able to get out.

With him out of the carriage, Liver and the soldiers led Tatsumi back to the encampment.

...

...

...

Upon arriving at Esdeath's tent, Tatsumi was shoved into it and was welcomed to a sight he didn't expect to see at all in his life.

Sitting in a chair wearing practically nothing but a white button-up shirt was Esdeath. In her hands was a piece of paper and glass that was filled with what looked like wine.

Seeing that Tatsumi arrived, Esdeath greeted him with a smile. "Welcome, I would have had my men get you sooner, but I thought some time out in the cold would help you."

Tatsumi didn't say anything to her. His attention was currently on the small fire in the center of the tent.

Noticing that Tatsumi was looking at the fire, Esdeah gestured to it. "Feel free to sit by the fire and warm yourself up. I don't want you to be losing any fingers or toes."

Tatsumi looked at her for several seconds. As much as he wanted to go and sit down by the fire, a part of him felt like she was going to shoot an icicle or something at it and put it out.

"You think I'm going to put it out, don't you?" Esdeath said after staring at him for a while.

"... Yes." He answered reluctantly.

"Trust me, I'm not," Esdeath replied before taking a sip of her drink. "the thought did cross my mind, but if you lose body parts now, then your potential will slowly dwindle, and I don't want that to happen. I want you to be a strong subordinate of mine that's loyal only to me."

Tatsumi still didn't move from his spot, for he still doubted her.

Seeing that he wasn't going to move, Esdeath shrugged and said aloud. "Fine, stay there, if you wanna stand there glaring at me, then feel free to do so. You won't be bothering me."

The brown haired Seika didn't respond, he allowed silence to fill the room, but eventually, he did move to the campfire and sat down by it.

Tatsumi didn't have a problem with this silence. He had no words to be exchanged with her, at least any pleasant words.

Esdeath, on the other hand, had thought about asking Tatsumi a few questions due to her being curious about him. She didn't know really anything about him besides that he was a prince who had ran away from home.

With curiosity getting the better of her, Esdeath said to him. "I have a few questions for you, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi hesitated to respond. He didn't want to talk to her, but he knew that if he didn't reply, then she would most likely threaten him.

"... What do you want?" He asked after a while.

"Your weapon, did you craft it?" She questioned as she got up from her chair and moved to her bed that way she could see his face.

"... No, I found it on some dead adventurer." He confessed as he stared into the flames.

"I see," She said with a nod. "and who taught you how to fight like that?"

"... Lot's of people." He answered after a few seconds. "I learned from a lot of people."

"Hmm," Esdeath hummed before taking another sip of her drink, which happened to be the last sip due to there being nothing left in the glass.

As silence filled the tent, Esdeath thought about what else they could discuss. It was clear that he didn't want to talk, but she didn't care, he belonged to her, and that meant she got decided what he could do and what he can't do.

"Do you hate me, Tatsumi?" She asked him after a few seconds of thinking.

At this, Tatsumi snorted. "Do you even have to ask?"

"Yes." She answered.

"Without a fucking doubt, I despise you more than anything in this world." He declared as he glared at her.

"You say these things, yet you have no problem entering my tent, and sitting down by my fire." She said with a bit of amusement. "You're a strange man."

Hearing this made the prince look away. It's not like he had a choice in the matter.

"I think you're going to break Tatsumi," Esdeath claimed after a while as she continued to stare at him. "it might take me a while, but I do believe you're going to break and become my slave, it's only a matter of time."

"... The day I become your slave, is the day I kill myself." Tatsumi affirmed as he looked back at her, his voice holding no emotion.

Esdeath laughed upon hearing this, and said to him. "You're not going to kill yourself, you're not that type of person."

"You don't know me." He curtly stated.

"You're right, I don't know you, but I do know that you're not the type to kill yourself." Esdeath replied as she stared into his eyes. "You're more of the type who would seek vengeance, and that's why you entered this tent. You can't die here, you're going to wait for the perfect opportunity and try getting revenge on me for killing all those people, right?"

The prince didn't respond. She was right, he had no intentions of killing himself, at least not until he avenged his people. He was going to survive and kill Esdeath, once he did that, then he could embrace death, but until then, he couldn't embrace it. He had to live.

Seeing that he wasn't going to reply, Esdeath said one more thing to him. "I'll be going to sleep now, so if you want to kill me, then feel free to try, but I want you to know that if you fail, you're going to be stripped of your clothing and crawl to the Capital like a dog."

Tatsumi glared at her in response. Was she trying to say that he'll be spending the night here?

"... Noted." He affirmed as she laid down on the bed.

"Good, because I really don't want to make you crawl. It would take forever to get to the Capital, especially in this storm." Esdeath stated as she stared up at the tent's ceiling.

With nothing coming out of Tatsumi's mouth in response, Esdeath said aloud. "I hope you get a good night's rest, Tatsumi, for you're going to need it."

Tatsumi was pulled from his slumber by the feeling of someone kicking him in the ribs. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of Esdeath looking down at him, written on her face was a grin.

"It's time to get up, Tatsumi." She stated, amusement in her voice.

The prince in response glared at her. He didn't fall asleep last night for a while due to him believing that Esdeath would try something, so he was only able to get a few good hours of sleep.

Seeing him scowl at her caused her to narrow her eyes. "I give you a place to sleep for the night, and let you sleep in, and what do I get in response? A scowl from you?"

"... You kicked me." He declared, traces of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh boo-hoo, I've done a lot worse to you, so you shouldn't fret over trivial things like that." She stated before walking away to the small round table that had two chairs on opposite sides from one another. "It's unbecoming of you."

Tatsumi didn't bother saying anything more. It would just be a waste of breath.

After getting up off the ground, Tatsumi noticed that there were two plates of food on the table. There was a plate in front of Esdeath, and then across from her was a plate full of food.

Noticing the prince's look, she said to him. "Eat with me."

"... Why?" He asked after a few seconds of staring.

"Because I said so." Came her response, a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

"I don't want to." Tatsumi replied with a frown. The meal have looked delicious, but there was no way in hell he was going to sit down and eat with her.

"Sit down." Esdeath commanded as she glared at him.

"No." He declared with a defiant look on his face and in his eyes.

"Tatsumi, if you deny me one more time, I will punish you. Come here, and sit down." Esdeath stated, latched to her voice was anger, and written on her face was irritation.

"I'm not your slave, you can't force me to eat with you." Tatsumi stated with a scowl. He knew that he was just causing himself problems, but he didn't care. He'd rather sit in his cage and freeze thann sit down and have a meal with her.

Growing tired of his defiance, Esdeath got up from her seat and marched over to him. Tatsumi in response to this had tensed a little bit, but he didn't falter, he just stared into her eyes.

Grabbing ahold of his face with one hand, Esdeath brought it to her own said to him. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Tatsumi didn't say anything. He simply continued to stare into his eyes.

Taking this as her answer, she let go of him and said out loud. "Daidara!"

Not even two seconds later, the largest of Esdeath's bodyguards entered the tent, and said, "You summoned me, my lady?"

"Tatsumi here needs to be punished. Give him thirty-nine lashes and make sure he's not fed for two whole days." Esdeath ordered as she pushed the prince away from her with the one hand that was holding her face.

"Understood, my lady," Daidara said with a nod before grabbing ahold of Tatsumi arm. "come on Your Highness, we're going to find out if you're a screamer or not!"

Tatsumi jerked his body away from the blonde. He didn't need to be escorted out of the tent, he could walk out of it on his own.

Esdeath couldn't help from smiling as she watched Tatsumi walk out of the tent with Daidara behind him. Even though he had annoyed her, she had to give him a small amount of respect, for not many people could look her in the eyes like he did.

"You really are going to be a strong slave, aren't you, my little prince?" She said to herself as she returned to her seat.

After receiving his lashes Tatsumi was dragged and thrown into the prison wagon.

He didn't scream at all during his lashing, but upon the whip hitting him for the thirty-fifth time, he did release a hushed grunt of pain. A medic had checked him once Daidara had finished the lashings, and had informed him that Tatsumi should be alright, he might experience a lot of pain, but he should survive from this.

With a blanket being thrown at him, one of the soldiers said to him. "Maybe next time, you'll think twice about angering our great general, Esperan scum."

Tatsumi didn't respond. He instead enveloped himself in the thick blanket. He had considered threatening the soldier who had just spoken, but the man honestly wasn't worth his breath. The man was just acting tough because he knew that he couldn't do anything at the moment.

As the soldiers walked away, snow began to fall from the sky once again.

It was going to be a cold and cruel trip, but that was alright, for he was going to live.

He had to.

(Revan's AN): Man stubbornness can be a pain, but there's a saying, Pain, without love, Pain, can't get enough, Pain, I like it rough, for I'd rather feel Pain than nothing at all. Alright, with that said, I had planned on doing a scene with Numa, but after some thinking, I've decided not yet. Next chapter will have Numa, this one was just going to be Esdeath x Tatsumi. Oh, and I actually want to talk about Esdeath for a couple minutes, so prepare for small rant.

Alright, so Esdeath in here, is pretty cruel, I'd say, and I like that. If I'm being perfectly honest, I don't like how some fanfics portray her. There are some fanfics that make the, "Wow he's strong, I want his dick and babies." work, and then there are some fanfics who just ruin her character. Esdeath isn't a good person, and before she fell in love with Tatsumi, (talking about canon) she was fucking cruel as hell, so that's what I'm doing here. A lot of people have messaged me about her, and I'm getting a little annoyed with that.

With this said, I'll be calling it, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, see you guys in the next one.

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