Hello, again, everyone, and welcome to chapter 20 of The Glacial Ones!
To kick it off as I always do, reviews!
Imperial warlord: I am forced to agree with all your points. I don't have any particular hate for Mine, but she is a rather shallow character who tends to be rather stuck up and underestimate her enemies. At least in the anime she dies from overusing Pumpkin to kill Budo, so is kind of redeemed in death, but the manga just pulls that coma thing.
As for TatsumixMine I feel like he would have been better paired with Akame or Leone. Heck, Esdeath on the other side was probable better. I actually thought for the first half of the manga that they were going to pair him with Akame. I got annoyed when they suddenly decided that Mine should have a change of heart and suddenly like him. Either way, enough grouching and thanks for your review!
Silent Lurker: Yes, I have notices that you seem to be having trouble with your reviews. Time zones or something. Either way, while I don't know about your gauntlet idea, the bow idea is quite intriguing, especially if it was to be linked to a person's emotions and feelings. Something like if Air really, really wanted to hurt someone, then the arrow would have a cruciatus type affect or if she wanted to kill someone more than anything else then it would be the equivalent of an Avada Kedavra. Anyway, it is an interesting thought, so thanks for the ideas and support!
Finally, thank you to everyone else who has reviewed and thrown in your support for this story. I really, really appreciate it!
Now that that is out of the way, onwards to the story!
I do not own, in any way, shape, or form Akame Ga Kill or Harry Potter.
-T.G.O-
Chapter 20: A Kindly Lord and a Lying Book
"I really, really hate wearing suits you know."
Harry stood in the middle of the room, tugging gentle on the collar of the pure white suit he was currently wearing, Esdeaths insignia sitting directly above his heart. Across from him, sitting on their shared bed, Esdeath finished pulling on her shoes, standing and looking him over with an amused grin.
"I am well aware of that, Harry. Sometimes you just have to put up with it. You look good in that."
She walked towards the door, her light brown skirt swirling around above he knees as Harry fell in beside her.
"At least its white I suppose. Come to think of it, have we had an update on Bols' condition?"
She nodded as they walked from the room, side by side as they travelled down the corridors, Harry struggling to walk at an even pace while keeping up with Esdeath. Why did she have to have such long strides while his was so short?
"We have. He will be heading back to the Capital tomorrow, since he is just a liability at this stage."
She sighed. Having one of the Jaegers members permanently out of commission was a source of more than a little annoyance for her.
"Unfortunately, your original assessment was correct. There is no way for him to return to active duty, especially without his Teigu. His nervous system took quite a bit of damage when his body started shutting down, so he is at least partially paralyzed."
Beside her, Harry nodded. It was unfortunate, but it could have been worse. As he had pointed out to Bols not long ago, he could have been dead.
The rest of the walk was done in silence as the two walked to the end of the corridor, turning towards the waiting room where the rest of the Jaegers were assembles waiting for them, catching the tail end of a comment from Seryu as they did.
"…I won't be able to carry out justice when the time comes!"
Pulling aside the curtain separating the corridor from the waiting room, Esdeath stepped forward, Harry beside her as he cast his gaze over the remaining Jaegers.
Ran was dressed in a white suit much like Harry's, only lacking Esdeath's insignia over the left breast. And a whole lot bigger, of course. In front of the group Seryu was wearing a rather elegant, sleeveless green dress with white gloves coming up to her shoulders. Behind her Wave was wearing an almost identical suit to Ran only in black rather than white while Kurome stood beside him in a short sleeved red dress.
Beside Harry, Esdeath grinned as she looked over the assembled Jaegers as well.
"It is a welcoming party after all. Just make sure you all relax and enjoy yourselves. There may be some interesting entertainment after all."
The Jaegers nodded silently as she turned around, Harry still walking beside her as she led the way towards their target.
-T.G.O-
Gazing around the room, Harry took note of the many loosely robed men and scantily clad woman wandering through the large room. His lips curved down slightly in a small frown before it vanished and he turned his attention to the man that Esdeath was leading them towards.
Borick was a broad man, his robes open at the front to reveal a surprisingly chiselled chest as he watched the group approach him, several woman draping themselves over him. Harry struggled to keep his face from showing his disgust at the man, stopping a foot behind Esdeath as the man began to speak in an arrogant drawl.
"I asked the minister to send skilled reinforcements because I was feeling threatened, but to think that he would send Esdeath, the Empires Strongest… There is truly nothing more reassuring."
He gestured to the room around them.
"All the people here are my loyal subordinates, so feel free to mingle and enjoy yourselves."
Esdeath just nodded lightly.
"Since we have been tasked by the Prime Minister to protect you, then we will be borrowing some of your rooms."
Borick smiled darkly, his hand motioning to the side.
"But of course. I doubt that you will ever grow bored in my mansion."
Esdeath glanced over at the scantily clad men and women he was gesturing towards, resisting the urge to massacre them right in front of the disgusting man. She crushed the feeling down and just smiled darkly.
"I have no interest in such things."
She ignored the little voice that said she would be more interested if it involved torture or a certain someone else. Or both. Harry felt a slight chill go down his spin.
Esdeaths smirk grew darker.
"I would, however, be interested to meet those that have been spying on us from above the ceiling since we entered the room."
Borick smirked back.
"As expected, you noticed them."
He clicked his fingers, four figures leaping down from the ceiling to stand at his right, Wave jerking back in shock as the rest of the Jaegers looked at the new arrivals in concealed surprise. Harry just nodded as Esdeath grinned.
"Ah, I haven't seen you lot in a while. So that's why."
Standing across from the Jaegers were four rather… unique individuals. The first was a large, burly, almost bare chested man with a massive beard and his arms crossed in front of him. Beside him was a black haired woman wearing what appeared to be similar to a shrine maiden's uniform, a thin scar across the right side of her face.
Crouched down below them was another muscular man with odd, stitch like markings along his forehead and red tattoos along his body, though his most prominent, and in Harry's opinion, creepy, feature was that the sclera of his eyes was black instead of white. The final member of the group of four was a short, rather petite, compared to the others, girl with blonde hair and an obvious tan, her shirt hanging open to show the bikini she was wearing underneath.
Harry sighed in his head. The Rakshasa Demons. He could already see that this mission was going to be even more annoying than it had already been so far.
In front of them, Borick spoke again.
"Now that you have arrived, I can have the Rakshasa Demons stop protecting me and move out on the offensive."
Suddenly Seryu rushed forwards.
"Please wait! There is an evil Teigu using group called Night Raid that may have snuck into the city. You need Teigu's if you want to fight other Teigu…"
There was a flash of movement as the man crouching in front of the other three Rakshasa Demons, Ibara, moved, appearing behind Seryu in a flash of movement, his hand held in a knife motion against her neck.
"There is no need to worry about that. We have defeated Teigu users before, just like this."
Seryu gritted her teeth as the black haired woman, Suzuka, spoke up.
"We have actually been sent out by the Prime Minister to retrieve a total of five different Teigu's from their users."
The large, bearded man, Sten, took over.
"No matter how strong a Teigu is, the user is still just human."
Finally the last of the group, Mez, piped up.
"Which means there is heaps of was to kill them."
Seryu ground her teeth together hard as Borick smirked.
"The four Rakshasa Demons are executors under the employment of the Prime Minister. They are very skilled at what they do."
Still standing behind Seryu with his hand against her neck, Ibara grinned madly.
"That's just how things are. You lot should just sit back and re…"
His sentence was cut short as something swept over him, some primal instinct to flee, to run, to cower. Then he snapped out of it, noting the cold feeling against his neck and turning his head slightly to see Esdeath standing behind him with a smile on her face, a sword of pure ice held against his throat.
"You should never let your guard down, regardless of all your achievements."
Ibara chuckled nervously.
"As expected of you, Esdeath. If you keep this up I might actually fall in love with you."
A flicker of disgust flew across Esdeaths face, unseen to everyone but Harry before it was gone. Harry just grinned in amusement.
This mission looked like it was going to be annoying but it could be amusing watching the Rakshasa Demons.
Until they got themselves killed of course.
-T.G.O-
Harry hummed to himself as he walked down the ancient corridors of the central temple of the Way of Peace. He was currently off guard duty, an Esdeath was needed for other things, so he had instead decided to wander around the temple. And then he got lost. Kind of. It had surprised him that the temple continued under the ground, though most of it seemed to be rather unused to the point where he was yet to see another person since he had left the main building.
Humming another tune he turned and walked down a corridor with a bounce in his step, his fingers laced behind his back as he observed the empty corridors.
Coming to a stop for a moment, he realised he was in a rather childish mood right now. Normally he wouldn't bother exploring and would have just stayed with Esdeath. Or he would have if she wasn't in the dungeons right now with some Revolutionary Army spies. He shuddered slightly. Actually, on second thought, there was no way in hell was he going down there to stay with her.
He stepped forwards again and was about to continue exploring when a soft voice spoke out behind him.
"Excuse me, but are you okay? Are you in need of assistance?"
Harry spun on his heels, grinning childishly as he looked at the speaker. He was a rather tall, slender man dressed in what looked like, and probable was considering that that Harry was in a temple, a priests garb with a pendant with the mark of the Path of Peace on his forehead and long hair trailing down his shoulders.
He nodded at the man, still grinning.
"No thank you! Well… I might actually be a little bit lost… But I'm sure it'll be fine."
The man laughed lightly.
"This place can be a bit confusing. The temple was built on some old ruins and few come down here because it can be rather confusing."
He held out a hand.
"They call me the Lord. A pleasure to meet you."
Harry raised an eyebrow, his grin never faltering.
"I'm Harry. Did you really start the Path of Peace? And do you have another name? Calling someone 'lord' all the time is a bit odd."
Lord Laughed again, smiling at him.
"Yes, I did indeed start the Path of Peace and no, I simple go by Lord now. It may seem a bit presumptuous, but that is what my followers call me, so that is the name I shall go by."
Still grinning, Harry nodded, his childish mood slowly evaporating in the presence of mature conversation.
"That works I suppose. Still seems weird, though."
Smiling, Lord just observed the boy before him.
"Harry… tell me, have you been to the northern part of the Empire recently?"
Harry gave him a slightly suspicious look before it vanished.
"Yes. I was up there a few months ago. Why?"
Lord just observed him again before walking past him, motioning Harry to follow.
"Sometimes… I have odd visions. It is one of the abilities that lead me to form the Path of Peace. Sometimes I see the future, sometimes I merely see distant places or events that are important to the world. Three years ago I had one such vision."
Harry looked at him sharply, smile dipping slightly. The Lord noticed the slight change in his expression and just laughed.
"Relax. I intend no harm. What I was saying was that I had a vision, of a boy who one day happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or perhaps the right place at the right time. Who knows?"
He smiled down at Harry as they walked towards an unknown location. Harry briefly questioned whether following him to said unknown location was really a good idea, but he was curious, so he dismissed the thought. Something about the Lord of the Path of Peace was disarming, making him appear trust worthy and kind. So far he seemed to be just that. And if something did happen, well, worst comes to worse he could just try collapse the temple on the man.
Shaking his head free of thoughts Harry turned his attention back to the taller man walking beside him.
"I have seen you a few times since then over the years. Not often, but more often than I've ever seen anyone else in my visions. I was simple curious when I suddenly found you wandering where few bother to go beneath the temple I had built and a thought suddenly occurred to me."
He looked at Harry seriously.
"Tell me Harry, do you know much on the objects known as Teigu?"
Harry's eyes widened slightly. Partially because that meant he possible had one, which would explain his powers, and partially from the proof that the Lord didn't actually know his identity.
He nodded.
"Quite a lot."
The Lord smiled again.
"Good, I do not have to explain it to you then."
They stopped in front of an empty wall, Lord reaching over and pressing on a certain brick, sending it sliding into the wall. A second later the section of the wall in front of him slide away without a sound, Lord stepping through it without a word and Harry following a step behind, intensely curious as they began to make their way down the much older, slightly crumbling corridors, the hidden door shutting behind them.
He gazed around as they walked.
"Is this part of the ruins you said the temple was built on?"
Lord glanced back at him, smiling.
"Indeed it is. In fact this part of the ruins was part of the reason I first had my temple built here."
He led Harry around another corner, Harry gazing around curiously as he noted that this part of the ruins was being supported by more recent construction. Silently, the two odd companions walked two the end of the long corridor, stopping in front of a large door.
Lord glanced back at the younger boy, smiling lightly.
"This room used to be a treasury or display room of some sort. I really don't know, only what is currently in it."
He turned back to the doors, pushing them wide as he stepped into the room beyond, Harry a step behind him. Harry gazed around curiously at the mostly empty room. There was a large pillar near each corner holding the roof up with intricate patterns and shapes flowing up them, fading as they reached the roof, similar patterns running along the wall and floor.
He turned his gaze back to Lord who was already walking towards a pedestal in the centre of the room, quickly walking to catch up with the tall man.
"What did you want to show me?"
The Lord just smiled, gesturing at what was on the pedestal.
"This of course."
Harry followed his gesture towards the object on the pedestal, observing it curiously. It was a small, though not actually that small, book with a cover made of what looked like some kind of metal and covered in strange design and images in blacks and dark blues. It was oddly hypnotic and enrapturing.
Shaking his head clear, he turned his head back to the Lord, just barely concealing his shock and surprise.
"A Teigu? One of the lost Teigu? Interesting. I wonder how it got here?"
Lord nodded, reaching down and gentle picking the book up.
"Indeed it is one of the lost Teigu. I admit that I do not know much about it as my knowledge of Teigu is very limited, nor do I know how it got here. I do however know its name."
He turned to face Harry, holding the book in front of him in both hands.
"This is the Teigu known as the Book of Lies: Lilith. I don't know what its powers are, nor do I know if anyone can use it, but…
Lord pushed the book forward, handing it gentle to Harry.
"… I think that it would be best in your hands."
Harry took the book gently, looking from the man before him to the book then back again, not even bothering to hide the surprise that leaked onto his face.
"You want me to have it. You've only meet me properly today, and I doubt I can use it. Surely it would be better with you."
The Lord shook his head.
"I have no wish, nor need, for a Teigu, nor do I want it to fall into the wrong hands."
Harry almost twitched at the irony. Almost. He just barely restrained himself. Didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands? He spent all his time with Esdeath, who worked for the Empire. Neither Esdeath nor the Empire were exactly the right people to give yet another Teigu. He sighed in his head, focusing back on what the taller man was saying to him
"I do not expect you to be able to use it, to be honest. It would surprise me greatly if you could."
Harry tilted his head to the right as he gave Lord a quizzical look.
"Why are you giving it to me then? Do you want me to deliver it to someone?"
He just smiled back down at him.
"My visions have proven that you are somehow crucial for the coming change in the future, and I believe that you are a kind hearted person. So no, I don't want you to deliver it to anyone that I know of but I do believe that you can find a good user for this Teigu on your own."
A mysterious grin replaced his reassuring smile.
"I doubt that you will have to look very far to find someone suitable who will use it for a good cause."
Harry gave an uncertain smile.
"Okay…? I won't complain about being given a Teigu of all things, but are you sure? We literally meet today."
The Lord just started to walk back towards the room's entrance, and easy smile on his face.
"I am quite certain of my choice, Harry. I like to think that I am very rarely wrong about this kind of thing and truly believe that you are the best person to have it until you can give it to someone else. I'm sure it won't take long for you to find someone who can use it that you trust enough to give it too."
Harry just nodded, knowing that the Lord couldn't see him, and hurried to catch up with the man as he left, hugging the Book of Lies to his chest as he did, where it seemed to thrum happily. He ignored the odd feeling and feel into step beside the man, deciding that there really was no reason nor point in arguing about a free Teigu.
Beside him, the Lord began to speak again.
"That book, the Book of Lies, is actually part of a set of three Teigu that were all made from similar ultra-class danger beasts. I'm afraid I don't have any information on the other two as they were lost long ago, but I do know that one is a pair of gauntlets. The other I know nothing about, I'm afraid."
Harry just nodded before grinning up at him.
"That's more than most people know about any lost Teigu. A lot of people don't even know what Teigu are."
The Lord smiled serenely down at him as they reached the hidden door, and pushed on another hidden switch, causing the wall to slide open without a sound. He stuck his head out, looking both ways before stepping out and turning to Harry as he followed after him. Closing the door he turned to the boy as he hugged the book to his chest.
"This is where we part ways I'm afraid."
He pointed down the corridor they were in.
"Just follow the corridor that way until you find a wooden door. It is a back door for emergencies and leads into a nearby park. It would be best if we aren't seen leaving together, especially if someone sees and recognizes that book, so I will be going back to my duties. Please make sure you look after the book and find it a good user."
Harry nodded seriously.
"Of course. I might not see you ever again, but, thank you and good luck with your endeavours."
The Lord nodded with one last smile before both turned their backs on each other and began to walk in opposite directions without so much as looking back.
-T.G.O-
"Hey, Esdeath."
Esdeath turned from where she was watching Seryu play with some of the children out in front of the mansion, feeling something light up inside her as she noted that Harry had returned. As always, she ignore the feeling.
"Harry? I thought that you were exploring the city? I won't be letting you have a second chance you know."
Harry just grinned and nodded.
"That's fine. I was exploring parts of the temple and I obtained something… interesting."
He glanced around before looking back up at her.
"Can we go somewhere else? I'd rather not show it here."
Esdeath raised an eyebrow before nodding and walking back towards the mansion, Harry beside her as they walked in a comfortable silence back to the room they were borrowing. She shut the door behind them as Harry sat down on the bed, pulling out a small bag he had grabbed at the market, reaching in and pulling out the Teigu.
Eyebrows rising and a smirk twitching the corners of her lips up, Esdeath took the book from him, looking over it.
"A lost Teigu? How did you find this in the middle of a city?"
Harry shook his head.
"I didn't. It was given to me."
She raised her eyebrows again.
"Really? Someone just gave you a Teigu? Did they know what it was?"
He grinned.
"Yup! They even knew what it was."
She turned her gaze back to the book.
"Hmm. Who gave it to you?"
"The Lord of the Path of Peace."
She glanced up at him in slight surprise as he grinned again.
"I ran into him while I was exploring the temple and we talked a bit. He said he had had some visions of me and then took me into an old ruin that the temple was built on. Someone seems to have stored the Teigu there not long after it was lost. Lord said he thought that I would be able to find a good user for it and I thought I might see if Fal, Air or Luna have any kind of compatibility with it."
Esdeath smiled.
"A good idea. It would be a shame if we had to hand it over to the Prime Minister, so it would be best to find someone compactible quickly. We'll get them to try when we return to the Capital."
Harry grinned back as she sat down on the bed beside him, examining the book again.
A comfortable silence feel over the room as Harry thoughtlessly leaned against Esdeaths shoulder, closing his eyes.
It was the perfect peace.
And we all know that that means there is a storm coming.
And indeed, there was.
-T.G.O-
And that is chapter 20 complete!
I really hope you enjoyed it!
This chapter was mainly a relaxer after three chapters of action. Harry has also obtained his first Teigu, *sob* they grow up so fast *sob*, even though he can't use it and never will be able to.
Anyway, we also had a small advancement in Harry and Esdeaths relationship and had a nice chat with the Lord. Who will probably never be seen again in this story?
I quite like this chapter for some reason and, as always, any likes, dislikes, advice, ideas or constructive criticism are all welcome and appreciated.
So please review!
Finally I hope everyone has enjoyed this chapter and the story so far!
Goodbye and see you next chapter!