(Revan's AN): I have no words that need to be said.
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: Ten Million Voices, by Shaman's Harvest.
Main Writer: Revan the Edgelord
Co-Writer: None.
Tatsumi couldn't fall asleep.
It was late at night, and he had yet to fall asleep.
Laying their head on his chest and clinging to him was a naked Esdeath. She had drifted off to sleep not that long ago, but Tatsumi didn't pay much attention to that, for his mind was preoccupied with other things.
One of those things was the fact that he had just had sex with her.
He had enjoyed the moment that was no lie, but not long after they had finished having sexual intercourse did he realize what he had just done. He had sex with the Empire's Strongest, the woman who had invaded his country and killed so many people.
Although a small part of him saw no harm in having sex with her, there was a part of him that was disgusted with himself.
At first, he tried to say to himself that it was the heat of the moment, but he knew deep down that he could have stopped it if he truly didn't want to have sex with her. He could have said that he wasn't ready for that, and that it was soon to be doing stuff like that, but he didn't.
He allowed Esdeath to do as she pleased his body, and he enjoyed it.
A part of him loved her, and that terrified him.
Another thing that had crossed his mind was that he had betrayed the woman he felt he truly loved, Farah.
Sure, one of his personas had said that it was best to move on and forget about her, but he couldn't. He couldn't forget the feeling of her soft hands, her silky long black hair that flew in the wind when a gust of wind came, and her green eyes that shined brighter than any jewel he had ever seen. He just wasn't capable of forgetting the woman that made his heart skip several beats for the first time in his life.
It was just an impossible task in his mind, and because he couldn't forget about her his disgust for himself grew. The reason why his disgust grew was because he felt like he was betraying her.
"What the hell am I doing?" He asked himself for what he believed to be the hundredth time. "I'm either with Esdeath, or I'm against her."
Despite being conflicted, Tatsumi felt like he was in a moment of clarity as he stared up at the ceiling. For once, they weren't there arguing with one another, about what they should do, it was just him and his own thoughts.
When they were there and arguing, it felt he was being possessed. The movements he made when they were there were small, and could be seen as trivial in the eyes of other people, but for him they weren't, they were huge.
May it be a furrow of his brows or a clench of his fists it didn't matter, for he found them to be important, and was worried that if something doesn't change soon, then he'll no longer be in control of his body. Somebody else would, and that was something that terrified him.
"Isn't it obvious?" Came the lustful persona's voice. "The only thing we can do now is commit ourselves to Esdeath. We've betrayed not only Farah, but everyone who Esdeath has killed by sleeping with her and loving her. Our only choice of living a happy life is being with Esdeath now."
Tatsumi said nothing in response, which caused the alter to continue speaking. "You can't deny it. We love Esdeath."
"... I don't care about living a happy life." Tatsumi said after several seconds of silence. "We, in all honesty, don't deserve to live a long and happy life. We've killed hundreds, possibly thousands of people, and have robbed so many people of their family members. It doesn't matter if it was in war or self-defense, the fact remains we're killers, and don't deserve a long and prosperous life."
"I disagree." The alter stated in a firm tone. "We have survived many things, and have endured many hardships, we deserve a long life that is nothing, but pure bliss."
Tatsumi again said nothing for some time.
In reality, there was a small part of him that did want to live a long life where he grew old had kids, and grandkids, but there was another part of that felt like he didn't deserve such happiness. His pride had caused thousands of people to lose their lives and to make matters worse a piece of his heart has come to love the woman who took their lives.
"Stop trying to deny our love for Esdeath, and forget about Farah." His alter personality declared, traces of irritation in his voice. "She's a thousand miles away from us and has moved on with her life. It's time we do the same."
Tatsumi didn't say anything to the personality. Although a small portion of him did agree with it, he chose not to give up on Farah. He doubted he'd get to see her again, but that wasn't going to stop him from missing and loving her.
Sure, he may have come to love Esdeath, and might one day love her more than Farah, but no matter what, he wasn't going to stop loving Farah even if she moved on and forgot about him, for she was his first crush, and the woman who took care of him when he was weak, which were things he could never forget.
Tatsumi hummed in a thoughtful manner as he pondered where he was going to move his remaining Bishop.
Wave, who was sitting across from him, didn't even bother hiding his smirk. They were playing best three out of five in Chess, and he believed he was going to finally beat Tatsumi and turn it around in his favor.
The reason why they were playing was because Esdeath gave them a day off. Usually, Wave would be on patrol with either Bols, Kurome, or Daidara, while Tatsumi would be either accompanying Esdeath or doing something inside the castle, but because they had the day off, the two of them decided to hang out.
Out of all the Jaegers, Tatsumi came to like Wave the most. Sure, he may be an idiot a good majority of the time, and be oblivious to the cruelness that the people in the Capital City experience, which in all honesty wasn't good, but he nonetheless was a person Tatsumi enjoyed spending time with.
He would have been spending the day with Esdeath most likely, but the Prime Minister had summoned her to the Emperor's Palace for some reason, so she left to go see what he needed alongside Liver and Run.
Tatsumi still didn't like Liver. He found the old man to be repulsive not as repulsive as the little shit named Nyau, but nonetheless repulsive. As for Run, Tatsumi didn't have any issues with him. The blonde man kept to himself most of the time, which was a little suspicious sometimes, but besides that he was an alright guy.
After listening to Tatsumi release another thoughtful hum, Wave said in a smug tone. "Feeling trapped yet, Tatsumi?"
"No, not yet." Tatsumi said into his hand that was covering his mouth while continuing to examine the board in an attempt to figure out where to move his bishop.
"Well, you should be." Wave declared in a firm voice before taking a sip of his glass of water that had four ice cubes in it. "This time I'm going to be the victor, for whatever move you make, I'm going to counter it."
"I see." Tatsumi said in response as he narrowed his eyes. He was thinking about moving his Bishop and taking out Wave's last Knight, but if he did that, then Wave would take his Bishop with his Rook.
After contemplating for about another thirty seconds, Tatsumi finally moved his Bishop and took Wave's last Knight. He knew he had just gotten rid of his remaining Bishop by doing this, but he believed the Knights were the second strongest piece in Chess right behind the Queen.
Not even two seconds later, Wave moved his Rook forward and took Tatsumi's last Bishop while saying in a proud manner. "Take!"
As he set the piece to side, Tatsumi examined the board again. He could now move his Queen and take the Pawn that was in front of it, but after taking his Knight, he now wasn't so sure if he should. Of course, he didn't see anything that could take his Queen, but there was nothing wrong with being cautious.
Deciding to take the Pawn, Tatsumi moved his Queen forward.
However, upon him taking the Pawn, both Wave and Tatsumi's heard a bell go off.
"What's that?" Tatsumi questioned as he set the Pawn down next to all the other pieces he took, and looked at Wave.
"I' don't know," He answered with a shrug as he got up from his seat, and looked at the door with a troubled expression. "I'm pretty sure it's the warning bell, but I don't know why someone would be ringing."
"... Don't you think we're being attacked then if they're ringing it?" Tatsumi asked after a couple seconds of silence.
"Yeah, but who would be attacking us?" The dark blue haired male questioned with a small frown.
"No idea, but we should probably check it out, don't you think?" Tatsumi said as he got up from his seat and picked up his spear that was resting against it.
"Yeah, let's go see what's going on." Wave agreed as he picked up Grand Chariot and followed behind Tatsumi.
"Landfall!" Ieyasu roared as he slammed his warhammer onto the ground causing the twelve Imperials to go flying into the air and release screams of shock and horror that were abruptly cut off due to them suddenly becoming mincemeat.
Unbeknownst to the soldiers, the green haired male who stood behind Ieyasu had quickly covered the courtyard with his wires, which made it impossible for anyone to enter or leave unless he allowed them.
The two of them along with Jericho were assigned to holding the castle's courtyard, which in short meant they were supposed to keep the bridge down, and prevent any Imperials from coming into the Jaeger HQ and reinforcing their comrades.
Satisfied that they made short work of their enemies, Ieyasu said to his comrades. "Man, this is a little too easy, these guys just don't seem to learn at all."
"I wouldn't be too relaxed, Ieyasu." Lubbock stated as he lifted his pair of goggles up and onto his forehead. "At any second Esdeath could come back, and we could be in for a fight of our lives."
In truth what they were doing was reckless and risky, but this was there best bet. They had been informed the night before by one of their informants that the Prime Minister was going to summon Esdeath to the Emperor's Palace to discuss a great number of things, and had decided that this was their best chance at rescuing the Esperan Prince.
However, in reality, none of them were sure if they could call this a rescue mission. Over the days learning about the Jaegers' headquarters, the members of Night-Raid had learned a lot about Tatsumi and his relationship with them, and Esdeath.
They learned that Esdeath had made him a back up member, and a few days ago they learned that Tatsumi was Esdeath's lover.
When the members of Night-Raid were informed about this, they were skeptical about rescuing him and believed that he was now on the Empire's side, but both Theo and Takeo argued strongly about Tatsumi's allegiance and declared that he must be faking it or that Esdeath had brainwashed him.
Regardless of what they thought, Najenda had decided that they were going to retrieve Tatsumi, for they needed him if the Revolutionary Army was going to get the support of the Esperan Army. The deal was that they would rescue Numa's brother, and in return, Numa will assist in assaulting the Capital City with them, so no matter what side he was on, they needed to rescue him. After that, whatever happens to Tatsumi wasn't their concern.
Of course, they could wait for a chance of Tatsumi going on patrol with a Jaeger member, but so far when he went on patrol he went with Esdeath, and Esdeath only, and she was someone Night-Raid didn't want to fight, which is why they chose to take this opportunity.
Ieyasu in response clicked his tongue in annoyance. "We could take her."
"Sorry, I don't want to be negative, but I highly doubt that." Jericho confessed with a frown. He had wanted to take a swig of his flask, but he had promised that he wouldn't drink on the mission and stay sober, so he couldn't.
"Yeah, don't let that pride of yours fool you." Lubbock stated in a serious tone. "I understand you like to fight, but Esdeath is someone we can't take. It's why we're doing it now because she isn't here, and because we can take on her subordinates."
As Ieyasu opened his mouth to say something, someone spoke in a loud and clear voice.
"My, oh my, what stylish wires we have here!"
Directing their attention to where they heard the voice, the three members of Night-Raid were welcomed to the sight of a tall man who appeared to be a scientist staring at one of the many wires with a fascinated expression.
"That's..." Ieyasu started.
"Dr. Stylish, a member of the Jaegers." Lubbock finished as he narrowed his eyes.
Seeing that they knew him, the tall man grinned happily and pushed his glasses up, while shifting his attention towards them.
"Yes, it is I, Dr. Stylish, and I have come here to collect your bodies, so that I can experiment on them to my heart's content!" He declared in a triumphant voice, as he struck a hero like pose.
The members of Night-Raid didn't say anything in response. They were completely speechless at the sight they were witnessing.
"What? Do you three have nothing to say?" Dr. Stylish questioned, his grin still written on his face. "Were you all taken back by my stylish looks?"
"... I'm going to need a drink after seeing that." Jericho said as he took out his flask again and took the cap off. He didn't care if he was breaking his promise to Najenda, after witnessing that atrocious thing, he needed some alcohol.
Taking what the man said as an insult, Dr. Stylish said, "You guys have terrible taste in style, but don't worry, I'll let you three see my Stylish minions before dying. Minions!"
After shouting the last part, the three members of Night-Raid watched as a bunch of weirdos came not only out of the castle, but over the castle's walls and surround them, which was a suprise, for not a single one of them had ran into Lubbock's wires.
As his important pieces approached him, Dr. Stylish said while pushing his glasses up again. "Try not to damage their bodies too badly, my Pawns, and if it is possible, try capturing one of them, it's been quite some time since I've experimented on an Imperial Arm user who was alive."
"This is for Espera!" Takeo yelled as he rammed his blade into the Imperial soldier's abdomen. He wielded the long blade with his right hand, and had his left hand on the man's right shoulder.
The Imperial released a gasp as he raised his hands to grab ahold of him, but before he could cling to him, Takeo yanked the blade to his right causing the man to go to his right and go flying off of it and onto the ground.
He was still alive, but instead of finishing the soldier off, Takeo spun himself back around and placed his left hand onto his blade, and caught an Imperial's sword with the midsection of his sword.
As the Imperial hurled an insult towards him, Takeo said to the man. "Fuck off, and die!"
Pushing the blade to his left, Takeo was given an opportunity to attack, and delivered a hard elbow to the man's face.
The soldier wore helm that covered his face, but that didn't stop him. The power behind the elbow was enough to cause the man to take a few steps back which gave him the opportunity he truly needed, the opportunity to use his blade.
Not wasting a second, he swung his blade sideways and cut the man's head clean off.
As the man fell to the ground, Takeo turned around to see Theo cut down one of their few remaining opponents.
The two of them along with Akame were assigned to check the Eastern side of the castle, and had so far faced nothing, but ordinary soldiers, which was a surprise to the two males, but not an unwelcomed surprise, for they both had unfinished business with the men who guarded the castle.
The men who guarded the Jaegers' base of operations were men that belonged in Esdeath's army, which meant they were there when Ylona fell, which really meant they needed to pay for what they did back there with their lives.
After Theo killed one of his opponents, he quickly sidestepped to his left and avoided one of the swordsman's strikes, and warded off another with his sword. He didn't stay on the defensive for long due to Takeo coming into assist, and with his help it didn't take them long to deal with the remaining soldiers.
Once they were done with them, Theo pulled out a piece of cloth that he kept on him, and said, "Well, that makes, I think twenty-two for me?"
"You've been keeping count on how many you've killed?" Takeo questioned while raising an eyebrow. He didn't bother cleaning his blade, for he knew it was only a matter of time before they get in another fight.
"Yeah." Theo answered as he finished cleaning his blade. As he put the piece of cloth away, he looked at Takeo and said to the tall warrior. "Why, haven't you been doing the same?"
"No, not really." Takeo said with a small frown. "I've just been killing them."
"Ah, I see." Theo stated with multiple nods of his head. "Well, I've been keeping count of my solo kills, and I'm at twenty-two."
As Takeo opened his mouth to a respond, Akame who was down the hall called out to them. "Tatsumi isn't in any of the rooms, let's go."
Both of the warriors said nothing in response and just simply obeyed the orders she had given them, for this had so far been the usual. Akame would kill anyone in her way, and then search for Tatsumi while the dealt with the handful of soldiers that was left, and by the time they were done with them, Akame would be done with her search.
As they traveled with her, the two of them wondered multiple times why they were with her and not someone else. From what they've seen, she doesn't need any backup. If there two dozen men in her way, she would eliminate three-fourths of them in less than ten seconds which was an amazing feat. In fact because they witnessed this, the two of them had also started to think about what would happen if Esdeath and Akame fought.
They may not have seen Esdeath fight, but they have seen Akame fight, and knew that she could easily kill them due to her speed, which made them believe that if they did fight, Akame would come out as the victorious one.
The three of them walked down multiple halls in silence for a while, and each door they passed they would stop and check. Eventually, they came to a pair of double doors, and with no words being said to one another, both Theo and Takeo opened the doors for Akame.
"Hello, big sis~. It's been a while." Spoke the black haired girl who was waiting there for them, and was accompanied by a dozen soldiers as well as her minions.
Akame's eyes upon seeing her sister narrowed slightly, and she said in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper, but somehow managed to reach everyone's ears. "Kurome..."
Both Theo, and Takeo grips on their weapons tightened after hearing the girl's name. They had been informed about the Jaegers, so they knew who this girl was.
She was an Imperial Arms user, and nonetheless Akame's sister, which meant that they were going to be in for a fight of their lives.
Tatsumi followed as Wave sprinted down the hall, towards where the explosions were. Wave had his Teigu armor manifested, and Tatsumi kept a lookout with his spear at the ready.
As of lately, he has practiced more in unarmed combat, for Esdeath believed his skills in hand to hand combat was lacking. He, of course, disagreed with that, but after a quick match against her, he agreed to train more in it. The two of them reached the end of the hallway, where a pair of stained glass doors led into the Western courtyard. They both skidded to a halt, and with Wave still in the lead, he slowly opened one of the doors.
Upon opening the door, the two of them were greeted by the sight of two figures, with one of them standing over the other. The one who stood above was a male judging by their physique and wore silver and white armor with a red spear like halberd in their hands. The person who was laying on the ground below them was the young officer Elias.
His sword was laying not far from him, but just from glancing at it they could tell it was in poor condition and on the verge of breaking.
As the armored warrior raised their weapon slightly, both Wave and Tatsumi couldn't help from shouting, "Elias!" at the top of their lungs.
This not only caused the masked officer to turn and look at them, but it had also stopped the armored warrior from impaling him.
Using this as an opportunity, Wave charged at the man as Black Rose, a spear like halberd that looked exactly like the armored warrior's weapon except in color, manifested out of thin air in his hands.
However, about halfway through the charge the wall on Wave's left exploded, which caused the navy man to break off from his attack and move to his right.
Stepping through the now massive hole in the wall was a blonde woman with feline features, who said in a slightly vexed tone. "Man, that guy's Imperial Arm is no joke. Had it not been for my Imperial Arm's regeneration abilities, I'm pretty sure he would have killed me."
All four men stared at the blonde woman, who didn't seem to notice that a fight was about to ensue, however, only one was staring at her for different reasons.
"Leone, you're, um, you're top." The armored warrior stated who was keeping his right foot on Elias' chest and preventing him from moving.
"Huh?" She said in response before averting her eyes downwards only to see that one of her breasts was out in the open for everyone to see. "Oh, that's a little awkward. I didn't even notice that." As if nothing out of the ordinary happened, Leone lifted her top up, and covered the exposed breast.
After doing this, she looked back up and noticed Wave standing a few meters away from her with his spear in his right hand. Glancing to her left, she saw Tatsumi and gasped in surprise.
"Bulat, isn't that our target, Tatsumi?" She asked as she looked at Bulat who had yet to move from his position.
Tatsumi upon hearing this tightened his grip on his weapon, and spoke before the armored warrior could speak. "I'm Night-Raid's target?"
In reality, this had also caused a shiver to go down his spine, but that didn't make him quiver in fear. One of his alters had wanted to seek out Night-Raid and have them assist him taking down Esdeath, but after hearing that they came here for him, he prepared himself to fight.
"Yes, but-" Bulat started only to be drowned out by Wave who shouted.
"You bastards, what do you want with Tatsumi!?"
"It's none of your concern, bud." Leone said as she crossed her arms and grinned.
Looking at the blonde, Wave said to her. "It is my concern. Tatsumi is my comrade, I may have been suspicious of him at first, and believed that he was an enemy of the Empire, but he is a good guy, and has done nothing wrong!"
"Yeah, I agree!" Elias said causing both Leone and Wave to look at him. "At first I thought he was some guy trying to trick General Esdeath, but after spending time with him, I can say without a doubt that he's a Jaeger!"
Tatsumi could help from saying, "Wave, Elias..." in an emotional tone. He may not like the Empire for what they've done, and wanted them to pay, but that didn't mean he hated the members of the Jaegers. Sure, there were some he didn't like, but these two were some of the members he liked and considered to be good people.
"Everyone, calm down." Bulat ordered in a voice filled with power. "There's no need to fight."
"Like hell there is!" Elias barked as he glared at the armored who kept him pinned to the ground. "You Night-Raid scum have committed countless atrocities, there is plenty of reasons to fight."
"Yeah, and you came here to kill the person who makes the Commander happy!" Wave declared with anger in his voice. "As he said, there is plenty of reason for us to fight!"
"We didn't come here to kill him! We came here to rescue him!" Bulat yelled in irritation as he unconsciously pressed his foot down on Elias causing a small gasp to come out of his mouth. He was hoping that he could convince Tatsumi to come with them, but the longer they prolonged him from speaking, the more Tatsumi began to glare at them.
A silence filled the courtyard, a silence that was abruptly broken by Tatsumi who said, "What do you mean by that?"
"He means that we're here to take you away from Esdeath." Leone stated causing Tatsumi to direct his attention towards her.
"Why?" Tatsumi questioned with doubt in his voice. Even though he wanted to believe them and go with them, a small piece of him was having doubts.
"We... We can't say it here." Bulat said in a calmer tone as Tatsumi shifted his attention back towards him. "As much as I want to tell you why, I can't tell you here, but if you want to know, then tell your comrades to stand down, and just come with us. No one else has to die today."
Tatsumi said nothing for quite some time. It seemed that both Wave and Elias were waiting for his response.
If he was being honest with himself, he didn't know what to do. As much as he wanted to tell them to stand down, a part of him felt like Night-Raid was here to abduct him, so that they could ransom him to his brother or something along those lines.
Eventually, he spoke. "As much as I want to go, I don't trust you. I don't know much about Night-Raids besides the fact that you guys are assassins, so I'm going to refuse. Not to mention, if I did leave willing and Esdeath found out and catches us, I will experience hell again, and that's something I don't want to experience ever again."
Leone clicked her tongue in annoyance upon hearing his response. "I would have preferred if you came quietly, but I guess we have no choice, but to go plan B."
"Agreed." Bulat said with a nod before looking down at Elias. "I'm sorry, you seemed like a good guy, I hope you can forgive me in the afterlife."
With that declaration, Bulat brought Neuntote down onto Elias.
(Revan's AN): Hmm, it could have been better, but I'm not some pro writer, so sorry if this you know subpar. Anyways before anyone goes like, "This is random! Why are they doing this!?" let me say that this idea, aka: Rescue The Prince has been an idea of mine since like chapter 10. I've always wanted to do the cliche Rescue The Princess type of thing, but in my own way, so here it is. Now, like I said it probably could have been better, but what's done is done. I find this chapter to be good, and quite frankly that's all that matters. As long as I enjoy what I write, then I'll keep posting for if I start to not find enjoyment, then this story will die. Anyways, that is all I have to say, so I'm going to go now, I'll see you all later.
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