(Revan's AN): Let's get into the story.
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: This Will Be The Day, by Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams.
Main Writer: Revan the Edgelord
Co-Writer: None.
Iokal couldn't hide his smirk as the whip he held in his right hand hit the young woman's back before him, who released a very loud painfilled cry because of this.
He was a short man with a bit of a round build. He had black hair that had a streak of purple on the left side of his bangs. He wore small, round glasses that didn't even cover his eyes. His outfit consisted of a military-like green uniform that had a white fur collar, which signified that he was a high-ranking member of the Empire, a red sash and gold epaulets. He also wore black boots and black gloves.
"It hurts!" The young lady yelled in tears after being struck by the whip again.
"Oh, does it?" Iokal asked, traces of amusement in his voice. "Does it hurt?"
"Yes!" She shouted, which caused her to be hit for a third time.
As she released another shriek full of pain, Iokal laughed out loud, and started to strike her multiple times. "Good! Now you'll know how I feel after finding out that you have a husband! Next time, you'll think twice about seducing me you used goods!"
"But I didn't-Kyaah!" She tried to speak, and tell him that she didn't seduce him, but upon her uttering these few words, she was struck hard by the whip.
"Bitches howl! Howl for me, you dirty bitch!" Iokal roared as he repeatedly swung the whip at her and forced her to release painfilled howls.
Eventually, after working up a sweat, Iokal ceased his whipping and stared at the woman's now extremely bloody back. She was crying and shaking tremendously.
"Let that..." He began as he exhaled deeply, showing that he was short of breath. "Let that be a lesson for you to not seduce men, and to be faithful to your loving husband."
With that said, Iokal struck her one more time before exiting the room.
Upon leaving the room, he looked to the guard that was on his right and said to the muscular man. "Do whatever you want with her; I'm done with that bitch."
At this, the guardsman flashed Iokal a grin before entering the room.
As the door closed behind the guard, Iokal directed his attention towards the guard who stood on his left and said to him. "Let's go, I'm hungry, and a man needs his privacy when handling a bitch."
"I know a bar that could use an inspection, sir." The guardsman started with a smirk as Iokal began to walk off with him right behind him. "I went there the other night with Holliday, and the serving girls were cute as fuck. I think you'd like them."
"Cute you say?" Iokal questioned as he glanced over his shoulder at his bodyguard who nodded his head to confirm this. "That's something you rarely say, so they must be beauties!"
Iokal joyfully smiled as he announced that. He liked cute and beautiful things, for he loved breaking them. Of course, he'd never break them alone, no he was a team player, and would let his bodyguards get in on the fun too.
However, his smile didn't last long, for not long after it manifested on his face, did he hear a scream. Now, he had been listening to the girl, who he had just finished whipping, screams, for some a while now, but this scream was different. It was a sudden blood-curdling scream full of shock and surprise.
He wasn't the only one who had heard this. The guardsman who was following him also heard the shriek and turned around to look down the corridor.
It was as silent as a crypt. Like a breeze, the scream came and went, without a single trace to signify that it had happened, and the woman's outcries came to a halt, and could no longer be heard by the two of them.
Iokal looked at the back of his guardsman with traces of concern etched onto his face. They weren't the only ones in the mansion, he was sure his other bodyguards had heard the scream, and knew they'd be coming to see what had happened any second now, but that didn't stop him from feeling scared. It also didn't help that it was late at night, and that the hallway was somewhat dark.
"G-Go check it out." Iokal ordered as he lightly pushed the muscular man forward causing, who looked over his shoulder at him.
As the guardsman looked at him, Iokal saw out of the corner of his right eye, the door to the room he had left earlier, open slowly.
"L-L-Look!" Iokal stuttered as he pointed his finger forward causing the man to snap his head back, and watch the door open gradually before coming to a stop.
Not long after it came to a stop did a man leisurely walk out of the room with two blades in his hands that looked somewhat like rapiers.
He wore a long black coat, with studded leather on top of this with a black and steel spaulder over his left shoulder. he had black gloves and underneath the trench coat was a dark blue tunic, but none of these things caught Iokal's eyes. No, what gained his attention was the black and gold mask that had rectangular slits for the person to see through.
He couldn't see the person's eyes, but he could feel them on him. In fact, it felt like his soul was being pierced by them.
Iokal's bodyguard didn't move from his spot, nor did he try to unsheathe the blade that was strapped to his belt. He also knew that the person he was gazing at was Iokal, but that didn't stop fear from grabbing ahold of his heart.
As the masked man slowly tilted his head to the right, Iokal gained some courage, and shouted at him. "Who are you?"
The masked man said nothing.
"Why are you here!?" Iokal shouted, his voice trembling more so than before.
At this, the masked man replied, but not with words. Instead, he slowly lifted up the sword in his right hand and pointed it directly at Iokal.
Upon seeing this, Iokal let out a fearful gasp as he took a step back.
The masked man in response to seeing him take a step back took a step forward, which increased the fear that was coursing throughout Iokal's body.
"K-Kill him." Iokal croaked in a voice that had nothing but terror in it.
The guardsman at first was hesitant to move, but after seeing the masked man take two more steps towards them, he realized that he had to fight. The man before them was here to kill Iokal, and if he didn't protect him, then the Prime Minister would have him tortured to death.
After unsheathing the blade from his waist, the guard placed his right hand at the bottom of the hilt, and said in a low tone to Iokal. "Go, I'll hold the-"
"Fluctus Tenebris!" The masked man shouted without warning with a voice filled with power and power alone as he swung the blade in his left hand sideways.
"-assassin?" The guardsman finished in a voice that was now full of uncertainty. He didn't know why, but for some reason, he couldn't feel his arms or legs.
Iokal released a terrified gasp as he saw the man before him head come off, and yelled at the top of his lungs. "M-Monster!"
As he shouted this, he spun around and broke into a sprint towards the double doors that were only a few meters away from him.
"Help! Guards help!" He cried out aloud as he broke down one of the doors by slamming into with his body, which was something the masked man didn't see coming at all.
However, this action had made Iokal lose the moment he had and stumble a bit before coming to a complete stop.
What had made him stop moving was the thing he saw before him.
Hanging from the ceiling with their feet dangling above the ground were the two guards who were stationed in this hallway. Their eyes were wide open, and blood was slowly falling off of their bodies onto the pool of blood below them.
Iokal was taken back by this sight, and had completely forgotten that these two were here, so when he had seen them like this, he couldn't help from stepping back away from their bodies.
This horror didn't last long though, for when he took a step back he bumped into something. He didn't know what he had bumped into, but after remembering who was after him, Iokal turned around and was welcomed to the sight of the masked man standing right behind him and staring at him.
"Eek!" Was the noise that left his mouth as he spun himself around and leaped away from the silent man.
"S-S-Stay back." Iokal stuttered as he put a hand up and took several steps back, which caused him to bump into one of the hanging corpses. "I-I'm war-warning y-you."
"... Or else what?" The masked man questioned in a low and gruff tone that practically had no emotions in it at all.
"I'll..." Iokal started as the masked man walked towards him, which made him take a few more steps back. "I'll tell the Prime Minister! He's my uncle, and-"
"And how are you going to tell him?" The masked man asked, a tiny trace of amusement was in his voice as he said this. "I don't know if you have been paying attention, but you're not leaving this mansion alive. You're going to die here, clawing at your neck to stop the blood from coming out."
Iokal upon hearing this released another frightful gasp, and tried to pick up the pace of his back steps, but because he didn't see where he was going, he didn't notice the headless body behind him and tripped on the deceased person's legs.
"Aaah!" Was the shriek that came out of Iokal's mouth upon crashing onto the ground. However, that didn't stop him from moving back, he used his feet, and arms to move himself, while keeping an eye on the killer before him who casually stepped over the dead body that he had tripped on earlier.
"Wait-Wait-Wait!" Iokal shouted as he ceased crawling backwards and held up his left hand, signifying for the man in front of him to stop. "We... We could work out a deal! I, I don't know why you're doing this, but I'm sure you're a reasonable man, right?"
"I am." The masked man answered as he stared down at the fat man.
"Yeah, so hear me out!" Iokal pleaded in a somewhat quieter voice. "If you let me live, I can give you whatever you want. You want women? Done, I can get you that. You want money? Done, I can get you that as well. You want a high ranking position in the Imperial Army? Consider it done as well, for I can get you that too, whatever you want I can get you that, all you have to do is let me live."
The masked man said nothing in response to all of this. Instead, he just stared at the man in silence.
Seeing that he was silent, Iokal began to talk again. "Do-Do we have a deal? Are you going to let me live?"
"... What if I want vengeance?" He asked Iokal in a serious tone. "Can you get me that?"
"Vengeance?" Iokal repeated with a frown, not sure what he meant by that. "What do you mean by vengeance? Have I done something to you in the past!? If I have I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! Just please don't kill me!"
"No, you didn't." The masked man stated in a low and firm voice as he sheathed the blade that was in his right hand. "In fact, I doubt we have ever crossed paths before. Unfortunately for you, I could care less about that. All I care about is exacting vengeance on this corrupt nation, and what better way to do that, then to kill the Prime Minister's nephew?"
"Wait-" Was all Iokal could say before the masked man swung his blade at his throat.
...
...
...
After watching Iokal die and grab at his bloody neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding, Tatsumi let loose a sigh and flung the blood off of his sword before sheathing it. He didn't consider what he had just done to be an act of justice, but a part of him did feel a little good.
The man was a scumbag, and in all honesty, deserved a more painful death, but Tatsumi had wasted enough time with the man, and needed to get a move on or else he'd never hear the end of it from Najenda.
She'd yell at him and tell him that he can't let his feelings get in the way, and that the objective is to kill the target, not to torture them and miss the window or anything like that. How he knew this was because she told him these things multiple times before he embarked on this mission.
Before walking away from the corpse, Tatsumi glanced at it one more time just to make sure that the target was dead. Although, he highly doubted they were alive.
After he had confirmed that the man was as good as dead, Tatsumi reached into his coat and pulled out a leaflet that had a logo on it and nonchalantly tossed it onto the man.
The emblem that was on this leaflet was none other than Night-Raid's emblem. Now, usually Night-Raid wouldn't do these types of things, but because they hadn't in Capital City for almost two months now, they needed to do this.
As for the reason why, it was to let the Empire know that they're back, and are ready to take them on again.
With this done, Tatsumi began to make his way towards the mansion's front door. He would have gone back for the whipped woman, but Lubbock had already seen to her with his wires, so there was no point for him to go back the way he came. His part of the mission was done, and now all that was for him to do was rendezvous with the other members of Night-Raid and head on back to the hideout.
While walking down the corridor, Tatsumi's thoughts drifted towards a certain blue haired woman.
Esdeath, the woman who had done so much to him was not far from him at all. In fact, the palace was about an hour away max, so if he really wanted to, he could pay her a visit.
However, he had no intentions of doing this. As tempting as it is, Tatsumi knew that he wasn't ready yet. He may have memorized the words to activate his Imperial Arm's abilities, and trained in dual wielding for about a month, but that didn't mean he was ready to take on Esdeath.
She was more experienced with her Imperial Arm and a master swordsman, so if he tried to take her on now, he'd most definitely lose.
Not to mention, he had yet to come to terms with his feelings for her. He knew deep down that she had to die for everything she had done, but there was a small part of him that wondered if killing her was the best option.
"I'm such a coward..." He thought to himself as he reached the end of the corridor. "I tell myself and others that I'll be the one to kill her, but here I am lacking the resolve to do that, and wondering if there is another way to end this without ending her life."
After labeling himself a coward, Tatsumi's thoughts drifted towards Espera, or to be specific, his family.
He wondered if his letter had finally reached them, and wished he could see them one more time, for he didn't know if he was ever going to see them again.
Numa had a look of deep thought as he sat in his chair with his left hand placed against his mouth, and his right hand underneath his left elbow to support it.
He had just summoned his family to his study not too long ago, for he had finished reading the letter that was delivered by a Revolutionary Army courier.
He didn't know what to think after reading it, and because of this, Numa picked the sheet of paper up and began to read it again.
[Dear Family,
You all probably have heard of this by now, but I'm still alive.
I know, you all are probably wondering how I survived, and to be honest, it wasn't easy.
I lost parts of me, and have scars that run deep through me, but I bet you're all wondering why I haven't come home?
I mean, I have escaped Esdeath's clutches, so surely it wouldn't be hard for me to return home, right?
Well, there are things I have to do here, things that need to be finished.
My fight with Esdeath, it's not over. As long as she breathes it'll never be over.
I know, you're all probably wondering what the hell am I thinking, or am I insane, but I have to kill her, I have to.
She... She did a lot of things to me, and has done terrible things to countless people, so somebody has to stop her.
I don't know if I'll ever get to see you all again, so if I don't I just want to say that I love you all, and that I'm sorry.
For everything, I was terrible a son, and a horrible brother. I wished I had spent more time with you all, instead of distancing myself from you all.
If I had a chance to rewind time, I would take it just so I could be with you all longer.
This letter is pretty long now, and I don't know what else to write down, so I guess this is the end of it.
I just wished I had more time with you all.
Love,
Tatsumi.]
After he finished rereading the letter, Numa tossed it onto the desk in a somewhat angry manner.
He wanted to scream out in anger. He wanted to curse Tatsumi out of frustration, but most of all, Numa wanted to cry due to the pain he felt in his chest.
However, he didn't have the willpower to do any of this. He was far too annoyed to do anything. All he wanted to do now was be alone, but he had to tell his family this, they deserved to know what was going on.
Not long after he read the piece of paper for a second time did his family arrive.
"Numa what is it?" His mother questioned upon seeing his facial expression. "Did something happen?"
"Yeah, you look really upset." His sister stated with a look of concern written on her face. "Did one of the Lords-"
"Tatsumi isn't coming back." Numa curtly interrupted as he shifted his eyes from the table to his family members.
"W-What?" His mother asked with a slightly confused look. She along with her children didn't understand what he meant at all by that.
Numa said nothing after his declaration, and simply averted his eyes elsewhere. He no longer had the mental strength to look them in the eye, and tell them what Tatsumi planned on doing. He had told himself earlier that he would, but after seeing their faces, how could he?
"Numa, what do you mean by that?" Yuki questioned, her voice trembling oh-so-slightly.
Numa didn't respond, and just continued to look away.
"Numa! What do you mean by that?!" Yuki demanded as tears started to form. "What happened to Tatsumi!?"
"Yuki..." Numa's mother started as she reached out to put a hand on her daughter's shoulder only to fail due to Yuki walking around the desk.
As Yuki grabbed ahold of her older brother and screamed at him with tears flowing down her face, the youngest Seika noticed the small sheet of paper that was slightly rolled up on top of everything else.
Curious as to what was on it, Akihiko moved forward a little and picked up off of the desk. He then unrolled it, and began to read what was on it.
Numa's Mother would have noticed her son do this had she not been focusing on prying her daughter off of her oldest child.
After he finished reading the contents of the sheet of paper, the youngest Seika moved to his mother's side and grabbed ahold of left arm causing her to stop trying to rip her daughter off of her son and glance down at him.
"What is it?" She asked in a slightly frustrated voice while continuing to hold onto her daughter. "Can't you see I'm a little busy here with your sister?"
Akihiko said nothing, and just simply showed her the letter from Tatsumi.
Seeing the sheet of paper, the Queen Mother let go of her daughter completely and took the paper from her son. As much as she wanted to get her daughter to calm down and stop yelling at Numa, who had practically shut down, she decided to see what had gotten Akihiko's attention.
After taking the piece of paper from her son, the Queen Mother started to read it. At first, her expression was like stone holding little to no emotion, but as her eyes slowly drifted downwards, her expression changed.
By the time she had finished reading the letter tears formed in her eyes.
"Tatsumi..." She said in a low tone as she put her left hand over her mouth. She wanted to let loose a thousand tears, but she didn't, for she had remembered what Numa had been doing for the past month.
Deciding to not let her emotions get the better of her, the Queen Mother took a deep breath and wiped away the tears before saying in a voice filled with power. "Numa, how many men have you gathered at Fort Defiance?"
The question was sudden and abrupt, and caused not only Yuki to stop shouting at her brother, but had made him snap out of the state he was in.
Glancing at his mother, who was staring directly at him, Numa said in a low tone. "Around three hundred thousand."
Two hundred and fifty thousand was the number of soldiers Numa had under his command when the war with the Empire started, so hearing this made his mother smile slightly.
"Do you think that will be enough of an invading force for the Empire?" His mother asked, which caused his expression to change to one of thought.
"... Y-Yes." Numa answered after a long time contemplating. "There will be dozens of fortresses between us and the Empire's capital city, but from what our scouts report they have skeleton crews, so it won't take us long to deal with them."
"Then I think it's best to begin the invasion." His mother declared in a firm tone. "If we wait any longer then the odds of Tatsumi surviving this war will be low, we need to strike now, and begin the campaign."
"But there are still dozens of Lords and Ladies who had yet to support us in this war, what about them?" Numa questioned with a look of concern. While most of the powerhouses of Espera had decided to take part of this war, there were still a handful of them and lesser houses who hadn't responded to the call, or said that they won't be supporting them in this war.
"Let me deal with that, you just worry about saving Tatsumi, okay?" His mother said with a look in her eyes that made Numa shudder.
"Okay."
Esdeath released a sigh as she marched down the hallway towards the meeting room.
It had been about a month and a half since she had last seen Tatsumi, and since then her happiness has slowly deteriorated over time to the point where she rarely smiled.
There had been no word of Night-Raid since the attack, which made her believe that Night-Raid fled the Capital City for good. She had hoped in secret that someone would get some information on them, or more specifically Tatsumi, but the group had vanished like ghosts, so she had no choice, but to give up on this.
She hated herself right now, and couldn't stand how she was acting, but she couldn't help it. Tatsumi was everything she could want in a mate.
He was strong, resilient, had a great sense of humor, in her opinion, and was young. He was practically the male counterpart for her, but because she was careless and didn't take into consideration Night-Raid's boldness, she lost him.
A part of her at one point thought that Tatsumi had planned this, but that thought didn't last long, fo she realized how idiotic that idea was. Tatsumi had practically spent all of his time with her, and when he did leave the base it was with her, so there was no way he could have gotten in contact with Night-Raid and set his kidnapping up. Not to mention, Wave had told her that Tatsumi fought Bulat with all of his might, which reinforced her thoughts on how foolish the idea of this being all set up.
As she reached the end of the hallway, the guards who were stationed outside of the room opened both doors for her.
Upon passing through the doorway, Esdeath saw the Prime Minister, and a few of his colleagues.
"General Esdeath, I'm so glad you could join us in today's meeting, we have so many things to discuss." The Prime Minister declared with a smile as the double doors were closed behind Esdeath.
"Do we now?" Esdeath questioned, traces of skepticism was in her voice.
"Yes, we do." The Prime Minister affirmed.
The General simply let out a doubtful 'Hmph.' before taking her seat at the left end of the table away from everyone else.
She was confident that there was nothing for them to discuss, and that the Prime Minister just wanted her to be here to make sure his colleagues don't step out of line and remember their place in the food chain.
After watching Esdeath take her seat, the Prime Minister looked to his associates, and said to them. "Gentlemen, I know you all have been busy, and have plans of your own, so I will not take up much of your time."
At this, Gebaze spoke. He was a large man who appeared to be in his late thirties with dark hair and a small mustache, he wasn't quite as large as the Prime Minister, but he wasn't that far from him either. He wore a white shirt that had a black lining and covered his neck with a green coat on top of this. He also wore around his neck a golden necklace that had a green jewel.
"It's no big deal, Prime Minister. All I was doing when you called upon me was counting coins, so it's not like you were disrupting me or anything like that. Plus, you always bring out the best of wine when he have these small gatherings, so I enjoy coming to them."
"I will always have time for you, Prime Minister." Spoke Saikyuu with a grin as he looked at Honest. Saikyuu was a middle-aged man, and practically the Prime Minister's right-hand man. He had slick black hair and a mustache that went down to his chin. His attire consisted of the standard Imperial uniform. He also wore glasses. "After all, I've been allowed to do whatever I please because of you."
Esdeath rolled her eyes as she listened to the Prime Minister's closest cohorts suck up to him. They were all weaklings and wouldn't even last twenty seconds against one of her soldiers. However, she did have to give them some respect, for they wouldn't have gotten to where they are now if they didn't dirty their hands at all.
After all of his colleagues finished brown nosing him, the Prime Minister spoke again. "Night-Raid is back."
This immediately got Esdeath's attention, and she couldn't stop herself from saying aloud. "What?"
"It is as I said, General Esdeath." The Prime Minister stated as he looked at her, a ghost smile appearing on his face. "Night-Raid has returned to the capital, and how I know this is because of this."
As soon as he finished his sentence, the Prime Minister pulled out a leaflet from his pocket. It was slightly crumpled, but everyone in the room could see that it had Night-Raid's symbol on it.
"If Night-Raid has returned then we-" Gebaze started only to stop due to hearing a giggle escape from the only woman in the room. Looking to his left, he and the others watched as Esdeath giggle soon became full-blown laughter.
"And here I thought fate had forsaken me!" Esdeath declared with a smirk that was indeed wicked. "However, it seems I have been mistaken. The Gods appear to still be on my side."
No one at first said a word, for no one was sure what to say, but eventually, Saikyuu broke the silence. "If Night-Raid has truly returned, then do you think it's possible that they were in Kyoroch, Prime Minister? I mean, I can't believe that this, Savior, was able to defeat the Four Rakasha Demons."
"Hmm, it is possible, but I highly doubt it." The Prime Minister stated in a serious tone. "If they were there, then we would have found out by now, there's no way they could have been there for a long time without getting spotted at all."
"Huh, you're probably right then." Saikyuu agreed with great reluctance. He highly doubted that Night-Raid went into hiding for this long, but he wasn't going to press this matter any farther, for he didn't see a point. Plus, what the Prime Minister was true. There was no way Night-Raid could have hidden in the city without getting spotted once by one of their many spies.
"Speaking of the Savior, what are we going to do about him and the Path of Peace?" Koukei questioned in a stern voice. He was the youngest out of all of the Prime Minister's cohorts, and the Minister of Military Affairs. He had shoulder length blonde hair, and wore the standard Imperial uniform. "From what I've heard they have practically taken control of Kyoroch. Almost everyone in there is praising the Lord, and the so-called Savior."
"For now, nothing." The Prime Minister declared in a firm manner. "The Path of Peace has yet to take up arms against the Empire, so until they do we will do nothing, but keep an eye on them. Once they do though, we will crush them."
"I will crush them." Esdeath stated causing the men in the room to shift their attention towards her. "After I, of course, deal with Night-Raid."
At this, the Prime Minister smiled. "I expect no less from you, General Esdeath."
Revan's AN: Oh my god, I just realized that the discord link I've been using is no good. That's a ripperoni without a doubt. Anyways, here's the new one, I would say that I'll put this in the you know the chapters before this, but I'm not because that's a lot of work, so um readers, if you get to this chapter, you can now join the discord. If not, well oh well, I didn't talk to you anyways. On a sidenote, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I felt it was a little chaotic, but that might have just been- and I just realized a plot hole as I write this. Well, that's unfortunate, I'd have to rewrite like an entire scene to fix it, and that's like 2k words, so not happening. Some authors try to perfect their stories, but not this one. Nope, I notice them plot holes and don't bother fixing them because I'm lazy. Anyways, see yall later.
Link to the discord server: discord .gg/ VSfSVGT