Hey everyone, I know I haven't uploaded in a while I've been pretty busy in real life and wasn't really sure on whether or not I should have uploaded this chapter. Not to say that I'm stopping writing this story or anything I was just having a mental block on how to approach the next stages and how I'm going to write it. So I hope you enjoy and I'm gonna try and get better at uploading chapters but I am still doing a lot of planning and probably won't be consistent for a while but I will do my best!

Chapter 5 – Sleeping Ice Queen awakens.

Esdeath/Arthur – Imperial Palace a few hours after Arthur and the Jaegers return

Ow… ah my head Esdeath groggily thought as she slowly regained her senses. She slowly opened her eyes as it was difficult to think straight due to her splitting headache she was experiencing. She looked around and realized that she was in a room in the palace, her room. It was dark outside and she could see the moon and stars from the window while the room overlooked the capital city which lights up the world. What happened wasn't I scouting for night raid then we were on our way back… she then jolted upward from her bed that man appeared! He must have knocked me out in battle! How dare he make a fool out of me! He just got lucky because I underestimated him and was in a foul mood. I bet my Jaegers must of beat him and brought me here. Oh, when I see him next I'm going to make him regret being born! She thought to herself in rage, then she heard a voice, "Your awake" she quickly turned towards where it came from and noticed that the man who had humiliated her was sitting right next to her bed watching her while she slept.

"You!" she said in a vicious voice, she tried to summon some ice to impale him. Yet as she tried she felt nothing as if she didn't possess her Teigu anymore. What!? She thought to herself what's happened to me?

"Wondering why you can't use the Demon God's Manifestation?" the man asked her to which she responded by looking at him fiercely. "Take a look at your neck," the man said as he points at his own. Esdeath finally noticed the metal collar around her neck, she tried to grip at it and tear it off but it wouldn't budge "what is this?! Get it off me this instant!" She demanded as she then tried to lunge at the man, she extended her arms to try and grab at the man yet he grabbed her arms before she could get to him and held them tightly.

"Easy girl, you still possess your Teigu but that collar is simply cancelling out its effect." He said while Esdeath tried to get out of his grip, she then lifted her legs and tried to kick the man off her while at the same time trying to gain some distance between the two. Yet as her feet touched the man's chest she pushed off with all her might yet he didn't even budge and was still holding to her tightly. "I don't want to fight you Esdeath, that's why I put the collar on you," he said gently to her "please don't try and fight me you'll just end making this worst for yourself."

"Shut up!" she said as she tried again in getting out of the man's iron grip. At this response, the man sighed and stated, "Miss Partas if you would kindly stop and take a moment for me to explain your situation I can help you."

At this Esdeath snapped back "You're the one that's going to need help in a moment as soon as I get out of this collar." The man sighed again as he heard her statement so he decided to wait.

Some time passed as Esdeath continued to struggle in the man's grip trying every trick she knew yet nothing availed and after what seemed like an hour of her trying with all her might she gave in. Covered in sweat from the effort she finally said, "fine what do you want?"

"Thank you, first of all, let me introduce myself my name is Arthur and I'm here to watch you and make sure that you serve the people of the empire without harming them" he stated as he loosened his grip allowing her aching arms to rest for a moment. "Secondly I am here to make you realize your past mistakes and make up for them."

At this Esdeath laughed a bit "I don't care about your name and my past mistakes? I can't recall making mistakes that I didn't make up for in service to the empire?"

Arthur then looked at her sternly through his helmet "you know that you weren't serving the Empire or the Emperor, you were just obeying Honest as you got to do as you please."

"And your point is?" she asked, "I do what I please and I refuse to obey the weak that's the law of this world I am simply living my life."

"And there lies the problem miss Partas" the man replied "you believe that because life is weak it does not deserve to live? You believe just because you can stomp on an ant because you can you should? What purpose does that have other than making you feel better about yourself."

To that Esdeath remained silent wondering how much this man knew about her for a moment then replied simply "that is just the way of life, the weak perish while the strong survive."

To this Arthur sighed and thought oh boy this is gonna take a while. Then an idea came to him "tell me do you reckon a baby is weak?"

Esdeath was slightly puzzled by the question "of course, their bodies are feeble and small they can't defend themselves."

"So according to your logic, a baby should be killed by another because it is weak?" Arthur said.

"Well yes of course, if a baby was left alone and a predator came by there would be nothing stopping the baby from being killed. That's just fact." She replied still somewhat confused, what is he getting at?

"So you think that baby doesn't deserve a chance to live because it's weak?" he pushed further.

To that Esdeath simply shrugged "well if the child is abandoned by its parents then that's their choice, not the baby's."

"So, do not think that its mother would not protect their child? Do you think they are strong because they are abandoning something weak?"

To this Esdeath replied rather quickly "well of course their mother would protect them, but that's because she gave birth to the child and didn't you say that it was abandoned?"

"I never said that you implied it, but regardless it's weak, isn't it? Why should the mother protect something weaker than herself? why did she even give birth to it if it's weak?" Arthur asked.

"What kind of question is that?! A mother gives birth because she wants to nurture an heir and help them grow strong!" she stated now beginning to be frustrated with the pointless question.

"But the child is still weak, why would she give birth and raise something that is weak and may not be strong when it grows? According to your logic the weak only live to be stomped upon" he questions further.

"That's different a baby has the potential to be strong because its life has just started giving it meaning" Esdeath retorted.

"But what if it doesn't grow up to be strong? What if that it grows up to be weak?" Arthur said.

"Then it deserves to be stomped on for not being strong enough to overcome others" she stated stubbornly.

"So just because its weak you think it has no purpose in life either than be stomped upon, even though it may have other abilities, talents and dreams of its own? Shouldn't the strong protect the weak who may not be able to defend themselves but have another purpose? Just as a mother or father would protect and nurture their child because it has a chance to do something great and is worth the life it's given even if it's not strong" Arthur questioned again.

"If life has no use for the strong then yes it does, as to why else would the strong protect it if it has no use to them. As for children, it's the job of the parent or guardian to make them strong so that they can survive this world if they can't they have failed as parents" she then started believing that she had ended her case.

"But don't you think there is more to life than just pure strength. Haven't you ever felt that there is more to life than being strong and surviving?" Arthur asked, "because I do and so does a lot of other people that have nothing yet they're happier than you the most powerful woman in the empire."

Esdeath looked down as he finished his sentence, her mind immediately went towards her feelings for Tatsumi and how he could smile with such ease. As she visualized him her heart started beating a few beats faster than before and her cheeks went red slightly, yet she buried the thought and looked back at Arthur "strength is the only thing important in this life and that's the finale. If you're not strong enough to be able to experience life then you do not deserve it."

At this statement Arthur sighed again, "I see that it's going to take a while for me to get what I'm trying to say to you through your thick head," he said as he then sat back in his chair "but I'm not giving up on you because I do think that there a chance for you to do better than this."

"Hey, what do you mean by better than- ouch!" she stated as he suddenly flicks her on the forehead gently as if she was just a child. "You should probably get some more sleep you haven't fully recovered from your concussion and I wouldn't want you to be cranky when you wake up tomorrow morning."

"Hey! I'm not some kid that needs you to tell her what to do! And you gave me the concussion!" she said rather flustered "I underestimated you but next time when I see the opportunity to get rid of this collar I will break you."

To that Arthur said, "I'm sorry for hitting you but it was the only way I could think of getting you to the capital without putting up a fight. I didn't want to hurt you at all but I know how stubborn you can be when someone tells you what to do, so I'm gonna have to treat ya like a kid if you don't behave like a normal human being."

Esdeath just looked at him fiercely, she was furious that this stranger was treating her like some brat but then she suddenly turned her back to him and attempted to fall back to sleep. She knew that there was no point in trying to escape right now, as he was watching her and she was guessing that he didn't want her to try anything either. So, she concluded that if she couldn't force her way out of this situation she would be patient and wait for an opportunity to present itself.

While Arthur was thinking of how he was going to go about this situation, as he knew that she would not change her ways overnight. So, he started thinking of the long-term game as he knew that she would try to escape him when she had the chance, so Arthur decided not to give her any until he could trust her. Meaning that he was literally going to have to be with her every moment during the day and night, he didn't necessarily like the idea of violating a woman's personal space but he knew if he didn't she would most likely try and escape every opportunity she got and it's a good way for him to get to know her better even if she doesn't like it.

The next morning, Esdeath woke up in a slightly better mood as her head no longer was ringing and her concussion had seemed to calm down quite a bit. However, it seemed to return as she turned her head to see that Arthur hadn't moved an inch from the chair near her bed, "good morning" he said cheerfully to her as she rolled her eyes at him and got up.

She didn't say a word to him as she walked towards the bathroom grabbing a towel on her way in, "you better not peek or I will tear your eyeballs out and feed them to you" she threatened as she walked in.

"Don't worry I won't" he replied casually as Esdeath death stared at him for a moment but he didn't seem to notice as he stood up and walked towards the kitchen in the large apartment. Esdeath's 'room' is more of a luxury apartment than a room, as it contained multiple rooms within. With a kitchen, two spare rooms with separate bathrooms, a living space with a fireplace, a balcony, and her huge room, which also contained a bathroom and personal walk-in wardrobe.

Arthur made his way to the glamorous kitchen that was available in the general's room. The room itself was rarely used though Arthur mused as he guessed that most of the cooking would be conducted by the cooks of the palace and that Esdeath herself would most likely let them cook her meals instead of cooking herself. He proceeded over to the main bench where a large sink was and looked over the impressive amount of ingredients laid out before him, everything from average fruits and vegetables to exotic meats was on the bench, even though he had only asked for the cooks to hand him some eggs and bacon. Moving some of the ingredients to different shelves and drying racks, he then proceeded to grab a pan and begin cooking breakfast for himself and the Esdeath. He also noticed that she had begun her shower as he heard the splashing of the water.

A few minutes went by and Esdeath came out of the shower wrap in a towel, she looked over to Arthur expecting him to have the nerve to look over yet he seemed too busy with cooking to look up "How to do you like your eggs scrambled or fried?" he asked.

"Ha, why would I eat anything you would offer when I can get the cooks to cook whatever I wish" she replied. Arthur simply shrugged as he continued his work, deciding to scramble the eggs and starting to cook some bacon. Esdeath smirked in her small victory as she then walked into her wardrobe and changed into her uniform. Sometime later she walked out and saw that Arthur had left out some eggs and bacon for her while he was busy eating his own through his helmet which had opened up to allow him to eat. So, she simply ignored the food that he had made for her and walked over to a wall near the kitchen where several bells hung on, she rung one of the bells and then sat down at one of the chairs at the fairly large dining table located near the kitchen. She then waited for an attendant to come rushing into the room willing to take her request whatever it be. She waited for a few minutes and was surprised to see that no one had come, as they never kept her waiting she thought maybe they hadn't heard her she rung the bell again and yet no one came. Now quite frustrated she looked over at Arthur and said, "ok what have you done to my attendants?" she demanded.

Arthur looked up towards her "what do you mean I haven't done anything? And why are you ringing that bell?" he replied. Esdeath not believing that for a second got up and left the room storming down to the hall towards the kitchens. As she arrived she smashed open the doors to the massive palace kitchens making all the cooks stop what they were doing and look at her. Most of the chefs looked at her in fear while some remained calm, then a loud voice yelled out "what are you all doing? We still have plenty of work to get done!"

What?! Esdeath thought who would dare ignore me?! "Can I help you? And may I ask why you busted into my kitchen General Esdeath" a short dark-skinned chubby woman wearing a white apron and hair net stated in a demanding tone as she walked up to her "you better have a good reason for interrupting us, I have a lot of work to do."

Esdeath was actually stunned at the woman's attitude towards her, recovering from her sudden shock she regained her composure. "I want to know why no one is attending to me and why no one answered my bell?" she demanded.

To which the chef in a rather sassy voice "well I'll be sugar, I don't recall being told that we had to serve you but your more than welcome to come and grab something to eat now if you wish." As she then began to walk away from the general which enraged her "well if you're not going to serve me then maybe we require new cooks!" Esdeath said in a cold voice as she was about to lunge at the woman, a strong arm grabbed her and pulled her back.

She then spun around to see who her assailant was and wasn't surprised to see Arthur holding pulling her back. "Now Esdeath that's no way to ask for something to eat," he said to her as she groaned as she now was stuck in the iron grip of the armoured man.