It was the same feeling that he felt when the hands baptized his heart in darkness. Like suffocating for eternity and yet at the same time only for a second. Just as his being resisted the state upon entrance, it also resisted being thrown out, as if reality was being force-fed his existence and then made to spew him out in a grisly fashion. Yet with every time, it felt the seams holding him together rot more and more, her voice becoming quieter and quieter.

"I l- e -ou." He recognized that voice yet felt no dread. In his conscious mind, he knew the severance was imminent, meanwhile, his subconscious saw how weak she actually was.

"- -ove y-." He also has long stopped feeling rage about that love. It was pointless to despise something that loved him from afar, the power she held over him had slowly faded, its benefits and drawbacks had nothing to do with the reality he lived in anymore.

"I love you." And yet, she still whispered to him softly, through the few threads she tied around his heart. But that was all she could do. All the power over him she had left, only useful when he slept.

"President Subaru." He felt something shaking him lightly and he slowly opened his eyes, the motion painfully heavy.

"President Subaru, please wake up." The shaking continued.

"I'm up, I'm up." Natsuki pronounced in a very clear voice, though his mind was still mired in the nightmares. He slowly lifted himself to be met by the soft smile on the face of the white-haired merchant staring at him.

"Are you sure?" Otto chuckled as he took a step back from the wooden table, giving the revolutionary space to sit up in his chair. "Isn't it unbecoming of such a leader to sleep at his desk?"

"If I had the time for bedding I wouldn't be sleeping at the table now would I," Subaru grumbled and yawned. "Also the discomfort helps me get up."

Otto shrugged, though his face maintained the same slight grin. "Well, that's a strange way to explain your own over-exertion." While it was said with humour, there was still a slight concern. The revolutionary noted that.

"Watch it, Otto, we may be friends, but I'm still the President of the National Convention. You mess with me and I'll just wrap up the Revolution and install a second Monarchy." The two began laughing at the terrible attempt at humour, as dark as it was.

"Ahhh," Natsuki finally sat up and stretched, his spine and arms giving audible cracks. "Alright then, enough humour for now. Anything occur while I was asleep?"

"Yep, here are the reports." Otto handed him the document files and took a chair to sit down across him, crossing one leg over the other.

Subaru wiped his eyes and sighed, opening the first report.

"Production report for the month of Arbe.."

"Production growing..."

"Military numbers are up..."

"Food stores and civilian economy bound for pre-war levels..."

"Trade restored with several Kararagi towns..."

"Spread of literacy..."

Natsuki smiled, but then frowned. New phrases began appearing in the analysis.

"Sabotage..."

"Summary executions of anti-revolutionary rebels..."

"Use of involuntary labour..."

"Razor..."

"Northern and Southern unrest..."

He swallowed. For now, they needed the first phrases. For now, he would have to close his eyes on the second. Just... for now...

He tossed the files to the side of the table and took another set.

"Inner affairs report..."

"White Knights remnants confir-"

"Attempts at industrial espi-"

"Heightened activity at Vollachian b-"

"Gustekan priest-provocate-"

He scanned these much faster. Nothing essentially changed, the militias could hold off the collapse but he would need an actual internal affairs ministry to organize a stable government.

"Otto."

"Hm?" The young man looked up from his notebook and put the pen behind his ear.

"We need internal security..."

"We most certainly do..."

Subaru thought for a second. While he could assign Chin to the position, making the fool even more important was only going to end in tears really.

"Go find some candidates."

Otto stared back with a surprised gaze. "You sure? You know that we'll probably make them the fifth on the council of ours."

The revolutionary sighed. "Not much of a choice. Responsibilities keep expanding, and while this little replacement of a functioning government may work, for now, we need to break this irreplaceability problem of ours."

Otto chuckled. "You sound like you wanna replace us."

Subaru shook his head, a smile forming on his lips, "No no, I just wanna make sure that our behemoth can stand on its own feet without me."

Otto shrugged and noted something down, "Aaaaaalright, anything else?"

The revolutionary remembered yesterday night, the drowsiness having dulled him slightly, "What happened to the ammunition depot? Any results yet?"

"Oh yeah, that." The white-hair flipped back a couple of pages in his book. "Nothing conclusive yet, we found a body but it's charred beyond any comprehension. We've been looking for someone who could at least heal the burnt skin, maybe we'll recognize them by their physique or face."

The president sighed and stretched again. "Put the finding of candidates for internal affairs as the most important, it seems that we're losing our hold. Otherwise, we haven't reached the bottlenecks I feared, so I think we're done for today."

Otto stood up, "Well then, Mr President, do take care. We still have that National Convention meeting at midday."

"More of this goddamn theatre," Natsuki grumbled.

Otto put his book away, "It's only as theatrical as you make it, anyways I-" His expression changed to one of remembrance, his eyebrows going up slightly. "Oh yes, I heard my aide got arrested recently. Would it be a stretch to say that the President had a hand in that?"

Subaru shrugged. "Guilty as charged. Saw the guy beating his woman's head in. Also, he started invoking your name when I got him, said that I'll be a very sorry individual if I don't let him go." The revolutionary took out a quill, ready for what he'd have to do next.

"For all your heroics, I'll need you to let him go." Otto pronounced with a terrible reluctance.

"Trade connections?" Said Subaru as he nonchalantly began scrawling his 'point of view' on what occurred with that aide.

"Unfortunately." The irritation in Otto's voice was palpable.

Natsuki dotted the last sentence and handed the note to Otto with a huff. "Should get your charmer outta the cell. Should be it, for now."

"Yeah..." The trader slipped the note in his pocket, the piece of paper crumpling under Otto's grasp. "See you, then."

"You too, old friend." Subaru gave a small salute. Otto smiled with a small bit of sadness, turned around and opened the door, only to stumble into Heinkel's much bulkier figure.

"Well? You two done?" The Hussar looked down at the white-haired trader disapprovingly, Otto replying with his own cold gaze.

"We most certainly are." He replied, a small air of aggression driving itself through the phrasing, before squeezing past the red-haired Hussar's frame and walking away, the taps of his shoes reverberating through the corridors.

Heinkel entered shutting the door behind him with a bang. "Took your sweet time waking up." He growled, before taking out his flask and taking a sip.

"Stressful times Heinkel, and all things considered I prefer to steer clear of whatever poison you've got keeping you awake," Subaru replied with the annoyance of a straight-A student being offered cigarettes.

"Furthermore, you wanted to talk to me about Julius's offer yesterday." The revolutionary steered the topic back to the matters at hand, as usual, the old man always would get off-topic.

"Yeah." Heinkel pronounced as he took the chair in front of Subaru's desk and smashed it down backwards, sitting down on it with leg's outstretched, his gaze boring into the President. "He had a deal, but you won't like it."

"Enlighten me." The revolutionary responded amiably, trying to keep the conversation away from Heinkel's usual terrible habit of aggressive dialogue.

"He'll sign the papers, but the bastard wants to be released, WITH his brother into Kararagi lands," Heinkel growled out the agreement, his hand tensing on the flask as he took another gulp to calm himself. "The little bitch thinks he's got some sort of leverage."

The revolutionary intertwined his fingers, "Well, he isn't completely wrong." He mumbled with dissatisfaction. "The only other participant we can pull into this is Felix, however, we'll have to go through all the Beastmen he roused up against us."

'The problem, of course, isn't Juulius's leaving here. Keeping him is more expenditure on us, the guy is still a skilled knight, so keeping him tied down and away from escape is only more wasted time and energy.' Natsuki considered. 'Rather, it is a problem of what he'll do next. If he was rational, he'd grab his family and never come near Lugnica again...'

Subaru could feel a slight migraine begin in his right temple, 'but he isn't rational, not at all...'

"Move him down here while we think over the agreement." Subaru pronounced calmly.

Heinkel stopped mid-way to another gulp, giving Natsuki a distrustful glance, "You sure about this? And what if he breaks out?"

"Then we'll try to fix that issue, for now, we gotta keep him close and well-guarded, and there's no safer place than the National Convention." The president stood up, pushing the seat backwards and brushing off the dust on his overcoat. "After all, we have no back-up opportunities."

Heinkel grimaced before taking another gulp and also getting up off his chair, one of his muskets tapping the seat. "I'd say your dumb ass is playing with fire, but considering this got us here I'll just go with it."

"Suppose so, suppose so, oh, and what is the time right now?"

"Around midday, or so."

Natsuki huffed, "I have the National Convention meeting right about now. Suppose you will not be there?"

Heinkel shook his head, his face showing a revulsion at the simplest idea of sitting in the same room as the politicians. "Waste of time, the people that have to vote for your decisions will vote for them. Otherwise-"

"Yeah, yeah, 'pencil-pushers'. Seems to be your favourite phrase at this point." Subaru responded jovially. "I hope you're using all the Convention-free time to continue dissolving Chin's militias?"

Heinkel gave a low affirmative grunt. "Just as you orde-"

The revolutionary cut him off. "I don't remember ordering you such a thing, of course not." Though his grin could not be hidden that easily.

The Hussar shook his head. "I'll never understand why you have all that dislike for him. At least he and I have our own... conflicts."

"Just playing favourites, field marshal." The president opened the door ready to leave, "After all, I wouldn't want the average citizen fighting these dangerous, dangerous wars. We shall decide on the outcome for Juukulius after the meeting."

As Natsuki took his first step out of his 'office', he could notice Heinkel's fists tighten and mouth open just for a centimetre as if he was about to say something, however, preferred to ignore it. The conversation would come back to its usual cycle: the damn wife, and when Natsuki would begin developing the medical sector. That date was long-off, but Heinkel would probably never stop being obnoxious about it.

The door shut, Heinkel disappearing behind it and Natsuki walked on.

The hall that used to house the Sage Council has changed beyond any comprehension. The royal gold that could be torn out without destabilizing the structure, was removed. The seats at the front of the room, where the Sages used to reside, also disappeared. The throne, like a beating heart of the palace, was unceremoniously pulled out, a wooden platform with the symbol of a rose painted on its front, a single makeshift lectern standing in its place. The colourful patterns on the walls were painted over or broken off, sucking the colour out of the room but also destroying the needless opulence with it. The red and gold banners were now replaced by simple red, black roses painted over each one.

The columns between which stood the 2000 White Knights were now housing lines of tables, each slightly higher than the one in front of it, seating the representative of each region that was created within the Lugnican Republic, the crowd discussing and arguing between itself before the meeting commenced.

Subaru took a deep breath and straightened his back. Steeling his nerves, he began walking down the central passage that divided the room of the National Convention in two. No matter how many times he did it, the anxiety never completely passed, only submerged itself, covered by determination and need for action.

With each step, those who noticed the arrival of the president went quiet and scrambled for their seats. As he ascended the platform and stood behind the lectern, he looked over the silent crowd in front of him, noting each faction within it.

The ex-merchants, now as their own businessmen sat in their own corner, surrounding Otto, who held onto his notebook, ready to note whatever came out of the president's mouth. This voting block was the strangest, as its position went from utterly horrid, as their guilds collapsed under the Revolution's boot, to completely supportive, as they were all pushed into the free market, with resources in hand and ideas in their heads. New ones came, old ones stayed, the unfit left, but one thing stayed constant: Otto. Everyone knew Otto's friendship with the Great Revolutionary himself, so they voted in a block, following Otto's outlook. Whoever decided to go up against him, would be simply pushed out through the net of connections the merchants still had.

On the other side sat the militarists, newly-fashioned officers and generals, extremely talented militiamen and ex-Royal forces. The block solidified under the president's new-fangled idea: nationalism, and the push for military conscription that came with it. However, its leader was never present. Heinkel made sure to hammer out ANY disloyal forces and ANY of those who seemed disloyal: if one ever even seen the face of Marcos Gildark, the Captain of the Royal Guard, he made sure to forget it. Held by bloodlust, and desire to kick the monarchists down with their new weapons, the block thrived on populism, militarism and nationalism. Subaru cringed. It was not a good sign, as fascism should not come in for at least a couple more centuries.

Next came the revolutionaries, their gazes hungrily catching every movement of their dear ideologue on-stage. Lawyers, archivists, self-taught serfs, the loudest street heralds of the land. The educated middle class, as small as it was, latched onto Subaru's ideals, the ideas of Enlightenment overtaking them like a fever. Natsuki allowed himself a small smile. If there is hope, it lies with them. If he were to disappear, these men and women would write, shout and extend his idea to the whole world, no matter the danger, no matter the place.

Finally, he let his gaze wander to the mid-sized yet loudest crowd. The People, their centre being Chin who seemed to be retelling some sort of crude story, a couple of peasants erupting into roaring laughter. They were simple, they were uneducated, but most importantly, they were fence-sitters. The revolutionary could not describe his frustration as his attempt at equaling the genders crashed and burnt. Bread and circuses kept them within the National Convention, Chin's strongarming begrudgingly directing this disgusting mob in the direction that Subaru wanted. It was impulsive egoistic and close-minded, but for all of his distaste, Subaru always reminded himself, that all of this was supposed to be for THEM.

He cleared his throat and allowed his speaker voice to come out. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the National Convention."

"I come to you at a dark time. Our freedoms, our ideals and the truth we carry are in danger..." A pause.

"We live in a hostile world. A world where an idea that could improve the lives of many is stifled by the guild, where the common man is treated no better than an animal, when a child cannot even read without being born in the right family, one where one's position is determined by their magical gifting instead of skill." There was a murmur of agreement within the whole crowd.

"To remedy this, to allow each voice to speak, each idea to flourish, each talent to rise, we have created our republic. But even NOW, even now there are people who do not wish to see us stand. They FEAR us for our ideas outshine theirs, our reason burning down their Old Regime. Yesterday their fear has boiled over. The Capital, the flaming torch within this dark world, has been attacked yesterday, an explosion killing and maiming ordinary citizens. Upon further investigation, the Revolutionary Guard has found that the perpetrators of this cruel and rabid attack were none other than the Vollachia Empire." There were murmurs of scorn at the mention of Vollachia, some of the peasants around Chin even shouting 'Fuck the Emperor!'. On the other hand, Otto looked onto Subaru with a confused look, the investigation not having even begun, Subaru was already announcing its results.

"The very epicentre of self-professed 'honourable' warriors had inadvertently murdered civilians, widowing the Capital's mothers, orphaning the Capital's sons. As they rub their hands and lick their lips at the borders, our militias keep the grey menace at bay. Not a single Lugnican foot was set on their lands, no shot fired that was not defensive, but now these animals had finally come not for us, but for OUR FAMILIES!" The murmurs began to grow in volume, some people mouthing or shouting obscenities about the Vollachian Emperor or cheering on Subaru.

"This cannot continue! And this SHALL not continue! From today onwards the Lugnican Republic is in a state of preparation for war!" A cheer exploded in the militaristic corner, as the officers stood up and began cheering Subaru even louder.

"IF THEY SHALL COME TO US WITH A SWORD, THEY SHALL PERISH FROM IT!" The militarists applauded, along with the revolutionaries, followed by the peasants, leaving only the merchants in stunned silence.

Subaru felt pride surge. These people followed him, his ideas, some of them were even ready to die for him. This was the new chapter of the Revolution, one which would bring freedom to-

His eyes noticed a pair of red cat ears within the crowd. He knew each member of the National Convention by heart and he never-

The cat ears were just meters away, which surprised him considering that someone MUST have noticed the intruder. He looked around but the Revolutionary Guard seemed to not have noticed the person. Subaru slowly began to back away from the stand.

'Something is wrong.'

Upon taking a second step, the person jumped out of the crowd and on the platform.

"FOR THE INDEPENDENT TERRITORIES!" The red-haired beast-man's voice rang out, as she suddenly pulled out the musket from her cloak. Natsuki stumbled backwards, his eyes noticing the guards scrambling to take aim at the assassin.

BANG!

Subaru felt a hot red poker stick in his chest as he grabbed onto the stand to not fall, his legs near-failing under him, with the bullet burrowed into his ribcage. The cheering of the crowd, up to now ignorant of such quick happenings on the stage, morphed into an enraged roar.

BANG!

It wasn't one of the guards. Somebody from the militarist crowd fired, nailing the assassin in the shoulder, knocking her down.

Subaru's vision swam as he attempted to stand up straight, his blood staining his side of the lectern. His vision tunnelled as he felt his breath catch. He slid down and fell on the stage.

The roar of the crowd seemed far away as someone grabbed him by the shoulders.

"G- 'im a do-r qu-!"

Subaru's eyes focused on the musket lying in the hands of the assassin. His mind tiredly formulated one phrase as he sank into the dark.

'Ironic.'