Well then. I now have my first officialy missed deadline on this story.

Sorry about that. This chapter is split into 2 parts since these entries to the story are a bit shorter than I want my regular chapters to be.

The night before the storm. (1/2)

The dining hall was almost completely quiet. The occasional clink of the silverware and the steps of the attendants bringing the food was the only sound heard. Tatsumi was sitting silent on one side of the long table with a single untouched glass of wine in front of him. Incursio resting against the back of his chair. Deeply lost in rapid thoughts. Debating within his mind.

On the other side sat Esdese. Her cap placed on the table beside her as she ate from the splendid dinner brought by the maids and waiters. Calmly enyoing her meal while making plans for the night in her head. Casting a few glances at Tatsumi every now and then. Completely content with just appreciating the moment. Today had been a great day and the best was yet to come.

Tatsumi was wrangling with the dilemma of the moment. Not really paying much mind to Esdese.

Should he try to solve this? Could he solve it? Those were the biggest questions that he was trying to determine an answer to. Leone's capture had been extremly untimely. Everything was going to begin in the early morning tomorrow. Eighteen months of planning and the destruction of the empire was on the line. Was it really prudent to try and save her if he didn't have a really big chance to success?

And he couldn't even think of how he would do it. Leone was now under strict guard, not only by Esdese's subordinates but probably by the great general's imperial guard as well.

He didn't have any contacts that could get her out and no allies that were strong enough to break her free without running a big risk of being caught. And he didn't know if any of them would keep their mouths shut when tortured.

He might be able to do it himself. He had gained a lot of strength under Esdese's training. And he had mastered powers and tricks that he had kept hidden. Even from her. The more he thought about it, the more certain he became that he would be able to break her out with some luck.

And that only filled him with more regret.

The problem was that if he did so, if he broke her out through force and then set her free before anyone could react, the empire would probably figure out that it had been he who had done it. Even if he didn't leave any witnesses, chances are that they would run into some more powerful people. And if they didn't, he would still be the first suspect of the jailbreak. His absence would start to be questioned and he would be put under surveillance. Everything he had been doing the last eighteen months would be thoroughly researched.

He couldn't run away with Leone either. The plan would fall to pieces if he was not stationed near Esdese when everything began.

No, if he broke her out, the empire would realize that it had been him pretty quickly. Could he hide behind Esdese's protection when that time came? He looked up at her from the still untouched wineglass.

She was delicately cutting through the meat she had been brought. Eating it up with elegant manners.

Sure, she would probably punish him in some way but that was a small price to pay, Tatsumi reasoned. She would also not allow anyone to take him away from her so his position at her side would still be secured. The question was how much she would start to restrain his movements? If everything was gonna play out as he had planned, then he needed to be close to her but he also needed to relatively mobile. Would she allow him to remain as "free" as he was now?

Esdese felt Tatsumi's gaze and rose her own to meet it, smiling. "Are you sure that you don't want something to eat?" she asked as she took another bite. "I don't want you to run out of energy later on."

"No thanks, I'm fine." He answered. He was way too stressed out to have any appetite right now. "Esdese?"

"Mmm?"

"What would you do if people from within the empire came after me?"

"I won't allow anyone else to hurt you. If you are close to me you will always be safe, Tatsumi." she said as she put her knife down. Picking up a serviette.

"Even if it was the empire itself that hunted me?"

Esdese's thoughts immediately went to the Night raid member locked up in the dungeons. Was he planning to do something stupid again?

She wiped her already clean lips on the serviette while she kept her eyes on him.

She was certain that there was no love lost between Tatsumi and Night raid anymore. It had taken a while but in the end he had given her the one person who had cared the most for him in that organization. His strongest bond to them. And she had teared that bond apart so thoroughly that the torturemasters still told tales about it. She had spent almost four days in the torture chambers that time. Not even taking any pauses for sleep. She had even impressed herself during that session.

"Your criminal record has been completly erased and you are now part of the imperial army's special forces. I know that parts of the empire still despise you but they won't dare to hurt you now that you belong to me."

"What if I did something stupid?" Tatsumi asked and looked down at his glass.

"Don't." Her voice grew harder.

She could imagine what kind of actions he was referring to. Even if she was pretty sure that he wouldn't try to do something with the prisoner.

Tatsumi had a history of insubordination against the imperial military, even after he came over to her side. In most cases it was nothing serious. He had gotten into a couple of fist fights during his time in the capital but he had always triumphed and had always provided proof of provocations. So she simply let it slide, most of the times. Warning him publicly while praising his abilities to cause damage privately. She loved to watch his proficiency for destruction. And he still had potential to grow so much more.

However, there had been a couple of times when he had done something really stupid. When she actually had been forced to work a bit to get him out of the situation. She was confident that she could get him out of any situation he got himself into if he just did as she said. In worst case, she might have to strike a deal with the prime minister but she would do that if it was the only way.

She reached over for her own wineglass. "I' am a general of the empire and I will uphold the duties that title places on me." She sniffed the wine.

"But I will destroy anyone who tries to hurt you." she concluded with closed eyes and drank deep from the wine.

Tatsumi couldn't get any closer to his actual question and he didn't dare to be more specific.

There was only one solution to this now.

He could not risk trying to free Leone. Not now. Not yet. So he needed to postpone this problem. Esdese had reserved Leone for herself so no one else would touch her. So the best way to buy time now would be to keep Esdese's attention away from her. Tatsumi knew that he was the only person that could do that.

First of all he needed to talk to Leone though. He needed to make sure that she didn't do anything dumb that would make Esdese come over to her. He needed to meet her somehow.

She needed to know that help might come. Otherwise, she might be searching for a way to take her own life so that she won't give up any information during torture.

Which meant that he needed to get away from Esdese for a while. Making that happen would require some improvisation on his part.

"Anyway, I need to go and do some errands now."

He could feel how her gaze fixed on him without even looking at her. Suddenly there was a force behind it.

"Do you think I will let you run away, now that I have you here with me? After you left me alone last night?" Esdese said. Putting down the now empty wineglass. "You won't be leaving my presence for a while, Tatsumi."

"You sound like a clingy teenager." he teased. Trying to start a competition around if she could let him leave her or not.

She didn't take the bait though. She simply smiled a little more menacingly at him. Not much though. It was still a gentle expression.

Tatsumi changed strategy. "If you don't let me go and do things on my own now and then, you will destroy any chance I have of becoming as powerful as you wish."

"You will have your freedom, Tatsumi. Just not right now."

That is a broad definition of freedom, Tatsumi thought. Changing strategy again.

"But this is actually part of my duties to the imperial army. I have some tasks I need to get done before the night comes."

"Who does the jaegers answer to, Tatsumi?"

"You."

"You are a part of the jaegers and they are a part of my forces. I dictate what their duties are. You already know this." She put her tableware down. Done with her meal. "Are you trying to avoid me, Tatsumi?" She gave him a look that was more stern than hurt.

He realized that the last strategy had been a mistake. So where should he go from here? Telling her that he was avoiding her would hurt her a bit but if she knew he was hiding from her, then that would probably set off her instincts as a hunter as well. Then he would definetly not get away. No, a bit of truth would get him further here.

"I have already told you that I am not avoiding you." he said. Looking her straight in the eyes. "And I am aware of what you have been doing to entertain yourself when I was not around."

Esdese's expression did not change.

"Come on. You are just being more paranoid because we have been seperated for so long" he said. Meeting her gaze steadily. He needed to seem determined himself if he was gonna get anywhere here. "You're acting like you did when I first came over to you."

He rose up and swung Incursio over his back. Esdese was watching him closely. If he took a step towards the door now she would probably intercept him in the blink of an eye. She had always liked to get physical with him. In all the definitions of the term.

So instead he opted for a diffrent plan. He walked around the table and up to her side as she remained sitting. Her gaze following him all the way. Then he went down on one knee so that he was looking up at her instead of vice versa. He placed his hand on the top of one of hers.

"Please trust me. I will come back to you in an hour." She continued to watch him with a stern expression. "You will strangle me if you can't let me out of your sight for an hour, everytime we have been apart for a while."

He slowly stroked her hand with his thumb as he returned her gaze. She looked down on him for a couple of seconds before she closed her eyes and sighed. She rose her free hand and started to lovingly stroke his hair.

"I will give you an hour. If you take longer than that I will come hunting after you."

He smiled. He reached up and kissed her lightly on the lips before standing up. "Then I better hurry!" he said and started to walk towards the door.

She had to give him his privacy, Esdese reasoned in her mind. She had learned this during their time together. Their relationship worked much better if she gave him some private moments. And he had actually managed to get her worried when he started to talk about her strangling him. That was a thing that always bothered her.

She knew that even those around her sometimes got crushed by her ways, wherever she intended it or not. She had waded through hoardes of subordinates during her military career. The jaegers, the three beasts and countless others had suffered terribly because they had tried to follow her. Trying to follow her ways and her command. Ultimately not being strong enough to survive her way of life.

She usually didn't pay it much thought. She found it regrettable but in the end they had not been strong enough and had not been able to realize that in time. It was how the world worked. But she would not allow the same thing to happen to Tatsumi. If he was not strong enough then she would make him strong enough. She knew he had the potential for it. Until that potential was reached, she would protect him from everything that she didn't know if he could handle. Even her own wishes at times.

"Tatsumi."

He turned around in the doorway.

She reached out with an open hand to him as she was rising up and picking up her cap. "Incursio."

She still wasn't sure where he was heading but if he was going out to cause trouble within the empire, then she would limit it.

Tatsumi didn't hesitate. Reaching over with his hand, he grabbed and threw the sword to her in one fluid motion. She catched it without looking.

"See you in an hour." he said with a smile and walked out. He didn't need Incursio for this. He had managed to get the time he needed.

Tatsumi had been right in his assumptions that Esdese's own forces would be guarding the part of the prison that he was heading for as well. He met a checkpoint of her soldiers before he even reached the inner parts of the prison that were patrolled by the imperial guard.

"We are gonna have to search you for weapons either way." the officer said as he read through Tatsumi's identification. The authority given by being a jaeger didn't help Tatsumi much here since the soldiers had orders from a general.

The group of soldiers seemed a bit uncertain of what to do though. It was clear that they didn't want to let him pass through but they were still hesitant to deny him access. He could understand their position. It seemed like they knew who he was. Which meant that they both knew of his past and had to be aware of his standing with the general who had given them their orders.

Tatsumi didn't recognize a single one of the soldiers. Chances were that Esdese would learn about this visit but as long as no one knew what he was going to tell Leone, then it didn't matter that much.

"What is your reason for visiting the prison." The officer asked Tatsumi as he was being searched.

"I'am going to visit the lowest level." he answered with a monotone voice. "The imperial guard has been notified already. They have prepared an escort for me."

"Very well, if the imperial guard will be with you during your entire visit, then I will allow it. Let him through."

He walked past the blockade of guards and went further down into the dungeons. After walking for about ten minutes, he reached the second blockade of soldiers. This time the imperial guard. Stationed at the entrance to the more heavily guarded parts of the prison.

A large man was standing in the front of the checkpoint. Waiting for him to come closer before speaking. He carried the marks of an officer.

"Tatsumi of the jaegers, I'am Juro of the Imperial guard's prison sector. I will be your escort through you visit." the man bellowed. He was in his fifties and looked to be a bit overweight. But Tatsumi knew that the man wouldn't be a part of the imperial guard if he could not handle himself in combat.

Tatsumi nodded to the man. "Lead the way."

The man turned and started walking. Tasumi followed in his footsteps. Walking past all the soldiers and further down into the dungeon.

The lower they got, the damper the air became. Screams could be heard in the far distance. Tatsumi waited until they reached a long corridor before he started to look around. Ensuring that they were alone. He then walked up to the side of the man.

"How are your kids doing?" he asked in a kind voice.

"Fine, thanks to you. I can't thank you enough, Tatsumi." the big man said. All strict military demeanor gone.

"You have helped me out a lot in return so don't mention it. To anyone." Tatsumi said with a smile. Letting the last part get a bit sharper than the rest of the sentence.

"Of course, but I must admit that I'm a little bit worried about this. You aren't gonna do something that will get us in trouble, right? It's me and my friends they will start to question first if something happens." the man said as they walked on.

"Don't worry about it. I just want to talk to her. There won't be any dangerous things happening during any of your shifts. At least not because of me." Tatsumi said. Contrary to what most people believed, he still tried to take care of his own.

"That is good to know. It would normally be two people escorting you but my co-worker did unfortunetly feel a bit under the weather after his dinner." Juro said in a complaining tone.

"How unfortunate." Tatsumi answered with a smile.

"Certainly. And it was very sudden as well. So it will only be the two of us today since I didn't have any time to get another guard." the older man went on.

"I hope your co-worker will get better soon." It would not do if the absent guard started to get really sick. That would attract attention.

"It's must just be something he ate. He will be better tomorrow." Juro reassured with a wave of his right hand.

"Good. How is the prisoner?"

"Well, to say that she looked bad when we got her would be a huge understatement. It would be faster to name the parts of her that weren't damaged than the parts of her that were. But since then, we have had some really talented doctors to fix her up a bit and she have been force-fed the amount of food and medicine that is necessary for her survival. The jailmasters seems to be afraid that they will incur Esdese's wrath if they let her latest toy die before she have had her fun."

"Understandable.". This was nothing new to Tatsumi. Most of the military feared Esdese's anger.

"Well then. Here we are." Juro said as they reached a heavily fortified iron door. He started to unlock it with a set of diffent keys."Do you want me to go in there with you?"

"No. Stay here. I will come out to you when I'm done."

"Suit yourself." Juro said as he opened the door. Letting tatsumi step inside before closing it behind him.

The prison cell was cold and dark. It was lit up by a single torch. Hanging from the left wall. The room lacked any form of window and was completly empty. With the exception of Leone, who was chained to the wall in front of him. She was sitting down. Her hands locked to the wall with short chains. She was slouched forward and seemed to be asleep. Most of her body was wrapped in diffrent kind of bandages and band-aids. She really looked defeated, Tatsumi reflected.

His big sis. She had saved his life earlier and now he would do the same for her again.

Tatsumi slowly moved closer to her. "Si-..Leone."

She didn't react. He reached his hand out to touch her shoulder. His fingers were just about to touch her skin when she moved. With her back against the wall she kicked him in the stomach with both her feet. Mustering up whatever little strength she had left.

Tatsumi was pushed back a meter. That hurt a lot. But not much on a physical level.

"Leone.." he said silently. Looking at how she struggled to get back into sitting position with pity.

"Have you come to finish me or just gloat, TRAITOR!" she screamed at him. It was amazing how she still had all this energy, Tatsumi thought.

"Leone, I don't want to see you suffer."

"Well, then you better just turn around and walk away. That seems to be the way you deal with things that makes you uncomfortable these days.", she scowled at him.

"That is not true." Tatsumi defended. His face filled with regret.

"Ohh yeah? It looks terrible much like that from down here." Her chains rattled as she finally managed to get into a somewhat upright position. "You just choose to suddenly be done with all the fighting and struggles we faced together, In order to go live in comfort and safety with the enemy. Throwing away all we fought for like a used towel."

"I didn't choose death. That is all I did." Tatsumi said. I didn't stop fighting, he thought. But he didn't say it. He didn't dare to reveal too much down here. Where the imperial guard might be listening to every word he said.

"I think you have done much more than just that. I can imagine whose mark that is on your neck!"

Too late, Tatsumi realized that he hadn't covered up the bite mark left by Esdese the day prior. He cursed in his mind and put a hand over the still healing wound.

"Ohh your hand can't cover up the extent of your betrayal, Tatsumi. There is not a single spy in the revolutionary army that does not know who Esdese shares her bed with." she growled. "If you had just been unable to face death everyday and left Night raid, I wouldn't even have been angry with you."

Tatsumi tried to cut through the chase. He knew that he would not be able to explain, much less defend, his choices and actions down here. It was too risky.

"Listen Leone, I have come to tell you something important."

The only answer he got was her glare.

"Whenever you get a chance to prolong this, I want you to do it. Don't try to do anything stupid. Do everything you can to stay alive for as long as possible."

"Ohh yeah? You want me to take the same path as you did? Sorry, I don't think I will receive the same priveleged treatment as you. Have you not heard what happened to Lubbock. Or maybe Esdese spared you the details."

Tatsumi clenched his teeth. The worst part of it was that she was not compeletly wrong. Esdese had informed him of Lubbock's death but she had spared him any details. He had found out those on his own.

"Just listen to me Leone. I will keep Esdese occupie-"

"Sorry Tatsumi but some of us actually prefer to die with dignity. Even if you find it unpleasant that we do."

You don't have to die, he thought but he couldn't say it. He also knew that the end that was awaiting Leone had nothing dignifying about it.

"Dignity means little when you are rotting in the ground. Besides Leone, we were never anything more than murderers and assassins. We don't deserve any dignity."

"We stood up for yours! The revolutionary army wanted us to send assassins after you but we defended you. We swore to them that you would not turn your back on us like that. And then when we finally got a message from you, it all turned out to be a trap!"

She had not meant to be so harsh on Tatsumi. She had not planned to throw this in his face but she couldn't help it now that he was here. Looking completly fine, wearing imperial clothes and having the mark of a love bite on his neck.

"She loved you Tatsumi!" Furious tears were running down Leone's patched up face now. "Did that not matter to you at all?! She was the one who never gave up on you. She was the one who refused to believe that you had betrayed us. She was the one who made us keep up hope about you. And what did she get from that? One of the most horrible ends a human can get."

Tatsumi thought's involuntarily traveled to a caring voice, light kisses, small gentle hands and pink hair. He wanted to weep.

Leone saw how a sad expression had formed on Tatsumi's face. But that only fueled her anger further. Had he not thought about this himself? Had he not mourned her like they had? Had he ignored what happened to Mine completly?

"Ohh so you haven't heard. I guess the ice bitch didn't tell you the details about how she completly destroyed the person who believed the most in your decency. But we heard, Tatsumi. We heard everything. The empire was very proud to let the world know about what happened to their enemies."

Esdese had actually not told Tatsumi about how Mine had met her end. His imagination had done that for him. It was rare for her to be tactful enough to respect other people's weaknesses but at that time she had still been overprotective of Tatsumi. Afraid that he would break. And it had not been hard to see that he was traumatized back then.

"Let me tell you about some of the details." Leone almost screamed. Her face ridden with tears. "Esdese apparently felt that your girlfriend posed some kind of rival to her in some carnal way so she began with the most painful form of castration she could come up with. She actually used some hooks and a-

"ENOUGH!" Tatsumi roared. His nails were digging into the palms of his clenched fists so hard that they drew blod. I have come too far to back down now! I'am almost there, he thought.

Leone was taken aback by how Tatsumi had changed in front of her. He had tears in his eyes but he looked more furious than she had ever seen him. His entire presence radiated indignation. Leone realized that this was not the same boy she had met in a bar a long time ago.

Months of supressed animosity momentarily surfaced in Tatsumi.

"A storm is coming." he said, forgetting all caution. "And it's fires will rise higher than anything."

He was almost about to tell her everything. He wanted to do it so bad. He wanted to let her know that it had never been a trap. He had tried to reach out to them. To contact them for help but everything had gone wrong. Just like now. He wanted her to know that he had tried to save Mine as well. And that he had fought with everything he had during these last eighteen months.

He wanted to have at least one person in the world who could still believe in his humanity.

But in the end, he regained his composure. He remembered where he was. And that it was not worth risking the whole plan just to sate his selfish wish for some small form of redemption.

"No matter what happens Leone, you will never be of use to the revolutionary army if you are dead. Remember that."

He started to leave. He didn't know if he had managed to get the message across but he couldn't think of anything more to say. Staying here only seemed to aggravate Leone. And make himself lose control. He needed to get out.

When Leone saw how Tasumi started to leave she felt how her rage faded. She realized that she had used it to supress all the sadness that now came bubbling up."Is that all we were to you, Tatsumi? Just murderers and sinners?

He stopped at the door. He searched for words but couldn't find them. He realized just how worked up he was. This had gotten to him much more than he wanted to admit. Finally he managed to scramble something together in his head. It was not adequate but it was the truth.

"You were everything to me" he said and left the room. Hearing how Leone started to sob behind him.

My best parts died with Mine, he thought bitterly as he walked back out to the world that was ruled by his lover and her kind.

But when the first sunlight of the morning would come, the results of his endurance would begin.

Author's note:

As I said, a shorter entry this time. I should have realized that celebrations,family,friends and alcohol would hamper my productivity when I first set my deadline. Sorry again. The next half will be a bit longer and won't take as much time. 6-7 days at most.

A bit more drama in this chapter. Everything is being set up for the main story to take off.

A kind person reminded me with a review of how tricky it can be to write ocs. Not that there were any big ones in this specific entry.

Unlike the canon characters a bigger oc needs to be defined and requires characterization. All these things that the canon characters already have. Yet I believe that people come here to mainly read about the canon characters in diffrent scenarios. And frankly, that is what I want to write about but the ocs can sometimes be necessary to make that happen.

So it creates these weird moments when an oc needs an entire paragraph for themselves while what is supposed to be the main characters only gets a couple of lines. I will continue to try and make it more balanced while still keeping everything working. If you think the ocs start to take too much room then let me know with a review/comment and I will try to limit it even more.

As always, thanks A LOT for reading my little story. Every new follower/favorite and every new comment/review is extremly encouraging.

Until next time, have a good day and take care of each other.