A little shorter entry into the story this time.
The chapter is once again split in two in order to keep regularity in the size of the chapters in this story.
Internal struggle. (1/2)
Tatsumi walked through the corridors of the institution belonging to the imperial postal service. Isamu walking beside him. To say that the atmosphere was tense would be an understatement.
After talking for a short while, Tatsumi had learned that Isamu personally knew the soldiers that claimed that they had been the last people to see Bellany the night prior. Tatsumi had then managed to persuade the other man to show him who these people were. He had begrudingly agreed to do so. He had walked off to send a message for some soldiers to meet up with Tatsumi at the entrance to the institution. To then lead him to the persons he was searching for.
Now they were walking over to the entrance of the institution together and not a single word had been spoken for five minutes.
Both of the young men knew why the mood between them was so cold. They still hadn't talked about Esdeath. Tatsumi was still trying to figure out a way to tell the other man to give up on his pursuit of the ice queen without seeming too confrontational. It was clear that the other man had no love for him. He didn't know if it was because he was a part of the jaegers or because the man viewed him as a rival. It could also be because of his history. He had no way to discern it and the more tired he got, the less he started to care.
"Listen, Isamu. I know that we have something we need to talk about. I think you do as well." Tatsumi said. Trying to sound relatively friendly.
"We certainly have some unfinished buisness, jaeger." Isamu said. His voice hard and irritated. Unwilling to show Tatsumi any reluctance or fear of confrontation.
Isamu had faced rivals in love before. He found that it was natural that those situations occured if everyone just followed their hearts as he did. It was something he fully accepted and he had found a certain level of respect for his rivals in the past. If for no other reason than the honesty of their intentions. The fact that he almost always came out on top made it a lot easier as well.
But this was diffrent. Tatsumi had never been pursuing or trying to get Esdeath. He had just been given her favor and affection without doing anything in order to obtain it. He even still refused her at times, if the rumors were true. He had not only had the amazing luck of getting the love of not only an extreme beauty but also one of the most powerful and influential women in the entire empire, if not the most powerful and influential one. And he had the audacity to just snub the thing that boys in the entire empire could just dream of.
To Isamu it was not just arrogant. It was outright disrespectful to the rest of them. If Tatsumi now was worried that he might actually lose that gigantic priveledge, then Isamu couldn't be anything but happy about it. And then there was also the fact that Tatsumi had been(and according to many, still was) a traitor. Both to the empire and then to the revolutionary army. He was the definition of a turncoat.
"Isamu, I have no ill will against you, believe me." Tatsumi said. Trying to be diplomatic."I am actually here to warn you."
"Is this about the murder investigation?" Isamu asked. If this was some warning related to the investigation then he wanted to be professional about it.
"No, this is about your visit to Esdeath the other day." Tatsumi said tiredly.
"I guessed as much." Isamu said with a smile."How did you learn about? Did the rumors reach you?"
Isamu had been very proud of his, what he thought to be , somewhat successfull attempt to court the ice queen. He had told almost all of his friends about it. Everyone who had said he was crazy to try it. And rumors had started to spread like wildfire. Much to Isamu's joy. Rumors that Tatsumi might have a contender.
Tatsumi himself had heard none of these rumors. He had been way to busy the last thirty four hours.
I was laying comfortably in her bed when you made your foolish mistake, Tatsumi thought. He didn't say it though. Unwilling to walk down that road right now. He was trying to help the delusional boy.
"Let's just say that I have heard about it."
"I bet you have." the other boy replied. Keeping his smirk.
"You are about to make a grave mistake, Isamu. You don't want the kind of attention that Esdeath is intending to give you."
"Just because you dislike it doesn't mean that the rest of us do."
"Have you seen her pets, Isamu?" Tatsumi asked. Still keeping a calm voice.
"No but I have heard of them." the other boy said. Raising an eyebrow at Tatsumi.
"A sad bunch. For the most part. And you know what? Some of them started out just like you. Go and watch what has become of some of them."
"Only the weak willed will let the failures of others dissuade them from following their hearts. Not that I think you can understand that, considering your history of changing convictions." the other man said. Putting some weight behind his last sentence.
"You have no idea what you are talking about." Tatsumi said. He was starting to question why he was trying to save this boy from his fate.
"Whatever. Did you honestly believe that I would stop my pursuit of general Esdeath's heart just because you would tell me so? Are you that naive?"
Tatsumi was starting to run out of patience. He was tired and had began to wonder why he was trying to stop Isamu when he clearly was so intent on trying. In a way he found it kind of admiring. Trying to achieve your dream even if you knew that it was most likely impossible. It reminded him of so many members of the revolutionary army. It was the feeling that Isamu didn't realize how futile his attempts were or how dire the consequences might be, that drove Tatsumi to give it a last try.
"Well,remember what i said anyway. Listen, I have better things to put my mind to. So I will just ask you, is there any way I can dissuade you from chasing after Esdeath?"
This was the chance that Isamu had been hoping for.
"Actually there might be one way."
Esdeath had told Isamu to impress her. She had told him that she was giving him another chance. As far as he was concerned, that meant that she had given him her permission to compete with Tatsumi. And he could think of no better way to impress her than showing how superior he was to Tatsumi. He had heard how much she valued strength in those around her.
"Let's handle this as men, Tatsumi. Let's have a fair fight and see who comes out on top. If you manage to beat me, then I shall do as you bid me and stop chasing after Esdeath's affection."
Lovely, not just dim-witted but a brute as well, Tatsumi thought. Looking at the other boy who was almost two heads taller than him.
"Fine, if that is the only way, then I don't mind." he said and shrugged.
"Of course without weapons. I hope you can agree that it would be rather unfair otherwise."Isamu said and nodded towards Incursio.
But the fact that you probably weighs almost as twice as much as me wouldn't? "Fine."
Isamu was very brawny and Tatsumi was pretty sure that he was a capable fighter as well. Most of the military couriers that delivered such important messages as Isamu needed to be rather proficient in combat. So that they could defend themselves and the messages they carried if necessary.
But Tatsumi could tell with a glance that Isamu had never been in a real life-threatening scenario. He had never stared death in the eyes. He knew little of what real pain was. Physically, emotionally or mentally. Tatsumi could beat his kind with one hand tied behind his back.
"Sure. When shall we do this. I'm kind of busy." he said and put his hands in his pockets.
"How about as soon as we meet the soldiers that are gonna take you to the last people who saw Bellany last night."
"Okay then. Let's go away to somewhere a bit more secluded before we do though. I have no desire to cause a commotion."
"Fair enough. The other soldiers will come with us then. So that they can act as witnesses."
"As you wish." Tatsumi said.
He couldn't say that he really minded giving Isamu a beating but he needed to be quick about it. It was almost dinner time now and Esdeath would soon notice that he was gone. Both of the youths kept walking towards the entrance of the institution in silence.
Tatsumi, Isamu and the five other soldiers that had originally come to meet up with them walked into an empty training hall in a wing of the palace that belonged to Esdeath's legions. There were many of these kind of smaller training halls in this part of the palace. Most of them were empty now though. Since it was around dinner time and most soldiers and warriors were either eating or on duty.
"Are you sure about this?" The officer of the little group that had come to meet them asked Tatsumi. Looking concerned. He was a bulky man ni his late forties. He had greying hair and a big mustach. "Please don't take me wrong,sir, but I think we could get in real trouble for letting you two do this."
All the five soldiers that had come to pick Tatsumi up seemed to be a part of one of the gun squadrons from Esdeath's legions. He could not only see it on the uniforms but the officer actually carried a rifle over his back.
"Don't worry about it. Esdeath won't hear about it." Tatsumi said. Untroubled by the situation. He just wanted to get this over with.
"Yeah, at least not about your part in it." Isamu filled in. He seemed really confident.
"I will trust in both of you then." the officer said. Still looking rather anxious.
They walked until they were in the middle of the small hall. Then Tatsumi turned around to Isamu.
"Well then, shall we begin?" he asked as he stretched his arms over his head.
"Not so fast. I think you can understand that I can't trust that you will not use the teigu if things don't go your way." He pointed at the officer."Give him your teigu while we battle."
The officer took a step backwards. "I would rather not get involved anymore than necessary in this." he said in scared voice. Holding up his hands in front of him.
Tatsumi sighed."No need to be alarmed, officer. This will be over quickly." He reached over and grabbed Incursio. He held it out to the officer. "Just stay where I can see you, okay?"
The officer nodded."I will try to stay in your field of vision as much as possible, sir." he said and carefully reached out and took Incursio. He held it completly still some moments after Tatsumi had let go of it. Seemingly afraid of the teigu itself. Then he slowly started to walk a couple of steps back with it.
When he put his foot down at the fifth step, he took a stance and threw Incursio to the other side of the hall. The moment he did, the other four soldiers who were standing around Tatsumi immediately attacked him.
The two soldiers that were standing right in front of him suddenly directed one punch each towards him. Aimed at his throat and chest. Tatsumi's body reacted faster than his thoughts. He immediately ducked down. Avoiding their blows. He put one hand on the floor and then kicked both of the soldiers in their stomachs with both his legs at the same time. Making them fall over backwards from the impacts.
When he put his feet down on the ground again, one of the soldiers behind him threw himself on him. Holding an arm around his neck. Trying to put him in a stranglehold. He swinged around fast. Making the other man swing around behind him. Since he maintained his grip around Tatsumi's throat. Tatsumi turned around towards the last standing soldier and grabbed the arm around his throat. Preparing to throw the soldier on his back into his comrade who had been standing behind Tatsumi.
But as he turned around he saw how the last soldier was throwing something against him. He brought out his hand to block it but it flew in between his fingers. For the second time in twenty four hours, Tatsumi felt how he inhaled paralyzing powder.
The arm around his neck immediately let go. "You idiot! You got some on my face as well." the soldier behind Tatsumi yelled. Stumbling backwards and falling over. Already losing his balance.
It was the same weaponized powder that Bellany had used on him in the archives but it was much worse this time around for Tatsumi. Partly because he had inhaled much more this time but mainly because he didn't have Incursio on. The last time, the teigu's defensive powers had made him able to resist the poison's effect but now he had no such luck.
He immediately turned towards where his teigu was lying. Starting to move as fast as he could towards it but he fell over on one knee after four steps. He brought a fist down into the ground in order to steady himself. He was already losing his balance. He started to stand up more slowly. Trying to get closer to Incusio.
He only managed to get up on his feet before Isamu kicked him in the side. Sending him tumbling over. He came to a halt two meters away. Lying on his stomach.
"I would like to say that this is nothing personal but it kind of is." Isamu said. His smile almost apologetic. "You see, these five men are my friends and they have all lost family members to night raid and the revolutionary army."
Tatsumi tried to rise up on shaky arms but Isamu made a stomping kick on his upper back. Smashing Tatsumi into the floor again. He looked over at Incursio. It was more than ten meters away.
"That is why they, just as Bellany, could see through your act." Isamu said. "You see, they didn't come here to bring you to the last people in the military who saw Bellany, they are the last people in the military who saw Bellany."
Behind Tatsumi, the two soldiers that he had kicked had gotten up. One was helping the man who had inhaled the powder, along with the one who had thrown it. The soldier they were starting to straighten up had already passed out. The officer and the other man Tatsumi had kicked were walking over to where he was laying.
"You bastard." the man he had kicked said. Holding a hand over his stomach."We know that it was you who set fire to the archives. We saw how you moved into the district right before it started to burn. And we know that Bellany followed you. And she never returned." he almost screamed the last words and kicked Tatsumi in the side. Tatsumi couldn't even feel it anymore. His body mostly numb by now.
The officer turned around to the other three soldiers. "Just put him in a comfortable position." he shouted at them as they tried to get their comrade into a sitting position. " He won't be able to move for quite a while. One of you go out and act as a lookout."
Isamu crouched down in front of Tatsumi."You see Tatsumi, I intended for this to happen before you even gave me a chance to challenge you to a duel. I never thought that you deserved a fair fight. This does ,however ,serve two purposes. Now my friends here can give you a little bit of what you deserve and then I can demonstrate my superiority over you to Esdeath."
Tatsumi turned his head to look at him. No longer able to move his arms very well. He could feel his conscious starting to fade.
"I sent her a message as well when I was informing these guys about the situation." he said and nodded towards the soldiers. "Informing her that you and I would be dueling somewhere in this barrack. I would guess that she will be here in about an hour. She was seen traveling towards one of the slums in the outskirts of the capital. So it will take her a while to get here once she receives the message."
Isamu rose up."By then these guys will have given you a taste of what you deserve and I will have returned here. Just in time for her to come and find you defeated at my feet. With theses soldiers as my witnesses that it was a fair fight that you yourself initiated.
Tatsumi rose his head a little bit from the ground. "You fool!" he tried to shout but it only came out as a whisper.
Isamu walked past the officer and headed towards the door out."Remember to not hurt him too badly. We don't want it to look like I went too much overboard."
"Relax. We don't want him to die here either." the older man said while he slowly loaded his firearm. Putting a barrel into it's pipe. "We want his treachery to be exposed to the rest of the empire. So that he then can face his fate in the torture chambers. Hopefully by general Esdeath's own hands."
Isamu nodded to the man."Good. See you in an hour then." He turned around and walked out of the training hall.
Tatsumi's mind was getting foggy. He had almost lost all control of his body. He could barely move his fingers. When the three other men started kicking and stomping on him he could barely notice it. When one of them grounded the fingers of his left hand under their boot, he didn't even feel how his nails were splintered and forced into his flesh.
After ten minutes of violent kicking, they paused.
The officer brought forth his gun.
"Whoa,whoa,whoa. We can't shoot him. The general will realize something is amiss if he has a bullet wound on him." one of the two soldiers cried out.
"I have to! You don't understand." the officer said with a shaky voice. "They shot my daughter. One of those night raid bastards killed her with one of their damn teigus. They didn't even leave a body for me to bury."
One of the two soldiers put an hand on the officer's shoulder as they started to shake. Looking at his superior with pity.
"I need to return some of this pain to them." the officer said as his eyes started to water. "She had just been permitted to join the special forces. She was just a teenager."
The other soldier put his hand on the officer's shoulder as well. Trying to show his support."Fine. If it is so important for you. We can get away with it looking like a normal wound if the shot only graces him slightly. Are you okay with that?"
The officer nodded. Holding back his tears of rage.
Tatsumi himself had now lost conscious completly. Drifting away into a drugged, dreamless sleep.
The soldiers discussed it for some moments and then decided that they would fire a shot along the side of his head. So that the wound would be partly hidden under his hair. That would make it harder to see any sort of soot or remnants of gunpowder. The officer put the gun against the side of Tatsumi's head. His hand sure and steady from years of training.
He took a deep breath and put his finger on the trigger. He was about to fire when he heard how the door to the hall opened behind him. Slowly and silently.
He heard how his two subordinates gasped in unison. He turned around to see what was going on.
In the middle of the now open doorway stood Esdeath. Holding a hand on one of the doors. Staring at them. Her figure and long hair filling the frame of the door.
She looked slightly shocked. Her expression was completly neutral with the exception of her widened eyes. They quickly moved to Incursio. Which was lying on the floor a couple of meters from them. Then they returned to the three soldiers who were standing around Tatsumi. One of them pointing a gun at his head.
The room was completly silent for three seconds.
Then she started to walk towards them. Her eyes locked upon the officer with the rifle. Ready to call upon her teigu's power if the finger on the trigger moved the slightest.
None of the three soldier moved. All stared at the approaching general.
The officer thoughts moved with lightning speed. Between the three of them, he was the one who had been in Esdeath's service for the longest time. His thoughts traveled to his memories of her campaigns in the north. Then to what had happened after those battles and then his thoughts traveled to what he had seen down in the torture chambers.
He took a decision. He lifted his gun from Tatsumi. He put the pipe of his weapon under his chin and fired.
The silence was broken by the gunshot and then the screams of the now dead officer's subordinates. They got a small shower of blood and brain matter as the back of the officers head erupted with the blast. Right in front of them. The two men both reacted in diffrent ways.
"You damn idiot!" the braver one of the two screamed and bolted for the door. He did not get halway there before a long and thin piece of ice pierced his ankle. Appearing right in front of him. The ice drove through his leg and then into the floor. Pinning the soldier there, who immediately fell over.
The other soldier whimpered in despair and fell down on his knees at the sight of his dead superior. The body of the officer lying less than a meter in front of him. He knew why the man had shoot himself. He knew what he had tried to escape from. He knew since he himself had worked as an assistant in the torture chamber for two years. One single thought came into his mind: I must not let her take me alive.
He reached over and tried to grab the rifle that now lay beside the dead officer's body. But as soon as he grabbed it, a piece of ice flew into the weapon. Smashing it to splinters. The soldier screamed a shrill scream and crawled away from Esdeath as fast as he could.
Esdeath herself were completly unfazed by all of this. When the officer had put his gun under his chin she had figured what was going to happen and her eyes had shifted to Tatsumi and had stayed on him since then. His chest was way too still.
"Tatsumi!" she called out in a gentle voice as she crouched down beside him. She turned him around and lifted his upper body a bit. Leaning it against one of her knees. His eyes was closed and he didn't respond.
Her arm that was not holding the back of his neck immediately snaked it's way in under his shirt. She put her hand on his chest. She could feel that he was still alive. But his heartbeats were horribly slow. And his breathing was extremly weak.
He is fading away!, Esdeath thought. She bared her teeth. A rage-filled expression forming on her face. I will not allow this to happen!
Her hands quickly and deftly started to explore his entire body. Slithering around under his shirt and then into his pants and briefs. Applying light pressure all the time. Trying to find the wound that was killing him. After less than ten seconds, she had examined his entire body. She couldn't find any life-threatening wounds or signs of internal bleeding. She looked at him. Her mind raced in ice cold analysis. She got a premonition.
She put a hand on his chin and opened his mouth. She placed her nose against it and took a deep sniff. Drawing his breath into her. It was mostly just the usual smell of his metabolism. A smell that she knew very well. But there was something else there as well. A small tinge of something unnatural. Something more chemically smelling.
Poison!, she concluded. She looked at Incursio. If she could get Tatsumi to activate it then it would help him handle the poison. But she had no way of making that happen.
She shifted her gaze to the one soldiers that had now crawled up into one of the corners of the room. She let all her all her murderous intent, anger and rage flow out of her. Filling the room with the force of it. Making the soldier shake and cry.
"What have you put in him?" she asked in her most authoritive and angry voice.
"NO!NO!" was the only thing the soldier screamed in response. Pushing himself into the wall as he tried to get further away from her.
"IT'S JUST SOME PARALYZING POWDER" the other soldier screamed in panic. Holding the one of his legs that was nailed to the floor. "HE WILL GET THE CONTROL OF HIS BODY BACK IN A DAY OR TWO!"
Esdeath's gaze turned to him. He immediately lowered his voice. "We didn't plan to kill him. I swear."
"Do you honestly want me to believe that?"
"He was the one who killed Bellany!"
"Do you have any proof?" Esdeath asked as her gaze drilled into him. Holding Tatsumi's limp form close to her body with one of her arms.
The soldier didn't answer. Grimacing as he looked down at his damaged leg. The other soldier's sobbing was the only thing that could be heard. He was still laying in the corner of the hall. "She must not take us alive." he sobbed over and over again. He had peed himself.
Esdeath rose with Tatsumi in her arms."Even if you would have had proof, it would not have been your place to decide his punishment. Nor administer it. You have broken miliatry law. Your insubordination has cost you all the forebearance that being part of my forces would have given you."
She turned around and started to walk out of the room. Carrying Tatsumi in her arms.
"Please be reasonable general!" the soldier with the icicle through his leg screamed when she walked past him. "Don't kill us without letting us tell you what we know."
"You will be telling me everything you know." Esdeath said in a cold voice as she walked towards the door. Not even giving the soldier a glance. Her eyes were looking at the boy in her arms with compassionate concern. "And when I am done with you, you will be begging for me to kill you."
She walked out of the door. Outside laid the unconcious soldier that had been posted as a lookout. She kicked him into the training hall. She then looked at the soldier with the damaged leg one last time.
"I will be taking my time with your punishments." she said. Her face filled with controlled fury. Pillars of ice rose from the floor and sealed of the only way out of the training hall. Before the soldier had time to respond.
Esdeath immediately turned around and leaped away through the corridor at lightning speed. Heading for the closest medical clinic with Tatsumi in her arms.
Author's note:
20 hours later than promised. I am slowly catching up to my deadlines. Haha.
Anyway, my plan to correct my release schedule have worked after a fashion. While I did not release two chapters last week, I was done with this one very early in this week. So hopefully I will be able to release two chapters this week. And then I will have turned it around so that I release chapters by the end of the weeks instead of the beginning of them.
This story is going to pick up the pace a bit in the coming chapters.
As always, thanks for reading. I hope you have enjoyed the ride so far. I sure have. And that is mostly due to you following/favoriting and reviewing/commenting. Thanks a lot.
Take care of each other and have a great day.