Badaboom!
The release schedule is back to normal.
Internal struggle.(2/2)
A group of people sat huddled around a fire in the middle of the night. Surrounded by forest and wilderness. They were mostly naked. One or two of them had a pelt or some fur over their backs but that was it. They communicated silently through words and sounds. A few of them were sleeping. Most were awake and watching the surroundings with scared faces.
As the night grew late they started to become less and less attentive and soon enough more than half of them were sleeping. And the other half were mostly just staring into the fire. That was when the predator choose to strike.
She flew right into the midst of them. Grabbing one head in each hand and forcing them into the fire as she landed. Screams and panic filled the group as the lean and naked body of the woman straightened up from the two bodies. Her long blue hair swaying in the wind. One young man tried to attack her from behind with a piece of wood but she turned around in the last second. Driving an elbow into his face. Crushing and dislodging his jaw as the hit sent him flying a couple of meter through the air.
And then everyone was running. Scattering away into the night in diffrent directions. Esdese looked down at the dead people that were lying on the ground and then at those that were running away. She only needed one body. She picked the one she wanted and dashed away towards the one of the fleeing people she had decided upon.
As the sun was rising, Esdeath could be seen climbing a gargantuan tree. Jumping between branches while holding a broken body under one of her arms. When she was a couple of hundred meters from the ground she arrived at what she was heading for. A hole carved into the gigantic tree trunk. Her nest. She climbed into it.
She directly moved to a corner of the den. A pile of branches and leafes were lying on the floor. She moved up to it and dumped the dead body besides it. She then kneeled down and started to remove some of the branches. Slowly revealing a weak, damaged and naked Tatsumi. Hidden under the foliage. His eyes were closed. He barely had the strength to move.
He had a great wound in his side. Covered in herbs and leafs. Aiding the healing process. She went down and sniffed the wound a couple of times. Trying to detect any form of infection. She gently put her hand against the wound. Making Tatsumi whimper slightly. She went up and licked his face lightly in a reassuring motion. She then moved over and grabbed the body lying on the side of the foliage she was sitting on.
She grabbed the arm of the dead body and lifted it towards her. Then she leaned in and took a bite from the flesh on the arm. Tearing through skin,flesh and sinew with her teeth. Tearing it away from the arm. She chewed down on the contents of her mouth for some moments while looking at Tatsumi. She then bent down over him and put her mouth over his. Feeding him the minced meat in her mouth. A slight trail of blood escaped their exchange and trailed down his cheek.
Tatsumi barely had the strength to open his eyes. He could do little but accept whatever it was that he was being fed. Esdeath kept her mouth over his own until he swallowed her gift. She lifted her lips from his and licked up the blood on his cheek. She looked at him for some moments until his mouth opened slightly again. Attesting that it now was empty.
She then reached over and took another bite from the body she was still holding in her right hand. This process was repeated for a couple of minutes.
When Esdeath put her mouth over Tatsumi's for the fourteenth time, he moved his head to the side. She raised her head up a little and looked at him. Then she moved her mouth to his again. Following it to the side. But when she started to push their lips together, he moved his head to the other side. Resisting her attempt to feed him.
She raised herself up from him. She looked at him for some moments and then swallowed the contents of her mouth. Deciding that he was fed enough. She grabbed the body and dragged it towards the opening of the den. Intending to throw it out now that it had served it's purpose to her.
Tatsumi used all the strength he had and opened his eyes. Watching how Esdeath dragged the dead body behind her. Holding it by an arm that had most of it's flesh torn from it. Tatsumi eyes widened as he realized what Esdeath had made him feast on.
Mine's dead body.
...
Tatsumi woke from his dream with a sharp breath. Opening his eyes as fast as he could. Which was suprisingly slow. His entire body still feeling dull and weak. That was the first thing he noticed. He still had a really hard time to move. His body still partly numb.
The second thing was how bright it was. His eyes squinted as they adapted to the light. The third thing he noticed was that his head was lying down on something warm.
When his eyes adapted he saw a long,slender and naked leg in front of him. His head was resting against it's thigh. He knew who's leg it was. Considering where he was it was even easier to guess.
Tatsumi was lying down in fetal position under some covers in Esdeath's large bed. Only wearing his briefs. It was the middle of the day and light was streaming in through the windows.
Tatsumi's head was resting on Esdeath's thigh. She was sitting up with her back against the bed's headboard. She had a quilt wrapped over her shoulders but wore no other cloths.
There were folders and papers strewn around her on the bed. Diffrent orders and reports that she was working her way through. She was reading through a battle report at the moment. Holding it in her hand and having a pen in her other one. Not yet noticing that Tatsumi had regained his conscious since his head was turned away from her.
Tatsumi tried to reach out with one of his arms from under the covers. Trying to put it on the bed so that he could raise himself up. He quickly noticed how hard that was to do. His body felt so heavy that it took a lot of effort to just get his hand outside the sheets.
As soon as his hand came out from the sheets one of Esdeath's came down and grabbed it. Forcing it back in under the sheets. She shushed at him in a silent voice as her hand tucked his arm back into the covers. Not looking away from the paper she was reading.
He had started to move around a lot during the last twenty hours, as his body started to get the poison out of him. Even if his mind hadn't gotten out from the deep fog that the drug had placed on his mind. The medics had analyzed the paralyizing poison that Tatsumi had gotten into his system and decided that it was not life-threatening. They had then concluded that it was best to let his body rinse out the poison on it's own. Even if it might take a while.
So he had been resting in Esdeath's bed while his body fought against the poison. The medics had come by and done daily checkups on him to see that everything was going well. Carefully examining him. Their every move followed closely by Esdeath's watchful gaze.
But as he became better he had began to move around more. Even if he was still unconscious. When Esdeath had returned from a meeting the day prior, she had found him lying on the floor beside the bed. Sweating and tangled up in the sheets. So since then she had moved as much of her work as possible to the bed. So that she could watch over him so he didn't hurt himself in his drug induced "sleep".
After her hand had returned his arm to it's original resting place it moved up and started to slowly stroke his head. "Shhh" she cooed while she continued to read through the report she was holding in her hand.
"Esdeath." he tried to say but it came out weaker than he intended.
She looked down on him. He had murmured a lot during the three hours she had been sitting in the bed but that sounded a bit more focused.
With a lot of effort, Tatsumi managed to turn his head slightly and look up at her with one eye.
Her eyes widened slightly. A warm smile formed upon her face. "Hey there." she said with a silent and happy voice as she was looking down on him.
She put the report down on the bed and carefully lifted Tatsumi's head from her thigh as she shuffled down a bit, in under the covers. So that she was lying beside him. She looked deep into his eyes.
Ohh, how she had missed those beautiful green orbs. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she moved closer to him. Cupping his face with one hand as she intertwined their legs.
"Heavy." Tatsumi answered truthfully. "Heavy and slow. Both in the head and the body."
"My sweet little thing." she said as she moved even closer. Their noses were almost touching. He could feel her breath against his face as she murmured. "It's okay, Tatsumi. It's going to be fine. Your body is just recovering from the poison."
Tatsumi started to remember what had happened. He remebered how he had passed out soon after Isamu had left the training hall. What had happened? Had the soldiers managed to convince Esdeath of his guilt? Had Isamu actually managed to fool her that it had all been a duel? Tatsumi tried to reason around it but his head was just too slow and dull. It was an effort just to keep a concise thought.
"How long have I been out?" he asked weakly as Esdeath stared into his eyes from a close distance. Seemingly fascinated by seeing them again.
"Five days now."
Tatsumi's eyes widened slightly but that was the only reaction that got through his sluggish body.
"The doctors could have gotten your conscious back earlier with diffrent antidotes but this was apparently healthier. So I have waited for you.". She looked happy and almost content as she slowly stroked the side of his head.
Tatsumi felt confused. His mind moving much slower than usual.
"What happened?"
"When I found that you had escaped I hunted after you. I was following your track when I got a letter from someone anonymous that claimed that he would be fighting you in one of my army's training halls and asked me to come and watch."
Her arms reached around him and pressed their bodies together.
"When I arrived, I found that some soldiers from one of my own gun squadrons had poisoned you and was beating your unconscious body. It seemed like they were trying to kill you. Believing that you had killed Bellany."
"What happened?" Tatsumi repeated his previous question again.
"You don't have to worry about them anymore." she said in a caring and reassuring way while she snuggled against the side of his face. The caring tone at odds with the horrible insinuations. "I have dealt with all five of them personally"
Five of them,Tatsumi thought. Still able to figure out what that meant. Despite his drugged state. She only said "people from one of her gun squadrons". Then that means that Isamu is still out there somewhere.
"They were fully convinced that you had killed Bellany." she said as she put her face in front of his again. "But Bellany returned four days ago. She had apparently just fallen really sick during a nightly visit to a friend and had been unable to get home or alert anyone of the reasons for her absence."
"What?" Tatsumi said slowly. He did not understand. If Bellany had returned then his guilt should have almost been confirmed, right? Not of killing her ,of course ,but the fact that he had burned the archives should have been revealed by now.
"Bellany immediately made it clear that she didn't know any of the five soldiers that had poisoned you and that she had not even seen you during the night they claimed that she had been following you. It seems like the men from the gun squadron only wanted to frame you for something you hadn't done."
Tatsumi was very confused. He was sure that the five soldiers that Isamu had called over was Bellany's closest men. So why had she betrayed them? Even if she knew that Esdeath might kill them anyway she would still have tried to strengthen their case against him. Bellany had always been loyal to her allies.
But now she had completly abandoned them and not only that. She hadn't even talked about her and Tatsumi's fight in the archives. Tatsumi couldn't make sense of it. He tried to think harder about it but his head started to hurt when he did. He slowly reached up with a hand to grab his hurting head but when his left hand touched the side of his head he noticed that the hand was wrapped up in bandages.
He looked at his bandaged hand with a confused look. Esdeath very gently grabbed it in one of her own. "They damaged your adorable fingers pretty badly." she said and looked at his hand with a sad expression. "But don't worry. It will have healed soon enough, as well."
She looked up at him. A smile spreading across her face. "Do you want to know what I did to them for that?" she said in slightly more excited voice. A certain gleam filling her eyes. Trying to cheer him up in the same way she cheered herself up.
Tatsumi just looked at her in respons. Normally he would have declined.
In the beginning of their strange relationship, Tatsumi had thought that watching how Esdeath tortured the people he hated would be gratifying but he had quickly learned otherwise. Cause Esdeath didn't have the same limits as he had. She continued on with her punishments, horrible experiments and terrible games long after he had witnessed more amounts of suffering and misery than he could stomach. Turning what he thought would be sweet revenge into a bitter and sickening experience.
But this time he needed to listen. He needed to know if any of those that knew the truth were still able to talk. So he stayed silent as Esdeath proudly explained what she had done to them. In the end, it seemed like his worries were unnecessary. Esdeath herself had silenced those who had known the truth.
The man who had also gotten paralyzed by the powder was the one that had taken the most precision. Since she had found him paralyzed she had decided that it would be a fitting state for him to continue his existence in. So through extremly precise hits to his spine, she had bereft him of the ability to move his body. Turning him into a paralytic for the rest of his life. She had then destroyed his eyes and ears. Leaving him unable to move, hear or scream. Then she had covered his entire body with deep cuts and then covered those cuts in diffrent kinds of poisons. Making sure that his wounds would always hurt him and never fully heal.
After that she had left him with a medical team ordered to keep him alive for as long as possible but not permitted to use any anesthetics. He would grow to become old and withered but all he would ever know was pain. Unable to even scream.
That had been more experimental then her usual torture sessions. A symbolic repayment for momentarily paralyzing Tatsumi. The man who had gotten an icicle through his foot had been a simpler process. She wanted him to be an example so she made that into a more flashy demise.
She had simply amputated his hands and feet as efficently and medically as she could. Ensuring that he would survive. She had then put him in a cell and starved him until she became unsure if he would survive any longer. Then she had brought down some of the better chefs that the palace could offer and told them to make the best stew they could for the prisoner. Based on his hands and feet.
She had then brought him to a public display and made sure that everyone in the audience knew why he was there and what the stew actually was made from. Then she fed the unknowing man his own flesh in front of the audience with an amused expression on her face. Watching with delight as the hardened audience was stricken with disgust and revulsion as the starved man slobbered down the stew she was slowly giving to him. Since he himself lacked hands.
She had only told him what the stew was several hours later. When it was far too late to try and regurgitate it back up. That had been a punishment for breaking Tatsumi's nails and fingers. Finally, she had torn out his lying tongue and attached small wooden feets to his arms and legs. After that she had given him to the kennel master of the noblemens hunting parties. Giving him an official order to keep and treat the man as another one of the dogs. So that the noblemen would have to see him each time they would go out hunting.
She had reasoned that that would be a sufficient signal that they should stay away from Tatsumi. She had also found it amusing that the man had been forced into the lowest rang of the hierarchy among the dogs.
She had intended to extract some symbolic punishment for framing Tatsumi on the soldier that had screamed and soiled himself but he had actually slit his wrists on some of the broken gun parts right after she left the training hall with Tatsumi.
The lookout had done nothing but watch for her arrival. So she made him watch closely as she punished his friends. When it finally became his turn he had already fallen into a shock-induced coma. Not reacting to anything in the slightest. Making Esdeath lose interest quickly. She simply had him crucified on the road in towards the capital.
When she had explained everything about their punishments and her methods to Tatsumi she looked at him. Trying to see if that had managed to cheer him up a bit.
Tatsumi mainly felt relief. It seemed like he was in the clear again. He just needed to figure out what had happened to Bellany. Esdeath herself had saved him the trouble of silencing the anonymous source herself. Destroying their chance to reveal Tatsumi's true colors along with their lives. He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly at the irony of that horrible situation.
Esdeath's expression grew even happier. Thinking that she had managed to make her boy happy.
She leaned in and started to kiss him. Slowly forcing her tongue into his mouth. Pressing their bodies together again.
Tatsumi could tell that she wanted more from him than just hugs and kisses right now. She was being unusually gentle and tender with him for the moment but he was able to detect the signs. Even though it was passive, her arms were applying more and more pressure on his back at a slow pace. Her fingers were gently caressing him in smooth motions but he couldn't help but notice that she let her nails scrape his skin at the end of each movement.
She moved her mouth a little bit away from his and looked at him. Her gaze was all the confirmation that he needed. It was a loving and gentle expression but Tatsumi could see that there was a hunger hidden behind it.
She was starting to lean into him rather strongly now. Her breast pressing against him. He would soon fall over on his back and she would be on top of him. He knew that she intended for that to happen. She wanted to take him. Unscrupulously and firmly. A part of him also wanted that to happen. He knew ,however ,that his current state made him unable to walk down that road. It would only lead to disappointment for them both.
He put his forehead down on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Esdeath. I can't play with you right now." he murmured. "I'm simply too weak."
Esdeath halted her steady advancement. She had run over his excuses and protests in this kind of scenarios many times before. She would not do it this time,though. Because she knew that he was telling the truth. Even though she had hoped that it was not so. But she could feel it. She felt it in how his muscles responded to her arms and hands. She could feel it in his heartbeats that she felt through her chest. She could feel it in how shaky and weak his breaths were against her shoulder. And she felt the shame in his voice.
He had tried to stop her from taking him many times before. Sometimes even resisting rather strongly. But he had never been ashamed because he couldn't keep up with her.
She hated this. This was not how he was supposed to be! She had never cared about the fact that Tatsumi was not as powerful as her but this was simply unacceptable to her. His great potential was mudded by the damn poison. His beautiful strength was just a shell of what it had once been. All his greatness was besmirched and faded. For the moment, he was truly weak.
Her partner. Her mate.
She cursed herself again for letting this happen.
"My dear,sweet, little Tatsumi." she said in a genuinly sad voice and rubbed her right cheek against the top of his head. Choosing to deny the lustful hunger inside of her.
She tilted her body backwards while keeping her arms around him. So that he was leaning into her instead of vice versa. She pushed his face down into her chest. "It's okay. Just rest here. Leave everything to me. I will take care of everything for you. You just rest and let your body regain it's strength." she murmured to him in sweet voice.
Tatsumi was feeling how he was slipping back into sleep already. His body was really weak and tired. Even if ha had just been lying in the bed for five days. But he wanted to do so some damage control before he fell asleep again.
"Esdeath."
"Shhhh" she cooed.
"I'm sorry that I ran away from you." he lied. Even if things hadn't turned out as planned he had still been able to solve some of his problems. With her unknowing help.
"Don't think about that now. We will resolve that when your strength have returned.", she whispered and started to stroke his head with a hand.
He had fallen asleep in less than a minute. She liked his sleeping much better now. Now it felt like he was actually resting. Not figthing against poison in a drug-induced haze. She kept holding him and stroking his head for forty minutes after he had fallen asleep.
"I will give you a proper lesson when you have recovered completly." she whispered into his hair."I will teach you to behave again."
She kissed his head and slowly rose up to her sitting position again. Putting his head on it's original resting place against her thigh.
She took up her report and started to read through it again. Trying to direct her anger over Tatsumi's reduced condition at something. After a while her thoughts settled upon the great general Budo. The highest ranked army official that still openly mocked and denounced Tatsumi. Her urge to the destroy the man grew even further as she sat there and nurtured her anger. She couldn't wait for the day when she would finally get to kill him.
And then, when she was great general, she would make sure that there was not a single soul in the entire empire that didn't know what it meant to hurt Tatsumi.
"You know, for being the leader of an organization called the Path of Peace, you sure choose a rather morbid headdress." Makeias said with a smile. Looking at the other man.
The man was almost as tall as him and had long white hair. He was wearing long flowing robes and a huge animal skull over his head as a helmet. He carried a staff in his right hand.
They were standing in an underground room. Lit up by torches on the walls. Except from the two of them the room was filled with about ten people. The two tallest men in the room were Makeias guards, who were standing behind him. While they were really slender with really thin limbs, they towered almost a meter over everyone else. The other eight persons were standing behind the man with the long white hair and the skull over his head. His followers, counsellors and guards.
"Death is a natural part of life." the man answered with a kind voice. "It is important that we accept that in order to find peace in our daily lives."
"I can see where you are coming from but there is such a thing as fear by association." Makeias said and scratched the back of his head. "I think most people that see you will think that you are a part of some sort of death cult.
"No matter what I wear, people will draw diffrent messages from it. That is not important. What is important is that we talk and communicate with each other." the other man continued in the same friendly voice." Besides, it's tradition."
"Very well, let us begin this exchange then. Have you brought your part of bargain? Not to seem inconsiderate but I would like to make this quick. The longer I stay here the bigger the risk is that someone discovers that this meeting is taking place."
The big animal skull nodded. The man wearing it signaled to the people behind him and one of them brought forth a small chest.
"It was not easy to come by. I had to go through great effort to make sure that no one noticed that we stole this from the revolutionary armies secret armoury. So I hope that you have brought the promised exchange."
"Of course." Makeias said and brought forth a paper folder from under his coat. Holding it out to the other man.
The other group of people tensed. "What is the meaning of this, general?" the leader of the Path of Peace asked. Still in a calm voice. "You promised that you would give us the leaders of our organization back if we brought you this teigu." he said and gestured to the box.
"And I have. After a sense." Makeias answered. "You see, the whereabouts of the prisoners you wanted in exchange have been kept rather secret within the empire. Since the leaders of the empire have been very aware that keeping them as hostages was the only thing preventing you from giving further support to the revoloutionary army."
"And these papers are?" the other man said with uncertainty and took the folder from Makeias.
"The best way to protect something can often be to hide it away." He nodded to the folder."Those papers will show you where you can find all your leaders. Most of them are actually just hidden in small unguarded villages around the empire. Locked up in basements and cottages on the country side. Most of them only guarded by two or three soldiers in civilian cloths."
The other man opened the folder and started to look through it.
"I was quite suprised myself."Makeias admitted with a smile."It seems that some of the higher ups in the empire dosen't trust that the Path of Peace doesn't have any followers among the prison guards."
The other man closed the folder."Well then. Thank you for upholding your part."
One of the followers of the man stepped forward."Wait a moment, my lord. How do we know that we are not just being fooled here. This is not what the original deal was." he said and looked at Makeias.
"How rude." Makeias said and shrugged with a smile."I also went through a big risk in order to steal that information. I literally saved it out of a fire as well.
"That doesn't mean tha-" the follower started but was interrupted as his leader raised his hand in front of him.
"Do not worry, my friend. I have a feeling that the imperial general is telling the truth. Right now at least." He turned to his follower. "Trust in me in this as you have trusted me before." he said gently and handed the man the folder. He then signaled for the men behind him to give Makeias the box.
"You're not half as stupid as you seem." Makeias said. "Or maybe you just have good instincts." he said and took the small chest. It didn't weigh much and was small enough for him to carry it under one arm.
"The latter would probably be more correct, general." the skull wearing man answered in the same calm voice. "With this are buisness is done, Makeias." he said and started to turn.
"Not quite."
Those two single words made the other group tense up again.
Makeias reached inside his coat once again and brought out a sealed letter. He gave it to the leader of the other group.
"What is this?"
"Let's call it a buisness proposal. Open it when you are safe and alone."
"Would you care to explain a bit more,general?" ,the lord of the Path of Peace asked in a friendly tone.
"The details are written in there." he said with a gesture towards the letter. "But basically I want you to start propagating for me amongst your followers."
"We are still intending to support the revoloutionary army as soon as our leaders have been returned safely."
"The revoloutionary army is broken. The movements days are numbered. It is a shell of what it once was and it's military power has been reduced so low that the empire doesn't even deem it necessary to dedicate any modest forces to dealing with it. They are non-threat. Held together by the potential of a few remaining teigu users that grow fewer every day."
Makeias started to turn and gave the other man a grim look. His smile gone for a few moments."You rejoining them will not change that fact. Just create more bodies."
"That still doesn't mean that we can support the imperial court as it is."
Makeias smile returned."I said that I wanted you to support me. Not the empire." He started to walk out of the room. His guards following him."Contact me through the usual method if you are interested. That offer will remain whatever else may happen."
The leader of the Path of Peace looked at the letter and then put in one of his pockets.
Makeias walked out of the room and into the next one. It was filled with his soldiers. Waiting for him to return from the secret meeting.
"Everything worked out as planned. Prepare to move out." he ordered in a loud voice.
Everyone in the room started to move out. Packing up stuff and putting on outdoor clothes. Makeias walked across the room to a corner where the one person he was seeking was standing.
It was a small girl. Barely reaching him to the hips. She wore something that looked like a brown bag with holes in it for her arms and head. With the bottom of it cut off for her legs. Her slender arms and legs were dusty and dirty. She had golden hair that almost reached down to her ankles and dark brown eyes that seemed to be brimming with fury at all time.
She held her hands closed at her sides and glared at Makieas as he approached her. He crouched down in front of her. "Hello there, Liza. You seem peachy today." he said with a ridiculing smile.
She slapped him across the face. The movement was lightning fast but Makeias head didn't move an inch from the impact.
"Now, now." he said calmly. Seemingly unfazed."I have a task for you." he said and took forth the chest from under his arm. He held it in front of her.
"I want you to take this to my army's main base to the west of the capital, as fast as you can. There I want you to give it to the man who is taking care of your brother, okay?"
She glared at him for some moments and then ripped the chest from his hands.
"Thank you." he said and smiled. He put a hand on her head and leaned in a bit closer."You are now holding the key to achieving my plan. So don't slip." he whispered to her.
The little girl smiled a cruel smile at him.
"I know." he said and returned the smile "Your brother will be delighted to know that your part in this will soon be over."
She started to walk around him. Makeias straigthened up without without turning around. "If you lose that chest it will never be." he said without looking at her.
She stopped for a few seconds and then darted off. Sending the few of his guards that were not able to get out of the way flying some meters up in the air.
Makeias sighed. "Troublesome child." he said and started walking towards the next room. Starting to move out from the underground meeting place they were in.
His two guards fell in line behind him.
Now I will only have to wait. ,Makeias thought. Liza will bring the teigu to my second-in-command and then the team he has assembled will start searching for someone compatible with it.
Makieas smiled to himself as he walked into the next room. Not noticing the small movement above him as Akame dislodged herself from the ceiling. Falling down towards the imperial general without making a sound. Murasame drawn in her right hand.
When Tatsumi woke up for the second time, the sun had settled a little bit. Judging from the sunlight coming in through the windows it seemed to be late afternoon.
The first thing he noticed was that Esdeath was not in the bed anymore. He slowly rose up but it was almost hard to do. After a lot of effort he managed to get into sitting position. Resting his back against the bed's headboard. He felt stronger but not much.
He felt himself jump a bit as he realized that he wasn't alone in the room. Kurome was sitting on a chair at the end of the bed.
Damn, Tatsumi thought. Why is her presence always so hard to detect?
They seemed to be alone in the big room. She was holding a small book in one of her hands. Holding a finger in it to mark where she was. She was staring at him with an empty expression.
"Kurome, I would really have appreciated if you had let me know that you were here when you saw that I was waking up.", Tatsumi said in a tired voice as he settled down.
"You have been moving around a lot while you were asleep so I was unsure if you were awake or not." she said in a silent voice. Keeping her empty expression.
"Have you ever seen somebody sleep with open eyes, then?" he said and tried to rubb the sleepiness from his eyes.
She simply nodded.
"That was meant as a rhetorical question." he said with a smile. He stretched his arms over his head. He was reminded of the state of his left hand when it touched his other one. Sending a sharp pain through it.
He held his bandaged hand in front of his face. Trying to slowly bend the fingers of it. It hurt like hell. Especially the fingertops. He looked at it for some moments. He wanted to know how bad it was. He started to unravel the bandage with his other hand.
"Don't" Kurome said and took a hold of the hand that was undoing the bandages. He had not noticed when she got so close. He choose to blame it on how concealed she kept her presence by default. Not wanting to admit that his perceptive instincts were basically nonexistent at the moment.
"The doctors looked at it an hour ago." Kurome said silently. "They said it will be fine."
For some moments Tatsumi considered trying anyway but decided that she was probably right. He didn't really know what he would gain by seeing his destroyed hand. He looked at her.
"How bad did it look?" he asked.
"You don't have to worry. I am almost certain that all five fingers were still attached. Mostly." she said. Trying to sound reassuring but failing miserably.
Tatsumi paled a little bit. "Maybe I need to look after all." he said and started to tuck at the bandages again.
"No." Kurome said and grabbed his hand again. She reached over to one of the nightstands and took a bowl that was standing there. She pushed it into his hands. "Eat." she said in a determined voice.
Tatsumi looked down at the bowl. It contained some sort of gruel with some vegetables in it and a wooden spoon."I really don't have an appetite right now, you kno-"
"I was ordered to make you eat that when you woke up." Kurome said. Looking dead serious.
"So what," Tatsumi said in a joking tone."are you gone force feed me if I refuse to eat it?" he joked.
Kurome looked at him for some moments. Then she put a knee on the bed. Starting to climb up on it.
"Ok, ok."Tatsumi said. Grabbing the spoon."It was just a joke ,Kurome."
Kurome climbed down again. Walking over to her chair again. "So was what I said about your fingers."she said silently.
Then don't be so monotone in how you present it,Tatsumi thought as he started to eat. He had forgotten how hard it could be to read Kurome at times. Yet he was unwilling to let the atmosphere turn sour. He knew that Kurome would always remain as his ally if he just handled her correctly.
"So, Kurome, why are you stationed here?" he asked. Trying to get a discussion going as he ate the somewhat cold gruel."Couldn't any of the attendants just have told me to eat this when I woke up?"
"The commander no longer trust any attendants enough to let them into this room while you are weakened." Kurome said and picked up the book she had left on the chair. "Not even the new ones."
And it was her normal footsoldiers that put me in this state, so that explains why she didn't trust any of her regular warriors with this task ,Tatsumi thought. That was good though. The lesser Esdeath trusted her subordinates, the faster things would start to crumble when the plan entered it's final stage.
"Wait a minute." Tatsumi said as the second sentence Kurome had said finally sank in. "What do you mean with "new attendants"?"
"I don't know. I asked where I could find some water but they all excused themselves and said that they only had worked her for a day or so."
Tatsumi got a horrible premonition. He had not been able to move his own secret helper away from Esdeath's service before he was paralyzed. Was Esdeath now searching through the old attendants to find who had set him free. It was exactly that kind of scenario that he had promised his hidden ally that he would help her avoid.
"What happened to the old attendants?" he asked. Trying to sound as nonchalant as he could.
Kurome just shrugged as she started to read her book again.
Tatsumi got a feeling that whatever had happened to the attendants was not good. He needed to get out of here and learn what had happened to them. He needed to know if there was something he could still do for them. If he had been unable to obstruct or distract Esdeath for almost a week, then god knows what she might have done to the attendants.
Tatsumi froze in his train of thought. He had forgotten one thing in the drug hampered condition of his mind.
Leone.
He had postponed that problem since he figured that he could keep Esdeath occupied until he could find a solution to it. But now he had been lying in this bed for five days. Esdeath would have had all the free time she needed to go down and start playing with Leone in her horrible ways.
Kurome's eyes returned to Tatsumi from her book again. She noticed that he had tensed up.
Tatsumi was trying to analyse the situation. He had to assume the worst now. Five days. Five long days. In the worst case scenario, Esdeath had already broken and killed Leone. Or Esdeath might have kept her alive but broken her completly. Intending to make her into a pet. But if that was the case then her death was not far off. Such a high-profile enemy of the empire couldn't been allowed to live for too long. Even if it was for humiliation purposes.
He needed to get up. He needed to know what was going on.
He put down the bowl and started to move to the side of the bed. He still felt so heavy. He was already tired when he was about to move his legs out of the bed. It was only when he was about to put his legs down on the floor that he noticed that Kurome was standing in front of him. He looked up at her.
"The commander ordered me to not let you out of the bed until you have recovered all of your strength, Tatsumi."
So that is why you are here, Tatsumi thought. Esdeath figured that I might be able to convince Wave to let me leave. But you, you put far too much weight on orders.
"I just need to stretch my legs for a bit." he said with a smile. Figuring that he at least need to try.
She shooked her head at him.
"Kurome, I have been out for days. At least let me go say hi to some of my friends so they don't think I'm dead."
"If you want to send a message to someone, I can call one of the attendants over to deliver it." Kurome said. Trying to be tactful.
"So, are you going to force me to stay here."
She nodded energetically. "The commander said that if you had regained your full strength, I would not be able to stop you either way. Since I can't use any lethal means." she said. Trying to explain to Tatsumi that he would be able to leave as soon as he was well again.
"If I had Incursio, yeah." he sighed. "Fine , I give up. Curse you for exploiting my momentary weakness." he said and started to move back into the center of the huge bed. A task that required much more effort than he was proud of.
Kurome watched him struggle to get back into the bed with well concealed pity.
Tatsumi recognized that he might as well rest some more. Even if he found out what the situation was he wouldn't be able to do much about it in this state. And the hard truth of the matter was that he simply didn't have the energy to escape Kurome right now. He didn't have a choice.
He considered sending an attendant away with a letter with a hidden messages but it was those kind of connections that could be traced if somebody started asking everyone of who he had been in contact with. He better just play it cool right now.
"By the way, Kurome, do you know what has happened to Incursio?" he asked as he was getting back to his original resting place.
"The commander has taken care of your teigu personally this time. Only she knows where it is."
"Figured as much." Tatsumi said as he started to slide in under the covers. He suddenly noticed that a single small piece of candy was lying on the bed beside him. In the place he had just crawled back from. He looked at Kurome but she was back in her chair. Reading her book.
Even with how stressed he was, he couldn't help but smile a little. He knew that the small gesture had a lot of meaning behind it.
"Thanks." he said silently and took the candy.
"Go to sleep." Kurome said in an empty voice.
"That seems to be the only thing people tell me to do today." Tatsumi said and turned over.
"STOP HER!" Makeias roared as he kicked through yet another door. Sending it flying into the room he was entering. Every imperial soldier in the room turned to him as he raced through it. Already heading for the next room. "DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?! DON'T LET HER PASS!" he boomed as he kicked his way through the doors into the next room. The same second he left the room, Akame entered it from the room he had been running from.
Makeias raced through the underground tunnels. Running towards the surface as fast as he could.
It was a small miracle that he was still alive. It was only thanks to the dedication and insane instincts of his two guards that he was still alive. The giant men had somehow been able to detect Akame's attack just before she striked. Pushing Makeias out of the way from the cut that would have killed him. They had both payed with their lives in order to save his. The members of their small tribe growing even fewer.
Makeias cursed under his breath and swore to himself that he would fulfill the promises he had made to their people. If he survived this. He rushed through a long corridor. He couldn't even hear the sound of battle behind him and that worried him even more.
Had the Path of Peace betrayed him? He didn't think so. Their leader seemed to be way to honest for that kind of underhanded tactics. And then they wouldn't have let him send Liza away with the teigu. Now they would never be able to get it back. It seemed more likely to him that some parts of the revoloutionary army had noticed that the Path of Peace had stolen the teigu and had sent night raid to shadow them. Either way, this was a really bad situation.
The crimsoned eyed killer, Akame of the night raid. She was wearing a gas mask but Makeias had recognized her red eyes and black hair from the wanted-posters immediately. And then he had fled as fast as he could. Throwing every soldier with him in her way in order to buy some time.
Akame was the worst possible match-up for him and he was well aware of it. Unlike his fellow generals, Makeias relied on the natural defenses of his teigu in combat. Budo had amazing agility and his teigu acted as an body armor as well. Esdeath had her astounding reflexes and monstrous strength, which made her able to avoid or block any attack. But Makeias defensive abilities were a bit diffrent.
His teigu didn't make him tougher or give him any regenerative abilities. But it did give him an insane level of endurance. His body could receive the most horrible injuries and still move as if nothing had happened. Held together by the infection his teigu constantly pumped into it. It didn't help his body heal the injuries or lessen the damage the attacks caused. The teigu just kept him going. Makeias knew that it would require something akin to decapitation to make him lose control of his body parts. And even then he was unsure of how his teigu would react to the situation.
His teigu gave him a superb ability to survive. Though in what condition was another question. He had killed some of the best warriors the western nations had to offer, simply because they had made the mistake of believing that shoving a spear through his chest or slitting his throat would make him slow down.
And none of it made a bit of diffrence against Akame.
The ability of her teigu was well known within the imperial military. Among all the members of night raid and the revoloutionary army, Akame's profile was the most fleshed out.
So Makeias knew that just a single little cut, just a single little grace of her blade, would mean his end. His teigu's defensive abilities meant nothing here. With the exception of Esdeath's abilities to freeze him, there was not a single teigu that posed such a big threat to him as the one-cut killer: Murasame.
He kicked in a last set of doors and flew out of the underground tunnels. Met by a blue and sunny sky. A grassy field spreading out in front of him. Outlined by a conifreous forest. A group of soldiers and attendants stood waiting for him.
"Go and ready the horses!" he roared. "Leave everything that can be left behind and start moving out as soon as you are ready. I will catch up to you."
The men stared at him for a moment and then began running away over the field. Makeias turned around and looked at the tunnel he had emerged from.
The entrance to the underground tunnel network was disguised as an old abandoned mine. Seemingly sealed off from the public. It was the Path of Peace that had suggested this meeting place and he had accepted it. Thinking that it didn't matter since he was holding the bigger gun anyway, so to speak.
The fact that Akame was wearing a gas mask meant that she knew a bit about the capabilities of his teigu. He would not been able to kill her by poisning the air she breathed. Close combat didn't seem like a good alternativ either. He was pretty confident in his proficiency with his weapon but he had a feeling that Akame had been trained to be able to inflict small and almost unblockable cuts. Makeias had never been the fastest of fighters.
He smiled. Once again my wits is the only thing standing between me and the grim reaper, he thought. But I have way to many promises to fulfill to die here.
He took a deep breath. Calling upon the power of his teigu. Feeding it a part of his life in return for it's power. He opened his mouth and black smoke spewed out of it. He bent over and directed the stream down on the ground where it spread and rose up into the air. Creating a cloud around him.
Ten seconds later, Akame emerged from the tunnel. Jumping out from the darkness in a quick leap. Landing in a crouched stance. Holding her weapon in her right hand. She was met by a huge cloud of thick black smoke. Growing in the middle of the field in front of her. Almost rising as high as the trees that surrounded the field.
"Akame of the night raid, eh? A pleasure to make your acquaintance." a gurgling voice voice called out from the smoke. Makeias walked out of cloud, wearing a smile filled with anger. Akame immediately noticed that the imperial general didn't look like he had done down in the tunnels. He was much paler now. The dark rings under his eyes had gotten even darker. He almost looked like a corpse.
His mouth and teeths were black. A tar like substance trailing down from his lips in long streaks. Dripping down on the ground from his jaw. The clohths on his chest had also been colored black by the same substance. It looked like the dark liquid was emerging from his mid section and then streamed down his stomach and crotch. Dripping down on the ground.
Akame noticed how the grass that was touched by the thick liquid quickly withered.
"You know," the general said in a voice that sounded like a gurgle."if you are carrying a gas mask over your face, you should at least have a mask that covers up your eyes as well. If I hadn't been able to see your eyes, I wouldn't been able to tell who you are. And I would have tried to engage you down in the tunnels. Which probably would had lead to my death."
Akame rose to a standing position. Taking hold of her blade with both her hands. Preparing to attack.
"What happened to the men down in the tunnels?" the general asked.
Akame simply raised her sword in respons.
Makeias smile faded a little."Know that they were good men. They will be missed by their families and friends." Makeias gurgling voice sounded tired and angry. "It seems that behind all of night raid's pretty words and ideals your just another bunch of murderers. Just like me and my kind."
Akame was about to attack when her two attendants emerged from the forest on their left side. Two young girls carrying two swords that looked like Akame's. Designed so that she could teach them her own fighting style.
One of the girls had brown eyes and long brown hair. The other had short blonde hair and blue eyes. Even though they were much younger than Akame, they were highly trained assassins from the revoloutionary army. Given to her so that she could train them and so that they could help her with smaller tasks.
"We have killed all the ones that came running for the horses!" the brown haired girl called out. "We are goi-"
She halted herself mid-sentence when she saw the terrifying appearance of the imperial general.
Makeias turned his eyes to them."Damn, they grow younger every day." he said. His smile growing even wider. That was a mistake, Assassin, he thought.
Akame launched herself at Makeias. Attacking the general while he was looking at the other two girls.
Makeias reacted to her attack by jumping backwards. Into the cloud of smoke that was behind him. Akame immediately followed. She had already figured out what the general was trying to do. He knew that she was wearing a gas mask so this cloud was mainly meant to rob her of her sight. But that was his mistake. Akame was well trained to fight without vision. Her ability to detect the presence of an attacker was superb. The general would lose this battle because of his assumption that taking her sight away would slow her down.
Akame closed her eyes the moment before she entered the cloud. Putting her full focus on her other perceptive instincts.
She kept moving forward until she thought she was in the middle of the cloud. Then she stopped and raised her weapon in front of her. Waiting for the general to attack her. Prepared to cut him down as soon as he approached her.
But the attack didn't come.
Five seconds passed. Then ten. Then fifteen. Then thirty. When forty seconds had passed, Akame started to analyse the situation. Why wasn't he attacking? This was supposed to be his counter attack,right? After running up to the surface the general had finally choose to fight her. Thinking that the smoke would aid him.
A question hit Akame. What had changed? Why had he chosen to fight her here instead of facing her in the tunnels?
Suddenly Akame realized what was going on. Nothing had changed. Makeias was still just trying to get away from her. This was a diversion to buy time. And now he had found a way to ensure his escape.
"Yoshiko! Rio!" she shouted. Calling out to her subordinates. When she didn't get any response she dashed off towards the place where they had been standing when she jumped into the smoke cloud. Realizing where the imperial general had gone.
Author's note:
This chapter grew a bit larger than I had intended. I had actually intended to have the story's second lemon in this chapter but I couldn't make room for it. So the next chapter will start with it. Which will be a bit strange. But I will choose to think about it as if people were reading this entire story in a single sweep.
Speaking of that, it hit me that Bent but not Broken will almost be 100 000 words long now. 100 000! That is almost almost 200 A4 pages. 200!
I'am worried that this story will seem impossible to get through for new readers. There is something to be said for brevity when it comes to attracting readers. But that is not my forte and probably never will be. So we will trudge on.
Not to sound dissatisfied. If you go back to earlier chapters, I have written that I was amazed that just 50 people was following this story. Now that almost 160 people follows it I couldn't be more happy.
So thanks for reading and following this story. I hope that you have enjoyed it. The next one will be posted in 6-7 days.
Take care of each other.