- Knok, knok.
- Who´s there?
- Chapter delivery! Sorry for the delay...
Finally, I´m able to post the 9th chapter of my story. It took me long enough...
But life is always busy and I want to deliver high quality instead of quantity...
The competition has ended and I already chose a winner. Originally, I planned to use the Beast in this chapter, but after I had finished everything, an even better plot came to mind. Therefore, I rewrote and shortened this chapter and decided to reveal the winner in the next one.
Also, there were pretty good suggestion simply too bad to be ignored. Hence, I decided to use some of them at later points in the storyline.
Concerning your questions:
1) shadowlord: Honestly, I never read those comics. Nonetheless, you´ll definitely find some of the powers you mentioned (just a bit altered) ;)
2) jamesnyo65: Well, that´s a pretty good question andto be honest, I don´t know the answer myself, yet :P. No, seriously, it´s true Tatsumi is kind of using Esdeath in "Bent but not broken". But at the same time, I belive he has some feelings of love or at least affection towards her. He stated so himself in the fanfic. Concerning my story: Use your fantasy. I think it´s much more interesting to see new evolvements with every new chapter instead of knowing where this whole thing goes right from the start.
3) Ghost iv: Maybe... ;)
But enough for now. Enjoy :D
DISCLAIMER:
I DON´T OWN ANY RIGHTS TO THE "AKAME GA KILL"-FRANCHISE. THE MANGA WAS WRITTEN BY TAKAHIRO AND ILLUSTRATED BY TETSUYA TASHIRO.
THIS FANFIC HAS NOT BEEN WRITTEN FOR PROFIT!
IT MAY CONTAINS SPOILER!
IT´LL INCLUDE BRUTAL CONSIDERED SCENES!
Chapter 9: Kill the excuse
Walking right behind his superior, Tatsumi could feel the gazes of his comrades in arms that were directed directly at him. He didn´t like the odd silence which found its way into their surrounding whenever they passed some of her soldiers.
`Something´s off.´
He didn´t know what exactly had happened in his absence, but he was positive some of them held quite an amount of disdain towards him. They were not even trying to hide it completely, making him feel quite nervous, for he and Esdeath had already agreed in advance he´d have to explain his absence by himself and catch up with her before the departure of her army.
Nonetheless, they boy didn´t slow down at all. Ignoring all of the glances, he simply followed the General until they reached the centre of the camp, where they were surrounded by soldiers in no time.
Nobody dared to make a sound as the General turned towards her second-in-command, who stood right in front of the other men, ready to receive their new orders.
"Our task up here is finally finished. Get ready for departure! We´ll start our way towards the capital in an hour. Any questions concerning the recent happenings will be answered by my lover. It goes without saying nobody is to harm him except for me. Otherwise, I´d face said person myself."
Making sure to express that last part as threatening as possible, Esdeath knew not a single soldier would dare to disobey.
After receiving a quick salute by her second-in-command, the General turned around and started heading towards her tent without looking at her beloved at all; it´d be better for his reputation amongst her soldiers to deal with that situation alone. She knew how they thought after all.
A deafening silnce took over again after the General had left, making the youth feel even more uncomfortable than before. Looking at the faces of all the gathered soldiers didn´t help him either, even more so because he wasn´t able to spot his closest comrades amongst them.
But on the contrary, since the `Ice Queen´ had left, the disdain towards him got even more visble than before. He still didn´t know what could have happened after his disappearance which would stimulate those emotions, but Tatsumi knew he´d only be able to get out of that situation if he managed to think of a plausible explanation for his absence.
"What caused your disappearance?" Luke asked outright.
Esdeath´s second-in-command seemed to be one of the few gathered men to be completley neutral; or at least he didn´t show any negative emotions towards the boy.
"I don´t know for sure."
It took everything from Tatsumi to not show any signs of his anxiety towards his superior. The only course of action the young soldier could think of was to stick as close to the truth as possible to soothe the mood.
"Somehow, I seem to have gotten in the possession of a Teigu while being unconscious. When I woke up, I was completely fine; all of my wounds were gone..."
"...and you decided to run, costing our comrade in duty of the nightwatch his life!" An angered voice from one of the soldiers in the back finished his sentence.
Tatsumi sweat-dropped getting to know their cause for despising him. He had caused one of their comrades to die; and knowing her, he was pretty sure it wasn´t a quick and painless death. Nonetheless, he couldn´t help but think the true reason for their rage was seeing him completely unscathed after he had clearly left the camp by himself without permission, and thus violating military standarts.
There was only one thing the boy could think of that could possibly calm them down. Even though he didn´t like the idea, he had to justify the death of that poor soul and assure them he had already been punished. But would they even believe him?
"That´s not right!"
The boy answered as calm as possible, trying not to show any signs of malaise. He knew he´d better stick as close to the truth as possible if he wanted to avoid making his situation even worse.
"I didn´t know my location at all when I woke up, nor did I know the outcome of the battle. I simply wanted to find out what had happened and grabbed a spare uniform, before leaving the medical tent in order to search for the General."
"But you never ended up arriving at your goal."
Luke´s voice didn´t give away any hint about his frame of mind. It sounded completely neutral, matching the expression on the face of Esdeath´s second-in-command.
"So what happened?"
"Well..."
Tatsumi had no time to hesitate even though he didn´t know what to answer; the only chance for him was to stay calm. He had no idea whether they´d believe his made-up excuse or not, but there was no other chance for him than this one.
"While I walked through the rows of tents in search of someone able to help me, I became lost and ended up at the edge of the camp, right above the plain covered with ice. I was just about to turn around, but I thought I had seen a person entering the forest and so I decided to have a look at it."
"And why didn´t you shout out for a night guard?" The officer asked, still not showing any emotion.
"I only learned of the Northerners´ fate later on, but back then I didn´t know about the final outcome of the war and thought of the silhouette to be a spy for remaining enemies. I didn´t want to risk definitely driving him away and thus tried to detain him by myself."
Even though he had assumed the final subjugation of the northern forces back then, the youth hoped this partly-true argument was good enough to deceive all of them.
"So you ended up getting lost in the forrest, trying to find the person you saw," concluded Luke with a stoical expression.
Hoping this would solve most of his problems, the boy nodded in response, not caring too much about the fate of those two soldiers from back then; they didn´t care about all those innocent victims, either.
"Fine. If that is what happened, I´ll see through the night guards in duty of supervising the plain will be punished accordingly for not taking their duties seriously. That would be all, soldier. You are dismissed."
"Even if that story is true, he should be punished too. He still violated military orders!" An angry voice shouted out of the last row.
"He´s just not receiving any punishment `cause he´s the General´s favourite!" added another one.
"The General´s orders were unmistakable! If anyone has the guts to try disregarding them, said person can feel free to try it now!" An equally-angry Luke shouted towards the approximated direction the voices were coming from.
"But whether you actually get to harm him as long as I´m here is another thing."
The tension had reached its peak. If only one soldier would make a wrong move now, all the hatred towards the boy would burst forth, leading to these battle-proven men fighting each other; one side following their orders, the other side trying to satisfy their urge for justice, even though if that meant facing punishment by the sadistic general herself.
Gripping the hilt of his still sheated sword tightly with his sword hand, the vice-commander was prepared for everything. One wrong move of one of his subordinates, and he wouldn´t hesitate at all to cut said person down in one swift move.
Focusing on the soldiers in front of him, Luke didn´t notice the person, creeping up on him from behind. He only realized it, as said person grabbed his secondary weapon; a small dagger, being attached on the opposite side of the sword.
Fast as lightning, the seasoned fighter spun around to hack down the attacker, only to stop his sword inches away from Tatsumi´s head with a surprised look. He wouldn´t have assumed the teenager to make any move at all.
"I know most of you won´t believe me..." yelled the boy towards the crowd,
"...but I already received my punishment by the General and this should be enough to prove it."
Luke´s eyes widened in shock. The officer stood there, unable to move, while the younger boy pierced the dagger right through his left hand, shouting out a cry of agony. After pulling it out again, the youth gripped his hand tightly, the amount of pain he felt clearly expressed on his face.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Luke shouted, shocked and enraged at the same time, snatching his bloodied dagger from the boy´s right hand. It was by then he realized something truly terrifying, making him go pale.
`The General won´t overlook that...´
"I´m proving my statement," Tatsumi declared aloud, his voice still trembling due to the amount of pain.
"This wound will be gone as fast as the wounds I received by the General; there won´t even be a scar. Furthermore, not one of you will be punished, for she only forbid you to hurt me. You´ll see the results for yourselves on a later date."
Without another word, the teenager turned around, stumbling away from the scene, still clasping his blood dripping hand, leaving his stunned and shocked comrades-in-arms behind. Right now, he had to check up on his friends.
Meanwhile...
They had heard there had been quite some commotion back in the camp during the last two days, but neither of them got to learn any specifics.
Due to their injuries, Shin as well as Steve had been ordered to stay in their tent to not worsen their wounds. Normally, they would have been stationed inside of the medical tent until there was a possibility to send them back to the capital via carriage, but due to Tatsumi´s life-threatening condition, the doctor had treated any of the injured in their own tents.
Furthermore, there was no need for them to take a carriage right now. The war was over; the North had been subjugated. The army would return to the capital in one go in the near future. To be precise, it should have already been on its way back home right now...
Neither of them knew exactly what had caused the forces to be put on standby for now. The only visitors they got since they had returned from visiting their comatose friend, the doctor and the medical staff, weren´t too talkative either.
They had been informed about some disturbances, but not about the exact cause. Seeing the doctor´s pale expression when he informed them himself, however, made them feel pretty uncomfortable, even more so, because he had been eluding any questions concerning Tatsumi.
"I think we should just visit the tent and take a look, Shin."
Steve wasn´t comfortable with their lack of information at all. Why wouldn´t anybody tell them about their friend? Had something happened to him? The younger soldier just couldn´t stand this situation any longer.
"I dislike this as much as you do," replied the older man.
"But we were ordered not to leave this tent for now. We are soldiers; we can´t just disobey orders because we have a bad feeling about something."
"But what if something has happened to him?"
Steve knew his companion was right, but he just couldn´t help but worry about their much younger friend. He had saved their lives more than once, but again, they weren´t able to do anything more for him than pray. It just didn´t sit right with him.
"We just have to trust in our comrades-in-arms and the General. We can´t do more than that for now."
A deep sigh escaped Shin´s throat, given that he felt the same as his younger friend.
"Let´s just try asking the doctor again, when he comes to check up on our wounds."
"Fine."
The younger man couldn´t surpress the resignation in his voice. He knew it wouldn´t change anything for now.
They had barely finished their small conversation when they heard footsteps drawing near. Undoubtedly, it would be either the doctor to check up on them or someone bringing their daily rations. Therefore, they couldn´t hide their shock and surprise at the same time when they spotted a well-known face entering the tent.
Their youngest friend stood right in the entrance to their tent, looking completely fine except for a hole in his left hand which seemed to have been caused only recently. Wide-eyed, the duo sat there, not knowing how to react towards the youth who looked at them with a sly but pained smile.
"Hey, guys. I´m very-"
The boy wasn´t able to finish his sentence when Steve pulled him into a bonecrushing hug, leaving him unable to speak.
"Thank god you´re alright! We were worried sick about you!" The older soldier shouted in a mix of anger and relief.
Tatsumi could tell his friend was fighting his tears.
"I´m really sorry."
"You don´t have to be. We were the reason you got into this situation after all."
Still sitting on his cot, Shin gave Tatsumi a sly smile. The oldest member of the trio was glad their friend had returned, but remained calm due to his experience of life.
"Anyone would help his friends, when the need arises. And as you can see, I´m fine."
"Now that you mention it..."
Finally, Steve had calmed down somewhat, starting to process the whole situation.
"But how? Last time we saw you, you were on the brink of death."
"That´s a long story, one which I don´t completely understand myself."
"We´ve got some time. Sit down and tell us what you know. In the meantime I´ll treat your wound; thank god the doctor left some spare bandages."
Hearing Shin´s words, Tatsumi made his way towards his friend´s cot, sitting down beside of him.
Having their full attention on himself, Tatsumi started to explain everything he knew, while Shin bandaged his hand. He told them about the first encounter with Kyūketsuki, about the kind of powers he was granted and how he woke up completely healed. The boy also admitted he had no clue of how he had aquired this Teigu, only to notice his friends exchanging thoughtful glances on that matter.
"What is it?"
"The ring you gave Tatsumi. Could that have been actually a Teigu?" Shin asked, ignoring Tatsumi´s question.
"And I always thought it was just a good luck charm..."
Steve seemingly couldn´t handle the information he had just received. Who´d have thought he was carrying an infamous and dangerous weapon all this time without having a clue?
"What are you talking about, guys?"
Tatsumi didn´t know what was going on here. Did they actually know something about how he came into possession of his Teigu?
It didn´t take his friends long to explain him, what had happened while he was still fighting for his life back then. And even though he couldn´t believe what a stroke of coincidences – or was it fate? – brought that ring into his hands, Tatsumi couldn´t help but feel delighted to know his friends cared as much for him as he did for them.
It was at that moment the entrance to the tent opened and a medic showed up, informing the injured duo of a carriage which would get them in about five minutes, for the departure of the army was near, shocking Tatsumi to his core. He indeed had forgotten about the time.
`Shit! I was supposed to meet up with her before the army starts to move!´
Imagining her reaction in case of him being to late, the youth paled instantly, gatting the attention of his two friends.
"What´s up, boy?" Steve asked somewhat perplexed by the acute change in his friend´s behaviour.
"I-I forgot about the time!"
The teen tried to sound as calm as possible but wasn´t able to hide his anxiety completely.
"I´m sorry, but I won´t be able to tell you the rest of the story. Just ask one of our comrades! Bye!"
Leaving his two perplexed friends behind, Tatsumi started to hurry towards the General´s tent, ignoring the soldiers who were about to break down and load the remnants of the camp onto multiple carriages.
He had just arrived at the entrance of the General´s tent, when Esdeath and Luke – both already fully equipped – left it, the former stopping right in front of him and dismissing her second-in-command. After a quick salute, the still somewhat pale-looking soldier turned around, leaving the two of them alone.
"Perfect! Right on time."
Upon hearing those words, Tatsumi took a deep breath. He had managed to avoid the worst case. But his feeling of reassurance didn´t last long when he noticed Esdeath glancing at his freshly bandaged left hand with a frown, making him realize why Luke had such a frightened expression when he left the tent.
Seeing the youth´s face turn a tad white, the `Ice Queen´ didn´t need to hear her beloved speaking up and anticipated his questions.
"Don´t worry. Your actions did indeed defuse the situation, and it wouldn´t even leave a scar. There won´t be a punishment for anyone, at least not this time. But if you won´t stop acting on a whim, that could change pretty fast. Do you understand?"
Knowing she was absolutely serious, Tatsumi confirmed it with a nod, still not really able to speak. He felt frightened and relieved at the same time, but seeing her facial expressions soften somewhat after his confirmation, helped him getting calmer by every second.
"Good! Now that it´s cleared, I think the two of us should head out."
"What do you mean? Aren´t we travelling with the rest of your army?" A visibly confused Tatsumi asked.
"No! The two of us will meet up with my Three Beasts back in the capital. I want to know whether they have failed me or not. Ahh, perfect timing!"
Following Esdeath´s gaze, Tatsumi turned around, only to see a soldier approaching them with a sheated claymore in his hands, which he handed over to the General. Seeing her nod in approval, the soldier, after giving a quick salute, turned around, returning to his duties.
"I doubt you´ll need it, but just in case, you should have a sword with you. Don´t worry, I already got your belongings ready for our trip. Now it´s time for departure."
After handing over the sword to a confused looking Tatsumi, the General pulled out a small whistle she wore around her neck. Strangely enough, he didn´t hear a tune at all coming out of its outlet.
The youth didn´t know what to expect when the General stopped whistling. For him, it seemed nothing had changed.
`What is she trying to...´
Suddenly, the boy picked something up. A strange sound seemed to get closer by the second, reminding him of... beating wings?
Completely stunned, he turned around and followed Esdeath´s line of sight, which had shifted towards the clouds above them which had gradually gathered within the last hour. It was by then Tatsumi was able to experience one of the most beautiful, yet terrifying sights he had seen in his whole life.
A giant black dragon burst through the blanket of clouds. And given what the youth could see, it had to be at least a S-ranked Danger Beast.
The dragon was at least as big as a house and partly clad in armor. A perfectly-sized metal plate in dull silver protected its complete abdomen, while its upper head was protected by some sort of a serrated helmet, encompassing everything except its piercing red eyes. A saddle had been placed on its back, being attached to two of the spires on its back. Its jaw was spiked with razor-sharp teeth and canines as long as swords.
The giant winged monster drew nearer to the ground with each flap, slowing down its descent. Placing its massive, ripped rear legs on the ground, the beast slowly came to a standstill after folding its wings on its side. It was then when Tatsumi spotted the bag containing his belongings attached to the saddle.
The dragon slowly hunched over, placing the claws which grew out of the bones forming its wings on the ground, before crawling over to the two of them, lowering its giant head right into Esdeath´s outstretched hand.
The boy didn´t know what to think. Never before had he deemed it possible for a Danger Beast to act that obediently, even more so for such a powerful one as this dragon. It was true the `Ice Queen´ wasn´t exactly what you´d call an ordinary human, but she had to be – he hoped so, at least.
"Your expression tells me you can barely believe what you see," Esdeath said, surpressing a chuckle. She simply loved the stunned look her beloved had on his face just now. If she´d have to rank it, she´d place it at the third place – right behind his heartful, innocent smile and his adorable sleeping face.
"I have to admit this is pretty impressive," replied the boy, trying to play down his actual thoughts.
"But how were you able to achive this? How could you tame a S-class Danger Beast?"
"It´s pretty easy, in fact. You just have to show it that you´re stronger. Make it clear it lives only upon your grace; that it lives as long as it is useful."
The sadistic grin which had formed on her lips, as well as the seriousness in her voice, once more reminded the boy of who this person was. Even the beast in front of them seemed to quiver in fear.
`Poor lad! I´m not even sure who of you should rather be referred to as a monster...´
"Normally, I wouldn´t dress him up in battle gear, not even before an actual fight, but I´m not riding him alone today, hence I thought this to be better."
Esdeath had just finished her sentence as something he hadn´t thought about before dawned Tatsumi: They would actually ride this Danger Beast!
The youth sweat-dropped. How could she expect him – an average human being – to ride a dragon with her? Ok, he had a Teigu; but that didn´t change his nature at all. Considering her power and personality, he had to admit he could imagine her doing such a thing. But him?! He didn´t feel good about this at all. He had to prevent it!
"I-I don´t think t-that´s a good idea."
Tatsumi tried his best to sound calm, but given the General´s cold and piercing gaze upon him as well as his situation, he couldn´t suppress his nervousness.
"I-I mean it´s alright f-for you, b-but I think i-it might c-could be d-dangerous for me. I-I mean y-your d-dragon d-d-doesn´t know me. S-shouldn´t I-I just stay h-here and t-travel with t-the others..."
Still tickling the Danger Beast´s lower jaw, Esdeath didn´t react at all. She just kept looking at the youth with her blank expression. It was then, he noticed he had just asked for her to leave him with her army and travel alone. He couldn´t tell whether she actually considered that as an option, or whether he had just gotten her mad. After all, she hadn´t reacted too good to his earlier intentions of leaving her side. His face went pale.
Suddenly, the accrued silence around them shattered. Holding her stomach with her free hand, the General started to laugh heartily, getting the boy pretty perplexed.
"You´re simply afraid of riding him aren´t you?" Esdeath remarked, still giggling.
"But you don´t have to worry. Gorgoth won´t attack you!"
`She has given it a name?! Is that a Danger Beast or her pet?!´
"Well, technically that´s not right. Given that you´re most likely not strong enough to beat him in a fight right now – even though as I contemplate the strength of your Teigu, he most likely would have devoured you, if you were alone. But as long as I´m with you, that won´t happen. He wouldn´t dare to disobey me."
Tatsumi didn´t know what to say. She really wanted him to be near a creature which would most likely be able to make a snack out of him in an instant if she wasn´t around?! She couldn´t be serious about this. That had to be a bad joke.
"S-Sure."
The boy had no intention to give in, but he knew it would be even worse to anger that woman.
"Furthermore, it´s just this time. As soon as you´re strong enough, I´ll teach you the way of subjugating your own Danger Beast. It´s always a good method to increase your reputation and strength even more."
Noticing a slight blush on Esdeath´s face, Tatsumi became speechless once more. Had she really become flustered at the thought of him beating some strong Danger Beast under her supervision? Something just wasn´t right with her mind. It would be better to approach that problem in the near future. He had to take precautions not to accidentally act in a way which would encourage her traits, after all...
Distracted by his own thoughts, the youth didn´t notice the General approaching him until she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her mount in one go. Before he was able to say anything to her, the two of them already sat on the barely-big-enough saddle; himself placed directly behind the General.
"Time to fly! Better grab a hold of me Tat~su~mi. Gorgoth, go!"
"It can´t be that baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"
Never before had the boy feared for his life to such an extent. Desperately trying to stay on the dragon somehow, he clutched the blushing general´s waist with all of his might. Normally, he wasn´t afraid of heights, but given the beast´s incomprehensibly high level of acceleration on its way up, he couldn´t help but imagine himself falling down to his death if he weakened his grip even slightly.
No matter how he looked at his situation, the boy was pretty sure this could be one hell of a trip...
Dammit! The chapter is finished already :(
Don´t be too sad, the next will follow...
Thanks for the support of my friends and ll of my readers.
As always:
Feel free to ask questions and tell me your opinions. Feel free to review.
Feel free to send in your (OC-)requests.
Until next time,
Marcel M.
P.S.: I didn´t manage to do it since the release of my last chapter. So this is just a reminder:
I´ll try to fix some minor errors in Chapter 1 to 8; no big issues, only grammar. You don´t have to worry about any changes in the story :)