Chapter Two: Welcome to the Revolution

Thought I'd start this chapter off with an AN, mostly to answer a review about whether a pairing will happen or not so here goes.

Tatsumi Partas: "story with Esdeath in the harem?"

I'm gonna say this now, Esdeath I am very on the fence about. With all the fucked stuff I plan to have her be involved with when it comes to Tatsumi, main example being the destruction of his village, I find it VERY difficult to work her in because I don't picture how Tatsumi can love her at that point. I love TatsumiEsdeath, but I really just don't know how it could fit in. However, I will say that if she is requested enough I will include her in some way, though that way very much wouldn't be out of love. It's not gonna be anything fucked because Tatsumi isn't that type of guy, but she wouldn't really be a lover, more of a concubine. Honestly I may base the way it works on how guyNumber23 handles Toga and Deku in his fic Sweet Cute Green Obsession (which I highly recommend btw, good example of a lemon fic with actual plot, it isn't all senseless sex even if it starts out that way.)

Hopefully, this does clear up your question, nothing I say here is set in stone though. If I really wanted I could go for a whole "Esdeath wanted to go with Najenda" route, but that the empire had somehow blackmailed her or forced her to stay with them. This won't mean I remove her bloodthirstyness or love of torture anything though, at that point she'd be OOC and that's not what I want at all. Also it would fuck up her dommy mommy role and I definitely don't want that to happen.

This all being said however, let us finally continue on to chapter two of Undying Flame. I hope you all enjoy yourselves cause shit really kicks off the chapter after this. (Basically it's gonna start a sequence of time skips showing Tatsumi's work and missions with the Revolutionary Army, I won't say anything more than that though.)

Tatsumi had been led through the densest part of the woods by the men ahead of him for quite a while now, in the time they had been walking he was informed of just exactly who Esdeath was. She was the empires strongest general, a woman feared everywhere for her ruthlessness and bloodthirst, not to mention her sick forms of torture. He was told of why someone like her was allowed in the empire's military. The previous emperor and empress had suspiciously died, leaving their young son as the new emperor. The prime minister, Honest, was controlling the young boy from the shadows, the boy was just a coverup for who was really behind all the empire's recent atrocities.

Hearing about the corruption of the empire angered Tatsumi even more than he already was. Even his new "roommate" was a bit peeved at the news, "In all my years this is the first time I've ever heard of something like this happening."

According to the phoenix, who said his name was Fenikkusu, he had originally given his blood to Tatsumi's ancestors as a way to combat this future evil. Fenikkusu knew darkness would one day rule the empire, and thus gave his blood to the tribe that lived upon his land. After doing so, the phoenix was left in a much weaker state, so he decided to leave those lands and head for the west. After leaving, the land he previously inhabited became home of a never-ending winter. The real body of the phoenix was still asleep in the west, restoring his power. What Tatsumi now had was only a fraction of its consciousness.

Tatsumi also finally learned what army the men were part of. They were soldiers of the Revolutionary Army, whose purpose was to overthrow the empire and end its corruption. Currently, they were heading to one of many of the army's bases.

Jotar, who Tatsumi learned was a general of the army, dropped back from the group to walk beside Tatsumi. He turned to the young boy and asked a question that needed to be answered.

"So lad, how're you holding up after everything that happened? An' don' even think of ignorin' the question. You needa get yer feelings off yer chest."

Tatsumi's gaze fell towards the ground as he thought of all the things that happened recently. The destruction of his village and death of his tribe, discovering he now has part of an SS class danger beasts consciousness in his head, and making his way to one of the bases of an army seeking to overthrow the empire. It was safe to say the boy had plenty running through his mind right now, and he agreed with the general, it was better to get off his chest now rather than later.

Tatsumi went on to tell the man about everything, "So much has happened so quickly that I'm losing sight of what it is I should do. I want to avenge my people but I don't believe they'd want me to go down that path. They wouldn't want me to lose sight of myself."

"Ya know what I think laddie? The moment we get back to base and we get ya settled ya needa sit yerself down and grieve." Tatsumi looked up at the man and almost interjected with "Now isn't the time for grieving!" but Jotar quickly cut him off, "Keep yer trap shut for a moment and listen to me Tatsumi. Ya need to take a moment and reflect and grieve for what ya lost. It'll help clear yer mind boy, and make it much easier to figure out where ya go from 'ere. Take it from me lad, do ya think I'm fightin' 'ere for no reason? I lost evrythin' to the Empire too, so listen to a man who was once in yer shoes."

Tatsumi looked at the man in understanding, especially because he now knew he was in a similar situation to his own. He couldn't rush things and he certainly had to reflect on his loss. "You're right, Jotar. It would be wrong of me to try and move on so fast."

"That's General Jotar to you laddie! Knowing wha' you wanna do, yer likely gonna join us. So from ere' on out consider me your boss!"

"Yes sir General Jotar sir!"

Jotar looked at the boy surprised he listened to him, "HAH! I knew there was a reason I liked ya boy! I was jus' pullin yer leg laddie. Yer likely gonna get a position like my own."

Tatsumi glanced at the man before looking back to the path ahead, "That may be true sir, but you likely saved my life. It's only fair I treat you with respect, for now atleast."

"Hmm… it's no wonder you were deemed worthy of my power, you seem to be very honorable. I can also see you're quite the prankster similar to myself. We'll get along nicely, partner."

"The chief did use to say I was a little terror yeah, I'm happy to be working with you Fenikkusu."

"Look alive boy! 'Ere we are, one of the many Revolutionary Army bases!"

So, anyone who previously saw other chapters is probably wondering where the hell I've been for, what, 2 or more years now?

I must apologize to anyone who was looking forward to even somewhat frequent updates before I fell off the face of the earth. Unfortunately I've been struggling with bouts of depression and how I view myself. It's something I still struggle with but I've been dating a wonderful girl whose made me feel a lot better about who I am and how I view myself.

I must also add, I'm about to graduate, and I started working. I've been stressing out and haven't found myself enjoying writing as much due to this, though that should improve now that I'm close to being done with schooling.

I'm hoping that something like this never happens again and I am sorry for my absence. Next chapter hopefully will be out within a week and I will do my utmost to ensure this. I'll see you all in the next one hopefully.

-MacaroniManX