A/N: Hello everyone, I hope you all had great holidays and are as excited to read this chapter as I am to post it! I believe this is the longest chapter of this story so far, just over 8k words. As always favs/follows and reviews are greatly appreciated, enjoy!
She took a deep breath and stood up, clenching, then relaxing her hands in an attempt to calm her nerves, reining in her emotions. The worst thing, in her mind, that she could do was wallow, there were still duties she needed to attend to, but first, and most importantly, she needed to get Tatsumi's body to give him a proper burial.
"Damn it, when did I get so sentimental?" Esdeath thought, "that damn boy, he's making me go soft," she blushed and smiled.
But her smile quickly faded and the blood drained from her cheeks as she remembered, his death still not fully sinking into her core. The person who she had held so dearly for over two years was … gone.
She gazed at a letter on her desk, she walked over and picked it up, there was no indication on who it was from aside from the Prime Minister's wax seal, her brows furrowed for a moment before they relaxed.
"Whatever it is, it can wait," Esdeath thought as she tossed the letter back onto her desk.
With one more deep breath to steel her resolve, she marched down to the infirmary to speak to Jack.
She entered his room, a typical dull infirmary room, white walls, white tiled floor, white linens on the bed. It was as if they were trying to make the patients go insane. She looked at Jack, he was resting at the moment. From what she had been told during her brief exchange with the doctor before entering, his injuries due to Night Raid's attack weren't physically too serious, but mentally the whole ordeal had taken a toll on him.
Esdeath gently sat down in the chair to the side of the bed, facing it.
Gently, she shook him awake,
"Wake up Sargent," she said with uncharacteristic tenderness.
His eyes opened and he addressed the general.
Again, unlike her usual self, she didn't cut the pleasantries,
"How are your injuries?"
"I'm feeling okay General," he lied, "the doctor said I can return to my duties in a few days."
"I see, well that is certainly good news," Esdeath said, pausing slightly, "I apologize if you don't want to speak about this but I need some information on what happened that night, more precisely I need the location of where Night Raid attacked our convoy."
Jack swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to keep it together,
"Yes General, its no problem," he began, "We had been traveling for a handful of hours, about three I think, before they attacked. We had just entered a pine forest, maybe 40 to 50 kilometers east of where we set up camp. He should still be there."
Esdeath stood up, "Thank you Jack, I appreciate your help," but as she was about to leave Jack spoke up,
"Make them pay General,"
Esdeath turned to face him again,
He he gripped the sheets, tears dripping from his face, "Please General, promise me you'll make Night Raid pay. They killed so many good men, I-," he got choked up.
Esdeath returned to the bed and grasped his hands in hers,
"I do solemly swear Sargent Jack Harrison, I will do everything in my power to make Night Raid feel my wrath."
The look in her eyes told Jack that she meant what she said, in fact, he could feel the anger radiating from the General, her calm demeanor nothing but a facade.
Again she stood up, "I hope your injuries heal soon Sargent," she said before striding out of the room, making haste for her steed.
Her horse was in a full sprint before Esdeath had even left the stable, she needed to get to his body fast, before decomposition fully set in.
After hours of full speed sprinting, her horse still had the stamina to keep going. This was because her horse was not a normal horse, far from it, it was from the line of horses bred specifically for Imperial Generals, it had unnatural amounts of stamina and could run at breakneck speeds.
She passed through towns like a whirlwind, the horse left a rooster tail of dust in its wake. Before the sun had even begin to set, Esdeath entered the pine forest, finally slowing her horse down to a trot.
She followed the main path, knowing that it was the most likely path that the convoy would have taken. She carefully scanned her surroundings, looking for any sign of the wreckage. It was not long before she spotted the site of the attack.
It was just as Jack had described it, every carriage was smashed, except for the cart that had been carrying the prisoners. Imperial soldier bodies littered the ground, having an assortment of wounds ranging from blunt force trauma, to the tell-tale curse marks of Murasame.
Seething rage bubbled inside Esdeath as she dismounted her steed and approached the scene on foot.
Something seemed amiss, as Tatsumi's body wasn't in plain view.
"There's no way Tatsumi would have ran off, he would stay near the convoy to protect it, so his body should be somewhere around here," she thought.
As the seconds turned into minutes and she still couldn't find him, the rage which she had been trying to suppress leaked out, as she became enraged.
She started flipping the carts over in rage, sending them flying hundreds of meters,
"WHERE IS HE!?" she screamed.
Though her rage didn't dull her senses as she noticed a single dried drop of blood on the ground. Without hesitation, she bent down and licked it, as she mixed it with her saliva, she swished it around her mouth like it was a fine wine.
"This is definitely Tatsumi's blood" Esdeath concluded knowing the taste of his blood rather well, "If he's not here then that must mean…"
Her expression turned dark, yet again her icy powers seeped out of herself and turned the pine forest into a scene straight out of a christmas movie.
"They must have taken him."
Tatsumi sighed in relief when he stepped into the shower and the warm water flowed over his body. The bathroom steaming up, Tatsumi examined the self-inflicted wound on his arm,
"Ah shit, I ended up cutting myself kinda deep," he thought, "I'm definitely going to have to dress this."
Stepping out of the shower, he dried himself off and looked at his imperial uniform.
"Yeah I'm gonna need some new clothes, those are a bit… conspicuous."
With a lot of wincing he dressed his wound and set out to grab another set of clothes.
The hostel he was currently staying in was in a quaint little town, 25 kilometers or so from the capital.
He went to the only clothing store in town and barely managed to find anything that fit him, but they did have a nice brown hooded cloak. Along with the cloak, a pair of brown pants and a blue long-sleeve shirt just about bankrupted him, but he made it work.
Immediately after leaving the shop he went into an alleyway and changed, covering his face with the hood. He didn't think that it was very likely he would be recognized, but the less risks the better.
"Alright, next step is I gotta meet up with my contact in the capital,"
But without a horse, or being able to call Dagahra because he had to maintain a low profile, which, if you were wondering, riding a 700 foot long dragon does not accomplish.
He sighed as he began walking back to the capital. He reminisced about his first journey to the capital. Everything was much simpler then, he had Ieyasu and Sayo with him and he didn't yet know how sick and twisted the capital really was. In his mind, the capital was a gleeming symbol of hope and prosperity and represented a new beginning and a way to support his village.
He shook his head, dragging himself back to the present.
"I don't have the time to be daydreaming," he chided himself, "just how the hell am I going to manage getting Incursio back?"
He recalled the one and only time he was permitted to enter the teigu vault.
"The vault is guarded around the clock with three of the Emperor's most skilled soldiers. I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't stand a chance against me, but if they die and the only teigu that's missing is Incursio, I might as well be putting up a flag that says 'Hey Esdeath! I'm alive and trying to destroy the Empire!'" he chuckled, "I definitely can't kill the guards and I don't even know how to open the door…"
Tatsumi continued scheming for hours as he walked, coming up with about 17 plans because of how many uncertainties there were. But before he knew it, the shining towers of the capital came into view and he was at the edge of the slums.
"Finally, I'm almost there! I've been walking for an eternity."
As he entered the capital, he instinctively pulled his hood tighter to his face, knowing that with each step closer to the palace, the chance he gets recognized goes up exponentially, and he wasn't sure how far the news of his 'death' had spread yet.
After another few minutes of walking and obsessively checking if he was being followed, he finally ducked inside an apothecary.
The place was empty, save for one drunk passed out in the corner. The bartender was a woman, looking to be in her 20's with shoulder length brown hair. She was disinterestedly drying glasses, when she glanced up at Tatsumi.
"You even old enough to be in here, kid?" she asked frankly.
Tatsumi walked up to the bar and lowered his voice, "Can I have a pork tenderloin, extra bloody?"
She raised her eyebrows in surprise and said, "he's in the back,"
She led him into the backroom, before returning to drying glasses.
"Hey kid, aren't you supposed to be dead? Rumor has it that Night Raid gotcha."
"Yeah, I got trapped in a bit of a … sticky situation to say the least," he said, scratching the back of his head, embarrassed.
"So why are you here? Seems awful dangerous to be in the capital."
"I need a favor." Tatsumi began.
"Go on,"
"I need some dirt on the Prime Minist-"
"No," Tatsumi was cut off.
"I'll pay double- no triple the usual amount!"
"It's not about the money kid. Whenever someone goes snooping around the Prime Minister they always end up on the gallows."
"Please just hear me out! I know for a fact that Grand General Budo dislikes the Prime Minister and I have my suspictions about General Michi so if you can get something good I can pass it along to them and they'll oust him! He's the source of all the corruption so if we can finally get rid of him we can turn this Empire around!"
The man sighed, "Look Tatsumi, I know how much this means to you, all of us actually, but I can't have any of my guys getting killed," he paused for a long moment,
Tatsumi gulped as a bead of cold sweat dripped down the side of his face, his heart pounding in his chest. Without any dirt on the Prime Minister he couldn't kick his plan into gear, it all hinged on this.
The man cleared his throat, Tatsumi's breath hitched,
"So I'll tell you what, I'll send in my best guy."
Tatsumi began to thank him but he was cut off,
"But, I'm telling him to get himself out the second he gets a whiff of something funny."
"Thank you so much!" Tatsumi said, elated, "about the money though, I don't have any right now…"
The man burst out in laughter, slapping his knee, "Just this once, I'll forget about the fee, seeing as how important this is, but you owe me one."
Tatsumi's smile widened again, "Done!"
Leone sat down, sighing in relief as she put her feet up on the table,
"Aaaaah, another successful mission!"
The rest of the group looked at her silently,
"What?"
She asked, but was met with more silence.
"All of you are upset about Tatsumi?"
"Don't go there, Leone," Akame warned, sensing Mine's anger.
"Why not, huh?" Leone challenged Akame, "That loser was a no-good traitor! He's better off as worm food!"
"Shut your mouth!" Mine yelled, seething, "Tatsumi only got kidnapped in the first place because we didn't help him soon enough! And for two YEARS we did nothing to rescue him from the capital, from Esdeath! After all that he still came back to us, and then fought Esdeath to protect us! And if you didn't remember, he rescued us from the vikings! Tatsumi may not have been a member of Night Raid anymore but he did all he could to keep us, his friends, safe!"
Leone sat quietly, Mine's angry words affecting her.
"So don't you EVER talk bad about Tatsumi! And get your fucking feet off the table!" Mine cursed as she stormed off.
Leone, Akame, and Lubbock were silent for a long moment.
Akame finally broke the silence, "Leone, a mission came in for you. You are to report to the base in the east, there is an imperial lieutenant that you are to dispose of. It should be straighforward."
Leone nodded weakly, "You got it boss, I'll head out first thing in the morning."
"Also," Akame continued, "go apologize to Mine. No matter how you feel about him, you know she was in love with him, so you could at least be considerate."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry," Leone said as she got up to go speak with Mine.
That just left Akame and Lubbock.
"So what now?" Lubbock asked.
"I have no idea."
When the morning sun rose Leone was already on her way towards the revolutionary army base in the east.
Esdeath stormed into Budo's office through the doorway that was open due to her earlier outrage.
Budo gazed up from his work, "General Esdeath, I hope you're not here to pound me into the floor again."
"I need all the information you have on revolutionary army bases,"
"Hmm?" Budo raised his eyebrows, "And why would that be?"
"They have done something unforgiveable, something … personal."
"I see," Budo chuckled internally, "Well you're in luck. We just got wind of a revolutionary base in the east, a big one apparently. And a some more soldiers would be beneficial, so if you bring a squad or two, then I can let you tag along."
"Done," Esdeath said, "When are they leaving?"
"Later this evenin-"
Esdeath cut him off, "Tell your men to be ready in an hour,"
Budo chuckled again, out loud this time, "Very well, they'll be ready."
As Esdeath stormed out of his office, Budo shook his head,
"I don't know how we're going to deal with that monster,"
But just as agreed, Esdeath's two squads and Budo's platoon were ready to depart for the east within the hour.
Esdeath, atop her steed, trotted to the front of the massive group of men, close to 100 elite soldiers, and began to speak,
"Men! As you know the revolutionary army is close to implosion! Much of their brass have been killed and even their assassination unit Night Raid are on their last legs. We believe this to be the last real bastion of resistance within the borders of the Empire. So today we ride to battle for the sake of the Empire and today we will be taking no prisoners, slaughter them all!"
An eruption of cheers rang out from the group, and having properly riled them up, Esdeath ordered them to set out and led the charge.
From the information that Grand General Budo had given her, the base was actually a series of underground passages underneath the manor of a feudal lord who was sympathetic to the revolutionary cause.
Though their reconnaissance hadn't been able to pinpoint an entry, so Esdeath would have to take matters into her own hands, and have a 'chat' with the lord.
They crested a ridge and came into view of the manor just after nightfall. Esdeath ordered a hault.
"Alright men, all of you wait here and do NOT allow yourselves to be seen, you will come in when I order the signal, and when the attack does commence, do not allow anyone to escape. No. Exceptions."
"Yes, General Esdeath!" they barked in response.
Leaving the group, Esdeath trotted down to the manor.
The front gates were what you would expect of a feudal lord, but nowhere near as fancy as the capital. The smithing was admirable though, intricate spirals decorated the iron bars. Two guards stood before the gates, each holding a polearm.
"Hault!" ordered the left guard as Esdeath approached.
But as she entered the light that emanated from the torched lit on the wall, the right guard realized who they were face to face with.
"My dearest apologies General Esdeath! We couldn't see you in the darkness! How may we be of service?" he bowed.
The left guard followed suit.
"Oh that is quite alright, you are only doing your job of course," she said almost eerily, "I was hoping to have an audience with Lord Eldrin."
"I'm sorr-" the left guard started, but the right guard hit him with the butt of his halbard
"Of course General! Right this way!" he said with a painful grin, "Is this guy trying to get us both killed!?" he thought.
They opened the gate, allowing Esdeath through and closed it behind her.
Again, the courtyard was decadent, but was nothing compared to the palace. The manor was granite with mahogonay accents in a gothic style. The courtyard had a beautify carved fountain depicting a dragon breathing fire, surrounded by a circle of marigolds.
Esdeath dismounted her horse, leaving it by the front entrance. It was trained well enough to know not to run off.
As she entered she was greeted by a butler with a luxurious mustache, whom she ignored and made her way up the bifurcated staircase and towards the Lord's chambers. She glanced up at the large portrait hanging above the first landing on the stairs, depicting the Lord along with his wife and son.
As a servant was showing Esdeath to the Lord's study, Esdeath glanced into a chamber where she heard quiet commotion, she saw a young man who she recognized as the Lord's son having sex with a young woman through the ajar door.
Pain twinged her heart as she reminisced on the many sweet nights she had spent with Tatsumi, and how his manly scent, the taste of his blood, his whimpers, the feeling of him squirming under her touch, and the euphoria of climax would never be hers to experience again.
She snapped herself out of it and arrived at the Lord's chambers, knocking on the door.
"Come in," an elegant voice responded.
As Esdeath entered the lord's face flickered for just a moment.
"Well, hello Lord Eldrin, its been quite some time."
The man stood up to greet her, he was roughly Esdeath's height and about double her age. He was a thin man, his face long and slender. Much like his face, his eyes were long and narrow, monicle clinging to his left. His gray hairs were restrained in a pony tail and his beard, which extended long past his chin and almost halfway down his chest, was shaped like a long W and almost resembled tusks. He wore a traditional three piece suit, charcoal gray blazer with pinstripe pants. His tie was red, blue, and tan striped and of course, his pocket square matched his white button-up and a pocket watch chain was visible in his blazer pocket.
"Hello General Esdeath, please make yourself at home, have a seat," he gestered to the seat infront of his desk.
They both sat and he continued, "What may I do for you this evening, General?"
"Ah well you see, I have been sent by the Emperor to touch base with our feudal lords and ensure they are content with the state of affairs," she lied.
"I see, and I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to check up on me, but I assure you that my biggest issue at the moment is deciding what to get my wife for our anniversary," he said heartily and chuckled.
"So you're sure that you hold no discontent towards the empire, perhaps in reguard to our ongoing … rebellious issues?" Esdeath asked, her tone icy.
Eldrin's heart rate spiked at the mention of the rebellion, "Of course not! Those pesky rebels have been nothing but a thorn in everyone's side!" he tried to laugh it off.
"I see," Esdeath paused, her gaze boring a hole in his head, "So then I just have one more question,"
The lord gulped, "Why yes, ask away."
"If the rebels are as pesky as you claim, then why are you harboring them on your estate?"
The man's face reddened and he was clearly flustered, "I-I'm not s-sure what you're t-"
"Don't. Lie. To. Me. Again," she cut him off, "If you even have a hope of surviving the night that is."
"Please General Esdeath, have mercy! The savages are holding my son hostage! That's the only reason I've allowed them to use my estate! I swear!"
"Grovel,"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Get on your knees and grovel, Lord Eldrin," she put venom into her words, "Show me how apologetic you can be."
Eldrin relented and began to walk towards Esdeath.
"Ah, ah," Esdeath stopped him, "Crawl."
"This is ridiculous, I am a Lord," he muttered under his breath.
"What was that? I didn't hear you?" Esadeath asked tauntingly.
"Nothing," he responded as he got on his hands and knees and crawled towards Esdeath.
When he was at the base of her boots she said, "Well, go on. Grovel."
"Please General Esdeath, these rebels they-"
A sickening crack emanated in the chambers as Esdeath interrupted Eldrin's groveling by kicking him in the face. A molar was launched out of his mouth and blood splattered his mahogony desk.
"I thought I told you not to lie to me, Eldrin," Esdeath said with a dangerous tone.
"How did you-" he said holding his face, his monacle cracked and profusely bleeding from the mouth.
"I won't lie to you, you may have fooled me if it weren't for the fact that I saw your son having sex in his chambers with the door cracked."
"Damn that stupid boy!" the man cried out, "You empire scum don't care for the people, you only care about lining your own pockets! The revolution will be successful and you'll all face the gallows!"
Esdeath chuckled, "You're wrong, I couldn't care less about money," she grabbed the man by the collar and lifted him up, his face just below hers, "All I care about is dominating my opponents, and inflicting brutal, painful, deaths."
The shimmer in her eyes told Eldrin that she wasn't lying.
"So here's how its gonna go from here," Esdeath said, "If you tell me right now, how to enter the revolutionary base under your manor then I'll give your family and servants quick painless deaths. But if you don't then I am going to lug all of you back to the capital and torture you until your minds break. Perhaps I'll go with the son first, and while I'm torturing him I'll make you and your wife watch and starve you, of course. And after he's finally broken, maybe I'll drag it out a bit, call it a week. I'll butcher him infront of you, make him into stew and feed him to you. I think that sounds like a great plan don't you?"
Eldrin realized he wasn't looking at a woman, the toothy grin, the wild eyes, the ragged breathing, he was looking at a beast pretending to be a person.
"Please General, if you have to kill me, then I understand! But don't punish my family for my transgressions!" Elrin begged.
Esdeath chuckled for a long time before taking a deep breath and speaking, "You see Eldrin, what kind of example would that set? And," she added, "I warned you. I don't give second chances. So choose: painless death or son stew?"
The man wept, took a deep breath and spoke, "The fountain out front, pull on the dragon's third left claw," he said utterly defeated.
"Very good!" Esdeath said with dangerous enthusiasm, "Let's go gather the family and see if you finally told the truth!"
The man wept uncontrollably as Esdeath dragged him by his pony tail down the hall.
She turned the son's door into woodchips, waking both the son and his lover. As they both sat up, Esdeath shot an icicle straight through the woman's head, killing her instantly and splattering the son with bits of skull and brain matter.
The son screamed bloody murder as Esdeath skillfully created icy shackles and bound the son's arm to his fathers leg and pulled him out of bed, still naked.
"FATHER! WHAT IS HAPPENING!?"
Eldrin didn't respond, he just kept crying, it seems Esdeath had already broken him.
Storming into the wife's room, Esdeath did much the same, rudely awaking the wife and shackling her to the Lord's other leg.
"Aw look at this lovely family reunion" Esdeath said with an evil tone.
She dragged them down the stairs, and out to the front courtyard where she stood infront of the dragon fountain. She forced them all to kneel facing the fountain in a line, from left to right it was wife, Eldrin, and then son.
Esdeath bent down next to Eldrin and said, "Why don't we have your son see if you were lying, huh?"
Eldrin shakily nodded to his son, who was shivering from a combination of fear and cold from the ice and the cold night air on his naked body.
"Go on boy, pull the dragon's third claw on the left," Esdeath said goadingly.
The son got up very slowly and approached the fountain. To reach the claw he had to wade in the ice cold water, going up to his knees, his shivering intensified as he was splashed by the cascading water. His shaking hand reached for the third claw, and he pulled it.
For a moment nothing happened, but then the water stopped and the fountain began to slide, revealing a large stairway underneath it.
With the flick of her wrist, Esdeath sent a sheet of razor sharp ice towards the son, instantly decapitating him.
In synchrony, Eldrin and his wife cried out.
She turned to him and began to beat him, "You IDIOT! I told you this would happen! But you NEVER listen to me! Yo-"
Esdeath cut her off, literally.
Eldrin's wife's head fell to the floor, her body slumping the opposite direction.
"Well Eldrin, I am a woman of my word," were the last things Lord Eldrin heard, as Esdeath decapitated him too.
"Now the real fun begins," Esdeath thought.
Raising her arm she sent a single shard of ice into the night sky which exploded into thousands of crystals when it reached it's apex. It was a beautiful display, the shards catching and reflecting the moonlight, like a firework made of ice.
Instantly, the sound of a hundred horses sprinting at full speed could be heard and felt in the vibrations of the ground.
Esdeath walked calmly down the stairway into the underground chambers as a stream of soldiers stormed past her, crying out, ready for battle.
The underground passages were originally designed as a place for the Lord and his closest people to retreat in an emergency, but after the arrival of the revolutionary army, they had been expanded to hold quite the amount of people. Living spaces had been converted into rooms filled from floor to ceiling with cots, the large extravagant library had been changed into a training room.
Esdeath took a deep breath as she decended the last step, she threw her head back and closed her eyes, relishing in the sounds of battle, the smell of blood, and the scent of despair.
Budo and her soldiers' ripped through the unprepared revolutionaries, and just according to her orders, they killed everyone. Man, woman, child, disabled, injured, there were no exceptions.
Just as Esdeath thought that there was going to be nothing for her to do, the ground shook as a wall collapsed to her left.
As the dust settled, she saw a group of her soldiers laying slumped against a wall, their armor crumpled as if it were aluminum foil. And her eyes lit up when she saw who delivered the blow.
It was Leone, with Lionelle activated.
Without skipping a beat, Esdeath launched herself over to Leone.
Barely being able to block the kick, Leone held her arms up in an 'X' shape and skitted backwards several feet.
"Never thought I'd see you here, Ice Bitch," Leone spat.
She was met with a punch in the gut, one she wasn't fast enough to block.
Flying backwards she slammed into a solid granite wall, cracking it and spitting blood.
Before she could get up, Esdeath was on her again, kicking her in the face.
A sickening snap echoed in the halls as Leone's nose broke, a stream of blood leaking down her face and onto her chest.
Leone opened her mouth to speak, but was met by another kick, sending a tooth flying from her mouth.
Esdeath kicked her over and over, harder each time, switching from her face to her side, cracking ribs, causing internal bleeding, and even puncturing a lung.
When her brutal assault finally stopped, Esdeath paused for a second,
"What? Nothing to say now, kitty?" Esdeath taunted, "You will pay for what you did to Tatsumi, and because of your teigu, its going to be very fun."
Having thoroughly defeated Leone, Esdeath examined the battlefield, all fighting was done already, an utter blowout.
Esdeath called over one of her captains,
"Yes General?"
"What were our casualties?"
"From our men, just those three," he gestured to the three that Leone had killed, "And from Budo's men, there were eight."
"Very good," Esdeath said, "Take this one, strip her of her teigu and lock her up, we're bringing her back to the capital."
The captain looked at the bloody pile that was Leone at the moment, "She's still alive?" he asked hesitantly, "And I thought we weren't taking prisoners?"
"Yes she is alive, her teigu gives her regenerative abilities, and she is a special case, a member of Night Raid."
"I see," the captain nodded, "It will be done right away General."
When Leone came to, she was in a dark room, the floor was wet and she was cold. As she slowly opened her swollen eyes, she saw where she was, in a dungeon. Her arms were bound by shackles secured to the ceiling, constantly holding her arms out parallel to the ground. Her ankles and calves were bound to the floor, forcing her to kneel.
With a squeak, the metal door swung open and in walked the Ice Queen, her hands hidden behind her back.
"I see you've woken up kitty," Esdeath said, "I apologize, I may have used a tad too much force and you're all banged up."
"Fuck you," Leone spat.
Esdeath held up what she had been concealing, "Oh come now don't be so rude," she said with a toothy grin, "I was going to give you this back."
Esdeath strapped Lionelle back onto Leone, and instantly her wounds healing accelerated.
"Wow look at that incredible regeneration factor! That is quite impressive indeed," Esdeath said.
"I'm not going to tell you anything! You're wasting your time!" Leone yelled.
"Oh but I think you will," Esdeath said with a dangerous smile, "so I'm gonna ask you this and give you one opportunity for a painless death. What have you done with Tatsumi's body?"
"We didn't do anything with it, we left that traitor to become worm food!"
Esdeath snapped her fingers and in rolled a cart with various surgical devices and tools.
"I see, so you've chosen painful death," Esdeath said with an excited grin.
As Esdeath picked up a scalpel, Leone spoke again, "But that's the truth! Why would I lie about that!?"
Esdeath gripped Leone's head with one hand to prevent her from moving it at all, Leone instinctively closed her eyes as Esdeath's blade grew closer.
"I'm not sure why you revolutionaries do anything," she placed the sharp blade on Leone's eyelid as she began to writhe, but was unable to escape her grip. Slowly Esdeath pressed the blade into her top eyelid, she slowly and painfully carved along the top of her eye socket, severing her top eyelid completely. Repeating the same for the bottom eyelid Esdeath spoke up again,
"Do you want to know something? Did you know that the cornea has the densest concentration of pain receptors of anywhere in the human body?"
So far Leone was holding strong, literally biting her tongue to prevent herself from screaming, as both her left eyelids were sliced off.
"Additionally, people seem to be very attached to their eyesight, so attacking the eyes is one of the best ways to inflict both physical and mental anguish."
Leone's thrashing intensified, but she was not able to break free from the Ice Queen's iron grip,
"So I'll give you one last chance," she said deadly serious, "Where is my Tatsumi's body."
"I'm telling the truth I swear! We left him in the spot he died! Right in that forest!" Leone said desperately.
Without another word, Esdeath pressed her blade into Leone's eye just above the iris.
Leone let out a bloodcurdling scream as her cornea was penetrated by the razor sharp blade. She thrashed and shook as hard as she could, straining against the metal restraints, sending shudders through the masonry, but still she was unable to escape Esdeath's grip.
As blood began to flood her eyesocket and her vison began to fade her scream became horse, wearing out her vocal cords in a matter of moments.
Esdeath took her sweet time as she outlined Leone's iris with her blade.
Leone broke out in a cold sweat, the pain being unbearable, she clenched her fists so hard the cut deep into her palms, strained so hard against her restraints that she tore muscle from bone, but yet, Esdeath kept cutting.
After what seemed like an eternity, the vision in Leone's left eye finally went completely dark and the pain subsided from a tsunami to a dull roar.
Esdeath released her grip on Leone, and she slumped down, held up by her shackles. Leone panted,
"I wasn't planning on saying anything before," she said with breaths in between each word, "but now, I'm certainly not telling you a god damn thing."
Esdeath's grin only widened, "I certainly hope so, otherwise there wouldn't be much point in torturing you, would there?"
"You're-you're … evil," Leone said, unable to comprehend Esdeath's appetite for suffering.
"There is no such thing as good and evil, only strong and weak. And I am the strongest."
Without warning, Esdeath grasped Leone's head again and placed her index and middle fingertips just above her right eye and her thumb just below it.
"No! Please, not again!"
Esdeath just chuckled.
She pushed her fingers into Leone's eyesocket, tearing through her eyelids. Her fingers snaking around her eyeball, she reached the back of the socket and pulled.
Leone erupted in screams again as a fountain of blood erupted from her right eyesocket and her vision went completely dark.
Esdeath held the squishy sphere in her hand,
"What a shame, I wasn't careful enough and damaged it. Oh well," she said as she crushed it, reducing it to a paste.
Looking down at her hand, and examining the eye paste, she came up with a great idea.
Esdeath took her clean hand and pulled Leone's jaw open.
"Open wide," Esdeath said with a devilish grin.
Leone strained, but her jaw muscles were nothing in comparison to Esdeath's monstrous strength. Slowly, Esdeath scraped what remained of Leone's right eye into her mouth. She tried to spit it out, but Esdeath quickly forced her mouth shut.
Esdeath then sealed Leone's mouth and nose off with ice, creating an air tight seal.
"Swallow, or I'm going to suffocate you to death."
Leone bucked and strained against her restraints as the oxygen in her blood was quickly consumed.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be," Esdeath taunted.
With tears streaming down her face, Leone surrendered and swallowed the remains of her right eye.
Esdeath saw the movement of Leone's throat as she swallowed and her grin widened, her toothy smile making her look like a demon.
Esdeath waived her hand and the ice preventing Leone from breathing dissapated and Leone gasped and panted for several moments before vomiting on the floor.
"Aw, couldn't keep it down, could you?" Esdeath said condescendingly.
Esdeath grasped Leone's chin and raised her head, examining her work. The sight was grotesque, Leone's left eye was mangled and her right socket completely empty, and her face was covered in blood and vomit.
"Now I'm going to ask you one more time," Esdeath said as she tightened her grip, her nails digging into Leone's neck, "What did you do with Tatsumi, MY, TATSUMI'S, body?"
After a long pause, Leone took a deep breath and spat on Esdeath.
Wiping the saliva from her face, Esdeath said, "I see that we are not going to get anywhere today, let's see if you have a change of attitude after a night with the dungeon master."
Esdeath released Leone and walked towards the door of the cell, "Oh, and I do apologize for being so sloppy today, I'll be much more surgical tomorrow, don't you worry."
After she exited, Esdeath instructed the dungeon master to remove Lionelle from her as soon as her wounds had healed enough.
Tatsumi pulled the hood of his cloak tighter to his face as he approached the imperial palace. He reached down and felt his teigu, almost as if he was making sure it was still there. He then reached up and felt the weapon on his back, his whole plan hinged on this.
His eyes scanned diligently for any threat or obstacle, and as the first guarded checkpoint entered his view, Tatsumi disapeared in a puff of smoke, having activated his teigu's trump card.
With his timer now ticking as his trump card quickly drained his stamina, Tatsumi entered a jog, easily slipping past the first checkpoint.
His trump card made his form invisible and suppressed his presence to a degree, but any person with skilled senses would be able to detect him if he got too close. Additionally, it quieted his footsteps greatly, almost as if he was walking on a cushion of air.
Tatsumi passed two more checkpoints in the same fashion, guards these unskilled wouldn't be able to detect him even if he walked up and flicked them in the ear.
Finally he reached the main gates of the palace, which always remained closed unless the guards authorized entry.
Recalling his plan, Tatsumi tucked himself away in a corner where he could see the road leading up to the gate, and where the guards could not see him. He deactivated his teigu, a drop of sweat dripping from his brow, and waited.
Tatsumi glanced at the sky, noting the sun was roughly 35 degrees past 12 o'clock.
"Great, it should just be a couple minutes now..."
After roughly 15 minutes, a carriage came trotting up the path. It was the same delivery that arrived to the palace every Wednesday at 3 pm.
Seizing his opportunity as the guards examined the merchant's permit and verified his identity, Tatsumi reactivated his teigu's trump card, disappearing again. He carefully snuck through the gate with the food delivery, careful to suppress his presence as much as he could. These guards were no pushovers, and the deeper he got into the palace, the stronger they were going to become.
Though thankfully, Tatsumi's plan worked and he was through the main gate of the palace without detection.
As he snuck through the courtyard towards the heavily guarded main building of the palace that housed the teigu vault, Tatsumi's mind began to wander,
"Esdeath is just a couple hundred meters away from me, just on the other side of the palace. Is she in her weekly meeting? Has the news of my 'death' even reached her? If it has, did she cry? I hope she did…."
Tatsumi quickly shook his head to erase the thoughts, like his mind were an etch-a-sketch. He took a deep breath and focused back on his mission.
He quickly and quietly made his way to the back entrance he knew of in the yaeger's quarters. He hastily surveyed the area before he entered the building, silently closing the door behind him. Now that he was in the palace the only thing that stood between him and Insursio were three guards and a vault door, the latter of which was the biggest issue.
Tatsumi crept down halls which got less populated as he grew closer to the vault, and finally he reached it.
The vault door was recessed about six feet into the wall, meaning Tatsumi had a wall to hide behind. He looked down the hallway in both directions and saw no one approaching, so he knew it was time to make his move.
He once again deactivated his trump card, because he couldn't use the other abilities of his teigu with it active.
Now, even though the three guards posted to protect the vault were elite, some of the empire's best in fact, Tatsumi could easily steamroll them. But, that would draw far too much attention and it wouldn't even solve Tatsumi's problem.
The vault was secured by a powerful magical seal, produced from a teigu, that could only be deactivated using a special key that was soul-bound to one of the elite guard that protected it.
Tatsumi knelt down and placed his index finger on the cold marble floor, from his fingertip he extended a shadow no thicker than a hair. The shadow traced along the seam in-between the floor and wall, in this position it was almost imperceptible.
Using his precise memory of the layout, Tatsumi extended the thin shadow all the way past the guards and to the vault door. The shadow crept under the door in the gap, which couldn't have been bigger than a millimeter, but that was all Tatsumi needed.
Now that the hardest part was done, all Tatsumi needed to do was cause a ruckus in the vault and the guards would unlock it for him, needing to investigate the sound.
To achive this, Tatsumi created a shadow arm on the end of the shadow and waved it around. The instant he heard a large crash, Tatsumi dispelled his shadow and assumed the shadow form of his trump card once again.
"What was that!?" one of the guards asked, panicked.
"I don't know but we need to check it out!" another responded.
Tatsumi grinned.
The third pulled the key from his jacket and inserted it into the ancient lock, twisting it with some difficulty, and struggled to pull open the massive door.
In the time that the guards were pulling open the door, Tatsumi slipped in and began to scan the room. He quickly suppressed the thought of taking all of the teigu and making a run for it.
After just a few moments, Tatsumi found what he was looking for, on a white marble pedestal sat Insursio. The short sword looked just as Tatsumi remembered it. It wasn't chained down or locked in any way, as the Empire obviously didn't think anyone could get inside the vault.
As the guards were inspecting the stand that had fallen over, Tatsumi quickly glanced at it and great pain twinged his heart when he saw what teigu had acted as his way into the vault.
It was Extase, the ginormous black scissors that had been used by Sheele prior to her death at the hands of the yaegers. Tatsumi remembered her. Her kindess. Her empathy. Her understanding. Her warmth.
Clenching his jaw, he shoved down the wave of emotion that was trying to overtake him and focused on his mission, he could grieve later.
As he looked at Incursio, he thought,
"I hope this works,"
From his back, he drew a weapon from a sheath, it was another short sword, one that looked just like Incursio. An untrained eye wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but any weapon smith worth their salt would instantly recognize it as a reproduction.
"It definitely won't last forever but it should at least buy me some time"
Tatsumi quickly swapped the real Insursio with the fake, stashing the real one on his back, and practically ran out of the vault.
Tatsumi felt the effects that using his trump card so much was having on him. He was getting incredibly tired and was starting to sweat a lot.
As he was making his way towards the yaeger's quarters to make an escape, he passed a group of soldiers that were chatting,
"Hey, do you know what's up with that blonde girl in the dungeons?"
"You seriously don't know? She's a member of night raid," Tatsumi's ears perked up as he stopped in his tracks, turning and following them, "Apparently Esdeath captured her during a raid of a revolutionary base. And man, you got to go down there just to see the rack of hers, my god are they huge!"
With that last disgusting comment Tatsumi knew exactly who had been captured,
"LEONE!" Tatsumi thought, in distress.
Throwing nearly all caution to the wind, Tatsumi sprinted towards the entrance to the dungeon. He didn't have a plan, he didn't even have the beginnings of a plan. He just knew that he needed to save Leone.
He reached the staircase and bounded down it three steps at a time, the stairs transitioned from marble, to granite, to stone bricks, then to cobblestones. They were showing their age.
The dungeon was just how Tatsumi remembered it, dark, damp and musty. He sprinted down the corridor, checking every cell quickly as he passed, he skidded to a stop when he saw Leone.
She was splayed out on a table, each of her limbs bound by shackles, covered in cuts and bruises, she was naked. It was painfully obvious to Tatsumi that she had been raped, his heart broke for his friend as he cursed himself for allowing it to happen, for not being there.
He quickly picked the lock with a shadow key he produced, and entered the cell, dismissing his trump card, he appeared in front of Leone.
"Leone, its Tatsumi," he whispered close to her ear, wanting to wake her from sleep.
Her eyes, which had regenerated thanks to Lionelle, opened and looked to her left where Tatsumi was crouched.
"…" Leone spoke, but it was too softly for Tatsumi to hear.
"What?" Tatsumi would ask, putting his ear next to her mouth.
"Go away," Leone croaked, her voice weak but full of hate.
Tatsumi was stunned,
"But Leone, we need to get you out of here," Tatsumi pleaded.
"I don't need help from a traitor like you," Leone spat at him with great difficulty.
"But-"
"Get out before I alert the guards."
Tears formed in Tatsumi's eyes as he stood up and reactivated his trump card,
"I'm sorry Leone, I promise that I will get you out of here, just endure until then. Please," Tatsumi said with a sniffle as he fled the palace.
Esdeath sighed as she walked back from her weekly meeting with the financial advisors of the Empire which she and the other generals were obliged to attend. To her, they were a dull waste of time and were even held in the wing of the palace furthest from all the places she liked to be, her chambers, her barracks, and of course, the dungeon.
Her heeled boots clicked on the marble floor as she ran through what other duties she needed to attend to before she could have more playtime with Leone.
"I need to sign off on the report of the raid on Lord Elrin's estate, I should probably pay Segergent Jack a visit to talk to him about Tatsumi's missing body, and…" she racked her brain for anything else, "oh yes, the Prime Minister had sent a letter."
Entering her chambers, she strode towards her desk and picked up the letter.
As she read a smile formed, one that grew into her trademark sadistic grin.
"Oh this is going to be fun, just what I need right now,"
A/N: Well, what did you think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know in a review!