Foreword

I began writing this as a consolation for Esdese's failed attempt at love. Simply wanting to create a scenario where it all worked out. However, the story grew in the telling into something much bigger that I actually started to enjoy writing about.

Some warnings:

The story will have some OCs but they are mainly there to help the plot move forward or act as extras. Some of their roles might be bigger than others but they are only there to keep the wheels turning.

This also features a bit more shrewd and darker version of Tatsumi. What has brought on this change will be explained as the story goes on as well as everything that has happened during the 18 months before the first chapter.

To warn that an AGK story will contain violence and gore feels redundant but this will also contain sexual themes(lemons). Though not in a too gratuitous sense. I hope.

This will be completely based on the manga.

Finally, this is a huge story but do not feel intimidated. There is almost nothing in this that does not connect to another point of the story. Some things that happen in the first four chapters may come back and completely change what happens twenty chapters later. There is no filler here.

Ok? Ok! On with the show!

Prologue

The huge doors to the giant hall opened up and almost all the heads in the room turned as the guards announced Esdese's arrival to the meeting.

The giant beautiful hall was filled with people. Half were warriors and agents,lined up in long rows. Waiting for their names or cases to be called out. Some of them had dusty and damaged uniforms and cloaks. Attesting that they were newly arrived from the field. Others were bandaged up or wounded from recent battles. While some of them didn't even have a single speck of dust on their clothes.

The other half was nobles and politicians who had come to watch the event. To see if any of their investments had paid off or if there were some new talents or prodigies they needed to keep an eye out for on the political field in the future. And some had only come to see if they have won bets about the different warriors' successes.

As Esdese strode through the hall many nobles and politicians came forth to congratulate her on recent victories or praise her ever growing power and influence in the empire. Wishing to secure some goodwill with the empires strongest general. She paid them little mind, though. Giving the slightest of nods to a few and outright ignoring the rest. She had much more competent and powerful people who would lick her boots for her if she so desired. Both literally and metaphorically. Her mood was already bad as it was even without the annoyance of their yapping mouths.

She headed straight for the end of the hall where a podium had been raised. With an old extravagant table and four huge armchairs on top of it. Two of the chairs at this table were empty and the other two were occupied by a minister of internal affairs, an old man with glasses and long white hair, and great general Budo. One of the empty chairs was intended for her but she didn't know who the last empty chair belonged to.

Esdese couldn't for the life of her understand why she had to be here in the first place.

This was a ceremony to reward agents,warriors and soldiers who had been given special missions outside of standard army practices. As per standard, a minister and the great general was there to listen to the reports from those who had returned and measure out suiting rewards depending on the success of the mission given.

It was also standard to have another two randomly selected higher-ups from the military present, to show respect to the successful people who had returned.

But why, in heaven's name, had she been called in for this! She was the biggest military resource the empire had. She should be hunting the revolutionary army or leading campaigns against foreign forces. Not sitting here and listening to how these far less capable people bragged on about their achievements. To her, it seemed to be such a huge waste of resources to have her do something this mundane.

And so gnawingly, soul-crushingly boring.

Yet she was still a general of the empire and certain things were expected of her. She had to accept that, she reminded herself.

She sighed as she walked up on the podium with her hands on her hips. She gave the minister and the great general a court nod before sitting down beside them. She had just started to lean back in the chair when the guards announced the arrival of yet another general.

Esdese rolled her eyes. Now this was just getting silly. Three generals and a minister gathering together. Just to watch these mongrels get their meager rewards.

From her chair, she watched the last general make his way towards the podium. He was a tall man in his later twenties with messy dark brown hair that reached down a bit past his shoulders. With long gray streaks in it. His eyes seemed very tired but he still gave off a perceptive aura. She knew him from the times when she was still not high in the military ranks. They had both become generals at about the same time.

Though he had directly been sent off to the western borders of the empire to lead the fight against foreign forces.

He had gained a lot of fame in recent months, Esdese recalled. His army had recently lost all their supply lines when the enemy forces managed to outmaneuver them. In most scenarios concerning huge forces, such a blunder would mean an orderly retreat until those supply lines were re-established.

However, the general in question had not opted for that. Instead, he had forced his army outside the empire's borders ,into the hostile land. Sustaining his forces by pillaging ,looting and destroying the foreign soil and its inhabitants. In the end, the opposing force had been forced to retreat back from the empire's borders to defend their native land from the imperial army. Which by that time had set half of said land aflame.

And when they started to set up defensive positions in their own lands,the imperial army could easily march back into the empire. The threat neutralized. The enemy who had produced it damaged so bad it would take generations to build back what they had lost.

He had returned to the capital from this campaign just some weeks ago. He had replaced most of his tattered and torn uniform but had chosen to keep the long coat which was the insignia of their rank. The now dusty and destroyed long coat made him look like he had been living in the wild for a couple of years.

The nobles and officers frowned at the ragged appearance of the general but Esdese did not care. She had never disliked people that flaunted their achievements as long as their efforts were commendable. Esdese could respect the ruthlessness this man had displayed. Unlike the rabble she would have to listen to in the coming hours.

The great general and the old minister seemed to be busy discussing the list of people attending so Esdese took it upon herself to welcome the last general to arrive.

"So they got you too, general Makeias" she said as she looked over to him with a bitter smile as he walked up on the podium.

"Ok, why the FUCK are you here, Esdese?" general Makeias exclaimed tiredly while gesturing with an open hand in her direction. Esdese simply closed her eyes and shrugged in response.

"I understand that they maybe happened to summon one field-general but two at the same time? When there is only five of us in the entire empire. Senseless." he sighed and sat down in the last chair by her left side. "Oh well, maybe they wanted the soldiers to have something beautiful to look at while they receive their rewards."

"You do know how to charm a girl." Esdese said bitterly. "And I suppose you were only summoned here to annoy the noblemen with you fashion sense."

"What are you talking about? I am obviously the beauty here. You were only called here to scare the soldiers of what they might become if they are too ambitious." Makeias joked and smiled. Esdese chuckled and decided to reward him with a warmer smile. He was one of the few people in the capital which she could have a little more playful banter with.

Most of her followers or subordinates were far too fearful of saying the wrong thing or offending her in some way. So she usually enjoyed general Makeias' company.

Although she had a feeling that she might have to show him his place in the future since he sometimes pushed his luck a little bit too far with her. General ranking or not. But that could be quite a fun activity as well, when the time came.

"Though I swear to you. Someone, somewhere is fucking with us. This is just too idiotic to be a coincidence." Makeias continued while leaning back into the armchair. "Can you think of any reason why people would resent you?"

"Nope." Esdese said with exaggerated and hollow sweetness."Can't think of any reason at all."

"Yeah, neither can I." The other general laughed. "Jokes aside, though, I have heard rumors that the torture chambers have been unusually barbaric these past two weeks. I heard that someone had abandoned all kind of delicacy in her punishments in favor of raw brutal force. I heard that it seems that someone has been quite frustrated these last fourteen days." He smiled at her.

"It seems like you hear a lot of things." Esdese said dryly. He was starting to tread on thin ice again. However, it was fun to see just how far he dared to go. It would also be quite enjoyable if he choose to push her too far and give her a reason to subdue him, Esdese reflected.

"And I guess a general who disregards all protocol and orders he received just to rape, pillage and burn a foreign country in order cover up for his own mistake only has well-wishes coming his way?"

She saw how his smile faded a little bit and knew she had hit a good spot. "I mean, you did only lose about half of the forces you were put in charge of. I heard."

This time, it was the other general's turn to smile and shrug. "Harsh times, Harsh measure. So on and so forth. And I lost closer to a third of my army, by the way."

Esdese was about to turn the verbal knife around in his wound but she was cut short as the booming voice of great general Budo echoed in the hall. "The procedure will now begin. Step forth and give your reports when your cases are called."

Esdese leaned back into the chair. Consigning herself to the boredom to come.

"Case number one. Step forth." the old minister called out.

Two hours and seventy-three awarded soldiers later and Esdese felt how her grip on sanity was starting to leave her.

She could weather any storm nature could muster. There was no creature alive that she could not subdue. Scorching sun or freezing night did not even bother her. Even pain could be a sweet thing to her. In the right circumstances. But this, this was more than she could bear.

This was so goddam boring!

The proud general was slouched forward over the table. Her head resting in her left hand while her right one slowly tapped the table with its fingers. She and Makeias were both mainly field-generals so they had little to do with these tasks and thus had nothing to do but sit there and wait. She couldn't even pretend to be interested in how these weaklings patted each other on the back anymore.

Esdese was fully convinced that if there was a hell waiting for her, it would be something like this. She would rather write a thousand battle reports than sit her for the rest of the day. If someone indeed was playing a prank on her, they best pray that she never find them. She was even starting to consider to ask the prime minister about who was responsible for this farce.

To top it all of, she was also pretty sure that her fellow general had managed to fall asleep with his eyes open. His breathing had become extremely steady and she could tell that his heartbeats had slowed down. He had also been staring at the same spot on the opposite wall for about thirty minutes.

Quite an astounding feat actually. But he will pay for his desertion!, Esdese thought as she started to cast glances at his right leg. Either the knee or the foot. She wanted his pain to last a bit so she was debating which one was the best alternative. Considering that they would both remain seated for a couple more hours.

Her violent undertakings were however disrupted before they could even begin.

"Next" the dry voice of the old minister called out. "Case number seventy-four, step forward."

"Yes, sir!"

Her insides reacted quickly to the sound of the voice.

Esdese straightened up so fast that she made the other general jump a couple of centimeter up in his chair. Thinking that her superior instincts had perceived an incoming attack. But to his wonder, Esdese's eyes were glued to the young man who had just stepped forward. The boy had brown hair and a very slight stubble from being on the road for a while, he wore a dusty coat and had a mid-sized sword strapped horizontally on his back. Makeias didn't understand what was going on.

Esdese however, was screaming internally.

Finally!

Suddenly twenty-two days of pent-up frustration, aching and longing came bubbling up in her. Why had she allowed him to go on such a long mission?! She must have been stricken with a fit of madness when she finally choose to grant her lover's request. He had begged her for it for almost a month but now she knew that he would have to grovel and beg for years before she would allow him to be away from her for so long again.

Her longing rampantly turned into lust and her predatory instincts raged inside of her. Screaming for her to kick over the extravagant table and tackle the young man before he could even react. And then claim him right then and there. Daring anyone in the court to try and stop the vulgar display of her dominating love.

As this storm of thoughts raged on inside of her, the ice queen still kept a calm and collected exterior. Her slightly more labored breathing only detectable to the most perceptive of watchers.

"Name and rank, soldier." The great general demanded.

"Tatsumi of the jaegers, sir." The young man responded with gusto.

"Ahhh." general Makeias said as he now started to understand the situation. A sly smile spreading across his face. So that is the one, he thought.

"I must admit that I expected him to be a bit.. different." He said and looked over to Esdese. She didn't even favor him with a glance. Tatsumi now had her undivided attention. The other general was nothing more than an annoyance for the time being.

"Special forces, then." The minister said rhetorically and started to flip through his papers.

"Report, jaeger" The great general ordered.

"I arrived at the capital this morning. My mission was a complete success." Tatsumi proudly announced.

Arrived this morning!, Esdese raged in her head. Why didn't you come to me the first thing you did? Why did you wait to stand in line with this rabble when you knew I was waiting for you. I could have spared you from this boredom. And how dare you make me face this loneliness for half a day more than necessary?!, she thought. She would make him pay for that tonight when she took what was hers.

Esdese closed her right hand which had been laying on the table since she heard Tatsumi's voice. Her nails carving deep scars in the old wood as she did.

"Well, according to the archives, you were given this mission directly by general Esdese." The old minister said while reading from one of his papers. "All rewards and promotions are to be stipulated at her discretion."

Tatsumi finally turned his eyes to Esdese. He felt how he started to sweat. It had been hard to not notice how hard she had stared at him from the start. He could almost feel her gaze piercing him. Those beautiful eyes now filled with hunger. However, he had also noted that she had not smiled at him since he stepped forth. Was she angry at him? Had she managed to uncover something in his absence? He swallowed and forced down his instincts to flee. All or nothing,he thought as he smiled the most genuine smile he could muster.

"I have returned to you, general Esdese!" He said with hollow self-confidence.

He saw her nostrils flare and he almost felt his heart stop for a moment. Then she smiled her most uncharacteristically gentle smile.

"I'm very pleased to see you return successfully, Tatsumi. Be in the jaeger's quarters when this assembly is done and I will personally... debrief you."

Tatsumi could swear that her smile had a slight change of character towards the end of that order.

"Yes, general!" He exclaimed as he saluted the people at the table.

"Dismissed." The great general announced with a wave of his hand.

Tatsumi immediately turned on his heels and marched out of the great hall. While the noblemen and politicians whispered and pointed at his back. During the eighteen months he had been in Esdese's "service" he had gained quite a mixed reputation.

In the beginning of his time with the jaegers, most of the military had assumed he was just another one of Esdese's pets. Another toy she would play with until it broke. Then to be discarded without a second thought while she started looking for her next plaything. It was nothing new. The fact that she took him with her everywhere she went didn't help.

Having lost him two times already Esdese had been absolutely determined to not let him out of her sight. Especially since she regarded his defection to Night raid and the revolutionary army to be a direct result of letting him escape her clutches. She was convinced that if he had not escaped, she could have perished his foolish ideals from him before he had gone and made the whole situation so much more troublesome. So no matter if she was leading military campaigns, directing the jaegers or scaring away political oppositions, Tatsumi had been forced to always be in her direct presence. It had taken almost five months until she even allowed him to go more than a hundred meters away from her.

His reputation as her latest toy was somewhat diminished later on. When an officer made the mistake of treating Tatsumi as a regular footsoldier. He had been given a menial task of fetching a couple of maps from a drawer at a meeting Esdese was attending. Tatsumi had then happened to pick the wrong set of maps and the officer had slapped him across the face and yelled at him when he arrived with the maps to the table. Unfortunately for the man, Esdese had been standing right at the other side of the table when he choose to discipline what he thought to be a simple subordinate.

She had allowed the officer to keep his rank. If only so that he could serve as an example. The doctors said that he would be limping on his right leg for the rest of his life and all the best dentist of the empire had not been able to fix his teeth and jaw back to presentable condition. Nowadays, the man rarely smiled since he didn't want to expose the splinters that now were his teeth and his diet mainly consisted of soups and other soft dishes. A shell of what he once was.

Esdese had intended to leave him in a much more deformed state but Tatsumi had managed to stop it by begging her while he tried to cling to the hand that was administering the punishment. Horrified by the unproportionate response a meager slap across his face had begotten the officer. The fact that the room had been full of military personnel that didn't even say a word to try and stop her disgusted him. It also made him realize just how careful he has to be with his position. It didn't help with Tatsumi's remorse when he later received a letter from said officer, thanking him for reducing his punishment.

That incident had gotten somewhat well known and after that, most parts of the military had started to stay far away from him. The higher-ups kept their reservations about the former Night raid member, though. Spearheaded by the great general Budo who took every chance he could to denounce Esdese's partner as untrustworthy.

So the rumors about him were a bit more varied these days and the noblemen seemed to have quite a lot of different opinions on him. Few of them charming. But he didn't care at all. He kept his back straight as he walked out through the great doors.

Esdese watched her lover leave the great hall and listened with pride to the noblemen's whisperings. It was the same treatment she had received when she rose to power and she couldn't wait to see Tatsumi reach the same heights.

"Case number seventy-five, step forward." The old minister called out.

And now back to this hell, Esdese thought. At least now, she had something to look forward to after this monotonous meeting. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the huge chair with a blissful sigh. Fantasizing about all the things she would do to her Tatsumi when this was over.

She didn't even notice that the general beside her was watching her with a rather sly grin. Interesting, Makeias thought. Very interesting. I will have to arrange a meeting with this Tatsumi later.

He then returned to staring at the wall on the opposite side of the hall. Slowly, mentally lulling himself back to a more trance-like state.

Tatsumi heaved a huge sigh as waves of relief washed over him when he walked out into the huge corridor outside the hall. It seemed that no one had discovered any of the preparations while he was gone. He thought he had seen hints of anger in Esdese's face but he might have been mistaken. Or at least, she hadn't found out anything too grave. This meant that everything was proceeding smoothly.

He started to walk towards the jaeger quarters. Looking forward to a chance to meet with Wave again. The people he met along the walk saluting him. Even if the opinion of him within the empire differed quite a bit, his status as a jaeger had become universally accepted. And that rank granted him a big deal of authority.

He stretched his shoulders as he strolled through the castle halls. His whole body was sore since his journey but if no one had realized what he had actually been doing during these last three weeks then it was all worth it.

When Esdese had finally granted his request he had already been preparing and planning what to do during these weeks for almost four months. He knew that he could only remain away from the capital for so long before his absence would start to get attention. He had finished the mission Esdese had given him in three days. After that, it had been a really busy time. Now it was all done, though. Almost all of the preparations were done. Soon he would start a plan that had been eighteen months in the making.

He would be more excited about it if he wasn't so tired. These past weeks had taken their toll on his sleep and he had been working non-stop. He just wanted to go to Esdese's room, crawl up into her huge bed and sleep. If the aura Esdeath had emitted during his report was any indicator, though, he would not be able to get any sleep for some time still.

He was actually a bit worried about that. He had been away from her for almost two weeks on earlier occasions and every time their reunions had put quite a strain on him. He also usually received rather generous amounts of pain. This time, he had been gone for almost twenty-two days and he was not exactly at the pinnacle of his physical condition right now.

He needed to find a way to soften the impact of her love this time or the entire palace would hear his screams. He didn't know if his dignity could survive that again. He had learned how to work around most of her different... dispositions. Though if she really put her mind to something it was still hard for him to put up any worthwhile resistance against her. He feared that this was one of those times.

He was brought out of his ponderings as he arrived at the main dining room of the jaegers.

He opened the door to only find the big room deserted. He scratched his head as he thought about where the others could be. All regular patrols should have been over now. So it seemed that they had been given a more specific task. As the revolutionary forces had slowly been subdued and destroyed more over the past two years, the jaegers tasks had become a lot more directed to internal problems. Dealing with spies, murderers and giving protection to certain events had almost become a routine. So it was hard to guess where they were right now.

He sighed. He had been looking forward to meeting Wave again. He had grown to really like the young man during his time in the empire. One of the few members of the imperial army that he wasn't trying to bring ruin to. He would even go so far as to regard him as a friend.

When did I get to that point? ,Tatsumi thought. Introspecting while he started walking towards Esdese's quarters to change from his dusty and dirty clothes. When had he actually started to not dislike the company of the jaegers? He had even learned to enjoy Esdese's company, somewhere along the road. In the beginning of their relationship, he had been so utterly controlled by her that he had basically just been her property in anything but name. However, that had slowly changed and he had come to accept parts of her more and more.

He wouldn't say that he returned the immense feelings of love the woman had for him but he had, in fact, started to... appreciate her love on some deeper level than the plain physical rewards of being her lover. Even though there were still parts of her that he never thought he would be able to understand or relate to. Parts of her that he still despised with his entire being.

He had many times considered if he was suffering from some sort of capture-bonding syndrome. Since he still hated parts of her.

When he had laid out his plans he had actually found himself somewhat relieved that Esdese was so unbelievably powerful. That meant that he could pit her against any opponent in the future without even having to consider the moral dilemma of sending his lover to her death. In fact, many parts of his plans depended on her strength and her survivalist ideals.

He knew that she would only do the bare minimum required of her to halt the oncoming chaos he was about to put in motion. She would actually enjoy the anarchy that was coming. It would supply her with droves of new capable enemies and plenty of new toys to play with. And as she would thrive in the internal conflicts of the empire she would also inadvertently help him destroy it.

"Soon now. Time to run the ships ashore." He said as he smiled bitterly. Walking with his hands behind his head.

"Why is that?" Wave asked from behind him.

Tatsumi jumped into the air with a loud "Aahhh!" escaping his mouth against his will.

"Damn it, Wave. If I die from a heart attack, then Esdese will flay you alive!" Tatsumi threatened. His heart beating inhumanely fast. His mind racing in fear. He had almost revealed something important there. "How did you manage to sneak up on me like that?"

"I wasn't sneaking, to be completely honest. You were just too deep in your thoughts" The blue haired youth smiled encouragingly at him. "And, if you don't mind me saying it, you look like you have seen better days."

"Yeah,I have missed you too, dear friend!" Tatsumi spat back as he tried to calm down. Gods be good! He needed to be more careful. His lack of sleep was affecting him more than he had originally expected.

"When did you get so jumpy, though, Tatsumi. Has these last weeks been that hard on you." Wave teased. Tatsumi took a deep breath to steady himself as he looked at his friend.

Wave hadn't changed that much since the first time they met. He had let his hair grow a little longer but it was a small difference. He had also gotten a scar some centimeters under his right eye that trailed backward on his face but it didn't look to bad. He also usually carried a short stubble but Tatsumi had a feeling that was more a question of laziness then a choice of style.

"I will have you know that my mission was a complete success. Unlike your last little trip outside of the capital." Tatsumi said with a proud smile.

"That is unfair and you know it. I was given the wrong intel from the start." Wave defended vehemently. Even more so since if they counted that one as a failure, then Tatsumi would be ahead of him in successful personal missions now. "The general agreed that I was not at fault there."

"Did not stop you from groveling at her feet when you gave your report." Tatsumi said with wry smile.

"Give me a break." Wave said. shaking a hand in front of him. "If I had caught her in a worse mood she might have said that I should have realized my intel was false. I have spent enough time in the torture chambers already. While some people only gets hugs and kisses when they return."

Wave saw a shadow fall over Tatsumi's face at those last words. Sensing that he might have stepped on something that was already hurting. He backtracked. "What? A lovers quarrel at last? Tell me, man."

They walked together through the corridors towards Tatsumi's destination while he confided in his friend. Wave had actually been very supportive of his "relationship troubles" in the past. Most other people didn't have much sympathy for Tatsumi's position since he had been spared torture and death and instead been given the love of the beautiful ice queen.

However, Wave knew that Esdese was more a force of nature than anything else. He had actually believed that Esdese would slowly strangle the life out of Tatsumi just by being so extremely different from him morally and also just by nature. Wave had assumed that Tatsumi would break before he bent and that Esdese was going to force one of those outcomes. However, Tatsumi had prevailed so far and Wave was going to try and help him in whatever little way he could.

"Well, to postpone your reunion only seems to worsen the situation. So I don't think that is a good choice. Not now when she knows you have returned to the capital." Wave said. Grabbing his chin while they walked through the empty corridor.

"Ohh, you think so." Tatsumi said sarcastically with his hands in his pockets. The truth was that Tatsumi hadn't reported directly to Esdese directly because he wanted to buy some time to send away some messages. That was why he had gone to the open assembly. So that she only would know that he had returned some hours later when the rumors reached her. Those hopes were thwarted, though, as Esdese had been attending the assembly herself. Why had she even been there in the first place?

"It's worse than you think."

"Hmm?" Tatsumi raised an eyebrow at Wave.

"I was actually quite relieved to see you walking towards the jaeger's quarters earlier. The commander's pent-up frustration has gotten some rather ugly discharges this last week." Wave said. He looked around to affirm that they were alone before continuing. Tatsumi kept silent. Fearing what was to come.

"Rumors are that things have gotten quite savage down in the torture chambers these last days." Wave said in a hushed voice. "Esdese has taken to lock groups of condemned prisoners in a room and then just walk in there alone without any tools or weapons. Beating them to death with her bare hands. Making the other ones in the room wait their turn while she tears their cellmates to pieces. Unable to escape the room or her."

Tatsumi drew a deep breath and stared down at the floor. He didn't want to hear this but he needed to know the full consequences brought forth by his actions.

"Yeah. I know" Wave said as he watched the obviously troubled boy. "Even the torture masters have been scared of her. Since one of the torturers that tried oppose her new more savage practices was thrown into the room with the rest of the prisoners."

Tatsumi was unsure of how he should react to this. The torturer getting killed was nothing but a good riddance. The rest of the prisoners though... He wasn't sure this was the worst outcome for them.

When Tatsumi first had become Esdese's partner she had forced him to go with her wherever she went. Even the torture chambers. He had seen what she was capable of doing to people with the right tools and drugs at her disposal.

The first couple of times he had tried to stop her.

Resorting to try with violence and force since he wasn't getting anywhere with his words. But at that time he was not allowed to carry a weapon. Much less a teigu. Not that Esdese cared but he was deemed a liability to other soldiers at that time. Though even if he had wielded Incursio the result would still have been the same. He was quickly wrestled down and when it became apparent that he was not going to calm down she simply chained him into one of the torture benches until she was done with her victims. Then she released Tatsumi and took him with her.

After a couple of times he stopped trying. Putting himself in the corner of whatever room Esdese had chosen. Trying to shut out all sound by covering up his ears while silently weeping.

Esdese had not liked the effects the torture chambers were having on Tatsumi though. One time when she was getting especially creative with two small siblings, Tatsumi had actually thrown up his breakfast when he did the mistake of looking over his shoulder. It was at that time that Esdese decided that that would not do.

He needed to be hardened to these kind of things if he was going to survive in the world with her but this was most certainly the wrong way to do it. Every time she went to the torture chambers after that she first took her time to tenderly wrap up Tatsumi in more chains and bindings than he could carry before placing him under competent guards in the vicinity of the chambers. Close enough so that she could still feel his presence. But Tatsumi still had to listen to the screams.

If there had been a single time when he could have broken mentally, it would have been one of those times, Tatsumi knew. He was actually quite aware that those times had changed him. Jaded him in ways he did not care for. Yet he did endure and soon the entire empire would reap the fruits of his resilience.

"I guess there is not much for it." Tatsumi said. "If she is abandoning all the finesse and techniques that she prides herself on in her favorite pastime, then she must be getting dangerously pent-up. I think I will just have to accept my fate before things get even worse."

"Yeah, I can't think of anything. Sorry, man but I think that if I tried to distract her away from you, this time, I would just be playing with fire."

Tatsumi sighed. "It's okay, Wave. Sooner or later Esdese usually gets what she wants."

"Oh, by the way." Wave pulled forth a small piece of rolled up paper. "An old homeless lady came to me on my standard patrol this morning. She told me to give this to you. It's a thank you letter. Apparently you saved her son sometime in the past."

Tatsumi took the note and unrolled it. Inside was a long thank you message written with coal. Tatsumi pretty quickly realized that this was the hidden message that he had been waiting for today. He had written and received many of these hidden codes so he was able to decipher it with relative ease as they walked.

"Your return was observed this morning.

Since you have not contacted us, we are proceeding under the assumption that everything has gone according to plan.

The operation is going live in two days."

"You know, messages like that is really what keeps you going." Wave said. Oblivious to the true meaning of the message. "Makes you feel that all the bullshit is actually worth it."

"Yeah" Tatsumi smiled. "Sometimes people actually get what they deserve" he said as he threw the letter into a fireplace they passed by.

"If you just wait long enough"