The assassin sank in the snow as the blizzard whirled around him. Looking down, he saw blood flow between the fingers covering the wound on his chest, dripping down onto the snow like paint on an empty canvas. His strength was used up, and his teigu useless. In a matter of hours, the Ice Queen and her minions would catch up to him, and then it would be all over.

They're all dead, and it's my fault.

Falling down on his knees, he let go, and the sleek armor surrounding him disappeared like fog in the sun, leaving nothing but a small bracelet on his right arm. His vision was darknening, his limbs getting number for every passing second, and every breath he took was a knife in his lunges, but he would be damned if he'd let that murderess and her dogs have it. He would destroy it himself before he let that happen… but how?

Squinting through the twirling wind, he noticed several lights in the distance. A village.

A forge and a fire is all I need, he thought as he struggled to get back on his feet. God, please let there be a forge there. Stumbling like a drunk, with a deadly sleepiness creeping up his legs, the assassin faced his final challenge with a sneer on his face.

XXXXX

Tatsumi looked on with worry as the rations of the day were handed out to the villagers. His village had never been affluent, but these last few years, he'd watched as his friends and neighbors had been forced to live increasingly destitute lives. It was like the chief had said: if things didn't change for the better soon, the village would die, and its inhabitants with it.

And that's where I come in, he thought as he balled his right hand into a fist. In three days' time, he would leave this place for the imperial capital. With his skills, he'd make a killing in the army for sure, and then the village's past tribulations would be nothing but a memory. Just three days more…

"Yo!" a cheerful voice hooted behind him, and before he could react, someone slapped him across the head. Looking up, he saw that Ieyasu had finally crawled out of his warm house to make sure he got his daily mouthful of dried muskox beef. "What's up, Tatsumi? You look like you haven't crapped in a week!"

Tatsumi aimed a half-hearted punch at his best friend's knee, but the brown-haired teenager evaded it with ease. However, he got his just desserts when he slipped on an icy spot on the wall Tatsumi was sitting on, falling face-first into a pile of sooty snow.

As Tatsumi debated whether to help his flailing friend, he saw Sayo separate herself from the crowd of villagers huddled together in the middle of the marketplace. Tatsumi's heart skipped a beat as she gave him a brief smile, before sitting down beside him, completely ignoring Ieyasu's muffled cries.

"Three days to go," she said, adjusting the flower accessory in her hair. "You ready?"

"I was born ready," Tatsumi grinned. Truth be told, he was excited as hell. His entire life, he'd feasted on the tales of the wandering merchants that sometimes found their way to this little corner of the empire. He was practically dying to get going, and had been ever since the chief had selected him along with Sayo and Ieyasu. The fact that they'd be travelling with him was the cherry on top of the roasted warthog. Before he could continue the conversation, however, something icy and wet was suddenly between his skin and woolen shirt, and judging by the intensity of Sayo's screaming, she was in the same predicament.

Digging the snow out from under their cloths, they turned to see a grinning Ieyasu busy retreating to a safe distance while juggling four snowballs. After his little dip in the soot, he looked very much like a chimney sweep.

"Not so funny when it's your own neck, eh!?" he called.

Tatsumi and Sayo exchanged a single look.

"Double team?" Tatsumi proposed.

"Double team," Sayo agreed solemnly, and they both got up in unison.

Sensing the potency of their combined killer intent, Ieyasu's grin faltered. "C'mon guys it was just a joooooooooooaaaaaaaaashiiiiiiiiiiiitttt!" he yelled as they shot forward, fanning out like wolves on the hunt. Dropping the snowballs, Ieyasu fled down the road, before darting out into the snow-covered fields. To his credit, he nearly got halfway across before Tatsumi tackled his legs. What followed was a concert of the most unmanly screams imaginable as Tatsumi and Sayo continued the village's age-old tradition of stuffing as much snow as possible into the cloths of the troublemaker and stripping the unlucky fool down to his underwear, before throwing him into the nearest snowdrift.

"YAAAAAAHHHH!" Ieyasu's bellowed, jumping some five feet into the air.

"You'd think he'd be used to this by now," Sayo mused as their violated friend dressed himself while shuddering like a guitar string. "I guess some people never learn."

"Indeed," Tatsumi responded ponderingly.

"Sh-sh-sh-shut u-up!" Ieyasu hissed, his wrath quickly vaporizing whatever snow he'd missed. "I-I w-will hav-e m-my r-rev-veng-e…"

"Before or after you wash that shit off of your face?" Sayo inquired, gesturing at the soot still staining his angry face, causing Tatsumi to nearly fall over with laughter.

"O-O-oh y-yeah?" Ieyasu stuttered as threateningly as he could. "J-just wait u-until…" his voice faltered as his eyes zeroed in on something behind them. "O-oh shit…"

Tatsumi and Sayo whirled around to see a figure draw nearer through the whirling snowflakes. Tatsumi immediately drew his weapon, a short sword he carried no matter where he went, the blade that had ended more than a few danger beasts.

The wind slowed a little, revealing the figure to them in all its bloody grandeur. Behind him, Tatsumi heard Sayo gasp.

The man was dressed in simple, woolen cloths, was about a head taller than Tatsumi, athletically built, and bald. The thing about him that made Tatsumi's eyes widen and his hand fall was the gaping wound on the side of the man's chest. Half as big as one of Tatsumi's hands, it was a gateway for the man's blood to pour out at an inexorable rate.

The man faltered, and without thinking, Tatsmui sheathed his sword and moved forward to catch the stranger as he fell forward.

Clutching the fabric of Tatsumi's shirt as if he was blind, the man brought his mouth as close to the boy's ear as he could. "Take this," he whispered, and Tatsumi felt something small, hard and metallic being pressed into his hands.

"Don't… let them… have it..."

What little strength the man's grip had possessed faded away. For a moment, all Tatsumi could do was standing there, holding the dead body. Then, he heard Sayo speak, and the spell was broken.

"Is… is he…?"

Getting down on one knee, Tatsumi put a finger where the man's pulse should have been. Nothing.

"Yeah," Tatsumi said, his voice strangely calm. "There's nothing we can do for him now… but…" He looked over the white fields before them, barely ale to see the mountains that had always guarded the village. "Whoever did this… I think they're coming here."

XXXXX

Esdeath spotted the bloodstain long before any of her three companions did, driving the spurs into the sides of her horse. It marked the place where the assassin's strength had finally ended, as she could see a fine trail of footmarks not yet erased by the falling snow run down the hill. From this point on, tracking him would be child's play.

He sat on his knees there, she thought, studying a rectangular spot in the snow, before moving her gaze back to the bloodstain.

"Tch," she voiced, her eyes narrowing with disappointment.

"Is something wrong, Esdeath-sama?" River inquired, bringing his horse up besides hers.

"The wound I inflicted on the assassin seem to have been fatal," she said, lowering the brim of her hat. "He'll be long dead by the time we catch up with him. I'll have to wait to practice my newest torture techniques."

"Does that mean I can add his face to my collection when we find him?" Nyau asked cheerfully, pulling his horse up on her other side.

"Yes, it does," Esdeath said, smiling wryly. Somehow, this effeminate boy always had a way of cheering her up.

Looking over the vale before them, she let her enormous willpower reach out to the ice particles in the storm around them, forcing them to stop. In a matter of seconds, the blizzard had died down to nothingness.

"As expected of Esdeath-sama," she heard Daidara grunt somewhere behind her.

"There," she said, pointing at the small village at the other end of the vale. "That is where we'll find him."

"And the villagers?" River inquired.

"If they give us no trouble, nothing happens to them," she said while caressing the hilt of her rapier, a sadistic smile forming on her pale lips. "Let's all pray they do."

XXXXX

The silence was heavy in the chief's house as Tatsumi finished his story. He, Sayo and Ieyasu were the only youngsters present. Besides the men with fighting experience, every villager had been ordered to return to their houses and lock the doors.

"This is most worrisome indeed," the chief muttered, looking down at the corpse of the mysterious stranger. "We can only assume that bandits, or maybe something even worse, are on their way here right now." He looked at Tatsumi. "You're sure that's all he said?"

"Yes, chief," Tatsumi said, running his thumb over the metal bracelet the stranger had given him. "'Don't let them have it…' that's all he told me."

"It's never good to get involved with the madness of the outside world," the chief said, stroking his long, pointy beard. "Most of all, I'd like you to throw that thing into the nearest well, but that might not be an option." Rising to his feet, the chief laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, the only one in the village besides Tatsumi's. The rest of the men were armed with axes, spears and bows. "Everyone, get ready!" the chief shouted. "We might have to fight for our lives soon."

Funny enough, the lookout chose that exact moment to burst through the door, waving his arms like a windmill. "The storm suddenly died down! Four riders are approaching the village!"

"Everyone with a bow, get up on a roof!" the chief barked. Sayo gave Tatsumi a quick nod before vanishing with the other archers. "The rest of you, follow me!"

The chief marched out onto the marketplace that marked the center of the village, Tatsumi and the rest following close behind. Forming a half circle with the chief in the center, they waited.

"Tatsumi," the chief said, and the boy took a step forward.

"Yeah?"

"My eyes are not as good as they once were. Tell me what you see."

"As Kedric said, four riders," Tatsumi said, squinting into the distance. "I think… the one riding in front is a woman."

"Interesting," the chief muttered.

Before long, the riders were close enough for Tatsumi to get a good look. The one at the front was indeed a woman, dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Army. Her three companions all wore a strange black uniform he didn't recognize. One was one of the largest men Tatsumi had ever seen, a huge battleax hanging across his back. Another was just a boy, even smaller than Tatsumi. The third one looked to be in his mid-forties, his hair heavy with silver.

The group stopped galloping a few dozen meters from the assembled villagers, the trio halting completely while the woman continued forward in a light trot. A moment before she would have hit the chief, she pulled the reins back, making the white stallion rear back. Beside him, Tatsumi felt Ieyasu tense up, gripping his dual knives tightly. He couldn't blame him. The bracelet in his left hand felt heavy as a brick right now.

"I am General Esdeath of the Imperial Army!" the woman proclaimed, her voice so powerful that Tatsumi was sure every person in the village must have heard it. "I've come here hunting a dangerous fugitive and traitor to the empire, and I have the authority to do whatever I deem necessary to bring him to justice." An almost invisible smile appeared on the woman's lips, and Tatsumi felt a shudder run down his spine. He couldn't explain why, but somehow, this woman scared him more than any danger beast he'd hunted. If he didn't know better he'd say she was a danger beast.

The chief stepped forward. If he felt intimidated by the woman, he did not show it. "A wounded man stumbled into the village an hour ago, general-sama. He died before anything could be done for him."

"Where is he?" the woman demanded, her blue gaze wandering between the villagers. Tatsumi wanted to look away when it turned to him, but he forced himself to glare back at the woman until she lost interest in him.

"In there," the chief said, pointing at his house with his thumb.

The general turned around to look at her companions. "Nyau, Daidara!" she called, and immediately, the blonde boy and the ax-guy jumped down from their steeds and came to their mistress's side.

"Go check," she ordered.

"Yes, Esdeath-sama," the two of them said in unison, and the villagers stepped aside to let them through. Freaked out by the black tail sticking out from the small of the boy's back, Tatsumi gripped his sword involuntarily. At once, the general's eyes were on him again, and he placed his hand as far away from the hilt of his sword as he could. Glancing down at the bracelet in his other hand, the dying man's final words resounded in his mind.

Don't let them have it…

"General-sama, might I ask what kind of criminal would be important enough for someone of your stature to personally hunt him?" the chief inquired.

"A dangerous one," the general grinned, playing with the hilt of her slender sword. "Relatively so, anyway. Tell me, chief, what kinds of danger beasts roam the mountains surrounding us? I'm not familiar with these lands."

"The Mountain Bear is the only danger beast around these parts," the chief said. "It's one mean monster though."

"Mountain Bear," the general said, sounding like she was talking about some gourmet meal she was looking forward to. "You hunt these creatures?"

"I'm too old for those kinds of shenanigans," the chief grunted, placing a calloused hand on Tatsumi's shoulder. "Tatsumi is the village's finest hunter; he's brought back more pelts than any man in living memory."

The general's icy gaze drilled into him again, making Tatsumi wish the chief would shut his trap. Before further words could be spoken, though, the blonde and the ax-man returned, said ax-man having laid the corpse across his shoulder.

"It's definitely him, Esdeath-sama," the shota said cheerfully. "The teigu isn't on him, though."

The general looked at the chief, and it was clear the friendly atmosphere they'd just had was gone, blown away like snow in the wind.

"I can see this is not a particularly affluent place," she commented, her hand hovering over the hilt of her sword. "I don't suppose you took something from the criminal, thinking you could sell it later?"

The chief looked at Tatsumi from the corner of his eye.

Don't let them have it…

"Do you mean this?" Tatsumi said, holding up the bracelet for all to see.

The general elegantly swung her right leg over the saddle, before jumping down onto the snowy ground. "That is Imperial property," she said, reaching a pale hand towards him, palm up. "Give it here… now."

Fuck it, it's not like it has anything to do with me, Tatsumi thought, ignoring the ghostly warnings from the dead stranger suddenly welling up in his head as he walked towards the general. His village could not afford to make an enemy of an Imperial officer; it was as simple as that. However, as he reached out to place the bracelet in the general's hand, something inexplicable happened.

Without warning, the bracelet first opened, twisted itself around his wrist, and then locked itself in place.

"What the hell!?" Tatsumi exclaimed, taking a step back as he tried to pull it off his wrist, to no avail. No matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't come off.

"Well," the general said slowly, "I did not expect that." In a quick, fluid motion, she drew her rapier.

Tatsumi retreated another step, holding his hands up. Behind him, he heard several villagers shouting in alarm, rustling with their weapons.

"I didn't do anything!" he protested as the blue-haired woman stalked towards him. "I have no idea what just happened!"

"I believe you," she said, almost kindly. Then, without another word, she swiped forward with her rapier so quickly Tatsumi could barely follow it with his eyes. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, a girl (Sayo!) screamed, and then warm liquid was running down the front of his pants.

Total chaos followed. On the roofs around them, villagers with bows sprung out of hiding, launching their arrows at the imperials. On the ground, the villagers surged forward with a roaring Ieyasu in the lead, but before they could reach Tatsumi, the ax-man and the blonde jumped between them, driving them back with uncanny speed and strength. In front of him, Tatsumi saw the general lazily dodge arrow after arrow while shouting an order to her grey-haired subordinate, who immediately spurred his horse towards the closest building. All of this happened in a matter of seconds.

Evading yet another arrow like it was nothing, the general stepped so close Tatsumi could have reached out and touched her, if his hands hadn't been busy making sure he didn't bleed out. He looked up at her, she looked down at him, and suddenly, there was no village, no fighting, and no sounds.

It was only him and her.

"The moment of truth," Esdeath grinned, raising the rapier until the tip pointed right at Tatsumi's throat. Quick as a viper, she thrust forward.

For Tatsumi, it was as if everything was suddenly moving with a snail's pace. As he saw the general's blade descend, he did as the sword master he'd buried behind the forge had drilled him to do time and time again: he threw his head to the side. There was a flash of light, the bracelet on his wrist burned like fire, his limbs moved on their own… and then Tatsumi was on the other end of the marketplace, no longer feeling either the cold, nor the pain in his stomach. Looking down at his hands, his jaw dropped.

Out of nowhere, a sleek, greyish armor had appeared, and now it was covering him from head to toe, except it barely felt like he was wearing anything at all. It followed the contours of his body so neatly that it might have been just another layer of skin. Flexing his arms, they felt no heavier than they would've been if they were naked. On the contrary, they felt lighter. Lighter, faster and stronger.

"HAH!" a triumphant voice shouted, somehow reaching Tatsumi's ears even inside the armor. Looking up, he saw that all fighting had stopped. Everyone was looking at him with a mixture of awe, confusion and shock, with the exception of General Esdeath, who was walking towards him while… clapping?

"Full compatibility, what are the odds?" she asked nobody in particular, her eyes gleaming blue. "This must be fate!"

"What… what did you do to me?" Tatsumi demanded, hearing how the armor distorted his voice, making it sound darker.

"Awakened your hidden potential, evidently," the general said. "Only one man in a thousand is compatible with a teigu, and only one in a million can use it to its full potential, and as far as I can see, you belong to the latter category."

"I… don't understand," Tatsumi said. Just what the hell was going on? Teigu? Potential!?

"You will," the general promised, holding out her hand once again. "Under my guidance, you will become a warrior feared throughout the empire. Join me, Tatsumi and we will unlock all of your hidden potential together!"

Tatsumi almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. A general of the empire, offering to be his patron, just like that? When he thought about it, wasn't that exactly what he'd had in mind when the chief first gave him permission to leave for the capital? In a year, he could have enough money to keep the village safe for years to come.

But… before his inner eye, he saw the general's face again, as it had looked when she was about to kill him. If he had ever seen something that could be described as evil, that was it. Furthermore, he saw his fellow villagers, neighbors and friends, looking bloody and beaten after the pummeling the general's minions had given them. Finally, he saw Sayo look down at him from the roof above, a look so pure and warm compared to the icy general's that it was like he was being tempted by an angel and a devil.

"I wanted to go to the capital and join the army to get money for this village," he finally said, and saw how the general responded by taking an eager step forward. "I still want to do it… but not with you."

The general, Esdeath, let her hand fall. "I'm sorry you feel that way," she said sadly. "It's a shame I can't force you."

Sensing what was coming, Tatsumi tensed up.

"Oh wait!" Esdeath exclaimed, slapping her forehead in an act of mock remembrance. "Of course I can force you!"

Like a stone from a catapult, Esdeath shot forward, and even with his newfound speed, Tatsumi barely evaded getting knocked out cold. Moving so fast it felt like teleportation, he dodged to the side, before racing towards his sword, which he'd dropped on the ground when the armor manifested. In a single motion, he rolled forward, grabbed it, and then propelled himself towards the blonde and the ax-man, who were once again engaging the villagers. Before he could reach them though, the snow shifted under his feet, as if alive, throwing him off balance. A shadow fell across his face, and once again he barely evaded Esdeath's fist.

"Excellent," she said as rose up, paying now mind to the crater she'd just created with her punch. "You've been using the teigu for a minute, and you're already more proficient than its previous owner."

"Yeah? Maybe you should give up then!?" Tatsumi shouted, trying to sound a lot more confident than he felt. What on God's green earth was this woman!? The snow just now… he was sure she'd manipulated it somehow.

"Getting cocky, are we?" Esdeath grinned. "Then perhaps it's time for me to humble you a little… GRAUHORN!"

Out of nowhere, an icicle the size of rowboat came flying like a projectile. Tatsumi tried to dodge, but it still grazed his side enough to send him tumbling through the snow. Before he could collect himself, Esdeath was upon him, her fist digging into his chest like a hammer on a nail. He tried to swipe at her with his sword, only for her to slap the blade away like a fly. Next, she grabbed the front of his helmet, ripping it off with terrifying strength. He got one good look at her feral grin with his own eyes, before a kick to the stomach sent him crashing into the closest house.

"You're skilled," Esdeath said as she walked towards him, "but horribly inexperienced. Have you ever even killed another person?"

"No," Tatsumi grunted. With his armor breached, his limbs didn't feel all that light anymore.

"You will soon," Esdeath promised, "but not today, it seems."

"We'll see," Tatsumi growled. Summoning every last bit of strength remaining in his body and channeling it into the armor, he readied himself for the final attack. It was either all or nothing now.

A harsh laugh erupted from Esdeath's mouth. "You're ten years too early to beat m-"

Kicking back against the ground, Tatsumi flew forward with the speed of a bullet in flight, willing himself to go faster than ever before. Holding his sword like a lance, he aimed for Esdeath's widening eyes, his lips stretching into a grin of his own as he felt the taste of victory on his lips.

XXXXX

Her opponent's inexperience alone saved Esdeath. A moment before the boy attacked, she saw his intent clear in his eyes and sensed the killer intent ooze from his body, allowing her to move first. Throwing her head to the side, she evaded the desperate charge with a hair's breadth, before finishing the fight by driving her elbow into the boy's ribcage, sending him flying again. His momentum was so great that he went right through the house at the opposite end of the marketplace, going down like a meteorite in the field on the other side.

Looking around, she saw that her subordinates had subdued the villagers. The archers on the rooftops had been brought down by River, and now they were all huddled together in a group, safe under the spell of Nyau's flute. She was pleased to see that her pets had been smart enough to refrain from inflicting any fatal wounds. Dead, they were useless as leverage.

Suddenly, River was by her side. "Esdeath-sama, you're bleeding!"

She narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "What are you talking about!? I never bleed."

Without a word, River used his Teigu to levitate some water from a leather pouch, manipulating it until it had the shape of a flat sphere. Studying her face in the reflection, Esdeath's eyes widened, and she quickly dragged a finger across the thin, red stripe on her cheek. Holding it up in front of her, a single drop of crimson blood hung from her nail. Her blood.

"I can barely remember the last time someone scratched me…" she said, almost breathless. She studied it for a moment, marveling at the sight, before slowly licking it up. The taste gave her a deliciously perverse kind of pleasure.

"River… I think I'm in love."

XXXXX

His head spinning, Tatsumi tried to get to his feet, without success. The armor was gone, leaving only the bracelet behind, and without its protection, he could feel the pain and the cold more than ever before. He tried calling for someone, anyone, but all he managed was a hoarse cough. His mouth tasted like iron and salt.

A familiar shadow fell across him once again, and he looked up to see Esdeath towering over him.

"Awake already?" she said, sounding pleased. "Your head must be harder than the rock you just broke."

"Go… to… hell," Tatsumi managed.

"All in due time," Esdeath chuckled. "But before that…" She made a gesture to the side, and Tatsumi's eyes followed.

On their knees in the snow, the chief, Ieyasu and Sayo were sitting in a semicircle, looking like they were asleep, even though their eyes were wide open. Esdeath's three subordinates were standing behind them, looking more than ready to crush a few skulls.

"It has been fun, but now, playtime's over," Esdeath said, reaching out to him for the third time. "Come with me, or they die. Try to run from me, and every last villager dies. Betray me, and I will bury this place and its inhabitants so deeply that nobody will ever know it even existed."

A scratch as long and thick as one of his hairs… that was all he had accomplished with that final attack. There was no way he could beat this woman, no way in hell. Lowering his head in submission, he placed his hand on hers.

"You win."

If he'd raised his gaze at that moment, the look in her eyes would have scared him more than anything else conceivable. More than rage, lust, or even hate would that look of pure, unfeigned adoration in her pale, blue eyes have terrified him beyond belief.

"Of course I do."