Chapter 41: Frosty Reunion

Parc sucked in a breath as he quickly dashed into an alley, pressing his body against the wall. Since he'd collected the intel his nerves had been on edge, especially now that more soldiers were lingering around the area questioning any civilians they came into contact with.

It was a mission just to get this far with how many were just patrolling every square inch of the streets. He'd overheard a few of the questions asking if they noticed any suspicious individuals in the area last night. Or if they heard anything, the usual.

He also learned that there was a large crime scene not too far away from the red light district which was likely where Dr. Stylish met his untimely demise.

But right at this moment, it wasn't a guard that was causing his heart to beat fearfully.

There was only really one person in this world who could do that to him.

The same person who left his body riddled with frostbite and scars.

Esdeath.

He had just entered the street about to continue down it towards the gate when he noticed her and the group behind her. The Jaegers, all of them. He had taken a bit of time to pick out the reports of the Jaegers while still in the old brothel, just so he could memorize their faces.

It would be just his luck that they would end up on the same street at the same time.

'She didn't see me,' his eyes narrowed, remaining still against the wall, head turned in the direction of the street. If she had seen him, he would likely already be encased in a prison of ice being dragged away to wherever she had set up just for him.

Which, considering he was tasked with getting her under his thumb… or well, the other 'thumb' that hung between his legs. Would likely increase the chance of that actually happening. He just wasn't to intent on that happening just yet.

He couldn't take this path anymore.

Turning down the alley, he made hastened steps it, peering back just in time to see the Jaegers passing by. Only for the worst possible person to find this alley particularly interesting and looked down it.

Her Ceylon eyes exuding a domineering aura that cut at Parc rationality as they locked onto his eyes. Both froze in place. Locked in a short battle of who blinks looses.

And Parc could never win against her.

"I've found you~" a malevolent expression took to her features as she hummed, her voice carrying down the alley.

"Yeah-no." Parc squeaked, his foot kicking off the ground to launch himself forward with his Rush of the Nephilim ability, bringing him to the opposite side of the street across the alley in the blink of an eye.

The moment his body slowed, he launched ahead once again, sending another plume of feathers skywards. Hearing a loud *crunch* in the second just before he left his position. He didn't need to look back to know he'd grown a particularly hostile tail.

***

"Uh, Kurome," Wave spoke up, staring with rapidly blinking eyes at the spear of ice that had grown out of the earth and shot their captain off into the distance of the city. "You saw that, right?"

"Mmm…" Kurome slowly nodded, chewing on a piece of her candy at the same time. A lopsided frown on her face from when she'd followed Esdeath's gaze and saw Parc standing with his back to them.

"Do we follow her?" He questioned, not a second later did Seryuu burst from besides him, following the directiong the spear of ice was directing her. "That's a yes," he mumbled. "Run," He looked to the blonde haried boy, "you're the fastest of us, you catch up to her and give her support with whatever she's found."

"On it," from Run's back two discs came to hover, their form rippling as two pure white feathered wings sprouted. Streatching out behind him before flapping down once with enough strength to send him skywards and off into the distance.

"Bols, Kurome, let's go."

***

"Should have run earlier. God fucking dammit," Parc growled to himself, leaving feathers in his wake with every step he took. Regretting his idiotic decision to walk and not sprinted away when he first saw Esdeath. It was a mistake on his part. And one that could very well end with some very bad consequences for him.

"Stop running," He could hear Esdeath's voice in the wind as he rushed away from where her rapier planted itself.

"Good lords no!" He shouted back, "stop following me!" he retorted, hissing as a spear of ice found itself narrowly missing his back, careening past him and into some poor bystander who'd in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I will never stop chasing you darling. You are my man. You belong only to me!"

From the road a wall of ice suddenly burst up through the ground sending stone rubble flying along with more civilians. Many of which had unfortunate life changing bouts with gravity that left them with broken bones.

'She's supposed to be protecting these people. Jesus Christ.'

He didn't panic, she may have blocked the road, but she certainly didn't box him in like she did on their first meeting. Lifting his left hand up his teigu soon manifested around it, three chains firing up with a speed to rival his own, imbedding into Esdeath's ice wall deep enough to not fall out when he began to reel himself towards it.

His body travelling through the air at speeds that in all reality should have dislocated his shoulder from his body.

Once he was near to the top of the ice wall, the three spear heads came free, returning to the orbs and leaving Parc flying in an arc over the wall. Barely able to get himself into a roll to lessen the impact of the free fall on his body before a tunnel shattered through the wall of ice behind him. Esdeath manically smiling as she continued her chase.

"Interesting Teigu!" She laughed, "you've gotten so strong, darling~"

Just the way she called him 'darling' was enough to put the hairs on the back of his neck on end. "Oh god. Why do I have to bone that," he wept to himself, pushing his right foot off the ground to get his body to spin in the opposite direction of another ice spear that found its way into another poor civilian. Either her aim was terrible, or she didn't care for pedestrian casualties.

'Or me…' he added after seeing the same pedestrian standing in horror as an arm thick spear impaled him through his heart. Was she trying to kill him, or capture him? He was hoping capture. But evidence was pointing elsewhere.

'I need to get out of the city,' he thought as he rounded a bend into a new street.

"Oh, hey Par-c, wah!" Leone cried out as she gained a face full of fur as Parc threw the kitten who'd been clenched tightly to his arm towards her. Nearly crashed into a passing Leone, the last of Night Raid to not have her face plastered on the walls of the capital. "Gah! Stop clawing me you bastard cat!" Leone pried the kitten from her face, "the hell was that fo-" she shouted after Parc.

The whizzing of air besides her head and the following sound of meat being pierced causing her words to halt. Blankly staring down at the dead body laying just a few steps away from her, their body peppered with numerous miniature needle thin icicles.

Her eyes only growing even blanker when Esdeath dashed past her leaving trails of ice in her wake.

"…"

"That's not good."

She spoke the obvious. Noticing something else on the ground by her feet. A thick, leather satchel.

***

Parc's chest heaved as his legs came to a numbing stop, unable to hold his own weight anymore sending him rolling onto the ground. Grunting when he crashed into a freak icewall he'd encountered one too many times this past hour of running.

"Ow…" he groaned through deep breaths, sitting up with help from his wobbling arms. Sweat trickling own his nose and onto the ground. His shirt and pants uncomfortably sticking to his skin.

"Darling, I've missed you. After you ran away I was so heartbroken," Esdeath stood at the end of the hallway of ice, snapping her fingers to begin to construction of a ceiling to stop him from using his teigu like he had done before.

"Yeah," he gasped, "missed you too," he sarcastically quipped, leaning his head against the wall of ice behind him. Feeling the piercing cold invading his body, cooling off the searing burning sensations from his rigorous running. Esdeath's heels clacking against the hard dirt road outside the capital gates which he had just barely been able to get through before his legs gave out on him.

"No. You didn't." Her voice though calm, reminded Parc of an irritated tiger. "You went and cheated on me with that whore of Night Raid."

Parc's nose scrunched, "what are you-"

"Don't act like you don't know what you did. Darling." She loomed over him, her rapier held against his chin, lifting his head to look her in her cold, psychopathic eyes. "I saw you carrying that Sheele. You looked so concerned for her. As if she were more than just a fellow assassin." Parc could feel on his chin her rapier shivering from how hard she clenched her fist. "Why is it you can't look at me with those eyes."

He didn't have time to think about how she knew this. He needed to get out of here. And the longer she kept talking, the more time he had to regain enough energy to go for a second round of cops and robbers. Just with literal spears of ice trying to turn him into a shish keParc .

"Torturing me for a month isn't how you earn my love." If that's what she was after.

Esdeath's hand steadied, her rapier pushing a little closer to his throat, "I had been planning to use your torture as an incentive for you to learn the truth of this world. To join me as one of the strong after I trained you. But now I see that, that was a pointless endeavour."

"What you needed was freedom. And look at how far you've come. The first to elude me for so long." She grinned brightly, "I'm so proud of you." Her rapier lowered from his throat just enough that he could breath easier.

"Thanks," he coughed rubbing a hand around his throat. "You going to let me go to get even stronger?"

"Not a chance." The response was instantaneous, "it is time you returned to me and stayed by my side."

Esdeath leaned towards him, reaching her free hand out to him and grabbed his chin, squeezing his cheeks together, "I will make sure you forget about her and never want to return." Parc couldn't resist her as she forced her lips onto his, her eyes still open and burrowing sharply into his body, warning him that any movement he'd made would end very poorly for him.

Even if he wanted to try anything, he wouldn't have, he wasn't that idiotic.

In his recent memories of kisses, Esdeath's would likely rank high on the list. It wasn't as passionate and lacked the usual invasive tongues intertwining. But the feeling of her cool lips against his that seemed to chill his body down to the core was simply delictable.

He wasn't going to lie and say he wasn't enjoying it. No man could with such a beautiful woman. But he would say that he was utterly terrified of the woman.

As she pulled away from him, she licked her lips, relishing the flavour of his sweat on them.

Parc could only stare up at her, feeling his body gradually growing colder as ice began to form around him.

'I've got a Yandere stalker…' he groaned to himself as the ice encapsulated his head.

***

And the winner of the next world poll is...

Shokugeki no souma! with a landslide victory of 34 to Demonslayers 4!

Now, question. Do I add the Nakiri mothers to the harem?

***

I wonder how many of you are going to complain about him being 'weak' again. May I remind you that Esdeath is THE strongest character in Akame ga Kill.

When I wrote this I was really stuck with where to go and this had been an idea I'd been working on in my head for a while.