Chapter 39 – Kill the Feelings
[Name]'s eyes eased open as the morning sunlight gleamed overhead. He awoke still bewildered at what happened with Akame last night. He knew he wasn't hallucinating when he felt her kiss him. In case he was hallucinating he'll just forget about it. Besides, bringing it up wouldn't gain him anything anyways. He sat up to hear the sizzling of the meat in a pan in the kitchen. Still severely wounded, though partially healed; he stood up on his own.
After creeping to the threshold of the door he could see Akame, who was cooking breakfast.
[Name] had stayed behind his door's threshold so that way Akame didn't see him yet. He didn't know exactly how to approach her after what had happened last night. [Name] wasn't weirded out with being intimate, but it was the fact that is was Akame. It was too weird for him and he wanted to make the perfect entrance to give the illusion that he wasn't as flustered as he was.
Akame: Good morning [Name].
[Name] winced. She'd noticed him anyway.
[Name]: Hey Akame, what's up?
He asked. She didn't reply and stayed tending to the food on the hot stove.
[Name]: I wasn't creeping if that's what you think.
Akame: I know, you aren't like that. If you were, I'd know it and would've castrated you already.
She stated with a monotone finish. [Name] shrugged the thoughts of the nasty procedure out of his brain and sat down at the kitchen table.
[Name]: Any word from Najenda yet?
Akame: If things went as planned then she'll be back with everyone else sometime tonight.
[Name]: And once they get back, it'll be time for the final assault. Something's telling me that things won't go the way they should though. We'll need to be more careful than usual.
Akame: I have that feeling too. But, it's not like we have a choice to keep playing it safe. We've done it for far too long as it is. Faide attacking us set us back a good bit but even with that we were able to make up for the lost time.
[Name] thought about the injury he sustained at Faide's hands. He felt the nasty wound in his abdomen and thought about how similar Faide was to himself. Faide put those he loved above himself and was dealt a horrible fate because of it. [Name] would put the lives of other entirely over his own and be almost executed by Esdeath because of it. That lead to this entire saga of blood he's bathed in since that day.
Princess Uta and the entire royal family at the Celestial settlement died because of him. The Red Imperium was destabilized, and thousands of lives were destroyed with his help. He nearly even killed Kasumi, the girl he adopted and cared for deeply.
It seems like for every positive a massive negative seems to crash into it. Faide had ultimately loved life and freedom of choice but twisted by the things he had to do to become who he became. [Name] doesn't want to be that way. He needs to deal with the empire and save the ones he loves the best way he knows how. A thought process that Nora; the witch from the Polaris school helped him reconnect with some time ago.
[Name]: Akame, what are you going to do when this is over?
Akame: There's going to be plenty of imperials from all occupations that go, rogue when we win. When the bounties are put up, I'll be there to take them on.
[Name]: I mean after it's "over". There must be something you want to go to after you're done the fighting.
Akame: I honestly haven't given that much thought. What about you?
[Name]: I'll probably just stay around and help the city out. Or if I change my mind, then I'll just live like a normal person.
Akame: Lame..
[Name] scoffed.
[Name]: Yeah, and cooking all meat isn't boring at all.
Akame then raised a knife at [Name] with a demonic flare in her eyes.
Akame: EATING all meat is the best way to fight in a war and period!
She closed the gap between them, but she hit her harshly bruised ribs on the kitchen table and dropped the blade. She let out a choked scream as she clutched her side. [Name] immediately got up ignoring his own pain and tended to hers.
Akame instinctively drove a fist into [Name]'s gut. [Name]'s eyes shot open and extreme pain and clutched his own torso. Akame realizing what she did grab onto [Name] and began to apologize frantically.
Akame: I'm very sorry [Name]! Are you okay?
He struggled to reply.
[Name]: As good as I could be with a hole in my stomach.
He put a hand to her ribs and tried to crack a smile.
[Name]: I guess if you're okay then I am too.
Akame grimaced and raised a hand and cocked it back!
Right before her hand collided with [Name]'s face, he shut his eyes. He didn't feel any pain, he instead felt her warm hand gently clamp onto the side of his face. Their eyes locked together. A red tint covered Akame's face. For some reason, [Name] didn't feel like he was betraying Esdeath. If anything, this felt more genuine, more pleasant. Then they both flinched! Several knocks sounded off the front door of the hideout which they were in the front of.
They'd broken off from one another, shrugging off the encounter as Akame went for the door. This alarmed her because if it was her comrades, they would've been able to get in themselves.
Akame gestured for [Name] to get out of the pathway of the door. As he'd done so she looked through a small compartment that had an extremely small mirror on the outside of the door for her to look through.
She gasped slightly.
Simultaneous - Imperial Palace Halls
Esdeath stood looking out of the stain glass windows of the palace looking down hundreds of feet down the high-class district. Normandy, the woman of green locks spoke to Esdeath about the news they'd received that morning.
Normandy: Your deduction was right. The Nightraid killed the other two generals like you'd predicted but I'm curious as to if they're in the middle ring.
Esdeath: Well, of course, I was right. The Nightraid is preparing for their final strike on the capital. Their only mistake was being too predictable. Hunting them down and looking for them now will only scatter them further and make pinpointing them harder. We let them attack and smash their forces.
Normandy: We'll take out their strongest in the assault and the rest will falter right?
Esdeath: Yes. As of now, everything is falling into place nicely.
Normandy: Well, what about [Name]? Do you think he's still alive and even if he is…what are you going to do?
Esdeath: I'm almost certain he's alive and recuperating. Normandy, I don't have any tangible proof or evidence but it's just something I can feel.
The colonel looked downwards and didn't speak. She didn't have the nerve to probe Esdeath at first, but she worked up the nerve to do exactly that.
Normandy: But he's such a wild card. I don't know how'd you'd be so certain he'd come back.
Esdeath: Normandy, As I told you I'm not entirely sure. Kasumi…
Normandy: Kasumi…. He adopted her after her village was destroyed. I forgot about that.
The blue haired woman took her hands and placed them over her own heart. She closed her eyes as if to calm herself from getting over excited as she spoke.
Esdeath: Her being with me now; is a testament of how he feels about me. With this, there's no way possible that he won't return to me. In fact, He won't have a choice.
Normandy: But how do you know if he cares enough about her to risk coming back to you?
Esdeath: Let me say this. She's ignorant, foolish, brash, and very brave just like I was when I was her age. She and I are more similar then one would think. I love that girl, dearly. Though understand that I didn't begin my relationship with her solely because I saw her as my potential successor.
Esdeath opened her eyes and looked dead into Normandy's.
Esdeath: I did so because she is a key. She is a key to [Name]'s heart.
Normandy: But Esdeath. That's not love.
Esdeath only gave a side-eyed glance as she faced the beautifully designed windows.
Normandy: [Name] has to love you for who you are. You can't just hang Kasumi over his head like that. I mean if you truly love [Name] or Kasumi you'd never see them as tools or as pawns.
Esdeath's facial expression soured but not overtly so.
Esdeath: You misunderstand me Normandy. I only want what's best for the ones I cherish. And, I'd never do anything to harm them without cause. If I had hurt them, it would only be if it benefited me in some way.
Normandy now saw that arguing would be completely futile. She let Esdeath keep her warped sense of what love is as trying to change it wouldn't go anywhere.
Normandy: But Esdeath. Don't you care about how they feel?
Esdeath looked downwards and blushed.
Esdeath: Without question. My love for them knows no bounds. If I've ever truly hurt them; then I hope that they realized that my actions always come from a place deep within my heart.
Normandy: But Esdeath…
She fought against her own protests and then stopped. She sighed and allowed Esdeath to have the point. She felt it would be futile to continue the debate. Esdeath smiled slightly, now looking towards her friend she acknowledged Normandy's newly reached conclusion.
Esdeath: You act like you don't know me at all.
The blue haired woman then turned and began to walk down the hall. Before she left entirely, she continued.
Esdeath: Maybe you should spend a little more time with some warm blood. Care to join me in my torture chambers?
Normandy: I'm fine, thank you anyway. . . General.
"A shame," Esdeath stated as she didn't even look back to acknowledge her close friend.
Nightraid Hideout
Akame sat at the table with her sword; Murasame, alongside [Name] and the awoken Mine. She was still in her sleeping garbs and rubbing her eyes. The people who'd come to the door were the orphans Bet, Teg, and Viot much to Nightraid's relief.
Bet: There were some imperial reps that picked us out and offered to bring a lot of us to a better place within the high-class district. I didn't trust them, so I told them no.
Akame: It was probably a trap.
Viot: Indeed, although I do have reason to believe that the offer we were given; could've also been a genuine attempt to reintegrate us into imperial society.
The orphans' red-headed leader lashed out at his friend.
Bet: Get real! If you haven't heard the rumors, the empire is going to purge out this entire district.
Viot: And, the attempt could've been something meant to save us by an anonymous-
Bet: That's enough outta you for now. Even if it were a real try to "save" us.
He gestured with quotation fingers.
Bet: Then we'd still decline it because we're lending aid to the revolution with manpower and resources during the final assault on the capital.
[Name] found it extremely strange that Kasumi's friends actually had the wherewithal to supply any sort of aid to anyone. It seemed like only yesterday that he was advising him to stop doing anything that resembled giving aid to anyone other than himself in this form. But he now sees why that Kasumi took such a liking to these boys. It's their tenacity and will to survive. She had that same thing, so does [Name] and everyone else it the Nightraid.
[Name]: You guys mean well, but I'm not entirely sure you kids should be fighting in this war.
Mine: [Name], I know what you mean but we're getting down to the wire and we need all the help we can get at this point.
[Name]: But kids Mine?!
Bet: We're not just kids. We're people who have a say in this whole thing too!
Viot: I trust you see where we're coming from in this situation.
Teg: What Viot said, If we're going to die then at least let us die on our feet.
[Name]: Fine, it's not like this is in my hands anyway.
Bet: Right, I'd do it with or without you guys because I have someone to save and people to defend.
[Name]: Who are you going to save?
He asked only to get the boys answer. He knew who he wanted to save before he asked the question.
Bet: It's this girl who was helping us lead the orphanage. She means a lot to me and she sacrificed herself to save us. It should've been me.
She slammed a fist down onto the table while he stood.
Bet: I tried to have her let me go instead.
Quicker than the blink of an eye, a tear spilled down his cheek as he kept his serious demeanor. He quickly wiped it and continued to keep his stern composure.
Akame: You are putting all the blame yourself and it isn't going to help anyone. You just need to focus on giving the plan to your militia so they can be of use to us.
Understand?
Bet: Yes…Anything I can do to bring the empire down. They'll pay. Only if we had an imperial arms or if the shadow was still around we could give the revolution more help.
Teg snapped his fingers as he remembered something.
Teg: Yeah, oh. That's right, Kasumi had said that the shadow took her in after her village was wiped out.
Bet: He did so much good for the poorer people by cleaning out a lot of the scum that tried to take advantage of us. He was probably taken in and executed whenever he turned up.
[Name] sat up out of his chair and stretched in slight pain.
[Name]: The shadow's gone and you don't have an imperial arms so what? You guys have a lot to offer already. We'll get Kasumi back and send the empire straight to hell. Just you wait. Until then we'll wait for Najenda and the rest of the team to get back.
Bet: First off, what's so special about you? I didn't see you here before and plus Najenda didn't tell me anything about you. Just what do you do?
[Name]: I just work in the shadows every now and again.
Bet: Okay, I guess we know who the practical joker of the group is. It's fine though, an extra hand can always help. Anyways, we'll be back later on in the evening to confirm everything.
With that statement, the boys left it that. [Name] still thought it was really strange that three kids were essential figures of the poorest district in the empire. For some reason, [Name] really liked them. Teg seemed to be the heavy of the group because he is the bigger out of the three. Viot seems to be an intellectual strategist. And Bet seems to have qualities of the headstrong leader. They have the makeup to do very good things and for this reason, [Name] decided to follow them.
Evening – Imperial Squalor District
[Name] walked around the district for some time. He's been trying to find where the boys had gone. The shape of the district was beginning to falter while people did what they could to keep things going. Without the financial support of the empire, the quality of the district's living arrangements has deteriorated. However, this will all soon change hopefully before the district is eradicated outright.
The sky had become quite cloudy as the rain started to drop. The weather's temperatures had increased on certain days but it's mostly still cold. As [Name] walked through the frigid temperature he finally found his targets. He saw them sitting outside of a run-down building that was still in use.
He stayed off to the side as he noticed what they were doing. Teg had reached into his pockets for smaller loaves of bread. As they ate, he heard how the boys remarked that they had to stretch the food for later as that was all they had for the week. The trio also stated that they'd just finished feeding the children and they barely had enough for that. [Name] had to do something to gain their favor.
He certainly doesn't have to. But he wanted to do this because it's what Kasumi would want, and it'd help relations between this orphan faction and the revolution. Plus, he thinks that they are good people and he wanted to do everything he could to help. He listened to what they were saying, and something shocked him to his core.
Bet: Viot, any ideas on what we could do to help out the revolution more than we are?
Viot: I don't think that'll be necessary.
His friends stopped chewing on the tough bread in confusion.
Teg: How?!
Viot: Well, for starters the original shadow is that guy who was back at that place. It was plainly obvious.
Bet: What do you mean?! Are you just saying shit again?
Viot: Think about this. According to eye witness accounts, the height of the shadow was [Height] and the man back there was the same height. He also didn't have an imperial arms. Add this with the fact that he was clearly injured and severely so. A man in the Nightraid was severely injured, doesn't have his face plastered on the walls as a wanted man, and was hasn't been seen in ages.
Bet: None of that means anything.
Viot: Not done yet. . .He was good, too good the empire took notice of him or vice versa served the empire and pissed someone off which likely caused the man who came to Kasumi's home to do what he did. He wasn't home as Kasumi said. So, he likely retired the persona, went outside of the empire met with the Nightraid while their base was their out there. Probably went on numerous excursions while on the outside came back and reconnected with the empire. He's clearly still affiliated with the empire because there aren't any warrants for his capture and execution. This means he's playing both sides then. He's gaining info from the imperials to get to the revolution to help us out.
Bet: How can any of that be true?
Viot: Well, he did say he was helping from the shadows.
Teg: Wait…So if that's true then could he be selling us out?
Viot: If that were the case, we'd be dead already.
[Name]: Hey.
He said as he walked around the corner he hid behind. They boys immediately put their food away and addressed him.
Bet: What do you want?
[Name]: We're having dinner back at the place if you three want to join us.
The boys looked at one another and red-haired leader answered.
Bet: Thanks, but no thanks.
Teg: What would we look like if we went to your place to eat and the kids didn't have anything for themselves.
Viot: My thoughts exactly. Though I am curious, you clearly didn't have the intention to ask us to stay for dinner while we were there. Why the sudden change of heart?
[Name]: Mainly because I just thought of it as you three left. Second, it's what Kasumi would want.
Bet; the leader immediately walked up to [Name] as if to strike him.
Bet: What do you know about what she. . . Are you the shadow?
[Name]: Not anymore. I was.
Bet: Where have you been?!
He reached up and grabbed [Name]'s shirting and pulled him down towards him.
Bet: Do you realize how much good you could've been doing! How many more people you could've been saving?!
[Name] pushed the boy off him.
[Name]: You have to trust me. I know what I'm doing. We'll get her back and save this whole entire land.
Bet: I don't believe you! If you honestly quit being the shadow because your friend Rom got killed, then I don't think you have what it takes to bring Kasumi back! Why should I believe in you now?!
[Name]: Because I'm willing to do anything to get her back. Wait right here, guys.
Sometime later
After sometime later, [Name] had returned with massive bags. He walked into the building, the orphanage foyer room was filled with children and some newer teens. The trio was there as they were told to be.
Bet: So, what?
He asked while he threw his hands up, letting them drop freely.
[Name] searched for a table and opened the bag full of rations, cooked foods, water, and more living supplies for them all to have. The kids ran to the table and swooned over it. They were jumping up and down and begging [Name] to give them some. Bet ran up to [Name] and asked.
Bet: What are you doing?!
[Name]: Helping.
Teg: Just what do you want from us?! We're already giving you our help.
[Name]: I just want your trust.
Bet: You mean you don't want anything back like weapons or anything!
[Name]: It's all yours as longs as...
The three boys stood there in anticipation to see if they had what [Name] wanted. Bet could barely breath as [Name] gave his proposition.
[Name]: You give me your word that you'll believe that I'll save your home and Kasumi.
Bet's eyes had welled up with tears. To finally meet the man who he'd looked up to the most in his life if even for a short time to come back, meant a lot. When he'd been told that [Name] had been the shadow, he was disappointed that he'd quit. But he returned in the way it mattered the most and that's to help those who needed it the most.
Bet: You got it. You have all my trust!
Teg: Mine too!
Viot: And mine as well.
[Name]: Then here you go.
He said with a smile as he began to walk away.
[Name]: I'll see you later on at the meeting!
Bet wiped his eyes clear and yelled back.
Bet: You bet!
Night – Nightraid Hideout
Najenda had returned after a week of being gone. She'd gone to numerous nations who'd been wronged by the empire in some way. After they were finished, she returned with less than stellar news for the Nightraid. No settlement had officially given any concrete support to the revolution. So as of now, the extremely low number of revolution soldiers is all they have. Everyone cramped into the kitchen for the final team briefing before the assault. Bet, Teg, Viot, a few other squalor teens, Chelsea, Tatsumi, Mine, Akame, Lubbock, Leone, Susanoo, and [Name] were all there and ready for the moment of truth.
Najenda: Everyone's roles have been set. The squalor district's forces will aid the revolutions assault on the capital.
Finally, it was time for Najenda to assign [Name] his mission and arguably the most crucial. If this is not completed, then all efforts on the revolution's side may be all for not.
Najenda: [Name], you probably have the most dangerous mission out of anyone here. Everyone is assigned in two-man teams, but you'll be by your lonesome.
[Name]: I understand.
Najenda: Your mission is to assassinate General Esdeath tomorrow night.