"Like Hell I will! I made a promise!" Tatsumi yelled. The light flooded his eyes but he powered on, He couldn't stop now, he had to end it, right here and now. His fist concentrating all of his power onto the weak spot of the giant.
The metal cracked and splintered as he slowly pushed through. All things, no matter how strong, tough or large had their weak points!
He had to, for his friends! For everyone one who had died. Their faces flashing through his mind, driving him forward. Sheela, Bulat, Chelsea, Susanoo, Lubbock, Mine... for them, he had to do it for them!
"I'm going to survive!" He yelled, his voice a loud and long roar, with one final effort he pushed through, the Imperial guardian, chunks of metal around him as he flew skywards, the beast groaned, metal sheering as a powerful blast ripped open its chest behind him. Tearing the Giant asunder.
Tatsumi breathed deeply, his eyes staring up at the clear sky, his face blood and body sore. He smiled it was finally over, after everything that had happened, it was over. The memories and words of Bulat came to his mind. All the training, and the beatings, without them he wouldn't have been there. Bro, I did it.
The sound of screeching metal shook him from his thoughts, Bulat vanishing from his mind in an instant. He looked down. The metal giant was leaning forward, all control of its massive body was gone. The giant fell.
Tatsumi's eyes shot downward. In the giant's path was a group of civilians, huddled around at the end of the street, men women and children tending to the wounded. They wouldn't be able to move in time, they would be crushed!
No! He couldn't let that happen, no more innocents could die for their war! He flew towards the giant, swooping in front of it, coming up to the giant's face. He slammed his hands onto its face and called on whatever strength he had left.
He was exhausted. His body near breaking point, but he had to stop it. He pushed with everything he had, his bones cracking under the weight, skin rupturing, his arms were in agony as blood poured from within Incursio. Despite the pain, he did not relent, and only pushed on with greater strength
The giant slammed into the ground, but its momentum carried it on. He could hear the screams of the civilians as he and the giant slid towards them. He turned around, back to the giant and slammed his feet into the ground.
He screamed in both agony and determination as he billowed towards the people. He could feel the bones in his legs shatter, the skin torn and shredded, Incursio the only thing now holding them together.
This was it he thought, the final push, the final thing he had to do. He gave no ground and slowly, the giant started to slow. His scream forming a roar as he slowly came to a halt, stopping just short of the civilians.
Tatsumi breathed. The air slowly filling his lungs. He couldn't move. His entire body was still. All he could see was the stony ground below him, watching as it turned a deep shade of crimson. His entire body was cold and numb, his blood, flowing freely onto the ground below.
He sucked in more air, this time less of it filling his lungs, his strength slowly draining from his body, flowing onto the cold, stony ground below.
He heard the sound of rushing footsteps. He looked up, his green eyes meeting her red as she walked towards him. She was shocked at the sight of her friend.
Tatsumi managed a smile slightly at her sight. "I'm sorry..." He said, only just able to form the words.
Akame walked towards him. "Looks like I Couldn't keep my promise." He said as he slowly started to fall forwards. He reached out his hands and fell into Akame. She held him tight as his head fell onto her shoulders.
So this is what its like, This is what its like to die. He thought as Akame held him tightly. He could feel her warmth on his face. All strength in his body now gone, he couldn't even open his eyes to look at his friend one more time. There were worse ways to die he thought, and where better than in the arms of a close friend.
People had said that your final moments feel like an eternity, but for Tatsumi, he only wished they could have been longer. He didn't want to die, he wanted to see everything through to the end. Tears rolling down his cheeks/
His final breath left him though he knew he wouldn't get that chance. He had no more strength to call upon as his mind started to fuzz over everything becoming dark and cold.
"You promised me! You said you would survive!" Akame yelled. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she tightened her grip on him, trying to pull him as close as she could. The words rolled into his fuzzy mind, he had promised her. He said he would come back no matter what. The world grew darker, as he was left with his final thoughts.
Promised You
Tatsumi stared forward his eyes locked on the long-haired and red eyes assassin in front of him. His sword grasped tightly in two hands at the ready. He blinked once, then twice as his brain took in the sight.
This was wrong he thought, he shouldn't be here, Akame shouldn't be here, and here was looking very familiar to him. They were standing In a clearing of a forest, trees on either side and the dark night illuminated by a bright moon in the sky. His mind raced. Why was he here? He had died, there was no way he could have felt that cold otherwise.
Akame stood in front of him, sword held high and in front of her face. "Then I shall Eliminate you." She said, her voice cold and emotionless. Her mind stuck on a single goal in mind.
Tatsumi's eyes went wide at the words, what the hell did she mean by that! "Aka-" He said, his voice getting caught in his throat. His heart turning to ice as he remembers events from a long time ago.
She had said that to him before, a long time ago. He begged for it not to be true, for what he was thinking to just be his imagination. Slowly he turned his head. First only being met with the sight of more forest, until she came into view.
Her pale innocent face illuminated by the moonlight, her shoulder-length golden hair and bright blue eyes, the long white and blue dress that reached all the way to the ground. An innocent girl with a soul twisted and evil.
Time stopped as he looked into her eyes. The eyes of Aria
Akame tilted her head as she watched the boy in front of her suddenly change. A few moments ago he was fighting valiantly to try and save the girls life, only to suddenly turn to her. She couldn't see his face, but the look that the girl had said everything, she had the loom of someone who was staring death in the face.
Tatsumi didn't move, he didn't blink. Even the cool breeze blowing past them seemed to leave his hair untouched as if frozen in time.
"Ta...Tatsumi?" Aria asked, terrified. Her eyes locked onto his as she took a step back.
How could I be here? Tatsumi thought. He racked his mind for anything, any small piece of information or a memory he could find but he came up with nothing. Only more questions than answers.
Had it all been a dream? He thought, a spur of the moment illusion as he faced off with his death? Or was he now in hell, was this his punishment for everything he had done? To relive this moment over and over again? His eyes moved from the girl in front of him to the barn just behind her.
Even now, after all this time the sight of Sayo hanging there, bloodied and broken was etched into his mind. It was something he could never forget. Nor was it something he wanted to, the sight light a fire in him that was still burning now.
Leone watched from the thicket as the confrontation went down. To say she was surprised to see the boy she had scammed earlier standing off against Akame was a surprise would be an understatement.
What was most shocking to her though, was his seemingly utter disinterest in her, his back turned to the red-eyed assassin, and his eyes locked on the final target. Did Akame tell him why they were there? It was strange for Akame to have not simply killed both of them by this point. She thought, unsure if she should get involved.
Tatsumi suddenly and without warning, swung with his fist, clubbing the young girl on the side of her head. She cried out in pain and fear as she fell to the ground. Hands pressed tightly on the side of her face, spitting out some teeth as tears formed in her eyes.
"Leone..." Tatsumi said, his voice low and cold.
Leone's ears twitched as she heard her name. She changed her stance, becoming defensive. Had he seen her? How did he know her name? She wondered as he stood still, eyes locked on the crying girl at his feet.
"...Open the storehouse."
The world was silent, even the wind had stopped as if everything was frozen in time. Leone walked slowly out from the tree line towards Tatsumi, his eyes never leaving Aria.
"Kid, seen as I owe you a favour, I won't let Akame kill you." She said walking towards him, her eyes focused and movement primal before stopping, making sure there was a good distance between the two of them, just in case it was some kind of trap.
"Now tell me, how do you know my name?"
"Leone, Open the storehouse..." He said again, voice low and quiet.
Leone looked at him for a second and then to Akame. She was locked in place, Blade at the ready to move at a moments notice. Her red eyes burning into the back of the boys head.
Pausing to think for a moment Leone walked towards the Storehouse. Tatsumi's eyes finally leaving Aria and focused on her. Finally, she could see them, cold, deep eyes, burning with fury.
She came up to the door and kicked it in, the metal doors crumpled from the kick and flew inside the storehouse. She looked on at the horrors before her for a moment, she already knew what she would find there, but the reality was even worse.
She turned around to face Tatsumi. He was looking past her, not even focusing on her. She followed his line of sight to a young girl, stripped naked and her body bloody and broken, and hanging from her cuffed hands, suspended in the air by a chain.
"Is it someone you knew?" Leone asked Tatsumi. He didn't reply, his eyes locked onto his dead friend.
"Please stop!" Aria yelled from the ground. Her words and voice grinding on Leone's nerve. She opened her mouth to speak but was stopped by another outburst from the girl.
"I didn't know an-!" She was interrupted as Tatsumi kicked his foot into her gut. The air left her as she gasped.
"The first time I was too quick." Tatsumi said, his voice low and quiet as he kicked the downed girl again, this time in the chest. She cried out as he delivered kick after kick to her, a flurry of blows that didn't stop.
Akame and Leone watched on in shock. Akame, a bastion of emotionless watched on with wide red eyes as the boy was beating the girl to a pulp. Her cried of pain doing nothing to stop the beating being brought down upon her.
Leone couldn't help but feel a slight tang of pride as she watched the psychopath get beaten down, but at the same time, shock at how easy and simple it seemed for him to do it without hesitation. When she had seen him just a few hours ago, he looked and sounded like an innocent boy fresh from the countryside, easy to manipulate and scam, but this was different, very different.
Reaching behind his back, Tatsumi grasped at his sword, it felt strange to be grasping a weapon other than Incursio, but his anger made him blind to it. Drawing it from his sheath, he held it high, the blade glimmering in the moonlight, allowing Aria a split second to look at her impending demise as he brought it down, stabbing her in the gut, the blade piercing her body, and jamming into the muddy earth.
Aria let out one final gasp as the life faded from her eyes, her body going cold. Tatsumi ripped the weapon from her gut, waving the blood off onto the ground and putting it back in its sheath.
He was shocked at his own bloodlust. Shocked at how easy it was to beat, mutilate and then kill the girl, and for the second time. He perked up. Ieyasu, he had forgotten about Ieyasu.
He rushed towards the Storehouse. Leone tensed slightly but she could see he wasn't coming for her. His eyes still looked on Sayo. He tore his eyes away as he walked past Leone and turned to his left. Ieyasu was standing there, grabbing onto the bars of the cage.
Tatsumi held him in his arms as Ieyasu took his final breath, dying in his arms for the second time. He cradled his head as he slowly let it rest on the floor, he looked down at his dead friend as he came to his feet. This was the second time he had to go through this. Why here? Of all the places and times he could have been sent why here and now?
His heart panged as he swallowed, clearing his throat. Was everything he had been through over the past few months gone? Wiped away in a flash? All the heartbreak, all the memories of his friends? There were too many questions and too few answers.
He turned from his friends slowly and looked towards Leone, his eyes going wide as her massive fist flew towards his face, he had no time to react until he was blown off his feet, as his world goes black once more.