Right, I have read this manga and watched the Anime and this idea would not leave me alone, so I started writing and this is the result. I know that there are only 25 stories for Akame ga Kill, and I hope there are more to come but for now, I'll leave this story up for any that are interested. I hope that any out there reading this will leave a review.
And it is HARD writing Esdese/Esdeath however you spell her names, character. Which is a shame, as I love her character, she is easily the best in my opinion. Now Enjoy!
All characters © to Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro
All characters you don't recognise are copyright to me.
Chapter 1
Living in the capital was definitely a pain. Not only did the rent go through the roof but if you didn't watch your back you would most likely end up dead in the gutter. So with those worries in her head, Weiss was walking down the street in the middle class part of town looking for something to cook up for dinner.
Weiss was not the prettiest, in her mind at least with her flattish chest and short stature, but she had no want for boyfriends. Not that she would ever go out with them, she had lost all faith in men. Her ash white hair was swaying with her stride and her silver eyes, like liquid metal, were well adapted to search for anything out of the ordinary. The ice blue highlights were doing their job of catching attention, not that a person with snow white hair would need help getting MORE attention, but the few highlight added more colour.
She had donned a long grey coat with a design of a large complicated snowflake on the back and under which she wore a blue tee shirt and denim trousers. On her fingers she had two rings, one on each hand, both on her middle fingers. One was just a plain gold band that had once belonged to her mother and the other was similar to a signet ring with the snowflake pattern from her back etched onto it.
She never took the rings off as they were the only mementoes of her dead parents.
Weiss never knew her parents, all she knew of them was the stories that she was told after she found her village when she was seventeen. A few years had passed since then and her village was ruthlessly sacked and burned to the ground… She had yet to find the culprit.
But he was somewhere in the Capital.
As Weiss wandered through the stall of merchants selling their goods, she bumped into someone. She quickly apologised and keep her eyes to the ground, not wanting to stir up any trouble until she had found and killed her target.
It seemed that luck was on her side as the person was not troubled and accepted the apology with no ill will. Turning her head to quickly see just who she had bumped into she was surprised to see that it was a woman in a white military uniform, her hair was the oddest shade of blue.
Quickly gathering things for dinner that night, Weiss bought her goods and went back to her three bedroom apartment over a bookstore where she and her two friends worked to pay rent lived. Unlocking the door and entering the neat and tidy home, she put the keys in a bowl next to the door on a tall table, knowing that if she didn't the neat freak would go insane and yell at her for twenty minutes straight.
"I'm back." Weiss called, no one answered "I have food." She called again, changing her tactic.
The promise of food did the trick as her two companions came running out the door to see what treasures she had brought with her.
"Ooo, any cake?" One asked. This was Nora, a western born girl around nineteen years old with bright green eyes and bright ginger/red hair, and even though she was the shortest of the group, her breasts were huge. She could be a little childish at times and was overly happy most of the time with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, you always get some sweets, Ice Queen. What with your sugar and caffeine addiction." The other was named Isaac Arc, he was a short haired, bright blond with purple eyes, and he was broad shouldered and massive, he looked like he could crush a man's skull in one hand, another westerner but as his village was more northerly, he was used to the harsh winters like Weiss. He was also a complete neat freak.
"Don't call me 'Ice Queen'" Weiss told him, the room taking a notable drop in temperature as she said this.
"Alright." Isaac held up his hands in surrender, enjoying making her angry, "I don't know why you get so worked up though 'Snow Angel. And you didn't deny the addictions.'"
Realising it was a lost cause Weiss settled for, "I hate you." And went with Nora to put the food away.
True to her addiction, she did get a lot of sweets and cake along with more tea and coffee.
Weiss was glad to have two such friends, even though Isaac annoyed the hell out of her. Ever since they had met on her journey she felt a bond with them. They were all similar ages with Isaac being the oldest and Nora the youngest by a few months.
She had even told them about her horrible past being, experimented on as a child and her village being destroyed. They both readily agreed to help in her man hunt.
Both Weiss and Isaac handled the cooking, as Nora would seriously burn Water. It wasn't that much of a problem for Weiss as she liked having something to keep busy with, any spare moment was spent on her drawing notebook. She had been told by people that she was very talented, which she was sure came from years of doing nothing but drawing, and while not very good at people she was more than happy to draw landscapes and places that she would one day love to live in.
As they all sat down to eat their meal Isaac immediately jumped into a skit about Weiss being as 'cold as ice' and not needing hot food and that caused her to reach over and smack him on the back of his head.
He was smiling through the pain.
"If you make another joke about me being a northerner, I swear that I will bury you in the snow and watch as you get hypothermia and die." Weiss threatened.
"Ah you know you love us" Isaac replied ruffling the white hair on the smaller girls head, laughing as she batted his hands away.
After they had finished dinner and cleaned everything away, the gang had decided to begin a poker game. They didn't deal in money most of the time, they opened a pack of peanuts and used that or used favours when the stakes became very high. Tonight, they were using the poker chips and Nora was both dealer and player, as she was the one least likely to cheat.
Half way through their game, and somehow Nora was winning, so Weiss decided it was the best time to bring up business.
"Talked to our guy today. Gave me a tip on where to find Grimm." She told them, before adding. "I raise."
Nora folded placing her cards down and saying "I'm glad, I was afraid he wasn't going to be able to tell us something. So what are we going to do now that we know Grimm is in the city? Ooh I know, we'll break his legs!" She was way too happy to be saying those kinds of things, but she was a naturally bubbly, happy person.
"Anyway-" Weiss told her, smirking at the gingers answer "-We'll plan a raid on his hideout. Hopefully we'll flush him out and kill him. Then we will have to get out of the city as fast as we can to avoid the death penalty."
Everyone last one of them laughed, and before they had finished, there was a knock on the door. The laughter immediately halted. Weiss slowly got up and (with cards in hand) cautiously went over to the door. She turned back to her companions and, with a reassuring nod from them, she gripped the door handle and opened the door.
Nothing could have prepared her for the person on the other side.
It was a member of the Imperial Army. General Eadese to be precise.
She stood, tall and beautiful, in the doorway with a smug grin on her face. She wore the normal General's attire with long sleeves, a blue scarf tied around her neck and long high heeled boots. Her shirt was open enough to see the strange tattoo, in a strange 'Y' shape, printed on her chest, just under her collarbone and above her breasts.
The room was deathly silent, they all knew how deadly this woman was and if she was paying them a visit, it was nothing good.
There were three more people behind her, all male. Two had facial hair the other had the appearance of a young child.
"May I come in?" Esdese asked very politely, her blue hair swaying lightly in the wind and her piercing blue eyes gazing straight into Weiss's.
After weighing her options, she reluctantly stepped aside to let the General inside.
She quickly and thoroughly surveyed the room and its contents, and seeing no threat instantly relaxed letting her smile widen. Her three companions were still alert, even knowing that no one could beat Esdese and them in a fight.
"Ah Poker? May I join you in the next hand?" Esdese enquired seeing the game being played.
Weiss was fully on guard and refused to speak. In the end it was Isaac that answered her.
"Of course, we'll deal you in, right after this hand…that I am going to win." He added confidently.
Weiss took her seat again with Esdese taking one across from her and next to Nora.
"Well, you sure are cocky tonight. Why don't we raise the stakes?" Weiss asked, trying to ignore the presence of the Empire's Strongest.
"What do you propose?" Isaac asked taking the bait.
The white haired player leant closer to him, "I want all your money. Every cent, not these chips, the real coins."
The man visibly flinched, he was torn, on the one hand he would be able to ask for nearly anything from her, on the other, he loved his money. "I'll agree…if you throw in your ring."
Weiss narrowed her eyes and scowled. He wanted her to fold, not taking the bet, he knew damn well just how much her rings meant to her.
"Fine." She told him, pulling the signet ring with the snowflake pattern off her right hand and put it on the pile in the centre of the table.
Isaac and Nora were surprised. Weiss barely took the damn rings off, now she was risking them in a game of poker? She was either very unsettled by the General's presence appearance and was taking unnecessary risks…or she was confident in her hand.
Or she was making the biggest bluff in her life.
"Show your cards." Nora told them.
Isaac put his cards on the table, he had a straight flush, two through six.
Weiss smiled evilly "Royal flush." She said putting the cards down and pulling the winnings toward her.
While Isaac was crying in the corner about losing his savings. Esdese was dealt in. She took of her hat and placed it on the table beside her.
"Before we begin" Weiss told the blue haired General "May I request that you goon squad star in this room. I don't want to have to clean up any more of their mess then necessary."
"Of course." She replied.
And the game got underway.
Isaac was less aggressive then before as he was down a substantial amount of money. Esdese was quite good at bluffing and won quite a few hands. Weiss used her best ability at showing no reaction at all and that kept her from losing more money than necessary. Nora became the official dealer and stopped playing.
"I should have known that you'd never sacrifice your rings." Isaac was still upset at the loss of his money.
"Oh stop bitching and show your hand." Weiss told him, adding under her breath "Men are such babies."
"We can't all have a piece of Ice for a heart." He retorted.
She faked hurt "Ooh, that really hurt. My little heart is melting from the pain." She put a hand to her chest for dramatic effect. "When we finish our business in the city you can make your money back hunting Danger Beasts."
Apparently this was the direction that Esdese had been waiting for. "And what exactly is your business in the capital?" She asked, seeing Isaac's raise and making a raise of her own.
"Nothing in particular." Weiss told her not looking up from her cards.
"Oh. I hope it is nothing illegal" Esdese said, she going to call her bluff "There have been rumours of a group of people asking for a character called 'Grimm'."
The General smiled as she saw the reactions wanted. Every one reacted in some small way.
"As a general, I have a tremendous amount of influence in the city. If you were on a manhunt and you killed someone, you would be hunted down and killed." There were even more subtle reactions. "But, if you had the help of someone inside the army, someone with a lot of influence, you would be able to conduct your vengeance without any repercussions."
"Wow." Nora said, a happy smile on her face "Something like that would not come cheep."
"Indeed." Esdese said, amused at the antics of Nora.
Weiss gave two cards to Nora and received two in return "Good question Nora, what would something like that cost?"
"We have heard all about your formidable skills and we want to recruit you into the Imperial Army." The General told them.
The three companions looked at each other, already knowing their answer.
"No." Weiss
"No way in Hell" Isaac.
"No thank you." Nora.
Esdese being a military strategist was prepared for this. "Alright, but your man hunt will be that much harder now."
Weiss sighed loudly and put her cards on the table in front of her, crossing her arms "The thing is, we have seen both sides of this ridiculous fight. The Revolutionary Army and the Imperials. You're both as bad as each other."
"Weiss…" Isaac warned.
"It's quite alright." Esdese waved her hand dismissively. "I would like to hear this story, how does someone not affiliated with either faction feel about this?"
Isaac sighed. "We are all gonna die, I know it…"
Weiss ignored him and met the gaze of General Esdese. "While on the road the three of us were running out of provisions, the Revolutionary Army camp we came across help us, all we had to do was kill a few danger beasts. Which we also got money for, I might add.
"The Imperial's on the other hand tried to arrest us, but after finding out that we were just travelers on our way to the capital, let us go and we traveled with them for a short time before the regiment left to go to war." She got up and poured herself a drink of whiskey, she offered some to Esdese which she gratefully took.
"The thing is-" She continued sitting at the table again "-you both think you are doing the right thing. The Revolutionary Army want to create a 'Free country' where Corruption is nonexistent and use that to rationalize the murder of people. Yes, they say they are only after people that are bad and corrupt but many that are killed are innocent bystanders.
"The Imperial Capital, is exactly as the Rebels say. Horribly Corrupt. They bribe, lie, cheat and burry those that don't follow them. The destruction of my village is a prime example, it would have been too much trouble to send out the army to find the killer, so money exchanged hands and it was all forgotten. Even now, people suffer from high taxes and starve in the streets.
"The world is not 'Black and White', it is various shades of Grey. One Kills and calls it 'freedom' the other Kills those that want to change the flow of power away from them." Weiss finished.
"Well said" Esdese told the young white haired girl taking a sip of the whiskey "And I will not deny that the capital is corrupt, as it is so well known. But you are still adamant on not joining the Army?"
They all nodded.
"Can't be helped then." Esdese sighed. "I guess that we'll have to keep an eye out for three fugitives." Downing the last of her drink like a shot and putting the empty glass, the woman stood, putting her hat back on and walked over to the door, her guards quickly forming ranks around her.
She reached the door and turned her body back to the trio "There have been rumors that 'Grimm' is leaving the capital soon. In case you're interested."
Nora who had been nearly mute the entire game jumped up in her seat "Hypothetically speaking, if some people, let's say three people. If they happened to make an ambush for a bad man that I am sure has been causing the Capital trouble and killed, what would be their fate?"
Esdese played along "Well, if the three people had killed this man, they would be sent off with a pat on the back…and a trip to the dungeons." Crossing her arms the general looked at the small ginger with a smile on her face. "But if they knew someone important they might just escape the death penalty."
And with those parting words the General and her three companions left the building.
Once outside the eldest of them with a mustache asked her "Esdese-sama, why did you let them know about Grimm leaving soon?"
"Because, River. Once they cause enough trouble for us to arrest them, I can offer them a way to avoid being killed. You get loyal followers with kindness then with force." She told him. And besides, there is something odd about that girl, Weiss. We'll have to keep a close eye on her."
Back inside the house the three friends were thinking on what the General had told them.
"We'll have to attack tonight." Isaac told them, checking everything was still in place and straightening everything that was moved or touched by Esdese's group.
"Hmmm." Weiss was thinking. "If we do, we know that it will be a trap, not only will we have to deal with Grimm's men, but Esdese's too."
Nora hopped over to her side "Whatever you deicide, I'm with you."
"We attack tonight. No holds barred, consequences be damned." Weiss stood and held her fist out.
The all bumped fists.