Edward stood uneasily as he watched Tatsumi kneeling over the grave of Ieyasu. While he was definitely no stranger to loss, he just couldn't bring himself to comfort Tatsumi, fearing he'd come off as strange. Eventually, Tatsumi stood up, and Edward let loose a quiet sigh of relief when he saw the familiar look of determination on Tatsumi's face. However, the moment was ended by Leone energetically bounding up to them. "Hey you two, let me give you a tour of the hideout!" Edward hid a smile at her exuberance, although Tatsumi seemed a bit taken aback and unsure. "I'm not sure I really…" Edward cut him off, hoping to get Tatsumi to connect with some of the others, as he remembered how close Tatsumi was to some of them. "Why not, we agreed to join up, so we might as well get to know the place, right?" Leone smiled cheerfully. "That's the spirit! Now come on!" She exclaimed as she grabbed their hands and dragged them behind her.
Edward gazed around the hideout as Leone showed them around, trying to quell the bittersweet feelings that rose up at the sights. Meanwhile, was gawking at the scale of the base as Leone led the duo into a large common room. "Oh hey, there's Sheele!" Leone exclaimed, pointing to a well endowed purple haired woman reading a book, which Edward was bemused to see was '100 Ways to Cure Being an Airhead'. "Sheele, why don't you give our new recruits a warm welcome?" Sheele looked up from her book. "Now that you know our base's location...if you don't join, we'll have to kill you." She said before returning to her book. Edward sighed at her comment while Tatsumi began sweating bullets as he turned to Edward. "Her kindness is motivating me to tears…" Edward just gave him an exasperated smile in response. Unfortunately, in Edward's opinion, the moment was ruined by a certain pink haired she-devil storming in. "Leone, why the hell did you let those two in the base?!" Leone rolled her eyes at the angry pinkette. "They joined up Mine, so obviously they should see the base." This only seemed to make Mine more angry. "That's the Boss' decision idiot! Besides, look at them, two-bit mercs aren't qualified to work with professionals like us!" "Hey!" The mercs in question shouted,only to be ignored. Instead of responding, Leone just started dragging the two back outside. "Right, let's just ignore her and continue on, shall we?"
Several minutes later, the two swordsmen found themselves in some sort of training ground being introduced to what had to be the most muscled man Edward had ever seen. "Ah, who are you?" Edward asked, playing to his deception angle. "Oh right, I guess we were never introduced. I'm Bulat, the guy who was in the suit of armor last night." Leone leaned over to the two. "He's also gay." "Don't say that Leone, they might misunderstand." Bulat replied, blushing. Edward raised an eyebrow as Tatsumi freaked out, releasing a startled "Whaaaaaaaat?!", much to Leone's amusement. "Alright then, let's keep moving." Leone forced out through fits of laughter. As they were leaving, Bulat called out to Edward. "Your accent...is it Kaedweni?" Edward looked back at him in shock. "Yeah, it is. Why?" Bulat frowned. "It's just...nevermind, probably nothing." Edward turned back, shaken. 'The hell was that? Bulat was never that observant or knowledgeable about the Western Countries as to pick up on my accent.'
After a brief intermission where Leone caught, introduced, and threatened the green haired pervert known as Lubbock, the trio made their way down to a campfire by the river where a familiar raven haired assassin was cooking an Evil Bird. Leone cheerfully greeted Akame, who offered up a piece of the Evil Bird she was cooking, much to Tatsumi's amazement. "They decided to join?" Akame asked quietly as the trio took seats by the fire. "Of course they did! You doubt my exceptional recruitment skills?!" Leone replied boisteriously. "Is that so? If only you kept your professionalism to the same level." A steely yet feminine voice called out. Edward looked over to see a tall woman with silver hair, a robotic arm, and an angular eyepatch that he had to stop himself from being jealous of. Leone went pale as the woman placed her robotic hand on her shoulder. "W-what are y-you talking about Najenda?" Najenda gave her a sadistic smile. "You went over the time limit on the last operation Leone. Perhaps you should work on keeping that bloodlust in check?" She said while dragging Leone away. Edward looked at Tatsumi with an amused smile, as if to say 'What now?'. Tatsumi shrugged before getting up and walking back towards the base. Edward shrugged, getting up and heading to follow.
"Little Viper."
Edward froze, stuck by spectres of the past that name conjured. "What-what did you just say?" Akame looked at him with an unreadable expression. "...nothing." Edward took off quickly, leaving Akame, and his past, far behind him.
'What the hell was that?'
After more than a year, I have finally come back to update this story. Honestly thanks to FancySock for following and favoriting this story, without them I may never have finished and uploaded this chapter. Hopefully future installments will take less than a year to come out, so feel free to comment on this latest chapter of Dark Shadows. (Or y'know, just berate me for leaving this story for dead.)