A/N Hello everyone, it would seem that last chapter went over very well for those who stuck around and waited for me to finally post something haha. I'm really sorry about that. This year has been crazy for me, really really crazy, with the latest thing to happen being the passing of my Grandfather, so...yeah, didn't really have much time on my hands and for a while didn't have an inspiration to write for a little bit. Bad case of writer's block.
But! Don't worry, I did not give up hope on this story because I would never leave a story unfinished, especially with what I had planned for this one! First things first, however, I would like to lay things out on the table now so that everyone who has gotten this far will have these things clarified.
One
Yes, this story has more sex scenes and generally other erotic/sexual/nsfw (or however you want to refer to it, HENTAI basically XD) then my previous Akame ga Kill fanfiction (A Different Path, for those of you who don't know). Veterans of that one know I don't shy away from that. This story I intend to be more mature then that one (gee I wonder how more mature you can get then Conspiracies, Revolutions, Assassinations and all of that stuff Akame ga Kill is known for). Jokes aside, this was planned from the start, so I hope you, my fellow readers, would be okay with this. Personally I've always wanted to do a fanfic where one of the themes was that Mature, Erotic story element (NOT 50 SHADES OF GREY, HELL NO), because I like writing that. I even considered something along the lines of a Mini Series revolving around short stories involving either Fluff, Heart-Warming or Lemons with characters. I haven't gotten a PM or review yet saying that a specific person didn't like it, so I guess I'm doing a good enough job to bring that on myself!
Two
Continuing about the mature theme, this story when compared to the previous one, "A Different Path", there will be more mature things, yes, but not in the way you would think. This story will be dark, possibly even very disturbing to some of you. It will certainly be disturbing to be at some points, but I'm not afraid to *not* write about it, if you catch my drift. Some of you may not like what I will be putting into this story, based off other sources that I have at my disposal. Examples of this trend exist with Doroline literally eating two of the characters, Mass Crucifixion, and if that last chapter wasn't a hint, there will be a lot of death. So, I will make this known right now, for everyone.
To EVERYONE. If you are someone who cannot handle the ideas of Mass Bloodshed, Torture of various forms, Disturbing Imagery, sensitive topics such as Mental Insanity and Suicide, Familial Loss in a Horrific Manner, or anything along this lines, proceed with caution. Be smart, and don't be afraid to say anything to me.
Well, with that done, I think we're okay to continue here. Leave a fav and review please, I like reading your reviews! HIPPITY YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN :)
Chapter 20 - I have…
All of them had experienced something horrifying or gut wrenching in their own ways. Kurome was a member of an assassination squad, and partook in several black ops missions for the corrupt Empire while being influenced by body enhancing drugs that left her almost broken. Wave had the unfortunate circumstance of learning about the Empire's corruption and seeing Kurome suffer so much, which led him to run away with her.
Leone was an assassin who came from an area of the Empire that was downtrodden and poor, having to rely on conning others out of money to survive. Mine was born with mixed blood and faced bouts of racism and beatings from citizens of the Empire in her youth. Tatsumi's friends were kidnapped by aristocrats who loved nothing more then to torture those whom they take, and he saw all of it.
Najenda had a front row seat to the utter brutality that the Empire's armies could wage, especially under command of Esdeath, and had lost an arm and an eye because of it. And poor Freya...talking about it once was enough for all of them.
But even still it came as a shock when they looked out across that lower valley plain and saw the utterly massive dug out pit in the earth, saw that it was filled to the brim of the dead from the town.
They had to stop and wonder if they even wanted to go through the arduous task of removing every person from that mass grave, one by one, and give them a proper burial in a single grave. With a gut-wrenching no from Najenda, however, they chose the only relatively human thing to do was to not cover the pit with dirt and make a single headstone for the unknown amount of people, but to burn them.
And so they did, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air just like the smoke from the fire did so, and the group had to watch it burn with their noses and mouths covered in disgust. Not at the smell, certainly that was horrendous, but disgust towards the people who must have committed this heinous crime.
"This is too fucked up...even for me…" murmured Najenda under her breath, Wave gagging when the smell got through his fingers to his nostrils.
"In all my years with Night Raid, not once did I ever such a...horrifying scene…" said Mine, Tatsumi putting an arm around her and embracing her.
She turned away from the burning pit and hid her face in his chest,Tatsumi wrapping her arms around her like a shield while Firenze rubbed her arm out of sympathy.
"It's terrible...to think that all of these people had to die...for what?"
Wave looked for an answer from anyone around them, but not a single one came back, and he was left to wonder about his own question in silence. The silence itself persisted for another few minutes before Leone blinked a few times and sniffed the air, despite the pungent smell of the burning corpses.
"Is something wrong Leone?" asked Kurome, glancing up at her.
Leone sniffed the air another time and her eyes shot wide open as she pushed through Wave and Kurome rather forcefully to find something behind them.
"Hey, what gives?!" demanded Wave, Leone not even responding when she went up to Freya.
"Where is she?!"
"W-W-What?" she got exceptionally nervous at Leone's tone.
"Where is Esdia?!" she asked frantically.
Tatsumi's eyes widened and he whipped his head around to them and felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach when Esdia, whom he remembered was standing right next to Freya, was nowhere to be seen at all.
"Esdia?!"
The Princess they were referring to was already gone, running through the entrance gates as fast as she could, balling her eyes out and not looking back. The images of the mass grave flashed through her mind like lightning, spurring her to keep on running without stopping.
"I can't let anyone else die or get hurt because of me! I can't take it anymore!" she thought before she had to stop and cough heavily.
She felt stomach bile crawl all the way up her throat to the back of her tongue and she coughed and hacked some more, on the verge of throwing up. Esdia closed her mouth and heaved a few times, managing to swallow everything and keep herself from vomiting, the princess rising up again while wiping her lips.
"There's…only one thing to do…"
Esdia took a deep breath before she started running again, leaving the bad memories behind as her friends frantically searched for her, the destination she was going for locked in her mind.
- Holy Capital of Zion -
Esdeath sat on the roof of her home with her legs dangling over the edge, sighing at the rather bland skyline of the holy city. Unlike her home in the Empire, which was always bustling and had different flairs of life across the several districts of the Imperial Capital, she enjoyed spending her time there.
Eating ice cream at that little shoppe she would frequent on various occasions when she wasn't on a mission. She even enjoyed feeling her enemies struggle to contain their anger at the sight of her eating said ice cream.
"Those were the good days….they feel like it happened so long ago…" she thought with a small smile.
She let her mind wonder again, soon zoning out and detaching from the physical realm to the imaginary one. Her eyes eventually closed as well and she was left there by herself in a little void, a void of memories and thoughts inside of her own head.
"The good...old days…" she thought once. "Tatsumi…"
Esdeath held her hands together in her lap and sighed a little as she remembered his face and smile, one of her own appearing soon afterwards after recalling it. She couldn't stop herself from remembering the time on the island that they had spent together, since out of all of her memories it was one of the fondest.
"He was younger then me...but he felt like a lover…"
Esdeath rubbed the back of her left hand with her right thumb and opened her eyes again, looking up to the blue sky above and squinting slightly from the sun.
"I wonder...how the events that took place would've been different…if I had gone with him…"
"Hey."
Esdeath turned around,the voice pulling her out of her thoughts, and her smile grew more when she saw Grimmjaw walk towards her, a cup of tea in either hand. He lowered one down and she took it, thanking him and asking him to join her in looking over the city.
"So this is what you do in your past time?" asked Grimmjaw after taking a seat.
"No, not always. More often then not I'm off hunting Danger Beasts, or practicing with my rapier." replied Esdeath after taking a sip. "But yes, sometimes I do just like to sit down...and observe."
Grimmjaw nod his head out of understanding and looked out over the city with her in silence, letting her think on her own thoughts and he on his. She took a sip of the tea he gave her every so often until the cup was empty, to where she set it down next to her.
"What're you thinking about, Esdeath?" he asked.
"Hm?" She turned her head to look at him. "What did you say?"
Grimmjaw chuckled. "I asked what are you thinking about?"
Esdeath opened her mouth but closed it, turning away from him and back out to the city, thinking of how to put her feelings into words.
"Just...things…"
"Is it about that man again? Tatsumi?"
"Not exactly...a little bit, yes, but, more about the past…"
Esdeath's eyes widened when Grimmjaw put a hand on her back and gave her a sincere look with his eyes, the only way he could convey emotion because of his rebreather. She felt comforted a little by this and she gave him a little smile, visibly relaxing more then she was earlier.
"I was thinking more about...things that could have done. And, a little bit about my family too…"
Grimmjaw was caught off guard actually, since this was the first time Esdeath had mentioned her family, in all of the years that he had known her. He didn't want to ruin this rare opportunity so he cleared his throat and held his gaze on her face, to show her he was keen on listening.
"Your family? This isn't like you Esdeath...not once have I ever heard a peep out of you about your family."
Esdeath gave him a soft chuckle. "Maybe it's because I've finally decided to trust you, Grimmjaw."
Grimmjaw chuckled a little as he finally remove his rebreather, a hiss of air escaping from it at it unlatched, and he set it down to take the first sip of his tea, smiling a tiny bit. Esdeath returned the gesture as she leaned back on her hands, sighing once more as she collected her thoughts.
"Would you like to hear about them?" she asked.
"I'd be honored, Miss Esdeath." Grimmjaw replied with a curt nod, the former General chuckling at his formalities.
"Well, for starters...we were a small family. It was just me and my parents. Although, where we lived was the interesting part. You see, my father was the leader of a Clan of Danger Beast hunters that lived in the far northern territories of the Empire. That's why my skin is like this, because of where we lived."
"Ah, that makes sense. And that's where your love of hunting came from too. You were born into it." Grimmjaw commented, Esdeath nodding her head. "What was the name of your clan?"
"The Partas Clan." replied Esdeath. "I was taught how to properly hunt and skin Danger Beasts by my Father, since my mother...she died soon after she gave birth to me."
Esdeath rubbed her hands together while Grimmjaw stopped mid-sip, lowering his cup and giving her an expression of sympathy. No words were needed between the two of them, the silence and a mere nod was enough to convey their feelings.
"It's quite sad though...there was no funeral or proper burial...my father's ideology was engraved deep within the clan. 'The strong survive, while the weak die.' he would tell us, me more so then anyone else, since I was his daughter, and so...when my Mother died...it was because she was weak."
"Don't you think that's a little harsh? Although, I'm not saying it's true, it's just...that was your Mother, you know?" suggested Grimmjaw, Esdeath nodding her head a little bit.
"It was, looking back on it...but can't really change it now."
Grimmjaw shrugged and agreed with her as he went back to his tea, finishing the sip he had started previously. Once he was done, he set his cup down and returned his attention to Esdeath for her to tell the rest of her tale.
He learned from her about the terrible fate of her clan, its destruction at the hands of a rival clan, with Esdeath being the only survivor. Grimmjaw could understand now why she never wanted to talk about her family, since she had lost the only family she had at a young age. There wasn't much else to tell after that and the pair sat in silence for another five minutes before Grimmjaw broke the silence by sipping on his tea rather loudly, drawing Esdeath's attention.
"That's rather obnoxious, don't you think?"
"I'm just breaking up the somber mood is all." He replied with a snicker. "And besides, you came out here to relax and observe, right?"
Esdeath smiled and nod her head, Grimmjaw smiling too as they returned to watching the city. Although after a second Esdeath's smile faded, turning into wonder as she recalled her father one last time.
"But, still, there's one thing that keeps nagging at me.."
"What is it?" He asked.
"I don't know, it's like...he was…"
She was stopped when her eyes widened a little and she blinked before leaping up to her feet, walking briskly back to the roof access door. Grimmjaw was quick to follow her, not even bothering to pick up the tea cups they were leaving behind. He knew exactly what had caused her to react like this, one of her seeing-eye ice constructs she had all throughout the city and outside of it had detected something peculiar.
Once Esdeath had grabbed her rapier and Grimmjaw returned his rebreather to his face they returned to the roof to take the easy way through the city, leaping from rooftop to rooftop swiftly without any obstructions in their way.
They reached the tall wall that acted as Zion's border with nature and stood upon it, Esdeath squinting her eyes as she honed in on the location of the ice construct that had alerted her. Once she locked onto it she dropped off the wall, Grimmjaw following behind her, the two of them landing in the grass with Esdeath taking the lead in walking away from the wall toward a small collection of trees nearby.
"It should be just around-"
As she rounded a tree Esdeath stopped dead in her tracks when she came face to face with Esdia, the shorter princess freezing up as well at the sight of the former General. Grimmjaw soon appeared next to her and he was equally stunned at the sight of the Princess, the person that Doroline and her Inquisitors had been looking for all this time, right there in front of them. At first neither party couldn't say anything because of the shock, before finally Esdia broke the silence by stuttering a little and falling flat on her ass.
"Hey, don't worry, we won't hurt you." said Grimmjaw while raising his hands in a non-threatening way, Esdeath doing the same.
"Yes, no need to worry. Are...you perhaps-"
"Y-Yes, I'm the Princess. A-And I demand you take me into the city!"
Grimmjaw blinked and he glanced at Esdeath, who had the same baffled expression as he did. They looked back at Esdia and Esdeath chuckled, holding a hand out to her as a show of good faith to her, giving her a smile that was supposed to comfort her. Esdia gave her a doubtful gaze before eventually bringing her own hand up to grasp Esdeath's, the young Princess being pulled to her feet by her and dusted off by Grimmjaw.
"There we are, good as now." he remarked with a chuckle. "So, why did you come here from...wherever you were?"
"I want to bring an end to...all of this." said Esdia, her gaze lowering. "There's been...too much death already, on account of me...if...if I can change that….then…"
Grimmjaw's heart sank a little when he heard exactly what Esdia was intending to do, without her even saying it. The Princess was going to give herself up to Maxwell and her forces, and undoubtedly allow herself to be killed to secure Maxwell's absolute authority. A glance at Esdeath told him that she figured it out too, but she kept her expression blank and put a hand on Esdia's shoulder.
"If that is what you've chosen to do, then we'll take you inside. Maxwell won't be free for a while now, she's on current business, so until then, I will take care of you."
Esdia looked up at Esdeath and after a moment of deliberation she nod her head and lowered it again, Esdeath returning the nod before turning her around, Grimmjaw joining their side.
"Cover yourself up with that hood again...let's not cause a ruckus here."
The princess followed her suggestion and after she had her hood up they entered the city once more, becoming one with the crowd on their way through back to Esdeath's home. On the way there they passed by a couple of Archangels here and there, the faceless soldiers scaring Esdia enough to cling onto Esdeath, something she notice.
"She's afraid…"
Grimmjaw could see it as well and he urged them on a little, giving Esdia less time she had to be out in the public. Thanks to this they were able to arrive at Esdeath's home in a relatively quick manner, and seperate themselves from the hustle and bustle of the city outside, to the quiet and relaxed interior.
Esdia let out a sigh of relief and pulled her hood off before falling down onto the couch, Grimmjaw removing his hand from the doorknob and looking back at her with Esdeath.
"I'll go ahead and leave you to it then. I trust you can take care of her?" he asked of her, Esdeath nodding her head.
"Yes, you can go. But...don't tell the other Sins."
"Gotcha, they won't hear about it at all."
As he responded he was opening the door again and catching the latter part of his sentence was Valencia with, her head tilting a little out of curiosity.
"Hear about what…?"
"U-Uh…"
Esdeath heard her voice and Grimmjaw's stutter so she acted quickly on bringing her inside and closing the door, Valencia catching only a glimpse of Esdia before her view was blocked.
"Who was-"
"Before I tell you, Valencia, promise me that you'll keep this to yourself for right now. If word gets out about this too quickly there will be a lot of chaos that will result of it. You wouldn't want that right?"
Valencia's eyes widened and she vigorously shook her head, the thought of that for someone not that social like her was terrifying.
Esdeath smiled and chuckled as she lifted up a hand and placed on top of Valencia's head next to the small cap she wore, rubbing her hair gently like a mother would. Her whole posture relaxed as it happened, and when Esdeath took her hand away she was completely fine again.
"With that taken care of, Valencia…" Esdeath stepped aside, letting her see Esdia. "That is the missing Princess herself, Esdia."
Valencia's eyes widened again and she covered her mouth at the sight of the lost Princess, Esdia glancing over at her when she had to get closer in order to see if it were actually true. Grimmjaw and Esdeath shared one last look before the former took his leave, closing the door behind him for her so that she could lock it before going next to Valencia.
"It...really is her...the Princess…" uttered Valencia in awe, Esdia blushing at how closely she was being looked at.
"Valencia, be mindful of her personal space."
Esdeath chuckled as Valencia blushed and nod her head at her mistake, choosing to sit in another chair and not look at Esdia so much. Esdeath took that opportunity to go up to the roof and grab the teacups she and Grimmjaw had left behind and returned them to the kitchen, washing them and grabbing new ones to fill up.
Once she had fresh tea in them she walked back to the living room and game one cup to Esdia and one to Valencia, before joining the former on the couch, crossing one leg over the other.
"So, Princess-"
"Esdia."
Esdeath blinked. "Huh?"
"My name is Esdia...I'd prefer to be called by my name, and not by my title." She stared at Esdeath for a few moments before taking a sip.
"Well, okay then." Esdeath chuckled. "Esdia...how did you get here? Who were you with?"
"Not telling."
Esdeath couldn't help but be a little shocked by how firm the Princess was being with her despite her appearing to be shy and emotional just a few minutes earlier. This told her that she was doing so to hide something from her, something important.
But she wouldn't try to dig deeper. Years of interrogation have taught her to let the other person make the mistake, and to not force them to tell what they know, unless you would want them to clam up. She would know if she used force, but Esdeath knew better then that as well.
"You know…"
Esdia and Esdeath glanced at Valencia as she squinted her eyes a little, looking at the two of them.
"Looking at you...Esdia doesn't look so much like the former emperor...or anyone from that family...really...I think…"
"Huh? How do I not look like my own family?" question Esdia, Valencia shrinking back and making a nervous shrug.
"I mean...maybe a little bit...I..."
Whatever she intended to say afterwards it was lost in translation when her voice quieted down and she just mumbled to herself, Valencia blinking while Esdeath tried to hear what she said.
"What was that?"
"Nothing...it's impossible to think I'm not like my family, since I was here with my Mom, Petra."
Despite the name not meaning much to Valencia, since she didn't have that much knowledge about the royal family previously, but as soon as Esdeath heard that name she froze up like she had just been struck by lightning. She slowly turned her head to look at Esdia, the Princess not noticing her stare at first before she happened to glance at her and paused while sipping her tea.
"W-What?"
"That name...you said that was...your Mother's name right?" she asked in a quiet tone.
Esdia gulped down the tea she was drinking and nod her head, only the shriek a little when Esdeath lunged at her and gripped her shoulders tightly, looking her right in the eyes.
"How?! How could your Mother's name possibly be Petra! That's impossible!"
She shook her vigorously, the tea in the cup she held sloshing wildly inside before spilling out when Esdia accidentally let go of it. Valencia was made nervous by Esdeath's action and loud voice, flinching when the cup struck the corner of the table and shattered on impact.
"S-Stop shaking me! I-It is possible!"
"No, it's not!" yelled Esdeath loudly, her body shaking. "I-It isn't! Because….because…"
She eventually let go of her when she looked down at her lap, bringing her shaking hands into it to stare intently at them as her mind turned off slightly.
"Petra...was what my...father told me was my...mother's name…"
Esdia's eyes widened at the revelation, but she still had doubts in her mind. There was no way that there was any relationship she shared, it just had to be a freaky coincidence. She had learned about Esdeath's past and reputation from Tatsumi and the others, for all intents and purposes, the woman sitting next to her was a monster who relished battle and death.
"H-Huh?" Esdia blinked, not hearing Esdeath's question at first.
"I asked...was your mother born here? Because...my Mother died after I was born."
It was then that Esdia's inner mind finally put the pieces together and her own hands started to shake when the truth itself began to come into the light.
"...M-My...my mother...wasn't born here...we...were adopted into the family…"
Both she and Esdeath were silent after that, neither of them willing to say anything to reignite the conversation again before Esdeath raised a hand and put it firmly on her shoulder, looking her dead in the eyes.
"What did your mother look like?" she asked, her expression blank.
"Well...she was...relatively tall, with...blue eyes and-"
"Long...blue...hair…?"
At that moment there were several knocks on the door and when Valencia quietly excused herself to open the door, only for it to practically hit her in the face as a squadron of Archangels entered the house all at once. Esdeath sprung to her feet at the sudden intrusion but relaxed only partially when Maxwell appeared through the soldiers and approached her, that same smile on her face, the 'I'm superior to everyone' look.
"What are you doing here, Max-I mean-Empress?" questioned Esdeath, Maxwell calmly raising a hand up and pointing at the Princess.
"I'm here for her. You know what must be done."
"How did you find out?"
Maxwell chuckled as she crossed her arms. "I have eyes and ears everywhere in the city, my dear. All it took was one glance at her for someone to recognize who she was, despite the hood over her head. What I want to know...is why you hid her from me?"
"If you think I was going to betray you, you're wrong." Esdeath frowned at her. "And secondly, I was going to inform you on my own terms, to limit the outburst that would happen if she were to suddenly be revealed."
"Hmm...I could understand that, but it hardly matters to me. Wrath, the Princess please."
"There's something else as well."
Maxwell raised an eyebrow, her patience already beginning to wear thin. Esdeath lowered her gaze a little and glanced back at Esdia for a few moments.
"Well? What is-"
"I have reason to believe...that the Princess and I...are blood relatives." She brought her gaze back to Maxwell, giving her a firm expression. "Esdia and I...I think, no...I'm certain we are sisters."