Disclaimer: I do not own Akame Ga Kill and/or RWBY. They belong to their original owners

A New Beginning: Vol Two

Kill Twenty Five: Tricks and Tips

All was quiet in ALCE's room in the night as all of them were sleeping. Cornelia was unmoving in her bed while Esdeath was cuddling up with her Teddy Ursa. Akame and Leone were sleeping in the same bed as usual. Well, Leone was sleeping. Akame was only slightly awake and has been for a while due to some thoughts. "Something on your mind?"

Akame gasped quietly and saw that Leone was awake as well. "Leone…"

The Faunus blonde smiled at her girlfriend. "We've known each other for a long time so I can tell what you're thinking. It's about Kurome, isn't it?"

She hit the nail on the head right there. Akame lowered her eyes. "Yes. After everything we've been through, after I've been through, it's…"

Leone giggled softly as she brought Akame closer to her body. "I know. It's kinda surprising to me too."

Akame still had more on her mind. "Not only that but Chelsea and Takeo…"

Leone knew about Chelsea but this was the first about hearing about the other girl. "How do you know this Taeko girl in the first place? Was it someone you met before you joined up with Night Raid?"

Akame was about to answer but was interrupted. "I want to know that too."

The two girls instantly sat up and saw Cornelia awake. "Cora…"

"I want to know too." Everyone else saw Esdeath sitting up from her bed. "It's kinda hard to sleep when there's a lot of talking."

So much for all of them trying to sleep. Akame sighed as she might as well tell them. It was important. Especially for Cornelia. "Fine. The truth about Taeko is that I did know her one time and it was you who met her first Cora."

The human blonde was surprised to hear that. "Really? Wow, what are the chances of that we run each other again?"

That was only the half of it. "There's still more. You two were friends for a short while until…" Even recalling those events now still haunted Akame.

Cornelia knew what she asking if she wanted to know. "Go ahead Akame. Tell us."

Her leader steeled herself for saying her next words. "Until the two of you found out you were enemies and Taeko…" Akame gritted her teeth. "Taeko killed you, Cora."

Cornelia felt her whole body become cold when she heard that. The look in her eyes certainly told the rest of the team what she thought about this. "I see. So…that's how I was killed." It certainly was shocking to her. To think the girl she ran into before was the same one who ended her previous life.

Akame lowered her head. "I fought against Taeko thinking I could save you. I killed her and won but I found out the truth too late. You were already gone by the time I fought against her." Tears started to come out of her eyes.

Leone put a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. She had heard about Cornelia's death but not about the how. It must've pained Akame so much to tell something that caused her so much pain in the first place. "I don't want you to cry." Akame gasped and looked at Cornelia who was giving her a serious look. "I've known you for a while now and I can tell seeing you cry like that, it doesn't really suit you. Maybe it was luck we were able to meet again or some other higher power, I don't care but I am happy to meet you and I know the Cornelia you knew would be happy too."

Akame continued to cry but smiled as she was glad to hear that. Maybe it was some miracle she was able to reunite with Cornelia. The same could be said for Kurome. It was like Yang told her. She could use this chance to finally make things right between each other even if Kurome didn't know she was Akame's younger sister. It was a start and chance she won't waste. Esdeath couldn't help but feel jealous about this moment. Leone and Cornelia were friends and allies fighting alongside each other but her? She was once their enemy. She couldn't share that kind of feeling with the others. Esdeath gripped the bedsheets tightly. "I have to prove myself to the others. I have to prove to them that they can count on me."

After all of that, Leone smiled as she yawned. "Okay, I think that's enough talking for one day. We have to rest up for the matches tomorrow. Who knows what kind of crazy stuff will happen."

Akame sniffed as she rubbed her eyes with her arm and chuckled. "Leone's right. We can't win any matches if we're sleep deprived." Everyone agreed to that. "Good night everyone."

"Good night/night." The team laid back on their beds and fell back asleep waiting for tomorrow to come.

B

Team ALCE were walking through the festival grounds walking around to pass the time before the first match of the doubles round would start. Leone stretched her arms out. "So, what should we do first while waiting around? We could hit some of the prize stands."

"No Leone. We're not having a repeat of last time." Akame objected.

The Faunus blonde growled at that. "And why not?"

Her girlfriend had the counter for that. "Because last time you tried your hand at a prize game, you threw the ball right through the stand itself."

Leone had to admit that was her fault. "Alright. Point taken but can you blame me? I have a hard time controlling my strength. Remember I am in my beast form and I really wasn't known for holding back. If I didn't here, I'm pretty sure I would've killed someone by now."

Akame knew that all too well. Aura or not, Leone's strength was great enough to kill a person in one shot. Even with the aura protecting the person, it would most likely be used up in a one-shot attack. After all, this was the same girl who lifted and threw a Death Stalker and a giant iceberg that Esdeath created. Speaking of the girl. "I was thinking of trying one of the games myself."

Cornelia giggled at that. "So you can win a prize for Ruby?" Esdeath blushed at the guess.

Leone, as usual, thought it was funny and laughed. "Have you asked Ruby about your date offer yet?"

Esdeath looked away in embarrassment. "I…haven't yet. Ever since the tournament, I haven't had a proper time to ask her."

Akame looked ahead of the group. "Maybe you can now." Everyone looked ahead and sure enough, they saw Ruby with Weiss along with one other woman with them they never saw before.

"Hey! Ruby! Weiss!"

The two members of team RWBY and the woman with them turned around to see ALCE as they heard Leone call them out. The young leader smiled as she waved back at the other team. "Hey there! Good morning!" While Ruby was happy to see them, Weiss wasn't and for a good reason.

As the group approached the other team, they noticed that the woman with them looked similar to Weiss. Almost as if she was an older looking version of her. "So who's the new chick? She your mom Weiss?"

The women with them narrowed her eyes at the Faunus blonde as the heiress though to rectify that. "She is not. She's-"

"She's Weiss' older sister Winter." Ruby answered.

It took a few seconds for the team to register that. "Sister!?"

Now did make sense why the two looked so similar. Esdeath clapped her hands and smiled. "Wow, Weiss. I didn't know you had an older sister." That was something all of them didn't know.

This only raised more questions from Leone. "So, what's your sister doing here in the first place?"

"Classified." Winter replied.

"How long are you staying here?" Cornelia asked.

"Classified." Winter repeated.

Now Leone was just being annoyed by this. "What's with this classified BS?"

Weiss cleared her throat. "Best I can explain is that Winter is here on business on behalf of Atlas. What that is, like she said. It's classified."

Not much of an answer but they have no choice but to accept it. "That's right and she's in the military." Ruby added. That was another detail Akame noticed first glance. Winter's posture and certain air certainly did say military. "Oh yeah. Winter, these are our friends-"

"I'm well aware who they are." Winter interrupted. "I've seen their fight in the tournament." She continued to look at Leone. "I must say, Weiss, I thought you would have a better taste in choosing your friends."

Leone knew where this was going. "Don't even start lady. I am nothing like those White Fang assholes."

Winter highly doubted that. Like Weiss, she too was all too familiar with her family's violence with the White Fang so of course, she would have similar views. "Is that so? And how would you prove that?"

The Faunus blonde already went through this before and glared at Winter. "Because if I'd ever met any one of them, I wouldn't hesitate to bash their skulls in."

In Winter's line of work, she could tell a lot about a person in their eyes and Leone's said she was very serious. "What Leone said is a little extreme but I can assure you she has a very negative view of the White Fang even though she's a Faunus herself."

Winter didn't let up her gaze at the Faunus blonde. "Is that so? Quite surprising to see a Faunus who despises their own kind."

Leone was beginning to be a little pissed at Winter. "No. Only them."

In a surprise twist, all of them heard Winter chuckle a little. "You're quite interesting I'll tell you that much." All of them didn't expect her to say that.

Akame cleared her throat so the attention would be on her. "If you're here on business, why are you here in the fairgrounds?"

That was something Ruby would answer. "It was my idea. I thought she should see the fairgrounds while Winter's still here."

A fair enough explanation. Now Leone had another question. "Okay then. So where's Yang and Blake?"

"They're around somewhere." Weiss replied.

Speaking of her sister, Ruby did remember something. "Oh yeah, that reminds me. Yang wanted to see you, Leone."

The Faunus blonde raised an eyebrow to that. "Why is she looking for me?"

"There you are!" Speak of the blonde devil herself, Yang and Blake were approaching the group. Yang a little faster toward her daughter and grabbed her arm. "Glad you're here. Hope you don't mind I borrow her for a bit Akame. Kay thanks!" Before Leone could utter a word, her mother dragged her off away from the group.

Everyone didn't know what to think of what just happened. "What was that all about?" Esdeath asked. All of sudden, Cornelia elbowed her. "Ow! What was that-" The blonde cleared her throat and nudged at Ruby. Esdeath understood what the other girl was trying to tell her. "Oh." She looked at the young leader and cleared her throat. "U-Um…Ruby. About what I asked you from before."

Weiss growled lightly and narrowed her eyes while her hand was closed tightly. This didn't go unnoticed by Winter. Ruby instantly knew what Esdeath was talking about. "Oh. I…uh…still haven't decided. Sorry."

Esdeath wasn't surprised by this. "I see. Well, let me know when you've decided."

The young leader was grateful that Esdeath was understanding but she couldn't make the girl wait any longer. She had to give an answer soon. "So…" Cornelia spoke up. "Are you going to see any of the fights today?" She asked Winter.

The older Schnee closed her eyes. "I wish I could but I still have some important matters to attend later on. That and spending time with my sister a little afterward."

Ruby smiled at that. "Well, I hope you'll enjoy your stay at Beacon then."

"Of course." Winter opened her eyes and checked her scroll to see what the time was. "Appears I have to go now. Thank you for showing me around. If all of you would excuse me…" She began to walk past the group but stopped briefly. "By the way, to the leader of team ALCE, something about you is strange." Akame's eyes widened. "I've been serving in the Atlas military for a long time now and I've seen the look in some of the soldier's eyes who have gone through many rough battles. You have the same look in your eyes despite being close to my sister's age. The same could be said for your Faunus teammate. I wonder. What is it the both of you saw to have such eyes hardened veterans have?" With that said, Winter continued to walk.

As soon as Winter was out of sight, Blake crossed her arms. "That was ominous."

"It was inevitable. Someone from the military like her was bound to find similarities." Akame spoke.

Now Ruby couldn't help but feel a little worried. "So…what does this mean?"

Akame already knew the answer to that. "Nothing. That's all Winter was able to tell about me." Still, hearing that a second time did worry Akame. "First Babara and now Winter. I suppose blending in as students isn't as easy as I thought it would be."

Akame's thoughts were interrupted by Cornelia clapping her hands and turned to her. "All right now. I think this is enough foreboding one day. Like my papa always said. Worry too much about something and you'll get nothing out of it."

Esdeath smiled at the words. "Cora's right. Let's just enjoy the day without worrying about anything. In fact, I think the only thing we should worry is about being knocked out of the tournament."

That was something everyone can agree on. Now that everything was settled, there was one more thing up for discussion. "So where did Yang take Leone?" Weiss asked.

"Someone rang a Yang?" The group saw Yang and Leone walking up to the group. "What I'd miss?"

B

It wasn't too long for the matches to start up. One of them was Coco and Yatsuhashi fighting against Emerald and Mercury. It presented what the two from Cinder's group could actually do for both Akame and Leone. The fight overall was very good but in the end, Coco and Yatsuhashi lost. Still, Akame did notice something strange about the fight. More specifically, what Emerald did. As of now, team RWBY along with ALCE were with Coco after the fight. Velvet was with her leader in trying to comfort the girl. All of them were at one of the tables at the fairgrounds while still waiting for the next match to be announced. Velvet smiled at her leader. "You did your best Coco. You and Yatsu."

Coco was thankful for the words but it helped very little. "Thanks for the words Velvet but I'm still pissed off how that fight ended." Everyone could understand that. "If I would've had my head better in the game, it would've ended a whole lot differently I'll tell you that. I can't believe my eyes were playing tricks on me at a time like that."

Now that was something Akame could explain. "It wasn't your fault. If anything, it wasn't like your eyes were tricking you. You were deceived."

Coco lowered her spare sunglasses at that comment. "What do you mean by deceived?"

Both Akame and Leone knew what they were talking about. "Who you thought was Yatsuhashi was actually Emerald."

Hearing that raised more questions than answers. "I don't get it. Did Emerald do something?" Ruby asked.

Akame nodded at the question. "Yes. I would believe Emerald's semblance is illusion. That is how she was able to fool you."

That did make a lot of sense for Coco but she was still curious about something. "Okay. If I was suckered in by an illusion, how were you able to tell it apart?" She raised a good question and everyone wanted to know that.

The other leader took a sip out of her soda. "It was her aura that gave it away."

Velvet only became more confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Leone decided to explain this time around. "A person's aura is unique to only themselves. Even if Emerald can change her appearance, her aura is still the same. In short, Akame could sense who Emerald really was."

Everyone was surprised to hear that but also raised another question from Coco. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me you can sense aura? How is that even possible?"

"It's a slight trick I learned. It does come in handy in times." Akame explained.

Coco slightly chuckled at that. "I'll be damned. Think you can teach me that sometime?"

Akame really didn't know if she could teach the other leader this technique. It was used a lot back in her world but wasn't sure if she could pass it on in this world. "Maybe. It could prove to be difficult."

The answer was good enough for Coco. "Fair enough. Just hold onto that okay?" She stood up from the chair. "We'll be going now. Kick a lot of ass in the tournament you got that? Later." She started to walk away from the other teams.

Velvet stood up as well. "It was good seeing you again. Take care." She bowed slightly to the two teams and left to catch up to her leader.

As both girls left, Weiss still needed to confirm something. "Can you really sense other people's aura?"

Leone giggled at that. "How did you think we found all of you when we first met? In fact, we're sensing all of your auras right this minute. Not only yours but everyone's around too."

Ruby was very impressed by hearing that. "That's so cool. How do you do that?"

Akame was bound to explain this sooner or later. "Sensing aura was an important technique back in our world."

Already Yang was interested in this. "So you guys had aura back your world too huh. That's pretty convenient."

Akame agreed. "Yes but aura in our world doesn't work the same way as it does in this world. Otherwise, there would be fewer casualties. Someone who's experienced can mask their aura to avoid detection."

Blake raised an eyebrow to that. "How's that beneficial?"

Leone had the perfect example for that. "Put it this way. Say you're fighting against an opponent like Emerald who can cast illusions or another example would be Incursio whose trump card can turn the user invisible. How hard do you think it would be fighting against someone like that?"

The question seemed easy enough for Cornelia. "It would be a pretty difficult fight." And the Faunus blonde laughed at her answer. "What's so funny?"

Leone continued to snicker. "Normally you'd be right. Incursio can make a person invisible but that's all it can do.

Esdeath was becoming more confused by that. "You say that as it's no big deal."

"That's because it isn't." Everyone looked at Akame who took another sip. "Hiding your body is one thing but someone skilled can still that person's aura if it isn't concealed. Therefore, it wouldn't make a difference. The same could be said for Emerald whose specialty is illusion. She may disguise herself but in the end, her aura will give her away."

Blake put the pieces together after hearing all of that. "I understand now. It would explain how you able to tell apart me from my clones when we first fought."

She hit the nail on the head right there. "Yeah. If Emerald did fight against Akame in this tournament, she would lose big time." Leone boasted.

Yang put more thought into all of this. "In other words, I guess masking your aura would make a difference in a life or death fight. Am I right?"

She was close. "More like a life or death encounter. Remember, Leone and I were…well, you know once." Akame had brought up a good point considering who they were previously.

It also meant they had an advantage over everyone else. "Wow. Jaune was right. You are unfair." Ruby spoke.

Leone just shrugged. "Hey, do whatever you have to do to survive." She stood up from her chair. "In any case, we should probably head to the arena for the next match. I'm pretty sure none of us would want to miss it."

B

The crowd cheered as they couldn't wait for the next match of the doubles round to start. ALCE was present for this match for one reason only. Port decided to start off. "Welcome to next match of doubles round. For this matchup, we have team KRCT!"

Down at the arena, both Taeko and Chelsea were present. Chelsea was stretching her neck while Taeko was standing around with her eyes closed. Cornelia paid close attention to Taeko. She remembered what Akame had told her before about the girl. "Seeing her now makes feel a little weirded out considering Taeko was the one who killed me back in Akame's world. Akame said we were friends once. Can that happen again in this world?"

Port continued on. "Versus team SSSN!"

Across from the two girls were Sun and Neptune who were less than happy about who their opponents were. Neptune sighed at the situation. "Great. Out of all of the teams we had to fight against, it had to be them."

Sun was a little more optimistic about the whole thing. "Just relax man. Last time I checked, we're not Cardin and his pals."

Chelsea heard the fangirl screams cheering on their opponents and it slightly bothered her. "How come they have fangirls? Why don't we have fangirls?"

Taeko was all too familiar with teammate's complaining. "Kurome isn't enough for you?"

Now that Chelsea took offense. "Hey! She's way better than any freaking fan club!"

Speaking of the girl, Kurome was downing herself with soda and snacks as usual. Rienna was waving her hand at her two teammates. "Good luck out there!"

Her leader smiled at that. "They don't need luck fighting against them but let's see how they'll fare."

Akame and Leone had their own thoughts about this matchup. "It's still weird seeing Chelsea on the front lines. I wonder what she can do."

That was something Akame wished to find out as well. "We'll see soon enough."

Oobleck shifted his glasses. "Now, let us begin the stage randomization."

This time, five of the screens appeared and began to randomize. It wasn't too long for the terrains to be selected. The five selected were desert, geyser, glacier, jungle, and savannah. Everything outside the center platform began to shift and lower itself down then came back up with the chosen environments.

Everything was set now and Port was ready to give out the signal. "Now, let the match…" Sun spun his staff around while Neptune readied his weapon. Taeko flicked her thumb underneath the guard to slightly draw it out and Chelsea grabbed her fans. "Begin!" The air horn blared out.