Next chapter is on and this time with a lot of actions.

Dividing Truth

Zero opens his eyes and slowly straightens up. He recognizes the new environment, which looks very much like the old hiding place that Stylish attacked. "What...? Where am I?"

"Zero! You got up!" Tatsumi calls and immediately squeezes him deeply for a hug.

"Tatsumi, can you tell me about the situation?" he asks confused and gets up from the wooden bed in which he woke up shortly before. He takes his familiar black coat from the edge of the bed and puts it on again.

"You were unconscious when we found you. We're in our new hideout now, Susanoo took care of you all the way." answers Tatsumi now a bit calmer.

Zero checks his sword and puts it back in its proper place, on his belt. "Where are the others? We don't have time to rest."

Tatsumi tries to stop him because he fears that Zero will probably overexert himself. "Are you sure that you can get up already? You shouldn't-..."

"I'm fine, no need to worry. Just tell me where the others have gathered." he is interrupted by Zero who has a serious expression on his face that finally convinces Tatsumi.

Tatsumi gives himself a beating with a smile on his mouth. "Okay, come on. They're all waiting in the meeting room."

The two of them leave the room together and walk down several stairs. After a few minutes of walking they arrive at a large wooden door with a metal frame.

Zero thinks a lot during the walk and remains silent for a while. "I cannot let them find out anything while I am inactive."

They open the wooden door and enter. Najenda sits reading in her seat, all the others stay at different places in the room and talk.

"Did you get up again?" asks Najenda, who is the first to notice him. She puts her old book aside to focus her full attention on him.

Everyone turns curiously to the door and recognizes Zero accompanied by Tatsumi. "Zero? Are you okay again?" Akame asks worriedly, but with a warm smile.

"There is nothing wrong with me. What is the current state of the empire." he replies, directing his gaze to the quiet Najenda.

"Honest has introduced a new force for the capital, Wild Hunt. Because of them, the Jaegers are all busy too." she summarizes briefly.

"Why should the Jaegers be dealing with a national police force? Don't they have the same goal?" Zero asks because this statement seems indecisive to him.

"Actually they do, but they use different methods." Akame answers and enters the circle that has formed in front of Najenda. "Wild Hunt is attacking civilians at will, whether they are guilty or innocent, which is causing unrest in the capital.

"So this unrest is damaging the reputation of the Jaegers... Probably we should help the Jaegers then, right?" Zero concludes from the various pieces of information.

"Right. Even though they are our biggest problem, they are far from being as obnoxious as these wannabe-law enforcers." Chelsea answers and is now the last to enter the meeting.

Najenda puts on a serious face and lifts her head from the clenched metal hand. "Is that really our main problem right now?" she asks in a serious manner, reflecting her expression.

"What do you mean, Najenda?" Akame questions. Night Raids other members seem to share her perplexity at least as much.

"The two of us have discussed some things. If Najenda is right, we probably have a bigger problem than just the Jaegers and Wild Hunt." answers Susanoo, who is standing close to Najenda's seat.

"How is this possible?! What could be worse than Esdeath and the two groups?" Tatsumi reacts in disbelief. A slight trace of fear escapes his voice nevertheless.

"Maybe a hidden ally who has remained undiscovered until today?" says Najenda and now stands up with folded arms.

In Zero, an inner unease slowly emerges as he relates this statement to himself. However, he cannot let this mistrust show on the outside, because otherwise he would be exposed.

"Does this spy really exist?" Lubbock asks visibly surprised.

"Almost certainly." Najenda replies calmly. Her fingers lightly tap her arm in a constant rhythm. "We have to capture him and question him a bit to find out his true intention."

"True intention? Which true intention?" Leone asks confusedly. In her opinion, they should just kill him as soon as possible.

Najenda interrupts her thought quickly, because she knows what Leone is aiming at, by continuing herself. "A spy who never talks to his contact. Isn't that strange?" she explains and looks through the row once.

"Is it safe that he works for Esdeath? Maybe he belongs to some other group." Tatsumi adds. The fear that they could be betrayed and attacked at any time creeps up on him. "What do you think, Zero?" he finally asks Zero and unexpectedly brings him into the conversation.

Zero thinks for a moment with a furrowed forehead before he opens his mouth. "We only know the Jaegers and Wild Hunt as enemy forces... However, I don't think they would use spies." Zero answers with a look at Tatsumi, who is almost facing him in the semicircle.

"That's true... They would like to attack us directly." Mine sighs, standing purposely next to Tatsumi.

"How can you be so sure, Zero?" asks Lubbock, who is standing right in the middle and has Najenda in front of him.

Zero's eyes quickly move from Tatsumi to Lubbock. "If a spy doesn't talk to his contact, something must have happened. However, at least Esdeath would never assign a person to do that who isn't completely loyal to her." he replies and doesn't let himself be thrown off balance even now.

He nods in agreement, since Zero's answer seems very plausible to him. "What if he belongs to Wild Hunt?" Lubbock continues to ask. In his opinion, one of these two groups has to be behind it.

"I don't know Wild Hunt and their members, but from your information they don't seem like people with a lot of secrets." says Zero again in response to Lubbock. Slowly the idea arises in his mind that the member with Cross Tail as his teigu suspects him.

Akame decides to intervene, as their conversation might get worse. "Possibly it is not a spy at all, but someone with a different job, which is why he has never communicated with anyone." she explains and successfully interrupts the two of them.

"Do we actually know who this traitor is, or is there a possible selection?" Chelsea asks specifically, since the identity has not yet been mentioned.

"We have a prime suspect. However, we will keep this under wraps for the time being so that we can observe him." says Susanoo. His emphasis makes it clear that this statement ends their meeting.

On the one hand, Zero disappoints this statement in a way, because he wants to know the truth behind their statements. On the other hand he gets the idea that with a small chance he is not meant, but a real spy. Outwardly he remains without comment and serious, as he has been all along.

The members in the semicircle turn partly to each other to talk and slowly leave the room together. Zero moves alone towards the door, but doesn't stand out because everyone else is standing around him.

Suddenly Susanoo's club swings in Zero's direction, aiming at his upper body, but he manages to parry the attack with his arms. The resulting recoil throws Zero a few meters back, but he manages to stay on his feet.

"What is going on?!" shouts Akame, who clearly saw the attack, since she was the last of the now again scattered group.

Zero now draws his sword with full concentration on his entire surroundings. The tip of his sword points in the direction of the door where everyone has stopped. "An attack from nowhere." he clarifies with normal volume.

"So you were prepared for this, Zero. Otherwise he would have hit you for sure." Najenda says now, who came next to Susanoo. Her arms crossed again.

"Why do you attack Zero? What's going on?" Tatsumi asks in a loud voice, because this attack surprised him recognizably and made him angry afterwards. Tatsumi stands in the corridor between Zero and Susanoo with the others, who all focus on Najenda and Susanoo now.

"Because probability has just become certainty." Susanoo answers seriously. His eyes are angry directed at the waiting Zero.

"What do you mean?" asks Mine curiously and at the same time a bit suspicious, since she is as confused as the others. As a reflex, she has taken her Pumpkin out, ready to shoot.

"The one we just talked about is Zero. He is not working with us against Esdeath." Najenda claims. This statement provokes many different reactions from everyone, but most of all disbelief, because they cannot really believe it.

"Why should he work for Esdeath and still have accompanied us for so long?! Wouldn't he have just killed us then?" Tatsumi asks really furious, because Zero is a very valuable friend for him, as well as all the Night Raid members.

"There is enough evidence against him, for example his emotional collapse. How many times has Zero fainted? says Najenda, confronting her own members confidently.

Everyone in the group is thinking, but no one can recall such an event easily. "Once... When the spies had discovered him in the southern village..." Lubbock finally answers and surprises his friends, because they did not witness it.

"Injured among the remains after Esdeath's attack on the southern villages. Both collapses had nothing to do with his physical condition, but probably with Esdeath's presence." Najenda says, looking accusingly in Zero's direction. The others also turn to him in disbelief and expect an explanation from him without request.

"How does that confirm you?" Zero asks, still ready to fight with the sword in his hand. "I probably just got a trauma that day from Esdeath. An attack on your home is never easy to cope with." he defends himself, causing the compulsion to tell the story to Najenda again.

She continues to stand there self-confidently and now grins slightly. "I thought so too, that's why I was careful not to bring you near her for the time being." she explains calmly. "But after Tatsumi told us about the encounter with Esdeath on the mountain top, I changed my mind. If you had a trauma from her, you wouldn't have stayed calm enough to save him."

Slowly Zero gets a sinister grin on his face, which reflects his current state of mind. "So there's no point in discussing it any further..." he now talks just as sinister to himself. He gets ready for an attack, which also comes quickly in the form of Susanoo rushing towards him. Zero manages to defend himself from all the blows, but doesn't come to an attack.

"As expected, this won't be easy." Susanoo remarks as their weapons cross. During the course of the fight they move further and further along the corridor.

Suddenly, Lubbock's silver thread is also stretched out along the corridor with the intention of catching Zero from behind, but he manages to stay mostly undisturbed with the help of his fire. The carpet is cut into small pieces and even the stone walls are damaged. "So you took advantage of us all this time. No wonder why you never really warmed up with us, you traitor!" Lubbock calls in his direction and prepares the next wave of thread.

Zero keeps his distance with a quick wall of blazing fire from his teigu and can thus lock Susanoo into the corridor together with Lubbock as he enters a new large room. The room, made of yellowish stones, is very large, especially in height and offers hardly any possibilities to hide.

The fight stresses him enormously, as he has only recently woken up and is therefore not ready for such excitement. "So now I have new enemies again... At some point I had to-..." Zero gasps before he can escape a charged shot of Pumpkin at the last second. The shot blows up the wall behind him, but there's no beam of light to be seen. "I must be underground by now." he guesses from that.

"Stop!" he hears it echoing from afar. The loud, emotionally charged voice can clearly be assigned to Mine. After that more shots fly in his direction, but not nearly as close as the first one. The solid ground suffers severe burn marks as a result.

Zero uses the dust that is whirled up to quickly disappear from her field of vision. Behind a solid and wide pillar he ducks down and creates a fire trail running in Mine's direction, forcing her to leave her position.

"So now you're targeting me just because Najenda tells you some story." he shouts into the void, with the intention of forcing Mine to think and slow down.

"Stories?! You have never considered us as friends since you joined us!" it sounds from Leone, who also shows up immediately equipped with Lionelle. The blow against the pillar smashes it instantly and because of the enormous impact, coupled with the super fast speed, Zero is also hit in the back.

Luckily, he was able to dodge at least a little bit, so he didn't get the full damage, but the strength is still not to be downplayed. "Have you ever thought that there must be two sides to the story?" he asks as he makes eye contact with Leone.

She quickly storms towards him and throws several powerful punches, which he cannot all completely defend against due to his exhaustion. A sudden kick hits him hard on the lower leg, causing him to fall to his right knee and giving Leone the opportunity to jump. Before she hits him with her focused punch he can roll away to the side and get back on his feet.

"What sides?!" she calls with a voice that corresponds to her hateful expression. The blow destroys the ground immediately during the collision, but Leone quickly straightens up again and after a short shake she is ready to fight again. "As if there would be an excuse for something like that!"

"If you won't listen to me, you'll prove that you never trusted me either." Zero also blames her. After Leone grits her teeth, they begin the trial of strength again, except this time Zero has his sword out.

The sword inflicts some cuts to Leone here and there, but not serious ones, because her fast regeneration makes the wounds heal instantly. "Do you think you have the right to talk about trust?" she screams with the same charge of emotion as before. Leone, on the other hand, can now land fewer hits because of her rage and the resulting lack of concentration, giving Zero the upper hand.

"If you all want it that way..." Zero almost whispers, but still softly understandable to Leone. He tricks her with a body deception and manages to make heavy cuts in the back of her legs, making her unable to move. Another blow with the sword handle on her head causes her to finally pass out with a bleeding wound.

Zero hears an enormous banging noise and concludes that Lubbock and Susanoo must be near him again. He shoots himself with the help of a fire column high up in the room and ends up in an empty, deserted floor. He opens the only door that leads out of this room carefully with the now bloody sword in his right hand.

"You have finally found your way here." a voice tells him as he enters. A quick glance is enough to make sure that he must now face Akame.

"You had to be the last one, Akame... Where are the others?" Zero asks, concentrated on every single step Akame makes at that moment.

"It doesn't matter. Rather tell me why you had to betray us." she exclaims as she takes further steps with Murasame. Such an emotional reaction from her is quite unusual, also Zero notes without comment.

"I didn't betray you, but nobody wants to believe me anyway." he answers calmly and limps slightly away from the door, as the fight against Leone is still afflicting him. "Have you ever noticed yourself that I sabotaged our missions or gave away our locations?" he asks Akame back, causing her to put on a painful expression.

"But you do not deny that you had anything to do with her. Then what was it if you didn't want to betray us?" questions Akame in return. Her voice also contains a very small part of uncertainty, which Zero does not notice.

" I-..." he utters before he notices Chelsea's presence behind him, who is about to give him a pinprick. He stops her by holding her by the arm and throws her rather weakly in Akame's direction. "So you even use such methods now..." he accuses them and gets back his sinister grin on his face.

"Zero, give up and let us take you prisoner." Akame demands with a voice that sounds more like a request. Zero's restlessness due to his momentary weakening is something she noticed even before his throw.

He remains as stable as possible and at a safe distance to the two Night Raid girls standing next to each other. In the present silence, in which everyone doesn't move a step from their place, Tatsumi unexpectedly appears, exposing the invisibility of Incursio's armor. From the outside, his posture seems very battered and depressed.

"Then I've met them all now..." Zero thinks as he tries to keep an eye on all three. The current standstill helps him to slowly regain his strength.

"What do you mean that you never betrayed us, Zero?" Tatsumi asks with an empty and tearful sound. Meanwhile, he steps closer and closer to Zero and has removed Incursio, with his sword on his back.

Zero recognizes their surprise on Akame's and Chelsea's faces, so he suspects that this is an unexpected action by Tatsumi. "So you were listening in here all the time." he responds without answering his question.

Tatsumi runs down a tear from his eye to his chin. "Not only here... Also down against Leone and Mine..." he reveals quietly and is now only a few steps away from him.

Zero grip on the sword gets a little weaker, but he still holds it up. "Why didn't you attack me then, as well?" he asks puzzled, also because he couldn't feel Tatsumi's presence at all.

Tears are still running down his face. "I want to hear what you have to say... I don't want to lose more friends." Tatsumi says and looks Zero seriously in the eyes without hiding his sadness or disappointment.

"I don't stand a chance against Akame, Tatsumi and Chelsea together... Another defeat?" Zero reflects intensively on his options. Still, he seems calm and cold on the outside.

Tatsumi and Zero exchange serious looks without a wink. "Friends... Do you really think there exists something like friendship these days?" Zero asks with remaining seriousness. At the same time, Akame and Chelsea stand still, on the one hand impressed by Tatumi's seriousness and on the other hand confused by Zero's missing attack

"Of course there's friendship!" Tatsumi answers with an emotionality that sounds as if he was very offended by his question. "You just have to find the right person for it!"

The thoughtful swordsman repeats "The right person…" in his head. The sword with the thin blade, waiting close to Tatsuki's neck, Zero slowly pulls back and drops it to the ground. "Then show me your friendship... I'll surrender." he finally says and raises his hands as a sign of his defeat.

Akame puts her katana back into its case and steps attentively, yet inwardly happy about the peaceful resolution of the conflict, behind Zero to handcuff him. Then Chelsea steps up to the inconspicuous wall behind her and opens a hidden exit of the room by moving a brick that reveals a hidden staircase through a chain reaction.

"So there was a hidden entrance here. Probably not the only one." Zero notes.

Unexpectedly, Leone approaches the four on the stairs. "Wait a minute, Akame." she calls and stops Akame, who is going ahead in the group. She steps past her and hits the chained Zero on the head. His eyes turn black and he falls unconscious, but Leone catches him in time.

"Why? What the hell was that for?" asks Tatsumi, who had walked behind Zero together with Chelsea for safety. His confusion is definitely shared by the others while Leone puts the now unconscious Zero over her shoulder.

"Just a little revenge. Besides, he doesn't need to see our hiding place in its entirety." she answers and starts walking up the stairs. After a short moment, the others join her without further questioning. A certain time later they arrive back in the conference room, where everyone else is already waiting patiently for them.

"So you were able to catch him. Well done." says Najenda with a new cigarette in her hand.

"What are we going to do with Zero now?" Tatsumi asks, determined that no one will harm him.

Najenda gets up and steps to Leone who still carries Zero to check if he really is unconscious. "We lock him in a cell and wait until he gets up. He has a lot to tell us." she answers. She realizes that Tatsumi and the others don't want to kill him and she herself doesn't want to kill him either.

"I'll take him there. Follow me quickly." Leone shouts while she quickly jumps out of the window with Zero and waves provocatively upwards. She slows her speed so that the others can catch up, but not too much, because they have to get there before he gets up.

Author´s Note:

Again three weeks, but this time with the largest chapter by far. I personally like the three week-cycle and will probably continue it.

With this chapter the story got over 10,000 words easily and i´m proud of it until now. I hope you all also like it!