Happy Holidays! You guys get an early chapter!
Sitting down at the table Akame placed a stack of cups down, her arm was still healing but she no longer needed a cast, just bandages, it had been three days since they left the White Fang base camp, and everyone was quickly getting used to the sleeping arrangements, Ruby kept insisting that they played a game of Liar's dice before they got back to work so she was setting it up... not that it took much, the hardest part was the dice but there was a store nearby that was selling loads of them. And other weird games that she didn't recognize, as well as dice with more than six sides
"Akame are we ready?" Ruby asked leaning into the room, turning to her she nodded "Sweet!" Ruby happily said then gestured to the others waiting outside, sitting down at the table Akame spoke
"Okay, this is a simple game, each cup has five six sided die within." Akame said grabbing a cup and shook it causing the dice to jingle around a bit "We'll play in groups of four to keep the games running smoothly. So each of you roll one die from your cup, the highest number goes last and the lowest number goes first." Akame explained rolling her die, it landed on a one, then Ruby rolled getting a six, Blake was next she also rolled a six and Yang rolled a four
"Okay, Blake and Ruby, you both need to roll again." Akame said causing the two to roll their dice again, Ruby rolled a four and Blake rolled a two
"Okay, I go first, then Yang, then Blake, and finally Ruby." Akame said picking up her dice and dropped it back into her cup, shaking her cup for a few moments she slammed it down on the table "You all do so too." Akame said causing all of them to follow her lead "Now then, look at your dice but keep them hidden from everyone else." Akame said tilting her cup a little and peering underneath; 4
"Then I make a bid. Such as; three threes." Akame said "You could challenge my bid by calling me a liar, then we all reveal our die, if my bid is exact or lower than the total I win, otherwise I lose."
looking under her cup Yang humme "Four threes." she bid looking to Blake who hummed, she ha 4
"Five ones." she said earning a hum from Yang, Ruby peered under her cup and humme 2
"Seven ones." Ruby said
"Liar." Yang said causing them all to lift their cups, quickly counting the ones they found that Ruby did indeed lie, Ruby lost due to her bid being higher than the number of ones showing
"Okay, one more practice match, then we start betting for real." Akame said and rolled a die followed by the others, Ruby would go first, followed by Yang, Blake and finally Akame
Ruby rolle 6, Yang had rolle 4, Blake rolle and Akame ha 4
"Three sixes." Ruby said earning a hum from Yang
"Five sixes." Yang said
"Two threes." Blake said watching Ruby
"No cheating Ruby." Akame said looking over to her
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked blinking a few times
"You froze time and looked under our cups." Akame said causing Ruby to blink a few times again in complete ignorance
"No I didn't."
"I had this pieces of paper held between my finger and the cup, if you had moved my cup the paper would fall and I would know you cheated." Akame explained holding up a small piece of paper causing Ruby to close her mouth and lean back
"I may have cheated." Ruby finally relented causing Yang to laugh
"Akame out played you!..." Yang laughed then turned to Akame and spoke "Why are you so cautious!?"
"Because I lead the life of an assassin. Caution is normal for my kind."
"You've done that before too, you always seem to separate you from us by claiming that you are an assassin."
"Because you all are huntresses, I am not worthy of such a title." Akame answered "I will live, die, and be forgotten and I am okay with that, it is the life I chose to lead."
"But you didn't choose that." Ruby said crossing her arms
"I did, I could have given up at anytime... but I am still alive, my choice is made, and I will live with the consequences." Akame reasoned causing Ruby to raise her eyebrow
"You... couldn't give up, you would have been killed."
"Killed by my family, become a corrupt assassin for hire and concubine for Merraid Oarburgh, died to Esdeaths' blade, become a circus performer for a few hours before dying to my fathers' blade." Akame said placing her hands on the table "Honestly the best of those endings would have been going with the Oarburgh's... but I wouldn't be me, I'd be some... spineless toy... I couldn't live like that, so I made my choice." Akame explained folding her hands
"Never thought I'd hear you have regrets." Leones' voice came from the doorway, causing Yang to jump to her feet
"YOU! I THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY!"
"Oh hey, nice arm. What happened to the other one?" Leone greeted with a wave
"What-" Akame began but was quickly interrupted by Yang
"When we were at Summers' house! This chick showed up and asked for help!"
"Yeah, that feels like it was eons ago... anywho, Qrow is tired but I still wanna keep goin' so... you all have fun. If he passes out I'll come and show you all how it's done."
"Please let him rest." Akame requested as Leone walked away
"No~!" Leone sung, a few moments later they heard a door slam
"Well... that's not something I wanted to hear." Blake said a blush starting to form on her face
"Are her boobs bigger than mine? I've been trying to figure this out sense I met her back at Summers' house... I could never tell."
"Probably the same size." Akame said "She likes to tease people using hers though. Me, Tatsumi, Qrow, Mine, she tried Chelsea but gave up after she reciprocated the act positively. Chelsea seemed to panic a bit after Leone left... no idea why though."
"Why were you all so... sexually active?" Ruby asked looking over to her
"We could have paid for our crimes on any mission." Akame answered blankly "Enjoy the pleasure where you can get it... speaking of pleasure lets get back to this game." Akame avoided peeking at her dice "Three fours." Akame said causing the others to look at each other
"I feel like we should talk about this. You are a huntress you know that?"
"I am employed as a huntress yes. But I am an assassin and always will be, and one day I will pay for that." Akame denied causing Ruby to sigh
"Four fours." Blake said
"Liar." Akame said and they raised their cups, showing that Blake had exceeded the number of fours ending the game in a win for Akame
"So... why do you think you need to pay?" Ruby asked causing Akame to sigh
"I have killed men, woman, and children, Ruby. I am not an innocent person, to lead a life like mine, you must always remember every kill, every death, and every lost friend. It is a life of punishment and atonement." Akame explained as they rolled dice again before flipping their cups
"So? Just because you killed people doesn't mean you should carry that weight."
"I disagree, and so does father, a killing is a stain on humanity. Peace is the noblest aspiration and requires greater strength then mine to obtain. I fought for that dream back home and I am fighting for it here." Akame explained causing Ruby to look down a bit, she had forgotten that Akame taught her to never take a life without remembering it... But Esdeath told her death is nothing more than weeding out the weak, and they should be forgotten... it was strange how similar Esdeath and Akame are but they were also vastly different
"I... guess that is one way of looking at it." Ruby finally said earning a nod from Akame
"Unlike you and Esdeath I will not kill without thought, because once I do I know that I will no longer be the person I wanted to be."
"And what about Kurome?" Ruby asked her eye twitching in anger at the insinuation, she quickly realized what she said and covered her mouth before trying to apologize for what she said
"I killed Kurome because she was still resolved to kill me. If I didn't attack her with the same resolve and determination then it would have been nothing but an insult." Akame answered emotionless even her eyes seemed to lose their shine
"But didn't you... feel anything?" Ruby questioned her anger quickly dissolving into regret that she brought this subject up
"Pain, sadness, relief, and anger." Akame answered her tone unchanged from the neutrality it was before
"From killing her?" Ruby asked looking over to Akame again
"Sadness, relief, and anger were from killing her. Pain was from my arm." she said causing Ruby to hum
"Did you let her do that?" Ruby asked raising an eyebrow at Akame who shook her head
"No. It was her final act." Akame answered placing her hand on her shoulder and rubbed it a bit causing her to wince a bit "I couldn't retreat fast enough." she added rubbing her eyes "But that is fine, Bulat had many scars, so did Tatsumi and Boss... Mine had a few... me and Chelsea were outliers with no scars... now though... I got my first."
"What about when Qrow healed your gut?" Leones' voice came from the doorway she looked a little disheveled but otherwise looked the same
"I had no scar." Akame answered without even looking over to her
"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked scrunching her eyebrow
"You read my journal." Akame commented "Zank landed a brutal blow on me when I... tried to reason with an illusion of Kurome."
"Anywho you guys have fun with liars dice, I'm gonna go help Jaune and them train... they've been goin' at it for quite a while, and I figured I was gettin' a little rusty... that and I don't wanna get involved with emotional... stuff." Leone said with a wave as she walked out of the room towards the training grounds
"How does she know her way around here already?" Yang asked looking to Akame
"She probably broke in at some point to see if this was actually our place of residence, she was a scout for the both Night Raid and the revolutionary army, despite how she acts she is very smart, and has a practically photographic memory."
"Like yours?" Ruby asked as they began a new game
"No hers is far better, she could go on a dozen scouting missions and bring back all the information without forgetting a thing. If there is anyone I trust with any information it would be Leone, she is also very attentive when it comes to details as well." Akame explained as she rolled her dice, soon followed by the others
(o)
Walking outside Leone stretched her arms over her head then looked into the arena, Jaune blocked a stab from Weiss and swung at her neck leaning back slightly she avoided the strike and slashed downward as her blade began to glow blue freezing the shield to the ground, jumping onto the frozen shield she smirked at him as she cocked her blade back
"Looks like I'm on top, lover boy." she commented causing him to look away from her suffering a stab to his throat then a kicked to the same spot sending him to his knees his arm still frozen. Shaking his head he swung at her but it was stopped by her heel and again she stabbed him causing his Aura to shutter, she proceeded to attack him again and again until his aura shattered
"Try not to get distracted in the middle of a fight." Weiss commented sheathing her blade and turned around and began to walk away
"I... saw up you skirt." he said sounding apologetic
"I know, and it kept you from fighting back." Weiss answered blankly as she leaned next to Ren
"Nice win." Leone said as she grabbed Jaunes' forearm and yanked him free shattering the ice and cutting his arm a bit "You okay?" she asked pulling him up, standing a bit taller than him he was distracted as he stood "You really gotta work on that." Leone said hitting him lightly in his throat causing him to cough
"Sorry..."
"Don't be, come over here." she said gesturing for him to follow her, walking over to an open area of the arena "On the ground." she ordered causing him to raise an eyebrow "Push up position." she added causing him to follow her order, soon after he felt a weight on his back causing his arms to shake a bit "Alright down. And up. Down. up." she ordered causing him to follow her orders, he got about ten in before he started to slow down
"Come on, are you really gonna give up when such beautiful woman are right here?" she questioned causing him to grunt and pushed a lot harder getting a few more out before dropping to the ground, placing her boot on the back of his head she spoke again "Come on, look at Weiss she seems pretty disappointed with sixteen push-ups."
"You're so heavy..." Jaune groaned quietly the weight on the back of his head vanished before slamming back down causing his head to bleed
"Prick." Leone growled as she stood off of him using his head as a stepping stone
"MY TURN!" Nora said diving to the ground and prepared to do push ups
"Okay." Leone commented with a shrug sitting down on her, Nora began to do push ups at a rapid speed, Leone didn't seem to notice though, looking over to the other two she spoke
"You're a thinker Weiss, aren't you?" Leone asked folding her legs
"What does that mean?"
"You calculate everything in a fight. From when your enemy will blink, to what the wind speed is. You want to know everything about your foe before engaging." she said with a grin "But you don't know anything about me, so how do you think that match'll go?"
"I'd probably win. You fight like Yang so it cant be all too difficult to simulate." Weiss commented, she knew that Weiss was probably feeling pretty confident after what happened at Haven, her words earned a laugh from Leone as she cracked her knuckles
"Prove it." she ordered then kicked off of Nora causing her to roll over a few times, slamming her fist into Weiss' guard which was barely prepared she broke through and elbowed her in the gut, stumbling back Weiss felt her ankle get yanked towards Leone, slamming her head into the ground before she could recover Leone planted her knees on her wrists and wrapped her fingers around Weiss' throat but didn't squeeze
"See. I win." Leone said with a sadistic smile on her face, Weiss slowly recovered from the daze of hitting the ground
with a hissed she rolled her neck "That was hardly a match! You attacked without a countdown!" she said anger lacing her words
"And in what world is fighting fair?" Leone asked picking Weiss up by her throat and set her down, Weiss sighed and slouched a bit
"I guess... you are right." she agreed as Leone turned away, quickly cocking her arm back she stabbed at the woman but Leone turned and bit down on the blade stopping it in its tracks causing Weiss' jaw to drop
"Are you fucking kid-" she began before Leone sent her to the ground with a single punch then spit out the blade
"Growing up in the slums gives you an amount of awareness that rich folk like you don't have." Leone explained with a grin "Alright happy feet, you're up." she said turning to Ren who blinked a few times
"I'm sorry? Happy feet?"
"Yeah, you have light steps so you gotta dance around a lot, right?" Leone reasoned dropping into a fighting stance
"She isn't wrong." Nora commented from her position on the ground, where she had yet to move from
"Come on! I'm all fired up!" Leone said as she took a swing at the boy who prepared himself
(o)
Qrow sighed as he sat up from his bed, he and Leone had spent the past few days catching up, Sienna had him organize her entire office space, but given the fact that it was a new office she didn't have any specific way to set it up... but she kept bossing him around the whole time, then there was Ghira and Kali... those two... were a problem he ran into too, apparently Kali hadn't changed a bit, she continued to flirt with him and make advanced to get a rise out of Ghira, which always worked, and he and Ghira got to bond over their... restless partners.
"Sense when was she like this?" he asked as he sat up and and stretched, he was exhausted and sore, dressing himself he walked out into the living room and found Ruby and Yang sitting around reading on their scrolls
"Hey uncle Qrow, took you long enough to recover?" Yang asked causing him to sigh
"Yeah... finally."
"Why didn't you say 'no'?" She asked carefully, earning a chuckle from Qrow
"Cause it's still fun for me too. Just cause I'm tired and sore doesn't mean I'm not having fun."
"I! DONT! WANT! TO! KNOW!" Ruby shouted covering her ears
"Oh please, I'm sure you and Esdeath basically eye-fucking in every class with all that staring you two were doin'." Qrow countered as he drew his flask and drank from it
"We didn't stare like that!" Ruby denied earning a noise from Yang
"You kinda did." she then said causing Ruby to gasp
"You're suppose to be on my side!" Ruby shouted turning red, both looked back to Qrow who... was gone... when did he leave?
(o)
With a sigh Qrow covered his eye, he had slipped into the kitchen when he sensed that they were gonna start arguing, and when they argued they would bring it to him to settle... this was probably good for them... even if the screaming from the other side of the door sounded like murder
"Now that that situation is over." He said to himself as he walked towards the stairs down into the training grounds, if he knew Akame she would be down there, reaching the bottom of the stairs he found Akame leaning on the railing while Leone was battling Weiss, Jaune, and Nora, she seemed to be having quite a bit of difficulty but she was still smiling so he did nothing to intervene
"Hey." Qrow said leaning next to her
"Hey." Akame greeted her eyes only briefly darting over to him
"You still holding up... after what happened?" he carefully asked placing his hand on her back
"I'll be fine." she answered emotionlessly, Qrow sighed and looked directly at her
"Akame. Tell the truth." he ordered causing her to look down again
"I feel empty. I lost... so much... and I may lose my arm too." she said gesturing to the bandages on her left shoulder "The doctor said that there is a high probability that I will lose it... I guess that's just the payment for Kuromes' life." Akame said truthfully covering her eyes "I have lost so much proficiency... this world has made me... soft." she added
"No... it has made you considerate." Qrow corrected "You think for others more now... even if it's only a little."
"As an assassin that will get me kill." Akame reasoned earning a hum from Qrow
"Didn't get me killed." he said earning a nod from Akame
"But you treated it like your work... hunting monsters." she reasoned as Qrow wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer
"I treated it as protecting you all." he said causing her to blink a few times then looked at him
"But doesn't that mean-"
"I failed... I failed time and time again. You haven't failed yet. So stop worrying about being the best assassin and start thinking about how best to protect your friends." He interrupted as they watched the clouds on the horizon
"LOOK OUT!" a voice shouted from behind them and the two moved out of the way as Leone busted through the railing but before she could fall both Qrow and Akame pulled her back onto solid ground
"Thanks, you two." Leone thanked casually as she ran towards her opponents, Qrow and Akame shared a look then sat down where the railing had broke to enjoy their time together, the sounds of battle behind them being of little concern
(o)
Oscar sighed, he didn't like lying to Ruby and her team... but if it helps avoid what they had seen it's for the best... right?
"I understand your apprehension when it comes to lying to your allies. But it is with good reason, I trusted Leonardo for decades... and you saw how that turned out."
"Yeah... but... what if she finds out?... couldn't that turn her to Esdeath fully?"
"But she wont find out. So long as we keep her on the path she is."
"But..."
"Oscar, you have trusted me up until now. I ask that you trust me a little bit farther... please."
"Fine... I'll trust you... but if things go too far... I don't know." Oscar said bringing up his concerns
"Just let me do the talking if it comes down to it and everything will be fine."
(o)
Ruby let out a sigh, she had transferred everything to her scroll but she had no idea how to fix the way she thought "Self sacrifice, naivety... trust, how do I get back what I lost?" she asked covering her eyes
"What are you talking about?" Yang asked looking over to her sister who sighed
"You know I've been having a... bit of an identity crisis, right?"
"Of course, you talk about it in your sleep." she commented
"O-Oh... what... do I say?" Ruby asked careful not to sound too concerned
"You just keep asking who you are and crying. I tried to comfort you but it just seems to make things worse." Yang answered crossing her arms "I'm sorry if I... added to any of your pain." she apologized earning a sigh from Ruby
"No you're fine... its just... rough, the future I saw was... divisive for me... I want it to be a reality, but I don't want to lose all of you for it." Ruby explained earning a nod from her sister
"Well... if worse comes to worst at least we know that you'll survive. I guess you were happy too."
"I was... but I was also scared of what I saw."
"Fair, but I doubt Ozpin has been lying all too much to us. Like you said, he is keeping things to half truths. Which still sucks but he is at least trusting us with some information."
"But some is not all. How can we trust him if he wont trust us with everything?" Ruby asked earning a hum from Yang
"I guess you're right... but its not like we can get the information out of him even if we wanted. He is in Oscars' head after all."
"Yeah and that's the problem! How does he have the ability to cheat death? Who gave him it? And what did he have to give in return?" Ruby questioned "There is no power that doesn't have a price."
"What's your price then? Cause from where I am sitting you have a ton of power and no detriment." Yang asked sitting up a bit
"I want to kill you." Ruby answered her voice came out smoothly as though it were silk "I want to break off your finger nails and watch you scream, break your knees with a hammer and watch you writhe in pain, I constantly struggle against that want to torture and break. Demon's Extract has given me so much power... at the cost of my humanity... I'm trying to reclaim that, and every part of my body is screaming for me to stop trying, to accept that I am a weapon that is forged in fear and betrayal." Ruby explained causing the air around them to grow colder, Yangs' metallic arm had a thin layer of ice growing on it, but she didn't seem effected by the cold, she was effected by her sisters words however
"Well... then let us help you... me, Qrow, Akame, Weiss, and... Blake. We can help." Yang offered holding her hand out to her sister, with a shaky hand she reached out and grabbed it, for the first time since they started touching each other like sisters again Ruby felt comfort, even if it was buried under flashes of her sisters corpse...
A/N Chapter 11 ends, I had a game of Liars dice at the beginning because I (Personally) enjoy the game itself and figured it would be a fun way to promote it's existence, not a lot of people are as invested in such a game as I am and I don't know why, it is simple and takes very little set up and clean up. Add in the fact that the game pace is quick too it doesn't take long to realize how fun the game is.
Happy Holidays! You guys get an early chapter!