AU: WELCOME! I've been thinking about this for a long time and I'm a little nervous.

Setting: A small village deep in the forest.

Pairings: [Akame, Tatsumi, OC] [Unknown, Unknown]

It was almost sunset, the sun was hiding bellow the horizon as the thick forest shielded a small village from the sun's light. Another day of a young boy's peaceful life had come to pass.

Tatsumi, a 9 years old boy had just heard the bell rung and headed outside of the school with his classmates. It was a small school, made almost out of wood and stone. The village was poor and underdeveloped unlike the capital. They suffer taxes from them as they have only but a small land due to the danger beasts roaming around. Because of this, food was a little short and getting money was hard to come by when you're working as a farmer causing discouragement amongst them as some people have even switched jobs to earn more money. Danger beasts would be a problem but the capital sends in a small amount of soldiers to take care of them. But even with those protection, the amount of taxes they pay was simply not fair.

But even with those problems the people in this village still find happiness and peace.

After heading off the school, Tatsumi and a friend of his walked together since their homes were pretty close. After walking for some time, passing many wooden houses and other children playing on the streets, they arrived at the place where they usually part.

"See you tomorrow, Tatsumi." A young boy said, waving, he had short black hair with narrow eyes and was at the same height as Tatsumi.

"You too James, and don't forget the big plan, we're exploring in the woods tomorrow alright?" Tatsumi was and adventurous and curious boy, his parents never let him roam the woods. Ignorant about the danger beasts, he was curious and was also impatient about the reason behind his parent's warnings. In his life, he was raised as an obedient child but being a 9 year old, his curiosity got the better of him.

His friend, now known as James narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure we're not going to tell this to your parents? They'll be worried sick." James was worried for his friend but he was more worried about himself, unlike Tatsumi, he was scared of the reason on why his parents too have warned him to never go inside the woods.

But like Tatsumi, he was also curious, dead curious.

"Of course not! They'll do everything in their parenty powers to stop me!" He yelled. "Also, if I just say we're hanging out on the playground then they won't have to worry about anything."

"So you're going to lie to your parents?"

Tatsumi looked down, averting his friend's gaze, he felt his heart ache from guilt hearing the word 'Lie'. The only times he lied to his parents was when he said a rat ate the cookies at the kitchen closet when it was night but it was just him sneaking from his bedroom to fetch some midnight snacks. He thought he was being very sneaky about it but in reality his parents saw trough his obvious lie.

"Y..yes!" He said hesitantly. "We need to know what they're hiding from us for all these years!"

"If you say so..." James greatly admired Tatsumi's courage and determination ever since they became friends. "Well, see ya."

Tatsumi smiled and they started to part ways. "See ya, don't be late tomorrow okay!?" He said, running while waving his hands.

Tatsumi was now close to his home and started to slow down his pace. It was already evening and only light houses powered only by candles we're the only sources of light. In other words, it was very dark.

But that didn't matter, Tatsumi was used to being in the dark so getting back to his home wasn't really a problem.

Once he reached his house, he reached for the door knob and tried to twist it but it wouldn't budge.

"Weird.. mom doesn't lock the door until I arrive." The village they live in was small so everyone knew each other, the chances of getting robbed were close to zero.

"Mooom!? Daaaaaad!?" He yelled.

No response

Tatsumi looked at the ground, curious on what was happening and was also bored because he was just standing there in the middle of the dark.

A moment passed and he heard noises from the inside. His ears perked up, he placed his left ear on the wooden door trying to make out of what the sound is.

"Shhh.." Then a girly giggle, that was all he could hear, another moment passed and he heard the door make a click sound suggesting that it was unlocked. Tatsumi was about to reach for the door knob before it opened on its own.

He saw no one there, the inside of his house was filled with darkness. Feeling rather spooked out, he entered and slowly shut and locked the door behind him.

"Mom? Dad?" He called out but no response. He then proceeded to the living room and found nothing but darkness as well, the windows were closed preventing any moon light from coming in. He couldn't even see the furnitures.

Scared, he grabbed his bag and took out a book hoping that it'd atleast act as a weapon if an unlikely monster attacked.

Tatsumi jumped when he heard a loud sound from the kitchen. It sounded like metal falling.

"T-That scared the crap out of me!" He yelled. He ran to the kitchen with his book tightly gripped by both of his hand. "W-Who's there..!?" He was scared, sweaty, his eyes were wide open and his body was shaking a little.

The second he reached the kitchen, candles lit open revealing a brown haired man with pure black eyes wearing a plane brown outfit and a woman with long black hair that stretched to her back and green eyes wearing a plain brown dress; his parents, they were standing beside a table in the middle of the kitchen with... a birthday cake?

"Surprise! Happy Birthday, kidd-!"

"AAAHHHHHH!" Startled, his brain had not processed what was in front of him and attacked the nearest person with his book... his dad.

"OOF!" His dad winced in pain, as both of his hands went to the place where it hurt the most. "My freaking naarddsss."

"Tatsumi!" The boy heard her mother scream.

Tatsumi was confused, he looked up and saw his dad on his knees, teeth gritting from the pain with both of his hands holding his uh... private part.

"Dad?" He said, he then processed what he had done. He looked at his mom who was giving him an angry look but deep down she was trying her best to hide her laughter.

Tatsumi looked at his dad again. "Umm... I'm sorry?" This time his mom couldn't handle it anymore and let out a quiet laugh.

"Now now, Tatsumi." His mother intervene as she approached her child and sat down to face him at his level. "It's alright, you were startled. Clearly your father and I didn't think this trough, you must've been scared, we're sorry about that." She then look at her husband. "Right, hon?"

His father's head bolted up completely ignoring the pain in his balls. "R...right." He patted his sons head. "It ain't your fault kiddo."

Tatsumi's guilt slowly faded and his lips curled up into a smile. "Really?"

"Yes really, although that book of yours packed alot of punch, just how many pages does it have?"

"Five hundred..."

"That's alot of pages for a childs book!" His father said in disbelief. Back then they never had books and only studied on what was written on the board... the good ol' days.

"Why did you hide from me though?" Tatsumi said still not noticing the cake on the table causing his mother to let out a small giggle.

"Well silly boy, It's your birthday!"

"Huh?" His eyes led him to the table and his eyes widen at the sight of a chocolate cake. "IT IS!?" He yelled.

"Yeah kiddo, how did you forget your own birthday?" His father asked.

"W..well I had alot of stuff on my mind." He wasn't lying, he and James were planning to go to the woods but he wouldn't say that.

"Like what?" His mom asked, curios.

Sweat was now running down Tatsumi's face, he was not a good liar... but he didn't know that.

"I uhh, It's because.. uhh..."

"Spit it out son, what is it?" His father asked.

"I was thinking about me and James roaming the forest-!" Pressured, he accidentally yell out his secret. He instantly covered his mouth with both hands. He said it, the secret plan. What was he going to tell James?

"What!?" His parents said at the same time making him flinch.

His mother grabbed him at both of his shoulders. "Tatsumi, you are NOT allowed to go there, do you understand? It's for your own safety! We've talked about this multiple times now!"

"But mom! You can't keep me trapped in this village forever! I have to know what's so dangerous about going inside the forest!"

His mother released a heavy sigh, of course, her son was a curious boy, he never got that from her or her husband, that's just how his life raised him to be. What he did have though was the stubbornness of his father.

She took her hands off of her Tatsumi's shoulders, her eyes looked away from her son's angry eyes to meet his husband's worried ones.

One look at her eyes and he got the message. They never spoke to him about the danger beast for their son's mental health, they knew that if he knew he'd start panicking; what if the soldiers couldn't hold them off? What if they get here? How will we fight them off?

He was still a little conflicted if he was gonna tell his son about them or not. Even after what happened him before, can he trust his son that he'll not try to go there? Of course he can... maybe.

"How about this," His father spoke catching the young boy's attention. "If we tell you what's lurking inside the forest, will you promise us to never go there?"

Tatsumi looked unsure for a moment but then chose to agree. "O..Okay."

Even though his son had agreed, he was still not satisfied with his hesitant answer.

He gripped his both of Tatsumi's shoulders and stared directly into his son's scarred eyes. "Promise me, promise me you won't go there!"

Inside Tatsumi was a mix of emotions, fear, dismay and confusion. He had never seen his father act like this. Not even once.

"I... I-I.." He was stuttering from nervousness, he looked at his mom and saw her looking at his father with worried eyes. "I promise..."

His father, satisfied with his answer had let go of his son's shoulder. He felt a hand grab his and looked to see it was her wife, starring at him worriedly.

Tatsumi's mom's pov

"Promise me, promise me you won't go there!" He spoke, I looked at him worriedly and felt my heart ache, the only times I heard him like this was when he was desperate... like that one time.

N...no, you cant go! You can't leave us here!

A memory flashed into my mind.

Promise me you'll survive!

I-

"I promise." My eyes perked up, I didn't know if it was my memory or my son who said it.

I felt bad for Tatsumi, it's his birthday and we're talking about stuff like these. I gently held my husband's hands to confront him.

I then turned my attention to my son, I smiled and patted his head. "Good, now why don't we go eat the cake your dad worked so hard to get?" I looked at my husband relief filled my heart when his lips curled up into a soft smile.

"Your mom's right, kiddo, can't let all these delicious cake hanging now can't we?!" He lift Tatsumi; laughing as his father placed him in a chair next to the table where the cake is placed.

He took his seat next to Tatsumi and the two of them looked at me.

"Oh.. right." I sat down and listen to them talk about the surprise he and I made for Tatsumi's birthday.

"So, what did you think of the surprise?" I asked.

Tatsumi shivered. "It was so scary! Everything was so dark I couldn't even see a thing!"

I giggled, satisfied with his answer, it was all my idea after all.

"Uh-huh~? What else?"

"And when I heard that loud sound I was like "That scared the crap out of me!"

"Oh~? Is that s-" ...wait a second.. did I hear that correctly?

"PFFFFT!" I looked at my husband and saw that he spat the water he was drinking, he was coughing really hard.

I looked at my son again who was co fused at his father's sudden act.

"What did you say, Tatsumi?" I asked, my bangs covering my eyes.

Tatsumi looked terrified. "U-um... I said 'That scared the crap..out of...me..'"

I heard his father cough again.

"And where did you hear that word from?"

"I don't think that's import-" His father intervened but I cut him off.

"It is." I looked back at Tatsumi. "So, who'd you heard it from?" I gave Tatsumi a glare that seemed to send chills down his spine.

"D-Dad... we were at the guitar shop when he said it... he told me not to te-"

I cut him off with a sigh. "Honey..."

"um...I'm sleeping in the couch tonight aren't I?"

"No... I guess I can make an exception for today." I pouted and pulled him by the ear.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"How many times do I have to tell you, mind your language when our son is here!"

"Okay! Okay, I get it, I promise not to do it again."

I released a stressful sigh. You have no idea how much he's said that.

"Make sure you actually keep your promise this time or there wont be another chance for you."

"What... do you mean by that?"

With closed eyes and a soft smile, I said.

"I'd rather not say it when our son is here."

"Eep!" He stood up and quickly ran behind Tatsumi. "Forget what's beyond the woods, women are more scary!"

All three of us laughed and continued eating while talking about our days. I still can't believe Tatsumi got a perfect score on music. He and his father both likes to play on a guitar. It was his father's hobby and one day Tatsumi heard him play and also got interested. They bonded over it ever since.

It was fun... we almost never get to eat together because of work... I wish these days would last longer.

It was now 10:03 a.m and Tatsumi's mother had finished making a glass of milk for her first born son. Her husband had just went to bed already, tired because of his work.

"Hey mom." The young lad approached his mother looking rather impatient.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"So.. when are you going to tell me whats hiding in the woods?"

His mother thought for a second. Knowing that this day would come, she's already acknowledge that it's inevitable for her son to be scarred or even panic.

It's all up to her on how she'll deliver the story.

"Tomorrow, meet me at the garden, okay?" At the back of the house, she had a small garden with bunches of flowers, she adored their smell, looks and their influence into the surroundings, it always made her feel comfortable and calm when she was distressed.

"Okay, but why there?" He curiously asked.

"I have a very important thing to tell you there other than the forest."

"Okay, but can I bring James over? He's really curious about this too."

"No, Tatsumi, It's up to his parents to decide for that." She said in a stoic rather voice. She knew his friend very well and knew that it'd be the death of him if he knew that beasts could kill us at any moment.

"Oh... okay, well good night mom!" He said happily before quickly finishing the milk in front of him and head out of the kitchen to go to his room.

His mother slightly chuckled, her son has alot of energy even though it's already pass bed time. "Good night, sweetie."

Tatsumi then arrived at his room, debating if he should sneak some cookies before going to sleep but decided not to, he laid down on the bed and drifted off into the land of dreams.

AU: Ohhh man, I think I'm gonna end it here. Im terribly sorry for the huge delay, forgot how long i write my friggen chapters.But there you have it. The first chapter of this remake. btw if u didnt know. This is a remake of another story i made called Akame Ga Kill Alternate Reality. Name's kinda plain ami right lol.Thank you for your patience, it literally took like three or four months for me to finally write this dang story.Sorry, its only 3k words long ill make it longer in the future... probably.Bye and Stay safe out there fellas.