A/N I don't really know if I like this chapter or not, I like it but I also feel that its a bit off so I don't know how it'll turn over for you guys.
"Yes general?"
"I have a special assignment for you, this will be a difficult mission and most likely end in your death."
"I am prepared to serve you until death general."
"I want you to assassinate Ruby Rose, no poison or subtler means, you must attack her. That's why I'm asking you."
"It will be done, general."
(o)
Ruby leaned back in her chair she spent the past few nights working hard to get completely caught up, Akame had told her it was a bad idea to put off things like this but she couldn't help it, school work is so boring. Speaking of Akame for some reason Ruby couldn't drop her guard around her anymore, it was like she was ready to strike at any moment and Ruby had to be prepared, and if that wasn't strange enough she had begun to spend more time on her scroll
"All of you remember!" Ports voice came drawing all of their attention "If you want to participate in the tournament make sure you sign up soon, the brackets will be created at the end of this week, once that time passes you wont be able to enter."
Akame nodded slowly as the bell began to ring, rising to her feet she walked out, Ruby sighed and rubbed her eyes, they had already agreed to fight in the tournament so they were going to be on their way to sign up after classes are over, Ruby exited the room quickly followed by her team
"Hey Yang?" Ruby asked as they walked
"Yeah sis?" Yang replied quickly walking up next to her
"Who do you thing we should send to the semi-finals?" Ruby asked as they walked
"What makes you think we'll make it that far?" Yang asked as she raised an eyebrow Ruby scoffed at that
"If any of these fools could give us a run for our money then we don't deserve to be huntresses." Ruby growled rather aggressively, causing Yang a small amount of concern
"Isn't that a bit hostile? You have been getting... angrier over the past few days." Yang said carefully Ruby stopped and turned yang towards her
"Look, we could probably kill all of them, I couldn't care less about their... their... weaknesses." Ruby growled "We are strong so why should we concern ourselves with them, I just want to know who you what to toy with them."
"Now you're sounding just like Esdeath." Yang shot causing Rubys eye to twitch, instead of responding she turned and walked away from Yang who looked down and her now frozen feet and sighed, she couldn't tell why Ruby had been getting this way, maybe it was because they had killed for the first time a few days ago, through the whole fight she seemed to be dealing with something else as she attack maybe it would help if they talked to her about it
"So are you going to free yourself or?" Weiss asked, Yang yanked at her feet but found the ice too strong to break
"Little help please." Yang asked and Weiss rolled her eyes pulled out a small vile of burn dust and tossed it on the ice causing it to steam, somehow more ice formed
"How did that happen?"
"I'm just gonna punch it." Yang finally said and cocked back her arm
(o)
Qrow watched Amity as it floated over Beacon, he sighed the last time he was in that place it was with team STRQ, the memories they made there were nice reminders that he once had a much larger family
"So you're the 'suspicious person' I was getting reports about." Esdeaths' voice came from behind him
"Have you seem me? I am the pinnacle of suspicious." Qrow snarked as she sat down next to him
"You do make it an art." Esdeath agreed
"So you haven't told them yet." Qrow said looking over to her
Esdeath sighed "Yeah, I haven't had a moment with all of them alone yet, I'm planing on telling them after class tomorrow."
"I'd like to be there when you tell them." Qrow said leaning on forward on his knees "I've been lying to them for almost their whole lives so I want to be there when they hear the truth."
"Feel free to stop in after classes then." Esdeath nodded she smiled at him as he stood and walked away from her, her thoughts returned to a few nights ago when Ruby kissed her, every time she thought of it her heart skipped a beat, she wanted Ruby to be close to her at all times, it hurt otherwise.
(o)
Akame walked off the airship, and into the city, classes just ended and Neo wanted to meet up somewhere less secure, as she walked towards the Shadowlight den it would be the first time entering the place, when she did it was nothing like she suspected, she believed that it was going to be dirty and full of killers but it wasn't, it was nice, clean and full of people quietly talking, looking around her eyes quickly caught Neo who was 'talking' with the bartender, walking up to her Akame sat and waited
"Ma'am I cant get you a drink if you don't tell me what you want." the man said Neo proceeded to gesture wildly clearly frustrated, she then turned to Akame gestured to the man the back to her
"Are you trying to order Neapolitan ice cream?" Akame asked calmly, Neo jumped onto Akame and kissed her, Akame calmly pushed her off breaking the gesture "I assume that's a yes." Neo nodded happily
"She could have written it down." the bartender mumbled as he began to serve them, Neo rolled her eyes and looked Akame up and down, her clothes hadn't changed much, black skirt, tight black shirt, red tie, bracers, and hip armor, black trench coat over top all of that hiding it from everything but wandering hands. Akame leaned on the bar and stared at the ice cream placed in front of Neo, watching the woman happily eat it
"So, Neo how has the past few days been treating you?" Akame asked Neo shrugged and gestured to herself then Akame and signaled 'call me' again and happily nodded
"That's good to hear, I suppose having such a quiet way of communication can cause problems." Akame replied, Neo nodded then gestured for Akame to follow her after she finished eating, Akame did so but prepared herself for anything to come
(o)
"Look, Tai I get it, but-"
"NO BUTS! YANG TOLD ME EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PAST WEEK! WHY WOULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!?"
"Look if you want to try and kill her be my guest! Me and Raven barely did that together, and you know what? She still came back." Qrow shot back finally losing his patience
"Qrow what the hell happened before you and Akame got here?" Tai asked in anger Qrow scoffed at that
"I'm done with this, you want answers on that ask Akame, Ruby, Yang, Esdeath, or Raven, good luck with that last one." Qrow growled then hung up, the only thing he could think of before he and Akame got to Remnant was Leone, sure he was being a bit of an asshole bringing Raven up directly to him but in his mind fair is fair, Turning the corner Qrow walked down an alleyway, entering the slums Qrow looked around he saw Cornelia block an attack and stumble back, raising her fists she caught a stab and yanked the thug toward her and elbowed him in the jaw sending him to the ground, the other rapped his arms around her throat and pulled her off of him, Cornelia swung her elbow backward into his gut and grabbed him by the hair pulling him over and off of her and slammed him into the ground as she did so she hear a yelp of pain and the clatter of steel looking up she saw Qrow holding a mans wrist tight enough to brake his bones
"You're pretty strong kid, too bad your situational awareness is shit." Qrow commented and threw one thug unto two others sending all three to the ground
"Thanks... Qrow..." Cornelia thanked through pants as her exo-arm retracted back into her chest piece and bracer
"No problem kid, how have things 'round here been?" Qrow asked as they began to walk down the dirty road
"They have been getting better, with the Atlas solders marching around things like that are less frequent and Esdeath has come down here and hunted down some of the thieves herself, it was great." Cornelia said as they walked causing Qrow to sigh
"Yeah, she seems to be everywhere these days." Qrow commented causing her to laugh a bit
"Yeah, shes great! When I was taking care of the little ones she came and helped me with it, shes great with kids." Cornelia said, Qrow had no words the Esdeath he knew was brutal, evil, and had no morals, but here he was listening to Cora tell him all about how Esdeath was great at taking care of little kids
"Are we talking about the same Esdeath? Blue hair, massive rack, could probably kill everyone around her with ease?" Qrow asked as they walked
"I'm not so sure about the last one but yes to the first two." Cornelia answered causing Qrow to nod again
"Are you sure?" Qrow asked again
"Yes, I'm pretty sure. Mini skirt, neat hat, weird tattoo on her chest, warm smile." Cornelia replied
"See, you keep saying things that are true, then you say something completely wrong so I'm not really sure if we're really talking about the same person." Qrow shot sarcastically
"So, what brings you down here? I figured all the huntsman in the city would be working to keep the Vytal festival safe." Cornelia asked as they slowed to a stop
"Dealing with Esdeath is... taxing. I needed a break." Qrow answered as he retrieved his scroll from his pocket he read something on it and sighed "Gotta go kid, be careful next time, you really don't wanna lose an eye."
"Okay, see ya later Qrow." Cornelia said and waved to him as he walked away
(o)
Akame was calmly following Neo as they walked down side street after side street seemingly going nowhere, Neo began to happily skip when they got to the main roads
"Are you not concerned that you're wanted?" Akame asked Neo who was standing out of the crowd quiet a bit, Neo shook her head and then held her hand up and lowered it
"I don't understand that one." Akame said causing to pout a bit then pulled Romans hat from her coat and held it above her head then pointed at herself and lowered her hand "Ah, you're not as know as him. So you don't have to worry about it. Right?" Neo nodded in confirmation then leaned on Akames shoulder as they walked
(o)
Ruby growled and stared at her clenched fists, she couldn't figure out how she was able to do such things, she wanted to cry
"Ruby? You doin' okay?" Yang's voice came from behind her, why did she insist on treating her like a child?
"What do you want Yang?" Ruby asked coldly she heard a sigh come from behind her after that Yang sat down next to her
"I'm guessing you're acting like this because of mountain Glenn, if you want to talk about it you have me and Akame to lean on." Yang said Ruby finally spoke
"I wanted to laugh... I was having so much fun... then it was over... I felt so alive as I was ripping them apart, I was having so much fun cutting them down, I wanted to laugh as they died so they knew that they were just toys to me." Ruby said calmly as the air around them grew colder "I wanted to experience that again so much I nearly attacked to all. Tell me, do you really want me to lean on you now?" Ruby asked looking her sister dead in the eyes
"Of course, you're my sister even if... some of the things you said are a bit... not good." Yang carefully said as she placed a hand on Rubys back, in reality she was horrified, Esdeath had to be responsible for this and she wanted answers now more than ever sense Ruby was now being majorly effected by it
"You cant lie to me Yang." Ruby quietly said looking away from her sister to the ground
"I'm no-" Yang began but Ruby cut her off
"Go away. Now." Ruby growled as the air began to freeze into spikes all around them
Yang could feel Rubys killing intent, it was brutal, while Akames' had purpose, drive, and a strange gentleness to it, Rubys was full of anger and bloodlust a want for killing and a need for it, she knew this wasn't her sister, so she got up and ran towards the last place she knew who was responsible for it was
Ruby stood as she summoned two blades and quickly moved one behind her head just fast enough to block a bullet, turning around she glared at a man holding a rifle in one hand lowering it he fixed a bayonet to the front then rushed her
(o)
Slamming the classroom door open Yang quickly scanned the room, Esdeath was sitting at the desk reading her scroll only sparing Yang a glance
"What do you want Yang? If you're looking for pointers on how to make an entrance don't walk so loudly." Esdeath casually said as Yang stomped down the steps and quickly flipped Esdeath desk then swung at her, Esdeath lazily spun her chair avoiding the blow as she stood and kicked it at Yang who pushed it out of the way and tried to rush Esdeath only to be tripped by the woman, landing on the ground Yang kicked back one of her legs it got stomped on, hearing a crack Yang quickly retraced the now injured limb and nearly shouted in pain
"Are you done? Because James isn't a fan of me having pets." Esdeath asked coldly Yang glared at the woman her eyes turning a vibrant shade of red as she rose to her feet and prepared to attack again, Esdeath sighed and vanished into a cloud of blue rose petals which swarmed around a chair then flew to the door shut it and barred it with the chair Esdeath then spoke as she walked calmly down the stairs towards Yang "I will keep going until you give up. Whether if that's when you're too hurt to continue, or your mind breaks from pain." Yang rushed forward with a war cry, ready to beat the information she wanted from Esdeath as the woman casually slid her scroll into her pocket
(o)
Ruby blocked a stab from the rifle and elbowed the man, flipping backwards she swung up with both blades knocking the gun from his hands just as he jumped away from her, sprinting towards her now unarmed foe she dived out of the way of a bullet looking at the gun it was still aimed at her it then began to fire again and again, rolling away from every shot she kicked back her leg catching the assassin off guard he stumbled back blocking the strike with a pair of daggers running at her again he stabbed just as the gun fired
"Mahapadma" Ruby shouted on instinct causing the whole world to turn a blue-ish hue, looking up at the assassin he was frozen mid movement so was his bullet which was aimed at her, stepping out of the way it was now aimed at him, again as though she was moving on instinct she stabbed at the assassin feeling the blade rip through his flesh as time slowly started to speed up the assassin coughed up blood and his aura broke almost instantly after the bullet pierced his head, looking down at the man Ruby let out a dry laugh, he was strong... but not strong enough, she could control time nothing could come close now, why hadn't Esdeath told her about this, maybe she wanted her to learn about it on her own, looking at the corpse she finally got a closer look at the mans clothing, he was dressed in white, blue, and red that was typical for the Atlas Military, that's another thing she had to talk to Esdeath about, turning around she began to walk away from the corpse leaving it to be discovered or to be eaten by the crows, she didn't care which.
(o)
Yang stood again the pain was almost too much to bare but she had to, she had to land at least one hit, for both her and Ruby. Yang growled as she put weight on her left leg and felt it buckle slightly
"Will you continue?" Esdeath asked her tone was bored and distracted
Yang growled then tried to stand on her left foot again but dropped to one knee "Just tell me what you did to Ruby." Yang ordered through pained breaths
"Well I suppose I could tell you. If you lick my boots." Esdeath said after a few moments of thought earning an angry look from Yang "You've lost and you still want something from me its only fair." Esdeath said calmly as Yang tried to stand again but failed earning a cold laugh from Esdeath "you're weak and thus the only way for you to survive is submission to the strong, you have two choices here you can obey and I'll speak at the expense of your pride or don't and you wont learn anything... and I may actually break your leg." Yang looked at Esdeath then her boot weighing her options
(o)
Qrow entered Ozpins office and saw how tired he looked
"You okay Oz?" Qrow asked as he walked up to his desk and leaned on it
"I'm fine... just tired, I've found a solid lead; Grimm have begun to congregate in mountain Glenn, so Esdeath was right about that place holding some significance, I want you to go there and keep an eye on the Grimm send numbers, types, and ages back to me and I'll alert everyone else." Ozpin said as he opened up a live feed from Mountain Glenn showing large groups of Grimm just loitering around
"Got it, I'll be back soon, Mountain Glenn isn't too far from here so its not like I'm going too far." Qrow agreed as he pushed off of Ozpins' desk and began towards the elevator "Just FYI, a text woulda made my round trip much quicker."
"Sorry, I've been so absorbed in work I really just needed the interaction." Ozpin apologized causing Qrow to chuckle a bit
"Now you're just brin' down the whole mood." Qrow snarked earning a smile from Ozpin as he leaned back in the elevator
as the elevator moved down Qrow sighed Akame wasn't gonna be happy, they just got back from a mission and now he was heading back to the sight of it, that was extremely dangerous in its own right and now there were apparently large groups of Grimm forming there, not happy at all.
(o)
Akame sat down, they had gone to three places to get food all of which Neo struggled to order things, Akame was there to clarify things between the workers and Neo, after a while of this Akame realized just how difficult it was for Neo to function without latching onto someone, how could she order food without someone? Or how could she buy food from the farmers market? Or how could she avoid socially awkward events that take place because shes buying almost seventy pounds worth of beef and the cashier cant figure out if it illegal or not, Akame felt that Neo was rather relate on people like her to flourish in the world around them. Her thoughts were distracted by her scroll ringing, drawling it from her pocket she read the message it was from father
[Hey kid, Oz gave me a new mission I'll be spending most of my time doing that but its near the city so I'll still be back around eight PM, if I'm not don't panic.]
[Okay, I'll try to keep a level head.] Akame replied and returned her scroll to her pocket, Neo watched as she texted him over her shoulder
"Its my father, he has a mission soon so I wont be able to see him as often as the past week." Akame explained as she slid the scroll back into her pocket Neo nodded slowly looking sad as they began to walk again, they walked and walked until they reached a park Akame sat down on a bench and Neo sat next to her
"Who was Roman to you?" Akame asked after a few quiet moments, Neo pointed to Akame then took out her scroll and pointed at it, Akame recognized that she was referring to her and fathers relationship meaning they were very similar when it comes to their parents
"I'm sorry that you cant see him anymore." Akame apologized causing Neo to shrugged and draw a circle with her finger a few times, Akame assumed that meant that him getting arrested was a pretty normal occurrence, Neo then lied down and placed her head in Akames lap as they continued to sit for the next few minutes
(o)
Yang gagged as she retraced her tongue from Esdeaths' boot as the woman looked at it with some amount of sadistic pleasure
"You may have a future as a bootlicker, now then want do you want?" Esdeath asked as she swung her leg kicking Yang upside her head sending her to the ground and causing her head to start bleeding, Esdeath laughed as Yang lied there in a dazed state "Now speak, or I'll assume you love the taste of my boots."
Yang struggled to do see, her vision was completely blurry and she couldn't think slowly it began to subside and she heard Esdeaths' voice again
"If you wanted to taste my boots you could have done something like this sooner." Esdeath said Yang shook her head quickly beginning to speak
"WHAT DI-" Yang began but Esdeath silenced her by putting her heel in Yangs' mouth causing her to gag again, pushing her foot forward Yang fell backward and began to cough
"I'm going for a walk to find Ruby, goodbye bootlicker." Esdeath said as she walked past Yang. After the door shut, Yang began to cry from pain, humiliation, rage, and failure
(o)
Ruby stormed down the hallway towards Esdeaths' classroom just as she turned the corner she ran into something very soft looking up she was greeted by Esdeath beautiful smile
"You seem a bit angry." Esdeath commented as Ruby tried to lean back but Esdeath stopped her by rapping her arms around her head, Ruby didn't resist she just closed her eyes and waited, after a few moments of waiting Ruby felt Esdeaths' arms leave the back of her head so she slowly stepped away
"Now then why are you stalking around like Qrow?" Esdeath asked Ruby blinked a few times her eyes locked onto Esdeaths' chest who was proud to present it to her
"I... I wanted to ask you if you send an assassin after me?" Ruby asked finally looking up at Esdeath
"Yes, I figured you needed experience against an assassin, how'd you do?" Esdeath asked, she knew Ruby was extremely conflicted right now but her smile was pure as ever
"I... may have killed him." Ruby said as she and Esdeath began to walk down the hall away from Esdeaths' class
"I want to hear everything, how did you manage it?" Esdeath asked her attention now fully on Ruby and her smile
Ruby smiled and began to describe the situation, how she felt, and finally how she killed him, Esdeath happily listened to the tale as she felt Rubys' soul grow more like hers with each brutal word that left her mouth.
A/N Esdeath may be more like herself than any of us realized. Even me. As I said at the beginning I don't know if I like this chapter yet or not, I enjoyed writing it but I don't know if this is really how things would progress. I've finally gotten used to writing for Beacon students and faculty, but I really enjoy writing for Night Raid. I actually rewrote this chapter twice and the next chapter I've already rewrote it almost four times, and I might rewrite it again, this is the first time I'm so unsure of a chapter, I don't like this feeling.