A/N: Alright...gotta do my work thing, so my next chapter is likely to be delayed by a few days or so. But no worries, the next update will come soon.

Even though this was a long time coming, Tatsumi couldn't help but feel nervous about the rebellion. It wouldn't be long before the Revolutionary Army breached the walls of the Empire. This long struggle would end soon – and either the Empire would continue to oppress the people, or a new era would begin. Even he could feel the tension in the air as he walked through the late afternoon streets.

Like him, Akame wore a simple hooded parka over her head.

It wouldn't do any good to get caught yet again. The Palace would be where the true target was – and likely where the best of the Emperor's guards would be waiting.

For Mine's sake, for his village back home, for even the thousands of citizens tired of their horrible treatment – he would do his part to end the corruption. He missed the fun times…the times when he could laugh with his friends, when people didn't die.

The two of them came to a stop in a crowd standing before yet another public demonstration of the Empire's cruelty.

Once, a long time ago, such a sight would have shaken Tatsumi to his core. For a brief moment, his memories flashed back to the time when he found Sayo and Ieyasu in that shed. He remembered feeling appalled and horrified at the sight, and his body went numb on him. Gruesome violence still made him feel incredibly uneasy, but he was starting to become a bit more used to seeing such things.

"Is that a bad thing," he wondered aloud, looking at his hands. Hands that had been stained with blood many times.

Would Esdeath die by his hands as well?

There was speculation amongst the crowd.

"They said they were Revolutionary spies."

"Was this meant as a warning?"

Akame stared at the bodies for a long moment. Tatsumi couldn't even begin to wonder what had been going through her mind. Her absence of emotion startled him from time to time, but that's what it took to survive through whatever it was that she had been in.

"Let's go," she suddenly said. "We should rest here for the night and then go back."

"Good idea," he said, following her.

As they pulled away from the crowd, Tatsumi could see that the façade pulling at the assassin's face was starting to fade a little. There was something on her mind, and he already had an idea of what.

"Thinking about your sister?"

Akame gave a simple nod.

He didn't like to pry, so he said nothing else. The walk to the pub where their other hideout wasn't that far of a walk. But with most of the street empty, either due to fearful residents hiding indoors or drawn by the brutal display not too far away, it was an awkward walk in silence. She wasn't the person with heavy thoughts on her mind when it came to someone special. Tatsumi tried to keep his thoughts away from Mine.

She was dead.

And he had saved her life.

Would she understand what he did? That contract he made – the Relic never specified the terms of the agreement. He just said yes and – POOF! – Mine was back to the world of the living. Where had the Relic gone?

As usual, the pub was empty.

Akame took her usual spot on a nearby chair and took out the sword with which she had claimed many lives. She held it up in the light, examining the deadly weapon. He couldn't imagine how much care it took to perform maintenance on that thing.

"Akame, can I ask you something?"

Without breaking her gaze from the sword, she nodded.

"Do you think I made a mistake?"

"With what?"

"Mine."

Akame produced a white cloth from the side of the couch. "You saved one of our friends. That's all that matters, isn't it?"

Tatsumi bit his lip. "Yeah…but…"

"Just be happy that you were able to keep her alive. I'm sure she'll say something like that when you see her again."

'Well, not exactly,' he thought to himself.

He could envision Mine saying something different.

"Of course you saved me. I risked my life to save you – it's only right that a man pays back his debt to a lady. If you hadn't gotten captured in the first place!"

'Maybe not.'

But thinking of her now, he couldn't help but crack a smile. Of course, Mine would still be proud and boastful. She hadn't been like that for a few days, but she was still herself. When he got back to her, he would hug her again – for some reason, he wanted to be the man that she deserved. Even though he didn't think that she would actually care for him in that manner, she liked him…if this was what that guy meant about red string of fate, then maybe it was really worth a shot.

"So these two are still around…"

Suzuka frowned as she stared down at the pub. She certainly enjoyed the torture that the Prime Minister had given her – the painful scars on her back were still sore, causing a blush to rise on her face. He had told her to survey the city and report back before night fell. This had been quite the catch – two Night Raid members so close to the palace.

But as the only Rakshasa Demon, she wondered if she could take both of them on.

Tatsumi dropped a damn ruin on her. Ingenius. And perhaps a little bit scary.

She wanted to toy with him some more. But that other girl, Akame, would've been a bit of a problem. It simply wasn't fair to fight somebody who could instantly kill you with a scratch.

She smiled.

"I guess I'll just report back to Honest. Maybe he can help me separate them."

She rubbed at the back of her head – the slight headache from remembering her last battle still remained fresh in her mind. It would've been nice to fight Tatsumi again. Maybe next time, she would allow that big stick of his to poke her.

The thought caused an even fiercer blush to rise to her face.

"I can't wait for you to punish me…right before I kill you," Suzuka was smiling fully now. She started for the palace, eager to hear what Honest would say to her.

"Pacing around isn't going to bring her back to us," Najenda had said. She was trying to remain calm, but the nervousness she felt was almost overwhelming. It didn't help that Leone was pacing back and forth.

"Boss, we just went all out just to get Tatsumi back! Why would Mine just disappear like this?"

"I don't know…Tatsumi told us she just wanted to rest."

"What if she went to join them!?"

"Calm down," Najenda said understandably. "They'll be back in the morning. We can't go to the Empire, not right now."

Leone grunted. It was the best that Najenda could say in a time like this. Like Leone, she was worried because now one of their own was missing. And it was unlike Mine…everything concerning Tatsumi lately was unlike her. But even now, with Akame accompanying him, it was still strange of her to disappear.

Their strength was not nearly what it used to be. Even with Leone, she doubted that they'd be able to escape if they were caught in the capital.

"We'll wait for now…Esdeath is occupied in battle, but if Kurome is in the capital with Wave and Run, the two of us would have a hard fight on our hands."

"I know, Boss," Leone said dejectedly, finally ceasing her pacing. She'd been in her Beast mode for hours, hoping to pick up any sign of which way Mine had gone. But the girl's trail disappeared at the window.

With the Revolutionary Army marching and battling in full force, it would be a long time before they answered her message birds. That new Relic that was in Mine...Najenda was sure that it was playing some kind of role in this latest disappearance.

"We'll find her," she said, unsure if she really believed the words herself.

'Tatsumi, what have you done?'

As was customary, Esdeath bowed her head in front of Prime Minister Honest. Night was falling, and though the Prime Minister had been gracious enough to allow her and her crew to relax at his dining quarters and feast, she couldn't help but feel that he was stalling for time. Why didn't he want to meet with her immediately?

There were battles raging outside of the walls, and she honestly wanted to participate in them.

This politicking was truthfully quite annoying. What was the point of talk when everything in life could've been settled with a battle to the death?

She lifted her head and met Honest's eyes. "I had one of my Jaegers bring the girl to my torture chamber. For now, she should be tied up."

"You've brought up a good capture, especially after the blunder at the public execution, but why didn't you just kill her? Isn't that what you created the Jaegers for? There wasn't a need to return from the battlefield, was there?"

"I apologize," Esdeath half-lied, "But, we could use her to draw out the rest of Night Raid and finish them off for good."

'And bring Tatsumi back to me,' she thought to herself.

Honest wiped the juices of the large slab of meat he had just eaten from his lips. "We did that once with the boy, and that led to the death of the Great General. I would prefer Night Raid to not be anywhere near the palace…those rebellious peasants are getting bolder because of those assassins."

It was true that Esdeath truly didn't have any political aspirations. It was in combat where she truly belonged – a field where the strong dominated the weak. Run's words came to mind. The rebellion might've succeeded, but there would still be battles. Though Esdeath was not pleased with the thought that the Empire she was supposed to protect might lose, especially now that morale was starting to fall, she was equally excited at the thought that there would still be a place for her.

A battlefield in which she would still be able to call home.

But before that would ever occur…

"Night Raid is going to continue to be a problem until we eradicate them completely. They'll come for the girl, whether it's a living body or a corpse. It is just a matter of…doing things a little differently."

Another presence suddenly erupted into the room.

Esdeath looked towards the source – a window from which a familiar face had climbed through.

It was the last Demon.

"Oh?" the General smiled with mild amusement. "I had thought you were killed along with Seryu."

Suzuka shook her head. "We Demons underwent the most intense of training. It would take more than a ruin dropped on my head to kill me."

"Perhaps I should torture you then for allowing one of my subordinates to be killed."

At that, Esdeath could swear she saw a smile on the scarred woman's face.

"We already tried torturing her," Honest interjected. "She enjoyed it far too much, so she was assigned to reconnaissance. Have you found anything?"

Suzuka nodded. "Yes. Tatsumi and Akame are in the city. They're sleeping in a pub right now…probably unaware that I know about them."

"So they think they can just sneak around town, do they?"

'Tatsumi is here?!'

Esdeath's heart beat quickened. The chance to get near him again. It seemed that the stars were aligning just for their chance meeting. The Prime Minister was surely aware that she had a special thing for him. And yet, he had never derided her or really spoken to her about it. She never questioned why, only followed his orders to march on the battlefield and fight.

Perhaps she could still bring Tatsumi over to the Empire without having him murdered.

"I have an idea…" Esdeath spoke up, drawing the attention of the other two individuals. "There are still many spies in the city. If we attack Akame and Tatsumi now, I could probably kill them. But knowing Najenda, she'll go even deeper into hiding…it'll be difficult to root out those last two. She'll plan, and the rebellion will continue to grow as long as they have morale on their side."

"You should like you have an idea," Honest said aloud.

"I do," she said. "We'll be moving the girl to one of the cities that the rebellion thinks they claimed. And I'll kill them all without fail. There's a large number of Teigu users there, anyways. We'll let them think that I would be too exhausted to have a fight."

"That'll be a long battle, even for someone as talented as you, Esdeath."

"You said you were putting the Wild Hunt in my employ. It wouldn't be too long. And Night Raid is smart enough to know that it is a trap. And naïve enough to actually come spring it. We'll finish them off there, and then we'll display their bodies as a message."

"Don't take long," Honest said in a gentle tone. "The rebellion will notice your movement, and they will take advantage of it."

"But you have your trump card, do you not?"

Honest laughed. "Of course, you would know about that, wouldn't you?"

"We'll have Night Raid soon…and then this rebellion will turn tail and flee."

A blush came over Esdeath's face. 'And then, Tatsumi will finally learn to change his ways and come to my side.'

Another individual entered the room – a young woman. The alchemist, Dorothea. "Lady Esdeath," she bowed, "your assassin won't be ready for another week or so, but I'm sure that I can prolong her life. She might end up a little more…warped."

"That's fine," Esdeath said. "When she's recovered, I want you to tell her where to go. I will show you on the map. I want her to meet me there…I wonder if Night Raid is willing to fight their friend if she's a puppet."