Dawn was starting to rise over the horizon. The morning dew settled in nicely with the greenery of the palace gardens, providing the perfect environment for a brisk walk before the heat could begin to settle in. But for the servant walking amongst the wet grass, it was anything but a peaceful morning. Talk of General Esdeath's return had been rampant, even in the walls of the palace. His fellow spies had been getting rounded up along with innocent people accused of sympathizing with the rebels and the bloodshed was truly starting to stench the air.

There were a lot of movements in the palace.

The Jaegers were mobilizing. They had bolstered their numbers with some truly nasty individuals.

It wasn't easy to gather intel with so many powerful entities gathered around him.

Paranoia was rampant in the air and he was sure that eventually, he would be caught as a spy and slain. And yet, he tried to act as natural as possible. The garden needed to be tended to, and the message tucked under his sleeve needed to be tied to the ankle of his carrier raven before those cruel eyes turned upon him.

The irony of needing to relay a message to the Night Raid did not escape him.

They were supposed to be the ones who provided intel to the revolution. But the fighting had been fierce, leaving the Army with little resources outside of battle to help their assassins.

"Beautiful morning, isn't it?" said the cheerful Run as he passed by the spy.

It was easy to hide his shock behind a smile. He waved to the Jaeger, "It sure is. What are you doing this fine morning?"

"I thought I'd get some fresh air for once and take a walk. It is times like these where the little moments count, right?"

"Yes," agreed the spy.

He watched ever so cautiously as the man walked onward, eventually disappearing behind the garden exit. Though he possessed no Teigu himself, the spy was sure that he might stand a chance against someone like Run. The man seemed so unlike a Jaeger – he seemed soft-hearted by nature, even more so than Wave.

Though he wished he could provide more information on the Jaegers, perhaps some kind of weakness for Night Raid to exploit, the spy knew that his window would be fast closing. He took a quick glance around, and then made for the nearest tree where his messenger ravens hung. They were trained incredibly well, though most of the spies using them to relay messages were dead.

He hoped not to be one of them.

One of the ravens answered his low-pitched whisper and soared from a tree branch, perching itself on his arm. The spy again looked around.

Satisfied that there were no other presences nearby, he pulled the tiny message from the crook of his sleeve and tied it to the raven's ankle. "Night Raid," he said, and sent it away with the flick of his wrist.

As the raven flew away, a strange sensation began to fill his hand. He saw a feather – but it wasn't the jet black feather of a raven. No, this one was lighter colored…and thicker…and jammed through his palm.

"What…?"

A terrible cold enveloped his legs.

His thighs.

His waist.

The ice continued to climb up his body, setting his entire body into a panic. But he couldn't flee, couldn't hide away – he already knew that he was dead. The ice didn't stop until only his head was free. He wanted to shiver, but the ice had frozen his body entirely. A terrible frost escaped his lips with each breath. It hurt, feeling the bones in his body beginning to chill.

Run walked past him with a scowl on his face.

Esdeath joined him. "I wondered what took you so long," she said to the spy. "If it had been any of the others, you might have died instantly. Tell me what you sent to Najenda."

The spy wanted to spit at the vile woman. Damn her! But it was as if the saliva in his mouth had dried up. His lips were trembling – whether from the pain or from the cold, he didn't know. "I-I-I'll tell you nothing."

"Really, we already knew you were a spy," she said back. "But my plan counts on Najenda knowing just how much you reported to her. Are you willing to die slowly for it?"

"No matter how many of us you kill, w-w will n-n-n-not bow down to y-you!"

"Admirable," Esdeath said, and then looked to Run. "I'll deal with him. Wave should be visiting the grave site of Bors. Tell him we move at noon."

Run nodded. The spy noticed that the young man had wings – it surely must've been a Teigu. As if confirming his thoughts, the wings suddenly retracted behind the young blonde before fading away. A word of acknowledgement came from him and then he was off to the palace.

Now it was just the spy and the Empire's most powerful.

"You know," started Esdeath. "I've been thinking of something recently. I can make my ice appear out of thin air, no matter where I am at. I had wondered if I could make it disappear at will as well, instead of it fading away whenever I was done controlling it. And so when I gave it a thought, I practiced making it go away on my command. And I have to waste this new discovery on some revolution rat…honestly…"

The spy ground his teeth. "B-b-bitch…"

"That does not offend me in the slightest," Esdeath had remarked. "I need to see something, so if you can survive through this, I might consider offering you mercy and killing you. You may scream, if you'd like. I frequent these gardens a lot, and I seem to have scared most people away from coming near here."

This woman…she wasn't mocking, she was speaking as if stating facts. Oh, there was definitely malice in her tone, but it was as if she had been making a commentary more to herself than anything. She held up her fingers, and then snapped.

Every emotion within the spy screamed out bloody murder. He was sure that his screams could've been heard in the entirety of the Empire. There were tears already forming at the corners of his eyes, but it felt as though they had been frozen from falling.

"Hmm…" Esdeath put a pensive finger and thumb to her chin. "No blood…just like I commanded my ice, your left knee also exploded and turned into mist. But only the part I blew out…the rest of your leg is still in the ice. Interesting. I wonder how long he'll survive while I do this to the rest of his body."

True to her word, Esdeath 'disappeared' another part of his body – just his right shoulder this time.

The spy lasted only 5 agonizing minutes.

His body, like the ice that Esdeath systematically evaporated, wisped away into the air.

'Please, do not panic right now.'

Those sounded like concerning words, but the Relic speaking them was unable to bring any emotions to them. Mine somehow felt even more concerned than before. She felt so tired and exhausted. She didn't even want to open her eyes.

Not that it would have helped in her situation.

She was blind.

Permanently, as far as she knew.

All was quiet in what she assumed was the torture chamber that Esdeath had her brought to. Even if she had not heard the conversation between the sadist and one of her Jaegers, it was impossible to ignore the stench of death and blood. And the smell was incredibly powerful here. She wanted to run away, but there was something tying her body to the cold metal table where she had been put down.

She didn't know if the bindings extended to her legs, because she couldn't even feel them.

This was quite the pinch that she had found herself in.

But instead of finding determination in the situation that she used to thrive on in order to survive a battle, Mine was terrified. All that work to get her boyfriend back, and now she was going to die painfully here.

The fear had honestly brought tears to her eyes. And there was nobody around to wipe them away.

"Tatsumi," she sniffled, lips trembling as she fought back the cry threatening to escape her throat. More than ever, she wanted someone familiar to be here with her. She wanted to be at Tatsumi's side, holding his hand.

'Why do you continue to refuse me?'

"Shut up!" Mine suddenly screamed out, not caring if there was anyone in the room with her. "You stupid thing! It's your fault!"

'But I can get us out of here. Allow me to fix this.'

"No…just leave me alone. You've already done enough by getting me killed."

She could almost feel the presence of Kitsune – the very image of a white fox appeared in her thoughts, turning its head in confusion. 'You were already dead, though. I don't understand.'

"I won't let you take over my body again…never…never again!"

Her shouts echoed across the room. For a moment, Mine had been concerned that maybe somebody had heard her words, but there was nothing in the room. Kitsune bowed its head – was it…sad? No, it didn't matter. This thing had caused too many problems. She was about to say something else when the fox faded from her thoughts. Kitsune's presence faded a great deal as well. Though Mine could tell that the Relic was still inside of her, the fox was trying to hide.

Why didn't the damn thing just leave already?

"Say…are you done screaming?"

The chilling voice had terrified Mine even further. Mine wasn't skilled like the other Night Raid members in feeling out the strong desires of their enemies. Those with a strong instinct, like Esdeath, was almost difficult for even her to ignore – but the person speaking had been so close and Mine had no idea.

She knew exactly who it was, too.

"Kurome…"

"It sounds like you are losing your mind. But I'll take care of that for you. I thought Seryu was always weird, but she was still my comrade," Kurome said. "I really want to kill my sister, though. Say, how close are you and my sis?"

Mine grew silent. She preferred to be a good distance from this girl. The memories of the last battle against her kept her on edge.

She could hear Kurome sighing next to her.

"I never really had a chance to speak to my enemy before. I would rather learn some things about my sis before I turned you into one of my puppets."

Mine's heartbeat quickened. "I don't care how much you hate your sister, but I won't let you use me to get to her."

Kurome didn't waste a breath in her response, "I love Akame. That's why I have to kill her. Esdeath wants you to draw Tatsumi to her again. You were a good sniper, right? You'd be a good collection. If you tell me about my sis, I think I can make it happen sooner than later."

"You won't kill me now?" Mine uttered in defiance.

"Not until we get on the road. Unless you try to escape. But please, answer my question. My sis. What is she like?"

All the while Kurome was talking, Mine because aware of the presence of something incredibly dangerous nearby. She could almost visualize the young assassin's Teigu – was this some of the power of Kitsune?

"Why are you talking to me?"

It was Mine's voice, but it wasn't what she wanted to say. Kitsune's influence was strong, strong enough that Mine knew that she was no longer in possession of her own body. She could see everything clearly now. The disgusting blood on the walls around them, sights that would have made her ill enough to throw up had she not have seen such things before. She could even feel her legs.

Kurome was looking at her – the girl didn't look anything like the excited killer they had fought in the valley. Bandages covered her neck. Black circles developed under her eyes. She honestly looked frail and broken, as if she could die at any moment. Her body slouched over the chair where she sat, but her eyes did not leave Mine's face.

"What do you mean?" Kurome asked. "I always talk to my puppets when I'm by myself. They don't talk back though. Say, will you talk when you come back?"