"HAAA!" Tatsumi, now wearing Incursio, Yelled as he swung his spear upwards in the training ground close to sunset.
With the use of his New Taigu alongside the use of his Semblance, he had become much more powerful than he's ever been.
"Get some rest Tatsumi." Akame ordered while she and Leone were watching over his training "You can continue tomorrow."
"haah...haah...Okay..." Tatsumi nodded as he deactivated his armor.
"Not gonna lie, I think The Armor really is more compatible with him than Bulat." Leone pointed out.
"I've noticed it too." Akame Agreed.
"And his semblance is pretty cool too." Leone praised "With both Incursio and his Semblance, he might get even stronger than he already is."
"...I guess everyone already has their semblances." Akame said "...Everyone Beside me..."
And after stating the last part, She looked down a bit.
"H-Hey Wanna go check up on Ruby?" Leone asked, trying to change the subject.
"Sure." Akame Nodded as the two walked away from the training ground.
The two walk through the hideout and make their way to the kitchen, and they find Ruby picking up a cookie jar from one of the shelfs.
"Oh. Hey." Ruby greeted Akame and Leone when she noticed them "Need something?"
"Oh nothin'. Just looking for you." Leone answered.
"How are you feeling?" Akame asked.
"I feel Great! Because look at the size of this Cookie jar!" Ruby happily answered as she showed them the jar, filled with cookies.
"That's...nice." Leone awkwardly said "But that's not what we meant."
"Oh please. I feel fine!" Ruby said "Hey wanna go find Sheele so we can eat all this cookies together?"
"Ruby, Listen to me. Are you really okay_" Akame tried to ask more clearly, But Ruby just walked out without paying attention.
The two girls looked at each other, Very worried for Ruby's wellbeing.
"Uuuuum?" Sheele Awkwardly sits on the bed in Ruby's room while Ruby herself sits next to her, All the while Leone and akame were standing.
"Ruby? are you listening?" Leone called out.
"Hm? Oh sorry, I refused to pay attention because of how YUMMY these Cookies look!" Ruby happily joked.
"Ruby. Focus." Akame sternly demanded "Why are you acting like this?"
"Like what? A girl that wants to try out cookies?" Ruby asked "Because she is in LOVE with Cookies?"
"That's not what I_" Akame tried to push on.
"And without Further Ado!" Ruby then opens up the jar and looks at the cookies inside "Aaah! they still look fresh too! No stale ones!"
"Ruby? Um, Listen_" Sheele tried to speak up next, Getting more worried by her weird attitude.
"Let's see hereeeeee...AH! Hello there~" Ruby spoke as she picked up a perfectly round and well baked Cookie with chocolate chips all over it. She then picked the Jar next to her and looks at the Cookie "You look PERFECTLY PERFECT."
"Ruby." Leone sternly called out.
"Ababab! Leone, Not when a girl is trying to get to her Cookie!" Ruby shushed Leone and held the Cookie closer to her lips "And without, Another, Further Ado!"
*Crunch*
She took a bite and started chewing.
*Gulp*
And swallowed.
"Aaaah~ this is the taste of Heaven!" Ruby cheered "So Tasty and great! Makes you feel...M-Makes you...F-Feel..."
"...Ruby?" Akame called out, As the girls got scared as her words started to become stutters.
"...It...Makes you wanna...Feel that...It's so good to be alive..." Ruby stuttered as she stared at the Cookie with half of it bitten off.
"R-Ruby?" Sheele called out, Scared of what would happen next.
"...It's...Really...good...Y-Yup...I-It's...Sniff...Great to be alive...I-Isn't..." Ruby talked, as the girls gasped when they noticed a river of Tears finally start falling from her eyes "...I-isn't It...R-right...Bro?..."
...And with that, She dropped the cookie and held her face with both hands, and finally began to Cry again.
"Oh Ruby..." Sheele teared up and hugged Ruby tightly "I-It's okay...W-We're...Still here."
Leone joined in too and hugged Ruby from the other side of the bed opposite to sheele "Shhhhh It's okay, Let it out. Let it all out."
Akame was last to join in, Kneeling down infront of Ruby instead and hugging her closely as well from the front.
Ruby just cried away all her sorrows as the three girls tried their best to comfort her. As she kept crying, she wrapped her shaking hands around Akame's waist and buried her face into her shoulder. Akame pats the back of her head, slowly tearing up herself.
"It's okay. That's it, Just let it out." Leone kept comforting the broken girl as she kept whaling her tears out.
After what felt like 30 minutes of this, They noticed that Ruby had finally gone completely quiet. Akame slowly pulls herself back while her hands were firmly on Ruby's shoulders to hold her in place, and finally they noticed that Ruby had Somehow Cried herself to sleep.
"...Poor little red." Leone sighed as she picked up the cookie jar and placed it off the bed and with Akame's help, They laid her down on her bed.
"She's already lost all of her friends from her old country. Bulats death only made it far worse for her Trauma." Akame sadly said as she gently wipes away the remaining Tears under her eyes and cheeks "I wouldn't blame her, I'd usually be like this too myself..."
"W-will she be alright?" Sheele asked.
"...I dunno anymore." Leone sighed in frustration "We were supposed to help her get mentally better but, Oh no, TRAGEDY just HAS TO HAPPEN!"
"Maybe it's for the best that she takes some time off from going on missions." Akame suggested "She might need it to clear her head from all of this."
"Yeah, You're right on that." Leone agreed "...Damn it I fucking hate it when this happens..."
Leone whispered the last part to herself, But Akame did hear her clearly. And she had a faint clue that she was referring to Ruby crying.
"...I'll Stay by her side for now." Sheele volunteered "Akame's on kitchen duty so..."
"...sure. But I'll be back." Akame nodded as she got up.
"Well I'm staying too." Leone stated.
"Thank you." Sheele said to Leone while Akame started to walk out of the room.
On her way through the hallway, Akame suddenly stopped and looked down in sadness.
"...Why?...Why does this always happen...?" She asked herself.
...When Ruby finally woke up, She first felt a few things at first.
one: She was laying down on her bed.
two: She felt like she as being hugged like a body pillow again. She looked over and saw Leone hugging her closely while she was also asleep. Looking to her other side, she saw Sheele also asleep with her glasses still on. With a sigh, she carefully removed her glasses so she could sleep without Ruby worrying about her breaking her glasses.
onto number three: Her Stomach grumbled. She was hungry. Really hungry.
She sat up while gently getting out of Leones hug without waking her, and noticed number four: Akame was in the room too. Asleep on the chair next to the bed. She must have come in the room last and ended up just sleeping beside them instead of on the bed too.
She sighed and slowly got out of the bed and walked over to her desk, quietly placing Sheeles glasses in the middle of the desk.
And now, the fifth and final thing she noticed: Looking out the window, she realized it must have been past way past midnight.
'...how long did I really pass out?' she mentally asked herself before silently walking out of the room, in need of some fresh air and a quick snack.
As she walked through the hideout in the dark, She quietly walks into the kitchen.
She made up a sandwich from whatever she found in the cabinets and sat down silently.
But in the end she just picked up 2 slices of bread and a slice of ham and...that's it.
...Her eyes slowly wonders onto where Bulat would usually sit. Where he would talk and joke and laugh.
'...Why do the best kind of good men always die?' Ruby asked herself as she laid her forehead on the table 'How is this fair?! He didn't deserve to die! Why does this keep happening to the people I care about?!'
She kept laying her forehead on the table while gathering her hands around her head too. Having lost all her friends already, and now losing another friend was the worst kind of feeling for her, and she was sick of it.
'...Is this because I deserve this?' She thought to herself '... haven't I been punished enough for everything I did back at remnant? Wasn't dying and losing my team enough?'
As she kept thinking how hopeless her new life had become, She then heard footsteps approaching the kitchen.
She slightly looked up and saw Akame, Sheele and Leone, All three suddenly awake now, walking in.
"...Ruby?" Akame called out.
Ruby just looked up at the a bit before going back to laying her head on the table again.
The girls all sighed and quietly sat around the table top, right next to Ruby.
"Hey you made this yourself?" Leone asked as she held up the sandwich Ruby made up "God it doesn't even have a lettuce in it. Let me fix this real quick."
While Leone went on to Fix up The sandwich Ruby lazily put together, Akame gently placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder for comfort.
"Ruby...I understand how you must be feeling right now, And I understand you cannot stand losing anymore of the people you care about." Akame started to speak "And I know this might sound cliche, But as long as you carry his memories with you, Bulat isn't truly gone."
"She's right." Sheele agreed "I know how hard it must be for you to feel like this again, But Bulat wouldn't want you to be sad like this. He'd want you to smile and keep being strong no matter what."
"Besides, You think he wanted you to stay like this forever?" Leone asked as she placed a fully finished sandwich next to Ruby "Last time I check, He also agreed that he hated it when you get sad. So, Please go back to smiling, okay? If you really wanna honor his memory, then at least try to care about his final request."
"...His...Final Request?" Ruby mumbled.
"What, you forgot already?" Leone sighed, before gently Bonking Ruby's head with her knuckle "Dummy."
"Ruby, Did you really forget his final requests?" Akame asked too "Think carefully, There's no way you could have forgotten."
'...His...final requests...'
"I'm leaving the teams moral to you now. You need to be the one that keeps the others passions up."
'...wait...'
"promise...you won't ever change...that you'll stay the same as you are right now no matter what. Okay?"
'...That's right...' Ruby thought to herself '...He left the teams happiness to me now...He wanted me to stay strong and happy like I am...no...like how I used to be back in remnant...Weiss, Blake and Yang would want me to do the same too...And I'm here feeling sorry for myself...'
...After this, she suddenly got up from her seat and looks down on the table.
The girls look at her in confusion,
*SMACKx2*
but they then sweat drop when Ruby slaps both her palms on both sides of her cheeks.
"R-Ruby?" Sheele called out.
Then, Ruby picked the sandwich up and gobbled it all up in one go.
"Eat slowly." Akame Warned.
*Gulp*
Ruby swallowed the entire sandwich up, and cleared her mouth with her bare hand.
"...You all are right...He wanted me to stay strong no matter what." Ruby spoke up, and then looked up at the girls with her tears finally gone and a confident Smile on her face "So I'm done with crying all the time when something like this happens. Bro wanted me to keep smiling and keep the teams spirits up, So I'm going to do just that, No matter what!"
"...That's wonderful to hear." Akame said, smiling.
"Now that's the Little red I love." Leone teased.
"Remember, We'll always be with you if you're troubled." Sheele reminded.
"I know. Thanks a lot." Ruby nodded, Before she leaned down and kissed Sheele softly on the lips, causing the airhead to get red as a tomato.
"heeeey~ What about uuuuus~" Leone teasingly asked.
"Okay." Ruby nodded before she leaned forward and kissed Leone too, who happily kissed back.
After they were done, Ruby turned to Akame for her turn.
"You really don't have to." Akame said.
"No, But I want to." Ruby said as she also gave Akame a kiss too, who kissed her back as well.
"Alright. Let's go back to bed, I feel tired already." Ruby cheerfully stated as she began to walk out of the kitchen.
"Well, She sprung back up real fast." Leone commented.
"That's a good thing, Isn't it?" Sheele asked.
"Course it is." Leone nodded "Buuuut first one to get in the bed right after Ruby gets the first Cuddles!"
"Eh?! B-but_" Sheele tried to argue, but they both were shocked when Akame was first to run ahead.
The next day, Ruby was back to helping the others to train their Auras and Semblances like usual.
"Leone, Control your Anger or your semblance will use up all of your Aura way too fast." She instructed.
"Got it..." Leone muttered as the flames around her fists lowered.
"Mine, Don't react faster, react Smarter." She then told a blindfolded Mine who was dodging attacks from Sheele and Lubbock.
"I'm!" Mine yelled as she ducked under a strike from Sheele "Working!" Yelled again before just sidestepping out of Lubbocks attack "On it!"
"Tatsumi, How long was that now?" Ruby then Approached Tatsumi.
"I think...About 5 minutes this time." Tatsumi panted after his Semblance ran out.
"Not enough! Train with it more until that time limit gets longer." Ruby instructed and Tatsumi nodded.
"How is the training going?" Ruby heard Najenda's voice through her Semblance.
"It's going great." Ruby spoke back, With Najenda's Semblance allowing much more Easier 2-way conversations than before.
"Good. I'll leave you to it then."
Ruby looked on as everyone trained, Smiling.
'This is what Bro wanted.' She thought to herself 'So I'm going to keep doing my best no matter what.'
...But, Unknown to everyone, Akame was secretly watching them train with their Semblances in silence, Feeling as if she was falling behind.