At the dinner Table, was a eaten giant fish with only it's head remaining and its bones revealed. And everyone was already stuffed.
"Whoa, Su's cooking is great!" Leone said as she rubbed her filled out belly.
"Oh yeah." Ruby agreed, equally stuffed too.
"Good work, Su!" Akame said as she gathered the plates while wearing an apon and her hair tied in a long ponytail. Which Ruby found adorable.
"Su! Wanna Train?" Tatsumi called out next.
"I see that you all now realize how incredible Susanoo is." Najenda stated in a cool way.
"I still can't believe the Revolutionary gave him to you like this." Tatsumi said.
"Well, He's been asleep up until now. He activated when he responded to me." Najenda explained.
"As expected from the boss." Sheele praised.
"Well what can I say?~" Najenda gloated "It's my charm~"
"Wow. Ride that High-Horse with your high-heels even more why don'tcha?" Ruby deadpanned.
"Down Girl." Najenda scolded.
"Najenda is very similar to my previous owner after all." Susanoo suddenly pointed out.
"Must have been a great person then." Najenda said.
"Please don't feed her Ego." Ruby begged.
"Well, HE was a spectacular general after all." Susanoo said.
"...HE WAS A GUY?!" Najenda gasped.
"PFFFFFFFFFFFFF HAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Leone broke into laughter "THAT MEANS THAT THE BOSS IS PRACTICALLY A DUDE!"
"S-SIS DON'T LAUGH SO MUCH ABOUT IT!" Tatsumi begged, while laughing himself.
*KAPOW!x2*
And Najenda decked them both in the head with her prosthetic arm.
"Soooooo how's that high-horse treating ya now?~" Ruby sassily asked.
"Shut your face." Najenda growled while Ruby was just amused.
She just chuckled and decided to walk away from the scene, only to see Lubbock looking glum.
"Still jealous of Susanoo?" Ruby casually asked as she walked over.
"Don't act like nobody's all Goo-Goo-Gaa-Gaa Over him." Lubbock grumbled.
"Quit being such a baby." Mine said with annoyance, sitting on a near by couch and eating a cake.
*Meooow*
"Eh?" they all looked over and saw a very small and cute kitten casually walking in.
"A Marg Panther kitten?" Lubbock said with confusion "How'd it get here?"
"AWWWWW Sooooo CUUUUUUTE!" Ruby said as she picked the kitten up and gave it a gentle hug "It's so fluffy too!"
The Kitten nuzzled against Ruby's cheek for a bit before it jumped off and landed next to Mine.
"W-What?" Mine asked the kitten while it cuddled up to her "I-I'm not giving you my cake!"
The Kitten just looked up to Mine cutely.
"Eeeeh...F-Fine." Mine finally gave up and tried to hand over a piece of her cake.
"Absolutely NOT." Ruby sternly said as she picked the kitten up, Who was also surprised, and kept it away from Mine's cake "It's A CAT! Cat's can't eat cakes or cream! It needs meat or proper cat food! Anything else might either end up making it sick or worse, KILLING IT!" She scolded 'If memory serves right, we had to take Zwei to the pet Clinic 3 times a week for treatment after he ate a slice of the strawberry cake dad, Yang and I baked. Or...was it 4 times a week?'
"E-EH?! O-Okay whatever! Deal with the dumb thing yourself!" Mine said as she went back to eating her cake.
"Okay cutie~" Ruby cooed as she nuzzled her face into the cat's cheek "Let's go get you some milk or some meat jerkies instead~"
*POOF*
"WHA?!" Ruby Mine and Lubbock all gasped when the Kitten suddenly burst into a gust of cloud.
"Awwww." And as a the cloud disappears, Chelsea was seen, pouting "You ruined my prank."
"CHELSEA?!" Both Ruby and Mine gasped in shock.
"H-How'd you?!" ruby stammered.
"It's my Teigu." Chelsea boasted "I can not just turn into anyone I want, but also anything that I want~. I was gonna trick mine but you ruined it."
"...YOU MEANIE!" Ruby yelled before she suddenly grabbed Chelsea by her cheeks and began to pull them apart "YOU TRICKED ME! YOU OWE ME A REAL KITTEN NOW! PAY UP!"
"AUW AUW AUW AUW!" Chelsea whined as her cheeks were stretched "SHTAWP! YOU'WLL TERR WY SHEEKS AWFF!"
"HMPH! Serves you right!" Mine puffed her cheeks and went back to eating her cake, ignoring Chelsea's pleas.
"U-Um, Ruby?" Sheele called out "Please calm down."
Ruby sighed and let's go of Chelsea.
"Sheeeleeeee!" Chelsea then jokingly hugged onto Sheele who was startled "Ruby was Bulling meeeee."
"E-E-Erm, Ch-Chelsea, Please don't hold me so close." Sheele shyly tried to pull herself out of Chelsea's hug "I-I already have a girlfriend!"
"Eh? You do?" Chelsea asked " Who is it?~"
"...Um?" Ruby awkwardly raised her hand "... I-It's me."
"...Wait, Say what?" Chelsea asked in surprised "B-But, Didn't you say that you and Akame are..."
"We are." Akame said, having showed up after putting all the dirty plates away with Susanoo.
"Then, How can you and Sheele be girlfriends? Are you...Two-timing?" Chelsea asked, even more confused.
"Wha?! NO!" Ruby answered "They're both my Girlfriends!"
"...You have two girlfriends?" Chelsea asked, unable to believe what she heard.
"Well, it's actually_" Ruby started.
"She has Three~~~." Leone then ran over, hugging Ruby from behind.
"... You're...not a Chick magnet, Are you?" Chelsea Awkwardly asked.
"I've been asking that for a while now Actually." Ruby casually answered while being Hugged by Leone.
A while later, everyone got back to Najenda, Susanoo and Chelsea waiting for them.
"So?" Najenda asked.
"The training today went perfectly!" Ruby reported "And Tatsumi can maintain his Semblance for longer now."
"Yup!" Tatsumi scratched the back of his head.
Ruby thought that hunting down danger beasts would be a good training lesson for everyone to get a better feel for their Semblances. As for Akame, She only used Kaminari to get better control of it's firepower.
"I suppose fighting in an environment like this has helped you get stronger." Najenda said "So, How about you Chelsea? How's your impression after seeing Night Raid for a month."
"Hmm...I won't lie, You're all a lot stronger than my old team." Chelsea answered with a lollipop in her mouth "Even without Your Aura's or Semblances, You all seem pretty tough."
'Finally, A complement that isn't aimed to mess with Mine.' Ruby though.
"But... I've seen the reports about Bulat." Chelsea suddenly brought their dead member up.
"Wh-What does he have to do with this?" Ruby asked.
"As a fighter that died on the line of duty, I'd say he was great." Chelsea said "But, as an assassin...I consider him a Failure."
'...what?' Ruby froze in place 'what did she say? Bulat is a what?'
Her mind and surroundings suddenly became black, and she couldn't hear Mine and Tatsumi yelling and Chelsea talking again.
'...Who does she think she is?' Ruby said, and started to shake '...Bro fought till the bitter end...he was strong and cool...and...she called him a...'
And, Before anyone knew it,
*FWOOOSH!*
"SHUT UP!"
*KAPOW!*
Ruby used her semblance to dash at Chelsea while yelling, and delivered a roundhouse Kick right into her face!
"AH!" Chelsea grunted as the punch actually sent her flying!
*Crash!*
And she was slammed against the new hide outs wall, next to the window with her cheek bruised up and blood coming out from the corner of her mouth.
"WHOA!" Lubbock gasped.
"JEEZ!" Leone gasped
"Wha?!" Tatsumi gasped too.
"R-Ruby?!" Sheele called out.
"..." Mine just remained quiet and watch, with a twisted sense of satisfaction.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Ruby yelled with absolute fury in her mind as she tried to run toward Chelsea "WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO JUST WALK INTO THIS TEAM AND TALK ABOUT BULAT LIKE THAT WHEN YOU DIDN'T EVEN GET TO MEET HIM?!"
"Ruby calm down!" Najenda ordered as she and Susanoo alongside Akame all grabbed Ruby and pulled her back to prevent her from attacking Chelsea even further.
"LET ME GO!" Ruby yelled and growled like an animal, which actually terrified Chelsea further.
"Ruby! STOP!" Akame yelled "Please, Stop!"
"GRRR...Fine." Ruby growled, before they slowly let her go while a stunned Chelsea was trying to stand up, holding her bruised up cheek. She then walked toward the hideout door and instead of opening it, she kicked it wide open in anger.
"...If I hear you talking out of line like that again," Ruby then turned her head toward Chelsea, and she froze when she saw the cold, dead looks in Ruby's silver eyes "I'll Kill You." And she began to walk away again, before saying something else,
"And I'd watch out if if I were you. Because after all, Friendly Fire intends to happen in the mission."
"Wh-Wha..." Chelsea stuttered, Not able to believe that Ruby would say that she would shoot and kill Chelsea in a mission.
"What?! Ruby!" Leone called out after hearing that too "UUUUUUGH! YOU HAPPY?!" She then yelled at Chelsea.
"Wha,I wasn't_"
"Forget it!" Leone brushed her off and ran inside "RUBY! WAIT UP! SHE DIDN'T MEAN IT!"
"Serves you right, Bitch." Mine smugly said as she walked inside too.
"...Fantastic." Najenda sighed before she faced Chelsea "Chelsea, Activate you Aura already."
"O-Oh R-Right." Chelsea nodded, remembering to use her Aura to heal her face.
"And, I want both you and Susanoo stay here with me for now." Najenda ordered "All of you are dismissed for the day."
And with that, the rest of the team all walked in too.
"Alright. Now about what happened." Najenda turned to Chelsea "Chelsea, I know you meant well, but you stepped over the line FAR TOO MUCH."
"H-How is that my fault?!" Chelsea asked.
"Is there something about Ruby that you haven't told us then?" Susanoo asked.
"Yes. I want to discuss this with you both right now." Najenda answered "I didn't have enough time to tell you both. And This isn't written in any of the Reports on Ruby. So listen well."
"Ruby, are you okay?" Akame asked.
*CLANG!*
"I'm FINE!" Ruby yelled as she slammed a washed and cleaned and finally dried plate in its place. A tad TOO hard.
"...From the way you're slamming those plates, I'm not so sure about that." Akame Sweat dropped.
"Ruby, We only want to help you." Sheele said.
"There's nothing to help me with!" Ruby angrily shot back.
*CLANG!*
"I'm PERFECTLY FINE!" She yelled again before slamming another clean plate in it's place.
"Look, What Chelsea said wasn't nice, We get it." Leone said "But...You're not gonna kill her, are you?"
"Maybe I will!"
*CLANG!*
"Or maybe I'll just suffocate her in her sleep!"
*CLANG!*
"Or better yet! I'LL JUST BREAK HER LEGS!" And she pulled a Nora by the end.
"Ruby, calm down first." Akame tried to reason with her.
"I! AM!" Ruby yelled before raising another plate!
*CRASH!*
*SHATTER!x5*
"CALM!"
And instead of just slamming another plate in place, she smashed it so hard it broke alongside 4 other plates!
"...Y-Yeah we can see." Leone sweat dropped.
"...Tsk." Ruby clicked her tongue before she tossed the broken piece of plate on the rest of the broken Plates and began to storm away "I'll be at the Hotspring."
"Sure. I think you'll need it." Akame nodded, as the three watched her go.
"...Sheesh..." Leone sighed "Why does this always happen when she's starting to feel happier than usual?"
"Well to be fair, Chelsea shouldn't have chosen her words like that." Sheele pointed out as she tried to help Akame to gather the broken plate pieces "But Ruby might be going to far with how she threatened Chelsea."
"You know how sensitive Ruby is about her old friends back from her old Country." Leone pointed out "But I think it's best we let them deal with it by themselves."
"...You might be right. I just hope it won't end badly for anyone." Akame said.
"...I...I didn't know..." Chelsea stuttered in shock.
"...They explains quite a lot actually." Susanoo stated.
"I hope you understand the gravity of what you've said now." Najenda said "It's best you apologize while you can before you REALLY regret it further down the line."
"I-I didn't mean it like that! I was just trying to..." Chelsea tried to speak "...Nevermind."
"Good. I'll leave you to it then." Najenda said as she began to walk away "But I warn you right now Chelsea, Choose your words far more wisely around Ruby. She might become too unstable even for even Me to control."
"UUUUUGH!" Ruby growled as she kept stomping away "Who does she think she is?!"
She was still very furious about what Chelsea said obviously. And her anger wasn't showing any sign of dying down.
"I swear I'll_
"I'm leaving the teams moral to you now. You need to be the one that keeps the others passions up. Okay?"
Ruby suddenly came to a full on stop as Bulats last words came back to her again.
"...uuuuugh..." She groaned in annoyance "...They're right. I need to calm down. Just snapping and being a raging jerk isn't what Bro wanted me to be. But...How can I forgive Chelsea? She had no right saying that...Not when she didn't even know how it really went."
Deep in thought, she kept walking toward the hot spring.
After arriving, Ruby stripped down and sat down in the hot and soothing water, finally getting some relaxation.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the piece and quiet while her scars were covered by the steam and the water.
"Heeey~"
But she sighed as she recognized the voice, and opened her eyes and saw Chelsea, only wearing a towel, walking over
"Thought I'd find you here."
"...What do you want Chelsea? I really don't want to hear anything you have to say." Ruby spoke.
"Hey, I'm not here for a fight." Chelsea playfully said "Is it wrong to wanna have a bath with a friend?"
"You know what? I was done anyway!" Ruby aggressively said as she stood up from the water, fully revealing her scars out in the open.
And Chelsea was stunned, seeing all of the stabs, bullet holes, burns and the cuts around her.
'...Oh my god...The Boss wasn't exaggerating, it looks horrible...' Chelsea thought to herself
"I have better things to do than listening to you babel on in your own self centered world." Ruby walked past her and tried to reach to her towel.
"W-Wait! Hold on!" Chelsea called out "Please don't go. I just want to talk to you."
"...Fine." Ruby sighed and sat back down in the hot spring "Go on. Talk away."
"...Alright." Chelsea nodded as she sat down next to Ruby after removing her own towel "...A while back, After I cam back from a Solo mission...I found my own team wiped out."
"...Really?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah. You might heard of them." Chelsea pointed out "You know, The Reginal team."
"Oh...Yeah. Najenda said they lost touch with them." Ruby nodded.
"That's right. And...I don't want that to happen to you guys." Chelsea said "I know what I said was harsh, But I just wanted to make sure you and the others won't be so optimistic. Stuff like that usually leads to ones death."
But suddenly, Chelsea placed a hand on Ruby's hand.
"But...The boss explained to me and Susanoo what happened to you." Chelsea explained "And, I'm really sorry for what I said. I didn't mean to offend you or Bulat. If I knew what you were going through, I wouldn't have been so cold about it."
"...I see." Ruby nodded "I understand where you're coming from Chelsea."
"I'm glad you understand_"
"And I don't forgive you."
"W-What?" Chelsea stuttered "W-Wait, I'm saying I'm sorry about what I said about Bulat."
"Sure. And I do not forgive you." Ruby bluntly repeated.
"...Why tho?" Chelsea asked, Confused "I really don't want us to be on bad terms."
"Well, I'm not giving you closure." Ruby harshly said "Now let ME explain something to you. Bulat was the heart of this team. He was Everyones friend. He looked out for us all no matter what. He helped us get better not just at fighting, or being an assassin, he helped us to be better as human beings. No matter what happened, he'd always smile and cheer us on."
Ruby then stood up and glared down on Chelsea.
"And you insulted his death." Ruby said "I don't care about how or why you said he was a failure. I'm angry at you because you just came here, and insulted him without ever even getting to know him."
"R-Ruby_"
"And you know what?" Ruby then got real close to Chelsea's face "Those clowns back at the Regional team, DESERVED what they got!"
"W-What?" Chelsea gasped at what she said.
"I bet they were SO worthless and weak, that they begged for their lives like little animals." Ruby continued.
"The-They'd never_"
"I'm actually GLAD they died." Ruby continues on "Less weakling and deadweight mouths to feed while the stronger ones can keep fighting."
"S-Stop that." Chelsea warned.
"I'm even sure they actually begged their attacker to kill them because of how much fear they felt." Ruby kept her insults coming "If they couldn't even defend themselves like you, then they didn't deserve to live."
"Stop!" Chelsea finally yelled and stood up "You didn't even know them!"
"...See what I mean now?" Ruby backed away.
"Wh-Wha..." Chelsea then realized, she just said the exact same thing as Ruby said. About not even knowing Bulat.
"You feel it? THAT'S how I felt after you insulted Bulat." Ruby explained "Talking like that about a dead friend feels like that. And I don't take lightly to it. I resent anyone that talks like that even if they have a good reason."
Se then walked closer, her eyes staring deeply into Chelsea's eyes.
"You may have had a good reason for it. But that still doesn't give you the right to talk about him like how you did." Ruby harshly said "...But, Seeing as you and I are going to be working together...I'm willing to let this go."
"R-Really?" Chelsea asked.
"Only if you answer me this." Ruby glared deeper into Chelsea's eyes "Are you worth my forgiveness even after knowing how it really feels to hear your dead friends get talked down on yourself?"
"...I..." Chelsea mumbled before looking away "...No...No, after making me feel how bad it's like...I'm not sure I deserve it...Y-You're right, I've been...really high and mighty about what I felt was right, I didn't bother taking how you or the others REALLY feel...B-But I swear I didn't mean to hurt you or the others like this."
"...I see." Ruby said...Before she suddenly hugged Chelsea.
"EH?!" Chelsea gasped at this.
"You're forgiven." Ruby said before she breaks the hug and walks out of the hot spring and picks her towel up "Oh. And if you're REALLY sorry, then you would also apologize to others about not how you insulted Bulat, but for how you've been acting like you own the place."
"...Sure. That's fair." Chelsea nodded.
"...And Chelsea?" Ruby then looked back...and smiled. The same smile as before, which also stunned Chelsea "You really need to be more laid back, Ya know? Worrying to much will make you get old and wrinkly too fast~"
"Wha?! You jerk!" Chelsea said, while Blushing.
Ruby giggled and walked away "See you at dinner!"
Chelsea laughed and watched her go, before she sits back in the hot spring.
"...She's really both nice and strong, Despite being really young." Chelsea said "...I'm glad we could be Friends after all..."
She relaxed more into the hot water.
"...I wonder...If I'll end up being such a softy and fall for her too by the end."
"Aaaah. Finally. The Capital." A teen figure said as he looks on toward the Capital walls "I hope I'm not FAR too late for The Generals team gathering."
As he began to walk toward the capital...a few other figures followed him from behind.
"This might end up being fun." He said with a sinister tone "Just hope My Master can let me let loose just for a bit."