Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Eleven: The Intruder

It's late at night and Night Raid is still up partying over Tatsumi's and Minazuki's safe return. Leone chugs another jug of beer and when she comes up for air she says, "Ahhh, it never matters what time it is, beer always hits the spot! I'm so happy you guys are back now! Lubbock was getting too high and mighty, thinking he was special for being the only guy in the house!" Lubbock drowns his sorrow in a jug too, and when he finishes, he says, "I still can't believe that THE GENERAL ESDEATH fell in love with Tatsumi... Even a lady killer has to have his limits! Someone throw me a bone here!" "She has such bad taste too, like, look. What's good about that thing?", Mine says as she finishes her drink. "Thing?", Tatsumi asks, slightly hurt by what she just said. "Don't worry Tatsumi, *hic* I'm sure Genera-*hic* General Esdeath likes you for some reason, right?", Sheele asks, clearly drunk off her ass. "Sheele, you only had one drink, and you're already like this? You can't even drink right.", Leone says jokingly to her as she pinches Sheele's cheeks. "Just imagine if Tatsumi actually convinced Esdeath to join the Revolutionary Army, or better yet, join Night Raid? How awkward would that be for the Boss?", Sheele says before chugging another jug of beer. Tatsumi gets a cold chill at the thought of Esdeath joining Night Raid and having to deal with her on a daily basis. "It would make our jobs a lot easier.", Akame says as she stuffs her face with food. She turns to Tatsumi and tries to feed him one while, with her mouth full, saying, "Tatsumi, you need to eat more. Trust me, you'll get stronger that way." "Just how much can those sisters eat anyways!?", Tatsumi thinks to himself as he watches Akame down five more snacks all at once. "I wonder if Lub would still be willing to peep on us bathing if Esdeath were here? What do ya say, Lub? Would it be worth losing a nut over?", Leone mocks as she downs another drink. She looks over at Minazuki, who seems to be lost in thought, and asks, "Hey partner, what's up? You haven't even touched your drink." He takes off his mask and lays it on the table before letting out a long sigh. "It's that girl, Phi. I know, well, knew her.", Minazuki admits. Leone's confused and asks, "How do you know her?" "We used to live in the same village. Growing up, we were actually rivals. I'd get stronger, then she'd match my strength, so I'd go beyond, which made her want to get stronger, and it kind of went along those lines for years.", Minazuki explains with a sad look on his face. "What happened?", Akame asks with her mouth still full. "I bet she dumped him or something. That's probably why he became a monk.", Mine mocks with a grin. "No, not like that. I think, I'd rather not talk about it. It'd only bring down the party after all.", Minazuki replies with a forced smile. The memories of that night however dulled his ability to deceive, causing everyone to see through his face smile and see he was hurting on the inside. Leone wraps one arm around him and says, "It's alright, we're family now, right? You can tell us anything." "Yeah, you don't have to fear judgement from us.", Sheele says kindly. Minazuki sighs and says, "Fine, I'll tell you." "Phi and I lived in a small little village. Due to the current state of the Empire and the Village Elder being a stubborn old man, the people of our village refused to pay the Emperor's high taxes. This ultimately lead to them sending out soldiers to collect the money, but they were never able to get even close to the village because my teacher always defeated them before they could enter the village.", Minazuki starts to explain, catching everyone's attention. "When I received this Imperial Arm, I was told by the Village Elder that the village would be turned into a river of blood if I didn't stop the events to come. He said I had a month to train before the end came, so my teacher taught me all he knew about the world, fighting, lying, killing, surviving, even cooking. But when that day came, I wasn't ready for what I had to do.", Minazuki continues. He pauses, thinking back on the faces of all the people who lived with him in Tapu Village, the people who he betrayed. "So, what happened then?", Lubbock asks. "The village elder and my teacher knew that I couldn't face the threat that was coming to our village, and that even with all our might combined, we'd all die in just a blink of an eye. So, they had a backup plan. A plan to spare our village from being ravaged by the incoming threat the elder predicted.", Minazuki says before covering his face with his hand. "W-what was it?", Mine asks nervously, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer. Minazuki's rage starts to boil as he recalls what he did, how he crushed everyone without any remorse or mercy, his murderous intent starts to fill the room and makes everyone on edge. "I was given the order, to bury my village and all its inhabitants, alive.", he replies as he takes his hand away from his face. Everyone else in the room is shocked by what they had just heard. "W-what do you mean!? Did you-", Tatsumi begins to ask before Minazuki says, "Yes." "You could have fought! You could have made a stand against them and died like that! Why did you-", Tatsumi begins to shout, but gets cut off by Minazuki saying, "It was that same night you heard me talking to Esdeath about. That night, she was on her way to crush my village and make an example of every last person there. And you remember how the northern tribes turned out, don't you?" There's silence in the room for a moment before Minazuki says, "Seventy three. Seventy three people lived in that village. All of them trusted me. All of them believed that I'd help protect them from the Empire. Heh, I guess they thought wrong, huh?" He starts to laugh uncontrollably before saying, "You know what's really messed up about the whole thing? The village elder and my teach, they setup a party for the whole village the same night. That way, after the party was over with, nobody would be up to challenge me. They'd all die in their sleep. Crushed by the mountain side." "The worst part is that Phi, that same night, told me she loved me. She actually loved me! Then I did that!? I killed everyone!! I'm a monster!!!", Minazuki begins to flip out and everyone sees the cool, calm and collected shell that Minazuki tries to hide inside shatter. This was the real Minazuki, afraid of what he did and what it made him into. Everyone doesn't know what to do or how to respond to that until Leone just pulls Minazuki close and hugs him as tight as she can. His murderous intent slowly dissipates into nothingness as she runs her fingers through his hair. "You did what you had to do.", Leone says coldly as she just holds him in her arms. "Yeah, at least they weren't tortured by Esdeath or anything, right?", Lubbock says nervously. "But now, Phi is our enemy. She's strong. She was taught everything I know from the same teacher I had, but she says she doesn't remember anything from the past month, so it's possible she doesn't remember me having my Imperial Arm. And if she has an Imperial Arm now, who knows what power she holds?", Minazuki says with a saddened tone. "It'll be alright. We're here for ya, partner.", Leone says with a wink, causing him to smile slightly. She grabs his jug off the table and puts it in his hands before saying, "Now, come on, drink up! It's a party after all!" Minazuki just chuckles at her response before downing the whole jug. "Wew! Now we're talkin! Tatsumi, be a doll and get us some more drinks, would ya?", Leone says as she waves her empty jug in Tatsumi's face. He happily takes it along with Lubbock's and Minazuki's before heading to the kitchen to refill them. "Night Raid, I guess you guys are my family now.", Minazuki thinks to himself as he looks around the room and sees the faces of everyone that he considers his family. "I won't lose them! I'll do everything in my power to keep this family I hold so dear to me!", Minazuki thinks to himself, with this new found purpose filling his heart. They continue to drink until they all eventually pass out.