Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Twenty: Kill the Aftermath

In the town of Romari, Wave carries Kurome in his arms into the hotel where the Jaegers were supposed to meetup at after their missions were complete. He kicks open the door, and in the process, spooks Run, Seryu and Koro, but not Esdeath. They turn to see Kurome in her current condition and Esdeath shouts, "We need to hurry and get her to the Infirmary, right away!" Everyone quickly follows her down the hallway before she turns and kicks a door open with all her might. A doctor turns to her and says, "General Esdeath? Did you need-", but before he can finish, she shouts, "One of my subordinates is injured, she needs medical treatment!" His eyes widen before he shouts, "All extra hands to the ER, stat! We got a high priority one here!!" Three more doctors rush in as the first doctor says, "We have the best doctors here. You can trust us to do our best. We'll inform you when we're finished patching her up, General." One of the doctors takes Kurome out of Waves arms and sets her down on their examination table before Esdeath and the rest of the Jaegers leave the room. As soon as the door shuts, Wave punches the wall with all his might, creating a giant crater before shouting, "Damn it all! I was too late!!" Run moves to Wave's side and asks, "What happened Wave?" "Yeah, what happened to Phi and Bols? Are they collecting the bodies of the enemy for Koro?", Seryu asks. "They're dead! Kurome said that she watched Phi die in the Night Raid ambush and one of the assassins that tried to kill her apparently got Bols!! They're both dead!!!", Wave shouts as he punches the wall over and over again, until he makes a giant hole in the wall. They're all left in complete disbelief at what he just said. "Bols and Phi are...dead..?", Seryu asks in a nearly emotionless tone. "And what happened to you? You're arm is bleeding, you know.", Esdeath says as she point at the blood dripping from his limp arm. "I....When they ambushed us....Night Raid...One of their guys tried a sneak attack. I managed to block it, but it had so much force behind it, I was blown away. If I'd been there, maybe none of this would've happened!!", Wave says, shouting the last part. "I see, then there's no way I can hold you accountable for this mess.", Esdeath says coldly. They all give her a confused look, even Koro is somewhat confused. She looks to them and says, "Najenda simply outplayed us this time. She targeted the team with less power, lowered your strength by blowing you away and likely picked you each off, one at a time. It's the kind of strategy Najenda likes to pull. She's always been a crafty one." "Bols had a wife and daughter! What do we tell them!? Oh, sorry, we just got outplayed!?!", Wave shouts, earning him a slap to the face from Esdeath. "We tell them that Bols died a hero, fighting to protect the Capital. I'm heading to speak with the town mayor. Apparently, there is something he wants to talk to me about.", Esdeath says coldly as she starts walking away. As Esdeath walks off down the hall, Seryu heads to her room with an emotionless look on her face and Koro held tightly in her arms. Wave continues to grind his teeth before trying to storm off, but Run stops him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Wave, I understand how you feel, but you need to calm down!", he says sternly. Wave slaps his hand away and shouts, "You understand!? If you truly understood, then you wouldn't say it so lightly!" Run gives him a cold, unfeeling look before putting his hand over his heart and saying, "No. I am most definitely not saying this light-heartedly. I truly understand this feeling far too well, Wave...from the bottom of my heart..." Run just walks past Wave, who's left with a confused look after what he just heard. Wave watches Run walk down the hall without another word before going back to his room before just saying, "..Run..."

Later, after the doctors finished patching up Kurome and giving her the proper medicines, Run and Wave sit by her bedside waiting for her to wake up. Esdeath suddenly comes into the room and asks, "How is she?" "Kurome? She's still sleeping.", Run replies as he looks over his shoulder to Esdeath. "The doctors say that since she's lasted this long, her life isn't in too much danger, but she should get as much rest as possible to help her wound heal.", Wave explains, not taking his eyes off Kurome even for a second. Esdeath sighs and says, "I see..." She closes the door behind her before leaning against it and saying, "I tried to track the assassins that attacked Kurome, but it seems they covered their tracks pretty well, so I had little luck there. I did find Bols' body however. He'll be sent back to the Capital and buried properly among the fallen. That is what he would've wanted after all." "I see, and Phi and their Imperial Arms?", Run asks. "I could not find Phi's body or either of their Imperial Arms. It's possible that Najenda was kind enough to bury Phi in some unmarked hole somewhere. She's always been soft like that.", Esdeath replies with a disheartenedly look to the floor. She suddenly remembers why she originally came for and says, "Also, we received word from the Minister from an express messenger, we have a new mission. We will leave for Kyoroch as soon as we are able." "Kyoroch? Why?", Run asks with a confused glance to the General. "It seems that the target we are being asked to guard may be the true target of Night Raid's journey.", she replies. "I see, so they just beat us down on their way to their main goal then.", Run says as he quickly puts it all together. "It seems that we truly lost this battle. Najenda, you always have some trick up your sleeve, don't you? You even used me to clean up a bandit gang while forcing my entire group to play right into your trap. However, I will not fall for the same trick twice... We will trample all of them for sure in Kyoroch!!!", Esdeath says as she holds her head in shame from her loss. Suddenly, Kurome wakes up from her slumber and quickly sits up. She moves all of her fingers, toes, arms and legs before saying, "I'm all better it seems. It seems I've recovered quite a bit." "Huh? But you were hit in a vital spot on top of that giant attack. You need to rest more.", Wave says with a concerned look. Kurome stands up and rolls her eyes at him before turning to Esdeath and saying, "General, please let me continue to work with you." Esdeath walks over to her with what seems like a death glare before forcefully pushing her down back into her bed. "So, you agree with me then, General?", Wave says with a confused look before getting slapped upside the head. She quickly drops a pile of paperwork on Kurome's lap before saying, "If you want to work so bad, you can fill out this report. I want to know every detail about these Night Raid members that you fought. Their Imperial Arms, their description, their favorite food, their blood type, every last little detail down the the girls' bra sizes! Do I make myself clear!?" Kurome nods before picking up a pen and starting on her large stack of paperwork. "Good, once you're done with that, you may return to active duty. But before you start, I have one question I'd like to ask you, Kurome.", Esdeath says as she starts to walk to the door. Kurome glances up from the papers and asks, "What is it, General?" "According to the residents of this town, there were two mountains nearby that suddenly disappeared. If you destroyed them with Destaghoul, I do not mind, but I need to know where they went.", Esdeath says with glance over her shoulder. Kurome's hand begins to tremble before she drops the pen. "I...I didn't..destroy those mountains..", she says hesitantly. Esdeath's eyes widen and so do the other's. "We thought you just used Destaghoul or your Trump Card and missed! So you're saying that-", Wave begins to say before Kurome cuts him off by saying, "One of the Night Raiders, his Imperial Arm must've been able to lift those mountains. He shattered them in a blink of an eye and turned them into spears. Then he used them to completely destroy my Trump Card without any effort." "I see, so Night Raid was hiding this kind of raw power all along...", Esdeath says under her breath. She turns around to her subordinates and says, "Good enough. I'll tell the mayor Night Raid destroyed the mountains in their attack. That's all I needed to know. Back to work then, Kurome." Esdeath quickly leaves the room and thinks, "She didn't say it was him, so I shouldn't be worrying about it....But Tatsumi did have a lot of potential. And as far as I knew, he didn't have an Imperial Arm, so if he went and joined the Revolutionary Army, then it could be....No! He wouldn't....Would he?"