Akame moved swiftly through the dense forest, her thoughts a tangled mess of memories and questions. The weight of Garou's words clung to her mind like an unwanted presence. The ruined village, the soldiers moving between the destroyed houses, and the blood all over the place—it all replayed in her head over and over. She had seen death, had delivered it with her own hands more times than she could count, but Garou's words and the village put a weight on every action she took in the name of justice and destroying the Empire's corruption. The possibility that nothing had changed from her days in the Empire, the possibility that all of her work was in vain. The thought of Garou's words brought a suffocating feeling and depression to her mind.
A sudden voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Akame! Hey!"
Leone's familiar call broke through the night, drawing her attention. The blonde was approaching fast, her keen eyes scanning Akame's face with concern.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Leone said, falling into step beside her. "What's eating you?"
Akame remained quiet for a moment, then Leone's gaze dropped to her arms. Her expression shifted as she noticed the faint red markings tracing along Akame's skin.
"What the hell are those?"
Akame's fingers unconsciously brushed against the marks. The sensation was strange—neither pain nor warmth, just a lingering presence. She turned her gaze away and murmured, "I'll explain later. For now, I need to report to the leader."
Leone frowned but didn't press the issue. She simply nodded and gestured for Akame to follow her back to the camp.
The temporary base was silent, wrapped in the quiet tension of recovery. As they stepped inside, the dim lantern light revealed the state of their comrades. Najenda lay propped up on a makeshift cot, bandages wrapped tightly around her body. She was paler than usual, her expression calm but weary. In the corner, Mine sat in silence, her usual fire was nowhere to be seen, her gaze fixed on nothing in particular, her hand was holding to the sleeve where her other arm would have been.
Lubbock and Tatsumi were in better shape, but they bore the marks of their recent battle—scratches, bruises, exhaustion lingering in their eyes. Seeing them like this sent another pang of sadness through Akame's chest, adding to the weight already dragging her down.
Taking a deep breath, she began her report. She recounted everything—how the Revolutionary Army's leaders reacted, their words, their doubts, their orders. She told them of the bitter reality of their mission's failure and the response she received.
When she finished, Najenda closed her eyes for a long moment before exhaling sharply.
"I didn't expect it to go this bad…" she admitted, her fingers curling into a fist. "Five lives lost, and for what?"
A heavy silence settled over the room. No one had an answer.
Then, after a brief hesitation, Akame spoke again. "Chelsea might still be alive."
All eyes turned to her.
Najenda sighed, shaking her head. "Akame… I know you want to believe that, but the odds aren't in her favor. Especially with Garou involved. We can't afford to hold onto false hope."
Akame met her gaze, her expression firm. "It's not false hope. Garou didn't kill her. That means she's either still out there or someone else took her."
Her words hung in the air, met with stunned silence.
Najenda studied her carefully before asking the inevitable question. "And why do you think that?"
Akame held her gaze, her fingers clenching at her sides. She wasn't sure if she could fully explain it, Garou was their enemy and the root cause of their loss, so her friends would never believe Garou's words, or believing that Chelsea's fate wasn't sealed as they thought.
Something about Garou's actions and words made her believe him, believe that he wasn't their mortal enemy and it was mostly their fault things turned out like this, but she didn't know how to explain herself to them.
She hesitated, searching for the right words to answer Najenda's question, but before she could even begin to form a response, a familiar voice cut through the tense atmosphere.
"Thank god. You guys are still here."
Heads snapped toward the entrance. Chelsea stood there, slouched, her clothes dirtied from travel, her eyes carrying the exhaustion of someone who had been through hell and back. There was a wary edge to her posture, her movements slow, measured, as if she still wasn't sure if she was safe.
Silence filled the room once more as they took her sight in. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Chelsea glanced around at their dumbfounded expressions and huffed, forcing a smirk onto her face.
"What? Did you all want me dead or something?"
Leone was the first to shake off her shock. She stepped forward, arms crossed. "Where the hell have you been?"
Chelsea sighed, dragging herself over to the nearest chair and practically collapsing into it. "Trying not to die, obviously." She ran a hand through her disheveled hair. "I tried to assassinate Garou, and it went about as well as you'd expect. Bastard broke my nose and my Teigu, left me there like I was nothing. Spent the past few days moving from place to place, convinced someone was tracking me. It's a miracle I even made it back here."
As she spoke, the others slowly recovered from their shock. Their expressions softened, relief mixing with lingering disbelief. When Chelsea finished, she glanced around the room, taking in the sorry state of her teammates. Her lips pressed into a thin line before she finally muttered, "I was afraid I will be captured or die, I was afraid I wouldn't find you all here, not with how many detours I had to take. But… I'm glad you survived and I made it here. That monster would have wiped you all out."
Leone gave a tired chuckle and clapped Chelsea on the shoulder. "We're just as glad you made it back. Honestly, after we ran into that guy, we didn't think we'd see you again."
Chelsea didn't seem offended by the admission. She just let out a breath of laughter, shaking her head. "Can't blame you. I didn't think I'd make it either."
A beat of silence passed before she spoke again. "You know… something's been bugging me. The first time you saw Garou, you said he was heavily injured and exhausted. But the other day, the monster shrugged off a devastating explosion like that in the face as if it was nothing, What the hell would have hurt him that badly in the first place?"
No one answered immediately. The question hung in the air. Lubbock was the first to break the silence. "Maybe he fought a Super Class Danger Beast?"
Mine scoffed from her corner. "You saw how monstrous he was. I don't believe any Danger Beast could hurt him."
The group lapsed into thoughtful silence, the unsettling mystery of Garou's prior injuries lingering in their minds.
Then Najenda's gaze flickered toward Akame, sharp and expectant. "Speaking of things bugging me," she said slowly, "why were you so convinced Chelsea survived?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Akame, including Chelsea's.
Akame looked at Najenda, then at her friends, each one wearing a mix of curiosity and concern. Finally, she exhaled, her shoulders subtly sagging as she relented.
She told them everything.
How she had met Garou, used her trump card, fully intending to die with him. How she was still helpless against him. How he didn't finish her off but instead tended to her wounds. How he had made sure she was okay before leaving, and what he told her, he had no interest in killing or capturing them. And then, finally, how he had never seen them as enemies to begin with.
When she finished, she lowered her head, unable to look at them.
The silence that followed was suffocating. A thick, tangible sorrow pressed down on the group, heavier than any wound. The realization was bitter, they couldn't deny it anymore—Garou had never cared about them, never considered them a real threat. Their struggle, their losses… all of it had been for nothing. It was their own actions, their own arrogance, that had led them into ruin.
The silence was finally broken by Najenda's sudden outburst.
"Damn him!" she hissed, her fist slamming against the cot. Her voice trembled with barely restrained fury. "That hypocritical bastard—fighting for the Empire, protecting their filth, and then acting like he is some honorable person? As if he's above all this and thing is his fault?"
There was a brief silence as everyone absorbed Najenda's anger. Finally, Akame spoke again, saying, "I asked him why he wouldn't join us, why he wouldn't fight against the corruption of the Empire. He was disdainful of the idea and viewed us as nothing but tools. He asked me why we didn't try to assassinate the Prime Minister instead of declaring war on the entire Empire. I didn't know how to answer him."
Akame paused for a moment before continuing, "The trap was meant to lure Esdeath and her elites away from the capital. If we could do that, why not focus all of our strength on attacking the royal palace while their strongest forces were absent? As long as we killed the Prime Minister, wouldn't it be worth it?"
The group looked at Akame in surprise before falling into deep thought. With their forces, they could have indeed infiltrated the palace and attempted an assassination on the Prime Minister. It was dangerous, but it likely wouldn't be as risky as facing Esdeath or Garou head-on.
Najenda frowned at the doubtful expressions on her subordinates' faces and spoke calmly, "Because the Empire's corruption runs too deep. Even if we managed to pull it off, there would just be another Honest to take his place. Our only option is to remove the corruption at its roots and dethrone the Emperor."
Akame recalled Garou's words and pressed further, "What about the Revolutionary Army? How is it sustained? Where do the money and food come from?"
Najenda's frown deepened at the question. She didn't like where this conversation was going, but she still had to answer. "We have officials in the Empire who help us. Some aid comes from villages that support our cause, and foreign countries that don't want war with us."
Akame frowned at the response and countered, "Then doesn't that mean if we keep killing corrupt officials, we're eventually just going to replace the corruption? We don't need a war or to dethrone the Emperor."
Najenda scoffed. "That's too naïve, Akame. Unless everything is replaced, nothing will change."
Akame fell silent, and Najenda assumed she had convinced her—until Akame spoke again.
"The Revolutionary Army's current base was a village they stumbled upon," she said quietly. "The villagers supported the Empire and didn't approve of them… so they wiped it out in the name of the greater good." She clenched her fists. "That's exactly what the Empire does. That's exactly why I killed when I was part of it. For the 'greater good.' For 'peace' for the common people. But the revolutionaries are acting just like the Empire."
Najenda was taken aback, but her face quickly hardened. "Akame, what are you thinking?"
Akame exhaled, exhaustion laced in her voice. "I don't know anymore. My friends sacrificed themselves to protect an evil Empire, and now… it's happening all over again. They died believing in a cause, while those we fought for turned around and destroyed an innocent village." She looked directly at Najenda. "Tell me, what is the point of what we're doing?"
Najenda was silent for a long moment before finally speaking. "Akame, this is war. Sacrifices must be made for a brighter future. We—"
"We can't begin to doubt our cause," Akame interrupted. "We have to trust in the future and the goal we're working toward, right?"
Najenda didn't answer, her gaze serious and unwavering.
"That's the exact same reason we were told back in the empire" Akame said.
Seeing no response from Najenda, the tired look on Akame's face grew. She turned toward the door and walked away.
"Akame…" Leone called out hesitantly.
"I'm tired, Leone," Akame said, her voice heavy with weariness. Without another word, she walked out, never looking back.
As the assassins stared in silence at their friend's actions, Najenda's hands clenched tightly. She knew her best assassin was having second thoughts. Akame was doubting their cause.
And that meant she was compromised.