AKAME ASSASINATION (32)
A DARK VOID!
The place was extremely dark and alive, the walls of the place melted with a goo-like substance that was soft and jelly like. This was a place of dreams and lost hope. But what was Akame doing in this place?
He walked slowly across the goo like floors which echoed with screams of a forgotten time, one which Akame probably knew of. When you live as long as he has, you have a tendency of forgetting the bad moments whilst replacing them with false good ones. But his body wouldn't lie to him, he had been here before. He just couldn't lay a finger on where he was.
"You're in your head!" A sudden voice shouted at him from behind.
"!" Akame gave a sharp turn, but there was no one behind him.
"Who are we looking for?" The voice was now beside him looking in the same direction he was.
Akame turned and to his surprise it was someone he knew of. "Its weird how even in death I can't seem to escape you." Akame commented, "Blake."
"Aww, you know you and me are tied together for life." The thing that impersonated his friend responded, "Although I'm not Blake."
"Even though you got everything down… even the lame bucket hat he wears."
"Lame! And here was me thinking I looked cool in it."
"You really don't." Akame looked around, "So who are you?"
"Me?" The creature gave a twirl, "I am your subconscious personified into someone close to you."
"Why Blake though, I don't even like the guy that much."
"You should tell me, or could it be you secretly admire him." The figure leaned in with a sly grin.
"Shut up." Akame calmly said grabbing the figure's face with his palm and pushing it away.
He then proceeded to keep walking as he looked around, "So where am I?"
"You seriously forgot?"
"Jog my memory." Akame didn't look back when he said this.
"Do you remember the girl who was born of a corpse?" Blake asked, "It was a real shocking story back in our time."
Akame turned and looked at the creature, "A girl born of a corpse?"
"Yes, the girl you found in a small cabin in a forest after you left the monastery. It was quiet some time ago, but you found a baby crawling from her mothers dead body covered in a black substance."
"Like the one lining the walls?"
"Yes, exactly like this." The creature disappeared a d reappeared beside Akame. "Do you remember what you thought in that moment?"
Akame thought to himself, while the memory itself was fuzzy it wasn't as though remembering it was difficult. "What did I think?"
"A name."
"A name?"
"Yes, you gave her a name."
"…"
"Lynn."
Akame took a moment to remember but it did finally hit him. "Oh yeah, but because I couldn't pronounce it well her official name when I gave her to the Okinawa group was Rin. So we just stuck with that for the entire time… does that mean…"
"Yes Akame, we're in Lynn's inner world."
The ring on Akame's finger gave itself the name Lynn probably naming itself after its first master from whom Akame acquired the ring from.
"So we're basically in its innate domain."
If you recall chapter 42, Akame had summoned Gil from a 'store house' of sorts, this place they were in now was the store house. Whatever is registered and is supposed to be teleported will appear here first before popping out on the other end.
"So that's where I've been this entire time?" Akame sighed, "I was having these weird recollections of things I'm sure never happened in the past."
"How sure are you they never did?"
"Pretty sure. I think I'd remember if I went rogue and started killing people in dojo's for no reason."
"How long have you been alive Akame?" The creature asked.
"I don't know, isn't the average lifespan of a sorcerer like 6000 years?" Akame asked, "I think I've been alive for half of that."
"It depends on how long you've had sorcery for. Memories can be distorted Akame, but they can't be disregarded."
"What are you suggesting?" Akame turned, but the creature was in front of him.
"I'm suggesting that perhaps for you to help those two who walk beside you. You need to unravel the truth about yourself first. Two blind men can't be led by another blind man, can they?"
Akame shrugged, "Since when have I been a sour puss?"
"Since you started thinking critically about things." The creature rubbed its hair, "In any case you might want to wake up now, you're probably in serious trouble. And so is everyone else."
"Yeah." Akame looked up a the walls, "Wait, I've been a sleep?"
"Yep."
"For how long?"
"I don't know, I've been here with you this entire time."
"I'll be on my way, I guess."
Akame turned and continued walking.
"Oh and Akame-chan!" This voice was high-pitched and not the same one the creature had used prior.
'Akame-Chan?' He wondered and turned behind to see. This caught him off guard, he genuinely couldn't suppress his shock.
The woman who stood before him right now was short and couldn't even be considered a woman. Her hair was long and red and her iris was pink.
"When will you come home?" Said the woman, "Your sister… and I have been waiting."
"…"
"You were always a stubborn boy." She began, "If you're gonna leave regardless of what I tell you, then remember to eat lots ok? And don't forget to call ok? And also… um… also…"
'What is this?' Akame wondered as he was still frozen from extreme shock, 'Is this a memory? Who is she and why can't I remember her? She said my sister, is she my younger sister?'
The short woman twirled her hair with her finger and her face was red, "Akame… people say you're evil by nature, that you're destined to become like your mother. When they say that about you I get so angry, what do they know anyway? My boy is kind and helpful and has the brightest smile." She paused for a moment, "What I'm trying to say is… your mother loves you Akame, ok? She never stopped and never will. You'll never be alone, because I'll be there with you. Always."
A single tear left his right eye. He immediately understood.
'Oh, so this is from back then?'
***
"Is this the white man you spoke of?" The chief sat in his hut that morning, the sun was now overhead and the elders had also come to see that had been happening.
On the floor sitting with his legs crossed and his hands and feet restrained was Akame, who up till now was still unconscious.
"Why is he not waking up?" An elder asked.
"That is a very good question." Zena said, a good question to which Zena did not have an answer to. However, he didn't want to look bad before the chief, as such he opted to wake him up.
"Do not worry, we shall get him to wake up right now." Zena snapped his finger and Orinx entered the hut with an iron rod still glowing red hot from the fire it was placed in.
"Are these means necessary?" The chief asked, "Could you not simply poke him awake?"
"Poke him awake!" Zena looked at him with a softened expression, "He the potential murderer of your daughter sir. Why should we go easy on him?"
"Yes, he is right. Do not let your judgement be clouded by what he is wearing. Or even if he is a white man, we show no mercy to those who kill our own."
"Nala is not dead, and it would be foolish to physically injure someone we want information from. Would it not?"
The court was quiet and so was Zena, he stared at the chief his face red with rage. 'This bastard of a chief, all he ever cares about is how other people feel. People who aren't our own.'
Orinx saw the rage on his brother's face, 'This isn't good.' He had to think quickly, and the only possible thing he could think of was poking Akame's skin with the hot iron which simmered as it came into contact with it.
"!" This obviously caught everyone off guard as most of the elders were thinking of joining the chief in his reasoning.
This sudden shock also brought Zena back from wherever his mind was. As he stared at his brother, but this time he wasn't angry with him. Actually it was the opposite. He was actually quiet pleased.
But to their dismay this didn't seem to affect Akame in anyway as he just remained there, still fast asleep. His body not even twitching as the iron came into contact with it. As though he had nerves of steel.
"Impossible!" The elders screamed, "Is this the use of magic perhaps."
"I have heard there is a type of magic used to reduce physical pain."
"Like the one used by witches?"
"Yes, like that."
Murmurs started circulating around the room as the elders tossed around ideas of what the possibility could be.
But as they did that a small black goo originating from Akame's finger began climbing up his hands onto the wound he had been inflicted with.
Each one of them stopped speaking immediately the felt a strong presence. They turned to look at Akame who still sat there, his hands and feet bound. But this time his eyes were opened to reveal emerald green.
SAIKYO AKAME
CONTRACTED OWNER OF THE ARTIFACT, LYNN