AKAME ASSASINATION (36)
"You really like farming, don't you?" Catherine sat on the fence that separated the new found farm and the trail that led to it.
"I suppose." Akame had a hoe in his hand, as he often did especially in the era of some new found piece. "Maybe its because there's nothing else of importance to do."
Catherine remembers swinging her bare legs and jumping into the earth her toes digging deep into the earth. But she still couldn't feel it, all she was doing was displacing soil and exposing white lava underneath.
"What did you do before you came here?"
Akame thought for a long moment, "I guess perhaps I used to kill people for a living."
"That's sad."
"Very sad, isn't it."
'But even then I could never truly bring myself to hate such a kind man. Most men around here pretend to be good when they're actually evil, kind when they're actually mean, and hopeful when they're actually pessimistic. But he was different, he pretended to be mean when he was actually very kind.
I remember seeing it in his eyes when he rescued Gil, and when he looked back at me. Those green eyes reflected nothing but a kind heart underneath. I really do wish I could walk beside that kind heart, so my 'heart' could be kind too one day…. at least that's what I had hoped.'
Her hands that were now bound began to itch, and her nose began to run as her world was nothing but darkness, 'And I've let that kind heart go off to be killed, I can never forgive myself.'
She had already given herself up to the world to swallow her up again, a world that had refused for her to even think of the prospect of dying. Her coming back hasn't helped anyone, her coming back didn't bring anyone else back.
Suddenly she felt soft hands on her cheek that grabbed her and pulled her in with furious intensity her mouth opened and she felt something slithering inside of it. Whatever it was, she couldn't wrap her head around it. Her vision was blurry, her body was tied up and her will had died out like the embers of a once great bond fire. Its really interesting how just one small thing you take for granted could end up being your greatest curse.
She found it extremely funny and even chuckled in between gasps for breath. But soon the end was near, whatever end that would it. Perhaps no end at all. But hey, what could she do?
But as these thoughts flowed into her mind she felt a strange sensation in her legs. As though they were being parted. She didn't understand what was happening because she wasn't the one parting them. When she thought she was only hallucinating, as it would turn out something squeezed her chest even attempting to lift her blouse. It was then and only then that she came back to her senses .
And what she saw disgusted her to her core.
One of the men that was slowly observing her, one of the men she had seen take Akame and slap her, one of the men on duty had somehow crawled down into the pit and was attempting to rape her.
Well, in her unconscious state it was as though she was inviting it since she didn't really refuse. However, the fact still remained, he was attempting to get it off using her body. Something she was too familiar with.
She retracted her head and and came swinging with full force, head butting him making the man stumble and fall on his ass.
"Wha….what are you trying to do?" She shouted.
But it was clear the man didn't understand or just didn't care because he jumped back on her scrambling to get a relief of sorts. This was even more scary since she couldn't understand a word he was thinking.
Ever since she became a ghost, she's had a special ability, one that enabled her to hear other people's thoughts. Which was probably just a thing all spirits had. But his was just a jumble of words, maybe because he was of a different language group all together.
He tried leaning in for another kiss, but Catherine kicked him with her legs. "Stay away from me!"
'You Damn Bitch!' The man screamed in his mind.
"You… you can understand me?"
"Shut up!" He jumped back on her slapping her hard. "A filthy woman like doesn't deserve to speak in front of a man. That's how it should be."
He back handed her making her spit blood onto the floor.
"Now let me have my fun!" He leaned in for a successful kiss. And this time Catherine didn't have the energy necessary to refuse. No it wasn't that, she just didn't see the point. Regardless of what he did to her she wouldn't die, but maybe her usefulness to this man would be something better, something that could fill that emptiness she currently felt.
"Why did you kill people?" Catherine remembers her own voice as she asked Akame that question.
"Well, I don't really know." He said as he continued to plough a line on the field. "Maybe I was just angry."
"Angry?"
"Yeah, angry that I couldn't find any purpose in what I was doing. Angry that my life wasn't what I wanted it to be."
"Oh…. how did you stop being angry?" Catherine's childlike curiosity got the best of her.
Akame took a moment as he looked out into the horizon, "I found something that gave me purpose."
"What was that purpose?"
"To keep living, no matter what." Akame went back to ploughing, "That's all the purpose I'd need."
The man on top of Catherine stumbled back holding his mouth as a sharp pain began to fill his entire body.
'I didn't really get what he meant at that time.' Catherine thought to herself, 'But I think I might right now.'
She opened her mouth to reveal a bleeding tongue that definitely wasn't hers. She spat it out licking the blood from her mouth in the process.
The man cowered in fear as this new creature that wasn't man or demon appeared before him. Her eyes were red with a profound rage. Rage which she would channel into strength. Strength she would use to snap the roped that bound her and strength she would then use to lift the wooden pole that she was bound too.
The man hit a dead end against the wall, his tongue bleeding and gushing out between his lips.
'Wait… I don't wanna die, please.' Her thoughts reached her and this time they weren't jumbled up messages. This entire time he could understand her, he could hear her beg for them not to take Akame from her and they still did.
A smile appeared on her face, it wasn't a creapy one but brought about by rage.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"
She swung the wooden pole hitting him on the side of the head.
"NEVER TOUCH ME!"
She swung again. This time bashing his against the floor.
"OR I'LL KILL YOU!"
She hit him again!
And again!
And again!
Until his skull was cracked and brain matter spread across the ground. Catherine panted and threw the wooden pole away, the man who had attempted to take back her freedom was now dead on the ground. It felt…
...good…
Better than she'd thought it would. She was now liberated from whatever she was thinking. Whatever she hated about herself, whatever came before that. Now all she cared about was finding Akame.
"I'll live as long as I can." She sighed.
It wasn't a declaration, but an acceptance of something that drove her into a spiral. What she declared was that she would use this life to find a purpose for herself.
With that she climbed the ladder made of sticks and rope finally crawling out of that damned place.
"I'll find you, Akame."
TO BE CONTINUED!