Work Text:
“Above!?-“
“Eliminate!”
An odd ringing sound filled Esdeath’s ears, her mouth falling open in a short gasp of air, the feeling of a cold blade being recognised as it sliced down the front of her body, infecting her with it’s dreadful poison. The women dropped her sword, the ice blade shattering into pieces the moment it hit the ground. So was this it? She had already sacrificed one of her arms to escape the poisons grasp.. but this, this wasn’t avoidable any longer, the Murasame blade had pierced her torso, she could already feel the cold hands of death creeping up her body, an uncomfortable chill running through her body.
“How... could you break through Makahadoma?”
The blue haired women spluttered, her breathing unstable, attempting to keep herself up right, she wouldn’t let herself be seen as weak! Though, look at how pathetic the situation was in, the weak were to die under the boots of the strong.. that’s just how the world works right? And if so then that meant she was weak, exactly like her mother and father. But how could Akame escape her trump card? She had only used Makahadoma a few times before but it had worked flawlessly on all of her opponents! So how?
“Your trump card that took Susanoo’s life.. I was waiting for you to use it.”
The black haired women replied, her gaze sharp and firm- if only looks could kill then certainly Esdeath would have collapsed onto the ground long ago. Feeling another chill run up her spine, Esdeath felt her heart hammering against her chest, her breathing becoming heavy as the poison wrapped itself around her lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
“That was part of your plan.”
“The afterimage you saw was your bloodlust. I stabbed your inflated ideal of hunting.”
Widening her eyes, Esdeath gasped, the cursed markings of the Murasame poison creeping up her face, the black symbols standing out harshly against her pale complexion. Standing in silence for a moment, Akame kept her gaze locked directly into the women’s eyes, her expression cold and blank.
“Mission accomplished.”
Almost instantly as her strengthened form wore off, Akame dropped to her knees, blood spilling from her mouth and onto the concrete below her as she hacked and spluttered, panting to catch her breath, however her attention was drawn back to Esdeath as the women began laughing, her hair falling over her eyes, blocking them from sight.
“You really are interesting... where does such strength derive?”
“From all the lives of which I am responsible. Those are what gave me strength.”
Akame answered simply as if she had been asked a simple math question. Standing up slowly, the black haired girl just continued watching the other across from her with the same dead stare.
“You plan to continue being dragged down by other’ souls?”
“That’s right.”
“I cannot possibly understand. However, a loss is a loss.”
She chuckled weakly before she gasped, the poison slowly creeping to her heart. The blue haired women stumbled forward, grunting as she fought to keep herself stable, heavy, desperate and painful breath’s escaped her. Composing herself rather quickly, she straightened herself up once again, looking past Akame’s shoulder, slowly walking past her with dull eyes- she knew death was coming for her in mere moments, there wasn’t any point in continuing on with this battle.
“I suppose it is time to die.”
Esdeath muttered emotionlessly, having already accepted her fate with open arms, it’s not like the poison had any sort of cure anyway, the tiniest of cuts were deadly from that blade. Akame’s eyes widened, quickly turning to look behind her before an ice barrier formed in front of her, preventing her from coming any closer to the “ice queen”.
“Esdeath!”
Spluttering and coughing, the women in question collapsed onto her knees, her hand desperately clutching at her chest, holding onto whatever remained of her life- she was far too young to die right now, she was only 20 years old, she hadn’t lived the majority of her life, she hadn’t enjoyed the simple things that life had to offer. Smiling sadly, the women slumped over onto her elbow, not being able to fully support herself as she only possessed one arm at the moment, weakly laying against the cold concrete beneath her. Esdeath hadn’t imagined her death being like this, she had always imagined dying happily with her one true love beside her.
Turning her head quickly to the side, the sound of footsteps could be heard approaching her. Esdeath barely had enough strength to drag her eyes up the length of whoever it was- narrowing her eyes, the figure crouched down beside her, the ice queen’s heart suddenly plummeting in her chest upon identifying the figure.
“Najenda...”
She whispered out weakly, shakily reaching out for her fellow ex-general, one of the only people she had considered a lover until she betrayed her and the empire, leaving them in the dust to join the revolutionary army. Tears welled up in the younger women’s eyes before they spilled and dropped down her cheeks, her chest heaving as she sobbed silently. Najenda simply stated at Esdeath before she settled down beside her, pulling the blood covered women into her lap, pulling her head to rest against her chest, her mechanical arm being used to support Esdeath’s weight. Pushing some of her pale platinum hair out of her face with her free hand, the older women eventually stroked her fingers through the imperial general’s hair, smiling sadly at her.
“Come on.. I know you’re stronger than this Esdeath..”
Hearing the women’s voice in such a soft tone caused the blue haired women to wail out sadly, turning her face to bury it into Najenda’s shoulder, basking in the comforting embrace for as long as she could, her body shaking and trembling harshly. It had been years silence she had felt the older women’s touch, oh how much she had missed the warmth and safety it supplied her with.
It wasn’t necessarily common knowledge nowadays but Esdeath and Najenda had been lovers once, until Najenda attempted to leave the corrupted empire- the women had begged for Esdeath to come with her, but that only resulted in retaliation and a fight that practically destroyed Najenda’s body, leaving her fatally wounded with a missing arm and eye. Was there truly a way for Esdeath to redeem herself for how much pain and death she had caused? Most likely not- but Najenda couldn’t help but still feel love for the sadistic women laying in her arms. Chuckling weakly, Esdeath eventually raised her head, staring into Najenda’s violet eyes, relishing in their beautiful colour.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough..”
“Don’t be so foolish.. you truly haven’t changed huh?”
The younger women couldn’t help but giggle at the question- it was true, Esdeath certainly hadn’t changed at all these past years or her entire life for that matter, she was stubborn, someone who dominated anything she wished, she refused to change for anyone.. which was a blessing and a curse at the same time she supposed.
“It appears I haven’t huh?”
“You’re such an idiot..”
“I know.”
Smiling sadly, Esdeath allowed her eyes to close, a warm feeling engulfing her body.. it felt strangely.. comforting? Almost as if she were being rocked to sleep, her body beginning to feel heavy, the dark abyss waiting to drag her under and suffocate her. Najenda scoffed loudly, shaking her head, her eyebrows furrowing. Esdeath was her enemy now.. so why did she care? Why should she care? Breathing shakily, she held the smaller women close to her chest.
“This reminds me of when we where general’s.. we always used to take care of each other if we got wounded..”
“Yeah, aha.. even though you always denied being hurt..”
Esdeath replied with a weak hum of amusement, weakly cracking one of her eyes open to glance up at her beloved, her usual bright icy blue eyes appearing dark and dull. Najenda turned her gaze upwards at the sky above them, watching as clouds passed them by.
“I... couldn’t let myself be weak..”
Rolling her eyes Najenda didn’t even bother to glance down at Esdeath, lightly tapping the top of the women’s head as if she were scolding her. Najenda had never understood Esdeath’s obsession with the weak and the strong, her ideals and beliefs had never really sat right with her- but there was nothing she could do to change the stubborn women.
“You always used to say that.. and no matter how many times you’ve explained it, I still don’t get how a person can have such harsh and cruel beliefs..”
Najenda muttered, awaiting a response the never came- assuming that Esdeath simply had nothing else to say, the older women opened her mouth to begin speaking once again, her eye narrowing sharply, her hand still softly stroking through the ice queen’s blue hair, relishing in it’s softness, it had always been soft.. just how Najenda remembered it.
“You said your father raised you to believe such things right? You even told me he was your role model and that you wanted to surpass him..”
Once again, no reply. Feeling slightly nervous by the silence, Najenda glanced back down at the general laying in her lap. The smaller women’s eyes were closed, her mouth open and blood dripped down from her open lips. Najenda hesitantly nudged at Esdeath’s now limp body, her heart beginning to hammer against her rib cage, deafening her.
“Esdeath.. why am I the only one speaking?”
Still, no reply came. The poison had made itself into Esdeath’s heart, wrapping around it before it finally took her life, her consciousness fading from her mid conversation. But at least she got to die in the arms of the love of her life, the soothing voice speaking to her filling her ears before she inevitably slipped away, sinking slowly as the abyss pulled her under, successfully engulfing her in it’s warmth, pulling her into an internal slumber.
Esdeath had been successfully eliminated by night raid’s Akame and her sword, her imperial arms, Murasame.
It turns out that Esdeath now lay among the weak as she would call it. She underestimated Akame and it only dug herself an early grave of which she couldn’t escape.
Standing by a grave, Najenda slowly leaned down, placing a bundle of small white flowers down in front of it. Smiling sadly, the women placed her hand against the head stone, reaching for something out of her bag, retrieving Esdeath’s signature hat, dusting it carefully with her hand before placing it down by the flowers.
“I thought you would appreciate seeing this again..”
She muttered under her breath, tears streaming down her cheek before she sat down onto the grass in front of the grave, simply staring down at the ground, allowing her tears to sink into the grass below, her shoulders trembling as she fought to keep her sobs silent.. she shouldn’t be crying! Esdeath would have laughed at her if she was with her right now.
Scoffing, the platinum haired women shook her head, wiping the tears away from her face swiftly, a small smirk curving at the corner of her lips.
“I’ll see you soon enough, Esdeath..”