A/N: Just to let you know that this fanfiction takes place before the Genesis Arc episode "SMG4: Into The Dark Web", so you don't have to worry about a certain character's death then, okay? Now, onto the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Akame Ga Kill or SMG4. They belong to their rightful and respectful owners.
Episode 14: Madness Aftermath
Chapter Synopsis: From all of the madness that they had endured, what will be the resulting outcome?
A grey void had opened within a different section of the woods back in the SMG4 world and both Mario and Tatsumi were then thrown out of it. The two landed on the ground with a loud thud and soon the grey portal disappeared. Tatsumi then struggled to get back up due to his injured chest. "That, was really something, huh Mario?" He asked before he got out of his armour.
Mario then got up and went to where the assassin was to assist in standing back up. What the Italian didn't expect was that Tatsumi now had horns on top of his head and also had reptilian skin as well. He knew what this meant. "T-Tatsumi...."
"It's the effect, isn't it?" the boy responded, in which the Italian nodded at him as the assassin stood back up. He knew that Mario felt solely responsible for forcing Tatsumi into using his dangerous Imperial Arm for the third time. But instead of being angry, he just smiled at the idiot. "Mario, it was for your own safety. I made a promise to myself and to SMG4 that I would protect you from any danger even if it would cost me my own safety. It's fine Mario."
That was a surprise for Mario to hear that from a boy that reminded of him of his close friend, Meggy. He could see that both are stubborn and are willing to sacrifice themselves for the safety of their friends. "But, about the Tyrant Dragon that Axol and Boopkins keeps talking..."
"Hey," Tatsumi then put his right hand on Mario's shoulder as he was going to assure him about something, "It's like what I said before Mario, it's fine."
Mario was about to make a statement but then he then thought about what the assassin had to say and soon enough, he could tell that Tatsumi was always pushing himself for the sake of his friend's safety no matter what. "Oh. I see." Mario then turned around and he couldn't believe on what he was seeing. The idiot had his eyes sticking out before he tapped Tatsumi's shoulder to get his attention. "Tatsumi, look!"
The assassin then looked at where the Italian was looking at and saw a building that was built like a castle and the colour white. He also saw that there was a sign called "White Castle" on a road sign-pole. He could only say one thing. "Huh? So were we teleported there or—"
"AND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! HOLY SH*T!" Mario could only say as his singing voice was that of the YouTuber Jontron while he was running like a child towards of the restaurant.
Tatsumi was about to tell Mario to slow down a little since there might be cars passing by on the road that might eventually crash into him. But then he stopped himself as Mario really wanted to go to this restaurant so badly. Now this reminds him of a certain big eater back in his world. "Well, if I may." He began to walk to catch up to where Mario was while the side effects of Incursio was still happening.
C
The assassin continued to walk until he stop where Mario was, which was in the parking area of White Castle. The two saw that there was an 80% Discount offer that was until 19:30. Mario then pulled out his watch and saw that it was around 19:27, which was just three minutes until it ends.
"Mario," He turned around to see Tatsumi smiling, "Just go."
"Wait Tatsumi. Are you—" Mario was about to ask his question.
"Just go. There is little time, right?" The assassin reminded him, "So, go on, this is your only chance."
With the assassin's words, Mario then began to make his way to the store and began to buy the items that he wanted. Tatsumi, who was looking through the glass window without letting himself been seen due to the fact that he still had Incursio's side effects one, saw that the cashier had a dumbfounded look on his expression on the order that Mario made. Without wasting a second, the White Castle Employee then told his colleagues about the order and then the Italian then waited on a table to wait for his order.
Tatsumi, at this point, really wanted to go and talk to him, but due to his current appearance, he couldn't. The assassin was then deep in his thoughts as he was thinking about Mario. "I never knew that Mario would be a kind and caring person. Normally, he would be just an idiot who lacks little common sense and cares only for himself and spaghetti but when I get to know him better, he has made his friends' lives a little better while making it worse for them at the same time. But there is one exception though, do I remind him of Meggy then?"
Just as he was about to answer his own question when he heard the door opening. He turned around to see Mario carrying two boxes that he bought from white castle as well as cups that was filled with drinks. Tatsumi just smiled at him. "Hey Mario, so did you get your order?"
The Italian just nodded at him in response. "Yes. In fact, I got us thirty sliders each and also a bag that was holding two large soda drinks as well. So you can thank me later." He then saw something that was eyecatching. "You're still bleeding y'know?"
That made the assassin then look down at his chest and saw that he was in fact still bleeding although it was just a minor one. The assassin was glad that Incursio had the ability to regenerate most of his wound but to see it still bleeding.....He then turns towards Mario. "Say, are there any good spots that we could have a private talk?"
"Oh, I already know a place Tatsumi." Mario answered before he start walking to where this spot was. This made the assassin in follow him and was still looking at his chest. He could tell that he was going to have that scar forever since he risked his life in saving Mario and when he was going to tell it to the others, they may have mixed reactions. Most of his friends would find Mario as an apathetic piece of trash who has got a little brain so they wouldn't like how Tatsumi risked his own life into saving the idiot. But he does know that people like Run, Wave, and Bols may not mind his complete idiocracy might be thankful that he saved Mario's life.
"Hey!" Speaking of the devil Tatsumi was then broke out of his thoughts and saw that Mario was looking back at him. "Are you coming or what?"
The assassin then shook his head to not get too bothered by that question that was in his mind. He then look back at Mario with a smile on his face. "Sure, I'll catch on ahead!"
And with that, Mario then resumed walking towards the spot where he and Tatsumi could eat their food and talk somewhere privately. As he was doing so, Tatsumi then followed suite as he was covering his scarred chest with his arms.
C
A view was overlooking the Capital of The Mushroom Kingdom and Tatsumi was sitting down in the cliff and was shirtless since Mario was kindly patching him up. The Italian seemed to be doing good in his job since the bleeding in the assassin's chest felt quite better and he was relieved that it was being patched up. Now all that it was to do was to let it recover until he gets back to his world. "Thanks for patching me up Mario."
The Italian just replied. "No worries, Tatsumi. Since I kinda was the one who was responsible for giving you that scar across the chest, so I am doing this as a way to apologise for that."
"No, it wasn't your fault Mario." Tatsumi said to him as he felt Mario putting the final layer of the bandage and the boy proceeded to put back on his dark blue T-shirt. Feeling quite better now, Mario then sat next to Tatsumi on the left side before the two began to eat the burgers that the Italian has bought from White Castle.
The assassin was actually enjoying the food as he took a bit off his second burger. "My God. I never tasted anything like this before!"
Mario saw how Tatsumi reacted before he let out a laughter. "So, first time eating a burger, huh?" Tatsumi then stopped eating for a bit before he looked at him.
"Say what now?" Tatsumi asked the Italian.
Again, Mario then laughed at Tatsumi's reaction when he asked that question. "You said that 'You never tasted anything like this before' huh? Well, they are called burgers and trust me, you can bring that recipe when you go back into your world."
"Yeah, you're probably right. And I could tell that my friends would like it. Especially Akame." Tatsumi said as he finished his sixth slider.
Mario, who ate a total of fifteen sliders within one go, then stopped eating his sixteenth one as he looked at the assassin who was drinking from his large cup of soda. "Say, since I told you about Meggy, are you going to tell me about that Akame girl then?"
Well, that was a tough choice that the assassin had to think of carefully. He was aware that both him and Mario were starting to become good friends, he didn't fully trust Mario as he could eventually spread rumours about it among other people and it might ruin the red-eyed girl's life when she might meet up with him. He pondered a bit before he answered his question. "Uh...yeah, I can tell you what I know about Akame since you told me so much about your friend Meggy. But I am going to leave some personal stuff out, okay?"
The Italian then nodded at him. "Okay."
The assassin then turn towards the view of the city. "Akame was a few kids that were sold to the Empire by her parents along with her sister Kurome." That made Mario lose some of his appetite as he heard Tatsumi saying that. He continued to eat but in a slower pace as he let his friend continue what he is saying. Mario never expected that Akame and Kurome were sisters, but it makes much more sense if he considers that they had similar name patterns so that would make sense that they're both sisters. "Anyway, since childhood, they along with a hundred more children were sent deep into the forest that was filled with Danger Beasts that basically forced them into partaking in that cruel exam. The ones that made it to the top seven was Akame, who was part of an Elite assassination unit within the Empire and was trained by a top assassin. I won't say the name in case if you leak anything personal to anyone Mario."
The Italian did notice that he only mentioned Akame who made it into the top seven. He then asked his next and obvious question as he was eating his twentieth slider. "What Akame's sister Kurome then?"
Tatsumi then look down in sadness when Mario mentioned Akame's sister as he finished taking his ninth slider. "Kurome....Although she was one of the few survivors, did not make it to the top seven. So, against her own will, she was separated from Akame and was part of another group who was trained to be the best assassin units in the Empire. But, unlike Akame's group who was trained hellishly," That made Mario sweat dropped at that statement as he had PTSD of Meggy training him, Luigi, and Tari for the Splatfest Tournament, "Are you okay Mario?"
The assassin's friend then phased out for a bit until he manage to compose himself. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just had flashbacks when you mentioned about training hellishly."
Now that caught Tatsumi's interest. Now that he mentioned about that, would that link to Mario's friend Meggy? As vague as it may sound, it wasn't the right time to ask that as he manage to grab his eleventh slider from his munch box, which is what they're called in White Castle, and manage to take a bite before he continued Akame's past. "Kurome's team still had training but were given special doses of drugs in the form of injections. They were meant to make them stronger. However, over the course of days or even weeks, they became addicted to it and couldn't stop having them, which damaged their body in general. Kurome's case, well, she still took those drugs which was in the form of cookies that was created by the scientists of the Empire. Kinda one messed up backstory for a person like her, eh Mario?" The Italian didn't reply back as he continued to eat his twenty-seventh slider. "Anyway, Akame became resentful towards the Empire due to her friends being killed one by one and during one of her missions, she met my boss, Najenda, who convinced her to join the Revolutionary Army side."
"Najenda....?" Mario spoke as he was confused by that name until he then remembered seeing a silver short-haired person with an eyepatch. "Oh, you mean that one-eyed hunk?"
Tatsumi just stopped in his twelfth slider when his idiotic friend said that and he just glared at him for saying that. "Mario, why would you say that? Y'know that she doesn't like it when some people calls her a hunk. I got pummelled in the head because of that."
"Oh right...." Mario spoke as he was trailing off. He then took his last three sliders and ate it all before he put it all in his mouth before he drank his large cup of soda. "Well, I usual just say what's on my mind."
The assassin just sighed at Mario's response. "You need some work on your mannerism one day, Mario. Because if you do that all of the time, you're going to get hated by people. And my group isn't one who takes your responses kindly."
Mario's expression then softened a bit when he heard his friend mentioning his group. "You barely talked about Night Raid, Tatsumi. You never tell any of my friends about that them." Whenever he and the others talk to him with the regards of that topic the assassin just didn't reply. Even with the likes of Tari and Luigi, the assassin still didn't respond to their question. "Say Tatsumi, now that I thought about my friend Meggy, I could say one thing about Akame."
Tatsumi was surprised to hear that from Mario. He then grabbed his soda cup and proceed to drink from it. "Well, what is it then?"
Mario just smiled as he was about to say something that would make Tatsumi's think about his brother-sister bond with Akame. "Now that I think of it, my friend group's Ace, Meggy could go well with your Ace of Night Raid, Akame."
Now that caught Tatsumi's interest as he stopped drinking his soda. He then face Mario with a curious expression on his face. "How come?"
The idiot was then deep within his thoughts before answering his assassin friend's question after finishing his large cup of soda. "Well, where do I begin?" He begins to ponder for a bit before he could even think of two. "Well, I could say that one they could work together as a team, although Akame would do her work faster than Meggy due to that training you mentioned. Oh, and they are picky eaters. Akame likes meat, right? So I can clearly imagine Meggy's noodle addiction as well." Both then imagined their respected close friends eating their favourite food and soon they both shuddered at the thought of them. More so for Tatsumi as he could imagine them completely finishing the food without letting any of their friends eat.
"Well, she is a good cook, right?" Tatsumi asked the idiotic Italian, only to get a response of a laughter.
Mario then looked at the assassin in the eyes. "Oh no. She's not a good cook. Although she knows how to cook instant noodles and a whole chicken, she can't cook anything else."
"Why doesn't it surprise me?" Tatsumi said sarcastically as he could already imagine a scenario with the two when they are cooking together. He then looked up towards the sky and he was no longer smiling. "Hope that one day I would return to my world Mario."
The idiot saw how the assassin's facial expression changed, so he put his right hand on Tatsumi's left shoulder to get his attention. "You will Tatsumi," The bot turn towards him, "You will."
With that said and done, the assassin then looks up in the air and begins to wonder what will happen now. "I wonder what will be next for us?"
"Hey!" Tatsumi then turns towards Mario who was slurping his soda cup. "Do you think that it was worth it since we did risk our lives in another dimension while committing a mass murder for some burgers was worth it?"
The assassin then made a deadpan expression on his face as he didn't want to get the mood ruined as he was going to eat his fifteenth slider. "Mario, now it's not the time to answer that."
C
Unknown to the two of them, a man in a hooded coat just smirked at who was he looking at the assassin since he wasn't bothered about Mario. "So, he was here after all. Interesting." He smiled at the sight before has cracked his neck. "So, after having fun with those twenty-two people, hearing their screams and pleading, I finally found you Night Raid." His plans were now coming together ever since he came to this world like a day ago.
He then turns around before walking away. "I can't wait to fight you in two days' time." Unbeknownst to the unknown man, Mario sworn he could've felt that someone was watching them and knew that something was about to be played up.
A/N: Well, here's the ending to the 'Madness Trip Arc' which I am aware that its flawed and short in all, but that's what I really wanted to do. Now then, onto the next Mini Arc called 'Old Score Arc'. I will see you in the next update.