The sun's actually really bright today. Here lately, it has been raining nonstop. Now, the sweltering heat mixes with the puddles making the day hot and steamy. Ren's already filled me in on everything him and Leone talked about. Apparently, Night Raid doesn't actually want to kill us. I won't believe a word out of her mouth until I can see for sure that Night Raid isn't against us. Bad thing is, Leone won't leave us alone. I want to get as far away as I can from Leone. She seems to have Ren in her grasp. He has been a lot happier since yesterday...happier than he has in a while. At least Anna is on my side. She thinks Leone is a liar trying to get close to us so she can kill us later on. I'm with her on that one. The only thing that I've found helpful is the information she's given us about the Jaegers. They're strength is equal to Night Raid's and that frightening. I've never seen any of the Jaegers nor any members from Night Raid fight with the exception of Akame a little bit. If we get into a fight with the Jaegers alone, we don't stand a chance. Those users we fought before, don't even come close to any of them.
I don't know why Leone persists trying to get us to join Night Raid. We're nothing special; not at all. We're just regular people who picked up weapons and nothing more. She promises that we'll be taken care of, but The Revolutionary Army might not like us since we killed the soldiers they sent after us every once and a while. I just can't believe that Night Raid was there to protect us that night. Ren might be persuaded, but I'm not convinced and neither is Anna. I just want to get as far away as possible from Leone. Her influence on Ren is driving a wedge in our family.
"You guys want to know about the Jaegers?" Leone says over lunch at the tavern, "I can help you with that. If you want to see their power, then I can show you."
"And how are you going to do that?" Anna asks acting like she's not even interested in the conversation.
"I'll get in a fight with one of them." Leone smirks, "I won't kill them, I'll leave that prize to you guys since you want to fight them so bad."
"Won't that make you a wanted person in town?" I ask, "You won't be able to come back here."
"Oh I will trust me," Leone chuckles, "these people love me!"
"So who are you going to fight then?" Ren looks over at her with a weird glance, "We don't even know who's in the Jaegers except Esdeath."
"I'll be fighting Wave." Leone slams her hands on the table, "That guy is a softy compared to the others, but he is a Jaeger so don't take him lightly. He has a Teigu like Bulat's. I'll introduce you all eventually, but I can't go home without you three. So if you want to meet the gang, then you'll have to come with us. That doesn't mean you have to join us. We just want to know what's up with you guys."
So she doesn't really know the real reason we're fighting everyone. I don't remember much of the night, it was all a blur to me and I blacked out for most of it. I just got everything filled in by Anna and Ren.
"And how do you expect to fight him?" Anna sighs deeply, "He's not just going to walk through that door-"
As if on cue, a boy my age with blue hair and blue clothes walks through the door. The entire room goes quiet. He looks over at us and smiles brightly. How is this guy a Jaeger. He seems way to nice to be a killer. He can't possibly be that strong.
"So, you're the famous trio that's been wreaking havoc around the countryside." Wave takes a seat next to Ren, "Well I'm Wave and I got this random letter delivered to me and it told me to come here on this day. I just picked out the people who stood out."
"So you're a Jaeger?" I grip one of my sword's tightly, "Give me a reason not to kill you right now."
"Look around!" Wave pats my back, "We can't fight here and besides none of you are capable of fighting me."
"I can beat the shit out of you." Leone pipes in, "I'm the one who sent that letter."
"So, you wanna fight me huh?" Wave leans back in his chair, "But you said no killing. That's gonna be tough when I'm under orders of Esdeath to kill any Night Raid."
"Just a friendly competition!" Leone smiles, "I just want to show these kids just how strong we are."
"Fine with me." Wave stands up and starts for the door, "You guys just going to sit there or you gonna follow me to the fight?"
Leone flips the table as she gets up spilling our meals onto the floor. I guess that's our cue to leave. We silently make our way through the now quiet tavern. Leone sure knows how to make a scene. I slowly shut the door behind me and plant my hand on my head. We meet some of the strangest people.
*****
We follow Wave out to an open meadow. It's a perfect place for a fight; away from people and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Leone points to the ground and tells us to sit. The fight will begin anytime. Wave unsheathes a short, but powerful looking sword. Leone transforms into something like a lion. In an instant, Wave is wearing dark blue and black armor.
"Shall we get started?" Wave disappears in an instant. I can't even see the fighting, but I can hear it. They can't be moving that fast. That's impossible! They both wind up at different sides of the meadow from where they started.
"Did you see anything?" Anna leans forward squinting, "I didn't even see anything."
"Here's the thing," Leone crouches down to all fours, "we're moving at a quarter of our top speed. Do you guys really think you can stand up to any of us in top form?"
"She's right," Ren sighs deeply, "we can't even keep up with them at their current rate, how do you expect to win if you can't even see them?"
"We'll find a way." I stand up unsheathing my swords, "Wave, come at me!"
I sprint forward and hit nothing but air. My vision goes black as I'm kicked in the back of the neck. I stumble forward and turn around. It wasn't Wave that kicked me, it was Leone.
"You're not even close to being ready!" She says turning back into her regular self, "I'm just saying that if you come with us, we'll make you stronger. Akame, for some reason, can't keep her mind off you three. It might have something to do with her past and she hasn't really talked about it much."
"Wait you're trying to recruit?" Wave sheathes his sword, "The Empire gave the order to kill these three and I haven't even seen what they can do. What makes them dangerous. They seem like regular fighters to me."
"You're forgetting that they took down two of your lackeys." Leone leans on Ren's shoulders, "They're strong enough to do that. Hell, Selan there, took one down almost single handedly. I wouldn't underestimate these three."
"Ya okay." Wave throws his hands in the air, "You got me. Well I'm going to be on my way. Next time we meet, it'll be to the death."
"Just like everything else in this world." I say under my breath, "So, I can't believe I'm even asking this, what do you guys think?"
"I say we try and see what's in store for us." Ren pushes Leone off of him and crosses his arms, "If what Leone is saying true, we might gains allies faster than we think."
"I'm not going to the place where our parents' killers are." Anna turns her back to Ren and Leone.
"I'm with Anna on this one." I bring Anna close to me, "I won't forgive those who killed those I loved. They're the reason we are who we are Ren. Get that through your head please."
"I think it's time we find our own path." Ren closes his eyes, "We've been together for so long, that we might have been dragging each other down. I feel if I go with Leone to Night Raid, I'll get stronger. If I get stronger, I know I can protect those I love."
"Ren you can't leave us!" Anna runs forward, but stops suddenly, "You know what, if that's what you want, then you can go and leave us! Just like everyone else has done!"
"Be careful Ren," I hug him tightly, "don't let anything cloud your judgement."
"What will you two do?" Leone asks, "You have nowhere to live and after today, you're out of gold."
"They can always join the Empire." Wave pipes in from afar, "We'll welcome them for sure."
"Welcome us to our deaths!" I yell towards him, "The Empire destroyed our home and you want us to join them? Our dead friends and family wouldn't want that at all."
"We're wanted across the Empire with no gold and see as killers," Anna sits on the ground and hugs her knees, "I don't want to lose Ren, I don't want to join with these killers, I-I just want to live in peace!"
"While the Empire is alive no one can live in peace." Leone reassures her.
"Shut up bitch!" Anna points her finger at her, "I don't want to hear a word out of you right now. My head still hurts, I feel like I'm balancing the line of insanity and completely losing it!"
"Where'd that come from?" Leone elbows my side, "I didn't know she spoke like that."
"I think we should leave before anything bad happens here." Ren pulls Leone away, "I believe you know the way."
"So you're not coming with us?" Leone looks at us both, "Very well. Guess the boss will have to settle for one of ya then."
I watch them disappear over the hill and take a seat next to Anna. The day is only half over and a lot has happened. We just lost our brother to the enemy. That Leone captured him in her heart extremely fast.
"What will we do now?" Anna asks not moving, "We can't do this ourselves."
"I'm not joining Night Raid or the Empire anytime soon." I tell her.
"Maybe we should." Anna looks towards where Leone and Ren went, "She's right. As much as I hate her, she's right; we don't have anywhere to stay and we're out of gold."
"We'll just go back to what we've been doing." I stand up, "We'll fight danger beasts and collect the reward."
"It's not the same without Ren." She shakes a little bit. It's obvious that she's crying, "I just want to go home."
"Need some help?" I turn quickly grabbing my sword.