Lasrever

Akame ga Kill! - An Alternate History (Lasrever & Otaku95)

Sure, that makes sense. We could have them run into some guards panicking in the corridor or something and decide to help - that way they're not getting randomly assigned guard duty just out of nowhere.

Akame ga Kill! - An Alternate History (Lasrever & Otaku95)

@Otaku95 Again, totally cool! Classes take priority and everything. Besides, I love long posts and backstory stuff.

Also, two things. First thing, do you want to do the whole shopping trip thing or just have Night Raid attack the first night and get into the action?

Other thing, how do we get Skye and Rex out of the way when it does happen, cause there's the whole 'guaranteed death' thing when there's a fight with Imperial Arms, right? I was thinking that they might just figure out/discover the whole torture thing themselves and kill Aria before Night Raid can or something like that. That way Tatsumi could still have his fight with Akame and get recruited, and there'd be a reason for Skye and Rex to get picked up too.

Do you think that'd be fine, or have you got any other ideas on what we should do?

Never Normal - a Superhero Vigilante RP

Wraith

It took Wraith a minute to realise that she was being spoken to. She looked at Reaper, shaking her head. "No. The place was pretty much dead, nothing but rats. Whoever left that thing is long gone. Best case scenario, they don't come back today." she looked at the ground, a dark look crossing her face. "Worst case scenario, the dogs have run off to tell their master, and they're gonna come back with a few friends soon enough."

Wraith's worries were only growing as time passed. The longer they took here, the longer they spent trying to help this kid, the more likely it seemed that someone could come knocking. She didn't feel like trying to take on some of the supers on Umbra's side. While she was confident in her abilities, taking on people like Lava King wasn't suited to her fighting style. She wasn't in the right state of mind to fight right now, anyway. She glanced over at Tank and the ghost kid, who seemed to be comforted by the big guy.

Honestly, the kid's abilities were freaky. Not that any abilities were normal, exactly, but his creeped her out. If Umbra's minions burst in, she had to admit that part of her would consider leaving the kid behind. Sure, that would probably make her a bad person, but she hadn't asked to be caught up in a rescue mission. It wasn't her job to cover for others' mistakes. Or maybe it was. What did I sign up for?

Anyway, Ditch finally seemed to be getting to the point, to Wraith's relief. Once she'd heard the old thing, she couldn't help but feel a little doubt about the idea of taking on whoever was working with Umbra. Mind control was tricky to deal with, and that was putting it lightly. It was also one of the few powers that she was actually afraid of. The idea of someone rooting around in her head made her skin crawl.

She found herself with nothing to say. Well, almost nothing. She had plenty of things to say, but most of them would start up a confrontation which no-one needed right now. As Omega offered help to Ditch, Wraith just barely held her tongue. She'd slightly forgotten that her mask was off, and her expression was much easier to read than normal, and anyone that looked could probably see her irritation and slight anger at the whole stupid situation.

Wraith sighed, walking over to her bag. She supposed that she should try to be useful, or make some kind of suggestion, but she felt like she'd do more harm than good by speaking right now. Eventually, though, she couldn't keep her mouth shut. "So, do we have some kind of plan? Or are we just gonna sit here playing babysitter and wait for whoever left that bracelet to turn up?" she said coldly. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't feel like staying here and wait for a bunch of mind controlled supers to beat my face in for the sake of some kid you found on the street."

Perhaps she'd been a little harsh there with what she'd said. She couldn't help it - the ghost thing had left her feeling a little jumpy, which made her a bit more hostile than normal. Call it a coping mechanism. Besides, she felt like what she was saying was true for the most part, and someone had to point out the problems with recent events without being so emotionally attached to things. Might as well be her job, seeing as most of these guys were apparently way too sentimental. How some of them had even got into this line of work, she had no idea.

Never Normal - a Superhero Vigilante RP

Wraith

Wraith was slightly relieved when Ditch snatched the bracelet from her hands. Firstly because it belonged to one of Umbra's lapdogs, which made her skin crawl. Secondly, because it had been sitting in Racket Avenue, which meant that it kind of stunk. Not that she got too hung up on that stuff, but if she had to choose between hanging on to it or not, she was taking the second option.

She didn't really try to calm Ditch down at all. While she understood that the hacker was trying to do the right thing, she didn't appreciate the idea of the group being stuck with a target on their back for the sake of a single kid. Maybe that made her a bad person, but someone needed to look at the situation logically, instead of going around trying to save every single kid in the city.

As soon as she thought that, she felt guilty. Maybe it's just that everyone else here values other people's lives, Kara. You've spent the past year killing anyone that looks at you funny. No one else in here is a murderer- she shook her head. No. Bad thoughts. She couldn't dwell on them too much, or she'd end up like the other day. She didn't want to show that much weakness again.

Still, it seemed like some of the group were actually even worse at comforting people than her. Like, seriously not doing great. The kid just woke up, had no idea who they were, so obviously the best thing to do would be to set fire to things and terrorise him with shadow hands. Not like that would freak him out at all. It took all her self-control to keep from rolling her eyes.

At last, Ecto and Ditch managed to calm the kid down enough to make him talk to them, basically just allowing the kid to confirm the suspicions caused by the bracelet. Sure enough, the kid's wounds were to do with Umbra. This started up a second attempt to comfort the kid from Omega and Turn Back. Omega said something about being the good guys. Wraith couldn't say that herself without feeling like a liar. She kind of envied that, but she wouldn't admit it to anyone that asked. Turn Back, though, managed to start a conversation with the kid.

She kind of just stood there, vaguely listening to them talk. She didn't pay much attention until the kid started talking about ghosts. Once she realised what that meant, she went pale and backed away from the kid slightly. She didn't want to know about her ghosts. Maybe it was just people that cared about you that the kid saw, but if it wasn't...

Well, she'd killed a lot of people, hadn't she? Hell, she'd laughed as she'd done it. The idea of them following her around, of ghosts like that existing. She'd at least taken some comfort in the idea that it'd be over when she died, that she could make up for her actions somehow. If she couldn't, if she'd have to face their ghosts? That idea scared her more than anything she could name.

Even if it was just people she cared about, the idea that her mom had been watching her do those things - she'd always been kind, tried to make her daughter the same way. Said that good things come to those who deserve them, which her daughter had stopped believing when she watched her die. Still, the idea that she'd made her spirit watch her become a monster was horrifying to her. She felt sick to her stomach, and backed away further.

The last thing that Kara Banks wanted was to hear her ghosts.

Never Normal - a Superhero Vigilante RP

Wraith

Kara had forgotten how much of a mess Racket Avenue was for a minute. She was quickly being reminded of this, as she jumped over her fourth pile of trash on her way down the street. She was trying her best to look lost and unsure of herself. If, worst case scenario, she ran into one of Umbra's people, hopefully she'd be able to convince them she was just a girl who'd gotten lost and wandered into the wrong part of town.

Of course, the further she got down the alley, the less that seemed like an issue. There didn't seem to be any sign of life near the headquarters, so she'd headed down the alley a bit. She looked down the alley, and for a second, thought she saw some movement in the shadows.

Without thinking, she ran towards it, preparing herself for a confrontation. She grinned slightly to herself. "I've got you now, you-" her words were cut off when she realised it was just a rat. She'd been about to use her powers to try and fight a rat. Suddenly, she was glad that there was no-one else helping her, as she watched it scurry away down the alley. In the corner of her eye, she noticed something shiny sitting in the mud.

Strange... She was sure that that thing hadn't been there earlier. She kneeled down, trying her best to ignore the stench of the trash around her, and picked up the object. A bracelet? It was pretty muddy, so she wiped it on her jacket to get the worst of it off. When she looked at it again, she couldn't stop the look of recognition and shock that crossed her face. That's Umbra's mark. Good thing she'd chased that rat after all.

If this had been left here, and she wasn't being attacked by who ever had left it, then chances were they'd gone. If it was a trap, they would have taken her out when her back was turned. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she pocketed the bracelet and ran quickly back to the others, making sure to shut the door behind her as she entered. She looked over at the stage, where most of them were. Looked like the kid had woken up.

She headed over to the group by the stage, clearing her throat. "Sorry to interrupt your little bonding exercise, but I think we might have a problem." she raised the bracelet, deciding to explain in case any of them didn't turn around. "Umbra's mark. Found it at the end of the alley. There's every chance that Ditch's little rescue mission didn't go unnoticed." Okay, so maybe she sounded a little hostile about it there. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea that Umbra knew about them. Besides, best to keep at least some part of her confident persona from earlier.

It was only when she was done speaking that she remembered she'd taken off her mask. Whoops. It wouldn't matter too much - not like any of them knew her anyway - but she could do without them realising how young she actually was. Too late to do anything about it now, though.

Akame ga Kill! - An Alternate History (Lasrever & Otaku95)

Skye

As soon as Rex agreed to leave the room, Skye grinned happily, although she was a bit worried about her nose. She quickly checked that it was still there before they left the room. In her excitement, she grabbed Gloomy and pretty much dragged him out of the door before realising that he might not appreciate that and letting go of him. He still had his gloves on, which was kinda weird, so she decided to ask about it.

"Why're you still wearing your gloves, Gloomy? It's pretty warm in here, you know." she said as she walked along the corridor. Before he could reply, she yelled out, forgetting that they had to be stealthy. "Oh, I get it! You're like one of those clean freaks or whatever, right?" she shook her head, looking disappointed. She hadn't expected something like that from Gloomy.

"Anyway, I don't normally snoop around everywhere I stay. But the guards were being really weird when they were showing me my room! They wouldn't even look at me, which made me pretty suspicious." she pouted angrily. "I mean, they didn't even laugh at my best jokes! Can you believe that?"

Never Normal - a Superhero Vigilante RP

Wraith

Wraith hadn't exactly been active in the days since their past missions. Honestly, she didn't feel as though she could be blamed for that. Contemplating morality and all that kind of stuff took a lot out of a girl. You know, that and having your nose broken. She could deal with the injury, really, but it made wearing the mask quite painful to do. And breathing. Other than that, though, it wasn't too bad. It at least gave her something to focus on other than her own problems.

The nose thing wasn't something she could really hide. It really wasn't fun to explain to her dad, who was probably the main reason she hadn't left the house. She'd ended up giving him some made-up lie about tripping over and slamming head-first into a rock. It wasn't her best lie, but luckily her father was a very trusting man, which was a polite code word for gullible idiot. She still had to admit to leaving the house, though, which meant that she'd completely ignored his attempts to ground her.

This hadn't gone down well. Apparently she was 'double grounded' whatever the hell that meant. From what she could tell, it was basically the same as being single grounded, but with a lot more shouting. And he was still buying decaf, which was basically torture. She'd actually looked up the Geneva Convention at one point, but apparently being given decaffeinated coffee didn't count as 'humiliating and degrading treatment'. Luckily, she'd thought of this, and was now stockpiling coffee underneath her bed.

That was basically how she'd spent the past few days. In her room with a flask of coffee, trying to make sense of her life, and that was exactly what she was doing when she finally got contacted by Ditch. She sprang out of bed like she'd been stung by a wasp, and grabbed her backpack, where she'd been keeping all of her vigilante equipment before rushing out of the door. Well, if rushing meant speed walking a little. She winced slightly as she put her mask in place, and set off towards Racket Avenue.

---

And so she'd ended up at their headquarters again, maybe ten to fifteen minutes later than she should have. Some people may have said she needed to work on being punctual. Those people did not understand the difficulty she had with remembering directions. She struggled with the things even when she wasn't busy doubting her status as a vigilante and/or mass-murdering psychopath. Some things made you forget if it was the first or the second left, okay?

Although, when she'd got there, it seemed like she wasn't late at all. Later than most of the others maybe, but not late enough for anything to have happened without her. In fact, she'd still had to wait there for about half an hour before anything happened. Anything coming in the form of Ditch holding a small child, and yelling at all of them about what was going on.

Wraith noted some of what she'd said, but was mostly concerned with the boy's condition. Not with helping him - she wasn't that much of a bleeding heart yet - but with his condition. A lot of his wounds seemed fairly fresh, which was worrying. What caused this? she wondered, as several of the group crowded around him. This was followed by a second, much more worrying thought. Or who?

For now, she walked over to Ditch. She wasn't exactly a healer, and if the kid was from this area, there was every chance he'd freak out if he saw her upon waking up. Wraith's reputation around here wasn't exactly stunning. She wasn't sure what she could do to help Ditch. There was one thing that might help, and she sighed as she opened her backpack, pulling out a flask. Still warm - these things worked well. Once she had a hold of it, she handed it to Ditch slightly awkwardly as soon as Omega was done talking.

"It's just coffee. You look frozen. Might help you warm up while you explain." she kept going back to her worries from earlier. Why was the kid in such a state? She realised that she wasn't going to be much help with the situation in here, so she decided to settle her worries a bit. She looked at the pair of supers and spoke to them, her tone having returned to the guarded one she normally used as she dumped her bag onto the ground next to them.

"Listen, I'm gonna go look around outside for a bit. I want to check that you weren't followed here is all." she said to Ditch. "You said the kid's eyes were glowing for a bit, right? Umbra's people could be anywhere, and even if they don't know who you are, they might have followed if they thought he was a super." she looked at the ground with a slightly forced smile. "You weren't exactly inconspicuous, from what I can tell. Just message me if anything happens in here."

Wraith turned to leave, but just as she was about to go, she realised something. It would be pretty suspect to any spies if they saw Wraith leaving the building that a super had just entered. Kara Banks, on the other hand, was a perfectly normal girl. She took off her mask and tossed it over next to her bag. That would at least make her less recognizable.

With that, she headed out of the door. To be honest, she'd mostly done this to sort out her own worries. She didn't really expect to see anyone except maybe a couple of random thugs. Mostly, Kara had wanted to get out of the room, with all of them being all selfless and caring and whatever. She didn't need to deal with seeing them being all morally superior again, even if she did feel a little ashamed about running away from it. Whatever. She just hated feeling like she couldn't help people - it felt like a reminder of how much of a failure she'd turned out to be.

Never Normal - a Superhero Vigilante RP

Wraith

Wraith wasn't exactly feeling fantastic, to say the least. She didn't really respond to Omega and Tank's support at all. It wasn't as though she didn't appreciate their words, as a positive distraction from her thoughts at the very least, it was more that she doubted that she could speak without bursting into tears. In a way, their kindness made it feel worse. She'd have almost preferred for them to throw her out for Umbra, since that would give her a reason to feel angry, sad, scared, something.

As it was now, her feelings had overwhelmed her almost completely, leaving her feeling numb, almost frozen. Where before, her thoughts had been a whirlpool of confusion, now there was nothing happening inside her brain. It was as though she'd just shut down instead of dealing with it, which didn't seem to be the best coping mechanism.

She just wanted out. She wanted to move, to run, to do something other than just stand in the room while everyone was sitting there, being so damn comforting and kind and good and everything else that she just wasn't. Even Ecto had forgiven her, although he didn't seem completely sure.

She forced a smile as he joked, replying with false, forced confidence. "If we're all fine by the end of this, you can have any pizza you want." she said, looking at Ecto, although she couldn't quite focus, being caught up in her thoughts. Raven and Ditch commented as well, but she was zoned out before she could register what they were saying with anything more than a muttered thank you.

How? How are they all so... Forgiving? it confused her, scared her. She didn't get it. How are they still acting like they're just normal people? Why are they being so kind to me? they were trying to help. She couldn't get mad, they were trying to help. They weren't doing it on purpose, weren't trying to rub it in, but it felt like it all the same. Like they were making sure that she knew she wasn't as good as them. Making sure I know they didn't end up like me.

To be fair, everything she'd said to them had mostly been honest. She hadn't exactly been in the mental state to put together a lie. The truth of her feelings was slightly different. Everything she'd said about the guilt, about fear, about killing innocents and what that made her... Well, most of it was true.

She hadn't necessarily lied, but the guilt that she felt wasn't completely about the killing. She wasn't sure if she agreed with it always being a last resort yet - there were people who didn't deserve to live, and killing was the only way to bring them to justice. So, the killing wasn't it, not exactly. Killing, by itself, wasn't the reason she feared that she was a monster of some kind.

The issue wasn't really that she'd been a killer, a 'murderer'. In truth, she doubted that she'd never do it again. The problem, the thing that made her feel so sickened by herself, was how much she'd enjoyed it. The power it gave her, that feeling that came with having total control over whether someone lived or died. Hell, she'd even enjoyed the look in their eyes as they'd realised there was no way out. And that feeling, that rush of adrenaline, was what scared her so much.

Because despite how disgusted she was, despite the horror she felt at having the blood of any number of innocents on her hands... There was a part of her that craved that feeling. A part of her that wanted to kill again. A monster inside her head. The part of her that was Wraith, rather than Kara.

She looked up at the members of the group, and gave a small smile, fighting back the wave of nausea that washed over her. "I don't know how well I'll be able to fix things, but..." she sniffed slightly, trailing off a bit. "I'm sorry. And I'm at least gonna try and make it right as best as I can."

She had to control herself. For her sake, and the memories of the people she'd killed. She had to.

Akame ga Kill! - An Alternate History (Lasrever & Otaku95)

Skye

Ahh, snooping! Skye loved snooping! It was one of her favourite hobbies, along with meddling, interfering and causing chaos. She couldn't appreciate anyone who didn't enjoy a good snoop. Of course, it wasn't exciting if you did it safely, which would explain why she'd decided to climb out through the window and climb along the outside wall with her spears instead of, you know, using the corridor.

She thought that she remembered where the boys' room had been, so she thought she'd see if either of them were awake. Not for any real reason. She just got bored walking around be herself. It wasn't long before she reached their room. There seemed to be a candle lit up, and Gloomy was writing something in a book. She looked at Tatsumi, but he seemed to be fast asleep.

She opened the window and silently entered the room. "What're you scribblin' there Gloomy?" she said loudly, hoping to surprise him. "I'm bored! You want to come and snoop around the mansion with me?"

Never Normal - a Superhero Vigilante RP

Wraith

That was actually better than Wraith had expected. It wasn't exactly complete forgiveness, and she doubted that her actions would be forgotten for quite a while, but she'd half expected to end up like the wall in the alley had. The words, while not seeming too harsh, were painful for her to hear. A difference between killing and justice? A last resort? Justice was the only reason she'd killed in the first place. If that's true, what does that make me?

It seemed that she wasn't out of the woods though. All that had really changed was that her fate was up to Ecto now instead of Ditch. Ecto. The guy who she'd torn a hole into by accident, which probably hadn't scored her many points. Did she even deserve forgiveness? From him, or from anyone else? The people she'd killed... Ecto hadn't deserved to be hurt, but did any of them? She'd never even considered that they'd been innocent at the time, but some of them had to have been.

Surprisingly enough, Raven was actually the first one to speak to her. "Wraith, did you even have knowledge of Ecto being in harms way?" Wraith shook her head firmly, replying as quickly as she could.

"I didn't know. I tried to give him time to get out, but even then I didn't think-" she said, cutting off her sentence as soon as Ecto started to speak. It probably made sense to pay attention to him. At the end of the day, he was basically the one deciding Wraith's fate. She listened, as he told his story about the car thief of a few days before, and how he dealt with it. When he turned to look at her, it felt as though her stomach was a block of ice when he asked his question.

"Tell me. Would you have killed him?" Ecto seemed genuinely upset at the idea that she would. She wasn't sure what he wanted from her, but she had a feeling that those in the room who knew more about her 'exploits' would call her out if she lied. She felt sick, almost dizzy, but managed to keep a somewhat composed tone of voice as she started to answer, though anyone who cared to look at her face, or even her body language, could probably tell her real state of mind.

"Are you asking me what I would have done a few days ago? If you are, then my answer is yes. I've killed a lot of people just like him. It might not be the one you want to hear, but you've given me a chance and I'm not about to repay that by lying to you. But if you're asking what I-I'd do now-" her voice cracked slightly, the fear and confusion she'd been struggling with over the past few hours boiling to the surface, shattering her cool, collected mask. She knew she was making herself vulnerable, knew she was just showing herself as weak, but she couldn't keep it together anymore.

"S-sorry." she muttered, clenching her fists. "If you're asking me what I'd do now, if I found someone like that, then I don't know. I just- I just don't know, okay! I don't know if I'd kill him! I don't know if I was ever right! I don't know if I am any better than a murderer!" with the loss of her put-on personality, she just sounded like a scared little kid, but she was too preoccupied to even think about it.

"I-I was trying to do the right thing. It's just-" she was glad for her physical mask at that moment. It meant that no-one could see how close she was to crying, since the silver hid her tears. When she finally finished speaking, her voice was barely more than a whisper. "If what I did was wrong, if none of them deserved it, then I really am a monster, you know?"

Ecto could judge her on that. He'd have to, seeing as Wraith couldn't even bring herself to look at anyone in the room. She didn't want to see them look back.