The passage of time: Akame Ga Kill!

Raven spent the better part of the rest of the year dividing her time with Salem and Cinder, spending time at Patch with Summer, Yang, Qrow, Ruby and Tai and keeping the White Fang protests from turning into riots. She caught the attention of Ozpin when she used a rift when she hadn't known she was being recorded. Though her rifts looked a bit different due to the blackish-red mix her rifts had turned into due to the Grimmification. Raven didn't know the full extent to which she was affected by the black waters but she had been feeling like her normal self around the people she spent her time with.

When she was on her own for long periods or stressed and angry, she would hear the faintest whispers in the back of her mind she was sure hadn't come from her. She asked Salem about it but hadn't gotten a concrete answer. Though she confirmed it was from the Waters of Destruction. Salem never showed any inclination it had any affect on her.

The time limit of one year was up now. Yang was now seven years old and Ruby was five. She was at the Xiaolong/Rose house when she felt something change. Everything went completely silent. Not the kind of silence you hear in an empty house, but the kind that erased all sound. Even the sound you yourself make.

She turned around and saw the Kimblee impersonating God resting his back on the wooden rail of the porch outside.

"So.. I guess it's traveling time?" Raven walked up next to him and asked.

"That's right. I have to say though.. What an interesting path you've chosen. I didn't think you were that edg-" Raven put her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't.." She pleaded.

"Edgy. It's not a bad thing if done right. And you're not terrible so far. At least you kept your sense of humor and awkwardness. You're like an edgy but dorky person. It's a decent balance" He laughed as her expression soured.

"I knew I shouldn't have shown them the Jojo poses.." She half sighed, but she actually enjoyed seeing Yang, Ruby and Summer do it.

"You did far more than the poses though. You made Yang say 'dattebayo' a few times. You taught Summer how to seduce Tai by giving her ideas on how to dress like a certain Automail mechanic and you even gave Qrow about fifty lucky charms to try and offset his semblance. Though I'm sure you did that to screw with him.. There's a ton of rabbits feet and dice within his clothes" He snickered at the image of Qrow hiding all those items under his clothes.

"Oh good, he kept them" Raven nodded, not surprised Qrow was keeping them on him.

"Well it's time to be on your way now. You'll be in Akame ga Kill for around two months. Time here will stop until you return though. I'd hate for you to miss anything" He snapped his fingers and opened a spacial tear in front of her.

"Right.. okay no big deal. Just a corrupt and evil empire with morally grey assassins.. Should be fine" Raven muttered to herself as she walked in.

"Hm..? Someone was snooping where they don't belong. Let's see here.." He split off into two copies of himself and sent the other copy to the disturbance in Remnant.

-Castle Evernight, ten minutes earlier-

Tyrian Callows was sitting at the meeting room's long table. Across from him was Arthur Watts and Hazel Reinhart. Salem had called them all to a meeting to bring up some of their concerns.

"Which one of you has the.. concern?" Tyrian glared at them both accusingly.

"I certain have a concern. Raven. She was Ozpin's dog. Why are we trusting her? Sure, she was submerged in the waters and I believed the Mistress was making a play.. but now.." Arthur furrowed his brow.

"Her distaste for Ozpin is real. I've talked to her about him and her anger towards him was actually visible. Her eyes resembled Salem's.." Hazel nodded.

"Does that mean she is on our side, though? She did not agree with the Mistress' means of securing victory against Ozpin" Arthur raised another question.

"Our Goddess is wise beyond belief! I trust in her judgement to let her go.. Why, they were once lovers! Did you not pay attention?" Tyrian grimaced at Arthur.

"You can trust in my judgment, Arthur. Raven is not the same person as she used to be. She's my Lawrence. I have gathered enough of the leftover flames she used to survive the Waters of Destruction. I'll be showing the memories contained within. I believe in Raven and so shall you after this" Salem said as she walked in with Cinder and took a seat, she began to use the fire when time stopped.

At this point, the copy of Kimblee walked into the meeting, totally undetectable by all of them as they got seated. He saw Salem project the flames Raven possessed above the table and smirked. Snapping, he undid the time stop and created a projection with the flames Salem was trying to manipulate.

"Strange.. it seems as if it.. wants to show me?" Salem muttered as Kimblee stood against a wall with a small smile, still undetectable by everyone in the room.

It began when Lawrence was born. A documentary-style movie of his life started to play. Salem knew much of what happened up until she died. She wanted to know what exactly happened after her death but it could wait. This was still interesting and new to everyone else. Cinder especially.

-Akame ga Kill! Joyou farming town-

As soon as Raven arrived, stepping out of the spacial tear, she clutched her head. There was so much death and madness in the air. She fell to her knees and wordlessly screamed as she was drowned in intense negative emotions. Her horn bristled and lengthened and her sclera was dyed black again. Her eyes were a glowing crimson and she held on to her sanity desperately as nearby townspeople noticed her in the middle of the street.

"Hey! Miss, are you okay!?" One of them ran up to her, he was genuinely concerned and Raven held on to the positive feelings inside to fight off the intense pressure of negative emotions washing over her.

"F..Fine..." She choked out while clenching her fists.

"Listen I can tell you're unwell.. come with me. I can take you to the local doctor" He offered and she shook her head.

"I'm.. f..ine. Just need a quiet place to rest.." Raven stood up, her armored figure covering her changed features as she exhaled and thought about Yang, Ruby, Summer, Salem, Cinder, Blake and Kali.

The negative emotions she felt everywhere was still greatly affecting her but for right now she could bear it as long as she kept her mind off negative topics and thought about the pleasant things. Kimblee was a distance away, watching while unseen with a small grin.

"A quiet place hm? Okay. I can offer you my abode. You're a.. knight? Nobody really dresses up like that anymore. Aha.. I bet the kids would love the look. My name's Run by the way" He offered his hand, which Raven took and they both shook.

"Run? Oh, good to meet you" She nodded while thinking.

~I've seen him I think? Oh, right. He's on Esdeath's team of anti-assassins~ She nodded to herself.

"I'm Raven. I'm a wandering Knight you could say. I want to help people. The.. common, innocent person I mean. Not the monstrous Nobles in the Capital" She clarified, making Run smile in light surprise.

"Really? Well there have been some rogue danger beasts around the area.. I think they migrated here after something or someone scared them off. I and the rest of the town would appreciate it if you killed them off" Run said as he led Raven to his house.

"Sounds easy enough, I suppose" Raven shrugged.

Run led her into his cozy house and they started to talk more and settle in. Raven, having no money or anything else besides her armor and weapons was convinced to hunt danger beasts in the area to make money since she refused to take Run's money. She slept in a guest room and quietly meditated to combat the effects of the Grimmification. Before she knew it, it was morning.

"Raven! You seemed like a learned individual. Would you like to come to my school and help me out with teaching the kids?" Run asked as Raven ate the omlette he had made.

"Well.. I do know some survival skills I could teach. Hunting too. Math is iffy for me but they're kids right? Shouldn't be too hard" Raven idly commented, which she would come to regret.

Run was a phenomenal teacher. She saw how he treated the children and taught them all individually at their own paces. She herself was decent at the more practical subjects but was atrocious in math. She often resorted to using her fingers to count, which looked hilarious given the fact that she was in a full armor set. She kept it on to avoid scaring the kids.

During school, it was easy to fight off the pressure of the negativity. The kids were all innocent and she rarely felt a trickle of negativity in the class. If there was, it was miniscule and was quickly washed away by the general happiness of the classroom. Run was a great teacher so he handled disagreements in a constructive and understanding fashion.

While she was out hunting, the negativity was heavy. The Danger Beasts radiated it. Some were sadistic, others were hungry. They were more monsters than animals.

After three days in Joyou, Raven went hunting during the first classes to show the children Danger Beasts and which ones were which. She started to collect quite a large pile of Danger Beast bodies when she felt a wave of fear coming from the town.

~Probably a Danger Beast sighting~ She sighed and left the pile of bodies behind her.

She started to run to the town but the fear increased into terror. There was so much terror and it kept increasing as she ran towards town. She picked up the pace and began sprinting while uttering curses under her breath.

-Evernight Castle, Remnant-

They had watched much of Lawrence's important memories. Every day for the past few days they would convene to watch like it was a movie night for a few hours. They had gotten to the point past where Elizabeth died, causing Tyrian to angrily yell in outrage.

Lawrence had joined the U.S Army to fly bombers and fighters. He went through flight school on top of his regular army training, which was rushed due to the urgency of getting soldiers on the ground. He managed to go on quite a few bombing runs but it wasn't enough for him.

Unless he could kill more than twenty people during his bombing runs he wasn't interested in flying them. He often took the infantry role, which was allowed, seeing that he was very effective on the ground as well. He would almost suicidally attack his enemies to the point where he would rush and stab one in the neck, steal his gun and use it if he was out of ammo.

They all saw him charge into , an extremely active warzone in Salerno. Killing Italians and Germans alike without much care for himself. They saw numerous times, that he killed even surrendering German and Japanese forces. He often stole the flamethrowers the enemy used and set them on fire with a spiteful but mostly unexpressive face.

Salem was quiet. Cinder saw his rage and somewhat understood. Tyrian was giddy. Arthur and Hazel were contemplative.

Then came his final bombing mission. He was tasked with bombing two cities in mainland Japan with a new bomb.

The copy of Kimblee looked on impassively and folded his hands.

-Joyou-

Raven returned, seeing it come from the school. Running in, she froze and her heart nearly stopped. A fat man in a clown suit was holding elementally charged balls in his hand. Around him was the children. They were dead. All of them were dead and posed like they were snow angels. But that wasn't the worst part. All of their clothes were off and something white covered the bodies.

Kimblee, outside was looking at the scene with a sharp gaze before an inferno of crimson drowned the building. And in that instant, both Kimblees spoke the same sentence.

""This is why I chose you. You can hide it all you want""

The first bomb dropped and a blinding light covered the city below.

The crimson flames raged and incinerated the school as Run stopped outside in terror.

""Pretend to be all that you're not.. A hero.. a peacekeeper..""

The city was obliterated and thousands died in an instant. It wasn't enough. They didn't surrender. He was weary but the anger remained.

She had severed the Clown's legs, genitalia and flayed his flesh. It wasn't enough. He didn't scream enough. The anger burned so very hot that the flames spread everywhere now.

""..Parent. But there is one unavoidable truth you cannot escape. You will always be.. a monster"" He almost sighed.

The second city was laid to waste but still the fire inside remained.

Run saw the air fill with smoke. The city burned and there was Raven. She too, was on fire. Her form changed. Three sets of black wings with bone plates on the top were jutting out her back. Her body had the white plate additions. In her monstrous claw was a dying man who had suffered the most unimaginable pain one could feel.

She barely looked human anymore. After the man died, she relased his body and clutched her head, screaming out a very pained and severely angered lamenting scream before she took off into the forest, the flames burning the town following her like a faithful pet.