It took a full day before anyone would come to talk to me. At the start, it was panicked, yelling and screaming to be let go. The blood on my clothes wasn't mine. What happened? A misunderstanding, perhaps. I didn't do anything wrong. That went on for an hour, and the next hour, I was yelling, trying to rip off the chain attaching my metal collar to the wall. Clawing at my neck. That went on for twenty minutes. Then I saw it again.
In the shadowy corner of the room, I saw those red eyes glowing softly in the darkness. The eyes were more like a fire than a person's eyes; there were no details, just a shape of colour. It lingered in the corner, watching me for a while. I glanced at it periodically to see if it was still there as I was trying to figure out what happened and how I got here.
"You did this"
A voice called out. Looking around, I saw nobody. The voice was strange, ethereal, as if it were a thought I had out loud, but it wasn't. I covered my ears.
"That won't work"
It said again, even with my ears covered, I still heard it. The voice, it felt like someone whispering in both my ears at once, but it also felt like a loud thought that wasn't mine. I got confused, wondering what the hell was going on.
"I'm trapped…in you."
It said…wait…is it talking to me by reading my thoughts?
"Yes", It answered.
"What the hell are you?"
"Wrath"
The eyes vanished from the corner of the room as metal footsteps approached. I had been sitting still and silent in the cell for hours now, and the guard had come to see me.
"Tu t'es calmé ? Prêt à parler ?" [You calmed down now? Ready to talk?]
I nodded.
"Vous êtes revenu au village couvert de sang." [You returned to the village covered in blood.] My head shot up. That wasn't true, at least, I had no memory of that. The guard continued: "On vous a vu partir avec trois autres garçons ; ils sont maintenant portés disparus. Cet événement a eu lieu il y a quatre jours." [You were seen leaving with three other boys; they are now missing. This event took place four days ago.]
"Quatre jours!?" [Four days!?] I leapt to my feet, taking a step forward, the chain holding me tightened.
"Oui, quatre jours. Où étiez-vous ? Où sont les corps ?" [Yes, four days. Where were you? Where are the bodies?]
"Ma mère ?" [My mother?]
The guard looked up from a book he was writing in.
"Vous étiez avec votre mère ?" [You were with your mother?]
"Non, où est ma mère ? Est-ce qu'elle va bien ? Elle est malade." [No, where's my mother? Is she okay? She's ill.]
The guard writes something down. "Je vais envoyer quelqu'un la voir. Tout d'abord, où étiez-vous ?" [I'll send someone to check on her. Firstly, where were you?]
I take a step back and sit on the floor. "Les bois interdits. Pourquoi suis-je dans une cellule ? Nous aurions pu être attaqués par un animal ?" [Forbidden Woods. Why am I in a cell? We could have been attacked by an animal?]
"Aucun animal ne va dans les bois interdits. Et pourtant, il n'y a pas d'ours jusqu'au sud. Cela dit, vous... vous êtes revenu avec... de la peau sur vos vêtements." [No animals go into the forbidden woods. Even so, we don't have bears this far south. That aside, you…you came back with…skin on your clothes.]
"Peau?" [Skin?]
"La peau humaine. Je vous le redemande, où étiez-vous?" [Human skin. Now I ask again, where were you?]
I told him everything that had happened. I told him that we went into the woods for mushrooms, and I told him how we fell into a cave. How we explored it and found a path that went further down. I was going to tell him what happened at the bottom, about what I saw, but I didn't, or rather, I couldn't. I wanted to, but when I opened my mouth, the words would not come out. It felt as if every time I tried to speak of it, I felt a phantom hand gripping my throat.
"Nous allons partir à la recherche de votre grotte et nous vous ferons un rapport sur ce que nous aurons trouvé." [We'll go look for this cave of yours and report back with what we find.]
The guard walked away. Why couldn't I tell him?
"Because I didn't want you to" The voice came back.
"I'm trapped in here now because of you; your survival and mine are linked. What would they do if you told them a demon is in your head?"
They would burn me, of course. Whatever this thing was in that cave, I could feel it behind my back, like a hovering, lingering presence that someone was standing right behind me, a little too close. I didn't understand what it was, why it was in my head, what it wanted. I felt a twitch in my eye, for some reason, I knew that it reacted to my thoughts. I thought to the monster, What happened back there?
Nothing. This thing, whatever it might be, didn't want me to know, or perhaps it didn't know itself. Another eye twitch. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly as I tried to wake from this bad dream. What did it say? It said I did this. Then it said it was trapped in me. Does that mean I am responsible for what's happening, or that I'm responsible for it being trapped? It called itself wrath. Wrath? Why Wrath? Stupid name.
"You're one to talk". I'm surprised that worked. It reacted to that, but not to my question. Wrath huh? I guess you have a short fuse. I kept my eyes shut tight, in the darkness behind my eyelids, I saw his red eyes looking at me.
I opened my eyes, and I was still in the cell…this wasn't a dream or a nightmare. This was very much real.
That night, I dreamed of the cave. Of climbing down its depths, and seeing those red eyes. I dreamed that a darkness flowed into my body, I felt it changing me, my skin burst and ripped. My arms and my fingers split open as darkened claws emerged. I dreamed of blood.
I woke that night with a yelp. I sat up and was breathing heavily. On the other side of the cell bars, the guard was again.
" Ça tombe bien, j'allais te réveiller. Maintenant" [Good timing, was bout to wake you. Now.] He clears his throat.
"Shinya Akame, vous avez été placé en état d'arrestation pour trois chefs d'accusation de meurtre. Dans quelques heures, vous serez jugé par le doyen du village, qui vous donnera le choix du châtiment." [Shinya Akame, you have been placed under arrest for three counts of murder. You will be prosecuted by the village elder in a few hours, where you will be given a choice of punishment.]
As soon as I heard the word 'murder' the rest was a blur.
"L'assassinat? Comment? Ce n'est pas possible." [Murder? How? That's not possible.]
The guard closed the book and leaned against the back wall.
"Écoute, petit, je l'ai vu moi-même. Ces trois-là ont été découpés en morceaux. Je sais que tu travailles dans l'abattage d'arbres, donc tu as sans doute le swing, mais comment as-tu trouvé une épée aussi tranchante ? Et surtout, où l'avez-vous laissée ? Je n'ai trouvé aucune arme nulle part. Seulement... des morceaux de…" [Listen, kid, I saw it myself. Those three were cut into pieces. I know you work at the lumber yard, so no doubt you've got the swing, but how the hell did you find a sword that sharp? More to the point, where did you leave it? I found no weapon anywhere. Only… chunks of…] He shuddered rather than finish his sentence.
"Je reviendrai plus tard pour vous escorter à l'étage pour votre procès. Réfléchissez à ce que vous avez fait et à ce que vous voulez choisir." [I'll be down later to escort you upstairs for your trial. Process what you've done and think about your choices.]
He turned to leave. What I had done? What have I done? I haven't done anything. Wait, that's not my biggest concern right now. It's "ma mère?" [My mother?]
The guard stopped. "Ah oui, c'est vrai, je ne l'ai pas trouvée. J'ai demandé au médecin, apparemment elle a été emmenée à Vilta pour y être soignée." [Oh yeah, right, couldn't find her. Asked the doctor about it, apparently she's been taken away to Vilta for treatment.]
I sighed in relief as I stepped back. My hand on my chest as I leaned against the wall, sliding down it.
I remembered I left my franks at home. If they took all of my money to pay for her treatment in the city, it was worth it.
Besides, I don't think I have much use for them now. I think I vaguely recall my choices; either way, it's death.
"No" The voice echoed in my mind. Right, you don't want to die, neither do I. We have a choice to make, a choice I don't see any chance of survival, but a choice nonetheless. You already know what I'm thinking, aren't you, Wrath? You'll probably force me to choose one over the other like you did before, choking my words.
I sat in the cell, wondering if this thing would talk to me more. If it would explain itself to me at all? If it would just tell me what happened in that cave. A twitch of the eye. Wait, that dream. That felt less like a dream than normal. Was it a memory? What is your memory? My eye twitched so hard I rubbed it instinctively.
So then it is true, I did do this. Or more like you did this. Either way, it makes little difference.
Four hours later, the guard came down with shackles to place around my wrists. I stood near the bars, and he reached his arms through as he put them on me.
"D'accord, tenez-vous bien, et tout se passera bien. Nous devions tenir une audience publique, mais après que les... restes ont été récupérés, l'aîné a décidé de ne laisser entrer personne. Les murs ici sont épais, mais là-haut, vous les entendrez dehors." [Alright, just behave, and this'll go smoothly. We were going to have an open hearing, but after the…remains were retrieved, the elder decided not to allow anyone in. The walls here are thick, but up there you'll hear them outside.]
I nodded as she opened the cell. He walked me out, up some stairs and through a door. We went up some more stairs until we were no longer underground. As we ascended into the town hall, I heard distant yelling. Profanities, curses, accusations. "Spy, traitor" so on.
We emerged from a door in the back of the town hall, and it was empty aside from the elder sitting at the front on an elevated platform. I was marched to a desk that sat before him.
"Shinya Akame, vous êtes reconnu coupable de trois chefs d'accusation de meurtre. Vous avez le choix entre la potence ou la conscription en tant qu'esclave de guerre, où vous pourrez partir au combat et mourir avec un peu d'honneur. Faites votre choix." [Shinya Akame, you are found guilty on three counts of murder. Your choices are the gallows or to be conscripted as a war slave, where you may charge into battle and die with some honour left. Make your choice.]
I struggled for a moment. I knew my choice, but so did it, and I could tell from how hard it was to say the word that our choices were not the same. After a moment of trying, a word escaped my lips, a word I did not choose to utter.
"Guerre" [War]