Mine x reader. Akame ga kill, Alternative.

Chapter 17 - Strife

"So, are you three all healed up and ready to fight?" Najenda asked with all of Night Raid gathered in the meeting hall. 

"Yes. I'm ready to battle at any time." I responded. "And I assume that Mine and Sheele are the same." 

"Perfect. In that case, we have something new that we must take care of. Firstly, I can no longer contact the main team." Najenda said. 

"Main team?" Tatsumi said. 

Akame turned to him, "The empire is vast. We specialize in carrying out assassinations near the capital, but there are other teams that take care of everything else." 

"Yes, and I've lost contact with them. I don't want to make any quick judgments, but I'd say it's safe to assume that they're dead." Najenda said. "This could very well coincide with the return of Esdeath." 

"Damn, that woman is causing so much trouble..." Lubbock said, scratching his head. "I'll strengthen security with my threads." 

"Good. Nextly, there's been a string of killings near the capital. All of them are government officials, mostly civic officers close to the minister. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, however, we found these at the site in each case." Najenda held up a Night Raid poster, one that was clearly fake, but only because we all knew that we couldn't have made those. 

"Night Raid posters?" Sheele said, tilting her head. 

"Indeed. They were laid down every time one of the civic officers were killed." Najenda said. 

"They're clearly fakes, right? I mean, why would Night Raid suddenly begin to take responsibility for all these assassinations?" Mine asked. 

"That's what most people would have thought at first. That was until recently when these imposters began to kill heavily armed and trained guards. Their latest killing laid waste to 30 imperial guards, so it couldn't just be some simple bandit taking our name." Najenda explained. "The popular opinion is that it has to be us."

"I see... That makes sense..." Tatsumi said. "So what should we do about it?" 

"We're going to stop them," Najenda said. "There are five potential government officials that we suspect. Of those, only two are going to be leaving for the capital. We will split up to protect them and get Esdeath and her servants under wraps." 

"How are we splitting up?" I asked. 

"Tatsumi, Bulat, and Lubbock will be one team. Akame, Mine, and (f/n) will be on the other team. Sheele, you're staying at the base with me. And Leone, you're going to investigate Esdeath." Najenda stood up off her chair and waved her arm forward in a dramatic sweeping motion. "We move as soon as possible! Protect these talented people who will run the new empire when we succeed!" 

I stood up and prepared to move out. "Looking forward to working with you two." I said, looking to Mine and Akame. "Especially you. I haven't seen much of you in action." I said in the direction of the black-haired killer. 

Akame nodded in response, "Looking forward to working with you as well. However, we should hope that we don't have to do any fighting in the first place." 

"Right. Let's hope so." I said. I turned to Mine and nodded, doing the same in Akame's direction as well. "Let's head out." 

We began to dash our way to the location, which was a snowy town located near the edge of the country.

As we arrived, we were quick to spot the man we were assigned to protect. He was a kind-looking old guy who was greeting those in the village. 

"Let's hide among the trees." Akame said. 

We dashed to the outskirts of the town and jumped into the trees. We crouched on top of the branches and peered down at the town below us. 

"It's pretty out and in the open..." Mine mumbled. "If someone is here, we'll see them pretty easily. But we'll need to put on our hoods to hide our faces." 

"Actually, that might not be the case. It's possible that the wanted posters haven't spread this far." Akame said. 

"Oh, you're right," Mine said. 

She turned to me as I sat by and silently listened to their conversation. We made eye contact and I stared at her while tilting my head. She blushed a bit, but it was hard to notice. 

"Is something wrong, Mine?" I asked. 

She turned away, "No. It's nothing. Focus on the mission." 

I nodded and turned towards the village, keeping a close eye on it. 

We waited for a while, keeping a close eye on the man we were tasked to watch. The sun eventually rose high into the sky at noon. And at that moment...

"Oh, a shipment. Is he having something delivered to the town?" Mine said. There was a large horse-drawn carriage, one that was meant for carrying cargo. 

Then, I noticed something odd. "...Those aren't normally meant for carrying passengers, right?" I asked as I peered down, a hooded man coming out of the car. 

"Be on your guard, you two. You especially, Mine." Akame said, sitting up in her stance a bit and staring at the hooded man. 

It was hard to see his face, but his walking was a bit jumpy. He looked shady as all hell. "I'm moving in closer through the trees. Keep an eye on him, Mine." I turned and started dashing along the treeline closer to the town. 

I got closer to the town and turned suddenly towards a house, hiding behind it. I peered around the corner at the shady hooded man. At that moment, he seemed to be pulling out a weapon: a small knife. I dashed out from my hiding spot, pulling my hood over my head. But... I was too far away! I rushed as fast as I could towards him, but I didn't think that I'd make it in time. 

Luckily, I wouldn't have to reach him. A blast, one like a bullet, came from beyond the trees. The hooded man was forced to dodge back. 

'Nice shot, Mine.' I thought in my head as I dashed for the man. I went up to the target we were supposed to protect and got in front of him. "Get behind me sir," I said calmly. 

The man caught sight of what I looked like under my hood. "Damnit... So you're here too, huh?" He said in a voice that was growing ever familiar to me. 

"Benjamin..." I mumbled. I couldn't see what he looked like, but I had no doubt that the man under that hood was Benjamin. This was further proved when he pulled a certain bow off of his back. 

He quickly drew back some arrows and fired them in my direction. "At the cost of my soul and spirit, I summon thee in full," I said as my blades came into my hands. I dragged my Blade of Destruction through the ground. Immediately after, I used the material to make a wall in front of me and stuck as close to it as possible. The arrows hit the wall firmly and cracked it in several places. 

As soon as that happened, I dashed out from my cover and rushed Benjamin with my blades in hand. I slashed at him quickly, before he dodged backward outside of my swing. A shot came by me from Mine targeted at Benjamin.

 "Koro!" A voice shouted from inside the cart that Benjamin came from. Smoke was flung up around us and clouded our vision. As it cleared, we saw a familiar large dog-like creature standing in front of the shot, protecting Benjamin. 

"Seryu is here too," I observed, now faced with an organic Imperial Arms and the man who had been constantly causing trouble for me. 

Akame came up behind the pair, ready to fight as well. Mine was beyond the trees, covering us with her weapon. With me, Mine, Akame, Benjamin, Seryu, and Koro, there were six in the battle. Although, Seryu still had no arms and was unable to battle. 

A three on two fight. Who would come out on top in the end?