Chance meetings

Was she crying? Leon tried hard to think of what to do. While he knew how to deal with emotions, he was not an expert as dealing with humans. His mind flowed back to a deep meory of him burning half of their crop because of a misuse of magic. he had sobbed and begged his parent for forgiveness. They had gathered him in their arms and told him quietly.

(We all make mistakes. The most important thing is to learn to forgive other the same we forgive you.)

In the end he decided that kindness was a good start along with understanding. He had doubts that Akame would appreciate him hugging her.

"It's alright, I understand this can't be the easiest for you. We are trying to work with each other after the Arakai incident. As I said before we are not monsters. You won't be harmed, I guarantee it. Please understand, we are trying to do what is best."

Leon would have asked her to expand on that but he got the general gist from Azir. She had been misguided, to fight and hate Yasou. It wasn't her fault. People played the puppeteer and other got hurt. Leon had not only seen it, but seen the results of it. Arakai was no exception.

"I am happy that you see it that way, but that's in the past. We all make mistakes, regardless of whether we believe we are right or because we believe the people we follow. Look ahead, you have plenty of time to make up for your mistakes."

Leon nodded his head, accepting her argument. The thought had crossed his mind more times than he could count. It was the response to get out of the more difficult choices. The excuse to taking responsibility. It was the answer to anything unpleasant. Why should I when the others don't? The same answer worked every time however.

"Do you really want to be like them?" Leon asked. In his case he always meant humans. In Akame's case it was the people she could think of. "It's so easy to conform and do nothing because it feels like no one else is stepping forward. But in doing so, you become the excuse of everyone else to saying the same. However, if you move forward and rectify your mistakes, people will be urged to follow you. Sometime that's all people need, someone to show them the way."

Leon gave a small smile. "You're right. You have no reason to guide them. There is no need for you to make up for your mistakes while others make the choice to do the same. However do not assume that everyone around you is doing nothing. Veronica works day and night constantly helping those who ask for her assistance, even if they don't deserve it. Yasou was collecting people and sending them to the exit during the attack. Those two are working tirelessly to correct their wrong whatever they may be." Leon stopped and looked around the medical tent as doctors and nurses help the sick and injured.

"You don't need to fix your mistakes. You only have to live with them as they eat you. Or you can work to redeem yourself in the end."

"And what did Veronica do wrong? You have mentioned before that she has mistakes to fix, but do you know anything about her?" Leon questioned directly. "What mistakes has she commited in front of you that requires her to seek out redemption?"

"You lied to her about you true purpose for coming here and pulled a demonic weapon on her if she was so much as nicked, she would have died. In fact, you cut her gun in half nearly slicing her hand in the process." Leon sighed.
"You want her to apologize to you for being cautious about a potential killer that was targeting one of our leaders. Then when you pulled your sword on her and purposely tried to blind her, what did you think she was going to do? Call it quits? No, she knew you had a demonic weapon and she defended her life. I don't blame her for that."

Leon would never understand humans. Was he bias? Of course he was. He barely knew Akame, except for a small fragment of her past. Veronica however was in Arakai trying to save innocents. He knew that she was a good person, in fact she put her life on the line to stall for Yasou if need be. he knew Veronica to certain extent, Akame was still a mystery.

"What about your suspicions? Yasou didn't rape your mother and didn't commit all the crimes the village said he did. If you had murdered him in cold blood then what? Your blameless? Is Veronica to blame for stopping you? We listened to your story and we understand your position. Because Veronica took you down defending our leader does not mean she is to take the fall for "betraying you" and "having suspicions." You were never charged with those crimes to begin with."

"She reported in about you and her suspicions. She is a trained military soldier and her intuition was on the mark. She did not attempt to kill you, and did not kill you when she had the chance. You keep bring up Veronica like she was the villain, that she should be punished. What exactly did she do that makes you believe she should redeem herself over? Ambushing you? Defending herself? What did she do?"

This is pointless, Leon thought to himself. She was going to kill herself if this argument kept going. Her hatred of Veronica was too strong, and she was clearly not in the mood to listen. Azir may had said she needed a friend but he clearly wasn't patient enough to listen to her.

"Sorry for wasting your time." Leon said as he stood. "Clearly you could care less about the situation we are in. I was wrong for thinking otherwise." With that Leon walked for the tent door. He had overestimated the human race again. Their complicity to understanding and kindness had shifted because of Chelsea and Veronica. However, Leon realized that humans were the same as always. They only had an exception or two.