Disclaimer: I do not own Akame ga Kill.

Prologue:

Of Fairy Tales and Funerals

Once upon a time, a saint and a witch fell in love. It did not end well.

Akame could remember that day with great accuracy. The sky was clear and birds decided to sing a chipper song. The whole town showed up, if only on her father's behalf and the condolences came in plenty. None of the grievers meant it when they said "I am sorry for your loss". Seven-year-old Akame realized that when nobody stayed around to comfort the newly-made orphans.

Akame and Kurome both wore their best dresses for their parents funeral, but it didn't matter. No one was paying attention to them. Not really. But they were talking about them. Akame could hear the whispers traded between townsfolk and the looks that the sisters were receiving were undeniable. Akame's eyes flickered to Kurome. If Kurome understood what was going on, she did not show it. She watched as shovel load by shovel load, dirt was being put back into the holes that were now their family's grave. Kurome held her doll in one hand and Akame's hand with the other. Her mother had named the doll Kuromini due to the shared qualities between both the doll and it's owner. Even Kuromini's black button eyes that usually shined seemed to be duller that day.

"Both of them are monsters."

The younger sister heard that remark. Kurome squeezed Akame's hand while pulling her doll closer to herself. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. Akame squeezed Kurome's hand back. Akame had heard this rumor multiple times, whenever she went out shopping with her mother, Ao, or was at school, people always accused the siblings of being monsters. The town hated Ao with a passion. But the town also loved Akame's father, Shiro, very much. A saint they called him and a witch they called her. Akame and Kurome were the unholy offspring of a saint and a witch. That statement was only half wrong. Kurome wasn't a monster. Akame on the other hand...

"The one with red eyes is a devil."

Akame wasn't clueless. The whole town thought that she was the one who killed her parents. She didn't blame them. When Ao and Shiro were found dead, Akame was laying on the floor with a katana and blood soaked clothes. The only thing keeping her from getting sent to the Hanging Tree was the severed hand that was found at the crime scene. The hand did not belong to Ao or Shiro, Akame or Kurome. The town's military force had to accept the fact that there was a third party. While this did not prove that Akame did not kill Ao and Shiro, it did not disprove it either.

"She's not even crying."

Akame made a promise to herself that she wouldn't cry at the funeral. She had to stay strong for Kurome. Kurome needed a big sister to look up to. Keeping up a strong act would get both of them through the funeral. But how long was she suppose to keep this up for? Would she ever be allowed to breakdown like she wanted to? To show the entire town that she was not the heartless girl that everybody thought she was?

One busybody finally said what the entire town was thinking, "The eldest is just like her mother."

Akame gritted her teeth as the gravedigger shoveled the last pile of dirt into the graves. Ao and Shiro were buried. And hopefully their secrets would stay buried too.

Once upon a time, the universe decided to play a cruel joke on a pair of sisters. And the sisters were going to give the universe hell as payback.