-Author's explanation-
xxGrayheartxx: (glances around) …kay so this story was previously owned by another author, buuuut she decided to kill it and left it up for grabs… and here we are? Well I am a total -fan, and I think laven is a cute couple, so i'm gonna take one for the team and finish the story. Please tell me if I butcher it.
Summary: Lavi, a.k.a. "Deak" has only known blood, crime, and darkness since he was young. But will a young man named Allen Walker save him from it?
Rating: M for gang fights, violence, blood, and possible future events.
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! NOTHING DARN IT! (Weeps in frustration)
- O -
It was a loud that day, but not the loudest it had ever been in a marketplace. One thing, however stood out above all else. The loud cries and moans tore through the center, but no one cared or even looked up from their work, this was a regular thing to them. Well, to almost everyone. To one teenager, however, it was the saddest thing he had ever heard. How could no one even give a thought to the pain of someone else? This boy's eyes were practically on the verge of tears, but he promised himself he would seek out the source of those heart-wrenching cries of agony. Determined, he ran towards the moans. His ivory hair bounced in the wind, waving in time with his running. The cries were approaching closer and closer, until finally he found the source. The young man found himself at the mouth of a dirty alleyway, where the cries were spilling out of the darkness. He peeked around the corner of the alleyway they were hidden in.
A man was kneeled over, his shirt tossed aside on the filthy pavement. He was slender, and couldn't have been much older than the boy, perhaps a couple years at most. His back was decorated with dirty scars along with still-weeping fresh ones. A sharp wicked-looking sword was being slid neatly along his spine, it was wielded by a tall man whose hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. A small smile stretched on his face as his cuts aroused another cry from the kneeling man. The watching boy shuddered as he saw the blood gush over clean skin, dyeing it a rusty red color.
"Stop it!" He screamed, jumping into the alleyway and rushing over, he latched onto the pony-tailed man's arm to prevent him from unleashing another slash on the man. Said man glanced at him awkwardly from over his shoulder, wincing as the motion stretched his wounds. The half-light set red tints in his hair shining.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The pony-tailed swordsman screamed at the defender trying to throw him off balance, eager to get him out of the way. The younger of the brawl's hands slid across the sharp blade making him scream in gut wrenching pain. His blood covered the blade within seconds, he dropped to his knees, bleeding hands still attached to the blade as he watched the assaulter stand in shock and rage.
"Stop, you don't need to hurt that man!" The boy screamed. He awkwardly stood, still attached to the blade, and tried to direct the elder away from the wounded red-head, only to get a violent reaction.
"Get the fuck out of here kid! This has nothing to do with you, but it will if you don't let go!" He screamed, wrenching the sword to the side and making the boy release, leaving blood splattered across the sharp edges.
"Stupid kid! This is the only way for Deak to prove himself!" A teenage girl stepped out from the shadows. She looked to be the youngest out of the three; she had a not so developed body, although that didn't stop her from showing off whatever she had. A wore a halter top with a leather jacket over her slim shoulders, her tight skinny jeans had many chains flowing down her legs and hips, very high, high heeled boots ended just below her knees, the heels themselves were at least four inches off the ground. Her hair was forest green with light emerald highlights.
"Yeah, get the hell out of here before we whoop your sorry ass!" Yet another tall figure emerged from the shadows, this one had a very muscular build. He had inky black hair, and he was defiantly the oldest in the group. However, once he got a good look at the boy, he stood and narrowed his eyes. "This kid doesn't look much older than a teenager..." He stood taking uneasy breathes looking at the blood covering the younger teen's hands and over all body. He sighed " Let him go." Ponytail ground his teeth creating an ear torturing sound.
"Suman!" The girl hissed stomping a foot at the man, showing a true beast in her eyes.
"Do you really want to get arrested on a higher cause if the police find out that he's a child?" He spat back at the girl, making her eyebrows pinch together in a firm line. After a few brief moments, the green haired girl glared at "Suman" before looking over to the swordsman.
"Come on Kanda, let's get going. Deak, don't you even think about coming back without having something to show yourself for, you will be sorry." She promised, glaring at the kneeling red head as she took her leave with 'Kanda' and 'Suman' not far behind her.
Watching them disappear into the shadows the boy stood dumbfounded by what had happened with not much meaning or cause. Looking back to the redhead his face filled with worry. "Are you alright?" He asked walking over to the man, his eyes filled with concern.
"Go away. I don't need help from you!" The man spat his words at the boy with venom. Easing his bleeding self of the ground, he snatched his shirt off the ground he put it back on. When the younger looked hard enough at the tall male in front of him he could see many things that worried him. An eye patch over his right eye; marks on his neck most likely due to another fight, scratches and cuts ran up and down his arms, a shirt torn in a few different places. His eyes wandered to the non-wounded features. His hair had gave an impression of fire, even though a ski cap covered most of it. The one eye visible was emerald, and it gave the masquerade of innocence. Baggy pants, many chains attached themselves to the jeans (as the girl from before), big torn and tattered shoes, it all came together to give him a frightening appearance.
Adding to the aura, the boy could see the blood starting to come through the back of his shirt, in the obvious shapes of cuts. "Oh, here." Trying to be gentle and kind; the younger teen walked over and picked up the shopping bag he had abandoned at the beginning, pulling out some gauze that he had actually come into town for, which had happened to be surprising lucky. "Lift up your shirt." The boy smiled trying to be as friendly as possible.
"Just go away." The elder shoved the boy off as he touched his shoulder. Trying to shove past the teen, the redhead headed off in the direction the previous group had left in.
"Wait!" he reached out to grab the angered teen, only to have his hand smacked away. A flash of red pain washed over him. He gasped and fell to his knees. He winced and raised his hands tried to look at them, only to bite his lower lip in pain when he tried to move his fingers. All he could see was blood, giant gashes covered both palms.
The other man paused and looked back, cursing under his breath before his feet drug back him back to the small boy. "Hold out your hands." It wasn't a suggestion or even so much as an option. Holding out his trembling hands the boy bit back and winced when the red head touched the gashes. He sighed slightly before he started to talk. "He got you bad; I'd stay away from him if I were you." Looking up, the boy gasped as he felt a ski cap being pressed against his left palm trying to soak up the blood. "Name's Lavi, by the way." He mumbled picking up the gauze the other boy had dropped.
Wrapping his left hand, Lavi lightly blew on the obviously hurting appendage trying to ease some pain. With the first hand done he moved on to the next, Dabbing it lightly with the ski cap before wrapping it up like the other. "What's your name?" Lavi asked, not looking up from what he was doing.
"My name is Allen, Allen Walker." He smiled at Lavi, who was just now tearing off the gauze, folding it under a previous wrap trying to keep it from falling apart.
"Interesting name." Lavi sighed pulling away from Allen. He stood up and slipped his now bloodied ski cap on and sighed.
"Wait, you're going to keep it after it's covered in my blood?" Allen asked, raising an eyebrow. Lavi shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck.
"There's nothing wrong with it. No need to throw it away because of a little blood." Lavi muttered watching the boy's expression turn into very sympathetic look.
"Well, thank you." Allen smiled at Lavi, holding out his hand to shake.
"Is that really the best idea for you right now?" Lavi snickered as he gestured at the bandaged hand.
Allen winced "I guess not." Allen let his hand fall back to his side. "Why were those people hurting you?" Allen asked looking at Lavi with wondering eyes; he wouldn't leave without an answer.
Lavi sighed once again as he meshed his fingers behind his head. "Those people are members of the gang I'm in, the chick and the guy with the sword are fighting for the leader position. They attacked me because I failed to kill a member of our gang that betrayed us. I came close but then the police showed up and I had to run for it."
"Have you ever actually killed someone?" Allen asked cautiously, searching Lavi's face. He was honestly terrified to know, but he had needed the truth to know if he should have saved that man, although that wouldn't have made him any better than a killer.
Lavi sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair as best as he could with a cap on his head. "Honestly, yes. And if you're wondering. Three people, one was a drug dealer. It was a deal done wrong. The second was another gang member who got into a fight me, Kanda and Suman got into it too. And the most recent was a police officer. That one was a few months ago. He was a jerk."
"How did you feel, after you killed those people?" Allen asked. He felt that he could become the fourth because of saying the wrong thing in his blood. He shivered at the thought.
"I felt slightly bad, and then I thought, they are just ink on paper. They don't matter. They're going to be forgotten sooner or later, and it makes no difference if that time was now or ten years from now." Allen stood horrified. He was staring at Lavi, and it almost made him want to throw up. It shocked him that someone could be so heartless.
Suddenly, Lavi got up and started to make his leave. He figured he had better not stay any longer and start anything he might regret later.
Deciding ti might be better not to try and make him stay, Allen yelled off to Lavi who was now far out of the alley. "Will I see you again?" he yelled frantically.
"No," was the reply. Heading into the bustling crowd, Lavi easily blended in with all of the people. Running after the red head, Allen ran through the crowd. He himself didn't know why he was running after the older teen. It just felt so… right. The sounds of voices filled Allen's head confusing him and telling which way to go, only to bump into a very tall and muscular man.
"What do you think you're doing running into me like that?" He asked, shoving Allen backwards, making him almost fall. Stumbling backwards, Allen was caught off guard by this man being just all around angry.
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to." Allen bowed his head and an attempt to show respect. All Allen had ever known was to avoid any conflict at all cost, he also had to consider the fact that he couldn't even move his fingers without wincing in pain, let alone fight with them. He was hoping that he could resolve this peaceably, but luck wasn't on his side.
"Sure you didn't, I'll teach you, you little punk." The man punched Allen in the gut. Coughing, Allen resisted from fighting back. Instead, he let the man hit him again, this time knocking him to the ground. Sitting on the ground Allen considered whether he should even attempt to get up again , when he heard a familiar voice and a known body figure stood in front of him. "Hey!" Allen could see Lavi standing in front of him in the most protective stance, obviously trying to shield the younger boy.
"Get out of the way," the man scowled, he threw a fist at Lavi only to have it caught and thrown right back at him, smack dab in the face. Using his other fist, Lavi hit the man on the side of the head and knocked him to the ground. Glancing back at Allen, Lavi grabbed the younger's wrist and pushed through the crowd that had formed around them.
Once far enough away Lavi released Allen and slid down against a brick wall, panting heavily. "L-Lavi, why did you…?" Allen stood slightly gasping from the run they had just taken to get away from that man.
"I owed you one; don't think for one second I was doing that just to be nice." Lavi glared slightly at Allen sending chills up the silver haired boy's spine.
"Still, thank you." Allen smiled holding out a hand to shake. Staring at the boy for a second, Lavi sighed.
"It's not like I can ever show my face around Dark Order again." Lavi moaned as tapped his head against the brick, almost completely ignoring Allen.
"Dark Order? What's that?" Allen asked as he sat down next to Lavi. He had made sure to watch his face closely.
"It's the place where our gang, hangs out and kinda, lives." Lavi sighed rubbing the back of his neck.
"You don't have a home to go to?" Allen asked, lowering his eyebrows in sorrow.
"I can always sleep on the streets." Lavi shrugged, not caring one bit about the topic.
"No, you're staying with me." Allen smiled at Lavi warmly, not hesitating in the slightest.
"I barely know you, kid, and besides. Wouldn't your parents go all psycho on you for bringing a person like me home?" Lavi raised an eyebrow finally looking at Allen.
"I don't have parents. They left me about an hour after I was born." Allen looked down at the ground, adverting his eyes from Lavi's.
"Oh, sorry to bring it up." Lavi sighed trying to sound as apologetic as possible without sounding soft.
"It's fine; I don't really care that much about it. it's my foster father that brings up bad memories. He was killed in a gang fight. He wasn't even being mean to them. He was just walking by, I was with him. He smiled and said 'hello.' They pulled a knife on him," Allen mumbled, pulling his knees closer to his chest. "They stabbed him twenty times. I remember it all. Then when they were done with him, they came for me. They used the same knife to engrave this in my face." Allen unwrapped his arms from around his legs and turned to Lavi lifting up his bangs over his left eye. Deep jagged edges carved into his skin, a long line went down his eyelid and down to his cheek. A line went over that one short and curvy right under his eye. At the top of the engraved scar laid a star.
"They left me after that to bleed to death on the streets. I was found by police officers, prosecuted and sent to the hospital. When I woke up, I found my uncle sitting in the room. I never liked that man. I later learned I would now be living with him. And yatta yatta. He left around a year ago and here I am." Allen sighed. "I'm sorry. I ramble too much, don't I?" Allen ran his hands through his hair laughing awkwardly.
"It's fine," Lavi breathed, lifting himself off the curb.
"Where are you going?" Allen asked, watching Lavi walk towards an alley.
"I'm just gonna get some sleep, and don't go worrying about me. I've done this plenty of times before." Lavi waved behind himself as he kept walking.
Lavi could hear foot steps approaching him quickly, then a gentle touch trying to grip his arm. "Wait, please, just come with me." Lavi turned around and just let Allen lead him to a slightly nicer part of the town. Around a twenty minute walk was all it took. When they approached an apartment building a girl with orange hair looked over at Allen and waved.
"Hey, Fou." Allen smiled, running towards the girl.
"Hey, Walker, who do you have here?" Fou grinned nodding towards Lavi. She was holding a ridiculous number of bags and couldn't exactly point.
"Oh, this is Lavi, Lavi this is my friend, Fou." Allen smiled introducing the two.
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Lavi; unfortunately I must be leaving now." Fou smiled, leaning against her apartment door's handle and walking inside, and closing the door behind her. Allen led Lavi to the stairs heading up to the higher apartments.
"I hope that wasn't too awkward for you." Allen smiled wryly, stopping on the third floor.
"It was alright, she seemed nice." Lavi shrugged. He followed Allen to what he presumed to be his apartment.
"She is. Well, here we are." Allen smiled, unlocking the door to the apartment. When Lavi stepped inside he gasped in awe of the small apartment. Closing the door behind them, Allen locked the top and bottom lock for the door.
"This is really nice." Lavi grinned cheerfully, looking around the house.
"Why, thank you." Allen smiled, hanging up his jacket on a coat rack. Slowly grabbing Lavi's jacket from his back ,taking precaution to the redhead's wounds, Allen hung up his jacket as well.
"The bedroom is just this way." Allen lead Lavi to the room farthest from the front door. Opening the door, Allen walked in. He sat down on the bed as he took off his shoes. "I'm sorry there's only one bed but that's alright, right?" Allen looked up and smiled at Lavi, picking up his shoes and placing them in his closet.
"Can I sit on it?" Lavi asked cautiously. He walked over to the bed and traced his fingers across the comforter.
Slight laughter could be heard from Allen. "Lavi, you'll be sleeping on it. Go on ahead." Allen smiled as he dug through his closet hangers.
"I've never slept on a bed before." Lavi sat down on the soft furniture enjoying the feeling.
Allen frowned at this and looked back at Lavi. "Never?" Allen asked pulling out some clothes from the closet.
"Nope, first time." Lavi smiled standing up from the bed.
Allen paused for a moment, still holding the clothes. He was silent for a moment before saying, "Well, here are your clothes that you can sleep in tonight. Feel free to take a shower, just make yourself at home. And I'm sorry if the clothes don't fit well, it's all I have. We can get you some new clothes later this week." Allen smiled handing Lavi the clothes and directing him to the bathroom.
Lavi ended up taking a shower for the first time in years. It was warm and long. Even though the cuts on his back stung he didn't care. He enjoyed the sensation of having the warm liquid run across his body, the feeling of warmth spreading through his body. He reluctantly turned off the water and got dressed.
"Did you enjoy your shower?" Allen was sitting on his bed, flicking through channels on his television.
"Very much, thank you." Lavi smiled, sitting down next to Allen, watching him channel surf.
"Here, try and find something you want to watch, I'm going to go take my shower." Allen sighed getting up picking up his own change of clothes and heading towards the bathroom.
Lavi ended up flipping through many channels, and he ended up stopping on Oprah for some reason.
About 20 minutes passed before the water stopped.
"That was nice, but it really hurt my hands." Allen sighed, walking out of the bathroom wearing a long t-shirt with only a slight chance of shorts under to see. "Oprah?" Allen chuckled, tossing the throw pillows off the bed and pulling back the covers.
"Yeah, just looked interesting." Lavi sighed shrugging his shoulders.
"You sure sigh a lot." Allen chuckled "Well I'm heading to bed." Allen said, flicking off the light and crawling under the covers. "Can I head to bed too?" Lavi asked cautious of his wording. Allen just smirked and nodded.
Grinning, Lavi turned off the TV and slipped under the covers. Sighing, Lavi rested his head on the pillow. It had been so long since he had slept somewhere warm. He had forgotten how nice it was to feel the warmth of another person. Unfortunatley that created an entirely new problem for the red-head. He was falling for the boy that had given him that warmth.
- O -