Best Laid Plans
A D Gray-Man and Skyrim Crossover
Warm dinner, drinks, and a place to stay had been a nice reward for being rid of the mercenaries occupying the mines in Karthwasten. 600 gold was an even nicer reward that Allen easily caved in taking, once again lending to Lavi's suspicion that such reward had been the young man's intent all along.
Even subtly suggesting as much, however, led the white-haired juvenile to give him the evil eye every time.
Better yet, the rains had passed come morning when they left for the main road, refreshed and well-rested.
Kanda remained silent, characteristically disinterested in making conversation, while Allen and Lenalee made small talk like a pair of sociable songbirds, getting along rather swimmingly. Allen had easily enough made himself comfortable talking with her while, quite obviously, making every effort possible to pretend that Lavi simply did not exist.
There was, however, something that he felt the white-haired lad - even if he was being somewhat of a grudging prick - should know about before they reached Markarth.
"You should be careful not to get too close and cuddly," he said, partially in teasing as he rode at the back. He could hear the huff of exasperation regardless. Allen clearly still hated him. "We wouldn't want anything unfortunate to happen to you."
Allen looked over his shoulder, glaring darkly. "Is that a threat?"
"No." Lavi shook his head. "It's a warning. You've never met Komui before."
Allen's brows furrowed. "Who?"
Lenalee sighed audibly, drawing Allen's gaze. "My brother."
"What about him?"
"He's..." Lenalee trailed off, looking at a loss of how to continue.
"He's an damn overbearing sister-complex," Kanda scoffed. Allen smirked, raising a brow.
"He's a what-now?"
"Overprotective," Lavi chimed in helpfully. "To a degree the likes of which you have never seen."
Allen rolled his eyes. "Thank you for the explanation, but I'm sure Lenalee could explain for herself without you butting in."
The girl in question swiveled in her saddle to look between the two males in concern, seeing Lavi frown unpleasantly. "You don't have to be so mean to him, Allen."
"I'm not doing anything unearned," Allen defended huffily, watching forward now rather than back at the redhead or to the side at Lenalee.
"It was rude and you should apologize," she insisted, but Allen stubbornly refused, though he held his tongue from arguing. Lenalee sighed helplessly and looked back at Lavi in question, hoping for an explanation, but the redhead merely shrugged in silence. She shook her head and looked ahead once more.
Why did men have to be so damn stubborn?
Fog clung to the cliffs most of the rest of the way, obscuring the narrow walls of rising canyons and cliffs. Passing a cave, crossing a bridge over steep falls, and heading uphill past a solitary grass-roofed house, they finally reached Markarth a little after noon.
The river that flowed from the confines of the city steadily hummed to their left, a mine and several Dwemer-built houses across the water. Further ahead, great towers of stone were visible through the cold mist wafting down from the mountain peaks where the city was situated at its base. The rounded rust-gold colored roofs and pair of doors set in the defense wall around the city greeted them.
A scraggily wolfhound bounded up towards them from the stables just outside the city and barked alarm, sniffing and surveying the strangers as they slid down from their horses, which whickered nervousness and sidled but didn't bolt. Allen only smiled and offered a hand, the dog taking its time to draw in his scent before licking his palm. The boy smiled slightly wider and patted the animal atop the head.
"Need a trained war-dog?" a man asked gruffly, sitting off to the side of the stable. "Fiercest companion money can buy."
Allen merely shook his head, giving the canine a last appreciative pat.
"No, thank you."
The foursome walked up the full, double-flight of steps to the gate, which appeared the same orangey-gold coloration as the rooftops and finely crafted with angular designs and square swirls.
Everything seemed peaceful enough, but as soon as they walked through, a man standing in front of a stand selling fresh meat drew a dagger and ran around to attack a woman browsing jewelry at the stand behind it, plunging it into his spine and killing her, screaming, "The Reach is for the Forsworn!"
The guards came running instantly and cut him down right in front of the newly arrived, the man bleeding out onto the stone street. The dying man clawed across the ground and grabbed a hold of Allen's ankle as he gasped his last breaths, coughing blood. Lavi saw Allen instinctively take a step back, bristling in alarm with eyes wide.
"...I-I die... for my pe-ople..."
A quick glance around told of whisperings, either full of fear or disdain for the dead man, while the guards already worked to move the corpse out. Lavi could tell, even from behind, that Allen's breaths were coming forcibly controlled, and he reached a steadying hand out to place on the teen's shoulder. As soon as he did, Allen seemed to come back out of his shock in an instant and jerked away from the redhead as if the touch burned him, glaring hatred.
"Do not touch me!"
Lavi merely held his hands up in a placating manner.
"Everyone step back! The city guard will handle this," one of the local soldiers ordered crisply. "There are no Forsworn here!"
"Gods, a woman attacked, right on the streets!" a man gasped just off to the side of them as they stepped aside to let the guards do their work. He looked to them in scrutiny, his eyes appearing to know far too much. "Are you all alright? Did you see what happened?"
"He just pulled out a dagger out of nowhere and killed the woman, yelling something about Forsworn," Allen said, his voice still somewhat shaky after being blindsided by such a sight.
"The Forsworn? Strange. Well I hope that the Eight give you more peace from now on, for what it's worth." He turned as if to leave and then stopped, turning back. "Oh, I think you dropped this. Some kind of note. Looks important."
Lavi blinked and glanced to Allen, who appeared equally as confused and suspicious as he was. Allen was silent for a long moment, and the man took the opportunity to walk elsewhere, while Allen looked thoughtful. He clearly knew that it was a ploy to get him to take the letter as much as Lavi did, watching the man disappear before finally stepping off to the side and opening it to see what it said.
It merely had Meet me at the Shrine of Talos written upon it.
"What do you think that was about?" Lavi mused, while Allen shrugged, momentarily forgetting he was pissed at Lavi, it seemed.
"Dunno."
"Well, anyway, we should go find Komui first, and talk to him. You can worry over whatever that's about afterwards."
Allen merely nodded, but he looked distracted as they walked. Another leaned outside of a doorway stopped to ask them about if they'd seen anyone enter or leave the door he stood in front of, declaring himself of Vigilant of Stendarr and talking about suspected Daedric worship, but they merely declined and headed further in to the city, to a door at the far back behind some falls.
Inside of Understone Keep - as it was called - was an old Dwemer ruin, rubble cluttering the side of the path. A man argued near the front gates, demanding answers from a robed figure about a burial site being closed off. Straight ahead of them was a hall leading further in, the right, a long staircase, and a cluttered, rubble-covered path to the left.
Lenalee led the others inside and stopped by one of the two guards stationed in front of the hall heading straight.
"Excuse me, is my brother working the excavation site right now?"
"Your brother? Oh! Um... Komui, right?" One of them tilted their head back in thought. "Hmm, yes, I think they're working over there right this moment."
"Thank you!" she offered up happily and led the way through the path to their immediate left, the other three falling in step. Lavi noticed Allen pointedly pretended to be curious in the structures behind them as they walked, keeping his face anywhere other than directed at the guards, then finally relaxed when the men were behind them.
Beyond was a large chamber, a good couple hundred feet high, most of it natural. More Dwemer towers and stone pathways lay beyond, lit by stone fire pits and decorative pillars where posed Dwarven Spheres - a rolling, humanoid defense system built by the extinct race of Dwarves - stood watch over the doorway further in. The sound of running water suggested a creek flowing through the mountain just beneath a stone bridge ahead.
A few human figures milled about, looking like they were discussing something deeply important. Lenalee perked when she spotted one with shoulder-length black hair that curled out to either side of his head, running to greet him.
"Brother!"
The man nearly jumped in surprise before he brightened and dropped some sort of gear on one of the wood tables, opening his arms and catching her in an embrace as she threw herself at him.
"Lenalee! I heard there was some kind of attack on Solitude... something about dragons? I'm glad you're alright!" He paused a moment and let go to step back, surveying her up and down for a moment just to be sure such was wholly the truth. Satisfied that she was unhurt, he smiled again warmly, pulling her into a second hug, both of them standing like that for a long moment before he stepped away again, his attention now turning to her companions. "I see you brought Kanda and Lavi," he mused, before his gaze fell on the young stranger. "Who's this?"
"This is Allen," she introduced, motioning behind her. Allen, however, was looking elsewhere distractedly, not really listening. "I guess he's sort of the reason why we're here."
"Oh?" Komui hummed, studying the young man for a moment before he stepped forward briskly, bending slightly to be more at eye-level and startling the teen out of his thoughts into almost jumping back, looking uncomfortable at the proximity and the scrutinizing gleam in the man's eye. "Allen, hm? I hope for your sake you don't get any funny ideas about my sister."
"What?" Allen squeaked, his eyes briefly switching from Komui to Lenalee - who looked notably embarrassed - and then back to the man again as he took a step back to regain a bit of personal space, forcing a polite smile and his voice evening out. "No, of course not! My father raised me to be a proper gentleman, not a lecher."
Komui studied him grimly for long enough to make his hair prickle uncomfortably before it was finally replaced by a warmly approving smile, Komui straightening up to his full height, which was quite impressive, especially when compared to his own height which was slightly lacking.
"I'm glad to hear it!" Komui declared, tousling the boy's hair for a moment in an affectionate manner that put Allen at a loss as to how to react, staying rooted to where he already was as the older male walked back towards his younger sister. "So do tell me, is it all true? Dragons attacked Solitude?" He was clearly having trouble wrapping his mind around it, but he looked to be trying at any rate.
"That's correct," Kanda grunted, finding a place against the wall to lean. Perhaps not coincidentally at all, it was near the doorway, probably to make sure Allen didn't go creeping off.
Komui nodded grim understanding. If even Kanda stated that such were true, then it had to be.
"And our buddy Allen here might be Dragonborn," Lavi added with a motion of his head, choosing to ignore the hissed "I am NOT your 'buddy'!" from the boy in question himself.
Komui's interest noticeably piqued at that, the man stopping and staring at him curiously. "Is that so?"
"Bookman suggested we go to High Hrothgar to see the Greybeards about it and find out if its true, so that's where we were heading now. This was just sort of a detour so Lenalee could come and see you," Lavi stated, folding his arms behind his head casually.
"I see," Komui hummed, still staring at Allen with an intensity that made the lad uncomfortable. "Well, you can't all go out there unprepared. I might see if I can't have a word with the Jarl and the local blacksmiths, perhaps. I can only imagine that potentially fighting off dragons would entail the need for some very fine craftsmanship in weaponry and armor."
"Now hold on a moment, I haven't said anything about fighting any dragons!" Allen interjected, looking startled. Komui merely smiled paternally.
"Perhaps not, but it doesn't hurt to go prepared, now does it? And if there are dragons loose and about, you might not get much choice," he said, lacing his fingers into a joint-popping stretch. "Just sit tight and wait for me a moment. I'll see if I can't gather together a few willing helpers to get you outfitted."
"No, really! That isn't neces-"
Too late, Komui was already sauntering off, a fully intent man on a mission. Allen sighed and let his arm fall back to his side in overwhelmed defeat, pondering whether or not to give chase.
"It's useless, you know," Lenalee told him, as if reading his mind. "Once he gets a goal in mind, there's no stopping him. You might as well just accept it."
"He doesn't even know me," Allen pointed out, still looking somewhat at a loss. "And now he's just... already trying to throw stuff like armor at me. I-in the good way, I mean..."
Lenalee laughed warmly. "That's just how he is. My brother is always looking out for other people."
Allen merely nodded to show he understood, and though they did have to wait a while, Komui returned with a few others. One such new face was that of a shorter male with brown hair tied tightly against his head with two poofs in the back, who bore all the eagerness of a dog about to be given a fresh cow bone.
"Allen, this is Johnny," Komui directed to the young man that trailed behind him. "He works on tailoring and blacksmithing. He'll make sure that your armor is outfitted best as it can be."
"Can't you just give me some generic armor? I'm not a hard fit, and all this really isn't-"
"No way!" Johnny piped, not to be dissuaded by Allen's voiced discomfort. "Armor should always fit the wearer specific to them! Otherwise it'll be less effective, and you have an important mission, right?"
Allen looked between them helplessly. "Really, all of this is entirely unnecessary. I don't even have the coin to pay for a set if custom work like this!" Not if he expected to eat properly, with his appetite.
Johnny merely beamed at him. "Then don't worry about it! I don't expect you to pay for it!"
"What?" Allen gaped openly.
Johnny grinned at him, almost seeming to puff up with pride. "I won't expect you to pay... not with money, at least, but if you were to do me a favor instead, then that'd be payment enough!"
"And what would that be?" Allen asked cautiously, feeling a little overwhelmed at the attention.
"I'll make you the best armor I can! But you have to tell other people where it came from, alright? If people heard that the Gill family are the ones who crafted the armor of the legendary Dragonborn, then it'd help business! People would come from all over to order armor for themselves as well! We'd more than earn back what it'd cost to make it for you."
Allen huffed and smiled wryly. So it wasn't just generosity after all, it was a trade-off. That, he was more comfortable with, though the issue of his arm was still in question, since he was in the habit of hiding it from view. Would they be so eager to help him then? Or would they overlook it on account of legends that may not even be true?
"Alright..." Allen conceded. He hadn't gotten any proper armor in a long time, basically just hand-me-downs or battered pieces stolen off of some unfortunate saps or corpses he stumbled across on occasion in the open wilds. Not that it was normally a necessity for him. He tried to avoid open conflict where he could, and had learned to be quick in reflex to compensate when a fight presented itself. "It doesn't look like any of you want to give me much of a choice."