White Demon, Red Scribe
A D Gray-Man and Assassin's Creed Revelations Crossover
Seeing Lavi's weapon of choice and his relaxed demeanor made Allen a little calmer.
He dashed out after his fellow assassins, heading to the den right away. Speeding up and passing some of his friends, Allen took his while to glance back to see if Lavi was following.
Gesturing to a group of advancing assassins to take the other route, he leaped off the roof to hook his blade on the rope and slide down onto another building. The sky was already darkening, which was good - if they managed to engage the battle without making the enemy aware of them too soon the odds would be very much in their favor.
Lavi was content to let Allen lead and simply play it by ear as things went, which was basically what he, as a Bookman, always did anyway. He was interested to see Allen calling the shots and directing where to go and what to do, more confident than Lavi remembered him being when they'd last parted, a thought which tugged a broader smile to his lips.
Yeah, both of them had definitely grown, in their own way, in more than just physique. Allen was turning into a fine man in his own right, and just as fine an assassin, as he was sure he'd see soon enough.
He wasn't as agile on the rooftops as Allen or many other assassins, but he could hold his own enough to keep up. At least he thought as much until Allen flung himself forward and went zip-lining past several buildings to another rooftop quite some distance ahead.
"Well that's a new trick," he whistled to himself, skidding to a stop and thinking for a moment, since he didn't have a hook-blade of his own to do the same.
He pondered what to do for a few seconds, before an idea struck him and he swung his own weapon around, so that the chain wrapped around it and he could grab the loose end of it by the larger metal ball on the last link. It was a little awkward, but it worked, and without too much delay he was back on his way again, just a few paces more behind than he'd started off at, just in time to see Allen take out a guard like the perfectly honed predator, taking down his prey before they knew he was even approaching.
Gently laying the body on the ground, Allen moved on, taking his stance on the northern roof, just opposite the den entrance, waiting for the others to take their places too.
He caught a glimpse of Lavi's red hair and relaxed somewhat, assuring himself that everything's gonna be alright. At least they were each going see how they'd improved their fighting skills.
Lavi was somewhat winded by the time they'd reached their destination, but there was a short lapse of time for him to regain his breath while various assassins were still taking up tactical positions.
Glancing at all the men readying themselves on the nearby roofs and seeing others creep through the shadow of the streets, Allen added his own nod to let everyone know another man found a target and is ready to fight. He didn't take notice of the messenger from before taking a defensive pose behind him.
An eagle cry echoed throughout the land, deciding that the battle has begun. The assassins leaped down from the roofs - each one taking out a soldier they marked. Twenty more soldiers just lost their lives.
Allen, however, had not the time to ponder about such things because even if their opening move was successful, the fight was not won yet.
Lavi decided to hold off entering the fray for the first few moments as the Assassins leapt down onto their targets on cue, his single eye watching carefully for any enemy soldiers not engaged in battle yet, or one of the assassins that might have managed to draw in too many enemies at once. Clan rules didn't dictate that he couldn't take part in a fight when it became necessary, but his involvement was to be as minimal is humanly possible.
Before long, he spied an assassin that was being tag-teamed from four sides, having known that it was only a matter of time, and he finally moved in.
One of the soldiers tried to strike a sword down the length of the assassin's back while he was busy fending off other attackers from all three other sides, but Lavi was quick to slide his own weapon between them to catch the blade, moving so that he twisted the unsuspecting man's blade and arms back over his head, and sweeping a leg behind his ankle to send him to the ground, flat on his own back. A quick jab to the neck from the spear end was all it took to end him.
A second one he hooked around the throat with the long chain-end, yanking him backwards, earning an audible, strangled noise out of the guy. Lavi ducked down with the pole across his shoulders, rotating it around to the opposite side across his chest with some effort, so that he rolled the flailing man across his back and used the momentum to flip him face-first into the ground, curb-stomping his head down. Whether the man was actually dead or just unconscious, he wasn't sure, but it hardly mattered either way, so long as he was down and out.
The Assassin had no trouble dispatching the remaining two on his own, now that he only had the two to keep focus on, and seemed surprised to find out who his rescuer was, probably having expected a fellow assassin. Neither of them had time to dwell on it though, so Lavi merely gave him a sort of friendly mock-salute and a smile before they both turned back to the fight.
He caught a glimpse of Allen, taking down a few rank-and-file soldiers left and right like it was child's play. Lavi liked to tease the other about his slightly lacking size, but he also knew that in some ways, that was to Allen's advantage. He was still physically strong, but better yet, he was nimble.
A few seconds later, another man's life perished by the White Demon's hand, and a while after that, yet another.
Yeah... he was definitely becoming a fine assassin.
Reassured that he had little to worry about, he turned his attention back to the fight, keen eye looking for where he might be needed most, dispatching a few more guards here or there, but mostly he was just playing back-up, trying to limit the casualties on the Assassin's side and moving through the fight to the more tactically advantageous places.
Allen fought his way towards the far side of the mob of soldiers, slowly nearing the real target he marked - the captain of the Byzantine division and the leader of this attack.
He swore loudly as he watched his fellow assassin being impaled by an enemy soldier but tried to keep his head clear. A dodge to the side away from his sword, a swing of his own hidden blade and the soldier was on the ground, chocking on his own blood.
Allen didn´t take his time to watch the man's life slip away. Instead, he advanced, being joined by another group of assassins which made his way to the captain easier.
The leader was a giant, stout male, wielding a huge and very heavy looking war-hammer as his weapon and a black horny helmet on his head. Allen needed to go for the vital points - his neck or armpits. Judging by the way the man walked and the speed of his swings, he decided to approach the captain from his side just after he takes another swing.
He heard someone call his name but all his senses were already fixated on his prey.
Allen jumped, baring his blades, ready to kill. He didn´t know that his calculations were wrong and the next swing came much sooner than he would like.
For the most part, Lavi didn't much care for the lives of most in the battle on either side, but he was keeping occasional tabs on Allen, making sure that he didn't need help. He knew that the other was quite capable of handling himself, and so far the battle was going well, but the redhead was acutely aware of just how drastically fights like this could unexpectedly go south, and nothing was more unpredictable than warfare, even on this small a scale.
He saw Allen going for a figure in particular to the fight, one that was heavily armored and armed. One that looked like trouble.
A quick glance around also told him that most of the others were too pre-occupied to be of much help if he was driven into a tight spot, and that definitely worried him.
He was forced to turn back to his own battle for a moment as one soldier stood in his way, Lavi sizing him up carefully. He wanted to make this quick, in case the white-haired male needed help, bouncing loosely on his feet and ready for whatever oncoming blow the soldier would throw at him.
"Come on, just try and hit me with that butter knife, if ya can," he taunted faintly, trying to jibe the man into recklessness. "A flayed fish at market probably has more guts than you."
The guy snarled and lunged at him, Lavi feinting back before he quickly jabbed outward with his spearhead, piercing a scream out of the man as he lost his eye to the sharpened point. Lavi twisted him all the way to the ground before racing along the far side of the fight, dodging around other small, fighting groups.
He saw Allen lunging for the armored figure, the likely leader of the enemy band, but it was not a sight that Lavi wanted to see, picking out the fact that the man was moving more quickly and skillfully than Allen had probably first predicted.
If his adrenaline wasn't pumping before, it definitely was now, the redhead springing toward them as he barked out, "Allen!"
His mind was already racing a mile a minute, trying to calculate the distance and how fast he needed to be, if he could really reach them before a blade found one of his friend's vitals, or if maybe he could manage to get his chain around either the man's arm or his weapon and redirect it somewhere else, until Allen could either move in and finish it or move to safety. That all depended on how fast he could actually reach them though.
Lavi didn't make it, not for lack of trying, but because a small band of soldiers seemed to have noticed him and were determined to block his way. The redhead cursed foully under his breath, but there wasn't much he could do, other than hold his own and hope that Allen could do the same without him.
Of course, Allen could literally do nothing but watch as the giant mountain that was the Byzantine captain suddenly turned around in a completely different manner than he showed just a mere second ago. He knew that the hit he was about to receive was going to hurt a lot but there was basically nothing he could do about it now.
However, when the hit came, it wasn´t as bad as he thought it would be. The fact that it was mighty enough to send him flying against the wall was still a little bit worrying.
Allen couldn't help but to curl himself on the ground for a while, clutching his abdomen and crying out loud as he waited for the pain to subdue a little.
He staggered to his feet, supporting himself on the wall and quickly looked around to locate his target again.
He found the enemy captain kneeling on the ground, holding his hammer in front of him to keep another assassin away from his body, to get some time to recover.
Getting back up on his feet again, the Byzantine growled dangerously, taking a swing at the other man who was the reason Allen was still able to stand up and fight.
"Are you alright?" the man called, only taking a fleeting glance at Allen as he dodged the attack.
"Of course," Allen answered, forcing himself to ignore the pain and straighten up, walking back towards the fighting duo as fast as his fresh wound would let him. He was pretty surprised, though, finding out that his savior was the messenger that came to warn him about Lavi.
Unfortunately, before Allen could reach them, the captain swung his hammer again, but even though he missed at first he managed to surprise them yet again by letting go of the handle with one hand and launching forward to grab the messenger's head. Every alarm suddenly started ringing in Allen's head as he watched his brother-in-arms cry in pain and sink to the dusty ground.
The captain wore an armor that easily doubled his body weight and a hammer that was almost as big as Allen himself and he still managed to move fast enough to surprise him twice. He'd let himself get carried away and had allowed himself to underestimate his opponent, but now was not the time to dwell on it. He would punish himself for that later.
An unpleasant shiver ran down Allen's back when he saw the messenger assassin stagger, momentarily losing his footing as he was shoved backwards. The captain took another illogically fast swing but Allen was faster this time even despite his wounds. The leader needed to be taken care of as fast as possible and it was his own fault the enemy still drew breath.
Before the hammer could hit its target again, Allen managed to kick the handle hard enough to divert the weapon to the side and give his partner the chance to dodge backwards.
He wouldn't make the same mistake again. Making it look like he was going for a sure kill, Allen spun around raising his arm and the captain did the exact thing he wanted him to do - shield his neck. That cost the Byzantine a half of his arm.
Now that the war-hammer was out of his way, the mountain-like soldier howled with pain. All Allen had to do was finish him off. The man, however, surprised him yet again when he unexpectedly surged forward, using his remaining hand to catch his neck with an iron grip.
The bigger man straddled Allen's much smaller body, using all his remaining strength to choke the assassin to death.
Allen won - his blade was buried deep in the captain's neck - but even despite that, the grip on his own neck still didn't loosen up. He had to screw his eyes shut and turn his head because of the blood that was pouring down on his face from the Byzantine's mouth, making it even harder for him to see and breathe.
With a vicious grunt, Allen twisted his blade and kicked the soldier off when the grip on his neck grew slack.
He stood up panting and coughing, spitting out the dead man's blood and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He didn't react when felt a friendly hand on his back helping him to balance on his feet.
"What in the hell was that?!" Allen growled, letting the messenger fuss over him.
"You need to sit down, kardesim," the man protested when Allen took a step forward, palming a dagger in his belt. "The battle is over. Their captain is dead, look," he said pointing out retreating backs of the Bytantines. "Aferin, my brother. We will take care of the cleaning."
Allen nodded, albeit reluctantly. "I still didn´t catch your name," he said, eyeing the assassin with an uncertain expression.
"Emil," the man answered, his hands hovering over the white-haired lad as he began to walk to the side.
"I am very grateful for your watching my back, Emil. You saved my life today."
The messenger shook his head. "It is my duty, brother."
Allen's brow furrowed. "Huh?"
"He ordered me to watch you before he left." Emil said with a small smile.
The implication hit him like a rock. Emil only laughed at his surprised face as he slung his arm over his shoulder and lead him to the den that was now filled with victorious cries of their comrades and dead bodies of the Byzantine warriors.
A palm suddenly cuffed him over the back of the head, Lavi appearing to give him a critical look that might have been concern.
"Geez, 'sprout, could you be any more reckless?" he admonished, though there was the faintest hint of a tease underlying his chiding. "If y' want to give me a heart attack, find another way to do it!"
Allen batted Lavi's hand away, giving him a mock scowl. His chest felt much lighter knowing his friend escaped the fray more or less without a scratch.
Their way back was more quiet than ever. Emil stubbornly held him in place, pretending not to notice his attempts to walk alone, holding his arm around his shoulders and not letting go.
He had to admit though that the pain was starting to get really unbearable.
Lavi was keeping a careful eye on Allen and his wound the entire way, figuring it was more stubbornness than anything keeping the man on his feet. Allen had always been a stubborn kind of person in some ways, a bit tactless when it came to getting himself injured and taking care of himself properly afterwards. All the same, they did need to get back if he could be of any real help, and he finally decided to go a little ways ahead of them, already knowing how to reach the place with his eidetic memory.
He wasn't too far ahead, setting his weapon aside and rummaging through his large bag, pulling out various items until he'd found what he was looking for, just in time for the other two to arrive.
"I think I have to sit down soon..." Allen groaned, feeling how Emil stiffened next to him.
"Just a little while more and we're there" Emil said, failing in concealing his tension.
Allen chuckled a little more hysterically than he intended, making the man he was leaning on even edgier. Next thing Allen knew he was being laid down in a quiet room.
"Allen! Concentrate!" Emil said sternly as he pushed a bottle of something into his hand. "Drink it slowly." He stressed while he worked on the belts on Allen´s chest and waist.
"Sure." Allen mumbled and downed the bottle filled with alcohol to dull his senses. He scrunched his face at the taste and dropped the bottle on the ground next to him. "This is the worst kind you could give me." He moaned as he felt his abdomen being poked. "That hurt..."
The last thing he recalled was how someone sat him up and stripped his upper half.
It was at that point that Lavi approached, indicating for Emil to move aside. The man still wasn't entirely trusting of him, that much was obvious, but Lavi merely rolled an eye, telling him, "If you want him to get an infection and die of sepsis or tetanus, then go ahead and prevent me from treating the wound. Otherwise, move it." That managed to get Emil to let him get at the wound on Allen's torso, though not without his every move still being watched like a hawk.
What with the recent medical boom in Italy in the last quarter century, Lavi had gotten quite a bit of training on how to treat wounds over the years. It had been the main focus of his studies at the time, which was how he'd been in the area to meet Allen in the first place, and it had paid off on many more than just one occasion. He hadn't exactly been an expert when he'd left, but he knew a lot more than the average person and had been continuing to learn throughout the years during his travels, both through studies in various countries, and trial and error.
He carefully examined and cleaned the wound, trying his best not to undo any clotting that the white-haired male's own body had done to try and slow down blood loss. After he'd managed to make sure the flesh was clear of any visible contaminants, he produced a vial with a strong-smelling liquid to disinfect it. He was somewhat glad that Allen had managed to lose consciousness at this point because he knew first-hand that the stuff burned like wildfire most of the time, though it was still enough to get a pained groan out of him. After that, he applied a milder herbal paste where needed, stitched him up, and wrapped the wound.
"I think he'll be just fine with some rest," Lavi announced in satisfaction. The wound was nothing to sniff at, but he didn't think it would be fatal, provided he managed it properly and didn't get any complications. "-but it's going to take him a while to get back on his feet after that injury. Definitely no roof acrobatics for probably two weeks minimum while the wound seals up, and he's going to need to keep his strength up with food and drink to recover from the blood loss. Give him water, no more alcohol. He needs to stay hydrated so his body can produce more blood properly."
He packed up his medical supplies and stood, stretching to the sky after having finished his work.
"He could be out of it for a few days, but that's fine, so long as his vital signs don't decline. If he complains about pain, give him Quinine, which you should be able to get from a doctor or a trader without too much trouble. Tell me immediately if he starts having bad muscle spasms, especially in the jaw or the face, and make sure he knows to say something about it too when he regains consciousness. If he starts getting lockjaw, that's a bad sign, and fatal if it goes untreated."
Satisfied that he'd done pretty much all he could for now, other than wait for Allen to bounce back and check to make sure he was healing a bit later, he slapped his hands together and rubbed his palms enthusiastically.
"If you need anything else, I'll just be in the other room, picking through some books." Allen's predicament aside, he really wanted to take a look through those things and see if there was any noteworthy information to be gained that he didn't already know. Once he grew tired of that or just ran out of books - he was an insanely fast reader, so it was very much a possibility - he figured he'd poke around a bit and see what other interesting things the assassin den held within its walls. He was sure there would be something worth playing around with. Assassins tended to keep a lot of interesting weapons and tools for their work.