White Demon, Red Scribe
A D Gray-Man and Assassin's Creed Revelations Crossover

A week had flown by faster than Emil would have liked. Especially since Allen kept on claiming he was alright – which was not true at all – and the albino's attitude towards him hit the boiling point.

Emil did his best to be nice and considerate, fussing over Allen day and night, but the other man kept his distance with his carefully reserved smile. And it was driving him crazy.

Allen wasn't one to sulk, but this situation was something completely different. Emil – initially just the messenger boy, trailing after him from time to time and helping with the occasional mission – turned out to be a watchdog of the one man he was pissed at the most. Well... right after Cross, of course.

How dare he? He was exactly the same as Lavi. Allen believed they could actually be best friends if they ever met. Leaving God knows where, doing God knows what, not even bothering to send a letter, leaving his little watchdog behind as if Allen needed a babysitter. Oh, how mad that made him.

He knew maybe he was being a little childish but Emil hadn't said anything! Anything at all, until one week ago.

He needed a mission. A quick and easy mission to calm his nerves. His abdomen still hurt a bit- ...no scratch that, it hurt a LOT, but it was not as if he needed to be fondled over it. Others were already on their feet, having fun on raids and messing with the Byzantines and he was stuck in the den, and he still hadn't show Lavi their special weapons!

Gathering his things, fastening his hidden blade and hookblade on his forearms, and adjusting his clothes, he dashed out of his room, catching a glimpse of red hair as he spotted the library. His mind was full set on talking to the one-eyed man and he would have done it if Emil didn't block his way.

"You shouldn't be out of bed yet, arkadaşı." Emil said tensely, eyeing him with worry and something Allen could not name.

The white-haired man rolled his eyes. "I'm fine Emil, please move."

"I cannot do that. You should rest."

"I am fine!" Allen repeated, his temper slipping. Why was he being so difficult?! Allen spun around, trying to walk away from the masked man but in vain.

"Tell me what you need, I will get it for you. You still need the doctor to check the wounds." Emil fussed like a mother hen. Allen grumbled under his breath. "I promised to keep an eye on yo-"

"Is this it?" Allen finally snapped, but maybe he sounded brattier than he wanted. But who cared. "This is what he told you? To keep an eye on me?"

"Pardon?" At this point Emil started to stutter, really fearing for his fate.

"Where is he?" Allen asked, his voice filled with authority, leaving Emil no place for dodging the question.

The masked assassin looked down, shifting on his feet. "I cannot say."

"Where. Is. Kanda?" The white-haired lad repeated his question once again, slowly and threateningly. Emil left him no choice. Raising his eyebrow to emphasize the question, he leveled him with another warning look.

"I cannot say." Emil insisted. He hadn't thought saying the truth would backfire this much. Looking around with a silent plea of help as discreetly as he could, he found out that the other assassins were stubbornly keeping their eyes down and some of them were even in the middle of creeping out of the den to avoid Allen's wrath. Traitors.

Allen growled, backing Emil against the wall, drawing himself to his full height - which didn't help him much because he was still shorter than the other.

"I am warning you."

"Italy." Emil mumbled silently, his eyes searching for someone in the den who still hasn't abandoned him. The room suddenly felt unbearably hot.

"Where?"

"Italy," he repeated a little louder this time.

"He's in Italy?!" Allen shrieked. His eyes suddenly went wide. "Who else knew about this?!" he yelled after he noticed the Emil's shifty eyes. The few assassins who weren't lucky enough to sneak away froze in their advances and the few who stayed stared everywhere but at the arguing duo. "I cannot believe it! All of you?!"

"Not all of them know what exactly is going on," Emil intervened, trying to calm the furious man down. He was just about to say more when Allen spun around and stormed away. "Brother, wait! Aargh! You guys are not helping at all!" He turned to the few assassins in the main room.

One of them shrugged and plopped a grape into his mouth.

"He left him in your charge. We are only supposed to get rid of the suspicious guys."

Lavi was a person who adored sleep more than most things in life and tried to find it whenever he could, but even in his deepest snoozing, he was never one to miss things that happened and trained on waking up pretty easily so as to always be ready for something, whatever that was. It had saved his skin on more than one occasion, with some of the places he'd been to and missions he'd been on.

This time it was Allen's yelling that roused him... nothing immediately life-threatening, but certainly interesting. He was awake but decided to play possum for a while, since that sometimes worked to overhear information he couldn't normally get when others actually knew he was listening.

He caught a few vague snippets, but it sounded like they were talking about someone specific. Then he caught what he assumed to be a name again – Kanda – then something about the aforementioned 'Kanda' being in Italy. He supposed that might have explained Emil's interest in Rome, though he didn't have enough pieces to the puzzle to figure out exactly why just yet.

From Emil's plaintive cry, it sounded like Allen had grown fed up and the argument was over.

Time to play peacekeeper.

He lifted the book off his face and set it aside, knowing the page number, and sprang up. A quick glance around told him he would need to re-organize his stack of books into some semblance of order, having sort-of scattered them about... eh, but that could wait.

Sauntering after Allen, not really bothering to care that he still looked a little unkempt from sleep, his headband having fallen around his neck to leave his hair loose, he threw his arms around the white-haired man's shoulders before he could get too far, in a familiar, friendly sort of way.

"Hey, 'sprout! You're up and lookin' better." His single eye watched the other critically for a moment. He could tell the other was still in pain but trying not to show it, but he didn't expect much less. This was Allen, after all. "Still, you should try not to strain yourself too much. I don't want to have to put your insides back where they belong if you re-open anything," he teased with a light prod to his side.

Allen tried not to wince too much as Lavi poked him. He swatted his hand away and glared ahead, taking a deep breath.

"Come on." He said, forcing himself to calm down. "I still didn´t show you some of our special stuff. I know you have been snooping around but I doubt you actually got your hands on our equipment. But I´m not going to get anything from these traitors!." Allen said, shouting the last word out loud for everyone in the den to see.

At least they had the decency to look apologetic.

Lavi was hesitant to allow Allen to go around town trying to return to full activity, but the white-haired man had started off in a bad mood before that, and he doubted Allen would listen anyway.

He figured he'd just have to keep an eye on Allen and make sure he didn't tear anything. That was his prime concern since the wound was probably going to leave a scar as it was already, and he didn't think Allen would be patient enough to let it heal again after re-opening it. Rather than draw direct attention to it, Lavi merely tried to divert Allen to some less rigorous activities.

Spending time with Lavi was the best Allen could do that day. They spent all evening throwing bombs near unsuspecting Byzantines, making them look stupid when they tried to look for them.

Lavi knew his old mentor would be scolding him if he could see the two now, lecturing him about how he needed to mature and exercise some self-control, but Hell if it wasn't fun getting reactions out of people and scaring a few unsuspecting soldiers witless. He was surprised they weren't caught with some of the snickering and giggling that passed between him and his friend between their bouts of harassment – and Lavi almost felt bad for some of the guards – but he was well practiced at causing mayhem when he wanted to.

After an hour of playing hide and seek with random patrols, Allen finally decided to gift the red-head with their special weapon - the hook-blade.

Lavi was ecstatic. He had seen and toyed with some of the hidden blades before when he was younger, though not much. It took him a little bit to get used to, but not long, being quite adaptable. Allen decided to indulge him a little bit and challenge him to a race to test him out, though Lavi was hesitant, since Allen was still wounded, but he gave in.

It was a close call, but Allen still won, even despite his wounds, which Lavi would argue to his last, panting breath was simply because he wasn't familiar enough with the territory and that was the only reason Allen managed to one-up him.

That boosted Allen's ego a bit but he still needed to crouch down after it and breathe it through.

Finally, the last thing he wanted to show Lavi: the sunset over the land from the top of the Galata tower, near the main den. The climb was by far the hardest thing Lavi had done that day. Allen made it look easy, even though he was still healing, which ticked him off a little, in a friendly-rivalry sort of way. He was pretty sure he was more out of breath and nerve by the time they reached the top than Allen was, happy to take a seat and look out over the city. He had to admit though, it was a gorgeous view.

When they got to the top, Allen made himself comfortable in the little space they had and took out a piece of paper.

"This is the biggest wonder of this land. The sunset is the most beautiful." He said as he started writing.

Lavi laughed faintly at Allen's commentary as he made himself comfortable, feeling at-ease.

The time had done good for both their moods.

"Yeah. They didn't have views like this when we last saw each other in Italy," he mused, having refrained from bringing it up until now, having figured that Allen deserved at least a few hours of distraction before he started edging into what seemed like touchy waters. "It's nice."

He propped his chin on palm and couldn't help but glance over Allen's shoulder at the paper, curious as to what the other was scribbling down and tactlessly nosy as always.

"So, speaking of which, what's this I've been hearing about Rome and some guy named 'Kanda'?"

Allen's hand froze on the paper. "What about him?" he asked, feigning nonchalance, but his hand still hadn't moved.

Leave it to Lavi to sniff out the touchy subjects. Even the letter he was writing now was just an empty bubble in the sea of his hopes. He kept his promise. He didn't ask where Kanda was going or what he was going to do, but since Emil said he was in Italy, he couldn't help but to feel afraid.

He kind of suspected what he might be doing there. And he was almost entirely sure it had something to do with hoarding several heads.

Lavi was still eyeing him with that calculating look. Could it be that they truly kept all what has happened in Italy secret? Was something like that even possible to keep secret?

Lavi shrugged, though his keen eye was as watchful as ever.

"Nothin' much, I've just been hearing a few snippets here and there. 'sounds like someone you're more close to than the other guys around here." He straightened up where he was sitting and made dog-ears with his hands, trying to keep the mood light as he sort-of poked fun about Emil with his gestures, hoping to earn a smile out of his little joke. "That guard-hound that's keeping an eye on you won't bark, though. He's got tight lips, so I can't get much out of him. Pro'bly cuz he doesn't trust me." After a moment, he dropped his hands to his lap, continuing. "He asked me something about Rome... if I knew anyone over there that had tabs on anything that might be going on, but then he quickly changed the subject before I could get many details."

Allen stared ahead, his mind swimming in memories. Now that he thought about it, it all made sense - why everyone eyed Lavi as if he murdered their mothers.

"Lavi," He started silently, still not meeting his eyes. He had nothing to lose anymore. It was all behind him and Kanda was probably wiping out all the remaining stains that tainted his life. "You know, it's funny." He said humorlessly. "That not even Bookmen heard about such event."

Lavi felt that he'd obviously hit something big – well... not necessarily historically speaking, but it was something big to Allen at least – and was giving his full attention. He prided himself in being a good listener, after all.

He chuckled to himself as Allen made a remark about not even the Bookmen knowing. He wasn't sure how true that statement was, since there were a lot of Bookmen out there somewhere, many of which Lavi had never met, but it was a moot point.

"Well Bookmen are still humans, y'know. We may appear to know everything going on, but there are limits to that," he mused. To some, that might have been frustrating, to know that there was a limitless amount of information to be had, but Lavi welcomed it. Learning new things was exciting, and there was never a shortage of new things to be learned.

"Do you know why I left Italy?" Allen asked, finally meeting the red-head's eye. Lavi shook his head.

"I haven't been in the right parts of the world to keep track of what's been going on there. I know that there's been some political struggle in recent years, but that's hardly anything new." Politics were always an on-going battle no matter where in the world it was taking place, so he hadn't thought much of it up until the last week or so, and internal organization affairs like happenings in the inner ranks of the Assassins were harder to track unless one was present at the time things were happening.

Allen's face remained set in an emotionless mask.

"I was marked as a traitor by the assassin leaders in Italy. I was about to be executed and if it wasn´t for Kanda, the noose around my neck would´ve stayed intact and I would be able to meet you anymore." He took a deep breath and continued. "All because a close friend did a very good job at playing a Templar. But I found out that it was all just a trick – they set it all up just so they had the reason to kill him. He fell for their trap and I couldn´t even do a thing for him. I actually didn´t know what happened to him until my own comrades bound my hands and dragged me to the gallows."

Lavi listened carefully as Allen watched him for his reaction, being mindful not to say anything that might interrupt what the other was telling him. The younger man recounted what happened somewhat vaguely, not going into much detail. That was fine though. No doubt such an event had been traumatic and Allen didn't want to dwell too much on it, and Lavi certainly wouldn't be the one to make him do it.

He was silent for several beats once Allen finished, partially to make sure he was truly finished and not merely gathering up the courage to continue, and partially to formulate how he should best respond.

He knew Allen well, as well as he could for as long as they'd actually been together anyway, even if they had still basically been kids at the time. The white-haired male was a pretty tough guy, but that only went so far. In some ways he could be quite fragile, and the redhead knew he'd have to watch his words carefully on such a painful matter, putting some deep consideration into his reply.

"I'm really sorry that that happened to you, buddy," he empathized as sincerely as he could, understanding why Allen had been surprised he hadn't heard about what happened, but he'd set that aside for later.

He was careful to keep his voice even, but not distant, since he knew that his childhood friend probably needed the moral support more than he'd ever ask for and more validation than most had probably extended to him recently.

"That kind of betrayal really hurts, and it wasn't fair to you. I can only imagine you were pretty terrified when it happened, but I'm glad that you made it out."

He self-consciously licked his lower lip, trying to think. He didn't really consider himself a prime candidate for comfort, since he had trouble truly empathizing with most people on account of his clan's way of life, but for Allen he was trying his damnedest.

He slung an arm over the other's shoulder, giving it a comforting, companionable squeeze. That felt like the right thing to do, given the circumstances.

"If it's any consolation, I know you better than that... that you wouldn't turn traitor. You're a better person than all that, and you're still alive and kicking so that has to count for something, right?"

Allen leaned to the touch, tucking his head in the crook of Lavi´s neck.
"I sometimes wish I could be more like you," he said quietly, squeezing the paper in his hands. "I don't really care about the things that were happening to me. I regret not being able to save my friend from the fate others decided for him." He took another breath and looked up again, leaning away from Lavi's touch. "I guess you're wondering what brought me here," he mused, his mouth finally curling into a small smile. "They're so different, the assassins here. Kanda brought me here right after he cut the noose off my neck. And the assassins – they don't judge people by what they have heard from rumors. They judge a person themselves. When Kanda brought me here, I couldn't trust anyone. But after a while I found out that he was really saying the truth. Not once have they judged me, not even after they learned about what happened in Italy. And that is what makes me stay here and wait for him to return."

Allen finished, scribbling something on the paper before standing up and smiling, letting the wind play with his hair.

"That is why I can´t send him the letter. Because he promised me a new home and he kept his word. So I will keep mine and wait for him to be done with Italy."

Lavi nodded as he continued to listen, Allen seeming happier as he recounted what the Assassin's more locally were like. It was good that he'd found a safe place to escape to, amongst those of his own group, albeit located elsewhere from the one he'd first been involved with. It sounded like they took care of their own, even from others of the same faction stationed elsewhere. That was a reassuring thought.

Allen looked back at Lavi, but not in a kind way. A sinister grin crept onto his face as he tore the paper into little pieces. Lavi couldn't help but blink and resist a shiver threatening to run up his spine. He knew that look… it was much akin to the ones he got when he talked about what Cross put him through, or when he got way too into his gambling habits – again, because of Cross.

Just what kind of influence is this Kanda guy, anyway?

"Do you know what they call him?" Allen asked, throwing the remains of the letter into the air, leaving them to the wind to carry them away. "They call him the Nightmare. And Italy's nights are now filled with them."

"You don't say?" Lavi mused in a wondering hum, his eyebrow arched slightly at Allen's demeanor as he talked about Kanda. "So I guess you and he are pretty close friends now or something, then?" It only made sense, since it seemed like they were willing to go to great lengths for each other. Perhaps even something more than friends, though he'd let Allen decide what and how much he wanted to say about it.

Allen momentarily felt his cheeks heat up as he thought back about the things he and Kanda lived through and he was half way to say yes when he remembered what a giant pain in the ass Kanda was (and not in the literal, very pleasurable kind of way).

"Kind of..." he finally said, deciding that reaction was probably the best one. He still fought to fight the heat in his cheeks. "He is sometimes such a giant arsehole that it makes me wonder why I ever decided to help him." He thoughtfully looked up to the sky. "But enough of me. Tell me more about yourself. You always liked to boast about all the wonderful women you met, remember?"

Lavi smirked as he listened to Allen. Sounded like one of those love-hate relationships if he ever heard it. Of course there were times he managed to royally piss Allen off too, though usually with the intent of being playful, so he couldn't exactly lecture anyone in that regard.

He blinked as Allen brought the questions around to him now, laughing as the teen mentioned one of his own quirks for women.

"You still remember that?" He realized Allen was trying to derail the attention away from himself, but the redhead didn't mind at all. He straightened up, folding his arms behind his head to lean against the top spire of the tower. "We-ll... let me think a moment... mostly I've just been traveling around a lot, working on studies... that took up most of my time. Really we barely stayed anywhere more than perhaps a few months at most. I met a couple o' women my type, but of course most weren't all that into me or we didn't know each other all that long," he recounted with a wry little laugh.

He paused a moment thoughtfully.

"There was this one girl I met while we were in China for a few months... she wasn't really my 'type' if you know what I mean, but she was really sweet... and she has one Hell of a kick, even though you'd never guess it. 'kind of on the oversensitive side sometimes, but I think you and her would be definite friends if you ever got to meet her…"

He trailed off slightly as he couldn't help but think that he'd be in real trouble if he ever popped up like he just had with Allen a week earlier. She'd probably kick the crap out of him, way more than Allen's one little punch, before she finally greeted him 'properly', since the sudden leaving was sort of a regular Bookmen habit. He probably made her cry, too...

"Oh, Lavi!" Allen smirked mischievously. "Is that sentiment I hear in your voice? This woman must really be something." He teased, laughing. "I would really love to meet her."

"Hey, it's not like that!" Lavi protested comically. "And even if it was, that brother of hers would kill me! You haven't seen the way that man threatens when he thinks you might be gettin' funny ideas! You don't even want me to have to explain how badly the last guy that had a biblical interest in her ended up!" The thought sent a shiver down his spine.

He looked around, stretching his hands and yawning. The sky was darkening, revealing the many glittering stars as the sun slowly set. "I think it´s time to get back." He muttered.

When Allen declared they should probably be getting back, he stood and stretched skyward, nodding his head. He figured that they might scale back down the side... or perhaps sneak around the inside of the tower back to the bottom. Was this tower even inhabited? It'd make things a lot easier if it wasn't.

Of course, Allen had other plans.

The white-haired man grinned slyly when he spotted the giant stack of hay under the tower.

"Say, Lavi," he started, barely keeping himself from laughing out loud as he climbed on the railing and turned around to face the redhead. The face he was already giving him was worth all his money. "Have you ever heard about a 'leap of faith'?"

"...yeah...I've heard of it..." he began slowly. "-but from this high up? You can't possibly be seri- HEY!" Lavi yelped in panic as Allen fell backward, spreading his arms wide as he burst out laughing.

"This is true freedom, my friend! Last one down has to pay for dinner!"

Feeling like his heart just leapt into his throat, Lavi pounced to the railing and leaned over, half-expecting to see a splatter on the ground below by the time he reached it. Instead, the white-haired man managed to climb out of a haystack looking no worse for wear.

"Criss, Allen! Mannaggia estouvado stronzo idiota porc kameenay babaca!" he swore loudly in multiple languages simultaneously. He took in a few deep breaths. Damn that guy... scaring him shitless like that! And having the nerve to laugh about it too! "If I'm paying for your dinner, then you're paying for my doctors bill... when I have a heart attack! Cazzo!"

Lavi muttered a few more curses under his breath as he eyed the drop, thinking he was better off just climbing down the side. Leaping off something that was...was... oh geez, how high was he exactly? It had to be sixty meters high at least. Definitely high enough to snap his back in two if he fell from that height and missed the haystack... which was a very real possibility. Hell, from this high up, he wasn't even sure the hay would be enough to keep him alive.

But Allen had done it, and there was simply no way he was going to be shown up. The other male would never let him live it down if he chickened out!

He took in a shaky breath, rubbing his palms and licking his lower lip nervously. Well at least if he died in the fall he wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment afterwards, or the old man knocking him over the head for being stupid enough to try such a stunt.

He launch himself forward with a shriek of reckless abandon, far less graceful than Allen had been - how the Hell did anyone fall gracefully from sixty meters above flat, stony death, anyway? - and flailed a bit in mid-air, those few seconds of falling being probably the most terrifying seconds of his entire life. His head was still spinning with adrenaline quite some time after he landed safely in the hay, pretty sure he'd left his heart and head still hanging somewhere up in the clouds, still trying to catch up with him.

Allen was laughing so hard he couldn´t breathe. Seeing Lavi leaning over the railing on the top, opening his mouth like a fish and probably using every language known to human kind to cruse him was definitely the best thing that could happen that day, and seeing him fall down with an unmanly screech was the cherry on top of a cake – or rather the bill he didn´t have to worry about tonight anymore.

He watched the redhead crawl out of the haystack, and if glares could kill, Allen would be surely dead by now.

"Oh, man." Allen chuckled, wiping the tears from his eyes, "-you are the best! How about you keep your promise and pay for my dinner then? I know a perfect place."

"Vaffanculo!" Lavi spat in Allen's direction between short, panicked breaths as he managed to finally find his feet and climb out, trying to dislodge hay from his clothes and disheveled hair. "Go ahead and keep laughing, I'll start cursing at you in Mandarin and Arabic next! Maybe even Swahili! Hell, I'll start swearing at you in so many languages it'll make your head start spinning!"

Allen only grinned, listening to Lavi's barely controlled spluttering and hanging his arm around Lavi´s neck as he led him forward.

He was already imagining Lavi's surprised face when he was about to see where they were going.