White Demon, Red Scribe
A D Gray-Man and Assassin's Creed Revelations Crossover
Lavi stopped his flustered, out-of-breath ranting as he saw where they were going. Allen was right again; the redhead's face was priceless.
When Allen had said he was paying for dinner, a brothel hadn't exactly been what Lavi had in mind, but he was still in too much of a tizzy from the fall to think of a suitable protest before they were snagged by various scantily clad women and pulled inside by inviting arms.
Allen made himself comfortable on the cushion and nodded to a young woman on the opposite of the room. Two other curvy women joined him on each side, pressing against him suggestively.
Huffing out and setting his default charming smile, Allen thought that sometimes he really should just let the women take care of him. He absentmindedly rubbed his abdomen, hoping the pain would go away soon.
The women immediately caught the clue, so the white-haired man could only relax into their gentle touches. Maybe it wasn't all that bad to just not care for once. After all, it wasn't as if he was turning into his master.
Soon enough, the space in front of them was filled with giant bowls filled with all kinds of meat, dumplings, fruits and vegetables and many more things Allen couldn't wait to eat.
The woman on his left felt especially daring when, with the help of the other, she pushed him backwards to lie against the pillows and slowly fed him small pieces of food, telling him what consisted of what.
Lavi wasn't sure at this point whether his mind was still having trouble catching up with him because of his death-defying stunt or the fact that he was watching Allen get completely comfortable with a group of brothel girls milling around him, and soon enough, feeding him.
He had to remind himself that it'd been ten years. Allen was a grown man now, so of course he'd changed in some ways… became more mature.
Allen apparently caught him staring because he shrugged at the other and gave him a wink as a few of the girls milled around him now, making him feel a little too self-conscious, though why, he could only guess to himself. He told himself that his mind was just still reeling after that 'leap of faith' he'd been subjected to. That was only natural after a person leapt from nine freaking stories high!
"Y'know I only agreed-" okay, so he hadn't actually agreed, but he'd admit defeat on it this time. "-to pay for your food. Anything else is out of your pocket," he teased in Allen's direction, trying to get his mind to catch up with him and relax, which he figured was the main point in all of this.
Allen laughed as another piece of smoked meat was offered to him by one of his lovely companions.
"Don't worry. Just pay for the food and everything's gonna be al~right!" he sang, munching onto the meat, making the courtesans giggle.
Allen allowed himself to completely relax into the hands of those two very skilled women, letting one massage his scalp and the muscles of his arms as he lay in her lap, and the other to gently rub the bruises on his abdomen. They knew what things they were allowed and they respected it.
This was why Allen loved to return to this house. Good food, music, tobacco and pleasant women.
"Well I should hope so," Lavi returned, a little bit squeamish as one of the women sidled up to him, giggling and putting her arms around him. "-because I'm bound to go broke as it is with the way you can put down food sometimes!"
"So-" one of the women hummed at him now, drawing Lavi's attention, trailing hands on his top half. "How do you want to be taken care of?"
"T...taken care of?" Lavi almost squeaked. "No, no! I'm good, really! You ladies are nice, I'm just... very particular about my types, y'know?" It wasn't like he'd never been around women before, and certainly not the first or last he had or probably would be around brothel girls, it was just... strange, being around them when Allen of all people was the one to lead him there. Cross must've finally gotten to him or something!
One of the women latching onto him, after Allen's cue - the little devil! Lavi was starting to wonder if the 'demon' nickname came from his Assassin duties after all, or something a little more mischievous - giggled at his discomfort.
"You don't have to be so tense! We don't bite," she laughed as she started putting her hands on his shoulder.
"Hey, you'd be tense too if this guy had just jumped off a tower sixty meters high right in front of you!" Lavi yelped as he pointed an accusing finger at Allen. "Do you know what that does to a poor guy's psyche?" The redhead was trying to ignore the women touching him... up until the point one of them started working on his shoulders, which he went rigid at first until he realized what she was doing, and almost melted under massaging fingers. "Oh no, that's... that's nice."
It was probably the first time in his life Allen saw Lavi kind of unsure around women. Of course, his insecurity vanished as soon as the girls started to pay proper attention to him. Allen laughed out loud as he watched Lavi's interactions.
"Stop whining. And I wasn't the only one who jumped," he replied, waving his hand at the other man to catch the ladies' attention. "This ever handsome and very intelligent friend of mine jumped as well, unwilling to let his friend fall alone," he said theatrically, making the women giggle again and coo over Lavi. "Plus, they bite only if you ask them to." He winked. "Right, ladies?"
"If that's what our customers want," the girls giggled and winked at Lavi suggestively, even as they continued to tend to him more innocently...of which Lavi was intent on making sure it stayed innocent.
The redhead couldn't help but roll his eye at the tag-team banter of both Allen and the girls, shifting to sit more comfortably, folding one leg under the other, which he stretched out loosely in front of him.
"Yeah, okay, you get your laugh this time, but we can't all be that crazy! So I've never dropped that high over solid ground before, but I bet you've never harpooned a live shark in open waters before!"
"Ooh?" That got Allen's attention. "Do tell me more! Sounds like you worked as a fisher more than a Bookman," he teased, gulping down a cup of wine he was offered. Eating a small piece of salmon he was yet again offered by his 'attendant', he rolled onto his side, supporting his chin with his hand. "And one more thing; how came you by such a fancy weapon? I was pretty amazed. We should try sparring sometime."
"No, not a fishermen, but if you want to earn any kind of level respect with seafarers, you gotta do something daring, you know, and there's no richer shark habitat that I've heard of than the Arabic sea," he said, noting in satisfaction that he had more than Allen's attention, but all the women's as well. Traveler's stories always managed to catch interest, and he loved soaking up every bit of the attention whenever he could get it.
"I speared four sharks in the time it took to travel those waters to India… not quite two years ago, actually. Mostly they weren't that big a deal, just moderately sized little things, but once I started to feel a bit bolder, we took on a Great White. Mean buggers, those things! They're huge, three times the length of any full grown man with lots of teeth! And you'd never think it true until you saw it, but those things can fly, right out of the ocean! High enough to land on the deck of a ship!" he recounted theatrically, making dramatic motions like he was acting out the scene with his hands to add to his tale. "So- so anyway, we spear this thing, right? And it takes off, dragging this little boat we're in with it, fast as any ship can sail, before it finally dives down and snaps the rope, disappearing. We're sitting ducks in the middle of the open ocean, scouring, lookin' everywhere for it, waiting for that fin to come popping back up, and it finally appears-" he made jaws with both his hands, open wide then snapping shut. "Right off the side, grabs this one guy's leg, and takes the whole thing off before disappearing again, before we can even throw another harpoon! Blood, everywhere!"
He paused as though suddenly considering something he hadn't before and glanced around.
"...none of you ladies are squeamish about blood, are ya?"
One of them scoffed and cuffed him in the chest, looking disbelieving and perhaps mildly insulted.
"We're women, what do you think we do every month?"
Lavi almost flushed and held his hands up in a placating manner, looking like he regretted even asking.
"Okay, you're right, sorry. Stupid question," he said, before launching back into his story without delay.
"Anyway, so this guy loses his entire leg, screaming and holding this little stump where it used to be, and we're trying to get something to keep him from dying right there, you know? And the thing comes back up again and tries to knock our entire boat over into the water so it can eat us! Almost succeeded, too! So these other guys are trying to stop the guy's bleeding while I got up and grabbed the harpoon, the thing swimming back for us a third time, and I lanced it right through the center of the skull, right as it rams into our boat again. Finally killed the bastardo."
Not having forgotten the second question, despite his enthralled storytelling of his misadventures with sharks, he took one of the glasses of wine.
"My weapon's a custom that I've had modified quite a lot over the years. It started with just a simple Boar Spear I got off a merchant coming out of Poland to sell his wears, and I've been making changes to it as we traveled around. The handle it started off with got snapped, but the blade was still in-tact and of great quality, so I kept that part of it and modified everything else. 'never been happier with a weapon, though!"
He raised his glass toward Allen in sort of a mock toast before sipping down some of the wine, humming contently.
"This is good wine; Riesling, if I'm not mistaken. So what about you? Got any exciting stories? Now that my blabbering mouth has taken up half the night," he laughed.
"I am impressed! I really want to spar with you now. Gotta see if I can still beat you!"
Allen grinned, intentionally sounding like a never-beaten man to deliver a blow to Lavi´s pride. Lavi gave the other male a slightly dirty look in jest at the quip, even though he knew full well the man was trying to bait such a reaction.
"Your life is much more exciting than mine! White sharks..." Allen mused. "I wish I could see some one day. The last time I was on a ship I spent the whole day hiding in a small, dusty room thanks to my mentally challenged savior." His face twisted into a scowl, remembering how Kanda first rolled him inside a barrel on the ship and then let him rot in that small room all hungry and bruised, only letting him out when he 'was sure no traitors are on board'. Allen secretly knew Kanda had left him there on purpose just to spite him.
But that was a story for another time.
"A story of my own... hmm, let's see…" Allen hummed, rolling onto his back and laying his head in the woman's lap again. "I don´t have any exciting stories really."
His eyes suddenly lit up.
"Actually, there was one time I laughed pretty hard. It was back in Italy, quite some time after I met Kanda," Allen started, sitting up so he could properly converse. "We had an easy mission, really just to kill some time. It was in the Vatican and we were supposed to get a thing from a tower. Everything went smooth until Kanda miraculously slipped and almost fell – and you have to understand," he waggled a finger at Lavi, "Kanda never slips – so, of course it was my fault because I was breathing in a wrong place or something." Allen shrugged, rolling his eyes. "We retrieved the thing, climbed down, and we could have stolen some horses if it wasn't for Kanda's loud and dirty mouth. Some guards noticed us, immediately sounding the alarm, but somehow, we got away. So, here we are standing in the outskirts of Rome next to Tiber river, still arguing but no longer followed, when suddenly, an army of red clad solders march from the gate right next to us."
He threw his hands into the air for the drama.
"If you could see his face then, just freezing in the middle of a sentence with his mouth open, staring behind me..." Allen giggled, recalling the shocked and genuinely panicked expression on Kanda's face. "Of course, I was just as surprised as he was. So, our great escape plan was to silently back into the river hoping that when we surface again they would be gone." Allen shrugged again, smirking. "He looked so damn awful after we got to the bank again, like an ugly, wet cat."
Allen laughed drinking another cup of wine.
"At least we didn´t argue afterwards. We spent the rest of the day in a clearing, drying our clothes and cleaning our weapons." He didn't mention the whole lot of other things they did back then. "It was really funny back then. I wish I could introduce you. I think he would be happy to meet a new friend." The white-haired male grinned, hoping that one day it would come true and he wouldn't have to be alone to face Kanda's wrath.
Lavi silently smirked as he heard Allen recount one of his own little misadventures. He was still trying to get an idea of who this 'Kanda' person was. He tried to search his memory for if he'd heard such a name before, to place a possible location and face to the guy. It sounded like maybe a Thai or an Indian name... Panjab, perhaps? If he was as prickly as Allen described, it would be a fitting name indeed.
Seemed like Allen's preference still swung in the way of Asian guys, a thought that tugged a mischievous smirk to his lips, before he violently shoved that thought to the back of his mind. He really didn't need notions like that making themselves known, not even to himself.
He got a relatively clear mental picture of what Allen was describing, his own smile growing as he listened. He was still trying to picture what this Kanda person looked like, but either way, he knew that whatever his face, what Allen described and he himself pictured were comical.
"Well, maybe we'll get the chance for you to introduce us," Lavi returned once Allen had finished, laughing a little under his breath. "He sounds like he'd be a fun guy to mess with, if nothing else, though he might not appreciate it."
He took another swig of wine, his head buzzing faintly with alcohol and feeling quite content with their food and company, his earlier uneasiness entirely forgotten at this point.
"I gotta admit, you surprised me when you dragged me here, but this is a nice place. I can see why you chose it."
"Yeah, this is a very pleasant place. Actually, Kanda led me here the first day after our arrival. I thought it would be a nice place to relax." Sighing, Allen rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "I'm still thinking about what I should show you, but I can't think of anything."
"It's no stress," Lavi chuckled. "It's not like you even need to worry about showing me anything else at this hour. Save it 'til morning, this is a time for eating, drinking, and de-stressing. Speaking of which-" He cast a glance over his shoulder at the woman massaging his back as he made himself comfortable on his side. "Think you can get that spot a little lower to the right? I got a crick there that- yeah, yeah, right… there."
And he melted again, practically purring as he rolled onto his stomach, making a noise that sounded borderline inappropriate as he buried his head between his arms.
"Mmmm, I've been trying to get rid of that ache for months," he hummed contently, his voice muffled by the crook of his arm, causing another stir of giggles.
Allen sighed contently, nodding. "Yeah, you´re probably right. I mean, you won´t be leaving anytime soon, right? Because that would be a shame."
"Not that I'm yet aware of, no," Lavi replied, though he really couldn't make a solid promise on how long he could stay if something happened elsewhere that he needed to tend to.
Allen turned to look at the women tending to them. "Any new rumors you heard, lovely ladies?"
"No, we haven't heard anything worth mentioning since the last time you were by," they hummed apologetically. "But we'll keep our ears open for anything of interest."
Gesturing to the woman behind him to stop, he sat up, stretching his hands and scratching his neck. "You ladies are wonderful. Never felt better." He smiled, making the women blush. "If the soldiers cause any trouble, you know whom to ask for help." He turned to the purring redhead melting into the floor. "Also, you're paying for your lovely attendants, Lavi," Allen casually informed, inhaling the rest of the food. "I'm gonna settle my part of the bill for now. Thank you ladies," he said as he stood up, gently removing the soft and very pleasing hands from himself. "We can leave whenever you put yourself together."
"Hey, I may be a trouble-maker and a loud-mouth but I'm not stingy!" Lavi rebuked, giving it a couple more minutes before he sat up, stretched languidly, and had a last glass of wine. Yeah, that massage definitely hit the spot.
It had been a wonderful end to his night – and beginning to his morning, he could only guess.
He paid out for his and Allen's food, and a little more than he absolutely had to toward the two fine ladies that had kept him company, since he figured they'd certainly earned it, and threw an arm over Allen's shoulder after giving a grateful parting to the women.
Once the brothel was behind them and it was just the two men in the mostly empty street, he decided it was a good time to bring up something that had been lingering on his mind for a while now, ever since Emil first brought up questions about happenings in Italy.
"Say, Allen, it seems like this thing with Italy and Kanda's bugging you a lot." He was perceptive, so it wasn't hard for him to tell, though Allen didn't do an entirely good job of hiding it, if his earlier yelling at the other Assassins was any indication. "If you want, I might be able to write out a letter for some information on what's going on over there to some of my other clansmen. It will probably take a while to get an answer back, so you might get the information on your own faster than I get a response, and I can't promise exactly what kind of news it'll be, if any at all, but the option to try is always there." He laughed lightly. "And I won't tell anyone else if you don't want me to, in case you're still mad at a certain watch-dog."
Allen's brow furrowed slightly but he kept staring ahead. Squeezing the bridge of his nose with his fingers, he sighed.
"It's okay, really. It is..." He trailed off, sighing, then looked up at the sky. "You know what the whole irony of that is?" He glanced at Lavi with a mirthless smile. "Remember how I said our meeting wasn't entirely accidental?"
Allen forced himself to look away again, hesitating.
"He was the one who was supposed to kill me at first. An assassin hired to kill another one. It didn't work out well for the leaders later. In the end, he didn't kill me, but I still have scars from that particular fight. The thing is, back then, he trusted me. That's why we both survived, and now it's my turn to trust him on this." He looked back at Lavi again, this time smiling properly. "You don't even know how much I want to send a letter, but I can't. I promised." Another heavy sigh escaped his lungs. "But thank you. It is really kind of you to offer this. C'mon, let's get back." Allen grinned, tugging the redhead along.
Lavi nodded his head, figuring that Allen might say that, but he had thrown the offer out there all the same.
"Hey, it's no skin off my back either way, but the offer's always there if you want to take it." He smiled and gave Allen's shoulder a companionable squeeze. "I figure I still sort of owe you at least that much after I sort of ran off on ya unannounced. Just... for however long I'm around, I'm here for you, buddy." More than he ever would be if it had been anyone else, though he'd never admit this part out loud.
"Thank you, Lavi, I appreciate it a lot." He was glad Lavi offered his help. "So, you were a little uneasy around the ladies today." Allen grinned, slinging an arm around Lavi's shoulders. "That was kinda new."
He kept teasing the redhead as they walked.
Lavi was playfully defensive about Allen's tease of how he'd first started off with the ladies, teasing back about how the white-haired man had turned into a real Casanova, going so far as to sarcastically accuse Allen of his master having rubbed off on him. If his old buddy wanted to play that game, he could play back just as hard!
As they were nearing the den, the volume of their laughter steadily rose since they knew that the assassins were usually long awake by this time.
Allen swung the door to the den open, slightly stumbling in, throwing an apologetically sounding ´good morning´.
The scene he saw inside immediately wiped the smile off his face.
The main hall was filled with grim looking assassins with their hoods drawn back, all giving Allen a look he didn't understand. Lavi was immediately aware of the tense atmosphere in the Assassin's den as soon as they entered, dropping the teases and shenanigans in a heartbeat, knowing it wasn't the time or place anymore, whatever had happened.
"What's going on?" The white-haired man asked, feeling Lavi peek from behind him. His heart suddenly leaped into his mouth and his voice sounded like it was not his own. Something very bad has happened. "Guys?"
Emil stepped out of the crowd, bowing his head. "I'm sorry, kardeşim."
What was wrong? Did something happen to Kanda? Was he hurt? Or worse, dead?
Panic slowly took hold of Allen's mind and body, making him tremble. Before he could voice the questions that flooded his mind, Emil silenced him as he stepped aside, revealing a body covered with a white bloodied sheet.
"We found him in front of the den a few hours ago," the masked assassin said quietly, looking Allen straight in the eye. He didn't say anything else, making Allen take a tentative step forward, followed by another one and then the next.
Halfway to the body he broke into a run, realizing just whose body it was.
"No!" He choked out, throwing himself to his knees, tears already threatening to spill from his eyes. "Timmy!" He cried, his hands hesitating before carefully taking off the sheet. An anguished cry tore itself out of his throat when he saw what was done to the body.
"Oh, Tim!" He sobbed, carefully cradling his sandy blond head in his arms, trying not to look at the message carved into his small chest.
´CAN´T ESCAPE´
It was a warning, just like it was a proof that Kanda had failed his headhunt.