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

It was a long hour for Allen to go through. He noticed that, despite his stoic facade, Kanda was nervous and the doctors' unhappy sighs were not helping his state.

Then Bak leaned backwards, rubbing his eyes. It was evident that whatever diagnose he had, it was not a positive one. Although, it was not something Allen didn't know already.

"Stop making that damn face and tell me what's wrong," Kanda exploded, hitting the wall with his fist. Allen only sighed as he put on his shirt to cover his bruised body.

"I'm sorry. I don't have good news," Bak began slowly, straightening his back and taking a deep breath. "Your condition is much worse than before. When I last checked you up in Italy, it was bad, but not this kind of bad. Kanda told me what you did, and, honestly, he has every right to be pissed off. You need to be very careful what you do from now on. I'd advise you not to engage in any fights, but I know that is not going to happen, so I'm just going to have to tell you to be extremely careful. The internal bleeding is going to be a problem, though. It appears that your muscles were damaged pretty badly." He gestured to the bruises on Allen's chest. "I cannot say how bad it really is unless I could open you up, and I definitely don't want to do that," he sighed again.

"You are saying things we already know," Kanda growled. "Get to the point!"

Bak gave him an unhappy stare. He was visibly hesitating with his answer.

"Bak," Allen spoke quietly, "just tell him." He knew already. He felt it - how he messed up, this time for real. Kanda gave him a heated stare.

"The Apple might have torn him up inside beyond repair and we don't have enough medical knowledge about how to patch him up."

"So he's dying. Is that what you want to say?" Kanda asked with dead calmness. Allen didn't miss the barely audible hint of despair in his voice. A heavy silence filled the air. "I brought you here to heal him! Not to tell me that you can't do fucking anything for him!"

"Kanda, calm down," Allen piped in.

"I will not calm down!" he yelled angrily. "How long?"

Bak sighed in resignation. "I have no idea. It might be a year, five, ten maybe? It might be a month. I have warned you not to use that device after what happened the first time. I am sorry, but I can't help you anymore. Some of the wounds are going to heal over time, but they are still going to give you a hard time. You bruise abnormally quickly, which is not a good sign. Try not to move around that much for at least a few weeks - you need to give your body enough time to heal on its own." Bak stood up, packing his things. "I will bring some salves and meds tomorrow. I'm sorry, Walker," he said one last time, turning to Kanda and nodding.

The doctors left in silence, leaving the two men alone in tension.

Kanda moved to the bed and sat down, looking more tired than ever. "You knew."

"Of course I knew," Allen replied, still not meeting his eyes. He carefully touched his abdomen. "I heard something snap," he said, "and I still feel like something is not in the right place."

The black-haired leaned forward, cupping Allen's face and pressing his forehead against his own. "What have you done?"

"I'm sorry." Allen whispered. "But I'm not giving up that easily."

"You better not!" Kanda warned. "I wouldn't forgive you, idiot. I take back our initial deal." Kanda said as a matter-of-fact, stealing a kiss from the other male in haste. Allen slapped his shoulder in protest, but he didn't really pull away. He let himself be lowered onto the bed, enjoying the warmth and attention Kanda provided. He involuntarily let out a sweet moan.

When the black-haired man pulled away to place another kiss on his cheek, Allen was finally free to ask. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Kanda started, moving to Allen's neck for gentle nips that made the other giggle. "You are not leaving the bed for at least three weeks."

"WHAT?!" So much for the short, romantic atmosphere.

"You heard me," Kanda said, not bothered by the other male's struggles. "You need to rest," he said with a final tone, sitting up and slowly buttoning up Allen's shirt.

"You dirty asshole! You can't make me stay here!"

Kanda smirked. "Watch me, beansprout."

"Fuck you!"

"Not until you're healed."

"Kanda!"

"Struggle all you want. You move from that bed, I'm going to do what I promised."

Lavi smirked as he left the room. Maybe Kanda thought he was deterring the redhead from calling him Yuu with his threatening demeanor, but he really only sealed his fate to the opposite outcome. Childish it may be, but he was going to have a lot of fun irritating the man with that one little word.

He still didn't want to go far, and his urge to know what was going on despite that Kanda tried to shut him out of it was strong. He idly pressed his ear to the door, but that wasn't really sufficient, even for his trained hearing, so he left only long enough to get a glass and silently press it there. For a long while, he didn't get much worth listening in on, but he was persistent. He really didn't like being left out of things, but just because Kanda thought he was effectively keeping the redhead out of the loop, didn't mean he was.

That wasn't to say Lavi wasn't somewhat glad for it in the end. He'd had a bad feeling about Allen's condition from the start, and couldn't help but frown as he overheard what was being said.

He had been worried about that... about how much damage had been done, despite Allen's insistence.

Maybe ten years, maybe a month. That revelation pierced him harder than he would have liked, but he kept his reaction tempered, not letting it show very outwardly. For his life to have been shortened that much...

That reckless fool.

He guessed from the words being exchanged that the examination was over and quickly moved to sit a good three feet from the door against the wall, setting the empty glass innocently at his side as if it had merely been there for drinking, watching the two doctors emerge and pretending not to know anything of what had transpired, at least for the moment.

He thought about getting up and going in, but wasn't sure if he'd even be welcomed. Kanda had already been in a bad mood before hearing what Bak and the other man had to say, so he was probably in an even worse mood now. He figured maybe it would be best to just wait where he was until either one or the other man still occupying the room deemed it safe again for him to enter... which could possibly be a long wait.

He huffed silently and propped his chin on palm, watching the doorway for further signs of life or listening for an indication that he was wanted back inside, deciding he'd just have to be patient on this one and play it by ear for now.

Lavi heard the argument beginning to ensue and couldn't help but smirk. Allen wasn't a person that liked to be told what to do. If anyone else other than Kanda knew that quite well, he did.

He wasn't really sure it was still 'safe' for him to enter, but he stood and stopped just outside view of the doorframe, rapping his knuckles against the wall his back was leaned against like he was knocking.

"I still exist, y'know, in case either of you forgot about me," he teased cheerfully, simultaneously wondering as he did so if he was just going to get told off, probably by Kanda, which seemed a likely possibility.

Kanda stopped in the middle of buttoning of Allen's shirt and stared ahead.

"Oh, Lavi!" Allen chirped with a sweet smile, grabbing Kanda's hand that shot toward his sword. "Sorry, we forgot!" he laughed, still trying to restrain the other man's movement. "I think you should-"

"Rabbit!" The black-haired man spoke slowly, prying Allen's hand off and standing up. "Let's make some things clear: I don't like you, I don't trust you, and if you call me by my first name one more time, I'm going to cut you into pieces and feed you to dogs!"

Lavi held up his hands in a placating manner as he rounded the corner into view, but didn't look the least bit intimidated. Probably because he wasn't, smiling both sheepishly and shamelessly.

"Oh~, sca~ry! If you dislike me then why do ya call me by a nickname?" Lavi pointed out, recalling what Teidol said. "As I heard it, you reserve that for people you don't really hate all that much. And I don't see why it's such a big deal." He tilted his head innocently. " 'seems like a fine enough name to me, and if you get to call me 'rabbit' all the time, then I see no reason not to call ya 'Yuu'."

He smiled a very you-shouldn't-have-told-me-that sort of smile, giving off the overly relaxed impression of someone with a very poor sense of self-preservation, all the while fully ready to dodge or flee any attempts on his life on Kanda's part. Kanda wasn't the first person to call him by that nickname, and he'd earned it for a reason. Rabbits were always ready to flee to safety on the drop of a pin, after all.

"KANDA!" Allen yelled when the other man drew his sword and charged the redhead.

"Come here you little shit!"

"Could you two calm down?!" Really, like little children!

"I am calm!" Lavi laughed as he nimbly leapt out of the path of Kanda's sword. Okay so maybe not calm - as he was laughing pretty hard - but he wasn't hostile.

"Lavi, you're making it worse!" At least he was agile enough to dodge Kanda's attacks. But then again, Kanda didn't look like he was really trying. Allen resolved to blackmailing.

He yelled something in that same unknown language Lavi had heard some of the assassin's and Teidol speak before, making the raven-haired man freeze. Allen confidently crossed his arms across his chest and cocked an eyebrow at him.

"You wouldn't," Kanda growled, his voice sounding very uncomfortable.

Allen shook his head. "Remember? I'm not in the shape." Kanda cursed under his breath. Allen smirked. "Three weeks."

"I waited several years. I can wait three more weeks." Kanda shot back.

"No touching either." Allen answered confidently.

Kanda spun around to glare at Lavi and sheated his sword. "It seems like it's your lucky day."

"Most of my days are lucky," Lavi chimed, unaffected, and still playing the part of innocent. He decided not to try antagonizing the man - at least not deliberately - anymore for now, and turned his gaze towards Allen.

"Anyway, how ya feeling, 'sprout? Hopefully no worse than before I was so rudely booted outside." The wording made it sound like an accusation but it was more of a tease, implied by tone, his gaze momentarily sliding to Kanda playfully then back to his white-haired friend.

"I'm alright."

Lavi smiled mirthlessly. Oh, how that one phrase was starting to make his list of least favorites. He felt like he'd been hearing it far too much lately. It also earned a scowl from Kanda.

"-but I really feel tired now. I think I should take a nap. You two try to play nice!" Allen frowned back at the black-haired man, pulling his blanket higher. "Now off with you, shoo!"

"If you say so, 'sprout." He turned on his heel and sauntered from the room, casting a quick glance over his shoulder. "Anyway, seems like our presences are no longer wanted, eh, Yuu?" He really did enjoy watching the man's brow tick in irritation every time he said that name far too much. Of course his having taken the first leave was no accident. It was always wise to get a head start on those of short tempers when one struck their nerves.

Kanda closed the door in much less rage than Lavi would've expected. Another surprise came when the other man stared at the door as if it was a permanent barrier between him and Allen, and he could do nothing to tear it down.

Interesting.

With a resigned sight, Kanda sheathed his sword and walked downstairs - as if Lavi didn't even exist at the moment. Either Kanda was doing a damn fine job of trying to ignore him, maybe having figured that Lavi was the type of person to bait reactions and was refusing to humor him with one, or - as the redhead had a sneaking suspicion - it was something else.

In either case, there was an easy way to test for that. If nothing else, he was sure the response would be worth the effort.

"Aw, so the ticking time bomb has a soft side under all that outer casing and exploding gunpowder after all~"

Kanda collapsed on the cushions in the same spot where Lavi and Tiedoll have been a day ago. He lit the hookah up and took a drag, looking rather unhappy.

Lavi chuckled. How could such a person go from being so trigger-sensitive one moment then such depressive disregard the next, anyway?

Taking a seat, in what he considered probably a safe enough distance, he made himself comfortable and watched Kanda curiously, figuring this was finally his chance to find out something about the guy that both Allen and everyone else spoke so highly of.

"Funny how a person's reassurances really only cause more grief for everyone around them, huh?" he mused aloud, merely trying to break the ice at this point and coax Kanda into conversation, and of course wording it so as not to sound as though he was coming across as trying to comfort, merely acknowledge the problem. Somehow Kanda didn't come across as the type who liked being consoled.

Kanda only stared at him for a while, sizing his body up and down while smoking. With yet another sigh of resignation, he spoke.

"You were eavesdropping." He wiggled in his seat, looking for a more comfortable position to question the redhead. "What are you even doing here? I've heard about you bookmen. You don't associate yourself with anyone. Only observing, never interfering." He hummed suspiciously, squinting. "I thought you were supposed to observe the history, not people. So what exactly are you to him?"

Lavi whistled fake impressment.

"So you've heard of us after all. When you didn't say anything before, I began to wonder." He propped his chin on palm, smiling casual aloofness, answering somewhat cryptically. "In a way, you've answered your own question. We chase and record history, and both history and humans are intertwined, since it's people who create the events we jot down. And to say we don't associate with anyone is a rather subjective way of putting it. We associate just fine, as much as our job demands, but there's a difference between that and taking sides. You understand the difference?"

A cold smile appeared on Kanda's face, one that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Why then have you stayed at the den and trailed him like a little lost brat? Why have I found you fighting with him when that bastard showed up?" A pause. "Why does the fact that he's dying bother you so much?" Before Lavi could say something more, Kanda jumped in again. "Your mouth and face can lie, but your eyes don't." His voice dropped into an angry growl. "Who is Allen to you? And cut those lies. It gives me a headache."

Lavi only continued to wear the same smile, not wavering. What a perceptive man. Kanda had sharp instincts and observational skills, Lavi would definitely reward him that acknowledgment, albeit only privately. The only other person he knew that could have detected that was his own mentor, when he wasn't masking it perfectly.

He hadn't thought such care to guard his expressions well enough to even fool a fellow bookman would be needed around Kanda, but apparently he was wrong in that regard.

The one mistake the swordsman made in their exchange however was voicing the poker-tell, which made it that much easier for Lavi to know just how he needed to change his signals, his visible eye becoming more guarded and harder to read. It was a seamless and instant correction that he barely thought about, well-trained in moderating his body language and persona without much conscious effort. It was an art he had perfected above all other skills, because the person he needed to fool most into believing it was the old man that had raised him, and pulling the wool over old "Panda-Jiji" Bookman's eyes was a task bordering on the impossible.

"Allen is an interesting person with great skill and reputation surrounded by interesting events. Not least of all being that he carries with him a device most wouldn't even believe in were you to tell them about and those who do would start wars and tragedy to obtain, of which there are those sorts already fighting to take it. And alongside him stands another interesting person with skill and high reputation, helping him wage a quiet war amongst their own faction. A war that might not stay so quiet forever. What better place to wait for history to happen, where all that's left to add to the mix is a scribe to write it all down?"

He was fully playing upon his role and into his persona as a true bookman at this point and trying to derail the notion that any of it had to do with Allen as an individual, personal reasons falling by the wayside. As far as he was concerned, that was all Kanda needed to know, and with having found out about the involvement of the Apple in this whole affair, he could come up with a perfect justification while leaving the matter of his feelings out of the equation. Because he, a Bookman, had no justification he could offer in regard to his attachment to Allen. An attachment that was forbidden to him, and shouldn't exist, but that he couldn't seem to be rid of regardless.

He smirked, almost condescendingly.

"Methinks you're trying to read too much into something that isn't there. I'm here on business, that's all."

Kanda 'tch'ed and looked to the side, clearly in exasperation. "That is your way of telling me I'm gonna have to deal with you as well from now on? Anyway, if I could I would gladly give you that fucked up Apple. Anything to get it off his hands." He sighed, taking another drag.

Silence fell between them for a while. Kanda looked as if he wanted to say something, but his pride wouldn't let him open his mouth.

"If it makes you feel better," Lavi hummed, finally breaking the silence. "I'm a very useful person. Being a bookman comes with quite a few perks for you to benefit from, while I'm here making my record, being somewhat of a jack of all trades. My medical knowledge is pretty good, I'm not a half-bad fighter, and as a few people here might be able to tell you, a skilled tactician. Allen would also probably be able to tell you that I'm not a half-bad cook as well. Just because I don't take sides doesn't mean I can't be of some service while I'm here."

"Yes, I'm sure he'll praise you to heavens," he noted sarcastically. "But as for your helpfulness, I will decide that on my own."

Lavi straightened up, glad to have evaded Kanda's questioning enough that the subject of their relationship seemed to have dropped.

"Anyway, I've heard a lot of talk about you, so now I'm curious to know some things. You're obviously not from this part of the world, as far as I can tell. From somewhere further east, but I can't quite place where, and you speak a language I don't think I've heard before." He tilted his head slightly. "I wanted to say, that maybe you might be Chinese, or at least mixed, but I know enough Mandarin to distinguish that it's probably somewhere else entirely."

As Lavi speculated about his origin, Kanda's face progressively changed into a foxlike smirk. "You're a bookman. How about you figure it out on your own." The smile vanished suddenly. "You still haven't answered my question. But whatever, as long as you keep your distance, you're going to stay alive." Kanda sized him again, the disdainful look in place. "Hopefully."

"Aw, come on Yuu, you can't even give me a hint? Contrary to popular belief-" among those who actually knew of the Bookmen's existence anyway. "-our knowledge base ain't without limits. I'm curious!" He crossed his arms on the table. "An' which question would that be? Cuz if you mean the 'sprout, I already told you how it is. Interesting events are bound to unfold around him, so long as he has that Apple. I'm interested in seeing how it all plays out, whatever the outcome."

"Call me that one more time and you're never gonna see him again!" Kanda shot back. "You're not telling the whole truth, but I don't care. One wrong move and you're dead." He stood up, palming the sword on his side.

Lavi merely smirked, the only thing Kanda's temper inspiring in him at the moment being amusement. He didn't even really have to try at this point, pissing Kanda off was just too easy.

And unfortunately for the man, Lavi was also too easy to entertain, when it came to poking for reactions.

Kanda brushed by the redhead before he could protest and was immediately surrounded by a handful of men who were most probably flooding him reports in that mysterious language. He only calmly listened to them and after they seemed to finish, his only reply was a nod and a short order in return.

Lavi strained his ears to listen to all the chatter, trying to pick out pieces he might understand. It definitely wasn't Chinese. It didn't sound like any of the many various Indian languages to him, either. Were truth be told, he was stumped, but that didn't mean he was going to quit trying. Maybe he could always get the information that he wanted out of someone else... one of the other, lower-rank Assassins, or maybe Teidol would indulge him. He'd come back to that later.

"You like to make a lot of threats, huh?" he mused aloud, once it seemed Kanda's attention was no longer divided between several people. " 'kinda surprising, really, that someone like you and Allen got so deep into this whole mess together." It was more an outspoken thought of idle observation than anything.

Kanda glanced backwards after his men left and scoffed.

"Certainly less surprising than you still being alive," he said coldly, wondering how long he would be able to endure the rabbit before his hand slips under his throat.

Allen was very clear about what would Kanda have to endure if something happened to the redhead - or more specifically, if Kanda did something to the redhead - but he was already considering some kind of splendid, not to mention very tragic, accident that could potentially befall the man.

He caught himself musing about all the misfortunate scenarios and schooled his mind back to the presence. Going by the brief look that flashed across Lavi's face, Kanda judged that it was time to leave.

After all, he still had some unwilling guards to take care of.

He marched outside, letting his mind wander again - this time thinking about how he could possibly keep the rabbit out of the den...