The Thief Lords From Beneath
CHAPTER FOUR
"Why hasn't anyone tried to reclaim this mansion?" Allen personally thinks that with a little work, this abandoned mansion could really be beautiful and one of the most cozy places in the Kingdom.
"Oh, people have tried, Sir Walker, but none have succeeded. The dispute about this piece of land was never settled, forgotten even," says Toma, the man Komui sent with Allen (and Kanda) on their heist. Allen quite likes his company, it makes him feel like he would indeed live another day.
"So if nobody owns it, there won't be anyone there…" the former heir pauses. "… Why did we come armed then?"
"Squatters." In contrast to Toma's calm tone of voice, Kanda's always sounds snappish. "Highly territorial squatters— weren't you supposed to read about that?"
Allen frowns. "It must have just slipped my mind…Territorial squatters?"
"You'd be surprised how little sense the world actually makes, Sir Walker," Toma comments, and Kanda thereafter snorts.
"You sure are NEW to the outside world aren't you, beansprout?" The swordsman snickers after he says it.
"Well excuse ME, it isn't as if I'd lived under a prettily decorated rock by choice," Allen huffs.
Very briefly, Kanda looks like he is amused somewhat, but then his expression shifts to look like he is tired of their conversation. He shrugs "Whatever you say," then takes a few strides as to walk ahead of both Allen and Toma.
"Sir Kanda is normally grumpier, Sir," and it sounded as if Toma is trying to COMFORT him.
The former heir groans. "That doesn't make me feel any better…" because, Allen thinks, this means he should expect worse. "…Thanks for trying to lift my mood though Toma, I appreciate it very much."
Since Toma's mouth is covered in bandages (gauze actually, miraculous that he could talk really), he merely tries his best to smile with his eyes, and nods at Allen politely.
They walk silently for a moment or two until Toma breaks it, "If you don't mind me asking sir, why is your speech pattern unlike that of most Royals?" he inquires.
"Uhm…" Allen bites his lower lip thoughtfully. "…I slip into that speech pattern occasionally—when there's a girl around for example— out of habit I guess… But, anyway, the thing is, once you've roughed it out with Cross Marianne, I cannot imagine anyone retaining their prim and proper way of talking…"
Then, carefully slipping into old habit, he says. "If you would prefer me conversing in my old speech pattern, I shall be happy to oblige though."
"Ah no, I can't ask for anything of the sort, Sir; casual is fine," Toma waves his hands about, though not furiously.
"Ok then, if you're sure…" He pauses. "…Why do you keep calling me Sir?"
"Well, Sir, you're a Lord Heir, it's how we show respect to higher ranked people in the Order."
"Any chance I can get you to stop calling me Sir?"
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Sir, it's how the Order works."
Allen sighs. "…Fine, I understand… Just reminded me of the Palace too much, except everyone there called me 'Sire'."
Before Toma could reply, Kanda's voice echoes from not too far away, "Stop DALLYING, I don't want some piece of fresh meat STALLING my WORK."
"He's just a bucket of sunshine isn't he," and the former-heir purses his lips.
"He's rarely been this talkative around new people, Sir; perhaps there's something about you that's special in his eyes?"
"Perhaps he finds me especially annoying."
Toma does not comment further (a fact Allen finds he is strangely thankful for), instead they both pick up their pace and catch up with Kanda.
"There's a chance we can get to the target without rousing the squatters…" Kanda turns around to glare at both of them. "…I do NOT want to exert more effort than what's really necessary."
"Got it," Allen replies plainly. No use being defiant in such a situation really.
"If either of you gets attacked, I will not come to save you— you are on your own. I will proceed to the target as if nothing is happening."
"You don't have to warn me about your selfishness, you know." Allen earns a heated scowl but he finds that, strangely, he's beginning to not particularly care. He and Toma then mimic Kanda when the swordsman hides behind some bushes.
"The squatters usually stay in the banquet hall, which is in the middle of the mansion; our target ISN'T there thankfully, but in the Master's bedroom on the second floor." Kanda is talking in a formal, business like tone. He points the sole window in the cylindrical portion of the mansion.
"THAT'S the Master's bedroom; obviously the window is too small for any of us, so we'll have to break in. The only real challenge here is that the grills in the windows are still intact so we can't get through that way without a lot of noise and effort…"
He turns to Toma. "Try to find a weak spot though;,see if any of the grills are broken, but as far as I know, and according to those who had reconnaissance here, they're all still pretty sturdy. But there's a chance they didn't look CLOSE ENOUGH."
He turns to Allen. "Unfortunately, you're coming with me. The only other way to the second floor is through the stairs in study. It's not that far from the banquet hall so I expect you NOT to talk AT ALL while we CREATE our own paths."
"Uhm, why don't we just CREATE a hole on the roof? And drop in through there?" Allen suggests innocently.
"No. Too much noise, we'll attract attention." Kanda looks at him with narrowed eyes.
"Hey, just trying to look for other less taxing options. Besides, hearing out other people's ideas makes for good leadership."
The swordsman rolls his eyes, "Fine. If you have something to say, say it."
"Uhm…" Allen is startled by this civility (albeit cold civility) somewhat. "Can't we check the windows with Toma first? If it turns out to be a plausible option then we'd save ourselves lots of energy; if we have no other choice but to go through the riskier option, then we'll take that road."
Kanda's eyes narrow. "Look, I'm pretty sure that the window thing isn't really an option, but on the off chance that it can someone can get it through one of them at least Toma can get in, and heck, he's way more experienced than YOU. I'm just letting Toma stay outside to MAKE SURE. But essentially, we should have "NO CHOICE", as you say, but to go for the harder option."
The snow-haired one bites his lower lip and looks thoughtful for a moment. He really doesn't know where he gets the gal to even sort of argue with this man in the first place. Perhaps he is just the sort of person who was born to naturally bicker with. Still, it almost feels like he is deliberately wasting all their time for some reason, Allen feels uneasy about that. It isn't like him. "I get your point, so we go the hard way, and Toma double checks, that's the plan basically?"
"Yes," the swordsman sounds agitated. "Now shut up and let's get on with it"
"You won't hear anything from me," he turns to Toma. "See ya, Toma."
Toma gives him a little wave.
………………………….
Allen thinks he's having too much fun with this (this being more of getting on Kanda's nerves than the actual heist). Obviously, they have given him a pretty easy heist. Easy, because he is with a guy who takes his job seriously, and is very efficient. Perhaps they are actually testing his people skills more than his… stealing skills.
"If anything happens that wasn't in the plan, I will blame YOU," Kanda says before they enter the house, and Allen thinks that yes, they are definitely testing his people skills.
"If that's what makes you happy," the former heir decides to say, and he gives Kanda a fake smile; the kind he used to give Earl Millennium when he was still a palace crony.
The swordsman rolls his eyes in reply to that statement; he taps his pocket and his black golem flies out.
Apparently they need golems to record the proceedings of a heist; this is a system they use to judge the Lord Heirs of their worthiness, and in some cases, fish out traitors. Every thief has one; the Lord Heirs just have golems with extra capabilities, including a form of communication. Why they only brought the golems out now is because they are only required to record the heist proper visually; the events before could be just voice recording.
"Do I have to bring Timcampy out too?" asks Allen.
Keeping a stoic expression, Kanda replies, "If that's what makes you happy."
The former heir purses his lips and furrows his eyebrows at that, but taps his own pocket to bring Timcampy out.
Kanda double checks their surroundings. Then he proceeds to peek into a window to make sure nobody is in the room they will first enter. When he is sure that nobody is watching them, and when he is sure that there is nobody in the room, Kanda says, "Let's move."
Suppressing the urge not to joke around and wiggle in reply, Allen just nods. There will be other chances to piss Kanda off.
They enter the house through the back door. Kanda picks the lock and manages to open it in less than ten seconds. The room they enter obviously used to be the mansion's dirty kitchen. Without missing a beat, they begin to move, slowly. The two carefully pace themselves as to not make the floor creak and not to make the doors squeak.
Kanda is reluctantly impressed by how Allen is actually managing to do quite well (he isn't fumbling in the least), while the snow-haired one is just thankful that he needed this skill back when he was still with Cross Marianne. How else would he have retrieved all of his sort-of guardian's stuff without waking up his pretty one night stands? Those situations turned out to be good practice for this. Allen entertains the thought that those crazy situations he was put in before was actually just training. Then he decides that it was probably just coincidence. PROBABLY.
It does not take long for them to reach the next room, which is the dining room. Kanda makes a tiny hole on the wall to check if there is anyone there before they enter. Allen is impressed with how dedicated the swordsman is to avoiding the squatters; he supposes it is better for the secret nature of the Black Order, but Kanda still seems like the type who would actually WANT to start brawls.
The location they arrive at is a hallway, Allen vaguely remembers the map of the mansion, but doesn't exactly know where the "study" is. Kanda seems to know what he's doing, so Allen just follows his lead, though he makes a mental note to ask Komui to give him his mission details a week before so he can study them thoroughly (and memorize them by heart).
Kanda stops in front of a door and twists the doorknob without checking if there's anyone inside the study. The door is locked. The swordsman looks unsurprised by this, and in fact, he seems to be expecting it.
Allen wonders why on earth it would be locked if it is the only way to the second floor. He is surprised when Kanda turns to him and whispers, "There's someone in the second floor, their leader perhaps…"
The former heir can't think of anyone else who would be so high and mighty as to situate himself on a higher floor than the rest, so he presumes Kanda to be right.
"Be ready, we might need to fight after all," the swordsman continues, and he grimaces after his own remark, obviously hating the way things have turned out.
Allen nods, and Kanda turns back to the door to pick the lock. They open the door slowly, careful to not make any sound, and are relieved to not be greeted by anybody upon their entrance. A spiral staircase is in the far end of the room, but before the former heir could move towards there, Kanda stops him.
Allen turns to him and sees the swordsman wearing an alert expression; he's scowling in the direction of the desk in the room.
"Show yourself," Kanda shouts. Allen is amazed when a figure emerges from behind (or is it underneath?) the desk.
He is a man clad in tattered formal clothing, long sleeve button-down shirt that looks like it used to be white, black (and stained) slacks, and a pair of leather shoes (right one bore a hole and his big toe was slipping through). The man stood with dignity, as if his clothes are clean and brand new instead of old and dirty. "I didn't think you would notice me," he said. "… I heard you trying to open the door."
"I heard YOU talking to yourself," Ah, this explains why Kanda thought it better to twist the door knob instead of making a hole on the wall (or door).
"I guess we just both gave ourselves away then," the man was obviously trying to seem cultured, maybe even regal.
The swordsman snorts, and Allen thinks that this is him gloating about how HE gave them away on PURPOSE while the other man did so to himself unthinkingly. Kanda doesn't say anything more, instead he heads for the stairs, and Allen follows.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to go there," says the man, making them stop just when they were about to climb up.
Kanda turns his head to look at him, raises an eyebrow in what Allen takes to be the 'why-ever-not?' way.
"Well, because if you do I'll be forced to take drastic measures" the former heir finds himself chuckling out loud at that, because the man looks scrawny even compared to himself, and he is obviously unarmed (on the other hand, he is in the company of a swordsman who seems to be skilled in his art).
"Really now?" Allen says, still chuckling at the hilarity of it, he turns to look at Kanda and sees the man scowling at him. 'Shoot,' thinks the snow-haired one. 'What did I do?'
An insanely strange thing happens: the man screams so loud that Allen and Kanda both cover ears in fear of becoming deaf. When the screaming stops, Allen just gapes.
"My cavalry will arrive!!!" the man announces.
And before Allen can even THINK about how stupid that statement is, his scowling companion tells him, "This is all your fault."
…………………….
I reread this chapter to correct the more obvious mistakes, I seriously need a beta with lots of time on his/her hands though (or at least a beta who works really fast), anyone have any suggestions?
(A/N: Not-so-miraculously, I have found time to update. University has kept me stressed and busy (to the point that I felt like I would be driven to tears), but that's over FOR NOW, because it's summer over here in my country and I'm on summer vacation! Utilizing my first idle moments, I finished this chapter up! I sort of don't know if this still feels consistent with the previous chapters, but even in DGM canon I thought Allen was always more casual when he's with Kanda, if only because they get on each other's nerves, and so I stuck with more casual speech patterns for this chapter. He'll fall into casual speech patterns when talking to the others in the future, but for now, maybe "casual" will be reserved strictly for Cross and Kanda, both of whom are people he will tend to bicker with in this universe of mine. The love story here is supposed to take a while, in fact, after this heist, we probably won't see a lot of Kanda, but since he is my favorite, he will still make many appearances. Also I am aware that my characterization of Kanda here is different from canon in the way that he's "nicer" somewhat. I made it that way because I think Kanda would be different if his past was different, so a nicer but still grumpy and mean him is what came about. Haha, anyway, will update more from now on, thank you for reading!)