The Thief Lords from Beneath
CHAPTER SEVEN
It doesn't take long at all to get to where Kanda was fighting. And Allen says was fighting because he is currently being crushed under the demon's enlarged foot, and was bleeding again, staining his already stained clothes.
"Get the girl," Kanda says in a coarse voice. The former fourteenth heir takes a quick look around and spots a scared-looking blonde girl who is in the arms of a cloaked man whose face is covered by an old scruffy wizard hat. The snow-haired one turns back to look at the swordsman, moves as if he is intending to save him, but a loud shout from the other Lord Heir stops him in his tracks.
"Get the fucking girl, you stupid fucking bean!" And by the sound of his voice the demon is probably crushing his lungs. "Get the damn girl and get the hell out of here!"
"But what about yo—"
"I can take care of myself," and although Kanda says that, Allen hesitates for a moment and then approaches the girl and the mysterious man, he morphs his hand back to its normal human shape as he walks. The two are sitting in one corner, huddled together. Allen bends down to roughly level his head with theirs then reaches out a hand, plastering a friendly smile on his face.
"Hello, my name is Allen Walker; could the young lady come with me please?" The former heir can't help but ponder on the accuracy of the statement, because somehow there is something about the girl that felt inhuman.
The girl shakes her head to say no, curly golden locks sashaying with the movement. She looks terrified. She clings to the cloaked man and buries her face into his chest.
Allen frowns, ponders for a moment then says, "It's dangerous here, if you both come with me that would be alright." But the girl just shakes her head again; the former heir decides to keep on pressing them, "I strongly believe that it's for the best if w—"
A shadow looms over the three of them, and Allen's words are interrupted by the loud scream of the girl as a large hand (that decidedly belonged to the demon) swooped down to grab her.
"Lala!" the cloaked man shouts, and by the sound of his voice, Allen could tell he is very old.
The former heir charges, his arm morphing into its silver form once again, then shouts as he jumps and attempts to punch the demon on the face. He fails, quite miserably, as the demon dodges. Allen falls to the ground, but lands on his feet, sees Kanda a meter or two from where he is and then thinks 'Oh gods in heaven, please say he's just fainted'. Not even a second after he gets attacked again, Allen moves into defensive position, he grits his teeth as he's slowly getting pushed back.
He hears a groan come from behind him, and feels relief wash over him, his companion is alive. But then he hears an angry voice and his relief falters.
"What the fuck were you doing!" the swordsman shouts. "I should have stalled long enough for you to get the hell out of here!"
"I couldn't convince them to come with me!" Allen shouts in reply.
"What the fuck? You don't ask them if they want to come a long—"Kanda stands up, charges his sword with life force, and runs towards the demon to cut the arm pushing Allen back, all those he executes in less than five seconds "—you just take the target whether they like it or not, your priority is supposed to be the heist."
"But—"
The swordsman interrupts him with a grunt of frustration. "You just keep ticking me off!" he screams. He then proceeds to somehow cutting off the arm of the demon that held the girl. "Get the girl!" Kanda commands and Allen quickly does just that.
"You're ok now," the snow-haired one says to the blonde. "Now let's leave before—"
"No!" she shouts, surprising the former heir with her ability to talk. "Please! Guzol's going to stop moving soon! I need to be with him until the end!" And she's crying. Allen is decidedly weak to girls crying. He smiles at her reassuringly, carries her over his shoulder (earning a shocked gasp from the girl) and heads towards the one she calls Guzol.
"Bean! What the fuck do you think you're doing!" Kanda shouts as he continues to fight with the demon.
"She won't leave without him, and neither will I!" And because of that statement, the swordsman thinks that the Order gave him the wrong partner for this heist.
"You're a disgrace!" Kanda shouts, not caring if he sounded petty. "A pathetic excuse for a Lord Heir!"
"It's not as if we aren't going to be able to finish the heist this wa—"Allen's words are interrupted by the pained scream of his raven haired companion. The demon's newly regenerated hand is gripping the swordsman tightly.
The former heir puts Lala down back in the arms of Guzol.
"Stay here," he says, then turns around to charge at the demon, arm morphing into what looked like a large gun. He aims for where he thinks the demon's heart may be, and the blinding beam pierces the creature's chest. The demon's grip on Kanda falters and the swordsman falls to the ground. The demon stills completely. Allen sighs in relief and falls on his knees, eyes gazing at the ground as he pants in exhaustion.
His eyes widen when a shadow appears and looks up a little too late as the demon's hand descends upon him. He closes his eyes and expects a load of pain but it never comes.
"You're pathetic."
Allen's eyes open at the sound of Kanda's voice; he sees the swordsman blocking the attack with the sword. "How could you lose steam at such a crucial moment?"
The former heir laughs weakly. "Is that anyway to thank me?"
"Who's thanking you? You can't even hold down your own fucking fort."
"Says the man whose ass I just saved a few minutes ago."
"Shut the fuck up." With that, Kanda pushes upward, and the demon falls back. He charges forwards to deliver another blow, and Allen joins him. Two agitated shouts and a flash of blinding light later, the demon turns to dust.
The two of them stand there catching their breaths, expressions brimming with the satisfaction of victory (which meant that Allen was grinning madly and that Kanda had a tiny tiny smirk on his face).
"Guzol!" the girl suddenly shouts. The two turn their heads briskly to the old man coughing out blood. Allen approaches hesitantly, Kanda stays in place.
"Lala… please…" the man wheezes. "…sing for me one last time… I don't think I can last much longer."
With tears streaming down her face incessantly, the girl nods then opens her mouth to sing. This time Allen doesn't think the song to be eerie at all; this time it's just beautiful. The sound overwhelms him, a nice tingly feeling coursed through his body, and despite the pity he felt for this man named Guzol, he thinks that dying while listening to this beautiful song isn't such a bad way to go. Guzol is smiling and crying, caressing Lala's face. The blonde girl's eyes are closed, but she is also crying, and she just sings, sings as if she is going to die as well. When Guzol's hand falls to the ground, and his body falls limp, she stops singing simultaneously.
Allen can feel Kanda glaring daggers at him, but he guesses the swordsman is feeling too much pain at the moment to rant on about the former heir's alleged stupidity and/or weakness. They're silent for a while, the swordsman because he's tending to his wounds by tearing parts of his clothing, Allen because he's choosing to pay some respect. After letting a few moments pass, the snow-haired boy slowly and gently places a hand on Lala's shoulder, she has her back turned to him so he couldn't see her face, but he guessed she must have looked heartbroken.
"It'd be best if we go, Miss…" Allen said softly, but the girl does not move. "…I can… We can have a burial outside if you want…" He tries again, but she still doesn't move, he moves to her side so he can see her face, but when he does he immediately he gasps, hand flailing a bit, and Lala falls on her back. The impact sounds like wood on wood, and indeed that's what Lala looks like at that moment.
A wooden doll.
"She… She's a doll!' Allen exclaims.
Kanda frowns at him, approaches Lala, and pries her legs from beneath Guzol's corpse. The former heir is just gaping at him, looking offended, and thinking Kanda is being very inconsiderate at that moment (he believed in utmost respect for the dead). The swordsman moves Lala's hair so he can see the back of her neck and then turns to look at Allen. "It's confirmed, she's our target."
"Ho—"
Kanda roughly grabs the doll's head and shoves her (it) towards the former heir. Allen inspects her neck and sees a cross similar to that of what the Order's door and Timcampy have on them.
"Jasper luRim's insignia," the swordsman announces. "It undoubtedly belongs to the Order."
The former heir makes a face; it is still weird to think about Jasper luRim as a real historical figure instead of just a character from a work of fiction. "I—I can see that…" Allen turns to look at Guzol. "What do we do about him?"
"Nothing" Kanda answers plainly.
"What! We can't just—We should give him a proper burial at least."
"It's none of our business, bean."
"But it's the least we could do! We're taking Lala from him after all!"
"It's none of our damn business. We're here for the doll. We have her, the heist is done. We're not allowed to meddle with anything above ground, at least if we're not doing it for the heist. We would be jeopardizing the secret existence of the Order."
Allen bites his lower lip. "I understand, but—"
"No you don't understand, because if you did, we would be on our way out of here, and there would be no arguments."
"But it isn't as if anyone will find out about the existence of the Order just because we buried somebody!"
Kanda hisses at him, takes Lala from his arms. "Do what you want, I'm heading back."
"You're bleeding like hell," Allen says. "You might not make it back alone."
"Well if that's how you feel, then why don't you stop insisting on burying him!" Kanda screams, and then he coughs, and when he does blood comes out. He mutters a curse.
"See! I'm pretty sure you're lungs were crushed back there, and I'm pretty sure you're standing on willpower alone so—"
"—So if you keep me waiting, I'll die."
They glare at each other for a moment or two. The eye contact is broken when Allen exclaims, "You're an unfeeling bastard!" And then he shouts, very loudly, "Timcampy!"
The golden ball comes fluttering down.
"Contact Toma."
Tim does something akin to a nod and obliges.
"Toma, where are you?" Allen says when Timcampy signals he can speak, he tries not to sound snappish but he fails.
"I'm hiding behind some bushes near the back entrance, Sir."
"Right" Allen says, and thereafter grabs Guzol's body walks towards the back to the room.
"What are you doi—"before Kanda finishes the sentence, the former heir punches a large hole into the wall with the silver form of his arm. He briskly turns around and grabs Kanda with the same hand, by the waist.
"You're pretty skinny," Allen comments.
"The hell!" Kanda shouts angrily. "I am not skinny!"
"Whatever makes you happy, Kanda," and he jumps out of the building.
………………….
You may or may not be reading an edited version of this chapter (refer to A/N in chapter 5 for details)
A/N: Yeay! The heist is finally over! I suck at writing action stuff so I didn't know how I'd get through this ordeal. So this fic is basically sort of an experiment, sort of, in the respect that I'm practicing writing action scenes (because there will be more of that, but there will also be a lot of talking). So yeah. Not much to say about this chapter. Anyway, starting this chapter I'll answer any questions you guys ask in the review in the author's notes (that is, if I didn't reply to your review already to answer the question), I rarely reply to reviews, and it's honestly because I feel shy. Stupid, I know. So ok, here goes.
fan-fan31: Sometimes my updates will be faster, but the most that'll happen is an update two days after one chapter is posted, usually I like redoing chapters cause I think it sucks after I read it another time D:
Thank you all for reading!