The Thief Lords From Beneath
CHAPTER EIGHT
Once they hit the ground, the first thing Kanda does is cough out blood. The second thing he does is fall on his knees because of pain that is excruciatingly obvious from the look on his face. He lets go of the doll in favor of clutching his aching chest. After the sensation of pain stopped clouding his mind, he starts thinking of ways to kill Allen fucking Walker, former fourteenth heir to the throne of Dorian. Although, since he wasn't exactly in the right condition to be creative, all he could think of at the moment was strangling that pale, skinny, good-for-nothing neck of his. Would he be apprehended for such an action? Yes. Would he feel too good about himself to care? Hell yes. So will he do it? He would… if he could… Which he can't, because the stupid bean just grabbed him and jumped off the second floor of a mansion with high ceilings, and gravity isn't such a wonderful feeling when you think you have a few broken ribs, and more than a few unpleasantly large lacerations.
Apparently, the bean is choosing to ignore his current state of misery, because the bean is digging. He is digging. He is digging to bury a corpse of a person he's never seen before and whom knows almost nothing about. He's digging a grave for whatshisname in favor of helping the guy who fucking saved his skinny little ass. How is this act not selfishness? Cross Marianne didn't teach this guy anything did he?
Kanda does what his brain tells him to do, which is lunge in an attempt to strangle the snow-haired boy, but in the instant he starts trying to do so, his internal organs decide to react in a bad way and he curses real loud.
"Are you ok, sir Kanda?"
The first thing the swordsman thinks is, 'Ok, who the fuck is this bastard?' He blinks a few times before thinking, 'Oh it's the lower thief', and then he says, "Do I look ok?"
"No, sir," Toma answers honestly, and Kanda doesn't really know what to do with people who answer rhetorical questions, especially if the person isn't someone he is particularly inclined to insult, unlike, say, the bean for instance.
And that is why he decides to say, "Take the doll and help me up," instead of pointing out the stupidity of Toma's question. The lower thief does as he is told, grabs Lala with one arm, helps Kanda up with the other.
"Shall we wait for Sir Walker?"
Annoyingly, this question makes Kanda think. On the one hand, he could leave the bean behind because that's what he deserves for being a moron, on the other hand, he could stay here and feel his innards bleed and heal at the same fucking time while waiting for the bean to finish burying a man whose name escapes him. The former is a good idea if the bean wasn't so damn reckless (what if he messes up and gets seen by someone? Kanda couldn't risk that).
"Yeah whatever," the swordsman replies finally. "Let's wait for that damn bean WHILE I BLEED TO DEATH."
It was a petty thing to shout, and it was also a lie. He wouldn't die, not yet, he had things to do, a person to see, and his genetic make-up gave him impossibly fast healing rates.
Once the snow-haired boy lays the old man in the ditch, he is quickly able to cover him with soil until a mound that is obviously a grave is formed. Wiping the dirt off his pants, Allen Walker stands up straight then bows his head, and just stays like that for a few minutes. It ticks Kanda off.
"Any day now, bean!" he shouts impatiently, but the bean stays still.
"Sir Walker, I think we should get Sir Kanda medical help as soon as possible," Toma says meekly, and at that Allen turns around to face both of them.
"Ok, let's go, I'm done," and that effectively pisses Kanda off to new heights.
………………………
When they get back to the Order, Kanda is rushed to the infirmary and Allen has to be the one to jot down the happenings of their heist in detail. Komui told him what he absolutely needed to write down and left him to finish his paper work in the Head Strategist's office. Komui then heads for the infirmary to pay Kanda a visit. The welcome he got is not at all warm.
"So what did you come here for?" Kanda is sitting on a bed, getting patched up by a nurse as he said this.
"Allen is documenting the events of your mission in my office," Komui said, and Kanda gives him a look that is saying that piece of information had nothing to do with him. "I leaned in to read a paragraph and I noticed something interesting."
The swordsman raises an eyebrow. "Interesting?"
"It seems there was a point where Allen thought you were dead because you didn't look like you were breathing."
Kanda stills, he didn't think the bean would be that detailed in his documentation.
"I haven't looked at the videos your golems took, but I can't imagine why Allen would lie about such a thing so I came to tell you that you shouldn't be careless again."
He isn't being scolded really; Kanda knows that Komui knows he isn't normally so careless. He may not have the ability to die now, but someday, perhaps someday soon even, that wouldn't be the case anymore. It is a long story, one he'd never talk about no matter what people do.
"I gave you a partner so this mission would be easier."
Kanda rolls his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me there'd be mirror demons."
"The recon team didn't go in like you did; they just fished out the magic," Komui said plainly. "No one expected the house to be more complicated than it seemed."
The swordsman sighs; he looks away, notes that the nurse is almost finished with him, and then sighs again. Komui stays standing in front of him, frankly he is annoyed at that. "So? Is that all?"
"Yes it is, be more careful from now on," and with that, the head strategist walks out of the room.
Kanda stares in his wake, a scowl on his face. This is all the bean's fault really, why did he have to laugh at the loon they ran into? It is all his fault-- that stupid irksome bean-- because of him he got some irritating reminders from an equally irritating guy with a sister complex. He grits his teeth in annoyance.
………………………...
Allen is still writing down his report when Lavi the Junior Scribe walks into Komui's office.
"So how was the heist with Kanda? It's a bit surprising how he's more knocked up than you are, you must really be something." He has this grin on his face; the grin of a kid who's found a new toy to play with.
"A good deal of the attacks were very sudden, he had to come to my rescue quite a few times. I sincerely thought it we would end horribly…" The former heir is looking dejected; he continues to write for a few moments, then grunts and crumples the paper he has been writing on.
Lavi gives him a look. "Hey now what's this? Wasting paper?"
"I can't decide whether or not I should be writing down absolutely everything; there are some things which I am rather ashamed of."
The Junior Scribe is grinning again; his teeth are blindingly white, it is quite unnerving, like he is flashing those things to milk out juicy information out of Allen. "And what would these shameful things be?"
"Ah…" Maybe he needs to tell Lavi, he is the Junior Scribe after all, it is his job to compile and study all these reports; he's also the one who puts the events seen on the videos into paper. The former heir fidgets in his seat for a while, before he decides it's safe to tell him "…We got distracted a few times… by… by our own bickering."
When Lavi begins laughing he immediately sort of regrets his decision to confide in him, but then the Junior Scribe pats his shoulder in a friendly manner and somehow he feels better about himself for letting Kanda get to him. "You're amazing you know," the red head said. "I can't recall the last time Kanda got so immersed in bickering with someone."
"Actually he wasn't really, his mind was still mostly in the mission."
"Mostly, not entirely like it usually is," Lavi laughs again. "I can't wait for you two to get paired up again!"
Allen grunts. "I honestly hope that isn't someday soon."
………………………..
You may or may not be have read an edited version of this chapter [ch5 for details]
(I also haven't reread it to remedy the more obvious mistakes, but I felt like if I'm already late with this so…Sorry if for that)
NOTES:
"Video"- I know, the existence of this makes no sense in the kind of world I'd been explaining, but more on it later
A/N: So this story will enter a new phase, we'll be focusing more on Allen's adventures and plots from now on. There'll be a lot more Lavi and Lenalee from now on too, and lots more info on the Black Order in this AU. Anyway, thank you all for reading!
Digimagic: I was originally planning to make this have about fifty chapters and maybe even more. That's still the length I expect it will reach, though it might be shorter or longer depending on what I decide to change (from my original plan that is).