"They tell me to kill you."
Outwardly, Levi seemed focused, calm, and thinking of something. But inwardly, he was panicking. It was hard and torturous being haunted by voices in your head while being hunted by the smiling creatures during the night.
On top of that, most people didn't have a hobby to spend time during the day either, because they were all worried about the night. How long could someone last until they gave in to the temptation of the voices?
A week or two?
It would depend on the person, but in Ariana's case, Levi assumed that she heard it as soon as he got into the town if the voices' target is him. Meaning, it had been about a week at most. During most of that time, he was vulnerable and at her mercy.
It was a miracle that she hadn't done as the voices said, but this gave Levi a glimpse of her limits. She was extremely kind, and that must've held back the urges. But now, the children that only they could see, she could snap real fast.
"Please, help me." She begged him, and Levi nodded, focused. "When do you hear it?" He asked, and Ariana sniffed as she thought the question over. "During the night, when we're hiding. It's the loudest then." A realization lit up in Levi.
"That's why you're so afraid during the night." He muttered to himself, but she still nodded. Ariana looked hesitating for a moment but decided to continue. "But they quiet down, sometimes," looking fragile.
Levi tilted his head, watching her. "Sometimes?"
Ariana nodded, brushing her sleeve against her nose. Her cheeks turned red for a moment. Her parents glanced at each other and hugged her once more in comfort. "Take your time talking, we'll be right outside," Miguel spoke up.
"Thank you," Levi told them, receiving a complicated look from the parents. But for now, he ignored it. "Do you want to talk about something else?" He asked her, deciding to change the subject. It was enough of tension and monster talk.
They needed to change the mood and breathe a little. Ariana told him that he made her remember normal, so he decided to remind her once more. Because that's what she needed at the moment.
And maybe, through the talks, she might learn and humanize him for herself, so when she was truly tempted to kill him due to the voices, she would hesitate.
Her lips twitched, uncertain. "About what?"
Levi shrugged, settling into the sofa beside her. "Anything that doesn't involve monsters or murder voices. What's your favorite color?"
That caught her off guard. She blinked at him like he'd just asked for her shoe size during a funeral. Then, slowly, a tiny, reluctant smile formed. "You're serious?"
"Completely," he said, crossing his arms. "It's important research. We might be stuck here a while."
A soft laugh escaped her- quiet, but real. "Okay. Green. But not like the forest. Brighter. Like the wrappers of those mint candies you can never find anymore."
Levi hummed. "I respect that, though you'd have to show me one day. No idea what specific shade you're talking about." At his words, another genuine smile bloomed on her face, already forgetting the previous topics. "Deal. Your turn."
"Hm… Black? No, red…" Levi hmmed once more. "Oka-"
"No, white. No, no, gray or blue. Like sky meets ocean blue."
Ariana tilted her head, smiling now, that teasing spark returning. "You realize that's four colors, right?"
Levi shrugged, leaning back a little. "I'm complicated. Layers."
She laughed softly, the sound chasing away the heaviness in the air. "You mean indecisive."
"That too." He grinned faintly, glad to see the light in her eyes again. "Alright, your turn."
"Okay, favorite food?" She asked, and Levi frowned, mind racing with options, from beans to white rice, then to kebab to eggs. "Hmmm," He hummed loudly.
"Just pick one." She told him impatiently, but Levi shook his head with a serious deadpan. "I can't. Every food, if you eat for the rest of your life only that, you will get sick of it."
Ariana gave him a look somewhere between disbelief and amusement. "That's not the point, philosopher. Just pick something."
Levi raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Pizza. You can't mess that up. Even bad pizza is still pizza."
"Wrong," she countered immediately, leaning back on the couch. "Pineapple pizza is an abomination."
Levi made a scrunched up expression, "True, and you didn't tell me one type of pizza. So, I can have multiple types."
"Huh, you're right." She tilted her head in that cute way that made strange things happen to Levi's head. "You?" He asked, just to distract himself.
Ariana thought about it for a moment, then smiled wistfully. "Spaghetti. My mom used to make it every Friday night. The whole house would smell like tomatoes and garlic. You'd know dinner was ready when she started humming."
Levi smiled. "Sounds nice."
"It was," she said softly, staring at her hands. Then, after a moment, she looked up at him. "What about you? Any family dinner traditions?"
Levi hesitated, the question brushing against old memories. His lips parted, and his voice sounded before he could filter his words. "Not really. Mom got sick and died. Dad buried himself in his work until he found someone else."
"After that, I was just a… a thing left alone until I was kicked out by my stepfamily. Somehow and someway, even the extended family didn't want me. So, I just… did what I do best and made a living." Levi's voice had gone quiet. The way he said it wasn't angry or bitter- just tired. Like it was a story he'd told himself too many times to feel anything about anymore.
Ariana looked at him for a long moment. Her lips parted slightly, then closed again. The silence between them stretched, but not the uncomfortable kind. It was soft, understanding.
"I'm sorry," she said finally.
He shrugged. "Don't be. Everyone's got their mess."
"Still," she murmured, eyes soft. "No one deserves to be left alone."
Levi smiled in remembrance. "I wasn't, though."
Ariana blinked, surprised by the small, real smile tugging at his lips. It was the kind of smile that didn't happen often- the kind that meant a memory still carried light instead of pain.
"I had this friend in high school," Levi continued. "When he heard what happened, he- well, he kinda adopted me. We made a construction company that did basically everything."
Ariana tilted her head, curiosity sparking. "Everything?"
"Pretty much," he said, eyes going distant with memory. "Dean- that's his name, he was the brains behind it. The guy was impossible not to like. Charismatic, loud, could talk the rust off a nail if he wanted to. He handled the big stuff: buying, selling, scouting houses, making deals, hiring teams. That's called a… realtor, right?"
Ariana nodded, smiling softly. "Yeah."
"Yeah, that," Levi said. "He started there, selling homes. Then one day, he calls me up and says, 'Levi, I'm tired of selling other people's broken dreams. Let's fix 'em instead.' And before I knew it, we had a company, Restoration Brothers, LLC."
Ariana's smile widened. "That's actually a nice name."
Levi chuckled. "We thought so too. Dean liked the sound of it, made us sound like TV stars or something. And in a way, he was right. We did everything: inspections, renovations, roofing, carpentry- that part was mine- plumbing, even interior design once."
He leaned back against the sofa, lost in the warmth of old memories. "Dean pulled in a bunch of people from our old friend groups— friends, family, anyone he trusted and was willing to change their career path.
"We had Alan, a buddy of ours, doing inspections, May as our accountant, she used to throw staplers at us if we messed up the receipts." he laughed at the memory, "and Nate… he was basically the Joker. Couldn't hammer a nail straight to save his life, but he made everyone laugh so hard we forgot we were working overtime."
Ariana grinned, propping her chin on her hand. "Sounds like a fun group."
"It was," he said softly. "Loud, chaotic, exhausting, so, so exhausting but perfect. We'd spend ten hours building someone's kitchen, then crash at Dean's place, order greasy pizza, and argue about who worked the hardest. Spoiler: it was Nate, surprisingly. The guy lived for it."
He paused, eyes soft with admiration. "Dean would be up at five, checking permits, emailing clients, and making calls before breakfast. May used to tell him to slow down before he burned out. He'd just laugh and say, 'I'll rest when we're number one in the state.' And he meant it. Within three years, we were."
Her heart did funny things while she looked at him, memorizing the way his eyes sparkled.
He was, in every word, just as she had expected. A kind man. A gentle man who cared more about others than himself. Others would boast their accomplishments filled with pride and even arrogance to her, but Levi, he only continued singing praise of his friends.
"Where?" Ariana asked, looking at him as he got lost in the memories, her eyes seeing through him.
"Colorado," Levi said, the word almost tender. Ariana smiled faintly. "He sounds like a good person."
"He was," Levi said quietly. Ariana watched him, a small smile tugging at her lips. "You sound like you really looked up to him."
"Yeah." Levi's tone softened further. "I mean, he saved my life in more ways than one. When I had nothing, he just… showed up." He huffed a laugh.
Ariana's gaze lingered on him, her smile turning wistful. "You miss them?"
Levi's lips twitched. "Every day. If I knew I would come here, I'd visit them all one last time."
Her wistful smile shattered at his words, her face turning into one of determination but gentle comfort. She scooted into the couch, sitting on the closet seat to the sofa. Her hand moved with calculation and grasped his, bringing him back from his memories.
"I don't want you to accept that we're dying here." She told him, his eyes going wide. "So, don't talk like we are. We'll find a way to get out of this creepy nightmare town. You'll meet them again."
For a moment, Levi looked at her, something settling in his chest. He couldn't help but catch a whiff of her smell. And like the previous times, it calmed him down and brought him peace. "You're right." He told her, taking her hand in his, with a genuine smile on his face.
Ariana smiled at him, the determination softening into something lighter. "Good. Now, no more sad talk. My turn again."
Levi raised an eyebrow, his thumb still brushing gently over her knuckles unconsciously. "Go ahead."
"Favorite animal."
He tilted his head, pretending to think deeply. "Hmm… if we're talking about pets, cats. If not pets, horses."
She looked at him for a second, head tilted to the right, eyes soft but in a 'are you serious' way. "What?" He asked, a bit defensively.
"You don't give just one answer, do you?"
Levi chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "Not when both are equally valid answers."
Ariana rolled her eyes, though her smile betrayed her amusement. "You're impossible." Her laughter broke the tension again- soft, real, the kind that made her shoulders loosen. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Something that Levi noticed, and in that moment, he had mini Dean appear in his head, screaming. 'THAT WAS THE SIGN! SHE LIKES YOU! MAKE A MOVE!'
But he crushed it into tiny pieces. He knew she liked him. She said so, but it was too soon. And even before that, he needed to understand his own feelings for her. The primary question was whether he was ready to take her as his responsibility. "You?" He asked to bury the fleeting emotions.
If the answer was yes, he needed to understand her as a person and whether they had the same priorities in life. He needed to make that decision with logic and not emotions. If Dean were here, he would make fun of him, but that's how Levi was.
He didn't want a 3-month relationship. He wanted an ever after.
"I would say, a dolphin," She nodded to herself. Levi watched her, and for a moment, the world shrank to just the curve of her smile, the way her shoulder tilted forward as she played with her long sleeves, pinching and curling them lightly, the subtle sway of her body as if she were humming to a tune only she could hear.
A part of him screamed to hug the life out of her and squeeze her soft, round cheeks, while the other part was beating the crap out of the first one just to reel it back. But his hand had another mind of its own as it held hers a little bit firmer, not wanting to let her go.
And while his body was fighting itself, the only thing he could mutter in his head was one simple word.
'Fuck.'
Because he was screwed. He needed to get her and her family out of here.
---
AN:
I tried writing a romance scene without breaking the tension that was set in the beginning. The main goal was to mold the tension into this wholesome thing going on at the end. I really hope I did a good job.
Whenever I write and deviate from the main plot of the series, I'm always debating with myself. Why am I not writing my own stories instead of writing fanfiction? Then I look at my profile and see my dead fics and I'm like... Yeah, figures.
But yeah, at this point, screw the plot. Its an AU. Some things might happen like the series but different outcomes and stuff. Hope you had fun reading this chapter.