A Different Path

Chapter Fourteen: You're Home

   "What!? Are you crazy?!" He yelled at Isabel. "I don't want her seeing him like this!"

"Didn't I tell you to trust me!?" she shouted,

"I do trust you, but this is really pushing it kid!" Isabel rolled her eyes at Levi's response. They had to act fast but he was slowing them down.

"Here, take this and cover her eyes!"

Hesitantly, he took the ripped cloth from Isabel and quickly made his way to the room where Lilith hid. He opened the door to see Lilith curled up in a ball rocking back and forth in the corner, she was crying. This made Levi's heart drop.

"Lilith..." He said quietly, walking towards her with his bloody hands extended before him.

"Stop!" she yelled, tightly closing her eyes and burying her face in her knees. This makes Levi sick. He didn't want her to see this. He didn't want her to see his blood stained clothes, or hear the screams of pain coming from their friend.

Levi fell to his knees, his eyes dark, unable to look at the trembling child before him,

"Lilly, it's just me. Why are you so scared?" He said with a low, soft voice.

"You're hurting Furlan!" She yelled. 'Oh yeah, Furlan.' He thought, forgetting for just a second.

"Lilly, we need your help. We're not hurting him," he continued with his head down, "We're trying to help him because someone else hurt him, but we need your help, please?" Levi calmly begged the terrified five-year old.

She looked up at him, noticing his change in demeanor. She felt herself ease at his words, at his tone, he's telling the truth. She walked over to him and grabbed a hold of his bloody hand.

"We gotta go help Furlan," she said. Levi looked up and nodded,

"Here, let me put this over your eyes, I don't want you to see him." She listened to Levi as tied the cloth over her eyes. He then picked her up and made his way out of the room.

.   .   .

"Took you long enough!" Isabel shouted at Levi, causing Lilith to flinch. Isabel looked at Lilith. "Hey, I need your help girly." She gestured for Levi to put her down, he did. Isabel took Lilith's hand and guided it to Furlan's cheek. "He can't tell where he is right now, and I need you to show him that he's home, okay?" Lilith nodded in agreement to Isabel's words. Isabel then placed Lilith's tiny hand on Furlan's bloody cheek, he flinched but then realized he recognized this hand. This small, soft, angelic hand. Furlan began to whimper, realizing that he's safe, that he's home now. Lilith moved closer to Furlan and leaned in, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"You're home, Furlan."

"Good, now we can help him." Isabel said, getting ready to stop the reaper from getting her friend.

Levi took Lilith's other hand and lightly pulled her towards him, then picked her up and walked back towards her bedroom.

.   .   .

"Thank you." Levi said to Lilith, taking off the blindfold to find tears. Reasonable tears. He remained knelt in front of her and observed her crying face. "Lilly..." He pulled her in with a hand to the back of her head, "I'm proud of you Lilly, you might've just saved him." She didn't answer, Lilith just dug her head into Levi's chest, clutching his shirt with her tiny hands. This worried him, but he had to let go. "Lilly," he went to continue but was cut off,

"I know," she said, wiping her tears, "go help him," she gave him a smile. Levi stood, ruffled her hair, and walked out. Closing the door behind him.

He snapped back to reality and rushed to Furlan's side,

"It's stopping," Isabel said, gesturing to Furlan's beaten body. She was knelt by his stomach and applying pressure to his closing wound.

"Good, we should try to clean him up," Levi suggested, to which Isabel agreed. He got a rag and dampened it, then made his way over to Furlan and began to wipe. Furlan let out small winces, but took it, knowing he's in good hands now.

.   .   .

Lilith sat on the floor in her room and stared down at her bloody hand that was once on Furlan's beaten face. She felt her stomach do backflips at the thought of what he actually looked like. After a short moment, she felt a tear meet her hand and watched as it mixed with Furlan's blood. Though she made no noise, tears continued to stream down her face, mixing with her stained hand.

"So this... is what happens... when you go outside...?"

.   .   .

After patching up Furlan, Lilith was let out of the room. At first she was hesitant, but then made her way to Furlan and sat on the floor next to him. Isabel and Levi walked into the other room and began to talk.

"Any ideas?" Isabel asked, pacing back and forth in the room.

"No." Levi sharply responded. She could tell she interrupted his thoughts.

"Do you think it was torture?" She asked.

"I don't know. They wouldn't have brought him back alive if it was." Isabel took a minute to answer Levi, she was confused as to how Furlan got back. Then she looked deeper into it,

"What if they weren't the ones who brought him back?" The redhead asked the black haired boy. To which he didn't respond, he just continued to think to himself. He thought about what they did, trying to find a 'why' but he couldn't without a 'who.'

"We'll ask when he can hear, until then, we wait." Levi finally said, her response was a faint nod.

.   .   .

The two conscious adults went back into the main room to see Lilith asleep. Her side leaned against the couch while Furlan's hand rested on her head.

"Should we just leave her?" Isabel asked. Levi didn't answer. Instead, he walked over and sat. He lifted Lilith and gently placed her in the middle of his lap while sitting criss-cross, being careful not to move Furlan's hand from her head. He put his elbow on the couch and rested his head upon his hand, then looked at Isabel,

"You coming or not?" He asked in a whisper. She sighed and let a faint smile creep onto her face, then made her way over to them. She lay down, placing her head on Levi's thigh, careful not to hit the sleeping child, and drifted off to sleep.

Levi didn't sleep. Instead, he watched over everyone, his friends and the girl he would like to call his daughter. 

Levi looked down at Lilith asleep in his lap and let a smile spread onto his face, remembering how little the girl used to be. He missed it, but he was excited to see the person she would become. 

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Heyo, so I've been trying my best to include as much detail as I can without being too wordy so I'd love to get some feedback on that. Is it easy to picture what's going on? Is it too wordy? I'd love to know what you guys are thinking

Also I would love to be able to put in more pictures other then the one I have at the beginning of this story but I honestly can't find any good ones so my bad on that lol