BENEATH (Levi: An Underground Story)

Chapter 6: A Taste of Family

"Don't worry. Mama's going to take care of you. She always does this for my brothers." Claire tried to assure Levi as she poked at her mother's things.

She had been sat in the small kitchen beside Levi. Basically pushing him to sit down on the bench when they arrived.

Claire had grabbed the bag her mother always carried around back in Mitras and carefully unrolled her kit on the table before them.

Agnes was currently buzzing around trying to find the bottles of disinfectants. They all were still adjusting to their new home and she has trouble recalling where she had put things.

Alec was knelt on the floor as he wiped the dirt from Claire's face and examined her legs and arms as well. He smiled as he pat his sister's head, "Careful with the needles, Claire."

"Who said I was worried?" Levi murmured flatly with a bored expression as his eyes wandered around the Fords' humble abode.

He glared at Claire as he heard her laughter, watching her while she rolled her eyes at him and shrugged her shoulders.

Bran watched the interaction unfold from the sink as he leaned on the counter, filling a basin with water.

"Leave it to Claire to get lost and come home with a friend in tow." Bran mused lowly to Alec as the latter approached to wash the cloth he was using.

Just then Levi's eyes landed on the siblings and Bran flinched slightly nudging Alec's side as he scrambled to stand straight, clearing his throat as he went.

"By the Walls..."

"Claire is apparently braver than you. You seriously call yourself a cadet yet you can't even hold your ground against a kid?"

"Shut up."

Alec found his brother's actuations unusual and he was never going to let Bran live this down.

On the way back home, Marius instructed them to spread out so as not to attract attention. Being the older ones, the brothers split up to accompany Claire and Levi.

Alec immediately took his sister's hand with conviction, much to Bran's misfortune.

So he was left to Levi. He had initially thought it wasn't a big deal because he was the outgoing twin; fairly likable thanks to his easygoing nature and jovial personality.

Bran always knew his way around people.

Besides how difficult could accompanying a kid be? He's basically an expert on it because he has a little sister.

So he had approached Levi with his hand raised cheerfully for a wave but was rejected before he could even say a word.

The younger boy had given him a look that made him step back, awkwardly dropping his hand before walking towards his siblings seemingly like a dog with his tail between his legs.

As if Levi needed a guide to get to Claire's house or anywhere in the Underground really.

Thankfully, Alec and Claire were too busy chastising and being chastised respectively to notice their brother's embarrassing shut down.

Alec had purposely taken Claire to scold her.

The pair were a fair distance behind their parents and so Marius and Agnes were certain Claire was being given an earful but couldn't exactly make out the hushed words.

"Where have you been? You can't just disappear like that! Are you hurt anywhere? What happened? I thought we talked about this, Claire?" He fired nonstop in a quiet whisper.