Afterlife

• Chapter Eleven •

Sunlight filtered in through the open window.

Levi blinked open his weary eyes, a low yawn escaping his parted lips. The body resting beside him shifted at the noise, "morning, Levi..." Ethan sighed, his green eyes just barely blinking awake. "We survived," Levi chuckled, running his fingers through his blue hair, stopping when he reached his feathers. "Yeah..." Ethan hummed, "you think it's safe to leave?" Levi shrugged his shoulders, his hands running down along his face. "Doesn't hurt to check!" Levi paused, "actually, it might."

Ethan huffed, the bed dipping ever so slightly as he slipped out of the sheets. "It should be fine," Ethan started, sliding his feet into his shoes. "Viola said at night we can't leave, and by the looks of it, it's no longer night." Levi followed his coworker out of bed, pushing his own shoes into place in front of his feet. "Fair enough," Levi said, running his hands down his buttoned-up shirt. Once everything fell in place, Levi made his way towards the door. The doorknob felt cool to the touch as he wrapped his hand around it. For a moment he hesitated. In that hesitation, though, a thought came to mind. "And hey," he smirked, looking over his shoulder at Ethan, "thanks for not making plants in your sleep. If you did that..." Levi turned the knob, pushing the door open slightly. "Viola would have our hea-"

"You really have no trust in me, do you?"

Levi let out an audible yelp, jumping backward into Ethan's waiting body. "Fucking- what the crap are you doing out here?" Viola was standing in the doorway, a huge grin spread across her face. The girl was still sporting her white and red dress, adorned with a large red bow on the back of her head. "Well, I was coming to get you two up, and I happened to hear you saying such rude things about me." "Rude? You know what, it doesn't matter." Levi rolled his eyes, sidestepping around Viola. "Is Millie up? MILLIE WHERE ARE YOU! We need to start planning."

"Would you pipe down, I'm right here!" Millie's irritated voice filled the air, where it came from he wasn't sure. Almost immediately, Millie's head popped out from around the corner. "I've been up for an hour. What happened to you two?" "An hour?" Levi whipped his head around to Ethan, "I told you she'd check it out first." "Well, if you two are hungry, Paige is busy making breakfast. We can discuss these plans over some food, yeah?" Viola interrupted their little bout as she, much like Levi did, sidestepped around him with a grin still adorning her face.

"And how do we know it isn't made out of dead people?" Levi smirked at his own words, ignoring the slap to his arm Ethan gave him. "Don't say that!" Ethan huffed, "they're helping us; we need to show respect." "Thank you, Ethan," Viola hummed, a genuine smile crossing her face. "We wouldn't feed you such things if you must know Levi." The girl twirled around, her hands clasping behind her back. "What do you take me for, a monster?" Levi huffed, his arms crossing in front of his chest. "Yes actually, I do. I'll change my mind once you start acting less weird." Viola only gave a chuckle, her head shaking in amusement.

"If you're done belittling my girlfriend, you can set the table."

Paige was standing by an oven, a black pan sitting in front of her covered with two slowly rising pancakes. The girl lifted a spatula from the counter, gesturing to a small stack of plates, and silverware already gathered there. Levi didn't respond. He trudged over to the pile, carefully picking up the plates and the utensils before placing them on the small wooden table sitting in the center. "Come sit at the table," Levi started, already putting plates by their respective chairs. "Mom's almost done with breakfast."

"If you call me mom again," Levi smirked at Paige's irritated tone. "I'll fucking kill you." "You're a little over a decade late, but you can surely try." Levi gave a toothy grin, adjusting the last piece of silverware next to the last plate. "I just thought it fit since your soul is like... a bee. Queen bees are basically the moms, right?" A loud clatter of something falling on the ground. Viola jumped at the noise, a squeak of an "oh no" escaping her lips.