Episode 8/Outline

## Opening Scene

The sun is starting to set.

About two years ago, Anna had said her goodbyes to her family. A younger Levi and Murphy were also there, witnessing her hug it out with her family. Some tears are shed, the usual emotional goodbyes you'd expect. Her parents are there beside her, carrying her luggage.

As soon as she's done hugging it out with her family and friends, she approaches Levi and Murphy. She and Murphy hug each other, wishing each other well, but then she moves onto Levi who's looking more down than usual. She asked him what was wrong, to which Levi's being a bitch and avoiding giving direct answers.

Anna tells him that she's about to travel and now's not the time to be sulking about. Levi tells her that he's gonna miss her a lot. Her expression softens and she gives him a warm embrace. Levi's not the hugging type but he reciprocates, especially at a time like this. Levi tells her that this is what he's going to miss the most.

She was always there for him, but she corrects his usage of past tense and tells him that she will always be there for him. Levi lets on that he's afraid of that not being the case. Anna reassures him and said no matter where she is in the world, they will always be best friends.

Whether it be LA, Michigan, England, the fuckin' People's Republic of China, she will always need him and he has nothing to worry about. Levi lights up a bit from her words and embraced her once more. He tells her that she better be back soon once uni is all done. She retorts with a "You bet your ass.".

Her parents yell at her to hurry up and she lets go of him. She says her final goodbyes to both Levi and Murphy before walking away towards the entrance of the airport. Levi's expression drops as watching someone walk away has never felt so long and so short at the same time.

Out of desperation, he yells a final goodbye back before giving a shaken exhale.
Obviously, this was a hallucination.
The present Levi is back at the airport, a place he hadn't been since then. Murphy stood alongside him, looking a lot more depressed and tired.

The hallucination ends when the past Anna was out of sight and when the automatic doors slide open to reveal the present Anna carrying her luggage.
Levi's eyes widened in a panic, he turns to Murphy asks him if his hair was okay. He gives him an expressionless yes, clearly not in the mood.

Levi breathed heavily and flailed his arms for a minute, trying to calm him down. Murphy rolls his eyes and tells Levi that he looks fine and to act act natural if he's so worried.
He watches her from a relatively long distance, embracing her parents and some of her old friends.

As soon as she's done, she turns around and finds both Levi and Murphy isolated from the other people she knows. She looks at Levi in particular, who waves at her.
She smiles and walks towards him. Murphy teases him a little bit and nudges him to walk closer as well.

He gets the message and does exactly that until they're face to face. They both go to hug at the same itme, which disrupts their motion a little bit. They try again and encounter the same issue.
He tells Anna that he really misses her but she quickly embraces him while his arms are down.

She tells him that he missed him too and that it's been like an eternity. Levi's not the kind of guy to tear up at the sentimental shit but damn was he close. She definitely tears up, though.
She eventually lets go and tells him that there is so much they need to catch up on.

He smiles and pretty much agrees. She tilted her head to look at Murphy standing back, who smiles back at her. She grabs Levi's arm and runs towards Murphy. They all engage in one big grouphug.
She tells them that she missed them a lot and Murphy tells her the same.

This is interrupted when the automatic doors slide open again to reveal a tall, handsome asian man, otherwise known as David. She tells the two of them that she's gotta run but they have to catch up tomorrow and tells them to come to dinner with her.

Before Murphy can even refuse or get a word in, Levi gives her an energetic "Yes, of course we will!". She runs over to David helps him with some of the luggage. Her parents also helped to escort the two of them. Levi's observational skills are at their peak when he comments that she's made a new friend.

Murphy tells him that they really need to talk but Levi dismissed him and continued to stare at Anna fervently. Murphy noticed and tells him that he'll meet him in the car. As he stared at her with a smile on his face, David placed his arm over her shoulder.
This rubbed Levi the wrong way, as his expression became blank.

He was confused and a little worried, but couldn't stop staring. Then he heard it. A raspy cackling. It was hideous sounding, almost unnatural and malicious. He shivered and turned around, looking for the origin of the sound. But found nothing.
After some searching, he ultimately ignored it. When he turned to look for Anna, she was already getitng into a car. He sighed and turned around, walking towards Murphy's car.

## Act I

Levi and Murphy have been on the road for a few minutes now. Levi's been staring out the car window longigly as his leg shakes subconsciously. Murphy notices and asks him to stop, to which he complies and apologizes. He hadn't noticed it. Murphy tells him it's fine and went on to say that he really needed to talk to him.

Murphy tells him that he hasn't been feeling good lately and he doesn't have it in him to go to that dinner. Levi's shocked, as he's usually the more sociable one and wouldn't turn down an opportunity like that. Murphy knows this and tells him that at least she's here to stay, they can reunite later. Besides, he wouldn't want to get in the way.

Levi turns to him and asks him what he means. Murphy gives him a wink, referring to the crush Levi has on her. He nods back, he gets it now. He takes off his glove and tells him that he's been thinking about telling her. Murphy faces him and notices his glove being taken off.

He starts to act somewhat irrationally, scolding Levi for even thinking about it right now. Levi tells him that he trusts her, but Murphy dismisses him immediately and tells him that she *just* got back, it's not a good idea in the slightest. Levi tells him "fine", but asks why he's being a little irrational about it.

He should know, though. After everything they've gone through recently, he wants to maintain some stability. He doesn't know how she'll react. Levi apologizes to Murphy and says it'd be a good idea to wait on it anyway. Out of the corner of his eye, Levi notices a figure in the rear view mirror.

The figure looked like he was covered in shadow with no features distinguishable. He looked as if he was floating and tailing the car. Levi's eyes widened and sharply turned his head to face the mirror, but he was no longer there. He quickly pulled his window down and looked behind to find nothing yet again.

He turned back normally, looking very confused and anxious. Murphy asks him why in the world he did that, to which Levi says that something weird's been going on. He heard some weird laughing earlier and he thought he saw something floating in the rear view mirror.

Murphy asks him if he's hallucinating again, but Levi dismisses the idea and tells him that his hallucinations have been more about warping the world around him. Murphy rolls his eyes and suggests maybe some rest will ease him a bit. Levi agrees.

Later that day, the two arrive home, though it's a bit different than usual. Stacks of legal documents have been piling up on the living room table along with several half empty coffee cups. The events with Franklin Winters have been really unkind to Murphy.

It's really been put into perspective for Levi when Murphy can't even take a break and goes back to sitting on the couch, looking through more of his documents. Levi pauses for a moment and asks Murphy if he could maybe take a break, showing concern for his well being.

Murphy appreciates the concern and says maybe later. Levi nods reluctantly, knowing he at least tried. He goes over to his bedroom and lazily closed the door with his back. He let out a deep exhale, having been stressed out during the entire day.

He goes over to his computer and looks at the chat between him and Anna. For almost a month, they hadn't said much to each other but this week has been different. It's been more familiar for him, constantly talking to her over the internet.

He stares at the last message she sent him, which happened to be around 2 hours before the flight. Her last message reading "I'm finally boarding!! Cant wait to see youu! David says hi, too". His focus is mainly on that last part but he tries to brush it off and sends her a message, asking if she's okay.

To his surprise, she responds instantly. She tells him that she's a bit jetlagged. She then says that there isn't a reason to talk "here" anymore, considering she's finally in Paladdin City and they can do things in person again. Levi gleefully smiles, telling her that he can't wait until tomorrow.

But as he said this, he remembered what Murphy had told him and relays what he had told him. He hung in silence, awaiting a response but none ever came. He rests his elbow on his desk and his head on his hand, feeling his exhaustion. He starts to doze off...

The lights in his room flicker behind Levi, who took notice. He sat more normally and looked over the chatroom between him and Anna to find completely different messages. He leaned in closer to read them but found a bit of detail that clued him in. They were dated July 31st, 2015.

The messages themselves were mundane, mostly about Anna having trouble sleeping and them two shooting the shit and passing the time. Levi's acting a bit overly nice in those messages, though. And Anna's messages indicate that there's a *reason* she can't sleep but kept it to herself.

Levi scrolls down a bit to find her most recent message. Anna reveals that she's been trying to write her first song for the past several weeks but hasn't told anyone outside someone in her class. Suddenly, the door behind Levi opens and he jolts out of his seat in shock. But he only finds his younger self coming back to the room with a soft drink in hand.

He sits back to where Present Levi was just sitting and continues to message her. He moved to stand behind Young Levi and looked over the messages they were sending each other. For some reason, he hasn't remembered what it was about yet, so he continues to look curiously.

Just as Young Levi was about to message Anna, Present Levi felt an unusual chilly feeling in his right shoulder. He briefly looks to his right and finds the window open. He moves to close it and as he does, he finds a strange figure standing in the middle of the street. He looks as if he's wearing a cloak over his body.

Present Levi tried his best to make out any details. The figure slowly turned his head and looked up at him. Present Levi's eyes widened, he felt a sense of dread when he saw that this figure's head is a skull with no mouth or nose and usually shaped eyes. He stood completely still, looking at Present Levi.

Present Levi's creeped the hell out by now. He leaves his room and walks back into the living room. As he opens the front door, Murphy takes notice and asks him where he's going. Levi tells him that he'll explain when he comes back and shuts the door.

He walks out of his apartment building and into the street, turning the corner to find this figure exactly where his eyes left him. His head still looking up at Levi's window. He took a closer look at his details. He looked like a mash up of a ghost and a grim reaper.

He doesn't have any legs and he seems to be floating. Despite his skeleton-like appearance, he seemed to have normal hands, though they look very pale. His nails were at least 15 centimeters long and nearly as thin as a needle. An odd detail Levi found is that the street is completely empty.

Not a car in sight, no people. Not even a sound. This added to Levi's discomfort, but he wants answers. He yells at the specter and sarcastically asks if he's in the right place, but gets no response. Levi gives yet another sarcastic remark which goes ignored by him.

He straight up asks him what exactly he is. The specter slowly turns his head to face Levi, with cracks in his neck being heard. Levi takes notice of his full features and breathes heavily. He may not have a mouth but it looks as if he scratched in a smile where it was supposed to be.

Just like the laugh from earlier, he cackles maniacly and tells him that he knows the answer to that question. Levi is taken aback, not understanding what his statement is supposed to mean. He goes back to his more sarcastic remarks and says "Nope, sorry. Not a clue"

He proceeds to tell him that if he's with Erik, he got his ass beat about a week ago and sending casper his way won't do much for him. The specter completely ignores his statement and asks Levi a question, "Do you believe telling your beloved Anna about your secret will make her like you?"

Levi becomes more heated and asks the specter who he is, but gets no response yet again. Levi then asks him how the hell he knows about Anna and the specter responds this time, saying, "I can give you the answers to your questions if you give me the answer to mine"

"No, of course not.", claimed Levi.

"Then why would you want to risk your friendship over it?"

"W-Who the fuck made it your business?", Levi said nervously but yet again, gets no response. "I trust her. She deserves to know some day.", he sighed.

"You should listen to yourself, it's really quite amusing.", the specter cackled. "You're good at breaking things, Levi, but you don't need to break *this* relationship."

"My life's pretty messed up as it is, I don't need relationship advice from a grim reaper."

The specter stood in his place, staring at Levi lifelessly. Levi flinches slightly and folds his arms, rubbing them.

"What the hell do you want from me, asshole?"

"I want to know if you can protect her from *me*."

Levi's eyes widened with a sudden rage as he clenches his fist. He transforms himself into OMA in that instant and forms his crystallized hand into a blade. He aims it directly at the specter.

"If you even think about hurting her, I'll fucking kill you!"

The specter broke into a fit of hysterical laughter. Levi is baffled by it, struggling to keep his blade straight.

"Oh, Levi... if only you knew how many of your words ring hollow."

Levi breathes in for a moment. Within a split second, he charges at the specter with his blade, ready to strike but dashes right through him. Before he can process that he phased through him, the specter grabs him by the hood and pulls him backwards. He falls on his back, groaning.

"To answer a question you asked earlier, my name is Nhures."

He grabs Levi by the throat and pulls him up to face him. Levi tried to break free of his grip, pulling his arm and kicking back, but to no avail.

"It's so good that we can finally meet face to face, Levi. Or is it One Man Armada?"

Feeling the pressure around his throat, Levi let out a sonic scream that knocked Nhures back. He let go of Levi, who quickly tried to stab him. His blade completely passes through him yet again, however, much to Nhures's delight who cackles at his failure.

Levi attempts to pull his arm back, but Nhures solidifies himself. Seeing this as an opportunity, he punched him in the face with his other arm. Nhures looks back at him and let out a chuckle, completely unphased by the attack. He flies up several feet into the air, with Levi's arm still stuck in his chest.

Levi still tries to pull his arm back, even in mid-air. Nhures then made himself intangible once more, causing Levi to fall to the ground. He reacts fast enough to open his wings and fly back to Nhures, this time charging his other fist with energy.

He swiflty flies over to Nhures, ready to sock him in the face, but he casually tilts his head back enough to dodge the attack. He grabs Levi by the arm and spins his body around for a few seconds before throwing him to the roof of Murphy's apartment.

Upon landing, Levi spins around sloppily to recover a bit of his momentum. His wings got damaged during the landing, however, and folds them back up. Nhures wasted no time, however, and fired a pinkish laser at Levi. He reacted fast enough to create a crystal shield around his body as the laser surrounded the entire shield.

Just as it started to crack, Nhures crashed his entire body into the shield with full force and shattered it, knocking Levi backwards. He tries to use his charged punch yet again but phases through Nhures' head. Nhures reacts by grabbing him by the shoulders and headbutting him.

Levi shrieked in pain and held his face. Nhures took this opportunity to fire another laser at him, this time pushing him all the way to the edge of the rooftop. He floats above Levi, who's groaning in pain. Upon noticing Nhures floating above him, he tries to crawl back but realizes he's at the very edge.

"You continue to waste our time when I'm not done talking", Nhures moved closer to Levi. "And *you're* still hallucinating."

Levi tilts his head back, confused. Nhures grabs him by the neck and flies him over to his bedroom window. He turns his head to face Levi's room.

"Have a look."

"Go to hell!"

Levi charges his fist and slams it into Nhures' forearm, who grunts for the first time. He grabs Levi by the side of the head and slams him into his window, cracking it. Levi is left no choice but to watch his past play out, which currently consists of Levi chatting with Anna over the internet.

"Would you say this is interesting to watch, Levi?"

Levi starts to twitch and move away from his grasp, but is further pushed into the window.

"What... do you want from me?!", Levi exclaimed.

"Answers."

Nhures further pushed his face into the window, cracking it further. Levi howled in agony, trying to break free.

"ALRIGHT, FINE! It's not that interesting to watch! Does that satisfy you?!", Levi inhaled and exhaled heavily.

"I'll be satisfied when we're done, but we are *still* at the beginning and you are *still* wasting time.", Nhures tsked.

"Then get it over with, asshole!", Levi grunted.

"Do you feel good knowing you have a year's worth of memories that play out exactly like this? And that's just with her."

"H-How do you know--"

"I know more about you than you know about yourself, Levi.", he interrupted. "There is *nothing* you can hide from me."

"Is that your long-winded way of saying you have telepathy?"

"

## Notes

* ye
* Nhures calls him out for

* + Levi wanting to tell Anna about his secret identity
	+ All those sad hours he wasted his entire last year on
	+ If he's even a good person at all
	+ How he's straight up hallucinating and doesn't question it
	+ The real reason he's decided to be a "superhero"
	+ Whether or not Anna should be with him at all.
	+ Ruining Murphy's life
	+ Calls out each individual issue he's had in the previous 7 episodes.
	+ cock and balls