Chapter Text
“No, this isn’t right either…” muttered Frankenstein as the numbers on screen flashed by again. He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he hunched over the lab table. Weariness lurked over him, enveloping his mind in a thick fog that was hard to shake. Nothing was working… the cold feeling of powerlessness made his stomach turn and exhaustion turned his world white at the corners. But no matter what, he had to keep trying for the sake of his Master, for the person who meant the world to him. Just one more time… one more time, then I can rest for a little.
He pretended not to notice the shaking of his hands while measuring out the chemicals. He was a professional— he’d done this hundreds of times, it would be fine. But he couldn’t help but frown as the solution suddenly turned a deep scarlet. He hadn’t seen that happen before with this experiment… With a sense of impending dread, he checked the last number.
0.01! Not 0.1!
His heart nearly stopped in his chest. The substances he was working with were highly volatile, meaning immediately he needed to—
There was a flash and a bang, and Frankenstein’s vision whited out completely.
“Is he going to be okay?” asked Takio, nervously staring down at Frankenstein’s sleeping form. Drawn by the sound of the explosion and alerted by Raizel, who had suddenly lost his mental link with Frankenstein, everyone had immediately rushed to the lab, only to see him lying unconscious on the ground with blood dripping down his forehead. They had rushed him upstairs and fixed up his head wound, but the three of them couldn’t shake the feeling of anxiety, now awkwardly standing around the bed without knowing what to do.
“He should probably be fine…” said Tao doubtfully. “He just hit his head, as long as he doesn’t have a concussion it’ll be all right.”
Raizel looked on silently. Although he hadn’t said a word since he’d told them that the mental link had been cut, the worry was clear to see in his face.
“Hn…”
Frankenstein stirred, slowly opening his eyes. The next moment, however, he bolted straight upright, the Dark power flaring to life with a malicious crackle as it surrounded his body. In a shocking display, Frankenstein’s features twisted into a violent snarl as he threw his hand out to the side, a bolt of electric, acidic power crashing into the wall. His eyes were fixed solely on Raizel. “You! What the hell are you doing here?!”
There was an immediate outcry from the others. Tao practically threw himself in front of Raizel as Takio motioned for the Noblesse to move back a few steps. “Boss! What’s wrong with you?! That’s Sir Raizel!”
“Sir?” asked Frankenstein with shock and revulsion. “Why would I even have one of those things in my house, much less start licking their boots?”
Hearing those frigid words out of Frankenstein’s mouth was so shocking that everyone was at a complete loss for words. If he were in his right state of mind, he would have probably killed anyone else acting that way. Such words and actions towards someone he so deeply respected, admired, and loved was utterly incomprehensible.
“You’ve got one part of that right,” observed M-21 thoughtfully. “This is your house. Frankenstein, do you recognize where you are?”
“It’s Doctor Frankenstein to you,” he remarked indignantly, but the words seemed to change something in him. He took in the room with a slight frown, suddenly losing his furious certainty. “This place…”
M-21 nodded slightly to himself. I think I get it. This place is familiar to him, but he doesn’t quite recognize where he is.
Just when M-21 thought he might be making some progress, Frankenstein’s expression hardened. “Forget that. Who are you anyway?” he demanded. “Why are there so many of you? What are you doing here?”
“What’s happened to you, Boss?” asked Tao, still in shock.
“And why are you calling me that, you insufferable mushroom head?”
Tao opened his mouth, presumably for some sort of snarky retort, but M-21 grabbed his wrist and motioned for him to stop.
“Fr— Doctor Frankenstein. This might sound strange, but would you mind telling us what year it is?”
Frankenstein bristled. “What sort of foolish question is that?”
“Just humor me.”
Despite looking extraordinarily distrustful, Frankenstein answered, “Why, It’s the Year of the Lord 480, of course.”
Takio’s mouth dropped open. “As in… 480 Anno Domini? 480 AD?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it? It seems there are quite the number of dimwits around here.”
480. M-21 counted back in his head. Frankenstein had lost… over one thousand, five hundred years worth of memory. He hadn’t even known that Frankenstein was that old.
“Doctor,” M-21 suppressed a shiver, “I’m sure you can probably tell by now, but it’s not 480 AD. It’s 2010. You’ve lost your memory.”
“That’s preposterous,” argued Frankenstein, though he was becoming less and less certain by the minute. “2010? And I’m still alive?”
“Yes, and…” There was no avoiding the topic at this point. Takio stepped forward with Raizel, and M-21 and Tao shuffled to the side. “It’s thanks to him.”
“You’re telling me that I’m alive because of one of those accursed Nobles?” Frankenstein didn’t even look at him. To his credit, Raizel didn’t say a word, didn’t move a muscle. The barest hint of confusion in his scarlet eyes was all that could be seen.
“Yes. Think about it, Frankenstein. You’ve woken up in a strange place with strange people, and you still haven’t tried to kill us all and escape. You could knock most of us out in an instant, you know, but you haven’t. Why is that?”
Frankenstein frowned, seemingly at a loss for words.
“You can’t, can you? Some part of you still remembers us. And we’ll find a way to get your memory back. You just have to trust us and let us help you.”
There was a long silence. “I… I don’t even know who you are.”
“We live here with you. We… are all very close. I’m M-21. This is Tao and Takio. And that’s Sir Raizel.”
“You’re a test subject,” noted Frankenstein. “Who made you?”
M-21 had been doing his best, but he couldn’t hide his shudder at that, reflexively taking a step back. Takio grasped his shoulders, and Tao immediately put himself in front of him. “Hey! You can’t just say stuff like that!”
“Why not?”
“You made me,” breathed M-21, grasping one arm with another. “You made me, Frankenstein.”
“What?!” Frankenstein’s shocked cry contained pain and horror. He shut his eyes tightly as he grasped the sides of his head. The cold malice of Dark Spear leaped off his skin in sparks of electricity, Dark Aura starting to surround him. “That can’t be— I’d never— I’d rather die than use another living person as a test subject—”
The metallic tang filling the air began to get worse as the Dark Aura became stronger and stronger. It wasn’t directed at anyone but Frankenstein himself, however; they could see the sharp streaks of power biting into his skin. The trio floundered in a state of rising panic. If the Dark Spear got out of control, there would be no hope. Everyone was shouting over each other in a chaotic mess.
“Hey, hey—”
“—Frankenstein, just—”
“Someone has to—”
“Stop.” Raizel’s powerful voice rang out. The room fell silent besides the crackle of the Dark Spear. Raizel waved his hand, and the aura quieted, leaving behind only Frankenstein out of breath and trembling slightly. He looked up at Raizel in shock.
“Why…” Frankenstein coughed. “Why would you…?”
Suddenly, all of Raizel’s commanding presence was gone. He looked as unsure of himself as Frankenstein had. M-21 had half a mind to think Raizel would just turn and walk out of the room, which he tended to do when he was overwhelmed. The Noblesse was a lot more gentle and sensitive than people tended to give him credit for. But Raizel stayed there, looking silently at the shell of his partner.
Finally, Frankenstein turned away, his features creased with pain. “Never mind. If this is the future I have, betraying everything I ever stood for, then— then I don’t want to live in it.”
“No.” M-21 finally spoke up. “You’ve misunderstood me, Frankenstein.”
“I think I understand perfectly well,” he muttered.
“I said no. You weren’t the person who used me for experiments. That was the Union. I’m sure you’re familiar with them?”
“Those bastards,” he muttered under his breath.
“Yeah, that’s them. They’re the ones who— who performed the tests on me. But you saved me. You saved all three of us. You rescued us from the Union and you healed us, removed all the poison they put into our bodies. You’ve been caring for us ever since. We all owe our lives to you and Sir Raizel.”
Frankenstein crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow, even though uncertainty still flickered across his face. “...Really now?”
“Is that so hard to believe? Just a moment ago you were horrified by the thought that you might have hurt me.”
“Yes, well, I think you’re mistaken. I’m not so noble a person as you seem to believe, for some godforsaken reason. Do you know who I am?”
M-21 paused. Judging by whatever this was, the truth was that he probably didn’t know all that much about Frankenstein at all. He had no idea what truths Frankenstein held to himself, what burdens of the past that he carried. But still, “I know what matters about you. I know that you’re kind.”
“Kind? Me?” scoffed Frankenstein, his voice filled with ice. “Most of humanity knows me as nothing but a heartless killer anyway… I don’t see why you would be any different.”
“I’m not buying it,” argues M-21. Maybe he shouldn’t be arguing with Frankenstein so openly when the man clearly wasn’t in the right state of mind, but frankly, M-21 didn’t know what else to do, and he felt too strongly about this to just let it pass. “It’s true, I don’t know how you were in the past, but I know you now, and the Frankenstein I know could never be just a ‘heartless killer.’ You’re a good person with a good heart, and I trust you.”
Hearing that, Frankenstein winced, holding his hands to his head again. “Hh… I-I don’t…”
Pleased that he might be getting somewhere, M-21 opened his mouth again to continue, but Tao practically shoved him out of the way. “All right, that’s enough for today! Boss, I think you need to get some rest. We’ll continue this later.”
“Don't call me that,” muttered Frankenstein crossly. “And don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“We were making progress,” murmured M-21, equally displeased.
Tao hushed him and practically shepherded him and Takio out of the room. Although he made no such gesture towards Raizel, with a simple look back, the Noblesse nodded and followed him out of the room.
Frankenstein lay still in the familiar yet foreign room as one of the young human men herded the rest out of sight. The Noble had left too, though Frankenstein had no idea why. His head was still spinning from everything that had happened. He didn’t understand. The worst part was that there seemed to be some truth to what they were all saying. It was true that if he had believed that they were here to harm them, they would have all been wiped out in a minute. Even now, he couldn’t bring himself to think about it. There was some internal force deep within him that could not even consider it, much to his dismay.
Nothing made sense. The Noble with his dark hair and scarlet eyes, who looked at Frankenstein — looked at him in that insufferable way. Like he knew him. Frankenstein couldn’t stand the thought. His life’s mission was to prove to the Nobles that humans weren’t weak. And that Noble seemed to look at him with pity. He couldn’t stand it at all.
Speaking of his life’s mission. If it was true that he had somehow ended up in his future, he couldn’t help but think about what had happened back home. What had happened, if thousands of years really did pass? Had the world taken his advancements to heart? Had humans managed to find their independence? Maybe not, considering the presence of the odd Noble in the house. If he really had time-traveled to the future somehow, it would do good to learn more about what had happened.
Yet, unfortunately, it didn’t seem that way. Something nagged at him in the back of his mind. From the way they were speaking, it wasn’t that he had traveled to the future. It was that he had lived all that time, and lost his memory, and reverted back to a past version of himself. The gears turned in Frankenstein’s head. He had to figure out what was happening and who he needed to protect.
Protect? But he knew in his heart he was meant to protect someone, or multiple someones. He had just assumed it was his human homeland. But it still felt like something was missing. He needed to figure out who he was meant to keep safe, and fast. If only he had made preparations for this in the past! If he had left some kind of clue for himself, to figure out who he really was. Internally, he admonished himself for not thinking of this possibility and assured himself that he would develop a procedure for this sort of thing from then on.
Something else bothered him. That Noble… his power… it had felt so familiar. The way it reacted with his own, instantly quelling it. Normally that would strike fear into his heart. But Frankenstein knew, with just one brush of his power against his. He knew that the Noble had soothed Dark Spear to protect Frankenstein. Why? Why would a Noble do such a thing? Even after Frankenstein had threatened him…
Frankenstein sighed. Maybe that human youth was right. Perhaps he would feel better and understand more if he got some rest. He would perform better and there was no immediate danger, and he was sure he could wake up fast enough to deal with anything that may arise. Though he was against it, he eventually let himself drift off into an uneasy slumber.
Back in the living room, Tao, Takio, and M-21 stood in a worried circle as Raizel took a seat at his usual spot on the couch, picking up his still-warm cup of tea that Frankenstein had just prepared for him earlier.
“You okay?” Tao asked Raizel quietly. Raizel didn’t answer, which was pretty typical for him, so Tao squinted in order to catch his microexpression. His sharp vision picked up the downturn to Raizel’s lips. “Yeah, I get it… it must be pretty stressful, huh?”
Raizel didn’t quite nod, but his expression indicated that he agreed.
“What do you think happened?” asked Takio, his hand twitching somewhat nervously at his side.
“I have no idea,” said M-21 honestly. “I could have never expected this.”
“It’s got to have something to do with what happened in the lab,” mused Tao. “Let’s check the lab footage to see if anything happened.”
Tao quickly pulled up the footage from the lab cameras on his tablet, locating the right time in a matter of seconds. But as the video played, none of them could find anything out of the ordinary, even Raizel, who peeked at the screen discreetly. All the footage showed was Frankenstein working, then the explosion that knocked him back, the impact of his head on the wall (all of them winced involuntarily), and his body on the floor. Nothing that could give them a clue.
“It had to have been the impact,” concluded M-21. “Is this some kind of crazy concussion?”
“Now that I think about it…” Takio was the first to realize. “Wait, I’ve heard of this. We did it to prisoners. A hard hit on the head disorients them, and some of them lose their memory entirely.”
“How long did it last?” asked M-21.
“Well, most of them didn’t forget much. I’ve never seen someone lose this many years…” murmured Takio. “It lasted days or weeks for most people, but some… well, some never remembered….”
The painful implication hung in the air, sending sparks of fear through the family. Raizel felt it equally, but gave no outward reaction, staring impassively at the amber liquid in his cup.
“We won’t let that happen,” said M-21 resolutely. “His memory will come back. It has to. What do you think would help?”
“I don’t know,” replied Takio. “You know how it was, we didn’t really focus on that. But I think for regular humans, they get better from amnesia with rest, and with seeing or hearing familiar things to bring back their memory.”
“That makes sense,” said Tao. “I just don’t want to push him. M-21, you were bluffing, weren’t you? It’s totally possible Boss could completely forget and kill us all before we know it… hahaha…”
“I really don’t think so,” answered M-21 honestly, ignoring Tao’s nervous laugh. “He’s still Frankenstein, whether it’s him a thousand years ago or him today.”
Tao dropped his gaze. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I don’t want him to hurt himself, either…”
“Yeah.”
The three of them turned their attention to Raizel, who was exactly as he had been a few minutes ago. Silently, they asked each other, so what should we do about this?
After a few shared glances, they mutually agreed to let Frankenstein and Raizel handle it amongst themselves. As M-21 had said, whether it was Frankenstein from a thousand years ago or Frankenstein today, whatever happened between the two ancient deities remained their business.