M-0 [Part 2]
Apr. 12th, 2021 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonv2Fandom: Noblesse
Summary: M-21 and M-0 are saved from the Union by a blond stranger, who seems to know M-0 before he lost his memories. M-0's name used to be Muzaka...?
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Word count: 1,952
Total word count: 4,234
Status: Work in progress
They were able to grab a couple clothes that fitted them on the way out. And shoes. They didn't fit as well, but they were warm, and M-21 didn't feel every single thing as they walked anymore.
M-21 stuck close when they entered busy streets, flinching at the bright lights and crowds. So many people...
Laughing and making noise and just. Being so free to do whatever they wanted.
M-0 kept his arm around M-21's shoulders as Frankenstein led them to a black car. A regular small, black car that could fit five people.
"Get in," Frankenstein said as he opened the driver's door. It really was just him.
M-0 got in first and there was something about the way he hummed once he settled down, legs stretched out under the seat in front of him, head tilted back on the headrest.
M-21 followed and. Oh. The seats were soft.
"There's some bottles of water in the back," Frankenstein said as he checked the mirrors, "and some snacks."
M-21 peeked over the seat and saw the bag of food, pulling it over. The crinkle of the plastic seemed so loud as he set it in between him and M-0.
None of the bottles or wrappers were open, so it was unlikely-
M-0 grabbed one bottle, twisted off the cap and started guzzling it down.
M-21 gaped for a second, before nodding to himself and opened a bottle for himself. He sipped at it, just in case. It tasted like normal water, with nothing else added. Which he should have expected, if Frankenstein was rescuing a friend. Why would he want to drug them?
"Seatbelts on," Frankenstein said as he checked the mirrors.
M-21 didn't move for a second in surprise, before reaching for his seatbelt. If they hit anything, they would do more damage to the car than the other way around.
Maybe it was to not draw attention.
M-21 peered out the window as they drove off but didn't see anyone following them. Was that it? They could leave, just like that?
He looked across at a nudge, M-0 holding out one of the snacks for him. He took it with a muttered thanks and started eating. It tasted of some kind of fruit, one that M-21 couldn't be bothered reading the wrapper for, because all his stomach wanted to do was inhale the entire thing.
And maybe then puke it all up, because this was all too perfect.
When was it all going to fall apart?
*
M-0 had dozed off, arm curled around M-21's neck, leaning against him, and M-21 replaced the cap on his water, just in case it fell and made a mess.
He was sure Frankenstein was checking on them in the mirror, but whenever he looked, Frankenstein's eyes were on the road.
Should he talk? Keep silent? This was M-0's friend, but also not. To Frankenstein, all M-21 was was someone M-0 had insisted on dragging along with them.
And what was there to fucking talk about? How Frankenstein broke in? Probably by the front door by the looks of it. How Frankenstein was so strong? Through modification.
Any talking points had obvious answers.
Frankenstein had to concentrate on not being followed or seen anyway. He wouldn't want to be distracted.
M-21 frowned when Frankenstein turned into a house and M-21 looked around them. He knew they were in a residential area, but he figured they were only passing through, not going into one of them.
How long had they been driving anyway?
He didn't know. Most of the snacks were gone but... That could mean anything.
Maybe Frankenstein was picking someone up? M-21 stuffed the wrappers back into the bag anyway.
"We're here," Frankenstein murmured, M-0 stirring at his words.
This was it?
A house?
M-21 had expected another organisation building, unless this was a front.
"Cool," M-0 said, fumbling with the seatbelt.
M-21 got it for him, undoing his own with a sigh. It felt too much like a restraint for him to fully relax with it on.
They got out of the car, following Frankenstein in. And paused as Frankenstein took off his shoes, replacing them with slippers.
M-21 and M-0 did the same, and. It was weird. Not something M-21 had done before.
The slippers were soft too, M-21's feet just sinking right into them.
"We'll have to head to the lab-" Frankenstein started, and there it was.
This was just a front for another organisation.
Well. Whatever. So long as M-0 was out of the Union, then anywhere else had to be better than there. M-21 would just have to deal with it.
"-so I can run some tests to figure out what you need."
M-21 frowned. I? That sounded as if... Was Frankenstein a scientist? He didn't act like one.
"Need?" M-0 said, focusing on a different part of Frankenstein's words.
"Yes, need. I doubt the Union has been giving you what you need, so I would like to run some bloodwork among some other things to find out what exactly they've been withholding from you."
Aside from 'everything'?
"Is that all right?"
Did they have a choice?
"Yeah," M-0 said.
The lab entrance was hidden behind a wall that needed fingerprint recognition. It still didn't make sense to M-21, because for an organisation to work here, it would be clear to the neighbours that there were too many people coming and going. Unless the entire neighbourhood were different entrances?
M-21 could see it.
And he knew his mind was drifting, trying to latch onto any other thought to not focus on how his skin prickled at seeing the walls a familiar stark white.
He gritted his teeth and took a step forward into the lab, following Frankenstein. He could do this. He'd gone through this before. M-0 had been through much worse because of him. He could do this.
All labs were different, dependant on their size and how many people it had people running it. Speciality areas were in different places, some were cleaner while others were more run down.
This place was sparkling fucking new.
It gleamed as if it had just been polished.
It didn't have that sharp, unveiled smell before the human stench stuck to it, and it didn't have that bleach smell tinted with lemon, as if it could actually cover up the scent of blood that had seeped into the tiles.
It was just new. And clean.
There was something missing though, and as they went further into the lab, M-21 placed what it was.
The place was empty. There were no guards keeping an eye on them, no scientists bustling from place to place, arguing about their results.
Was...this really another organisation, or just Frankenstein's lab?
They reached a set of double doors and they opened with a hiss, revealing a room so wide and far back it had to take up more space than the house above them did. Along the walls were machines M-21 didn't recognise, and at regular intervals there were other machines spread out in the middle.
"Chairs," Frankenstein muttered, heading to the right. "Hold on a moment."
M-21 watched him leave before trying to look at all the machinery around them. They looked like they were more for testing results than gathering data - he couldn't see many tables (aside from a few attached to what looked like scanners) and none of them had restraints on them.
Frankenstein came back with a few chairs in tow, and M-21 readied himself for whatever tests Frankenstein was going to give him.
*
"There," Frankenstein said as M-21 sat up from the scanner. "That should be enough."
That was it? Just blood drawn for a couple vials and some scans? That was easy.
M-21 rubbed his wrist out of habit but froze, seeing Frankenstein's gaze go towards his tattoo. Fuck. He flushed, shame filling him at his brand being seen. Frankenstein would want to want to see it.
"I...noticed both you and M-0 have tattoos," Frankenstein said, stepping back so he could address both of them together. "I could remove them, if you wish."
Frankenstein could do that? M-21 ducked his head to look at his tattoo, but he already knew what his answer would be.
"No, I'll keep it," he said. It was shit. It was fucking shit that he had a fucking brand on his skin that he didn't ask for, that he didn't remember getting.
But still.
But still, it was the only thing he had left of his original comrades. The only thing he shared with them.
If he got rid of it, he would be disrespecting their memories. Pretending nothing had ever happened.
That no-one had died.
"Same," M-0 said, nodding. He grinned at M-21. "It's ours, right?"
M-21 smiled softly at him. "Yeah." He hadn't chosen to have it, but he could choose what he would do with it afterwards as best as he could, and right now, he wanted to keep it for as long as possible.
"I understand," Frankenstein said, nodding.
M-21 let out a breath, his shoulders slumping slightly.
Frankenstein was listening to them and wasn't going to force what he wanted.
It was...nice. To be acknowledged.
To be listened to.
M-21 wasn't sure if he was going to get used to it.
*
M-21 swung his leg in tiny arcs, his heel hitting the chair leg every second. Maybe less than that.
This whole thing felt weird.
Frankenstein had taken their blood samples and their tests, and put them in the machine to test them, and then just. Left them alone. In the lab. With the results.
If M-21 wanted, he could change the results to whatever he wanted.
"What are you doing?" M-21 hissed instead, focused on M-0.
"Huh?" M-0 blinked at him, as if he didn't know.
"If Frankenstein really is someone you used to know," M-21 said, and there was something in the way Frankenstein looked at M-0, at the way he kept a very careful distance away from M-0 that said yes, "why aren't you asking him anything about your life? Why are you still using M-0?" He had his name - why wasn't he using it?
M-0 looked at him as if he was the one not making sense. "What's so important to know right now? And..." He trailed off, his gaze drifting away before he shrugged with a sigh. "We knew each other but... 'Muzaka' doesn't feel right for me, you know?"
M-21 frowned. "You think he's lying?" Pretending to know M-0 to shape him into someone he wasn't? A different way to mould a person compared to the Union's?
M-0 shook his head. "I'm not Muzaka anymore - I'm M-0."
M-21 stared at him, before ducking his head, trying to control his trembling. He hated that he understood what M-0 was talking about.
He'd been so focused on finding what his real name, he never considered what he would do if he ever found it. He couldn't slip back into his old life and do whatever he used to do - he wouldn't know how. How could he talk about the same things he used to to complete strangers?
"Kid?"
"Yeah." Urgh, that sounded so breathy. Uncertain. "Yeah," M-21 said again, his voice sounding stronger. "You're right."
But now what? Stay here and do what? Live with Frankenstein, and Muzaka's ghost? Leave? If they did that, the Union would find them and drag them back or kill them.
So, they would just have to stay until they recovered. Even if it was weird here, it was already better than what they were going through with the Union.
Summary: M-21 and M-0 are saved from the Union by a blond stranger, who seems to know M-0 before he lost his memories. M-0's name used to be Muzaka...?
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Word count: 1,952
Total word count: 4,234
Status: Work in progress
They were able to grab a couple clothes that fitted them on the way out. And shoes. They didn't fit as well, but they were warm, and M-21 didn't feel every single thing as they walked anymore.
M-21 stuck close when they entered busy streets, flinching at the bright lights and crowds. So many people...
Laughing and making noise and just. Being so free to do whatever they wanted.
M-0 kept his arm around M-21's shoulders as Frankenstein led them to a black car. A regular small, black car that could fit five people.
"Get in," Frankenstein said as he opened the driver's door. It really was just him.
M-0 got in first and there was something about the way he hummed once he settled down, legs stretched out under the seat in front of him, head tilted back on the headrest.
M-21 followed and. Oh. The seats were soft.
"There's some bottles of water in the back," Frankenstein said as he checked the mirrors, "and some snacks."
M-21 peeked over the seat and saw the bag of food, pulling it over. The crinkle of the plastic seemed so loud as he set it in between him and M-0.
None of the bottles or wrappers were open, so it was unlikely-
M-0 grabbed one bottle, twisted off the cap and started guzzling it down.
M-21 gaped for a second, before nodding to himself and opened a bottle for himself. He sipped at it, just in case. It tasted like normal water, with nothing else added. Which he should have expected, if Frankenstein was rescuing a friend. Why would he want to drug them?
"Seatbelts on," Frankenstein said as he checked the mirrors.
M-21 didn't move for a second in surprise, before reaching for his seatbelt. If they hit anything, they would do more damage to the car than the other way around.
Maybe it was to not draw attention.
M-21 peered out the window as they drove off but didn't see anyone following them. Was that it? They could leave, just like that?
He looked across at a nudge, M-0 holding out one of the snacks for him. He took it with a muttered thanks and started eating. It tasted of some kind of fruit, one that M-21 couldn't be bothered reading the wrapper for, because all his stomach wanted to do was inhale the entire thing.
And maybe then puke it all up, because this was all too perfect.
When was it all going to fall apart?
M-0 had dozed off, arm curled around M-21's neck, leaning against him, and M-21 replaced the cap on his water, just in case it fell and made a mess.
He was sure Frankenstein was checking on them in the mirror, but whenever he looked, Frankenstein's eyes were on the road.
Should he talk? Keep silent? This was M-0's friend, but also not. To Frankenstein, all M-21 was was someone M-0 had insisted on dragging along with them.
And what was there to fucking talk about? How Frankenstein broke in? Probably by the front door by the looks of it. How Frankenstein was so strong? Through modification.
Any talking points had obvious answers.
Frankenstein had to concentrate on not being followed or seen anyway. He wouldn't want to be distracted.
M-21 frowned when Frankenstein turned into a house and M-21 looked around them. He knew they were in a residential area, but he figured they were only passing through, not going into one of them.
How long had they been driving anyway?
He didn't know. Most of the snacks were gone but... That could mean anything.
Maybe Frankenstein was picking someone up? M-21 stuffed the wrappers back into the bag anyway.
"We're here," Frankenstein murmured, M-0 stirring at his words.
This was it?
A house?
M-21 had expected another organisation building, unless this was a front.
"Cool," M-0 said, fumbling with the seatbelt.
M-21 got it for him, undoing his own with a sigh. It felt too much like a restraint for him to fully relax with it on.
They got out of the car, following Frankenstein in. And paused as Frankenstein took off his shoes, replacing them with slippers.
M-21 and M-0 did the same, and. It was weird. Not something M-21 had done before.
The slippers were soft too, M-21's feet just sinking right into them.
"We'll have to head to the lab-" Frankenstein started, and there it was.
This was just a front for another organisation.
Well. Whatever. So long as M-0 was out of the Union, then anywhere else had to be better than there. M-21 would just have to deal with it.
"-so I can run some tests to figure out what you need."
M-21 frowned. I? That sounded as if... Was Frankenstein a scientist? He didn't act like one.
"Need?" M-0 said, focusing on a different part of Frankenstein's words.
"Yes, need. I doubt the Union has been giving you what you need, so I would like to run some bloodwork among some other things to find out what exactly they've been withholding from you."
Aside from 'everything'?
"Is that all right?"
Did they have a choice?
"Yeah," M-0 said.
The lab entrance was hidden behind a wall that needed fingerprint recognition. It still didn't make sense to M-21, because for an organisation to work here, it would be clear to the neighbours that there were too many people coming and going. Unless the entire neighbourhood were different entrances?
M-21 could see it.
And he knew his mind was drifting, trying to latch onto any other thought to not focus on how his skin prickled at seeing the walls a familiar stark white.
He gritted his teeth and took a step forward into the lab, following Frankenstein. He could do this. He'd gone through this before. M-0 had been through much worse because of him. He could do this.
All labs were different, dependant on their size and how many people it had people running it. Speciality areas were in different places, some were cleaner while others were more run down.
This place was sparkling fucking new.
It gleamed as if it had just been polished.
It didn't have that sharp, unveiled smell before the human stench stuck to it, and it didn't have that bleach smell tinted with lemon, as if it could actually cover up the scent of blood that had seeped into the tiles.
It was just new. And clean.
There was something missing though, and as they went further into the lab, M-21 placed what it was.
The place was empty. There were no guards keeping an eye on them, no scientists bustling from place to place, arguing about their results.
Was...this really another organisation, or just Frankenstein's lab?
They reached a set of double doors and they opened with a hiss, revealing a room so wide and far back it had to take up more space than the house above them did. Along the walls were machines M-21 didn't recognise, and at regular intervals there were other machines spread out in the middle.
"Chairs," Frankenstein muttered, heading to the right. "Hold on a moment."
M-21 watched him leave before trying to look at all the machinery around them. They looked like they were more for testing results than gathering data - he couldn't see many tables (aside from a few attached to what looked like scanners) and none of them had restraints on them.
Frankenstein came back with a few chairs in tow, and M-21 readied himself for whatever tests Frankenstein was going to give him.
"There," Frankenstein said as M-21 sat up from the scanner. "That should be enough."
That was it? Just blood drawn for a couple vials and some scans? That was easy.
M-21 rubbed his wrist out of habit but froze, seeing Frankenstein's gaze go towards his tattoo. Fuck. He flushed, shame filling him at his brand being seen. Frankenstein would want to want to see it.
"I...noticed both you and M-0 have tattoos," Frankenstein said, stepping back so he could address both of them together. "I could remove them, if you wish."
Frankenstein could do that? M-21 ducked his head to look at his tattoo, but he already knew what his answer would be.
"No, I'll keep it," he said. It was shit. It was fucking shit that he had a fucking brand on his skin that he didn't ask for, that he didn't remember getting.
But still.
But still, it was the only thing he had left of his original comrades. The only thing he shared with them.
If he got rid of it, he would be disrespecting their memories. Pretending nothing had ever happened.
That no-one had died.
"Same," M-0 said, nodding. He grinned at M-21. "It's ours, right?"
M-21 smiled softly at him. "Yeah." He hadn't chosen to have it, but he could choose what he would do with it afterwards as best as he could, and right now, he wanted to keep it for as long as possible.
"I understand," Frankenstein said, nodding.
M-21 let out a breath, his shoulders slumping slightly.
Frankenstein was listening to them and wasn't going to force what he wanted.
It was...nice. To be acknowledged.
To be listened to.
M-21 wasn't sure if he was going to get used to it.
M-21 swung his leg in tiny arcs, his heel hitting the chair leg every second. Maybe less than that.
This whole thing felt weird.
Frankenstein had taken their blood samples and their tests, and put them in the machine to test them, and then just. Left them alone. In the lab. With the results.
If M-21 wanted, he could change the results to whatever he wanted.
"What are you doing?" M-21 hissed instead, focused on M-0.
"Huh?" M-0 blinked at him, as if he didn't know.
"If Frankenstein really is someone you used to know," M-21 said, and there was something in the way Frankenstein looked at M-0, at the way he kept a very careful distance away from M-0 that said yes, "why aren't you asking him anything about your life? Why are you still using M-0?" He had his name - why wasn't he using it?
M-0 looked at him as if he was the one not making sense. "What's so important to know right now? And..." He trailed off, his gaze drifting away before he shrugged with a sigh. "We knew each other but... 'Muzaka' doesn't feel right for me, you know?"
M-21 frowned. "You think he's lying?" Pretending to know M-0 to shape him into someone he wasn't? A different way to mould a person compared to the Union's?
M-0 shook his head. "I'm not Muzaka anymore - I'm M-0."
M-21 stared at him, before ducking his head, trying to control his trembling. He hated that he understood what M-0 was talking about.
He'd been so focused on finding what his real name, he never considered what he would do if he ever found it. He couldn't slip back into his old life and do whatever he used to do - he wouldn't know how. How could he talk about the same things he used to to complete strangers?
"Kid?"
"Yeah." Urgh, that sounded so breathy. Uncertain. "Yeah," M-21 said again, his voice sounding stronger. "You're right."
But now what? Stay here and do what? Live with Frankenstein, and Muzaka's ghost? Leave? If they did that, the Union would find them and drag them back or kill them.
So, they would just have to stay until they recovered. Even if it was weird here, it was already better than what they were going through with the Union.