M-0 [Part 4]
Apr. 26th, 2021 08:25 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
Genre: General
Word count: 2,103
Total word count: 8,355
Status: Work in progress
The house was quiet. M-21 stared up at the ceiling, straining his ears. There was no muffled screaming, no thuds. Nothing.
There was fucking birdsong coming through the window though, and when was the last time M-21 had heard that?
He padded to the window, seeing the dark sky giving way to light, and M-21 braced his hands on the windowsill, the strength leaving his legs as it hit him what he was seeing.
A sunrise.
He was seeing the sun rise into the sky.
How long had it been since he'd even seen the sky? How long had it been since he'd given up ever seeing it again with his mind in tact?
He hadn't looked up when they were escaping, too focused on everything else around them at the time. On M-0.
He could just...see the sky now. If all of this was a lie and he was thrown underground again, seeing sunlight again would have made it all worth it.
"Hey?" M-0 mumbled, and M-21 heard him moving around.
"I'm here," he said, walking back to the bed, knowing what M-0 was really asking.
M-0 grabbed him as soon as he was within reach and pulled him close with a sigh.
"I was watching the sun rise," M-21 said.
"Oh, that's what that is?"
Right. M-0's memories started in the lab - he'd never seen the sun or sky in there. "You awake enough to look?"
"I'm not that old," M-0 grumbled, patting his shoulder before getting up.
There were blinds on the windowsill and M-21 played with the cord as M-0 stood next to him while they watched the black sky give way to an explosion of colours. Pinks, oranges, the light blue. They were so bright it almost hurt to look at.
M-21 kept looking anyway, burning those colours into his memory. The most he would have seen in the Union lab was the red of someone's spilled blood and the pale green inside the tanks. If he was lucky, there was the almost natural green of a fake potted plant in the corner or he could see some coloured shirt underneath the labcoat. The rest of the labs were the white of the tiles, the silver of the machines.
"Did ya sleep?" M-0 asked, and that was his usual question when he woke up. M-21 didn't, watching over M-0 while he slept - he would rest when M-0 had been taken away.
"I think I did," M-21 murmured. He had been listening to M-0's breathing, and then suddenly their room was far brighter than it had been.
"Good!" M-0 ruffled his head, and then turned his attention back to the sunrise.
Yeah, it was. M-21 felt more rested than, well. It was the most rested he felt since he had started making memories again.
Was this what it felt like to think with a clear head...?
M-0 sniffed the air, looking at him. "Can you smell that?"
M-21 sniffed and then looked back at the door. "It smells like food." He shrugged, watching the sunrise again. "Probably for the next shift."
He was still full from the food from last night so it didn't matter.
*
Being clean was also fucking weird. M-21 had watched the grime swirl down the shower drain, and yeah, they were allowed showers in the Union, but not with hot water. Or with shampoo. And conditioner, whatever the hell that was. They were usually lucky to have soap.
M-21 apparently smelled of coconut when he left the bathroom, just letting his hair drip dry. It wouldn't take too long.
He paused at the sight of M-0 holding a neat pile of clothes, walking away from the bedroom door. "What's that?"
"Frankenstein came while you were in there," M-0 said while he put the clothes on the bed. "He said breakfast'll be ready soon, an' gave us some extra clothes."
M-21 blinked, looking down at his own clothes. They were rumpled and dirty, and he hadn't even thought about having spares. What he was wearing was enough.
And they were getting breakfast too? Were they really going to have multiple meals a day here?
"Which ones do you want?" M-0 said, laying the clothes out on the bed. There were a few bright ones, with large flowers adorning them, and others were more muted colours.
M-21 shrugged. "Whatever."
M-0 ran his hands over a few of them, and apparently chose them by touch, taking a few of them to the bathroom with him.
It still left M-21 with a number of clothes to choose from. He picked a few and changed into them. They were a little big for him, but they were clean and warm - that was what mattered.
M-0 emerged from the bathroom a little later, wearing his new clothes and about five towels around his head as he tried to dry his hair.
M-21 frowned for a second before going to help. The clothes fit M-0. They weren't skin tight or snug, but they definitely looked like they could have been bought for him.
M-0 and Frankenstein were about the same size so maybe it was just that, but... If Muzaka and Frankenstein were friends maybe Muzaka had left some of his clothes here.
It made sense.
*
Breakfast was the same as dinner. A different spread of food, but all with tantalising smells.
"You made all this yourself again?" M-0 asked as he sat down.
"Oh, it didn't take too long," Frankenstein said with a soft chuckle, twisting a lock of hair between his fingers.
"Still..." M-0 said.
It was a lot and Frankenstein still hadn't hinted... No. This wasn't the Union. M-21 had to remember things wouldn't be handed out with an implicit favour attached to it. So far, anyway.
"How did you sleep?" Frankenstein asked as he started taking food onto his own plate.
"I felt as if I was laying on air the bed was so soft, heh."
None of the food was recognisable, so M-21 picked a couple things from the plates closest to him.
"M-21?" He jerked his head up, seeing Frankenstein looking at him expectantly. "What about you? How did you sleep?"
Huh? Frankenstein was asking him as well? He thought Frankenstein had just been talking to M-0. "Fine," he said. He hesitated, checking if that was enough for Frankenstein.
Frankenstein smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."
It was enough, and M-21 ducked his head, concentrating on breakfast again as Frankenstein and M-0 continued chatting. He paid attention to what they were saying, in case they drew them into their conversation. Which they did.
It was weird. Not being ignored and pretending he didn't exist. He knew M-0 wouldn't do that but... M-0 was talking with Frankenstein.
One part of M-21 just assumed they would start going back to whatever they were like before M-0 lost his memories, and he hadn't been part of that.
It didn't take long to finish breakfast between the three of them. M-0 ate far more than M-21 did - he had just picked at it, still full from the night before.
"I've got to go to work soon," Frankenstein told them as he started clearing plates.
M-21 blinked. Why was he tell him about work? Wasn't that just downstairs in the lab?
"I'll be back in a few hours," Frankenstein continued. "Do you know how to use a phone?"
That didn't sound like Frankenstein was going to be in the lab... "Yeah, I do," M-21 said, nodding.
"Excellent!" Frankenstein produced a small pad of paper and a pen from one of his pockets, and wrote something down, holding the paper out to M-21. "If something happens, or you need something, I can be contacted through this number."
M-21 glanced at it, nodding. "All right."
Frankenstein's eyebrows rose. "You...memorised it?"
Was that not what he was supposed to do? "Yeah," M-21 said. What else could he have done with it? The Union didn't want any contact details left lying around for anyone to find, so he had to remember everything that was given to him.
"Damn, you did?" M-0 said, peering at the paper. "Can you teach me how to use it?"
Right. M-0 wouldn't have used a phone before. "Yeah," M-21 said, glancing at Frankenstein before gently taking the paper from him. They could practice with that.
M-21 gave the paper to M-0, who stared at it, his brow furrowed, while Frankenstein continued tidying the plates away.
He should...help with that. M-21 started piling the plates like he saw Frankenstein doing.
"Oh, there's need," Frankenstein said, shaking his head. "I can do this myself."
It wasn't a no? And it didn't have the hard edge of when the words meant one thing, but the tone meant the opposite.
M-21 stared down at the plates and then kept piling them up. Frankenstein had already done so much for them and he was doing nothing in return. He heard M-0 start to do the same.
The cleaning up didn't take long between the three of them either, even with Frankenstein directing where everything had to go.
Frankenstein smiled as he dried his hands afterwards. "Thank you."
M-21 shrugged, looking away. Frankenstein wasn't like anyone he'd met before. No wonder he and Muzaka had been friends.
"Least we could do, heh," M-0 said. "If there's anything else you need help with, we can try our hand at it, right, '21?"
But what did they know? What if Frankenstein asked them to do something and they did it wrong?
"Yeah..." M-21 said, looking at Frankenstein from the corner of his eyes. Even after being asked so many questions about the kitchen, Frankenstein didn't seem angry or annoyed.
Not a Union scientist. He had to keep reminding himself of that.
Frankenstein glanced at the clock on the wall, his eyes widening briefly. "Ah, it's later than I thought, so I'll need to rush. I'll be back in a few hours," he repeated as he hurried out of the kitchen.
Had they taken too long with cleaning up? Or would Frankenstein had taken longer without them?
M-21 poked around some of the cupboards, memorising where everything went so he wouldn't waste as much time next time.
It was only a few minutes later that M-21 heard someone rushing past the kitchen. "I'm leaving! There's food in the fridge if you feel hungry," Frankenstein called out, the sound of a door closing a few seconds later.
M-21 shared a look with M-0. That was weird. Why did he tell them he was leaving again?
Which...meant they were alone now? Just the two of them.
M-0 pulled the piece of paper out with a smile, scanning the number again. "Can you show me how to use this now?"
"Yeah, I will," M-21 said, "but I wanted to ask you something first."
"Mm?" M-0 looked over at him.
In all the confusion and everything happening, M-21 hadn't had that much time to think over what they'd been doing, let alone having the time to just ask.
"Why..." M-21 pursed his lips, and then kept going. "Why did you want me rescued with you?" M-0 had the chance to get out without him, with someone who knew about his past - why had he demanded M-21 also come with them?
M-0 frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You could have just left-"
"Without you?" M-0 spluttered, shaking his head. "Why would I?"
M-21 tried, but didn't have an answer for him. He'd known others who would have gleefully stabbed someone they knew in the back if it gave them any advantage. It was one of the rules in the Union: look after yourself and no-one else. It was why...
M-21 sucked in a breath, clenching his hands into fists.
It was why the M-series had banded together so tightly. They were weak, so couldn't fight back. The only way they could survive was by sticking together and watching each other's backs. It didn't matter what they did to other people, so long as they protected their comrades.
It was why he hadn't tried to escape when he'd stopped relying on his pills. He could have, but it would have meant leaving M-24 behind.
He couldn't -and didn't- do that.
And M-0 had proven over and over again he would endure anything to protect M-21.
M-21 let out the breath when he felt M-0 wrap his arms around him, doing the same back. "Thank you," he whispered, "for being you."
He should have already known M-0 wouldn't leave him behind.
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
Genre: General
Word count: 2,103
Total word count: 8,355
Status: Work in progress
The house was quiet. M-21 stared up at the ceiling, straining his ears. There was no muffled screaming, no thuds. Nothing.
There was fucking birdsong coming through the window though, and when was the last time M-21 had heard that?
He padded to the window, seeing the dark sky giving way to light, and M-21 braced his hands on the windowsill, the strength leaving his legs as it hit him what he was seeing.
A sunrise.
He was seeing the sun rise into the sky.
How long had it been since he'd even seen the sky? How long had it been since he'd given up ever seeing it again with his mind in tact?
He hadn't looked up when they were escaping, too focused on everything else around them at the time. On M-0.
He could just...see the sky now. If all of this was a lie and he was thrown underground again, seeing sunlight again would have made it all worth it.
"Hey?" M-0 mumbled, and M-21 heard him moving around.
"I'm here," he said, walking back to the bed, knowing what M-0 was really asking.
M-0 grabbed him as soon as he was within reach and pulled him close with a sigh.
"I was watching the sun rise," M-21 said.
"Oh, that's what that is?"
Right. M-0's memories started in the lab - he'd never seen the sun or sky in there. "You awake enough to look?"
"I'm not that old," M-0 grumbled, patting his shoulder before getting up.
There were blinds on the windowsill and M-21 played with the cord as M-0 stood next to him while they watched the black sky give way to an explosion of colours. Pinks, oranges, the light blue. They were so bright it almost hurt to look at.
M-21 kept looking anyway, burning those colours into his memory. The most he would have seen in the Union lab was the red of someone's spilled blood and the pale green inside the tanks. If he was lucky, there was the almost natural green of a fake potted plant in the corner or he could see some coloured shirt underneath the labcoat. The rest of the labs were the white of the tiles, the silver of the machines.
"Did ya sleep?" M-0 asked, and that was his usual question when he woke up. M-21 didn't, watching over M-0 while he slept - he would rest when M-0 had been taken away.
"I think I did," M-21 murmured. He had been listening to M-0's breathing, and then suddenly their room was far brighter than it had been.
"Good!" M-0 ruffled his head, and then turned his attention back to the sunrise.
Yeah, it was. M-21 felt more rested than, well. It was the most rested he felt since he had started making memories again.
Was this what it felt like to think with a clear head...?
M-0 sniffed the air, looking at him. "Can you smell that?"
M-21 sniffed and then looked back at the door. "It smells like food." He shrugged, watching the sunrise again. "Probably for the next shift."
He was still full from the food from last night so it didn't matter.
Being clean was also fucking weird. M-21 had watched the grime swirl down the shower drain, and yeah, they were allowed showers in the Union, but not with hot water. Or with shampoo. And conditioner, whatever the hell that was. They were usually lucky to have soap.
M-21 apparently smelled of coconut when he left the bathroom, just letting his hair drip dry. It wouldn't take too long.
He paused at the sight of M-0 holding a neat pile of clothes, walking away from the bedroom door. "What's that?"
"Frankenstein came while you were in there," M-0 said while he put the clothes on the bed. "He said breakfast'll be ready soon, an' gave us some extra clothes."
M-21 blinked, looking down at his own clothes. They were rumpled and dirty, and he hadn't even thought about having spares. What he was wearing was enough.
And they were getting breakfast too? Were they really going to have multiple meals a day here?
"Which ones do you want?" M-0 said, laying the clothes out on the bed. There were a few bright ones, with large flowers adorning them, and others were more muted colours.
M-21 shrugged. "Whatever."
M-0 ran his hands over a few of them, and apparently chose them by touch, taking a few of them to the bathroom with him.
It still left M-21 with a number of clothes to choose from. He picked a few and changed into them. They were a little big for him, but they were clean and warm - that was what mattered.
M-0 emerged from the bathroom a little later, wearing his new clothes and about five towels around his head as he tried to dry his hair.
M-21 frowned for a second before going to help. The clothes fit M-0. They weren't skin tight or snug, but they definitely looked like they could have been bought for him.
M-0 and Frankenstein were about the same size so maybe it was just that, but... If Muzaka and Frankenstein were friends maybe Muzaka had left some of his clothes here.
It made sense.
Breakfast was the same as dinner. A different spread of food, but all with tantalising smells.
"You made all this yourself again?" M-0 asked as he sat down.
"Oh, it didn't take too long," Frankenstein said with a soft chuckle, twisting a lock of hair between his fingers.
"Still..." M-0 said.
It was a lot and Frankenstein still hadn't hinted... No. This wasn't the Union. M-21 had to remember things wouldn't be handed out with an implicit favour attached to it. So far, anyway.
"How did you sleep?" Frankenstein asked as he started taking food onto his own plate.
"I felt as if I was laying on air the bed was so soft, heh."
None of the food was recognisable, so M-21 picked a couple things from the plates closest to him.
"M-21?" He jerked his head up, seeing Frankenstein looking at him expectantly. "What about you? How did you sleep?"
Huh? Frankenstein was asking him as well? He thought Frankenstein had just been talking to M-0. "Fine," he said. He hesitated, checking if that was enough for Frankenstein.
Frankenstein smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."
It was enough, and M-21 ducked his head, concentrating on breakfast again as Frankenstein and M-0 continued chatting. He paid attention to what they were saying, in case they drew them into their conversation. Which they did.
It was weird. Not being ignored and pretending he didn't exist. He knew M-0 wouldn't do that but... M-0 was talking with Frankenstein.
One part of M-21 just assumed they would start going back to whatever they were like before M-0 lost his memories, and he hadn't been part of that.
It didn't take long to finish breakfast between the three of them. M-0 ate far more than M-21 did - he had just picked at it, still full from the night before.
"I've got to go to work soon," Frankenstein told them as he started clearing plates.
M-21 blinked. Why was he tell him about work? Wasn't that just downstairs in the lab?
"I'll be back in a few hours," Frankenstein continued. "Do you know how to use a phone?"
That didn't sound like Frankenstein was going to be in the lab... "Yeah, I do," M-21 said, nodding.
"Excellent!" Frankenstein produced a small pad of paper and a pen from one of his pockets, and wrote something down, holding the paper out to M-21. "If something happens, or you need something, I can be contacted through this number."
M-21 glanced at it, nodding. "All right."
Frankenstein's eyebrows rose. "You...memorised it?"
Was that not what he was supposed to do? "Yeah," M-21 said. What else could he have done with it? The Union didn't want any contact details left lying around for anyone to find, so he had to remember everything that was given to him.
"Damn, you did?" M-0 said, peering at the paper. "Can you teach me how to use it?"
Right. M-0 wouldn't have used a phone before. "Yeah," M-21 said, glancing at Frankenstein before gently taking the paper from him. They could practice with that.
M-21 gave the paper to M-0, who stared at it, his brow furrowed, while Frankenstein continued tidying the plates away.
He should...help with that. M-21 started piling the plates like he saw Frankenstein doing.
"Oh, there's need," Frankenstein said, shaking his head. "I can do this myself."
It wasn't a no? And it didn't have the hard edge of when the words meant one thing, but the tone meant the opposite.
M-21 stared down at the plates and then kept piling them up. Frankenstein had already done so much for them and he was doing nothing in return. He heard M-0 start to do the same.
The cleaning up didn't take long between the three of them either, even with Frankenstein directing where everything had to go.
Frankenstein smiled as he dried his hands afterwards. "Thank you."
M-21 shrugged, looking away. Frankenstein wasn't like anyone he'd met before. No wonder he and Muzaka had been friends.
"Least we could do, heh," M-0 said. "If there's anything else you need help with, we can try our hand at it, right, '21?"
But what did they know? What if Frankenstein asked them to do something and they did it wrong?
"Yeah..." M-21 said, looking at Frankenstein from the corner of his eyes. Even after being asked so many questions about the kitchen, Frankenstein didn't seem angry or annoyed.
Not a Union scientist. He had to keep reminding himself of that.
Frankenstein glanced at the clock on the wall, his eyes widening briefly. "Ah, it's later than I thought, so I'll need to rush. I'll be back in a few hours," he repeated as he hurried out of the kitchen.
Had they taken too long with cleaning up? Or would Frankenstein had taken longer without them?
M-21 poked around some of the cupboards, memorising where everything went so he wouldn't waste as much time next time.
It was only a few minutes later that M-21 heard someone rushing past the kitchen. "I'm leaving! There's food in the fridge if you feel hungry," Frankenstein called out, the sound of a door closing a few seconds later.
M-21 shared a look with M-0. That was weird. Why did he tell them he was leaving again?
Which...meant they were alone now? Just the two of them.
M-0 pulled the piece of paper out with a smile, scanning the number again. "Can you show me how to use this now?"
"Yeah, I will," M-21 said, "but I wanted to ask you something first."
"Mm?" M-0 looked over at him.
In all the confusion and everything happening, M-21 hadn't had that much time to think over what they'd been doing, let alone having the time to just ask.
"Why..." M-21 pursed his lips, and then kept going. "Why did you want me rescued with you?" M-0 had the chance to get out without him, with someone who knew about his past - why had he demanded M-21 also come with them?
M-0 frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You could have just left-"
"Without you?" M-0 spluttered, shaking his head. "Why would I?"
M-21 tried, but didn't have an answer for him. He'd known others who would have gleefully stabbed someone they knew in the back if it gave them any advantage. It was one of the rules in the Union: look after yourself and no-one else. It was why...
M-21 sucked in a breath, clenching his hands into fists.
It was why the M-series had banded together so tightly. They were weak, so couldn't fight back. The only way they could survive was by sticking together and watching each other's backs. It didn't matter what they did to other people, so long as they protected their comrades.
It was why he hadn't tried to escape when he'd stopped relying on his pills. He could have, but it would have meant leaving M-24 behind.
He couldn't -and didn't- do that.
And M-0 had proven over and over again he would endure anything to protect M-21.
M-21 let out the breath when he felt M-0 wrap his arms around him, doing the same back. "Thank you," he whispered, "for being you."
He should have already known M-0 wouldn't leave him behind.