Disclaimer: Noblesse is not mine.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
As much as the sound reassured him to his Master's continued existence, it was also, slowly and steadily, driving him insane. The feeling was somehow vaguely familiar. He couldn't help comparing it to his countless years of combing the world when his Master suddenly disappeared. There was, at first, a sense of panic and urgency, then determination, followed by sadness and weariness.
It feels somehow unusual that it only took a few months for him to cycle through these emotions again, when it took him 8 centuries before.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
He did all that he could to treat all visible and internal injuries, and yet his Master remained comatose. For the first few days, he was only mildly concerned (if ever you can say that of him when it came to his Master's well-being). After 3 weeks, with no change, he was afraid that he had truly hibernated, and it would take another 800 years before he would wake again.
It has been months now, since that last battle. Funny how all the books described the sweetness of victory, they failed to describe that it also had a foul aftertaste.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Boss." A voice cut in his thoughts.
How long had he been down here?
"Get some rest. I'll take the next shift."
He nodded absently at M-21. Not taking his eyes of the heartbeat monitor.
"I'll call you if there's any change," he promised. Frankenstein got up slowly from the armchair by his Masters bed, and shuffled upstairs to get some modicum of sleep. Mostly he just lay in bed staring at the ceiling, dozing off a few minutes at a time. He had a fear of sleeping now, not only because he was afraid that something might happen while he was in slumber but also because of the nightmares.
x x x
"MASTER!" he cried. By then all of them was either dead or unconscious. If only he had even a drop of strength left, if to just take his Master and run.
The Noblesse knelt on one knee and blood was dripping freely from his bowed head. His clothes were tattered and burned in several places. In front of him was what was left of the Union leaders, those traitors. They formed a loose semi-circle around him, their faces full of malice and glee.
"Master!" he tried calling out again. He knew his voice was weak and hoarse, what he wanted to say, he did not even know. What did he want to tell him? To run? To say goodbye?
Impossibly, the Noblesse heard him, or most probably, felt him. His head lifted up a fraction and his eyes locked into his. They still burned with life and he would never forget that last glance.
Abruptly, a large explosion rocked the earth and he tried his best to shield his head. When the ringing finally stopped, he looked up to see that only a lone figure remained, kneeling on both knees and staring at the sky, eyes vacant.
His body, though battered with bones broken, suddenly leapt up as he watched his Master's eyes flutter close and a stream of blood spurted from his lips. His head spun as his body protested against the sudden movement. He only had time to see his Master's body collapse on the ground before he, too, passed out.
x x x
Over and over, with excruciating detail, his mind would replay in slow-motion how the battle ended. The Noblesse, fighting to protect them and by extension, all of humanity- it was clear that the Noblesse exhausted all of his life-force; it was a miracle that he was still even alive.
Frankenstein checked the clock at his bedside, 3 hours had passed. Good enough. He pushed himself off the bed and made his way downstairs. He couldn't leave his side for long. It made him too anxious.
After a month, when the worst had passed and it was clear that the Noblesse was stable, he decided to remove all the machines and contraptions so his Master could sleep peacefully. That turned out to be a mistake. As soon as he removed the respirator, his breathing hitched and became erratic. His heart rate spiked and he was forced to hook them all up again.
It was very confusing to say the least; Nobles shouldn't be this fragile, and yet here they were, 6 months post-battle, his Master plugged in like a common human.
Ding.
Frankenstein stepped into the elevator and went down into the medical facility. When it first became apparent that a number of powerful beings (with powerful enemies) would be staying over, he made a point of expanding his labs with a healthcare facility.
He wearily stepped off the elevator and resigned himself to several hours of staring into space. As the automatic door slid open to his Master's private room, he was caught off guard as a pair of familiar red eyes stared angrily back at him.
"Boss.." M-21 trailed off. "We have a problem."
Authors Notes:
Okay, all of my other stories are in hiatus (if it wasn't that obvious after of almost 1 year of no updates). I was reading some discussion threads on how the series would end, some say that Rai will die, or become human, or die and be reborn, or reincarnated into a new noblesse, etc. I want to explore that. I'm not sure yet what direction I'm headed for except that !RaiLives. It's starts of a little bleak, (its after a war, after all) but I promise that I'll try to inject humor in the following chapters. So what do you think should happen? Do you want Rai to be human? Do you want him to have amnesia? Pls let me know what you think!