A/N: I do not own Frankenstein. I have never owned Frankenstein. Undoubtedly, I never will own Frankenstein.


The first thing I saw was a crackling blue light. My eyes were already open when I woke up. It was the middle of a storm. The roaring thunder and torrential rain were being challenged by howling machinery all around me. I was numb and aching so bad that I thought I must have been sleeping for days. There was a scream, too. I think it was mine, but it didn't sound like my voice.

I closed my eyes and hoped that I could sleep a little longer. My left eye felt swollen. My eyelid barely covered it. The numbness was slowly fading, but it was replaced with lines of pain criss-crossing my entire body.

I tried to move a little, but I was already moving. Convulsing, more like. And I was tied down. Just as I noticed, it stopped. The blue light was gone now. In its place was a dim, flickering yellow one. Suddenly it became much dimmer, and I felt something press lightly on my chest.

Then it spoke. "It's... alive. It's... he's breathing! We've done it!"

I opened my eyes again. They were painfully dry, a fate shared by my mouth and throat as well. "Wel an a? Wa apen?" was all I could manage. My body's numbness had stopped fading before it was gone. My tongue felt like an awkward worm squirming in my mouth. Even so, judging from the pain I still felt, it was a blessing.

The man above me scrambled away. My eyes couldn't focus well enough to see him, but I sensed a confused cocktail of emotions radiating from him. Pride, wonder, fear, it didn't make any sense. He didn't seem to understand what I was asking, not that I could blame him. I tried again, speaking slowly and articulating as much as I could. "Werl am a? Wa happen ta me?"

His response was not immediate. It was almost as if he didn't expect me to speak. I couldn't tell if it was the wonderment or the fear that gave him pause. Several long seconds later, he responded. "You are in my laboratory. What happened to you does not have so simple an answer, I'm afraid. In time, I will tell you. Now though, please allow me to check your vital systems to make sure that they're all functioning properly."

I grunted an affirmation, and he went about reading the displays on several different arcane contraptions. Someone joined him by the machinery, and they began whispering to each other. My eyes began to feel heavy, so I closed them. Around me, the world faded into nothing.


I woke up on the same table. The numbness was still present. That wasn't much of a surprise, though. I blinked a couple times to try and focus my eyes better. It worked better than I had expected. I looked around to see if the man was still there, but he was either gone or in an area the restraints wouldn't let me look.

The pain hadn't faded in the slightest, but I was becoming more used to it. I wondered briefly why I was restrained, and then remembered my convulsing before. It was most likely to keep me from falling off of the table.

What happened to me? I thought again. The man had said he'd tell me later, but I desperately wanted to know. My body didn't feel right. I felt like a children's toy with pieces that didn't fit together quite correctly. That was probably a result of whatever terrible event befell me. I couldn't remember, though.

I tried as hard as I could to remember something, anything, but nothing presented itself to me. I suppose whatever happened hit me hard enough to cause amnesia, I found myself thinking. There wasn't much to do, so I closed my eyes and hoped that sleep would continue to give me respite from the pain. It took perhaps an hour before sleep finally cradled me out of consciousness. It was a dark, dreamless sleep, but it was much better than being awake.


The next time I woke up, the man was there. He was checking my injuries, I think. I could feel his hands gliding gently over where all of the lines of pain were. I didn't know how greatly I was injured, but I had some inkling from all the pain and the bandages that covered every visible part of me. It must have been a lot of work to piece me back together after whatever happened. I found myself looking at the man with quiet respect as he continued his inspection, not wanting to interrupt him.

He had bedraggled dark brown hair. It was shoulder length, but tied back into a haphazard tail. His eyes were grey-blue, and faintly blood-shot. He had sharp features and sunken eyes. Most of his tall form was covered in a too-large stained lab coat. I'm sure that it was formerly white, but now it was mostly coated splotches of yellow and grey and brown. His fingers were skinny and angular. I had the feeling that he had forgotten to eat many of his meals for quite a while.

But even though his form displayed his lack of care for himself, his meticulousness and the gleam in his eyes showed how driven and caring he was. When it appeared that he had finished, I cleared my throat to gain his attention. It was a vile, dry noise, but he didn't seem to mind. He knew better than I did what my condition was.

"Ah, you're awake," he greeted me with a tired voice that sounded much too deep for his build. His words sounded like he was forcing his breaths to form words, rather than speaking as a common practice.

"Y-yesh," I responded, a voice far deeper and much more hesitant, "Ca-an you tell-l me what ha-happen-ed?" The words formed themselves better, but speaking was still incredibly difficult. My jaw felt tight, constricting the motion of my mouth. The flat noises of my words were still recognizable, fortunately.

"Of course, dear friend, of course..."


"You are the first to ever undergo this new procedure of my devising. I have harnessed lightning to produce a powerful enough electrical charge to revive a human person who was previously deceased. It was impossible to many, and yet science expands our knowledge every day. You are a testament to that, dear friend.

"But it was not so simple as that. Your body was… broken. In need of extensive surgery. You would have been unable to survive even if I did bring you back to life. So the surgeries were performed prior to your revival. In fact, while your body in general is approximately two months old, many of your organs and both of your legs are only one month old, and your left arm and eye are three weeks old. Your brain was acquired just prior to the procedure five days ago.

"If all goes well, your body should become more or less acclimated to its new parts within perhaps as little as another month, although you will most likely be unable to function without any difficulties for another two thereafter. Your body will need that time to remind itself it's alive.

"These are all estimates of course, as, if I may remind you, dear friend, you are the first to undergo such a procedure as this. It may be difficult for you, but I promise I am here to aid you in that transition. I promise this upon my name: Victor Frankenstein."


Whatever I had been expecting, it had not been that. It was so otherworldly, so unfathomable, and yet… I had no reason to disbelieve this man. He very much seemed the part of a genius scientist producing new and radical medical procedures. It would explain everything that I felt. My body was telling me that it wasn't the same as before. Not that I remembered anything before then.

"Tha-ank you, Fr-Franke-ensht-shtein," was all that my bewildered mind could contrive, but he didn't seem displeased. In fact, he was practically emitting pride. He nodded to me with a quiet smile on his face, and then moved around the table to begin checking my other side. I closed my eyes again and rested. His inspection continued on long past when I fell asleep, I'm certain.