Chapter Text
Lunark had never thought she'd be here. A clink echoed through the room as the Noblesse set down his teacup in the saucer then set the ensemble down on the bed. Frankenstein's bed. That she and the most powerful being in the universe were currently sitting on, enjoying tea and snacks that had been brought to them by the same tall man who had answered the door.
She had at least thought they'd sit on the edge of the bed but somehow they had ended up cross-legged on it, as though they were having the world's most formal sleepover.
The Noblesse was wearing his school uniform still, but he had taken off the white coat and set it over an armchair. He did it with such ease Lunark knew he must set the coat there often. A tiny flicker of warmth settled in Lunark's chest at the beautiful friendship between the Noblesse and his bonded.
When the Noblesse first came in Lunark had wasted several minutes stammering and explaining that Frankenstein had obviously pranked the both of them until the Noblesse lifted his red cheeks and gave her a nod. They hadn't spoke since then and had just crawled onto the bed, sitting and sipping tea. The silence didn't seem to bother the Noblesse but Lunark had always been a woman of action.
"H-Has Frankenstein informed you as to why I'm here?"
The Noblesse shook his head. Lunark sighed.
"I've spent a lot of time thinking recently, about my place in the union. I may not have always been involved, but their actions still disgust me. I can't bear supporting them anymore. I figured I'd speak to you first and then to Muzaka, to make sure I'm not switching sides to a greater evil."
The Noblesse nodded and took another sip of tea. He glanced at her over the edge of his cup. She met his eyes steadily then gasped as the backs of his ruby eyes seemed to draw away from her, sinking into the depths of experience. He acted so much like a normal human sometimes Lunark had to remind herself that he was a being with at least a couple millenia under his belt.
The staring contest went on until whatever the Noblesse saw satisfied him and he dropped his eyes back to his cup. He took a sip and set it in its saucer again.
"We do not exist on the same plane as the union. They hurt for the purposes of chaos. We do not."
Lunark nodded. A couple of her misgivings disappeared. The Noblesse didn't speak much, so by extension all of his words carried an honest significance. Lunark felt bolstered enough to voice her deepest concern.
"Can you defeat them?"
The redness of the Noblesse's eyes sharpened. She laughed.
"That's put the fight in your eyes. I didn't think you had it in you."
The Noblesse blinked and a sudden innocence crept into his still battle-burned eyes.
"I am a protector. The Union only hurts people. I refuse to stand by and let it happen."
Lunark smiled. His values were still shocking to her, even after all the stories she heard from her father, who had been the werewolf ambassador to the nobles for centuries. When he got the information it was already secondhand, heard during strange tirades the Lord went on. The Noblesse sounded too pure-hearted to really exist.
Lunark had spent a fraction of a conversation with him, but already she could tell that he lived up to the rumors. He was a perfect moral compass. With a sigh Lunark pushed her teacup to the side and held out her hand. The Noblesse stared at it. She moved her hand a bit closer to him.
"I've made up my mind. If I can get a moment to talk to Lord Muzaka, I'll be sure about telling you what I know. But for all intents and purposes, I'm on your side."
The Noblesse was still looking at her outstretched hand so she grabbed his and shook it once. He drew back, eyes widening.
"Shaking hands seals an agreement." She tilted her head at him and smiled. "It's been a while since you walked the Earth."
A smile crept its way up to the edges of his lips. Resting on the bed with his hands folded and the perfect pastels of his clothing, he looked like a baby-faced angel.
A knock sounded at the door and Lunark looked up to see Frankenstein leaning against the frame, smiling. "My Lord, the children are ready to leave. They'd like to say goodbye to you."
The Noblesse nodded and got up from the bed. As he passed his bonded he took hold of Frankenstein's hand and shook it once before leaving the room, a little flushed. Lunark laughed.
Frankenstein came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed.
"What's so funny?"
Lunark covered her smile. "I told him shaking hands seals an agreement. He must have felt the need to do it as a formal representation of your bond."
She made the comment carelessly but was surprised to see a gentle smile fade out of the smirk on Frankenstein's face. They really were some of the most tightly bonded blood pairs she'd ever met.
Frankenstein noticed her staring and cleared his throat, standing from the bed.
"What have you decided?"
Lunark took a breath. Saying it to the Noblesse instilled her with confidence, but this, admitting her allegiances to Frankenstein, felt like a final verdict.
"I'm going to defect and stand with you. I still would like to speak with Lord Muzaka if that's possible but I'm definitely not part of the Union anymore."
Frankenstein folded his arms and the tension drained from his posture.
"Then you may live here on a permanent basis. I'll show you a real guest room, and, more importantly, you'll have to learn the house rules."
Lunark snorted.
"'More importantly.'"
Frankenstein glared.
"As a member of my household you will be expected to help out with the chores and be fair to the human friends of my master. When they're over you may address him as Rai."
"Rai?"
"It is a shortened version of his full name, Cadmis Etrama di Raizel, that was created by the kids."
Lunark's eyes widened. Frankenstein continued.
"You can't fight with the nobles, and I'll expect your help with training our…team."
Lunark's face softened.
"You were about to say 'family' weren't you?"
Frankenstein coughed into a hand.
"No I wasn't. Come downstairs, we're going to eat dinner."
He turned and left the room. Lunark followed, walking down several thin staircases to a large kitchen connected to a living room. All eyes were on her, and there were many of them. She barely had enough time to count the nobles in the room before many of them stood, tension clenching their muscles. Frankenstein raised his hands.
"Sit down." The nobles flinched but didn't move. " You're making the chandelier shake," Frankenstein added.
A rush of fear swept the assembled nobles and they all sat, backs straight. Lunark quirked an eyebrow.
"Miss Lunark is going to be staying with us from now on. She has chosen to defect from the Union and both Master and I vouch for her trustworthiness."
Lunark gave a little wave. Some reciprocated, some didn't. Silence fell until dinner was served and the large group began to eat. Frankenstein reiterated his statement from earlier then began introducing the members of the group.
The three men with black suit jackets resting on their chair backs were the school's security force. The black haired one with the intelligent eyes was Tao, the quiet long-haired on was Takeo, and the werewolf hybrid Lunark had yet to figure out was called M-21. Lunark winced, recognizing an experiment number when she heard one.
The three younger nobles were Seira, white haired and civilized; Regis, as short tempered as he was short; and Rael, one of the few nobles who stared at her with undisguised hatred. She decided she liked him. He was brutally honest.
The man at the door had been Rajak, Rael's older brother and leader of the Kertia clan. Aside from Seira, she was the only woman in the house.
Lunark didn't speak much during the meal but it took little for the three modified humans to jump into a spirited discussion. Lunark found herself surprised by a few of their stories. Human children did the craziest things.
When the meal ended M-21 and Takeo moved to take the dishes but Frankenstein waved them away.
"Go on to bed, I have to speak to Lunark about her change of allegiances."
They rushed from the room, Tao chattering about some computer program he was going to show them. Lunark found herself standing beside Frankenstein at the sink, clad in a bright pink apron and rubber gloves that reached her elbows. She frowned at them.
"Why pink?"
Frankenstein shrugged.
"I found a whole set of clothing for domestic wear at the store. The color doesn't matter, even the house slippers are pink."
Lunark blew some hair out of her face.
"And here I was hoping for some amazing story of how you threw every piece of white clothing in the house in with a red shirt or something."
Frankenstein laughed.
"No such story exists I'm afraid." He side-eyed her. "You sound like you're speaking from experience."
Lunark snorted. "Yeah, do you have any idea how hard it is to get red dye out of white union uniforms?"
He smirked and she flicked water at him.
"Of course not. It's a literary trope."
Frankenstein raised an eyebrow.
"Hey I read!"
He just shook his head and went back to the dish he was washing.
"So you refuse to give your information until you speak to Muzaka?"
Lunark stiffened a bit at his disrespectful way of addressing the former werewolf lord.
"That's right. I can't be sure of my actions until I've given him the information I believe he deserves."
Frankenstein shrugged.
"Ok."
Lunark reached across him to set a bowl in the dish drain.
"That's it? Ok?"
"As I mentioned before we can take you out whenever we want and if you haven't already noticed, I've shown you nothing that would be useful to the Union."
The hair on the back of Lunark's neck rose. He was right. The slide she came down on was easily fortified, and other than that she'd been in the most secure room in the house as well as one hallway. Frankenstein had also kept her away from the humans. And she hadn't noticed. Maybe the gravity of her decision was loosening her instincts.
The dishes were done and they went down a different hallway from the one they'd came, reaching a different empty room that was less furnished than Frankenstein's but nonetheless homey. Lunark was just settling down on the bed when Frankenstein spun from the door to face her.
"We can get you a meeting with Muzaka tomorrow night."
Lunark raised an eyebrow. She had thought it'd be harder to get ahold of the neutral werewolf lord. Then Frankenstein nodded and left the room.
The door swung shut and the seriousness of her situation hit. Lunark wasn't quite as old as some of the nobles but she had a couple centuries under her belt and for the most part those had been spent in the werewolf homeland, growing up, training, then working for the royal family until a hundred or so years ago when the Union had approached the werewolves and she had been appointed as an elder. Her family lived still there, her friends, apart from Kentas, and the people she had thought she was loyal to.
She shook the nostalgia away. Her home had changed to a point where she couldn't call it that anymore; not after what her clan-mates and the Union had been doing.
The screams from days she slept over at labs were easy to ignore for a time, while she had thought they were just those of humans. It may not have made her the best person but she had justified it because the idea of humans hurting their own kind felt like a foregone conclusion, a natural process she didn't want to interfere with. She hadn't been raised to see the species as particularly intelligent.
She had been down in one of the labs, talking to one of the scientists on the lord's orders when she heard another scream, but this one sounded all too familiar. She broke away from the conversation and rushed down a hallway to throw open double doors into a darkened lab.
Tubes filled with turquoise liquid cast a navy light across the floor, shadows of the tortured patients within twisting against the light. The worst feeling was not the shuddering corpses she regarded, but her recognition of some of them. And then the scientist had come into the room behind her, giving a commentary worthy of a tour. Congenial tone and all. Only her toughest training allowed her to keep from throwing up at that.
It was after that Lunark found out about the corruption, the warriors who were turning away from their spirits to let technology give them strength. Kentas had demonstrated similar disgust but he had been sent on another mission when she left. She had told him only pieces of her plan so that if he was tortured the Union wouldn't find her or hurt him.
There was a heady sense of victory rising in her spirit, a disbelief that she had got away with what she had. She clamped down on it, whipping it with the reality of war and what the Union would do to her if they caught her. She got her hope under control with those visions, but they didn't lend to very peaceful dreams that night.
Author's Note:
Next chapter we will meet Muzaka and I get to fumble my way through characterizing a character I don't know very well. Awesome. Thank you all so much for enjoying this story. Please leave a comment with your opinion or just a kudo if you like the story, thank you.
Love,
Ragingstillness
P.S. If you want to talk to me about...really anything...hit me up on tumblr ragingstillness
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