Disclaimer: nothing to do with actual noblesse or line webtoon as always lol

Thank you to Brissygirl for betaing! Basically, the household has already flown and landed in Lukedonia.

The first time they met:

The Noblesse had turned his back upon the human for his window, expecting him — he'd said his name was Frankenstein — to leave within the hour, expecting to forget they ever happened.

But underneath it all: the grandiose gestures, the flamboyant tongue and destructive power; humanity's calamity stored behind a flecked, glass jar; when everything was stripped back, Frankenstein was compassionate. He was caring. He cared too much when he thought he cared too little. He was a lot of things and many-faced, but he collected each burn mark and remembered them when he showed his true face. He was some lion in knights armour, or a knight in lion's skin. He bore it all — he swallowed words and wrongs, and sin and souls — all that was in his way and harmed in his way and harmed out of his way, behind his back; he pushed it all down, all of their loathing, until it became his and he fought for them.

When he first met Frankenstein, Raizel turned his back on him, because his soul was so bright; so young and fiery even beyond those searching black hands and that mass of black debt he didn't dare try escape. He was weighed down, held down and always at knife-point, but that didn't stop his soul from glaring gold. And Raizel wondered if that was why they, Dark Spear, could never so simply gulp him down like they always boasted.

He was a man born from the start, out of time, and for him, he couldn't blame that no one would — could, ever catch up. He became a dreamer, whose job was to run. Running, and fighting, until one strange day, he ran into him. The lonely man in the lonely house.

From the day he had met him, to the day he was put to sleep, to the day he had woken up in the land of Korea — Raizel had not been alone.

Blue, blue world

Regis had learnt how to deactivate the invisible barrier cloaking the mansion in the forbidden area. The household stood before the thick stretch of forest. A pristine, cloudless sky went on for miles and miles in all directions, like open sea. The space before them was crisp and clear. And then it was not.

"There," Regis said, getting up from a crouch.

The unobstructed space before them distorted, one invisible point seemingly merging with another, pulling colours and shapes out of proportion and making others that weren't there before, solidify until it became tangible. The ground seemed to turn into sink sand, prompting Rael and M-21 to jump. They knew what was coming, but it was still hard not to look at their feet and see that it was still as hard and stable as before.

It wasn't like a soul weapon materialising with parts and aura rushing to construct the weapon — the house of the Noblesse simply pulled into being. As if it were from another plane of existence. Glass planes began to reflect light where it lay flat and still before; the colours seemed to deepen and cement; the spires, for the moment, looked as they were moving and reaching upwards into the sky, and the household had trouble discerning how high they went in a sky with no clouds. Finally, a shadow darkened the grounds, casting them into it. Before long, the mansion loomed over them.

"Knock," Takeo said, pulling everyone out of their stupor. He staunchly knocked. There was no answer, but none of them had expected one.

"Did you try turning the knob?" Tao said, nodding to it.

Takeo frowned. He spun the knob and the door swung easily open.

The last time they'd left this place, Frankenstein had made sure that it was meticulous. But the tidiness of the mansion felt almost misplaced. It was as if the very air of this place was dated, like it was doused in a layer of another age, or an world away from the current reality. Apart from their footsteps, nothing suggested usage of such a mansion.

"RAIZEL-NIM!"

Seira and Regis spun around, almost wincing at Tao's voice. He didn't seem to mind. Tao cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted out without restraint. "Raizel-nim! Sir!"

Takeo took another part of the floor and did the same in the opposite direction. "Sir Raizel! It's us!"

"Raizel-nim!" Regis called, jumping straight after them.

"C'mon," M-21 said, strutting up the steps closest to him. "You think he's going to shout back at us? Don't bother. We have to find him."

Seira and Rael nodded. "Right," Seira said, and she leapt up a floor with one good heave, landing on the first balcony. "Split up, it's the fastest way to find him — and then the one who finds him first will alert the others! I'll take the second floor."

"I'll take the third!" Regis called.

"I've got the first floor corridor," Tao said, his voice echoing through it.

"Fourth, then," Takeo exclaimed.

Rael zipped to one side, "The other corridor."

They raced in different directions. M-21 kept going up the stairs until there was none left.

M-21 kicked down another door straight from it's hinges. He poked his head in, grabbed it, and balanced it somewhat back into place before quickly moving on.

M-21 delicately turned the corner and softly, softly cracked open the next door. Cold air blew in his face and he shut it with care.

As much as this was a gorgeous mansion, M-21 would hate to live in it. He'd opened about thirty doors, was already bored, and his arm was getting uncharacteristically tired. It wasn't really the fair layer of dust that covered the place; that was warranted. He thought it might have been the emptiness. M-21 pushed open a door, and it creaked with an odd squeak. Though the mansion was large, it was in no way chilly. M-21 stopped in his track. Think, '21, think.

He'd lost many people he'd cared about in the part of his life that he actually remembered. He'd lost M-24. And though it wasn't the same for him and Raizel, one thing definitely was. If the Noblesse had nothing else in this world, if he was magically stripped of his rank and power right this second — Raizel did have a family. When it all went spiralling out of control and Raizel was gone, M-21 was mad, and then he was not; and then he was furious, and then he was not. Now he was here, and he knew more than anything that Raizel needed them. He wasn't going to let him stay in some pretty, haunted house attraction and brood. Not alone, anyway. The entire Lee household had come running without a second thought to play 'Finding Raizel,' and that was just what they were about to do.

M-21 retraced his tracks, looking to the door he'd closed. They all looked identical except that the brass handle on this one was slightly weathered, the centre of it less shiny than the rest.

It had taken an awfully long time to get accustomed to it, but Raizel was a noble and nobles felt different to humans. When M-21 cared enough to be observant. It probably helped that M-21 was a werewolf hybrid and upgraded version of a human. After Tao, Takeo, Regis, Seira and he had lounged around on the couches at home full of junk food and ridiculously quality tea, he might've realised that Raizel felt warm to be around. And the day they'd returned from the battle, he was as cold as he had ever been.

M-21 opened the door again. The chill set in his bones, frosting crystals between his ribs.

He blinked up through the darkness. All his thoughts stopped grappling at once when he saw the lone man standing with his back toward him, the darkest thing in the room. Black clothes, black hair, and something about his sadness, seemed black to him as well. He was the colour of mourning. M-21 shifted for a second, about to call out for the others. But the place seemed so still. As if everything in the room was so fragile, that it could be broken by something as small as a wrong breath of air. M-21 thought better of it. He let it be quiet for him, even if only for a while longer.

M-21 stepped in, stopping behind him in the middle of the room. The Noblesse didn't show any indication of knowing his presence. But it was him, of course he knew. He must have known they'd come looking for him. He must have known when they'd touched down in Lukedonia. He must have known when they'd set foot in his mansion. M-21 blinked, making his eyes adjust. M-21 had been thrown into darkness with him, and it made his heart wrench.

It was the middle of the day. The window was closed.

M-21 stared, not knowing what to say, not having the slightest idea what to do. He'd found him, but now what? The only source of light streamed down from under the window, and the ends of the closed curtain cut it up in dim streaks. It silhouetted his dark, dark clothes, a nuisance in his dark, dark room. The light touched the floorboards, illuminating weathered indentations made by footprints. Those could only be made by wear and tear of time. Decades. Or maybe longer, much longer. M-21 cringed to the side. This was where he always stood, M-21 gathered. This was how it always was for him. Another thought occurred, and he looked suddenly down where he stood. Was this where Frankenstein always was? Was he looking at him through Frankenstein's eyes, when he first met him? The thought was daunting. Knowing this was the room that Frankenstein had accompanied him in for eons, was not a comforting thought right now, he realised.

Knowing Frankenstein had walked all over this room, cleaning the desk where it was now covered in dust, and opening the curtains where it was now drawn, was painful. This place had fallen into disrepair without him.

And Raizel-nim.

But he was still standing, back turned, looking at nothing but a closed curtain. Would he not even look at the sight of the outside world? Feel a shred of light on his face? M-21 paled now, scared of what he had being staring at for the past minutes. There was always a window. There was always the wind on his face. A light in his eyes. Those things were more important to him than M-21 could understand, but he just knew. M-21 stepped closer to him, ignoring the creak of the floorboards as he moved.

"Why don't you open the window?"

Nothing changed. He'd expected this.

"You always have the window open. I've never seen you with one closed before."

M-21 was talking to himself.

"…Raizel-nim." He closed his eyes. "Raizel." He opened them. "Won't you even give yourself this?!" he said, a little louder.

Silence permeated over them again.

He can't do this. He can't stay like this forever. He can't deprive himself of the things he loved best; the people who loved him. M-21 flushed with an anger, and tensed. But he snapped away his last restraint, not caring anymore if this was in any way selfish; he would be selfish, for him. M-21 closed the gap between them, went past his side to—

Open the window.

M-21 ripped the curtains wide open, sending a wave of dust sifting through the air, and light to pour into the room. His pupils contracted as he turned to see Raizel. But Raizel turned away from the window — away from him. M-21 sighed shortly.

"…Is this wrong of me?"

Silence.

"You have all the power in the world to smite me for doing that, but you can't even look at me?"

M-21 winced at the harshness of his words. What would Frankenstein do? Ah. Frankenstein would kill him. Not really, but he'd have hated him for doing that. For doing this. Whatever this was — M-21 didn't even know, but it was what he was trying.

"Am I unwelcome here?"

He had little hope, but after a long, grim pause, Raizel's black form shifted. Raizel turned, not towards the light, but towards M-21. Deep, red eyes blinked up at M-21, and he truly saw him for the first time. M-21's brows sunk, and his whole body weakened.

Raizel's eyes — they were nothing like how he'd ever seen them. His eyes were vacant and senseless, a great age reflected in him. M-21 was suddenly aware of how ancient Cadis Etrama di Raizel was — he was lightyears far away from him. They were careless and feelingless, cold, as if he was put under some spell that made him forget everything, or want to forget everything, and he was letting himself. Raizel was as if a thick fog had befallen him, veiling deep behind his eyes and now looking at him, trying to find the real him, was like remembering a distant memory. He could be a stranger — a strange man, in a strange room, in a strange house, in a strange land, and he was lost from M-21.

M-21 balked into the glass, leaning his hands on the sill. "…Look," he said. "Look. We're all sad about this. We're all grieving…we don't know…I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do this again."

M-21 faced him, slouching. "But I just know…come back. You need to come back, back to Korea — the house. We can't let you stay here alone." He inhaled. "We're not going to let you go through this alone."

"Go through what?"

M-21's eyes widened when he spoke. Broken and gruff. As if he hadn't spoken a word since M-21 had heard him scream on that battlefield. Even that seemed distant.

"Mourning," M-21 replied.

Raizel hadn't lifted his sight off him, but in all that time, he didn't once look beyond the glass. M-21 thinned his eyes through the window. Mountains rose on the bright horizon, birds fluttered past free. Everything right and idyllic through this glass, was worth nothing, enclosed within it.

"Why can't you look?" M-21 asked again.

This time, Raizel answered. "Because…" he breathed, " it's blue."

M-21 coiled back. Confusion settled on his face. "What?"

"It's too blue."

"Too blue?" M-21 did what Raizel couldn't, and peered out the window. "….The sky?"

Raizel nodded.

"Why?"

"It looks so blue. It looks like his eyes."

"Hh…" Everything around M-21 seemed to blanch of anything — colour, vigour, feeling…

He felt sick.

"Frankenstein…" Raizel mumbled, "he would dislike this of me. But M-21…"

He said it, exasperatingly, pleading for help. "I can't look at the sky."

Suddenly, it seemed as if his demeanour broke down, and he rocked backwards, unbalanced. M-21 jolted forward to steady him, but Raizel flung up a hand, stopping him in his track. Raizel took a breath, a long, ragged one. He turned upon the window, heavily slamming his back against it. M-21 flinched, frightened as his head hit the glass last, cracking its surface. No one spoke. M-21 could only watch as Raizel's back dragged from the window, to the wall, and fell onto the floor.

There was nothing else to say. M-21 plod his back on the wall too, and slid down to join him. He looked at him, but Raizel only looked forward. M-21 lifted a tentative arm. He wrapped it around Raizel. They just sat there together, not alone but in silence, looking at the place where Frankenstein had stood, looking in the chasm that Frankenstein had left.

Notes

This chapter came later than I anticipated. Apologies :/

I lengthened this chapter, and then it got too irrelevant so I had to cut it again? Erm, theres more purple prose and 'M-21 doing some thinking' that will appear in side scenes lol. Which I should update asap. Also, thus far, I figured out that this fic is longer than harry potters 1 and 2.

(Looking back at The Point of this chapter...thats pretty majorly sad cheesy. But ok. It's because I'm a slut for metaphors. I couldn't belieeeeve it because qdeanna pointed out the line 'although in those blue eyes, it was always daylight, Raizel looked at him as if he were the stars' and other shit like '...almost-serpentine ambition that swallowed the sky in his eyes' etc was obscurely supposed to set up this shit. Wow you guys I am elated! I don't know how you specifically picked out that line wowowow! Anyhow, Laryna6 came up with the awesome analogy ages ago that Franken= stars, Rai= moon, Tesamu= sun, which I do love.)

Elims - sorry about the confusion! But yes, Rai went home and then immediately ran off the day the Franken was gone and the battle finished. The kids had been looking for him for about three weeks. But it's not what M-21 thought when he snapped at Gejutel! Because Rai didn't just immediately turn up at Lukedonia. I imagine he wasn't planning to disappear. But he wandered back to his mansion because that was where his legs seemed to be taking him. He said to Raskreia he wanted to go home, but when he did, he ran away? When that home didn't work, he went to the other one. What does Rai actually think of as a home? What has been his home for many many years? A place? Or people?

General Zargon - I wanted to write a bit for Seira ;_; In canon she's apparently not that much older than Regis, though she acts a lot more mature. My interpretation is that, it's because the title of clan leader is something she's constantly aware of, and tries vehemently to fulfil. Maybe back in Lukedonia, it's what's expected of her. So she puts a lot of pressure on herself to be responsible and overextends a lot. But she's there for the household when they need it, despite herself being in the same state as the rest of them. She really needed that moment with Regis. Anyhow, Seira, in my mind, is exceptionally good at looking like she's keeping it together, if nothing else. Thanks general zargon.

nobody yet - I hope it was a good cry ;_; Thank!

The Midnight Cat of the Dark - Ooh please read my response to Elims^ It's because Rai went to his mansion somewhere within those three weeks on a whim more than anything. I'll try to keep regular updates for you guys.

love,

- earl