A/N: Hello, It's been some time I know...this chapter has some interesting interactions and sentiments. Some informations are to be revealed. Thank you to those who are reading.

I do not own the manwha "Noblesse" only my Ocs and this story

Chapter 16: Broken Diamonds

If one could describe the next hour in the house of Frankenstein, the word they would use would be 'awkward'. Sara, for the most, stayed out of the conversations and was trying to observe the new faces that she almost fought with. So those two were friends of Frankenstein's family...'Huh... The idiot could have warned me'.

The girl was beautiful and her sole presence felt ethereal and mysterious. Her eyes focused and unmoving from what she wanted to put her attention to and her hair glittering like fresh snow under the first sun rays of the day. She looked like a proper ice queen one would read in fairytales.

The man was an odd mixture of elegance and familiarity. Much more expressive and relaxed although Sara could feel that deep inside something was broken not too long ago. He had a pleasant aura though and she decided that she liked him from the way he was behaving although it was a little weird.

She remembered her mentor telling her that sometimes staying in the sidelines would be very beneficial for her kind of power. She allowed herself to feel and grasp anything she could without being noticed.

They all took their place for dinner. Apparently the ice queen girl was an excellent cook. Tao teased Bart about his cooking and Bart threatened to put pepper in his laptop. Typical family as much as Sara was concerned.

Happiness, excitement, skepticism, worry, appreciation and familiarity, and of course Frankenstein's constant weird dark aura, were what she could feel around without being obvious. The girl, Seira as she was introduced by Frankenstein, was the most stoic of all of them. But as she moved closer to Sara in order to serve her, it felt clear even without her energy infiltrating the noble; longing and a desire to reunite.

Then Sara suddenly understood that she was able to do all that without using too much of her energy, to a point where it didn't even show on her skin. Had Frankenstein's care and treatment the past two weeks helped? She wondered if daring to hope would be wrong. At this point she didn't know what to assume either from the situation or of her capabilities.

On the other hand Frankenstein was happy that his plan was proceeding smoothly. Even though he hadn't anticipated the attack of the robots and it certainly took too long to decode where they had come from, the timing of their arrival was the right one after all.

Karias and Seira were delighted to know that M-21 had actually not only found his name but also someone from his past. Especially Karias who was using Bart's whole name as frequently as he could and was constantly trying to get into a conversation with Sara about their homeland and their tribe.

They all low key wanted to know more about it but all the recent events put that on hold. In the two weeks that passed Sara was very week and mostly sleeping so there was not much to discuss with her; the guys though did manage to do some training and plus with the new enemy that had arrived it looked like the proper thing to do.

Anyway it looked like Sara was kind of frugal with the information seh was sharing. After all they were complete strangers to her.

The leader of the Blester clan, although an excited and outgoing person, was smart enough to understand the situation and started talking about tea qualities, giving to Frankenstein a pouch of a special blend that according to him had calming properties. The host accepted his present with honest appreciation in his eyes.

Seira, the ever still and beautiful presence, was observing Sara with red calculating eyes, and for a moment she looked like she was watching something else entirely. But after some seconds her eyes shifted again and focused on the people that were actually in the room and particularly on the new person that was discovered in the Union's facility about 4 weeks ago. Her figure wasn't too big but one couldn't call it petite either. Her hair was an auburn color and was reaching down her mid back in loose curls. Her whole posture was distrustful and her honey brown eyes were calculating and worried. Seira briefly wondered what was that which was triggering that woman to be so worried.

The leader of the Loyard clan knew about the tribe of half-bloods and their descendants and that Sara was a mixed-blood descendant of the Agvain family. But she looked nothing like them and she didn't feel the presence of a Noble when near her. Still…there was something there that she couldn't pinpoint exactly.

The air was kind of heavy with some people wanting to hide things and some others wanting to share things. Seira was beginning to think that some things were bound to happen soon enough and they would shake them all to the core.

Suddenly Seira realized that she was being watched by the same person that she was currently analyzing. The woman was looking at her eyes for some seconds now half smiling. Seira never felt like she had felt that time. She hadn't realized that she was so obvious and neither that she was caught under another's gaze like that. She kept her regal posture and countered the human with her own cold Noble look. Some conversations were still held in the background but the two women were oblivious to them for now they were engaging in a showdown apparently.

"I'm surprised" said Sara suddenly while looking at Seira as a whole.

"What about?" was Seira's immediate response while her eyes and her awareness where both focused. It was weird; she was feeling that this person, even though looked worried not too long ago, she was now showing a very confident self of hers. Why?

The answer to her question would come a few seconds later to shock her.

"When I first saw you, I thought you were a cold Noble. Indifferent, as Nobles are" she smiled a little bit "But I was amazed to discover that you actually can feel nostalgia and longing"

Seira felt her body go frozen and stiff as she had realized what had happened. Sara had felt her longing for the days when the children would come in Frankenstein's house and they would all make a ruckus and spread around their positive energy? But she felt that only for a minute or so…Could that woman sensed it and gripped on it? Was that the power of the Agvain Clan's empathetic abilities? She looked at Sara's hands. They were slightly glowing…but the streams of light were not reaching Seira by far. In fact they were just there on her hands although it looked like they would go further up her hands. She then looked at the face of the woman in question and said with determination:

"I forbid you of reading my sentiments"

Sara was still looking at her, testing the ethereal woman for some seconds longer, before dropping her focus and retracting her aura. The orange lines of aura faded from her hands. She was getting better but apparently her enthusiasm got the better of her. She rose, got in front of Seira bowed her head as a sign of apology.

"I like you" she simply said and with a smile she left the living room to close herself once again in her own room.

But not before she approached Frankenstein who she knew was watching the scene.

"Are you satisfied?" she asked him.

He raised an eyebrow "What are you talking about?"

She sighed a little irritated that he wouldn't admit that he was indeed curious of how the outcome would be but she was little too overwhelmed by her encounter with a clan leader but she let it slide with a simple "Nothing".

She disappeared in her room.

As soon as the door closed, Tao asked "Hey boss, under what alias have you hired her?"

Tao was in the middle of a conversation with Karias and Takeo about the school and Sara's presence there and he had just realized that he hadn't even checked the school list that day to see the name of the supposed new English teacher. Plus Frankenstein forbade him of bringing the computer in the gathering.

"Sara…McVin"

He was aware of how similar it was pronounced to the Agvain name but he had no choice since Sara suggested it. She said she liked how it sounded more European and he really didn't have any reason to deny it.

He was thinking of maybe he should tell her about her origin but something in his mind was holding him back.

"So, Tao has recently received some interesting information from Haji. Some code inside the robots. Tao please tell us more"

They had to know the enemy inside-out. Karias and Seira heard with much interest. The breifing didn't longer that 40 minutes.

It was late at night. Everyone in the residence of Principal Lee had gone to bed. But that didn't mean that they were sleeping.

Bart could not sleep and he was tossing and turning in his bed.

"Bart…" came Takeo's muffled voice from his right.

"Mmm?"

"Stop turning…"

"Sorry"

After some seconds Takeo's nasal sigh was heard "Go for a walk or something, maybe it'll help…" his eyes were kept shut.

"Yeah…okay" he whispered and as he didn't know what else to say or do so he got up. Tao was unaffected as he was heard snoring lightly.

Bart got out of the room. Everything was quiet. He was wearing sports pants and a T-shirt despite the chilly weather. Barefoot he walked to the lab. Frankenstein was on shift this night. He looked like was on night swift more times that any of them.

As soon as he entered, oh the shock! Frankenstein was working. Bart shook his head and approached the scientist.

"What is it Bart? Trouble sleeping?" Frankenstein's back turned to him.

"Yeah…Something like that. What are doing here?"

"I'm looking at Sara's progress. Hopefully we will try to reach my Master sooner or later"

Bart looked at the screen but he wasn't able to understand half of it "Are you sure that she is ready?"

"Yes, since I started treating her she is doing a lot better much faster. And today I saw something that confirmed to me that she is ready to go to the next level"

"Huh you mean her defending the house and her almost-fight with Karias" Bart had to admit that he felt a little proud of Sara's attempt to do that. He felt that he could trust her a little bit more although looking at Frankenstein's skeptical face now, his happiness didn't last for long.

"What?"

"Nothing. And to answer to your question, no, it wasn't that encounter, although that helped getting some info that I found interesting but that's for tomorrow"

Bart raised an eyebrow "Well, you definitely are more cryptic at night…What are you cooking up again Frankenstein?" the amusement in his voice, evident.

"Haha…you will know soon enough. By the way how are you two doing?"

A sound of surprise sounded "What do you mean? We rarely talked the last two weeks!"

'Well, that sounded way too defensive to my ears' "I noticed that. I also know how much you want to know about your past. Are you afraid of asking her?"

"No I…I think that she might refuse and what if…" he sighed and seeing as Frankenstein was patiently waiting he continued "What if I was someone else? A…bad person? I wanted to know so much about myself but now that I can…I am scared"

It was something that Frankenstein understood. After all, Bart used to work for the Union and he wasn't exactly doing their taxes. Albeit a low level agent, he was sure that there were some things he did that he wasn't proud of. But still that was the mentality of someone who was desperate to survive; who appreciated the mercy that was given and gave back more than was ever expected from him. He almost gave his life for the children and for his family more than once in the last three years. How could that man be a bad person?

"You are not a bad person Bartolomew"

"Huh…Do you forget how we met?" said Bart with a cynical humor.

"No, I don't. Do you perhaps forget how my Master is not wrong about people's' quality of character?"

Bart said nothing. He did know that Raizel was the sole purpose that he was alive after his first encounter with him and Frankenstein. It was a blessing meeting him really.

"Thanks, Frankenstein. I think I'm going to head to bed now"

"Goodnight"

The doors of the lab closed. Silence engulfed Frankenstein again. It was once again him and his, often less than pleasant, thoughts.

On his way to his room Bart passed her room. In a whim he slightly knocked her door; ever so slightly. Nothing. He would try again in the morning to talk to her.

"Bart?"

He turned and saw her with a glass of water coming from the kitchen, dressed in her pajamas "Hey" was his initial response.

"Hey to you too. What is it?"

"Nothing…"

"You were outside my door…You wanted me for something?"

Her tone was neutral but without lacking a sling of emotional excitement in it. Clearly his presence was not unpleasant to her, even at this hour.

"Are you…going to sleep?" he asked and then realized that he didn't exactly wanted to phrase it that way.

But he didn't have time to fix his phrasing. She smiled as she passed him, going into her room.

"Why? Are you planning to join me?" she teased him.

"What?! No, I didn't mean it like-…"

"Hehe, I know… come one inside and shut the door. The others are sleeping"

He followed her inside. The room was pretty much the same, only now it had various items of hers around. A half-eaten chocolate block on her nightstand and some clothes on a chair. Some hair bands were on the nightstand too. Bart was wondering.

"When did you actually go shopping?"

Sara noticed him looking at her things.

"Oh these? Takeo gave them to me so I could tie my hair. The chocolate I ordered from Tao. Take a bite if you will"

"Huh…figures. No thanks I actually think it's kinda late and you probably want to sleep" he made his way to the door.

"Tell me what you want Bart"

Her voice had gone from the casual tone it was up until now, to the serious one he just heard in no time. He wondered if he should start this topic at this hour but as it seemed he really couldn't contain himself.

"I want you to tell me about my life, what happened during our captivity…" he stopped to think " and…if possible, to tell me if…if I had any family"

That last one she knew that he was most eager to know.

"Alright, but first I need you to tell me something that has been bugging me for some time now"

Bart raised his eyebrow at her "…Okay?" 'Must be something very important if she looks like this'

"It's about Frankenstein" she looked at him and since he didn't say anything else she proceeded "Does he read minds?"

The face Bart made at that moment was only equivalent to his initial response "Huh?! Where did this come from? No! It would be scary if he did but…I really don't think that he does"

"Are you sure? Because he does that thing…"

"Trust me I know… It feels like he can see through your very soul sometimes…But he cannot read minds. Whatever you felt from him must have been his many many years of experience of dealing with people and reading their expressions" Bart said with finality.

"Alright" she said as she put the empty now glass on the window pavement "I guess I do owe you some explanations after all. Where do you want to start from?"

"You-" he hesitated

"Huh?" she raised her eyebrow at him.

"You…decide"

She sighed. It was going to be some long night.

She told him of the place they were from. At those times there were still pieces of land in Europe that didn't belong anywhere. In a place of rich vegetation was the South Tribe. They were hidden mostly but not completely confined from the world. She didn't exactly define where it was as she told him that through the centuries the Tribe would move from place to place, sometimes changing countries. She didn't specify why it was called the South Tribe though.

"The people were some thousands. Think of it as a really small town. The Alphabet Project that I told you about, started with very few people but with time they were picking us by hundreds"

"Did anyone survive? Are there still people there?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't even know if they stayed there or moved...but they are probably all gone by now" she sighed and continued.

She told him how they were living and how long. She made sure to tell that the average lifespan was around 120 years. Given the times, it was pretty long. It was of course a side effect from the mixing with half-bloods. And that was one of the reasons they were not communicating too much with the outside world. From time to time some new members would come. Half-bloods directed to go somewhere where they wouldn't be in danger. People often were jealous of their long life span.

"Our time in the Union labs brought us all even closer. Many though died within the first five weeks"

"Did I have any family? A parent perhaps? Brother or sister? Cousins?"

Her staling to answer gave him very little hope.

"No, you didn't have any blood family left by the time they took us. Mostly you had friends. Your mother had died three years prior"

"Did you know her?" surprise evident in his voice.

"You told me about her, although I may have socialized with her sometimes"

Bart felt sorry for not being able to remember his mother but kept face neutral. He would have time to feel sad another day.

"What happened in the Union Sara?"

Her sigh was heavy with tiredness. She moved to bed and sat there with her head down, thinking. Her eyes closed. Bart dared not to move or say anything. He knew that this part was going to be the most difficult one yet but he had to know.

As she raised her head, her eyes looked at him with warmth and a sad smile formed on her lips.

"What?" asked Bart defensively. It was more because he hadn't seen her looking at him like that; with so much care and at the same time sadness in her eyes.

"You kind of…died" she said as if she was talking about a very very distant memory. Then again she was remembering everything that had happened almost 100 years ago so it was understandable.

Bart was shocked by the straightforwardness of the answer. She didn't beat around the bush.

"What…What do you mean?" he asked in shock. Nothing else could come out of his mouth.

She continued to look at him and for a second she couldn't believe he was actually alive in front of her "Yes, you…At the time we…" she shook her head trying to find the right words.

She tried again.

"Remember the escape plan? It was a success and we managed to get in the upper levels of the facilities they were keeping us in but, we were outnumbered and even though we were enhanced, their weapons were stronger than us. They were literally chasing us and shooting us. After a certain point they didn't care if they would kill us because we were very close to escape" she stopped and tried to keep herself in check.

Bart, seeing her distress came and sat next to her. She was looking straight ahead on the wall. She dared not to look at him in the eyes as she was remembering what had happened.

She continued immediately "At some point the group split and they started taking down each one more easily. Some scientists were shouting orders not to kill us all. We ran as fast as we could. The room we ended up in was a big laboratory. We were cornered"

She was remembering the screams the blood, the people. The man next to her right now was there but he couldn't remember a thing. He had been through a lot too. All he wanted was to know what happened. She would tell him as much as she could; she owed him at least that.

"At the end it was only you, me and a young boy left without being shot or contained. You were trying to fight off the guards and protect the boy at the same time. You were determined to either leave that place alive or die fighting. At some point, while I was behind you somebody tried to grab me, I was careless, and he got me and took me away. I fought my way out but at that time I heard the boy screaming your name…and I looked up"

"Bartholomew!"

It was his name. She turned and saw him on the ground his chest breathing heavily, his blood escaping his body in tons. The boy was near him instantly but the guards and scientists were surrounding him.

She ran to them kicking at the guards and screaming his name. The possibility of his death heavy in her heart and as the tears were running down her cheeks and her voice was begging him to hold on…an inner scream reached out from the inside; a scream that a few seconds later came out of her mouth.

Glass shattered and streaks of light formed in her body. An energy was pushing out of her and her sadness was still there. The man lying in front of her breathing from his mouth was struggling to stay alive. She raised her hand to touch him and then….

"I was losing my mind. I don't know if I was even aware that I had accidentally woken up this energy at the time. There was no way to escape and you…you were bleeding and coughing…I tried" by now she had brought her legs to her chest and her knees to her eyes. Bart put his left hand around her shoulder but didn't trust himself to say anything.

'So that was what triggered her powers' he thought absently as she was trying hard to surpass her shaking and continue.

"Something happened then…I heard Conrad from the distant and then the world around me became dark. Later I learned that the guards were ordered not to kill me. They threw something at me that electrocuted me and then I lost consciousness. It must have been strong or maybe I didn't notice it…I woke up confined in Conrad's lab after a week'

"It took you a week to come around?"

"No, after a week he decided to wake me up. I was in a chemical coma or whatever it is called" her voice was void of sentiment. Only a slight veil of detest could be heard in her words. She was still refusing to look Bart in the eye, continuing to look at the wall. Her eyes were hard on it, like she wanted to burn a hole in it.

A kiss on her head woke her up from her trance. She immediately realized that Bart had been semi-hugging her for some minutes now and he was offering her a silent comfort. It was quick and it came and went like a summer breeze.

She sighed more controlled now "When I asked where you were, they told me that miraculously you had survived. The project Alphabet was put on hold though. Conrad was put out of it because of the mess and massacre. But apparently he pulled some strings and plead very very much to the higher ups, that he was able to stay in the Union as a simple scientist and keep his pet project…me. Project Red he officially named me after some weeks"

…Frankenstein's lab…

The screen was showing the files of great importance. After the revelation of the true origins of the robots, which wasn't much of a shock if he was honest with himself, he had a feeling that it was time to get to the next level. With his Master still missing and the remains of the Union trying to revive the old empire he was divided between two decisions. Either go back where Haji was in order to have the convenience of the Central-computer or stay back in Korea in order to be sure for the safety of the school.

He knew that the latter was ridiculous as he couldn't delay much longer and besides Karias and Seira were here too. Combined with the trio-comrades they would be more than enough.

{Hehehehehe}

'There they go again…'

{And what are you going to do about that despicable woman?}

{Yes! Are you going to let a descendant of that Urokai, the man who betrayed your Master, get close to those children?}

{Maybe she is going to attack them…That would be fun}

"As if you even cared about them in the first place. Your attempts to make me detest her are laughable"

{Not detest her, but maybe suspect her…I mean…How did she know where those robots were going to be?} asked the annoying voice suggestively.

Another voice pushed at that thought too {Yes, and was it really a good guess about where the fire started from or did she actually know?}

"Enough! I've had it with your bumbling in my brain! In case you didn't notice I have work to do…"

Silence was taking over the lab once again. The sound of typing on the keyboard was the only thing that was heard. But these suggestions…didn't leave Frankenstein's mind that easily.

Tomorrow she would cross the doors of the school as the new English teacher. He decided to stay for one more week in order to see that everything would be going smoothly and at the same time he could monitor her condition too.

Back at the screen he had opened a different file now; the information they had found within the robots. Apart from the place of manufacturing, that was nothing but an empty Union building by now –Tao checked – there were also the date of release, the model number, number of clearance and of course the programming.

It was programmed to see the success of mission 6. With a little more digging from Tao they found out that the mission 6 was in fact a retrievement mission involving documents but there was no specification about them. How would the robots know what type of documents they were going to collect if they hadn't had the data about them in the program?

Another mystery but right now, not a very important one.

Scheduling for tomorrow, Frankenstein was beginning to feel like they were going to fight against the Union soon enough.

But even he didn't know how soon.

The atmosphere was heavy but at the same time they both felt a little lighter. Now he knew more about himself than before. Still Bart hadn't asked what was really worrying him deep inside his heart.

"Was I…I mean…"

Now it was his time to try to find the right words.

"What is it Bart?" asked Sara genuinely curious.

"What kind of person was I? From how long you knew me…Tell me Sara, tell me the truth!" he got hold of her shoulders and made her look at him "Tell me was I good person? A bad one? What…who was I?"

He sounded so desperate that Sara felt guilty for not sensing sooner that something like that was eating him from the inside, but she promised to herself to try and not infiltrate Bart's feelings that much.

He was shaking and involuntarily squeezing her a little too much but she didn't comment on it. She could understand even without her energy. He couldn't remember anything. Everything about his past self was a mystery to him. Oh how she wanted to release the burden that has been on him for so long.

She gently touched his arms and looked at him full of affection "My dear Bartholomew...never doubt that you were courageous, strong and always cared for others. You still are all those things. You are always good and caring no matter what memories you have…"

"You don't know what I have done…" he said.

Her eyes darkened "They made you do terrible things I'm sure. And maybe they tried to persuade you that you were nothing but a piece of trash, capable only of doing their dirty deeds" she stroke the side of his head "But look at you" her voice softened "You were defending a school from the Union, running into the night to make sure every student and their families were alright, treating Tao and Takeo like blood brothers…You are working as someone who provides security to others…Heh, if you ask me, Frankenstein found the perfect job for you. There is no one better I would recommend"

At that Bart offered a small smile and felt better. He was aware that they had come somewhat close and apparently so did she and she discretely retrieved her hands as he did too.

He saw her eyes full of something, that he guessed was happiness, but it was short lived. Reluctance surrounded her again and he thought that it was a sign for him to end his visit.

As he rose from the bed he took a look at Sara still sitting on it "Thank you Sara for letting me know about my past. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you"

"There are some things that I haven't yet-…"

"Please try to get some sleep for now, okay?"

"Okay"

"Oh and something else that I wanted to tell you…Going at the school alone that night was very stupid"

She looked at him. He didn't appear to be saying that in order to belittle her. His face was serious though.

If she had dared to read the emotions at that time she would have felt frustration and concern. But she hadn't.

"But I'm glad you are safe and I appreciate what you did" he got hold of the handle and proceed to close the door "even though it was really stupid" he couldn't help but add with a smile as he saw her forming a smile on her lips too.

After he closed her door he felt a presence next to him and turned way too quickly to punch the other one only to have his hand caught.

"I think that Frankenstein wouldn't appreciate it if we were to fight in the corridor"

"Sir Karias?"

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Karias was a many centuries old Noble and a Clan Leader at that. This particular moment Bart could see it. The blonde man was serious but at the same time he sounded sarcastic. His eyes were glowing.

"While I will not pry, and ask you what you were doing inside a lady's room so late at night, I do want to ask you a question"

The fact that it was half dark in the corridor didn't make it less mysterious.

"Okay?"

Eyes closed and the tightly closed mouth morphed into one of those familiar smiles "Care to spar with me?"

His tone was a pleading one.

A/N: So there you have it. A glimse of how Bart tried to escape the Union with the others. I didn't want to add too many dark details about the capture but I think you get the idea. I also wanted for someone else to feel Seira's feelings as she always such a closed up character and we got a chance to see what she felt from a different point of view (even though it happened like that).

So how did you like it? Next time comes the silence before the storm. The updates are not scheduled so follow the story in order not to miss any updates.

Thank you to "Huntersmoon1" for following the story ^_^

AND...have a good day~