Goodbye Nightmare

The room was filled with the sound of slow and calm footsteps as Raizel walked in. He was as emotionless as ever with his eyes scanning the room. The walls were in shambles with visible black claws marks against the concrete but saw no enemy as he expected.

The kids looked at Raizel when he walked in and stared in utter confusion. "Rai!" They called out to him

"What are you doing here?" They said with wide eyes, not expecting to see their friend standing in the middle of the room.

Raizel then turned his gaze around and spotted Luciel's back. She was standing in the middle of the room with her back towards him. He began to walk over to her while his footsteps got louder and louder in Luciel's ears. "Luciel..." He spoke in a smooth and rich tone that just made you feel that everything was going to be alright. "It's been a while."

An innocent smile crept to Luciel's lips, and when she spoke it was smooth yet sad. "I saw Frankenstein a while back and I just knew that you wouldn't be far behind." Luciel's voice began to crack as she turned her head around and smiled with quivering lips. "It's been a while, Sir Raizel."

Raizel closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I'm glad to see...that you're alright."

It's been so long since they've last seen each other but for him, seeing Luciel alive and well released this sense of worry he held in his chest for a long time. Yet, looking at her seemed different now. She hasn't aged a day and remained to have this gentle and graceful look about her, but now...she looked distant and had this sadness lingering in her beautiful eyes.

M-21's eyes shot open when he felt another harsh sting across his cheek. He looked up and found himself laying down on Luciel's lap. She blinked at him for a moment and he noticed that it was Luciel who slapped him to wake him up, gesturing to his raised hand. "Oh, you're awake?" She smiled warmly.

"Mister!" He then saw the other kids stare down at him. "He opened his eyes! Are you okay?" They gave him a barrage of questions with puffy red eyes.

M-21 sat up and felt a sharp pain throughout his whole body. He wasn't sure what happened, but he knew this. Before he woke up he heard a voice. It was a voice he knew well. It was Raizel's voice for some reason.

Luciel was just as lost as M-21. She inspected his wound when she got around to it and saw that it should be fatal, but yet he's still alive somehow. She decided not to question it for now and allowed herself to feel relief that he was fine. Her happiness was short lived though when a sudden chill ran down her spine and she felt all the air get sucked out of her lungs. Like someone injected a needle of ice water into her veins and watched it burn. She heard the footsteps behind her and knew who it was immediately. Her heart beat so loudly, it thumped against her ears till she couldn't even hear anymore. At this point, all her senses were clouded with shame and fear.

Frankenstein and Seira, a beautiful noble woman with silver hair walked in and saw everyone huddled together in the destroyed room, luckily no one was dead.

"Chairman! How did you find us?" The children explained in utter shock. "Seira's here, too!"

Regis and Seira exchanged looks and glanced to Luciel. They knew that she was the only one possible to have done such damage to this room. She was someone very different from them. Regis himself witnessed what she can do, but now it's different. She didn't even look like that monster that was just fighting. She looks like a normal girl.

"Is everyone okay?" Frankenstein asked them

"Right! Please call an ambulance! We are fine, but Shinwu and Regis...And mister is hurt pretty bad."

Regis got on his wobbly legs. "I'm...okay."

"Regis, you okay?" Ikhan asked.

"Nothing serious."

Shinwu smiled even though blood was dripping down from his head. "I'm okay, too. Mister isn't though."

"Sir, he needs to get to a hospital." Yuna insisted.

Frankenstein kneeled down in front of M-21 and got a better look at his wound. He could see that it was still open and the blood as soaked through. His condition is fatal which is beyond his limit to recover. His ability to heal has definitely upgraded though. Still, staying alive is his limit.

Yuna whipped the tears from her eyes. "He tried to protect us... he's wounded because of us."

This was surprising for Frankenstein. He didn't think M-21 would go so far to protect the kids.

M-21 noticed his gaze. "Why are you looking at me like that."

Frankenstein smiled. "So...I heard you got hurt trying to save the kids. Good job."

M-21 was still questioning it. Did he give up the opportunity for the sake of the kids? For whose sake? But is don't matter. It's not so bad after all, and what's done is done. "I did what I had to do." M-21 smiled and lowered his head. He glanced to the side and saw Luciel staring at him, but at the same time giving nervous glances to Frankenstein. "Hey..." He called out to Luciel and started her back into focus. He took a breath and tried to think of a word that will express his gratitude but he could only say one word. "Thanks."

Luciel blinked in confusion before breaking out into a large smile. She reached up with her hand and suddenly ruffed his hair. "Don't worry about it." She giggled when he pulled his head back out of embarrassment.

Frankenstein smiled and lowered his head. He felt every muscle in his body relax now when Luciel laughed. It was a sound he hasn't heard in 900 years. "Let's get out of here. The three of you, please help Shinwu. Regis, can you move?"

Regis continued with his tough act. "Sure. No problem..."

Frankenstein looked to the noble lady. "Seira, please help M-21." He then turned to Tao. "Hey! Your friend is on the next building rooftop."

"What?" Tao asked. He wondered if it was Hammer or Takeo.

"Bring him with you," Frankenstein finished.

"Ah, okay..."

Everyone soon cleared out of the room either carrying the wounded or carrying themselves out, leaving this nightmare behind them.

Luciel walked over to where she tossed her coat and unraveled it. She wanted to die, she wanted to curl up and die. God smite her down and get herself out of this room right now. She cant feel Frankenstein gaze on her!

She dusted it off with her hands before she suddenly heard Frankenstein addressing her. "You too, luciel."

Luciel's breathing got caught in her throat and her lips began to quiver. She said nothing though and pulled the hood over her face so he wouldn't see her. She hurried past Frankenstein but not before he caught a glimpse of her flushed face before she running out of the room.

Frankenstein turned his head to look back at the room and gave one last long stare at the state it was in. He saw all the claws marks covering the walls and ground and the black, shadow-like substance slowly disappearing. A smirk slowly crept to his lips and he left the room in silence.