At one point in this chapter, Rai gives someone an 'un-Rai-like' look, and there's no opportunity in the chapter to have this OOC moment explained, so forgive me for doing it in the ANs in advance.

Know that scene where Rai says that Frankenstein has been 'naughty' and looks at him a certain way?

Most people learn behaviors mainly by imitating others, often subconsciously. In the OVA, there's a scene where someone noticed that Rai's posture was very unlike him, but Muzaka was sitting exactly the same way. So, odds are that since Rai didn't know how to sit around a campfire, he did what Muzaka did. One of the main people Rai interacted with in the past was the Previous Lord. There are a lot of things in conversations that most nobles just don't do, but the Previous Lord was totally willing to do them. That means that for most of Rai's lifespan, he'd be Rai's only example of how to do those things.

The naughty line is totally something the Previous Lord would have said.

I do want an AU where the Previous Lord did manage to adopt Raizel (I mean, the castle has energy shielding, right?) and what happens because of this when Franken shows up. I love the idea of Frankenstein and Raskreia having a rivalry in the Flashback Era, possibly over 'Big Brother's' attention.

I'm afraid that I am now out of pre-drafted chapters. I have a bunch of outlined chapters, but completing the drafts is going to be dependent on my energy levels, which are intermittent.

M-21 was up to his elbows in the dishes when Seira finally came home from her date with Shinwoo. With Seira gone for the evening, Frankenstein had reclaimed his kitchen instead of viewing it as a chore to assign… but conscripted Rael. Even though Rael had protested that nobles didn't need to know how to cook, he'd shut up when reminded that he was training as Raizel's attendant and what was he to do if the Noblesse wanted ramyeon if he didn't learn how to cook? Takeo had gone to join in and defuse the situation, while Tao went up to his room and M-21 steered clear.

Getting to cook had put Frankenstein in a good mood all through dinner. He really seemed to like cooking, but Seira was his student, and regular practice and getting people's reactions was good for learning that kind of thing. Letting Seira cook dinner most nights was a sacrifice Frankenstein was willing to make for a student.

M-21 turned, suds still on his rubber gloves, the instant Rael let out what he had to call a squawk.

Seira was carrying Shinwoo in her arms through the doorway. The way she was holding him… wasn't that called a bridal carry?

There was no way Seira would be that calm, walking carefully instead of running if Shinwoo was hurt, but that didn't stop M-21 from hurrying over, oblivious to the bubbles dripping on the floor.

Damn, of all the days for Takeo to be on solo patrol: they were going to need all the help they could get defusing Rael. Behind him, Tao came from the stairs: he must have heard Rael's squawk and came running to see what was going on and if it was something good.

"What happened?" M-21 asked, stopping when Seira walked towards the sitting room instead of the lab. It couldn't be anything serious, right? Even if Shinwoo's eyes were closed?

It was only when he followed her gaze to Raizel and saw the Noblesse was still drinking his tea that M-21 relaxed.

"While we were on our date, Shinwoo assisted some students from another school," Seira said, composed and only slightly apologetic. "It seems my emotional control is still lacking." Now she sighed. "It seemed imperative to kiss him. During the fight he was hit in the face, but I failed to make the connection."

If he and Seira had kissed while there was blood in his mouth, and they both wanted to be together? Was that really all it took? They looked at Shinwoo. There weren't any drops of blood around his mouth, but that was what Seira'd been saying, wasn't it?

From the light dusting of pink on Seira's cheeks as she looked down at Shinwoo and the flabbergasted look on Rael's face, it looked that way.

"But that… that human? He sleeps in class! He's perpetually tardy! He makes messes in the Noblesse's house, when that is so painful for one of his hosts!" Rael said, pointing at Shinwoo accusingly as he flailed.

Ignoring him, Seira sat down on the couch, looking at Raizel at the head of the table. "He claims he is fine, and I cannot sense anything wrong. Yet he is so tired."

Raizel nodded. "It is normal for humans to sleep after consenting to a contract. The effort of forming a contract of the soul is a great exertion for them, and they finish adjusting to the bond while they sleep."

"Frankenstein did not mention that."

"Frankenstein enhanced himself so he could go without rest when humans needed him or the Union pursued him. Making the contract did not tire him, and it finished forming before he next slept," the Noblesse said, looking away from them towards his tea as he remembered. "Yet he was still dreamy while our souls entwined themselves until they were content."

Seira blinked. "Dreamy?"

"S' like when it's so warm under the blankets and it's so nice I don't wanna get out of bed," Shinwoo said, and yawned. "It's nice," he repeated himself, the words hazy, leaning against Seira's chest without enough awareness to be self-conscious. "So it's okay to fall asleep, Rai?"

Raizel looked at Seira.

"I was unsure if he might need to be awake to describe his symptoms."

The dark-haired noble shook his head.

Seira let out a little sigh of relief. M-21 had thought she wasn't worried, or else she would have run here, right?

Maybe it was the difference between worry and concern. You worried if there was a reason to be worried, but. Even if you were pretty sure everything was going to be okay; if someone was important to you then you were still… concerned. About them, and making sure they were okay, so it didn't get to the point you had to worry.

"Can I jus' go to sleep?" Shinwoo asked, cracking open a single blue eye to look at Rai.

M-21 wondered why he'd been surprised they were still blue for a second. It wasn't like Frankenstein had red eyes, and he was also… Um, M-21 thought. So Shinwoo and Seira were really going to be like Frankenstein and Raizel? The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Raizel and Seira were both so calm and elegant, and Shinwoo was really strong for an ordinary human, the way Frankenstein was shockingly powerful even for an enhanced human. Shinwoo slept all the time and Frankenstein barely slept, but Shinwoo was dead tired in class because he hung out with his friends (to protect them), and then went and trained for hours, and then had to do his homework and there just weren't enough hours in the day.

Shinwoo might not be a scientific genius, but he was a protective workaholic who didn't put up with bullies. And looked after anyone in sight, even people a lot more powerful than him.

Frankenstein and Shinwoo didn't seem anything alike at first glance, but the more M-21 thought about it, the more sense it made that Rai and Shinwoo had hit it off, when you'd think a noble might find Shinwoo noisy or inelegant? But Rai was used to humans being like this. Or a human being like this, anyway.

Rai nodded, pleased, as Rael squawked again. The Kertia's cheeks were bright red.

Shinwoo grinned, not a sudden flash of one but the moment on slow-motion, struggling against the weight of his tiredness. "Thanks, Rai."

"What are you doing, falling asleep on Miss Seira's chest!" Rael demanded with a flash of fang.

"Rael," Raizel said, not sharply or with power behind it, but M-21 could still hear the echoes of 'Kneel' in that word, the tone of command.

The blond noble turned to him, mouth opened to protest but not daring when this was the Noblesse, not Regis.

"Seira wishes Shinwoo to be by her side, and his soul shares the same wish. The contract has been made." And that was final.

Rael's mouth moved, as though he was saying something but didn't dare make the noise to speak the words.

The Noblesse still responded as though he'd heard something. Maybe he had, when they were nobles. Putting his teacup down, he stood. "It is not your will to be by Seira's side. It is your will to have someone who wants you by their side. Seira cannot give you what you wish for." He patted Rael on the shoulder and told him, "This is your home too."

Sometimes when Raizel said things he was really convincing, M-21 thought, and wondered if it was mind control or just Rai. Or the fact he was usually saying something very obvious, and usually something other people had said before. He wondered if Seira was annoyed that Rael was listening to Rai when he'd ignored her saying this same thing countless times, or just glad he might hopefully knock it off now.

Rael blushed again. "Um… ah! Your tea has grown cold." Glaring at Shinwoo (of course he wouldn't glare at Seira) for the interruption, he stalked off to the kitchen.

"Do you mind if I go tell the boss?" Tao asked, looking up at a corner of the ceiling instead of at someone in particular.

Raizel nodded. "Frankenstein should not be surprised by something like this."

M-21 blinked as Seira looked up from Shinwoo at Raizel. Wait, was he saying that Frankenstein would already have known this was going to happen? No, that would be Frankenstein being Frankenstein, and this wasn't the tone Raizel used when talking about how his bonded was… unique. There was a note that was maybe… disapproving? A little stern? M-21 had learned more about how to read Raizel, but the noble still stumped him sometimes.

Suddenly, he became aware of the weight of the rubber on his forearms. Horrified eyes turned to see the trail of scattered suds between him and the kitchen. Crap! He needed to get that cleaned up before Frankenstein got up here! Or worse, before people stepped on it and sticky soap got tracked over the floor and acted like a magnet for dirt!

He ran for the washcloths as Tao headed for the lab, carefully avoiding the suds.

Frankenstein crouched down and lifted Shinwoo's wrist to take his pulse, looking at his eyes. "REM state already? Yes, unlike noble psychic abilities, the mechanism behind a human's bonding would be neurological…"

"Do you need me to prep any scans?" Tao asked, hovering.

The scientist shook his head. "Of course not. That would be unethical. Yes, I have performed medical procedures on Shinwoo without his consent on previous occasions, which is unethical," he admitted, "but there's a difference between necessary treatment to save someone's life and merely satisfying my curiosity. This is a natural process, and it's best to let nature take its course. Master and Miss Seira already have him under observation, and that will do him much more good than anything I can do in my lab."

That made both M-21 and Tao blink.

"My sample pool on true contracts is a single person," Frankenstein told them. "An enhanced human, at that." Not even an ordinary one like Shinwoo. "It would be improper to experiment with something so intimate. I have a great deal of data on the mechanics of the criminals' sale of souls and power, but that link is quite shallow, so I know nothing about what potential complications might arise with a deeper link between a clan leader and an unenhanced human, but humans and nobles were forming these bonds for thousands of years. As the Noblesse, matters of noble souls are Master's field, not mine."

Giving up a chance to get data out of respect for Shinwoo's rights, even when he admitted that because he didn't have that kind of data he wasn't an expert? It still jumped out at M-21, but it wasn't that hard to believe anymore.

"My apologies. It is because I lost my control that this happened," Seira said, with dignity.

Frankstein smiled at her reassuringly as he got to his feet. "Honestly, I was expecting it to happen. Ideally when you were older, but better now than in the middle of an emergency, especially if it's putting Shinwoo to sleep like this. Even if this was accidental, at least it came from a mutual gesture of affection. I have no grounds to criticize the way someone formed a contract when I tried to trick Master into consuming my blood." He bowed his head to Rai, looking ashamed.

"Nothing you did was unwanted," Raizel promised him.

Frankenstein still sighed, shaking his head. "I was… not quite myself, after Dark Spear had their hands on me, but I still should have recognized that I was unbalanced and tried harder to keep myself from any drastic action. I slipped something in your drink, Master. There are words for that." Frankenstein scowled at himself, then closed his eyes, bowing his head to his chosen master. "I should have asked your consent, as you asked mine."

"I have already judged your actions," Raizel said calmly. It was a relief to see that Raizel wasn't worried Frankenstein was going to freak out about this. "The proper sentence is what you wished for."

That made him smile briefly. "I would have asked your consent before much longer. The Previous Lord made me realize that I hadn't thought about several things I should have considered. That was embarrassing. If I had acted sooner, then you wouldn't have had to Awaken me."

That made Raizel frown. "To make a contract of the soul lightly is to regard your soul and honor as things of little value." So no, Frankenstein should not have done anything even remotely resembling rushing this. It would have offended Raizel as the Noblesse or something.

"Of course, Master," he acknowledged. "Consenting to a contract thoughtlessly, leaving you bound to an unwilling soul if I was not yet certain of what I wanted? Toying with your feelings like that; I'd be no better than the criminals and those who…" He glanced at Shinwoo and Seira and smiled, changing the subject. "Let me know if there's anything I can get either of you, to help you feel more comfortable. When I made my contract with Master was a very joyful time for me, and I wish the same for both of you."

The way he smiled down at them made M-21 realize that if he had caught the resemblance between the newly-bonded and Frankenstein and Raizel, then of course Frankenstein would have known his students well enough to spot it. Was that why he was okay with this when he was so convinced it was a bad idea for M-21 and the others? Or maybe it was just that it was too late now, what's done was done, and there wasn't any point in worrying the kids or making them blame themselves or each other for a stupid accident.

M-21 looked over at Tao, who was wearing a congratulatory smile, but he was still watching all this closely and he had a mind like a steel trap. He'd be keeping an eye on things… Not that there was anything the three of them could do if it went wrong, what did they know about ordinary relationships?

Hell, they might know more about contracted couples than they did about dating ones, since they'd lived with these two for awhile now and it wasn't like Seira and Shinwoo did date stuff in front of them.

Or would M-21 even recognize date stuff if he saw it?

The rhythm of sleep drew Shinwoo closer to the surface somewhere in the wee hours of the morning. He drifted, still not technically awake, but even though his eyes weren't open he was aware of his friend nearby. Two more presences were further away, still in the house. One of them felt a lot like Rai, he thought vaguely. Like Rai was in two places at once.

The most important one was Seira, and she was right there. That meant all was well – no, that everything was wonderful – and he let go, falling back into sleep, knowing that he would be caught and held.

"Honestly," Frankenstein said, shaking his head as he read through more of the captured data. "Seira is the most responsible of the children, and if she's getting accidentally bonded, what next? Tao creating an artificial intelligence, as though there aren't already enough species on this planet? Maybe I should go to the trouble of dying some individual hairs white, just so they can see what they're doing to me."

He was rambling, but if he didn't have this to think about, he'd be distracting himself with something else.

The crunch of Master delicately biting into a tea cookie also helped break the silence, fill the lab with something to help cushion him from the weight of the Union's atrocities.

So many people. So many people dead while he focused on trying to break into the sanctuaries, and spent time creating cover identities and projects like this school that ate up his time. That was the only way to keep himself from drifting into the haze of immortality that swallowed him on Lukedonia, where ten years could pass before he knew it. Ironic that the only way to keep himself from losing time ate up his time. Well, as they said, if you want a project completed, give it to someone who is already busy.

Busy. The school. Their lives here. The Union's activity, although another set of casualties would hopefully stun them into inaction… Long enough for them to try to gather their forces for the next plan of attack, or worse, begin thinking of the tactics of weakness. Like the hostages taken against the Loyard and Landegre. If he could keep them from turning more humans into anything like the anti-clan leader weapons…

Tao's insistence on becoming more powerful, even if the only way Frankenstein could come up with in the timeframe they had was Dark Spear. Dark Spear was his burden to bear, but he couldn't condemn Tao to nightmares of standing by uselessly as the people he loved died.

Takeo using a power Frankenstein should have learned more about instead of only caring that it functioned as necessary for him to deal with the Central Order Knights on the KSA.

Finding out he had two adult sons. Well, insofar as Rael qualified as any kind of adult.

Saving Master.

Currently, the only member of the household who wasn't urgent in one way or another was Regis… No, while Regis wasn't making trouble, there was the matter of Gejutel. He might have agreed to remaining awake at the request of the current Lord when she offered to release him, but he had to have had plans to give Regis a complete Regasus.

Tao had told him what Gejutel approached them about at the school on the final day of his first visit to South Korea. Offering contracts to enhanced humans before his return to Lukedonia? Had he been that convinced that Raskreia would send him to eternal sleep, so he might as well strengthen Master's defenders and defenses before he died?

Gejutel wasn't Frankenstein's responsibility, but Regis was, and Regis had lost enough family.

And Muzaka. Master's friend. A parent's grief. A Werewolf Lord's explosive power.

…What.

Frankenstein scrolled back a few screens.

What, they'd done… What? They must have known that wouldn't work, a completely pointless atrocity… but the scientists wouldn't have known when the Elders kept them in the dark, and the Elders wouldn't have cared enough to veto an experiment just on account of wasted lives, murdered people…

He wanted to mourn, to curse himself, but to turn away from this record to indulge his emotions would be evading responsibility. He had to read this. He had to stop them.

For the sake of those innocent lives, and the Master who made certain that he was not alone with this.

"By the way, Master," he said. "Thank you for saving my house." Also Frankenstein's son, although he still shuddered to think that his genes had produced Rael. Far too many of his flaws were there writ large, without the sense to restrain or work to overcome those flaws.

He wasn't sure exactly how it had happened, but Master's intervention was the only possible explanation for why Rael hadn't lost it and attacked Shinwoo for 'getting between' him and Seira, the way Frankenstein still lost it enough to forget about the seal when someone threatened Master. Seira was amazingly tolerant of Rael attacking Regis, otherwise Rael would be missing at least one hand by now, but that was because she'd known that Rael was all talk (yet another reason Seira had zero interest in Rael's type) and wouldn't actually have the guts to kill him and be sentenced to forced eternal sleep by the Lord. Also, most of the time it was Regis' fault for provoking him, so Seira would let the immature children play as long as they weren't causing property damage. For one thing, it meant Rael wasn't talking to her.

For Rael to launch an unprovoked (because what Seira did was none of his business) attack on a human far more fragile than Regis even after a contract? For Rael to once again try to kill someone who was now a member of Seira's family? Judging from Frankenstein's own experience, new contracts were… very emotionally charged, and Seira still had little practice restraining herself once she lost her temper.

She might have her act together far more than the other children, but every child in this house needed therapy.

Frankenstein was very glad he hadn't come up from his lab to find a crater and a massive grim reaper hovering over where his house used to be. He had other houses, but losing the familiar environment would increase the stress level of all the children and set back their recoveries. How were they supposed to feel safe in his and Master's protection after a child died under their roof, even if it was only Rael?

"Rael longs for his parent's quiet competence and protection," Master reflected.

Oh? So it wasn't just that he'd projected his own abandonment issues onto Seira, treating her like a child even after she reached her majority? He'd been attracted to her as a mother, or rather parent figure?

"I really don't see the resemblance," Frankenstein said, sighing somewhat theatrically over Ragar's foolishness. Seira was a very intelligent young woman, while Ragar was a space cadet with a crush on the Lord; that was where Rael got this tendency to moon over people who could give him as many glances as he wanted, they were never going to be into what they saw. "But then I suppose when Ragar went to eternal sleep while Rael was so young, he must have seemed wise and impressive enough to a small child."

"Ragar was wise enough to believe in you despite Lagus Tradio's lies and your own behavior," Master chided him.

Well. Well, perhaps. He did have to admit, "It is a shame he went into eternal sleep." Pang in his chest? What pang in his chest?

Master nodded sympathetically.

Shinwoo didn't feel tired at all when he woke up. Normally it was a lot of work to wake him up in the mornings. Between hanging out with people, then training, and then realizing 'oh yeah, homework,' he just didn't end up with a lot of time to sleep. He'd definitely wake up if one of his friends was upset, thought.

Now that he could sense that, anyway. Which was really cool.

This wasn't the time to think about it now. He looked over at Seira, tilting his head at Rai. Why was Rai upset?

She blinked at him: she hadn't been aware that Rai was upset.

Oh, right, Seira was too polite to stare at people a lot, so she might not have picked up on the difference between Rai drinking tea when he was just chilling and Rai drinking tea when he was bothered or something or out of his depth and trying to pretend there wasn't anything going on.

"Hey, Rai?" Shinwoo said, getting his attention. "You shouldn't feel bad about us getting involved in any of this. It's not like you wanted bad guys to show up. And the contract," which was why he couldn't be left out of this anymore, finally, "is totally an accident."

"Accident." Rai gave him a very un-Rai-like look. "As accidental as blood in my tea."

Shinwoo winced. Caught. Oh, so that was why Rai felt hurt. "We weren't trying to lie to you. Just… Ajussi, and everyone else… They wanted to protect us, and I didn't want to… if it just happened, then…" Um, how was he supposed to say this?

"You did not want to make them think that you did not value their will to protect you." Rai nodded and Shinwoo relaxed.

"Sorry," he still said, scratching the back of his head. "We thought you'd probably figure it out eventually, but I didn't think it would hurt your feelings." It really wasn't like he didn't trust his friend!

Rai's eyes closed. "You too have decided to protect the home you have here."

Shinwoo nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed, since right, Rai wouldn't have seen the nod. "I only got to stay with Yuna and my friends because my dad didn't want to pull me out of Ye Ran. The Union's not going to stop coming after my friends, right?"

Rai hesitated, but, "There is protection for you and your friends in knowing nothing…"

"You're my friend!" Shinwoo interrupted him, pushing away from Seira and leaning towards him. "They're trying to kill you, and the Chairman, and Ajussi, and they already killed Seira and Regis' parents and Ajussi's comrade! When Tao explained about the Union, I thought that without any power there wasn't anything I could do but get in your way, but if there's a way then I'm not standing around while those bastards kill my friends!"

A flash of cool silver in the back of his mind.

Seira.

He ducked his head, grinning and blushing like an idiot. "Sorry, Rai, didn't mean to yell at you."

"Yuri reported to the First Elder, and Frankenstein told me the fate of his student in the past," Seira said. "Our friends were already known to the Union, and the memories were suppressed, not erased. The traitor clan leaders could have obtained information from them despite the memory suppression. You must know that their safety was not ensured."

Rai nodded, conceding Seira's point. "I left it up to Frankenstein's judgment, but you are right that he was affected by the loss of his student." So it wasn't exactly an impartial judgment. Shinwoo wasn't going to blame the Chairman for grasping at straws to protect them, but he wasn't just going to put up with it either.

"And I did not wish to lie to someone I was courting," Seira continued. Concluded.

Seira really… she really wanted him, Shinwoo thought. Felt. Knew. It made him feel stupidly happy – there wasn't room for anything in his head but all this happy. He grinned over at her, and when her cheeks were dusted with pink he just had to pounce on it and kiss them.

It wasn't like she was going to try to stop him, but he still felt like he'd won something, everything. He'd gotten to kiss her cheek, just because she liked him back.

It was nice to feel that Rai was happy for them, although they wouldn't have let even Rai separate them. "I thought this would be weirder," Shinwoo said. "It can't all be this easy, but that's what training's for."

Rai nodded. "You should start training before Frankenstein figures out what you have done." That the Contract wasn't an accident.

Shinwoo nodded. "Yeah, I don't want to worry the Chairman; I'm definitely going to work hard." He already trained so much he had a hard time fitting in homework and sleep, and that was when he hadn't known that everyone's lives were on the line. Just felt that his friends were in danger in his heart somehow.

"Frankenstein will understand a human taking risks to gain the power to protect. He will approve if you do not simply rely on that power."

"He'll be a lot happier with me if I train, gotcha." Shinwoo grinned. That wasn't going to be a problem, especially now that he could train with Seira.

"How did you know that we made our contract knowingly?" Seira wondered.

Rai blinked at them. Shinwoo could read the question on his face, in the air around him: it wasn't obvious?

"I guess, if someone knows us as well as you do," Shinwoo said cheerfully, relieved.

Rai turned slightly to Seira. "You should introduce him to your parent. Their sleep will be far less troubled, knowing that you have someone who makes you happy."

Shinwoo frowned: wasn't Seira's parent dead, or in eternal sleep but that had sounded like death to him?

Seira blinked, then started to smile, and he could feel the delight under her composure as she nodded formally. "I will do so."

Rai nodded, sipping his tea, and they sat in silence for a bit as Shinwoo turned his head looking back and forth between them, wondering what was going on. Seira would explain if he couldn't get it, so he didn't say anything. He didn't want to interrupt them when they were both feeling happy and calm like this. He wrapped his arm around Seira's shoulders and leaned his head against the top of her head. Shinwoo knew he should get training, but it was nice to fall asleep with Seira there.

That was when he realized he'd thought about sleeping and Seira, and on the couch with people there was a sleepover, he had those all the time, but…

Seira reached up and patted his cheek, and it was when he felt her cool hand that he realized it must be flaming red.

There was a clink as Rai put down his cup and looked up from it slowly, giving Shinwoo some time to compose himself, although that was hard. "There are souls I wish to speak to, but they reside within Dark Spear."

"If you have found a way to help Dark Spear, assisting you is the least I can do for the sake of my teacher," Seira said.

Shinwoo's friend shook his head. "Dark Spear is kept from eternal sleep. Their dreams are born of madness, not rest, and you must not walk in them," he warned her. "I wish to speak with Cetus."

Seira's eyes narrowed, and this time the cool emotion Shinwoo felt from her wasn't calm, but anger. "Roctis Kravei."

"He is among them," Rai acknowledged.

Shinwoo's girlfriend calmed herself, picking up her own cup of tea. "I would be honored to assist the Noblesse," she said, and even though she looked totally serene and above any petty thoughts, Shinwoo just knew that she was so at peace with the world because she was looking forward to something nasty coming that bastard's way.

There was no way Rai was fooled for a second either, but although Rai didn't know a lot of modern stuff when he came to Korea, he was already some kind of expert at staying out of things when he didn't want to get involved, so he just drank his tea.