Several questions were asked over the following weeks that had eventually turned to months. But the questions weren't the only tests. The boy who changed his name from Henry Williams to Franken Stein was prodded with needles to test various chemicals that could suppress the so called 'madness' within him, poked with sticks to test his anger, and forced to stay awake without food or water as to test his endurance. The chemicals- hardly were effective. The test of his anger- flared his madness a bit and nearly cost a doctor his life. His endurance- impeccable; he go on for days without sleeping, eating, or drinking and he wouldn't care.
As the months passed, the tests became less torturous and more mundane. Eventually all the young boy had to do was sit in his bed, strapped down and nearly bored to death. He would occasionally hum a tune, thinking of anything besides the ever slight numbness in his wrists and ankles when they were left still for too long. His mind would sometimes shift back to ideas he would only come across in the insanity that shrouded him, causing him to constantly bite his tongue until blood was drawn.
Lord Death reappeared one day in his room, his weird outfit still a debacle in the kid's mind as to what he truly looked like. "Hiya, Stein," the cloaked figure greeted in a very hokey manner. The child in the bed tilted his head in a slightly confused way. "So," the death god continued. "I've come visit you in order to inform you on the terms of your release from this institution." Lord Death pointed to the ceiling and let his body lean to the right as if his hand was too heavy. "I will affirm your release and then you will be escorted to an orphanage. Once there, you will be assigned a person who will watch you to make sure you don't kill anyone, okay, Stein?"
The child nodded, fully understanding the reaper. He longed to see the outside world again, for the asylum had kept him locked in and away from the windows. He would have cried tears of joy, or shouted ecstatically, but they had broken him. He was indifferent to everything an anything. Not even the screams and cries for help had an effect on him, nor the shadowy doctors that would escort him to the showers to be bathed. Even so, the world outside- the rain, the snow, the wind, the thunder, the lightning, the heat, the cold- he missed it all, and wondered what it felt like. He even wanted to feel the mud under his feet, making them filthy. All of this brought a small and almost unnoticeable smile to young Franken Stein's face.
"When will I be leaving, Lord Death," Stein queried, catching the reaper's attention. The cloaked master of terror with the strange outfit clapped his hands together and interlaced his fingers instantly upon contact. He bounced slightly back in a playful way and tilted his head "Today! A bunch of other kiddies and people are also being let out~!" He undid his fingers and slid his arms back into his side somehow, maintaining his focus on Stein. "I had to make sure that everything was ready for the others, that's why some of those tests were pointless... Y'know, the pointless questions that didn't have to do with your mental health or your past?" The child nodded at the cloaked figure.
The grim reaper unbound Stein from his bed and picked the child up with ease and set him gently on his feet. After releasing the boy from his clutches he noticed the child simply looking at the door. "Is there something wrong, Stein," the death god questioned. Franken turned around and looked up with a straight face, only letting the disbelief show in his eyes. "I'm free to go," he asked quietly, yet cautiously.
Lord Death nodded at the child. The kid began to walk toward the door, when the entity shot his hand in the air. "Wait! I have to escort you out, Stein. You can't just wander away. You could get lost... or hurt... Or the staff will catch you and put you back in here!" Franken turned to look at Lord Death with an impatient gaze. "You have to stay with me at all times." The kid nodded at the entity.
Though the reaper could have assigned someone to escort young Stein, Lord Death felt it was safer for everyone if the child was accompanied by solely him. He led Franken to the front of the institution. They stood at a desk together, the reaper's giant hand completely enveloping the child's. It made the kid feel silly as he stood in wait for Lord Death to finish the rather boring process of filling out paper work. After all of twenty minutes, the reaper led him out of the building and into the area around it.
Franken displayed a small smile as he felt the slight crunch of sand and dirt under his hospital shoes. The hot air was welcomed against his cold and pale skin from the freezing building. All sights of the outdoors were welcome to the child as well as the smell of the air. "Finally...," he whispered as he flexed his fingers and breathed in the air. He felt like it had been years since he could see the sun smile down on him, radiating its warmth.
Lord Death shook him a little and the boy looked up at the skull mask of a face. "Are you okay? You looked a little hazy there," The death god pointed out. Stein nodded, then looked back to his surroundings. The other flat buildings, to his surprise were gone. It seemed they had been leveled out or destroyed by some unexplainable force. Stein then turned to the side so he could look at the building they had just come out of. It was different as well. There were windows that spotted it here and there and an arrow like attachment to the side of what seemed to be an added section. What was once a tall and flat building now seemed lopsided in height. One side of it was noticeably shorter and the back seemed to have gained an addition to it. It now even sported a hollow patio roof complete with a worn patio itself.
"Well, ready to go~," the cheery death god asked the curious child. Stein nodded up at Lord Death and they headed away from the building that would have eventually faded from the child's memory.
The orphanage, a place where kids of many backgrounds were found parent-less and in need of someone to care for them; this is where Franken Stein found himself in the hands of the grim reaper. The entity was still with him and led him to where he was to stay. Naturally, Death had accommodated him with someone with a vibrant personality and sense of care as his roommate. He didn't allude to it though, so the boy was in the dark.
The rooms of the orphanage were clean and tidy. The halls were decorated vibrantly of flowers and artwork of various kids and smelled of sweet flowers- all of which made Stein's stomach turn. Then that same sense of being, the one he had felt when he encountered the doctor who had put him in the tub and proceeded to send electricity through his veins, came to him. This time however, it wasn't laced with fear. It was laced with a calming sensation. There was someone who was going to play akey role in keeping the insanity within him at bay. But how did he know?
The two stopped at a wooden door, the number 13 above it. Lord Death knocked on the door gently. Stein was surprised to see how easy going the death god could be, let alone the care of how hard he hit the door with his giant hands. Then the door opened and who opened it was surprising even more. It was a young girl around his age with a small black eye patch over her left eye with long wavy blond hair, albeit messy, and a plain black dress. A smile graced on her lips as she saw the young boy hide slightly behind Lord Death.
"Who's this, Lord Death," she asked sweetly, addressing the giant robed figure. The boy simply peered out at her, not used to seeing any other kids his age since staying at the asylum for so long. The grim reaper motioned to Stein. "His name is Franken Stein. He'll be staying with you and Spirit for a while until someone comes along and adopts any of you or you become old enough to stay by yourselves in Death City."
Death City, so that was the name of the city behind the institution. He wondered if it had anything to do with Lord Death's name. "Hey, Franken," a sweet voice called to him, pulling him out of his curious thoughts. He looked and noticed it was the blond girl, her face with a hint of worry on it. "Are you okay?" He didn't even notice that he had walked out into her line of sight. He kept a straight face and nodded firmly. Lord Death noticed Stein's hesitance and guided the boy who was still in hospital clothes toward the room and let go of his hand.
He looked back up at Lord Death with a slightly unsure gaze. He had just become use to seeing the reaper and his weird ways and now he had to become acclimated to other kids like him? What would happen if his psychosis took over and he should end up harming them? His body began to shake slightly and he looked back at the worried looking blond girl. "Well, I'll be seein' ya! Have fun you three~," the reaper cheered over confidently as he began to leave.
Stein sprinted after Lord Death with surprising speed. "Wait," he called to the death god. The girl with the eye patch followed suit. "Franken, what are you doing," she called, breathlessly trying to catch up the young boy. He didn't respond to her, but rather the cloaked figure in question. "Don't leave me here! What would happen if I go insane?! I don't-" His sentence was cut off as soon as he followed him around the corner where a mirror was promptly placed at the other end; Lord Death was nowhere to be found.
"No... I don't want to stay here... I'll get close to them... then my insanity will peak... They'll die in my hands...," he explained sadly to himself, looking at his pale hands, slightly clenching them. "They'll die in my hands," he wailed to the sky as he fell to his knees. He put his face in his hands and his body shook of tearless sobs. A hand rested on each of his shoulders and he looked back in surprise. The blond with the eye patch was standing there along with a boy who looked slightly older than him with neatly combed red hair save for a bang sticking down in the middle, a black suit with what looked to be a cross styled bow tie around the collar, and blue eyes was standing over him as well. Assumed that was 'Spirit'.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine, Fran-" The addressed boy glowered slightly. "Call me Stein," he encouraged gruffly. The girl nodded then, "Stein... You'll be fine. Lord Death told us everything," she claimed with a smile. Something about it made him calmer. Was this what he sensed? "We'll all be fine, right, Spirit," she asked the red head. "Yeah... As long as you're around, none of us should have a problem, Marie." The name rang in Stein's head. A fitting name for a caring girl.
The blond lifted Stein to his feet with the help of the older boy. He turned to follow them back to the room they were staying in. It was pretty basic. The walls were wooden and there were a total of two bunk beds. Spirit's bedspread was green, while Marie's had a floral print that made the gray headed youth cringe; his was a basic white. He slept right above Marie which he dreaded due to the floral scent that drifted up to his bunk.
Marie sat down on her bed and looked at the gray headed boy. "So, where do you come from, Dr. Stein," she joked playfully. "Doctor?" Stein tilted his head, his large green eyes studying her. 'She's so vibrant... It's kind of weird.' he thought to himself. She nodded energetically. "Well obviously someone like you would be called that. You like to tear things apart and study them. And just what kind of name is Franken Stein, anyway?! It sounds like a damned horror novel," the red head interjected rudely.
"Now, Spirit! What if I critiqued your name like that! You would be insulted," Marie scolded the red head. Spirit cringed noticeably. "Actually, his deduction's correct. The name is false and it came from a horror novel by Mary Shelley. Destruction of self... It's an apt name for me, wouldn't you say," answered Stein in a bored fashion. His declaration obviously struck both of the other kids' curiosity on who he was. They, mostly Spirit, prodded questions on where he was born and who he use to be.
"It's none of your business! Leave me alone! Just leave me alone," he screamed at the two. He scurried up to his bunk, covered his head with his pillow, and hid under the sheets. Spirit and Marie could hear muttered curses emit from the disturbed youth. Then they noted the quivering of the sheets, a tell tale sign of stress, frustration, and sadness. Marie looked down guiltily while Spirit shook his head.
"He's worse than Lord Death had described," Spirit commented bluntly. Marie spun on the toe of her feet and glared at the older red headed boy. "Can you blame him, Spirit? He just came from an asylum! They probably overloaded the poor guy with thousands of questions about his past!" At the mention of this, the sheets stopped quivering and Stein peaked out a little from under his pillow at the blond. 'She's defending me?' He saw Spirit shrug and glare at Marie. "Honestly, how can we trust him if he won't even tell us where he's from?"
Her voice rose to a frustrated note. She stomped her right foot in anger. "How could you ask such a question, Spirit?! You barely know him. He barely knows you. Do you honestly think for a second that he would immediately trust us? He was torn away from his family; things like that take time to heal." A smile crept up little Stein's face as he watched secretly from under the covers. She reminded him of his mother at one point and time- loving, fierce, and protective. He could easily say he was fond of Marie's ability to care for people so diligently, even when she barely knew them.
Spirit backed away defensively and lifted his hands in front of him. "Okay, sorry," he wined pitifully. Stein noticed Marie turning to face his bunk and hid his face under the covers again. "Are you alright, Stein?" He didn't answer. He heard her sigh and crawl into her bed.
Weeks passed by and the three grew closer as what Stein termed acquaintances. He dare not relate them to friends so he could lessen the burden of feeling the slightest bit sorry for harming them in any way. He found them interesting in they way they treated him, however. They were like his older siblings and he constantly reminded himself that they were only acquaintances. They could never be truly connected to each other.
During some of the nights he stayed over at the orphanage, Marie heard him crying. She didn't know whether it was his insanity or his memories of his family before ending up in the asylum. She was unsure if she could ask him. After another day or so, she found the courage to bring up the subject.
"Stein, why do you cry at night," she asked over lunch. The gray headed, nearly seven year old looked up abruptly from his plate at this surprise query. The broccoli he was about to eat fell off his fork in shock as well, earning him a grin instead of a small smile from the girl in front of him. "I cry because of the nightmares... I cry because of everyone around me... No, that's wrong. I cry for everyone around me." This shocked Marie somewhat. "For everyone," she asked to clarify. The boy nodded. "Yes. Because if I can't contain the nightmares, they'll take over me and everyone could end up in danger. I am a monster." He looked down, his teeth clenched into something akin to a grin.
Marie placed a hand on his shoulder with a worried expression on her face. She shook him slightly to gain his attention again. "You shouldn't say things like that about your-" Stein cut her off, "It's the truth. The insanity..." He gritted his teeth suddenly into a maniacal grin, his eyes completely widened. He stood up so quickly that the chair flipped over, causing a fear filled gasp erupt from the blond across the table. "You're going to die," he declared as he picked up the fork from his plate and made a move to stab Marie. The girl dodged to his surprise, and grabbed his wrist and tightened her grip. He could hear the unmistakable noise of bones cracking and the feeling of pain.
The pain brought back the silver haired boy from the depths of his mind. "You can let go, now, Marie." She released him once she heard this. Even with the sprained wrist the boy kept an indifferent face. The blond stared in wonder at how he wasn't crying over the damage she had inflicted on him in defense. All she could do was stare and blink. Finally, she choked out a suggestion, "Do you need to... to see a nurse...?"
The slightly shorter boy across from her snapped up his head, which was over the wrist assessing the damage with large olive eyes. His expression went from indifferent to cross in a heartbeat; she could almost hear the angry growl that threatened to escape the nearly seven year old's throat. "No. Just get some cloth a stick and a bag of ice," he listed, desperately trying to keep his anger contained. Marie raised the one completely visible eye brow at the boy in concern. "It's better if a doctor or a nurse looked at it."
Stein glared and picked up his plate with his good hand and stormed away. He wasn't about to fall into the hands of a doctor again. He had already seen his fair share of them. "I will be my own doctor," he thought aloud as he threw the remains of his lunch into the trash and placed the plate on the counter for the staff to clean. "I won't let any other doctor touch me."
That night, he managed to rest with an untreated wrist. It was discomforting, yet, he could manage to sleep through the throbbing pain. His room mates watched him with careful eyes. "What happened, Marie? Did he trip on something," the ginger headed boy questioned the blond. "No, he... he went mad for a little bit-" She stopped suddenly as the ginger headed kid grabbed her shoulders and stared her dead in the eye. "Did he hurt you?!" The blond shook her head, her hair bouncing playfully to the side. "No. I stopped him by grabbing his wrist. I think I broke it. I didn't mean to..."
Spirit let go of her and turned his back on his longtime friend and room mate. After a long and uncomfortable moment of silence between them, the ginger finally spoke, "You should have said something, Marie. What if you can't stop him next time?" There was silence. "Well Marie? You should have said something to one of the adu-" He was cut off by a very adamant voice. "And tell them what? Lord Death put us in charge of Stein. We're supposed to keep him in check for now! We're older than him! He's six, I'm eight, and you're nine. We have no choice but to take responsibility for his actions, Spirit!"
The red head in question turned around swiftly to face Marie. "We're not his parents, Marie." Marie spat back, "But for now, we should at least try to guide him like parents would." The red head simply scowled and made no remark. He didn't know how to react. Maybe he could accept Stein into their little group- their family- but that would put all of them in danger. How were they to manage living with the insane six year old? To Spirit, the answer was simple, not to; to Marie the answer was also simple, to care.