Metamorphosis – where a lot of things happen, like the plot deviating from canon clips.
Chapter Four
Frankenstein hummed as he bathed his two youngest children; M-21 was settling in well at the school, his willingness to act personally when the van entered the school grounds just proved it. Although – he looked at Victor – why did his boy refuse to talk to the enhanced human? He wouldn't speak with Master's friends too, was there something to that? Cadis – even while he refused to speak inelegantly – was positively sociable so it had nothing to do with the noble species.
Frankenstein found himself with a face full of water; Victor had used one of the bath toys to splash him. Giving the boy an extra scrubbing but no other reaction that might encourage the child, he scolded himself for letting his mind wander in front of them.
XOX
"..and the little ones are Victor and Cadis, ah," Shinwoo had motioned to each child as he introduced them to the new exchange students. Cadis was not where he had been a moment ago. He had made his way to the new arrivals. "Cadis will be after hugs."
Seira obligingly picked up the small child and held him closely against her, this was a hug, right? The Principal was frowning at something else in the room.
"Ikhan, did you bribe Victor away from Raizel?" Ikhan was the human who had his laptop out, Victor right next to him poking at the keys. The former nodded his agreement, not looking up from what he was showing the younger child on the device. The Principal seemed to think that watching a young child was more important than the lack of manners.
Then Seira stiffened as she felt the fractured aura of a modified human enter the house. A being like that should not be around these humans whose holistic auras were contained within their bodies. A small hand gently tugged her hair, the human Cadis was looking at her quizzically. Oh, right, humans would... she gave him a kiss on the forehead.
XOX
According to Regis, M-21 had only been with them for a mission, which normally that wouldn't be a problem. Frankenstein hadn't revealed any of his enhancement data to the man after all but if his children ended up involved... Master had wanted M-21 to stay and nobles had even stronger parental instincts than humans.
"You two, come to bed." He would need to investigate more carefully.
"It's not bedtime yet!" Surprisingly it was Cadis who voiced the objection; he did look comfortable in that pile of throw rugs. Frankenstein frowned, hesitant. It wouldn't do to just change the boys' schedule without warning, but he needed to check on M-21.
"It's grown-up stuff," Victor informed Cadis, divesting himself of the rugs his brother had covered them both in. Apparently that was a perfectly decent reason to Cadis; he helped put all the rugs away then obediently went to bed. Those two were relatively easy to manage for children that age – was it the same for all young nobles?
XOX
Seira had said that Regis was in trouble, and that meant Master's friends would be, too, but it's one thing to send the boys to bed early and another to dismiss them without dinner.
"Cadis, look after Victor for a while in the play room. We will be having a late dinner. There are important things that need to be done now." He received two very worried looks, was he too short with them or had they realized that he had already prepped the play room for tomorrow?
There were more urgent things to consider. When the boys had entered the play room he followed Master out the door, completely forgetting to lock the play room up for the safety of the rest of the house.
XOX
The door-locking precaution proved its necessity when he returned home with enough 'patients' to distract him from the change until the human children pointed it out. His two boys had taken all the dining table chairs into the play room to make a large blanket cubby house with them.
They had put the cots inside it as well, so Frankenstein let them continue sleeping until the human children had been sent home. He prepared to wake them up and give them a talking-to over dinner but Master dissuaded him. So Frankenstein dismantled the cubby and returned the chairs to the dining room. He would let them sleep through the night without dinner instead; food was a luxury, not a necessity, for nobles.
XOX
Frankenstein deeply regretted his decision the next morning. The boys were running a fever, yet his Master was insisting they go to school like normal. It was a bit much, he asked his Master to explain, their children were unwell and Master still planned to go to school?
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Tao stared at the child-care manuals in his hands then back at the door. They were putting Takeo and himself in charge of sick children just like that? Thank the powers that be Takeo was there with him, the man actually knew something about caring for the sick because of his sister. Takeo had already forewarned Tao that he would need to be quiet while they were in the play room so not to disturb the children.
This mission was completely outside Tao's field of expertise but on the brighter side the houseowner had gotten dramatically less scary after a private talk with the one the children called Rai. Frankenstein still had a scary-polite smile when he asked them to look after his children. M-21 wasn't able to stay with them because he also attended the 'school' as security like they would later – it would have been today but there were sick children to look after.
"Come on, we need to be in the same room to start with," all powers bless Takeo. The repeated shocks this morning had put Tao into system shut down; the sniper knew how to reboot him. Entering the playroom where the children were apparently sleeping on cots with a fever was another shock; people actually made these for others? Thankfully it was a small one compared to the realisation that Frankenstein was planning to have the children treated instead of leaving it up to their own strength to survive.
Takeo was putting cooling packs on the children's foreheads. Tao sat down on an empty part of the only table in this room and started reading quickly. He wouldn't be of any use on this mission without some relevant knowledge.
Thank you Luna for your continued efforts! Also my reviewers, I enjoy hearing feedback on the story, thank you.