"Cadis, wake up, my little sunshine."
His Master's eyes blinked before he smiled up at the blonde.
"Good morning, Daddy."
"Good morning! Today we need to go have a check up."
"But Daddy, they always make me feel funny."
That wasn't the real reason he was complaining. Cadis knew that each time after a check up his daddy would look sick and he didn't like his daddy being ill.
Frankenstein scooped up Cadis Etrama Di Raizel and smiled at him.
"I know, but it's for your own good. Now let's get you dressed so we can go and get it over and done with."
"Okay."
Frankenstein put his Master down and went to fetch his clothes while his Master stripped. They had this down to a routine after so many years of it, so it only took a few minutes for them to be done.
Frankenstein tried to keep a smile on his face as he carried his Master. It had taken them forty-five minutes to cover the distance to the other house. And in that time he had prepared himself for what was about to happen.
"Daddy, do we really have to?"
"Yes, Cadis."
With that Frankenstein unlocked the door and made his way inside. The house was small in comparison to there one they lived in, but they weren't here for that.
They moved through the house with quiet footstep, both of them getting tenser as they entered the center room. The room was white from ceiling to floor and had nothing in it. The click of the door echoed around the room.
The blonde let out a sigh before whispering an almost silent apology.
"I'm sorry, Master"
He brushed his mind against his Master's willing him to sleep. When lids fell and hid crimson eyes, the blond began the process.
He called forth the bond between them and brought up his Master's power. He bit his lip to muffle his cries of pain as he focused on tearing parts of his own soul and sending it down the bond. He did this slowly till he started to feel lightheaded, then shut down the bond.
The blond cursed under his breath at the pain of the Dark Spear. It was like each of his nerves were set alight. It made him wish for it to be all over quickly. It was only thoughts of his Master smiling at him that kept him going.
The purple power swirled around him before moving to cover his Master.
A sigh left the blonde when it was all done and he lay panting on his back, with a tiny sleeping Master on his chest. It was done for now. It would be at lest a few weeks before he had to do it again.
The blonde staggered to his feet, being careful of the child in his arms. His limbs trembled under his Master's weight, but he had done this before and knew he could do it again.
The walk took close to two hours and all that time the raven child slept in his arms. He was so glad when he finally made it upstairs and into his bedroom. There was only one thing left to do. Laying his Master on the bed, Frankenstein moved slowly to hook up the IV next to his bedpost before sliding the needle home into his arm and taping it. With the power drain from re-sealing his Master, there was next to no chance of his healing knocking the needle lose, but he wrapped a bandage around it anyway.
Lying down in bed, he pulled his Master close.
Cadis awoke to the sound of breathing. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in his dad's room. He wriggled around till he could see his dad's face. He looked pale again and Cadis almost felt like crying. He hated to see his dad like this. Sitting up, Cadis noticed that the IV bag had run out. They must have been asleep for a while.
Nodding to himself, the Noblesse fetched a new bag from where they were stored in the room, before carefully switching out the bags on the hook. Now came the tricky bit. He daddy had taught him last time how to do this, so it wasn't that he didn't know how. It was more that he didn't want to wake his dad.
What the raven child didn't know was that Frankenstein had been listening to his Master to make sure that he didn't hurt himself. He kept relaxed as the Noblesse took his hand and unwrapped the bandage before carefully sliding the needle out. The young Noblesse waited a few moments before using an antiseptic wipe from the bedside table and wiping away the blood to reveal healed skin.
His Master didn't know that that wasn't normal, but he had chosen not to hide the fact as it would just lead to more questions.
The Noblesse made quick work of setting the needle before taping and bandaging it. A small smile fell onto the blonde's lips as his Master climbed back into the safety of his arms and went back to sleep.
His Master was way too caring.
Frankenstein looked down the hill to where he knew his Master would be. School would be out soon and he would have to get up from his spot in a few minutes. He was glad that it was the weekend tomorrow: as much as his Master enjoyed school, it set his teeth on edge, having to be apart from him for so long. Especially when he had nothing to do during the day. He just couldn't stand the risk of being away from his Master for long. What if something happened? His Master couldn't defend himself in this state, so it was up to Frankenstein.
Frankenstein's internal clock sounded, telling him it was time to go. He had never had to rely on technology to tell him the time after working in a lab with no windows for so long.
Rolling to his feet, Frankenstein made his way to the front of the school where a crowd of parents had formed. Lots of the parents were looking at him, but none of them approached. It wasn't because he wouldn't talk to them, but more that apart from himself, all the other parents were female and Frankenstein was sure that some of them were jealous of how beautiful his Master was.
The children stampeded out the door as the bell rang, shouting at each other. The blonde paid them no mind as he knew that his Master would wait, not wanting to accidently get in anyone's way. Blue eyes scanned his Master as soon as the raven-haired boy came into sight.
"Daddy!"
Frankenstein crouched down, bringing them to the same eye level and pulling him into a hug. The Noblesse loved school. If his Master didn't love it so much, Frankenstein would have opted to just home school him.
"Cadis, how was school? Are you tired?"
"It was good. I'm fine to walk."
Nodding, the blond stood and held out his hand.
"If you get tired, let me know"
The raven boy nodded back, taking his father's hand.
They were just coming up the drive way when Frankenstein felt them: three very familiar powers, two modified humans and one almost-werewolf.
Frankenstein couldn't help but scoop his Master up and pull him close. A small part of him had hoped that they would forget.
The Noblesse turned his eyes to the house, knowing that something wasn't right when Frankenstein scoped him up, but he had learned not to voice it. If he voiced his concerns, it would just worry Daddy more.
Frankenstein made sure to put a smile on his face when he noted his Master looking at him.
"It looks like your Uncles are here."
The little raven smiled and jumped up, trying to see his uncles. There was excitement on his face as his earlier worries concerning his dad were put aside for now.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Can I go see them?"
Frankenstein was unable to deny his Master, so with a reluctant sigh, he bent and set his Master down.
The seven-year-old was quick to set off, not quite running, but a fast walk. His smile grew as he got close to the trio.
Tao was unsure how exactly this would go. They had all showed up, despite the fact that they disagreed with their old boss's decision, but it was also very rare that they were able to spend time with him. Tao couldn't help but bounce on his feet when they came into view down the long driveway.
His eyes scanned him first. He looked taller, more grown into his fine features and most of all he looked happy as he ran towards them. Then his eyes moved from the raven to the blond following behind him.
Tao's body wanted to freeze: only his years of training kept him from doing so. Even M-21's warning didn't do it justice, that was how bad his Boss looked. He still stood tall and proper, but there was a strange sense to it that made him look worn out. Then there were his eyes, ringed darkly with a look of exhaustion. His skin tone wasn't it usual golden tan; instead it was a few shades off pale.
M-21 voiced what the other two were thinking.
"Damn, Frankenstein looks like shit."
"I know you said he was starting to look bad, M-21, but I wasn't expecting this."
"He wasn't this bad when I left last time."
They couldn't speak any more as he hurried up to them, smiling.
"Hello."
Takeo was quickest out of all of them and crouched down.
"Hello Cadis, did you have a good time at school?"
Cadis came forward and wrapped his arms around the sniper.
Takeo was a little shocked at the gesture, but he followed suit, wrapping his arms around the boy and giving him a small hug. He wasn't used to handling breakable children, so he tried to treat it like he was hugging something made of glass.
Cadis stepped back and gave a smile that Uncle Takeo returned.
"School was good."
Turning, he looked to his other uncles. Arms were around him, suddenly making his freeze until he realized it was Uncle Tao, so he quickly returned the hug.
"Look at you, you have grown so big!"
"I'm only a little taller."
"You're almost as handsome as me."
"He is twice as handsome as you," M-21 said through a smirk.
"Shush, Max."
M-21 shot Tao a glare. It wasn't his fault that Frankenstein had decide to give him that name.
Cadis reached out to the half-werewolf who snatched him from Tao.
"Don't worry kid, I'll save you from that nasty Tao!"
Frankenstein watched them with a heavy heart. It was good that his Master had more family, but they didn't really want 'this' Master. No, they wanted the full-grown Noblesse back.
Walking past them, he opened the door.
"Cadis, why don't you show our guests where they will be staying?"
"Yes, Daddy."
He wriggled from M-21's grip and walked into the house.
"This way, remember to change into slippers!"
A heavy sigh left Frankenstein as he went about changing into his home clothes. It would be three days at the most and things would go back to normal, just Master and him. Just three days of trying not to murder their guests. This was for his Master. Frankenstein could do this.
Doing up the last buttons on his shirt, Frankenstein left his room and headed for the kitchen. Dinner wasn't going to make itself.
He was only part way through making dinner when his Master made his way into the kitchen.
"Can I help with dinner?"
"How about you ask your Uncles to help you with your homework instead? That way you'll have all of tomorrow free."
His arms wrapped around Frankenstein in a hug as he smiled one of those adorable smiles.
"Okay. You said uncle Tao is really smart, right?"
"Yes, and don't forget to do the work I left out on the lounge room table."
"Yes, Daddy."
A smile that couldn't be suppressed spread across Frankenstein's face. It felt right to have the three other modified humans here under his roof once more. If only they would keep their mouths shut about
Master, then he could keep them here. Sighing, he returned to cooking.
Tao looked through the first lot of homework and felt like laughing. Did they really send this home for a seven-year-old? Tao was sure a five-year-old could do this with no problem.
A whisper carried across to Tao that he only heard due to his modified hearing.
"Let him do the school homework by himself and only help with the other ones if he needs it."
Tao handed back the school work to him and glanced over to the other.
What he saw made his eyes bug out. This work was what the children use to do at Ye Ran.
The Noblesse must have read something in Tao's expression as he nodded.
"Daddy says that I am really smart, that's why he teaches me at home. I like going to school so I can talk to the other children and give Daddy a break. Daddy always thinks of me first, so I want to do well with the work he gives me."
"Well, how about we get this done so we don't hold up dinner."
Frankenstein knew M-21 was watching him, even though he hadn't made any noise. If M-21 wanted to say something, he would. He had always been like that.
"So what name are you going under now?"
"Felix. When ever I go by Frankenstein, I get asked if I'm a scientist or 'where is your monster?' They don't seem to like my answers either. I tell them that I own a lab and do they really want to see my monster?"
Frankenstein turned and winked to get the message across.
M-21 couldn't help but smirk. He could picture his old boss doing just that. The werewolf let himself relax. He could try convincing Frankenstein later, for now he would just enjoy being in the other man's presence.
"Do you want help with anything?"
The man really did look like he could fall over at any point in time. And then there would be no point to getting him back, only for him to see Frankenstein like this.
"You can set the table. The plates are in the first cupboard."
With a nod, M-21 set about his assigned task.
"Tao, you need to sit back and let him do it."
"But Takeo, I'm helping. Isn't that right, Cadis?"
There was no reply apart from the quiet tap-tap sound of the Noblesse patting Tao's shoulder.