It was Saturday so there was no alarm to wake them. So, Frankie slowly came to life with a sinking feeling that something was wrong. Clawdeen's side of the room was oddly empty. Their personal effects on the dresser, desk and nightstand were absent.
Frankie felt their heart pound in their chest as they worried and hoped they were wrong. Flinging themselves out of bed, they went to Clawdeen's side and opened a couple of her drawers. Empty.
They were officially panicking, spotting a note addressed to them and Draculaura on the table in the middle of the room.
F+D,
I'm sorry, for everything.
-Clawdeen
What kind of note was that? Frankie wondered before pacing. They had to fix this somehow. They couldn't lose their first and best friend. They weren't ready for that.
"Draculaura!" Frankie called, rushing towards the coffin, ripping it open "Draculaura!"
Finally the Vampire opened their eyes, "Frankie? What's wrong?"
"It's Clawdeen. She's gone!" Frankie said, "She left a note."
The blue skinned monster handed the note to Draculaura.
"She ran away, back to the human world." Frankie said.
"Honestly Frankie, that's probably a good thing." Draculaura said.
That gave Frankie pause. "What?"
"You heard Komos and Bloodgood, her humanness is destroying the school."
"But the potion-"
"We can't get to it without Hyde's hand or my magic. Bloodgood took my spellbook." Draculaura said.
"But she's our friend, Draculaura!" Frankie pleaded with her, "We can't just let her give up like this."
"She got us busted!" Draculaura said with a raised voice.
Frankie stared at her for a moment. They felt something in their chest, a new feeling but one they understood. Frankie was getting angry.
"No, you got yourself busted! We were being supportive because we care about you!" Frankie yelled, clapping their hands over their mouths in surprise. They hadn't meant to be so forceful about it.
"Excuse me?" Draculaura said, walking uncomfortably close to the smaller monster.
Frankie stuttered for a moment before taking a calming breath, "You got you busted. Clawdeen didn't do witchcraft. She didn't tell Bloodgood, neither did I! We helped you with that power spell and have kept your secret! Cleo told Bloodgood and Komos because you spelled that pimple on her face." Frankie said, waving their hands wildly, "Don't get me wrong it was awesome, but none of that was Clawdeen's fault. It's not fair that you blame her. We both chose to help her find Hyde's lab. She didn't make us do anything we didn't want to do." Frankie furrowed their brow at Draculaura and took a deep breath, "We can find you another spell book, but we can't find another Clawdeen."
Draculaura stared at Frankie in disbelief but sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry. That wasn't fair. Still, what about the school? Clawdeen is probably safer in the human world."
Draculaura turned her back to gather some clothes.
"Hyde wasn't safer." Frankie said in a small voice, fiddling with the edge of their sweater.
Draculaura paused and set her clothes down on the table and shook her head.
Frankie was not about to lose Clawdeen like this, "I'm going to figure out a way to help her and bring her back with or without your help. It would just mean a lot if you did."
Frankie began to walk back over to their side of the room when Draculaura spoke, "What do you think we should do?"
Frankie lit up and spun around to look at the vampire, "First we need to find her. Then we open that door."
"How?" Draculaura asked, "Komos has my spell book."
"No," a man's voice stated, drawing their attention to Dracula's portrait, holding up the spell book in question, "I have your spell book."
"Dad?" Draculaura stated.
"Draculaura, what were you thinking?" Dracula exclaimed, "Witchcraft? It's beneath you. It's beneath vampire society. How could you risk your future like this?"
Frankie stood just out of view, listening to Dracula lecture his daughter. It wasn't right. Witchcraft made Draculaura happy, it was a part of her and she was good at it.
"How could you be disappointed by that?" Frankie said out loud, Draculaura stared at them with wide eyes. Frankie sent a horrified expression back, "Bolts. Did I say that outloud?"
"Who dares to speak against me?" Dracula asked.
Frankie Sheepishly steps in front of the portrait, despite Draculaura rapidly shaking her head. "Frankie. Frankie Stein, They/Them. I was just wondering, why it's so bad that Draculaura likes witchcraft?"
"Frankie!" Draculaura whispered harshly.
"Vampires and witches have been at war for centuries! It's a filthy habit of our human enemy and we shall not give in! It's dangerous!" Dracula said.
"But Draculaura is a witch and a vampire." Frankie said, not seeing the difference "She's not at war with herself." they paused, looking at their friend. "You're not, are you?"
Draculaura shook her head.
"See?" Frankie continued, "Witchcraft makes her happy. You should see her, she's really good. It's awesome. How can you be mad at her for something that makes her happy and she's really good at?"
Dracula's portrait scowled, "We will discuss this later Draculaura. I need to get ready for tonight's feast."
The portrait went still.
Frankie blinked, then realized they just talked back to Draculaura's father, "Oh sparks." Frankie brought their hands to their mouths and frantically looked between the portrait and their friend, "I'm so sorry, Draculaura, I was thinking it and it just came out. I will probably make everything worse." They looked at Draculaura and saw that she did not look displeased in the least. They dropped their hands, "You're smiling? Why are you smiling? Are you in shock?"
Draculaura actually laughed, "No, Frankie. I just never had the courage to stand up to my dad like that and you..." she stood, shaking her head in disbelief, "You defended me. Meaning to or not, that means a lot to me."
"Oh." Frankie said.
"Now, how are we going to open that door?" Draculaura asked.
"We can try the spell again." Frankie suggested.
"But my book-"
"I got it covered." Frankie smiled.
Draculaura cocked her head to the side in confusion.
The smaller monster tapped their head, "I remember almost everything, remember?" Their finger popped off, "Oops." They picked it up and continued, "I memorized the page." Frankie went over to their side of the room and flipped open a notebook and began writing, "Go get ready, and I'll write this down, then you can make some more."
Draculaura smiled with a nod, "Frankie, you are awesome."
Frankie didn't register the compliment as Draculaura grabbed her clothes and headed to the shower room to get changed. Draculaura reappeared just as Frankie finished. They went to get ready themselves.
When they returned, Draculaura ws putting the finished potion in a plastic baggie and putting it in her purse.
"Okay." Frankie said, "How do we find her?"
Draculaura thought for a moment before pulling open her phone. "You remember that find my feinds app we signed up for the other day?"
Frankie lit up in recognition, opening their own iCoffin. "She still has it active!"
Draculaura smiled. "Then what are we waiting for?"
They headed across campus and went through the portal, leaving them in the middle of the woods next to a road. Frankie opened the app again and pointed in a direction, "This way!"
Draculaura followed them.
"Frankie, what do we do if the spell can't open the door?" Draculaura asked after fifteen minutes.
Frankie stopped and looked to be in thought, "I suppose then we would find where Hyde was buried. If that didn't work we could probably find some dynamite somewhere." Frankie grinned, "Maybe we make that option A?"
Draculaura laughed, "You're a little mad scientist."
"Thank you." Frankie said as they continued on.
It was another hour before Frankie saw that Clawdeen's dot was close and heard the sound of humans.
"I think we've almost caught up to her!" Frankie said, stumbling over a bush. They looked up to see Draculaura already sitting with Clawdeen on the wooden bleachers, "Oh, hi." Frankie was happy to see their friend alive and well.
Frankie walked over to sit down on clawdeen's other side.
"How did you find me?" Clawdeen asked.
Frankie held up their phone, "You didn't turn off your Find my Fiends app. It's alarmingly accurate."
"That's right." Drcaulaura stated, "We're friends, remember? We're not letting you run away when you need us the most."
Clawdeen gave her a scared look, "If I go back, I just put everyone in danger. Let's face it, I'm not monster enough for monster high." The took her hand out of her pocket, her very human looking hand. "Look at me. I don't belong there. I don't belong anywhere."
"You belong with us, Clawdeen." Draculaura said.
Clawdeen leapt up abruptly, "But I don't know how to stay with you!"
She quickly moved down the bleachers before they could stop her. She picked up her bags to run again but tripped and landed hard in the mud.
"Clawdeen!" Frankie and Draculaura shouted.
They went to help the werewolf up when Clawdeen stared, confused, at the hand print her human hand left behind. It looked oddly like the one on the stone structure containing Hyde's lab.
"Wait, is that…" Clawdeen stared at it.
Frankie studied the print, "It looks like…"
"It sure does." Draculaura concurred.
Clawdeen looked to Frankie, "So you think?"
Frankie shrugged, "I don't know."
"It's worth a shot right?" Draculaura asked.
Sure Frankie was mildly disappointed that they couldn't blow up the door but it was probably for the best. They didn't know what the lab was like and they couldn't risk destroying the potion by accident.
They all found themselves moving quickly back into the woods and towards the portal. There wasn't really room between breaths to chat.
Once they reached the school grounds, it was getting late. Clawdeen stopped and saw Bloodgood greeting monsters as they arrived at the school.
"The founder's dinner." Clawdeen said, "I completely forgot."
"My dad's coming." Draculaura looked at Clawdeen, "Aren't you supposed to give a speech?"
"Yes." Clawdeen said nervously, "to honor my mother." She then got a determined look in her eye, "Let's just get this done."
Quickly, the trio moved to the cemetery and soon found themselves facing the stone structure yet again.
"Now what?" Draculaura asked, "Do we need to freak you out so you turn human?"
Frankie turned towards Clawdeen, "Pretend I'm Duce."
"What?" Clawdeen questioned, "No, I think I got this now."
She held her hand in front of her and concentrated. Sure enough, the claws retreated and was left with a very human hand.
Frankie thought it was still really cool, "It's like you have a superpower that makes you less powerful."
"Hopefully not for long." Clawdeen said as she placed her hand over the lock.
There was a sound of gears turning as the mechanism released and the door slid open.
"You just needed a human hand." Draculaura stated, "Hyde's secret half."
Frankie grabbed their phone and turned on the flashlight. "Let's do this." They were the first to enter.
They opened a second, wooden door down a short hallway. What they found wasn't a lab but a tomb with loss and branches surrounding a grave.
"It's just a tomb." Draculaura said.
"An ogre's tomb from the looks of it." Frankie said, scanning the area, "Hey, it's Agmon the terrible." Frankie went and got a closer look at th burial spot. This was something they actually learned in Professor's Komos's class. He died in the war of 1357.
"Hyde's lab is here, it has to be." Clawdeen said, looking along the walls.
While Frankie was distracted with Agmon's tomb, they noticed something under the monocle. It was and eye but there eas something written on it.
"Hey look at this." Frankie removed the monocle, "Under the monocle, it's Hyde's code."
"What does it say?" Asked Draculaura.
"It says 'push'" Frankie said.
Clawdeen looked to be bursting with excitement, "It's a button!"
"It's an eye." Frankie said, it was very clearly an eye.
"It's a button." Clawdeen argued.
"It's an eye."
"It's a button." Clawdeen insisted, "Try it."
Frankie did like new experienced so they pressed into it. It might be the worst thing they ever felt, "It's an eye." they cringed as a sound of shifting stone filled the tomb. Part of the wall in front of them slid away to reveal a wooden door.
"And a button!" Draculaura exclaimed as she and clawdeen walked towards it.
"We were both right." Clawdeen stated.
Frankie removed their finger from the eye, their entire body feeling icky just from touching it, "Great." They said as they wiped the eye goop off on to their jacket. They could wash it later. Several times. They wished they weren't right for once.
Now, behind the door was another long cavern. Frankie was the only one who brought their phone in so they led the way.
Soon they came to an opening and a switch.
When Clawdeen pulled it, the opening of the cave lit up, revealing what Frankie hoped a secret lab would look like.
"Wow" Clawdeen said a frankie moved further in, seeing a table of chemicals and beakers
"Is that Calcium chloride?" Frankie said excitedly, "Ammonium nitrate? Oh, is this plutonium?" Frankie picked up the jar, "Have I died again and gone to mad scientist monster heaven?" They jumped excitedly. All the possibilities were exciting. Maybe they could change the lock? Or take some of this with them?
"Stay on mission, Frankie." Draculaura reminded them.
They knew they should but they couldn't help it, "Can I just make one teensy inteensy little explosion first?"
As Frankie was looking at all the chemicals, Clawdeen called out, pulling them out of their focus, "We found it."
"That's fangtastic!" Draculaura said.
Frankie grinned and rubbed their hands together, "Hi-five."
Then, Frankie realized that Clawdeen didn't look as happy as they would have thought they would. They worked hard to find that potion.
"What's wrong?" Draculaura asked.
"If I drink this, it's like I'm erasing him." Clawdeen said with tearful eyes.
"Erasing who?" Frankie asked. This was what she wanted, right?
"My dad." Clawdeen said, "My secret half is him."
Right. Frankie thought. They were only with their parents for two weeks but they understood the importance of family.
"Do I really wanna just give up who I am?" Clawdeen asked.
"No, you don't." A voice spoke, Frankie turned to see Komos staring at them.
"Mr. Komos, we can explain." Frankie spoke quickly, moving closer to their half-human friend.
"There's no need to explain, Frankie" He said, then looked to Clawdeen, "I was worried this was your plan. Clawdeen, do not take that potion. Trust me. I know that it's like to feel like an outsider, to have to keep secrets. I'm part human too.
Well, that was definitely unexpected. Frankie didn't know where to begin.
"Giving up who you are, this isn't the answer." Komos held his hand our, "I know a better way.
Clawdeen looked to her friends and Frankie, at least, agreed with him. They were all for helping their friend stay at Monster High, this was just the easiest way.
Clawdeen handed over the potion. What none of them were expecting was for Komos to chug it down himself. Frankie was mildly disturbed but still fascinated to see Komos's body change. It looked painful.
Frankie didn't feel pride when Komos complimented them on cracking Hyde's code. They were terrified. Komos was far more terrifying now than Bloodgood could ever be. Now, Komos was going to destroy Monster High then seek revenge on humans and that…couldn't happen. Right?
Hyde, fully transformed into 'the ultimate monster', started to walk towards the trio. Frankie didn't have any monster powers. They felt helpless. Clawdeen grabbed Frankie and shielded them. Frankie held on to her as they moved away.
The next thing they knew, Draculaura was on the ground and Hyde boasted about stealing her powers. Draculaura didn't look good. Frankie knew they needed to get away.
Frankie looked to the table at the villas of ammonium nitrate and then to the tin that looked to contain various metals.
Hoping they were right, they quickly grabbed the vial and poured it in the tin. The combination ignited, stunning Hyde. They quickly helped Clawdeen with Draculaura and ushered them towards the exit.
"Hurry." Frankie said to Clawdeen as she locked Hyde in the tunnel. Draculaura was heavier than she looked.
"He's not gonna stop." Clawdeen said.
"I'm so weak." groaned Draculaura.
They made their way towards the exit.
"We need to get her help and warn everyone." Clawdeen stated.
They heard Hyde scream in rage as Frankie went to the door, only to find it locked.
"Wait, no!" Frankie said, "He locked the door. We can't get out."
Hyde pounded on the tunnel door, "Very smart, Frankie! You can't get out!"
Draculaura couldn't hold herself up any more and collapsed. Frankie felt so lost. They didn't know what to do. They jumped as Hyde pounded harder on the door.
"What do we do?" Frankie pleaded.
"Quick, call someone." Clawdeen urged.
"Okay." Frankie took out their phone, not at a loss, "How?"
"You haven't used your phone as a phone yet?"
"I just thought it was for social media." Frankie said, frantically fiddling with the device, "And the only friends I have in here are you two." they hesitated, "And well… Cleo."
"Cleo?" Clawdeen looked relieved, "Go live!"
Frankie did as they were told and pointed the camera at Clawdeen. They really hoped the mummy got the message.
"I hope this works." Frankie said, pacing anxiously.
"It will." Clawdeen said, "Cleo wouldn't let someone destroy monster high. I hope."
"You hope!?" Frankie exclaimed, starting to shake their fists at their sides.
"She kind of owes me for saving her life." Clawdeen tried to assure with a shrug.
Hyde pounded on the door more. Dust started to fall from the frame.
"That door's not gonna hold." Frankie said.
"We gotta get outta here."
"Hey?" Draculaura said. THe vampire managed to get onto her feet behind them, "I can try the spell again. The mist of releasing."
"Your powers are gone." Clawdeen reminded her.
"My monster powers." She clarified, "Witchcraft is different."
Clawdeen and Frankie helped Draculaura to the door. Like before, green mist flowed out from Draculaura's hands and engulfed the door. Only this time, it didn't turn to dust. The lock on the door glowed green and unlatched.
Frankie went and opened the door before helping Clawdeen with Draculaura.
As they left the tomb, Deuce called for Clawdeen before he saw Draculaura.
"Is she okay?" He asked
"I don't know." Clawdeen's voice cracked, "Komos did this. He can take our powers."
"Oh, my Ra!" Frankie didn't ever think they'd be happy to hear Cleo's voice.
She was followed closely by Lagoona, Ghoulia, Abby and Heath.
The wooden door to the tomb burst open and Komos walked out.
"You kids are really starting to annoy me." He said.
"Is that Komos?" Cleo questioned.
Frankie let Draculaura fully lean on them in case they had to run again, as Clawdeen approached their, apparently, evil professor.
"Oh." He said, "We have company."
Suddenly they could only hear the school's wailing. Frankie covered their ears the best they could, still protectively holding on to Draculaura.
"This school is so weird." Komos said.
"I wouldn't do anything you don't want the world to see." Cleo said, taking out her phone. The others followed suit.
Heath spoke, "You'll have to get through us first."
"Not a problem." Hyde stepped forward, but Clawdeen got in his way.
"Mr. Komos-Hyde." she corrected, "Please. You don't have to do this."
Hyde looked almost sympathetic, "Clawdeen, I'm sorry you got mixed up in all this. You're just like me. An innocent victim with no place in this world." He then turned and shrugged, "But what can you do?"
He went to attack her but Deuce yelled and got between them, removing his glasses. Hyde was quicker however, closing his eyes and laughing before reaching out and stealing Deuce's power too. It all happened so fast when Deuce was thrown backwards.
Clawdeen went after him and Frankie watched in despair as they could do nothing to help. Deuce turned to stone with Clawdeen hovering over them. That was the werewolf's breaking point. She turned full human before their very eyes, shocking the other students around them.
"I knew there was something about her." Cleo said.
The school screamed again, Cracking the tomb.
Frankie wasn't expecting what Cleo did next. The mummy knelt beside her, a comforting hand on Clawdeen's shoulder. Frankie couldn't hear what she told her, but Cleo handed her phone to Clawdeen.
"Oh my gosh." Hyde bemoaned, "Friendship, sacrifice. This is all so touching. All my dad wanted was to stay here, where he thought he belonged, but everyone betrayed him. Just because his blood wasn't true enough." he stared down the group, "Well, it's vengeance time. So if you'll excuse me."
"No." The human Clawdeen stepped forward.
"Clawdeen?" He questioned.
He attempted to take her powers as she kept walking towards him.
"Kinda hard to take my monster powers when I'm only human." She said with a shaky voice.
"Hyde laughed as he walked backwards, "What are you gonna do? Don't you understand what kind of powers I have?"
For a moment, Frankie feared that lawdeen would turn to stone but she looked away in time.
"Yeah, I know exactly what powers you have." Clawdeen said, suddenly thrusting Cleo's phone into his face, "Smile."
Frankie stared wide eyed. It was genius. Hyde stared down his reflection with his gorgon abilities and started to turn to stone. His screams were quickly silenced as the stone fully encased him.
Everyone cheered but all Frankie could feel was relief.
Suddenly, a wave burst out of Hyde's statue. When it passed through Draculaura, she gasped and sat up straight. Frankie was so relieved, they cheered, "She's okay!" and hugged their friend.
Another gasp came when Deuce was released from his stone prison. Frankie wasn't entirely sure how that was possible but they were thankful that it apparently was..
Though Deuce stared questioningly at Clawdeen's human form, he only saw the person and enveloped her into a hug.
"This way!" Called Bloodgood as she ran into the graveyard, followed by Dracula.
"Clawdeen." She said
"Draculaura!" Dracula called and rushed to his daughter as Frankie helped her up, "Oh, my little demon."
Frankie smiled, grateful that he was no longer upset about the witchcraft, just thankful she was alright.
"I'm okay, Dad." She assured him. "I'm ok."
"Thank bats." he said, wrapping his arm around her as they, and Frankie, rejoined the others.
"Headmistress Bloodgood, it was Mr. Komos, he-" Cleo started, seemingly trying to defend Clawdeen. But the headmistress silenced her with a hand.
She stared at Clawdeen, "You're human?"
Clawdeen nodded, "Yes, I am. I'm a monster, and I'm human." She shrugged, "this is the real me."
The headmistress didn't seem to know what to say.
"She stopped Komos." Cleo said.
"She saved us." Frankie added, Cleo turning to meet their eyes with a smile.
"I don't know what to say." Bloodgood said, "I am glad you are all safe."
"Maybe it wasn't Clawdeen." Draculaura said.
"Yeah, maybe the school was worried about Komos." Frankie noted.
"Headmistress, if Clawdeen was a threat to Monster High, she wouldn't have saved us." Deuce said.
Cleo stepped forward, "You even saw her save me even after how I treated her and her friends."
"You can't just send her out to the human world to get killed like Hyde was." Frankie said.
"That would make us no better than other humans." Draculaura stated.
Bloodgood started to silence the teens, "For now, I want everyone to return to their dorms. We shall figure out what to do in the morning."
Without another word, the headmistress turned on her heel and walked towards the school, followed by Dracula after kissing the top of his daughter's head.
The teens, after a moment, left too. Shortly after passing through the cemetery gate, Clawdeen became a full wolf once again, bags now not nearly as heavy.
"Woah." Heath said.
"That is really cool." Deuce said with a grin.
Clawdeen smiled sadly, "The jig is up. I'm gonna get expelled."
Frankie frowned, "Maybe they'll make an exception."
Draculaura nodded, "You did just save the school and the humans."
"I for one think this whole excluding half monsters to be completely outdated." Cleo piped up. The group stopped to stare at her, "What? It's not the dark ages anymore. It would be like," Gesturing to Frankie, "Telling them they aren't real because of their gender."
Frankie gave her a confused look, "You aren't going to make fun of me?"
Cleo sighed and gave Frankie a small smile, "No. I was doing some thinking and realized that making fun of your parts was no better than what those boys did by harassing you on the first day of school."
"You were harassed?" Clawdeen growled, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Frankie shrugged, "I didn't think I needed to. Cleo took care of it."
Clawdeen stared wide eyed at the mummy, "You?"
Cleo simply shrugged.
The rest of the walk was silent as they all split off to their dorms. Lagoon waved enthusiastically at Frankie who returned it with just as much enthusiasm.
"Since when are you and Lagoona friends?" Draculaura asked.
Frankie gave them a quizzical look, "We're not?"
Draculaura and Clawdeen looked at each other and shrugged, getting ready for bed. Frankie tried to stretch out, muscles starting to feel tight and sore. They figured they must have been moving around more than they're used to. It has been a long few days.
A/N
Honestly, really liked writing Frankie in this one. Sometimes not having a filter isn't a bad thing
