A/N: This is a story that came to my mind as soon as I finished chapter 544. Post 544 with spoilers and with addition of new characters. I took some liberties with the time as it's not very clear how long it's been since the events started. So consider for this story that it's been ~3 years since the start of the first chapter up to chapter 544 of the story of Noblesse. None of the characters of the Noblesse or the Noblesse manhwa belong to me. I only own this story and the OC characters.

Summary: This is post 544 and it just continues from where the story was left. Something is going to happen to the family of Noblesse that they really were not expecting. It remains to be seen if it is for better or worse.


Prologue: The Aftermath

After the incident

The confinements were tight. The air not well ventilated and the breathing was shallow. In sleep, never to stir, never to turn; only to flinch, waiting for the day of freedom and buried in lost consciousness. Darkness was not an enemy anymore. It was now, what used to be around these days.

Now

As the humans have done in many occasions of crisis and change, they did the same thing now. They adjusted and moved on with their lives. The revelation of the existence of different intelligent species on the earth went from shocking to frightening to thinking it was all a stunt from a madman who gained big military influence, taken advantage of it and thought that he was a god. The many hints that other kind of species such as werewolves and the like were existing, were slowly but steadily dismissed as an indulgence to myths and an iconic recreation of them in order for the attackers to be shown as otherworldly and god-like. As for the live declaration of one of the species, it was believed that was fake; with actors and such. The circle was continued and in a matter of three months, everything was as much forgotten; humans were always moving fast, as they kept going on and on as much as their lives were permitting it.

And the school of YE RAN in South Korea was still there. Still accepting students and offering them one of the best education programs a school could offer. And with that came great opportunities in life, career-wise. The school was designed for the students to feel welcomed and encouraged to learn and evolve.

But what was a really special thing amongst others was the existence of security guards; always there for the safety of the kids and the school grounds. The students didn't seem to mind. They sometimes greeted them or others were just nodding in respect – that would be the freshmen. The older students though, especially the cheekiest ones, even had made nick-name for the one that was the longest there. They were calling him with the honorific of "old guy". Was it because he was the one who was longer there than the other two? Or perhaps because of the fact that his hair was already a middle hue of grey even though his face looked young? No one really knew. It didn't seem to irk him that much. Well, at least not the last 2 years. He was usually quiet and had a lonely expression on his face. He smiled rarely. The other two were Takeo and Tao. Takeo had been friends with Tao long before they got the job at the school. He could be called the most normal one of the two as opposed to Tao who was overly friendly, sometimes to the point of annoying, but all in all a good sport. His genius mind made him an ace in computers and technology and even though you wouldn't see it from the beginning, he was pretty responsible. Sometimes though, he was really thankful that Takeo was there to bring him down to earth.

All three of them were modified humans. After the recent incident three months ago, and the following of a great tragedy, their goal turned into a fight of keeping the normality of their lives but also never stop hoping. They had to believe that a certain someone, in whose existence and kindness they owed their dear lives, wasn't gone forever.

The headmaster of the school, headmaster Lee as many knew him by, was absent all these months. Frankenstein, as some people closer to him knew him by, was still looking for his master, the one who gave him hope that even someone as him could still do good and control himself and whatever dark power lied in him. He was still looking, never resting, never stopping. He had felt at the time the connection with his master shutter. He felt the Noblesse disappearing but he was way too stubborn to give up without turning every stone he could find until he had undeniable proof. Him together with the third elder of the Union, that now was practically non-existent, were to gather every detail and every data they could in order to find what happened after that fated moment when the missiles hit them. Even if there was some evidence that a noble had entered eternal sleep, there was no body of the other one. The Noblesse's best friend; the werewolf Muzaka. That was strange indeed. He had survived stronger calamities, even for a missile there had to be a body. Frankenstein would not let this go uninvestigated.

And now in a construction, that was previously a Union base for storage of various things, he was going to discover something; maybe not what he wanted but definitely something that he did not expect.

…"At the ex-Union construction"

The third elder was typing on the computer silently. He was told that he wasn't to talk to Frankenstein unless he was able to discover a trace that was supposedly going to give them a clue of the direction the Noblesse, Raizel, could have been thrown after the contact with the missile. And so he did just that; searching. And then the most unexpected thing was heard.

"Say, Third Elder, what is your actual name?"

The slight tensing of the muscles of his back and shoulders were the only signs that the question came as a big surprise to the third elder.

"Why are you asking all of the sudden? What brought this up?"

"Hm. I don't know. After all those months of researching together and given the fact that now that the Union is finished and your title doesn't apply anymore, thought occurred that I would ask you your name." Frankenstein answered very casually like they were talking about the weather.

The third elder raised an eyebrow thinking crankily "Now, you want to know the name? It sure took you long enough." he thought with sarcasm.

"My name huh?" he thought for a while. When was the last time he was called by it?

Frankenstein mistook his silence as sign of being uncomfortable "You don't need to answer if-"

"My name is Haji. You can call me that if you want."

"Haji huh? What does it mean?"

"I don't know. I left Somalia at the age of two when my mother died. That's what she used to call me as a nick name I think. It's been years since then. I grew up in Eastern Europe. I don't remember- I'm sorry. I keep babbling. I will stop now."

"My demand for quiet has driven you mad, hasn't it?" asked Frankenstein without turning his head from the screen of his computer and the several maps that rested beside it.

"To be honest…yes" he smiled to himself and then continued as he now noticed a small yellow light on the screen next to him, going on and off as a reminder of something. "But it's not the only thing that has done so…"

As he clicked there, a camera-footage came across the screen and it looked like it was in vivo. A room full of darkness was seen and the only thing that indicated that there wasn't a blank screen was the smallest ray of light that came through a very thin opening of the door, covered with plexi-glass. The reminder next to the footage wrote [HYPNOTIC DOSAGE REQUIRED]. That was strange occurrence. Hypnotics for what? Was this the storage room for drugs? The storage was pretty vast and most of the rooms weren't of use to neither of them so they didn't bother checking them all. To them the ones that mattered were the data room and all its technological equipment plus the radars and of course, the construction's good location. Haji didn't know the place very well as it was originally in Crombel's jurisdiction but from the reports it was rarely visited and the action was slow. That is if the reports were true.

So it came as a shock to him that after all the turmoil that happened and the abandonment of the place, that somebody thought of setting a reminder for…he still didn't know what.

"Frankenstein?"

"What is it?"

"I think that there are some things that we should have checked in this building when we came here".

"What are you talking about?" he now was turned and a little alarmed from his companion's worried tone.

"I am talking about…" he started saying as he went through the lights' settings and made the room that he was looking through the screen, lighter. And his suspicions were confirmed. Slowly, as he still wasn't believing it, he turned his chair to face Frankenstein and showed the screen "…this".

There was a confined human in that room.

To be continued...


Edit 4/11/21: Just making some minor corrections. Nothing that affects the story though.