Adapt to Live [Part 12]
Nov. 12th, 2015 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Noblesse
Summary: It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it was possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 2,309
Total word count: 27,014
Status: Work in progress
"My stomach is squirming." Was it reacting to the water?
"Hm," Tao said. "When did it start doing that?"
M-21 frowned. "When you said you were hurt."
"I'm fine, kid," Tao said, smiling and waving a hand. "Like I told Boss, I'm mostly healed up, so I'll be back to normal soon."
The squirming in their stomach eased and M-21 nodded. "Okay." That… It was good to know that.
When M-21 turned to Tao's Boss -it was the demon they'd met before- the other demon dipped their head, flaring their wings out. "We haven't been formally introduced yet - I'm Frankenstein."
M-21 blinked at them. "It's really Frankenstein?" M-21 had thought they would have used a different name compared to the names humans knew them by.
Frankenstein straightened, folding their wings behind them again, and nodded. "It makes it easier for us rather than trying to remember which name we're currently going by, and so we don't end up slipping and calling each other by a name we'd used in the, say, fifteenth century. It's best to stay consistent."
Frankenstein didn't say anything else, watching them, waiting. M-21 felt their new ears fold over as they looked away from Frankenstein's gaze when they realised what they were waiting for. "I don't have a name." After seeing how Tao had reacted to everything else, they could guess telling them their placeholder designation wouldn't be taken well either.
"I see." Frankenstein studied them. "Would you like to pick one out for yourself?"
M-21's draw dropped open as they stared at Frankenstein. "I can do that?" They could choose their name? Choosing clothes was one thing - it would be difficult, but they could choose anything that fit. Choosing their name... To earn a name was a privilege, an honour. To just give themself a name...
But they were no longer an angel, no longer tied to Heaven. The hole in their head where their connection with the Lord was still there, proving that.
"Of course," Frankenstein said, taking off their jacket and hanging it up on the hanger next to the door.
M-21 looked between Frankenstein and Tao, who had started pouring their own drink. If they were able to say that so easily, then they must have chosen their own names. "How did you choose?
Frankenstein chuckled, pressing buttons on a machine in the kitchen. "Please sit - there's no need to stand anymore." M-21 did that as Frankenstein fetched a cup from a cupboard. "I didn't. My Lord chose my name for me."
"And Boss chose mine," Tao said, pointing at Frankenstein.
M-21 looked between them again. "You chose it?" they said, directing the question at Frankenstein. An angel chose another angel's name?
"It seemed to fit." Frankenstein peered at them over the cup in their hand. "Is that not how it happens in Heaven?"
Tao snorted before M-21 could answer.
"No..." M-21 said, shaking their head. "We're..." The words were trapped in M-21's throat, and they weren't sure about continuing. Not when they'd seen how Tao reacted.
"It's all right," Frankenstein said, "we won't be mad at what you tell us."
"I'm way more pissed off at the one who did this, not you," Tao added, nodding. "This isn't your fault."
It wasn't? But maybe they should have known that there was something wrong if Tao had reacted so much to what was going on in Heaven?
M-21 ducked their head and took a deeper breath, feeling their heart settle down a little from that action. They would tell them, then. "We're given a designation, something that says what batch we were created in and the order." M-21 rubbed their mark out of habit and, Frankenstein and Tao followed what their hands were doing before looking up at M-21's face again. "We need to do a task for our Lord to earn a name. They're the one who names us."
"They are?" Frankenstein repeated, their voice soft. "Why not the angel who created you?"
M-21 stared at them, not understanding the question. "Our Lord created us. Who created you?"
"My Lord did," Frankenstein said, "but that was because Muzaka and I were the first angels our Lord had created. After that, Muzaka and I started creating angels and naming them."
So if Tao called Frankenstein their Boss…They had been literal, that Frankenstein was the one who had created them.
"But it does make me curious - who is the Lord right now?" Frankenstein asked.
...The Lord was the Lord. How were they supposed to answer that in a different way?
"Hm." Frankenstein sipped their drink. "That wasn't a very clear question." Their brow creased for a brief second before it smoothened again. "Have you seen their face?"
M-21 nodded. "When They gave me my task."
"Can you describe what they looked like?"
What their Lord looked like? A description wasn't needed for their Lord, because of the aura that surrounded them declared who they are, and M-21 would know their Lord because they knew who they had a connection with. What They looked like...?
"They have short, grey hair. Shorter than Tao's," M-21 said, trying to remember the features they'd seen. M-21 had been honoured that their Lord had created them in Their image when they had finally been able to see their Lord for the first time. "Grey eyes and They have a beard." M-21 indicated where it lay with a hand. They paused, seeing both Tao and Frankenstein frown.
"Hey, Boss," Tao said, turning to Frankenstein, "isn't that...?"
"It sounds like Crombell, yes," Frankenstein finished, their frown deepening. "They must have taken over when we left. Though that does clear a few things up…"
"It does?" M-21 said. And those two knew their Lord? ...Who wasn't their Lord anymore, but they couldn't stop the habit of calling Them 'their Lord'.
Frankenstein sipped their drink again. "Crombell was one of the angels who worked alongside me. They weren't the most imaginative," Frankenstein said with a snort, "but they were very willing to do anything. That also explains why the demons never changed."
"Never changed?" M-21 echoed. "Aren't angels supposed to look like...you." They frowned, looking down at their claws. Of all the demons they had encountered, none of the demons had looked like them. They thought all demons were supposed to look like Tao and Frankenstein, with horns, black wings and spaded tails. Why were they different?
"It's something of something that we only found out when we came to the physical realm," Frankenstein said. "We all looked similar in Heaven, but when we passed through the barrier, the changes we went through changed depending on who had created us." Frankenstein nodded towards M-21. "Muzaka and I had different ways of creating angels, had different ideals that only showed themselves when angels of different creators passed through the barrier."
"If I were to make a guess, Crombell hasn't been creating new angels with their own ideas, but by looking through my own notes and using those instead, which is why the majority of demons look like they were of my own creations." Frankenstein peered at M-21, their face softening. "Your changes are far more reminiscent of Muzaka's creations than my own."
M-21 stared down at their claws again. Was that why they looked like they did, not because the Lord had made them differently from the others, but was using another angel's notes about how to make angels? ...They had more reason to believe Frankenstein, who hadn't lied to them than the current Lord, who seemed to have lied about everything they had ever said.
"But that now leaves the question of what Crombell is trying to do here," Frankenstein said, starting to dig through the fridge after setting down their cup. "If Crombell is the Lord, there's not reason for Them to make angels to send them through here."
Tao looked at M-21 and M-21 shook their head, their stomach starting to hurt again. "I was only told that I was created for this task to kill as many demons here while staying as an angel and I would earn my name from that. I thought I was protecting humans."
"Well, kid, you were," Tao said, giving them a small smile. "A lot of the demons here do hurt the humans here - you just ended up running across pretty much the only ones who weren't."
Even so, why would the Lord lie about everything else?
"What was the reason in trying to make angels that wouldn't change when they passed through the barrier?" Frankenstein mused. "They know that was the entire reason for the barrier."
"Unless it's to prove you wrong, Boss," Tao said, crossing their arms. "You made sure that anyone who passed through barrier would change into a demon. If Crombell could make an angel that didn't change, that would mean They were a better creator of angels than you."
This time, Frankenstein snorted. "And They did it by using my own information to create it, though that would be some irony if They used my own work against me."
M-21's gaze lowered, and they stared at the table, at the items that were on top of it. Was that why they and their batchmates had been created and sent to the physical realm to turn into demons? To say They were better than Frankenstein?
M-21 had thought the Lord had made them for a reason, because they had been wanted. But if the Lord had just made them for...this…
M-21 was having a hard time breathing again, their throat closing up.
"Hey, kid."
M-21 jerked at the light touch at their wings. Tao was standing next to them - they hadn't heard Tao approach.
"My apologies," Frankenstein said. "We were being insensitive."
M-21 shook their head. They wanted to know why the Lord had done everything They had, and Frankenstein and Tao would have a better idea, since they knew the current Lord.
"I almost proved They had been able to do it," M-21 said, their hands curling into fists. Their batchmates had died, so many angels had been changed just for this. At least they had still changed into a demon; they could start seeing it as something positive.
"Hmm," Frankenstein said, watching them. "You were in this realm for a number of days, weren't you? Before transforming."
M-21 nodded. They hadn't kept a track of how long they had been staying.
"Then I would say that this had been a success."
M-21 stared at them, their tense muscles loosening. "But I turned into a demon."
Frankenstein hummed. "Do you know what happened to make you change into a demon?"
What had happened to make them change into a demon? ...They had rejected their Lord. That's when they had changed. "I rejected the Lord."
Frankenstein nodded. "Then it wasn't that your physical body had been changed by the barrier. It was your choice to leave the Lord."
It had been because of them? They'd chosen to leave the Lord and that was what made them change? Was that why it had happened?
"Me?" M-21 said. ...Well, yes, it was what they'd wanted, wasn't it? M-21 started rubbing their head again, like they could grip the missing link and pull it back into place.
"Hey, hey." Tao's words were soft as they took M-21's hand away from their head. "You'll hurt yourself doing that."
"But if I was a success, then why would the Lord keep sending more angels over?" M-21 said, trying to press their other hand to their forehead. "M-82 had still been in Heaven when I left. There was no reason to send them over if They knew I hadn't changed into a demon."
Frankenstein was frowning. "How would they have known you hadn't changed?"
They wouldn't… "But They wouldn't know that I hadn't either." So. The Lord would keep sending over more angels no matter if they had or hadn't change.
"No," Frankenstein said, "there has to be a way for Crombell to know. And...I'm sorry, I shouldn't keep talking about this since it's distressing you."
"I'm fine," M-21 mumbled, and Tao had both their hands now.
"If your head is hurting, I could give you something to help with the pain," Frankenstein said.
"It's not hurting," M-21 said, far too aware of the space instead of their head again. It didn't feel like everything else they'd felt with the rest of their body.
"Kid," Tao said, pulling a chair over somehow. They didn't take their hands away from M-21's and they focused on their touch. "Is this about the connection?"
M-21 nodded.
"Connection...?" Frankenstein said.
"Yeah," Tao said, turning their face towards Frankenstein. "Kid told me that Crombell's been connecting Themself with everyone They make. When the kid turned into a demon, the connection disappeared."
No. It had been ripped out, taking parts of M-21 with it.
"A number of the demons we'd seen recently had been clutching their head," Tao continued.
"...I'm not surprised - when we made the barrier, none of us had thought about what would happen if the angel was still connected with something in Heaven. With the amount of change that happens when an angel becomes a demon, then yes, the connection being severed isn't that surprising."
"Then..." M-21 said, finding their voice again, "it's not because the Lord is punishing me?" Not being turned into a demon, not losing their connection with Them?
"From what I would know so far, I wouldn't think so." When M-21 looked up, Frankenstein was leaning back on the kitchen counter, tapping their cheek. "It sounds like an unfortunate outcome to being turned into a demon."
"Hey, kid…?" Tao said, and M-21 turned their attention back to them. "What can Crombell do with that connection? Just know where you are, or is there more to it?"
Summary: It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it was possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 2,309
Total word count: 27,014
Status: Work in progress
"My stomach is squirming." Was it reacting to the water?
"Hm," Tao said. "When did it start doing that?"
M-21 frowned. "When you said you were hurt."
"I'm fine, kid," Tao said, smiling and waving a hand. "Like I told Boss, I'm mostly healed up, so I'll be back to normal soon."
The squirming in their stomach eased and M-21 nodded. "Okay." That… It was good to know that.
When M-21 turned to Tao's Boss -it was the demon they'd met before- the other demon dipped their head, flaring their wings out. "We haven't been formally introduced yet - I'm Frankenstein."
M-21 blinked at them. "It's really Frankenstein?" M-21 had thought they would have used a different name compared to the names humans knew them by.
Frankenstein straightened, folding their wings behind them again, and nodded. "It makes it easier for us rather than trying to remember which name we're currently going by, and so we don't end up slipping and calling each other by a name we'd used in the, say, fifteenth century. It's best to stay consistent."
Frankenstein didn't say anything else, watching them, waiting. M-21 felt their new ears fold over as they looked away from Frankenstein's gaze when they realised what they were waiting for. "I don't have a name." After seeing how Tao had reacted to everything else, they could guess telling them their placeholder designation wouldn't be taken well either.
"I see." Frankenstein studied them. "Would you like to pick one out for yourself?"
M-21's draw dropped open as they stared at Frankenstein. "I can do that?" They could choose their name? Choosing clothes was one thing - it would be difficult, but they could choose anything that fit. Choosing their name... To earn a name was a privilege, an honour. To just give themself a name...
But they were no longer an angel, no longer tied to Heaven. The hole in their head where their connection with the Lord was still there, proving that.
"Of course," Frankenstein said, taking off their jacket and hanging it up on the hanger next to the door.
M-21 looked between Frankenstein and Tao, who had started pouring their own drink. If they were able to say that so easily, then they must have chosen their own names. "How did you choose?
Frankenstein chuckled, pressing buttons on a machine in the kitchen. "Please sit - there's no need to stand anymore." M-21 did that as Frankenstein fetched a cup from a cupboard. "I didn't. My Lord chose my name for me."
"And Boss chose mine," Tao said, pointing at Frankenstein.
M-21 looked between them again. "You chose it?" they said, directing the question at Frankenstein. An angel chose another angel's name?
"It seemed to fit." Frankenstein peered at them over the cup in their hand. "Is that not how it happens in Heaven?"
Tao snorted before M-21 could answer.
"No..." M-21 said, shaking their head. "We're..." The words were trapped in M-21's throat, and they weren't sure about continuing. Not when they'd seen how Tao reacted.
"It's all right," Frankenstein said, "we won't be mad at what you tell us."
"I'm way more pissed off at the one who did this, not you," Tao added, nodding. "This isn't your fault."
It wasn't? But maybe they should have known that there was something wrong if Tao had reacted so much to what was going on in Heaven?
M-21 ducked their head and took a deeper breath, feeling their heart settle down a little from that action. They would tell them, then. "We're given a designation, something that says what batch we were created in and the order." M-21 rubbed their mark out of habit and, Frankenstein and Tao followed what their hands were doing before looking up at M-21's face again. "We need to do a task for our Lord to earn a name. They're the one who names us."
"They are?" Frankenstein repeated, their voice soft. "Why not the angel who created you?"
M-21 stared at them, not understanding the question. "Our Lord created us. Who created you?"
"My Lord did," Frankenstein said, "but that was because Muzaka and I were the first angels our Lord had created. After that, Muzaka and I started creating angels and naming them."
So if Tao called Frankenstein their Boss…They had been literal, that Frankenstein was the one who had created them.
"But it does make me curious - who is the Lord right now?" Frankenstein asked.
...The Lord was the Lord. How were they supposed to answer that in a different way?
"Hm." Frankenstein sipped their drink. "That wasn't a very clear question." Their brow creased for a brief second before it smoothened again. "Have you seen their face?"
M-21 nodded. "When They gave me my task."
"Can you describe what they looked like?"
What their Lord looked like? A description wasn't needed for their Lord, because of the aura that surrounded them declared who they are, and M-21 would know their Lord because they knew who they had a connection with. What They looked like...?
"They have short, grey hair. Shorter than Tao's," M-21 said, trying to remember the features they'd seen. M-21 had been honoured that their Lord had created them in Their image when they had finally been able to see their Lord for the first time. "Grey eyes and They have a beard." M-21 indicated where it lay with a hand. They paused, seeing both Tao and Frankenstein frown.
"Hey, Boss," Tao said, turning to Frankenstein, "isn't that...?"
"It sounds like Crombell, yes," Frankenstein finished, their frown deepening. "They must have taken over when we left. Though that does clear a few things up…"
"It does?" M-21 said. And those two knew their Lord? ...Who wasn't their Lord anymore, but they couldn't stop the habit of calling Them 'their Lord'.
Frankenstein sipped their drink again. "Crombell was one of the angels who worked alongside me. They weren't the most imaginative," Frankenstein said with a snort, "but they were very willing to do anything. That also explains why the demons never changed."
"Never changed?" M-21 echoed. "Aren't angels supposed to look like...you." They frowned, looking down at their claws. Of all the demons they had encountered, none of the demons had looked like them. They thought all demons were supposed to look like Tao and Frankenstein, with horns, black wings and spaded tails. Why were they different?
"It's something of something that we only found out when we came to the physical realm," Frankenstein said. "We all looked similar in Heaven, but when we passed through the barrier, the changes we went through changed depending on who had created us." Frankenstein nodded towards M-21. "Muzaka and I had different ways of creating angels, had different ideals that only showed themselves when angels of different creators passed through the barrier."
"If I were to make a guess, Crombell hasn't been creating new angels with their own ideas, but by looking through my own notes and using those instead, which is why the majority of demons look like they were of my own creations." Frankenstein peered at M-21, their face softening. "Your changes are far more reminiscent of Muzaka's creations than my own."
M-21 stared down at their claws again. Was that why they looked like they did, not because the Lord had made them differently from the others, but was using another angel's notes about how to make angels? ...They had more reason to believe Frankenstein, who hadn't lied to them than the current Lord, who seemed to have lied about everything they had ever said.
"But that now leaves the question of what Crombell is trying to do here," Frankenstein said, starting to dig through the fridge after setting down their cup. "If Crombell is the Lord, there's not reason for Them to make angels to send them through here."
Tao looked at M-21 and M-21 shook their head, their stomach starting to hurt again. "I was only told that I was created for this task to kill as many demons here while staying as an angel and I would earn my name from that. I thought I was protecting humans."
"Well, kid, you were," Tao said, giving them a small smile. "A lot of the demons here do hurt the humans here - you just ended up running across pretty much the only ones who weren't."
Even so, why would the Lord lie about everything else?
"What was the reason in trying to make angels that wouldn't change when they passed through the barrier?" Frankenstein mused. "They know that was the entire reason for the barrier."
"Unless it's to prove you wrong, Boss," Tao said, crossing their arms. "You made sure that anyone who passed through barrier would change into a demon. If Crombell could make an angel that didn't change, that would mean They were a better creator of angels than you."
This time, Frankenstein snorted. "And They did it by using my own information to create it, though that would be some irony if They used my own work against me."
M-21's gaze lowered, and they stared at the table, at the items that were on top of it. Was that why they and their batchmates had been created and sent to the physical realm to turn into demons? To say They were better than Frankenstein?
M-21 had thought the Lord had made them for a reason, because they had been wanted. But if the Lord had just made them for...this…
M-21 was having a hard time breathing again, their throat closing up.
"Hey, kid."
M-21 jerked at the light touch at their wings. Tao was standing next to them - they hadn't heard Tao approach.
"My apologies," Frankenstein said. "We were being insensitive."
M-21 shook their head. They wanted to know why the Lord had done everything They had, and Frankenstein and Tao would have a better idea, since they knew the current Lord.
"I almost proved They had been able to do it," M-21 said, their hands curling into fists. Their batchmates had died, so many angels had been changed just for this. At least they had still changed into a demon; they could start seeing it as something positive.
"Hmm," Frankenstein said, watching them. "You were in this realm for a number of days, weren't you? Before transforming."
M-21 nodded. They hadn't kept a track of how long they had been staying.
"Then I would say that this had been a success."
M-21 stared at them, their tense muscles loosening. "But I turned into a demon."
Frankenstein hummed. "Do you know what happened to make you change into a demon?"
What had happened to make them change into a demon? ...They had rejected their Lord. That's when they had changed. "I rejected the Lord."
Frankenstein nodded. "Then it wasn't that your physical body had been changed by the barrier. It was your choice to leave the Lord."
It had been because of them? They'd chosen to leave the Lord and that was what made them change? Was that why it had happened?
"Me?" M-21 said. ...Well, yes, it was what they'd wanted, wasn't it? M-21 started rubbing their head again, like they could grip the missing link and pull it back into place.
"Hey, hey." Tao's words were soft as they took M-21's hand away from their head. "You'll hurt yourself doing that."
"But if I was a success, then why would the Lord keep sending more angels over?" M-21 said, trying to press their other hand to their forehead. "M-82 had still been in Heaven when I left. There was no reason to send them over if They knew I hadn't changed into a demon."
Frankenstein was frowning. "How would they have known you hadn't changed?"
They wouldn't… "But They wouldn't know that I hadn't either." So. The Lord would keep sending over more angels no matter if they had or hadn't change.
"No," Frankenstein said, "there has to be a way for Crombell to know. And...I'm sorry, I shouldn't keep talking about this since it's distressing you."
"I'm fine," M-21 mumbled, and Tao had both their hands now.
"If your head is hurting, I could give you something to help with the pain," Frankenstein said.
"It's not hurting," M-21 said, far too aware of the space instead of their head again. It didn't feel like everything else they'd felt with the rest of their body.
"Kid," Tao said, pulling a chair over somehow. They didn't take their hands away from M-21's and they focused on their touch. "Is this about the connection?"
M-21 nodded.
"Connection...?" Frankenstein said.
"Yeah," Tao said, turning their face towards Frankenstein. "Kid told me that Crombell's been connecting Themself with everyone They make. When the kid turned into a demon, the connection disappeared."
No. It had been ripped out, taking parts of M-21 with it.
"A number of the demons we'd seen recently had been clutching their head," Tao continued.
"...I'm not surprised - when we made the barrier, none of us had thought about what would happen if the angel was still connected with something in Heaven. With the amount of change that happens when an angel becomes a demon, then yes, the connection being severed isn't that surprising."
"Then..." M-21 said, finding their voice again, "it's not because the Lord is punishing me?" Not being turned into a demon, not losing their connection with Them?
"From what I would know so far, I wouldn't think so." When M-21 looked up, Frankenstein was leaning back on the kitchen counter, tapping their cheek. "It sounds like an unfortunate outcome to being turned into a demon."
"Hey, kid…?" Tao said, and M-21 turned their attention back to them. "What can Crombell do with that connection? Just know where you are, or is there more to it?"