Cracked Mirror [Part 2]
Sep. 13th, 2016 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Noblesse
Summary: Staircase conversation.
Contains: Mentions of Union!Frankenstein being a Union scientist, and the mistreatment of experiments. Abusive relationship undertones.
Notes: Using up all the italicises I hadn't for the other fics, pfft.
Thanks to Hellse Bunny for listening to me and helping me while I wrote this. 83
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Word count: 767
Total word count: 1,578
Status: Work in progress
M-21 stumbled up the stairs, still not sure if he was following someone who looked so much like him apart from missing a few scars or a hallucination. The hand clasped around his arm felt real, a steady pressure that wasn't tight enough to hurt.
"Where - where are we going?" He almost couldn't keep up with his twin, and there had been a few times where a quick yank to his feet had saved him from tumbling over.
"Where do you think?" his twin said, still climbing the emergency staircase. "The fuck out of here."
M-21 stopped, trying to rip his hand out of his twin's grip. His twin's hand didn't let go, but he did stop to frown at him.
"What?" his twin said.
"Outside?" M-21 gaped, taking a step back, this time his twin letting go. He couldn't. Everything that had happened crashed around him, and Doctor Lee was going to be so mad. Two scientists were dead, a mess had been made, and he'd run from the punishment-!
He had to go back. The faster he did, the less mad Doctor Lee would be.
...Doctor Lee would still be mad, but the punishment wouldn't be as long if he grovelled and promised to never do it again.
"Yeah, outside." His twin eyed him, his lips pursed. "You want to stay here?"
M-21 stared at him. "How do you not - there are mutants outside!"
That seemed to startle his twin, his eyes going wide. "Mutants?" Then he shook his head, snorting. "How do you know they weren't just saying that to keep you in line?"
"I..." M-21 kept staring at his twin. "I've seen them," he said. Their twisted bodies that got dragged in for Doctor Lee to study. Seeing one meant M-21 and his comrades wouldn't be experimented on while Doctor Lee was distracted with a new body different from the last one. They were becoming less recognisable as human, backs hunched over to let them run on all fours, slobbering jaws filled with sharp fangs, their skin a discoloured grey.
Understanding softened his twin's face. "And it's better to be here than outside."
M-21 nodded. He was experimental material here, but he was alive rather than a mutant or the mangled mess they left behind.
"So you've never thought about a time where you weren't just waiting to be experimented on?"
M-21 let out a choked laugh. "You think I could survive out there?" He waved a hand towards the ceiling.
"Yeah." His twin's gaze was steady and confident. "You're stronger than you think." M-21 was about to scoff but his twin continued. "You've survived all the time - and why do you think you have to be restrained so tightly?"
M-21 paused at the question. He was the only one of his comrades who Doctor Lee still used Dark Spear with. It had been because he'd been so unwilling to bend at the start, but... "Only because Doctor Lee knows the limit of human bodies..." But...it sounded hollow. Reaching. What if...?
There was a terrifying feeling of hope building in M-21's chest. It had to be crushed before it overwhelmed him, because hoping had led to nothing before and it hurt so much to fail.
...Could he actually live and not pay for that privilege with his body being experimented on?
His mouth moved before he could stop it, still powered by that damnable hope. "Do you think my comrades would become as strong as me?" Why was he different from them? How could he transform when they-
"What?" His twin's eyes were wide again. "Your - how many?" he demanded.
"All?" What did he mean? "There's a hundred of us."
For the first time, M-21 saw his twin pale, using the banister to hold himself upright as he trembled.
M-21 watched him collect himself, but why had that piece of information been so shocking for him...?
__________________________________
So I realised that if Frankenstein decided to get into human experimentation because of self-interest rather than protecting humanity, there wouldn't have been someone to call out nobles about their involvement with mutants... Honestly, after 800 years there really shouldn't have been much of humanity left but yeah.
Summary: Staircase conversation.
Contains: Mentions of Union!Frankenstein being a Union scientist, and the mistreatment of experiments. Abusive relationship undertones.
Notes: Using up all the italicises I hadn't for the other fics, pfft.
Thanks to Hellse Bunny for listening to me and helping me while I wrote this. 83
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Word count: 767
Total word count: 1,578
Status: Work in progress
M-21 stumbled up the stairs, still not sure if he was following someone who looked so much like him apart from missing a few scars or a hallucination. The hand clasped around his arm felt real, a steady pressure that wasn't tight enough to hurt.
"Where - where are we going?" He almost couldn't keep up with his twin, and there had been a few times where a quick yank to his feet had saved him from tumbling over.
"Where do you think?" his twin said, still climbing the emergency staircase. "The fuck out of here."
M-21 stopped, trying to rip his hand out of his twin's grip. His twin's hand didn't let go, but he did stop to frown at him.
"What?" his twin said.
"Outside?" M-21 gaped, taking a step back, this time his twin letting go. He couldn't. Everything that had happened crashed around him, and Doctor Lee was going to be so mad. Two scientists were dead, a mess had been made, and he'd run from the punishment-!
He had to go back. The faster he did, the less mad Doctor Lee would be.
...Doctor Lee would still be mad, but the punishment wouldn't be as long if he grovelled and promised to never do it again.
"Yeah, outside." His twin eyed him, his lips pursed. "You want to stay here?"
M-21 stared at him. "How do you not - there are mutants outside!"
That seemed to startle his twin, his eyes going wide. "Mutants?" Then he shook his head, snorting. "How do you know they weren't just saying that to keep you in line?"
"I..." M-21 kept staring at his twin. "I've seen them," he said. Their twisted bodies that got dragged in for Doctor Lee to study. Seeing one meant M-21 and his comrades wouldn't be experimented on while Doctor Lee was distracted with a new body different from the last one. They were becoming less recognisable as human, backs hunched over to let them run on all fours, slobbering jaws filled with sharp fangs, their skin a discoloured grey.
Understanding softened his twin's face. "And it's better to be here than outside."
M-21 nodded. He was experimental material here, but he was alive rather than a mutant or the mangled mess they left behind.
"So you've never thought about a time where you weren't just waiting to be experimented on?"
M-21 let out a choked laugh. "You think I could survive out there?" He waved a hand towards the ceiling.
"Yeah." His twin's gaze was steady and confident. "You're stronger than you think." M-21 was about to scoff but his twin continued. "You've survived all the time - and why do you think you have to be restrained so tightly?"
M-21 paused at the question. He was the only one of his comrades who Doctor Lee still used Dark Spear with. It had been because he'd been so unwilling to bend at the start, but... "Only because Doctor Lee knows the limit of human bodies..." But...it sounded hollow. Reaching. What if...?
There was a terrifying feeling of hope building in M-21's chest. It had to be crushed before it overwhelmed him, because hoping had led to nothing before and it hurt so much to fail.
...Could he actually live and not pay for that privilege with his body being experimented on?
His mouth moved before he could stop it, still powered by that damnable hope. "Do you think my comrades would become as strong as me?" Why was he different from them? How could he transform when they-
"What?" His twin's eyes were wide again. "Your - how many?" he demanded.
"All?" What did he mean? "There's a hundred of us."
For the first time, M-21 saw his twin pale, using the banister to hold himself upright as he trembled.
M-21 watched him collect himself, but why had that piece of information been so shocking for him...?
So I realised that if Frankenstein decided to get into human experimentation because of self-interest rather than protecting humanity, there wouldn't have been someone to call out nobles about their involvement with mutants... Honestly, after 800 years there really shouldn't have been much of humanity left but yeah.