It's Not Easy Being Me

*Chapter 1*: Never Take Advice From A Bored Death

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR NOBLESSE.

AN:

This is crazy. Even within the realm of fanfiction. Harry Potter and Noblesse? Really?

I just had to get this idea out though. It seems pretty fun, and makes the whole Harry-Potter-gets-thrown-into-another-universe slightly more unpredictable.

The continuation of this story will depend on your responses. I want to know if anyone actually thinks this idea has merit!

Be warned though: if I do update, it will be quite slow. So don't expect too much on that front... hehe.

Well… onto the story!

P.S. This starts from ch.170 of Noblesse.

Chapter 1: Never Take Advice From A Bored Death

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

...

Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived. The-Man-Who-Conquered.

How would someone describe him? Some might say that he is a delinquent, a rascal, a no-good, dirty boy who causes his normal, good family a lot of grief. Others might squeal and go on and on about how he's the Boy-Who-Lived, and he's so handsome, and heroic, and kind and treat him as if he's the best thing that happened since sliced bread. Others say that he is an attention-seeking brat that gets into a lot of trouble and puts the school in danger, yet gets praised for it. His friends would say that he is a great person, who's always selfless and kind to others, yet somehow managing to attract trouble with his 'saving people thing'.

And the boy- no, man in question. What would he say about himself? Oh, just that he's no one special, and he's just Harry. But if he's no one special, how was he able to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone, kill the basilisk, save his godfather, escape Voldemort's clutches multiple times, started an illegal resistance group, break into Gringotts, ride a freaking dragon and single-handedly win a war against the Dark Lord? Oh, that he wouldn't have been able to do any of that without his friends, and that it was sheer, dumb luck, while looking away and blushing horribly.

Harry Potter could not be any more wrong.

Because Harry Potter has been chosen and marked by others other than Voldemort.

Others that will completely change his life.

...

BRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRIINNNGGGGGGG!

THWACK! BANG! CRASH!

Goddamnit, this is the fourth alarm clock this month.

21-year-old Harry James Potter had a hard life. Wait, scratch that. Harry James Potter was- and still is- Fate's punching bag since the day that Trelawney had to sprout that stupid prophecy, dictating his whole life from the age of 1. Defeating Moldyshorts has not changed that at all. You would think that getting rid of the man that's been wanting to murder you for one and a half decades would allow him to have a relatively peaceful life. You know, where there are no murders, no possessed teachers, and no fighting for his life?

Ha! He couldn't be more wrong.

Instead of running from murderers, he's running from fangirls with marriage contracts. Instead of hiding from Death Eaters, he's hiding from the ministry who want to use his fame for their own gain. Instead of fighting Voldemort, he's fighting the enemy that is his own memories, replaying the horrors he had to endure during his life.

Such is the life of Harry Potter.

Bloody hell, why am I up so early? He blindly reaches for his glasses and attempts to brave the room with no lights on.

Getting up, the man stumbles his way to the bathroom cursing as he manages to knock against every sharp corner. He looks up at the mirror. Emerald green eyes that were once full of life and emotion look tired and weary. The rat's nest that is the Potter hair is surprisingly even messier, and still managing to defy the laws of gravity, sticking up into the air. High cheekbones, strong jawline, thin lips, and a straight narrow nose makes up the face of Harry Potter.

At least I was blessed with good looks.

Images of women tripping over themselves to grab a piece of his shirt replay themselves in that mind, one incident of where he caught someone's house-elf stealing his underwear being the prominent.

He shudders.

Maybe not.

As he pays attention to his hygiene - a luxury he couldn't afford for over half his life - Harry thinks about his meeting with Luna. Unsurprisingly, she's an Unspeakable, in the haunt of all things crazy in a world of crazies, searching for Nargles and Heliopaths to her heart's content. Whenever Harry is in the Ministry, he can always feel magic tingling with excitement from the Department of Mysteries, bursting and cackling with solved problems and new discoveries.

At least Luna found something she loves. The sweet girl deserves it.

Unfortunately, the same thing can't be said for Harry. You see, there's something very curious about having 17 years of one's life revolving around survival, whether it be from your cousin's meaty fists, a three-headed dog, or a Dark Lord baby. His whole life depended on Voldemort, Voldemort, fricking Voldemort, and now that he's suddenly gone, Harry is completely and utterly lost. There are days where he wakes up and realizes I don't need to fight for my life anymore, but there's always a sense of loss accompanying that seemingly happy thought. Because Harry's lost what essentially made him alive.

His blood no longer sings with thrill when he arrives at the Burrow, knowing that there's no life-threatening situation that gives him a rush of adrenaline and makes his magic dance. His eyes no longer light up when visiting his godson Teddy, when Andromeda looks at him with hurthurthurt, because there's no Remus or Tonks to smile at their son instead. His muscles no longer tense in anticipation when winning championships in fighting, both dueling and martial arts alike, because who can ever come close to Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived at the age of 1, the Man-Who-Conquered at 17?

Life no longer holds meaning for Harry Potter, a fact he realises when he the Golden Trio split apart, when Molly Weasley looks accusingly at him for not marrying Ginny, when he sees everyone else move on from the war. He's stuck in the thrill of battle, the constant vigilance and the addicting high from winning a fight.

Most importantly, Harry Potter is bored. And a bored Harry is a terrifyingly reckless Harry.

….

Coming out of the bathroom, Harry flops right down on his bed. He turns his head to the side and contemplates the wedding invitation from Draco Malfoy and his soon-to-be-wife, Astoria Greengrass.

I bet you the ferret's quite smug about managing to get ahead in something, even if it is something like marriage.

He hardly remembers Greengrass. He was pretty sure there was two, but he never really interacted with other members of Slytherin, so he doesn't really know. Absentmindedly, he summons his mail and flips through the envelopes.

Fanmail, fanmail, fanmail, even more fanmail, daily prophet, fanmail, ministry sealed letter, some kind of offer from the European Dueling Committee, another letter from the ministry-

Wait.

Interest piqued, Harry selects the letter from the EDC, eyebrows raising as he reads:

Mr. Harry James Potter,

Once again, we would like to congratulate you on your well-earned victory at last year's European Dueling Championship. The judges where extremely impressed by your flexible thinking and adaptability, using elementary spells and hexes to combat complex pieces of magic, proving the dueling is not about the amount of spells you know, but how the spells you know can be used.

Honestly, Harry is impressed. This is the first letter he's read where the writer doesn't mention his unwanted status as the Man-Who-Conquered in the first two lines.

In fact, your duels have done a great service to many institutions dealing with a defense, as we are now seeing the merit of strengthening one's physical body in addition to their magical repertoire. Considering your defeat of the Britain's Dark Lord-

Ah, yes. There it is. Harry was almost concerned that there was a bureaucrat that wasn't interested in his fame.

-we, the committee, would like to thank you by offering you a wonderful opportunity. We would greatly appreciate it if you become one of the main judges in the European Dueling Championship within a few years, as your first hand experience in war and unique style of dueling will be a marvelous learning opportunity for everyone involved in the championship, judges and contestants alike. I myself am a retired judge who is now involved with providing dueling institutions excellent opportunities to better themselves, and would be delighted to let you partake in this initiative to teach others about the art of dueling.

We look forward to hearing your reply.

Ian McMaster

Head of Dueling Connections

5th Seat of the

European Dueling Committee

Was the "5th Seat" really necessary? Really? Talk about pride in rank, yeesh.

But seriously, do they actually think that he would want to sit around all day watching idiots butcher their duels and find enjoyment in critiquing them and offering advice? DA was enough, thank you very much. If he has to teach a bunch of kids again, he's afraid he'll turn into Snape. He can already see it. Billowing robes, dark face and a perpetual sneer on his face having to deal with bumbling idiots who think of dueling as a 'manly sport' instead of a beautiful work of art. They'll never understand about the joy of casting, the satisfaction of finally grazing your opponent, or the beauty of seeing of seeing someone being defeated by a hidden Tarantallegra-

Harry blinks as he puts down the letter. Woah. Let's stop there. He's already turning into Snape .

He looks at the clock, hoping that it's very close to lunch for when he'll meet up with Luna. The damning hour hand points at the number 9, smugly informing him that he has to live with his boredom for three more hours. Ugh. Agitated, he rolls over in bed, and his arm smacks onto a slightly open drawer.

"Bloody hell!"

Cursing, he nurses his reddening hand and looks accusingly at the offending piece of wood. He reaches out to grab the handle, and stops when he hears a loud CRACK.

"Master Harry sir, Dobby is hearings a shout. Is Master Harry sir alright?"

Large green eyes on a slightly wrinkled waxy face, bearing huge floppy ears, a large pointed nose and a slightly anxious expression. It's wearing a comfortable looking tea towel, with the Potter and Black insignias woven intricately.

Of course, Harry doesn't concern himself with the beautiful description at all; instead he lets out a short shriek, tangles himself in his blankets, and falls face-first onto the floor. All right next to that still offending, unrepentant drawer.

As expected, Dobby reacts dramatically.

"Oh nos! Harry Potter sirs, are yous alright? Bad Dobby! Dobby gave master a fright! Bad!"

Thankfully, instead of abusing himself, the house-elf snaps his fingers, setting Harry upright on his bed, slightly dazed but nonetheless lucid. Putting out his arms reassuringly, Harry calms the elf down.

"Dobby, Dobby, it's ok, please stop wailing, I was an idiot for tripping, wouldn't you agree?"

"No master, Dobbys is a bad bad elf!"

Sensing some masochistic behaviour coming Harry orders the overzealous elf with an impossible task.

"Dobby, why don't you gather an army and tackle the Chamber of Secrets in Hogwarts?"

"... Master Harry sir…"

Dobby looks uncomfortably close to falling onto his knees and worshipping Harry as some new diety. Mouth gaping and eyes wide with wonder, Harry sighs at the predictable servitude.

"Just… go Dobby. Please."

Instantly, Dobby straightens at the command, "Yes, Master Harry sir!" and pops right away.

Relieved to avoid another rant about 'the greatness of Master Harry Potter sir', Harry instantly glares at his current enemy. Pulling the drawer out, Harry spies the Invisibility Cloak. Standing, he wraps the cloak around him, almost fondly, and looks at his half-invisible form in the mirror. Seeing that his ankles and feet are visible underneath, Harry sighs nostalgically.

This magical cloth is filled with memories… I wish I could have used it for pranks instead of life-threatening situations though.

He wonders how often the Marauders used the cloak to plan their own. Thinking about the havoc that the Weasley twins would have created with this resource makes him shudder in fear.

Hmm… this is supposed to be one of the Deathly Hallows, but I'm thinking of using it for something as childish as pranking… ha.

To be honest, even though Harry knows that it was the right thing to drop the Resurrection Stone and snap the Elder Wand, he can't help but be curious about what would happen if he collected all the Hallows. What is the Master of Death exactly? Do you become immortal (if that's the case, then how about a hell no)? Do you have the power to communicate with Death? Can you travel between the worlds of the living and the dead? Harry's awfully curious…

See. This is why boredom is dangerous.

Contemplative, Harry changes into some jeans and a black t-shirt. He straps on his undetectable pouch that hides a pocket dimension with emergency money of all currencies, a tent, food, clothes and some books on the wilderness. He attaches his trusty holly wand on his holster and walks to the front door of 12 Grimmauld Place.

This is literally the dummest thing I have ever done. Ever.

And with that, Harry apparates to Hogsmeade, intending to walk to the Forbidden Forest.

...

Ugh… I forgot how creepy and annoying this forest is.

So far, in his effort to retrieve the Resurrection Stone, Harry has encountered Aragog's nasty children, overzealous centaurs, skittish unicorns, seen honest-to-God black flowers and barely avoided intruding upon a group of giants. It's only been 30 minutes. He doesn't know whether Voldemort actually killed him this deep in the forest, or if he's just plain lost.

A stray branch whacks him across the head, and Harry's almost sure that it was about 5 metres higher 2 seconds ago.

Honestly, Accio would be extremely useful right now. Damned rare artefact.

Harry probably wouldn't have minded as much if he knew exactly where the stone is. The Forbidden Forest can sometimes be pretty interesting, and it's nice to see that he can actually get a challenge from a fight by some of the creatures (although nothing has ever come close to the Flying Ford Angela from his 2nd year). But Harry doesn't know where he's going. And an annoyed Harry is an unpredictable Harry.

Just as Harry is debating the pros and cons of using Fiendfyre, he realises that what an idiot he's doing everything the non-magical way. Groaning, Harry leans against the ancient wood, uncaring of the fairy dust dancing around the trunk.

I am such an idiot…

"Point me Resurrection Stone."

Thankfully, he finds the stone after a few minutes of walking. The years of abandonment has done nothing to diminish the ominous blackness of the stone, and Harry almost feels like it's twinkling, as if Dumbledore was looking at him right now with his omniscient gaze. He's almost… intimidated by the strange rock, but the thrill of a challenge makes him excited.

If I find life-threatening situations this fun I really need to see a doctor…

Once he stashes the stone in his pouch, Harry almost immediately knows the way out of the Forest. It's pretty hard to forget the place where you once died.

Now for the Elder Wand…

Here, Harry hedges. After the war, he found that he had plenty of time to think. Almost too much time. And he's come to realise that he's been a puppet for Albus Dumbledore, made malleable through the neglect of the Dursleys, and geared towards Gryffindorish self-sacrifice. The weight of the Wizarding World was thrust upon him, and like an abused puppy he just followed whatever Dumbledore told him to. On some level, he was aware of the manipulation, but, by that time, he had been in too many life-threatening situations that he couldn't just walk out. Not that he wanted to, but what makes him feel betrayed is that he didn't even have a choice.

It's not completely Dumbledore's fault though. After all, what is someone to do when the British Wizarding World puts them on a pedestal and expects them to solve every single problem that is encountered? The same Wizarding World that is stuck in the 1800s, has no true concept of equity, and is so prejudiced that they're blind to the self-destruction that they're encouraging? Dumbledore had no choice but to do what he thought was best. If sacrificing the life of one ensures the survival of tens of thousands, then that's something that he wouldn't pass up. Harry doesn't think it's right to allow magicals to swelter in their self-proclaimed superiority and would have forced them to face their problems themselves, but he understands why Dumbledore did what he did.

Doesn't mean he doesn't resent for it. Only slightly. Maybe.

Anyways, the point is, he's not sure about the whole disturbing-the-dead's-rest-thing just so that he can get the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's grave.

But if I don't do this I'll be forever bored…

The thought of eternal boredom is enough to make him grab the wand immediately. However, he thinks it'll only be fair if he asked permission from the portrait first.

Sigh… I'm too bloody kind for my own good.

…

"So, my boy, you're telling me that because of the threat of eternal boredom, you have decided to collect the Deathly Hallows together at one point in time to satisfy your curiosity about what this Master of Death business entails, which is why you want to desecrate my grave and take the Elder Wand?"

Albus Dumbledore's face is set in a stern expression, glasses on the tip of his nose, mouth set in a slight frown, with his fingers intertwined as he leans against his hands. Harry would think that risking the threat of immortality would result in disapproval. Yet, the maddingly twinkling blue eyes of his former headmaster betrays his excitement at the 'next great adventure'.

When put like that, Harry's idea does seem pretty stupid.

"Yes…?"

"Well, my boy, I'm sad that you don't feel enough of a connection with your old friends to want to permanently stay in this life you have now."

Harry stiffens.

"But, I must say, this is quite the exciting development! Despite abandoning my search, I was always curious to know what would happen if the Deathly Hallows where all collected. How exciting!"

Then, Dumbledore leans forward, twinkle absent.

"Harry James Potter, by embarking upon this journey, you have to be absolutely sure that you're willing to take the risk that your life will never be the same again, and that you might never see your friends again. This has never happened in magical history, so you would be essentially diving in head-first blind, unknowing of the monsters that lurk in the deep."

Harry can't resist.

"Not like that's ever stopped me in the time I've been in Hogwarts, right Headmaster?"

Dumbledore looks carefully at him.

"Yes… you're right…"

Harry sighs.

"Is that a yes or no then?"

WIthout a warning, the old wizard brightens.

"Why of course, my boy! Go ahead and take the Elder Wand. I must say, I'm all fired up, and cannot wait to see what occurs when they're all collected. Go on now! Don't let this old man stop you!"

Harry unwillingly smiles. Even though he's a manipulative old geezer, he can't help but like Dumbledore. Walking away, he says his last goodbyes to the man that's controlled 17 years of his life.

"Thanks Headmaster. Hope the future students of Hogwarts don't bore you too much after the excitement I brought here in my time!"

...

Harry's stumped.

It's been over 2 hours, and nothing has happened. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

He's collected the Deathly Hallows, put them together and expected some wild, crazy thing to happen. Maybe a random magical storm, or the opening of the Underworld. Heck, even a spark. But there's absolutely nothing.

Was the Master of Death thing all a lie…?

Extremely disappointed, Harry flops down onto his bed. He's supposed to cure his boredom and get away from the falsity of the Wizarding Britain but the whole story was a lie?

How depressing.

Turning over, he spies the clock and sees that it's quarter to 12.

Hmm… something's supposed to happen soon, right?

Falling into a pleasant daze, Harry almost forgets the failed MoD experiment. Almost.

Suddenly, he shoots straight up, eyes wide and glasses askew.

"Shit! Luna!"

In record time, Harry puts on a nicer pair of trousers, a button-up shirt, grabs his robes, stuff the Hallows in his pouch with 5 minutes to spare. And no, this isn't a date. The Daily Prophet has a tendency to pop out of nowhere whenever Harry makes an appearance, so he makes sure to look half-presentable just in case he's unknowingly caught on camera.

Ah… The struggles of The-Man-Who-Conquered.

Haphazardly, Harry bursts into the hallway, cursing as he stubs his toes when fumbling for his shoes. Knowing Luna, if he isn't there on time, she'll just wander back to the Department of Mysteries, wondering why the Nargles didn't allow him to show up.

Running to the fireplace, Harry quickly Floos to Luna's office, making sure that he properly enunciates his words (he doesn't think he'll ever forget that time he ended up in Knockturn Alley).

"Luna's office!"

…

"Why don't you just cross the Veil of Death?'

Harry's not sure what genetics was thinking when Luna came to be, but he is immensely grateful. She's not surprised at all about Harry's curiosity. In fact, it's almost like she expected it.

The girl is now a woman, with dazzling sapphire eyes, silky dirty-blonde hair, and a slightly better fashion sense. The faithful radish earrings are still present, and Harry thanks the world that some things always manage to stay the same. In fact, if it isn't for Luna's oddities, he's 100% sure that there would be suitors lining up outside her door.

Sometimes, just sometimes though, Harry gets slightly worried about the things that comes out of her mouth.

"Luna. It's the Veil of Death. I'm going to die if I cross it. It's in the name."

"Actually, you're slightly incorrect."

Here, Luna adopts what Harry dubs "the mad genius" persona.

"You see, the Veil of Death, while it does lead to the world of the dead, is actually a portal to other worlds. The voices people hear when they're close to it just signify the whispers of all the different universes one can encounter. My theory is, that because we're all normal humans, anyone who crosses the Veil automatically travels to the world of the dead and dies. However,"

Luna leans uncomfortably close to Harry's face, eyes intense and bright.

"since I believe that you are qualified to hold the Deathly Hallows, there will be a different outcome when you cross the threshold."

Honestly, Harry is extremely skeptical. Portal to other universes? Really? He really doesn't see the appeal of meeting another Harry Potter. Seeing the idiocy of one British Wizarding World is enough, thank you very much.

But… he can't deny the growing desire to explore new universes that are hopefully completely different from this one.

Luna sees the indecision on his face, and takes the initiative. Taking his hand, she leads him back to the familiar dark hallways, where he remembers the cackles of Bellatrix Lestrange and the laughter of his godfather.

Then, he's in front of a sheet of darkness, rippling with tension as it senses a potential trespasser.

"I'm really not sure about this…"

Now that Harry's here, he thinks about all the reasons why he shouldn't do this. He might die, there are his old friends Ron and Hermione, he might die, there's his godson Teddy, he might die, there's Luna, he might die, there's still Dobby who's probably faithfully cleaning out the gunk in the Chamber of Secrets, and did he forget? He might die.

"Harry. The fact that you allowed me to lead you here tells me that you've already made your decision."

He straightens at Luna's words. Stressed, he rubs his face, and looks at Luna worriedly.

"You've become my sister, Luna. I want to do this, but I don't want to leave you alone."

Luna smiles sadly and pushes him slightly towards the Veil.

"Harry. Ever since you started diverging from the Golden Trio, I knew something like this would happen. You're destined for great things. I'm not going to stop you from exploring the boundaries of what this world, or any world, has to offer."

"Luna…"

Harry's eyes are filled with tears. He doesn't think he'll ever have someone like Luna ever again. He pulls her towards him, hugging her and expressing his gratitude, love and all his emotions into it. She pats his back.

"If you're that worried about me being alone, I promise to ask Neville on that date."

Barking out a harsh laugh, Harry lets her go. He's already prepared. He has his pouch, his wand, and he's even dressed well enough just in case Fate throws him into the frying pan.

"The next time I see you Luna, you better be old and wrinkly with lots of grandchildren running around in the living world, ok?"

"Ok."

Imprinting Luna's smile upon his face for the last time, Harry turns around and is embraced by the Veil.

…

I'm not sure what I expected, but it was definitely not Platform 9¾. Again. Whelp, guess I'm dead.

"Not quite."

A voice full of age and burden ripples through the station filling Harry with wariness as he realises just how weak he feels when hearing it.

"Death…?"

"Hello, Master."

Tattered robes, and shadows grasping every time it glides. A skeletal hand holds a wickedly dark scythe, and a gaping hole is seen where there's supposed to be a face.

The stories about the appearance of Death are wayyy too accurate.

"Actually Master, this form pleases me the most. I find it interesting that you humans perceive me in this way."

And it can read my mind. Fan-bloody-tastic.

Grasping his Gryffindor courage, Harry speaks.

"So what's up with the whole Master of Death thing? Am I gonna die or something? Also, you're Death. Why would you have a freaking Master? Seems like an extremely risky move."

Way to go Potter. Completely blunt and upfront when confronting the most powerful force you've ever met. Nice.

"Do not worry, Master. I am not offended by your queries at all. To answer your questions, I never actually expected anyone to meet all my requirements to become the Master of Death. It was originally supposed to be a curse for foolhardy humans who think themselves gods. However I became quite curious upon learning of you. After all, you're one of the Fates' favourites, and Luck cannot seem to decide whether to love or hate you."

… wut.

Ignoring Harry's mental breakdown, Death carries on.

"The Master of Death is just a title. There is no being, human or otherwise, that can control me. I am Death. The end of all things. Yet, you have caught my interest Harry Potter. You are worthy. I would not mind conversing with you often like this."

… wut.

Death continues to march straight ahead while Harry desperately forces his brain to reboot.

"To be honest though, in exchange for not subjecting you to my curse, I would like a favour from you."

… a favour?

Harry's making progres right now. Complete thoughts still aren't a thing, but half-formed sentences count, right?

"I find myself quite bored these millenia. It has been eons since anything interesting has happened, and I am looking for some form of amusement. There is an interesting universe that is much more dangerous than the Wizarding World, and involves a war between humans and slightly higher beings."

I don't like where this is going…

"Would you like the chance to abandon the identity of Harry James Potter, and explore another world unburdened by the expectations of the Boy-Who-Lived?"

That's… extremely tempting.

"Just making sure: when you say favour, you really mean that I have no choice, right?"

"I thought that humans like the illusion of making choices, but essentially, yes."

I'm already practically dead. What could go wrong?

"Before I agree to your proposition, you mentioned that this universe is different from the Wizarding World. Is there no magic in that world?"

"There is no magic, but you will be powerful as you will have something somewhat similar."

… That explains nothing.

Harry thinks deeply. This is like, a one in 10 billion lifetimes opportunity. Somewhere where he can be 'just Harry'?

... Fuck it, why not.

"I accept your offer, Death."

For some reason, Harry has the image of Death smiling. Suddenly, Harry is unsure of his acceptance.

"You will be dropped off in a location relatively close to your new parent."

Hold up- what the hell? New parent?

"It's the only way to explain your existence. Do you really think that you'll be able to traverse that universe without attracting the attention of someone powerful?"

Unfortunately, no.

"His name is Frankenstein. Just follow the sounds of cackling laughter, and you will see the blonde mad scientist."

Frankenstein? Like Frankenstein's monster?! Dafuq?!

"If I am correct, which I almost always am, he probably will not eliminate you."

WHAT?!

"Since he is one of the most powerful humans in existence, your powers will not be questioned. Also, you will soon have the ability to speak Korean. Do not worry, your backstory shall soon be taken care of with the help of the Noblesse."

"Hold up, wait- I'm so confused, can we just- just- slow down-"

"Good luck, Master. I assure you, you will need it."

With no time to even breathe, Harry falls into oblivion.

…

Ugh… where the hell am I?

Groaning, Harry sits up and puts a hand to his throbbing head. For some reason, his head feels heavier, as if there was some extra weight, and his hands feel… smaller.

Ignoring the warnings from his body, Harry leans against wall and looks around the room.

Hmm… I'm in a bedroom.

He looks at the beautiful view outside, tests the queen-sized bed, and sees expensive clothes strewn about the room.

It's a nice bedroom, though.

He spies a full-length mirror on the other side of the room, and decides to figure out what's wrong with his body. After taking a few steps, he suddenly stops and looks down.

The hell? Why aren't I wearing an shoes?

Disturbed, he looks at his clothes.

Double hell? Why am I wearing a freaking white dress? Is this some kind of joke?

Awfully confused, Harry continues towards the mirror, hoping to find answers to this extremely weird situation.

All he manages to glean is long blonde hair before the building violently shakes, walls cracking with the force of an attack from right above the ceiling.

What-

Right after, he feels a wave of an extremely powerful force that shakes him to the core, so unlike magic, yet just as supernatural and volatile. For a few minutes, he stands there shaking, reeling from the backlash of its impact. Then-

"KA HA HA HA HA!"

... Harry has no response to that. This city might be suffering from a fight between supernatural beings, and all someone can do is laugh?!

Wait a minute… didn't Death mention something about how my new father likes to cackle madly?

Resigned to his fate to attract all kinds of weirdos, Harry climbs out the window and hoists himself on the top of the skyscraper.

He wishes he just stayed in that room.

The sight that greet him almost makes him want to return to the monotony of Harry Potter's life. Almost.

In front of him are the two most beautiful people he has ever seen. The girl and boy have matching gleaming silver hair, beautiful crimson eyes, and the fanciest looking private school uniforms he's ever seen. The boy looks slightly panicked as he watches the scene in front him while the girl looks remarkably composed.

Harry turns his head.

Is that… that's-

An unfairly good looking blonde man with a blood-stained white shirt is lifting his hands, as if calling upon something from the sky. Facing him looks like a blonde teenager, also with crimson eyes strangely enough, holding a beautifully crafted black sword- and is that… purple flames?!

Ok, stop. I'm Harry James Potter. I'm the person who survived at least 5 encounters with Voldemort, killed a Basilisk at the age of 12, evaded a dragon at the age of 14, was taught by a fricking centaur, have a half-giant friend, and have constant battles with a flying blue car. I can do this. Four hot people who probably have enough power to crush this city definitely can't phase me, even though one of them suspiciously looks like my new father.

For a moment, the atmosphere becomes suffocating. Harry can't breathe. When he takes a gulp of air again, he see that the blonde, bloodied man is now in possession of a dark purple, double-headed spear that seems to devour its owner.

Sentient weapons..ha… ha… ha…

A strong gust of wind almost blows him away, and he's instantly reminded of his state of dress.

Barefoot, confused, and not wearing his own clothes, Harry Potter finally cracks.

"What the fuck?"

*Chapter 2*: Goodbye Harry Potter, Hello Hariel

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR NOBLESSE.

AN:

You cannot believe how uncharacteristically smiley I am because of all your support! Thank you everyone! I'm glad you all seem to be liking the idea. It just encourages me to write more! (o^▽^o) In fact, I wasn't even planning to update this early… I was thinking maybe 2-3 weeks? To be fair, the chapters ARE pretty long... *sweatdrop*

To be honest though, I have no idea where this story is going. It's currently writing itself at the moment… *nervous laughter*

Also, please endure through any grammar mistakes and spelling errors. There was so much cringe when re-reading the first chapter... (which I edited to make more sense)

Anyways… onto the story!

Notes on Korean Grammar #1:

Pronouns such as 'she' and 'him' are not really used. Instead, the person's name or the subject is repeated (sometimes it can be omitted though). So in English when we say "A human! Get her away immediately!", in Korean it would be "That's a human! Get that human away immediately!" (Which is why Harry doesn't realise he's changed into a girl when the other characters speak)

(Anyone who knows Korean, please correct me if I'm wrong! XD)

Chapter 2: Goodbye Harry Potter, Hello Hariel

"What the fuck?"

Instantly, four pairs of eyes snap back to where Harry is standing and he's acutely aware of just how screwed he is. Like a rookie, he alerted four unknowns to his position because his mind couldn't take the fact that he wasn't wearing his original clothes.

He's so glad none of his friends are here to witness this.

The silver-haired boy (who Harry will now call 'Silver') visibly panics at his presence.

"A human? We need to get her away from the oncoming battle and erase her memory immediately!"

HolyshitholyshithejustspokeinanotherlanguageandIunDerSTOOD-

While Harry is freaking out ( inwardly- he has long learned to control his expressions), he sees that the blonde men look annoyed at his interruption, especially the one with the purple sword. Seeing an expression that reminds him of Ron whenever Malfoy taunts him about his social status, Harry instantly finds him a nickname.

I now dub thee... 'Angry'.

Not the most original nickname, but he digresses. Harry's world has completely changed in less than an hour (he thinks; he's not sure if time even exists in the realm of the dead considering it's nighttime in this place) and honestly, he wouldn't even be surprised if the sun decided to rise in the west at this moment. He sees that Silverette (the silver-haired girl) looks completely unflappable and for a moment, Harry admires her composure.

Bloodied blondie, who Harry is almost sure is Frankenstein- he fits the mad scientist thing anyway- just looks excited at the prospect of a fight and seems ready to completely ignore Harry's existence.

Hmm… not sure how I feel. I'm being ignored by my potential new father.

And isn't that such a weird thing to say?

Harry's thoughts are instantly cut off when Angry lunges at him. Strangely enough, Silver and Silverette start to panic, and Frankenstein looks slightly concerned.

Oh yeah. I forgot. I'm not Harry Potter. They think I'm going to die.

Not that Harry's arrogant or anything, but there's no way some angry blonde teenager will be able to kill him, even if he is one of those slightly higher beings. I mean, come on, even though he has no idea who he is now, he was Harry "Stupid-Idiotic-Gryffindor-that-won't-freaking-DIE-even-with-an-AVADA-KEDAVRA" Potter. This kid has nothing on him.

Seeing the violet flames come dangerously close to his face, Harry smoothly leans to the left, completely shocking Angry. (mistake right there- he should have responded immediately instead of reacting. Idiot.) He forcefully grabs his arm, pivots on his right foot, and easily flings the sword-user over him and off the edge of the building.

Aware of his dangerous position, and the rapidly reddening features of Angry, Harry wisely decides to do a backflip away from the edge, unintentionally moving closer to Frankenstein.

This all happens in less than 3 seconds, and the trio look absolutely gobsmacked. Frankenstein barely snaps back to alertness to stop the Dark Spear from devouring his hand any further, while Regis has lost all notions of 'class', eyes popping, mouth wide open, and (God forbid) slouching. Unsurprisingly, Seira is the most composed of the three, with only her widening eyes to indicate her shock.

That human girl just got rid of one of the Nobles as if he was a mere bug, and looks completely unfazed by an attack on her life! Let's not even mention that she was almost attacked by a soul weapon!

The three powerful beings have the same question running on their minds.

Who- no what on earth is she?

Harry is completely unaware of the reactions his actions garnered him. Mainly because of the sharp pain originating from his feet.

Looking down, he realizes that his evasion has left him with a bleeding right foot, pieces of dirt and stones digging painfully into open cuts, while his left foot seems to be viciously grazed.

Great, just great. I'm freaking bleeding! What kind of 'powerful being' attacks someone who's not wearing shoes anyway!? I'm already facing enough problems!

Irrationally angry and slightly hysterical, Harry screams towards the general direction of where Angry has fallen.

"FUCK YOU! I'M NOT WEARING ANY SHOES GODDAMNIT!"

… No one has anything to say to that. Who points out that they have a problem with being shoeless when attacked rather than actually being attacked?!

Seira is slightly concerned, Regis thinks that she's not only gone round the bend, but also driving in circles and diving into the loopey-hole, and Frankenstein?

Frankenstein is just amused. He wonders what she had gone through that made her so immune to threats on her life. He feels like she's someone he'd probably get along with. Assuming she's void of any bad intentions towards his Master of course.

However, the youngest of the three can't take it anymore. It's weird enough that the principle of Ye Ran High is human and can go toe-to-toe against nobles, and has something similar to a soul weapon, but at least he's an adult. The bare-footed, dishevelled blonde girl is only a human teenager! With nothing to speak of!

"Who- no what are you! No ordinary human has enough strength to throw a Noble, especially someone like Rael!"

Harry finally stops glaring into space, and focuses his razor sharp gaze onto Silver. In the corner of his gaze, he sees that Frankenstein's stance has shifted and deduces that Angry (he prefers that name to Rael anyway) is probably nearby and about to go on a rampage.

I really need to get better at sensing these weird supernatural powers if I'm gonna survive their war.

"Look, kid. I don't know who you are; a Noble, human, werewolf or whatever and frankly I don't care."

Harry is pissed. He's past the point of caring, he's over it, he just wants to find Frankenstein before he completely loses it. He doesn't even care that he's suddenly speaking Korean. He doesn't even care that his voice is suspiciously higher than usual. He's so so close to to snapping. But most of all, Harry is done.

Which is why he rudely ignores Silver's attempts at talking.

"Just please confirm for me if the blonde wearing a bloody suit is the mad scientist Frankenstein, and I'll just leave so that you can continue your fight, alright?

Everyone's eyes widen in shock. It's common knowledge that Frankenstein is the Principle of Ye Ran High School. It's common knowledge that he's so loaded he doesn't need a job, but is compassionate to the extent that he would establish an elite-level high school that is affordable to most families. It's common knowledge that Frankenstein is a well-respected member of community.

What is not common knowledge is that Frankenstein used to a be mad genius scientist who would experiment on himself. Because this occurred a few hundred years ago. Frankenstein does not remember ever seeing this girl or even knowing her, and cannot see why or how she would know of him. His amusement quickly turns into suspicion and looks at her with a calculating, assessing gaze.

Regis and Seira look back at him warily.

This is the human all the older Nobles spoke of?

And of course, with the most perfect timing (Harry isn't even surprised at his luck, he just wishes that it wasn't always so unpredictable), Angry decides that the moment when the beautifully emotional reunion with his new father would occur is the best time to resume the fight, even though he is clearly unwanted by everyone else.

Harry hates his new life. And it's only been 10 minutes.

"HUMAN! How dare your filthy hands touch a Kertia!"

Eyes blazing and weapon directly pointed at the throat, the humiliated Noble lunges for Harry. With fury the only thing keeping Harry from breaking, he readies himself to battle, subconsciously reaching into his pouch which-

-which is not there.

it'snotthereit'snotthereit'snotthere-

Momentarily distracted, Harry visibly panics, dropping himself to the ground just before his head would have started rolling. Not missing a beat, Angry leaps back towards him, but this time, his sword clashes with Frankenstein's weapon, who cleanly intercepts the attack.

"Sorry for the interruption, but I find myself slightly irritated at being ignored, Kertia."

Angry jumps back, fury clouding his gaze as he glares at Harry.

"I need to exterminate the insect first before I deal with you, human."

Frankenstein looks back. He sees that the girl has sunk to the floor, tremors rippling throughout her body.

Hmm… seems like she's having a mental breakdown. Can't let her die- I need to know how she knew about me.

"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that. You see, she has business with me, and it would be terribly inconvenient if she's killed by an angry blonde teenager."

The scientist looks back again and sighs. It seems that she has no idea what is going on around her and is trapped in her own mind. He hopes that the other two Nobles have the sense to protect her during the imminent fight.

Rael doesn't know why, but those words have caused his irritation to reach new heights.

He has no idea of knowing that that's the exact same words that Harry used to describe him too.

However, he doesn't want to make the same careless mistake again. For the first time, Rael carefully catalogues his opponent. Standing tall and proud, he's unbothered by the cuts on his chest or the purpling of his hand. He is smirking, eyes hidden by his hair and looks every bit confident that he will win this fight.

"Who… are you?"

Cautious, Rael now has his guard up, tense and ready to respond to the slightest movement.

Simultaneously, they both glare at each other, and suddenly, there is a collision between the blurred forms.

Silence.

Seira instantly takes this opportunity to go in front of the trembling blonde girl and envelopes them in a shield..

Not a second later, an explosion that can be felt for miles rocks the building, changing the whole landscape.

…

Back in Frankenstein's home, an extremely handsome individual with scarlet-red eyes and flowing-jet black hair feels a disturbance. His noble features are arranged in a blank expression, his long eyelashes fluttering as he closes his eyes.

Frankenstein…

…

CLANG! CLASH! BANG!

Locked in a fierce battle, Frankenstein and Rael constantly meet with raised weapons and vicious attacks. Pieces of concrete and destroyed pipes litter the the scene, the damage extending beyond the skyscraper they're standing on. Frankenstein seems unbothered by Rael's attacks, expertly countering the Kertia's furiously fast moves with graceful ease.

"Regis."

Seira instantly takes control, prioritising the humans' city.

"Regis, we need to prevent them from causing any more destruction."

Faintly awed, Regis hesitantly agrees.

"But my power is not strong enough to control and seal their power."

Calmly circumventing Regis' shock, she picks up the unresponsive human girl away from the battle towards a more open space near the edge of the building. It's not the best place for safety, but she's confident she can end the fight quickly enough so that it won't be a concern.

"I should separate them with my power."

"What do you mean 'with your power'?"

Black wisps materialise in her hand to form a wickedly sharp scythe.

"Regis. You make sure the destruction doesn't spread anymore."

Hearing his confirmation, Seira instantly leaps into the fray to stop the fight.

Regis readies himself to carry out Seira's orders, but hesitates. He looks back and sees the broken form of the girl on her knees, blood crusting on her feet, blue eyes unseeing to the world around her. The tattered white dress creates an image of a broken doll, and Regis almost forgets that the one who threw Rael off the building is the same person he's staring at.

He hears multiple voices, and sees that Seira has stopped the fight. Task forgotten, he walks to the group, indignation heating up his words as he hears the topic of their conversation.

"-told you several times. I'm here to bring Seira."

"You're still talking that crap?!"

Annoyed, Rael looks at Regis condescendingly.

"Crap?"

"Yes! That's your problem!"

Seira interjects before another argument occurs.

"Mr. Rael, please go back. I told you my feelings."

Rael sighs. Resigned, but triumphant, he reaches into his jacket.

"Pht, I didn't want to use this to take you back with me."

The Nobles' eyes widen. In his hand is a summons from the Lord.

…

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

The ex-wizard is lost. He hasn't got his pouch. His pouch with his food, tent, books, wands, precious memories. It's gone. GonegonegonegoneGONE.

He's already checked if he has his wand holster.

He doesn't.

Death said there's no magic… but I didn't realise that means I can't have my things with me too.

Every sound is muffled, as if he is submerged underwater. All he can hear is his loud beating heart, reminding him that yes this is real, and yes, there's no magic.

Ba-dump.

He's in a new world.

Ba-dump.

With a new identity.

Ba-dump.

He doesn't have any magic.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

No magic. No friends. No nothing.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Badump. Ba-dump.

Harry is nothing.

Ba-dum-

Brilliant flashes of light flickering in his peripheral vision barely stops him from falling further into his mind.

Harry is nothing.

Ba-dump.

Something cold lands on his exposed knees.

He brings his hand to his face.

I'm… crying?

Blankly, Harry stares at his hand. There's no calluses from holding a wand. There's no calluses from playing Quidditch. It's smaller, softer and smoother. It's not Harry's hand.

He's not Harry Potter anymore.

He's nothing.

He feels the arms wrapping around him, cocooning him in warm safety. The hands are gentle, and he's pressed against soft curves. Almost like being hugged by Luna.

Silverette.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

He feels the ground beneath his legs again. His hands lie uselessly on his thighs. The warmth is gone.

Just like everything else in his life.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

What should he do now?

He lifts his head, and hopes that an answer shows up in front of him.

There are three shorter figures conversing. His eyes are drawn to the tall blonde man with a cold face and an intimidating gaze.

His new father.

Harry desperately clings onto the fact with the grace of Voldemort clinging to his immortality.

I… have to get… to my new… father…

Slowly, Harry lifts himself up. He ignores the darkening edges and the faint dizziness. He ignores his trembling legs and hurting feet. He ignores it all.

All he cares about is reaching his new father.

Breathing becomes painful. Steps become heavy, as if his legs had turned to lead. Unnoticed, he closes the distance between him and his new blood, chest burning.

He doesn't notice the disappearing forms of Seira and Rael. He doesn't notice Frankenstein's wide eyes as he turns to see Harry dragging himself closer. He doesn't notice the blood dripping down from his nose, nor his swaying body.

So close, their chests could be touching, Harry looks up at the guarded face of his new family member. He did it.

He's next to his father.

Harry smiles.

Please… don't leave me…

He passes out straight into Frankenstein's arms.

…

Frankenstein is panicking.

Wait, scratch that. Frankenstein is so confused, anxious, nervous and stressed that he's about to flip his fucking lid.

Frankenstein, before he was a principle, before he was his Master's servant, before he became so notorious, Frankenstein is first and foremost a scientist. Anyone entering his lab means that the scientist now has a sample of their DNA (he would never do such a thing to his Master though, without express permission) inserted it into his DNA bank.

Including his own.

So when he cleaned and bandaged the girl's feet and gave her drugs for overwork and exhaustion, he didn't even think about taking a sample of her DNA. After all, she's a complete mystery.

But, the words on his screen don't make any sense. He's run the tests for the umpthteen time but it shows the same thing over and over.

It doesn't make any sense.

He would have never expected that there would be match in his database. And he definitely didn't expect that her DNA would match his own.

He definitely didn't expect to be a fucking father.

He turns away from the damning screen, and looks at his da-daug- the girl on the bed. Now that he's looking closely at her, he can see that she really does look like him. Damnit.

Lying on her back, eyes closed and ghostly still, she looks very much like the image of death. She has the same pale skin, the same long, silky-blonde hair, and the same burning sapphire blue eyes that heats up in the rush of battle. His elegant features are softer on her heart-shaped face, with full pink lips, softer cheeks and a slightly upturned nose. A curious lighting bolt scar marrs her forehead, which is gently covered by her hair. Remembering her sudden fainting, Frankenstein recalls that her height reaches up to the middle of his chest, and unfortunately knows that her slim, developed figure will catch the eyes (and hands) of many males.

I have a daughter.

I have a beautiful daughter.

I have a beautiful daughter who knows how to fight.

He now understands why she sought him out. If he were in her shoes, he would definitely try to find the parent who has been absent for around 17 years of his life. He still doesn't know how she knew about his experimental days though.

Oh my God.

I'm a father of a teenage girl. And I'm over 1500 years old.

Suddenly, Frankenstein feels like laughing hysterically. Gripping the roots of his hair, he tries to calm himself down.

Master… I need to inform Master.

He calms down. Surely, if Master knows, everything will be fine. He can just follow the orders of his Master. He walks up the stairs, now calmer and ready to store the bizarre events of the day in the back of his brain. Collecting his composure, Frankenstein realises that it doesn't matter whether or not he has a daughter. He is still Frankenstein, Master is still Master, and now he just has to figure out what to do with her-

Frankenstein pauses.

Wait. If she's my daughter… doesn't that mean I have to look after her?

His eye twitches.

As if the invasion of my house by Nobles and students isn't already enough!

Carelessly, Frankenstein enters the living room, still peeved by the sudden new responsibility. Everyone's eyes snap back to him, and look at him curiously.

Tao, of course, is the first to speak up.

"Hey Frankenstein, who was the blonde girl? You went straight to the lab without even saying anything to anyone (except Rai of course)."

Frankenstein pauses for a moment. He knows he's sadistic and slightly crazy, but has no idea how to say he's a father.

M-21 takes his silence as permission to speak.

"Regis informed us that she's no ordinary human, and had the power to fight against a Noble before suddenly breaking down and fainting. Is she a modified human… or an experiment?"

Frankenstein freezes. He's never really thought about how he came to have a daughter. He knows that it wasn't through sex (he was wayyyy too busy establishing the school and forming his place in the community to even think about carnal pleasures).

"...or an experiment?"

Does that mean that someone… someone used his DNA to artificially create her?!

His very being darkens at the thought, and everyone flinches at the sudden anger in Frankenstein's eyes.

"To answer your questions, I have no idea who she is, and how she came to gain those powers. What is certain is that she is my biological daughter."

Everyone froze.

A pin drop could be heard in the resulting silence.

The only thing that can be heard is the clinking of tableware as Rai sets his teacup down. Just as he was about to address Frankenstein, he is cut off.

From the basement, everyone hears a blood-curdling scream.

…

Harry is tired.

He had the weirdest dream where he met Death and agreed to be some insane scientist's child to escape the reality that is Harry Potter.

It was a pretty realistic dream though. I mean even the mental breakdown and emotions felt real.

Groaning, he shifts and lets his arm hang off the edge as he settles in deeper into the bed's embrace. . .

Harry's eyes snap open.

He's faced with a sterile white ceiling.

This is not my room.

He turns his head and sees highly modern lab and medical equipment, which he guesses not even Hermione, a healer-in-training for both magical and non-magical practices, would know about.

He quickly gets out of bed, but dizziness causes him to lean against it.

Owww… what's wrong with my feet?

He looks down and a stray blonde curl brushes against his cheek.

Blonde…?

Like a dam that's been broken, memories of the past day come rushing into the forefront of Harry's mind and he stiffens.

He looks blankly at his bandaged feet. Not a dream.

Breathe. Breathe.

He's alone, he has no magic, he has no friends, he hasn't even got the Deathly Hallows, but-

But-

Someone cared enough to bring him into a state-of-the-art medical facility. Someone cared enough to treat him. Someone cared enough to make sure he didn't just die. Not all is lost.

Not all is lost.

Resolve strengthening, Harry decides to occupy himself by exploring the place he's in. Right in front of him is a desk with multiple screens attached on the wall above it. Only the largest one is on, and it seems to have some details about a specific person.

Curious, Harry moves closer.

Almost everything about this person is unknown. There's a picture of a blonde haired girl with her eyes closed, and there is no description of her. There's no name, no age, no weight or height. There's practically nothing.

Harry feels as if his brain is itching. He ignores it.

In fact, the only information provided is about her parentage. Her mother is unknown, but her father is-

Harry's eyes widen in shock.

Frankenstein?!

Confused, Harry looks again. The word still clearly says "Frankenstein".

The itching in his brain grows even worse.

Harry tries to dissolve the information he's been given.

Death… Death would have told me if I gained a sister… right…?

He looks at the sleeping face of the girl again. He feels as if he knows her.

Wait… she has my scar!

Barely hidden by her hair, he sees the same lightning scar that ruined his whole life. On the exact same spot as his own forehead.

Harry stops breathing.

The itching in his brain becomes unbearable.

Is that- is that-?!

He feels trapped. Walls are suddenly closing in and he frantically looks around for an escape. He sees a door on the other side of the room. Running inside what looks like a bathroom, he slams the door, locks it, then falls to the floor.

Breathing heavily, he tries to think. Emphasis on tries.

The scar… it can't be a coincidence- but- then how-?

Some movement catches his eyes and Harry quickly looks up.

There's a girl.

There's a girl in the mirror.

There's a blond-haired girl in the mirror doing the exact same things he's doing now.

He feels like his world is crumbling.

She's paling just as he feels his own face paling.

Death…? Death! DEATH!

'Is something troubling you, Mistress?'

He feels the powerful voice echo through his mind. His heart stops beating.

'Mistress…? I'm… a… girl?'

'Yes, Mistres-'

Harry doesn't hear anything else.

There's someone screaming.

They're not stopping.

It's only when he hears the bangs on the other side does he realise it's him.

…

The instant they hear the scream, everyone quickly goes down the basement to the laboratory with Frankenstein leading the way. His eyes instantly catalogues the room, and he sees no visible changes apart from the empty bed. He's already on his way towards the bathroom before the others reach the lab.

Her screaming is heartbreaking…

He's not sure whether it's his compassionate nature or sudden paternal instincts taking over, but he can't stand to hear the screams anymore.

He tries to open the door but finds that it's locked. He doesn't think it wise to force himself in so he starts banging on the door.

Unsure of how to address her, and uncomfortable with using 'daughter', he uses her age to call her.

"Student! Can you open the door? Are you alright?"

Hearing the voice, Harry cuts himself off and starts choking viciously, aggravating his sore throat. He hears low, confused murmurs on the other side, but Harry is just thankful that they didn't try to force themselves in.

"I'm… fine…"

With his advanced senses, M-21 hears the weak voice, and tells everyone to quiet down.

"Just… a nightmare…"

The men look at each other. They don't think (or at least hope) that a nightmare could cause such a terrifyingly broken scream. Frankenstein speaks.

"Alright. Come out when you're ready."

Relieved, Harry gently massages his raw throat, and studiously avoids looking at the direction of the mirror.

'Death… I thought you said new identity… but a girl?'

Harry ignores the way his mental voice cracks.

'Yes, a girl. I thought that changing genders would be the most efficient way of disassociating yourself from Harry Potter.'

Harry can't seem to comprehend what Death was telling him.

'But… turning me into a girl?! I've been male for 21 years! How can I suddenly accept this?! It's too- too much!'

'Wrong. Do you think I have not taken your past into account? Your memories has already started assimilating into the female brain, which has a different physiology to male brains.'

'B-b-but- I don't even know who I am anymore! I don't know! I don't know! I DON'T KNOW!'

Death realises that though his Mistress may be strong, she has gone through too much to accept this without his help. He watches her silently sob on the bathroom floor, and tries to save his Mistress from fully breaking.

'Mistress. The reason for your journey and your gender is to allow you to form a new identity. You are still clinging onto Harry Potter.'

His Mistress quietens down as she listens to his words.

'I see that you have kept yourself sane by holding onto who you where in the past. This opportunity is for you to not be Harry Potter, which means you need to let go.'

Brokenly, Harry replies back, more accepting of the situation, but unsure of what to do.

'But… if I let go… will I forget? What happens if I'm no longer Harry Potter?'

Death finally understands. His Mistress, while she's had enough of her old home, and despite her rather harsh life, still doesn't want to forget her precious experiences and memories from there. He feels something akin to fond exasperation.

'Mistress. You will never forget Harry Potter. He is your past. Your past will guide you in the present to prepare you for the future. Just because you are no longer Harry Potter does not mean he is gone. It means that the man Harry Potter is no longer needed in the present, and in your new life.'

It takes a long, long moment before Harry acknowledges Death's point. At last, he- no the girl accepts her situation. She is no longer Harry Potter. Just because she's no longer Harry Potter doesn't mean that Harry Potter ceases to exist.

A crushing weight has finally been relieved from her shoulders. She's not Harry Potter.

She's not Harry Potter.

Her heart is bursting with emotions. Relief, excitement, loss, fear, nervousness to name a few. Unable to deal with them now, she locks them up deep, deep into her mind, hoping that her experience with Occulumency can help her now.

'Thank you Death.'

'Anytime, Mistress.'

Death feels that his presence is still needed, and watches his Mistress carefully.

'Death.. What should my name be?'

'Name? I care not for which name you choose, for you will always be my Mistress.'

'I guess an entity like you finds them meaningless, huh?'

The girl thinks. She wants her new name to be meaningful. Something sophisticated and elegant, but honours the name that her previous parents chose for her too.

'... Hariel.'

'Mistress?'

'I want to honour the man named Harry Potter, and honour the parents who sacrificed themselves for him. My name will be Hariel.'

'... If that is your wish, Mistress.'

The newly named Hariel feels more certain of her future. Before, she was barely balancing on a tightrope from hell, but now she feels like she's standing on a rickety old bridge that crosses over a raging river. Not fully stable, but getting there.

She looks behind her.

'I have to get out now, don't I?'

'It would be wise to do so, yes. I believe that 30 minutes have passed already.'

Hariel gulps.

'Death…? You'll always be there, right? When I need you?'

'Of course, Mistress. I may not be here every waking second, but I will always respond to your call.'

Hariel readies herself. Behind that door, she will face a completely new world as a completely new person with completely new people. If it were anyone else, she's sure that their minds would have snapped already.

But how many people can say that they have Death by their side?

She opens the door, and locks eyes with her new father.

…

An uncomfortable silence falls upon the residents in the laboratory. No one knows what to say or how to react. They can't even begin to fathom how Frankenstein must be feeling: suddenly gaining a teenage daughter, not knowing where she came from, then hearing that dreadful scream. No one would know what to do in that situation.

Rai and Regis are upstairs in the living room. Rai is drinking his tea, trusting his servant to solve the issue, while Regis is on the balcony contemplating the events of the day. He doesn't know how to deal with humans, let alone screaming human girls. In his opinion, it's best he leave it to the actual humans.

Tao feels like an intruder. He has no jokes to lift the mood. To be honest, he's not sure he can even think of anything to improve the mood in the lab. He recognized what it meant when Frankenstein's eyes darkened. His boss didn't know about his daughter. When M-21 mentioned the word 'experiment', his whole demeanour changed. Which means that it's highly likely that his daughter was created artificially, possibly as a weapon for whatever agency made her. Downcast, he can only wait for the girl to unlock the door.

Takeo feels sick. He knows what it feels like to have a family member in danger (even though he never actually had a sister). He knows what it feels like to imagine all the horrible things that can happen to them because of a sick, sick organization. He knows what it feels to be helpless when they're in danger. Which is why the instant he saw Frankenstein's demeanour change as M-21 talked, he knew that something really bad must have happened to the girl. He's not as smart as Tao, nor as strong as M-21, but he instinctively understands that the girl wasn't born through any normal means. He can only hope that Frankenstein doesn't become too affected by this, and that the girl can recover from whatever has happened to her.

M-21 realises something. He can hear the quiet sobbing and the harsh breathing of the girl next door, but no one else can. He can feel her distress and confusion in every sound she makes. His heart aches for the young girl who must have lost her innocence in whatever crimes have been committed against her. He tries hard to conceal his reactions, especially when an especially harsh sob escapes from her. He's not sure if he can take her silent suffering anymore. He hopes she opens the door soon.

Frankenstein feels numb. He's heard that scream before. It's a scream that calls for help, that says they've lost everything, that says that they're so broken they can't live on anymore. It's a scream that he's often heard in his younger years, when plagues and diseases were orchestrated to satisfy the power-hungry.

It's a scream that calls for death.

Frankenstein may be sadistic towards his enemies, but he hates harming the innocent. It's the reason why the majority of his experiments were done on himself. It's also the reason why he shares his home with the three ex-Union members. Yet, while he has always felt anger at injustice, he's never felt such a deep hurt. It feels like his heart is being simultaneously squeezed and slashed at.

If this is how it feels like when being a father for 1 hour, I can't imagine how I would have felt as a father for years…

He sees M-21's head snap up towards the door, and a second later, his daughter comes out. Her eyes find his. She looks exhausted, as if she's risen back from the dead. Her legs are barely holding her up, and he can see that she's leaning against the door. Even so, Frankenstein is filled with relief. Her eyes no longer look dead. Her eyes look like they want to live.

For a second, no one could do anything but stare. Then finally, she speaks up.

"Sorry about the whole… screaming thing. Usually, I can control my reactions to nightmares a bit better."

There's something wrong, everyone thinks, about a girl who suffers from such horrific nightmares like we do.

She shivers. Faintly, Frankenstein remembers that all she's wearing is a dirty, flowing white dress and must be cold.

Sheepishly rubbing the back of her head, she introduces herself.

"My name's Hariel. Umm… and I guess that you've figured out that you're my father?"

Here, she directly addresses Frankenstein. All he can do is offer a nod.

"Then if I may be so bold… do you have any clothes I could wear?"

…

Well that was extremely awkward.

Currently, she's walking with a trio of men she hasn't seen before. She's wearing the black-haired guy's clothes. The smallest T-shirt he could find hangs off her shoulders, and his shorts reach below her knees. She hasn't spoken to anyone else apart from Frankenstein (and Silver), and feels like a snake in a zoo exhibit as everyone observes her. She knows that the blonde is currently with someone else she hasn't seen yet, whom he strangely addresses as 'Master'. It sounds similar to how Death addresses her. It sounds like devotion, loyalty and fondness.

I wonder how strong this 'Master' is for Frankenstein to be completely devoted to.

She looks around her, and sees that the men are studiously looking forward. She can tell that no one knows how to deal with her out-of-the-blue appearance.

To be fair, dimension hoppers aren't exactly the norm. … Not that they know that detail anyway.

Just as Hariel is about to speak, the guy that gave her clothes beat her to the punch.

"So… where you from? You don't sound like a Korean even though you speak the language well."

M-21 and Takeo can only sweatdrop. This the best he could do?

"Ha… you're right. I'm actually British. I know both English and Korean. In fact, I only arrived yesterday-"

Tension forgotten, Tao grows excited.

"Wait! You're British?! Cool!"

He leans forward and disarmingly smiles at her.

"Can you speak English? Can I hear the oh-so-famed British accent?"

Amused, and slightly taken aback at his enthusiasm, Hariel complies.

"Sure. What do you want me to say?"

M-21 and Takeo can only shake their heads. Secretly, they're relieved that Tao has the ability to lift up their mood.

Eyes lighting up, Tao begins to think aloud.

"Oh… what should you say…? It has to be something completely awesome and cool! And something that sounds really British! Ah… so many options to choose from... The first British words I hear need to be completely awe-inspiring!"

Hariel hides a smile. British words? Really?

But she feels at ease around the excitable man. He somehow reminds her of the Weasley twins, and wonders if he likes pranking too.

They arrive at the living room and see Frankenstein acting strangely skittish around Rai.

"I told you to be polite."

"Well, Master, I-"

Frankenstein is cut off when a charged tension settles in the room. Everyone apart from Rai and Hariel tense up.

The Noblesse smoothly stands up and looks at Hariel.

He recognises the ancient, dangerous power that she wields, which he's heard only in whispers in his youth. He knows that this power is newly awakened, as her body and powers have not yet melded together to become one. If he concentrates, he can also see Death's mark upon her heart, and glowing softly. The triangle, circle and line. The Mark of Death.

He stares at Hariel.

Hariel stares back. She can feel the pressure, the dangerously soothing aura and instinctively knows that he's the Noblesse.

He's wearing the same school uniform Silver and Silverette have. He has startlingly bright scarlet eyes which are much warmer than those of Voldemort's. His elegant and smooth features complement his jet-black hair, and the silver cross earring on his left ear creates an image of royalty.

"You're the Noblesse."

Shocked, the residents stare.

How did she kno-

"And you are the Mistress of Death."

Shock turns into bewilderment. What?

On the other hand, Hariel is frozen.

Did I just hear that-

Her eyes widen at the Noblesse's steady gaze.

Oh my God, he knows. He knows. Heknowsheknowsheknows-

She instinctively calls for her only companion.

'DEATH!'

A few seconds of silence. And then-

Everyone except for Rai and Hariel snap into high alert.

Something's coming.

The room grows darker. Shadows forms shapes and start to glide towards Hariel. Confused, the residents look at Rai, but he looks like he's expecting this. Slowly, they relax but maintain their guard.

A frightening presence forms next to the frozen girl. Immediately, everyone knows that they have no chance against this new player. Tall, hooded, and carrying a wickedly sharp knife, a primal fear rose up in the humans as they gaze upon the fearsome entity.

"Hello, Mistress."

Amused at his nonchalant greeting, and bolstered by her powerful support, Hariel decides to indulge her pranking side.

"Hello… Death."

*Chapter 3*: Who Hariel Really Is

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR NOBLESSE.

AN:

Hello everyone! Thank you for all the favourites, follows and reviews. The really do make my day! XD

Some of you have inquired about any pairings for this story, and honestly I'm not sure. Hariel has only been a girl for less than a day, and needs to fulfill her wish of having a loving family before even touching the word 'romance'. Maybe when her mental health is better I can get some ideas…

Also just wanted to say that I have final exams coming up ｡ﾟ･ (﹏) ･ﾟ｡ so I'm not sure when the next update will be. But don't worry! Those chapters are coming!

Onto the story!

P.S. You might want to have a box of tissues nearby. I cried while writing this chapter…

Chapter 3: Who Hariel Really Is

"Hello, Mistress."

Amused at his nonchalant greeting, and bolstered by her powerful support, Hariel decides to indulge her pranking side.

"Hello… Death."

An unnatural stillness descends upon the room.

One would think that in the presence of such a terrifying entity, the immediate response would be to panic, freak out, or beg please, I can't die now. After all, this is the one thing that can end an existence, and makes the act of living so… meaningless.

But there was no sound. Everyone's hearts beat uncomfortably loudly, the suffocating silence weighing them down. All the modified humans are frozen, eyes wide, breaths short as the tension accumulates. Just when the materialised shadows seem to come closer, just when blackness starts to dance around the edges of the room, just when the unbearable pressure reaches to a crescendo, Hariel opens her mouth and-

SLAP!

Instantly, every living being's eyes snap to the source. In her vision, Hariel sees a hand dropping weakly and looks at its owner.

Tao, with a bright red handprint on his face, stares disbelievingly at the entity next to her.

First of all, Hariel can't comprehend what just happened. Slowly, the pieces put themselves together, and she gapes at the previously excitable man.

"Did- did- did you just slap yourself?!"

Her incredulous point is further highlighted when Frankenstein, Takeo, M-21, and even Rai, look at him with widened eyes and disbelieving gazes.

Faintly, Tao replies.

"I'm sorry… I just thought that you called the tall black hole with a scary-looking weapon Death."

Amazingly enough, his words are clear even though he looks visibly shaken.

From what I've seen, this world completely revolves around technology. Of course he'd find Death terrifying.

Her gaze flickers between everyone's faces, and Takeo and M-21 look like they're agreeing with Tao's assessment. Rai is as calm as ever, since he already sensed that Death was approaching, and Frankenstein-

Oh my God.

Frankenstein's face is set in a deep, confused, wary concentration, eyes constantly flickering around as he tries to catalogue this new threat that he obviously knows he has no chance against, and Hariel can literally hear his thoughts: whatthehellwhatthehellhowdoIgetMasteroutofthiswHatTHeHeLL-

Harry barely manages to choke down her snort.

Oh my God. This is too funny.

No wonder people in power find the powerless amusing. She feels slightly bad about the quiet snickers, but only Death can hear her so it's fine.

She isn't sure whether or not she should mess around with them anymore, but thankfully someone - or something - interferes before she has the chance.

"I thought it was common courtesy for humans to introduce themselves to a guest."

Immediately, Hariel starts choking as she tries to contain her reaction, and gathers herself as she looks up at everyone else.

Instant.

Regret.

Everyone looks as if Ron was just told that Molly Weasley is Voldemort's lovechild.

Tao faints.

Takeo looks like he's about to follow him.

M-21 is slowly edging closer to Rai as if trying to hide behind him.

Frankenstein just can't believe that Death used a line that he always uses to enrage his enemies.

By now, Hariel decides to stop all pretense, and falls to the ground, shaking as she clutches her stomach and tries to contain her giggles.

"Oh-" giggle "-my G-" snort "-God-" giggle "-Death!"

The hooded figure looks down at his laughing Mistress.

"What is it that you find so amusing, Mistress?"

He is the very picture of power, age and immortality, but his voice betrays a faint undercurrent of amusement.

Hariel just laughs harder at the thought that Death has a sense of humour.

"Yo-" snort "-you don't ju-" cackle "-just scare the-" choke "-them like that!"

"Forgive me, Mistress. I was following your lead."

Hariel can't breathe.

She can definitely hear a smirk in his tone of voice.

Meanwhile, Frankenstein just blankly gazes at his so-called-daughter, who looks to be dying of laughter on the floor.. Who is the Mistress of Death. She's laughing with Death. The entity that ends all things, the one thing everyone wants control over, but will forever be out of their reach. His daughter is laughing with Death. Death calls her Mistress. Like he calls the Noblesse his Master. But Death is much, much more powerful. And his daughter looks so small. Frankenstein cannot process all this information overload and wonders if he drank any alcohol last night.

SMACK!

SLAP!

Everyone - except for Hariel who now has cramps from laughing so hard - looks over at the two arguably most normal ones present, which is saying a lot since they're ex-Union members, and unsurprisingly see similar angry red handprints on their faces.

"Just to make sure this is all happening."

"What he said."

Both members feel like the world just turned sideways and that they're the only ones trying to stand upright. M-21 didn't think that he would ever meet anyone who's crazier than Frankenstein.

Of course the one person who has to surpass his expectations is his daughter.

Takeo almost, only just almost, wishes he had that pretend sister of his. In fact, he'd rather go back to the time he was fighting Frankenstein. He doesn't care if he almost died. At least things then still made sense.

"I did not have any expectations when coming here, but surprisingly, this turned out to be a favourable choice on my part."

Death seems to gaze at everyone present before looking down at his rather… incapacitated Mistress.

"Humans are so… amusing."

Frankenstein decides to stop worrying and go with the flow. It's not like his daughter will want to kill them all, right?

M-21 strangely feels like bearing his neck at such a powerful presence, and barely manages to stop himself.

Takeo decides to not think at all and kicks Tao awake. He's pretty sure that despite his current vocal protests, he would never live it down if he missed the chance to listen to Death have a conversation with someone.

Tao decides to follow Hariel's lead and stay on the ground as he barely processes the current proceedings. Except he's not recovering from a laughing session, but a fainting session.

"Considering that my Mistress is currently… unavailable-"

Hariel snorts from the floor.

"- I shall speak in her place. I understand that my presence here is slightly shocking-"

SLIGHTLY?!

"- however, it seems that my Mistress felt undue shock at the reveal of her status, and therefore summoned me in her panic, Noblesse."

Here, Rai bows in greeting, then nods his head understandingly. He looks faintly confused, but apologetic.

"I apologize. She addressed me by my title, so I followed her lead."

"Understandable. It was a misgiving on my part, as I did not warn her that you would instantly recognize her identity, so she was shocked when you did."

With those words, Hariel instantly recovers and looks at Death accusedly.

"You mean you knew that he would know and just decided to see my reaction to his knowing?!"

The audience (except Rai - he's in a class of his own) look in awe as Hariel casually scolds a fucking entity.

"I shall neither deny nor confirm that, Mistress."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. Let's watch my Mistress make a fool out of herself shall we. After all, this is all for your amusement."

Grumbling, Hariel finally picks herself up and sees the disbelieving faces staring right at her, and slowly blushes in embarrassment as she realizes she just had a laughing fit in front of people she's only known for like an hour and-

She silently groans and hides - surreptitiously adjusts her position - behind Death.

Her voice is quiet when she speaks.

"Death will explain everything."

After all, she needs a backstory, right?

Death allows his Mistress to find comfort in his presence and carefully chooses his words to describe her life story.

"It is interesting how you have managed to stay true to your ideals since all those millenia ago, Cadis Etrama Di Raizel."

Rai subtly scrunches his eyebrows in confusion.

"I wasn't aware that we have previously met."

"We have not. I like to track the progress of those powerful enough to catch my attention. In fact, though she is but a child, that is how I know of my Mistress here."

Frankenstein instantly blurts out his confusion.

"Hariel? How did she get powerful enough to attract your attention?"

Secretly, he hopes he doesn't hear the words 'scientific' or 'experiment' in Death's answer.

"Mistress is the only person that was able to successfully complete my trials and not be cursed in the process."

"Cursed?!"

Frankenstein isn't sure if he wants to find out the rest.

"Considering you are a scientist, you must be familiar with the term 'multiverses'?"

"Yes…?"

"Well, consider that theory but in a larger scale. In addition to difference in choices that could have different consequences, there are differences in powers, realms and species. I brought your daughter back from one of those worlds where she endured many of those trials in order to fulfill her greatest wish."

Emotions rampaging all over the place - multiverses are real, so SO REAL - and swallowing his tactless questions - what kind of powers? - Frankenstein decides to focus on his daughter's greatest wish. He decides to steal a look at her face, and stiffens once he sees her alarmingly blank face.

"Her greatest wish…?"

"A loving family."

The mood instantly turns sombre as everyone momentarily forgets that they're conversing with a powerful entity. Frankenstein, M-21, Takeo and Tao can still vividly remember Hariel's piercing screams, and darken at the implications of the Death's statement.

M-21 glances at Frankenstein and sees that his body is taught with rising anger. Ex-Union member, dangerous experiment and part of Ye Ran High's security, M-21 takes a slow, deep breath before addressing Death to find more details on behalf of his tense benefactor.

"What kind of trials…? If you don't mind me asking."

Death contemplates the human-slowly-turning-werewolf.

Brave when the situation calls for it. He would be a good protector for my Mistress.

"My Mistress was born under slightly unusual circumstances."

Hariel thinks, Yes, it was uncommon for a pureblood to marry a non-magical in that time, especially because of Voldemort's rising movement.

Everyone else thinks, Unusual circumstances…? Like… an experiment?!

Rai patiently waits for the rest of the story.

And Frankenstein…

I fucking knew it. Fucking. Knew it. AN EXPERIMENT. Goddamnit, who would do this to a child? Artificially create her for what purpose?! How did they even get my DNA if they're from another world?! I wasn't even there to see what happened to my daughter, or even protect her! FUCK!

Hariel doesn't want to be reminded of Harry's rather harsh childhood and zones out as Death speaks. She's unaware that her slight change in facial expression is detected by the others as they carefully listen to her past.

"Mistress came from a society with what most humans who say had 'backwards thinking'. Because of this, the couple looking after her were killed by a rather powerful group with a purist agenda during their war. However, their leader was not able to kill Mistress, and in this turn of events, she was praised a hero by society as the enemy's members scattered."

Oh boy, here we go, Hariel thinks as the words penetrate her ears unwillingly.

"The leader on the winning side believed that Mistress was the child of the prophecy who would be able to defeat the enemy's almost-immortal leader once and for all, and took it upon himself to orchestrate the events of her life to become a sacrificial lamb for the 'greater good'."

Everyone's wariness of Death fades as they listen to the traumatising past of one Harry Potter, now known as Hariel. At the words 'greater good', all the humans tense up, their faces turning stone-cold.

"In this world, there was the mundane society, and the hidden society that Mistress was a part of. The leader decided that, in order to ensure that she would become easily moldable, Mistress would be sent to live in an abusive household until she becomes of age, ignorant of her origins and what people thought of her in the hidden society."

M-21 can feel Frankenstein's darkening presence from where he is next to Rai, and decides to edge closer to Tao and Takeo. He's not sure how much of his anger he can command, and Frankenstein's darkening mood is definitely not helping with his control.

"She was inducted at 11, forced to receive subpar education, and battled through multiple life-and-death situations without any training from the leader as the almost-immortal one slowly regained his power. Not only did she fight against the enemy forces; she had to deal with attacks on her person from society and the media with no protection from the side she is fighting for, despite being a minor."

Here, Death paused as if to ascertain his point. His Mistress' mood is subdued, while everyone else seems to vibrate in anger.

Good. The angrier they are, the more inclined they are to protect my Mistress.

"Treated like a puppet, the weight of society was unfairly put on her shoulders. Being targeted from the enemy side, and forced to handle everything herself due to the lack of care from those who where supposed to protect her, she single handedly won the war and killed the almost-immortal one, along with her similarly inexperienced classmates."

Hariel's face is shadowed as she remembers her experience as Harry. In Frankenstein's mind, this only added to the image of a traumatised child, forced to fight a war for irresponsible, corrupt, greedy politicians as a-

Child soldier.

"Child soldier. My Mistress was a child soldier. She was deprived of a family and a normal life, and I sent her back here after meeting her in order for her to live a life she will never have a chance of living in the other world."

Silence.

Rai loves humans. Their lives are fleeting, but they don't allow themselves to despair. They live their short lives fully, colourfully before dying and always find new ways to improve themselves, to create, to invent. To think that the previously laughing girl before him endured such trials due to the greed of those same humans…

Rai's no stranger to suffering himself. He knows the steep, steep price of power. He knows it very intimately. That would be the only way this child will have gained the title Mistress of Death.

And it's not just anyone's child. It's Frankenstein's child. His faithful servant.

Where did they go wrong? For such things to occur to her…

Rai grows sombre.

Takeo can feel his heart breaking as he listens to Hariel's past. Abusive… sacrificial lamb… child soldier… It reminds him of his days as part of the DA-5. A pawn on the chessboard, fighting battles for the lazy, greedy king who can't do anything by himself. Eventually, carelessly sacrificed to gain ground on the enemy. The ends justify the means. Takeo is so familiar with this, it hurts, it hurts so much, because she's just a child, and children shouldn't have to fight wars or be left on their own. At least he's an adult. And he wasn't even with the DA-5 for 17 years of his life.

Hariel had to go through all that shit for her whole life. With no help.

Her posture is subdued, face hidden by her long hair, and her body unnaturally still in Tao's almost comically oversized clothes. She looks like a child that's seen too much to be happy again.

The worst, worst thing that could happen for Takeo is when a child doesn't have a reason to smile.

Acutely aware of Death's imposing presence, Takeo slowly walks towards the teenage girl. As he comes closer, his blue eyes pick out her faint tremors, and he feels an unfamiliar sting in his eyes. He stands in front of her, and slowly, ever so slowly, brings his arms around her, and hugs her protectively, willing her to know that she won't go through something like that ever again.

She stiffens in his arms, and Takeo barely manages to stop himself from squeezing her as he's bombarded with the thought that she might have never been hugged before.

Unknown to him, Hariel has been hugged before. But those hugs were never protective. They were relieved, coddling, and sometimes, even suffocating. Hariel always felt like she had no one to watch over her when she was Harry, but now, this man who's close to her new biological father hugs her in a protective way, as if promising her a life without dangers, a life with comfort, warmth and safety, and- and- Hariel doesn't know what to do. She's completely stripped of Harry Potter, but she still is Harry Potter who no longer trusted anyone but Luna, but now she's not Harry Potter but Hariel so should she give this a chance?

'Death…? I'm... scared. I'm really scared.'

'Then tell them that, Mistress.'

'What? Tell them?! Are you crazy?!'

'You can feel it, Mistress. They are unlike anyone you have ever known. While there are some things they must never know, it would not hurt to start being honest with them. Your new family.'

'But…'

'You yourself want this, Mistress. I promise you, you will not regret it if you tell them how you are feeling right now.'

Breaths shallow, Hariel clings onto the first thing her hands come contact with, which turns out to be Takeo's shirt. Unbidden, tears form in her eyes as she contemplates whether or not to trust Death's words.

Tao feels his heart constrict and his throat clogs up. He's nowhere near as fond of children as Takeo, but he finds joy in his interactions with Woo Ik-Han, the kid who's just as nerdy as he is. He's confessed to feeling lonely because no one understands him, but at least in the DA-5, everyone was part of the same team and suffered together. That was the unspoken code: we might all hate each other but at least we hate each other together.

Hariel didn't even have that luxury. She was alone from the start. She was suffering from the start. She was targeted from the start. She was kept ignorant, and made a puppet from the start. Tao may have had a shitty life, from what he could remember anyway, but now he has a home. He has comrades. He has a really, really cool boss. Heck, Tao was taken under Frankenstein's wing before Hariel even had the chance to meet him.

And Frankenstein is her father!

He watches as Takeo's face tightens in resolve and walks - fearlessly! - past Death and hugs the Boss' daughter. He sees her stiffen and tremble, and wishes that she stop hurting so much on her own.

He's not the hugging type, or the children type to be honest. But this is Frankenstein's daughter. Which means that she's automatically part of this cracked-up family with Tao. Glancing at Death, he walks up to the one-sidedly hugging pair and feels his breaths get shakier as he looks upon her scared, trembling form. Takeo has tears in his eyes, looking so unsure of what to do to help the girl, and Tao feels sadness and fury rise up in him simultaneously.

Those pathetic, low-lives that disgrace the human race are so lucky they live in another world.

Feeling as if his emotions might explode, Tao decides to join Takeo in an attempt at comfort, and wraps his arms around both his long-time ally and the trembling teenager.

Hariel isn't ready for this. She isn't ready for this. She's just accepted her sudden gender change, and that she's Hariel, but, but-

Accepting that there are adults who are genuinely concerned for her is so. Much. Harder.

'Death… I'm so, so scared…'

'Do not worry Mistress, for I am here.'

Hariel starts to silently cry at the fact that there is might be a chance of having a real, loving family. But she's still so scared…

She has to be honest? What if they brush her off? Her godfather, Sirius Black, always brushed Harry off and told him to trust Dumbledore…

M-21 is unsure of where these sudden thoughts, instincts and reactions have come from, but he feels vengefully furious. His very being is filled with anger, with the need to hunthunthunt those who hurt the Alpha'spuppuppup, and killkillkill them so that they don't ever do it again. He's restless, pacing, occasionally growling and snapping as he tries to control his emotions, but he really, really wants to hurt them.

Howdaretheyhurtpack'spup,howDaReTHEy-

He's completely unaware when Takeo approaches Hariel to hug her, but his head immediately snaps to the slowly growing huddle once Tao joins the hug.

I can smell her tears.

Instantly, M-21's enraged emotions deflate, until all that's left is sadness, frustration and hurt. He doesn't know why it's become harder to control himself. He suspects that these changes where catalysed by the presence of Frankenstein's daughter, but he has no idea what to make of it. Her smiles where fleeting and the most prominent thing he remembers is her harsh sobs in the lab and the deaddead eyes. He wonders what she has gone through to have so many emotional breakdowns, but knows he doesn't want her to go through that again. Pack.

He doesn't know where pack comes from, but he agrees with the strange word choice.

These people are pack.

He advances towards the hug, but unlike his comrades, he looks at the fearsome entity, bravely staring at the black hole in the unearthly hood. He feels like he is being assessed by the higher being, and only manages to move once Death's head tilts in acknowledgement.

M-21 sees the falling tears of his comrades as they try to hold the broken girl together, and feels his own eyes stinging sharply.

He joins the hug.

'Death… they don't even know me… but they're not lying…'

Hariel lets out a harsh sob.

'Why… why do they care so much? Why didn't THEY care before?! WHY NOW?!'

Death stays quiet, and reassures his traumatised Mistress with his presence in her mind. He does not want to break up the compassionate corner they have in front of him. His Mistress will finally be opening up to humans. He knows she trusts him fully, but he cannot give her everything she needs as a human.

He watches as the experimented humans silently shed tears. His Mistress falls to the ground, clutching the shirt of the long-haired man and finally, finally allows herself to sob loudly like a child.

Death turns his gaze towards the new father of his Mistress. When watching the proceeding events, he finds satisfaction in having chosen such a protective, powerful, wonderfully furious human.

Frankenstein is not angry. Frankenstein is not mad. Frankenstein is not furious.

Frankenstein has transcended above the flimsy definitions of those pathetic words as there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can describe the vengeful, wrathful, violent eruption of terrifyingly hot emotions that are just begging to be released upon the filthy, disgusting, pathetic, animals that made his daughter suffer. His fingers twitch for the hold of his lover, the Dark Spear, wanting to feed her the sinful souls of Hariel's tormentors.

He can feel the excitable urging of the Dark Spear, and is tempted, oh so tempted, by the thought of what his newfound enemies might go through if he and Dark Spear just worked together with no restrictions.

And just why would Frankenstein be so mad?

Well, that's simple. Frankenstein is a possessive bastard.

That's his daughter. His daughter who he was supposed to look after, his daughter who he was supposed to be with, his daughter who he was supposed to teach, his, his, his. Just like Rai is his Master, his to faithfully serve, his to be loyal to, his to protect from enemies, his to protect from the overuse of his powers. Just like Tao who is now his hacker, his sort-of-student-child to scold, his to trust the safety of the children to. Just like Takeo who is also his sort-of-student-child, his to train, his to lament at because his compassion for humans almost reaches his own. Just like M-21 who is his, his first sort-of-student-child after his last apprentice, his to break out of the Union way of thinking, his to experiment on for his sake. They're all his. They belong to him. Him.

Except, with Hariel, it's so much more, because she's not only his, she also has his DNA. She's his and more.

He wants nothing more than two find the portal, gateway or whatever the fuck the entrance is to her world and completely and utterly destroy that hidden society, but… but-

He's a father now. His daughter is crying. Quite loudly. In the arms of his student-children.

But she still refuses to say what's wrong.

Hariel is hurting. So much. M-21 somehow reminds her of Remus, the quiet, but sometimes terrifying werewolf that lost his pack, his reason to live and was separated cruelly from Teddy and-

Hariel wants to trust them. She wants it so much it's killing her inside. But something is stopping her. So she can't help cry.

For the first time, she wants somebody to help her.

She's afraid that if nobody helps her now, she can't ever be helped again.

The thought just makes her cry harder.

Somehow, in between her desperate wailing, she hears footsteps come closer. She instantly recognizes the commanding, powerful sounds and pushes herself away from Takeo. In front of her stands Frankenstein.

Hariel feels like shit. Hariel looks like shit. Her face is burning red, her eyes puffy, her nose swollen and runny, her lips cracked and her eyes are screaming in despair. Franken-

'Your father. He is not just Frankenstein the human, Mistress, he is Frankenstein your father.'

'But why?! Why do I seek his approval even though I've known him for less than a day?'

'Mistress. You were not healthy. Harry Potter was not healthy. Not of body, but of mind and soul. His feelings of being wanted and needed by a parental figure, whether it was Vernon Dursley, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Arthur Weasley or Remus Lupin, never left him. He could not bear to part with them. He especially could not stop wanting James or Lily Potter to be alive and healthy and right there beside him too. You might not be Harry Potter, but you have his feelings and wishes and hopes and desires. Frankenstein right now is your real father. Harry's dreams have a chance of coming true. So you too are crushed by the overwhelming presence of these complicated emotions, because you know that Frankenstein can be that parent.'

Hariel looks up at the blonde man. He's angry, no furious. But Hariel is not scared. Because the anger isn't directed at her. It's directed at those who hurt her.

He's not angry at her. He's angry for her.

When was the last time that an adult was truly angry for her well being and well being alone?

His face is set in stone, cold and unfeeling. But his eyes are gentle.

Hariel shudders.

He crouches and holds out his arms. Waiting.

He's holding his arms out. He's offering me a family. A family. Family.

The last wall surrounding her heart crumbles down, and she leaps into her father's arms, almost ripping his shirt as she grips onto it desperately.

She finally knows what it feels like. The comforting, irreplaceable embrace of a parent.

Renewed tears burst forth as she takes the risk of trusting Death.

"I-" sob "-I'm so" hiccup "scared! So so so so scared!"

Once Hariel starts, she has no way of stopping. Her feelings, her worries, her insecurities: they all break out.

"No one cared! They didn't care for the child, the orphan" choke "They cared about the B-Girl-Who-Lived! They lied about everything! They treated me like an idiot, but expected me to fight a war! Even my godfather listened to the Headmaster over me ! And he died! People died! And it's my fault! But they say it's not! But if it's not, why didn't anyone care about me? Why did every adult scorn me? Why did every adult lock me up away? Why did every adult let them call me names, hurt me, betray me? Why did no one help me? Why did they all hate me when they wanted me to fight their war or them? Why is it always us children that suffer? Why?!"

Hariel feels like her head is bursting, and she thinks her throat might be bleeding, but she screams anyway.

"Why did they make me their saviour if no one cared? Why did they become my friends if they were all going to leave me anyway? Why did they leave me? Why did they abandon me? Why!?"

Her voice is growing hoarse and scratchy, but she still has more to stay.

"I tried… to be who they wanted. To be their saviour. To be their Golden Girl. Their celebrity. I dumbed myself down, acted stupid, and was part of their stupid prejudice against snakes. I tried. I really did. I tried so hard. But they didn't care. They didn't see my efforts. Why? Why didn't they see me? Is something… wrong with me? Why else would all except one leave…"

Frankenstein can feel his heart shatter into a million pieces, but stubbornly keeps the calm, comforting facade as he desperately tries to control his overwhelming sorrow. He focuses on anything and everything else but his emotions. His hands stroking her blonde hair. His student-children's own angry tears and shaking bodies. His Master's bowed face. Even Death's immovable presence.

Anything but his own mournful, soul-crushing sadness.

"You… you won't leave me alone too right? Just like the rest…"

His daughter's broken voice asks a question that shakes him to the core, and he knows with all his soul that what he says next is without a doubt true.

"No, Hariel."

He hugs her tighter, and hates that she limply hangs in his arms.

"I will never leave you alone for as long as I live."

He feels his daughter relax as she slowly passes out.

"I wish… I can be as confident… in your words as you are…"

…

"I would ask you to look after my Mistress, and to not pry too much into her past, but I can see that it is unnecessary of me to do so."

Death watched them as they gather themselves after his Mistress' most spectacular breakdown to date. He watched them as Frankenstein silently carried his Mistress to his bedroom. He watched them as the Noblesse subtly wipes away a trailing tear. He watched them as the young humans helped stabilise each other, and wordlessly confirm that they will make Frankenstein's daughter the happiest girl alive. He watched as Frankenstein came down, face statue-blank, then suddenly punch straight through the wall in a small fit of fury.

Death is very pleased by these turns of events. This family of misfits have outstandingly succeeded his expectations, and he has no worries about the future happiness of his Mistress.

Frankenstein watches him warily, but Death is only amused.

"I expect that my Mistress will not need to summon me anytime soon."

And just like that, it was if Death was never there. The shadows, the darkness, the overwhelming presence. All gone. If it wasn't for the hole in the wall, there would have been no visible evidence of the whole meeting happening.

Immediately, Frankenstein speaks with Rai in hushed tones, The trio watch as their faces grow serious, and snap to attention at Frankenstein's order.

"Follow me."

Descending down the stairs, the trio hope that Frankenstein has something for them to do. Hariel's broken state is too fresh on their minds, and they need to be given a task. Need to. Otherwise, their emotions might overwhelm them, and nobody has time to deal with that.

Especially after Frankenstein's encounter with a potential enemy.

The trio stand silently as Frankenstein concentrates on his task. He's typing furiously in the computer, his movements jerkier than normal.

The silence is suffocating.

But it's better than trying to outwardly acknowledge Hariel's words.

Frankenstein may seem calm right now. But really he's not. Not at all. His emotions are locked deep inside the corner of his mind, but the lock is made out of wood as opposed to steel and-

Yeah. He's not okay at all.

He just finished calling in a favour from an old friend, and soon, a full wardrobe will be on its way to his daughter. He also just ordered a school uniform for Ye Ran High, and is barely completing the paperwork necessary for his daughter's transfer.

He might ask Tao to forge some papers for her later.

Sighing tiredly, he stands up to face the three determined ex-Union members.

"We are proceeding with your experiments faster."

…

The next morning, sunlight filters through a large window, urging a blonde, teenage girl to wake up. Sleep battles against wakefulness, but she groans and opens her eyes as she forces herself awake. She looks at her unfamiliar surroundings, tests her raw throat and feels her puffy face.

She's then reminded of exactly what events took place yesterday, and resists the urge to hide underneath the blankets for all of eternity.

It happened again.

I talked to Death, cried, and passed out in Frankenstein's arms.

… Fuck.

*Chapter 4*: First Day At Ye Ran High

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR NOBLESSE.

AN:

I have over 200 follows… XD

So, like I said before, pairings probably won't happen for quite a while (RaiXHariel seems to be quite popular), but there are going to be some cute fluffy moments as a substitute! For now, at least hehe.

Onto the story!

Notes on Korean Grammar #2:

Depending on who you're speaking to, there are specific honorifics used when talking to different people, depending on the age and seniority of that person. There are three forms: the informal one, and two formal ones (there's not that much difference between the two). The informal one is used with family and close friends, while the formal ones are used with those you don't know that well, people older than you, or people that have a higher station that you e.g. teacher, doctor, your boss, etc.

Chapter 4: First Day At Ye Ran High

It happened again.

I talked to Death, cried, and passed out in Frankenstein's arms.

… Fuck.

She couldn't believe she did that again.

Within the span of one day.

Feeling warm from the heat radiating off her face, Hariel got out of the comfortably soft bed before getting a heat stroke from embarrassment.

Stepping on the soft rug beneath her bare feet, she looked around and realised just how… classy her new father was.

The room was extremely elegant, furnished with tasteful decor. Silver and black were the primary colours used, which went extremely well with the dark wood floor, giving it the appearance of modern aristocracy. The king-sized bed was placed in the centre of the room, directly facing what looks like a really flat television stuck onto the wall, with a fireplace directly underneath it. To the right, a silver sofa overlooked the neighbourhood out of tall windows, and Hariel could imagine the man observing the world outside with his always present blank, cold face.

Like any average person, Hariel would love nothing more than to snoop around the room. However, she felt disgusting, having not showered for the past few days and wondered if there is anything she could use to wash up.

Suddenly, the faint sound of the clinking of plates disturbed the silence, and Hariel realised that she needed to interact with the others.

The others that saw her fall apart merely yesterday.

Those others.

Hariel desperately resisted the urge to obliviate herself (not that she could since there was no magic, but the desire persisted) and slowly walked down the stairs, dearly hoping that the floor wouldn't creak.

In the living room, she saw Frankenstein sitting on the sofa sipping tea without a care in the world, as if his fake, dimension-hopping, male-turned-female child didn't appear out of the blue yesterday. She felt completely awkward and out of place in Tao's clothes and greasy hair compared to Frankenstein with his impeccable, silky locks and stylish suit.

He looked up at her and Hariel froze.

"Good morning, Hariel."

"... Good morning."

She can't be the only one feeling this suffocated, right?

"Where are the others?"

Frankenstein took his sweet time drinking his tea, causing Hariel to become slightly annoyed rather than nervous.

"Master is at school, while M-21, Tao and Takeo are in the lab. Regis, the Noble with silver hair, is taking a break from school and is preparing for his departure to Lukedonia."

Hariel started to nod her head before his words hit her.

"Wait! Rai goes to school?!"

Frankenstein raised an eyebrow at Hariel's gobsmacked expression.

"Yes. It's easier. This way, I can explain his presence at my residence, as well as being able to watch over him during my working hours."

"Working hours…?"

"Oh yes, you don't know. I'm the chairman of Ye Ran High School."

Hariel looked at Frankenstein's suspiciously innocent face and deadpanned.

"That seems… awfully convenient."

Frankenstein smirked knowingly.

"Yes. I must say, it's quite the coincidence."

Feeling the last dregs of her nervousness fade to slight awkwardness, Hairel felt confident enough to question his presence.

"Since you're the chairman, aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"You just answered your own question. I'm the chairman, I can afford to be late."

Here, he stood up while looking carefully at Hariel.

"I also need to make sure you get ready for school."

Wait wut.

Did he just say… that I'm going to SCHOOL?!

"Yes, I did."

Hariel spluttered at his calm words, conveying exactly what she thought of that idea.

"Hariel."

At his firm tone of voice, she fell silent.

"I'm your father. If anyone out of the residents here should go to school, it would be you."

Hariel ignored the weird clench around her heart at the word 'father'. Even though she could see the logic in his words, Hariel doesn't think it's a good idea.

She literally just accepted her gender change, her identity change, and her complete breakdown yesterday. She had no idea where she stood with these people, and now she's suddenly expected to interact with other people? Worse, high school students?

"Don't worry, Master and the other Nobles are in the same class as you."

At those words, Hariel's rapid heartbeat calmed down slightly, and she couldn't help but sigh in relief.

People I know will be there. I'm not completely lost in the dark. Yet.

And now for the real reason she came downstairs.

"Um… is there somewhere I can wash up or are there any clothes that fit me?"

Satisfied with Hariel's quick agreement, Frankenstein led her upstairs to her new room. He felt particularly pleased after seeing her awed face, thinking that the trouble to prepare her room and wardrobe just might be worth it.

"Here's your new room. You have a complete wardrobe, and the door on the other side leads to an en suite with all the toiletries you need."

All Hariel could do is nod dumbly. She couldn't believe that he went through the trouble of preparing all of that for her.

"Is he a house-elf…?"

Hariel's faint mumble reached Frankenstein's ears.

"A what?"

"N-nevermind!"

I can't believe I said that out loud… bloody hell, I need to pull myself together.

"...Alright."

Frankenstein's slightly perplexed face peered into her own.

"I'll be waiting for you downstairs."

With that, he left.

Left to her own devices, Hariel admired her new room. It was arranged quite similarly to Frankenstein's, except the primary colours used were light blue and silver. Next to her queen-sized bed was a light blue couch facing the windows, and on the other side was a desk outfitted with a computer and a printer. Curiously enough, part of the room seemed to protrude from the rest, and on the wall was a full length mirror that was slightly ajar. Hariel walked over, and she found herself in a walk-in closet.

Better yet, a walk-in closet that was completely full of clothes.

Her eyes widened and a sharp gasp escaped from her slightly parted lips.

Oh my God.

She rubbed her eyes and pinched herself.

The slight pain on her arm just reaffirmed the fact that this wasn't a dream.

Completely overwhelmed by the lengths that Frankenstein went to make her comfortable, Hariel immediately went to the bathroom and turned on the shower, not even looking at her surroundings. Just in case Frankenstein outdid himself with the bathroom too.

Unfortunately, Hariel is faced with an arguably greater problem.

I'm going to be naked, I'm going to be naked, OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO BE NAKED.

Hariel may have intellectually accepted that she was female, but seeing it was a completely. Different. Story.

OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod, there are curves and oh my God I have boobs, holyshitholyshitholyshit and GAH DOWN THERE IT'S GONE AND OH. MY. GOD-

Somehow, Hariel managed to shower. The only thing that stopped her from completely freaking out was the repetitive actions she took when washing her long hair. Running her fingers through it while washing it soothed her otherwise panicked mind.

They said that Lily Potter had beautiful, long hair…

The thought came with the familiar pang of loss, but she was glad she had something to hold onto from her previous life.

Drying herself, Hariel took extra care to not look at herself, avoiding the mirror, and put on some scented lotion.

Woah. Now I know why most girls have such smooth skin. If they sold scented lotions geared towards guys, Harry would have used those products all the freaking time.

But now Hariel had a problem.

She had no idea how to dry her hair.

Usually Harry would use some hair-drying charms or leave it be. However, there's no magic, Hariel's hair is longer, and she doesn't know how to use a hair dryer.

Grr. Death should have given me lessons on being a girl before dropping me here.

An image of tall, dark and looming death teaching her how to do her hair flickered in her mind, and Hariel burst into horrified giggles.

I really hope Death can't read my mind. That would be terrible.

She snickered at her own thoughts. Since she can't dry her hair properly, she decided to tie it in a loose knot above her head and exited the bathroom to find her school uniform.

On her bed, she saw some clothes that looked like the ones Silverette was wearing, along with some… underwear.

Hariel blushed a deep, dark red.

D-did… Frankenstein get that for me!?

Hariel may be grateful that she didn't have to go through underwear drawers-

BloodyhellHarryusedtofantasizeaboutthatfuck-

-but, that thought of… Frankenstein doing it instead…

Hariel shook her head violently. Right now, she needed to go to school, not worry about underwear.

Just wear them. Just wear them and don't think about anything else.

Never has Hariel been more grateful for Harry's limited experience with Ginny and bras. Those demon-like clasps have always frustrated Ginny to no end, and now Hariel understood why as she fought to wear the blasted thing.

Don'tlookdowndon'tlookdowndON'tLoOKDoWN-

Breathing a sigh of relief at putting on her underwear without her eyes being damaged, she put on her school uniform, and appraised herself in the mirror.

Damn. Look at my sexy self.

The skirt was kind of short, but Hariel wasn't complaining. Longer skirts restricted movement when fighting, and Hariel wanted to be prepared for anything.

She didn't like the idea of accidentally flashing someone though, so she entered the walk-in-closet again, and found some short black shorts after rummaging around.

She went back in front of the mirror, and did an experimental kick.

Hoo boy. I'm soooo glad I wore those shorts.

While short skirts may allow for better fighting, they don't exactly protect one's dignity.

Suddenly, something extremely disturbing occured to Hariel.

Wait.

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait.

WAIT.

How the hell did Frankenstein know my measurements?!

…

After traumatising herself with that thought, Hariel went downstairs to see Frankenstein waiting for her, a towel over her clothes since she still didn't know how to dry her hair.

I hope it's not cold today…

She studiously avoided Frankenstein's gaze.

It's too soon after that thought!

Frankenstein took one look at Hariel's embarrassed gaze and wet hair, and sighed exasperatedly.

"What happened to your hair?"

"Um… I don't know how to use a hair dryer…"

Hariel cringed at her own words, and felt her face heat up.

Unbeknownst to her, Frankenstein looked up as if pleading for sanity, and then shook his head.

"Wait here."

Hariel stood awkwardly in the silence of the room, and absentmindedly wondered if she'll show up to school without a schoolbag.

Frankenstein came back in carrying a hair dryer and hairbrush. He walked behind the sofa and gestured for Hariel to come.

She looked at him confusedly.

What does he want me to do…?

Frankenstein's slight annoyance ebbed away as he realised she's probably never had someone do her hair for her.

"Sit in front of me. I'll do your hair for you."

Her eyes widen and her lips form a circle as she looked at him in surprise. Frankenstein resisted the urge to scowl. He couldn't go scaring away his daughter after she tentatively reached out for him yesterday, no matter how furious he was at those who wronged her.

Hariel slowly sat down on the couch. She was completely off guard when Frankenstein offered to do her hair. The sound of the hairdryer pierced the air, and Hairel felt suddenly shy as Frankenstein gently dried the mess on her head.

It feels… nice. To have someone do this for me.

Her heart ached in her chest, but she felt happy. It was so weird to have someone look out for her, someone looking after her, but she couldn't stop the soft smile overtaking her face.

Hariel wasn't the only one affected by the action. Frankenstein never thought that he would look after anyone else but his Master. All he needed was his Master and experiments, and for the most part, he was happy and content.

However… he liked the feeling of brushing his daughter's hair. She was surprised at his gesture, and her sudden shyness towards him was endearing.

Yet, he was worried. His eyes darken at the thought that she would be exposed to any more danger because of his reputation, and he didn't want her to be involved in any more fighting, especially after her experience as a child soldier.

It's different with his Master, because he knew that Master could take care of himself against enemies (for the most part). But he has no idea how skilled Hariel was. And truthfully, he never wanted to find out.

Because that would mean that her life was put in danger.

He focused on the soothing motions of brushing his daughter's hair, so similar to his own, reluctant to disturb the relaxed atmosphere. Once he was finished, he spoke the dreaded words.

"Hariel."

"Yeah…"

Her voice came out sleepy, and Frankenstein hid a smile at her lack of guardedness.

"Master and I will be gone for a short while, since we have to take care of matters concerning the Nobles in Lukedonia."

"What?!"

Hariel immediately tensed and turned around to face him.

"You're leaving?!"

Hariel felt unrelentless panic grip her, and all she could hear was blood ringing in her ears, and felt a slight stab of betrayal.

He's leaving? So soon?! But, you can't leave, you can't, I nEED you-

Hands cupped her cheeks, and Hariel blinked at Frankenstein's closeness. She could see the different shades of blue in his eyes, looking worried and concerned.

"-iel. Hariel!"

Her senses slowly returned and she just realised that Frankenstein was calling for her for sometime.

"Hariel."

Her feelings were all over the place, but she managed a hoarse answer.

"Yes…?"

"Don't fret. We won't be gone long, and the trio will still be here with you."

Hariel searched his eyes desperately, and relaxed slightly when she saw the truth.

"It's a temporary visit, right?"

Frankenstein relaxed his hold on her.

"Yes, temporary."

She was silent for a short while, breaths slowly evening out.

"... ok."

…

I can't believe I freaked out. Again.

Hariel really regretted not dealing with her mental issues as Harry. She felt like a burden, always having to bother him with her mental breakdowns, and resolved to be better so that the others didn't always have to worry about her.

She was walking next to Frankenstein towards the school, carrying the shoulder bag he gave her with the necessary school supplies. She was at a loss, because he did everything a parent would do for their child, but she didn't know how a normal child would react. She was extremely grateful, but… was that enough?

And then there was the elephant in the room that Hariel could no longer avoid.

She will be in school now. And Frankenstein was her father.

What do I call Frankenstein then? Father? Dad?

Daddy?

Hariel grimaced at the last thought.

I'm 17 not 7!

Frankenstein looked over at Hariel, seeing her worry through her clenched hands on the strap of her bag.

I'll have to call him dad, father sounds too stuffy. But when we're not around others do I still call him dad? Or do I call him Frankenstein?

She resisted the urge to groan.

What do I do?

Just as Hariel's worry reached a crescendo, Frankenstein cut through her thoughts.

"Call me dad."

What?

"I guess you could call me father, but personally, I prefer dad since that sounds less stuffy and overbearing."

… What?

Hariel stopped walking in shock.

I… I- what?

Frankenstein looked back at her and spoke in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

"Well, it would be weird if you called me Frankenstein in school, right?"

Hariel's heart sank at those words.

Right… that would be the only reason…

"I'm also feeling pretty selfish, since I want you to call me dad, whether you're in school or not."

Hariel's head snapped up at his words, but he already started walking away.

He wants me to call him dad…?

Hariel hurried after him as they approached the gates of the school.

He wants to acknowledge me as his daughter? Completely?

Her heart soars.

This man, who could have just left her be, decided to take her in, make her part of his family, and now he wanted to be outwardly acknowledged as her dad? Even though he didn't have to do any of that for her?

Hariel grabbed his sleeve before they entered the school. Frankenstein gazed back at her curiously, but she kept her head low, eyes hidden by her fringe.

"Do… do you really mean that?"

"Mean what?"

Hariel gulped.

"That I can call you… dad?"

The last word came out as a whisper and Frankenstein resisted the urge to chuckle at the adorable picture she made.

"Yes. I'd like it if you called me dad."

Hariel thought that it was too soon, but she looked up at him, and gave him her first real smile, uncaring of the tears in her eyes.

"Alright… dad."

…

Hey Death? Can I please fight the Basilisk instead of doing this?

Her eyes flickered towards the curious gazes of her classmates then flickered back up again.

Please?

As expected, she heard no answer since she wasn't in any true danger. But she would much rather be in a life-threatening situation now.

Like, right now.

She was standing in front of a class, with children roughly her age looking at her like she was an exotic animal. The sight of Rai in the far corner was the only thing keeping in the room as Frankenstein introduced her as his daughter to the students and the teacher.

"Please take care to make my daughter feel welcome, everyone. She hasn't lived in Korea before, so I trust you all to make her stay pleasant."

Hariel stood still, face blank and stoic as she gazed around the room. Everyone looked slightly intimidated at the cold expression on the beautiful girl, but their curiosity overtook their hesitancy, and whispers broke out at seeing yet another foreign student joined their class.

Hearts breaking can be heard throughout the room, as the girls who thought they could snatch up their Adonis of a chairman feel crushed at the sight of his obviously drop-dead gorgeous daughter. Not only does that mean that he was taken, it also means that he was taken by an extremely beautiful woman. The chairman's tender gaze when speaking of his daughter obviously meant that the love was real, shattering their already bruised hearts.

On the other hand, the boys felt as if Christmas came early.

Multiple times.

In front of them was a goddess, never mind that she looked like she would rather be anywhere else but here. They already lost their chance with Im Suyi (because who would dare to go against martial artist Han Shinwoo), but this girl was new. Beautiful and new to Korea, and might be willing to go on a tour provided by theirs truly! Although… the chairman's smile seemed a little… sharper. The boys gulped. They have to be careful to not get on his bad side then.

All the teacher could do was pray to the heavens. Another foreign student… great.

Hariel felt the jealous gaze of the girls and the hungry stares of the boys, and sweatdropped. It was like the Boy-Who-Lived again, except that she was a girl.

She blanched at the implication that those of the male gender might be vying for her attentions.

OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGodIcan'tthinkaboutsexualitynowofalltimes-

Hariel faintly shuddered.

Dad… you needn't worry. I'm not going to think about romance for a long, long time.

At his prompting, Hariel introduced herself to the class, taking care to use the polite form.

"Hello everyone. My name is Hariel. Please take care of me."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw that the teacher looked please at her politeness. Her dad squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, before leaving the classroom.

Oh God.

"Hariel, you can sit in front of Shinwoo. He's the redheaded kid at the back."

She walked to the back, not meeting anyone's gazes, thankful that her seat was close to Rai. For some reason, he has yet to acknowledge her presence and she wondered what was up with the mysterious Noblesse.

She had no way of knowing that Rai was too ashamed to meet her gaze, pained at his failure to look after that which was precious to his ever-faithful servant, Frankenstein.

Contrary to popular belief Harry could be good at school when he wanted to. He completed his GCSEs and A-Levels a while back, not wanting to seem suspicious when he entered non-magical competitions for mixed martial arts. He became pretty well known in fighting circles, and he needed a semi-decent backstory at the time.

Who would have thought that non-magical fangirls would be just as bad as magical ones?

The world was a pretty scary place.

Thankfully, Harry's prior knowledge was useful in this maths class right now, and soon, the one big difficulty Hariel was facing was that the class was being taught in Korean.

Otherwise, she thought that the class was a breeze.

Completely different from my experience as Harry.

She scoffed lightly at herself, the constant click click of the laptop behind her drowning out her outburst.

Then lunchtime came around, and Hariel could see her future fanboys' actions before they stood up. Without a warning, she stuffed her notebooks and pens in her bag, and bounced over to Rai, all before the boys had a chance to get up from their seats.

Relieved that she wouldn't have to face the school day alone, Hariel greeted Rai cheerfully.

"Hey Rai!"

Rai slowly looked at the cheerful smile of his servant's daughter, barely hiding the pain in his eyes.

"Hello, Hariel."

He thought she deserved an answer from him at least, no matter how much he wished to stay silent.

Everyone else in the classroom looked at the ethereal pair in shock.

Even the teacher looked surprised at Rai's answer, knowing how little his student spoke, if he ever spoke at all.

The same thought was running through everyone's heads:

What's the relationship between those two?

Hariel, however wasn't focused on the reactions of those around her. She caught sight of the pain hidden in Rai's scarlet orbs, and wondered why he looked like he was suffering. He was acting as if it was… painful to look at her. As if he didn't deserve to.

Hariel's eyes widened.

Does he blame himself for what happened to me?

Before she could ponder that thought further, a redhead, a nerdy-looking kid with glasses, and two pretty girls came over to introduce themselves.

"Hi there! We're Rai's friends so we thought to introduce ourselves to you."

The redhead (Shinoo? Shinwoo?) spoke to her, an easygoing smile on his face. He looked physically fit, but he had a band-aid on his nose. She wondered whether he got into fights all that often.

"The name's Shinwoo."

"I'm Ik-han."

Next was the nerdy looking kid. He was short, and slightly scrawny, but the smile on his face indicated that he was good friends with this Shinwoo dude.

If he does get into fights, at least he doesn't seem like a bad person.

"Hello, my name is Yuna."

The girl with dark hair smiled gently at Hariel, and she automatically found herself wanting to smile back.

"And I'm Suyi."

The other girl with dark, turquoise hair waved at her, eyes piercing, but welcoming.

These kids… they're not all that bad.

"Hello. As you may all know, my name is Hariel."

Immediately, Shinwoo protested.

"Hey! What's with the formal tone? Any friend of Rai's is a friend of mine too!"

Hearing a chorus of agreements behind him, Hariel relaxed slightly. She could hear the honesty in his voice, and he seemed like a fun guy to hang around. Smiling gratefully at their friendliness, she readily agreed.

"Sure!"

The quartet where first unsure of how to approach the girl. Her face was cold, her words polite and distant, but after seeing her interact with Rai and themselves just now, they realised that she wasn't an ice queen like their classmates where whispering.

She was just socially awkward.

It was… cute.

Laughing, Shinwoo turned to everyone and saw the same thoughts running through their heads.

Let's look out for her.

Glad that the introductions where over, Shinwoo burst out complaining.

"I'm so hungry!"

"Let's go get some snacks!"

Hariel was amused at their eagerness for food. It reminded her of Harry and Ron's delight in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, knowing that delicious meals were always present at the tables.

She looked back and saw that Rai was still sitting at his desk, gazing out of the window solemnly.

"Rai? Aren't you coming?"

He stayed silent.

Shinwoo turned his head at Hariel's question.

"Rai? What are you doing? Don't you want some snacks?"

Rai continued to ignore everything around him.

Shinwoo pulled out his trump card.

"I'll buy you ramyeon."

For a second there, Rai started to get up.

Then he sat back down and continued to gaze out the window.

The children where shocked.

"Oh my God…", Suyi whispered.

"Rai's refusing ramyeon?!", Ik-han exclaimed loudly, mouth gaping in disbelief.

Both Shinwoo and Yuna looked shocked at Rai's actions. Hariel had no idea what this 'ramyeon' was, but apparently, he was refusing his favourite food.

Was it that huge of a deal?

Rai ignored their reactions. Of course he couldn't eat right now. How could he when he had no idea how to stop himself from feeling so pained at his betrayal? He would soon need to go with Frankenstein to Lukedonia, and he was sure that it would hurt to look at a face so similar to his own daughter's.

Hariel has no idea why but she soon figured out that Rai blamed himself for what happened to her. It obviously wasn't his fault, whether she was Frankenstein's real daughter or not, but it seemed that Hariel would have to befriend someone who was just as self-sacrificing as her male counterpart.

She was annoyed at his behaviour (now she knew why Hermione was always mad at her!), but she did feel slightly grateful that he cared about her wellbeing.

She walked over in front of Rai's desk and called his name.

"Rai."

He ignored her.

"Rai."

He still ignored her.

"Rai."

Hariel saw him twitch but he refused to look at her still.

Sighing exasperatedly, she took a page out of Frankenstein's book, and forced Rai to face her by putting her hands on his cheeks.

"Rai."

Completely shocked, Rai stared at her, eyes slightly wide. He couldn't remember the last time anyone has touched him like this, and he was at a complete loss.

The children couldn't believe their eyes. They liked to think that they were good friends with Rai, but obviously this girl was way closer to him if she could casually touch him like that! Suyi, especially, felt a pang in her heart at Hariel's obvious closeness with the beautiful raven, but was determined to not let that get in the way of a new friendship.

"Rai, you're affected by yesterday aren't you?"

Hands still on his face, Hariel felt Rai slowly nod his head.

"Well, it would make me happy of you come with us now and stop moping ok? What happened can't be changed so all we can do now is focus on the present and look forward to the future."

Rai looked at her for a long time, emotions whirling in his eyes. Hariel looked back steadily at him.

She refused to be the cause of someone's distress.

Slowly, Rai got up, letting Hariel's hands fall from his face. He walked up to the children, acting as if his sudden confrontation with Hariel never occured.

Relieved that Rai listened to her, she smiled at the group.

"Let's go!"

…

Hariel now understood exactly what ramyeon was.

This… this is REALLY good.

She didn't care that she might be rude right now, but oh God, this was the first time she had eaten something in this new world and it's so good.

Occasionally, she would interject with a comment here and there, but she let the children do all the talking.

"When will Seira and Regis come back?"

Hmm? Silver and Silverette?

She remembered that her dad mentioned that they go to school too.

"They went home for a while, right?"

"Yeah, they'll be back in a few days."

"Big bros haven't been around either.."

"Big bros? Who?"

Hariel entered the conversation, curious about the ones they're talking about.

"Yeah, you know, Mr. Tao, Mr. Takeo, and Mister!" Ik-han replied.

"Oh! Yeah, I know them."

"The chairman said they went on vacation." Suyi spoke.

Knowing the truth, Hariel went back to finish her ramyeon but noticed an empty chair.

"Hey! Were did Rai go?"

The children looked back, just as confused and alarmed as her.

Hariel then remembered that Rai needed to go with her dad to Lukedonia.

So soon?!

The rest of the day was spent in a haze, thoughts of her dad and Rai's mission to Lukedonia (which is probably the Nobles' home) taking the forefront of her mind. At the end of the day, she absentmindedly waved goodbye to the children, ignoring everyone's attempts to approach her, heading straight back home.

It's obvious that they want to protect me from whatever they're doing, but I just can't let this go.

Eyes clear with resolve, Hariel entered her home. She called out for anyone, but all that answered was silence.

"Dad? Rai? Silver?"

Dropping her school bag on the couch, Hariel looked around the empty room, before heading downstairs towards the laboratory.

It was there she heard the voices of the trio, who seemed to be plotting something.

"Tao, you sure about this?"

Takeo's soothing voice travelled through the open door, and Hariel blushed as she remembered his gentle hug. Hurriedly, she shook her head.

Now's not the time for embarrassment!

Tao's loud voice invaded her thoughts.

"Hey! Don't you trust me? I know exactly which airplane they're boarding! You know I'm never wrong, Takeo."

"Well…"

M-21 cut in before they could bicker.

"We should go. They're planning to leave tonight, and we need to be onboard by then."

Hariel entered the room.

"Take me with you."

The three men tense and whip their heads at the sight of Hariel standing in the doorway.

"Is it possible that you would forget everything we just talked about?"

Hariel raised an eyebrow at Tao, and the trio shivered at how eerily similar that expression was to Frankenstein's.

"Let me rephrase that: I am going with you."

Takeo attempted to diffuse the tension that was building between them.

"I'm sorry Hariel, but Frankenstein would kill us if we let you come with us. We're not even supposed to be doing this."

"Dad's not here."

Ignoring their slight shock at her description of Frankenstein, she continued.

"I'm not sure it you realise, but the broken girl you saw yesterday isn't the only person I am."

Hariel was standing tall and confident, looking alert. Her sapphire eyes were sharp, face set in a slight frown as she stared at the trio. The men couldn't help but tense at her gaze, and they're reminded that the girl in front of them, though she was still in school, single handedly won a war in her own dimension. Simultaneously, they grimaced at the thought, shoulders sagging in defeat.

Oh man. The boss is not gonna be happy.

…

Hariel was not amused.

She and the trio are seated in the portion of the plain that was probably meant for suitcases, as the only thing she could see was grey metal, and a slightly raised square that was acting as a seat.

It had already been a few days since they snuck onto the plane, and if they stay here any longer, Hariel will burst.

If it was from anger, tears, hunger, or from needing to go to the toilet, Hariel had no idea.

The point was, she wanted this plane ride to be over.

Sensing the girl's dark mood, the three men left her alone and talked among themselves, complaining about the ride too.

"Frankly, my butt hurts."

Never have I agreed with someone so much.

It's the reason that Hariel forgoed sitting, opting to stand and lean against the side of the plane.

M-21, Takeo, and Hariel stared at Tao's cute cushion, and she wondered if she could take it from him.

Suddenly, the plane started to tilt, and she almost lost her balance from were she was standing.

"What the-"

"Huh?"

"Don't you think-"

"Is the plane tilting?"

Shit. Don't tell me. They're going to jump?!

"The shaking is getting much worse…"

Hariel interjected.

"I think the plane's going down."

Everyone sweatdropped, the implications of that statement slowly sinking in.

"DAMMIT!"

*Chapter 5*: RK-No5

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR NOBLESSE.

AN:

Heyo~ I won't be able to update for a month because of finals, so here's the chapter you were all waiting for! Hariel gets to fight~ haha.

Onto the story!

Notes of Korean Grammar #3:

This isn't really grammar, but more of a cultural thing. Like I mentioned before, South Korea is pretty hierarchical, so there are also certain words used when addressing people who are older than you, but close to you too. If you're a guy, you call an older guy 'hyung' and an older girl 'noona'. If you're a girl, you call an older guy 'oppa' and an older girl 'unni'. These words are used if the person is your sibling, a person you're close to, or even boyfriend/girlfriend.

Chapter 5: RK-No.5

Shit. Don't tell me. They're going to jump?!

"The shaking is getting much worse…"

Hariel interjected.

"I think the plane's going down."

Everyone sweatdropped, the implications of that statement slowly sinking in.

"DAMMIT!"

…

"WHAT?"

Having finished their experiments, the trio were discussing Frankenstein's and Rai's departure. Somehow, they managed to get Hariel to leave the lab, citing 'confidentiality', since they were discussing their experiments. She looked skeptical of their claims, but thankfully let them be.

"They didn't say when they'll come back?"

"It won't be a short trip."

Simultaneously, Takeo and M-21 winced. They might have allowed Hariel to sneak out with them, but that doesn't mean that they'll tell her anything about the Union. They've seen the zealous protectiveness in their boss' eyes, and honestly, M-21 and Takeo would prefer to not see Frankenstein mad. They can't really say the same for Tao, who made it his personal mission to annoy the shit out of everyone, but that's fine- they can half control him.

Unfortunately, they're completely powerless if Hariel herself decides to dig up their past…

"He even told us where to stay, and organized everything so that Tao can proceed with the experiments." M-21 explained.

"So it'll be a long trip… and he's definitely leaving Hariel here, right?"

M-21 deadpanned at Takeo.

"Do you honestly think that Frankenstein would bring her somewhere that makes him worried about Rai?"

Tao interrupted, casually hacking into Frankenstein's computers.

"Yeah, but the boss is always worried about Rai."

"That's… yeah, you're right."

M-21 conceded with a sigh. He noticed that Tao, in addition to finding the plane that they'll be hijacking tonight, was checking out Frankenstein's personal research.

"The weapons we use and the pills… everything is the upgraded version. There's a log."

His eyes widen.

"This is… incredible. So many theories, processes and experiments… I wonder if he even rested, trying to get all this done for us."

Silence fell upon them, feeling gratitude for the mad scientist who made used science to turn them into protectors instead of tools.

M-21, however, had a more pressing concern. With only a single bead of sweat to reveal his nerves, he said:

"I… didn't get this month's paycheck. It wasn't transferred to my account."

Tao and Takeo suddenly realise that their bank accounts where suspiciously… empty too.

"Y-yeah… I think mine wasn't transferred, either."

"Oh, I needed that money to buy a few things."

"I need to do my hair…"

"I have a computer I'm trying to buy…"

Smirking, they were about to be paid, when-

"MY PAYCHECK!"

"W-WHAT'S THE MATTER?!"

"H-HANDS UP!"

Tao's face took on a feverish glow as he screamed about his money, M-21 - arguably the most normal one here - instantly reacted in face of potential danger, and Takeo - who truly is well meaning but, really, handguns?! - lifted up his arms to shoot an imaginary adversary.

Understandably, the doctor and nurse where quite confused.

Salary…?

But, not as much as the resident trio who somehow managed to befuddle themselves with their own screaming.

Eyes wide and hair in disarray - Takeo thought that he really needed that paycheck now - they stared at the doctor, who barely managed to compose himself in order to reassure his human patients.

"Hmm, you're all awake- except the girl."

The men's eyes filled with panic.

Shit! Is Hariel alright?!

Said girl was having a very disturbing dream.

Her face was twisted into discomfort, sweat beaded on her forehead, fingers clutching the scratchy hospital sheets.

Her worst nightmare was coming true: she and Voldemort where one and the same.

"... we even look somewhat alike."

It's true, Hariel thinks, they are essentially the same person. But where Tom Riddle had no one to call an ally or friend, I had Ron and Hermione.

Suddenly, Tom Riddle's aristocratic faces flattens out to become Voldemort; Instead of voice that comes out like smooth chocolate, a high-pitched slither harasses her ears.

"But now you have no friends, Potter. They all left you, like I said they would. And now you'll be exactly. Like. Me."

He lets out a stream of cackles, and Hariel feels so horrified that-

"NOOOOO! I'M TOO PRETTY TO BE NOSELESS!"

Frantically, she sat up, practically slammed her hands to her face, checking for said appendage. Once she felt the smooth and rounded ridge that was her nose, she slumped in relief, placing a hand on her beating heart.

"Thank goodness…"

She looked up, realising that she was in an infirmary - she swore that it wasn't her fault this time Madame Pomfrey! - but it looked… different.

"... what the fuck?"

A confused whisper caused her to whip her head to the side, and she saw her companions and some medical personnel looking at her with a mix of shock and amusement. Oh right, this wasn't Hogwarts. But-

Oh. They heard me.

She willed her blush to go down - oh wow did she sound like a narcissistic Malfoy - and tried to take the attention off of her.

"What just happened?"

The doctor attempted to settle himself, inwardly shaking his head at his more than unusual patients.

"I was startled because you where all unconscious but woke up screaming."

Hariel was put out.

"They screamed? I can't believe I missed that…"

The other residents sweatdropped. Really? That's what she focused on? Not that she was unconscious?

In an effort to bring back some normalcy - he ignored the fact that humans in Lukedonia isn't normal in the first place - the doctor turned to the nurse.

"Tell them they are all awake."

"Okay."

The nurse left, and Tao instantly grabbed this opportunity to question their whereabouts.

"Where are we?"

"You're in the hospital. The four of you were in a plane crash and we found you unconscious. You were carried here a few hours ago."

The quartet internally groaned as they relived that horrible experience. Right, we crashed…

"You were lucky. Surviving from a plane crash… there's no severe injuries, but we need to do more check ups."

His voice took on a tone of wonder.

"It's a miracle you're all alive and seemingly unharmed."

He walked over to a large black suitcase, that was suspiciously chained.

"The three men were hanging onto this like a lifeline. The people who carried it complained it was too heavy. I thought of opening it, but it seemed inappropriate, ha ha ha~"

Suddenly the old doctor turned around, and fixed the men with a pointed stare.

"Speaking of you three men… I'm not trying to imply anything but… why is there a high school girl with you? None of you look related…"

The three men tense at the implication of that statement. How dare-

Hariel interjected just as he she saw the beginning of murder in their eyes. M-21's looked particularly… ferocious.

"They're my big brothers! We all have different mums, and we're looking for my dad haha~"

Technically, everything Hariel said was true. The term 'big brothers' can be used for older guys people were close with or actual brothers. And it's true that everyone does have different mums. And technically Frankenstein was her father, so if the doctor assumed that this 'dad' of hers is also her 'big brothers'' dad, well- she wouldn't correct him.

Hariel made sure to put on a ditzy air, reluctantly thankful that she blurted out about her pretty face earlier.

"But I guess we got lost on the way…?"

She rubbed her head sheepishly, giving the doctor a guileless smile.

The doctor completely fell for it.

"Ahhh, I see. Wow, all siblings with different mothers…"

He trailed off, then cleared his throat, averting his eyes from the slightly hostile men and focused on Hariel.

"But… where are we? Like, which area?"

"Lukedonia."

While he knew that humans shouldn't have access to this knowledge, they were going to forget about it anyway.

"It's the world of royalties located in the Bermuda Triangle."

"Luke… donia?"

Hariel injected just the right amount of confusion to make her question seem realistic. The doctor is obviously prideful about this place, and she didn't mind giving him a little push to brag.

"Yes, you wouldn't know. This place is completely hidden to ordinary humans. I shouldn't tell you this but your memory will be erased anyway."

Hariel tensed.

"Memory?" Tao cut in, "What do you-"

The sound of the door squeaking interrupted their conversation, and two large men wearing dark sunglasses and a black and muted gold uniform come in.

"Doctor, I heard they are awake."

"Yes, they just woke up. Please take it easy on them."

The darker skinned man assured the doctor.

"Don't worry. Leave the rest to us, the Central Knights."

Suddenly he took off his sunglasses, and Tao, Takeo, M-21 and Hariel braced themselves as they looked into his glowing white eyes.

"Look into my eyes. You should answer my questions truthfully, and obey my orders."

A weird buzzing noise overtook the room, and Hariel was very much disliking their attempt to intrude on her memories - Occlumency, where are you when I need you? - but, surprisingly, nothing happened.

She surreptitiously glanced to the side and saw that the men were looking just as confused as she was.

Thank goodness they weren't affected either. Must be because they're 'modified humans'.

She knew that they tried to kick her out of the lab to hide information about her before they hijacked the ship, but did they really think she wouldn't find the information herself?

To be fair, she didn't get much further than 'Union' and 'modified humans', but still. One day, she will figure out how to use a computer.

While the man completely failed at mind-controlling them, the way he put his shades back on was pretty cool.

He got points for style.

"It's all done. They will answer any questions. Even their favourite celebrities…"

The quartet stayed silent. How were they supposed to react?

"Why did you come here?"

Tao took the lead, his goofy persona thankfully making them seem completely defenseless.

"We were just… passing by and the plane suddenly crashed… ha ha…"

The doctor brought his fingers to his chin.

"Seems plausible. It doesn't make sense that the people who tried to break in had an accident and where unconscious for so long. Plus, the girl mentioned that you were looking for your father…"

"How many people were on the plane?"

"Just the four of us…"

"Good to hear. No humans were killed. Mr. Ludis won't have to come here himself."

"I agree. Since I controlled their minds, they can't be lying."

Hariel almost rolled her eyes.

"I am the Central Knight."

This time, Hariel actually did roll her eyes. Luckily, they weren't looking her way though.

At least he's not an evil minion… just a minion.

She tuned out of the conversation, internally checking if her body sustained any damages from the plane crash. So far, everything seemed fine. In fact, everything seemed too fine. She wasn't sleepy or hungry or thirsty at all!

Hmm… I wonder how advanced their technologies are… or if they used supernatural powers to treat us.

Either way, it's obvious that they didn't mean any harm. Better for them- if there's a battle coming up, they'll be ready for it.

She heard the door slam shut, and they were left alone.

"What the…"

Suddenly, Tao burst out laughing. He was hunched, up clutching his stomach as he gasped, and the others were slightly concerned for his mental health.

"Tao…?"

"Oh my GOD, Hariel! I can't believe you just implied that Frankenstein's a player and that we're all his illegitimate children!"

Takeo chuckled, turning over to give Hariel a grin.

"Good thinking, Hariel. If you didn't speak up, we might have been screwed. Can't believe he implied that…"

Takeo's voice suddenly went dark when remembering the doctor's words.

Hariel's face went warm at the praise.

"Yeah, well everything I said was true. If he misinterpreted my words, then it's his own fault isn't it?"

M-21 smirked.

"Oh? So does that mean we really are your 'big brothers'?"

Hariel froze.

"Oh- that- what? Haha? I said that?"

Tao immediately caught on to M-21's teasing.

"Yes, Hariel. You just said that everything you said is true. So why haven't you called us big bros yet?"

Hariel was flustered, but she refused to let them get the better of her.

"I stand by my words. Do you want me to call you big bros?"

Even though her face was probably bright red, she stared right into each and everyone of their eyes, and suddenly, they were the flustered ones.

"Um- er- haha- what?"

Internally breathing a sigh of relief, Hariel brought their attention back to the task at hand.

"So if we're in Lukedonia, does that mean that they're here too?"

The men latched on to that subject change, happily dropping the topic of sibling relationships.

"Yeah, you're right. Meeting them is the priority."

Tao got up from the bed, pacing as he thought.

"The problem is that we don't know where they are…and let's not forget that they did some tests while we were blacked out. They might find out we're not ordinary humans."

M-21 succinctly summarised their situation.

"So we don't have much time."

Tao froze as he stood next to the door, and M-21 tilted his head in the same direction.

"It's noisy outside-"

"-It wasn't noisy a second ago."

Takeo tensed.

"Is our cover blown?"

"Maybe they know about the others coming here…"

Hariel faintly trembled in excitement at the thought of some action.

"So we can't stay here right? It's dangerous."

Tao suddenly dove for his bed, and the overly confident Central Knight burst in.

Everyone tensed.

"Hmm… you're all here so it wasn't you guys."

"What are you talking about?"

The man scoffed.

"Some insane guy broke into Lukedonia's Forbidden Land. How dare he…"

The humans were suddenly alert. It's them!

The man took off his sunglasses again.

"It won't be necessary, but just in case, I'll mind control you guys again."

Quite done with the whole charade, Hariel ripped off the blankets and jumped over the two Central Knights, intent on knocking them unconscious from behind.

"What-"

Tao instantly used this opportunity to electrocute them both.

"Argh... how…?"

Two chops to the neck, and they were down for the count. Hariel looked up and saw that the men were looking at her in a mixture of shock and respect.

Hariel smirked.

"You guys haven't seen anything yet."

She walked towards the exit, intent on finding her dad and Rai.

"Let's get out of here fast."

Takeo was the first to snap out of his daze.

Tao held out an arm.

"Wait. Let's get changed."

Hariel raised an eyebrow at Takeo's extremely heavy bag.

"You put clothes in his bag…?"

Tao nonchalantly affirms the statement, then throws something at the men.

Hariel walked closer to them. And facefaulted.

It's a suit…

Tao was still digging through the suitcase.

"And…. aha!"

He held something, and gave it to Hariel.

What the-

"You have no idea how hard it was to get something for you. Especially since you joined at the last minute."

Hariel opened the package on the bed, and looked at the contents. There was a white blouse with a slightly plunging neckline, a black blazer and a business skirt with slits on both sides. Tao even went and got her some black heels.

"So? So? What did you think of my modifications? Pretty useful for a fight right?"

She turned around. While she was looking at her 'uniform', she saw that the men already got dressed in their suits.

Damn… they look good.

She contemplated her uniform. The material was unlike the ones' of normal clothes. It was stretchy and light, making it easier to fight in.

"If it makes me as good looking as you three, count me in. Turn around, please."

Glady taking the opportunity to hide their blushing faces, the men turned, Tao giving a slight fist bump in the air at Hariel's approval.

Hariel took the opportunity to wear the clothes. Secretly, she's glad that Harry once cross-dressed to escape having to attend a Ministry Ball. He wore high heels when using his disguise, but that didn't mean he mastered them. Hariel knows it's a bad idea to wear high heels to a fight when she couldn't jump with them, let alone run, but the outfit must be complete.

Plus, being in a life-threatening situation would probably make her learn how to wear high heels very quickly.

Taking off her school socks, she put on the heels to complete the outfit.

Woah… a girl's body has so much more balance. This high heel thing might not be so bad.

"How do I look?"

The men turned around. And simultaneously gulp.

"Shit… I made a mistake…"

Tao's whisper barely reached Takeo's and M-21's ears but all they could do was silently agree.

Frankenstein's daughter looked smoking hot.

The slightly wide neckline exposed her smooth soft skin and collarbones, the unbuttoned black blazer made her look like a woman on a mission. Her long legs seemed to run on for miles, especially with the slittled thigh-length business skirt and heels.

Frankenstein was going to kill them.

M-21 cleared his throat.

"You look good."

Hariel didn't notice their sudden panic at their imminent deaths, instead thinking about her outfit.

"It looks wrong somehow…"

She caught sight of Takeo and got an idea.

"Takeo! Do you have an extra hair-tie?"

"Umm… yes?"

He ignored Tao's snickers as he gave her one from the collection hidden beneath his long sleeves.

It's not his fault that fighting always left him with snapped hair-ties!

She quickly gathered her hair, making sure to get every last strand, and put it up in a high ponytail. This way, her hair won't get in the way while fighting, and it made her look even more badass.

She walked over to the door and looked behind her.

"Hey… why did you guys suddenly go really pale?"

…

The uniformed quartet where running. Up ahead, they could hear sounds of a battle, and slowed down. They hid themselves in the trees, and saw Regis fighting a group of Central Knights by himself.

Hariel's blood singed.

Fightfightfightfightfight-

"You guys have probably already fought together before, so I'll give you a quick rundown of my skills."

Her words were blurring together, but she didn't care because holyhellshecanfinallyfight-

"I'm better at short to mid range in combat. I'm not good with well-thought out strategies, and usually inspiration comes to me in the heat of the battle."

She crouched on the tree branch, tensing her legs.

"So I'm going to jump right in to save Silver."

"Hey, wait-"

The words were lost as Hariel jumped, the wind whistling in her ears.

Tao's scream reached her ears though.

"We didn't even assign you a number yet!"

Number…?

She ignored Silver's gaping face, immediately engaging in combat with the neared Central Knight.

"Watch out! He's not alone!"

They were good. Unlike magical beings, their fitness was impeccable, using raw strength and flexibility to dodge, defend and attack, their weapons aiding them in the fight.

Unfortunately for them, she was way better.

Dodging a sword, she flipped backwards, kicking the knight up into the air. She immediately twisted around, grabbing another knight's arm and threw him just as the other one fell down, knocking them and a few other knights down.

Wow… Tao outdid himself! This uniform is great!

Hariel tensed as everyone turned on her, but the sound of gunshots distracted them as a few of their men fell down.

Thanks Takeo.

Ruthlessing grabbing the opportunity, she punched the next knight, and a second came up behind him, swinging his sword. Hariel felt herself falling after a misstep with her heels, and immediately descending into a splits, swinging her legs around to trip the man, leaving him to ungracefully hit his head on the ground.

"Good thing the altered bullets are working~"

"Who are you?"

"Who am I? Good question. It's my debut, so let me introduce myself."

The Central Knights where thrown into disarray, as this new female warrior was making quick quirk of their men, and another adversary was using a loudspeaker to hide his location.

"We are the RK-5. Buried the past and reborn as his knights."

Hariel laughed silently at Tao's dramatics. Feeling something amiss, she looked up and saw that the suitcase falling, so she immediately retreated to Silver's side.

He spluttered at her presence.

"Who- what-? But-"

She shushed him.

"Shh. Just wait for it."

He gaped in disbelief but turned into the direction that she was looking at.

The Central Knights were full out panicking.

"Everyone, watch out!"

THUD.

In the middle of the fallen knights, the suitcase stood tall. Takeo was on top of it, hair swinging dramatically as he points his guns, the moon behind him making him seem like a dangerous enemy.

"Let me introduce myself."

Tao's voice sounded out from behind them, introducing every single member as they jump into the fight.

"No.2."

To the side, M-21 clawed at the men, face twisted into a savage snarl, contrasting with the neatness of his formal suit.

"No.4."

Next to the forest, a few men scream as they're being electrocuted. Tao was kneeling on a tree branch, smirking down at the rest.

"No.1 appears."

He laughed at their groans.

"Seems to me, you've already met No.5."

Playing along, Hariel coolly greeted the ones who were still standing.

"Sup."

Regis was utterly lost. Tao, Takeo and M-21 were here, and somehow, the crazy blonde girl was here too acting as if this situation was completely normal and-

"We're here to help, No. 3."

"What?"

Hariel turned to face him, inwardly amused at his confusion.

"It's to hide our identities. You're now No.3, Silver."

"But-"

Tao jumped down, knowing that Regis had no idea about Hariel.

The Noble immediately looked at Tao, glad to see a friendly, familiar face.

"Hey, Tao-"

"It's No.1, call me No.1 at official meetings."

"No.1?"

"Yes."

Hariel stayed put as Takeo and M-21 were fighting. She thought that she did pretty well fighting with heels on her first go and no matter how much her instincts itched to continue, she thought it better to follow Tao's next command, since she did kind of jump the gun before...

After all, while she knew that Harry could fight for hours straight, she has no idea about Hariel.

I really need to train and familiarise myself with this body…

"What is this?" Silver pointed at Hariel. "Why is she-"

"No time to explain. This is Frankenstein's daughter, Hariel."

Silver choked.

"Frankenstein's daughter?!-"

Tao interrupted him.

"I said we haven't got time, we need to get out of here, No.3."

Turning around, Hariel instantly tensed her body as she readied herself for Ta- No.1's orders.

"No.4! We're leaving. Make a pathway!"

Silence.

"No.4…?"

M-21 sighed as he followed Tao's orders. Ridiculous…

Hariel smothered her amusement, running through the newly created path as No.1 shouted orders at the other members. The sound of gunshots fill the air as No.2 got rid of anyone getting in their way.

No. 1 jumped in excitement.

"Nice! We'll show the world that RK-5 exists!"

Hariel shook her head.

Sometimes, he's more of a child than I am. And he's older than Harry.

"HAHAHAHA~!"

Yup. Definitely a child.

…

Frankenstein vainly tried to control his twitching eyebrows.

Don'tshowangeraroundHarieldon'tshowangeraroundHarieldON'tsHOwANgeRaRoUNdHaRIel-

"What's going on?"

The men's flinched. Inwardly, Frankenstein was satisfied.

"Why are you guys here?"

Rai calmly sipped his tea.

Hariel, in turn, walked around the room, looking very interested in the architecture.

No way am I going to direct his poorly hidden anger towards me!

The men inwardly despaired.

"We hid on the jet you took here…"

Frankenstein breathed in.

Then out.

"You came with us?"

"Yes, we heard you two where leaving so we did some research."

Tao nervously scratched the back of his head.

"I easily found the jet you were planning to take and we snuck on before you go on."

"Oh really?"

Frankenstein smiled.

That's nice and all, but it doesn't explain why my daughter is here!

Hariel looked back and saw the sweating forms of the rest of the RK, terrified at her dad's scary smile.

Guess I need to do some saving…

"Hey dad, don't blame them please. I forced them to take me along."

Frankenstein turned over and looked at Hariel's slightly sheepish features.

The men breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"I know you're trying to protect me and all from the dangers of this world, but-"

Hariel shrugged.

"Danger always finds me, no matter how oblivious I seem to act. At least let me fight on my own terms this time."

Frankenstein's face tightened.

Oh no, I ain't letting you stop me, even though I know that you are sincerely looking out for me.

She pushed down her revulsion at what she was about to do. This technique may be pretty crude, but it's efficient and worked fast.

Hariel jutted out her lower lip and widened her eyes, taking care to look up at her dad through her fringes. Clasping her hands in front of her, she mimicked Ginny's actions whenever she asked something from Arthur.

"Please? I promise I'll listen to you about other stuff."

Everyone held their breaths as Frankenstein stiffened at the obvious manipulation. Unfortunately, no matter how obvious it was, it seemed to be working.

Inwardly, Hariel cringed further at what she was about to do.

Her eyes taking on a shiny gleam and lips wobbling, she pouted.

"Daddy?"

Frankenstein's face froze. It was obvious he lost, but he vainly held onto his composure.

"Fine, Hariel. You win."

Immediately, Hariel jumped in victory.

"Yay! Thanks, Dad."

"But I'm holding on to those words, you know."
"That's fine! I wasn't lying about it anyway."

Glad that the tension was dissolved, she walked back to the line, standing next to Tao who struggling to remain blank-faced.

Sighing at how easily his daughter manipulated him, he faced the rest of the hijackers.

"I'm telling you, Lukedonia is not a comfortable place for you. They really don't like modified humans either. It's been like that for a while, but things have been especially worse for the past few hundred of years."

Hariel sweatdropped.

Sometimes, I forget how old they are.

"Also, Master and I are not in a comfortable position here. You'll be in danger."

"We don't care." M-21 interrupted. He was saved by these men- it's time that he did something back.

"What?"

"We're not here for sightseeing." Takeo added on.

"Yeah. We would have nothing to do while you guys were gone."

Frankenstein raised an eyebrow.

"And my daughter?"

"Ah, that-"

"I was planning on following you guys anyway. Whether Tao, Takeo and M-21 left or not, it was all the same to me."

Hariel looked at Frankenstein and Rai seriously.

"I refuse to be coddled while the ones I care about are in danger."

Everyone fell silent at her heartfelt words. Frankenstein's throat was feeling especially tickly.

Tao came to the rescue, lightening the mood.

"Anyways, we came to see if we could help, which we did~"

Said person spoke up.

"Well, I did get away thanks to you guys. It's tough to fight others without taking their lives."

Regis looked down, silently angry at his own inability to fight.

Takeo reassured him.

"It would have been complicated if they died, right? Fighting without thinking is much easier in general."

Frankenstein smirked.

"Oh my~ what a mess. You guys can't leave now…"

Hariel resisted the urge to facepalm.

Why was she surrounded by men who loved to be dramatic?

Rai put down his teacup.

"It doesn't matter."

He stood up - and of course it must be done dramatically - hair falling in perfect waves around his face, leaving only one eyes visible as he stared at his guests.

"We have plenty of rooms."

Master and servant left.

Rai was still a little uncomfortable when looking at her face, but she let it go. For now.

Instead, she faced the others, excited at the prospect of exploring such a beautiful home.

"Come on, guys! Let's check this place out."

Silver snapped.

"OK, THAT'S IT! Am I the only one confused here?"

He pointed straight at Hariel.

"Wha- what's this? What happened? Why? Since when did Frankenstein have child?!"

Hariel winced and fell silent. She knew that Frankenstein and Tao made a backstory for her, but even she didn't know what it was. It was agreed that no one outside of the ones who knew about Death would find out about her true origins, since firstly, Hariel didn't want anyone to know about her being the Mistress of Death, and second the less people knew about it the better. Frankenstein actually shuddered while saying those words, so Hariel knew that whoever these Union people were, she should be extremely wary.

"That…"

Takeo stood in front of her, blocking her from Silver's view.

"Don't worry, we got this covered."

She heard Tao loudly berate Silver.

"Oh my God, Regis, you don't just ask why someone's here!"

"What-"

Immediately, he bends down to whisper in Silver's ear, but Takeo dragged her away before she had the chance to hear what they were saying.

M-21 silently appeared at their side.

"Let's explore, shall we?"

Hariel didn't know what they were hiding from her but she was grateful that she didn't have to explain anything.

"Sure!"

...

"Oh…"

Regis felt bad. He felt really bad.

"See! So don't ask her about her past! Ever! OK?!"

Tao's uncharacteristically serious eyes bored deep into Regis' own ones, and he nodded his head frantically.

Oh wow… I didn't know that she had to go through all of that…

Just as Regis was sinking deeper into his thoughts, the blonde girl- Hariel, Takeo and M-21 came back in complaining about their extremely short tour.

"Seriously, all the rooms were locked! No fun…"

She sighed at herself.

Silver was looking at her as if she was an abused child. It was a look of pity.

Hariel hated pity.

Ignoring Silver, she addressed Tao, wanting to remove the heavy atmosphere.

"We sure are lucky that Dad wasn't too mad, right?"

"Yeah, it was a close one. Thanks so much for the save! It was especially funny when you used your puppy eyes and called him Daddy~"

Hariel groaned at Tao.

"Ugh. Don't remind me. I almost vomited when I said that."

Takeo shook his head in amusement.

"If it was that bad, why did you say it?"

"Cuz I had to make sure that he would let me be involved in this world. It's obvious after my past that Dad wants me to lead a normal life, but that's just not possible for someone like me~"

Hariel ignored the serious look on their faces.

"Plus, I love fighting too much. It's an unhealthy addiction."

M-21 looked at her in disbelief.

"Wait- you're addicted to fighting?!"

Hariel nodded her head casually.

"Yup. The rush of adrenaline when knowing that a tenth of a second, or a single misstep can determine your life or death is extremely addicting. I've never felt more alive in those moments."

Everyone sweatdropped at the dreamy look on Hariel's face.

Great… she really is like Frankenstein…

Regis attempted to change the subject.

"Anyway… Tao you have some explaining to do. About the RK-5."

Tao lighted up.

"Oh, that~ we named it after him. Raizel Knights."

Regis' heart pounded. What?

Takeo sighed in exasperation.

"I didn't think he'd do that for real…"

"Oh, so that's what you meant by my number!"

Hariel frowned at Tao.

"But why am I No.5?"

"You jumped straight into the fight without waiting for me to explain! So you get the last number."

Hariel groaned.

Seriously? Why 5? Harry defeated Voldemort on the 5th month.

Trust him to try to stay alive in her memories even when he's dead, and she's in a different universe.

While Hariel inwardly grumbled, Regis looked confused.

"But… did Takeo agree to this?"

"Well, I told him to do whatever he wants. He always likes to fool around."

Regis turned to Tao.

"But why is he No.2?"

"Takeo was my partner for a long time, so I appointed him No.2."

M-21 deadpanned before Regis had the chance to ask him.

"I rejected."

"But… he's No.4?"

"He postponed in joining so he got No.4. Luckily for him, he didn't get the last spot because someone couldn't wait to join the fight."

"Hey! I haven't had a proper fight in a long time, ok? And even that couldn't be called a fight…"

Tao snorted at Hariel.

"True- it looked like a one-sided massacre to me."

"Seriously though- if I don't get a good fight, I'm going to fight you guys."

Hariel looked at the men with all seriousness and they gulped heavily.

Oh God, please give her a good fight!

Regis stared at Hariel. A child soldier…

Shaking out the depressing thoughts from his mind he questioned Tao.

"But why am I No.3?"

"Ha! 'Twas the only spot left."

Regis sweatdropped.

"I didn't even join this group."

Tao swung his arm around Regis, whispering in his ear.

"You… don't want to be his knight?"

Regis backtracked.

"No- it's not that…"

Tao continued to whisper secretively. Hariel rolled her eyes at the display, opting to lounge on the couch. She sunk down, taking off her heels and relaxing.

Oh wow…

She closed her eyes, listening in to their conversation, tuning in when important words came up.

"We made a club."

Inwardly she snorted. Trust Tao to keep the whole thing underwraps for feat of relinquishing his leadership.

She thought about their predicament.

It seems to me that Rai as the Noblesse has a lot of authority over these Nobles. But it's obvious that he's not their leader, so what does he do exactly as the Noblesse? And if he's so powerful, does that cause some tension between him and their actual leader?

And then the way Nobles treat humans. It's obvious they leave them be because we're harmless, but it reminds me of the way 'light' purebloods treat non-magicals. As if indulging a lesser species.

But then if they are fine with humans, why do they hate modified humans? The only difference I can see is that they were experimented on… so they obviously hate it when humans try to artificially gain power. Seems very… hierarchical.

"My family leader?!"

Silver's sudden shout snapped her out of her thoughts, and she saw the worried look on his face.

Whoops. Missed something important…

She listened in to their conversation.

Apparently, this Gechutel person, who was Silver's family leader, didn't report to the Nobles' Lord about Rai, who didn't want to be noticed, so now he and Silverette are in trouble.

Hariel couldn't help but silently groan at the parallels between this Noble Lord the Ministry.

Needing to know everything… and when they don't have all the details, it's somehow your fault so you get punished.

She followed Tao, Takeo and M-21 out of the room, keeping an eye on Silver who looked like he was planning something.

…

Ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy-

Hariel knew that they were supposed to keep a low cover, but she couldn't help at laugh in delight when catching up to Silver.

I get to fight again! So soon!

"No.5, what are you doing! You can't break formation!"

Ta- No.1's voice blasted in her ears through the transmitter.

"I'm sorry, No. 1! I can't help myself."

She and No.4 make quick work of the knights surrounding No.3, but she still wasn't satisfied.

"No.5, you can't work alone! Until I know more about your skills, we have to keep you as back-up!"

Hariel whined.

"But, No.1, even I don't know what my own skills are!"

She, No.3 and No.4 where currently running away from their pursuers, loud bangs following their path as No.2 carried out his own orders.

"You know what- forget it. No.3, your transmitter is in your pocket."

"Why are you guys here?"

Hariel answered for Tao.

"Come on, it was so obvious you were going to make a run for it. We couldn't leave you alone."

"But, this has nothing to do with you… and you don't even know me! Why would you help?"

Regis was confused. Why where his friends helping him? Better yet, why was Frankenstein's daughter helping him?! Last time they met on the battlefield, he wasn't exactly a gentleman to her…

"We can talk later. Troops are heading from the northwest and southeast. They're ahead of us, but if we're fast enough, we can break through."

Distracting himself from his fatigue, No.3 continued to question No.1.

"How do you know that?"

"While coming here, I scattered hundreds of conar detecting devices. Attaching a camera is too troublesome, since the size is really big so I wanted to test this out. You wouldn't know the details- just think of it as a small and efficient mic."

No.5 was bored. She looked around as No.4 was completely concentrated on his task.

Sigh…

She ignored the sound of someone falling beside her.

I wonder when things get to be fun…

She listened in on No.1 and No.3's conversation, hoping that she might learn something interesting.

"We identify their location by transmitted sounds. To me, a small amount of sound is enough.

"How do you distinguish all those sounds?"

"Only I can make it possible. HAHAHAHA~!"

No.1's laughter wass an indication that he and No.2 are now engaged in combat. She looked ahead and saw that a group of knights were blocking their way.

She smirked.

She paused, allowing No.3 and No.4 to jump right ahead. Stretching, she readied herself for the fight, eyeing a particularly bulky knight who's holding up relatively well against No.4.

Hope you guys last longer than the rest.

*Chapter 6*: A Complete Beatdown

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR NOBLESSE.

AN:

I'm back! Thanks for your patience~ Here's another chapter.

Chapter 6: A Complete Beatdown

No.1's laughter is an indication that he and No.2 are now engaged in combat. She looked ahead and saw that a group of knights were blocking their way.

She smirked.

She paused, allowing No.3 and No.4 to jump right ahead. Stretching, she readied herself for the fight, eyeing a particularly bulky knight who's holding up relatively well against No.4.

Hope you guys last longer than the rest.

…

Fighting the Central Knights was easy. Almost depressingly so. Hariel lamented at the thought of those lacklustre fights, itching for something more thrilling.

Tao's voice interrupted her train of thought.

"Go that way. You won't meet the knights there."

Following M-21 and Silver through the trees, Hariel expanded her senses when suddenly-

"Guys stop!"

The two stopped and turned around to look at her.

At the same time, Tao warned the others.

"Wait… the sound is vague, but something real fast is approaching."

M-21 tensed up, on guard from the warnings from both of his teammates.

"Is it the Central Knights?"

"Doesn't feel like it… It's fast and unnoticed…"

For some reason, this presence feels somewhat familiar…

Hariel's eyes widened.

"It's Angry!"

"Watch out!"

KABOOM!

Jumping back, Hariel covered her face with her arms at the sudden explosion. Up ahead, she saw M-21 and Silver land safely, and she sighed in relief.

Holding her hand to her earpiece, she whispered to the others.

"Guys, I'm going to go around and see if I can sneak up on him, ok?"

After getting the affirmative, she hid inside the smoke made by the explosion, and saw a figure emerge.

Standing there arrogantly, head held high, looking down at everything around him, the blonde Noble smirked at his opponents. Yep- that's definitely Angry.

She stepped back into the outskirts of the forest, letting the leaves and branches hide her as she walked around the clearing.

"Interesting scene… Regis, these guys were the ones that broke into the Forbidden Area?"

Silver grit his teeth. "Rael!"

"Regis, I wondered why you'd spend time with them… this is why?"

Hariel watched as Angry riled Silver up. She was almost behind him, and she shook her head at the thought of Angry leaving himself completely open from behind. However, his next words make her pause.

"Gechutel will be forced to go into eternal sleep."

Silver's eyes widened in horror and fright.

What's that? Eternal sleep? Does that mean death?

Silver's panicked words confirm her thoughts.

"Rael, what are you talking about? My family leader is going into eternal sleep?! Why would he get punished like that?"

"Because he betrayed us."

"Betray? No way! He wouldn't do that!"

Hariel grimaced at the scene. It feels all too familiar… Harry warning others of Voldemort's return. Harry defending himself from the Daily Prophet's slander. Harry being turned against on by his housemates.

Why is it that the innocent always pay for the idiocy of those in power?

"Don't play dumb. Lord found out and ordered it herself."

Hariel felt a sting of dislike against this Lord. It seemed like this person used their authority whenever they see fit, not bothering to find out the truth or caring about the consequences of their actions.

Thankfully, since Angry was so focused on breaking Silver, Hariel managed to slowly sneak up towards him. Her eyes were narrowed and focused on the back of his neck, where a hit directly to the spinal cord will be enough to temporarily paralyze him. Five metres away, Hariel crouched and got ready to lunge when-

"No one cares about your safety anymore... even if I kill you because you resisted."

Angry suddenly lunges forward towards the frozen Silver, and Hariel cursed.

"Fuck!"

She leapt towards him immediately, raising her fist to punch him into the ground. Sensing a threat behind him, Angry jumped to the side, feeling a faint breeze caused by the missed punch.

CRACK

Instantly, a small crater formed. Hariel stood up next to Silver, assessing him for any injuries.

"Hariel…"

Silver's faint shock at his near-death made its appearance as he stared at her blankly.

"What were you doing?! How is letting yourself be killed by Angry going to help your grandfather?!"

"My… grandfather?"

"YOU!"

Hariel barely dodged Angry's swipe as she fell to the side. There was no time to breath as he instantly aimed for her. Eyes widening, she rolled away and landed in a crouch, eying the angry Noble warily.

"You're the one who humiliated me that day!"

Angry's red eyes were narrowed dangerously, and his face was set into a ferocious snarl.

Oh shit.

Fury clouding his judgement, Angry struck blow after blow against Hariel. Taking advantage of his hazy state, Hariel easily dodged him, using the smoke formed from his failed strikes to hide her position even further.

"You think you can hide from me, little girl?"

Hariel momentarily forgot that while the smoke hid her position from him, it also hid his position from her.

Out of nowhere, a fist landed on her cheek, flinging her to the side. She sailed in the air and dropped onto the ground in an unceremonious heap, groaning at the rapidly forming bruise on her face.

Damnit…

"Hahaha! Did you think that you have a chance against me?"

While Angry was gloating, she quickly spoke through the earpiece.

"Guys, use this fight to gain some intel on Angry. I don't know how to fight in a team with you yet, so just think about using me as a decoy to analyse his moves, ok?"

Not waiting for an answer, she switched from her defensive position, and lunged towards Angry.

He laughed derisively at her.

"Do you honestly think that you can hurt me?"

Mid-air, she switched from using her fist and brought her leg around in an arc, aiming for Angry's head.

He tilted his head back contemptuously before suddenly widening his eyes and jumping back. A split second late, three bullets sailed through the air, missing their target.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hariel watched as Silver left the scene. She made eye contact with M-21, and shook her head.

Don't jump in. Save your strength for later.

He frowned heavily, and reluctantly nodded at her words.

Now completely focusing on Angry, Hariel ignored the throbbing on her face and fell into a defensive position.

Angry sneered.

"Arrogant…"

Another set of bullets came his way. While he was dodging, Hariel ruthlessly exploited the opportunity and aimed a punch at his temple. He leaned back, avoiding both the bullets and her punch. Turning around Hariel braced herself on her right foot, and brought her left into a high kick, wacking him across the face.

Angry's head snapped to the side and he went deathly still.

Sensing the sudden danger, Hariel leapt back and watched her opponent cautiously.

Shit… I just made Angry really angry.

He shook faintly as the wind picked up around him.

"How dare… you wounded me…"

Slowly, he brought his head forward and glared icily at Hariel.

"Those toys…"

She gulped faintly.

This… does not look good.

"Don't worry, Hariel."

Tao's voice cut through her nerves.

"We got your back."

…

There's no doubt about is. Tao's a freaking genius.

"Left!"

Hariel moved her body to the left as Angry punched at her right side. She bent her arm at the elbow, and smashed it against Angry's outstretched arm, hoping to make it unusable. He winced slightly at her force, but ignored the pain and brought his other arm around to strike her.

"Down!"

Dodging his uppercut, Hariel swept her leg around, intent on making him lose his balance. Angry jumped back, before lunging at her again, but Takeo's bullets stopped him from advancing further. This allowed Hariel to settle into a defensive stance as Angry glared at her.

"Damnit! Show yourself! How dare you hide like rats? When I find you, I'll kill you insects first!"

Hariel gladly took the opportunity to take a breather as Angry ranted at the air. Her clothes were disheveled and her feet were aching from the heels, but her only injury was the first punch from before thankfully.

"Guys, he's really good. He's also strong and fast. I'm not sure how we can break his streak…"

Takeo added his own comment.

"Likewise. If we don't predict his moves beforehand, I won't be able to follow his movements… if I don't get closer, my gun won't be able to reach."

Tao continued analysing.

"His moves and power are perfect, but he lacks experience. Noblesse have lived for a long time, but didn't have a chance to fully use their powers."

He smirked. "So far, it's all expected… No.5, let's get it started."

Har- No.5 readied herself against Angry.

"What are you on about?"

"Come on~ you're Frankenstein's daughter~ Just make it so that Rael gets hit by No.2's bullets."

No.5 momentarily paused in confusion.

Make it so that he gets hit by bullets…?

No.5 watched Angry's arrogant stride and listened to his forceful demands.

Well… this is the only thing I can think of. If all else fails, use the Harry Potter specialty.

Stupidly taunting enemies that are stronger than you.

Instantly, Hariel changed her stance. Instead of vigilant, she was casual. Instead of defensive, she was laid back. Instead of a focused expression, she looked at Angry with an irritating smirk.

"I'm so disappointed."

Angry looked back at her, annoyed. "What?"

"Are you really that great of a Noble? I mean, you've said that you'd kill us so many times, but wait a second-"

Hariel made a show of inspecting herself.

"-I'm still alive."

"Are you mocking me?"

Hariel ignored his words.

"All bark and no bite is what people like you are, Angry."

Said Noble trembled in fury, veins popping all over his face.

"Angry…?!"

"I mean, seriously, what kind of pathetic coward are you? Avoiding bullets made by the humans you despise so much."

Hariel tilted her head back and looked at Angry condescendingly.

"You're nothing great. After all, all of us together haven't even lived half your age."

Tao's voice rang through her ears.

"Oh ho! M-21! She stole your line!"

"What are you waiting for, baby? Oh wait, you're supposed to be older than us."

Hariel raised her guard, and waved her hand at him mockingly.

"Come here... big boy."

Angry let out a furious roar. He leapt so forcefully that he made a hole from where he previously stood.

"I will kill you!"

Suddenly, there was not one Angry lunging at her, but three.

"You insolent chit! I'll ignore all the human-made bullets. They won't hurt me anyways. I will get your heart first!"

A white streak pierced the real Angry's shoulder and he paused in front of Hariel in shock.

She lifter her leg up into a high kick, but Angry jumped back as he stared at his wound.

Tao's voice sounded out in the clearing.

"It's not an ordinary bullet. It may not do much damage, but… it's enough to slow you down."

Hariel watched as Angry was electrocuted by Tao's attack.

Leaping forward, she took advantage of his frozen state.

For a second, Angry's eyes widened in fear. But that was forgotten as Hariel kicked, slashed and punched at Angry before he could retaliate. She ignored the pain of being electrocuted alongside Angry, before jumping back once she overworked her body.

Panting heavily, Hariel took stock of her injuries. Her blazer was completely torn apart. Part of her blouse was ripped off, exposing her bleeding shoulder to the elements. There was a shallow cut on her leg, blood oozing out of it slowly. Her hair was arranged messily around her face, hair tie forgotten somewhere on the forest floor.

"What happened? Is it over?"

Hariel didn't have the strength to reply to M-21 even if she wanted to.

She was instead transfixed by the sight of a wounded Angry.

"You filthy piece of- how dare you…"

His eyes started to glow.

"GRANDIA!"

A blinding light accompanied by a surge of wind assaulted Hariel's senses.

Hearing high pitched cackling, Hariel tensed up.

In Angry's hands where two dangerous looking swords. It was almost shaped like two feathers- extremely sharp, metal, pointed feathers. Even so, Hariel was wary at the power radiated from those weapons.

"You made me take out Grandia in Lukedonia…. One way or another… I will wipe you all clean!"

Hariel blinked.

She looked down. Two large diagonal cuts were seen across her torso.

Blood spurted out of her wounds, the force causing her to fall to the ground. Unimaginable waves of pain flowed through her body, and she could faintly hear the panicked cries of the men.

"Shit!"

"I didn't think he would take it out here…"

"Hariel!"

She grit her teeth, trying to ignore the pain. She saw Angry casually slice through Takeo's bullets and she cursed.

Damnit! We're gonna lose at this rate!

"I can't read his moves anymore! His powers are amplified!"

Even better. We're flying in blind.

Bracing herself, Hariel leapt towards Angry, intent on doing anything she can to slow him down.

He laughed at her and sliced her thigh.

She immediately fell to the ground, hissing in pain.

"Are you disappointed now, little girl?"

Using my own words against me…

She glared up at him, but Angry disappeared from her sight.

Where did he go-

pAiN.

"AAHH-!"

Her back erupted into fire and she held back a scream. But Angry didn't stop there- her arms, legs, hands, face; everywhere on her body there was a new, bleeding cut in every shape and size.

Her body shook from effort.

I can't… fall now…

"Aww… are you done already?"

Hariel ignored Angry's taunts and lifted herself up. Immediately, the Noble kicked her to the side, and she easily flew away landing harshly on the ground.

She coughed blood.

Shit…

A sudden pressure on the side of her head caused it to slam against the ground. Blood rushed through her ears, and she almost missed Angry's words.

"This is what happens to a toy who doesn't know where it belongs."

Hariel tried to move her arms. She tried to move her legs, her head, her fingers- anything she can. But she was frozen on the ground.

She was helpless.

Around her, she heard sounds of battle as the trio joined the fight.

"So… you three think you can save her?"

"Hariel?"

"It's worse than we thought…"

No… no! Not again! I can't be down while my friends fight for me!

Her surroundings were hazy as she forced herself up on her arms.

Get up!

She watched as Angry easily dodged Takeo's bullets and Tao's whip.

Get up!

She watched as Angry laughed derisively at M-21's attacks.

Get up get up GET UP!

She watched as the trio fell, defeated on their knees before Angry.

What are you doing?! GET UP!

Hariel pushed herself up with all her might, but her arms were shaking too much from the blood loss. She looked up and saw new wounds spurting from them all.

No… NO!

'DEATH!'

'Mistress, you called?'

'My power, what is it? I need it, NOW!'

'I know nothing of your new power, Mistress.'

'But you're Death! How do you not know?!'

Hariel panicked as she watched Angry step closer to the bleeding men.

'The reason I brought you into this world was because I was bored, Mistress. The point of this journey was for you to entertain me. If you want to unlock your power, only you can do it yourself.'

At that moment, Angry raised one of his swords. A deep, primal fear overcame Hariel at the thought of watching them die helplessly.

Like Cedric.

Like Sirius.

Like Dumbledore.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Within a split second, Hariel crossed the distance between her and Angry, punching him away from the trio. Ignoring her heavily bleeding body, the wind starting picking up around Hariel, whipping her hair about her face.

"Hariel…?"

She stood protectively in front of her injured friends, looking at the shocked Angry with determination.

"You… how are you standing?!"

She narrowed her eyes.

"I won't let you hurt them anymore."

Forgetting his shock, Angry laughed at Hariel. "Are you crazy?"

Hariel sliced the air in front of her.

And the wind obeyed.

A deep cut formed on Angry's chest.

"What- how did you-"

Ignoring his words, she attacked. With every kick, the wind blew him away. With every punch, the wind flung him in the air. With every slice, a deep cut formed on Angry's body.

Burning with fury, Angry lunged at her.

Hariel pushed.

And the Noble was thrown across the clearing into the forest.

"Hariel? Hariel?"

She couldn't hear anything. All she knew was that the Noble in front of her was the enemy and she needed to protectprotectprotectprotectpRotEcT-

In response to her wants, the wind picked up around her and her fallen teammates. It swirled round and round and round, forming an unseen barrier designed to keep enemies out at all costs.

Angry emerged from the forest, leaping towards them. Once he touched the barrier, dozens of slashes and cuts formed on his face and arms, and he immediately backed up.

"How-"

He fell silent once he looked at Hariel. She was bleeding heavily, blood dripping from her cuts, ears and nose. Her clothes were ripped apart, and she was missing a heel. By all accounts, she should be passed out on the ground.

But her eyes.

Her icy blue eyes possessed such strong resolve and intent, that for a split second, Rael was sure he would lose.

M-21 spoke up.

"Are you really a pure-blood royal?"

"What?"

M-21 bared his teeth at Rael.

"The kid we know… is a real Noble with dignity. He'd never behave like you."

Rael was about to lunge at M-21 again when he suddenly froze in shock. A figure appeared behind him. He was tall, blonde and half his face was covered with a mask.

"Brother?"

Hariel tensed up.

More enemies? I need to protect them! I can't let them come closer!

The wind barrier around her exploded in its intensity. The wind flew faster until her features were blurred to the Kertia brothers and the ground below them cracked from the pressure.

The Kertia Lord raised his eyebrow at the girl who was glaring at them ferociously.

Her determination… impressive.

The trio inwardly cursed at the new development but froze upon hearing something behind them. Seeing Rai and Frankenstein, they couldn't help but sigh in barely hidden relief.

Hariel too, instantly recognized their presence. All of a sudden, the barrier disappeared and she wobbled on her feet. She looked behind her, searching for the calm gaze of her father. Knowing that they were now safe, Hariel's whole body sagged with relief.

"Dad…"

She collapsed.

...

"Hariel!"

M-21 barely caught her before she hit the ground. Her breaths where shallow and faint, and he looked over to Frankenstein.

He gulped.

A wave of intense killing intent filled the clearing. Frankenstein's eyes were shadowed and he was shaking in barely restrained anger.

"You…"

Rajak put the pieces together and figured that the injured girl was the blonde man's daughter, who is looking decidedly terrifying right now.

"Rael, do you know him?"

"The blonde one, yes, but not the other one. I met him and the girl when I went to bring Seira."

Rajak assessed his current opponents. The black haired man was an unknown, but he recognized Frankenstein- the human who battled his father.

"Master."

Frankenstein's voice was deep and guttural.

Rai glanced at Hariel's still body. She looked completely different from the Hariel he remembered in school. Takeo was wrapping up her cuts from pieces of cloth but she didn't even flinch. He remembered the feeling of her warm hands on his cheeks...

That's not the same Hariel Rai knew.

The Noblesse looked at Frankenstein. He was worried, because his servant usually never loses his composure. But he also understood. He, too, was furious at Hariel's broken state.

"You may, Frankenstein."

The Kertia Lord stepped up to battle Rai.

"No one can leave this place."

Without missing a beat, the Noblesse advanced, leaving Rajak in the dust. His eyes were wide from shock, and he stood frozen from the strength of this unknown's aura. How…?

"KRAAAAAAAH!"

Hearing his little brother's screams, he whipped his head around.

Frankenstein was standing above him, looking down at Rael mercilessly. Makeshift rods formed by Dark's Spear's power punctured every part of his body, and he strained from the effort of keeping himself standing. The rods then dissolved, forcing Rael to kneel on the ground as blood started oozing from his multiple wounds. Damnit…

He looked up and froze as a deep terror chilled his bones.

There was no trace of Frankenstein's easygoing, annoying smile. His face was blank, but his eyes were Arctic ice.

"I plan to make this meeting very... enlightening for your sake, Little Noble."

Rael gulped. How can this human make me feel so afraid? I was just caught off guard… right?

Rajak spied the vengeful wrath of a parent in Frankenstein's eyes, and feared for his brother. He sped up next to Rael, and took him further away from the mad scientist.

"Bro? What's going on?"

"You're not ready to fight him."

"What? I was just caught off guard that's all."

"The fact that you don't even know who you're dealing with is proof."

Rajak sighed inwardly. "On the average day, this fight would be difficult enough. But now, we're dealing with a furious parent…"

Rael's eyes widened. Parent…! He looked over at the unconscious girl next to the trio. Oh...

Frankenstein glared icily at Rajak. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I apologise for the bad manners of my younger brother. I shall fight you instead."

Rajak took out his Soul Weapon, continuing his train of thought. "You fought my father. I should show you some respect too."

In response, Frankenstein called out his own weapon.

"Answer to my call. Dark Spear."

Rael and the trio looked at Frankenstein in shock. He had his own Soul Weapon…!?

He spoke to the trio.

"Back off as far as you can."

He momentarily glanced at Hariel.

"You may die if you get involved."

…

Ow…

I failed.

Hariel opened her eyes slowly. Everything was blurred.

I said that I could handle it, but look at me. I was just a burden.

She was in someone's arms.

"Hariel? Hariel!"

"She's awake!"

A black blob came into view. Slowly, she made out Tao's features.

"Hariel! Can you hear me? Blink once for yes and twice for no."

She blinked.

"Oh, thank God!"

M-21 sagged in relief as he fell to the ground with Hariel in his arms.

Takeo squeezed her shoulder.

"God… Hariel, please don't make us worry like that ever again."

Hariel pried open her mouth.

"Guys… I want to stand up."

"But-"

"Please."

She couldn't stand it anymore. She felt too ashamed of herself. They were all hurt too. She shouldn't be the only one relaxing in M-21's hold.

In the end, she couldn't keep herself upright without leaning heavily against M-21. She saw Takeo's heavily ripped clothes and the makeshift bandages on her body.

"Thanks, Takeo."

"What?"

"For the bandages."

"Oh that- no problem."

Silence fell within the group. Hariel kept her head down, and they could sense that something was wrong.

"Hariel…?"

M-21 hesitantly put his hand on her head.

"Are you… okay?"

"I'm sorry!"

Hariel suddenly burst out. She shook from the strength of her emotions.

"I'm sorry! I thought I could handle him, but I couldn't! I failed…"

"Hariel… what are you on about?"

She took a shaky breath.

"I know that you guys are a team. I know that I'm still an outsider in these excursions, I know. But I wanted to help so badly that I told you guys to trust me without thinking of the consequences. And now look at us…"

She laughed bitterly.

"We're all injured… me being the most…"

She paused, and whispered to herself.

"I feel like a burden…"

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on her forehead.

"Ow!"

She looked up and saw that Takeo had flicked her. He looked pretty angry.

"Did you think that this isn't hard on us either? Yes, Tao, M-21 and I are a team, and by all accounts we should be better at fighting than you. But we couldn't do much either!"

"He's right, Hariel."

Tao looked solemn.

"You were heavily injured, and but you were the one who protected us in the end. Which one of us are the burdens now?"

Oh. Oh.

She never thought about it that way.

M-21 sighed. "You're still in the mindset that you're responsible for everything alone. All of us here are equally responsible. Or do you not trust us enough to think so?"

"What?! Of course not! I do trust you! It's just… hard to not think that way-"

Hariel's eyes widened.

"Tao! Watch out!"

She flung herself towards him, slicing the air, just as Rael emerged behind them. Frankenstein appeared and managed to beat down the suddenly injured Noble, just as Hariel fell to the ground, starting to cough.

And cough.

And cough.

Her mouth tasted of blood, and she could feel the liquid dripping from her mouth. She could faintly hear the panicked shouts of the trio, but she was trying so hard to stop coughing that she really couldn't deal with anything else.

'Death…'

Even her mental voice was weak.

'Death… What's wrong with me?'

'Your body was not ready for the awakening of part of your power.'

'Part of my power?! There's more?'

'Considering your weakened state when you forced yourself to unlock it, I feel that you have more potential.'

'Is that why I'm coughing blood?'

'Yes. I suggest you tune in with reality now. The fight has been paused on account of your father's worry.'

'Oh… ok. I'll talk to you later.'

'Of course, Mistress.'

Hariel breathed heavily as the final waves of coughs passed. Her dad was crouched in front of her, eyes filled with worry.

"Hariel?"

"He… he said I awakened my power too early. My body wasn't ready."

Frankenstein was momentarily confused before widening his eyes in realisation. Death…

He grit his teeth in frustration. When will this end?

"Boss?"

Tao's face was pale. Death… Death said that she awakened her power too early?

"Look after her."

Hariel felt something squeeze her shoulder before her dad's presence disappeared. She let out one last breath before sitting back and groaning.

"Hariel."

She looked up at the trio's serious faces.

"From now on, you're forbidden to fight, least of all use this new power of yours."

"But-"

Tao raised a hand.

"You're hurting yourself! Please! Trust us, ok?"

Hariel didn't have the strength to argue.

"Fine…"

Takeo sighed in relief.

"Honestly, Hariel- you don't think it hurts us to see you in pain like this?"

"I'm sorry…"

Hariel gathered her thoughts.

"I know… what it feels like to be in your position. I just… can't help myself. It's how I've been fighting for a long time."

"Har-"

"Wait! Let me finish."

She looked at each and every one of their eyes, and winced at the intense worry on their faces.

"I know it's wrong, and that it hurts others, but I've been made that way, and it's hard to break that habit you know? I'm fine when I'm fighting by myself, but when it comes to my friends, I just- I just forget my new training and revert back to sacrificial-lamb-state."

She took a deep breath and grimaced.

"That's not the only problem either. I… My attitude towards fighting is the same as it was before. When I was on top of the world, and extremely confident in my abilities. I forget that here, it's not going to be the same. So I was arrogant, and overconfident, and treated fighting like a game. Because I was strong enough to do so. But here… it's not the same. And it cost me. It cost us."

Hariel bowed her head.

"For that, I really am sorry. For treating fighting lightly. I promise I'll train, I promise I'll be serious, I promise I'll get to the point where I can afford to treat fighting like a game so that I can fight with you guys and protect you too if the need arises."

There was a long stretch of silence. Then Tao laughed.

"Wow! Look at you! Learning from your mistakes and all that jazz."

He ruffled her hair.

"We're going to train too. You're not the only one who wants to stand on their own two feet."

"Tao's right," Takeo added "We're not going to be left behind."

M-21 helped her up. For the first time, Hariel felt lighter, and glanced between her teammates.

"We're… all going to get stronger together?"

M-21 held her in place as everyone looked at each other with keen resolve.

"Yes… we'll all be stronger together."

This… this is what I wanted. Hermione and Ron… you were part of the Golden Trio, but Harry always had the pressure focused on him. But here… I'm not alone.

She choked back her emotions.

I'm not alone...

Suddenly, an intense wave of energy filled the whole clearing, and Hariel staggered.

What…? Is that-

Hariel's head snapped towards the castle.

"It's Rai! Something's wrong!"

She looked over at Frankenstein.

"Dad!"

He looked back at her in worry.

"I know!"

He started running towards the castle.

"Follow me!"

Hariel sweatdropped.

I'm… kind of injured right now…

Thankfully, M-21 picked her up and followed after Frankenstein, along with Takeo and Tao.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Hariel stared at the castle with worry.

'Death, what's going on?'

'Come now, Mistress. It would not be fun if I tell you everything that happens.'

'A clue would be helpful! What are we going to be dealing with-'

Hariel's eyes widened.

'There must be something that caused Rai to unleash his aura… Don't tell me- Is he fighting the Lord? To defend Gechutel?'

'See? My presence was not even necessary.'

But… why would he do that? This Lord seems unlikable, but it wouldn't be wise to make an enemy out of someone that powerful.

Hariel gripped M-21's shirt tightly.

Rai… I hope you know what you're doing.

Deleted Scene: Frankenstein's Children?!

Thanks to frankieu for the awesome idea! Feel free to share your input on any funny/cute extras you want to be included in the story!

"DAD!"

Hariel's loud shout cut him off, and he looked back at her.

"What? What is it?"

Her eyebrows are scrunched up adorably, and there was a flush travelling up her neck. She was pointing at Tao accusedly, scowling harshly - unfortunately for her, all Frankenstein saw was an angry pout - and complained.

"Da-ad! Tao won't teach me how to work with computers!"

Frankenstein wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or amused.

"What?"

By now, everyone was staring at their group curiously and all Frankenstein could do was sigh.

"Tao said that my not being able to work with technology is funny, and that's why he's not teaching me!"

The man in question had his hands held against his face, vainly trying to stop his laughter.

Oh God… I never knew children were this whiny.

"DA-AD!"

Frankenstein caught a glint of something in Hariel's eyes, but it was gone before he could discern it.

Could it be…?

Frankenstein smirked. His daughter wasn't truly being a child. She has something planned.

"-It's him-"

"-for a father, he sure is handsome-"

"-they don't have mothers, the poor dears-"

"-four kids and-"

"-he looks like that?!"

What on earth are these people talking about?

Frankenstein paused.

Regis looked completely clueless so he's innocent.

M-21 was staring ahead coldly, but a bead of sweat gave him away.

Takeo coughed.

Tao was 'looking around at the scenery', whistling aimlessly.

Hariel looked caught between laughter, shock and horror.

The blonde man sighed and massaged his temples.

"Will someone please tell me why the minions think that the four of you are my children?"

Tao panicked and pointed.

"It's all her idea! We're innocent!"

Hariel glared at him.

"Traitor! I saved our asses back there!"

Takeo interjected with a guilty smile.

"That's true but… it's still your idea Hariel."

Hariel looked at him with the most heartbreaking sad puppy eyes.

"You too…?"

This was looking too much like a soap opera so Frankenstein interrupted.

"Just explain Hariel."

She looked at him nervously and took a deep breath.

"ImayhaveaccidentallysortaimpliedthatTakeoTaoM-21andIareyourillegitimatechildrenwithdifferentmothers."

Her words ran so fast that he almost misheard her.

Almost.

Frankenstein inhaled.

Then exhaled.

"And why would you do something like that?"

Hariel gulped.

"Umm…ThedoctormayormayhavenotalsoimpliedthatthosethreeweresexualfiendsbecauseIwastheonlygirlthereandtheylookedliketheywereabouttokillhimsoIsteppedin."

Frankenstein winced. I would be furious if someone accused me of something like that…

"Alright."

With that, Frankenstein turned around and walked off with his Master, ignoring the whispers around him. He really couldn't be bothered to deal with this anymore. After a brief moment of shock, the rest followed him, furiously whispering.

"Hariel- what did you even say?"

"Yeah! I couldn't understand you at all!"

"But wow~ aren't we lucky? Frankenstein doesn't seem to care!"

Regis walked up ahead.

He'd rather stick with the Noblesse and mad scientist right now.

Hariel laughed lightly.

He shuddered and walked faster.

The trio, in the other hand, looked back at her, instantly suspicious.

"What? What is it?"

Her shoulders shook.

"Tell us!"

Payback time, Dad. This is like the icing on the cake to the other prank I have planned for Tao!

She made sure to look completely innocent. WIth her blushing face and smile, it was a cinch.

"Didn't you notice? Dad never corrected them."

She inwardly laughed as she saw their face turn red with realization and affection.

I feel slightly bad for manipulating them like that but… watching Dad become paranoid will be utterly hilarious!

…

Frankenstein was at his wits' end.

For the past few days, his boys where suspiciously well-behaved.

To be fair, M-21 and Takeo were always well-behaved so that wasn't really the issue.

His problem is Tao.

Every single day, without fail, Tao has always always somehow either messed with his software, hijacked the CCTV cameras, or played a prank by hacking into his computer.

Always.

There's been absolutely no sign of trouble, and Frankenstein was worried.

First day- it was with a slight relief that he went on with his day.

Second day- he first became suspicious.

Third day- something is terribly wrong.

And the worst part- Tao listened to him.

No smart aleck comments, no meaningless arguments, no teasing. He just looks up at him with sparkling eyes and agrees obediently.

Frankenstein was 120% sure that his daughter had something to do with this. He always caught her smirking at something.

But he couldn't think about that now.

What if Tao's major prank had something to do with his duties for his Master?

Perish the thought.

Frankenstein shuddered and made some tea.

Mark his words- Frankenstein will figure out what nefarious deed they were planning!

… after he made sure his Master was alright first, of course.