Summary: M-21 sat on the roof of Frankenstein's house, gazing up at the night sky, not really thinking about anything.

Set post-season 3.

Written for the Cottoncandy Bingo square 'Moon'.

Moon

By Dark Ice Dragon

M-21 sat on the roof of Frankenstein's house, gazing up at the night sky, not really thinking about anything. He wasn't sure why he'd felt the need to be on the roof, but he had a feeling that –

"Damn," came a familiar voice, "I thought we'd catch you howling."

He huffed, shaking his head as he watched Takeo and Tao climb up to the roof. "I told you," he said, "I'm not affected by the moon."

"Uh-huh," Tao said, completely disbelieving him as he flopped down next to him. "That's why you're up here." Takeo sat down next to Tao after making sure he wouldn't sit on his hair.

That…was a point, and M-21 frowned. He didn't normally feel any particular need to go to the roof, especially if there was no reason for it.

"It's not the full moon," Takeo pointed out, holding a can of Aloe Juice out to M-21. He took it, rolling it between his hands first.

"And who says M-21's a traditional werewolf?" Tao asked – he had to duck Takeo's swipe, but he was still laughing anyway.

M-21 just watched their antics, opening his can and drinking from it. It wasn't something they could really know, not without actually meeting a living werewolf and even then… Nobles had changed over time, so who was to say that werewolves hadn't as well? But that was assuming a mythical werewolf was the same as an actual werewolf – the same as comparing 'vampires' with nobles.

There were enough differences between what he could do and what he'd read of traditional werewolves – he could control his transformation, he wasn't affected by any phases of the moon, and he kept his mind during then as well. That, and as far as he was aware, silver didn't affect him.

"Aroooooooooo!"

M-21 jerked at the sudden shout, already half-preparing to transform his hands, but he stared in confusion as he saw Tao standing up again, his face turned towards the sky.

"C'mon, Number 4!" Tao laughed, hopping over Takeo's sweeping leg. "Maybe you'll activate your – woah!" He wasn't quite able to elegantly dodge Takeo's can though. It went soaring into the air, and M-21 tracked its movement, making sure he knew where it fell – if Frankenstein knew they'd littered…

M-21 just sighed, bowing his head, waiting for his heart settle down again. "I've heard dogs howling before, Tao," he said, looking up at him, "and that didn't have any affect."

"Heh." Tao had landed just far enough away to be out of reach of Takeo's limbs, and he gestured towards M-21. "But have you done any howling?"

…

"No," he admitted, not sure if he actually should, because the next thing Tao was going to say next was-

"Then you have to try!"

"Why should I?" he asked wryly, not budging.

Tao just shook his head at him, dropping his arms. "Because you never know if that's ever going to be needed!"

Right. M-21 sighed. "Tao, what I have is good enough." If there really wasa way to activate his transformation further than what he could do currently without Rai's help, who knew if the myth about werewolves losing themselves was also true – and if it was, maybe he wouldn't regain his sense of self.

"Ah, fine," Tao said, a pout on his lips as he went back over to their side. "We can work around it."

'Work around'-?

Tao nudged Takeo's leg with a foot, and Takeo moved out of his way with a snort.

"You owe me a can," Takeo said.

"Hey," Tao said, looking woeful at Takeo, "if you hadn't thrown it at me, you would still have it."

"And if you hadn't started joking again, I wouldn't have thrown it."

Tao tilted his head, in the direction of where the can had gone. "I think it landed in a hedge-" It had. "-and I don't think it burst on impact-" It hadn't. And M-21 suppressed his shudder at the thought of the mess that could have been created if it had, and Frankenstein finding out, because it was right outside Frankenstein's door. "-so you can still have it if you find it!"

Takeo didn't have anything else to throw at Tao, so he only resorted to rolling his eyes.

"Aroooo," Tao said softly, still grinning, and M-21 considered throwing his open can at Tao to make him stop.

"Ahem."

They froze, and an icy bolt of fear stampeded down M-21's spine. Frankenstein was standing there, and M-21 briefly wondered how he hadn't noticed him climbing up (but then, this was Frankenstein he was talking about) but he was more worried about Frankenstein's smile.

"You're disturbing our neighbours," Frankenstein said pleasantly.

Uh…

"Ahaha, sorry 'bout that, Boss," Tao said as he laughed, running a hand through his hair. "We'll try to keep it down."

'We'? It had all been Tao!

"See that you do." And with that, Frankenstein left the roof, leaving them alone.

Tao snickered, and M-21 just slumped, resting his head in a hand.

"So, anyway," Tao said once he was finished, "You okay?"

M-21 blinked, looking at him in confusion. "Yeah?" Why had he asked that?

Tao shrugged. "Just making sure - you go off alone sometimes, but...just in case, you know?"

M-21's lips twitched at that. "Yeah." He'd worry too if the any of the others suddenly started cutting themselves off from the rest of them.

"Right!" Tao said, leaping to his feet. "We've got that instance to go beat right now! We need to get that last piece of armour."

M-21 breathed a laugh as Takeo groaned. It didn't stop either of them from getting to their feet though, and they made their way back to the balcony.

"We've been trying for a week now."

"Which just means today's our lucky day."

"You said that on the third day," M-21 muttered but they kept going, towards the computer room.

Heh. Looks like it's WoW this time, since I don't think Second Life has instances/dungeons. Not the same kind anyway.