The Noblesse and his Love

Chapter 26

Thoughts

*Rai-Lin*

I dropped to my knees, wiping the sweat off my brow. My hands were shaking slightly. I huffed. Stupid limits on powers.

Hands grabbed my arms carefully, helping me to my feet. They were unfamiliar hands, which meant one thing. Tao. I glanced at him. "Why are you helping me?" I asked.

He cocked his head. "Why wouldn't I? You saved me."

"I think you would have saved yourself."

"Not from Crans. He was too strong to begin with," He glanced at his former leader's body. "What did you do to him?"

"I ruined his mind until it could no longer tell his heart to beat," I grimaced. "It's not my preferred method of killing, but he was too strong for me to overpower."

Soft footsteps announced Raziel's arrival. "My love," I greeted.

Raziel checked me over. "Are you all right?"

"Nothing that won't heal by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Tao repeated. "There's no way that knife wound will be healed by tomorrow."

"It will, just you wait and see," I clasp my hands together to keep them from shaking. "Raziel, where are the kids?"

"Regis and M-21 are with them outside."

"Good. Come on, Tao." I gestured for him to follow me.

His face became a mask of surprise. "You want me to come?"

"Of course, you helped save the kids and me. If it wasn't for you pulling me off Crans, my guts would be on the floor right now. It wouldn't have been pleasant."

Tao scoffed. "So, you feel indebted to me."

I walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "No, I don't. I'm doing this because I see the good in you. Besides, I saved your life, too, so I'm not indebted to you anyway." His lips lifted, and we began walking.

As we walked, Raziel said, "Thank you, Tao, for helping my love."

Tao stiffened, obviously not used to being thanked. "I was doing what was right. I've done enough wrong."

Exiting the warehouse, we saw not only the kids, M, and Regis, but Frankie and Seira as well. I inclined my head to Seria. She stared impassively back. She wasn't happy then.

I sauntered over to Regis. "You did a good job of helping the kids. I don't even feel inclined to punch you anymore," I said. He glared at me. "For helping protect my family, I will help you." Before he could move, I placed a hand on his forehead and healed his wounds.

I went to walk away when Regis blurted out, "Are you a Noblesse?"

"No, I am not a noble. There is only one noble among my companions, and it is not me nor my brother." I glanced at Raziel, who was standing there, looking sad. "If you will excuse me, I must accompany Tao on retrieving his teammate."

Tao turned when he heard me approach "Are you coming with me?"

I shrugged. "I've already saved his life once. I might as well save it again." I jumped into the sky.

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I arrived at Takio's side faster than Tao. I crouched down next to him. "My brother really did a number on you, didn't he? What did you do to make him so mad?"

Takio's eyes were large. "I remember you."

"And I remember you. Shall I fix you up then?" I asked cheerfully.

"You aren't here to kill me?"

"Nope. In fact, Tao should be getting here right...about...now," I said as Tao burst onto the rooftop.

He rushed over to his friend's side. "Takio," Tao grabbed my arm. "You can heal him, right?"

I looked at my trembling hands. Healing three people with terrible injuries without having fought was tough even for me. Healing three people with terrible injuries with having fought was almost impossible. I caught sight of Tao's worried face. I'd have to do it.

Placing my hand on Takio's forehead, I let the power rush out of me into him. I felt as each one of his wounds closed. Frankie really did unleash his power. He must have broken his seal.

I sat back on my butt as the process was complete. Takio slowly pulled himself into a sitting position as Tao fussed over him. Watching them filled me with a happy feeling. These two were good all right. They were just in bad situations.

Wiping away a bit of the blood that ran out of my mouth from using so much power, I told Takio. "You never did answer my question. What did you do to piss Frankie off?"

Takio looked at the smeared blood on my chin before answering distractedly. "I told him I would kill him before going after the other guy, who I pointed my gun at," He paused. "Are you okay?"

I snorted. "That would definitely piss Frankie off. I swear the man is more protective of Raziel than I am."

Takio stood up and crossed his arms. "Now, you're not answering my question."

Sighing through my nose, I said, "Every power comes with a price. If I use too much at one time, my body starts to react violently. Between healing three of you, killing Crans, and fighting everyone else, my body is starting to shut down."

Tao began to panic. "Do we need to take you to the hospital? You're not going to die, are you? Oh, this is bad, very bad."

"Tao," I called. He looked down at me. "Shut up." I cracked a smile at his affronted expression.

A hand came into my vision. I followed it up to Takio. "Are you going to stay down there all day?"

"Hey, I can stay down here as long as I want," I quipped, but took his hand. My legs were shaking so bad I could barely stand. Without a word, Takio flung my arm over his shoulder. Tao came up on my other side and did the same. "Who knew you all were such softies?"

"Shut up," they chorused.

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Takio, Tao, and I arrived at the house under my instruction to find it in chaos. The children were fighting over the fact their memory had to be erased. Everything quieted as we entered the house, Tao and Takio still supporting me. I had tried to pull away before we entered, but the two had been adamant about helping me. They must have felt bad.

Frankie clucked his tongue at me. "You overdid it again, didn't you, Rai-Lin?"

"I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't beat Takio up so much," I shot back. Takio and Tao helped me to the couch where I sat next to Raziel.

"He was going to attack Master." Frankie stood protectively by Raziel's side.

"If he was going to attack Raziel, why did you let him live?"

"Because he asked me to save the children and because he had something he wanted to do." Frankie dipped his head towards Takio.

Takio stepped forward and stared at the children. "I am sorry this happened. If I hadn't gotten involved with you, Shark would have never gone after you."

"It's not your fault," Yuna said. "You were trying to be nice to us. You didn't know that your men would hunt us down."

"Yeah," Shinwu said. Takio's eyes shown with tears.

I glanced around the room, at the single moment where everyone knew everything that was going on, and no one had to hide or pretend. I knew that moment was nearly over. And I was right. "It is time," Regis said. "We need to erase your memory."

The kids started to protest again, but I held up a shaky hand. "Please," I whispered. "Don't make this harder than it already is." They all went quiet.

Raziel put a hand on my knee. "You should get some rest. You've used more power than you should have."

I locked eyes with Takio. "It was for a good reason."