Dr.Junkenstein X Maid!Reader
Part Six:
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The small pressure of what should've been the unnoticeable or ignorable weight of a mouse running across your stomach caused a jolt of reaction from yourself. You sat up in bed annoyed and tired. From what your adjusting vision could see, you made out the white ball of fur skittering across the room and under the beds with the help of the moonlight.
On the bed, the moon highlighted the sick woman in a distance and you sighed. Maybe it was because of the burden of caring for her or the placement of your name in that book that prevented you from sleeping but you couldn't help but feel sick yourself. You tried to lay back down on your firm bed. The flat pillows added to the stone feel as they gave you no comfort to your neck. The blankets themselves didn't prevent any cold either. An overwhelming sense of irritability grew in you as you lifted yourself out of bed, replaced by the heightened awareness of being watched. You froze at the side of your bed, facing the door and all the other sleeping women. Aside from the cold, your skin shook with an electric feeling and you could feel all of your hair go on end. Your gown stuck to your frame in sweat and your breath caught itself in your lungs.
Someone was watching you.
Your heartbeat increased and your stomach turned as you turned back to the wall on the opposite side of your bed. With your eyes still adjusting to the dark you could see the faint outline of a shadowed figure where the moon could not reach. Someone seemed to be standing there. You squinted your eyes and blinked numerous times but it was as if spider webs laced themselves between your lashes to prevent you from seeing and kept them shut. The figure hazed and retreated further back into the corner of your room, melting its already dark silhouette in the pitch black of the space. A Soft sound seemed to flood into your ears again with the disappearance of the mysterious guest and for once you were relieved to hear a hearty cough from that sick old lady.
It's too late to fall back asleep you thought now, wide awake and adjusted to the dark. The cold had chilled your bones to the point where they shook under your skin and you could feel your teeth chatter for brief moments at a time. With your hair still on end, you rubbed your eyes and walked out of the maid quarters and down the hall towards the kitchen.
Unlike the greys of the day sky the castle, through the open walls and gardens, was flooded with blue light. Against your bare feet, you could feel the cold and smooth cobblestone, feeling a few imperfections if you cared to pay attention to it. In a daze, you thought about the book.
A simple accidental explanation seemed unreasonable. Deep down you felt as if it was intentional. Things for some time have gone unchecked, punished, or realized. Pushed back and forgotten so you could continue as another maid who had come and gone through the century. But recently it was as if you had woken up from a still sleep into a wave of anger that had begun to fester inside of you over time. You acted for more of a notice, not necessarily by others but by yourself. A definition or demonstration of existence, proof you were and are here. The lack of the book recognizing this destroyed that desired and set you back into the shadows of all the others who wished to keep you there.
A thought of hope and desire which lay dormant, turned into a rhythmic pattern of anger and pain, like the heartbeat now caught in your head, one beat more pronounced than the other.
Bump , bump , bump...
Your heart naturally beats until it delay a thump by the mere second joined the pattern.
Bump , bump , clank , bump , bump , clank...
You couldn't see it but what had woken up that desire was walking down the hall adjacent to the kitchen, giggling and chattering to himself with his mix-matched steps. Like you, he too was absorbed in his clouded mind to realize you have turned the corner in front of him until his eyes caught your frame through the dark light in the split second before you both walked into each other.
"What's sard' bones are you roaming around for?" Junkenstein hissed.
"I- excuse me, who-"
"Blimey, you're a dumb wit,"
You rushed to figure out your surroundings, heading pumping in pain, confusion, and astonishment, looking at the scientist highlighted by the night glow. The blue's of his glasses transparent at this distance to see his annoyed eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't necessarily paying attention-" you began.
"Clearly."
You glared at him, eyes quickly softening as you continued to speak.
"-and with my head screaming at me...it's been difficult to sleep." As the conversation started you both looked each other down, you notice a familiar book in his human hand, pages marked, and his muddy steps following behind, and him, noticing the tire in your eyes and your worning gown cut a few inches short from your uniform. Luckily the night provided enough darkness to prevent you from seeing what you two had discovered. "Again, I'm terribly sorry."
Junkenstein broke his silence with a scoff, gently hitting your shoulder as he walked by and a page graced the floor. You bent down grabbing the yellow-dirted page, noticing a "C E M" through the fold. You also noticed that the page's edges were cindered off by fire. His peg leg stepped twice and you met his eyes again as the sheet was taken from your hands.
"By any chance, were you at the library?" You asked.
He squinted his eyes. "No. why would I, a genius," his voice quickened, "dwell in there if I have my own." He smirked and regrettably, it struck you.
"Must be seeing a ghost." Without any more of a reply he left, a subtle slam of his door left you in the hall alone. You laughed to yourself. Standing in the cold astonished at the blank look he had given but also the excitement his annoyed tone gave you. The book itself was from the library, there was no mistake in the leather cover aside from your missing name. But if he was there now and then, how did he disappear?
You looked back at the stairs behind you and back at the way you came. He had to have been there. Determined to find out another mystery you continued to the stairs, your right foot stepping in the mud trailed in by his peg leg. Quickly you ventured up, holding your breath and sweating in the nostalgic fear they gave. Halting at the top the sound of laughter and crying. Around the corner on both ends of the hall, no one stood and no one sounded to come. Stepping out of the staircase the laughter and crying rang out again but more hushed than before. Instead of turning to the library, you turned right in the guest wing of the castle. The doors on each side of you remained locked, the ones opened, empty as you peered in and closed the door. After a few more seconds of silence, the sounds appeared again, the laughter replaced with chatter before disappearing. You peaked into another empty room and closed the door. You came to the end of the hall and could still hear the crying and decided to turn back. A cold chill ran up your spine and you flinched, spinning back around and following the crying to the right once more, quickly meeting a wall. Strangely you felt as if a door should have stood there. You had a memory from years back of a door here. Closely leaning against the wall you pressed your ear against it and the crying rang out clearly.
"Y/N!" Amelie pulled you back with a firm grip on your arm, tightening it as you glanced back at her.
"What are you doing here?" She whispered.
"What- me? What are you?"
"I had an order from the king to prepare the guest rooms."
"That should have been done in the day."
"Yes, but I didn't manage to get to it now have I?" Amelie swung your arm towards the hall you came. "Return to bed. Now. Nobody should see you like this."
"You see, I had to grab something at the library for-"
"You are not permitted in those quarters."
"When in preparation-"
Amelie stepped up to your face firmly pushing you back. "No, as I'm ordering you, go, back, now."
"Is there any guests up here?"
"Guest? No of course not. I can't tolerate your stupidity right now-"
"I heard-"
"There's no one, here," she pushes you by your chest as you stepped back further down the stairs. "Leave."
You stared at her expressionless.
She pulled onto your hair and your lack to wince at the pain turned her away. "Don't let me catch you again."
With brows crossed in anger, you turned away yourself, ignoring the ghostly cries behind the wall and towards the library, maneuvering through the dark castle. You mumbled to yourself, cursing Amelie and yourself for not noticing she was out of bed. The further you got down the hall the warmer it got. In a distance, a blue glow and a light hum rung out. Getting closer to the source your eyes adjusted to the bright rippling body of the scientists' robots standing at both sides of the throne room. Admiring its height you inspected it by touching the metal and hovering over the heat its body radiated. It didn't acknowledge you or your touch. Like the first day you had seen one in the throne room, it amazed you just the same. An almost sentient life constructed by the power you couldn't understand, short circuits of lightning and plain armor metal. The only peculiarities it had to you was that it was standing here without the scientist present.
The wood doors with dark latches they stood by fumbled under the weight of someone approaching. For a moment you stared at them, running to the intersecting hall when you realized someone was coming your way. You hid with your back pressed against the wall and waited to peer out once the people had left.
Out stepped two tired travelers, an older woman with a patch covering an eye and a younger man with a hat and cloak that hid him in the dark, both bounty hunters.
As you heard the two leave the room you peaked around the corner catching a glimpse of their backs before they disappeared. As the door closed slowly you could see the king talking to a knight. What had them awake and seeing visitors at this time was beyond you. Outside and through the window you stood by, oddly left open, the moon was at its highest peak suggesting the very dawn of the night. Taking your chance now that the door to the throne room had closed you made your way to the library, peering back once again.
The library itself still remained lit with some odd candlelight for the hour, but there was enough darkness to hesitate your way through, avoiding the center tables and ends of shelves. You grazed your hand on the top shelves feeling each spine, reaching a tilted book covering an obvious gap. This was the spot you had grabbed the book listing each name of the kingdom, besides it a red book with no title. You grabbed the book and skimmed through the pages understanding it held nothing but teaching guides for knight interest.
This confirmed what you saw in the scientist's hand.
Further down the shelf another book ever so slightly tilted to fill another gap. The book covering its vast place this time held information about the land's soil and advisements about gardening.
But what book was supposed to stand here?
Curiously you looked around the whole shelves, the perfect alignment of each book making it obvious when things were misplacements. Turning round to the end of the row you scanned around for the path the scientists disappeared in. The candlelight only assisted you to its dying ability from the library doors as you ventured into the dark with what little you could see, and after wandering cautiously you felt a pocket of cold air and what could be a familiar hum at another wall. With a hand out front hovering over the brick, you reassured yourself of a strange flow of air coming from the wall. Placing your hand against the wall you traced the brick lining to where the corners met and fell into an invisible space. You drew your hand back and stared at the wall curiously. The humming stopped but as you brought your face closer to where your hand fell through you could hear the distant sound of dripping water falling into a bucket. Then a glass shattered and you pulled back. This was no wall but a found the passage.
Just barely fitting your body through, the library doors opened and you froze. Though you couldn't see Wynston had walked in and towards the shelf, you were looking at. He too was looking for the book of names and he crossed his brows at the missing sight. As you judged from his fleeting steps he had walked away and one by one the remaining candlelight went out. He left you in complete darkness.
Standing there, you contemplated whether or not to keep going down the passage or back into the maid quarters before the early morning routine began. It was dark and you didn't know where you'd end up if you followed the passage that winded down some steps. Against the ladder, you decided to continue on and slowly felt out each step with a foot before confidently stepping down. Not long do you approach a soft light and could see the final steps of the case. Hesitantly stepping into the light, you found yourself in between two rows of books and bottles. The room brightly lit from the candles on the walls and desk smelled of something distant and clean, not quite definable which you made sure to figure out later. The air itself was warm and for the first time, a room felt welcoming to you and you alone.
The books on the shelves matched the library, some differing by some gold decorations along the spine or covers. Even though most were browns they were rich in colour, used but cared for. The shelves on the bottle were much like the herbs in the kitchen, leaves and dried fruits in jars, flowers with their cut stems, and liquids of odd colours and written labels. The collection along this shelf was impressive as you picked various ones for closer examination. As the books had unique decorations a few you held had little skulls or clouds. One you held was wrapped in thin black paper and a lid held down by some string. Inside the jar, as you slowly unwrapped it, it held white powder and another drawing.
A small mouse with crossed-out eyes and a bigger mark over the image.
"Flour?" You spoke out loud, hearing a shift of movement as soon as the word slipped out. You placed the jar on the shelf and a jar next to it budged forward. In a split second, you instantly caught and placed it back. You looked at the jar again. The writing on the label sent your heart into a craze.
It was the same medicine jar you were given for the sick hag.
Walking to the end of the shelves you could see a desk littered with sheets, books, and strange instruments, an open space to the left where water dripped, and to your right, you saw the shut door all the children use to avoid. Beside it, was the bed where Jamison Junkenstein slept.
For a second it felt as if a spark of energy shocked you in an overwhelming sense of adrenaline with your ears ringing and your feet shaking. But your eyes remained wide and you shoulders scrunched back up to your face. You felt like you were breathing too much for your lungs to carry and stepped back into the desk. The wood made a sound. You froze in place, he didn't move. Sleep began to waver again when a blink made you realize how dazed you were. Everything around you which had felt high in unseen energy seemed to fizzle out in that same stillness when you came in.
There laid Jamison Junkenstein
This is where he went when you had chased him in the library.
He seemed to have sighed and your chest fell. He didn't move or turned back. Your hands left the desk behind you and you stepped forward. He still didn't move. On your left alongside the wall to his bed, some shelves hovered against the wall, and under it larger hand-drawn diagrams hung. Marked out in black ink, red, and blue, one diagram taking the center read as three maps stacked on top of one another. A bold line, a small detail in red had you recognize the wide angles as the library and what had to be the way into his room.
Beside the map were diagrams of his mechanical hand and leg with listed alternatives for parts.
Clever.
A list of measurements wrote out a pattern for his coat and another paper with the rough plans of the metallic beings that's hovered around the castle. Beside the last sheets is a ripped page with listed names. You frowned. Each name written down littered in notes was of each of the maids and Amelie's stood out in an aggressively drawn circle. What was curious was the bottom of the list reading
"there's one more missing"
Junkstein moved closer to the wall he faced, curling in a ball except for the stretch-out prosthetic leg. He laid in the sheet that barely reached the ends of his bed, and slept in his lab coat. His metal hand was still attached to his arm and his googles sprawled on the floor. With sleep beginning to threaten you, you stood above him, his brows still crossed despite the fact that he was asleep. You bent down and grabbed his goggles, admiring their blue and reflection they threw back at you. You glanced back at him one more time as he moved in discomfort and you felt the chill yourself. Placing his googles on one of the shelves you returned back to the desk to reassure him he still possessed the blue book. Under another map, drawn by another with thinner marks it laid between two assumed journals. The other scattered diagrams amazed you at their detail of the anatomy of human and non-human.
You fought with yourself to stay in his room and see some more of his work but retreated back to where you had came. The whole experience replayed in your head once again while you were in bed, smiling at the fact that someone had noticed that you were missing.
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