Phoenix Frankenstein

Please excuse the lack of eloquence and rushed narration, this is not a story, it is a story concept. In other words, I was typing at the speed of plot bunnies, to get the plot into words before the bunnies ran away. My tense switches at random and some scenes have more detail than others, but this isn't a draft, it's notes. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that, so you don't expect this to be as detailed or coherent as my actual stories. Nonetheless, you can understand the characters and plot if you read this.

The creature had been hunting Victor Frankenstein for a long time on and off. During this time period, Victor met a woman with whom he had a child. However, he was paranoid about staying in one place, being easily tracked and having people that could be used as hostages against him, so he ended up leaving them to continue moving from place to place. Upon his goodbye, he told his young son (let's call him Frank Frankenstein for now) that he left them because a terrible monster was hunting him and would start hunting his family as well if he found out they existed.

Later, Frank's mother became ill and eventually died. Frank had become obsessed with medicine and biology at the time, in an effort to find a cure for her, but he was unable to find it in time. Frank decided to travel to continue studying medicine in hopes of saving people, so that no one would lose a loved one like he lost his mother. He also blamed the creature in part because he believed that his mom would have been happy and comfortable if his father had been there, but he had no choice but to leave because of the creature.

Frank heard rumors of a madman living in the outskirts of a town he was visiting who kept saying something about a monster. He went to investigate and found his own father, much older and driven insane. Frank nonetheless recognized Victor and tried to reason with him. In his madness, Victor revealed the secret to the creature's creation and claimed that only another creature could defeat it. He warned his son that he had to earn his creature's trust so that it would fight for him and he could easily kill it later. He also gave Frank a sealed journal, which he was to read only after the mission was complete. "Promise me you'll avenge me, and you won't open this journal until your creature kills mine and you kill your creature..." Then Victor committed suicide. Caught off guard, Frank was unable to save his father and was deeply disturbed by these events.

Frank then went on to create his own creature. His father's creature was big and strong, so Frank strategized to make his creature just as strong, but smaller and more agile. He improved upon his father's formula and made a creature that he called Phoenix (born from dead tissue, etc.) he also used his own blood as an ingredient to give the creature move vitality and energy. The creature was only as big as a child, but as strong as his father's creature. His speed and agility made him a lethal, almost impossible to hit target.

Frank set out with Phoenix to hunt down the creature. They had a few adventures looking for him and during that time Frank noticed that Phoenix was growing up both physically and mentally, though it happened at a slow pace, similar to a human. He theorized that Phoenix was more human-like because he had a human's blood, but reminded himself that he was still an artificial creature created as a weapon. Frank saw Phoenix as his weapon and property, but showed him some measure of kindness spontaneously before reminding himself that he shouldn't bother. Frank thought he had created a creature lacking free will who had no choice but to follow his orders, so the trickery that his father suggested wouldn't be needed. Phoenix remained unaware that he was being used and thought Frank truly cared for him. Eventually Frank began to get accustomed to being around Phoenix and began disguising him so they could walk through the towns freely.

It was winter and the cold was the perfect excuse for Phoenix to wear a scarf that covered the lower half of his face, hiding his long fangs that stuck out of the corners of his mouth. Gloves and boots could hide his claws. Frank got Phoenix a wig, as children don't normally have pure white hair and for some reason, dye won't stick to his hair. He also gave Phoenix glasses with colored lenses so that people couldn't see that his eyes were different colors (because contact lenses didn't exist yet).

Having arrived in a new larger town, Frank and Phoenix went their separate ways to collect clues, with Frank trusting Phoenix for the first time to go on his own. Since Phoenix was disguised as a child, the neighborhood kids were not suspicious of him and had no problem playing with him. In the evening Frank, who had been posing as a traveling doctor (which he actually was at this point, but it's just a cover for revenge) went to find Phoenix and was surprised to find him playing with the other kids. He decided that it was good cover and sat at a bench, casually chatting with the kids' parents to get more clues about the rumors of a monster.

Frank learns that there is a monster that comes to town at night and is responsible for many terrible murders. He believes this is the creature and is determined to kill him. As the sun starts to set, the families hurry home to hide from the monster and Frank calls out to Phoenix that it's time to go. Phoenix goes to him and apologizes for being late, then tells him he heard some stories from the kids about a monster that even the grownups were afraid of. Phoenix knows that they're hunting a monster and that he was created to "be a hero and defeat the evil monster" but he doesn't know where the creature came from.

Frank and Phoenix go around town at night to find the creature and run into him. Frank sends Phoenix on the attack and they have quite a fight, with Frank revealing that this is revenge in the name of his father (though he doesn't mention his father made the creature). When the creature realizes that Phoenix is not human, this alarms him and he retreats. Frank and Phoenix give chase, but the creature escapes. The next morning, the news goes around town that the bodies of two night guards were found dead and the town is in a panic because now that no one dares to go out at night, even the police are getting killed. They fear that it won't be long before the monster starts breaking into their houses and no one will be able to stop it.

Frank offers to do an official autopsy and help prepare the bodies, which the town officials are grateful for, since the locals are quite tired and disturbed having to do that so many times lately. In truth, he wanted to examine the bodies in hopes of gaining more clues about the creature's fighting style. He finds cuts that are too precise and knows they were made by a blade, though the creature didn't seem to be carrying any weapons. This was unexpected, as he had theorized that the victims were killed by mostly blunt trauma from being hit by the creature.

Frank and Phoenix go out the next night to try to find the creature, but they instead run into a man committing murder with bladed weapons. Realizing that this is the real serial killer who had been using the creature as an excuse, Frank sends Phoenix to fight him. Phoenix manages to defeat (not kill) the man, but is injured in battle. Since Frank had been telling Phoenix that he is an invincible hero created to defeat an evil monster, Phoenix insists that he's fine and is afraid of disappointing Frank by admitting he was injured (it was dark, so Frank didn't see it).

However, the man turns out to be well respected in town and no one believes that he is the killer. He reveals that Phoenix is not human and the townspeople force him out of his disguise. The man says that if Frank has that small monster by his side, then he must be responsible for the bigger one as well. Frank and Phoenix narrowly escape from town with the help of a smoke bomb Frank made as a distraction.

They run away to a forest outside of town where they run into the creature again. Frank sends Phoenix to fight, as the creature may not be the serial killer from town, but it is still a monster. This time Phoenix is at a disadvantage because of his injuries and his speed isn't enough to make up for it. The creature notices that Phoenix is hurt and that he is still fighting under the orders of Franks despite it all. Angry and frustrated, the creature knocks Phoenix down and said something about "understanding his misery and putting him out of it"

Surprisingly, Frank suddenly attacks the creature with an acid concoction. He tells Phoenix to run away, but Phoenix refuses to leave him, as the creature is quickly recovering from the attack. Frank insists and orders Phoenix to save himself, but Phoenix still refuses to "abandon his father." Frank realizes that Phoenix had the free will to defy him all along, but simply chose not to, instead working to try to earn what little kindness Frank sometimes gave when he "forgot" what Phoenix was and how he was made.

The creature was confused by Phoenix insistence in protecting Frank and more so by the fact that Frank (who surprised even himself) was willing to risk his life for Phoenix. He thought that maybe these two were different from him and Victor and that Frank was probably tricked by Victor into seeking vengeance. The creature decided to tell his side of the story in his own way by retreating and leading them to his home  in the forest.

Frank retreats with Phoenix, finding shelter in an abandoned cabin in the forest which they realize actually belongs to the creature, who is quietly listening from outside. Frank heals Phoenix, who apologizes for his weakness, but Frank tells him that it's not Phoenix's fault and that Frank should have noticed his injuries. He asks Phoenix if he feels pain, to which Phoenix apologizes, as Frank had designed him not to feel any pain and Phoenix didn't want to admit he did, so as to not disappoint him. Frank apologizes for not being kinder to him and tells Phoenix he doesn't have to fight anymore, but Phoenix asks who will protect people from the "monsters" (he is referring to the creature, the killer and the criminals they apprehended during their adventures). Franks tells him that they'll protect people together and to get some rest.

Frank finds and reads the creature's journal. (It's been a while, the creature's had time to take up writing.) While Phoenix is asleep, Frank reads and finds that the creature actually stopped chasing Victor years ago, which was why he was even able to stay in a single place long enough to form a relationship with his mother. Though Victor was safe at that point, his guilty conscience and paranoia made him believe that the creature was still after him. Frank then decides to read Victor's sealed journal. He would be breaking the promise he made to his father before his death, but he realized that promise would be broken anyway, because he had no intentions of killing Phoenix as he said he would. After reading Victor's journal Frank understood the necessity of making him promise not to read it until after the mission was done. The journal revealed that the creature wasn't truly evil, though Victor wrote himself as the victim, Frank could see his mistakes, and he wondered if in the end, his father saw those mistakes too and knew they would be discovered in this journal.

Frank hears a commotion outside which wakes Phoenix. Frank tells Phoenix to stay inside and goes to see what's happening. The killer from town has gone out to hunt for him in revenge. Frank runs from the cabin to lead the killer away from Phoenix, but Phoenix chases after them. Frank throws acid bombs at the killer, which badly burn him, but blinded by angered the killer keeps attacking. The killer preferred to slice up his victims so Franks was surprised when he revealed he had a gun. Phoenix rushed to attack before the killer could shoot Frank, Frank rushed towards the killer so that he won't switch his target to Phoenix and suddenly the creature jumped out of the thick flora with a loud growl. The killer turns towards the creature and shoot, but the creature appeared so suddenly that he had time to get close enough to extend his arms and crush the killer's skull between his fists.

The killer's brains go splat all over the ground and he (obviously) dies. Injured, the creature falls unconscious. Later, the creature wakes up and finds Phoenix (who has been filled in on the fact that the creature wasn't bad) and Frank, who had tended to his injuries. The creature asks Frank why he would save his life. Franks says it's the least he could do and explains that he now knows the truth. He invites the creature to go with him and Phoenix, though the creature refuses, as he has become used to living alone in the forest, plus he won't be welcome in any town, but he would appreciate it if they could bring him some books. Phoenix and Frank agree to come visit and bring him books.

Frank and Phoenix continue their journey after Phoenix is fully healed (which doesn't take long really). Phoenix asks where they're going and Frank says that they'll find a place where they can live in peace and protect it, "then maybe brother will agree to come live with us."