Her Own Best Friend?

Even though they hadn't had one in over a year, the boys asked their mother for a bedtime story that evening. Noble suspected it was so they could ask more questions without their father getting onto them.

Noble didn't mind. The peppering of idle chatter kept her mind from more serious thoughts.

That was until Blaze hit her with a question she wasn't prepared for.

"Mom, what made you decide to conquer the Nightmare without telling us?"

Noble's mouth opened slightly. "I-I didn't choose to enter the Nightmare. You remember that Memory I had called the Portcullis Key? It sucked me into the Nightmare."

"Kind of like how Queen Bee fell into the gate?" Brock sat up from his pillow suddenly.

Noble blinked. "One and the same. In fact—"

"Wait, does that mean you went into the same Nightmare as Queen Bee?" Blaze also sat up in his bed with wide eyes.

"Yes because—"

"It all makes sense now!" Brock interrupted. "Autie Sarai is friends with you both. No wonder she went into the Nightmare to help."

"I can't believe our Mom knows Queen Bee!" Blaze stood up on his covers triumphantly. "Does that mean you fought together?"

"Queen Bee and I are—"

"I knew it, you are best friends now!" Brock bounced up and down enthusiastically.

Internally Noble wanted to plant her face in her palm.

Was it so hard to suspect that she might be the famous duelist?

It seemed so.

'The Fraudulent Facade did too good of a job. Now I'm my own best friend!'

"Don't worry, Mom. Your secret is safe with us." Brock nodded as he crossed his heart.

"About that…" Noble realized the boys were no longer listening. She sighed and lifted them both off of their beds before laying them down and covering them up using her Aspect. "If you both can keep that to yourselves for now and go to sleep, maybe I'll tell you more tomorrow."

"There's MORE?!" Both resisted the urge to sit up.

Their mother nodded, and the twins quickly snapped their eyes shut.

"Goodnight, Mom!"

"We will see you in the morning!"

Coming into the hall, Noble checked the time on her new communicator. It was much later than she thought. 

She peeked into Rain's room. The girl was sprawled out on her bed still in her clothes from the day with a datapad lying on her chest. From what Noble could see, the girl had been feverishly studying for her upcoming midterms when she had fallen asleep. The light next to the bed was still on. 

'Poor baby,' Noble floated silently into the room and switched off the light. Rain mumbled something and then rolled over, knocking the datapad from her bed. Instead of hitting the ground, the precious piece of equipment hovered until it landed gently on the nightstand. 

Blowing her daughter a kiss, Noble backed out of the room. 

Finding the living room empty of life, Noble continued to the master bedroom. The bed was already floating with a man tapping on his communicator wearing a quizzical expression. 

Fort set down the device and smiled brightly at his wife. "There you are! I was beginning to get worried. Is everything alright?" 

"Is there a reason you didn't tell the boys that I was Queen Bee?" Noble fought the urge to be captivated by his smile and asked the question at the forefront of her mind. 

"It wasn't my secret to tell," the man seemed confused by her words. 

The beautiful woman pursed her lips. "Fort..." 

Fort sighed and patted the spot beside him on the bed. Noble laid down him and nestled into his arms. 

"At first I wasn't sure what to tell them. You didn't come home when you said you would. And Rain was beside herself because you weren't answering her messages. So I did a search to see where your communicator was to calm her down. About the same moment, the Chancellor called." 

Fort took a deep breath. It was always unnerving when someone so powerful called directly, and even more unsettling when that call happened outside of working hours. 

"He said there had been an incident and told me to check the news. I couldn't believe my eyes, Bee. Someone wearing your armor went through a Gate! I left Rain in charge saying I was going looking for you. It all seemed so...impossible." 

"It felt impossible in the moment," Noble agreed. 

"I was barely out the door when Sarai called and offered to help. I told her that she needed to wait until we knew more. Deep down I hoped that I would get to the area and that you would have come back through to scold me about how crazy I was for approaching an open Gate."

"And you found Captain Styss instead." Noble's eyes stung with tears though she kept her voice even. She was glad she wasn't looking directly at her husband. 

"Styss looked so weary, but he wasn't willing to leave until he had spoken to someone high up in the government. Apparently, I was high enough to satisfy him. He gave me half of your Memory. I have never been so relieved to see an object in my entire life. Although I couldn't contact you, it meant you were alive!" Fort's voice cracked, and he squeezed the woman in his arms. 

"I am glad it gave you hope," Noble wasn't sure what else to say. What else could be said about such a moment?

"Knowing that you were alive presented a different problem. What would I tell the kids? If you were dead, I would have come clean about everything, but there was a chance you could come back any moment. So when I got home, I told them you were in the Dream Realm and would hopefully be back soon."

"So that is why they didn't know I was Queen Bee." Noble understood. Her disappearance had been masked. "You didn't even tell Rain?" 

Fort hung his head. "I dodged all the questions I couldn't answer for a couple of days, but then I had to tell them what I believed to be true. That you had entered a Nightmare. Since then, I have been doing a miserable job of holding it all together. I told myself I would let them know everything if you weren't back by the solstice, but I know I should have.--"

His wife shushed him softly.

"There is no use dwelling on 'should haves'." Noble could drown herself in her own mistakes; she wasn't about to judge Fort for his. She nuzzled his neck with her head. "I am here now, and we are a team. We will get through this together." 

"I love you. I am so glad you are home." 

Fort pressed his thumb under Noble's chin and lifted it. The kiss he gave her was full of all the emotion she had been feeling emanate from his soul while he spoke: relief, fear, hope, longing, excitement, and most of all, love.

She kissed him more deeply, running her hand along his chest and snaking it up to his neck, but he pulled away.

"There will be time for that," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. "But I want it to be because you want me, not because you feel sorry for what happened." 

His smile was weak. He clearly wanted to give into the temptation that the woman before him presented. But just like she could sense his feelings, he could see her emotions in her eyes. 

Noble sighed. "What then? You want me to sleep?" 

Fort nodded slowly. "It seems like a good idea. You have your post-Nightmare interview in the morning, and some shut-eye will help you be ready for it." 

"So soon?" Noble shook her head. "No, of course they try to do them as quickly as possible. That works. It is better to get it over with." 

The professor shifted awkwardly and bit her lip. 

"There is only one problem. I don't have anywhere to sleep..." 

Her pod was for an Awakened body. She could go there, but it was unnecessary. Staying here on the comfy bed posed its own problems. Noble would float to the ceiling as soon as she lost consciousness. 

"I have the perfect place for you to sleep," Fort opened his arms wide. "I will stay up and hold you until morning. You may have somewhere to be in the morning, but I do not. Let me be your pillow and we can find a more permanent solution tomorrow." 

Noble hesitated, but the offer was too good to pass up. 

Wrapping her arms around his chest, the floating Awakened allowed her husband to do the same to her. 

Then slowly...slowly...she had her first real dream since she was a teen.