Letting Go, Moving On

Nocturne was working in the workshop, tinkering here and there with various ideas he had when he noticed Nine come into the room. Brightening up, before he knew it, he was already standing before his husband.

"Nine!"

"Mm," Nine murmured, dropping a kiss on his cheek.

Nocturne flushed. He still wasn't quite used to the unabashed affection that Nine showered him with whether or not they were in public. While their workshop could not really be considered public, there was still the option of anyone walking in at any time. In fact, Nocturne knew that this was mainly because of the culture he had whilst he was free from the Red Spider Lily mark.

Before the Vampire Princess Alixia Lacroix had abducted him and rudely shoved him into eternal sleep, he was the Crown Prince of Ashtria. He had been expected to take over the throne within one to two years, where his father would hand over the throne to him.

Nocturne had been living in an era where touching between males and females were prohibited, or rather, seen as uncouth. It was part of the reason why he still flushed red whenever they touched in public.

Coming out of eternal sleep had been somewhat of a culture shock. At first, he thought that it was just because they were in a different empire, but when they had toured the Night Tide continent, Nocturne came to the startling realization that it was because of all the time that had passed whilst he was still locked within the curse.

It would be a lie if Nocturne said he wasn't bitter about all the time that had been stolen from him. Though he would not miss being in line to the throne, as he had never wanted it in the first place, it ached that he would never be able to see his parents again, nor anyone he knew.

Everyone he knew was dead and gone.

He was softly drawn into a hug by Nine, and a sense of sourness spread in his heart, along with sweetness. Really… Nine might no longer be able to directly read his emotions through magic, but she could still read him so well.

Time seemed to slip away when the two of them were together, and this time was no different from the rest.

Though he might no longer have the people from before the Vampire got her hand on him, he was grateful that this allowed him to meet Nine. Nocturne struggled to think about what might have become of him had he never been in Alixia's grasp before eventually putting the thought away.

Regardless, he now had Nine, as well as a few other friends in Seyton, Deltan and Shade.

Nine used her index finger and tilted Nocturne's chin up, forcing him to look at her. She smiled at him, but inwardly felt her heart ache a little at the sadness that seemed to radiate from him.

"Want to tell me about it?" Nine asked.

Nocturne hesitated briefly before spilling everything. Even the little thoughts and emotions that he deemed inconsequential spilled out from his lips under Nine's coaxing. No, that wasn't right. Nine never said a single word but looking at Nine's patient expression as she listened caused him to feel like he wanted to tell her everything.

So many emotions and problems that he had been bottling up since Alixia had kept him captive were revealed under Nine's soft gaze. From the start to the end, she never said anything, only allowing him to vent.

He hadn't noticed that a problem had started since could no longer control his body up until the present day. He had not noticed how the chains and shackles of the past had still been binding him, as if he was still the Vampire Princess' captive.

The moment the last word left his lips, he instantly felt like his body was lighter. It almost left him light-headed, with how free he now felt. Almost as if a weight had been lifted off him, leaving him feeling more confident in himself in a long, long while.

"Thank you, Nine," Nocturne murmured, gently kissing her.

Nine's eyes softened, feeling everything that her wife was conveying through this one kiss alone. She had seen the burdens that he had been carrying for a long time, but had no chance to relieve him of it, mainly because it hadn't felt like he was ready yet.

Today had probably been a nostalgic day for Nocturne, with the way he acted whilst he was tinkering with his projects. He hadn't written anything down, nor had he mumbled out loud, moving around in a flurry of motion. Instead, he had been rather withdrawn, almost looking lost, as he worked.

She was glad, because her Nox now looked like he was much happier.

Even if she would never push, she wished that he would confide in her just like she did in him. That it was reciprocated made her feel just as she imagined he was feeling. Light and fluffy.

"Should we go take care of that Alixia Lacroix?" Nine asked, her voice heavy. The thought that another woman had put her hands all over Nocturne without her consent gave her heavily negative feelings.

She knew that she was jealous, but the thought of another person doing whatever they wanted with Nocturne whilst he was indisposed and unable to consent made her feel like that Vampire should never have existed in the first place. She would be more than happy to help along the Vampire Princess into the afterlife should her Nox want it.

Nocturne pulled away from Nine slightly, looking at her with his eyes minutely widened. His vulnerable expression slowly melted into a smirk.

"Now that you mention it, why haven't we gone back to take care of her, anyway?"

Nine smirked back at him. "Since you never brought it up, I always assumed that you were still held misgivings about it, so I was leaving it to you to bring it up. We were all waiting for you to mention it when we were travelling the Night Tide continent, but you never said a word. I would have been more than happy to go back and smite her any time you wished for it. "

Nocturne looked startled. "Wait, what? Was that why we travelled so much longer when Deltan and I already had decent control over ourselves?"

Nine's smile took on a rather crooked edge. She flicked the tip of his nose. "Yes, silly. Since we didn't want to dredge up bad memories for you, we left it for you to decide when you wanted to take care of her."

Nocturne looked like someone had smacked him in the face with a fish, but Nine secretly thought that he looked adorable with his wide purple eyes.

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'. So, do you want to go back and kill her?"

"Mmh," Nocturne said. "When we're done with 'Darkness Uprising'. Besides, there are probably still those under the eternal sleep in her grasp, and it makes me feel disgusted when I think about how she has free reign over them."

"Okay," Nine said gently. "Anything my wife wants."

Nocturne flushed at the endearment that was usually used teasingly when the two of them were alone. He scowled at Nine with flush cheeks, not knowing that he was just adding to Nine's desire to tease.

Nocturne pulled Nine's hands, sitting them on the couch that was left in the workshop for whoever wanted to faint on it whilst working. He pulled Nine into his grasp, hugging her from the back, only to frustratingly remember that Nine was taller than him. He made a vague sound of annoyance.

"Pfft," Nine couldn't help but laugh, wounding his ego even more.

Nine got up and sat across Nocturne's lap, leaning down and stealing a kiss. She licked her lips devilishly, smirking down at her dumbfounded wife.

"Does my darling wife want this husband so badly?" she whispered into Nocturne's ear.

The flush spread down his neck in a split second, delighting Nine. She trailed her fingers down his neck, following it down into Nocturne's shirt.

Nocturne let out a small choked sound. "Nine!"

Nine abruptly pushed him down, biting her bottom lip. She trailed a hand under her own shirt, giving Nocturne a glance at Nine's stomach and abs.

Nocturne swallowed.