Free and Unfettered 112 Esteemed Messenger

She hesitated slightly on whether or not to wake him up but decided to do so anyway. He would be most upset with her should he be, in his own words, 'useless' whilst everyone else was toiling away. Though she thought that a single day did not matter should he decide to take the day off to recuperate, she did respect his will, and as long as he came back *properly* to rest, it would not be harmful to him.

Nine shook his shoulder gently, and her Nox stirred slightly, rubbing his eyes, sleepy. He instinctively reached for her hand, which she allowed, looking at him with fond eyes. She huffed and curled her index finger, pulling it away from his face, but he only moved forward and rubbed against her hand like a cat.

Nine looked down on his sleepy visage and felt the fondness within her bubble up. Nine leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on his cheek, causing him to crack open an eye and stare at her blearily. Then, a slow smile spread across his face, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds after a thunderstorm.

Nine expressionlessly reached down and picked him up before he could react, cradling him in her arms. She ignored the squeak she received from him, squeezing him tightly before setting him down on the bed.

Nocturne stared at Nine with a dazed look, feeling like his husband looked magnificent in the watery light of their room. Even though they had 'fought' the night previous, their interactions had remained unchanged, and Nocturne felt it was possible for a human to melt as much as this.

If anyone ever compared him now with his person ten years ago, they would not have ever imagined that these two people were one and the same.

By the time both of them were ready, thankfully, the sun had not yet set. As the undead happened upon them, everyone in the city had to adjust their schedule to effectively combat the unending swarms of undead that tried to wreak havoc on their city.

As they were about to part ways, Nine abruptly stopped, causing Nocturne to follow and halt his movements as well. He stared at Nine in puzzlement.

Nine turned to Nocturne and tilted his chin up, looking him dead in the eyes. "You're not allowed to flirt with any girls!" she said in the end.

Nocturne stared at his husband, stunned. "Ah?" he said unintentionally. "I thought you said you weren't mad about that?"

Nine's face darkened, causing him to hastily backtrack. "Okay, okay! I wasn't even flirting, you know?"

Nine pinched his cheek. "Hmph. Since you wanted to bring it to my attention, then you must have thought that she was flirting with you too! The more I think about it, the more annoyed I feel. Letting other people's grubby hands touch what's mine. Unacceptable!"

Nocturne didn't even fight the swell of affection that filled his chest. Placatingly, he peppered kisses on Nine's face, only letting up when he noticed that Nine's dark expression had lightened up somewhat.

He let out a soft laugh, squeezing Nine's hands. "Fine. This wife won't let anyone lay their hands on him, okay?"

Nine huffed, biting his cheek, causing Nocturne to flinch slightly at the unexpected pain.

When she let go, there was a clear bite mark on his right cheek. She brushed her thumb over the warm cheek, pressing a light kiss on the mark. Then, she smirked and left. "You better remember your words, dear *wife*," she teased.

In his stunned state, Nocturne raised a hand to touch the mark that Nine left behind as colour flooded his cheeks. Ah, how was he going to face everyone with this mark in full view! Ah, so embarrassing!

Nine's inexplicable jealousy only after she ensured that he got enough sleep Nocturne feel like burying his face in his hands. She said that she hadn't even noticed the other medic, so that must mean that she had thought about it hard enough that jealousy had developed some time when he was still deep asleep. Ah, why was his husband so cute!?!? Nngh. Luckily, he was the only one to see that side of Nine. Otherwise, who knew the countless times more people he had to beat off his husband with a stick. It was already hard enough now without Nine's additional cute side!

Getting himself under control, Nocturne lovingly rubbed the mark Nine left behind on him as he made no moves to heal it up. The faint aches every time he smiled made him feel inexplicably happy.

°•°•°•🐢. . . .

Wale Two found Nine in the middle of the night. Waiting until Nine finished throwing a bout of large-scale magic at the writhing mass below them, he adjusted his glasses and stared at Nine's impeccable use of magic.

Every move was carried out to perfection, without any waste of movement nor magic. The sight made him sigh with appreciation. His methodical mind had always appreciated things like this. It was why he was so hard on himself, repetitively going over the same motions over and over. Clearly, their Master had reached the peak where every one of his movements could cause mass destruction should he wish it.

"Report," Nine said shortly, studying her subordinate.

Wale was dressed impeccably. Though he had been tasked to go out to Nocturne's old empire to find out information, he looked like a young nobleman who whiled away his time rather than someone who had fought and come back from the endless horde of undead. Silently, Nine thought that he looked like a successful businessman back on Earth with the way he conducted himself.

"Ashtria Empire is experiencing the same thing as us. Their roads are littered with dead bodies, and people are struggling. They were clearly unprepared for this attack upon their empire, unlike us. I brought back a messenger from the Ashtria Empire that the Emperor insisted I take with me."

The words Wale said were spoken with a coldness that suffused his words, which was rather in line with his personality. Cold and methodical, he would not make decisions that were caused by emotion, only acting on logic.

Nine could feel the displeasure radiating from him at those words. Clearly, he had not wanted to drag along the deadweight that the cowering Ashtria Emperor had forced upon him, causing him to delay his return.

"Where?" Nine said simply.

"I've put her in room in the city since her looked like she was about to die from the little scratch she got from some of the undead."

Nine raised a brow. "The messenger was hurt whilst under your watch?"

"Indeed," Wale said coldly. "She clearly did not like the idea of listening to someone who is younger than her, even though I had shown superior judgement in the process of returning. Since she was so adamant on going by her own rules, I followed after."

Nine smirked, which was echoed by Wale. "In other words, she charged forward recklessly and was put in place by a few lowly undead, is it?"

"Indeed," Wale said, pushing up his glasses. They flashed in the darkness of the night.

The messenger could only blame her own arrogance for the wound she had received. Not to mention, the messenger was already lucky that Wale had somewhat helped out instead of leaving her for dead. Nine knew full well that those kinds of people, who reminded him so much of the twelve's former 'instructor' Todd, would not be met with any leniency on his side.

"Very well," Nine said. "Then, we shall have to disturb the Great Ashtria Empire's esteemed messenger. The message must have been extremely important. So much so that their messenger rushed headlong into danger when you suggested that the pace should be slowed."

Wale smirked, satisfaction filling him. Master was really the best!

Nine patted Wale's head, casually walking towards the city.

Behind them, the cries and grisly sounds of undead being slaughtered continued to fill the sky, accompanying them along the way.

Chapter end