Free and Unfettered 141 Something Wrong

Even the citizens had noticed. For Nine, that was completely concerning behaviour. Nine, who was practically the personification of subtle and overt, had completely went off the grid in her behaviour.

Nocturne was looking for a way to get rid of the core in a non-suspicious manner, but he was having little luck so far. It was soon reaching the point where he would try and destroy the core even in front of Nine, but he really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Call him crazy, but he was sure that the core was mocking him whenever he drew near, as if it was smug that it was being carried instead of him. He didn't need to be carried! The more he thought about it, the more he felt like he was boiling with rage and jealousy.

He even got along with Misha now. Misha, of all people! Grudgingly, but they still got along.

The thing that rankled him the most was that Nine paid less and less attention to him. It was like her entire focus was sucked onto that bloody rock, leaving nothing but scraps for him.

Obviously, there was something very wrong, and the cause of it was the Undead Titan's core. He just knew that nothing good came out of it. The core was steadily growing stronger by the day, and Nine just constantly fed it her magic.

Even now, he was searching for Nine because she went missing. Finally, he spotted Nine's silhouette on the edge of the outer wall, causing him to heave a sigh of relief.

Nocturne jumped to the top, and Nine flashed him a smile before her attention focused back on the core.

Nocturne's face darkened as he glowered at the core. He swore the glow of the core brightened a little at his glare, which only caused him to glower harder.

Resisting the urge to sigh, he moved a little to exchange words with the guards stationed nearby.

"Has the Crown Prince been doing unusual things?" he questioned, deeply worried.

The two guards exchanged looks. "His Highness has been talking to the rock all day, Your Highness," they said politely.

Even the guards were worried about Nine, for goodness' sake. Cosmos City's guards were well-known for being tight lipped and uptight in their duties, and they hardly ever responded. Today, Nocturne received an answer for the first time.

"How long has Nine been talking to the core? How many days?"

"It started a week ago, Your Highness," the guard promptly replied.

Nocturne sucked in a breath. He had only noticed that Nine talked to the core two days ago. That meant that in the five days where the talked to the rock, it wasn't around him. Dare he even say that she didn't want him to know she was talking to it?

Ah, he felt like he was going insane from worry. He finally decided he was going to snatch that core from Nine and destroy it tonight when they slept. But first, he was going to bring up his worries to Nine and see how she responded.

"Thank you," he said, nodding to the guards.

They exchanged looks again. The other guard which hadn't spoken earlier spoke up this time.

"Your Highness, a lot of people are worried about His Highness the Crown Prince. This subject doesn't want to speak badly, but His Highness is exhibiting some worrying behaviours of being influenced by something from the rock."

Nocturne nodded heavily. "I will take care of it," he said.

The two guards looked visibly relieved as they saluted him, going back to their usual blank faces and retaking their positions.

Nocturne gripped his fist. This had to stop now.

By the time they returned back to their residence, the glow of the core had faded somewhat, in 'sleep' mode, as he dubbed it. The core seemed to go into that mode once daylight hit, and came alive more at night, just like the undead. Another worrying trait.

Nocturne gently placed a hand on Nine's, not removing it. Nine's eyes, which had been locked on the sleeping core in a somewhat loving manner that looked reminiscent to how he saw Deltan stare at Raphael, finally broke and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" Nine questioned, her gaze slightly dazed.

If that wasn't another sign that something was wrong, then he didn't know whether you were blind or just delusional.

"Nine, let's talk," Nocturne said seriously.

He looked so uncharacteristically serious that Nine snapped out of her daze somewhat. She furrowed her brows, before it smoothened back out, whatever magic the core was working over her taking over once again.

"Talk about what?" she said in a voice that wasn't all there.

"Let's put down the core first then talk about it in another room, okay?"

Nine's gaze trembled as she seemed to visibly fight off something. It only led him to believe that there really was some sort of magic that was working its way under Nine's skin. Just what kind of magic was so strong that it could affect Nine of all people? In fact, why was it only Nine and no one else?

Nine hesitated briefly, almost looking down at the core. Instinctively, Nocturne knew that he couldn't allow her to do that no matter what. With barely 0.5 seconds, he instantly started up the waterworks. He couldn't help but applaud his own acting skills. They were clearly deplorable, but they worked where he needed them the most, so he wasn't complaining.

"Nine," Nocturne said pleadingly, causing Nine's head to snap up as she panicked.

Ooh, what did she do? Why was Nocturne crying? She was not equipped to deal with crying people, especially not her wife. She was fine with making people cry, but not when it *really* mattered.

When Nine's slightly panicky eyes locked onto his own watery ones, Nocturne knew that he won. He inwardly pumped a fist when Nine all but dropped the core in her panic, following him out of the room when he 'fled' in tears.

The moment Nine was inside the room he fled to, he slammed close the door and backed Nine up on it. In the commotion, his fake tears had become real tears, and Nine was visibly panicking now.

Somehow, the thought that Nine had all but ignored him for the past two weeks made him ache in ways he didn't know he could ache. Apparently, he had been compartmentalizing his negative feelings, but they all erupted at the same time now.

He went for a kiss, realizing that they hadn't had any intimate contact for two weeks now, and the realization just made him ache harder.

Nine's heart ached something fierce when she realized that Nocturne's tears were vey real, and when she tried to recall what could have possibly caused them, she drew a blank. She suddenly had the startling realization that her memories for the past two weeks were foggy and vague.

Nocturne pressed insistently against Nine, and she slowly melted as she held Nocturne to her. The longer they kissed, the more her mind sharpened as she focused on the love of her life.

Then, she tried to think about what made her this way, and she eventually focused on the core, causing her to grow startlingly hazy again. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like something was wrong.

Nine eventually tried to pull away, but Nocturne only gripped her tighter, as if sensing that her mind wasn't all focused on him.

Then, Nocturne licked into her mouth, and Nine suddenly shorted out. Whatever thoughts she had instantly focused on a single point. Nocturne.

Chapter end