The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

Master Yosh.

The name sent every manner of feeling through Noble, but she worked to keep her face neutral.

"What do you mean?"

Venster shrugged. "I am sure you have access to the communication also since you are a government liaison. A warning was issued about a new nightmare creature in the Waking World. They are calling it a Skinwalker."

The professor tried to look suitably surprised.

"You mentioned something about Master Yosh?"

"Ah, yes. It seems he was the first one taken. Saint Jet hunted him down, or what was left of him. She found him just two days ago. It's all anyone can talk about around here."

The elevator dinged on one of the lower floors and Venstet tipped his invisible hat.

"This is my stop, but you can check it out for yourself. It was good to see you, Noble."

"Good to see you too. We will have to catch up more very soon." Noble bid her friend goodbye as the doors shut.

Fishing out her communicator, Noble used her access through the Academy to look up the message in question.

It only took a moment to find.

As Noble glided across the Government compound toward the exit, she read what the message had to say.

…which wasn't much.

As she suspected, much of the document was redacted—or so she assumed by the choppy nature of what was still there. What was left behind was a brief on a new Nightmare Creature called a Skinwalker.

Noble knew that Jet had been tracking the lost Master, but it seemed he had gone to the far east of Australia instead of the west as he originally indicated.

Yosh had been residing for months in one of the minor human settlements on the Australian coast when Jet tracked him down.

Even without being directly mentioned in the text, Noble knew how catastrophic that meeting would have been. She wondered how much of the port and city was ruined by that kind of brawl.

All that was said was that the threat had been neutralized. Forever? Or just for now.

Noble knew by the final words that it was the latter.

"If anyone around you seems to be behaving abnormally, please submit a report immediately. This is an ongoing investigation."

Noble mumbled the words as she spoke. She remembered the woman that she had sensed the day that Fort had decided they were moving to the Dream Realm.

The professor had reported her to Saint Cor when they spoke, but her description had been vague at best. Had they caught her?

Doing a quick sweep, Noble didn't find any Skinwalkers within the government compound at that particular moment. She extended her reach as far as it would go. It was overwhelming to have so many emotions assaulting her consciousness, but Noble needed to know.

Lives depended on it.

Her essence drained until she was sure the area was clear, then retracted her sense to its more natural radius.

'Will they make a more general announcement to the public?'

Noble doubted it, at least for now. Until they found a good way to stop the spread, there wasn't much that could be done that wouldn't cause mass panic. Think of the number of reports then!

There would be enough of that inside the government as it was. Trying to field requests from millions of additional people would be impossible.

'The reporters will catch wind of this if they haven't already. At least Ravenheart has set up a system to make sure none of them enter through the gates.'

Even with that bit of comfort, Noble suddenly felt a strong urge to go home and check on her loved ones.

The temptation to pull on her tether was a strong one, but she needed to finish her work day first.

Thankfully there wasn't much left of the day, and so she rushed through it as reasonably as she could.

Something deep in her was stirred and she couldn't shake it. Something just felt off.

Although the feeling came around the same time as the Skinwalker, Noble could quite write the emotion off as being related.

And that worried her more than if it were just her regular paranoia. Even when she arrived at the Academy, her mind was split between her work and her worry.

Finally, the professor could not stand her sense of foreboding any longer.

"Bee Two, I'm heading home," she informed her assistant as she finished filing a page. "I will see you again on Friday."

She pulled on her tether, missing whatever sarcastic retort the android might have made.

As soon as the Jade Palace materialized before her eyes, Noble left the gateway behind and rushed to the bridge.

Searching her Soul Sea, Noble could feel her attribute was in a strange state. It pulled her as it had in the battle for Crestfall, but the tug was so tenuous that it was more of an ache in her gut than a clear direction.

Home. She needed to get home. Whatever was happening could be narrowed down as soon as Noble made it to her house.

Coming into the lovely cottage after tearing across the bridge, Noble found her sons and husband in the living area.

The two boys were playing some sort of board game while Fort hadn't even put down the satchel on his shoulders after returning from his duties.

"Mom! You're back!" The boys looked up from their game long enough to greet their mother.

Fort looked at her with mild surprise. "You are home early. Did something happen?"

His question was answered with a passionate kiss as Noble wrapped her arms around her husband's neck.

"We are right here!" Brock pretended to gag. "Gross."

Blaze picked up the dice and took his turn casually. "We should be glad they are kissing and still like each other. Weren't you the one who said you wanted a baby brother or sister?"

"I told you that in confidence! Brock looked ready to punch his younger brother.

Noble felt her ears burn as Fort coughed and pulled away.

"I need to have a serious conversation with you boys if you think kissing causes babies," he deflected. Then he turned back to his wife. "Is anything wrong?"

"I guess not. I'm just glad you all are ok. I had this weird premonition. I thought maybe someone really had fallen in the volcano."

"Brock tried," Blaze stuck out his tongue.

"It was a joke!" Brock crossed his arms.

"That's enough, boys."

Noble could see the twins had experienced a little too much together time for the day.

"Tell me something good about the trip."

"Rain helped me collect some cool samples that I can study later," Blaze bragged on his older sister.

"She also helped me figure out how close I could get before my face might melt off. I didn't try it because you asked me not to, though." Brock nodded emphatically.

"I'm glad your sister was a decent chaperone then. Where is she now?"

Fort hung his bag by the door. "She went on with her mysterious plans. I assume she will be home soon."

Noble felt a tug at her core when Fort said those words. She felt for her daughter. Rain was in her sphere of influence and alive.

That was good.

Oblivious to her thoughts, Fort continued. "Do you have documents for me from the Waking World?"

"What? Oh yes! And a note from Grandma that I will read aloud over dinner."

Noble summoned the box of papers and gave the sealed packet to Fort.

He opened it and thumbed through the pages quickly. His expression darkened.

"Yosh."

"I know," Noble told him. "I read the revised report, but I'm guessing you have a more complete picture. I would love to read it later if you'll let me. That is after we say hello to Rain! Hello, Rain!"

The woman heard the door open and called over her shoulders

"Blood!" Blaze called out suddenly, drawing the mother's attention.

"You are bleeding?" Noble studied her son. Had he cut his finger on the board game or the dice?

"N-Not me," Blaze shuddered.

That is when the scent hit Noble's nostrils and she spun on her heels.

Blaze wasn't covered in blood.

But Rain was!