The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

Pulling her daughter out of the way, Noble narrowly avoided an avalanche of snow from their roof.

The professor noticed a small contraption only a moment before the trap was sprung. Rather than try to hold back every particle of snow, Noble had opted to move Rain and herself out of harm's way.

The snowy dump cascaded onto the front porch, creating a pile nearly as high as Noble was tall.

The door swung open.

"Did it work?" Brock's eager voice chirped as he looked into the white world. "Whoa, you cleared the whole roof! Amazing!"

"What?! It was only supposed to be a little snow." Blaze covered his mouth. He pressed against the mound experimentally. "Rain! Can you hear us? Are you mad?"

"I'm certainly not happy!" Rain rose to her feet and crossed her arms.

"How did you?" Brock peeked around the pile and saw his sister next to a figure with swirling eyes. His face filled with dread.

"Run!"

Brock's less-than-helpful cry failed as his feet lifted off of the ground.

Both boys struggled against their fate as they floated past their handiwork and into the open air. Their boots touched the ground before becoming suddenly heavy.

"Boys?" Noble let the word hang in the air.

Under the gaze of his mother and angry older sister, Blaze quickly cracked.

"It was Brock's idea! He wanted to prank Rain. It was just supposed to be a little snow. I swear we didn't know you were there, Mom!"

"My…my idea! You were the one who rigged the device. I just installed it!" Brock scowled.

"I told you that you put that last pulley in the wrong place." Blaze tilted up his chin. The elder twin scoffed.

"Well if you had lifted me higher on the roof then I wouldn't have had to reach so far to…"

"You climbed on the roof…and you lifted him?!" Noble cut off their bickering with a gasp. She looked up at the second story.

"Just a bit," Brock shrugged. "We didn't fall or anything."

Above their heads, the curtains to the front room were pulled back and the snow on the sill had two indents where knees had once been.

Noble felt her heart skip a beat.

"You could have broken your necks! You could have broken Rain's neck! She was already in an accident today, you know!"

The twins stopped sticking their tongues out at each other and looked at their sister with worried expressions.

At that moment Fort hurried out of the house, wiping ink from his hands. He looked at the pile on his porch with wide eyes.

"What happened?!"

"The boys tried to dump snow on Rain and went waaay overboard," Noble explained before the twins could.

"It was an accident!" Blaze held up his hands. "A semi-intentional accident…but still!"

The ambassador turned a critical eye on his boys, "When I said entertain yourselves while I finish up my reports, this is not what I meant!" He turned to his daughter. "Are you alright?! How's your head? Is anything broken?"

"I'm fine. Mom moved me out of the way. I'm not made of glass, you know." Rain resented being treated like she might break, but even she had to admit that amount of snow would have been unpleasant on her newly healed skull.

Fort's worried expression became filled with shame. 

"I'm sorry that the men of this house have caused you and your mom so much trouble today. Me in particular." He gave his daughter and wife a meaningful look. "It was wrong of me to…" 

"Like I said, it's fine, Dad." Rain's face softened. "I know you and the boys didn't meant to hurt me. Accidents happen." 

"Are you sure?" Fort chewed his lip.

The teen looked at her mother, who nodded slowly in agreement. "We are sure. Cut yourself and these numbskulls a break."

"Accident or not, it is important to fix our mistakes. And you boys will fix this." Fort went inside the house and retrieved two shovels. "Clear the porch and then break up any ice in the water supply."

The boys looked at the mountain of work with a sigh.

"Sorry for almost killing you, sis," Brock accepted the shovel.

"Yeah, next time we will make sure the force is less than lethal before trying it on humans," Blaze raised his hands in promise.

"Hm," Fort squinted, looking at the roof. "That's what you built? I see the problem. Your angles are off. That pulley should be higher."

"I TOLD YOU!" Blaze waved his arms. Then he looked at the stern gaze of his mother, "…that we should never have tried such a trick on our most loving sister."

"Mhmm." Noble's fierce eyes swirled. "You boys forgot one very crucial detail when it comes to snow."

The boys looked at her curiously as Fort and Rain nodded and lowered their heads.

"What's that?" Brock asked at last.

"I'll pose it as a question, what do you call a pile of snow that lands at your opponent's feet?"

Noble's lips twisted into a mischievous grin.

"…Ammunition."

Balls pelted the twins from both their sister and their parents. Noble didn't even use her aspect, taking balls lovingly crafted by her daughter and throwing them with her own two hands.

Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, the twins were eventually forced to surrender. They picked up their shovels for a second time to clear the porch, this time with huge smiles on their faces.

The other three came inside to change out of their wet clothes and prepare for the evening activities. Dinner was made and served when the youngest members of the family finally finished their tasks outdoors. 

Blaze and Brock talked so much about their day and the storm that the others barely had the chance to get a word in. Most of the rest of the meal was spent with Fort describing his morning with Saint Kai followed by Rain describing her poorly ended duel. 

No Spelltech or other entertainment took any attention away from the moment. The family was completely engrossed in the endless conversation. 

Noble sat in happy silence watching the lively group. She really was one of the luckiest people in two worlds. The house they had moved into only two short weeks ago was starting to feel like a home. 

That made sense; home was where her family was.

There was a certain charm to this simple life. She didn't love the idea of washing clothes by hand, but maybe...just maybe the trade-off was worth it. 

'Though I do wish Mom could see all this.'

Noble would have to seek out Julius and check on them both next time she was in the Waking World. Maybe someday the women would be able to reunite, but for now, they would have to exchange messages through the lovable teacher. 

After dinner, the young men cleared the table while their father did the dishes. Then the ladies set to work getting their dirty clothing washed. 

A tub was filled with hot water using a pump in the kitchen. Dumping in the clothes and some detergent, Rain added a long pole with paddles and sealed the lid. Then she began to turn the handle to spin the laundry while her mother looked on. 

"I can do that with my Ability if you like," Noble offered. "You may want to save your energy for any stains that get left behind. With your brothers, there will be many." 

Rain nodded, releasing the handle. It continued to spin quietly, allowing the women to watch the movement as they waited for it to be complete. 

"How long will it take?" Rain asked. This was only their second time going through this process, and the teen hadn't been around for the first. 

"A while," Noble answered noncommittally. "Do you have something else you need to do?" 

Rubbing her neck, Rain looked away. "Uh, no. But there was something I wanted to ask you about." 

"Ask me anything," Noble smiled at her daughter. 

Rain shifted awkwardly as if she might not ask the question after all. But then she nodded to herself. 

"What do you know about...Natural Awakening?"