FAIRYTALE SYSTEM (BXB)

OBSESSION LIKE LOVE

"I-it's going to be alright, baby." The unknown voice weakly said.

"Ju-just close your eyes."

Noel woke up with a start. He breathed deeply and pushed away his curls from his forehead and looked up at the ceiling.

The dream. Again.

It felt real.

"Belle?"

[Yes, host?]

"When, will I get my original memories back?"

[After, you complete two missions, you will undergo a test, that will determine your ability to hold memories of two different people without mixing them up with your identity.]

"It sounds...complicated."

[It is, host. A human mind is capable of many things but it is also fragile at the same time.]

Noel shuffled lightly and frowned at the ceiling. He had been having the weird dream for quite a while. He wondered who's voice it was. The voice was a man's. It was weak but very comforting. He turned around and gasped when he saw Bluebeard looking at him.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Bluebeard asked. His voice deep with sleepiness.

Noel wanted to ignore him but he ended up nodding his head.

Noel felt Bluebeard slip his hands around his waist and pulled him closer. Noel gripped Bluebeard's arm and tried to push away but stopped when Bluebeard spoke.

"We used to be so close, Noel, why are you so cold now?"

Noel felt the silent hurt in that question but chose to scoff.

"My lord, you committed a murder in front of my eyes and force me to marry you," Noel said, in a firm voice. He looked up to met Bluebeard's eyes.

"Doesn't that give me enough right to be cold towards you?" He asked.

"Then just this one night," Bluebeard pleaded, his eyes reflecting the light of the lamp, "Just this one night let me hug you while we sleep. After this, I will let you go."

"You will give me a divorce?" Noel asked.

Bluebeard weakly smiled, "I cannot bear to part away from you."

Noel sighed, "Then a separate bedroom."

"I only see you here in this bedroom and the rest of the day, you are never with me," Bluebeard said.

"A separate bed then, I do not wish to sleep next to you," Noel said and hurriedly added, "Or we can just sleep like we always used to."

"A separate bed it is," Bluebeard said, and pulled Noel closer to his chest and rested his chin on his soft curls.

"No nightmares will haunt you now," Bluebeard calmly said and ran a hand over Noel's golden curls.

Noel hummed and closed his eyes. He soon fell asleep.

However, their night was cut short.

The screaming of the servants made Noel wake up with a start. Bluebeard was sleeping soundly with his arms around Noel's waist.

Noel slowly lifted Bluebeard's arm to escape his embrace, only to drop it in surprise when he heard, "Are you going to open the door for the mobsters?"

Noel directed his gaze to Bluebeard who was watching him with a blank look.

"You knew?" Noel asked.

"I overheard you discussing your little plan with your sister, must say she is quite quick to act."

Bluebeard sat up and leaned against the headrest and picked up a book from his side table and flipped through it.

"You are going to be punished for what you did," Noel quietly said, as he got off from the bed.

"You are acting like my salvation," Bluebeard muttered.

"I am not!" Noel hissed, "I am not doing this for you! I am doing it for the families of those who trusted you with their daughters!"

There was a  knock on the door and the captain of Bluebeard's guards poked his head out.

"The preparation for departure is ready, my lord, we will leave on your command."

Noel became confused. Belle gave him the notification that he completed his second mission. However, he had no idea what to do. He was told, he would be sent to another world but he was still here.

"Why can't I leave?"

[You have to give the story an ending, host.]

Noel purses his lips, and thought.

An ending.

What ending should he give to this story? He looked at Bluebeard, who was  putting on his coat.

"Noel lets go," Bluebeard said, as he raised his hand for him to hold, "We will leave somewhere far and quite."

A happy ending. Or a tragic one.

Noel backed away from Bluebeard and said, "I am not going with you."

"Noel," Bluebeard's voice held a tone of warning and somewhere within those blue eyes, a pled too.

"Why didn't you killed me?" Noel asked, "You killed all of your wives! Why didn't you killed me too!"

He wanted the story to end fast and go far away from Bluebeard but he also wanted answers.

"At first I married you because of my obsession," Bluebeard began, he took a cautious step towards Noel.

The screams of the servents and the angry crowd got louder. Noel would now hear them.

"Punish the killer! Punish the killer! Avenge our daughters!"

"But now?" Bluebeard said, with a weak chuckle, "I think, I am more than obsessed! I am in love with you!"

Noel staggered lightly before getting a hold of himself. The noises around him muted and he took in a deep breath. His mind was reeling because of the confession. He had expected the wildest of answers from Bluebeard but not this.

Noel watched the man in front of him, his handsome face contracted in a desperate plea and smirked in an unkind way.

"A mad man in love? Please stop joking, my lord."