Noble took a moment and collected her thoughts. When she began, her voice was soft and even.
"I love you and I always will. Nothing will ever change that. I did not leave because I wanted to. What happened was against my will. I agonized over breaking my promise to you. That was actually my final thought before the Nightmare began. These weeks away from this family have been torture, and I put every bit of effort into getting back here to have this moment with you. You said I sounded happy to be in the Nightmare, but really I was just so happy to be home. How could I ever be happy anywhere else when the four people I love most are here? You are my home. Nothing I can say or do can change the pain I have caused you. For that, I am so sorry."
"Oh, Mom!" Rain wiped her eyes. "I shouldn't have assumed the worst. I should know you wouldn't run off to a Nightmare just to avoid a silly promise."
Noble raised her right hand. "I will fulfill that promise now. I will tell you everything I should have told you before I left and more. I'll tell you the real story of my nightmare and not some sanitized version that will cause you to leave before you finish your dinner."
Rain flushed as her emotions spiked.
The older woman raised one eyebrow. "What is it?"
Scratching the back of her head, Rain shrugged. "Don't get me wrong; I want to hear it all. It's just, uh, your story isn't why I left dinner early last night."
"Oh?" Noble curled her finger to encourage the teen to continue. "Please, tell me more."
"When Brock mentioned the duel between Queen Bee and Mongrel, I remembered that she had fallen through a gate about the same time you disappeared. You and she have a similar build, and I thought for a moment that–" Rain hesitated.
"Thought what?" Noble felt the corner of her mouth twitch upward.
The girl stuck out her lip. "Never mind. It's silly..."
"I promise you it isn't silly."
Noble remembered when Rain was little and would often trail off mid-thought. It had taken some time after she was adopted for her to be comfortable sharing the things that were in her head.
Before then, Noble would have to coax or provide options to learn how to meet her child's needs. Right now, her child needed to be heard.
"You can tell me anything," Noble assured her. Her heartbeat quickened.
Rain looked at her mother for a moment before coming to a decision. "At dinner last night, I got the crazy idea that you might be Queen Bee. But that's impossible!"
"Why is that impossible?" Noble quirked an eyebrow.
"Many reasons. For starters, your eyes don't match. Then there is the fact you have wildly different personalities. You are so mild-mannered and loving, and she looks ready to dice you to bits without a second thought."
"I hate to burst your bubble, but it is not impossible," Noble smirked. "It's quite probable actually. That's because...Queen Bee is me."
Rain's mouth dropped open. No words would come.
"Or, if you prefer, I am Queen Bee. She is a persona after all. I came first." Noble smiled brightly.
"I… Y–You mean to say that you are the mysterious Dreamscape champion?"
"Yes, that's me!" It felt so good to get the news off of her chest! She floated a little higher from the ground.
"But your eyes are plain blue!" Rain shook her head in disbelief, "It cannot be."
"Watch." Lamenting the loss of yet another skirt, Noble called forth her black and gold armor.
Rain sat up and watched in shock as the familiar metal formed around her mother's body. She pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. It was all too strange!
A few moments later, the Fraudulent Facade's delicate filigree wove around the lower half of the duelist's face.
At last, Noble let her eyes swirl freely, giving Rain a peek at Queen Bee in her full glory.
"I can control the color of my eyes, or let them run wild," Noble explained, her voice distorted by the Memory across her mouth.
"You mean...I've been trained by Queen Bee?" Rain looked ready to faint.
Sure she had met other famous Masters like Ascended Kai, and Ascended Athena, and even watched a movie with Ascended Changing Star, but she had been related to a famous Awakened for years and had no idea!
"You've been trained by your mother." Noble chuckled. "Queen Bee wouldn't have shown any mercy...or given any tips since she doesn't speak."
Noble ignored the fact she was speaking now through the mask. Queen Bee could talk, she just didn't.
"That's why you weren't here for those finales, and why dad calls you Bee..." All of the pieces started to click into place for Rain. "I feel so stupid!"
"If it makes you feel better, Dad called me Bee long before I was ever a duelist. He calls me that because I am always hovering over things. It is my flaw. I cannot touch the ground." Noble's eyes stopped swirling as held her breath.
"That explains it." Rather than another explosion of disbelief, Rain nodded contemplatively.
"What do you mean?" Noble looked down at herself, adjusting her body back to its normal height from the floor.
"That look of pain when you picked up my datapad or anything that is on the ground. The ground hurts you, doesn't it?" Rain pursed her lips.
"It does," Noble admitted with a frown. "And when I am asleep, my body floats away unless it is held down."
"It's a brutal flaw," Rain sighed, then her eyes opened wide. "Wait, you are Queen Bee. And Queen Bee fell through the gate months ago. I saw it on the news. Which means you fell through the gate months ago..."
Noble nodded. "I did, and thanks to a quirk in one of my Memories, I fell straight into a seed and had to conquer it."
"That means you didn't choose to leave at all. You were basically abducted while trying to defend the gate!" Rain felt a new wave of grief at her own behavior. " Oh Mom, I have been mad at you about something you couldn't control! I am so sorry."
Rain flung herself against her mother in a hug. They both hovered in the air for a moment in silence.
"I'll never doubt you again." The girl promised.
"I will not even give you that opportunity," Noble said seriously.
Rain took a deep breath, feeling a great weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. At last, she understood once and for all that her mother hadn't abandoned her for death or adventure. It had all been a series of unfortunate events.
Blinking away tears, Rain pulled out of the hug. "Why didn't Dad tell us what happened?"
"He wasn't sure what happened at first himself. I know he was planning to tell you." Noble stopped. "You know what? This sounds like a family discussion. I know I said I would tell you everything, but I think it would be best if we did this all together."
"That seems like a good idea. All the secrets will be hard to keep, and I want to be able to ask you and Dad questions at the same time." Rain thought for a moment. "But..."
"But what?" Noble felt her daughter's spike in emotion.
"Can I be the one to introduce you like this? I want to see my brothers' faces when you make a big entrance." The girl grinned.
Noble pursed her lips behind the mask. "I suppose...Wait, a big entrance? What exactly do you have in mind?"