"Do you think Natalie would ignore your summons?" Eva questioned her husband, Aikka, while they made their way to the throne room.

Aikka wore a very tired expression on his face. He was soon rubbing his temples with his hand before speaking, "If she doesn't then she has to have a legitimate reason not to come if I called."

She was taking slow strides as the weight of her tummy was growing heavier and heavier by the day. "I just wanted to know if she was alright, that's all."

"Even still, she's in charge of the safety of our guest Princess Mai. She cannot be left out in the dark about what Minato and I learned about her." He reveals the reason why he issues out the call.

Eva soon had a sudden feeling of uneasiness about the whole situation, 'I wonder where she is?'

"Forget all of that, how are you feeling?" Aikka poses to his wife while his eyes fall on his wife's huge stomach.

"Tired, sleepy and bloated,. You know the regular for pregnancy." She casually quips with a smile on her face, which surfaces on her husband's face as well.

"It sounds as if you're doing good then. Oh, we are here." He announced to his wife before he opens the door wide enough for her to enter and closes it back.

0000

"Do you think we should tell mommy and daddy about what we saw?" Kiera suggested to her twin brother Kieran. They still remainded in their father's study.

"We don't have any evidence yet." He was speaking while spinning around in their father's chair.

"I mean they should believe what we say. I mean we hardly ever lie to them and it's the truth." She presents her side of the problem.

Kieran ceases his action in order to face his twin, "I don't mean to bring this back up but ever since you attacked Morose our parents' trust has dropped in us."

His sister sat back quietly being reminded of a past deed, she let out a held breath, "You're right. I almost forgot but do you think mommy will be able to trust me again?"

"She will but for now we need to keep a look out on that woman, name Princess Mai." The boy redirects their attention back to the subject at hand.

"I agree. She's a shady character like the Avatar. Do you think we should watch him too?" The princess mentioned Jordan and his latest actions.

"From seeing how upset he made Natalie, I think we should keep an eye on him but we would want to keep a closer eye on Princess Mai." Her brother reckons.

"Alright then, it's a deal." Kiera leaned over and hooked her pinkie finger with her twin's pinkie finger.

0000

Minato found the door surprisingly unlocked and pushed it open. He was instinctively bracing himself for what could possibly be happening after opening it all the way.

"Hey, Natalie!" The young man calls out for her but there was no answer.

It was just the sound of the open window repeatedly colliding against the wall while the curtain was blowing in the wind.

There were no verbal answers whatsoever once he inched his way toward the bathroom incase someone may have gotten the jump on her.

'She isn't here either.' The blonde determined after he executed a full sweep of the room before he reached that conclusion.

The on guard knight eventually removes his hand from the hilt of his sword.

'If she isn't here then where could she be? Maybe I should inform Rick about this.' The male considers to himself.

Once Minato emerged from Natalie's assigned room, he caught a glimpse of the Avatar. He was aimlessly wandering down the hallway as if he was a lost puppy looking for a new master.

'It seems as if everywhere I go, he follows me?'

'Why does he constantly trail Natalie when he knows that she doesn't want him around?'

"It seems as if you have a lot of things on your mind, do you think I could be of some aid to you?" Jordan offered since he wanted to know why was he in Natalie's office.

"I guess you can say when you live an active life in politics, you tend to have a lot on your mind."

"You wouldn't mind, if I were to assume that you have had similar moments whenever you visit the galaxies under your watch?" He probes after he skirts around his question.

The Avatar was inwardly taken aback by the male's rebuttal before he decided that he had to be careful around this one.

"You are correct!"

"Did you just come from chatting with Natalie? How's she feeling?" The golden figure needled as he wondered what was his real purpose to visit Natalie.

'Is he that obsessed with her to the point that he would be considered a stalker? What's wrong with the Avatar?!' questions were running through his head while processing the conversation he was having at the moment with the golden man.

"It appears as if I was a little too late for Ms. Natalie. Quite frankly, I don't know where she went."

"By personally knowing Sir Rick, he would more than likely put me in charge of the location process for Natalie." The young man answered with an honest answer.

"When you're gathering, please don't hesitate to call me so I can provide any assistance. I have taken a rather strong liking to the will of Ms. Natalie." The intergalactic dignitary downright admitted to the man in front of him about his interest in Natalie.

'He can't be serious, can he?'

'Wait, he has the power to find anyone or anything in the world?! So why doesn't he use his powers to locate her?'

"Since you've taken such an interest in Ms. Natalie, you wouldn't mind if we ask for your help in aiding us to locate her would you?" The solider queried.

He made sure not to make any sudden noise or movement.

The Avatar nods his head to show that he would willingly contribute to the cause. "That's reassuring to know that we have the Avatar backing us up on this one. This will most definitely increase our chances in finding her."

Minato was using that as parting words among the men unaware that Princess Mai, who was in a nearby room was listening to the entire conversation.

'So typical of men to show who has the bigger chest. It's all boiling down to the simple fact that they both have taken a likening to Ms. Natalie.' Mai judges to herself before she removes herself from her door and onto the bed.

'It's really such a beautiful day today…I think I would hold off the invasion until I leave this hideous kingdom.' She thought as the wind from the open window blew her hair away from her face.

The princess releases a sigh before she lifts her right hand towards her ear so her hair would not blow back towards her face.

0000

"Am I hearing this correctly, Minato?!"

"You said that Natalie is no longer on the castle area or even in her bedroom?" Rick was repeating after hearing Minato's report.

"Yes, she's nowhere around for her king's summons. You know that has to be documented, right?" He reminded his superior of the actions that must be done.

"Don't you think I know this?!"

"I'm not surprised that she distanced herself away from the problem, she would often do when she was a teenager." The raven haired male mutters to himself about Natalie's strange behavior.

"So you're saying that you are use to her running away from her responsibilities if she was feeling that she cannot complete them?" The young man attempts to clear up some confusion from his statement.

'That would explain her behaviors from when she was little too.'

"Yes, Natalie would never get in to fights because she simply would lock herself in this treehouse I had built for her when she was little. You remember that, don't you?"

"She would run from you whenever you would visit."

"Yet, Natalie never missed a day of school. She just never appeared in the house." The older man supplies an answer to his inquires.

'Now I remember...'

The blonde was pacing back and forth as a normal person would but inwardly there were a thousand questions circulating though his head.

"How long would she normally be gone?" The male probed.

The young man prays that the length of her departure would not hinder their investigation on the suspicions of the king and queen being stalked.

"So you said that Jordan has offered his help in the search for Natale?" Rick asked with his mouth behind his interlaced hands.

"Yes, he has offered his full support since he has taken quite a liking to Natalie's strong personality. Would you believe that?" Minato expressed his disbelief in what the Avatar told him.

"Trust me, he would help. Besides, I know the kid and I have taken the necessary precautions already after Natalie explained her extreme disdain for the figurehead." The raven haired male offers a valid excuse for Jordan.

He then shifts his weight, "As a witness to a previous encounter with the two parties, I can completely understand the delay. But if you have any idea where she could be, I need to know."

"I can promise you that. Thanks for the briefing but moving beyond this point, are there any more leads found on the case?"

The younger of the two maneuvered his head in a manner that made it hard to read, "I've been having suspicions that our two guests that are temporary residing with us are prime candidates."

"Do you have evidence or is it just because Jordan rubbed you the wrong way?" The superior officer alleges since he has the feeling that Jordan's presence seems to lurk somewhere.

"More like classifying him as a stalker rather then focusing on the well being of the others that is under his care." The blonde stated the obvious to hin, who merely nodded his head at his statement.

"Look, I want you to go out and clear your head. Try to find out where Natalie ran off to." Rick shifts the topic of the conversation.

0000

'I wonder what time it is?' Natalie was thinking after taking a seat behind her desk.

She was currently propping her feet up on the surface while leaning back in her chair. Another sigh emitted from her mouth after she intertwined her hands and positioned it behind her head to support her neck.

'At least I got some cleaning done.' The raven haired woman affirmed while she scanned the room and admired her hard work.

The mounds of dust that had piled up in her vacant office was so huge that there were bags of it in the corner ready to be taken out.

'I never thought that just a couple of weeks away from this office and it would be this awful!' The young woman presumes once she removes her feet from her desk and rolls herself closer to the desk.

'This is where I received the assignment that I was going to watch over Princess Mai.' The captain leaned her upper body a little ways so that she now had a hump in her back.

It was this very same desk where she had to enlist soldiers in to her battalion and give certain soldiers a much needed promotion. There was a small smile on her face as she remembered the good times at the desk.

Natalie ran her finger up and down a small crack until she recalled that she had gotten so angry after an Annual review, because Minato was given high praise for the continuous success of his battalion. She just had to hit something.

Unfortunately for the desk, it was the sturdiest thing in sight.

"Why did we have wasted the alloted time for our Annual Review to morph in to a praise session for the blonde idiot?! They make me sick for doing that!" She brought her closed fist against the hard surface.

'This is where I had to make grievance calls to significant others and family members, who pleaded not to hear the awful truth. I had to be the bearer of the bad news…' The solider reminded herself.

The first lost of her men under her leadership was still a complete and total shock to her. That intense pain seemed to have instantly settled amongst the more experienced fighters than herself.

"Captain Natalie, as the new figurehead of this battalion, it is one of your duties to inform the families of the ones that were killed in battle or missing in action. That is all."

The young woman knew that sooner or later she was going to be approach by her superiors about that issue, 'How do I address the people that lost someone close to them?'

After deep meditation, the captain picked up the phone and preceded to dial the first number on her list. The very instant the other end picked up, she swiftly hung up.

"This is where I first cried like a newborn baby…" The woman softly verbalizes after she glides her hand across the surface of the desk.

'Man, this thing has been with me through thick and thin. And to think I didn't want this desk because daddy gave it to me.' Natalie brought the side of her face on the dark colored Teak desk.

A loud noise instantly brought her out of her thoughts when she peeked up to see that it was from her laptop that sat on the far left side of the desk.

'Wow I have a lot of mail…' Her mind trailed off once she realized that there were messages from her superiors.

It was regarding about paper work that should have been handle by the Command Sergeant Major that she left in charge due to her absence.

'Well, it seems as if I have something to keep me busy for tomorrow. Wait, what is this?' She scrolled the white arrow over to an email that was addressed to her with no subject.

Her hand snapped over her mouth once she registered what she saw.

0000

The afternoon naturally rolled over to the nighttime. The castle's atmosphere seemed to be mundane rather than lively as it usually is.

"I hope she knows that she can no longer run. I think it's about time that we move in."

2222

Author's Notes:

12.2.16 Major editing revision

06.24.17 Major cleaning edits