Jordan easily beats the quad to the castle by some miles and enters inside as if his actions were nothing important to him.
'Natalie has shown me that she's more than capable of doing things that surpasses the normal human level.'
'She acts more like a robot than a human being.'
He pauses in the middle of his stride after he realizes an epiphany within his thought. 'So far… I was able to travel back in time to when Natalie was a very young girl and then a pre-teenager.'
'Yet, I haven't been able to see what occurred in between those time periods.'
The Avatar tediously scopes out his current vicinity and finds not a single trace of visible light to guide him to his next destination.
'What could've happened during those years that I can't access them?' The golden entity inwardly contemplates to himself. The sounds of Princess Mai's voice surfaces him out of his thoughts.
"Jordan! Jordan, I'm so glad you are here!" Mai shrieks after she registers that it was indeed the Avatar. It also helped since he answered to her call by his human name and stood in the middle of the hallway.
'Just great…I thought she had left already!' The young man assumed while he watched the pampered princess drew near him.
Princess Mai was constantly reminding him of an annoying little gnat since she likes to buzz around even after swatting her away.
"What can I do for you today, lovely Princess Mai?" The intergalactic dignitary politely demands to the woman in front of him.
A visible red blush appears across her cheeks after she hears Jordan's question, "I just wanted to inform you that I am due to leave within two days."
"I was wondering if there were any loose ends that I need to tie up so the Trogs can immediately start the invasion on Noursaia."
'She's quite the persistent mole. No wonder Kross has her on his side…she's quite dedicated to a fault.'
The golden figure rests one of his hands on top of her shoulders before he responds with, "Just leave it up to me. As long as you continue to follow my orders then you will keep living, understand?"
The princess supplies him with a verbal statement, "Yes, I trust you with the plan."
'It's a pity that she makes this all too easy.' Jordan reckons as he lifts his hand from against her shoulders and ruffles her hair with the same hand.
"Good. Don't ever doubt my plans again." He gravely mentions to her before he leaves her in her currently daze position.
'I promise to follow your orders…Avatar.' Mai silently declares her oath while she watches Jordan's back.
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"Ah man, why not?" Kiera curiously queried. She was thoroughly disappointed with their answer at her suggestion for the two of them to train them.
"What we know isn't something you two are ready to learn yet. Just be patient and learn the basics for now."
"After all, you have to start somewhere right?" Minato conveys to her in a gentle yet stern tone.
The little girl visibly pouts at his refusal before she whirls away from him, faces her twin and catches up with him.
The blonde straightens out to his normal height before he considers, 'I guess they must've been excited from the spar that we had.'
'…speaking of which I guess I should make my amends with her now or suffer her wraith later.' The young man contemplated to himself when he noted the peeve expression on her face.
"Are you going to forgive me, already?" The male revels to his companion in a hush tone so that she was the only one to hear his question.
Her green eyes cut toward his direction and verbalize, "What I don't understand is, why did you issue a challenge to spar only to end up disappointing me?"
"Quite frankly, there's no excuse in the world that you can come up with and use it effectively on me. So I would advise you to save your pathetically lame excuse." The raven haired woman promptly forewarns him while she narrows her sights in on him.
The knight easily senses the venom in her tone, which causes his head to snap back while he stews, 'Eck! She's even scarier when she's disappointed instead of angry.'
The soldier releases a sigh of frustration before she focuses back on their responsibilities that happily chats away with one another.
Natalie flashes a wide grin and ambles a couple of feet in front of them.
'Now that I think about it…it's always been Rick and I.' The captain unexpectedly remembers after she witnesses the sibling's interaction with each another.
'Then on certain occasions Minato and Master Namikaze but even still there was some loneliness to the home once they left.'
His obsidian eyes observe the facial expression that the raven haired woman wears on her face and guesses to himself, 'She's thinking about something.'
Minato leisurely reaches his hand out to touch her shoulder before he realizes that they finally reach castle grounds.
'I think...I better not touch her. She'll probably try to flip me over her shoulder as a trained reaction.' He mulls over his decision while his hand halts in mid-air before he finally retracts it to his side.
"You know...you shouldn't think too hard about certain things that are out of your control. It only shortens your patience and increases your irritability." The knight sagely advises her after he slides his hands inside of his pockets.
The woman halts in her stride to watch him walk pass her and wonders, 'Why is it that I can't hide my feelings around this blonde twit?'
The green eyed soldier shakes her head left and right until she deems that she will never discover the answer to that question anytime soon.
The thought earns a smile on Natalie's face right before she peers up at Minato, who now stares at her dead in her face.
"You don't want the twins to beat us in, do you?!" He eagerly shouts his question to her while he animatedly waves his hand in his direction.
The blonde was glad to see that she was doing much better than earlier.
'She's smiling. Good.' The knight mentally regards once he sees her canters toward him no longer with an icy look in her eyes.
0000
Rick speedily ventured to the king and queen's personal quarters with an envelope that he just received a few minutes ago.
"Yo Rick," A familiar masculine voice addresses him, which prompts him to pause in the middle of his stride and faces the source of the voice.
'What does he want now?' The raven haired male contemplates while he rolls his eyes behind his dark shades after he registers who it is that calls out his name.
Jordan returns his arm back to his side because the tone that his friend's uses toward him means he was very busy at the moment.
"It seems as if you have something that you want to accomplish so I'll just ask you my question later." The Avatar promptly states since he was in no mode for a chit chat with him at the moment.
The bespectacled man simply turned his back to the golden entity and traveled in his initial direction.
"If you are looking for King Aikka and Queen Eva…they are in the front meeting up with Natalie and the twins." The intergalatic dignitary's voice breaks in to his inward thoughts.
He momentarily stops to thank him for the directions but silently notes, 'Something isn't right with that boy.'
Rick veers left as a smile stretches on his face. 'Good, my plan is about to reach its climax!'
'Especially, with my trump card now put in place. All I need now is one little push and it shall all unfold perfectly in front of my eyes.'
0000
Eva and Aikka arrived a little earlier than Minato, Natalie and the twins did and decided to wait a little ways underneath the front entrance.
"You know your kids want to be better archers then you are." She suddenly voices, which ensnares her husband's attention.
"No, I didn't know all that. I'll make sure to set the bar really high then." He says after he squats down near his wife's level.
"Ah Aikka, are you scared you will lose your touch?" The raven haired with crimson tips challenges.
Her eyes stare at her husband's face to witness his first reaction, which often times is his true opinion.
"Time...only time will tell." The orange haired man mysteriously claims with his eyes close.
The pregnant woman studies her husband's face until he speaks up again, "By the way you're staring at me, you don't seem satisfied with my answer."
"It isn't that. I'm just not use to you accepting your fate so easily without fighting tooth and nail for it." She genuinely expresses in a soften tone so he would not mistaken it as a reprimand but instead an attempt to comfort him.
The Noursaian releases a breath before he opens his eyes to take in the sight of the sky that was above them.
"I guess you can only be defiant while you're young. Now, I see how my parents felt when I used to be stubborn."
His wife reaches out, ruffles his hair with her hand and asserts. "Aikka, you haven't even come close to your mid-life crisis yet so quit worrying about things that are out of your control."
He rotates his head to look at his very pregnant wife before he cracks a smile. "That's why I have you here so you can bring me back down to the ground."
Before Eva could respond to her husband's statement the sound of "Mommy" "Daddy" catches their attention.
The couple was instantly peering in the direction of the noise and discovering their two precious gifts running towards them with wide beaming smiles on their faces.
'Our beautiful children…' The pair share a similar thought before they greet their children with warm smiles on their faces.
"So did you two enjoy your time at Master Canaan's?" Their father inquires first about his children day once they made it to their area.
Kieran and Kiera face each other, nod their heads and point toward Minato and Natalie.
"Those two had a sparring match today..." Kieran starts to talk before Kiera picks up where he left off, "Yeah and Natalie won but those two were so awesome that we wanted them to train us..."
"...but they told us to forget about it..." He sadly fills in as it prompt their parents' heads to shift in his direction when he talks, "...but Minato says he will when we learn the basics."
Her crimson eyes unknowingly peer over at her husband after he eagerly listens to their children's statement since it refers back to the subject of their conversation.
"I know for sure you two will become stronger."
"You will have to protect not just your siblings but also your mother and I in the future. Do you understand that?" Aikka gravely demands in a solemn tone as he stares at the twins.
Kiera unknowingly reaches for her twin's hand before the two simultaneously nod their head and verbally respond with "Yes, daddy. We will become stronger so we can protect everyone else."
He then ruffles both of their hair as the smile on their faces grow wider from their father's genuine appreciation.
"So you two had a sparring match today, huh?" The queen pops the question to Minato and Natalie after the trio witness the display of fatherly love toward children.
He started to chuckle with his eyes closed while he scratched the back of his head. She simply tucks her arms underneath her chest with a peeve expression on her face.
"I'll assume that it didn't end the way you two wanted it to." Eva predicts after she studies the couple's reactions to her inquiry.
"Agreed." The raven haired woman swiftly agrees as it causes the blonde to immediately cease his laughter and returns his arm back to his side.
"I think it ended rather nicely." The young man downplays his lost to Queen Eva.
"...or should I ask the spectators for a play by play?" The raven haired woman with crimson tips promptly threatens the knight.
There was this feeling that Minato was not being completely honest with her.
"That won't be necessary Queen Eva even Natalie agrees with me on this. Right, Natalie?" The man posed once he faced Natalie for a reassured statement.
Her green eyes simply spectate the queen unleashes her silent wraith out on him and actually relishes the torture.
'So cruel…no wonder she's earn the nickname Cut Throat Eva. It is time for plan B.' The blonde silently presumes, as he had to rebound and turn the situation around.
"It's true Queen Eva."
"I requested for the spar and failed miserably to meet Natalie's standards of me so I lost." The young man consents while he maintains eye contact with the queen.
Minato grew slightly scared of the long hard stare that she gave him. His obsidian eyes catch her hand move towards him as he closes his eyes.
"Good job Minato, I knew you had it in you all along." The queen happily proclaims with a wide smile on her face while she rubs the surface of his hair with her hand.
The raven haired woman was noting that Eva was now staring at her before nodding her head in an up then down fashion.
The blonde exhaled a deep sigh of relief as he managed to dodge the gates of hell even if he tipped toed a little too close to the flames.
"Now you need to make your move before she loses interest in you." The young woman closely listens to Queen Eva softly whispers in his ear.
'How did she know? When? Where? What gave it away?' The questions hastily race through his mind while he processes what Queen Eva just advises him.
"I have eyes and ears everywhere." She reminds him as if she could read his thoughts while she maintains the same expression on her face.
'How could King Aikka marry such a fearsome woman like Queen Eva?'
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Author's Note:
12.11.16 Major editing revision
06.26.17 Major cleaning edits