Natalie's feet randomly led her to where she knew was the perfect place for her to hide out from others in order to collect her thoughts or if she needed time to herself.
The conversation with Minato completely threw her thought process out of loop that she defiantly blamed it on the sensation of vertigo.
Her footsteps loudly echoed against the cobblestone pavement as she silently prayed that he would not be able to hear the noise and use that to locate her.
The raven haired woman's mind mentally combed through the blueprints of the castle that almost was essentially burned in her memory banks whenever she needed to find a decent place to hide.
The perfect destination suddenly surfaces in the green eyed soldier's thoughts, which causes her to briefly pause in the middle of her sprint away from Minato and Jordan.
'That's perfect.' Natalie quietly agrees with her thought process. Majority of the people who personally knew her knows that she hardly spends any time in her bedroom.
'No one will even think to find me there.' She promptly assumes before she double backs until she reaches the respective flight of stairs.
0000
Jordan relished in absolute pure ecstasy, a sensation he only felt when he first discovered that he was in love with Eva or when he first encountered Natalie.
He figured that with the right amount of time, his grand-master plan will slowly unravel before him.
It would expose those around him without so much as a trace to the real origins of the mastermind.
'It was about time something finally went my way. Now all I have to do is just simply get rid of Princess Mai…'
Where was this person at? He needed to locate the young lady to reassure his false participation in the plans to "capture" Eva's position and Aikka's heart.
Luckily for Jordan, he did not have to look too far nor search too hard. He discovers the young lady marveling at the flowers in the Royal family's garden.
'I can't wait for this to be all mine…' Mai inwardly asserts to herself while she critically studies some of Nourasia's finest floral arrangements.
"My, my, my princess, are you interested in flowers?" A familiar masculine voice brings her out of her fascination with the flowers in her vision.
The princess peers upward to see the familiar sparkly golden light that she comes to identify as none other than the Avatar.
"I always like vibrant things that catches my eyes." She honestly confessed with her eyes closed and a smile present on her face.
"You know...once it all works out you can wake up every morning and simply stare at them until your heart's content." The golden entity hints as he shuffles a little closer to the princess.
"Is it that obvious now?" The young woman abruptly questions with the same expression on her face while she cups the flower within her grasp.
He sensed that he was being drawn in to her web of lies when he countered with, "I mean you are doing absolutely nothing to conceal your apparent feelings for the king, princess?"
"Then that means I am doing my job right?" The princess demands before she suggests, "If there is something that you really want then you won't hesitate to eliminate whoever it is that stands in your way, right? It doesn't matter if you do it in a methodical or blunt manner."
"You of all people should have had that experience before, right Avatar?" Mai challenges after she removes the flower from its stem to further admire the beauty.
'She may not be as dense as I made her out to be. I need to be careful with this one.' He inwardly noted to himself after he processed what she just said to him.
"Plenty of times." The intergalatic dignitary honestly admits to the young woman, who squats right in front of him with her back toward him.
"So do you not agree with my mindset?" The princess politely probes while she naturally maintains a sense of white light in her aura, which means she was being genuinely truthful.
"If I didn't then I would have already ratted you out." Jordan purposely states while Mai merely nods her head in agreement.
She leisurely shifts down to another flower bush.
'That was too close.' He inwardly determines to himself before he occupies an empty seat in the garden.
0000
"Are there other people involved in the incident or who could serve as a witness for the confrontation?"
"Care to explain what happened to cause this confrontation?"
Minato silently knew that Rick finally asked the million-dollar question that would save his hid and exposed the Avatar for the liar that he really is.
He clears his throat, scoots a little closer to the desk, and speaks loud enough for the tape recorder to hear each and every word of his answer to that particular question.
"Yes. There is one other person, who served as a witness to the incident." The blonde eagerly speaks up.
The knight abruptly adds, "...but before I reveal their identity I would like to explain in detail how the entire confrontation started."
"Go ahead." Rick verbally orders while he advances his head forward.
He alters his posture to reflect that Minato now fully commands his attention.
"After Queen Eva and I had our discussion in the hallway near the dining hall, I gathered the courage to confess my feelings to Natalie."
"After I rounded the corner, I spotted the Avatar physically force himself on to her. He clearly violated her personal area in an attempt to place a kiss on her lips." He briefly pauses before he includes the most important portion of his statement.
"Might I go on record to report that this is the Avatar's third time he has forced himself on the same castle guard within a couple of days without her verbal permission."
His statement seem to completely catch Rick off-guard, which immediately registers to the blonde that the fire has been lit under the Avatar's behind.
"Why did you not immediately report the first two incidents in to your superior officer?" Rick inquisitively wonders.
His obisidian eyes identify the inquiry as not just an authorize question but one that has some personal feelings behind it.
"Paragraph Four, Section A, One through Three clauses state that it is up to the individual to report the particular incidents in to the superior officer for the sake of their privacy."
"So the Captain of the Battalion #245, Natalie Andros, may serve as the lone key witness to this incident?" He technically clarifies.
The raven haired male constantly fought the black rage that developed after he closely listened to Jordan's illicit actions toward his precious daughter.
"Yes, sir."
"However, I don't know if she is in the mood to discuss about the incident to anyone at the moment. The total shock of what just happen still has some type of affect on her." Minato forewarns Rick of Natalie's current emotional state.
"If there is anything else that you would like to add please say it now. If not then this discipline meeting is adjourned and the tape will be properly submitted to the authorities for further evaluation." The superior officer concludes the interview as one of his fingers hover over the white square button to stop the tape.
"No sir." The young man eventually answers as he watches Rick press the stop button, reaches underneath his desk to produce a manila packet, removes the tape, drops it inside of the manila packet, and seals it back.
"You are dismissed Minato." The raven haired man informed the blonde that he was now permitted to leave his office in order for to process the tape.
"Off the record..." He suddenly verbalizes, which prompts the male to divert his sights from the door to his superior officer.
"I am glad you punched that doofus in the jaw if he attacked Natalie."
Minato nods before he departs from Rick's office when he contemplates '...and here that idiot thought he was going to tie me up in my own country's joy stuck system.'
'He can't even begin to fathom just how many people are in my corner.'
'Now I need to find Natalie…' he mentally concludes once he finally emerges from his formal hearing.
0000
The comfort of solitude occasionally became a drug for Natalie. It seemed that the more she attempted to exclude herself from society the more she would be drawn back in.
Her adopted father, Rick, was much of an exception to her thought process since without him she would not enjoy the life that she has now.
It was just that her childhood was terribly troubled.
The one she desperately attempted to run away from only to find herself unexpectedly reflected back to that unfortunate day.
'That fire…my father…my mother…' The raven haired woman morosely recollects the various scenes from that horrible night.
A painful sensation develops in between the temples of her head.
'For some reason…I can only remember a very bright light and a strange man talking to me.' The young woman begins to remember the specific details of that night.
'I told him what happened and he responded that a smile would look so much cuter on me. Then he asked me if I wanted to play a game but I was in no mood.'
'Then there was that promise that voice held me to. What was it again?'
'Never forget me and continue to live.'
Natalie wearily rests one of her hands in the middle of her forehead.
She then reflected on an odd yet warm sensation being pressed against her skin and then a bright light from that location.
'Something isn't right about that…' The woman inwardly considers before she idly retreats to one corner of the room so she can clearly think.
'Next was my time at the orphanage…which is a total blur to me.'
It was then that whatever happened during that time before Rick adopted her from that place was a complete and total blank.
Her green eyes glance down at her hand in disbelief and envisions, 'When I was trapped in that underground area that strange man…he knew about me!'
"This picture before you is the group picture of children that we collected from various orphanage and as you can see yours was one of the chosen few." He explained.
She recognized that she was in the middle of the crowd of twenty-five kids with a wide smile evident on her face.
He even claimed, "You are just a human being whose limits has been remove through rigorous military training that has been installed within you since you were a little child."
"Well it was a pleasure to see that at least one of the experiments survived."
'I'm not normal…even when I maneuvered through the underground passage with no light and no knowledge of the layout.'
The soldier tightly clenches both of her fists until her knuckles were pale white.
Natalie remembered how she smashed a solid rock boulder with her bare hands.
She merely brings her knees closer to her body while she gently wraps her arms around her knees.
The raven haired woman realizes that this position sort of brings her some sort of comfort.
'I don't want to be here right now.' The captain deems to herself before she rests her forehead against her knees.
0000
"Now you two make sure you head on upstairs to get ready for bed." Aikka calmly orders his kids as he rests his fists against his hips.
The twins casually exchange glance with each other before they unanimously answer to the order with a "Yes father".
The pair promptly execute a salute toward their father as a sarcastic gesture.
"Make sure that you two do everything correctly this time." Eva firmly advises, which prompts the twins to physically nod heir head in agreement.
The dutiful parents watch over their children as they ascend the flight of staircase that lead to their shared room.
"Is there something you're not telling me?" Her husband suddenly demands once the kids were out of sight and sound for the start of their conversation.
Her crimson eyes peek up at him and realize that her inner discussions were rather obvious to her ever so observant husband.
"Yeah. It deals with Minato and Natalie." The raven haired with crimson tips honestly admits before he faces in front of her.
"I mean their problem is similar to the one we had before we started to date, except it is way more complicated than ours will ever be."
The orange haired male furrows his eyebrows at his wife's comment.
He then mentions to her, "...is it because there's a certain annoying individual who is constantly throwing himself at Natalie?"
"Yep. That would be the one." Eva verbally confirms her husband's guess at the particular individual identity.
"He seems to be doing that a lot around here lately. If he continues to disturb the peace in our home then I will have to ask him to kindly leave." The Noursaian deliberately suggests, which oddly did not sit right with her.
"Your reaction right now is exactly what Jordan wants you to have. Trust me, Rick and I know how Jordan operates." She cautiously warns her husband once she immediately recognizes the current expression on his face.
"We can't allow him to abuse the people that we care about feelings." He harshly speaks with irritation present in his tone.
The male then follows up with, "I will have to closely keep him under my watch."
"I can agree to that but you know that it can't be you or someone Jordan is already familiar. The more time he spends with someone the easier it is for him to read their actions." The pregnant woman reminds him of his abilities.
Aikka simply nods his head to show that he comprehends his wife's request for him to do.
0000
Minato finally emerges from the formal Disciplinary meeting with two evident emotions present on his face: the first ire and the other was concern.
'My revenge can wait…I need to see if Natalie is okay.' He inwardly determines as he deviates from his path to the Avatar.
'...but where would she go…' The blonde contemplated before he recalled the direction that Natalie stormed off in.
The young man figured that since she was angry at the fact the Avatar forced himself on her yet again.
'I don't think she left the castle grounds again because she already pulled that trick.' The knight deduces based upon her track record of hideaways.
'I mean there are plenty of places to hide not to mention the underground system but she wouldn't go to that extreme.'
'She just probably wants to be by herself again.'
The male was completely torn in between two feelings: one is uncertainty and the other was an indescribable sensation.
0000
Author's Note:
04.13.17 Major editing revisions
06.26.17 Major cleaning edits