A few months later…
"Have the final preparations for the Dance of the Flowers been completed?" Eva poses to the two women, who occupy her in her and her husband's master bedroom.
"Yes…now calm down. Natalie and I took care of everything." Noi assures the present Queen with a small smile on her face as she speaks to her.
"I would've helped but…" She spins around to face her as anxiety surfaces to her face while she talks.
"No buts, you have three newborns that need your attention." Noi reassures after she settles her left hand on Eva's right shoulder.
"Speaking of children…I need you to help Kiera and Kirean with their outfits for tonight." Eva suddenly speaks up since she was about to head to the twin's room.
Natalie quickly blocks her path and says to the frantic woman, "Don't worry, I got that covered."
"After all, I am their godmother." She bolsters with a prideful expression on her face after she jabs her thumb in the valley of her breast.
The queen "thanks" the raven haired beauty before she departs from the presence of the former and current queens of Noursaia.
The woman trudges back to her seat when she registers that Noi was about to take her leave of the room.
"Uhm, Queen Noi…can I talk to you for a second?" Eva quickly speaks up as she halts the older woman within her strides.
An expression of concern materializes on Noi's face after she hears the tone of her voice and her present disposition. "Yes, what is it dear?"
"Have you ever had premonitions before while you were queen?" She curiously poses to the woman, which earns the response, "Well, I used to have them but they were really blurry so I couldn't see anyone's face."
'I mean the faces were blurry but I remember seeing Natalie, Minato on the ground, and an intense bright light.' Eva recalled the details that stood out the most in her dream.
"However, whenever I would have a really vivid image then it will come true in days, weeks, months and maybe even within years from now." The older woman admitted in a slight dazed tone with her eyes now focused more on the outside rather than on Eva.
"I see." She utters before Noi firmly states, "Even after all these years, if my guts says something I will listen to it."
That was all she needed to solidify her resolve when she petitioned Queen Noi for a favor, "Can you inform Rick and some of the others to be on alert?"
Noi nods her head and departs from Eva's bedroom, which leaves her to her thoughts. 'I just hope what I saw doesn't come true.'
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"If there aren't any more topics to discuss," Rick pauses as he briefly stares at each individual that sits at the Round table before he continues, "I bring this meeting to a close."
The Knights merrily dismiss themselves to their rooms since they already completed their pleasantries before their meeting even started.
"Minato…" A familiar voice shouts to him before he registers it as his master's voice that calls out to him.
'Here we go with the scolding...' He mentally prepared himself to be belittle by him, yet it never happened.
Minato feels the palm of his master's hand roughly slaps against his shoulder blade, which causes him to stumble a bit forward.
He then proclaims, "I knew you like to pick fights…but the Avatar?! You just might have a pair."
"What?! You aren't mad at me?!" His response catches him completely off guard since it shows in his tone and on his face.
The scruffy older male piercingly roars with laughter while he merrily asserts, "The evidence speaks for itself, squirt!"
Namikaze swiftly cuts the act and becomes extremely serious that Minato could feel the atmosphere around them.
"You defended those in need even though you did assault an Intergalactic Figure."
"Nevertheless, you upheld chivalry and the principles of knighthood." He solemnly affirms with a grave expression present on his face.
The young man sadly drops his shoulders, cuts his eyes away from his master, and honestly admits, "I was still reckless."
Namikaze gently rests his hand on top of his head and assures him, "As long as you are aware of your mistakes then it wouldn't be right of me to punish you."
Meanwhile, Queen Noi managed to reach the area that the Knights used whenever they would have to convene for a meeting.
"Are you busy, Rick?" She questions after she was able to locate him among the guards with his respective Knight color, black.
"We just finished our Knights of the Round meeting, ma'am." He confirms as he adjusts his glasses, which earns him a "Good".
"Is there something wrong, Queen Noi?" Rick poses since it was rare for anyone to be within the vicinity whenever they would conduct their meetings.
Noi closely observers the area before she quietly discloses, "Eva feels something bad is going to happen tonight. She only wants you to tell a few people."
He quirks an eyebrow up at the sudden prediction of misfortune at such a sacred event such as the Dance of the Flowers.
The former swiftly left with a "thank you" since he understood that it was a big risk for her to even be there at the moment.
'So that makes another one who feels the same way too.'
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"Hey, did you hear someone knocking at the door?" Kieran poses to his sister after he pops his head from their bathroom.
The sound of knocks could be heard, which prompted Kiera to yell out "Who is it?!"
A familiar feminine voice responds with, "It's me, Natalie. Are you two dressed?"
Kiera quickly maneuvers toward the door, twists the knob, props open the door, and permits Natalie to enter inside of their room.
"Ah…I see you two are dressed." She asserts once she realizes that the twin was fully dress in her royal garb.
Kieran eventually emerges from inside of the bathroom, recognizes their godmother in their room, and asks, "What about you?"
Green eyes peer down to register her attire, looks back at the twins and confesses, "I just came from your mother's room."
"Oh…are the triplets dressed?" Kiera curiously poses to their godmother before she interjects, "If not, we can make sure so you can go get dressed."
She exchanges a glance between Kiera and Kiera, releases a sigh and claims, "True. I do need to get dress."
"I will entrust you with that mission then." The solider charges them with a duty, which earns a nod from the twins.
"Good. Well, I will be back once I am done. Bring the triplets here as well." Natalie issues her specific orders prior to her departure from the twins' room.
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"Whoa kid…you really know how to clean up." Namikaze teases once Minato finally steps out from behind a dressing wall clad in his Knights of the Round formal garb.
The said blonde notes his appearance before he retorts, "I mean I did learn how to properly primp from a narcissistic bastard."
"Foul mouthed toward your teacher like always, eh Minato?" Rick's voice promptly chimes in after he overhears the pair's conversation upon his arrival.
Namikaze chuckles, shakes his head, and comments, "I'm surprised the squirt actually remembered what I taught him."
His obsidian eyes simply watch as the two old friends converse with each other about old times until one of them brings up Natalie's name.
"Speaking of, I haven't seen her at all since I got here." His master admits to his friend, which earns a nod from Rick.
"She's probably with the Royal Guard right now. Queen Eva made it a point that we're recognized to the citizens of Noursaia." The raven haired male reveals while he shifts his weight from his left leg to the right.
An expression of awe was present on Namikaze's face when he proclaims, "Well isn't that nice of her to do for us."
"I was equally surprised when she extended us an invitation to attend." His old friend discloses with a smirk on his face.
They were usually security during parties such as the Dance of the Flowers.
A "hm" emits from the brunette's lips before he inquisitively inquires, "So what about security?"
"Some soldiers actively volunteered to conduct security detail because they don't fare well at social events." He repeated verbatim once he remembered that not everyone happily agreed with the idea of participation in the dance.
In the midst of their conversation, the rest of the Knight of the Round assembled inside of their designated room.
"Well my brothers, it has been a wonderful opportunity to led each and every one of you. I propose a toast for good health, wealth, and longevity. Hear ye!" Rick broadcasts to his comrade in arms.
A resounding "Hear ye" and clinking of metallic chutes was echoing throughout the room as they were cheering and jeering.
"Excuse me knights, it is time for you all to line-up for the introductions. Please follow me." A servant abruptly broadcasts to the room full of knights.
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"We would like to recognize and honor those who continuously risk their lives to serve and protect our precious kingdom from any and all forms of danger." A feminine voice suddenly airs while she reads off the clipboard the next group in the lineup.
"The first group is the high ranking officers."
'Well it's time.' Natalie inwardly thinks as she closely follows behind her fellow comrade, who leads the line on the right hand side.
'It's so stuffy in this uniform.' Namikaze irritably complains while he gentle tugs at the stiff collar of his uniform.
He then watches in amusement as his student adamantly searches for Natalie within the crowd of officers.
'Where's Natalie?!'
One of the aides swiftly races up to the high ranking officers in order to disclose, "If you are a part of the Royal Guard, take this corridor here."
"Another aid will guide you from there."
'Sorry…this is a little too much.' The young woman inwardly comments before she sprints down the corridor in her given to her next position.
Once she reached the end of her designated line, she speedily adjusted the fabric of her dress so she could walk a bit easier.
"Now we will recognize the Royal Family Guard. This very select group of people that constantly risk their lives in order to protect our King and his family."
'Where is Nat?' The blonde curiously wonders as he desperately attempts to spot her in the crowd.
'She should be in this group though.'
"Oi Minato, hurry up and get back in line!" His master promptly orders before he drags the boy back to his position.
"I was supposed to…" The young knight breaks the silence only to be rudely, "Ssh!"
"The next group are highly esteemed officers, who have been personally acknowledged by the King and/or Royal family member as an exemplary individual to earn the title of Knight of the Round."
"Isn't that the group of soldiers that Minato is in?" Mai inquisitively poses after she grabs one of the cups of juice from the punch table.
"Unfortunately…" The raven haired woman softly mutters while she pours herself a cup of juice, which earns the next question, "Is a Knight your goal?"
The solider chuckles at the princess before she honestly discloses to her, "I'd given up on that a long time ago."
"Why is that? You're extremely close to the Royal family." Princess Mai curiously wonders after she takes a sip of the juice.
This time the captain simply cracks a smile as she returns the ladle inside of the bowl.
The older woman then remarks, "I barely was offered the opportunity to be a part of the Royal Guard."
"Besides, you would have to actively campaign in order to even secure an audience with the Round."
"Then it goes to a vote, a unanimous vote is a MUST before you can proceed to the next step." Natalie emphasizes "must" once she reveals that tad bit of information to her.
'Wait...is that Natalie?' Minato mentally ponders after he falls in to his respectively line right next to his master on the side of the staircase.
"A skilled, passionate, and loyal individual is needed if one is to command the entire military without so much as breaking a sweat. One must learn to lead with an iron fist and a gentle heart. Sir Rick Andros."
Rick dutifully advances forward, bows at the waist and promptly signals for the Knights to proceed to their next position.
They soon evenly separate in two single file lines, executes a left or a right turn in order to face each other and brandishes their sabers at "Present Arms".
"The future of our kingdom lies in the hands of our princes and princesses."
A wave of "awes" instantly erupt at the sight of the older prince and princess, clad in their formal wear, appear within their line of vision.
Kiera randomly hugs Minato, who merely smiles at the child's action. Kieran, in turn, extends his fist out toward him and earns a fist bump in return.
"Give me just a minute, princess." The raven haired woman suddenly mentions once she spots her godchildren amongst the crowd of partygoers.
"By all means, go see the children." She encourages before she watches the woman quickly departs from her side.
"Now don't you two look beautiful and handsome?" The twins hear a familiar feminine voice compliments them.
"Natalie!" The two happily exclaim before she receives a hug at the same time from the pair.
"Mommy and Daddy are next!" They merrily assert as they point in the direction of the grand staircase.
"The current king and queen reign with dignity, empathy and compassion. Their love for our kingdom and the people knows no bounds. Please help me welcome King Aikka and Queen Eva."
The crowd cheerfully applauds for the king and queen while Aikka stealthily converses with his wife as they descend down the grand staircase.
"There are a lot of people here." He mutters underneath his breath, which earns Eva's response of, "I know right."
The Knights of the Round dutifully returns their sabers to its sheath after the king and queen passes underneath them.
Rick then issued for them to disperse out in to the crowd.
The orchestra soon performs the traditional piece for the king and queen's first dance as Aikka and Eva gracefully glide across the ballroom floor.
'Aha, there she is!' Minato happily thinks once he finally locates Natalie amongst the crowd of people with Kiera and Kieran.
"Can your old man have this dance?" Rick unexpectedly asks his daughter after he manages to quickly cover the distance that separates him from the group.
"Whoa…whoa…Rick that is so not fair!" The blonde angrily declares as he shakes his fist at the older man because of his actions.
His reaction earns giggles from the twins, however Mai extends herself as an option for a dance partner.
"You did that on purpose." His daughter reveals while she spins back in to her father's arm.
This earns a coyly response, "What can I say? I will always deserve the first dance."
"Why do I detect a hint of jealousy in your tone, Sir Rick?" She jokingly accuses with a small smile on her face.
"Jealousy?! More like being an overprotective father figure." He corrects her with a slight shake of his head.
"Well you don't have to worry about that." The soldier reassures him as she briefly closes her eyes.
A couple minutes passed before a new song was played by the ensemble. It served as a official signal to alternate partners.
The young knight was dead set on Natalie, which earns Mai's retort, "Go get her tiger!"
Suddenly a blur of red crossed his peripheral before he watched Rick graciously handed Natalie over to none other than…his master.
"Oh, come on!" The young man frustratingly declares until he feels a hand on his shoulder. "Straighten up. You're still on duty."
"May I have this dance…Sir Minato?" A random young woman politely inquires once she approaches him.
He then feels Rick promptly pushes him in her direction.
"I take it that you and my father purposely planned for this to happen?" Natalie needles as she briefly separates from the orange haired male before she returns to his arm length.
A toothy grin stretches across his face before he curiously challenges, "Who says we can't pull pranks at our age?"
"Would you look at those two dancing so happily together?" Namikaze teases the young woman, who unknowingly squeezes his shoulders tightly from his accusation.
"Sheesh, Natalie! Now, I see why you earned the nickname Iron Fist." He painfully hisses while he roughly breaks his shoulder away from her grasp.
His pain earns him, "Apologizes,"
The older male coolly shakes it off right before he calmly assures, "It's quite alright. We're just happy that you two turned out the way we wanted you too."
"What do you mean by that?!" She inquisitively grills as she briefly tilts her head to the side and catches a glimpse of Minato.
"You two not constantly at each other necks, but I think he has suffered enough. Go on and put him out of his misery." The older knight sincerely confesses.
Namikaze and Natalie politely separate from each other, graciously bow or curtesy to each other, and head in different directions.
"You have a wonderful sense of humor, Sir Minato." She overhears the woman compliment the blonde, who merely smiles as a response.
"Pardon me." The captain politely says while she taps his shoulder in order to capture his attention prior to her request, "May I have this dance?"
If he was not presently in his Knight's uniform, he damn near would have tossed the young lady off to the side.
However, he was strictly discplined to show chivalry to women at all times so he cordially halts the dance and thanks her for her time.
"Shall we?" Minato eagerly directs as he extends a hand to the raven haired woman, who simply accepts the gesture.
At the same time, Mai finally met up with the Avatar after yet another partner rotation. "Did you manage to match the frequency?"
A mere smirk stretches across his face when he confidently asserts, "It was no problem. I was just waiting for you to catch up."
"It really is a good turn out of people, eh Eva?" She nods her head in agreement as she simply watches the happy go-lucky expression present on each and every one of their guest.
"I think Kieran and Kiera are trying some moves on the dancefloor. Oh and look at that…Natalie and Minato are dancing together."
Her crimson eyes travel to the couple, who appears to be in a deep conversation with each other.
She was observing Minato, who was earning small smirks and even smiles from the usually stoic Iron Fist Natalie.
'Good for them!' Eva determines with a similar smile on her face right before her eyes eventually roam over to see Jordan and Mai together.
For some strange reason, her premonition from earlier seemed to steadily creep right back in to her thoughts now accompanied with an eerie sensation.
'What's this feeling?'
A few more minutes elapse when the ground unexpectedly trembles as if an earthquake occurs in their exact location.
Yet, a loud boom and a flash of bright light deemed that it was more than just a regular earthquake.
The unexpected sight of Trogs begin to rapidly flood the castle's ballroom floor. They appeared from the top of the grand staircase and a couple through the side corridors.
A "What the heck?" slipped from one of the guests' mouth once realization dawned on them that Noursaia had been evaded.
Eva abruptly feels a warm hand on her arm, registers the hand as Aikka, and then feels him drag her in the opposite direction.
She noted that some of the soldiers fought to defend against the Trogs while others attempted to help escort everyone else to safety.
'Where's Minato and Natalie?!" The young woman mentally wonders as her eyes desperately seeks out the blonde man and raven haired woman amongst the crowd.
Natalie and Minato were back to back in the middle of the ballroom floor.
She easily shoots down some of the Trogs after she seizes one of their weapons while he cuts them down.
"How did they slip past the Border Patrol?!" The young woman loudly questions, which earns her a, "Who knows?"
"Someone must have snuck them in." The solider mutters to herself as she fires off a couple rounds to take down a handful of the Trogs.
'Now we can't let you have your way now can we?' Jordan inwardly proclaims prior to his teleportation in front of Natalie.
"Sprout forth and bathe the world in light." He solemnly recites while he presses one of his inder fingers against her forehead.
The blonde felt her swiftly stiffen in her posture, which prompted him to inquire, "Are you alright?! Did you get hurt?!"
A nagging sensation was constantly telling him to look and find out for himself. Ever so briefly rotating his head around, he was watching the back of Natalie's head.
The woman merely advances forward from her current position, which potentially leaves his back vulnerable to attacks.
"Natalie!" The young man yells out the woman's name as Eva desperately attempts to pass through the crowd of bodies but could never reach the end.
"Move out of my way!" The queen angrily demands and as if on cue the crowd evenly split down the middle.
Eva rapidly dashes down the open aisle until she finally reaches the end of the crowd only to discern Minato's body against the floor on the other end.
"What's going on?!" She breathlessly questions, however this time no one answers or responds to her.
Instead, her crimson eyes watch as Minato frantically flails about like a fish out of water.
Natalie merely faces away from Eva and casually climbs the grand staircase in the ballroom.
She leisurely drags the tip of the sword against the carpet with a Trogs' gun in her possession. There was blood that stained the bottom portion of her blue dress.
"Natalie, wait a minute!" The queen desperately shouts but the raven haired woman simply advances forward.
The woman happened to rotate her head and examined a golden mask that shielded her face.
An "oh no" slipped from her lips at the realization that the omen she witnessed earlier had actually came to fruition.
"Duck, Eva!" Aikka loudly yelled as he leapt in to action and managed to slice off the hand of a Trog, who gun was aimed at her head.
Her husband then quickly assumed a defensive stance in front of her.
Surprisingly, the Trogs start to instantly retreat from within the ballroom and even on the castle grounds.
"Are you alright, Eva?!" He frantically needles right before Rick's voice breaks through the noise, "What just happened?!"
"Natalie! They took Natalie!" Minato frustratingly yells as he repeatedly punches the floor in front of him.
"How were they even able to slip through the defenses?" Namikaze poses the million dollar question at hand.
"I want every military officer report immediately to headquarters!" Rick promptly declares loud enough for everyone to hear.
"We're coming too!"
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Author's Note:
12.14.16 Major editing revision
04.07.17 Minor editing revision