Author's note: This is the offical last chapter of Rip Van Eva, excluding the epilogue.
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Natalie was eventually waking up to the sight of Rick quietly entering inside of the room before gently clutching her head with one of her hands.
The raven haired male occupies the lone seat that was present in the room.
He then removes his dark sunglasses from in front of his face and carries them in his hands.
"I see that my timing is as impeccable than ever." Her father teasingly quips while he becomes comfortable and stares at his daughter in the bed.
A smirk stretches across her face until it straightens out in to a frown when she poses, "What happened at the Dance of the Flowers?"
"Straightforward as ever, huh?" Rick jokingly mutters with a smirk present on his face while he briefly peers upward.
"I'm sure you recall that the Trogs invaded the ballroom and managed to separate you and Minato from the group."
"I don't know exactly what happened after since I escorted some delegates off to safety. You'll have to ask him about that."
Natalie physically lifts the hand that clutches her head, shifts it over to the middle of her forehead, and presses two of her fingers against the surface of her skin.
"I knew I felt like there was something heavy on my head." She honestly admits while she drops her arm down to her side.
"One of the high priests said they were able to extract a golden seed from your forehead."
"But anyway…you wore this golden mask in the shape of a diamond, which covered your entire face."
"After that, you left with the Avatar and Trogs while in the midst of the chaos."
'I still can't believe they were able to get me!'
"After that, I immediately placed the entire military on orders."
"In the middle of our meeting, Kross patched through on our main communication line."
"We eventually were able to strike up a deal, all thanks to Minato's irrational decision to hop on stage and declare for Kross to hand you over."
'Leave it to that idiot to do something as reckless as that.' The raven haired woman inwardly shakes her head at the typical blonde's reactions whenever it involves her wellbeing.
The young woman verbally confirms, "That sounds like something he would do."
"He was rather quite upset and angry at the terms of the deal: If we win, the Trogs will cease any and all future invasions on Noursaia."
"If we lose, there was a chance that you would've become Kross…concubine."
The solider instantly props her upper half upward and dramatically exclaims, "A Trogs' concubine?!"
"I don't think I would've been properly cut out for the job."
Her father could not help but chuckle at her honesty and manages to mention, "I guess you're right."
A sullen silence falls over the room until he was the one to break the quietness, "Even still, I wanted to apologize for the fact I put the needs of others above my own daughter."
The captain then rotates her face towards him and affirms, "Rest easy father, I'm not surprised that you would do such a thing."
"If you hadn't made such a rational decision, I would've questioned your ability to lead the military."
"After all, each one of us swore a solemn vow to place the needs of others before our own."
"Honestly if I were in your position, I would've done the exact same thing." Natalie sincerely voices, "…but how are the king, queen, princes and princesses doing?"
"Well the twins managed to make it to the infirmary where their siblings were because of Eva's suspicious about the dance."
"Aren't you missing someone?" Rick challenges as he twiddles his sunglasses, which earns a deep blush across her cheeks.
The sound of a "knock" followed by the door being opened soon revealed that it was Namikaze was at the entrance.
"I guess it's time for my meeting." He naturally assumes after he promptly slides his glasses on to his face.
Her father stands to his feet and adds, "Make sure you get your rest. You have enough sick days to use at your disposal."
"Namikaze," Natalie immediately calls out to him right before she comes out with, "Could you please stay?"
"I want to hear what happened while I was under the Avatar's influence."
The orange haired knight merely nods his head, closes the door behind Rick and occupies the now empty seat right next to the bed.
"How much has your father told you so far?" He enquiringly inquires so he knows exactly where to start from where Rick left off at.
She briefly ponders over his question and then provides an answer, "He told me what occurred once he placed the military on orders and about the deal with the Trogs."
"So did he tell you how Minato acted?" The older man curiously needles to the woman in front of him, who currently stares down at her hands.
"I think he only told me what he wanted me to know." The raven haired woman honestly discloses before she diverts her sights back on to the wall in front of her.
"That sounds about right. Well…" The knight uttered right before he proceeded to spiel about what happened.
"Rick, what the hell do you think you are doing?!" Minato grumbles after he roughly grabs his superior officer by his collar.
"Minato, put him down!" Namikaze orders after he realizes what was going on between the two.
The blonde tightly clutches his collar before he angrily spiels, "How could you put the country's need over your own daughter?!"
"Minato!" His master calls his name one more time before he approaches the pair until Minato rudely interrupts, "No, I want to hear it from your mouth! Why?!"
Rick simply executes a move so that he presses a pressure point in his wrist, which forces him to remove his hands from around his neck.
"You will do well to watch your tone and remember your position, young man."
The young woman digested the story that Namikaze revealed to her, which earned, "So it wasn't as bad as I thought it was? I swear...that Minato can be a real idiot sometimes."
"You can't tell a man in love not to fight for the person that he loves dearly."
"That's pure blasphemy, if you ask me." He boldly interjects with a stoic expression present on his face.
"That's why he was willing to fight against you in order to bring you back to where you belong."
"Besides, when you two fought each other, I had some serious goosebumps." The male adamantly conveys just how much his pupil had to endure in order to return her to normal.
'We fought each other?!'
"Actually...I think you would make an excellent instructor for squires. I mean you pushed Minato near his limits."
"He had to use Secret Arts to take you down." He promptly announces, which earns her eyes yet again.
"Secret…arts?" The solider repeats, which earns a small sigh from the knight that promptly mentions, "If you ever become a squire instructor, I will tell you all about it."
Namikaze then stands to his feet, straightens his tunic, heads for the door and claims, "For now, there is much work that needs to be done especially after the ruckus you caused earlier."
"I apologize." She honestly apologizes for her action, which merely earns the response of, "You don't need to. It wasn't your fault."
'Sure…'
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Mai leisurely drags the Avatar's limp body through the corridors of a Trogs' ship right before she aimlessly tosses the golden figure within a cell.
Her eyes closely hone in on the magical arrow that presently punctured his shoulder while she punched in a numeric code to lock the door.
"I told you not to mess with her." She honestly quips before she departs from in front of the metallic cage with a smirk visible on her face.
'Those two were really something else.'
The princess casually passes through the corridors once again as she softly hums a rather upbeat melody while she rhythmically bobs her head.
"You seem to be in a good mood." A masculine voice unexpectedly surfaces her from her thoughts when she recognizes Kross in the corridor along with her.
A frown quickly materializes across her face when she instantly alleges, "Consider said mood destroyed," after she promptly halts a couple of feet away from him.
"Mai…you still can't be mad at what I said, right?" The Commander of the Trogs irritably challenges once he physically pushes his back off of the wall.
The spy immediately whirls around to face the Trog with an irate expression present on his face. "You should've never said that!"
"Who gives you the right to dictate how I feel about the situation?!"
"You said something that was offensive to me and our relationship!" Mai furiously replies while she angrily storms up to the taller male and loudly declares, "So I can stay angry…all I want!"
Kross simply lowers his eyes at the Noursaian that was in front of him when he softly voices, "Don't be mad anymore…please?"
"You idiot!" She angrily cries in his chest while she repeatedly bangs her fists against his broad torso.
The princess then feels his arms around her body and brings her closer to him.
"I know, I know," He agrees while he lovingly strokes the back of head and her lower back.
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A day later…
Eva purposely ventures in the direction of the Infirmary in order to check up on her triplets until she spots a familiar outline from a distance.
'Is that who I think it is?' She mentally wonders as she deliberately deviates from her initial path in order to get a better look at the person.
The young woman swiftly covers the distance, carefully approaches the individual, taps one of their shoulders and waits until they turn to face her.
"Natalie, what are you doing?!" The queen shockingly questions once she realizes that it is the godmother of her five children.
Natalie casually flips through some papers that were on the clipboard before she makes known to her queen, "I've been cleared to return back to work."
'It's barely been a full day…' The raven haired woman with crimson tips shockingly concludes about the woman's rapid healing until an image surfaces to the forefront of her mind.
"That's really great news and all but uhm…have you visited Minato yet?" Eva challenges the solider.
The captain merely pauses in the middle of her actions and did not provide an answer to her question.
"Why haven't you gone to visit him?! Do you not know what his condition is?!" She irately poses to the woman since she still did not respond to any of her questions.
"I bet you don't because if you knew you definitely would be at his side!" The raven head with crimson tips honestly alleges after she rudely plucks the clipboard from her grasps.
"Natalie, his condition is growing worse and worse by the minute all because of your selfishness and scary nature to actually go and talk to him." The older woman firmly asserts while she tucks the clipboard in between her armpit.
The queen's abrupt confrontation left the woman in a state of shock as she only manages to utter, "Queen Eva,"
"No, don't you Queen Eva me!"
"Go and see Minato right now or so help me, I will personally remove you from your post and discard your rank." She furiously threatens the solider, which seems to bring her out of her revere mood.
Crimson eyes simply watch as Natalie speedily sprints in the direction of where Minato is.
A masculine voice remarks, "You were a bit harsh there, don't you think Eva?"
"Well you shouldn't have raised such a freaking stubborn daughter!" She furiously claims after she roughly smacks his chest with the clipboard and leaves it in his care.
Rick merely watches as the 'Little Mouse' angrily grumbles down the hallway, which prompts him to softly regard, "That's hilarious coming from the likes of you."
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'She's right! I've been avoiding the situation like I always do.'
'I really need to apologize for my coarse nature.'
Natalie eventually reaches Minato's location, softly knocks on the door, and pushes it slightly open in order to stick her head in.
'I wonder what I should say to him?' She wonders after she enters the room.
The young woman nervously rests in one of the chairs that were by the bed.
"Hm…" Minato discretely reaches out to touch her hand and happily smiles at the familiar contact.
"What took you so long?" He curiously posed to his companion that presently sat by his bedside.
"I was scared." The raven haired woman honestly admits.
His thumb gently rubs against the top of her hand as he silently relishes the physical touch.
"I'll forgive you...this time." The blonde jokingly quips with a smile on his face before he playfully alleges, "I hope you know that I do require a lot of attention from now on."
His response earns a similar smile from the solider across from him when she firmly expresses, "I am well aware of that."
The captain soon realized that his eyes were now wide open and directly locked with hers.
"By the way, you were so cool!"
"You had this wreath that turned into this gladiator helmet! It was like this awesome power up!" The young man was dramatically describing before having a violently coughing fit.
"I swear woman, you're the only one who can cause this much damage to me!" The knight teasingly huffs along with a smirk, which earns him, "I apologize".
"You don't have to…you were brainwashed." Minato merely downplays with a simple wave of his hands.
'Namikaze said something similar to me yesterday.' He inwardly recalls.
He casts his sights over to the canopy of the bed when he utters, "You're probably tired of people controlling your mind."
A small smile stretches across her face at the comment right before she ultimately agrees, "That I am."
His eyes soon divert back to Natalie as he confidently mentions, "Well, I won't let them manipulate one thing…"
"And what's that?" She curiously poses after she scoots closer to the bed in order to listen to the blonde.
He swiftly presses his index finger against her chest, flashes a brief smile on his face, and solemnly vows, "Your heart".
"I'll hold you to that." The raven haired woman asserts right before she grabs his hand, leans in closer to him and the pair exchange a simple peek on the lips.
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Author's Note:
12.15.16 Major editing revision
04.06.17 Minor editing revision