NationStates Jolt Archive

"I'm wary about letting any kind of business people in," Kurt said shaking his heard. "They care only for themselves and making money."

Kurt's eyes flashed green as he thought about who he could appoint as Lords. "Garruil Cyredathem," he wondered.

"If you could pull him away from his vampire hunting he'd be a good choice," Quatre agreed.

"Who else? chaos?" I asked.

"Perhaps," Kurt nodded, his eyes back at his normal yellow colour.

"Lord chaos sounds cheesy," Elrohir remarked, he was stood beside one of the many windows and still looked exactly like Eamonn.

Zathar re-entered the throne room, he wasn't alone however as stood behind him was a rather old looking woman dressed in navy blue robes. Like Zathar, she too had silver hair.

"Found my grandmother," he announced.

Kurt was actually glad for the brief distraction.

"Hello, Ma'am." I bowed my head in respect.

'Grandmother' Cyredathem smiled and bowed back as she crossed the room. "I have been told I am needed to teach his majesty proper manners," she said.

"What?" Kurt scowled at Zather. He didn't need to be aught manners, he felt, he just needed everyone else to get off his back about his eating habits.

Ryujin grinned at the King's discomfort as I merely smiled.

She then noticed Ryujin and walked over to him, ignoring why she was actually there for. A stranger with the family hair colour was certainly more interesting.

"I have not seen you around," she remarked, poking Ryujin in the shoulder. "You are not a Cyredathem are you? I would surely know you if you were."

"No. I am Ryujin, no relation to the older namesake." The dragon replied.

'Grandmother' Cyredathem looked over Ryujin and rubbed her chin. "Have you met my granddaughter Kethoro? You two would make such a wonderful couple," she said with a smile.

"Grandmother, Kethoro hates it when you try to match up a prospective husband for her," Zathar scowled.

"Poppycock," she replied. "She just needs a little push in the right direction."

I chuckled as my dragon friend turned a nice shade of pink.

"Time for your medication," Zathar muttered under his breath.

"So when's best for you to work your magic on Kurt?" Quatre asked.

The new King shot a glare at him.

"Oh any time," 'Grandmother' Cyredathem said. "I have plenty of time now that I leave the hunting to the youngings."

Quatre smiled. "Then tomorrow is fine."

Kurt folded his arms and sulked.

"It's for your own good, Kurt." I smiled. "You will have guests of honor, diplomatic guests and all that. You'll do well not to offend them. After all, what they will perceive of you is what they will perceive of DN."

Kurt muttered something along the lines of 'don't care' as he scowled at him.

"Oh this is going to be alot of work," 'Grandmother' Cyredathem said.

Kurt muttered something along the lines of 'don't care' as he scowled at him.

"Oh this is going to be alot of work," 'Grandmother' Cyredathem said.
I sighed, and scowled back. "Listen, Kurt, is it too much of you to at least learn how to act like a proper king? You may be the King, but there are still rules of etiquette that you must follow. Understand?"

Besides, nations have declared war for insults as minor as bad table manners. I didn't add.

"Ok fine," Kurt scowled. "But only around foreign guests." Uptight gits.

Despicable slob. I sighed and hoped that he'd change his mind for everything.

Kurt sighed as 'Grandmother' Cyredathem left the throne room.

"To be King you have to make sacrifices for the good of your nation as I have done for my village," Gaara told him.

"And I for my worlds as well." I agreed. "You cannot ever forget that, otherwise you will surely become like your grandfather."

Kurt sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Just when I thought I could finally relax too," he said.

I shrugged. "Just gotta find time between working as King."

"Well the state my grandfather left the country in is pretty much going to make that zilch for now," Kurt sighed.

"Yeah, I know." I said.

Kurt finally managed a smile, "Now I know why my father had advisors and PR," he said.

I smiled back. "Perhaps."

"My mother was a member of the Kings PR," Namus said, still looking like Kisame. "But I don't think I could do that myself."

Kurt looked toward him, he looked rather strange as the S-Class criminal. "Your more suited to computers anyway," he said.

Had it not been for the princes furry appearence, the others would have noticed Kurt turn pale as he held his hand over his mouth and teleported away.

Quatre's face turned to a more frustrated look. "He still isn't used to it," he realised.

"And that's the least of his worries right now," came the voice of Jr. He had entered the throne room and was walking towards them. "Only now are we finding out the true horrors of Azazel's reign."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How far did he go?"

Jr shook his head, "So far we've only picked up a few things here and there including experimentation of humans, elves and dwarves etc.," he explained. "From what we've gathered there is something big in Dark Valley."

"So you want to check it out?" Sasuke asked.

"We're going to have to," Jr said.

"But Kurt is going to stay here," Quatre told them.

Jr nodded in agreement. "He has other national matters to attend to."

"If you don't want to don't," Temari said. "We're heading out tomorrow, it's a good way to get Eamonn, Ichigo and Kimiko to get to know each other better."

"Is that wise?" Gaara questioned his sister.

Temari shot him a glare and left the throne room.

Kurt stumbled out of the bathroom and leaned against a wall in the corridor. This having the spirit of Ddauchlor inside of him was going to take some getting used to. As the corridor continued to keep spinning around him he wondered if this was what morning sickness was like. His eyes flashed green and he teleported back to the throne room.

"Feeling better?" Quatre asked.

Kurt slowly nodded. "This is going to take some getting used to," he told him as Shadow appeared on the back of the throne.

"Better now?" I asked as Kurt teleported back.

"If I don't puke in the next five minutes, I'd say yea," Kurt told him. "I feel like I'm pregnant or something."

"You're male it's not possible," Shadow said. "That Temari on the other hand."

Kurt ignored what Shadow said and yawned. "I'm going to bed," he said and teleported away.

Quatre looked at the others. "If you are planning to cxheck out Dark Valley I must warn you," he began, his face serious. "It was a dark and dangerous place long before Azazel took over."

"Dark?" Taylor asked, overhearing us.

"Dangerous?" Jacob replied.

"We'll take the mission!" The two chorused.

I shook my head and smiled. "All right, but follow their lead, all right? Don't want you getting hurt now!"

'Yessir!" They saluted.

Jr smiled at them, "As Temari said, you'll be leaving tomorrow," he said. "Better get some rest before hand."

"I wish you luck then," Quatre said before leaving the throne room.

"All right. I'm turning in." I said, apparating to bed with a yawn. The twins disappeared as well, heading to the room they share. Night has fallen, and now we sleep for another day of excitement and adventure!

Kurt was up early the next day, a legacy of going to bed early. Walking down the staircase at the main doors as he went to the dining room, he saw Temari and Eamonn at the doors with a boy and girl he had not seen before. Both looked twelve, maybe thirteen. The boy had red hair just like Jr, but had black eyes instead of blue. The girl had shoulder length light blue hair, but from where he was he couldn't see her eyes.

"Whats up?" he asked them, yawning slightly.

"On a mission, just waiting for some stragglers," Temari told him.

Temari scowled, "They're late," she said, her voice sounded rather angry. "Ichigo, go find out were they are."

The young red haired boy grinned and ran up the stairs past the King, whom had decided to find out who the sragglers were. Ichigo found their room and burst in shouting at the top of his voice.

"This is your wake up call."

Two twin-shaped holes in the ceiling later, the twins were wide awake and frantically getting ready to go on the trip. In less than five minutes, with a bit of eating MREs in the last thirty seconds, they were ready to go.

"About time too," Temari scowled at them. "Lets head out."

Temari then headed out the front doors down to where a shuttle was waiting for them, it just so happened to be the Exetergrecia Academy shuttle and was piloted by the same man since the academy had moved to it's current location. The black haired man waited patiently as they climbed aboard.

"Fastest way to Dark Valley," Temari explained.

The twins climbed into the shuttle and it sped on its way to the Dark Valley.

They flew over a large desert area, before a forest appeared on the horizon. As it grew larger, they could see that it stretched as far as the eye could see right up to the high walls of a city.

"Theres Dark Haven," the man said as he set the shuttle down just ahead of the forest.

"We'll send for you when the missions over Shinji," Temari told him and disembarked.

The twins disembarked after Temari and her team and looked around the forest.

"You can feel the dark magic already," Kimiko said.

Temari nodded as the shuttle took off. "Stay close," she told them and leapt into the trees.

As the others took off behind her, Ichigo yelled, "Last ones a Sasori puppet."

"We'll see about that!" Taylor yelled back, as he jumped through the trees after them. Even with the evil magic in the air, a race is on! Jacob just shook his head and matched speed with the others.

Once they were within a mile of the city, Temari held up her hand and stopped them.

"From here on, stay together," she told them. "From here we will walk to the roadside and head into Dark Haven."

Once they were within a mile of the city, Temari held up her hand and stopped them.

"From here on, stay together," she told them. "From here we will walk to the roadside and head into Dark Haven."
"Right." The twins nodded.

Soon they made it to the roadside and began the short walk into Dark Haven. The traffic was slow going into the city, most of the cars were driven by normal looking people. Soon however, they found the reason for the traffic jam, to get inside the city they had to go through checks of some kind before being waved through. Temari led them up to a booth where people on foot could enter, a woman who looked rather much like Yozak in drag waved them through. Once inside the dark dreary city Temari stopped walking and faced the others.

"Right first order is to set base in a hotel before we gather information," she then said. "And Ichigo, behave yourself."

Ichigo gave her the innocent look.

"You too, Taylor..." Jacob said sternly to his slightly older brother.

"Who me?" Taylor smiled innocently.

"I'll have Daniel give you extra training sessions if you don't behave."

"All right, all right..." Taylor grumbled.

Temari raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she led them down into a dark side alley. She knocked on a door and a slide window opened revealing yellow eyes. It quickly closed and the door opened, they stepped inside and were greeted by a tall gaunt looking dark elf. He eyed them suspiciously, particurly the twins. He shut the door behind them as Temari led them upstars, the whole place smelt of mold with perhaps the hint of death about.

"It's not much but we don't need to draw attention to ourselves," Temari explained.

She opened a door and led them into a surprisingly large room. Though there was only one kingsized bed.

"It's ok. Not great, but we take what we get." Taylor shrugged.

Temari nodded as she sat down in an old, well worn chair. Meanwhile Ichigo divedbombed the bed to sit down on it.

"Have to contact Jr," Temari said, pulling out a communicator.

The holographic image of Jr appeared in the room in front of them. "Made it I see."

"Yea, not to hard," Temari said. "Next thing is to gether info."

The hologram nodded. "Dark Haven Library would be a good place to start."

Temari looked to the others. "Any objections?"

"Nope." "No." The twins had no objections.

"Be careful though, Dark Haven is a bad place," Jr warned them.

"Bad place?" Kimiko gulped.

"You'll need the maps at the library, particularly the old ones," Jr then added.

"Thank you," Temari said and the holographic image vanished. She looked to the others. "First stop, Dark Haven Library."

"Let's go, then." Taylor said, with a reserved and more cautious Jacob in tow.

Fortunately for them, the library was not far from the hotel. The building looked like any ordinary library from any other part of Draconis Nightcrawlis, the only difference was the rather shifty looking characters that used the library and the fact that most of the books inside dealt with the dark arts.

"Keep close," Temari warned as they entered.

As she lead them towards the Dark Valley geography section, they recieved suspicious glances from the staff and a few of those looking through the many bookcases.

"Something tells me we're not welcome here." Jacob whispered to Taylor.

"Yeah. Same here..."

Eamonn's eyes narrowed as he scowled at them, they couldn't see however since he had his sunglasses on.

"Don't read too much into it," Temari told them. "We just need maps, and oh Ichigo keep your shut shut or you won't be eating solids for a couple of months."

Ichigo folded his arms and sulked.

"Right, let's get them." Taylor said, wondering what's her beef with Ichigo.

Kimiko and Temari were quick to start looking through books, looking for maps. While Ichigo sulked, Eamonn wandered off to another part of the library.

Eamonn found what he was looking for, perhaps the others were looking in the wrong place as he grabbed a map from the map rack. Then again he didn't see any onld maps, only ones most up to date. They would do however as he didn't understand, nor care why Jr had told them to look for old maps.

"This is the worst part," Temari muttered. "I hate researching."

Still, she continued to look through the books.

The twins began searching through older books, looking for the maps Jr suggested.

A man in a dark hooded robe stood near them, he had the strong smell of rotting flesh around him. A gloved hand emerged and took a book from the shelf. Both Kimiko and Ichigo held theirs tops over their faces.

"Hmm," Temari muttered, finally finding an old map in one of the books.

Whoof! A walking rotten corpse... Taylor pinched his nose as the stinky guy passed through.

"Urgh, someone forgot to bury their dead," Ichigo complained as the man walked off with the book.

"Any luck?" Temari asked the twins as Eamonn returned. She held the book with the old map in, in her hand.

"Nope." "No." The twins shook their heads. "You?"

"Just one old map," Temari said and shook her head. "It's as if someone has been trying to make sure there are no old maps of Dark Valley, the new ones they sell hide large areas of forest as if they don't exist."

Eamonn looked down at the new maps he'd picked up and scowled.

"You think someone knows we're here and want to slow us down or something?" Jacob asked.

Temari shook her head. "I think it's more to do with secrecy in Dark Valley and keep everyone from finding certain things, not just us," she replied.

"Oh, wonder what's so secret..." Taylor trailed off.

"That's what we're here to find out," Temari told him. "What we are looking for is somewhere in the forest but there are thousands of miles of forest to search."

"Come on, time to head out," Temari suggested. "We have pieces of a puzzle to put together now."

Ichigo's eyes seemed to light up, it was as if he were glad to be leaving the library.

Like ichigo, the twins were eager to leave the spooky library. Hell, there was even an old hag at the corner, looking hungrily at them! Creepy!

Once back in the large but dank hotel room Temari lay the few maps they had found, one old one and the new ones that Eamonn had found. He had gone to stand by the window and was silently staring out.

"Kimiko leaned over to the twins and said, "Creepy isn't he."

Temari looked down at the maps before picking up the old book.

"Yeah. Our older brother and him have a history, but he never talks about it much..." Taylor said. "Must've been bad."

"Oh," Kimiko replied.

"Interesting," Temari mentioned. "Theres an old city shown in the old map that isn't on any of the new ones."

"Really?" Jacob asked. "Maybe what we're looking for is in that city."

Temari nodded, "I would say so, it's a good place to start," she said.

"Alright!" Ichigo yelled. "A ghost city."

Eamonn just watched from the window, saying nothing. It still unnerved Kimiko the way he did that.

Deep in the forest, Temari took out the old book once more. She checked it against the new map that just showed nothing but forest.

"According to this we're nearly there," she said.

"Oh, good, because I think I saw a giant spider a little while back." Taylor grumbled. He was unhappy because of the slightly damp atmosphere of the forest, makes it harder to start fires.

Temari turned around and smirked at him. "Scared of spiders eh?" she replied. "Better hope we don't run into a ninja who controls spiders."

She laughed as she leapt up into the trees to carry on towards the 'ghost' city. The three young ninja's followed behind.

"I'm not afraid of them...much." Taylor yelled and jumped after them, followed by a snickering Jacob. As fire is a spider's worst enemy, Taylor is normally fearless, but with the damp air...

A few minutes later they came across several houses that looked abandoned. Temari and the others leapt to the ground. In the eiree silence Temari took note, the houses did look abandoned, she was sure that this marked the outskirts of the missing city.

"Times like this you need a Byakugan user in the group," she said. "Scout out the area."

"At least we got Kage Bunshin." Taylor smirked and the twins summoned several clones -fitting, really- and they all went out to scout the area.

Temari leapt to the top of one of the houses. Off in the distence she could see a high wire fence. It wasn't too far away, signalling to the others she made her way quickly to it.

"What is it," Kimiko asked.

"It's a fence," Ichigo pointed out.

Ignoring them, Temari looked up at it, it looked electrified.

"What now, cut through it?" Taylor asked.

Temari pulled out her oversized fan. "Good idea," she agreed. "Stand back."

The twins stood back and watched Temari go.

"Who needs wire cutters when we have Temari-sensei," Ichigo grinned while he and the others moved to safer distence.

Temari opened up her fan, raising it above her head. She smiled and brought it down, the wind cutting down not only the fence but also a few nearby trees. Calmly she put the fan on her back and leapt over the various fallen parts of the fence.

"Hurry," she told the others and the trio followed.

"Quicker than lightsabers..." Jacob smirked as the twins followed the others.

For a few minutes they leapt from tree to tree through the forest. Then Temari stopped, ahead of them was a clearing. In that clearing was a large building with guards posted outside.

"What do you think?" she asked the others.

Eamonn looked towards the building, his eyes narrowed. "That belongs to Gahlagæer," he said in a cold voice.

Ichigo looked up at him and said, "You should talk more."

The mention of Gahlagæers name worried Temari and she had to think of a way around this.

"Gahlagæer?" Taylor asked.

"He is a damned child, a child that is born to two lich's" Temari explained.

"Not pretty," Kimiko remarked.

Temari's eyes fixed squarely on the building. "He proclaimed himself ruler of Dark Valley a hundred years ago," she then said. "Successive rulers of Draconis Nightcrawlis have attempted and failed to destroy him. It is a problem that Kurt will soon face himself."

"So we steer clear of him if we can." Taylor nodded.

"We could do," Temari said. "Problem is, if anyone knew what Azazel was up to in Dark Valley he would have the answers."

"You can't mean we go and talk to him!" Kimiko squeaked.

Temari nodded. "It's a possibility," she admitted and looked towards the twins. "What do you say?"

Taylor had to eat his words as Jacob nodded. "Guess if there's no way else we could find out what he was up to, we could ask Gahlagæer nicely."

"Gahlagæer doesn't do nice," Eamonn said coldly.

"We'll just make him," Temari said and leapt down from the tree. "Somehow I doubt we can just walk up there without a fight. Be prepared."

And with that, she and the others set off for Gahlagæer's residence.

Breaking through the edge of the forest, the guards spotted them and began shooting. Temari and the others dropped down to the ground, shielded by Temari's fan.

"We'll take them head on," she said.

The three young ninja's nodded and leapt away. The guards could keep up with them and in a flash were defeated, all bar one. Temari faced him and with a sift move of her fan, she blew the remaining guard off his feet and hard into the wall.

"A job well done," she smirked.

They prepared themselves once again as the doors to the building opened. Insteaded of more guards, a lone teenage boy stepped out.

"I have been waiting for you," he said.

He looks about as old as we, but better not underestimate him. Jacob sent to Taylor who nodded.

Temari and the others kept themselves prepared even though he looked unarmed.

"Pleased to meet you," he said with a smile. "Hope you've guessed my name."

"Gahlagæer," Temari mutered.

The smile upon his face grew. "Now you are here, why not come inside," he offered. "You are here to speak to me I do believe."

True, Temari thought, but it could be a trap. She looked towards the others, specifically at the twins.

"Yes, we have much to talk about, I suspect..." Jacob nodded.

Gahlagæer raised his hand towards the inside of the building and lowered his head. "Then enter," he said.

Temari led the others inside. She was kind of surprised to see that it looked like a normal mansion. Half expecting to find dead bodies hanging from the walls, she saw only paintings. Some where of dark themes while others showed sunny landscapes.

Gahlagæer shut the door behind them and led them into a sitting area in a rather large library. "Sit down, make yourselves at home."

"Your reputation appears to be exaggerated." Jacob smiled softly as he sat down on a comfy chair. "Nice abode."

Temari thumped her palm against her forehead as Gahlagæer raised an eyebrow.

"And what reputation might that be?" he asked.

"Just...rumors." Jacob said, looking oddly at Temari. "Anyway, we came here to learn of Azazel's dealings around here, if any."

Straight to the point...

Gahlagæer sat back in his armchair. "Ah yes... Azazel," he said, something dulled in the damned childs cold black eyes. "The one who stole my projects from me." His eyes moved up and looked at Jacob. "Those projects are not for your eyes or your ears."

Temari glared at him. "Then we'll just have to find out for ourselves."

Taylor and Jacob nodded agreement. "If we must, that's what we'll do."

Gahlagæer stood up, "There is nothing more to tell you, but I will enjoy keeping you away from my projects," he stated and his eyes returned to the twins. "I do hope to meet up with you two again."

He then left the room.

"Does that seem right?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't know..." Taylor shrugged. "But then I'm interested in what 'projects' he conducted. If Azazel was interested enough to steal them..."

"Well I'm pretty sure we're in the right area to find out," Temari said. She stood up and headed outside. "By the way, you two should becareful not that Gahlagæer has taken an interest in you."

Eamonn silently looked at the twins before heading out with the others.

"What'd you suppose she means by that." Taylor whispered to Jacob.

"Dunno. Maybe she knows something about Gahlagæer that we don't?" Jacob replied, also whispering.

"I guess. Better keep on our toes..."

"Yeah." Then the twins followed the Jounin.

Gahlagæer watched them from an upstairs window as they left the mansion grounds. Eamonn looked over his shoulder up at the damned child.

"Is it wise to let them wander the forest?" a voice asked.

"Oh they are of no threat," Gahlagæer replied. "Of course I am quite willing to allow them to find at least some of my projects."

Temari looked out at the forest ahread of them. "Which way do you think we should go?"

"I say left." Taylor said.

"Nah, right is better." Jacob replied.

"Wanna bet?" Taylor asked.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors." Jacob smirked.

Three times they played the game. Taylor won two out of three, to Jacob's chagrin.

"Left it is..." Jacob sighed, wondering how he lost.

"And you think I'm bad," Ichigo remarked, folding his arms.

Temari glared at him before taking off. "Let's go then," she said leaping from tree to tree.

The trio followed behind. Temari eventually stopped once they'd arrived at another clearing. There was another fence, this time it was wooden and broken in parts. Beyond that was a large metal pyramid.

"Good call on directions," she said.

"Now the next part is how do we get in," Temari then said, noting the guards at the enterance. "I see at least ten guards on duty and knowing Gahlagæer he'll have a few tricks up his sleeve."

"Hey we can take on ten," Ichigo said confidently.

Temari gave him an angry glare. "Gahlagæer will have traps and inside there will be perhaps hundreds of guards waiting for us," she warned.