Chapter 4

Everyone stood looking at Knowledge not saying anything.

"Thanks for the offer but we already have our own detectives on the case." I said breaking the silence. She smiled in response, not fazed like I expected her to be."Come on, the more the merrier. And not to be rude and invade your space, but I would like to be part of the mission as well. We all want the same things. We all want to stop the numbers."

"My response is no, we don't want too many people getting involved. Let's go" I said to the others and they stood up following suit and said goodbye to the leader of the West.

"What was that for, the leader had already offered to give us one of his detectives. It meant more help for us." Fire asked when we had made it outside. .

"We can't let too many people get involved,if the leader of West wanted to assist us with Knowledge, he should have informed the king first." I replied.

"So what's next?" Water asked.

"We'll speak once we get to the hotel, speaking about the mission in public isn't safe.

When we got to the hotel we went behind the hotel and set down on a bench and chairs under a big beautiful flower tree.

"Man the scenery is beautiful here." Fire said, stretching his legs out on the bench.

"Wow everything about this hotel really is fantastic." Water smiled then sat down on the bench settling down next to Fire.

"So what do you want to tell us?" Sun asked not settling far from me.

"Since you're all guardians I'm sure you're good fighters but that doesn't mean you're perfect so for a few days we'll train before heading to battle. The numbers are everywhere but we want the head and in order to get to the head we need to get rid of the others. What will be important is that we get all of them, which I am not saying will be easy."

As I was talking, I noticed Ice plucking a flower from the tree and putting it in Cloud's hair. I fought the urge to ask him if he thought we were joking around but decided to remain silent. By the looks of it Cloud liked it as she blushed and I smiled at Ice. I felt so angry but didn't do or say anything about it.

"So are you going to train us?" Sun questioned.

"You already know how to fight so there is no need for too much training. You will be partners though,in order to make things easier. Sun you'll be with Fire, Ice with Water then Cloud you're with me.

Sun immediately stood up from her chair. "You think I would want to be partners with this loser! The only one worthy to be my partner is you!" She yelled. "You think highly of yourself but this isn't about what you want and I don't see what makes Fire a loser because you're all the strongest guardians. And I'm sure Fire doesn't want to be with a looser like you, so get off your high horse. Training starts tomorrow. Dismissed." I informed them then left.

I made my way to the other side of the building. I wanted a moment myself and think of what we were going to do with the group next.

After a while Sun came to me. "Hey, you know I was thinking, the hotel isn't that bad even though it doesn't have a pool." She whispered softly. "There is no time for pools Sun." I replied. Was she trying to get on my nerves on purpose? "What's the point of you being here Sun, if you want to start small talk I'm really not interested.

"You don't have to be so rude."

"And you don't have to be here, yet here we are."

"Death, I think it's best if someone else..."

"Was your partner? Do you think yourself so special are you're afraid it might show that you're not strong as you pretend you are?"

"I know I am strong" She replied.

"I'll be the one to decide that, tomorrow." I said then we parted ways.

While I was heading to my room, I remembered something then turned back to look for Cloud. After wondering around the hotel I found her walking with Ice. "Cloud." I called her and she came over, "what?"

"Tomorrow we start training at five o'clock." I informed.

"Isn't that too early?"

"Maybe four o'clock will be better." I said.

"Five it is." She replied

The next morning,I woke up early and did my morning routine, meditating and getting ready for the day.

By the time I was done, no one was awake and so I decided to talk a walk around the hotel. No one was going to disturb be and I was going to have some me time.

I walked down the hall and down to the second floor. Finally I came face to face with Cloud's bedroom door. I stood for a few minutes deciding if I should knock or not. I finally decided on knocking. She slowly opened the door but didn't let me in.

"What is it, Death?" She whispered.

"Get up, it's time to train." I replied.

"That's crazy, it's too early, maybe in the afternoon."

"Cloud, I said we would start training early."

"That doesn't mean anything." she stuck stubbornly behind the door.

"Look, there is something I want to teach you, something the others shouldn't know."

"Why am I special?"

"You're my partner, you have to learn it."

"Lucky me." She said sarcastically.

"Get ready, you'll find me outside."

I waited a few minutes before she finally got out of her room.

"Where are you going? To Iceland?" I teased as she tightened up the last button of her jacket.

"It's cold out here and I'm not even sure why I should be doing this." She muttered hotly.

We went outside the hotel premises and walked until the hotel was far away and look like a tiny house in a picture.

"Where are we going?"Cloud questioned.

"You'll see." I replied.

"I don't know this route, it looks scary. Where are we going?" She repeated.

We kept on walking until we reached the forest. We passed dead trees and abandoned buildings and I couldn't help but think that something had gone in this place recently. When we reached a more clear part of the forest I stopped.

"We're here."

"What is this place?" She asked as weird sounds came from all directions. "I'm getting the creeps." She whispered.

"This is where we'll train, I hope you've memorized the route." I said as she narrowed her eyes at me.

"You didn't tell me I had to."

"Well that's bad isn't it."

I rolled my sleeves and got in a fighting stance.

"Let's fight."

She looked at me and hesitantly walked in my direction.

"Come on." she continued standing in the same spot.

I walked towards her, pushed her on the shoulder causing her to stumble. Before she could regain balance I kicked her in the legs causing her to fall on the ground.

Standing up in anger, she rushed towards me and we got into a battle. We trained for some time until the sun came out.

"Let's go back," I said fixing myself and getting ready to go back. She stood up from the ground after taking a rest and started dusting herself.

"Did you have breakfast?"

"I didn't, did you have some?" She responded. I grabbed her hand and started walking towards the town. "Come on, let's buy some food." I insisted. We made it to the stores to buy some pies and decided to eat on our way back to the hotel. We walked in silence seemingly to be in our own thoughts.

"Thanks for training me Death." Cloud informed me as we parted ways.

"You're welcome," I said before making my way to my room.

Cloud was not as strong as I expected her to be but she proved to be a fast learner so she was definitely going to be okay. Actually she was going to be great with constant training. For a girl she was fast and strong, being in constant battle with me was not easy for anyone.

When everyone had woken up and did their morning business we started training at the back of the hotel. By that time, Cloud and I had already had our breakfast.

"So how are we gonna train?" Fire asked.

"You already know how to fight but I am going to assume that none of you have actually fought with the intention to kill and on this mission that's exactly what we will be doing."

In a blink of an eye I teleported the group to a different place. I was not risking anyone being in our business.

"This is were I used to train when I was young."

I informed. "Wow it's so... so..." Water mumbled.

"Man this place is creepy." Fire exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's an abandoned haunted building." I answered them.

"What's the point of bringing us here, we could have just trained back at the hotel?" Sun asked.

"Are you scared? Don't worry, I'll protect you." Fire said as Cloud eyed at him.

"I don't need protection. "

"I don't know but the girls shouldn't be doing this, it doesn't look safe..." Ice said, looking at Cloud.

"If they don't train they'll die first and it's not like you can protect all of them. You're not a hero." I said my last sentence harshly.

"This is like a game but real life. It's set up to match the situation we are in but we will be limited and complete the quest in just this building. In this building you'll meet members of a group, fight them, but your aim is to find the leader of this group, you'll all be alone in different rooms and might get teleported to a different place unexpectedly. I can't tell you all that will happen because I will be removing the fun out of it all. You might fight together in some scenarios and you will fight alone in others. We will see who will find the leader first in the end. I want to be impressed. Are the rules clear?"

"Of course your highness." Water exclaimed.

"You can call me Death, it's fine."

"Is any of this real?" Cloud asked. Try

"It's just training, besides it's not like you'll kill real people, just the dead." I said.

"Okay then but we shouldn't be apart, it's not right." Ice informed me as I ignored him.

"You win once you find the leader... and oh some doors will need keys." I added.

"Begin."