trapped | catra

10 | Just Getting By

(A year earlier - Y/N's POV)

It was a normal day on Xeria and a certain someone had just finished one of her training sessions with her coach, Coral, the general.

"You're getting better, but I can see you flinching every time I throw an attack," she told me. My mouth dropped open in shock. "That's so not true!" I said, knowing it was. She chuckled as she walked off.

I've been training much more recently. Not only because I want to get away from my mom's tea parties, but because... actually that's the only reason I can think of at the moment. I guess if I train enough, I can qualify for imperial guard tryouts.

They say princesses are supposed to stay in their towers and wait for some magical prince to come save them. Trust me, I tried and it wasn't my thing. I'm done waiting up in my bedroom staring out my window hoping that someone comes, because no one's going to. I've learned that the hard way.

So now I'll do anything so that I'll be prepared. Prepared for what the future holds. There could be a massive attack and I'll have to fight back no matter what anyone tells me. I promised my dad that I'd protect the kingdom ever since his... passing. And I'm going to keep that promise.

So about a year and a half ago, I started sneaking out of the castle to general Coral's house.

Coral and I have been close since I was young. I even knew her before she became general. I loved how she didn't treat me differently after then even when it was her sworn duty to protect the royal family, which included me.

It just kinda sucks that she lives in the literal middle of nowhere. Like the part of the forest where no one goes. But I was willing to risk anything for my sake and my kingdom's so I went anyway.

I begged her to train me. After faking tears and giving pleading eyes, she finally agreed. She also agreed not to tell my mother because she and I knew for a fact that if my mom found out, she'd ground me for life and never let me leave the castle.

So here I am. Going behind my moms back to train in the middle of the forest. She'd have to thank me after I save her from some evil threat. Hopefully. I just hope she'll take the news well. I was planning to tell her everything after I got accepted as an imperial guard.

A few seconds later, Coral returned with a piece of paper. I gasped. "Is this it?" I asked her. "Yup. Tryouts start in two days," she replied. I giggled excitedly and snatched the paper from her. She sighed and retreated to the locker room.

I quickly ran my eyes down the paper. It was a sign-up sheet. Then I rushed into the locker room to find my coach.

"Y-you thing I'm ready?" I asked. She smiled at me before turning around and removing her top. I gasped and closed my eyes. Nothing was weirder than seeing a woman in her thirties shirtless.

I cleared my throat and repeated my question. Once I realized she wasn't going to reply, I slowly moved my hands away from my face and opened my eyes. Luckily, she was now wearing her imperial guard uniform. It looked so cool. I could just picture myself wearing that while saving lives.

"Uh, general Coral, I asked you a question," I said. "Forgive me, your majesty, but I have no right to answer the question. You should be asking yourself that," the woman said. She pulled her purple curly hair into the ponytail and turned to face me.

"Well, I dunno, that's why I'm asking you," I said. She smiled. "Well, what do you think , Y/N? If you think you're ready then go ahead and sign that sheet."

I looked down at the piece of paper in my hands. Did I really want to do this? I mean, I wanted to save people, but did I really want to do all this? It's not like I have to prove myself to these people. I'm strong. Maybe I'm even stronger than them!