"Paullina." Madison said walking into the enmity room. "Yes?" I asked quietly as I played with dust on the window. "The King and Queen are here looking for a child. Why don't you go into the main room and walk around or something?" I slowly turned from the window and walked past her silently into the main room and when over to the chair in the real far corner and curled up scratching the arm of it. "Hello." I looked up seeing a woman wearing a royal purple dress and a crown on her head, her was a grayish brown and her eyes were filled with hope and care. I quickly stood up and bowed making her giggle. "You don't need to bow to me." I slowly lifted up her eyes meeting mine. "What's your name sweetheart?" I stared at her a moment trying to catch the tone of her voice. "Paullina." I said quietly. "What?" I sighed and talked a bit louder. "Paullina." She smiled and crouched down holding out a hand. "My name is Jasmine." I stared at her hand and slowly shook it. "Do you think you would like to live in a castle as big as the kingdom?" I slowly looked down. "I don't think a kid like me deserves to be in a castle like that." I said looking up and seeing the King standing next to her I quickly bowed again. "Why do you say that?" The sound of his voice was somehow soothing to the ear as I leaned back up. "Because I'm not ladylike and I like things that a princess could never do." The king walked over to me and held out a hand. "Let's just see about that." I looked up at him his blue eyes meeting mine. "No you don't want me as a daughter I...." I ran off seeing the caring look in his eyes. "Let's go."

I walked into the palace scared to death as I held his hand behind him. "Hey Daddy, Mommy." I felt myself shaking. "Victoria meet your new sister." He stepped aside and I stared at the girl she was wearing a yellow dress and had a smile of joy clearly she never had pain in her life. "This is Paullina I expect you to treat her like family." She gave me and odd look as she held out a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Pau- sister." She surprised me as our eyes met as I slowly shook her hand. "Come with me." She pulled me with her to a side door and up a few stairs to a door. "Let's see how you look in a dress."

Few weeks later

I ran into a boy pushing him to the ground. "You should watch where you're going princess." He said standing up. "S-Sorry." He smiled brightly. "It's all right princess." I stared at him in curious. "Who are you?" I asked making him bow. "I am Gene the soon to be guard of this kingdom." I sighed. "So you're in training?" I asked making him eye me. "Why yes I am." I looked at him hopefully. "Do you think I could train with you?" He laughed. "Sorry your majesty, but I don't think a girl as small as you couldn't even hold a sword." I looked down. "Alright."
I waited till night then I snuck out of my room past the guards all the way to the training arena when I walked outside it was freezing then again I was about to be sweating I grabbed a sword and ran out to one of the dummies and began practicing hit by hit I started going faster.
I decided to do it again to train and work on my fighting a few weeks after doing so I was caught.

I fired an arrow hitting another bullseye. "Dang." I quickly froze dropping the bow and looked where the voice came from seeing Gene our eyes met and I quickly ran past him out of the arena.

I sat against the door my heart pounding as I heard a knock at the door. "Hey Paullina can I speak with you?" I jumped at the kings voice and quickly stood up opening the door seeing him with a smile. "Yes sir?" I asked making him laugh. "Come with me a moment." He held out a hand and I quickly grabbed it closing the door behind me as we walked down the stairs. "A boy this morning asked me something interesting." I looked down so he couldn't see my eyes. "He asked if girls were aloud to fight and he told me he saw you training." He smiled bright when I looked up at him. "A-Are you mad?" I asked confused. "No not at all, in fact I've decided to get you sized in armor." I stared at him shocked but excited. "Really? Why?" I asked making him laugh again as he opened up a door to a new room I haven't been to before. "Because I'm going to allow you to train with all the other young guards on training." I had to stop myself from jumping in joy. "Your majesty." A woman said walking up to us. "Paullina this is Marry she will size you for your armor and I will get a blacksmith to make it as soon as possible." I stared at him happily. "Thank you."

Later that day the king walked me to the arena where boys were training. "Hence." A large man quickly turned around and walked our way eyeing me as he bowed. "I want you to train Paullina with the rest of these young boys." His eyes widened a little as he smiled at me. "Well we have an odd number of guards and you'll make it even so the only person there is that you could spare would be Fillip, but he is our best and he won't go easy on you so let's see who-" "Let me spare with him." He gave me an odd look. "You sure?" I nodded making him sigh as he hand me a wooden sword. "Fillip here's you a sparing partner!" I looked at Fillip he was a lot larger than me but I didn't care. I quickly ran up to him holding out a hand. "A girl?" He asked laughing. "I won't go easy on you." He said shaking my hand. "Nether will I." I said pulling my hand from his grip and backed up holding the sword up. "Alright go." He ran at me. I quickly dunked and hit him in the back of the leg hard knocking him to the ground making everyone look at me as I turned around see him getting up slowly. "Did she just knock Fillip to the ground?" I heard a few guys ask each other. "Ready?" I asked as Fillip stood up and turned to me. "Yeah." He said running at me again our wooden swords clashed a moment and he tried to push me back making me bend my legs, but I pushed him off me and ran at him hitting him in the side using my arm to push him to the ground again. "I win." I said holding out a hand. "You are strong for a girl." He said as he grabbed my hand and I helped him up. "Thanks."

I trained for weeks with the other boys and I was great and then a fight day came and it was time to show the kingdom how good I was. "Hey sister so you get to really fight today?" Victoria asked as I put on my armor. "Yeah." I said excited with a smile. "How do I look?" I asked turning to her. "You look great." She said Glancing at me then down. "What's wrong?" I asked making her look at me and smile. "I'm fine just bored." I eyed her a moment then smiled brightly. "Okay, are you going to be there?" I asked opening the door. "Of course."

After Gene fought Fillip and lost it was my turn I walked out slowly and heard whispers from whoever was watching. "Paullina." Fillip said nodding a head. "Ready?" I asked holding up my sword. "Go!" We circled each other and then he ran at me about to hit me in the side but I hopped back dogging it and swinging at him our swords clashing. I felt myself already sweating as I pushed away from him, he swung at my head and I dunked quickly hitting him in the side hard enough to unbalance him then I quickly swung at his leg tripping him and as fell silence fell with him.

3 Months Later

"Paullina are you sure you want to go out for this training mission?" Hence asked putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure." I said grabbing a sword and shield. "Alright go catch up with the others." I quickly ran over to the other guys who were waiting for Hemmer to bring back the horses. "Well you know that there's a lot of dirt in the woods for a princess you sure you'll be able to-" "Shut your mouth Fillip." I said glaring at him. "Okay then princess." He said back as Hemmer brought the five horses for us and Hence. "Alright everyone get on."

The camp we went to was small and there wasn't many of us, we practiced on our bow n' arrow skills and hunting and after a while we took a brake to eat. "Hey princess." Fillip said sitting next to me. "Hi." I said taking a bite out of the bread Hence gave me. "So why did you decide to be a ga-" He cut of quickly standing up and running to Hence. "Are they apart of our kingdom?" I looked at the tree he was pointing to seeing a man with and arrow amid at me, I tried to get up as he fired the arrow but I wasn't fast enough as the arrow hit me in the side. "Paullina!" I heard Hence yell as he ran next to me the pain growing through my body my head pounding. "Lance and Gorge catch that man!" Hence yelled as I passed out.

I opened my eyes slowly seeing Victoria and Jasmine sitting next to me. "She's awake!" Victoria yelled running next to me as I heard other foot steps running into the room. I sat up and a jolt of pain went through my body. "Paullina." I looked at the king as he looked down. "No more training." My eyes widened as he quickly walked out of the room. "Victoria help your sister to your room." Jasmine said standing up slowly.

Later that night I got up carefully and opened the door slowly seeing guards talking to each other and seeing a dark area I could hide in I opened the door a little more and squeezes through quietly walking to the darkness. When I made it to the training arena it was raining so I sat down on the beach next to the rack of weapons. "Paullina." I stiffened hearing Hence's voice. "Why are you out here?" He asked sitting next to me. "I wanted to train." I said trying not to cry. "Your father told you no more training." I felt my hands tighten on the bench. "I don't care." I said feeling a tear fall down my face. "You could get hurt again he's not willing to take that risk." I shook my head. "I have to be a guard." I could feel his eyes on me. "Why?" I closed my eyes tightly. "For my father." I heard my voice crack. "But he's a k-" "My real father." I took a deep breath. "Who was he?" He asked gently. "He was a guard of my village the best of the best." I held the bench tighter. "What happened?" Tears began to fall quickly. "I killed him and I failed my sister." I couldn't stop the sobs. "Why?" He put a hand on my shoulder. "My mother was an evil witch and she forced him to kill her and he tried and kill me and..." I ran off taking a shaking breath. "I stabbed him, I killed him and I couldn't save my sister." He put his arm around me hugging me. "I can't fail the king, queen and princess, they're family." He sighed. "They love you, and if you let yourself get hurt you will fail them because they don't want you to be hurt Paullina." I looked up at him slowly. "One day you might be a guard but for now you need to be a princess even if you aren't. Plus you are the inside guard of Victoria you're her protection." I shook my head slowly and stood up quickly walking back inside.

I closed the door loudly sliding down it slowly. "Paullina?" I heard Victoria ask walking up to me. "Are you okay?" I stood up and hugged her tight. "What's w-" "I promise to protect you no matter what." I cut her off crying. "Thank you Paullina, I'm sure you'll keep that promise."

Three years later

I walked past the guards in the garden in my large black dress. "P-Paullina Hey." I turned seeing Gene who was a lot taller than the last time I saw him he also looked like he was growing a beard. "Hey Gene." I said happily with a smile. "It's been a while." I nodded. "Yes it has." He leaned on one of the bushes. "So you having fun being a princess?" I laughed. "No it sucks. How is it being a guard?" I asked. "Great. Ever sense you left Fillip's gotten stronger and now when anyone mentions you he talks about him being stronger than you." I laughed again. "Well he's stupid to think that." Gene nodded as I sighed. "Alright well you should head on back." He nodded. "Yeah, and just so you know you look beautiful in a dress." I watched as he walked around the corner then slowly walked forward a little listening to what the other guards who were talking about. "Friends with the princess?" Some guy asked. "That's Paullina." I heard some one laugh. "I know t-" "She was in training to be a guard once but now that she's a princess now she more likely isn't as strong as she used to be." I rolled my eyes walking to the corner. "I bet. A girl can't be a guard." "First off Fillip just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I'm not strong." I said making people stare my way. "Hey princ-" "The next time I get my hand on a sword I will kick your ass Fillip and you will really wish you had bit your tongue." I sighed and quickly walked away.

"Like any guys?" I asked Victoria as we hung out in our room. "No what about you?" I shook my head looking down. "N-no guys aren't what I like." I heard her laugh. "What do you like?" I felt my face heat up. "A girl." I said making her give me an odd look as I looked at her. "Who?" She asked. "I don't want to say." She smiled. "I'm your sister you can tell me." I shook my head. "I don't want to." She sighed. "Oh come on." I shook my head again. "No Victoria." I said standing up. "Okay." She said. The door swung opened a guard breathing hard. "Victoria, Paullina we have to get you to the safe room now!" Victoria quickly stood up. "What's goin on?" The guard shook his head putting a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" I asked making the guard sigh. "The king and queen are in danger we need to get you to safety." My eyes widened as ran past them. "Paullina!" I ran quickly past the guards and headed for the kings room I ran through the doors seeing guards dead on the floor I quickly took a sword and ran into their room seeing the king on the floor and man standing over Jasmine's dead body. "Looks like a king isn't strong enough to protect his queen." I ran at the man as he turned around slicing into his leg making him fall to the floor in pain. "Wha-" I cut him off slamming him in the head with the hilt of my sword knocking him out. "Paullina..." I dropped the sword tears falling down my face. "Paullina!" I turned to the doors seeing Victoria's eyes widening. "Get her out of here." The king said slowly pushing himself up. "M-Mom." I quickly ran to Victoria grabbing her arm. "Wait Paullina what's going on?!" I pulled her out of the doorway walking her away from the room. "Paullina!" I took a deep breath as I pulled her back to our room. "Victoria come on lets get back in our room."
"Paullina what's going on?" Victoria asked as we sat down. "She's gone Victoria." I watched as she shook her tears running down her face. "No." I put a hand around hers. "No..." Her words fell to sobs as I hugged her close holding her in my arms.

I picked up a sword sitting it on my lap, the simple red lace getting stuck on the hilt. "Hey Paullina." I glanced at Gene then back to the sword. "Hi." I said quietly. "Haven't heard you that quiet in a while." He chuckled as he sat down next to me. "Sorry I know it's not a time for laughter." I sighed. "I failed." I said looking at him. "I couldn't protect her, I guess I'm truly weak now." I looked down a moment then Gene put his hand on my shoulders making me look at him. "You are not weak. You are strong you took out the person who killed her and you saved your dad and sister." I sighed as he shook his head. "You better not call yourself weak again or I will have to fight you to prove you wrong." I smiled grimly. "Okay." He nodded then his eyes widened as he put his hands down quickly. "Sorry a guard shouldn't put a hand on princess like that." I tilted my head. "Do you like me?" He quickly looked up at me his face red. "W-W-What?" He asked making me laugh as I looked forward. "If you do it doesn't matter because I like someone else." He laughed as I looked at him. "Who?" I felt my face turn red as I looked down. "Her father wouldn't approve on a thing like that he would probably stopping calling me his daughter." I felt Gene stiffen. "Victoria?" I closed my eyes and nodded then quickly looked at him with anger. "You tell anyone and I will kill you." He put his hands up. "Okay."

A Year Later

I sat in our room quietly as Victoria walked into the room. "Hey." She said sitting next to me as the door shut guards getting in front of the door. "Do you think they're after dad?" She asked worried. "He'll be fine." I said grabbing her hand tightly. "P-Paullina?" She asked our eyes meeting. "Yeah." She took a deep breath. "I love you." I smiled. "I love you t-" "Not like a sister Paullina." Her hand tightening around mine. "W-What?" I ask feeling my stomach twisting. "I-I love like...." She ran off trying to think of the words but she didn't have to as I put a hand to her cheek and kissed her gently then pulled back pulling my hand from her grip and looking down scared of how wrong I must have been. "S-Sorry that was s-stupid I-" She quickly cut me off lifting my head up kissing me back. "Fillip!" We jumped her hand grabbing mine. "Paullina I'm scared." Victoria said holding my hand tight. "It's okay." I whispered as a man ran into the room grabbing me tightly putting a knife to my throat as guards ran into the room. "Let her go!" Victoria yelled as the guards tried to get closer. "Take one more step and I'll killer her!" I stepped on his foot hard making him cut my throat deeply. "Paullina!"  Victoria yelling that was the last thing I heard as I passed out falling to the ground out of his arms.