Caterina the Courageous

Summary: Sofia comes home in tears one afternoon after a particularly harsh comment was aimed in her direction. To cheer her up, Cedric tells her a story of another of his former classmates who had her own share of negative comments yet always managed to make a negative into a positive.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sofia the First. I only own the character of Caterina.

A/N: I needed a little break from "Blackout," so I figured I'd go ahead and write this. This is loosely based on a bit of a true story from my past. Let's face it: kids can be cruel. I teach teenagers, so it's even more prominent at their age. Words can hurt. Anyway, I knew a girl with a situation similar to Caterina's in this story, so I figured I'd honor her with this story. Also, I was heavily inspired by the phantom from The Phantom of the Opera when I came up with the premise for this story. :) Anyway, hope you all enjoy, and remember, be kind to people. You never know what their story is. ;)

A/N 2: This is a looser rendition of my "Read Me a Story" series, though it doesn't go into a full-on story mode. Instead, Cedric mentions someone other than Juliana (an OC I created a while ago; see "Juliana the Just" if you're unfamiliar with her) from his days at Hexley Hall. This character, Caterina, will be used in helping Sofia come to terms with her current dilemma. Hope you enjoy!

*Story*

"You aren't even real royalty! Your mom made shoes for a living, for goodness sake. I don't know why everyone's fawning all over Sofia of Enchancia—the pathetic princess who'd rather talk to animals and waste her time with magic than learn how to be a real princess. Ah, but that's just it—you'll never be a real princess! You'll always be just another commoner pretending to be royal."

That comment hurt…a lot. Sofia tried to put on a brave face and pretend like it hadn't affected her, but both of her siblings could see that it had. The unknown princess from another kingdom had ripped into the young girl not very long after meeting her, and Sofia didn't know how much more she could stand.

Instead of staying for the parade celebrating the beginning of summer, she'd asked her parents if she could return to the castle since she wasn't feeling well. She didn't have the heart to tell them what the other princess had said, though she imagined her brother and sister would eventually do just that. With their permission, she got into a flying coach and flew home.

"Ah, you hear that, Wormy?" Cedric asked happily as he strolled down the hallway through the castle with Wormwood resting on his shoulder.

"Hear what? I hear nothing," the raven replied in confusion.

"Exactly. It's nice and quiet."

The bird chuckled and nodded enthusiastically. "You're correct. The castle without the children and their pestering parents… Ah, it's rare. Enjoy it while it lasts, Cedric."

The castle door slammed open at that moment, and Sofia rushed in.

"Well, so much for that," Wormwood sighed as he saw the familiar princess.

Cedric, on the other hand, realized pretty quickly that something wasn't quite right. "Sofia? What are you doing here? I thought you were at the parade."

The girl, still distraught and now with tears pouring down her face, sobbed as she collapsed onto her knees. She had gotten to the point where she was crying so hard that she couldn't even form a proper sentence if she wanted to.

Confused beyond belief at why his young friend was so unhappy, Cedric knelt in front of the girl and gently placed one hand on her shoulder. "Sofia, what's wrong? Where are your parents? Did you come all the way back here alone?"

Sofia slowed her crying to hiccups and sniffed a few times before looking up at her mentor. One look at his concerned face merely made her resume her sobs, and she collapsed into his arms, hugging him for perhaps comfort. "M-Mr. C-Cedric…"

Wormwood frowned as he hovered above them, his wings beating against the air to keep alight. "What on earth is wrong with her? She didn't even get this upset when…you-know-what happened."

The sorcerer gave his companion a pointed stare before recalling what his mother did when he was distraught as a child. He gently rubbed her back and offered soothing words of encouragement. Well, he did the best he could. Sofia was usually so strong and rarely showed signs of complete distress, so he knew whatever had happened had really affected her pretty badly.

A few minutes later, Sofia finally calmed herself down and took a few deep breaths to settle her nerves. She wiped away the moisture that had gathered on her cheeks and around her eyes before looking guiltily toward her friend. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cedric," she said softly before sighing. "It's… It's been a really bad day so far."

"You don't say," Wormwood mumbled as he landed on the floor beside them.

"Do you…want to talk about it?" Cedric asked hesitantly. He realized they were still on the hall floor, yet still he didn't think the princess had enough energy to move at this point. Therefore, on the floor they remained.

Sofia frowned before lowering her head. "There was a princess at the parade. I'd only just met her, but she seemed to know a lot about me from stories or rumors others had told her… I don't know. Anyway, she insulted me and my mom…talking about how we're not real royals and never would be. Basically, she said whatever she could to get me upset. She succeeded." Sofia sighed in frustration. "I'm usually pretty strong when it comes to things like that, Mr. Cedric. I've dealt with bad guys and with people saying things like that before, but for some reason…I couldn't handle it today. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"It's called being human," Wormwood insisted. "And I don't mean that to be rude. I genuinely mean what I say: everyone has a bad day and gets to that breaking point where he or she is tired of being insulted or overlooked. Why, just look at Cedric here."

"Wormy," Cedric chided before shrugging. "However, he's right, Sofia. Sometimes we just reach our limits and enough is enough. People will always find something to nitpick, and no matter how strong we believe ourselves to be, our feelings can still get hurt, and we can still be pained by someone's words." Seeing the girl starting to respond positively to his words (a nod of acceptance for now), Cedric smiled. "I know I told you about Juliana…perhaps now you should hear about another one of my classmates from the past."

Sofia looked up at him with a small smile. "Do you have a story about every classmate you went to school with?"

"You'd be surprised. Honestly, I'll make it a short story." He pulled out his wand and gestured toward an open space in the hallway, creating a hologram image of a young girl. She had medium brown hair tied half way back. She wore dark clothing, including a long robe. However, the most distinguishing feature, other than her ocean blue eyes, was a large discolored mark just under her left eye, spanning down most of her cheek. "This is Caterina, a girl who was about a grade ahead of my class. She was one of the kindest people you'd ever meet, though many couldn't see past the distinguishing feature on her face."

"What is that mark, Mr. Cedric?" Sofia asked curiously. "Did she get injured or…?"

He shook his head. "Caterina was born with that mark. A lot of students said it looked like a bruise and called her clumsy or accident-prone, even though it never disappeared after any period of time. It was something she'd always had and always would. They came to realize it was a facial disfigurement, though she didn't quite see it that way." He smiled thoughtfully to himself. "She would call it her 'magic mark,' because whenever she used her magic, it seemed to change colors…"

"Wow."

"Hmm, while some thought it was endearing, there were others who bullied her for it." He sighed. "It's a shame to say this, Sofia, but there are those out there who believe that if you're different or don't seem 'normal' or whatever rubbish they spout, that's grounds for picking on someone. However, and I know you understand this quite well, failure to censor our words in favor of kinder or more uplifting ones can come at a price."

Sofia blinked. "What do you mean, Mr. Cedric?"

Cedric observed his friend's gaze and realized that even with her innocence of her age, she seemed to be rather aware of his intended message. "Words can hurt, but they can also destroy." He shook his head. "Caterina, dubbed Caterina the Courageous by our professors, was verbally tortured nearly on a daily basis by a certain group of students. Despite her efforts to ignore them or even with others sticking up for her, the torment continued. Eventually, Caterina had about all she could stand." He glanced at the hologram before looking back toward Sofia. "One day when someone picked on her, she fought back…with her wand. She injured a boy and he could no longer walk. Not long after that, a girl made a snide remark to Caterina, and she made the girl go mute."

"Wow…."

"However, she eventually realized that while the words aimed her way had stung and hurt her, she was now hurting others as well. Those words had cut so deeply that they'd destroyed what little gentleness and kindness she'd held onto, and she'd become something of a shell of her former self. When she looked at herself in the mirror and then spoke with her professors to let them in on everything, that's when she fully realized something: everyone has a voice and a choice. We make decisions every day, and they affect our direction in life. She didn't want to become what she'd been provoked to be. Those bullies—now singing a different tune as they realized just how badly their actions had affected her—had to realize that all people are different and unique for a reason. Everyone has a background. Everyone has distinguishing features. And—and this is important, my dear—no one is 'normal.'"

Sofia's eyes widened at her mentor's words. "Huh… I hadn't thought of it that way before, and…I guess you're right. I mean, who's to say what 'normal' is anyway? I have a magical amulet that can turn me into animals and a lot of other things, you work as a Royal Sorcerer with some of the most powerful magic I've ever seen, and Wormwood…well, Wormwood is the most sarcastic raven I've ever met." She giggled at the bird's deadpanned look.

"That's the description you choose to go with?" he complained. "Not the most debonair, suave, and amazing raven? Just sarcastic? Seriously? Thanks a lot, Princess."

Cedric chuckled. "But you get my point then. We're all different, and the only 'norm' is that which we create for ourselves. No one can be expected to fall into some predetermined formation. It's impossible. So Caterina apologized and corrected her errors, and eventually those bullies did the same. And now… Now Caterina works as a royal counselor for another kingdom, and she's doing better than ever, from what I hear."

"So what he's saying is, forget the little brat who picked on you and insulted you," Wormwood summarized. "What goes around comes around, and justice is always served in the end."

Sofia smiled at the bird. "Well, thanks, Wormwood." She sighed. "I kind of feel bad that I left my family at the parade because of all of this. I know how much they were looking forward to it—and I was too."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Cedric stood and pulled the girl to her feet. "Let's get you back there so that you can watch it. You deserve it, Sofia."

The princess's smile grew as she hugged her friend gratefully. "Thanks, Mr. Cedric. You really are the best."

"Hmm, so I've been told." He extended his hand as she finished hugging him.

Sofia took his hand and walked with him from the castle, Wormwood landing on his shoulder as they approached the flying coach.

"And remember, if anyone ever says anything like that to you again…"

"…Just respond with kindness," the princess replied simply. "Thank you, Mr. Cedric."

Cedric hummed in approval as they took off toward the parade.

The end