AN: Hey people. I'm alive. I hit a bit of a writer's block with all my current running stories as I find some motivation to continue a chapter a bit. Either way, hope y'all like this one. Enjoy:) ~Immortalshark

*Sofia's POV*

When I got home from school, I was tired and my patience was wearing thin. All I wanted to do was sit by myself and read.

"Sofia. Race me. I've worked on it and I think I can beat you." james said.

I sighed, "Not now James."

I turned back to my book. It was quite interesting. It was about the origins of Wassailia. One day long ago, a girl had gone missing and her name was Alia. Each year, the parents set out a light in their window in hopes of guiding their daughter home. The town caught on and each member put a candle in their window. Over time, the tradition spread to nearby towns and eventually was named Wassailia. The parents passed the tradition on to the other siblings in hopes that their lost siblng would return home. But the girl was never found, some report that she was taken by a wicked warlock that used her in an experiment. He wanted to create a being that would be ambitious and not care about how they got it and vain. Unfortunately, his experiment went wrong and the girl died. However, it seemed to work as the woman who replaced her was a vain, vicious ambitious woman. He was in her way and he was killed. The woman raged across the lands conquering them left and right until a group of people stopped her. She gained a name though, Valkyrie of Rothiland. She was stopped and imprisoned with the people who captured her hoping she'd remain trapped forever. There are rumors that the girl's spirit is still around, longing for the day she can be free from the evil forced upon her.

"But Sofia. I really want to race you." James whined.

"I said no James. Not right now. I've had a long day, I'm tired." I said.

"But we didn't do much in school. You can't be that tired." he said.

"Get dad to race. I'm sure he would like to race." I said.

I'm getting really annoyed now.

"But Sofia, he can't do what you do and I want to learn what you do." James said.

"I said no James." I said, rubbing my forehead as I was trying to hold it in.

"But, you're the best at it." James said.

"Fine. Just one though. I'm tired." I said.

"Yes." James cheered.

So we went to the obstacle course and it changed to the Senior Knights course. I helped him out by giving him tips on how to use the course to his advantage. As I coached him through it I stretched. I had faced off again with Prisma, of course with help from Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather, and didn't have time to properly stretch due to having to run to class. Thankfully James got a little better, his rope climbing could use some work, and we both went to clean up for dinner.

I thanked whatever higher being of power there was that Wassailia wasn't for another month or so. I wanted to invite some people to spend Wassailia with us, the people who I knew might be alone on Wassailia, such as Maleficent and Galacia. I went to dad to see if I could get him to extend the invitations to them. While waiting for their responses, I decided to mess around more with the Enchantlet magic. I had already figured out how to bond the Necessi-key to the bracelet, so now it was just a matter of how the rope will work. I pulled them out and just studied the designs. I fiddled with the blue one, as that one was my combative Enchantlet, and found a small decorative piece that looked like it could be pressed, sort of like a button. So I pressed it and the entire bracelet lit up. It changed from the wide armband that it was to a slimmer silver band. I found the button again and pressed it and it turned back. Then right next to that button, I saw another and pressed that one, a small cylindrical object was hovering over my hand and when I grabbed it, it extended into a bow staff and had an accessory; the staff could also serve as a spear. Sweet….then I pressed the same button and the spear/bow staff retracted back into the bracelet. I pressed the third button and….a book? I grabbed the book and saw the button on that so I pressed it and the book went back into the bracelet. I looked over my other Enchantlet, the purple one, and saw a similar set of buttons. Except these ones were different, these ones were tools. A set of picks that were both rock climbing picks and ice picks, an actual rope, and two metal cuffs. Metal cuffs that expanded into throwing knives. Cool. Then the same book came out. I made sure no one was watching me and opened the book.

It was the most investing book I have read yet, it was about the origins of the Protectors. It covered the making of the Wicked Nine and Vor. As I was reading it, the name just made me feel weird, something was poking my brain and it was annoying. Before I knew it though, it was time for dinner and I headed for the dining hall.

"Hey Sofia," James said.

"Yes James?" I asked as I looked up.

He sighed, "Could you help me with getting ready for my Senior Knights test? I know I've been mean to you in the past and I'm sorry. I was just jealous of how easily you and Dad bonded and how easy it was for you to get the knight stuff."

I sighed, "Sure. And I do like dad, I had to adjust to actually having a good one after not having one. I had to adjust to positive comments about him too. I had a much different life than you James, one that some of it Mom doesn't even know. There were times where I had to run the shop while Mom was in some far reaches of the kingdom and even a different kingdom all together just for work. In fact, your slippers? I helped make them."

"You made these?" he asked as he motioned to the slippers he was wearing.

I nodded. He hugged me and we talked on the way to the hall. After a while, I enjoyed his company.

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you know how to do?" he asked.

"Yes, what can you do?" dad asked.

I jumped and noticed dad's look. I knew I wasn't getting out of it, so I sighed.

"If I must, I want to tell the entire family." I said.

So during dinner, I told them what I could do and left out being a Protector. I left out the Secret Library. I left out a majority of what I can do with the amulet. Basically most of the magical stuff I left out, and just told them of the physical stuff I can. Like sword fighting, blacksmithing, butcher, chef, botanist, sewer, acrobat, and hunter. The ones where I knew my mom didn't know were the hardest because my mom looked upset.

"Sofia, what did you do while I was away?" she asked.

"I kept the shop. I fixed it up with materials I made so it didn't cost anything. I wanted to help you and that was the best way to do it. I saw how much you struggled to pay the bills and I wanted to help in any way I could. So I learned how to hunt and farm so we didn't have that much to spend on food. I learned how to use what we had for food and make the stew. I worked at the stables and participated in the races. I put aside a majority of the money so you could pay the bills. The rest, I put into a savings so that when we had a special event coming, I could buy some nice fabrics and make us a new formal dress. The Villager's Ball was the last one I had to make because after that, we came here. I also learned how to navigate and use the stars to guide me because if you took longer than you said, I would be able to find you. It also didn't hurt that I got out of school a lot faster because in the year where I didn't go to school I got to learn how to do things for fun. Like parkouring and skating. I started to combine certain skills and use them elsewhere, such as climbing a tree to climb the support beams to fix the lighting. I learned trick riding and earned some more money for that. It also didn't hurt that the horses absolutely loved me as I could get the most picky to eat something. I also learned first aid things, doctor and vet so I helped the horses when it was foal season. My favorite was helping the local pack when they were whelping and basically was a part of the pack. They let me take the runt of the litter and nurse her back to health, but I kept her. Luna sweetie, come here." I called.

Luna was wagging her tail as she came over to me. Mom just smiled.

"So I helped animals when I could and nurse them back to health. You let me if I was able to keep them under control. So once they were able to be set free, they stayed around a couple months before leaving. I had fun because on your longer trips, ones where you'd take me with you, I explored. I ran across one of the most feared of the villains but I wasn't scared because she wasn't mean. I met Maleficent and Aurora's story does not do her much justice. In fact, most of the stories aren't true, they were from the King's point of view. So when I came across a different telling of the story, one that came from the fae side, it told of a woman who fell in love with a commoner. A commoner who turned his back on her just to become king. He took her wings as proof that he slayed her. So in retaliation, she cursed the newborn, Aurora. The curse said to have placed her in a deep sleep when she turned sixteen once she pricked her finger on a spinning wheel. However, Aurora was raised by the three fairies and Maleficent. Maleficent had tried to break the curse on Aurora but it wasn't until she recognized that she loved her that the spell was broken. I quite enjoyed listening to stories of her childhood and before I knew it we were headed back home for Enchancia." I finished.

As I was talking I gave Luna a raw bone I kept and she trotted away with it. Thankfully, my explanation satisfied them for now and I excused myself to go to bed.

*Miranda's POV*

Oh Sofia. I had hoped that you hadn't been made to help. It's why I was hiding the bills so you could be a child. I knew that she withheld information about her activities last night and I didn't want to bring it up because I knew that whatever she had gotten herself into she'd be okay. Quite honestly, she's been so independent ever since I was forced to go around the kingdom and neighboring ones just for work. After her explanations last night, I finally knew where some of the money came from. I knew about the horse races but not the other things she was doing. I knew why people were suddenly wanting Sofia to cook for them or make them some shoes. She had actually been doing better than I was and she had been paid for making them. She was a highly requested name once she figured out carpentry and blacksmithing. She was only eight and I hoped that by marrying Roland that she would relax more. Now I married him because I love him not because he was the king. It was just that we were financially secure now and I hoped that she would finally open up and make friends.

I hoped that someone would get through to see the child she was on the inside, the one who loved animals, the one who just loved learning new things and the one who simply wanted to see the circus. It was concerning that at such a young age she had already perfected a mask of indifference. I knew that she was never the same after an incident at school. She had become quiet and withdrawn and took a few days off. Once she was ready and came out of her room, she was different, she was calm and had an unnerving amount of patience for one so young. She very rarely let out what was making her mad, heck, I'm her mother and I barely know what sets her off. I had a mother's intuition that it was when people find out her father left and that she was hiding and concealing most of her anger towards her father. It was why she hasn't opened up to Roland, she didn't trust him. She was slowly opening up slightly to James, but it took her a long time and effort from James' part. Amber had actually brought out the fun side of Sofia, the one that just uses her skills to make people laugh. Baileywick had told me of the small circus show she put on for him when Roland thought Sofia had broken the window.

I was up early today because today was my baby's birthday. I had sent out the invitations to the princes and princesses that Sofia had made friends with. Such as Maya Khalid, Leena, Zandar, Cleo, Hildegarde, Vivian, Desmond, Jun and Jin. I caught Sofia before she flew off to who knows where, and told her that she had to be home by four today. She agreed and took off.

*Chrysta's POV*

I was happy because today I managed to get some of the other protectors to make a small party for Sofia. Of course Kelly and Phyllus were invited. Sofia, in her tired moments, let her birthday slip. I was surprised she was only twelve. Though while doing the decorations, Vega and Orion got a call. One that made them call an immediate meeting.

Sofia must have already been on her way as she came flying in.

"Protectors, we must protect the Wicked Nine. It has been more apparent that after Prisma had been stopped twice by Sofia, she has gotten desperate. Unfortunately, I only know the true locations of a few of the Nine, Orion knows the others. It is both rumor and fact that two of the Nine are incredibly hard to find." Vega said. "We must start bringing in the other Nine. They will be better protected here in the Protector's Vault."

I and the other Protector's nodded in agreement.

"No." a single voice rang out, it was Sofia's.

"What?" Vega and Orion said.

"I said, no. If Prisma is looking for the Nine, why make it easy for her to get them?" Sofia said.

The other protectors and I were kinda surprised. Sofia had brought up a good point though. I saw Sofia press something but no one else saw. I watched her face and shockingly the trust that was usually there with Vega and Orion, there was a wall.

"We can protect them better here. Why would you want the pieces to remain where they are?" Vega said.

"Yes, the two that are extremely hard to get…" Orion got a spacy look right as Vega did.

What Sofia did next was shocking. She had punched both Orion and Vega in their faces and knocked them to the ground. My jaw dropped as she did that, but Orion and Vega both opened their eyes and looked very confused.

"Um, why are we on the ground?" she asked.

"And why the heck does it feel like I've been kicked in the face by a centaur?" Orion said.

"Well you took a call that put you under a spell. You called a protector meeting to have the Nine brought here to the Protector's Vault. I said no because I could sense the spell. Then I broke the weak spell by punching you. I knew it was one that just needed a physical shock to break it." Sofia said.

"Damn." Orion said.

"Though that would make it easier to protect them." Vega said.

""No, it wouldn't. Prisma's entire goal of going after the Nine is to bring them all under her power. Why would we make it easier for her to accomplish when she could just wait till we did the hard work for her and just attack or sneak in here? All she'd need to do is fake getting caught and boom, close to the Nine to use." Sofia said.

"Oh. That….would make sense." Orion said.

Sofia ran off with Kelly to go play and we finished setting up for her party. Once we were ready, I called her in and we all celebrated. Soon she had to go and she returned home.

*Miranda's POV*

Sofia returned a little later than expected. That was a good thing because it allowed us to put the finishing touches on the party so when she came in we surprised her. We all played her favorite games and as the night wound to a close, she was still open but was quickly closing down. I knew that tomorrow would be a bit of a cool down day, one where she'd spend alone in her room because her patience for large crowds had thinned to where even a small party of people was pushing it. So I told her that I'd be up shortly and she nodded as she made her way up to her room. I made her a small gift as I knew she didn't care for over the top presents. It was a small plush of Luna. I made my way to her room and knocked before walking in. Sofia was sitting on her bed in just her loose tank top and pajama pants. She was making small adjustments to her favorite arm bands. I knew she heard me come in.

"Sofia." I called softly to her.

She looked up, "Hi mom."

"Happy birthday sweetie." I said as I made my way to her bed.

I sat down and put her gift in her hands.

"I know that you don't like over the top gifts, so I made this. No matter how old you get, you'll always be my little girl. I know you've gone on more adventures than your willing to tell me and that's okay. All I wish to know is if you'll be safe. You're now eleven years old and you've learned so much. I love you my sweet girl." I said as I pulled her into my lap.

She let me. I internally winced because it was a natural movement to pull her into my lap. I knew that when she was in a no people mood she generally doesn't like contact, but I had nothing to fear cause she let me. She sat on my lap as she unwrapped the gift. She smiled and hugged it to her chest before putting her head on mine.

"Thank you mom. I love it." she said.

I smiled and hugged her close. I felt her breathing evening out and knew she fell asleep. I picked her up and put her to bed. I tucked her in and kissed the top of her head before leaving. She was sound asleep with her plush clutched to her chest and a smile on her face.

AN: I know I haven't really included Luna in many chapters but that's because in most cases, Sofia can't take a full grown wolf with her. Unlike Clover, Luna's not carryable *in most cases* to provide much help in Sofia's Protector gig while on the Isle. Luna's Sofia's pillow.

In the case with Maleficent, I used the version from Maleficent and Maleficent: The Mistress of Evil. I have an idea on where I'm going with her envolvement with Sofia because I like that version.

I hope you like the background story of the past Protectors, I have a plan for that too.

~Immortalshark