A Dangerous Game (Krel x Reader)

~17~

"Go on, (Y/n). You need to stay over there." 

"But I don't want to, mother! They won't like me." 

"What are you talking about?" Zadra turned fully to face her daughter, getting down so she was more to her height. "You are going to guard them as a lieutenant like I guard the king and queen, and I am their friend. It will be better if you know them beforehand. Go on, now, they don't bite." She nudged (Y/n) away from her, standing up turning back to Commander Varvatos Vex and General Morando. 

The young Akiridion sighed, turning and trudging back up the steps. King Fialkov and Queen Coranda beckoned to her with warm expressions, though Princess Aja and Prince Krel paid her absolutely no attention. I have to guard these morons? She let out another inward sigh, looking up at the king and queen. 

This was only her second trip to the palace with her mother. She would grow up to be just like Zadra, trained like her to be a lieutenant to guard the king and queen. However, Krel and Aja were not interested in her at all, despite her mother telling her that they were. 

"Aja, Krel," Coranda said, grabbing Aja's shoulder. Fialkov did the same with Krel, turning them to face (Y/n). "This is (Y/n). Daughter of Zadra. You know Zadra's place in the Akiridion guard, don't you?" Both young royals nodded, Aja waving with one of her four arms to (Y/n), Krel remaining uninterested. 

"(Y/n), when she comes of age, will be of similar placing. Lieutenant (Y/n). She will act as one of your close guards and advisors," Fialkov put in. 

"Nice to meet you!" Aja said brightly. Krel had his gaze fixed on something else and only with a prompting from the king looked at (Y/n) and gave her a tiny, fake smile. She hugged herself. 

"Run along inside," Coranda said, nudging all three children inside the palace. "We have some business to attend to. See you later, little ones!" The doors whooshed shut and (Y/n) looked awkwardly between the young royals. 

"I'm going to go find something interesting to do," Krel said, turning abruptly and walking with an arrogant step away from the door. 

"Wait for me, little brother!" Aja called, racing after him. (Y/n) stood by the door, staring at the floor, waiting for one of them to remember her, to come back and get her. Nothing. She turned and wandered after them, but it seemed she had waited a moment too long and couldn't find them, ending up lost in the seemingly endless corridors of the castle. 

"Aja?" she called after an horvat of wandering around and trying to find them. "Krel? Anyone...?" 

"They are in the technology room on the upper floor," a deeper voice said. (Y/n) looked up as General Morando walked into the room, stopping in front of her. "Are you lost, my dear?" She awkwardly nodded, averting her gaze. It was drawn back to him as he kneeled in front of her, studying her. 

"I'm sorry if I bothered you," she murmured, her voice barely a whisper. "But the royals left me and I couldn't find them."

"I can take you up to them," the general said, offering her his hand. She hesitantly put hers in his and he stood up, slowly walking with her to the technology room. 

"Your mother tells me you are a natural fighter," he said on the way up. He looked down at her and she shrugged absently, eyes fixed on the floor. After a moment of silence, he looked back ahead. "I see the potential in you. It is the royals' own fault if they do not. Do not think yourself incompetent, my dear." 

"My mother is their friend," (Y/n) finally said. "The king and queen like her, but the royals clearly don't care about me. Krel hardly even looked at me." 

Morando hummed thoughtfully. "Keep attempting," he said after another moment. "Sometimes you must insert yourself to be noticed." And then they were at the technology room and without another word, Morando opened the door and the young apprentice walked inside. 

~

The next few delsons, Zadra brought (Y/n) back to the palace to continue getting acquainted with the royals. Aja showed some interest, but not a whole ton, while Krel continued to be uninterested. (Y/n) found herself wanting his attention, yet some part of her knew that she was never going to get it. 

Morando, however, seemed very interested, and when he found her wandering around the palace alone, looking for the royals who had ditched her again, he started to take her to a training room, handing her one of the training serrators and giving her extra training rounds. 

It was three keltons later that (Y/n) fully dismissed the notion of getting the attention of the royals due to the fact that she had been failing for the past keltons and because the one person who seemed to actually care about and pay attention to her had been exiled. 

General Morando was gone. 

However, he still came in touch with her, speaking with her, virtually training with her, and it was when she was around 15 in human years he extended the job of assassin to her. And that's when she left Akiridion-5. 

No one noticed until Zadra called her while she was off planet on a mission for Morando. She didn't take that call. Or the next or the next. Let them wonder where she was. They hadn't wanted her before, why would they want her now? Why should she answer them? Morando cared about her and her worth and that was what mattered to her now.

A couple keltons later, Morando headed the invasion on Akiridion-5 and when the royals escaped, he assigned her to assassinate them. 

With barely a moment's hesitation, she accepted. 

~

"Just the sad little girl who no one paid attention to," (Y/n) muttered, resting her head on her hands as she stared out at the sunrise. More filming today, and she was going to head over in a half hour to the mothership to talk to the royals. 

She remembered now. She remembered trying to get the royals' attention for years, but all she got was a sniff and an arrogant tilt of the chin. She remembered her dislike for them growing, and she remembered the day Morando had told her to assassinate them. She hadn't liked them, and the job had seemed so simple at the time. 

"Why do I like him? Why can't my job be easy anymore?" she grumbled, standing up and dragging her feet to the door, shifting to her human form as she passed through it. Morando's Omen stood beside the front door, its helm following her as she walked over to the fridge and peered inside. 

"You look tired, my dear," the general's voice came through the robot. 

"Stayed up all night thinking." She grabbed an apple and bit into it, looking up at the droid as it stared down at her. 

"About what?" 

"My job." 

"Still conflicted?" She glared at the robot. 

"Of course not," she said, turning away from it. 

Oh, how she wished she believed it.