Phoenixed
Hey, so... first fic in a while. Some of you may know me from Narnian Lullabies-- which I'm so sorry for stopping, but my muse was gone. Sorry... =( PLEASE READ/REVIEW! And if you guys have any little bits and threads you want me to add to the story, or a scene that was kind of disappointing that you want me to re-do, feel free to suggest! I'm nothing without reader feedback!
Prologue- I'll Come Back When You Call Me
Susan Pevensie thought nothing good could come of the new school year. God, was she wrong.
It started in the subway station, when they were waiting for their train to come. None of them were particularly happy to start the school year-- what kid was?-- but it was made worse by the fact that it had been almost exactly a year since they had come out of the magical land of Narnia, a place that had been hidden in a wardrobe, where Animals talked and which a fierce but kind Lion named Aslan had made. They had defeated the evil White Witch, Jadis, there, and had basically grown up there, before being catapulted back into England and finding that they were all the same age that they had been when they had left.
The stress was mounting in all of them. Susan was the one most resigned to the fact that they were in England-- her life had been changing constantly, and she had slated this as another unprecedented, unwanted, and frankly uncalled-for developement. Edmund was second. He had always taken things as they had come, and he was mostly acceptant of their departure from Narnia. Unlike Susan, however, he still had hope. But Peter and Lucy... They would never accept that they were not going back. They wouldn't stop believing that Aslan would, one day, bring them back to Narnia.
But Susan, being the wet blanket she knew she was, could go on with her life... even if she was miserable with it.
The first change was when Lucy had jumped up, yelling "ow!" in pain.
"What's wrong, Lu?" asked Edmund, brows furrowing over his dark, deep-set eyes. Susan and Peter looked up as well, interested in something for the first time since arriving at the station. Lucy was looking at the place on the bench that she had just jumped up from, as if she was looking for the culprit behind her exclamation.
"Something pinched me!" demanded Susan's younger sister. Peter and Susan exchanged looks. What was that?
"Calm down, Lucy, it was probably just a-- ouch!" said Susan, feeling the same type of pain that her sister had and automatically jumping up from her seat. It was strange-- a stabbing just behind her navel, like someone was pinching her hard in the lower back. Her eyes swept across the bench, looking for a nail or a piece of wood or some other thing that could've caused that. But there was nothing. Just a smooth stone wall, and an equally smooth wood bench. She strained her arm around her back to feel if there was anything in her jacket. Nothing.
And, as if on cue, Edmund and Peter jumped up at the same time, with equal exclamations of pain. "What is that?" demanded Peter, rubbing his back. The same spot... Lucy and Susan quickly exchanged looks, and Lucy's face told Susan everything she needed to know.
"It's magic!" said Lucy, her young face lighting up in delight. Susan's eyes-- brighter and bluer than Lucy's and Edmund's and lighter than Peter's-- widened. They all immediately knew what it meant-- Narnia! Susan couldn't squelch the immediate, overwhelming surge of happiness boiling in her chest, in her heart.
"Everyone hold hands!" Susan demanded quickly. It took a moment-- the boys were too prideful to hold hands, but Lucy got them to-- but soon they were all holding hands. Except for Susan. She looked around. The subway station was... changing. At the end of the tunnel, it was flickering between darkness and light. She caught sight of something blue, and heard the lapping of waves against the seashore. She even smelled salt in the air. The people around them seemed ghost-like-- not transparent, but not exactly solid. Almost like smoke. She quickly made sure the boys were good, and Lucy, then she reached for her sister.
Too late.
She felt a jerk behind her navel, the pain of it making her drop Lucy's hand. That was a mistake. She felt herself being wrenched away from her siblings. She only had time to cry "Lucy!" and see her sister look around wildly, before the pain became so great she had to close her eyes. She heard a whooshing sound, but she couldn't focus on anything but the building pain in her stomach. She tried falling to the ground-- her legs were giving out-- but she just... couldn't. It seemed like someone with an iron grip was holding her up.
Am I being forced to stay in England because I didn't hold on? Am I dying? If I am, why? What did I do wrong? Is it because I didn't grab Lucy's hand in time? Oh, God, Aslan, whoever's the holy one here, if this gets any worse please take me. Please... It hurts. It hurts so much. Don't let me stay in England. If this isn't death, that will kill me. Oh, it hurts. Please... let me see them again. Ouch! Please... Please don't leave me here... Kill me if you have to... Please...
Suddenly, the strange whirring stopped. She found she could crumple-- and found that something had changed. Her clothes felt different. Nicer. Not as stiff as her English clothes were. And she felt grass underneath her hands-- even though she couldn't see it. When she opened her eyes, everything was... blurry. She could hear though, and what she heard was strange. A loud group of voices, quieting as she dropped to the ground, then murmuring softly. She couldn't focus on it though-- she was still in pain. It got worse when she felt warm hands turn her over to where her face was visible, and a small groan of pain escaped her lips. She tried opening her eyes, but it was difficult. Everything was going black. It was hard to stay awake. She was so... sleepy.
The last thing she remembered before the darkness took her was a tan face and black eyes of a boy peering down at her, his mouth moving quickly, talking in hushed, urgent tones to someone she could not see.
Crappy prologue, sorry. Hey, btw, I'm not sure how the whole 'beta-ed' thing works, so if someone has directions that don't make my head hurt, feel free. Or, if you want to beta this story, let me know. Review, please! I need muse!
- Morgan
PS: Title lyric from "The Call" by Regina Spektor.
