Disclaimer: I am not, nor will ever be, C.S. Lewis

AN: A quick note, before I begin the story. The Pevensies start off with mostly the same ages as in the book. Of course, they don't actually say their ages in the book, so I'll just guess. Peter is thirteen, Susan is twelve, Edmund is eleven and Lucy is nine. Peter, Susan, and Edmund look mostly like they do in the movies, but slightly different. Lucy is a mixture between the book's description and the movie's portrayal. I just feel as though I should clear that up for the people who only saw the movie, or only read the book, or whatever. Also, for the battle at the beginning, I tried to stick to the book, but that proved to be a little difficult. C.S. Lewis didn't describe it in much detail. I just did the best I could. Okay, I think that covers everything. Story commence.

Chapter 1

Warmth.

It felt good against her skin. It had been so cold for so long. Anna didn't know if it was minutes, hours, months or years. It was as though she'd been asleep.

Anna opened her eyes and took a shuddering breath. It was difficult at first. She looked down at herself. Her lower half and the tips of her fingers were all dark grey. Anna held her hand up so see it better. The part of her fingers that were grey felt hard, like stone. She remembered now. Jadis had petrified her. It seemed as though something had brought her back to life. Experimentally, Anna brought a strand of her hair in front of her face so she could look at it. The very tip was still stone, but most of it had turned back to its original golden color. Anna watched the dark grey melt away from her hair and her hands.

Within minutes she was no longer a statue, but a flesh and blood human. She laughed with joy and spun around. It felt good to be alive again.

Anna glanced around the room. She remembered this place. It was once a statuary for enemies of Jadis, the White Witch. Now it looked more like a circus. All sorts of strange creatures were returning to life. Centaurs, fauns, and dwarves mingled with talking animals, all overjoyed at being saved.

But who was their savior? Anna scanned the crowd. She smiled when she saw the great, golden lion that was breathing on each of the remaining statues. Aslan, of course. I should have guessed, she thought.

Another idea struck her, and she looked around the room in earnest. But Anna didn't see Mary, Michael or William anywhere, nor did she see statues of them. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing her friend and cousins had escaped the White Witch.

There were only two other humans besides her, and they were with Aslan. The two girls were obviously sisters. The younger one had short dark blonde hair, and an open, honest face. She was talking excitedly to one of the fauns. The other sister had darker hair and eyes. Anna felt a stab of jealousy, because she was the prettiest girl she had ever seen, even prettier than Mary. Not many people were prettier than Mary.

But even that couldn't spoil her good mood. She was alive, and the White Witch's power was waning. What could be wrong? Except... what if Mary, Michael and William weren't here because the Witch had killed them, really killed them, instead of turning them into stone?

Just as a worried expression crossed her face, Anna felt warm breath on her back. She turned to find herself looking into the face of Aslan, the great lion.

"Worry not, child, your friend and family members are safe," Aslan spoke.

"Where are they?" Anna asked. It felt odd to use her voice after being a statue for so long.

"Mary, Michael and William are in your world, where they wait for your return," Aslan told her.

"Aslan?" Anna said, "Why would they wait for me after what I did?"

"They don't know what you've done," Aslan said. "As far as they know, you are innocent. And you are innocent in my mind also. Your sins have been forgiven."

Anna smiled. "Thank you, Aslan," she said, curtseying.

"Come," Aslan told her, "Let us join the others."

Within ten minutes, Anna had been loaded onto a centaur's back, and was travelling at top speed toward a place called Beruna. A bow was in her hand and a quiver of arrows was slung across her back. Back at home, Anna had been in the archery club at her school. She hadn't practiced in a few months for summer break, plus for the length of time that she was a statue, but she hoped it would come back to her.

Soon, their destination came into sight. Anna gasped as she saw the fight going on. Jadis' forces obviously had the upper hand. They had larger numbers and stronger soldiers. Still, Aslan's supporters seemed to be holding out.

Anna felt a stab of fear and anger as she set eyes on the White Witch herself. The Witch had skin as pale as death, and lips as red as blood, and she was both beautiful and hideous at once. She seemed to be the most powerful of the fighters, on either side. Anna winced in sympathy as a centaur was hit with the Witch's wand and turned to stone. She knew what that felt like.

She whipped her head around as she heard a shout help from her right. It seemed a dark-haired boy, probably the same age as Anna, had issued the cry. He was surrounded by four of Jadis' minions - a hag, a wolf and a wer-wulf, and a minotaur. The dark-haired boy was holding them off, but it was clear that he would be overpowered before long.

"Set me down here!" Anna yelled to the centaur that was carrying her. He swung her off his back without even breaking his stride. Anna immediately nocked an arrow and shot it into the hag's heart. The creature collapsed with a moan. Anna ran closer to be of more help. With a mighty battle cry, the boy swung his sword around and removed the wolf's head from its shoulders. Anna let another arrow fly. It lodged itself in the wer-wulf's shoulder. The dark-haired boy took advantage of this and stabbed it in the heart. That just left the minotaur.

The dark-haired boy had barely time to turn and face it before it got its hands around his throat. The creature slowly began strangling him to death.

Heart pounding, Anna shot a volley of arrows at the beast. One pierced its hand, causing it to drop the boy. Another got it in the heart, and it fell back, dead.

Anna felt a little sick, but she walked over to the boy and helped him up. "Anna Parson," she introduced herself.

"Edmund Pevensie," the boy choked out. He looked pale from his encounter with the minotaur. "Thank you," he said.

"No problem," Anna replied, thinking that she no doubt looked as pale as he did.

She followed his gaze to where it was locked on Jadis. "I hate her," Anna said.

Edmund's grip tightened on his sword. "I have to stop her."

Anna spun at the sound of a weapon being drawn behind her. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and stabbed it directly into the offending dwarf. He fell beside the hag.

"Just wait for Aslan," she told Edmund shakily, "Or she'll turn you to stone too."

"No," he replied, sticking another dwarf with his sword. "We can't. Aslan's dead."

"Huh?" Anna asked. She shot arrows into the enemy forces in the field below. "I just saw Aslan."

"My sisters saw him die with their own eyes," Edmund said. "It's all up to us now."

Anna laid her hand on his arm to show him how serious she was. "Edmund, don't be foolish. Let the centaurs fight her, or the lions. Do you want to end up a statue? One touch of her wand and you'll be turned to stone."

Edmund's eyes lit up. "Her wand, that's it! Anna, you're brilliant!" He drew his sword and charged away.

"...thank you?" Anna replied to his retreating form. Becoming aware of the battle again, she shot at a wolf who had a badger clamped in its jaws. It released the badger, who was still alive, but barely. The younger light-haired girl that Anna had seen earlier hurried over to it and tipped a drop of scarlet liquid into its mouth. Within seconds, the badger leapt up, healthy again.

The girl with the cordial looked up past Anna.

"Edmund!" she yelled.

Anna spun to see that he had reached the White Witch, sword drawn. Anna nearly stopped breathing when she saw the expression on the Witch's face. She'd seen that look before, once. Catching her skirt up in one hand and swallowing all her fears, Anna ran towards them as fast as she could.

Edmund ducked Jadis' first stab. He planted his feet and gripped his sword. When the Witch swung again, he was ready. His sword hit her wand. Even from ten meters away, Anna could hear the shattering of the glass orb that held the wand's power.

Jadis screeched in rage. Anna stopped running and clamped her hands over her ears. The sound was one of the most horrible things she'd ever heard. Jadis held the broken wand aloft, prepared to strike. Anna fumbled to get her bow and arrow prepared to fire, but it was too late. With another terrible cry, the Witch brought her weapon down, and stabbed Edmund. He cried out in pain, and collapsed.

Anna ran toward Jadis and Edmund. Maybe, with her wand out of the way, she could -

"EDMUND!"

She found that the source of the shout was a good-looking light-haired boy that was sprinting in the same direction she was, sword drawn. He was obviously Edmund's older brother.

Anna reached the fallen boy first. "I'll take care of him!" she called to his brother, "You get the Witch!"

The brother looked like he would have preferred it to be the other way around, but charged at Jadis. Their swords met, and they were locked in battle. Even without her powers, the White Witch was an incredible fighter. Anna didn't know how Edmund's brother was still alive. The Witch was forcing him backwards, which wasn't good for him, but at least it got them farther away from where Edmund lay wounded in the grass.

Anna folded her dress under her carefully as she knelt beside him. "Edmund?" she asked tentatively.

He squinted up at her. "Lucy?"

"Anna," she corrected him gently.

"Lucy, I need some of your cordial," Edmund groaned. "The Witch - she got me. I guess I deserve it though, don't I, Lucy?"

"I'm sorry," Anna said, starting to become concerned, "But I'm not Lucy."

"Lucy, why won't you give me your cordial?" Edmund asked. "You do forgive me, don't you Lucy?"

There was something so earnest about his voice that it tugged on Anna's heart. She understood the desire to be forgiven. "Of course I forgive you, Edmund," Anna said, taking his hand in hers.

"And Susan and Peter - do they forgive me?"

"Of course they do," Anna said.

His whole body seemed to relax. "I'm glad. I was so worried that you wouldn't forgive me after what... after what I've done..." He sank into unconsciousness.

"Edmund?" Anna asked. He didn't respond. "Edmund?" she repeated more urgently. She felt his chest to see if she could tell if his was heart still beating. It was, but her hand came away sticky with blood. "Aslan's mane," she muttered, wiping the gore on the skirt of her dress.

And then everything went dark.

Anna looked up in surprise, only to see that she and Edmund had fallen into shadow, caused by something gliding slowly overhead. At first she couldn't see it well, because it was silhouetted against the sun. After a moment, however, she realized with surprise that the thing was nothing other than Aslan.

Time seemed to speed up, or slow down; Anna wasn't sure which. The light-haired boy backed up as Aslan collided with Jadis, and the two fell to the ground. Anna wasn't sure what happened. One second, the White Witch was there, and the next, she was not. She was gone. The White Witch was gone!

Aslan let out a might roar. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. In one moment, each creature seemed to realize what had taken place. The supporters of Aslan cheered grandly. The Witch's minions turned and fled.

In her happiness, Anna had completely forgotten about Edmund and his condition until the girl with the short dark blonde hair ran up to them.

"Lucy?" Anna asked her.

The girl nodded. "Yes."

"He's been asking for you."

Lucy nodded solemnly and knelt on the other side of him. She uncapped her small diamond bottle and let a drop of the liquid fall into his mouth. The light-haired boy and the pretty older girl gathered around to see what would happen.

Anna didn't realize Aslan had joined them until she heard him speak. "There are other people wounded," he told Lucy.

"Yes, I know," she replied. "Hold on a minute."

Aslan said in a reprimanding tone, "Daughter of Eve. Others are also at the point of death. Must more people die for Edmund?"

Lucy turned very pale indeed, stammered an apology, and hurried off with the Great Lion.

Anna felt someone lay a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see the good-looking light-haired boy standing above her. "Thank you for watching over him," he said. "It was difficult enough fighting the Witch, and I can't imagine how hard it would have been if I was worried about my brother at the same time. Thank you."

"You're quite welcome," Anna assured him.

"Who are you?" the girl asked. "I don't remember seeing you before."

"I'm Anna Parson. It's no surprise you haven't seen me. Up until an hour ago, I was a statue in the Witch's courtyard," Anna told her.

Peter held out his hand for her to shake. "Well, I'm Peter Pevensie, and this is my younger sister, Susan Pevensie. I see you already know Lucy and Edmund."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Anna said. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Forgive me if I ask too much, but after Edmund was stabbed by the witch, he was in a sort of... semi-consciousness. He thought I was Lucy, and asked for some of her cordial - I guess that's the healing liquid she has. When I couldn't give it to him, he was worried that you three didn't forgive him 'after what he'd done'. What did he do?"

Susan and Peter exchanged glances. Susan shook her head, but Peter said, "I think she has the right to know." Turning back to Anna, he explained, "When we first came to Narnia, Edmund met the White Witch. She filled his heads with thoughts of being a king, and of being better than the rest of us. (That was my fault, really. I was much too hard on him.) He promised her that he would bring the rest of us to her castle. He betrayed us, his own family."

"Oh," Anna said.

"Oh?" Susan asked. "Aren't you going to say something a little more than 'oh'?"

"No, I'd rather not." She gave them a half-smile. "If you knew me better you'd understand."

All three fell silent and looked as Edmund began to stir. Anna realized she was still holding his hand and hastily pulled it away before he could wake fully.

Edmund squinted up at the three of them. "Pete?" he asked groggily, "Su? Lu?"

"I'm here!" Lucy called, running to join them, cheeks pink with happiness.

Anna stood and smoothed out her dress. "I'll let you three alone with your brother," she told Peter, and strode away from them. She turned back once a few meters away, and smiled at the sight of the siblings talking happily together, all safe and sound.

This, of course, made her think of Mary, Michael, and William. None of them were her siblings, but Mary was practically her sister, and Michael and William were her cousins, so that was close enough. Anna remembered that Aslan had said they were back in her world, and that they awaited her return. She picked up her skirt in one hand, and ran to locate the Great Lion.

She found him in the middle of returning statues to their living state. "Aslan," she asked him, "Do I return to England now?"

"No, child," the Lion said. "Your time in Narnia is not over yet."

"I thought Mary and the others were waiting for me."

"They can wait a little longer."

"But I was already gone for the entire time I was a statue."

Aslan turned his eyes on her. "Do you wish to return to your world?"

Anna thought it over. "Well... not particularly..."

"Then worry not. Time works differently from our world to yours. It is likely that, upon your return, you will find that no time has passed in England."

This, of course, caused her to think of many more questions that she'd have liked answered, but she didn't want to bother him further. "Yes, Aslan," Anna said, bowing her head.

"Go now," spoke Aslan. "Find Edmund. I think he has something he'd like to say to you."