Susan Pevensie gasped in horror as she read the telegram, dropping it and letting it flutter to the floor without even bothering to finish it. She stood, staring blankly ahead in shock. Dead? The word echoed in her head. She finally gathered herself enough to sink into a nearby chair.
She couldn't even bring herself to cry properly. She just sat, frozen, her mind refusing to accept the information.
"Harry," she called after a moment, addressing one of her top servants.
"Yes ma'am?"
"Get me on the next boat to London."
Susan had had to take charge of the funeral arrangements for everyone; Peter, Edmund, Lucy, and her parents. She went through it all in a haze; still not quite believing they were gone. Her whole family; dead. She didn't even really have anyone to mourn them with, except, perhaps, Eustace's parents, but they weren't exactly comforting company.
A few months later Susan stood in the graveyard, leaving flowers for each of them like she did every week. Tears were streaming steadily down her cheeks; once she'd accepted the truth, her tears had almost never ceased.
She crouched down to set the flowers on Lucy's grave and stayed in that position. She imagined Lucy's beaming, freckly face and the tears came harder. She'd been far too young to die; she'd had her whole life ahead of her.
"I never really stopped believing in Narnia Luce," She whispered through her tears. "I just – I was growing up and I was too afraid of what others would think," she said bitterly, angry at her own stupidity. "I really was just being a stubborn a-" she cut off as she heard soft steps in the grass in front of her. She looked up and almost screamed when she saw a great golden lion standing in the graveyard a few feet away.
"A-Aslan?" she whispered after a moment, recognizing the kindly look in his eyes. She rushed forward and buried her face in his man. "Oh, Aslan!" she cried. "I've been so stupid, so so stupid." She stepped back and rubbed her eyes. "I've been saying Narnia doesn't exist." She admitted ashamedly, "I truly knew it in my heart, but I denied it. I'm sorry," she hung her head, preparing to be chastised.
"Do not worry, Queen Susan." Aslan said gently, "You have been truly foolish, but you're repentant now, and that's what matters." Susan looked up at him. "You are forgiven, Susan." He told her kindly. Her eyes brimmed with tears again, but this time they were tears of joy. She wrapped her arms around his great, furry neck.
"But Aslan," she asked after a moment. "What about my brother and sister? I'll never see them again - " Her voice caught in her throat.
"True, they are gone from this world," Aslan said, "But that does not mean they are gone from all worlds."
"Where are they?" she asked. "In Narnia?"
"In a way," Aslan answered. "Would you like me to take you to them?" Susan opened her mouth to answer but Aslan went on, "Be warned, you will never be able to return to this world, ever."
Susan thought for a moment; never come back? But did she have anything to come back to? Not really. All she really wanted was to be with her family again.
"Take me there," she said with determination, "please."
Aslan turned his face toward hers and blew something in her face.
Her world went black.
Susan blinked as she woke. She was lying in a field of grass, staring up into the bluest sky she'd ever seen. She pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around. All the colors of everything looked more vibrant, and somehow more real, than anything she'd seen before.
She looked down at herself and saw she wasn't in the clothes she'd been in at the graveyard. She was now wearing something much more like what she'd worn in her days as queen of Narnia, except it too was more beautiful and more vibrant than anything.
"Look there!" she heard someone call, and she turned toward the sound of the voice. There was a figure on top of a hill, pointing down at her and gesturing toward the others.
The people on the hill began to run down toward her. The first person Susan could clearly pick out was a girl in the front, the one who had called the others. She truly looked like a queen. She was beautiful, her hair flying out behind her in the wind.
When the girl neared Susan enough to see her face she slowed and then stopped, disbelief painting her face. She took a step forward. "Susan?"
"Lucy?" Susan said, recognizing her younger sister's face in the beautiful woman before her.
Lucy ran forward and hugged Susan tightly. She soon felt two more pairs of arms wrap around them both and recognized the joyful laughter of Peter and Edmund. When they eventually broke apart Susan was beaming, looking around at the smiling faces of her family, and the Narnians surrounding her.
She was home.