This will be a story about the major characters of the Chronicles of Narnia reading the books. It will take place between partway through "The Last Battle." One major change is that Susan will be joining them for the reading. It is in an attempt to bring her back to what she used to be. There will be no pairings (except maybe a bit of Digory/Polly and maybe Eustace/Jill because I think they might be good together.) There will be no, and I repeat NO Susan/Caspian comments as that pairing is offensive to me as it is no where in the books and makes no sense whatsoever. If people like that pairing and wish I would use it, read one of the miriad of fan fics out there that pay no attention to the books and go only off the movies (which would probably make better money if they stuck closer to the books, sorry I find it very annoying when movies ignore everything in the books and decide they know better than the author, especially if that author is dead and can't refute their changes.)
Disclaimer: Everything you see and all the characters belong to CS Lewis.
Part 1
Peter looked around at his siblings and friends. These meetings were few and far between. They all had their own lives to lead and it hurt that Susan, who had once been such an advocate of them, refused to even acknowledge that they existed.
"Well, shall we get started?" asked the Professor, making them all realize that they had been sitting there for some time as if waiting for something to happen.
They all nodded and Peter sighed quietly, knowing what was on everyone's minds.
Susan sat at her dressing table getting ready for her evening date. She knew that her brothers and sister were extremely annoyed with her but it couldn't be helped. What was the use of going back over everything that had happened years ago (she was willing to herlself to acknowledge it had but to tell her siblings that would be just encouraging them)? All it would do was to bring back bitter-sweet memories of things they could never have again and it hurt too much to remember.
She had a life now and she was pretty sure that Devon (I made his name up, so sue me) was going to propose any day now and she was sure that she could be happy with him. If there was something inside that said she wished things were different, she had learned to ignore it.
Suddenly there was a slight flash of light as if something shiny had caught the sunlight, even though the sun had set over an hour before. She turned and saw a piece of paper lying on her bed. She went and picked it up and nearly dropped it as tears came to her eyes.
My beloved lioness*,
I am writing to you because for a long time now I have felt you pulling away from me. What has changed in your heart towards me? What has happened to my lioness that she has turned from her former self and love of all things Narnian?
I understand that you were hurt when you said you coukln't come back but, dearest, you needed to seek me in your own world not rely on what you felt in that world. Instead, you closed your heart in fear of my further rejection and pain of the loss of friends you had made.
I want to tell you that they are still there, beloved, and always will be, as will I. No one has left you and no one ever will. Come back to us. Go join your siblings as they dine in the country house where you first entered our world. Be swift, your time grows short.
There was no signature, but it needed none. Only one had ever called her his lioness. She found she was sobbing uncontrollably and as soon as she managed to calm herself somewhat, she wrote a note to Devon and taped it to the front door where he would see it. Then she climbed into her car and drove off into the night.
"And then," said Edmund, laughing, "if you can believe it, they tried to tie me to a tree."
It hadn't been that funny at the time, of course, but he could understand why the family of squirrels, foxes and so on (you know the ones that were having a party and the White Witch turned them into stone?) would be distrustful of him. Even though he had been with Aslan when he turned them back into themselves, he didn't blame them for how they felt.
"Why did you go to them?" asked Jill, "Aslan could have found them on his own."
"Of course he could," said Edmund, "but I wanted to be there when they were awoken. It was my fault that they had been turned to stone, after all."
"Excuse me," said a hesitant voice from the doorway, "I know I'm late, but could I join you?"
*Aslan called Susan a lioness after she came to him in Prince Caspian.
