Title: Queens
Summary: There are two sides to every story – right and false. Like there are always two Queens – white and black.
Timeline:Timeline has to be changed. Susan was born in 1941 and Lucy was born in 1945. But they still go to Narnia and everything that happens in the book happens.
Note: Made for the prompt '372. CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: Charles/+ Lucy Pevensie + Susan Pevensie - "The Pevensies are mutants, as it turns out."' at . .
Prologue: Queens.
The White Queen.
Lucy Pevensie is a lovely girl. She is kind to those she meets and she has hope in her big sky blue eyes that shine brighter than gold on the sun.
Her life is simple. She has a mother and a father who she loves immensely. And then there are her two big brothers who are always there for her. And Aslan who waits for her in Narnia.
Oh, Narnia… her beautiful country. How much she misses running through green fields on sunny days with her siblings. How much she misses the gentle whispers of the dryads who were singing lullabies to her. But most of all she misses the golden light of the mane that smells of sunrise. She wants to go back to her ruby-golden chambers, to feasts and balls and see Mr. Tumnus and Beavers and Caspian...
And that world means everything to her. Because she is not Lucy Pevensie, but Lucy the Valiant, Queen of Narnia.
The Black Queen.
Susan Pevensie is a lonely girl. You're beautiful, she had been told. But every time she looks in the mirror, she can only see a girl with cracked up skin and hollow eyes. She forgot how to be beautiful.
Her life is easy. She is exquisite and smart and everyone adores her. She is a woman in America – free from oppression of men. A model – a popular model for Vogue. And her future has never looked brighter.
Oh, future… If she had ever imagined it before, she would have never ever cried just only to silence hundreds of voices – 'Witch! Witch! Witch!' – she will never forget. She will never forget it like she forgot Narnia - there is no reason to remember, because it hurts. Because it is so unattainable. She is strong enough to smile and laugh and live in the world she is given, because any other world is a dream, a trick her subconscious mind is playing on her.
And that world means nothing to her. Because she's not Susan the Gentle, Queen of Narnia anymore. She is Susan. Susan Pevensie.
The White Queen.
And one day her wish is granted. And she is rushing towards the London railway station to get on the train that will take her to her country, to her world, where she belongs.
And as she sees the faces of Jill and Eustace coming closer and closer, she doesn't feel the train going faster and faster when it should just stop. What she does notice is the horror on her siblings' faces and fire outside of the window.
And the world goes black.
The Black Queen.
She sits in her living room, going through the mail she has gotten this week. And she doesn't notice the paper at first, but then it stands out for one reason only – London, England. She picks it up, surprised, because the last time she remembers spending her time with the family, she has been disowned. And so she reads it. And reads again. Again. And again. The only words she gets are that they are all dead. Dead.
She doesn't cry. What good it will do? Her family will come magically to life? No. And besides, she is not sure she knows how to cry anymore.
And if Susan Pevensie feels a lump in her throat and stinging in her eyes, she will tell it's her imagination playing tricks on her. And suddenly her apartment is so white.
The White Queen.
She wakes up in a white room. Hospital, she concludes. But wait… why is she here?
And then it downs upon her. She is not in Narnia. She is alive. In England. In London.
And she screams.
The Black Queen.
When she gets to the airport, her self-pity has vanished completely. There is a piece of paper in her pocket that tells her that Lucy Pevensie is alive and needs a guardian until she turns twenty one. She needs someone to take care of her. Care is responsibility. And responsibility weights so much on her thin, fragile shoulders. It is almost if she is Atlas who has been punished by Gods to support the heavens. But she will not break under the pressure. She will shape her new life to suit her old life. She is strong enough to stand through every storm life throws at her. She is not a Doll (like many believe) and she is not a Queen (she lost her crown a long time ago) and she doesn't live in a dream. No, she makes her dreams reality.
The White Queen.
Everything in her is arching. Her heart and soul. For the country and her whole family who are all dead. And what has she done to deserve to be left out? What sin has she committed to be in England? Is it even possible that she doesn't deserve the return? Aslan didn't want to give her salvation. And she is damned to walk the Earth until the end of her times. And Lucy cries and screams and throws cushions and tears the covers. She is hysterical and unstable.
And she is young. Too young to take care of herself. And they ask her who her next in kin is. And she utters the name she didn't say in so long.
Susan. Susan Pevensie.
The Black Queen.
When she enters the hospital, she stands out of the crowds. All around her people are wearing black or grey while she has a gorgeous orange suit. She truly forgot how dull London is. While New York is loud and bright, Paris is romantic and colorful, London is grey and boring.
When she asks the nurse for Lucy Pevensie's room, she is not sure what she will say to Lucy. And what is more important how she will manage to take Lucy to New York, because even for all shoes in the world, she won't stay in this… place.
The nurse is bubbling how fast her sister had recovered, how fast she healed. And that she can go home.
Susan doesn't tell the nurse that Lucy thinks that her home is an imaginary land with mythical creatures and talking animals and where Lucy is a queen.
The White Queen.
When she wakes up, it is sunny and bright and warm. She hasn't felt warm in so long. It's almost laughable, really, because it is July - the warmest month in London.
She misses her family, but she knows they are in the better place, while she is left to rot here.
And then there is a familiar shape in the doorway. It is bright and stunning and royal in a way she carries herself. It is Susan.
And her eyes… they are dead.
The Black Queen.
Susan looks at Lucy – she is transparent, lying on white sheets. Her skin is a ghastly color of grey, her hair is dump and dirty. She looks like a ghost. Like a very dead ghost.
But her eyes… they are so alive.
The White Queen.
She watches Susan as she arranges the funeral – coffins, flowers, guests. She doesn't bat an eyelash. Everything she does is with cold eyes and polite smile on her face. And Lucy hates her.
Lucy cries when her family is being lowered into the ground. She can't help it, because she won't see them again, she won't exchange stories with them. There will be no wise smiles from Edmund, no hugs from Peter. No Mother and no Father, no friends and no family.
She is completely alone, even if her sister is standing just one step away from her. But she can't see Susan as her sister, there is nothing of gentleness and warmth in her. Looking at the woman in front of her, she sees only icy eyes and cold façade. Susan had changed, into a nightmare Lucy will never forget.
The Black Queen.
As she watches the bodies being lowered into the ground, she can't move, she can't think. All she can do is stare at the coffins and then throw flowers into the graves.
But inside her there is a battle raging – she wants to abandon the cemetery and run without stopping for as long as she can, until there is no strength left in her. She wants to wail and scream, and most of all she wants to cry, but something stops her. Is it the cold creeping inside her like a snake or is it hate for something that has tore away her siblings and left Lucy and her stand in the ruins of the Pevensie family? But she won't bend to her own whims; she won't allow herself to break in front of all these people. She will cry and scream later, when she is sure she can handle herself without falling into depression.
'It's going to end soon and then I can return home, to New York,' the thought is running round and round in her mind like a mantra.
She looks at the men and women, all trying so hard to grieve. She despises them. They are liars and heartless basstards who thrive of other's pain and sorrow. She hates them more then she hates Aslan.
All of those men and women were all over Lucy, trying to calm her down, to support her. They act as if she's not even there. No one notices her. No one cares about her. And she won't cause them pleasure by weeping alone like a discarded broken doll. When she gets to her apartment, she will cry and wheep and plead for it to be a bad dream. Later, she tells herself. Later.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, clenched her jaw and raised her chin.
She will not fall.
The White Queen.
She is lying on her bed, shedding tears silently. She is not sure she can move on just now. She doesn't know when she will be ready to move on.
Her sister is insisting on moving to New York, to a whole new world in which Lucy is a foreigner. And she doesn't want to live England, in a strange sense it is home, but… not like Narnia. Nothing can compare to Narnia.
In the morning she sees Susan packing her suitcases, she is like a machine – takes clothes, puts them in a suitcase and then takes another pile of clothes.
"I won't go anywhere, Susan. I'm staying in England," Lucy looks her sister straight in the eyes. It is not easy as absolutely nothing reflects in them, but she has to, to show she doesn't need help, that she is independent. She doesn't need her not-sister.
"What are you trying to achieve with these words? You're going to America with me. And that's final, Lucy," Susan closes the suitcase and zips it. "I've packed you some clothes, but we will have to buy a whole new wardrobe. The one here looks…"
"Don't you hear me, Susan! I'm not going anywhere! I'm staying here! I'm staying!" screams Lucy through tears, storming into the room and throwing the suitcase on the floor.
"Enough, Lucy." Susan's tone is low and her eyes are hard. "You're going with me. Pack what you need and come downstairs in two hours. I'm going to your school to get your file. And then we're going to the airport."
Susan looks at Lucy and then exits the room without another word.
For the first Lucy is afraid of the future.