MovieVerse. I'm the first to admit I haven't read the books since I was about seven, so I hardly remember them. While watching the pairing on the film, I hated it… and now… plot bunny!
First Narnia fic. Play nicely please.
Susan had never been one for crying. That had always been Lucy's thing – to get their mother's attention, for Peter's sympathy, for a hundred different reasons she might have started crying.
But not Susan. She had never liked to cry.
Yet here she was.
She supposed she should be happy. Her father had returned. Her mother had been crying much of this week, also, so happy to see her love again.
The War was not over, mind. Her father had been grievously injured, taking a bullet to the foot. He could not walk yet, but doctors were optimistic.
And there was no chance that he could be sent back to defend the Great country.
Yet Susan could hear the downstairs clock chime two in the morning, and she sat staring out her window, trying to be as quiet as possible as she cried, for if Lucy were to hear her, she would surely awaken.
Susan did not like being at home this holidays. It was but one week until Christmas, and now that she was sixteen, that meant a different party every evening, trying to find a suitable bachelor.
Yes, indeed, the worst thing about this was that she was getting old.
Peter had opted to continue his studies. Susan almost hated him sometimes, but knew it was for the benefit of the family.
But someone had to bring some money to the Pevencie home whilst Peter finished his high school education and moved to a tertiary learning for a further four years. And with six people in it, now with just one female wage (as Susan's mother worked in a munitions factory three blocks away), Susan must be married as soon as possible.
This of course meant, in order for her to have a spring wedding, Susan would have just one term of school left before she was sold off to the highest bidder. How tribal.
The Pevencies were in no way poor. Their father'd had some luck in the stock market some twenty years ago, before withdrawing his money quickly. They had almost tripled the amount put in, and it continued to grow. They were not battling at all. They could certainly maintain their standard of lifestyle on these savings for ten, perhaps twenty years. Susan did not see the pressing need to marry.
Susan had many an excuse to cry, but she did so for none of the above mentioned reasons – she was glad her father was home, but not so ecstatic as to cry about it. She did not particularly enjoy school as Peter and Lucy did, so missing a year and a half of it was not what had Susan so sad. It was not the thought of marriage, or having the need to provide for a family. She had always expected she would have to do so, and was well content with the prospect.
No, the reason that Susan cried on this winter evening was her love, and the fact that she would never see him again.
Three months. Caspian – King now – was also staring out his window. It had been three entire months. Three months, two days, nine hours and twelve minutes since he had seen her.
Of course, he had done what he was bid – taken care of what he could in Narnia. He had been King for three months tomorrow, and already Narnia was a sweeter place to be. Lands had been restored to many of their original owners – the animals – and many Telmarines had made the decision to either stay in Narnia and work alongside the Narnians, or move to England or America where they could begin new lives. The Narnians acknowledged Caspian as the King, and many of them were sure to voice any concerns they still had about the way Narnia would be run, and was being run. Caspian was glad of this, because it meant that his people… rather… subjects, had faith in him.
Most of the time he was fine. During the day, when he had tasks to occupy him, Caspian could fight this deep seeded feeling of depression. But in the evenings, once the banquet had been finished, his advisors had retreated to their own rooms, his lessons were over, and the lights of his candles had burned down, Caspian was out of excuses, out of tactics, and his memories consumed him.
They'd had a scarce month together. A month filled with secret rendezvous under the stars, discussing Narnia, memories, literature, friends, family, goals, aspirations, anything, everything. Queen Susan the Gentle had become his very dearest, most cherished friend, his closest confidant, and his secret love. She alone knew the deepest desires of his heart, save for one – her. The only secret between them had been his love for her, and in return, hers for him. He hadn't needed to tell her his fears, as she'd guessed many of them, and discovered the rest. There was nothing she didn't know about him the day she'd left.
And now he felt like a very different man. Before she'd left, he'd still felt like a boy, indeed, because he'd always been told that a boy became a man after his greatest test.
And he knew now that his greatest test had been losing her.
"Aslan, the Boy King," Trumpkin sighed.
"He is troubled," Aslan agreed, and made his way over to sit by the dwarf, looking more like a feline than any other time.
"You know what troubles him," Trumpkin implored.
"Yes, and that is what troubles me," Aslan shook his head. "He will always be troubled unless it is remedied, and he alone holds to power to fix it."
"The horn?"
"The horn. But he won't use it, no, because he is not at his greatest need, and he knows it."
"But why does this trouble you?"
"Because Narnia will soon face a great test, and will soon be at a greater need than any other."
"How soon? How do you know? What kind of test? How can we-" Trumpkin began to bombard Aslan with questions.
"I cannot say, but soon… Soon Narnia will be very weak, and very vulnerable because their King is so, and this is when it shall strike. Narnia is at it's greatest need right now, Trumpkin. I have a task for you to complete…"
Trumpkin ghosted around the King's quarters. He'd been here before… in the daylight. He knew where Queen Susan's horn was kept – it was Caspian's greatest treasure. Carefully he opened the glass case that held Lucy's cordial, Peter's sword, Edmund's torch and Susan's horn and gently, and as silently as possible, he removed the horn from its pride of place in the centre, and ghosted back away, out into the night…
Caspian awoke to a sound he recalled vividly – the sound of his love's magic horn. Immediately he sprang from his four poster bed, ripping the curtains aside as he did so, and found his glass treasure cabinet closed, but evidently broken into – Susan's horn was missing.
Caspian threw himself out of his room, Peter's sword clutched in his hand.
"Rouse Aslan and Trumpkin! Who did you let in here? Who?" he insisted to the guard standing outside Caspian's door.
"No one! I beg, sire, no one!" he cowered. "I shall raise His Grace and His Grace immediately, sire. I shall! Allow me to prove myself!"
"Oh stop groveling! I am not my uncle! Do as I ask and be done with it!" Caspian said cuttingly. He was never so cruel to the guards, and regretted it the instant his friend ran from his post in the direction of Trumpkin's rooms.
Caspian bolted down the stairs in the other direction. He was attaching the sheath of Peter's sword to his belt, sword still inside. Once it was secured, he had reached the bottom of the flight of stairs, and he began to run across the courtyard, yelling at the guards to open the gate.
The horn had been sounded just once, but maybe if he were lucky, Caspian would be able to catch the offender who had touched his love's possessions.
Susan felt funny for a moment. Caspian's face swam before her tear filled eyes, and suddenly, there was a tug. Susan released a cry of surprise before she could stop it, and Lucy began to awake. She felt like she was being tugged now.
"Susan?" Lucy asked, rubbing her eyes and beginning to sit up in her bed. "Are you still awake?"
"Go… go back to sleep Lu," Susan said, trying and failing to keep her voice level. Something was wrong…
"Susan?" Lucy asked. "What is it?"
"You can't feel it?" Susan asked, wide eyed.
"Feel what?"
"I'm… I think… I think it's magic again, Lu. Don't you feel it?"
"No! Susan! You're going back to Narnia without me!"
"Quick, Lucy, take my hand!" Susan implored. She felt as though she was fading.
"No, it's not my time to go back yet… I thought Aslan said… perhaps he forgot something?" Lucy mused.
"Oh, Lucy," Susan was beginning to fade in front of Lucy's eyes now. She noticed that Susan was no longer wearing her night gown, but the dress she had worn the day they left Narnia.
"That's a beautiful colour on you, Susan!" Lucy said.
"Tell the boys! Don't tell mother or father!" Susan begged.
"Tell them what? How long do you think you'll be-" Lucy asked, but before she could finish her sentence, there was a flash, and Susan was no longer in the room.
"Gone," she muttered.