The Changing of Fate
Summary: When Susan's boat to America is caught in a storm that brings it to Narnia, Susan must figure out why she was brought back to Narnia when told it was her fate to never return and deal with her revived romance with Caspian. Set three years post PC.
A/N: I'm taking liberties with the ages of the characters in this story. Susan was 15 in Prince Caspian, Caspian was 16. In this story she is 17, Caspian 18. Peter is 18, Edmund is 15, and Lucy is 13.
Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace never went back to Narnia, but Caspian did go on the Dawn Treader to find the seven lords. I didn't read DT so I don't know much about it, so all I will pull from that will be the lords at the most.
The Changing of Fate
Chapter 1: Nighttime Remembrances
Susan sat on the bow of the small cruise ship. It was dusk and she and her parents, were headed to America on vacation. They had left Peter at home and Edmund and Lucy had travelled to stay with their brat of a cousin, Eustace. Her parents had originally booked tickets to America on a large cruise liner with hundreds of people, but changed their minds and chose another ship that took several weeks to get to the States, taking a tour of the various islands in the Atlantic, a leisurely pace that had allowed her to get to know the other passengers quite well, though she was the youngest of them all, at seventeen years old.
It had been three years since her second trip to Narnia. Three long years since she had seen him. The new king of Narnia, it was still hard to think his name, let alone say it.
And it was for this reason that her siblings believed her to be losing her faith in Narnia. She refused to acknowledge her old home in their presence, preferring to only remember in the privacy of her own room. Now, every memory of Narnia reminded Susan of him. And, inevitably, any time she thought of him, she would cry tears of longing and lost love. Heartbreaking sobs that she did not want her protective siblings to notice. So whenever they spoke of Narnia she reacted the only way she could, denying it happened and telling her brothers and sister to grow up. But even with this preventive measure, Susan was not safe from dreams of the life she could have had.
This is what led her to being awake at such a late hour. The other 30 or so passengers on the ship were asleep in their beds and even most of the ship's crew was as well. Susan sat on the small padded couch that lined the bow and looked up at the stars. The stars were different here than in Narnia, different than the stars he looked at and studied with his old, white-bearded Professor. Susan sighed. Even the stars reminded her of him.
Closing her eyes, Susan tried to forget how Aslan had told her she could never return for she was too old and had already learned what she could from Narnia. Aslan had always been all-knowing, but somehow she doubted his words. How could she have gained all she could from Narnia when her heart was still with her people, her country, and him?
The first sparkling tear fell and opened a floodgate of the same heartbreaking sobs she didn't want anyone to hear. It was a long while before Susan fell asleep in her emotional exhaustion. Head resting on a hard pillow and curled up with a blanket to ward off the night's cold, Susan's head turned in its sleep to the sky. The moon's rays settled on her lovely pale face, tear-tracks clearly visible in the faint light.
*****
No one but the discrete and caring Captain of the ship heard Susan's sobs. He wondered what had happened to make a girl of seventeen sound so broken, what she must have lost to seem so old, something that he and his crew had quietly mentioned among themselves during the duration of the trip.
He knew that the other passengers had noticed the same strangeness that he and his crew had. There were many whispered conversations about her different nature, how she seemed so noble and beautiful, as well as compliments to her parents for raising such an exceptional child. The oddest thing was that Susan seemed to get along best with the young lord and lady aboard the ship. Susan was perfectly at ease when it came to their court manners and etiquette, while others struggled to have the same easy manner Susan had while around them.
Not to say Susan didn't get along with the others on board. In fact, it seemed that she got along well with everyone. With the ease of a diplomat, Susan had found a common interest with nearly everyone. Even the young group of soldiers, just back from the war, got on with Susan.
The young woman was a mystery and Captain Thomas wasn't sure he would ever find out what was so different about her, especially in the short time frame of the next couple weeks before they arrived in New York.
*****
A/N: This is my first Narnia fanfiction and I'd love it to have some reviews. Thanks for reading!