Title: Life Isn't Fair
Characters: Lucy, Tumnus. Friendship.
Summary: Life isn't fair, Lucy. Lucy's thoughts as she sees that Tumnus has been turned to stone. Movieverse.
A/N: Not my best work, but I'm rather fond of this piece, and hope that you will like it. Enjoy.
Gone.
She can hear the heavy words of so many voices, so many faces as her eager steps venture further into the castle, amidst the haunting drip-drip of melting ice, amidst the pain and the sadness and the agony that lingers in the air; her mother, Peter, Susan, clutching to them as she dampened their clothes with her angry tears, yet another schoolyard injustice dealt to her.
Life isn't fair, Lucy. Sometimes, bad things happen to the best of people. It is something you must deal with.
It is something you must accept.
She allows those words to swell within her as an angry, desperate denial joins it, barely able to comprehend what her eyes reveal to her.
There, in a castle where evil has stirred and died under the burden of an awakened spring-…
-forgotten among the statues of the strong warriors and the brave traitors-…
- left to stand as horrible, painful stone for all eternity-…
-is her friend. Her dearest, dearest friend.
It is something you must accept.
The agony of it all rings clearly through her head as she stands there, numb; much too afraid to move any closer, and yet, much too sad to even think of turning away.
He hadn't deserved such a horrible fate; he hadn't deserved to be burdened by her tainted presence. He hadn't deserved anything she had brought against him.
Yes. It was her fault, hers, and no one else's. If only she had-if maybe she could-if somehow, she-…
She silently commands an end to her string of rattled anger. It is hopeless to think of such things; it is hopeless to dwell on what may have happened if certain choices had not been made.
Everything is hopeless.
Bitter, angry tears break free, even though she valiantly tries to hold them back.
It does no good.
She can remember; it feels like merely hours before; everything had been like some sort of wonderful dream. A dazzling new world filled to the brim with magic and adventure and joy, a world where she would be Queen one day. It had all felt so enticing, so incredible…
But that feeling is lost now as she stares upon him, hauntingly frozen in time The world that she has once allowed herself to be enchanted by has suddenly become a dismal, hollow place; one where only emptiness can be found. She truly does not want it anymore, none of it.
The throne, the one she has been meant to sit in one day; someone else, someone more deserving can have it, for all it matters. All she wants now is her mother's comforting arms, her warm bed where only peace and dreams can exist; not those words, those ugly words cutting her skin like blades…
Susan wraps a comforting arm around her as she cries , but she knows all too well that once they leave this horrible place that her sister will whisper them in her ear, bleeding her until there is nothing left.
Life isn't fair, Lucy.
It is something you must deal with.
It is something you must accept.
She would never accept it, not now, not him. Why did the world have to be that way? Why did the evil flourish and the innocent pay the price? Why couldn't everything just be the way she wanted it to be?
Why?
Susan's arm tightens around her as she mutters a soft whimper.
It's just not fair.
She can still hear his nervous stuttering as she salvaged his packages from the snow, amused by the fact that she had scared someone so thoroughly.
She can still see his nervous smile, wishing for her to come and join him for tea, calling her a 'friend'; she had never really had any friends back home.
She could still feel his trembling hands in hers, urging her to leave, looking scared, so very scared…
Burying her face in Susan's stomach, she relinquishes one last silent plea, even though she knows well enough that it is much too late.
Please…tell me it can be changed! Tell me that he can still be saved! Tell me that maybe life can be fair, just this once! Please!
She is so far caught up in her own sadness and regret that she does not notice the grand mane of Aslan fluidly shifting beside her; at least, not until the gentle edges of a wind grace her face.
He is breathing.
Breathing onto the statue. Breathing into the statue.
She does not move. She does not think. She can only watch.
And hope. Hope that maybe the impossible will lose its strength, that maybe miracles can grace a world such as this. That maybe she won't have to accept anything at all.
Simple wish waits for reply…
She hears Susan utter a soft gasp above her, but her mouth is already filled to the brim with a smile as she realizes that stone is slowly melting into skin, that life is returning to him just as swiftly as it had been taken away.
He isn't gone.
He finally breaths once more, a deep gasp for air that reminds her of a swimmer that has been underwater far too long, and collapses into her arms, tired and trembling, but alive, so very alive.
And as she clings to him, desperately, happily, and he laughs and she laughs because that is all they know how to do at that moment, because something truly special has happened, something remarkable and enchanting and overwhelming…
She knows that those horrible words can't be right all the time.
A/N: The line simple wish waits for reply was pulled from the song "Where" by Lisbeth Scott. It's on the soundtrack for the movie, and I thought it fit in with this particular scene.
Reviews are appreciated, as always.