Love In The Time of Berry Poisoning

--

Did anyone get the reference to Love In The Time Of Cholera in the title?

This is following The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie (if they had stayed in Narnia, that is). It focuses on the Susan/Caspian relationship.

Enjoy!

R&R, it makes us writers happy:)

--

Chapter One

Lucy!

"Lu, which of these do you think look good to eat? The pink or the red?"

"Definitely red. What about these, Susan? These look good."

"They don't look very- Lucy, they have thorns!"

"Well, I didn't see...!"

The Kings and Queens of Old were all in the forest, picking berries. Susan and Lucy (with flowers behind their ears) were fussing at each other over which to pick and eat at dinner later that night.

Peter and Edmund simply felt very silly indeed, and both of them neglected to pick any berries for fear of looking foolish.

It was quite peaceful in Narnia. The rest of the Telmarines had long since retreated onto the island that Aslan himself had specified for them after Miraz had been killed and they had been left in a half-anarchy (they still had a queen) briefly.

Narnia once again belonged to the Narnians, as it should have been all along. Slowly but surely they were repopulating, and the Kings and Queens knew that in a few months time, no one would ever know the Narnians were almost extinct at one point.

One of the happiest things of all was that Susan could now spend as much time as she wanted with their fellow King, Caspian. She liked him very much, and she had a very strong feeling that Caspian did too. Peter even let them be together because he knew it would make Susan happy. He wasn't really doing it for Caspian.

They continued to walk until both berry baskets were full. Thunder rumbled in the sky and Edmund looked up.

"We should probably go," he said. "We're around too many trees."

But for the notice anyone took, he might as well have not said anything at all.

"Susan, can I please eat one?" Lucy was pleading. "They look so good."

"You'll spoil your dinner," said Susan.

"All right Mum," said Peter playfully from behind her. She glared at him and relented at the same time.

"Yes," she said. "You can have some."

Lucy popped some of the red berries cheerfully into her mouth.

That's when it happened. No sooner had Lucy eaten the berries when her short legs buckled under her and she started writhing.

The effect was immediate: Susan dropped the berries she had been about to eat herself, Peter turned white, and Edmund's eyes seemed to bulge out of his head.

They all gathered around her.

Susan laid Lucy's head in her lap, Peter went to her side, but Edmund was directly in front of her, looking unnerved.

"What are we going to do?" said Susan in a panic. "Where's her cordial?"

"She doesn't have it!" said Peter loudly. "She left it in the tomb and that's closed off now!"

Lucy kept letting out shrill cries of pain, and there was foam all around her mouth. Her usually playful and warm brown eyes were stretched wide with terror, for she did not know what was happening to her.

Susan's eyes kept straying to the berry basket.

"GET RID OF THEM!" Peter roared at her, not missing a beat. "GET RID OF ALL OF THOSE, NOW!"

Susan gave a little jump, put Lucy's head down gently, and went to dispose of the red berries.

Lucy's mouth gaped wide and her brothers could see the red, half-chewed berries staining her white teeth.

Edmund decided to take matters into his own hands. He recognized a plant sitting nearby that he had seen Twilight (the caretaker) use on creatures if they had been poisoned. It was called yew, he thought.

"Get back!" he said to Peter. Edmund yanked the yew out of the ground, pushed Peter aside, and shoved the yew into Lucy's mouth.

"Calm down," he said gently as Lucy continued to writhe. "Chew this."

Peter seemed to decide to let his brother handle this and watched as Edmund tried to calm Lucy down. But Lucy was in too much terror and pain to keep still until finally Edmund put his hand on her chin and forced her to chew the yew. (That rhymes, doesn't it? Edmund thought)

"It's yew," he said, answering Peter's questioning stare. "It'll make her sick."

Just as Susan rejoined them, it took Lucy only a few minutes before she vomited all over the grass, red from the berry and yellow from the yew.

Lucy had to vomit a couple times, each time they saw more red from the berry. It wasn't very pleasant to watch (or narrate, like I have to), and not too long after Lucy had started Susan turned away, her face quite pale. Peter made a silent oath not to even touch dinner tonight. But for some reason, this did not effect Edmund at all.

Finally the violent spasms in Lucy's throat ceased, but she went limp.

"Lucy?" said Edmund. He rushed over and started shaking her. "Lu?"

Peter and Susan came too, faces pale and eyes wide with panic.

"Lucy!" They said, trying to wake her. After a few hapless attempts, her siblings started to cry.

And it began to rain.

Raindrops fell hard and fast. Peter and Susan kept crying, but Edmund noticed through his tears that rain was splashing Lucy's face. He saw her wince and he gave a deeply relieved sigh.

"She's alive!" he said to Peter and Susan. They looked around.

"What?"

"Look," said Edmund. Lucy winced again and nobody missed it this time.

Peter picked Lucy up. She whimpered, clutched his shirt, and let out a small cough.

"We have to get her home!" said Peter urgently. He ran toward where the castle would soon appear, Edmund and Susan following.

As they ran, Lucy's flower fell out of her hair. Edmund stopped to pick it up.

Then he saw that it had shriveled.