Disclaimer. I do not own Narnia, Aslan, or anything C.S. Lewis created. I can only add. It's his work and I'll try my best to make it worthy of being a fanfic of the Chronicles of Narnia.
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Chapter 1
Plunk! An acorn fell from on oak tree as Justin and Mariel walked through the forest behind Justin's house in North Carolina. The forest was a big one, with a small pond on the other side. Justin and Mariel had been friends for as long as they could remember. Neither could remember a time when he or she did not know the other. Together, they had discovered C.S. Lewis's books of the Chronicles of Narnia, and spent countless hours imagining they lived in Narnia. They could never stop talking about it, in fact, that's the exact subject the 16 year olds were talking about, long ago in 2008. So where do I come in? Yes even the narrators must have some fun with their stories! I am Mariel. Only my 9 friends and I know what really happened in those strange days.
Justin and I never simply "talked" about Narnia. We were always reenacting it, or pretending we were there. Sometimes, we would just walk in the woods and discuss the finer points that we knew that Lewis had to have left out because there was too much in his brain to write it all down at once. Things like Mr. Tumnus's kitchen, and what the land around the stone table really looked like. What kind of weapons did the Narnians and Calormenes have? What did Cair Paravel really look like? But our favorite subject of all was Aslan. That was what Justin and I were talking about so long ago.
"Justin."
"Yeah?"
"What do you think Aslan really looks like?"
"I don't know Mariel, it's not like you can describe what a lion looks like, especially The Lion."
"I guess you're right." I said sadly. "But do you think we'll ever go to Narnia to see Aslan?"
"There are just some things that you can't tell. I know that's what you want more than anything in the world, but I just don't know." As Justin said this, he stopped looking at the trees and looked at me. "Mariel, do you like me?"
I looked at him a bit startled. I hadn't expected that question. "Well, yeah, I mean, you are my best friend."
"Oh." Justin said quietly.
"Oh? What is 'oh' supposed to mean? Did you want me to say something different?" I asked as I laid a hand on his shoulder.
"I guess so." Justin said still quiet. "Mariel, you know how much I like you, but I like you with more than just friendship."
At this I stopped and stared at him in slight confusion. No one had ever said anything like that to me before.
"You see," Justin continued, "Mariel, I… I" All of a sudden, he stopped and looked around. We were no longer in the forest behind his house. We were in another forest, at night and it was snowing! Justin had grabbed my hand as soon as he noticed the change. As we looked around, we saw two people standing by a lamppost looking at us. One was a little girl about 9 years old. The other was only a little taller than her but he was quite different. From his waist up, he was a man, but he had the legs of a goat. Justin gave my hand a squeeze. We both knew exactly where we were. He let go of my hand and walked toward the faun (for that was what he was) and the girl. As I followed him I whispered
"We might want to act like brother sister, just in case."
"Okay." He whispered back. As soon as we were close to the tow people, Justin made a small, courtly bow to them. "Good evening Mr. Tumnus, good evening Lucy." At this, the girl and faun looked at each other with puzzlement. But Justin continued. "I am Justin, and this is Mariel, my twin sister."
I took up the speech from there. "I know it sounds strange, but we've heard of you quiet a bit, so don't be surprised at us knowing who you are."
"Now I'm really confused!" Mr. Tumnus exclaimed. "First I meet a daughter of Eve, who's never heard of Narnia, then I meet a son of Adam and a daughter of Eve who seem to know everything about Narnia. What's next? Flying trees that people can ride? You know I've never met a human before today! I know that Lucy here got in through a wardrobe, but how did you get in?"
"Aslan probably pulled us in." I said.
"Aslan? Is he in your world too? Oh never mind, I was just about to take Lucy back to my cave for tea, would you like to join us?"
"Oh yes please!" both Justin and I said at the same time.
As we walked, Lucy and I had a nice conversation while Justin talked to Tumnus.
"Mariel?" Lucy asked me after we had been silent a while. "You said you came from our world. What part of our world did you come from?"
"Justin and I come from North Carolina in America. This will probably shock you to death, but we're from 2008. We were not alive while the bombs were falling on London."
"What! So who won the war?"
"The allies of course! Other wise, America would be very different. If you're going to ask me if your dad will survive the war, I'm sorry I don't know."
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"Oh. Look, we're here!" Lucy said as we rounded the last bend to Tumnus's house. Tumnus entered last, and I noticed that he looked around, as if to make sure we were not followed before entering the cave. Very quickly, he set out the tea and poured for us all. Once this was done, Justin, fully knowing what would happen next, asked if the faun had a flute of some sort.
"Why yes I do. Would you like to here some music?"
"Oh. Yes please." Lucy said over her tea cup.
"Now, do you know any Narnian lullabies?" Tumnus said as he prepared his flute.
"Sorry, no." Lucy answered.
"I do." I said under my breath.
"What was that?" Tumnus asked.
"Oh nothing. Carry on by all means." I answered. Justin and I looked at each other. We were determined not to fall asleep. As Tumnus started playing, Lucy put her cup in her lap as she listened to the fine tune of the faun's flute. Justin and I did not dare to look at the fire but instead watched the faun. Lucy, however, stared into the fire as it danced to the faun's flute. I did not see what shapes were made in the blaze but I could see the shadows of a bear, centaurs and fauns on the wall. Lucy fell asleep and dropped the cup with a smash. Tumnus continued to play, as if he was confused at why we did not join the younger child in sleep. Suddenly, the flames changed shape. They leapt out of the fireplace and the head of a roaring lion appeared. All the lights went out, and Tumnus stopped playing. He had a scared look in his eyes.
"I have a feeling you know what's going on." Tumnus said as he rose from his seat. Justin and I nodded. He slowly walked over to the steps and sat down. "Then you know what a bad faun I am. Did you know before you came?"
"Yes. We knew." Justin said as he went to sit by Tumnus.
"Then why did you even let Lucy come with me? Any why did you come yourselves? You could have called my bluff any time you wanted. Why didn't you?"
"Because we knew that this would happen, and there was no way we could stop it." Justin said.
"Even more than that." I continued Justin's thought as I went to sit in front of the shaking and now crying faun. "We knew that you would be better from the experience. Wait, Lucy's waking up. You'll have to explain everything to her." I walked over with Justin to the other side of the room to watch.
Lucy got out of the chair and looked out the window. "Oh, I should go."
"It's too late for that now. I'm such a terrible faun." Tumnus was now half lying across the stairs. Lucy went over to him and handed him her handkerchief.
"Oh, no. you're the nicest faun I've ever met."
"Then I'm afraid you've had a very poor sampling." Tumnus said as he wiped his eyes. I looked at Justin but he shook his head. Not yet.
"No. you can't have done anything that bad." Lucy said as she crouched down to look Tumnus in the eye. She had quite forgotten about Justin and me.
"It's not something I have done, Lucy Pevensie. It's something I am doing." He stopped wiping his eyes and looked up at her.
"What are you doing?" Lucy asked tentatively. She was becoming frightened.
"I'm kidnapping you." Lucy took a step back at this. Horror was written all over her face. "It was the White Witch. She's the one who makes it always winter, always cold. She gave orders. If any of us ever find a human wandering in the woods, we're supposed to turn it over to her!"
"But, Mr. Tumnus, you wouldn't. I thought you were my friend." Lucy looked imploringly at him as she said this and Tumnus's head jerked up. One look from him told her that he had not expected that.
"Then lets go!" Justin exclaimed as we steeped forward. Lucy looked at us for a second then helped Tumnus to his feet. "Good job Mr. Tumnus. We're proud of you. You told her without any help."
"Yes that's true, but the sooner we get Lucy back to the lamppost the better." I said as I took Lucy's shaking hand. "We don't know if the witch has discovered you or not."
"Waite!" Tumnus put his hand on Justin's shoulder. "You know what will happen don't you?"
"Yes we do." Justin answered for us both.
"Tell me. Please." Tumnus implored.
"We can't. It's not our place." I said as we walked toward the door. "I will tell you this though." Tumnus and Lucy gave me a look that made my heart melt. "Everything will be fine."