Chapter: 1 or 2 (second chapter or sequel, either way is fine)
Rated: K
Author's Notes: Thank you to King Caspian the Seafarer for correcting the mistake with Eru and Valar, and to Lucille Brown for reviewing!
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We had gotten back to our house the month before, and Peter, Susan, Mum, and Dad had all gotten back also. We had explained everything to Peter and Susan, but Susan didn't seem to care. She just flipped her hair over her shoulder and told us to stop playing the childish games, grow up, and forget about it, because we were living in the real world now. It really hurt to hear her say that. As Ed put it, "there goes our gentle queen."
The war wasn't over yet, but Dad was home. Bedridden, but home. He had been shot in the leg, and while it wasn't fatal, the army had to send him home. He couldn't fight with his leg in the shape that it was. Not for the time being, anyway.
The problem was that his leg was healing well, so he could be sent back again. I was tired of worrying that Dad would be killed every night, and so was everyone else. I could tell.
Even if Mum didn't know who he was, we needed Aslan right now. He has a way of making you forget all your problems when you go near him.
***
You can figure out a lot about people through their eyes.
Edmund just sat and stared out the window every so often, and he got that look in his eyes that he used to get when he was thinking about Him. Ever since Ed found out what Aslan had done for him, he…I don't know. I really can't describe it. Once he got over his guilt, he changed even more. In a good way, of course.
Susan just came and went with her friends, but I could tell how disappointed she was that she couldn't go back to Narnia, even if she claimed it didn't exist. Her eyes told me that she desperately wanted to believe, but her pride wouldn't let her. She had told us that it wasn't real; she had to stick to what she said.
I think it would have been easier to just tell us how she felt, but…Susan is Susan. She has to stand up for herself, she says.
Peter's harder to catch in a moment like Ed's, but I did it. I accidentally walked in on him when he was listening to our cousin Sarah playing the piano. The song was almost exactly like some of the dancing songs in Narnia. Actually, this sounded more like one of the songs that the fauns played when someone had died, but they had lived a good life. It was a sad song, but a bit hopeful too, like the person (or creature) playing it knew that the dead friend was in a better place. You've probably heard that line before, but that's really how it sounded.
Mum was easy to find in a bad state. Ever since Dad left, she had been sad and quiet (who wouldn't be?) but she stayed strong for us. Now she was even worse, and I would hate to have seen how she was without us.
Because it was Easter, she tried her best to make the house, which was amazingly still intact, look nice and happy for us and because Aunt Alberta, Uncle Harold, and Eustace were coming. Despite all our best efforts, it still looked like a sad house that someone had tried to look happy but had failed miserably. We were still determined to be cheerful, even if we weren't the extremely happy family that we were trying to look like.
****
On Easter morning, we were all running around like crazy people attempting to make ourselves presentable for Church. Our aunt and uncle didn't want to come, but Eustace did (he had never been to one before except at marriages and funerals), so they obliged.
I felt like it was all too much, because I just wasn't in the right mood. Hypocrisy. That was the word; Easter was supposed to be a time to rejoice, and with our family in the state that we were in, it just didn't seem right. We were going to go anyway, because it was, you know, Easter. Easter was the day that everyone went to Church.
To make things worse, we were going to the earlier Mass. The one where all the old people went (no offense to the old people).
I knew I would be bored.
****
Sitting there on the pew in the middle of the church, I started looking around at all the paintings. Mum had taken us to a different church, a much nicer one, to make us feel better. Susan seemed to like it, but Peter, Ed, and I hated it, I think. It was just too different and strange.
It was when I heard, "And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom," that I really started listening.
"The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised…." I had stopped listening somewhere after, "and the bodies of…(etc.)"
When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Stone Table will crack, and even death itself will turn backwards.
Aslan?
I am there too, but you must learn to know me by another name…
Aslan had died on the Stone Table for Ed; death turned backwards and he rose again. Jesus had died on the cross for us; death turned backwards and He rose again.
I almost jumped out of my seat when I realized that Jesus was who Aslan was in our world!I did actually squeal and got a few strange looks that could have been interpreted in different ways, but I didn't care.
I saw Ed out of the corner of my eye, and he was whispering excitedly to Peter who was listening intently.
Susan sat there looking very proper and listening to the priest, but I knew better. She was probably planning what she was doing tonight.
But that was alright, because I had figured out what Aslan had meant!
****
Right after Mass was over, I ran up to Edmund and started jumping up and down.
"Did you figure it out? Aslan is Jesus, and Jesus is Aslan! He's alive! Really, He is!"
He grinned and said, "Yes! It was at, "Behold there was a stone, and he sat upon it," that I realized it, but I started thinking at, "…rocks were split!"
"When was the sitting on the stone part?" I asked.
"An angel was sitting on the stone, remember? Maybe you missed it, but I told Peter!"
We saw Peter sitting on a patch of grass in the sun staring at the sky and ran over to him.
"Peter-!"
He just kept looking at the sky, "Do you realize how amazing He must be to be able to come back to life? Or even to create all of us, not to mention the whole world! Then to save us all, even though we were the ones who killed Him!"
I was quiet for a moment then said, "I think it says in the Bible how much he loves us."
****
When we got back, Peter, Ed, Eustace (whom we had told about our discovery), and I went to find a Bible, and this is what we found:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
That's a lot of love.
*************
There!
This is the sequel to In Our World, and also an Easter fic, so two in one!
The first few verses are from Matthew 27 and 28, and the end one is Matthew 10:29-31.
Please review! I really want to know what you think!