Author's Note: I, very randomly, have fallen in love with the idea of a Jill/Eustace romance and none of the fics about them suited my fancy (though there ARE a lot of cute ones out there). I'm not exactly sure how long this phase is going to last, but I'm enjoying it right now and I hope you do too. Just warning you, it's shamelessly fluffy and rated T because part of it DOES take place during a battle. Enjoy!
When Jill saw Eustace (she'd long given up calling him Scrubb) thrown into the Stable she was quite sure she was going faint or be sick or both. In any case, her heart quite nearly broke in two when she realized her best friend in two worlds was gone, and probably gone forever at that. She thought she heard Poggin's voice warning about arrows from the Dwarfs, but it was so faint to her ears that she didn't heed it. While everyone else was ducking she just stood there, staring at the Stable door, praying to Aslan to protect the soul of her dearest friend and that the Great Lion would give her strength to bear his absence. When the eleven Dwarves were thrown in soon after, Jill desperately hoped that Eustace would escape when the door was open. He did not.
A nudge from Jewel brought her back to her senses and she followed him to the little stream of water flowing from the white rock. She found that she had stopped crying and now a headache tugged at the nerves behind her eyes, the sort of headache one gets after one has cried just a little when one really needs to cry a lot. But she couldn't, so she shoved the horrible thoughts of Eustace far from her mind and drank more of the water. After that she began to feel the slightest bit better.
And then Poggin started talking about how he figured they'd all pass through the Stable door before morning and ruined it all. It also didn't help that King Tirian had compared the Stable door to a mouth and her horrible thoughts of Eustace's fate resurfaced as well as fears for herself. "Oh can't we do anything to stop it?" she asked, feeling sick all over again. Jewel's reply, sweet and hopeful as it was, really did nothing to make her feel any better. To top it off, Rishda Tarkaan out and out told them that she and the King and Farsight would be offered to Tash by way of the Stable door and she grew more miserable than ever. She thought of all the horrid things that lay beyond the Stable door and wondered again what had happened to Eustace once he'd passed through it.
Then the Calormenes began their attack and one Main Thought took over all those little, miserable ones and that Main Thought was this: If she was going to die, she had better help her friends and her Narnia as much as she could first. So she notched an arrow and took aim at the closest Calormene and barely even grimaced as he fell. She just notched another arrow and took aim again.
It went on like that for goodness only knows how long. She felt her mind grow blank as she shot arrow after arrow at the growing throng of Calormenes coming at her little party on the white rock. She didn't notice how the said party was growing smaller and that it was interspersing into the crowd of Calormene soldiers or how she was soon the only one standing there or that a Calormene had snuck quite stealthily up behind her.
One moment Jill had been lining up a shot aimed at a Calormene who was trying to run a spear through Jewel, the next she was shrieking and kicking as armored arms wrapped around her stomach and lifted her from the ground. She had enough sense to hang onto her arrow, but her bow clattered to the ground. She hoped briefly that Jewel would be alright and the used the arrow to stab at the exposed wrist of the Calormene who held her. Blood squirted from the wound and she felt some of it land on her cheek. The Calormene yelled loudly, quite nearly deafening her, before he dropped her in his surprise.
This was exactly what she was hoping would happen. As soon as she hit the ground she took off running, but she did not get very far. The Calormene recovered when he saw her running away and in two long strides had caught up with her. He tackled her to the ground and she was quite sure he broke a few of her ribs when he landed on top of her, it hurt so badly. While he was trying to pin her arms behind her back a brave Dog leapt to her aide and Jill cried out loudly when she heard it yelp in pain and then saw it landed not more than a few feet from her, never to move again.
After that she began to fight the Calormene with even more ferocity, her side protesting with every move, but she didn't quite feel it as acutely as she had guessed she would. Eustace had told her it might go like that. Adrena-thingamagumy, or some such thing. She wasn't actually sure and didn't have time to try to remember. She was too busy kicking and squirming and hitting and biting, but all of it was to no avail. He had a firm hold on her and he was not going to let go. Blood from the wound on his wrist was all over her by the time he thought he had her subdued enough to ease up on his grip. She fought off the urge to be sick when she tasted his blood in her mouth and jerked out of his hold. She turned and smacked his already wounded arm as hard as she could so he wouldn't follow her before she ran again.
Unfortunately, she ran right into another Calormene. She hit his armored breastplate with a dull clang and fell right onto her bottom. She caught sight of his wicked eyes beneath his helmet and was surprised when she didn't feel the fear she thought she would have.
"Dearest child, it's time to come Home." She looked around in surprise, sure she'd heard the words with her ears, but the Calormene hasn't seemed to. She saw him raise his hand and as she prepared herself for the impact, felt peace infiltrate her being. Before the Calormene struck her, she smiled. Alright, Aslan. Here I come. Thenthe Calormene's wrist guard connected with the side of her head and the world went black.
OoOoOo
"Jill . . ." a voice she thought she knew was calling her. "Jill . . ." She felt she must really open her eyes, but at the same time, she didn't want to. She snuggled back down and let sleep begin to take her back "Jill Pole! In the name of Aslan, wake up now!" The call was so powerful that she opened her eyes and was instantly blinded by bright sunlight.
She blinked several times and she realized that the sunlight was partially blocked by someone's head. A handsome face looked down at her, worry knitted around the edges of a rather lovely pair of eyes. He wore a crown on his head and was dressed in fine clothes and chain mail that glittered so fiercely in the light that it made her squint. Behind him were other figures, all wearing brightly colored clothing, but she didn't focus on them just yet. There was something terribly familiar about that face, but she knew that she had never met any king besides King Tirian and this was certainly not King Tirian.
"Jill, what happened? And don't look at me like that." At the sound of his voice she realized who this king was and she didn't quite understand it.
"Eustace? Is that you?"
"No, I'm the jolly Prime Minister. Of course, it's me, you little goose."
The comment about the Prime Minster assured Jill it was actually him and she was flooded with relief the likes of which she seriously doubted she'd ever felt before. She forgot any and all of her previous reservations or that she'd even had any reservations before at all and she threw herself at him with such force that it bowled him over.
"Eustace! It's you! Eustace, you're alive! Praise Aslan! I was so very afraid . . . you've no idea. Oh, thank goodness . . ." She was crying now and, really, she didn't care very much. She was just so happy that he was alright.
Eustace looked rather shocked and very discombobulated and didn't have very much to say at all (well, other than "I say, Jill! It's quite alright." ), but his arms wrapped around her almost instantly and she wondered if it were the most lovely feeling in the world. After she wondered that, Jill realized then that she was lying atop him, her arms around his neck and his face closer to hers than it had ever been before. She was about to apologize when laughter from behind them made them both stiffen.
"I told you so." Came a voice that Jill would have called snaky if she hadn't recognized as belonging to Edmund Pevensie.
She pulled away from Eustace instantly and they managed to untangle themselves and stand up and away from each other far more quickly that she would have thought possible. She then took the time to look around her and she found that she was in a most beautiful of places and it seemed to be a summer morning in that Place and that she was not inside anything, much less a tiny stable. She also saw that the other figures that had been standing behind Eustace were the Pevensies (that is, Peter, Edmund, and Lucy), Professor Kirke, and Aunt Polly. Except none of them looked anything like themselves. And then she thought that they looked more like themselves than she had even seen them look before and the Professor and Aunt Polly were so very much younger than they had been the last time she'd seen them. And they were dressed in such wonderful clothes that she suddenly felt very shabby, as bloodied and dirty and tearstained as she was. And then she realized she was dressed as they were and she gave a rather loud cry of surprise.
"Where did this gown come from? Where's my drill dress? And what in the world happened to all the blood? Lucy, did your magic Cordial fix my ribs?"
Five of the Six looked rather shocked and surprised at this sudden outburst and Eustace looked more than a little alarmed at the mention of blood and her ribs and Peter said: "Perhaps you ought to finished telling us the rest of your story, Eustace, and you can fill us in on what happened afterwards, Jill."
So Eustace told their story, with many interruptions from Jill (who added to what he said or made corrections, as Eustace has a slight flair for the dramatics) and from the others (who mostly just had questions), and then Jill told what happened after Eustace had been thrown into the Stable ending with Aslan's voice and the Calormene striking her (she didn't see how the thin line Eustace's lips were pressed into or how his eyes flashed with anger when she mentioned this) and how she had thought she had been thrown into the Stable.
"But this certainly isn't the Stable. What is this place anyhow?"
"The inside of the Stable," Eustace (who'd quite recovered from his anger) said.
"But it can't be."
"You should see something then." And Eustace took her by the shoulders and turned her about so she faced the other direction and she saw the strangest thing she'd ever seen in her life. And if you've read a book called The Last Battle (the events in this story actually take place in the middle of this book) then you'll already know that what she was a rough hewn door standing the middle of the charming field they were in and that it looked like it had always been there and may just always be there. Jill knew at once that it was the Stable door and she didn't know quite what to make out of it. She walked round it several times and stared and then perceptively put her eye to a hole in the wood. She saw dark figures darting around and every now and then the flash of firelight gleaming on chain mail or glinting off a swinging sword. And then she sat back on her heels and stared at the door in amazement.
"Oh my," was all she had to say on the subject.
"You see," Eustace began, coming up behind her and offering her his hand to help her up, "the Stable is actually bigger on the inside that is seems to be on the outside."
"Yes, I do see," she said, brushing the grass from her lovely gown. "And how did you get here?"
"Well, we were-" a commotion from the door behind them cut Peter off. Two men came flying through thee door. Jill and Eustace recognized both immediately and Eustace quietly pointed out who was who. He'd no more got the words out of his mouth when a horrible creature (some of you will know this creature to be Tash, the Calormene god) appeared and Aunt Polly and Lucy cried out in dismay and even the Professor and the two Pevensie boys grimaced at his appearance. Eustace shuddered and quickly shoved Jill behind him so that he was between her and the monster and she clutched his arm with all her might and felt her face grow white at the sight of it. And then Peter spoke to Tash and suddenly the monster was gone.
She was a little embarrassed, but Eustace didn't seem to mind (or, at least, he didn't say anything) so she didn't say anything either. Instead, she stepped out from behind him and stood at his side and joined the others in watching King Tirian as he looked about him in utter amazement. The shock on his face when his eyes lighted on the seven of them was so great that she couldn't help but laugh out loud. He stared at her and then realization began to dawn on his face and she knew he'd recognized her and she laughed again before she realized she simply must help the poor, dazzled King.
"Sire," she said curtsying in a way she never knew she could, "let me make known to you Peter, the High King over all Kings in Narnia . . ."
OoOoOo
Later, much later, after they'd come to Aslan's country, (if you don't know how this happened or the events that came directly before it, there is a book that I've already told you about which explains those events in great detail) Jill found herself walking about in amazement. She had been introduced to people she'd only heard about in stories the Pevensies and Eustace had told her. She had also seen Rilian and Puddlegum and other friends from her first adventure in Narnia, friends whom Tirian had assured her had been dead for hundreds of years. Her mind was so full of wonder that she found herself on a beach, but she wasn't exactly sure how she had gotten there. She wasn't tired, though she'd been walking for quite some time, and she decided to plop down in the sand and contemplate the marvel of it all. She didn't get much of a chance to do so though, because Eustace appeared and her thoughts suddenly became consumed (though she'd never admit it out loud) with him.
He didn't say anything, but sat next to her on the sand. One look at his face and she could tell he was feeling the exact same things she was and she was terribly grateful that she wasn't the only one. He met her eyes and smiled reassuringly. She smiled back and scooted closer to him. He didn't act surprised when their shoulders bumped, but wrapped his arm around her like it was the most natural thing to do in the world. Jill felt her insides turn into butterflies and her breath suddenly came a little short. He gently pulled her head to his shoulder and then put his other arm round her till she was wrapped snuggly in the circle of his arms. She found she didn't mind one little bit and relaxed against him.
They sat like that, watching the waves, for a minute or perhaps for a day, one couldn't quite say which, until a horn sounded. Eustace stirred and she lifted her head.
"That'll be King Frank's horn," Eustace whispered while Jill remembered that King Frank and his wife Queen Helen were the first king and queen of Narnia. "We must go up."
"La." She pulled away from him and stood, shaking the sand out of her skirts. When she was done Eustace was still sitting on the ground. "Eustace?"
"I know, I'm coming," he said, but his words were not as cross as they look in paper. He stood slowly and took her hands in his. "Jill, I'm glad we went through this together."
"Me too, Eustace." And then she did the most impulsive thing she'd ever done in her life: She kissed him full on the mouth. It was a soft, sweet kiss that she would have only had courage enough to give him in a country such as the one she was in. And when she pulled away he looked a little stunned and more than a little pleased. She didn't dwell on it. Instead she grabbed his hand and they began to run to the thrones of King Frank and Queen Helen, both anxious for the adventures they knew awaited them.