Disclaimer: I am not C.S. Lewis, and therefore I do not own anything recognisable.

Author's Note: It's the beginnings of a multi-chapter story, and it's Alternate Universe after (during?) The Last Battle. This is my first dive into fleshing out an A.U. story (although it isn't my first A.U. story). I hope you enjoy this first chapter!

Edmund was shocked when Peter shoved the small package into his hands.

"Take it," he said, with some sense of urgency. "I'll meet you all there."

"There's no sense in taking two cars," Edmund protested. "Come with me. What are you going to accomplish?"

"The train is going to arrive soon," Peter said. "Go! You never know, I might make some headway."

"Peter-"

"Go!"

Edmund sighed and walked towards the front door, grabbing keys as he did so. When he went to turn the knob he turned around and glanced at Peter one last time. "Are you going to meet us there?"

"Yes," Peter said. "Wait for me. I'll see you there."

By the time Edmund had made it outside, where it was a wonderful end-of-summer's day, Peter was already on his way back to the kitchen to make an important phone call.

"Susan, this is your last chance. Edmund is already on his way to the station and I'm to meet him there."

"That's wonderful for Edmund," said Susan, her voice taut. "I'm not going."

"Not even just to see everyone again?" Peter asked, trying not to let a note a desperation slip into his voice.

"I know what you lot will start talking about," Susan told him. "You don't think I'm actually going to sit there and listen to it. I know you'll try and get me to go along, but I'm not even going to get involved."

Peter sighed. Sometimes his sister was impossible. "Are you sure?"

"Quite sure," she said.

"Well, then, I…" Peter found himself quite unsure of what to say, or how to end. He always hated saying goodbye to Susan because he never knew when they would next talk. It was quite frustrating.

Susan finished the job for him. "Goodbye, Peter."

Before Peter could say his own goodbye Susan had already hung up.

The platform was full of people and the rings felt heavy in Edmund's pocket. He wished Peter was here so that he would at least have someone to talk to, someone to distract him. It was not so. He was left to his own devices, waiting for a train, with magical rings heavy in his pocket serving as a constant temptation.

He checked his watch. The train would be here soon. He wondered how long the phone conversation would last and whether Peter could convince Susan to come. He wondered if Susan ever wanted to go back to Narnia like they did, or whether it hurt her too much to think about it…or whether she really did think it all wasn't real.

It didn't matter what Susan thought. Edmund knew Narnia was real. It didn't make having the rings any easier, but it did give Edmund some comfort that everything he and his family experienced hadn't been a dream. Sometimes it was harder to believe, but when one had company to believe with things got easier.

A distant rumbling sound caught Edmund's attention and he looked up to see a train rounding the bend. He thought it was Lucy's train, and then he thought that the train was going too fast to stop. That wasn't all. Something about the train, and the way it was moving, was all wrong. And it was coming closer and closer and he couldn't quite put his finger on it but he knew it all the same and then…

And then there was a bang and a burst of light followed by darkness and pain.

There has been a railway accident.

Peter had to get to the hospital. He had to. He was driving like a mad man and perhaps he was one, but it didn't matter because the train with Lucy and the Professor and Polly and Eustace and Jill and possibly even his parents had crashed into the platform, where Edmund likely had been at the time, and it was very possible that everyone was…

No.

But he knew he ought to go home first and call Susan, tell her to meet him there. It was because she had a right to know, but also because he wasn't sure he could face this on his own.

He pulled into the driveway of the house and rushed inside, into the kitchen. He picked up the phone and dialled. While it rang, he fervently prayed that Susan would pick up and that she would agree to come with him. If not, he might just have to drag Susan down to the hospital himself.

"Hello?"

Shocked, Peter came out of his thoughts. "Susan!" he breathed, nearly sinking to the ground in relief.

"Peter?" Susan asked, sounding concerned. "Are you okay? You sound upset about something."

"Susan," Peter repeated. He wasn't sure how to say the words that he needed to so that Susan could know. He never imagined it would be so hard. He took a deep breath and plunged onward, knowing that after this everything would change, "There's been a train crash. The train…that Lucy and the others were on crashed into the platform. I arrived just as they were starting to pull people out. It looked…horrible." There were wet spots on his cheeks. He angrily wiped them away.

On the other end of the line was silence. Peter was going to call his sister's name again to see if she was there when he heard a small gasp, and then another. Then, "Are they okay?" It was barely audible.

"I-I don't know," Peter admitted. "We have to go to the hospital and find out. Will you come with me?"

They both would rather do anything but this, yet there was no one else to do it. They had to. Susan's tears made their way into her voice as she answered, "Yes."

It was a disaster, a tragedy. There were no miracles here, no wonderful stories of people who had been uninjured by sheer luck. None of that.

Peter sat in the waiting room, staring straight ahead. His left hand was on top of Susan's right, and hers felt terribly cold. The whole building was cold and he shivered, thinking of the days ahead, of the months, of the lifetime he had to face.

His father, his mother, Eustace, Jill, the Professor, Polly, and Lucy…all dead. It didn't make sense. Why should they be taken all at once…and why were Peter and Susan left behind to clean up the mess that resulted? It was unbearable to think about it, about the number of loved ones lost to them all at the same time.

And yet…

Peter supposed he ought to be thankful, but it was hard. Edmund was alive, but barely. He had been severely injured when the train hit the platform and was now in the hospital. The doctors were 'doing everything we can' to keep him alive. That was their focus. Whether he returned to normal or not was a question held back for later, when Edmund's life was not in constant danger of being lost.

The hand on top of Susan's clenched tighter.

They didn't have much to be thankful for. Their family and friends were all dead. There were funerals to plan, things to take care of, grief to try and move on from, memories that kept coming to the forefront of their minds at the worst times…

But, for now, Edmund was alive…