So this is my first Chronicles of Narnia fic... I was inspired while watching VotDT earlier. This takes place shortly after that, and in movie-verse.
It was a brisk fall afternoon, and Lucy and Edmund had been making yet another grocery run for Aunt Alberta and Uncle Harold. Normally Eustace would have accompanied them, but he was too busy with his studies. It was remarkable, the change that he had experienced in the span of one lazy summer day in Cambridge. Most considered it a miraculous and unexplainable phenomenon, but his cousins knew better. Such a change in character could only come of the best kept secret of their lives.
But where were we? Ah, yes. Edmund and Lucy were making their way back to the house with the groceries, when their attention was diverted to two boys yelling at each other in the square.
"Why should you get to be captain, anyway? You know I work harder than you," said one.
"That's thick," retorted the other, "considering you couldn't even be bothered to show up to the tournament."
"Maybe that's because I'm sick of you getting all the glory. Maybe I don't want to play second fiddle anymore. I'm the one who deserves this."
"Do you really?" The other boy advanced, fists raised. "Prove it."
Then a constable stepped in, breaking the two apart. Lucy looked to her brother, who wore a slightly sick-looking expression.
"Come on, Lu," he said gravely.
They walked in silence for a couple minutes, before Edmund finally spoke again. "It just reminds me of that time I argued with Caspian, over that bloody pool. He's like another brother to me, and I let my resentment build up until it blew out in an ugly green mess."
"It wasn't your fault," Lucy replied consolingly. "It was the darkness. It manipulated you into thinking that way."
"But that's the thing," he said. "I have thought that way. Not just then, but for the longest time beforehand." Edmund sighed. "I don't like it when that part of my character comes out. It makes me feel…" He struggled to find the right word, but nothing came to mind. Fortunately, Lucy understood.
"I know. I suppose no one can be without fault in their character, can they?"
Her brother pondered that. "I suppose not. Though as far as I can tell, you are. The darkness didn't tempt you at all."
Lucy tugged her hair nervously. "Well, about that…"
Edmund paused to look at her. "What?"
"It did, actually." Her face, normally rosy and warm, looked uncomfortable, almost ashamed. They had reached the park by that point, and Edmund gestured for them to sit on a nearby bench. The two were also glad to give their arms a rest from the heavy bags.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose there was something more important to worry about. And… I was embarrassed. I didn't want anyone to know."
"Can you tell me now?"
She studied his face, checking to see that he was completely earnest. Then she sighed, and said, "Fine. But don't tell anyone, please."
"Promise." She looked so small in that moment, Edmund couldn't imagine what she could've done that was so bad.
"When I was in the mansion—you remember the mansion?—I was looking through the book of spells to find the one to make the unseen seen. But as I looked, I found a page that said, 'Use this spell to make you she, the beauty you always wanted to be.' The incantation itself was on the opposite page, and when I looked, the drawing became a mirror, and I saw myself change. My face, my hair… until I looked exactly like… like Susan. I tore the page out and put it in my pocket, and one night, during the storm…" She shuddered. "It was awful. I became Susan, but there was no 'me' anymore, just her and the two of you, and it was all very frightening—then Aslan was there, and I was just me again, and—"
"You wished to become Susan?" Edmund cut her off, incredulous. "Lucy why would you ever wish something like that?"
She stared at her lap. "I don't know. It seems she always gets the good luck. She gets the bow and arrow, she goes off to America, she's beautiful and I'm just—"
"Stop." He studied her, and for the first time, he noticed that way she hunched her shoulders, like she didn't want to be noticed completely. He realized what it meant when she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, when she would gaze at herself from the side and frown at the mirror, and the reason she would take so much time getting ready in the morning before school and almost make them late.
"Lucy," he said gently, wrapping a strong arm around her shoulders. "You're not Susan. You never will be. But why should that matter to you? Susan's beautiful, sure, but so are you."
Her eyes glistened with subtle tears. "How can you be so sure?"
"Because you're my sister. Because you're Queen Lucy, the Valiant. You don't have an excuse to think so little of yourself." Her lips curled up slightly, and he added, "Besides, was it Susan who had the brilliant idea to hide in a wardrobe when we hit a baseball through that window?" Lucy chuckled.
"Let's go," she said, standing up. "Aunt Alberta and Uncle Harold are waiting, and I need them both happy if I'm to go to Nancy's birthday party tomorrow."
Edmund nodded, grabbing a bag. "I didn't realize you were all that close with Nancy."
"I'm not, but she invited me, and there's going to be some girls there from school who…" she faltered, with it suddenly dawning on her that she really didn't want to go for the party. She just wanted to become part of the in-crowd. "You know what? Never mind. I've probably got studying to do anyway, considering my grade in maths."
Her brother raised an eyebrow, allowing himself to grin. "Changed your mind, then?"
Lucy shrugged. "I suppose so."
"It's too bad that you have so much homework. I was going to propose that we go to the air exhibition tomorrow, but if you have to study…"
A grin crept up onto Lucy's face as well. "Well, I suppose I don't have too much work to do."
The two siblings chuckled as they walked merrily down the lane.
What is your opinion? I would love to know, so please review! Thanks for reading!