Redemption of the Last Pevensie
Susan Pevensie was at a friend's house after meeting with her siblings, a meeting that didn't go very well.
-Flashback-
"Come on Susan! We need to help Narnia!" Peter pleaded with his sister.
"Narnia? Oh come now Peter, that was just a make-believe land." Susan laughed.
"Do you really think we would lie?" Lucy whispered, "Do you even remember Aslan?"
"Aslan?" Susan said with a scandalous look on her face, "I think you are taking this a little too far."
"Susan please!" Edmund came in, "Why won't you believe us?"
"You all need to wake up!" Susan said angrily, "I can't believe you all still believe this children's game! Grow up!"
Lucy, Peter, and Edmund looked at Susan with a mixture of hurt, sadness, and brokenness as she turned and walked out of the room.
Before the door closed she heard, "Where has your faith gone, Gentle Queen?"
-End Flashback-
'They really need to learn to grow up' Susan thought dejectedly, 'Why can't they see that it was all a game?'
"Susan? Are you alright?" Her friend, Eliza asked. "You look…lost in thought."
Susan snapped out of her musings to see her friend's concerned face, "Yes, I think it would be best if I headed home though."
"Okay, if you're sure…" Eliza said, rising and walking towards the door.
Susan followed her friend and said, "Thanks for the lunch and I'm sorry that I have to take off so soon."
"It's all okay, just let me know if anything's wrong okay." Eliza asked.
"Okay."
Susan walked away and memories that she thought she had long buried came unbidden back to the surface of her mind.
"Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always and King or Queen, may your wisdom grace us until the stars rain down from the heavens."
"Aslan is on the move."
"Trust in this bow, and it will not easily miss."
"Sir Peter Wolfsbane, knight of Narnia"
"When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone, sit in Cair Paravel in throne, the evil time will be over and done."
"Has Edmund ever been to Narnia before?"
"He must have known what he was doing."
"I would be grateful of the company for awhile."
"If the Witch had known the meaning of true sacrifice, she might have interpreted the deep magic differently. That when a willing victim that has committed no treachery is killed in a traitor's stead, the stone table will crack, and even death itself will turn backwards."
"Drop him!"
"Keep it; you might need to call me again."
"Look, I appreciate what you've been doing here, but this isn't a fortress, it's a tomb."
"One drop of Adam's blood and you free me; then I'm yours to command, my king."
"Keep your life, but I'm giving the Narnians back their kingdom."
"Rise Kings and Queens of Narnia…All of you."
"It wouldn't have worked out. I am 1300 years older than you."
"Your brother and sister have learned all they can in this world. Now it is time for them to live in their own."
"To the glistening eastern sea, I give you Queen Lucy, the Valiant. To the western wood, King Edmund, the Just. To the great southern sun, Queen Susan, the Gentle. And to the clear northern sky, I give you King Peter, the Magnificent."
To each of the memories that ran through her head, her heart wrenched painfully. She kept telling herself that it was just a game, but her heart wrenched even more painfully at the memory of the conversation she had with her siblings, especially the final sentence that didn't sound like any of her siblings.
"Where has your faith gone, Gentle Queen?"
The voice sounded too deep and compassionate to be any of her siblings. Her siblings had compassion and love for her sure, but this one sounded like an endless ocean of love; love for her, yet she could also detect the faint inflection of hurt in the voice.
Susan began thinking about who the voice could belong to; she ran through all the people that it could belong to but then her mind detracted back to the last conversation she had with her siblings and one name stood out.
Aslan…
Aslan…
Aslan…
Then she remembered when she and Lucy rode upon the Great Lion's back, before he started running, he roared. The roar was so great and powerful that she wouldn't be surprised if you could hear it all the way to Lantern Waste.
…Wait, That roar sounded real. She looked around, but saw nothing but her house and a man waiting for her at the door. She looked to the man, wondering why he was there.
"Susan Pevensie?" He asked.
"Yes, that's me." She replied.
"I'm afraid I have some grave new for you ma'am. It concerns your family." He looked at her with a sorrowful face.
Susan's eyes widened wondering what could have happened, "Well come inside, will you?"
"I'm afraid I can't Miss Pevensie, I have other people to give this notice to." The man said.
"Okay, what happened?" Susan asked.
"I'm afraid that your siblings and parents as well as your cousin were involved in a railway accident. They were all killed. I'm very sorry Miss Pevensie…" Susan stopped listening after the words "accident" and "killed" she began to walk away from the door when she realized that the policeman walked away, likely to tell other families that were involved in the accident.
'They're dead?' she thought. 'How could they get killed? Oh God why?'
Without her knowing, tears began to make their way down her face, washing away some of the make-up that she had on her face.
'Now I know that Aslan isn't real. If he was real, he would have protected them if he was.' Susan bitterly thought.
"You jump to conclusions, dear one."
"What?" Susan jumped and turned around and saw a large field instead of the hallway of her house. She walked forward into the grass and noticed that it was real. She continued walking into the field until she saw the Great Lion that she was just denying existed.
"Aslan…" She breathed.
Aslan walked forward and locked eyes with her and his gaze was so powerful that she almost looked away. His face was drawn into a sad smile and the glow around him showed her a beauty that shouldn't ever express that emotion. His eyes, however, are what nearly made her look away. They showed such love and compassion that she knew she didn't deserve, but what killed her was the hurt and betrayal that was in his eyes.
He needed only gaze at her for her to remember everything that happened in Narnia and all the wrong that she did in England.
"Dear Susan, why do you not believe?" Aslan asked. "I stand before you now, and you believe, but your brothers and sister held on to their faith without even knowing that I was there. You became the very thing you sought not to become in Narnia's golden age."
"Oh Aslan!" Susan cried and embraced the giant lion as far as her arms would go. Aslan brought his paw up to her waist and embraced her as only a lion could.
"I know that I did wrong, but why did you take my family from me?" Susan asked, tears in her eyes.
"I didn't take them from you; I allowed them to come to me." Aslan explained. "The only way for them to come to me, was through the death of their physical bodies. They wished so badly for you to come with them. They even asked me why you were not here. I told them the circumstances in which they came to be here; the railway accident in your world. Peter is once again High King Peter the Magnificent; your siblings have also retaken their positions as kings and queens. But you are not yet ready to retake your position as queen."
"Then why?" Susan asked.
"They wanted you to come, but I told them what I told you, you are not yet ready. This was to grant their deepest wish and to get your attention that what you were doing was wrong. You nearly turned away from me permanently, and you never would have seen your siblings again, and I don't wish that for you." Aslan said solemnly.
"I think I understand." Susan said.
"You need more time yet to learn before you can retake your position as queen." The Great Cat said.
"Thank you Aslan." Susan said thankfully.
"If you need me, you only need to call to me, dear one." Aslan said lovingly.
And the field as well as the lion himself dissolved into her hallway and she walked into her room and cried; she cried for her loss of her family, she cried for her lack of faith, and she cried for the hurt she caused the great lion that she loved more than her own family. She knew that he loved her greatly, but she knew that she didn't deserve it at all. She decided then that she would try her very hardest to make it up to him, even if she didn't make it.
-5 years later-
Susan Pevensie changed her life for the better since her family died five years prior. She always acted humble to others; as if she knew she was being watched by a greater being. One day she was sitting at home thinking back to the times the house was noisy because of her family, and for five years it grew quieter and quieter.
"I know that I'm not ready Aslan, but when?" Susan asked the air.
"It is because you think that, dear one that I know that you are."
Seconds after that announcement she heard a deafening roar.
In the next second she was standing next to Aslan in Cair Paravel where many people were hustling and bustling around.
"Welcome back, dear one." Aslan said looking at her with love.
"Aslan!" Susan exclaimed, "But how?"
"I knew you were ready when you called upon me. You knew you weren't strong enough on your own, and you also knew at that time, that you couldn't make up for any sins you may have committed, for neither could your siblings." Aslan chuckled, "And speaking of such, I believe there are three people who would very much like to meet you."
Susan turned around as the door to the castle opened and four people walked out. Susan recognized all four as her siblings and significant other, Caspian X. Susan hid behind Aslan's massive form with a mischievous look on her face, one most out of place on her.
Aslan chuckled at what she was doing, and decided to play along. "Peter, Edmund, Lucy, and Caspian," He called, "come here please."
The three "remaining" Pevensies and the Telmarine who saved Narnia lit up when he called them, and rushed down to meet him.
"Aslan! Where have you been?" Lucy asked curiously.
"Never you mind, dear one." Aslan said good-naturedly. "I do however have some news regarding your sister."
Their moods immediately shifted to somber. They missed their sister dearly, and wanted nothing more than to see her brought here, but they knew that she didn't believe.
When she saw their faces from behind Aslan, Susan immediately felt ashamed, especially of the last conversation that she had with her siblings.
"What's wrong with her?" Caspian asked, sorrow clear in his eyes.
Susan decided that enough was enough, she stood and said, "She's right here, and she's extremely sorry." She had tears floating in her eyes at the looks of shock on her siblings' as well as the memory of their last meeting on Earth.
"SUSAN!" Her siblings cried out in unison, jumping over Aslan, who stooped down just in time, laughing all the way, and tackling her into the grass. Caspian stood to the side, happy tears trailing down his cheeks; he knew that this was a family moment and although two of the Pevensies considered him a brother, he didn't want to intrude. He was suddenly pulled down by a lithe, womanly hand and into the group hug as they cried for joy at Susan's return.
"Susan! When did you believe again?" Lucy asked.
"It really wasn't long after the accident after you…died." She said solemnly. "Wait, if they're here…then what happened to me?"
Aslan looked to the final Pevensie and said, "It was your time, Gentle Queen, to leave your former land and return to your kingdom. I'm afraid, however, that in order to do that, you had to die in your former land. I did make sure that there was no pain, and that you knew who was calling you." He smiled his lion smile, "You were by a window in your house in Finchley, and a drunk driver began spinning off the road; I merely guided it to you, so that you may return; just as I guided the other train to cause the railway accident so that your siblings and the other friends of Narnia may return home."
"Come," Peter beckoned, "we must throw a celebration for the return of the Gentle Queen."
They all ran into the castle to do just that but Aslan remained, "And so the Final Pevensie has been redeemed, and all is right in Narnia." He lay down and looked into a pool that showed an image of the earth where he focused on the people there. "Yes, Narnia is complete, but our kings' and queens' world is yet to be completed."
I had this plot bunny hopping around in my head for a couple of days, and I had time so I thought I'd write it. This is the result.
I have included some of the bookverse (if you look) as well as a good deal of the movieverse in here so that should satisfy both audiences.
Tell me how I did. I'd like to see how people take this version of what happens to Susan after the railway accident that killed her family.
-Ultima