As per usual, all right are owned by C.S. Lewis. I am simply borrowing his characters to create something with my own little flair. This takes place within an AU, where the three Pevensie children have died in that fated trainwreck. Susan is now the only Pevensie sibling alive. But her son, an illegitimate son between her and Caspian must now take on the journey to continue the traditions of his mother and uncles and aunt. He needs to reunite Susan with the others, but before that, he must find out who he is, and what kind of man he wants to become.

Chapter 1:

Year: 1962

Destination: A suburban area within New York

He came home with a black eye again; the corners of his lips swelled up in a reddish-purple color and a cut was still bleeding on the corner of his right eye. William had to restrain himself from grunting in pain as he snuck in from the backyard and climbed through a low window that led to the living room of the house. His left leg felt a spark of pain as he tried to swing it around the open window; he dearly hoped it wasn't broken.

The floors creaked mercilessly as he tiptoed (or tried to, at least) around the furnitures towards the staircase. Will thought of the excuses he needed to come up by tomorrow morning. His mom would surely not approve of his unsightly state and would definitely call up the principal of his school the moment she realized that he had been in a fist fight again.

Will breathed in deeply as he steadied his footsteps, he had to control the weight of his walking. There was nothing better than to wake up the whole house at two in the morning and surprise everyone with his battered face.

Unfortunately, life had other plans. He was so very close to said staircase when he heard a high-pitched "ahem". All was over, the living room lights flashed to life and William groaned in defeat: she had been waiting for him all this time. He was ready for a long day.

Sizzling on the lounging couch was his mother, his very, understandably angry mother.

"Where were you?" Susan's voice was like steel. Will gulped and tried to avoid her electrifying blue gaze. They shone bright with worry and fury, glaring daggers at him. Although he himself had inherited her icy blue eyes, he never could paralyze anyone with them, no matter how hard he tried.

Crap. Now he had to think of an alibi right now.

Will cleared his throat, bit back a wince, and lied, "I got lost and fell through a wooden bridge somewhere back at the creaks in the park. It was dark when I was there so..."

His lies, as per usual, did nothing to save him from Susan's wrath, because, well, they sucked.

"William Casper Pevensie." His mother said through gritted teeth, "Do not lie to me."

The little bit of hope of even getting through the night vanished from Will's head. She wasn't going to let this go anymore.

He sighed in defeat. "They called me a scoundrel." It was true. Alex Simpleton from his Geometry and Algebra class had decided to spill ink in his sketching notebook and then managed to get two of his buddies to write said insult on his homework.

"So you fought them?" Susan asked. " Why must everything be solved with violence in your book? Why couldn't you just be the better person, William? Just tell your teacher!"

"Because that doesn't work, mom!" He was shouting now, frustrated with her and everything. "Mr. Cogswell had to tell them like four times! He doesn't do anything other than make us apologize like idiots!"

Susan lifted a hand to her face, and Will could almost see tears gathering in her eyes.

"And that wasn't the only thing they did to me." He was indignant now, he almost felt betrayed. How could his own mother, out of all people, think that he was in the wrong when he wasn't?

"They called you a common whore, mom." His voice broke. "They said that because of me, you will never have the chance to be proper again." He had to hold himself in, he couldn't cry, not in front of her, not anymore.

Slowly, Susan rose from her seat. She walked up to the shaking Will. He thought of the things she would say to him. Probably more reprimands about his supposedly 'volatile' behavior and whatnot. He thought of just turning around and limping to his room, but he decided against it. He didn't want to provoke her already upset emotions any further.

He was suddenly enveloped in her arms. Will stilled; it was a surprise indeed. His mother was shaking, too. It did not take him long to realize that she was sobbing quietly. Will's resolve to keep his heart hard went out the window the moment he felt the first sobs escaped her. This was all his fault, if he hadn't continued the fight with Alex, then his mother would not have seen him at this lowly state, and she would not have felt so bad about her predicament.

For a long moment, he felt like dirt.

"I'm sorry, mom." He croaked, "I really am."

Susan released him. She stepped back and smiled. "It's ok, Will. I'm sorry, too."

Ashamed, he looked down at his shoes. He didn't just feel like dirt, he felt like shit now. His mother assessed him from head to toe and sighed again.

"Come on, honey. We need to go get your cuts cleaned up and leg checked. We'll go see Dr. Henry tomorrow if it looks broken, okay?" He nodded languidly as she helped him up the stairs.

That night, he couldn't sleep at all. All he could think of was his mother's cries and that one specific sketch he had drawn that was now covered with dark ink.