Author's Note: Okay, so this story idea popped into my head after recently going with a friend of mine to see VotDT in theaters. I was sitting in the theater and during the scene where Lucy and Eustace are taken by the slave traders to be sold I found myself thinking 'Lucy wouldn't easily get over a trauma like that and it would give her and Eustace something to bond over' and this is the story that resulted from that thought process.
Disclaimer: Anything that is recognizable, I don't own. This is not being made for any profit but rather from a love of the characters in this series.
Spoilers: None really. This story takes place during the storyline in VotDT and is movie verse so the characterizations of both Lucy and Eustace are based on Will Poulter's and Georgie Henley's portrayal of them in the film version of that story.
Lucy sat on the large, plush bed in the corner of the cabin she had been staying in since she, Edmund, and Eustace found themselves back in Narnia and aboard the Dawn Treader, shaking. It wasn't that she was cold or wet but rather the shock beginning to sink in from the situation on Narrowhaven. Her auburn curls were hanging loosely down her back and she was dressed in the large shirt that Caspian had lent to her for sleeping in and the familiar scent of him was comforting but as she sat there on the bed, her legs tucked under her shaking, she could not dispel the awful memories. She could still hear herself screaming for Edmund as she was dragged away from her brother and friend to be sold by the slavers on Narrowhaven. She pushed the sleeves of her shirt up and could see the bruises that were coming to the surface and it caused her to shudder again. Those vile men had manhandled her, handing her off person to person like some bundle or parcel as they carried her to the sales venue, binding her hands tightly when she tried to fight back.
"Lu, are you okay?" Edmund had asked gently once they were back in the longboat and he and Caspian were rowing toward the Dawn Treader again.
Lucy nodded woodenly but didn't say anything, instead, absently began rubbing at one of the bruises on her wrist that Edmund had yet to notice as she stared out at the Dawn Treader in the distance. She would never tell her brother what had happened or the way that those ruffians had manhandled her, causing bruises on more than just her wrists, especially when she tried to fight against them and their rough treatment of a high queen of Narnia. She noticed the look that Edmund exchanged with Caspian as they both began to row a bit faster to get everyone back to the safety of the ship. Whether Edmund and Caspian hoped that things would improve once everyone was back on board the Dawn Treader and they had set sail once again, Lucy did not know but if it were possible, things actually got worse, Lucy and Eustace both sequestering themselves in their respective quarters and not saying a peep to anyone that first night back on board. Edmund tried desperately to get Lucy to open the door to Caspian's cabin that first night, even going so far as to sit outside it for two solid hours with a tray of food for her.
"Lucy, please open up the door. You need to eat and I want to talk. Talking will help," he called softly through the door, sliding to the floor with his legs out in front of him and the tray resting on his legs.
"I'm not hungry," she said, those the first words she had said all day.
"Come on Lucy. Just let me in. I won't force you to eat but I want to make sure you are okay," Edmund said with a soft sigh.
Lucy got up off the bed and came over to stand by the door, pressing her ear to the door to make sure that no one was trying to open the door.
"I'm okay. I am just going to go to bed. I will see you in the morning," she said quietly through the door, hoping that the lie sounded convincing.
When she didn't hear Edmund respond, she assumed that he must have gone back to whatever he was doing before bringing her dinner to her and she let out a soft sigh of relief. Lucy had just climbed into the bed in the corner of the room and pulled the blankets over her head and curled in on herself in a tiny ball in the middle of the bed when she heard the door lock click softly and the door creaked open.
"I don't see her anywhere in here Ed," she heard Caspian say in a hushed tone.
"Well, she's here somewhere because I've been outside that door the majority of this evening and she hasn't left the cabin," Edmund said in an aggravated tone.
"Maybe we ought to leave her be for the time being. I mean, she's dealing with a lot right now…perhaps it's best to just give her, and Eustace as well, some space for a while, until they deal with whatever it is they are trying to deal with," Caspian said.
Despite the desperate urge she felt to poke her head out from under the covers and ask one of the boys to stay with her and talk, Lucy resisted and instead curled more tightly in on herself, letting out a soft sob of pain as she hugged herself under the blankets. She tried to muffle the sound of her crying, which she hadn't realized had started until she felt the moisture on her cheeks, so that no one would know where she was hiding but Caspian and Edmund must have left the cabin again because she didn't hear anything except the sound of her own breathing and the muffled sobs coming from her chest.
It had now been a week since the events on Narrowhaven, and neither Lucy nor Eustace were any closer to being better. They both still kept to their respective quarters most of the time and Caspian and Edmund had instructed every member of the Dawn Treader crew that no one was to try and coax, cajole or otherwise coerce either of them into speaking about the events of what had taken place on Narrowhaven so Edmund was both delighted and hurt when he walked past the cabin of the ship and heard voices inside talking quietly.
Lucy once again sat on the large, plush bed in the corner of the cabin she had been staying in since she, Edmund, and Eustace had found themselves in Narnia and aboard the Dawn Treader, shaking as she once again found herself remembering the events of just a week ago on Narrowhaven. She pushed the sleeves of her shirt up and could see the bruises that now covered her arms and it caused her to shudder again. A knock on the door made her jump and Lucy pushed the sleeves back down and dove under the covers on the bed.
"Come in," she called softly, hiding her face in the pillows.
The door creaked open and when Lucy looked up she saw the last person she expected standing in the doorway. Eustace stood there watching her shaking under the covers, eyes wide in fear and he felt a pang of guilt in the pit of his stomach knowing that Lucy was not deserving of such treatment by such barbarians.
"Lucy, may I come in?" Eustace asked softly.
Lucy uncovered her head and sat up rather quickly, looking over at where Eustace was standing awkwardly in the open doorway, neither in nor out of the room as he waited for her answer. Lucy nodded in answer to his question and Eustace stepped a little further into the room.
"What is it Eustace?" Lucy asked in a slightly sour tone, which was unusual for her.
Normally Lucy was very kind to everyone and never had a cross word or tone, even for Eustace when he was trying her patience. She knew that he didn't understand why she was like that but she was a queen in her former life and while she would never tell Eustace anything about it, she still tried to behave like one, even in the English world she was stuck living in. Eustace didn't answer her question but rather, came over and sat down tentatively on the end of the bed where Lucy was seated.
"I…I just…..I just came to see how you were fairing," he said slowly.
When Eustace looked up at Lucy, she was shocked into silence and couldn't help but show the shock that she felt breaking through on her face. She sat there for a minute before she broke Eustace's gaze and looked down at the blankets between them, picking at an invisible thread there.
"I'm okay…..aside from the bruises," she said very softly.
"Bruises?" Eustace asked in confusion, his eyebrows pulling together in a mix of anger and confusion.
Lucy just nodded and pulled the sleeves of her nightshirt up, holding her arms out for Eustace to inspect. She heard his sharp intake of breath when he saw the bruises that lined her arms and the tears returned to the surface.
"Do they hurt?" Eustace asked softly after a minute of silence.
"No…" she said slowly, "Are you okay Eustace?"
"Of course. It's lucky that I have an iron constitution since it seems we find more trouble since we have been here than I think even you or cousin Edmund could find on your own in Cambridge," he said, some of his usual obnoxiousness coming back into his tone.
Lucy rolled her eyes at that comment and said nothing as they lapsed back into silence.
"I am sorry that this happened to you," she said after another minute of silence between them.
"Same here. I'm sorry that this happened to you as well. I know you think I don't like you much but I still don't think it's fair that you had to suffer all of this," he said.
Lucy smiled and resisted the sudden urge she felt to hug Eustace like she would have done with her brothers. While Lucy knew she would never get an actually apology for the way he had treated both of them in Cambridge, Lucy still felt as if she and Eustace had just broken through the first layer of his indifference for her and her brother and that she had finally seen just how much Eustace did care for her at least.
Okay, this story started out as a one shot but on the wonderful reviews and suggestions of a couple reviewers, I am turning it into a proper story that shows that Lucy would not simply have been fine just hours after being sold in a slave trade. Also, I really like the way that they movie showed Eustace being sort of nice at times to everyone even before he became a dragon and I felt that if he and Lucy had shared the experience of being sold by slavers, that would have made him feel a bit more love and concern for Lucy at least and hopefully that comes across without either of the characters being OOC. Let me know what you think of it and how much you did or didn't enjoy it.