Edmund POV

We all laid around a fire, our dinner of apples having been ate. Susan had Lucy cradled against her for some comfort, both asleep, along with Peter. But I lay looking up at the moon, wondering what her life must have been like after I went. Did she marry? Did she live a happy life with children? Then unable to help myself, I got up and found myself walking back down to her.

I hadn't been able to stand in the room for more than a few minutes the last time. I had pushed past my sisters and brother to get out of the suffocating room the last time. When I got there this time though, as the moonlight shone over her I turned off the torch and just looked at the pedestal. I let the fact that she was gone wash over me as tears spilled over my cheeks and walked up to her. Her eyes were closed as a peaceful look graced her face. Then I realized that she was a lot younger that the other statue standing under the archway. The statue was the woman I had intended to marry while this was the girl I had first met.

I wondered slightly why they had made her look this young, but she was still more beautiful than any woman or girl I had seen. Knowing that I would never be able to kiss her again I drifted back to the last kiss I had with her. It had been so quick, I had wanted to catch that stag for Narnia, for her and right now I wished that it had been longer; that I had savored it more.

My eyes scanned down to her hands which were clasped almost awkwardly around something. Curious, I moved up and saw the ring. My eyebrows knitted in confusion, why had they put the ring on her. Slowly I reached out touching it and her hand when suddenly an electric shock went through me. I jerked back as color started coming into the statue. The grey stone was turning a slight white then peach on the fingertips and moving outwards. The sheath of hair gained movement as it started darkening to the dark brown color that I loved so much. Then suddenly her lips parted as she took in a gasp of air and her eyes snapped open.

oOo

Eres POV

I slowly felt the world coming back, or rather I to the world as a warm feeling spread throughout me. Starting in my core and extending towards my fingers and toes. I took in a gasp of air as my lungs begged me to do and snapped open my eyes looking up at a familiar but altered ceiling.

A smooth touch ran over my arm and I glanced over connecting with warm brown eyes; the eyes that I could never forget, but they held a more youthful appearance along with tears. "You came back," my voice cracked.

"You're alive," he murmured and then lunged forward pressing his lips to mine. I responded whole heartedly. It had been so long since I had kissed those lips and this seemed to be too good to be true. Shifting around, I was afraid that the dream I had so many times before was coming back to haunt me. It was never this vivid though, I could feel him, I could smell him, taste him things that had been fading in my memory.

Shifting over to the side, I tried to hold onto it and reached up to his face just as my most important treasure slipped from my hands. I jerked back just as I heard the metallic ting of the ring hitting stone but he took my face and made me look back at him. It was then that I saw that he almost completely different from the last time I had seen him, my last memory of him. His hair was cut shorter, like when he was the boy I first met. Tears stung my eyes as I looked into his teary eyes. He looked so young, making it so much harder to believe. But, with the feeling of his hands on my cheeks I was willing to hold onto the dream. "I missed you so much," I whispered.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to go. I've wanted to be here with you, everyday that I was gone." He moved in, kissing my lips once more. Pushing up, he didn't even break hold and just shifted with me as I moved up so I was sitting and unable to help it I let out a small giggle. Letting out his own chuckle against my lips I finally got my first touch and slowly reached out brushing my fingertips over his cheek. He was warm, soft, it was too vivid to just be a dream. This was real, he had finally come back to me. Just as Aslan said, I had what I wanted when I woke up.

Pulling back with a joyful laugh, I just looked over him as I ran my fingers up and through his hair. "How long where you gone exactly, because you haven't aged a bit," I teased softly.

"I could say the same about you, My Love," he smiled, taking my hands and placing his hands over mine and I looked down to see my own hands were smaller. It was then that I remembered Aslan making me younger before I went to sleep and it finally made since as to why. It was because he was younger.

"How old are you?"

"Eleven," He murmured.

"So if we're to our original gap…I'm only nine," I wrinkled my nose slightly as he let out a chuckle. "You didn't answer my question though. How long were you gone?"

"A year," he spoke and I felt my smile drop slightly.

"You were only gone a year?" I asked in disbelief

"How long was I gone for you?" He noticed my change.

"Seven," I answered softly and instantly I could see guilt written all over his face.

"I'm so sorry," He whispered and moved in again though this time pulling me into a tight hug. I moved my head down into the crook of his neck. I took in his slightly different, but still recognizable scent and with that combined with the feel of his arms around me I couldn't deny that this wasn't just a dream any longer. Nuzzling in closer, I took a deep breath as relief washed over me and he tightened his hold while giving his own in my hair. "Oh, I missed you so much," he murmured before pulling away only to trail soft kisses along my cheek to my lips. Unable to help it I let out a small giggle against his lips and just leaned my forehead against his where we both stayed, just breathing in and out.

After a long moment I pulled back and moved to place my hands at my sides only to hit something and looked down to see a long silver object. "What's this?" I asked picking it up by what appeared to be a handle and looked to the glass covering.

He looked at me in confusion. "An electric torch," He responded simply.

"A what?" I asked again, raising my eyebrows as realization dawned on his face.

"It's from where I am, here, just slide this up." He gestured to the area on the side and I did as he asked. Suddenly light shot out of the end and startled I tossed it up letting out a small scream. Laughing he quickly reached over and caught it, "It's not going to hurt you; it's just gives off light."

"I know that," I defended with a mock glare as he gave a smile and moved his hand up, brushing back my hair. Then I felt him touch something with a wider smile.

"Queen Eres," He murmured and I realized that it was my crown, which was curious, because I didn't remember wearing it that day. In fact now that I looked down at my dress I didn't remember having it on either. Actually I didn't even own this light blue dress, it was simple with fitted sleeves . Then I had on a lighter ice blue, bodice over top that laced down the front and had darker blue vertical lines over it.

Suddenly the sounds of footsteps echoed into the chamber and the moonlight illuminated the three siblings, also younger.

"Eres?" Lucy asked and then raced forward pulling me into a tight hug. Susan and Peter soon followed before all pulling away, "but you were a...how did..." Lucy continued then turned her eyes to Ed.

"I just touched her hand," he smiled, happily.

"What had I been?" I asked curiously, not exactly knowing and for the first time really looking around the room. I noticed why the ceiling had looked familiar but altered and that was because the place was almost destroyed. Rumble littered the floor around us, "what happened?"

"Maybe you can tell us?" Peter spoke.

oOo

"Oh...no, no, no," I felt tears come to my eyes as I looked over the ruins of Cair Paravel. "They must have gotten stronger."

"Who?" Ed asked from beside me.

"The Telmarines," I sighed licking over my lips, "they umm, they had tried to attack once before but our forces easily fended them off under Peridan and I. Then we got word that they were going to try an attack at near the Archenland border, Peridan and Cor were supposed to fend them off, and maybe they did but…something must have gone wrong."

"Why didn't you go with them?" Susan asked, probably catching the tiny hitch in my voice when I had mentioned that.

"I couldn't," I murmured.

"Why not?" this time Ed caught it.

"Because I was sick, I could hardly move let alone fight," I whispered, "soon after that Aslan came and that's how I ended up here."

"What do you mean sick? What happened?" Ed pushed.

"Soon after I turned 26 I got sick, and just couldn't get better," I answered simply, "but I'm fine now. I can promise you that." He looked at me worriedly but accepted it. "I wonder how long, I was a statue," I frowned looking around at the ruins.

oOo

The next morning, we all walked around the area only to figure out that we were on an island; Cair Paravel was now an island. It both amazed and scared we, worried over what else had changed this much. All four of them had changed into Narnia clothing and out of what I had figured out were their school uniforms. All I had done was to remove my crown and braid my hair over to the side, and then I dug in my truck for my belt and sword. I had also found my ring and put it on a necklace I had found in my trunk putting it around my neck since it no longer fit. Throughout this whole time it was unlikely that you'd find Edmund and I that far away from each other, except for when he was changing.

Suddenly, as we were reaching the tail end of the island Susan drew her bow and all of us raced towards her as she let one arrow loose and then nocked another. Both boys drew their swords as I looked on to see two Telmarines, holding up a bound and gagged red dwarf. "Drop him!" Susan commanded and what do you know they listened, dropping him right into the water. Instantly Peter and Edmund took off, diving into the water. One of the men raised a crossbow but Susan had shot before he could even aim as the other bailed out of the boat.

I walked forward and helped Edmund tug the boat onto the beach as Peter pulled in the dwarf. Getting it far enough up onto the shore, Edmund raced over and helped Peter as I tied off the boat, then walked over just as Lucy cut off the rope binding him. He rolled over, pulling off the gag and coughed out some water then stood and looked up at Susan, angrily, "Drop him!" She looked around at us only to see that all of us were sharing the same shocked look. "That's the best you can come up with?"

"A simple 'thank you' would suffice," She scoffed.

"They were doing fine drowning me without your help," He pointed at the water.

"Maybe we should have let them," Peter spoke, astonished.

"Why were they trying to kill you, anyway?" Lucy asked.

"They were Telmarines," I murmured, sadly.

He nodded, looking up at me, "That's what they do." I looked down at the ground, feeling like I had abandoned the country but felt instantly better as Ed's hand gripped mine. Looking up I smiled slightly and shifted my hand around to link my fingers with his.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," The dwarf muttered and I looked back to him, to see the look of disbelief clearly etched on his face. "You're it? You're the kings and queens of old?"

"High King Peter," He introduced himself and moved forward holding out his hand, "the Magnificent."

I restrained a bubble of laughter, covering my mouth as Edmund turned slightly to hide his own laughter.

"You probably could've left off the last bit," Susan spoke.

"Probably," The dwarf chuckled.

"You might be surprised," Peter drew Rhindon, holding it out a bit threateningly to him.

"Oh, you don't want to do that, boy," He spoke with a daring edge in his voice.

"Not me. Him," Pete looked over at Ed. Giving him a smile, I released my hold on his hand and moved to Susan's side as Peter's passed the sword to the dwarf then moved back to stand beside me. Using a tactic I had used many times before to play off an opponent he acted like the sword weighed a ton, basically dragging it in the sand.

Ed looked over at us with a confident smile and I raised an eyebrow in response, urging him to pay attention, because seconds later the dwarf swung, hitting his sword out of the way then back around. Ed ducked into a crouch to get out of the way but the dwarf swung back around and elbowed Ed in the forehead.

"Edmund!" Lucy shouted as I cringed.

"Oh, you alright?" The dwarf taunted as Edmund backed away holding his head. Getting over it quickly enough Ed moved back around and smacked the dwarfs rear with the flat side of the sword causing Lucy to let out a giggle as I just rolled my eyes and let out a small smile. Looking over to me, Edmund gave his own crooked smile and I knew perfectly well what he was doing because, in the year that we were touring for the engagement he had done it plenty of times at tourney's, he was making sure I was watching for the end. At the memories and the proof that much hadn't change (even though he looked a lot different physically) my smile widened and I repeated what I always did in those times and nodded towards the opponent, reminding him to pay attention.

The dwarf swung moments after he looked back and this time he was prepared and easily deflected it, then jumped up as the dwarf swung for his feet. It was over quickly then as he hit his stride and suddenly Rhindon was on the ground and Edmund had his sword poised over the dwarf.

The dwarf looked up at him in shock before falling back on the sand. "Beards and bedstands!" He gasped, and looked over to the rest of us, "maybe that horn worked after all."

"What horn?" Susan asked as I looked over at him in confusion.