AN: This chapter is pretty much just about Them getting back to Narnia. They actually have to be in Narnia and Lucy has to see and not follow Aslan for the plot of this fanfic to take off. Plus also, Later in this fic, Lucy's going to need the golden dress for something so I had to have her swipe it from the ruins of cair paravel in this chapter. Basicly like the prologue, this is just to start setting the scene.
"Come on, Edmund, wake up!" Susan said, shaking her brother awake (Or at least, trying to do so).
"No more cheese." Edmund muttered, still asleep and dreaming. "The mice will invade and steal all the marshmallows."
"What are you talking about, Ed?" Susan asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Go away." He moaned pulling the covers up over his head.
"It's the first day of school." Susan reminded him. "We're going to miss the train."
"Great idea, whatever you say, Su." Edmund said, rolling back into a ball and crawling deeper under the covers.
Susan rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air. "I give up." She said, storming out of the room.
Peter was standing outside the door. "He still wont get up?"
"He never was a morning person." Susan reminded him.
Peter knew that perfectly well. Even in Narnia when they'd had to get up early for councils as kings, Edmund made a fuss about it.
"We may have to resort to the cold water bucket." Susan said.
Peter shook his head. "We'll only be even later if he has to take time to dry off."
"Hullo." Lucy bounced into the hallway, carrying her suitcase. "When are we going?"
"Maybe Lu can jump up and down on his bed." Peter suggested, smiling at his sister. "That's what woke me up."
Lucy laughed a little. "Sorry Peter, I'm just a bit nervous about my first time at a boarding school that's all."
"It's alright." Peter told her. "Now go see if you can get Edmund to wake up."
Lucy opened the door, raced in and leaped into Edmund's bed, landing on his left thigh. "Wake up."
"Get off me!" Edmund demanded. "By the lion, you're worse than a puppy!"
"Well, are you up now?" Lucy asked.
"No." Edmund lied.
"Come on," Lucy got off of him pulled back his covers, grabbed his hand and pulled him out of bed. "Peter and Susan will have a fit if we make them late."
"I hate school." Edmund muttered as he left his room, rubbing his eyes. "I don't want to go."
"Don't say that in front of Lucy, you'll scare her." Peter told him.
"Oh, shut up." Edmund grumbled as he went into the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face. When he came out ten minutes later, he apologized for being grumpy, impossible, and telling Peter to shut up.
"It's okay." Lucy smiled at him. "Let's go."
They took the train to the subway station. They had a few minutes to wait before it was scheduled to arrive.
Susan decided to go get a magazine. Edmund was off looking for any nearby restroom he could find, because he'd had too many glasses of orange juice that morning. Peter was talking to some boys from his school. Lucy pulled out a notebook and started drawing a flower chain out of boredom.
After her flower chain had reached about fifteen flowers in all, Lucy heard a sharp pow. Looking up, she saw that Peter had just punched one of his classmates.
She watched in horror as the boy glared at him and shoved him into the wall. Peter kicked him, and the boy's friends shoved Peter back into the wall, harder this time.
I have to get help, Lucy thought desperately. She stood up and ran out of the subway station.
This wasn't the first time she'd seen her brother in a fight that wasn't a Narnian war. The first time had been two months after their return from Narnia. She had been horribly shocked and traumatized and had begged Peter never to do that again. He'd pretty much promised her he wouldn't but she caught him in another fight one time when he thought she wasn't around. Peter had told her that it wasn't his fault, because the other boy had hit him first and he was only acting in self defense. This time though, Lucy had seen him throw the first punch and was bitterly disappointed in him. She knew she wouldn't be angry with him after the fight though. She knew perfectly well that when it was over and she saw her beloved older brother all banged up she would feel nothing but pity even if it was his fault.
She was in such a hurry to cross the street that she was nearly hit by a car.
The driver honked the horn at her. "Watch yourself, Lass!"
"I'm sorry!" Lucy called to him as she ran across the street hearing a few more cries of, "Hey, watch where you're going!"
She'd come looking for Edmund but couldn't find him anywhere. She wasn't all the sure he could help anyway. She knew he'd go and beat the snot out of the boys who Peter was in a fight with. Even though they weren't blood related, Edmund was extremely attached to his older brother. He had gone through a phase where he hated and resented everything he said, but after learning his lesson in Narnia, He'd begun to look up to his brother and hated seeing him get hurt. Which was why he wouldn't think twice about jumping in the fight himself. Lucy didn't need another fighter, she need a voice of reason.
Susan! Lucy thought, Susan's the voice of reason. And Peter wouldn't fight in front of her, probably.
Lucy had seen more battles than Susan had even though she was older and a great archer. She'd grown tired of battles after a very short while and stopped attending them saying they were too bloody for her to endure. Lucy didn't like the blood, death, or pain either but she felt it was her duty to be there. To shoot when she must and to heal with her cordial if anyone should fall down close to death.
"Susan!" She raced over to her. She was talking to a nerdy boy. Or rather, the nerdy boy was talking to her while she read a magazine, ignoring him.
"What's wrong Lu?" Susan asked, noticing the panicked look on Lucy's face.
And she said the three words Susan hated most in the world. "He's fighting again."
Susan grabbed her suitcase and ran across the street back to the subway station, Lucy close behind her.
Sure enough everyone was chanting, "Fight! fight! fight!" over and over again.
Several boys were fighting one spunky boy who although clearly being the best fighter out of the lot, was out numbered. Susan couldn't see his face yet, but she already knew it was Peter. He knew how to fight, she had to give him that. But she wished he'd keep his hands to himself and just walk away every once in a while.
Peter jumped and was almost out of the reach of the other boys but they grabbed him and pulled him back down. For a moment he made eye contact with Susan, spotting her in the crowd.
She shook her head at him and mouthed. "How could you?"
Peter looked like he wanted to answer but was kicked down before he could say anything.
Edmund saw what was going on and jumped right in pushing down one of the boys who'd been punching Peter a moment ago.
"Edmund!" Lucy cried out. She didn't want him in the fight. Why was Susan being so quiet? Why wasn't she trying to stop this? Well if Susan wasn't going to do anything, Lucy decided that she would.
She jumped into the middle of the fight and shouted, "Stop it!"
"Get out of the way, little girl." A boy told her, shoving her aside.
How dare he! Lucy thought angrily, if this was Narnia, I'd banish him!
"I said, stop!" Lucy insisted grabbing onto the shirt of a boy who was trying to hit Peter again but couldn't get passed Edmund.
"Stay out of this, Lu." Peter pleaded with her. He didn't want his baby sister to get hurt.
Susan jumped in and grabbed Lucy's hand, pulling her back to the sidelines.
Lucy struggled to get free of her grip.
"Stay still, Lu, you'll get hurt if you go back in there." Susan told her.
"I don't care." Lucy tried to get back in and help her brothers but Susan held on tighter.
"Stay!" She hissed.
Lucy started to cry. She hated being so helpless. She hated being little again. She didn't mind having a little body and being so young again most of the time, but now she was nothing more than a little girl who couldn't even put a stop to a fight. At least in Narnia she could command that people stop dueling.
Thankfully, the fight was soon broken up and no one was killed or had broken bones. Some had bad bruises but that was it.
Peter sat on the bench while Lucy sat next to him, stroking the side of his arm.
"Lu, what you did was brave but you shouldn't have done it." Peter told her. "You could have been hurt."
"I'm sorry, Peter." Lucy said.
"You're welcome by the way." Edmund grumped as he sat down beside them.
"I had it sorted." Peter huffed.
Edmund let out a disagreeable snort.
"What was it this time?" Susan sighed, folding her arms across her chest.
"He bumped me." Peter said simply.
"So you hit him?" Lucy gasped, letting go of his arm. All that trouble had started because of a bump?
Peter shook his head. "He said-" He paused for a moment and then decided not to tell them exactly what had happened. "Nothing, it wasn't important."
"You hit him for something that 'wasn't important'?" Susan asked.
"Kingly instinct?" Peter tried.
"I'm really disappointed in you, Peter." Susan told him.
How could she not understand? Peter wondered. I can't take it here anymore. I belong in Narnia, as a King. I can't be a normal person here without getting into trouble. I thought she understood.
"Don't you get tired of being treated like a kid?" Peter asked her.
"Um, we are kids." Edmund reminded him.
"Well I wasn't always." Peter huffed. He looked back at Susan. "And neither were you."
"Peter, you have to except that there is nothing special about you." Susan told him. "You have to understand that you're not a king here. You're just like everyone else. You are just like every other boy here. You just can't go around hitting people."
"You think I'm just like everyone else?" Peter asked, he seemed hurt.
"I didn't mean it like that..." Susan said. "But yes...I mean, we all..."
"Yeah, whatever." Peter started to walk away.
"Peter come back, please, I didn't mean..." Susan wished he was a little less touchy sometimes.
"Let go of me." Peter said sharply.
"I'm not touching you." Susan told him.
"Why'd you pinch me for, Ed?" Lucy glared at him.
"I didn't!" Edmund protested.
Suddenly the whole station felt like it was shaking itself to bits.
"What is that?" Susan asked.
"It feels like magic." Lucy said, beginning to feel very excited.
"Quick everyone hold hands." Susan told them, grabbing Peter's right hand and Lucy's left one.
"I'm not holding your hand!" Edmund told Peter firmly.
The subway seemed to be coming into through the shattering tunnel now. Though the glass windows, they thought they saw the faint outlines of a beach.
Edmund was so surprised that he grabbed onto Peter's hand.
Soon they found themselves in a cave on a beach.
"Let's go play in the water!" Lucy cried, throwing off her shoes and running into the sea.
"Race you." Edmund told Peter as he took off.
"I'm faster than you, Ed." Peter joked, running after him.
"Hey, wait for me!" Susan called, running after all three of them.
Soon all four children were soaked through and through with sea water. They were thirsty and hungry.
The only food they could find were apple trees that seemed to be growing everywhere. For water, they found a stream.
As they were taking a drink, Susan turned to Peter and said, "I'm sorry about what I said before, I didn't mean it quite how it sounded."
"Didn't you?" Peter asked.
"No, I didn't mean that you were exactly the same as them as a person...only that..." Her voice trailed off a bit as she realized she was going to start babbling.
"It's alright." Peter forgave her.
Edmund was watching them while he ate an apple, sitting on a rock. Lucy came and sat down beside him.
"Lucy, you don't think they..." Edmund started.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked him, biting into her own apple.
"You don't think they, I don't know, like each other?" Edmund asked.
"Well of course they like each other." Lucy laughed. What sort of question was that?
"No I mean, really like each other." Edmund said.
"Oh." Lucy caught on. "I don't know, they-" She noticed suddenly that Peter wasn't standing next to Susan anymore. Where had he run off to?
"What were you talking about?" Peter asked coming up behind them.
"Nothing." They both said quickly.
"Say, what's that ruin over there?" Edmund asked to change the subject.
Lucy looked up and saw what looked like the ruins of a castle. Some parts looked like they had fallen down naturally, others like they'd been attacked.
"It's so like, Cair Paravel." Edmund commented. "We could almost pretend it was, Cair Paravel, if we wanted to."
"We don't have to pretend." Lucy told him, tears coming to her eyes now. "This is Cair Paravel. Look carefully."
"It does look like it but it might not be." Peter tried to comfort her.
"Look at this." Lucy pointed to part of a wall that was still standing. "This is where Edmund and I carved our names, don't you remember? And look, part of it's still in tack."
They decided that if it was truly cair paravel they should look for the underground treasure chamber.
"The things in there, may come in handy." Peter said.
They found the place with all the glittering gold chests still in tack and un opened. No one had ever found it. All of the things they'd kept hidden in the gold age, had stayed hidden.
In one of the chests, Lucy found a golden silk gown and pulled it out. It was too big for her now but would have fitted her perfectly as an older queen.
"I was so tall." Lucy sighed.
"You were older then." Susan reminded her.
"Maybe I should try it on." Lucy thought aloud.
"It wont fit." Susan told her. "You should look for something smaller to wear."
Lucy gave in and found a suitable Narnian dress in one of the other trunks. However, when she was sure none of her siblings were looking, she grabbed a sack and shoved the golden gown into it. She tied it into a tight buddle, hoping she wasn't ruining it, and tied the buddle to the side of her belt with the cordial holder on it. She knew it was impractical to bring the dress along where ever they'd have to go, but decided to bring it anyway. It was just so pretty.
Many hours later, they walked along a gorge with their new friend, Trumpkin the dwarf. They were looking for some Prince called Caspian. He was to be the new king but the Narnians had to win a war first.
Peter and Trumpkin decided it would be best to go down by the ford, thinking it would be easier to swim.
Across the gorge, Lucy spotted Aslan. He was so big and golden that the dress she'd taken out of the treasure chest that day, seemed dull in comparison. He wanted her to follow him.
"Aslan!" She cried. "It's Aslan, over there!"
"Where?" Peter asked excitedly.
"Aslan?" Edmund's face lit up as he started to look this way and that.
"No...over there...." they were looking the wrong way and missed him.
"There's no lion there." Trumpkin said.
"But he was just right here." Lucy pleaded noticing that they weren't going to follow her across the gorge.
"I'm sorry, Lu." Peter told her.
Edmund slipped his hand in hers. "I believe you."
"I know." Lucy whispered, giving him a warm smile. She was happy he believed her but she couldn't get rid of that raw gnawing feeling that by not going across the gorge she was making the biggest mistake of her life.
AN: Please review.