A/N this chapter is dedicated to servant123 who suggested the trait in this chapter :) thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews.

There was nothing good to be found in that small dingy little hospital. Dorean Mathews knew that this space, shared with twenty other injured soldiers, was going to be the place he died. It was a place for soldiers who had no family or money and it was forgotten by many. Most men here received no visitors and few had any hope of surviving. Even the very light seemed to shun the place and deny the inhabitants it's warm golden glow. Dorean drifted to sleep, among the groans of the wounded and the soft spoken murmurs from caregivers.

When Dorean woke he knew that something was different. The light seemed less oppressive and the moans less. Slowly, painfully he lifted his head and saw a young golden haired girl bent over one of the cots. She spoke with him for a while before moving on. She repeated the process, with each and every man in the line, before moving to the next. Dorean held his breath as his turn came, unsure of what to make of this strange visitor.

"hello." She said in a clear voice that rang merrily.

"Hello." Dorean found himself answering automatically.

"I'm Lucy Pevensie." She said settling on the edge of his cot.

"Dorean."

"Well Dorean it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Aren't you too young to see all this?" Dorean blurted.

Lucy's smile was like the rising sun.

"I suppose I must look it, don't I?"

Dorean nodded.

"Let me see." She said, and Dorean complied. She spoke with the same authority his commanders in the war had. Her order was quieter but just as forceful. Whoever Lucy Penvensie was she was used to people obeying her. Not like a spoiled rich child, but more like a seasoned general, addressing her troops.

Dorean lifted the blanket to reveal the foot he tried not to look at. Lucy's bright face turned hard as she bent over and pulled supplies out.

Carefully she bathed the wound and applied a poultice.

"Tell me about yourself, Dorean." Lucy requested as she worked. Dorean looked at her expressive face as he talked, mechanically at first, but with more feeling as he opened further. By the time his leg was tucked under the blanket, tears were pouring down his cheeks as he spoke in faltering sentences.

Lucy looked into his eyes, and in her eyes he read calm understanding.

"Don't you think you're too young to have given up all hope?" Lucy asked in a quiet voice. She leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before squeezing his hand and moving on down the line. Dorean thought of his life and her soft words as he watched the golden haired girl work her way, talking, laughing, and caring for the wounded men who most of the world had forgotten. She was the light that Dorean needed most to see that day. How she had come to be there, he would never know, but for those young soldiers, who needed someone to show them that those they fought for hadn't forgotten them, she was there, with soft words of encouragement and medical knowledge beyond her years.

As she stood to head to the door, Dorean saw a stray shaft of sunlight catch her in it's golden rays. To this day Dorean wasn't sure if it was the fervor he burned with that made the young child grow into a young woman, wearing a flowing gown and a silver crown amid her golden curls. The woman turned and smiled softly at the men. When Dorean blinked the image was gone, as was the young girl.

(-)Three Years Later (-)

Dorean hadn't died in that hospital. He'd woken the next morning, to warm sunlight. The doctor had looked to his leg and pronounced him on the mend. One week later he was released. He's served faithfully in the military for another year before coming home to work as a police officer. As he worked to clear the ruble from a train wreck one day, he stopped and paused, his eyes filling with tears.

"Do you know her?" his partner asked in a gentle voice.

"I did." Dorean answered, his eyes surveying the golden haired child, who looked to be sleeping amid the rubble and chaos around her. Dorean closed his eyes once and thought back to the Queen he had seen in that ray of sunlight.

"How?" his partners voice questioned, disrupting his thoughts.

"She saved a dying soldier, inspired him to live again." He looked to his partner, unashamed of the tears. "She gave me the hope to live again."

A/N for the other reviewers, i will write the chapter for your suggestions and will post them as the ideas come.