Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia or any related material.
A/N: I love the dream. : )
Chapter 4
It was always the same dream. A voice in the back of her head calling urgently. Pictures appearing out of the blackness that she had become accustomed to. Then a face. A face that dispelled all the darkness. She could not tell if it were male or female, human or creature: it was all those at once. She longed to reach that being, and she strained with all her might to overcome to great divide between them, but that great head would shake, and say sadly. "Not yet. It is not your time yet." And tears would pour down her face, because she would know that it was true.
Ah, that great space between them. It was frightening, and scared her beyond imagining. It was a great valley, a great space, a great sea, always changing, never consistent. Once or twice she ventured into it, and then someone would call her back.
Yes, it was the same voice in the back of her head calling her urgently. She had no idea whose voice it was, but it twinged at her memory. She wanted to see them, to hear them, but the voice would always fade away when she retreated from the darkness. And she would not seek it out either. Not while that face was there.
Of course sometimes both the voice and the face would vanish, and she would be left standing by that valley alone, to find her own way. She would first venture carefully one way and then the other, never being able to decide which way held more allure. Eventually it would prove too tiring for her, and she would just crumple and wish that she would wake up.
The face appeared less often, and the voice grew more insistent, and in that way, one day or night, she couldn't tell which, she found the valley fading, and she woke up.
Lucy's first thought was why the room was so bright. After spending days in the shadowed valley, she had to blink to get used to the light. She tried to get up, but realised she couldn't. At her pathetic attempts to sit up, two blurry figures rushed over.
"Luce!" One gasped. Lucy blinked, trying to see who it was. "Are you okay?" Lucy blinked a few more times. "Lucy, it's me. It's me, Edmund."
Edmund. The name twinged vaguely at her memory, and then she remembered.
"Edmund!" She whispered, holding out her arms for a hug and feeling like a child again. As his face clouded into view, she saw the second figure was Peter.
"Peter?" She asked softly. Edmund retreated, as Peter advanced towards her.
"I'm sorry." He said, sounding more like a schoolboy than a High King.
A High King.
"Narnia!" She gasped. Peter looked at Edmund.
"Luce. You're not in Narnia."
You're not in Narnia.
The words stung and bit.
"Narnia…" Lucy whispered, tears of longing falling down her cheeks. Then she remembered herself, and wiped the tears away. "It's not your fault… what happened?" She asked, in response to Peter's earlier apology. Edmund and Peter exchanged glances.
"You were hit by a car. You have been unconscious for two weeks now… you're in a hospital. Mother and Father are downstairs, taking a break. You have never been alone." Peter smiled.
"Mother and Father!" Edmund exclaimed. "I'll go tell them!"
"Get the doctors too." Peter called after Edmund's retreating back.
"Will do!"
Lucy struggled to get up.
"Can I sit up, Peter?" She asked.
"I think the doctors would prefer it if you stayed down for now, Lu."
"Alright." Lucy agreed. "And it's not your fault."
"I left you to talk to Kristen."
"I should be able to cross roads myself."
"You don't live in this world, Lu."
There was a silence.
"What does that mean?"
"You live in Narnia. The rest of us have found our place in this world. You… you're still struggling." Peter looked genuinely concerned.
"I miss it." Lucy admitted.
"The Professor sent us a letter. Aunt Polly, remember her, Lu? Aunt Polly invited us all to stay at her house to have a jolly good gas about Narnia. We received the letter, the day after you were… knocked down."
"Can we go?" Lucy asked eagerly.
"I think so… once you've recovered." Peter grinned down at his little sister. She opened her mouth to tell him about her dream, but realised that it was slowly slipping away.
"Lucy!"
Lucy's head jerked and she cried out, thoughts of the dream slipping away.
"Mother! Father!"
Crying in happiness and joy her parents celebrated her return to the world of the living.
It was not until much later, after the doctors had come and gone, that Lucy looked up into the smiling faces of her family and asked.
"Where's Susan?"
At that, the smiles disappeared from their faces, and Peter said gently.
"At a party. She hasn't been in contact for a while. She doesn't know you were unconscious."
"I suppose she would be here if she did know." Lucy smiled. Peter exchanged glances with the rest of their family, as they tried to cover up the awkward moment. But when they had gone left, save for the nurses, tears slipped out silently onto Lucy's pillow.
In mourning for the Queen Susan once was.
