"Lucy!" Peter exclaimed. "What on earth do you think you are doing? Why..."
Before Peter could finish his sentence Edmund had interrupted him. "Why are you wearing that? If you think you are going with us you are crazy. So you might as well just go and..."
This time Peter cut Edmund off. The shock had worn off and in its place was worry and frustration. "So, as I believe Edmund was going to say, you might as well just go take off that battle armor. You are not going with us and that is final. I love you to much to let you go and get hurt. You don't have to go, we do."
Edmund picked up here, "Lucy, it's not that we don't want you with us. It is just that battle is a very dangerous thing, and it is no place for you. We wouldn't want you to get hurt. That is why we are saying that you can't go. Please understand that."
"Oh, so I suppose it is not dangerous for you?" Lucy stamped her foot, anger showing in her eyes. "I am going and that is final. If you don't let me go I will simply follow you or sneak along. You can't keep me from going with you to make sure that you are okay." Her eyes shone with tears as she continued, "What if you get hurt. I want to be there to take care of you." Her voice was quieter and there was no anger left in her eyes. The only thing left was the love for her brothers and the fear that something would happen to one of them and there would be nothing that she could do about it. "Peter... Edmund... Please? Let me go with you." She may have been a queen, but at that moment she only appeared to be one thing; a girl worried about her brothers and determined to make sure that they stayed sage. So when she looked at her two older brothers, she put on a puppy dog face and added, "Please..."
Peter and Edmund looked at each other nervously. Kings they may be, but when their baby sister started that, they seldom turned her down. Peter pulled Edmund aside for a moment, trying not to flinch under his youngest sibling's intense gaze. "Maybe if we kept her at the back..."
Edmund simply shrugged, "You know why we try to keep her out of battle. It IS dangerous. But maybe you are right. If we keep her towars the back it wouldn't be too bad. Then maybe she would stop being so upset about being left behind."
Peter nodded, as he tried to harden himself against Lucy's desperate pleas to go. "BUT, it is still extremely dangerous, even if we do manage to keep her in the back. There is no guarantee that she would not slip away and go to the front, even if we have some of our men who are stationed around her watching her. You know how she is. Besides she could probably bribe her way out of staying where she is supposed to be."
Edmund nodded, seeing his brother's train of thought, now that he was not looking at his little sister. "Yeah, and what if they sneak up behind us and attack from the back. Then it would be as if she was being kept at the front instead of the back. I would never forgive myself if something happened to her. We have to keep her home, that is all there is to it. She is too young to be on a battefield."
Peter nodded, of course they couldn't let her go. She was far to young and vulnerable. They were seasoned warriors, Lucy was not. Turning to Lucy, he smiled softly at her. "LuLu, I know you want to go, but we just can't let you. You are only fifteen. That is far to be young for you to be going into battle. The only reason I am doing this is because I love you and I want to protect you. Please try to understand that. I am not trying to hurt you. I know you want to go with us, but you just can't."
Unfortunately for Peter and Edmund they had managed to forget quite a few important points and Lucy knew it. In their worry for her, they had forgotten that she too knew how to fight well, and they had been two and five years younger than Lucy in there first battle. As she realized her brother's mistake, Lucy decided that those points could very well win her case with her brothers. Of course when they got stubborn, and when they both agreed on something such as this it was almost impossible to get them to change their minds. No, Lucy thought to herself. She had to quit thinking like that. If anyone could get them to change their minds she could. "But Peter, Edmund there are a couple of thing that you appear to be forgetting. Peter you were thirteen, two years younger than I am in your first battle. And Edmund, you were ten, FIVE years younger than me in your first. You had never fought before. I have. You know that. I have been with you on several occasions, such as during skirmishes in the north, and those kinds of things. I know how to fight very well. Remember, I have been training with you for TWO YEARS! You had a couple of days of training before your first battle. Come on, please let me go. I will be okay. Nothing bad is going to happen."
Peter and Edmund glanced at each other in bewilderment. It had never occured to them that Lucy would bring all of that up. They hadn't even thought about it themselves, let alone this possibility. Now they found themselves at an impasse. "Well Lucy," Peter began, but he found himself at a loss for words.
Edmund saved him and picked up for him, "Well, you see that was different."
Lucy crossed her arms across her chest, and shook her head scoldingly at her two older brothers and there ridiculous tactics, "And, please Brother Dear, do tell me how it is different. And if you dare say that it is different because I am a girl... I know that is what you are both thinking, but I don't suggest you try voicing your opinions. They will do you know good when it comes to me, Brother Dears." Lucy was not sure whether to laugh or cry at this point. She was so worried about her brothers. But the way they were acting over the whole predicament was, well to be honest, it was rather ridiculous. Peter and Edmund were two of the best diplomats in the world, yet she had them both at a loss for words. And over their own foolish mistakes. If Lucy were to be honest, she would have to admit that she rather enjoying watching her brothers try to figure out what to tell her and what excuses they could use to prevent her from going. Let them think up excuses. I am going and that is that, she thought to herself.
Peter finally gained the presence of mind to begin speaking. "No, that was the farthest thing from our minds. At least it was the farthest thing from my mind. And I am sure that it was the same with Edmund. Isn't that correct, Edmund. That wasn't what you were thinking at all, was it?"
"Right," Edmund muttered, resigning himself to the realization that his baby sister had out talked him.
In truth, neither of them had been thinking of that. They had simply been thinking of Lucy's safety. "Well Lucy," Peter said cautiously. "There is one big difference and it isn't that. We had to do it. There was no way out. You don't have to do that."
Lucy wasn't buying into their poorly made up excuses. "And there is another thing that the two of you have neglected to realize in you discussion about why I cannot and should not go with you. You said, 'what if they attack us from the back? Then Lucy will be basically in the same place as if she was on the front lines.' There is a little something you forgot about in that statement. Well, actually two very obvious things. One is that we are planning on marching head on towards them. Don't you think it would be a bit hard for them to sneak an entire army around us when we are marching towards them, head on? And another thing, we ARE sneaking up on them you know. Chances are good that they won't know that we are coming after them and that we know about there plot until we attack them. Not to mention the fact that even if they were to find out, it would be extrememly hard for them to get much changed in the amount of time they would have between the time their scouts tell them, and the time we get there. And that is IF I repeat IF they even bother to send out scouts. Then, as you said, I would probably be fairly safe on the back lines. Now with the remote chance of either happening the chances of both happening are so unbelievable that they are almost comical. Now, if you aren't going to let me go now, then you are simply being your stupidly stubborn selves, that cannot be reasoned with. So, I won't argue anymore. If you haven't figured out that it is okay for me to go by now, then I expect you never will." Lucy glared at her two older brothers. "Go on, make your decision. Are you going to be reasonable and let me go. Or, are you going to be completely and totally unreasonable, and refuse to let me, even though I have made it perfectly clear to you that not only can I take care of myself, but I am also completely capable of doing as I am told and staying in the back where you have told me to stay. Make your decision, Brothers-Mine. Besides that, I love Narnia too. She is my country too. Remember, I was the first one to come here and I have loved it ever since. Can't you believe that I want to go, not just to make sure that you two stay safe, not just to prove I can fight too, although those are a couple of good reasons, especially the first one. But those aren't the foremost reason for me to want to go with you. I love Narnia, and I want to protect her.
Peter and Edmund looked at each other in shock, both wondering when their youngest sister had become such a good debater. They no longer had anything that they could use as a good reason to keep her home except for their own worries for her.
Susan was glancing worriedly between her two brothers and her baby sister. The thought of her youngest sister going off to fight alongside their brothers was one that had scared her for many years. From the first time she had seen Lucy with a weapon not long after the entered Narnia, she had realized that one day Lucy too would go fight for their country. But she had always put it off, saying that Peter and Edmund wouldn't let her and/or that Lucy was too young. But now Susan was seeing that Lucy was, in fact, ready to go. And all though it pained her to see it, she was proud of Lucy. The only thing that she had felt when she had seen the fire in Lucy's eyes and heard the emotion in her younger sister's voice as she spoke of wanting to fight for the country she loved. Now, although it pained her to say it, she was finally able to consent to her youngest sister going, no matter how much it hurt her. Lucy was ready and there was nothing Susan could do about it. Finally Susan managed to get the lump out of her throat enough to speak. "Peter, Edmund, if Lucy really wants to go, and you promise to do your best to make sure that she stays safe, and if she promises to be careful, I guess I can agree to it." The tears in Susan's eyes were barely contained as she let Lucy hug her tightly, as she whispered her thanks.
Lucy really was grateful to her older sister for speaking up for her. She just hoped that her older brothers would see reason and let her go. It wasn't that she really wanted to go to battle, it was just that she loved Narnia so much. All she wanted was to be able to protect her country. And her family, too. She absolutely hated the thought of her brothers out there fighting when she couldn't be with them. She hated it anyway, but something about being there, and knowing that if they got hurt she could take care of them made it so much better.
After exchanging a final glance with Edmund, Peter managed to speak, although his voice seemed extremely strained, "Lucy, you have presented quite a few good points. As much as I hate to admit it, and as much as Edmund and I dpn't want to let you go out there and risk getting hurt, we have to admit that you are right. You can go."
A/N: Please read and review. I would love to know what you think. This is not a bribe, I update regardless of reviews, but they do encourage me to keep writing, especially with my schedule right now. I know it was short, but I am hoping to update again Saturday after I update Sharp Enough To Feel. I really can't guarantee updates any more often than once a week. I haven't even started all of my extra curriculur activities and I was already rushing to get everything done this week.
A/N 2: Please check out the other story that I am working on, Sharp Enough To Feel. Right now it doesn't have much of the Pevensies in it, but it should in the next chapter which will be out either in the next couple of hours, or tomorrow night.
New Poll: It really is up this time, so please vote and let me know what you Lucy ran towards them there was a collective gasp from all present.
A/N 3: Please check out my story on FictionPress. I would love to know what you think. It is actually a completed book, that I am hoping to have published someday, so I would love some feedback.
