AN: So no one gets confused, this takes place a while after the last chapter. This is on the day when they have to go fight Harrison Bennett. I thought it was about time to start cutting to the chase so to speak.
The Sun started to rise over the little run down house that Susan-and now Peter, had been staying in.
Beep, Beep, Beep! The alarm clock next to their bed went off letting them know that the day they'd been dreading had finally arrived.
It was the day they had to fight Harrison Bennett. The time had just flown by since they'd first started planning for the battle and had gotten married with a very simple ceremony at a town hall. (They figured they could celebrate more once they were reunited with their family in Aslan's country). What was going to happen to them today they didn't know. All they knew was that they had to fight. Had to. No way around it.
"Morning." Peter muttered as Susan sat up in the bed and reached over him to hit the snooze button.
"Morning." She smiled at him weakly. Neither had to say it, they both knew what the other was thinking, What if one of us doesn't make it? What if this is it for both of us?
"So today's the day." Peter said in a gloomy tone, glancing at the calendar on the far side of the wall.
"Yes, it is." Susan didn't know what else to say.
"So everyone's meeting at the Juice Net in a half hour?" Peter double checked as he climbed out of the bed and slid his feet into the slippers he'd left there the night before.
Susan nodded, getting up and walking over to the kitchen, attempting to start on breakfast, while tears she couldn't hold back anymore slid down her face. She kept telling herself everything would be fine. She reminded herself of all the harder battles Peter had fought before-and won. Or at least lived through. But something about this one made her feel nervous like it was the start of the end of something. She could feel that empty feeling she'd had when she'd thought Peter had died in the train crash of 1949.
They were together again now and married. He was right there, standing beside her, putting his arms around her but he felt so far away. she couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to lose him again.
More than anything, Peter wanted to whisper in her ear that everything was going to be fine. He wanted to promise that they'd both survive this. But he knew better than to make a promise he wasn't certain he could keep. He remembered a promise he'd made her shortly before their break up back in 1949. He'd promised he'd never leave her. And he'd broken that promise. He had come back for her as soon as he could but he'd still left her. He couldn't make another promise that might just as easily get broken.
An angry rap song blasted through the room. Peter unwrapped his arms from around Susan and walked over to where he'd left his cell phone.
The caller ID said, 'CLEO'.
"Hullo?" Peter answered the phone. "Yes, alright then, we'll meet you there."
Susan walked over to him. "What's going on?"
Peter put his hand over the mouth-piece. "Change of plans, we aren't meeting at the Juice Net. We're all meeting at the harbor in about five minutes. Harrison's starting eerily."
Susan gulped and swallowed the lump that was still fully formed in her throat. Peter reached for her hand knowing it wasn't much in the way of comfort but it was the best he could do.
Some of the things Peter had brought with him from Aslan's country made suitable clothes for such a battle. A skirt that Susan could easily move in without getting snagged, some armor, and some extra swords. He suddenly understood that not everything he'd been sent with had been to make Susan remember Narnia, much of it, had been for this battle, though he hadn't known it until now. He wasn't wearing any of the armor (That would have been a bit much to start with) but he was wearing the sort of clothes he would have worn back in Narnia if he'd been going on a raid against giants or some other unsavory creature.
Susan reached for her quiver of arrows and strapped them to her back. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Peter told her.
She leaned forward and kissed him. "Just in case it's the last time." She whispered finally putting their fear into words.
"Come on." he put his arm around her and they walked out of the house together. "There may just be hope for us yet."
They speed walked down to the harbor where everyone was waiting for them. They were already piled into the boat which was fully stocked with everything they'd need.
"I didn't know I could still feel this nervous about anything." Max's right hand was shaking like a leaf in a wind storm.
"Tell me about it." William shuddered, as the motor started up and they began to pull away from the shoreline. "This all seems so unreal."
"Did anyone remember to bring sandwiches?" Rikki asked, hoping to change the subject before she had to admit that she wasn't exactly feeling very calm inside herself.
"I did." Emma said, nudging a cooler with the tip of her foot.
"It's a battle, Emma, not a picnic." Zane snapped at her just for the sake of snapping at someone. There was so much tension and fear in the boat, it felt so good to release some of it.
"You'll think differently when you get hungry, Zane." Peter warned him. He clearly remembered having to stop and eat during respites back in Narnia and how awful it was when they didn't have anything to fill up on.
"We're getting closer." Ash said, looking out at the island which was becoming less of a spec in the distance.
"Are we?" Zane widened his eyes with feigned surprise. "And here I thought were we going to get further away from it!"
"Oh shut up." Miss Chatham barked, fed up with his sarcastic gibes.
"Let's see if we can all be quiet until we reach the island shall we?" Julia suggested in a rather patronizing tone.
"I'm not a little kid and I'm not playing the quiet game." Zane said in a snotty tone. "Especially not on my own boat."
"You're starting to sound like your father, Zane." Lewis told him a bit harshly.
Zane glared at him. "You take that back before I make you take it back." He started to stand up.
"Sit down!" Rikki hissed, pulling him back down into his seat.
"Please don't fight." Susan begged them. "It wont make things any better having a row between the two of you."
"But he said-" Zane protested, putting a finger at Lewis.
"We all heard what he said, now hush." Peter told him sharply.
"Maybe you want to say that again without Kingy around." Zane threatened Lewis.
"Zane!" Rikki smacked his arm. "Stop it."
"Oh wow, 'Kingy', what a fancy phrase! Did you look that one up in a book?" Ash said snottily. "No wait...you'd actually have to read."
"That does it!" Zane tried to grab a hold of Ash and shove him off the boat.
"I said stop!" Peter lunged forward and stepped in between them before they could make contact. "Look, if we're going to win this battle, we all have to be on the same side."
"Hear that, Zane?" Lewis said a bit unkindly. "Same side, means you can't be your dad's puppet anymore."
"I am not his puppet!" Zane shouted, getting very angry. "I am my own person, why can't any of you see that? I'm not my dad!"
"Good." William said coolly. "Cuz if you were, I'd kick your butt."
Quiet old William was the last person that could ever be expected to say something like that. Everyone stopped arguing, forgetting what they'd been fighting about to begin with, and laughed. William couldn't kick a soccer ball never mind anyone's butt.
"I'm sorry, Zane." Lewis apologized when he was finally able to stop laughing. "I shouldn't have said what I said."
"It's alright." Zane forgave him.
"I'm sorry too." Ash apologized.
"Good, let's all make it pax." Peter said, breathing a sigh of relief, which was cut short as the realization that they were almost at Mako dawned on him.
"Where are all the boats?" Lewis wondered aloud. "There should be more people here working to develop it."
"Maybe we're early?" Ash guessed.
"Something's not right." Peter told them, looking anxiously from side to side.
"I don't know if this the best time to bring this up but tonight's a lunar eclipse." Max blurted out.
"Not a good time for astrology, Max." Zane rolled his eyes.
"It's called Astronomy, Zane. And it's important." Emma said.
"That's right, what does a lunar eclipse do you again?" Ash struggled to remember.
"It takes away their tails and powers for twelve hours." Lewis explained. "But only if they're in the moon pool when it happens."
"That's not until tonight and it's six in the morning." Susan reminded them.
"Stop the boat." Peter ordered suddenly.
Max and Lewis grabbed the anchor and threw it over broad. It made a rough jolt which would have knocked Cleo into the water if William hadn't grabbed her before she could fall in.
"Thanks." Cleo said in a shaky voice.
"Don't mention it." William forced a smile.
"So why did we stop the boat?" Zane wanted to know. "We're out in the open, anyone could see us."
"Harrison's setting us up." Peter said, walking slowly over to the edge of the boat. "He must have been expecting us to come."
"What do you think he's got planned?" Cleo asked.
"I think, he's waiting for us to get out of the public sight." Peter told her. "Then he can threaten us. If there's a chance people can see us, he wouldn't want to risk losing his reputation."
"I have an idea." Rikki said. "Susan, Emma, Cleo and me should all swim down into the moon pool and get on the island, through there we can scope out the place then come back here and tell you what we saw."
"And what if Harrison has set traps under the water?" Peter asked, looking down at the blue waves lapping against the side of the boat.
"We'll be careful." Rikki told him, drawing closer to the edge. "We're mermaids we can swim in and out of places really fast, remember?"
"Alright." Peter gave in. "But stick together, be safe, and come right back here."
Rikki nodded and threw herself off the boat into the water.
Cleo kissed Lewis on the lips and gave him a quick hug before diving off the boat head first into the water.
"Be safe, Cleo." Lewis whispered looking down at the circle of ripples she'd just made in the water, trying to hold back the tears forming in his eyes.
Susan rested her head on Peter's shoulder for a moment. "I'll be right back." She pulled away as he planted a kiss on her forehead. With one last look back at everyone on the boat, she grabbed Emma's hand. They nodded and one another, counted to three and leapt off the boat into the cold waves below.
Their tails formed about ten seconds after they landed in the water. With as much speed as they could manage without losing all caution, the four of them swam towards the moon pool.
When they reached the moon pool, they swam in looking up through the water. They thought they could see the vague shape of a person sitting on the rocks looking down at the water.
They couldn't tell who it was until they surfaced. They were not pleased by what they saw. A familiar plump young girl with reddish-brown hair and a sullen expression.
"Charlotte!" Cleo glared at her.
"What are you doing here?" Emma demanded.
Charlotte's eyes widened as if she was afraid of something. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" She stood up and started flicking her hands as though she was shooing away a stray dog. "Go, get out of here, now!"
"No way." Rikki retorted. "You're trying to trick us."
"No, I'm not!" Charlotte insisted her voice becoming panicked now. "You have to get out of here while you can!"
"What are you talking about, Charlotte?" Emma asked.
"I don't have time to explain." Charlotte practically bawled. "You have to get out of here now, before it's too..."
Suddenly there was a sharp click.
"...Late." She finished.
"What happened?" Cleo swam down to the underwater entrance of the moon pool. It was now covered by cage-like bars. They were trapped.
"Oh no." Charlotte reached to grab Emma's hand. "Come on, quick, if we can get you dry fast maybe we can get you out of here before..."
Emma pushed her away. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Helping you, I'll explain later." She said rather sharply. "I know you don't like me and I don't like you but if you don't let me help you now...."
"Help us?" Rikki exclaimed. "You? I don't believe it!"
"Me either." Susan told her. "Not after what you and Dr. Denman did to me."
"I know you're in on this." Cleo glared at her. "You're a traitor."
"Yes, but even a traitor may mend." Charlotte said a sort of half smile on her face now. She looked at Susan pleadingly. "Doesn't your brother always say he knew one that did?"
"My brother?" Susan gasped. "How do you know about him?"
"It's a trick." Rikki warned her. "she probably got that from Denman."
"Charlotte? Charlotte where are you? Where'd you go? This isn't funny!" A male voice called from the top of the cave. Suddenly there was the sound of sliding a light, "Oof!" A dark haired boy landed flat on his face.
"Who is that?" Emma whispered to Cleo.
"I don't know." Cleo whispered back, shrinking further into the pool feeling more than a little frightened.
The boy lifted his head. He looked very surprised to see them there. "What are you doing in here?" He demanded. (They weren't sure if his words were directed towards them or Charlotte.)
Susan gaped at him, her mouth hanging slightly open from shock. "Edmund!"
AN: Bet you didn't see that coming! LOL. Anyway, please review!
