AN: Well here's chapter 9, I hope you like it. It has a little less humor than some of the other chapters and is mostly to explain things and to set the upcoming ending of the fic into motion.
Aslan's lips turned up in a friendly smile as he approached them. "King Caspian, tell me, why are you here in this world?" He asked him with an eyebrow raised.
"My future wife...slipped though the tree...I went after her." Caspian explained feeling rather foolish. "May we go home, Aslan?"
Aslan's golden mane shook as he nodded. "You are go to home very soon. But where is Ramandu's daughter?"
"Perhaps she is upstairs, Aslan." Caspian said, his eyes moving slowly away from the great cat to the stair case.
Aslan now turned his attention to Peter. "High King, You have done well."
"What do you mean?" Peter asked.
"You have believed even when your sister did not." Aslan explained. "But you should not give up on her yet. She has fallen, she needs someone to help her back up. And I will not always be around to do so."
"But how can I help her?" Peter asked. "When I can't understand her?"
Aslan's great round eyes looked grave. "You will understand sooner than you think. But be sure not to follow her example. Rather, try to get her to follow yours."
Peter wasn't sure what Aslan meant. But he nodded respectfully.
"Worry not this time son of Adam." Aslan told him. "This time I will help."
The back door opened and in walked Edmund and Lucy. They were wearing hard hats with torches on them and carrying shovels.
Edmund felt a bit afraid when he first saw Aslan. He knew right away who it was. But as impressive as the Lion was in Narnia, he was even more impressive in our world. He was so big and golden that everything else seemed to have lost its colors. Edmund shook a little as he bowed awkwardly.
Lucy flung her shovel aside. She had no fear of the Lion. Or if she did, she couldn't feel it then. She could feel only her love for him. She raced towards her dear Aslan so quickly that her hat fell from her head. She threw her arms around the Lion and hugged him tightly with tears in her eyes.
"Oh Aslan!" She cried happily. She didn't know when she had last felt so much joy. "You are in our world too! And we are meeting again. Dear Aslan!" She showered his golden face with kisses.
"Dear heart." Aslan wrapped his wide golden-furred paws around her and let out a lion's sort of purr. "Dear Queen Lucy."
At that moment, Susan appeared on the stairs. She heard her sister's cries and wondered what all the fuss was about. "Lucy...are you alrig..." She stopped mid-sentence. A large lion was in the room and it had Lucy in its terrible paws. The others were just standing there gaping at the big creature. Susan let out a cry of alarm. "Somebody do something!" She shrieked in terror. "A wild animal's escaped from the zoo! Help! Call the police! Call mum! Call father! Call..." She ran about the room in a terrible tizzy.
Aslan let out a sigh, unwrapped his paws from Lucy's waist and walked slowly towards the Queen Susan. "Susan!" He said.
All Susan heard was a growl. She only screamed louder thinking the creature was after her now. She was about to turn and run when Aslan stuck her across the face with his heavy (But velveted) left paw. it didn't hurt much. He had not used any claw, but the blow of slap stung a little.
Tears came to Susan's eyes. "Aslan..." She said. Recognizing him at last. "Aslan...I'm so sorry..."
"And I am sorry I had to strike you, daughter of Eve." Aslan said calmly. "But you needed it."
"Yes I did." Susan said slowly as if she was in a dream.
In fact, the others were not sure if Susan didn't really think she was dreaming. She certainly wasn't acting the way she normally did. Her voice was soft and she seemed dazed. Edmund wondered if she even knew where she was.
"That trip you took didn't do you much good." Aslan shook his head causing his mane to shake too.
Susan's eyes were wide and she looked very young and helpless. Like a small child looking for her parents in a store. She seemed even younger than Lucy at the moment. "Aslan." She repeated still in a dazed voice.
The star girl came down the stairs a moment later, her eyes widened but she didn't scream. She'd only seen Aslan once before.
When she was six years old, Aslan had come to their island to his own table. Ramandu had told her it was a great honor to have Aslan the great lion for a visitor. She remembered that Ramandu and Aslan had been speaking alone in hushed tones. She's always wondered what it had been about. The conversation she'd never heard had gone something like this,
"Ramandu, I have something to tell you." Aslan had said in a low almost-purring voice.
"What is it great Aslan?" He had asked, straitening a tangle from his long white beard.
"It is about your daughter." Aslan said. "She is suitable for a Narnian queen."
"But how could she ever become queen of Narnia?" Ramandu wondered aloud. "She is not Narnian, though she has shinned on Narnia once or twice."
"She could always marry a Narnian king." Aslan reminded him.
Ramandu let out a laugh. "Would a Narnian King travel as far as this? None did that I know of. Not King Frank. Nor any of his sons. Nor High King Peter, nor King Edmund..."
Aslan smiled at the star. "Friend, have you heard of the seven missing lords?"
"No sire." Ramandu had said rather talked aback not sure what the great lion was getting at.
"They are lost, and someone will need to find them." Aslan's right eyebrow rose as he spoke.
Ramandu smiled back.
"And..." Aslan went on. "Your daughter is about the right age for the future king I have in mind. Though he's only a little prince now."
Before he left them, Aslan licked the little star girl's forehead.
She liked him. "Will we meet again?" The little star girl had asked.
"We will." Aslan assured her as he walked off into the sea.
She looked sadly after the lion. "I'm going to miss him father. I liked him."
"He's not a tame lion dear." Ramandu said kindly to his daughter.
She nodded and blinked back tears.
Now here she stood in front of the great lion once more. She could feel a tremble of excitement rushing though her whole body as she swept him her finest curtsy.
"Good star," Aslan addressed her. "How did you come to be in this world?"
"I tripped." She confessed. "Through the tree."
"I shall not leave it open again." Aslan told them. "When you return, you will find it closed. Forever. No Narnian shall ever travel though it again. You and Caspian shall be the last."
Susan seemed to be less dazed now, like one waking from a dream. "Hello Aslan." She said as though she noticed him for the first time. She didn't seem to remember the slap.
"Hello queen of Narnia." Aslan said kindly before turning to Edmund. "We must talk of those plans of yours."
"Don't you approve, Aslan?" Edmund asked. Oh wouldn't it be horrible if Aslan didn't approve! all that work for nothing!
"I would like to speak with you out back if you don't mind." Aslan told him. He looked at Lucy. "The youngest queen may come too if that is her wish."
Lucy's face beamed with delight. "Oh thank you Aslan!"
The lion and the two younger Pevensies slipped out of the kitchen door. Peter, Caspian, Susan, and The star girl sat down on the couch and waited for their return. There didn't seem much point in doing anything else.
The Lion walked smoothly narrowly, but surely missing all the pot holes Edmund had dug. "Son of Adam, your plans are good but I must give you some advise on it."
"Please do." Edmund said.
"First thing is get all this mess fixed. Your mother is going to flip out if she sees this." Aslan laughed.
"It's going to be a lot of work." Edmund pointed out. There was no way they could fill in all the holes.
Out of one of the holes came Edmund's Meerkat.
"There you are, Peter Junior!" Edmund said happily. He'd thought his pet might have run away.
Peter junior gave Aslan a funny look and then slowly walked up to him, sniffing the air. Aslan seemed to like the meerkat. He bowed his golden head and touched his nose to Peter junior's face. At one the meerkat seemed to grow a little bit bigger and he stood up and his eyes looked more alert.
"I say!" Exclaimed Edmund.
"Hullo." Said Peter junior.
"You can talk!" Edmund cheered. "The darling meerkat can talk!"
Lucy smiled at the meerkat. "I trust you will not attack me now?"
"No your highness." Peter junior gave a little bow. "I didn't know any better, until Aslan woke me up a moment ago."
"Little Friend," Aslan addressed the Meerkat. "Could you fill in all of the holes made by King Edmund?"
"Yes." The meerkat set off at once.
Aslan then went on with his advice. "The next thing is when the task is complete you really ought to save your big plans until the next school holiday."
"Why?" Edmund asked.
Aslan gave him a knowing look. "You will have a visitor, Son of Adam. Eustace will come but he will not come alone."
Lucy reached out and stroked Aslan's fur. She didn't know how much time she had left with him and wanted to make the most of it.
"King Edmund, Queen Lucy, I've a warning to give you." Aslan said gravely. "A warning that may or may not come to be. But you should be aware that it might happen."
"What is it?" Lucy asked him as she wove her fingers though his mane.
"Your sister Susan has decided once that she was not a friend of Narnia. She is mending. But she may not mend all the way. She may once again declare herself no friend of Narnia." Aslan said in a grave, low, even hurt voice. "She may even wish to not join you in your plans."
"Dear Aslan." Lucy said softly. "Is there no hope?"
"There is hope dear one, She may some day mend for good. And be a true friend of Narnia once again." Aslan assured them. "Now, children, go fetch the others from the house. It is time for Caspian and his bride to go back into their own world."
"Please Aslan..." Lucy pleaded. "Couldn't just Edmund go? So I could stay here with you a bit longer?"
Aslan nodded and Lucy stroked his fur some more.
"Aslan..." Lucy started. She had a question for him.
"Ask your question, Dear heart." He purred.
Lucy sighed. "How is it no one on our street saw you come to our door?"
"Do you remember when you saw me across the gorge and the others did not?" He asked with one of his dark gold eyebrows raised up.
"Oh." Lucy understood now.
Edmund led Susan, Caspian, Peter, and the star girl into the back yard.
"I say, Ed!" Peter exclaimed. "That mess you made is all cleaned up!"
"Thank you." a little voice from beside his feet said.
Peter looked down and was surprised to see Edmund's meerkat talking like a Narnian animal.
"Hullo." He said to the meerkat.
The meerkat politely said hullo back.
As soon as they were in sight, Aslan let out a roar. A large tree shot up where one of Edmund's holes used to be. The tree opened. "And so you will leave the same way you came." Aslan told Caspian and the star girl. "It is time to say your goodbyes."
Susan took a deep breath. "Goodbye, Caspian." She said giving him a quick hug.
"Good bye Susan." he gave her a small half smile that seemed a little forced.
"Take good care of yourself." Susan said lamely.
"I will."
Then Susan turned to the star girl. She pulled The pink flower Caspian had given her out of her pocket and handed it to the star girl. "You ought to have it."
The star girl gave Susan a hug goodbye. "I will miss you." She said.
"Have a good wedding." Susan told her.
"I will." She smiled down at the flower. "Thank you for everything. And for listening to me about...well what we talked about."
"What are friends for?" Susan said.
"I'm glad we're friends." The star girl said.
"Me too."
Edmund asked for his list of power tools back from Caspian. "You won't need it in Narnia. But I might need it here."
Caspian handed him the list. "Goodbye King Edmund. It is to bad we wont be meeting again. I do hope you plans..whatever they are...go well...as long as they don't hurt anyone that is..."
Lucy tearfully hugged everyone goodbye. The star girl, Caspian, and Aslan...basically everyone.
"We too must part Edmund." Peter junior said. "I am a talking animal now, I must go to my own kind."
"It was nice knowing you." Edmund said in slightly teary voice. "You were the best pet meerkat a boy could ever want."
"Thank you." The meerkat said. "And you were a wonderful owner."
Lucy sat on Aslan's back while the rest of the goodbyes went on. She leaned forward and rubbed her face into his mane. "I will miss you most of all." She whispered.
"And I you." Aslan whispered back.
Soon the only goodbye left was for Peter and the Star girl. It was awkward to say the least.
"Well goodbye." Peter said shortly not knowing what else to say.
"I wish we had more time together." The star girl said suddenly.
Peter smiled at her. "It would've never worked out anyway."
"Why?" The star girl asked.
"I am 1300 years older than you." He reminded her gently. Then he turned and looked at Caspian.
Caspian nodded. He understood. Like sister, like brother.
Peter turned around and kissed the star girl goodbye on the lips.
"I'm older and I still don't understand." Lucy said in a confused voice as she slid off of Aslan's back.
Edmund laughed. "I'm still older and I still don't want to understand."
Then, Peter Junior, Caspian, and Star girl got on Aslan's back. Aslan turned back to give one last glance to Lucy before racing off into the tree. The tree closed up behind him.
The four Pevensies stood alone in their back yard. They might have thought they'd dreamed the whole thing if not for the large paw print in the mud in front of them.
AN: Well whatja think? No it's not the last chapter there will be at least one more if not two maybe even three. So don't worry. Just click the little review button and tell me what you thought of this chapter.
