It had taken a little over a week, but, finally, Lucy was now out of bed, wandering the mansion no worse for wear, apart from the still-red marks on her neck. They weren't however quite so painful as they had been previously.

Since Tumnus had been distracted by the sudden commotion around the mansion that had seemingly come from absolutely nowhere, she was not obliged to sit through an educational discussion. Free for the time being, she decided to take a stroll inside- it was raining a tad bit too heavily to do so outdoors, after all Susan would have her murdered if she ruined another perfectly adequate gown-careful avoiding the influx of important-looking people rushing about.

She had considered offering for one of her siblings to join her, but had soon found the both of them to be previously engaged: Peter was spending the day with Lilliandil, who had revealed she simply had to return to her father's island soon, before the poor star began to miss her too terribly. Susan, on the other hand was busy having a new dress fitted, the weather was, despite the current downpour, beginning to warm up just in time for summer. Her wardrobe was largely made up of thick, woollen gowns in rather dreary, dark colours, fit only for the bitter cold of the winter months on Coriakin's island, so she had decided it was important- imperative that she invest in some lighter cotton dresses.

So it was that Lucy found herself wandering the mansion alone, sneaking through the kitchens to take a bright crimson apple from one of the baskets a visiting lady-faun had left. She waved to a girl, younger than she was by a few years, who was standing in the corner, seeming rather lost.

"Are you alright?"

The girl nodded, staring wide-eyed at a dufflepud hopping past them as it got on with its current task.

"What's your name?" Lucy asked kindly, smiling gently at the clearly frightened little girl. "Don't worry, the duffers are completely harmless, they're nothing to be scared of really."

The girl rewarded Lucy with a timid smile of her own. "Gael," she breathed.

"Pardon me? I didn't quite catch that, I'm awfully sorry."

"My name's Gael, your majesty."

Lucy smiled brightly. "Call me Lucy."

Gael whispered something that sounded somewhere between a thank you and a cry for help.

"Where are your parents?"

Little Gael looked confused. "Are they somewhere in the mansion?"

Gael nodded. "Daddy is an advisor from the Lone Islands. He's here for business."

"Well, let's find him, shall we?"

Gael smiled, taking Lucy's outstretched hand gratefully.

It took them a few minutes, the kitchens were quite a distance from the main living area of the mansion- Lucy was quietly astonished that Little Gael had managed to stray so far off course- but they eventually managed to find the party of advisors Gael's father was a part of.

"Gael!"

Gael looked quickly at Lucy who nodded encouragingly before rushing to embrace her father. "Daddy!"

Lucy smiled at the scene playing out in front of her, spinning her almost forgotten apple in her hand. "Gael?"

The little girl turned to look at her, somewhat confused by her resumed interest.

Lucy looked at her apple once before throwing it to Gael who caught it with both hands, turning it over in her palms to check for any blemishes before taking a small bite from it. She swallowed heartily, preparing to take another bite before remembering her manners. "Thank you, Lady Lucy."

Lucy grinned, waving her goodbye before turning to leave, stopping short as she caught a snippet of the conversation.

"Edmund has been safely moved from the camp."

There was more, something about being vigilant against a counter attack, but Lucy had stopped listening by this point.

She hoisted her dress up, further than Susan would've deemed either appropriate or necessary, racing towards the sitting room Peter was currently occupying with Lilliandil.

"Pete!" She panted as she burst through the door, ignoring the half-star completely as she threw herself down beside Peter, trying to catch her breath before continuing.

"Lucy!" Peter started, catching sight of his sister's expression he paused, exchanging a glance with Lilli.

"Sorry," Lucy panted, "Lilli." She looked guiltily at the half-star who gave her an expression that was clearly designed to suggest no harm or offense had been sustained.

She turned to look at Peter for any hint that he had known. "It's about Edmund." The tiny flicker of regret in his eyes confirmed her suspicions. "You knew. You knew he'd been moved and you didn't tell me."

Peter sighed; he was going to have to remind himself to murder Susan later. "We were trying to protect you. Susan- we thought it was best, given how unwell you were that we shouldn't burden you with such limited information."

"Edmund is my twin brother. I deserved to know." Lucy turned, leaving the room, slamming the door behind her in an uncharacteristic display of betrayal.

"Great," Peter hissed.

*x*

Lucy didn't know how long she ran for. She stopped suddenly, realising she was in a part of the mansion she didn't recognize. She barely had time to take in her surroundings before she heard a noise, making her jump.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

The only reply she received was a muffled noise from behind one of the thick, heavy wooden doors.

"Hello?" Lucy took a tentative step in the direction the noise had come from.

There was no reply other than a loud bang from the same area.

"Hello, it's Lucy. I'm not going to hurt you I promise." She boldly walked the final steps to the door before stopping and grasping at the handle. "Hello?"

She felt the handle move under her hands, it was no use, the door was locked. She didn't understand why; Coriakin had always allowed herself and her siblings open access to every part of the mansions for as long as she could remember, it made no sense that he would stop doing so now.

"Is someone out there?" The quiet voice gave Lucy quite a start causing herself to knock into a shelf, sending some metal objects she couldn't quite identify crashing to the floor. She slowly regained her composure, moving back to her original position by the door in the hope that the poor soul behind the door would hear her better that way.

"Yes, my name's Lucy. Who are you?"

There was a prolonged pause before the voice answered. "Lucy? Your name is Lucy?"

"Yes. What's yours?"

A small gasp was the only answer for a moment before the voice whispered, in a rather pained tone. "I'm Edmund."

Lucy's mouth fell open. "Do you know where the key to the door is?" She asked hurriedly; she had to see for herself if it was true. Had her guardian really locked her brother away from her, away from them all?

"No, they must've knocked me out. Lucy..." Edmund paused suddenly sounding very young and scared. "Where am I?"

"Don't worry, you're safe. I promise. I'm going to find the key, I'll be back."

Edmund banged on the door, stopping Lucy in her tracks. "Please don't leave me alone."

"I have to; they won't let me stay here forever. I'll come straight back, I know where all the keys are. It's going to be okay, Edmund. I'm not going to abandon you."

The boy behind the door let out a nervous little noise Lucy interpreted as reluctant permission to go and find the key.

She rushed through the corridors, knocking a few dufflepuds over in her hurry to find the room of keys. She apologised hurriedly helping them to stand before continuing on her way. As she reached the room she paused; it suddenly occurred to her how much trouble she was going to be in with, well everyone. Clearly Edmund was locked up for a reason, but that was beside the point. He was her twin; she couldn't leave him locked away.

She looked at the keys in the cabinet labelled 'Western Wing', grabbing as many of the thicker, old-looking keys she could hold, putting some into one of the specially added pockets of her gown before leaving the room in a hurry.

"Ouch! Lucy, watching where you're going, there are still some pins in this dress, Sweetheart."

Lucy apologized quietly.

"Are you sure you didn't get pricked by any of them? I'm sorry for snapping, I was worried." Susan stopped, noticing the keys that were scattered on the floor from where Lucy had dropped them for the first time. "My goodness, why do you need all these keys, Lu?"

"I'm practicing my sketching. I always struggle with keys." Lucy blushed, feeling awful for lying to her ever-honest sister. She remembered, after a momentary internal struggle over whether or not to tell her the truth, that Susan had, along with Peter, known that Edmund was no longer with the witch. "I should really be going, Su."

Susan nodded, passing her one of the keys she had missed, wincing as a pin in her gown caught her on the hip.

*x*

Lucy whistled an old Narnian lullaby Tumnus had been teaching her as she reached Edmund's, for lack of a better term, holding cell. "Lucy? Is that you?"

Lucy stopped quickly, jogging toward the door as quickly as she could manage without holding her gown up and dropping the keys, fitting them into the lock one by one. "I'm sorry, I bumped into Susan." She explained quickly, sighing in frustration as key after key failed to open the door.

Edmund remained silent as she made her way through the collection, huffing as she discarded each key.

She was about to give up when she noticed one particularly unattractive key lying beside her knee quite forgotten in her hurry to get through the ones she had been carrying in her pockets- they were beginning to prod her skin uncomfortably.

She pushed it into the lock, brushing a wayward strand of hair from her eyes before turning it, smiling gleefully as it turned with a satisfying click.

"It's open!" She gushed, waiting for Edmund to push the door open. When he didn't do so she turned the handle, taking the key from the lock as any sensible person would remember to door before entering a room, breathing deeply once before coming face to face with her long forgotten twin.

XXX

A/N And so the twins finally meet…this is either going to go really well or really badly…thoughts? Please review, I got this chapter written really quickly for you…?