Disclaimer: I own nothing in this marvelous universe; it all belongs to C. S. Lewis.

Reviewers: All of you, thank you! I hope this tides you over until the next installment, so enjoy!

Author's Note: Er, yeah…this little chapter comes from listening too much to the "Oogway Ascends" track from the Kung Fu Panda soundtrack. Don't ask me how it helps ::sheepish smile:: I just know that it does. Please enjoy it and watch for the next chapter in the next several weeks!

Rating: T

Summary: What if Lucy had decided to go across the gorge when she saw Aslan, regardless of whether her siblings came with her? At least she won't be alone…and it is not just Aslan who joins her…(AU, Book and Moviebased)

"Speech"

/Personal Thoughts/

Memories/Quotes/Excerpts (Italics)

(10) Prince Caspian pg. 398 in The Complete Chronicles of Narnia (Paperback)

Keeping the Faith

By Sentimental Star

Chapter Ten: The Descent of Danger

"For to prevent the effusion of blood, and for the avoiding of all other inconveniences likely to grow from the wars now levied in our realm of Narnia, it is our pleasure to adventure our royal person on behalf of our trusty and well-beloved Caspian in clean wager of battle to prove upon your Lordship's body that the said Caspian is lawful King under us in Narnia both by our gift and by the laws of the Telmarines, and your Lordship twice guilty of treachery both in withholding the dominion of Narnia from the said Caspian and in the most abhominable,—don't forget to spell that with an H, Doctor—bloody, and unnatural murder of your kindly lord and brother King Caspian, Ninth of that name. Wherefore we most heartily provoke, challenge, and defy your Lordship to the said combat and monomachy, and have sent these letters by the hand of our well-beloved and royal brother Edmund, sometime King under us in Narnia, Duke of Lantern Waste and Count of the Western March, Knight of the Noble Order of the Table, to whom we have given full power of determining with your Lordship all the conditions of the said battle…" (10)

400. At the edge of the forest.

Lucy felt sick. There were barely 200 Narnians. They were outnumbered two to one and Lucy knew—just knew—that Peter would find some way to send she and Susan away. Edmund, too, if he could at all manage it.

Apparently, Edmund also realized that; when he heard the numbers and the location, his arms squeezed tightly enough around Lucy's waist that she had to conceal a wince. And when she glanced behind her, she saw his jaw lock.

He wouldn't be cooperative if Peter tried something like that, and she had a feeling Peter knew that, as well. Their older brother's eyebrows drew down into a troubled frown.

Things moved quickly, then. Before Lucy had a chance to blink, she and Edmund had been pulled to their feet by their respective older siblings and all four of them were on Caspian's heels as he led them straight back into the mound.

Two minutes later they were standing together over the entrance to Aslan's How, gazing ahead to the edge of the wood where the Telmarines were in the process of setting up camp.

Movement on the outskirts of the site caught Lucy's sharp eye and she grabbed for Edmund's arm when she spotted the source of her distraction. "Ed!" she hissed. "It's the Telmarine you released!"

At that same moment, Susan, who had been following her little sister's gaze, stifled a cry. "Peter, it's the soldier from the woods!"

Time stopped. Lucy turned disbelievingly to stare at her sister, who returned her wide-eyed look.

"Su?" she asked very, very cautiously.

"'Hope springs eternal,'" Susan whispered. She suddenly spun on Edmund, voice raising an octave, "That was you, wasn't it? That was you! Oh, Ed…!"

Lucy looked on quietly as Susan's dark eyes filled with tears and wondered what their older sister was remembering. A side glance at Peter revealed her oldest brother staring, thunderstruck, at Edmund. Edmund, finding himself the focus of two unwavering stares filled with far too much emotion, promptly blushed and looked away.

Caspian's voice ripped through the silence that followed as he gave a sharp curse: "We have exactly one hour before they start firing the catapults," he informed them.

Time resumed its normal pace.

Wrenching his gaze from Edmund, Peter gave the prince a curt nod. "Then we'd best be quick about this," he murmured, eyes hardening.

Susan shook herself, swiping furiously at her tears and gave a strong nod. "Let's go." She glanced at Lucy and held out her hand.

The younger girl pressed her lips together and gave a curt nod of her own, taking Susan's hand. Her sister squeezed, and tugged her towards the entrance back into the interior of Aslan's How.

About halfway there, with Caspian already ahead of them, Lucy suddenly realized their brothers were still standing together on the ledge.

She immediately halted, jerking them to a stop. "Wait, Susan!" she exclaimed in a rush, spinning back around.

Neither Edmund nor Peter noticed that she had, or gave any indication that they heard her. "You sent that message purposely, didn't you?" asked lowly by Peter as he loosely grasped the younger boy's arm. "You knew I'd come. You left those markers--"

"Pete," Edmund's terse voice interrupted him and Lucy saw him grip the pommel of his sword until his knuckles turned white as he gazed straight ahead, "now isn't the time for this."

There was a weary sigh from Peter. "How can I convince you that I meant every word I said this morning?"

"Peter," Lucy heard Edmund grit his teeth, "not now."

"We can't go into battle like this, Edmund! If we do it's Narnia that will suffer, not us!"

"I know that, Peter!"

When the older boy flinched, Edmund softened his voice, curling his free hand around Peter's on his arm, "I know. But what you can't seem to understand is that there was never a need for you to apologize in the first place."

A beat of silence; Lucy watched as Peter squeezed his eyes shut. When he spoke again his voice was rough, "You're an angel, Ed."

Edmund whipped around to face him, giving Lucy a clear profile of his face.

Every inch of it was colored by shock and disbelief, which all at once turned very raw and very naked as he looked at their brother.

Lucy heard Susan draw in a sharp breath behind her.

Slipping her hand out of Susan's, Lucy shook her head when her sister motioned to the inside of the How. She wasn't about to leave Edmund like this.

Susan blew out a long breath, but nodded. Silently indicating her willingness to stay until Peter had his say and then drag him away to give the two younger monarchs a moment of privacy.

Lucy flashed her a grateful smile before turning back around to watch their brothers.

Peter had just kissed Edmund's forehead. Now he looked up and started when he noticed the two of them watching. He blinked, then shook his head with a rueful smile. Squeezing Edmund's forearm one last time, he released their younger brother and made his way over to the two girls. Stooping down, he pressed a swift kiss to Lucy's own forehead and murmured, "Take care of him for me, Lu," before raising his eyes to Susan's and indicating the interior of the How with a tilt of his head.

With a nod, Susan smiled at him, before grinning sadly at Lucy and leading Peter inside.

As soon as they left, Lucy began edging towards Edmund. "Ed?" she asked softly.

Edmund who had been staring, stricken, after Peter, now viciously bit his bottom lip at the tenderness in Lucy's voice and turned to stare with sightless eyes over what was soon to become a battlefield—a death-field, he had always called it.

All feeling fled from Lucy's limbs.

She had told Edmund he and Peter were soul mates. To Edmund that translated as "lovers." But Mr. Tumnus had once told her that many people had the same misconception. You could still have a soul mate and not be in love. A best friend could be a soul mate. A sister could be a soul mate…so could a brother. A soul mate was someone you couldn't live without, someone to whom you entrusted the very key to your soul. Someone who, if they died, all of you (or part of you) would die with them.

If she and Susan lost Peter, Lucy realized, wrapping her arms around herself and giving a hard shiver, then they would lose Edmund, too.

"Come on, Lu," she jumped as Edmund laid a hand on her arm, "we should head inside."

And Lucy, for the life of her, couldn't say "no."

IOIOIOIOIOI

"There you two are," Peter's soft voice cut through the silence of the chamber as she and Edmund slipped into their seats beside Susan. He looked up from the rather worn map laid out in front of him on the table and cast a questioning look at Lucy. She gave a slight nod. "We've not started, yet. Caspian's gone to find Trumpkin, Trufflehunter, and the Bulgy Bears."

She felt Edmund start on the other side of Susan. "Why the Bulgy Bears, Peter?" asked quietly. "They're noble creatures, but you know--"

Peter merely looked at him and Edmund cut himself off. Lucy saw his eyes widen. "No," his voice was strangled.

She frowned as Peter quickly looked down at the map and cast a surreptitious glance around the chamber. They were in one of the rooms off the Table Chamber—meeting there for a Council of War somehow didn't seem appropriate, really. Of those already assembled there was Reepicheep, a rotund, jolly little man (who incidentally didn't look quite so jolly anymore) who was too tall to be a Dwarf and too short to be a Human (Lucy realized with a start this must be Dr. Cornelius), Glenstorm, and—

She froze. Glenstorm. And Caspian was going after the Bulgy Bears, so…

"Peter!" she burst out, flying to her feet. Her oldest brother flinched. "You can't!"

Lucy knew the protocol of war just as well as her brothers did. Traditionally, Oreius (and Oreius' line) and the Bulgy Bears were marshals for single combat. So that meant—

"I can, Lu," Peter countered quietly, looking up and fixing her with an even stare. "I have to. It's my duty, Lucy. You know that."

"You're not twenty-eight anymore, Peter!" That was Edmund, and he was shaking where he sat, fists clenched tightly in his lap and face a shade too pale.

"Sit down, Lucy," Peter advised her sternly, voice soft. Automatically responding to the note of authority she heard there, she did so (if not entirely willingly) and Peter let his gaze rake over his siblings. "No, I'm not twenty-eight. Listen to me, you two. I don't want to do this anymore than you want to let me. But you have to understand, we don't have any other choice." He looked at Lucy. "We need Aslan," completed quietly.

As Lucy's eyes slowly filled with tears, Edmund stated bluntly, "You are an ass." But his voice was just a little too thick for it to be effective.

A sort of half-smirk graced Peter's tired lips and he went back to studying the map. As Edmund moved from his seat to slip easily into his place by Peter's side and the two boys proceeded to have a whispered conversation too low for Lucy's ears to hear, the younger girl turned tearfully to Susan who offered her a faint smile, slipping an arm around her shoulders.

"We just have to trust Peter, Lu," she whispered. "Trust Peter and trust Aslan."

When Caspian and his companions joined them, Peter immediately looked up and addressed the prince: "Caspian, I need you to tell me all you can about the Telmarine army."

Peace be to you, fear not.—Genesis 43:23

Tbc.