"Are you alright, Peter?" Susan asked, noticing her brother still had a slight limp as the group walked towards the temple dungeon.
"I'm fine, Su. That cordial was a great help." Peter replied.
Susan just shook her head and allowed Peter to hold onto her arm for a little support. She could never understand why he was so stubborn about his injuries, especially one as painful as a grazed blaster shot to his ankle. But then again, he was High King and was usually stubborn about a lot of things.
"Anyway, Su, what are you going to say to Lucy when we rescue her?" Peter asked.
"Well, first off I'm going to tell her that I love her and I missed her terribly. Then I'm probably going to give her a huge hug to make her feel a little better." Susan replied.
"Well I plan to do the same thing, if we can actually get into the dungeon to get her." Peter said.
"Of course we will, Peter. What makes you think we won't?" Susan asked.
"That does." Peter said and pointed straight ahead.
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing in and saw what he was talking about. They had arrived at the entrance to the temple dungeon but patrolling the main entrance were two more stormtroopers, both armed with blaster rifles. The group ducked into a corner to avoid being seeing while they decided how to proceed.
"What do you suggest we do now?" Peter whispered.
"How about we use that military formation you taught us?" Jacen asked.
"Oh what a wonderful idea, Sir Jacen. Simply a wonderful idea." Mr. Tumnus whispered cheerfully.
"You mean the double triangle formation?" Peter asked.
"Of course I mean that formation. I know exactly what we need to do." Jacen replied.
"Alright, then. Assume the formation now." Peter said.
Everyone immediately assembled themselves into two triangles of three each. Jaina, Jacen, and Aslan lead the group with the first triangle and Peter, Susan, and Mr. Tumnus followed them as the second triangle. In true military formation, they marched out of the corner and right up to the stormtroopers guarding the main entrance to the dungeon.
"And just where do you think you're going?" one of them said harshly.
Jaina just smiled and waved her hand in the air at the stormtrooper, who stumbled backwards and slid down the wall into a deep sleep.
"What the…?" the other stormtrooper exclaimed in surprised before falling asleep himself, courtesy of Jacen.
"Well, that was certainly easier than I thought." Peter said.
"Yes it was, Peter. Now why don't we get in there and find Lucy's cell?" Susan asked.
Peter nodded and turned to look at Jaina, who promptly withdrew Lucy's turtledove necklace from her pocket and clenched her fist around it. With Jacen's hand on top of her closed fist, both twins walked down the hallway of the dungeon as they concentrated deeply and tried to use the Force to figure out where Lucy's cell was. When they reached the halfway point of the hallway, they stopped suddenly and Jaina released her grip on the turtledove necklace.
"Where is Lucy?" Susan asked.
Jaina slowly turned to the cell in the middle of the left row, pointed at it, and declared "She's in there."
Inside the cell
Lucy was sitting in the corner of the cell, feeling quite groggy from her nap that she had just woken up from. She would have slept longer but the loud roar earlier had nearly startled her awake.
"I wonder what that queer noise was." Lucy mumbled.
Another noise got her attention, this time in the form of someone saying "She's in there."
"Who is that?" Lucy mumbled again, not immediately recognizing who it was that just spoke.
"But how do you open the door?" another voice said.
"Like this." the first voice said and Lucy saw the door to her cell slide open.
"Oh, I should have known." the second voice said.
Lucy was amazed at who she saw come into her cell. It was Peter and Susan and when they noticed Lucy sitting in the corner with the chains around her ankles, they immediately rushed right over to her and practically yanked her into a fierce hug.
"You came for me!" Lucy weakly exclaimed while practically digging her fingers into Peter's back as she hugged him tightly.
"Oh Lucy, you have no idea how much we missed you. We were quite lonely every night that you weren't there." Peter whispered as tears poured down his face.
"He's right, Lu. We love you so much and all we wanted was your safe return home." Susan said as she wrapped her arms around her brother and sister and squeezed them tightly.
"Can I go home now?" Lucy asked as the three separated their group hug and she snuggled into Susan's lap, resting her head against her chest.
"Of course you can, that's why we came. Everyone in Narnia wants you home safely." Peter said as he squeezed Lucy's little hand.
"That's all I wanted to do. I just wanted to go home and see you again. But I had no chance of escape." Lucy said and started to cry again.
"It's ok, Lu. You're with us now. We'll keep you safe." Susan said and hugged Lucy against her chest.
Lucy weakly smiled and squeezed Susan tightly around her waist while Peter planted a quick kiss on top of her head. She was so happy to be back in the loving arms of her family who she missed terribly during her captivity. But she had one question for them.
"However did you find me here? And how did you know where to look?" Lucy asked
"That's easy. The Force told us where to look." Jacen said and Lucy looked up to see him enter the cell with Mr. Tumnus.
Lucy's eyes grew wide as she saw them enter and Jacen waved his hand around her little feet, Force opening her shackles. She rubbed her sore ankles as Susan continued to hold her tightly and Mr. Tumnus placed a hand on her shoulder.
"My lady, I have missed you so much." Mr. Tumnus said.
"I've missed you as well, Mr. Tumnus." Lucy said and squeezed his hand.
"Everyone in Narnia misses you, Lucy. They all want you to come back to Cair Paravel." Jacen said.
"Jacen, you came too? But does that mean…?" Lucy asked weakly.
"Yes, it does, sweetheart." another familiar voice said and everyone turned around to see Jaina standing in the doorway of the cell.
Knowing full well what would come next, Jacen, Mr. Tumnus, Peter, and Susan immediately scrambled out of Lucy's way and stood back against the walls of the cell. Peter was extra prepared as he silently counted down "3…2…1…"
"Jaina!" Lucy shrieked and charged right at her best friend.
Jaina smiled as she stepped to the side and caught the very happy Lucy in her arm and pulled her into a huge hug, although she still stumbled backwards onto the floor. But once again, Jaina didn't care. She was just thrilled beyond belief that her best friend was alive and well.
"Oh Jaina, you came too! I missed you so much!" Lucy squealed happily.
"Of course I did, sweetie. What are best friends for?" Jaina replied.
As the two girls enjoyed their little reunion, Peter and Susan exchanged amused grins with each other. This little reunion between Jaina and Lucy could mean only one thing.
"Yep, Lucy's alright. She's ok." Susan said.
"Yes, she's perfectly fine." Peter replied.
"Of course I'm fine. I'm going home now." Lucy said with a huge smile on her face.
"And I believe, my lady, that you will feel even better with something to eat and drink." Mr. Tumnus and reached for the satchel that Peter had been carrying.
Lucy stared at Mr. Tumnus and giggled a little as she watched him rummage through the satchel, looking for something that she might like to eat. After a few seconds he suddenly exclaimed "Ah yes! This is perfect!" and pulled out a piece of Lucy's favorite breakfast food and a vial of water.
"Oh my! You brought me Narnian toast?" Lucy asked as Mr. Tumnus placed it in her hand.
"Yes we did, Queen Lucy. I remember how much you liked it during our first tea time together in Narnia and I realized that this would be perfect." Mr. Tumnus replied.
"Thank you so much!" Lucy exclaimed and took a bite out of the toast.
It broke everyone's hearts to see her eat it so fast since they figured that she probably had hardly eaten anything during the few days she was held captive. Even Peter and Susan didn't bother to correct her manners as she ate. They were just happy that they could nurse her back to shape and that she would be ok. And Jaina herself had a special treat for Lucy.
"Oh and Lucy? Next time, try not to lose this." she said and gave Lucy her turtledove necklace once she was doing eating her Narnian toast.
"My necklace! But why did you bring it?" Lucy asked upon seeing it.
"We used it to help find you, sweetheart. Our special connection as best friends and this necklace is what led us to where you were." Jaina replied.
Lucy squeezed Jaina even tighter as she buried her face into her shoulder. She knew that these turtledove necklaces guaranteed that she and Jaina would be best friends forever, but she had no idea that it had that deep of a connection for them.
"Sorry to say this, sweetie, but I think we better get out of here. We're not out of trouble with the Sith yet." Jaina said as she stroked Lucy's hair.
"What, are they still here?" Lucy asked, sounding panicked.
"No they are not, dear one. Some have been vanquished and some are out elsewhere in Narnia." Aslan's calm voice said.
Lucy immediately perked up again when she heard Aslan talking and turned around to see him standing in the hallway with a huge smile on his face. She leapt up from Jaina's lap and ran over to this great lion to wrap her arms around his neck for a huge hug and buried her face into his shaggy mane.
"Oh Aslan, you came too! I can't believe you're here!" Lucy squealed excitedly as she continued to hug him.
"It warms my heart to see you alive, dearest Queen Lucy." Aslan said as he nuzzled the little girl with his huge nose.
"I just wish Edmund was here to see me." Lucy said quietly.
"And you will get to see him again once we have returned to Cair Paravel." Aslan replied.
"You mean…Edmund's not dead?" Lucy asked in surprise.
"Of course he's not, Lu. What makes you think he is?" Peter asked.
"I saw him get shocked by those evil men. And then they show me that." Lucy said and pointed to a corner of her cell.
Everyone turned around to see what she was talking about and were shocked to see Edmund's shield and blood stained sword in the corner. Mr. Tumnus was especially curious as he carefully examined the blood on the sword.
"My lady, this is not human blood. It's faun blood." he said to Lucy.
"How can you tell?" she asked.
"I'm a faun; I know what faun blood looks like. And this is most definitely faun blood on King Edmund's sword." Mr. Tumnus said.
"So Edmund's not dead?" Lucy asked.
"Of course not, Lu. He's just back at Cair Paravel recovering from his injuries. Trust us; you'll get to see him when we return home." Susan said.
Lucy just nodded silently and continued to hold onto Aslan's mane. Noticing how shaken up she still was, Jaina reached into the satchel and pulled out a soft blanket to wrap around her shoulders. Lucy smiled as Jaina placed the blanket on her shoulders and squeezed her hand.
"Thank you, Jaina." Lucy said.
"You're welcome, Lucy. Don't worry; we'll all take care of you." Jaina replied.
"If you prefer to rest for the journey back, Queen Lucy, I will allow you to ride on my back." Aslan said.
"Oh I would love that. Thank you, Aslan." Lucy said and promptly climbed onto Aslan's back, clutching his mane with one hand and the blanket around her shoulders with the other.
"Let's go home." Jaina announced and led the group out of the dungeon area.
Everyone was all smiles as they made their way through the temple to the exit, feeling quite happy that Lucy was rescued and that she was alive and well. It was quite an uneventful exit with the stormtroopers either sleeping or dead thanks to the actions of Jaina, Jacen, Susan, and Mr. Tumnus during the earlier battle. That is, until they reached the main audience chamber and saw the lifeless body of Darth Maul still lying on the floor.
"Ewwww! He was here too?" Lucy exclaimed and cringed in disgust at the sight.
"Unfortunately, he was. But he's dead now. He can't hurt you anymore." Jacen said.
"Who killed him?" Lucy quietly asked.
Susan marched right up to Darth Maul's body, yanked the arrow out of his neck, and proudly held it up as she said "Does this answer your question?"
"You killed him? How did you manage to do it?" Lucy asked, sounding very surprised.
"Well, I had a little help from Aslan here." Susan said, to which Aslan smiled warmly at her, and then she continued with "But it really took the efforts of all of us to defeat this evil man. It was hard but we did it."
"Oh, I see." Lucy said softly.
She said no more as the group left the audience chamber and made their way down the hallway to the main entrance to the temple. Here, Lucy got a bright smile on her face because now she knew for sure that she was going home and getting away from the awful nightmare she had to endure.
"Excited to be going home, Lu?" Peter asked his little sister.
"Of course, Peter. I can't wait to get home." Lucy replied quite happily.
"Well, I must warn you it is bloody cold outside. So you might want these." Peter said and slipped a pair of pink fuzzy socks over her feet that he pulled out from his satchel.
Lucy smiled at her brother; he always knew how to make her feel better. And she felt even better when the group stepped through the doors and outside the Sith Temple. As they walked towards their waiting horses, Lucy felt a sense of liberation and freedom. She was free from the clutches of the evil Sith and she was going home.
