WOOT! Last chapter was exciting cuz I reached 1000 hits and (drum roll please) 2 WHOLE REVIEWS!!! That isn't much to brag about buuuuut it makes me happy! And I have a special treat for you all! I explain!!! Aren't you excited? And yes, Aslan isn't just there for a birthday visit.

Thanks for the reviews elecktrum (sp?) and floppyearsthebunny!


The morning after the ball everyone slept in, everyone except for Lucy. She lay awake in her bed looking at her ring in the light of the morning sun. She got up after a bit and put on a periwinkle dress. She brushed her hair and slipped the ring onto the middle finger of her right hand. She held her hand to her stomach and admired the way the pearls shone against the soft purplish blue fabric. She went to the breakfast hall and sat in thought for more then an hour before Edmund joined her. He looked frazzled and when he saw her he jumped.

Edmund was so nervous because he knew he had to talk to Aslan today. "Morning Lucy," he said after he got over his shock.

"Good morning, did you enjoy the ball?" Lucy asked taking a sip of her orange juice.

"It was lovely; did you dance with anyone interesting?" Edmund asked in an overly casual voice.

"Oh, no one too special," she said, though her mind was wandering to Tumnus's hand on her waist as they had danced. Did Tumnus care for her more then a friend? She had asked herself this over and over again the night before. The question that confused her more was whether or not she returned those sorts of feelings.

"Mhm, and tell me Lucy. Where did you disappear to an hour before the ball ended?" he asked. When Lucy didn't answer he said, "I knew it! You ran off with some boy didn't you?" he said pointing a finger at her. "Who was it? You know Peter and I will have to deal with him. What's his name?"

"I did not run off with some boy! I wouldn't do that, I'm only 13!" she said, "I got tired, and I simply went to bed early."

Edmund said, "We'll see about that!"

Soon Peter came in and Susan too. Before she had even shut the door Edmund had said, "Susan! When you went back to your room last night was Lucy there?"

"Yes of course, she was already asleep when I arrived," she said without hesitance. Lucy had to hand it to her; she was an excellent liar when she needed to be.

"What? I was sure she had run off with some boy," said Edmund looking a little confused.

Peter looked up from his porridge; he was half asleep and had just started listening to the conversation. "What?! Who ran off with some boy?!" he said furiously looking from Lucy's face to Susan's and back again.

"No one Peter, Edmund is just being silly," said Susan soothingly sitting between him and Edmund. She was the only one who could calm Peter down when he was angry. Peter seemed to accept it and went back to staring into his porridge trying not to fall asleep.

They didn't talk much; they all were still exhausted from their long night of dancing. They all decided they would have to begin the plans for the town. Peter suggested they go to the people's camp so that they could get general information on all the families. They had all gotten onto their horses and were heading towards the camp when they spotted Aslan approaching them.

"I will need Edmund today," said Aslan.

They all accepted and Peter even looked a little jealous. "Yea you wouldn't be jealous if you had a nasty little voice whispering in your ear," thought Edmund angrily.

"Come," said Aslan, he led Edmund to the garden. Aslan sat in the grass and Edmund sat on a rock near him. "Tell me what you saw at the Witch's house," Aslan said giving Edmund a piercing look.

Edmund paused for a moment. He didn't want to recount his horrible vision, but he knew he had to tell Aslan so he could fix it. "I saw myself four years ago. It was when I met the White Witch. But it was strange, I didn't recognize myself. And it felt different then the first time," he said remembering the trees in particular.

"When did you realize what you saw was yourself?" asked Aslan.

"When Lucy came, she called out my name. And I thought she was talking to me, but she was talking to him," he said.

"Him? Him meaning you four years ago?" asked Aslan. Edmund nodded. "What happened next Edmund?" said Aslan. Edmund didn't say anything; the horrific images were beginning to come back, "Edmund this is key. You must tell me."

"I saw… horrible things. Things I-I could have stopped. It was terrible… I felt like I was going to die Aslan, really. I was sure of it," he said his face full of fear.

"You were supposed to," said Aslan. Edmund looked shocked and he felt sick, "The spell was intended to kill the victim, but only after putting them through as much emotional pain as possible. It was Jadis's cruelest form of murder."

Edmund stuttered, "Jadis?! You mean the White Witch put that spell on me?!" he said looking horrified, "But she's-"

"Dead? Yes, but the power she held still lives on." Edmund didn't understand so Aslan continued, "Magic, is not something that you pull out of thin air. Think of it as a beast which you must tame in order to receive its services. The dark and cruel magic that Jadis used remained loyal only to her because she is the only being evil enough to use it."

"I don't understand, if there's no one to use the magic how was that spell put on me? Can all magic do this?" asked Edmund.

"No, not all magic. Other magic has many people who it is loyal to. But I told you that this sort of magic has only been used by one person, it only had one person to please, and that one person relied upon it. I am shocked that the magic acted on its own accord. I have never seen such a thing. But it is understandable. Jadis wanted the blood of a traitor; I gave myself in exchange for your life. Had Jadis been alive to argue, I am sure she would have said my resurrection reversed the sacrifice. She would want you dead once more. The magic she used lingers at her home; it has no where else to go having no other masters. When you approached the palace, it must have recognized you and tried to do its master one last service. It tried to kill you."

Edmund was in complete disbelief now, "But if this magic can act on its own, won't it go wreaking havoc across the countryside? Or destroy Narnia?"

"Your situation was incredibly unique, I believe that only under the rarest of circumstances could such a thing like what happened to you occur. You are one of the four people in the world that Jadis would do anything to kill. You were thinking of horrible memories, which made your mind very weak to a curse which only emphasized those thoughts to the extreme. And lastly, you were at the Witch's house, the place where the witch used her magic the most, the remaining magic thrives there," said Aslan. Edmund tried to take it all in.

"How did I survive?" asked Edmund, "You said that the curse was intended to kill me. Why did I live?" he remembered the feeling of being dragged down into nothingness.

"You tell me Edmund. It is an incredibly strong curse, I believe I have only known one other to have survived what you have been through," said Aslan.

Edmund remembered, "It was you. You saved me."

Aslan blinked and asked, "How?"

"I was seeing all of these images and they just got worse and worse. And then I saw you and Peter and a crowd behind him. You asked him 'Where is the fourth?' Then everyone disappeared and it was just you and me, you said it again, only this time you asked me, not Peter. I started yelling 'I'm here' and suddenly I could see Peter and I was in my tent."

Aslan thought for many minutes. "It wasn't me, it was you. You fought Edmund, that's the only explanation I have for you," they sat in silence for a long time. "But why aren't you fighting now Edmund?" he asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" asked Edmund.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked looking at the white bandages.

"I-I fell onto a stone on the beach," said Edmund nervously.

"Do not lie to me Edmund," said Aslan barely louder then a whisper.

Edmund felt so ashamed, the tears came once more. "I… I bit myself," he looked away, "I didn't mean to… I couldn't help it."

"You could have Edmund ," Aslan said.

Edmund shook his head, "It's like I'm going mad, this voice keeps on whispering in my ear… terrible things."

"It is part of the spell Edmund. When the King who resisted the original curse survived, she changed the curse. If someone were to survive, they would be driven by their own self-loathing to kill themselves."

Edmund spluttered, "Kill myself? I would never ever do that! That's ridiculous!"

Aslan looked at him and said quietly, "Did you think that you would bite yourself until you bled and bruised a week ago?" Edmund didn't respond. It was true, he would never have dreamed of doing such a thing to himself, the thought that this whisper would actually push him to kill himself terrified Edmund.

"Please Aslan," Edmund whispered, "You must help me."

"I cannot help you. You must fight it yourself," said Aslan.

Edmund was starting to panic. Aslan couldn't help him? He had tried to fight it on the beach but nothing stopped himself. "How? I've tried!" Edmund wanted to scream but he resisted the impulse.

"You must accept it Edmund. Yes, you made a crucial mistake as a boy. But you are different now. You have made up for your past tenfold. And keeping away from your family and friends only feeds the curse. The more you trust the voice the more power it gets, the easier for it to control you. Fight it Edmund, you know that it is wrong," Aslan told Edmund.

Edmund's panic did not subside. He spoke the next words so quietly that you might have thought it was the wind, "What if… What if I can't fight it?"

Aslan looked at Edmund for a long time, "Then you will destroy yourself."

Aslan turned his back on Edmund and walked away. Edmund sat glued to the spot for a moment. Instead of comforting Edmund like he had hoped, Aslan only made him more afraid then he had ever been. He went running after Aslan but when he left the garden, Aslan had gone. He had been Edmund's only hope to get rid of this sickness inside of him, and he had just disappeared.


mmk guys!! hope that was explanation enough! if you think i didn't explain something then just tell me about it and i'll try to include it in the next couple of chapters.next chapter is still a little fuzzy so it might take a few days!

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