Friends No Matter What

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

A/N: WARNING: This is the sad chapter! Read at your own risk.

Chapter 12: Lune's Greatest Sadness

2 years later….

Lune had noticed his wife getting paler and beginning to act sicker for several months. Finally, one day, she did not even have enough strength to get out of bed. "Lune, I'm sorry to be a bother."

"Shh. Don't say that. You aren't a bother, Leah dear." He said as he stroked her hair.

"You're sure?"

"Of course I am. I wish you would quit saying that when you get sick."

"Well, thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, I must go, but I'll be back later, okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I love you, too."

After several weeks, Jilla was getting worried because Leah didn't get better. "She should have gotten well by now."

"I know. I hope something isn't seriously wrong."

"I know." Lune watched his beautiful wife sleep.

"You might need to send for your sister."

"It's that serious?"

"Yes."

"I'll send for Lana right now. But I hope you're just overreacting."

"So do I."

Lune did send for Lana, who was worried about her best friend. "What do you think is wrong with her, Jilla?"

"Only Aslan knows, Lana. Only Aslan knows."

"Leah, please wake up. Please get well. I don't know what Lune, Corin, and I would do without you."

Lana sat beside Leah's bed the whole time she was sick. Lune came in often. Finally, Lana couldn't take Lune's hovering any longer. "Lune, if she gets better or worse, I'll send for you, okay? You'd think this was the first time she was ill."

"So you want me to stay out?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, all right, if you tell me if there is any change."

"I promise. Now, get out!" He got out, if only because his sister could be a bit scary when she had her mind set on something. He went about doing his duties, but all the while, he was praying for his beloved Leah. He knew that Aslan would have to perform a miracle for her to live.

"She's getting worse by the hour, your majesty. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time." Jilla said sadly as Lune sat by his wife's bedside.

"Aslan, why? Why would You take her from me?" Lune cried. "She was just getting back to normal after Cor's disappearance. Why now?"

"Having doubts, brother dear?" Lana asked as she, too, brushed tears from her eyes.

"No, not really. I just don't understand why!"

"Neither do I, but He is wiser than we are. As Hannah says that Aslan said in her world, 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.' "

"Yes." He paused before asking, "Do you ever wonder why He told so much in her world but not this one?"

"Maybe He hoped we would trust Him better."

"Or He knew people like Hannah who know His Words would come and they would tell us about what He said?"

"That's also likely." They sat in companionable silence, sharing their love and grief for Leah, queen of Archenland.

Lune was in the library one day the next week (after being forced out of Leah's room by Lana again!) when Lana appeared in the doorway. "Lune, she's awake. Jilla says we need to say our goodbyes." Lune looked up, the book falling from his hands. "Let's go." The two ran up the stairs, not worrying about what anyone might think. They slid to a stop in front of the door and entered quietly. Lune wondered how anyone could tell Leah was awake. She didn't appear to have moved from the last time he had seen her. Then, she moved her head and met his gaze. He smiled slightly. Yes, that was his Leah. He slowly walked toward the bed. "Leah? It's me. I've been waiting on you to wake up. What's taken you so long?"

She smiled. "I suppose I've been tired; that's all."

"I suppose. Leah, I- I-"

"Shh. Do not blame yourself. Aslan is calling to me. I know He wants me to come to Him. My only regret is that I will leave you, Lana, and Corin behind. But I want you to know that, on this side of Aslan's Country or the other, I will always love you."

Lune leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I love you, too."

"Oh, Leah. I wish you didn't have to leave us." Lana said as she fell to her knees beside the bed opposite her brother.

"I'll see you again someday, my sister. I promise. Now I wish a promise from you."

"Anything."

"I want you to tell me that you will care for Corin and Lune after I'm gone."

"I will. I promise." Lana kissed Leah's cheek.

"Tell Corin when he's older that his mama loved him. Tell him I wanted to see him grow up and get married… speaking of that, you will make sure he marries a fine girl, won't you?"

"Of course I will."

Leah smiled; as Lune and Lana looked into her eyes, even they, as inexperienced as they were, could tell that she was fading fast. "I love you both."

"We love you." They said together.

Leah smiled, her eyes seeing what theirs did not. "Aslan. I'm coming!" Then she closed her eyes for the last time. Lune laid his head over her heart, weeping. Lana stood up and went to her brother's side, laying her head on his shoulder, sharing his tears.

As they did so, Leah entered the gates of Aslan's Country, seeing for the first time the Lion she had so long loved. Then she saw her mother, brother, and father, and the Lion's Country was home to one of the sweetest reunions that had ever existed.

Author's Note: I'm alive! I know I've not updated in quite awhile. I'm sorry! I hope updates will be more frequent on all my stories in the near future.