Oh my goodness this is the final chapter! I can't believe it! It's pretty long because there was a lot to finalize. Please enjoy :D

"Have you seen Mary?" Edmund asked Caspian who stood with Susan. Caspian looked Edmund over and frowned, understanding that he had just been told the news, and now he had to relay it to Mary. Susan also frowned, looking down and pulling her hand away from Caspian's, slowly placing it behind her back as to not draw any attention to it. Edmund didn't know that Aslan had spoken to Peter and herself only moments before speaking to Edmund and Lucy, so although Susan knew her connection to Caspian hadn't quite grown as Edmund's had with Mary, her situation had suddenly become just as tragic, if not more so.

"I haven't. I think she is in the castle. She had some things to work through—she wasn't exactly given a clear picture on what happened to her mother. I suppose she wanted to find out." Edmund nodded and began to walk away, but Caspian grabbed his arm and stopped him, looking back at Susan then stepping forward a bit, turning closer to Edmund and speaking quietly. "Mary has lost a great deal recently. You may want to give her hope that you will be back, but we cannot be certain of what Aslan has planned. If you remember, time moves much more quickly here. The next time you are called back may be thousands of years past her lifetime. I can't tell you what to do, and I would never want to, but maybe you should say goodbye, and not leave it all so ambiguous." Edmund looked slightly past Caspian at Susan who was still looking at the ground, and he suspected she was crying. They must have just done what Caspian was advising him to do, if he had to guess. Edmund looked firmly into Caspian's eyes, and on the equal ground they had established, Edmund nodded. He took Caspian's advice very seriously, and he knew he was right.

He smiled quickly and walked away, entering the castle. However, immediately upon entering the castle he stopped. It was a strange sense of familiarity, as now he was not entering in the midst of a siege, or walking around as a prisoner, and everything seemed so different. He wondered if Mary had experienced the same.

He walked slowly, almost forgetting why he was there, mapping out where he spent his days as a prisoner and reminding himself that it was not too long ago. Although not in a literal sense, Caspian's words came back to him: "time moves much more quickly here."

He found where he was held when Mary first came to help him. Before she had come he had been asked over and over where the others were, Miraz's men almost taking pleasure when he didn't respond, hitting him across the face. However, when they realized he would never speak, they became frustrated and were unsure what to do, as Miraz had ordered that they not injure him too severely.

"Maybe call for a bucket of water? I've heard this technique used before. We don't have to drown him, but-" the guard started to suggest, but the door opened and Miraz walked in. They bowed their heads and stepped away from the prisoner, letting Miraz come to stand in front of him.

"That won't be necessary. I've decided on another method. Untie him." The guards looked at Miraz in confusion, but too afraid to question him, followed his order. They untied Edmund and firmly placed one hand behind each shoulder and the other on his arm. Miraz motioned for a man to come in who was holding a whip, bowing as he placed it in Miraz's hands. Edmund's eyes focused on it as Miraz let the leather strip fall from his hand, holding the top of it tightly. Edmund looked to the king trying to read whether or not he was bluffing. "Remove the armor," he spoke slowly and directly at Edmund, taking his gaze as a challenge. The guards removed the leather armor and turned him so his back was to the king. "This is the last time you will be asked, boy. Where are the others?" Edmund became stressed and started fighting against the guards, trying to pull his arm free, then trying to push his weight against one and then the other, hoping to knock one off his balance. "I will accept that as your answer," Miraz spoke in a low voice, backing away and waiting for the two guards to regain control and hold him still. Once they did, Miraz lifted his arm and the whip, and then hit it against Edmund's back. The force and the pain caused him to drop to his knees, the men dropping next to him and looking back up to Miraz, waiting for the next blow. However, Miraz handed the whip back to the man. "Tie him back." Edmund was dragged back to the wooden beam and his hands were tied behind it. He refused to look at the guards, hoping they wouldn't notice the tears that had fallen on his face.

"Your highness," a man said, looking into the room and alerting Miraz, his eyebrows raised.

"I understand. Yes, then let us leave the boy." The men left the room and locked the door, Miraz turning back and addressing the guards. "My daughter will most likely be coming here soon. She will ask to go in to see the boy. If she does, deny her initially. Say you have been ordered to do so. If she persists, allow it, but do not let her know I have said this."

"Yes, my king, but may I ask, why did you whip the prisoner only once? Would it not be more effective to make him fear the next blow?"

"My intention was not to get any information from him. That is going to be impossible I've come to realize through looking at his history. He betrayed his family once, and simply by looking at him it is obvious it is not a mistake he will make again, no matter how much physical strife we force him to endure. The key to extracting information will be much trickier."

"Then may I ask why you are allowing your daughter to see him? He is a prisoner afterall, and she is-"

"A lady, yes I know. But she had tragically become the most crucial part of my plan, and she is the reason he received only one lashing and has been granted the opportunity to live some time longer. I figure everything that has happened has begun to stir in my daughter's heart and her mind. She has expressed sympathy for the boy's pain, so when she comes I wanted her to have something to heal. See, I have created him an image of a wounded bird, and knowing Mary she is going to run to fix him. However, if my daughter is as I have made her to be, she is going to be scared to lose him, so even when he is healed and can fly, and I will not be surprised if he tries to trick her into releasing him, she will not do so. She has not made many human connections in her life outside of the ones I have allowed as I have kept her within these walls, safe from harmful influence, so he will become her possession. And like a wild bird, he will be tamed by her gentleness, and when he feels safe, he will not be afraid to tell her things he is not willing to tell us. And if my daughter is as I have made her to be, her loyalty to her people, and her loyalty to me, will lead us to the Narnians." The guards nodded their heads and said nothing more, as they had already risked the king's wrath by questioning his actions. Their only saving grace had been the king's growing pride in his own cleverness. Miraz turned his lips up in an eerie smile and walked away, and in no more than an hour, Mary was to come and ask to see the prisoner, and although they were to deny her at first, they would not keep her from meeting the prisoner. It was by design—by the king's design.

Edmund walked hurriedly through the hallway, wondering if Mary had gone to her room to have a moment of silence; he wouldn't be surprised. As he came around the corner someone ran into him, and as he tried to steady himself and the person before him, he fell to the ground. The girl screamed as they fell, and Edmund hurried and covered him mouth with his hand, laughing when he saw her face.

"If you remember, this is what got us in trouble the first time," he said, removing his hand. Mary laughed and got off of him, standing and extending her hand to help him stand. He took her hand but got up mostly on his own, brushing off his clothes.

"I'm sorry, I was trying to find you, and I was in a hurry. I will learn to slow down so this doesn't keep happening." She pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and noticed Edmund's smile fade, which she almost expected. The thought had crossed her mind since she first learned of the kings and queens of old, but she had always avoided the subject.

"I was trying to find you too. We have some time before the parade, and I figured it would be nice to talk." Despite his saddened countenance, she forced a smile and nodded, taking his hand and pulling him with her.

"I know the perfect place."

They sat in the grass in front of the line of trees where they had walked by and planned Edmund's escape, although it had quickly become an escape for them both. Edmund sat with his arms crossed over the top of his knees, his eyes trained on Mary as she picked the flowers around her and pulled them apart.

"It has crossed my mind so many times, but I'm sure you noticed I never asked about where you came from. Before you came here, and after you were pulled away," Mary said, breaking the silence.

"I did."

"Well, maybe it was because I was so terrified that you, your family, you would all be pulled away without any notice. You would be standing beside me, and then you'd suddenly be gone. I guess this time you were given notice, although it was much earlier than I expected. Last time you were here, you grew up here. I don't know whether I wish you would stay here longer, only to leave me after everything became comfortable, or if this is better—that you leave now before anything else happens. You know?" Edmund nodded silently, looking down and beginning to mirror Mary's actions in picking the plants around him, tearing them apart and throwing them back.

"Did he say how long you would be gone this time?"

"No. He never does, although he has promised we will return."

"So I'm to be left alone in this mess?" Mary stilled her hands and clenched them. She looked up at Edmund who also stilled his hands, meeting her frustrated gaze. "You know it's not over—the discrimination and hatred. The trouble. We've surely given the Narnians back their land, but not their home. Many things still must change, and with all this to still be done you are leaving? You are all leaving?"

"Mary, please don't blame me-"

"I don't," she said quieter. "I didn't mean it to sound like I did. And I don't mean to be angry. I cannot imagine how traumatic it must be for you all to be pulled back and forth between two worlds. I cannot imagine. But then again, I never imagined the place we find ourselves in now. It is like I too have been pulled into another world." Mary looked back to the ground and began pulling at the grass, but Edmund leaned forward and took her hands. "I will wait for you." Edmund dropped her hands and looked at her with concern, sitting back into his previous position.

"No."

"No? What do you mean no? Would you not wait for me? Is there someone back-"

"Nothing like that. But don't you understand. If you remember our history you realize I should be much older than I am now. One day in my world could be hundreds of years here, and I can't do that to you."

"Then you will come back, just not necessarily to me."

"That's a sad way to put it."

"Yet true."

"I suppose. But you won't be alone, Mary. Caspian will help you rebuild this world as much as we would. He is capable, and I trust him." They sat in silence for a moment before they heard horns start to play, signaling the beginning of the line-up for the parade.

"I think I would prefer you stay here even if it would be more painful in the future. I would face it much later if I could keep you now because I cannot imagine tomorrow without you." Mary began to cry and moved forward, catching Edmund by surprise as she put her arms around his neck.

"We can do nothing more than believe Aslan knows what he is doing. I have seen many times that what we want is only so because we don't know any other options. I was so angry to be pulled away from Narnia the first time, but I cannot imagine if I had not been. I would not be here now, and that is enough proof for me that Aslan knows much more than we do."

"I hope you are right," Mary whispered into his shoulder. She closed her eyes and breathed him in, pulling away and sighing. When she opened her eyes she looked at the nearly healed cut above his eyebrow, reaching out and running her finger over it.

"I went back to where I was held, before I came to find you."

"I went there too. It all looks so different now; it's haunting. As I stood in there I wondered what exactly my father had believed he was doing. I always thought that he was a brilliant man, but there were so many things he did that led to his own demise. It will never make sense to me."

"Don't you see, Mary? You were the most crucial part of his plan—the thing he thought he could control. His plan relied on you completely, but you weren't as controllable as he believed. He underestimated you more than anything. More than he underestimated the people he believed to be extinct, the ones most foreign to him—it was his own daughter that crumbled his plan." Mary smiled, but there was something she wouldn't say that Edmund could see running through her mind. However, he was almost certain he could recognize it, and it disheartened him that she was about to be left to deal with it alone. She had been his most influential guide to help relieve him of his ghosts, although the imprint of some remained, and he was being called to leave while her ghosts were still warm. The worst was yet to come, and perhaps she knew it too. He took her hand and kissed it, quickly pulling it close to him and closing the distance between them, looking at her closely before placing his hand on the back of her head and kissing her. They heard the horns begin to play again, signaling that the parade was to begin. He hugged her once more before standing, bringing her up with him, and they walked hand in hand to where the others would be waiting.

"Edmund has been gone a long time," Susan said as she walked with Caspian to where they would mount their horses.

"I'm sure he had a lot to explain, and it is going to be something she doesn't want to hear."

"It's something none of us wanted to hear. We've lost Narnia before. It took us a year to only begin getting used to our lives, and now—now that Peter and I know it's permanent—well, I suppose this time we have to get used to it." Caspian struggled to think of something to say, imagining the position Susan and Peter found themselves in, and he became depressed trying to place himself where they were. There was nothing that could be said to such a heartbreaking tragedy.

"I was very upset to hear the news," Caspian offered, Susan smiling and looking up.

"I knew you always liked Edmund, but have you come around to liking Peter as well? For quite some time it seemed you couldn't wait to get away from each other."

"Edmund already has someone to be devastated for him. And Peter, well we've come around to more common ground recently. But I wasn't referring to either of them." He suspected Susan had known, but the way she looked at him let him know she needed to hear it anyway. "You will always be remembered as Narnia's Queen of Old, and you will be honored in your people's memory. And you will be honored in mine as well." Susan seemed equally sad and flattered, and as she nodded to him in approval, letting him know he had said the right thing, he placed his hand on the side of her face.

"Sorry we're late!" Edmund yelled, pulling Mary behind him by the hand. The two rushed past Susan and Caspian and found where their horses waited.

"Are you okay riding alone?" Edmund asked, leaning over and interlocking his hands together. Mary placed one foot in his hands as he helped her onto the horse, making sure it was steady and looking up to her.

"I am going to have to learn. I won't always have someone to ride with me." Edmund nodded and mounted his horse, coming to stand beside Mary and waiting for the parade to begin. Once they music began to play, they moved their horses forward and followed the line, being welcomed by the more understanding of the Telmarines and the happy Narnians. Flower petals were thrown into the air, coming down and getting caught in their hair, flying over their faces and coming to the ground. Edmund looked to Mary who was completely taken away by the surroundings, laughing as the petals fell. As Edmund watched her, he began to experience the first feeling of the insufferable loss he would be experiencing soon.

The parade ended where Aslan waited, standing near a tree that looked over the land, the trunk appearing as if two had been wrapped together. The horses were taken back through where they had ridden while the kings and queens stood side by side, Mary and Caspian standing nearby.

"Narnia belongs to the Narnians just as it does to man," Caspian began, walking forward to address the crowd. "Any Telmarines who want to stay and live in peace are welcome to. But for any of you who wish, Aslan will return you to the home of our forefathers." There were disgruntled mumbles throughout the crowd, people worried about going back to a land their people had not been in generations. It all seemed so uncertain.

"We are not referring to Telmarine," Aslan assured them., his voice silencing the crowd. He spoke to them of the world their ancestors came from, after finding a cave that brought them here. "From the same place of our kings and queens," he explained, looking to the Pevensie children. Mary looked to Edmund, becoming increasingly anxious as she tried to imagine this world he would be returning to soon, and she knew nothing about it. "It is to that island I can return you. It is a good place for any who wish to make a new start." And although Aslan's words spoke directly to her, she knew it was not an option. But the thought had crossed her mind many times that day despite knowing it couldn't happen. She had to stay there; she had to fix things.

"I will go. I will accept the offer." Mary and Caspian looked through the crowd, wondering if they knew the Telmarine who took Aslan's offer—who realized that he needed something better. It was General Glozelle, emerging from the crowd with a scar that ran over his eye, although his eye itself had been spared. Caspian bowed his head to the general, honoring that he had been able to recognize his fault and offer himself to a new beginning. He was the only one.

"Because you have spoken first, your future in that world shall be good," Aslan blessed him, breathing a heavy breath into his face then looking as the tree near them began to untwist, revealing what looked like an arch at the base. The general walked forward, although as he could see through the tree there was nothing strange about what appeared on the other side. However, as he passed underneath, people began to mutter in amazement, the general having disappeared.

"How do we know he is not leading us to our death?" a man yelled, gathering a small following of suspicion. Reepicheep stepped forward and offered himself, as well as his comrades, to prove there was nothing to fear. Aslan did not accept the mouse's offer, but instead looked to Peter who understood what was to come next.

"We'll go," Peter offered. "Come on, our time is up," he spoke to his family sullenly. "Afterall, we're not really needed here anymore." He stepped forward and addressed Mary, walking to her and smiling. "I'm not sure you've realized how much you have done for these people, and for my family." He pulled her into a tight embrace and spoke softly. "And for Edmund." He let go and smiled again, and the sadness behind it broke her heart. "Truly, thank you." Next he moved to Caspian, and before he spoke he held out his sword. "I'm sorry we could not have gotten along sooner. I feel confident leaving knowing the Narnians and the Telmarines will have two great leaders. Thank you." Caspian took the sword from Peter's hands, understanding how much the gesture meant.

"I will look after it until they return," he promised.

"They?" Lucy asked, peering at Caspian as if he made a mistake.

"He means the two of you," Susan answered. "Peter and I are not to return."

"Why? Did they do something wrong?" Lucy asked, looking to Aslan in confusion.

"Quite the opposite dear one; but every thing has its time. Your brother and sister have learned what they can from this world. Now it's time for them to live in their own."

"It's alright Lu." Peter tried to comfort his youngest sister as he noticed the distress on her face. "It's not how I thought it would be. But it's all right. One day you'll see too. Now come on." And although Lucy was devastated, she was able to accept the lion's reason. She would not doubt him.

So they began their goodbyes. Lucy came to Trumpkin and properly curtsied, taking notice of his downcast look. She tried to curtsy again, but they both knew it was not enough. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back, finally letting her go and trying to be subtle as he wiped at his eyes.

Susan came to Caspian who took her hand, looking down as he spoke. "I wish we had been given more time."

"It never would have worked anyway." Caspian looked up and titled his head, but he could see there was more to what she said. "I am thirteen hundred years older than you." They laughed for a moment, becoming more serious as she let go of his hand to walk away. She began to step towards the tree, but as she looked back to the young prince, she returned to him and kissed him quickly. Lucy smiled and made a face, but Mary looked to Edmund and they shared in the young couple's grief. Next, Lucy hugged Mary and promised they would see each other again.

"Don't make promises you cannot keep. Your brother did not," Mary said to her, grinning, but she knew she could not hide from the young, and yet exceptionally wise girl.

"Then you are no longer together?" she asked, hoping that she would be corrected.

"How could we be?"

"And so once we leave you will move on?" Mary frowned and hugged Lucy once more. "I can't imagine it, and yet I've been urged to do so. I ask you hold Edmund to the same agreement since he has asked for it."

"My brother is not known to express his feelings very well," Lucy whispered, looking back to Edmund who noticed she was speaking of him. "I ask you not give up on him yet." Mary simply watched as Lucy walked away, not giving her a moment to respond. She joined Peter and Susan, obviously giving Susan a hard time, and it was Edmund who was to say goodbye last.

"I have something for you," Mary said excitedly, reaching behind her head and untying the ribbon from her hair. As she had done before Edmund's fight, she brought the ribbon to her lips and kissed it, keeping her eyes on Edmund, then gently placing it in his hand. Nothing needed to be said as he pulled her to him, holding her closer than he ever had. Then he let go and joined his family, no words needing to be said.

"And now it is time you must leave," Aslan announced. "There is much to be done here. And Mary, I imagine there is a lot you would wish to talk to me about." Mary blushed as she wondered if he knew what she thought, for she had to admit that she had been struggling not to blame the lion for things that should have been avoided. But as he looked at her, it seemed it was something he expected, and he was not angry. She nodded and looked back to the kings and queens as they began to wave, stepping through the tree to return to their world. She waited, but Edmund never looked back. As he walked through, the last of the four, she noticed something fall slowly to the ground. She rushed forward and picked it up, realizing it was the ribbon she had just given him.

"They cannot take anything from this world back to theirs," Aslan explained. "I suppose you will need to hang on to it for now." The lion smiled, and Mary did the same, for it was the most hope she had been given. She nodded at the lion and took the ribbon, tying it back into her hair.

"Then I shall wait."

The Pevensies looked to each other, all sharing the same overwhelmed looked on their faces, proving to the other that everything had really happened. A train came to stop in front of them, numerous ordinary children getting off and pushing around them.

"Aren't you coming Phillis?" a young boy asked as he boarded the train. Susan had forgotten about the boy from what seemed like days earlier, and they all stood speechless, remaining in a state of confusion that comes from skipping worlds. But with his voice, they were slowly pulled back into the England railway station. They shuffled to gather their luggage and made their way onto the train, Edmund looking at his hands and beginning to pat around his jacket.

"You don't suppose we could go back?" he asked, frantically pulling at his pockets. As he realized the ribbon was gone, the very thing to remind him that the girl he ran into was real, he also took notice of the sad looks on the faces of his family. Realizing that so soon after their departure was not a time to speak of such a tragic loss, he decided to lighten the mood instead. "I left my new torch in Narnia." His siblings laughed as the doors closed and the train began to move, but as he looked back to where they were leaving, he couldn't help but think he had left something much more important than a torch.

Well, there it is. I'm sorry if it kind of seems like a sad ending, but despite Edmund's comic relief at the end of the movie I always still felt extremely sad. I hope you didn't mind the few little changes I had to add in there! Looking back, it is crazy thinking about how much time was invested into this, and I want to thank everyone who stuck with it all the way through! I hope you liked it, and I hope it was a good story. But really it is not over! The sequel that follows Voyage of the Dawn Treader will follow the movie more closely than the book, although I might add a few parts in there. It will probably be called The Voyage. Anyway, please let me know how you feel about this story now that it has concluded, and please let me know of any ideas you would like to see in the next one because I have been taking them into consideration! I want to know what you guys want to see. I have a rough outline of it, but there is always room to edit it.

I am only beginning it, but as I promised, here is your sneak peek. This will actually show up later in the story (maybe a few chapters in), so it will be further developed. Be looking for it!

"It has been three years, Mary," the boy reminded her, coming to sit beside her on the ledge. The sky was dark, but there were no clouds and the moon lit their surroundings almost as if it were the sun.

"Then I shall wait three more." She looked down at the ribbon in her hands, stroking the silk that had become dirty and frayed.

"You should not have to wait any longer. It could be generations later that they return—I know you believe the lion may have given you some small hint of hope that he would return to you, but I don't believe the tricky wording of a lion should leave you waiting for what may never come. Perhaps you let go of this," he said, touching her hand gently and stilling it. "And you begin to live again. Your people are waiting for you to introduce to them a king. They are becoming anxious that they will never receive the stability of two leaders sitting on the thrones. It cannot remain empty forever, Mary. You are going to have to let someone in, someone besides the King of Old—someone who can promise to be beside you. I have promised you this. So I beg of you, Mary. Let me in."