AN: This is the last chapter, then there's a short epilogue that will make more sense if you've read The Last Battle.
Thank you everyone who reviewed last chapter, including: Mrs. Redhead and Ash12345, and a really, really big thanks to diva divine, merlyn2, garnetred, mae-E, maristelle, and Miniver for reviewing every, or almost every chapter. This extra long chapter is for you guys! I tried to put in things that you all asked for, and to answer as many of your questions as I could.
Chapter 29
Caspian released his grip on the steel fixture right before Crowley could slice his fingers off. The blade sparked as it came in contact with the metal, but Caspian barely noticed. He was too busy swinging upside down by his one foot, which he'd lodged in that crevice. It was a lot more disorienting than simply being in pain.
The edge of the sphere was much too close for comfort. Caspian's face was literally only inches away from the swirling sapphire light. He had to pull his arms away from it to keep them from falling through.
He was successful at keeping his left arm away from the edge of the sphere. His right arm was another matter. The severed muscles in it and connected to it made it weak and despite his best efforts, Caspian was helpless to do anything but watch as it passed through the light.
A strange sensation filled every inch of his arm that crossed the barrier. It wasn't exactly painful but it was far from pleasant. Caspian screamed – not that it mattered since the noise of the machine was so loud – and managed to wrench his arm out of the light.
Then he blinked.
Where there had been an open gash only seconds ago, there was now a pale white scar, as though the knife wound had been delivered years ago. It looked as though it had had years to heal.
Caspian was confused but didn't have time to hang there, pondering what just happened. The blood rushing to his head wasn't very pleasant either.
His stomach muscles screamed as he used them to sit up and grab onto his knee for support. From there another metal fixture was within reach. He wrapped his hands around it and pulled himself up, onto the very narrow perch that it formed, then checked to make sure that Crowley was not about to slash at him again.
Crowley was no longer near the edge of the machine. It took Caspian a moment to spot him, since he had to peer through the welded metal that made up the frame of the machine. The older man was glaring down at him, looking as though he'd like to come down and finish him off.
"Bastard!" Caspian shouted at him, though his voice was drowned out by the whirring of gears. He checked his wound again – or rather checked his lack of a wound again. The gash on his forearm was completely healed. No one would believe that only a minute ago, blood had been streaming freely from it.
He wiped the sweat off his brow and brushed some stray pieces of hair out of his eyes. Then he noticed something odd about his hair. The tips of some pieces were iron gray – the exact same shade all of his hair had been in Narnia, near the end of his first life, before Aslan resurrected him and restored his youth. It was as though pieces of his hair had aged decades, but only certain pieces – the longer pieces that had come in contact with or passed through the sphere of swirling light.
Time between the worlds is always a mess, Caspian remembered. His experience with that was limited, but the Pevensies, Eustace, and Jill all agreed on that fact. It would make sense that the space between worlds messes up time as well . . . as far as any of this makes sense, t least.
Caspian didn't completely understand it, but doubted that thinking on it would make it any clearer. He needed to take care of Crowley, and quickly, before the machine brought them back to Earth, where Crowley might take Susan hostage.
Caspian began climbing the side of the machine, carefully as he came within Crowley's reach again.
Crowley grinned and slashed at his hand. The first time Caspian had to draw back quickly to avoid being cut open. Then Crowley stabbed at him again, and this time Caspian had a better hold. He grabbed Crowley's knife hand and jerked the other man forward.
Crowley's mouth opened in a scream that might as well have been silent next to the noise that the time machine was making. He let go of the knife to try to grab onto the machine, but Caspian didn't give him the chance. He got a hand hold on the front of Crowley's shirt and pulled with all his strength, detaching Crowley from the machine.
Down went Crowley, kicking and flailing, and probably yelling his lungs out too, but none of that made any difference. He crashed into the sphere – or rather, through the sphere, but right before he sunk all the way into it, he managed to latch onto one of the pieces of metal that elevated the machine off the floor when it wasn't in transit. Crowley's perch was significantly lower the one Caspian had held onto when he nearly fell from the machine. In fact, Crowley was hanging more than halfway through the sphere – only his arms remained within the time machine's protective bubble.
Caspian watched in muted horror as time began to take its toll on Crowley. All the years that he had skipped seemed to come crashing down on him all at once. His skin grew pale and started sagging. Wrinkles spread across his face as it shriveled like a prune. His hair began turning gray, then white, then started falling out by the handful.
Caspian was so spellbound by the grotesque sight that he barely noticed that the machine's mechanical whirring was quieting down, and Crowley's screams were finally audible. Then the light changed as a room began appearing outside the sphere. Wooden walls, dingy windows, and a cracked tile floor all came into view. Then a chair, where a familiar young woman was bound with her hands behind her back. It took all of Caspian's self control not to jump off the machine and run to Susan until its engine shut down completely.
Crowley fell to the ground first – not quite dead, but barely alive. He choked and wheezed as though every breath he took caused him pain. Which it probably did, but which he definitely deserved as far as Caspian was concerned. When at last, Caspian knew it was safe to get off the machine he went straight to Susan, actually jumping over Crowley's withered body to get to her, since the doomed man was in his way.
Susan was gagged but tried to speak anyway. Caspian removed that first and knelt down so that he was at eye level with her.
"Are you okay?" he whispered, touching the side of her face gently, wiping away her tears with his thumb.
"Are you?" Susan asked, turning the question around on him. "What happened? Where's Edmund? What is that?"
"Shhh," Caspian said, leaning close enough to her so that their foreheads were touching. "Edmund is with your other siblings. He is fine. I am fine. Only Crowley there is not fine, and I do not think any of us will be particularly bothered by that. Are you all right?"
Susan nodded. "I cut myself on the ropes trying to get them off, but other than that, I'm fine."
"I will get you out of here," Caspian told her and started to stand.
"Wait!" Susan said quickly.
"What?" Caspian asked, alarmed.
"Kiss me," Susan ordered, sounding so imperious that it was almost funny.
Caspian blinked at her then smiled. "Yes, milady."
He wished that they had more time – and that their circumstances were more appropriate. But as much as Caspian enjoyed the kiss, he couldn't put the fact that the love of his life was still tied up out of his mind. As soon as Susan permitted it, he moved behind her and untied the ropes that held her to the chair.
"That's Crowley?" Susan asked, looking at their nemesis disgustedly.
"That is Crowley," Caspian confirmed. "He . . . sort of fell off of the machine while it was between the worlds . . . and that was what happened."
"It's no more than he deserves," Susan said and started toward their fallen foe.
Caspian put an arm out to stop her. "What are you doing?" he asked.
There was a cold glint in Susan's crystal blue eyes. "Making sure he never hurts anyone I love again," she said in a voice like an arctic wind.
"I don't think that will be necessary," Caspian said, taking Susan's hand in his own.
They watched as Crowley clawed at his own throat, struggling to breath. His chest rose, and fell, and rose, and fell, and then didn't rise again. His hand slipped onto the floor and lay motionless and his eyes glazed over. After several moments of waiting Caspian let Susan's hand fall from his own and stepped forward. He knelt at their enemy's side and checked his pulse.
"He's dead," Caspian told her.
"Good," Susan said. She moved so that she stood behind Caspian, then leaned over him and wrapped her arms him, hugging him from behind and resting her chin on his shoulder. "Let's go home, Caspian."
X
After Caspian and Crowley and that abominable machine disappeared, Edmund picked himself up off the floor and stared at the empty space. He half expected them to appear again almost immediately. Time passed so much faster in the other world, and Caspian would certainly come right back . . . wouldn't he?
"Caspian won that fight . . . right?" Lucy asked shakily after several long moments of silence had passed.
"Of course he did," Eustace told her. "There is absolutely no way Crowley could beat Caspian in a fight!"
"In a fair fight," Jill said softly. "Caspian was injured."
"Even in an unfair fight, I'd wager on Caspian over Crowley any day," Edmund said.
"Then why aren't they back yet?" Jill demanded. "Wouldn't Caspian bring the machine straight back?"
"You're talking about a man who refuses to learn how to drive, because he hates automobiles so much," Peter reminded them. "Caspian still moves to draw his sword whenever a car backfires. He and Susan will have smashed the crystals on that machine to pieces and torn out whatever gears they can. They're probably waiting for us back home even now."
"He's right," Edmund said, though he wasn't completely convinced. "We should go home and meet them there."
They used their rings to get to the woods. Edmund hitched a ride with Peter and Eustace with Jill since they were both missing their own. Before long they were back home in London. The house was considerably warmer this time than it had been the last time Edmund arrived.
They looked around the kitchen expectantly, but Susan and Caspian weren't there. Edmund even checked in the family room, where the fire was still burning, but it was empty. That seemed like an ominous sign until the sound of the front door opening caught their attention.
"Susan! Caspian!" Lucy was off like an arrow, heedless of her soaking wet clothes. Jill and Eustace were at her heels. Edmund and Peter followed with a bit more reserve – but not much more.
"Lucy? Eustace? What's going on?" A familiar voice reached their ears before they reached the entry hall and Edmund's heart sunk.
"Dad . . ." Lucy's disappointment was evident in her voice.
"Uncle Daniel . . ." Eustace didn't sound any happier.
The moment his sons stepped into the hall Daniel Pevensie locked eyes with them. "Any word on Caspian?" he asked.
"Well . . ." Edmund and Peter spoke in uncertain unison then looked at each other, not sure how to proceed.
"And why are you all soaking wet?" Daniel wanted to know.
"It's a long story," Peter said, dropping his gaze to the ground.
"Yeah," Edmund agreed. He was not looking forward to telling their father all that they had gone through, only to lose Caspian again, and now Susan too.
Suddenly there was another noise on the other side of the door – footsteps on the porch, then the rattle of the old iron knob as the door opened.
"Father!" Susan exclaimed happily at the sight of Daniel. She looked past him, into the room, and smiled as she saw that her other siblings, her cousin, and her friend were there as well. "We're the last ones home, are we?"
"They beat us back?" Caspian asked, stepping inside after her and shutting the door behind him.
"You're all right!" Lucy bounded past her father to hug Susan then Caspian.
"Lucy, you're all wet!" Susan said in a scolding voice, but there was a smile on her face.
"You're injured," Daniel said, immediately zeroing in on the bloodstains on Caspian's shirt.
"He got shot," Eustace said. "Crowley shot him in the cave –"
"Crowley did this?" Daniel's voice took on an edge. "I'll see that bastard hung for this. Where is he?"
"Dead," Caspian told them. "And I'm all right."
"I'll be the judge of that," Daniel said firmly. He looked at the other children and frowned. "Go put on some dry clothes, you lot," he ordered. "Explanations can wait until you're not tempting pneumonia. And after I've patched Caspian up."
"I have something I need to speak with you about, Daniel," Caspian said as Daniel shepherded him into the kitchen.
"Susan, can you help me find something for Jill to wear?" Lucy asked, a bit louder than she needed to.
"Jill's closer to your size than she is to mine," Susan said, looking at her confused.
"I meant, can you help her find something of mine to wear?" Lucy amended. "I need to get my cordial out of my pack."
"I can do that," Susan offered.
"No, no, I buried it quite deep," Lucy said quickly. "It will take you too long to find it."
"Lucy, I don't –"
"She's trying to get you out of the kitchen, Susan," Eustace said with his usual tact. "And it's not as though you don't know why."
"Eustace!" Lucy snapped.
"What?" Eustace asked. "I just saved you a lot of time and excuses. Besides – Ooff!" Eustace gasped as Edmund's elbow made contact with his side.
"Let's go," Peter said, grabbing Eustace by the shoulder and steering him toward the hall.
Edmund stood to the side as Peter, Eustace, Susan, and Jill exited the kitchen. Lucy grinned at him and began digging through her pack to find her cordial.
"Caspian?" Edmund said to get his friend's attention. "Just so you know, the luggage that you took to visit Professor Kirke is up in my room now. Just in case you need something from it." He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he said that.
The corner of Caspian's mouth quirked to one side. "That might be helpful."
Then Edmund went to change clothes – again. He was starting to run out of dry things. He'd just finished pulling on another sweater when there was a knock on his door. "Come in, Caspian," Edmund said with a knowing smile.
Then Caspian entered and Edmund did a double take. The other man's face was pale and drawn and his eyes were wide, almost frantic. Caspian looked worse now, after being healed by Lucy's cure-all potion, than he had when Edmund found him in that cage.
"You should relax, my friend," he said as Caspian went to his trunk and began to sift through his things. "She's going to say yes."
"I hope so," Caspian said. "I don't know what I will do if she says no."
"She won't," Edmund promised. "She loves you. Now hurry up and go ask her."
Caspian found the ring and gave Edmund a short, jerky nod. Edmund walked to his door and stood in the threshold, watching Caspian descend back down the stairs.
Then Lucy bounded out of her room, having changed in what was probably record time for her. "He asked Dad for Susan's hand and Dad gave him permission," Lucy whispered excitedly. "Now all that's left is for Susan to say yes!"
"I say!" Eustace said, appearing from behind Lucy, along with Jill and Peter. "Let's go eavesdrop. Listen in, you know? I'm sure it will be entertaining."
"Really, Eustace." Peter gave him an annoyed look.
"I can't believe you!" Lucy said, looking very affronted herself.
"Did you really think we wouldn't come up with that idea on our own?" Edmund asked.
They gave Eustace half a second to absorb what they'd just said. Then the next few moments were chaos as they all tried to move at once and get in front of each other, hoping to get the best spot for spying.
X
"I . . . I think you probably know what I'm going to ask you," Caspian said, praying that he didn't sound like a fool. Susan opened her mouth to answer but he raised one hand to stop her. "Please. Let me . . . let me say this because . . . I've been thinking about saying these words to you for almost fifty years." Caspian paused, realizing how that sounded. "Not those words, I mean. And I know that makes this all sound very . . . odd, but our circumstances aren't exactly normal."
"I know what you mean," Susan said and gave him an encouraging smile.
Caspian took that as a good sign.
"I love you," he told her. "From the moment I saw you. I have never stopped loving you. Even when I thought that I had lost you forever I couldn't let go of these feelings . . ." He took a deep breath. "I lived a whole other life in Narnia. You did too. We may look like young people in love to everyone else, but we're not. We both know what the worlds have to offer, and I swear to you, from the bottom of my soul, that in all the worlds that exist now and have yet to exist, there is no one that I could ever love more than you. So, I'm begging you, Queen Susan . . ." With those words he went down on one knee before her and held his ring out to her. "Be my wife."
"Yes," Susan said immediately, so quickly that Caspian didn't even have time to feel his nervousness grow. There was no deafening silence as he waited for an answer, no tense moment that let self doubt in. There was just Susan's hand in both of his as he slid the ring onto her finger, and Susan's lips against his when they embraced.
"Finally! I thought he'd never spit it out!"
"Eustace, shut up!"
"I say! You can't honestly tell me you weren't getting impatient while he went on and on and –"
"You're so unromantic, Scrubb! You know this is why you don't have a girlfriend!"
Susan and Caspian reluctantly ended their kiss and looked ruefully at each other, then at the door. "Your new family," Susan said dryly. Then she raised her voice. "You can stop listening at the keyhole, now. We know you're there."
"Way to go, Scrubb."
"You were the loud one!"
The door opened to reveal all of Susan's siblings, Jill, and Eustace, wearing sheepish expressions.
"Sorry," Lucy said, "We just really wanted to hear."
"Nice speech, Caspian," Eustace said, giving him a thumbs up signal. "Very eloquent, if a bit wordy. And by a bit I mean –"
"Eustace," Caspian cut him off with a good natured chuckle.
"Shut up," Susan finished.
There was a knock on the door frame as Daniel appeared in the hallway. He smiled upon seeing Susan and Caspian standing so close together, still holding hands. "So it's official," he said. It was a statement, not a question. "Welcome to the family, son."
"Thanks, Dad," Caspian said with a wry smile.
Daniel turned a stern gaze on his other children and their guests. "Perhaps now that the important question has been asked and answered, we can give Susan and Caspian a bit of privacy."
The others looked sheepish again as they filed out of the room, with a few calls and congratulations as they parted.
Once the door closed behind them, Susan stepped toward Caspian with outstretched arms. Her crystal blue eyes were filled with happiness as they locked onto Caspian's and when he reached for her she was warm and solid and real in his arms. Even though she'd been lost to him for so long they were together again. The beautiful visage of Queen Susan remained in his mind as he closed his eyes and leaned in for another kiss – and he knew that true love was still possible.
End of Chapter 29
