- Chapter 34 -

Lucy floated in and out of consciousness.

At one point, she swore she saw Peter sitting in a chair next to her bed, gently brushing her hair off her face with his fingers. He sobbed profusely and buried his face in the mattress she was laying on. He left when someone called his name from outside the door.

The next time, she saw Avaline sitting in the chair. She held Lucy's cold hand and let Adela attempt to give her a hug.

After this, she saw Susan sitting at her bedside with Caspian standing close behind her. His hands rubbed her shoulders. She couldn't hear what Susan was saying, but she had tears streaming down her face. It was a weird thing for Lucy to see. In all of her sixteen years, she had never seen Susan cry.

Then came the craziest memory. She woke to find a young man leaning over her. He grabbed her fragile hand and held it in both of his for a few seconds. The faintest smile slid across her lips as his thumb stroked the back of her hand once. Then he let go. Before he left, he leaned in to kiss her forehead.

All of this was imaginary, of course, or so Lucy convinced herself. Peter and Susan were gone, Caspian was fighting in the war, Avaline was back in Durham, and Lucy didn't know any young men who would do what that man did.

Her last memory was a nurse stabbing her left shoulder with a needle. Moments later, drowsiness overcame her.

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"Lucy," someone said. Her eyes began to flutter open.

She blinked several times. Her eyelids felt heavier than they had ever felt, and she couldn't feel any part of her body. When her eyes finally opened, the first thing she saw was the young man from her dream sitting beside her.

He sighed. "Lucy."

"Camden," she breathed.

"You're okay," he whispered in disbelief.

"Yeah," she said with a chuckle. Her voice was still breathy and light. "And you are, too."

He laughed. To Lucy's surprise, he leaned forward and stroked a hand across his cheek. Without realizing it, her hand flew up to touch his. They locked eyes and held each other's gaze. Camden was the first to let his eyes drop, and with it, his hand. It hung awkwardly by his side.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his knees. "I shouldn't have done that."

"No, don't be. I-"

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. They both looked in the direction of the noise.

"That must be your brother," Camden said. "He's been dying to see you."

"My brother-?"

Before she could finish her sentence, Camden had left the room and Peter had entered.

A relieved smile brightened the High King's tired features. "Hey, Lu."

"Peter!"

He quickly made his way to her bedside and hugged her. Lucy pulled away.

"Have you seen the twins yet?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes," he answered. "I haven't been happier in my whole life."

"Oh, do tell me what you thought!"

He was smiling hugely. "Well, they're certainly the two cutest babies I've ever laid eyes on. I can't even explain the joy I felt when I looked at them... Lu, I'm a father now."

"I know, isn't it crazy?"

There was a moment of silence in which Lucy examined her brother. He didn't look old enough to be a father. He looked the same as he always had. Inside, he was the same young, confused, love-hungry teenage boy as he was the first time they came to Narnia. Except he wasn't as confused and he had found love, and he was no longer a teenager.

Lucy could barely remember a time when she had parents. She couldn't recall the names of her parents, or what they looked like. Peter and Susan had been her parents for the past ten years of her life, and now Peter had children of his own. She could only hope that these new additions to his family wouldn't put off their relationship.

"Peter, do you ever wonder what mum and dad were like?"

He raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Like, do you remember them?"

His face twisted, a look that Peter always gave when he was deep in thought. "You know, I actually can't."

"Oh."

There was a period of silence, followed by Peter suggesting that he go find Susan. He offered to get her to come visit for a few minutes. Lucy agreed, and he left.

Moments later, Susan entered the room.

"Lu, I'm so glad you're alright," she said as she sat down.

Lucy smiled. She had missed her sister's purity and perfection. As time passed, she envied her sister's beauty more and more. But that was no reason to not love her still.

"I'm glad you're alright," Lucy chuckled. "You have to tell me what happened."

"I'm sure you'll get a full explanation very soon, Lucy. You have to be patient. But how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling well. There's a little pain when I move, breathe, talk... the usual."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Leave it to you to make the best of the worst times. You and Ed really have it cooked up, don't you?"

"What's wrong with Edmund? Why haven't I seen him yet?"

Her eyes fogged. "He was injured pretty badly, but he's fine. He's the same sarcastic Debbie downer he's always been."

"Good."

They were quiet. Susan seemed to suddenly remember something and stood up quickly.

"I have to go now, but I'll see you soon. Bye, Lu."

And she was gone, too.

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A week later, Lucy had been nursed back to health. She was told that she would most likely have the scar on her shoulder for the rest of her life. But they said she should be thankful it wasn't worse. The sword had cut down to the bone, and had Camden not found her, she would've died. She was mere seconds from bleeding out when the nurses got to her with the cordial.

Edmund had been taken care of, too. The nurses had also used the cordial on him and within a day, he was looking less sickly and more like himself.

No one really understood what had happened over the time that the Pevensies had been gone. So after dinner on the first night that everyone ate together, the three of them explained everything.

Everyone sat in a circle in the library at Cair Paravel, either on the floor, on the couches, or in the armchairs. Edmund squeezed in a chair together, Avaline on his lap. Since they reunited, they couldn't get enough of each other. Adela crawled all over the place but was sure to stay in the sights of Susan, who sat on the floor not too far from Caspian. On the couch sat Analiese and Peter, the latter of which held both of the twins. Lucy sat with her legs crossed on the floor. Camden sat next to her.

When everyone was settled, all ears were on the three eldest royals. The tale began with Peter's run-in with the Tisroc's guards in Tashbaan.

"Well, you know the entire story. Like I said, they wouldn't let me in to see the Tisroc and no one knew who I was. So I went back to the ship and we sailed back toward Narnia."

Then, Edmund stepped in.

"Back on the ship, it was super dark and stormy. Caspian and I were sharing a room, as I'm sure he's told you. After dinner, I told him that I'd be in the room in a few minutes and I was going to check for letters. Not two minutes after searching for Twinklewing, I noticed several shipmates rushing around.

"I stopped one of them and asked what the problem was. He refused to tell me! Well, being the big boy I am, I chose to order him to tell me. He obeyed and I learned that there were holes in the bottom of the ship. We were sinking.

"I began to panic. Of course Narnians don't carry life vests on their ships. I ran off to everyone. Surprise, surprise, we were also under attack. There was this big man and he had a sword and had Peter and Susan corner so-"

Susan interrupted. "Smarty pants over here decided to jump in front of Pete and I to 'save us.' All he did was get a huge gash in his left leg, a knife through his stomach, and a bruised face."

"Can I talk now?" Edmund asked with a hint of annoyance. Susan rolled her eyes and waved him on. "Thank you. As I was saying, I totally slashed that guy to pieces. He was deader than dead. Funny thing is, I almost was, too."

Susan started again. "We were standing there surveying Edmund's wounds when suddenly, we weren't on the ship anymore. Aslan only knows what kind of magic took us to that cave, but in a matter of seconds we had vanished. We've spent the past week trying to heal Edmund and figuring out where we were. I'm still not entirely sure."

Peter spoke up. "On the day of your confrontation with the Calormenes, I had told Susan to watch Edmund. I was just planning to explore around us to get a clear view of where we were, but when I caught view of the battle, I couldn't just leave everyone there to fight without me. So I joined in."

Lucy raised her hand as if she were in a classroom. "Forgive me for asking, but nobody ever told me the results of the battle."

Peter grinned. "We won, of course. I would expect nothing less."

Camden sat up straighter. "But we haven't found the source of the magic that transported them to that cave. There are still dark creatures living among us. My men are gathering information as we speak. Lucy, you never did tell me how you escaped the castle."

Lucy looked down. To say she was ashamed would be an understatement. "I pretended I was going to take a nap in my room at the castle, but I was actually escaping. All of the guards were too busy at the doors to be guarding the bedrooms, so no one saw me drop out my window."

"Why did you leave at all?" Avaline asked.

"We were worried sick!" Analiese added.

Lucy blushed a deep red and glanced at Camden. "I had to make sure a friend of mine was okay."

He reached over to ruffle her hair a little. "Next time, worry more about yourself. After all, I'm perfectly fine! You're the one with the stabbed shoulder!"

Everyone laughed.

Analiese clapped her hands twice and stood up. "Now that that's done with, I have an announcement. The official coronation ceremony for the twins will be in two days!"

Everyone began chatting excitedly about the ceremony. They discussed what they were going to wear, who would be invited inside the palace to see the ceremony exclusively, whether it would take place indoors or outdoors...

The broken pieces of what was once Cair Paravel were falling back into place. One puzzle piece at a time.

A/N: I really loved that chapter, and I hope you all did too. You've finally gotten your full explanation on what happened the night on the ship with the Pevensies. Hopefully this chapter gave all you Lucy/Camden shippers a little hope ;) I'm so excited to begin writing more of them soon. The next chapter will probably be the epilogue, followed by my final author's note. As always, please review. It means the world to me! Oh, and I apologize for the last few chapters being on the short side. The next chapter will be much longer.