Hello! This is an unfinished piece that I started writing a while back. I've been debating about whether or not to put it on here, but I want to share it. I'll probably leave this as a One-shot unless people want more from it. Lucy is my favorite character, though I'm a sucker for all of the Pevensie siblings. But this one focuses on her. Also, if you're wondering, I'm still updating my story Who I Am, I just felt like sharing this.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think. I'm always trying to be a better writer so feedback is awesome. I hope you enjoy!

~ Scarlett

Everything seemed dark for so long. A warmth enveloped her. It felt foreign. Not that it was a feeling she never knew, but it had been so long since Lucy was warm.

A muffled noise was peeking through the silence with lilting succession. Lucy felt like she should be afraid, like one feels after hearing the ruffling of leaves in a dark forest. But everything was so disoriented, and she felt so weak, that true terror was not able to reach her.

The noise kept going, as if pushing through unknown waves or walls, becoming louder and clearer. Lucy listened longer, strained for distinction, but couldn't make anything out...But something felt different about the noise as time went on. It could have been hours or simply seconds, she couldn't tell. But the noise was familiar – comforting even.

It was a voice and one she knew well.

Clearer and clearer it became until an image peeked through the darkness and snuck into her mind. A boy – a man. A young man with golden hair, blue eyes, and a strong jaw line – features that seemed to define him. Strong, yet kind.

Peter.

Lucy clung to the image of him and listened intently. She thought she heard her name. But then silence. Her heart sank the moment he stopped speaking, but was lifted even higher once another voice came through. Gentle and soft.

Susan.

What a sweet dream. Lucy was in high demand of those recently, yet lacking significantly. She didn't know where the three of them were, so she settled on picturing the river bed. As her brother and sister continued speaking, she saw them all together picnicking by the creek, then wading in the river. Edmund appeared, brown eyes lighting up with the sunlight hitting his tanned face. He splashed Lucy and suddenly a war was on. He may be bigger but this was a game she had much practice at. They were soaking wet before she knew it. As another splash came another image flashed through her mind.

"Lucy! Lucy, where are you?!"

"Ed? Edmund, I'm here – over here!"

Tripping over a root, Lucy felt the burn of tree bark scrapping against her face as she fell down. She pulled herself up, breathing in short burst. The pain on her side was excruciating and her shirt was wet with blood, her throat dry and sore. "Edmund!" She tried to yell but it didn't come out as loud this time.

There was rustling up ahead. She heard dogs barking and running. The distant glow of fires hurried between trees. The wind blew hard, running through her, sending her into a new fit of shakes.

"Edmund?" She called again, much quieter than before.

One burning glow was closer than the rest. More rustling. Heavy footsteps running through grass, leaves, and twigs. She looked up as a dark head came around a tree bend, lit by the torch in his hand.

"Lucy! I'm here!

"Ed?"

"I've got you, Lu."

Another splash to the face was all she needed to bring her back to the riverbed. Edmund was laughing while Peter was pushing Susan in. Lucy felt a soft breeze blow on her face and through her hair. A shiver went down her spine. It continued until she realized it wasn't a breeze at all, but fingers drawing circles on her forehead, soothing and calming.

Lucy sank deep into the motion of the hand alleviating her anxiety. She wanted to be far from the dark woods, the cold, and the blood of the previous memory. Though something about it felt right. Edmund's face in the firelight of his torch crossed her mind in a fleeting second.

But her thoughts were easily returned to the summer day in the water by the hand gently rubbing her forehead, fingers running through her hair. It reminded her of how her mother would help her get through a bad sickness. It was the same thing her big brothers and sister did after many hard-fought battles or nightmares. But it was also a way Illnath tortured her, coaxing her awake many times in an act of remembrance of her family, of safety, only to then slap her or drag her by her hair out of her cell. He used it as his twisted version of soothing her after beatings, talking about her siblings and how much they missed her. His dark smile etched its way into her visions of the riverbed. Suddenly her siblings were gone. She heard Edmund yelling for her again, searching for her.

Lucy!

The river she was standing in knee high ran red. The sky above went black. And suddenly Lucy's eyes shot open as she grabbed the wrist of the hand comforting her.

"Lucy!" Susan yelled but it wasn't out of fear.

Lucy stared at her sister for a moment, faces close, before her head shot around franticly. She was not where she imagined. There was no river or woods, nor was it dark. She was laying on a cot in a bright tent with light filtering through a slight opening in the flap. Peter rushed to her side.

"Lu? Lucy, it's alright, you're safe. You're with us." He reached for her but she pulled back. Peter's hopeful face fell instantly.

"It's alright, it's just us." Susan pleaded and Lucy turned to look at her again. Her grip on Susan's wrist tightened as she dug her fingernails into flesh.

"Lucy, you're hurting me."

She loosened her grip only slightly. Multiple thoughts were running through Lucy's head, yet she was still so confused. Her siblings were there, loving and concerned over her, like in all her happy dreams she had while locked up in Illnath's keep. They were the one thing that kept her sane, that helped her get through the long, cold, painful nights, and the agonizing days. Her siblings were her protection, even without being there.

But it all seemed too good to be true. It felt so real, but it couldn't be. It had to be another of Illnath's illusions. A horrid nightmare disguised as a daydream to make it all the more painful once realized. He had to of known that all she wanted was to be back with her brothers and sister, and even that he felt the need to take away, his cruelty unending. The telltale sign – the loving hand that was only a ploy, used to abuse her.

Lucy tightened her grip on Susan's wrist again. "No," she whispered, "Whatever spell this is end it now!"

"Lu, this isn't a spell, you're safe." Peter's eyes were pained, his voice straining for Lucy to hear the conviction in it.

"Get away from me!" Lucy threw Susan's wrist away and bolted upright on her cot.

"It's us, it's your family!" Susan yelled but it was no use.

"You're not my family!"

"Of course we are. It's me – Peter, and Sus-"

"How dare you! My mind is my one safe place, my only solitude, the only place I can see my family and you invade that too! Can you not grant me this one mercy?"

"Lu..." Peter had tears brimming his eyes while Susan's were already running down her face. "What did he do to you?"

Lucy steeled herself against the back of her cot, heart beating wildly, eyes wet with tears, breathing heavy. When would this nightmare end? It was too good, too kind. She would not allow herself to fall for that again, no matter how much she wanted too.

"Lucy," Edmund, who had been standing in the corner of the tent, was now standing at the end of her cot. She had been so scared, so caught off guard once opening her eyes and having Peter and Susan in her face, that she hadn't noticed him. He stared at her quietly. He seemed much paler than she remembered him being. So different than the boy at the riverbed.

His shoulders were sagging, fighting against his usually straight posture, and his eyes were bloodshot. He knelt on one knee, becoming eye level with her and spoke again once he knew he had her attention.

"Lucy, do you remember last night? The forest?" The image of him illuminated by the torch flashed once more in her mind. Was it real?

Edmund saw a quick flash of recognition flick across her face. He slowly continued speaking. "I carried you back to camp, Lu. I wrapped you in my cloak and stopped the bleeding on your side."

Lucy reached her hand down to touch her side. She remembered the blood seeping through her shirt. The wetness. But now, it was dry. Looking down she found she was wearing a clean shirt and could feel a bandage wrapped around her. All at once other memories flooded before her eyes.

"Just hold on Lu, I'm going to get you help. We'll have you cleaned up in no time. Then you'll be off to...to tea parties with the fauns and dances with the nymphs and whatever else you'd like. But you have to hold on, Lucy. If you can do that, then, then – Peter and Susan are going to give you endless amounts of doting and you can eat as many of my chocolates as you want."

...

"Edmund, get it off, get it off me! Please!

...

"Lucy, you have to trust me. Do you trust me? I'm going to get this thing off your wrist. I promise."

…

"Lucy, stay awake! Please stay awake!"

Everything from the night before bombarded her, hitting Lucy like a punch to the gut. She glanced down at the metal cuff still shackled around her wrist. It made her shiver. "Edmund, what did I ask you to do, what did you promise me?"

Peter and Susan looked to their younger brother, but Edmund's eyes never left Lucy. "Do you trust me, Lu?"

"Yes." Lucy answered quick and sternly, still testing her brothers answer.

Edmund reached out towards her. Lucy hesitated for a moment. Edmund stilled when she did. He was waiting on her, giving her the time she needed. When she didn't move, he continued to reach out and put her hand in his, his thumb grazing the cuff.

"I promised to get that shackle off your wrist. And I will. I've already had people try. It's bound by magic, a spell that Illnath put on it. We've been put a reversal spell on it, hoping to counteract it so he at least can't track you by it. But the council are searching every spell book, all the old records of magic, anything and everything we can think of to remove it completely. They're translating an old spell as we speak that we believe will work. There has to be a way to get it off, and we will find it. I promise you. You just have to trust me."

Edmund said exactly what he said last night. Giving the same promises, asking for the same trust, all said with the same conviction that he would in fact remove the cuff. Lucy knew she got out of that keep the night before. She knew she found Edmund. What she didn't know was how far she got or if Illnath had caught up. He could have and this could all be another spell to play tricks on her mind by making her hopeful as punishment for escaping. But something about it felt right, it felt real. More real than any dream she had or vision Illnath ever induced. Her siblings found her. She was with her family and her people. She had to be, right? Aslan, what is the truth?

The four sat in silence for a few heavy breaths as Lucy stared hard. Then it hit her.

Lucy reached forward towards Edmund haphazardly. Nearly slapping him as she pushed his cheek to the side, her fingers found the small, unnoticeable nick behind his left ear from a long past sword fight. Illnath wouldn't have known about it, and there is no way an illusion would fabricate such detail. Being this close to him she felt the heat radiate off his body, another detail always missing from her dreams. This was real. This was truth. Thank Aslan.

Lucy's tears finally broke through and poured down her cheeks. "You're real. You're all real." She shot forward, wrapping her arms around Edmund, clinging to her brother with every ounce of strength she had left. Peter and Susan followed suit, enveloping her in the safety and love she felt was lost for so long. The warmth she had felt in the darkness continued to spread, like it had her first time in Narnia, as the White Witch was losing power and Aslan was on the move. Illnath had not won and he wasn't going to.