Where the Sidewalk Ends

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Kristen, my very own, customize as you wish character.

Chapter Eleven: Trouble in Paradise

((Wow Ialmost got 10 reviews on chapter 10! Was it really that good? Hmm...well thanks for everyone who's reviewed! I'm off for the next 3 days so expect at least one chapter each day! I'm a loser with nothing else to do :P! Thanks again))

As the sun finally rose on Narnia, rays of sun began to pour through the openings of the forest canopy. She had already ventured about 5 miles inland since she left and her breathing was slowly getting faster. Reality was finally starting to sink in and all of her surroundings were making her head start to swirl. She was in the middle of an enchanted forest, alone, wandering around with no idea where she was headed. She tried to take deep breaths but they always came out short and quick, as if she was gasping. She sat down at the base of a huge oak tree and closed her eyes shut, forgetting what was around her and what she was doing. After a few minutes her breathing became normal again and her heart beat returned to its regular schedule. Her throat was dry and scratchy so she pulled off her backpack and took a small sip of water, a ration plan of food in her head saying that she could only have 3 sips a day to make it last at least a week. As she returned to her normal self she stood up and looked around, a huge beam of sunlight falling down through the trees onto her. She squinted and shielded her eyes as she looked up, a sound of a snapping twig causing her head to crack back into place. Her eyes flickered from place to place as her heart started up again? Was it Baldur? Had they found her already? She started to panic as she realized she was so close to the palace but after a few seconds a brown and white fluffy rabbit scurried out from one of the trees and across the forest floor. Her breathing eased.

"Get a hold of yourself Kristen" she murmured as she threw her backpack back onto her shoulders and looked around. The clearest path was heading west to she took it, following a path of bumps and little sprouting plans. Everything was going well until mid-day, when the sun started to heat the floor of the forest. It was humid and stuffy and she was finding it hard to breathe. Yet she continued on, taking off her sweater and tying it around her waist. Her feet hiked onwards and by the end of the day, when the sun was setting over the horizon, she had already gone over 20 miles in where the forest became denser and thicker. As night set into the forest, everything grew dark and Kristen found a spot at the base of a tall pine tree where she could sleep and also be hidden by its long branches. At first, every sound the forest made snapped her to attention, but after a while, she fell under sleep's spell and her eyes drooped shut, taking one last look at her surroundings with her.

"SHE'S GONE?" Susan yelled shrilly. He had waited until dinner time to tell them the news of her disappearance. And they all reacted the ways he knew they would.

"She left a few hours before sunrise" he replied bitterly. Inside he was still kicking himself for trusting her. He should have recognized her courage. He should have recognized her strength. But instead once again he let himself be conned by a girl. This whole Lets-Lie-To-Peter thing was becoming a rather nasty habit.

"You left her alone? After she said she'd do it anyways?" Edmund spat at his older brother. Lucy's childish face was splattered by her tears as she read the letter Kristen had left for her. They had spent almost no time together, but the bond they had created during that time was indestructible. Kristen had basically become another sister to all of them.

Peter drew his eyes off the floor and onto his younger brothers, who was staring at him hatefully. He narrowed his eyes and stood up, going over to Edmund.

"I trusted her. She gave me her word and she left anyways" he whispered furiously at the younger King. Edmund shot Peter one last hateful glare before getting off the bed and staring out the window into the forest. The sun set hours ago and darkness was sweeping over the forest like a paint brush.

"I can't believe this...does Aslan know?" Susan said as her head spun with What If's. What if Kristen died? What if Kristen betrayed them and helped Baldur capture them?

Peter nodded slowly as he slumped down in a chair. Right after he noticed she was gone, he had ran as fast as he could down 4 flights of stairs, where Aslan was sitting in the Great Hall waiting for him. Peter explained the situation to the lion when finally Aslan interrupted him.

"I know" the great cat replied simply. Peter closed his mouth shut and slowly started up stairs, where he got the letters and brought them to his siblings, bringing him to where he was now.

"Look there's nothing we can do now. We can't go after her because she'd be to far inland and we wouldn't know where to look. I've ordered the troops to stand down. We just have to wait and hope for the best" Peter replied diplomatically to his siblings.

They all turned to look at him in shock and disgust. Lucy glared at him. Susan sighed and shook her head. Edmund looked ready to kill.

"So we're just going to let her die?" he said to his brother piercingly. His voice echoed throughout the silent room as he gained a new found fury. There was no way he was going to let Kristen die in the forest.

"Who said she was going to die?" Peter replied half-heartedly. Unlike Kristen, they all knew the secrets the Western Wood carried. There were dangers, animals, and things in there to fearful to even imagined. Very few people had ever dared to venture into it alone before. And anyone who decided to tempt that fate, never came out alive.

"Your such an idiot!" Lucy interrupted as she ran over to her brother and smacked him in the face. She wasn't strong, but she still shocked him as she brought her hand down. She couldn't believe that she'd been so forceful, but at least someone had done it. As Peter recovered from his moment of shock he looked at his younger sister with shame. She was 100, completely and utterly right. He was an idiot for ever letting Kristen out of his sight. He was an idiot for trusting a girl he barely knew. He was an idiot. A huge, fat, stinking idiot.

"Look I'm sorry Lucy. If I could find her I would. But it would take a thousand armies to find her. You know how big the forest is. She could be anywhere" he said calmly to his littlest sister as he brushed some of her stray tears away. She jerked her head out of his grasp and walked backwards, glaring at him. She ran towards the door, threw it open and was about to leave when words came to her. Stopping, she turned to Peter and looked at him.

"What happened to you? Where did my Pete go?" she asked him softly. Her blue eyes seemed to fill with sadness as she ran out of the room, Susan letting out another sigh as she hopped off the bed and ran after her little sister. She threw a sympathetic glance at Peter before leaving the room alone, with the 2 Pevensie males inside of it.

"You know if she were Isabel you'd be searching by now already" Edmund said accusingly as his face continued to point out the window. He couldn't bear looking at his older brother. He was in disbelief that they were going to let a Queen of Narnia die in the forest.

Peter opened his mouth to retort, but when no words formed he shut it. Could Edmund be right? If Isabel had taken off the way Kristen had, would he have reacted the same way? Was he, the high King of Narnia really that vain? He realized his answer and felt like a coward immediately after he thought about things. He took a breath and said his answer spitefully, hating himself for being this way.

"I know"

"He's wrong and you know it Susan!" Lucy squeaked as her older sister entered her bedroom. Lucy was sitting huffily on her bed, legs and arms crossed. Her face was rumpled in a scowl and her eyes were trained on the door, daring for someone to enter so that she could challenge them. She got her chance as Susan game in and shut the door behind her.

"I know Lu but he's High King...we can't overrule him" the older sister replied as she walked over to the little one and comforted her. She stroked the girl's short brown hair as her blue eyes gazed out the window. She hated the fact that Peter had already told the army to stand down, because if it was up to her they would have been searching all day. Family ties is what kept them together ever since they'd stumbled into Narnia. She hated that those values were going to just go out the window because Aslan didn't want to waste an army.

"Do you think Peter even cares?" Lucy whimpered as she shook. Kristen had become a big sister to Lucy and the thought of someone so important coming into and going out of her life so quickly was unbearable for her. She loved Kristen, no matter how short of a time she had gotten to know her. Could her older brother, the person who her mother ordered to keep the safe at the beginning of the war be so heartless and cold? Could he really sacrifice a life, a royal life, just because someone told him he had to? Since when did he ever listen to the rules?

Susan sighed for the third time in 10 minutes. She was torn inside. She wanted to find Kristen by any means necessary. But she could also understand where the diplomatic Peter was coming from.

"Lately he hasn't been himself. He's no longer Peter Pevensie...He's High King Peter the Magnificent now" Susan replied as she brushed her little sister's tears away. Lucy sniffled and sneezed as she let herself be hugged by her older sister.

"Aren't they the same person?" Lucy asked, her mind a bit confused at Susan's analogy. The elder Queen scoffed and laugh and smiled at Lucy's childish innocence.

"I wish they were Lu. I wish they were"

((Author's Note- I'm sick of tired of the Peter in these Narnia OC fanfics always being perfect. People aren't like that! So I gave him a flaw- he's a sucker for the pretty ones. This is A REALLY boring chapter, I know. But I'm off the next 3 days so expect some big things! Review it EVERYONE!))