Where the Sidewalk Ends

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

Chapter Thirteen: Realization and Traumatization

((I know I know ducks random objects) I haven't updated in a few days. But I'm suffering from severe writer's block. Hope this chapter is good! Review it and read it! THANKS AGAIN!))

The sun rose on the day and the temperature in the forest began to rise again. Yet she trekked onwards like she had done yesterday, ignoring all the symptoms of dehydration and hunger. Her skin was badly sunburned from the rays of light trickling through the canopy that managed to always hit her shouldesr and her face was shiny with sweat. Things were growing dire. Kristen was growing dire.

I'm a fool for ever thinking this could work. Peter was right. I should have never left, she said in her mind as she tripped over a large tree root. She fell forward, smacking the dry, hard earth with a new found deliverance. The side of her face hit the mossy ground earth while her stomach hit a sharp rock and instantly she knew that she was bleeding. Groaning, she rolled over and examined the wound and threw her head back in disgust at the sight of her blood mixed with dirt and leaves that was dripping all around her. But she managed to get a good sight of the wound and pulled out her travel sized safety kit her mother always made her carry around. Her stomach was gushing blood and she began to feel light headed, the blood wound infront of her started to swirl and the trees began dancing. She opened and closed her eyes a few times and on her 4th try, her eyes didn't open.

Someone get this girl a doctor, stat.

"And then I kicked him in the groin and he said I'd never see the light of day again" Peter finished telling Aslan, who was pacing around Peter. Aslan had been called by Susan soon after Peter's yelping awakening. Peter had regurgitate his dream to the lion, waiting to see if the cat could morph his vision into something.

The lion continued pacing, back and forth around Peter, his tail swishing. He finally stopped and sat down, looking at Peter with attentive eyes.

"What does it mean? Does it mean...is my dream a glimpse of what she's going through?" the eldest King asked, his eyes pleading with emotion. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he knew Kristen was suffering. He had the choice to go after her before, but turned it down because it was the diplomatic thing to do. A King of Narnia wouldn't send his army out to look for one person. But Peter Pevensie would have.

"Peter do not be alarmed. She's fine and safe, but what you saw in your dream is what will become of her" Aslan said structurally, his tone one pitch and solid. The lion blinked a few times as Peter absorbed the information. He flopped down in a chair and hung his head low, his eyes blinking over and over. So what he saw was true. What he saw was going to happen. Kristen was going to suffer in the most brutal way because he was too demented to go after her in the first place.

"Peter this is not your fault" Aslan instructed him, the animal clearly acknowledging Peter's deteration at the news. What he had said was true; Kristen was going to suffer as Peter had foreseen in his dream. But what Kristen was about to go through was not all the King's work. It was Kristen's decision to leave even after instructed not to that would be the main cause of her soon to be suffering.

"How...how can you say that Aslan! I chose not to go, I did. I chose not to find her! She'd going to suffer because...because" Peter said, his voice loud but breaking at the end of the sentence. It was all on his shoulders, no matter how anyone spun it.

"Peter. What you're feeling right now, the guilt, it's not because you didn't go after her. It's because you realize that she will be suffering and there is nothing you can do about it. You'd feel the same way if what was happening was happening to Susan, Edmund or Lucy" Aslan explained as he walked over to Peter and put a paw on the King's shoulder. Peter huffed a furious breath out and gave Aslan a quizzical look.

"But if it was Edmund, Lucy or Susan I would have done everything and anything to help them and stop the suffering" Peter said as he looked out the window. He yearned to see Kristen's face again. He wanted to look into her eyes and know that she was safe. He wanted to hold her in his arms until he knew she'd never leave again. Yet his head and his heart were in a war. I love Isabel. I love her hair, her eyes, her body. But Kristen...Kristen is different. She's smart, friendly, caring...amazing, he thought to himself. He hated that he only loved Isabel because she was pretty. He searched and searched for something else he loved about her, but the only things he could come up with were her attractive features. Then he thought about Kristen, and immediately he was filled with a sense of wonder. She amazed him. She was smart, understanding, caring, delightful, optimistic, and courageous. He was everything he wanted in a girl. Just not in the package he wanted her in, or was she?

Aslan shook his head at him. Could he really be so oblivious? Could the supposed High King of Narnia be so naive?

"Peter, Kristen has deep feelings for you. And not the kind that you think" Aslan told him, walking as well as a lion could walk out of his bedroom. Peter was left in thought at this new information. So if Kristen has feelings for me, why would she leave? If she loved me and I told her to stay, she would have done as asked, right? If she loves me, then why would she give me advice on how to get back with Isabel if all she would want is for me to break things off with Isabel and run to her? He said in his brain.

Then it hit him like a sack of bricks. Kristen wasn't going to let her feelings protrude on what she knew was right. She wasn't going to let the guy she cared about tell her what to do. She wasn't the type of girl to break someone up either. It wasn't her style. She was the type of girl that would do anything to see the other person happy, even if it meant her own misery. She was the type of girl that Peter loved and wanted. And now he found one.

Took him long enough, don't you think?

"Where was she?"

"Lying at the base of a tree Sir. Badly injured I might add"

A man stood over a sleeping Kristen, who was wrapped up in bandages and neatly tucked into a comfy bed that was in a cozy little tent. His greasy black hair hung infront of his face as he bent down to get a better look at the human. His beady little eyes bore intently into her as she remained undisturbed, even with the man looking her over. He took his hand and brushed some of her hair out of her face. She gently shifted in her sleep before retaking her position on her back, her head lying to the left of her. He brushed her cheek with his rough hand and she shifted again, her head now lying to the right of her.

"She's beautiful" the man murmured as he got up and met his advisor at the entrance of the tent. He took a last look at her before walking out. He found her beautiful, maybe because she had been the only human he'd seen in years or maybe because at the present moment she had looked innocent and vulnerable. Her innocence had drawn him in. She might not have been the most amazing looking creature, but she was Baldur's type. ((Thanks Mis.Mira for the question…juss to clarify things, Baldur finds her beautiful because he likes then strong and Peter doesn't like her beauty because he likes the girl ones!))

They left her alone and walked into the large, green clearing that was full of tents identical to the one they had just been in. Fawns, oxen, and every other race imaginable littered the grass, all of them attired in armour and weapons. They were 10 000 at the least.

"Alert the guards. Have them on the look out for the Narnia army. They will be wanting their Queen back" the man said to his guard.

"Aye, Baldur sir" the advisor, who was a fawn, said as he scampered off. Baldur turned and took a last look at Kristen's tent. He now had a bargaining chip. He had figured out Kristen's entire plan in a matter of seconds. She would probably manage to stumble innocently across the camp, claim she has no idea where she was, then grow close to him. On the eve of the attack she'd flee, Peter and the rest of the annoying Narnian Army would come in on horses and destroy him. The whole plan was touching, it really was, but Baldur was smarter then that. And now he had his own plan.

He'd pretend that he wouldn't know who she was and on the eve of the attack, he'd kidnap her and torture her until she confessed that she was a Queen and told him her whole plan. Then, he'd kill her. He'd kill her in cold, hard blood. And the Pevensies would finally get what they deserved.

((Author's Note: I really am sorry that this chapter took so long. I really am! Next chapter will be longer and more interesting, promise. Thanks for waiting patiently you guys! IT means a lot. This one is for all of you:P ))