THE GENTLE
Disclaimer: I don't own the Pevensie's but if I did I would make them bake cookies and sing opera.
Authors Note: I would like to explain why I'm writing this story. I know there are many Susan stories out there but they are always about the aftermath of The Last Battle, which Susan was treated very unfairly in (she is also my favourite character too!), so I decided to write Susan's story during the evacuation, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, sometime during the Golden Age and a little bit afterwards. Susan has always been one of my favourite child hood characters, I thought she was perfect (I was five for the record) beautiful, kind and a Queen! I have always wanted to write about her adventure and how she became Queen Susan: The Gentle. I want to keep Susan in character as much as I can and I hope for those who are as fond of Susan as I' am, see that I have tried my hardest of keeping Susan and everyone else in character. Once again thank-you to everyone who reviewed, alerted and favourited and even merely read it, you all rock! Also thanks to Muriel Candytuft for the advice, your awesome!
Episode Four: Lies Can Be Hurtful.
The rest of the day Susan tried her hardest to make her siblings speak to one another but they simply refused, she had tried by taking them all into the parlor but they all sat at opposite ends of the room, with Susan in the middle.
She had than tried at dinner but it ended up with just her and the Professor being the only ones left eating, he had asked Susan what had happened but Susan felt she shouldn't be the one to tell him, anyway he wouldn't believe her, he was an adult, they didn't believe in silly things.
Later that night Susan found herself lying next to Lucy in bed, turned away from her, she hadn't spoken two words since Susan had last spoken to her, she felt her heart going out to her baby sister but that didn't mean she was going to believe her.
"Goodnight Lucy." Susan muttered as she laid down into the comfortable bed, Lucy didn't reply and Susan assumed that she had fallen asleep 'or maybe she is waiting for me to sleep and than she will go to that silly wardrobe!' she thought sighing and shutting her eyes.
A few hours later, Susan woke up with a start, something wasn't right, she turned to see if Lucy was alright but found the space next to her uninhabited, she looked around anxiously and found that Lucy's dressing gown was missing, she threw the covers off and hurriedly gathered her dressing gown and walked into the boys room to wake up Peter, instead she found Lucy standing over Peter smiling brightly, Edmund standing gloomily in front of his bed.
"Peter! Susan! It's all true. Edmund seen it too. There is a country you can get to through the wardrobe. Edmund and I both got in. We met one another in there, in the wood. Go on, Edmund; tell them all about it!" Lucy said eagerly and Susan sighed and turned her attention to Edmund as did Peter.
"Tell us Ed." Susan urged, waiting for him to tell her and Peter if he had in fact been to this magical land.
Peter and Susan watched as Edmund got a look on his face as if her were far older and more superior than Lucy and than gave a little snigger before speaking "Oh, yes Lucy and I have been playing- pretending that all her story about a country in the wardrobe is true. Just for fun, of course. There's nothing really there, really."
Susan watched helplessly as Lucy's face scrunched and she let out one single sob before running out of the room, Susan sighed angrily and followed her, as did Peter, throwing off the covers.
Susan and Peter stopped abruptly in the hallway door as they saw Lucy hugging the Professor tightly and he looked not quite sure what to do, Susan went to say something before she heard a horrid voice stop her.
"You children are one shenanigan shy of sleeping in the stable! Professor. I'm sorry. I told them you were not to be disturbed!" she said as she saw the Professor standing there, looking at her, a little overwhelmed, Susan glanced at Peter angrily before turning back and looking at the Professor, anticipating his next move, what if he did make them sleep in the stable? That would be dreadful.
"It's quite alright, Mrs. Macready. I'm sure there's an explanation. But first of all, I think this one is in need of a little hot chocolate." He said as Lucy looked up at frightened and Susan couldn't help but smile, finally a sensible adult to speak to about this silly matter.
"Yes Professor. Come along, dear." The Macready before slowly leading Lucy towards the kitchen, Lucy still seemed a little frightened but agreed none the less, Susan was tempted to follow her, but instead turned to go back to bed, both she and Peter turned around as they heard the Professor ahem, Susan couldn't help but feel the dread enter her.
"Would you follow me to my study?" he asked, Susan exchanged glances with Peter who nodded, she nodded too and followed the Professor quietly to his study.
Both she and Peter watched anxiously as they watched the Professor sit down in his chair and fill his pipe with tobacco from a silver apple case, after placing the pipe in his mouth he stared up at both Susan and Peter.
"You seemed to have upset the delicate internal balance of my housekeeper." he said simply, Susan wasn't sure what to say to this, she didn't know wether to explain the whole story or simply say she was sorry and leave the room, what would her mother do?
"We're very sorry Sir, it won't happen again." Peter said plainly before grabbing Susan's dressing gown sleeve, trying to pull her away but Susan felt all her emotions overwhelming her 'I have to tell him!'.
"It's our sister Sir, Lucy." Susan said slowly, trying to find the right words to say and not make it sound to foolish or silly.
"The weeping girl."
"Yes, Sir. She's upset."
"Hence the weeping."
"It's nothing. We can handle it!" Peter said exchanging a desperate glance with Susan but she ignored it and turned back to the Professor.
"Oh I can see that."
"She think she's found a magical land," Susan began as the Professor smiled lightly at her "in the upstairs wardrobe!" she finished exasperated. The Professor's expression suddenly changed and he looked up at Susan and Peter shocked, he got out of his chair.
"What did you say?" he asked as he led Susan and Peter over to the lush red sofa, placing them both down, he sat down across from them and Susan couldn't help but wonder why his attitude had suddenly changed.
"Um, the wardrobe, upstairs. Lucy thinks she's found a forest inside." Peter sighed and Susan stared down embarrassed, the Professor no doubt thought they were all daft to be telling him such things.
"She won't stop going on about it!" Susan added, the words slipping out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
"What was it like?"
"Like talking to a lunatic!"
"No, no, no, not her. The Forest." The Professor said excitedly, Susan exchanged a shocked glance with Peter 'he believes her!' Susan thought confused, surely adults weren't allowed to think in such foolish things, likes forests inside wardrobes.
"Your not saying you believer her?" Peter spoke boldly.
"You don't?"
"But of course not! I mean logically, it's impossible!" Susan said, trying to sound as grown up as she could muster.
"What do they teach in schools these days?"
"Edmund said they were only pretending." Peter said slowly exchanging yet another glance with Susan who felt to lost for words.
"And he's more usually the more truthful one, is he?" The Professor asked, wide eyed.
"No. This would be the first time." Peter spoke truthfully and Susan couldn't help but silently agree, Lucy had always been a very truthful child, she hated lying. Where as Edmund seem to do it just for the sheer enjoyment.
"Well, if she's not mad and she's not lying, than logically we must assume she's telling the truth."
"Are you saying we should just believe her?"
"She's your sister, isn't she? You're her family! You might just try acting like one!" He said, Susan exchanged a nervous glance with Peter. What if Lucy had been speaking the truth? But it wasn't logical, a magical land in a mere wardrobe? It wasn't possible, how could Susan believe something so foolish?
"I suggest you two get some sleep, you both look like you need it!" he said standing up, closely followed by Susan and Peter, Susan still felt somewhat bewildered and confused, why did the Professor believe Lucy, when she couldn't?
"He's daft he is. How can he believe Lucy?" Peter whispered as they reached the hallway leading into both their rooms. Susan just stared nervously about, trying hard not to scream out in frustration.
"He does seem a little…. Off." Susan agreed and Peter sighed. Susan knew Peter was furious at Edmund for getting poor Lucy's hopes up like that.
"He's a little beast he is! Doing that to poor Lu, she was already upset! I'm tempted to write to mother!" He snapped angrily and Susan placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"Mother would be very upset, we mustn't tell her. I think we should both get seem sleep and discuss it in the morning when we are both fresh and our heads are much clearer." She said. Peter nodded and smiled thankfully at her both turning around and walking into his room, shutting the door quietly, leaving Susan alone in the hallway.
She walked back into the room and saw that Lucy had not yet returned from the kitchen. Susan slowly pulled her dressing gown off and placed it back at the end of the bed where it had been before, she yawned tiredly. Her drowsiness was finally starting to catch up with her; She fell asleep before Lucy crawled back into bed.
The next day Susan found herself sitting alone, outside. The rest of her siblings sulking inside. Peter was reading in one of the parlors, Edmund was staring at the photo of their father in his and Peter's room and Lucy was reading in the girls room.
Susan had tried to get all of them to come outside with her but they had all refused, all saying they didn't feel like it, eventually she had given up and ventured outside herself. She was sick of being stuck inside that house, it didn't seem as inviting as it first had, it seemed to make every problem Susan and her family had worst and that blasted wardrobe, Susan had half a mind to burn it to the ground.
She had searched for many minutes before she found a peaceful spot beneath a tree, she could hear the rushing water of a stream, she had been tempted to go swimming but decided it wouldn't be any fun without her siblings there with her.
"It's just you and me little bird." she mumbled as she watched a beautiful bird sit in the tree and whistling lightly. She wasn't sure what sort of bird it was, for birds were something she had never really fancied before, she liked them of course, but she didn't like them enough to know the names of them.
"Su," Susan heard a familiar voice say suddenly, she turned around and saw Peter walking towards her "I've been looking for you everywhere, why are you out here alone? It may not be safe." Peter admonished and Susan rolled her eyes, that was very much like Peter, telling her it wasn't safe when it was.
"I thought you didn't want to come out." She said as Peter sat down next to her. He shrugged 'maybe he wanted to keep me company' Susan thought as Peter watched the bird, as it flew away from the two of them.
"I thought you might have wanted the company, you seemed rather desperate when you asked me before, where is Lu? I thought she would have jumped at the chance to go outdoors!"
"She didn't feel like it, she was to still upset about last night. This magical wardrobe nonsense is really becoming quite a bother." Susan spoke with a small sigh in her voice, Peter nodded and took a deep breath, the two older siblings not sure what to say to one another.
"Do you think everything will ever be alright again Peter?" Susan asked suddenly, Peter looked at her surprised for a moment, she had broken the rather peaceful silence between them.
"I don't know, maybe. We have to try harder though, but with Edmund being a nasty little brute and Lucy lying an awful lot lately, I don't know if we can." Peter replied slowly, as if he were trying to understand the words himself. Susan sighed and closed her eyes.
"Do you think what the Professor said could be true?" Susan asked glancing over at Peter, who seemed to be in deep thought 'what if Lucy hasn't been lying? But that isn't possible, it isn't logical, a magical land in a wardrobe? It's preposterous' Susan thought.
"Of course not, you and I both know there couldn't possibly be a magical land in a wardrobe of all places, even Lucy knows it, I think she may just want attention, we have been neglecting her an awful lot lately, maybe we should spend the whole day with her tomorrow?"
"But what about Edmund? Shall we include him? He might ruin it." Susan said. Peter scowled at the mention of Edmund's name and shook his head.
"I think we should give him a few days to cool down about last night, I'd never seen him that cross when I walked back into the room." Peter said shaking his head sadly and Susan smiled sympathetically. She didn't know what Peter had said or done to him last night but this morning at breakfast he hadn't said a word to any of them and glared at the Peter from across the breakfast table.
"I think we best be getting inside, it's getting a bit chilly and I don't want either of us to catch a cold." Peter said, Susan nodded her head. Peter stood up and offered his hand to help her up, she smiled up at him and took it.
"We have to make it work Su," Peter mumbled as they walked back towards the manor 'he's right, we have to make it work, no matter how hard it is, we have to bring this family back together'.
So what do you think? Susan and Peter will discover Narnia in the next one, I assure you. For once I didn't write and edit this when I was half asleep with no caffeine in me, so it shouldn't be as terribly written as the last ones.
Anyway thank you for reading, reviewing and all that cool stuff! Thanks. Also the next one should be posted shortly and it will get much more exciting and Narnia involved within the next few chapters and we will start to see Susan change!
I also found the perfect song for Susan about Narnia, it is the song I'll Try from the Return To Neverland soundtrack, here are the lyrics!
I am not a child now
I can take care of myself
I mustn't let them down now
Mustn't let them see me cry
I'm fine, I'm fine
I'm too tired to listen
I'm too old to believe
All these childish stories
There is no such thing as faith
And trust and pixie dust
I try
But it's so hard to believe
I try
But I can't see what you see
I try, I try, I try...
My whole world is changing
I don't know where to turn
I can't leave you waiting
But I can't stay and watch this city burn
Watch it burn
'Cause I try
But it's so hard to believe
I try
But I can't see where you see
I try, I try
I try and try to understand
The distance in between
The love I feel and the things I fear
And every single dream
I can finally see it
Now I have to believe
All those precious stories
All the world is made of...
Faith, and trust... and pixie dust
So, I'll try
Because I finally believe
I'll try, cause I can see what you see
I'll try, I'll try
I'll try...
To fly.