As the dragon flew high up into the air and held her in its claws so tightly that she felt like she couldn't breathe, Elizabeth frantically tried to think.

What would Caspian do? What would Caspian do?

With the dragon currently flying over the ocean, Caspian would try to get it to drop him since he had water to land in.

But how to get the dragon to drop her?

Elizabeth reached up and ripped one of the large pins free from her hair then stabbed one of the dragon's claws as hard as she could.

The dragon roared in pain and released its grip on her.

Elizabeth screamed as she fell several feet into the ocean below. The impact hurt, but a little pain was worth it if it got her away from the dragon.

"Elizabeth!" she heard Lucy's voice when she surfaced.

Elizabeth turned and saw with relief that she had managed to fall only a few feet away from the ship.

"Swim this way, hurry!"

The dragon roared again, and Elizabeth could see it circling around and flying back towards her. She just had to get to the ship, and then the crew members would be able to defend her and keep her safe from it. She quickly tried to swim as fast as she could, but before she could reach the ship, the dragon flew towards her and snatched her up out of the water.

"NO!" Elizabeth screamed.

"Elizabeth!" she heard Lucy cry.

Elizabeth squirmed in the dragon's claws, but now that they were over land, she couldn't allow him to drop her again or the fall would most certainly kill her.

She assumed the dragon was currently flying her back to its lair, and she quickly tried to think of another plan to escape once it landed. But those thoughts quickly flew out of her head when she saw huge burned letters on the volcanic ground below her.

'I AM EUSTACE'.

Elizabeth stared at the words in shock and then looked up. "Eustace?!"

The dragon roared again, as if affirming the question.

A thousand thoughts ran through her mind all at once. Eustace wasn't dead. Eustace was alive. Eustace was a dragon. Eustace was currently very high up in the air.

"Can you set down somewhere?!"

After a few more minutes, Eustace slowly and clumsily flew closer to the ground and dropped Elizabeth before setting down onto the ground himself.

Elizabeth frantically took a few nervous steps back and stared at the dragon wide-eyed. "…Eustace? Is that really you?"

The dragon nodded.

Elizabeth sighed and put a hand to her head. "Oh, dear."

Both of them were quiet for a few moments as Elizabeth tried to come to terms with this new situation.

"How did this happen?"

Eustace growled, unable to answer the question in words.

"Well, thank goodness you're at least alive. When we found your clothing, I had believed you to be dead. Aside from the obvious, are you all right?"

Judging from the wild look in his eyes, he was terrified, but otherwise, he appeared to be unharmed.

"I'm…I'm sorry about the hairpin. I thought…"

Eustace looked away from her.

Elizabeth slowly and carefully approached him and lifted up her hand. Eustace growled again which made her flinch. When he didn't move, she slowly pressed her hand to the bottom of his scaly neck and began to gently stroke it. After a few minutes, she could feel him relax a little under her touch.

"We should get back to Caspian and the others."

Immediately, Eustace tensed up again and growled at her.

Elizabeth jumped back in alarm. "Eustace, I don't know anything about this world. I have no idea how to fix this. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking. But Caspian or your cousins might know something." She gently began to rub his skin again. "Don't worry. I won't let anyone hurt you. I promise."

Eustace let out a low growl, but he seemed to accept her suggestion.

"Okay. Um…do you mind if I ride on your back this time? The other way was rather uncomfortable."

Eustace gave her a withering look, but all the same, he knelt his head down for her and lowered himself onto his belly.

Elizabeth carefully climbed up to sit on his back, trying to make sure she didn't hurt him in the process. "You're not going to let me fall, are you?"

In response, Eustace quickly took off into the air and Elizabeth screamed as she tightly clutched onto his neck. Once the terror of the sudden takeoff faded, Elizabeth caught her breath and cautiously looked around. Flying so high in the air and now knowing that the dragon didn't plan on killing her, her eyes widened in amazement and she began laughing, partially from the breathtaking view and partially from how completely outlandish the entire situation was.

Once they drew closer to the shore, Elizabeth could see not only Caspian, Edmund, and Eva but also Drinian, Tavros, Reepicheep, Rhince, and three other crew members. Her heart warmed when she realized they had all come ashore to hunt for the dragon and rescue her. At the sight of the dragon flying towards them, everyone readied their swords and crossbows.

She frantically waved her arm. "Wait! It's okay!"

Eustace set down onto the shore and lowered himself so Elizabeth could slide off his back and onto the ground.

Almost as soon as her feet hit the sand, Caspian swept her into his arms.

She was so stunned at the action that it took her a moment to realize he was now pointing a sword at Eustace with one arm while the other remained around her shoulders to pull her close to him.

Elizabeth quickly pushed herself out of Caspian's hold and ran in front of the dragon with her arms out. "No, no, wait, wait, wait! It's okay. The dragon is, um…Eustace."

There was silence for a long moment before Edmund muttered, "You've got to be joking."

Eustace growled as if to confirm what Elizabeth had said. He began gnawing at a large gold bracelet digging into his arm and tearing at his new skin.

Edmund realized the bracelet had most likely come from the large stash they'd discovered earlier. "He must have been tempted by the treasure."

"Anyone knows a dragon's treasure is enchanted," Caspian said.

Eustace growled lowly and glared at him.

"Well, anyone from…here."

Lucy slowly approached Eustace, but he started to back away from her. She held her hands up to show him that she only wanted to help, and he carefully held his arm out for her. Then Lucy ripped the gold bracelet off his arm which made him let out a short but loud roar of pain.

"Is there any way to change him back?" Edmund asked.

"Not that I know of," Caspian answered.

Elizabeth sighed and gently rubbed her hand against Eustace's neck, her heart aching for him. If Caspian didn't know how to fix this, then who would?

"Aunt Alberta will not be pleased," Edmund said.

Eustace hung his head and slammed his claw onto the ground.

"Shh, it's okay," Elizabeth said quietly.

"Sorry about the hand, old boy," Reepicheep apologized. "I…can be a little overzealous sometimes."

"How were you to know?" Eva asked.

"The boats are ready, sire," Tavros called from the shore.

Lucy gave the others a firm look. "We can't leave him alone."

"Well, we can't bring him onboard, Your Majesty," Drinian countered.

Eustace got a worried look on his face.

Caspian handed Lord Octesian's sword to Drinian. "Drinian, you and the others take one boat back. The rest of us will stay here till morning and…work out what to do."

"But you've no provisions," Rhince told him. "And no means of staying warm, Your Majesty."

Eustace looked around for a second and then used his fire breath to light up a small stick.

"You were saying?" Reepicheep smiled.

Everyone smiled and laughed at Eustace's convenient new ability. It was the first time he'd ever actually made an effort to help them out, though Elizabeth knew that he was trying to prove himself useful so they wouldn't abandon him. As if she would ever let that happen.

"I'm going to help the others set up a camp, okay?" she told him.

She went over to one of the longboats and helped Edmund and Lucy unload the supplies they would need to spend the night on the shore. But her clothes and hair were still damp from her brief dip in the ocean, and she rubbed her arms as she began to shiver.

Someone draped a blanket around her shoulders.

"Here," Caspian said. "You look like you're freezing. The fire's ready, come sit by it and warm up."

With a small fire now burning thanks to gathered wood and Eustace's fire breath, Elizabeth gratefully sat on a large log in front of it, tightly holding the blanket around her body.

"How did you get all wet anyway?"

"Eustace dropped me into the ocean," Elizabeth admitted.

"He dropped you?"

"No, I-I made him. I didn't know it was him yet, so I stabbed his hand with a hairpin to get him to let go of me. I thought that if I fell into the ocean, I could get to the Dawn Treader from there, and I'd be safe."

Caspian smiled a little. "You fought back."

"I promised I would."

But then she realized that she'd wanted to fight back.

It wasn't enough anymore for her to just passively allow things to happen to her, good or bad. After years of having no control over anything at all in her life, being in this place was renewing her desire to fight back and survive and live.

With the camp set up, Edmund and Eva lay down beside each other on a large blanket next to the log Elizabeth and Caspian were sitting on.

Edmund looked up at the beautiful starry night sky. "I've never seen these constellations before."

"Me neither," Caspian replied. "We're a long way from home. When I was a boy, I used to imagine sailing to the end of the world. Finding my father there."

"Maybe you will."

Eva moved closer to Edmund and rested her head on his chest as his hand started stroking her arm. "I miss Susan, Peter, and Elaine."

"Yeah. I do too."

"I wish they could've come with us."

"They have their own lives now."

"Do you still think they're luckier than you?"

Edmund laughed softly. "No. They have their own adventures, and I have mine."

Eva lightly traced the scar on her hand. "You know, this doesn't bother me as much it did before."

"What changed?"

"I did."

Edmund got onto his hands and knees so he could lean over her. He slowly knelt his head down, and Eva half-expected the White Witch to suddenly show up like she always had in her nightmares when Edmund did this. But this time, nothing stopped Edmund from kissing her.

"I love you," he smiled down at her.

"I love you too."

He lay back down on the blanket next to her, and the two of them curled up to get some sleep.

Elizabeth stood up from the log, her clothes now dry. "I should probably turn in as well. Good night, Caspian."

"Good night, Elizabeth," Caspian replied.

Elizabeth took the blanket off her shoulders and set it onto the ground before lying down on it. She stared up at the stars for a while, taking in the silence of the night aside from the crackling fire beside her.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard the quiet sound of sniffles and growls. She sat up a little to look behind her, and her heart ached again when she realized that Eustace was crying.

Elizabeth quietly got up from the blanket and walked over to him. Then she sat herself down onto the sand and began gently rubbing his scaly skin. "It's all right, Eustace, it's okay. I'm right here. Look, I know things don't seem great right now, but I promise you that I am not going to leave your side until we find a way to fix this. I'll do whatever it takes to get you back to normal."

Eustace looked at her sadly but hopefully.

"You know, I think you and me are a lot more alike than you realize. When we're scared, we find it easier to shut everyone out. We just do it a little differently."

Eustace met her eyes, and she could practically hear him biting out, And what do you possibly have to be afraid of?

"Believe it or not, I did have a life before coming to work for your mother and father. Though…I'm not entirely you could call what I was doing 'living'. I…was in a very bad place. And it was easier for me to try to pretend that everything was all right and focus on everyone else's needs instead. I couldn't let people get to know me because…then they would find out how broken I am. I think that you actively go out of your way to make people dislike you so that they can't hurt you. You might not even realize you're doing it. But when I first met you, I could tell you were scared. Because I was scared too."

For the first time, Eustace truly understood how awfully he'd treated Elizabeth since the moment she came to work for his family. Back then, he'd always assumed that she acted nice to him because she was getting paid to be there, so he'd responded by giving her so many chores and assignments that she worked herself to the bone trying to get them all done. He'd hoped that the sheer number of tasks he heaped on her (most of them trivial) would eventually become too much for her to handle and would force her to admit to only treating him kindly because she was his housekeeper. But in the year she'd worked there, she'd never once complained about anything he said or did or forced her to do.

And now here in Narnia, she still had been nothing but kind and comforting and helpful to him even though she was getting absolutely nothing in return for it, save for his continued poor treatment of her.

"And you may hate to admit it, but I think you actually like me," she smiled.

They sat there in silence for a few moments, Elizabeth continuing to stroke his huge body right beneath his wing.

"Trouble sleeping?" Reepicheep asked softly.

Eustace growled and moved his head in frustration.

"Now, now. All is not lost as it seems. I'll stay up with you and Miss Elizabeth if you wish. Keep you company. I'll wager you didn't even believe in dragons this morning. Yes. You know, extraordinary things only happen to extraordinary people. Maybe it's a sign…that you've got an extraordinary destiny. Something…something greater than you could have imagined."

Elizabeth smiled. She liked the way Reepicheep talked to Eustace. He seemed to be the only other one who could see the other side of Eustace that she had seen from the beginning.

"I can tell you one or two of my adventures if you like, just to past the time."

Eustace moved his claws beneath his head while Elizabeth turned around and rested her back against him.

"Believe it or not, you're not the first dragon I've encountered. Many years ago, too many than I care to mention, I was with a band of pirates. I met another dragon much fiercer than you…"

As Reepicheep continued with his story, Elizabeth closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A couple hours later after both Reepicheep and Eustace had fallen asleep, Caspian awoke for a moment and looked behind him. He smiled a little when he noticed that Elizabeth was now sleeping curled up next to Eustace's large dragon body.

He picked up her abandoned blanket then walked over to her and lightly draped it over her.

Eustace's eyes opened and he lifted up his head, but Caspian quickly put a finger to his lips to keep the dragon from moving and waking Elizabeth.

Eustace saw what Caspian had done and smiled a little to himself before returning to sleep.