Disclaimer: I do not own The Chronicles of Narnia (books or movies). The only thing I own is my OC, Vaslin.

Chapter 2:

As soon as the blinding light at the end of the cave turned to a remote beachside, the siblings released each other's hands. They slowly walked out of the cave, looking around as if they could scarcely believe it. Only moments ago they'd been awaiting the train at the railway station. Now...they were in Narnia; home.

The ocean waves lapped against the sandy beach, the soothing sound music to their ears. The visible trees waved in the breeze and hidden birds chirped at them. The sun beamed down, making the water all the more beautiful. The beach seemed familiar to Vaslin, but he couldn't quite place it.

Lucy turned to them, grinning. The two girls took off, laughing. The boys exchanged glances before following them. They shed their jackets and scarves as they headed down the beach.

"Shame you're not as quick as me, Ed!" Peter called to the younger King, as Vaslin raced past them both.

"Last one in's a rotten egg!" Susan called back.

Vaslin had never quite grasped the meaning of the saying.

"Watch out!" Peter shouted as he passed the girls, who were removing their shoes and stockings. He stopped at the water's edge beside Vaslin as they removed theirs. Edmund had taken his off already. "Here it comes!"

The siblings raced into the water, splashing each other and laughing. The former wolf could remember only feeling so happy a couple of other times. They shouted jokingly at each other, Vaslin, Peter, and Lucy quickly getting soaked.

The former wolf caught a glimpse of his reflection; disheveled black hair- not unlike Edmund's- and blue eyes. There were round ears on the sides of his head instead of the furred pointed ones on top. If this is Narnia, why am I still a human? And why are they still young?

"Ed? Ed!" Susan called, urging the youngest boy to join in.

But the Narnian King seemed focused on something atop a cliff, back by the cave-tunnel they'd entered Narnia through.

"What is it?" Peter asked him.

"Where do you suppose we are?" Edmund asked.

"Well, where do you think?" The High King asked pointedly.

The younger brother frowned. "Well, I don't remember any ruins in Narnia."

"That's because there never were any." Vaslin replied, joining the other two boys in looking up at the cliff.

But there were ruins.

The remains of a stone structure stood atop the cliff. And it looked familiar.

*X*

The five humans were mostly dried off by the time they reached the top off the cliff. The hike up hadn't taken too much energy; they'd used to venture across Narnia like this all the time, though Vaslin had been a wolf then and the humans had ridden horses most of the time.

Vaslin split off from the others in his examination of the ruins. He quickly discovered that trees had grown among what had been the floor of the structure. Seeing as the trees were quite tall, the ruins must have been there for quite some time. Some of the trees even had apples on them. Insects buzzed about and birds chirped peacefully. They must had made the ruins their home long ago.

The former wolf climbed a mostly-intact staircase to the top of a stone wall. The pine needles covering the steps made his feet feel uncomfortable. He wasn't surprised that there was no floor to walk onto. He overlooked the area, trying to wonder why he felt such a strong tug of deja vu just by being there.

Part of him pulled up questions he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answers to; What was this place? And just how much time had passed in Narnia? Clearly not just a year. Likely hundreds.

And that scared him.

Peter climbed up the stairs beside him. "I know this place. I just can't remember the name of it."

"I'm not sure we want to know." Vaslin responded grimly as he headed back down the stone steps.

His feet took him to a stone platform that overlooked the lapping waves of the beach below them. Lucy was there, gazing out over the water thoughtfully. He rested a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him- and someone behind him.

"Wonder who lived here." She sounded genuinely curious.

"I don't know." Vaslin replied honestly. But part of him did wonder.

"I think we did." Susan's voice made him turn.

The older girl was holding what looked to be a golden chess piece. She glanced up at them, a frown on her face. Lucy reflected it, taking a couple steps closer to get a better look at the item. Edmund was just coming from around another old staircase, Peter near him.

"Hey, that's mine." The youngest boy recognized the golden piece. "From my chess set."

"Which chess set?" The High King asked.

"Well, I didn't exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley, did I?" Edmund pointed out, taking the piece from Susan.

Vaslin caught Lucy looking around at the ruins as if she suddenly realized where they were. A certain area caught her attention. He glanced at it too, taking it in. Stone pillars, steps that led from the main floor to a higher platform, four lumps of rubble. Thrones, he realized in horror; the lumps of rubble were thrones.

He knew exactly where they were; they were in the remains of Cair Paravel!

"Vaslin? Are you alright?" Peter asked. "You look a little pale."

"I-" Vaslin glanced at Lucy. "I know where we are now."

It seemed to truly dawn on her as he said it. "Can't be." The girl took off towards the thrones, the others following her. Upon reaching them, she briefly took Peter's hand. "Don't you see?"

He didn't. "What?"

She lined him up in front of the pile of rubble that was his throne, doing the same to Edmund and Susan as she spoke. "Imagine walls. And columns, there." She pointed, stopping before her throne. "And a glass roof."

The Kings and Queen were silent as they took it in, imagining what their sister asked of them. Vaslin stood aside, running a hand through his tangled black hair. Part of him wished it were a nightmare; that they weren't where they were; that this building wasn't in ruins, but tall and in all of its glory. But it wasn't.

Peter was the only one brave enough to say the name of the ruins of the castle.

"Cair Paravel."

*X*

As the siblings walked throughout the remains of their beloved castle, Edmund crouched down beside a rock.

"Catapults." He said suddenly.

"What?" Peter seemed confused.

"This didn't just happen." Ed was onto something. "Cair Paravel was attacked."

"By who?" Vaslin wondered aloud.

The youngest boy got to his feet as Peter started off towards a nearby "wall". He threw a branch aside. Together, he and Edmund pushed aside what apparently wasn't a normal part of the wall. The girls made their way towards them. Vaslin followed, puzzled. Behind the stone panel the younger boys had pushed aside was a wooden door.

The High King tried to open the door, but found it locked. Apparently he didn't happen to have the key on him, for he broke the weak wood and tore out the lock, throwing it aside. He ripped off the hem of his shirt, wrapping it around a broken branch to use it as a torch.

"Don't suppose you have any matches, do you?" He asked them hopefully.

"No, but…" Edmund trailed off, searching his bag for something. He pulled out an electric torch he'd bought only a couple of days ago. "...Would this help?"

"You might have mentioned that a bit sooner." Peter scolded, but he was smiling; they all were.

The younger boy clicked on his torch, ducking inside the door as the blonde haired boy threw his makeshift torch aside. The five siblings followed Edmund's lead, finding steps on the other side of the doorway. They followed the steps downward to some sort of vault.

There were four dips in the curved wall, a large golden chest sitting just inside each. Behind them was a statue of each King and Queen. The Kings and Queens hurried down a curved staircase to them. Vaslin stayed put at the top, looking down on them. He didn't need to invade and seem a threat to their treasures. After all, he'd not been a Narnian royal himself. He heard them open an old iron gate underneath him, at the bottom of the staircase. It creaked loudly from lack of use.

"I can't believe it." Peter said in awe. "It's all still here."

As his siblings hurried to their chests, the High King picked up a round item from the ground. Vaslin watched Edmund try on a helmet from inside his chest.

"I was so tall." Lucy took a dress her older self had worn from her chest.

"Well, you were older then." Susan pointed out sympathetically.

"As opposed to hundreds of years later...when you're younger." Edmund joked.

The girls laughed.

Peter looked at the dust covered plate he held. The design in the center was a lion's face. He blew off some dust, revealing the item to be solid gold. He slowly looked up towards his chest and put down the plate, starting towards it.

Susan struggled to find something in her chest.

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

"My horn." The older girl replied. "I must've left it on my saddle the day we went back."

All living eyes in the room went to Peter as he opened his chest. The first thing he pulled out was his sword, unsheathing it and holding it before him. "When Aslan bares his teeth, winter meets its death." He read.

"And when he shakes his mane…we shall have spring again." Lucy continued sadly. "Everyone we knew...Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers...They're all gone."

"And I would be too, if I didn't return to your world with you." Vaslin pointed out quietly.

"I think it's time we found out what's going on." Peter decided.