A/N: I'm back! ...about a month late and nickel short, lol. Really, this should have been (and I wanted it to be) posted on more like December 3rd as opposed to January 3rd, but, hey... Also, I try to reply to everyone that leaves a signed-in review but the last two months have been crazy so if I missed you, I'm really, really sorry and I still love you and appreciate you, lol.

This chapter's a bit on the short side, but next chapter is probably going to be twice this length because of reasons, so it kind of evens out in the end. :P

Chapter notes: None that I can think of, but I'm sick so I'll probably remember something after it's too late. *shrugs* ...also, yes, Peter is an idiot in this chapter a little bit, but honestly I think it makes perfect sense, so... :P

Religious Notes: Ah, yes. I said there would be religious themes herein, and I meant it. No Spoilers, but get ready for the major start to that with this chapter.

Anon Reviews:
chickencomes1st: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed all of it! :D You're wish is my command: we're back to the boys this time around! *sings loudly* The boys are back in town! Yeah, the boys are back in town! *ahem* Anyway, I sort of managed to not be gone as long? Two months IS better than eight, after all. *cough*
ILoveNarnia: It always made me sad, too, reading about how everything changed over time. :( Glad you're enjoy the story though! Thanks for reading! :)
Serena Edmunds: I'll admit: I laughed your description, there, and you are definitely not wrong, lol. I won't say that I never read stories with an OC main character, but they have to be pretty well-written for me to get very far, lol. I can't really say this update was soon, but it was...soon-ish? Sooner than last time, lol.
All4Aslan: Definitely a reference, lol. You're wish is my command: the boy are back this chapter! :D

Chapter Six

"There you are!"

Edmund glanced up to where his roommate was standing in the doorway, smiling widely.

"We're going to start decorating in a few minutes. Are you coming?"

Turning his gaze back to the photographs on his desk, he sighed. "I don't know." He heard the door click closed and out of the corner of his eye saw Thomas lean against the wall next to his desk.

"Is everything alright?" Thomas murmured. "You were excited earlier this week."

Edmund grimaced. If he were being honest, the ache in his chest had settled in around the end of October and had steadily grown as the days passed. Now, as December descended, his chest felt hollow. "I guess I'm just missing home. I've never been away from everyone for so long, and it's been harder than I thought it would be."

"You went to a boarding school before though?"

"I did, but most of that I had my brother with me at least. Even last year I still saw everyone every holiday, and my sisters weren't far so we would often arrange to meet on weekends. And we wrote to each other most every week besides." He shook his head. "I've only been able to get letters from them all twice."

"You all are really close, I know. I'm not all that close to my brother, so I can't really imagine."

Edmund shrugged. "It's more than that, you know? I just keep thinking back to the war, back to when my dad was off fighting. There was actually a period of time we thought we would never see him again, and all I could think about was the last thing I said to him before he left. Those months were awful for all of us. And now… and now, I just…" He trailed off hesitantly. Maybe it sounded childish, but all he wanted at the moment was to see his family, all alive and well.

"War changes people," Thomas replied quietly after a moment. "You were forced into the middle of it. I think it's only natural to be anxious to get back home."

A watery smile slipped onto his lips. Thomas had no idea just how true that statement was.

His roommate pushed off the wall. "There's still a couple of weeks left of the term, though, so you'll have to keep pushing through until then. And a good way to do that? Preoccupy your mind with other things."

Edmund glanced up. "Is that your way of trying to persuade me to help decorate?"

"Well, it'll keep you busy for a couple of hours at any rate. Having something to do other than worry will help time go faster. If you ask Mr Wallace, that is part of the reason we have all these activities all term. It's harder to get homesick when you're not thinking about home."

"I'd try to argue, but I know for a fact that if Su was here and knew I was moping, she would be physically trying to remove me from the room, all the while telling me exactly the same thing." He knew because she had done just that their first Christmas as sovereigns. That winter had been rough for all of them, but they had managed. "So I guess maybe you're right."

Thomas smirked. "Oh, I know I am." Turning, he pulled the door open again and gestured towards the hallway. "After you."

With a resigned sigh, Edmund stood up and padded down the hallway to the living room. The furniture had been rearranged already, and the tree stood centered in front of the picture window, waiting to be decorated. Boxes lay stacked about the room, filled with decorations for inside the dormitory as well as for outside. An excited hum came from the students assembled. Perhaps this was just what he needed after all.

His already hesitant smile slipped as he thought about all the years he had spent decorating with his family. This year he would arrive home only a couple of days before the holiday, and all the decorations would already be out. The ache in his chest grew; he longed for everything to be the way it had always been.

This Christmas wouldn't be the same as all the rest, but he was exactly where he needed to be at this moment. He knew this, and he would keep reminding himself of that truth. In two weeks' time, he would be on a boat headed home. With Aslan's help, he could manage until then.

Thomas nudged him and nodded towards one of the boxes. The other students had already begun to hang ornaments on the tree, and the two boys moved forward to join them.

Taking a deep breath, Edmund chose one from the box and placed it on the tree. Things were always changing, but that didn't have to be a bad thing; just because he wasn't home did not mean he couldn't still enjoy himself where he was. He could still celebrate the season with the people around him now, and before too long he would be back with his family again - back where he belonged - and that mattered far more than the decorations.

It wasn't the same, but maybe that was alright.

"I really think you should come with me, Peter. It's not a normal Mass, after all, just caroling and a reading of the Christmas story. You might find you enjoy it more than you think. Besides, you could use a break from studying."

Peter sighed as he looked up from the notes strewn across the surface of his desk. "If I agree, will you stop pestering me?" He hated to admit it, but he probably could do with a break.

Charles smiled widely. "Well, for this year, at least."

A chuckle slipped out as he shook his head. This was the last Friday before the end of the term; this time next week he would be home with his family, and he wouldn't see his roommate until the New Year. "Alright, fine. I relent."

"Victory!"

"Just be quiet so I can study until time to leave."

"Yes, sir." Charles mock-saluted and turned back to his own notes.

The hour passed all-too quickly, and much sooner than Peter would have liked, he found himself trudging through the chilly evening. The warmth that assaulted him as soon as he stepped inside the cathedral was much welcomed, but the relief quickly turned into hesitation.

It was the same at home; it was the same any time he set foot into a place of worship. He could never seem to fully explain the feeling, but he knew his siblings felt it, too. It was as if they belonged yet didn't. Drawn in yet pushed out at the same time, he never felt quite right in any of these kinds of places.

That was why he only ever went when he had to, yet this night he had found himself there anyway. He was glad he was with Charles; he wasn't sure he would have stayed otherwise, and for some reason he felt, now that he was here, that he needed to stay.

Peter followed his friend into the sanctuary and sat down on one of the long, wooden pews half way down the aisle. Glancing around, he spotted a few other students from some of his classes and briefly wondered if they were here only because it was Christmastime or if they had been coming all term. It didn't matter, he supposed; what they did with their time wasn't his business.

His gaze traveled to the intricate stained glass windows set along both walls. Having grown up in a church, he could identify the stories pictured well enough: Adam and Eve in the the Garden of Eden, the Exodus from Egypt, the birth of the Christ-child and His death… They were beautiful, but they held little significance to him. Perhaps the stories were true; perhaps they were fables. But either way, they paled in comparison to everything he had experienced in Narnia. He would find Aslan here or find No One at all.

The service began, and he stood to sing with everyone else, the words ringing out hollow around him. He sat back down and listened to the ancient words read by the priest and wondered not for the first time if there was any truth in them. A virgin bearing a child, and a god becoming a man? He supposed it wasn't so much more far-fetched than finding an entire world inside a wardrobe. And yet that entire world certainly been more real than anything he had ever experienced inside of a church building.

A few more carols were sung, and then Peter found himself back outside, walking towards the campus.

"So? Was that worth one, short hour of your time?"

"It was more than an hour if you include the twenty minutes walking, you know."

"Fine." Charles rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Was it worth the one hour and twenty minutes of your time?"

Peter sighed. "Well, it was nice to have a break, at least."

"And now you can go back and be a hermit until final examinations are over, and I won't bother you."

Peter glanced back at the cathedral as they turned a corner; the warm light glowing behind the windows should have been welcoming, but somehow it wasn't. It felt more like the call of a Syren: inviting, sure, but once he got too close, that would be the death of him. He wanted to get close, but some part of his mind warned him against it. At least with a Syren the warning was evident, but this? He couldn't put his finger on it exactly. It didn't make sense at all.

The cathedral disappeared from view, and the pair continued in silence. But there was a question gnawing at the back of Peter's mind, and he knew his roommate wouldn't hesitate to answer it.

"Charles."

"Yes?"

"If God wanted to rescue His people, why send a child? And why go through all the trouble that He did anyway? Wouldn't it have been easier to just...appear and declare Himself God and King? There would have been no question then. Everyone would have believed - well, at least, more people would have."

Charles was quiet for a moment. "It would have been easier, yes; but would it really have been better?"

"What do you mean?"

"He came down for the sole purpose of being the Sacrifice that would end the need for sacrifices. Do you think taking the easier way would have fulfilled that?"

"But if He had set himself up as God on earth, sacrifices still wouldn't have been needed any longer since their purpose was to reconcile the Jews with God. He still could have saved everyone just by coming."

"Are you sure about that?"

Peter fell silent, any further answer dying on his tongue.

"God is love, but He is also justice. Someone or something always had to pay the price for the wrongs committed. And that price had to be paid with blood." Charles paused. "The sacrifices offered daily were imperfect. Only Jesus could put an end to it, but to do so He had to give Himself. More people may have believed the other way, but the sacrifices would have had to continue, and Jesus coming to Earth would not have served its true purpose. Easier isn't always better."

A price paid with blood.

Peter shivered in the chilly evening air. His brother had been bought at a such a price in another time, in another world. He still held vivid memories of that moment; her words still echoed in his mind: "His blood is my property." And, oh, he had known he was no match for her, but he wouldn't have allowed her to take his brother back - no, he would have died before he would have let that happen. But he hadn't needed to. Aslan had paid that price instead.

He shook his head. That time wasn't the same as in this world, though. Similar, maybe, but certainly not the same. Maybe, he thought, that was why churches were both inviting and repulsive. There were many things that were familiar but just as many that were different.

"Perhaps." The single word fell heavily from his lips. A price paid with blood was a heavy cost indeed, and a heavy burden for the one for which it was shed. Edmund had never forgotten, he knew; none of them ever would. "But it certainly wasn't what they expected, was it? They wanted a King on a throne and instead got a commoner on a cross."

"That's true, but often times what we think we need isn't what we get, and what we get is always what we need."

Edmund watched as the snowflakes danced outside the window. Snow was a rarity in London, and he hadn't seen this much in one place in six years.

"I guess this is kind of a first for you, isn't it?"

He turned his head from the window to focus on the pot he was stirring. It was the last Tuesday of the term and his advisor group's turn to take over the dorm kitchen. Soup had been an appropriate choice for a day like this one.

"Not a first," he replied, "but it has been a long time since I've seen so much." Not since Narnia, he wanted to add. Every Christmas had looked like this then.

Joshua smiled. "Personally, I can't wait to get back home. We don't get snow in Florida, and honestly, that is fine by me."

Shrugging, Edmund placed the lid back on the pot. "I can't say that I love it myself, either, but there is a certain beauty to seeing everything covered in white."

"If you say so."

"Well, it certainly beats the dismal gray that is London this time of year."

"I guess when you put it that way… You should come down to Florida sometime. Everything's green all year."

Edmund grinned. Joshua was two years older than him, but Edmund wished he wasn't. Besides his roommate, Joshua was one of his closer friends, and he was certainly going to miss him. "Green sounds fantastic."

The front door slammed and a moment later Mr Wallace appeared from around the corner, an uncharacteristically serious frown on his face. "Edmund, a moment, please?"

His grin instantly fell and his heart beat painfully in his chest as he followed his advisor into the hall, just out of earshot of the other three in the kitchen. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm afraid not." Mr Wallace sighed. "I received a telegram through the main office for you - that's why I had to rush out. I'm afraid I have bad news."

Edmund couldn't breath, his heart freezing in his chest.

"I'm sorry to bring you such news this time of year, Mrs Pevensie, but your husband has been reported missing."

"I'm afraid weather conditions over the Atlantic are...unfavorable, and as a result, there aren't many ships daring to cross. Many are saying they won't even try until the New Year."

"I won't lie, ma'am. He may not be coming home."

"I'm sorry, Edmund. But you can't go home."