Title: Dragonfly in Amber
Author: FaithfulPureLight (and her sister)
Disclaimer: I wish. I really do! But alas I do not and I am only borrowing them. (Looks over to her lawyer. "Was that good?" lawyer nods. "Yay! Ok on with the introductions and then the story!" sister cheers in the background. I pull out Edmund and Peter and my sister pulls out Lucy and that witch Susan. "We own u as soon as the documents are done remember that") again just kidding!
Rating: For reasons explained later I am rating this a M for mature
Summary: Lucy starts having nightmares that she can't remember. Soon Edmund and Peter are too. What could be so terrible that our heros would willingly forget a memory of Narnia?
Dedication: TO...my reviewers (please review. It really encourages us) and Emmy, Petra (list goes on) and Elecktrum
chapter 9: Dragonfly
Lucy's POV
Midnight
Midnight has come again and I lay in my bed, staring up at the ceiling of my room thinking. Susan made me cry again tonight, insisting that she was far too old to believe in games. She said to grow up.
But somehow, we are the more grown up ones. Edmund and Peter, my dear brothers are always there. They never shout or criticize, they never act cold or distant. They stay strong for others, locking their own emotions away in order to keep themselves calm.
Susan is the complete opposite though. She acts confident and happy, wears expensive clothes and attends extravagant parties to distract herself from the pain I know she must feel. I can see it some times. When my brothers and I are laughing over our memories of Narnia. It's in her eyes; a flash of wishfulness that for one moment transforms her into our beloved Queen Susan the Gentle.
But those moments never last long. The longing quickly disappears under the usual disapproving scowl. I could have sworn I saw that look of longing tonight when Susan had spoken to me. I pleaded with her to stay, only to have my hopes dashed once again.
As always my brothers had been there. Edmund had held me, rocking me back and forth, making comforting noises that made no sense and telling me everything would be ok. Peter had only stood there silently his arms wrapped around both of us protectively as if to shield us from the pains the world brought to us. But who protects him?
My stomach growls with hunger. I sigh and swing my legs over the side of the bed. My feet find their way into soft slippers. I wish I had ate more at dinner; but what Susan had said ruined my appetite.
Sneaking quietly from my room I pad down the corridor to the stairs. I pull my night robe closer to me as I begin the tip-toe down the stairs, not wanting to wake my family. Ed rarely gets a good nights sleep. Either because of me or because of us both. Mother would not approve of sneaking food this late, which means Susan wouldn't either. Peter is tired. I can tell. So I do not wish to wake him either. The stairs don't creak for once. Soon I am in the kitchen. Thank Aslan there is something left in the ice box.
As I make myself a snack I can't help but let my mind wander. Wander back to all those lovely times at Cair Paravel in Narnia. Dancing with the Dryads and fauns, playing chess with the Talking Animals, and speaking with the mer-people. I especially remember running into Peter's and Edmund's arms after a hard fought and won battle.
Tears cloud my vision. I blink hard a few times to keep them from falling. Narnia was my true home. Land of sun and laughter. How did we get here to dreary old England? Would we grow to be like Susan? Growing up until the memories of Narnia made away into games of bored war time children?
I take a deep breath just as Peter taught me to, trying to over come my feeling of dread that threatens to over come my rationality. Edmund always said that to us, Narnia was like a dragonfly caught in amber. Until now I have never really understood what he means. Those words seemed to hard to wrap my brain around. But now I think I do understand what Edmund means when he says that.
When a dragonfly is covered in amber it is preserved so that even thousands of years later it still is as perfect and beautiful as when first seen. And so Narnia is for Peter, Edmund, and myself. Everything that we hold dear about Narnia has been carefully protected in our minds, in our memories, and in our hearts.
Susan never seemed to realize how to perfect this technique. Her dragonfly was destroyed when other people found it. And she let them. She let them destroy it and mold her into another person. But I'm sure among the broken shards of her amber the dragonfly is there, trying desperately to mind its amber shell. It will never die completely if I keep reminding Susan about what she is missing. Someday she'll find that dragonfly and give it another amber case. She will. I need to believe that no matter how much it hurts me.
I wash and dry my plate and other utensils as I finish my food. They go back into the cupboard, my mother never the wiser. I am just about to rinse what is left of my glass of juice when I here it. A piercing, terrifying sound. It shatters the night and the peace that has settled over the house. A scream.
Edmund has woken up.