I don't own Narnia or the Pevensies. I do own several advance chapters, a plan, and the will to finish this thing off. Sorry for the wait, everyone.

"Watch it!" Edmund snapped at Timothy (who had stepped on a branch, which had then risen on its opposite end to trip the young king) after a solid four hours of travel, through the muck and the grime of the relentless Void. To their backs, Lucy had long lost sight of the turrets and towers that had previously stretched above the walls of Tamitha, the city from whence they'd come. Now, all they could see was an endless stretch of seething green, ringing with the strange cries and groans of even stranger inhabitants. Only her faith in Peter's sense of direction and the convenient path which the Purple had marked out kept her from losing hope of reaching Susan in time.

"Are you holding up all right?" she asked Peter as he led them carefully through the wreckage of the Purple's path.

"Fine," he said. She hadn't really expected a real answer from him; the question had been more to make sure he knew she cared.

They continued on, skirting the oozing footprints of that the Purple had left behind, until it must have been past two in the afternoon and Peter finally agreed to take a rest. They stopped in a small clearing, beside a footprint but far enough away from it that no one stood the risk of getting a soggy bottom. Lucy noted that her previously swollen hand (a result of touching the tree slime the day before) had pretty much gone back to normal, but when asked, Edmund told her that the marks on her face from their encounter with the strange spider-like creature the day before had not disappeared, though they'd faded. Her healed arm felt a little strangely heavy, but it wasn't really anything to worry about.

The break lasted only ten minutes before the four of them were up again. With their path outlined, though it veered off far in front of them, their quest felt less aimless, more directed, as if their objective was in sight. Lucy guessed they had about three days left before Susan's wedding. If they continued at this rate, they should be at Tamas in less than two days' time, and then have a day in the city to figure out how to rescue Susan. But that was a big "if" – who knew what they would encounter before they reached the city? And once they were there, how would they get in? If it was anything like Tamitha had been, then the walls would be impossible to scale without some kind of inside help, of which they of course had none. But they'd play that as they'd played everything else – they'd figure it out when they came to it.

That day turned out to be a day of few surprises. Though the Purple's footsteps had left innumerous ooze pools on the forest floor, it seemed it had also scared away all the creatures that would have otherwise harried them on their journey, as well as having knocked down most of the trees that would have gotten in their way, and so when the four of them passed through this part of the Void, there was nothing to watch out for but that which was at their feet. Though once or twice one of them did slip into the ooze puddles, without skin contact it seemed harmless, and even Lucy's rash had faded. Compared to the previous day, the Void seemed positively harmless.

And so, when the sun had just slipped under the hidden horizon, still lighting the sky with its afterglow, Peter agreed to make camp around one of the footprints, and they settled down. Lucy, tired of being in charge of food, passed the job on to Timothy, while she took over his of helping Peter and Edmund to remove the most uncomfortable bits of their armor so that they could sleep easier. Then they sat down to eat. Timothy had chosen to make each of them a pleasant sort of half-sandwich, with cheese and selected vegetables on top of a piece of bread, while they shared the two remaining water canteens. They could still hear the river far off to the east, but no one had any desire to detour there to get more.

Dinner over, the quartet cleared a place on the debris-strewn ground and wrapped their cloaks about themselves. Lucy was still covered in grime and dried blood; she'd done the best she could, but knew better than to waste their drinking water on washing. They could do that once they reached the city, if they had time. Susan's life and well-being was much more important than Lucy's state of hygiene, despite what Susan would have probably had to say about the matter.

Yawning, Lucy rolled up in a little ball, Peter and Edmund on either side of her as Timothy took first watch. Tonight felt safer than the last, though Lucy didn't fancy that anything in the Void could be considered safe. Still, it seemed odd that no one had ever passed through alive – they must have been more than halfway, having made excellent time with their makeshift path, and the only thing that had really come close to killing them had been the pit creature. Then Lucy remembered the extent of her brothers' courage – not to mention her own – and how her cordial had actually been needed to save two of them so far, how Peter had been poisoned. Alone, no one stood a chance in here. Even Timothy, it seemed, had been absolutely necessary at times to get them through.

As she fell closer to sleep, Lucy wondered if that was why Aslan had not let Peter go on his own. Do not underestimate your siblings, the Lion had said. They are stronger than you think. Peter alone was a hero, a martyr sometimes, an unquestionably brave and selfless soul, but despite his strength, Peter was not invincible. He was possibly the most well-intentioned person Lucy knew, but like everyone else, he had failings. Peter was intelligent, but his mind did not have the quick, sharp deviancy of Edmund's. Peter was strong, but he had too many roles to play and he could not be rescuer to Susan and protector to his other siblings without Timothy to cover his back. And as for Lucy…well…Lucy found it hard to think nice things about herself without feeling very conceited and so she asked someone else instead.

Edmund groaned when she poked him but rolled over obligingly to face his sister.

"What is it?" he mumbled tiredly.

"Ed, how am I being useful?" she asked in a whisper.

"What?"

He sounded slightly cranky and confused. She tried again.

"How am I helping to rescue Susan?" she asked, hoping he'd understand this time. "Am I just…dead weight or am I actually doing something?"

"Oh," he said, tiredly reaching out a hand to rub her shoulder reassuringly as he opened his eyes to look at her. "Lu, we need you as much as we need anyone. I know this sounds dumb but…without you around it's easy to get…cynical. Feel like…there's no way to get anything done. You kind of push us along, you know? Give Peter and me a reason to stop fighting and get moving."

Lucy smiled softly as he pulled his hand back to the warmth of his own cloak.

"Thanks, Ed," she yawned as she settled back down.

"Anytime," said Edmund, rolling back over. The next bit was a grumpy grumble - "Unless I'm sleeping!"

Chuckling, Lucy fell into dreams.