Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the world of Narnia; everything belongs to C. S. Lewis.

A/N: As this is my first time writing about Susan and her part in the series, I'm not exactly sure how well it turned out; I believe I've captured her to the best of my ability, though. Also, if you're a fan of Robert Frost or The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, you'll probably recognize the phrase "nothing gold can stay".

Edmund's chapter will be up in a few days!

StarKatt427

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

Proverbs 4:23

Chapter Two: Susan

Susan is his practical heart.

As the second born and the eldest sister, Susan has always been motherly and a trifle skeptic, this a fact Aslan noticed long ago; she is the type of person who needs visible proof before she can believe in something. She came to him conflicted, a girl caught between childhood and the approaching reality of growing up, a flower on the verge of opening wide and blooming in radiant glory. And as she allowed the enchantment of Narnia to pull her in, Aslan saw her become a woman with the courage many queens do not know and the tenderness that led to him endowing her with the name Gentle.

Upon their first meeting, Aslan could see that she was still having some difficulty accepting that what revolved around her was real, but he did not worry; he knew she would soon find her confidence and faith, and when she raised her bow to fight of her own accord, Aslan knew she was his. On the Stone Table, she shed tears over his death and nearly did once more over his resurrection, and she charged into battle to do whatever she could to secure victory over the Witch and save her siblings and the world still so new to her.

Once upon a time, Susan was more than a monarch: she was a deadly archer, and with the bow given to her by Father Christmas that she placed her trust in, she never missed a target. Despite this, however, she lived up to her title by leaning towards a more diplomatic approach than war to solve difficulties.

But Aslan knows that nothing gold can stay, and so Susan's downfall began after she and her siblings fell back through the wardrobe and into England. There, she accepted that they would not be returning to Narnia, though she hoped to be wrong, and when her trust in Aslan began to fail, the appeals of womanhood replaced these needs. So when the four were called back to place Prince Caspian on the throne, it was Susan that was the last to finally see Aslan. By the time she was sent to Earth for the second time, not to return again until the final call, he could see that, though she still loved Narnia, there was a doubt growing inside her that even he had no control over, and this had concerned the Lion, filling him with a sense of foreboding. He had known what the outcome would be, and yet he continued to hope that his young lady, when once again summoned, would retain her belief in him.

Since then, Aslan has watched Susan and has seen her grow into a woman that he does not know, that is not Susan the Gentle, merely a shell of the queen she had been long ago. Over the last four years, he has watched her steadily lose her belief in magic and her faith in Narnia, in him, only to be replaced by the pleasures of adulthood: makeup and fashionable dresses and elegant parties and suitors. Aslan has witnessed her deny there ever having been a Narnia, declaring it to be nothing more than childish nonsense, and he has watched the consequences of her choice. He has seen the rift grow between her and her siblings, and he has observed the pain it has inflicted upon them. Peter, Edmund, and Lucy respect her decision, though they themselves cannot understand it, and Aslan sees the hurt in their eyes that mirrors their hearts, fresh and raw, causing them grief to mention even her name. That is what makes this so hard for him; he is always waiting to forgive Susan and bring her back into his embrace, but he cannot ignore the suffering she has brought upon the ones that love her.

Then, Susan was a logical person, as she is even now, headstrong and outspoken, and is still caring when it comes to her three siblings, though she is a part of something they never were or will be; is gifted with a brilliant mind and words that were once used for the betterment of her country, often peaceful but able to lose her temper much quicker than before. She is outgoing, more like Peter in that respect, and is not as easily amused as when she was a girl; beautiful and soothing and skilled, with the potential to be so much more than she has become; detached now, less sensitive and more small-minded. And yet even after all of this, there is still something within her that is not entirely corrupted.

So, as Aslan watches Peter lock away the old Narnia, he feels a deep, immeasurable sadness for his lost babe and the sparkling of a hope that she might yet be his once again.