I am honestly so sorry for the delay, but the time in between the last few chapters will be quite long, due to the amount of work I have to do at the moment. I've changed the ending to fit in with my story, so I hope it all works out.

I hope you like this chapter! The next one is the epilogue!

Enjoy!

"Narnians!"

On deck, the crew of the Dawn Treader looked out to the rapidly disappearing mist and saw boats of people were making their way towards us.

"Mummy!"

"Helene!"

I looked over to my left and saw Gael was looking joyfully at the boats, as was her Father, standing just behind her.

The next thing I knew, Gael and Rhince had jumped into the ocean and were swimming as fast as they could towards one of the boats, where a pretty woman was smiling and leaning towards them.

Edmund wrapped his arm around Lucy's shoulders in a hug as we all watched Gael, Rhince and Helene reunite.

"Let's help them on board!" Caspian ordered, as the crew began to move into action once more. "Clear the deck!"

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked upon the small family, a smile on my face, as Caspian moved to stand beside Lucy.

"We did it," Lucy grinned at the three of us. "I knew we would."

"It wasn't just us though," Edmund added after a moment's pause.

"You mean..." Caspian trailed off.

"Hey! I'm down here! Lucy! Over here! Lucy! I'm in the water!"

I exchanged a confused look with Lucy, before we walked across the deck to the other side and peered over the edge, into the ocean.

"Eustace!" Lucy exclaimed happily.

"I'm a boy again!" Eustace shouted, treading in the water to make sure his head was kept above the surface. "I'm a boy!"

"Eustace," Reepicheep scampered up beside us happily. "I see your wings have been clipped." And with a gleeful cry, he jumped into the water as well. "Where sky and water meet, where waves grow ever sweet...It is sweet, it's sweet! Look!"

I followed Reepicheep's gaze and saw that there was a band of white on the horizon line.

"Aslan's country," Caspian answered Edmund's questioning look. "We must be close."

"Well, we've come this far," Edmund said, squeezing my hand.

It was decided that Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, Reepicheep and I would be the ones who would travel to Aslan's Country, through the sea of white lilies in a small rowing boat.

"So what was it like," Edmund began speaking to Eustace, "when Aslan changed you back?"

I knew Edmund was referring to when Eustace was a dragon, so I leaned forwards slightly, interested in hearing Eustace's view whilst being a dragon.

"No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't do it myself," Eustace replied earnestly. "Then he came towards me – it sort of hurt, but it was a good pain, like when you pull a sore from your foot. It wasn't all bad, being a dragon, I mean, I was probably a better dragon than I was a boy really. I'm so sorry for being such a sop."

"It's okay Eustace," Edmund grinned. "You are a pretty good dragon."

I gently elbowed Eustace in the ribs from where I sighed beside him, all of us sharing the same grin.

"My friends, we have arrived," Reepicheep informed us.

I looked in between Edmund and Caspian's shoulders and saw, past the bow of the boat, the white lilies had stopped and there was a stretch of sandy beach, before a large wave.

The boat drew closer to the shore, before stopping at the bank. Reepicheep leaped off the boat and began scurrying along the shore, as Edmund and Caspian placed the oars in the boat.

As I stood up to get out of the boat, Edmund held out his hand for me to take. He helped me onto the shore, and I kept his fingers twined with mine as we began following Reepicheep.

The winds were strong as we walked closer towards the large wave, which always seemed to be breaking, but never moving forwards. Over the top of the wave, I caught glimpses of waterfalls and high mountains, but the wave always seemed to block me from getting a better view.

"Aslan."

I looked at Eustace, before spinning quickly to see the great lion walking just behind us all. He seemed larger and more regal than the last time I saw him, but his voice still held the same kind roughness underlying it.

"Welcome, children; you have done well, very well indeed; you have come far. Now your journey is all, but at an end."

"Is this your country?" Lucy asked him.

"No, my country lies beyond."

"Is my Father in your country?" Caspian asked, keeping his eyes on the wave.

"You can only find that out for yourself, my son. But you should know that if you continue, there is no return."

Caspian began walking forwards until he reached the wave, standing ankle deep in clear blue water. He stretched out his hand until his fingers were inside the wave, watching them closely.

"Is he going?" I asked Edmund, looking up at him with worried eyes.

Edmund looked down at me, tightening his grasp on my hand as he looked back up to Caspian.

However, Caspian pulled his hand away and turned around, walking back towards us with tears glimmering in his eyes.

"You're not going?" Edmund asked the question on his, Lucy's, Eustace's and my mind.

"I can't imagine my Father would be very proud that I gave up what he died for; I've spent too long wanting what was taken from me, and what I was given. I was given a kingdom, and people." He looked at the great lion. "I promise to be a better King."

"You already are," Aslan replied, before turning to us. "Children."

Lucy stepped forwards with a smile, wanting to stay forever in Aslan's Country. However, Aslan looked towards the wave, so I followed his gaze and gasped at the sight.

Peter and Susan were walking towards us from the wave, their ankles wet from the water, but other than that, they were bone dry. Peter was wearing a simple shirt, breeches and boots, whilst Susan wore a green flowing dress – they looked as if they had just been out for a stroll together, as they did in the afternoons.

"Peter! Susan!" Lucy cried, before she and Edmund ran forwards to hug their older siblings.

Once done with the greetings, the four Pevensie siblings walked back over to where I still stood with Eustace, Caspian and Aslan. Peter and Susan were surprised to see Eustace, but greeted him, and Caspian, happily, before bowing to Aslan.

"My dears, your time here has come to an end," Aslan told us solemnly.

I sucked in a breath as I heard the news – that meant I would be leaving Edmund.

"But Aslan, why are we leaving?"

"You have all grown up, dear one," Aslan replied.

Before Lucy could say anything else, Reepicheep stepped forwards.

"Your eminence," he took off his feather and bowed to Aslan. "Ever since I can remember, I have dreamed of seeing your country. I've had many great adventures in this world, but nothing has dampened that yearning. I know I am hardly worthy, but with your permission, I would lay down my sword for the joy of seeing your country with my own eyes."

Aslan smiled upon the small mouse, tenderness shining in his golden eyes.

"My country was made for noble hearts such as yours, no matter how small their bearers may be."

After a fond farewell, Reepicheep left his sword in the ground and climbed into a small boat, before paddling over the crest of the wave and into Aslan's Country.

Aslan turned to look at us after Reepicheep vanished from view, more specifically at Peter.

"I think it is time for us to go home," he stated, his blue eyes showing sadness in them. "We were given a second chance last time, but our family needs us."

"But I thought you loved it here," Lucy turned to him.

"I do, but I also love Finchley, and our parents."

"You will stay with us, in England, won't you?" Susan asked Aslan.

"I am known by another name in that world, and you must first learn that name, but I will always be watching over you."

"Will Alena be coming with us?" Lucy asked, walking over to me and holding my hand.

"She will be leaving Narnia, yes, but will return to her time," Aslan answered, an almost sadness hiding in his eyes.

Tears burned behind my eyes as I listened to Aslan's words, before Lucy wrapped me in a tight hug, her shoulders shaking with inaudible sobs.

"I hate to sound selfish," Eustace spoke up. "But will I return?"

"Narnia has need of you yet."

Lucy walked over to Aslan and hugged him tightly, as Peter and Susan followed her, waiting to say their goodbye to the Great King.

"I'll see you sometime," I told Caspian, as the Telmarine King pulled me into a hug. "Oh, and make sure you go back to Lilliandil, otherwise I'll come back here and give you a beating," I threatened him humorously.

He chuckled, before parting and going to say goodbye to Eustace. I hugged Susan, Peter, Eustace and Lucy, feeling the tears start to slip out of my eyes as I said goodbye to the people I had seen as my family.

After bowing to Aslan, I turned around and saw Edmund was watching me, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"Oh Edmund," I whispered, before throwing myself into his arms, hugging him tightly and burying my face into his shoulder.

He pressed his face into my neck, and I felt his shoulders shake as well as mine.

"I love you, so much," he told me, pulling back slightly to look me in my eyes.

I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his, not wanting to leave him at all.

"I love you too," I replied, knowing tears were falling steadily down my cheeks.

Edmund held my face in his hand and wiped my tears away, before pressing our foreheads together.

"It's time," Aslan's voice broke our moment.

I kissed Edmund once more, before stepping back and looking at the great lion.

Aslan roared at the wave, causing a long tunnel to form inside it.

"Come on," Edmund said, holding Lucy's hand, and mine.

With Eustace, Susan and Peter, we all began to make our way towards the tunnel, all of us fighting back tears.

Once inside, we all paused to look back at our last glimpse of Narnia.

"The next time I see you, we'll have our wedding," Edmund told me, kissing my left hand and the ring on my fourth finger.

"Wedding?" Susan and Peter exchanged a confused look.

"I'll tell you later," Edmund grinned, before the tunnel around us collapsed, and we were all separated in the cold waters.

"Alena. Alena. Alena!"

I jerked awake with a gasp, and found my Mother looking down at me with worried eyes.

"Thank goodness you're awake," she gushed, hugging me tightly.

"Mum," I said, surprised at how comforting she was being.

"I'm so glad you're alright – you've been in a coma for days and –"

"Hold on, a coma?"

"Why yes – you were found lying in the middle of a forest – what were you thinking? Having a walk in a forest during a storm, we're not at home sweetie."

"I know, I was at my Aunt and Uncle's house," I replied.

"No you weren't – your Aunt and Uncle live in York, and we're staying in Kent, remember?"

My blank look must have been a good enough answer for her.

"The Doctor's did say you probably would have some temporary memory loss," she muttered, almost to herself.

That was when I realised I was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a beeping machine.

"Well, you'll hopefully be let out of hospital later on today, once they see you're awake, won't that be great?"

I nodded without thinking, my mind on Edmund and how much I missed him.

My Dad came in to visit me, with the Doctor, before they all left to give me some time to myself.

As soon as they walked out of the room, I looked at my left hand and saw my engagement ring was missing from my finger.

"No," I muttered, desperately feeling on the chain around my neck to see if it was hanging there with my necklace, but it wasn't.

I sank back onto the pillows with tears streaming silently down my face; the only physical reminder of my times in Narnia and with Edmund was gone, and I didn't know where it could possibly be.

The fact that it was my engagement ring was worse, and losing it made me feel like I was betraying Edmund's love somehow, and Edmund himself.

I closed my eyes and pressed my face into my pillow, trying to ignore the tugging at my heart as I thought about my missing engagement ring.

Slowly, I fell into a fitful, but dreamless sleep.

The next morning, after I had been discharged from the hospital, and my parents took me home straight away.

Five years passed since I left Narnia, and I never felt truly whole again. My life had been turned upside down, but to please my parents and get them to stop worrying, I threw myself into my studies, and excelled all of my predicted grades.

I was even accepted into Cambridge University – but instead of studying maths, which was my original plan, I decided to study Medieval History. Because I had lived in Narnia for a while, I knew more about the medieval period than anyone else in my class did, and I surprised my tutors, who constantly asked me about my extensive knowledge on this period.

I just told them it was my favourite period and I had studied about it when I was younger, and the information had just stayed in my mind.

During the gap between my second and third year at Cambridge, I accompanied my parents on a trip to Finchley, to see if they were prepared to move there once my Dad retired.

I loved it in Finchley, but it took me a week to pluck up the courage to research the Pevensies.

On a brilliant Saturday morning, I found myself walking to Finchley Town Hall and asking the woman at the desk if there were any records I could look at.

She kindly pointed me in the right direction, allowing me to take out some of the old books and sit at a large desk, flicking through the book.

As I sat down, my fingers automatically began trying to fiddle with the missing engagement ring. I glanced at my hand and wished more than ever that I could find a way to be with Edmund once more.

Turning one of the large pages, an image on a stuck in newspaper caught my eye – it was a photo of the Pevensie siblings, along with their parents, and two portrait miniatures of an old man and an old woman.

I quickly scanned the article, and gasped as I read the writing – it said that Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie, three of their four children (Peter, Edmund and Lucy), a Mr. Digory Kirke and a Miss. Polly Plummer were the only residents of Finchley who were killed in a terrible train crash, when one of the trains derailed on the subway, killing many of the passengers on board and the waiting passengers on the platform.

I looked down at the paper, furiously wiping the tears away from my eyes, before I closed the book and placed it back on the shelves.

"Did you find what you were looking for dear?" the woman at the desk asked me.

"Yes, thank you," I replied, giving her a small smile.

I walked out of the Town Hall in a daze, feeling the tears slip down my cheeks, not realising that I had stepped into the road. I looked at the car that was speeding towards me, the owner panicking and trying to break, and at a police officer, who called out in fear, before my world turned into a blast of agony, before going very still, very quiet and very dark.

"I'm sorry to inform you of this news," the police officer said to Mr. and Mrs. Jones.

The Mother of Alena Jones, a young woman who had been killed during a car crash, was sobbing into her husband's shoulder, whilst he stared blankly at the wall.

The police officer telling them the news felt incredibly sorry for the couple – losing their only child must have been hard on them, but the officer felt slightly glad that the young girl had been killed instantly, rather than suffered for hours, but he was still slightly distraught at witnessing the whole thing.

You see, he had been on his morning patrol, and was chatting to one of the older residents of Finchley, when he happened to hear a car horn. He looked up and saw a young woman, no older than eighteen, standing in the middle of the roar, watching the car zoom towards her. He cried out and lurched forwards, as if to stop her, but it was of no avail.

It wasn't the accident itself that had unnerved him – and it took a lot to unnerve this man – but that fact that the girl had looked at the car with some deep, yet ancient, sadness in her eyes, as if she had lost a love. In fact, she reminded the fellow of the photos of his grandmother, who lost her fiancé in the wars – the old woman and the young Lady both had the same sadness hidden in their eyes, and it was this fact that made the man feel even worse about the accident.

I opened my eyes, and immediately, my sight was assaulted by the brightness of the sunlight.

Slowly, I sat up and rubbed my eyes, before taking in all of my surroundings.

I was sat in a grassy meadow, wearing a deep blue Narnian gown, with a silver underskirt, silver sleeves and silver linings, and my hair was in curls with the front strands pulled off my face.

I climbed to my feet and suddenly realised where I was standing – it was the meadow where Lucy and I would have afternoon tea with some of the Dryads and Fauns.

I was in Narnia.

With a grin on my face, I lifted up my skirts and began running in the direction of the castle, wanting to be reunited with my home.

After what seemed like minutes of running, even though it was probably hours and I felt no weariness, I drew to the gates of the castle.

I slowed my pace down as I got inside the courtyard, and looked around – it was the same as I had remembered it the last time I was in Narnia.

"Alena!"

I looked up at the happy cry, just as a flurry of auburn covered my vision, and I was engulfed in a very tight hug.

As I parted, tears shone in my eyes as I looked at the younger of the two Pevensie sisters, whose eyes also shone with unshed tears.

"I'm so glad you're here," Lucy gushed, keeping a firm grasp on my hands.

"I am too," I replied, matching her grin with ease.

"Come on, I'll take you to the others – on the way, you can tell me what happened whilst you left," she looped her arm through mine, and we began to retrace the familiar path to the study Edmund and Peter shared.

Along the way, I explained to Lucy about my studies, living without Edmund and how I came to be here.

"Speaking of here, where is here; it's like Narnia, but it's not," I asked her.

"This is Aslan's country – it's a place we came when we died, I suppose it's our version of heaven," she replied.

Before I could ask her anything else, she opened the doors to the study, and pulled me in.

A blonde head and a brown head looked up, before a pair of blue eyes and a pair of brown eyes widened in shock.

"Alena," Edmund breathed, as he stood up shakily.

Peter, who was more composed than his younger brother was at that moment, strode towards me and gave me a strong hug, spinning me around once.

"It's good to have you back, sister," he placed a brotherly kiss on my forehead, before turning to Lucy. "We'll give them a moment of privacy."

I was vaguely aware of the door shutting, but I was too focused on the young man, who was still stood by his desk.

"Hi," I smiled, clasping my hands together.

He stood still for a moment, before he swept me up in his arms. I hugged him back as he set me on my feet, and leaned down to kiss my lips. I kissed him back fervently, enjoying the fact that I was with him once more, and this time, it was forever.

"You're here."

"I'm here."

He shook his head in disbelief, before stepping back, holding my hands together.

Edmund holding my hands made me remember my missing ring.

"Oh, Edmund – I couldn't find my ring; I must have lost it in the transition from Narnia to England – I woke up and I didn't have it!" I cried.

Silently, Edmund reached into his leather pouch and pulled out my engagement ring, which shone brightly in the Narnian sun.

He slid it onto my fourth finger, and I smiled at the familiar weight of it once more.

"You remember my last words?"

I nodded, feeling my smile widen as he cupped my cheek in one hand.

"Well then," here, he raised his voice to Lucy and Peter, who must have been standing just outside the room. "Lu, how do you fancy planning a wedding?"

With a shriek of happiness, Lucy ran back into the room, Peter on her heels, and pulled us both into a hug.

"Of course!"

Peter joined in, wrapping his arms around everyone as the joy spread through the air.

"Congratulations," he smiled. "And when do you want the wedding?"

"As soon as possible," I grinned at Edmund.

This story is nearly at an end now – and I can't believe it!

Stay tuned in for the wedding of Edmund and Alena!

Thanks for reading,

Alexandra.

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