As soon as everyone had gotten situated inside the mound, Mallory and Logan came running in, panting.

"Where have you two been?" asked Susan suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"We were, uh, collecting firewood!" said Mallory, nodding furiously. Logan's face was bright red as he stared at the wall behind everyone.

"Uh-huh…" said Darby slowly, giving Mallory a knowing look.

"We were!" she squeaked.

"Whatever," said Darby. She turned to Peter. "You do realize that we have to hold off the Telmarine army."

"That, or we ambush them," said Edmund.

"Here, is there anywhere where we could gather the leaders of each group?" asked Peter to Caspian. "I mean, where are we?"

Caspian gave them all a surprised look. "You do not know?" He took a torch, lit it, and beckoned for all of them to follow him. He led them through many dark tunnels, and when the light of the fire would hit the wall, pictures could be seen.

"That's Mr. Tumnus!" cried Lucy, pointing to one of the pictures. "And there's…there's us?" she said, but more as a question. There, standing next to the Pevensies in the painting on the wall, were four figures who clearly looked like Alyssa, Mallory, Maddie, and Darby.

"W-wait a minute," said Alyssa, paling in the face. "How is that us? How could we have come here before and not remember?"

No one answered her. Everyone there was looking at Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy, who were staring at the four girls as though they recognized them. Then, without any warning whatsoever, the Pevensies blinked.

"I'm sorry," said Peter. "I do recognize you all but with some of you…well…"

"We'll tell you all later," said Edmund hastily. "C'mon, let's get this ambush planned."

Confused but putting it out of their heads for the time being, the four girls followed Caspian as he continued to lead them deeper into the mound. At last they reached a rather large room with a broken table in the middle of it. The walls held sculptures of a Lion.

"The Stone Table," whispered Mallory.

Caspian nodded. "We call this place Aslan's How… You all stay here. I'll gather everyone we need." Before leaving, Caspian smiled at Alyssa. He was gone as Alyssa was about to return it.

As soon as everyone was gathered, the talking began immediately. Battle tactics and plans were formulated, both for if they all stayed at the How to defend it or if they attacked the castle. "We have home field advantage here," said Caspian.

"Look, we appreciate everything you've done, but this isn't a fortress, it's a tomb," said Darby, taking the words right out of Peter's mouth.

"You all are acting like there are only two options," said Maddie. "Dying here, or dying there." Lucy beamed at her, glad Maddie understood her views.

"You're not listening—"

"—no, you're not listening, Peter," said Maddie. "Aslan will come and help us."

"Well, I'm sick of waiting for someone who doesn't exist," said Trumpkin. Logan patted him on the back, to let him know that he agreed.

Peter, avoiding Lucy and Maddie's eyes, said, "I think we've waited long enough." Peter stalked out of the tomb room. Darby got up as though to follow him, but Maddie grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"What?" hissed Darby.

"You know that Lucy's right, Darby."

"Yeah, well, maybe I…forget it," muttered Darby, averting her eyes from where Peter exited. "Peter gets the final say in everything. He's the High King, remember?"

Maddie was about to protest, but Alyssa interrupted her. "Drop it, you two. C'mon now, let's prepare for battle." She followed Caspian out of the room to go prepare the final blueprint with him and Peter. Darby scurried after them as well.

Logan groaned in frustration. "What the fu—"

"Fudge!" Maddie said quickly, widening her eyes and gesturing towards Lucy, who was furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"Right, fudge," said Logan, rolling his eyes. "They know that Lucy is right! I mean, why would they deny her idea?"

"Mmm…not necessarily," said Mallory.

"What?"

Mallory stared him down. "I love you, Logan, but this is what's supposed to happen in the story."

"Just because it's supposed to happen doesn't mean it will," said Maddie. "We're not supposed to be here, remember?"

Meanwhile, Alyssa and Caspian had just left to help Trumpkin and Reepicheep hand out weapons. The two of them plus Darby and Peter had been finalizing the blue print and planning on sharing it during dinner. Darby stepped side-to-side nervously. She didn't know whether she should leave now or wait for Peter, who was leaning forward with his hands on a rock; his hair was masquerading his face. Darby was about to leave unnoticed when Peter muttered, "Wait."

"Yes?"

When Peter looked up, butterflies formed in her stomach… His eyes had never looked more loving.

"Peter?"

He stepped around from behind the rock, walking until he stood right in front of Darby. He stared deep into her eyes.

Darby said nothing, completely mesmerized.

Finally, Peter broke the silence. "Darby, do you remember the paintings on the wall?"

She was about to reply with something sarcastic, but she decided it was best not to say anything.

"And my brother and sisters… They remember you and your friends too… But I remember you as my wife when we were older."

As soon as he mentioned that, Darby's memory started to work. She was taken through flashbacks, each one featuring her with Alyssa, Maddie, Mallory, and the Pevensies… There they were with the Beavers… They there were travelling to Aslan… There they were in battle… It was all flooding back to Darby, but the last image she saw was one where she seemed a few years older… Peter was approaching her, and their lips were about to meet…

Darby jumped, gasping. That was the night Peter had proposed to her. They hadn't even kissed before that, and Peter had told her that he loved her.

Peter had been watching avidly the entire time as Darby had gone back into the past. "Do you remember?" he asked eagerly.

Darby kept nodding mutely until she found her voice, and even then it only came out as a whisper. "Yes."

Smiling like Aslan had appointed him High King all those Narnian years ago, Peter put a hand behind Darby's neck. He tilted her head upwards, and they both got closer and closer…

"PETER!" came a sudden voice, screaming. Alyssa ran into the room, panting. "Peter, you need to come quick and stop…a fight…" She just noticed the way Darby and Peter were situated. Darby jumped away and sent eye daggers at Alyssa, who mouthed "Sorry" and continued. "Anyways, Peter, two of the soldiers are fighting, you better come quick!"

Peter followed Alyssa out, and Darby shakily sat down on the ground, wondering what the hell had just happened back there.

In the weapons room, Alyssa left Peter to deal with the two arguing soldiers while she stood by Caspian. "All right, stop!" yelled Peter.

"We could collect nuts!" shouted the Squirrel, balling his fists up in anger.

"Yes, and throw them at the Telmarines!" countered Reepicheep, rolling his eyes. "Shut up."