I'm really sad; no one reviewed the last chapter. *sigh* and I thought I'll hit the hundred. Please let me know what you think, I NEED TO KNOW. Sorry, lack of sleep, I'm planning to finish this fanfic pretty soon ;) stay tuned.

Good reading!

Chapter XXVI

"What's taking so long?" Peter groaned, pacing the sitting room.

"Patience Peter, Adam is not done yet." Susan reprimanded.

"What's their history anyway?" Caspian asked Lucy who was transfixed on the pouring rain outside the windows. "Lucy?"

"It's not my place to answer that question." She answered absentmindedly, her gaze not wavering in the least.

"No, it is mine." They all turned to Adam, who entered the room, a grim expression on his face.

"You see me and Layla were childhood friends, when the Telmarines ruled, our alliance was with Calormen alone, but then you've taken Narnia back, and those ties suddenly claimed war on Narnia, at the same time that we signed the peace treaty between our two countries. She was like a sister to me; we were very close before and still were, even with the war raging. Our people were slaughtered, families broken, children made orphans. She got sick of all the cruelty of war, very much like I did. An attack was planned on our castle, and she warned me, asking me to flee, but I couldn't leave my people, my father, my mother behind. So I betrayed her trust, told every bit of information I knew to avoid bloodshed, but it was too late for that. They lost the element of surprise so the battle was even. My mother, the late Queen, fought alongside us, but was killed in the process," his eyes glistened at the memory "I witnessed the whole thing, and driven by rage, I killed the one who murdered her, seeing his life fade right fade right in front of my eyes," he took a deep, shaking breath, his clenching jaw showing his anger, but his eyes showed great pain, regret, " It was her eldest brother, the crown prince, she loathed me after that, not knowing all the truth just that I killed her brother, and until now she refuses to listen, guess I'll just have to keep trying, and if there's no other choice, we'll have to use dreadful measures." He sighed while shaking the dreadful feeling creeping into his soul, and then he smiled slightly "After she tried to murder me the first time, I grew depressed, I was but sixteen, that's when dear Lucy, literally knocked some sense into me." He heard chuckles at that, but he could see pain in the eyes surrounding him. No one noticed the valiant queen moving, until she stood right before the young prince, and took him in a tight embrace, whispering soothing words in his ears.

Caspian began to understand the cause of their tight bond as Peter and Susan watched their little sister fondly. The high king wondered the cause of Lucy's distraction and made his way to her former spot. There, in the training grounds under the soaking rain, his brother was beating training dummies with his two swords, with ferocity that clearly reflected his emotions. Peter couldn't take watching him like that. He excused himself, while Lucy watched him stalk out the room to where the just king was with knowing eyes.

'Dammit', that was all the just king could think about while destroying the poor objects. Not a day ago, everything was perfect. He couldn't believe that he would probably never get his Annabelle back, the sweet innocent young woman he knew. He felt like he was leaving a nightmare. All the times he got hurt in his life, physically and emotionally, were nothing compared to the stabbing pain deep in his heart, the stabbing pain that was caused by the biggest betrayal in his life. But that, that was not the cause of his fury, no his rage was caused by knowing that it wasn't Anne, like she was possessed, the rage was because he didn't know how to cure her, and burning red fury at not having anyone to blame for his beloved state. He wanted to know who was responsible, so that he would torture him into giving him what he wants, then let die in a slow painful death. His dark thoughts were interrupted by Peter clearing his throat. He didn't turn around, or acknowledge him, just continued his endeavor without care, after, for the first time noticing the pouring rain and his drenched state.

"How long are you going to fight defenseless toys?" the eldest shouted so he could be heard over the sound of rain.

"Leave me alone for now; you really don't want to anger me."

"Really? And you're not angry at this moment?" he asked sarcastically.

"I'm not having this conversation."

"Oh, and this is a conversation?"

Edmund clenched his jaw and turned towards his brother, his patience wearing thin. The glare he sent him made even Peter gulp, his sinister look accented by the dark hair sticking on his forehead. "What do you want?" he finally asked in a voice that barely contained the fury raging inside. The high king never thought of his baby brother as intimidating, but right at that moment he realized why his enemies feared him. His tall figure, past six feet, was adorned with hard muscles due to their extreme training, he spent hours fighting the dummies but looked only a little out of breath and his knuckles were white given how tightly he gripped both his swords.

"I thought you would like some action." He answered while taking out his sword.

"Leave me alone Peter." He turned and continued his previous trance.

"I'm sorry okay? For what I said earlier I'm sorry. I was angry, I wanted to blame someone, I blamed you," he laughed humorlessly "Your were the last person I needed to vent on, you know me, I have a temper, I don't think, I make too many mistakes, and I feel like a failure sometimes compared to you. And you have to admit I can be an airhead, but that is not the point, let me be your older brother, don't shut me out. I know I'm really bad at words. Can we just get to it?" he said irritably. He heard Edmund say something under his breath like 'impatient too' before the former, in a much clearer voice, reluctantly agreed to his brother's proposition.

They began dueling, neither saying a word, the only sound coming from their clashing swords. The just king had long since discarded one of his blades. His brother could tell only from his ruthless parrying, that he was not in his right mind. He did not think like he usually did, just sent blow after blow, barely keeping his emotions in check. But his eyes betrayed what he worked hard to hide, pain, agony, fury, helplessness and the list went on. Peter, after seeing an opening, quickly disarmed his brother, whose mind was no longer on the duel, but clearly on Annabelle. The dark haired young man sank to his knees, breathing hard with his head lowered while the other put a hand on his shoulder, saying only five words "We will get her back." And that was Edmund's breakdown, he clenched to his brother, while silent tears flowed from his eyes much to Peter's surprise. He never cried, never, not since he was a small child. Peter held his brother in an embrace, rubbing his back and saying soothing words that meant nothing and everything at the same time.

The bonding was watched from afar by Susan, who was smiling fondly at her hard headed brothers. The sitting room was still occupied by Lucy, Adam and Caspian who were talking softly, sitting by the fireplace.

"What did she tell you?" Lucy asked softly drawing the princess's subject.

"Nothing, she glared at me, gave me the cold shoulder. I tried to gauge a reaction from her, or any information, but all i got back was a lot of cursing with hundreds of colorful threats, the usual." He answered while shrugging.

"Do you think you can reason with her?" Caspian asked Lucy.

"I'll try, and I have a lot to say."

"Be careful." She answered him by a brief kiss and an 'always have been'.

Thirty minutes later, the valiant queen found herself in the prisoner's chambers (with the latest being royalty and all). The person in question was sitting tied to her bed post, giving her little room, to escape, attack or anything of the sort. Lucy made her way to a chair right across where the young woman was seated on the bed. After a pregnant silence, Layla spoke first:

"I'm not saying anything, you don't have to bother."

"That is not my sole purpose; I wanted to discuss some things with you."

"And that being?"

"Story time."

"I don't want to hear anything." Lucy ignored her and began:

"Long ago there were two childhood friends who cared about each other deeply, even when war was raging before their two countries, but tragedy tore them apart when the boy killed the girl's brother. And then began their long lasting hatred and loathing."

"You have a gift for counting stories, your highness." The princess said sarcastically, her face void of any emotion. Lucy contemplated her more with a neutral expression, neither one yielding. Not moving her eyes, the former continued:

"You see, that was the story as you know it, but let me count it from my point of view. Once upon a time, there was a prince who was best friends with a princess, their two countries, or rather the girl's father declared war on the other, due to what? Their peace treaty with a third party and that would be my kingdom."

"No, you're lying, Calormen went to war because Archenland was burning the corps at the border, and threatened various families there."

"I am not lying princess, all I'm doing is stating a fact that is well known and written in books. Anyway, back to our little tale shall we? Their friendship stayed solid, even through many obstacles. One threat in particular made the young girl scared for her friend's life, so she sought him then warned him of the danger. She expected him to run, leave his family behind, his people and just run. But he did like any honorable man would do; he protected his kingdom, and the life of many. But what he failed to protect was his mother's life who got killed on the battle field. Full of rage, and with one swing of his sword, the culpable was dead, lying in the same pool of blood as his mother's. When he returned to himself, only then did he look at the person he killed, and he stood shocked, staring at the unseeing eyes of no one other that the girl's own brother."

The princess only reaction was clapping and smirking: "Well done your majesty, but here's the thing about stories," she said while leaning toward her, "They are not real".

Lucy's expression darkened, a flash of anger burning in her eyes.

"They are as real as any truth can be. You see, what I hate are people who know something is wrong but still avoid seeing it. I call them cowards. If what I know is a lie, then how do you explain the depression Adam went through, how do you explain his own mother death? And the pain he felt afterward. And the guilt. HE BLAMED HIMSELF FOR AVENGING HIS MOTHER'S DEATH, WHILE YOU MOURNED FOR ONLY ONE, HE MOURNED FOR HIS MOTHER, YOU AND ABOVE ALL ELSE HIMSELF. I KNEW THE INNOCENT CAREFREE BOY THAT HE WAS, AND ALL OF THAT GONE DUE TO YOUR OWN SELFISHNESS, YOU TRIED TO KILL HIM MANY TIMES! THINK ON IT MORE, THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU."

"I STILL DON'T BELIEVE YOU." She screamed her mask of indifference gone. Lucy sighed inwardly in relief.

"Fine don't, I will not bring up the subject again, let's talk about this instead." She took out a parchment with Calormen's seal.

"What is that?" she asked confused.

"An official request for a peace treaty from the Tisroc himself."

"And? Our country clearly wants peace."

"True that is all Narnia seeks: peace. That is why the high king signed the agreement. But this, this is void. This parchment was meant to be sent while my siblings were seeking help from other countries. He tried to prevent us from going, under the pretence of wanting peace. Thank Aslan, the messenger was delayed, or else we would have been in battle by now. You may wonder why I think so; two weeks ago the Tisroc was preparing to attack, even sent assassins to do the job. We knew what he was planning before hand, so there the peace treaty comes in, so we can relax and lower our guard. But not everything went according to plan, now here we are as ready as ever while Calormen is rather calm, waiting for its opportunity. You see I'm not dumb but it took me half a day to collect the dots, while king Edmund would have taken less than an hour to figure it out. But now he is heartbroken, betrayed by the very person that claimed to love him yesterday and threatened to kill him today. I know you're not the one behind this, It is sorcery, by the same person who kidnapped her, I bet he did that to her. It was too easy to rescue her for it to be wrong. So, for the sake of our countries, say something."

Layla stayed silent for a while before she said:

"My father has been acting strange for the past three years, that is all I'm going to say, I do not trust you, I do not believe what you said about your precious Prince, but know this, all I want is for my people to be safe."

"They will be, once their princess learns how to trust and grows up." Lucy deadpanned "I will come back in the evening, and I will not come alone, Anne will be with me, conscious or unconscious depends on how she behaves. Now I will tell my companions what I found out."

With that she left, and Princess Layla went back to her thoughts.

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