Caspian and the Pevensies went back to the place where all the Narnians were working after Caspian showed them the cave. He was walking in front of them, letting the siblings talk among each other. All Caspian wanted was to talk to his sister and learn everything about the life she had here.

            He came back, searching for the spot they left Zola at, but she wasn't there anymore. Caspian just assumed she'd run off somewhere, as she always used to do. But then he saw a circle of Narnians forming a little further down.

            A centaur turned around, having heard the footsteps. "Come quick, Your Majesty!" He yelled.

            Caspian began running. The Pevensie siblings followed him in his tempo, also wanting to see what the commotion was about. The Narnians had stopped working, so it must've been something important.

            They made a pathway so that the five could come through. Trumpkin sat on his knees in the middle, next to a body not moving. But, Caspian's eyes widened as he recognised the clothes. "No..." He ran faster, falling down on his knees next to Trumpkin.

            The already pale face of his sister was even paler, as if she was a ghost. He grabbed her hand. No pulse. That's when he saw the bandage sticking out of the shirt. Normally, Caspian would never lift his sister's shirt out of respect, but this was a different occasion.

            He lifted the shirt to see the messily tied bandages around her waist covered in old and new blood. Caspian started loosening them until they were completely loose. He saw the wound, recognising it as a stab wound. He casted his teary eyes on the purple looking wound, then switched to Trumpkin.

            Trumpkin never cried. Ever. But right now, he was. "She never told us either, Your Majesty," He sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

            "No, no, no, no," Caspian rambled. He started to pump Zola's heart, in the hopes that she would come back to him. "Do not die on me now, Fran, please." He begged. Caspian's tears wetted her shirt.

            "It's been done, My Liege." Badger tried to pull him away from the body from behind. His head hung low, his voice sombre.

              "No!" Caspian screamed. "She cannot die now! Not now that I've got her back. Not my sister. She can't— I can't—" Caspian fell back, breaking down. He hid his face in his hand. He couldn't bare looking at his sister. Not now. Not like that.

            A small hand reached for his shoulder. Caspian flinched at the touch, he looked back. Lucy crouched own next to him, her hand still on his shoulder. She took something out of a pocket in her dress, a vial with fluid inside.

            "Have you ever heard the story about the juice of the fire flower?" Lucy asked softly, showing Caspian the small vial.

            Caspian shook his head slowly. "Only that it can cure any injury. But if she has no pulse, how is it going to help?"

            Lucy opened the vial anyway. One drop could cure any injury. So what if she did two drops? One for a heartbeat, one for the wound. Caspian held Zola's head back, her mouth opening slightly, as Lucy let two drops fall.

            They awaited a response anxiously. The other three Pevensies inched closer. Nothing happened.

            Still no pulse.

            The tiny bit of hope Caspian had was gone along with his sister. His sobs increased once again. The centaurs surrounding the scene sunk down on one knee as a memoir. No one wanted to see Zola go so soon.

            It was silent in the cave. Nobody talked. Nobody moved. It was as if the world stood on pause for the few minutes that it seemed like she was gone.

            But Zola Francesca wouldn't go so easily. All of a sudden, she coughed up the drops Lucy had given her. They tasted awful. The wound was healing so fast, she could see it growing shut. The pain was finally leaving.

            She laid on her side, holding herself up with her elbow to cough. "Goddamn," She breathed out and let herself fall back on the ground. Zola saw all the knelt centaurs. "What is this, some kind of memorial or something?"

            "We thought you were dead." Caspian said. He dried his eyes, allowing himself to smile again.

            "Well," Zola looked at her brother, teasing him. "You're not gonna get rid of me that easily."

            Zola went to the cave the Pevensies and Caspian checked out before. She traced her hand over the paintings that looked so alike to the Pevensies. In the cave laid something that looked like a broken down tomb stone. There were lions engraved all over the walls. Zola recognised it all as the sacrifice of Aslan.

            She walked over to the tomb, getting up to sit on there. Zola sat there staring ahead for a few seconds. She fell back on her back, shifting her gaze to the roof.

            Getting rid of all that physical pain so suddenly made Zola realise in how much mental pain she actually was. The wound had taken her attention off of the person who inflicted that. A tear rolled over her cheek, thinking about Jameson's life, but most importantly, his death.

            Even though he tried to kill her, she loved him. Having to kill him, destroyed Zola, but she was too busy to notice before.

            The brunette laid on the tomb stone, wiping her tears before they could fall from her face. There was no one in the room, so it wouldn't have mattered, but still, it was a habit. A princess couldn't cry. A princess couldn't show what she thought. Her uncle made that clear enough.

            A pair of footsteps entered the room, making Zola sit back up. Caspian smiled softly, his eyes were still puffy from before. His hair was a mess, but Caspian couldn't care less. "How are you?" He asked, coming closer.

            "Fine."

            Caspian adjusted Zola's hair, which was almost standing upright from lying down. "You're not fine," He said. "But whatever you wanna say. We've seen you know how to lie pretty well."

            "Cas," Zola's voice became clearer. But as she continued speaking her voice came out just above a whisper. "I had no choice. I trust you, but you alone in that castle. The chance of anyone else finding out was too big."

            Caspian's eyes softened. "I wish it hadn't been like that. I can't believe you had to do this for so long on your own. I— I mean, how long have you been coming here?" He started pacing around talking with his hands.

            As Zola replied with. "Seven years." The Pevensies and a few Narnians entered the room as well. They stayed quiet, but separated into the room.

            "Seven years?" Caspian yelled. He ran his hands over his face, pacing. Then, when he saw the others enter, he reminded himself to stay calm. Caspian took a deep breath, he closed his eyes momentarily. "S— so you've been here before. You knew about what uncle Miraz did here. What about Jameson? Does he know? Where is he?"

            The mention of Jameson's name on Caspian's tongue gave Zola a big lump in her throat, but she wasn't able to swallow it. She lost her balance, letting herself find support on the tombstone.

            "Who's Jameson?" Edmund asked. He was the first of the people that came in to talk.

            "Her boyfriend."

            Zola corrected. "He was my boyfriend," Caspian looked at her with big eyes. He was confused to say the least. Zola continued. "Tell me truthfully, how do you think I got the wound?"

            Caspian shrugged. "I don't know, I assumed you'd gotten it after we were separated."

             Zola's voice became sterner. "Wow. Well, knowing that I didn't, what do you think?"

            "I'm sorry, Fran, this doesn't make any sense—"

            "That's right, it doesn't!" Zola yelled. Her voice finally cracked as her eyes filled themselves with tears. She turned to the Pevensies and, in time, to the Narnians. "Let me tell you something. Jameson Grey was no hero. Our uncle was extremely manipulative. James was easily manipulated. Boom! Next thing you know, he's got him slicing up people."

            "What are you saying?" Susan asked hesitantly.

            Zola met Edmund's fearful eyes. She dried her eyes as her expression went completely blank. "He stabbed me, so I killed him."

            "What?" Caspian fumed. He'd always tried to protect his little sister from any killing. At first, he wanted to protect her from fighting also, but he noticed that wasn't going to happen.

            Caspian wanted to yell something else, but was interrupted by a centaur running in. He was one of the centaurs standing guard outside. "Sir."

            "We're kind of in the middle of something right now—" Caspian stopped his sentence, trying to remember the centaur's name.

            "Theodore," Zola said, annoyed. "His name is Theodore. Get your facts right."

            "Sir," Theodore said again, this time more confident. "They've surrounded us."

not me saying i got my motivation for this book back and then not publishing for 2 months 💀💀

anyway this was my attempt at writing a sad scene. lets just say it was better in my head