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TWO | THE RETURN

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LUCY PEVENSIE SHOULD HAVE LOOKED WHERE SHE WAS GOING. Well, it was common knowledge that if you cross a road you're supposed to look both ways to stop themselves from getting hit... but the blaring of the car horn proved that Lucy had forgotten as she ran out onto the road.

"Watch where you're going!" The driver screamed as the young girl ran in front of his car, the girl smiling at him apologetically as she did so.

"I'm sorry." She shouts as she races across the street, her eyes looking round as she tries to spot her sister but seeing that she was currently nowhere to be seen.

Being as young and as little as she was, her oldest brother Peter wouldn't listen to her when she pleaded for him to stop - though she honestly thought that she should be used to people not listening to her at this point with all that she and her family had gone through. She also thought that she should be used to seeing Peter battered and bruised and picking fights, but she always held hope for her brother that he would see the light and understand what he was doing wrong.

Lucy sighed in relief as she saw her older sister Susan up ahead, the young girl sprinting to her sister who looked relieved to see Lucy to distract herself from the conversation she had been having with a boy Lucy didn't know. Reaching her sister, Lucy pulled on Susan's blazer as she began to catch her breath.

"You'd better come quick!" She stated, her eyes panicked as Susan waved goodbye to the boy as the two ran across the street to the train station.

Edmund Pevensie had been stood outside the train station when he saw his two sisters rush inside in a hurry, the raven haired boy furrowing his eyebrows as he followed his sisters in - seeing a large crowd in the center of one of the stone corridors. Edmund Pevensie grunted as he pushed his way through the crowd, surpassing his sisters as he saw his older brother Peter in a fight once again

Some things never change.

Edmund sighs as he runs in and joins the fight, both of his sisters reaching to grab his arms as he tackled one of Peter's bullies to the ground - hoping that for once he would get the appreciation from Peter he deserved for once again helping him.

"Edmund!" Lucy screams at him, Susan shaking her head at her brothers as she pulls her younger sister closer to her as she tries to shield her eyes from the fight when Edmund gets a blow to the face.

The two Pevensie boys continue to fight before a whistle is blown and a group of soldiers intervene and pull Peter off one of the other boys - his face stone cold as he sneers at Peter with an icy tone. 

"Act your age!"

The crowd disperses as the four Pevensie children are left in the stone corridor, Lucy immediately running to help Edmund up whilst Susan walks on as she scoffs at her brothers - clearly unamused by their repeated actions. The four don't say as word as they walk down the platform - Lucy ahead as she runs to an open bench near the front of the platform and perches on it - her siblings following after before Edmund sets down some luggage with a loud thud.

"You're welcome." Edmund remarks as he takes a seat next to Peter, the older boy scoffing as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"I had it sorted." Peter states, his three siblings shaking their heads at him, the same excuse he's used many times before.

"What was it this time?" Susan asked her brother, Peter turning to her as he sighed.

"He bumped me." He says simply, Lucy turning to him sharply with an incredulous look on her face.

"So you hit him?"

"No." Peter states as he ran a hand through his hair. "After he bumped me, he tried to get to apologize. That's when I hit him."

"Why can't you just walk away?" Susan asked with desperation in her eyes, Peter glaring at her.

"I shouldn't have to!" He declares before a sigh leaves his lips. "Don't you ever get tired of being treated like a kid?"

"Uh, we are kids." Edmund states with an eye roll, Peter scoffing as he stands up.

"Well I wasn't always." Peter sighs as he runs another hand through his hair. "It's been a year. How long does he expect us to wait?"

"I think it's time to accept the fact that we live here. It's no use pretending any different." Susan states, groaning as she looks up and notices the geeky boy from earlier approaching. "Oh no. Pretend like you're talking to me."

"We are talking to you." Edmund deadpans, Susan growing irritated as she watches as the boy approaches before Lucy jumps up - her hands going to her back as a shriek leaves her lips.

"Ow!"

"Be quiet, Lucy." Susan scolds as she looks at her sister, Lucy looking back defensively.

"Something pinched me!" Lucy states, Peter being the next to jump up as he shoves Edmund in the side.

"Hey, stop pulling!"

"I'm not touching you!" Edmund replies before both he and Susan screech as they jump up also, tugging behind them to try and find the source of the pinching.

"What is that?" Susan asks as she looks around again, her eyes widening as a train starts moving past them at an exhilarating speed.

"It feels like magic." Lucy shouts happily as her thoughts remain on the place her heart longed to go to the most as she smile.s

"Quick, everybody hold hands." Susan shouts as she clutches onto Lucy's, the youngest also grasping Peter's as the two Pevensie brothers look at each other - Edmund looking at him in disgust.

"I'm not holding your hand!" Edmund declares, Peter rolling his eyes at his petty attitude as he grabs Edmund's hand. 

The train races past, the Pevensie siblings holding on tight to each other as the bricks are pulled away in front of their very eyes. The luggage, the seat, the platform, and the station all completely vanish as the four Pevensies are left standing in a cave - looking out onto a beach. They cautious step out into the sunlight, their eyes darting around them for any form of familiarity but finding barely any as their eyes all look to the glistening azure in front of them. Susan and Lucy smile at each other,  the two bursting into giggles as they remove their blazers and shoes before they run off into the water.

Peter and Edmund follow in tow, the four continuing to jump into the water as they start playing without any worries in the world. Then, Edmund looks up, his eyes immediately darting to the ruins as he raises his eyebrow in question at what he saw. 

For a moment he thought he saw a silhouette, green flames dancing around them as they waved at the Pevensie boy - sending chills down Edmund's spine. Then he blinked at the silhouette was gone, Edmund shaking his head as he took a deep breath - trying to convince himself that he saw nothing at all. Edmund didn't know why he felt a familiar fear in his heart as he looked at the top of the ruins again, feeling eyes watching him as if they were waiting for him to arrive in the first place. It was a familiar feeling, something he hadn't felt since he first arrived to Narnia in the first place.

He felt her presence again.

But he knew it was impossible.

"Where do you suppose we are?" Edmund asked as he brushed the feeling off as he looked back at his siblings, Peter looking at him as if it were obvious as he smiled at his brother.

"Well, where do you think?"

"Well, I don't remember any ruins in Narnia." Edmund reasoned, the uneasy feeling of being watched still in his heart as all four of the Pevensies looked up and saw the ruins, Peter moving out of the water as he begins towards them.

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The four Pevensies, after finally making it up the hill - Lucy having to be carried half the way, begin to explore the ruins they saw from the beach. Lucy Pevensie walks around nostalgically, knowing there was something familiar about this place before her eyes spot an apple tree in the distance. Lucy picks an apple and takes a bite as she walks around, watching as Peter walks up some steps and looks around before she looks to the water they were previously playing in again.

"I wonder who lived here." She murmurs aloud, Susan stopping as she steps on something- reaching down and grabbing it as she eyes it with a frown.

"I think we did." The four children follow her look and note the golden chess knight that she held in her hand, brittle with age but there nonetheless.

"Hey, that's mine" Edmund states as he takes it off Susan and examines it. "From my chess set."

"Which chess set?" Peter asks, Edmund nudging his brother as a laugh escapes his lips.

"Well, I didn't exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley, did I?" He asks as Lucy looks over at the ruined dais before a gasp escapes her lips.

"It can't be." She murmurs before she runs over to the dais, her siblings following behind her before she begins to position them in oddly specific places before she looks at them with a frown. "Don't you see?"

"What?" Peter asks, Lucy sighing as she begins to maneuver around them,pointing things out to them as she did so.

"Imagine walls, and columns there and a glass roof." Lucy whispers as the group begins to look closer and imagining what Lucy said.

"Cair Paravel" Peter barely whispers, reminiscing of his past castle that he and his family lived in for many years. Edmund looks to his left before bends down and looks at something, a strangled gasp leaving his lips as hes sees something he didn't expect too.

"Catapults." He whispers to himself.

"What?"

"This didn't just happen." Edmund states with a horrified look. "Cair Paravel was attacked."

The boys run over to a remaining wall in the ruins and start moving it to reveal a door behind it. After failing to open it manually, Peters continues to break the door down - allowing entry into whatever secrets lay behind the door. Seeing how dark it appeared behind he door, Peter tears off a piece of his shirt and wraps it around a stick before he looks to Edmund .

"I don't suppose you have any matches in there, do you?" Peter asks, his eyes diverting to Edmund's bag - watching as the boy fumbled around for a moment.

"No..." He murmurs before he smiles and pulls out an electric torch. "but would this help?"

"You might've mentioned that a bit sooner!" Peter laughs as the four Pevensies step inside the hallways with Edmund leading the way. Lucy pauses in her step when she sees the familiar treasure chamber, and their four chests below still in tact from when they were last in Narnia. They sigh happily as they all rush down the stairs.

"I can't believe it. It's all still here." Peter murmurs as they all run over to their chests, Lucy pulling out a dress that was far too long for her now.

"I was so tall." She whines, Susan looking at her with a smile as she gives her a side hug.

"Well, you were older then."

"As opposed to hundreds of years later... when you're younger." Edmund states, a laugh escaping his lips as he spoke.

Peter blows the dust away from the item in his hands, the very shield he used in battle many years ago with the very same lion crest embedded on it. He sighs as he looks up to see the statue standing behind his chest, and slowly walks towards it.

"What is it?"

"My horn. I must've left it on my saddle the day we went back." Susan mutters whilst Peter slowly opens his chest, taking out his sword as he draws it.

"When Aslan bears his teeth, winter meets its death." Peter starts, Lucy smiling as she come behind her brother and hugs him.

"'And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.'" She finishes, a frown then settling on her face. "Everyone we knew... Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers... they're all gone."

"I think it's time we found out what's going on."

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After dressing themselves in more appropriate attire, the Pevensie children began to investigate the new Narnia - following across a riverbank in hopes of finding somebody with the answers to their questions. Peter immediately stops his siblings as he spots a longboat on the river, two soldiers and the dwarf Trumpkin occupying it. They watch carefully as the two soldiers both lift Trumpkin, about to drop him before Susan shoots an arrow into the side of their boat - startling them.

Susan quickly puts another arrow to the string as the Pevensies run onto the beach drawing their weapons, Lucy especially standing confidently as she prepares to throw her dagger like she had done in training once before.

"Drop him!" Susan shouts at them, the dwarf shaking his head as he muffles something inaudibly behind his gab before the soldiers drop the dwarf into the water. One of them then picks up a crossbow, and Susan shoots him. The other jumps into the water and swims away. 

The dwarf begins to sink to the bottom, and Peter dives in and pulls him to shore whilst Edmund quickly pulls the boat in. The dwarf squirms around on the sound before Lucy cuts the dwarf's bonds with her dagger, the dwarf standing up distastefully as he pulls the gag from his mouth.

"Drop him?" He screams at Susan, anger clear in his tone. "That's the best you can come up with?"

"A simple thank-you would suffice." She mutters, rolling her eyes at him whilst Trumpkin laughs bitterly.

"They were doing fine drowning me without your help.""

"Maybe we should have let them." Peter remarks, Lucy glaring at him before she gives the dwarf a small smile.

"Why were they trying to kill you anyway?" Lucy asked, the dwarf rolling his eyes at the group as he sighed.

"They're Telmarines. That's what they do." Trumpkin stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Telmarines? In Narnia?"

"Where have you been for the last few hundred years?" Trumpkin asked, directing his question to Edmund before looking to the whole group.

"It's a bit of a long story." Susan then proceeds to hand Peter his sword, Trumpkin noticing the hilt on it before he looks up at Peter. He then continues to survey the four of them.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." He muttered as he looked at them. "You're it? You're the kings and queens of old?"

"High King Peter the Magnificent." Peter holds out his hand, Trumpkin rolling his eyes at the formality and Susan slaps his chest.

"You probably could have left out the last bit." She murmurs, Trumpkin chuckling along.

"Probably."

"You might be surprised." He states as Peter then draws his sword, Trumpkin smiling at him.

"Oh, you don't want to do that, boy, I've trained those far stronger than you."

"Whilst I highly doubt that this is not for me, but him." Looking to Edmund with a smile.

Peter hands his sword to Trumpkin. He takes it and then the sword drops in the sand. Edmund smiles at Peter. Then suddenly, Trumpkin knocks Edmund's sword away and swings his own. Edmund ducks quickly, and Trumpkin hits him in the face before Edmund backs off.

"Edmund!"

"Aww, you alright?" Trumpkin asks sarcastically and Edmund only rolls his eyes.

They circle around each other and continue fighting, the sound of swords clanging ringing through the forest. Trumpkin slashes at Edmund's feet, but the King jumps with both feet off the ground so that the blow goes under them instead. A few seconds later, the Dwarf's sword flies out of his grip and Trumpkin stares before he falls down in the sand. Edmund only smirks before taking the dwarfs hand and pulling him up, looking at the dumbfounded look on the dwarfs face.

"Beards and bedsteads! Maybe that horn worked after all." He murmurs, Susan's attention snapping to him for a moment as she addresses the dwarf.

"What horn?"