15

A TROUBLESOME YEAR

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With a gasp, the girl awoke in a foreign land. For as far as her grey eyes could see, Alexandra could only make out the soft splash of still water as her feet moved on the surface of it all. It was a strange feeling at first, walking on water. It made the girl feel lifeless and weightless as if she was as light as air.

"What-" she muttered in disbelief as she continued to look down at her body. Where there had just been her bloodied armour from the war, there was now a dress as white as her hair that flowed loosely around her knees.

Alex shifted her attention to in front of her where she could once again see water, but this time it was built up in a wall that she could see clearly through the luminous blue. Behind the curtain of waves, a land that conveyed such beauty and power had been neatly situated without a single imperfection. Though her body was so far away, she could see how perfectly each blade of grass had been set or how each wisp of the clouds above fluffed in immaculate white beams.

"It isn't your time," a voice echoed throughout her head; the volume at first was overpowering yet so soft, it was almost enough to inflict pain, "Turn back now, whilst you still can."

"Who goes there?" Alex asked loudly as she turned around to attempt to find the source of the voice.

There was a gentle splash below her as a source of pure white energy burst through the surface of the water and floated up to be at the same height as Alex. She was in complete shock and awe. But that wasn't all, right before her eyes Alex watched as the ball of energy started to shift into the form of a small girl around the age of thirteen, "Take my hand," the girl smiled at Alex truly, "I will return you to Narnia."

"We aren't in Narnia?"

The girl simply turned to face the land behind the water, her brunette curls swaying weightlessly behind her, "We are far from it but not far at all. We are below and we are above. We are within but also without."

"That-" Alex's brows tugged up with confusion, "That makes no sense at all, how could that even be possible?"

"This land is the most sacred within the whole universe, Alexandra Dawson. You too will be here one day, but now is not the time. Now you have to return to Narnia to finish what you have started. There are people there that need you to wake up," her hazel eyes turned back to Alex who continued to be confused, "Just take my hand, we can go back."

"We? I don't even know your name," Alex stepped towards the curtain of water that compelled her forward.

"My name is Tatiana, that is all you need to know."

Without listening to what the girl was saying, Alex's hand reached out for the water and watched as it frayed away from her finger to open a rift to the mystical land that she craved to visit.

"Alexandra!" Tatiana called out abruptly with fear dripping with each word, "This is a one-way ticket, once you travel past the walls then you may never return. Not even at the call of Susan's horn. You may- Alexandra!"

Tatiana ran forward and gripped the girl's hand to pull her back, earning a cold glare from Alex who looked as if she would harm if Tatiana went any further with the threats.

"Let go of me!" Lexi tried to pull her hand away from the tightening grip of the girl who's eyes started to glow the brightest blue she had ever seen, even brighter than her own when under the Witch's influence.

Incoherent words in an archaic language spilt from her pale lips that Alex could have sworn had been a bright red just seconds ago. The fearful girl tried even harder to pull back but couldn't, not with the strength of the child grasping her hands. With each word that left her mouth, the girl got weaker and weaker until she was nothing.

Tatiana had disappeared without a trace.

Alex turned frantically in search of the girl but couldn't find anything. With a sigh of defeat, the girl's pale fingers brushed over the wall that separated her and the lands filled with green trees, golden beaches and clear water.

Suddenly, the temperature around her dropped. As her thumbs made a connection with the water she found that it started to freeze outwards from the point of contact. The frost spread quickly across all the water until it was a wall of ice separating the two. The ice itself was shiny, quickly becoming a mirror. Alexandra's eyes widened at what she saw.

A gasp left her lips as she brushed her fingers through her hair which was no longer the white that she had hated her whole time in Narnia, but it was now the bright red that she had inherited from her mother and her grandmother and most likely her great grandmother. Even the vibrant emerald in her eyes had come back which alerted her.

For the first time in years, Alex was truly happy with the way she looked. The white hair and faded eyes made her feel terrible, it was just a constant reminder that she was a monster and stuck in a land that had been nothing but bad for her.

Happily, the girl jumped back with the biggest smirk on her face. But as soon as she did, her feet broke the surface and she fell below the depths where all she could do was sink deeper and deeper through the ocean. Her hands balled up with muffled screams. She even found that as he hands tried to grip the water to pull her up, waves of ice were sent from her palms which froze the surface of the water above her.

She had no escape.

The water seeped into her lungs and replaced her air quickly as she struggled. With each squirm and cry, she sunk even more to the point of no escape.

But that wasn't her priority. Falling unconscious was.

A deep breath filled her lips as she shot up in her bed, Alex could feel the trickles of sweat drip down her spine and her temples as her hair stuck to her face in a fury of red curls. Just by the owl cooing outside and the lack light shinning past her curtains, Alexandra guessed that she had hardly slept at all, maybe an hour or two but nothing long enough to bring her into breakfast time.

Days like these were harder than most, they were longer too. Regardless, the sleepless girl started to get ready for the day ahead of her by combing through her red locks and braiding the front sections behind her head. As she stared into the mirror she let her fingers skim over the dark circles around her eyes, silently wishing for makeup to cover them up, but also checking the colour of her eyes.

It had been a whole year since the night of the coronation yet the only thing to change was Alex.

She would constantly check them, hoping that they would stay the emerald green that they had been since her resurrection. If they dimmed to the grey that she hated then it was just more proof that something bad was happening and that she was changing. That was what she feared most; going back to the way before. Being a constant prisoner in her own body. Even the few white strands in her hair were evidence of what was happening.

But today, on the first anniversary of the coronation of the Kings and Queens and the disappearance of Aslan, Alexandra was on edge. She secretly hoped that the lion would finally make a reappearance today and for some reason, she thought that the Stone Table would be the place.

So she set off. Axe in hand. Hair flowing behind her. But more importantly, her mind set. There was nothing that would stop or distract her from what she wanted to do, she was prepared, both mentally and physically for what Aslan was going to tell her. That's if he would even return.

There was a certain sense of relief that washed over her troubled frame as soon as she set eyes on the cracked structure of the Stone Table. Perhaps knowing that this was where Aslan rose from the dead in a deed of pure sacrifice. But they both shared that, throwing their lives in the way of harm for those they cared for.

Alex took several more tainted steps towards the shattered table and sat upon the rubble defeatedly - waiting for the familiar golden lion.

But he never showed. It was several hours before she lost hope. Just waiting silently for someone who was never even thinking of arriving.

As the golden rays of the morning sun began to peak past the horizon, Alex absentmindedly ran her fingers over the coarse texture of the Stone Table. The last thing she expected was a surge of energy to pass up through her body and slip through every neurone of her brain.

The Witch snarled loudly as she circled her thrashing prey tied down to the Stone Table with tight ropes that only grew tighter as Florence Dawson squirmed in attempt to escape. But there was no hope to be found within even the deepest parts of her heart.

"Written in the oldest rules in which Narnia was built upon, it states that any and every traitor belongs to me to follow onto their suitable punishment. Their blood is my blood, your blood is my blood. You may be of Earth and not a native of this land, but your acts are no exception nor will they ever be," Jadis stopped to overlook her growing numbers as she looked down to the human, "So, it brings me great joy and pleasure to proclaim that you, Florence Dawson, are subject to execution on the grounds of breaking Narnia's trust."

"You tricked me! Y-you Witch!" the mother cried out and pulled even harder on her binds, drawing blood around her bloodied wrists and ankles, "You can't- Aslan will save me."

A smirk grew on Jadis' pale lips, "Not even Aslan could save you now. Any last words?"

A pained cry left her lips once more as she stopped moving, falling into a lifeless state as she tried to find any sense of dignity and acceptance to make it all easier. But it was impossible. The thoughts of never painting again, never staring into the emerald eyes of her daughter or even never being able to braid her red locks again overpowered her.

A single tear slipped past her green eyes and rolled down her pale temple as she began to whisper so quietly that not even Jadis could hear, "Oh, Emperor Beyond The Sea, I pray that you not take pity on me but take mercy on my child and her father, they are innocent where I am not. I beg that you watch over her and protect her from harm as I take upon my punishment. Please, whisper through the winter breeze and down in the summer rays that I will eternally love her forever. Forgive me-"

The self-proclaimed Queen dropped the blade deep into Florence's chest to put an end to her life selfishly.

A loud gasp ripped through the crisp evening air as Alexandra fell forward onto her knees, probably grazing them through the material of her trousers. It felt as if it was her first breath in forever. She even wondered how long she had been like that seeming as what once was morning was now almost night time, but that wasn't important to her.

The anger from having to watch what had happened built up within her, seeping out through every inch of her body as she kicked and punched the stone with a loud cry leaving her lips with each blow.

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casually dropped a year time skip oops