16

JUST HOLD ME

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Cair Paravel was a beautiful castle, Alex was reminded of that every time she set eyes on the grand structure. Even through her damp lashes, she could make out each perfect stroke of a paintbrush or curve of the vines that climbed up the walls neatly from the growing garden.

The girl made her way past the dining hall where she could hear the four siblings laughing loudly between them as they ate their lavish meal. It was obvious to each Pevensie that something in the room was missing; her aura. It was the humour that she added, the way she would care but more importantly how enthusiastic she was. It was almost as if something had been missing for a while. Or at least changing.

Peter noticed how the red satin cloak rushed past the large door to the dining room but never stopped, instead Alex continued up the staircase and to her room where she locked the door promptly. The golden-haired boy dismissed himself politely before following behind her minutes later.

Peter froze outside the locked door, his tight fist knocking lightly a few times as he heard a scuffle coming to a stop on the other side, "Alex, can I come in?"

Alex must have dropped something because there was a loud bang followed by hushed expletives that she tried to hide, even through the door Peter heard and cracked a toothy grin.

"I'll be right out," she coughed and looked in the mirror, brushing down her wild hair and looking down to her bruised knuckles from her breakdown at the Stone Table; but it would be easy to blame on a rough day training the Narnian army with General Oreius. She even noticed how the few strands of white in her hair was easily visible under the light in her room and was even more thankful that it was dark outside.

Regardless, the Crimson Knight left her bedroom to see Peter Pevensie looking down at her lovingly, "Hi," he breathed out with blushed cheeks.

"Hi back," she grinned before taking his hand in hers and leading him down the golden staircase excitedly before they made it into the garden that was dimly lit with candles that floated amongst rose petals upon the steady flow of water in the fountain.

"I feel like I haven't seen you enough recently," Peter remarked as she pulled them to a wooden bench between the rose bushes so they could sit and talk.

"I guess that comes with being the King of Narnia, your head is always in politics and literally ruling over a kingdom. How is it?"

"Well," he began to draw soothing patterns over her bruised knuckles ever so softly once he noticed her leg jumping up and down on the stone, "It's hard work but I imagine that it would be much harder if I was doing it alone. How is training? By the looks of your knuckles, it's harder than sitting on a throne all day."

Alex just smiled and leaned her head onto his shoulder as she grew more and more exhausted, "Do you ever think that we can go back to London?"

"Why would you want that?"

The girl just shrugged as she leaned into his open arm, "I wasn't able to leave Narnia whilst under the Witch's control, but I don't know if I could do it now. I could finally go home and see my uncle. Don't you ever think about your parents?"

"Of course I do, Alex. But we can't just go back now, not after we are crowned the Kings and Queens of Narnia. What will they do without us? What would happen if we just packed up and left them to fend for themselves?"

Alex just sighed and nodded her head against his shoulder as she pushed her hair behind her. "You're right, it was a stupid thought," she wrapped both arms against his neck, "Just... hold me?"

Peter grinned, "I'll never let go."

Alex smiled at his words and felt his embrace tighten softly around her. She longed to feel the warmth of his touch, the heat of his body or anything for that matter. The longer that she thought about it the more she grew worried about not feeling the warmth or even the coldness of the night air surrounding them in the garden. Alexandra couldn't even remember the last time that she felt anything for that matter.

Tears slipt past her fear filled eyes; the Regal magic was spreading further and further and was only going to a faster pace with each beat of her heart. It wouldn't be long until she was just a statue of ice.

⋆

"Are you sure this is a good idea? You know that your connection to the Witch was always stronger in the castle," Marcellus whined from below her as they currently descended down the path to the Ice Palace that still remained the same or relatively similar.

The familiar castle towered above them, only this time a few of the towers had melted down into puddles at the foot of the fortress. She only hoped that it was safe enough to go in and that what she was looking for was still there despite it being over a year later.

"Jadis has been dead for a while, my only concern is the speed at which this is melting," she referred to the icicles beside them that fell into the moat of crystal clear water, "I think you should stay here where it's safer, I will only be a few minutes." Alex noticed how the horse was hesitant, "I promise, Marcel. You have a foal at home to get back to and I don't want to put you in any danger."

"You are the Crimson Knight of Narnia, so I trust that you will be safe. If not, I am one shout away," the black beast replied and lowered so it was much easier for her to jump off.

Alex sent him a sheepish smile before disappearing through the open gate of the castle and turned corners to leave his vision. She currently stood still in the room where the stone statues would be held in large quantities, each displaying a pained expression. It was almost chilling not to see them because now she felt alone and isolated. A much younger Alexandra Dawson would often sit around the maze of statues and read to them from the legends written down in books that Tumnus' father would provide for her secretly, but then she was more naïve.

"Hello?" she called out, the only reply she got was her own voice echoing from each of the walls back to her.

Carefully, the Dawson girl ascended up the slippery crystal steps to where her bedroom used to be, finding that it was indeed still there - relatively. Parts of the room had started to wither away into puddles or even fall into the moat in chunks of ice. She still found that the minimal furniture had been thrown across the floor from their usual places; a wooden bed fram with damp furs as blankets, a large chest and a crystal clear mirror which was actually polished ice.

With a low chuckle as she reminisced about all the years she would spend hiding under the blankets of fur or slashing at the ice with weapons, she sauntered over to the polished mirror and stared into her reflection. The volume of white hairs amongst all the red had almost doubled overnight and now she had the chilled air didn't feel nearly as frozen as it should despite the clouds of her iced breath that stiffed in front of her.

Alexandra let the tips of her fingers run across the ice as a gasp left her lips at the sight of what she saw behind her; a figure looming in the corner and staring directly at her. one that had become extremely familar over the past months.

Tatiana.

Alex turned turned to see how the girl wasn't there, yet she only appeared in the reflection of the ice.

"You're the girl from my dreams, the one that I had when I died," she remarked as she made eye contact with the hazel ones of the child behind her.

"I am, yes."

Alex wanted to turn as she found it awkward to have her back to the girl, "What are you doing here?"

"I am here to deliver a message, one that you need to listen very closely too because your life depends on it; or whatever and however long the remainder of it is if you don't follow what I have to say," Tatiana replied as Alex nodded her head for her to continued, "I am trying to fight this off for as long as I can so that you aren't harmed-"

"Wait-Stop. I can't believe I didn't piece this together before. You're Tatiana. As in the Regal Tatiana," Alexandra gasped out as she suddenly felt stupid for not having thought about it before; sure, the thought had crossed her mind but as soon as it did, it was gone. One would think that being stuck in a magic wand for 100 years and then being set free, that Tatiana would roam the worlds freely instead of finding herself trapped somewhere else.

The girl simply nodded her head with her tight honey locks bouncing up and down ever so lightly around her face, "There is so much to say with so little time to do it, so please listen. My magic is flowing through your veins and it's only time before it takes over the host body and leaves you stuck within an ice statue of what you used to be. And before you ask, there is no cure or way to pull my magic out from within you."

"You said that I needed to follow your instructions but you also say I can't take out your magic or cure it, so what can I do?"

"You aren't going to like it, even I despise the idea. But before your body can crystallise into this frozen being, you need to slow down your heartbeat until you are almost dead but not quite. Not only do you need to do this to stop the magic from pumping through your veins, but it needs to stay like that until your body can adapt and evolve to suit the power," the girl's eyes softened as she searched for any ounce of understanding on Alex's face but she couldn't find any, "There is only one way to do that without using another source of power, it's a flower. Purple in petal and bright in colour, yet deadly in pollen."

Suddenly, just as she thought that she was finally going to get the answers to her troubles, the floor beneath them slipped out of place and shook below them. The ice was melting much faster and she hadn't even realised it yet. She felt the water drip down her face from the ceiling above, not once feeling the chilling touch that came with it.

One word left Tatiana's lips as she disappeared for good, just the one.

"Jump."

At first, Alex didn't understand, her eyebrows even furrowing in confusion until it dawned over her. The palace around her still continued to fall and melt much quicker than she had first seen minutes before her arrival. She even felt the floor beneath her feet begin to crack under the missing foundations.

"Aslan's roar-" she cursed and jumped through the missing window and into the water below her, the very water that had been compeltely ice merely a year ago.

Her words and breaths turned into gargles as the air was replaced with water, her mind willing her to hold her breath until she could break through the water's surface.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

I hope everyone is doing well!