20

PASSING YEARS

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As the years passed, it grew harder and harder for each Pevensie to visit the unconscious body of Alexandra Dawson. It had been a total of six years since her last breath and her eyes closed for the last time; now she was nothing but a body held within a glass box filled with nothing but Drowsy Pudina flowers and her silver axe that never left her side at all - not even in her 'death'.

None of them knew if they could hear them talking to her or even be aware of their presence but talking to the girl and spilling out all their troubles is what made them feel human. It probably wasn't healthy for them to keep hold of her for so long, they needed to grieve her absence but instead, they all pushed it aside and continued on with their lives with occasional visits to the room where she slept.

Today was one of those days.

Susan was the first to walk into the room with a bouquet of fresh roses and lilies cradled in her arms like a baby, "Morning, Alex," she smiled and looked into the glass to see the untouched body of her friend.

Even after all those years she still looked the same, frozen in time and life. Her white hair had been neatly curled and braided the way that she did every morning and Susan had clothed her in the white dress that she had worn to the coronation; even laying the axe in her hands and over her chest so that she wasn't without it when she woke. The last detail that Susan was adamant on adding was the silver and purple locket around her neck, resting ever so gently in the centre of her chest.

The Pevensie girl changed out the dying flowers in the vase by the window that overlooked the ocean with the fresh ones in her hands before taking the seat next to her friend, "I miss you much too much. I still hope that one day when we sit at the table for breakfast that I will see you; walking in and surprising us all with those green eyes that we love so much, but you never do and you never will."

A tear slipped past her eyes as she spoke, "I think the hardest part of this is not that we won't ever hear your voice again but what it is doing to Peter. He often lays awake at night or locks himself away for days at a time. He has lost weight, sleep and trust from the Narnians. Nor Edmund, Lucy or I know what will happen to him. We fear the worst. So, if you can hear me, please, just please, work on getting better. Not for me but for my brother, I've lost one friend and I don't think I could lose a brother. I'll see you tomorrow, Alex."

Susan pulled her dark hair out of her face before wiping her eyes to make it appear as if she hadn't been crying, she needed to keep it together for her siblings and for her country.

Edmund was next, his dark hair now drooped down to his shoulders and his voice had become significantly deeper than what she remembered. He just knew that if she could hear it then she would make a snarky remark about it, he almost craved to hear her say something at all.

"Hi," he whispered out as he stared at the unmoving body, every so often she would take a deep breath but it was only once or twice a minute and it was too frightening to keep track of, "I don't know if you can hear me at all, or if you have been listening to us for these years, but I regret it all. All of it. I wished it had happened differently. If only I had stepped up quicker in the battle then Jadis wouldn't have put the wand to your heart and poured all the magic into you. If she hadn't then you would still be at our side and well... we would have you. I'm not saying that you blame me for it, even Lucy says it wasn't my fault, but why do I feel this way? Why do I feel as if ever since I have arrived that I am the only reason for everything bad or remotely troubling? I just want it all to stop, all of it."

"Why call me Edmund the Just when I am Edmund the Traitor?" he asked rhetorically before getting up and leaving without another word, clearly distraught once again. He ran past Lucy as she was getting ready to walk in, she even noticed the tears staining his cheeks.

The youngest Pevensie, who was now the age that Alex had been before her eternal sleep, pushed the thoughts of Edmund farther into her mind so she could focus on her small time with Alex before they left for their duties of the day.

"Hey Lexi," Lucy smiled as she held a book under one arm and a painting under another, "I brought you a few things to make this room less... bland. This painting was always your favourite; one of Aslan's camp before the battle. You would always say 'I want to remember the time that I took down that Evil Witch-Bitch', don't tell Susan I said that," a dry chuckle left her lips as she placed the painting on the table and propped it against the wall, "I also brought your favourite book so we could continue from last time."

Lucy cleared her throat before starting, telling the beautiful story written by a centaur many years ago. The book was that of her mother's time in Narnia before everything started going wrong. A short tale of how she had defeated a Kraken with her closest friend Freya who just so happened to be a Faun and a distant relative of Mr Tumnus.

"And so lived the Pheonix, rising up from her ashes one more time to help those in need of her aid. From her flames she grew and from her ashes she thrived," Lucy finished the book and closed it with a thud, leaning forward in her chair so she could take in her appearance of her friend, "It feels stupid to say that I miss you because I say it every time. But one more won't hurt I suppose, I miss you more than I ever thought I would. It's hard having to-" she was cut off as shouts from Susan, obviously aimed at Edmund for something so small, "-It's hard without you, it's taking a toll on everyone. It's been six years but it feels like just yesterday we were chanting 'long live the Crimson Knight'. Susan likes to make out that she is fine but honestly she is taking it just as hard as Peter and Edmund are. Sometimes I feel like the older sibling to my older siblings, like I have to care for them."

Lucy shook her head as she heard footprints outside, heavy ones to indicate that it was Peter waiting for his turn, "I'll be back soon and maybe we can start on another story about your mother in Narnia, I might even bring a few paints and try to create the view from where Aslan's Camp was so you can see how much it has changed. There are fields filled with flowers of all colours now, you would think highly of it."

Lucy left, bumping into Peter who looked worse for wear. His golden hair had been unkept for days and his facial hair was a whole different issue. His breath smelt of wine and his eyes looked unfocused to prove that he was indeed drunk.

The door slammed with a thud as he entered the room, everything around him started to become more clear as if the pure image of seeing her lying there sobered him up greatly. But he had to get some things off his chest before it was too late before he never got the chance to say it to her again.

"I-" he cut himself off, how did he even start a goodbye to someone who couldn't reply?

Peter took a deep breath and sat down beside her silently, staring into the glass and at her body that brought back thousands of memories into his head.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry that you didn't feel as if you could trust me enough to tell me what was going on. I'm sorry that you felt so alone for a whole year before we found out what was wrong. I am sorry that you are behind this glass and I am here, watching everything grow old around me but yet you stay the same. It's my fault. If only I had reached out more. Sometimes I even wish that I was where you were and you were the Queen of Narnia, you would definitely do much better than I am. A King is supposed to put his people first, right? So why didn't I? Why did I think of what I would lose when I what I was losing was you, I just didn't know it yet."

Peter crossed his legs angrily to stop them from bouncing noisily, "I still have the letter," he held it up for her to see, even though she couldn't, before he unfolded it, "I read it every so often because it never really seems to stick. I don't know why I do it because it's just a reminder that you aren't here. You even wrote 'don't doubt yourself' as if that was supposed to make me stop, though I admire the thought. You then went on to say that you want me to put myself first and do what I need, even if it meant findind someone else to love. But how can I?"

The last question came out as a pained shout leaving his wavering lips, tears now filling his eyes angrily as his fists closed up around the fragile slip of paper in his hand.

"How can I love someone else when I was meant to love you? When I want to love you? Because I do. I love you more than I should and I think about you much more than I am supposed to. You wanted me to move on but I can't. I can't knowing that I didn't get to say my goodbye to you because I had so much to say and I still do. But what good will that do now? You can't hear me, you can't speak to me. So I am just left here with these words swirling around my mind and keeping me up at night."

Peter took the letter in both hands as it all dawned on him. He wiped his eyes roughly with his sleeve before standing up abruptly, "You are right. I need to move on. As much as it hurts me to say it, I know that this is not good for me. My people need me, Alex. Just like I needed you," he threw the letter into the fire and watched as the flames engulfed her cursive writing and burned it to ash, "We were always supposed to say goodbye to each other, that's just how life works. I guess that I never thought that you would be in a glass box as I did; but then again, breaking a heart twice doesn't make a broken heart any more painful. So, Alexandra Dawson, goodbye."

And that was the last time that Peter ever entered and left the room. Those were the words that he ever spoke to the girl directly. Those were the final moments that he ever spent with her.

Instead, he took the time to grieve his loss and put his country first. To say that Alex wasn't constantly on his mind would be a lie, there was always a crystal clear image of her red hair, green eyes and perfect smile somewhere within his memories and always in his heart.

Only if he knew.

Only if he knew that it wouldn't be the last time.

Or was it?

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I hope you guys enjoyed part one! This will be one of the longer parts out of the three because it was the first film and the Golden Era that I made for you guys, don't forget to comment, vote and even follow for more stories to come! Let me know what you want to see more of here!