Faith | Caspian X | i

Chapter 1

SHELTER

A rumble echoed through the city of London. In Finchley, green eyes shot open to the sounds of screams. 14-year-old Annabelle Pevensie jumped out of bed, the familiar itch thrumming warningly under her skin. As quickly as humanly possible, the girl threw on the first thing she could reach, hastily putting on her slippers and grabbing a flashlight before sprinting out of her room. The unmistakable sound of bombs followed her as she ran down the hallway, throwing open the first door she came upon.

"Mummy!" cried a distressed ten-year-old Lucy from her bed, her small hands pressed against her ears in a fruitless effort to drown out the noise of the Blitz. Just barely noticing the figure in her room, the little girl reached out with her hands, looking for comfort. "Anna!"

"Lucy, come on," said Annabelle, running up to grab her little sister's hand tightly, pulling a bit more strongly than she perhaps would have in a different situation. "We have to go!"

After helping Lucy put on a robe while the little girl slipped her feet into a random pair of shoes, the two sisters ran out of the room, with Annabelle's flashlight illuminating the way.

"Susan!" called Annabelle, desperately looking around for her older sister.

"I'm here, I'm here!" came a reply from around the corner, just a second before Annabelle and Lucy saw their sister. She was carrying her own flashlight and had a carelessly bundled up blanket in her arms. "Come on!"

The three girls ran down the hallway, Annabelle and Lucy holding on to each other tightly, just in time to meet up with their brothers and mother at the door.

"Come on, sweethearts. Go, go!" urged Helen Pevensie, ushering her five children out the front door. "Come on, quickly!"

16-year-old Peter, the oldest of the five Pevensie siblings, pushed his sisters in front of him as the family ran toward their bomb shelter. "Run! Run!"

Immediately after reaching the shelter, Susan got in first, quickly followed by Lucy and Annabelle. Helen started making her way down, when 13-year-old Edmund, her youngest boy, suddenly turned around.

"Wait. Dad!" he yelled, using all of his strength to pull out of Peter's grip and run back toward the house.

"Edmund!" screamed Annabelle, having made her way halfway back up the stairs upon hearing Edmund's yell.

"Edmund, no!" yelled Helen, her voice quivering with anger and fear.

"I'll get him!" yelled Peter, already taking off after his younger brother as the bomber jets continued to swarm overhead.

"No!" screamed Annabelle, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Peter, come back!" yelled Helen, clutching her daughter tightly in an attempt to stop yet another one of her children from running away.

"No! Mum, please!" Annabelle continued to scream, trying to twist out of her mother's arms in order to run after her brothers, her heart hammering in her chest so quickly that she was surprised it hadn't exploded.

"Anna! Anna, sweetheart please," Helen pleaded, her voice trembling as she grabbed her middle child by the shoulders, forcing the girl to look at her. "Please honey, get in the shelter. Peter and Edmund will be fine."

"But—"

"Anna, please!" yelled Hellen and Annabelle stilled, looking at her mother with tears in her eyes.

"Mum, I can help them! You know I can!"

Helen opened her mouth once more, before the mother and daughter both stopped their argument upon hearing Peter's familiar voice yelling from inside the house, before finally seeing the two boys running toward them.

"Come on! Hurry!" yelled Helen as Annabelle finally backed into the shelter in order to make space for her brothers. Edmund reached the door first and Annabelle reached up to help him descend, before Peter shoved his brother inside angrily, hard enough for Edmund to hit the floor with his whole body as Annabelle just barely dodged out of the way.

"Pete, what the hell?!" cried Annabelle as she looked at her older brother angrily before quickly making her way to Edmund, noticing the young boy reaching for a picture frame. In the black and white photo, the children's father stared back at them through cracked glass.

Annabelle reached for Edmund, gathering him in her arms and hugging him tightly to her chest, breathing out a sigh of relief. She could have lost them, but she didn't. They were okay. They were all okay.

"Why can't you think of anyone but yourself?! You're so selfish! You could have gotten us killed!" yelled Peter, looking at his brother angrily from atop of the stairs to the shelter as they both breathed heavily. From the far back corner, Susan and Lucy looked on with fearful eyes, the older girl's arm wrapped around her sister tightly.

"Stop it!" cried Helen, looking at her youngest boy who was cradled in the arms of his sister. Edmund did not often allow his family the privilege of physical contact, but the young boy was clearly shaken and emotional, breathing shallowly and needing some sort of comfort. Annabelle was more than willing to provide it as her heart finally started to slow down to a regular rhythm. She pressed a quick kiss to Edmund's head, hoping that it would not make him push her away. As it turned out, Edmund needed the reassurance as he simply squeezed his eyes shut and leaned into his sister's comforting touch.

"Why can't you just do as you're told?" Peter asked more quietly as he looked at his siblings, softening a bit but still hearing the pounding of his heart in his ears.

Edmund glared at his brother as Annabelle sent Peter a look over Edmund's head, silently begging him to stop. They had all been through enough that night. Sighing, Peter's shoulders dropped before he turned around to slam the door of the bomb shelter shut.

That night, Helen Pevensie and her five children slept restlessly in the shelter. While the mother held Susan and Lucy close, Annabelle drifted off with Edmund still in her arms and Peter's arm wrapped around her protectively. As sleep began to take hold, Annabelle could not help but think back to the terrifying moment when she thought her brothers were gone forever — and what's worse, she couldn't stop thinking about the fact that she could have prevented it all in the first place.

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A/N:
Here we go! This is the first edited chapter. I hope to get everything edited chapter by chapter in the next few days and then to finally continue writing the story. Let me know what you all think!