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"Crazy enough to make history
Cause the world just isn't the same since we got together
And if we don't die young, we might just live forever."
Live Forever
Little Big Town
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Chapter XXIII - Mourners
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I once loved the sunrise. I loved the sun reflecting off the sea and the bright colors that came with it. I was reminded that there were similar beauties wherever my parents were. The sky was different today. It turned blood-red like it was reflecting the battle on the sea. Narnia knew what was lost and those in denial searched.
We stood on the beach, watching the water. The waves were calm. The tide barely made a sound. Any splash of a fish or a bird captured all of our attention.
"Do you see her?" Susan asked as I scoured the water with the help of the spyglass. Nothing. Not only was there no sign of Ashton, but there was also no sign of any life at all.
Griffin's circled above the wreckage if you could even call floating splinters that, searching for any bodies left. Theo directed the sky search, riding on the backs of the Alpha leader. At the furthest point from the ship one dove. I heard Theo screaming something, though it was words I could not make out.
All the hairs on the back of my neck raised. Susan's arm held mine, hopeful that they would return Ashton to us in one piece. As they approached, I saw no smile on the Griffin's face. Only anger. He flew down, throwing the body into the sand.
Mason Hood rolled over onto his back, groaning and spitting out sand. Before he even got the water out of his lungs five arrows were pointed at him. Two angled between his eyeballs, another at his throat, the third to his heart, and Allie's final arrow nocked towards his manhood.
His family crest tattoo was on his wrist, and with one swing of a sword. He lost everything below his elbow.
"Apologies for the mess, your grace," Jaxon said over the cries of his treacherous brother, cleaning the blood off his blade with his pant leg.
"I make no complaints about punishments I do not see." I turned my back and let them drag him away. After what Mason did, a quick death was too merciful.
"Search again." I heard Susan plead with a griffin and Theo before he set off again.
I wanted to see her platinum blonde hair emerge from the water. Kicking, fighting, and swimming for her life. God's never been much for me, but if I could cash in all my prayers today. I would do it in a heartbeat. I would every well trade places with her.
"Edmund!" I heard a growl of anger that I had been anticipating.
The sound of the blast could be heard from miles away. With the castle overlooking the Eastern Sea, the entire army couldn't contain Peter if they tried.
"Where is she?!" He grabbed my collar.
"They're looking for her." I held my hand out so Susan wouldn't get between us. Peter's eyes flamed with rage. He ripped the monocular from my hand, observing the blue nothingness himself.
Susan and I saw the siren's head pop out first. The sorrowful expression told us enough so she didn't have to. Susan's gasp was what alerted Peter to see what was right in front of him as the device slipped through his fingers.
A mermaid's eyes followed us as she rested her lifeless body onto a rock. Her face was pale as snow and blood dripped from her ears and nose.
"No..." Peter ran over, first checking her pulse with his fingers. "No-No!"
His next move was to start CPR. He counted out the chest compressions. Her body jerked with the pushes as felt her cheek, feeling the cold take over her skin. Her magic was gone.
Peter managed to get a large inhale in between short, quick breaths, performing mouth to mouth. Before trying to pump blood back into her chest again.
"Come on, Ash." His anger faded, into a desperate beg. "Please just come back to me. Open your eyes. Breathe!"
His sobs only grew as it went on. Susan's hand covered the horror on her face as nothing changed.
My lungs felt like they were giving up on me. The longer I looked the more I noticed. The cut underneath her chin, the pruning of her fingertips for being in the water for so long. Her chapped lips touched the air but didn't take in any. I wanted to look away, but my brain convinced me to try and remember her. I didn't want to start forgetting her in the way I had started to forget my parents. I wanted to remember the color of her hair and the size of her nose.
She was gone. Not missing or lost or captured. Dead.
I only jumped away as bile rose due to the panic causing stomach acid to flood my throat. I emptied everything I had left onto the beach, crumbling like the sand underneath me.
Peter's voice cracked through sobs, "Please, don't do this to me. Ash, please."
Susan was the first to reach for him. He shoved her back into the sand.
"No!"
I wrapped my arms around his back, locking him in. "She's gone."
"No-no-no..." He struggled against me to get back to her.
Tears clouded his eyesight, but his gaze never left her. He coughed and panted in my arms.
"I know, I know." I squeezed him tighter. "I loved her too."
Ben emerged from behind me. His arm injury had caused him to completely give up on using his front shoulder, he walked on only three legs.
He saw her body and stiffened. "She did it, right? She ended it on her terms, not her mothers?"
"I don't think a single Narnian soldier died." I choked out the answer.
He didn't speak but just nodded. He walked over to her, licking her face to confirm it for himself. His broken eyes met mine before he cradled into her, placing his head on her wet stomach. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His tenseness broke all at once, and I saw the pain drain from his face. No one could hurt them anymore.
My lip quivered as I now leaned on Peter for support, Susan through her arms over the both of us. Although the battle went in Narnia's favor, the Kings and Queens were defeated.
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When the victory bells came, there were no cheers. The town was quiet. We would never count that battle as a victory. There were no parades in the street, no celebrations or ceremonies. Instead, the square she once danced in was filled with flowers in a memorial. The bravery of the people was rewarded with the funeral of a war hero who deserved better than her ending.
Ben and Ashton's bodies were placed in the royal crypt. No one dared to fight us on that. Her weapons and his armor were laid to rest with them, locked in a stone box beside them. Either body was preserved by some kind of spell Aslan set. It was easier to imagine them just sleeping this way. But it would always sting to never see their eyes open again.
Every shop, school, and operation was shut down. Narnia was set in a state of mourning. The gates were open to all, to pay their respects and maybe find closure.
By the end of the day, the crypt had more flowers than a meadow. A Narnia flag was draped over their bodies. Aslan roared, carving words into the stone that held them.
Ashton and Benvolio.
"Cold or warmth, sun or stars, ice or fire, winter or summer. You and I. Till the world stops turning."
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This is what I avoided for 4 months. I haven't stopped crying since I started writing five hours ago. It was always the plan for Ashton to reach the highest part of her character arc and sacrifice herself. But it was too cruel to leave Ben in a world without Ash and frankly, I don't know how to write Ben or Ash without each other. It was only right for them to go together.
with a broken heart, B