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"I want you to know that if I can't be close to you
I settle for the ghost of you
I miss you more than life."
Ghost
Justin Bieber
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Chapter V - A Fate Worse Than Death
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"I missed chess club." Edmund frowned, inspecting a solid gold chess piece that he could in the dirt.
"We missed much more than that." Peter corrected, tripping over a tree branch that shouldn't have been in the middle of our throne room.
In a year we had gone from decorating the ballrooms with flowers to seeing flowers budding in the granite. Our home back in England and our home in Narnia had been attacked. Wars had a way of following us through dimensions. And I had a feeling a battle was on the horizon. Peter needed a place to throw his fist... and he just had to find the right excuse to put it somewhere.
Susan swatted flies around her head, "You can make a chess club back in England."
"Everything is gone," I spoke softly, still barely believing it as the words came out of my mouth.
"This didn't just happen. Cair Paravel was attacked." Peter stated, circling a large boulder that would not have been brought as an offering to the royals. Peter looked around, trying to put together our home in his mind, his eyes traced the outline of the thrones, then his head turned to a cavern behind where my throne used to be. He walked over, pulling back the secret slab of stone, revealing a door. My feet froze in the dirt, more scared now than I was when I first entered Narnia. The catacombs doors. I never returned to the burial place after Ashton's death. My body was protecting me from my greatest despair.
"Don't suppose you have any matches, do you?" Peter asked, ripping his shirt and wrapping it around a large stick. My vocal cords took the same abandoned route as the rest of my limbs.
I should have gone the other way. My eyes caught Edmunds, I knew he saw my fear. In all the ways that fear stopped me, it lit a fire in Edmund. He needed to know the answer that I could not bear. He needed to know if our loved ones had joined the list to be mourned.
He reached into his bag, pulling out a flashlight. "No, but...would this help?"
Peter scrunched his nose, making his voice higher as he repeated Ed's words. "Would this help?"
Susan chuckled, leaving Edmund to roll his eyes like the true professional he is. He walked over to me, giving me a nod of reassurance before grabbing my hand.
A few seconds later, my voice returned. "Edmund, it's been over a thousand years..."
He took a deep breath, looking around at the ruins around us. "I pray that Narnia did not bring us home to break our hearts."
"Oh Aslan, we had reached a day where you are more hopeful than I. This is far worse than I thought." I tried to lighten the mood with something sarcastic, Ben was always far better at it than me. He would know what to say. To make me laugh and force the butterflies to fly away.
"It only took the end of the world." He chuckled, taking the first step with me into the small cavern.
Each step lower was colder, Edmund's grip on my hand might have been the only thing stopping me from running in the opposite direction. The only relief that came was Susan's joyful sigh.
"I can't believe it. It's all still here."
We turned the corner, seeing four statues. The ones we had been a gift to commemorate us last year- or thousands of years ago, I assume. All four of us stood as we once did, with a stone chest in front of us.
"I was so tall," I remarked, barely remembering the little details that I grew into.
"Well, you were older then. As opposed to hundreds of years later... when you're younger." Susan pointed out.
"What is it?"
"My horn. I must've left it on my saddle the day we went back."
"Everyone we knew... Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers...they're all gone."
Edmund threw everything out of his box, shaking out each piece of searching everything. The paragon diamond was in here. Someone stole it. It's gone." Edmund slammed his truck shut.
Why would someone take only the ring, if they had the capabilities to get into the box, why not take everything? Why take a magical object that could only be used by a witch? Ashton was the last of her kind.
I tried to focus on the past version of me. Keeping my eyes far away from the catacomb door that Ashton and Ben were behind. Peter did not prepare himself in the same way.
While I never returned here, Edmund never did either. He always said he felt closer to Ash and Ben when he ventured into the western woods. Susan had never publicly spoken about Ashton, even to us. Perhaps she felt it wasn't her place to mourn when she had disliked Ashton for most of the time she knew her. Susan was the rock, she uptook duties that we could not once Ashton and Ben passed. Though I swear that she would come out of closed doors with a puffy face.
And Peter- I think Peter woke up and cursed the empty pillow next to him every day since the day she went missing. Peter wore his emotions so freely. He knew everyone had seen his anger the day she left. He was so mad at her for leaving, so he spent the last few days she was alive confused, angry, and hurt. And then she was gone. Ashton knew the last day she would spend with him and made the most of it. Peter would always regret not knowing. Which just added to his irritation, because she lied to him about disappearing. But he could not blame her for being selfless, a character trait he adored about her. So he had to get his frustrations out on someone else because he couldn't be mad at a dead girl.
"Shit," Edmund spoke above a whisper, his eyes following Peter's gaze. To a stone door that was cracked open. He knew the door, it was the catacomb door. It was meant to hold the royal families long after they had come and gone with their bloodline. Everyone with permission knew better than to leave the door open.
Peter slid through the crack. They waited for it. They waited for the burst of anger. The violence that he had resorted to since they left Narnia. It came in a pained scream from the deepest part of his chest. Lucy flinched, very hearing such a sound from her eldest brother.
One by one each sibling snuck to the crack, seeing the blatant disrespect that had come to the final resting place of one of the best people they knew. They robbed the room of everything. Their armor, their weapons, and Ashton's crown. Every gift that was brought to them by the people of Narnia was gone. But worst of all. The most sickening part about it all. Was that Ashton and Benvolio's bodies were gone, leaving behind only a dust print of where they used to peacefully lie.
"I'm going to kill them all." Peter's voice was clear.
I spent the better part of the last year navigating Peter's anger spells and trying to limit the downfall when he came out of it. For the first time, I wished he would throw something or punch a wall. His chilling calm was more fearsome than any fight he ever created. His outer shell depicted no emotion. The vengeance had shallowed his spirit and knawed through his bones. Either he would succeed, killing them all, or kill himself in the process. And the most terrifying thought of all, she didn't know which petrified her more.
No one would speak for the following minutes. The tempt crypts only heard the scurry of mice. My heart sobered on a different idea. I had the sickening thought that I had no idea where Theo's body was. While before I was scared I may find Theo's body next to Ben's, I now had a new plethora of terror. He could be a million miles from here, lost to the Eastern Sea, or stuck in a dark cave that he went into looking for them. Or those who attacked the castle could have done far worse to him. I found myself wishing that wherever Theo's final resting place, he at least found peace and I would see him again in Aslan's country with Ash and Ben.
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"She needs a medic!"
"Wounds like this will kill her."
"We do not answer to you, Bear."
Banging on the iron bars grew louder and more furious. Theo's body shot up, realizing the banging was coming from the jail cell around him. A man stood on the other side of the bars, looking me up and down with poorly hidden disgust.
"I'm Sargent Basslock. We're going to have a little chat." Theo sat up, sensing the authority of the man and deciding to attempt to look presentable in some shape or form. "You told the police that picked you up that your name was Theodore. No last name." He stated.
"Yes, sir."
He flicked the board with papers stacked on the top back and forth. "Why no last name?"
"I was never legitimized, sir." I figured the best answer in this situation was honestly. To let the truth set me free. I had done nothing wrong.
"Mhm. That's a new one." He raised his eyebrows on his very round head. "And you said you're from Beruna. B.E.R.U.N.A."
I nodded, "Yes, sir, that's correct."
"You do acknowledge the fact that you are speaking to a member of England's law enforcement and lying to such is illegal." I opened his mouth to speak but the beer-bellied man continued. "That would only be the lesser of your stupidity tonight as my reports say your disturbances include stepping in front of six different automobiles, petting pigeons outside of a five-star restaurant, and then trying to break Buckingham Palace."
"This is all a misunderstanding, you see... I'm Theodore of Loxley, engaged to the Queen."
He chuckled, "Right. You are engaged to Queen Elizabeth?"
"Queen Lucy." I corrected.
He put the board by this side, seeming less and less pleased.
"We ran your blood alcohol content, discovering nothing. So out with it, what are you on?"
"I'm on a chair," Theo told the man. "I think it's made of metal."
He scoffed, looking me up and down."Do you think this is a joke? What drugs are you on?"
"They don't have potions in this world."
"Okay." He sighed a leaned back in his chair. "Psych ward it is for you."
"Yes, perhaps your ward can help explain this to me."
He rubbed the increasing lines on his forehead, he check a circular disk in his pocket that was attached to a small chain. "Okay, kid, do you have a number we can call for someone?"
I bit of clarification would be helpful with this odd man. "A number?"
"A telephone number?" He restated, offering nothing of use.
I waited for further explanation but he just continued to look at me with his nothingness eyes. "I don't understand the question."
"Nevermind." He pulled open the door, leaving me to my lonesome.
I need to find Lucy and get out of this damned place.
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"She needs a medic!" I screamed at the mad just watching her die. He had hauled the dwarf in here about an hour ago and had done nothing but watch her bleed.
Ashton and I fell asleep last night, only this morning she did not wake when I shook her. Her purse was there, very slightly. But her body was shivering and I had never known Ashton to be cold. With or without the diamond around her neck. "Wounds like this will kill her!"
"We do not answer to you, Bear."
I held pressure to the wound but her bandage had blood still pouring from it. My paws could run half the country within a day but they would not retie cloth. "We'll find whoever the Tash you do answer to and tell them that she is going to die in this condition, you lazy sod!"
"Silence!"
"I'm going to rip out your throat," I growled, kicking the bars again, putting the slightest dent in them. That made him jump.
"Enough. Or I will put you in opposite cells." He threatened.
I wish he'd try. That would allow me to make good on my words. I roared next, hoping someone would find me enough of an annoyance to come to see the situation. "How much do you think your lord is going to admire your service if one of the two prisoners you are supposed to be watching dies on your watch! You think you'll get a medal for following orders? Or perhaps something else around your neck?"
"Bringing you back to life killed two of our own. Don't mistake me as someone who cares if you live or die."
The dwarf pushed his way to the bars that separated his cell and ours. I put my body between him and Ash. I would not allow the witch's allies near her again.
The dwarf started undoing the strap that looped through his sheath to hold a small sword. Of course, the sword was gone, but the strap stayed. He took his outermost vest off as well. "Bring her here."
I stared at him studying his face. I had never known him in my time in Jadis' reign. He had red hair as well, a rare trait that no one I remembered shared.
"What's stronger? You hate of my kind or your will to keep her alive?" He spits.
I slid Ashton's body over as delicately as I could, keeping a close eye on the dwarves' every move.
"Hey! Stay back from the bars." A guard yelled. I didn't even bother to look. He would have to come in here to stop us.
The dwarf ignored, reaching into our neighboring cell and wrapping his folded vest around her leg. He started sliding the belt around her leg to secure it.
"I said-"
"Your blood type is AB+. I can smell it. I can smell the sweat and the adrenaline in your veins. Keep that fear. Soon enough I won't just smell it, but I'll taste it. Just get a little closer."
He jumped back then. Not daring to get in between the dwarf's work. He looped the leather and pulled as tight as he could. I bit back a wince, knowing how much that must hurt her.
"What's your name?" I questioned him.
"Trumpkin." He answered.
"Thank you, Trumpkin."
He crawled to the back corner, facing the opposite wall, "Just stop yelling so I can sleep before I die."
I held Ashton close to him. Relying on my fur to keep her from wasting any body heat. While I worried about the impalement of her leg. The large gash diagonally across her ribs was making my stomach turn. I looked down at my scar. They were nearly in the same place. If Ashton didn't get the care of a professional soon, the blade to the chest may take her this time instead.
Water was delivered to them sometime later. My conception of time was destroyed since their cells did not afford the luxury of a window. He could only assume that the guards moved on a twelve-hour shift schedule. Each came to the hall with food for the prisoners.
The two cups of water were delivered to us. Delivered might have been a debatable way of labeling it. One of the guards threw the cup of water at the dwarf in his sleep. Earning a full display of my teeth as a warning. I received their water, attempting to get little droplets into Ash's mouth. I balanced her head carefully, filling her mouth with water and then holding my breath until her reflexes made her swallow. I needed to be patient so that her body could recover after each swallow. When a person goes without water for a long time, too much can make them sick. The last thing I needed was Ashton barfing out whatever nutrients she had left.
I used my cup of water to wash out her wounds. Inflection was likely in these conditions but I could do my best to stall them or lessen the severity. I refused to sleep. Keeping one toepad on the side of her throat for a pulse at all times.
I was awake when they took Trumpkin. Roping his little arms, legs, and mouth before hauling him away like a bag of flour.
"See you in Aslan's country." Was the only farewell I could dig up.
"It's fake." He mumbled under the gag and rolled his eyes.
"It exists," I swore to him, giving him the only kind of hope I could.
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Me, writing P&P: enemies to lovers yay
Me, writing Wanted: Ugh all this character development just for me to kill Ash at the end. So sad.
Me, writing Trinity: I could kill any of you bitches right now, don't test me. Prove ur importance or die.
DEVELOPMENT.
Also since I never planned another book I was totally winging everything for the past four chapters. I made an outline for book 3 finally which is something I created over a year before writing for Book 2 lol. But I HAVE A PLAN NOW so there we go.
These initial chapters I think will be the hardest to write because I spend 80% of my time making sure the timeline is right due to everyone being in different places. Once I don't have four different places to worry about this will get a lot easier. Right now I have to wonder where Caspian, Theo, Ash/Ben, and the Pevensies are and it's turning my brain into mush in less than an hour.
Mushy brained, B