Aria stared into the darkness of the room, sleep so far away from her grasp.
She glanced to her side, seeing the two Pevensie sisters snuggled close to each other on the opposite end of the room.
She hasn't seen the other two since sword practice that evening.
She had dueled with Edmund and for a while, it felt like old times.
For a while, she let herself believe they had never left, that it was just like before.
She had worn the biggest smile on her face as Edmund had taunted her, just like he had used to.
But when Aria had knocked his sword off and held her sword against his neck, looking into his eyes, the smile had disappeared.
The girl could feel a cold wind putting out whatever fire inside of her that had brightened her.
When she had left the field, she could feel the gaze of the two boys boring into her back and she hated herself for bearing such remorse.
Aria's gaze shifted to the entrance unknowingly, waiting for the boy she hoped would walk through it.
But the recurring glances were proving pointless as they repeatedly showed no signs of him.
Aria sighed and settled down on the floor, closing her eyes, hoping for sleep to overcome her.
A sound, however, made her sit up.
She looked over at the girls but they were sound asleep, the only sound being their deep breathing.
The girl looked around the room, her heart racing but there was no one in sight.
Aria gasped as a shooting pain wrecked her head.
She brought her hands to her ears, shaking her head to get rid of the loud ringing in them.
Her head throbbed.
The pain felt like a certain force attempted to get in but another fought to keep it out.
She squeezed her eyes shut, clenching her teeth, willing the pain to go away.
Then at once, she sat up straight.
Like under a stupor, her gaze was still.
Her quick breaths stopped.
She loosened her hands against her ears.
Her eyes snapped open, a bright light consuming her vision.
And then the pain stopped.
•••○•••
The small girl watched from her corner of the room as Aria relaxed and brought her hands down.
Lucy squinted her eyes as Aria got to her feet and walked out of the room, leaving it quiet again when before her sharp frantic breaths had woken her up.
Lucy scrambled to her feet, running in the direction that the other was headed.
The youngest Pevensie followed her close behind, making sure to make no sound.
But it was apparent that not even a loud sound would stop Aria as Lucy stumbled over a barrel, creating a booming echo that left Aria unbothered.
The girl continued to walk as if in a trance and as they walked out of Aslan's How and into the open field, Lucy stopped and stared at the back of Aria as she walked towards the woods.
"Peter!", Lucy stumbled upon the boys assembled at the stone table.
All three pairs of eyes turned to her in worry as the blond haired boy approached her.
"Lucy? What's wrong?", Peter asked softly, holding onto her shoulder reassuringly.
"Aria- she-", Lucy rushed her words and Peter's gaze narrowed.
He placed both his hands on her tense shoulders, bringing her closer as Caspian and Edmund walked towards them.
"Lucy, what happened to Aria?".
•••○•••
The boys rushed into the woods, running in the direction that Lucy had shown, praying that the girl had not swayed from her path.
The atmosphere was placid,almost silent.
Too eerily quiet for their liking.
Peter brushed aside branches and twigs as he sped along the path, not bothering about the tiny scratches they left behind on his skin.
The moon light shone dimly through the trees, illuminating their path only slightly, as Edmund and Caspian fought to keep up with the boy.
Peter came to a halt, looking around him in a daze when a sound made his blood run cold.
A high pitched scream broke through the night and Peter's breath hitched in his throat as his head snapped in the direction of the voice.
Peter started to sweat, tremble, his heart beating faster.
Walking became running in an attempt to find the girl, praying that the scream was not hers.
"Aria!", Edmund shouted out, speeding up that he was almost ahead of Peter.
They broke out of the tree line and into a large clearing, where not even the slightest light creeped through the trees.
A sound, almost like a chant, broke the silence and Peter's gaze rested on the girl standing in the middle, unharmed and still, staring at a thick cloud of smoke that rose from the ground.
Everything seemed to freeze as the boys stared at the back of the girl, who began to walk towards the smoke.
Peter's eyes widened as a hand, black as soot and with spidery fingernails appeared out of the smoke, extending it towards the girl.
"No! Stop!", Edmund cried out but Aria kept walking towards the hand.
A loud growl erupted and Peter's gaze shifted to three hooded figures standing behind the rising smoke.
Dark orbs stared back at blue ones and the creatures growled even louder.
Peter drew his sword and lashed at the creature as the two other boys followed.
The creatures, whose dark black eyes seemed to glow in the dark, reminded Peter of those who fought with Jadis' army.
Although short in stature, they bore enormous strength and Peter found himself being flung away by just a hit.
Edmund cried out and brought his sword into the creature's chest, immediately pulling it out and helping Peter.
Caspian sliced the creature's claw and used the distraction to end it's life as Peter too did the same.
The three boys stood, facing the creatures that slowly sank into the ground, being engulfed by the soil around them until there was no trace of the creatures left.
Peter gripped his shoulder, his breaths coming in gasps as they fought to take another breath.
"Aria!", Caspian's voice cried out.
The ghostly fingers of smoke almost met Aria's when Caspian threw himself against the girl, wrapping his hand around her head as they both stumbled to the ground.
A loud scream pierced the air again that brought their hands to their ears.
Peter pressed his hands to his ears tightly, his gaze falling on the hand that withdrew back into the smoke and when the scream had died down, so did the smoke.
Thick mist surrounded them that slowly lifted into the air.
It had all happened so quickly and Peter was left stunned in his spot before his eyes fell to the girl Caspian held on to.
"Aria!".
Peter fell on his knees next to the girl, cradling her in his arms as she refused to open her eyes.
"Come on", he whispered, brushing away her hair from her face.
Aria drew in a sharp breath, eyes opening to complete darkness.
She blinked hard, her eyes trying to focus on what's around her.
She blinked again and her eyes met blue ones.
Teary blue ones.
She felt arms around her as he enveloped her in a hug.
She smiled slightly, patting his shoulder softly.
"I'm alright. You can let me go now", the girl stated and Peter let her go.
With the help of Edmund she got onto her feet and she stared at the point where the smoke had been, now leaving a trace of burnt grass on the ground.
"You don't see that back in England", Edmund said.
Aria snorted and crouched down to inspect the ash covered ground.
"What was that?", Caspian questioned, also staring at the burnt grass.
"Some creature of dark magic. I thought they would be in hiding", Peter stated and Aria turned to look at him.
"They were. But someone brought them out", she replied, dusting her hands off.
"Who?", Edmund frowned.
Caspian turned to look at Aria knowingly and the girl nodded.
"Miraz".
"Wouldn't he try this again? Aria won't be safe-", Peter said but Aria shook her head.
"No. He probably thinks I'm dead now. There's nothing to worry about".
Peter frowned.
He didn't want to count on it.
Aria stumbled in her steps as she lost strength in her legs.
Peter grabbed hold of her.
Edmund couldn't help the small smile on his face, watching Peter hold on tightly to the girl.
"Are you alright?", Peter questioned and Aria looked at the boy.
She nodded and pushed his hands away slowly.
"It could have been worse. Let's go back".
Peter sighed, crossing his arms across his chest.
Sooner or later Miraz would find out that his plan had failed and Aria was still alive.
But Peter wasn't counting on waiting till the Telmarine found out about her.
"In any case, we shouldn't let Miraz act again. We need to do something now".