Before the sun started to rise, they all headed back to the Dawn Treader. Then they sail for Dark Island, a place that made nightmares come true. Ana was leery about what they may face, but she wasn't afraid. She was done with that. Aslan was on their side so she had nothing to fear.
But as they drew closer, the darkness grew. They had to sail around Ramandu's Island in order to reach their destination. Ana didn't have to see the island to feel the pull of darkness. She wondered if any of the others felt something. Maybe not as strongly as she did, but enough to know something was wrong. The crew had been silent and Ana thought they seemed a bit on edge as well—not that she blamed them.
She tried to shake off the feeling and the uneasiness of the phoenix. It wouldn't do any good to let her out now when there was no real threat. Ana suspected it would only cease to upset the crew. Not that it helped much. Once the island came into view, everyone seemed very unsettled.
"So... what do you think is in there?" Tavros pondered aloud.
"Our worst nightmares," Edmund answered.
"Our darkest wishes," Caspian added. Ana had to roll her eyes at the fact that neither King did anything to assuage the nervous first mate.
"Pure evil," the Captain said, glancing over his shoulder from the wheel to the two. He turned his head towards the Minotaur. "Tavros, unlock the armory."
"My lord." Tavros obeyed and began heading towards the steps.
"Archers!" Drinian ordered. "Prepare yourselves!"
"Light the lanterns!" Tavros commanded, climbing down the steps and heading to the armory.
Caspian turned to look at Ana and the two royals. "Let's get ready," he suggested. He cast one last concerned glance at Ana before heading inside the stern.
Edmund was close behind him, sending the girls only a cursory glance. Lucy followed her brother inside while Ana lingered for a moment. She needed a moment to take in the fresh air before going inside. Once they were inside the mist surrounding the island, she doubted they would have a moment of peace. So she wanted to take it in while she still could. It also helped to settle the uneasiness in her stomach.
Shortly afterwards, Ana headed into her cabin. She approached one of the chests and opened it. Hesitating for only a moment, she pulled her armor from the chest. She hadn't needed to wear it since the peace treaty, but she had brought it along just in case. Caspian had done so as well. But neither wanted to wear it unless they had to.
Shaky hands unbuckled the clasps and slid the pieces into place. She almost gave up on her arm guard entirely when she couldn't get it secured into place. Instead, Ana picked up her quiver, a few daggers, and the arm guard before heading to the Stateroom. She knew Lucy was preparing there and thought the company might help settle her nerves. Ana knew it wasn't normal for her to display her emotions so openly.
She knocked and Lucy bade her entrance. The Valiant Queen stood in front of the mirror, checking that she had everything she needed. Gael was sitting on the bed in the corner watching her. Both flicked their attention to Ana when she entered. Lucy sent her a soft smile while Gael let out a little gasp.
"When I grow up," Gael said softly, "I want to be just like you." Ana wasn't sure who the girl was referring to but sent her a small smile.
Lucy stopped fiddling with her belt and turned to Gael. She approached the bed and sat down beside her. "When you grow up..." she advised, wrapping one arm around her, "you should be just like you." Lucy comfortingly rubbed Gael's arm and the girl leaned into her.
"There's no one else like you," Ana added with a soft smile.
Even though it was a bittersweet time, she couldn't keep a smile off her face. The moment reminded Ana of similar scenes long ago. When Lucy was being comforted by one of her siblings or even Ana. Now Lucy was looking out for the young girl. Protecting her, just like her siblings always did for her. Still did, in fact. The two had created a special bond. Ana wasn't sure who would be more distraught when they had to say goodbye.
As the two sat on the bed, Ana worked on securing her arm guard and her weapons. Then she nodded to Lucy, who stood and approached. Wrapping her arms around Ana, Lucy pulled her into a hug. She was a little taken aback at first but returned it almost immediately. Being hugged by Lucy always felt different, but this time it was even more so.
It was the hug she often gave before a battle, but this time Lucy was hugging her as the Queen. Normally she pulled you close, holding on tight. It was the hug of a young girl afraid she wouldn't see you again. A warning to be careful. But this hug was warm and comforting, for both parties. A silent reminder that everything would be alright. That they would get through this. Lucy was going into the battle as the Valiant Queen, not Lucy Pevensie.
"We need to talk," Lucy whispered in her ear before pulling away.
Ana frowned a little in response but nodded. "Now?" She didn't feel like the current moment was the time for any deep discussions.
She shrugged. "At some point before we enter this place... Preferably soon."
"What for?"
"Because if this is the source of our nightmares, yours did a real number on you. And if you don't face them..." Here, Lucy hesitated. "...t-they could seriously affect you."
Ana glanced at Gael, still sitting quietly on the bed. She was staring out the large windows, likely only half paying attention to the current conversation. But Ana didn't feel comfortable opening up to Lucy, let alone Gael. She knew that Lucy sensed this though and wouldn't let her use it as an excuse to back out.
"We can go to your rooms if you prefer," Lucy suggested.
Ana held back a sigh. Apparently, they were going to do this regardless of what she thought. There was no way Lucy was going to let her go. And there was no place she could go to hide from her. They were on a boat and Lucy could gain access to her cabin if she pressed enough. It just didn't seem fair to force her to confess her secrets. But Ana did agree that she couldn't expect to fight them on her own.
So, she conceded and the two made their way back to Ana's cabin. As soon as the doors were shut, Lucy turned to face her. But Ana didn't speak, couldn't speak. She found herself clamming up again. She didn't want to relive her nightmare, didn't want to relive any of it. It was too much. The words caught in her throat as they always did.
"Oh, Ana..." Lucy gasped, recognizing her struggle. "What is so terrible that you cannot speak of it?"
"Because it wasn't just in my head," Ana admitted. "S-some of it actually happened and I-I think some of it didn't. I just... I don't know what was and what wasn't real. But since parts of it were..."
"It's harder for you to speak about it." Ana nodded, averting her eyes. "Well... How about if I start with what I know happened? That way we can separate what you remember from what you dreamed."
"It might help..."
Lucy smiled. "It all started when I woke Edmund..."
~Lucy's Point-of-View, a few weeks Earlier~
'Edmund,' Lucy whispered to her brother. He appeared to be awake but in some sort of trance. He didn't see her. Caspian was tossing and turning on an adjacent cot, muttering something. Suddenly Edmund drew his sword and pointed it in the opposite direction of Lucy. 'Edmund!'
'Oh, Lucy!' he replied, startled as his eyes found her. He cast his gaze back to the wall and then to Lucy.
'I couldn't sleep...' she said.
It thundered loudly and Caspian woke with a start. Both flicked their gazes towards him briefly. He was a little dazed for a moment, confused as to where he was perhaps. Or what Lucy was doing there at the very least.
Let me guess,' Edmund said. 'Bad dreams. So either we're all going mad... Or something is playing with our minds.' He slouched back into his cot. Lucy noted he looked exhausted and wondered what was keeping him up.
Edmund sheathed his blade and they were silent for a moment. Then Caspian sat up and looked at them. He looked very distressed as if something horrible had just crossed his mind.
'If we're all having bad dreams...' he stated, slowly to himself. 'Ana!'
He jumped from his bed and quickly fled the room. Lucy and Edmund were right behind him, concerned for their friend. They had witnessed her being plagued by something from the past several times during the day. But they had thus far been unaffected. However, now that they were starting to have nightmares, Ana had to as well. And they were likely to be worse at night than whatever happened during the day.
They reached her cabin door slightly out of breath. Caspian made to open the door but hesitated. Lucy listened for any sounds on the other side of the door, but couldn't hear anything over the roar of the sea. Caspian knocked. Once. Twice. No one answered, not that they really expected Ana to at this hour. But they also didn't want to just burst in on her.
Caspian raised his hand to knock again. But before his hand met the wood there was a soft thud. It sounded like someone falling to the floor. No longer caring about invading her privacy, Caspian flung the door open. The sight before them would haunt Lucy for a long time.
She had seen unsavory sights before. But this... This was different. Ana was thrashing on the floor near the bed, tears streaming down her face. She was muttering something and it took Lucy a moment to realize she was begging. Telling something, or someone, to stop. Followed by cries of pain. Her voice was broken and Ana was terrified of something only she could see. Nothing like the Ana they knew. She seemed so... vulnerable and scared. It broke Lucy's heart to see her like that.
While Lucy and Edmund stood in shock, Caspian rushed forward to try and wake her. As soon as he touched her, however, she panicked even more. He stepped back as she whimpered and quickly moved to cower in a corner. Her eyes flicked in Caspian's direction, wide and unseeing. He raised his arms in a placating gesture and she pushed herself as far away as she could get. Which unfortunately was not very far. When her back hit the wall, Ana realized she was trapped. Her gaze turned to the doorway. It was clear she didn't know where she was or who was there. If she even knew someone was there.
Caspian tried to move closer, but Ana raised both arms to stop him. They were shaky and unsteady, betraying her inner turmoil. Tears streamed down her face as she begged him not to come any closer. He stopped in his tracks, hands falling to his sides and clenching into fists. They all realized Ana was afraid of him. She seemed to think he would hurt her. And Lucy could see that it hurt Caspian to see her like that.
Lucy heard sharp inhales and quickly focused her attention back on Ana. She was panicking and couldn't breathe. Which only made her situation worse. Now unfrozen, she stepped forward but Caspian was closer. He grabbed her wrists, resulting in her trying to hit him. To fight him off. But the hits were weak and Ana's movements were sluggish. She couldn't focus enough to breathe much less fight off her perceived attacker.
Caspian quickly knelt beside her and shifted her nearly limp body into his lap. Her back was against his chest, arms pinned at her sides. He started taking slow deep breaths, whispering something in her ear. Lucy had a brief thought that Ana would be so embarrassed if she was aware but shook it off. Her concern for her friend was more important. And what Caspian was doing was certainly calming her down.
Lucy watched as her body relaxed and her breathing evened out. Edmund finally seemed to shake off his shock and approached. He put a hand on her shoulder when Lucy tried to move closer. Both knew better than to crowd her but Lucy was shaken and wanted to go to her aid. Edmund's hand on her shoulder reminded her to stay back and helped her to relax a little as well.
It took a few minutes but eventually, Ana went completely limp. Her eyes were closed and she slumped into Caspian's lap. Lucy nearly panicked, thinking she had somehow died. But before she could move, she noted the rise and fall of her chest. She was alive but she had exhausted her body too much. Ana was merely asleep now and Caspian sighed in relief.
'Help me get her into the bed,' he said softly. He moved a loose strand of hair from Ana's face and frowned a little. 'She seems warmer than usual...'
'It's probably just from the exertion,' Lucy commented as Edmund stepped forward.
He helped Caspian to his feet as he shifted Ana's sleeping frame. She did not stir, which normally would be concerning. Ana was not a heavy sleeper, waking at the slightest sound. But given the circumstances, it was no surprise she had fallen into a deeper sleep.
Lucy moved to fix the blankets on the bed. They were twisted and some were half hanging off. It was a testament to just how much they had missed before barging into her room.
'That's not the first time this has happened,' Edmund observed as he approached the bed. 'You knew exactly what to do...'
Caspian was right behind him, cradling Ana in his arms. 'She's had a few of these attacks before. They got less frequent as time went on. I thought they had stopped completely...' He frowned as he settled her on the bed. 'But that was the first in which she tried to fight me off.'
Caspian turned away and Lucy pulled the blankets up. She agreed with his assessment of Ana seeming warmer than usual. But she looked too vulnerable without the blankets and Lucy couldn't bring herself to take them away from her. She untied her bed curtains and closed them around the bed. Then all three quietly left and Caspian closed the door.
'We tell no one about this,' Caspian said, 'including Ana. Agreed?'
'Yes,' Lucy said. 'Do you think she'll remember?'
Caspian could only shrug. 'Only time will tell.'
The three royals stared at the door for a long moment. Then they departed, returning to their own rooms to try and get some sleep. But Lucy knew none of them would get much. Not after they witnessed the crumbling of their dearest friend. Someone who was family.
~Ana's Point-of-View, present day~
Ana stood frozen, thousands of questions racing through her mind. "What? It was just a dream?"
"Ana?" Lucy asked, stepping closer.
"I thought I— B-but I didn't... H-how can that be?" She stumbled back in shock, falling into the nearest chair.
Lucy was quick to rush to her side. "I'm sorry... We promised not to speak of it because we thought it would upset you. We didn't know how much you would remember."
Ana shook her head. "No, no. It's not that." She took a deep breath and looked Lucy in the eyes. "I-I thought I hurt him... Hurt Caspian. I didn't know that was part of the dream too because it had changed. I remember most of the things after that. But that... it was more real than anything else. Phoenix attacked him."
Lucy's features showed surprise but she quickly schooled them. "Why would you ever think you'd attack him? Or any of us? What happened?"
"I wouldn't," Ana emphasized. "But Phoenix might... It's attacked before, to protect me and I've had no recollection of it. I only learned of it after the fact from someone else."
"But surely—" Lucy began before stopping herself. "Phoenix thought Caspian was a threat?"
She shook her head. "Not exactly. It reacted to... to an actual threat. But when Phoenix attacked, the figure became Caspian. Bits of mist-induced nightmares were intermingled with events that actually happened. I couldn't sort out what hadn't occurred from what had.
"But... I was so sure that it was real because it was so different from the rest, so sudden. I saw him bleeding. I've been terrified of hurting any of you ever since. But you're telling me that never happened. Which means it was all in my head. I just assumed he wasn't showing any signs of pain because you had patched him up. And now... Now, I don't know what's real anymore."
"That's why you shut us out..." Lucy realized. "It wasn't because you were embarrassed about it. You didn't want to hurt us."
Ana nodded. "I was afraid the mist would cause me to lose control again. I know it can happen... Phoenix has been harder to control ever since the invasion. I thought I had it under control but..." She trailed off, unable to confess her fears aloud.
Lucy didn't know what to say. Didn't have any words of comfort. Ana knew there was little she could say that she herself didn't already know. But she was thrown off guard when Lucy's arms wrapped around her shoulders. This was a comforting hug. The one she always gave when words fell short. They had a way of making the person feel better.
꧁ 𝑽𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒘𝒏 𝑻𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 ꧂
Though there was more to discuss, they knew they had wasted enough time talking. So Lucy was willing to drop the topic for now. Both made their way out onto the main deck. By the time they arrived, most of the crew had gathered around for Caspian's speech. He was standing with the Captain, overlooking the crowd and waiting for everyone to join them.
It may not have been obvious, but many knew the King would make some kind of speech before a battle. Whether it was words of affirmation, praise, or comfort. Caspian always felt the need to assure his men. Ana believed it was because any loss of life hurt him. It was to inform the men that their lives were important to him and he didn't want to lead them into battle. But sometimes it couldn't be avoided.
Dark Island stood ominously in front of them. Ana heard whispered voices and felt her magic grow on edge. She shook her head, trying to ignore the whispers, as she looked to the sky. She knew she was stronger than whatever dark forces lay ahead.
Eustace was flying above the ship, but he quickly baulked at the sight of the island. He tried to turn around and flee in the opposite direction. However, Reepicheep wouldn't stand for it and Ana witnessed him lecturing him. She couldn't make out exactly what he said because they were out of earshot. But she could tell by his movements he was giving some type of speech. And whatever he said worked as Eustace turned back around and began following the ship again.
Ana smiled. The two had a special bond and Reepicheep seemed to be helping Eustace. As a dragon, the boy was less irritable. He had actually proven to be helpful on occasions. She didn't know if it was his current state or Reepicheep that was causing the change in him. Perhaps it was both.
She wiped the smile from her face and refocused her attention on Caspian. It was too somber of a moment to seem so happy. The last of the crew made their way onto the deck and Ana noted that Gael had found Lucy. The two stood together as Caspian made his way to the steps.
"No matter what happens here..." Caspian began, "every soul who stands before me has earned their place... on the crew of the Dawn Treader. Together we have traveled far. Together we have faced adversity. Together, we can do it again." He paused for just a brief moment. "So now is not the time to fall to fear's temptations. Be strong! Never give in. Our world... our Narnian lives, depend on it. Think of the lost souls we're here to save... Think of Aslan. Think of Narnia."
He started to descend down the stairs. But he was halted in his tracks by cries of 'For Narnia!' from the crew. Though they were nervous about what lay ahead, they knew they had to do it. Their futures, and that of their loved ones, were at stake. They were willing to fight for them and pleased to follow Caspian into battle.
Ana joined in on the call, feeling a sense of peace even as they sailed into the fog. She made eye contact with Caspian and sent him a reassuring smile. He nodded in response, a small grimace on his face. Both knew that whatever they faced wouldn't necessarily be physical. They would be fighting a battle of their minds.