The Last Time

Edmund and Peter walked to a nearby grocery store to buy some sandwiches and drinks for the group. Edmund couldn't get his mind off of the girl from the train. She was so mysterious, yet something was familiar about her.

Peter also had his mind set elsewhere besides their current surroundings. He absentmindedly picked up a turkey sandwich for Lucy as his mind wandered to his younger brother's words from earlier.

“But something caught my attention; her necklace... It looked as though it wasn't from our world.”

If it wasn't from their world, then could it honestly be from...?

Suddenly, his brother's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

“I'm so sorry”, Ed said apologetically.

Peter turned around towards the direction he heard Edmund's voice come from as he saw an unusual sight: Edmund had knocked over some items and a girl was on the floor as well. She wore a uniform similar to the ones from their school.

“So, you're following me now?” the girl asked with a slight frown.

Peter rushed towards them, and then helped her up as he took in her appearance. She was tan, obviously from some mixed heritage, but had shoulder-length, dark brown-almost black-hair which was in a high ponytail. Her sparkling, yellow earrings caught his attention as did her hourglass figure. But what caught Peter's eye more than anything had to be her piercing, brown eyes similar to Edmund's, but deeper-as though she could read into his soul.

Once again, Ed's voice interrupted his thoughts.

“I'm not following you. My brother and I were just in here buying food for our sisters, cousin, and his friend”, he replied in a cold tone, surprising Peter.

The girl glared at Edmund as he wore a slight smirk. She stood, then spoke once more, this time to Peter.

“Thank you for helping me. Your brother should learn some manners before trying to stalk girls he encounters”, she said with a smirk of her own.

She walked to the store owner, pulling out some money as she scanned the items both Pevensie's held.

“Here, sir. I'll take care of the things they're buying”, she said in a kind tone.

Edmund's mouth stood ajar, but he quickly straightened his composure as he stared at the girl, Peter doing the same.

She walked towards the door, a sparkle of light greeting Peter's eye as the necklace sparkled in the sunlight. She looked back at the boys and exited the door, a small smile on her lips.

…

When Peter and Edmund returned to the others, they told them everything that'd happened in the store.

“You must have been imagining things”, was Susan's response.

Everyone stared at her incredulously.

“You have got to be joking, Susan, right?” Jill asked as she continued to stare at her in disbelief.

“Well, how else would the boys have seen her and not the rest of us?” she defended.

Lucy thought about Susan's point. But then again, no one was paying attention at the time, either.

“So, she just came in, you ran into her, and she paid for everything?” Lucy asked Edmund again.

“Yes, Lu. That's exactly what happened”, he answered, looking away afterward.

Edmund wanted so desperately to see the girl again. He had so many questions for her, but if she was just going to constantly disappear, how would those questions get answered?

“We'd better head back”, Peter said suddenly as he looked towards the sky; dark thunder clouds were approaching them and to him, that wasn't a good sign.

The group nodded as they headed towards the station to wait for Dr. Kirke to pick them up. All of this had to happen for a reason. It just had to.

…

Later on that night, the Pevensie's, Eustance, and Jill all laid sleeping at Professor Kirke's manor, each person having a dream of their own.

Peter ran through a forest in Narnia that he'd been to in his previous visit there, his sword in his hands as he went to rescue someone-someone important.

His feet eventually carried him to an unknown tower that he'd never been to before, but he continued to climb the numerous stairs until finally, he approached the one room where he knew she was held.

He opened the set of double doors, fear and shock overwhelming him.

Her body was suspended in midair as if by magic of some sort, but her face was twisted in agony yet he couldn't make out who she was. Suddenly, her body fell to the ground as she held two short swords in her hands.

“Are you alright?” he asked, touching her on the shoulder, but the girl didn't move at first.

“Of course,..... Peter, dear”, she replied, her voice sounding distorted-similar to one he heard so long ago.

Peter stumbled to the ground as the girl transformed into someone Narnia feared-the same face that challenged him his second visit to Narnia...

Susan sat up as she heard a girl screaming in pain, but she'd never heard this voice before-it was someone she didn't now.

She pulled out her bow and an arrow and aimed for the girl but someone stopped her.

“No! Don't shoot! We can't hurt her!” the male voice cried.

Suddenly, the male and Susan were knocked to the ground as the girl stood over her with a short sword in her hand pointed straight at her.

The girl's eyes were the same eyes she saw during her first visit to Narnia. Susan opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't hear her own voice. The girl went to strike...

Eustance and Jill waited on a sunny hill, Narnians and some humans alike waiting with them. They were waiting for the Pevensie's to return, but they hadn't.

A centaur approached them, carrying the weapons of his cousins back to them, each item covered in blood.

Jill burst into tears as Eustance consoled her but he, too, also broke down himself.

Lucy felt the tears flow from her eyes, but didn't understand why she was crying. She was in an enormous room, but there were things there that she'd never seen before.

It was Narnia, she was sure of that, but before she could even begin to figure out where she was exactly, she felt her body rush to someone's side as the person laid in the arms of a male she knew, yet she couldn't see either person's face.

“L-Lucy, don't cry”, the girl said, holding a hand out to her.

But that was all Lucy could do. She felt nothing but pain-pain for this person she didn't know.

Edmund woke from his slumber in a large, royal bed realizing someone was missing. Horror filled him as he allowed his feet to carry him where they pleased.

Eventually, he was led to a large set of double doors, opening them as soon as he reached them. The sight that he saw made him go pale.

His siblings were fighting with this particular person, but he knew something wasn't right. Why were they fighting? Who were they fighting?

He rushed to his siblings, but the person pulled out two swords and began fighting him as well. He defended as the person switched to Peter this time. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Susan getting ready to shoot one of her arrows, but he stopped her.

Before either of them could speak, they were knocked back to the floor. The girl went to strike Susan, but he pushed her off of his sister, pinning her to the ground by her arms.

“Kill me”, the girl whimpered.

Edmund blinked in disbelief. The voice sounded familiar, but he didn't know where since he couldn't see her face.

“W-what?” he asked.

“Please, Ed. Do it now!” she exclaimed, but it sounded like a plea.

Edmund shook his head as he pulled out his sword, striking her straight in the chest.

The Pevensie's as well as Eustance and Jill woke up either distraught or yelling, especially Edmund.

Dr. Kirke entered the room each person was in, gathering all of them into his study.

“What happened to all of you? You woke up screaming or crying-all at the same time”, he asked in shock.

All children started talking at the same time causing Professor Kirke to become confused.

“One at a time”, he ordered in a calm tone.

Calmly, each person described their dream to the Professor Kirke, his eyes widening with each tale.

“Wh-what do you think it means, Professor?” Lucy asked after a moment.

Peter stared at his youngest sister, then his siblings, and finally, the professor. Susan stared at the old man, hoping he had the answer they were looking for. Edmund, however, stared off into the burning fire in the fireplace. Eustance and Jill stared at one another, then at their laps before staring at the professor.

Professor Kirke stared at all of the children, taking in each one. He sighed before speaking.

“The dreams each of you had were horrific, but they each had a common factor-two to be in fact”, he began.

They all sat in silence until Jill spoke.

“We were all in Narnia-”, she began, but Eustance cut across her.

“-but we each got sort of like pieces of certain events”, he finished.

“But how do we know which pieces go in which order?” Lucy asked.

“First, it's Peter's”, Ed began, finally staring at the group. “Then, it's Susan, me, Lucy, and finally, Eustance and Jill.”

All eyes laid on Edmund as though he were a genius.

“D-does that mean we're going to die?” Susan asked in a worried tone.

Peter wrapped an arm around her, shaking his head.

“No. That can't be true. Maybe the dreams were some sort of sign”, he said with certainty.

“Maybe”, Lucy said in a low tone.

“But..”, Eustance began for the first time since he explained his dream to the others, “who was the person the four of you dreamed about?” he asked, his brows furrowed.

The Pevensie's stared at one another as they processed their cousin's words. Who was the person they dreamed about?

“I think that's enough for one night”, Dirke said in a stern tone, catching all of them off guard. “You'd all better head to bed and talk about it tomorrow.”

The children stared at one another, but nodded in agreement and headed to bed. Each person fell asleep about an hour later, except Edmund. He wanted to know why all of these things were happening to them after 6 years. Things obviously hadn't gotten worse, have they? And if they did, why haven't they been called back like they were the previous times? Was it because they were too old?

Ed shook his head, then turned over and soon enough fell into a deep slumber once again.