The Chronicles of Narnia: The Children of New

Chapter 49: The Return

Zoran's POV

I just stared at the big lion that stood before us. It was the first time any of us had seen him since he left the crowning ceremony. I heard Ariana say something but it didn't register in my ears. I had such a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. God damn it. I knew this day would come. But did it have to be now? Anna is actually going to kill me. I thought to myself as we followed Aslan to the gardens. I gripped Ray's hand and she gave me the reassuring squeeze that I needed. There was a wordless communication between the two of us. Once we got to the great big oak tree, Aslan stood up in front of us.

"It is nice to see you all again. I see that Narnia is doing extremely well and that you all have done your jobs well. But now it is time for you to go,"

There was a silence that hung in the air. I braced myself for what would be an angry Anna. It didn't take long. "What?!? You're joking. Now? No way. Nope. Why now?"

"Where on earth is this coming from? Why now? Couldn't we have a heads up?" asked Ariana who looked deeply concerned

"Because this was the time chosen for you to leave. You cannot stay here forever, you must return to your own world. But one day, some of you may yet return to Narnia," Aslan said as he took a seat in front of the oak tree.

"Anna, he's right, it's time to go," I said trying not to give away the fact that I already knew this was coming. I had been counting down the days.

"Why are you so damn calm about this? Aren't you mad that..." she trailed off for a second. "You already knew, didn't you. You fucking knew this was coming,"

God damn it. Why does she have to be so smart that she can put the piece together? I thought to myself as I shared a look of help to Ray. "Zoran and I thought that ten years would be plenty of time. We didn't expect it to go by so quickly. I mean lo--"

Ray was cut off by Ariana and Patrick yelling, "YOU THOUGHT TEN YEARS WAS ENOUGH?!?!"

"It's bad enough that you knew ahead of time and were not telling us. But picking how long we'd get to stay? Come on, really? You couldn't at least consulted us," said Jackson as he rubbed his eyes in frustration

It was at that moment we all realised how quiet Anna had gotten. We all turned and looked at her. She then began to speak, "You, two decided that tens years would be enough time for us to be here, didn't fucking tell or consult us, and expect us to just happily get up and leave?" she took a breath before, "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?? I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU RIGHT NOW!!"

"Anna just listen to me for a second,"

"No, Zoran. You don't get to speak right now. My wedding that I have been planning for MONTHS is supposed to take place early next month. But you didn't once think to tell me that I don't know maybe... MOVE THE WEDDING UP A BIT??"

Oh fuck. She's madddd. Understandably though. Think Zoran, think. I thought as I tried to come up with a reasonable answer. "Anna there was no way for us to tell you without giving it away. I couldn't just say 'hey Anna, you know the wedding you've been planning? Yeah, can you move the whole thing up a month or two for me? Thanks.' No. You would've wanted an explanation that I couldn't have given you,"

"IT'S CALLED A BULLSHIT EXCUSE ZORAN!! Oh my God, you're my brother! I would've taken whatever you had said into consideration and would have probably moved the wedding. But no you didn't do that. It's my wedding. MY FUCKING WEDDING THAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO FOR MONTHS AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO KEEP THIS FROM ME,"

By now we were in each other's faces having a full-on yelling match. "Do you honestly think that I wanted to be the one to cancel your wedding?"

"Well it sure damn looks that way now doesn't it? This is actually unbelievable," Anna then took a deep breath and started backing away from me, "I'm done. I'm so fucking done. So fuck off Zoran," she then turned to Aslan, "Let it be known that I'm not leaving. So fuck you, I'm done," and with that, she turned around and stormed back inside the castle.