𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝑨𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑, peter pevensie

𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒊𝒊𝒊 . . . splashes of sorrow

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 train was almost deafening, it was like being caught in a death trap with the odd bits of debris occasionally flying past their heads. Through the windows of the train they could see a beach flickering, as if it was the first few frames of a movie at the pictures. The train that seemed to be never ending eventually did vanish into the horizon, leaving all five, still stood in a line, in a cave looking out.

They all walked forwards slowly, refusing to believe where they were just in case it was taken away again. Their linked hands dropped simultaneously, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy exchanging glances, then surged forwards at the same time, yelling to each other. Charlotte's grin was threatening to split her pretty face, while Peter was looking quite smug. She muttered a "Piss off," just loud enough for him to hear her, but pushed him forwards anyway.

Shoes, socks, blazers, ties, all unnecessary items of uniform were abandoned on the hot sand, along with Charlotte and Edmund's bags. She was too occupied with sneaking up on Peter to push him in to notice they were the only ones who still had their satchels with them.

The boys shirts became untucked again, ties held in their hands, jumpers strewn behind them. The girl's red cardigans became unbuttoned, and their hair came loose, out of their plaits or clips. Unfortunately, this lead to Charlotte's vision being hindered for a split second, giving Peter enough time to come up behind her, and lift her up by the waist when Susan went to kick up some water.

She wiped her hair away from her eyes, only to be splashed down into the wet sand by the boy a moment later.

"Ah!" Lucy came tumbling down after her of her own accord and both silently agreed to make it their goal to get Peter back, and were successful in making him stumble, but he regained his balance soon after. Charlotte pushed him by the shoulders down under the waves, and laughed loudly when he pulled her down after him.

"Ed! Ed?" Susan had taken notice of Edmund's vacant expression, staring blankly up the cliff face.

"What is it?" Peter and Charlotte still had the waves sliding over them, as they hadn't the effort to get up yet.

"Where do you suppose we are?"

Charlotte and Peter chose the two different ways to answer his question. She made a poor attempt at kicking some salty water up at him, while Peter reluctantly removed his arms from around Charlotte's waist, then gestured around them, "Where do you think?"

"Well, I don't remember any ruins in Narnia."

"You know, now that you mention it, neither do I."

The four others followed his line of sight and up the moss covered cliff, with bits of broken crumbling staircase winding up the rock face, to see large piles of stone crawling with over grown trees and bushes, and cracked pillars looking down at them.

✰

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐄𝐃𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐆 their bags over their shoulders, and followed the others in the tricky ascend up the cliff. Peter had to hold her steady at times when she felt herself slip on some moss, or trip over a crack she didn't see. They'd left their blazers and ties on the beach, knowing that they'd get them back when needed.

The hill they'd just walked over lead them into the blazing sunlight, when Lucy asked, "Does anyone happen to have any sandwiches with them?"

Peter was still walking, but reached up to pull an apple from a tree for her, "Well, I left them in my bag, and I left my bag in the train station, and I left the station behind in England." He threw the apple for her to catch. Charlotte handed her a chocolate bar she'd taken from the cupboard in the pokey kitchen of the terraced house from under the cooks nose.

All five went off in different directions, Charlotte wondering around something that looked like an old garden, when an opening in the rocks caught her eye. If this really was where she thought she was, everything that belonged to her parents would be in that chamber. The stone tunnel looked different without the burning torches, it felt cold, almost as if it was taunting the castle she'd loved the most and explored every inch of.

When she'd decided she didn't want to go any further in, Charlotte turned back around and when she was left blinking in the sunlight, she came face to face with Lucy, looking around what looked like the remnants of a room, crunching on an apple.

Charlotte caught sight of Peter standing on the top of a small spiral of stone stairs that were still fully intact, and both shrugged when they found nothing of interest. Lucy handed Charlotte a stick of chocolate, and disappeared into some trees, while the red head went to join Peter on the stairs. She handed him a square of the sweet, and he looked at her forlorn expression, wrapping his arm around her, "Found anything yet?"

She shook her head. "No. The only thing that I thought would be of any use, I can't bloody see in. It's pitch black."

Peter could see what the damage a destroyed home had done to Charlotte so gave her a kiss on the cheek in hopes of stopping the tears brimming her eyes.

Lucy had popped back through the trees again, managing to hook them on something so all could see the blue water below, "I wonder who lived here?"

✰

𝐒𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 from behind a tree, smiling lightly, when she stepped on something and stooped to pick it up from the grass, holding it in her hands. "I think we did." Her doubtful gaze was a constant flicker from Lucy to the item in her hands.

Charlotte pressed her hands to try to cool her heated face down, then she and Peter stepped off the stairs and joined Susan with Lucy and Edmund who'd just rounded a pillar. "Hey, that's mine. From my old chess set." He was pointing to it, so he was handed the piece by his sister.

When the girl managed to get a closer look, she saw it was indeed a golden knight from a chess set, "Which chess set?" Charlotte thought Peter had asked a stupid question that he obviously knew the answer to.

"Well, it's not like I had a solid gold chess set in Finchley, did I." Edmund countered, smirking at his brother when he couldn't find an adequate response. Lucy looked quickly towards Susan, and walked off again, whispering, "It can't be." To herself, over and over again.

Peter followed swiftly after, and was pulled up by the hand to a stone dais raised, only a few inches, above ground level. The remaining three didn't hesitate to follow haste.

"Don't you see?" Charlotte, in fact, could see. Five, small stone pillars that looked like remnants of thrones, were lined up, the middle pile of rubble slightly raised.

"What?" Peter was pushed to stand before one of the mounds, "Imagine walls," Susan was next, "And columns there," She pointed, towards the trees and moved Charlotte to the middle, Edmund and Lucy were the last to be stood in their rightful places, when Lucy gestured upwards, "And a glass roof."

There was a thick and heavy moment of silence, before Peter whispered, "Cair Paravel." wistfully. A new quiet descended them as soon as the word left his lips, as if the very ruins of the walls of their great castle needed the confirmation of its previous magnificence. It was ironic Peter was the one to say it.