(no subject)
Hello! I come with a bit of a Last Battle AU. It's not TSG-verse, but Ruth said it was okay to post other things here.
I started this for the Narnia Fic Exchange, based on this prompt:
I would adore a The Last Battle AU in which there is NOT a train accident. Jill and Eustace get to Narnia anyhow, they and Tirian save the country without Aslan declaring Game Over, and they are now too old and must go home to England forever. They and the Pevensies grow up and get jobs. Some of them marry and have children. (I'd love this to be a Jill/Eustace story, if possible.) Susan continues to drift away, though she may be reconciled at some point as she grows older.
Then maybe twenty years later, when the Friends of Narnia are together for a reunion, the adults overhear some of their children talking about a peculiar adventure they had in a country where animals talk, and there was a Lion... :-)
It's unfinished, obviously - not the story I ended up writing for the NFE. I'm afraid I was too ambitious, and the story ended up far too long to finish by the deadline. I keep poking at it, though, thinking I might finish it up.
This is the (VERY) rough first draft, unbetaed, so fair warning.
England, 1949
Jill did not like the Rings.
She was afraid that she (or Eustace, more likely) would touch the wrong Ring by accident and be sucked out of Narnia at the worst possible time. And then with the usual muddle about times, not get back until much later. And even though the Professor and Aunt Polly had given them clear instructions about what pocket to keep which Ring in, and exactly how the rings worked, Jill was still nervous about them.
Keep them in your pockets so you don't touch them by accident! Aunt Polly had said, and Eustace had protested. What if we need to reach in our pockets for, say, a knife? and he pulled his out of his pocket, demonstrating. But Professor Kirke had arched an eyebrow at him and Aunt Polly had given him one of her Looks, and Jill had elbowed him hard, so Eustace subsided and agreed to use the Rings.
And of course he was going to agree to use the Rings, what with Peter going on about Narnia and how they must come to her aid in her time of need and Edmund explaining how it must be very dire if someone from Narnia managed to find their way to this world, and Lucy looking terribly sad and wringing her hands and wondering how things have could have gone so wrong.
Even Susan had looked worried when they all approached her and told her what had happened and about the plan, but unsurprisingly, she refused to have anything to do with it. There had been a most dreadful fight, and Aunt Polly said some terrible things to Susan, and Eustace was scornful, and Jill flushed each time she remembered the harsh things she herself had said. The Professor had lectured, and Edmund was silent with disapproval, and Peter had taken Susan into the other room to speak privately, and both spoke in hushed and grave voices so Jill couldn't hear what was said, but they both returned looking very sad. Lucy had just cried and at that, Susan cried too.
But in the end, none of it did any good and Susan still refused to join in their plan. Lucy had insisted on writing down the date they were doing it and the train they were all taking to meet up, in case Susan changed her mind, but Susan had refused to even touch it, let alone look at it. Lucy had left it on the table, giving Susan one last pleading look before they all left her flat.
It didn't matter, in any case, since the plan changed. Peter and Edmund ended up sneaking into the back garden of the house a day early, and they successfully retrieved the Rings, so the others took the earlier train down to meet them.
Lucy was very quiet on the train.
"Are you ... ah... upset because Jill and I get to go and you don't?" Eustace asked in an awkward but well-meaning way.
Lucy shook her head. "No, I couldn't return, not after Aslan said. But I was thinking about Susan....I wish we had told her about the change in plans."
"Oh, Susan!" Eustace scoffed, and Jill couldn't help agreeing with him, and rolled her eyes.
Aunt Polly frowned. "It wouldn't have made a difference, Lucy. You heard what Susan said."
"But … I just can't believe she wouldn't want to help us! To help Narnia!" Lucy protested and her voice was anguished. Jill couldn't believe that Lucy still thought that was possible.
The Professor shook his head. "Lucy, her mind is made up. And it's closed to all our arguments, and to Narnia, and to Aslan."
Lucy didn't argue, but was silent for the rest of the journey. The thing was, no one except Lucy imagined Susan would change her mind.
Once they were off the train, and had met up with Peter and Edmund, even Lucy seemed to forget about Susan in the excitement of actually having the chance to use the rings. They all piled into Edmund's car (and what a tight squeeze that was) and drove down the road from the train station, to an empty meadow, where if anyone happened to notice them, they'd just look like a family having a picnic.
They marched out to the field and Aunt Polly spread out the blanket she was carrying and they all sat down, and Peter gave the box to the Professor to open it. "You should do the honors, sir."
Jill wasn't sure it was much of an honor, after all she'd heard about the Professor's uncle and the rings, but she had to admit, the Rings were quite something to see, all the yellows and greens paired together and lined up in the box. It was hard to keep your eyes off them, and even though she knew better, Jill wanted very much just to grab them and keep them for herself.
The Professor and Aunt Polly each had that faraway look on their faces that they had when reminiscing about their trip to Narnia. "Hush," said the Professor, "and listen! Can you hear the rings humming?"
They all went silent and cocked their heads, listening, and soon everyone was nodding when they heard the sound.
"I rather think the humming noise is coming from all the bees," Eustace said, and gestured to the many buzzing around the meadow, but this earned him another Look from Aunt Polly, so he stopped arguing.
Finally after all the warnings and instructions and wishes of good luck, Jill and Eustace put the green Rings in their right pockets, and, holding hands, each had reached for a yellow Ring.
Then the faces of the others and the meadow had vanished instantly, and Jill and Eustace were surfacing in a pool, in the Wood Between the Worlds.
Jill stepped out of the pool and looked around. Of course, it was just like Aunt Polly and the Professor had said. The Wood was so lovely and quiet and peaceful, Jill was quite temped to lie down and rest. She tried to sink down to the grass, and tugged at Eustace's hand to sit as well.
"No, I don't think we should," he said. But it was a soft protest, and he looked rather inclined to join her, but then he pointed at something with a shout. "Look at that!"
And that was a guinea pig, snuffling among the grass.
Jill blinked in surprise and then looked back at the pool they had just stepped out of. It was marked, with the strip of turf cut out, and the reddish soil showing, just as the Professor had told them he had done all those years ago. "Oh," she said. "Evidently things never change here. Or maybe they only change a very little."
Eustace nodded. "Maybe time doesn't really pass here?" And he pointed again, this time at a dried up pool a little way down the line of pools. "That must be … or must have been, Charn."
"Which is the pool for Narnia, do you suppose?" Jill asked.
"Well, the Professor and Aunt Polly said it was right across from this one."
But across from the home pool were two pools, and of course, Digory and Polly had never marked the Narnia one. And of course, Jill and Eustace argued over which was the pool to Narnia. In the end, since neither could be sure, they agreed to try the one on the left first, and if it didn't feel like Narnia when they got there, they'd return and try the one on the right.
Jill was starting to feel rather unsettled about the whole thing -what if the Professor and Polly didn't remember where the Narnia pool was at all and we're stuck trying all the pools? - but she switched the yellow Ring to her green one, and stood on the edge of left pool, holding Eustace's hand, and when he called out "1 2 3 JUMP!" she did, closing her eyes tight.
And when she opened them, they were standing in front of man tied to a tree, and it was the man they had all seen a week ago, and she felt giddy with the relief of having made it back to Narnia.
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I started this for the Narnia Fic Exchange, based on this prompt:
I would adore a The Last Battle AU in which there is NOT a train accident. Jill and Eustace get to Narnia anyhow, they and Tirian save the country without Aslan declaring Game Over, and they are now too old and must go home to England forever. They and the Pevensies grow up and get jobs. Some of them marry and have children. (I'd love this to be a Jill/Eustace story, if possible.) Susan continues to drift away, though she may be reconciled at some point as she grows older.
Then maybe twenty years later, when the Friends of Narnia are together for a reunion, the adults overhear some of their children talking about a peculiar adventure they had in a country where animals talk, and there was a Lion... :-)
It's unfinished, obviously - not the story I ended up writing for the NFE. I'm afraid I was too ambitious, and the story ended up far too long to finish by the deadline. I keep poking at it, though, thinking I might finish it up.
This is the (VERY) rough first draft, unbetaed, so fair warning.
England, 1949
Jill did not like the Rings.
She was afraid that she (or Eustace, more likely) would touch the wrong Ring by accident and be sucked out of Narnia at the worst possible time. And then with the usual muddle about times, not get back until much later. And even though the Professor and Aunt Polly had given them clear instructions about what pocket to keep which Ring in, and exactly how the rings worked, Jill was still nervous about them.
Keep them in your pockets so you don't touch them by accident! Aunt Polly had said, and Eustace had protested. What if we need to reach in our pockets for, say, a knife? and he pulled his out of his pocket, demonstrating. But Professor Kirke had arched an eyebrow at him and Aunt Polly had given him one of her Looks, and Jill had elbowed him hard, so Eustace subsided and agreed to use the Rings.
And of course he was going to agree to use the Rings, what with Peter going on about Narnia and how they must come to her aid in her time of need and Edmund explaining how it must be very dire if someone from Narnia managed to find their way to this world, and Lucy looking terribly sad and wringing her hands and wondering how things have could have gone so wrong.
Even Susan had looked worried when they all approached her and told her what had happened and about the plan, but unsurprisingly, she refused to have anything to do with it. There had been a most dreadful fight, and Aunt Polly said some terrible things to Susan, and Eustace was scornful, and Jill flushed each time she remembered the harsh things she herself had said. The Professor had lectured, and Edmund was silent with disapproval, and Peter had taken Susan into the other room to speak privately, and both spoke in hushed and grave voices so Jill couldn't hear what was said, but they both returned looking very sad. Lucy had just cried and at that, Susan cried too.
But in the end, none of it did any good and Susan still refused to join in their plan. Lucy had insisted on writing down the date they were doing it and the train they were all taking to meet up, in case Susan changed her mind, but Susan had refused to even touch it, let alone look at it. Lucy had left it on the table, giving Susan one last pleading look before they all left her flat.
It didn't matter, in any case, since the plan changed. Peter and Edmund ended up sneaking into the back garden of the house a day early, and they successfully retrieved the Rings, so the others took the earlier train down to meet them.
Lucy was very quiet on the train.
"Are you ... ah... upset because Jill and I get to go and you don't?" Eustace asked in an awkward but well-meaning way.
Lucy shook her head. "No, I couldn't return, not after Aslan said. But I was thinking about Susan....I wish we had told her about the change in plans."
"Oh, Susan!" Eustace scoffed, and Jill couldn't help agreeing with him, and rolled her eyes.
Aunt Polly frowned. "It wouldn't have made a difference, Lucy. You heard what Susan said."
"But … I just can't believe she wouldn't want to help us! To help Narnia!" Lucy protested and her voice was anguished. Jill couldn't believe that Lucy still thought that was possible.
The Professor shook his head. "Lucy, her mind is made up. And it's closed to all our arguments, and to Narnia, and to Aslan."
Lucy didn't argue, but was silent for the rest of the journey. The thing was, no one except Lucy imagined Susan would change her mind.
Once they were off the train, and had met up with Peter and Edmund, even Lucy seemed to forget about Susan in the excitement of actually having the chance to use the rings. They all piled into Edmund's car (and what a tight squeeze that was) and drove down the road from the train station, to an empty meadow, where if anyone happened to notice them, they'd just look like a family having a picnic.
They marched out to the field and Aunt Polly spread out the blanket she was carrying and they all sat down, and Peter gave the box to the Professor to open it. "You should do the honors, sir."
Jill wasn't sure it was much of an honor, after all she'd heard about the Professor's uncle and the rings, but she had to admit, the Rings were quite something to see, all the yellows and greens paired together and lined up in the box. It was hard to keep your eyes off them, and even though she knew better, Jill wanted very much just to grab them and keep them for herself.
The Professor and Aunt Polly each had that faraway look on their faces that they had when reminiscing about their trip to Narnia. "Hush," said the Professor, "and listen! Can you hear the rings humming?"
They all went silent and cocked their heads, listening, and soon everyone was nodding when they heard the sound.
"I rather think the humming noise is coming from all the bees," Eustace said, and gestured to the many buzzing around the meadow, but this earned him another Look from Aunt Polly, so he stopped arguing.
Finally after all the warnings and instructions and wishes of good luck, Jill and Eustace put the green Rings in their right pockets, and, holding hands, each had reached for a yellow Ring.
Then the faces of the others and the meadow had vanished instantly, and Jill and Eustace were surfacing in a pool, in the Wood Between the Worlds.
Jill stepped out of the pool and looked around. Of course, it was just like Aunt Polly and the Professor had said. The Wood was so lovely and quiet and peaceful, Jill was quite temped to lie down and rest. She tried to sink down to the grass, and tugged at Eustace's hand to sit as well.
"No, I don't think we should," he said. But it was a soft protest, and he looked rather inclined to join her, but then he pointed at something with a shout. "Look at that!"
And that was a guinea pig, snuffling among the grass.
Jill blinked in surprise and then looked back at the pool they had just stepped out of. It was marked, with the strip of turf cut out, and the reddish soil showing, just as the Professor had told them he had done all those years ago. "Oh," she said. "Evidently things never change here. Or maybe they only change a very little."
Eustace nodded. "Maybe time doesn't really pass here?" And he pointed again, this time at a dried up pool a little way down the line of pools. "That must be … or must have been, Charn."
"Which is the pool for Narnia, do you suppose?" Jill asked.
"Well, the Professor and Aunt Polly said it was right across from this one."
But across from the home pool were two pools, and of course, Digory and Polly had never marked the Narnia one. And of course, Jill and Eustace argued over which was the pool to Narnia. In the end, since neither could be sure, they agreed to try the one on the left first, and if it didn't feel like Narnia when they got there, they'd return and try the one on the right.
Jill was starting to feel rather unsettled about the whole thing -what if the Professor and Polly didn't remember where the Narnia pool was at all and we're stuck trying all the pools? - but she switched the yellow Ring to her green one, and stood on the edge of left pool, holding Eustace's hand, and when he called out "1 2 3 JUMP!" she did, closing her eyes tight.
And when she opened them, they were standing in front of man tied to a tree, and it was the man they had all seen a week ago, and she felt giddy with the relief of having made it back to Narnia.
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