Fanfic : Crossing Borders
Title: Crossing Borders
Author maaike_fluffy
Fandom: The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian movie-verse
Pairing: Caspian/Susan
Rating: Fiction rated K
Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia were created and written by C. S. Lewis. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Prince Caspian and the Pevensies continue their life after their farewell, but none of them can stop dwelling on the past.Then Caspian makes a decision; If she can't come to him, then he'll have to find her. Movie-verse. Not beta-ed.
Chapter 1: The Horn and the Tree
Chapter 2: The Crown of Narnia
Chapter 3: The Shadows Behind the Tree
Chapter 4: Relapse
Chapter 5: Failure
End of Chapter 5:
Caspian paused when he stood next to the tree, almost on the very spot where Susan and the rest had disappeared. He rested his hand on the bark. It wasn’t warm, but cold and clammy. Like a tree should be. Caspian looked behind him one more time and took a deep breath. This is it… Goodbye Narnia. Until I see you again. He squared his shoulders and stepped through...
6. The Beast Behind the Bush
Caspian closed his eyes and braced himself for what was coming. What did people generally feel when they entered a portal to another world? It would probably be painful, yet the Kings and Queens had gone back and forth twice. It couldn’t be that bad.
There was no pain, no strange pressure, no light feeling in his head. Only his stomach was clenched, but that had nothing to do with the portal. Caspian opened his eyes, and saw green grass and a hill in the distance. He was simply standing on the other side of the tree. Disappointment washed through Caspian, and almost pulled him under. He turned around, and walked through again. Nothing. The portal had closed. He slid down against the trunk of the tree. The tree that had once been the symbol of his obsession, but which now was as ordinary as any other. He had been so sure, so sure, that this was his path. That Aslan had given him these vivid dreams to encourage him. All this time he had been fighting the urge to step through. And now that he wanted to step through, he found that he couldn’t.
Caspian let his head rest against the tree trunk and miserably stared at the dark, cloudy sky. Sitting on the damp grass caused him to get cold and wet, but he was too frustrated to care. Why could nothing go the way he wanted? Why did everything have to be so hard?
As he sat on the ground he thought back of the day they had left. He should have gone through immediately, when the gate was still open. He could have been with them-her- all this time. An image of his last dream flashed before his eyes-the Kings and Queens, proud and erect-and suddenly he felt pathetic. High King Peter wouldn’t mope and complain like he did; the High King bore his setbacks with dignity. I may not be Peter, but I am a King of Narnia. Caspian jumped up quickly, his disappointment making way for determination. I will get there. There must be another way.
He took the short route as he walked back to the castle. He did not know another way to get to the other world. But if there was another way, there was only one place where he could learn about it; Professor Cornelius’ study. He entered the doors and walked the hallway he hadn’t expected to see again for a long time, but he gave it little thought. Somehow he felt he had to hurry. He took the stairs two steps at a time and almost ran around the corner until he faced the door to the Professor’s study. The Professor wasn’t there, Caspian knew, but still he had to fight the urge to knock. He pushed open the door and walked to the shelves, his fingers tracing the book covers. He knew what he was looking for. The bundle of papers. He’d seen it less than a week ago when the Professor had told him about the Kings and Queens. His fingers found a faded green leather cover and he pulled, smiling as he noticed the illustration of the gold and silver crowns.
Caspian sat down at the desk and opened the leather cover. By the light of his torch he could just make out the words. They were letters, mostly, and torn pages from various books. He found the letter by King Edmund the Just that had been a source of pride for the Professor. It was a treaty of some sort. Caspian did not read it, but his eyes travelled down to the name at the bottom. Edmund Pevensie. Caspian put the letter aside and took the next. He read letters for hours on end, without feeling the need to eat or rest. Most of them were written after the disappearance of the Kings and Queens. There were logs of the search parties that had meticulously inspected the west of Narnia, looking for clues about their whereabouts. Caspian carefully read the passage where they reported the discovery of the Kings and Queens’ horses. In the west. Caspian told himself. The west. What’s in the west?
He felt like this bundle was his key to the other world; he just had to find out how to use it. It was nearly dawn when he finally found what he’d been looking for. He didn’t realise the importance of the paper when he picked it up, but his eyes widened when he started reading and he moved a little closer to the torch for better light. It was a passage from a book, written by a faun named Tumnus-Caspian clearly recalled the Professor’s words that were only a week old; “Faun Tumnus, said to be a close personal friend of the Valiant Queen.” -and it described the very first encounter with Queen Lucy the Valiant by the Lantern. Caspian put the paper down and stared at it with unseeing eyes, thoughts and memories flitting through his mind in rapid pace. The Lantern. Lantern Waste. That is in the west. He also clearly remembered the story of the Beavers that had taken care of the Kings and Queens when they had first arrived. Beaversdam is near Lantern Waste. Horses found in the west… it all fits! And if Queen Lucy had entered and exited three times through the same portal, then didn’t that mean that the portal didn’t close?
Leaving the bundle of papers on the Professor’s desk, Caspian jumped up from his seat and hurried out of the study. Through the large windows Caspian would see a faint light on the horizon. It would be dawn soon. The castle was still asleep, but the first people would wake soon, and Caspian wanted to be gone before they did; he did not look forward to having to say goodbye to everyone. It was easier like this; a clean break.
He did not look back when he exited the castle and made his way to the stables. Destrier whinnied as Caspian walked in; the horse immediately recognised it’s master. Caspian stoked the head of the beast to silence her. “Shhh! Hush girl, don’t wake the others now. We’ll be taking a little ride together. You and me alone.” Though he usually had someone else to do it for him; Caspian knew how to prepare his horse. He grabbed the saddle and fastened the straps as fast as could without making mistakes. A rooster crowed as he opened the stable doors, and Caspian placed his left foot in the stirrup, and pulled himself up, his right leg swinging over the back of the horse smoothly. “Now, go!”
The rising sun coloured the sky an impressive crimson, and by the time the first beams of sunlight hit what was left of the autumn leaves on the trees, Caspian had left Cair Paravel far behind him. He had urged Destrier to go fast as he drove through the inhabited areas, but once he reached the edge of the woods he allowed he to slow down a little. Having slept only a short while that night, Caspian ought to have been tired, but the excitement kept him wide awake. He paused for a short while when the sun was already high in the sky to let Destrier rest, and to refresh himself in a nearby spring. He found a bush of ripe brambles and remembered fondly the day he’d eaten with Susan in a part of the woods that wasn’t very far from the place he was now.
He didn’t linger long. Feeling Destrier would have more than enough time to rest later, Caspian resumed his journey through the Ford of Beruna. He was momentarily tempted to drive by Aslan’s How, but thought better of it. The place held memories that were both sweet and terrible, and he could not let himself get distracted. After midday he reached the Great River and had to find a spot where the water was shallow enough for him and Destrier to wade through, and it wasn’t until the sun had started to sink again that Caspian finally reached the borders of Lantern Waste. Having driven all day, Caspian’s arms and legs were sore and stiff and most of the excitement had left him. He wondered what state the castle would be in now. How would they respond to the disappearance of their King? Would they have found the letter by now? But the thought of going through the portal, and his absolute certainty that this time he was right stood out clearly in his mind and gave him the energy to continue. Passing through endless tree trunks and shrubbery Caspian found what he had been searching for around twilight; the Lantern. He dismounted his horse, stretched for a moment to ease his limbs, and walked to the Lantern. So this is where Queen Lucy entered Narnia, the first of her siblings to ever set foot on these lands. Caspian let his hands rest on the cold steel and looked up; the glass of the lamp was blackened, but it was dark enough in the forest already to see the faint light inside, still burning after so long. The portal is here, somewhere. Caspian looked around him. Nothing here looked like it was secretly linked to a different world. There were no trees with a split trunks, or gates that seemed to lead nowhere. There were just trees, and very thick shrubbery.
After a last look on Destrier, his last companion, Caspian walked away to search and explore. Would she be discovered by search parties, like the horses of the Kings and Queens had been? Or would she find her way back home like last time and truly raise the alarm? Caspian pushed branches out of his way as he went. He was unfamiliar with this part of Narnia. It was named Lantern Waste for a good reason. The trees were thick and close, making it difficult to see very far ahead, and the darkening sky didn’t exactly help. Caspian began to realise it was foolish of him to leave Destrier behind, but he doubted he could find his horse in the dark now. He might need to find shelter for the night. Caspian did not look forward to spending the night in this forest. It was getting so dark he could hardly see where he was going.
As the falling night took away his sight, his other senses began to sharpen. His skin had long since numbed from the cold wind, but his ears picked up the faintest of sounds, and suddenly Caspian could comprehend how his poor messenger had been very scared when delivering the requests to the Narnians. Caspian too drew his sword, for comfort and for safety. It looked like he wasn’t going to cross any portals tonight. He sat down against a particularly broad tree, and managed to start a fire with dead wood, but the wood was damp and thick smoke rose from the fire. Still, it was better than nothing. Caspian warmed his hands and feet, and welcomed the faint flickering light that gave him back some of his sight. He was just starting to think he ought to have brought some of the brambles he had found at the spring earlier that day when his eyes fell on an animal behind the bushes, it’s dull fur illuminated by the fire. Caspian jumped up and raised his sword, squinting to see what kind of animal it was. I had to be large, judging from the amount of fur, but it was also standing quite still.
“Wha-Who are you?” Caspian yelled with a voice that sounded shrill to himself, hoping this animal was a Talking Beast who was simply curious why a Telmarine was staying in this wood at night. Perhaps it had recognized him. “Show yourself!” He added when he got no response. “I-Caspian the Tenth, King of Narnia and Telmar-demand that you show yourself!”
His demands were greeted with silence, despite the fact Caspian was straining his ears for any sound. Was that a low growl he heard, or was his mind playing tricks on him? Caspian hesitated for a moment; should he get closer or stay away? The animal didn’t seem to attack him, and it would be foolish to provoke an attack by getting closer. Then again, Caspian did not look forward to spend the pitch-black night in the company of a potentially dangerous beast. Realizing he would remain extremely tense the whole night as long as he didn’t know, Caspian decided to at least try to find out what was looking at him from behind the bushes, and if this… thing… was indeed a threat. Gripping his sword tightly in one hand, and grabbing a burning branch from the fire in the other, Caspian ventured closer. Now that he had better light, he could see the animal looked most unnatural. The shape of the fur was like nothing he had ever seen, and still he could not distinguish a head of some sort. Caspian jumped when something touched his legs, but was relieved to find if was only a branch. He pushed through a pair of pine trees, now so close to the animal he could touch it.
Caspian immediately knew it was dead. The fur felt cold. Whatever animal it had belonged to was long since gone. There was also something strange about the way it moved at his touch, but Caspian did not have any time to give this matter any thought. He stumbled on a branch or stick that he hadn’t seen due to the dark, and lost his balance. He threw his arms out in front of him to break his fall and felt himself hit something hard and solid, before he fell down on a flat, smooth surface. Bright light blinded him and, bewildered, Caspian blinked to adjust his eyes to the sudden light. It took him perhaps thirty seconds to realize he was lying on the floor of an empty room.
____________________________________________________________
A/N: Just two things. One: if your afraid you missed the part in the film where Susan and Caspian had a meal together in the woods: you didn't. *wink* It refers to my contribution of this week's drabble challenge; Not Exactly A Feast.
Two: I am forever grateful to The Singer in White for helping me outlining my plot, making suggestions and writing me ridiculously long PM's. They were much appreciated and very valuable to boot!
Author maaike_fluffy
Fandom: The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian movie-verse
Pairing: Caspian/Susan
Rating: Fiction rated K
Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia were created and written by C. S. Lewis. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Prince Caspian and the Pevensies continue their life after their farewell, but none of them can stop dwelling on the past.Then Caspian makes a decision; If she can't come to him, then he'll have to find her. Movie-verse. Not beta-ed.
Chapter 1: The Horn and the Tree
Chapter 2: The Crown of Narnia
Chapter 3: The Shadows Behind the Tree
Chapter 4: Relapse
Chapter 5: Failure
End of Chapter 5:
Caspian paused when he stood next to the tree, almost on the very spot where Susan and the rest had disappeared. He rested his hand on the bark. It wasn’t warm, but cold and clammy. Like a tree should be. Caspian looked behind him one more time and took a deep breath. This is it… Goodbye Narnia. Until I see you again. He squared his shoulders and stepped through...
6. The Beast Behind the Bush
Caspian closed his eyes and braced himself for what was coming. What did people generally feel when they entered a portal to another world? It would probably be painful, yet the Kings and Queens had gone back and forth twice. It couldn’t be that bad.
There was no pain, no strange pressure, no light feeling in his head. Only his stomach was clenched, but that had nothing to do with the portal. Caspian opened his eyes, and saw green grass and a hill in the distance. He was simply standing on the other side of the tree. Disappointment washed through Caspian, and almost pulled him under. He turned around, and walked through again. Nothing. The portal had closed. He slid down against the trunk of the tree. The tree that had once been the symbol of his obsession, but which now was as ordinary as any other. He had been so sure, so sure, that this was his path. That Aslan had given him these vivid dreams to encourage him. All this time he had been fighting the urge to step through. And now that he wanted to step through, he found that he couldn’t.
Caspian let his head rest against the tree trunk and miserably stared at the dark, cloudy sky. Sitting on the damp grass caused him to get cold and wet, but he was too frustrated to care. Why could nothing go the way he wanted? Why did everything have to be so hard?
As he sat on the ground he thought back of the day they had left. He should have gone through immediately, when the gate was still open. He could have been with them-her- all this time. An image of his last dream flashed before his eyes-the Kings and Queens, proud and erect-and suddenly he felt pathetic. High King Peter wouldn’t mope and complain like he did; the High King bore his setbacks with dignity. I may not be Peter, but I am a King of Narnia. Caspian jumped up quickly, his disappointment making way for determination. I will get there. There must be another way.
He took the short route as he walked back to the castle. He did not know another way to get to the other world. But if there was another way, there was only one place where he could learn about it; Professor Cornelius’ study. He entered the doors and walked the hallway he hadn’t expected to see again for a long time, but he gave it little thought. Somehow he felt he had to hurry. He took the stairs two steps at a time and almost ran around the corner until he faced the door to the Professor’s study. The Professor wasn’t there, Caspian knew, but still he had to fight the urge to knock. He pushed open the door and walked to the shelves, his fingers tracing the book covers. He knew what he was looking for. The bundle of papers. He’d seen it less than a week ago when the Professor had told him about the Kings and Queens. His fingers found a faded green leather cover and he pulled, smiling as he noticed the illustration of the gold and silver crowns.
Caspian sat down at the desk and opened the leather cover. By the light of his torch he could just make out the words. They were letters, mostly, and torn pages from various books. He found the letter by King Edmund the Just that had been a source of pride for the Professor. It was a treaty of some sort. Caspian did not read it, but his eyes travelled down to the name at the bottom. Edmund Pevensie. Caspian put the letter aside and took the next. He read letters for hours on end, without feeling the need to eat or rest. Most of them were written after the disappearance of the Kings and Queens. There were logs of the search parties that had meticulously inspected the west of Narnia, looking for clues about their whereabouts. Caspian carefully read the passage where they reported the discovery of the Kings and Queens’ horses. In the west. Caspian told himself. The west. What’s in the west?
He felt like this bundle was his key to the other world; he just had to find out how to use it. It was nearly dawn when he finally found what he’d been looking for. He didn’t realise the importance of the paper when he picked it up, but his eyes widened when he started reading and he moved a little closer to the torch for better light. It was a passage from a book, written by a faun named Tumnus-Caspian clearly recalled the Professor’s words that were only a week old; “Faun Tumnus, said to be a close personal friend of the Valiant Queen.” -and it described the very first encounter with Queen Lucy the Valiant by the Lantern. Caspian put the paper down and stared at it with unseeing eyes, thoughts and memories flitting through his mind in rapid pace. The Lantern. Lantern Waste. That is in the west. He also clearly remembered the story of the Beavers that had taken care of the Kings and Queens when they had first arrived. Beaversdam is near Lantern Waste. Horses found in the west… it all fits! And if Queen Lucy had entered and exited three times through the same portal, then didn’t that mean that the portal didn’t close?
Leaving the bundle of papers on the Professor’s desk, Caspian jumped up from his seat and hurried out of the study. Through the large windows Caspian would see a faint light on the horizon. It would be dawn soon. The castle was still asleep, but the first people would wake soon, and Caspian wanted to be gone before they did; he did not look forward to having to say goodbye to everyone. It was easier like this; a clean break.
He did not look back when he exited the castle and made his way to the stables. Destrier whinnied as Caspian walked in; the horse immediately recognised it’s master. Caspian stoked the head of the beast to silence her. “Shhh! Hush girl, don’t wake the others now. We’ll be taking a little ride together. You and me alone.” Though he usually had someone else to do it for him; Caspian knew how to prepare his horse. He grabbed the saddle and fastened the straps as fast as could without making mistakes. A rooster crowed as he opened the stable doors, and Caspian placed his left foot in the stirrup, and pulled himself up, his right leg swinging over the back of the horse smoothly. “Now, go!”
The rising sun coloured the sky an impressive crimson, and by the time the first beams of sunlight hit what was left of the autumn leaves on the trees, Caspian had left Cair Paravel far behind him. He had urged Destrier to go fast as he drove through the inhabited areas, but once he reached the edge of the woods he allowed he to slow down a little. Having slept only a short while that night, Caspian ought to have been tired, but the excitement kept him wide awake. He paused for a short while when the sun was already high in the sky to let Destrier rest, and to refresh himself in a nearby spring. He found a bush of ripe brambles and remembered fondly the day he’d eaten with Susan in a part of the woods that wasn’t very far from the place he was now.
He didn’t linger long. Feeling Destrier would have more than enough time to rest later, Caspian resumed his journey through the Ford of Beruna. He was momentarily tempted to drive by Aslan’s How, but thought better of it. The place held memories that were both sweet and terrible, and he could not let himself get distracted. After midday he reached the Great River and had to find a spot where the water was shallow enough for him and Destrier to wade through, and it wasn’t until the sun had started to sink again that Caspian finally reached the borders of Lantern Waste. Having driven all day, Caspian’s arms and legs were sore and stiff and most of the excitement had left him. He wondered what state the castle would be in now. How would they respond to the disappearance of their King? Would they have found the letter by now? But the thought of going through the portal, and his absolute certainty that this time he was right stood out clearly in his mind and gave him the energy to continue. Passing through endless tree trunks and shrubbery Caspian found what he had been searching for around twilight; the Lantern. He dismounted his horse, stretched for a moment to ease his limbs, and walked to the Lantern. So this is where Queen Lucy entered Narnia, the first of her siblings to ever set foot on these lands. Caspian let his hands rest on the cold steel and looked up; the glass of the lamp was blackened, but it was dark enough in the forest already to see the faint light inside, still burning after so long. The portal is here, somewhere. Caspian looked around him. Nothing here looked like it was secretly linked to a different world. There were no trees with a split trunks, or gates that seemed to lead nowhere. There were just trees, and very thick shrubbery.
After a last look on Destrier, his last companion, Caspian walked away to search and explore. Would she be discovered by search parties, like the horses of the Kings and Queens had been? Or would she find her way back home like last time and truly raise the alarm? Caspian pushed branches out of his way as he went. He was unfamiliar with this part of Narnia. It was named Lantern Waste for a good reason. The trees were thick and close, making it difficult to see very far ahead, and the darkening sky didn’t exactly help. Caspian began to realise it was foolish of him to leave Destrier behind, but he doubted he could find his horse in the dark now. He might need to find shelter for the night. Caspian did not look forward to spending the night in this forest. It was getting so dark he could hardly see where he was going.
As the falling night took away his sight, his other senses began to sharpen. His skin had long since numbed from the cold wind, but his ears picked up the faintest of sounds, and suddenly Caspian could comprehend how his poor messenger had been very scared when delivering the requests to the Narnians. Caspian too drew his sword, for comfort and for safety. It looked like he wasn’t going to cross any portals tonight. He sat down against a particularly broad tree, and managed to start a fire with dead wood, but the wood was damp and thick smoke rose from the fire. Still, it was better than nothing. Caspian warmed his hands and feet, and welcomed the faint flickering light that gave him back some of his sight. He was just starting to think he ought to have brought some of the brambles he had found at the spring earlier that day when his eyes fell on an animal behind the bushes, it’s dull fur illuminated by the fire. Caspian jumped up and raised his sword, squinting to see what kind of animal it was. I had to be large, judging from the amount of fur, but it was also standing quite still.
“Wha-Who are you?” Caspian yelled with a voice that sounded shrill to himself, hoping this animal was a Talking Beast who was simply curious why a Telmarine was staying in this wood at night. Perhaps it had recognized him. “Show yourself!” He added when he got no response. “I-Caspian the Tenth, King of Narnia and Telmar-demand that you show yourself!”
His demands were greeted with silence, despite the fact Caspian was straining his ears for any sound. Was that a low growl he heard, or was his mind playing tricks on him? Caspian hesitated for a moment; should he get closer or stay away? The animal didn’t seem to attack him, and it would be foolish to provoke an attack by getting closer. Then again, Caspian did not look forward to spend the pitch-black night in the company of a potentially dangerous beast. Realizing he would remain extremely tense the whole night as long as he didn’t know, Caspian decided to at least try to find out what was looking at him from behind the bushes, and if this… thing… was indeed a threat. Gripping his sword tightly in one hand, and grabbing a burning branch from the fire in the other, Caspian ventured closer. Now that he had better light, he could see the animal looked most unnatural. The shape of the fur was like nothing he had ever seen, and still he could not distinguish a head of some sort. Caspian jumped when something touched his legs, but was relieved to find if was only a branch. He pushed through a pair of pine trees, now so close to the animal he could touch it.
Caspian immediately knew it was dead. The fur felt cold. Whatever animal it had belonged to was long since gone. There was also something strange about the way it moved at his touch, but Caspian did not have any time to give this matter any thought. He stumbled on a branch or stick that he hadn’t seen due to the dark, and lost his balance. He threw his arms out in front of him to break his fall and felt himself hit something hard and solid, before he fell down on a flat, smooth surface. Bright light blinded him and, bewildered, Caspian blinked to adjust his eyes to the sudden light. It took him perhaps thirty seconds to realize he was lying on the floor of an empty room.
____________________________________________________________
A/N: Just two things. One: if your afraid you missed the part in the film where Susan and Caspian had a meal together in the woods: you didn't. *wink* It refers to my contribution of this week's drabble challenge; Not Exactly A Feast.
Two: I am forever grateful to The Singer in White for helping me outlining my plot, making suggestions and writing me ridiculously long PM's. They were much appreciated and very valuable to boot!