It Is Time

[King Caspian X]

Caspian watched them and ran to the window as the both of them mounted. He reached out to Susan, as if by doing so everyone would wake up and this would all just be some horrid dream, but it wasn't. His fingertips touched hers softly, even the slightest of movement would pull them apart. "Till Death do us part." he repeated the line over again as he looked up at her. Caspian looked into her eyes one last time. His own seemed to hold sorrow and love and pain and defeat and just about every other emotion that one could think of, so long as it wasn't Happiness or joy. His eyes seemed to beg to her, beg that she understood what he had done, begged for her never to give in. Caspian could see their lives together flashing before his eyes. The first time they had met, keeping their relationship a secret from others until she left for England. He could remember all of their kisses and hugs and moments together, all of Lucy's teasing comments. He could remember the day that he had asked her hand in marrige, could remember how she had toppled him over. For a moment a twinge of a smile played at his lips as he pictured Susan pushing the both of them to the ground, but then it left as the memories kept coming, reminding him that this was not a dream, and that when the memories were gone he would see her again upon the back of a beast. He could remember how they had been married by Peter on the same day, could remember their dances together. He could even remember them in the kitchen, eating cheese potatoes together and talking. He could remember that first attack of the demons, and how Narnia had won. How Aslan had appeared to them through the church statue, telling them that Lamont's magic could no longer harm them, he could remember how it had only been temporary. Caspian could remember everything, how she had told them that they were having triplets, and then sadly how two of them had been killed. He could remember them just yesterday, when little Galen had been born. He could remember their happiness in having a son, and then their shock in finding the dead Queen. He could remember their anger and sadness, and how they had fought against the demon, collecting the wounds that they had today. He could remember Susan fading away from him before he had brought her to the Medical Chambers. He could remember watching over her as the doctors worked on his wrist. He could remember waking up beside her, his hand still joined with hers across the beds. Caspian could remember her screams of the nightmare, and then how Galen had woken up. He could remember her father and Len coming to visit, and the soldier's rage. He could remember how he and Susan had spoken up for one another, and how the man was finally quieted. Caspian remembered everything up until this point, talking about children and a future, but then his eyes came back. Came back to the present. Came back to reality. And there sat his lover, upon the back of a demon, their fingertips barely touching. His eyes were still met by hers, and tears ran from his own. He didn't want his time with her to end. He didn't want to let the memories stop there. But now the Devil and the demon were taking her away from him. For what might just be, forever.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

When his fingertips touched hers warmth passed over her making peace with the cold of her body. With eyes locked on her cursed husband she could not settle with a simple touch but let her hand close around them. For a moment she lifted them and kissed his fingers not willing to risk the boy seeing her kiss his lips so soon after the wedding. "The stars will remember when history will not." She told him praying he would understand. Many of their precious moment's, their engagement, the wedding, the birth of her children, as well as the many prefect nights they spent together, were often times they spent alone with no one but the stars to watch over them. But what is done in the past can always be altered through time's cruel passage and the lies of others. But no matter what the world will say or deny she will always know of those moments. She would never forget him no matter how long they are seperated.

[King Caspian X]

Caspian nodded and let her kiss his fingers. Even if they were apart, his heart would never let her go. Ever. The King wished so badly that there could be something that he could do to save her now. He even considered leaping from the window for a moment, but knew that that would do them no good. He wanted to kiss her fingers, too, but to do so would mean pulling her off of the demon and she would plummet to the ground, just as their son had plummeted to the ground, and die. "Then speak to the stars when history taunts you." he said back. Meaning that should the voice bother her while they were separated, that she should always believe the oposite of what it told her.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"The stars do not give guidance, only memories." She whispered, "but maybe in time, if we followed them they will guide us back together." Unwillingly she pulled her hand away from his and put it on the monster's back between his shoulderblades and waited for him to take her away.

[King Caspian X]

"You never know." said Caspian. "They are excellent predictors as well. Listen and see what they tell you." he told his lover, watching sadly as she pulled her hand away from his. Caspian watched the three of them, Susan, Lamont, and Cotnar. His baby was probably somewhere on the ground, broken and lifeless, though it was too dark to see the grass or anything else below them. "I love you." he told Susan. "Always remember that."

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"I'm no centaur." She told him, "It's not like I can look up at the stars and they'll tell me what I want to know. Glennstorm told me about the stars telling him about a doom a long time ago, before we went to the dark isles. But it wasn't until now did I realize they were telling us about Lucy. Anything they tell us is either too vague for us to be able to pinpoint what they mean, or too complicated for us to understand." She looked back at him for a momeent before looking away not able to look longer. "I love you more."

[King Caspian X]

"Then be cautious." Caspian told her. He hadn't meant the stars directly when he had told her to listen to them. They had been a symbol. He had meant for her to look upon the past, the real past, not history, and learn from it. To listen to what it told her might happen next. To predict upon what she already knew.

I love you more.

This made the tears spill from his eyes again. "I love you more." he responded, and then all was quiet. He watched her, unwilling to let her leave his sight, though he knew that once the demon would take flight she would be gone from him. Gone for Aslan knows how long.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

She wanted to cry again. To many tears had been shed that day, for good and bad. When one life was lost another was gained only to be lost again. The desire to bear more children for Caspian still remained as it did before she slept beside him, but her fears of doing so had changed her thoughts dramaticly. She looked away for a moment searching for the right words, wanting a way to tell him what she wanted him to know without Lamont hearing. Any direct words would tell the boy so it would have to be like a riddle of some kind with a meaning beneath it that only Caspian would understand. "By light of moonless nights," She told him, "When air is still by ledgons of fright. Come to where a heart takes flight, and fear no more by my heart's light."

[King Caspian X]

Caspian thought about that phrase for a long time, letting it sink into his skull. What he got out of it, was that she wanted to meet him by their tree when the moon was gone. He didn't know if he was right or not, but he would go to the tree now every night, moon or not, to see if he had been correct or wrong. He looked at her once, at first confused as if pleading for another verse. But then he seemed to change his mind, not wanting the boy or the demon to pick up on what she was saying. He prayed that he was right, but he would think about it for nights to come, until they were together again. "Shadows can see the sun even when the sun is blind to them." He would meet her there.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

She nodded already devising her way of escape. The night of the new moon was almost a week ago leaving her almost three weeks to plan. She still wasn't sure what would happen or why she was planning this, but she would do it just the same. Already she could picture all the things Lamont would do in the weeks of her marriage, but she could see him, every once and a while, and they would be together just like before.

[King Caspian X]

Caspian reached out for her hand again, stretching his arm as far as it could go. He wanted to pull her back inside and leave the two evil men locked outside the Castle walls. But he knew he couldn't. If he did, Lamont would surely get her with the dagger. He looked over to his cousin for the first time, noticing the purple spot was still on his neck from where Aslan had poisoned him with silver. An uncurable poison from the Great Lion. The spot was larger than it had been at the church, obviously infected. "Angry fish die in Good water." he told his wife, not daring to look at the wound again. He hoped that she knew what he meant.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"Yet the purest angels die in fire." She told him darkly hating her words but knowing them to be true. "So for now let angels dance under the shade of the peaceful trees shining in their glory and lit only by the purest of stars."

[King Caspian X]

"May the angels be smart and flee from the fire before the first spark, back to the Lord before the fire has a chance to look at them." Caspian warned her, still reaching out for her hand, unable to grasp it unless she moved it towards him. He rested his wounded hand on the window, reaching farther.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"No, let them stand and face the fire." She told him, "Only by suffering through fire and flames can they know the true relief and peace brought of water and ice. Only by standing strong, enduring the darkness, can they truly be free when the light returns. Only through loss can they know the wonders of finding. Only if we see the terrible can we understand the wonders of the glorious."

[King Caspian X]

"But the fire will kill them." Caspian said. "Let them live their lives, and when the time is right they may stare fire in the face with friends by their side." he said. "Let them grow wise and avoid even the most unbarable heat, so that when the fire comes they may sleep peacefully as if it never came at all." the King was beginning to wonder if they were talking about the same thing. For him, the angel was Susan. The fire was death. And the 'wonders of the glorious' that she spoke of and the 'being free' and the 'wonders of the finding' that she said, all meant Aslan's Country. "Do not deliberately find what you shouldn't be searching for." he said.