Disclaimer:

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this marvelous universe; it all belongs to C.S. Lewis.

Author’s Note: All right, folks :grins:. This one’s dedicated to Rosa Cotton and TimeMage0955 since they requested it. I’m taking a plunge here, since this story really doesn’t take place during any of the books—it’s more of a sequel to The High King’s Keeper, and occurs in-between The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. I’m also trying it out as a point of view fic—one of my first ones, so I’m not promising it’s up to the same caliber as my other stories. All the same, I hope everyone enjoys it!

Rating: T

Summary: What do you do when you’ve lived two lifetimes? What do you do when you fall in love with one life and can never go back? Or so you think...(Book and Moviebased)

“Speech”

/Personal Thoughts/

Nighttime Demons

By Sentimental Star

Chapter One: Midnight Musings

(Present Time, Peter’s P.O.V.)

You toss and turn in your bed, caught in a nightmare. The far-off explosions of fireworks over the Channel can still be heard, announcing that the War is over, and the Western Alliance has won.

We would have been out along the Channel’s banks, too, watching them set those crackers off. But Lu’s gotten sick, and we didn’t want to leave her, even though Mum said we could.

I think Su’s off with her latest beau, though. She alone of the three of us went out tonight. You and I, we stayed inside with Lucy, talking about Narnia.

So maybe it’s just as well Susan isn’t here. She doesn’t talk with us anymore, and I can see it in your face and in Lucy’s tears. It hurts you.

It hurts me, too.

Mum’s not told us yet, but I can see it in her eyes. Dad’s coming home soon. He doesn’t have to fight anymore, now that the Treaty has been signed and Armistice declared.

What will Dad think when he sees us, I wonder? We’ve all grown so much, and in such different ways. Different, even, from our friends. Eustace and Jill feel it a little, too, I know.

Because that’s what Narnia does to you.

We aren’t the same frightened children that he left behind when he was drafted to fight in the war. We went through a wardrobe and found ourselves saviors to a magical world on the other side. And we became kings and queens there.

That’s what he’ll find: two kings and a queen. I’m not sure if Susan counts anymore—she seems to have forgotten Narnia, though I hope not.

I bet you two pounds Dad won’t figure out why, though. He would never believe us if we told him. Mum didn’t, just smiled and said she was glad we had found a way to amuse ourselves.

At least he won’t be away fighting. But I bet he’ll be surprised when we talk to him about battle plans and strategic maneuvers, like we know exactly what we’re talking about.

Because we do, Ed. I know I don’t have to tell you that.

And maybe he’ll be woken up one night by you shouting in your sleep, like he used to be when we were little. But he won’t understand this time, because he doesn’t know that demons of a very different sort haunt your sleep.

Remember? He always used to laugh when he found us in the same bed the next morning…

Tbc.