𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 | 𝖈𝖆𝖘𝖕𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝖝

𝐱𝐢𝐱. the ruins

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

THE SOFT BREEZE of the warm spring air dried Diana's clothes from the blue ocean water, and she and her family climbed up the mountains over to the ruins that had caught their eye.

Trees and vines were wrapped around the destroyed pieces of marble, claiming the place once again as birds chirped in the distance and insects buzzed all around Diana. Fallen columns and parts of staircases surrounded the area and she couldn't help but frown at the familiarity.

Lucy had grabbed an apple from one of the growing trees surrounding the ruins, and she stepped closer to the edge of the mountain and turned back to her siblings.

"Wonder who lived here."

Susan smiled and made her way to her but stopped when her bare feet stepped on a small piece of gold in the grass. She picked it up with curiosity and the look on her eye changed.

"I think we did."

Diana got closer to her and Lucy to get a closer look at the golden piece in her hands as she felt Peter and Edmund trailing behind her.

"Hey, isn't that yours?" Diana turned to Edmund and pointed over to the piece of gold.

"Yeah," Edmund's eyebrows furrowed. "From my chess set."

"Which chess set?" Peter asked.

"I didn't exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley, did I?" Edmund replied sarcastically as he took the chess piece from Susan's hand.

Lucy stared over at the fallen columns and broken pieces of marble and concrete as she muttered under her breath, "Can't be."

Lucy grabbed onto Peter's hand as she led the four of them over to the center of the concrete floor with a glint of excitement in her eyes.

"Don't you see?" she questioned.

"What?"

Lucy tugged Peter by the arm and made him stand over the side of the concrete floor as she pointed over to the front.

"Imagine walls."

She grabbed Diana by the arm and placed her in the center of the creaked and broken floor, but the oldest didn't get the chance to speak since Lucy was already moving towards Susan.

"And columns, there."

Susan was placed on the other side of Diana as Lucy kept on with her speech, leaving Edmund and her to stand over their respective places by themselves as the memory returned to each one of the Pevensie siblings.

"And a glass roof."

Diana tried to imagine all the characteristics her youngest sister had recently spoken about and her eyes widened when the memory returned to her brain. It was a place she had called a home.

"Cair Paravel."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

THEY KEPT INSPECTING the ruins of the castle for a long time, searching any time of clue that would give them the answer to why the palace was the way it looked now.

Diana followed behind her siblings as they walked through the soft grass and apple trees until Edmund stopped and kneeled on the floor over a rock.

"Catapults." Edmund muttered.

"What?" frowned Peter.

"This didn't just happen. Cair Paravel was attacked," Edmund declared while he looked back to his sisters and brother.

Peter didn't offer him a response, he walked right past him and ran towards the enormous concrete piece of the castle as he moved branches to the grass with Edmund's help. They both used all their strength to move the concrete wall to the side and reveal a large wooden door.

Peter cracked the wooden door carefully and managed to throw it to the side, and the inside was completely pitch black. Without a word, Peter ripped the side of his white shirt and picked a branch from the floor, wrapping the fabric on the stick as Diana frowned at his actions.

"Don't suppose you have any matches, do you?" Peter asked as he looked to Edmund.

Edmund looked down at his bag and rummaged through the inside of it. "No, but. . .would this help?"

He grabbed a flashlight from his bag with a triumphant smirk on his face and Peter dropped the stick in fake annoyance.

"You might have mentioned that a bit sooner."

Edmund's smirk only brightened and Diana found herself smiling too, seeing the way the flashlight illuminated the dark hallway as her brother walked into it. Peter moved to the side and allowed the girls to step in before him out of curtesy and left him to be the last in entering the dark place.

Diana walked down the staircase and tried to be careful in not stepping any of the fallen pieces of the concrete on the floor as she got deeper into the room. The expression on her face changed into one of curiosity as she recognized the place and followed down the stairs.

"I can't believe it. It's all still here."

Five golden trunks stood in front of the Pevensie siblings, and each one had their own statue of the respective owner behind the trunk, and Diana rushed over to the one that belonged to her.

She carefully blew the dust over the lid of the trunk and lifted it up, her eyes instantly clouding with nostalgic tears as she saw the thousands of beautiful dresses stacked on the inside, followed by her knife and last but not least, her spell book.

"I was so tall," Lucy said, grabbing a long dress from her trunk.

"Well, you were older then." Susan replied and her bow and arrows were in her hands.

"As opposed to hundreds of years later. . ." Edmund spoke up and Diana cracked a smile when she saw him wearing a large helmet on his head. "When you're younger."

Diana turned back to see Susan frowning and rummaging through her golden trunk as she was searching for something specific. "What is it?"

"My horn," answered Susan. "I must've left it on my saddle the day we went back."

Peter slowly walked closer to the golden trunk that belonged to him, and all pairs of eyes turned to look at him as he opened it, grabbing the familiar sword in his hands while he unsheathed it with care, staring down at it with an unfamiliar expression.

"When Aslan bares his teeth, winter meets its death," Peter recited.

"When he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again." Diana added on.

Lucy gasped suddenly and her fallen expression made everyone turn to look at her. "Everyone we knew. . .Mr. Tumnus and the beavers. . .they're all gone."

"I think it's time we found out what's going on."