Adoration

xvi

England 1949

The three siblings were sat in Digory Kirke's office while he talked to them all.

After an hour, the door opened, shocking the three. Digory, unlike the three, wore a small smirk on his face.

"You can't have a family gathering without me, you know? It's rude." Edmund smirked as he strolled in.

"Ed!" Lucy smiled as she pulled him into a hug.

"I thought you were spending Christmas with your girlfriend." Peter spoke before he too pulled his younger brother into a hug.

Edmund shrugged. "Family is more important. She understands." Lastly, he gave a tight squeeze to Susan as they left their hug. "You're like a stranger."

Susan laughed, "don't be dramatic."

"I'm not," he defended. "I haven't seen you in years. None of us have."

"I know, I know." She rolled her eyes. "I don't need a lecture from you as well, I've already had multiple from these two." She pointed towards her other siblings.

Edmund chuckled, nudging her. "Your own fault."

* * *

Susan was sat up later that night while everyone was asleep. That was the reason she was startled when a knock sounded from the other side of her door.

"Come in." She spoke quietly, not waking to wake anyone up if she had imagined the noise.

The door opened, revealing Edmund. "Why are you still up?" he questioned as he closed the door and sat opposite her on the bed.

"Can't sleep," she explained simply.

He nodded, allowing silence to overtake.

Sighing, she looked at him. "What's the real reason you're here for Christmas?"

"What, don't want me here?" he laughed half-heartedly.

"Edmund."

The young man sighed. "Uncle Digory wrote to me and told me about the other night. You trying to get back to Narnia through the wardrobe. He said you may need help –"

"I don't need help, Ed. I'm perfectly fine, just homesick is all." She interrupted.

He grasped her hands in his. "I want to go back too. But it's been seven years, Susan. Seven years since we left."

"I know," she whispered, not needing him to remind her.

"You need to move on."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Move on?"

"You know what I mean." He sighed. "Narnia, Caspian. You need to move on."

She pulled her lip into her mouth nervously. "It's difficult. You don't know what it's like, you never fell in love with anyone in Narnia."

"No. But I did fall in love with Narnia itself.

"None of us have seen you in years, and you think we're oblivious and we don't know why you like travelling so much. Nowhere you go will be like Narnia –"

"That isn't why I travel –" she began.

"You travel because you're hoping that somewhere will trigger something and you'll be taken back to Narnia. We all hope for the same thing, but we've accepted that our lives are here, not there."

She wiped a stray tear that fell. "Since when did you become so wise?" she laughed quietly.

He chuckled, squeezing her hands. "I must take after you."

She leaned in, pulling him into a tight hug. "Thank you, Ed."

"You're welcome. Now stop crying, I didn't leave my girlfriend to babysit my crying sister," he joked.

Susan scoffed, pushing him away. "The cheek of you."

* * *

Christmas came and went quicker than expected. The five sat around a table, indulging themselves in a large feast till they were full and bloated.

The time between Christmas and New Year, the siblings focused on spending as much time together as possible and making up for all the time they lost over the years. Nothing productive happened between those dates, and they all agreed that nothing should.

It was New Years Eve, and the four siblings were sat outside the mansion. New Years resolutions were being shared between the four, laughing at each other's foolish wishes for 1950.

"Edmund, that cannot be your resolution." Peter spoke, falling backwards on the grass in laughter.

"Why not? It's perfectly reasonable." He defended.

The door to the mansion opened and the old man walked out. "TEN SECONDS TILL MIDNIGHT!"

The four jumped up and ran over to him, accepting the glasses of champagne that he offered them

"Five!" Digory spoke after reading his watch. They all joined in after.

Susan linked her hand with Lucy, sending her a smile. "Four!"

"Three!" Peter threw his arm around Edmund's shoulder, pulling him towards him.

Lucy threaded her arm through Digory's. "Two!"

"Everyone make a wish," the man instructed.

"One!"

They all made a wish, and by the looks on their faces, they all wished for the same thing. Even Diggory seemed to be wishing for something.

"Happy New Year!" They all announced as a bell tower chimed in the distance.

Their surrounding began to spin around them, knocking them all off of their feet. The colours around them blended together, soon becoming nothing more than grey streaks.

"What is happening?" Lucy yelled over the loud noise of their surroundings changing.

Digory felt sick, though that feeling was overpowered by wonder at the situation. He didn't believe it, he refused to give himself that kind of false hope.

"I think we're going home."