Until You Don't Have to Leave

Chapter Fourteen

            Lucy's POV
                 We found ourselves back in the little bedroom, and then I heard Susan cry out, and there was a thump. The three of us ran downstairs, and found Susan holding a telegram, on her knees and sobbing. Aunt Alberta was kneeling beside her, gently rubbing her back and whispering to her.

    "Susan?" Edmund asked quietly, and she handed him the telegram, unable to speak. My heart sank, remembering what Aslan had said. His face paled, and he forced the words out.
     "We regretfully inform you that Peter Pevensie was killed in combat, and we send you our deepest condolences." My heart dropped, and I knew why he didn't follow us through. He was staying in Narnia with Sierra. Eustace looked at his feet, and pulled a letter with Peter's handwriting out of his pocket.

      "Did you know?" I whispered to Eustace, tears pouring down my cheeks. He nodded, and my heart shattered. Edmund wrapped his arms around me, and I wanted to just collapse there. I knew, somewhere inside me, that Peter was still alive in Narnia.....But it still felt like he was dead.
    
       "Dad's not going to like this." Edmund said quietly, and I choked down another sob.
      "It's his fault! If he hadn't done that, Peter wouldn't have had to go, and he wouldn't be dead!" I snapped, and then started sobbing again. Through our tears, we managed to read the rest of the telegram. Peter's body would be returned by the end of the week, so that we could bury it where we wanted. It hurt. It hurt so badly. Edmund left quickly, going to send a telegram to mum and dad, and the day after we received our telegram, there was another knock on the door. A young man stood there, maybe Edmund's age, and he had a cap in his hands.

      "Are...Are you Lucy Pevensie?" I nodded, and he swallowed.
      "My....my name is Thomas, miss Pevensie. Peter might've written about me." I gasped, opening the door wider, and waved the young man in. He could be be much older than me.

      "Come in! Come in, come in. Yes, Peter did write about you. And he warned our brother not to do the same thing you did." Thomas nodded, following me.
      "I wanted him to. He told me about your brother, and I didn't want him to see those things. And I....I wanted to tell you something." We went into the other room, and we sat down across from each other. He kept twisting his cap in his hands, and I could see that he was hurting as well.

      "Your brother and I promised each other that if anything happened.....He promised to visit my family if I died, and I promised to do the same for him. He....Peter saves my life when he died." Thomas said softly, and I could see the tears fighting to come.
      "He....They were attacking us, and he got shrapnel in his arm. Another bomb dropped, and we dove in the ditch....And he dove on top of me. I tried to get him off, but he wouldn't budge. Then, the other went off, and I knew why he'd done that. I....." He stopped, trying to choke down a sob, and I knew this was going to be a lot harder that I thought.....for both of us.

        "He told me about Sierra, and when he was describing her, his eyes lit up, and it was like he didn't even realize where we were and what we were doing. He made the stories seem like they were actually happening around us." Edmund and Eustace heard us talking, and they came in as well, followed by Susan. We sat there for a couple hours, talking with Thomas. He brought the rest of Peter's things back, as well as a letter written by his commander that was more personal than the telegram we received. As Thomas left, I looked down and realized I had been clutching Peter's dog tags, and his name and numbers were now imprinted on my hand. I took a deep breath, and slipped them around my neck. This would be hard and painful, but he was still alive. He was in Narnia, and someday......Someday we would see him again. But until then, life would just have to go on without him.

       Eustace's POV
               We spoke often of Narnia in the days that followed. We spoke of Peter, and Sierra, and adventures they'd had together, and we cried together, because it still hurt. And when my cousins left, after the war ended, I missed them. With all my heart. Just as I know all  Narnians will miss them.....Until the end of time.