Chapter Seventeen: Savin’ You, Savin’ Me

//And never knowing
what could have been//

Buffy had the strangest awareness when she woke up the next morning, opening up her eyes she realised what it was. It was the combination of waking up naked next to someone and having used that certain someone as your pillow. All of that brought back the memories of her preceding night’s activities and she blushed crimson. She shifted to some extent and looking up at Peter noticed that not only was he wide awake, but that he was staring at her.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he whispered to her. “How did you sleep?”

“Pretty good,” she replied still looking at him. “How about you?”

He smiled at her, “I have a headache from the wine, but other than that I’ve never been happier.”

As she laughed, he pulled her up his body and she automatically shifted her leg to straddle his hips. “You – uh – do feel happy…”

Peter reached up and pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear, “Happy is not quite how I’d describe that…” She shifted an adequate amount to apply a little bit of pressure to his most susceptible area. “You are a witch!”

“No… just your everyday, run of the mill vampire slayer.”

He kissed her, “Are you not tender?”

“The wonder of slayer healing, I’m fine.”

“Perfect,” he answered guiding himself home with a single thrust.

Peter left her room an hour later, determined to steal back to his own room before the others awoke and found them together. Buffy did think that it was adorable that he was concerned about her reputation, but at the same time it exasperated her. She was not some damsel in distress, she was a vampire slayer and if she wanted to spend the night with someone then she was not going to be embarrassed of that fact.

Indiscriminately choosing a dress to wear without even attentively looking at it, she threw it on and marched over to the small table and mirror and began to fix her hair. Torn between the yearning to be girly and look pleasant and the longing to just chuck it up in a ponytail and not bother with anything, she sat there for a good ten minutes with no resolution in sight.

In the end she left her hair down and loose and asked the stressed out maid to tie her into the dress when she came to make up the bed. When she in due course ventured down the stairs and into the dining room she found only Lucy and Edmund there. Serving herself some food, she sat down with them and began to eat.

Without warning and with a lot of food flying out of his mouth, Edmund mumbled to her, “Aslan asked to see you."

“Me?”

“Yes…”

Lucy chimed in, although with a lot more refinement than her brother, “He’s speaking with Caspian at the moment.”

It was at that split second – like he magically appeared at the sound of his name – that Caspian entered the room, a confounded look upon his face. He looked directly at her and nodded an acknowledgement, “Good morning, Buffy. Aslan is waiting in the main courtyard… when you are ready.”

Buffy sighed and pushed aside her plate, “I guess I’d better get this over with.”

She left the others to eat and made her way through the castle to the courtyard where Aslan sat waiting. She took a minute upon arrival to equally move forwards past the feeling the lion invoked within her and to also scrutinize him. Regrettably Buffy could not percieve what he was up to, as he did nothing but sit there.

“Are you going to come out here and talk to me or hide in the doorway all day?” Aslan asked her.

Buffy came out of her hiding place and walked into the courtyard, “How did you know I was there?”

“You are not the only one with well-developed senses, little slayer,” he replied. “You have been avoiding me…”

“A little,” she admitted.

“Come, walk with me now… I have things to explain.”

They walked for a time in stillness and in due course wound up on a grassy hummock just outside of the castle gates. Wildflowers grew in great quantity in a myriad of colours and fragrances, making it virtually seem as though it was a sanctioned garden. Aslan led her to a large shady tree and motioned for her to sit down next to him.

“What is going on?” she asked not allowing him to say a word.

“The time has come for you to return home.”

“But… I never got to do anything. The Oracles told me to save the Pevensies but they were more than capable of fighting their own battles – and in reality have. The only person I saved was Caspian…”

Aslan shook his head, “Sometimes saving someone involves more than fighting in a battle.”

“I don’t get it…”

“You will one day,” he assured her. “There were many things I did not anticipate when I brought you all here. Peter’s and your relationship was one of them, as was Susan and Caspian. The issue is that you are all meant for different things… for other people. Whatever you have found treasure it, but do not hold on. Use it for the future to guide your relationships.”

“Other things, I get,” she told him. “I’m a slayer and I have a Hellmouth to safeguard, but other people…”

“You will return home and await the vampire… make the best of the situation.”

She shook her head and blinked back the tears that threatened to fall, “I don’t want to make the *best* of any situation. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone…”

“Do not cry,” Aslan told her. “You are not the only one to hear this news.”

She looked at him and realised something, “You’re sending them home too, aren’t you? They are so certain that you’ll let them stay here.”

“As I told young Lucy, nothing happens the same way twice.”

“But... Susan and Caspian… I know I live in a completely different time, but Su has stayed in Narnia before. Why can’t you let them have a chance to…?”

“Caspian is meant for another and like her brother Susan must learn to live in her own world. I am sorry but four must return to England.”

“And that’s it… You proclaim it to be so and it is. It’s not fair!”

“Life is not always so,” he told her. “You may go and if you see Susan or Peter send them to me.”

Buffy glared at Aslan as she rose to her feet. “I know life isn’t always fair, believe me. However what you are doing is nothing but being merciless, just playing with everyone’s lives and hearts.” Then she walked away back towards the castle, leaving the great lion alone under the tree.

An hour later Peter found her up on one of the castle’s turrets, just staring off into space. She knew the moment that he stepped out of the doorway and came up behind her, but it was just easier to look at the view over Narnia than to face him.

“Buffy?”

“Peter.”

“Aslan…”

She turned around and looked at him, “I know what Aslan said. I’m going home. You’re going home. We’re all leaving and we’re never going to see each other again.”

He pulled her into a hug, “Ignore Aslan. Come back with me…”

“I don’t belong there.”

“Yes, you do,” he answered. “You belong with me. From the moment I saw you I knew that.”

“Peter…”

“If you go home, how am I supposed to go on without you?”

“Aslan says you’ll be fine.”

Peter pulled back and kissed her, “Just tell me this… If there was a way for you to come with me, would you?”

“In a heartbeat.”

Outside of the castle a large crowd of Telmarines and Narnians had gathered and Buffy could feel their eyes on her and Peter as they moved to where his siblings and Caspian were standing and took their positions. Caspian began making a speech attempting not to show his people how much he was hurting. “Narnia belongs to the Narnians, just as it does to any man. Any Telmarine’s who want to stay and live in peace are welcome to, but for any of you who wish, Aslan will return you to the land of our forefathers.”

A man in the crowd responded, “It’s been generations since we left Telmar.”

“We’re not referring to Telmar. Your ancestors were seafaring brigands – pirates run aground on an island. There they found a cave, a rare chasm that brought them here from their world - the same world as our Kings and Queens. It is a good place for any who wish to make a new start,” Aslan proclaimed.

“I will go. I will accept the offer,” the general said moving to the front of the crowd.

“So will we,” Caspian’s aunt Prunaprismia said bringing her father and her infant son with her.

“Because you have spoken first, your future in that world shall be good,” Aslan told them before he breathed magic on them.

Aslan then turned to the tree planted at the edge of the courtyard and breathed magic onto that, turning into a portal to the world of the Kings and Queens of old. The General and others walked through and disappeared from view.

“How do we know he is not leading us to our deaths,” someone screamed, panic evident in their voice.

Reepicheep, ever the dependable servant stepped forward. “Sire! If my example can be of any service, I will take eleven mice through with no delay.”

Peter shot Susan and Buffy a glance that Caspian scarcely caught sight of, he might have shrugged it off if Susan’s face had not crumpled with tears again and Buffy had not turned away and refused to meet his eyes.

“We’ll go,” Peter volunteered.

“W-we will?” Edmund questioned curiously, grabbing hold of Lucy’s hand.

“Come on, our time’s up. After all we’re not really needed here anymore,” Peter told everyone sadly.

He walked over to Caspian and handed him his sword, his most cherished possession. Caspian looked into his onetime rival’s eyes and noted the astonishing despondency. “I will look after it until you return.”

“I’m afraid that’s just it. We’re not coming back,” Susan answered her tears still falling.

“We’re not?” Lucy asked fearfully. “But what about Buffy?”

“You two are! At least I think he means you two,” Peter corrected, attempting to calm Lucy and deflect her attention away from his love.

Lucy looked at Aslan, “But why? Did they do something wrong?”

“Quite the opposite, dear one. But all good things have their time. Your brother and sister have learned what they can from this world. Now it is time for them to live in their own.”

“It’s all right, Lu. It’s not how I thought it would be, but it’s all right. One day, you’ll see too.”

“But… Buffy?”

Aslan finally answered, “Buffy will return to her own time.”

Lucy and Edmund began to tearfully say goodbye to their friends, as Susan was doing with Caspian. Buffy moved over to Peter, not knowing what to say she simply kissed him. Their kiss seemed to go on and on, her heart breaking a little bit more with each passing second, she never even noticed when the tears started to fall.

They pulled apart and she whispered, “I love you.”

Peter used his thumb to wipe away her tears, “I love you too.”

Edmund grabbed a hold of him, “Come on, Pete. It’s time to go home.”

Edmund and Lucy pulled Peter through the doorway; his eyes never left hers until he disappeared. Buffy choked back a sob and looked at Aslan, determined to tell him exactly what she thought about him. Instead she saw something reflected in his eyes and what he said to her before returned, ‘Four must return to England.’ He had never said which four it had to be and hoped blossomed for the briefest of moments.

She bent down to Aslan’s level, “Four have to return?”

He nodded, “Yes.”

“If I go to England, can Su stay here?”

The great lion smiled, “I knew that you would figure my words out eventually.”

Buffy grabbed her friend just as she was about to step through and pulled her aside. “Su, if you could stay here, would you? I want the truth; don’t think about what you think I want you to say. Just the truth…”

“The truth,” Susan looked over Buffy’s shoulder at Caspian. “I would stay.”

“Good.”

“But…”

Buffy dragged her over to Aslan and the three of the spoke, perplexing all of the population surrounding them and making them wonder what was going on. Then all of a sudden the two girls hugged and Susan whispered something to Buffy, before running back to Caspian and throwing herself into his arms.

“It’s time for you to go,” Aslan told her. “You’ve just saved one… now only three more to go.”

“How will I…”

“When the time comes, you will know what to do.”

As the words sank in, she moved to the gateway and with one last wave at Susan and Caspian, she walked through and found herself once again in the London Underground. Looking down she saw that her attractive gown had been replaced with that revolting school uniform. The train whistled and she jumped aboard seconds before the doors closed and the train began to depart the station.

Making her way through the carriages, she in the long run found Lucy, Edmund and Peter and she slowly made her way towards them, to some extent anxious about what their reaction would be. She stopped when their conversation became clear and held back on revealing her presence to eavesdrop.

“Pete, are you okay?” Edmund asked concerned.

“Not really, Ed.”

“Ed, leave him alone,” Lucy said.

“Where’s Su?” Peter asked suddenly, looking up and scanning the carriage for his sister and instead spotted her. “Buffy?”

She came towards them, “Sorry I’m late.”

Buffy had only just expressed the words before Peter had pulled her into his embrace and Lucy and Edmund joined in the cuddle. The two younger Pevensies pulled back after a moment and stared at the couple.

Edmund leaned over to Lucy, “Now we’re in for it.”

Lucy looked at Buffy, “Do you know where Su is?”

Buffy looked at them all a little uncomfortably, “About that… I can explain…”

End Part

Lyrics:

Rascal Flatts – What Hurts The Most