Author's Note: Wow. What was meant to be a short little 'what if/alternate universe' drabble for myself has turned into a 20-something page long and still going strong fic. I was watching the movie awhile ago and thought 'what would have happened if such and such happened?' and then 'what would have happened if Luna was brought back by the horn along with the Pevensies, and she took part in the raid as well? What then?' So…I started it, and then friends encouraged it, and here it is. Enjoy? (As always, recommended to read this in the 1/2 width!)

Copyrights: Peter, Caspian, Edmund, and the rest belong to CS Lewis. Luna is mine. And I don't care if you don't like her. Yay. :3

"No, I can still do this!"

The words echoed so very painfully in his mind, furthering the intensity of the pounding in his head. I. Me. Himself. He could sit there and spout off excuse after excuse: I was doing it for Narnia. I was doing it to reclaim our kingdom from the Telmarines. I was doing it to save lives. He could try to convince the others, try to convince himself…but deep down he knew the horrible truth. Every excuse had started with 'I'. He had been doing this for himself. For the glory: to reclaim the title and the power he had so unfairly lost years ago.

---

"Just who exactly are you doing this for, Peter?"

Three sets of disapproving eyes had landed on him as Susan dared to speak what they all were thinking, but just the same, four hands grabbed hold of the gate wheel, fighting to turn the heavy gear in full rotation. In the midst of this, between the turns, Peter noted that the missing set of hands at the wheel were the familiar pale, dainty ones of his faerie guardian: his best friend, confidant, lover…wife. Bewildered, he chanced a glance backwards – she was standing there, sword in hand, her piercing gaze focused on him. There was an unfamiliar look in her eyes, written across her face… he realized it was disappointment.

Ignoring this stabbing realization, he'd turned back to the task at hand. She didn't want to help? Fine. He could do it without her.

---

But he couldn't, could he? The truth was…nothing important he'd ever done had he done on his own. Lucy had been right…he had not been the one to kill the White Witch – that had been Aslan. And so many decisions he'd made as High King in the Golden Era had been decisions made by all four of them -- sometimes the five, when he consulted Luna. And this stupid, stupid decision he'd made all on his own, against the advice of the others…look at what it had cost them.

---

She had turned her gaze away from him…it was so hard to look at him now; to see what Peter the Magnificent had become. He was a mere shell of what he used to be… and she couldn't bear to see what had become of her husband…the strong King of Narnia, who had fought minotaurs, witches, hags, and giants…who had been victorious in so many wars and had led Narnia into a peaceful prophesized era that they all had so deserved.

And now…

Her gaze flit to the dark skies as she sighed softly, shaking these thoughts away. Now was not the time to dwell on such personal matters, there were other more important things at hand and-- wait. Dark skies… alarm bells suddenly rang in her head as her sea green eyes snapped upwards, scanning turret to turret. There was no beacon of light shining from the towers, alerting their troops that the main gate was nearly opened.

Where was Edmund?

A few sentries had caught wind of what was occurring here, and Luna rushed forward to meet them as they charged forward, sword ready. "Peter!" she shouted over the hissing swoop of her blade, promptly ending the life of the Telmarine that had reached her first. "Edmund!"

Peter's gaze snapped away from the task at hand, having nearly lost his grip on the wheel at the sudden cry piercing the night. At first, he'd feared the worst, but looking back he saw that his faerie guardian was still alive and fighting, cutting down sentries that had caught them in the act. His brow furrowed at the sight, but he knew she could fend for herself, so what was she…

Her second exclamation explained everything, though. Edmund. Looking skywards, he saw that indeed, there was no sign of his brother and his torch anywhere. Fear gripped him immediately, but he swallowed it down, knowing he wouldn't be able to focus if he allowed terror and panic to get a hold of him now. Turning back to the wheel, he grunted back, "Find him!"

Over his bowed head, Susan and Caspian exchanged a look, but said nothing as Luna finished off the last of the unfortunate sentries, taking off across the courtyard towards the stairs. Their thoughts rang the same, as shown clearly in their eyes as they glanced at each other. 'If Edmund couldn't alert the troops…what was the point of risking their lives to open the gate?'

---

So perhaps using his torch to bash in the head of a Telmarine soldier hadn't been the BEST of ideas…but Edmund was working with what he could.

Very aware of how pressing time was in this matter, he fumbled with the end of his torch desperately, moving towards wall to peer down into the courtyard far below. He caught sight of the platinum haired figure running across the yard towards the stairs, and his brow furrowed immediately. That wasn't part of the plan, was it? What had gone wrong…? Looking towards the gatehouse, he realized that his brother, sister and Caspian were all there… so they were fine. What was Luna up to…?

He didn't so much care anymore as he was suddenly and rather unexpectedly blinded by a beam of light shooting skywards from the now obviously repaired torch. "Sweet Aslan!" he cursed, pointing the beam away from his eyes as he rubbed at them. Stars danced in his vision, but he ignored them, turning the beam out towards the woods as he flickered it on and off. "Come on, come on…" The gate was practically open, now. But the guards were catching wind of what was happening…

They didn't have much time now…