The Last Queen

Disclaimer: I don't own.

Prologue: What Happens Back Home

Lucy tumbled out of the wardrobe, hitting the ground rather hard. The doorknob began to turn. Her head shot up. The professor came in, opening his mouth but stopping. The cricket ball tumbled from his hand as he saw one child, not the four he had expected. "Lucy?" he tentatively asked. "What happened? Where are Peter, Susan, and Edmund?"

The girl raised her face to him, suddenly feeling like a child again in more than just her body. She leaped to her feet and raced to him, throwing her arms around him and sobbing like she had a lifetime ago. He held her as she cried, trying to calm her. "Shh. It's all right." Once her tears had subsided slightly, he gently led her to the kitchen, where he poured her a cup of hot chocolate. "Here. Drink this."

"Thank you." She took a sip of it to try to steady herself. "Oh, Professor. They're…they're gone. All three of them!" She looked up at him. "Whatever will I tell Mum?"

"I don't know, child. But, tell me, what did happen?"

She looked around. "Where are Mrs. Macready, Ivy, Margaret, and Betty?"

"Mrs. Macready and Betty went to town to buy some things that we needed, and Ivy and Margaret are out weeding the gardens. None of them will overhear us."

"All right." She took a deep breath. "Well, we went to Narnia, and we defeated the White Witch and became kings and queens. Two and a half years passed rather peacefully, with most of our problems occurring in the manifestation of the difficulty in pursuing the remnant of the Witch's subordinates. We had almost eradicated them, but we finally discovered the location of one more elusive group hiding away in the Western Wilds. Peter and some of the army went to track them down. Most of the army returned, but he-he didn't.

"After three and a half more peaceful years, Telmarines began to assault us along the border, attempting to capture some of our land to affix to their holdings. Edmund rode against them in order to drive them out. As Peter had not returned, so did he leave us forever.

"Seven years of relative tranquility elapsed, with Susan and I supplying strength to one another. Then, oh, then, Susan traveled to Calormen to entertain a marriage proposal from Prince Rabadash. When she and her entourage tried to escape from Tashbaan upon realization that the prince would never allow them to leave with my sister, the Calormenes pursued them, and their ship was sunk, and all of the Narnians died. I-I was left alone, although I would flatter myself that I was a rather competent queen by this time. But still, can you visualize that I, a, at that time, twenty-one-year-old queen, managed to fend off invasions from Telmarines and Calormenes, to bring my country through a famine, and to avoid getting married?"

"Avoid getting married?"

"Yes. As the sole queen of Narnia, I was considered quite a catch. However, most of my suitors would have expected me to step back and allow them to run my country. That I would not allow."

"No, I imagine not." He gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

*L*Q*

Later that night, Lucy jolted awake after having her first nightmare in many years. She let out a slow breath. Her brow wrinkled as she heard her name being called. "P-peter?" She grabbed her robe and threw it on as she ran out of her bedroom, following the elusive voice. It led her to the wardrobe room, and she flung the door open to see… a dark room with a closed wardrobe. Still, she crept forward to look for her home. A voice behind her startled her. "I don't think you'll get back in that way." She whirled around, her hand flying to a nonexistent dagger. The Professor rose and walked toward her. "You see, I've already tried."

"Professor, do you think I'll ever go back?"

"Oh, I expect so. But it'll probably happen when you're not looking. All the same, best to keep your eyes open." He took her hand, and the two of them left the room.

A/N: OK, so this is a random idea that popped into my head. I'll probably be sort of sporadic on updates for this one.