296Hi guys!
Sorry for the delay in updating my stories!
But it's just that most of my time's been taken up by my major muggings for my graduating papers this year.
And I really do hope to get fantabulous results (:
Anywhoos, hope you like this update :D
Shout-outs:
fionagurls1301. bluebaby3296 - Thanks for the compliment, dear. I'll tryna add as much Suspian as I can (: licette230. iluvlovestories. GoGothGirl. pazaz of nothing - Your review totally cracked me up (: Esp the BF thing. I'll tryda extend this story for as long as I possibly can :D dance-round-the-memory-tree. kris. Californication13. xxroxy-dogxx. Gothqueen13 - You're welcomeee! Thanks for reviewing! narniagirl17. mypennamesunique - That actually happened to me once, minus the part of having injured people. Haha. Glad you liked it (: jonnahjovinick - Hope I'm still your hero after this looooooooong delay. Denys. Midnightxwolfx. brezzybrez. godsgracie12 - Thanks for the compliment, dear! I Am Brooklyn - Yeah, I was hoping for a less darker kinda situation and recovery. Casue I'm not a dark person. HAHA. Glad you liked it! NarnianFairyPirateAtTwilight. Sky-Pirate325. .call - I know! I always tryda imagine Peter whining, and thought it'd be funny to add it into the chapter. IAmPossessedByVanillaIceCream. nithya-shineNsmile - I'm really glad you love it! XoKortnayoX. .chanel. dancerPat. dutchchicky - FIFTY CHAPTERS?! That's too major! HAHA. I'm seriously very grateful that you liked the update! Random Tweaker. Star-crossed-eyes and last but def not the least, eli.
x's and o's darlings,
Ciao.
"Claire…" Susan called, shaking the sleeping girl gently.
It was yet another morning after the day Claire had woken up and yet another morning closer to the coronation. Everyone in the castle and the whole of Narnia were back to its usual state of peace and harmony, where even the Narnians and Telmarines were living together in peace. Everybody in the castle were busy bustling around preparing for the royal coronation of Claire and Prince Caspian with little dwarfs running here and there with arms filled with oversized streamers.
"Mmmm…" Claire mumbled since her face was buried under the covers.
Susan stifled a giggle and continued her insistent shaking before she finally had the sense to tear the covers from Claire's body. Then, she walked over to the drawn velvet curtains and drew them up slowly, allowing the morning sun to colour the room with its golden hue.
"Wake up, Claire. It's time for breakfast."
Claire's peeled open reluctantly and almost immediately, squeezed itself shut from the intense sunlight. She grappled for the blanket blindly and tugged it from Susan's hands before throwing it over her face. "Ten more minutes, Ma. I'm really tired. I did like math equations… yesterday."
"Math equations?" Susan questioned with amusement. It was funny how this girl, who was about to be coroneted as one of the Queens of Narnia was actually as normal as any teenager you will ever meet. She was about to become a Queen, yes, but she was a teenager nevertheless. A teenager who, in order to be able to get a few more minutes of sleep will cook up insane excuses to do so. A teenager who loves food fights. A teenager who thinks studying is boring and that mathematics should be deemed as a crime.
"Yes… very, very, very challenging equations." Claire buried herself deeper into her pillow and sighed. "Night, Ma."
Susan nearly growled out in frustration as she sat down onto the side of Claire's bed, thinking how much of a feat it was to wake the sixteen year old up. Truth be told, it was even harder to wake Claire up than Caspian or even Peter who were both notorious for their 'five more minutes' routine every morning.
"She refused to get up, I suppose?"
Susan's whipped to the door of the suite, holding her chest in shock at the sudden interruption. Frowning at the surprise Peter had just given her, Susan nodded and shrugged helplessly.
"What did she tell you she did the last night?" Peter asked as he crossed the room and came to Claire's bedside in a few broad strides.
"Very, very, very challenging math equations." Susan repeated Claire's words and watched as an amused smile tugged on Peter's cheeks.
"She told me she cleaned the whole house the night before." Peter replied, shaking his head. "And I actually believed her, until the point when I remembered we were in a castle, not a house."
The two Pevensies shared a laugh which ended abruptly when Claire shifted a little in her sleep before stilling with a near inaudible snore from the girl. Peter shook his head at Claire's actions and turned to Susan with a knowing look in his eyes. "Caspian's been looking around for you."
Susan's head shot up with her blue eyes lighting up with a sudden gleam to it. "Really?"
Peter nodded his head and watched as his sister stood up from the bed and crossed the room to the door swiftly. "Well, then I'll leave the job of waking Claire to you, Pete. See you two at breakfast."
With that, Susan's light blue dress whipped out of sight as she closed the door behind her quietly. Peter frowned at how Caspian could make his sister so happy just by wanting to see her, to talk to her. He knew of the attraction between them, but Peter was afraid of seeing Susan get hurt. Susan may look strong and smart on the outside, but on the inside, she was a girl nonetheless. A girl who hasn't have any experience with things regarding love. A girl who like anyone was prone to pain brought on by love. Another snore from Claire brought Peter out of his reverie as his demeanor changed from one of worry for his sister, to one of amusement from the girl whom he had taken an immense attraction too.
Peter kneeled down beside Claire's bed and propped his elbows onto the soft maroon covers to take a closer look at the sleeping figure. Claire, as though to allow Peter a closer look, tore herself away from burying her face in her pillow and faced upwards, all the while sleeping soundly. Smiling despite himself, Peter brought out his hand to smooth down the unruly knots in her hair, which was all ruffled up in her sleep. He thought back to the times where she would complain and rant to him about how hard it is to comb her hair in the morning and how she wished she had hair like Susan or Lucy's who had hair that were smooth and shiny.
For a period of time, Peter simply kneeled by Claire's side, running his fingers through her hair, watching her sleep all the while. He had seen guys do this to girls which they liked in films he had seen back in England. Back then, he thought doing this to girls were stupid, as were watching them sleep and having silly smiles on their faces when they were near. But even since he met Claire, all his thoughts about these actions being stupid were thrown out of the window without a care because Peter was gradually used to and even like to do it.
Claire started to shift again and this time, she slowly peeled her eyes open and blinked a few times to clear the haziness from her sleepy system. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and let out a contented sigh with the good night's rest she has had.
"Hell!" Claire cursed aloud when she turned on her side and was greeted by Peter's grinning face.
Peter chuckled and stopped combing his fingers through her hair. "Ever so ladylike, huh?"
"Don't you know it's considered creepy to watch someone sleep?" Claire countered as she stifled a yawn. "That's a trademark amongst serial stalker murderers. Are you going to murder me?"
Peter smirked and pushed himself off of the floor and went to sit on the bed beside Claire who scooted to her left slightly. "Not really," Peter said nonchalantly and smirked. "But I was considering of getting Lucy and the others to come in and dress you up as a… clown."
"Clown?!"
Peter nodded.
"No way!" Claire exclaimed and tore off the covers, exposing the hitched up sleeping gown that clearly showed a huge part of her thigh. Peter's eyes trailed to her legs and they widened alarmingly at the exposed skin. His eyes stayed transfixed at her legs until he finally had the sense to look away, coughing in awkwardness.
"Ahem…" Claire attempted, clearing her throat in embarrassment. She pulled the gown over her thighs and got up from the bed carefully, obviously not wanting the incident moment before, to happen again. "I'm up!"
"Hurray." Peter cheered in screaming sarcasm and watched as Claire picked up a brush from the vanity.
"Oww, oww, oww!" Claire cried as she pulled the brush through her head of unruly brown hair and tugged it painfully through, making Peter cringe at the forcefulness. She continued this routine for a few more tugs until having had enough of the pain and frustration of combing her hair; she threw the brush onto the floor stubbornly and huffed.
"Why can't I have Susan or Lucy's hair? Their hairs are so ni-…"
Peter sighed. "Oh boy. Here we go again."
Claire continued her rant, ignoring Peter's comment. "And sleek! And all I've got is a worthless bunch of brown hay that just so happens to grow on my scalp.
Thud!
"You have got to be kidding me!"
Trufflehunter grinned broadly and shook his furry head. "I don't think I am, Your Majesty." Trufflehunter reached underneath the table and came back up with another pile of hardcover books. "There's more."
Claire groaned and buried her face in the palms of her hands. "Anymore more?"
"Just one more book and we're done." Trufflehunter said and for the third time, disappeared under the long oak library table and came back up with the thickest book Claire had ever seen in her whole life.
If her chemistry book was to be the thickest book, then Claire had obviously seen nothing yet.
"Why must I study all this anyway?" Claire grumbled as she read the words on the dusty dark red cover. Narnia: Our Beginning.
"It's not like I can remember any of it." Claire turned to the aged badger with a stubborn pout.
Trufflehunter shrugged helplessly and passed the ink, quill and parchment to Claire who took it grudgingly. "It's a need for you to understand all that you can about Narnia before you can rule this land, Your Majesty."
Claire reached forward and slaps Trufflehunter on the head. "Stop with the entire 'Your Majesty' thing, dude. It's pretty annoying."
The badger hopped away from Claire and held up his paws in surrender. "Fine, fine. No need to get all cranky." Trufflehunter then walked towards the huge doors of the library, leaving Claire alone in the massive room. "I'll leave you to your studying, Yo-" Trufflehunter was cut off by the hard glare from the sixteen year old. "Claire. See you in a few hours."
"No freaking duh." Claire mumbled under her breath and let out a tired sigh. She flipped open the cover of the last and thickest book the old badger had passed to her and gagged at the tiny letters. "This is worst than Mr Swift's lessons. I miss him already."
"-all that I have on the status of the Bridge's restoration, Your Majesties." Merryweather, the centaur whom was placed in charge over the construction of River's Beruna's bridge said with a low bow.
Peter nodded and sat straighter in his temporary throne. He cleared his throat and looked at the court officials in the courtroom then to Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Caspian. "Are there anything else any of you would like to report about?"
The four royalties shook their heads while the officials remained silent, in which Peter took as a 'No'. "Very well, that's the end of today's court meeting then. Good work, everyone."
The officials bowed in unison and chanted. "For Narnia, Your Majesties."
"Alright, all of you may leave now." Peter said and watched as the Narnians left the courtroom one by one. He plopped back onto his seat and pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly.
"Can you bloody believe it?!" Edmund cried out from his place beside Peter. "We've been having this meeting for hours!" He hopped up from his seat and scurried to the door. "God, I'm famished."
Peter laughed along with the others and stole a glance at the open window of the courtroom. The sun was disappearing into the horizon and was now casting a dusty orange colour on the cloudless skies. As he watched the birds fly into the horizon, he thought about how Claire was doing for the past few hours he had been stuck in the courtroom and stood up abruptly.
He threw a sheepish smile at the three other occupants who were looking at Peter's sudden action weirdly. "Well, I'm going to go check on how Claire's doing. See you three at dinner later."
Lucy giggled behind her hand girlishly and waved Peter away. "Alright, alright. Bye."
With that, Peter walked out of the door and walked in the direction of the library. He was greeted and bowed to by several passing Narnians and Telmarines, when he finally reached the large oak doors of the library. Peter pushed the doors open quietly and jumped in shock when the hinges of the door let out a long and shrill creaking sound. Making a mental note to get someone to oil the hinges, Peter walked into the library and spotted the pile of books at one end of the long studying table.
He walked towards the table quietly, picking up pieces of parchment that had flown away and fell to the floor due to the sudden strong breeze blowing into the massive room from the open window.
"Claire…" Peter said and walked close enough to see Claire's head lolling off of the palms of her left hand while her right hand was holding onto an ink-dried quill.
She had actually dozed off.
"Amazing." Peter whispered and shook the girl gently.
"Clair-"
Claire's head shot up from lolling off her palm and her eyes began to scan around wildly. "Whaaa?"
"You dozed off while studying." Peter pointed out bluntly and pulled up a chair beside hers. He pulled one of the open books Claire had stopped on towards him and burst out laughing when he caught sight of the ink smudge on her flushed face.
"What?"
Peter turned Claire's body so she was facing him directly and pulled her face closer to him. He pressed both his hands onto her cheeks and used his right thumb to rub away the smudge on her left cheek. "You've got ink on your cheek."
"You can't blame me! The quills are just too messy." Claire said, showing Peter her ink-covered hands. "I'm more used to using ball-point pens, thank you very much."
Peter smiled at her whine and reached forward to kiss Claire on her nose lightly. He rested his warm lips on her slightly colder nose for a while before trailing down to the corner of her mouth slowly, gently. Then, he pulled away and wound his arms around Claire's petite build, pulling her close to his chest and resting his chin on the top of her head.
"What was that for?" Claire asked and moved a little in his arms to look at him.
Peter shrugged and nuzzled Claire's hair with his cheek. "I just felt like doing it." He pulled away and kissed her on the lips fully, smiling in amusement against her lips at her uneasiness.
"Oh…" Claire said, breaking away from the kiss and resting her head against Peter's tunic clad chest. "I see."
"You had me so worried when you were injured." Peter said with a sigh. "I was so afraid that you were going to leave me."
Claire looked up into Peter's eyes and smiled sadly. "I'm sorry."
Peter shook his head, making his hair fall into his eyes. "There's nothing for you to be sorry about."
"But I did make you worried, didn't I?"
"That wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault that you got shot by the arrow. I was supposed to protect you, like I promised. But I failed to, that's why you got injured."
"You did protect me you goof!" Claire cried, smacking Peter on the head. "But you're a human too; you can't always be there to act as my human shield."
"Bu-!"
Claire held out her finger, stopping Peter from talking. "No buts!" she held out her pinky finger and wriggled it for Peter to do the same. When Peter did nothing but stare at her in confusion, Claire let out a frustrated sigh and pulled the young King's pinky finger on her own.
"Here." She linked their two fingers together and smiled. "I solemnly pinky promise that I, Claire White, will watch over myself like a puma and never, ever, ever, EVER, make His Majesty King Peter, High King of Narnia, Emperor of the Lone Islands, Lord of Cair Paravel, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion, Sir Peter Wolf's-Bane, and Peter the Magnificent, worried, sad, frustrated, angry or other unpleasant emotions with my stupid acts. Instead, I promise to make him happy everyday of his life so he will not become a grouchy King in the future and make the lives of the Narnians miserable."
"How in Aslan's name did you know my full title?"
"I read it in one of those books," Claire said, gesturing to the pile in front of them. "-and thought it'd be fun to actually memorize them to tease you."
"Speaking of books," Claire turned to Peter with a sickly sweet smile that meant no good for the young King. "-do you think you can get Trufflehunter to relieve me of this misery?"
"No."
Claire huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Oh dang, it was worth a try though."
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