-Eustace's Diary-

-Y/N-

The sea thrashed violently outside my porthole. The waves crashed mercilessly onto our ship, trying their best to break it.

"This is your last chance to turn back, your Majesties." Drinian came through the door of the office where Caspian, the Pevensies, and I were sitting around. "Needle in a haystack trying to find this remote place. We can sail way past and get knocked to the end of world. We can be eaten by a sea serpent. You see, the men are getting nervous. These are strange seas we are sailing. The likes of which I've never seen before."

"Then perhaps captain, you'd love to be the one to explain to Mr. Rince that we're abandoning the search for his family?" I spoke up, looking directly at the Captain. He stepped back, faltering.

"I'll get back to it." He turned to leave, but then paused right before. "Just a word of warning, the seas can play nasty tricks on a crew mind... Very nasty." He muttered before leaving the room.

"I think we should all get some rest." Caspian said, standing up and looking at all of us. "I have a feeling we're about to face something a lot worse than a storm."

With that, everyone murmured in agreement and started to get up from their seats. I made my way down to the cabins. I was sharing one with Lucy initially, but over the trip I seemed to spend so much time with Peter that I shifted my hammock there.

Peter got up on his as I went up onto mine. I tried to close my eyes and fall asleep but whether it was the pounding waves outside or anxious feeling in my stomach, sleep just couldn't come to me.

I shifted my position and as I did, I heard a crinkle noise coming from my jacket. Confused, I dove my hand into my pocket to pull out a piece of paper.

At first, I didn't know what it was, but as I unraveled it, I recognized it. It was the one I had ripped from the Book of Incantations. The one that would tell me how to belong.

I looked at the words longingly.

A place in which I don't fit in
A throne that's uncomfortable to sit in
A crown that slips
Battle cries on my lips

Expectations that only seem to rise

If only I could be like they
Royalty without having to pay
To simply stand as a Queen
To be noticed, not just seen

I sat up in my hammock and looked at the words again. This time I dared to mutter them under my breath.

At first nothing seemed to happen. But then the boat seemed to tilt. "Peter!" I said out loud as my hammock tipped over. I fell to the ground with a thud.

But where I expected to be the floorboards of my room on the ship, my hands caressed the deep red carpet that lay beneath me.

"I told you those heels would be murder to walk in." Peter took my arm and pulled me up to my feet.

I looked around. We seemed to be back at some sort of a Palace. People were chattering and mingling all around us. "Peter where are we?" I whispered, gripping onto Peter.

"You're home of course! You kid too much." Peter laughed pulling me along. I walked forward and stumbled a bit.

I was indeed wearing heels, but also a large gown adorned with dozens of what seemed to be diamonds. It was something far more luxurious than I had seen in Narnia.

But when I looked over at Peter, he had a simple deep blue tunic and pants.

"Peter where's your sword... and you're Narnian emblem that you wear to every party?" I asked stopping him. He tilted his head in confusion.

"First of all, why would I have a sword? Secondly, only royalty is allowed to wear the emblem to occasions like this." He replied.

"Peter you're literally the High king. You've been here longer than I have. You're more royalty than me!" I stepped back from him.

Something was off.

"Where's Edmund?" I asked, maybe he had an answer to all of this.

"Edmund?" Peter repeated.

"Yes! Edmund your brother. Or perhaps Susan or Lucy? The Kings and Queens of Narnia?!"

"Y/N stop making up stories. You know you're the guardian of Narnia. The White Witch and you are the only royalty we need. You don't need to pretend these made-up names like... Suzy, was it? ...Are ruling with you. The throne's hers, and you're the advisor to her." Peter pointed at a crystal chair at the end of the ballroom. There were no other throne chairs accompanying it. And on the sole chair sat the White Witch.

Her icy gaze met mine and I stumbled back. This couldn't be happening. How could she be back?

"No..." I stepped back, my head spinning. "This is wrong..." Peter reached out to me... but this wasn't Pete.

I turned around and started to walk away. In the distance I saw a shape. As it neared the background started to blur. At first, I was scared, but I took a breath of relief when I saw it was Aslan.

"What have you done?" Aslan said looking around.

"I... I wanted to belong." I muttered guiltily. It now all seemed foolish.

"You do belong. Of course, you would feel a sense of differentiation because your powers are unique... but that doesn't make you an outsider." Aslan explained.

"I never asked for this..." I nodded my head to the White Witch sitting in the distance.

"But inadvertently you did... as you wished away your friends and family, she appeared. Without the Pevensie's, the White Witch and other threats to Narnia would still be here."

"Y/N!" I heard someone call my name. I looked back to see that it was the White Witch. I turned around in a rush. I tripped once again because of those awful shoes, falling once again to the ground.

This time, I expected the fuzzy velvet red carpet underneath me, but my hand instead felt the raw floorboards of my room.

I was back.

I looked over to see Peter incoherently mutter things as he shifted in his sleep. With a gasp he awoke and pointed his sword at something in the air.

I got up from my fallen state and his attention turned to me. "Y/N?" Peter looked at me groggily. "What happened?"

"I can't sleep." I shook off a shiver down my back. The paper was still in my hand, so I ripped and crumpled it and threw it into a trash bin nearby.

"Let me guess... Bad dream?" He asked. I nodded. To that, he shifted in his hammock and patted the space next to him.

I eagerly crawled into his covers and melted into his warmth. "So, either we're all going mad, or something is playing with our minds." He muttered.

But for some reason... I fell asleep much faster in his arms.

- - -

"I doubt the Lords stopped here, there is no sign of anything living." I muttered as we got ready to board the longboat that would take us ashore to the island we had come upon.

"Right. Well, once we have got on shore, the crew will look for food and water. The six of us will look for clues-" Caspian started before Eustace walked up.

"You mean the seven of us?" He clarified. We all looked at each other, hesitant. After what happened last time, no one really wanted Eustace to come along. "Come on, please don't send me back to the rat." He whined.

"I heard that!" Reepicheep's voice called out.

"Big ears." Eustace huffed.

"I heard that too."

"Fine." Peter finally said. The others silently sent him a look, but they all agreed in the end. Eustace hopped into the boat, the rest of us followed.

Upon closer inspection, the island seemed to be dry. Apart from the soft sand, most of the land was covered in rocks. There were even big boulders and caves everywhere.

"Look!" Lucy pointed to a cave thing that dropped straight down into the ground. There was rope that hung down.

"We're not the first on the island..." I muttered. "The Lords?" I asked, looking at Caspian.

"Could be." He nodded.

"What do you think could be down there?" Susan asked.

"Let's find out." I shrugged. I reached down and took a hold of the rope. I tugged on it to make sure it was sturdy to use to get down.

"Careful." Peter whispered as I lowered myself deeper. It wasn't long before I reached the ground. I couldn't see any immediate threat.

"It's clear!" I called back up. I heard a scuffle and pretty soon Peter was coming down the rope.

Next came Caspian. When I thought the others would come as well, Caspian shook his head and explained that they went to go look for other clues while we looked here.

We walked further into the cave. It had many openings in the ceiling, so sunlight filtered through.

"What is that?" Peter said, pointing to something in the distance. He was walking ahead so he reached there before me.

At first, I thought he was talking about the pond inside the cave, which was peculiar on its own. But then I noticed the golden shimmer inside the waters. I peered closer at it.

"I don't know." Caspian said, looking at the same thing I was.

"Looks like some kind of a gold statue." Peter guessed.

"He must have... fallen in." I suggested, noticing that the man wasn't the only gold glittering thing in the pond. "Poor man..."

"You mean, poor Lord." Caspian corrected me. As I looked closer, I saw the sword in his hands. Unlike the rest of him, the sword wasn't gold. This gave me an idea...

"Be careful." Peter reached out as I dipped my sword in the water. But he paused as he noticed nothing happened to it.

I reached below and aimed for the grip handle of the sword. By linking my own into the loop, I could pull it out of the statue's hand. I slowly did so, until the sword came out of the water completely.

"Your sword hasn't turn to gold." Peter started widely.

"Both swords are magical." I explained. He took a hold of the sword I had just retrieved, a gleam in his eye.

"He mustn't have known what hit him." Caspian looked down at the statue.

"Maybe..." Peter muttered. I could tell he was thinking something, but there was an unsettling glint in his eyes that I couldn't quite place. Peter reached below and picked up a shell. He dipped it in the water, watching as it slowly turned to gold right in his hands. "Or maybe... he was onto something." Peter's eyes flashed back to the waters.

"What are you talking about?" Caspian asked.

"What are you staring at?" I spoke up as I noticed Peter hadn't taken his eyes off the waters.

"Whoever has access to this pool, could be the most powerful person in the world... Y/N, we'll be so rich no one can tell us what to do, or who to live with, or even where to live!" He looked at me excitedly.

"You can't take anything out of Narnia, Peter." I stepped forward.

"Says who?" Peter perked an eyebrow.

"Aslan-" I said.

"I do." Caspian said at the same time. But Peter turned to Caspian, anger flashing in his eyes.

"I am not your subject." Peter said in a low tone.

"You have been waiting for this, haven't you?" Caspian replied in an equal low voice. "To challenge me. You doubt my leadership!"

"You doubt yourself." Peter retorted.

"You're a child." Caspian seethed.

"And you're a spineless sap." Peter snapped.

"Peter." I stepped forward to help him calm down but he didn't even look my way.

"I'm tired of playing second fiddle...I came here first, thousands of years ago. You know I am braver than you. I'm the High King. I deserve a kingdom of my own! I deserve to rule alone!" Peter was only getting more riled up as he talked.

"If you think you're so brave...prove it!" Caspian lauded forward at the same time as Peter.

"No!" I stepped between them, using a bit of my powers to make sure they didn't use their swords. Their swords flew up in the air and I caught them in each hand. "Stop it! Both of you." I looked to both of them. "Look at yourself. Can't you see what's happening?"

I asked for an answer yet neither had one.

"This place has tempted you. It is bewitching you. This is exactly what Coriakin was talking about." I let my words sink in for a moment before I held out each sword to both of them. They took it grudgingly. "Let's just get out of here."

I started walking off in the direction we came in. I quickly made my way up the rope and to the top.

"What foods did you find?" I asked Edmund while walking toward him.

"It's volcanic. Nothing grows." Edmund shrugged. I saw Susan and Lucy talking in the distance, and I heard Peter and Caspian make their way out of the cave behind me.

"Where is Eustace?" I asked looking around. Peter looked around with me.

"I believe he's out not helping us loading the boats." Edmund grinned jokingly, but he turned to Peter and Caspian behind me. "Do you think you could go find Eustace?"

I looked back to see both of them nod then head off. "Eustace!" I heard Peter shout in the distance.

"Did you find anything?" Lucy asked as I joined her and Susan.

"Another sword, and a dead Lord. There's a pond down in the caves that can turn anything into gold." I explained.

"Wow...." Lucy muttered.

"Not really." I sighed.

"Well at least-" Susan began to say something when the ground started to rumble. I stumbled and little and put my arms out to balance myself.

"What was that?" Lucy asked, worried.

"Is it the volcano?" I asked, looking around.

"Oh no..." Susan's eyes went wide as they stared at something above and behind me. "That's not a volcano."

I turned around to see...

a giant dragon fly upwards in the sky. It went near the ship where I could see the crew take their war positions.

"All hands on deck. Archers, arm yourselves! Take your positions and wait for my command." Drinian yelled out. But the dragon didn't attack... it just seemed like it was looking for something.

"What is it doing?" Susan asked.

It perched on one of the masts and looked below.

"Fire!"

But the dragon launched off the mast, breaking it slightly from his weight.

"He will break the mast. Hold your positions....Fire!"

The dragon then came straight to the island. I barely had time to perceive that it was headed towards me when it suddenly grabbed my shoulders.

I felt helpless as I got lifted higher into the sky. I tried to wiggle and move my arms and use my powers, but with its strong grip, it was hopeless.

"Y/N!" I saw Peter scream and run, but he was no match.

I didn't know where the dragon was taking me, but it wasn't from the island. In fact, just a little past the cliffs, the dragon flew over a huge crater, in which there were multiple fires.

Multiple fires.

Fires..

Fires that spelled something out....

I tilted my head slightly enough to read what was written.

I AM EUSTACE