AN: It turned out less AU than I planned. And it's not very long or funny but here it is, the last chapter!

It was at last time for Edmund's ball. Peter, Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace had been looking forward to it for the whole term. It seemed like the day would never come.

Lucy was especially eager for it. Her teachers noticed that she wasn't paying enough attention in class and demanded to know the reason. She wouldn't tell them about the Narnian ball but she did slip up and mention something about going to an event with her brothers to a fellow student when the teachers were in ear shot. They phoned her parents and said that Lucy's excitement at going to a family party was ruining her grades. Of course the Pevensie Parents had no idea what they were talking about and just assumed the teachers had called the wrong student's parents by mistake.

But the when term did finally end and Lucy was disappointed when Susan told her she was spending the holidays with Jane and Laura.

"But you promised!" Lucy cried.

"I know, I'll come back home in time for it." Susan lied. "I'm just going to spend a little time with my friends first."

"Okay." Lucy had said, believing her.

Now they waited for Eustace at the train station. Just as Aslan had told them, he did not come alone. A bewildered eyed girl followed behind him as his cousins happily greeted him.

"This is Jill Pole." Eustace told them pointing to the girl.

"I'm Lucy." Lucy told her.

"Lucy..." Jill looked like she was thinking deeply. "Queen Lucy of Narnia?"

"Yes, But how do you know about Narnia?" Lucy asked.

"I was there." Jill explained. "I went there with Eustace."

Edmund let out a gasp and slapped Eustace on the arm. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Eustace rubbed his arm. "Ow." he pouted.

"Who are you?" Jill asked Peter and Edmund with a kind smile.

"Peter and Edmund." Eustace told her.

"The Kings?" Jill's eyes grew even wider. She whispered in Eustace's ear. "Do I have to bow or something?"

"No, I think you're alright." Eustace chuckled.

"We're having a Narnian Ball." Edmund told Jill. "You're more than welcome to come."

Jill's face lit up like a candle. "Wonderful! I can wear my Narnian dress!"

"You have a Narnian dress?" Lucy asked not with out a tad bit of envy in her voice. She missed her old clothes.

"I hid it in my dorm." Jill explained. "Eustace had fancy Narnian clothes too but he buried his somewhere."

Lucy could help but feel a little thrilled at the thought of seeing a real Narnian dress again. And it over rode her envy.

Jill began looking around them as if expecting to see someone behind them. "Is Queen Susan here too?"

"No." Peter said gravely.

"She wouldn't come." Edmund added in a bitter tone.

"She's coming." Lucy insisted. "She promised."

"Not that it means much these days." Peter muttered to himself.

"What was that?" Lucy asked.

"Nothing."

Unable to wait for Susan any longer, Edmund blind folded the others and led them through the back woods to the cave. He couldn't wait to see their faces when they saw it.

"What about Su?" Lucy asked feeling about in the dark wishing Edmund hadn't placed the cloth over her eyes.

"She'll find her way here on her own." Edmund said. "It's not that hard to find."

"If she comes." Peter muttered.

This time Lucy heard him. "She's coming. I told you."

One by one Edmund pulled the blind folds off of his guests and a series of delighted gasps followed.

It was their old ball room. High marble pillars and red lion paintings and tapestries hanging on the wall, glittering stones lined the corner fire place that was out of the way but kept everyone warm. There was a large and lovely smooth dance floor right in the middle of it all.

"Home." Peter gulped down a lump forming in his throat. The last time he'd seen it, it had been in ruins. The pillars torn almost to nothing and the paintings long gone. The floor scuffed up and rock-filled. Seeing it whole again even if it wasn't the real thing was like magic. He remembered all the old balls and the dances and princesses and nobles.

"I've gone back in time." Lucy giggled. It was so like her old home that she half was waiting for Fauns and dryads to walk in and ask her to dance. She remembered her old dancing partners and Susan's too. She remembered their first feast after Aslan got rid of the white witch. She remembered watching Aslan slip when he thought no one was looking.

Jill smiled, reaching out to touch one of the pillars. "It's lovely."

Lucy looked at Jill's dress. So very Narnian. Maybe they had gone back in time after all. Maybe Jill wasn't some friend of Eustace's but a dryad, lightly tripping about the dance floor honored to be their.

The ball started there was dancing and fine music (thanks to a radio smuggled from their parents). They laughed and giggled happily. Edmund even pulled out a bottle of wine.

"Ed!" Peter gasped in shock. "We're not going to drink."

"We used to drink in Cair Paravel all the time." Edmund reminded him.

"but we were older..." Peter couldn't help but think what his parents would say if they smelled alcohol on their children's breaths when they returned home.

"Live a little." Edmund laughed pouring some into a glass and handing to Lucy.

"Wait..." Peter glanced at his sister. "She's drinking?" Lucy smiled up at him as she took a sip. "Fine, I'll have some too." He gave in.

"Pole will have some." Eustace said.

"I've never had any wine before..." Jill said doubtfully.

"Try it." Edmund offered her a glass.

Soon they were all dancing again. Laughing and giggling even more so than before.

Later they tired out and took seats on the cushions Edmund had put in the corner (Just like the ones at Cair paravel)

Lucy looked to the left. There was a wall there. It was the only thing that kept her from thinking she really was back at Cair Paravel. There should have been a door there. It would lead to different stair cases and then to her bed room. "Susan didn't come." she said sadly.

"Her loss." Edmund shrugged grabbing the wine bottle. "Who wants more?"

Peter pulled it out of his brother's hands. "I think we've all had enough." He said giving everyone a stern look.

"Actually I..." Eustace started.

Peter glared at him.

"...Have had more than enough."

"Tell us about Narnia." Peter said to Jill. "What's it like now?"

"It's a wonderful place." Jill told him. "Trumpkin is an old dear. So funny how he can't hear us and thinks we talk softly. Poor fellow. He doesn't realize he's going deaf."

"Is he so old?" Peter was surprised.

"Yes, he's very old."

"Wow." Edmund couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Poor Trumpkin." Lucy sighed. "I remember when he first yelled at us."

"There was a terribly awful witch." Jill recalled. "She could turn herself into a snake."

Edmund gulped. He still had nightmares about the white witch some times. He didn't like the thought of any witches after that.

"She was perfectly dreadful." Eustace agreed. "Tried to tell us Aslan wasn't real, that the sun wasn't real...I hated that woman."

"And I can't believe she killed the queen." Jill added.

Peter's face fell. "What?"

"They say she was beautiful too." Jill went on. "That she had real star blood in her."

"She's gone." Peter said softly to himself, he couldn't believe it.

"Jill..." Eustace said in warning tone. "Talk about something else."

Jill looked at Peter who seemed to be holding back tears. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"What about Caspian?" Peter wanted to know.

"Oh he's quite well." Eustace said. "He was taken to Aslan's country. He was so old...and he turned young again. It was so strange."

"Did the star girl grow young too?" Lucy asked. "Or..."

Eustace shook his head. "She wasn't with him. She was long gone by then. She died even before her own son reached her."

"Oh." they all fell silent.

"What Kinda Lame Fairytale is this?" Edmund said suddenly in a sulky voice. "The prince-no, the king-gets the girl but she dies and then he dies but doesn't die for real because of Aslan and another other king is in another world sad becuase the girl died. And one Queen doesn't show up...this stinks!"

"He must know what he's doing." Lucy said calmly.

And they all knew that Lucy must be right. They all felt sure they would understand one day, it just wouldn't be today.

AN: Well that's it. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. and don't forget to leave one last review. I plan to start a new muli-chapter Narnia fanfic real soon. So if you liked this one keep your eyes open for the next! Now click the review button and tell me what you thought of the ending. I would like to know.