An Amazing Life

Disclaimer: I own neither Narnia nor It's a Wonderful Life. Although I do own copies of both.

Prologue

Edmund placed his elbows on the balcony and his chin on his hands. It was Christmas Eve, the first proper Christmas Narnians had had for a hundred years. He sighed. "So why am I sad?" He turned to look toward where his siblings were overseeing a ball. All the women were clustered around Susan, the men around Peter, and the children around Lucy. He stared down at the ground, remembering earlier that day, and earlier that week, and month, and year…

He had been holding court with his siblings, everyone bringing their legal cases to them. Edmund still didn't feel that a traitor had much of a right to participate in administering justice, which was sort of ironic, since he was the Just King. Even when he did contribute, it seemed that everything that came out of his mouth was wrong. He mixed up the defendant and prosecutor, transposed parts of two ancient laws, and even forgot to convert English currency, what was in his head, into Narnian currency, which should have come out of his mouth. Finally, Susan had whispered to him that he could take a break if he needed. He had escaped from the court room and hadn't entered it for the rest of the day.

He forcefully exhaled again. Rotating to again face the snowy landscape, he whispered, "Maybe they'd all be better off if I had never even been born."

"What did you say, my son?"

Edmund whirled his head around to see Aslan standing beside him. "N-nothing, Aslan."

"Edmund."

That quiet rebuke forced the young king to admit, "I wish I'd never been born."

Aslan sighed, great Lion tears beginning to fall from His eyes. "Do you really wish that?"

The eleven year old bit his lip. "Yes, I do. Everyone would be better off without me. All I do is make mistakes."

Aslan sadly contemplated His child. "Very well, Edmund. Climb on My back! We are going to a world where you were never born."