Title: Valiance and Magnificence

Author: Starbrow

Rating: G for nothing worse than some very mild gloom-and-doom

Summary: Lucy needs Peter's help to remind her who she is. A cute mid-journey sibling moment.

Disclaimer: I am not C.S. Lewis, as I am not male, British, and dead. Thus, I make no money from his creation, I just enjoy doing sadistic things to it.

Notes: You don't see many Lucy-and-Peter centric stories around here, even though it seems clear to me that these two share a special bond all their own. This is a little vignette I wrote under the inspiration of the song "Ice Queen" by Within Temptation, which is remarkably appropriate for the White Witch. I enjoy writing stories within the context of a song but not as a songfic, and this was the result. This interpretation was heavily influenced by the recent Walden film of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and the characters portrayed therein. Oh yeah, go play the song while you read this. It's perfect.

There was a flutter overhead in the dark canopy of sinister-looking trees. Lucy glanced up and clutched her coat closer, not sure if the sound came from the wind, an animal, the tree itself, or something more ominous.

Was that footsteps she heard behind her? Gasping, Lucy realized the others had moved on a ways ahead. "Lucy!" Peter called urgently in a hushed voice, looking over his shoulder at her. "Keep up!"

She broke into a run to catch up with the scurrying beavers and her sister pacing smoothly behind them. Lucy's shoes made soft pattering noises on the freshly falling snow as she dashed to where Peter was standing, waiting for her.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't dawdle, Lu. It's dangerous." He turned and started to guide her forward. But she felt suddenly frozen to the ground, unable to move for the chill that was turning her blood to ice. The rustling noise above them was becoming a ghostly whistle.

"Peter," she whispered. "Wait!" She looked pleadingly up at him. Peter stopped and gave her a questioning glance. It was the concerned, big-brother protectiveness on his face that made Lucy break down. Lip quivering, she leaned her head against his shoulder and tried to hold back the tears that burned the corners of her eyes.

"It's so cold," she whimpered. "I'm so afraid…" There was a howling in her ears – was it the trees? – and she could hear the murmurs beneath the noise… She's coming for you…you'd better keep moving, hide….you can't hide from her…she'll find you and freeze you forever… The darkness was pressing in on her and crushing the breath from her body. Lucy clung to Peter in sheer terror. "She's coming."

Peter did the only thing he could do – he put his arms around her, held her in a great bear hug for a moment, then turned her around and hoisted her onto his back. "Hang on," he said.

Lucy instinctively clutched the thick fur of his coat and felt the warmth start to soak into her. The howling was dying away with the sound of Peter's breaths, coming more quickly as he hurried toward the others. The darkness still was all around, but it no longer threatened to snatch her into its gloomy shadows, for Peter had a firm grip on her. He was warm and solid, a stark contrast from the freezing cold of the powdery snow. His ruffled hair glinted softly with flecks of fallen snow and blond strands shining in the dim light. She buried her head in the fur collar and planted a kiss on his neck. "I could never be as brave as you, Peter."

"Nonsense." He ploughed on through the slope of snow before them, dotted with three sets of footprints. "You know that prophecy the beavers told us about? About the thrones at Ca- well, wherever that place was called? And how we're supposed to be the kings and queens there? Well, if you did become queen, I'd bet you anything they'd call you Lucy the Valiant."

"Now you are being silly, Peter. Me? Valiant?" How ridiculous!

"You might surprise yourself." Lucy couldn't see his face, but she could hear the smile in Peter's voice. "This place seems to make all of us sort of – more than ourselves, but more like ourselves at the same time. Besides," he hitched her up more firmly on his back, and she could definitely hear the grin now, "you've always been the cheeky one of the family. Don't you remember the time you went right up to the outpost captain and asked about Dad? You were the bravest one of us all – even Mum said so. Or how about when you ran and hugged the professor back there in the house? I mean, none of us would have dared to come near him like that, in his dressing gown and the Macready standing right there scolding us. We wouldn't even be here in Narnia if you hadn't been brave and gone through that wardrobe door, and then stood up to us when we were such idiots. You believe in things the rest of us want to believe in, Lu. It takes more courage to do that than to – to swing a sword around. Anyone can see that."

Lucy forgot that moments ago, she had been petrified by the thought of the White Witch pursuing them, that she was nearly alone in a dark, cold wood in a strange land. What did that matter? She was Lucy, valiant, unafraid, daring to step out into new worlds. Peter said so. She knew so.

She slid down to her feet and grabbed Peter's hand. "Come on! They'll be wondering where we went." Mid-run, she glanced shyly up at him. "Well – " pant, pant. "If they call me Lucy the Valiant, there's only one thing they could call you."

"What's that, little sister?"

"Magnificent."

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P.S. I am having major technical difficulties formatting this thing - I'm trying to get something, anything, to mark the beginning and ending of the story, like, um lines or little punctuation symbols or ANYTHING! This thing is driving me insane. Anybody know how to accomplis this?