It was a gloomy day in London, the September of 1942. The rain fell upon frigid streets, and clouds hung low in the sky. It was the first of school, for all the children; the beginning of a new year. For most young people, this day would be considered ordinary, though a bit disappointing. After all, who likes to go back to school?

However, for one family, this day was both magical and heartbreaking. For the Pevensie family, this day was the day that they went back. This was the day that they took a stand for the world that they loved and returned to the mundane existence that they formerly resided in. It was the day that they all died a little inside.

The four children, or really, we must call them young adults now, for that is what they truly are, were going to school when they were whisked off to Narnia, where the four were Kings and Queens. They saved their home once more, set a King onto his throne, and then were sent back. They were given no time to grieve at all. Instead, they had to get onto the train, and head to their boarding schools; Saint Finbar's for the girls, and Hendon House across the road for the boys. The four siblings were crushed.

Of the four, Peter was the eldest. He was sixteen years old, and known as the Magnificent. He took it the hardest, going from the High King of his land, back to a child. Susan was the oldest girl, and she was a lady. She was fifteen years old, and a great beauty, called the Gentle back home. Edmund, the next one at thirteen (almost fourteen, mind you), was the Just. He had the extraordinary ability to tell if people were lying, merely by examining their facial expressions. Needless to say, he never lost a debate. Lucy, dear sweet Lucy, was the youngest, only eleven, and reduced to a mere girl again. No one took her, the Valiant Queen may she remind you, opinions seriously, and that was the hardest part of returning back for her.

These four remarkable young adults had had a country thrust upon them when they were mere children, and they were forced to grow up ridiculously fast. Peter led armies into battle, Susan revitalized the kingdom, Edmund changed the courts, and Lucy made forays in the world of medicine. They grew up once running a country, and now were forced back into this corrupt world to grow up again. It was a move that was needed for all four, and hated by all four.

Where are the siblings now? It has been four months, after all. To put it simply, they are floating. Peter and Edmund are not able to be as close to their sisters as they would like to be, and are having a hard time with their peers, as they are so much more mature. Lucy struggles to get along with girls her age, and is labeled as stuck-up and snooty. Her only outlet is the horse-back riding lessons that she loves. Susan however, strayed. Her faith in Narnia, in Aslan, was shaken with her return. She began to deny Aslan and Narnia, and joined the shallow, popular girls more often than not, deserting her little sister.

The two girls would get into huge fights about Narnia, with Susan calling Lucy a child, and Lucy accusing Susan of losing herself. They sometimes wouldn't speak to each other for weeks, which made their shared dorm room a frigid place.

Lucy enjoyed her weekend visits with her brothers; they talked about Narnia and just life in general. It was a stress-reliever for all three. Susan used to join the meetings, but with her social commitments she started dropping them more and more often. By four months into the year, Susan had stopped coming at all after a ridiculous row with Peter. Edmund had made a comment about Narnia, and when Susan had scoffed at him, Peter reprimanded her. Verbal blows were traded, and both siblings had stormed off.

The younger three had come to view Peter as their leader, and almost as a parental figure of sorts. As the High King, Peter had had the final say in everything, and they had been so young when they went to Narnia the first time.

When they came back from the Professor's house that first summer, the children had had a week with their mother before heading off to school, and they were all still grieving then. They had gone from the ages of thirty, twenty-eight, twenty-six, and twenty-four respectively, and were in their children's bodies again. Their own mother didn't even know them anymore.

One incident stood out in Edmund's memory. It was less than seventy-two hours after they had arrived home, and everything had gone well so far. After fifteen years of running a country on their own, countless wars, and hundreds of diplomatic endeavors; two days of being babied wasn't horrible. By the third day though, the four children were sick of it, especially Lucy. That day, their mother Helen was coming home late from the library where she had taken up a small job while the children were gone, and Lucy, being bored, hunted around the house a bit. Helen came home just as the girl was polishing some knives that had belonged to her grandfather; Edmund was in the sitting room adjoined, aware of what his sister was up to.

"Lucy dear, be careful! Those are very sharp." Helen rushed over and snatched them from her almost ten year old daughter, putting the knives away hurriedly.

"Mum, I can handle it! I know basic knife safety." Lucy set her jaw in a hard line, pursing her lips.

Edmund peeked in the doorway, having overheard the conversation. He snickered. Lucy had her "Queenly-Face" on.

"Lucy! You are nine years old, and those knives are very sharp! Besides, you know those are precious to your father. You have no business messing with those."

"I think I am perfectly capable of polishing a couple of borderline-dull knives mother! It is no big deal." Lucy replied evenly. "I am only trying to make them look nice for father!"

"It is a big deal Lucy! You are just a child!"

Edmund stiffened when he heard that; Lucy was either going to blow her top or act like the Queen she was.

Thankfully, Lucy went with the latter. She straightened herself up to her full height, posture perfect, and her chin was raised slightly. Her face morphed into a mask of regal indifference. Lucy gave her mother a cool look.

"I am no child." With that, the Valiant Queen walked calmly out of the room to go seek her sibling's comfort.

"She isn't a child, you know. None of us are." Edmund spoke from the doorway to his mother's shocked figure before going upstairs.

A/N: It has come to my attention, after perusing the scores of recent Narnia fics, that there is one that is very similar to what mine is. I believe the title is No More Pretending and I can say that I have not copied off of this story. Letting the Light Shine Through has taken a lot of time to accurately build the plot, and I had not known of the aforementioned similar fiction beforehand. That being stated, after reading some of No More Pretending, some things will sound relatively familiar if you are also reading that fiction, but those will only be minor details. These are two very different stories, though the catalyst that is happening next chapter does bear a slight resemblance to the one in the said other story.

Now, on a different note, those of you who have read my other story The Strange Ones may see a similarity between the third ficlet on that story, and the final event in this chapter. This is because that ficlet was taken from the end of this chapter and redone in a way. I have no more notes as of now.

Thank you for reading, and good day!