#Oh and Susan in Cherry Cordial

[desolateice]

17 for the ao3 wrapped? :]

17. Your favorite character to write this year? This is hard. They're so many that are so fun. 💖 I love writing Daniel's rants and monologues. Whether it's because the fish stick that is mer!Johnny is stretching out his sweaters in Newark, or won't stop cuddling him as a snake!Johnny or ranting about pizza in Root Beer Floats and Green Tea, or being confused about language in Konpeito or all his terribly wonderful ideas it's just fun to write essentially a long internal monologue for him. His spirals while being pretty gutting are also fun to write. And his grief that he carries is also somewhat cathartic to write. I also like making him just a horny mess all the time. My other fav monologuer is Dutch. 😂 In my head no matter where I put him in a story it means chaos and fun is about to happen even if it won't always be fun for Johnny or Daniel. And I love writing him and Bobby because I like to write them as opposites. Bobby trying to keep everyone safe and out of trouble and Dutch ready to burn the world to the ground for fun. Chaos and mischief ready to get into a brawl or murder for his friends and Bobby just trying to reign him in. Though all of the cobras mean fun are on the way. Sometimes a character surprises me pending the fic. As I explored the characters in Okinawa in Root Beer Floats and Green Tea I ended up really enjoying writing Chozen and Kumiko. Which is why Buku Buku Cha exists. Because I looked at Tomi Village and wondered why, why would Chozen snap like and once Buku Buku Cha is over I may write at length about the head cannon reason I have for that. But I also love giving Chozen and Kumiko sibling arguing energy where they love each other but will tease each other to death. The other one that surprised me and I am having a lot of fun writing Sid in Cherry Cordial. I've written further than what's been posted, but I may have accidentally given him some Gomez Addams energy. 😅 Generally I paint him as a black and white villain but he's totally gray in Cherry Cordial and it's kind of fun. I do enjoy writing the adults and extra side characters a lot too, Laura and Lucille and Mr. Miyagi. Miyagi sensei in Buku Buku Cha has been fun too. But despite how much I love them all, really it's probably Johnny whose my favorite to write which is spawned by a curiosity of if he got kindness and love and support that wasn't ripped from him then what would happen intrigues me. If he's given a chance to apologize and actually improve, to grow and to heal that's so fascinating to me to explore. I like I guess poking at his wounds and then healing them. It gives me hope that he can avoid all the awful stuff that happens later so I enjoy writing him and what the relationships with other characters becomes and how it can improve his life. If only he got the support he needs, the care and love. Thank you for asking 💖 It's a lot of fun to answer these.

If anyone else wants to ask, I've answered 2, 5, 10, 16 and 19 the prompt is here.

[ijustthinkcheesecakeisneat]

My Queen

She looked out the window, a film of tears obscuring her vision for the briefest moment. Her castle. Their castle. The stronghold. The one thing they thought would never fall, was doomed to do so.

Cair Pavarel.

How many millennia had it stood in place?

The army approaching was ten times the size of their own. The catapults being wheeled across the land left tracks in the earth behind them. Just as the army did. Only destruction left behind.

"My Queen, I must ask one more time."

She turned to her loyal general. He had served her faithfully, more than she could ever have asked of him.

"I cannot turn tail and flee."

"They will overrun us. It is for your own safety I ask." He spoke, wishing his queen would heed his warnings just this once. As powerful as she was, even she could not withstand the might of over five thousand men.

"I will not."

He sighed. What had he expected? He knew from the moment the scouts estimated the numbers of the Telmarine army that they were doomed to fail. They had fought seven battles already, and this was to be the one that would fell them.

"The invaders have taken everything I have ever known. They will soon destroy all I am and ever was. But I have been entrusted with the safety of my people and of my land. I cannot protect my land any longer."

She turned to the window once more, aware of the precious time slipping through her fingers. The army was closer now.

"In spite of this, I will protect my people until my dying breath. Oreius, my old friend,"

Here she paused, taking a deep breath. For the Cair. For the Narnians. And for her fellow Kings and Queens, she would do this.

"Evacuate the Cair."

He signaled to an aide down the hall, a dryad, who hastened to the strategy room where the Fierce Queen's advisors and loyal subjects awaited.

Voices grew louder as the halls filled, each person carrying all they could, for they knew they would never again return to their home.

"I needs must go to the treasury to secure it and to leave some things behind." The lady spoke quietly, gathering some inner power that seemed to permeate her form.

"I shall have His Majesties sword brought to you." The Centuar said, knowing she meant to make this journey alone.

They had time. But not very much.

He departed, as did she, making her way to her chambers. Or did they still belong to the both of them, since he was no longer here?

It mattered not.

There was no Magnificent King to protect when he wasn't paying attention to the fight around him, only the one he was engaged in.

No Gentle Queen commanding the archers, letting everyone know she could be things other than gentle and pretty.

No Valiant Queen waiting with her cordial and a smile that could warm even the hardest of hearts.

There was no Just King to save her now. No husband to watch her back, and she his, as they fought together, a pair that would strike fear into the heart of even a giant.

She grabbed the small chest that sat on her writing table. A quick glance confirmed all her letters were still inside. Countless letters, all addressed to her closest friends and confidants.

She hugged it close to her and turned slowly, taking one last look at the room she had spent six years in as the wife of the Just King.

The pain never really left. It never got easier to bear. But it did because easier to ignore. The five years that had passed since they left had gone slowly. Seven battles, in the space of one year.

She had maintained the Golden Age for four full years. Four pitiful years, without her family. She had made the best of a dire situation. Even Aslan himself could not have asked more of her. To have fought seven battles and somehow prevailed.

The Great Lion had appeared to her the night before, warning her that this time they would not prevail. She had asked her army to step down. They had done all she asked. They knew to flee would be painful, but they knew that defeat would be even more so.

As she left their chambers for the last time, she pulled her sword from its stand. A beautiful blade, but all the more deadly for it. And even more so for the beauty that wielded it.

The jewel set in the pommel glittered in the light of the day. It sent fragments of blue light dancing over the furniture and the stone walls.

One final glance, and she was gone.

When the Kings and Queens had disappeared, there was uproar. No one believed that they would ever abandon their country. Philip had been the one to deliver the news. He had arrived at the castle, heaving and shining with sweat, frothing at the mouth. He had been the only one to witness the Queen lose her composure, for she knew they would never return. Aslan had willed it so.

The castle was quiet as she made her way to Susan's chambers. The occasional page passed by and bowed, but the Queen did not slow from her quick pace to say hello.

The chambers laid untouched as she had ordered. She crossed the room, looking at nothing but the horn mounted on the wall. Not the sofa where they had lain when they had gotten drunk off wine. Not the bed into which Peter had lifted them when found them giggling in the closet about boys, drunk once again. And most certainly not at the portrait on the wall which depicted the five of them in the height of their rule.

She took the horn gently off the wall and contemplated using it. Maybe they'd come back and save them all as they once had before.

A roar filled her mind and she winced. Aslan had said no.

Tucking the horn into the curve of her arm, she continued onwards.

Peter's chambers were exactly the same too. Not that she had expected anything less. The High King had a messy room. Who would have guessed?

Rhindon lay across Peter's writing desk. She grabbed the storied weapon and looked away from the dent in the table where she had smashed Peter's shield against the wood all those years ago, when they had been practising sword play inside. Which they definitely shouldn't have been, according to Susan.

Lucy's chambers weren't far away. She had a beautiful view of the palace gardens from her window seat. How long ago was it that they had sat there laughing hysterically at the mighty King Edmund? He had been tongue tied over the beauty that now made her way across the youngest queens chambers. Somehow the room still smelled like her. Cherry blossoms and a hint of something she would never be able to pinpoint. She took Lucy's cordial from her bed and left.

Oreius stood waiting at the entrance to the treasury, Edmund's sword in his hand. He opened the treasury door and stepped aside, handing her the sword and leaving his Queen walk in. She gently deposited the items she had collected on the ground.

She lifted the heavy lid of Susan's chest, not even straining at the effort. There were several dresses and cloaks inside, in case she ever returned. The Gentle Queen's bow and arrows already lay inside. She took the letters out of her small chest and sorted them according to name. She counted twenty for Susan. Placing them carefully underneath the Queens dresses, she then closed the lid of the massive chest.

Rhindon went in first. Peter also had twenty letters. She placed them inside too, wishing he was here to assure her everything would be alright. Close the chest. Close it before his ghost leaps out at her.

Twenty for Lucy. Sweet, noble Lucy. Her dagger lay inside, she had not taken it on that fateful day. Her cordial first, and then the letters. Close the chest. Close it close it close it.

Edmund last. In went his sword, which he never named. And in went the letters from his wife. As she gently deposited them, a tear slipped from her eye and fell on the paper. A stain was left behind. She lifted one of his cloaks and smelled it, oh how did it still smell like him? She sank to the ground and began crying in earnest now, struggling for breath.

A hand on her shoulder. Oreius.

She allowed herself to be guided into an upright position. Still crying, she put down his cloak one last time.

She ignored her own chest. She would no longer need her worldly possessions.

She hesitated stepping over the threshold once more, taking one final glance at their likenesses, their statues. It became too much and she slammed the door.

She spoke to the Centaur guarding the door.

"Oreius, you have served me faithfully these past years. I hereby relieve you of your duty, and as your friend, I ask you to leave this place now and flee."

His jaw clenched, but he nodded, knowing what she meant to do. He surprised her by leaning forward and hugging her. The usually so stoic Centuar, nearly brought to tears.

"It has been a true honour to serve you, your majesty. You are the bravest, strongest, fiercest woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I only wish this could end happily for you."

The sacrificial lamb smiled and handed him Susan's horn.

"What's done is done. I volunteered for this, knowing the repercussions. I would die for my country a hundred times over."

Oreius' face darkened, but he bowed one last time and walked down the hall away from her. He glanced behind once, as if he were going to say something, but didn't.

She watched as he left, the doors of the castle opening as he was bathed in light.

And then he too was gone.

The Queen followed moments later, taking once last glance at her home, her true home.

She spotted the Narnians fleeing in the opposite direction of the army. They did not deserve this.

Then from the outside, she shut the door.

She walked towards the army for three hours, never tiring or flagging. They grew closer and closer, until finally they were only a hundred yards from each other. The army stopped in confusion. Surely the Nanians didn't send a girl to defend them?

But she was no mere girl.

She began running towards them with an unnatural speed, a speed no human could ever hope to compete with. She spotted a gap in their ranks and sprinted through it, only wielding her sword against the soldiers who blocked her path directly. The rest of the soldiers fell dead, felled by a variety of different wounds.

Onwards the Queen ran, sending shards of ice through their bodies, creating roots to bind them in place, moving others out of the way with a flick of her hand, snapping their necks. For she had the elements on her side, and she alone wielded this otherworldly power.

She was no killing machine. But she would defend her home.

Her actions took out around two hundred men before she became too exhausted to continue. Her sword, as light as it was in reality, grew heavier and heavier in her hand until she stopped holding it aloft, only lifting it to wield it against another.

Until it got caught in the body of a dead soldier. She had ran onwards for a second or two without noticing, but now there were solider all around her, and she could no longer physically take them on.

So she played the part she had volunteered to play. The part that no one had ever asked her, because she was dearly beloved by all her subjects and all her advisors.

The sacrificial lamb.

Her last thought was of Edmund, smiling at her.

As the soldiers lunged at her as one, she threw her hands to the sky and cried out, willing the world to come take her. In this split second, her entire body converted into nothingness and she disappeared forever.

Another split second and the world turned dark. Everything that was nearby ceased to be, and even the mighty Cair Pavarel fell apart. The army was no more, but so was the place she had loved.

But the Queen's people were alive, and that was all that truly mattered. By sacrificing herself, she had shaken the formidable army, and had given her people the gift of life, free from slavery.

The light slowly returned to Narnia.

She had given them hope.

[highqueen]

Zebra!!!! Congrats!!!!! ☁️🌟🌘 So, I'm going to reccomend The Foxhole Court series bc they're soo good, even though it's about sports. I want to accomplish getting through my 10 hour work day today, and lastly something funny that happened to me is that I broke a window with my foot completely on accident! Congrats again 💛💛 (also pls do this for sheisthehighqueen)

Thanks, Lydia!

I’ll consider reading The Foxhole Court but sport books usually aren’t my thing. Oh goodness, 10 hours is quite a lot! Make sure to get plenty of rest afterwards and take good care of yourself. o.o Wow, I hope you foot was all right.

Join my 1.4k followers celebration!

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