Chapter One:  Back in Time

//No turning back, I've come too far//

London, England – 1944

When Buffy at long last rematerialised, she found herself in the middle of a hectic sidewalk being manhandled by the multitude of commuters and shoppers moving both ways. After a few minutes she managed to work her way over to the side and duck down a shadowy alleyway to sort out just what was going on.

She could recollect that a moment previously she was in the Oracles chamber and they had sent her back through time to give support to some children with a bizarre surname.  She could not help but bemoan her fate – yet again - why was she always put in ridiculous situations for the so-called greater good of the world.

Looking downwards to ensure if her body had arrived in the accurate proportions she found out two things. Firstly that she was all there and seemingly in the correct places and secondly that she was wearing some sort of school uniform. A red blazer, white shirt, red and gold tie and a plain grey skirt, she didn’t even want to think about the clunky school shoes adorning her feet. The ridiculous gold guys had told her she would arrive appropriately dressed, but no one had mentioned that she’d have to wear a uniform or attend old time school.

If only Xander and Willow could see me now, she thought as she courageously came to a decision to confront whatever they had done to her hair to get it to complement the hideous clothing. Slowly running her hand over her head she was reassured that it seemed to be as lengthy as it was before her jaunt to the past and only held back by some sort of clip. Unquestionably those so-called Oracles should be thankful for they would not have liked the angry Buffy or what she would have done to them if they had done something to her hair.

Feeling a little more reassured that she at least looked as though she belonged, she stepped out onto the sidewalk once more and then realised something else. She had absolutely no inspiration where to go or what she was intended to do, other than find those children and as expected she had no idea about where to commence that search.

It was then that she caught sight of them, a crowd of girls – all teenagers – wearing the exact same outfit. Trailing at the back of them, she followed them down the street to a building with an outsized lion statue in front and a sign that said London Underground. She continued to shadow them until she lost them in the horde leading to a flight of steps, not having anything better to do she went down it.

At the bottom of the flight of steps she found herself part of a generously proportioned group and intrigued – or rather being blatantly inquisitive – she moved as close as she could to the front of the group to see what was going on. Once there she could see two boys trouncing upon another one of around the equivalent age and just as she was about to lose interest in basically one more demonstration of male testosterone she heard one of them call their casualty “Pevensie.”

Could it in reality have been so uncomplicated to find one of them? She was knocked out of her thoughts and out of the way, by a double act of dark haired girls who were methodically pushing their way to the front of the crowd. She would have said something to them about their discourtesy – after all weren’t the olden days supposed to be a time of respectful teenagers – but in its place found herself looking intently into the eyes of the Pevensie boy when he fleetingly looked up.

She just about laughed at the ridiculousness of the moment, an unintended meeting of the eyes and the fact that had in reality smiled at her even though he was at that moment in time being beaten to a pulp. She watched as he was pulled back into the brawl against the two bullies, but he was soon joined by a dark haired boy, the younger of the two girls called him, “Edmund.”

Buffy found herself engrossed in the exchange of blows, scrutinising and critiquing the fighting style of the two teenagers. She could in point of fact approve of some of the techniques that they were using; in fact it was more or less as if they had received some sort of instruction in them.

The boys were on the threshold of turning the fight around when shouting and ear-splitting whistles indicated the entrance of two military policemen who were there to break up the brawl. The boys who started the fight ran away and left the two for the most part blameless ones behind to face the consequences. Fortuitously they escaped from the circumstance with a aggressive, “Act your age,” thrown at them.

Deciding that it was now or never to bring about her approach, she may possibly never get an additional chance or an improved opportunity than the one that had presented itself. Taking a deep breath she made her way over to where the group of four were standing and looked unswervingly at the eldest boy as she spoke.

“Are you all right?” she asked with concern in her voice.

He looked up and turned a bright pink from embarrassment when he saw who was talking to him, the girl he had spotted during the fight. “I – uh – ah...”

“What he *means*,” the younger boy answered. “Is that he’s fine. By the way Pete – you’re welcome.”

“Who are you, anyway?” the youngest girl asked with unadulterated inquisitiveness.

“Oh, I’m Buffy – Buffy Summers; a new student.”

The older girl looked at her somewhat apprehensively, “And an American.”

“Yes, I’m from California,” she replied a little awkwardly.

The boy – Edmund – spoke up again, “Why would you want to come here? We’re at war.”

Buffy sighed and endeavoured to perform to the best of her imperfect capability as she noiselessly cursed herself for skipping all of her drama classes. “No choice really; my parents are in the middle of a messy divorce and my mother sent me here to visit some relatives. Only it turns out I am as much in the way here as I am back home.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find the older girl there, sympathy splashed across her face. “Don’t worry so much. Lu and I will show you around.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m Susan by the way. That’s Lucy, Edmund and the idiot over there is Peter.”

Buffy smiled, “Nice to meet you all.”

The group moved away from the flight of stairs and walked over to an undersized bench next to a tunnel wall. Buffy, the other two girls and Edmund all took a seat, but Peter remained standing and paced back and forth. After a minute or two of this his reasoning became clear when he stood in front of Susan.

“I am not an idiot.”

“Really,” she replied. “If you’re not, just what was the fight about this time?”

“He bumped me.”

Lucy looked horrified and Buffy tried not to laugh. “So you hit him?”

“No. After he bumped *me*he tried to make *me* apologise. That’s when I hit him.”

A snort escaped from Buffy and the four Pevensie’s shot her dirty looks and she was overcome with the need to explain herself. “Sorry, but as long as everyone is all right, why go over and over it?”

“Because it’s turning into a regular occurrence,” Susan replied. “Peter cannot control his temper.”

Peter began pacing again, “It’s not that.”

“What?” Buffy asked.

“Don’t you ever get tired of being treated like a kid?”

Edmund looked at his brother, “We are kids.”

Lucy suddenly stood up yelling, “Ouch.”

“Yikes!” Buffy said jumping up and moving over next to Peter.

“Quit it,” Susan responded.

“Something pinched me.”

Peter whirled around, “Stop –“

Susan suddenly stood up, “What is that?”

“Feels like magic,” Lucy said excitedly.

“Magic?” Buffy asked.

“Quick everyone hold hands,” Susan yelled as wind started to blow through the tunnel, no one but the group of five even seeing it.

“I’m not holding your hand,” Edmund objected as Susan grabbed one of his and one of Lucy’s.

Before Buffy could even realise what was happening she felt Peter take hold of her hand and the lose one of Lucy’s and the five of them held on to each other as the wind whipped faster and faster and an express train with seemingly no end began to pass them, as portions of the underground tunnel started to soar past them – bricks, lights and posters. The tunnel wall in a straight line across from them blew outwards and as the train at long last passed them by, the quintet found themselves standing in a cave that led out onto the most faultless beach and ocean that Buffy had ever laid eyes on.

They strolled out of the grotto and onto the sand and Buffy breathed in the invigorating aroma that made her contemplate home and every person she was missing. Pushing out-of-the-way the feelings that were in no doubt to devastate her if left unconstrained, she looked at her new friends and saw the luminous smiles on their faces.

“Where are we?”

“Narnia,” Lucy replied smiling off at something she had just now remembered.

Buffy just stared, “That doesn’t really help.”

The three youngest Pevensie’s hurried past her and into the adjacent water, frolicking and laughing like there was no tomorrow. Buffy looked up and saw that Peter was just standing there looking at her, staring attentively as if trying to figure something out.

“Aren’t you going to join them?”

Peter shook his head, “Maybe later. You are right, you do need an explanation.”

“Okay.”

“Follow me,” Peter told her as he walked a short way from his siblings and sat in the sand, gazing out at the ocean.

Buffy sat down next to him, her curiosity growing moment by moment. Just what was he going to tell her? It was obvious – and would be obvious to even the dumbest person – that this place was magic, but Buffy could feel it. An ancient magic of light and dark that was used to create the very soul of this world. Was that why she had been chosen for this? Because she could feel the essence of Narnia or was there something more to it, something she could not yet see?

“Well,” he began suddenly breaking her from her reverie. “It all began when we were staying with the Professor. Lucy was bored so we decided to play a game...”

End Part

Lyrics:

By Trisha Yearwood - Wrong Side Of Memphis