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bloodybigwardrobe · 3 years

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Jack Hends enjoys driving cabs in the grand scheme of things. Sure, he has had his fair share of awful experiences, but the sheer amount of fascinating people he’s met and continues to meet always makes up for it.

He knows the young woman waving enthusiastically at him will be an interesting sort before she so much as opens the cab door. Her hair is windswept, a wreath of twigs sits askew on her head, and her clothes bear grass stains. Jack can hear his mother call this a most unbecoming display for a woman. Jack stops next to her. She gives him a bright smile and greets him with a joyful voice that dislodges something in his chest. Suddenly, Jack feels like he is back in his childhood home, being chased across the garden by his older sister, with the smell of lunch in the air. He blinks, wondering where the dull grey colours of the city afternoon went. Somehow, everything looks brighter.

The woman climbs into the backseat with grace, which Jack did not expect given her dishevelled appearance. Hugging a small suitcase to her chest, she gives him the address of a courthouse across the river. Jack can’t for the life of him place her accent.

As he pulls back into traffic, the woman introduces herself as Lucy. She chats about her journey here, how she doesn’t quite suit the city life and asks him if he could drive her to other places after the courthouse. “I’m just picking my brother up there, I do hope that’s alright with you.” She doesn’t fidget, but her obvious excitement bleeds over from the back, and Jack can’t help but feel excited with her.

The drive passes in a flash, and soon Jack stops. Lucy is out of the car with lightning speed, bouncing up to a young man in a sharp suit - Lucy’s brother, he supposes. Jack watches them hug with a smile, Lucy’s infectious joy tasting like his aunt’s berry crumble. Lucy and her brother climb into his cab.

The young man introduces himself with a voice quite different from Lucy’s cheerful one. “I’m Edmund,” he says quietly, but Jack has no trouble understanding him. He holds himself like a man who knows just the amount of power he has. Jack has driven around plenty of important and powerful people and many more who pretended to be those things. Looking at Edmund, he has no doubt that he belongs to the first category.

The next stop is a university. As they drive, Jack can’t help but take constant glances at his passengers in the back. Edmund’s presence is nowhere near as bright as whatever Lucy caused when she climbed into Jack’s cab, but something makes Jack’s shoulders straighten, and his grip relaxes around the wheel. Though it’s not gotten colder by any means, each glimpse of Edmund makes Jack think about evenings by the fireplace. Taken back to nights of watching his cousins yell at each other across a black-and-white board, Jack finds himself speaking.

“You don’t happen to be a chess player, do you, lad?”

Jack catches a small smile in the rearview mirror. “I am, sir.” And the three of them start talking, Lucy very eagerly praising her brother’s chess skill while Edmund starts asking Jack about himself. Yes, Jack thinks to himself, he can imagine sitting in a firelit living room with a warm, spiced drink and playing chess opposite this kid. Not that Jack is a good player.

The evening sun turns everything around them a warm, golden colour as they pull up to the university building. Both siblings climb out, and soon enough, a tall, blond-haired man is walking up to them with long strides. Jack watches with fascination as Lucy gets folded up in a hug and spun around. As soon as her feet are back on solid ground, the man reaches out to tousle Edmund’s hair with an affectionate grin.

The man turns out to be their eldest brother, named Peter. He takes the time to firmly shake Jack’s hand as he sits down in the passenger seat. Jack catches himself wondering how Peter fits into the cab at all, even though he has driven around men much broader than him. There is just something that makes Peter seem like he takes up more space, and Jack feels incredibly small - though he doesn’t mind it at all, somehow.

Peter’s voice is warm in a similar way to Lucy’s, but deep in a way that makes Jack think he can feel it resonate in his own bones. He spends the drive turned around towards the back, asking Lucy questions and laughing without restraint. Jack’s heart leaps into his throat when, for a moment, he thinks he sees his late father out of the corner of his eye where Peter ought to be. A memory of watching a sunrise from atop the cliffs with his father occupies him for the next while.

It’s a longer drive to the next destination, which ends up as a small house with an office sign above the door. The three siblings quieten down as Jack parks, and Peter leans into the back to squeeze Edmund and Lucy’s shoulders. The gesture makes Jack’s chest tighten painfully, feeling a phantom hand on his own shoulder.

“Come on,” Edmund says, and the three siblings get out of the cab. Lucy pauses to give a fleeting smile and “We’ll be right back” to Jack. He barely suppresses the need to follow these three extraordinary people and watches once again.

Peter rings the bell. After a while, a beautiful woman with long, dark hair steps into the dusk. The last sliver of orange sunset cuts across her face. Her mouth opens in apparent surprise, her eyes wide. The three siblings look much smaller than they did in his cab. Jack can just see the hesitance on Lucy’s face before suddenly, the woman surges forward and tugs her into a crushing hug. Peter and Edmund waste no time in wrapping their arms around the two women. And for a while, they don’t move.

The thought that he should look away, that this is a private moment, occurs to Jack just as the four of them pull away from each other. Quiet words are exchanged, then the woman turns back around and rushes back into the house, leaving the door open. Jack sees Peter wipe at his eyes. Edmund knocks his elbow into Lucy’s side, and she laughs giddily.

The woman returns with a coat on, and Jack marvels at how elegant she looks as she pulls the door shut behind her. She holds herself in a way that makes Jack feel like he really should not be looking directly at her. The group of four walks back to his cab and Jack hastily clears his throat, suddenly nervous.

The woman is introduced by Lucy as Susan, their sister. She smiles at Jack, and he doesn’t quite know what he feels. Susan’s eyes are kind. She sits in the crowded back of his cab like it’s a royal carriage. Jack fumbles with his words, but a gentle calm spreads through him as Susan tells him to take them to a nearby cemetery.

Jack busies himself with turning the car around. Soon they are back in the evening traffic, and his four passengers are talking among themselves. Jack takes note of how Lucy is no longer spilling over with her joy, having seemingly settled into a quieter sort of happiness. Edmund is leaning over Lucy to talk to Susan with a mischievous smile on his face. Peter smiles at Jack and gives a soft apology.

“Oh, none of that,” Jack says, and he knows he is smiling broadly, “You’ve been nothing but wonderful.” Susan laughs, and Jack knows he can smell his grandmother’s lavender tea, brought out at an outside dinner back when all his family lived in one place.

When they reach the cemetery, Jack is paid and tipped handsomely. Peter shakes his hand again, Lucy comes rushing to his window with a small yellow flower, Edmund nods with a knowing smile, and Susan thanks him for the ride. As he watches the four of them disappear through the old gate, Lucy’s flower in his hand, Jack realises something.

He places the flower on his dashboard and pulls away. He has driven around many fascinating humans and will drive many more. But he’s pretty sure the four siblings will remain the most intriguing of the lot, given that they were not human.

Their presence lingers. Jack doesn’t mind at all.

#narnia #chronicles of narnia #lucy pevensie #edmund pevensie #peter pevensie #susan pevensie #the chronicles of narnia #tcon #narnia fic #mywriting #this is my 1000th post!!! wooo #celebratory longer writing for you all #strange pevensies #theyre not really eerie in this one but theyre definitely magic and not human

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