chapter twelve; star-crossed lovers.
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DAISY COULD'NT HELP BUT FEEL GUILTY. The Narnians had arrived at the Telmarine castle a little over an hour earlier, and Daisy was still trying to formulate a way of telling Lucy and Caspian what Aslan had revealed to her. Daisy felt obliged to let her two closest confidantes know why she was in Narnia, and that she was, well... dead. But for some reason, the girl couldn't bring it upon herself to tell them. It was odd really; the information Aslan had dumped on the girl was relatively new, but the secret was such an old one now, that it had grown into Daisy and had become a part of herself. So much so that she would never be able to tear it away.

Absentmindedly, Daisy wandered through the courtyard of the castle, her eyes taking in the imposing architecture. The girl wasn't searching for anything in particular, merely just going where her feet would take her. Unfortunately for Daisy, her subconscious must have been plotting against her, for the girl's thoughtless meandering caused her to walk right into the boy she had been avoiding all afternoon.

"There you are!" Caspian exclaimed. "I've been looking for you everywhere." Daisy tried to smile up at the boy, but instead her face morphed into a strange kind of grimace. The guilt was beginning to eat Daisy up inside, and that was not one of the nicest feelings to behold.

"Really?" Daisy asked, attempting to sound cheerful. "Did you need something?" The girl hoped that her acting skills were up to standard; she would rather be a coward and avoid the situation, than face it head on and deal with the repercussions.

Repercussions.

Daisy didn't know what they would entail. She didn't even know if there would be anything or the sort. Perhaps Caspian wouldn't care, perhaps Lucy would just laugh it off, perhaps Daisy was thinking to much into her situation. It wasn't in Caspian or Lucy's natures to be unreasonable, so Daisy was most likely being paranoid for nothing. Alas, the familiar nagging feeling in the back of the girl's mind was telling her otherwise; if she told Lucy or Caspian, they might not be upset, but Daisy herself would be destroyed instead.

In a word, Daisy was too cowardly. Too cowardly to do what she knew to be right, similarly to the way she was too cowardly to avoid what the girl knew to be wrong.

"No, I don't need anything," Caspian replied, "I just wanted to come and see you." The boy's cheeks were flushed slightly pink upon revealing why he had been searching for the girl. Caspian had intended to spend the rest of the afternoon with Daisy, but as soon as the Narnians had arrived at the castle, the girl had disappeared, leaving Caspian alone.

"Oh," Daisy said simply, quite taken aback at Caspian's sudden forwardness. She assumed any girl would have jumped at the opportunity to have a boy as conventionally attractive as Caspian, searching around for them. However, at a time like this, Daisy would have done anything to run away and hide up a tree where no one (especially the boy she fancied) would be able to find her. "Do you want to go for a walk somewhere?" She asked, hoping to stop herself from feeling so guilty.

"Sure," Caspian smiled, "where do want to go?"

Daisy shrugged, "I don't mind." She smiled half-heartedly. "Just don't leave me to get lost again. The last time I left you alone, you got into a sword fight with King Blondie."

Caspian chuckled at the girl stood in front of him. "Now, why would I ever want to lose you?" The boy had meant his confession as a joke, but Caspian couldn't help but feel as though his words had rung true. Indeed, Caspian valued Daisy's presence more than anything. He knew it was probably wistful thinking (and rather foolish) but Caspian found his thoughts wandering to Daisy whenever it had the chance. The girl was an enigma; her mind was an adventure that Caspian had dreaming to embark since he was a small child. In a word, Caspian found Daisy so utterly captivating, that she had invaded his every thought.

Daisy on the other hand was terrified of what Caspian had just said. She should have been jumping for joy at the boy's confession, her crush had just admitted that he wanted to be with her - why, that should have been the best feeling in the world! But Caspian's word's made Daisy feel as if she was the most heartless person in the universe; here was a boy who simply wanted her company, and she was going to have to leave.

     She was dead, he was alive. The two teenagers just didn't mix.

Daisy's face paled slightly, not going unnoticed by Caspian. "Daisy, are you quite alright?" The new Narnia King asked, his posture morphing into a stance of concern.

"Yes," Daisy whispered, "I'm fine."

She had lied.

Daisy wasn't fine. In fact she was far from it. The guilt of keeping something so important from Caspian was eating her up inside. Daisy's self-condemnation felt almost soul crushing. But why? Why was Daisy so remorseful over the fact she was hiding a personal matter from a boy she had known for just over a fortnight? Sure, she was crushing on the dark-haired boy. But when she was eleven, Daisy was certain that she was in love with her neighbour, Michael Greengrass, but she didn't feel obliged to tell him every detail of her personal life.

So what was different about Caspian?

"Are you sure?" Caspian asked, not believing Daisy for one moment. "If I've done something to upset you, I'm sorry." The boy tried to wrack his brain, searching for something he might have said to hurt Daisy's feelings.

"No, its nothing to do with you." Daisy dismissed with the wave of her hand. "I'm just tired from the adventure we've had; its not everyday you fall down a rabbit hole and win a battle."

Liar.

"Oh, well if you're tired we don't have to walk anywhere." Caspian replied, trying not to sound too disappointed. The boy had been eager to spend some quality time alone with the girl stood before him. But if Daisy needed to rest, Caspian would make sure that she would.

"No, Caspian." Daisy tried to argue. "If you want to go for a walk, we can still do that."

Caspian shook his head. "Daisy Middleton, as a new King of Narnia, I command that you get some rest." He declared causing Daisy to laugh slightly. "And, if you resist my orders, I shall be forced to carry you."

"You wouldn't dare." Daisy gasped dramatically, trying to put her negative thoughts behind her and play along instead.

"Try me." Caspian teased, before taking a challenging step towards the dark-haired girl. Daisy let out a yelp of mock-fear before taking off into the courtyard, holding up the skirts of her dress, as she sprinted away from the Caspian. The King let out an amused sigh, before running after the girl, a wide smile plastered across both of their faces.

Alas, Caspian didn't get far. The large body of Aslan stepped in front of him, stopping the boy in his tracks. "Caspian," the Great Lion said in his soothing Baritone voice, "may I speak with you?" Caspian's gaze fell upon Daisy, who's exhilarated running had ceased, her eyes trained inquisitively upon the boy and the lion. Caspian offered Daisy an apologetic smile, who mouthed 'it's okay' in return before turning to walk away.

Caspian's eyes followed Daisy's every move as she moved away from him, a faraway daze clouding his features.

     "You Care for her." Aslan stated simply.

The boy turned to the lion, a crimson hue making it's way onto his face. "Is it really that obvious?" Caspian murmured to himself, inwardly cursing his transparent feelings.

Aslan chuckled warmly. "Sometimes our true feeling as best left out in the open, then we do not have express our emotions with words."

Caspian frowned. That did seem like a good idea, but the boy was rather hesitant to take advice from an anthropomorphic lion. As Daisy would say - how curious!

"What was it you wished to talk to me about?" Caspian asked, trying to divert the focus of the conversation away from the riveting topic of the teenage boy's love life.

"I need you to gather everyone by the tree in the courtyard; I have much to discuss with you all." For the first time in what seemed like for ever, Aslan had withheld the entire truth from the boy stood beside him. The mighty lion hadn't lied - that would have been a cardinal sin - but the animal hadn't told Caspian the whole truth, either.

Aslan had only then just witnessed the true extent of Caspian's devotion to Daisy Middleton. It would have been unfair to tell the boy of Daisy's situation without the girl present. The poor children; two star-crossed lovers, who like the sun and the moon would never quite meet until the universe would fall to it's knees. It wasn't fair. Aslan sometimes thought that his and Daisy's creation was so terribly cruel. It was a place where basic human emotion would often be thwarted by outside forces - a beautiful red rose, too often crushed by an avalanche of falling rocks.

As Caspian began to walk away Aslan stared at the boy intently, almost staring into the boy's very heart and soul.

After a moment, Aslan let out a sigh of despair.

Upon looking into the young king's heart, Aslan had seen his worst fear. Caspian didn't simply fancy Daisy Middleton, he loved her.

Caspian loved Daisy.

He loved her against all reason, against all promise, against all peace, against all hope, against all happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Caspian loved Daisy Middleton none the less because he didn't know yet if his feelings. His devotion had no more influence in preventing him from falling further in love, and devoutly believing Daisy to be human perfection.

Daisy Middleton was more than a human to the boy. She was a fairy, a nymph, he didn't know what she was. To Caspian, Daisy was everything that no one ever saw and everything that everybody had ever wanted.

The young king was swallowed up in an abyss of love. There was no pausing on the brink; no looking down, or looking back.

He was gone, headlong, before he would ever get the chance to tell her. For Daisy Middleton was already fading into Aslan's country, and it was only a matter of time before she left.

okay i'm sad now bc i just want my babies to be happy :( bUT i promise you all a happy ending bc i will be broken if daisy and cas don't end up together.

and mad props to whoever can spot the dickens quotes in this chapter, i had to put them to good use seeing as all my exams were cancelled and two years worth of revision went down the drain

also, we've only got one chapter left before the epilogues (i'm planning two but idk there might be more, or just one) so i'm very sAD