Silence || The Chronicles Of Narnia

17: It was my fault

"Ed?" Peter choked, his heart skipping a beat at the sudden silence. "Edmund?"

He gave his brother a gentle shake as he glanced down, but Edmund didn't move a muscle, and it was only then that Peter realised... Edmund still wasn't breathing.

"No." Peter whispered, before taking a deep breath and giving his brother a rough shake. "Ed you have to wake up, please Ed, you need to breathe."

Edmund did nothing, and Peter couldn't help the tears that began rolling down his cheeks. "Breathe Edmund!"

After a moment, he lifted his brothers head and pounded hard on his back, hoping and praying that this time it would work. "Come on." He choked under his breath. "Please work. Please. Come on Ed, you need to breathe."

Changing instead to pounding on his chest, Peter buried his face against Edmund's hair, taking deep breaths to try and keep himself calm. "Ed please." He whispered, a small sob escaping him. "Don't do this. You - You can't do this, you can't leave me. Please just breathe."

Peter pounded hard on his chest a few more times, before he heard the faintest breath, and watched as Edmund's chest slowly rose and fell, once... and then twice, before Edmund began coughing.

Peter let out a sob of pure relief as he pulled Edmund into a hug, running a hand up and down his back as he coughed, whispering under his breath until he'd somewhat calmed down. "There you go." He choked. "That's it, just breathe."

Edmund took another deep breath before finaly allowing his eyes to flicker open, looking up and hastily searching for Peter.

The two locked eyes only seconds later, and Peter's eyes filled with tears. "It's alright." He said gently, moving his hand to rest on Edmund's chest, relieved to feel the strong heart beat beneath his palm. "You're alright now."

Edmund stared at him for a moment, before letting out a few more coughs and burying his face against Peter's chest.

"You really know how to give me a scare Ed." Peter whispered, voice choked. "What - What an earth happened?! How bad was that dream."

Edmund's breath hitched, but he opened his mouth anyway. "You - You died." He choked. "She - she killed you."

Peter flinched at how quiet and raspy Edmund's voice was, and pulled him even closer. "Oh Ed." He murmered, knowing exactly who she was without even being told. "It's okay, it was only a dream."

Edmund shook his head. "But - But it was my fault." He sobbed. "You died because of me."

"Ed no, come on, it was a dream." Peter said gently. "It wasn't real, and even if I did die, it wouldn't of been your fault."

"But-"

"Ed please." Peter cut him off. "It was a dream, I'm fine, and you're fine. Alright?"

Edmund raised his head to look at his brother before slowly nodding his head. "Alright." He whispered.

Peter nodded slowly and placed a kiss to the top of his head, wrapping both arms around him and hugging him tight.

"What - What about the hag?" Edmund choked suddenly.

Peter sighed. "It just disappeared." He mumbled.

Edmund frowned. "Why - What was it even doing?" He asked slowly.

Peter hesitated before taking a deep breath. "Well, it had a knife and was staring right at you." He said quietly. "So if I were to guess, I'd say it wanted to - to kill you."

Edmund frowned at this. Kill him? But - the wand was going to do that, The witch was, not her hag.

He thought this over for a moment, and somehow managed to figure it out. The witch didn't want anyone becoming suspicious, so had staged it all.

"Ed?"

Edmund's eyes snapped back to his brothers face. "Sorry." He muttered. "Just thinking."

"About what?" Peter asked.

Edmund swallowed hard. "The witch." He said with a small shrug. "The witch, the wand, all of it."

Peter sighed. "Don't think about it Ed." He whispered softly. "Just remember that everything's gonna be alright."

Edmund hesitantly nodded. "I - I'll try." He mumbled.

Peter stared down at him for a little while longer before sighing. "Why don't you get back to sleep?" He suggested.

Edmund nodded slowly, but looked rather fearful at the idea, and Peter saw the look immediately. "I'll be right here Ed." He said firmly. "I promise you I'm not going anywhere."

Edmund gave him a small smile before nodding and pulling away, only to flinch harshly the second he moved.

"Ed?" Peter asked worridly.

Edmund sighed. "It's alright." He mumbled. "It's just my arm."

Peter sighed. "Maybe you should get it seen to?" He suggested.

But Edmund shook his head. "It'll be alright." He said. "It's not like it's broken."

Peter frowned when Edmund all of a sudden swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood shakily to his feet.

"Where are you going?" He asked quickly.

Edmund forced himself to chuckle slightly. "Relax." He mumbled. "I'm only going to the bathroom, I'll be back in a minute."

Peter nodded a little. "Alright." He said. "But don't be long."

Edmund gave him a small smile before heading into the bathroom, closing the door quickly behind him and leaning against the wall, taking deep breaths as he tried to ignore the pain.

It wasn't a bad pain, he could deal with it, but it was still rather annoying, and felt like somone was repeatedly poking him with a pin.

After a little while of hesitation, he finaly plucked up enough courage and lifted his shirt slightly, only to freeze at what he saw. A trickle of blood was running down his stomach, and it took all Edmund had not to rush out and tell Peter and ask for his help.

Instead of course, he grabbed a flannel and wet it, wiping away all the blood and waiting for the wound to stop bleeding, before setting about washing the flannel out.

Once he was absolutely sure that not a trace of red could be soon (which took rather a while) he headed back into his room, where Peter was obviously sat waiting for him.

"You alright?" He asked.

Edmund swallowed hard. "Yeah." He breathed. "I'm alright."

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