Silence || The Chronicles Of Narnia

23: Promise me

"Ed?" Peter murmered, sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching over to brush the hair from his brothers forehead, sighing slightly at the whimper his brother let out. "Hey, it's only me, its Peter, come on, wake up."

It took a few moments, but Edmund's eyes eventually flickered open, and he frowned at his brother, looking extremely confused. "Pete?" He whispered, his voice raspy from crying himself to sleep.

"Hey." Peter whispered with a gentle smile, still running his hand through Edmund's hair. 

"What - What time is it?" Edmund asked, slowly sitting up at wincing at the pain that shot through his stomach at the movement.

"I's 6 o'clock." Peter told him with a sigh. "I woke you cause dinner's nearly ready, and plus if you sleep any longer you won't sleep tonight."

Edmund stared at him for a second, silently thinking that he probably wasn't going to get any sleep tonight at all, not with the pain he was in. "Alright." He breathed after a moment or two of silence.

"Ed... about earlier." Peter started.

Edmund took a deep breath, eyes going slightly wider and filling with tears. "Can - can we please not talk about it." He choked. 

"How can we not talk about it Ed?" Peter asked, voice quiet and full of shock. "You - you nearly - nearly..." He stopped, unable to finish the sentence and just slowly shaking his head and moving his stare to the bedsheets.

"Only because I'd rather die quickly." Edmund muttered, but this was the wrong thing to say, and he knew it the moment he heard a quiet sob escape his brother. "Oh Pete, I'm sorry." He mumbled, shuffling over and hugging his brother as tight as he could, which wasn't very tight at all. "I won't talk about that, about my death."

Peter took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around his brother. "I just wanted you to promise me that you will never do something like that again." He choked somewhat firmly, face buried in Edmund's hair and tears trickling down his cheeks.

"I - I won't." Edmund whispered in reply, shaking his head slowly against Peter's chest. 

"Promise me Ed." Peter said, voice choked and full of worry.

Edmund sighed a little. "I promise I won't do it again." He whispered, his arms tightening around his brothers waist.

Peter swallowed hard and nodded his head. "Thank you." He mumbled, the tears finally slowing.

"But - can you please not tell the girls?" Edmund asked, glancing up at Peter. "If they knew I did that... again-"

"I won't tell them Ed." Peter cut him off. "Trust me, I wouldn't dream of telling them."

"Thank you." Edmund breathed, before burying his face back against Peter's chest.

There was silence for a long while before Peter spoke up again. "Ed?" He asked, continuing when Edmund hummed in reply. "We found out from the spies that the witch is doing absolutely nothing, and well, we thought that that didn't sound like her at all, she's not the one to just not get revenge on someone. So, and Orious meant no offence by this, but he suggested that perhaps there's something you're not telling us, or there's something you can't tell us?" 

Edmund froze for a moment before taking a deep breath. "No." He mumbled. "I'm not hiding anything."

Peter stared down at the top of his head for a while. "Are you sure?" He asked. "Because if there really is something, you need to tell us, for your sake as well as everyone elses."

Edmund sighed and glanced up at his brother. "There's nothing Peter." He said gently, even though the agonising throb from his stomach was constantly reminding him that there was definitely something. "I have no idea what she's planning."

Peter took a deep breath and slowly nodded his head. "Alright." He murmered. "I trust you."

Edmund swallowed hard, and before he could stop himself he let out a rather loud sob, quickly burying his face against Peter's neck and hoping he hadn't heard. 

But of course he had. "Ed?" He asked, worry filling his voice. "What's wrong?"

Edmund took a deep breath and shook his head. "You - You really trust me?" He choked. Now that Peter had said that, he felt so bad about keeping his little brother's death from him, which was something that he really should know about, but Edmund knew why he couldn't say anything, no matter how much guilt it caused him.

"Of course I do Eddy." Peter murmered in his ear, before sighing. "What did she say?"

Edmund swallowed hard. "She - she said that Aslan shouldn't of brought me back, and - and that she didn't know why you valued my life after what - what I'd done to you." He choked, burying his face further into Peter's neck.

"Oh Ed." Peter whispered, placing one of his hands on the back of Edmund's head. "I promise you did deserve to be brought back, more than you'll probably know. And of course we value your life. You mean more to me than anything in this world or the other, I love you Ed, and value your life more highly than my own."

Edmund did everything in his power to keep back another sob, and he only just managed it.

"Now," Peter breathed after a rather long time of silence. "We should probably get you some dinner and then get you back into bed, you're exhausted."

Edmund nodded a little and forced himself to pull out of Peter's arms, keeping back a cry of pain as best he could, his breath hitching instead.

"Breathe." Peter said quickly, his hands landing on Edmund's shoulders. "Calm down."

Despite everything Edmund couldn't help but smile. "I'm alright." He breathed. "Just as I said, everything aches, I was trying to hold back a groan, not struggling to breathe."

Peter sighed a little, but didn't know what else to say.

Edmund chuckled a little. "Come on." He said, slowly climbing from the bed and standing. "I'm hungry."

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