Floating ||Edmund Pevensie FanFiction||

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🌌Midnight Memories🌌
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When night fell, Charlotte found difficulty falling into a slumber. She tossed and turned but her efforts to fall asleep were in vain. Hours had passed and she was still breathing consciously, staring at her thoughts floating up to the ceiling.

She was in the midst of processing the day's adventure and her quest on finding answers about the mysterious queen. On top of that, her unidirectional relationship with Aunt Jill was glued to her mind. Every time she recalled their argument, she exhaled a frustrated sigh and her facial muscles tensed, decorated by a frown and gritted teeth.

She sat upright on the bed, and shook to herself in disapproval.

This won't do, her mind echoed.

She tiptoed out of her quarters and onto the upper deck. Along the way, she greeted Tavros, who was on his night shift, patrolling in the halls of the ship. She finally stopped in her tracks when she was greeted by the night sky, inhaling the fresh air, mixed with the essence of the seas.

To her surprise, Edmund was already on the open deck, standing in solitude. His elbows lazily rested on the ship's taffrail, and his large eyes observed the horizon. Juxtaposed with the darkness spreading through the skies, his face was fair like snow under the moonlight. She ambled towards him with her curiosity piqued.

He turned to her, and gave a small smile.

"Couldn't sleep, I'm guessing?" He hypothesised, returning his gaze to the sea.

"I'm not used to seafaring."

"Amateur."

"Well, my King," she crossed her arms, "I only ruled Narnia for a third of your entire reign, I don't suppose you'd be able to handle my absence for any longer at the time."

A playful smirk crept upon Edmund's lips when he met her eyes again, neither admitting to nor denying her claims. He invited the girl to join him with a slanted head gesture.

"What's keeping you up, then?" She prompted with a nudge, to which he sighed in response.

"A lot of things, really."

"We've got all night."

"Well— I felt like a failure today."

Charlotte stared at him in disbelief of his claims, as she struggled to translate her thoughts. Considering they had unraveled oppressive practices, escaped and put an end to slavery, and restored justice, Charlotte failed to comprehend how a respectable warrior like Edmund could ever drown in incompetence.

"You're not serious, are you?"

"I am," he fleetingly met her eyes when he gave a small nod, before he returned his gaze towards the sea.

"But why? You saved an island from a horrible dictatorship that went undetected for years," she placed a hand on his arm, "if anything, Caspian and I are the ones who failed to detect it earlier."

"It's not that," he shook his head, "I failed to protect you and Lucy."

"And... Eustace?"