Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia
Requested by: anon
Rating: T
Genre: Angst
Words: 1820
Characters: Peter Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie, brief Caspian X
Summary - Peter and Edmund get into a disagreement over matters that leads Peter into trouble.
Note: A few months ago I got an anon prompt request to do a Peter & Edmund brotherhood fic so I figured now was a good time to pop this out. (I also blame Riley over at @purple-and-red-ribbons for reigniting my high school narnia fixation). I love the relationship between Peter and Edmund so this prompt hit all the right buttons for me! Please let me know what you think! Part two coming soon!
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Peter closed his eyes in a long, slow, blink. His chest swelled with his deep inhale, lips pressed together to keep from letting it out too early. Too soon. He counted to three in his head and let his breath out in blow. The fire within him continued to smolder.
“Edmund, I don’t think you understand—” Peter said.
“No, you, don’t understand,” Edmund interrupted. Peter threw his arms into the air and paced in a circle.
“Would you please let me finish?”
“I know what you’re going to say!” Edmund’s grip tightened on the pommel of the sword that he held down by his side. Peter eyed it, wondering if maybe going out to spar today was a bad idea in hindsight. “And I’m telling you, it’s not going to work. It’s not the best decision!”
“it’s the only decision!” Peter shot back. “We have to strike back now while we still have the time. While they’re still on the lands.”
“But what if that’s what they want?” Edmund said. Peter gritted his teeth, shook his head. Edmund still wasn’t getting it. The longer they waited to act, the longer they waited to send a unit out to chase away the invaders, the more people would go missing. “What if we just keep feeding them people, one after another, for nothing? What if they’re waiting us out?”
“Then we’ll figure that out when we capture one of them,” Peter replied. “We can entice them to talk. Get down to the answer.”
Edmund shook his head, pushing a hand through his thick, dark hair. “This isn’t the right way, Pete.”
“So, what, you want to sit back and wait like a coward?”
Peter pressed his lips together, too late to keep the bullet of his words from hitting Edmund square in the chest. He watched as Edmund’s body stiffened, eyes darkened, and muscle in his jaw twitch in rapid succession. Sun beat down on then, golden rays illuminating an azure sky ahead but did nothing to quell the cold air that swooped in, whipping around them. Peter shivered; the cold from Edmund’s stare alone nestled deep down in his bones, sifting through every crevice.
“That...that wasn’t what I meant,” Peter said.
Edmund lifted his chin. “Regardless”—the bite in the single word left marks on Peter’s skin—”deciding to sit back and observe is not a coward’s move. It would give us more time to look into their methods. To see if there is a pattern—”
“At that point, there would be too many lives lost.” Peter stepped closer, his voice lowering to a harsh whisper. “Could you walk away from that? Walk away with their blood on your hands? Because that’s what’s going to happen if we take too much more time.”
“And if we don’t take enough time, brother, then we will not be able to get a handle on the situation,” Edmund replied, stepping forward himself. Their chests bumped but neither backed down. His lip curled upwards into a snarl as he hissed, “You may be the high king, but you’re not Narnia’s only king.”
“I know that!”
Edmund snorted, moving away from Peter. He walked away a few paces; the crisp grass crunched beneath his boots. “Do you?” His question barely reached Peter’s ears due to Edmund’s back being turned. Barely, but still managed.
Peter’s eyebrows furrowed. Sweat dripped down his forehead and dripped into his eye. The sting was sobering. “Of course.” He wasn’t alone when he was crowned. He wasn’t alone during his coronation ceremony all those years ago. He wasn’t alone when he sat up on that golden throne, basking in the elation and magic encompassing them after the defeat of the White Witch. Edmund sat next to him; his right hand man as always. Where he was supposed to be. Surely, he couldn’t have forgotten that.
Couldn’t have forgotten the many battles they fought together, charging in side-by-side with swords drawn and an eye on one another’s backs. When they snuck out of the castle for a break form their duties, racing their horses across the rolling greens as fast as their horses could carry them. When they aided one another in creating and establishing support for their loyal subjects that may be down on their luck or were suffering from losses. Any decision Peter made for the good of Narnia, Edmund would be there with him, giving advice and support. Why couldn’t he support him now?
“Sometimes, I don’t think you do,” Edmund said, turning.
“Ed—”
Edmund stabbed the tip of his sword into the soft soil beneath their feet. The sword wiggled from side to side for a few tense seconds as Edmund looked outwards past Peter’s shoulder. Peter waited. Edmund didn’t waste time on frivolous words, Peter knew. it was worth waiting to hear what Edmund had to say, even if it was wrong.
“I know these lands as you do. I know these people as you do. I care for them just the same.” When Peter spoke to object, Edmund held up his hand. “But, I don’t think you have them in mind right now. I really don’t.”
“Okay then, Ed, what do I have in my mind?”
“Retribution.”
Peter gritted his teeth. “They’re innocent!” He gestured off in the distance as the fire within him flared back to life. “Those that are being hunted? They’re innocent! They’ve done nothing wrong! And I can’t just...just keep letting it happen! We cut them off, now!”
“Charging in and ambushing them without a plan isn’t going to make matters any better!” Edmund’s fingers drummed against the handle of his sword. “It’s not going to change the fact that we weren’t here.”
"But we’re here now!”
“I’m not going to let you sacrifice people’s lives to rid yourself of guilt, Pete, and I’m sure Su and Lu wouldn’t either.”
“I’m the High King!”
The muscle in Edmund’s jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth. “And that makes the rest of us, what, exactly?” Peter pushed a harsh breath out of his nose. Neither said a word. The hum of a bee’s wings nearby truncated the stretch of silence between them. A stalemate sat between them, so palpable it buzzed like a live-wire, waiting for the first casualty.
“So, that’s that then.”
Edmund volunteered himself.
“Ed—” Peter shook his head. He had to fix this. Had to...had to make him understand. If only Edmund could understand. Why didn’t he understand?
“I’m sorry I wasted my time bringing my thoughts to you,” he continued, his words clipped in a way that Peter hadn’t heard since they were children. Since their father left for the war. “I won’t make that mistake again, Your Majesty.”
Tufts of grass were wrenched from the ground due to the force behind Edmund’s yank on his sword. Peter watched him go, fingers twitching by his sides, strains of frustration rooting him to the ground. Fine, he could go! Maybe then he’d stop being so bloody blind and see that being proactive was the way to go for their people’s safety.
“Is everything alright?” Peter’s head whipped upwards at Caspian’s voice. He stood a ways away, his hands resting on the belt to his sword strap without a care in the world. Peter scowled.
“S’fine,” Edmund muttered, heading in his direction.
“What happened?”
Edmund paused, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Peter before saying, “Nothing out of the ordinary” and kept going.
Uttering a frustrated growl, Peter turned on his heel and stalked off in the other direction.
---
Shafts of sunlight illuminated the path ahead of Peter as he continued his angry stalking through the woods. Above birds tweeted and flittered from perch to perch, basking in the warmth. Waist-high flora tugged at his doublet as he passed, snagging briefly only for him to batter it aside as his frustration seethed.
Of course Edmund would only see Peter’s declaration as a bad thing. He didn’t mean to hold his title over his brother’s head, he would never do such a thing! They pushed forward their reign together–him, Edmund, Lucy, and Susan. They were the Kings and Queens of old. They brought forth the Golden Age and brought peace to Narnia for a time. The Narnians looked to them for guidance and support and, in the end, were loyal to their monarchs.
They were unified.
He’d only meant...well, now he wasn’t so sure. Peter’s nose wrinkled. His point, once so burning hot, now sat beneath murky water, difficult to distinguish. Just far enough out of reach for him to grasp. With every step he took into the forest, he moved further and further away from the claws of resentment reaching to pull him back.
“Bollocks,” he uttered beneath his breath. He kicked at a nearby rock, watching it bounce and skip across the loamy dirt path. Perhaps he did mean to bring up his title but...it wasn’t to bring Edmund down. It was only to remind that he had final say, that maybe it would push Edmund to see that they had to make some sort of a decision rather than spinning in circles. It probably doesn’t help that you’re pulling him in those circles.
Habits die hard. He was the oldest, he was to protect them, no matter what. No matter how many battles they fought, no matter how many lands they traveled to, he was to ensure that they were taken care of. It was his duty. It was his job. Okay, yes, maybe his brain was overridden with his need to protect the Narnians and his family by proxy, but that didn’t mean he was wrong. There was a time that they weren’t there for their country, he didn’t want them to see him as leaving them in lurch again.
Edmund doesn’t either. Peter stopped walking, letting the words of his colliding thought sink in. Of course they were working towards a common goal, in the end they wanted the kidnappings to stop. But the stakes were higher than they’ve ever been when it came to making a decision for the good of their people. It wasn’t that Edmund didn’t have a point...Peter just didn’t want to do the wrong thing. In the end, it would all fall on him. Press on his shoulders and sit on his chest and keep him up at night as he wondered what he could have done differently, what he could have done better, and if anyone would ever trust him again.
He sighed. Maybe it would be best to talk to Susan first.
He’d barely turned on his heel when the brush exploded. Shouts and jeers whipped around him like a hurricane, taking over, screaming in his ears. His hand barely gripped the base of his sword, trusty Rhindon, when something thunked against the back of his skull and night pulled down over his eyes.
Então eu percebi que amor era muito mais. Eu percebi que te deixando partir era minha forma de dizer eu te amo. Era te deixar libre pra seguir seu rumo e admirar sua imperfeições. Percebi que era amor quando fui capaz de ouvir todos os seus defeitos e ouvir muita gente me dizer que você não servia e ainda assim eu focava em suas qualidades.
A paixão é o que sinto todas as vezes que ouço sua voz ou sinto teu cheiro, mas o amor é o controle de te ver e dar aquele sorriso que é só seu.
Percebi que era amor quando eu não podia te ter mas mesmo assim era capaz de torcer pela sua felicidade independente de quem esteja ao seu lado, independente do que eu sinto.
Adorava teus beijos doces e lentos na minha mão mas mesmo assim me perguntava do por quê. Hoje eu sinto saudades da tua boca e do modo como agarrava minhas pernas e eu tremia.
Então percebi que o que eu sentia era como as ruas da cidade. Iluminadas e sorridentes durante o dia. Enquanto a noite só sobrava escuridão, frio, solidão e um céu escuro iluminado por um astro. E meu astro é você, quem me mantem acordada durante as noites me fazendo ansiar por uma nova chance de viver o dia.
E você odeia suas sardas, eu as adoro.
Odeia seus cílios, eu os amo.
Diz ter uma boca grande, eu acho o desenho perfeito.
E sua voz grave me acalma.
Seu jeito manso é minha paz.
Suas carícias são meu céu.
E você ainda é meu desejo toda noite.
E de repente são 3 da manhã e o céu é a cor dos teus olhos e a rua tem o silêncio das nossas almas. E tudo que eu quero é mais uma vez mergulhar na escuridão dos teus olhos e sentir o teu calor contra meu corpo.
