Two Halves (Edmund)(Part 2)(Final)
A/n: I'm sorry this is so rushed and chaotic... sigh... so much material to cover, so much to write so little space to write it in. Hope you still like it!
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- Book Four -
It had been too long. So long. A long time, when the fighting had started and the magic at the train station had wooshed the Pevensie siblings back to Narnia, on a beach with lots of exploring to do.
It would be far too long for comfort before Laura would find herself climbing through the bars of a bridge as she slipped and slid and tried her best to stay quiet as the enemy soldiers watched the bridge like hawks. Her legs were wet and her hands hurt. A glint in the water would catch her eye and she would look at it, gaze widened as she swore she'd seen the definite sparkle she'd only ever seen in Aslan's kind, warm eyes. But no. Just water. And then someone on the bridge would yell and she would slip and fall into the rushing river below. To her surprise, she would resurface in a river in a canyon in a place she knew for sure to be Narnia. She would exit the water and loo around her, falling to her knees as tears of joy streamed down in face. That is when Prince Caspian would find her, his allies by her side. She was too fair and light featured to be Telmarine and that was a curious thing. She would explain about her friendship with the Kings and Queens of Old and it would stun Caspian to silence.
"You may take me as prisoner if you wish," Laura would assure. "I won't fight you. King Edmund and the others will be here soon, if I am here now. And then you will know for sure."
Caspian shook his head. "You are in wet clothes and must be cold. Strange, wet clothes." She chuckled and it seemed to make Caspian relax. She was too comfortable in this place. Too trusting and open to be hiding anything and be anything but an ally to the Narnians and the place she so obviously loved with all of her heart. "Let's get you some proper, dry clothes and food. We will need all the fighting hands we can get... Er, can you fight."
Laura smirked. "Taught by the same people who taught the Ones of Old," she teased. "Tutored by King Edmund himself." Her arms crossed and Caspian would smile. This one. He liked this one. She was small but feisty and strong and he felt how contagious her confidence was immediately.
He would take her into his army and no one would question it. There are just some feelings that one can't shake and everyone who came in any kind of contact with her - even became close in proximity with her - KNEW she was one of them.
When Edmund would show up with Caspian and the others to the How, it was a warm reunion. It had been so long that when Laura and Edmund came face to face again, awkwardness and weirdness entered their relationship for the first time. They were young again. Too young for love, right? Too busy with the war ahead of them to figure it out, they settled with a simple smiel and a friendly, short hug and the other Pevensie siblings would groan quietly.
Back to square one.
Caspian would catch on quickly that as he stayed back and fell for Queen Susan, King Edmund and Laura were already very much in love. There just wasn't room for anything, though. No room to figure out his feelings for Susan and no time for Edmund and Laura to catch up AND face the feelings they were too scared to touch now that the were in the middle of everything and there just wasn't time. It was one thing after another. One fight. One confrontation. One plan. One battle. One moment of Peter and Caspian butting heads. One final confrontation. One duel between Peter and Miraz. And a million stolen glances all wrongly timed and improperly placed so that neither knew the other ever looked.
Even with the confirmation of their feelings after the failed attempt at Miraz's castle when they both almost died and watched the other one be reckless and lost so many comrades and returned to How with hands brushing and shoulders touching. And then suddenly everything was over and they finally had down time...
Lucy found the two sitting in chairs, their knees knocking together and leaning forward so their hands were together, fiddling and mixing and touching and intertwining. There was a silence in between them and Lucy w=could tell that they'd just had a somber, serious conversation and the result of it had not been one where they would be together.
The youngest Pevensie sat in a chair next to them, but they didn't move apart and she was glad of it. "What's wrong?" She asked finally.
Laura looked over. "I love him." Lucy nodded. "And he loves me." Lucy nodded again. "But we will be returning home soon, won't we?" Lucy froze, eyes widened a bit. Her face grow incredibly sad but eventually, slowly, she nodded. "When we return, just as the first time, I will go to where I started and you will go to where you started and we will be apart again for who knows how long. England is a big country when the love of your life is somewhere in it and you don't even know where to begin looking. You guys know where you are, but I do not know where I am. I don't know where to begin or how to get to you. I don't even know what will happen to me when I return." Laura explained the situation she had left behind and Lucy gasped.
"Have you really been so alone for so long?"
Nodding, Laura frowned. "After Narnia, it was easier to be alone. Not easier emotionally, but physically. I had fought in wars before. I knew how to fight and how to defend myself. I knew how to find my way, though the constellations were different and the animals and trees were no help." Chuckles at that. "I knew more about wounds and war and how to handle it. But I had gotten used to you guys being there. And I will be alone again. When we return... Well, I really don't know if I will ever see you again."
"Oh, Laura, Aslan would never allow it..."
A sadness entered Edmund's face. "Wouldn't he?" And, in that moment, Lucy knew that if it was for the best, he really would.
Moments passed until Lucy suddenly looked up, face set and determined, the power of it catching Edmund and Laura's attentions and gazes again. "You are meant to be together," Lucy stated firmly. "You love each other more than should be possible for your age because you have loved each other for more years that you would physically appear to have been alive. At least, I think so. Anyway, you will always return to each other. You will find each other, in the end. I know this as surely as I know that Aslan lives and breaths and loves us. I know it with all my heart."
A long stretch of silence returned as Edmund and Laura looked back at each other. Lucy, smiling with satisfaction at the open love that reverberated between the pair that marked her success, excused herself. This left Ed and Laura alone. "The last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking pretty stupid," Edmund whispered, leaning forward so their foreheads touched.
Laura laughed. Every time Lucy said something that seemed too good to be true or too ridiculous to be anything but fantasy, Edmund would always remind them how right Lucy always was and he had never doubted her a second since he had doubted her that first time and tore into her and made fun of her, causing the unhappiness and almost death of his family. Lucy had said Narnia was real. Lucy had said the Witch was bad. But, as melancholy as the expression used to be because of the heaviness it implied, it had long since become a joke as Ed said it so very often.
"I love you," Laura whispered.
"I love you too," Edmund returned. "Until the end of time."
And they kissed.
When they made their way to the tree and Aslan parted the trunk and it was announced that people were to go through and it was finally time for Laura and the Kings and Queens to go, it was a hard parting.
Lucy hugged Trumpkin goodbye. Susan and Caspian had their kiss.
"Maybe when I'm older I'll understand," Lucy sighed. She did not understand why they could not be together. She did not understand why they had to part ways. She did not understand why they confessed their love and exchanged such a passionate kiss and then were okay with letting it just end and fall away there. She couldn't wrap her love addicted mind around it. He was Susan's Prince Charming. How could they not have a Happily Ever After?
Edmund, following her train of thought easily, looked at them and shook his head. "I'm older and I don't think I want to understand." He could never imagine just completely giving up on someone you truly loved. On the other hand, though, Laura and him were from the same world, tied to the place they had been born and belonged and would have to end up at at the end of every Narnia visit eventually. He couldn't imagine the feeling of saying as final goodbye forever, sharing a final kiss and then setting the mind to move on and leave her behind. It would kill him. He couldn't fathom it and as he looked at Laura, he desperately wished he would never have to know.
"Thankfully, you never will have to," Laura soothed, seeming to read Edmund's mind as Edmund seemed to read Lucy's. "One more for the road?" And they shared one more kiss that was a 'see you soon' and not an eternal goodbye. Susan and Caspian looked at them with envy. Their confidence and love and unashamed loyalty and unstoppable faith.
When the two parted ways, they would walk through the tree with tears int heir eyes and hearts heavy but hope still clung to. Edmund would look around and see his siblings, everyone in their school uniform as before. Laura would walk out of calmer water than the kind she fell into.
As predicted, they were apart.
At least this time they weren't apart for nearly as long as the first...
- Book Five-
Edmund and Lucy would return by water, with an additional, annoying cousin at their side. Laura would return several days before them, running through a glowing door to get out of building and away from people chasing her who wished to kill her. Instead of ending up outside the building, she would run full steam ahead into the Captain's Quarters and ram straight into Caspian's back. A surprise, but one that made Caspian smile and grin and turn excited by.
She was there to greet Edmund and Lucy as the got onto the Dawn Treader, already cleaned up of gun powder and dirt again and in new, Narnian clothes fit for sailing the seas. Edmund dint' want for introductions. He didn't wait for greetings. He ran at Lara, wrapping his soaking arms around her and pulling her into him so that she was covered in water too. She was too happy to see him and to distracted by kissing him to even notice.
Eustace was stunned. Everyone else was cheering and whooping and hollering.
Edmund and Laura became inseparable. Just as they had been during the Golden Ages, they never left each other's side. They tried to be respectful to the men and women wanting men and women to be separate as Lucy got the main cabin to Caspian's persistent insisting and, respectively, Laura took a place in the bed with her. Whenever Edmund left the boat, so did Laura. When they got caught on the Lone Islands, Lucy and Laura both screamed for Edmund and he could save neither until he had help later on. When Gale was revealed, Laura had taken the floor, but after that and Gale, Edmund convinced Caspian to let Laura sleep in his cot with him.
Caspian trusted them, so he agreed eventually. She changed with the girls so everyone was happy.
It was when the temptations started that things climaxed. Edmund told Laura about the White Witch visiting him, but Laura never told him about her temptation. She never told him about her dad showing up as formed green smoke or in her dreams, taunting her weaknesses. Her plainness. Pointing out all the times she was eternally pushed to the side and forgotten, more than Edmund and Lucy could ever be. Not only was she young, but being human wasn't a novelty anymore and she was still no one important. No duchess or lady or queen or even a princess. No captain or even a soldier. She was an extra. She was an extra with heart and personality and that was it.
Her temptation?
Not to fight. Not to argue and battle. Not to change herself as Lucy had confided the spell had pulled her to or tear apart Caspian and give into the White Witch and seek power like Edmund. It seemed she was a popular confidante, because sailors had told her about their temptations to overthrow the arguing Kings or steal food slay the dragon as it slept or eat the mouse while it wasn't looking or do unspeakable things to the people around them. They and all resisted though and they came to her to look for the boost she could always give and the smile that could always encourage and empower them. Even Caspian had told her about his Father visiting, and his temptation to just curl in a ball or run away and give up.
She supposed that was close...
But no.
Her temptation was so, so much worse.
She was not just tempted to run and hide, but to give up for real. She was filled with an inner darkness that was so emotionally heavy that it carried a physical weight. It turned to self doubt which turned to self loathing. She was tempted to make herself bleed with the dagger in her hands. She was tempted to go out when everyone was asleep and fall off the side of the boat and let herself drown. She was tempted to impale herself with a sword. She was tempted to let and enemy kill her. She was tempted to force an ally to have to kill her. She was tempted to go further than just giving up and hiding from death. She was tempted to seek death out actively and finally pull the plug and end her own life.
It was in the Dark Island cave that her temptation finally came out. She had avoided and dodged and tactfully answered without revealing nearly enough truth and it was hitting her hard now.
She stood in front of the sea beast as it stared her down and all she could hear was her father yelling at her how useless and pathetic she was. Her eyes watered as her mind filled with images and memories of when he used to hit her. When he blamed her for everything and told her how much of a burden she was. How much he slowed her down and dragged her back. She remembered the bruises and the bloody noses and the lack of anything but pain when he would hurt her in ways that didn't leave a mark - tactics he'd learned in the army.
Frozen and sobbing, she faced down one end of the two-faced sea serpent - an unfortunate combination of both her and Edmund's immediately thought of fears - as Edmund faced the other and Caspian and Lucy didn't know who to yell at more. At the last second, Edmund snapped out of it and Caspian was relieved because he'd chosen one or two seconds before to tackle Laura to the ground since she was closer. Sailors took down the second head and the beast sunk under the water and Laura was left a sobbing mess, curled in a ball on deck.
Everyone watched their precious Laura have a total breakdown, unable to breathe or think or move or respond to anything in anyway except to freak out. Well, when someone touched her he freaked out at least.
Not even Edmund could get through to her. She finally quieted and moved to a hidden corner, out of sight to most as she curled in a ball and hid her face.
When Eustace return to the ship, it was him who finally got her to respond. He recalled how he had watched her move around the ship like she had it mapped out, seeming to know exactly who to help when and how to help them. He recalled each occasion - he had all of them memorized. He recalled the times she had sent him warm, friendly smiles and had patience with him instead of a distance amusement or utter annoyance. He told her about how Reep was his best friend but he always knew that if he truly needed it, he could go to her. Eustace ranted about how 'grossly' (his words) in love with her Edmund was and how around her, he softened and became a lot more bearable. He got her to admit about her father being abusive.
"If my own father couldn't love me, how could anyone else truly do so?"
And then Eustace explained that her father was not a good man. How the man was selfish and greedy and grumpy and hateful and ho that hate consumed him and turned him bitter and sour just as Eustace had been. He told her that he knew for a fact, having known how he was himself, that even if she was a perfect person and had given her father every single thing he ever wanted, she would have never been enough and used that to finally convince her that just because her father did not see her worth, it did not in any way mean that she was worthless.
Edmund was astounded. She had kept this a secret from him so long? How? How had he never even realized she kept just a secret from him with such ease? He was not mad about it, but he felt incredibly guilty and wished he'd been able to help her with it far sooner...
As they rowed to Aslan's Land, it was quiet. Ed, Lu, Laura, Eustace, Caspian, and Reep didn't say anything for a long time. It was a comfortable silence though, and they were all connected and most definitely their own little family.
"Will He separate you two again?" Lu finally asked.
Edmund intertwined his fingers with Laura's. "If he does, it's okay. I'll find her again."
Lucy grinned. "I told you you two were made for each other."
"And so you're right again, Lu," Laura sighed, eyes tired but smile still warm and lively.
When they reached shore, they all piled out and began to walk to the big, stagnant wave that sent shivers of awe through all of them. Reepicheep's call startled all of them back to reality. "Aslan!"
Words began to be exchanged but Laura tuned them all out as she looked at the cit above the wave. Just the tops of building, distant and blurry through mist that shrouded it from good view. Aslan's Land. Hm. Laura looked over when she felt His eyes on her. "You may go if you wish," Aslan told her. "You have lived a good life. But I will say, Young One, that you also have a life yet to live if you so choose."
You can go... but you can never come back once you do.
Her eyes landed on Edmund and she saw how his eyes trained on his feet. She thought to her break down on the ship and her temptation and dancing with death. She reached over, taking Edmund's hand. He looked up, surprised. "I think I'll stay where I am, thanks." She spoke to Aslan and Edmund both, her eyes never leaving the boy she so eternally loved until she was done speaking, when she looked at Aslan with a weak smile and gave Him as nod.
Aslan smiled. "Is there any lasts wishes you have before returning home?"
A sinking feeling hit Laura and she looked at Aslan very seriously. "We're not coming back, are we?"
"I'm afraid not," Aslan confirmed.
Laura nodded. "In our world, we are young. Far, far too young to be in love and be married and be together as we wish. But in this world, we have been for so long... Aslan..." She paused, looking at Edmund with a sudden rush. "This is sudden and insane and maybe high maintenance or whatever, but, Edmund Pevensie, will you marry me?"
Edmund's eyes widened. "I- yes, of course." He paused as Laura grinned. "Now?" He whispered.
Laura looked at Aslan and in His eyes, she saw something that scared her. Something she knew she had to keep to herself but which drove her to say, "Yes. If you so will, Aslan."
Aslan laughed and it was such a joyous sound, reverberating in their very bones. "I think I will give that great honor to King Caspian instead. As he has the right to marry." Lucy covered her mouth, eyes watering and Reep and Eustace grew quiet and their gazes grew soft. Caspian paused before stepping forward. He didn't know where to begin, but Aslan moved forward, pressing his nose to Caspian's palm. Caspian began speaking, words coming out of his mouth smoothly. Once he began, he didn't stop, and Edmund and Laura stood before him with beaming smiles.
The word Caspian said already had vows attached to them, so neither Edmund nor Laura had to come up with their own. In fact, the promises Caspian had them confirm to keeping were so perfect and beautiful and fitting that Edmund and Laura wouldn't have even tried to do better. When he finished, Aslan moved back and everyone was crying- even Eustace. Edmund moved to Laura, kissing her passionately, and she grinned as she kissed him back.
The pair looked to Aslan when they parted, happiness enveloping them completely. "You are married in the most lasting way," Aslan told them. "You are bound together. A bond that stands even in my Land. Do you understand?" They both nodded. "I thought you would." He smiled.
Reep stepped forward. When he asked to go Aslan's Land, it was a shock but Aslan approved it and then it was time to go home. Reep got into a little boat, abandoned his sword, and rowed and rowed until he disappeared over the wave into an eternal bliss that none of the others were quite in the right place to be ready to go to yet. Aslan created a swirling pool in the wave and Eustace confirmed that he would be coming back before he, Edmund, Lucy, and Laura said goodbye to Aslan and Caspian as they had Reepicheep and then stepped up to the hole.
"I will miss you," Lucy mumbled into Aslan's mane, the last to linger.
Aslan's response would never be forgotten.
When they were all in, Laura started crying. "I'll find you," she whispered to Edmund.
"I'll be waiting, eyes opened as I watch for you," Edmund responded back.
Then the water was swirling and pulling and ripping and Ed and Laura couldn't hang on anymore. Ed, Lu, and Eustace swam until the water drained away and they were back in Lu's given room during their stay with Eustace's parents. Laura was not with them. "You'll find her." It was Eustace who had spoken, and Edmund actually smiled. "Or she will find you. Either way."
"I know," Edmund sighed. His smile was soft. "She has to. I have a rung to give her."
"EUSTACE! What are you doing up there?" The three exchanged smiles and then stood, preparing to face the world as further changed people, Lucy and Edmund accepting they'd never see Narnia as their normal selves again...
Months passed. Lucy and Edmund left eventually, moving out, and Eustace missed them.
It was right after they left that Eustace opened the door one day to come face to face with Laura. There was a pause before Eustace grinned and she returned the gesture. They hugged and she asked about Edmund. It was that second that Eustace hated life. "You just missed him... but. We can write to him." And so they did. Eustace wrote a quick note - he had been sending letters regularly and this might as well count as his letter too, since it would have his name on it, even though Edmund would discard it once he saw Laura's name - and Laura put both them into an envelope before Eustace took it to the post office and mailed it off.
It was a long time and a fighting battle and lots of letters later when Edmund, with his family in America, finally returned and found Laura homeless as usual. Eustace's mom wouldn't take such a homely, dirty girl she didn't know into her house, which was fair enough. Laura didn't want to leave though.
Unfortunately, Laura was sick. Very sick. Edmund took her home and told his mother that she was a dear friend that was very close to his heart. Peter and Lucy were immediately there to back him up. Susan smiled, but only because of the faint, weird fuzzy warmth the girl's face brought her. Susan didn't know her. She couldn't have. But she seemed familiar and all her siblings seemed to trust and know her, and that was enough for Sue.
Weeks passed. One day, Edmund sat by her bed side and held her hand, stroking her skin softly. Her eyes opened. "You found me."
Edmund smiled. Every time she woke up, it was like she was waking up for the first time all over again. "I told you we would be together again."
"I love you, Edmund. With all that I can offer and more."
Eyes wet with tears, Ed leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead. "I love you too, my Dear."
Laura Andre would pass away that night. Lucy and Peter would cradle and hold and soothe Edmund as the youngest Pevensie boy sobbed inconsolably.
"You two are meant to be," Lucy kept saying. "You'll see her again. You have to. I just know it."
It would be a while before Edmund saw her again.
- Book Six -
Just as always when they were apart, she was with him in is heart. He often felt her presence and never forgot her voice or her smile or the sound of her laugh. It was these small things that kept her alive to Edmund.
And then, it happened.
The train crash.
The disaster that left Susan the last Pevensie sibling standing in the one world, sweeping the other three to Narnia and then to Aslan's Land.
She was waiting for him. There was a ring on her finger and a smile on her lips. She was more beautiful than he remembered. It seemed impossible for that to happen, but here she was- proof. He swept her up in his arms and she clung to him in desperation.
"We're finally back," he whispered, tears streaming down his face as he was overcome with pure joy. "I finally have you back."
"And nothing will ever take me from you, ever again." She leaned back, kissing him with all her force and passion. After a second, she leaned away. Come on, Ed. There's someone you have to meet. He's waiting."
Ed tilted his head. "Who, love?"
Laura smiled. "You'll know when you see him. Come on."
He laughed. "I will follow you anywhere."
And so he entered Aslan's Land, part afterwards and hence forth, on. And he was reunited with Laura for the last time, for they would never to part again.
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