[twelve: without me]

From the gate a pathway once gravelled, but now almost overgrown with grass, led up through a fair-sized lawn to a long, one-storied cottage, stoutly built, the windows and door of which were faced with stone, which, like that of the piers, was also stained with lichen. The grass, pushed itself high over the threshold of the door and almost reached the windowsills. The slates on the roof appeared to be nearly all perfect, but were covered with brown or grey patches of moss or lichen. A few of the slates had fallen away and exposed part of a rafter. The abandoned house stood in a composed way, as if it had chosen solitude for itself, as if residents were a luxury it could forgo. The floors had been a highly polished parquet, individual blocks lovingly placed and sanded to a smooth finish before the varnish was brushed on with fine bristles. The walls stood firm, the window frames strong, glass triple glazed and whole. All in all, it looked like a movie-set, a place waiting for life to come. The only give-away was the odour, well, that and the dust. It was musty and dry, but nothing opening the doors and windows couldn't solve. A good clean, some fresh flowers, perhaps the house would enjoy the luxury of company.

Genevieve ran her hand over the kitchen wall tiles, each one of them a smooth horizontal glass bar about two pencils thick. Perhaps pulled away from the wall they would be translucent, perhaps they would cast the irrepressible sunlight into the seaside tones they were. The deepest of them was like driftwood, another was the same hue as the sand at Cair Paravel which made Genevieve's heart plummet at the thought of her previous home.

Genevieve heard a loud thud and she quickly turned around and walked into the hallway to see Edmund collapsed on the floor, his hair all tangled and a silly look on his face. Genevieve giggled as she walked towards him, lightly kicking him in the shin as she watched his chest rise and fall. Genevieve watched as he tried to hold in a smile but ultimately failed as he opened his eyes and gave her a cheeky look as he admired her from afar.

He admired everything about her, from the way the breeze blew her hair to the soft British lilt to her voice. To him she looked like some kind of water sprite. But what really made him fall head over heals for her was the way she dealt with his problems as well as her own. She put them at ease better than any medication ever would. She truly was a miracle in his eyes. Seeing Genevieve was distracted, Edmund sat up and pulled Genevieve down into his embrace, causing an inhuman squeak to sound from her lips making Edmund laugh. Genevieve swatted his hands away before finding herself laughing along with him as they looked around the small cottage with smiles on their faces.

"Do you think we did the right thing by leaving?" Genevieve asked Edmund who looked at her in confusion before placing his hands around her waist and buried his head into her shoulder, making Genevieve shiver due to feeling his hot breath on her neck.

"I do," Edmund admitted before turning Genevieve around so he could look her in the eye. "Do you think we did the right thing?"

"I think we did the right thing for us but I can't help but feel guilty." Genevieve stated and Edmund looked at her in confusion for a moment before replying.

"How come?" Edmund asked her and she sighed before answering him with a sad look on her face.

"You've risked everything for me. Your life, your kingdom, your own family and it isn't right. I should have been the one leaving, not you Ed. Narnia needs you. You're a brilliant King and a good swordsman and you deserve to be in Cair Paravel living your best life."

"But I wouldn't be living my best without you Genevieve." Edmund pointed and Genevieve shook her head as he broke out of Edmunds arms and stood up.

"You could have won the war without me Ed. Trust me when I say that I don't deserve to be here." Genevieve muttered as she walked down the hall in the little cottage and into the makeshift bathroom, leaving a confused Edmund sat on the floor.

What was that about!

+++

As night falls over Narnia, the cloud fails to blanket the sky, instead it is sporadic, chaotic in where it chooses to be thick or sparse. In the gaps the sky has darkened; the clouds are no longer white or paler grey, instead they are blackened shadows that shift with the wind. There are times they move just enough to reveal the full moon, but for the most part this night will be without the benefit of her silvery light.

Genevieve couldn't help but compare the night with her own state of mind. Just like those clouds, her insides were in a chaos. A mess. Something was bothering her. Something was hurting her. Something ached inside her. Something felt so wrong, so invalid but Genevieve couldn't tell what. She tried to pin point the cause for this unexplained pain but failed. She tried to reason this unbearable burning but didn't find any. Everything felt so confused, just like a jumbled set of a puzzle.

A puzzle that Genevieve didn't know how to solve.

She didn't understand her little outburst earlier, she had never seen it coming and yet the words came like verbal diarrhea and Genevieve didn't know when to stop. Edmund had barely looked at her since the incident and Genevieve couldn't help but feel guilty about her outburst despite what she said being true. She knew that even if she wasn't present then the White Witch still would have been defeated by Aslan and the Pevensies. It was foretold that they would defeat her. That they would be Kings and Queens hereafter and that they would save Narnia.

But there was nothing like that for Genevieve. All she had to do was be present and slightly speed up the process of the stone table cracking. She had no significant purpose to Narnia itself; her only purpose laid with the raven haired beauty across the hall and even then she felt like she didn't deserve him at all.

She didn't know why she was suddenly feeling this way, receiving these thoughts but she knew it wasn't her - as if an unknown magic was working its way through her veins and suffocating her mind of any happy thought. It was a magic that was familiar to her, but she didn't know where from but the feeling it gave her was terrible.

The feeling, it's like a void. A dark void. A never ending dark void that consumes everything, so your left feeling nothing. Empty. Nothing to subside your hollow soul that creeps in the shadows, away from any other human life because it's emptiness is so consuming it cannot bare to pretend that everything is okay. Nothing is okay! She doesn't know why.

"Gen?" She heard Edmund ask behind her and she turned her face towards him, watching as his gaze softened at her tear streaked face before he walked to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, gently rubbing her arm. Despite the heaviness in her stomach, it fluttered at the feeling of her body pressed against his. She sunk into the warmth of his side, appreciative of the simple gesture. His touch made the room warmer somehow, her future within its walls seeming a little less bleak. "It's okay."

"Ed, am I really worth it?" She asked him softly, not meeting his eyes as she listened to his heart beat in his chest at a constant rate.

"If I had to choose between anything I would always choose you." Edmund muttered as she made eye contact with him again, brushing a loose hair form her face as he sent her a genuine, loving smile of reassurance.

"Always?"

"Always." He muttered as his fingers gently ran up and down her spine, coaxing shivers out of Genevieve. With her cheeks still blushing hotly, she glanced back up into his captivating eyes. He leaned down, resting his forehead against hers. Genevieve watched breathlessly as his eyes studied hers with silent intensity. His warm breath ghosted across her face. She shut her eyes in anticipation. She stifled a surprised gasp as his soft lips captured hers, causing her body to flush with heat. The heat seemed to travel through her veins, warming her. Just as she felt a rush of euphoric but reassuring bliss envelop her, making her heart sing with pure joy, Edmund drew away. She instantly missed the lovely heat curling within her as he simply placed his arms around her waist for a moment.

That moment was perfect.

"What if your family find us? Would you still choose me then?" Genevieve challenged and Edmund only smirked at her as he looked into her piercing eyes.

"I would always choose my family." Edmund muttered and Genevieve looked away for a moment before Edmund took hold of her chin forcing her to look at him. "You will always be a part of my family to love and till hold until death do us part."

"I love you." Genevieve murmured as she let one more tear fall from her cheeks in happiness rather than sadness.

"I love you too Genevieve."

"Until death do us part?"

"Until death do us part." He confirmed before sealing the deal with a kiss.