"Fight! fight! fight!"

The underground tunnel echoed the shouts of the clustered school kids, raising the sound until the noise was deafening. A cheer went up at the sound of a heavy blow, blood dripping from a split lip. Otto sighed, abandoning his book to glance up towards the scuffle. Ha was leaning against the wall, not to far away. The book was good but the noise was really distracting. He recognised the blonde head of Peter Pevensie struggling against four other lads, all dressed in the same Hendon house uniform. Otto sighed with a small amount of resignation.

He (fortunately or unfortunately) knew the blond boy. They had shared the same classes since Peter had arrived at Hendon house at the beginning of the year. They were sort of friends, well as close as a friend Otto had. Most people just ignored him and left him alone. But Peter had decided to stop by his lunch table one day and ask him about the book he was reading. That had lead to many conversations about the world and many shared complaints about being treated as children.  They shared the same pet peeve at being treated like infants, like they did not know their own minds. The pair of them headstrong and mature for their age. That served to become the basis of their awkward friendship.

He had later met Edmund in a fight similar to this one. Peter had angered someone and he and Otto had gotten caught in a fight in the sports hall during P.E. A boy with dark hair a couple of years younger than them had ran in and joined the fray with sudden ferocity that ended up with several bloody noses. At the end of it all, Peter had introduced Edmund and Otto to each other. They got along well, neither of the two boys as social and commanding as Peter. But they shared the same sense of humour and a preference for sarcastic, snarky comments.

He supposed that this sort of friendship with the Pevensie boys was why he was not going back to reading. He guessed that there was a certain loyalty in these things. Not that he rarely bothered with that, mostly he only joined Peter's fights for the fun of it. "Oi Pevensie!" He called. Peter raised his head as one guy slammed him into the wall. "Need a hand?"

"That would be great thanks Birch!" Peter called back as he shoved the guy holding him. Otto stuffed his book into his sack, which served as a school bag, and pushed his way through the crowd. Once he was in the middle of the fight, he reared back and punched the nearest guy square in the jaw. The guy fell back onto his arse with a howl of pain.

Otto smiled smugly as he turned to the next guy, only to watch as Edmund Pevensie emerged from the crowd and tackled him to the floor. Together, Peter, Edmund and Otto knocked the two others back. The fight now on even terms, three against three. The two groups stood back and stared at each other challengingly. Otto grinned as he wiped away some blood from his nose.

Sharp whistling broke the chanting as a a police officer pushed his way forwards. "Stop the fight. Move along!" He shouted, turning to grab Peter by the back of the shirt just as he made to lunge back into the fray. "Act your age!" He scolded as Peter shrugged him off.

As the crowd dispersed, two girls fought their way forward. One had long dark hair and rosy lips. She appeared to be about fifteen, very pretty and with a rather strong character. She didn't look very happy, more frustrated at her brothers. The other girl looked about twelve, with brown hair tied in pigtails and a face full of freckles. She sighed but smiled cheerily at Otto. The older girl marched straight up to Peter and grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him down the platform as the others followed.

"Why did you hit him?" She asked as the four of them sat down on a bench on the now almost empty platform. Otto looked between the four children with surprise, but chose to remain standing. He hovered awkwardly to the side, exchanging exasperated looks with Edmund at Peter's scolding.

"How many Pevensie children are there?" He raised an eyebrow at the four of them.

"Too many", Edmund muttered quietly, but still loud enough for Otto to hear. Otto snorted but turned the laugh into a cough as Lucy frowned at them. She had obviously heard it too as she stuck out her tongue at Edmund.

Peter glanced around at him as if he had just noticed him, too focused on being chewed out by his sister. He grabbed him by the arm and pulled him forwards as if to shield him from his sister's wrath. The blonde practically hiding behind him. "Otto, these are my sisters Susan and Lucy. Susan, Lucy, this is my friend from school Otto Birch". He gestured between them half heartedly. Otto bent his head in greeting. He was taller than all the Pevensie siblings. Standing at about an inch taller than Peter but he was more gangly than the other, with too long limbs. He felt awkward under Susan's annoyed gaze and found himself fidgeting nervously. Very aware of his messy hair and the bloodstains on his cheek.

"Nice to meet you", Lucy greeted politely. Otto decided that he liked her infectious grin and smiled back. Susan returned his nod.

Otto could see the resemblance between Edmund and Susan. Both of them sharing the same dark hair and eyes. Edmund and Lucy both shared the freckles, whilst Susan and Peter had clear skin. Peter stuck out with his blonde hair, golden against the blacks and browns of his siblings. He was the only one with light colouring. But he and Lucy shared the same nose and strong assessing eyes. However, all the siblings shared the same trait. They stood like royalty, with commanding postures and gazes that said 'try me'. It was slightly unnerving having all four sets of eyes on him at once. Otto messed with the strap of his sack.

"Again, why did you punch him?"  Susan turned her gaze back onto her older brother, seemingly uninterested in the new boy. Otto winced, she looked angry and frustrated. That was not a good combination.

"I could handle it", Peter grumbled. Otto and Edmund snorted in unison as Peter shot both of them an annoyed look.  Ott shrugged and Peter's frustration faded into a helpless smile.

"They bumped me", Peter admitted.

"Then you punched him?"

"No, then they asked me to apologise so then I punched them". Otto rolled his eyes. Peter was not one for apologising. This was not the first time a fight had started that way.

Peter stood up with a huff and began pacing. "I'm just sick of being treated like a kid all the time".

"join the club", Otto muttered.

"The bloody SPH club", Peter shot him a grin and they high-fived at the stupid inside joke. Peter always complained about his age, acting as if he was older and more powerful. At the beginning, Otto had just thought him mad. But after a while he began to come round to Peter's way of thinking. Peter believed that he could do anything, be anyone. Otto began to believe it too. They were, as Edmund had began referring them to, 'the bloody stupid prat head club'. And yeah, he knew that they were arrogant. But Otto as never a leader. Having a natural presence like a Peter around made him feel just as powerful as Peter was always saying.

"Newsflash, we are kids", Edmund grumbled. But he did not sound very pleased about it. He had heard Peter's and Otto's ramblings enough to understand their points of view. Although it did not stop him from calling them stupid.

Otto took in the look on Peter's and Edmund's faces in confusion. There was always something about them. They would get this look as if they knew something that he didn't. That they were stuck in a dreamland sometimes. Peter acted like he was royalty. Otto never really knew why the proud boy made friends with him, but he didn't regret it.

Susan looked as if she was about to speak up when a distant rumbling stopped her. Otto reflexively glanced towards the train tracks but the rumbling was growing too loud for it to be a train. The whole tunnel seemed to shake and Otto flinched as the noise grew louder. Grabbing his sack, he retreated a few steps closer to the Pevensies as the tiles started coming off the walls. Wind billowed around them and Otto instinctively huddled closer to his friends, fear and confusion building in his gut.

"What is happening?" Edmund yelled. Around the five of them, the tiles had began falling down at an alarming rate. Otto gripped his bag tightly, knuckles turning white. It reminded him of the blitz bombings. This horrible noise and sharp fear.

"I don't know!" Susan called back.

"We should all hold hands!" Lucy called as a howling wind began tearing at their uniform. It whirled the tiles around them like some sort of vortex. Otto glanced at the other people on the platform but they were cheerfully chatting as they awaited the train, unaware of the chaos next to them. He frowned, this was crazy.

"I'm not holding your hand", Edmund grimaced down are his brother's offered palm. Peter sighed and grabbed his protesting brother's hand, gripping it tightly. Otto looked at their linked fingers and huddled closer to the siblings. He didn't want to be left alone. Lucy looked up at him, taking in his panicked face, and softly reached to grip his fingers. Jerking in surprise, Otto glanced down at her. She smiled at him and he found himself taking her hand firmly in his as the howling of the wind and the roar of the incoming train became louder.

Just as the yellow light of the train headlamps  came through the tunnel, the station fell away and the five children were no longer standing in the London under ground.

"I say this with the most amount of posh Britishness that I can amass", Otto muttered as he took in the sudden change in surroundings. His tone shaky despite the sarcastic humour he was trying to inject. "But what the bloody fuck?"

Unedited