Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia do not belong to me and I gain no profit from writing in the universe. All credit for character creation goes to C..
Warning: Incest, slash, underage characters. If any of this offends you then please do not read.
AN: I've decided to with the ages they were in the movie version as I think the story wouldn't particularly work with Edmund and Peter at 10 and 13. I think it would probably become a bit perverse and not really enjoyable to read or to write.
This story takes place between LWW and PC but also concerns it's self with the story of LWW as the story of how the brothers fell in love is also told alongside what happens back in England.
I hope you enjoy
An introduction of sorts:
Four pairs of feet shuffled against the once snow covered floor, trying to keep upright in the suddenly cramped conditions. The harsh bristle of the fur branches and the cold tickle of the snow were replaced by soft, elegant strokes of material and hard, smooth wood. Before they had time to entertain wonders of how a snow dusted clearing in the middle of a crisp, sun illuminated forest had, without any warning, become cramped, dark and dank, they found themselves unceremoniously catapulted through a small wooden door and onto the hard floor of a distant yet familiar room. Apart from a large, ornate, mahogany wardrobe, the room was barren of furniture yet filled to the brim with a cascade of light that flowed from the ceiling high, leaded windows. In a matter of seconds, confusion gave way to horror and then finally realization as they caught sight of each other's faces.
"Spare Oom", Said Lucy in a voice they hadn't heard for over a decade.
The thick, opaque fog that had long shrouded memories of a time before Narnia was slowly dissipating and each remembered their mother, the war, the professor and the need to hide from a poor tempered house keeper that all lead to fifteen years ruling a wonderland.
"There's no need for anyone to panic, we just need to get back in the wardrobe ", Peter said in the most authoritative voice he could muster at fifteen.
"Pete…I don't think it works like that", Edmunds voice barley audible and laced with sadness.
"Of course it does, look how many times Lucy's been through it. We just need to get back in and….", Peter climbed back into the wardrobe, bursting with determination, silencing the screaming doubt that Edmund was right and this wasn't a forever open door they could waltz in and out of as they pleased.
The other three siblings waited with baited breath as they listened to the faint sounds of Peter's feet against the bottom of the wardrobe, his arms brushing the rows of fur coats aside and his hands searching the back of the wardrobe.
Edmund could think of a thousand sarcastic comments to aim at his brother but at that moment, berating his refusal to give up seemed wrong. They both knew things were about to change in a way neither was prepared for and he couldn't quite find it in himself to judge Peter for not giving up as easily as he had.
Peters blonde head remerged from the wardrobe with an unreadable expression. As the oldest sibling and High King, he felt he ought to take charge.
"I suppose this is just Aslan's will and we just need to make the best of it and just get along. I mean we were doing perfectly fine before Narnia and I'm sure we'll be fine now…" He broke off, knowing he was lying.
"Look, I say we should ask the professor, he believed Lucy when no one else did and anyway I think he probably knows more about that wardrobe than he let on". Susan said, taking over where Peter left off.
In silent agreement, the other three got up and followed Susan out of the door, along the corridor and to the large, heavy wooden door that concealed the professor's study. Susan knocked lightly on the door, praying to Aslan that he'd be elsewhere as her confidence in her own plan faltered.
"Come in" the aged voice greeted and following Susan, as earlier, they entered the room.
The professor sat in a large, plush, red velvet chair at a long hard wood table, piled high with leather bound books and papers that looked of great importance. Each of the siblings felt a pinch of nostalgia as they had owned rooms like this back in Cair Paravel.
For a moment they were dumb struck at what to say, unable to articulate the magnitude of what they had to explain to the professor.
Eventually Lucy piped up, "You know that wardrobe in your Spare Oom?" she said, unable to lose the Narnian pronunciation, "There's a country in it…"
"I see, and I think probably I owe you an explanation", the professor sighed, his voice deep with wisdom and understanding.
Over the next few hours the professor told a story from his own youth, one of him and a girl named Polly. He explained how a seed from an enchanted tree in far off land grew in English soil and became the wardrobe in the spare room.
"Peter did try to get back through the wardrobe, but it was like we'd never been there, like a normal wardrobe", Susan explained, hoping that the professor may be able to give them a way back to their home.
"You'll never get back through the same way twice", he said with a knowing look in his eye, as though he himself had tried many times, " You will go back, mark my word you'll go back, but it won't be on your terms, It'll be on his. The best thing you can do is stop looking and let it find you. Don't lose faith and remember it's all for a reason"
Chapter One:
The night was drawing in as Edmund crept, bare foot across the stone floor of the mansion. The four of them had long since been sent to bed by Mrs. Macready in an overzealous fit of ridding the house of children but Edmund had lay beneath the quilts, patently waiting for his chance. When he was sure the house had fallen into a deep slumber, he inched his way out of bed and across the room, easing the door open and slipping through like an apparition.
The four rooms allocated to them were all along the same corridor so luckily for Edmund he only had to tip toe down the landing to get to his brothers bedroom. He debated knocking on the door but surely he thought Peter would be just as anxious to see him, in fact he was surprised he hadn't caught Peter in the act of sneaking down the corridor to his room. There was no hesitation as he pushed Peters door open, trying and failing in his enthusiasm to be silent.
"Ed…?" Peter whispered with a confused expression. The elder boy was sat up in bed, staring at his brother with worry.
"There's no way I'd sleep on my own without you and I knew you'd feel the same so I thought I'd come down to your room. I thought I'd see you trying to sneak to my room as well but I guess you must have heard me banging about and thought not"
Edmund gave his older brother a beaming smile as he walked across the plush rug alongside Peter's bed. Had he not been so utterly caught up in his own exuberance at finally having some alone time with Peter he may have noticed the slight delay in the returning smile, the almost guarded look in his eyes.
"Budge up Pete, there's no room for me. You'd think I'd come here just to stand in the middle of the floor" He laughed, wondering why Peter could be so slow at times.
"Ed, we can't do this, not here"
"What d'ya mean? I'm getting cold so can you please quit messing about and just let me in with you"
"We're back in England", Peter tried to rationalize "People won't understand. You're my brother for Christ sake Ed. Think about it; think about what they'd do to us if they found out. Really think about it"
"I don't care…I love you", His voice barley reached Peters ears. He thought things would be different, but not like this. He thought maybe they'd have to be a bit more subtle, wait till they were behind closed doors and that had saddened him enough but never did he for even a second think Peter could be planning this.
"Come on, you're not stupid. You've seen it with your own eyes. At school, with the boys who everyone thought were 'queer'. You know what happened to them. And not only are you a boy Ed, you're my brother! My own brother!"
"It's never seemed to bother you before so I don't see why it should now. And Lucy and Susan will stick up for us, we won't be alone"
"Have you returned to your thirteen year old brain as well as your thirteen year old body", Peter half shouted, slamming his fists into the mattress in exasperation. Surely Ed wasn't that slow, surely he understood that it wasn't possible here. Peter looked at his brother, cotton pajamas hanging from his small frame, dark hair curling into his over brimming eyes. He couldn't bare anyone hurting him, especially knowing it was his own fault.
"Edmund" His voice became gentle again, trying to sooth his brothers upset and to hide his own. "I've got no doubt Lucy would support us but do you honestly want to drag her into this? And as for Susan, you know how hard it's been trying to win her round. She's probably sat up in bed now worrying herself half to death that everyone will think she has perverts for brothers"
"Screw Susan and screw everyone else! I love you, I really do. You can't mean this, I know you love me Pete, I know it". Tears were streaming down Edmunds face as he lost all composure. He had tried to hold it together like his brother but it was no use. He stuck in the hormone filled, irrational body of a thirteen year old and that just made everything harder. He could feel Peter's eyes on him and he felt pathetic. Here he was, falling apart and Peter was calm and collected and perfect Peter Pevensie.
Peter shuffled across the small bed, making room for Edmund. He lifted up the sheets for his brother to get in.
"Alright, this once you can stop with me. But that's it. It's not happening again".
The authority and patronizing edge returned to Peter's voice and he sounded just as he had before they had climbed through the rows of fur coats. He was ordering Edmund about and he knew it. It was only a matter of time before they were back to their old ways Edmund thought. But right there and then he was too distressed and missed Peter far too much to turn down the offer.
Edmund scrambled awkwardly into the hard single bed alongside his brother, his limbs loosing the grace they had developed as an adult. He curled up in Peter's arms and let himself be soothed by soft strokes of his hair and gentle words of reassurance.
"Don't worry Ed" Peter whispered, wiping the stray tears from the younger's blotchy checks. "It'll all be fine, you trust me. I love you, you know. And we'll go back one day. But we just need to patient, that's all. Wait until we can be ourselves again. Just you wait and see, I bet Aslan's cooking up a way to get us back there as we speak. It'll all have been a big miss understanding, you'll see. We'll be home before you know it…" Peter looked down at Edmund and slowly placed a chaste kiss on his forehead and earned a small smile and contented sigh. As the comforting words spilled effortlessly from his lips, his brain wandered back to a time before Narnia.
Peter had always cared about Edmund in a way he'd never cared about anyone else. It had been that way since the very moment they had met. Peter had been a toddler, waiting for their mother to bring home the baby that had been living her tummy for what felt like forever. To say Peter wasn't excited about it was an understatement. He already had to share with Susan and she was no fun to play with and cried all the time and everyone paid her more attention and he was sure it would only get worse with another sister.
When his mother walked through the door holding in her arms a tiny buddle, swathed in cloth, Peter didn't join Susan in trying to hobble over and peak inside the blankets. But with some gentle coaxing from his mother, Peter too found himself peeking into the soft sheets. And what he saw their surprised him hugely. Instead of the little tiny girl baby he'd been expecting, he saw the big, brown and unmistakably male eyes of his new little brother. Although he was only a big as his mothers forearm, Peter saw in him the play mate he'd never had, someone who he could teach to play soldiers and build forts with bed sheets and do all the other things Susan was too boring to do.
In Peter's arms, Edmund was far removed from the tiny baby he had once been, but compared to the man he had been that very morning, he appeared about as fragile. In sleep, all the sadness had fallen away from Edmunds face, leaving him looking peaceful and to Peter, breathtaking.
"I'll always love you, always. Don't ever doubt that." Peter carried on although he knew Edmund was long asleep.
The soothing words continued until Peter could keep his eyes open no longer and both boys were deep in realms of the unconscious, submerged in memories of a time when things had seemed far less complicated.