The last of the nightmare quartet. Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: We all know who owns Chronicles of Narnia. I can assure you that I'm alive.
It clung onto him with a death grip, the cold, like a possessed predator with its prey. He couldn't remember how long the cold had hung around him like a thick veil, but he knew that it had been too long. He couldn't remember how it felt like to be warm anymore. The cold had been with him so long that he had already become a part of it. His body was numb, and so was his mind.
"Out."
He got to his feet without a thought, following Ginarrbrik like a tame dog. They didn't need to shackle or prod him anymore, because the flame of his spirit had been put out, smothered by the ceaseless cold. He was just an empty body, an easily controlled puppet. Anybody could control him, but only she would. He was her prize, a pet prince.
"Edmund!"
Edmund. That was the name of his spirit, the flame that was long gone. He wasn't Edmund, he was just a shell, but he wanted to hear the name again, because the word drove away the cold. The cold would not leave him, but for a few moments, he could pretend that he was warm.
The fire in him flickered and grew.
Icy coldness still hung around him, but he remembered what had happened before he became the spiritless puppet he was now. He remembered… no, he didn't remember. He didn't forget his life before the cold, only allowed the cold to consume him, making him not care about those memories.
"Let him go"
Peter.
"He is mine."
No, he didn't belong to her. He didn't want to.
"No, he's our brother."
Susan.
"He's not yours."
Lucy.
They came for him.
He wanted to join them. He wanted to be their brother once again, but he couldn't move. He was still a puppet attached to its master by invisible strings. He was still bound to her, and she controlled his every movement.
"Actually, he is. Son of Adam, come."
His legs moved obediently toward the evil beauty. He saw the smug look on her face with his eyes, but his siblings' pained looks he saw with his heart, and they were so much clearer than the Witch. He saw, and he wanted to turn towards them, but his body did not share his wish.
The White Witch wrapped a cold arm around him and drew him close. Haughtily, she pressed a kiss to his cheek in a parody of love, openly mocking his siblings. He wanted to leave her cold embrace, step away, run, but his body was frozen, and so was his face.
However, what he could not do, his brother could. With a cry of rage, his brother charged at her, his sword ready to cut and severe. The White Witch did not even stand at his attack, merely held up her wand to intercept his sword, her body seated securely on the throne.
"Fools. You think you can take him from me? He is mine. His blood belongs to me."
He shall be the first. A proud voice rang in his head.
Peter gave a cry as he was turned to stone, forever frozen.
The older Daughter of Eve is next.
Susan had only just drawn her bow when the Witch hit, and in mid draw she would always remain.
The other Daughter of Eve.
Lucy didn't make a sound as she was turned into stone. Her eyes stayed on him, and he found himself unable to turn away as the blue orbs turned grey.
A gasp fought its way out of his throat and he slumped uselessly onto the floor, like a puppet with its strings severed. They came for him, but the Witch defeated them so easily. Why did they come? Why did they throw away their life for him, the traitor?
"No."
A hand grasped his chin and forced him to look at his frozen siblings.
"Look at what you have done, for sweets."
The world shattered around him, and he started falling into nothingness.
"Was it worth it?"
The darkness stretched on forever.
"Son of Adam."
So cold.
Edmund.
He felt the fresh touch of spring.
He felt the strong warmth of summer.
He felt the gentle breath of autumn.
He felt the cold lose its hold.
Edmund…
Brown eyes flew open. All of a sudden, he wasn't falling but lying on a soft bed. The abrupt change made him breathless, causing him to gulp air like a drowning man.
It was nightmare, a very different nightmare from what he usually had. In those, he could be overwhelmed with guilt and grief or he could have truly become the White Witch's prince. For the first time, he had been introduced to the possibility of him falling under her total control during his time as her captive.
Somehow, that empty him was more fearful than the other possibilities of him combined.
When he had calmed down somewhat, he noticed that some parts of him were trapped. It didn't take a genius to guess who the three sleeping figures on him were.
Edmund gave an exasperated sigh, but his lips were turned up in a faint smile as he basked in the love from his royal siblings.
The fresh touch of spring, the strong warmth of summer and the gentle breath of autumn that had guided him out of the cold was his siblings. Three seasons out of four. He was the faint reminder of winter, his cold bringing out the warmth of the others.
A complete cycle.
Feeling comforted, he let himself relax instead of getting up, since dawn was still a long way off, and his siblings' presence would keep all nightmares at bay. As he closed his eyes and responded to sleep's call, he couldn't help but wonder.
When did he start being so poetic? It was Peter's job, not his.
"Shut up, Ed," Peter muttered beside him.
"Oh? I didn't realize that I said it out loud." Edmund opened his eyes.
"Just go to sleep." He didn't miss the amused look Peter gave him before he closed his eyes.
"Night, Ed," Peter said.
"Night."
A review would be nice, especially on how I can write better.
Poetess: Review! Review! *wags all three tails* Please?