A/N: So. Hello. I'm new in this fandom and it has been a long time since I last read the books, so forgive me and please point out whenever I got it wrong, because I'm in the process of rereading it. I had decided to make this fic the classic cliche where one of them was adopted thingy. Crossing my fingers in hope that it won't be boring. Enjoy.

Edmund Pevensie – 18 y.o

Lucy Pevensie – 16 y.o

Set after the voyage of the dawn treader.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Chapter One

The street was empty – deserted. There had been news flying around about a huge storm coming, and all the villagers were busy anticipating for the worst.

Edmund stared at the brickwall in front of him. His brows were furrowed and his expression blank. His arms were crossed in front of his black toussled winter coat, and his breath fogged the cold air. He was deep in thought.

Lucy could see that very clearly.

The girl had been watching her brother from afar for quite a long time. It was their turn to do grocery shopping, and she was just exiting one of the shop when she saw him standing there – and she had stopped in mid steps. Because even though his expression was blank, it was the first time she had seen him unguarded like that. Since their last visit to Narnia, he had been very different. He was more uptight and he seemed to be smiling a lot less. He easily lost his temper, and was occassionaly picking fights at school.

No, he was not the old arse Edmund, but he was not Edmund the Just either. He was a totally a different person. And Lucy did not know the reasons why he had been acting so strange.

Lucy let out a breath she did not know she was holding. And while the new Edmund never made fun of her, she missed the old him.

"Edmund," she called out to him, thinking that it was about time for them to go home - to the Professor's house of course. It's Christmas break and unfortunately the war was still going on. Both Edmund and she were still in boarding school, and their parents had decided that it would be safer for them to go to the Professor's house during holiday because they had some unfinished business to tend. Peter and Susan had a job in the city, but they had decided to spend the Christmas with them. Both of them had arrived the day earlier, and immediately they had rushed off to see Edmund who was sitting cross legged in the living room reading a book about astronomy.

Peter had closed the door in front of her face. Usually she took it as a sign for her to stay away, but curse her curiosity; she had gone out to the garden and peeked into the room from one of the windows at the gigantic house. She overheard Susan quietly asked him what the matter was, and Peter's stern voice saying that their parents had been worried sick by the amount of letters the school had sent them as a notice of his bad attitude.

They had tried to pursue him about the matter, and while they had tried to be strict and serious about it, Edmund had never really responded to their rants. He had kept his gaze steady, dark eyes staring at his siblings, and his expression neutral. And whenever Susan or Peter paused to see his response, he would nod but he never said a thing. If anything, Lucy thought he looked bored.

She would have stood there a bit longer, but she did not wear any coat and the cold wind was starting to numb her skin, so she had grudgingly went back in. So much for being a good spy.

Her call had broken her brother out of his reverie, and he tilted his head, staring at her with a ghost of a smile on his face. "Have you got everything?"

"Yes," she nodded, and she shuffled hurriedly to him, as he was motioning her to start walking. She stood next to him, and together they began walking towards the direction of the clearing.

They walked in comfortable silence, and Lucy unconsciously gazed at her brother. He was taller than her, that's for sure. His gaze were dark and brooding and Lucy realized for the first time that he had dark bags under his eyes. She frowned, and as she inspected a bit closer, she noticed his face was pale and seemed to be lacking something.

"Is there something wrong with my face?"

Lucy snapped out of her trance, and she looked up to find Edmund's dark eyes set on her with a small smirk etched on his face as she blushed for being caught staring.

"No, it's just that...," she frowned again, and stopped walking. He followed her action before he turned around to face her.

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she took it as a sign to continue.

"What's wrong?" She blurted out finally. The girl watched as her brother's expression split with an interesting display of emotions for a second before it instantly went blank.

"Nothing."

Nothing? Nothing? She's not dense for godsake. Of course she knew that something was wrong!

"Edmund!" She snapped, and she regretted it in an instant as she saw his eyes hardened at her change of tone. She was about to stop-to apologize, but she quickly remembered that she had to know why. She just had to. "Of course something's wrong. You have been acting really strange, and you're...," she reached out to touch the sleeves of his coat. "You're not yourself."

Edmund swatted her hand away, "Nothing is wrong," he impatiently drawled. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

There it was. The dry humour that the old Edmund used to say. She would have laughed, but remembering the circumstances, she did not.

"Ed...if it's something about Narnia, you can tell me about it. Or...if you don't want to talk to me, you can talk about it to Peter and Susan..," she tried, searching his face for any reaction. Unfotunately for her, she did not get any except for the clenching of his jaw.

"Forget it Lu," he scolded her, turning his back as he began walking again. His body was rigid, and Lucy could see clearly that the topic really disturbed him.

It had began to snow. Droplets of white fell down from the sky, and she sighed heavily as she watched her brother's retreating form. Edmund could be very stubborn sometimes. She followed after him, not bothering to catch up after the quite of a distance between them. She knew better to leave him alone whenever he's in a mood. Yes, she had to admit that she really felt guilty for making him like that, but she just couldn't stand any more of his strange attitude.

They had been walking for some time, before he finally slowed down. She bit her lip, weighing her options whether or not she should try and talk to him again. At the end, her soft spot that she had always had for her brother won, and she walked to him, before she hugged him from the back.

She felt him tensed, and she tightened her hug before she felt him finally relaxed. They stayed like that for quite a while until he finally sighed before saying quietly, "Peter and Susan is hiding something from me."

She tilted her head to get a better look at him. His head was down and his eyes were closed. His cheeks were pink because of the cold and she imagined hers must be too. "Have you tried asking them?" She asked, though she was doubtful about that. The four of them had sworn that they would never keep anything from each others, and to remember that it was Susan and Peter who had suggested it.

He shook his head slowly. "I just..can't seem to shake it off."

"Shake what off?" She asked.

"Their whispers...their glances...everything," he murmured, exhaling a breath.

She would be lying if she said she did not notice it. True to his words, Lucy had noticed that Susan and Peter had been whispering, and sometimes even arguing quietly in the corners, about what she did not know, but she had shrugged it off, thinking that it was nothing more than their silly arguments.

And their glances.

She had noticed it, too. They had been eyeing Edmund in some wry manners, and she remembered that those things had lasted for a long time, shortly after their last visit to Narnia and their little gathering with their parents.

No.

Definitely not after their visit to Narnia. Things were still normal when they had gone back.

So, it was after their family gathering then.

She couldn't imagine how frustated Edmund must have been.

But she did not—could not believe that. If it was true that Susan and Peter were hiding something from them—a secret- then it could only mean one thing; They had broken the promise. She did not want to believe that. So she couldn't stop herself from expressing her doubts. "Ed, are you sure it's not just your feelings?"

"You don't believe in me."

"I believe in you." And that was the truth.

He turned his neck to thepoint where he could stare at her. Their gaze met, and Lucy could see that Edmund was doubtful about what she had said.

After several seconds, she broke their eyes contact, burying her face in his coat, relishing the feeling of warmth. "Let's ask them," she mumbled to him, half-heartedly. She did not want to be dissapointed by the truth—if what Edmund had said was true.

"You don't want to." She forgot that he could read a person like a book most of the times.

"No," she agreed, unwillingly pulling her face away from his warmth. It was pointless to deny it. He would know anyways. "But I'm sure that it's better than you keeping everything to yourself."

He did not say a thing, merely stared at her with uncertain eyes.

But she could not let him be stressed out about that, and so, she said again with a much firmer voice.

"Let's ask them."

He searched her face, and she stared back, and she could not describe her relieve when he smiled. It was him. The smile was genuine, and she missed it.

"You're right," he stared right ahead of him, his expression calm. "I'll ask them."

"We will ask them," she corrected, and she could hear his smile when he answered her. "Let's go, Mrs Macready will be mad."

She was beyond happy—glad because somehow Edmund had returned to his old self, even though it was only for a brief second. She hugged him even harder, and he laughed softly and returned her embrace. She shivered because of the cold, the snow had already covered most of the things around them, and she could not deny that she was practically freezing.

Edmund must have sensed the movement, for he pried her fingers off, breaking the hug. He unbottoned his coat, leaving him just in his shirt. She was about to ask what he was doing when he suddenly draped his coat over her shoulders.

"Edmund!" She protested, shrugging his coat off. "You'll be sick!"

"I'm more immune to the cold than you are," he answered lightly, not giving her a chance to return his coat.

"Ed—"

But he was already six feet in front of her.

Lucy sighed.

Susan's going to flip when she found out that Edmund went home without a coat in this weather.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Where have you been, child?" Mrs Macready scolded her when she entered the kitchen.

"Shopping," she answered matter of factly. She knew that she was going to get scolded. Edmund had arrived before her, and she spotted him sitting on the kitchen table, his expression blank.

He was on guard again.

She frowned disapprovingly. But then he looked up and he caught her gaze. She saw something flashed in his eyes. And then she realized that he was nervous.

Nervous?

Mrs Macready was already fussing over the grocceries, and-fortunately for her, seemed to have had forgotten about her late timing. She was about to walk to Edmund, to talk to him, but then the kitchen door flew open.

"Lucy, what took you so long?" She snapped her gaze to where Susan was standing.

She was as beautiful as always, her sister.

"There was quite a long line at the shop," she replied, smiling at her sister's worried face. Susan was always worried over the little things and it was truthfully hard to not found it as something dear.

Susan nodded, and she looked at Edmund. And Lucy noticed that there was something else in her gaze when she looked at him. "And you. You helped her, didn't you Edmund?"

He clenched his jaw and nodded. Lucy knew that it was because he had noticed the look she had given him too.

"Good," Susan said, smiling albeit it wasa bit strained. "You could do at least that much for her."

There was a tense silence except for the sound of Mrs Macready exiting the room.

Lucy fidgeted. The silence was uncomfortable, the kind of silence that would creep at you and perhaps even strangles your neck when you're not looking. Lucy thought that it would perhaps be the best if she separated them. She was about to open her mouth, to ask Edmund to accompany her to the library, when he suddenly snapped.

"What the bloody hell is your problem?" He snarled at Susan, standing up from his seat.

Susan gaped at him, but then she quickly recovered. "What, Edmund?" She smiled at him, but it did not reach her eyes. "There's no problem."

"I am not stupid, O' Queen Susan," he spat, his eyes getting darker and darker. He clenched his hands so tight that his knuckles turned white. "I know that something is bloody wrong so it will be wise if you spit everything out now."

Lucy took a step towards Edmund, but the boy – young man, narrowed his eyes at her. "You know that I'm right Lu, you know that she ," he pointed his index finger at their older sister. "and Peter are hiding something,"

"Edmund, we can talk about this—" she tried to reason with him, but he shook his head vigorously.

"No." His voice was stern. "I had enough of them whispering behind my back."

"Susan, it was nothing, right?" she turned to her older sister, pleading. "You and Peter were just arguing about nonsense, yes? And that they had nothing to do with Edmund?"

But Susan was not looking at her, it was as though she had not spoken at all. In fact, she was looking straight at Edmund with steely eyes, a quiet resolve behind it as if she was determined to do something.

"You're right," she replied finally. "You deserve to know it."

"And I deserve to know what, exactly?" He returned, glaring at her.

Susan bit her lip, and her eyes landed on Lucy. "I think it will be best if it's only between you and me-"

"No," interrupted Edmund, glancing at Lucy. "You might as well say it now, or never."

Lucy felt...hurt? No. She did not know what it was, what the feeling that was clawing inside her stomach was. Sure, she knew that she was disappointed because Susan had considered to left her out, grateful that Edmund had insisted to keep her in the room, but she suddenly doubted what was going on. Her heart suddenly thundered inside her chest, and she immediately knew that something was wrong.

This couldn't be good.

"Ed," Susan started, speaking softly. "You might want to take this slowly."

Edmund wouldn't have any of those delays.

"I'm ready whenever you are," he replied, scowling at her.

Lucy wanted him to stop asking Susan those questions. Because she had the sudden feeling, that everything would change drastically. She wanted to shout, scream, or do anything that could disturb their heated conversation. But she could not. It was as if she was immobilized on the spot.

Things would not be the same, would they?

"Edmund...," she took a deep breath. "You were adopted."

And unfortunately, the answer was: No, it would never be the same.

to be continued

A/N: Some clearing up in the next chapter. Waiting for at least 6 opinions (reviews) on whether I should continue this or not. Ciao.