A/N: This is the first one I wrote (yeah, I wrote them out of order...) and it's my favourite. I cried.
The Broken Wheel
Evening
Darkness gathered at the edges of Peter's vision rather as evening falls, the shadows collecting in the corners and spilling out across the brightness of day. Lying under the twisted wreckage of the train, his lower half crushed and lifeless, he struggled in what he knew to be a futile battle to keep the glimmers of night away. He struggled to stay in the sunshine. It wasn't time for evening yet.
Peter's breath moved faster and shallower through his lungs, but he forced himself to keep breathing. One hand clutched the wooden box that held the Rings, their last despairing grasp at Narnia. His other hand scrabbled desperately over the burning metal beside him as he sought some sign of Edmund, his comrade in arms, his partner in crime, his best friend…his little brother…
He turned his head, eyes searching through the condensing fog in his mind. He refused to give up. He had to find Edmund first, get Edmund to safety. All that mattered was that Edmund was safe. His hand collided with something soft, wet, slippery—Edmund's hand that had been wrenched from his grasp only moments before. He gripped it with all his might, but there was no response. When he brought their intertwined fingers into his line of vision, the blurry image was stained red with blood.
"Ed?" he choked; dragging in each breath had never before been harder. "Ed, please. Oh, Aslan, please. Eddy!"
He had not used his private, pet name for his brother since before the first time they'd gone to Narnia, since Edmund's first day of school, when the younger boy had shouted that it was a baby name and told Peter to never use it again. But Peter used it now, repeating it over and over with every labouring breath.
"Eddy, you know it's going to be okay, right?" he whispered, tears streaming down his face and he clutched his brother's hand tighter. "I promise, Eddy. I'll make you safe before I go, Eddy. Eddy, I promise. I'll always protect you."
The shadows were more numerous now; the darkness was drawing nearer. Day—bright, shining day—had faded quickly, and evening was well along. Soon, it would be night.
"Eddy, I love you," Peter breathed. "And I promise, it will be okay." He drew the lifeless hand up and pressed his lips against it, ignoring the taste of blood. Taste was beyond him now, just as pain was no longer something he could feel. Dimly, somewhere in his shadows, he heard footsteps stop near him.
"Save Eddy," he whispered, pleading with the unknown presence. "Please. I promised to protect him, but I can't now. It's the first time I haven't been able to protect him. So please, make Eddy safe."
"It's alright," a low voice said soothingly. "You did protect him. He's safe."
Somewhere, Peter knew that was a lie, that Edmund was just as lifeless and torn and unprotected as he himself was. But breathing was nearly impossible now, and living was getting so hard. He squeezed Edmund's cold, bloody hand tightly and the shadows grew too numerous to stay hidden in the corners. The veil of darkness drew its curtains across his mind and he had never known a darker sky. But then again, he had never known brighter stars either.
"Eddy," he whispered breathlessly, "tell Susan I forgive her." He closed his eyes as the last glimmer of sunshine fell to the gathering twilight and Evening turned into Night…