*Chapter 7*

Hello dearies! Gabby and Jordi here. So sorry for the long wait! It's Gabby's turn to write and she's been super busy with schoolwork and such, they decided they were going to swamp us with homework on our first full week back.

Anywho, thanks go out to all our readers, but especially our reviewers! Y'all mean the world to us.

Now enjoy EPIC

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Maria-

I turned from the horrified face of Emily and skipped merrily into the How, humming the rest of 'My Heart Will Go On' as I went. I made my way through the tunnel into the chamber with the Stone Table, and was greeted by the sound of arguing voices. I felt my cheerful mood evaporate like Harry Potter fans at a Twilight convention(Team Cedric!) and slowed into a regular walk, the tune I was humming dying on my lips.

The stone troth lining the chamber was lit with fire, and torches were hung on the walls and being held by various Narnians. These and other Narnians were scattered throughout the chamber, some standing, some sitting, all looking morose. Lucy, who had gotten into the How before I had, was perched on the Stone Table, drawing circles on the ancient slab with an anxiously thoughtful expression on her face. She glanced up at me as I entered, and smiled as she saw me, but it was a tight smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. I returned one, only mine was also less natural.

Peter and Caspian stood between the Stone Table and the carving of Aslan on the wall, their heads bowed in a heated conversation. I could tell it was heated because Caspian's brows were furrowed tightly over his black eyes, and his jaw was locked tightly. Peter's back was to me, so I couldn't see his facial expression, but his back was ramrod straight and his shoulders were squared. I approached the two of them, feeling the tension in the air thicken as I got closer to them. I stopped behind Peter and cleared my throat loudly.

Caspian looked around Peter at me, his brows still furrowed, but his expression became less tense and he offered me a small smile. Peter, however, didn't turn until Caspian pointedly said,

"Hello, Maria."

And I really wish he hadn't said anything at all. I'm sure Peter was thinking the same thing, seeing as he had adamantly refused to acknowledge me to begin with and clearly was dreading the moment of our reunion, and he turned slowly around to me. As our eyes met, the chocolate brown of mine with the crystal blue of his, a spark of electricity jolted between us. I felt a dull anger throb in the back of my mind as I gazed up at his beautifully chiseled face, that perfect nose, those perfect lips. Gosh, he's too beautiful. And it was really pissing me off.

I saw his eyes soften and then darken, and he was suddenly not able to meet my gaze. I exhaled loudly and pointedly, drawing his attention again. Good. The bastard should be looking at me.

He tentatively spoke. "Hello, Maria."

I nodded curtly at him, then smiled warmly at Caspian. "Peter. Heya, Caspian."

Caspian watched almost gleefully as Peter shrank back from the coldness of my tone towards him and the joy with wich I spoke to the prince. Vaguely, I wondered about this. But at the moment, my blood pressure was rising in anger towards the blond that stood in front of me, my mind replaying the earlier incidents that had taken place. I wanted to punch that pretty face of his to a pulp.

"Look, Maria, I.. I don't think either of us behaved very maturely earlier. And I wanted.. To apologize. I'm sorry." Peter said sheepishly, a small blush colouring his face.

I felt myself calm a little. That was unexpected, and very un-Peterish of him. He be being sincere.

"Alright, but it's not an apology I want, it's an improvement. Promise me you'll try and work on your anger and over maturity?" I asked.

"I'll try." Peter said, slightly begrudgingly.

"Good boy." I patted his head, and he gave me another strange look.

"You're not like other girls, you know," he said, staring at me. I almost melted in the intensity of his hotness.

"Oh, I know. It's my aim in life. To be different, you know?" I said happily, and he just kept staring. But it got to the point where I didn't know if he was staring like, 'ohmygosh she's so amazing' or, 'ohmygosh, wtf'. It was kinda hard to tell.

So I followed Emily's example and looked on the Brightside. I went with the amazing option.

Caspian, the little idiot, cleared his throat, and it seemed to snap Peter out of his little trance and back into their whispered argument. I cocked my ear, listening in.

"It's the stupidest idea I've ever heard!" Caspian hissed, and I realized the Telmarine Prince must have gotten over his…well, not fear…more like…respect…for Peter.

"Look, Caspian. I've been in many wars in my time…" Peter whispered, and I couldn't help but picture some ancient old man sitting in a rocking chair, giving a rant something like, "Now look here, sonny, back in my day…"As soon as I pictured that, I let out a loud snort, causing everyone to look at me. Again.

I should really try to work on my ability to withhold snorts.

There was a moment of silence while I reflected on this, and I realized Peter, too was staring at me. I stared right back. Damn…why did he have to aggravate me so much?

"Look," Caspian was saying quietly, "Edmund is a King too. Why don't we ask him what he thinks?"

Peter nodded strongly, so strongly it looked like his head was going to roll off. Anyone could see the anger that radiated off of him. Luckily, for once it WASN'T directed at me. Peter looked around the room, his jaw clenched to tightly I thought I heard a few teeth crack.

"Where's Edmund?" he demanded of the room, only to be met by silence and a few shrugs. I tentatively raised my hand, not sure what else to do.

"What, Maria?" Peter hissed, and I was seriously on the verge of giving him a mouthful back. But no, I thought. We'd just stopped fighting. The Magnificent High King of Old wouldn't apologise twice.

"Er…I'm pretty sure Edmund is outside…on the ledge." I said, and he turned to look along the passageway with a bit of shining light at the end. "With Emily." I added, and the blonde king whipped around to face me.

"With-what?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"With Em. He went to apologise for your behaviour." I said, confused. Why was he so angry?

"I never apologized to her." Peter said, stony looking.

I felt the breath whoosh out of my lungs as he hissed her. What had Em done? She was just trying to fufil her mission, and no way was I going to let a stubborn ass boy, king or not, bag out my best friend.

"What did you say?" I asked, and was surprised to her Caspian at the same time, asking the same words, in the same furious tone.

"I said," Peter said menacingly, stepping forward, "I didn't apologise to her."

"Why the hell not?!" I shrieked, over his attitude to everything, and especially, my best friend.

"Have you seen what she's doing to my brother?" Peter yelled back.

"Yes! She's giving him life! Loosening him up!" I bellowed. He was not going to get to me.

"YES! LOOSENING HIM UP! LIKE LAST TIME!" Peter roared, and I laughed.

"What do you mean, like last time?" I cried.

"Last time he was immature like this, the White Witch nearly killed all of us!" Peter said, and I shut up. I could see what he meant, but it was still unfair. Edmund had changed. He was older, wiser. He wouldn't do that again.

"What kind of brother are you?" I shouted in his face. I think I may have spat a little, but I didn't care. He deserved it. "You pull him into fights back home, and here too! You act like a caring and trusting brother, but underneath you don't trust him at all! What is wrong with you, Peter?" I was shocked to find tears falling from my eyes. We were having it out in front of an entire room, after all, and it was killing me.

I really wanted things to be great between us, but he was so damn stubborn…!

"What's going on?" said a quiet voice, and we all turned to see the tiny Emily, standing in the hallway with a frozen Edmund. Their hands were intertwined, and from the look on Ed's face I could see they had heard everything.

"I'm over this, Peter, I really am." I finished with a flourish, and turned away from him, trying to hide my tears from everyone. I glanced at Emily, who was looking up at Edmund in concern. His face was stony, and she looked worried as hell.

Edmund had his eyes fixed on Peter, who was looking full of regret. Towards Edmund, me and even Emily.

"Ed.." he began, and Edmund swallowed. I saw his hand tighten on Emily.

Good, at least he was using her for support. But then, my heart nearly broke when he released her hand and strode away. I saw her face crumble, and she looked to the floor. She glanced up the hallway behind her, ready to follow, but decided against it when Susan and Lucy ran after their brother, Peter right behind them. This was a family deal. Emily took a deep breath, and lifted her head. She had a fake-ass smile plastered on her face as she strolled over to us.

Caspian cleared his throat.

"I believe this meeting is over. We...we shall get back to you." He said, and the room slowly cleared. I sat down on the Stone Table, Emily beside me, and Caspian on her other side.

"Well, what now?" Emily asked, and I looked at her before bursting out laughing.

"What?" she asked before cracking a smile at my hysterics.

"Th-they were right! Som-sometimes theres nothing to do but laugh!" I choked as I howled with laughter. Soon Emily had joined in, and even Caspian had cracked a smile.

"Maria, you are so weird." Emily giggled.

I laughed even harder, and through the laughter I didn't hear the footsteps coming back along the corridor. For some reason Caspian jumped up, pulling Emily to her feet as well, and jogging through a different passage. I saw the reason why, when Peter strolled back into the room.

"I did it again, didn't I," he said, taking a seat beside me. I raised my eyebrows.

"I'm really sorry, Maria. Something about you makes me want to go insane."

Okay, so no joke, I was swooning right about now. I mean, Peter Pevensie…swoon…

"I don't mind you going insane," I sniffed, "It's good sport."

Peter smiled slightly, and my heart sped up when he casually draped his arm around me.

"Its nice to have friends like you, you know," he said.

DAMMIT.

Friends?!

"Friends?" I said, my forehead creasing up. Peter looked down, obviously on the verge of declaring his love for me. I crossed my fingers….

"Just friends. I really really like you, Maria, but…I don't have time for a girlfriend."

I was dumbstruck.

"What?"

"I'm High King," he said, sounding like all pompous asshole again. "I'm the most important person here. And that job has to be done by someone mature. Me," he said, and I felt my jaw drop.

"So…" I contemplated, really pissed off at him, AGAIN, "I'm too immature. For you. The most important person." I finished, so fed up with his crap.

He nodded.

"Well," I said, knocking his arm off me and standing up, "You can take your ego, Peter Pevensie, and shove it right up your kingly ass."

And with a dramatic exit worthy of Emily, I walked from the room.

EMILY-

Caspian yanked me from the room as we heard footsteps. It was just a hunch, but if Peter was coming to aplogise again, we weren't going to stop him. I was tired of all this fighting.

We followed the corridor, and came out in the main chamber, where creatures of all kind were creating weapons. I had an idea.

"Hey, Caspian, tomorrow do you think you could teach me how to use my knives?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Sure." He announced in his Hispanic accent.

We strolled along aimlessly again, but I kept glancing around for any sign of Edmund. I was worried about him, so much, but I figured he didn't want me to see him, seeing as he HAD let go of my hand before, and just walked away without a word.

Caspian noticed my unease.

"I'm sure he isn't angry with you, Emily," he said reassuringly. He nodded, still worried. What if he never wanted to talk to me again?

I saw Lucy flit past, and grabbed her arm.

"Lucy-"I began, but she cut me off.

"Emily!" the little girl cried, "I think Edmund might want to speak to you. He said he'll be at the ledge."

I nodded quickly, and said goodbye to Caspian, before hurrying along the corridor, tripping over my dress several times. Bloody thing.

I edged out onto the ledge, even more scared than usual, seeing as it was pitch black and I couldn't see the edge. I took a deep breath and pressed close to the wall, having a major freak out.

"Why here?" I moaned, and was surprised to hear Edmunds voice cut through the darkness.

"Because I'm like you. I need fresh air." I exhaled with relief.

"Uh…Ed? Kinda having a major freakout right about now…" I breathed, absolutely terrified. I heard a scraping noise of him getting up, and footsteps.

"Here Em…take my hand…" he said, and I reached out blindly, finally feeling safe when he held my warm hand in his own. I let him tug me towards him, taking tiny steps until I could feel him beside me. I didn't know what point of the ledge I was on, until I felt my legs dangling over the edge as we sat.

"Edmund, no, I want to go back…" I cried, so scared.

"No, come on, Em, you weren't scared before!" he laughed.

"That's because you were holding on to me." The words slipped out, and I instantly regretted them. Forward much?

But when I felt a warm arm curl around my waist, I blushed into the darkness.

"Better?" he asked, and I nodded, before realizing he couldn't actually see me.

"Yeah, that's better." I said.

We sat in silence for a little while. I know its strange, because I am such a loud person, but I loved silence. Sometimes it was awkward, but most of the time it was just…right.

Like now.

After a while, I couldn't help but say it.

"I am seriously on the verge of decking your brother." I stated bluntly, and I heard Edmund chuckle.

"He means well, though if he makes Maria cry again I daresay I won't be far behind you."

"He's acting like an ass." I said.

"Yeah," Edmund replied, "I think its because he's threatened by Caspian. And because things are so different this time."

"They would be," I agreed.

"Not for me." Edmund sighed, and my frown must have been audible, because he started to explain.

"All the time, theres someone older, more important. Caspian is good. He asks for my assistance, but he lets me be me. But Peter…"

"He needs to grow down." I muttered. "And so do you."

"But, if I don't act all mature and kingly, Peter starts a fight."

"True, but I think Maria is working her magic."

"In the moments they aren't fighting."

I giggled. He was right. Edmund sighed.

"I think Maria is just what Peter needs. But the question is, will he let her in?"

"If he does, everything will be so much better, Ed."

"I know," Edmund sighed.

We sat there for a while that night, just talking, and when we weren't talking, the silence was perfect. Edmund pointed out constellations for me, naming them all, tracing pictures as we lay back on the ledge. I couldn't see the pictures at all; and I told him that.

He then admitted neither could he, and this whole time he had been pretending to try and impress me. I laughed at that, and he laughed too. It was nice.

Well, at least until a crossbow arrow flew out of the darkness and hit me in the stomach.

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