Ya'll told me you were wondering (and mad) why Edmund started acting the way he did. So why did he? At the time, I didn't even know. It was a last minute, "let's stick one last twist in before the end, right when everyone thinks everything is good" thing. In fact, I had know idea how I would fix the mess, or if I should even do it. It was a huge risk that I have been questioned about. I think I know the answer now.

Message to Igotboredoneday: I can't reply to your review, I guess something's wrong with the PM system, but thank you for the review! I'm glad you liked The Royal Removal. I hope this update was fast enough for you! ;)

Annonymus reviewer 'L': Obviously, I can't reply to you, and I don't know if you'll ever see this, but I'm glad you approve of the elves thing! As for the second matter, with Cassey and Edmund falling in love, I'm not exactly a romance writer. Maybe someday I'll do a romance story, but for this one we're leaving that out.

There's four parts to this chapter: Words like this are the actual story. Words like this are lyrics to Plumb's song, "Drifting." Later in the story, words like this are Edmund's thoughts as well as lyrics to "Drifting." And words like this are Peter's thoughts as well as lyrics to "Drifting." I hope it doesn't get too confusing.

"Drifting" belongs to music artist Plumb. For full experience with this chapter, listen to the song on youtube, then read chapter!

Peter's POV

There's a sea of lonely
Swimming sad
Looking just for
An arm to grab

We had returned to Narnia and arrived at the Cair a week after we rescued Edmund. We had taken a longer, slower, and easier route back to give everyone a time to rest, but we had all been excited to get home.

All except Edmund, who was still acting distant.

Every morning for a week after we brought him home, Edmund had woken up early and walked to the beach to watch the sunrise. And every morning, I sent a secret guard after my little brother in order make sure nothing bad happened to him. They stayed back and left him alone, and he probably never even knew they were there, but they were literally right behind him in case trouble occurred.

There was this little sand dune Edmund seemed to, well, maybe not enjoy, but for some reason he always sat there. It was hard to tell what he was thinking anymore, because he had completely blocked the rest of us out from everything. All we could do was plead with him to talk and watch him destroy himself.

He always sat in the same place, the sand dune, knees drawn up to his chest and arms tightly hugging his legs, and he just sat there. For hours.

So every morning for a week I got up early and sat on a balcony viewing the sea, watching Edmund watch the sunrise. And praying. I prayed to Aslan so much that week, along with the rest of the Narnians at Cair who knew what was going on. We couldn't tell everyone that Edmund was acting this way, because we couldn't afford to look weak after what had happened and risk being attacked. We told them he was recovering from his ordeal and to thank Aslan for his safe return, but left out the rest.

I don't need to
Understand
I'm just lending you
The two that have

I guess it would make sense if I got mad. Mad at Edmund, at the situation. I mean, we worked so hard to find Edmund, worried day and night, lost sleep, lived a nightmare because of what happened, and now that we had Edmund back he was just ignoring us. But I wasn't mad. I was just getting more and more worried. Susan, Lucy, everyone was really worried. We agreed to give him some time to sort through his thoughts, give him some space. We thought maybe he'd come back to us himself, that he was just thinking of his time captive.

So seven days had passed, and nothing seemed to change. The seventh day I knew I had to do something. It wasn't like I hadn't been his position, a prisoner to one of Narnia's enemies, before, it was that it had never been this bad. Creatures would start to wonder where Edmund was. And Edmund couldn't live like this, all alone and afraid.

I woke up early once again and watched Edmund's figure journey to the shoreline. Shadows followed, his secret guard, and soon he had settled on the beach, waiting for the sun to rise. I watched him for a couple moments, then turned and followed, making my way through sleepy hallways and down quiet stairs. A small breeze gently rustled leaves, creating a soft symphony as I crossed the courtyard and garden, home of many dryads and other Narnians. I found myself standing on the sand of the beach.

The sun still hadn't started to rise yet, so it was difficult to see. I managed to make it to my brother's sand dune, and took a seat next to him. Neither of us said anything for a long time.

You might be
Drifting
And can't find the shore
So hopeless
And all alone

"The ocean is one of the things I find hardest to understand. It's just... a mystery to me."

I felt Edmund turn and look at me, his body asking the unspoken question.

"We're looking at it right now, and it's so calm and still, there's barely any waves. But the tide will slowly pick up until it's high tide, and the entire beach will be crashing waves. It's the home of so many creatures and plants, but it kills everyday when ships sink. It's the thing that holds every piece of land together, and the thing that keeps us apart from other people. It has so much power and strength. It's just..." I drifted off, still looking toward the sea. There was just enough light to see sparkles of the water as it rippled, the reflections of stars that had begun to disappear. "It's just so big, you know? Not just the ocean, but it's definition too. I've heard this saying, 'you can't fit the ocean in a cup.' It stuck out to me, because not only would all the water and creatures and plants in the ocean never fit in a cup, but it's so hard to describe it to someone. Somehow 'a giant body of water' just doesn't cover the ocean. You know what I mean?"

Edmund turned away and faced the water again, still silent. He swallowed loudly, took a deep breath, and nodded.

"And," I continued, "when I thought about the ocean and how big it is, I realized that the ocean isn't the only thing like that. Lots of things are. Look at the stars." I pointed up. "All of them are different colors- purple, golden, green, red, blue, silver- each one is unique in size and shape. Yet they're all stars. They all come out at night and shine, do their dances for the world to see. There's no way we could count them all, and none of them are the same. Pearls are made because of a single piece of sand. Something as amazing and precious as a pearl comes from something as common and numerous as a piece of dust. We have no use for it, even get sick by it, and it can be used to create one of the most beautiful and expensive things in this world. Diamonds are found deep in the ground, buried by dirt and rock, and take an stunning amount of hard work to find."

I took a breath. What was I supposed to say to him? What did he need to hear the most?

Edmund suddenly began to whisper, so softly that I struggled to hear him. "The world's so amazing and beautiful and complicated and consistent and different... it's just so vast and special that sometimes... sometimes..."

I waited.

"Sometimes I just feel so small and unimportant," Edmund said. I was about to interrupt when he added, "Or I feel like I'm so terrible that I don't deserve to see all of this." He waved his hand toward the sea, the stars, everything around us. "I just don't think I'm supposed to be here, in Narnia."

"Edmund-" My heart felt like it was breaking, shattering into thousands of pieces.

"You didn't see what happened. You weren't there." Edmund interrupted. "Don't try to convince me that I'm wrong."

"I'm not. I won't. I can't," I said. "At this point, you won't believe me. Saying anything would be a waste of breath."

The waves are
Crashing
All around you
Just when you've lost the will to live
You see the sun

I watched Edmund close his eyes and bite his lip. "So what's this all for? What's the point? When you come right down to it, there's absolutely no reason for humans to be a part of the world. Animals and plants, they all have a purpose of being. Trees grow and become homes, food sources, bees pollinate flowers and other plants, everything has a purpose but us. All we do is mess things up. So why are we even here? Why waste energy creating us?"

"At least you're right about one thing there," I finally said.

"We're the only thing that doesn't have a purpose?" Edmund asked.

"No. That we all mess up."

Edmund blinked.

"You aren't the only one that's been in this situation, as easy as it is to believe it. I have. More than once. The crazy thing is, as true as you are right now, you couldn't be more wrong."

Edmund was silent for a while. We watched the waves slowly grow bigger and get louder.

"I don't get it," Edmund eventually admitted.

Can we make a searchlight
From all the bridges that we burn?
Do you see a rescue?
Or a deeper kind of hurt?

How was I supposed to explain this, Aslan? "Edmund, in Narnia the only ones who are able to rule as kings and queens are Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. Since the beginning of Narnia, humans were the ones meant to rule this beautiful land. I couldn't explain why. It wasn't my choice. It was Aslan's. He's the creator of this world, all the creatures and plants and everything in it. When the Witch ruled Narnia, nothing was right. The entire country was a mess. We do have a purpose. Humans are supposed to rule Narnia, rule the earth. That's what we were made to do."

"But we fail so many times! Is there any good that can come out of us?"

"If darkness didn't exsist, we would never know how bright light is," I said. "Look around you. You can't see much now, because it's so dark. The best lights we have are the stars and moons. But soon the sun is going to rise, and everything's going to be visible. If we never sat on this beach in the dark we wouldn't be so excited about watching the sun rise."

Almost as if Aslan and I planned it to happen, the sun suddenly appeared, a tiny speck, above the watery horizon.

"Compared to the hard times, the good ones seem so much better. And as we learn from our mistakes, we become better people, and the good times become even better than before. It's not easy. But no one ever said life was easy. Life is another one of those complicated, hard to define things."

Who can love you, Who could hold you?
I'd swim across the sea
You don't have to be alone
Where the shallow gets so deep

"Why?" Edmund asked.

"Why isn't life easy?"

"No. Why are you doing this for me?"

I looked at my brother in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Being so nice to me. Trying to help me. After everything I've done, why are you doing this for me?"

"I don't know what you've done yet! You haven't told us yet!"

"I mean about the Witch."

"Edmund, I'm doing this because I love you! I forgave you a long time ago. That stuff with the Witch, it doesn't matter any more! You're my brother! You're my king! Nothing you can do will ever change that! Ever! You understand that? Nothing! You don't have to be alone in this! Just talk to us! Talk to me!"

Edmund didn't say anything.

"Please, Edmund. Tell me what's wrong."

You might be
Drifting
And can't find the shore...

"I can't figure it out," he whispered.

Please, Aslan, give me the words.

"You can't figure what out?"

"What's wrong with me!"

"Nothing! You didn't do anything!"

"I didn't mean that."

"Then what do you mean?"

"When I was still captured by Alevler, he..."

I waited.

"What, Edmund? He what?"

I am hurt and nearly drown
Open up your eyes
I cry for help you turned around
Open up your eyes
Farther from the shore
Or you'll be
Farther from the shore

I am hurt and nearly drown
You're not alone
I cry for help you turned around
I'm not letting go
Farther from the shore
So you're not
Farther from the shore

Note: Various color stars, along with two moons (orange and green) are my creation. I'm kinda proud of them, so please ask before borrowing them. ;)

It got kinda deep, but I'm not going to apologize for that. I was actually told ya'll wouldn't like it. We'll have to see how that goes, I guess. Even I wrote this, found it was too serious, and nearly changed it. I didn't, because I figured I should see what you guys thought of it. My friend practically yelled at me, wondering what had happened to Edmund, so I'll write as fast as possible so I can answer your questions!

Last thing. How did the song fic deal go? I usually don't like doing song fics, but I hope it worked. I've been thinking... but that will depend on your thoughts.

Next POV: Edmund! Let's see what happened to our hero, huh? 谢谢(Thank you!)