II: I May Be Scared and a Little Bit Frightened

It started with Lucy.

She padded through the corridors, sometime whilst the moon was high and silver in the sky. Her feet carried her across the stone floors, the soles of her feet echoing softly through the castle.

She paused in front of the great oak door, staring at the wood. A sun, with its beams bursting outwards and a sword cutting through the centre, was carved expertly into its face. She raised her hand and rapped it against the wood, the sound deafening in the quiet of the night.

A second later, the door creaked open and Peter, backlit by faded moonlight, stood behind it. 'Lucy?' The sound of his voice, familiar, filled the silence. 'Is something the matter?' He knelt down so they were eye to eye.

With all the innocence of a child, she asked, 'Can I sleep with you?'

"Of course," he said, automatically. He stood and opened the door wider for her to slip through.

She practically ran across the room to his bed, the great expanse of it. His sheets had been thrown back, twisted messily in his haste to get to the door, she expected. She jumped onto his mattress, the frame creaking under her impact.

She could hear Peter chuckle as he made his way across the room. She sunk into the centre of the bed, the pillows sinking behind her head as she made herself comfortable.

Peter scooted in not longer after, reaching over to pull the covers back over them.

He groaned as he settled down and Lucy giggled. "You sound like an old man," she commented.

"Hey!" He poked her in the side. "Excuse you."

She giggled again and rolled over so she was tucked into his side. "Good night, Peter."

He yawned, throwing an arm over his eyes. "Good night, Lu," he mumbled.

She sighed, closing her eyes. The silence fell away, drowned out by the steady thumping of Peter's heart and the soft gusts of his breathing.

~~~

Despite the heat of the summer, Edmund tugged a dressing gown on. Even as he pulled his arms through the sleeves and tied the sash, he shivered.

He shivered all the way down the corridors. His teeth chattered as he made his way up stairs. His joints grew stiff as he stood in front of the door.

For a second, he thought about going back to his room. To wrap his blankets as tight as he could around him and bear the cold alone. Before he could give in to his thoughts, the door yawned open.

"Ed?"

Edmund ducked his head, staring down at his feet. He had forgotten his slippers back in his room. His skin was pale and his veins and bones pressed against it, awfully apparent. He shivered against the cold stone of the floors. As he spoke, he swore he could see his breath fog up before him. "Can I sit with you?" Hastily, he added, "Just for a minute or so, though. I'm not gonna stay or anything."

Peter blinked at him, and stared long enough for Edmund to start to think of the words to an apology. Peter, to his surprise, held the door open wider. "C'mon," he said. "We've got plenty of space."

Tentatively, Edmund stepped foot into his room. Peter shut the door behind him and began prodding him towards the massive canopy of his bed.

There was already someone buried underneath the blankets. Lucy, her hair sticking to her face, squinted sleepily up at him. Her smile began to thaw the cold aching his bones. "Hullo, Edmund," she whispered. She held a hand out and flexed her fingers at him.

Edmund slipped his dressing gown off and threw it into a chair. His feet carried him the rest of the way so he could crawl into the bed next to her.

She scooted over, making room for him to lay next to her. As Peter crawled in on her other side, she wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him close. "It's okay," she whispered, her eyes falling closed "You're safe."

He frowned down at her. "How- how did you know?"

She yawned. "I just… did…"

Peter groaned on the other side of the bed, letting his head flop against his pillow. The bed shifted as he rolled over so he was facing them.

Edmund met his gaze, as pale blue as a pond during the spring. Peter reached over and squeezed his shoulder. "'Night, Ed," he mumbled.

And the weight of his hand, heavy and warm, remained even as he slept.

~~~

It was raining when Susan found herself in front of his door. For the first time since Susan could ever remember, it was storming in Narnia. Of course, there had been several storm during the day but never during the night.

Susan hated storms. None of the Pevensies liked them. Something about the echoing booms of thunder or the sharp flashes of lightning that set them on edge in a way that regular rainclouds couldn't. It affected Susan the worst, however.

And so, with the waves crashing outside and the windows rattling in their frames, Susan knocked on the door. With all the cacophony going on, she reckoned she should've knocked again, louder.

She'd just check to see if he was all right. And as soon as she saw he was fine, she'd go check on Lucy, and Edmund. Then she'd go back to her bed. Yes, that was a reasonable plan.

The door opened, revealing Peter, all sleep-tousled and bleary-eyed. Immediately, she regretted waking him.

"Susan," he hummed. He held the door open in invitation. "Come in. The others are already here."

She frowned, peering over his shoulder to the dark shadows of his room. Briefly, the sky lit up outside and she could see everything perfectly. The dressing gowns discarded in chairs, the silhouettes of people in his bed. As soon as the light faded, the sky rumbled, making the glass rattle in its pane.

Susan stiffened and stepped closer to Peter. It was more out of a habit than anything but still, Peter took her by the elbow and led her towards his bed. "Don't worry," he said, as if reading her mind. "There's plenty of space."

Susan knew. Her own bed was enough to hold her and all three of her siblings twice over. Apparently, Peter's was the same.

Lucy had her head tucked into Edmund's neck, her hands clutched around her ears even in sleep. Edmund slept with only his neck and head exposed, the rest of him hidden stubbornly under the covers.

"C'mon, Su." She looked beside her to Peter, who nodded to the empty space. "I was wondering when you'd join us."

As another bolt streak across the sky outside, any arguments she might've formed dissipated. In the seconds before thunder struck, she crawled in beside Lucy and held the blankets open for Peter to follow.

The fabric fell around them, sealing them in. Susan laid on her back, her hands folded across her middle and stared up at the dark expanse of Peter's ceiling. Peter sighed from beside her, the bed dipping as he moved. When she glanced out of the corner of her eyes, in the glow of the lightning through the windows, she could see him, golden hair splayed across his forehead; Edmund, his face wiped of any grimace or practical patience; and Lucy, her hands no longer around her ears, her face slack with sleep.

Despite the storm raging outside, Susan felt at peace.

~~~

The maids came in, the sun almost halfway through the sky. It was about the time that the Pevensies went to their classes, leaving their rooms for the rest of the day till it was time for them to go to bed. They were sweet kids, they would say to one another. Making their own beds and picking up their clothes and putting them aside for washing. They never made much of a mess of anything, and the maids' jobs were easy: sweep, mop, open the room up to air, and take the washing away.

On that morning, however, the maids found a shock. The High King's room, usually so spotless by that time, had dressing gowns thrown haphazardly across chairs and slippers discarded in a trail leading to the bed. That wasn't even the most shocking part, the most shocking part was the four royals in the bed still asleep.

The maids all shared a look, smiling slightly, and slipped back out of the room.