Talia's Rolan: sorry for two reasons. 1) I have had a lot on and therefore had no bloody time to write anything, really. 2) I'm afraid I had no inspiration for a scene after the battle featuring Ed and Lu (well, the one I wrote was lousy). I hope this will satisfy you instead.
Bit of trivia for the BBC-verse fans: when Sophie Wilcox (Lucy) got married, Peter Dempsey (Peter) sang at her wedding! How adorable!

Title: Fort
Summary: In response to a challenge from Talia's Rolan. While clearing up the remains of battle, a little boy makes a promise he can't keep. BBC-verse.
Warnings: Set in the BBC Narnia-verse (big grin)!
Disclaimer: See profile.

Everything was silent.

The battleground had become eerily quiet, the destruction laying in the wastelands speaking of the atrocities committed. Both sides had stopped, for the moment, but it was unlikely for the carnage to be over permanently.
A young woman bravely raised her head above the dirt and gasped in horror, diving below as a projectile weapon missed her head by mere millimetres.

Lucy was struggling to breathe.

That one glance had proven to her that she was the last one left. Her comrades littered the area, laid around her, defeated. She looked into the blank eyes of the closest warrior, staring back lifelessly into the void.

She felt a responsibility to avenge them.

She fitted herself with the last of the ammunition lying around, though there was very little that could still be used. Gallantly, she dragged as many of the prone forms to lie next to one another as she could, promising silently that she would cause as much damage to the enemy as possible.

They had invaded her land, her territory, and they would pay for what they had done.

Gulping, she rose to sit on her heels, holding her weapon tightly. Lucy grabbed the headgear from one of the fallen heroes, raising it above her. Predictably, the enemy fired upon the target, though she barely escaped with her hand intact.
With a loud war cry, she jumped over the barricade and charged at her enemy. She leaped into their fort, landing on one of the soldiers and taking him down. She rolled to the side, raising her weapon to meet the warrior before her…

She blinked.

Her opponent was missing. She knew he had to be hiding around the fort, but where…

A soft groan came from beneath her.

She quickly scrambled off the wounded soldier, dropping the pillow she clutched to her side as she did so. She grabbed the fruit bowl from her companion's head and brushed his ginger hair from his eyes.

"Eddy!"

The boy groaned, rolling onto his side as he clutched his stomach. He didn't want to alarm his sister, but it hurt so much…

"For God's sake, Lu, do give a chap a warning…"

The blonde girl waved a finger at him.

"You shouldn't be using that language, Eddy. Daddy said so."

Edmund looked up at his sister, scowling slightly.

"Alright, I'll jump on you and then we'll see what you say about it."

A loud, angry and commanding voice cut off Lucy's retort.

"What the bloody hell is going on here!"

Edmund temporarily forgot his wounded side as Lucy jumped in fright, launching into the air and landing on top of him once again.

"P-Peter!"

--Fort--

Peter looked down upon his younger siblings, concern etched firmly into his features. Mother and Father were in town, doing the weekly grocery shopping and had left Peter and Susan to look after their younger siblings. Susan had gone to make lunch, when she discovered that they had nothing to eat whatsoever. They had both promptly grabbed their coats and the £2 left by their mother ("They might need it for something, dear," she had said to her husband, who shook his head in response).

"I want you two to stay out of trouble while we're gone. We're only going to the shop on the corner."

After all, they were both old enough to be alone for ten minutes, weren't they? ((1))

Peter had come very close to using several words he shouldn't have known when they returned, loaf of bread under Susan's arm.
The living room closely resembled a bomb site, with furniture overturned and pillows shredded by little hands.
A loud thump from upstairs alerted them to the location of the scoundrels responsible. Susan, placing the bread down on the table (which, miraculously, had not been completely dismantled), was about to give them a piece of her mind when she was stopped by Peter's hand.

He shook his head.

"Cut some bread, Su. I'll deal with them."

She nodded and went into the kitchen. Her scream of fury echoed into the living room, causing the brunette to wince.

I suppose the kitchen isn't much better, then.

He made the trek upstairs, two at a time (something Edmund was very jealous of), schooling his features. To be honest, he would have rather enjoyed whatever game the two were playing, remembering the trouble he and Susan would get into before their younger brother and sister had arrived. However, being the responsible eldest child, he would behave in a grown up manner and deal with them accordingly-

Peter turned red in rage as he saw them lying in the wreckage of what was once his room.

"What the bloody hell is going on here!"

Lucy jumped, eliciting a groan from Edmund as she landed on top of him.

"P-Peter?" came the high pitched squeak from his youngest sister, the handkerchief tied around her head fluttering to rest upon Edmund's face. The ginger haired boy didn't make any attempt to move either the fabric or the girl sitting on his bruised stomach; after all, she was the only thing standing between him and a scolding.

"Edmund, you should have known better!"

Or maybe not.

--Fort--

Edmund was muttering a few choice obscenities under his breath. Of course, being that he only knew three, it didn't really amount to much. Nearby, Lucy was picking up her dolls, removing the tea towels and handkerchiefs adorning them and stroking their hair. Feathers were covering the floor, along with various articles of clothing and now-inedible peanuts that had started the fight off (Edmund had found it extremely amusing to see parts get stuck in her fair hair). A small set of paints that Peter had received for Christmas had also been victims to the small war wagered in the room; half of the west wall was now smothered in yellows and blues of varying hues ((2)). Their parents had returned home earlier than expected, so they now had a month's confinement under supervision to look forward to on top of cleaning Peter's room.

They had been working for a few hours now, but despite their best efforts, they couldn't seem to get it to look any more respectable. It didn't help that Lucy had started to doze off from tiredness.

"Lu, why don't you take a nap?" Edmund sighed, scrubbing at a particularly stubborn patch of wall. The green was a worthy opponent, to be sure, but the boy was not deterred.

Lucy sat back on her feet, rubbing her eyes. Edmund stifled a giggle as he saw her smudge her face with the blue covering her hand.

"Don't be silly, Eddy," she replied, oblivious to her now azure cheeks. "I made just as much mess as you did, so I have to do as much to put it right."

Edmund laughed softly and beckoned her to him. As she sat on his lap, he grabbed a fresh cloth and cleaned her face.

"Well, I'm bigger than you, so I do more. And you're a girl, and you're little."

Lucy turned to face her brother, pouting.

"That's a reedilc… ridicky… stupid reason," she replied. The older sibling just smiled in return.

"Besides," she added. "I'm not the least bit tired."

The suspiciously sneaky yawn that crept out of her mouth betrayed her. Deciding to forget her previous statement, she pulled her brother's arms around her and snuggled into his shoulder.

"That was grand fun, wasn't it Eddy?"

The freckled boy nodded, starting to stroke her hair gently. As Lucy was getting older, she wasn't giving him as many hugs as she used to (admittedly, it was mostly his own fault). She still went to Peter and cuddled him, or spent hours in Susan's arms, but the close bond he had shared with his only younger sibling had been breaking down slowly over a few months. He appreciated having this moment, and decided that any amount of hard work was worth it.

"Would you like to hear a story, Lu?" he asked softly, feeling her affirmation as she nodded into his shoulder. He shifted position slightly, to try and stop himself from going numb, before beginning.

"Once upon a time in the nothingness long ago… There was a Wumpalump. I am, thought the Wumpalump. I am love, I am joy, I am peace. Nothing there is but me. I am all things… And with the Wumpalump was the Word. And the Word was the Wumpalump."((3))

Edmund continued to tell the tale to his sister, knowing perfectly well that she was sound asleep after the first sentence, but enjoying himself anyway. As he spoke, he thought of how much he cared for his family, and vowed to do his best to protect not only Lucy, but Susan and Peter too.

They were, after all, his family.

--Fort--

Edmund grinned nastily at Lucy as she ran out, tears pouring down her cheeks. It was a foolish story, really; fauns and magical lands in a wardrobe? What on earth could be next? Even as his other siblings glared at him for his comments, he shrugged them off. Why should he care if they didn't agree with his methods? He was just having a little fun.

He went to the bedroom he was sharing and sat on his bed, pulling a stained cloth from his bag. He looked at it sadly for a moment, before his face hardened once more.

Idiots, he thought. I'm just protecting her, helping her to get used to reality. After all, life isn't all fairy tales and games.

If he had learnt anything at his new school, it was to depend on no one, least of all family.

He was about to put the cloth back into his bag, when he paused. A cruel smile made its way to his lips, and as he left the room, he dropped it into the wicker bin by the drawers.

With it, he broke his promise.

Ooh, I ended on a bit of a mean note, eh?

((1)) I think that the area they lived in was probably safe enough to do this back in the '30's; I did check with my great-grandmother, and she reckons that it's fair enough too. She was roughly 11 at the time this is set. Cool, eh?

((2)) That was a total accident, I swear, but I decided to keep it anyway. I like rhyming, so sue me!

((3)) This is a pretty hilarious retelling of the Bible in about 7 pages, aimed at little children. I thought it was adorably funny, so here it is! The address, if you're curious, is: http/ www. magickeys.c om/book s/wumpl ump/p age1.html… Just don't forget to remove the spaces!

OK, it dragged and it sucked, I know. This I what happens when I watch Disney films ("You Wish") and do Narnia quizzes from extras… The BBC series. Jonathan (Ed) eating too much Turkish Delight was kinda funny… And the Witch knocking her crown off… And Mr Beaver falling on his face… And Aslan in a nightcap with a water bottle… And Aslan dancing with sunglasses! Or Caspian laughing at the drunkard of a doorman… Or Dragon!Eustace using a bucket and spade… Or Reepicheep and his horrendous trunks with sun cream and doing ballet… (VofDT)…

Wow, 4 pages long! That's like a record for me, actually!

Well, please tell me what you think in reviews! Please oh please?

Yours,
Straitjackit.

PS: Sorry, that REALLY sucked!