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To NinjaDevil2000 – Thanks for your review! So glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one too!

To MagicofNarnia – Thanks for your review! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter! Hope you like this one as well!

To PadrePedro – Thanks for your review! I agree, once they left Narnia and met Aslan, they wouldn't go back to the way they were, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't be scared of it happening. Hope you like this chapter!

Enjoy!

Edmund stood on a balcony in the Telmarine castle that overlooked the forest in the east. In the distance, he could see the ocean right at the horizon line. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of music, people talking and laughing as they celebrated the new King of Narnia who was crowned just hours earlier. He had been there celebrating with his siblings and the Narnians and Telmarines, but he soon grew tired of the crowds. He needed some peace and quiet, which he had hardly gotten ever since they got to Narnia.

1,300 years. That's how much time had passed here since they left. He still couldn't really believe it. He knew he should as he had known that time passed differently than it did in England but he never imagined it would be like this. Everyone they knew, all of their friends, were dead. Narnia had been attacked and taken over by the Telmarines. So much had changed in the last thousand years in the magical country. So much had changed for the four of them in just one year as well.

Lucy handled the change the best. Though there were times she obviously missed Narnia, she had faith that they'd come back and quickly relearned how life in England was. Susan took a little bit longer as she was used to getting so much attention and being listened to by everyone. After only a few weeks though, she understood that they were kids again and no longer royals and seemed determined to do what was right and be a proper young lady, almost pretending that they never went to Narnia at all. Edmund wasn't sure how he handled it. He knew that he was a lot better than he was before, but that wasn't saying much. He had been pretty terrible before their first trip, it would've been hard to be worse than that. Peter was the one who struggled the most though.

He got into fights at least once a week. Fights that Edmund joined to help his brother and stop it. The oldest also pushed away his siblings and their parents. They were all worried about him but he wouldn't talk. Then they ended up back in Narnia only to find that everything had changed. Peter immediately took charge but made bad decision after bad decision. He even seemed to consider actually freeing the White Witch and that hit Edmund harder than anything he had done before. How could his big brother, who always did his best to protect all of them do such a thing? Did he forget what happened when they first came to Narnia? Did he forget what she did to him?

Peter looked like he wanted to talk to him about it during the duel with Miraz, but Edmund quickly shut him up. That wasn't the time to talk about it. Not when Peter thought he might actually die. He didn't want to hear goodbyes. In fact, Edmund didn't want to talk about the Witch and everything Peter had done at all, but he knew his brother would find him and bring it up sooner or later.

"There are you." Edmund turned to look over his shoulder and found Peter coming towards him, "What are you doing out here?"

"Just wanted some peace and quiet. I forgot how tiring those parties are." Edmund told him, moving his gaze back to the woods in front of him. Apparently, Peter wanted to talk now.

"Me too." Peter replied. He didn't need to say it, Edmund already knew that it was the girls who enjoyed the parties and entertaining people. Peter however, being the High King pretty much always had to make appearances while Edmund could usually get out of them.

The two brothers stood in silence for several minutes before the older one asked, "Are you alright Ed?"

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" The younger one responded, looking over at him with a confused expression. Peter however, had lowered his head to look down at the ground so he didn't see it.

"It's just, we never got a chance to really talk about, what happened in the How and," Peter said very hesitantly, before Edmund quickly cut him off.

"I'm okay with that."

Peter lifted his head at that and said with a shocked and slightly unbelieving tone, "Really?"

The Just King didn't respond. Turning his head back to face the scenery in front of them, he wondered if there was a way he could get Peter to drop the issue. He really didn't want to talk about how he had really been feeling during the year they were back in England when Peter was acting like a self-righteous prat. And he most definitely did not want to talk about how he almost brought back the White Witch. He didn't talk about it with anyone and he never brought it up. He just wanted to forget the whole thing had ever happened.

"Edmund, I'm sorry." Peter apologized, "I haven't really, I haven't been a good brother since we got back from Narnia."

Edmund didn't even try to deny that as he knew that it was true and Peter wouldn't let him. Instead, having already forgiven his older brother, he said, "It's fine Pete."

"No, it's not." Peter objected, "I was so busy wishing I could go back to being a King again that I didn't realize how I was acting, how I was treating everyone around me."

"If it makes you feel any better, you were still better than I was before we even came here the first time." Edmund told him, turning his head to give him a slight smirk. Peter stared at him for a minute, but when he realized that his younger brother meant it as a joke, he also smirked.

Then he dropped it, and his face turned serious again as he said, "I'm really sorry."

"You said that already." Edmund reminded him, not sure why he was repeating himself.

Peter lowered his head again and said, "I mean, about what happened at the How, with the Witch."

"Oh." Edmund responded, also looking down at the ground. He had thought that he had gotten away without talking about this.

"I, I was just, I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know if I even was thinking." Peter told him, turning to face the woods that the balcony overlooked. He put his hands on the stone railing and gripped it tightly. He had been doing his best to put that whole situation out of his mind, needing to concentrate on his duel with Miraz and the fight with the Telmarines, but now that he was thinking about it, he was furious and frustrated with himself. How could he ever even consider letting her come back? Why had he?

"I just pushed Caspian out of the way and then, and then, it was like," Peter tried to find a way to explain how he felt at that moment, how her words seemed to enchant him.

"Like you were mesmerized? Like you couldn't help but believe that every word she said was the truth? Like she actually cared?" Edmund quietly finished for him.

"Yeah." Peter slowly and sadly confirmed.

"I know that feeling." Edmund whispered, just loud enough that Peter could only barely hear it.

Peter turned to look back at Edmund again, needing to look in his brother's eyes so that he knew that he was serious, then he said, "I'm really sorry Edmund. After you came back, I promised myself that I would protect and take care of you, and the girls. I promised I'd be a better brother, but ever since we got back from Narnia, I've been terrible."

Edmund, meeting his brother's gaze told him, "Peter, I understand what was going on. We all did. We were all struggling after we got back to England."

"I still should've been better." The blonde muttered.

"You can't do anything about it now. What's done is done." Edmund told him, using the words Aslan himself said years ago, "All you can do, is do better going forward."

Peter stared at him for a few seconds, then asked, "When did you get so wise?"

"Probably back when I was older." Edmund answered with a slight smirk, causing Peter to chuckle.

A minute later, Peter's face turned serious again and he said, "Thank you, Ed. For still being by my side, despite how I was acting. For still following me."

"There you two are." A cheerful voice suddenly cut in. The two kings turned to find Lucy rushing over towards them excitedly. Reaching them, she asked, "Aren't you going to join the celebration?"

"We're coming Lu." Peter told her with a smile. However, a suspicious look came on her face and she stared at them. Soon she realized that she had interrupted something important, and with a nod, walked back into the castle and back to the party.

Once she was gone, Edmund took a step closer to the blonde and said, "Peter? You are my King, and before that, you are my older brother. I will always be by your side, and will always follow you."

Peter was speechless. He knew that Edmund was completely loyal to him, but that was back when he was High King, back when he deserved it. Hearing that his little brother was still on his side filled him with both guilt and gratitude. Edmund then smirked and added, "Unless of course, you are really being an idiot, in which case I will whack you on the head and tell you to smarten up."

Laughing, Peter said, "I'm glad."

Before Edmund could make any protest, Peter walked over to him and hugged him tightly. Edmund stiffened in surprise, but was quick to hug him back. Peter then pulled away and said, "Come on, before Lucy and Susan both show up to drag us back."

AN – And that's the end of this story! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited and followed! I hope you all liked it!