A/N: Just because I'm nice, I've managed to risk my computer's "health" to write and post this.

Also, I have another problem. Although I know exactly what's going to happen throughout the rest of the story, I don't have any idea how to do it. Does anyone else get that feeling sometimes where all of your ideas are just jumbled together and no matter what you do, it just doesn't go away? Yeah. That's what it is. But I'm trying!

I love you all so, so much. Thanks for sticking with me through this! :)

-Chapter 21-

Avaline gawked at the sight before her. She couldn't believe her eyes. It must be a dream; this can't be happening, she told herself, but what she saw through the wide open doorway of her boyfriend's bedroom couldn't possibly be mistaken as a dream.

Edmund Pevensie stood in the center of his bedroom, his arms wrapped tight around her waist, her arms around his neck. He used his arms to pull her closer to him as they kissed, and she smiled into their kiss. Edmund smirked as he saw his chance and deepened it.

The brown-haired queen couldn't move. That was her and Edmund's thing, no one else's. Avaline was the one that smiled, Avaline was the one that became shocked when he deepened the kiss. It wasn't supposed to be like this, with her. Not with anybody but the queen. She wanted to black out and awaken to find she'd been dreaming, but unfortunately, she couldn't.

Avaline didn't notice when her mouth fell open until a sound escaped her lips. A sound of the purest agony she'd ever heard. A sound of pain, true pain.

Edmund suddenly released the girl and they both spun around to face the maker of the noise. It was then that Avaline really wanted to black out, because it was also then that she discovered the girl's identity.

Her Edmund was kissing Morgana of Calormen.

The dark-haired king stared at Avaline, eyes wide. Morgana simply smirked the most wicked smirk she had ever seen. It was a smile that proclaimed victory, a smile that told Avaline she has won. And she had already claimed the prize.

"A-Ava, I can explain," Edmund stuttered, holding a hand out as if to stop her. Avaline shook her head, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. When she heard Edmund's voice, the tears spilled over.

"How could you?" she whispered.

"Ava, just give me a second to explain, please!"

But she didn't.

Avaline threw open the door to his bedroom, hardly noticing when it slammed back against the wall behind it. Her dark green dress and grey-blue cloak flew out behind her as she ran. The soft chocolate brown curls bounced violently against her back, but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel anything but the pain.

As she reached the end of the corridor, she began to lose breath. But she couldn't stop. Avaline ran, faster and faster, never slowing, never stopping, until she abruptly hit something hard.

She stumbled backward, her arms out as she tried to regain her balance. Someone caught her as she nearly fell over, and she looked up into the eyes of a blonde-haired man whom she had come to know by the name of Peter.

"Avaline?" he said, confused. The two locked eyes for a moment, her red, swollen brown eyes meeting his perfect blue ones, before she threw her arms around him.

"Peter!" she exclaimed, burying her face in his broad, muscled chest.

"Avaline?" the blonde-haired king said again. At this time of night, around twelve in the morning, right before he would change and go to bed, was not the time he expected to find a crying queen in his arms.

Peter was expecting a full explanation when the girl next spoke, but all he heard was, "Oh, Peter, I'm so glad I found you!"

"Avaline," he began. The chocolate-haired girl looked up at him. "What happened?"

"I-I saw-"

"What happened?" Peter encouraged. "What did you see?"

"Ed-Edmund-" was all the poor girl could get out before she began crying again, her face held to his chest. The High King lost his calmness just then.

"What happened to Ed? Is he hurt? Where is he?!"

"Not-hurt," Avaline stuttered. "He k-kissed-"

Peter looked at the brown hair of the girl before him, waiting for more. All she had said so far, that he could piece together, was she saw Edmund kiss something. "Go on," he probed.

"Edmund k-kissed M-Mor-Morgana!" she choked out, breaking into sobs. Her fingers, which were wrapped around Peter's neck, now clutched his blue tunic tightly, her knuckles turning white as the skin stretched across the bone.

Peter didn't know what to say. It seemed nothing could make this situation better. Edmund, his innocent jokester of a brother, had cheated on his girlfriend. Not just his girlfriend, though. Edmund had been so in love with Avaline that he had been planning to propose to her for over a month, wanting the setting and timing to be perfect for the memorable moment. But now... Peter didn't know what to think.

Avaline was crushed. Her world had been flipped over and turned upside down in a day. One short, insignificant day that should have been the best day of her life.

Edmund should've proposed, like rumors said he would. He should've given her a beautiful ring. They should have been planning their wedding now. Avaline should have gone to bed thinking of a family, and thinking of the life her and Edmund would live together. Everything that should have been perfect was ruined.

"Hey, Peter," a woman's voice said. They could hear someone walking toward them and rounding the corner that would lead her to the center of the hall where they stood. "I need you to come back to the bedroom. There's a spider on the wall. I can't find Edmund, and Caspian refuses to touch-"

And there she stopped. Analiese, who was now standing a few feet ahead of Peter, let out a gasp. "Peter," she said cautiously. She took a step forward, seeing Avaline, to stand next to them. "What happened?"

"I'll explain it all later. Right now I need you to get her to the bedroom."

"Where are you going?" Analiese asked her husband worriedly.

"To kill somebody."

And those were Peter's true intentions. Avaline was like family to the Pevensies, and the High King would not tolerate his brother treating his own girlfriend badly.

"Come on, sweetie, let's get you to my room," Analiese murmured quietly, prying Avaline's hands from Peter's tunic and wrapping her arms around the crying girl's shoulder.

Peter was heading off in the direction of Edmund's quarters while Analiese led Avaline to the hers and Peter's when they heard running footsteps. They were pounding loudly against the dark, carpeted floor of the hallway.

Avaline looked up from the ground just in time to see Edmund running around the corridor. His feet skidded to a stop when he saw her. The queen's mascara dropped down her face with her tears and her clothes were wrinkled. He wondered what she had done to get in this horrifying state.

At first, the Just King's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. He couldn't think of what to say, but he knew that whatever he could say wouldn't be enough to explain his actions. But he also knew he couldn't stand there, inaudible and motionless, forever.

"Ava, let me explain," he tried, moving a step closer to her.

Analiese wrapped her arms tighter around the younger queen's shoulders. "Keep away from her," she warned. Edmund looked taken aback by the blonde-haired queen's tone.

"Analiese-"

"Edmund, I don't want to have an argument with you, so just stay away," she said. Edmund saw a piece of brown hair fall over his girlfriend's face and longed to brush it away; longed to touch her face. He moved a step closer. "Edmund, don't you think you've hurt her enough today?"

The dark-haired king froze. His eyes glazed over, and Analiese could tell he was seeing things in his mind that were invisible to everyone else around him. And then, without warning, his eyes narrowed and he refocused his gaze on the two women before him.

"You think I did this on purpose," he said. Analiese nodded, not noticing the furious look that came into his eyes. "You think I wanted to hurt her?"

"Well, if you look at what your actions lately-"

"Who gives a flip about my actions?!" he sneered. Analiese stepped back, pulling the crying queen with her. "All I wanted was the best for her. That's all I wanted. Is that so horrible?"

"Edmund, I don't think you get what you've done. You-"

"I know what I did!" he shouted. Then, as if he realized how horrid he was acting, he lowered his voice. "Just let me explain what happened."

"Edmund," the High Queen cautioned.

"Analiese," a quiet voice whispered. "Let him talk." Avaline raised her head from her friend's shoulder and looked at her boyfriend.

"Please, give me a chance to-"

"Edmund," Avaline interrupted. "Just spit it out."

Edmund shifted uncomfortably under the glare of his brother, who stood in the corner of the room, monitoring the three. He met Peter's gaze and quickly looked away when his blue eyes glared daggers at him.

"I-I... kissed... her," Edmund began. Analiese nodded, beckoning him to continue. "And I understand you're upset."

"You bet to Aslan I'm upset!" Avaline exploded, her impatience bubbling inside her.

"Ava-"

"Don't call me that!" she shouted, breaking free of Analiese's arms and moving closer to him. "I can't believe you have the nerve to come here and talk to me as casually as you are right now... and after what you did to me."

The Just King stood his ground, shocked. He had never had Avaline yell at him before. He'd yelled at her a few times, but she had always stayed calm and never lost her temper.

"I think it'd be best for you to go," Peter said coldly, his blue eyes shooting his younger brother a deadly glare from where he was standing in the corner, having reappeared once he realized Edmund was with the girls.

"But I-"

"Edmund," the High King interuppted. "I said to go."

And so the Just King left, his heart aching in guilt and shame as he entered his room, slammed the door, and sobbed himself to sleep, knowing in the pit of his heart that Cair Paravel would never be the same.

A/N: Yeah, I know. Some of you probably guessed this was coming. For those of you that didn't, PLOT TWIST. If I were Ava, I'd probably have had a mental breakdown by now. Just sayin'.

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