Author's Note- Well, thank you to EVERYONE. Your reviews are uplifting, your favoriting (after a personal blunder) were swift and easy, and I have written Chapter Two. xD yey! This chapter is kind of sad, but there will be more focus on Edmund from this chapter on. Enjoy!

Edmund the Just was asleep with his mouth open enough to swallow a Minotaur when he felt himself being jerked awake.

"Wha…" he muttered. "Lion's Mane, I don't want to get up!" Only when the shaking persisted did Ed realize Lucy was the one shaking him…and her eyes were red with tears.

"Ed, oh Edmund, come on, something terrible has happened!" Lucy was saying urgently. "Peter…Great Hall…"

"You've had a nightmare, Lu. Go back to bed.." But before Edmund could say anything else, he felt his feet being lifted off the bed.

She's too strong to be so little, his mind told him. But he cracked his eyes open and stood.

"Alright, I'll show you. You're having a nightmare…"

"There isn't time! I'm going to get Tumnus and Susan, you must hurry!" she said, practically screaming it at him and dashing off.

An uneasy feeling built in Edmund's stomach. Lucy had grown up more when being in Narnia; she wouldn't be chasing after ghosts unless she was very scared. He felt his steps go quickly as he strode down the hall.

The great Hall was lit by a lone candle, one that seemed to be by a large parcel. Edmund leaned over, stomach wrenched up. Peter laid there, his mouth open. Edmund felt for a pulse clumsily; there was one, but only barely. Peter did not seem to have any blood loss or bruising for a fight, but he was obviously near death.

"Someone come, quickly! The King's been hurt!" his voice echoed through the Hall. Susan, Tumnus and Lucy came in, Lucy holding her cordial.

"Move!" she commanded him, so seriously Ed automatically stepped back. Lucy poured a drop into Peter's mouth; then two more, but he did not move.

"What is this?" An older Calmorene came into the hall, his white beard reaching to the knees of his nightshirt.

"Help him!" Susan commanded, trying to stay calm. But how could she, with her brother nearly dead on the floor?

"I will try, milady. I have some supplies in my room."

"What supplies?" Edmund asked.

"Basic medical tools and some medicinal herbs. I am a doctor; my name is Benjamin."

"Well, you must hurry. We don't have a moment to lose!"

XXXXXX

Amid a cluster of herbs and some tools (one including a strange object with a piece of metal attached to something resembling earmuffs) was Benjamin, examining Peter's body.

"This is strange," he muttered, feeling the boy's pulse again.

"What?" Susan asked.

"There doesn't seem to be any wounds- no stabs, bruises… but he's not distributing any signs of sickness either. No fever or chills, no discoloring. I simply do not understand it. I am sorry, miladies, milord. I do not know this sickness."

"My cordial doesn't work," Lucy said brokenly. "This cannot be possible… how could it fail?"

"It's not your fault, Lu." Edmund said kindly. "Su?"

Susan was examining Peter's neck. "He could have been strangled. There are ways to do that without leaving a trace, I read that once."

"You read too much, if he was he'd be dead, and who knows if that was fiction!" Ed said irritably. "We may not have much time, we need someone else; a healer, someone!"

"Guys…" Susan said, turning Peter's head slightly to reveal a heavy bruise.

"Strangling… would not cause this sort of unconscious state," Benjamin said, "and that's the back of the neck. Whatever happened, it was not on purpose."

"He could have slipped…" Susan said. "But that wouldn't cause this. Come feel this, here on his neck."

Edmund moved forward slowly, running his hands over the knot of flesh that certainly was not Peter's spine. "What is it?"

"I don't know." Susan admitted. "I just don't know."

XXXXXX

Peter was taken to a section of the castle none of the Pevensies had known about, a Hospital wing mainly used for treating patients of was in the old days before the Witch. It had been fully restocked as life had been restored to the Caer, and it smelled slightly of cloves. A Beaver, much like Mrs. Beaver that had returned to her home after the coronation, came to them.

"What's all this fuss- oh!" she said, quickly ushering them in. After a lot of fuss by the Beaver, Peter was laid on a bed and given a strange seed for pain. Then, as gently as she could, the Beaver pushed them out. "If he awakens, I will let Your Majesties know," she had said kindly. Lucy, still looking troubled, headed to her chamber. Susan, on the other hand, headed in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" Edmund said, following after her.

"The library."

"Is this really the time, Su?"

"I was going to look up some illnesses. See if I can help Benjamin."

"Oh." Why didn't I think of that? "I'll come too."

The walk to the library was long and painful. Each stride echoed in the halls, and though it was early in the morning, they saw several guests who stared at them with pity. Edmund dipped his head to each, but Susan stared at them with a stony countenance that made them hurry away; Susan the Gentle was anything but when it came to her family's safety. Each breath made Edmund think that Peter could have his last. It hurt almost as much as when their Dad had gone to war; the feeling of hopelessness, the lost feeling that made you feel powerless to help.

He was interrupted by his reverie as they entered the library; where it was or how they'd gotten there was a mystery to Edmund. It was obviously Susan's dream place, if they had been there in any other circumstance.

"How'd you know where we were going?" he asked.

"Peter…he showed me where it was. Thought I might like it," Susan said her eyes sad. Edmund mentally kicked himself. He wasn't doing very well with the kingly manners so far!

"Oh…well, we better get started. There's a lot of books…"

XXXXXX

Hours later, Susan banged her hand on the table, waking Edmund from his sleep on the table next to her.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she cried, banging the old book with the flat side of her fist.

"Hitting the book isn't going to help, Su," Edmund said helpfully.

"I know," she said, slouching down in the chair. "But look!" Edmund scooted over in his seat to peer over Susan's shoulder and onto the cream page.

"Carnages… Canz Syndrome… what is all of this?"

"It's a full medical history in Narnia, Telmar, Calemore and Archenland. I have a theory, but this isn't helping!"

"So Peter has one of these dieseses?" Edmund said, confused.

"No, that's the point! Don't you get it?"

"No, not really." He admitted.

"Do you remember Aunt Sylvie?"

"Yeah; a little." Aunt Sylvie had always visited in the summer when they were on holiday. She had always given them birthday presents, even when times had gotten hard. And she had stopped coming to visit when Edmund was eight.

"Well, she died when she was really young; Mum was devastated. She said that Aunt Sylvie had died from something…I never really knew 'til now…"

"Su!" Edmund said, exasperated. "Just tell me!"

"Fine!" she said, eyes glittering dangerously. "Grandfather; Aunt Sylvie; and now Peter. They all had strange markings on them, little growths. And then they got sick." Edmund noticed Susan's eyes fill with tears. "Edmund, they're tumors."

Edmund watched Susan's mouth move a thousand times, no sound emitting. Tumor…tumor… the word didn't exist, not in Narnia. Everything had changed when they had come here, everything had been wonderful. It was if a personal fairytale had come true for all of them; no one died in fairytales.

"T…tumors?" He stuttered. "But that means cancer."

"I know," Susan said, swallowing audibly. "That would explain why Lucy's cordial wouldn't cure him; or why it's not in any of these books. Cancer-"

"-Doesn't exist in Narnia," Edmund said slowly.

"We have to protect him-everyone!" Susan said. "What if its spreadable?"

"I'm no doctor; how should I know?" All of Narnia didn't matter right now for the new King Edmund. All he wanted was to wish away this nightmare that was overtaking him and to bring Peter back.