Edmund Pevensie had been afraid, nervous, even, of uncountable things in his lifetime, like the ghost house Peter threatened to push him in at one carnival, hazardously high heights, or creepy darkness.

Fear, he realized, was a tangible, normal feeling everyone experienced, yet girls were different. A whole new world to him.

Sure, he had courted dozens of princesses in the Golden Age, none of them like Anna, so real… 'real' in the sense of not being just a flighty dressed-up lady trying desperately to win his attention.

Turning from a courting age into a young teenager once again was another story, as if he had had another dating chance to start over.

'Start over,' the words drummed his head like the beginning of a tournament.

He had never liked unexpected happenings…things that came in his life he could not deal with.

Peter, years back then, when Edmund was a mere twelve-year-old, yet to enter the petrifying world (as he had called it) of dates and dances, had already received invitations as an almost-fifteen-year-old.

"What's that, Peter?" he asked, pointing to a flowery letter his brother was holding, as they sat in their bedroom, "Some sort of a—joke letter?"

Maybe it could be an invitation, Edmund thought, but who on Earth had seen such a funny-looking card?

Peter laughed and patted his dark hair, "It is an invitation, silly," he said fondly, smiling.

"Then why are you looking at it so much?" he questioned. The young Edmund had, of course, been invited to a number of birthday parties, all of which he attended, and even his parents, no matter how much they 'disliked' the hosts of their invitations, had gone to every one of the parties out of politeness. "Don't you want to go? I mean, it's a party, right? Food, games…"

Peter's response was a half-mocking sigh, "Yeah, you're right, Ed," he said, "There'd be all those," Edmund smiling at the sound, "But I'm not going…"

"Why?"

"It's a girl. I…like …and she—" Peter shook his head, "No matter. You don't need to know. Ed, it's not time yet."

"Not time for what? What don't I need to know? Girls?" questions poured out like wildfire. Edmund remembered being so curious at that age. "Why?"

"You'll understand when you're a little older, brother." With one final chuckle, Peter had left the room, leaving the card on his bed.

What girls? Girls were never intimidating!

What Peter was saying seemed completely ridiculous.

But now, he himself stuck in this situation, every word made sense.

"Anna, would you—" an exasperated sigh, more hair ruffling, "Would you…go out with me?"

'Perhaps his brain still needs fresh air,' thought Lucy, hiding her giggle. Her brother, getting up ridiculously early, had taken hours in choosing his 'best clothes,' and was suffering, predictably, 'morning dizziness.'

Without comforting breezes, sunlight almost blinded their eyes, as they turned right from the marketplace's main road into a little village, each house looking as if it's from a fairy tale, painted white, with a nicely decorated front lawn.

Whatever the atmosphere, though, Edmund would not stop his Anna ramblings.

"Seriously," asked Lucy, hands on her hips, "How many girls have you asked out?"

The silence was broken, Edmund turning to her with an awkward smile, "Well, um," he muttered, "Not many."

"Wait," Lucy stopped dead in her tracks, the little fist about to knock on Number 13's door suspended in mid-air, "What did you say?"

Wordlessness engulfed Susan after she had uttered that faithful sentence that made Peter drop his fork on the kitchen table. "I…I said he—"

"He proposed to you?" Susan looking as if she was about to shrink, Peter stared at her straight in the eye, "This is serious, Su, but I think it is your decision to choose the world you wish—"

"But what if I can't?" she sighed, one hand reaching to grip Peter's, "I don't want to lose any of you."

"Nor do you want to lose him," Peter ruffled his brownish blonde mob, "But do you really love him? Really wanting to get married, I mean? To spend the rest of your life with him?"

"I do. I love him with all my heart," was the confession Susan gave.

Though her response was rapid, Susan meant all she said.

As horrified as her brothers were, some boys came into her life, dates running on and off through the years.

Never had she met the person she felt so right with, her The One.

Her Caspian.

Deep inside, opposite to her heart's voicing of staying, Susan, torn between her beloved worlds, had made her decision.

Caspian loved her, that was a definite fact, the other told her loud and clear: he could not leave his Narnians. Nor could she leave her siblings.

For love, would you abandon your family, your world, for love?

The question raged in her mind for the past two days, invading her peaceful sleep routines.

For love.

She would do anything.

"Love yourself, Susan, always, above all things," Mrs. Pevensies had told her before the dating frenzy began. "Whatever you do, don't destroy yourself over a boy."

Young as she was, the second oldest Pevensie understood the message, living up to her mother's expectations.

And pledged never to love unless that someone had loved her the way she was, loved her as she loved herself.

Caspian did.

True, she did care about her siblings, the most precious gifts she had been blessed with in her life, her older, protective Peter, scornful, recalcitrant Edmund, and little charming, lively Lucy.

They meant the world to her. To leave would hurt more than a thousand Caspians leaving combined.

Yet she could not stand being in this world without him.

Peter sighed even more.

He used to be the one in charge, the High King, somehow now the tables were turned.

By forces he could not govern…

"What now?" he pondered, "We can't do this. Not unless—"

"Not unless what?"

The two oldest Pevensies perked up at the sound.

For the asker was none but Prince Caspian.

Lucy cast a cynical glance at Edmund, unbelievable as the day seemed to get. Boy, here was the brother she'd known all her life, practically each and every little secret he had, his grades, his nightmares, but he—wait, one second, honestly?—dared to lie to her.

Lied!

About such a thing as relationships!

"What about those bragging of dates, huh?" each question felt like rocks thrown at him by catapults, "What about the 'stories' you told me?"

Edmund studied the pattern on Anna's welcome mat, feet twitching indefinite directions in guilt, 'Could this day get any worse?'

Then his flopping heart leaped at the sight of a familiar face peeking through the door, "Lucy? Is that you?"

His sister chirped cheerily, a smug simper on her face, "Yes, An—na, and there's someone I'd like you to meet."

Oh, Aslan! She had to do it all so sudden, right? So sudden he didn't even have time to practice his hello speech he had been up half a night thinking of…or even to wipe his, ugh, sweaty hands.

Anna opened the door wider, allowing the siblings to see a neatly arranged living room, complete with colorful furniture and a homely feeling, "Hello," she called, noticing a blob of black hair that was supposedly Edmund, "You there, can you talk?" giggling with Lucy as Edmund continued to talk to the floor.

"Um, yes," he slowly looked up. She was lovelier up close than he'd remembered. "I'm Ed—Edmund."

"Excuse my brother," Lucy said as-a-matter-of-factly, "He's been sick this morning and, you see, can't say his name properly even now."

Anna laughed, Edmund loving yet paradoxically hating every minute of this conversation, "Well, Edmund," she extended her hand, "Nice to meet you."

How nice was it when she said his name, feeling like breezes blowing through the fresh summer daisies?

Edmund's trembling hands shook hers, trying to pull out his best grin, "Anna," his voice seemed somewhat smaller, as if it's spoken through a radio. "N—nice to meet you too."

What was he? A replica of Echo? Why did he have to repeat her phases as the stupid idiot that he was?

"Well, what are you standing there for?" said Anna. Edmund and Lucy looked at each other, Lucy winking at Edmund's startled face, "C'mon in."

Caspian scanned the Pevensies' faces.

"Not unless Susan goes to live with you," Peter tried to find a solution out of the terrible mess he was caught in, "We can't…abandon our lives here, logically," Susan's heart had never thumped louder than it did that moment, "Even though we, above all things, want to live in Narnia, if possible, if Aslan would allow."

"Caspian, Susan," said the High King, "I understand your love for each other, I really do, and there's no one to say I'm happier than ever for you two. Getting married's a big step, I know," the couple nodded, Peter now appeared to them the King he once was, not just a teenager.

"If it's hard for you, Susan," Caspian said at last after a long pause, "I'll—I'll go. I have a kingdom to rule, anyways," himself turning back to leave.

"No," Susan shook her head, holding him back, "Don't. I'm sorry, Peter, but…I really—"

"It's ok, Susan," Peter's sentence almost lifted the rocks off Susan's shoulders, "I…We…we're with you."

Susan's eyes rimmed with tears, as she hugged her brother, Caspian watching the scene in silence, "I don't want to leave you…or any of us…," she sobbed, "Or my life…but—but—."

"But I don't belong here without him."

Peter more than understood his sister's plea. The night right after they had gotten back from Narnia were intolerable, not just for Susan, but for all of them.

Seeing his siblings, especially any sister, hurt meant double for him.

He knew this moment would come—that Susan would have to leave them for Caspian.

But whether the future would be bright or not, he had come to know through their adventures that Caspian was, in fact, a trustable Prince and King…

…who loved his sister so truly he even left his world to come after her.

Besides, other suitors of Susan did not match his, or Edmund's for that matter, eyes.

Only Caspian seemed to break through that test.

At this point, Peter was dithered if he could stand Susan going away for so long, but it was, after all, her wish, her happiness.

The pain he was willing to endure.

Peter squeezed her hand, "There's your horn to think about. We're not far away," he lifted her chin up, smiling at her tearstained face, "Don't cry, Su. Like Dad used to say, be brave. We'll stick together, us Pevensies. What did I promise you before all this—this Narnia adventure began?"

A trace of a grin was visible on her face. "I'll take care of you."

"That's right," said Peter, "And I always keep my promises."

A/N: Thank you, all of you, for your continuous support in this story and in me,

You know I wouldn't have made it without you!

Your ever humble fanfic writer :)