Chapter Four: No Promises

It had been a whole hour, and since being cleaned up Edmund had been sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at the ground and swinging his legs back and forth, fiddling with his fingers as he waited for his brother to come back.

It was nearly midnight now, so surely he should be back soon? Unless he'd just gone straight to his own room?

Edmund sighed, running a hand through his hair, before he heard a light knock at the door.

He swallowed hard, before slowly standing and walking over, opening the door and praying it was Peter.

When he saw that it was, he took a deep breath, relieved that he was okay. "Hey." He whispered.

Peter bit his lip. "Hey." He mumbled. "Can - Can we talk?"

Edmunds eyes slipped shut. "Can we not?" He sighed. "It's late Peter, and I know exactly what you're gonna say anyway."

Peter stared at him for a while, before slowly nodding. "I just - I just don't wanna see you hurt." He whispered.

Edmund sighed again, walking back into the room and keeping the door open so Peter could follow. "I know you don't." He said. "But I don't want to see you hurt either. If this was the other way around, you'd be jumping in to save me too."

Peter hesitated, but he couldn't deny that no matter how much it didn't help his argument. "I know," He mumbled reluctantly. "But I protect you because I'm the oldest-"

"What, and just because you're the oldest you're not allowed to be protected?" Edmund snapped back. "This is ridiculous Peter, you're being hunted down by an evil magician! Yet all you're thinking about is me! Can you for once in your life think about how this is effecting you?!-"

"I don't want to think about me because I'm terrified Ed!" Peter suddenly shouted, shocking his brother. "It's easier to worry about you, to look after you, to make sure you're okay, than it is to think about how I'm feeling about all of this! Because I'm scared Edmund, as you said, I'm being hunted down by an evil magician who wants to kill me, and I'm not ready to die, I'm not ready to leave you all, I'm not ready Ed! And I hate these feelings, I hate being weak, so I worry about you, I let my worry for you overpower my worry for myself, because my mental health can't deal with both, I can't do it Ed, this has all come as such a shock, it's all happened within like a week, everything was absolutely fine a week ago, and I'm just struggling to wrap my head around it all-" He stopped dead, taking a deep shaky breath and almost belatedly realising that he'd exploded and told Edmund everything he'd been feeling. He swallowed hard, sighing. "I'm just scared."

Edmund looked heartbroken, and walked over to his brother, not even hesitating in wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close, burying his face against his shoulder.

Tears rushed to Peter's eyes as he wrapped his arms around Edmunds shoulders, sniffing a little and resting his cheek on the top of his head.

"Nothing is going to happen to you Pete," Edmund choked. "We'll find a way to fix this."

He wanted to say that he himself wouldn't let anything happen to Peter, but that would just work him up again and it certainly wouldn't help, so he just stuck to reassuring him that nothing was going to happen, as much as he wanted to promise that he wouldn't let him die.

"How do you know nothings gonna happen?" Peter choked out. "How do you know I'm not gonna die."

"I just do," Edmund said firmly. "You're my brother, so you can't die. Besides, we all trust Aslan, and surely he wouldn't let you die."

Peter sighed, biting his lip. "I guess not." He mumbled, "Thank you."

Edmund nodded against Peter's chest, glancing up at him a little. "One day I'll be taller than you." He said with a smirk, mainly just to cheer his brother up a little.

Peter shook his head and smiled, before he actually laughed, even if his eyes did still shine with tears. "I highly doubt that will ever happen." He teased gently. "I'll always be taller than you."

"I've still got some growing to do." Edmund replied, pulling away.

"Not much though." Peter smiled.

Edmund playfully rolled his eyes, before taking a deep breath. "We should probably get some sleep." He said. "It's late."

"Yeah," Peter breathed. "Can - Can I stay here?"

Edmund nodded instantly. "I was going to go with you if you went back to your own room anyway," He said. "I don't wanna leave you alone."

Peter smiled sadly. "What did I do to deserve a brother like you." He whispered.

"A lot of things come to mind." Edmund said kindly. "Why don't you go and get changed and then come back?"

Peter nodded, and he was back in his brother's room within five minutes, dressed and ready for bed.

Edmund climbed into his bed, and Peter followed, laying down and staring up at the ceiling.

"You know it's okay to be scared?" Came Edmund's quiet voice after a moment.

Peter turned his head to face Edmund, who was laying on the other side of the bed.

He paused for a moment, before he smiled. "Thank you." He whispered.

Edmund nodded. "Night Peter." He murmured softly.

Peter took a deep breath. "Night Eddy," He whispered. "See you in the morning."

"Where's Peter?"

"Still asleep," Edmund replied, sitting down at the breakfast table.

"You look like you should still be asleep." Susan pointed out.

Edmund shrugged. "I'm okay." He breathed, reaching to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"You definitely should be asleep if you're drinking coffee, you only do that when you're extremely tired."

Edmund froze, taking a deep breath.

"Ed I'm not stupid, you were hurt badly yesterday, by magic, and if it's exhausted Peter, it's exhausted you too." Susan said gently.

Edmund sighed. "I woke up around five." He admitted. "And I was just thinking too much to be able to fall back to sleep again."

Susan nodded slowly, nodding at Edmund to continue pouring his coffee. "I understand." She said. "But just try not to push yourself."

Edmund sighed, and after a while he buried his face in his hands. "What are you going to do?" He whispered. "Peter's terrified! It's been a whole week and nobody's found anything that's even the slightest bit of help!"

Susan took a deep breath. "He spoke to you?" She murmured.

Edmund nodded. "Last night, he snapped," He sighed. "He admitted to me he was scared, and that he couldn't do this. He's scared for both me and him, and you and Lucy I guess. He's scared we're gonna get hurt protecting him, and he's scared he's gonna die. He said he's not ready Susan, and of course he's not ready, he's only 21 years old!"

Susan nodded too. "I know, I know Ed," She breathed. "But I know why he's scared for you too, you're his little brother, and he knows you'll jump in to help him without any hesitation, you're seventeen Ed-"

"Nearly eighteen." Edmund grumbled.

Susan sighed. "That's not the point, you're still his little brother." She said. "I know he needs to be concentrating more on himself, but I'm just saying, I get what he's going through."

Edmund bit his lip, nodding slowly. "I'm gonna go to the library," He muttered. "Maybe there's some books we haven't found."

"You don't want any breakfast?" Susan asked, sounding worried.

"No." Edmund muttered simply, downing his coffee (which probably wasn't a good idea) before leaving the room without another word.

He reached the library, and walked over to one of the furthest bookshelves, scanning the list of books that were there and praying he'd find something.

Around twenty seconds later, he heard someone walking up behind him, and turning to see who it was, smiled when Peter joined him. "Morning." He breathed.

Peter smiled tiredly. "Morning." He replied. "What you doing in here?"

Edmund sighed. "Still trying to figure out what to do." He told him, nodding at the bookshelf. "Wondering if there's a book we haven't read."

Peter bit his lip, nodding a little before sighing. "Ed?" He mumbled. "I - I'm sorry, about last night, I - I didn't mean to snap like that."

Edmunds face fell. "You shouldn't apologise Peter," He said. "Trust me, I understand, you'd kept that all in for a week. Besides, being scared isn't anything to be ashamed of, it's a natural human feeling, and I reckon anyone would be scared if this was happening to them."

Peter smiled softly, only a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Thanks." He whispered, taking a deep breath. "You want a hand?"

Edmund frowned a little. "Don't you want to go and get some breakfast?" He asked.

Peter shook his head. "Maybe in a bit, I'm not hungry right now." He said.

"Alright," Edmund sighed, after all he couldn't very well lecture him about not eating breakfast when he himself hadn't eaten anything yet. "But don't let Susan know."

Peter chuckled gently. "I wasn't planning on it don't worry." He replied.

Edmund smiled, before he went back to scanning the bookshelf, Peter joining him.

"You really reckon any of these books holds an answer?" Peter sighed after five minutes.

Edmund thought for a while. "We've gone through all the books we know talks about the magician." He said quietly. "They've given us nothing, but there could be other books we don't know about."

Peter shrugged a little. "I guess." He breathed, before the two fell silent again.

The silence didn't last long though, as suddenly they heard the library door slam shut, followed by all the curtains closing and the fires going out, leaving the room almost pitch black, but not quite as it was still daylight outside, despite the curtains blocking out most of the light.

Peter and Edmund froze for a moment, before Edmund grabbed Peter's arm and pulled them behind a bookcase, squashing them between the back wall and the wood, holding his breath.

Peter swallowed hard, "The magician?" He whispered.

Edmund hesitated, before nodding slowly. "Who else?" He grumbled.

Peter bit his lip, placing a hand firmly on Edmund's shoulder. "Please," He choked. "Don't do anything stupid."

Edmund stared at Peter for a very long time, before he took a deep breath and gave him a regretful look. "I'm not making any promises."