₁.₀ YES TO HEAVEN; peter pevensie

006.

From the moment she's first met him, Birdie knew Edmund Pevensie was going to be a nuisance.

What she didn't expect, however, was for the boy to escape the dam (for the lack of a better word to describe his actions), seizing the first opportunity to go to the White Witch without the rest of them taking notice of his disappearance. And it's not like she considers herself in any way responsible for him, yet Birdie cannot help being irritated with herself as her eyes spot Edmund's figure nearing the castle's gates far in the distance - how come they've all managed to actually lose him so easily?

Honestly, his siblings should keep him on a leash.

Lucy shouts her brother's name, only for Mr. Beaver to silence her harshly, "Shh! They'll hear you!"

Next to her, Peter exhales loudly, causing Birdie to avert her gaze from the castle. It's a sound of a man defeated, but something about it reminds her of a person making a tough decision, torn between Scylla and Charybdis. And so, before she has a chance to ask the boy what he's doing, Peter launches forward, ready to rush into danger for the sake of his brother.

Bravery, that much he has. Reason is a different matter completely.

It's a good thing Mr. Beaver somehow manages to keep his mind calm, getting hold of the boy's coat just in time. "No!"

"Get off me!" Peter shakes his grip off. His tone is a mixture of anger and desperation at being stopped from getting to Edmund, of worry and guilt that he allowed for this situation to occur in the first place.

"You're playing into her hands!"

Susan takes a step forward, her brows furrowed. "We can't just let him go!"

"He's our brother!" adds Lucy.

"He's the bait!" snaps Mr. Beaver. "The Witch wants all four of you!"

"Why?"

"To stop the prophecy from coming true," interrupts Birdie, her voice strangely calm. Of course, she thinks, of course it is that way. Ever since she first set her foot in Narnia, she couldn't shake off feeling that it's just her mind playing tricks on her, a product of a sleepless night. But the danger is real, that she cannot deny; and, instead of the dread manifesting through panic erupting underneath her skull, Birdie's veins fill with something cold. As though the ice has gotten to her insides, too. And that is what Peter sees when she rises her eyes to meet his own. "To kill you. You can't just storm into there, demanding she lets you two leave the castle alive," she says, her gaze unfaltering. "It would be pointless, you would just hand yourself over."

It's already obvious that Peter is on the verge of going mad with worry. And the fact that Birdie seems unfazed by his brother's fate causes anger to take over his features to the point where nothing else remains. "Then what would you have me do?"

"I-I don't..." Birdie struggles to get any words out. Is that a serious question? She may be clever, but, if Peter Pevensie really expects her to just magically come up with a brilliant and well thought-out plan that wouldn't put them at risk...

"So, should I just abandon my brother? Turn my back on the fact that, from now on, he'll be held captive by an evil witch?! All because I failed to-" Peter stops abruptly and Birdie wonders whether it's because of that lump that form in a person's throat when one is about to cry. But then he stalks over to her, stopping only when their chests are inches apart. He's so close she can see fury in his eyes even despite how dark it is. "Look, you don't have to go with us, if that's what bothers you," he says, his voice more quiet now, the words meant for her and her only. "It has nothing to do with you, after all. Nothing's holding you here. Edmund isn't your brother and you're not a part of the prophecy. So, please, feel free to return back home, where you can play in the mud or do math, or whatever the hell it is that you do. At least I'll have one less thing to worry about."