No Matter What - Edmund Pevensie X Reader

Chapter 11 - The Sea Serpent

The next thing the crew knew, they had all fallen over. Something had hit the Dawn Treader from underneath. The ship continued to rock, as everyone slowly tried to pick themselves up off the floor.
"Look!" said Caspian, pointing to a large, scaly, eel-like creature that was moving in and out of the water, "What is that?"

"It's too late! It's too late!" Lord Rhoop began to wail.
But the others had noticed that the creature was underneath the ship now.
"Gael!" Lucy cried out suddenly.
Poor Gael was crouched at the opposite side of the deck, and behind her the creature fully revealed its tail from the water, soaking her completely. Then, out of the mist emerged a great, snake-like head. And in an instant, Y/N knew that it was a sea serpent. Lucy rushed to collect Gael and bring her to safety.

The serpent drew closer, and Y/N looked around everywhere, but she could not find the one person she knew could help - Eustace. That is, until a puff of fire breath burst into the serpent's face. But the serpent grabbed Eustace with its mouth and swung him back and forth repeatedly, until it finally tossed him away onto a rock, as if Eustace were a mere toy. Poor Eustace looked completely limp, laying on the rock. He breathed a final fiery blast into the serpent's face, and the serpent submerged itself again, trying to put out the flames.

Y/N tried to focus on the whereabouts of the serpent, but she was snapped out of it when Lord Rhoop threw his sword into Eustace's arm. Eustace looked to be in enough pain already, and flew off out of the cave.
"No! Come back!" Lucy shouted after him, but it was too late.
Y/N put her hand on Lucy's shoulder and said, "He knows what to do with the sword, Lu. He'll be fine."

In the meanwhile, Lord Rhoop began wailing again about how everyone was doomed.
"I swear I'm going to strangle him," Y/N muttered to Edmund.
Lord Rhoop abruptly turned the steering wheel, which startled everyone, before Drinian finally punched him and took charge of the wheel. He commanded the aft crew to get back to their rowing positions.

The serpent charged out of the water again - this time, sliding across the deck. It went under and came back over again, and Y/N realised that it was trying to crush the ship. Lucy took Gael down to the chambers, while the rest of the crew tried their best just to remain standing - the constant rocking of the ship was making it hard to do so.

"Ed! Y/N/N!" Caspian yelled, "We ram the serpent, smash him on the rocks."
"Steer her to port! We'll keep it on the prow!" Edmund shouted back.
"Head up to the dragonhead, we can't do much from down here," Y/N said to Edmund, and so the two of them hurried up to the prow and began climbing up the dragon stem of the ship.

Y/N sat on the back of the dragon's neck, while Edmund sat in its mouth and shined his torch at the serpent's eyes.
"Try and kill me, come on!" Edmund yelled, "Come on, I'm here!"
The serpent lunged at Edmund, and that's when Y/N began yelling, "Yoo-hoo! Try and catch me!"
The serpent moved its attention to Y/N, who began sliding down the dragon neck. When she finally got off the stem of the prow, she ran up to the edge and leaned forward, ready to plunge her sword into the serpent's body. But the serpent caught sight of her and moved out of the way, causing Y/N to fall off the ship, head-first into the water.

"Y/N!" Edmund cried.
"Archers, read yourselves!" Drinian commanded.
Lucy stood tall and steady, as she aimed at the serpents head with Susan's bow and arrows. Her posture was the image of elegance, but her face said she was determined to kill the serpent.
"I'm still here!" Edmund screamed at the serpent, now standing atop the dragonhead.
The serpent was caught between the Dawn Treader and the rocks. It snarled at Edmund, before something hit it right in the eye. It was Lucy's arrow. The serpent began to sway slowly, and hit the ship, causing Edmund to tumble off the stem and onto the deck. The blow sent the Dawn Treader floating backwards. Caspian helped Edmund back to his feet, but Edmund was only looking around for Y/N.

Y/N was clinging on to the bottom of the Dawn Treader, waiting for the right moment to strike. She realised that the only way to catch the serpent off-guard was to hit it when it least expected. Meanwhile, overlooking the deck of the ship, the serpent's frill flared out, and you didn't have to be a snake or marine expert to know that that meant danger. Caspian knocked an absent-minded Edmund out of the way, as the serpent charged at them.

Caspian sliced off one of the fingers on the serpent's frill, which faded away as the green mist.
"We can beat this," said Caspian.
"We have to get it closer," Edmund responded.
"All hands to the main deck!" ordered Drinian.
"Readey the harpoons!" commanded Caspian.

The serpent was chomping down on the mast, trying to submerge the ship along with itself. Caspian and other members of the crew threw their harpoons at the serpent and pulled its head down, while Edmund climbed the shrouds. Edmund had finally reached the top of the mast, when a familiar, cold face appeared once again.

"Edmund," the White Witch said, her eyes a sickening green, "What are you trying to prove, Edmund? That you're a man? I can make you that. I can make you my king. Just take my hand. Just give in."
The serpent was starting to pull away from the harpoons. Edmund maintained eye contact with the Witch, lost in a trance, until his sword glowed a luminous, striking blue, just like the swords at Aslan's Table. The White Witch looked down at the sword in fear.

Edmund wheeled around and, just as the serpent pounced on him, pushed his sword into the upper palette of its mouth. That was when Y/N took the opportunity to slam her sword upwards into the beast's belly. The serpent began to sway again, and emitted a few bolts of lightning, before falling backwards into the water.

Y/N climbed up the pilot ladder and onto the deck, where Edmund welcomed her in an exhausted embrace. They were about to break apart, when Lucy rushed to them and joined the hug. Several beams of light pierced through the dark grey clouds.
"The spell," said Lucy, "It's lifting."
"Caspian, look!" Y/N shouted.
Before long, all of the dark clouds disappeared, and were replaced with the beautiful blue sky.

"Narnians! Narnian!" one of the crew members shouted suddenly.
And when everyone looked towards the horizon, they found that he was right. Dozens of boats filled with people were headed their way.
"Mummy!" Gael shouted, as she recognised her mother in one of the boats.
Both Gael and her father, Mr Rhince, jumped into the water to meet her halfway.

"We did it," said Lucy, as Caspian joined her, Edmund and Y/N, "I knew we would."
"It wasn't just us though," said Edmund.
"You mean-"
"Hey! Hey! I'm down here! Lucy!" shouted Eustace, back in human form, "Over here! Hey, Lucy! I'm in the water, Lucy!"

"Eustace!" Lucy exclaimed.
Nobody had ever been this delighted to see the boy before, but here they were - Edmund, Y/N, Lucy and Caspian - welcoming Eustace back aboard the Dawn Treader with the widest grins ever. And Eustace himself wore the biggest smile Y/N had ever seen.
"I'm a boy again! I'm a boy!"
"Eustace! I see your wings have been clipped." cheered Reepicheep, before jumping into the water to join Eustace.

"Where the sky and water meet," Reepicheep began to sing, "Where the waves grow ever sweet- It is sweet. It's sweet!"
The others on deck looked on curiously and chuckled as Eustace and Reepicheep tried tasting the water.
"Look! Look!" declared Reepicheep.
The others looked to where he was pointing.

"Aslan's Country," mumbled Caspian, "We must be close."
Y/N squeezed Edmund's hand and looked up at Caspian, saying, "Well, we've come this far."