𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑼𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒂 ⚔ 𝐸𝑑𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑒

Part 11: Edmund

It wasn't the cleverest nor the bravest thing to do. But the situation left her without any choice.

The sight was too ghastly to behold. The minotaurs were replicating themselves. The tearing of flesh from flesh was audible. Y/N wanted to vomit but ended up spitting on the snow. Her face was drained of color despite the few burns and grazes.

Her hands were too cold that it went numb. Her armor felt heavier than it had been before. At any given second, she knows she would pass out.

She scurried away from the battleground and disappeared behind an enormous snow-covered stone.

She tossed her unlit torch aside and leaned her head against the snow.

She can't fight any longer

She's not the indestructible heroine that can save everyone.

The world was shut against her ear. She could hear the chaos of the abominable war but she wasn't listening. It pained her to do so.

Her numb fingers had various burns, her fingernails were splintered. She couldn't handle anything at the moment.

Now that the adrenaline from the war diminished on her nerves, she could feel every pain searing down her body.

Maybe she was too engaged in the war as well. But now it ached her to move even a single finger.

Y/N?

Someone was calling her name.

Y/N? Y/N?

When would the help come? Where was Aslan when they needed him?

"Aslan..." she breathed. "Help us..."

Y/N?

The voice was there again. Maybe the battle was creating apparitions on her mind.

Y/N?

She struggled to find where it was coming from. It sounded too real that she knows she wasn't imagining.

She looked around, enduring the pain on her jaw. She blinked several times to adjust to the glistening light of the afternoon sunshine.

Her heart plummeted at once. Her blood ran cold. It seemed like all the pain left her body.

It was Edmund.

He was sitting against a nearby tree, his head leaning on the trunk. Y/N could only see half of his face and body.

But he wasn't on the condition she's expecting.

She went for him, her eyes welling with tears and kneeled before him.

He was oddly-positioned against the tree.

Y/N cautiously wrapped her fingers around the nape of his neck, trying to give the utmost care she could give with her trembling fingers. She positioned him properly.

Her tears made Edmund bleary in her eyes.

But it was lucid to her that his blood was dripping on her fingers when she touched his neck. It trickled down his silver mail and to his armor. The coppery-smell pervaded her nostrils.

How long he'd been like this?

She couldn't think clearly at the moment. She wanted to scream and cry out. But she knows it won't end the war.

She gently put his limp hand between hers. It was colder than they've ever been before. Her tears were solacing the coldness of her cheeks.

"Edmund..."

She had no strength even by saying his name. She never felt as burden-hearted as this.

Edmund opened his eyes lightly and struggled to smile for her. But Y/N noticed the wince he subdued to do so.

Edmund whispered her name. It was followed by this: "I'm...okay."

What a lie.

She wanted to hug him but she was frightened to hurt him even further. Y/N trained her eyes back to the battleground, searching for Lucy. She knows she had a healing cordial.

"W-Wait here, love...I'll f-find—"

She stopped when she felt Edmund's feeble tug on her hand.

"No, Y/N...stay here. I need to say something...."

She doesn't want to see him in this situation any longer but she anxiously attended to him, constantly glancing over the battleground in case the help arrived.

Edmund's voice was more vulnerable but he managed to explain to her what happened. He wasn't visible in the battleground a while ago because he had a plan he failed to share with Peter.

If the White Witch knew about Glorgan's betrayal, of course, she would devise another plan.

Edmund realized that the minotaurs appeared larger than they had been before. It wasn't evident from afar but he swore he did. He sought for the White Witch to pierce her using a harpoon. But a minotaur impeded him by bashing something on the back of his head.

Her tears flowed like an endless stream just by hearing him say this. But she was aware of the idea of not showing this pain to him.

She needs to be strong. For Narnia. For him.

Edmund gave her hand a faint squeeze and told her that a Faun rescued him and promised to call Lucy.

That decreased the prick on her heart.

Edmund fumbled for something beside him. Y/N saw a sharp-pointed harpoon on his hand.

Edmund handed it to her and said, "You have to defeat her with this."

Y/N twiddle it on her palms, causing Edmund's blood to stain it. A phantasm was clawing on her insides. Questions were tugging between her mind.

Can she defeat her?

But she knows her time was limited to save Narnia. She couldn't be thwarted by cowardice.

Edmund stared intently at her with half-lidded eyes. He was drifting into unconsciousness.

"I trust you," he murmured.

Y/N clasped the harpoon between her bloodied fingers. She was determined.

Edmund's hand collapsed from hers. His eyes shut close.

Y/N wiped her sodden face with the back of her hand and shifted her eyes from Edmund's peaceful face and to the vicious war ahead of her.

She cupped his face and kissed him, disregarding the throb of fear in her heart.