𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 ━ edmund pevensie¹

One

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𝕴'𝖒 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖚𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖞 𝖙𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖉, 𝖇𝖚𝖙
𝖓𝖚𝖒𝖇 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖞, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕴 𝖈𝖆𝖓'𝖙
𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘.

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━━━━━━━１９９０

CORNELIA ROSE, gasping slightly, from the fountain. By some miracle, she was completely dry as she pushed herself to her feet. Her hands were empty as she'd remembered to give Susan the sketchpad (which had somehow found its way to her room at the end of their adventures.) Unlike her first return, adjusting back to London took far less time as this departure hadn't been as jarring.

Still, she could feel the immediate loss of her emotional connection with Edmund, the familiar submerged-under-water feeling overwhelming her. She squeezed her eyes shut, her heart aching at the thought of the days and days that stretched out before her until she could see her soulmate again. Scrubbing her hands over her face to try and release herself from the dreamlike cobwebs, Cornelia turned away from the fountain and began to make for home. 

(But not her real home, she knew.)

Even though it had truly only been thirty minutes since she'd first left the house, she didn't feel like being out anymore. On her return walk, she thought of everything that had happened this time. Her reunion with Edmund, their discovery of Cair Paravel, Acacia's rebirth and Peter's mistaken leadership. Their first meeting with King— prince at the time— Caspian, the clash of the two kings and Edmund's acceptance of the Queen's Gambit. She thought of the battle for the Narnians and their victory, Aslan's reappearance, Acacia's connection to the earth and Caspian's coronation.

As impossible as it seemed, all of those events had only happened in months, not like the fifteen-year reign she'd had with the Pevensies. Cornelia could feel the absence of the magical land, of the light and warmth that seemed to pour out of every corner. Just like the first time she'd returned, earth felt dull and lifeless in comparison (though that could also be attributed to her muted emotions.)

Looking up at the sky, she'd never truly realized how perpetually gunmetal gray it was. It was nothing like Narnia's robin's-egg-blue and was rarely as warm. This world lacked the shining sun and the boy who made butterflies waltz in her stomach, the one who truly felt like home. It seemed that all she had here was emptiness and heartbreak and the inability to be happy anywhere but there.

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"I know you've said that your way of coping was to focus on material items," Cornelia said to Susan as they slowly walked the grounds of the old house, "but how did you move on from your soulmate? You only got to meet him once."

The older woman gave her a sad smile, "I've always been rather practical as I'm sure you know. Even when we first met all those years ago, I didn't fool myself into thinking we could have any sort of future. Not every girl is destined for a prince— or a king, I suppose. Believe me when I say it hurt to leave him just as much as it did for my siblings to leave their soulmates. I made it a point to move on as I knew I wouldn't be able to be happy otherwise."

"Did you ever find anyone else?"

"No one quite like Caspian," she admitted, "but there were others, yes," Cornelia met Susan's eyes— with a jolt, she realized she'd never noticed how blue they were (as blue as the Narnian sky) — as she continued, "I know that hardly any boy— or anyone, for that matter— could compare to being with your soulmate but eventually you will have to learn to live here, Lia. You only get to go so many times, you know."