𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 ━ edmund pevensie¹

Seven

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...𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊...

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AT THE realization of where they'd returned, the Pevensies exchanged joyful smiles before they took off down the beach, shedding their outer layers as they went. Edmund did his best to be as happy as his siblings were as he followed them into the shallow surf but he couldn't stop himself from looking around, hoping that maybe—

Salty water splashed in his face and caused him to startle. Lucy smiled brightly up at him, thinking she would get away with it. He'd show her. He gave as good as he got, the younger girl falling flat on her arse but she only laughed at the accident. They continued to mess around in the waves until— Edmund froze as he felt wonder sweep over him (an emotion that wasn't his.) Just like the first time, it felt like he'd been submerged beneath the ocean they were playing in and he jerked around to face the way they'd come.

Noticing her brother's pause, Susan gave him a concerned look, "Ed?"

Staring past her, he let out a breath, "Nelly."

"I'm Susan, remember?" she reminded him, wondering if he'd completely lost it.

"No, not you— Nelly!" his voice had risen at the end into a shout as he saw a small, shadowed figure step out of the water and begin to follow their trail of clothes.

Water sprayed around his legs as he raced out of the sea as he shouted her name again, "Nelly!" distantly, he could hear her say something in response. Excitement— more potent than it had been in the last three hundred sixty-five days— surged through him, both hers and his own.

He could see her better as she neared, her clothes completely soaked through the pants (jeans, he remembered) dark and sodden. His feet kicked up sand as he ran across the beach, closerclosercloser. With something between a laugh and a sob, they collided in a rush of arms and sea-scented clothes.

"Oh my God!" Cornelia breathed, her arms wrapped tightly around him, her voice choked, "you're here."

"You're here," Edmund exclaimed in response, his hold on her tightening, "I can't believe it."

He was almost certain his grip on her was too tight but she didn't complain, only clinging to him desperately as if she were afraid to let go. (That if she did, all of this would disappear again.) He buried his nose in her damp hair and swallowed against the lump in his throat, thinking about all of their lost time that they could never (ever) make up.

"It's about time you showed up," Peter said good-naturedly as the other Pevensies joined the pair, "Ed was going to have a cow."

He pulled away slightly to glare at his brother, "I was not."

Edmund looked down at his soulmate (his soulmate!) and grinned, his expression softening instantly as he took in her features. Her plaid, pale pink shirt stuck to her form and clung to all of her curves— and, well, never mind. Her eyes were as brightbright blue as he remembered (though admittedly a bit glassy) and her smile still made his stomach do funny swoops, "hi."

Cornelia beamed at him, "hi."

He wondered if he looked different to her. She had changed slightly— he could see the nights hadn't been any easier on her either. She seemed a little thinner, too, as if she'd eaten less. Despite his siblings standing just behind him, he couldn't wait any longer. Edmund leaned down as Cornelia seemed to sense what he was about to do and tried to stand taller, their lips moving closer and closer as he felt the pent-up emotions from the last year rise to the surface. He did his best to kiss her gently, carefully, as he could feel his siblings' eyes on them, but she shifted slightly against him and the move was so achingly familiar that his cautiousness slowly began slipping away—

"Good lord not in front of us!" Peter protested with disgust, throwing a hand up over his eyes.

Lucy rolled her own eyes at her brother though she looked equally perturbed, "get a room, you two."

Edmund reluctantly pulled away from her, though he couldn't stop the lazy grin from appearing on his lips as she turned pink. Rather hastily, Cornelia went to greet his siblings, allowing his gaze to drift momentarily. His eyes fell on the cliffs above them, "where do you suppose we are?"

The eldest Pevensie gave an amused chuckle, "well, where do you think?"

Cornelia followed his gaze and frowned slightly, "I don't remember any ruins in Narnia."

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As they climbed up the cliff Edmund could feel his soulmate's eyes on him and when he turned, he gave her a curious look, "what?"

"I forgot that you talk funny," she said with a faint grin.

"I do not!" he protested immediately, though he didn't know what she was on about.

"Yeah you do. You sound like you're from the 1940s."

"Well, maybe because I am from the 1940s. Does it really sound different?"

"Do I sound different to you?"

"I've never noticed," Edmund admitted, "but I think so. You phrase your sentences a bit differently and you're more relaxed when you speak."

"Cool," Cornelia remarked.

"Yes, I know what that word means," he added pointedly, making her roll her eyes.

"Oi! You two!" Peter called from up ahead, "save your flirting for later, we haven't got all day!"

He huffed at his brother's interruption, "I swear I'll push him off this cliff," he was rewarded with a bright giggle as his soulmate slid her hand into his.

"No you won't. Come on, Eddie."

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"I wonder who lived here," Lucy said after they'd taken some time to explore the ruins.

She received no answer as they began to hunt more diligently for clues, only for Susan's foot to hit something that was lying on the ground. She picked up the chess piece, "I think we did..."

Edmund lead Cornelia over to where they were gathered, his hand still holding hers, "that's mine— from my chess set."

"Which chess set?" Peter asked.

"I didn't exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley, did I?" he answered sarcastically, "it's from the one Nelly gave me."

"I got you that in the winter of '10," Cornelia remembered, "I wonder where the rest of it is."

"It can't be..." Lucy breathed suddenly before rushing forward, Peter following quickly behind her, "don't you see it?" she positioned her brother and older sister a few feet apart as Cornelia and Edmund fell into place next to them, "imagine walls and columns there... and a glass roof."

Peter pictured the setting as she described it, the answer coming to him, "Cair Paravel."