Bring him home || The Chronicles of Narnia

20: Tell me it's not a dream

Susan took a deep breath. "What do you mean you never died?" She asked. "We - we saw you Peter. You - You weren't breathing."

Peter sighed at the way her eyes filled with tears as she spoke, and glanced down at the ground as he answered her. "I - I don't really know how it's possible either. I guess I was just under some sort of spell, it didn't kill me, more put me to sleep I'm guessing?"

Susan nodded a little. "So what happened? Where have you been?" She choked out.

Peter sighed, and gave Edmund a gentle smile when his younger brother leant against his side, resting his head on his shoulder. "I - I was kidnapped by a hag, not just the one who cast the spell, but two different ones really." He explained. "It seemed the second one knew all along that the other hags spell wouldn't work."

"But Edmund isn't seeing Jadis anymore?" Lucy spoke up, sounding confused.

"Any magic that had worked was destroyed when I broke the vials." Peter said with a small shrug as he wrapped an arm around Edmund's shoulders. "And when I woke up, to say I was shocked would be an understatement."

Edmund took a deep, shaky breath and buried his face into Peter's chest, swallowing hard as he waited for his older brother to continue.

"The hag that had cast the spell took me to some sort of underground cave, tied me up, chained me up, gagged me and starved me."

Susan's face fell, Lucy's eyes filled with tears and Edmund actually let out a quiet sob.

Peter sighed, ignoring their reactions and just continuing. "She told me she was going to kill you Ed, and when she left I'd never been so scared in my entire life." He murmured. "But when she never came back, part of me presumed the worst, and part of me wanted to believe you had killed the hag." He paused for a moment before sighing. "I was stuck in that cave for three weeks before the other hag turned up, I was half starved by that time, tired, exhausted actually, in a lot of pain, and she just made it worse."

"Worse?" Susan murmured, sounding scared.

"The - the reason I just came running in here and knocked the cup from your hand, Ed, was because the wine was poisoned." Peter said slowly and gently.

Edmund froze, raising his head hesitantly to stare at Peter. "What?" He choked out, his brother barely hearing him.

"The hag used my blood to make a poison for you." Peter choked. "She took some of my blood each day for a week, added it to a poison, and then somehow put it in your drink."

"Oh my gosh." Susan whispered, sounding utterly shocked.

Edmund stared at Peter for a moment, before turning his head to glance down at the shattered glass, the red wine pooling around it, and went a rather sickly shade of green.

"How - How did you get out?" Lucy asked quietly.

Peter smiled then. "Aslan sent a bunch of mice to rescue me." He said softly.

Edmund frowned at this. "An important mission." He murmured.

"What?"

Edmund stared up at Peter. "I saw those mice, they said they were going on an important mission." He said, although not very loudly at all.

"Well, now you know what mission." Peter said, still smiling a little as he placed a kiss to the top of Edmund's head.

"So," Edmund whispered. "You were never dead?"

Peter sighed. "Never." He murmured, sounding really upset.

Edmund had begun to tremble, and he tried to hide it, but Peter wasn't stupid. "Its been four weeks." Edmund choked. "We've gone four weeks thinking you were dead."

Peter swallowed hard. "I know Eddy." He whispered. "But - I hope you know, if I could've come home, I would've."

"I guess we have Aslan to thank." Lucy breathed.

"I guess we do." Peter murmured.

"Tell me it's not a dream." Edmund choked. "And if it is, I never want to wake up."

Peter's heart nearly shattered. "It's not a dream Ed I promise." He told him softly. "I know its gonna take a while for you, you all, to come to terms with it, but this is real."

"It is a little bit of a shock." Susan said, taking a deep breath.

"A little bit?" Lucy muttered, disbelief in her voice.

"It will take some getting used to." Peter sighed. "For you guys at least. For me, well, at least one of my siblings haven't come back from the dead."

This got a smile from Susan and Lucy at least, and Peter smiled gently back at them, but by this point he really wasn't feeling well at all.

"Maybe you should rest?" Susan suggested. "After everything you've told us, it's clear you've been through a lot."

Peter sighed, his arm tightening around Edmund's shoulders as he nodded a little. "Sounds good." He whispered.

He went to stand, but Edmund refused to let go.

"Come with me." Peter told him, helping him to his feet and leading them both over to his bed.

"I'll have some food and a bath ready for when you wake up." Susan told Peter as he climbed under the covers, pulling Edmund under with him.

Lucy went to grab her cordial but stopped when Susan held out her hand without Peter seeing.

"Thanks Su." Peter murmered, already half asleep as he pulled Edmund close, as if protecting him for something that wasn't there.

Edmund himself looked like he was asleep already, but he probably wasn't, more trying to reassure himself that was was happening was real.

Susan waited until Peter had fallen asleep before turning to Lucy. "Now give him the cordial." She told her. "He won't take it willingly, he's worse than Edmund."

"I'm not that bad." Came the tired reply from said brother, causing Susan and Lucy to smile. "But yeah, give it to him before he wakes up."

Susan sighed as she watched Lucy give their oldest brother the cordial, running a hand over her face and taking a deep breath, it had been quite a day, and she was still unsure if what had happened was even happening.

It was rather a shock, and it was going to take a while to adjust and believe.

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