The Magnificent

III

After the meal, everyone gathered upstairs and Susan convinced Lucy to get ready for bed instead of finishing the story from earlier. I was thankful for this and sat on my bed, combing my hair while Lucy brushed her teeth. Susan and I were already finished with our night routines and waiting for Lucy so we could tuck her in as she requested. 

After a few minutes, she wandered back into our room, her slippers sliding across the floor. I set down my brush and walked to her bedside with Susan, who kissed her forehead lightly. I pulled her covers up to her chin and smoothed her hair. "Will you sing to me, y/n?" She asked with puppy dog eyes. "Maybe another night darling, I'm pretty exhausted from acting today." Lucy giggled and said, "Peter almost kissed you." Susan laughed as I blushed and said "No he didn't, he was just trying to make it look real." "Well he sure wants to." Lucy mumbled into her pillow. I laughed and stepped back to my bed, "Goodnight Lucy, Goodnight Sue." "Goodnight." They said in unison. Lucy was still giggling about Peter and I's almost kiss while I waited for them to fall asleep.

Once deep, slow breathing filled the room, I slipped out of bed and into my dressing robe, which was a midnight blue and made of a silk like material so it flowed when I walked. I slipped out of the door and made sure the coast was clear before heading down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" I jumped at the voice, spinning around on the stairs, I stepped on the hem of my robe and toppled backwards. I braced for a painful fall that never came. Someone had grabbed by wrist and had pulled back upright. "I thought you would be asleep by now." The voice said again. "Sleep doesn't come easily to me, Peter. I was going to go outside instead." The blond boy stepped into the soft moonlight on the landing, still holding my wrist. "It's not safe out there by yourself, please, just go back to bed." Peter's eyes glistened, I wanted to protest but I couldn't seem to find the right words. Instead, I just nodded and let him lead me back to our rooms. 

"I appreciate your concern Peter but, I'm not a little kid, I can take care of myself." I said. Leaning on my bedroom door as he reached for the handle of his. "Doesn't mean I can't save you every once in a while." He said with a smirk. "From what?" I replied with a laugh. Peter just shrugged and looked at me one last time before saying "Goodnight, y/n." His low voice sent sparks through my body and I took a minute to respond. After I managed to say goodnight, I slipped back into my room and practically fainted on my bed. The image of Peter's smile danced through my mind and distracted me so much, I didn't notice Lucy's empty bed next to me.

After maybe two or three hours, Susan and I were awoken by a light flicked on in the boy's room followed by muffled yells. We glanced to each other and reluctantly got out of bed. Susan rolled her eyes and took a deep breath before opening the door. 

Lucy was jumping on top of a very exhausted looking Peter yelling about someone named Mr. Tumnus and something called Narnia, while Edmund sulked in a corner with his eyes on the floor. Susan managed to pull Lucy off of her brother while I went to Edmund's side. "Hey." I said softly, "What's got Lucy so riled up?" I studied Edmund's face, trying to seem as nice as possible and realized, he looked to be my age, I'd always thought he was a few years younger. I snapped out of my discovery when he finally answered, "I don't know, she's still rambling about make believe land." 

Susan had calmed Lucy down and gestured to me that we were going back to our room. I put a hand on Edmund's shoulder, expecting him to shy away from my touch but he didn't, "I best be off to deal with that, you get yourself back to bed alright?" He nodded and I got up to leave, but not before sharing an apologetic look with Peter, who was getting up and trying to pull himself together. Raised voices could be heard once again but from my shared room this time followed by a slamming door. Peter and I rushed out into the hallway just in time to see Lucy crash into a very old man with a blinding white beard.