September 21st - Prompt: Tears
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Edmund pounded on the cell door, his hands sore and even bleeding, but he didn't stop. "Leave him alone!" He screamed, voice cracking as he blinked back the tears in his eyes. "Stop it! Please stop!"
Another quiet cry reached his ears, and his heart broke.
It had taken them absolutely ages to break Peter, but eventually he wasn't able to keep back his cries, and Edmund was stuck in the cell, unable to do anything to help.
He felt utterly useless, but froze when he heard footsteps.
He pulled himself together and took a few steps back, holding his breath when the cell door was unlocked and pushed open, revealing a guard.
"What have you done to my brother!" Edmund growled.
The guard chuckled, nodding towards the open door. "Follow me." He ordered. "If you wanna see your brother."
Edmund took a sharp intake of breath, but followed behind the guard, his heart pounding as he walked.
He was led down two corridors, before being led into a different room, where he was shoved forward, the door slamming behind him.
He glanced around, and almost immediately spotted Peter, sat in the corner of the room, slumped against the wall, half conscious and blood covering his face and bare chest.
Edmund didn't hesitate, he only rushed over, falling to his knees beside his older brother. "Peter?" He choked out.
Peter's eyes flickered a little, before he took a deep breath. "Ed." He whispered, voice slurred. "Hey... you okay?"
Edmund would've laughed if he wasn't so upset. "I'm absolutely fine." He murmured, just to reassure him, before sighing. "Are you?"
Now that he was closer, he could see the blood was from multiple whip lashes crisscrossing his chest, and there were also multiple slashes across his stomach which Edmund guessed were made by a knife. He also guessed there were definitely injuries he couldn't see, possibly on his back, and very possibly multiple broken bones... ribs specifically.
Peter forced a tight smile at Edmunds question. "I'm okay." He whispered.
Edmund didn't dare tell Peter that he'd heard his screaming, so only shook his head. "You're not." He whispered.
Peter swallowed hard, trying to be strong. "Don't worry." He murmured, trying to sit himself up, but failing miserably, hissing through clenched teeth.
Edmund placed a hand gently on his shoulder, sighing. "Don't, Pete." He breathed. "Just stay still."
Peter sighed but did as Edmund had said, remaining slumped against the wall.
"As sweet as this reunion is-"
Edmund swung around, facing who he guessed was Peter's torturer.
"I didn't call you in here to reunite the two of you."
Edmund glared at him. "You monster." He spat. "How dare you-"
"I have a job for you." The man cut him off, voice firm.
"And what might that be?" Edmund muttered through clenched teeth.
The man chuckled, before the guard from before grabbed Edmund and threw him to the floor a little way away from Peter.
"Your brother seems to of made a lovely mess of my floor." The man said, and Edmund glanced to his side when a bucket of water was dumped beside him. "And I want you to clean it up for me."
Edmund swallowed hard, staring at the bucket before looking back down at the ground, where he could see the blood stains, and gagged a little.
"Don't." Peter whispered, sounding worried. "You can't."
Edmund took a deep breath, trembling a little.
"Oh but I can." The man laughed. "Because if he doesn't, I can quite easily kill you right here."
Edmund froze.
The man chuckled and looked down at him. "So get scrubbing." He hissed.
Edmund hesitated, glancing at Peter for a second before sighing and reaching into the bucket, finding a cloth before beginning to scrub at the first pool of blood.
He felt sick as the cloth instantly turned pink, the blood coming up with the water as he scrubbed.
"Please." Peter whispered.
Edmund couldn't get rid of the thought that this was his brother's blood, and had to keep swallowing hard to stop himself from throwing up, because he was extremely close to doing so.
"Ed don't." Peter murmured, trying to move, but once again being unable to do so, letting out what sounded like a sob of frustration.
Edmund sighed. "It - It's okay Peter." He mumbled. "I'm okay."
"No."
Edmund bit his lip, continuing to scrub up his brother's blood, dunking the cloth back into the water and wringing it, turning the water in the bucket a sickening shade of red.
It took him way too long before the man seemed satisfied that he'd done a good job, but he eventually sat back, tears in his eyes as his hands trembled.
"A marvelous job." The man chuckled. "Only a few unremovable stains left."
Edmund took a deep breath, and it took everything in him not to either lunge at the guy and strangle him, or... throw up.
The man smiled, walking over and taking the bucket, staring down at the water inside, before smirking.
Edmund could only gasp as the entire contents of the bucket, the bloody water, was poured straight over his head, leaving him soaked, shivering, and a sickening shade of green.
"No, no, no." Peter sobbed. "No, no."
Edmund swallowed hard, water dripping from his hair, before he doubled over and threw up, choking.
"Edmund." Peter choked out, tears streaming down his cheeks. "You - You monster! You - You sick, vile, horrid-"
He was cut off by a punch to the face, instantly silencing him and leaving him seeing stars for a moment.
"Take them both back to the cell." The man muttered.
Edmund slowly sat up, wiping a hand across his mouth and coughing slightly, shuddering as his hair continued to drip.
He didn't bother struggling as he was grabbed under the arms and dragged from the room. He did however struggle a little when he heard Peter choke and gasp in pain, clearly biting back a scream for his sake, but it didn't do much.
Once the two were back in the cell, Edmund crawled over to his brother, bringing his head into his lap and carefully stroking his fingers through his blonde, blood matted strands. "Oh Pete." He whispered, shivering slightly as the water had also been ice cold.
Peter choked on his tears. "I'm - I'm so sorry Eddy." He choked.
Edmund shook his head. "No Pete, no." He whispered. "Don't, please don't."
Peter squeezed his eyes shut, taking deep breaths.
Edmund scanned his brother again, horrified. "What did they do to you?" He murmured.
Peter shook his head. "Nothing that you need to know." He whispered, sparing Edmund the gruesome details.
Edmund sighed. "You're so brave." He mumbled, and he almost hated his brother for it, because Peter always tried not to show pain in front of any of his siblings.
Peter smirked. "Learnt from you I guess." He breathed. "I'm sorry you had to - to do that."
"Peter please." Edmund sighed. "It's not your fault, I swear."
"I'm still - still sorry." Peter slurred.
Edmund sighed. "Get some sleep." He whispered.
Peter nodded, and within seconds he was out of it, fast asleep.
Edmund was glad Peter could no longer feel any pain, and now that Peter wasn't aware of anything, he slumped, tears trickling slowly down his cheeks as he folded over.
That had been absolutely awful, having to scrub his own brothers blood from the floor, and having it basically dumped over his head afterwards.
He was left to his own thoughts for the next hour, before the cell door was unlocked and opened, revealing the man who had tortured Peter.
The man smirked, pointing at Edmund and laughing. "Your turn." He whispered.
Edmund swallowed hard, glancing down at Peter. Please stay asleep. He thought...
Because the last thing he wanted was Peter being aware of his little brother being tortured.
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