CASPIAN LEANED AGAINST the side of the ship, watching the horizon while thinking about Edmund.
He hadn't even looked at Caspian since last night.
Maybe he regretted it; maybe he didn't even like him. Who would? Caspian had killed someone... no one could forgive that.
He stood there for a while longer, hoping that Edmund would walk towards him at some point and explain why he'd been ignoring him. But he never did, and Caspian eventually gave up, since standing there alone made him deal with his dreadful mind.
"Caspian!" The Captain shouted.
The brunet looked over at where the Captain was and walked towards him.
"Yes?" He asked.
"We've reached an island that we think holds something important," the Captain explained. "Shall we go inland and explore?"
Another island... interesting. "Yes. Let's go."
Caspian only hoped the events that occurred on this island didn't go as badly as they had on the other they had stopped at.
•••
Edmund was too nervous to talk to Caspian. He wanted to tell him that he didn't regret it and that he loved having him hold him.
But something was stopping him. It was like there was an invisible barrier surrounding Caspian, making it difficult to approach him -- it infuriated the raven-haired boy.
Soon, he saw Caspian walk off towards the Captain. Edmund sighed, knowing he had missed his opportunity.
Caspian probably thought that he was ignoring him -- or worse, that Edmund was uncomfortable with that they had done.
Sighing, Edmund walked over to the edge of the ship, and looked out at the sea. It calmed him. His mind was racing and he needed something to help him relax -- looking out to sea did just that.
Edmund heard people hurriedly moving around the ship, so he turned around and went to ask Reepicheep what was going on.
"We've found another island," the mouse answered. "We're sailing inland so we can explore it. You should get ready, sire, we've almost reached land."
Edmund nodded, and went to his room to prepare himself for sailing inland.
So that was why Caspian went to the Captain -- Edmund scolded himself for overthinking. Everything would be fine!
Everyone got on their designated ship, and sailed inland. They decided that when they got on the island, they would all split up into small teams to explore.
Edmund, Lucy and Caspian were one team, and, after reaching land, went off together to explore the island.
It was rather boring, in Edmund's opinion. It was silent, and had a lot of hostile tension -- whether that was from him and Caspian or the island, he didn't know.
Every time Edmund moved or breathed, Caspian seemed to flinch. Edmund didn't understand what was wrong with him, but he chose not to ask -- even if the look Lucy was giving him was telling him to.
As they explored the island, they found that it was only dry and very dull, nothing interesting seemed to had happened there. They all thought like that until they reached a cave -- something finally interesting.
They were all too tall to get into the cave when standing, so they had to duck their heads as they entered the cave.
Inside, the cave was filled with gold and a small pond of clear water, which was also overloaded with golden items. The place had a strange feeling about it, but Edmund paid no mind to it -- he only cared about the gold.
Edmund rushed towards the gold. "Gosh! Imagine how much this could help us in our world, Lucy! We would be rich!"
Trying to think of how the cave worked, Edmund picked up a curved shell, and dropped it into the water. Intsantly, it became a glamorous, golden shell -- much more intricate than before.
Caspian crossed his arms, and said, "The thing is Edmund you can't take stuff out of Narnia."
He turned his head around to face where Caspian was standing and scowled at him. "Why can't I?" Edmund asked sourly.
Caspian smirked. "Because I say so."
Edmund stood up, and ran towards Caspian. The brunet only looked down at him, trying to be intimidating.
"And why do you think that would stop me?" Edmund asked, his voice laced with venom.
"Because I am the King and you have to listen to me," Caspian stated, angrily.
Edmund was the one smirking now. "You are the King, but I am the High King, which means I can do what I want."
Caspian's smirk faded, but he wouldn't give up. "You can't do what you want, trust me. My uncle tried that and look where that got him."
"I know what your uncle did," Edmund spat. "I also know that you refused to kill him, yet you could kill someone who didn't follow an order. Hmm?"
Caspian's face went pale. He looked sick as he remembered what he had done to the man. The image of him dead because of what Caspian did never left his head for a minute -- why would Edmund remind him of that?
"Tell me, Caspian," Edmund taunted, "are you going to kill me if I leave with the gold?"
Caspian stepped away from the raven-haired boy, his back hitting the stone wall of the cave. He looked horrified. "What? N-No. Of course not."
Edmund hummed. "Then I guess you can't stop me."
"Ed, stop, please," Lucy pleaded desperately. Caspian and Edmund turned to look at her. "Don't you guys see what's happening? Something here is making you act like this. Edmund, you would never say such things -- and neither would you, Caspian."
They both looked down, ashamed.
"Let's just go, OK?"
They both nodded, and they all walked out of the cave -- Caspian feeling anxious; Edmund feeling guilty.
Lucy was tired of them. Ever since they left the cave, Edmund and Caspian had been avoiding each other.
It was idiotic! They have to talk, and ignoring each other would only prolong the inevitable.
They reached the boats they had used to get to the island, and saw that the others were already there. Lucy waved at them and walked faster, purposely leaving Caspian and Edmund alone together -- she hoped they would stop and talk about their problems, but that wasn't the case. They just walked in awkward silence.
"What did you see when you explored?" Reepicheep asked when they had all gathered together.
"We found a cave that has a pond that turns stuff into gold," Lucy said casually. Everyone gaped at her after she finished describing what the cave was like.
"And you left the gold there?" One of the crewman said in disbelief. "We should go get it!"
Lucy shook her head. "Edmund tried. Caspian won't let you take any of it."
Everyone groaned in annoyance and turned to glare at Caspian, but he was looking around frantically.
Lucy walked up to him, asking, "Caspian, what are you doing?" He looked at her, wide eyed. "What's wrong?"
Caspian scrunched up his face, scared he would be yelled at for losing her cousin. "Eustace isn't here," he admitted.
Immediately, Lucy's face dropped. "What?" She yelled, and Caspian stepped back so he wouldn't be the subject of her anger.
"I don't know where he is. Maybe we should split into groups again and look for him?" Caspian suggested, still looking at Lucy cautiously, hoping she wouldn't fire all her frustration out on him.
Thankfully, she walked away from him and stomped towards Edmund. What Caspian wasn't thankful for was that she dragged him towards him.
"You guys look for him together," Lucy ordered, "and solve the drama going on between you two." They both tried to protest. "Please," she added politely.
Sighing, Caspian shrugged and walked off, dragging Edmund with him by interlacing their hands.
Lucy sighed in relief, thinking they would have given her more trouble about it, before turning to the others. "So, who's going with who?"
•••
They hadn't talked to each other yet. All they had done was look around and shout for Eustace. For once, Edmund actually felt worried for his cousin. Where was he? The island was huge, he could be anywhere!
After a while of searching, they had found something. They saw footprints in the ground, and tried to follow them the best they could, but it was hard -- since the ground was sand.
Eventually, they found a weird passage way connected to the path and continued to follow the footsteps.
They both froze when they saw what was inside the passage way.
Caspian groaned. "More gold, seriously?"
Edmund chuckled, shaking his head in amusement, as Caspian waved his hands upwards, annoyed.
"It's as if it hasn't already caused enough problems!"
Edmund just stood there, clutching his ribs and laughing at the brunet. Caspian turned to look at him and smiled sadly.
"Edmund, I think we need to talk," he said.
The raven-haired boy nodded. Caspian walked closer to Edmund, and they both stood in silence for a moment, just admiring the other.
"Let me say my stuff first... please," Edmund said.
Caspian smirked. "Since you asked so nicely." He bowed dramatically to Edmund, showing him that he could talk and that he would listen.
Edmund smiled at the 'grand' gesture, before saying, "I never knew that me leaving affected you so much. To be fair, I've never really liked leaving Narnia anyway. It always feels like home whenever I'm here, so it feels... abnormal being in mine and Lucy's world."
He sighed. "But we both know that I'll be leaving again." Caspian nodded slowly. "And I can't do anything about that. All I can do is spend the last few moments I have in Narnia with my favourite people, which includes you." Caspian smiled, intertwining their fingers. Edmund returned the smile, but only slightly.
"You have no idea how much you affect me," Edmund said before he lost courage, "and how leaving affects me. Because all I think about is you, and ever since our kiss all I've thought about is you. You're addictive. I don't want you to think I regret kissing you, it's just... people from my world don't like the idea of people with the same gender being together. And it's... hard to suddenly let go of that idea -- no matter how much I want to."
Caspian was frozen. "You -- You don't regret it?" He asked, hoping he hadn't heard wrong.
Edmund smiled properly now. "No, I don't. I won't ever regret kissing you -- it was the best feeling I've ever felt. And... I'd like to feel it again?" He made it sound more like a question -- asking Caspian if he could kiss him again.
The brunet smirked, and put his hand to his chin, pretending to think. "I don't know. You might be going too far asking for a kiss."
Edmund laughed.
Caspian pulled him towards him, looking down at Edmund's lips as he smiled. Edmund would've been looking at Caspian's lips too, but he was too enraptured in his dark, but soft brown eyes.
Then Caspian felt like he could finally breath. He kissed Edmund, and he felt his lungs work. He had his oxygen, he was OK.
Edmund smiled into the kiss, and wrapped his arms around Caspian's neck. Caspian placed his hands on Edmund's waist, but soon they were exploring Edmund's body, feeling him up.
They pulled apart, and they placed their foreheads together. They smiled gleefully at each other.
After a moment, Edmund pulled away, saying, "We should probably continue looking for Eustace."
Caspian sighed, but, hesitantly, let go.
Edmund raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, he's annoying but he's not that bad. A while ago you were panicking over losing him."
Caspian huffed. "Because your sister would've killed me if I didn't do something to try find him."
Edmund threw his head back and laughed. Caspian joined him in laughing, looking at him with admiration.
After a quick laughing session and a couple more kisses, they both began to look around for something that could help find Eustace -- instead they found something better.
"Caspian!" Edmund yelled.
He turned to face Edmund, and saw him holding an old Narnian sword. More importantly, one of the Lord's swords.
Caspian smiled at Edmund, though it quickly faded when he saw a big shadow fly above them.
"Ed, watch out!" Caspian shouted, running to protect the raven-haired boy... but it was too late -- Edmund was lifted into the sky, screaming.
Edmund looked up at the beast, and didn't believe his eyes.
It was a dragon.