(Image not mine)
(One Year Later)
Peter is 25, Susan is 24, Edmund and Y/n are 22, Lucy is 18. (Seven years in Narnia)
PETER'S POV
"I don't know guys, this place is weird," Lucy muttered from behind me.
I couldn't say I wasn't a little creeped out by this village, there wasn't a single living being. We had decided to come to check on this village when they hadn't responded to any of our letters for weeks but now I was regretting not sending messengers instead.
"I'm sure it's fine, Lucy," Susan whispered. She didn't sound very confident.
My horse grew skittish as we passed the entrance to the village and even I could feel that something was wrong. I held up my hand to stop the other four then hopped off my horse. Before I could grab his reins to tie him to a nearby tree, he and the other horses took off back down the road we came from.
"Hey!" Edmund tried to run after them but it was no use, they were some of the fastest horses in Narnia.
"Come on," I sighed, "Let's see what's going on."
"Do we have to?" Y/n walked behind Edmund, swiveling her head around as we walked further into the village. "I don't like this. It feels... heavy."
"Heavy?" Edmund questioned, his sword raised. "Heavy how?"
"I don't know, it's something powerful, but not necessarily evil. It's like a really heavy and warm blanket."
"He could sure use a blanket right about now." I heard Susan say.
I turned to my left to see Susan standing above a faun slumped against the wall of a building, visibly shivering. Lucy ran forward and unscrewed her flask, holding it to the faun's mouth.
"Wait," Y/n stopped Lucy before any liquid could fall into his mouth. "He's not hurt. Just sleeping."
Sure enough, upon closer inspection, there were no wounds at all. Lucy shook his shoulders, but he wouldn't stir. She took off her cloak and laid it across him before standing up.
"You don't think this happened to the rest of the village, do you?" She walked back over to the rest of us.
"Seems likely." Susan peered into the darkness. "Let's see."
We walked further into the town, weapons brandished. All along the street, tons of Narnians were sleeping as if they fell asleep while they were walking. Just seeing them made me feel a little sleepy. Then again, it was already well into the night. I turned around to face the others.
"We won't be able to figure out anything in the dead of night. Let's camp outside the village, I don't feel comfortable sleeping in here."
Y/n nodded vigorously, "Yes please."
---
"Peter!"
Lucy shook me awake and I grabbed my sword without thinking, fearing that we were under attack. But no one else was in sight, all I saw was Y/n and Edmund huddled around something and Lucy's worried expression. It was barely sunrise.
"Susan won't wake up!" Lucy cried.
"What?" I scrambled out from under my blanket and over to Susan.
Y/n moved out of the way so that I could get a look at her. Susan's face was oddly peaceful, her breathing slow and calm, not at all bothered by our shouting. I knew shaking her wouldn't do any good, she was affected by the same thing as the village. I gripped my sword tighter and stood up, walking quickly towards the village.
"Where are you going?" Edmund chased after me, the girls close behind him.
"Finding whatever or whoever did this," I grumbled.
---
Y/N'S POV
Not sure splitting up was the best idea, but we did have to inspect an entire village so I guess it was the most efficient idea. Efficient or not, walking into an abandoned flower shop by yourself feels a bit uncomfortable.
"Hello?" I called into the shop. No one answered.
There were stairs in the back which meant there might be something on the second floor. I walked through the maze of flowers, taking my time to look at each as I went. Most of them were dying or dead, only a couple were flourishing. As I made my way over to the suspicious flowers I waved my hand, willing the dying flowers to grow and giving them life again.
The flowers that were already healthy were all the same, a beautiful deep purple orchid. They gave off a pleasant and calming aroma, although it was quite strong. I picked up one of the pots, taking a deep sniff of the flower. The scent filled my lungs and I immediately recognized the feeling.
"Heavy blanket," I muttered, my vision getting blurry as I struggled to stay standing. "Should've known."
I heard the loud crash of the ceramic pot falling from my hands before everything went dark.
EDMUND'S POV
A loud crash sounded from the street to my right.
"Y/n," I muttered before sprinting towards the source of the sound.
The door to a small flower shop was open and I ran right inside, catching a glimpse of Lucy rounding the corner of the street. As soon as I entered I saw Y/n's form on the ground, her dress and the floor around her covered in dirt from a broken pot.
"Y/n!" I knelt and scooped her up in my arms, keeping her head up and checking for any injuries.
"What happened?!" Lucy ran into the shop, out of breath.
I shook my head, telling her I didn't know. She looked fine but wouldn't wake up, just like Susan and the rest of the village. I cradled her closer, muttering pleas under my breath as Lucy ran out to get Peter.
I felt kind of bad for not being as frightened when Susan wouldn't wake up, but this was Y/n. My Y/n. I don't know what I would do if she didn't wake up. She was everything to me, all that mattered in the world. I couldn't lose her. The world could fall apart for all I care and all that would matter was that she was okay.
My chest suddenly felt heavy as the realization set in. I love her and I never told her. She has to wake up, or else I will personally haul her back from the afterlife just to tell her that I love her.
I chuckled a little at the thought of how much she would scold her for doing such a thing. I looked down at her peaceful face, taking note of how beautiful she looked when she slept. Leaning down, I gently pressed my lips to hers, pulling away just before Peter and Lucy barged in.
"How is she?" Peter asked as he knelt next to us.
"Just like Susan," I sighed, "She won't wake up."
"As bad as that is, it means that she found what caused this. Get her back to camp and look after her and Susan, Lucy, and I will handle this."
I nodded and stood up, Y/n still in my arms. Thank Aslan I train so much, a sleeping Y/n is quite heavy. After I jogged back to camp, I set her down on her blanket before placing my own on top of her. I did the same to Susan with Lucy's blanket before sitting down on Peter's and sipping from my flask of water. I watched Susan and Y/n, trying to figure out what made both of them fall asleep at different times in completely different places. Susan fell asleep normally but wouldn't wake up like the rest of us, so something happened in her sleep. Meaning whatever put her to sleep was still here.
I stood and walked over to inspect Susan, looking for any signs that could tell me what happened. A spot by her nose caught my eye and I looked closer, realizing it was a dot of purple powder. Turning my head to look at Y/n, I noticed a few spots of the same powder on her face. Purple, I need to find something purple. I fished through our bags, but the only purple things were Susan's clothes.
I huffed in frustration and sat back down on Peter's blanket, laying down on my back. Above me, I could see the still dim morning sky, blocked slightly by some purple orchids hanging above my face. Well, that's purple. I quickly sat up and inspected the flower. There were bits of purple pollen falling from the petals when the wind blew strong enough. I looked back over to Susan and saw a cluster of the same flowers near her head.
Scrambling to my feet, I tugged her over towards Y/n, far away from the flowers. Just then, fast footsteps approached our camp, and Peter and Lucy came into view, both with clips on their noses and holding a pot of the purple orchids in front of them.
"It's the flowers!" Peter shouted, obviously pleased with himself.
"I know, I just figured it out." I gestured to the cluster of orchids at the edge of our campsite. "How do we make an antidote?"
"I was hoping the trees would help." Lucy looked at the forest.
"Good, because I'm feeling a bit sleepy."
"You didn't-" Peter gestured to the flowers.
"Only a little," I laid Peter's blanket down next to Y/n before laying on it. "But I can feel it making me sleepier every second, so I'll leave this one to you guys."
"Okay, come on Peter." Lucy tugged our brother into the forest, both of them disappearing behind the trees.
I flipped over onto my side, not wanting to have a sore back after this if I was going to sleep for a while. Y/n's sleeping form next to me gave me a little comfort and I quickly drifted off into a deep sleep.
---
LUCY'S POV
"Hello?" I called into the forest, "We need help!"
At first, nothing happened and I almost felt stupid for thinking the trees might be able to help us. But then rows and rows of trees began to rustle, dancing in the wind until a flurry of oak leaves gathered in front of us. They formed a tall, old man who stood hunched over a cane.
"Queen Lucy, High King Peter," He greeted, "What concerns you?"
Peter stepped toward him with the pot outstretched. "We need your help creating an antidote for this flower's pollen. An entire village is under a deep sleep because of it, including the other King and Queens."
The old man hummed in thought and inspected the flower, "This is a Midnight Orchid. It only blooms once every fourteen years and is used by medics to put patients under a deep sleep. Don't worry, there is a very simple antidote."
"Where can we find it?" I asked.
"All you need to do is find a beehive."
"A beehive?" Peter questioned.
"Indeed. Crush the petals of the orchid and mix the juice with the fresh honey. Then spread some of the mixture underneath the nose of the sleeping victim, it will wake them immediately."
"Thank you, Mr. Oak." I waved goodbye to the flurry of leaves and pulled Peter away and deeper into the woods.
"Where do we find a beehive?" Peter peered through the branches of the trees.
"I saw one on our way here, just off the trail." I tugged him to the right, crossing the dirt path we took to get here.
"Well, that's convenient."
I laughed and came to a stop in front of a large tree, staring at the swarm of bees around the honey-colored blob. "How are we going to get it without being stung? We need all of it for the village."
"First we need to get rid of the bees," Peter set the pot down and rolled up his sleeves. "I remember reading something that said you can smoke out bees, but we still need to remove the queen so that they don't come back."
"And how do we find her?"
"Grab the biggest bee?" He shrugged and bent down to collect some dry sticks and leaves.
"This would be so much easier with Y/n," I grumbled.
---
"Peter!" I ran past him, followed by a swarm of bees. "Help!"
"Did you get the queen?" He yelled, following me with a heap of smoking leaves.
I held up my hands, both of them closed around the largest bee in the hive. I kept running, not looking behind me, afraid that if I slowed down even a little I would get stung by the hundreds of bees behind me.
"Put her in this!" He ran up beside me, holding a small leather pouch. I quickly shoved the insect inside and pulled the opening close. He tossed the bag onto the ground and grabbed my hand, pulling me back the way we came just as the other bees swarmed around the pouch.
"We are not doing that again." I panted.
"Agreed."
We reached the beehive and Peter quickly pulled it down, shooing away the few remaining bees. "Let's go."
---
Y/N'S POV
That was probably the best sleep I've had in years. Even if I woke up to honey under my nose. I sat up and wiped it off, looking up to meet Susan and Lucy's happy expressions.
Lucy tackled me in a hug and Susan laughed before joining in. "Susan, you're okay! What happened?"
"You three got too close to the Midnight Orchids," Lucy pointed to a cluster of the same flowers that were in the flower shop. I knew that was the same thing I felt earlier.
"Three of us? But only Susan was asleep before."
Susan pointed to my left and I turned around to see Peter wiping a glob of slightly purple honey under Edmund's nose as he slept. I couldn't help but chuckle when Edmund snorted in his sleep at the strong smell before promptly waking up. He looked dazed for a moment but then whirled over to face me, letting out a relieved sigh when he saw me. Peter patted his shoulder then stood up, beckoning Lucy and Susan to follow him.
"Come on, we've got an entire village to wake up." He turned his back to Edmund and me before walking towards the village.
Lucy and Susan giggled but quickly followed, leaving Edmund and me alone. He gently grabbed my arm and pulled me into a tight hug, holding me close to him.
"I was terrified you weren't going to wake up." He muttered into my hair.
I rubbed soothing circles on his back, "It's okay, Ed. I'm all right."
He pulled back and I caught a glimpse of a tear in his eye before he pressed his lips to mine like he wouldn't be able to again. I melted into the kiss and he pulled me even closer to him before pulling away slightly, resting his forehead on mine.
"I love you."
I froze, my eyes wide. "Could you repeat that?"
He laughed and looked me in the eye, "Y/n L/n, I love you."
I tackled him in a hug, peppering him with kisses, "I love you too!"
We laughed hysterically, rolling on the ground in each other's arms. He eventually came to a stop on his side, holding me against his chest as we stared at the sky.
"I should've told you earlier." He brushed a piece of hair out of my face. "I just didn't know how."
"Me too, I've known that I've loved you for years but I was scared to tell you."
"Why?" He propped his head upon his arm to look at me.
"Well, you're the first person I've ever loved so deeply. I didn't want to make a mistake and lose you."
"Understand this," He pulled my chin so that I was looking at him. "You are never getting rid of me. Ever."
-Well, that was pretty long. But omg I got so giddy at the last part it's not ok. The next chapter is gonna be purely Edmund and Y/n so be readyyy. I hope you liked it as much as I did and thank you for reading!-
-Mocha