Title: To See the End Days Coming
A/N: This was originally written as a response to a meme I did on my lj. Prompt was by caramelsilver who requested cynical Edmund post-Narnia, and while it didn't really fit, I like what came out of that, anyway.

The basis of this idea came from LVDB's Chanson de Geste, which I would certainly recommend checking out.

-x-

Susan enters his room at dawn, a ghostly figure in her nightgown and pale robes. "Edmund," she whispers, and as she nears his desk he sees how tight the skin is around her eyes. "Edmund, I had a dream."

He does not quite understand at first. Only when she reaches around his arm for a sheet of parchment and his inkpot down he realize what sort of dream she had.

("Blessed with prophecy," the centaur chief had explained after that first night they were awoken by her screams. And the next day Peter had led a battalion of soldiers down the coast to rescue a small fishing village from the threat of a great basilisk.)

On the parchment, Susan writes three numbers in her precise hand. Edmund watches curiously, waiting for more, but instead she lays the page in front of him. "That," she tells him with pain in her voice, "is how long we have left in Narnia."

He looks down at the number and finds it worryingly low. "Months? Seasons?"

"Days, Edmund," she explains gently. "We have just over a year."

And he looks down at the page before him and tries in vain to think of ever leaving his home. And then, with an abrupt shake of his head, he declares, "It was only a dream, Su."

-x-

Lucy believes Susan instantly, and Peter as well, once given the time to accept the idea, but Edmund refuses to give in.

"If this is what Aslan wishes, shouldn't we trust in him?" Lucy asks softly.

Edmund turns away from her calm eyes and scowls at the waves below. "Why would he give us warning?"

Lucy is silent for a time, her heels kicking the stone wall they sit on with an uneven staccato. "Maybe there are things we have to do before we go."

"Can't he just tell us to do those things?"

And Lucy sighs at his words and says nothing more.

-x-

Susan tries to convince Edmund that he needs to prepare for their leaving, and in turn he tries to explain away her vision. It feels as though every time they are alone together, their conversations degrade into another debate, one that never has a winner.

"Why would Aslan send us away?" Edmund argues. "Or does your countdown mean we're going to die? I suppose everyone will be so bothered by the news that we're about to leave that none of the guards would think to stop the assassins?"

"Edmund," Susan pleads, her face strained at his words. "I don't want this either."

"Then dream something different," he retorts, and at her expression storms from the room, remembering too late that it was his own study he just left.

-x-

When Peter finally seeks him out to discuss the problem, it is the matter of succession that is brought up first. "Think about it, Edmund," he says firmly. "We have no blood relatives to be heirs. If something is to happen to us, Narnia has to have a smooth transition of power."

Edmund says nothing, because he knows Peter is correct. If nothing were to happen, then that is all well and good, but in the case that they should leave…

"I'll look into it," Edmund grudgingly agrees, and turns to leave, but Peter is not finished yet.

"Don't judge Susan," he says. "She's never been wrong before. Use your mind, Edmund. If something were to happen, I'd rather there were no rifts between us."

-x-

Edmund does not bring up his arguments anymore, and Susan eases at his unspoken apology. He begins to tie loose ends, finalizes succession plans, and seeks out his closest friends.

Not many of the Narnians know of Susan's dream; in fact, only their most inner circle of councilors have been told. A rumour begins to circulate that the four rulers are planning a journey to foreign lands and Edmund tries to quell it, but Peter says to leave well enough alone.

-x-

The last night passes long and slow. None of them sleep – none of them want to sleep, and instead the siblings gather around a fire in Susan's chambers and tell stories until the rose-hued dawn spills into the room. Edmund dozes then, and it almost seems to him that he hears a deep voice whisper comforting words, but when he starts awake, Aslan is not there.

And then Mr. Tumnus bursts into the room with the news that the White Stage has been sighted – the stag that grants the wishes of any who catch it. Edmund lifts his head and sends silent thanks to the lion.

-x-

End.