Kay, word of warning. I only watched Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader today, and by the time I got to my computer it was well over 3 hours after the viewing. Therefore, some of the details in this story may be a little sporadic and inaccurate; so sue me. It's movieverse of course, therefore there WILL be spoilers. TURN BACK NOW IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE CORRUPTED BY SPOILERS.

Disclaimer: CS Lewis owns everything Narnia related. Except the Dawn Treader... no? okay, I guess that's his, too.

The second time that they reenter Narnia, sopping wet and spluttering from the unfriendly salty seawater, Edmund feels in his heart that it will be their last time to set foot in their beloved kingdom. It is something in Caspian's confused glance and he can somehow sense it in Aslan's impassive golden face emblazoned on the shield, but he pushes it away because he would rather feel the sting of the ocean spray than acknowledge the fact that his time in Narnia is limited.

Lucy, on the other hand, is simply overjoyed with the act of seeing familiar faces, madly dashing from one end of the boat to the other to greet old friends and comrades. Her laughter, silvery as the wind rises high above the boat, bringing smiles to weathered faces, and Edmund doesn't have the heart to break his sister's. Not yet, he tells himself, watching his sister as she grabs Reepicheep into a big hug.

Eustace distracts him for the moment. Now there's a person whose heart he didn't mind breaking…

…

When Caspian hands Lucy her gifts, she can't help but cast a quick glance out of the corner of her eye at her older brother. He's impassive as ever, leaning casually against the ship wall, but he's not that quick. She sees the ashamed glint in his eyes, because she knows he's remembering what he was doing when his siblings were receiving gifts.

Lucy wants nothing more than to drop her gifts and run over to Edmund and give him a big hug, but the moment is past before she can do anything about it. Caspian is offering Edmund Peter's old sword, and Edmund is declining, because he quips that "Peter gave it to you, Caspian". It would be exactly like Edmund to honor a promise made so many years ago, even if it meant that he was weaponless for the time being.

She loves that about him.

…

The sword fight put on by Edmund and Caspian is nothing short of magnificent. Telmarine modern style countered against traditional Narnian skills- it was old versus new, quick versus stylish. Blades flash under the bright Narnian sun, gleaming and glistening, and Lucy fears that in the heat of the battle somebody will slip and forget their place-

-but it doesn't happen, and both Edmund and Caspian finish with their swords at each other's throat, grinning as they pant heavily.

Thank Aslan nobody was hurt, Lucy thought to herself as Caspian congratulates her brother and Drinian orders everyone back to work. She's seen Edmund on the ground with a sword wound before, and she would rather not see it again.

…

Edmund can't help but curse aloud when Eustace is captured by the slave trader, knife pressed to Eustace's pale, sniveling throat. Lucy casts him a terrified look as she drops her dagger on the ground, and Edmund desperately wishes that he could somehow take out every slave trader in the area to get to his younger sister. Yet he flings down his sword, furious at himself, furious at Eustace, furious that he can't handle himself without Peter around.

It only adds insult to injury that his captors give him a sound headbutt, dazing him as stars flash quickly before his eyes and paralyzes his senses.

His paralyzed senses don't mask the sound of his terrified baby sister screaming his name, however, and Edmund vainly strains against his captors, yelling Lucy's name over and over as the word is ripped from his throat and rips his heart apart.

…

He can only watch later, as the green mist envelopes the boatload of people. It's like watching a train wreck, he numbly thinks to himself, terrible to watch but impossible to look away from. He tries to close his eyes, block out the image of their confused expressions morphing into pure horror before they disappear, evaporating into tendrils of green fog, but he fails- and somehow Lucy is superimposed onto their bodies, and he sees his sister vanishing before his eyes.

He is angry all over again, but a new sense of determination charges him, and he whirls on the door as it begins to creak open.

Edmund doesn't know how he does it, but he restrains himself, telling himself that time is the best way to deal with these things and Lucy will somehow be all right. So he grits his teeth and casts a dark look outside his cell window, promising that even if he has to die, Lucy will somehow get home safely.

…

It's not a nice way to be woken up, when you're being dragged through the woods by invisible creatures and you don't know where on earth you are being taken. Lucy struggles valiantly against her captors, but they grip her too tightly and she cries out in fear, wishing her strong brother was here to save her somehow.

How unfair, she thinks to herself when her dagger is wrenched from her hands and thrown to the grass. But like the Valiant Queen she is, Lucy holds her head high and bravely refuses to comply with the invisible people.

But then they mention that they will kill her friends, and Lucy has a sickening image of her brother lying on the sand, his blood pooling out of his side as his eyes stare sightlessly at the sky. She's seen that almost happen once, and Lucy would rather it not happen again, because her cordial only works on wounds, not fatal injuries- all the tears in the world wouldn't bring Edmund back.

…

Edmund has never panicked so much in his entire life. No, that's a lie, he bitterly concludes, staring helplessly at Lucy's empty spot- the slave-trading incident was pretty panic-inducing, but this comes a close second. Caspian sees his ashen face and hastily grabs the crew together-they draw their swords and advance up the hill, but still no sign of the Valiant Queen.

They find her dagger several minutes later, and Edmund is on the verge of ordering the crew to spread out over the whole island. He half-turns to Caspian, but suddenly something pushes him from behind and all of a sudden he is being pummeled and pushed and beaten and why can't he see anything?

By the time the Dufflepods are revealed to him, he is ready to resort to some unjust tactics in order to find out where his youngest sister is. Evidently, the Dufflepods see the burning anger in his eyes, because as the sword tip points unwaveringly at the chief's throat, the chief seems ready to tell him everything he knows about Lucy. It isn't much, but Edmund decides that finding his sister is a lot more important than beating a poor creature senseless.

…

Lucy wakes up screaming, the nightmare blinking in front of her eyes before vanishing into thin air. She can't help but double over, almost winded at the horrible circumstances she had faced in her dream. She rushes over to the mirror, poking and pulling at her face and hair- she is herself, she concludes albeit a little reluctantly.

A horrible thought strikes her and she rushes over to the boys' cabin, where she flings open the door. Edmund and Caspian are still there, but Caspian is twitching horribly, and Edmund is tossing and turning. As she approaches, her brother begins to murmur something that sounds like "witch" and before she can reach him, Edmund sits bolt upright, grabs his sword and points at nothing- she wakes him up, and she is relieved to see the wild look in his eyes fade and be replaced by the usual concern in his eyes. "Lu?" he asks. "What's wrong?"

How like him, Lucy reflects, to put her before himself, as usual.

…

She tells him of course, in the comfort of her brother's embrace as he holds her tight. Caspian is tactfully up on deck, talking with Drinian for as long as Lucy needs to speak to her brother- all he will say about his nightmare is that his father is involved- further than that, and he will speak no more on the subject.

But Lucy, Edmund suspects, is far more troubled by her dream than Caspian is initially by his. He admits to himself that he has had that fear about Susan, that she has forgotten who she is, where she came from, and where she ruled. But poor Lucy- to have a dream where her family didn't know who she was and having them not know about Narnia!

He shudders at the thought as Lucy shifts in his arms, a solitary tear trickling down her cheek. "There now, Lu, don't cry," he murmurs, pressing a gentle kiss to his sister's head. "I won't leave you ever. I promise." He closes his eyes as he says the last two words, praying that whatever they were setting out to do, Aslan kept them safe.

…

Something about the pool makes Lucy extremely wary of her surroundings. It isn't because there happens to be a life-sized gold statue at the bottom of the pool, or that things turn to gold when the water touches it- it is the glint in Edmund's eyes when he picks up the shell and turns it to gold. It isn't the Edmund that she knows, the one that held her tight last night; this is Edmund before his encounter with the White Witch.

Her fears are confirmed when Edmund lashes out at Caspian. She's never seen him so angry before, so ready to jump and attack someone. He is burning with anger, driven by madness over riches, over a pool of unlimited wealth, and she wants him to stop, stop, stop, she screams, and leaps in between the two swords.

She turns to her brother, imploring him to think about what he is doing; she is about to cry as she turns away and she sees the same emotion of sorrow and pain well up in her brother's brown eyes before she walks away from him.

…

He's disappointed her, Edmund knows, and he feels completely awful. It's the reason why he immediately volunteers to go look for Eustace even though he feels very little desire to, and he is grateful when Caspian agrees to tag along.

They find his shoe first, and Edmund is overtaken by a sense of guilt and shame when they find Eustace's clothes a little way down, burnt and singed. He wants to cry, but he cannot- he has to be strong for the sake of his cousin, for the sake of Lucy when she finds out her cousin is dead-

Aslan's mane, Edmund thinks, Lucy isn't going to take this well.

…

"Edmund!" he hears Caspian bellow, and Edmund turns around, startled out of his musings on how to break the news. He's expecting some sort of ruffian running at him, but certainly not a dragon-

He lets out a startled "Mmmmf!" as the dragon grabs him in its claws and swoops over the terrified crew, and from down below, he can hear a terrified girl scream, "EDMUND!"

"Lucy!" he shouts back, but she is far out of sight and earshot before he can scream anything that would make for comforting last words. He bitterly wishes that he had been able to say something more instead of just a distant name yelled out, carried away by the winds with no real meaning whatsoever. I love you, Lucy!

…

Lucy has her heart in her throat when Caspian staggers back towards her, his face worried and ashen pale. "I tried-" he begins, his voice cracking, but Lucy doesn't listen. She only drops to her knees and begins to cry helplessly, each sob breaking everyone's heart.

It is a relief to her, then, when Edmund is unceremoniously dropped from the sky an hour later, followed by the huge hulking form of the dragon. The first thing Lucy does is run at her stumbling brother, tackling him and making sure that he's real and not another one of those stupid temptations.

He grumbles that she's probably given him a concussion, and Lucy sobs and laughs at the same time because her brother is back.

…

Sometimes, Lucy thinks to herself as the boat creaks ominously towards the dark, forbidding island, she wonders why she was even chosen for these sort of things. She's not brave like Peter or Edmund, and she's certainly not smart like Susan. She's plain old Lucy, innocent and naive.

She mentions this to Edmund as he is passing her on the way to Caspian's armory, and he frowns at her. "Lucy," he says gravely, and she sees the flash of king that she once ruled with so many Narnian years ago, "You're not a pawn in this chess game. In fact, I think you're the strongest piece we have." He pats her shoulder before pulling her into a hug. "You have the faith none of us can ever hope to possess."

Caspian demands from below deck as to where Edmund is, and her brother smiles at her apologetically before leaving. Lucy simply shakes her head, smiling to herself before turning back to the forbidding view and offering a prayer to Aslan for the safety of the crew, especially her big brother.

…

At first, Edmund allows himself to hope that everything is going well. They hadn't gone that far- had they? He nervously fingers the switch on his flashlight and glances to his side, where Lucy is standing a little way down with Caspian.

Lord Rhoop finally climbs aboard, and Edmund allows himself to breathe quietly. Maybe they would survive after all. Maybe his worst nightmare wouldn't come true. Maybe-

Then the sea serpent rises out of the water, and Edmund involuntarily curses his imagination before diving out of the way and saving two sailors from being crushed by the huge column of serpent.

…

Lucy sees Edmund dive out of the way before her world erupts in a cacophony of chaos and screaming. All around her, sailors are screaming, running for their bows and arrows and swords, and suddenly Caspian is urging her to go below deck, grabbing Gael out of the way and shoving her into Lucy's arms.

Lucy only has time to glance behind her, to see her brother fighting bravely, stabbing and darting and diving before Caspian shoves her through the door, slams it and bellows something indistinguishable at the crew.

The Valiant Queen tries to keep it together, but her voice cracks multiple times and she falls silent. She finds a corner, a safe corner, and tells a quavering Gael to hide, to stay there until somebody comes to get her. She doesn't want Gael to lose her father. Nobody on this voyage, Lucy thought, is going to lose anyone, and for good measure she kisses Aslan's nose on the shield on the way out.

…

Edmund doesn't know where the blazes Lucy is, but he really hopes she's below deck like he told Caspian to make her go. Lucy was brave- she was valiant- but there is only so much a girl like her could do with a dagger against that huge, monstrous, serpent.

Eustace comes in then, swooping down breathing fire as some sort of heavenly savior. Edmund can't help but let out a whoop as his cousin, in the form of a huge scaly dragon, arcs down and slams a column of fire into the serpent's mouth. The huge scaly creature rears back, roaring in agony, but then shoots out to clamp down on Eustace, diving back underwater, and Edmund screams "NO!"

Eustace comes back up, badly bruised, and Edmund can only watch in a mixture of fascination and horror as he shoots another column of fire directly into the serpent's face. Lord Rhoop throws his spear then, and Edmund feels someone rush up right beside him, screaming in shock and trying to stop the spear, but it is already flying, flying, flying- right into Eustace's body, and as the dragon screams in pain and outrage, Edmund feels Lucy grab his hand. It is then that he realizes that they're both shaking.

…

Lucy tears away from Edmund when she realizes that Eustace has barely slowed the serpent. "My bow and arrow," she yells at Caspian, who's busy trying to keep his soldiers together, "where's my bow and arrow?"

"Below deck, Your Majesty, but-" Caspian's words are lost on Lucy as she tears headlong down the hallway to her cabin. She flings open the door, tells Gael to stay where she is, rifles through her belongings, and then feels it. There is an earth-shattering thump and Lucy tumbles to the ground, but so do her bow and arrow, and she grabs it.

She arrives into the madness just in time to see another coil of the serpent begin to make its descent towards the exposed ship, and oh Aslan, why on earth is Edmund just standing there?

…

Edmund is paralyzed, rooted to the ground as he stares at the scaly coil about to slam into where he is standing. He is so close, he can almost see every slimy inch of the serpent's skin as it repeats its pattern, over and over and over, and he closes his eyes.

Images flash through his mind- of Peter ruffling his hair, Susan teaching him math, and Lucy playing chess with him- the strongest memories are of Lucy, sticking with him through their Narnian adventures, of their many nights talking about Narnia, about their journeys together of adjusting to their new status as monarchs of Narnia.

Someone barrels into him, and Edmund is knocked out of the way as the serpent slams into the exact same spot he had been in earlier, and he rolls into the pole. "Ow," he groans, and Caspian yells a quick apology before grabbing the wheel.

…

Lucy barely has any time left to think. She is shooting as quickly as she can, drawing arrows out and letting them go at the serpent. Her marksmanship is hardly terrible; Susan has taken great pains to ensure that her younger sister was every inch the archer she was. The arrows fly quick and true, but though they hit their targets, the serpent barely snorts in pain.

Lucy vaguely sees someone scrambling up the figurehead, and all of a sudden realization hits her like lightning. A cursory glance around her confirms her suspicions- Caspian is at the wheel, Reepicheep is bounding up to the figurehead, and Edmund- Edmund is in the figurehead's mouth, taunting the serpent.

"Ed?" Lucy shouts, but her brother doesn't even look down. Lucy is panicked at her brother's apparent suicidal tendencies, but then she realizes what he's doing- distracting the serpent long enough for Caspian to pin it to the rocks. It's a suicidal move, Lucy thinks, but if anyone can pull it off, Ed can.

…

Up in the figurehead, Edmund isn't quite thinking out the same thing. Instead, he's barely keeping his fingers on his torch, they're shaking so badly. The serpent is eyeing him now, as though it is realizing that there's some sort of dastardly plan; Edmund shines the light into its eyes and the serpent roars in anger.

It lunges forward, its horrible, gaping mouth roaring wide, and Edmund swears he can see human bones and disgusting green slime coating its teeth and gums. He flinches and presses himself against the figurehead, and just as well too because the serpent clamps its teeth together and takes off half the figurehead. Edmund is left standing on several jagged pieces of wood, and the serpent is eyeing him now, some sort of maniacal knowing gleam in its milky white pupils. Edmund braces for the worst-

-and all of a sudden, an arrow whizzes out of nowhere, hitting the serpent dead straight in the eye and causing it to rear back before being slammed by the ship. Edmund blinks at the sight of the writhing serpent and recognizes the distinctive arrow by its markings. "Aslan's mane," he says aloud, "when did you get so good at archery, Lu?"

…

The relief is short-lived; Lucy watches as the serpent thrashes about, angrily dislodging the annoying prick out of its eye. In the next moment, Edmund is thrown off his post, falling straight from the where the figurehead used to be to the deck, where he slams into the crushed wooden planks and rolls towards the side, unconscious. Lucy abandons her post and dashes to her brother's side; he is alive, she notes, and no apparent injuries save bruises and scrapes.

For good measure, she dabs cordial onto his wounds and rushes back to Caspian's side. The serpent is uncoiling, uncoiling, uncoiling, but it is not leaving them by any means, because it is…morphing? Lucy watches in terror as the sea serpent morphs into something more terrifying, a figment of a twisted imagination. "Caspian?" she whimpers.

The king of Narnia does not hesitate. "Go back to your brother, Lucy. You need to be with him."

…

Edmund is stirring by the time Lucy reaches his side. His eyes are dazed, but they regain bearings quickly and focus on the serpent towering at least fifty feet over the terrified Narnian crew. "Aslan's mane, what is that?" he wants to know.

He does not wait for Lucy's stammered answer. "Come on," he urges, pulling his sister close to him. "We need to get you out of here."

Lucy begins to protest, but Edmund shakes her hard. "Listen to me," he says fiercely. "I promised Peter that I would do my best to keep you safe no matter what. He's off in America somewhere doing who knows what- but I am here, and I am going to keep you safe." He shoves her through the door. "Go down below deck," he pleads. "Be safe."

…

Desperate times call for desperate measures, Edmund thinks to himself as he joins Caspian. The two kings, past and present, observe the serpent as it continues to tower over them, as though it is enjoying some sort of twisted game by tormenting the sailors down below. "Caspian," Edmund ventures, "it's been a pleasure serving with you."

"As it is has been for me, Your Majesty," Caspian answers, not taking his eyes off the serpent. "May Aslan be with us all."

The sea serpent- if one could even continue to call it that- lets out a screeching roar that deafens everyone else in the vicinity.

…

Edmund doesn't know what comes over him then, but something tells him that he needs to see the sea serpent eye to eye in order to defeat it. He hesitates- suicidal tendencies are not things to be considered right before a tactical strategy- but he figures that he has nothing to lose. Caspian passes by him, yelling orders to Drinian, but he sees the strange look on Edmund's face and shudders at the true look of a Narnian king.

"Caspian," Edmund mutters, "my sister- Lu-"

His counterpart understands immediately. "I will take great care of her, Your Majesty."

…

Lucy only waits five minutes in her cabin before she berates herself for staying put. "What are you doing, Lu?" she asks herself, pulling at her hair. She whirls to make sure that Gael is still in a corner, safely hidden, before rushing down the hallway and out the door.

It is mad chaos that she enters into. Archers are madly firing their arrows at the monstrosity towering over their ship, while Caspian is readying several javelin throwers. He sees Lucy, and opens his mouth, but Lucy glares at him even as she pulls out her own bow and arrow.

Lucy is young, but she is not blind- she sees her brother climbing up the poles to the lookout nest, and her heart is palpitating wildly. Her first arrow flies completely off target, but Lucy steadies herself and readies a second one. It flies true, but the monster is still far from defeated.

…

Every inch Edmund gains on the monster feels like a step closer to death. He can hear curses and oaths from the Narnian sailors as their arrows fail to worry the great sea serpent, and his sword- Peter's sword- seems to feel heavier on his back.

At last he makes it up to the mast, and the monster eyes him with what seems like taunting knowledge of his future. Then he hears it, the soft, musical cold laugh that has haunted him ever since his first trip to Narnia. And in the blink of an eye, she has drifted around him, draping her arms around him and weaving ice through his hands and feet. "Come with me," she coos, "and I will give you everything you have ever desired. You can rule an entire kingdom!"

He sees it then, a kingdom with no monarchs to control him, a kingdom of subjects that are completely loyal to him and him alone. He sees a perfect world, where his siblings live in harmony, and Lucy and Susan will forever be safe. He sees it all, a choice held out in a soothingly calm green hand, and he rejects it.

…

A bright light from above draws Lucy's attention, and her gaze snaps to her tall brother in the lookout nest. His sword is glowing a bright, royal blue, and he has a look of triumph on his face- the look, Lucy remembers, of a Narnian monarch. He plunges his sword into the raging monster, and Lucy feels a fierce joy in her chest, as though a million suns have pierced the dreary night sky and set it on fire.

The monster screeches in pain and convulses violently as it tumbles, knocking Edmund out of his position; but Caspian yells an order and the men form a safety net as best as they can. Edmund's legs suffer a little bruising, but otherwise the men make a good catch, and there is much cheering as the serpent finally tumbles into the water, forgotten and defeated.

Lucy doesn't even wait for her brother to catch her breath. She attacks him with a hug, and both siblings hold each other tightly, relieved that they've somehow managed to keep each other safe through physical and spiritual means. "We did it. I knew we could," she murmurs, suddenly tired, and his mouth curves up into a smile. "I know, Lu," he says matter-of-factly. "I know you did."

…

They find Aslan later, and they have to face the awful reality of going back to dreary old London. Lucy looks at Edmund, some last vestiges of hope glimmering in her eyes, but Edmund shakes his head. "They need me, Lu," he tells her sadly. "I don't think we're coming back…"

She nods, accepting the reality as fact. "Very well, then." She begins to say her goodbyes, and Caspian pulls all of them in for a hug. Edmund mutters a thank-you, and Caspian claps him on the back; both kings look at each other, silently remembering all the things they had done together.

Eustace, a newly changed boy, steps into the doorway with Lucy and Edmund. Lucy turns to watch the doorway close, and then suddenly grabs Edmund's hand- her brother looks at her and smiles, knowing that she would be the last reminders of Narnia that he ever would have.

…

Lucy and Edmund always made time to talk about Narnia. They weren't quite as frequent as the conversations they had had when they were younger, but they were wistful reminders about dryads and kings and talking mice. Sometimes, Edmund found himself reaching for his sword, but sheepishly dropped his arm when he remembered where he is. Similarly, Lucy often tried to reach for her healing cordial when somebody got hurt, only to find that water didn't have quite the same healing effect.

Eustace dropped by sometimes, too, but he wasn't quite as vocal as Edmund and Lucy were, and he understood that both Pevensies shared a bond that he would never be able to fully comprehend. He did venture to speak about Narnia to Peter, and the High King was more than happy to regale him with tales regarding his Golden Age reign.

Susan never came back, and Lucy and Edmund often talked about this matter as well. It was another one of those bonds that Eustace told his diary he would never be able to understand; maybe he had to get a sibling to fully comprehend the matter.

…

"Ed?" Lucy draws up her knees to her chest, a beautiful girl of sixteen now. "Do you remember that promise you made in Narnia?"

Her eighteen year old brother puts down his book. "Yes, Lu. What about it?"

She turns to look at him. "It's been a long time," she begins sheepishly, "but would you still go by that promise?"

Edmund throws back his head and laughs, surprised at the absurdity of the question. "Of course, Lu. I'll always be there for you. Promise."

"Even when we're not fighting sea serpents and minotaurs?"

"Even when we're not fighting sea serpents and minotaurs."

She leans back, satisfied. "Okay. Thank you, Ed."

The Just King picks up his book, remembering the lion he had sworn by. "Of course, Lu."

And you can clearly tell when I started getting tired. Well, what did you think? Review? Maybe? Pretty please? :)