Title: Kings Parted

Fandom: Narnia (Books - so don't expect it to be like the movies.)

Pairing: Caspian/Edmund; Peter/Eustace

Summary: Edmund and Caspian are now worlds apart but life goes on. Also Peter/Eustace, coz, yep, they're all gay! Set after The Silver Chair. Part 3 of the Kings series – sequel to Kings Love. This is SLASH – you have been warned!

Ages: Peter – 19-20; Edmund – 17-18; Eustace 15-16; Lucy 15-16 - I had to work out the ages myself; Yes, I'm aware that these ages are older than the official timeline from CS Lewis, but I'm not gonna write slash about a 12 year old, so I've aged them from the first story (Kings Comfort) and then continued from that. I'll give the ages for each story as I write them.

Disclaimer: The character's belong to CS Lewis. The blame is mine.

Warnings: Rated R for themes - nothing explicit.

Author's Note: So, this has turned out a little different from the way I first planned it. Originally it was going to be from Eustace's point of view, but that didn't feel right, and in the end I decided that this whole series is really Edmund's story. So, it's now from Edmund's point of view, even though there is a Peter/Eustace romance in the story (which makes it an interesting challenge for me!). But, now it feels right.

Oh, and thinking of a summary for this was near impossible and an absolute headache. So, yeah, summary fail.

Chapter 1

Edmund, you have been gone now for a few hours and I sit here and I cannot turn the ship around and return to Narnia. It is not that I think that you will come back, or that I think I can follow you, it is that I am so angry that I am frozen. I cannot do anything.

The choice was given to us, but this is not my choice. As much as I understand the reason you have chosen as you have, still I cannot fully accept it because it is not the choice I would have made.

I know that you think you are doing what is right, for us, and for Narnia, but I think you are wrong. You want me to go back, marry, and father a child for Narnia, but you have forgotten that in this, I do have a choice.

And so I tell you, Edmund, that I will not do it.

1st meeting of the Seven Friends of Narnia

"It was amazing," said Jill Pole the excitement in her voice reflected in her face. "They ran away like terrified rats. Then I went upstairs to get changed, and I suppose Caspian went back." She glanced at Eustace beside her. "Did he?"

Edmund had listened to the story that Jill and Eustace had told in silence, and without lifting his gaze from the table. It was easier that way, to ignore the rapid beating of his heart, and pretend that it was just a story and not something that had actually happened. But at this question, he could not resist looking up for a moment to look at Eustace. The other boy's eyes met his instantly and Edmund somehow knew that Eustace had been watching him throughout the entire telling of the tale.

"Yes, of course," Eustace finally said, softly, and Edmund closed his eyes for a moment, and then turned away, only to find Peter's eyes upon him. Edmund gave him a brief smile and then returned to his contemplation of Aunt Polly's fine damask tablecloth.

"Oh, I'm so glad that we could all hear about it together." It was Lucy's voice and Edmund could clearly hear the joy in it.

"Yes," Jill replied. "It was a wonderful idea of Aunt Polly's and the Professor to set up the Seven Friends of Narnia. It's so good to be able to tell people who'll believe. I feel like I've been holding a bomb inside for the last six weeks and I've just wanted to explode with it all, and now it's finally out."

There was laughter around the table at this remark and then Peter spoke, his voice low, but everyone fell silent as people always did at the sound of Peter's voice.

"Tell me," he said, "how old was King Caspian when you saw him in Aslan's country?"

Edmund shifted uncomfortably in his chair but Peter could not possibly have known that this was exactly what Edmund most wanted to hear about. It was simply coincidence that his brother had asked the question that Edmund would have asked himself if he was capable of speech.

"I'd say twenty-two, twenty-three?" It was Eustace who replied. "It was hard to say for certain. I think he was older than he was when we were all on the Dawn Treader, but not by much."

There was another moment of silence after this and Edmund could feel that now Lucy was watching him as well and he just knew what he would see in her eyes if he looked up, so he didn't. He didn't want to see it.

"I think it's time for some tea," Aunt Polly finally said, and she rose from her chair. "I'll serve it in the parlour."

"I'll help you," said Lucy, and Edmund took a quick breath of relief as they both left the room.

The others rose from the dining table where they had eaten the delicious meal that Aunt Polly had prepared, and slowly made their way to the door.

Eustace crowded close to Edmund and then gripped his arm, holding him back. Edmund, who had grown slightly taller in the year that had passed since they had all been in Narnia together, glanced down at him.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

"Stay," murmured Eustace. "I need to talk to you."

Edmund quickly shook his head, but Eustace too had changed in the last year and he retained his firm grip on Edmund's arm. He had a quietly determined look on his face that Edmund had never seen on him before, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't be as easy to divert Eustace as it might have been in the past.

"Why?" Edmund asked, bluntly.

Eustace frowned. "Isn't it obvious?" he answered. "I've got a message for you."

Something like a jolt of fear went through Edmund's heart and he quickly took a deep breath. In the last year he'd slowly accepted that his future would probably be a lonely one for even if he could let go of the feelings he had for Caspian, this was England, not Narnia, and Edmund knew that he would never marry. But with that acceptance had come a sort of numb tolerance of his life, and Edmund felt that a message from Caspian could only crack the walls he'd built up, and send him back into the mire of pain and confusion he'd experienced in those first days back in England after leaving Caspian.

"Look, Eustace," he said, quietly. "I don't really need or want a message from Caspian."

"Why not, Edmund?"

It was Peter's voice, and Edmund spun around with a sinking heart. He'd had no idea that Peter was still in the room, standing quietly behind them, and by the sudden tension he could feel in Eustace, Edmund could tell that he'd had no idea either.

Both Edmund and Eustace were silent and Peter raised an eyebrow at them.

"If Caspian took the time and effort to send you a message, I don't see why you wouldn't want to hear it, Edmund," he said.

Edmund could feel the heat in his face and a quick glance at Eustace showed that he was in a similar condition. Peter smiled at them.

"Of course, the question is, why would Caspian send you, in particular, a message," he said. "You were different when you got back from Narnia last time, Edmund. At first I thought that was hardly surprising, you were there for some time and Lucy was different too. You'd both grown up a lot. But with you, it was more than that. It was like a great weight had been lifted from you but at the same time, something else wasn't quite right. And then I realised what it was. You were grieving. And I wondered what it was that you could be grieving for. I waited for you to tell me, but when you didn't, I asked Lucy."

At Edmund's startled gasp, Peter smiled again. "Ah, don't worry, Edmund," he continued. "She didn't give away your secret, but the way she acted confirmed that there was some sort of secret."

"Really, Peter," Edmund finally found his voice, and he knew that it sounded resentful. "Perhaps instead of engineering you should consider detective work as a career."

Peter laughed. "Perhaps, not," he said, and his eyes slid to Eustace. "Because I didn't even think to ask Eustace."

Edmund felt Eustace shift uncomfortably beside him, but he remained silent, and Edmund was surprised, for he knew that the Eustace of a year ago would definitely have burst into speech.

"You know, Peter, it's jolly well none of-" Edmund began but Peter interrupted him.

"None of my business," he said. "I do know, Edmund, but you're my brother and I love you. You've suffered and it's been hard to stand by and watch that without knowing why."

And this was the problem with Peter, Edmund thought, he could always find a way to completely disarm you.

"Of course, I've figured it out now," Peter continued. "Why didn't you tell me you had been in a relationship with Caspian? Surely with what you know of me from when we were in Narnia, you could not have thought that I would disapprove?"

Edmund heard Eustace's slight gasp and glanced at him, noting his flushed face and lowered eyes, with some confusion. Eustace had always seemed to accept Edmund's relationship with Caspian so easily, but with Peter's admission, Edmund now wondered if perhaps that acceptance hadn't been as easy for Eustace as he'd thought.

"Edmund?"

Peter's soft query brought Edmund's attention away from Eustace and he took a deep breath.

"I wasn't sure how you would feel about it," he admitted, softly. "You see, I saw you together after the Battle of Beruna, and later Caspian told me about it. I knew how he felt, but I didn't know how you felt."

Peter was silent for a moment, his face expressionless. "I see," he said, finally. "I'm sure that Caspian would have told you that nothing really happened that night. My… memories of it are fond, but that is all."

A soft murmur came from Eustace, and when Edmund glanced at him again, he was leaning against the table, still staring at the floor. Edmund frowned.

"I say, are you all right?" he asked.

Eustace looked up with a stricken look in his eyes that was gone so fast that Edmund wondered if he had really seen it.

"I'm fine," he said, sounding slightly breathless. "Really."

"Perhaps you should give Edmund the message," Peter said softly, and when Edmund looked at him, he saw that Peter had moved closer to them. "And then we can join the others for tea."

"No," Edmund said quickly. "I don't want to hear it."

"But why not, Edmund?" Peter asked, frowning. "I don't understand that."

"Because he's dead," Edmund burst out, no longer able to contain himself, as his heart almost thumped out of his chest. "And so what is the point? He's dead and I'm alive. End of story."

"What makes you think he's dead?"

Eustace sounded astonished and Edmund glared at him with his own astonishment.

"Because he died, Eustace," he said, rather snidely, he had to admit," surely you remember that. You were there, after all."

Eustace seemed to have lost whatever embarrassment had ailed him earlier and he was now looking at Edmund with a mixture of anger and confusion.

"And I assure you, Edmund," he said, "that Caspian was not dead when I left him."

Edmund ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "Look Eustace," he said. "I know you mean well, but Caspian died, in Narnia. Even if I could ever go back, his life in Narnia is over."

"But that doesn't mean he's dead," Eustace said earnestly, gripping Edmund's arm. "I've been thinking, you know, about what the Professor told us about the first time he and Aunt Polly went to Narnia. About the Wood between the Worlds. And I thought, what if Aslan's country is sort of like that. A place outside of everything, but from where you can get anywhere. But you don't have to be dead to be there. I mean, Aunt Polly and the Professor weren't dead when they went there, so why would Caspian be dead now that he's there? Oh, I wish I could explain what I mean, properly," and he shook his head in frustration.

"No," Peter said, thoughtfully. "I think I understand you, Eustace. It's just another way of travelling between worlds. Like the wardrobe."

"But," Edmund said incredulously, "he got old. He died."

"Don't you see, Edmund?" Eustace asked. "That was just a way of explaining his absence. With us, when we go to Narnia, it's always about time. No time passes here while we're away so no explanation for our absence is needed. With Narnia, it's different, and it was time for Narnia to progress, for a new King to be crowned. So, Caspian got old, and when the right time came, when Rilian was back, Caspian was moved between the worlds and back to his proper age."

Edmund couldn't help feeling that this all might just be wishful thinking on Eustace's part, but there was no denying that Caspian had been alive and youthful when Eustace had left him, and with Aslan and Narnia, anything was possible.

In the end, he shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "All right then," he said and then took a deep breath. "You'd best tell me this message."

"Do you want me to leave?" Peter asked.

Edmund shook his head. "No, it's fine," he said. And maybe, he thought, it would be a relief to talk about all of this with Peter, some time in the future.

Eustace was glancing between them and Edmund noticed that he was suddenly looking flushed and embarrassed again.

"It wasn't actually a verbal message," he finally said. "He, ah, gave me a couple of things to give you. This is the first." He moved closer to Edmund with his hand held out. Gold flashed and Edmund saw that a ring rested on his open palm. He knew that ring, had seen it many times until eventually he'd ceased to notice it, simply accepting it as a part of Caspian. Gingerly he reached out and took it, swallowing heavily as he saw once more the curving C wrapped around a rampant lion. Caspian's signet ring.

For a moment his vision wavered and he blinked quickly against the sting of tears. His hand clenched into a fist around the ring and then he shoved it deep into his pocket.

"What else?" he whispered.

"Just this," Eustace said, and there was a faint tremor in his voice. Edmund watched him as he drew a folded packet of parchment out of his pocket and offered it with a shy smile.

Edmund took it with a trembling hand and wondered if he would ever have the courage to read it.

There was a long moment of silence and then Peter cleared his throat. "The others will be wondering about us," he said. "We should go and have tea, and then I'd better drive Jill and Eustace back to school. It's getting late."

Edmund nodded, put the parchment into his pocket, and followed Peter and Eustace out of the room.