♘

         DOROTHY, LUCY, AND SUSAN walked out of their tents the next morning, seeing Peter staring into the distance. His sisters followed his gaze and they saw Aslan speaking to Edmund.

Dorothy gasped with a large smile. "Edmund!" she shouted and was about to run to them when Peter blocked her.

Upon hearing Dorothy, Edmund and Aslan both looked down, seeing the four watching them. Edmund had bruises and cuts all over his face from the looks of it. He turned back towards Aslan, who nods gently and Edmund slowly began walking down the small hill towards his brother and sisters with Aslan following him. Once he approached, he looked down at the ground, nervous to look at his siblings in the eyes, especially Peter's.

"What's done is done," Aslan says sternly as he stood by Edmund's side. "There is no need to speak to Edmund about what has passed."

With that, Aslan left the five siblings alone, all standing in silence. Hesitantly, Edmund looked up at his brother, before looking down again and glanced up at his siblings.

"Hello."

His greeting was quiet and soft, as if he was traumatized to speak because of what the White Witch did in front of him and Dorothy couldn't blame him. She knew that the White Witch did awful, terrible things and wished that Edmund hadn't wandered off in the first place. Pushing that aside, Dorothy smiled widely before rushing towards Edmund, hugging him tightly and she felt him hug back. Lucy and Susan both shared smiles before hugging him as well while Dorothy stepped back.

"Are you alright?" Susan asked him softly, pulling away from the hug.

"I'm a little tired," Edmund replied, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Get some sleep," Peter suggested, gesturing his head towards his tent.

Edmund's smile disappeared as he nervously looked at Peter again. He nodded his head before heading into the direction that Peter gestured to the tent.

"And Edmund," Peter called, causing Edmund to turn around. He thought was going to get yelled at but to everyone's surprise, Peter smiled softly. "Try not to wander off."

While Dorothy giggled with her sisters, Edmund gave Peter a small smirk before heading off to get some sleep.

♘

After Edmund rested for a little while, the siblings all sat at a table eating breakfast. His siblings watched in amusement as he shoved toast in his mouth and again, Dorothy couldn't blame him since the she knew that the White Witch didn't feed him.

"Narnia's not going to run out of toast, Ed," Lucy joked, causing Edmund to smile at her and they continued to eat.

"I'm sure they'll pack something up for the journey back," Peter says, leaning against a large rock.

"We're going home?" Susan questioned confusingly.

"You are," Peter replied and sat between Dorothy and Susan. "I promised Mum I'd keep you four safe. But it doesn't I can't stay behind and help."

"But they need us," the younger blonde girl spoke, causing her siblings to turn to her. "All five of us."

"Dorothy, it's to dangerous," Peter says sternly. "You almost drowned and Edmund was almost killed!"

"Which is why we have to stay," Edmund softly says and his siblings looked at him. "I've seen what the White Witch could do, and I've helped her do it. And we can't leave these people behind to suffer for it."

Everyone took in Edmund's words and both Dorothy and Lucy held each of his hands, as they were on either side of him.

"I suppose that's it then," Susan says and stood up, walking away.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked her in confusion.

Susan picked up her horn, bow and quiver before turning towards Peter with a smirk. "To get in some practice."

♘

Dorothy and Lucy watched as Susan studied her bow as she aimed at the target. She fired her arrow and instead of landing in the middle, it landed on the second ring, much to Susan's dismay while her sisters gasped in awe. Lucy took her dagger out of her belt and threw it, hitting the target in the middle. Susan and Dorothy laughed as Lucy shrugged with a smile on her face.

The sound of horses galloping caused each of them to turn around and their smiled widened when they saw Edmund and Peter riding horses -- or in Peter's case, a unicorn. They were both practicing their sword fighting.

"Come on, Ed!" Peter chuckled in amusement. "Sword point up, like Oreius showed us."

"En garde!"

"Now block!"

"Peter! Edmund!"

Everyone looked to see that Mr. Beaver was running towards them in a hurry. Edmund's horse whined as he stood up on his hind legs, scared of the beaver.

"Woah, horsie!" Edmund warned as the horse calm down.

"My name is Philip," the horse grumbled.

"Oh. S-sorry."

"The Witch has demanded a meeting with Aslan," Mr. Beaver informed them and they all looked at each other in shock. "She's on her way here."

♘

"Jadis, The Queen of Narnia!" A small dwarf announced as the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve ran to see the Witch and her army entering. "Empress of the Lone Islands!"

Everyone watched as the orges who were carrying the White Witch's throne set her down. She stood up and walked towards Aslan, who stared at her with narrowed eyes. The Witch had her eyes on Edmund, who tensed under her stare as she made it in front of the mighty lion.

"You have a traitor in your midst, Aslan," The Witch said to Aslan, causing the crowd to murmur and stare at Edmund. Dorothy, who was closest to Edmund, grabbed a hold of his hand and squeezed it for comfort, and Edmund squeezed back.

"His offense was not against you," Aslan calmly spoke.

"Have you forgotten the laws upon which Narnia was built?"

Aslan lets out a mighty growl. "Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written." His voice was dangerously low and it took all his power to not kill her right then and there.

"Then you'll remember well that every traitor belongs to me," Jadis says with a sly smirk. "His blood is my property."

Peter pulled his sword out and pointed it at Jadis, stepping front of Edmund. "Try and take him, then," he warned her, trying to be brave for his siblings but his voice was very nervous as he spoke.

Jadis turned towards him, not feeling threatened. "Do you really think that mere force will deny me my right, little King?" She mocked him and turned back to look at Aslan. "Aslan knows that unless I have blood, as the law demands," Jadis turned back to the crowd. "All of Narnia will be overturned and perish in fire and water," she pointed her wand towards Edmund. "That boy will die on the Stone Table as is tradition." Jadis looked back at Aslan, "You dare not refuse me."

"Enough," Aslan sternly says as he stared at Jadis. "I shall talk with you alone."

With that, he turned around and walked into his tent and Jadis followed in after him.

♘

An hour later, everyone was sitting on the ground, waiting for Aslan and the White Witch to come out. Everyone was doing their own thing with Edmund nervously pulling grass and Peter watching him, Lucy braiding pieces of grass together, Dorothy resting her head on Susan's lap and Susan playing with her hair.

Peter looked up, noticing the White Witch coming out of the tent and stood up, along with his siblings and the rest of the Narnians as Alsan walked out after the Witch. She kept her eyes on Edmund as she walked towards her throne and everyone turned to Aslan, waiting for him to speak.

"She has renounced her claim on the Son of Adam's blood," Aslan announced and the camp cheered as Dorothy rushed to Edmund, giving him a big hug.

"How will I know your promise will be kept?" The Witch asked, causing the cheers and applause to simmer.

In response, Alsan lets outs a roar and Jadis immediately sits down on her throne. The cheering continues as everyone congratulated the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. Dorothy looked towards Aslan with a smile on her face but it fell when she noticed him looking down at the ground.

Aslan, feeling eyes on him, looked towards the youngest Pevensie girl. He gave her a tiny smile that didn't reach to his ears before walking into his tent, leaving Dorothy confused. She shook head and continued to smile as the Narnians were hugging her and her siblings but couldn't help but worry about Aslan.