Chapter Text
Prince Baelon Targaryen
84 AC
He once heard that his family was blessed by the gods, that it was the reason why they could fly high on their dragons, why they had power over the Seven Kingdoms, why they could marry each other and yet birth children without any defects. “Targaryens are Gods among Men” the Septon would preach every time he wanted to secure favor from his father, and Baelon wondered sometimes if there was ever any truth in those words.
As a child he had fully believed on the words of his parents, when they explained to him and Aemon why they could marry their sisters when any other would be cursed for the same thing. It wasn’t hard to believe that they were better, that the blood of Aegon the Conqueror running through their veins made them special.
It was easy to believe you were a God when you could fly through the sky, see the Kingdoms that belong to his family and each one of their subjects look like nothing more than ants who could disappear with nothing more than a single word whispered to his Dragon.
But Baelon was no child anymore, he had long ago forgone the thought that his family was blessed by the Gods, they were special, but the only thing that made it so were their Dragons and nothing more, a Targaryen without a dragon was no different from any other petty lord.
He had thought that the dreams of grandeur had been left behind, that after his first three battles he had finally learnt how to be a man, that he was no arrogant little Lord like many others in Westeros. And yet, why then had he been foolish enough to think that Alyssa could not die from childbirth?
The thought had never once crossed his mind, he was so sure that nothing could hurt his proud and strong wife, the one who dared everyone and everything that crossed her way, who carried a sword better than many knights he knew, who had birthed him two beautiful children with no problems to show, Gods, she had been flying atop of Meleys two days after birthing Viserys.
Baelon had been arrogant, to think Alyssa was safe from the terrors of childbirth just because she was a Targaryen. Had they not lost Daella just two years ago to the same fate? Had his mother not birthed many stillborn sons? Why had they insisted on having a third child? They already had two sons, they didn’t have any need for another, Alyssa wanted a girl, but it was in the same way she wanted a specific dress or jewelry, a passing fancy that she wouldn’t insist on if it was really that hard to get.
It was hubris, maybe The Mother had been angry at them both for being so greedy, for wanting more than two sons when most couldn’t even have one.
And so, foolish Baelon had to watch his spirited wife slowly die, in pain and tears, he watched the fire she carried disappear, her eyes became glassy and her words mute. He lost a wife and sister that day, to the hubris and arrogance of a man, and even when little Aegon had survived, it didn’t take long for him to slowly start to embrace The Stranger as well.
Baelon was lost, nearly 6 months after Alyssa’s death and his son didn’t show any signs of recovery, the Grand-Maester didn’t think he would live any longer, and all Baelon could do was cry like a little boy in his mother’s arms. Because Alyssa had died for nothing after all.
“Oh my son, don’t mourn a child that hasn’t died yet” His mother tried to comfort him, but her face was as solemn as his own, she was thin and her cheeks lacked any color, she was no maid but she looked 10 years older than she actually was, the death of Alyssa hanged heavy on her, as she had lost another daughter so soon after the other. “The Gods may prove merciful yet”
“Alyssa is gone mother, and I may have to burn our child as well, the Gods are cruel” Baelon wasn’t crying anymore, but the taste of wine was still on his tongue and he had yet to get his head off his mother’s lap, where her gentle hands stroked his hair.
He shouldn’t be drinking, he should be with Daemon and Viserys, his children who still lived and were as mournful as himself, or maybe with Aemon who tried to pull his head out of grief everyday, but today he had received the news from the Grand-Maester that Aegon would probably not live to see another day, and so he went to his son’s nursery with a bottle of wine and drank while hearing his child's painful attempts at breathing.
His mother had found him there and dragged him to a more private room. Baelon was a disgrace, he couldn’t even protect the child that Alyssa gave her life for, and now had to be comforted by his mother who was grieving as much as himself.
“Don’t say that my son, Alyssa is now in the embrace of The Mother who gifted me with her and now takes her back” His mother kissed his head gently, but Baelon could hear the hoarse voice that betrayed her feelings “And when Aegon dies, he will be back on Alyssa’s arms as well”
Before Baelon could say anything else they were startled by the sound of crying, loud and desperate crying that only a baby with full lungs could make, the Kingsguard at the door was the first to run to the next room, Baelon moved liked a man possessed, following them as fast as he could.
“My Prince!” The wet nurses, servants and maesters were already in the room, Baelon could barely see above the group of people surrounding Aegon’s cradle, but he did smell blood.
His face became pale as he pushed through them, barely registering that they had bowed to his mother who followed behind, the scene in front of him was almost unbelievable, the first thing he noticed was that Aegon was still crying, which meant he lived, but the egg that had been on his cradle now laid broken on the floor and a little drake was being held back by the Kingsguard and Maester.
They were trying at least, since the creature, dark as the room, kept flapping its wings and scratching with its claws. Baelon could not understand what was happening, still startled at the sound of his son crying, the child that had not cried even when he had been pulled out of Alyssa’s womb, the child that just an hour ago was struggling to breath, now crying as if there was no lack of air in his lungs.
“Gods be good! Grand Maester Elysar, attend to the child!” His mother passed through him in a stupor, taking Elysar’s place in holding the beast. She was quick in holding the drake by its neck, making it stop flapping its wings, even if the claws kept reaching out to scratch at them.
Baelon turned to the cradle where the Grand Maester was holding a cloth to Aegon’s face, a cloth covered in blood, the sight finally made Baelon move, pushing a servant from the way as he hushed to the Maester’s side.
“What- Is Aegon well? Is he alive?” Baelon felt out of breath, he never felt as dreadful and anxious like this before, not even in battle, he wondered if it was because he was still feeling drunk.
“Livelier than before, my Prince” Elysar answered, moving to jug some sort of liquid on his son’s face, Aegon cried even louder and Baelon would feel worried if he wasn’t as excited to see his son finally show any sign of life “The Dragon has scratched his left eye, but it's not deep, the claws are of an infant, it will leave a scar but he should still be able to see”
“Gods” Baelon breathed, he should toss that dragon on the deepest part of the dragon pit after this, never before has a cradle dragon hurt its master, why has this happened?
“Grrr!” Baelon turned away startled when the Dragon jumped on the cradle once again, he was ready to pull his sword when his mother held him back.
“Look” She pointed and Baelon blinked at seeing the ferocious drake curl up on Aegon’s chest and sleep. He felt his face heat up in rage.
“How dare it! To hurt my child and act as if nothing happened?! What type of dragon-”
“Baelon, breath” His mother's voice was gentle but it had a sharp edge on it, as if she was done with his outburst. “Aegon lives, and this may be a good sign, no dragon would fatally injure its own master”
“Mother-”
“Shush, let Grand Maester Elysar examine Aegon” She said and Baelon felt himself shutting up as if he was a little child once again, if he had been on his right mind he would have felt embarrassment, but right now all he could do was fall on the nearest chair, tired beyond measure.
“The boy seems better than before your grace, his breathing is finally normal and the fever has reduced” Elysar said, looking down at the baby and dragon with widen eyes “It is hard to say he has recovered so hastily, but if he keeps like this for another week then we can say he isn’t on risk of death anymore”
Baelon could hear his mother discussing with the Grand Maester, but his head was hurting and he could not hear their words clearly, he let himself rest against the chair, his eyes heavy as he let himself be pulled into the dream realm, it was as if all he needed was hear the words “he isn’t on risk of death anymore” to be able of resting.
He couldn’t quite believe what had happened yet, a month had passed since the Grand-Maester had told him that Aegon wouldn’t live another night, a month since his cradle egg had hatched, and the feeling of his son on his arms was still mind-boggling.
Aegon had recovered more than well, acting more like the baby he should be than the breathing corpse that had left his beloved Alyssa, and this was the first time that Baelon had allowed himself to carry his son around the room, still too afraid that anything would make his son sick again.
“He is such a chirpy baby, I would believe someone had snuck in another baby in here if not for those eyes of his” Aemon japed, his older brother sat on the room’s armchair and had decided to accompany him today. Baelon won’t lie, he know he had been insufferable these past months, so he was glad that Aemon was still trying to cheer him and keep him company, now with Alyssa’s death Baelon couldn’t help but feel that Aemon was the only true sibling he had left, even if he still had a bunch of younger ones alive.
“They are just like hers” Baelon said, voice melancholic as he traced his son’s face, mismatched eyes stared back at him, one green and the other violet, the scar running through one of them only made him grimace. The voracious little drake had refused to be taken away from the room, biting and scratching all who tried touching him, that when he wasn’t setting fire on their clothes, right now the pest was curling around the fireplace like a well fed house cat. “Everyone said that the eyes made her even more ugly than the crooked nose, but I always thought they made her the most beautiful woman in Westeros, I would tell her that anyone from here to Lys could have eyes like mine but hers were true unique”
“Humm” Aemon hummed, tossing his small pocket knife up and down as if humoring him, his brother had a longing look on his eyes, even as he throwed him a lopsided smirk “If I remember well you once said that even a woods witch would be prettier than her”
“I was nine!” Baelon shouted, scandalized that his brother would bring back such old memories in such a moment, but when he looked back at him he was laughing. He huffed “Aye, Aye, very funny, if I remember well you told Jocelyn that you would prefer to be betrothed to a cow once”
“Come on, I already paid for that, Alyssa punched my face so hard that I thought we would have to call a maester!” Aemon laughed and Baelon soon found himself laughing as well, laughing loudly till he was out of breath, the first time he had done so in months.
“Bah!” Baelon stopped laughing when the baby in his arms started to move, he immediately moved to hold him better afraid he had hurt his little Aegon, just to find the boy laughing with them.
He felt his chest filling with a type of warmth he hadn’t felt since Alyssa died, looking at their son all he could see was his lovely wife, the same cheerful laugh that sounded more like a snort. Baelon didn’t know if he wanted to smile or cry, life had a way to surprise him, just a month ago he thought himself cursed and now all he could think was that Alyssa wouldn’t regret dying for such a smile on their child’s face.
“Yes, you’re a very cheerful one” Baelon cried as he hugged his son, maybe life could be alright, even without his other half here with him, at least a piece of her, three pieces of her, were left for him.
A month became two and two became four and soon a whole year had passed since Alyssa died, his family was far from recovering, he found himself looking behind his shoulder expecting to see his wife more often than not, his sons were still inconsolable, Daemon was barely a toddler and was feeling the loss of his mother more than most, not being able to understand why she had just disappeared one day, Viserys was more understanding, but he was just a child as well and often would run to cry in Jocelyn’s arms.
However, he is certain that things would have been harder if Aegon hadn’t survived, they may have never recovered, he probably would have buried himself in work and let his children to be raised by Jocelyn and Aemon, so it was good cause to celebrate that his son had survived to see his first name day.
It wasn’t a big event, although Aemon had suggested they throw a tourney to celebrate, Baelon decided on a small feast instead, with only his family and the more important members of the court. Besides being a celebration for Aegon’s survival, it was also an opportunity to present the baby to the rest of his family, most of them hadn’t got the chance to meet him yet.
“He looks very much like Alyssa” His father had a small smile on his face as he held Aegon on his arms, Baelon watched amused as his son played with the King’s beard.
“I told you, he is a darling, you should have visited him in the nursery” His mother said, lips thin as she drank from her goblet, Jaehaerys didn’t answered but the frown on his face showed that he hadn’t want to meet the boy unless he was sure to survive. Baelon should have felt insulted by that, but he knew that his father had seen too many of his own children die on the cradle, and he for sure didn’t want to see another succumb to the same fate.
“Well, I’m glad to meet him now” Jaehaery's smile was strained but it became softer as Aegon chuckled on his arms.
“Grandfather, may I hold him?” Rhaenys had moved quickly around the table, Baelon blinked surprised at seeing her beside his father, he glanced back to where the children were playing on a rug near the fireplace, Viserys was holding Daemon on his lap, Gael was glancing back at their mother at each second and Viserra was pouting with her arms crossed, for sure annoyed at being forced to sit with the children.
“Be careful” Jaehaerys said as he passed the baby to Rhaenys, who smiled brightly as she hushed away with him back to the other children, Viserys and Daemon cheering at seeing she succeeded on her mission.
Baelon chuckled and Aemon laughed loudly
“Father, how can you let your own grandson be seized like that?” Aemon’s voice was full of mirth as he brandished his goblet of wine, Baelon was sure that his brother was more than drunk, not that he was better than him, they had never been good at controlling themselves when there was wine around.
“Behave as the adult you are, Aemon” His father huffed, but Baelon noticed the small twitch on his lips.
“Wonder what you have been teaching that daughter of you, for her to so boldly trick the King” Saera snorted, moving to pull a full jug of wine from the nearest servant’s arm, Baelon wondered if the weakness to wine was something all Targaryens shared.
“Saera, behave yourself properly, we are not in a tavern” Alysanne throwed an annoyed glance at her daughter, who just huffed and spilled the wine on her food in an attempt to fill her goblet even more.
“Saera!” Alysanne got up, voice shrill with fury. Baelon tried to hide his amusement behind his cups, Saera always managed to get on their mother’s nerves, her “rebellious phase”, as Aemon called it, seemed to be putting new grey strands on their mother’s hair.
“Don’t worry my queen, it's just a bit of wine” Jocelyn tried to calm her as she signed for a servant to remove the spoiled food and clean the table.
“Saera, you need to start behaving like the princess you are! What if we were at a public feast? Me and your father would be shamed in front of the whole kingdom-”
“Argh, I’m too drunk for this” Saera whispered letting her face fall against the table, this seemed to enrage their mother even more and all Baelon could do was sigh.
Family never changes indeed, there was never a Targaryen feast that didn’t finish with a fight or another, back then he and Alyssa would have been holding back their laughs before trying to slip away so they could gossip about it, oh, how he missed her in moments like these.
It was the fullest Targaryen reunion in years, and yet, with so many faces missing, he could look around and pretend he didn’t miss the sight of Alyssa, Daella, Maegelle, gods, he even missed Vaegon, that little shit who couldn’t bother to come home even when he could.
“Father! Look!” Baelon was pulled out of his brooding by Visery’s shout, he immediately went alert and almost pulled his sword, but turning around all he saw was his little Aegon taking shaky steps in his direction.
His eyes widened as the table went silent, his sweet Aegon was barely keeping himself up as he moved, he could see on his face how concentrated he was. Baelon gaped and only moved when Aemon kicked his chin, he was then quick to crouch down on the floor and extend his arms.
“That’s it Trēsy, come here” Baelon cheered him up as the boy walked, his first steps, he was surprised to see it so soon, Aegon hadn’t even crawled yet! He seemed to be as bold as his Alyssa had been.
In the end the boy fell down some feet away from him, but Baelon was close enough to pick him up before he hit the floor, his family cheering at little Aegon, completely forgetting of the small incident that had just happened.
“Congratulations brother! You have another fierce son!” Aemon laughed as he got up to pat him on his back.
“Yeah, I do” Baelon felt his chest warm as he looked at his grinning son in his arms, completely ignoring the rest of the world. He was lucky to have this little ray of sunshine, Alyssa would have loved him as much as he does.
He wasn’t sure if he would ever recover from the loss of his wife, but at least in these small moments he could remember that he still had his family, and he would do all he could to see them happy.
AEGON TARGARYEN
He was getting used to it, to this life, when he first woke up in this place all he expected was to either lose his memories of his first life or wake up in some hospital room as a paraplegic, but more than a year had already passed and he still could remember clearly of his first day as Aegon Targaryen.
The first thing he had felt was pain, the first thing he smelled was blood and the first thing he saw was a demon.
For someone that had just died, and still could clearly remember the sound of his bones cracking against the pavement, it wasn’t a surprise that he freaked out. He didn’t expect to open his eyes again, it should be impossible to survive that fall, and he for sure didn’t expect to wake up staring at some dark creature with a mouth full of teeth, if he had any control over his limbs he would have already hurled himself to the other side of this room, but the fact he hadn’t was a reminder that he could not control his body, he could barely feel it, and that made a feeling of nausea fill his gut.
Having to lay there, the pain on his face almost numb, as he had to watch that creature as if it was his own personal sleep paralysis demon. He couldn’t help but feel dread, it wasn’t confusion or fear, just pure dread. His thoughts had been a mess, death was supposed to be peaceful, not this. Did that annoying nun have been right all along? Was this hell? He was sure he didn’t deserve to be condemned to the eternal flames just because he liked sucking some dick!
Luckily for his crisis of faith, the situation was cleared up quickly enough, or the most it could be at least. After those giant people had hushed inside, spoken on a language he didn’t understand, taken away the demon (or tried to) and fussed over him, he was fairly sure he wasn’t on hell, not that the alternative was much better, reincarnation had not been on his bingo list.
And since then, he just went with it. He didn’t mean to get attached so easily to this new life, not when he wasn’t even sure if it was real, but as time passed there wasn’t anything he could do but accept that this was his reality now.
“And how is my son doing today?” The man, his father, cooed over him and he couldn’t help but giggle in response.
The more of the language he learned, the more he understood this place, and it wasn’t all that bad. He learned that his name was Aegon, a bit weird but it was to be expected since he wasn’t really on Earth anymore, he didn’t know what exactly tipped him of, maybe it was the strange appearance of his family members or if it was the dragon that kept following him around, but he was indeed not in the past but in some Fantasy world.
Aegon thinks he should be shocked, but if time wasn’t linear why should space be? He had liked science enough to know that the idea of alternative dimensions wasn’t as absurd as it sounded.
“He is recovering more than well, my Prince, a true miracle” The old man in the room said, they called him a Maester and Aegon guessed it was a type of doctor.
“Of course, he is the blood of the dragon after all” His father said as he moved to pick him up, Aegon quickly snuggled against the man’s shoulder.
He didn’t care that he died, he didn’t care that this wasn’t earth anymore, he didn’t care that he had to grow up all over again.
Aegon Targaryen had a family, and for an orphan boy who killed himself at the age of sixteen, this was more than anything he needed to accept this life as the real one.