The Last Of Us (2023): Infected

The Last of Us (2023): “Infected”

Thank you sm!!! I'm really looking forward to delving into their past and the old wounds there.

Also glad you liked that bit with daemon! I giggled when I wrote it so I'm happy others enjoyed it :)

Abandon All Hope - Prologue

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Original Female Character

Summary:

A dream has King Viserys making an olive branch of his granddaughter and son in a bid to bind together the two hales of his family, torn asunder by love, whispered lies, and daggers in the night. But dreams are fickle things. One missed step in a dance, and a new path to madness enters the game.

Her mother once said she named her for the dreamer, out of a hope that she'd bring a new dawn upon their house just as their ancestor did so many years ago. Daenys the Dreamer, who dreamt the Doom of Valyria and led House Targaryen across the narrow sea to spare them.

Daenys does not dream of things yet to pass, and she rather thinks herself destined for her own doom. Her Uncle Aemond will make certain of that.

Rating: M, minors I will throw rocks at you if I find out you read this

Word Count: 3.6k

If one were to ask Daenys who amongst the men in her life she loved the most, she might have answered her eldest brother Jacaerys. For he was a man by all the laws of the realm, and had always chased away her tears and kissed her scraped knees. She might even answer that her grandfather, Lord Corlys Velaryon, was the man she loved most. He was always gentle with her and delighted in showing her the treasures he’d collected from his many voyages, and he always had time for her when others didn’t. 

Above all Daenys might have answered that her father, Laenor Velaryon, was the man she loved the best. Her father and his laughing eyes, his gentle hands and bone-crushing hugs; he always told her he loved her best out of all of his daughters, and though Daenys was his only daughter, she clung to his words all the same. Her father always stuck up for her in the face of her brother’s teasing, and he always drove away her nightmares with soft songs or old legends of the sea, passed down from Velaryon to Velaryon.

Even now, she fiddled with the necklace her father gave her on her tenth name-day. She wore it more oft than not, even when it didn’t match the dress she wore. It was, at the time, the finest of all the jewelry she owned, and it was the first necklace that made her feel like a proper lady. A necklace for a woman, not a child. It was a delicate thing of silver, with five, sparkling, aquamarine gemstones that reminded Daenys of the sea. 

“Silver and aquamarine,” her father had said when he gave it to her. “So you might never forget our house. Or me.” She’d thought her father silly to say such a thing, to think she could ever forget that she was a Velaryon or that he was her father. Daenys was proud to be a Velaryon, and she was proud to call Laenor Velaryon her father. 

But Daenys could not answer that her father, Laenor Velaryon, was the one she loved best out of all the men in her life. For her father was dead and had been for almost a year now. And she couldn’t answer her brother Jacaerys, as he was barely two years older than her, and if Jacaerys was a man then she must certainly be a woman, and Daenys did not feel like a woman grown. Nor could she answer that her grandfather Corlys was the one she loved best, because he’d left them all to go fight in the Stepstones once more. 

She most certainly could not answer that her other grandfather, King Viserys, was the man she loved most. He had decided to be the king instead of her grandfather, and Daenys did not love the king.

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Abandon All Hope - Chapter 2 (Shadows)

Previous chapter

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Original Female Character

Rating: M

Chapter Warnings: Suicidal ideation and self harm, just to be safe. Nothing super graphic. Description of canon injuries (Aemond).

A/N: Quick question. Would y'all prefer I just post the whole chapters here as well as on AO3? Or do you really not care either way?

Daenys long ago decided that there was nothing as beautiful as Dragonstone, when observed from dragonback. The castle, with its stone towers warped to the likeness of dragons, appeared as though it was a part of the island itself. So intertwined were they, Daenys was uncertain the island and castle of a shared name could not exist without the other. 

For all that she tried, Daenys couldn’t fathom why Aegon the Conqueror hadn’t made Dragonstone his seat. There was no sight like it; the Red Keep and King’s Landing could never hope to compare. Especially when the weather was fair, and the sun shone off the dark stone of the castle and the water was blue and lovely. Daenys feared no painter could ever capture its likeness. The greed of time would steal away it. 

The wind was fiercer way up high on dragonback, and it snagged tendrils of Daenys’ hair from her braid with ferocity. The sun, free from Dragonstone’s usual cloudy veil, shone down on them and forced Daenys to squint against it. The air smelt of brine and smoke, a scent so unique to Dragonstone, and it remained strong even high in the air as she soared above the island on Silverwing. It smelt of home.

Silverwing trilled as Daenys ordered her lower to skim over the water, sending water spraying up around them and her stomach into her throat. Daenys never grew used to the plummeting lightness of dragon flight, and she hoped she never did. A delighted squeal of laughter rang from behind Daenys, and she peeked behind her shoulder at her closest friend. Rhae leaned to the side to try to reach the water and Daenys directed Silverwing higher, forcing Rhae to cling to her if she wished to keep her balance. 

At Rhae’s indignant squawk, Daenys giggled. There was no real danger of her falling; Rhae was strapped to the saddle same as Daenys. It’d taken nearly a year for Daenys to convince Rhae to ride Silverwing with her before she relented, and Daenys was glad she hadn’t given up. Flying, she found, was far more fun when she had her friend to share it with. 

“Hold on,” Daenys called over her shoulder. 

“No! Daenys, don’t,” Rhae yelled. She clawed her arms around Daenys’ waist and hurled curses into the wind.

Daenys stretched low on Silverwing’s saddle, and with a sharp tug of the reins, Silverwing tucked her wings close and dove straight towards the water. Wind roared past her ears and stung her eyes, Rhae shrieked and cursed in her ear, and Daenys laughed; breathless though she was. At the last moment Silverwing arced upwards, spiraling and weaving back up into the sky. Daenys floated off her saddle, and were it not for the straps holding them down, both she and Rhae would certainly have found themselves in the ocean.

“You arse!” Rhae smacked Daenys’ arm, but she laughed anyway. Daenys smiled and pulled back on Silverwing’s reins, leveling out and steering her to circle the island. 

From this height, the villages below the castle appeared no more than crumbs to be brushed away and forgotten. Galleys and cogs dallied at the ports, and Daenys espied the purple sails of a Braavosi trading ship passing by, likely en route to Driftmark. With another flick of the reins, Daenys steered Silverwing further around the island towards the Dragonmont. 

Dwarfing aught else on Dragonstone, the Dragonmont was a great, looming beast that spat pale gray smoke from its mouth and vents. As they flew towards the volcano, Silverwing flapped her wings and climbed even higher without Daenys’ command. More villages dotted below the Dragonmont, and shepherds and Dragonkeepers picked their way along the rocky paths that scarred the lower half of the Dragonmont. 

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“The rats play when the cat is gone, but my son Aemond will return with fire and blood.”

Woke up this morning to like 5 anon messages about tmttw and I'm????? Thank you everyone! I'm working on answering them :)

chapter done! sleeping on it before I edit, but it should be up tomorrow (this is a threat) :)

almost done with red wedding 2.0. absolutely terrified to post this lmao