The Dragons and Their Sun (aemond/oc)

prologue

Almost two decades ago, on the twentieth day of the ninth month, the sun and the moon overlapped each other for a singular minute. People everywhere panicked as this had never happened before. The world went dark. Thirty seconds into that darkness, as people desperately stared at the sky and prayed their sun would return, the entire sky was illuminated in what most described as 'the most glorious fire ever to be seen.' The roar that followed shook the very ground the people stood on. Several people were blinded by the light of the fire and even more people were deafened by the thunderous roar. A handful of people were recorded dead due to these events; most were people that had fallen when the ground shook. People would find out when the sun came back that the fire and thunder were caused by the dragons. Every single living dragon had screamed fire into the sky at the exact same time.

Before the fire that lit the sky, under a lone tree somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a woman lay bleeding on the ground. The only sound she heard was the rough landing of something heavy somewhere behind her head. She just barely managed to move her head, her vision was blurred as she spoke softly to the beast that had landed, "Protect her. No harm is to come to her. Please."

She turned her gaze to the tree she laid, dying, underneath, and she repeated her plea to the withered bark of the tree. She gave one final push, her cry of pain echoing in the air around her, and she felt it. The second the pressure faded, the sky went dark. Her entire body froze as she waited. Her eyes refused to adjust to the darkness and she felt herself growing weaker as she reached out with a singular hand.

A shrill cry broke the silence. The woman cried out in relief as she pushed her body to its very limits to push herself up. She ignored the blood continuously pouring out of her as she leaned forward. Her baby daughter's cries were the most wonderful thing she'd ever heard; she was happy they would be the last thing she heard. The dying woman laughed as she reached a blind hand out and touched her baby for the first time. She wanted more than anything to pick the girl up and hold her tightly, but she knew she couldn't. She wasn't strong enough to hold her daughter. Her hand traced around her baby gently as she felt herself slowly falling back over. Her hand left her daughter as her body hit the ground. Her dying eyes stared at the dark sky. She no longer felt pain. She tilted her head back in the direction she knew her protector was watching them, and whispered her last word, "Please."

Fire was the last thing she saw. A brilliant bright orange as it engulfed her.

Nicolas Baratheon was sprinting to get to his lover, a trusted maester hurried behind him. He shouldn't have listened to her when she told him she wanted to go for a walk, but she had been in pain and walking helped her, so he did listen. What he didn't expect was a gush of water spreading over the fabric of her dress. They shared a wide eyed stare for a second before she was collapsing to the ground, holding her stomach. He swore his heart was going to beat out of his chest when she fell. He wanted to stay, but she told him to leave; to get a maester. Again, he listened to her. He shouldn't have.

Nicolas and the maester were closing in on the cries of his wife when the world went dark. He and the maester stopped dead in their tracks and Nicolas looked around wildly, trying to force his eyes to adjust. He reached a hand behind him to feel for the maester, and a hand grabbed his arm. He flinched at the sudden touch as the maester started rattling off questions about what was happening. He could figure out what was happening later; his wife needed him now. He ignored them as he started walking again, stepping carefully. Nicolas yelled out for his wife, but received no response. His eyes slowly adjusted while he walked and he picked up his pace a bit.

He felt bile crawl up his throat at the sound of cries filling the air. His daughter was here. His heart felt a bit lighter as he zeroed in on his girls, but he felt unease as he didn't hear his wife anymore. He broke into a run, almost falling on his face as his foot got caught on something on the ground. When he finally reached his family, his eyes were adjusted enough to see his bloody wife on the ground, a lump of something lying between her legs. Cries were coming from the lump, and he increased his speed to a sprint, his voice cracking as he screamed for his wife.

He was close now. His daughter's cries grew louder and louder as he closed in. Just a few more steps and he would have his family in his arms. His wife would be fine and his daughter would be safely in his arms. He didn't notice the rearing dragon until it was too late. His wife and daughter were engulfed in flames before he even realized what was happening. His body came to a halt as a scream tore through his throat. His scream was overshadowed by the scream the dragon had released. He fell to the ground as the ground shook beneath him and he vaguely heard the maester fall behind him. He had to shield his eyes as the fire grew brighter than any fire he had ever seen. The sight before he closed his eyes was unlike any other. The sky lit up in a dance of red, yellow, and orange. His eyes closed as his ears rang with the sound ripping through the air.

It was over before he knew it. The fire. The sound. The darkness. It all disappeared at once. He didn't even let his eyes adjust to the lit world before he tore forward to get to his family. He couldn't even hold his wife. She wasn't there anymore. His wife was burnt to ash. He didn't even want to look at his daughter. His heart was already in pieces as his shaking hands grazed the blackened ash that used to be his whole world. He was ready to turn to the dragon and demand he burn as well when a cry broke through the silence. If it weren't for the maester's startled shout that sounded from behind him, he would've thought it was just his imagination.

With the smallest amount of hope he would allow himself to feel, he slowly turned. His daughter was there. Alive. The cries were coming from her mouth. He scrambled over to her. He felt frozen once again. The maester's cries of "Witch! Witch!" were coming from behind him. He ignored them and looked at the crying baby laying in the grass. The grass was burnt all around her. He picked her up and held her tightly to his chest, staring at her in awe. There was a spot of perfectly fine green grass in the spot where she laid. He could do nothing but stare at her as she cried in his arms. The maester's cries grew louder as they both got a better look at the baby.

There was an orange glow emerging from her veins. Bright enough to see through her skin, but not so bright that it was blinding. The orange veins ran through her entire body. He was so immersed in her veins that he didn't notice her stop crying at first. His finger gently traced the veins on her arm before his finger was caught in her grasp. He choked out a cry at his daughter's grabbing him for the first time, and he looked up to meet her eyes for the first time. He was, once again, startled as his deep brown eyes met hers. They were a bright yellow with spots of red and orange dancing through her eyes. Like fire. He was terrified. He knew this innocent baby was no witch. He looked up to see the dragon that had killed his wife, but it was gone. It did something to his daughter. He knew he was the only one who would see her as innocent, especially judging by the maester's reaction to her. He looked back at his wife's ashes and his heart tightened again. When he looked back at his daughter, water was dripping on her face. He looked up at the sky, but they were clear. No sign of the darkness that overtook everything earlier. Perhaps, he should've taken it as a sign. Perhaps his daughter being born in that darkness and surviving dragon fire was a sign. Perhaps the maester was right.

But then, his daughter smiled at him for the first time, and he cursed himself for letting his thoughts go down that route. Her smile was as blinding as her eyes. Her eyes were as yellow as the sun, and her smile as bright as the sun. One look at it made him vow to never let anyone touch her. She would be safe, no matter what.