House of the Dragon Oneshots

Ghost Story

A/N: Happy Halloween!

Description: A silly little drabble of the children being convinced there is a ghost in the castle. This takes place just before Laena's death and all of the families have gathered at the Red Keep for a traditional Valyrian festival.

Pairings: none

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Jace wakes up to his younger brother, Luke, jumping onto his bed and grabbing him by the shoulders. He shook him until he finally sat up.

"What is it?" He asked, irritatedly rubbing at his bleary eyes.

"I hear something in the hallway," Luke whispered.

"What're you talking about...?"

Just then, there was a loud thumping from the otherside of the door to their shared chamber. Luke let out a nervous squeak, grasping his older brother's arms. They stared at the door for a moment.

"Maybe it was the wind," Jace said finally.

Then, they heard the thump again, like something smacking the stone wall of the hallway. The brother's jumped. Slowly, Jace got out of the bed.

"Wait for me!" Luke shouted, running up to his brother's side. He held onto his arm as they ventured out into the dark corridor.

~~~

Meanwhile, Aemond was sneaking into Helaena's room. He had heard her screaming through the shared walls of their room. It was normal for him to overhear her talking in her sleep, but it was never this loud. So he rushed to the side of her bed as his sister thrashed about her sheets.

"Ghost... is here... tell her... Ghost finally...!"

"Sister! Sister, wake up!" Aemond shouted, reaching out to hold her flailing limbs still without getting smacked in the face again.

Finally she calmed, blinking her eyes opened as if she had been awake the whole time. She sat straight up and Aemond backed away, startled by her sudden calm.

"Oh, good you're here," she said, slipping out of the bed, "let's go get Aegon."

"What? Why?" Aemond stammered.

"Because he's tall."

Confused, Aemond rushed to catch up to his older sister as she wandered out of her room.

~~~

At another part of the castle, Rhaena and Baela were also out of their beds. They slowly creeped down the hallway, holding each other's hands tightly. At first, Rhaena woke up because she had a strange dream that had left her feeling unsettled. Then the sister's had heard suspicious noises down the hall and decided to investigate.

Slowly, they moved through the dark and shifting shadows of the stone corridor. They held their breath as they rounded a corner...

Then released a blood curdling scream as they ran into two dark figures, which, in turn, also screamed.

"Wait, wait, it's just us!" Baela shouted once she recognized the two figures as their cousins.

"Oh, hi, Rhaena," Luke said.

"Hello!"

The group of four kids screamed again as the door they were huddling by swung open and Helaena greeted them.

"Shut up already," Aegon groaned, hair messier than usual as he had just been dragged out of bed by his younger siblings, "Look, I don't care what you idiots are up to, can I go back to bed now?"

"No," Helaena said sweetly, grabbing his hand as drifting down the hallway.

The remaining children glanced amongst each other before deciding to follow. First, Aemond and Jace, then Baela and Rhaena. Luke swept his eyes over the empty hall before running to catch up to the group. Knowingly, Jace held out his hand for his younger brother to grasp.

Helaena dragged her reluctant brother to a slightly ajar door before releasing his hand. She pointed.

"Ghost," she declared.

The kids stared at her and she stared back expectantly. Then there was a sudden thwack from within the room, causing all of them to jump back. Helaena seemed to snap out of her dreamlike stupor and ducked behind Aegon.

Slowly, he reached for the partially opened door. Just as he his fingertips were about to touch the wood, he jumped around and roared causing the cluster of children to scream in fright. Poor Luke even tumbled to the floor.

"That wasn't funny!" Aemond shouted as he held Helaena who was covering her ears.

Aegon's mocking laughter echoed as the children yelled at him.

"You're too scared to do it!" Jace accused.

"Am not!" Aegon shouted back, offended.

"Then go on!"

"Why don't you do it?"

"You're the oldest!"

"You're the one always playing knight!"

"You both are ridiculous!" Rhaena exclaimed, pushing past the two boys.

She entered the room and the rest finally followed, albeit reluctantly. The room was a rarely-used parlor complete with dust coated couches and bookshelves. Despite the anger from before, the fear brought the children to huddle back together in the center of the massive room. The strange noises had stopped the moment they entered. They swept their gaze around, looking for the source.

"Ghost," Helaena whispered ominously, causing Aemond to flinch.

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Aegon groaned.

As he said that, a white mass lifted from behind the couch and darted over their heads. The children screamed and scattered.

Baela and Rhaena dove behind a couch. Jace grabbed Luke and pulled him close as he screamed. Aemond darted around a corner then reached out to drag Helaena with him when he saw her frozen in spot.

Aegon threw his hands above his head and ducked low as the white mass hovered above him. The ghost veered sharply to the side, banging into the book shelf. The dangling white strips hook against the corner of the shelf and the mass thrashed about in the air.

Rhaena lept up suddenly and pointed.

"Look, it's stuck!" She shouted.

Aegon looked up to the white mass struggling against the snag. Being the only one tall enough to reach it, Aegon jumped up to pull the white thing free. As he did, a white cotton sheet slid to the ground and revealed a baby dragon.

Rhaena jumped forward, catching the disoriented creature in her arms. The dragonling seemed to calm as she cradled it in her arms. It's scales seemed to be made of pure alabaster, a ghostly white.

"I knew it," she said softly, "I always knew you would hatch one day."

She instantly knew what strange sensation awoke her from her sleep as quickly as she recognized the pure white dragon. The egg she had been tending to since the moment it was gifted to her had finally hatched.

The remaining children slowly came out of hiding at the realization there was no ghost. They crowded around Rhaena as she ran a hand over its smooth scales.

At that moment, Daemon and Laena entered the room, dressed in robes and hair messy from sleep. From the footsteps echoing through the hall, it seemed the rest of the parents were rushing towards the commotion as well.

Rhaena looked up and said, "Mother, Father, meet Ghost."

Rhaena beamed up at her parents. She finally had her dragon.