The Rise of Daenerys Targaryen

Chapter 2

She saw her brother’s expression through the mirror. A familiar look crossed his face, one that she had seen many times before during his discussions with Father. It was more than just fear, it was fear in its most powerful form, mingled with disgust and horror. Daenerys hated that it was directed at her, caused by what she had just said. He will understand soon enough, she reassured herself. She would hate for Rhaegar to think her mad.
“You sound just like him,” Rhaegar said slowly, horrified. It broke her heart to hear his voice break like that, to hear his voice mingled with pain and horror. To hear his accusations directed at her.

Dany rose from her vanity and moved to sit beside her brother. She placed a hand on his shoulder and another on his face, turning his face towards her so he could see the promise in her eyes. “I am not him, Rhaegar, and I will never become him. I swear it.”
Rhaegar didn’t nod or give some sort of sign that he was appeased as she had hoped he would. No. Her brother and husband simply regarded her with a sorrowful expression and whispered, “That’s what all madmen say before madness overcomes them. Promises mean nothing when the darkness seeps in.”
She had nothing to say to that. Was this madness? Daenerys did not know, so she closed her mouth and looked at the wall ahead of her, her mind drifting to a vision of a witch aflame and dragons rising from her ashes

Disturbing as it was, Rhaegar remembered his little sister when she was just that, little and innocent and blind to all life’s tribulations. He remembered the day their grandmother died, and Daenerys rushed to their mother’s chambers as soon as she heard the news, to check if Queen Rhaella was alright. A child of three, Dany had been more concerned about her mother being sad than herself.

She didn’t remain a child for long. Their father saw to that. At twelve, Aerys made her watch him Burn a man alive, made her see and do things she should have never had to see. Rhaegar tried to protect her from it as best as he could, then, just as he tried to protect her now.
But how was he to protect her from herself? From her own madness, was his Family Doom to madness it seems so.
Daenerys had somehow managed to convince their father to burn their children with the Red Witch of Asshai and to change the site of the pyre to Kingswood. Rhaegar couldn’t imagine his sweet-tempered sister ever manipulating anyone, let alone their cruel father, but yet Dany had gotten her way.
His sister had placed her treasured dragon eggs beside and on Visenya’s dead body. The pale cream egg was positioned beside their daughter’s head, the black laid atop the left side of her tiny chest, and the deep green egg laid at Visenya’s feet. Rhaegar knew what Dany was planning, and he did not like it.
Just as the pyre was lit by Ser Gerold Hightower, the Red Witch, shaking with fright, managed to snarl at Daenerys, “You will not hear me scream, child! For my lord stands beside me!”

“It is not your screams I want,” he heard Daenerys say darkly, “only your life.”

Her words chilled him to the bone and startled the Red Witch as well. When Rhaegar looked at his wife, he saw no emotion on her face whatsoever, only flames dancing in her eyes as she stared at the pyre with some sick fascination.
The Red Witch started muttering then, a prayer in Old Valyrian to her God. Rhaegar pitied her. All those about to die deserved pity, he believed, even those who had wronged him as she had. But his wife had no pity for the witch.
A bright light in the dark sky forced Rhaegar’s eyes away from the pyre and up to the sky. A large, red star flew across the sky, like a ball of fire making its way across the world. Dany smiled up at the sky, before looking back down at the pyre, determination shining in those violet eyes of hers, so alike his. Daenerys started to walk towards the fire, in some sort of trance. In an instant, Rhaegar had grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him.
“Dany, we are not fireproof,” Rhaegar told her. “If you walk into that pyre, you will burn.”

His wife smiled at him, a sad, pitiful smile, and laid a hand on his cheek. “Fear not, husband Fire cannot kill a dragon. See a Confused look on his face she says You do not understand now. But you will.”

Wide-eyed and shocked, Rhaegar’s grip on his wife’s wrist loosened. Daenerys took that opportunity to step away from him and walk into the flames. Rhaegar wanted to run after her, but just as he took his first step towards the pyre, he saw fire lick the bottom of Daenerys’ dress, burning it to dust. He waited for her scream but it never came.

The only sound that could be heard was his mother’s loud shriek of despair, the fire crackling, and his father’s mad laughter. Rhaegar dropped to his knees, and the rest of the court followed suit except for his father. He caught a glimpse of Dany’s beautiful silver-gold hair within the flames before fire engulfed her like a blanket. All he could do now was pray.
He stayed awake until morning came, like most of the lords and ladies of the court. His father had left hours ago. “And they dare to call me mad look who is mad now he had shouted before he took his leave. The court did not spare him false laughter, no one even spared him a smile. His mother had left the king’s side to kneel beside her son, an act she would surely pay for later.
It took all night, but the fire had died down to the point that Rhaegar would not burn to death if he stepped within the pyre. So the crown prince stood and searched for a path where the fire did not burn as strong. He ignored his mother’s protests, walking into the pyre as Dany had the night before, only he wasn’t as likely to die. Rhaegar feared that he would find her ashes along with the ashes of his child.
A loud cry came from somewhere within the pyre, though the cry was not quite human. Rhaegar smiled and laughed in relief. That cry was all it took to lift his spirits, all he needed to know that his sister was still alive. She had done it. She had truly done it.
He followed the cries that were beginning to sound more like singing to Rhaegar’s ears. The fire had almost completely died down, and the visions he had seen within the flames were almost completely gone. He would think about them later, but for now, all he could think about was his sister and wife, sitting on the ground with three dragons surrounding her. The black dragon was perched on her shoulder while the cream and gold dragon and the green sucked at her breast.
Sensing his presence, Dany’s eyes flickered up to him. The coldness held within them the night before had vanished, and in its place, the softness had returned. Rhaegar recognized that look. She had the same expression on her face when he had come to see Rhaenys and Aegon after she had just given birth, and then Damon a year later. It was the look of a loving mother as she held her child.
Only this time, Dany was not the mother of children.
Daenerys was the mother of dragons.
dragons had Returned To the world and with the power of the House of Targaryen.