twin flames | daemon targaryen

fifty-three

For hours, all Viserra could see was the sea.

The waters of the Narrow Sea glistened like diamonds underneath the bright rays of the sun, blinding the Targaryen whenever she peered down from where she sat on Valyx's saddle. Gusts of sea-salt-ridden wind blasted into her face, whipping through her pure white hair unrelentingly and ripping the locks from the tight braids she had tied them into, leaving the skin of her face raw and red.

Beneath Viserra, Valyx chirped happily, enjoying the sea breeze as she flew in large, loopy circles around where the Cannibal was coasting above the waters. The younger, smaller dragon's purple scales glittered like amethysts, her whistles and chirps the most beautiful of melodies.

The Cannibal groaned in annoyance at Valyx's melodies, the ancient creature seeming to roll his eyes each time Valyx circled above him. The Cannibal had to barely bat his wings as he flew above the waters, his behemoth size easily able to withstand the harsh winds of the Narrow Sea. Yet, each time Valyx circled, the Cannibal would flap his wings several times as though to get away from the young dragon.

The two dragons were the oddest of pairings, the Cannibal with his centuries of experience, known for his thirst for fire and blood and chaos, and Valyx with just her few decades, the most beautiful of the dragons ridden by the Targaryens with her shimmering purple scales and a ring of small horns around her head that appeared like a crown. Yet, just as their riders, the dragons were hardly ever seen apart, even with the Cannibal's seemingly constant annoyance with Valyx's antics.

Watching the two dragons interact with each other as they flew across the Narrow Sea was the only thing tethering Viserra to reality. She felt numb, just a shell of herself as she listened to the rocking waves below and the chirps and groans passed back and forth between Valyx and the Cannibal. Her knuckles were white from how fiercely she held on to Valyx's saddle, all feeling lost in the tips of her fingers yet Viserra could not bring herself to let go.

She peered over to where Elaena sat in her saddle on the Cannibal's back. Her twin was minuscule in comparison to the great size of her dragon, yet the pure white of her wild hair stood out against the pitch-black scales of the Cannibal. Viserra swallowed back the bile that had risen in her throat, closing her eyes as she desperately tried to keep her tears at bay.

"Rhaegar is dead," Elaena said helplessly, staring at Viserra with tears streaming down her cheeks. "There was a battle. Vhagar against Vermithor and Arrax. I watched Vhagar...I watched Vhagar e-eat Arrax and—and Luke. Vermithor and Rhaegar were on fire—Rhaegar fell from his saddle. I couldn't find him anywhere! He-He must have fallen into the waters."

Viserra leaned over Valyx's side and promptly vomited down into the waters below, distantly hearing the sounds of the contents of her stomach hitting the waves. She felt dizzy and faint, a hole present in her chest where her heart should have been.

Rhaegar was gone. Viserra's twin had been forced to watch their brother be killed, burned alive by the flames of the dragon ridden by someone they once thought to be their family. It felt like the world was ending, Viserra and her sister feeling the loss of Rhaegar and the betrayal of Aemond so acutely.

Viserra and Elaena had not been alive when House Targaryen first broke that night when the Conqueror's blade fell and drew blood in the hall of the Driftwood Throne. They had not borne witness as the others in their family had to the loss of their older brothers in the birthing bed that same night.

This was their first brush with death of their kin, of the misery and grief that had clung to House Targaryen for decades.

Viserra and Elaena were the babes of House Targaryen. Everyone, including their parents, their siblings, their uncles and aunts, and many cousins...Everyone played pretend for the two youngest daughters of Rhaella and Daemon Targaryen. They were young, still viewing the world through rose-colored lenses and the belief that everything was fine. But as the storm broke above Storm's End, the curtain fell, and the truth of it all was revealed.