What if Lucerys Velaryon lived?

Grief's embrace

The morning breeze and skies are mixed with smoke, smoke that comes from the burning fires below. Jacaerys slowly and weakly adds some more of Lucerys's clothing to the lit fires before stepping back to join his mother and younger brother, Joffrey, in their grieving. Baela and Rhaena also stand close to the fire, watching their supposedly deceased cousin's clothing slowly burn. Rhaena breathes in a shaky breath, still overwhelmed with the emotion of her cousin's passing. Corlys, the Sea Snake, holds Rhaenys's hand, and together they mourn. Together, they all mourn the death of Lucerys. Rhaenyra, with a face covered in dried tears, looks at the flames as they consume her son's clothing. Rhaenyra feels like her heart has sunk, but no tears come out. It's as if she has already used all of them from crying before. Slowly, Rhaenyra turns her head to her other sons, Jacaerys and Joffrey. She stares at them, knowing that she can't lose them. If she did, she fears that she wouldn't have the strength to carry on with life anymore. She moves her arms to wrap around both of them, embracing them. Joffrey clings to her as he continues to cry. Jacaerys, still lost in his own thoughts, doesn't react much. Slowly, the fire continues to burn Lucerys's clothing, as they were never able to find his body. The fire lit is small, as Arrax wasn't there to light it. Smoke continues to trail up into the sky as they all mourn.

Later on that day, Jacaerys sits alone in his chambers, holding what appears to be a wooden dragon figure. Slowly, Jacaerys loses his composure as tears start to flow freely from his eyes. He continues to tightly grip the wooden dragon figure as he thinks and remembers the times he would play with Lucerys with it, when they would jump and run around the room chasing each other with these wooden figures when they were younger. Jacaerys's thoughts then change into one of guilt and self-rage as he remembers that he was the one who proposed the idea to his mother, that they be the ones to deliver the messages. Maybe, just maybe, if he had never come up with that thought, he would be seated with his brother right now, and Lucerys wouldn't have been lost in the waters along with Arrax. Jacaerys grits his teeth as he takes deeper and longer breaths. He can't help but feel this unwavering sense of anger and pain as he blames himself for his younger brother's death. "I should've just kept my mouth shut," Jace mutters out before collapsing onto his bed, weak with pain and sorrow.