The Wolf and The Lion || Jaime Lannister

Ninety One

Rayna

A single tear falls down my cheek as smoke appears on the horizon. Kings Landing is burning.
Sansa grips my hand tightly as we stand on the wall watching the horizon, half waiting for the dragon to come as our men chaotically ready themselves for an attack. We had the hindsight to evacuate everyone who isn't a soldier from Winterfell. If only Cersei had done the same.
Jaime, Jon, Arya and Tyrion are in that city. My shaking hand protectively holds my stomach as I force myself to keep my head held high.
"How bad is it?" I ask Bran but to see smoke all the way from Winterfell the entire city must be in flames.
"All I see is fire and blood", he answers and I can't dare think of the possibility. The possibility that half of my surviving family is dead. That my husband is dead.
"What now?" Sansa asks looking to me for orders.
"We are at war" I declare as I turn to my men "Load the scorpions and call the banners. Including the Riverlands"
We can fight Dothraki. We can fight Unsullied. But to survive the dragon needs to fall.
"Sansa send the letters", I decide "It's time"
As she leaves and Bran stares vacantly at the horizon I am alone. I clutch the locket Jaime gave me in my fist and pray to any gods there could be to spare him. To let him survive this slaughter. To spare him and my blood. But by now I know we live in a godless land.
Jon is our last hope. He is the only person who can end.

Jaime

Arya and I are locked in one of the few rooms in the Red Keep that is still intact.
"She really did it", Arya murmurs "And you, you killed Cersei"
"I did", I reply numbly. It was all for nothing. I killed Cersei and had the bells ring in surrender but she burned the city anyways. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead. It was a miracle Arya and I even survived.
We hear war cries of the Dothraki outside and I wonder just where they will go first. The Westerlands? The Riverlands? or to the North?
Rayna will never bend the knee. I suspect that she is preparing for war. If it was a proper war between soldiers then she would win but nothing can stand in the way of a dragon.
Then the door opens and Tyrion is dragged in and shoved to the ground by Unsullied who slam the door behind him and lock it.
He looks up at us and almost laughs as tears fill his eyes "Jaime you're alive", he breathes as I open my arms for him and embrace my little brother tightly. The last blood family I have left.
"Where's Jon?" Arya asks as Tyrion pulls away and sits with his back to the wall.
"With Daenerys", he sighs heavily "It's times like this I need a drink"
"What happened out there?" I ask still processing the madness "Cersei was already dead when the bells rang to surrender"
He laughs darkly to himself "Varys was right, Rayna was right. They knew what she was and tried to end it before it could begin. The day before the battle Daenerys received a letter from Rayna begging her not to take the city with fire and blood but she did it anyways"
Rayna resorted to the last thing she could use to try to stop both queens from creating a slaughter. Words. However neither of them listened.
Now Kings Landing is ash.
"What else did Rayna say, she has a tendency to write a lot?" I ask knowing that if Rayna decided to send a last minute letter then the guilt must have gotten the better of her.
"She managed to simultaneously apologise for plotting to assassinate Daenerys and declare war"
"Of course she did", I murmur knowing I should have expected it but war was coming for her either way. Daenerys would never allow another queen to live. At least Rayna is preparing for the coming war.
The door opens and a distraught looking Jon enters however it's of his own free will. The unsullied close the door behind him and he looks at us then almost does a double take as he sees his sister.
"Arya what the hell are you doing here?" he exclaims as he runs over and embraces Arya who is still covered in ash and soot like I am.
"I came to kill Cersei", she says as she looks at me "But someone beat me to it"
"So Cersei was dead when it happened?" Jon asks in disbelief.
"I killed her and made the Lannister soldiers ring the bells", I tell him "Cersei was dead when Daenerys attacked the city"
"But why are you a prisoner?" Jon asks Arya and I realise he is still somewhat blind.
"I don't know but I suspect Daenerys believes I'm here to kill her", Arya replies matter of faculty.
"Are you?" Jon asks.
"That was the plan if Varys couldn't", she confesses as she leans her head back against the wall.
"Did you bring any wine?", Tyrion suddenly asks Jon. Of course he wants to drink right now but to be fair all of us would drink until we forgot what had happened.
"No"
"Ah well thank you for coming to see me, our queen doesn't keep prisoners for long. I suppose there's a crude kind of justice, I betrayed my closest friend and watched him burn. Now Varys's ashes can tell my ashes, "See I told you"."
I find myself shaking my head as they talk about our possible imminent deaths.
"Oblivion is the best I could hope for", Tyrion sighs in resignation "I strangled my lover. I shot my own father with a crossbow. I betrayed my queen"
"You didn't", Jon says but we all know it's treason.
"I did", he says and after a moment of thought adds "And I'd do it again now that I've seen what I've seen. I chose my fate. The people of King's Landing did not"
"The wars not over yet" I say bitterly "Rayna has declared war because she won't bend the knee, Daenerys will be going to Winterfell next to burn it to the ground"
He flinches at the thought of his home and family burning inside those walls.
"She liberated the people of Slaver's Bay. She liberated the people of King's Landing", Tyrion laughs sadly "And she'll go on liberating until the people of the world are free and she rules them all"
"Rayna is the only person who would openly oppose her", Arya says "She's Daenerys's biggest threat at the moment not Jon"
"And Daenerys already threatened to execute her", I remind them bitterly "Daenerys won't even give her the chance to surrender"
"I know you love her, I love her too, not as successfully as you", Tyrion says to Jon "But I believed in her with all my heart. Love is more powerful than reason. We all know that. Look at my brother here"
"Jon, I killed Cersei because of what she is, because she harmed my family", I say carefully. We all know what he has to do but it's not something you say outright.
"Love is the death of duty", Jon says and I find myself nodding in agreement. Love certainly was the death of my duty to Cersei and the crown. I'd do it all again to be home with Rayna.
"However sometimes duty is the death of love. You are the shield that guards the realms of men", Tyrion reminds him "And you've always tried to do the right thing. No matter the cost, you've tried to protect people. Who is the greatest threat to the people now?"
Jon is distraught as he comes to the realisation of what he must do but I know that he will do it.
"It's a terrible thing I'm asking. It's also the right thing. Do you think I'm the last man she'll execute?", Tyrion asks him.
"She will execute all three of us before she flies to Winterfell and burns it to the ground with Bran, Sansa and Rayna who is pregnant inside, how far along would she be?" Arya asks.
"Five, six months", I estimate, she only has about three months or four at the most before she gives birth.
"So you can add a niece and a nephew to that list", Arya says knowing that she has made her case.
Jon's shaking as he exhales heavily "So I don't have a choice", he realises as he comes to his decision.
"Jon, I killed my sister, the woman I loved for most of my life for Rayna and to try to avoid this slaughter", I tell him as I fight off the guilt that I know will haunt me until the day I die, just as it will haunt him "You know what you have to do"
He nods and as he leaves the room I realise that this battle will have made two Queenslayers.
Hours pass until we hear the flap of a dragons wings and out of the small hole in the roof we see Drogon carrying his queen west.

Rayna

Days pass with the entire North on high alert looking for any sign of the dragon or an army approaching. The walls are constantly manned and I have scouts near the border.
We have heard nothing of Jaime or Arya or Jon or Tyrion. We are beginning to fear the worst.
In front of me on my table sits responses from the Stormlands, The Vale, The Riverlands and the Reach.
They have all declared their support for me. They are sending troops North to the Twins which are under Tully rule and I already have my men marching south to meet them. If Daenerys plans to invade then we will make our stand there. It's easier to defend from a fortress than to attack one, perhaps we may even reassess and make the stand at Riverrun. Gods it's times like this I wish I had uncle Brynden and especially Jaime and Jon. But I am alone here with little military guidance and most of my generals were in fucking Kings Landing with Jon or fell during the Long Night. With Cersei dead Jaime is the Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West. I can't bare to consider the possibility that he is dead but as his wife I can call on his banners and ravens to the West have already been sent requesting men. I have to be a queen and a commander now. And soon a mother.
Tomorrow I am leaving to join the men who are riding to the Twins and leave Winterfell under Sansa's rule for the meantime. I'm analysing a map of the Twins and comparing it to Riverrun when Sansa enters "Have the Iron Islands or Dorne sent their replies?"
"No", she answers as she breaks into a teary smile of relief "Daenerys is dead"
"The war is over", I realise as I take the letter she holds "Greyworm summons us to Kings Landing"
Then both relief and dread consumes me as I reach the end of the letter "He has Jon, Arya, Jaime and Tyrion captive and will hold them hostage until I come to answer for my crimes against the late Queen Daenerys"
She nods and I realise this war has not yet ended. It is not over until I am on the throne and the ones I love are free.
"Send a raven to the Twins, inform our allies that we will be marching to Kings Landing for a peaceful negotiation"
"The Dothraki are sworn for avenge their Khal", she warns me "It may not be peaceful"
"Which is why I am bringing an army".