Keeper

The Future

The raven from Tyrion arrived a day after the letter from Qyburn did.

Dearest Rhaella, if you've received this, we are only days out from our arrival at Dragonstone. I imagine that's where you fled to when you were finally forced to leave that wretched city and my equally wretched brother.. and if you're reading this, I want you to know that your sister is desperately excited to meet you.

We bring an army, three dragons, and familiar along with new faces. I believe in Daenerys, and Daenerys believes in you. The next dynasty will come at the hands of the last Targaryens.

Regards, Tyrion

She wrote to him the same day and had Ada send it out on their only raven, watching as the bird departed from the parapet. Her mind pondered the words from the raven they'd received from Cersei, wondering if Jaime's devotion to his sister would be her undoing and the cause of her death. No one had even tried to approach the island since she'd been here. Jaime was the only one beside the twins who knew where she was, and Cersei would practically beg to know her location so that she could do what Tommen couldn't. She'd chosen Daenerys, and Jaime had chosen Cersei. It seemed that no matter what universe, what circumstances, Jaime would always choose Cersei.

We're two halves of one whole. We came into this world together.. We'll leave together.

She'd worked for years to try and give Jaime the assurance he so desperately craved that told him he was his own person outside of Cersei. That she was not him, and he was not her, and he had the ability to love in a way that wasn't destructive or dangerous. Jaime had been looking for his self worth for years, he'd been looking for his purpose, and being with Cersei had given him one. The only problem with that was after he realized how they felt about one another, his newfound predicament was choosing duty or love.

Rhaella loved both him and herself enough to leave that note at their camp and run towards her sister, towards her future. Despite all her efforts to show Jaime the goodness and honor he so obviously had, he'd still run back to Cersei. She'd loved him, and she'd cherished him, but Jaime had run back to what was familiar and away from her. Maybe it was better that way. At least for right now.

Here's the truth. You can't save everyone, but you can love them. You can love them right where they're at, and you can hope.. pray.. that it's enough.

***

No matter what Jaime says or insinuates about their current situation, he cannot succeed in getting Cersei to talk about what happened with Tommen. According to the servants around the castle, the former boy-king of Westeros had been found in a pool of his own blood, his body a mangled mess of broken bones and his face nearly unrecognizable. The people had wept at his loss.

His sister didn't shed a tear.

He didn't hear most of what she said, but he did remember one part: He betrayed us. How could she be so delusional as to believe that their son's suicide was a betrayal to her sitting on the same throne that had been the end of his son? Tommen had been like Myrcella, compassionate and kind until his last, and it had been his mother's disregard of his own emotions and feelings about the people and the woman he called his wife that had forced him out that window.

Tommen had told him once he always wanted to see the view from the sky.

Jaime believed he did, in those final moments before he collided with a very bleak, dark world. He hoped Tommen had a split second of joy before it was taken from him.