A Dragon Trapped in Time (Chap.1)
Note: my way of coping after seeing the season 3 leaks
Jacaerys thought he would surely perish underneath the crashing waves during the battle, but to his shock he awoke alive and unharmed in an unfamiliar time and an unfamiliar family that seems convinced that Jacaerys is a part of it.
Chap.2
The last thing Jacaerys remembered was plunging into the cold sea below, Vermax wailing beneath the waves and a sharp pain that tore through his throat then..nothing, nothing at all.
Not the screams of his beloved Baela, not the sound of ships crashing against each other, just deafening silence.
“Jace,” a whispered voice ended the silence. It felt unfamiliar, small, a child’s but it did not belong to any of his brothers.
His eyes shot open, finding himself laid against comfortable sheets rather than helplessly floating in the ruthless cold sea he had been in moments ago. His gaze then landed on a small child, a boy, with dark violet eyes, so dark they nearly looked blue when Jacaerys squinted his eyes.
“Can I sleep here, please?” The child asked, voice trembling with each word, eyes twitching around them like he feared someone or something coming from the shadows.
Jacaerys fumbled his hand against his own throat, finding no blood nor an arrow embedded in his skin. He swallowed air, inhaling deeply to calm his pounding heart in his chest.
“Jace,” The child called, voice more insistent this time.
Jacaerys wanted to say no, to question who this child was and how did he even know who Jacaerys was, but the fearful quake in the boy’s voice gave him pause.
What was the boy afraid of? Was he one of Aegon’s bastards? Was Jacaerys being held prisoner, why was he not in chains?
His head ached terribly from those questions and much more all swimming around at once.
Finally, Jacaerys nodded. Exhaustion clung to his bones and his mind grew more clouder by the second. He would have to question this boy in the morning or escape this room and find answers himself.
He scooted off to the side, all the way to the other end. He had no want to be so close to a stranger even if it was a child.
He watched the child climb atop the bed, the mattress barely dipped, settling next to Jacaerys, too close for his liking, but he made no comment lest attention bring guards inside of these chambers.
The chambers did seem too grand for a prisoner, but what else could he be? He knew this was not any of the chambers he had seen on Dragonstone.
He turned his gaze to the ceiling, resisting the urge to close his eyes and succumb to sleep no matter how often his eyelids twitched and drooped.
Silence took hold for a few moments save for the frantic breathing of the child next to him.
“I hate him.” The boy’s voice cut through the silence, the sheets shuffled and Jacaerys could feel a pair of eyes on him, though he kept his own gaze upward.
Why was he being confided in?
A pause before a small sigh escaped Jacaerys’ before he spoke, his voice more clipped than he meant it,
“Who, Aegon?”
“What?” The boy sounded bewildered now.
The sheets shuffled once more before the child’s head peeked above Jacaerys’ line of sight, blocking the ceiling from view.
“I meant Aerion, I’m Aegon.” The child’s expression was scrunched in dismay like Jacaerys had asked the most foolish question in existence.
He tried not to take offense, but how was he to know who Aerion was? How was he to know this boy was also named Aegon?
Jacaerys inhaled sharply through his nose before lifting himself up to a sitting position, easier than he thought he would, he pushed his hand against the boy’s forehead moving him out of the way. Gentle, the boy even if a stranger invading his space was still a young child. Jacaerys would never shove a child, not a young one.
“And Aerion is?”
The child’s, or Aegon’s, face twisted, irritation or perhaps confusion was written in every corner of the boy’s face.
“Aerion is.. nevermind.” Aegon grumbled words that sounded too defeated for a child his age. He was mayhaps a little older than Jacaerys’ brothers, Aegon and Viserys.
“You -.. You are not ill, are you?” Aegon questioned after a moment, more accusatory this time.
Jacaerys pressed his tongue on the inside of his cheek, brown eyes roving over the small boy. It was strange for someone he just met to not only confide in him about how he felt towards a man named ‘Aerion’, but also to care if Jacaerys was ill or not.
“Why do you care?” Jacaerys inquired. He tried his best to soften his tone, but it still sounded too harsh.
Aegon blinked several times. “You’re my brother. A better one than..-”
Jacaerys nearly choked on his air. He was sure his eyes were bulging from his head by now.
“Are you mad?” The words shouted from his lips before Jacaerys could stop it, his face flushing with indignation, “we’ve never met!”
The boy before him blinked again before letting out a small huff, sounding more offended than natural for this situation.
The boy then crawled to the edge of the bed, dropping down with a quiet thump of his feet hitting the floorboards before he stalked off, mumbling on his way out,
“You’re the one who’s gone mad.”
And to Jacaerys’ surprise the doors opened without struggle. He knew he should have wondered how the boy got into the room to begin with, he cursed himself.
Jacaerys slowly slid from the bed, letting out a small hiss from how cold the floor was against his bare feet. He was no longer dressed like he had been during the battle, now dressed for sleep. It only furthered his confusion.
He walked, slowly, to the heavy oak doors before he pushed them open, peeking into the hallway to find no guards posted to keep him there and the boy was nowhere to be seen, so certainly he had no issue with anyone stopping him.
Jacaerys stepped out from those chambers, glancing between each side of the seemingly never ending hall.
Inhale, exhale, repeat.
Where would the exit to this castle even be?
Jacaerys walked through, each careful step causing the floorboards to creak underneath his weight. After he passed by several doors his eyes did eventually fall on guards, but to his surprise they did not move to stop him, only nodding towards him in acknowledgement.
None looked familiar, but they seemed to respect him? Or at least know him.
Jacaerys cleared his throat before turning towards one, jutting his chin up in the air, trying his best to look like a proud prince despite being barefoot and dressed for bed,
“Is my dragon here as well or did you fail to retrieve him?”
One of the guards laughed, laughed at him.
His face burned hot. Eyes narrowed at the laughing guard.
How dare he laugh at the loss of Vermax. Did he believe that Baela would not find him with her own dragon?
“Fantastic jest, my prince. Your ‘dragon’ might still be out on the town.”
Jacaerys felt one of his eyes twitch, hands clench into fists, so tight his knuckles lost color. He did not care for the knight’s tone nor the emphasis he put on that word.
It took several moments for the knight to catch on to Jacaerys’ lack of amusement and once he did, his laughter faded, bowing his head before speaking once more,
“Apologies. Your brother, Aerion, should be back soon enough.”
Jacaerys took a sharp intake of breath, his face only growing hotter.
He knew no Aerion, none of his brothers were ever named that. He felt as though the gods themselves were playing cruel jests on him.
He shook his head, taking a step towards the guard until their faces were inches apart.
“My mother will come to collect me. You will do well to -”
The guard’s brows pulled together interrupting the prince with words that sounded too worried to make sense,
“My prince, your mother -” The man had stopped himself casting a quick off to the side to which the second guard was there swiftly made his exit.
Jacaerys clamped his mouth shut. He felt as if he somehow said the wrong thing, but what would be the right thing? He was captured!
He thinks at least, he still could not quite wrap his mind around how he got here or how there was no mark of an arrow anywhere on his neck. He could have sworn he had gotten shot, so how was he here with no injury?
The sound of two pairs of footsteps thumped against the hard floors over towards Jacaerys. His head slowly turned, seeing a silver-haired man dressed in the Targaryen colors and a man who looked to be a maester.
Who were these people?
“Jacaerys?” The silver-haired man called out, the voice gruff but also strangely soft.
Jacaerys could not help but eye his beard that matched his silver hair, unfamiliar like the rest of him, his grandsire’s beard had been darker, that, Jacaerys was sure of. Besides this man seemed to be younger than either of his grandsire’s.
He stayed silent just watching the unfamiliar man.
“I have been brought troubling news. Have you been raving about dragons and -” The man’s voice cracked, just barely, but he had heard it.
The man swallowed before continuing, “the dead?”
Jacaerys felt something twist in his chest. The implication weighed heavily.
“No,” He bit out, “I have not been speaking of the dead. Only my mother.”
The man stared wordlessly at Jacaerys for the longest time, jaw clenched, fingers pressing against a signet ring, carved with the Targaryen crest. Jacaerys watched the man take a deep breath, his eyes closing for a few moments before uttering a single command,
“Restrain him.”
Before Jacaerys could even move, two pairs of hands grasped onto his arms from either side of him and by the time he began to jerk and try to break away they already had a strong hold on him.
“Unhand me!” Jacaerys barked, his commands falling on deaf ears as they dragged him back up the hall towards the chambers he first left, no matter the fact Jacaerys refused to move his feet, having them dragging against the cold floor.
All it took was a wave of the silver-haired man’s hand to have them practically lift and carry him, now only the tips of his toes now dragging against the floor, unwillingly into the room. It was humiliating to be so easily lifted even whilst he yanked and jerked in their grasp.
“Sit him down.” The man commanded again to which the mongrels that held him obeyed, forcing him down onto a leather chair near the bed, still holding his arms down.
Jacaerys’ legs kicked out in the air when the man beckoned, who looked to be a maester, over.
He kicked, desperately trying to land a blow to either of them, but much to Jacaerys’ dismay, they stood just out of reach.
“Stop that.” The man chided sternly like Jacaerys was nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum, before he turned his attention towards the ‘maester’, whispering something into the other's ear that Jacaerys could not quite catch.
His ears strained to catch whatever whispers the two men were sharing.
Were they planning to kill him? It was doubtful that the man would bring along a maester if that was the case.
The man turned and suddenly placed a hand upon Jacaerys’ forehead. The warmth would have been comforting if it had belonged to Jacaerys’ mother or even Harwin Strong, but not a fucking stranger.
Jacaerys’ foot shot out once more catching the man against his knee, causing him to stumble backward.
“Don't fucking touch me!” The words hissed from Jacaerys' lips.
A flash of anger crossed the man's aged features and his hand shot out towards him only halting inches from Jacaerys’ face. The man's fingers flexed with great restraint before he slowly withdrew.
The bearded man's head turned towards the maester,
“Fever. Might that be the cause of his delirium?”
The maester nodded. “I can prescribe willow bark and something to soothe him to sleep.”
Jacaerys' head shook, a muscle within his cheek pulling taut.
Lies, they were all lying. Jacaerys was not delirious, everyone else was clearly mad.
He thought that even more so when the man he had just kicked, grasped onto his jaw to pry it open enough for foul liquid to trickle down his throat.
Jacaerys fought as much as he possibly could while being restrained, before his vision began to fade and body started to slump..