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“Remember this, Luke, if the sea gives you an opportunity, you better grab it with both hands. Cling on it like your life depends on it.” Corlys’s voice rings in his memories as Luke hovers over the sky because right in front of him is a Vhagar who seems to be communicating with Arrax.
But that is not what his eyes focus on. Aemond, who’s riding Vhagar, is not the same Aemond that chases Luke in the storm. His uncle had the same face all those years ago, the night when it was decided that they would live in Dragon Stone. The night when he slashed Aemond’s eyes.
“Who are you?” Aemond asks. Luke can see the nervousness of his uncle as he tightens his hold on his reins. “And why does my dragon keen on following you?”
“You will not believe me if I told you. Best to follow me, and we’ll talk on land,” Luke answers, not wanting his uncle to have a panic attack while in mid-air.
They land on the beach that has a cave near it. He ushers Aemond to follow him to the cave, and as he enters, he looks back at their dragon and sees Vhagar spreading her wings for Arrax to use as protection against the rain.
Luke smiles, wishing that his relationship with his uncle looks like that.
“Well? Are you going to explain?” Aemond asks him, bringing his attention back to reality.
“You better sit down. I don’t want you to fall and lose consciousness.”
“I’m fine,” Aemond sneers.
“No, you’re not.” Luke sighs and motions at Aemond’s face, “You just lost your eye and got stitches in your wound. I know it hurts, and I don’t want to injure you further.”
Aemond looks taken back, his surprise showing his face, “How did you know I lost it? Nobody but the maesters and my mother know I lost my eye.”
“It’s rather obvious, and because I was the one who did that,” Luke answers, trying to mask his emotions.
“What madness are you talking about?” Aemond almost screams.
“Uncle, I am Lucerys Velaryon. It’s been seven years since we got into the fight,” Luke answers, “I think you time-traveled to the future.”
Aemond laughs, but when he notices that Luke is still standing there looking at him seriously, he asks, “Prove it.”
“You got angry at me about the prank with the pig, but not because of the pig. You’re angry because Pink Dread is the name we thought about if you ever have a dragon. We thought it’s a funny name that will make the people laugh, making them underestimate you, and that is where you will fire at them.” Luke answers, “You were angry because I shared our secret just for them to laugh at you.”
Aemond looks at the boy in front of him and sees all the similarities his Luke has with him, from the curls to the brown eyes with a touch of gold. “Little Luke?”
“I’m not little! I am already ten and four.” Luke answers but tears up immediately, curling his hands in front of his shirt, “I'm sorry, uncle, I really am.”
Aemond giggled, “You never changed. You’re grown now, but you’re still a crybaby.”, making Luke cry more.
Aemond walks near Luke, hushing his crying nephew and noticing they’re at the same height. “You are older than me now, yet you didn't gain height?” He teases his nephew.
“It’s not my fault! You’re just a giant.” Luke whines, clinging to the shirt of his favorite uncle.
Aemond laughs, ignoring the pain in his face, “Now tell me why I woke up with me chasing you in the sky? Are we training? But looking at our garments, I feel we are on a mission.”
“Uncle.” Luke let go of Aemond in favor of looking at him. He then tells him everything that he knows. From the moment her mother decided that they needed to part ways, never to see each other for six years, to his trial for the inheritance of Driftmark, to their fight during dinner, the death of his grandsire, and the chase at Storm’s End.
Aemond was quiet throughout his retelling of events, looking at him like he was looking at Luke’s soul, “Why didn't you fight Vaemond yourself?”
“How can I? And fight him?”
“I’m not saying by the sword! We read many books, Lucerys; we piled every piece of evidence about you being a true-blooded Valeryon. King Jaeharys’s mother - Queen Alyssa, is a Velaryon. Do you see King Jaeharys as dark skin? Lord Boremund and Queen Joceyln Baratheon are also her children. They are not dark-skinned too. We’ve read that in the library, and I’ve helped you research that. Didn't I always tease you that you look more Baratheon?” Aemond angrily speaks.
“But you call me a bastard,” Luke answers quietly.
“What? When?!” Aemond was taken aback by Luke’s answer.
“That night, you call me a bastard. I mean, looking at your fresh wound, it happened to you earlier this evening.”
“I didn't!” Aemond faces his body to where Luke is, his fist curling into the sand.
“Yes, you did! You ask my brother if I know, and you called him Lord Strong! You keep on insinuating and calling me a bastard!” Luke says as he, too, looks at Aemond. Fire in his eyes.
“I was calling your brother a bastard because he is! Not you!” Aemond screams, angry at Luke for thinking he will hurt his favorite nephew.
“What? Then why did you torment me all these years? Even now, before the chase, you called me Lord Strong.”
“I don’t know what happened tonight, but earlier in my time, I called your brother the bastard.”
“Why? I literally looked like him.”
Aemond snorts, “No, you don’t, people will only look at the color of the skin and hair and declare you a bastard, and that’s it. I’m half Targaryen, yet because of my hair, nobody will look past that. Your brother looked like people from Dorne, while you looked like Westeros and Valyrian combined. You have your mother’s face.”
Luke was stunned. He couldn’t say anything; they became quiet, looking at their dragons on the shore.
“What happened to us?” Aemond asks.
“I don’t know.” Luke sighs, hugging his legs; he looks at Aemond, “Uncle?”
“Hmm?” Aemond looks at Luke, two childhood best friends mending a bridge that was burned because of miscommunications, politics, and the greed of the others.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Your eyes. I shouldn't use the knife. I could just tackle you or punch you. But I chose the way that will hurt you the most.”
“You were just a child, I just broke your nose and got pushed in the sand, and you got up you saw me holding a stone.” Aemond explains, “I tried telling that to my mother, but pride hindered it because I was angry and jealous. I thought you would be happy that I’ve got a dragon.” Aemond explains as he looks at the beach and then back to Luke.
Aemond continues, “When I told my mother that it was fine because I got Vhagar, I was telling the truth. I don't know what happened to me to change and hate you, but that night I didn’t. I was sad and disappointed because I thought it was you and me versus the world, two second-born sons, but you chose them.”
“I’m sorry.”, Luke cries, “if I weren’t scared that your mother would take my eye, I would’ve been at your side. I’m sorry that grandfather didn't care about your injury. I’m sorry about laughing at you.”
Aemond laughs, a kind one, like he wants Luke to stop crying. “You're still a crybaby? Lucerys, you’re soon to be Lord of the tides.”
“I don’t want it!” Luke insisted, “You said you’ll be at my side when I rule, but I can’t reach you anymore.”
“Luke,” Aemond says his nephew’s name like a prayer.
But Lucerys understands. He then tries to change the topic, “I forgot how wise you are at that age.”
“Why? Did I get boring when I grew up?” Aemond laughs, thinking about his future.
“I heard that you mastered the art of the swords, and the only thing you can say every time we got an interaction is: strong, nephew,” Luke answers, teasing can be hinted in his voice.
“That’s it?” Aemond asks, “All of our youth wasted in the library for me to cling to past sins and petty revenge?”
“You lost your eye,” Luke says solemnly.
“But it looks like I lost a friend.” Aemond answers back.
They stayed silent again, listening to their dragons communicating with each other, and the waves hit the rocks.
“The sapphire looks good,” Luke says out of nowhere.
“What?”
“You’ve put sapphire in your eye socket; you showed me that earlier. Though I thought you’ll choose emerald for your mother’s house,” Luke answers.
“Oh,” Aemond knows why he chose the sapphire; it’s the color of the sea when the sun is high in the sky, the color of their supposed escape away from the court, the people gossiping, and the things that have hurt them. “Thank you, I guess?”
“You ask for my other eye.”
“What?!”
“You said you’ll gift that to your mother. And when you’re chasing me, you said I need to pay my debt.” Luke says, looking back at the beach.
“Lucerys-”
“It’s okay, I understand. I just- do you think if I maimed myself, you’d forgive me?” Luke asks, his eyelids starting to drop.
“There’s nothing to forgive.”
Luke giggles, “But you hate me the most.”
“I don’t.” Aemond quietly answers, his anger towards everything seeping into his voice, “Nephew, you should sleep. I’ll protect you.”
“Like before? When we escape during the night to go to the library? Where we said we’ll be learning, but instead, I sleep, and you teach me in the morrow?”
“Yes, Luke. Like before.”
“Okay.” And Luke quickly crawls to Aemond and puts his head on his uncle’s lap.
When Aemond hears Luke’s breathing even, he runs his hands into the curls of his nephew. “Always.”
Aemond didn't know what had happened to his older self but seeing Luke scared and sadly didn't sit well with him. Luke has always been the mischief between the both of them, the sun to his moon.
With a stick in his hands, he tries to write some code that only he knows and writes to himself.
Luke sleeps peacefully but sees glimpses of reality.
Even when he felt the hands stroking, his head became larger; he kept sleeping. He felt himself being carried, but he felt safe, warm, and, most of all, happy. He hears the flaps of two dragons' wings, but when he tries to open his eyes, someone sings him even deeper to sleep.
But before he embraces unconsciousness fully, he hears a familiar voice whispering to him, “Like before, and always.”
-
Rhaenyra’s heart breaks when she hears the roar of Vhagar, and it breaks even further when she sees his brother carrying her son.
Daemon was quickly by her side, Caraxes at their back; the two dragons seemed to be communicating with their screech, Arrax only joining as he landed.
But her heart quickly healed as she saw that Lucerys was fine, only sleeping. Her brother offers loyalty to her if and only if he is permitted to be on Luke’s side.
“Why?” She asks.
“I was reminded of who I truly am. I remember my vows and my true feelings.”
“And how can we be sure that you do not lie? That your words are not swords that were honey-coated, only for us to be stricken when our backs are turned? Lucerys was the one who maimed you, how can we know that is not revenge?” Daemon asks.
“I’ve been blinded, but-” Aemond removes his eyepatch, showing the sapphire stone.
Rhaenys gasps, her hands finding Rhaenyra's hands. She knows what the color symbolizes, as it was the first gift Corlys has ever gifted her. “You love him.”
“Always.”