Work Text:
Helaena and Aegon have had their souls bonded ever since their second wedding ceremony when she was thirteen and he fifteen. They were Targaryens and they were to sit the Iron Throne and as such, they were wed in both Seven and Valyrian fashion and it was that final ceremony that made them so. Targaryens were special, they were above, and as proof of that, their wedding ceremonies tied them in more than just the law but in the very fabric of their being as well. From that day forward and until one of them died, Helaena and Aegon would sense each other’s presence and feel each other’s pain.
Most days, this meant little to Helaena. All it granted her was the knowledge where Aegon was in the Red Keep and if he had slipped out to find entertainment in the city street along with an ache in her muscles from training she had never done, some bruising from drunken stumbles, and perhaps a sting on her cheek from whatever punishment he had experienced. She imagined it may well have meant more to him, the agonies of childbirth and the cramping muscles of her blood were certainly much more distinct than the pains he had experienced yet. These sensations and the twins sometimes seemed as if they were the only proof of their marriage at all with how little she saw Aegon, she thinks she prefers it that way, they were never close as brother and sister.
She wonders if it will make it easier when the dreams come to pass. She doubts it. A stranger could be the one falling so horribly in her visions and it would still cause an ache in her heart, one of the few she gets to keep private. And this pain will not be one Aegon gets to keep to himself.
Helaena will learn the heat of dragonfire as intimately as he will, even if she will never bear the scars. She’ll know as well as he will the lingering pain of the scars and she will understand better than anyone the need for and the limitations of milk of the poppy. Helaena and Aegon will both hurt and ache and suffer from what is to come and only one of them will bear the marks.
She wonders if he’ll feel the impact as well or if he’ll be free of it. She wonders if he’ll know what it means. She wonders if he’ll care.
It doesn’t matter.
It’s inevitable.
One thing must follow another. Aegon will be burnt in dragonfire and Helaena will fall. One happens and so will the other.