A/N: The final chapter of Arc 4! You know how Axel thought everything would be fine at the end of last chapter? Well everything is not fine! I repeat, everything is NOT fine!
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"It is time my Queen."
Melisandre smiles softly as Daenerys stiffens at the sound of her voice. They've been sitting in silence for quite some time now as Melisandre painted across the younger woman's naked flesh. But no longer. They must act, or all the hard work and preparation of these past several hours will have been for nothing.
"Are you ready, Your Grace?"
Shivering in a way that has nothing to do with the cold night air and positively trembling with emotion, Daenerys Targaryen nevertheless rises to her feet as she slowly nods. She's still so young, despite being over twenty years of age. But then, two decades is a pittance to someone who has lived as long as Melisandre, and even less when you took into account how the brother's overbearing shadow had stunted Daenerys' growth.
"I… I'm ready."
"Collect your whelps and walk into the flames. Make sure that the sacrifices of your husband and son are not in vain."
A whimper leaves Daenerys' lips at the reminder, but she nevertheless does as she's told. She's more than used to listening to Melisandre at this point, after all. Which is good because the Red Priestess is the only one capable of navigating the last Targaryen through the treacherous and perilous path ahead.
Stepping forward, Daenerys makes a noise in the back of her throat… and her dragons come to her. They've grown in the months since they were first hatched, but not fast enough. Even with a Khalasar turned towards feeding them, they're still barely as large as wild dogs.
Nevertheless, they respond to their mother's call. Encircling Daenerys the three small dragons follow her as she steps away from Melisandre's side. Her feet take her towards the burning funeral pyre where the wrapped bodies of Khal Drogo and their stillborn child are laid out on the wood.
The blood that Melisandre used to paint Daenerys' body mostly came from Drogo's Bloodriders, who would have otherwise fled in the night if Melisandre had not stopped and captured them. Their connection to Daenerys and her comatose husband was strong… though the connection between Daenerys and her stillborn son was even stronger still.
Melisandre had no intentions of letting Daenerys know that she'd bled the babe's body dry and mixed its blood in with the blood of Drogo's Bloodriders, however. The Mother of Dragons might have been willing to accept the former sacrifice, but she would not be able to accept the latter. Melisandre had seen it in the flames, she knew just how much she could push her young charge, at least for now.
She'd seen a lot in the flames, as a matter of fact. R'hllor, Lord of Light, had spoken to her quite a bit over the past few years and Melisandre had followed her god's bidding in all things. The Great Other stirred in the Far North, and it was up to her to find Azor Ahai and prepare them for what was to come.
For a time, Melisandre had believed that Azor Ahai was none other than Stannis Baratheon, the younger brother of Robert Baratheon, King of Westeros. She had traveled all the way from Asshai by the Shadow to Pentos in preparation for making the last leg of her journey to Dragonstone… when everything had changed.
Suddenly, the visions in the flames no longer pointed to Stannis Baratheon. He was not, in fact, Azor Ahai Reborn as she'd previously thought. And the Great Other was not the only enemy stirring in Westeros either. Melisandre had seen quite clearly that if she went to Westeros by herself, if she went to Stannis Baratheon's side… then she would die alongside him in a failed bid for the Iron Throne.
Instead, Melisandre had been instructed to turn her gaze to closer by. In the end, her journey to Pentos had not been a total waste as she had found herself coming upon the Last Targaryens, Viserys… and Daenerys Stormborn. The Red Priestess had known from the moment she laid eyes on them that Daenerys, for all her shyness and reserved attitude, was Azor Ahai Reborn.
Viserys, on the other hand, was simply dead weight at first, though they'd eventually found a use for him when Melisandre's Lord had shown her a way to help Daenerys hatch the 'petrified' Dragon Eggs gifted to her at her wedding to Khal Drogo.
From there, Melisandre had been shown so much more by her Lord. R'hllor was a powerful god with a far reach, though unfortunately his reach did not extend too far into Westeros. Even still, she was able to understand what he was showing her. Axel Baratheon, firstborn bastard son of Robert Baratheon… he was the threat. On par with that of the Great Other, he represented a danger to Melisandre's Lord that could not be understated.
Daenerys' place in the grand tapestry of fate was not just to grow her dragons, gather her armies, and take her rightful place on the Iron Throne. Her destiny was also to destroy the demon Axel Baratheon and then prepare Westeros for the return of the Great Other and his White Walkers. Only once Axel Baratheon was dead and gone, only once the worship of R'hllor spread across all of Westeros, could they hope to defeat Ice… with overwhelming Fire.
A broader smile spreads across Melisandre's perfectly sculpted lips as she watches Daenerys step into the flames of her husband and child's funeral pyre. As both the Mother of Dragons as well as her draconic children disappear into the fire, she lets out a shuddering breath, knowing that everything was going according to plan… even if the plan had to keep changing.
After foreseeing how Viserys would be of use in hatching the eggs, Melisandre had next seen how the Westerosi Ser Jorah Mormont would make an attempt on her, Daenerys, and the dragon hatchlings' lives. She'd also seen a route by which Jorah could have perhaps been persuaded by Daenerys' kind heart to stay his blade and admit his duplicity… but that route did not provide the best outcomes.
Instead, Melisandre had kept Daenerys from unknowingly influencing Ser Jorah away from his assassination attempt. She had allowed him to try and fail to harm so much as a hair on either of their heads. And she had watched along with Daenerys as Drogo had given Jorah Mormont an execution even worse than he'd intended for Viserys before she had Daenerys beg to be allowed to do it herself.
All of that was necessary to help steel young Daenerys' heart… as well as enflame Drogo's rage at Westeros. At the time, the plan had been all about focusing the Khal and his Khalasar on invading Westeros and helping Daenerys kill Axel Baratheon.
… Unfortunately, the plan had once more been forced to change when Melisandre's visions in the fire kept changing as well. She'd seen Axel Baratheon burn for seven days and seven nights in a holy place dedicated to the Seven Who Are One. She'd watched him travel in leaping bounds across a great expanse of land, far faster than any man should be able to travel.
These visions of the future had led to a stark realization. Drogo and his khalasar… wouldn't be enough. Daenerys and her dragons, even if they could be grown big enough for battle, would also die in the face of the demon king's power.
And worst of all, by that point Daenerys was already pregnant. Weakened by pregnancy, held back by fear for her child, Melisandre had seen future after future in the flames where the last Targaryen… simply gave up.
That couldn't be allowed to happen, obviously. Failure was not an option. The demon on the Iron Throne had to die just as much as the Great Other had to be defeated. This, Melisandre felt R'hllor had made abundantly clear to her.
… And that meant Melisandre had to make some difficult decisions. She'd come to care for Daenerys in her own way as they'd traveled together, she really had. The young woman wasn't just Azor Ahai Reborn or her charge… no, she was Melisandre's protégé in a lot of ways.
The Mother of Dragons enjoyed learning and tended to soak up Melisandre's knowledge like a sponge. And while she had been sad to sacrifice her brother, Melisandre knew that Daenerys was happy to be out from under Viserys' thumb… and to have three dragons who answered to her beck and call out of the deal.
Unfortunately, she'd been forced to do things that she would have rather not in order to secure their future. In truth, Melisandre suspected that if Daenerys ever learned the part she'd played in Drogo's death and the stillbirth of their only son, she would not be nearly as happy anymore.
That was fine though, for the Red Priestess didn't intend for Daenerys to ever find out. What was done was done… and sometimes sacrifices had to be made. Drogo wouldn't have been strong enough, but by dying here alongside his son, it would galvanize Daenerys into action.
Not only that, their sacrifice by flame and the blood of Drogo's Bloodriders and the stillborn babe would combine to create something truly special… something capable of bringing the demon in Westeros low, once and for all.
Just as that thought comes to Melisandre's mind, the flames covering the funeral pyre suddenly sputter… and begin to coalesce. The smile on Melisandre's lips turns into a full grown grin as the fire condenses down in on itself until its coating four distinct shapes.
The funeral pyre, wood and wrapped bodies alike, has been reduced to nothing but ash in a fraction of the time it otherwise should have. Meanwhile, Daenerys and her three dragons… step away changed. The fire flows over the Dragon Queen's flesh, absorbing bit by bit into the blood runes that Melisandre had just spent hours painstakingly painting onto every inch of the Targaryen's skin. Meanwhile, the flames covering her three dragons are likewise absorbed into their scales, inch by inch.
When it's finally over, the blood runes are gone and so is the fire. Daenerys stands there before Melisandre and what remains of the late Khal Drogo's khalasar still completely nude… but dramatically changed. All across her body pulse burning veins of orange, as though the fire that had engulfed her now resides within her instead. Which of course, it does. That was the whole point.
No more is this more obvious than Daenerys' eyes, which glow bright orange with power, so bright that it's almost impossible to look directly into them. Akin to looking directly at two miniature suns with how much power Melisandre sees there.
The three dragons at Daenerys' feet are much the same. Their eyes glow orange with their mother's might… and they themselves have grown to twice their previous size in the short time they were among the flames. No longer the size of small dogs, they now resemble small horses instead. And they will only get bigger going forward, so long as the sacrifices continue to flow.
But then… Melisandre has a plan for that. They won't be able to go straight to Westeros after this. In fact, they won't be able to go to Westeros for quite a while yet. But eventually they'll be ready. This was the first step on the only path forward that didn't end in failure. Melisandre had seen it all in the flames.
Raising her arms and spreading them wide, Melisandre lets her voice ring out in the silent night.
"AZOR AHAI STANDS BEFORE YOU! HER FLAMING SWORD INTERNAL, HER WILL MADE MANIFEST! THE QUEEN OF DRAGONS WILL LEAD YOU ALL TO GLORY!"
A stir starts up among the watching Dothraki who remain. Cries of 'Azor Ahai' and 'Queen of Dragons' and 'Khaleesi' fill the night air. Daenerys stares out at them all with her glowing orange eyes, a sense of raw and unrefined purpose wafting off of her.
Her husband and son may be dead, but the last Targaryen still had people to lead and dragons to feed. She still had a destiny to fulfill and Melisandre is gratified to watch as determination and resolve fill every pore of her protégé's being.
Melisandre would take what had been created tonight and she would refine it and forge it into a proper weapon. She would make Daenerys Targaryen into what she HAD to become in order to survive what fate had in store for her.
Daenerys Targaryen was more than Azor Ahai Reborn… she was the Lord of Light's Champion, his answer to the demon over in Westeros. And so long as she was ready to make the necessary sacrifices along the way… then Melisandre was confident they would emerge victorious when all was said and done.
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A/N: Dun dun DUUUUN! See you all tomorrow for the start of Arc 5~
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