A/N: Daenerys out here in the middle of her training montage. She truly is the Rocky to Axel's Apollo~
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"Can you feel it? The power coursing through you, connecting you to your pets?"
"Y-Yes… yes, I can."
"Focus on it. Concentrate. They are as much a part of you as your hands and feet, as your fingers and toes. Use the connection to empower yourself."
Letting out a slow exhale, Daenerys Stormborn closes her violet eyes and does as she's told. She focuses on the connection she feels to Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, a connection that even now unnerves her just a little bit. It's like standing at the edge of a pit… and in that pit is a raging tempest. One misstep and she feels like she might just be consumed.
And yet… what other choice does she have? She needs this power. She needs to master her new ability. She-
Daenerys gasps, her eyes snapping open as she looks down at her hands. No, not at her hands… her claws. Curled over pale fingers are the sharp, blood red claws of a dragon, grasping and cutting as she opens and closes her hands.
Beside her, Melisandre nods approvingly, a light smile playing across her perfectly sculpted ruby lips.
"Good. Very good. Keep practicing. You need to be able to empower yourself at a moment's notice, to draw upon the connection you've forged between yourself and your dragons without hesitation."
Daenerys hesitates and the blood constructs on her hands quiver for a moment as she falters. She manages to get them back under control a moment later, but Melisandre notices all the same. Far from getting upset with her however, the Red Priestess merely places a hand on Daenerys' shoulder and graces her with a wider, still beautiful smile.
"I know it's not easy. I know part of you still fears the power now at your fingertips. But I also know just how strong you truly are, my Queen. You will surpass my expectations for you; I am confident in that."
She tries not to blush too hard. Melisandre is gorgeous after all… and very young-looking besides, despite talking like she's some old crone at times. Daenerys knows that the Red Priestess does not look her true age … but it was hard not to be a little attracted to her all the same.
It had always been that way for her though. She'd been attracted to both men and women for as long as she could remember, though Drogo… Drogo had been the first man she'd truly come to love. And Melisandre, even if Daenerys dared not admit it out loud, was the first woman she'd fallen in love with.
"Thank you, Melisandre. I won't let you down, I promise. Your faith in me will be rewarded."
And oh what faith it was. Nobody else had seen it. Nobody else, not her brother nor even her husband, had seen Daenerys' true value… at least at first. When it came to Viserys, Daenerys thinks that her older brother did see her value… right at the end, when she'd stepped onto his pyre with her eggs and they'd burned together.
Except Daenerys had not burned. Only Viserys. He'd screamed and screamed as he proved to be far less of a dragon than she was. In turn, his sacrifice had given birth to her three dragons, to her beloved children.
Drogo, meanwhile, had come to understand her value far before his death. He had become her sun and stars, while she was the moon of his life. And yet… even he had left her, in the end. Even he had been taken from her just like their child…
One of Daenerys' clawed hands makes an abortive attempt towards her abdomen for a moment as a shudder of loss runs through her. Melisandre gives her shoulder another wordless squeeze, supporting her and helping Daenerys to keep the grief at bay as she's done countless times since they met.
Drogo and their stillborn son were losses that had almost been too great for Daenerys to endure. If it wasn't for Melisandre, she's not sure she could have kept going… but she likes to think she might have, if only for her dragons. Still, with Melisandre's support… Daenerys had been able to make sense of their senseless deaths. Through the Red Priestess, she'd been able to make sure that their loss was not in vain.
This power that she held within her now, the connection to her dragons that let her call upon their magic while also strengthening them in turn… it was not power for power's sake. She did not do this for vanity or greed. No, she had to be stronger, she had to be tougher… especially if she was ever going to reclaim her birthright.
The Iron Throne and the whole of the Seven Kingdoms had belonged to House Targaryen for three hundred years. The Usurper might have killed her brother, and her father might have been slain by the base treachery of one of his Kingsguard, but that meant nothing if Daenerys could return to Westeros with an army and enough power to return things back to the way they'd been before.
As the last living Targaryen, she was the only one who could do it. And as Azor Ahai Reborn, she was also the only one who could defeat Axel Baratheon and save the Seven Kingdoms from his tyranny in time to begin preparing them for the return of the Great Other and the Long Night.
Needless to say, it did not surprise Daenerys that the Usurper had given birth to a demon. After all, he himself had been called the Demon of the Trident after slaughtering her brother. But to hear Melisandre tell it, Axel Baratheon truly wasn't of this world. He was an affront to everything that was natural, and his continued existence was a blight on the world that the Lord of Light could not accept.
That was where Daenerys came in. That was why she had to continue preparing and training. And of course… there was also the part of her that personally blamed Axel Baratheon for everything bad that had ever happened to her.
Maybe not Viserys… no, Viserys had brought his fate upon himself. But Jorah Mormont had tried to assassinate her and her dragons on the orders of the Baratheon King's Spymaster, Varys the Spider. He had sworn to serve her as his Queen and then turned around and attempted to kill them all. If not for Melisandre's intervention, Daenerys might not even be here today.
In doing so, in putting Ser Jorah up to turning on them, Axel and his Spymaster had galvanized her husband in her defense. Truthfully, there had been a time, short as it might have been, where Daenerys hadn't even been convinced that she wanted the Iron Throne. A time before Jorah's betrayal, a time before Melisandre told her about her destiny as Azor Ahai and the threats that she would have to eventually face.
But after the assassination attempt, when it became clear that the Usurper's bastard demon of a son wasn't going to leave them alone, Daenerys and her sun and stars had been of one mind. Axel Baratheon had to go.
Except… Drogo had been too insistent. Too eager. Too angry. He'd gone and gotten himself hurt, and that hurt had become an infection that not even Melisandre could treat. Daenerys, desperate to save her beloved, had gone behind Melisandre's back and turned to inadvisable methods to try and treat him. Those methods had cost Daenerys not just her sun and stars, but also their child.
If it wasn't for Axel Baratheon and Varys the Spider, if it wasn't for Jorah fucking Mormont, then maybe they would all still be alive. Maybe they would all still be happy and content.
And so Daenerys' personal grievances with Axel coincided with her apparent destiny as Azor Ahai Reborn. The Usurper's son was destined to die by her hands… or perhaps by her claws.
However, before that could happen, Daenerys needed far more power than she had now. As Melisandre had told her time and time again, Axel Baratheon was not human. He was a demon in human skin, a monster who didn't even bother hiding his true nature from his subjects anymore.
At this point, he'd survived wildfire, he'd singlehandedly killed a kraken, and he'd sunk dozens of ships, sending hundreds if not thousands of men to their deaths. They even said he could fly now, that he was able to soar through the sky like one of her children, but without any need for wings or a dragon of his own to carry him.
Daenerys might not have believed such tales if Melisandre herself hadn't corroborated each and every one. The stories of his strength were actually understated, according to the Red Priestess. He was even more powerful than everyone believed.
That was why… the only way through was forward. She had to get a handle on this power. She had to keep learning. She had to get stronger so that she could-
"M-My Queen…"
Daenerys blinks, pulled from her thoughts by a voice that is neither hers nor Melisandre's. Turning, she finds the increasingly familiar visage of Missandei, her new handmaiden and interpreter.
She holds up a serving tray in her arms, upon which a pitcher of chilled wine and some snacks have been arrayed perfectly.
"I thought to bring you refreshments, Your Grace."
Missandei is a beautiful Naathi woman, with dark skin and pretty features. Unlike Melisandre, Missandei actually IS the same age as her appearance would suggest, twenty years old. And, until just a week ago… she was a slave to the Good Master Kraznys mo Nakloz of Astapor.
Daenerys had secured Missandei's freedom and then offered her a place at her side on the same day that she'd secured herself an army of Unsullied. Both things had come at the expense of not just Missandei's former Master, but every 'Good Master' in the city of Astapor. Slavery, Daenerys had decided, was repellant and had no place before her eyes. She would destroy it wherever she found it for as long as she drew breath.
For now though… she sees the way Missandei's eyes flick down to the blood red claws currently coating Daenerys' hands. The Naathi woman holds her composure admirably, barely even trembling as she keeps herself poised and with her back straight.
Blushing slightly, Daenerys moves to dismiss the claws… only for Melisandre to reach out and stop her.
"No, Daenerys. You must keep practicing. Drawing on this power should become second nature to you… and you should be able to interact with things just fine, even with your claws. Besides… I am sure your new friend here feels no fear towards her savior. Isn't that right?"
Daenerys bites her lower lip, watching Missandei with violet eyes even as the other woman straightens up and nods sharply in agreement.
"Yes."
Then, she looks at Daenerys directly and smiles warmly.
"How could I fear you, my Queen? I owe you everything."
Something tightly wound in Daenerys' chest, something she hadn't even known was there, loosens at that. She takes a cautious step forward… and then another when Missandei does not react in any way except to hold up the serving tray.
Carefully, gingerly, Daenerys uses her draconic claws to take hold of the pitcher and pour herself a glass of chilled wine. Then, she picks up both the glass and some of the snacks, bringing first the one to her lips and then the other.
Eating with claws instead of fingers is not what Daenerys Stormborn would call easy by any stretch of the imagination, but at least she doesn't make a fool of herself by dropping anything. Soon enough, her thirst is quenched and her belly is full. She makes sure to give Missandei a pleased smile as she sets the cup back down.
"Thank you, Missandei. Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated."
She can tell that the praise and gratitude is something the Naathi woman is still very much not used to. In fact, it turns Missandei into a blushing, stammering mess as she makes her excuses, bows her head one too many times, and finally scurries off to leave Daenerys and Melisandre alone again.
The Red Priestess watches her go for a long moment, an amused smirk alighting upon her perfectly sculpted lips. Then, she looks back to Daenerys with a knowing glint in her eye.
"Don't be afraid to find pleasure in this life wherever you can, Daenerys. Even if we have a long road ahead of us, you should never forget why you are fighting for a brighter tomorrow."
For a heart stopping moment, Daenerys thinks (hopes, maybe) that Melisandre is… talking about the two of them. Only after that moment passes does common sense reassert itself and she realizes that the Red Priestess actually means her and Missandei. She… well, she'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought about it. At the same time though…
"It… I'm not sure it would be right. She was a slave a week ago. And even now, she is my handmaiden and I am her Queen. I would never want to think she felt… obligated to tend to my needs."
Melisandre just chuckles and shakes her head.
"Ah… I think you'd be surprised what that one would and wouldn't consider an… obligation."
Before Daenerys can even begin to question that however, the Red Priestess claps her hands together.
"Now come. We've rested long enough my Queen; it's time to keep moving before the end of the march passes us by. Keep working on manifesting your powers. Every bit of training will help when you finally face off against the demon… to say nothing of the enemies in our path that we will face before we face him."
R-Right. Daenerys nods solemnly, even as they both move to rejoin the massive column of people moving down the road. Her people, most of them Unsullied who have pledged their spears and shields to Daenerys willingly after she freed them from the bondage of Astapor.
In the far distance behind them, Astapor still burns, the Good Masters dead and the city ransacked. Ahead of them two more cities of Slaver's Bay, Yunkai and Meereen. They march on those cities because as much as Daenerys would like to take her Unsullied across the sea to Westeros right now, she doesn't have the ships to do so… and Melisandre says she's not personally ready besides.
Yunkai and Meereen will help her blood her new army… as well as give her the time she needs to grow powerful enough to destroy Axel Baratheon once and for all. For the people of Westeros, for people like Missandei, Daenerys silently swears to herself that she will end the demon's tyranny. And then she'll stop the Great Other and the Long Night as well, because apparently it's her destiny.
… One thing at a time though.
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A/N: Yep just gotta kill Axel and then the White Walkers. No big deal, easy as pie.
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